A display device, which exhibits improved image qualities has a pair of substrates which sandwich a liquid crystal layer therebetween. On one of the substrates there are a plurality of video signal lines, a plurality of pixel electrodes, which are arranged in a matrix array and to which video signals are supplied from the video signal lines, and a plurality of conductive layers, which are provided at positions where portions thereof overlap with the video signal lines by way of an insulation film. The respective conductive layers are electrically connected to respective video signal lines. Further, the conductive layer is able to prevent light irradiated from a backlight from leaking through a gap defined between two neighboring pixel electrodes.

The present invention relates to a display device, and more particularly, to improvements in a liquid crystal display device which result in improved image quality.
An active matrix type liquid crystal display device is, for example, configured such that, on one substrate of a pair of substrates having a liquid crystal layer sandwiched therebetween, there are a plurality of scanning signal lines, a plurality of video signal lines which cross the plurality of scanning signal lines, and a plurality of pixels arranged in a matrix array. Each one of the plurality of pixels includes a switching element which is driven by a scanning signal line and a pixel electrode, to which video signals are supplied from a video signal line through the switching element. A counter electrode is formed on another substrate of the pair of substrates. The state of the light which passes through the liquid crystal layer is controlled by driving the liquid crystal using electric fields generated between the counter electrode and the pixel electrodes, thus producing a display of images.
Since the typical liquid crystal display device is not a self-luminous type display device, an auxiliary light source unit is provided for supplying light from the outside of the liquid crystal display panel. As one example, there is a known a liquid crystal display device in which a backlight is arranged on a side opposite to a display screen side (observer side) of the liquid crystal display pane, so that the liquid crystal display panel is illuminated from the back surface thereof. However, when light irradiated from the backlight leaks from a portion of a gap defined between neighboring pixel electrodes and an observer observes the leaked light, the contrast is lowered and the image quality is degraded.
Further, a parasitic capacitance is generated between the video signal line and the pixel electrode. When this parasitic capacitance is large, a phenomenon which is referred to as a vertical smear (also referred to as "vertical crosstalk") becomes apparent and affects the image quality. This vertical smear is a phenomenon in which, when a display is performed as a white display window or a black display window, while adopting a half tone display as a background, the level of the half tone display at portions of the background at upper and lower sides (vertical direction) of the window is shifted either in the white display direction or in the black display direction, and these portions become different from portions of the background which have no window in color.
As ways to solve such a drawback, a technique is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication 209041/2001 (hereinafter referred to as "publication 1") and a technique is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication 151699/2002 (hereinafter referred to as "publication 2").
FIG. 15 is a diagram of a pixel portion schematically showing the constitution of the technique described in publication 1. Further, FIG. 16 is a cross-sectional view taken along a line E-E′ in FIG. 15. Here, in FIG. 15 and FIG. 16, to facilitate an understanding of the constitution of the technique disclosed in publication 1, the structure is simplified by omitting or modifying some constituent elements.
In FIG. 15, a video signal line (data line) DL has a portion thereof which overlaps with the pixel electrode PX. However, the video signal line DL has a narrow width portion, where the width is narrowed at a portion cut by the E-E′ line and the video signal line DL does not overlap with the pixel electrode PX, as shown in FIG. 16. Accordingly, it is possible to reduce the parasitic capacitance which is generated between the video signal line DL and the pixel electrode PX, which are separated by a second insulation film IN2.
However, with the provision of such a structural arrangement between the signal line DL and the pixel electrode PX, light tends to leak through a gap defined between the pixel electrode PX and the video signal line DL; and, hence, a light shielding film SLD is formed below the narrow width portion of the video signal line DL, with the film SLD being separated therefrom by way of a first insulation film IN1. By overlapping the light shielding film SLD relative to the edge portions of adjacent pixel electrodes PX, it is possible to block light which is irradiated from a backlight and is incident from a back surface of the substrate SUB1.
Here, in the technique disclosed in publication 1, the light shielding film SLD is formed of the same material as that used for forming a storage line (capacitance line) STL, which generates a storage capacitance, and the light shielding film SLD and the storage line STL are electrically insulated from each other. Further, GT indicates gate electrodes and GL indicates scanning signal lines (scanning lines).
FIG. 17 is a plan view of a pixel portion showing the constitution of the technique disclosed in publication 2. Also, in FIG. 17, to facilitate an understanding of the constitution, the structure is simplified by omitting or modifying some constituent elements. Here, constitutional elements corresponding to the constitutional elements shown in FIG. 15 are given the same numerals, and a repeated explanation thereof will be omitted.
To compare the constitution shown in FIG. 17 with the constitution shown in FIG. 15, the technique of publication 2 differs from that disclosed in publication 1 with respect to the fact that the width of the video signal line DL is fixed and with respect to the shape of the pixel electrode PX, but they are substantially equal in other respects. Since the cross-sectional view taken along a line F-F′ in FIG. 17 is the same as that of FIG. 16, an explanation thereof will be omitted.
The essential difference lies in the fact that the light shielding film SLD, which overlaps the video signal line DL, is integrally formed with the storage line STL. Accordingly, although the light shielding film SLD is in a floating state in the display device disclosed in publication 1, the light shielding film SLD has the same potential as the storage line STL in the constitution disclosed in publication 2.
However, the techniques disclosed in publication 1 and publication 2 have the following drawbacks.
In the technique of publication 1, since the light shielding film SLD is electrically floating, the display device suffers from another degradation of images that is different from vertical smear. In the display device of publication 1, since the light shielding film SLD is floating, with a change of the potential of the video signal line DL, the potential of the light shielding film SLD also will be changed. Here, however, there exists a case in which, due to the influence of static electricity or the like, out of a plurality of light shielding films SLD, the potential of only some light shielding films SLD will suddenly change without regard to the change of potential of the video signal line DL. In this case, the potential of some corresponding pixel electrodes PX will be subject to the influence of this change. As a result, this may give rise to a display having some gray scales that are remarkably different from other gray scales around the display, thus degrading the image quality of the display.
In the technique of publication 2, since the light shielding film SLD is held at the same potential as the storage line STL, the phenomenon which occurs in the display device disclosed in the publication 1 does not occur. However, the light shielding film SLD, which overlaps the video signal line DL by way of the first insulation film IN1, is held at a fixed potential that is different from the potential of the video signal line DL. As a result, the load is increased at the time of driving the display device by supplying video signals to the video signal line, the power consumption is increased, and, at the same time, the image quality is degraded due to rounding of the waveforms.


