A projectile may include a base drag reduction fairing preform adapted to be plastically deformed into a base drag reduction fairing after the projectile is launched from a gun barrel.

1. Field
This disclosure relates to projectiles and in particular to increasing the range of projectiles.
2. Description of the Related Art
Any object moving through air is subject to various forces that act in a direction opposed to the direction of motion and thus tend to retard the motion. One such first commonly called "base drag" which is the force caused by a low pressure region formed behind a moving object. In oversimplified terms, the moving object leaves a partial vacuum in the space that the object has just vacated. Base drag is particularly severe for objects, such as projectiles and trucks, which end abruptly with a rear surface roughly normal to the direction of motion.
The base drag of projectiles may be reduced by increasing turbulence near the rear of a projectile such that the adjacent air fills the space being vacated by the moving projectile more quickly. U.S. Pat. No. 6,297,486 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,813,635 describe projectiles with features intended to reduce base drag.
The base drag of projectiles may be reduced or eliminated by filling the space being vacated by the projectile with gas generated within the projectile. U.S. Pat. No. 6,297,486 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,813,635 describe projectiles that burn a fuel material to produce gas that is exhausted through the base of the projectile to reduce base drag. This approach to reducing base drag is commonly referred to as "base bleed". The addition of a base bleed generator to a projectile increases the projectile cost and, due to the need to store the base bleed fuel, reduces the volume within the projectile that is available for other content.
Virtually all modern munitions are required to be "insensitive". Insensitive munitions are munitions that minimize the probably of inadvertent ignition or detonation, and which minimize the severity of collateral damage to weapons platforms, other equipment and personnel if inadvertent ignition should occur. Specifically, insensitive munitions are munitions that do not react more violently than burning when subjected to slow or fast heating; fragment, bullet, spall, or shaped charge impact; or detonation of an adjacent similar motor. Requirements for insensitive munitions are generally described in MIL-STD-2105B, Hazard Assessment Test for Non-Nuclear Ordinance. Specific test requirements are described in NATO STANAG (Standardization Agreement) documents.
Significantly, base bleed generators typically generate gas using fuel materials that are slow burning but easily ignitable. The use of easily ignitable base bleed fuel materials may complicate or preclude the projectile from complying with various insensitive munitions requirements.
Base drag may also be reduced by modifying the shape of the rear of the moving object. U.S. Pat. No. 4,674,706 describes a projectile including a telescoping extension to reduce base drag at the rear of the projectile. U.S. Pat. No. 6,657,174 describes a projectile including an inflatable extension to reduce base drag at the rear of the projectile.
Throughout this description, each element appearing in a figure is assigned a unique three-digit reference designator, where the most significant digit is the figure number where the element was introduced. An element that is not described in conjunction with a figure may be presumed to have the same characteristics and function as a previously-described element having the same reference designator.


A system for streaming a plurality of video or other recorded signals from storage to receiving devices maintains each of the signal streams at their encoded bit rate. The bit rate of each stream is detected from the stored signals and a corresponding queue is set up in memory or in a network interface card for outputting data at the detected bit rate. A channel timing module in the signal streaming device contains a two-stage dithered counter for each bit rate. The first stage of the counter counts one clock cycle longer than the second stage. By adjusting the ratio of the first stage and second stage counters in a fixed number of cycles (the dither cycle) a very precise average count is achieved. The average count is calculated to achieve the desired bit rate with a given packet size. Every time either the first stage of the second counter times out, a packet of data is sent to the corresponding queue in the network interface. As a result, the network interface is able to output packet isochronous signals with an average bit rate within one bit per second of desired bit rates between one megabit/second and 20 megabit/second and with a jitter of less than two milliseconds.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to streaming video signals and, more particularly, to an apparatus for simultaneously streaming user-specified video files encoded at varying bit rates over a single network.
2. Description of the Related Art
The role of streaming video in local area networks is expected to increase rapidly in the near future due to developments in video compression and deployment of transmission systems with increased bandwidth. Using the Moving Pictures Expert Group (MPEG) standards it is possible to compress an audio/video source in such a way that a constant bit rate stream is created. This stream can be captured and stored on appropriate media such as a redundant array of independent disks (RAID) or a digital video (or versatile) disc (DVD). The MPEG data stream then has to be reproduced at the encoding rate for use by playback devices.
The MPEG compression standards are used worldwide for constant bit rate digital video encoding. Decoding of MPEG video so that each picture and each audio frame is played once and only once relies on the ability to deliver each bit from the encoder to the decoder with a constant delay. This constant bit rate delivery is generally termed "isochronous streaming." In live broadcasts the encoder is responsible for generating the MPEG bit stream at the proper rate. However, when this information is stored for later playback another mechanism is required to "meter" the data from the storage media to the playback device. Normally, no feedback is provided to the sender by the receiver of MPEG video. The receiver depends on the transmission rate to be both smooth and accurate in order to decode MPEG video properly.
MPEG audio and video content may be recorded at any arbitrary rate. Some examples are streams that are 3.282, 3.420, 6.144, and 6.000 megabits per second. Some conventional systems use a handshake protocol to inform the receiving device what is the bit rate of the video stream that will be sent. However, that requires the receiving device to be programmed to use the protocol to communicate with the sending device. Other systems distribute the MPEG data in large "chunks" of data (up to tens of kilobytes) that require the receiving device to have enough expensive memory to buffer the data for smooth display. This type of delivery precludes using the MPEG System Clock synchronization mechanism which is required for precise playback.
Compressed video (e.g., MPEG-2) data is normally transmitted via satellite, cable, terrestrial digital broadcast and other transmission systems using serial bit stream mechanisms. In those systems, the data is clocked one bit at a time into the transmission data stream using the bit level clock of the transmission system. As a result, the average data rate is regulated directly by the bit level clock and the jitter is only that present on the bit level clock (normally substantially less than one millisecond). Jitter is a measurement of how early or how late a specific bit arrives from its intended arrival time.
The MPEG data streams that are sent on these type of transmission systems are multiplexed (with multiple programs and padding) so that the total MPEG stream rate is exactly the same as the network payload bit rate. An MPEG data stream cannot be as easily sent using an asynchronous transmission system or network like Ethernet or Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), because such asynchronous networks operate on the packet (or cell) level rather than the bit level. Due to the use of packets to transmit data, it is more difficult to recover the input bit rate for a data stream from a network like Ethernet or ATM than from a multiplexed serial signal sent at a similar rate. A packet network will transmit an entire packet of MPEG data at the bit rate of the packet network, e.g., 155.52 Mb/s for ATM OC-3. In the best case, i.e., when the first bit of a packet is received at precisely the correct time, the maximum jitter of MPEG data in a packet will be determined by how much too early the last bit is received. Ignoring packet overhead, the formula for maximum jitter of the last bit when the first bit is on time is set forth in equation (1):(Packet Size/Stream Rate)−(Packet Size/Network Rate)  (1)As apparent from this formula, jitter increases as the packet size increases and as the difference increases between the input data stream rate and the network transmission rate.
For example, in ATM OC-3 the smallest unit of data that can be sent is called a "cell", the bit rate is 155.52 Mb/s and the cell size is 53 bytes (roughly 48 payload and 5 overhead bytes). As a result, one ATM cell transmitted at 155.52 Mb/s typically contains 384 bits of MPEG data. Assuming a 3.42 Mb/s stream, if the first bit of MPEG data in an ATM cell is received at the correct time, the last MPEG data bit in the cell will be received early by 384/3.42 Mb/s−384/155.52 Mb/s, for a maximum jitter of about 0.11 ms. With 100 Mb/s Ethernet, the packet size is typically closer to 1000 bytes. So, for roughly 1000 bytes, the MPEG data stream created at 3.42 Mb/s, is sent at 100 Mb/s to produce a maximum jitter of 2.26 ms.
It is possible to use smaller packet sizes (with increased overhead) but the packets or cells will still be transmitted by ATM OC-3 and 100 Mb/s Ethernet far faster than the input MPEG data stream rate. To properly shape the data as it is introduced into the network, some network technologies, such as ATM, provide a traffic shaping mechanism. The specifics of how this mechanism works vary, but in general constant bit rates are metered to the network with some level of granularity. For a network interface running at OC-3 speed (roughly 155 megabits/sec) this granularity will be no better than about 40,000 bits/second. At one of the higher MPEG data rates of 6 megabits/second and assuming thirty frames per second with an average frame size of 200,000 bits, this granularity in the worst case would cause a full frame over-run or under-run every 5 seconds which is unacceptable for playback of high quality video. Thus, even in networks with robust "quality of service" mechanisms for providing constant bit rate transmission, it is not possible to rely on the inherent traffic shaping mechanism alone. Other network technologies such as IEEE 1394 have similar limitations.
A video distribution system using a packet network like 100 Mb/s Ethernet or ATM to transmit MPEG data to devices that are not programmed to use a handshake protocol must strike a balance between the size of receiving video buffers and the packet size, so as to keep overhead at an acceptable level and still provide a smooth flow of data. Once the packet size has been determined, the absolute minimum size of the receiving video buffer will be determined by the best-case jitter of the last bit, calculated using equation (1).
Furthermore, as the number of concurrent video streams in a given network segment increases, it is essential that each stream be well-behaved to maximize network efficiency. Well-behaved implies that each stream is as nearly isochronous as possible within the packet structure of the network. This is referred to as packet isochronous transmission. In a network with a large percentage of streaming traffic, bursty transmission of MPEG video streams in the network will result in congestion and network failure much more quickly than constant bit rate transmission. The more closely the individual data streams are maintained at a constant bit rate, the higher the total aggregate of such streams that can be carried on the network while maintaining a desired quality of service.


