The radio communication system of the present invention includes a base station (10), a mobility management node (20), and a gateway (30). The base station (10) transmits to the mobility management node (20) information of the origination addresses of neighboring base stations of the base station (10). The mobility management node (20) receives information of the origination addresses of the neighboring base stations from the base station (10) and transmits the information of the origination addresses of the neighboring base stations to the gateway (30). The gateway (30) receives information of the origination addresses of the neighboring base stations from the mobility management node (20).

A radio communication system is currently proposed in which EUTRAN (Evolved UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access network, where UMTS=Universal Mobile Telecommunication System) and EPC (Evolved Packet Core) are configured as shown in FIG. 1 in LTE (Long Term Evolution) for which standardization is advancing in the 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Projects) (see 4.2.1 of Non-Patent Document 1 and FIG. 4 of Non-Patent Document 2). These names are not thus limited, EUTRAN being referred to as LTE, EPC being referred to as SAE (System Architecture Evolution), and EUTRAN together with EPC being referred to as an EPS (Evolved Packet System).
Referring to FIG. 1, eNode B (evolved Node B) 10, which are base stations, are provided on the EUTRAN side. On the EPC side, MME (Mobility Management Entity) 20 that is a mobility management node, S-GW (Serving Gateway) 30 that is a Gateway, P-GW (Packet Data Network Gateway) 40 that is a host gateway, and HSS (Home Subscriber Server) 50 are provided as the CN (Core Network) Node. In addition, eNode B 10 are connected to UE (User Equipment) 60 that is a radio communication apparatus by way of a radio interface.
Here MME 20 is a node equipped with the mobility management (location updating) function and handover control function of UE 60, and the selection function and bearer management function of S-GW 30 and P-GW 40 (4.4.2 of Non-Patent Document 1). In addition, S-GW 30 is a node that transfers packet data of the user plane between eNode B 10 and P-GW 40. P-GW 40 is a node that transfers transmission packet data from its own network (Home PLMN, where PLMN is a Public Land Mobile Network) to an outside network (Visit PLMN) and received packet data from an outside network to its own network. HSS 50 is a server that holds user information that is used in the authentication of UE 60.
In order to ensure the security of a radio communication system, S-GW 30 must know the origination address of eNode B 10 to verify the safety of uplink packet data from eNode B 10.
According to one method that can be considered by which S-GW 30 learns the origination address of eNode B 10, the origination address of eNode B 10 is set in S-GW 30 by the manual operation of an operator beforehand. However, setting by manual operation of an operator is extremely tedious and may entail the problem of an increase in OPEX (Operation Expenditure) when a large number of eNode B 10 are to be installed.
On the other hand, ignoring security and not making settings by manual operation of an operator can also be considered. In this case, even when S-GW 30 receives packet data from eNode B 10, the received packet data are transmitted without alteration to P-GW 40 of the host node without verifying the origination address of eNode B 10.
The security problem is here described with reference to a case of handover (FIG. 220.127.116.11-1 of Non-Patent Document 1) such as shown in FIG. 2.
In FIG. 2, eNode B 10 of the movement origin of UE 60 at the time of handover is referred to as Source eNode B 10-S and the movement destination of eNode B 10 is referred to as Target eNode B 10-T (identical hereinbelow).
Referring to FIG. 2, UE 60 has moved from the area of Source eNode B 10-S to the area of Target eNode B 10-T, whereby Source eNode B 10-S is assumed to have made a handover decision (HO decision) in Step 2301.
Source eNode B 10-S then transmits a message (Handover Request message) requesting handover to Target eNode B 10-T in Step 2302.
After setting radio resources in Step 2303, Target eNode B 10-T next transmits a response message (Handover Response Message) to the Handover Request message to Source eNode B 10-S in Step 2304. In Step 2305, Source eNode B 10-S transmits a message (Handover Command message) commanding handover to UE 60.
Next, after synchronization is established between UE 60 and Target eNode B 10-T in Step 2306, UE 60 transmits uplink packet data in Step 2307.
However, even though S-GW 30 receives packet data from Target eNode B 10-T, S-GW 30 does not know the origination address of Target eNode B 10-T and therefore ignores security and, without verifying the origination address of Target eNode B 10-T, transmits the received packet data without alteration to P-GW 40.
Ignoring security in this way raises the potential for the occurrence of serious problems such as system failures caused by proliferation within the network of illegal packet data that carry the danger of an attack in which the transmission of a large volume of packet data paralyzes the radio communication system and prevents the continuation of service, i.e., the danger of a DoS attack (Denial of Service attack).
When UE 60 subsequently transmits a message (Handover Complete message) indicating the completion of handover to Target eNode B 10-T in Step 2308, Target eNode B 10-T transmits a message (Path Switch Request message) requesting path switching to MME 20 in Step 2309, and MME 20 transmits a message (User Plane Update Request message) requesting updating of the user plane to S-GW 30 in Step 2310. S-GW 30, having received this message, carries out path switching of downlink from Source eNode B 10-S to Target eNode B 10-T in Step 2311.
S-GW 30 then transmits a response message (User Plane Update Response message) to the User Plane Update Request message to MME 20 in Step 2312. MME 20 transmits a response message (Path Switch Request Acknowledgement message) to the path switch request message to Target eNode B 10-T in Step 2313, and Target eNode B 10-T transmits a message (Release Resource message) indicating the release of resources in Step 2314.
Accordingly, the safety of packet data received in S-GW 30 from Target eNode B 10-T must be verified even when handover occurs to ensure the security of a radio communication system, and to this end, S-GW 30 must know the origination address of Target eNode B 10-T. However, setting the origination address of eNode B 10 in S-GW 30 by the manual operation of an operator has the potential of leading to an increase in OPEX.
In addition, the problem of security is also critical in a roaming environment of UE 60.
The problem of security in a roaming environment is here described with reference to FIG. 3 (FIG. 4.2.2-1 of Non-Patent Document 1)
Referring to FIG. 3, eNode B 10, MME 20, and S-GW 30 are provided in the outside network of the roaming destination of UE 60 (Visit PLMN).
S-GW 30 of the outside network and P-GW 40 of the home network (Home PLMN) are normally connected by way of a public network. The public network is, for example, a public Internet network.
When, for example, packet data are received from a public network and transferred to the home network without verifying the safety of these packet data, the danger arises in which serious problems may occur such as proliferation within the home network of packet data having a potential of DoS attacks and system failures.
As a result, P-GW 40 must collate the origination address of the packet data that were received from the public network with the origination address of S-GW 30 that transmitted in these packet data, and, after verifying safety, transfer the received packet data into its own network. For this purpose, P-GW 40 must know the origination address of S-GW 30, but in the event of handover that accompanies change of S-GW 30 in a roaming environment, P-GW 40 cannot learn the origination address of S-GW 30 after the change.
Accordingly, ensuring the security of a radio communication system requires the verification of the safety of packet data received in P-GW 40 of the home network from S-GW 30 of the outside network that is the roaming destination of UE 60 even in the event of handover that accompanies change of S-GW 30 in a roaming environment, and for this purpose, P-GW 40 must know the origination address of S-GW 30 following a change. However, setting of the origination address of S-GW 30 in P-GW 40 by the manual operation of an operator has the potential to increase OPEX.
Summarizing the above, ensuring security in the event of a handover while reducing manual operations by an operator regardless of the roaming environment is a critical issue in a radio communication system.
Non-Patent Document 1: 3GPP TS 23.401, V8.0.0
Non-Patent Document 2: 3GPP TS 36.300, V8.2.0

Radio communication system, base station, gateway, and radio communication method


A fixed constant velocity universal joint is made compact, has little decrease in load capacity even when the fixed constant velocity universal joint is made compact and is at an operating angle, and has improved high angle strength and durability through lessening instances in which a ball runs over a track at a high angle. In the fixed constant velocity universal joint, a cage includes four pockets, the pockets including a pair of long pockets of which a circumferential direction spacing is wide and a pair of short pockets of which the circumferential direction spacing is narrow. The pair of long pockets are shifted by 180 degrees along a circumferential direction and the pair of short pockets are shifted by 180 degrees along the circumferential direction. As a result, the long pockets and the short pockets are alternately disposed along the circumferential direction. A long pocket houses two balls. A short pocket houses one ball. Two ball housing sections connected by a slit are formed in the long pocket by projections that project towards a long pocket inner side being provided on opposing long sides of the long pocket.

