A method of producing a vertical transistor includes providing a conductive gate structure having a reentrant profile on a substrate. A conformal insulating material layer is formed on the conductive gate structure. A conformal semiconductor material layer is formed on the insulating material layer. A deposition inhibiting material is deposited over a portion of the substrate and the conductive gate structure including filling the reentrant profile. A portion of the deposition inhibiting material is removed without removing all of the deposition inhibiting material from the reentrant profile. A plurality of electrodes is formed by depositing an electrically conductive material layer on portions of the semiconductor material layer using a selective area deposition process in which the electrically conductive material layer is not deposited on the deposition inhibiting material remaining in the reentrant profile.

Modern-day electronics systems typically require multiple patterned layers of electrically or optically active materials, sometimes over a relatively large substrate. Electronics such as radio frequency identification (RFID) tags, photovoltaics, optical sensors, or chemical sensors all require some level of patterning in their electronic circuitry. Flat panel displays, such as liquid crystal displays or electroluminescent displays, typically rely upon accurately patterned sequential layers to form thin film electronic components of a backplane. These electronic components include capacitors, transistors, or power buses. The usual combination of photolithographic patterning methods and selective etch processes has several shortcomings including high cost, difficulty with large substrates, or complexity of selective etch processes.
Feature sizes obtainable using traditional processing methods are limited by the resolution of the photolithography tools. Currently, a minimum feature size for large area display backplanes is around 0.5 microns and requires expensive high end equipment to obtain. Minimum feature sizes for large area substrates using less expensive equipment are usually much larger. High speed circuit operation requires TFTs with high drive current, and many applications also require the drive current be obtained with low voltage operation. It is well known that TFT performance is improved by reducing channel length. In order to move beyond the exposure limitation of feature size, vertical transistors of various architectures are currently being studied. In a vertical TFT architecture, a channel is formed perpendicular to the substrate, and therefore the channel length (L) can be controlled by the height of a layer in the transistor.
Recent work in the fabrication of VTFT, while yielding short channel length devices, uses otherwise standard photolithographic techniques with complex semiconductor processes. For example, since it is not currently possible to put patterns directly on walls which are vertical with respect to a substrate surface, vertical wall patterning has been accomplished using a suitable filler material to partially fill in a trench. The filler material acts as a mask for the portions of the wall located underneath while allowing for processing of the walls above the filler material. This has been used, for example, when an oxide is to be deposited exclusively on vertical walls below a filler material. The oxide is first deposited or produced over the entire surface of the relief. The relief, or trench, is initially completely filled with a suitable filler material. Then, the filler material is recessed back to a depth that just covers the desired oxide. After uncovered sections of the oxide are removed, the remaining filler material is removed.
Alternatively, when it is necessary that an oxide be deposited or produced only in upper regions of a vertical wall, an etching stop layer, for example, a nitride layer, is first provided over the entire surface of the entire relief pattern. A different material, susceptible to directional etching, for example, polycrystalline silicon, is used to fill the relief, and is etched back as far as the desired coverage depth of the final vertical oxide. After the etching stop layer is removed from the unfilled sections of the walls, an oxide is deposited or generated using a thermal technique in the uncovered regions. Next, the oxide is anisotropically etched which removes the deposited oxide from horizontal. This is followed by removal of the filler material and, then, the removal of the etching stop layer.
Accordingly, there is an ongoing need to provide semiconductor device architectures that include patterned vertical or inclined device surfaces. There is also an ongoing need to provide simple manufacturing techniques capable of processing small device features of semiconductor devices without requiring high resolution alignments and small gap printing for vertical TFTs. There is also an ongoing need to provide higher current semiconductor devices by improving the series resistance of the device.
In order to maintain acceptable device performance when shrinking the size of a TFT channel, it is typical to scale the layer thicknesses with the size of the device. For example, conventional CMOS production with channel lengths of 90 nm and lower often utilizes dielectric layer thicknesses of less than 10 nm. While there are many processes to deposit dielectric materials, few result in quality films at these thicknesses.
Atomic layer deposition (ALD) is a process that is both conformal and known to result in high quality thin layers when used with optimized process conditions. In ALD processes, typically, two molecular precursors are introduced into the ALD reactor in separate stages. U.S. Patent Application Publication 2005/0084610 (Selitser) discloses an atmospheric pressure atomic layer chemical vapor deposition process that involve separate chambers for each stage of the process and a series of separated injectors are spaced around a rotating circular substrate holder track. A spatially dependent ALD process can be accomplished using one or more of the systems or methods described in more detail in WO 2008/082472 (Cok), U.S. Patent Application Publications 2008/0166880 (Levy), 2009/0130858 (Levy), 2009/0078204 (Kerr et al.), 2009/0051749 (Baker), 2009/0081366 (Kerr et al.), and U.S. Pat. No. 7,413,982 (Levy), U.S. Pat. No. 7,456,429 (Levy), and U.S. Pat. No. 7,789,961 (Nelson et al.), U.S. Pat. No. 7,572,686 (Levy et al.), the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety.
There is growing interest in combining ALD with a technology known as selective area deposition (SAD). As the name implies, selective area deposition involves treating a portion(s) of a substrate such that a material is deposited only in those areas that are desired, or selected. Sinha et al. (J. Vac. Sci. Technol. B 24 6 2523-2532 (2006)), have remarked that selective area ALD requires that designated areas of a surface be masked or "protected" to prevent ALD reactions in those selected areas, thus ensuring that the ALD film nucleates and grows only on the desired unmasked regions. It is also possible to have SAD processes where the selected areas of the surface area are "activated" or modified in such a way that the film is deposited only on the activated areas. There are many potential advantages to selective area deposition techniques, such as eliminating an etch process for film patterning, reduction in the number of cleaning steps required, or patterning of materials which are difficult to etch. One approach to combining patterning and depositing the semiconductor is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 7,160,819 entitled "METHOD TO PERFORM SELECTIVE ATOMIC LAYER DEPOSTION OF ZINC OXIDE" by Conley et al. Conley et al. discuss materials for use in patterning zinc oxide on silicon wafers. No information is provided, however, on the use of other substrates, or results for other metal oxides.
SAD work to date has focused on the problem of patterning a single material during deposition. There persists a problem of combining multiple SAD steps to form working devices. Processes for building complete devices should be able to control the properties of critical interfaces, particularly in field effect devices like TFTs. There remains a need for processes to simplify the manufacture of vertical TFTs, as well as a need for processes that use SAD and digital patterning processes to pattern devices which have critical vertical features, such as VTFTs. There is also an ongoing need to provide manufacturing techniques that allow the same equipment to deposit multiple, and in some cases all, of the layers making up the electrical components including, for example, conductive layers, insulating layers, or semiconductor layers.

VTFT formation using selective area deposition


An internal combustion engine is disclosed that runs efficiently on compressed air supplied by air compressors. The preferred power plant for the instant invention air powered engine is the Wankel-type rotary engine. The air compressors which supply the air "fuel" to the engine chamber where the air is re-compressed to provide the force for "pushing" the rotors within the chamber which rotational movement provides the power to turn the drive shaft. These air compressors may be electrically and/or mechanically driven.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to compressed air engines. Particularly, it relates to such an engine capable of maintaining the pressure in its supply tank at a pre-determined level for efficient and continuous operation. More particularly, one embodiment of the instant invention relates to an adaptation of the Wankel-type rotary engine which adaptation enhances engine efficiency for using compressed air as its force of propulsion.
2. Description of Related Art (Including Information Disclosed Under 37 CFR 1.97 and 1.98)
In spite of their many benefits, internal combustion engines for powering motor vehicles and fossil fuel burning plants used in energy producing operations throughout the industrialized nations have been under attack for many years because of their inherent characteristics which produce air and other pollutants. This is due, of course, to the nature and required volumes of the fossil fuel needed to produce the necessary power for the various uses to which the engines are put, not the inherent design of the engine itself. Much research has been devoted to increase the combustion efficiency and filter the exhaust from these power plants with a view to "saving" the atmosphere through more efficient and cleaner burning. In particular, various steps have been taken by the automotive industry to reduce fuel consumption by automobiles. For example, computer monitoring of internal combustion engine functions and fuel flow has resulted in the production of a more complete combustion of the air fuel mixture after it enters the combustion chamber of the internal combustion engine. Once the gas is burned and subsequently exhausted, it is then filtered through a catalytic converter which removes additional pollutants before the exhaust is expelled into the atmosphere. The relative successes of such operations, however, have been incrementally slow and limited.
One of the approaches taken in the production of a completely clean power plant is the design of an air powered engine which is, of course, completely pollution free, since there are absolutely no combustion gasses generated and released into the atmosphere. However, design in this area has been somewhat limited because of the reduced power output capable for such engines and because of their somewhat inefficient and complex operations. The air engine, therefore, has seen only limited use in some cases as an auxiliary power plant with a combustion engine as the primary power source, or more often it has been abandoned entirely in favor of other systems because of the auxiliary power needed to maintain an adequate supply of air pressure for the system.
Various attempts to successfully develop commercial air engines include:
______________________________________ U.S. Pat. No. Title ______________________________________ 3,765,180 Compressed Air Engine 3,925,984 Compressed Air Power Plant 4,102,130 Converting An Internal Combustion Engine to a Single Acting Engine Driven by Steam or Compressed Air 4,104,955 Compressed Air-Operated Motor Employing an Air Distributor 4,124,978 Compressed Air Engine 4,311,084 Pneumatic Engine 4,370,857 Pneumatic System for Compressed Air Driven Vehicle 4,478,304 Compressed Air Power Engine 4,590,767 Hot Gas Engine and Vehicle Driven System 4,596,119 Compressed Air Propulsion System for a Vehicle 4,651,525 Piston Reciprocating Compressed Air Engine 5,154,051 Air Liquefier and Separator of Air Constituents for a Liquid 5,491,977 Engine Using Compressed Air 5,638,681 Piston Internal-Combustion Engine 5,680,764 Clean Air Engines Transportation and Other Power Applications ______________________________________
The devices described by the above-recited patents fall far short of commercial practicality. If they are pollution-free they are too complicated, and, if simple, they are not pollution-free.
Therefore, it is an object of this invention to provide a relatively simple, efficient non-polluting air-powered engine, which produces power sufficient to attain driving speeds comparable to or greater than conventional fossil fuel powered engines.
Another object of this invention is to provide such an air powered engine which makes use of an auxiliary air compressor having an auxiliary compressor to fill a compressed air supply tank up to a predetermined minimum level and as the engine consumes air from the supply tank, the auxiliary compressor is again driven for recharging the compressed air supply tank to continue to build up to a maximum predetermined air pressure level, thereby maintaining this level for smooth running operation.


