A semiconductor memory device is disclosed, which includes a first SRAM cell which includes cross-connected first and second inverters having first and second nodes, a first transistor connected between a first bit line and the first node and having a gate connected to a first write word line, a second transistor connected between a second bit line and the second node and having a gate connected to the first write word line, a third transistor having a gate connected to the second node, a fourth transistor connected between the first bit line and the third transistor and having a gate connected to a read word line, and a second SRAM cell which includes fifth-eighth transistors corresponding to the first-fourth transistors and has substantially the same configuration as the first SRAM, wherein the drains of the fourth and eighth transistors are connected to the first and second bit lines, respectively.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a semiconductor memory device.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, transistors which configure SRAM cells are made smaller and the operation speed thereof is further enhanced as the capacity of the SRAM is increased and the operation speed thereof is further enhanced.
However, with a reduction in the size of the transistors, there occurs a problem that variation in the characteristics of the transistors configuring the SRAM cells becomes large and data of the SRAM cell is destroyed due to slight noises occurring in the SRAM cell. The main cause of generation of noises is that a leak current tends to occur due to the miniaturization of the transistors.
In order to solve the above problem, it is considered to use transistors having large channel width which are less influenced by noises. However, if the channel width of the transistor is increased, the area of the SRAM cell becomes larger and a reduction in the area of the transistors is prevented.
Therefore, a configuration having two transistors in addition to six transistors of the general configuration of an SRAM cell is proposed (for example, refer to Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2002-74965 [page 5, FIG. 2]). The SRAM cell has a bit line and word line for a write operation and a bit line and word line for a read operation instead of a word line and bit line of the conventional SRAM cell. By providing the write word line, read word line, write bit line and read bit line, even if transistors with small channel width are used, the SRAM cell can be less influenced. Further, since the transistor having small channel width can be used, the area of the SRAM cell can be reduced even though the number of transistors is increased by two.
However, with the recent requirement of further reducing the area of the SRAM cell, the above method of providing the word line and bit line for the write operation and the word line and bit line for the read operation delays the progress of reducing the area of the SRAM cell from the viewpoint of increasing the total number of word lines and bit lines. Thus, the above method cannot cope with a reduction in the area of the SRAM cell.


The present invention relates to a reactor for the decomposition of ammonium dinitramide-based liquid monopropellants into hot, combustible gases for combustion in a combustion chamber, and more particularly a rocket engine or thruster comprising such reactor and a combustion chamber. The invention also relates to a process for the decompostion of ammonium dinitramide-based liquid monopropellants.

In space applications, such as rockets, satellites and other space vehicles, liquid propellant thrusters and rocket engines are often used. Such thrusters and rocket engines can for example be used for the purpose of positioning and attitude control of satellites and other space vehicles. For such purposes attitude control thrusters operating in the thrust range of typically 0.5–50 N, or Δ-V rocket engines typically operating in the thrust range of 1 N to several kN. Attitude control thrusters are required to perform short pulses or pulse trains, the duration of which typically can be fractions of seconds to several minutes.
Liquid propellants can be divided into monopropellants and bipropellants. The former consists of one component, while the latter consists of two components, i.e. a liquid oxidiser and a liquid fuel. The distinction between monopropellants a bipropellants is made according to the number of components which are injected into the engine for combustion for the specific propellant.
In the case of a monopropellant, which may be a mixture of several compounds or one single chemical, only one component is injected into the engine.
Currently, hydrazine is about the only liquid monopropellant widely used for generation of hot gases. In the case of hydrazine the decomposition pathway occurs in two stages; first hydrazine is catalytically decomposed into hydrogen and ammonia in an exothermal reaction, and thereafter ammonia further decomposes into hydrogen and nitrogen in an endothermal reaction due to the high temperature generated in the first stage. The second stage endothermal reaction will reduce the flame temperature and reduce the specific impulse. It is therefore desirable to limit the ammonia dissociation as much as possible. When the ammonia dissociation is held to 55%, the adiabatic reaction temperature will be ca. 900° C.
In a bipropellant engine, fuel and oxidizer liquids are injected, atomised and mixed in a first zone of the combustion chamber. In the case of a hypergolic bipropellant, such as hydrazine and nitrogen tetroxide, there is an initial chemical reaction in the liquid phase when a droplet of fuel impinges with a droplet of oxidiser. Bipropellants which are not hypergolic use some type of ignitor to initiate the chemical combustion. In a bipropellant system using hydrogen peroxide as the oxidiser, a catalyst may be used.
Liquid bipropellants generally offer higher specific impulse than liquid monopropellants. Bipropellant systems are thus more efficient than monopropellant systems, but tend to be more complicated because of the extra hardware components needed to make sure the proper amount of fuel is mixed with the proper amount of oxidiser.
Liquid monopropellants, based on a dinitramide compound, and especially ammonium dinitramide (ADN), have recently been developed, and are disclosed in WO0050363. These propellants are novel High Performance Monopropellants, which generate extremely high temperatures at proper combustion thereof. Such monopropellant comprises at least two components; a dinitramide compound (oxidiser) and a fuel. An additional solvent component may also be included, such as water.
These new monopropellants, including at least two components, have been described to generate a very high temperature on combustion, such as about 1700° C. As the propellant may also include water, very high demands will be put on a suitable engine or thruster for such a fuel, consequently excluding all known monopropellant thrusters as suitable alternatives.
Thus, it is an object of the present invention to provide a reactor for decomposition and combustion of liquid ammonium dinitramide-based monopropellants.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a process for decomposition ammonium dinitramide-based monopropellants, such as for rocket propulsion and for controlled gas generation for any other purpose, such as rotary power in auxiliary power units.
Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become evident from the following description, examples, and the attached claims.
The terms rocket engine and thruster will be used interchangeably herein to designate the portion of a liquid propellant rocket engine, in which the propellant is injected, extending downstream to the nozzle.

Reactor for decomposition of ammonium dinitramide-based liquid monopropellants and process for the decomposition


A display screen includes a substrate and a fluorescent material. The substrate includes a plurality of pixel regions arranged in an array, wherein each pixel region includes a fluorescent region and a transparent region, and the area of the transparent region is larger than the area of the fluorescent region. The fluorescent material is arranged in the fluorescent region and excited by an excitation light to emit a visible light to form an image. The above-mentioned display screen allows a viewer to see the images formed by the fluorescent region and the environmental image at the other side of display screen. A display system including the above-mentioned display screen is also disclosed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a display screen and a display system thereof, and more particularly, to a display screen and a display system thereof using an excitation light to excite a fluorescent material to form an image.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The Laser Phosphor Display (LPD) has the advantages of big size, low energy consumption and wide viewing angle and is gradually paid attention to in the market. The principle of the Laser Phosphor Display is using the laser beam generated by the laser engine to scan the phosphor panel, and the phosphor on the phosphor panel is excited by the laser beam to emit red/green/blue light and form an image. The phosphor on a conventional phosphor panel is arranged in adjacent strips, and the scanning direction of the laser beam is perpendicular to the phosphor strips to form the colorful pixels including red/green/blue light. As this structure, the conventional phosphor panel is opaque, and the viewer cannot see the background environment at the other side of the phosphor panel. This limits the application of the laser phosphor display. For example, if the phosphor panel is equipped on the shop windows to show the promotion information or the product introduction, the merchandise in the shop windows will not be seen by the consumers.
To sum up, it's a present target to enlarge the application of the laser phosphor display.

Display screen and display system thereof


In order to provide an implant for fixing adjacent bone plates, in particular cranial bone plates, which has an inner abutment element by means of which a separation gap between the bone plates can be overlapped at a bone plate inner side and has an outer abutment element for overlapping the separation gap at a bone plate outer side lying opposite the bone plate inner side and which is easy for a surgeon to use and by means of which the bone plates may be securely fixed, it is proposed that at least one tension band is guided displaceably through the outer abutment element, by means of which, when a tensile stress is exerted, the inner abutment element and the outer abutment element are mutually braceable, and that the at least one tension band is fixable on the outer abutment element.

The invention relates to an implant for fixing adjacent bone plates, in particular cranial bone plates, having an inner abutment element by means of which a separation gap between the bone plates can be overlapped at a bone plate inner side and having an outer abutment element for overlapping the separation gap at a bone plate outer side lying opposite the bone plate inner side.
For brain surgery a craniotomy has to be performed in order to gain access to the brain tissue that is to be operated on. For this purpose, one or more bone plates are sawn out of the skull. On completion of the brain surgery these bone plates have to be reinserted and fixed to the bone plates of the rest of the skull. For this purpose, suitable implants are provided, which remain in the body of the patient.


A method of manufacturing a field effect transistor includes forming a fin on a substrate, forming source and drain electrodes on opposite sides of the fin, forming a gate stack on a channel portion of the fin between the source and drain electrodes, forming gate spacers on extension portions of the fin on opposite sides of the gate stack, removing at least portions of the gate spacers to expose the extension portions of the fin, and hydrogen annealing the extension portions of the fin. Following the hydrogen annealing of the extension portions of the fin, the channel portion of the fin has a first width and the extension portions of the fin have a second width greater than the first width.

As scaling of field effect transistors (FETs) increases, the parasitic resistance of the FETs increases due to the scaled physical dimension. Current between source and drain contacts of the FET goes through several different regions, including contact metal studs, silicide layer, epitaxial source/drain electrodes, extension regions, and a channel region. Among the resistance elements related to the current path between the source and drain contacts, extension resistance is difficult to modulate because it is located under the gate spacers.