A fixed constant velocity universal joint is a kind of constant velocity universal joint that is, for example, used as a means for transmitting rotational force from an engine to wheels of an automobile at a constant speed. The fixed constant velocity universal joint has a configuration in which two axes on a driving side and a driven side are connected, and rotational torque can be transmitted at a constant speed even when the two axes are at an operating angle. In general, a Birfield-type (BJ) and an undercut-free type (UJ) are widely known as the fixed constant velocity universal joint described above.
For example, the UJ-type fixed constant velocity universal joint includes an outer ring 3 serving as an outer member, an inner ring 6 serving as an inner member, a plurality of balls 7, and a cage 8, as shown in FIG. 41 and FIG. 42. A plurality of track grooves 2 are formed on an inner spherical surface 1 of the outer ring 3, running along an axial direction and evenly spaced in a circumferential direction. A plurality of track grooves 5 are formed on an outer spherical surface of 4 of the inner ring 6, running along an axial direction and evenly spaced in a circumferential direction. The track grooves 5 form pairs with the track grooves 2 on the outer ring 3. The balls 7 are interposed between the track grooves 2 on the outer ring 3 and the track grooves 5 on the inner ring 6 and transmit torque. The cage 8 is interposed between the inner spherical surface 1 of the outer ring 3 and the outer spherical surface 4 of the inner ring 6 and holds the balls 7. A plurality of pockets 9 housing the balls 7 are disposed in the cage 8 along the circumferential direction.
A track groove 2 on the outer ring 3 is composed of an inner side track groove 2a and an opening side track groove 2b. The inner side track groove 2a has a track groove bottom that is an arc section. The opening side track groove 2b has a track groove bottom that is a straight section parallel with an outer ring axial line. A center of curvature O1 of the inner side track groove 2a is shifted in an axial direction, from a joint center O towards an opening side of the outer ring 3. A track groove 5 on the inner ring 6 is composed of an inner side track groove 5a and an opening side track groove 5b. The inner side track groove 5a has a track groove bottom that is a straight section parallel to an inner ring axial line. The opening side track groove 5b has a track groove bottom that is an arc section. A center of curvature O2 of the opening side track groove 5b is provided separated from the joint center in an axial direction by an equal distance k in an inward direction on a side opposite of the center of curvature O1 of the inner side track groove 2a on the outer ring 3.
A curvature radius O3 of a cage outer spherical surface 8a is shifted in an axial direction, from the joint center O to an opening side of the cage 8. A center of curvature O4 of a cage inner spherical surface 8b is provided separated from the joint center O in the axial direction by an equal distance k1 in an inward direction on a side opposite of the center of curvature O3 of the cage outer spherical surface 8a. Conventionally, in this type of constant velocity universal joint, track offset amounts of the inner and outer rings are large, and an offset amount of the cage is small. A pitch angle of two adjacent balls 7 is 60 degrees, as shown in FIG. 42. In other words, six balls 7 are disposed along the circumferential direction at a pitch of 60 degrees.
In recent years, demands are being made for a fixed velocity universal joint that is more compact and has increased torque load capacity. As a method of reducing the size and increasing the torque load capacity of the fixed constant velocity universal gear having six balls, balls that are as large as possible being disposed on a pitch circle diameter (PCD) that is as small as possible can be considered. However, when large balls are used, columns (window columns) between the pockets in the cage become narrow. Rigidity of the cage deteriorates. Torsional torque load at a high angle particularly contributes to deterioration of strength of the constant velocity universal joint because damage to the cage occurs more easily.
In particular, as shown in FIG. 41, when the track offset amounts of the inner and outer rings are large and the offset amount of the cage is small, a track groove depth on an outer ring inner side becomes shallow, and the torque load capacity at a high angle decreases. In other words, the ball easily runs over a track edge in relation to the torque load at a high angle, generating excessive stress in an edge section. Therefore, damage caused by a chip in the edge section and a locking phenomenon with the cage caused by plastic deformation occur. Such damage and locking phenomenon contributes to cage damage by degrading workability and reducing durability life. Moreover, a track depth on an inner side becomes shallow in the inner ring as well, and disadvantages similar to those of the outer ring occur. Therefore, improvement of joint strength and durability at a high angle range has been an issue since the past.
Conventionally, durability of an overall constant velocity universal joint is achieved through securement of cage durability being achieved by an increase in a circumferential direction length dimension of a column section present between pockets adjacent in a circumferential direction (Patent Document 1). In other words, in an invention described in Patent Document 1, space between balls housed within a same pocket is reduced by a plurality of balls being housed in a single pocket. As a result, the circumferential direction length dimension of the column section present between the pockets adjacent in the circumferential direction is increased. The number of balls is seven or more.
Conventionally, there is a fixed constant velocity universal joint in which two balls are housed in each pocket in the cage, and periodic change in moment during rotation is controlled (Patent Document 2). In other words, in an invention described in Patent Document 2, a circumferential direction length of a single window column is increased with all pockets in the cage serving as a long window with wide circumferential direction spacing between the pockets.    Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. Heisei 11-303882    Patent Document 2: United Kingdom Patent No. 1537067


A wheel servicing machine includes a releasable swing arm clamp apparatus attached to a swing arm. The clamp engages a rod slidably attached to and extending from a slide bar mounted on the swing arm. The clamp includes a closed, or locked, position and an open, or unlocked, position. In the closed position, the apparatus includes a rod clamp that can be rotated about the rod for fine adjustment of the angular position of the swing arm. When the rod clamp is in the open position, the angular position of the swing arm can be coarsely adjusted by manually moving the swing arm about a pivoting arm joint. When the swing arm is moved near a desired position, the rod clamp can be closed and can be rotated about the rod in the closed position in some embodiments for fine adjustment of the swing arm angular position.

The present invention relates generally to machinery and methods for servicing wheels and more particularly to wheel servicing machines having a pivotable swing arm for assisting in tire mounting or demounting operations.
Wheel servicing machines having a pivotable swing arm are known in the art. Such wheel servicing machines can include tire changing machines useful for assisting in the mounting and demounting of automobile tires on a wheel rim. Some conventional wheel servicing machines can include a swing arm pivotally attached to a support tower. The swing arm is angularly moveable relative to a machine base positioned below the swing arm. A tool head is positioned on the end of the swing arm. The tool head can be mounted on a moveable arm shaft and vertically adjusted for accommodating different sized wheels and tires. During use, the tool head must be angularly and vertically positioned relative to the wheel rim at a precise location for properly performing the wheel servicing operations.
Precise angular positioning of the tool head relative to the wheel rim is achieved in conventional wheel servicing machines by manually moving the swing arm relative to the wheel rim. The swing arm can be pivoted toward the wheel rim so that the tool head approaches and engages the wheel rim at the desired location. The wheel rim can then be rotated on the base while the tool head engages the wheel rim or tire. Following rotation of the wheel rim and desired engagement of the wheel rim or tire by the tool head, the swing arm can then be angularly moved away from the wheel rim by manually pushing the swing arm to the side using the operator's hand.
Some conventional wheel servicing machines include a flange protruding from the support tower near the swing arm. The flange includes a threaded flange passage and a threaded bolt extending through the flange passage having a distal bolt end protruding toward the swing arm. The opposite end of the threaded bolt includes a knob or handle for manually screwing or unscrewing the threaded bolt through the flange passage, thereby adjusting the axial position of the threaded bolt in the threaded flange passage. By turning the knob, the distal bolt end can be moved toward or away from the swing arm. The distal bolt end provides an angular stop position for the swing arm. When the swing arm is moved toward the wheel rim, the swing arm engages the threaded bolt and stops at the desired angular stop position defined by the bolt.
One problem associated with conventional threaded-bolt swing arm angular positioning assemblies occurs when wheel rims having different rim diameters are sequentially serviced using the same wheel servicing machine. For example, when a first wheel rim having a first rim diameter is positioned on the wheel servicing machine, the knob can be used to define an angular stop position associated with the first wheel diameter. Using the conventional configuration, the operator must use one hand to manually position the swing arm at the desired angular stop position and must use the other hand to turn the knob so that the threaded bolt contacts the swing arm. The swing arm angular stop position is thus defined by the bolt position, and the swing arm can be swung freely away from the bolt to provide clearance for loading and unloading subsequent wheel assemblies. The swing arm can subsequently be swung back to the same angular stop position defined by the bolt position. When a wheel having different dimensions is loaded on the machine, the angular stop position from the previous wheel must be reset to accommodate the new wheel dimensions. Thus, the user must readjust the bolt position by manually screwing the threaded bolt using the knob. This manual repositioning can involve numerous turns of the threaded bolt and can be time consuming. When repeated several times, the manual repositioning of the threaded bolt can reduce both worker efficiency and machine throughput. Additionally, repeated rotation of the knob by the operator to adjust the threaded bolt location can cause worker hand and arm fatigue and can contribute to worker injury. These problems are amplified when a single machine is used in a multiple-user environment such as a tire changing shop where numerous automobiles are serviced simultaneously.
What is needed, then, is an improved apparatus for adjusting the angular position of a swing arm on a wheel servicing machine. Additional improved methods of using the apparatus are also needed.

Releasable swing arm clamp for a wheel servicing machine


A module for a construction system is disclosed which can be used to form building panels and three-dimensional structures that may include self-supporting cladding. In one form the basic module (10, FIG. 1A, drawing e!) is formed from two pleated hexagonal plates (11a and 14a) joined together at their peripheries with their concave sides together and with the ridges on one opposite the valleys of the other. Each plate is formed from a blank (11 and 14, respectively) which is a hexagon distorted by extending the radii which will form the valleys of the plate with respect to the radii of a regular hexagon (drawings a! and b!).