A process for continuously producing carbon fibers in a vapor phase by causing a carbon compound to contact a catalyst and/or a catalyst precursor compound in a heating zone. In this process, the carbon compound, the catalyst precursor compound and an additional component are supplied to the heating zone, and these components are subjected to a reaction under a reaction condition such that at least a portion of the additional component is present as a solid or liquid in the heating zone.

Various kinds of carbon fibers which are obtainable by vapor-phase growth (or vapor deposition) processes are inclusively referred to as vapor-grown carbon fibers. Vapor-grown carbon fibers has some advantages such that those having a high aspect ratio are easily obtainable, and therefore VGCF has actively and energetically been studied, and a large number of reports on these production processes have heretofore been published. Carbon nanotubes (i.e., a kind of carbon fibers having a fiber diameter on the order of nanometer(s)) which have particularly attracted much attention in recent years, may also be synthesized by appropriately applying the vapor phase-growth process to the production of the carbon nanotubes.
FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional view showing an example of the reactor for continuously producing carbon fibers by utilizing a vapor phase-growth process. In an example of the general production procedure using this apparatus, CO or hydrocarbon such as methane, acetylene, ethylene, benzene, and toluene is used as the raw material. When the raw material such as hydrocarbon assumes a gaseous state at normal (or ordinary) temperature, it is supplied to the apparatus in the gaseous state together with a carrier gas. When the raw material such as hydrocarbon assumes a liquid state at normal temperature, the raw material is vaporized and supplied to the apparatus in a mixture thereof with a carrier gas, or the raw material is sprayed in the liquid state toward the heating zone in the apparatus. As the carrier gas, it is possible to use nitrogen gas as an inert gas or hydrogen gas having a reducing property. As the catalyst, it is possible to use a supported catalyst comprising a carrier such as alumina, and a metal supported on the carrier, or an organometallic compound such as ferrocene. In a case where the supported catalyst is used, the supported catalyst is preliminarily placed in the reaction zone in the apparatus and is heated so as to effect a predetermined pre-treatment, and then the raw material such as hydrocarbon is supplied to the apparatus so as to cause a reaction (in the example shown in FIG. 1); or the pre-treated supported catalyst is supplied from the outside of the reaction system to the apparatus continuously or in a pulse-wise manner, to thereby cause a reaction. Alternatively, it is also possible to feed to the heating zone of the apparatus an organometallic compound such as ferrocene, as a homogeneous-type catalyst precursor compound, together with a raw material such as hydrocarbon continuously or in a pulse-wise manner, so that carbon fibers are formed by using as the catalyst the metal particles which have been produced due to the pyrolysis of the catalyst precursor compound. The resultant product is collected to the inside of the heating zone or the collector 4 (in FIG. 1) disposed at the terminal of the heating zone, and is recovered after the completion of the reaction for a predetermined time.
The processes for producing carbon fibers by utilizing a vapor-phase technique may be roughly classified into the following three kinds of processes, in view of the method of feeding a catalyst or a precursor compound for providing the catalyst.
(a) A method wherein a substrate or boat comprising alumina or graphite which carries thereon a catalyst or precursor compound therefor is placed in a heating zone, and a hydrocarbon gas to be supplied from a gas phase is caused to contact the substrate or boat;
(b) A method wherein particles of a catalyst or precursor compound therefor are dispersed in a liquid hydrocarbon, etc., and the particles are supplied from the outside of the reaction system into a heating zone continuously or in a pulse-wise manner, so that the particles are caused to contact the hydrocarbon at an elevated temperature; and
(c) A method wherein metallocene or a carbonyl compound which is soluble in a liquid hydrocarbon is used as a catalyst precursor compound, and the hydrocarbon containing the precursor compound dissolved therein is supplied to a heating zone so that the catalyst is caused to contact the hydrocarbon at an elevated temperature.
Among these, an intended product can stably be obtained continuously, particularly by using the above method (c), and therefore, VGCF can be produced in an industrial scale by using this method (c). Further, with respect to the above method (b) which enables the continuous production of the carbon fibers, there have been reported a method wherein a suspension to which a surfactant has been added is used, for the purpose of stabilizing the ratio of the quantities of hydrocarbon and catalyst to be fed to the reaction system (JP-B (Examined Patent Publication) 6-65765; Patent Document 1); and a method wherein fine particles of a catalyst having uniform particle size of nano-order which have been synthesized by utilizing a microemulsion, are suspended in a hydrocarbon such as toluene, and the resultant suspension is continuously supplied to a heating zone, to thereby synthesize single walled carbon nanotubes (Kagaku Kogyo Nippo (The Chemical Daily) dated Oct. 15, 2001; Non-Patent Document 1).
[Patent Document 1]                JP-B 6-65765
[Non-Patent Document 1]                Kagaku Kogyo Nippo dated Oct. 15, 2001
However, the above method (a) includes steps wherein a catalyst or precursor compound therefor is applied to a substrate, the catalyst or precursor compound is, as desired, subjected to a pretreatment such as reduction thereof, then carbon fibers are produced by using the catalyst or precursor compound, and the resultant carbon fibers are taken out from the reaction system after the temperature is decreased. Further, these steps should be conduct independently. Accordingly, it is difficult to continuously obtain the intended product, and therefore the productivity thereof is poor. In addition, it is necessary to adopt a large number of steps such as preparation of the catalyst, application thereof to the substrate, the reduction of the catalyst as the pre-treatment into a metal state, the production of carbon fibers, and the recovery of carbon fibers from the substrate. Accordingly, this process is not economically advantageous.
On the other hand, in the above method (b) or (c), carbon fibers can be produced continuously, but these methods have a tendency that a sufficient amount of carbon fibers cannot be obtained unless the catalyst or precursor compound therefor are used in a large excess amount, as compared with the amount thereof which is required. Accordingly, not only an expensive catalyst or precursor compound therefor tends to be wasted in these methods, but also it is necessary to adopt a step of removing the by-products which are originated from the large-excess addition of the catalyst, etc., and such an additional step considerably impairs the economical advantage of these methods. As described above, a process which is capable of producing a large amount of vapor-grown carbon fibers inexpensively, has not been developed yet, and this inhibits the industrial-scale production of vapor-grown carbon fibers.

Process for producing vapor-grown carbon fibers


Geldanamycin compounds having a structure according to formula I

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to geldanamycin compounds and methods for their preparation and use, in particular where extracellular heat shock protein 90 is inhibited.
2. Description of Related Art
Geldanamycin belongs to the ansamycin family of natural products, whose members are characterized by a benzenoid nucleus (typically a benzoquinone or hydroquinone nucleus) connected at two meta positions to form a macrocyclic lactam. Besides geldanamycin, the ansamycins include the macbecins, the herbimycins, the TAN-420s, and reblastatin.