FinFET with reduced extension resistance and methods of manufacturing the same


An apparatus includes a first-acquisition unit acquiring, from target image data, an input image pattern including pixel values within a predetermined range with reference to each of ideal corresponding points, a second-acquisition unit acquiring, as candidate image patterns, from search-image-pattern data, a first candidate image pattern including pixel values within the predetermined range, a finding unit finding, from the search-image-pattern data, an estimated image pattern as a second candidate image pattern of the candidate image patterns which has a smaller difference from the input image pattern than other candidate image patterns, a first setting unit setting pixel values of positions corresponding to the ideal corresponding points in the estimated image pattern as pixel values at the ideal corresponding points, and a conversion unit converting a resolution of the target-image data using the N-dimensional coordinate values and the pixel values corresponding to the N-dimensional coordinate values.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a resolution conversion apparatus, method, and program, which convert an image into an image of another sampling rate.
2. Description of the Related Art
Televisions and displays with high resolutions are now commonly available. Upon displaying an image, a television or display converts the number of pixels of image data into that of a panel. Especially, in upscaling, which increases the number of pixels, as a method of obtaining a sharper image than linear interpolation, a method of reconstructing a high-resolution image using information of a plurality of frames in consideration of an inverse problem of an image sensing process (deterioration process) (to be referred to as a reconstruction method hereinafter) is known.
More specifically, for example, a block defined by a square of several pixels (for example, a block of 5 pixels (horizontal)×5 pixels (vertical)) is extracted from a low-resolution image to have a certain pixel as the center, and a conversion target frame is searched for a part which has the same size as this block and includes pixels having pixel values close to the extracted block. This search is conducted to a sub-pixel precision (for example, see M. Shimizu et al., "Precise Sub-pixel Estimation on Area-based Matching," in Proc. IEEE International Conference on Computer Vision, pp. 90-97, 2001.) After the search, the center of a found corresponding block is set as a corresponding point. As a result, a point A on a screen corresponding to another frame is associated with a point B corresponding to the conversion target frame as the same position of an object. This associating algorithm will be referred to as a block matching method hereinafter. This association is expressed by a motion vector which has the point A as a start point and the point B as an end point. Since the search is conducted to a sub-pixel precision, the start point of the motion vector corresponds to a position of a pixel, but the end point corresponds to a position where no pixel exists. Such motion vectors are calculated for all pixels of the low-resolution image, and motion vectors having each pixel on each of other low-resolution images as a start point to the conversion target frame are detected. After the motion vectors to the conversion target frame are obtained, the pixel values of the start points are allocated at the end points of the respective motion vectors as sampling values of the conversion target frame. Finally, from the non-uniformly allocated sampling points and sampling values at these points, sampling values of pixels, which are uniformly allocated in a grid pattern, of a high-resolution image are calculated. A large number of such conversion (reconstruction) methods are available, and for example, a Non-uniform interpolation method, POCS method, ML method, and MAP method are known (for example, see S. C. Park et al., "Super-Resolution Image Reconstruction: A Technical Overview," IEEE Signal Processing Magazine, pp. 21-36, May 2003.)
The conventional method, for example, the method described in the related art, searches the conversion target frame for corresponding points with reference to respective pixels on other frames. This method suffers from the following two problems. As the first problem, since the densities of corresponding points found on the conversion target frame differ according to location, the reconstruction performance of an output image is not stable. As the second problem, since corresponding points found on the conversion target frame readily include those with low reliability, strong noise tends to be generated.

Resolution conversion apparatus, method, and program


Systems and methods are provided for monitoring wafer bonding and for detecting or determining defects in a wafer bond formed between two semiconductor wafers. A wafer bonding system includes a camera configured to monitor bonding between two semiconductor wafers. Wafer bonding defect detection circuitry receives video data from the camera, and detects a bonding defect based on the received video data.

Wafer bonding, such as fusion wafer bonding, is a process in which semiconductor wafers may be bonded to each other. Typically, a quality or state of the bonding can be detected only after the bonding has been completed, and in some cases, only after bonding of an entire batch of wafers has been performed. Thus, in a case where one or more bonding defects are present due to process conditions, for example, a pressure within the wafer bonding chamber, pressure applied to bond the wafers, pre-bonding processes, or the like, the bonding defects may not be determined until after many wafers have been bonded. This may result in expenditure of significant time and cost to mitigate the damage caused by the improper bonding or the bonding defects, and in some cases, this may result in scrapping of the improperly bonded wafers.

Systems and methods for wafer bond monitoring

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd.


In apparatus and method for navigating a mobile body such as a vehicle through a road map display image, an angle of a displayed traffic intersection with respect to, for example, a lateral axis crossing the traffic intersection is made coincident with an angle of an actually corresponding traffic intersection. That is to say, display coordinates at a predetermined part (for example, the traffic intersection) of a display image in a form of bird's eye view are modified, the predetermined part meaning a view focusing point or area, so that a scale in a longitudinal direction is made coincident with that in a lateral direction at the predetermined part.

The present invention relates to apparatus and method for navigating a mobile body such as a vehicle which achieve a road map display in a form of a bird's eye view on a display screen of a display unit.
A Japanese Patent Application First Publication No. Heisei 7-220055 published on Aug. 18, 1995 exemplifies a previously proposed navigating apparatus in which a topographical road map in the form of a bird's eye view (perspectively projected representation) is displayed on the screen of the display unit.
However, since the bird's eye view representation means that a region of the road map viewed obliquely from an upper sky as a viewpoint, a displayed road map is viewed in such a way that the road map is compressed in terms of its longitudinal direction. Hence, the following inconveniences are raised.
(1) A displayed angle of a road segment crossing at a traffic intersection with respect to a lateral axis on the displayed bird's eye view does not coincide with that of the road segment crossed at an actually corresponding intersection.
For example, the displayed angle of each road segment crossing the intersection in an example of the bird's eye view representation shown in FIG. 15 is different from that crossing the intersection in an example of a plan view (top view) representation (the same display as an actual road situation) shown in FIG. 16.
(2) Even if the display of the same road segment occurs in the same place, a length of the road segment is often varied according to a direction of a line of sight from the viewpoint of the bird's eye view.

Apparatus and method for navigating mobile body using bird's eye view on display screen


In various embodiments, the present invention is directed to a melanin composition extracted from black knot fungus (Apiosporina morbosa) using an acid-base extraction technique. In one or more embodiments, the melanin composition is extracted from the black outer layer of a black knot fungus by obtaining a powder including a black outer part of one or more black knot fungus, adding a quantity of an aqueous solution comprising one or more base, heating the mixture to solubilize a melanin in the aqueous solution to form a black alkaline supernatant containing said melanin, adding one or more acids to said black alkaline supernatant until the melanin precipitates out of said black alkaline supernatant, said melanin precipitate further comprising proteins, carbohydrates, and lipids; collecting the melanin precipitate and adding one or more acids to hydrolyze some or all of said proteins, carbohydrates, and lipids and produce the melanin composition.

Melanin, a ubiquitous pigment that is found in many organisms ranging from bacteria to mammals, is a heterogeneous polymer comprised of phenolic and indolic polymeric compounds. Melanin can be broadly categorized into three different groups on the basis of their structure and monomer units: eumelanin, pheomelanin, and allomelanin (including pyomelanin, DHN-melanin, HPQ-melanin, and catechol melanin), with eumelanin being the most common one. Melanin possesses many unique properties, including high refractive index (˜1.8-2), broadband absorption spectrum ranging from ultraviolet (UV) to visible and infrared radiation, radical quenching ability, metal ion chelation, and high antioxidant activity, because of which melanin is thought of as the next generation material for use in cosmetics, paints, biomedical, and space applications thereby increasing its demand. Therefore, large-scale production of melanin is desirable to meet this growing demand.
Over the years, efforts have been made to extract melanin from various natural sources and to synthesize melanin using different chemical precursors. So far, melanin has been extracted from cuttlefish (Sepia officinalis) inks, black fish crow feathers (Corvus ossifragus), wild turkey feathers (Melleagris gallopavo), black human hair, black garlic, various fungi (Cryptococcus neoformans, Aspergillus fumigatus, and Colletotrichum lagenarium) and bacteria. Melanin has also been synthesized using dopamine, L-DOPA, and 1, 8 dihyroxynapthalene (1, 8-DHN) precursors. However, the commercially available natural and synthetic melanin are very expensive highlighting the need for alternative cheaper sources for large-scale production of melanin.
One such alternative source may be the Black Knot fungus. Black knot is a widespread disease in the North America caused by the pathogenic ascomycetes fungus (Apiosporina morbosa) that infects the woody parts of plum, cherry, apricot, and chokecherry trees, mainly twigs and branches but occasionally trunks. Following germination of spores, the fungus penetrates the host tree's tissues and stimulates an abnormal tumor-like outgrowth, which matures and darkens over time into hard and woody black knots (˜0.5-2″ diameter and >1″ length). The disease results in poor fruit production and in some cases where most of the branches are infested, it may cause death of the whole tree. Works have been done to control the black knot disease, where the knot-infested twigs and branches are pruned and burnt down to control the infection. However, to date, no reports exist on extracting melanin from these readily available black knots.
What is needed in the art is a cheaper and more readily available source of melanin to meet the increased demands for use in next generation materials for use in cosmetics, paints, biomedical, and space applications.