Many construction systems based on frame structures with tetrahedral, hexagonal and/or octagonal modules have been proposed and used. For example, Australian Patent No 475,424 discloses a geodesic space-frame structure of icosahedral shape having pentagonal and hexagonal modules. These modules were themselves formed from isosceles triangles so that the dome-like structure could be cladded with triangular-shaped sheet-material modules. While such geodesic structures (as pioneered by the American inventor Richard Buckmainster Fuller) are essentially dome-like, a great variety of strut-and-node space-frames based on tetrahedral, hexahedral, and octahedral modules are also known and widely used (see, for example Australian patent No 460,682). These are also commonly clad with sheet-material panels of similar modular polygonal shapes, but the cladding panels rarely contribute to the load-bearing capacity of the structure and are not self-supporting.
English architect Arthur Quarmby, and others following his lead (eg, U.S. Pat. No. 4,359,842 to Hooker), proposed a variety of self-supporting structures formed by the pleating or folding of large sheets of material, typically glass-reinforced plastic. Many examples were offered in his book "The Plastics Architect" published by Pall Mall Press, London, 1975. Full structures were formed by unfolding large sheets on-site to form vaults, domes or hutments complete with roofs and walls, the erection process being much like the expansion of bellows. Such structures were tailored individually for their sites and folded for transport. However, the large sheets of material could not be dismantled into smaller modules or components for transport so that, for all but the smallest buildings, on-site construction of the sheets was essential thereby eliminating the advantage of factory production.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,914,486 to Borgford discloses the production of construction panels by pressing a modular hexagonal pattern into a large plate, but such large plates are expensive to press and difficult to handle and transport. U.S. Pat. No. 3,931,697 to Pearce, on the other hand, discloses the use of six different polygonal molecules to form domes and curved structures. The module of most relevance here is a radially pleated, `minimal surface` hexagon in which ridges and valleys do not alternate so that bilateral skewing or `saddling` results. These asymmetric modules are difficult to assemble into structures (requiring five other module types) and cannot be joined together in planar panels, as required for the walls of common rectangular buildings.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,723,382 (and the continuations hereof) to Lalvini discloses a large variety of nodal, periodic and non-periodic, space-frame and panel structures based upon `golden polyhedra` and distortions thereof. The most relevant of these are called `saddle zonogons` and `saddle zonohedra` derived from the radial folding or skewing of plates. Such modules are similar to some of those disclosed by Pearce and suffer from the same disadvantages indicated above.


A head suspension for a disk drive includes a base (5) to be attached to a carriage, a load beam (3) having a rigid part (9) and a resilient part (11) supported by the base, to apply load on a data read/write head (19) arranged at a front end of the rigid part, a flexure (7) attached to the load beam and being provided with the head, and a guide face (27) formed on an edge (9a) of the rigid part where a jig is inserted, to guide the jig without wearing away the jig. The guide face is formed by providing the edge of the rigid part with an integral thin part that is tinner than the rigid part and bending the thin part, or by partly removing the edge of the rigid part. The jig is inserted into a head suspension module, which is made by arranging the head suspension and other identical head suspensions at regular intervals, such that teeth of the jig slide on the guide faces of the head suspensions to maintain spaces between the rigid parts of the head suspensions, to install the head suspension module into the disk drive such that the heads of the head suspensions face disks in the disk drive.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a head suspension for a disk drive installed in an information processing apparatus such as a personal computer.
2. Description of the Related Art
A hard disk drive (HDD) records and reproduces infonnation to and from rotating magnetic or magneto-optical disks. The disks are supported with a carriage that is turned around a spindle by a positioning motor.
An example of the carriage is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,167,765. The carriage of this disclosure includes a carriage arm, a head suspension attached to a front end of the carriage arm a head attached to the head suspension, and a slider attached to the head. The slider faces a disk. When the disk is rotated at high speed, the slider slightly floats from the disk and an air bearing is formed between the disk and the slider.
FIG. 1 is a sectional view partly showing a hard disk drive having head suspensions according to a related art. The disk drive 101 has a carriage 105 that is turned around a spindle 103 by a positioning motor 107 such as a voice coil motor. The carriage 105 has a plurality of (four in FIG. 1) carriage arms 109, a head suspension 111 attached to a front end of each carriage arm 109, and a head 113 attached to a front end of each head suspension 111.
The carriage 105 is turned around the spindle 103, to move the heads 113 onto a target track on disks 115. Each head 113 includes a slider 117 to be positioned onto a target track on the disk 115 and a transducer (not shown) supported with the slider 117.
When the disks 115 are rotated at high speed, air enters between the disks 115 and the sliders 117 to slightly float the sliders 117 from the disks 115 and form air bearings between them.
FIGS. 2, 3A, and 3B show the head suspension 111. The head suspension 111 includes a load beam 119 made of a precision thin plate spring, a flexure 121 made of a very thin plate spring fixed to the load beam 119 by, for example, laser welding, and a base plate 123 fixed to a base of the load beam 119 by, for example, laser welding. The base plate 123 is attached to a suspension attaching face of the carriage arm 109.
Recent hard disk drives employ high-density disks and drive the disks at high speed. Such high-density disks involve narrow tracks, and therefore, vibration such as butterfly mode vibration of the head suspension 111 caused by air disturbance results in moving the head 113 away from a track center.
It is important, therefore, to control the amplitudes and frequencies of various resonance modes and air disturbance concerning the head suspensions 111 and carriage arms 109 between the actuator 107 and the sliders 117 in the disk drive 101. The recent high-density, high-speed disks require head suspensions of high rigidity and low spring constant.
To achieve the requirements, the load beam 119 of FIGS. 3A and 3B has a channel 125. The load beam 119 has a rigid part 119a that extends for a length L1 and needs high rigidity and a resilient part 119b that extends for a length L2 and needs a low spring constant. To simultaneously satisfy these needs, the resilient part 119b is thinned and edges of the rigid part 119a are shaped into the channel 125 to compensate the thinness of the rigid part 119a that is restricted by the thinness of the resilient part 119b.
The channel 125 provides another function when the head suspension 111 is installed into the disk drive 101.
FIG. 4 shows a comb 127 used when installing a head suspension module into a disk drive. The head suspension module consists of a plurality of head suspensions arranged at regular intervals. In FIG. 4, the comb 127 has two teeth 129 and 131 corresponding to the number of head suspensions included in the module. FIG. 5 shows an example of the head suspension module. This module consists of four head suspensions 111.
The teeth 129 and 131 of the comb 127 are inserted into the head suspension module as shown in FIG. 5 to maintain a given space between the adjacent sliders 117 (FIG. 1). The comb 127 enables horizontally to insert the head suspensions between the disks 115 (FIG. 1) so that the sliders 117 may face the disks 115. After the head suspension module is fixed at a proper position in the disk drive 101, the comb 127 is removed from the head suspension module. In this way, the comb 127 is used to smoothly insert a module of head suspensions between disks in a disk drive.
When inserting the teeth 129 and 131 of the comb 127 between the head suspensions 111, curves 125a (FIG. 3B) of the channel 125 serve as guides to reduce friction between the load beams 119 and teeth 129 and 131.
The channel 125, however, causes air disturbance when the disks 115 are rotated at high speed, to flutter the load beams 119.
To solve the problem, this applicant has proposed a head suspension for a disk drive in Japanese Patent Application No. 11-263705. This head suspension simultaneously realizes high rigidity for a rigid part (119a) and a low spring constant for a resilient part (119b) by separating the resilient part from the rigid part and by making the rigid part thicker than the resilient part. The rigid part has no bends, and therefore, causes no air disturbance and load beam fluttering when disks are rotated at high speed.
Instead of having no bends, the rigid part of the disclosure has sharp edges 133 as shown in FIG. 6. When the tooth 129 of the comb 127 is inserted between the head suspensions, the edge 133 of the rigid part 119a scrapes the teeth 129, and the scraped dust spreads over the disks 115 to hinder the operation of the disk drive. In addition, the sharp edges 133 quickly wear the teeth of the comb 127, thereby deteriorating the durability of the comb 127.

Disk head suspension arm having comb receiving portion


An arrangement for gathering or assembling printed sheets into semi-finished products for producing bound printed products, the arrangement including a conveying device and a plurality of replaceable feeder units arranged side-by-side along the conveying device. Each replaceable feeder unit includes at least two feeders for supplying the printed sheets to the conveying device and an undercarriage. The plurality of replaceable feeder units are arranged on the undercarriage. The undercarriage includes interface sections assigned, respectively, to the replaceable feeder units and the interface sections each include a first interface configuration. The arrangement further includes an adapter device that is arranged on the interface section and includes a top side compatible for attaching feeders with a second interface configuration different from the first interface configuration and includes a bottom side compatible with the first interface configuration so that the adapter device can be fitted on the interface section of the undercarriage.

