The present invention relates to compositions useful for the suppression of fugitive dust emissions and methods of suppressing dust emissions by application of an aqueous solution comprising a surfactant, wetting agent and an acrylic copolymer. The compositions of the invention are effective in wetting, penetrating and improving particle cohesion and reducing water evaporation. They can also be used as a knockdown agent for airborne dust and for minimizing soil and dust erosion, blowing and loss from roads and bulk solids, mineral flotation processes, waste management applications and as a binding agent.

Dust dissemination poses safety, health and environmental problems in many environments. Dust particles, both inhalant (up to 30μ) and respirable (up to 10μ), are known to contaminate food and water, and when inhaled, can result in serious respiratory ailments. In other cases, the presence of coal dust may lead to possible spontaneous combustion. Similar concerns are raised in other mining, chemical, steel and waste industries which generate smoke, dust, ash and other particulate matters. Dust emission is also a problem during road construction and the transportation of coal or pulverised minerals in railway cars or trucks.
The usual method for allaying dust is to apply a water spray either with a fixed or mobile pressurised spray system, gravity fed distribution or by water cannon. Water trucks are commonly used, for example, on mine haulage roads, quarry access, road constructions, unsealed roads and other types of dusty areas supporting traffic. The main problem with using water sprays is that the dust is controlled only for a short period of time depending on climatic conditions. This is particularly the case during road construction where application of the water spray has to be constantly repeated with a frequency of up to every hour or less to provide effective dust control. Even then, the dust abatement performance is often poor and there is a need for ready access to water, which can be particularly difficult to obtain during droughts.
Various methods have been employed to date in knock down dust suppressants and dust dissemination. Incorporation of hygroscopic salts such as calcium or magnesium chloride in the water sprays is often done in an attempt to retain moisture on the dusty surface, but the method is often disadvantageous due to high salt usage rates, moisture scavenging properties and equipment corrosion. Oil and oil-based emulsions, pine resin tall oil, and lignosulfonate as a by-product of paper-mills have been used for dust control purposes. See for example U.S. Pat. No. 4,417,992 which discloses the use of oil-containing emulsions comprising light paraffin solvents, water and cross-linked polymers for dust control. U.S. Pat. No. 4,746,543 discloses the use of an aqueous solution containing a mixture of water soluble acrylic polymers with water soluble non-ionic glycol polymers with sulfonate nonionic surfactants and co-surfactants as dust control agents. U.S. Pat. No. 4,594,268 discloses the use of an aqueous emulsion of methacrylate polymer as a dust control agent. U.S. Pat. No. 5,194,174 describes the use of non-viscous water based solutions including a polyvinyl alcohol and boric acid for suppressing dust. U.S. Pat. No. 4,801,635 describes a combination of water-soluble anionic acrylic polymers in combination with water-soluble non-ionic glycol polymers in an aqueous medium together with sulfonate surfactants for the control of dust emissions into the environment. U.S. Pat. No. 5,256,444 describes the control of fugitive dust emissions by the application of a water-soluble cationic polymer solution with a foaming agent. European Patent No. 0 134 106 describes compositions for dry dusty soil surface treatment and stabilisation of surface soil by application of an aqueous emulsion of homopolymers and copolymers of acrylic acid and a polybasic salt including surfactants and wetting agents.
Notwithstanding that there is a wide variety of dust suppressant compositions and methods available, there is a need for new, improved or at least alternative dust suppressant compositions for use in knocking down airborne dust and controlling fugitive dust emissions in the road building, waste control, mining, haulage and related industries. For example, road construction companies often revert back to the use of simple but generally ineffective water sprays rather than using aqueous suppressant compositions with durable dust control effect.

Compositions for dust suppression and methods


A device for automatically locking wheels on a balancing machine which comprises: a rotating hollow shaft which supports, at one end, a flange for clamping a wheel in a cantilevered fashion; a secondary shaft which can perform a translatory motion within said hollow shaft by means of preloaded springs, so as to keep the secondary shaft shifted away from the clamping flange, thus locking the wheel; a pneumatic cylinder for the translatory motion of the secondary shaft towards the clamping flange, in order to allow the release of the wheel and, simultaneously, a further loading of the springs. For machines of this kind, the locking device according to the present invention has at least two gas springs which are parallel to the secondary shaft and are interposed between a pulley rigidly coupled to the hollow shaft and the free end of the secondary shaft, and a pneumatic cylinde with a stem which acts on the end of the secondary shaft which can preload the gas springs to allow the translatory motion of the secondary shaft towards the clamping flange and therefore allow wheel release. There are also provided stops for stopping the stroke of the secondary shaft and elastic elements for returning the secondary shaft and the stem of the piston to the initial position, thus allowing the gas springs to restore the locking of the wheel.

The present invention relates to a device for automatically locking wheels, pulleys, disks and particularly motor vehicle wheels on a horizontal-axis balancing machine.
It is known that current and more recent balancing machines for motor vehicle wheels and similar items are usually constituted by a footing which encloses the drive unit and the associated controls for the actuation of an axially hollow shaft which can rotate on bearings and is arranged so as to have a horizontal axis. A substantially dome-shaped flange is coaxially associated with one end of said hollow shaft and is centrally provided with a conical body onto which the usual central cavity of the wheel to be balanced is fitted; a cup-shaped external flange, arranged coaxially to the hollow shaft, is provided to lock the wheel to the rotating dome during rotation of the hollow shaft.
A secondary shaft is installed coaxially to said hollow shaft so that it can perform a translatory motion and act as a tie element; the end of said secondary shaft which lies proximate to the dome can be connected to (and disconnected from) said external flange, which is shaped like a cup or the like, so as to keep the wheel locked on the dome when said tie element is kept pushed towards the end of the hollow shaft which lies opposite to the wheel locking end, with a force which is sufficient to ensure the fixing of the wheel to said dome.
Several systems or devices for locking the wheel to the dome have been proposed which can make the secondary shaft automatically perform a translatory motion inside the hollow shaft towards the opposite end of said hollow shaft.
One of the best-known devices for automatically locking a wheel on a balancing machine of the above-specified type is constituted by a pneumatic cylinder which rotates together with the hollow shaft of the balancing machine; a tie element (secondary shaft arranged inside the rotating hollow shaft) is axially connected to the piston of said cylinder and is capable of applying, by means of the pressure to which it is subjected, to said tie element a force which is sufficient to lock the wheel on the locking dome or flange.
In this case, the cylinder rotates together with the shaft and it is therefore necessary to have a rotating manifold in order to convey the compressed-air supply to the cylinder; this entails an accurate and expensive construction in order to avoid disturbances and vibrations caused by said manifold.
On the other hand, advantageously there is no intrinsic limitation to the stroke of the cylinder and of the tie element; accordingly, it is possible to manufacture centering devices which are particularly practical and efficient for the user.
Another conventional device is constituted by a pack of metal springs installed on the rotating hollow shaft and arranged so as to supply the tie element with an axial force which is capable of retaining the wheel on the clamping device. When the shaft is not rotating, a nonrotating cylinder can preload the springs, so that it is possible to fit the wheel and connect to the tie element the locator bracket which will retain the wheel against the clamping dome or bracket. This device is simpler and less expensive than the previous one, but it has the drawback that it has a limited stroke of the spring. A metal spring whose dimensions are compatible with a wheel balancing machine and whose force is sufficient to clamp a wheel over a stroke of more than a few millimeters is in fact substantially impracticable.
Furthermore, the metal spring is seldom symmetrical and the various compression levels may generate imbalances which cannot be compensated.
This application, owing to the limited stroke which can be achieved on the traction element, forces scarcely practical constructive embodiments of the wheel clamping flange, with the need for adjustment or pre-clamping operations so that the limited stroke is nonetheless sufficient to retain the wheel. If one considers the clamping systems which are normally used, for the sake of the best practicality it is in fact desirable to have a traction element stroke on the order of 70-100 mm, with a minimum force on the order of 250 kg. These results cannot be achieved with conventional systems that use the reaction of springs.

Device for automatically locking wheels and the like on a balancing machine


A method of testing write enable lines of random access memory having at least one word having one or more write enable inputs for controlling write operations in the word, comprises, for a selected memory address, shifting a series of test bits through an addressed word via a first data input to the word, and for each test bit, performing a write operation to the word using a write enable test input derived from data outputs of the word or from a test write enable signal applied concurrently to each write enable input; and, after each write operation, comparing a last bit of the word against an expected value to determine whether there exists a defect in a write enable line.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to testing of integrated circuits and, more specifically, relates to a method and test circuit for testing memory write enable inputs.
2. Description of Related Art
Nadeau-Dostie et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,969,148 granted on Nov. 6, 1990 for "Serial testing technique for embedded memories", incorporated herein by reference, describes a testing circuit which interfaces serially with the data path of an embedded memory circuit formed from at least one memory unit having separated data input and output lines and tandem addressing. Part of the testing circuit is a series of two-input multiplexer units which are adapted to be embedded on the same chip as the memory circuit. The outputs of the multiplexer units connect to a respective one of the data input lines of the memory circuit. Except for the first bit position, a first input of each multiplexer unit connects to the data output line of the adjacent bit position in the memory circuit. The second input of the multiplexer units connects to the data bus of the chip. The testing circuit includes a finite state machine which connects to the first input of the multiplexer unit at the first bit position and to the data output line at the last bit position. During testing, the finite state machine actuates the multiplexer units to connect the first bits, and, for each address, outputs a series of test bits, shifts the bits through an addressed word by a series of read and write operations, and examines the bits after their passage through the addressed word for defects in the memory circuit at that address. The finite state machine may or may not be embedded on the same chip as the memory circuit.
Bit and byte write enables are commonly used in embedded memories. In addition, words may be arranged into groups of data bits having a different number of data bits than that of a byte. During execution of memory Built-In Self-Test (BIST) algorithms, these write enables are selectively connected to the memory global write enable and the test algorithm verifies that the write enables are not stuck inactive. During the execution of a scan or logic test, the write enables are typically tested for other faults, such as stuck active or shorted to other signals. The faults are tested up to the boundary of the memory itself. However, some of the same faults may originate from within the memory itself and, therefore, are not detected by test strategies heretofore employed.
There is a need for a method and a test circuit for detecting faults in bit and byte write enables that originate from within a memory.