Melanin extraction from black knot fungus


A process for the hydrogenation of a hydrocarbon feed includes contacting a major amount of the hydrocarbon feed with hydrogen in a counter-current manner in a first reaction zone under hydrogenation reaction conditions in the presence of a hydrogenation catalyst in at least a first catalyst bed wherein a liquid effluent exits at a bottom end of the first reaction zone and a hydrogen-containing gaseous effluent exits at a top end of the first reaction zone, and contacting a minor portion of the hydrocarbon feed with said hydrogen-containing gaseous effluent in a co-current manner in a second reaction zone having a catalyst bed positioned to receive the hydrogen-containing effluent of the first reaction zone.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a process for hydrogenation of a middle distillate feedstock such as diesel fuel to produce improved quality diesel product.
2. Background of the Art
Petroleum distillates including gas oils boiling in the range of from about 330° F. to about 800° F., including straight run gas oils, visbreaker thermally cracked gas oil, coker gas oil, and FCC light cycle gas oil, are treated to produce improved quality diesel fuels. The diesel fuel must meet certain specifications relative to sulfur, nitrogen, olefins and aromatics content, cetane index, boiling point (distillation) and gravity. More stringent regulations will require refiners to produce ultra low sulfur content diesel (ULSD) in the coming years. Generally, this will force refiners to produce 10-50 wppm or lower sulfur content diesel fuel.
Desulfurization of hydrocarbon feedstocks by hydrotreating is known, i.e., by reacting the feedstock with hydrogen under appropriate conditions to remove the sulfur in the form of hydrogen sulfide (H2S). With recent catalyst advancements, refiners can reduce the sulfur in the treated distillate product in the existing unit, but not enough to meet the pending regulations.
Many existing hydrotreaters which are currently producing diesel fuel with sulfur levels greater than 50 wppm will require revamping and/or implementation of new units. To achieve the required diesel fuel specifications, it is necessary to treat the distillate feedstock in order to affect the chemical and physical properties of the distillates. The catalyst type and operating severity are a function of the desired diesel fuel specifications. The processing requires hydrogenation with an appropriate catalyst or a combination of different catalyst systems over a hydrogen rich environment. For sulfur, nitrogen, olefins and aromatics reduction, deep hydrogenation is required. For cetane and/or gravity improvement, both deep hydrogenation and selective ring opening is required.
Prior practice conventional processing schemes to revamp existing hydrotreaters to produce ultra low sulfur diesel will typically add a new co-current reactor in series or parallel with the existing reactor to implement additional catalyst volume. In addition, this type of revamp scheme poses significant modifications and/or replacement of existing equipment items in the high pressure reaction loop including, major piping/heat exchanger, amine scrubber, and recycle compressor. All of these existing unit modifications will result in major capital investment and down time.

Hydrogenation of middle distillate using a counter-current reactor


A front liquid crystal display projector includes a housing having an exhaust port and a projection opening, an optical block, installed in the housing, having a light source, a reflection mirror, a light separator, an image display unit using liquid crystal, an image combining unit, a projection lens, and an exhaust fan installed between the light source and the exhaust port. The reflection mirror changes the direction of the light from the light source, and the projection lens and the light source are disposed parallel to each other. The exhaust port and the projection opening are provided at a first side of the housing. An image formed by the optical block is projected from the first side and from the projection opening, and air in the housing is discharged from the exhaust port and also from the first side. In addition, the exhaust port prevents stray light from the light source, which exits the exhaust port, from overlapping the image projected from the projection opening.

With the advancement of video display devices using liquid crystal panels or the like, there has been a great deal of development. Front liquid crystal display projectors have been part of this development.
For example, Japanese Laid-open Patent 5-2215 discloses a projection type liquid crystal display device for decreasing the effects of light leaking from a light source lamp, exhaust hot air from a cooling fan, and fan noise all directed towards a viewer. In the projection type liquid crystal display disclosed in Japanese Laid-open Patent 5-2215, an exhaust port is formed at a position which is opposite the projection direction side where the projection lens is situated. In such a conventional constitution, however, there is a problem in that the air heated by the light source lamp is discharged to the viewer side through the exhaust port. Yet, attempts to prevent light leaking from the light source lamp, hot air, and noise all being directed to the viewer were not sufficient.

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


An optical waveguide of the present invention includes: an optical material; an optical waveguide layer formed in the optical material; and a cladding layer formed on a surface of the optical waveguide layer, wherein the optical waveguide layer is capable of guiding a light beam having a wavelength of .lambda.1 and a light beam having a wavelength of .lambda.2 (.lambda.1>.lambda.2) therethrough, and a refractive index and a thickness of the cladding layer are determined so as to satisfy a guiding condition for the light beam having the wavelength of .lambda.2 and a cutoff condition for the light beam having the wavelength of .lambda.1.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical waveguide used for optical information processing and applied optic measurement, which utilize a coherent light source, a wavelength conversion device employing such an optical waveguide, and methods for fabricating the optical waveguide and the wavelength conversion device.
2. Description of the Related Art
An optical waveguide enjoys general uses in a wide range of fields such as communications, optical information processing and optic measurement as an optical wavelength control technique. If the optical waveguide is applied to an optical wavelength conversion device, a small-sized short-wavelength light source capable of converting a wavelength of a laser beam (a fundamental wave) emitted from a semiconductor laser by using the optical wavelength conversion device so as to obtain light having a short wavelength (a second-harmonic wave) is realized. Therefore, active studies have been made on such an optical waveguide.
A buried type optical waveguide has been generally utilized as a conventional optical waveguide. FIGS. 1A to 1D are cross-sectional views illustrating a conventional method for fabricating the buried type optical waveguide through a proton exchange treatment for exchanging proton ions (+H) and a thermal treatment.
More specifically, as shown in FIG. 1A, a Ta (tantalum) layer 12 having a strip-like opening is formed on a surface (+C face) of a LiTaO.sub.3 substrate 11. The Ta layer 12 serves to mask the surface of the LiTaO.sub.2 substrate 11 except for a predetermined region.
Next, the LiTaO.sub.3 substrate 11 masked with the Ta layer 12 is thermally treated with pyrophosphoric acid at a temperature between about 220.degree. C. and about 300.degree. C. As a result, a region 13 which is subjected to a proton exchange treatment (hereinafter, also referred to as "proton-exchanged region") is formed in the vicinity of the surface of the exposed part of the LiTaO.sub.3 substrate 11 as shown in FIG. 1B.
Subsequently, the Ta layer 12 is immersed into a mixed solution of hydrofluoric acid and nitric acid at a ratio of 1:2, thereby removing the Ta layer 12 as shown in FIG. 1C.
Thereafter, the LiTaO.sub.3 substrate 11 is annealed so as to form an annealed proton-exchanged layer 14 as shown in FIG. 1D. The resulting formed annealed proton-exchanged layer 14 functions as a buried type optical waveguide.
On the other hand, an optical wavelength conversion device employing a ridge type optical waveguide structure in order to enhance a light confinement efficiency is disclosed, for example, in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 1-238631.
FIG. 2A shows an example of the structure of a conventional optical wavelength conversion device including such a ridge type optical waveguide 22. As can be appreciated from FIG. 2A, the surface of the optical waveguide 22 formed on a LiNbO.sub.3 substrate 21 is processed into a ridge shape. More specifically, as shown in FIG. 2B which is a cross-sectional view taken along a line 2B--2B of FIG. 2A, a portion 22a through which light is guided (that is, a ridge portion) has a thickness d greater than a thickness h of a side portion 22b. As a result of providing a ridge portion serving as the waveguide portion 22a of light for the optical waveguide 22, lateral light confinement is enhanced so as to increase the power density of a fundamental wave within the optical waveguide 22, thereby realizing the improvement of a conversion efficiency from a fundamental wave into a second-harmonic wave.
Furthermore, regarding the structure of the optical wavelength conversion device shown in FIG. 2A, a light input portion 23 for the LiNbO.sub.3 substrate 21 is configured so that a thickness of the optical waveguide portion 22 is thicker than that of the other part in the vicinity of an end face 24 from which a fundamental wave P1 enters. As shown in FIG. 2C which is a cross-sectional view taken along a line 2C--2C shown in FIG. 2A, after the fundamental wave P1 entering the LiNbO.sub.3 substrate 21 from the end face 24 through the light input portion 23 is subjected to a wavelength conversion into a second-harmonic wave P2, the second-harmonic wave P2 goes out from a light output portion 25 toward the outside of the LiNbO.sub.3 substrate 21.
Furthermore, for example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 61-94031 discloses an optical wavelength conversion device utilizing a strip-loaded optical waveguide. FIG. 3 shows an example of the structure of such an optical wavelength conversion device.
More specifically, an optical waveguide 32 is formed on a LiNbO.sub.3 substrate 31 by proton exchange. On the optical waveguide 32, a stripe-shaped cladding layer (strip-loaded layer) 33 made of SiO.sub.2, having a lower refractive index than that of the optical waveguide 32, is formed. Since the resulting structured strip-loaded optical waveguide has a low loss, an optical wavelength conversion device for converting the fundamental wave P1 into the second-harmonic wave P2 with high efficiency is realized.
In addition, the following method for forming a ridge type waveguide on a LiNbO.sub.3 substrate has been reported.
Since LiNbO.sub.3 is a mechanically and chemically stable material and is thus hardly etched, the etching selectivity to a resist is small. Therefore, it is generally difficult to deeply etch the surface of a LiNbO.sub.3 substrate. However, an etching rate for an LiNbO.sub.3 substrate, which is subjected to a proton exchange treatment, is increased to be several times that of an untreated substrate. By utilizing this phenomenon, a method for fabricating a ridge type optical waveguide as follows has been proposed. A LiNbO.sub.3 substrate serving as a C plate is thermally treated in an appropriate acid so as to form a proton-exchanged layer thereon. Then, a stripe-shaped Ti protection mask layer is formed on the resulting formed proton-exchanged layer by photolithography. Thereafter, an unmasked region is etched by ECR etching. Then, the Ti protection mask layer is removed. Both end faces of the optical waveguide are optically polished, thereby forming a light input portion and a light output portion.
FIG. 4 shows another structure of an optical wavelength conversion device utilizing a buried type optical waveguide. A proton-exchanged optical waveguide 42 is formed on an LiNbO.sub.3 substrate 41. On the proton-exchanged optical waveguide 42, a cladding layer (strip-loaded layer) 43 made of TiO.sub.2 having a refractive index higher than that of the optical waveguide 42 is formed. A plurality of domain-inverted layers 44 are formed so as to perpendicularly cross the optical waveguide 42 in a periodic manner. A fundamental wave P1 entering the structure from the light input portion 45 overlaps the domain-inverted layers 44 while propagating through the optical waveguide 42. The fundamental wave P1 is converted into a second-harmonic wave P2, and the second-harmonic wave P2 then goes out from the light output portion 46.
FIGS. 5A and 5B schematically show the overlapping relationship between a guide mode of the optical waveguide 42 and the domain inverted layers 44. FIG. 5A shows the case where the cladding layer (strip-loaded layer) 43 is not provided, while FIG. 5B shows the case where the cladding layer 43 is provided. In each of FIGS. 5A and 5B, a cross-sectional structure of the optical wavelength conversion device is shown on the left, and an electric field distribution of the propagating light in a depth direction of the cross-section of the optical waveguide is shown on the right.
In the configuration shown in FIG. 5A which does not have a cladding layer, merely about half (a hatched area of the electric field distribution shown in FIG. 5A on the right) of propagating light (fundamental wave P1) overlaps the domain-inverted layers 44 to be converted into a harmonic wave. Therefore, the resultant harmonic wave output is not as high as expected. On the other hand, in the configuration shown in FIG. 5B having the cladding layer 43 with a high refractive index on the optical waveguide 42, a major part (a hatched area of the electric field distribution shown in FIG. 5B on the right) of propagating light (fundamental wave P1 ) overlaps the domain-inverted layers 44. Thus, the optical wavelength conversion device for converting the fundamental wave P1 into the second-harmonic wave P2 at a high efficiency is realized.
When the optical waveguide is used in combination with the optical wavelength conversion device, the degree of overlap between waveguide modes (the fundamental wave and the second-harmonic wave) is an important factor for realizing an optical wavelength conversion device with high efficiency. More specifically, as the degree of overlap between the electric field distribution of the fundamental wave and that of the second-harmonic wave becomes greater, a conversion efficiency of the optical wavelength conversion device increases. In order to increase the degree of overlap between the electric field distribution of the fundamental wave and that of the second-harmonic wave so as to realize an optical wave-length conversion device with high efficiency, a refractive index distribution of the optical waveguide has a stepwise pattern.
With the conventional method for fabricating the buried type optical waveguide through a proton exchange treatment and a thermal treatment as described above, however, the resultant optical waveguide has a graded refractive index distribution. That is, the refractive index becomes maximum in the vicinity of the surface and gradually decreases in a depth direction depending on a thermal diffusion state of the proton. With such a refractive index distribution, it is difficult to realize an optical wavelength conversion device with high efficiency because the electric field distribution of the guided fundamental wave greatly differs from that of the second-harmonic wave. By this conventional method, a refractive index distribution of the optical waveguide cannot be arbitrarily controlled.
Moreover, in a conventional buried type optical waveguide, optical damage tends to occur due to light leakage in the peripheral region of the optical waveguide. Thus, it is difficult to guide light with high power density so as to generate a second-harmonic wave with high output.
In the structure having a cladding layer, a high efficiency is intended to be realized by enhancing the light confinement of the optical waveguide. More specifically, by moving a mode distribution (a fundamental mode) of guided light propagating through the optical waveguide toward the vicinity of the surface by cladding layer, the degree of overlap between domain-inverted regions and a fundamental wave of a fundamental mode or a second-harmonic wave of a fundamental mode is intended to be improved.
Although in the conventional structure, the degree of overlap between the domain-inverted regions and the waveguide mode is increased, the degree of overlap between the fundamental wave and the second-harmonic wave, which has the greatest effect on a conversion efficiency, is not increased. Therefore, an improvement of the conversion efficiency is limited. This results from the limitation of an increase in the degree of overlap between the waveguide modes of the fundamental wave and the harmonic wave because the distributions of the waveguide modes in the optical waveguide greatly differ from each other due to a difference in wavelength.
Furthermore, since the area in which the fundamental wave and the second-harmonic wave does not overlap is large, a second-harmonic wave output may be unstable due to the occurrence of an optical damage.
On the other hand, in a conventional optical wavelength conversion device using a ridge type optical waveguide, the power density is increased by a light confinement effect of the optical waveguide to improve a conversion efficiency. However, an increase in the confinement effect by the ridge type optical waveguide for a fundamental wave is achieved solely in a lateral direction. The confinement effect is not improved in a depth direction. Thus, the degree of overlap between the fundamental wave and the second-harmonic wave, which has the greatest effect on a conversion efficiency, is not achieved with the ridge type structure (particularly, in a depth direction). Therefore, an improvement of the conversion efficiency is limited.