An apparatus is provided for modeling queuing systems with highly variable traffic arrival rates. The apparatus includes means to associate a value with a pattern of highly variable arrival rates that is simple and intuitive, and a means to accurately model queuing delays in systems that are characterized by bursts of arrival activity. The queuing delay is determined by a sum of queuing delays after first applying a weighting factor to the queuing delay based upon a random arrival rate, and a different weighting factor to the queuing delay based upon a bursty variable arrival rate. The weighting factors are variants of the server utilization. The model facilitates specification of server characteristics and configurations to meet response time metrics.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to modeling system performance. Specifically, the invention relates to an apparatus for modeling traffic server system performance under conditions characterized by highly variable traffic arrival rates.
2. Description of the Related Art
A dilemma faced by most high volume eBusiness websites, including web servers, application servers, and database servers, is that it's always difficult, though highly desirable, to find a cost-efficient way to meet some key performance metrics or services levels (especially those relating to availability) under unanticipated highly variable workloads without investing heavily in additional hardware resources that is idling most of the time.
The task of planning an optimum configuration for large Web servers has become ever challenging. This is because the hardware and software structure of large Web sites grows increasingly complex, and the characteristics of the associated traffic arrival patterns and associated workloads are at best poorly understood, or at worst, essentially unknown because the system has yet to be implemented.
Even with this growing complexity, typical IT infrastructures can be analyzed and related models (i.e. simulators) can be developed to assist in predicting and planning how to meet future requirements. Network loads can be characterized by identifying key traffic parameters that affect network sizing and performance, such as packet size distribution, packet throughput, and packet interarrival time distribution. However, the results are often not satisfactory. The predictions can become complex when, as is often the case, there are many different hardware and software configurations that must be tested, and there are numerous performance criteria that must all be simultaneously met, while at the same time maximizing system throughput for the number of concurrent users supported by the system.
Capacity planning and performance modeling of complex computer systems generally require detailed information about the traffic arrival patterns and workload assumed to be running on those systems. Studies have shown that network traffic tends to be "bursty", rather than evenly distributed over time. Traffic burstiness may be defined as the tendency of data packets to arrive in bursts, with the inter-packet arrival time within a burst being much smaller than the average inter-packet arrival time outside of the burst.
Bursty traffic can have a significant effect on the queuing delays and response times of a network, since it can cause unpredicted capacity overloads from which the network must recover. Extended overloads contribute to network congestion and increase the probability of buffer overruns and dropped packets. Dropping packets to prevent extended overloads affects the quality of service and usually results in degraded performance.
The introduction of high speed networking technologies and high performance personal computers and workstations, which are capable of transmitting packets at a very high rate, has increased the potential variability of network traffic dramatically. In addition to the variability in network load and packet arrival rates, packets transmitted by these systems are generally closely related. The packets associated with the same application tend to arrive at the same destination over a short time period. This correlation is evident, for example, when a large file is transmitted from a file server to a diskless workstation.
Detailed performance studies of a complex server system typically involves queuing theory, a specialized branch of mathematics that studies the servicing of a succession of requests on a resource. For example, queuing theory has been widely applied in the study of highway traffic patterns, network servers, and even patrons of a bank. The basis for many of these performance studies is the analysis of (1) the arrival of requests and (2) the time to service the requests. If the average time to service a request is greater than the average arrival time, a large queue will form.
Service providers typically are interested in achieving metrics associated with a maximum time that a request waits for service (queuing delay), and a maximum total time until the request is satisfied (total delay). The total delay is typically the sum of the queuing delay and the service delay. It is desirable in system modeling to provide a system configuration that provides a minimum total delay in almost all cases.
Simple capacity planning can be done by calculating the number of users per second that can be processed without exceeding the maximum utilization requirements of any of the system resources (i.e. processors, disks, network). More detailed estimates that also project the overall response time per user (factoring in queuing effects on various resources) can also be made. Modeling queuing delay performance often requires a projection of an average arrival rate and an assumption of an arrival distribution pattern.
Models employing queuing theory generally predict the behavior of systems that service randomly arising demands. A Poisson pattern is usually assumed wherein the probability of an arrival is proportional to the length of a time interval. It follows that the inter-arrival times of a Poisson pattern are a sequence of independent and identically distributed random variables with an exponential density function.
However, web site traffic can be highly variable under certain conditions such as "Stock Market Storms," "Holiday sales," "breaking news stories", and other unanticipated events. Under these conditions, inter-arrival times between web user visits often include periods of high activity followed by periods of low activity, resulting in an arrival distribution that deviates substantially from an exponential distribution. This highly variable inter-arrival pattern results in an average response time that can be much longer than the prediction a typical Poisson model would predict.
A metric known as a "coefficient of variation", a measurement of the inter-arrival time standard deviation divided by the inter-arrival time mean, can be applied to systems as a measurement of variability. In some systems, the distribution of inter-arrival times cluster tightly about the mean, producing a relatively small standard deviation and hence a coefficient of variation much less than unity. For example, in deterministic arrival processes the inter-arrival times are synchronous. Thus, the coefficient of variation is zero. The tick of a clock illustrates a deterministic inter-arrival time distribution. In a deterministic inter-arrival time distribution, there is no variation.
An exponential inter-arrival time distribution produces a coefficient of variation with a value of one. An exponential arrival process assumes a random arrival pattern. Historically, queuing models have assumed a random arrival pattern and used the exponential inter-arrival time distribution. However, studies of many "real world" traffic arrival rate patterns, such as web site traffic, show highly variable, bursty arrival patterns with coefficient of variation values significantly greater than one. Similarly, studies of highway traffic patterns reveal the same type of bursty arrival patterns with clusters correlating to physical locations and times of the day. Consequently, modeling such systems assuming an exponential arrival time distribution predicts shorter response times than are experienced in real life, and can lead the service provider to underestimate the server capability required to meet response time metrics.
There exists an accepted basis in queuing theory to solve for cases wherein the coefficient of variability is greater than one. Unfortunately, the queuing theory equations are complex and often require inputs that are not readily available. For example, significant historical arrival rate information may be required. To be statistically valid, the historical arrival rate information may be required to span periods that encompass traffic patterns demonstrating low and high arrival rates. Furthermore, the historical data may be required to be representative of the future arrival patterns. Companies with dynamic growth rates and changing business patterns may have great difficulty obtaining historical data that truly represents their future traffic arrival patterns. In addition, the established queuing theory equations applicable to high values for inter-arrival coefficient of variation are not acceptably accurate for low levels of server utilization.
Accordingly, a need exists for an apparatus for simply and accurately modeling highly variable queue arrival rates. In particular, the apparatus should generate model results that facilitate high quality predictions for resources required to satisfy the highly variable queue arrival rates within predefined quality of service parameters. In addition, the apparatus should generate model results that substantially correspond to real world experience for comparable queuing systems and should accurately portray the effect of different levels of resource utilization.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Apparatus for modeling queueing systems with highly variable traffic arrival rates