Method and test circuit for testing memory internal write enable


Cement dispersion agents containing a graft copolymer composed of four kinds of constituent unit each having a specified structure can provide improved fluidity to cementing compositions, prevent slump loss after the kneading process and reduce the drying shrinkage of hardened concrete produced at the same time.

This invention relates to cement dispersion agents. Cement dispersion agents are used for cementing compositions such as mortar and concrete in order to provide them with fluidity and water reducing property. The present invention relates in particular to such cement dispersion agents that are capable of providing high fluidity to cementing compositions, restraining the change in fluidity such as slump loss with the passage of time after kneading, and reducing the drying shrinkage of hardened concrete which is obtained at the same time.
Although many kinds of natural and synthetic cement dispersion agents have been in use, most of them can provide only low fluidity to cementing compositions and their slump losses are large. There were proposals to use water-soluble vinyl copolymers as cement dispersion agent (Japanese Patent Publications Tokkai 62-78137 and Tokkai 1-226757, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,962,173, 4,960,465 and 5,028,271). Although they can provide relatively high fluidity to cementing compositions and their slump losses are relatively small, their effects are still insufficient. In particular, they are not satisfactory in that the drying shrinkage of hardened concrete which is obtained is large and shrinkage cracks are formed in such hardened concrete as a result.


The molten carbonate fuel cell includes (a) an anode current collector formed to be flat rectangular tubular and having a pair of outer surfaces each formed at the center thereof with a recessed portion for receiving an anode therein, the recessed portion being formed with a plurality of holes through which anode gas is supplied to anode from inside of the anode current collector, (b) a pair of cells each disposed on each of the outer surfaces of the anode current collector, and (c) a pair of cathode current collectors each cooperating with the anode current collector to sandwich each of the cells, therebetween, the cathode current collectors being formed with a plurality of holes through which cathode gas is supplied to cathode from outside of the cathode current collector. The anode current collector, the cells and the cathode current collectors constitute a pair of independent parallel cells. The anode current collector includes an anode gas passage which is connected to the anode current collector and through which an anode gas is to be provided to the inside of the anode current collector, and an anode current terminal formed at an end of the anode current collector perpendicular to the anode gas flow. Each of the cells includes an anode set in the recessed portion of the anode current collector, an electrolyte plate disposed in contact with an outer surface of the anode and extensive over the recessed portion of the anode current collector, and a cathode disposed in contact with an outer surface of the electrolyte plate. The cathode current collectors is connected to each other at ends disposed opposite to the anode current terminal to form shape, and the cathode current collector is formed at a connection point as a cathode current terminal. The above mentioned molten carbonate fuel cell makes it no longer necessary to use a separator for mechanically separating anode and cathode gases, resulting in remarkable cost down.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a molten carbonate fuel cell and a power generation system including the molten carbonate fuel cell.
2. Description of the Related Art
A molten carbonate fuel cell has many advantages in comparison with conventional power generation systems. For instance, it provides higher efficiency and less pollution to environment. Thus, the molten carbonate fuel cell has been studied and developed in many countries all over the world as a next power generation system following hydraulic, thermal and nuclear power generation.
FIG. 1 illustrates one of conventional MCFC power generation systems consuming natural gas as fuel. The illustrated power generation system includes a reformer 10 for reforming fuel gas 1 such as natural gas into anode gas 2 containing hydrogen gas therein, and a molten carbonate fuel cell 12 for producing electric power from the anode gas 2 and cathode gas 3 containing oxygen and CO.sub.2. The anode gas 2 produced in the reformer 10 is supplied to the fuel cell 12, and consumed the most part, for instance, about 80% for power generation reaction of MCFC to thereby transform into anode exhaust gas 4, which is supplied to a combustion chamber of the reformer 10. In the reformer 10, combustible ingredients in the anode exhaust gas 4 such as hydrogen, carbon monoxide and methane are burned to produce high temperature combustion gas by which a reforming tube is heated to thereby reform fuel passing through the reforming tube. Combustion exhaust gas 5 leaving the reformer 10 joins pressurized air 6 supplied from a pressure recovery device 15 to thereby produce cathode gas 3, which supplies requisite carbon dioxide and oxygen to a cathode section C of the fuel cell 12. The cathode gas 3 makes partial reaction for power generation in the fuel cell 12 to thereby produce cathode exhaust gas 7, a part of which is circulated to the upstream of the fuel cell 12 by means of a cathode recirculation blower 14 and remainder of which is pressure-recovered by means of a pressure recovery apparatus 15 including a turbine 16 and an air-compressor 17 and also heat-recovered by means, of a heat recovery apparatus 18, and then exhausted to atmosphere. Before entering the reformer 10, the fuel gas 1 is mixed with steam 8.
FIGS. 2A and 2B schematically illustrate mechanical structure of the fuel cell 12. As illustrated, the molten carbonate fuel cell 12 includes electrolyte plate t, a set of anode, a and cathode c each disposed on one of opposite surface of each of the electrolyte plate t, and separators s for mechanically separating the anode and cathode gas. The electrolyte plate t is a planar plate made of ceramic powder, and holds carbonate in gaps therein with the carbonate being molten at high temperature. The anode a and cathode c both made of sintered metal powder and formed in a planar plate sandwich the electrolyte plate t therebetween. The anode a, electrolyte plate t, and cathode c form a single cell. The molten carbonate fuel cell 12 is comprised of a plurality of cells forming a layer-stacked cell in which the cells are sandwiched between the separators s.
That is, a single cell is comprised of the planar electrolyte plate t sandwiched between the anode a and the cathode c, a current collector made of a punched plate and supporting, the electrolode plate for protection, and the separator s made of metal and disposed outside the current collector. In an internal manifold type fuel cell, the separators s form passages through which fuel gas and oxidant gas are supplied to anode and cathode. In a layer-stacked cell, the separators s makes possible to stack a plurality of cells and make them integrated with one another. It should be noted that various types of separator have been manufactured for obtaining proper function thereof. For instance, one of conventional separators is comprised of a flat plate combined with corrugate plates or pressed plate. FIG. 2A illustrates a separator comprised of pressed plates, whereas FIG. 2B illustrates a separator comprised of a flat plate combined with corrugate plates.
The above, mentioned conventional molten carbonate fuel cell has problems as follows.
First, a separator in a conventional molten carbonate fuel cell is required to have high accuracy, high electrical conductivity and high corrosion resistance in order to have many functions of: forming a passage through which fuel gas and oxidant gas is supplied to an anode and a cathode; preventing those two gases from mixing with each other; having electrical conductivity; and forming wet seal w illustrated in FIG. 2B by making direct contact with a highly corrosive electrolyte plate at high temperature. As a result, a separator is complicated in structure and costs too much for fabrication.
Secondly, it is not possible to exchange one of stacked cells, even if it is inferior, since a lot of cells are integrally stacked to use as a layer-stacked cell. Electrolyte is decreased by corrosion and evaporation at 550.degree..about.700.degree. C. which results in shorter lifetime of a cell. However, it is quite difficult to supplement electrolyte to a cell because of the stacked structure.
In a power generation system including the conventional fuel cell, an overall structure thereof is too complicated and large in size, and thus the power generation system costs too much.

Molten carbonate fuel cell and power generation system including the same

Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries Co., Ltd.


The invention provides a composite particle, a process for producing the same, and cosmetics containing the same The invention relates to composite particles containing a polyolefin-based resin having a crystallization degree of 80% or less and zinc oxide and obtained by hot melt microencapsulation or spray cooling, or composite particles containing a polyolefin-based resin having a crystallization degree of 80% or less and zinc oxide, wherein the degree of remaining zinc oxide in the particles is 50 wt % or more after being dipped for 1 hour in 0.5 mol/L hydrochloric acid solution at 25° C. (solution composition: water and ethanol in equal volumes), a process for producing the composite particles, and cosmetics containing the composite particles.

