An autosampler sets an injection valve to be in a sample filling state when a sample loop is filled with a sample, and, after completion of filling with the sample, switches the injection valve to an intermediate state and first connects only one end of the sample loop to a liquid delivery channel and an analysis channel. After the above, the injection valve is switched to the sample injection state and the sample loop is interposed between the liquid delivery channel and the analysis channel, so that the sample is injected into the analysis channel.

In an autosampler of a high performance liquid chromatograph (HPLC), a rotary switching valve is generally used as an "injection valve". The injection valve includes a stator having a plurality of connection ports and a rotor having a channel that make the connection ports communicate with each other. Then, by rotating the rotor, a combination of the connection ports that communicate with each other is switched.
The connection port of the injection valve is connected to a liquid delivery channel through which a mobile phase is fed by a liquid delivery pump, as well as an analysis channel leading to an analysis column, and a sample loop for temporarily holding a sample. Then, the injection valve is configured to be selectively switched between a sample filling state in which the liquid delivery channel and the analysis channel are connected without the sample loop interposed between them, and a sample injection state in which the liquid delivery channel and the analysis channel are connected through the sample loop.
Sample injection operation into the analysis channel is executed by steps described below. First, the injection valve is brought into the sample filling state. In this manner, a mobile phase from the liquid delivery pump flows directly to the analysis column without passing through the sample loop. At this time, the sample loop is filled with the sample. After the above, the injection valve is switched to the sample injection state, and the sample with which the sample loop is filled is introduced into the analysis column together with the mobile phase.


A slider is mounted on a chassis forming a frame so as to be movable in a first direction, and is configured to start a movement in conjunction with an operation in which an optical pickup is switched from an operation mode into a non-operation mode and returns to an initial position. A disk tray is mounted on the chassis so as to be movable in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction, is configured to move in conjunction with the movement of the slider, and is provided with a first groove extending in the first direction. A protrusion is provided in the slider and is engaged with the first groove when the disk tray moves, thereby preventing the disk tray from moving in the second direction. A second groove is provided in the disk tray, communicates with the first groove, and introduces the protrusion into the first groove when the disk tray is moved. A first drive mechanism is configured to move the disk tray and includes a first pinion provided in the chassis and a first rack provided in the disk tray. The second groove is provided with an opening by cutting a portion of a groove wall of the guide groove.

The present invention relates to a disk device, and more particularly, to a disk device where an engaging protrusion is engaged with a groove face of an engaging groove provided in a disk tray when a disk tray for taking out and putting in a disk used as a recording medium enters a chassis, thereby preventing the disk tray from being withdrawn from a chassis.
In a disk player that is one of disk devices, a disk has been received from a disk tray onto a turntable or transferred from the turntable to the disk tray by an up-and-down movement of a drive chassis including an optical pickup or a turntable, or the up-and-down movement of the drive chassis has been performed by the reciprocation of a slider in the related art.
FIG. 6 is a view showing the basic structure of the disk device. The basic structure of the disk device, the operation thereof, and the like will be described below with reference to FIG. 6.
In FIG. 6, reference numeral 10 indicates a chassis that is formed of a resin-molded body commonly known as a loader chassis, and a disk tray 20 shown by a chain line is assembled into the chassis 10 so as to perform an entrance-withdrawal operation. Further, the supply and discharge of a disk (not shown) to/from the chassis 10 used as a frame can be performed by the entrance-withdrawal operation of the disk tray 20.
A movable chassis 50, which serves as a drive chassis into which an optical pickup 30 and a turntable 40 are assembled, is mounted on the chassis 10. The movable chassis 50 is swung about a fulcrum 50a, which is shown in FIG. 6 by a chain line, with respect to the chassis 10, thereby being moved upward and downward. Further, a slider 60 serving as a cam slider is mounted on the chassis 10 so as to be capable of reciprocating in a width direction X1/X2 of the chassis 10. Furthermore, the slider 60 and the movable chassis 50 are connected to each other by a cam mechanism 61, so that the up-and-down movement of the movable chassis 50 is interlocked with the reciprocation of the slider 60. Specifically, when the slider 60 is moved forward as shown by an arrow X1, the movable chassis 50 is moved upward about the fulcrum 50a by the operation of the cam mechanism 61. In contrast, when the slider 60 is moved backward as shown by an arrow X2, the movable chassis 50 is moved downward about the fulcrum 50a by the operation of the cam mechanism 61. Further, when the movable chassis 50 is moved upward, the turntable 40 receives a disk to be carried by the disk tray 20 and clamps the disk together with a damper (not shown). In contrast, when the movable chassis 50 is moved downward, a clamped state of the disk is released and the disk is then transferred from the turntable 40 to the disk tray 20. Accordingly, the discharge of the disk using the disk tray 20 is provided.
The travel of the optical pickup 30 at the time of an operation mode is performed by transmitting the rotation of a pinion 32 to a rack 31 provided in the optical pickup 30. Meanwhile, the reciprocation of the slider 60 in a direction indicated by arrows X1 and X2 is performed by the operation of a reciprocating drive mechanism 62 that includes a pinion 63 provided in the chassis 10 and a rack 64 provided in the slider 60. Further, in the disk device of FIG. 6, as shown in the drawing, a position where the mesh between the pinion 63 and the rack 64 is released and the rack 63 is separated from the pinion 64 is defined as a forward movement limit position of the slider 60. Furthermore, the shape of a cam groove of the cam mechanism is defined so that the movable chassis 50 is moved upward and the clamped state of the disk is maintained when the slider 60 is pushed and reaches the forward movement limit position.
Meanwhile, a disk device of FIG. 6 is provided with an entrance-withdrawal operation drive mechanism 21 of a disk tray 20, which includes a pinion 22 provided in a chassis 10 and a rack 23 provided in a disk tray 20. The pinion 22 of the entrance-withdrawal operation drive mechanism 21 is integrally resin-molded with the pinion 63, and both pinions 22 and 63 are integrally rotated by a single motor. Further, the rack 23 provided on the back side of the disk tray 20 corresponds to the pinion 22.
In the following description, the pinion 22 and the rack 23 of the entrance-withdrawal operation drive mechanism 21 are referred to as a first pinion 22 and a first rack 23, respectively, and the pinion 63 and the rack 64 of the reciprocating drive mechanism 62 are referred to as a second pinion 63 and a second rack 64, respectively. Accordingly, the pinions 22 and 63 and the racks 23 and 64 of the drive mechanisms 21 and 62 are distinguished from each other.
In addition, the disk tray 20 includes an engaging groove 25 that extends in the width direction X1/X2 of the chassis 10 and a guide groove 26 that extends in the entrance-withdrawal operation direction of the disk tray 20 (a direction orthogonal to the width direction X1/X2), and the guide groove 26 includes an inclined portion 27 communicating with the engaging groove 25. Meanwhile, the slider 60 includes an engaging protrusion 65, and the engaging protrusion 65 is configured to be engaged with the engaging groove 25 or the guide groove 26 so as to slide in the longitudinal direction of the grooves.
In the disk device of FIG. 3, the first rack 23 is separated from the first pinion 22 in an operation mode of the optical pickup 30 so that the rotation of the first pinion 22 is not transmitted to the first rack 23 of the entrance-withdrawal operation drive mechanism 21. Further, when a disk is discharged by the disk tray 20, before the disk tray 20 is withdrawn, the slider 60 is moved backward from the forward movement limit position thereof in a direction indicated by an arrow X2, and the engaging protrusion 65 is introduced into the inclined portion 27 of the guide groove 26 by the backward movement starting operation of the slider 60 so that the disk tray 20 is slightly withdrawn. Accordingly, the first rack 23 of the entrance-withdrawal operation drive mechanism 21 meshes with the first pinion 22.
In this case, the disk device is provided with a cam mechanism 70 shown in FIG. 7 in order to perform the backward movement starting operation of the slider 60 by introducing the engaging protrusion 65 of the slider 60 into the inclined portion 27 of the guide groove 26 as described above. The cam mechanism 70 includes an inclined cam groove 71 that is provided in the slider 60, and a cam pin 73 that is provided in a protruding piece 72 extending from the optical pickup 30 (see FIG. 6). When a mode (withdrawal mode) for withdrawing the disk tray 20 is selected, an operation where the mode of the optical pickup 30 is switched from an operation mode to a non-operation mode and the optical pickup thus returns to an initial position as shown by an arrow Y1 in FIG. 6 is performed in accordance with the selecting operation. When the optical pickup 30 returns to the initial position in this way, the cam pin 73 shown in FIG. 7 is moved in the same direction (Y1) as the optical pickup 30 in accordance with the return and enters the cam groove 71. Then, the cam pin pushes the cam groove 71 in a direction indicated by the arrow X2 of FIG. 6, so that the backward movement starting operation of the slider 60 is performed.
Consequently, the operation where the mode of the optical pickup 30 is switched from the operation mode to the non-operation mode and the optical pickup thus returns to the initial position, the backward movement starting operation of the slider 60, and the initial movement operation of the disk tray 20 in the withdrawal direction following the backward movement starting operation of the slider 60 are connected and performed as a series of operations. In addition, the first pinion 22 and the second pinion 63 are integrally rotated by a single motor. Therefore, when the disk tray 20 is initially moved, the slide 60 continues the backward movement starting operation in connection with the initial movement of the disk tray.
Further, when the slider 60 is pushed to the backward movement limit position thereof by the second pinion 63 that meshes with the second rack 64, the second rack 64 is separated from the second pinion 63 and the engaging protrusion 65 exits from the inclined portion 27 of the guide groove 26. For this reason, the disk tray 20 continues the withdrawal operation by the rotation of the second pinion 22 that meshes with the first rack 23 of the disk tray 20, and the engaging protrusion 65 slides in the longitudinal direction of the guide groove 26 during the withdrawal operation.
In the disk device shown in FIG. 6, the guide groove 26 introduces the engaging protrusion 65 into the engaging groove 25 at the time of the entrance operation of the disk tray 20. Further, the engaging protrusion 65 introduced into the engaging groove 25 is engaged with a groove face 25a of the engaging groove 25, thereby preventing the disk tray 20 from being withdrawn from the chassis 10.
Meanwhile, in the related art, there has been proposed a disk device that includes a countermeasure to prevent a disk tray from accidentally protruding when an impact is applied (or example, see Patent Document 1). Patent Document 1 discloses a separation preventing unit for preventing a guide pin, which is guided by a guide rail mounted on a disk tray, from being separated form the guide rail.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Publication No. 2003-317357A1
In the disk device having the basic structure that has been described with reference to FIG. 6, if a strong impact is applied to the disk tray 20 due to some reasons during a stop mode where the disk tray 20 is maintained to enter the chassis 10, there may occur a case that the engaging protrusion 65 is disengaged from the engaging groove 25.
When the above-mentioned case occurs, the engaging groove 25 is displaced to the front side of the engaging protrusion 65 (front side in the withdrawal direction of the disk tray 20). Accordingly, the disk tray 20 is initially moved in the withdrawal direction. In this state, the second pinion 63 and the rack 64 of the reciprocating drive mechanism 62 of the slider 60 are separated from each other. For this reason, when a play mode, a disk withdrawal mode, or a disk entrance mode is selected, the slider 60 is not operated normally. In some cases, mechanical components of the disk tray 20 or the slider 60 are locked, so that there may occur a case that the disk tray 20 cannot be withdrawn. Further, when the disk tray 20 cannot be withdrawn, it is not possible to meet user's request.