International Business Machines Corporation


The present invention provides a wireless communication apparatus that can maintain good and stable antenna characteristics, regardless of the change in the profile of the cabinet and that of the antenna element. The wireless communication apparatus includes a profile changeable cabinet adapted to changes its profile at least from a first cabinet profile to a second cabinet profile and vice versa and equipped with an antenna element, an antenna characteristics switching circuit section for selecting, in the profile changeable cabinet, the predetermined first antenna characteristic values specified for the first cabinet profile or the predetermined second antenna characteristic values specified for the second cabinet profile, and a cabinet profile detection unit that detects the change, if any, in the profile of the profile changeable cabinet from the first cabinet profile to the second cabinet profile or the other way round and outputting a detection signal for driving the antenna characteristics switching circuit section, the antenna characteristics switching circuit section being adapted to switch from the first antenna characteristic values to the second antenna characteristic values or the other way round according to the detection signal from the cabinet profile detecting unit in response to a change in the profile of the profile changeable cabinet.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a wireless communication apparatus of a portable telephone set, a portable television receiving set or the like having an antenna element.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various wireless communication apparatus are equipped with an antenna device for radiating or absorbing an electric wave of a predetermined frequency band. For instance, in the current trend of phenomenally spreading portable telephone sets, they are taking a role of information terminal apparatus for transmitting/receiving e-mail letters and various images and exchanging information of different types rather than a role of simple gears for talking with others. Additionally, as broadcasting stations in Japan have started terrestrial digital transmission services, portable telephone sets are expected to take a new role of operating as television receiving sets in the near future.
In view of the above-identified circumstances, many portable telephone sets are currently equipped with a large liquid crystal display for the convenience of users and designed to appeal buyers particularly in terms of portability and uniqueness. In the field of portable telephone sets, so-called stick type telephone sets are giving way to foldable type telephone sets (denoted by 100) as shown in FIG. 1 and bendable type telephone sets (denoted by 110) as shown in FIG. 2.
Referring to FIG. 1, a foldable telephone set 100 includes two cabinets including a first cabinet 101 where an operation panel including ten keys and function buttons is arranged and a second cabinet 102 where a large liquid crystal display 103 is arranged. The first cabinet 101 and the second cabinet 102 are linked to each other by means of a hinge mechanism 104 so as be foldable relative to each other. When the user of a foldable telephone set 100 talks to some other person over the telephone, he or she unfolds the second cabinet 102 from the first cabinet 101 by way of the hinge mechanism 104 as shown in FIG. 1.
Referring to FIG. 2, a bendable portable telephone set 110 includes a first cabinet 111 and a second cabinet 112 that are linked to each other by way of a universal joint mechanism 113 so that they can be moved in three-dimensional directions relative to each other. With a bendable portable telephone set 110, it is possible for the user to turn the second cabinet 112 upside down relative to the first cabinet 111 so as to expose the liquid crystal display 114 to the surface side and bend the second cabinet 112 orthogonally relative to the first cabinet 111 by means of the universal joint mechanism 113. In this state, the operation panel on the first cabinet 111 and the liquid crystal display 114 on the second cabinet 112 face the same direction and the liquid crystal display 114 is arranged horizontally oblong so that the user can conveniently view a television program or some other video image.
Generally, various portable wireless communication apparatus 120 including portable telephone sets includes a cabinet 121 that includes a first cabinet 122 and a second cabinet 123 and the first cabinet 122 is equipped with an antenna element 124 as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4. As the cabinet 121 of the portable telephone set 120 is made to operate as ground line of the antenna apparatus, a high frequency electric current flows through the cabinet 121 as indicated by dotted lines in FIGS. 3 and 4.
In the portable telephone set 120, the input impedance of the antenna element 124 is set to a level that holds the antenna characteristics including the input characteristics and the gain of the antenna in the most efficient conditions by an impedance matching circuit. However, portable telephone sets 120 are accompanied by a problem that the optimized input impedance can be shifted to degrade the antenna characteristics as the cabinet 121 is held by hand by the user and the head of the user comes very close to the antenna element 124 when the user talks over the telephone. Techniques for coping with the problem are disclosed in Patent Document 1 (Jpn. Pat. Appln. Laid-Open Publication No. 2004-166191) and Patent Document 2 (Jpn. Pat. Appln. Laid-Open Publication No. 2004-208219).
Patent Document 3 (Jpn. Pat. Appln. Laid-Open Publication No. 2000-278024) discloses an antenna apparatus that can secure a predefined gain in the receiving frequency band when an object approaches the inverted F-type antenna element from around. The disclosed antenna apparatus includes an inverted F-type antenna element having a plurality of short-circuiting sections that correspond respectively to a plurality of different resonance frequencies and are arranged on a radiative conductor plate having a feed section, a detection means for detecting a state where the resonance frequency fall and a switching means for selecting a short-circuiting section from the plurality of short-circuiting section. When a human body or some other object approaches to make the resonance frequency fall in the antenna apparatus, a switching signal is output from the detection means to the switching means to select an appropriate short-circuiting section in order to prevent the gain from falling by raising the resonance frequency.


According to one embodiment, a display panel includes a substrate, a switching element, a pixel electrode, an organic light emitting layer, an opposite electrode, a detecting electrode, and an insulating layer. The substrate has a major surface. The switching element is provided on the major surface. The switching element includes a semiconductor layer. The pixel electrode is provided on the major surface. The pixel electrode is electrically connected to the switching element. The organic light emitting layer is provided on the pixel electrode. The opposite electrode is provided on the organic light emitting layer. The detecting electrode is provided between the substrate and at least a part of the pixel electrode. The detecting electrode includes at least one element included in the semiconductor layer. The insulating layer is provided between the pixel electrode and the detecting electrode.

There are an active matrix display panel in which a current passing through an organic EL (Electro-Luminescent) device is controlled by a thin film transistor and a display device using the display panel. In such a display panel and a display device, it is desired to provide a detection function to detect a touch manipulation. In the case of providing the detection function, an aperture ratio is reduced, and image quality is reduced.


The GreenBox+ technology is suitable to extract hemicellulose sugars prior to pulping of biomass into pulp products. The revenue obtainable from the sugar stream can significantly improve the economics of a pulp and paper mill. An initial extraction and recovery of sugars is followed by production of a pulp product with similar or better properties. Other co-products such as acetates and furfural are also possible. Some variations provide a process for co-producing pulp and hemicellulosic sugars from biomass, comprising: digesting the biomass in the presence of steam and/or hot water to extract hemicellulose into a liquid phase; washing the extracted solids, thereby generating a liquid wash filtrate and washed solids; separating the liquid wash filtrate from the washed solids; refining the washed solids at a refining pH of about 4 or higher, thereby generating pulp; and hydrolyzing the hemicellulose to generate hemicellulosic fermentable sugars.

In recent years, the GreenPower+ technology has been developed by American Process, Inc. (API). GREEN POWER+ is a registered trademark of API, Registration No. 4062241. GreenPower+ technology is a patented technology for the production of low-cost sugars from the hemicelluloses of any type of biomass, including hardwoods, softwoods, and agricultural residues. The GreenPower+ process produces low-cost C5 and C6 sugars from the hemicelluloses of biomass feedstocks. These sugars are co-produced along with biomass power, pellets, or pulp. Essentially, sugars are extracted from the solids which are then utilized for existing applications, in synergy with pulp mills, pellet mills, biomass-based renewable power plants, and many other existing sites. Value is added while minimizing capital costs for commercial implementation, which may be retrofits, capacity additions, or greenfield sites. When applied to a pulping operation, the GreenPower+ technology is also known as GreenBox+™ technology. GREENBOX+ is a trademark of API, Serial No. 86000173.
It would be desirable to retrofit existing pulp mills with a GreenBox+ process. The revenue obtainable from the sugar stream can significantly improve the economics of a pulp and paper mill. Ideally, an initial extraction and recovery of sugars is followed by a pulping process that produces a pulp product with equivalent or similar properties, or potentially even better properties for certain downstream products. Besides sugars, other co-products become possible, in particular acetates since hemicellulose has a high concentration of acetyl groups that are released as acetic acid during sugar extraction.
In addition to the potential for higher revenue, there is also potential for reduced costs. For example, if the GreenBox+ process can replace a chemical pulping method, the chemical recovery cycle may be eliminated. There may also be environmental compliance benefits and reduced costs for compliance.
To date, there has been limited commercial success in extracting hemicellulose prior to pulping. Further improvements are needed to establish an economic process.

Processes for producing cellulose pulp and pulp-derived products from lignocellulosic biomass


A picking assembly provided by the present disclosure may include a transmission shaft; at least two rigid balls; and a support member carrying rigid balls of the at least two rigid balls. Two of the at least two rigid balls may be arranged on two opposite sides of the transmission shaft. Centers of the two of the at least two rigid balls and a center of a cross-section of the transmission shaft may be located on a same line. The transmission shaft may be movable back and forth in an axis direction of the transmission shaft.