The invention relates to an arrangement for gathering or assembling printed sheets into semi-finished products for producing bound printed products. The arrangement has several side-by-side arranged replaceable feeder units positioned along a conveying device. The individual feeder units include at least two feeders for supplying printed sheets to the conveying device and the conveying device includes pushers. Each feeder unit can be fitted onto an undercarriage and each feeder unit is assigned an interface section for controlling the operation and for supplying available power.
Arrangements of the aforementioned type are known to one skilled in the art in the form of gathering machines for perfect binders or assembling devices and/or gathering conveyors for gathering and wire-stitching machines. These arrangements are provided with a plurality of feeders arranged along the gathering arrangement, which supply the conveying device with printed products. Even though the principles for supplying these feeding devices are similar, there are certain differences with respect to design and embodiment. These differences at least include the desire for a highly economic operation depending on the size of the edition to be processed, as well as depending on the complexity of the printed products or the printed sheets to be processed and/or on the finished products.
Complex printing products may include, for example, several printed sheets, glued-in cards and/or goods samples, sheets to be bound in at the open side, or sheets with a final fold at the top. All printed sheets or signatures, which deviate from standard and/or easy to process format, require specifically designed feeders for the processing. The position of such feeders along the conveying device is furthermore also determined by the type of embodiment used and the predetermined form and/or the content of the printed products to be produced. For technical reasons in the area of manufacturing, transport, and assembly, the undercarriage may include several strung-together undercarriage segments.
Owing to the high expenditure for an arrangement of this type, one object of the invention is to provide a more economic use for the known arrangement that includes several elements. Gathering machines for the processing of standard-type printed sheets or signatures are known. The gathering machines include identical machine elements, strung-together as seen in conveying direction, wherein each machine element forms a unit that cannot be further divided. With this type of design, a uniform infrastructure is provided for the machine elements, for example for the feeder drive, the separating elements, or the holding back devices.
Two different types of structural designs are generally known for these gathering machines: Type I machines and Type II machines. First, Type I machines are machines that operate at a low production speed for processing standard printed sheets, which function as simple gathering machines without flexibility. Second, Type II machines include machines operating at a higher production speed and optionally include different feeders, and have a higher degree of flexibility. Client needs require the market to provide additional gathering machines which have a certain amount of flexibility, without simultaneously requiring a high production output.

Arrangement for gathering or assembling printed sheets for producing bound printed products


A semiconductor memory device includes a memory cell including a ferroelectric capacitor and a cell transistor and storing binary data at a first potential level and a second potential level which is higher than the first potential level, a bit line which reads the binary data from the memory cell, a correction circuit which corrects an error of the binary data read from the memory cell via the bit line, and a setting circuit which sets to the first potential a potential of the bit line connected to the memory cell from which at least the binary data is read, after the binary data is transferred to the correction circuit. The device further includes a control circuit which controls the potential of the bit line connected to the memory cell from which the binary data is read, in accordance with a result of error correction of the binary data.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor memory device. More specifically, the invention relates to a ferroelectric random access memory (FeRAM) having an error checking and correcting (ECC) circuit and using a ferroelectric capacitor.
2. Description of the Related Art
Attention has recently been attracted to a ferroelectric random access memory using a ferroelectric capacitor as a nonvolatile semiconductor memory device. The ferroelectric random access memory nonvolatilely stores binary data according to the amount of different two polarizations (amount of remanent polarization) of a ferroelectric using the fact that spontaneous polarization, one of characteristics of the ferroelectric exhibits a hysteresis characteristic.
The memory cells (unit cells) of a prior art FeRAM generally adopt the same architecture as those of a dynamic random access memory (DRAM). In the prior art FeRAM, a paraelectric capacitor of the DRAM is replaced with a ferroelectric capacitor and the ferroelectric capacitor is connected in series to a cell transistor to form a unit cell. Such unit cells are arranged two-dimensionally to configure a large-capacity memory cell array.
There are two types of FeRAM. One is a so-called 2T/2C FeRAM from which data is read using two unit cells, and the other is a so-called 1T/1C FeRAM from which data is read using one unit cell.
Data is read from an FeRAM by applying a voltage to a ferroelectric capacitor and reversing the polarization. In other words, the read of data from the FeRAM is destructive read. It is thus necessary to write back the read data. In general, the compared and amplified state of read data is maintained by a sense amplifier to write data "0." Then, the potential of a plate line drops to VSS from the state to write data "1." It is more effective to write data "0" first and then data "1" as a data write-back operation.
In the above destructive-read type FeRAM, data is repeatedly written each time data is read out. Particularly in an FeRAM with an ECC circuit, read data is written back in accordance with the results of error correction and correct data can be written. The ECC circuit can thus improve the reliability of the FeRAM.
However, it takes appropriate time to perform an error correcting operation in the ECC circuit. The following problem therefore occurs. When data is written back after its error is corrected, time required for writing back the data, including time required for correcting the error, is lengthened. In other words, when data is written back in accordance with the results of error correction in the ECC circuit, the results of error correction can be reflected in the data write-back operation, but cycle time is lengthened.
When data "0" is written first and then data "1" is done as a data write-back operation, the error correction in the ECC circuit has only to be completed at least by the end of writing of data "0" in order to reflect the results of the error correction. In other words, if time required for the error correction is shorter than that required for writing data "0," the results of the error correction can be reflected in the writing of data "1" without lengthening cycle time. If, however, time required for the error correction is longer than that required for writing data "0," the cycle time is lengthened accordingly.
As a technique related to the above, there is proposed a technique of improving the precision of detection of errors of data (see, for example, Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 11-16389).

Semiconductor memory device having error checking and correcting circuit


The present invention discloses a refrigerator, comprising a drawer assembly which comprises a first drawer, a first slide rail assembly and a second drawer located below the first drawer, a first recess being disposed on one of the second drawer and the first drawer, and a protrusion being disposed on the other; the first slide rail assembly comprises a guide rail connected in to the cabinet and a slideway disposed on the first drawer, the front end of the slideway being provided with an inclined portion extending obliquely upward from rear to front.

Freezing compartments in conventional refrigerators mostly employ a drawer-type storage manner, namely, a plurality of drawers are disposed at an interval in a vertical direction in the freezing compartment to store different foods in a classified manner and prevent the transferring of door between foods.
When a refrigerator employs a draw-type door, only one door body drawable in a front-rear direction is usually disposed, and meanwhile a plurality of drawers are disposed. To facilitate the user to access articles, the door body is linked with at least one of the drawers.
The draw-type doors of some conventional refrigerators are provided with a connector connected with one of the plurality of drawers so that the drawer is linked with the draw-type door such that all drawers can be opened at one time; however, after all drawers are opened at one time, the drawer needs to be manually separated from the draw-type door so that articles in other drawers under said drawer can be viewed and accessed, which is cumbersome and complex in structure.
In view of the above, it is necessary to provide a novel refrigerator to address the above problems.


A method and apparatus for inspecting wirings of an electronic circuit substrate to detect a defect in the wiring and for enabling correction thereof. The inspection method and apparatus include electrostatically coupling at least one electrode to a wiring pattern, applying a time varying voltage between the electrode and wiring pattern at different locations so as to detect a current flow and determine a defect by a variation in the detected current flow at the different locations and a portion of the defect. A defect in the form of a disconnected or half-disconnected point of the wiring may be corrected by supplying a solution of a metal complex to the disconnected or half-disconnected point, heating the solution and end point areas of the disconnected or half-disconnected point by laser light and precipitating a metal thin film establishing a connection of the wiring.