A cooling apparatus for cooling a heat-generating chip mounted in a socket on a circuit board, the socket including a cradle having a standard heat-sink receiving configuration, includes an evaporator having a thermally conductive front face, a compressor in fluid communication with the evaporator for delivering refrigerant thereto, and an evaporator mount for coupling the evaporator to the heat-generating chip with the front face adjacent thereto. The mount includes a housing having coupling elements for connection to the cradle. The housing has an interior in which a housing insulation pack is provided for retaining the evaporator therein. The mount further includes a cradle insulation pack for maintaining the socket in moisture-free condition.

Semiconductor chips are used in a variety of electronic devices, such as, for example, computer equipment, where they can be employed as CPUs or video processors. The chips generate heat during operation, which can adversely affect performance of the chips.
International Patent Application Publication W001/25881 A2 (Asetek A/S) describes a computer system incorporating a cooling unit. The cooling unit uses conventional coolant that is being led from a compressor to a heat exchanger being in thermal contact with a component in the computer system generating heat, as example a central processing unit (CPU). The compressor is a low voltage compressor although the computer system has to have high voltage electrical power from the public electricity distribution net. By using a low voltage compressor the demands for power consumption and space may be limited. Also, it is possible to power the compressor from the built-in power supply of the computer system. In a preferred embodiment the heat exchanger being in thermal contact with the processing unit is enclosed in an insulated box. The box has openings for piping leading the coolant to and from the heat exchanger, and the box preferably also has a slot so that connection pins from the printed circuit board of the processing unit can protrude put through the box. Thereby the box can be attached to the motherboard by means of the connection pins. An alternative box has an orifice intended for abutting a base plate of the processing unit and has biasing means for holding the box onto a socket for the base plate and in abutment with the base plate.
Asetek Inc. markets a product called Vapochill™, promising vapor phase CPU cooling. The cooling system is, according to the advertising literature, based on use of a compressor to remove heat dissipated from a CPU. The vapor compression cycle is advertised to make the heat removal 10 times more efficient than water cooling and 50 times more efficient than air cooling.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,574,627 (Porter) describes resistive ink elements that are applied to the exposed surfaces of thin sections of thermal insulation provided to cool integrated circuit devices within a computer system. The insulation is made thinner than required to prevent the formation of condensation upon the exposed surfaces of the insulation in order to accommodate space limitations within the computer system. The resistive ink elements generate heat upon the application of an electrical current thereto to warm the exposed surfaces of the insulation to a temperature above the dew point of the ambient environment within the computer system, thereby preventing the formation of condensation on the surfaces of the insulation.
European Pat. App. No. 0489326 A2 (Hitachi Ltd.) describes an electronic computer cooling system having a cooling apparatus to cool an electronic computer and cooling members for thermally connecting semiconductor devices whose operating speeds are raised by cooling to a low temperature source of the cooling apparatus. Circuit boards onto which the semiconductor devices and the like constructing the electronic computer are mounted and the cooling apparatus such as a refrigerating apparatus and the like are compactly enclosed in a single casing. Or, the circuit boards and the cooling apparatus are compactly enclosed in separate detachable casings, respectively. Thus, a structure in which desired semiconductor devices can be certainly cooled by using the cooling members is obtained.

Method and apparatus for cooling semiconductor chips


Methods and apparatus for interseeding an area of ground having existing vegetation growing thereon are provided. The interseeder apparatus tills a plurality of spaced-apart rows in the ground, deposits seed in the exposed soil of the rows, compacts the seed into the rows, and optionally, sprays at least a portion of the exiting vegetation adjacent the rows with a herbicide so as to reduce competition for the new seedling.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is generally directed toward apparatus and method for introducing seed into an existing stand of vegetation in a manner that will replace or improve the quality of the existing vegetation. More specifically, the present invention maximizes the germination and growth of newly introduced seed without removal of the existing plant variety.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In certain circumstances, it may be advantageous to convert an existing area of vegetation to new vegetation. For example, the turf used on golf courses, athletic fields, lawns or parks may be replaced to take advantage of new plant varieties more suited to a particular climate, use or care requirements.
Different climate zones exist throughout the world. Plant species that grow and thrive in one climate zone may not survive if planted in a climate zone to which they have not adapted. For example, grasses commonly used on cool-season lawns, such as Kentucky bluegrass, do not tolerate the hot summers of the southern U.S. and are not grown there. Likewise, warm-season grasses, such as bermudagrass, cannot be grown in the northern U.S. The area between what is commonly understood to be a cool climate zone (north of about 40° latitude in the U.S.) and a warm climate zone (south of about 34° latitude in the U.S.) is generally referred to as a climate transition zone. The climate in this area is characterized by extreme periods of hot and cold temperatures as well as periods of frequent precipitation and lack of precipitation.
Because the climate in the transition zone is characterized by these temperature and moisture variations, it can be difficult to maintain plant species that can survive the temperature and moisture extremes. It is common for golf course superintendents and other turfgrass managers in the transition zone to grow cool-season grasses that can survive the cold winter months. However, these grasses often require large water and pesticide inputs to survive during summer months.
Several new varieties of seeded warm-season grasses have recently become available that provide good turf quality during hot summer temperatures and require significantly less water and pesticide inputs than cool-season grasses. These new warm-season grasses can also survive the cold winter months. Transitioning from the use of cool-season grasses to the newer varieties of warm-season grasses can have a positive environmental impact by reducing water and fertilizer use. In addition, the resulting reduction in fertilizer and water use also provides economic benefit.
Turfgrass managers wanting to convert cool-season turfs to seeded warm-season turfs currently have several options. Warm-season grasses can be seeded directly into the existing stand of cool-season grasses with no seedbed preparation. This approach results in little seed germination and may require many years for complete conversion. Another option is to kill existing vegetation by application of a non-selective herbicide and then overseeding the area. However, this method requires the application of a large amount of seed. Further, the applied seed generally lies upon the soil surface and can lead to inefficient seed germination and a long conversion process. Yet another option is to replace strips (approximately 4-inches wide) of existing turf with new sod. This is a relatively expensive and time consuming method. Still another option is to insert sprigs of grass into the existing turf and allowing the sprigs to grow laterally and eventually out compete the existing vegetation. While effective, this method is still relatively expensive. Lastly, the entire area can be sodded with new vegetation, however, this is the most expensive alternative.
Currently, conversion by seeding is usually accomplished by the complete removal of the existing turf, either by rototilling or through the use of a non-selective herbicide to kill the existing cool-season turf. Warm-season seed is then broadcast over the prepared surface. The removal of the existing turf requires that the area being converted be closed for use until the new seed can be established which can often last for several months. For golf courses, this results in course closure and a significant loss of revenue. It would be most desirable if the area could remain open for use or play during the period when cool-turf areas are being converted to seeded warm-season grasses.
As an alternative to replacement, existing vegetation stands oftentimes need to be improved. Alfalfa is a herbaceous perennial legume that is distributed worldwide and accounts for nearly thirty million acres of production in the United States. Alfalfa produces a highly palatable feed that is prized as a primary component of dairy cattle rations. It is also an important feed for horses, beef cattle and sheep because of its high content of protein, vitamins and minerals.
After seeding, alfalfa stands can remain productive for about four to ten years or even longer. As stands become older, the plant populations decrease along with the overall feed value of the product. When this occurs, renovation or rejuvenation of the crop becomes necessary. Although current practice commonly calls for alfalfa to be grown in a crop rotation program with grain crops, many alfalfa producers who raise crops on soils that are marginal for commercial grain productions would prefer a method that allows for continuous alfalfa production. Attempts at inter-seeding or drilling more seed as the crop begins to decline have been unsuccessful due to the effects that crowding, shading, and auto-toxicity have on new seedlings that are planted with traditional seeding equipment. Current conventional disc or hoe opener seeding equipment do little more than place seed in small slits or scarifications along the ground. Such equipment, often referred to as "slit-seeders," slice very narrow furrows (⅛ inch wide) with variable spacing (0.5-2 inches) into the existing stand of vegetation and drops seed into these depressions. Seedlings from slit-seeders come up within a stand of dense existing vegetation and are unable to compete with the existing plants.
There is a need in the art for a method of converting cool-season turf areas to seeded warm-season grasses in a manner that uses less seed, increases germination rate and survival, and allows the cool-season turf area to remain open for use or play during the conversion period. There is also a need in the art for a method of improving the quality of existing vegetation by thickening marginal stands of existing vegetation.