In recent years, an increase in the level of UV rays reaching the surface of the earth, caused by partial depletion of the ozone layer, is regarded problematic, and there is demand for sun-screening cosmetics having a higher effect than conventional. Conventionally, organic compounds, for example those based on benzophenone, benzoic acid or methoxycinnamic acid, are used as UV absorbers in such sun-screening cosmetics, but these organic compounds cannot absorb UV rays in a broader wavelength range and irritate the skin. Because of these problems, there is a need for safer UV-screening agents.
It has been revealed that UV rays reaching the surface of the earth cause skin aging and cancers by the synergistic effect of UV rays of short wavelengths (UV-B region: 280 to 320 nm) causing inflammations (so-called sunburns) such as blisters and red spots, with UV rays of longer wavelengths (UV-A region: 320 to 400 nm), and in recent years, there is significant interest in screening of UV rays particularly in the UV-A region.
Zinc oxide originally shows a sharp edge of absorption in the vicinity of 380 nm, and thus has a higher screening effect against UV rays in the UV-A region, and later, superfine particles of zinc oxide have been developed. The superfine particles of zinc oxide shield from UV rays in a broad wavelength range from the UV-B region to the UV-A region, and the superfine particles of zinc oxide are excellent in transparency with a lower refractive index of 2.0 than the refractive index (2.7) of superfine particles of rutile titanium oxide, and thus attract attention as a UV-shielding agent.
On one hand, zinc oxide is inherently soluble in a very small amount in water, and by virtue of the physiological action of its eluted zinc ion, it has been utilized for a long time as an astringent in the field of cosmetics. Further, zinc oxide has such chemical reactivity as to react with fatty acid to form metallic soap, thus absorbing sebum secreted from the skin to improve retention of cosmetics on the skin and absorbing body-odor components to exhibit a deodorant effect.
However, such physiological activity and chemical reactivity tend to be further increased by converting zinc oxide into superfine particles, and when higher safety for skin tissues is to be required in the future, the activity of the particle surface is desirably suppressed.
The water solubility and chemical reactivity of zinc oxide described above bring about various inconveniences in designing the formulation of cosmetics. That is, the most important starting component in cosmetics is water also serving as a major constituent component in the human body, and in the cosmetics containing superfine particle of zinc oxide, its zinc ion eluted into water reacts with another component, and thus the ratio of water cannot be increased, thus limiting the freedom of formulation. In the case of sun-screening cosmetics containing conventional superfine particles of zinc oxide, for example, it is difficult to increase the ratio of water to 50% or more, and the majority of emulsified products are limited to those of water-in-oil type (W/O). These emulsified products are based on oil, thus hardly achieving dry feeling.
Use of the superfine particles of zinc oxide in cosmetics also limits the freedom of formation because the superfine particles react with other various ingredients such as an oil, perfume, coloring matter, organic UV absorber and water-soluble polymer in the cosmetics, to cause problems such as an increase or decrease in the viscosity of the cosmetics, generation of a nasty smell, discoloration etc.
Under these circumstances, JP-A 3-183620 discloses an art wherein the surfaces of fine particles of zinc oxide are coated with an oxide or hydroxide of aluminum, silicon, zirconium or tin thereby reducing the catalytic activity of zinc oxide to suppress the denaturation of organic vehicles in cosmetics and further reducing the dynamic coefficient of friction of zinc oxide to prevent deterioration in smoothness and feeling.
JP-A 11-302015 discloses an art which contains arranging a high-density coating layer consisting of silicon oxide on the surface of a zinc oxide particle to suppress the solubility thereof in purified water.
JP-A 8-53568 discloses an art which includes converting a monomer phase having zinc oxide dispersed therein into particles by suspension polymerization or emulsion polymerization to suppress the action of zinc oxide on other components such as vehicles. Generally, the monomer used in the suspension or emulsion system includes styrene, methyl methacrylate, acrylonitrile, vinyl acetate etc., but any of the resulting polymers are poor in chemical resistance.
Methyl methacrylate used in the Examples in JP-A 8-53568 supra has an ester linkage, and thus it cannot be said that the resulting polymer is satisfactory in respect of chemical resistance. Further, the resulting particles are generally swollen with ethanol or oil incorporated into cosmetics, thus failing to arrive at substantially sufficient inhibition of the reaction of zinc oxide with other components such as vehicles.
On one hand, fine particles themselves generally easily form an aggregate. Accordingly, fine particles are dispersed in a monomer and fixed by polymerizing the monomer, or fine particles are kneaded with, and dispersed in, a molten resin and then fixed by solidifying the resin.
In the method of fixing fine particles in resin by solidifying the resin, the resin is sprayed in a molten state into a gaseous phase in order to reduce the particle diameter of the resin, or the resin is solidified and then milled.
Accordingly, JP-A 6-167835 discloses a technique of spray-cooling a molten resin via a rotating disc type nozzle.

Composite particle and process for producing the same


Pre-distortion, whose magnitude—and preferably phase—are frequency-dependent, is applied to an input signal in order to reduce spurious emissions resulting from subsequent amplification of the signal. In preferred embodiments, the pre-distortion technique of the present invention is implemented in combination with the (frequency-independent) magnitude and phase pre-distortion technique described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/395,490 (“the '490 application”), where the frequency-dependent pre-distortion corresponds to amplifier distortion that has a magnitude that is proportional to the frequency offset from the carrier frequency and a phase shift of ±90° on either side of the carrier frequency. The frequency-dependent pre-distortion is generated by differentiating waveforms corresponding to pre-distortion parameters with respect to time and then applying the resulting differentiated pre-distortion parameters to the input signal. Depending on the implementation, the waveforms may be differentiated in either the analog or digital domain.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to signal processing, and, in particular, to the pre-distortion of signals for transmission, for example, in a wireless communication network, to reduce spurious emissions.
2. Description of the Related Art
Modern wireless communication networks employ complex modulation schemes that necessitate tight control of spurious emissions (sometimes called "out-of-band emissions") in order to avoid interfering with neighboring carriers and to comply with the requirements of regulatory bodies (e.g., FCC) and standards bodies (e.g. ITU). One source of spurious emissions is the base station transmitter amplifier that is used to amplify signals prior to transmission as wireless (e.g., RF) signals to wireless (e.g., mobile) units in a wireless communication network, such as a cellular voice and/or data network. Prior art techniques for reducing such spurious emissions were able to satisfy previous requirements. However, recent developments in wireless communication networks (e.g., Universal Mobile Telecommunication Service (UMTS)) place additional burden on the base station transmitter amplifier and make it advantageous to reduce the spurious emissions even further.

Digital pre-distortion of input signals for reducing spurious emissions in communication networks


A system and method to integrate various collaboration systems with a browser based application systems. The system and method includes the application system and the collaboration system communicating with each other to transmit notifications and requests from a terminal coupled to both systems. The communication interface between the browser based application system and the collaboration system is based on a protocol such as HTTP protocol. The APIs for the inbound communications to the application system are transparent to the collaboration system and the APIs for the outbound communications are transparent to the application system. Parameter passing is done using configurable placeholders in URL and script templates.

Networked browser based application computer systems are preferred to be capable of providing an apparatus and a method for user service agents to collaborate across the network with user clients. A collaboration system provides a powerful tool for user service agents to better serve network coupled user clients to engage in verbal and visual communications at the same time remotely.
There are many independently developed collaboration systems that employ different collaboration technologies and provide different features such as web chatting, desktop presentation, voice over the network using network protocols, collaborative browsing, and real-time form filling, etc. Presently, integrated collaboration systems and networked browser based application computer systems are not platform independent and collaboration system independent.

System and method of integrating collaboration systems with browser based application systems


A simulation system includes a processor including hardware. The processor performs a moving body process of performing a process of moving a moving body corresponding to a user wearing an HMD in a virtual space, a virtual camera control process of controlling a virtual camera moving in accordance with a movement of the moving body, and a display process of generating an image as viewed from the virtual camera in the virtual space as a display image of the HMD. In the display process, the processor performs a display process of changing, when a change in acceleration of the moving body or a change in a line-of-sight direction of the virtual camera is determined to have satisfied a given change condition, the display image on the HMD to an image different from the image as viewed from the virtual camera.

The disclosure relates to a simulation system, a processing method, an information storage medium, and the like.
Simulation systems using head mounted displays (HMDs) have conventionally been known. The system enables a user wearing the HMD on his or her head to experience a virtual reality (VR) world by watching an image displayed on a screen of the HMD. Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 1999-309269 discloses an example of a conventional technique of such a simulation system.
In the simulation system using an HMD, an image as viewed from a virtual camera in a virtual space is displayed on the HMD. With such an image displayed on the HMD, a vast VR space spreads over the entire field of view of a user, whereby virtual reality felt by the user can be largely improved.
In such a simulation system, a moving body such as a character corresponding to the user moves in a virtual space, and an image as viewed from a virtual camera following the movement of the moving body is generated. Under this condition, when a traveling direction and/or an orientation of the moving body largely changes, the position and/or the orientation of the virtual cameral changes, resulting in a large change in the display image on the HMD. The large change in the display image leads to a load on the user's eyes, which may result in a problem such as the user feeling 3D sickness.

Simulation system, processing method, and information storage medium


A system and method make quality measurements in a network to determine if a Service Level Agreement is breached. The system includes a plurality of routers for routing traffic through the network, means for taking measurements on a path between a first router and a second router, and means for charging at least one of the plurality of routers when data related to the measurements falls below a target value.