The present invention provides nucleic acid molecules encoding mutant fluorescent proteins as well as proteins encoded by these nucleic acids. In addition, host-cells, stable cell lines and transgenic organisms comprising the above-referenced nucleic acid molecules are provided. The subject protein and nucleic acid compositions find use in a variety of different applications and methods, particularly for labeling of biomolecules, cells, or cell organelles.

Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP) from the hydromedusa Aequorea victoria (synonym A. A.), described by Johnson et al. in J Cell Comp Physiol. (1962), 60:85-104, was found as a part of bioluminescent system of the jellyfish where GFP played the role of a secondary emitter transforming blue light from the photoprotein aequorin into green light.
cDNA encoding A. victoria GFP was cloned by Prasher et al. (Gene, 1992, V. 111 (2), pp. 229-233). It turned out that this gene can be heterologically expressed in practically any organism due to unique ability of GFP to form a fluorophore by itself (Chalfie et al., Gene (1992), 111(2):229-233). This finding opens broad perspectives for use of GFP in cell biology as a genetically encoded fluorescent label.
A great deal of research is being performed to improve the properties of GFP and to produce GFP reagents useful and optimized for a variety of research purposes. New versions of GFP have been developed, such as a "humanized" GFP DNA, the protein product of which has increased synthesis in mammalian cells (Haas, et al., Current Biology 1996, V. 6, pp. 315-324; Yang, et al., Nucleic Acids Research 1996, V. 24, pp. 4592-4593). One such humanized protein is "enhanced green fluorescent protein" (EGFP). Other mutations to GFP have resulted in blue-, cyan- and yellow-green light emitting versions. Also, GFP variants with improved folding and cellular fluorescence under incubation at 37° C. have been obtained. Useful A. victoria GFP mutants are described in detail in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,491,084, 5,625,048, 5,777,079, 5,804,387, 6,090,919, 5,874,304, 5,968,750, 6,020,192, 6,027,881, 6,046,925, 6,054,321, 6,066,476, 6,096,865, 6,146,826, 6,414,119, 6,638,732, 6,699,687, 6,803,188, 6,077,707, 6,124,128, 6,172,188, 6,818,443, 6,194,548, 6,265,548, 6,319,669, 6,403,374, 6,593,135, 6,800,733, 6,780,975, 6,852,849, and 6,919,186.
GFP homologs from different species including Anthozoa and Arthropoda were isolated (Matz et al., Nature Biotechnol. 1999, V. 17, pp. 969-973; Shagin et al., Mol Biol Evol. 2004, V. 21(5), pp. 841-850). A number of biological and biomedical applications of these proteins are discussed in detail by Lippincott-Schwartz and Patterson in Science, 2003, V. 300(5616), pp. 87-91. Also, close homologues of A. victoria GFP were isolated from other jellyfishes the of Aequorea genus including A. macrodactyla green fluorescent protein, GFPxm (Xia et al., Mar Biotechnol 2002, V. 4(2), pp. 155-62) and A. coerulescens GFP-like protein, AcGFPL (Gurskaya et al., Biochem J. (2003), 373(Pt 2): 403-408).
A. macrodactyla GFPxm shares 83% identity with A. victoria GFP. Wild type GFPxm is not useful as a fluorescent marker in cell-based assays because of a low maturation speed at 37° C. Modification of GFPxm to optimize its maturation speed at temperatures of 35-39° C. provide a means for detecting the reporter in mammalian cells at lower levels of expression and/or increased sensitivity relative to wild type GFPxm. This greatly improves the usefulness of the GFPxm in studying cellular functions in living cells.