Method and equipment for interseeding an area of ground to convert the existing vegetation or to improve the quality of the existing vegetation

Kansas Statue University Research Foundation


An imaging device having many detector elements is used to construct multiple images of the surface of a specimen in a scanning electron microscope (SEM) using signals from different elements of the imaging device as the specimen is scanned a single time in the SEM.

In a scanning electron microscope (SEM), a focused electron beam is scanned across the surface of a specimen. Electrons emitted from the region of the surface struck by the electron beam are detected, typically by a solid state diode or by a scintillator or phosphor that is optically coupled to a photomultiplier, and the current generated by the detected electrons determines the current of a beam of electrons in a cathode ray tube (CRT). As the focused electron beam is scanned over the surface, an image is built up on the CRT. SEM's are well known in the art and well described, for example, in numerous publications, starting with D. McMullan entitled "An improved scanning electron microscope for opaque specimens." published in Proc. IEE vol. 100 Pt. 11, 245–259 (1953).
The faster electrons are called backscattered electrons (BSE) and the image formed is called a BSE image.

Method of forming images in a scanning electron microscope


A helmet with a visor includes structures that engage to prevent inadvertent retraction of the visor. The visor may be pressed against a shoulder formed around the face opening of the helmet responsive to an inward force. Arms securing the visor the helmet may be include a slot permitting sliding to facilitate this movement. The arms may include an arcuate slot and a radial slot engaging a guide pin mounted to the helmet. With the visor down, the guide pin slides within the radial slot. A protrusion on the visor may be urged into a receptacle on the helmet in response to an inward force. A latch may engage the helmet when the visor is down and be releasable manually.

Many helmets include a visor to protect the wearer's eyes from wind and debris. A visor may also be tinted to protect the wearer's eyes from sunlight. A visor may be retractable in order to enable the wearer to access the wearer's eyes or to obtain an untinted view. In aviation or other applications there may be sudden gusts of wind that may unintentionally retract the visor, such as if a pilot ejects from an airplane.
It would be an advancement in the art to improve the functioning of a helmet visor.


A method and apparatus are provided for notifying a guarantor associated with a guaranteed loan of events likely to affect their interest in the guaranteed loan. The disclosed method and apparatus provides loan data with information on at least one guaranteed loan wherein the loan data includes information on the terms of the loan. The method and apparatus then monitors changes in the loan data and determines when changes in the loan data corresponding to the at least one guaranteed loan indicates a likelihood that the terms of the loan may not be met. Based on the determination the method and apparatus provides a notification to the guarantor based on the determination that the loan terms may not be met.

I. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to financial data processing systems and, more particularly, to a method and apparatus for monitoring guaranteed loans and notifying guarantors.
II. Background and Material Information
Many loans require a guarantor to guarantee the payback of the loan granted to a loan recipient. The guarantor may be an individual, a company or any other type of entity. Typically, lending institutions require the guarantor's backing on a loan because the loan recipient does not meet certain credit criteria established by the lending institution. For example, a business or person receiving a loan may have a poor credit history, one or more bankruptcy filings, low or no income stream, or other characteristics that make funding the loan risky. The guarantor helps the loan recipient qualify for a loan, despite these potentially higher risk factors, based on the guarantor's creditworthiness and willingness to guarantee payback of the loan in the event the loan recipient defaults on the loan.
Loans guaranteed by a guarantor include small credit card loans to large real estate loans. In each case, the loan recipient has the primary responsibility for paying back the loan according to the loan terms. If the loan recipient pays the loan according to the terms, the guarantor has no financial obligation to the lending institution. However, the guarantor may become financially liable if the loan recipient fails to pay installments on the loan or otherwise does not meet the terms of the loan. In the latter situation, the lending institution may look to the guarantor as the secondary party responsible for paying back the balance of the loan.
The guarantor may be unpleasantly surprised with the additional financial responsibility of satisfying the loan recipient's obligations. Unfortunately, in many cases, it may be too late for the guarantor to work with the loan recipient to pay back the loan amount or to restructure the terms of the debt. As a result, without sufficient warning or notification, the guarantor will have no choice but to payoff the loan recipient's debt.
In view of the foregoing limitations, there is a need in the financial industry to inform a guarantor that a loan recipient has failed to make payments and/or is at risk of defaulting on the loan. The guarantor could then take corrective action or steps in a timely manner to prevent the loan recipient from defaulting on the loan and eliminate the burden of paying back the loan.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method and apparatus for monitoring guaranteed loans and notifying guarantors


The instant invention relates to a method and a device for optical phase modulation by means of semiconductor amplifiers. In this case an optical semiconductor amplifier comprises optical waveguides 10, which rise over its length and change in its lateral extension, so that light supplied at the optical inlet 11 undergoes an amplification on its way to the optical outlet 12.

Among all transmission methods for optical transmission systems, the greatest receiver sensitivity can be achieved by a binary phase modulation (BPSK) and homodyne reception (intermediate frequency equals zero). For this reason and in spite of its complexity and the high requirements made on the stability and spectral clarity of the lasers, this method is particularly well suited for applications wherein the employment of optical amplifiers is not possible, and wherein the highest receiver sensitivity is particularly important, such as with long distance traffic networks with optical waveguides and for inter-satellite communications.
A further standard method for optical phase modulation is the utilization of the linear electro-optical effect (Pockels effect) in elements made of lithium metaniobate, which are realized either as a block (bulk modulator) or as integrated optical waveguide elements (integrated optical modulator, IOM).
The disadvantages of these methods are with the bulk modulator the narrow modulation bandwidth as well as the large power requirements, and with the waveguide modulator the high optical losses as well as the narrow upper limit of the optical output power.
However, large band widths, high optical output, good efficiency and small driver power are demanded for free space transmissions, for example inter-satellite connections, which cannot be achieved by means of the two previously mentioned modulator arrangements. The disadvantages of high optical damping and the narrow upper limit can be circumvented by means of an arrangement of transmitter oscillator-(laser) phase modulator-optical amplifier.
In this case the laser generates coherent light of low optical output which, following a loss-connected modulation, is brought to the required transmission output by means of a quantum-optical amplifier.
In essence, the following three principles are known for quantum-optical amplifiers:
in the fiber amplifier, a doped fiber is optically pumped and amplifies light during single passage, PA1 the bulk amplifier is a doped crystal, which is optically pumped and which amplifies light in the course of its repeated passage through the pumped zone, PA1 semiconductor amplifiers are electrically pumped and amplify light during the single passage through a pn-junction through which current flows.
The latter are extensively employed in fiber-optical communications technology, among other uses also as electro-optical switches following multiple branchings, as well as for the amplitude modulation of frequency-stable light, since, besides the latter, the direct amplitude modulation of the feed current also requires a frequency modulation.
In some system configurations this is used for data transmission by means of optical frequency keying. Since laser diodes consist of an optical cavity with specific resonance frequencies and of a semiconductor amplifier, this effect is achieved by changing the phase velocity of the light by means of the injection density in the semiconductor amplifier. Accordingly it is possible to produce a phase shift by means of the injection current during the single passage of the light through a semiconductor amplifier. However, at the same time a certain amplitude modification must be expected. Such methods were developed for fiber-bound communications systems (H. Dupont, M. J. Chawki, F. Tillerot, M. Thual and A. Poudoulec, "Measurement of the Effective Phase-Amplitude Coupling Factor alpha eff of High Speed Semiconductor Optical Amplifier Modulator", IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, vol. 6, No. 8, August, p. 942;
G. Grosskopf, R. Ludwig, R. Schnabel, H. G. Weber, "Characteristics of Semiconductor Laser Optical Amplifier as Phase Modulator", Electronics Letters, vol. 25, No. 17, Aug. 17, 1989, pp. 1187-1188;
Kun H. No, Richard J. Blackwell, Robert W. Herrick, Joseph L. Levy, "Monolithic Integration of an Amplifier and a Phase Modulator Fabricated in a GRINCHSOW Structure by Placing the Junction Below the Quantum Well", IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, vol. 5, No. 9, September 1993;
T. N. Nielsen, U. Gliese, J. Riishoj, K. Stubkjaer, P. Doussiere, P. Garabedian, F. Martin-Leblond, L. Lafragette, D. Leclerc, D. Fernier, "1 Gbit/s QPSK Optical Microwave Transmitter Based on a Semiconductor-Optical-Amplifier Phase Modulator and Phase-Locked DFB Lasers", OFC 94;
J. Riishoj, T. N. Nielsen and U. Gliese, "A 4 Gb/s 2-Level to 2 Gsymbol/s 4 Level Converter GaAs IC for Semiconductor Optical Amplifier QPSK Modulators MP", IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, vol. 29, No. 10, October 1994, pp. 1277 to 1281).
In connection with this phase modulations were achieved in some embodiments even without generating a parasitic amplitude modulation. To achieve a wide modulation bandwidth, the actual semiconductor amplifier should have small dimensions, which requires low parasitic capacitors and therefore makes high threshold frequencies possible. With a given output density, low outputs of the modulated signal result, which does not meet the requirements in connection with optical transmissions in space. Instead, an output of approximately one Watt at a transmission rate of 1 Gbit/s should be available, wherein higher data rates require correspondingly higher optical output.