A system for limiting contact between a tape (e.g., magnetic, optical) and opposite reel flanges of a reel assembly as the tape is being wound onto or unwound from the reel assembly to reduce axial and radial tape run out and improve tape drive operations.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to tape drives and, more particularly, to the winding of tape around reels within a tape drive.
2. Relevant Background
Tape drives have been widely employed in industry for over thirty years due to their ability to store large amounts of data on a relatively small and inexpensive removable format. Typically, tape drives use a storage tape that is wound between a pair of tape reels as data is transferred to or from the tape media via a read/write tape head assembly. In one arrangement, one of the reels (e.g., the "take-up" reel) is part of the tape drive while the other reel (e.g., the "cartridge" or "supply" reel) is part of a removable cartridge. Upon insertion of the cartridge into the tape drive, the storage tape on the cartridge reel must be coupled to the take-up reel of the tape drive (e.g., via respective leaders). After coupling, the tape is unwound from the cartridge reel, moved past the tape head assembly and wound onto the take-up reel via a drive motor. Next, the tape is unwound from the take-up reel, moved past the tape head assembly and wound onto the cartridge. Subsequently, the storage tape must be uncoupled from the take-up reel, prior to removing the cartridge from the tape drive. In another arrangement, both reels are part of a cassette which is inserted into a tape drive and driven by a drive motor.
To increase the storage density and reduce the access time of magnetic tapes, a popular trend is towards multi-head, multi-channel fixed head structures with narrowed recording gaps and data track widths so that many linear data tracks may be manipulated on a tape medium of a predetermined width (e.g., such as one-half inch width tape) passing by the head structures at increasingly faster rates of speed. However, various factors work against the ability of present systems to achieve such increased storage densities and reduced access times. As an example, "axial" run out or lateral motion of the tape as the tape moves past the tape head assembly can generate lateral registration differences or errors between the tape head assembly and the data tracks contained on the tape, thus inhibiting such increased storage densities and reduced data access times. As another example, "radial" run out refers to tension variations in the tape that negatively affect tape drive operations.

System for reducing contact between tape and flanges of reel in tape drive


The present invention provides a spatial positioning and measurement system and a reference station for determining the instantaneous position of a dynamic reference point. The reference station emits a primary laser beam, determines the terrestrial position of a local reference point located on the reference station using a satellite based global positioning system and transmits the terrestrial position. The system detects the primary laser beam and the terrestrial position of the local reference point and responsively determining the terrestrial position of the dynamic reference point.