Voice-Over-Internet Protocol (VoIP) is attracting a multitude of users because VoIP offers tremendous cost savings relative to a Public Switching Telephone Network (PSTN). For instance, users may bypass long-distance carriers with per minute charges in lieu of transmitting voice calls over the Internet for a flat monthly Internet access fee.
Internet telephony within an intranet enables users to reduce costs by eliminating long-distance charges between sites included in the intranet. An intranet is a local-area network which may or may not be connected to the Internet, but which has some similar functions. The intranet is used for connectivity within, for example, a company. Some companies set up World Wide Web servers on their own internal networks so employees have access to the organization's Web documents. Users may make point-to-point calls via gateway servers attached to a local-area network. For example, a user may want to make a point-to-point call to another user in another office included in the same intranet. The calling party will dial an extension to connect with the gateway server, which is equipped with a telephony board and compression-conversion software; the server configures a private branch exchange (PBX) to digitize the upcoming call. The calling party then dials the number of the called party and the gateway server transmits the call over the IP-based wide-area network to the gateway to the destination office. The destination gateway converts the digital signal back to analog format and delivers the call to the called party.
Although progressing rapidly, VoIP continues to exhibit decreased reliability and sound quality when compared to the PSTN, due primarily to limitations both in Internet bandwidth, current compression technology, delay, jitter, and packet loss. Because the Internet is a packet-switched network, the individual packets of each voice signal may travel over separate network paths for reassembly in the proper sequence at the destination. Although transmitting each packet over a separate path creates a high efficiency for network resources over the PSTN, the chances for packet loss also increase. Packet loss shows up in the form of gaps or periods of silence in a conversation, leading to a clipped-speech effect that is unsatisfactory for most users and unacceptable in business communications. As a result, most corporations looking to reduce communication costs confine their Internet-telephony applications to their intranets. With more predictable bandwidth available than the public Internet, intranets can support full-duplex, real-time voice communications. However, restricting Internet telephony to company intranets does not allow optimum cost saving benefits or flexibility when compared to Internet-telephony over the public Internet.
To date, most developers of Internet-telephony software, as well as vendors of gateway servers, have been using a variety of speech-compression protocols. The use of various speech-coding algorithms, with different bit rates and mechanisms for reconstructing voice packets and handling delays, produces varying levels of intelligibility and fidelity in sound transmitted over the public Internet.
An evolving solution to the varying levels of quality of sound, etc. transmitted over the Internet is to tier the public Internet. Users of the public Internet will then be required to pay for the specific service levels or Quality of Service (QoS) they require. A Service Level Agreement (SLA) is a contract between a carrier and a customer that defines the terms of the carrier's responsibility to the customer and the type and extent of remuneration if those responsibilities are not met. Reports on the QoS based on either per-call measurements or per-path measurements are a tool for determining if carrier responsibilities are met and if not, any rebate due to the customer. Per-call measurements are capable of illustrating voice quality on a call-by-call basis, which more closely reflects the customer's calling experience. However, in many cases, VoIP gateways or IP-PBXs are managed by the customer and therefore per-call information is not available. For instance, when a customer manages the VoIP gateways, the customer security restrictions or technical constraints may prevent the dissemination of per-call information.
Currently, one solution requires the installation of additional hardware at each customer site to take performance measurements. This solution is not scalable and due to the excessive hardware costs, additional cost of maintaining equipment, and additional network connectivity required to communicate and support the additional hardware, most cost-conscious users would not implement the additional hardware.
Therefore, there is a need for a system and method for making path-based VoIP quality measurements without deploying additional hardware at each customer site.

Method for determining VoIP gateway performance and SLAs based upon path measurements


The invention relates to a novel amino acid having a norbornene group and polypeptide comprising the novel amino acid compounds. The invention also relates to a method of producing polypeptides comprising a norbornene group and to the use of said polypeptides.

The selective modification of biological molecules is one option in modern drug development. Beta-hydroxy amino acids bearing a norbornene reactive group are notably useful as building blocks in peptide and protein chemistry as well as for synthons for active pharmaceutical ingredients.
Current approaches for producing amino acids with said functionality use multiple synthetic steps in organic solvents with subsequent laborious work-up procedures (Lang et al., 2013).
WO2013/108044 discloses polypeptides comprising an amino acid having a norbornene group. Specifically, Nε-5-norbornene-2-yloxycarbonyl-L-lysine is genetically incorporated by using an orthogonal tRNA synthetase/tRNA pair.
There is still a need for novel amino acids bearing a norbornene group which may react with various chemical groups. Specifically for novel amino acids which react with very fast rates at physiological pH in aqueous conditions and at room temperature.


An electrostatic powder coating apparatus comprising a powder reservoir, a gas flow injection chamber, a diffusion chamber and a coating chamber and method for coating a substrate or target objects. The injection chamber receives powder from the reservoir at a controlled rate. The powder particulates are entrained by a gas flow within the injection chamber. The diffusion chamber receives the particulates from the injection chamber. The diffusion chamber deaccelerates the particulates and creates a particulate cloud. The coating chamber receives the particulate cloud. A housing encloses the coating chamber. The coating chamber is isolated from the ambient atmosphere. The coating chamber has a cloud inlet and a cloud outlet. The cloud flows through the coating chamber from the inlet to the outlet. One or more deflectors, within the chamber, define a passage and two or more pockets adjoining the substrate or target objects. The deflectors deflect the carrier gas from the pockets to the substrate or target objects. The substrate or target objects are transported within the chamber along the passage. Coating material within the passage is concentrated around the substrate or target objects. The coating chamber includes electrodes and voltage biasing means. The biasing means acts upon the substrate or target objects which are positioned within the passage. The particulates are electrostatically deposited upon the substrate or target objects within the passage.

The subject matter of the invention relates to an electrostatic powder coating system, and more particularly to an electrostatic powder coating system which can coat both individual objects and continuous substrates.
Coating materials are applied to a great number of products for aesthetic or functional reasons, by a wide variety of methods and apparatus. Those methods and apparatus have a number of shortcomings. Coating systems utilizing solvents are subject to both the expense of solvents and the expense of disposing of the spent solvents in an environmentally acceptable manner. In hot melt applications or if the viscosity of the coating solutions are raised to decrease solvent usage, other rheology application problems arise.
Apparatus and methods for applying coating material in powder form to a substrate do not suffer from the above shortcomings, however, previous powder coating systems have variously been limited as to the minimum coating thickness which could be applied, the acceptable orientations and adjustability of the apparatus, and the uniformity of the applied coating.
While application methods and devices do exist, current technology is inadequate for applying a continuous, coherent and ultrathin coatings to a large variety of objects. Small objects, such as slugs, often need to be provided with a coating to improve and enhance their function and longevity. One example is metallic objects which are sintered or otherwise formed by powdered metallurgical or ceramic processes. Typical liquid processes encounter high surface tension forces between individual particles of the sintered material causing the liquid to be wicked into the slug or highly porous objects in which the larger pores (representing Faraday Cages) are not adequately coated leaving the exterior surface locally bare in some spots. Additionally, liquid coatings might be totally repelled in certain regions by disabling surface tension forces, such as those regions contaminated with dust, oil or the like. In either case, tiny voids or holidays (defects) in the coating occur, creating potential service problems.
Similarly, while application methods and devices do exist for coating continuous substrates, such as magnet wire, extrusions, strip and sheet materials, and the like, these methods either use relatively large amounts of solvents and are subject both to the expense of solvents and the expense of disposing of the solvents, or are limited by the coating material and the rheology problems associated with that coating material. These methods also have their limitations when ultrathin coatings of less than three (3) microns are desired.
Electrostatic powder coating techniques are also known. However, most of these involve applying the coating to the substrate by passing the substrate through a fluidized bed of particulate coating material. This method requires periodic down time to regenerate the fluidize material in the bed. Such processes also often result in coatings of nonuniform thickness. Uniform thickness depends upon the mobility or flow of the coating material when molten to render the coating uniform, and may not effectively negate gravitational forces on the coating material.
It is therefore highly desirable to provide an improved coating apparatus and method for both continuous substrates and a plurality of discrete objects.
It is also highly desirable to provide an improved coating apparatus and method which applies coatings on both continuous substrates or a plurality of discrete objects disposed in one of a variety of orientations.
It is also highly desirable to provide an improved coating apparatus and method which eliminates the use of solvents.
It is also highly desirable to provide an improved coating apparatus and method which applies continuous, coherent, highly uniform, and ultrathin coatings to substrates or a plurality of discrete objects of a variety of shapes.
It is also highly desirable to provide an improved electrostatic powder coating system which facilitates the application of a continuous, coherent, highly uniform, and ultrathin coatings to both continuous substrates and discrete objects with improved control of film build.
It is also highly desirable to provide an improved coating apparatus and method which is economically efficient and cost effective.
It is also highly desirable to provide an improved coating apparatus and method which utilizes a minimum quantity of coating material per coated object.
It is also highly desirable to provide an improved coating apparatus and method which has a new and improved electrostatic chamber.
It is also highly desirable to provide an improved coating apparatus and method which maximizes the quantity of target objects or substrate area which can be coated within a particular unit of time.
It is also highly desirable to provide an improved coating apparatus and method which has minimal maintenance requirements and yet is operationally efficient.
It is also highly desirable to provide an improved coating apparatus and method which allows for repetitive applications to substrate of different orientations.
It is also highly desirable to provide an improved coating apparatus and method which is capable of coating porous substances, with little surface penetration of the substrate.
It is also highly desirable to provide an improved coating apparatus and method which is economically efficient and cost effective.
Finally, it is highly desirable to provide an improved coating apparatus and method which incorporates all of the above mentioned features.