An organic light-emitting diode (OLED) technology has characteristics of self-illumination, light weight, easy to realize flexible display and is a display technology with good development prospects. In a process of an OLED panel, a physical vapor deposition (PVD) method is generally used to realize evaporation of organic materials, thereby forming various layer structures of an OLED device. The organic material is placed in a crucible of a vacuum chamber and is heated to form a film on the substrate after sublimation or gasification, deposition, and the like. In practical applications, an opening is defined on the vacuum chamber, a diameter of the opening (radial size) is generally 6-20 millimeters. The diameter of the opening is small, and a special picking tool is required to take out the crucible from the opening and add organic material.
FIG. 1 is a structural illustration of a picking tool in the related art. Referring to FIG. 1, a picking tool 10 includes a transmission shaft 11, elastic pieces 12, and a handle 13. An upper end of the transmission shaft 11 is connected to the handle 13. The transmission shaft 11 may be moved up and down. An extending protrusion 111 is arranged on a lower end of the transmission shaft. One end of the handle 13 may be rotated around an axis of the transmission shaft 11. The elastic pieces 12 are arranged around the transmission shaft 11 and an upper end of the elastic pieces 12 is coupled to a bracket 14. When the handle 13 moves upward, the transmission shaft 11 is moved upward, and the protrusion 111 on the lower end of the transmission shaft 11 spreads the elastic pieces 12, so that a radial length of the elastic piece 12 is increased, and the elastic pieces 12 are caught inside of an opening of a crucible. Continue to move the transmission shaft 11 upward, the crucible is taken out from an opening of the vacuum chamber. However, as a number of uses and time increase, the elastic pieces 12 are easily deformed. The elastic pieces 12 are difficult to maintain its picking function, and a structure of the picking tool 10 is complicated.

Picking assembly, crucible picking device, and method for picking crucible

SHENZHEN CHINA STAR OPTOELECTRONICS SEMICONDUCTOR DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.


A data management system with data stored in multiple disparate formats in synchronized stores, method of synchronizing the data and recovering from synchronization failures and program product therefor. Data changes in one data store are cached in a universal format in an active synchronizer and forwarded to a second store from the universal format cache. Standby synchronizers provide failover handling by identifying synchronization failures and self-selecting a replacement synchronizer to serve as the active synchronizer.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to data management and more particularly, to reliably maintaining synchronized data stored in disparate data formats.
2. Background Description
Frequently, data is collected and shared amongst a number of applications. Each application may require presenting the data in a specific format, e.g., in a relational database, while another may require the same data as files stored hierarchically as a collection of files in central storage. Consequently, whenever data is being shared amongst a number of applications, it is likely that at least one application requires the data in a different format than the others. Thus, when data is shared by a number of applications, it is likely that the applications require the data in disparate formats. Accordingly, each format must be current and accurately reflect the same data content stored in each other format.
For example, a business concern may collect and maintain data for its employees, such as personnel, pay and user data. Each of the various applications, e.g., for presence based communications applications, personnel management applications and business communications applications, may require the data in a specific format that is different from and incompatible with the others. For example, one application may require hierarchically formatted data, e.g., stored in Active Directory. Another may require the data in a relational database, e.g., SQL Server. Status changes for each employee (e.g., an employee is promoted, dies or is terminated), require data updates the in each format in each store location and so, the data stores must be reliably synchronized.
Unfortunately, if synchronization is prevented/disrupted (i.e., the synchronization fails), old data may cause errors that may continue until the failure is subsequently discovered. Worse still, subsequent updates may obfuscate the failure and make recovery from such errors more difficult. For example, a terminated employee may be marked in personnel records as such, but continue to have remote access to company resources and sensitive information. Direct deposits may continue to a deceased employee's checking account long after some records reflect the employee's demise. Consequently, synchronizing shared data in disparate formats may be of critical importance.
Thus, there is a need for automatically synchronizing data stored in disparate formats and, more particularly, for automatically recovering from synchronization failures to shared data content stored in multiple disparate formats.

Data synchronizer with failover facility


Disclosed herein is a memory card that is a second memory card provided in connection with a first memory card. The first and second memory cards include: a body portion having the shape of a rectangular plate; and guide portions that project from both sides of the body portion in a width direction of the body portion and extend in a longitudinal direction of the body portion. Each guide portion has a thickness less than a thickness of the body portion. The first and second memory cards are equal in thickness and length of the body portion and distance between tips of the guide portions. The body portion of the second memory card has a width greater than a width of the body portion of the first memory card.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a memory card.
2. Description of the Related Art
There has been proposed a memory card that contains flash memory capable of data rewriting, and writes data to the flash memory and reads the data from the flash memory (see Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 2001-209773).
Meanwhile, there are two types of flash memory on the market. One type of flash memory is compatible with a portable electronic device that operates at a low power supply voltage (e.g., 1.8 V), and the other type of flash memory is compatible with an electronic device that operates at a normal power supply voltage (e.g., 3.3 V), which is higher than the low power supply voltage.
As such, there has been proposed a dual-purpose memory card that is compatible with both the electronic device that operates at the low power supply voltage and the electronic device that operates at the normal power supply voltage. This dual-purpose memory card is equipped with the flash memory that operates at the low power supply voltage and a step-down circuit that steps down the normal power supply voltage to a lower voltage.


A method for differentially lysing a liquid sample or target material using an augmented oxidizing agent (AOA), which includes a quantity of electronically modified oxygen derivatives (EMODs). The method reduces or eliminates total dissolved solids (TDS), total suspended solids (TSS), Biologic Oxygen Demand (BOD), microbial concentration, biofilms and other content in the liquid target material known or suspected to contain animal fluids, blood and blood cells and suspected or known to contain eukaryotic cells, microbial cells, bacteria, viruses, spores, fungi, prions, organic matter, minerals, proteins or associated structures. The BOD, TDS and TSS can be lowered or eliminated as desired. This action is directly proportional to the quantity of EMODs in the AOS applied to the liquid target material.

Wastewater, dairy products, blood plasma and blood cells contain a dramatic amount of proteins, fats, minerals, elements and small molecular weight constituents that once separated allow for hygienic disposal or repurposing of the resultant separated matter in environmentally sound methods. This is one of the major reasons why, for example, blood plasma (often simply referred to as plasma, i.e. an anticoagulated whole blood sample; deprived of cells and erythrocytes) and blood serum (often simply referred to as serum, i.e. coagulated whole blood; deprived of cells, erythrocytes and most proteins of the coagulation system, especially of fibrin/fibrinogen), respectively, are not used for their water value or disposed as waste. Animal Fluids, blood, blood cells, microbes, wastewater and organic matter tend to be even more difficult to dispose of as compared to serum or plasma. Blood, for example, tends to be less stable and contain total dissolved solids (TDS), total suspended solids (TSS), biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), and other components that complicate its disposal unless it is lysed and the components separated. Organic matter pertains to any carbon-based compound that exists in nature. Living things are described as organic since they are composed of organic compounds. Examples of organic compounds are carbohydrates, lipids, proteins and nucleic acids. Since they are comprised of carbon-based compounds, they are broken down into smaller, simpler compounds through decomposition and through lysing. Living organisms also excrete or secrete material that is considered an organic material. Biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) is the amount of dissolved oxygen (DO) needed by aerobic biological organisms to break down organic material present in a given water sample at certain temperature over a specific time period. The BOD value is most commonly expressed in milligrams of oxygen consumed per liter of sample during 5 days of incubation at 20° C. and is often used as a surrogate of the degree of organic pollution of water.
BOD reduction is used as a gauge of the effectiveness of wastewater treatment plants. BOD of wastewater effluents is used to indicate the short-term impact on the oxygen levels of the receiving water.
BOD analysis is similar in function to chemical oxygen demand (COD) analysis, in that both measure the amount of organic compounds in water. However, COD analysis is less specific, since it measures everything that can be chemically oxidized, rather than just levels of biologically oxidized organic matter.
The organic matter from wastewater, dairy products and blood may contain useful substances that contribute a value when separated from the liquid. This organic matter contains substances that can be repurposed as food sources, as fertilizer, as medicines or and other uses.
At present it appears that appropriate separation/handling of wastewater, animal fluids, blood, blood cells, microbes and organic matter, e.g. by centrifugation, filtration, heating, cooling, precipitation or analyte extraction is essential, before such processed sample can be properly and reliably disposed of or repurposed.
As indicated above, serum or plasma may be obtained from whole blood and repurposed or disposed of as needed. Cells, cell constituents, microbes, organic matter and erythrocytes may also be removed by filtration or centrifugation from wastewater, blood or blood components or from other animal fluids but a lower cost method is desired over present commercially available techniques.
In a further way of sample processing, the wastewater, animal fluids, blood, blood cells, microbes and other organic matter of interest can first separated from the majority of substances by selective precipitation or extraction methods. Extraction can be performed in liquid phase or on a solid phase. Gross extraction of larger particles can be sequenced with extraction methods getting progressively smaller sized precipitate molecules until the desired resolution is obtained.
Debris and precipitated proteins usually are removed from a sample by centrifugation, filtration or solid phase extraction.
Solid phase extraction (SPE) is a technique which is used for pre-concentration and cleanup of wastewater, animal fluids and blood samples, for purification of various samples, and for removal of valuable substances from aqueous solutions of wastewater, animal fluids, blood microbes, and organic matter.
Erythrocytes comprised in a whole blood sample may be lysed and the hemoglobin is released. The known state of the art neither disclose nor suggest that a hemolysed blood sample currently can be economically prepared so that the BOD, TDS, TSS and other constituents can be separated for commercial use
It becomes obvious from the above discussion of the state of the art that no method for a thorough, lysing, precipitation, decontamination and separation of wastewater, dairy, slaughter house and blood components exists or is available on a commercial scale that is also economically feasible. It would, however, be highly desirable if wastewater, animal fluids, blood, blood cells, microbes and organic matter could be separated into useful components. This would be especially advantageous where wastewater, animal fluids, blood and other liquids could be repurposed in areas where liquids are needed for animal consumption or agricultural uses.