Method and device for optical phase modulation by means of semiconductor amplifiers


A test path compensating circuit may include a plurality of electrical paths electrically coupling a plurality of test pads to a test target circuit. The test path compensating circuit may include a control voltage generation circuit configured to generate a plurality of control voltages. The test path compensating circuit may include a plurality of voltage-control delay circuits electrically coupled to the plurality of electrical paths, respectively, and configured to control delay amounts of input test signals received from one or more of the plurality of test pads, based on one or more of the plurality of control voltages, and provide output test signals to the test target circuit.

1. Technical Field
Various embodiments generally relate to a test path compensating circuit and a test path compensating system, and more particularly, to a test path compensating circuit and a test path compensating system for compensating for the paths of input test signals received through test pads, to perform a test.
2. Related Art
As the demand toward electronic devices increases, especially with devices that are convenient for carrying, so does the need to have the component elements and devices disposed within the electronic devices scaled down. The component elements disposed in the electronic devices are electrically coupled through electrical paths. The Electrical paths electrically coupling a multitude of component elements have different lengths.
In particular, in the case of testing an electronic device, test patterns should be inputted to a circuit to be tested, with the same timing. However, differences are caused in times at which test patterns reach the circuit to be tested, according to not only differences in the lengths of electrical paths but also a variation in PVT (process, voltage and temperature). In devices scaled down, such time differences may impede the acquisition of a precise testing result.

Test path compensating circuit and test path compensating system


A system and a method for document information authenticity verification for applications including verifying the authenticity of information of statements of attainment of course documentation issued by registered training organisations, verification of travel documents and other sensitive documents requiring authenticity verification of documents issued by law firms, accountancy firms, governmental institutions and the like, the method comprises a verification record creation stage comprising: receiving document content metadata from a document; generating a metadata hash using the document content metadata; creating a blockchain transaction comprising the metadata hash; and generating computer readable data encoding the metadata hash; updating the document with the computer readable data and a document verification stage comprising: receiving the document; extracting the metadata hash from the computer readable data; and identifying the metadata hash within blockchain transactions of the blockchain to verify the authenticity of the document metadata.

Document authenticity verification is desirous for applications including, for example, verification of the authenticity of information in legal documentation, personal identity documentation, accreditation documentation, access documentation and the like.
Problems with these documents include that information contained therein may be modified wherein, for example, accreditations are falsely claimed, documents forged and the like.
D1: US 2011/0161674 A1 (MING) 30 Jun. 2011 seeks to address this problem by disclosing a method of generating a self-authenticating document wherein authentication information for the document is encoded in a barcode which is printed on the document. A hash is calculated from the authentication information and transmitted to a server to be stored. When authenticating a scanned copy of the document, the barcode is read to extract the authentication information. A target hash is calculated from the extracted authentication information and transmitted to the server for verification. The server compares the target hash with the previously stored hash. If they are not the same, the barcode has been altered. If they are the same, the extracted authentication information is used to authenticate the scanned copy. A document ID may be generated and transmitted to the server, and used by the server to index or search for the stored hash.
However D1 suffers from the disadvantage and that the server may be compromised and the hash stored therein modified to match a tampered document.
As such, D1 is not suitable for applications requiring high security stringency such as for utilisation for boarding passes, personal identification documentation and the like.
As such, the present invention utilises, in a preferred embodiment, a distributed cryptographically based blockchain for storing document verification records in a way that cannot be altered.
Now, D2: "What is proof of existence?" [retrieved from internet on 20 Apr. 2016]<URL: https://web.archive.org/web/20151222163927/https://proofofexistence.com/about> published on 22 Dec. 2015 as per Wayback Machine D2 discloses a blockchain for storing an online distributed proof of existence of documents by means of storing individual cryptographic digests of the respective documents in the blockchain.
D2 hashes an electronic document (such as a PDF) and stores the hash as a special bitcoin transaction that encodes/contains the hash via an OP_RETURN script. This is a bitcoin scripting opcode that marks the transaction output as provably unspendable and allows a small amount of data to be inserted, which in this case is the document's hash, plus a marker to identify all of D2's transactions.
However, D2 is not directed to the problem verifying the authenticity of information in a document but rather proving that a particular document existed in a particular electronic format at a particular time.
As such, D2 cannot be used to detect whether a document has been tampered with.
Furthermore, D2 hashes the entire electronic document file and therefore cannot be used for hardcopy documents wherein slight printing, scanning, photocopying appearance aberrations would generate an entirely different hash using the system of D2 and therefore the document information contained therein would be unverifiable.
As such, in a preferred embodiment, the present invention utilises document content metadata (stored using a metadata hash, as opposed to the document hash of D1) as the basis for verification and can therefore be utilised for hardcopy documents.
Furthermore, D1 and D2 are deficient in that document information cannot be updated with the document remaining verifiable.
For example, using D2, a first bitcoin transaction would be created for an original document, and if the original document were updated, and a second bitcoin transaction would be created for the updated document.
However, using D2, both the original document and the altered document would appear to be valid, despite the original document having been superseded.
Conversely, in an embodiment, the present invention utilises blockchain update transactions for the purposes of updating document content fields in this way, during the document verification stage, the blockchain can be inspected in reverse chronological order to detect whether or not a document (or specific document content information fields) has been superseded.
Furthermore, both D1 and D2 are deficient in that verification cannot be for a predetermined period.
Conversely, the present invention, in accordance with an embodiment, creates blockchain transactions specifying a validity period.
Furthermore, both D1 and D2 are deficient in that a document cannot be revoked.
Conversely, the present invention, in accordance with an embodiment, utilises revocation-type blockchain transactions such that the revocation of the authenticity of a document may be detected by a revocation-type transaction subsequent in time to a former verification transaction.
Furthermore, D1 and D2 are deficient in that verified information cannot be displayed in association with the document for visual comparison.
Conversely, the present invention, in accordance with an embodiment, stores the meta data, such as in the computer readable data (i.e. 2D barcode) within the document itself or within the blockchain such that the information may subsequently be extracted and displayed to the user.
It is to be understood that, if any prior art information is referred to herein, such reference does not constitute an admission that the information forms part of the common general knowledge in the art, in Australia or any other country.
As such, with the foregoing in mind, in accordance with one embodiment, there is provided a method for document information authenticity verification, the method comprising: a verification record creation stage comprising: receiving document content metadata from a document; generating a metadata hash using the document content metadata; creating a blockchain transaction comprising the metadata hash; and generating computer readable data encoding the metadata hash; updating the document with the computer readable data; a document verification stage comprising: receiving the document; extracting the metadata hash from the computer readable data; and identifying the metadata hash within blockchain transactions of the blockchain to verify the authenticity of the document metadata.
As can be appreciated, D1 or D2 do not disclose the creation of a metadata hash for document information of a document, the creation of an associated blockchain transaction and the updating of the document with computer readable data (i.e. 2D barcode) with the meta will data hash.
The computer readable data may be a barcode.
The barcode may be a two dimensional barcode.
The verification record stage further may comprise signing the document with a private key associated with a document verification server.
The method may further comprise storing the document content metadata such that wherein the document verification stage further may comprise retrieving the document content metadata and displaying the document content metadata.
Storing the document content metadata may comprise encoding the metadata within the computer readable data.
Storing the document content metadata may comprise encoding the metadata within the blockchain transaction.
The verification record creation stage further may comprise identification of the document content metadata from the document.
The identification of the document content metadata may comprise optical character recognition.
The identification of the document content metadata may comprise performing search string queries against text extracted using the optical character recognition.
The identification of the document content metadata may comprise isolating text within at least one user defined region of the document.
The method may further comprise a document content updating stage comprising: receiving updated document content metadata for the document; generating a new metadata hash using the updated document metadata; creating a further blockchain transaction comprising the new metadata hash.
The document verification stage may comprise: identifying two or more blockchain transaction associated with the document.
The document verification stage further may comprise identifying that the document content metadata may be superseded by the updated document content metadata.
The method may further comprise identifying which of the document may be superseded.
The method may further comprise a document verification revocation stage comprising: creating a revocation blockchain transaction such that, during the document verification stage, the method further may comprise: identifying the revocation blockchain transaction subsequent in time to the blockchain transaction to fail the verification of the authenticity of the document information.
The blockchain transaction further specifies a validity period, such that, during the document verification stage, the method further may comprise failing the verification of the document if the validity period has expired.
The method may further comprise creating a validity period renewal blockchain transaction comprising a further validity period such that, during the document verification stage, the further validity period may be used when determining the validity of the document.
According to another aspect, there may be provided a system for document information authenticity verification, the system comprising: a document information verification server, the document information verification server comprising: a database comprising: a hash blockchain; and a document metadata table stored in relation to the one-way hash blockchain; software modules comprising: a document creation module; and a document information verification module; a client terminal in operable communication with the document information verification server, the client terminal comprising: a computer readable data reader; a software application in operable communication with the computer readable data reader, the software application comprising: a document information verification module; wherein, in use, the system may be configured for a verification record creation stage comprising: the document creation module of the document information verification server: receiving document metadata in relation to a document; receiving or generating a one-way hash from the document metadata using a hashing algorithm; creating an entry in the one-way hash blockchain for the one-way hash; generating computer readable data comprising at least one of the document metadata and the one-way hash; and sending the computer readable data to the document creation module; and a document information verification stage comprising: the document information verification module of the client terminal receiving the computer readable data from a document; at least one of the client terminal and the document information verification server identifying at least one of the document metadata and the one-way hash from the computer readable data wherein, if receiving only the document metadata, generating the one-way hash using the one-way hashing algorithm; and the document information verification module of the document information verification server verifying the document by comparing the one-way hash with the entry in the hash blockchain for the one-way hash.
The system further may comprise a document issuer server in operable communication with the document information verification server.
The document information verification server may be configured for receiving the document metadata from the document issuer server.
The document information verification stage further may comprise at least one of the client terminal and document information verification server sending at least one of the one-way hash and the document metadata to the document issuer server for further verification of the document.
The document issuer server may comprise a database comprising at least one of hash and metadata data and wherein the further verification may comprise cross-referencing at least one of hash and metadata data within the document issuer server database.
The document information verification module of the document information verification server may be further configured for sending a verification result to the client terminal.
The client terminal software application may be further configured for generating graphical user interface and wherein the graphical user interface may be configured for displaying the verification result.
The graphical user interface may be further configured for displaying at least a subset of the document metadata.
The system may comprise a plurality of document information verification servers and wherein the blockchain may be a distributed blockchain distributed across the plurality of document information verification servers.
Creating the computer readable data may comprise creating an optical computer readable data.
The computer readable data may be a 2-D barcode.
The system may further comprise inserting the computer readable data into the document.
Other aspects of the invention are also disclosed.