Electrostatic powder coating apparatus and method


A holographic recording medium having a recording layer on which holograms are formed by interference between an object beam and a reference beam to thereby record information. The recording layer is formed with a plurality of hologram groups each composed of a plurality of holograms. The holograms in each of the hologram groups have the same information, and adjacent holograms partially overlap each other. In addition, the holograms are arranged to be spaced apart from holograms in other hologram groups.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a holographic recording medium written and read by a holographic storage device, and to a writing method therefor.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, as a storage device used in a computer and the like, storage devices are widely being used in which information is two-dimensionally written or read with respect to a recording medium by a magnetic or optical method. A hard disk is known as a storage medium using magnetism, and a CD or DVD is known as a storage medium using light. These storage media are remarkably advanced in a recording density to meet a demand on a large amount of capacity. Also, as a means for a larger amount of capacity, storage media using the holographic principle are under development.
The holographic storage devices read information recorded on the recording medium as holograms in a page unit to reproduce it. On the recording medium, coded information in a page unit is written as a pattern, for example, in which an index of refraction varies. The pattern is a hologram formed by interference between an object beam and a reference beam in a storage device. Also, in order to read the information from the recording medium, the reference beam alone is incident on the recording medium, is diffracted by the hologram pattern, and is received by a photoelectric transducer, such as a CCD or a CMOS. In this way, the written information can be reproduced. Such a holographic storage device is, for example, disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2003-43904.
However, when the incidence angles of the reference beam with respect to the holographic recording medium are different from each other in writing and reading information, the reference beam is not diffracted by a pattern of the hologram, so that the written information cannot be read because the wave front of the object beam in writing the information is not reproduced. For this reason, when the information recorded on the holographic recording medium is read, very high precision is required with respect to the reference beam incident on the holographic recording medium, which leads to an increase in manufacturing costs.

Holographic recording medium and writing method therefor


Inkjet ink contains water, hydrosoluble organic materials; and a colorant, wherein the hydrosoluble organic materials account for 30% by weight to 50% by weight of the inkjet ink, wherein the hydrosoluble organic materials contain 3-methoxy-1-butanol, herein the hydrosoluble organic materials contain at least one of 1,3-butane diol, 3-methyl-1,3-butane diol, 1,2-butane diol, 2,3-butane diol, 1,2-pentane diol, 3-methyl-3-hydroxymethyl oxetane, 1,2-propane diol, or 1,3-propane diol in an amount of 1% of the inkjet ink.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to inkjet ink, an ink cartridge, an ink jet recording device, and a recorded material.
2. Background Art
Inkjet recording methods are advantageous in comparison with other recording methods in that the process is simple, full colorization is easy, and quality images can be obtained by a simple structure.
Dye-based ink in which various hydrosoluble dyes are dissolved in water or a mixture of water and a hydrosoluble moisturizing agent is used as the ink for inkjet.
Although demand for high speed printing has been increasing in recent years, the transferability of aqueous ink after printing is a problem when it is used for plain paper.
Retransferability of ink is a phenomenon that if ink is attached to a recording medium to form an image and remains on the surface thereof in a large amount, the ink on the surface of the recording medium attaches to and contaminates a device such as a transfer roller when the printed surface of the image contacts the device while the recording medium is being transferred in the transfer path.
Various methods can be taken to subdue retransferability of ink. For example, it is possible to use ink that easily evaporates and dries or penetrates into a recording medium, improve the drying property and penetration drying property of a recording medium, or provide a drying device.
Aqueous pigment ink for inkjet recording has advantages such as less oozing on plaint paper, high image density, and no strike-through. However, if the evaporation drying properties of a pigment ink are improved, the pigment is condensed, thereby increasing the viscosity of the ink while an inkjet head is suspended in operation. As a result, intermittent discharging stability (discharging reliability after suspension of operation) is worsened.
JP-2008-303380-A and JP-2009-155662-A disclose ink containing 3-methoxy-3-methylbutanol. However, the retransferability of the ink is not mentioned therein.

Inkjet ink, ink cartridge, inkjet recording device, and ink printed matter


Controlled porosity composite sheets comprising a melt-blown polypropylene fiber web having a spunbonded polypropylene fiber sheet laminated to at least one side thereof are made by calendering an assembly of the component webs in such a manner that, when a two-layer composite sheet is made, the web of melt-blown fibers is in contact with a metal roll heated to 140.degree.-170.degree. C. operating against an unheated resilient roll; and, when a three-layer composite sheet is made, the spunbonded web in contact with the heated metal roll has a dtex per fiber value of less than 6.. These composite sheets have a Gurley-Hill porosity of about 5-75 seconds, excellent mechanical and tear strengths, high water vapor penetration rate, and low liquid water permeability. They are particularly suitable for making housewrap sheets and sheets for sterile packaging. In the sterile packaging field, they are significantly better than medical paper used for the same purpose.

This invention relates to calendered laminates of spunbonded and melt-blown polypropylene webs which combine high opacity with low air and water permeability but good moisture vapor transmission, and good barrier properties against bacteria.
Spunbonded polyethylene sheet (prepared from flash-spun polyethylene plexifilamentary web) has been used for some years as an air flow resistant "housewrap", as well as in sterile packaging applications. The sheet is known for its strength, durability, opacity and ability to reduce air penetration, yet maintains a high moisture vapor transmission rate and, in addition, provides excellent barrier to bacteria. However, there exists a need for a housewrap product with higher tear resistance, especially in areas exposed to strong winds. At the same time, there is a need in sterile packaging for a higher melting material, capable of withstanding steam sterilization. One polyolefin material that has sufficiently high melting temperature and excellent mechanical properties is polypropylene.
Use of polypropylene housewrap sheets is known. Thus, U.S. Pat. No. 4,898,761 to Dunaway et al. (Reemay Inc.) discloses a barrier housewrap fabric impermeable to liquid and permeable to water vapor, which is made by laminating an impermeable polymer film to a polypropylene sheet available, i.a., from E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company under the trademark TYPAR.RTM. and needling the resultant sheet with fine diameter needles to make the sheet porous. U.S. Pat. No. 4,684,568 to Lou (DuPont) describes a water vapor-permeable, liquid water-impenueable fabric made by applying a coating of polypropylene film to a TYPAR.RTM. sheet and then calendering. Although these products have adequate tear resistance and strength, they do not have a good balance of air penetration resistance and moisture-vapor transmission rate.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,766,029 to Brock et al. (Kimberley-Clark Corp.) discloses a housewrap which is a calendered, three-layer laminate of spunbonded/melt-blown/spunbonded webs. The melt-blown layer has two components, namely, polyethylene and polypropylene microfibers. During lamination, polyethylene fibers melt and the material flows, to close up the interstitial space and to bond the layers together. This creates a semi-permeable laminate. The requirement of two types of fibers in the melt-blown material is on obvious disadvantage.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,900,619 to Ostrowski et al. (James River Corp.) describes a translucent nonwoven composite of thermoplastic melt-blown and spunbonded webs laminated together by hot-calendering in a nip made by a smooth, heated steel roll and a resilient roll heated with an external, infrared source, each roll being at a temperature of about 116.degree.-160.degree. C. Typically, the thermoplastic material in each layer is polypropylene.
The term "translucent" is understood to mean "permitting the passage of light". The degree of translucency can be determined, e.g., by an opacity measurement (TAPPI test method T 425 om-86, "Opacity of Paper"). By that test, the commercial James River product has an opacity of less than 50%. It is possible that this low opacity results from laminating the sheets between two heated calender rolls, forming a film. Usually, translucency indicates the occurrence of permanent changes of certain physical properties of the fibers or of their distribution in the sheet, which could lead to lower mechanical integrity or tensile strength. Further, it is preferred, for aesthetic reasons, to have a housewrap that is opaque, rather than translucent. Even though the housewrap eventually is covered by a siding, a house under construction covered with a housewrap through which all the studs and joints can be seen appears unsightly.
International Application WO 87/05952 of Kimberley-Clark discloses impregnation of spunbonded filaments with a fluorocarbon prior to calendering. The product is a spunbonded/melt-blown/spunbonded nonwoven laminate for disposable garments. The purpose of calendering is to improve the resistance of the laminated garment's surface to "fuzzing and linting", while maintaining porosity, softness and drape. Without fluorocarbon impregnation, garments lose their porosity during calendering. The calender comprises a smooth steel roll heated to the melting temperature of the fibers in the layer in contact therewith (e.g., 167.degree. C. for polypropylene) and an unheated roll which can be made of such materials as plastic, cotton, or paper.
There is a need for a strong, opaque web with good water vapor penetration rate, low air permeability, no liquid water permeability, and good barrier properties against bacteria.

Controlled-porosity, calendered spunbonded/melt blown laminates


A vane assembly 10 suitable for a turbine engine features a refractory vane 12 with an internal cavity 20 and a pair of flexible metallic baffles 26 extending into the cavity from spanwisely opposite ends of the vane. A rigid fastener 48, such as a nut and bolt assembly applies a tensile load to the baffles. The tensile load is reacted out as a compressive load applied to the vane. In another embodiment, the baffle is relatively rigid but the fastener is flexible. The compressive loading exerted on the vane counteracts the brittleness customarily exhibited by refractory materials and imparts damage tolerance to the vane. The arrangement also allows the use of a metal baffle that can be easily secured to the vane and dispenses with any need for a potentially troublesome seal between the baffles and the spanwise extremities of the vane.