Today's construction site is designed by an architect. The architect's designs are copied to blueprints and transmitted to the contractor. The contractor will stake the area, i.e., survey the undeveloped area and place stakes at predetermined positions. The contractor, by comparing the architect's plans and the results of the survey, will determine the amount of dirt that needs to be removed or placed at each marker to meet the design plans.
After this process, earthmoving machines, e.g., bulldozers, scrapers, or excavators, are used to remove or fill the areas around the stakes. An unprocessed island is left remaining around the stake. After all the areas have been processed, the site is surveyed once again to confirm that the processed site meets the design specifications.
The above process requires large amounts of manual labor. The site has to be surveyed, staked, molded and surveyed once again. Furthermore, only a highly trained operator can efficiently operate the machine to obtain the desired degree of accuracy.
Laser systems have been used in order to provide a reference to the operator in performing this process. Typically, the laser system emits a beam of light which is swept over the site in a plane. The machine must be equipped with a suitable receiver. The system is able to give the operator an indication of the height of the machine and/or work implement.
However, there are certain limitations in present laser systems. First, present day systems rely on a number of reference stations which produce laser beams. Each of the reference stations must be place at a pre-surveyed position. The reference station cannot be moved without surveying in a new position. This limits the systems' usefulness because the survey process is time consuming. In addition, the reference stations must be placed at a location which is not subject to change. Otherwise a new location will have to be surveyed. Also, the present systems are limited in that without surveying new locations for the reference stations, the systems range is limited to the range of the laser and detectors.
Furthermore, the site plan must be defined with a fixed reference system. In order to determine position relative to the fixed reference system, the location of the reference station must be known within the fixed reference system. In known systems, the location of each reference station must be manually surveyed. In addition, the reference station cannot be moved without surveying the new location.
Other systems have used positioning systems directly on the various machines. For example, satellite systems enable a user with a specialized receiver to receive transmitted signals and using triangulation methods enable a user to determine position. However at a work site, this would require equipping each work machine that was processing the site with an expensive receiver.
The present invention is directed to overcoming one or more of the problems, as set forth above.

Apparatus and system for determining terrestrial position


A dynamic impedance system deployable on a current transformer having a core and at least one winding element is provided. The dynamic impedance system includes a voltage reference module and a dynamic impedance module operably connected to one another. The voltage reference module defines a voltage threshold for regulating an output voltage of the current transformer. The dynamic impedance module regulates the output voltage based on the voltage threshold defined by the voltage reference module to maintain flux induced in the current transformer, thereby avoiding core saturation of the current transformer and enhancing accuracy of measurements.

Current transformers (CTs) are widely used in the electric power industry to measure line current for protection and metering. The line current is applied to a primary coil of the CT, and a reduced-magnitude version of the line current is produced on a secondary coil of the CT. This reduced-magnitude version of the line current is suitable for electronic measurement, monitoring, and control and protection applications of power equipment in the electrical network. Typically, during faults and disturbances, due to high electrical current flowing through the CT, the core of the CT saturates. This results in generation of a distorted secondary signal as an output at the secondary terminals of the CT, thereby having a condition of incorrect representation of the electric current flowing in the electrical network. This core saturation phenomenon can adversely affect all the measuring, monitoring and protection applications that rely on the current output from CT. Because the output of the CT may not indicate the true current in the electric network during the fault and disturbance condition, adequate protection and control decisions implemented through the protection devices may get affected, thereby resulting in damage of equipment connected in the electrical network.
Moreover, signal conditioning and measurement circuits typically need voltage and/or current as an input and hence the voltage and/or current of the secondary of the CT are signal conditioned to an appropriate voltage and used for measurement and monitoring purposes. Conventional approaches involve connecting a static burden resistance to the secondary of the CT. This burden resistance sets the operating range of the CT. The lower operating range decides the accuracy specification because the voltage across the burden resistance is small. The higher operating range is decided based on the signal conditioning circuit and saturation limit of the core. With increasing primary current, flux in the magnetic core increases, pushing it towards saturation. Furthermore, with an increase in flux, the non-linear behaviour posed by the magnetic material of the core increases, thereby resulting in higher errors at higher operating ranges.
FIG. 1 depicts a part of an equivalent circuit 100 of a conventional current transformer having a burden resistor rb connected with a secondary coil represented by a resistor rCoil, of the current transformer. The excitation quantity for the system is the primary current IP. The governing equations for the system are:
      Φ    =                                        N            p                                          I            p                          -                              N            s                                          I            s                              R            Φ    =                            I          S                *                  (                                    r              b                        +                          r              Coil                                )                            (                              N            S                    *          ω                )            Where: Φ—core flux, IP—primary current, NP—number of turns of the primary, which are typically=1 for a current transformer application, IS—secondary current, NS—number of turns of the secondary coil, R—reluctance of the magnetic core, rb—secondary burden resistance, rCoil—resistance of the secondary coil and ω—frequency of excitation. Solving these two equations we can derive the equation for Φ as a function of the excitation, that is, a function of the primary current, using the equation below:
  Φ  =            [                        N          p                                  I          P                *                  (                                    r              b                        +                          r              Coil                                )                    ]              [                        (                                    Ns              2                        *            ω                    )                +                  R          *                      (                                          r                b                            +                              r                Coil                                      )                              ]      In a conventional scenario, the burden resistance rb is kept constant. With all other quantities as constant, it is seen that Φ is proportional to IP and thus increases with an increase in IP. Thus the flux Φ increases thereby, climbing upward in the B-H curve associated with the current transformer. Above a certain limit, the flux Φ saturates causing distortions in the secondary voltage and measurements. Due to this there still exists a non-linearity in the conventional burden resistor based systems. Moreover, in case of higher operating primary currents, the current through the burden resistor rb increases. This increases the power dissipation and the temperature of the burden resistor rb. With further increase in temperature, resistance of the burden resistor rb changes thereby, affecting accuracy of measurements.
Conventional approaches are typically aimed at detecting saturation in a current transformer, wherein if saturation is detected, the information is used to restrain/adapt a protection device's measurements dependent on the data measured by the current transformer by employing curve fitting, look up tables, etc. Some other methods typically use artificial intelligence techniques like neural networks to detect this saturation wherein huge amount of past data is required to train the neural network. However, these conventional approaches are largely aimed at correction of the errors occurring as a result of core saturation. Moreover, calibrating such errors is tedious as the measurements are dependent on material properties of the core which vary with temperature. Furthermore, calibration of these errors is difficult because it requires determination of fine points which will also vary with materials and environmental factors.
Therefore, it is an object of the present disclosure to provide a device of the aforementioned kind that extends an operating range of a current transformer by preventing the transformer core from saturating thereby, resulting in an increased accuracy of measurement at higher primary currents and protection of downstream electronics at higher operating currents.