Method and system for lysing a liquid sample with augmented oxidizing agents to create a solution with a reduced microbial concentration and precipitate formation


An optical measurement device is disclosed and includes a body configured to be mounted to at least one piston cylinder, and a compression ratio determination unit operatively connected to the body to receive optical measurement data and compute a clearance between at least two opposed pistons disposed within the at least one piston cylinder.

Multi-cylinder opposed piston engines include opposed pistons such that the opposed pistons move away from each other during combustion of an air and fuel mixture. Each cylinder includes associated intake ports which receive air via an intake manifold, and one or more fuel injectors that provide fuel to the cylinder. The combustion of the air and fuel mixture allows the cylinders to drive one or more crankshafts. As a result of the combustion, exhaust gases vacate each cylinder via exhaust ports coupled to an exhaust manifold.
Combustion engines, including multi-cylinder opposed piston engines, typically need to meet emissions standards to be allowed to operate in various environments. For example, combustion engines require accurate piston-to-piston clearances to produce an effective compression ratio, which is necessary for commercialized versions of opposed piston engines to meet the emissions standards. Maintaining the accurate piston-to-piston clearances during an engine assembly operation is important, and the measurement of the piston-to-piston clearances can be obtained after relevant engine components, such as crankshafts, bearings, connecting rods, pistons, and the like, have been assembled.
However, in multi-cylinder opposed piston engines, the piston-to-piston clearances vary significantly across the cylinders due to crankshaft bore and/or stroke variations. These cylinder-to-cylinder variations cause inaccurate compression ratios in the cylinders and thus provide unsatisfactory emission controls in the opposed piston engines. Accordingly, there are opportunities to improve a method and system of checking and ensuring proper measurement of piston-to-piston clearances in multi-cylinder opposed piston engines during the engine assembly operation.

Systems and methods for measurement of piston-to-piston clearances in multi-cylinder opposed piston engines


A piston/piston rod assembly. The piston is an annular member which is provided with a longitudinal bore therethrough having internal threads therein. A transverse opening is provided through the piston. The piston rod is provided with a threaded end for threaded engagement with the threaded portion of the piston. A transverse opening is provided through the piston rod. A pin is seated in the transverse openings of the piston and piston rod, responsive to assembly of the piston and piston rod, to retain the piston securely on the piston rod. The transverse openings are disposed to retain the pin therein to prevent movement of the piston on the piston rod, but yet allow a certain amount of adjustment of the piston relative to the piston rod during the assembly thereof.

Various piston/piston rod assemblies rely upon different methods of securing the piston to the piston rod to prevent the piston from becoming loose from the rod. One method is to construct the piston and rod of a single piece. However, such method of construction is costly both from a materials standpoint and from a time-consuming standpoint. The machining operation requires that a piece of stock be turned down to the diameter of the piston and that the stock material be further turned down (machined) to the diameter of the rod (two rods if the assembly is a double-acting piston/piston rod assembly). As can be appreciated, such machining is time consuming and expensive. Furthermore, a considerable amount of material must be machined off the stock piece to provide the two different diameters, e.g., piston and piston rod diameters. The loss of this material is costly.
Another less expensive method of producing a piston/piston rod assembly is to produce the rods and piston from separate size stock materials closely matching the desired size of the piston and rod so that less material will be wasted in the machining process. However, some means must be used in securing the piston on the piston rod. Typically, this involves the steps of externally threading an end of the piston rod and internally threading the piston member and then mating the two pieces. It has been found, however, that after considerable use, the piston tends to separate from the piston rod. One typical method of aiding in securing the threaded piston and rod together is to provide a layer of adhesive (such as LOCKTITE) to the threaded portions of the rod and piston. However, it has been found that these adhesives, when dry, tend to create small slivers which get into the system and act as an abrasive.
It has been further found that a typical threaded connection between the rod and piston requires that the rod be provided with a shoulder at the inner end of the rod and that the inner face of the piston be assembled in abutting relation against the should on the rod. Such structure makes it virtually impossible for the outer peripheral surfaces of the piston and piston rod to be parallel to one another and to the internal surface of the bore, since the threads on the ends of the rod and in the interior of the piston must be cut on angle. Because of this type of construction, a certain amount of cocking occurs. In an attempt to overcome this problem, it is necessary to apply a very high torque to the rod and piston when assembling the two members. Such high torque unnecessarily stresses both the rod and piston material and consequently lowers the strength of the material.

Piston/piston rod assembly having positive locking means between said piston and said piston rod