System and method for document information authenticity verification


The invention relates to a method and apparatus for predicting/alarming the moving of hidden objects. The apparatus comprises: a distance sensing unit, for obtaining a distance data detected within a specific sensing range and thus outputting the distance data; a speed sensing unit, for measuring the movement of a carrier to obtain a real-time speed data of the carrier and thus output the speed data; a control unit, for receiving and analyzing the distance data and the speed data to obtain information relating to the position of the carrier, the environment surrounding the carrier and positions of objects moving in the blind spots of the carrier, and thus to perform an evaluation based upon the aforesaid information to determine a danger level for issuing a control signal accordingly; and an alarm unit, for issuing an alarm signal according to the control signal.

Please refer to FIG. 1, which shows how a driver's visual field is going to change with respect to different driving speeds. As modern transportation means, such as cars, is becoming a necessity in our daily life, it is a common knowledge that the faster a driver is driving a car, the narrow the visual field of the driver will have. As shown in FIG. 1, the visual field range 11 of a driver is about 210 degrees when the vehicle is still, but the range 12 will reduce to about 100 degrees when the vehicle is moving at 40 kilometers per hour; and the visual field range 13 will even reduce to about 65 degrees when it is traveling at 70 kilometers per hour, and moreover the visual field range 14 will even reduce to about 40 degrees when it is traveling at 100 kilometers per hour. Please refer to FIG. 2, which shows how the blind spot area of a driver driving a vehicle is going to change with respect to different driving speeds. It is known that a driver's blind spot area is defined as the portion of the ambient environment in the vicinity of the vehicle in which an object will not normally be observed by the use of the interior and exterior mirrors of the vehicle. As shown in FIG. 2, although the vehicle is attached with interior and exterior rearview mirrors for enabling the driver to see objects in a rear area 16, there are still two blind spot areas 15 formed at the two sides of the vehicle. In addition, it is noted that the faster the vehicle is traveling, the larger the blind spot areas 15 will be.
Please refer to FIG. 3, which is a schematic diagram showing a blind spot area formed at the left-rear side of a vehicle. In FIG. 3, the driver of the vehicle 17 is able to see another vehicle 18 overtaking from the left side thereof from its rearview mirrors as a portion of the vehicle 18 is located inside the visible rear area 19. However, as the overtaking progresses, the whole vehicle is going to enter the blind spot area 20 and become invisible to the driver that might be dangerous if the driver should decide to change to the left lane at the same time.
Please refer to FIG. 4, which shows a vehicle traveling in the visual field of a driver is shielded by another vehicle also traveling in the visual field and thus is hidden. In FIG. 4, the visual field of a driver driving the vehicle 17 is obstructed by another vehicle 21 overtaking from the left side thereof, by which the front left visual field of the vehicle 17 is reduced to a very small area 19 as that enclosed in the dotted line while creating a new blind spot area 20. Therefore, another vehicle 22 traveling in a direction perpendicular to and toward the vehicle 17, which was originally capable of being seen by the driver if there is no such vehicle 21 overtaking the same, will now be traveling in the blind spot area 20 of the vehicle 17 and become invisible to the driver. Thereby, the driver of the vehicle 17 tends to keep driving straight ahead without any aware of the vehicle 22 is approaching from the left so that it is ease to cause traffic accident. Since most drivers will not be aware of the blind spots 20 created by another overtaking vehicle, as those shown in FIG. 3 and FIG. 4, he/she might make some driving decisions with fetal consequences, such as taking a lane change at the wrong time and speed. Therefore, it is in need of a method and apparatus capable of not only tracking any vehicle traveling in the blind spot areas in an effective manner, but also predicting the moving direction and speed of a hidden object when the object originally moving in the visual field of a user is shielded and hidden behind an obstacle while issuing an alarm to warn the user and the same time establishing a recommendation for preventing from colliding with the hidden object.

Method and apparatus for predicting/alarming the moving of hidden objects

Industrial Technology Research Institute


Provided is a semiconductor memory device including cylinder type storage nodes and a method of fabricating the semiconductor memory device. The semiconductor memory device includes: a semiconductor substrate including switching devices; a recessed insulating layer including storage contact plugs therein, wherein the storage contact plugs are electrically connected to the switching devices and the recessed insulating layer exposes at least some portions of upper surfaces and side surfaces of the storage contact plugs. The semiconductor device further includes cylinder type storage nodes each having a lower electrode. The lower electrode contacting the at least some portions of the exposed upper surfaces and side surfaces of the storage node contact plugs.