Geldanamycin and its derivatives are the most extensively studied of the ansamycins. Although geldanamycin was originally identified as a result of screening for antibiotic activity, current interest in it is based primarily on its cytotoxicity towards tumor cells and, therefore, its potential as an anticancer agent. It is an inhibitor of heat shock protein-90 ("Hsp90"), a chaperone protein that is involved in the folding, activation and assembly of a wide range of proteins ("client proteins"), including key proteins involved in signal transduction, cell cycle control and transcriptional regulation. (Hsp90 exists in a number of isoforms, with the α-isoform being the most common one. For a review on Hsp90 isoforms, see Sreedhar et al., FEBS Letters 562 (1-3), 11-15 (2004). Herein, where reference to a specific isoform is intended, abbreviations such as "Hsp90α" or "Hsp90β" will be used, with "Hsp90" reserved for Hsp90 generically.) The binding of geldanamycin to Hsp90 disrupts Hsp90-client protein interactions, preventing the client proteins from folding correctly and rendering them susceptible to proteasome-mediated destruction. Among the Hsp90 client proteins are many mutated or overexpressed proteins implicated in cancer: p53, Bcr-Abl kinase, Raf-1 kinase, Akt kinase, Npm-Alk kinase p185ErB2 transmembrane kinase, Cdk4, Cdk6, Wee1 (a cell cycle-dependent kinase), HER2Neu (ErbB2), and hypoxia inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α). However, the hepatotoxicity and poor bioavailability of geldanamycin have lead to its discontinuation as a clinical candidate.
Nevertheless, interest persists in the development of geldanamycin derivatives or analogs (collectively "geldanamycin compounds") having geldanamycin-like bioactivity, but with a better overall spectrum of properties. Position 17 of geldanamycin has been an attractive focal point, chemically speaking, for the synthesis of geldanamycin compounds because its methoxy group is readily displaced by a nucleophile, providing a convenient entry into 17-substituted-17-demethoxygeldanamycin compounds. Further, structure-activity relationship (SAR) studies have shown that structurally and sterically diverse 17-substituents can be introduced without destroying their ability to bind Hsp90. For exemplary disclosures relating to 17-substituted geldanamycin compounds, see Sasaki et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,261,989 (1981); Schnur et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,932,566 (1999); Schnur et al., J. Med. Chem., 38, 3806-3812 (1995); Schnur et al., J. Med. Chem., 38, 3813-3820 (1995); Ho et al., WO 00/03737 A2 (2000); Santi et al., US 2003/0114450 A1 (2003); Zhang et al., WO 03/066005 A2 (2003); and Clevenger et al., J. Org. Chem. 69, 4375-4380 (2004); the disclosures of which are incorporated by reference. The SAR inferences are supported by the X-ray crystal co-structure of the complex between Hsp90α and a geldanamycin derivative (17-DMAG, v. infra), showing that the 17-substituent projects out from the binding pocket and into the solvent (Jez et al., Chemistry & Biology, 10, 361-368 (2003)).
The best-known 17-substituted geldanamycin is 17-allylamino-17-demethoxygeldanamycin ("17-AAG"), currently undergoing clinical trials. Another noteworthy 17-substituted geldanamycin is 17-(2-dimethylaminoethyl)amino-17-demethoxygeldanamycin ("17-DMAG"), also undergoing clinical trials (Snader et al., WO 02/079167 A1 (2002), incorporated by reference). Like geldanamycin, both 17-AAG and 17-DMAG must be administered with care due to their cytotoxicity.

While most studies concerning the function of Hsp90 have focused on its activity inside cells, there have been a few reports on the extracellular occurrence of Hsp90, usually in association with cancer cells. Eustace et al., Nature Cell Biology, 6 (6), 507-514 (2004, web-published 16 May 2004) ("Eustace et al."), reported that Hsp90α plays an essential extracellular role in cancer cell invasiveness. They found that fibrosarcoma and breast cancer cells express Hsp90α extracellularly, where it interacts with matrix metalloproteinase-2 ("MMP-2") and that inhibition of extracellular Hsp90α by geldanamycin decreases both MMP-2 activity and cancer cell invasiveness. Their hypothesis is that matrix metalloproteinases ("MMPs") are responsible for the degradation of the extracellular matrix, thereby facilitating the invasive action of cancer cells, and that Hsp90α plays a chaperone protein role in the activation of MMPs. Other reported occurrences of extracellular Hsp90 include: Hegmans et al., Am. J. Pathol., 164 (5), 1807-15 (2004); Xu et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. (USA), 96, 109-114 1999); Xu et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci (USA), 90 7074-7078 (1993); Ferrarini et al., Int. J. Cancer, 1992, 613-619; and Pratt, J. Biol. Chem., 268 (29), 21455-21458 (1993).
A drawback to using Hsp90 inhibitors such as geldanamycin, 17-AAG, and 17-DMAG in therapies targeting intracellular Hsp90 is their cytotoxicity, with concommitant lowered therapeutic indices. However, for therapies in which the target is extracellular Hsp90, one can theoretically use Hsp90 inhibitors that do not cross cell membranes and enter cells. If such compounds are still able to bind to and inhibit extracellular Hsp90, their cell impermeability should lead to reduced cytotoxicities and higher therapeutic indices.

Geldanamycin compounds and method of use

Abstract: where Q1, L, L1, R5, R6, and R11 are as defined herein, are useful for treating a disease or disorder ameliorated by inhibiting the function of extracellular heat shock protein-90.


A resonator element includes a base, a quartz crystal resonator blank which is integrally disposed with the base, and has a pair of vibrating arms which are disposed in parallel in an X axial direction, and extend from the base in a Y′ axial direction, the vibrating arms include arms, hammerheads which are positioned on tip end sides of the arms, and are longer than the arms in the X axial direction, a relationship of 0.033×T [μm]<W4<0.330×T [μm] is satisfied when the thickness of the vibrating arm is set to T in thickness, and a distance between the hammer heads in the X axial direction is set to W4.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a resonator element, a resonator, an oscillator, an electronic device, and a mobile object.
2. Related Art
In recent years, a resonator element using a quartz crystal has been known. The resonator element has good frequency-temperature characteristics, and thus is widely used as reference frequency sources or transmission sources of various electronic devices, and the like.
A resonator element disclosed in JP-A-2005-39767 is a tuning fork type resonator element, and has a base and a pair of vibrating arms which extend from the base.
A technique in JP-A-2005-39767 has been proposed in which a distance between the pair of vibrating arms is set to be in a range of 50 μm to 370 μm when the resonator element having such a configuration is formed by using photolithography technology, and thus a size of the formed resonator element can be reduced.
However, setting of the distance within the range can be determined to be insufficient for the need for minimization of the resonator element.

Resonator element, resonator, oscillator, electronic device, and mobile object


An injection volume regulating device for liquid medicine, including a fixing member, a regulating member, a passage recess-sealing member, an outflow hole-sealing member, and a fastening member. The fixing member includes an inlet connected to a medicine supply hose, an inflow hole to deliver the medicine to the regulating device, an outflow hole to be supplied with the medicine from the regulating member, an outlet to discharge the medicine to the hose to allow the medicine to be supplied to a needle, and an insertion hole to be equipped with the fastening member. The regulating member includes a passage recess that is connected to the inflow hole, a liquid medicine-delivering groove connected to the outflow hole, and an insertion hole to be equipped with the fastening member. The passage recess-sealing member communicates the inflow hole with the passage recess. The fastening member fastens the fixing member to the regulating member.