An impregnated flat gasket useful as a cylinder head gasket for an internal-combustion engine, includes a fiber mat comprised of from about 2 to about 20 weight percent of a synthetic organic fiber; from about 10 to about 70 weight percent of a first inorganic filler which has a grain size having a maximum of 0.01 mm and which has a specific surface area having a maximum of 30 m.sup.2 /g; from about 10 to about 70 weight percent of a second inorganic filler which is composed of particles having a shape which is one of needle-shaped and globular, which has a grain size having a maximum of 0.01 mm and which has a specific surface area ranging from 50 to 350 m.sup.2 /g; from about 0.5 to about 1 weight percent of zinc oxide; and from about 3 to about 10 weight percent of a nitrile butadiene latex. The impregnated fiber mat material can be punched into gasket blanks without problems.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an impregnated flat gasket such as, in particular, a cylinder head gasket for internal-combustion engines, made of soft material fiber mats which may be reinforced with a metal reinforcing member, and to a method of producing such an impregnated flat gasket.
2. Background of the Art
A cylinder head gasket for internal-combustion engines is preferably composed of fiber mat material which is plate-shaped and which may contain asbestos or be asbestos free. A metal carrier sheet may be laminated between a pair of fiber mats for reinforcement. Primarily to improve its strength and its sealing behavior, the fiber mat material is preferably impregnated with liquid polymers that are able to undergo cross-linking. These polymers are then cross-linked in the fiber mat, preferably thermally, and by employing cross-linking agents, such as catalysts, as is known in the art. Passage openings are punched through the fiber mat, for example, for internal combustion engine members including the combustion chamber, the fluid to be cooled, the coolant, and the fastening screws. The cut edges of passage openings that are to be under high thermal stresses in use are protected by encasement within U-shaped metal borders that are bent around the edges.
Cylinder head gaskets have been produced by rolling fiber mats onto both sides of a metal carrier sheet, preferably a metal sheet provided with rough teeth, the rough teeth mechanically fastening and clamping together the fiber mats to provide a laminate. Thereafter, the gasket outline and passage openings of the cylinder head gasket blank are punched out of the resulting laminate. Only after the respective passage openings of the gasket blank have been encased in U-shaped metal borders is the finished gasket impregnated with a cross-linkable impregnating agent and then the impregnating agent is cross-linked. The prior art's technique of impregnating the encased gasket advantageously eliminates the need for punching out already impregnated material, a task characterized by a great amount of punching work and tool wear. At the same time, as described in published German Patent Application No. 2,304,592, the impregnation of the already encased gasket keeps the fiber mat material underneath the metal borders substantially free of impregnating agent so that the material there can be subjected to significantly greater pressure stresses than impregnated fiber mat material is able to withstand. Thus, such prior art gaskets can be subjected to high sealing pressures and produces the desired high sealing effect along the passage opening edges.
On the other hand, impregnation of gaskets that are already punched and provided with edge encasements is expensive and may, under the influence of various factors, result in gaskets with faulty impregnation. The cut outline edges of the gasket and the cut edges of the passage openings which are not protected by edge encasements have a greater suction capability for impregnating agent so that more impregnating agent tends to enter into the fiber mat material in the regions around these cut edges. Thus, density differences result in the impregnated soft material, with increased swelling behavior in the edge zones. The presence of impregnating agent in the fiber mat and its subsequent cross-linking produces swelling of the fiber mat so that the gasket must subsequently be further compressed and the borders must be leveled which is expensive.
These difficulties can be avoided if the sealing material is impregnated before the gaskets are punched out. However, it has been noted that, if prior art sealing materials are employed that are made of impregnated and metal reinforced fiber mats, the above-described drawbacks reoccur during punching and as edges are exposed. Moreover, such gaskets no longer have the required absence of impregnating agent underneath the borders.

Impregnated flat gasket and method of producing the gasket


A photodetecting device which is capable of performing photodetection with a high sensitivity in a wide temperature range. A quantum dot structure including an embedding layer and quantum dots embedded by the embedding layer is formed. A quantum well structure including embedding layers and a quantum well layer whose band gap is smaller than those of the embedding layers is formed at a location downstream of the quantum dot structure in the direction of flow of electrons which flow perpendicularly to the quantum dot structure during operation of the photodetecting device. This reduces the temperature dependence of the potential barrier of a photodetecting section, which has to be overcome by electrons, whereby it is possible to lower the potential barrier of the embedding layers at high temperature.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a photodetecting device and a method of manufacturing the same, and more particularly to a photodetecting device having quantum dots and a method of manufacturing the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, there has been used a photodetecting device that uses a quantum well structure having quantum well layers in a photodetecting section thereof (see e.g. Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2000-323742).
The photodetecting device has become capable of detecting infrared light having a wavelength of 10 μm or so, which had been considered difficult to detect, by using the quantum well layers made of e.g. a gallium arsenide (GaAs)-based semiconductor material.
However, the photodetecting device employing the quantum well structure does not detect light which is incident perpendicularly to the layer surfaces of the quantum well layers. To solve this problem, the photodetecting device was required to be provided with a contrivance, such as a special optical device or diffraction grating, for making the incident light substantially parallel to the layer surfaces of the quantum well layers. This resulted in the complicated construction of the photodetecting device, and increased manufacturing costs thereof. On the other hand, the photodetecting device employing the quantum well structure suffered from the problem that dark current, which can be a noise source, is exponentially increased with respect to the operating temperature of the photodetecting device. Therefore, it is difficult for the photodetecting device to operate at a temperature of 300K, which is essential in putting the device to use, and hence it was necessary to cool the device to a temperature at which the adverse influence of the dark current can be made negligible. This also brought about the problem of increased cooling costs of the device.
To cope with these problems, a photodetecting device has been proposed which employs a quantum dot structure having quantum dots in place of the quantum well structure (e.g. see Semiconductor Science and Technology, 1996, Vol. 11, pp. 759 to 765).
The photodetecting device employing the quantum dot structure is capable of detecting light which is incident perpendicularly to the layer surfaces of the quantum dot structure of a photodetecting section thereof. Further, the probability that photoexcited carriers are captured again by the quantum dots is low, and hence it is expected that the photodetecting device can have a high photocurrent gain to achieve high sensitivity. Furthermore, if the quantum dot structure is used in the photodetecting section, it is expected that the signal current can be detected without being buried in the dark current even at a relatively high temperature. This makes it possible to simplify a cooling device for the quantum dot structure for controlling the dark current, and hence the downsizing of the photodetecting device and the reduction of cooling costs thereof can be expected.
However, when the photodetecting device employing the quantum dot structure is actually manufactured, the sensitivity of photodetection is suddenly degraded along with a rise in the temperature of the photodetecting section.
One of the causes of this degradation is the lowered probability of emission of electrons caused by the rise in the temperature of the photodetecting section. Hereinafter, a description will be given of the mechanism causing the lowering of the emission probability.
FIG. 5 is a schematic cross-sectional view of essential parts of a photodetecting device employing a quantum dot structure. FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of the potential distribution of a conduction band of the photodetecting device shown in FIG. 5. The photodetecting device 100 shown in FIG. 5 comprises a substrate 101, a single embedding layer 102 formed over the substrate 101, and a quantum dot structure 105 which is formed over the single embedding layer 102 and includes quantum dots 105a and a single embedding layer 106 arranged in the mentioned order. FIG. 6 schematically shows the potential distribution of the conduction band of the photodetecting device with respect to the Fermi level taken on line X-X′ of FIG. 5, in which are indicated the potential energy 105b of the quantum dots 105a, the Fermi level (Ef), a conduction band end potential (Ec1) at low temperature, and a conduction band end potential (Ec2) at high temperature.
Generally, a potential barrier Ec−Ef, which is the difference between a conduction band end potential (Ec) and the Fermi level Ef, and is produced by a semiconductor layer, can be expressed based on the charge neutral condition by the following equation (1):Ec−Ef=kbT×ln(Nc/Nd)  (1)
In the this equation (1), kb represents a Boltzmann constant, T the temperature of a photodetecting section 100a, Nc an effective density of state of the conduction band of the embedding layers 102 and 106, and Nd an impurity concentration.
As can be understood from the equation (1), the potential barrier Ec−Ef becomes larger in proportion to the temperature of the photodetecting section 100a. More specifically, it is apparent from FIG. 6 that the potential barrier in the vicinity of the quantum dot structure 105 becomes larger in proportion to a rise in the temperature of the photodetecting section 100a (Ec2−Ef>Ec1−Ef).
For this reason, in a process during which light energy is obtained from light absorbed by the quantum dot structure 105 of the photodetecting section 100a, and excited electrons are emitted as photocurrent, when the temperature of the photodetecting section 100a becomes higher, the potential barrier also becomes larger, and therefore the probability of emission of electrons becomes lower. This results in a sudden degradation of the sensitivity of photodetection by the photodetecting device 100.