Modified green fluorescent proteins and methods for using same


The present invention provides an image reading device, an image printing system and image forming device in which variation in light intensity caused by the continuous lighting time of an exposure lamp serving as a light source for reading an original is prevented, a read image is prevented from deteriorating and wasteful power consumption is prevented. The exposure lamp is turned off after a predetermined time has passed from a time when the original finishes passing through a reading position or the original is conveyed to a standby position. Alternatively, the exposure lamp is turned off without setting the predetermined time in a group-copy mode.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming device such as a copying machine, a printer, a facsimile, a multi-function device which combines all these functions, and the like, and an image reading device employed in the image forming device which reads an original that has been automatically conveyed thereto.
2. Background Information
Conventionally, an image reading device which reads an image of an original being automatically conveyed from a predetermined original tray to a conveyance path by an automatic conveying device is well-known. In addition, some image forming devices are provided with an image reading device.
A halogen lamp, a xenon lamp, a fluorescent lamp or the like is generally used as a light source of an exposure lamp for reading an image in the image reading device. However, it is known that the light intensity of such light source varies with elapsed lighting time. The term "elapsed lighting time" has two meanings: the cumulative lighting time, and the total time from the point in which the light is turned on until the light is turned off. In the former situation, the light intensity varies due to deterioration of the exposure lamp, and in the latter situation, the light intensity varies because of an increase in temperature upon the lighting of the exposure lamp.
In situations where a plurality of originals (e.g., a document having a plurality of pages) are continuously read, the exposure lamp is kept on. However, if the light intensity varies as described above, the image data will also vary depending on the original, and thus suitable image data cannot be output. Furthermore, the exposure lamp is kept on after the previously read original is read until the next original is read, that is, the exposure lamp is on even when it is not necessary. As a result, the exposure lamp needlessly deteriorates and power is wasted.
Shading correction may be performed as a method of eliminating the influence of the variation in light intensity on the image data. In addition, in order to eliminate unnecessary lighting of the exposure lamp, controlling the image reading device such that the exposure lamp is turned off at a predetermined timing has been attempted.
In addition, in situations in which a large memory capacity is required for color originals and the like, because it will take time to transfer image data in an image memory to a hard disk, or to maintain the image memory for reading after printing is completed, a period of time will elapse from the point at which reference data is obtained for shading correction until the point at which the reading is actually started. An image reading device described in Japanese unexamined patent publication number 2002-330269 tries to solve this type of problem. In other words, because the light intensity will vary after the reference data is obtained in the above situation, in this image reading device, after shading correction, the exposure lamp will be turned off when the cumulative time needed to read an original exceeds a predetermined time, and a shading correction will be performed again at the point at which an original is to be read.
One of the printing modes in an image forming device is a group-copy mode. In the group-copy mode, each time an original set on an original tray of the image reading device is automatically conveyed and read, a predetermined number of pages of image data that corresponds to the original will be printed. In the group-copy mode, because each original will be printed, only one page of image data will be stored in the image memory at a time. Therefore, the image memory can be reduced in situations in which an original has a large number of pages, or when color images or high image quality is required. However, in the group-copy mode, after image data for a particular original is read and output to the image memory, the exposure lamp will be kept on while a predetermined number of pages are printed even though the reading of the next original has not started.
In addition, in some image forming devices, when there are originals that have a large number of pages, image data will be printed every time a predetermined number of pages of the original are read. In this situation as well, because only image data for a predetermined number of pages are stored in the image memory, the image memory required can be reduced. However, the exposure lamp will be kept on while the image data for the predetermined number of pages stored in the image memory is printed, and until the reading of the next predetermined number of pages is started. Here, in situations in which there are two or more printing units, the exposure lamps will be on for an unnecessarily long period of time.
This is true not only in situations in which the image data is to be printed, but also in situations in which other image data processing, such as facsimile transmission, is to be performed, and situations in which image data is to be registered in a database of a server and the like. In other words, the same problem will occur in situations in which: (1) every time an original is read, the corresponding image data is simultaneously transmitted to a plurality of facsimile devices (simultaneously registered in a plurality of databases); (2) every time a predetermined number of pages of an original are read, the image data is transmitted to a facsimile device (registered in a database); and (3) every time a predetermined number of pages of an original are read, the image data is simultaneously transmitted to a plurality of facsimile devices (simultaneously registered in a plurality of databases).
In addition, while a plurality of originals are continuously read and the image data is processed (printed, transmitted to a facsimile or registered in a database), there will be situations when the exposure lamp is needlessly kept on due to the processing means of the image forming device. More specifically, in situations in which a lack of toner is detected, in situations in which a facsimile calls, in situations in which a connection confirmation to a server is performed, in situations in which the device enters a periodic image processing adjustment mode (e.g., current adjustment for the charging device, toner density adjustment, fixing temperature adjustment, etc.), and the like.
Therefore, the exposure lamp is kept on for a long period of time due to the aforementioned image data processing mode and the aforementioned processing means, which causes image deterioration and increases power consumption. These problems are not solved in the image reading device described in Japanese unexamined patent publication number 2002-330269. In this prior art reference, because only the time needed to read an original is measured, in situations where the exposure lamp is kept on while no reading operation is being performed as described above, the exposure lamp will be unnecessarily kept on and the cumulative lighting time will increase.
The present invention is made in view of the above problems, and it is an object of thereof to provide an image reading device that controls variation in light intensity that occurs during the time in which an exposure lamp (a light source for reading an original) is lit, prevents deterioration of a read image, and prevents wasteful power consumption.
In addition, it is another object of the present invention to provide an image processing system and an image forming device that controls variation in light intensity that occurs during the time in which an exposure lamp (a light source for reading an original) is lit, prevents deterioration of a read image, and not only obtains suitable printed material, transmission data, or registration data, but also prevents wasteful power consumption.

Image reading device, image processing system and image forming device


The heater device has a sheet shaped main body having a heat generating portion heated by energization and a radiating surface for radiating radiant heat toward a heating object by using heat in the heat generating portion, a plate shaped member arranged on an opposite side with respect to the radiating surface of the main body, and an air layer forming member for forming an air layer between the main body and the plate shaped member arranged on a side opposite to the radiating surface of the main body.

A conventional heater device has a plurality of heat generating portions and a main body arranged so as to surround the heat generating portions. The main body has a lower heat conductive rate than the heat conductive rate of the heat generating portions. The heater device is described in Patent Literature 1. In the heater device, when an object contacts the heat generating portion, a temperature at contacted part rapidly reduced. When a human body touches the heat generating portion, a thermal discomfort to the human can be reduced. In this heater device, the detection portion for detecting a proximity or a contact of the object to the heat generating portion is provided integrally with the main body of the heater device. When the proximity or the contact of the object to the heat generating portion is detected by the detection portion, an output of the heater device is reduced or stopped.


An amplifier circuit includes a primary differential amplifier circuit connected to receive a differential input and provide a primary differential output with a first non-linearity. A secondary differential amplifier circuit is connected to receive the differential input. The secondary differential amplifier circuit is configured to generate a secondary differential output with a second non-linearity. The secondary differential output and the primary differential output are coupled together with opposing polarities such that the second non-linearity cancels out at least the first non-linearity.

Amplifiers are used to amplify electrical signals in a wide range of applications. In some arrangements, an amplifier may include two or more amplifier stages connected in series. Amplifier stages may include one or more amplifier stages including differential amplifier stages and single-output amplifier stages. An amplifier stage may have non-linear characteristics so that it does not amplify equally across its operating range. In amplifiers with two or more amplifier stages, overall non-linearity may be increased compared with a single-stage amplifier.

Amplifier with non-linearity cancellation


A method for treating a tumor by administering to a subject in need of such treatment an effective amount for treating the tumor of a Poxviridae decapping deficient mutant virus. Also disclosed are mutant Poxviridae and pharmaceutical formulations for use in the method.