In general, patients suffer from indigestion due to impaired function of the stomach and intestine, so that sufficient nutrition cannot be ensured with food alone. Thus, Ringers solution contained in a Ringer-pack is injected into a blood vessel of the patient to provide necessary nutrients, in particular, glucose, to the patient.
For oral medication, various products have been developed, which can maintain effects over 24 hours or more, but, in the case of injectable medicines, it is difficult to maintain effects for 24 hours. However, it is well known that, if the injectable medicine of a predetermined amount or more can be continuously administered at a constant rate for 24 hours or more, the injectable medicine can provide more constant effects than oral medication without side reactions.
In particular, for infants, an administration amount of a liquid medicine is determined in proportion to a weight of the infant patient (in other words, an injection amount of the liquid medicine is determined by multiplying an injection volume of the medicine per kg by the weight of the infant patient), and thus it is necessary to provide a device which can deliver the liquid medicine for a predetermined period of time through flexible adjustment in the injection amount of the liquid medicine.
Additionally, since infants frequently move about during administration, there is a problem in that, when the liquid medicine is administered using a conventional clamp, the clamp becomes loose due to movement of the infant patient, making it difficult to inject the liquid medicine in an exact amount.
Furthermore, when administrating a special liquid medicine for injection, such as anti-cancer agents, antibiotics and the like, to a patient in critical condition, the liquid medicine must be continuously administered at a constant rate in a suitable amount according to conditions of the critical patient.
If the suitable amount of the special liquid medicine for injection is not continuously administered at a constant rate to the patient, there is a high possibility of side reactions, such as anaphylactic shock.
Thus, it is necessary to provide an injection volume regulating device for a liquid medicine, which enables continuous injection of the liquid medicine at a constant rate into the blood vessel.
The conventional clamp can regulate the injection volume of the liquid medicine such that about 70˜80 /hr of liquid medicine is delivered therethrough. The conventional clamp is equipped to an outer portion of a hose which is hermetically connected to a lower end of a pack containing a liquid medicine and to a needle, and regulates the injection volume of the liquid medicine through change in cross-sectional area of the hose by compressing the hose.
Generally, the hose is compressed by a regulating member, which can move up and down along a tapered guider, and which comprises a roller typically having small teeth formed on an outer surface thereof. The guider is tapered such that, when the roller reaches one end of the guider, the roller compresses the hose, and when the roller reaches the other end, it completely opens the hose.
With this construction, the injection volume of the liquid medicine flowing in the needle is regulated by changing the cross-sectional area of the hose while rolling the regulating member up and down along the guider. However, with the conventional clamp, it is very difficult to accurately adjust a flux of the liquid medicine since the regulating member cannot tightly compress the hose when it is excessively used, and since the hose is composed of a synthetic resin or a rubber material.
Accordingly, during administration of the liquid medicine using the conventional clamp, changes in administration amount of the liquid medicine occur due to deformation of the regulating member as described above, requiring a nurse to frequently confirm the administration amount of the liquid medicine.
However, since the conventional clamp has advantages of a lower price and a simple construction, it is often used for the case where the liquid medicine is administered to a patient for a short period of time without high accuracy.
Although an infusion pump is known in the art as a device for precise regulation in infusion amount of a liquid medicine, the infusion pump is very expensive, resulting in heavy cost burdens to employ infusion pumps. In addition, a rechargeable electric device usually contained in the infusion pump may cause defective operation of the infusion pump, and large volume and heaviness of the infusion pump hinders portability.
However, it is necessary to use a device for precise regulation in pediatrics.
A flow controller is a disposable device for precisely regulating the injection volume of the liquid medicine, and can be used for the infant patient, an elderly patient, a patient suffering from adverse drug reaction, a patient requiring anti-cancer injection, and the like. The flow controller is inexpensive, and can replace the clamp and the infusion pump.
The flow controller ensures continuous administration of the liquid medicine at a constant rate for 24 hours or more after being set once, and is inexpensive in comparison to the infusion pump. The flow controller is highly portable, provides user convenience, and is applicable to all patients requiring injection. In addition, the flow controller reduces nurse workload and provides stability.
Various types of flow controller as described above have been developed, and generally have a spiral or arcuate shape.
However, the conventional flow controller has passages defining a plane perpendicular to an injecting direction of the liquid medicine, and two flat disks facing each other while being parallelly located at upper and lower portions, and an inlet and an outlet formed at the center of the disks, respectively.
As a result, it is difficult to manufacture the conventional flow controller and to operate the flow controller with one hand due to the complicate structure, such as two or more passages formed therein, increasing manufacturing costs.
In order to solve this problem, the applicant of the present invention invented a device, entitled Injection volume regulating device for liquid medicine, and filed it with Korean Industrial Property Office on Nov. 29, 2001 (Korean Patent Application No. 10-2001-0074845). The device comprises a regulating member, a fixing member, a rubber packing, and a fastening member. The invention of the disclosure is characterized in that the device has a single passage which is formed in a plane parallel to the injecting direction of the liquid medicine. The device comprises two flat disks, i.e. the fixing member and the regulating member, facing each other while being parallelly located at the right and left sides, and an inlet and an outlet formed at upper and lower portions of the fixing member.
The passage is formed in the device such that the liquid medicine enters the inlet of the fixing member, and passes through the passage formed in the regulating member, and is then discharged through the outlet of the fixing member. The passage has an arcuate shape with its central angle being about 350 degrees, and has a tapered cross-section.
However, the device of the disclosure has problems in that the rubber packing compresses the passage and interferes with flow of the liquid medicine, the fastening member is pushed by restoring force of the rubber packing, and in that the rubber packing is not fixed in the device.
Additionally, although it is needed to provide an injection volume regulating device for a liquid medicine which can be easily adjustable with one hand for enhancing operating efficiency of a user, a device completely solving the above described problems has yet to be developed.

Injection-volume regulating device of liquid medicine


The present invention discloses an apparatus, method, and article of manufacture for generating graphic images. In accordance with the present invention, an application program receives commands from a computer user via an input device and provides an output command stream to a plurality of renderer programs. The renderer programs selectively modify the output command stream and transmit the output command stream to a graphics peripheral device or to one or more of the other renderer programs.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates in general to graphics software construction, and in particular to immediate drawing interfaces.
2. Description of Related Art
In graphics software construction, renderers may be device drivers for virtual graphics devices. These virtual graphics devices, and their associated renderers, will have different capabilities--some might be photo-realistic, some might be especially fast, some will support hidden surface removal using a Z-buffer. They all essentially do the same things, such as draw lines, but they do them in different ways.
Existing renderers interact with specific devices. For example, a PCL ADI renderer receives ADI signals from an application and provides PCL signals to a plotter. To draw figures on a screen, an application must provide signals to the particular renderer for that screen. This causes problems for the graphics software developer in that certain renderers may be better for some geometries, e.g., lines, while others may be better for other geometries, e.g., polygons. The developer must select one or the other.
Thus, there is a need in the art for a drawing interface that allows a graphics application to invoke multiple alternative renderers and graphics device drivers at run time.

Immediate mode drawing interface for the construction of graphics software


Provided is a non-mechanical-scanning-type optical radar apparatus that is capable of long distance measurement and its cost is reduced. The optical radar apparatus includes: a light emitting section; and a light receiving system, the light receiving system at least including a focusing optical element and a distance sensor that includes a light receiver, the target field of view being projected on the light receiver through the focusing optical element, the distance sensor being configured to set an activation region in a part of the light receiver depending on the scanning with the light and measure a distance to the object with use of a signal from the activation region.

A three-dimensional image is a concept that not only includes a two-dimensional image like a normal photograph but also includes information of the distance to an object within the field of view, and has been increasingly used recently for recognition of objects around an automobile, robot, or the like. One method, which has been increasingly used, of obtaining highly accurate distance information is a method of measuring time-of-flight (ToF) that is the measurement of the time taken by laser light to travel to and from an object.
Examples of a method to emit laser light toward the field of view include: a rotational method by which a light emission portion emitting a substantially collimated, narrow laser beam (spot beam) and a light receiver are rotated together (see Patent Literatures 1 and 2); a scan method by which a spot beam is scanned using a mirror or the like (Patent Literature 3); and an overall radiation method by which the entire field of view is irradiated with a substantially uniform, wide laser beam (Patent Literature 4).
The overall radiation method does not necessitate any mechanical mechanism, and therefore makes it easy to reduce the size of an apparatus; however, the laser light intensity at an object is weak as compared to when the scan method is employed. Therefore, as the distance to the object increases, the signal intensity weakens, resulting in a reduction in accuracy of distance measurement.
On the other hand, in cases where a laser beam is shaped into a line and scanning is carried out only in one direction (see Patent Literature 3), the irradiation intensity improves as compared to the overall radiation method, but not to a sufficient extent. In reality, in regard to apparatuses that are intended for measurement of long distances like 50 m to 200 m, many of the so-far-developed apparatuses employ the rotational method or the scan method that uses a spot beam and that allows easy achievement of strong beam intensity at the object. For the apparatuses to achieve both high frame rate and high resolution, the rotational method which uses a plurality of laser sources and respective corresponding light receiving elements has been employed most often (see Patent Literatures 1 and 2).

Optical radar apparatus for long distance measurement


A shipping carrier having a frame with at least one elongated cylindrical mounting rod extending transversely across the frame. A plurality of retainers each having molded dunnage are provided wherein each retainer has a flexible tubular cylindrical section with an axially extending through slot formed along one side. The cylindrical section has an inside diameter substantially the same as the outside diameter of the mounting rod and the slot has a width less than the outside diameter of the mounting rod. Dunnage is attached to each of the retainers. The retainers are detachably mounted to the mounting rod by inserting the cylindrical section onto the mounting rod through the slot. The retainer is then pivotal on the mounting rod between a holding position and a release position.

I. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to shipping containers for components.
II. Description of Related Art
Shipping containers are oftentimes used to ship manufactured components from the place of manufacture and to their place of assembly. For example, in the automotive industry, many of the individual components of the automotive vehicles, such as the automotive windshields, are manufactured at one location and then shipped to a different location for assembly on the automotive vehicle.
With reference now to FIGS. 1 and 2, a typical prior art shipping container 20 of the type used in the automotive industry is shown. The shipping container 20 includes a rigid frame 22 which is typically constructed of rectangular metal tubing 24. An elongated cylindrical rod 26 is also mounted to the frame 22.
Still referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, a plurality of dunnage fingers 28 are pivotally mounted to the rod 26 so that the dunnage fingers 28 are pivotal between a release position, illustrated in solid line in FIG. 2, and a holding position, illustrated in phantom line in FIG. 2. In their release position, the dunnage fingers 28 are positioned out of engagement with the components 30 (FIG. 1) transported by the shipping container 20. Conversely, when the dunnage fingers 28 are pivoted to their holding position, the fingers 28 engage the components 30 thus holding the components 30 at predetermined positions to the shipping carrier 20.
As best shown in FIG. 2, each prior art dunnage finger 28 includes a retainer 32 having dunnage 34 molded onto the retainer 32. The dunnage 34 is constructed of any suitable elastomeric material, such as urethane, and the precise shape of the dunnage 34 will vary depending upon on the component 30 transported by the shipping carrier 20.
In order to mount the dunnage fingers 28 to the rod 26, each retainer 32 includes a throughbore 36 having a diameter substantially the same or slightly larger than the outside diameter of the rod 26. With the rod 26 removed from the shipping carrier 20, the dunnage fingers 28 are slid onto the rod such that the rod 26 extends through the retainer bores 36 and so that the retainers 28 are positioned in a side-by-side relationship. Additionally, locking disks are typically provided between adjacent fingers 28 in order to space the fingers 28 apart from each other as desired.
This previously known shipping container, however, suffers from several disadvantages. First, the assembly of the dunnage fingers 28 onto the rod 26 requires that the rod 26 be removed from the frame 22, the fingers 28 inserted onto the rod 26 from one end of the rod 26, and the rod 26 thereafter attached to the frame 22. The entire assembly operation is labor intensive thus adding to the overall cost of the shipping container 20.
A still further disadvantage of this previously known shipping container is that, in the event that one of the dunnage fingers 28 becomes damaged and requires replacement, the entire mounting rod 26 must be removed from the frame 22. Thereafter, all of the dunnage fingers 28 from one end of the rod 26 to the damaged dunnage finger 28 must be removed from the rod 26. A replacement dunnage finger must then be reinserted onto the rod 26, the other removed and undamaged dunnage fingers 28 reinserted onto the mounting rod 26 and the repaired assembly finally reattached to the frame 22. This repair process, however, is disadvantageously time consuming and therefore expensive.