Dynamic impedance system for an increased range of operation of an instrument transformer


A removable wind deflector is provided for a freight container which may be shipped on an open or flat bed truck, railway car, etc. This reduces the need for an expensive air flow cowling on the truck, and reduces the load on the gear and brake systems, besides improving fuel consumption. The assembly of the deflector and the freight container also permits the user to reduce capital costs inherent in a permanent trailer and box combination. The wind deflector may be attached and removed quickly, without extensive labor, and without changing the shape of the container.

This invention relates to a new and improved container transportation system, and method, and to portable containers which can be converted to aerodynamic structures at low cost, and then be quickly and inexpensively reconverted to their original configuration.
The use of aerodynamic leading edges on vehicles to reduce drag is well known, and typical patents in this field include: U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,021,069; 4,098,534; 4,125,754; 4,281,869; 4,318,566; 4,457,550; 4,557,517; 4,560,193; 4,688,841; Canadian Pat. No. 1,021,376 (Nov. 22, 1977); and Austrian Pat. No. 109,199 (Mar. 26, 1928).
Usually, these leading edges are shaped as a wind deflector and are permanently mounted to the truck, the trailer, or both; occasionally, a wind deflector is also mounted at the end of the trailer.
One basic problem with this arrangement is that heretofore, the wind deflectors have only been used as a permanent installation, and only in association with large and expensive trailers which are hauled by tractor trucks that are also expensive.
It would be preferred to avoid using an expensive tractor trailer arrangement, but instead use a removable aerodynamic wind deflector in association with an inexpensive vehicle, particularly a flatbed truck. This arrangement would represent a considerable reduction in the capital costs of a trailer and still retain benefits such as reduced gear and brake wear, lower horsepower requirements, and better fuel mileage. Also, this would represent a more efficient use of these wind deflectors.
It would also be preferable to load or unload a freight container directly from a ship onto or off a flatbed truck or other open carrier such as a flatbed railway freight car, and then quickly attach a wind deflector to the container or remove it quickly from the container. This would also reduce the need for unloading the freight container, reload the contents into a freight car and unloading again at the delivery point.
Preferably, the wind deflectors should be stackable, and since freight containers are usually the same size, only one size, or a limited few sizes of wind deflector would be required for commercial purposes.
Also, it would be desireable to position the container below the cab level to reduce the effect of a head wind or cross wind on the container, and hence the vehicle.

Removable wind deflector for freight container, and assembly


A switch is provided having a switch transistor as well as a monitoring component to monitor a control signal applied to the switch transistor. With the monitoring component, in some implementation a monitoring of the control signal independent from a load path may be possible.

Switches are used in electrical applications to selectively provide an electrical connection between two or more terminals of a respective switch. Power switches are used in applications where high voltages have to be switched and/or high currents have to be conducted via the switch, for example voltages of hundred Volts or more and currents of several Amperes, for example several tens of Amperes. Such switches may inter alia be used in safety-critical environments, for example in automotive applications. In such environments, besides the "pure" function of a device like a switch (that is selectively providing an electrical connection), functional safety aspects become more and more important, for example in automotive applications in the power transmission chain, braking, engine management etc.
For example, according to some functional safety requirements, for a specific function there may have to be alternative ways to achieve this function, and/or a safe switch-off path to deactivate the function. In some cases, in order to achieve this, redundancy may be provided, for example alternative connections between devices, or different ways to achieve a function may be provided, which is an example for diversification (sometimes also referred to as diversity). To give an example, in conventional systems to control a switch or combination of switches (for example arranged in a half-bridged topology), in some applications two signal paths are required: one to define a switching behavior of a switch (for example by providing a pulse width modulated (PWM) signal), and another one to enable/disable the operation of the switch or combination of switches. These two signals are generated and provided by different paths. However, in conventional approaches the signal paths are merged before a single control signal is provided to the switch. When a signal path used to transmit the single control signal is broken, the switch may enter an undesired or undefined state or may otherwise exhibit an erroneous behavior. In safety-critical environments, it is often desirable to be able to at least detect such an erroneous state.


The present invention relates to a system for group viewing of kaleidoscopic images in which such system is a fully-integrated unit that is compact, attractive and of relatively low cost. In preferred form, the system uses a TEE-shaped outer housing in which system elements for the separate functions of cooling, for kaleidoscopically projection, for viewing and for angular pattern driving are accurately and compactly provided. The system elements that provide the functions of cooling, kaleidoscopic projection and viewing are positioned in first and second parallel arms (of circular cross section). While a third transverse arm (of square cross section attached to a flared base supported on a horizontal surface of a desk, table or the like, supports the angular driving elements.

Kaleidoscopes of various forms and embodiments are well known in the art. In this simplest form, the hand-held kaleidoscope includes a cylinder in which reflective mirrors extend longitudinally with the mirrors being at an angle of which 360 degrees is a multiple. One end of the cylinder has a cover provided with an eye-piece, while at the far end, the cylinder is closed by two spaced discs between colored objects are loosely located usually in a separately rotatable box-like cavity (usually called an object box). The latter discs are transparent such that light can enter the far end of the cylinder. When the hand-held kaleidoscope is held to a person's eye with the far end pointed to a source of light (artificial or natural), the colored objects between the transparent discs and within the angle of the mirrors are viewed as a primary image, but simultaneously with an angular array of reflected images. Rotating the object box, results in changes in the pattern of the images.
While hand-held kaleidoscopes have retained their standings as a favorite toy, their effect is usually limited to one person's edification and inspiration. In many cases, an enhancement of such images is desirable. For example, in a co-pending Application entitled "SYSTEM FOR PROJECTING KALEIDOSCOPIC IMAGES FOR GROUP VIEWING USING A DYNAMICALLY OPERATING KALEIDOSCOPE AS AN INTEGRAL ELEMENT", Paul A. Nelson Jr. et al, Ser. No. 07/563,097 filed Aug. 3, 1990 now U.S. Pat. No. 5,094,525 issued Mar. 10, 1992, there is shown a system for enlarging the images of a hand-held kaleidoscopes using a projection system that includes a lamp to emit light through the kaleidoscope to be marketed. In that way, potential buyers could view the images in a group setting. It has now been discovered that group viewing of kaleidoscopic images is desirable in and of itself provided the elements of such a system could be integrated to a compact, attractive and relative inexpensive unit.