Emergent biological therapies may command tremendous advantages over traditional cancer chemotherapy and radiation, whose efficacies are restricted by toxicity and resistance. Besides reduced toxicity and greater selectivity for tumor cells, new therapies reliant on multiple methods of cell killing distinct from conventional antineoplastic agents and capable of eliciting systemic anti-tumor immune responses promise durable cures and overall survival benefits. Capitalizing on their inherent ability to invade cells, reprogram them to produce infectious progeny, and spread, viruses can be tailored to selectively destroy tumor cells by modifying their genomes. The resulting engineered viruses are attenuated due to deletion of key virulence genes, yet retain the ability to replicate productively in and destroy cancer cells. Such variants, which do not cause disease but are selectively virulent in tumors are termed oncolytic viruses (OVs). Tumor destruction driven, in part, by active viral replication within cancer cells is referred to herein as viral oncolysis. In addition to direct oncolytic action, OVs stimulate systemic, anti-tumor immune responses and are likewise potent immuno-therapeutic agents on their own and in conjunction with immune checkpoint blockade immunotherapy (Zamarin et al., 2014; Zamarin & Wolchok, 2014).
To thwart production of host defense molecules and stimulate viral mRNA translation, viruses often subvert cellular mRNA decay pathways and manipulate Xrn1 (Gaglia and Glaunsinger, 2010; Read, 2013). While some RNA viruses circumvent Xrn1 action to preserve their genomic integrity (Chapman et al., 2014; Dougherty et al., 2011; Silva et al., 2010), others that produce m7GTP-capped mRNAs harness the mRNA exonucleolytic powers of Xrn1 to accelerate host and viral mRNA decay (Gaglia et al., 2012). Besides restricting host protein synthetic capabilities by reducing mRNA abundance, accelerating viral mRNA turnover sharpens transitions between different kinetic classes of temporally transcribed mRNAs and shapes the viral developmental gene expression profile (Kwong and Frenkel, 1987; Read and Frenkel, 1983). This is exemplified by mRNA endonucleases encoded by certain herpesviruses, which produce exposed 5′-monophosphate-containing RNA fragments that are degraded by Xrn1 (Covarrubias et al., 2011; Elgadi et al., 1999; Everly et al., 2002; Gaglia et al., 2012). Other viruses including influenza and coronaviruses also encode mRNA endonucleases (Jagger et al., 2012; Kamitani et al., 2006; Plotch et al., 1981); however a role for Xrn1 and the host decay machinery has only been shown for the SARS coronavirus nsp1 (Gaglia et al., 2012). In contrast, vaccinia virus (VacV) encodes two nudix domain-containing polypeptides related to the cellular Dcp2 decapping enzyme that accelerate mRNA turnover (Parrish and Moss, 2006, 2007; Parrish et al., 2007).
Decapping enzymes catalyze a reaction whereby the monomethyl guanosine cap (m7G) on the 5′-termini of eukaryotic mRNA is cleaved to generate a 5′-monophosphate mRNA. Poxviridae family members encode decapping enzymes that utilize both viral and host mRNAs as substrates. The prototypical Poxviridae family member Vaccinia virus (VACV) encodes two decapping enzymes, D9 and D10, each of which contains an approximately 23 amino acid conserved motif called the nudix hydrolase motif (or alternatively referred to as the MuT motif). This nudix hydrolase or MutT motif is found in a variety of pyrophosphatases and is a signature functional motif required for decapping enzyme activity (Koonin, 1993; Bessman et al, 1996; Dunckley & Parker, 1999; Van Dijk et al., 2002; Wang et al., 2002; Cohen et al., 2005; Parrish et al., 2007). Significantly, genes orthologous to VACV D9 and/or D10 that contain a nudix hydrolase or MutT motif are found in many Poxviridae family members.
As a large DNA virus that replicates exclusively within the cytoplasm, Poxviruses like VacV encode the components required to produce capped, polyadenylated mRNAs (Moss, 2013). A virus-encoded heterodimeric cap methyltransferase (Morgan et al., 1984; Niles et al., 1989; Shuman et al., 1980; Venkatesan et al., 1980) and a poly (A) polymerase (Gershon et al., 1991; Moss et al., 1975; Nevins and Joklik, 1977) effectively mark nascent mRNAs with structural features vital for their stability and capacity to be translated. These mRNAs accumulate in discrete subcellular replication compartments together with select host proteins, including translation initiation factors (Katsafanas and Moss, 2007; Walsh et al., 2008). Remarkably, the D9 and D10 open reading frames (ORFs) encode proteins that stimulate mRNA turnover in infected and uninfected cells and function as decapping enzymes in vitro (Parrish and Moss, 2006, 2007; Parrish et al., 2007). While D9 is expressed early in the viral lifecycle, D10 is expressed later and its expression correlates with the virus-induced suppression of host protein synthesis (Parrish and Moss, 2006). Indeed, the kinetics of host protein synthesis suppression was delayed in cells infected with a D10-deficient virus and a D10 mutant virus was attenuated for virulence in mice (Liu et al., 2014; Parrish and Moss, 2006). D10 may also regulate viral gene expression since it prefers m7GpppG over m7GpppA substrates in vitro and the latter are only found on intermediate and late genes (Parrish et al., 2007). While decapped mRNAs like those produced by D9/10 are posited targets for Xrn1, precisely how Xrn1 might impact infected cell biology has not been investigated. Disclosed herein is the discovery that Xrn1 plays an unexpected role in VacV biology, as all ongoing protein synthesis ceased in Xrn1-depleted primary human fibroblasts infected with VacV, severely restricting virus growth. This occurred prior to completion of the viral lifecycle and was exacerbated by the absence of D9 decapping enzyme. Moreover, it coincided with dsRNA accumulation and activation of host dsRNA-responsive defenses controlled by PKR, which phosphorylates and inactivates the critical translation initiation factor eIF2, and 2′-5′ oligoadenylate synthetase, which stimulates rRNA cleavage by RNase L. Significantly, Xrn1-depletion even sensitized uninfected cells to dsRNA treatment. Thus, a key host mRNA decay enzyme, Xrn1, is required to regulate cytoplasmic dsRNA accumulation and signaling through critical host dsRNA-responsive innate immune sensing pathways in uninfected and VacV infected cells. As VacV, like many viruses, encodes a dsRNA binding protein to limit dsRNA accumulation and signaling, it has now been found that the host Xrn1 functionally controls dsRNA homeostasis in infected cells, despite the presence of a viral dsRNA binding protein. This challenges existing notions regarding the potency of viral dsRNA antagonists.

Method of treatment using oncolytic viruses


A motor-generator utilizes a multi-part rotor encircling a stator, the rotor including a plurality of rotor segments.

Field of Invention
The present invention relates to an electric machine. In particular, a homopolar motor-generator is disclosed.
Discussion of the Related Art
Simple homopolar motors have been known since discovery of the Faraday motor in 1831. In Faraday's invention, a current carrying wire hanging alongside a bar magnet included in the circuit revolves about the magnet due to interaction of the two magnetic fields. Faraday's motor illustrates "Lorentz forces" which are at right angles to both the direction in which a charged particle is moving and the direction of an applied magnetic field. The simple application of the Lorentz force equation ('crossing' the direction, v, of the current into the direction, B, of the magnetic field) yields a rotational force.
Homopolar motors and homopolar motor-generators ("homopolar machines") are not widely used in practice and have not generally been the subject of academic research or industrial development. Explanations for this paucity of interest in homopolar motors likely includes the homopolar motor's use of only half of the magnetic flux density resulting in a machine that has twice the volume of competing machines such as synchronous reluctance machines.


Amphiphilic macromolecules having structural units to adjust molecular weight and molecular weight distribution and charging property effects, high stereo-hindrance structural units, and amphiphilic structural units, are suitable for fields such as oil field well drilling, well cementation fracturing, oil gathering and transfer, sewage treatment, sludge treatment and papermaking, etc., and can be used as an oil-displacing agent for enhanced oil production, a heavy oil viscosity reducer, a fracturing fluid, a clay stabilizing agent, a sewage treatment agent, a papermaking retention and drainage aid or a reinforcing agent, etc.

Chemical process is an important Enhanced Oil Recovery technology for intensified oil production, and the chemical flooding is one of the most effective and potential measures, which is especially represented by polymer flooding. However, there arise some problems in the polymer system for conventional flooding with the deep implementation of polymer flooding technology. Under reservoir conditions of high temperature and high salinity, the viscosifying capacity and thermal stability of the widely used partially hydrolyzed polyacrylamide polymer reduces rapidly; in the meantime, the polyacrylamide polymer does not have the surface/interfacial reactivity per se, and could not start the oil film effectively, so that its ability to mine the remaining oil is limited. The polymer-based binary-component composite system (polymer/surfactant) and triple-component system (polymer/surfactant/alkali) may enhance the emulsification stability of the crude oil produced fluid, resulting in increased difficulty in oil/water separation and sewage treatment, as well as the weakening of synergistic effect between the components of the system under reservoir conditions, and also it may damage the reservoir. The application of the composite system is thus restricted.
Heavy oil recovery is a common difficulty around the world, mainly because the heavy oil is high in viscosity, high in gum asphaltene content or wax content, thus, the heavy oil is does not easily flow in the formation, wellbore and oil pipeline. Furthermore, since the oil-water mobility ratio is big, it can easily cause many problems such as rapid water breakthrough, high water content of produced fluid, and easy formation sand production. The process for heavy oil recovery can be mainly divided into recovery of liquid flooding (e.g., hot water flooding, steam huff and puff, steam flood and so on) and recovery of yield enhancement (e.g., horizontal well, compositing branched well, electric heating and etc). A Chemical viscosity reducer can disperse and emulsify the heavy oil effectively, reduces the viscosity of the heavy oil remarkably and decreases the flow resistance on heavy oil in the formation and wellbore, which is significantly important for reducing energy consumption in the process of recovery, decreasing discharging pollution and enhancing heavy oil recovery.

Amphiphilic macromolecule and the purpose of this amphiphilic macromolecule

BEIJING JUNLUN RUNZHONG SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY CO., LIMITED


A “Spatial Navigator” provides a document navigation environment that leverages user spatial memory. Graphical thumbnail-type representations (“thumbnails”) provide scaled versions of entire documents. Changes to documents are immediately reflected in corresponding thumbnails. Similarly, document search results are highlighted in corresponding thumbnails. One or more dynamic document selection windows present arrangements of a plurality of these thumbnails for user selection and interaction. Each dynamic document selection window provides real-time inter-file navigation by allowing user selection and opening of documents, or any location or portion of a document, through user interaction with the corresponding thumbnail. Once a document is opened, intra-file navigation is enhanced by providing another scaled version of the entire document in a dynamic scrollbar adjacent to a primary document editing/viewing window. Selection of any point within this scrollbar-based thumbnail causes an immediate jump to the corresponding document location in the primary document editing/viewing window.

1. Technical Field
The invention is related to document navigation, and in particular, to a technique for providing a plurality of dynamic real-time graphical representations of documents for selection and navigation of those documents.
2. Related Art
Users accessing documents, such as a large text document or an application source code file, typically spend a large fraction of their time navigating around the document looking for particular parts of the document. In general, such navigation is accomplished using any of several different techniques. Examples of these navigation techniques include: opening, switching between, and scrolling within tabbed documents; clicking on (selecting) items or documents in hierarchical overviews; clicking on source code entities (e.g., hyperlinks to entity definitions); and issuing textual queries or structural queries (find instances, find definitions, find callers, find all references, etc.), then jumping to the query results.
Navigation time problems have been observed in a number of software productivity studies. For example, in one study involving software developers modifying a 500-line computer program, the software developers spent an average of 35% of their task time navigating the source code, looking for particular elements of that code to modify. A similar study involving modification of a 3000-line computer program found that time spent in navigating the code played a large role in the participants' poor task completion rates. In both studies, experienced programmers had difficulty navigating around programs of very modest size. It is expected that this type of navigation problem will consume greater amounts of time as the size of the document increases, and as multiple related or unrelated documents are navigated.
One reason why conventional document navigation techniques are inefficient is that typical user interface (UI) mechanisms require some knowledge of symbol or file names. For example, to open a file requires knowing its name; to click on a computer program method in a class overview requires knowing the name of the method, its containing class and the class's containing namespace; to find an object using a search requires knowing the name of the sought object or a nearby object. The number of symbols in even a modest computer program can quickly overwhelm a developer's working memory, causing confusion and false navigation steps.