Photodetecting device and method of manufacturing the same


A propulsion system for accelerating and directionally controlling a fluid having a continuous dynamic surface for circulating through a fluid from an entrainment region where fluid is introduced to the dynamic surface to a thrust region where fluid is discharged from the dynamic surface. The dynamic surface accelerates the fluid proximate to the surface so as to produce a layer of accelerated fluid from the entrainment region through the thrust region. A motor is operatively connected to the dynamic surface for driving the dynamic surface. A separator plate is positioned next to the dynamic surface. The separator plate has a leading edge for stripping the layer of accelerated fluid from the dynamic surface, and a substantially flat thrust face adjacent to the leading edge for directing the accelerated fluid in a desired direction. The separator plate is positionable with respect to the dynamic surface such that the leading edge is generally in close proximity to the dynamic surface, and the thrust face is substantially tangential to the dynamic surface for at least a portion of the thrust region.

Airplanes, boats, hovercraft, and other vehicles are propelled by accelerating a fluid to generate a thrust. The thrust produces a force that drives the vehicle in a direction opposite to the direction of the thrust. Conventional propulsion systems generally include propellers and turbines.
Propeller propulsion systems are widely used in connection with airplanes and boats. Propellers, however, are relatively inefficient because a significant percentage of the fluid is directed radially outward away from the desired direction of the thrust. Accordingly, propellers waste energy on fluid that only marginally increases the thrust output. Propellers are also subject to cavitating when operating in water which further reduces their efficiency. Another problem with propellers is that they are dangerous, resulting in severe injury or even death to persons or animals that come into contact with the propellers as they rotate. Lastly, propellers are exceptionally noisy, creating a public nuisance around airports.
Turbines are widely used to propel airplanes. Turbines, however, have limited applications because they are expensive and noisy. Turbines also do not operate in high-density fluids such as water. In light of the problems with propellers and turbines, it would be desirable to develop a propulsion system that is efficient, safe, quiet, and widely applicable to land, sea, and air vehicles.
One alternate propulsion system is a rotating cylinder. Previous inventions regarding rapidly rotating cylinders have generally focused on using cylinders in a fluid flux to generate lift according to the Magnus effect. Although such applications of a rapidly rotating cylinder are useful for lift, they do not address using a rapidly rotating cylinder to generate a thrust force in a static fluid.
Rotating cylinders have not been widely accepted as a fluid propulsion system to date. When a cylinder is rotated in a fluid, the friction between the cylinder and the fluid causes a portion of the fluid to be entrained in a layer about the cylinder. Conventional propulsion systems using rotating cylinders do not generate sufficient thrust without exceeding the physical dimensions of a given vehicle such as wing span (airplanes) or beam (boat and cars). Thus, to date, rotating cylinders have been impractical to use on full-size applications of planes, boats, hovercraft, and other vehicles.
One propulsion system using rotating cylinders is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,985,406, issued to H. W. Bump, which discloses two rotatable cylinders that act as the lift and propulsion means for an aircraft. The cylinders are positioned substantially parallel to each other and rotated towards each other so that the air flows around the cylinders and converges at the rear of the cylinders. The air is initially entrained from the space between the cylinders and directed around the outside of the cylinders. If left unobstructed, the direction of the accelerated fluid in the space between the cylinders would generally be opposite to the desired direction of maximum thrust. To appropriately direct the accelerated fluid, Bump places a deflector at the rear portion of the cylinders that separates the accelerated air from the cylinders, and angles it 90.degree. to direct it in the desired direction.
Rotating cylinder propulsion systems have many advantages compared to propellers and turbines. First, such systems are relatively safe compared to propellers because they do not have any blades and they create a layer of inviscid fluid flow next to the cylinder that generally prevents objects from actually contacting the surface of the cylinders. Rotating cylinders are also exceptionally quiet, and equally applicable to operating in air or water. Therefore, it would be desirable to develop an efficient and flexible propulsion system using rapidly rotating cylinders, or another type of continuous dynamic surface such as a rapidly moving belt, for accelerating and directing a static fluid.

Fluid propulsion system for accelerating and directionally controlling a fluid


Novel preventive treatment for COVID 19 and therapeutic treatment for early stages of COVID 19 or any other disease caused by SARS CoV 2. Pharmaceutical formulations and devices are disclosed to be able to implement these treatments. These treatments to prevent and alleviate the symptoms at early stages of COVID 19, the pandemic disease caused by SARS CoV 2. These treatments are based on the administration the nasal cavity and/or the lungs of solutions containing iota Carrageenan with or without the addition of xylitol as antiviral drug substances.

Coronaviruses are enveloped, positive-sense single-stranded RNA viruses. They have the largest genomes (26-32 kb) among known RNA viruses, and are phylogenetically divided into four genera (a, (3, y, 6), with beta coronaviruses further subdivided into four lineages (A, B, C, D). Coronaviruses infect a wide range of avian and mammalian species, including humans. Of the six known human coronaviruses, four of them (HCoV-OC43, HCoV-229E, HCoV-HKU1 and HCoV-NL63) circulate annually in humans and generally cause mild respiratory diseases, although severity can be greater in infants, elderly, and the immunocompromised. In contrast, the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) and the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV), belonging to beta coronavirus lineages C and B, respectively, are highly pathogenic. Both viruses emerged into the human population from animal reservoirs within the last 15 years and caused outbreaks with high case-fatality rates.
SARS CoV 2 is the virus responsible for COVID 19, the pandemic disease initiated in Wuhan, China. It provokes severe acute respiratory syndromes, that may lead to death (Yang et al., Cellular & Molecular Immunology; doi.org/10.1038/s41423-020-0407-x). The high pathogenicity and airborne transmissibility of SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV, the high case-fatality rate, vaguely defined epidemiology, and absence of prophylactic or therapeutic measures against coronaviruses have created an urgent need for an effective vaccine and related therapeutic agents.

Preventive and therapeutic treatment for COVID 19 and any other disease caused by SARS CoV 2


Two or more media drives that cannot be detached by the user are pre-installed in an enclosure. An expansion slot member having the smaller number of expansion drive slots than the number of media drives that can be pre-installed are provided. The media drives that are installed via the expansion drive slots are installed so as to be detached by the user.

The present invention generally relates to a storage device.
The mounting of respective media drives in a canister and the installation of respective canisters in the storage device is known (Japanese Application Laid Open No. 2005-158101, for example). A canister is a device provided with a media drive (a hard disk drive, for example) and a handle and so forth.
In maintenance work, the media drive in the canister can be removed from the storage device by pulling out the canister by grasping the handle thereof. In order to perform maintenance work, a certain degree of knowledge with regard to the constitution of the storage device and the method of using same and so forth is generally required. However, users that use the storage device are not necessarily limited to such knowledge. Hence, an improvement in user convenience is desirable.


An endoscope assembly has an endoscope, having an optical waveguide and having an image guide, wherein the image guide is configured to be uninterrupted up to its proximal end and has an image guide interface at its proximal end for optical connection to an image capturing unit, an illumination unit having a light source and having an optical waveguide interface for optical connection of the light source to an optical waveguide, and an image capturing unit having an image sensor and having an image guide interface for optical connection of the image sensor to an image guide.

Endoscopes with image guides are well-known in the art. The image guide can be used to transmit an image to an image sensor arranged outside of the endoscope. Compared to an arrangement of the image sensor within the endoscope, this has the advantage that the endoscope can be manufactured at lower costs.
However, after use, endoscopes require considerable treatment and sterilization. Therefore, an object of the invention is to provide an endoscope of the aforementioned type which is altogether easier to handle.


Vascular endothelial growth factor alternative splice variants and methods of their use are provided.