A microwave-excited plasma processing apparatus shows a wide pressure range and a wide applicable electric power range for normal electric discharges as a result of using slits cut through a rectangular waveguide and having a profile that allows the electric field and the magnetic field of microwave to be formed uniformly right below the microwave introducing window below an microwave antenna. The microwave-excited plasma processing apparatus is characterized by having four elliptic slits cut through the wall of the rectangular waveguide that is held in contact with the microwave introducing window of the top wall of the vacuum chamber, the four elliptic slits being arranged respectively along the four sides of a substantial square.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a plasma processing apparatus for manufacturing semiconductor devices.
2. Related Background Art
Conventional techniques of radiating a microwave from a microwave antenna and irradiating processing gas with it in order to generate plasma thereof and cause the generated plasma to act on a Si substrate for manufacturing semiconductor devices for a predetermined processing operation include one that utilizes a microwave waveguide provided with one or more than one slits and one adapted to feed a microwave to a disk provided with coaxially arranged slits (see Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 9-129613 and Patent Document 2: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 11-111620).
FIG. 1 of the accompanying drawings illustrates a conventional microwave antenna that is described in Patent Document 1. The microwave antenna comprises a waveguide A that has a bottom B and a reflection surface C. A pair of slits D are cut through the bottom B of waveguide A so as to show a profile with a width that is narrowed stepwise toward the reflection plane C of the waveguide A in order to allow the reflected wave reflected by the reflection surface C and the incident wave to produce a uniformly synthesized wave.
FIG. 2 of the accompanying drawings illustrates another conventional microwave antenna that is described in Patent Document 2. It is a radial line slot antenna. The radial line slot antenna is provided with a number of coaxially arranged slots E and the circularly polarized microwave generated from the slots E is introduced into a vacuum chamber so as to generate and excite plasma by means of the electric field of the microwave.
The inventors of the present invention actually prepared antennas according to the descriptions of Patent Documents 1 and 2 and operated them to see how they perform in an experiment As a result of the experiment, it was found that the both antennas can be driven to operate only within a narrow pressure range and a narrow applicable electric power range for normal electric discharges as shown in Tables 1 and 2 below. Tables 1 and 2 summarily show the results of the experiments obtained respectively by using a microwave antenna according to Patent Document 1 and a microwave antenna according to Patent Document 2.
TABLE 1applied electricpower/pressure20 Pa50 Pa90 Pa1.0 kWXX◯1.5 kW◯◯X1.8 kW◯XX2.0 kWXXXN.B.:◯ indicates that a normal electric discharge was allowed.X indicates that a normal electric discharge was not allowed because of a large reflected wave.
TABLE 2applied electricpower/pressure20 Pa50 Pa90 Pa1.0 kWXX◯1.5 kWXX◯1.8 kWXX◯2.0 kWXX◯N.B.:◯ indicates that a normal electric discharge was allowed.X indicates that a normal electric discharge was not allowed because of a large reflected wave.
The reason for the narrow pressure range and the narrow applicable electric power range may be that a large voltage standing wave ratio (VSWR) of the reflected wave/the progressive wave arises due to an unbalanced electromagnetic field of microwave that is found right below the microwave introducing window. Therefore, the electromagnetic field that is found right below the microwave introducing window below a microwave antenna as described in each of Patent Documents 1 and 2 was determined by simulation. As a result, local concentrations and asymmetries of electromagnetic field were found as shown in FIGS. 3A, 3B, 3C and 3D and FIGS. 4A, 4B, 4C and 4D.

Microwave-excited plasma processing apparatus


The invention relates to an anode for cathodic protection in form of strip with a catalyst-coated metal part continuously integral with an insulating element of polymer material. The activated metal part and the insulating material can be arranged on opposite faces of the strip, or the insulating element can consist of two rails accommodating the edges of the metal part. The insulating element can be painted with a colored or luminescent pigment to favor its identification and facilitate the putting in place of the anode.

The corrosion phenomena affecting reinforced concrete structures are well known to the experts in the field. The steel reinforcement inserted in the cementitious structures to improve the mechanical properties thereof normally works in a passivation regime induced by the concrete alkaline environment; however, after some time, the ion migration across the porous surface of the concrete induces a localised attack to the protective passivation film. Another form of concrete decay is represented by the phenomenon of carbonatation, i.e. the formation of calcium carbonate by reaction of the lime in the cementitious mixture with atmospheric carbon dioxide. The calcium carbonate lowers the alkali content of the cement (from pH 13.5 to pH 9) bringing iron to an unprotected status. The most common method to extend the lifetime of reinforced concrete structures exposed to atmospheric agents consists of the cathodic polarisation of the steel reinforcement. In this way, the latter becomes the site of a cathodic oxygen reduction, thereby suppressing the corrosion and dissolution anodic reactions. This system, known as cathodic protection of reinforced concrete, is carried out by coupling anodic structures of various kinds to the concrete, in whose respect the reinforcement to be protected acts as the cathodic counterelectrode. The electrical currents involved, supplied by an external rectifier, transit across the electrolyte consisting of the porous concrete partially soaked with salty solution. It is known that the cathodic protection of a reinforcement cage may be achieved by means of a distributed anode system, for instance consisting of an arrangement of mesh strip anodes, installed on the reinforcement cage and electrically insulated from the metal by means of spacers made of plastic or cementitious material. The anode system is embedded into the structure during the construction, at the time of casting the concrete. A weak direct current (typically 1 to 30 mA per m2 of reinforcement) applied to the anode and distributed across the whole structure imposes the cathodic potential required for the reinforcement protection.
The application of prefabricated insulating spacers of plastic or cementitious material to valve metal anodes in form of mesh strips has been disclosed in which the spacers are generally secured in a first step to the metal cage to be protected. The anode strips are subsequently secured to the spacers, for instance by insertion in appropriate slits provided in the spacers. Alternatively, the step of securing the anode strips to the spacers may be carried out by way of pins, bolts or clips, or by using adhesives. This operation is apparently lengthy and cumbersome, especially in those spots offering a less comfortable installation due to a difficult access or to an insufficient lighting. This operation also presents a certain risk of error, because an accidental mistake in the positioning or in the fixing step may cause the anode strip to be locally put in electrical contact with the metal reinforcement cage.
Another kind of discrete spacer for anode strips employed in the cathodic protection of reinforced concrete has been disclosed wherein parallelepipeds of cementitious material with embedded insulating fibres, obtained by moulding, are positioned on the structure to be protected before laying down the anodes. Also in this case, the overall operation appears laborious, scarcely practical in zones of difficult access and not exempt from risks of error. The cementitious spacer is stiff and has a predefined length, which limits its use to not-too-complex structures.


Copolymer-modified nanoparticles produced by a process in which nanoparticles are ablated by laser radiation from a surface of a substrate in a liquid include an amphiphilic copolymer.

The use of nanoparticles has enormous potential, in particular for the development of new polymer-based medical products.
Conventional processes for producing nanoparticles are usually based on chemical production methods. Such methods generate nanoparticles typically by conversion of suitable precursor compounds. For example, the precursor compounds can be reacted with an acid, an alkali, a reducing agent or oxidizing agent to give nanoparticles.
An elegant method for production of nanoparticles is that of laser ablation (material removal by laser) in liquids (Amendola et al.: Laser ablation synthesis in solution and size manipulation of noble metal nanoparticles; Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 2009, 11, 3805-3821 and Barcikowski et al.: Nanocomposite manufacturing using ultrashort-pulsed laser ablation in solvents and monomers; Polimery 2008, 53, nr 9). Nanoparticles are generated by bombarding substrates immersed into liquid-filled sample vessels with laser radiation. The laser bombardment causes material removal from the substrate surface. The nanoparticles generated are generally the result of nucleation and coalescence phenomena within cavitation bubbles formed above the substrate surface as a result of laser irradiation.
A central problem in generating nanoparticles relates to the agglomeration tendency thereof, as a result of which the further use thereof, especially incorporation thereof into polymeric materials, can be limited in terms of maximum homogeneity of dispersion. An additional factor is that a rise in agglomeration is generally recorded when nanoparticles are subjected to conditions as typically employed in industrial shaping processes, for example, extrusion processes. This is especially true with regard to polymeric materials with high processing temperatures.
One approach to suppressing the unwanted agglomeration tendency of nanoparticles, for example, to achieve maximum homogeneity of "nano-functionalization," consists of a surface modification of the nanoparticles. However, a difficulty is in developing a suitable surface modification. For instance, in the case of a simple hydrophobic modification of nanoparticle surfaces, there is the risk of separation of nanoparticles and polymer. In the case of a slight surface modification, in contrast, there is the risk that the nanoparticles form unwanted agglomerates, as a result of which a homogeneous "nano-functionalization" likewise cannot be achieved.
WO 2005/070979 A1 describes a chemical production process, based on so-called "emulsion" technology, for polymer-modified nanoparticles.
Chemical production methods for nanoparticles are, however, afflicted with certain disadvantages. For instance, the particle size and the particle size distribution can frequently be controlled only with very great difficulty under the particular chemical conditions. Furthermore; generally time-consuming and costly purification and disposal measures are required for unconverted precursor compounds, reagents and by-products which form. However, impurities are unacceptable especially with regard to medical applications.
The use of laser-generated nanoparticles for production of biologically active devices is known from DE 10 2007 005 817 A1.
It could therefore be helpful to provide modified nanoparticles which avoid known shortcomings and can especially be dispersed very substantially uniformly and homogeneously in polymers.