(i) Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a semiconductor memory device and to a method of fabricating the same, and more particularly, to a semiconductor memory device including a cylinder type storage node and to a method of fabricating the semiconductor memory device.
(ii) Description of the Related Art
A memory cell of a direct random access memory (DRAM) among semiconductor memory devices may include a field effect transistor as a switching device for controlling read/write operations, and a capacitor for storing information. As the scale of the DRAM has been reduced, the area occupied by the capacitor of the memory cell has been continuously decreased. To ensure a sufficient effective capacity despite the reduction of cell area, a concave type or a cylinder type storage node having a three-dimensional capacitor shape has been suggested. The cylinder type storage node is widely used in DRAM in association with a capacitor over bit line (COB) structure, in which the capacitor is formed on a bit line.
The cylinder type storage node may be required to have a height of about 2 μm or higher to obtain an effective capacity of about 25 fF or greater per unit memory cell in the case of one cylindrical storage node (OCS) structure with a design rule of about 70 nm. As the cylinder type storage node has a very large aspect ratio, the cylinder type storage node may be structurally unstable. The unstable structure of the cylinder type storage node may cause defects such as, for example, slanting or lift off of the cylinder type storage node, which may cause a twin bit error or a multi-bit error during the operation of the DRAM.
In general, to ensure the mechanical stability of the cylinder type storage node which has a large aspect ratio, an etch stop layer may be formed under a lower electrode of the cylinder type storage node for supporting the cylinder type storage node. However, as the aspect ratio of the cylinder type storage node gradually increases, there may be a limit in providing the cylinder type storage node with sufficient mechanical stability by using the etch stop layer. In addition, when an etching process is performed to form a contact hole which exposes a storage node contact plug in the etch stop layer, it may be difficult to control critical dimensions (CD) on a lower portion of the cylinder type storage node due to skew of an etched surface of the etch stop layer.

Semiconductor memory device including a cylinder type storage node and a method of fabricating the same


The automated changeover of a transfer encryption key from one transfer encryption key to another. This occurs in an environment in which a set of computing systems are to share one or more keys (such as a private and public key pair). The transfer encryption key is used to encrypt communications of the key(s) such that the encrypted key(s) may be transferred over a transfer system without the transfer system having access to the key(s). In order to perform automated changeover of the transfer encryption key, one of the set of computing systems encrypts the next transfer encryption key with the prior transfer encryption key. The transfer system provides this encrypted message to the remainder of the set of computing systems, which may then decrypt the encrypted message using the prior transfer encryption key, to find the next transfer encryption key.

Computing systems and associated networks have greatly revolutionized our world. In order to share information between computing systems over a network, that information is often first encrypted prior to transmission over the network. The recipient system may then decrypt that message to extract the original information. This allows two trusted computing systems to securely exchange information over an untrusted network while reducing the risk that the information may be discovered by other entities. The ability to encrypt and decrypt relies on both computing systems having access to a key. For instance, in asymmetric encryption, the encryption is performed using a public or private key, whereas the decryption is performed using a private key. Thus, the encryption/decryption is accomplished using a public/private key pair. In symmetric encryption, encryption and description may be accomplished using the same encryption key.
In some situations, it is advantageous for multiple computing systems to share the same key(s). This may be appropriate when the multiple computing systems are within the same sphere of trust. For instance, the computing systems may share the same public/private key pair. In order to securely communicate the appropriate key(s) over an untrusted network that is outside of the sphere of trust, a separate transfer encryption key is generated and used to encrypt the key(s) with a message. The message is then appropriately decrypted by each recipient that has the transfer encryption key. With the same public/private key pair now being present at each of the multiple computing systems, further messages may be securely transferred between the multiple computing systems.
The subject matter claimed herein is not limited to embodiments that solve any disadvantages or that operate only in environments such as those described above. Rather, this background is only provided to illustrate one exemplary technology area where some embodiments described herein may be practiced.

Automated changeover of transfer encryption key


Expression cassettes are provided comprising a promoter operably linked to a nucleic acid molecule which, when transcribed in vivo, forms double-stranded RNA that induces the production of interferon. Expression cassettes also are provided comprising a promoter operably linked to a ribozyme or antisense nucleic acid molecule which, when transcribed in vivo, forms a ribozyme or antisense RNA molecule that stimulates an immune response. In addition, expression cassettes are provided comprising a promoter operably linked to a ribozyme or antisense nucleic acid molecule which, when transcribed in vivo, stimulates apoptosis. Finally, gene delivery vectors are provided which contain such expression cassettes, host cells containing the gene delivery vectors, and methods of utilizing the expression cassettes, gene delivery vectors, and host cells.

Substantial research has been undertaken in order to realize the possibility that the course of disease may be affected through the introduction of nucleic acids into living organisms. When utilized for medical purposes, such therapy, termed "gene therapy", allows the alteration of the genetic repertoire of cells for a therapeutic benefit.
A variety of methods have been described for delivering nucleic acids to cells, including for example, the use of viral vectors derived from retrovirus, adenovirus, poxvirus, herpes virus, and adeno-associated virus (see Jolly, Cancer Gene Therapy 1:51-64, 1994), as well as direct nucleic acid transfer techniques, including direct DNA injection (Donnelly, J. J. et al., Ann. Rev. Immunol. 15:617-648, 1997), micro-projectile bombardment (Williams et al., PNAS 88:2726-2730, 1991), and nucleic acid complexes with lipids of several types (Felgner et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 84:7413-7417, 1989). Many of these strategies are being applied widely, with clinical trials now ongoing for a wide range of hereditary (e.g., ADA deficiency, cystic fibrosis, hemophilia) and acquired (e.g., cancer, viral infection) diseases (Crystal, Science 270:404-410, 1995).
One particularly important application of gene therapy is in the vaccine field. Briefly, live virus vaccines (e.g., vaccinia, polio, measles) have been enormously successful and have made a dramatic and historic impact on public health. However, for certain pathogens, such as HIV, safety concerns about either reversion of attenuated vaccine strains to virulent phenotypes or inducing fulminate infection in immune compromised individuals have forced the development of subunit or inactivated virus vaccines. Unfortunately, in many cases, these vaccines have not elicited the potent broad-based humoral, cellular, and mucosal immune responses or long-term memory necessary to confer life-long protection in immunized individuals. Induction of such robust immune responses will be particularly important for vaccines against HIV and HCV infection, both of which have reached worldwide epidemic proportions and have, to date, proved elusive to candidate vaccines.
Still relatively new, plasmid DNA-based vaccines combine the latest developments of molecular biology with an ever-increasing understanding of immunology, and show promise for immunization against infection with pathogens, such as HIV, as well as other diseases for which improved vaccines are needed (e.g., influenza virus). Importantly, DNA immunization elicits humoral and cellular immune responses in rodents and non-human primates. DNA is an attractive mode for vaccination, as it provides the safety advantages of subunit or inactivated virus vaccines, and induces the MHC class I-restricted cytotoxic T cell responses typical of live virus, or "replicating antigen" vaccines, which may be critical for efficacy (Donnelly, J. J. et al., ibid).
Unfortunately however, recent DNA vaccine clinical trials have demonstrated that, although antigen-specific cytotoxic T lymphocyte responses were observed in vaccinated individuals, these responses were insufficient to afford protection against challenge with the infectious agent (Wang, R. et al., Science 282:476-480, 1998; Calarota, S. et al., Lancet 351:1320-1325, 1998). Thus, for DNA-based vaccination to become a widely used method for protection against infectious disease and cancer, the technology must be further improved.
The present invention provides compositions and methods for enhancing the efficacy of DNA vectors, as well as a variety of other gene delivery vectors, used for genetic immunization. Such improvements can include immunostimulatory modifications to the antigen-expressing vector itself, or the in vivo administration, along with the antigen-expressing vector, of one or more additional gene delivery vectors that are immunostimulatory. The improvements described herein address previous difficulties associated with the use of gene delivery vectors by enhancing the extent of the antigen-specific immune response, thus providing the broad and robust responses critical for successful prophylactic or therapeutic vaccination against infectious agents and cancer.

Enhancement of the immune response for vaccine and gene therapy applications


An anchor for fixing a first member (35) to a second member (8), such as a plasterboard or similar sheet material wall. The anchor is formed from a plastics material and includes an elongate shank (2) for passage through the second member (8) from a front surface (7) thereof to beyond the rear surface. The shank has a screw thread (17) for engaging the second member for retaining the shank therein, and the shank includes a passage (25) extending from an outer head end (3) for reception of a fastening screw (24-26), a toggle bar (5) and at least one frangible connector (20-21-22) attaching the toggle bar on the shank in an inoperative position at which the toggle bar extends in the longitudinal direction of the elongate shank and does not interfere with passage of the shank through the second member. The toggle bar includes a ramp surface (27) which is contactable by the fastening screw inserted through the passage (25) for moving the toggle bar from its inoperative position to an operative position at which it extends transversely to the longitudinal axis of the shank rearwardly of the rear surface of the second member. The toggle bar in its operative position includes a through hole (23) which is engageable by the fastening screw, whereby a first member (35) associated with the fastening screw is fixable to the second member (8) upon relative rotation of the fastening screw in the shank to draw the toggle bar into engagement with the rear surface of the second member.

Anchors of the kind to which the present invention is directed are used in connection with plasterboard and other dry wall materials because of the relatively fragile nature of such materials. A standard fastening screw is unable to achieve a sufficiently firm grip in such material to enable the screw to support a load of any significance. It is therefore common practice to insert a threaded anchor into the plasterboard or other material and then drive a fastening screw into the anchor to achieve a load bearing fixture. An example of anchors of that kind is disclosed by Australian Patent 579622.
Conventional anchors of the foregoing kind are not entirely satisfactory if required to support a relatively heavy load, such as a load exceeding 5 kg for example.