As a prior art method for inspecting a wiring pattern, it is well known to provide an electrical conduction method in which probes are contacted with both ends of the wiring pattern, a cut wire of the wiring pattern is detected in response to a value of a current in the case of applying a voltage and a short circuited state of the wiring is detected in response to a presence or a non-presence of flow of current toward the probe contacted with another wiring pattern. However, a problem with such prior art method is that it was necessary to specify the position of a defect under observation with a microscope and that it took much time and labor due to the fact that the position of a defect could not be specified.
A defect inspection device manufactured by U.S. Photon Dynamics in which a planer substrate for display is processed and an electro-optical effect is utilized is described in No. 524 (Apr. 1, 1991) of the Nikkei Electronics, pp 78 to 79. This inspection device has a feature of providing a capability in which a wire cut or disconnection and a defect of a short circuited circuit are detected with an accuracy of a specifying position of a pixel unit. However, since it is necessary to float an electrical field sensing section having an electro-optical effect from a wiring pattern forming surface of the planer substrate for display by several tens .mu.m, it requires much time to make a position alignment. In addition, since the electrical field sensing section is small with respect to the planer substrate, it is necessary to repeat the sensing operation several times and its inspection time is long. Further, there is a possibility that the substrate is damaged if the electrical field sensing section contacts the wiring pattern.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,138,266 discloses a method in which a wiring pattern and a planer electrode are electrostatically coupled to each other and a presence of either a cut wire of the wiring pattern or a short-circuited state is detected. However, a planer electrode having such a size as one containing an entire wiring pattern is used and although the presence of a defect with the wiring pattern being applied as a unit can be detected, it is not possible to specify the position of the defect within the wiring pattern.
In addition, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Sho 58-388874 (1983) discloses a method for applying an AC voltage to one end of the wiring pattern, detecting an AC voltage by a probe through an inductor layer from the other end of the wiring pattern and inspecting a presence or a non-presence of a cut wire or disconnection by reference to a value of the applied voltage. However, there is no description about a method for sensing the position of the defect in the cut wire in each of the wiring patterns.
Methods for sensing a defect of each of the pixels of a TFT substrate are known in which the presence or non-presence of a defect of each of the pixels is inspected, but such methods do not disclose sensing of the position of the defect of the wiring pattern. Further, such prior art relates to the fact that electrical coupling through an electrostatic capacitance is applied and has the following problems.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 6-27494 (1994) discloses a method for varying with time a potential of each of the pixels of a TFT substrate and sensing the presence or non-presence of the defect of the pixel by applying a voltage variation detected through an electrostatic capacitance between the pixel and a probe arranged in non-contact manner on the pixel. Since it is necessary to make an accurate position setting of the probe from each of the pixel electrodes with a specified small gap, there is a problem that it takes much time for the inspection of the entire substrate. In addition, there is no description about the method for sensing the position of the defect in a cut wire of the wiring pattern.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 5-10999 (1993) discloses a method for arranging an inspection electrode at a surface of opposite side of each of the electrodes of a liquid crystal display substrate, applying a pulse voltage to each of the electrodes and inspecting a good condition or a bad condition of each of the pixels in response to a pulse detected by the inspection electrodes. This method has a problem that it is necessary to provide many probes and a selection circuit in order to select the pixels arranged in matrix, resulting in that the entire device becomes complex. Also, there is no description in the publication about a method for detecting the position of the defect of the cut wire in the wiring pattern.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 2-210391 (1990) discloses a method for inspecting characteristics of a transistor of each of pixels of a TFT substrate with reference to a frequency having a maximum displacement in phase when a frequency of an AC signal is changed by oppositely facing an inspection electrode against an arranging direction of the pixels in one row of the TFT substrate, applying an AC signal and detecting a displacement in phase between the applied AC signal and an AC signal to be detected. Also in this publication, it is assumed that no defect is present at the wiring pattern and a method for detecting the position of the defect in the wiring pattern is not indicated.
Further, a method of repairing disconnections of a wiring pattern on a substrate of an integrated circuit and display device is described in the Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 2-19838 (1990). This prior art describes that a disconnection fault point of a wiring pattern formed on a glass substrate is coated with a composition which can precipitates a conductive substance only at a relatively high temperature (a nitrate of metal, for example, manganese nitrate and moreover an organic metal compound such as ruthenium, etc.) and the periphery of such disconnection fault is irradiated with a laser beam to precipitate a conductive substance (a low resistance manganese dioxide, low resistance ruthenium oxide) in view of repairing a wiring pattern.
As another known prior art, a method of repairing a white point fault of a photomask is described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Sho 59-177358 (1984). This prior art describes that liquid drops of an organic metal solution including Cr, Mo metals are deposited on a white fault point of a photomask under an inactive gas atmosphere and the deposited point is irradiated with a laser beam to correct the white fault by depositing metal thin films of Cr and Mo.
Additionally, a method of repairing a disconnected Cu circuit pattern of a printed circuit board is described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 2-101188 (1990). This prior art describes that an end part of disconnected Cu circuit pattern of the printed circuit board is cut obliquely with a knife with respect to the substrate to form a taper, a plating solution is supplied to a plating part including this end part and this plating part is plated by irradiating the plating solution with a laser beam.
In an electronic circuit substrate represented by a liquid crystal display or a semiconductor integrated circuit, the circuit wiring formed on the substrate is being made finer and given higher density with improved display performance and integration. Such circuit wiring is normally formed by a series of processes such as resist coating, exposure, development, etching, and resist peeling, but as the tendency of the electronic circuit substrate toward higher performance advances, the yield of good products in the above processes lowers. Particularly, a disconnection defect of wiring resulting from foreign particles during resist exposure is fatal, and it is regarded as a defective product in many cases even if a disconnection defect takes places only at one place on the substrate. Accordingly, in order to improve the yield of manufacture, that is, to reduce the product cost, the technique of correcting an absence of such as a disconnection or cut wire or a defective wiring pattern is indispensable.
As a conventional technique for forming wiring on a substrate, a method of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 6-104255 (1994) has been disclosed. More specifically, this method provide for scanning a stage carrying a substrate while supplying conductive material paste at any position on the substrate using a dispenser, and to irradiate a laser light in synchronism with its supply for heating the conductive material paste in order to continuously form a metal film. In this case, it is sufficient to supply the conductive material paste to only a portion where a metal film is to be formed, and since the metal film is obtained by irradiating a laser light onto all the supplied conductive material paste, it is not necessary to remove paste adhered to unnecessary portions.
Also, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 4-277692 (1992), there is disclosed a method to form a groove pattern on a ground film in a disconnected portion by means of a laser light, to supply organic metal solution into the groove for setting by heating, and further to irradiate a laser light for making it into a conductive material in order to connect the disconnected portions. This method makes it possible to prevent the material from adhering to the unnecessary portion by controlling the amount of supplied organic metal solution, and improves the reliability for the joints because the connected area between the wiring disconnected end portion and the formed metal is increased.
As described above, the prior art methods for inspecting a wiring pattern had some problems in that the position of a defect in the wiring pattern could not be specified and it took much time for performing the inspection for entire substrate.
Additionally, since a circuit wiring provided on a circuit substrate represented by a liquid crystal display device and a semiconductor integrated circuit element is usually produced by a series of processes including coating of photoresist-exposure-development-etching-separation of resist, disconnection failure of wiring has been generated due to existence of foreign materials generated during this process. Meanwhile, such circuit wiring has been ultra-miniaturized in accordance with improvement of display performance and integration density. Applicants have determined that the prior art described above is deficient in not sufficiently referring to the problem of connecting a disconnected point of a fine wiring with almost the same function as the circuit, a similar resistance value and with higher reliability considering the possibility of application as an actual product.
The prior art concerning the formation of wiring on the substrate has the following problems because the conductive material paste is supplied in synchronism with the irradiation of laser light.
The liquid material, in which the material is crystallized or decomposed/precipitated by heating to obtain a metal film, has generally great volume shrinkage after heating, and therefore, when the disconnected width is almost larger than the wiring width or than the laser irradiation size for heating the liquid material, a step-cut of the formed metal occurs near the disconnected end portion. The phenomenon will be described with reference to FIGS. 28(a)-28(j), which show plan views and corresponding cross-sectional views. When a wiring is disconnected as represented by end points 522 and 522' on the surface of a substrate 521 in FIGS. 28(a)-28(d), a dispenser (not shown) supplies liquid material 523 to the disconnected portion while scanning a stage (not shown) as shown in FIGS. 28(e)-28(h). Subsequently, the supplied liquid material 523 reaches an irradiation region 524' for laser light 524 by a scanning of the stage (not shown). When the laser light is irradiated onto metal wiring of Al, Cu or the like, which is normally often used as wiring material for a circuit substrate, the greater part of the laser light is only reflected, but a part thereof is absorbed to enable the wiring to be heated. In this respect, these wiring materials have generally high thermal conductivity, and therefore, the temperature at the disconnected end point 522 is raised due to the conductive heat caused by the irradiation of the laser light 524.
As shown in FIGS. 28(e)-28(i), the liquid material 523 supplied near the disconnected end portion 522 is sufficiently heated for decomposition, thus satisfactorily achieving the connection between the end portion 522 and the precipitated metal film 523'. Since, however, exceedingly great volume shrinkage occurs when the supplied liquid material 523 is heated to become a metal film, an influx 525 of the liquid material 523 before the heating occurs on the precipitated metal film 523', but does not affect the connecting capability at the disconnected end portion 522.
In this way, in the vicinity of the laser irradiation region 524', the treatment always goes on accompanied by an influx 525 of the liquid material 523 on the precipitated metal film 523'. The laser light 524 moves relative to the substrate 521, and successively heats the liquid material 523 on the substrate 521 to thereby form a metal film 523', reaching near the disconnected end point 522' as shown in FIGS. 28(g)-28(h). However, in the vicinity of the disconnected end point 522', an influx 525 of the liquid material 523 on the end point 522' occurs to thereby reduce the volume of the liquid material 523 on the end point 522'. This further reduces the thickness of a metal film 23' precipitated in the vicinity of the end point 522' as shown in FIGS. 28(i)-28(j) to cause a step-cut 526 of the metal film 523'. In other words, influenced by the thickness distribution of the metal film after the precipitation, the disconnected portions are not electrically connected, or the connection is made with a high electric resistance, resulting in failure to correct the disconnection defect. Further, at the initial stage when the laser light 524 is irradiated onto the disconnected end point 522', heat dissipates from the end point so that the temperature of the end point is not increased, and this leads to a problem that heating of the liquid material on such end point is insufficient.
On the other hand, in the prior art in which a groove pattern is formed in a ground film of the disconnected portion, and the liquid material is supplied into the groove to connect the disconnected portions, an ultraviolet laser light for forming the groove pattern is newly required, resulting in a larger apparatus and higher product cost. Also, it takes longer time to correct the defect.

Method and apparatus for inspection and correction of wiring of electronic circuit and for manufacture thereof


A naked nucleic acid construct comprising a coding sequence which encodes a mycobacterial stress protein or proline-rich antigen or an antigenically effective fragment thereof operably linked to a promoter capable of expressing the said coding sequence in a mammalian host cell is useful as a vaccine against a mycobacterial infection such as tuberculosis and leprosy.