Dynamic thumbnails for document navigation


With a view to providing an X-ray irradiator capable of detecting a relative rotational angle of a collimator box with respect to an X-ray tube, the X-ray irradiator comprises: an X-ray tube having a flange formed around an X-ray output window; a collimator box having an entry plate formed with an X-ray incidence window, the collimator box accommodating a collimator in the interior thereof; a ring provided on the entry plate so as to surround the X-ray incidence window, the ring receiving therein the flange of the X-ray tube and having a plurality of slots formed radially through the ring; a plurality of tongue pieces being inserted through the slots from outside to inside of the ring and holding down a back side of the flange; and sensor device provided inside the flange to detect a relative rotational angle of the collimator box with respect to the flange.

The present invention relates to an X-ray irradiator and an X-ray imaging apparatus. Particularly, the present invention is concerned with an X-ray irradiator for irradiation of X-rays from an X-ray tube through a collimator, as well as an X-ray imaging apparatus using the X-ray irradiator.
In an X-ray imaging apparatus, X-rays are radiated to a subject while limiting an irradiation field by means of a collimator. The collimator is housed within a collimator box attached to an X-ray tube (see, for example, Patent Literature 1).
[Patent Literature 1] Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2003-61941 (page 3, FIG. 1)
A certain object requires to be photographed in an appropriately rotated state of a collimator box relative to an X-ray tube. When the collimator box is rotated, a frame of a display image also rotates. For correcting this state to obtain an erected image frame constantly, it is necessary to detect a rotational angle of the collimator box.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

X-ray irradiator and X-ray imaging apparatus

GE Medical Systems Global Technology Company, LLC


Disclosed is a method for preparing a biodegradable polymer in the form of uniform powder or spherical particles by dispersion polymerization without a grinding step. The method for preparing a biodegradable polyester includes dispersing a monomer in the presence of a catalyst in a dispersion solvent to form a solid or liquid phase for dispersion polymerization and thereby to yield a biodegradable aliphatic polyester in the form of spherical particles or powder, the monomer comprising a mixture of a first compound (e.g., lactide or glycolide) and a second compound being selected from the group consisting of polyhydric alcohols (e.g., glycerin, erythritol, penterythritol or dipentaerythritol) and carprolactone. The present invention readily prepares a biodegradable polymer having a high molecular weight in the form of uniform powder or spherical particles.

Biodegradable polymers are now attracting considerable attention, due to their peculiar characteristics related to degradability, in various fields of industry such as medical, agricultural and environmental fields and being considered to be of a great value particularly in the medical and environmental fields.
Biodegradable polymers are largely classified into natural biodegradable polymers and synthetic biodegradable polymers. Natural biodegradable polymers synthesized from naturally occurring substances are very environment-friendly and excellent in physical performance and biological adaptability. But the natural biodegradable polymers are very expensive and uncontrollable in regard to properties, since they are originated from natural substances.
On the other hand, synthetic biodegradable polymers are recently considered to be of a great commercial value because they are controllable in properties, unlike natural biodegradable polymers.
Among the synthetic biodegradable polymers, polyglycolide (PGA) and polylactide (PLA) are particularly excellent in performance and applied for various uses in the medical field due to their environment-friendliness and innoxiousness to living bodies. For example, they have been developed and used for DDS (Drug Delivery System), bone- or tissue-fixing pins, screws or stitching fibers, and so forth.
But the solid process of these polymers may result in non-uniformity of properties, deterioration of workability. Particularly, the polymers prepared in the massive solid state are to be grinded in proper size prior to a forming process, and the polymer grinding step is difficult to perform in the case of mass production on a commercial scale.
For some uses, such as DDS, the polymers are to be controllable in the type and size of particles for the sake of controlling the release rate of drugs. To solve this problem, many studies have been made on the preparation methods for minutely controlling the dissolution-extraction process of the polymer using solvent and non-solvent conditions, for example, by SAS (Supercritical Anti-Solvent) method. But these preparation methods are incomplete in that the polymer is uncontrollable in molecular weight and particle size and the production yield is extremely low.

Method for preparing biodegradable polyester and itself prepared thereby


Methods and compositions for reducing or preventing the proliferation of vascular smooth muscle cells are provided. The method involves the step of administering an isolated GATA-6 molecule to a subject to prevent or reduce vascular smooth muscle cell proliferation. The isolated GATA-6 molecule can be a GATA-6 nucleic acid or a GATA-6 protein.

Arteriosclerosis is a disease that is characterized by a thickening and hardening of regions of an arterial wall. A particular type of arteriosclerosis is atherosclerosis, which affects the large arteries and is often the basis for coronary artery disease, aortic aneurysm, arterial disease of the lower extremities, and cerebrovascular disease. Atherosclerosis is characterized by the formation of fibrous plaques that contain a large number of smooth muscle cells, macrophages, collagen, extracellular lipid, and necrotic cell debris. The accumulation of material in a fibrous plaque results in narrowing of the blood vessel lumen which, in turn, restricts arterial blood flow. When the fibrous plaques become sufficiently large to block blood flow completely, the organs that are supplied by the artery undergo ischemia and necrosis. The accumulation of fibrous plaques also weaken the artery, an event which frequently results in rupture of the intima, aneurysm and hemorrhage. Moreover, fragments of the fibrous plaque may detach and form arterial emboli that can precipitate an aortic aneurysm or arterial disease of the lower extremities.
To date, the most frequently used methods for treating atherosclerosis include surgical procedures, drug therapies, and combinations of the foregoing. In general, the drug therapies for treating atherosclerosis are designed to prevent or reduce the accumulation of plaque material. For example, drugs such as diuretics, anti-adrenergic agents, vasodilators, angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, renin inhibitors, and calcium channel antagonists have been used to treat conditions such as hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and hypercholesterolemia, which contribute to the development of atherosclerosis. Surgical methods for treating atherosclerosis include coronary bypass surgery, atherectomy, laser procedures, ultrasonic procedures, and balloon angioplasty. Such methods involve significant risk (e.g., of infection, death) to the patient and, even if successful, fibrous plaque formation frequently occurs at the site of vascular anastomoses, causing reocclusion of the surgically-treated vessel.
In view of the foregoing, a need still exists for improved drug therapies to replace or supplement the existina methods for treating atherosclerosis and related conditions that are mediated by fibrous plaque formation. Preferably, such drug therapies would be designed to reduce or prevent plaque formation at its earliest stages.

GATA-6 transcription factor: compositions and methods


A power converter includes a rectifier and a power factor corrector. The rectifier is to be coupled to an alternating current power source and is configured to output a rectified signal. The power factor corrector includes a correcting circuit and a control circuit. The correcting circuit receives the rectified signal and is configured to generate an output voltage based on the rectified signal and a driving signal. The control circuit is configured to generate a first to-be-compared signal based on the rectified signal, to generate a second to-be-compared signal based on the output voltage, to compare the first and second to-be-compared signals, and to generate the driving signal based on a result of comparison performed thereby.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a power converter, more particularly to a power converter that is implemented with power factor correction capabilities.
2. Description of the Related Art
Typically, a conventional power converter includes a bridge rectifier disposed to receive an alternating current (AC) power signal for outputting a rectified signal, and a power factor corrector (PFC) coupled to the bridge rectifier. The effect of the PFC is to address unwanted harmonic distortion resulting from non-linear characteristics of the bridge rectifier, thereby minimizing the adverse effect of the harmonic distortion on a power factor of the power converter.
FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary PFC using an average-current-mode control configuration. In operation, a divided rectified voltage (Vrec2) is fed to a computing circuit 91 for obtaining a first value based on a square of root-mean-square (RMS) value of the divided rectified voltage (Vrec2). The computing circuit 91 is also configured to obtain a second value by multiplying the voltage VEAO and the current (IAC), and to obtain a third value through dividing the second value by the first value. The third value is then used to control switching of a transistor (Q) between conducting and non-conducting states. As a result, a current (IL) flowing through an inductor (L) can be modified to have a phase that tracks that of voltage (Vrec1), thereby reducing the harmonic distortion and increasing the power factor of the power converter.
However, implementation of the computing circuit 91 may be relatively burdensome, due to the complexity of the circuits needed for the arithmetic operations, and the number of arithmetic operations involved. Additionally, it is required that the computing circuit 91 have a high linearity, in order to ensure proper handling of signals in various frequency bands.
It is also known that, after being modified by the PFC in FIG. 1, the current (IL) flowing through the inductor (L) may end up having a sawtooth waveform (e.g., as shown by the broken lines in FIG. 2). While the sawtooth waveform may be filtered out using a low-pass filter disposed between the resistors (Rs) and (RM1) (not shown in the drawings), the presence of the low-pass filter introduces a phase delay on a non-inverting input terminal of an amplifier 95, which may offset the effect of the PFC.

Power converter and power factor corrector thereof


Disclosed is a data storage architecture that provides data regeneration following the failure of two storage domains and that provides conversion for RAID-6 to RAID-5 or RAID-0 without moving or copying any data. A storage grid comprising at least eight domains and twelve rows contains user data in a first contiguous portion and may contain row parity data in a second continuous portion and may contain vertical parity data in a third contiguous portion. In one embodiment data is arranged in row and vertical sets each comprising four data blocks such that each user data block is a member of one row set and is a member of one vertical set. In another embodiment sets comprise two blocks each.

a. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains generally to data storage and more specifically to a data storage format and method that preserves data integrity in the event of failure of two storage domains.
b. Description of the Background
Data storage systems can comprise an array of disc drives connected to one or more disc array controllers using one or more buses. Disc array controllers may be connected to one or more host systems using one or more buses. Data storage formats, such as RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Discs), may be employed to distribute user data and redundant information across multiple drives such that if a drive fails, user data may be copied, regenerated, or reconstructed (regenerated and copied to another drive) from remaining operating drives.
RAID levels include RAID-0, RAID-1, RAID-5 and RAID-6. RAID-0 provides no data redundancy. RAID-1 provides mirrored copies of stored data. RAID-5 employs a parity data block calculated from a plurality of data blocks. RAID-6 employs two-level parity such that data may be reconstructed in the event of two drive failures.
Each of the RAID levels exhibit various tradeoffs in terms of the amount of disc space employed to store data and the rate at which data may be written and read. RAID levels such as RAID-5 and RAID-6 may employ read-modify-write operations to write data that occupies less than the number of data blocks comprising the group of data block employed to calculate parity.
The organization of data within a storage array relative to each RAID level also affects read and write performance. Various data organizations may exhibit different data densities (amount of disc space utilized to store a data set) and may exhibit different read and write performance. Further, system performance may be affected by the number and complexity of calculations performed to read, write, or recover data.