System for projecting kaleidoscopic images for group viewing


The shape of chrome patterns on an optical pattern transfer tool are adjusted to get a desired shape on a wafer in the manufacture of semiconductor devices, wherein very small regions on a photoresist are defined and these regions are controlled with a high degree of accuracy. The optical pattern transfer tool has first and second planar surfaces lying in substantially parallel planes and a plurality of opaque regions overlying the first planar surface. First and second steps formed between and the first and second planar surfaces at first and second edges, respectively, define a width of the first planar surface. Each of the opaque regions are spaced from one another and offset from one another such that they are alternately aligned along a length of the first planar surface, such that one of the opaque regions is aligned with a portion of the first edge and the next one of the opaque regions along the length is aligned with a portion of the second edge. As a result of improving the process latitude of the wordline level in DRAMS, the size of the wordline over nonactive areas is reduced so that a maximum area is given for active areas for the bit contact and the container.

In the fabrication of semiconductor integrated circuits optical pattern transfer tools are used to produce an optical pattern on photoresist which is a photosensitive material which is generally baked subsequent to its deposition on a semiconductor substrate structure. Light is directed at the optical pattern transfer tool. Transparent portions of the optical pattern transfer tool transmit the light to selected portions of the photoresist while opaque portions of the optical pattern transfer tool prohibit the light from reaching the remaining portions of the photoresist.
When negative resist is used, photoresist not exposed to light is removed to expose portions of the substrate structure while the remaining resist protects unexposed portions of the substrate structure during subsequent processing steps. The opposite is true when positive resist is used. In this case the photo resist exposed to the light is removed. During a development step the portions to be removed are usually rendered soluble in a base solution and rinsed from the semiconductor substrate structure in de-ionized (DI) water. Remaining resist may then be hardened by re-baking to ensure adhesion of the resist to the semiconductor substrate structure.
There are different optical configurations available to expose the optical pattern transfer tool. It should be noted that presently there are "two sizes" of optical pattern transfer tools, a mask and a reticle. The mask is used to pattern an entire semiconductor wafer in one exposure step. In this case the pattern for the entire wafer is represented on the optical pattern transfer tool. The reticle represents a pattern for only a portion of the entire wafer and is stepped across the wafer during exposure to light in order to pattern the entire wafer.
There are at least two important criteria of an optical pattern transfer tool which concern the engineer. First the engineer wants to be able to determine an exact size, within tolerances, of a feature having a critical dimension. Second the engineer wants to be able to define an area having a smallest width possible without being concerned with its exact dimension.
One present optical pattern transfer tool comprises two types of materials, one which transmits light, such as quartz, and one which prohibits the transfer of light, such as chrome. Using methods presently available it is possible to create a chrome region having a critical dimension falling within specified tolerances. Thus, there is a minimum width the chrome can be and still have its exact size fall within the critical dimension specification. However, using this "two material" optical pattern transfer tool does not allow definition of very small regions on the photoresist due to the limitations of photolithography.
A "one material" optical pattern transfer tool comprises a transparent material having two surfaces, where each surface lies in a plane which is parallel to a plane of the other surface. Between the planes "steps" are formed. Each step is formed where the material transitions from one planar surface to the other planar surface. Optical transfer of light is substantially prohibited at the step. This results in very small areas of the photoresist not being exposed to light, which allows definition of very small regions on the photoresist. However, using the "one material" optical pattern transfer tool does not allow dimensions to be controlled with a high degree of accuracy.
Furthermore, memory density is typically limited by a minimum lithographic feature size (F) that is imposed by lithographic processes used during fabrication. For example, the present generation of high density dynamic random access memories (DRAMs), which are capable of storing 256 Megabits of data, require an area of 8F.sup.2 per bit of data. There is a need in the art to maximize active areas on a memory device as compared to field areas in order to support increased storage capacity.
Accordingly, wordlines in these higher density memory devices require minimal width and must be accurately defined to stay within critical dimensions. When small dimensions are defined on a DRAM and critical dimensions are controlled, increased memory density is supported. Therefore, there is a need for an optical transfer tool in the manufacture of semiconductor devices wherein very small regions on a photoresist can be defined and these regions can be controlled with a high degree of accuracy.


Disclosed are: a composition for organ, tissue or cell transplantation, containing, as an active ingredient, a peptide comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1, a peptide having at least 80% sequence homology with the amino acid sequence, or a peptide which is a fragment thereof; a kit comprising the composition; or a method using the composition. By using the composition, the kit, or the method, the viability and/or function of an organ, tissue, or cell after transplantation are strengthened and an organ, tissue or cell isolated from a living body is preserved temporarily without damage.

Organ transplantation is the transfer of tissue or an organ from an original site to another to replace damaged tissue or organ. The organ transplantation may have various problems, one of which is ischemic tissue injury due to ischemia-reperfusion (IR). The ischemic tissue injury caused by IR occurring in the organ transplantation results in delaying the recovery of renal function after the organ transplantation, which causes an inflammatory tissue reaction often serving as a prognostic factor that is bad for long-term maintenance of the function of the transplanted organ. Early IR injury incidentally occurring in the organ transplantation may lead to subsequent deterioration of the organ function and transplantation failure.
Particularly, lung transplantation is known as the sole therapeutic option for terminal lung diseases, and it is expected that patients' demands for lung transplantation will constantly increase. However, despite steady medical advancement, lung transplantation survivability is still not higher than other organs. The most frequently occurring problem at the early stage after a lung transplant is graft dysfunction, one cause of which is an IR injury.
Meanwhile, a flap is a piece of skin or tissue with a pedicle or tissue similar thereto, which is transferred from one site to another site of the body, the transferred tissue capable of surviving in the pedicle or tissue similar thereto. Flap surgery is a surgery technique that is most widely used in plastic and reconstructive surgeries for soft tissue defects or chronic wounds, which cannot be dealt with through skin transplantation, and useful for reconstructing an appearance and lost function, and particularly, the flap surgery can rapidly restore the defects or wounds by a primary reconstruction through transplantation of a combination of various types of tissue such as bones, tendons, muscles, and nerves. In the flap surgery, flap survivability is closely related to an IR injury treatment. Therefore, it is expected that a method for stably enhancing the flap survivability through the IR injury treatment will be very useful.
Also, cell transplantation, similarly to organ or tissue transplantation, is carried out to treat a disease, and as a representative example, transplantation of cells in the islets of Langerhans for improving type 1 diabetes may be used. Within the first week of the transplantation of the islets of Langerhans, most of the grafts are lost, which may be because they are exposed to various stress factors such as hypoxia, and to proinflammatory cytokines and free radicals before secondary angiogenesis after the transplantation.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Composition for organ, tissue, or cell transplantation, kit, and transplantation method