This invention relates to vaccines against mycobacterial infections such as tuberculosis and leprosy.
Despite its central position in classical immunology surprisingly little is known of how a protective cell-mediated immune response is either acquired or expressed against tuberculosis or leprosy. It is not know why vaccination with live bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG) is highly protective in only some human populations or why, in contrast to live BCG, injections of dead BCG or antigenic components, even in large amounts and with adjuvants, confer only slight protection in animals.
In an attempt to develop an alternative vaccine based on the Mycobacterium leprae 65 kDa heat shock protein (MLhsp65) antigen (Mehra et al (1986): Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA; 83, 7014-7017), we have now stably transfected bone marrow cells with an expression vector encoding this antigen. When the transfected bone marrow cells were injected into mice, the mice were found to be resistant to infection by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the causative agent of tuberculosis. Further, we have injected mice with naked DNA encoding MLhsp65 or the Mycobacterium leprae 36 kDa proline rich-antigen (Thole et al, Infection and Immunity (1990) 58, 80-87). These mice were also found to be resistant to infection by Mycobacterium tuberculosis.
These findings have general applicability. Accordingly, the present invention provides use of a naked nucleic acid construct comprising a coding sequence which encodes a mycobacterial stress protein or proline-rich antigen or an antigenically effective fragment thereof operably linked to a promoter capable of expressing the said coding sequence in a mammalian host cell, in the manufacture of a medicament for use as a vaccine against a mycobacterial infection.
The invention also provides:
such a naked nucleic acid construct for use as a vaccine against a mycobacterial infection;
a vaccine composition comprising such a naked nucleic acid construct and an acceptable carrier or diluent;
a method of vaccinating a mammalian host against a mycobacterial infection, which method comprises administering to the host an effective amount of such a naked nucleic acid construct;
bone marrow cells transfected with a nucleic acid construct comprising a coding sequence which encodes a mycobacterial stress protein or proline-rich antigen or an antigenically effective fragment thereof operably linked to a promoter capable of expressing the said coding sequence in bone marrow cells;
a method of vaccinating a mammalian host against a mycobacterial infection, which method comprises administering to the host an effective amount of such transfected bone marrow cells; and
a naked nucleic acid construct as above wherein the coding sequence encodes a mycobacterial proline-rich antigen or an antigenically effective fragment thereof.
The naked nucleic acid construct comprises a coding sequence which encodes a mycobacterial stress protein or a mycobacterial proline rich-antigen or an antigenically effective fragment thereof operably linked to a promoter capable of directing expression of the said coding sequence in a mammalian host cell. Nucleic acid encoding at least one further mycobacterial protein or fragment thereof operably linked to a promoter may be included in the construct. Typically, the thus encoded further mycobacterial protein or fragment thereof will be an antigenic protein or an antigenic fragment thereof. The further mycobacterial protein or fragment thereof may be a further mycobacterial stress protein or proline-rich antigen or antigenic fragment thereof.
The naked nucleic acid construct is typically cell-free and virus-free. It is typically in isolated form. It may be purified. Although it is preferred that a construct is DNA, it may also be RNA or a modified nucleic acid. The nucleic acid may contain modifications in its backbone and possibly additions at either the 5xe2x80x2 or 3xe2x80x2, or both, ends of the molecule in the case of linear, as opposed to circular, constructs. This may assist in prolonging the life of the nucleic acid when taken up by host cells, for example, muscle cells which may enhance the potency of the construct. Known modifications to nucleic acid molecules include the provision of methylphosphonate and phosphorothioate backbones and addition of acridine or polylysine chains at the 3xe2x80x2 and/or 5xe2x80x2 ends of the molecule.
The mycobacterial stress protein encoded by the nucleic acid constructs of the present invention is generally one whose expression increases substantially when the mycobacterium from which it is derived is placed under environmental stress. Typically, the mycobacterial stress protein is a heat shock protein, for example a protein whose expression increases substantially when the bacterium from which it is derived is subjected to a high temperature, for example 42xc2x0 C. or greater.
The mycobacterial stress protein is typically derived from Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Mycobacterium leprae, Mycobacterium bovis, Mycobacterium avium or Mycobacterium vaccae. Suitable proteins include the 70, 65 and 10 kDa heat shock proteins of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Mycobacterium leprae, Mycobacterium bovis, Mycobacterium avium or Mycobacterium vaccae. Of these, the 65 kDa heat shock proteins of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Mycobacterium leprae and Mycobacterium bovis are preferred, the heat shock proteins of Mycobacterium leprae being particularly preferred.
The mycobacterial proline-rich antigen may be a proline-rich antigen of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Mycobacterium leprae, Mycobacterium bovis, Mycobacterium avium or Mycobacterium vaccae. A suitable proline-rich antigen is the 36 kDa proline-rich antigen of Mycobacterium leprae.
An antigenic fragment of a mycobacterial stress protein or proline-rich antigen preferably contains a minimum of five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, fifteen, twenty, thirty, forty or fifty amino acids. The fragment may be up to ten, twenty, thirty, forty or fifty amino acids long. Alternatively, up to twenty or up to ten amino acid residues may have been omitted from the amino- and/or carboxy-terminus of the stress protein or proline-rich antigen.
The antigenic sites of the mycobacterial stress protein or proline-rich antigen may be identified using standard procedures. These may involve fragmentation of the polypeptide itself using proteolytic enzymes or chemical agents and then determining the ability of each fragment to bind to antibodies or to provoke an immune response when inoculated into an animal or suitable in vitro model system (Strohmaier et al, J.Gen.Virol., 1982, 59, 205-306).
Alternatively, the DNA encoding the mycobacterial stress protein or proline-rich antigen may be fragmented by restriction enzyme digestion or other well-known techniques and then introduced into an expression system to produce fragments. These fragments may be fused to a polypeptide usually a polypeptide of bacterial origin. The resulting fragments are assessed as described previously (Spence et al, J.Gen.Virol., 1989, 70, 2843-51; Smith et al, Gene, 1984, 29, 263-9).
Another approach is to chemically synthesise short peptide fragments (3-20 amino acids long; conventionally 6 amino acids long) which cover the entire sequence of the full-length polypeptide with each peptide overlapping the adjacent peptide. This overlap can be from 1-10 amino acids but ideally is n-1 amino acids where n is length of the peptide; Geysen et al, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci, 1984, 81, 3998-4002. Each peptide is then assessed as described previously except that the peptide is usually first coupled to some carrier molecule to facilitate the induction of an immune response.
Finally, there are predictive methods which involve analysis of the sequence for particular features, e.g. hydrophilicity, thought to be associated with immunologically important sites (Hopp and Woods, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., 1981, 78, 3824-8; Berzofsky, Science, 1985, 229, 932-40). These predictions may then be tested using the recombinant polypeptide or peptide approaches described previously.
The nucleic acid sequence encoding the mycobacterial shock protein or proline-rich antigen or fragment thereof is typically included within a replicable expression vector. Such an expression vector comprises an origin of replication so that the vector can be replicated in a host cell such as a bacterial host cell, a promoter for the expression of the nucleic acid sequence and optionally a regulator of the promoter. The vector may contain one or more selectable marker genes, for example an ampicillin resistance gene for the identification of bacterial transformants or a neomycin resistance gene for the identification of mammalian cell transformants. optionally, the nucleic acid construct may also comprise an enhancer for the promoter. The construct may also comprise a polyadenylation signal operably linked 3xe2x80x2 to the nucleic acid encoding the functional protein. The construct may also comprise a terminator 3xe2x80x2 to the sequence encoding the mycobacterial stress protein or fragment thereof. The construct may also comprise one or more introns or other coding sequences 3xe2x80x2 to the sequence encoding the mycobacterial stress protein or fragment thereof. The intron or introns may be from the host organism to which the construct is to be administered or from another eukaryotic organism.
In the nucleic acid constructs the nucleic acid sequence encoding the mycobacterial stress protein or proline-rich antigen or antigenic fragment thereof is operably linked to a promoter capable of expressing the sequence. xe2x80x9cOperably linkedxe2x80x9d refers to a juxtaposition wherein the promoter and the nucleic acid sequence encoding the mycobacterial stress protein or proline-rich antigen or fragment thereof are in a relationship permitting the coding sequence to be expressed under the control of the promoter. Thus, there may be elements such as 5xe2x80x2 noncoding sequence between the promoter and coding sequence.
These elements may be native either to the organism from which the promoter sequence is derived or to the organism from which the mycobacterial stress protein or proline-rich antigen or fragment thereof is derived. Alternatively, the said element or elements may be native to neither the organism from which the promoter sequence is derived nor the organism from which the mycobacterial stress protein or proline-rich antigen or fragment thereof is derived. Such sequences can be included in the construct if they enhance or do not impair the correct control of the coding sequence by the promoter.