Fluid directing vanes, such as those used in the turbine modules of gas turbine engines, are exposed to hot, gaseous combustion products. Various measures are taken to protect the vanes from the damaging effects of the hot gases. These include making the vane of temperature tolerant nickel or cobalt alloys, applying thermal barrier coatings to the vanes, and cooling the vanes with relatively cool, pressurized air extracted from the engine compressor.
Conventional cooling techniques include impingement cooling. An impingement cooled vane has an internal cavity and a sheet metal coolant insert or baffle residing in the cavity but spaced a small distance from the cavity wall. The space between the baffle and the cavity wall is referred to as an impingement space. The baffle, which is usually made of a nickel alloy, is welded to the vane near the spanwise extremities of the vane. The weld joint secures the baffle to the vane and also seals the spanwise extremities of the impingement cavity. Numerous impingement cooling holes perforate the baffle. During engine operation, coolant enters the interior of the baffle and then flows through the impingement cooling holes, which divide the coolant into a multitude of high velocity coolant jets. The coolant jets impinge on the cavity wall to keep the wall cool. The coolant then discharges from the impingement cavity, customarily by way of coolant discharge passages that penetrate the cavity wall.
Despite the many merits of the above mentioned alloys, coatings and cooling techniques, it is desirable to further improve the temperature tolerance of turbine engine vanes to extend their useful life or to allow the engine to operate at higher internal temperatures, which improves engine performance. One way to improve the temperature tolerance is to construct the vanes of a refractory material. Refractory materials include refractory metal alloys (such as molybdenum and niobium alloys) ceramics, and compositions comprising intermetallic compounds. However these materials are susceptible to cracks because they are brittle at some or all temperatures.
In addition, although refractory materials exhibit better temperature tolerance than nickel or cobalt alloys, it may still be necessary to employ impingement cooling using a conventional metal baffle as already described. A conventional metal baffle is desirable, even in a vane made of refractory material, for at least two reasons. First, conventional baffle alloys have a higher coefficient of thermal expansion than do the refractory materials, but are exposed to lower temperatures during engine operation. Consequently, the thermal response of the conventional metal baffle will be compatible with that of the refractory vane. Second, a conventional metal baffle, unlike a refractory baffle, can be perforated with impingement cooling holes without suffering any appreciable loss of structural integrity. Unfortunately, a conventional metal coolant baffle cannot be welded to a refractory vane in order to secure the baffle to the vane and seal the ends of the impingement cavity. In principle, the problem of sealing the ends of the impingement cavity could be overcome by using a seal made of a compliant material. In practice, however, such seals are incapable of withstanding the extreme temperatures and/or the mechanical abuse (e.g. vibration and chafing) encountered in a turbine engine. Moreover, even if a suitable seal material were available, it would not, by itself, address the problem of securing the metal baffle to the ceramic vane.
What is needed is a coolable, highly temperature tolerant vane assembly that exhibits good crack resistance, is capable of accepting a metal baffle, and is achievable without requiring the use of materials unsuitable for a harsh thermal and mechanical environment.


An IC package architecture with electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection is provided for use on an IC package for the purpose of allowing the ESD robustness of the IC package to be farther enhanced and the structural complexity of the same to be further simplified as compared to the prior art. The IC package includes a lead frame having a die pad for mounting an IC chip thereon, a plurality of package pins with some no-connect pins which are grouped into at least one no-connect pin unit, each unit consisting of one single no-connect pin or a number or consecutively arranged no-connect pins. ESD protection can be provided to any no-connect pin unit on the IC package either by arranging a pair of power pins proximate to the respective sides of the no-connect pin unit; by arranging a power pin proximate to one side of the no-connect pin unit and an elongated conductive tongue proximate to the other side; or by arranging a pair of elongated conductive tongues proximate to the respective sides of the no-connect pin unit. This provides ESD protection to all the no-connect pins in the no-connect pin unit without having to connect them to ESD protection circuits.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to electrostatic discharge (ESD) protections, and more particularly, to an integrated circuit (IC) package architecture with ESD protection in which the support bars or tie bars of the lead frame are arranged proximate to no-connect pins so that the ESD robustness of the IC package can be enhanced and the structural complexity of the same can be simplified.
2. Description of Related Art
Electrostatic discharge (ESD) is a movement of static electricity from a nonconductive surface, which usually causes damage to the semiconductors and various other circuit components in IC packages. A person walking on a carpet, for instance, can carry an amount of electrostatic charge up to several thousands of volts under high relative humidity (RH) conditions and over 10,000 volts under low relative humidity conditions. If such a person touches an IC package by hand, the electrostaticity on his/her body is instantaneously discharged via the pins of the IC package to the enclosed IC chip, thus causing ESD damage to the internal circuit of the IC chip. The ESD damage is particularly common and severe on CMOS (complementary metal-oxide semiconductor) IC devices.
To protect IC packages against ESD damage, various solutions have been proposed. One solution suggests the provision of an ESD protection circuit between the internal circuit of the IC chip and each of the bonding pads. FIG. 1 shows a conventional IC package architecture with ESD protection circuit. As shown, the IC package includes an IC chip on which an internal circuit 20 and a plurality of bonding pads 11, 13, 15 are formed. Further, the IC package includes a plurality of pins 10, 12, 14, 16, 17, 18, 19 on its periphery. Of these, pill 10 is a power pin (VDD/VSS) which is internally connected via a bonding wire 100 to the bonding pad 11. Pin 12 is an I/O pin, which is internally connected via a bonding wire 120 to the bonding pad 13. Pin 14 is an input pin, which is internally connected via a bonding wire 140 to the bonding pad 15. Pins 16, 17, 18, 19 are not wired and thus are referred to as xe2x80x9cno-connect pinsxe2x80x9d. To prevent ESD current from flowing via the bonding pads 11, 13, 15 into the internal circuit 20, each of the bonding pads 11, 13, 15 is connected to an ESD protection circuit (not shown).
One goal in the IC packaging technology is to provide a larger number of pins with a smaller pitch on a single package for high packing density of the pins on the IC package. Since the IC package is very small in size, the increased number of pins will cause the gap between two adjacent pins, as indicated by the reference numeral G in FIG. 1 between the pins 14 and 19, to be further reduced in dimension. The reduction in the gap, however leads to a new problem in the ESD protection for the IC package. This problem is described in the paper, xe2x80x9cNew Failure Mechanism due to Non-Wired Pin ESD Stressingxe2x80x9d, by Matsumoto et al. and published in the 1994 EOS/ESD Symposium, pp. 90-95. This paper reveals the fact that, when a human body model (HBM) ESD pulse is repeatedly applied to a certain no-connect pin on the IC package, any of its two neighboring pins, if wired to the internal circuit, become particularly vulnerable to ESD stress. This is because the electric charge from the ESD stress accumulates in the resin around the no-connect pin, resulting in a large potential difference between the no-connect pin and its neighboring pins that causes the neighboring pins to be vulnerable to ESD stress. In the case of FIG. 1, for example, assume that the input pin 14 is able to withstand a maximum of ESD stress of 3 kV (kilovolt). When an ESD stress of 1.5 kV is applied to the no-connect pin 19, the electric charge from it will accumulate in the resin around the no-connect pin 19, eventually resulting in a large potential difference between the no-connect pin 19 and the input pin 14. When this potential difference reaches a large enough level. it can cause an ESD current (i.e., arc) to flow across the gap G to the neighboring input pin 14. In such an event, this END current then flows from the input pin 14 via the bonding wire 140 and the bonding pad 15 to the internal circuit 20. thus resulting in ESD damage to those components that are wired to the input pin 14. In other words. when an ESD stress of 3 kV is applied directly to the input pin 14, the components in the internal circuit 20 that are wired to the pin 14 are not damaged; however, the application of an ESD stress of only 1.5 kV (which is considerably lower than 3 kV) to the neighboring no-connect pin 19 can cause ESD damage to those components that are wired to the input pin 14.
Early types of IC packages include only a small number of pins on them, so the above-mentioned ESD problem hardly ever occurred. However, newer types of IC packages, such as QFP (quad flat packages), MQFP, TQFP, and the like, usually come with more than one hundred pins that are packed in plastic or resin compounds. With such a large number of pins on a small-size IC package, the above-mentioned ESD problem due to the proximate arrangement of the pins becomes a serious consideration. One conventional solution to this problem is to increase the ESD robustness of the input and I/O pins of the IC package to a higher level, for example from 2 kV to 4-5 kV. This scheme can protect the input and I/O pins of the IC package against ESD damage when any one of its neighboring no-connect pins is subjected to an ESD stress of 2 kV. One drawback to this solution, however, is that the ESD protection circuit needed to provide such a level of ESD robustness takes up additional layout area on the IC chip, thus increasing the chip size.
In the package of IC chip, each of the active pins (including input pins, output pins, input/output pins, and power pins other than the no-connect pins) is electrically connected via a bonding, pad to an ESD protection circuit. Generally speaking, among these active pins, the power pins (i.e., those pins that are connected to VDD/VSS) have the highest ESD robustness since the power pins are connected to either the power bus VDD or the power bus VSS, which is connected to associated ESD protection circuits. In addition, a capacitance of about 1 nF (nanofarad) to 10 nF exists between the N-well and P-well; it is capable of absorbing a great amount of the energy from the ESD stress. The I/O pins and the output pins are next to the power pins in ESD robustness, and the input pins have the weakest ESD robustness among the active pins. This is because the I/O pins and output pins are usually connected to a bulk output buffer, while the input pins are not. The output buffer can serve as part of the ESD protection circuit for the I/O pins and output pins, thus allowing the I/O pins and output pins to be higher in ESD protection level than the input pins.
FIGS. 2A and 2B are schematic diagrams used to depict two conventional IC package architectures. Referring first to FIG. 2A, the IC package shown here includes an IC chip 158 having a plurality of bonding pads 142, 144, 146, 148 formed thereon. Furthermore, the IC package includes a plurality of pins 130, 132, 134, 136, 138, 140, which are respectively assigned as a VSS power pin, an input pin, a first no-connect pin, a VDD power pin, a second no-connect pin, and an I/O pin. The VSS power pin 130, the input pin 132, the VDD power pin 136, and the I/O pin 140 are wired respectively via a plurality of bonding wires 150, 152, 154, 156 to the bonding pads 142, 144, 146, 148 on the IC chip 158 so as to be functionally connected to the internal circuit of the IC chip 158. The first and second no-connect pins 134, 138 are unwired.
Referring further to FIG. 2B, the IC package shown here includes an IC chip 188 having a plurality of bonding pads 172, 174, 176, 178 formed thereon. Further, the IC package includes a plurality of pins 160, 162, 164, 166, 168, 170, which are respectively assigned as a VSS power pill, an input pin, a first no-connect pin, a second no-connect pin, an I/O pin, and a VDD power pin. The VSS power pin 160, the input pin 162, the I/O pin 168, and the VDD power pin 170 are wired respectively via a plurality of bonding wires 180, 182, 184, 186 to the bonding pads 172, 174, 176, 178 so as to be functionally connected to the inter nail circuit or the IC, chip 188. The first and second no-connect pins 164, 166 are unwired.
It can be seen from FIGS. 2A and 2B that, in the conventional IC package architectures, the no-connect pins are arranged arbitrarily. In the case of FIG. 2A, for example, the no-connect pins are arranged next to the input pin, the VDD power pin, and the I/O pin, while in the case of FIG. 2B, the no-connect pins are arranged next to the input pin and the I/O pin. These pin-assignment schemes take no consideration of ESD protection. Therefore, the arrangement of the no-connect pins next to the ESD sensitive pins, such as the input pins, requires the incorporation of additional ESD protection means for the input pins. thus increasing the chip size.
It is therefore an objective of the present invention to provide an IC package architecture with ESD protection for use on an IC package, in which the no-connect pins of the IC package are arranged in a particular manner such that the support bars or tie bars on the lead frame are arranged proximate to no-connect pins so as to allow the ESD robustness of the IC package to be further enhanced as compared to the prior art.
It is another objective of the present invention to provide an IC package architecture with ESD protection for use on an IC package, which allows the structural complexity of the IC package to be further simplified as compared to the prior art.
In accordance with the foregoing and other objectives of the present invention, an improved IC package architecture is provided. The IC package architecture with ESD protection according to the invention is provided for use on an IC package including a lead flame having a die pad for mounting an IC chip on it and a plurality of leads serving as the package pins. At least 5 of these pins are no-connect pins and said at least 5 no-connect pins are grouped into at least one separate unit, each unit consisting of one single no-connect pin or a number of consecutively arranged no-connect pins. The IC package architecture of the invention is provided with either of the following ESD protection means: (1) arranging a pair of power pins proximate to the respective sides of the no-connect pin unit; (2) arranging a power pin proximate to one side of the no-connect pin unit and an elongated conductive tongue proximate to the other side; and (3) arranging a pair of elongated conductive tongues proximate to the respective sides of the no-connect pin Unit. The power pin can be connected to the system voltage VDD, the ground voltage VSS or directly to the ground. The elongated conductive tongue is extended from the die pad to between the internal leads of the first or last no-connect pin in the no-connect pin unit and the neighboring pin. This provides ESD protection to all the no-connect pins in the unit without having to connect them to ESD protection circuits.