Copolymer-modified nanoparticles, especially for use in medical articles


An electrical connector assembled component includes a first attachment connector for attaching to a first circuit board member; a second attachment connector for attaching to a second circuit member; and an intermediate connector that is provided between the first attachment connector and the second attachment connector. The intermediate connector has conducting terminals in the housing. The first attachment connector and the second attachment connector have first receiving terminals and second receiving terminals. Each conducting terminal has a first contact section; a second contact section; and a joining section. An elastic cylindrical member is made of metal and can elastically deform in the radial direction so as to allow movement of the first contact section and the second contact section. The elastic cylindrical member contacts with the first contact section and the first receiving terminal or the second contact section and the second receiving terminal.

The present invention relates to an electrical connector assembled component. More specifically, the present invention relates to an electrical connector assembled component having conducting terminals.
As an electrical connector assembled component of this type, there has been known a conventional electrical connector assembled component disclosed in Patent Reference.
Patent Reference: Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2011-060732
According to Patent Reference, the conventional connector assembled component includes an intermediate connector, which connects a mating connector mounted on one circuit board and another mating connector mounted on the other circuit board. In the conventional connector assembled component disclosed in Patent Reference, the intermediate connector connects the mating connectors, with the one and the other circuit boards are parallel to each other. Therefore, the two connectors and corresponding terminals of the intermediate connector are aligned in straight lines. In other words, the direction of fitting the intermediate connector to one of the mating connectors is identical to a direction of fitting the intermediate connector to the other connector.
In the conventional connector assembled component, on the both mating connectors, pin-shaped (straight) fixed contacts (terminals) that extend in a fitting direction are provided at a plurality of positions so as to be present in rows and columns on a surface perpendicular to the connector fitting direction. On the other hand, on the intermediate connector, there are provided movable contacts that are formed by bending metal strips in the strips' thickness directions so as to be able to elastically deform in the thickness directions.
In the conventional connector assembled component, each movable contact is composed of two spring pieces, which are provided as a pair that faces each other in the plate thickness direction so as to tightly press and hold one fixed contact, and those two spring pieces are put together with a linking piece at a middle position thereof in the fitting direction so as to keep a constant distance therebetween. Each spring piece of the movable contact forms a cantilever, with the linking section works as a basal part thereof. Each pair of the spring pieces forms contact sections, which has a shorter distance therebetween locally, on the both free end sides, i.e. the sides to contact with mating connectors. Such a neck-like portion formed by a pair of the spring pieces, which face each other in a direction perpendicular to the fitting direction, elastically flexes and deforms so as to receive and tightly press the fixed contact of the mating connector.
According to the conventional connector assembled component disclosed in Patent Reference, while the both mating connectors and the intermediate connector are connected, the both mating connectors can respectively move relative to the intermediate connector within allowable range in two different directions in a surface perpendicular to the fitting direction.
As for the two directions of the movements, one is a thickness direction of the spring piece of the movable contact of the intermediate connector, which is enabled by elastic deformation of the movable contact in the thickness direction upon being pressed by the fixed contact. The other is a width direction of the spring piece, which is enabled by sliding of the fixed contact along a surface of the spring piece of the movable contact.
Therefore, according to the conventional connector assembled component disclosed in Patent Reference, the two mating connectors can do so-called floating, whereby it is possible to absorb influence from displacement of the mating connectors in two directions in a surface that is perpendicular to the fitting direction.
However, in the intermediate connector of the conventional connector assembled component disclosed in Patent reference, since each movable contact is formed by bending a metal strip in a thickness direction thereof. Further, a pair of the spring pieces facing each other in the thickness direction is connected with a linking piece, and the upper and lower spring sections are connected to each other as one member. Therefore, there remains much to improve.
Furthermore, according to the intermediate connector of the conventional connector assembled component disclosed in Patent Reference, connection can be made only in a way such that the fitting directions of two mating connectors are aligned in one direction, and such intermediate connector is not suitable for connection when the circuit boards, to which the respective mating connectors are attached, are perpendicular to each other.
According to the conventional connector assembled component disclosed in Patent Reference, first, as a result of that a contact section of a terminal of the intermediate connector is formed being bent only in a thickness direction, among the above-described floating in the two directions, one is obtained as elastic deformation in the thickness direction and the other is obtained as sliding accompanying with frictional force in the thickness direction, and the moving modes due to the floating in the two directions, i.e., the force working between the fixed contact and the movable contact are different, one is elastic force and the other is frictional force.
As a result, upon movement due to the floating, when the both connectors are displaced in a direction angled from the fitting direction, and when the directions of the displacements are different, i.e. although being in a surface perpendicular to the fitting, when it shifts to a direction angled to one straight line, because of difference in the displacements and contact pressures, the difference is generated in the influence absorbing ability. In other words, for example, in case of a displacement in a direction of the elastic deformation, the contact pressure is proportional to the deformation, and the contact pressure can be high or low depending on the deformation, but in case of the displacement in the sliding direction, in regardless of the amount of movement by the sliding, the contact pressure is constant contact pressure, which is initial elastic force that the contact sections at the positions after the movement originally receive.
Second, since the spring piece is bent only in the thickness direction, the throat-shaped contact site to the fixed contact forms a straight line, and the length of the line is the maximum at one side of the quadrangle od the fixed contact that has a quadrangle section, so that the length of the contact cannot be considered sufficient and the contact area is extremely small. Moreover, when the fixed contact has a circular section, the contact site has to be a point.
Third, as described above, since the upper and the lower springs are integrally made as one piece, even when the two mating connectors displace not in the same linear direction but in different directions relative to each other because of the difference in the mode of the floating in the two directions, there is difference in the ability to absorb influence from the displacement between the mating connectors.
Fourth, since the upper and the lower springs are integrally formed as one piece, the upper and the lower springs restrict each other and enhance the rigidity by being together, so that, although the contact pressure is high in the elastic deformation direction, the elastic deformation (the amount of moving) is small, and there is no independency in the elastic deformation.
Fifth, the intermediate connector cannot be fitted and connected to the both mating connectors in one straight line direction, so that it is impossible to apply in so-called right-angle connection, in which circuit boards of the two mating connectors are disposed at a right angle from each other.
In view of the problems described above, an object of the present invention is to provide an electrical connector assembled component, in which receiving terminals of mating connectors, to which conducting terminals of an intermediate connector contact and connect at their ends, can achieve the same modes of floating at any angular positions in the circumferential direction, and which is suitable for right-angle connection.
Further objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description of the present invention.

Electrical connector assembled component


A planetary gear train of an automatic transmission for a vehicle is provided. The planetary gear train includes an input shaft that receives an engine torque, an output shaft that outputs a shifted torque, and planetary gear sets. Additionally, shafts are connected with respective rotational elements. The planetary gear train thus improves power delivery performance and reduces fuel consumption by achieving nine forward speed stages using a minimum number of constituent elements.

(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an automatic transmission for a vehicle, and more particularly, to a planetary gear train of an automatic transmission of a vehicle that improves power delivery performance and reduces fuel consumption by achieving nine forward speed stages using a minimum number of constituent elements.
(b) Description of the Related Art
Research regarding realizing more shift-stages of an automatic transmission is being conducted to achieve enhancement of fuel consumption and improved drivability, and recently, increase of oil price is triggering a competition in enhancing fuel consumption of a vehicle. In particular, research regarding an engine has been conducted to achieve weight reduction and to enhance fuel consumption by downsizing and research regarding an automatic transmission has been conducted to simultaneously provide improved drivability and fuel consumption by achieving more shift stages.
To achieve more shift stages for an automatic transmission, the number of parts is typically increased, which may deteriorate installability, production cost, weight and/or power flow efficiency. Therefore, to maximally enhance fuel consumption of an automatic transmission having more shift stages, it is important for improved efficiency to be derived by a smaller number of parts. In this respect, an eight-speed automatic transmission has been recently introduced, and a planetary gear train for an automatic transmission enabling more shift stages is being researched.
An automatic transmission of eight or more shift-stages typically includes three to four planetary gear sets and five to six control elements (frictional elements), and may easily become lengthy, thereby deteriorating installability. In this regard, disposing planetary gear sets in parallel or employing dog clutches instead of wet-type control elements has been contemplated. However, such an arrangement may not be widely applicable, and using dog clutches may deteriorate shift-feel.
The above information disclosed in this section is merely for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention and therefore it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known in this country to a person of ordinary skill in the art.