An OLED device includes a substrate including first through fourth sub-pixel regions arranged in a quad type, a first electrode disposed on each of the first through fourth sub-pixel regions, a first functional layer disposed on all the first through fourth sub-pixel regions and configured to emit first color light, a second functional layer formed in a stripe shape, which progresses along the second and fourth sub-pixel regions arranged in a row direction, and configured to emit second color light, a third functional layer formed in another stripe shape, which progresses along the third and fourth sub-pixel regions arranged in a column direction, and configured to emit third color light, and a second electrode disposed on the entire surface of the substrate including the first through third functional layers.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an organic light emitting display (OLED) device, and more particularly, to an OLED device adapted to simultaneously enhance visibility and an aperture ratio and a method of manufacturing the same.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
In general, an OLED device includes a pair of electrodes and a functional layer interposed between the electrodes. Such an OLED device displays an image using a principle of emitting light through the recombination of electron and electric hole, which are applied from the electrodes, in the functional layer.
The OLED device is a self-illuminating display device. In other words, unlike a liquid crystal display device, the OLED device is formed without a backlight unit, and thus may become thinner. Also, the OLED device is adaptable to display high-quality moving pictures because of at least its features of low voltage drive, a wide viewing angle and high speed response.
FIG. 1 is a planar view showing some pixels of an OLED device according to a prior art. Referring to FIG. 1, the OLED device includes a plurality of pixels P. Each pixel P includes first through third sub-pixels, which become red (R), green (G) and blue (B) for displaying red, green and blue colors, respectively. Thus, the OLED device can realize full color. The R, G and B sub-pixels may be arranged in a stripe format with a superior visibility (or high visual recognizability).
However, it is difficult for the arrangement of the stripe format to secure an aperture ratio of at least 30% due to limitations on the fabrication process, more particularly the limitation on a mask fabrication process. In order to secure a desired aperture ratio, there have been attempts to arrange the sub-pixels in a delta format or to modify circuit configuration. Nevertheless, the arrangement of the delta format and the modified circuit configuration deteriorates the visibility (the visual recognizability) even below that of the arrangement of the stripe format.
In view of above, it is necessary for the OLED device to provide a new technical alternative that is able to secure both the aperture ratio and the visibility (or the visual recognizability).

Organic light emitting display device and method for fabricating the same


A method of producing a GaN crystal is directed to growing a GaN crystal on a GaN seed crystal substrate. The method includes the steps of preparing a GaN seed crystal substrate including a first dopant such that the thermal expansion coefficient of the GaN seed crystal substrate becomes greater than that of the GaN crystal, and growing the GaN crystal to a thickness of at least 1 mm on the GaN seed crystal substrate. Accordingly, there can be provided a method of producing a GaN crystal that can suppress generation of a crack and grow a thick GaN crystal, and a GaN crystal substrate.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a growth method of a GaN crystal, and a GaN crystal substrate, conveniently employed for the substrate and the like of a semiconductor device such as a light emitting element, an electronic element and a semiconductor sensor.
2. Description of the Background Art
A GaN crystal substrate is extremely useful for the substrate of a semiconductor device such as a light emitting element, an electronic element and a semiconductor sensor. It is required to grow a GaN crystal of great thickness in order to produce such a GaN crystal substrate efficiently.
When a GaN crystal is grown on a substrate of a type differing in the chemical composition from the GaN crystal (for example, sapphire substrate, SiC substrate, and the like) (such growth is referred to as hetero growth), the mismatch in the lattice constant between the different-type substrate and GaN crystal will cause higher dislocation density of the GaN crystal to reduce the crystallinity. In addition, complicated steps such as formation of a buffer layer, formation of a mask layer and the like were required in order to reduce the dislocation density and improve the crystallinity of the GaN crystal to be grown. It was therefore difficult to grow a GaN crystal efficiently.
When a GaN crystal is grown on a GaN substrate that is identical in type with the chemical composition of the GaN crystal (such growth is referred to as homo growth), there was a problem that a crack may be generated in the GaN crystal. The generation of a crack is noticeable particularly in the case where the thickness of the homo-growing GaN crystal is 1 mm or more.
Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2005-200250 (hereinafter, referred to as Patent Document 1) discloses a method of growing a nitride semiconductor crystal that is uniform in quality and of high crystallinity by surrounding the growth face edge portion and side face portion of the growing crystal with a cover located apart by a predetermined distance, when a nitride semiconductor crystal is to be grown on a nitride semiconductor substrate, to prevent abnormal growth that occurs partially at the edge region of the growth face and side face of the growing crystal. However, it was difficult to suppress generation of a crack during the growth of a GaN crystal even by the method disclosed in Patent Document 1.

Growth method of GaN crystal, and GaN crystal substrate


A method is provided for manufacturing a wide band retardation plate which gives uniform phase difference characteristics to incident light over the whole visible wavelength region, and which, as it permits selection of raw materials regardless of whether they have a positive or negative intrinsic double refraction value, allows a wide selection of raw materials. For this purpose, the method comprises a machine direction-stretched film-forming step for transporting and stretching in an identical direction to the transport direction, a Material A of two or more materials having different positive intrinsic double refraction values to form a machine direction-stretched film, a transverse direction-stretched film-forming step for transporting and stretching in a perpendicular direction to the transport direction, a Material B of the aforesaid two or more materials to form a transverse direction-stretched film, and a lamination step for laminating the machine direction-stretched film and the transverse direction-stretched film.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a retardation plate and its manufacturing method, a circularly polarizing plate and ½ wave plate using same, and a reflective liquid crystal display which can be used in various fields such as personal computers, AV devices, portable information and telecommunications devices, games and simulation devices, and a vehicle-mounted navigation system.
2. Description of the Related Art
¼ wave plates whose retardation (Re) is ¼ of wavelength are used for various applications, such as reflective liquid crystal displays, optical disk pickups and anti-fogging films. On the other hand, ½ wave plates whose retardation (Re) is ½ of wavelength also have various uses such as in LCD projectors.
In these applications, it is desired that ¼ wave plates and ½ wave plates manifest their full function with respect to incident light in all visible wavelength regions. In this regard, examples of wide band retardation plates which can fully demonstrate their functions with respect to incident light in the visible wavelength region and formed by laminating two sheets of polymer film having mutually different optical anisotropy may be mentioned (e.g., Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open UP-A) No. 05-27118, JP-A No. 05-100114, JP-A No. 10-68816 and JP-A No. 10-90521).
However, in prior art laminated type retardation plates, two types of chips had to be formed by cutting a birefringence film stretched in one direction, in directions subtending mutually different angles with respect to the stretching direction, these chips then being stuck together by an adhesive material and laminated. Moreover, when the two chips were stuck together, the coating of the adhesive material, cutting and sticking led to cost increases while decreased performance due to angular offset when the chips were stuck together could not be disregarded, hence improvements were desired.

Retardation plate and its manufacturing method, circularly polarizing plate and 1/2 wave plate using same, and a reflective liquid crystal display


In a computer implemented method, possible arrangements of items, such as components to be placed on a semiconductor die, are described in a permutation space expressed as a data structure stored in a memory. The data structure is in the form of a balanced tree. In the tree, each node is a possible permutation. The ordering in the permutation space is transformed to an ordering described in a vector space using an inversion table. A best ordering of items is determined in the vector space according to a predetermined criterion such as an objective function. The best ordering as determined in vector space is then transformed back to the permutation space to determine an optimal placement of the item according to the predetermined criterion.