Vascular endothelial growth factor A/vascular permeability factor (VEGF A/VPF) is a complete pro-angiogenic growth factor that increases permeability of microvessels, stimulates endothelial cell proliferation, migration, and differentiation into tubules, which are precursors to blood vessels. In addition, it can also serve as a survival factor that protects vascular endothelial cells against apoptosis and senescence.
Although one gene encodes for rodent and human VEGF-A, a number of VEGF-A proteins with specific activities can be produced through alternative splicing of the eight exons within the single VEGF gene. In humans, seven different alternative splice variants of VEGF have been identified thus far. In the murine system, five alternative splice variants have been identified, which are one amino acid shorter than those in the human system.
The splice variants of murine VEGF thus far identified are designated as VEGF120, VEGF144, VEGF164, and VEGF188. The basis for the different biological functions of VEGF splice variants is based on the specific exons present in the mRNA of the splice variant that determines the amino acids present and in turn determines the differences in the binding and affinity of the VEGF-A splice variants for the VEGF receptors, which include the receptor tyrosine kinases VEGFR-1, VEGFR-2, and the co-receptors, neuropilin-1 (NP-1) and NP-2. Endothelial cell proliferation is stimulation through phosphorylation of VEGFR-2 (Flk-1/KDR).
The existence of a novel VEGF alternative splice transcript was previously reported, and designated VEGF205. That variant was present only in mouse skin papillomas and squamous cell carcinomas, but not in normal skin. In this specification, we describe for the first time the cloning, sequencing, and characterization of a new VEGF, VEGF205*, a 145-amino acid protein with significantly different carboxyl-terminus tail than any other VEGF alternative splice variant described to date in mouse or human systems.

Vascular endothelial growth factors and methods of their use

The Ohio State University Research Foundation


In embodiments there is disclosed a modular pole for horticultural and agricultural use, pole sections and connector pins for use to assemble the pole, and methods for assembling the pole. In embodiments a connector pin is inserted into end sockets in opposed pole section ends and in embodiments the ends are held onto the connector pin by a fastener which may comprise a clip or a threaded sleeve.

1. Field
The subject matter disclosed generally relates modular poles for horticultural and agricultural use.
2. Related Prior Art
Modular poles are known in the art but the existing designs suffer from a range of disadvantages. U.S. Pat. No. 7,458,475 to Ho describes a modular tree like assembly for displaying potted plants. U.S. Pat. No. 8,006,434 to Allsop and Clausen describes a telescopic gardening stake. US2008034650 to Williams describes a modular pole structure wherein successive segments are screwed into one another. The contents of U.S. Pat. No. 7,458,475, U.S. Pat. No. 8,006,434 and U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2008/034650 are all incorporated herein in their entirety.


A microwave applicator for processing of radioactive waste slurry uses a waveguide network which splits an input microwave of TE.sub.10 rectangular mode to TE.sub.01 circular mode. A cylindrical body has four openings, each receiving 1/4 of the power input. The waveguide network includes a plurality of splitters to effect the 1/4 divisions of power.

Radioactive transuranic liquified wastes produced by nuclear facilities present a difficult problem in terms of storage. Typically, these wastes are stored on site in large stainless steel tanks. Due to the limited capacity of existing storage tanks, industry has sought effective means for reducing the volume of transuranic wastes.
Prior art attempts to effect volume reduction by drying and melting radioactively contaminated slurries have used some what complicated mechanical structures such as "wiped-film evaporators" and "extruders". A wiped-film evaporator is described in a publication entitled "Wiped-Film Evaporators for Evaporating Alkaline Light Water Reactor Radioactive Wastes", by C. B. Goodlett in Nucl. Tech., 43, pp. 259-267, (April, 1979). An extruder is described in a publication entitled "Twin-Screw Compounding" by D. F. Mielcarek in Chem. Engr. Prog., pp. 59-67 (June, 1987). Both types of devices require moving parts and bearings that are prone to wear and corrode when exposed to hot, abrasive, and corrosive chemical slurries. Moreover, both processes require a mechanical process mover to wipe a thin slurry film on an externally heated casing to dry the slurry. Also, some means of conveying the hot slurry is required to prevent build-up in both the wiped-film evaporator and the extruder.
Microwave heating of radioactive wastes has been described in several publications. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,514,329 to Wakabayashi et al. describes the treatment of radioactive waste with microwave energy, but the process relates to high temperature vitrification into glass. U.S. Pat. No. 4,563,335 to Akiyama et al. describes a device for concentrating and denitrating a nitrate solution by using microwave energy. However, this reference also requires moving parts to transport the final product and is thus not Hardwick et al. describes a treatment process for high level nuclear wastes in which microwave energy is used to create a glass wasteform.
Other publications that describe other microwave applications to nuclear waste treatment include the following U.S. Pat. Nos.: 4,040,973 to Szivos et al., 4,778,626 to Ramm et al., 4,844,838 to Ohtsuka et al., 4,476,098 to Nakamori et al., and 4,565,670 to Miyazaki et al. In general, these references do not show in-drum processes and thus suffer from requiring moving parts and complex materials handling structures.

Microwave applicator for in-drum processing of radioactive waste slurry


An apparatus including a ring network, a plurality of nodes on the ring network to act as senders, a node on the ring network to act as a receiver, the receiver having receiver logic to place a token on the ring, the token further having an indication of an activation status, and network logic to pass the token along the ring network from each node to the next after the token is placed on the ring network and to activate the token by setting the indication of the activation status to a value indicating that the token is active at a location on the ring determined so that over a defined period of time, the token is activated in proximity to each sender at approximately the same frequency.

Flow control mechanisms in computer networks govern the transfer of packets from a source node to a destination node (in the art, and in the following, the term source may be used interchangeably with sender, destination with receiver, and node with agent). Typical flow control mechanisms include negative-acknowledgment (NACK)/retry, drop/source-timeout/retry, credit/debit, and network buffering. Generally, a source or sending node or agent sends a packet to a destination or sink node or agent, where the destination node has a finite amount of "ingress buffering" for holding packets it has received from the source node prior to processing.
In a credit/debit flow mechanism for a network, a source node on the network keeps track of the number of buffers available at a destination node through the use of "credits" and "debits." A source node will only send a packet or, in general, data, to a destination node if the source node knows there is a free buffer available at the destination node to accept the packet. When the source node sends a packet to the destination node, the source node "debits" (decrements) a local count of the number of free buffers the destination node has available. When the destination node removes a packet from its incoming buffers, the destination node sends a "credit" message back to the source node, and the source node "credits" (increments) the local count of the number of free buffers the destination node has available.
The destination node can choose to statically allocate its buffers amongst the sending nodes, whereby a fixed number of the destination node's incoming buffers are reserved for each of the M source nodes. If the destination node has a total of N incoming buffers, it may equally allocate N/M buffer entries to each source node. This works well if traffic to the destination node from all the source nodes is exactly uniform. But any deviation from uniform traffic will cause inefficiencies in the utilization of the N buffers. A degenerate form of this design is to provide enough buffering at the destination node such that all of the packets that the source nodes may send simultaneously can be accommodated. In other words, if each of the M source nodes can have P packets in-flight, then each destination node must have P*M buffer entries. The drawback with this mechanism is that it leads to an inefficient, area-hungry design because the buffer utilization is usually very low.
The destination node may instead allocate N credits, one for each of its receiving buffers. The source nodes need to share the N credits. The simplest way to share the credits amongst S distributed sending agents is to give each agent N/S credits for the receiving agents buffers. This promotes fairness amongst the agents, but does not handle imbalanced demand from the agents optimally. For example, when a single agent has many messages to send, and the others have none, the single agent is limited to using N/S credits, which will limit the message bandwidth from the agent.

Ring network with variable token activation