Planetary gear train of automatic transmission for vehicles


The present invention provides a display control method and system, and a display device. The method includes acquiring a status value of a display buffer; comparing the status value of the display buffer with a preset warning value of the display buffer; and adjusting a value of a depth of outstanding bus commands according to a comparison result. In the embodiments of the present invention, a status value of the display buffer is compared with a preset warning value of the display buffer, where the status value of the display buffer reflects a change to a current load; it may be determined whether a status value of the display buffer corresponding to the current load is normal according to a comparison result; and a value of a depth of outstanding bus commands is adjusted accordingly, effectively resolve a data real-timeness issue, and ensure that an entire system efficiently runs.

Currently, a display part of a multimedia device may be generally divided into two parts: a main control chip and a display module group. The main control chip includes a processor, a graphics engine module, a video codec module, and a display control module, and is configured to send obtained image data to the display module group by using a specific interface protocol according to a user requirement. The display module group includes a display screen and a display driving chip, and is mainly configured to receive, according to a particular interface protocol, image data sent by the main control chip and convert the image data into a scanning signal of the screen.
With development of microelectronic technologies, the main control chip of a multimedia device has developed from an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit: application specific integrated circuit) to an SOC (System On Chip) chip based on an AXI (Advanced eXtensible Interface: advanced extensible interface) bus. Generally, the SOC chip has a display control module, which is configured to read a processed image (such as an image decoded by a decoding module or drawn by a graphics processing unit) from a DDR (Double Data Rate: double data rate synchronous dynamic random access memory) and send the image to the display module group.
Using an SOC chip as the main control chip effectively reduces the volume of a product and shortens the development period of the product, but at the same time, brings a certain limitation. An AXI bus is added in the display control module; therefore, latency (Latency) increases for the display control module to read a burst (burst) of data from the DDR. This latency varies according to different system loads and bus frequency states, so that the real-timeness of such a real-time (real time) service module as the display control module cannot be guaranteed.
To resolve the real-timeness issue, an existing SOC technology generally resolves the latency by raising a priority of the display control module in the AXI bus, adding a buffer (Buffer), and increasing a frequency and a data bit width of the AXI bus. The following are two common methods:
Method 1: Reduce the latency by adding a buffer. In a diagram of architecture of a main control chip shown in FIG. 1, a main control chip 109 includes a display control module 107, advanced extensible interface buses 101 and 102, and DDR controllers 103 and 104, where the display control module 107 connects to a display module 108. Two DDRCs 103 and 104 (DDR Controller: DDR controller), which connect to the advanced extensible interface AXI buses 101 and 102 of the man control chip, connect to DDRs 105 and 106, respectively. One of the two DDRCs 103 and 104 is set especially for a display buffer and certain multimedia applications, and bus architecture and display architecture are optimized accordingly to guarantee the real-timeness requirement of display.
Defects of the structure are as follows:
1. By using double DDRs and corresponding design, the area of the chip increases as the display buffer increases. This raises a design cost and at the same time increases system power consumption. For a multimedia play field, especially a mobile multimedia field such as a mobile phone, the power consumption issue is not acceptable.
2. Since the display architecture and bus architecture are adjusted and optimized accordingly, an underlying driver needs to be re-developed so that the underlying driver supports an open operating system. This brings a high product cost.
Method 2: Set a high priority for the display control module in the AXI bus of the SOC main control chip to preferentially guarantee bandwidth, increase the frequency and data bit width of the bus to provide absolute bandwidth supply, and raise the display buffer to guarantee display bandwidth, thereby ensuring that a splash screen or erratic display does not occur.
This method has the following defects:
1. After a high priority is configured for the display control module in the AXI bus, the display control module occupies most high-priority bandwidth in the AXI bus. This lowers utilization efficiency of DDR bandwidth. To improve bandwidth utilization efficiency of the DDR bandwidth, a system needs to operate at a relatively high frequency. This inevitably raises the operating power consumption of the system.
2. While a high priority is configured for the display control module in the AXI bus, the real-timeness of other real-time service modules is surely affected during the running process of the display control module. This increases their latency, thereby affecting the overall efficiency of the system.

Display control method and system and display device


This invention offers a unique method to fabricate unique, straight, curved, or coiled tubes as small as 1 micron (0.000004 inches) in diameter with wall thicknesses starting at less than 0.01 microns. These tubes can be made from many of the materials that can be applied to a surface of carbon, glass, or other tube forming fibers and then made to withstand the environment used to remove the fiber. A monolithic piece can be formed where the tubes are channels or holes.

Lightweight, low mass material is widely used for thermal barrier protection shields and for lightweight structural components in devices such as aircraft that place a premium on structurally strong lightweight components. A variety of manufacturing methods are used to produce lightweight, structural materials. These methods include production of composite, non-metallic components and production of components having a reduced weight through the inclusion of spaces and holes. There are, however, limitations to the production of such reduced weight materials since conventional drilling of spaces and holes and electric die machining of holes are costly operations that raise the price of the final component. Other lightweight materials make use of fibers and laminations for producing components having good structural rigidity without the attendant weight of comparable metallic components. Production of materials having layers of fibers or fibrous material with ceramic or epoxy binders is also an expensive manufacturing procedure.
A need therefore exists for a new and inexpensive lightweight material suitable for use in lightweight components for devices such as aircraft.
A need also exists for an improved method of manufacturing hollow materials that are particularly useful for thermal insulation and alternately for gas separation applications.
A further need exists for an inexpensive and efficient method of producing lightweight raw materials for use in the above-mentioned lightweight and thermal insulating components.

The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Air Force


A dual-band antenna can be used in wireless communications under Bluetooth and IEEE 802.11a/b/g standards includes a rectangular base (1) forming a transverse bar (5) and a grounding bar (41) extending therefrom in a same direction, a radiating portion (2) arranged distantly above the base, an interconnection bar (3) connecting the base and the radiating portion and a feeder cable (6). The radiating portion includes a first and a second radiating arms extending from the interconnection bar in opposite directions. The first and the second radiating arms, the interconnection bar, the transverse bar, the grounding portion and the feeder cable corporately form a first and a second inverted-F antennas respectively operating at a lower frequency band and a higher frequency band.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an antenna, and more particularly to a multi-band antenna used in an electrical device.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In recent years, portable wireless communication devices are becoming increasingly popular. For the design of the wireless communication device, an antenna used with it for transmitting and receiving electromagnetic waves is an important factor should be taken into account. The antenna may be mounted out of or in the device. In general use, the antenna is built-in arranged to save space and increase convenience. Considering the miniaturization trend of the wireless communication devices, the size of the antenna should be accompanylingly reduced in order to be assembled in the limit space of the communication device.
Moreover, among present wireless technologies, Bluetooth running in 2.4 GHz, IEEE 802.11b/g running in 2.4 GHz and IEEE 802.11a running in 5 GHz are prevailing and dominant. In response to the wide applications of the frequency, there is an increasing demand to make one communication device to support two or more frequencies.
To make the miniaturized antenna supporting two or more working frequencies becomes a hot R&D issue. Many antennas have been developed in prior arts to address the issue, such as microstrip antennas, antennas with high dielectric constant, planar inverted-F antennas, combinations of loop antenna and slot antenna, small size patch antennas and the like.
U.S. Patent Application No. 2004/0017319 discloses a conventional multi-band planar inverted-F antenna with low profile and small size. The antenna is formed on a frame of a notebook computer. The antenna comprises a dielectric substrate, a first and a second radiating metal strips formed on a same surface of the substrate and extending in a same direction, and a ground plane. However, the dielectric substrate of the antenna will introduce insertion loss, which adversely affects the antenna gain.
Hence, in this art, a dual-band antenna with low profile and small size to overcome the above-mentioned disadvantages of the prior arts will be described in detail in the following embodiments.


A gasification apparatus can produce hydrogen-containing gas from biomass with high thermal efficiency at low costs without severe trouble caused by tar generated by pyrolyzing the biomass, while maximizing the gasification rate of the tar. The gasification apparatus includes a biomass pyrolyzing zone for heating biomass in a non-oxidizing atmosphere, and a gas reforming zone for heating the resulting pyrolyzed gas in the presence of steam. A plurality of preheated granules and/or lumps is moved from the gas reforming zone to the biomass pyrolyzing zone, the apparatus reforms the gas generated by pyrolyzing the biomass and pyrolyzes the biomass, using the heat of the granules and/or lumps. The biomass pyrolyzing zone and the gas reforming zone is provided in a single vessel, and at least one partitioning plate is provided between the biomass pyrolyzing zone and the gas reforming zone.