The expression vector may be of any type. For example, the vector may be in linear or circular form. It is preferred that the construct is incorporated into a plasmid vector, since it has been found that covalent closed circle (CCC) plasmid DNA can be taken up directly by muscle cells but that the DNA does not integrate into the genomic DNA of the cells (Ascadi et al, (1991): The New Biologist; 3, 71-81). Those of skill in the art will be able to prepare suitable vectors comprising nucleic acid sequences encoding mycobacterial stress proteins or proline-rich antigens or fragments thereof starting with widely available vectors which will be modified by genetic engineering techniques such as those described by Sambrook et al, (Molecular Cloning: A Laboratory Manual, 1989). Two suitable starting vectors are the plasmids pCDM8 (Invitrogen; Seed and Aruffo, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA (1987) 84, 3365-3369) and pHMG (Gautier et al, Nucl. Acids Res. (1989) 17, 8389).
Any promoter capable of directing expression of the sequence encoding the mycobacterial stress protein or proline-rich antigen or fragment thereof may be operably linked to that sequence. Particularly suitable promoters are those that direct expression in a mammalian cell. For example, promoters from viral genes that are expressed in mammalian cells such as the cytomegalovirus (CMV) immediate early gene promoter are suitable. Also suitable are promoters from mammalian genes that are expressed in many or all mammalian cell types such as the promoters of housekeeping genes. For example, the p-hydroxymethyl-CoA-reductase (HMG) promoter (Gautier et al (1989)) is particularly suitable. Also suitable are promoters and other regulatory elements of genes selectively expressed in antigen-presenting mammalian cells such as macrophages and dendritic cells.
The nucleic acid constructs are useful for gene therapy. In particular, they are useful for naked DNA vaccination of mammalian hosts against mycobacterial infections such as those caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Mycobacterium leprae and Mycobacterium bovis. Accordingly, constructs comprising nucleic acid from any mycobacterial species may be prepared. Owing to the degree of conservation of some mycobacterial stress proteins, it is not always necessary to use a nucleic acid sequence from a particular species to vaccinate against infection by that species. For example, live BCG (Vacille Calmette-Guerin) cells of Mycobacterium bovis have long been used to vaccinate humans against Mycobacterium tuberculosis.
In the present invention, therefore, a nucleic acid construct encoding a stress protein or proline-rich antigen of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Mycobacterium leprae or Mycobacterium bovis may be used to vaccinate against infection by any of these three species of Mycobacterium. For example, the present inventors have shown that constructs encoding the Mycobacterium leprae 65 kDa hsp or Mycobacterium leprae 36 kDa proline-rich antigen act as effective vaccines against Mycobacterium tuberculosis in mice.
A range of mammalian species can be vaccinated against mycobacterial infection using the nucleic acid constructs of the present invention. However, vaccination of humans against Mycobacterium tuberculosis is particularly desirable. Also desirable is the vaccination of cattle or deer against Mycobacterium bovis. Also desirable is the vaccination of badgers against Mycobacterium bovis as badgers can transmit the bacteria to cattle.
The naked nucleic acid constructs of the invention may be administered to mammals including humans by any route appropriate. Suitable routes include oral and parenteral, including subcutaneous, intramuscular, intravenous and intradermal routes.
Preferred routes of administration are oral delivery and injection, typically intramuscular or intradermal injection. Injection of the vaccine composition into the skeletal muscle or the skin of the human or animal subject is particularly preferred. Another mode of delivery of a vaccine composition according to the invention is by a biolistic or xe2x80x9cparticle gunxe2x80x9d method.
The naked nucleic acid constructs of the invention may be administered to the subject alone or in a liposome or associated with other delivery molecules. The effective dosage depends on many factors such as whether a delivery molecule is used, the route of delivery and the size of the mammal being vaccinated. Typical doses are from 0.1-1000 xcexcg of the nucleic acid construct per dose, for example 1-500 xcexcg, 50-500 xcexcg, such as 50-75 xcexcg, and 100-500 xcexcg per dose.
Dosage schedules will vary according to, for example, the route of administration, the species of the recipient and.the condition of the recipient. However, single doses and multiple doses spread over periods of days, weeks or months are envisaged. Single doses typically comprise 0.1-1000 xcexcg, for example 100-500 xcexcg, of nucleic acid and multiple doses typically comprise 0.1-1000 xcexcg, for example 100-500 xcexcg, of nucleic acid each, preferably in a form suitable for intramuscular or intradermal injection. Also, single or multiple nucleic acid pellets comprising a construct according to the invention, for example pellets comprising 100-500 xcexcg of DNA can be implanted into the recipient intramuscularly or intradermally. If the construct is administered by a biolistic method, doses will generally be at the lower end of the above mentioned ranges, owing the hight efficiency of this route. Such doses may comprise, for example, 0.1-10 xcexcg, such as 0.1-1 xcexcg, of the construct.
While it is possible for the naked nucleic acid constructs of the invention to be administered alone it is preferable to present them as pharmaceutical formulations. The formulations of the present invention comprise at least one active ingredient, a nucleic acid construct according to the invention, together with one or more acceptable carriers thereof and optionally other therapeutic ingredients. The carrier or carriers must be xe2x80x9cacceptablexe2x80x9d in the sense of being compatible with the other ingredients of the formulation and not deleterious to the recipients thereof. Liposomes may be used. Suitable liposomes include, for example, those comprising the positively charged lipid (N-[1-(2,3-dioleyloxy)propyl]-N,N,N-triethylammonium (DOTMA), those comprising dioleoylphosphatidylethanolamine (DOPE), and those comprising 3xcex2-[N-(Nxe2x80x2,Nxe2x80x2-dimethylaminoethane)-carbamoyl] cholesterol (Dc-Chol).
Formulations suitable for parenteral administration include aqueous and non-aqueous sterile injection solutions which may contain anti-oxidants, buffers, bacteriostats, bactericidal antibiotics and solutes which render the formulation isotonic with the blood of the intended recipient; and aqueous and non-aqueous sterile suspensions which may include suspending agents and thickening agents, and liposomes or other microparticulate systems which are designed to target the compound to blood components or one or more organs. The formulations may be presented in unit-dose or multi-dose containers, for example sealed ampoules and vials, and may be stored in a freeze-dried (lyophilized) condition requiring only the addition of the sterile liquid carrier, for example water, for injections, immediately prior to use. Injection solutions and suspensions may be prepared extemporaneously from sterile powders, granules and tablets of the kind previously described.
It should be understood that in addition to the ingredients particularly mentioned above the formulations of this invention may include other agents conventional in the art having regard to the type of formulation in question. Of the possible formulations, sterile pyrogen-free aqueous and non-aqueous solutions are preferred. Also preferred are formulations in which the nucleic acid constructs of the invention are contained in liposomes.
Effective vaccines against mycobacterial infection by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Mycobacterium leprae and Mycobacterium bovis can also be prepared from bone marrow cells transfected with a nucleic acid construct which encodes a mycobacterial stress protein or proline-rich antigen or fragment thereof operably linked to a promoter capable of directing expression of the said coding sequence in the said bone marrow cell.
The bone marrow cells may be transfected by any suitable method. For example the nucleic acid constructs may be packaged into infectious viral particles, for example retroviral particles. This may be done using the methodology described by Silva et al (1992): Microb. Pathogen. 12, 27-38). The constructs may also be introduced by electroporation, calcium phosphate precipitation, biolistic methods or by contacting naked nucleic acid constructs with the bone marrow cells in solution.
In the said nucleic acid constructs with which the bone marrow cells are infected, the nucleic acid may be DNA or RNA, preferably DNA.
The nucleic acid constructs with which the bone marrow cells are transfected may be of any suitable type.
Typically, the constructs will be in the form of an expression vector, such as a retrovival vector or a naked DNA expression vector as defined herein. For example, the construct may be in the form of retrovival shuttle vector derived from the widely available pZipNeo vector or from a plasmid vector as defined herein, for example pCDM8 or pHMG.
The constructs with which the bone marrow cells are transfected may comprise a coding sequence encoding at least one further mycobacterial protein or fragment thereof operably linked to a promoter capable of directing expression of the coding sequence in the mammalian cell. Typically, the thus encoded further mycobacterial protein or fragment thereof will be an antigenic protein or an antigenic fragment thereof. The further mycobacterial protein or fragment thereof may be a further mycobacterial stress protein or proline-rich antigen or antigenic fragment thereof.
The constructs with which the bone marrow cells are transfected may include any suitable promoter. Particularly suitable promoters are those that direct expression in a mammalian cell. For example, promoters from viral genes that are expressed in mammalian cells such as the cytomegalovirus (CMV) immediate early gene promoter are suitable. Also suitable are promoters from mammalian genes that are expressed in many or all mammalian cell types such as the promoters of housekeeping genes. For example, the p-hydroxymethyl-CoA-reductase (HMG) promoter (Gautier et al (1989)) is particularly suitable.
Bone marrow cells transfected with the said constructs may be administered by any suitable method, such as parenteral injection, preferably intravenous injection.
Any effective amount of bone marrow cells transfected with the said nucleic acid constructs may be administered to the recipient. Typically, from about 1xc3x97104 to about 1xc3x97108 bone marrow cells are administered, for example about from 105 to 107, for example 1xc3x97106 bone marrow cells.
The transfected bone marrow cells administered to the recipient may be of any type that is compatible with the recipient""s immune system. Typically, as for any transplantation of cells or tissue, the major tissue transplantation antigens of the administered bone marrow cells will match the major tissue transplantation antigens of the recipient""s cells. The administered bone marrow cells may be derived from the recipient individual.
The said transfected bone marrow cells may be delivered to the recipient alone or in any suitable formulation. A preferred formulation is a solution that is isotonic with the blood of the recipient.