A pull-down circuit for wide voltage operation including a ninth N-MOS transistor and a tenth N-MOS transistor each having a drain electrode connected to a data line and a source electrode grounded, an eleventh N-MOS transistor and a twelfth N-MOS transistor connected to each other in series between gates of the ninth and tenth N-MOS transistors and an output of a controller for controlling the pull-down circuit, each of the eleventh and twelfth N-MOS transistors having a gate electrode and a drain electrode connected with each other, and a thirteenth N-MOS transistor having a gate electrode adapted to receive a signal from the controller, a drain electrode connected to a source electrode of the twelfth N-MOS transistor, and a source electrode grounded. The pull-down circuit performs a pull-down operation at a voltage level of above 3 V and does not perform the pull-down operation at a voltage level of 3 V or below.

The present invention relates to a semiconductor memory device, and more particularly to a pull-down circuit for wide voltage operation of static random access memory (SRAM) devices.
According to the rapid development of semiconductor memory devices, demand for such semiconductor memory devices has been increased in various technical fields so that the devices can be used for a variety of products.
However, the specifications required for individual products are infinitely various. In particular, the supply voltage source has the variety depending on the product characteristic. For individual products, proper semiconductor memory devices are required which can operate to meet the supply voltage sources used for individual products, respectively.
Generally, 5 V operating voltage is used in SRAMs. In case of portable appliances, however, 3 V operating voltage is required. Where a semiconductor memory device has no pull-down circuit, a low read speed is obtained even though the voltage difference between data lines, namely, the sensing voltage is high. This makes it impossible to use the semiconductor memory device. The low read speed results from a low sensibility of a MOS transistor of the semiconductor memory device.
On the other hand, 5 V-operable products equipped with pull-down circuits can perform a normal operation. However, 3 V-operable products equipped with pull-down circuits can perform a read operation for reading a sensing voltage because the sensing voltage is very low. As a result, these products can not be used with 3 V operating voltage.

Pull-down circuit for wide voltage operation


A universal protector for a bicycle element made up of a shell for protecting the element and a fastener for fastening the shell to the element in which the shell includes a size adapting and adjusting structure to accommodate bicycle elements of different sizes thereby protecting the bicycle and vehicles during transport.

Modern bicycles have become increasingly sophisticated and can have highly engineered parts and elements which can be easily damage during transport and storage or when packaged. Moreover, profiled elements on bicycles such as the frames, pedals and handlebar grips can be damaged by bicycle racks during transport resulting in costly and unsightly impact damage to the bicycles. Similarly, bicycle pedals and the like can in turn damage vehicle paintwork.
To reduce such damage to bicycles and vehicles, it is known to place improvised covers over bicycle elements or parts. For example, it is known to place bags secured with string over pedals and to adhere various materials to frames. However, such improvised devices are in general cumbersome and time-consuming to secure to bicycles, can leave unsightly residues on the bicycles and can become worn or damaged following repeated use thus re-exposing the bicycle elements to damage.


A system and method to select a modulation coding scheme of a mobile device including establishing a connection between the mobile device and a remote device through a wireless communication network, monitoring at least two measured properties of a radio frequency access link between the mobile device and the wireless communication network, selecting an updated derived C value based on the measured properties of the radio frequency access link, and inducing a change in a modulation coding scheme based on the updated derived C value.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to streaming content, and more importantly, to obtaining a modulation coding scheme that maintains streaming content.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Mobile wireless communication devices, such as cellular telephones, tablet computers, and notebook computers, support a variety of communication services including, for example, voice communication, text messaging, Internet browsing, and audio/video streaming. To support these services, wireless communication networks use one or more standardized communication protocols, such as the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) and the Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS). Additional protocols support data services, such as general packet radio service (GPRS) or enhanced GPRS (EGPRS). Each of these standardized communication protocols specify access techniques that permit the simultaneous service of multiple mobile devices by a wireless communication network.
Users of mobile devices expect good performance for both voice and data services under a variety of operating scenarios including, for example, dense urban areas, rural expanses, and indoor locations. Each operating scenario presents a different combination of effects on radio frequency signals transmitted between the mobile wireless communication device and base transceiver stations (BTS) located within cells of a wireless communication network. To measure performance, communication protocols often define several indicators to measure performance of communication devices or channels.
The connection between a mobile device and a remote device can traverse both wireless and wired segments. Wireless access segments can use one or more of many different wireless access technologies. An application service in the mobile device can adapt to variations in conditions through the communication network connection based on far end feedback from the remote device; however, this far end feedback can incur significant delay before reaching the mobile device, thereby limiting the speed with which the application service can respond to changing network conditions.
In addition, each voice and data application can have different service requirements for operating characteristics, such as performance parameters for delay latency, packet loss, and jitter tolerance. Among the various applications, streaming content and live streaming content can have the strictest performance requirements. For example, real time conversational voice connections and high quality video conferencing services require higher data rates with lower delay than non-real time services. Satisfying end-to-end quality of service (QoS) for an application can prove difficult, as packets can traverse through multiple independent nodes between the mobile device and a destination end point. In a wireless access network portion of a connection, limited radio frequency bandwidth can be shared by multiple users, and the transmission capabilities of the wireless access network portion can change dynamically over time.
Moreover, due to the growing use of 3G networks, bandwidth available for GSM/GPRS is shrinking As a result, problems caused by interference, especially co-channel interference, have increased. Although higher modulation coding schemes (MCS) can be used to produce higher throughput, they are also more vulnerable to interference and noise. With increased interference, demodulation performance becomes seriously limited even when a high received signal strength indicator (RSSI) is measured. Within this transmission environment, the transmission channels used for streaming content can be jeopardized.
At present, a standardized method for a BTS to select an MCS has not yet been adopted. Among the metrics that can be used for the network equipment to select the MCS is the mobile device reported "Derived C." In general, the Derived C data represents a filtered strength of the serving cell broadcast control channel (BCCH). Unfortunately, present Derived C value calculations frequently do not provide an accurate assessment of the communication channel. Thus, there exists a need to provide an MCS that sufficiently maintains streaming data.