Integrated circuit package architecture with improved electrostatic discharge protection


A rotary drum device includes a brush unit for supplying a signal or a current to a rotary portion. The rotary drum device has a guide portion along which the brush unit can move such that a contact force of a brush at the contacting point between the rotary portion and the brush can be maintained substantially constant.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a rotary drum device having a brush for supplying a current or a signal to a drum rotating portion of a VTR.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventional rotary drum devices employ a combination of a brush and a slip ring as a mechanism for supplying a current or a signal to a rotary portion of the drum. FIGS. 1(a) and 1(b) are respectively plan and front views of a conventional drum unit.
The drum unit shown in FIG. 1 includes a bottom drum 8, a top drum 9 rotatably mounted on the bottom drum 8, a motor unit 10 for supplying a rotational force to the top drum 9 through a shaft (not shown), a slip ring unit 11 connected to a circuit (not shown) on the top drum 9, a brush base 12 fixed to the bottom drum 8, a brush holder 13 fixed to the brush base 12 using screws 14, a brush 15 fixed to the brush holder 13, a video head 16, and a head amplifier 17.
The operation of the conventional rotary drum unit shown in FIG. 1 will be described below.
When the top drum 9 is rotated by the motor unit 10, the slip ring 11, the video head 16 and the head amplifier 17 rotate together with the top drum 9. The signal reproduced by the video head 16 is amplified by the head amplifier 17, and the amplified signal is sent through a transformer (rotor not shown) to a transformer (stator not shown) then to a reproduction amplifier (not shown). Power supplied to the head amplifier 17 located within the rotary portion during the reproduction flows from the brush holder 13 to the brush 15, to the slip ring 11 and then to the circuit on the top drum. The position of the brush holder 13 is adjusted and fixed by the screws 14 so that no jumping occurs between the slip ring 11 and the brush 15 during the supply of power. Alternatively, the pressing of the brush is adjusted by a screw 18 so as to provide an adequate contact.
In the above conventional rotary drum unit, each time the brush is mounted or each time the position of the brush is changed due to its wear changing the contact point thereof, the brush contacting force must be adjusted. This requires a complicated adjusting mechanism or adjusting jig.


In a trench gate type power MOSFET having a super-junction structure, both improvement of a breakdown voltage of a device and reduction of on-resistance are achieved. The trench gate and a column region are arranged so as to be substantially orthogonal to each other in a plan view, and a base region (channel forming region) and the column region are arranged separately in a cross-sectional view.

Disclosed embodiments relate to a semiconductor device and a method of manufacturing the same, for example, the disclosed embodiments can be suitably applied to the semiconductor device including a power MOSFET (Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistor) having a super-junction structure.
In the power MOSFET, a trade-off relation between a breakdown voltage (BVdss) of a device and an on-resistance Ron⋅A (Rsp) standardized by a unit area is a critical factor for improving a device performance. As a solution, there are a method to reduce a channel resistance by adopting a trench gate structure and its miniaturization, and a method to adopt the super-junction structure (hereinafter, also referred to as a SJ structure) in which p/n layers are periodically formed in a drift region, and it is possible to realize an ultra-low on-resistance that is below a silicon limit. And it is also possible to combine the both.
As a background technology in this technical field, for example, there is a technology such as Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. JP-A-2010-016309 (Patent Document 1). Patent Document 1 discloses "a super-junction structured high breakdown voltage transistor in which, between two trench gates, a plurality of column regions are separated from each other along a second direction orthogonal to a first direction, and in the first direction, centers of the plurality of column regions overlap centers between the two trench gates, and the plurality of column regions are not formed below the two trench gates." (FIGS. 1 and 2 of Patent Document 1).
Further, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. JP-A-2014-154596 (Patent Document 2) discloses a power MOSFET having a super-junction structure in which a plurality of gate electrodes are formed so as to extend in a direction orthogonal to a direction in which a trench defining an active region extends in a plan view (FIG. 38 of Patent Document 2).

Semiconductor device and method of manufacturing the same


The folding phone support device removably attaches to the rear face of any smartphone. In its preferred embodiment, the folding phone support device uses a phone plate, affixed to the phone via a double-sided adhesive. The phone plate includes recesses that interact with latches in the base of the folding phone support device, allowing the folding phone support device to be attached and detached from the phone.

Mobile phones are ubiquitous. Much more than a means of making a phone call, a mobile phone is now our always-on, all-day companion. The addition of an integrated camera to the microphone and speaker have resulted in an easy means for participation in video conferences. While conferences were a tool for business meetings, use has expanded into all parts of life, from dinners with remote family to physical training.
With the wide variety of activities, users need to securely place their phones in various positions throughout their home or workplace. This can include on the kitchen table, on the wall, affixed to a mirror, or mounted to metal fitness equipment.
What is needed is a single support device that will accommodate this variety of mounting and placement positions, while folding away when unneeded.


A wireless network switch device includes wired-network switch circuitry and wireless local-area network (WLAN) radio devices integrated together within a common housing. WLAN antennas that are distributed about the WLAN coverage area can be coupled to antenna ports on the device housing. Channels are assigned to the WLAN radio devices and corresponding antennas in a manner that promotes minimization of signal interference between adjacent WLAN radio devices in the housing as well between adjacent antennas.