Since the Great East Japan Earthquake on Mar. 11, 2011, many nuclear power plants have been shut down in terms of the safety. This situation causes a concern about a shortage of power supply, and focuses the interest on alternative renewable energy plants using photovoltaic power generation, wind power generation, geothermal power generation, hydroelectric power generation, tidal power generation, and biomass power generation, instead of nuclear power generation. The photovoltaic power generation, wind power generation, and tidal power generation are expected to be temporary power supplies, but cannot be stable power supplies because of its unstable generation. A small-scale plant of the hydroelectric power generation or tidal power generation is in some demand, whereas a large-scale plant can be built at only limited sites.
The collapse of buildings and forests caused by the Great East Japan Earthquake produced massive woody biomass, such as scrap wood from buildings, fallen trees in forests, timbers remaining in neglected woodlands, and thinnings. Eagerly anticipated is a woody biomass power plant that can effectively utilize such woody biomass. The power plant is also expected to be applied to other biomass than the woody biomass.
A typical woody biomass power plant uses direct combustion power generation or gasification power generation. The direct combustion power generation includes combusting biomass and generating steam with the heat of the combustion, to generate electricity with a steam turbine. The direct combustion power generation can process massive biomass, but the efficiency of the power generation is low. The gasification power generation includes thermally decomposing biomass, and reforming the resulting gas with heat or steam if required, to produce high-calorie gas. The gasification power generation has high efficiency and requires a smaller amount of biomass than that in the direct combustion power generation. Unfortunately, the gasification power generation needs uniform thermal decomposition of biomass and can cause troubles in an apparatus due to the tar generated by the thermal decomposition.
In order to solve the problems in the gasification power generation, for example, Patent Literature 1 (PTL 1) discloses a biomass gasification apparatus including a vertical gasification furnace. Biomass is fed to the upper portion of the gasification furnace to form a moving biomass layer in the gasification furnace, a gasifying agent is fed to the lower portion of the gasification furnace, and the biomass descending in the moving layer is thermally decomposed through the countercurrent contact with the ascending gasifying agent, to produce pyrolyzed gas. The biomass gasification apparatus further includes a vibratory sieve for classifying biomass by size to acquire biomass having an adjusted particle size distribution, which contains biomass particles having a predetermined diameter or smaller at a predetermined weight rate or lower, and a biomass feeder for feeding the biomass having an adjusted particle size distribution from the vibratory sieve to the gasification furnace. The gasification apparatus can ensure uniform upward flow of the high-temperature gas in the moving layer and can reduce the pressure loss in the moving layer, to stabilize the gasification. Unfortunately, the uniform thermal decomposition of the fed biomass is not verified. Furthermore, the necessity of a unit for yielding the biomass having an adjusted particle size distribution leads to an increase in costs.
In order to remove the tar from the pyrolyzed gas, for example, an apparatus for reforming fuel gas in a biomass gasification system (PTL 2) includes a porous heat reservoir, through which fuel gas generated from biomass flows and which is heated to store heat at 1,100° C. or higher, in the flow path of the fuel gas. The system combusts to remove the tar while the fuel gas is passing through the heat reservoir. Unfortunately, the apparatus has a complex configuration and requires complicated manipulation. In addition, part of the fuel gas may also be combusted and lost during the combustion of the tar. Another apparatus for removing the tar from the pyrolyzed gas produced by the thermal decomposition of a biomass material is disclosed in PTL 3, for example. The apparatus includes a compressor for sequentially compressing the pyrolyzed gas from upstream to downstream of the flow of the pyrolyzed gas, and a cooler for cooling the compressed pyrolyzed gas. The apparatus can effectively remove main components, such as furfural, ortho-methoxyphenol, and phenol, of the tar. Unfortunately, the apparatus requires increased facility and operating costs for the compressing and cooling operations. Another pyrolytic gasification system for biomass, such as sewage sludge and woody biomass, is disclosed in PTL 4, for example. The system includes a pyrolytic gasification furnace, a combustion furnace downstream of the pyrolytic gasification furnace, a pipe provided between the pyrolytic gasification furnace and the combustion furnace, an oxidizing agent inlet connected to the pipe to feed an oxidizing agent (mixed gas of inert gas and oxygen) to the pipe, an oxidizing agent adjuster to control the oxygen concentration in the oxidizing agent to 5% to 13% by volume, a heater to heat the inner wall of the pipe, a gas temperature detector to measure the temperature of gas flowing in the pipe, and a gas temperature controller to control the gas temperature. The pyrolytic gasification system can combust to remove the deposits such as tar generated through the thermal decomposition and adhering to the inner wall of the pipe provided between the pyrolytic gasification furnace and the combustion furnace. The system is directed to the quick and safe removal of the pyrolytic deposits derived from biomass. Unfortunately, the system, which combusts the tar generated by the thermal decomposition of the biomass, cannot effectively utilize the tar.
In order to effectively utilize the tar generated by the thermal decomposition of the biomass, for example, a system for reforming woody biomass gas (PTL 5) includes a pyrolytic furnace, a reforming reactor, and an engine. The pyrolytic furnace thermally decomposes introduced woody biomass. The reforming reactor is fed with carbide particles generated by the thermal decomposition in the pyrolytic furnace at the upper portion, and is fed with pyrolyzed gas generated by the thermal decomposition in the pyrolytic furnace at the lower portion, so that the tar vapor contained in the pyrolyzed gas is reformed into hydrogen, methane, and carbon monoxide. The engine is fueled by the reformed gas. The system can effectively utilize the carbide particles (char) remaining after the thermal decomposition. Furthermore, the system reforms the tar with steam into hydrogen, methane, and carbon monoxide, and thus can further improve the gasification efficiency. Unfortunately, the system requires the reforming reactor in addition to the pyrolytic furnace. The system also requires a feeder of carbide particles (char) to the reforming reactor, a circulator of pyrolyzed gas, and feeders of oxygen or air and water. Another biomass carbonizing gas system for effectively utilizing the tar is disclosed in PTL 6, for example. The system thermally decomposes a biomass fuel, such as woody biomass, waste biomass such as urban garbage, and mixed biomass thereof, to carbonize and gasify the biomass fuel. The system includes a carbonizer for heating the biomass fuel to produce carbides, and a two-stage gasification furnace including a high-temperature gasifier for gasifying the carbides and a gas reformer for reforming combustible pyrolyzed gas containing the tar vaporized during the production of the carbides, a carbide feeder for feeding the carbides to the high-temperature gasifier of the gasification furnace, a pyrolyzed gas passage for transferring the combustible pyrolyzed gas generated in the carbonizer to the gas reformer of the gasification furnace, and a gasifying agent feeder. The gasifying agent feeder usually feeds a gasifying agent to the high-temperature gasifier, and feeds a gasifying agent containing oxygen to the gas reformer if the temperature of the exit of the gasification furnace certainly or possibly decreases to a certain level or lower. The system can reduce the amount of generated tar, and can produce high-calorie gas by the reforming operation through the shift reaction. The system can effectively perform the thermal decomposition, the reforming of the pyrolyzed gas, and the decomposition of the tar in sequence. Unfortunately, the system requires the preliminary carbonization of biomass and the feeding of the air for the oxidizing agent, resulting in a decrease in the gasification efficiency.
A typical method of gasifying organic materials such as woody biomass uses heat carriers. For example, PTL 7 discloses a method of producing high-calorie gas from an organic material or organic-material-containing mixture. The heat carriers circulate through a heating zone, a reacting zone, a pyrolyzing zone, a separating zone, and the heating zone again. During the circulation, the organic material or organic-material-containing mixture comes into contact with the heat carriers heated in the pyrolyzing zone and is separated into a carbon-containing residue (solid phase) and pyrolyzed gas (gas phase). After the heat carriers pass through the pyrolyzing zone, the solid carbon-containing residue is separated from the heat carriers through the separating operation. The pyrolyzed gas is mixed with steam serving as a reaction medium, acquires part of the heat of the heat carriers heated in the reacting zone, and thus is further heated, to produce high-calorie gas. The pyrolyzed gas is mixed with steam in the pyrolyzing zone, all the solid carbon-containing residue is transported to another combustion device and is combusted in the combustion device, and hot exhaust gas from the combustion device passes through the heat carriers accumulated in the heating zone such that most of the sensible heat is transferred to the heat carriers. In this method, the mixture is separated into the pyrolytic coke and the heat carriers immediately after exiting a pyrolytic reactor, the resulting pyrolytic coke is combusted in the combustion device, and the sensible heat generated by the combustion is used for heating the heat carriers in the heating zone. The method thus can produce high-calorie gas at low costs. The pyrolytic reactor having the pyrolyzing zone and a gas reforming reactor having the reacting zone are separately provided, so that they can be connected in series or in parallel. In order to stabilize the quality of the pyrolyzed gas while maintaining the thermal efficiency of a preheater for heating the heat carriers in the heating zone, a system (PTL 8) includes a preheater revised from that in the above method. Unfortunately, neither of the method and the system using the heat carriers can sufficiently avoid troubles caused by the tar generated by the thermal decomposition.


The present invention provides novel metal complexes and solutions containing the complexes which are useful for converting light energy into electrical energy. The complexes are formed by complexing certain metals, such as iron, with a carboxyl compound, chloride and ammonia to form a complex having carboxyl ligands, chloride ligands and ammonia ligands. The preferred carboxyl compound is citric acid, acetic acid or salts thereof. The invention also provides a solar cell which comprises a transparent container which contains a pair of electrodes immersed in the metal complex.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to solar voltaic storage cells which are capable of generating and storing electrical energy due to the action of sunlight on a cell having a pair of electrodes immersed in certain types of metallic complex solutions. The invention also relates to novel carboxyl metallic and related organometallic complexes for use in the solar cells.

Organometallic solar voltaic storage cell