System and method for improved connectivity in GPRS/EGPRS mobile environment for streaming service


A fan blade for a turbofan gas turbine engine is disclosed. The fan blade includes a body having a pressure side and a suction side and a cover. The suction side of the body includes an opening exposing at least one cavity to reduce the weight of the fan blade. The cover overlays the opening and includes a leading portion and a trailing portion that are tapered in the direction of the cover leading edge and cover trailing edge.

Gas turbine engines, such as those used on jet aircraft, generally comprise an air intake port, a fan mounted on a hub near the air intake port and surrounded by a fan case, a low pressure compressor (LPC) section, an intermediate section aft of the LPC section, a high pressure compressor (HPC) section, a combustion chamber or combustor, high and low pressure turbines that provide rotational power to the compressor blades and fan respectively, and an exhaust outlet. The fan and LPC section may be operably connected to the low pressure turbine by an inner drive shaft which rotates about an engine center axis. A cone-like spinner may be mounted over the hub forward the fan blades to help guide air flow.
Some sections of the engine include airfoil assemblies comprising airfoils (typically blades or vanes) mounted at one or both ends to an annular endwall. Included among these sections is the fan section in which fan blades drive air flow into the engine core.
Weight reduction in gas turbine engines used for aircraft results in fuel savings. One known means for reducing the weight of a gas turbine engine is to include hollow cavities in some of the components that do not need to be solid metal to meet structural requirements. One such component is the fan blade.
Some fan blades comprise a metallic body made of titanium or aluminum or other metallic materials with an opening located on the non-flow path, convex side of the fan blade, also known as the suction side of the fan blade, wherein the opening communicates with recesses or cavities. The opposite side of the fan blade is the concave or pressure side. The opening is covered by a composite cover, typically made from fiber and resin plies. This disclosure applies to fan blades where the fan blade body preferably is made of a denser material than the cover.
The cover has a cover leading edge and a cover trailing edge which generally correspond to the fan blade leading edge and the fan blade trailing edge. The cover may have a constant thickness. However, the thickness of the fan blade varies because of its airfoil shape. Consequently, the thickness of the fan blade body varies, and is smallest near the leading edge and trailing edge, especially near the blade tip. This configuration can result in the fan blade body under the leading edge and the trailing edge of the cover being too thin to provide sufficient strength against liberation of the edge of the fan blade body.
This problem can be addressed by moving the cover leading and trailing edges of the relatively lighter (less dense) cover inward, but the resulting fan blade will have greater mass along its leading and trailing edges near the blade tip, which could lower the torsional stiffness of the blade. If the lower torsional stiffness leads to a low order natural frequency of the blade that is in the engine operating range, that circumstance can cause excessive torsional vibration during operation which can be deleterious to fan blade performance and fan blade life.
The present disclosure addresses these problems and others.

Fan blade composite cover with tapered edges


The invention relates to an aircraft passenger emergency oxygen supply device comprising an oxygen mask having a mask body with a first opening for covering mouth and/or nose of the passenger, a second opening connecting said first opening with a source of oxygen, a passenger service unit, a connecting line fixed to the oxygen mask body at one end and having a coupling at the other end for coupling said line to the passenger service unit wherein a chemical reaction component is comprised in the oxygen mask.

Emergency situations on board of an aircraft may be characterized by a decompression of the cabin, smoke or fire, wind turbulences and mechanical impacts. Usually, a pilot will seek to conduct a quick emergency descent of the aircraft in such an emergency situation and to reach the closest airport or emergency landing lane. After landing the aircraft, a quick exit of all passengers out of the aircraft is required. Such quick exit may be hindered by smoke and/or insufficient oxygen in the aircraft passenger cabin.
It is known to supply oxygen to passengers in an emergency situation like a decompression situation, smoke or fire in the cabin. For this purpose, oxygen masks drop out of a passenger service unit and oxygen is supplied to the passenger via said oxygen mask. The oxygen mask is connected to the passenger service unit via a connecting line. In the passenger service unit an oxygen source is comprised which stores oxygen and provides said oxygen to the passenger after activation of the oxygen supply. Usually, the passenger can activate the oxygen supply pulling a connecting line wherein said connecting line may be a flexible tube which at the same time serves to direct the oxygen from the passenger service unit to the oxygen mask or maybe a wire or rope or the like distinct from the connecting line. It is known to store oxygen in the passenger service unit in a chemically bound form and to produce said oxygen in a chemical reaction after activation. This type of oxygen source is called chemical oxygen generator (COG). It is further known to store oxygen in a pressurized tank wherein activation of said oxygen source comprises opening a valve or a sealing component to open said pressure tank and allow flow of oxygen out of said tank to the oxygen mask.
Such emergency oxygen devices have shown to be insufficient in certain emergency situations, in particular in case of smoke of fire in the cabin or during the quick exit of the passengers out of the cabin. It is an object of the invention to provide an emergency oxygen supply device for passengers of an aircraft which improves the safety of the passenger in such emergency situations and facilitates the handling of the emergency oxygen supply device by the passenger.

Aircraft passenger oxygen mask with closed circuit concept


Processes are provided for the production of methenamine mandelate that do not require the isolation of produced methenamine prior to production of the methenamine mandelate.

Methenamine mandelate is useful for the treatment of urinary tract infections. In known processes for producing methenamine mandelate, methenamine that has been produced and isolated is combined with mandelic acid. See, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 4,001,231.
In order to more efficiently and cost-effectively produce methenamine mandelate, there is a need for processes that do not require the isolation of produced methenamine prior to production of the methenamine mandelate.