A wireless local area network (WLAN) is a digital communications network that allows a wireless network device to communicate with or access a computer network via a radio communication link. A common type of WLAN is known as "WiFi" or "802.11," the latter term in reference to the IEEE 802.11 set of standards that govern such networks. Such an 802.11 WLAN commonly comprises one or more access points (APs) that are each connected by a wired connection with a switch, router or similar networking device. Each AP includes an AP radio, an AP antenna, and AP control circuitry. The AP control circuitry commonly includes an Ethernet interface for forming the wired connection with the networking device. The networking device allows a wireless client device, such as a portable computer, smartphone, etc., to communicate with or access a computer network. It is common for the networking device to provide the wireless client device with a connection to the Internet.
A system in which AP antennas are located remotely from the corresponding AP radios may be referred to as a distributed antenna system (DAS). For example, as illustrated in FIG. 1, a DAS 10 may be installed in a building 11, such as an office building or hotel. The antennas 12, 14, 16, 18, etc., are distributed about the various rooms 20, 22, 24, etc., or other spatial regions of building 11, while the corresponding enclosures 26, 28, 30, 32, etc., which house the radio and control circuitry are installed in a centralized location, such as a wiring closet in a basement of building 11. Each such enclosure 26, 28, 30, 32, etc., houses the radio and control circuitry associated with one AP. In a large office building or hotel, dozens of such enclosures may be mounted in a rack or on a wall in the centralized location. In the example shown in FIG. 1, each of enclosures 26, 28, 30, 32, etc., is connected with a respective one of antennas 12, 14, 16, 18, etc., by one of a number of antenna cables 34, 36, 38, 40, etc., and connected with a network switch 42 by one of a number of Ethernet cables 44, 46, 48, 50, etc.
A DAS may carry not only 802.11 WLAN signals but also cellular telephone signals, reflecting a trend of convergence between these two wireless communications technologies. Each AP of such a DAS may include filter circuitry that splits the cellular telephone signals from the 802.11 WLAN signals.
The IEEE 802.11b/g standard defines 14 channels (though only 11 of those channels are commonly used in commercially available WLAN devices in the United States). One common scheme uses a channel set consisting of channels designated by the numbers "1," "6" and "11," while another common scheme uses a channel set consisting of channels designated by the numbers "1," "6," "11" and "14." In these schemes, channels "1," "6," "11" and "14" represent adjacent, non-overlapping channels or sections of the frequency spectrum.
It is desirable to assign channels to the APs using a scheme that minimizes the likelihood of interference between the signals carried by adjacent antennas. In the example shown in FIG. 1, the APs having adjacent antennas 12 and 14, which are characterized by coverage areas 52 and 54, respectively, would be assigned different channels from each other. For example, the AP having antenna 12 could be assigned channel "1," while the AP having antenna 14 could be assigned channel "6." Similarly, the AP having antenna 12 and the AP having antenna 16, which is characterized by a coverage area 56, would be assigned different channels from each other. So, for example, the AP having antenna 16 could be assigned channel "11." Likewise, the AP having antenna 14 and the AP having antenna 18, which is characterized by a coverage area 58, would be assigned different channels from each other. Algorithms are known that can aid in determining which channels to assign to which APs to minimize the likelihood of interference between signals carried by adjacent antennas.

Network switch with integrated wireless network radios


A solid polymer electrolyte comprising a composite of (a) a polymeric component which comprises (i) a polymer obtained from at least one compound represented by general formula (IA), (IIA) and/or (IIIA) as described in the specification; or (ii) a polymer obtained from at least one compound having alcoholic hydroxyl groups wherein at least one hydrogen atom of said alcoholic hydroxyl groups is replaced by a unit represented by general formula (X) or (XI) as described in the specification, and (b) at least one electrolyte salt, which has a high ionic conductivity and can be made into a thin film. The present invention is also directed to an electrode comprising the solid polymer electrolyte and an electroactive substance or polarizable material; as well as a process for manufacturing the same. In addition, the present invention is directed to a primary an secondary battery having the solid polymer electrolyte, as well as a process for manufacturing the same. The battery of the present invention has a high capacity, high current density, and, in the case of a secondary battery, has good cyclability. Finally, the present invention is directed to a solid-state electric double layer capacitor comprising the solid polymer electrolyte, as well as a process for manufacturing the same. The electric double layer capacitor has a high output voltage and a large take-out current.

In the field of ionics, there is a trend to develop solid electrolytes as new ionic conductors to replace conventional electrolyte solutions and to develop applications for solid-state primary or secondary batteries and electric double layer capacitors. Conventional products, such as batteries with electrolyte solutions, have problems in long-term reliability, since leakage of the electrolyte solution out of the parts or elution of the electrode substance tends to occur. In contrast, products with solid electrolytes do not cause such problems and it is easy to decrease their thickness. Furthermore, solid electrolytes have excellent thermal resistance and are advantage ous in manufacturing products such as batteries.
Among batteries using a solid electrolyte, those using a polymer as a main component of the electrolyte have increased flexibility as compared with those using an inorganic substance, which allows the former to be processed into vari ous forms. However, such products as hitherto studied still have the problem that only a small amount of current can be taken out, since the solid polymer electrolyte has low ionic conductivity.
An example of such a solid polymer electrolyte is described in the British Polymer Journal (Br. Polym. J.), 7:319-327 (1975), which states that a compounded material consisting of a polyethylene oxide and a n inorganic alkali metal salt exhibits ionic conductivity as low as 10.sup.-7 S/cm at room temperature.
Recently, there have been many reports that a comb-shaped polymer having an oligooxyethylene in each side chain has improved ionic conductivity due to increased thermal motion of the oxyethylene chain, which contributes ionic conductivity. An example in which a polymethacrylic acid, having an oligooxyethylene added to its side chain, is compounded with an alkali metal salt is described in the Journal of Physical Chemistry (J. Phys. Chem.), Vol. 89, page 987 (1985). Another example where polyphosphazene, having an oligooxyethylene side chain, is compounded with an alkali metal salt is described in the Journal of American Chemical Society (J. Am. Chem. Soc.), Vol. 106, page 6854 (1984).
Recently, many studies have been made on lithium secondary batteries in which metal oxides or metal sulfides, such as LiCoO.sub.2, LiNiO.sub.2, LiMnO.sub.2 and MoS.sub.2, are used as positive electrodes. For example, batteries using positive electrodes made of MnO.sub.2 or NiO.sub.2 are reported in the Journal of Electrochemical Society (J. Electrochem. Soc.), Vol. 138 (No. 3), page 665 (1991). These batteries have drawn attention since they have high gravimetric or volumetric capacity.
Many reports have been made on batteries using an electroconductive polymer as an electroactive material. For example, a lithium secondary battery using polyanilines as the positive electrode has already been put on the market in the form of a coin-type battery for use as a backup source, by Bridgestone Co., Ltd. and Seiko Co., Ltd. as reported in, for example, "The 27th Symposium on Battery 3A05L and 3A06L" (1986). Polyaniline also attracts attention as an electroactive material for positive electrodes having high capacity and flexibility.
Lately, electric double layer capacitors which comprise polarizable electrodes made of a carbon material having a large specific area, such as activated carbon or carbon black, and an ionic conducting solution arranged between the electrodes, have been widely used as a memory backup source. For example, a capacitor having carbon-based polarizable electrodes and an organic electrolyte solution is described in "Kinou Zairyo", February 1989, page 33. An electric double layer capacitor using an aqueous sulfuric acid solution is described in "The 173rd Electrochemical Society Meeting Atlanta Georgia", May, 135(3):332 (1988). Also, a capacitor using highly electroconductive Rb.sub.2 Cu.sub.3 I.sub.3 Cl.sub.7 as an inorganic solid electrolyte is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 63-244570 (1988).
However, electric double layer capacitors using conventional electrolyte solutions have long-term use and reliability problems since leakage of the solution out of the capacitor tends to occur when used for a long time or when a high voltage is applied. On the other hand, electric double layer capacitors using conventional inorganic based ionic conducting substances have a problem in that the ionic conducting substance decomposes even at a low voltage and, hence, the output voltage is low.
The use of an ionic conducting substance using a polyphosphazene based polymer for a capacitor is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 4-253771 (1992). A capacitor using such an ionic conducting substance containing a polymer as the main component has an output voltage higher than the inorganic substance based ionic conducting substance, can be processed into various forms, and is easily sealed.
In this case, the ionic conductivity of the solid polymer electrolyte, which is as low as 10.sup.-4 to 10.sup.-6 S/cm, is still unsatisfactory and is defective in that the take-out current is small. Although it is possible to increase the ionic conductivity of the solid polymer electrolyte by the addition of a plasticizer, which gives fluidity to the electrolyte, it means that the electrolyte can no longer be treated as a complete solid. As a result, the film made of this polymer has poor film strength and the polymer has poor film formability and, hence, a short-circuit tends to occur when the polymer is used in an electric double layer capacitor or a battery and there is difficulty in sealing, as in the case of liquid ionic conducting substances. In addition, when it is assembled with a polarizable electrode, such as a carbon material, to produce a capacitor, it is difficult to homogeneously compound the solid polymer electrolyte with a carbon material having a large specific surface area, since both materials are solid.
The ionic conductivity of solid polymer electrolytes studied so far has improved up to about 10.sup.-4 to 10.sup.-5 S/cm, which is over two digits lower than that of liquid ionic conducting substances. Besides, at a temperature no higher than 0.degree. C., ionic conductivity drastically decreases to a lower level. Furthermore, when these solid electrolytes are incorporated in a device, such as an electric double layer capacitor, or incorporated in a battery in the form of a thin film, manufacturing problems arise since the solid electrolyte is hard to compound with the electrode and it is difficult to achieve a satisfactory contact between the electrolyte and the electrode.

Solid polymer electrolyte, battery and solid-state electric double layer capacitor using the same as well as processes for the manufacture thereof