Dual redundant data storage format and method


Embodiments are disclosed that improve etch uniformity during multi-patterning processes for the manufacture of microelectronic workpieces by reshaping spacers using thermal decomposition materials as a protective layer. Because the thermal decomposition material can be removed through thermal treatment processes without requiring etch processes, spacers can be reshaped with no spacer profile change or damage while suppressing undesired gouging differences in underlying layers and related degradation in etch uniformity.

The present disclosure relates to methods for the manufacture of microelectronic workpieces including the formation of patterned structures on microelectronic workpieces.
Device formation within microelectronic workpieces typically involves a series of manufacturing techniques related to the formation, patterning, and removal of a number of layers of material on a substrate. To meet the physical and electrical specifications of current and next generation semiconductor devices, processing flows are being requested to reduce feature size while maintaining structure integrity for various patterning processes.
Self-aligned multiple patterning (SAMP) processes, such as self-aligned double patterning (SADP) processes and self-aligned quadruple patterning (SAQP), have been developed to reduce feature sizes beyond what is directly achievable by lithography processes. For some SAMP processes and particularly for SADP processes, spacers are typically formed as side wall structures adjacent cores on a substrate being processed, and the core material is later removed. This core removal process is typically called a mandrel pull and is often performed by a plasma etch process such as a reactive ion etch (RIE) process.
For prior SAMP processes, the height of the spacers after the mandrel pull process are typically different with respect to the portions of the spacers adjacent to the cores and the portions of the spacers adjacent the gaps between the cores. This asymmetric shape of the spacers degrades etch uniformity and introduces gouging differences during later etch processes. For example, these asymmetric shapes often cause gouging differences to form between portions of an underlying material layer below the removed cores and portions of the underlying material layer below the gaps between the cores. This degradation occurs, for example, when the patterned formed by the spacers is transferred through an etch process to an underlying layer, such as a hard mask layer.
FIGS. 1A-G (Prior Art) provide cross-section views of an example for prior solutions where degradation of etch uniformity is caused in subsequent pattern transfer due to the asymmetric shape of the top portions of spacers that remain after the mandrel pull within a SAMP process. The asymmetric shape of the spacers and resulting degradation in etch uniformity can introduce deterioration of line edge roughness (LER) and line width roughness (LWR) parameters. The asymmetric spacer shape also tends to cause pitch walking due to the deterioration of gouging depth within the underlying layers.
FIG. 1A (Prior Art) provides cross-section views for an example embodiment 100 where stacked layers have been formed on a material layer 140. The stacked layers include an anti-reflective layer 110, a core material layer 120, and a hard mask layer 130. In addition, a photoresist layer 145 has been deposited and patterned, for example, using lithography and etch processes. It is noted that the hard mask layer 130 can be a nitride (SiN) layer or some other hard mask material layer. The additional material layer 140 that lies under the stacked layers can be a substrate, such as a silicon substrate, or can be an additional material layer formed on a substrate. The core material layer 120 can be an OPL (organic planarization layer) layer, an amorphous silicon layer, and/or another material layer. Other variations and material layers and/or structures could also be implemented.
FIG. 1B (Prior Art) provides a cross-section view of an example embodiment 101 after the photoresist (PR) pattern is transferred to underlying layers above the hard mask layer 130. For example, one or more etch processes can be used to transfer the pattern formed in the PR layer 145 to underlying layers 110/120 and to form cores 150.
FIG. 1C (Prior Art) provides a cross-section view of an example embodiment 102 after a spacer material layer 155 has been deposited. As shown, the spacer material layer 155, such as an oxide layer, is deposited over the cores 150. The cores 150 still include the anti-reflective layer 110 and the core material layer 120.
FIG. 1D (Prior Art) provides a cross-section view of an example embodiment 103 after an etch back process has been performed. For example, an etch back process is performed to etch back the spacer layer 155 and form spacers 160 along the side walls of the cores 150. This etch back process can also remove the anti-reflective layer 110 shown in FIG. 1C thereby leaving only the core material layer 120 for the cores 150.
FIG. 1E (Prior Art) provides a cross-section view of an example embodiment 104 after a mandrel pull process has been performed. As shown, the mandrel pull process, such as an ash process, is used to remove the cores 150 shown in FIG. 1D. After this mandrel pull process, however, asymmetric spacers 160 are left. In particular, the edges of the spacers 160 on the sides adjacent core regions where cores were pulled are higher than the edges of the spacers 160 on the sides adjacent gap regions where there were gaps between the cores. The core regions are indicated by arrows 170, and the gap regions are indicated by arrows 180.
FIG. 1F (Prior Art) provides a cross-section view of an example embodiment 105 for a subsequent etch process where the asymmetric shapes of the spacers 160 cause a degradation in etch uniformity. For example, during a subsequent etch of the hard mask layer 130, this lack of uniformity in shape for the spacers 160 causes degradation in etch uniformity and uneven gouging in the underlying material layer 140. In particular, more components 190 of the etch chemistry are able to reach or impact the hard mask layer 130 within the gap regions 180 as compared to the core regions 170. This causes increased gouging to occur within the underlying layer 140 within the gap regions 180.
FIG. 1G (Prior Art) provides a cross-section view of an example embodiment 106 for the results of the etch process of FIG. 1F (Prior Art). As shown, differences in etch uniformity and gouging leaves portions of the underlying material layer 140 in the gap regions 180 between the removed cores having different levels of gouging as compared with portions of the underlying layer 140 in core regions 170 under the removed cores. Thus, etch uniformity is degraded giving rise to various potential problems as described above.

Methods to reshape spacers for multi-patterning processes using thermal decomposition materials


Organosiloxane compositions that cure in the presence of ultraviolet radiation comprise a alkenyl-substituted fluorinated polyorganosiloxane, a mercaptoalkyl-substituted fluorinated polyorganosiloxane and a photoinitiator. The cured compositions are particularly useful as coating and encapsulants to protect electronic devices that are exposed to hydrocarbon fuels.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to radiation curable organosiloxane compositions. More particularly, this invention relates to fluorinated organosiloxane compositions that cure upon exposure to ultraviolet radiation to yield gels and elastomers that are resistant to solubilization in liquid hydrocarbon, exhibit improved electrical performance and provide suitable coatings and encapsulants for electronic components.
2. Description of the Related Art
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,719,275, issued on Jan. 12, 1988, Benditt et al. teach fluorosilicone compositions that cure via hydrosilylation reactions. These compositions contain a fluorinated polyorganosiloxane, a fluorine containing organohydrogensiloxane and a platinum catalyst.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,063,102, issued on Nov. 5, 1991, Lee et al. teach a radiation curable organosiloxane gel comprising a polymethylsiloxane containing (CH.sub.3).sub.2 SiO, CH.sub.3 SiO.sub.1.5, (CH.sub.3).sub.3 SiO.sub.0.5, and other siloxane units; a mercaptoalkyl-substituted polyorganosiloxane; and a photoinitiator.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,302,627, issued on Apr. 12, 1994, Field et al. teach a method for indicating a cure point for an ultraviolet radiation curing composition comprising the step of adding a dye with a visible color to an ultraviolet curable composition. Field et al. also teach an ultraviolet curable composition comprising a polymethylsiloxane containing (CH.sub.3).sub.2 SiO, CH.sub.3 SiO.sub.1.5, (CH.sub.3).sub.3 SiO.sub.0.5, and other siloxane units; and a mercaptoalkyl- and halohydrocarbon-substituted polyorganosiloxane.
The unique physical and chemical properties of fluorinated organosiloxanes make them desirable as coatings and encapsulants for electrical and electronic devices to protect these devices from moisture, other contaminants and mechanical abuse, all of which can cause the device to malfunction or become inoperative.
Electronic components associated with electronic ignition and emission control systems of automobiles and other vehicles powered by internal combustion engines are often located in the engine compartment of the vehicle where they are exposed to various hydrocarbons including hydrocarbon fuels and lubricating fluids.
The introduction of fluorinated hydrocarbon radicals into a polyorganosiloxane to impart resistance to swelling and/or solubilization by the liquid hydrocarbons present in gasoline and other fuels is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,979,519, which issued to Pierce et al. on Apr. 11, 1961 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,719,619, which issued to Brown on Apr. 20, 1965.
The present inventors discovered that when compositions comprising an alkenyl-substituted fluorinated polyorganosiloxane; a mercaptoalkyl-substituted fluorinated polyorganosiloxane; and a photoinitiator are exposed to ultraviolet radiation, the compositions cure in a minute or less and that cured gels and elastomers so prepared are resistant to solubilization in liquid hydrocarbons. Moreover, cured gels and elastomers prepared using the compositions of the present invention have unexpectedly improved electrical performance when used in electronic modules.

Radiation curable fluorinated organosiloxane compositions