Vaccine against mycobacterial infections


Implantable biocompatible polymeric medical devices include a substrate with a plasma-modified surface which is subsequently modified to include click reactive members.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to medical devices having an activated surface.
2. Related Art
Biocompatible and biodegradable materials have been used for the manufacture of prosthetic implants, suture threads, and the like. A relative advantage of these materials is that of eliminating the need for a second surgical intervention to remove the implant. The gradual biodegradability of such materials favors regeneration of the pre-existing tissues. There has been recent interest in using such devices for delivery of bioactive agents.
It would be advantageous to provide reactive functional groups on the surface of such biodegradable medical devices for a variety of purposes.

Medical devices having activated surfaces


The turbine exhaust case can have an outer shroud, an inner shroud internal to the outer shroud, an annular exhaust path between the outer shroud and the inner shroud, and a plurality of struts each having a length extending across the annular exhaust path from a radially inner end to a radially outer end, the struts circumferentially interspaced from one another, the struts each having a leading edge and a trailing edge, a stiff connection between the radially inner end and the inner shroud, and a point connection between the radially outer end and the outer shroud.

Various factors exert pressures on gas turbine engine manufacturers to continually improve their designs. Design improvements in gas turbine engines take many factors into consideration, such as weight, structural optimization, durability, production costs, etc. Accordingly, while known turbine exhaust cases were satisfactory to a certain extent, there remained room for improvement.


A back plate attachable to the back of a guitar is provided. The plate includes screw holes and tremolo plate holes. The screw holes of the plate align with the screw holes on a guitar, and the tremolo plate holes of the plate align with the tremolo claw holes of a tremolo claw. The plate may be bolted or screwed to the back of the guitar via the screw holes and tremolo claw holes.

The present invention relates to a guitar back plate and, more particularly, to a guitar back plate for improving the resonance of the guitar.
A guitar is a popular musical instrument that makes sound by the playing of its (typically) six strings with the sound being projected either acoustically or through electrical amplification. Currently, a large amount of electric guitars lack resonance as a result of being made from inferior materials. All of the separate elements of the guitar function independently, which dampens the natural resonance of the electric guitar.
As can be seen, there is a need for a device that improves the resonance of the guitar.


A semiconductor integrated circuit and a method for reducing the consumed power are provided. A comparator outputs bits having the same level, which correspond to each other, of a last input stored in a register and a current input that acts as an input signal. A zero counter counts the number of the bits having the same level output from the comparator. If the number of the bits having the same level is smaller than a predetermined number, the current input is not similar to the last input. Consequently, an instruction is given to a flip-flop to invert the current input. The inverted current input becomes similar to the last input. Thus, the consumed power of a logic can be reduced.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor integrated circuit and a method for reducing consumed power of the semiconductor integrated circuit, and more particularly to a semiconductor integrated circuit of a clock synchronous system which operates on receipt of a clock signal, and a method for reducing consumed power of the semiconductor integrated circuit.
2. Description of the Background Art
Recently, the consumed power of a semiconductor integrated circuit has been increased. Various attempts have been made to reduce the consumed power. As effective methods for taking the dependency of an input signal into consideration, a method for reducing the consumed power by changing the representation of twos complement to the sign--absolute value representation to perform an operation, a method for reducing the consumed power by changing the order of input signals, and the like have been proposed (IEEE 1994 Custom Integrated Circuits Conference, 12.1.1-12.1-8, pp 259-266).
However, the representation of twos complement is essentially suitable for the signal processing such as an arithmetic operation. For this reason, in the case where the signal processing is performed based on the sign--absolute value representation, not only the design of an operation part but also that of a control circuit for the signal processing becomes complicated. In the case where the order of the input signals is changed, there is a problem that the function of retaining the input signals is required besides the complicated design of the control circuit for the signal processing.

Semiconductor integrated circuit and consumed power reducing method


A marking apparatus for providing desired marks such as characters, symbols, graphics, etc. on surfaces of contact lenses in a standardized manner. The marking apparatus includes a main shaft rotatable about an axis and a screen support mounted on the main shaft so as to be rotated therewith. The screen support has a plurality of marking holes provided at equal intervals around a circumference thereof and a screen is stretched across the support. The screen includes patterns associated with the desired mark which are provided in correspondence with the marking holes. A bracket is mounted on the main shaft under the screen support so as to be rotated with the main shaft. A plurality of supporters are supported by the bracket and function to individually support lens beds on which the lenses are respectively disposed. The supporters are movable up and down between a position where the respective contact lenses mounted on the lens beds are brought into contact with corresponding patterns of the screen and a displaced position where the contact lenses can be mounted on or removed from the supporters. Finally, an injector placed above the screen support applies a print solution to the screen stretched in the corresponding one of the marking holes of the screen support.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a marking apparatus for forming desired marks such as characters, symbols, graphics, etc. on surfaces of contact lenses and particularly relates to an apparatus for marking contact lenses through screen-transfer of a predetermined print solution.
2. Background
Conventional methods for marking contact lenses include radiating a laser beam onto a contact lens in order to etch a mark in the lens, and radiating an ultraviolet-ray beam onto the contact lens after applying a dye solution to the lens to thereby adhere the dye solution to the contact lens. Since it is not practical to mark contact lens manually, various marking apparatuses have been devised.
For example, Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. Sho-53-40542 discloses a marking method comprising the steps of absorbing into a relief layer a solution containing diazonium salt (or a solution containing azo-coloring agent); bringing the relief layer into contact with a contact lens for a predetermined period of time to allow the solution to infiltrate and become dispersed in the contact lens; immersing the lens in a solution containing azo-coloring agent (or a solution containing diazonium salt) for a predetermined period to undergo a coupling reaction to thereby deposit a mark on the contact lens. Additionally, this publication discloses an apparatus which comprises a means for supporting a contact lens, and a collision/contact means including a movable collision/contact arm for supporting the relief layer in order to bring the relief layer into contact with a desired position of the contact lens and hold the lens in a contact state for a predetermined time.
Further, Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication (OPI) No. Sho-62-35093 discloses an apparatus which comprises a means for retaining a contact lens in a marking position, and cartridge means for supporting a film carrying a marking dye. In this apparatus, the cartridge means is fitted onto a platform provided with the lens holding means so that the film is pressed by the contact lens with a predetermined force. The contact state between the film and the contact lens is maintained for a predetermined time to thereby allow the dye to infiltrate into the contact lens. After the dye is transferred to the contact lens, the cartridge means is removed and a developing solution is applied to the lens to perform development of the mark.
In each of these marking apparatuses, however, the working efficiency is low because the process must be stopped while fixing the positions of the lens supporting means and the collision/contact means or the cartridge means in order to hold the contact lens and the film in a contact state until the dye solution or the like has sufficiently infiltrated into the contact lens.


A protocol record database is used in conjunction with operating a centrifuge device. Each protocol record includes information relevant to the centrifugation of a certain specimen. The user can search the database for a protocol on the basis of the specimen and/or the type of separation desired. The database has an interface to one or more centrifuges via a controller. The controller, operates a centrifuge in accordance with the run program of a selected protocol record. In a preferred embodiment, the protocol records have links to additional files which supplement the information contained in the protocol records. These supplemental files include information related to the availability and compatibility of the various hardware needed to perform a centrifugation. The supplemental files can also be used to provide general information to assist the user in setting up a centrifuge for an experiment.

A centrifuge, quite simply, operates by spinning a rotor containing a sample at a certain speed for a certain amount of time at a given temperature. Ascertaining the run program, namely speed, time and temperature, appropriate for the sample, however, is not so simple. Complicating the matter is a variety of factors such as density of the specimen, the gradient used, the type of separation desired, the sample volume, and so on. Moreover, the availability of numerous centrifuge systems requires the additional consideration of the capabilities of the particular centrifuge device, the type of rotor and the tube and adapters being used.
Present centrifuge systems require the user to determine the run parameters, or the run program, for a particular centrifugation experiment of a sample of interest. Typically, this involves conducting a tedious and time consuming search of the literature to find a protocol for the same experimental conditions. Many thousands of protocols have been defined for a multitude of centrifugation experiments, and many more continue to be developed. Oftentimes, the user will find a centrifugation protocol that is similar to the desired experiment but otherwise inadequate for the specific task. A series of trial centrifugation runs must then be performed to obtain protocol parameters that are appropriate for the desired experiment.
Advances in centrifuge systems typically have been directed toward improving the performance of the hardware, such as: providing rotor designs which can withstand the extreme stresses of high speed centrifugation; sophisticated temperature controlled rotor chambers; and lightweight tube and adapter designs, allowing higher centrifugation speeds. Other advances are directed to minimizing the centrifugation time. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,941,868 and 5,171,206, which are assigned to the assignee of the present invention, disclose methods for minimizing centrifugation time. The '868 patent uses a dynamic simulation of gradient salt sedimentation to predict the elapsed time at which the precipitation threshold is reached for various speed settings. Knowledge of these predicted elapsed times allows the centrifuge to be operated at maximum speed thus decreasing centrifugation time, while at the same time avoiding precipitation of the gradient salt. The '206 patent decreases centrifugation time by continuously adjusting the rotor speed to maintain a maximum rotor speed. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,287,265 assigned to E.I. duPont de Nemours, an input device facilitates the entering of rotor speeds settings, addressing the inconvenience caused by the fact that rotor speed settings can range from two to six digits.
Despite these advances in centrifuge systems, it is still the task of the researcher to search for the correct protocol and to determine the proper run program in order to perform the actual experiments. A centrifuge, however, is one of number of tools which the researcher uses in solving the problem at hand, and so should be easy to use. Computing the operational run program for a centrifuge run and adjusting the centrifuge for the actual experiment generally do not relate to the problem being addressed. The researcher is burdened with unnecessary detail which tends to be distracting and therefore inefficient.
What is needed is a system and a method of operating which allows the researcher to interact with the centrifugation protocol from the point of view of the sample on which the centrifugation is to be performed, and not with respect to specific speed settings and rotor selections. A system and method of operating also is needed to facilitate the management both of the many known centrifugation protocols and of newly developed protocols.

System and method of operating a centrifuge utilizing a protocol record database