Modem computer systems are increasingly being used to solve difficult problems in the real physical world. In computer systems, physical items, or representations of virtual items are stored in memories as data structures. Machine executable instructions manipulate the data to solve optimization problems. Increasingly, the structures and problems are becoming more complex.
For example, computers are frequently used to process images. There, the photons of the physical world are converted to pixels at fixed coordinates, each pixel representing variable light intensity and color values. Optimally manipulating millions of pixels requires a large amount of processing, therefore, quickly finding optimal solutions is an important task for computer scientists and engineers.
In the prior art, techniques for finding optimal solutions to problems posed as linear data structures, such as the images in the example above, e.g., independent variables expressed as vectors, are well know. The vectors, perhaps, describe measurable physical attributes associated with the pixels, i.e., intensity and color. Generally, the time and the location of the pixels are ordered in the memories according to a Cartesian coordinate system.
There, optimization techniques for image registration or motion analysis problems, may focus on reducing the total "distance" between the vectors of pixels in successive image planes. Because the variables are independent and can be represented linearly, many image processing problems can be managed in real time.
However, for many complex items, the mere locations of the items is insufficient to derive an optimal solution. Instead, the relative location of the items to each other is the key element in being able to determine an optimal solution. In other words, the ordering of the items is important.
For example, in genetic analysis, the "decoding" of DNA into its functional items, e.g., genes, must take into consideration the numerous possible permutations in which the genes can be sequenced. That is, the relative ordering of the genes is a significant factor in genetic expressions.
Another difficult optimization problem, this time in the field of electronics, is how to optimally lay out the millions of electronic components on a small semiconductor chip so that signalling paths between the components is minimized in order to maximize performance. Again, here, the possible orderings or placement of electronic items (cells) are usually expressed in a permutation space or domain.
More generally and formally, optimization problems where the domains of the parameters to be optimized are described as sets of independent variables are said to belong in a Cartesian, linear, or vector space. Optimization problems where the domains of the variables depends on their order are said to belong in a permutation space.
In the case of vector spaces, the values of the variables are independent of each other, and the optimizing function can typically be geometrically represented in a space which has as many dimensions as there are variables.
For example, a two variable function F(x,y) which is to be optimized in a continuous Cartesian space can be expressed as: EQU F(x,y)=(x+y).sup.4 -(x-y).sup.2
where:
x .epsilon. 0, . . . , 5! and y .epsilon. 1, . . . , 4!. PA1 x .epsilon. 1 . . . 3! and P(x)=the position of x in the permutation. PA1 Q(1,2,3)=1+4+9=14; Q(1,3,2)=1+6+6=13; PA1 Q(2,1,3)=2+2+9=13; Q(2,3,1)=2+6+3=11; PA1 Q(3,1,2)=3+2+6=11; Q(3,2,1)=3+4+3=10, and so forth, however PA1 Q(1,2,2), Q(1,1,3), Q(3,3,2), etc. are non-valid permutations since a specific item appears more than once in the order. PA1 1/2 4 7 8/3 5 6 representing a first parent, and PA1 5/2 7 4 6/3 1 8 representing a second parent, PA1 1:2 7 4 6:3 5 6 a first child permutation, and PA1 5:2 4 7 8:3 1 8 a second child permutation.
As an advantage of vector spaces, the concept of distance between objects can easily be defined, and therefore, the task to minimize the distance between items can use many different optimization techniques. For example, in a continuous vector space, a derivative function or a gradient descent technique can readily yields one or more minima.
In the case of permutation spaces, it is the order of the items which constitute the n-tupla of values that differentiates one input into the optimization from another. That is, the value of the variables in the n-tupla items at different positions are clearly dependent on each other. For example, a three variable function Q(x,y,z) described by a discrete permutation space can be expressed as: EQU Q(x,y,z)=(x.times.P(x))+(y.times.P(y))+(z.times.P(z))
where:
In this case, valid permutation of Q(x,y,z) include:
Independent of the optimization technique used, dealing with vectors of variables is generally much easier than working with permutations. Optimizations in vector spaces typically use general methodologies, whereas in permutation spaces, dedicated methods have usually been required. This means that a method for one application may be of no use in another application.
Some workarounds are known for dealing with optimization problems in permutation spaces. One popular technique uses a penalty function. There, an input sequence of values is "penalized" the "farther" it is from a permitted permutation.
For example, it is desired to minimize a given objective function F(x), where the variable x can take on any integer value in the range 1, . . . , n, . . . Moreover, the value of F(x) is restricted to be in the range: min . . . max. A possible penalty function p(x) could be expressed as: EQU p(x)=1+number of items with the same value.times.min,
with a new penalized objective function: EQU F*(x)=p(x).times.F(x).
In this case, all legal permutations still have the same old values, and illegal permutations are increasingly penalized according to the number of "wrong" items in the sequence.
In another technique, only permitted input values are generated during an iterative optimization process. For example, in methods for genetic applications, e.g., DNA analysis, special cross-over and mutation operators have been developed, or in simulated annealing techniques only swapping is allowed between items of a permutation.
For example, with genetic methods, at popular cross-over operator is the so called Partial Matched Cross-over (PMX), described by D. Goldberg in "Genetic Algorithms in Search Optimization&Machine Learning, Addison-Wesley, 1989, pp. 170-171. There, two chromosomes, one from each contributing parent are aligned, and two crossing sites are randomly selected.
The crossing sites define a matching section. The matching section identifies two genes that will be exchanged (swapped) in the chromosomes of the parents. For example, given two arbitrary DNA sequences:
with two random cross-over sites ".vertline.", the swapping of the matching sections {2 4 7 8} and {2 7 4 6} will produce:
This is an easy-to-implement order-based cross-over. Unfortunately the semantics of the operation, and its practicality depend on the specific optimization problem to be solved. In many cases, the cross-over operator is ineffective, or not applicable at all.
Although both the penalizing function and the cross-over operator each offer advantages and disadvantages, they tend to obscure the problem by adding complexities to the optimizing methods, and therefore decrease their effectiveness.
It is desired to provide a general method that allows the best optimization techniques available for problems expressed in vector spaces to also be applied to all order based problems whose domains are represented in permutation spaces. The methodology should be applicable to real physical world problems, such as, for example, the optimal placement of interconnected components or modules in a surface plane of a semiconductor die. Here, it is desired to minimize the total length of interconnecting lines in order to maximize the performance of the components.

Method for optimizing items represented in permutation spaces


An object of the invention is to provide a dispenser which permits its cover to be either locked when closed or unlocked a dispensing device including a lock mechanism for locking a cover to a housing and providing therewith a blocking member which is either coupled to the housing in an inoperative position or can be coupled to the housing in a position which prevents locking of the lock mechanism. The blocking member may preferably be integrally formed from plastic as the same material as another component of the dispenser, preferably from injection molded integrally with a back plate for the housing, at a location which is not visible when the dispenser is used and with the blocking member being removably connected to the housing back plate by a frangible connection which may readily be broken to separate the blocking member from the housing back plate such that the blocking member may be suitably positioned and coupled to the dispenser in a position which prevents locking of the lock mechanism.

Soap dispensers are known having a cover which can be moved between an open and closed position as for filling the dispensers with soap as, for example, by the removal and replacement of disposable soap containers. Frequently, the cover is mounted on a dispenser housing and adapted to assume a closed position in which it is locked to the housing, as to a back plate, against opening other than by disengaging a lock mechanism such as by use of a key to be turned or pushed. While such lock mechanisms are advantageous to reduce vandalism as in school washroom environments, the use of a key as a requirement to open a cover of dispenser is not desirable in other environments as where vandalism is not high and greater ease of access to dispenser is desired.
To overcome the disadvantages of previously known devices the present invention provides a soap dispenser with a lock mechanism for locking a cover to a housing back plate and including a blocking member, provided preferably as a removable integral portion of the back plate, which can be removed and when suitably positioned prevents locking of the lock mechanism.
The present invention provides a dispensing device including a lock mechanism for locking a cover to a housing and providing therewith a blocking member which is either coupled to the housing in an inoperative position or can be coupled to the housing in a position which prevents locking of the lock mechanism. The blocking member may preferably be integrally formed from plastic as the same material as another component of the dispenser, preferably from injection molded integrally with a back plate for the housing, at a location which is not visible when the dispenser is used and with the blocking member being removably connected to the housing back plate by a frangible connection which may readily be broken to separate the blocking member from the housing back plate such that the blocking member may be suitably positioned and coupled to the dispenser in a position which prevents locking of the lock mechanism. Forming the blocking member as an integral part of one of the elements of the dispenser, preferably a back plate, avoids the need for handling of a separate element. The blocking member is preferably provided on the dispenser preferably on a back plate in a location that with the cover open it can be readily accessed such that after the dispenser may have been installed as for locking usage, the blocking member may then be removed and subsequently applied to the dispenser to provide for use of the dispenser in a manner for which there is no locking of the cover.
In one aspect the present invention provides a fluid dispenser having a back plate for mounting to a wall and a cover mounted to the back plate for relative movement (1) between a closed position and a raised intermediate position by relative vertical sliding and (2) between the raised intermediate position and an open position by relative pivoting; in the closed position first catch members on the cover engaging first catch members on the back plate to prevent relative pivoting of the cover and back plate, in the closed position second catch members on the cover engaging second catch members on the back plate to prevent relative vertical sliding of the cover and back plate, one of the second catch members being resiliently deflectable to disengage the second catch member and permit vertical sliding of the cover and back plate between the closed and intermediate position, in the intermediate position the first catch members do not engage and the second catch members do not engage such that when in the intermediate position the cover is free for pivoting to the open position, a blocking member adapted to be engaged on one of the cover and the back plate to resilient deflect the resiliently deflectable one of the second catch members and maintain the same in a position in which the two second catch members do not engage, the blocking member carried by and removable secured to the back plate in an inoperative position, the blocking member manually removable from the inoperative position for engagement on the resiliently deflectable one of the catch member.
Preferably the back plate includes an opening through the back plate, the blocking member received in the opening coupled to the back plate in the inoperative position.
More preferably the blocking member and back plate are integrally formed together as a unitary member by injection molding with the blocking member secured to the back plate in the inoperative position by a frangible member which can be manually broken for removal of the blocking member to permit it to be removed from being secured to the back plate in the inoperative position and to be engaged with one of the cover and back plate to engage the resiliently deflectable one of the second catch members and maintain the same in a position in which the two second catch members do not engage.