Processes for producing methenamine mandelate


A meditation enhancing apparatus is provided. The apparatus is a head covering which is made of a highly conductive metal such as copper. The head covering or helmet has several ports which are adapted to hold crystals, the ports being connected to conduits. The conduits serve to hold the crystals in position directly in front of the user's eyes and temples, as well as to conduct electromagnetic and other energy to the user's brain. The user may select crystals which have been effective in enhancing previous meditation sessions for placement in the device.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention concerns a meditation apparatus. More specifically, it relates to an improved meditation enhancing apparatus which facilitates and enhances the performance of virtually any meditation method.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Meditation methods and various devices for enhancing meditation are well known in the art. As will be seen, the simplicity and effectiveness of my invention is not rivaled in the prior art.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,167,075 issued to Pugh et al. discloses a meditation aid which has a frame which defines a geometric shape. The device is large enough to accommodate at least one person and may be suspended from the ceiling. The user may then conduct his meditation method inside the aid. By contrast, the present invention comprises a device which has a plurality of panels defining a geometric shape, which is preferably a pyramid. The device is small enough to be portable and may be positioned on a user's head during meditation.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,134,740 issued to Summer discloses a device which promotes proper seating of the user during meditation. The device has a tapered support member upon which the user places his legs. The support allows for sustained periods of meditation without circulation problems in the legs By contrast, the present invention contemplates a portable meditation aid which allow the user to assume any position he desires. The device has a plurality of crystals placed therein and positioned to enhance the user's meditation. The user can then perform his meditation ritual in whatever position he desires.
None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed.


In a disclosed embodiment, a method for communication in a network includes receiving, at a first device registered to the network, a physical layer (PHY) frame that includes a PHY header and a MAC header. The PHY frame may further include a MAC payload. The PHY header includes a destination address field. The method further includes comparing a network address of the first device to the destination address field to determine whether the destination address field stores a value having the same number of bits as the network address. When the comparison indicates that the value stored by the destination address field does not have the same number of bits as the network address, the method skips decoding the MAC header and the MAC payload.

Disclosed embodiments relate generally to the field of powerline communications and, more specifically, to data frame structures for powerline communications.
This section is intended to introduce the reader to various aspects of art that may be related to various aspects of the subject matter described and/or claimed below. This discussion is believed to be helpful in providing the reader with background information to facilitate a better understanding of the various aspects of the present disclosure. Accordingly, it should be understood that these statements are to be read in this light, not as admissions of prior art.
Powerline communications (PLC) include systems for communicating data over the same medium (i.e., a wire or conductor) that is also used to transmit electric power to residences, buildings, and other premises. Once deployed, PLC systems may enable a wide array of applications, including, for example, automatic meter reading and load control (i.e., utility-type applications), automotive uses (e.g., charging electric cars), home automation (e.g., controlling appliances, lights, etc.), and/or computer networking (e.g., Internet access), to name only a few.
FIG. 1 shows the structure of a PHY data frame 100 for an Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplex (OFDM) physical layer (PHY) based on the IEEE 1901.2 standard including the various fields in the PHY header shown. For IEEE P1901.2, the PHY header is referred to as a frame control header (FCH). Data frame 100 includes a preamble 110, a FCH 120, a MAC header 130, a MAC (data) payload 140, and a FCS 150. Although not shown, the MAC header 130 includes a destination address field which is used by receiving nodes to determine if the frame received on the PLC channel is intended for that node or not. The FCH 120 does not include a destination address field.
The preamble 110 and FCH 120 are indicated as being ROBO mode modulation (Robust OFDM mode). ROBO modulation is considered robust in the sense that it may provide four times extra redundancy parity bits by using a repetition code and therefore the network may more reliably deliver data under severe channel conditions. FCH 120 includes fields including Phase Detection Counter (PDC) 121, Modulation type (MOD; such as 0 for ROBO; 1 for DBPSK and 2 for DQPSK) 122, Reserved (Rsrv) bits 123, delimiter type (DT) 124, frame length (FL; the PHY frame length in PHY symbols) 125, tone map (TM) 126 comprising TM [0:7] 126a, TM [8:15] 126b, TM [16:23] 126c, and TM [24:31] 126d, Frame Control Check Sequence (FCCS) 127, cony zeros (e.g., 6 zeros for convolutional encoder) 128, and Rsrv bits 129.
Since the PHY header in PLC standards, such as IEEE P1901.2 (e.g., FCH 120 in FIG. 1), does not include a destination address field, a node has to wait to decode the entire MAC header and MAC payload and the verification of the cyclic redundancy check (CRC) before knowing if it is the intended destination node (receiver) for the frame. Accordingly, the MAC header 130 is decoded only after the CRC verification is successful to determine if the frame is intended for that node or not. Moreover, known PLC specifications generally have no way to distinguish between corruption of the MAC header 130 and corruption of the MAC payload 140.

Using physical layer (PHY) data frame having a PHY header including a destination address field in a powerline communication (PLC) network


A method and apparatus for curing of wet resin-coated articles in a curing chamber by means of a vaporous curing agent. The vaporous curing agent is circulated through distribution members having nozzles or openings which are adapted to disperse the curing agent in an angular direction cocurrent with the direction of travel of the articles being passed through the curing chamber. The exhaust is provided near the exit end, and thus a gaseous flow is induced from the inlet through the chamber to the exhaust thereby minimizing the escape of vaporous curing agent through the inlet opening.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method and apparatus for curing of articles, and more particularly, this invention relates to a method and apparatus for contacting wet resin-coated articles with a curing agent in a curing chamber for curing of the resin coating.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Resin-coated articles, such as panels, can be cured by passing the wet resin-coated articles through various heat treatment stages. Alternatively, radiation or electron beam and ultraviolet ray systems have been proposed. When heat treatment is employed, the materials or substrates which react to heat will be affected, while in the case of the radiation type of curing, the curing is restricted to the specific area of the path of the beam employed. Such systems, in general, are not desirable since they present considerable safety hazards which need to be avoided by expensive safety precautions and these add to the considerable inherent costs of such known systems.
It is also known, as disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,411,940, Lopez et al, issued Nov. 19, 1968, to use a tertiary amine in a particular solution as curing agent or catalyst. Curing agents, such as tertiary amines, are very effective, usually providing for curing when in the vapor phase in a few seconds of exposure to the item that is to be cured. However, the handling of these vaporous curing agents presents considerable problems since the vapor is highly toxic and use of these vapors must be strictly confined to curing.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,931,684, Turnbull et al, issued Jan. 13, 1976, there is disclosed an apparatus for curing of articles by means of a tertiary amine curing agent. In accordance with the proposal by Turnbull et al, a curing chamber is provided, which chamber comprises entry and exit ports which are guarded by air curtain means to prevent escape of the toxic gases from the chamber. The air curtain means are connected by communication means, and a controlled heated moist vapor is supplied to the air curtains to substantially reduce or prevent the escape of the volatile gases from within the curing chamber.
The proposal of the Turnbull et al patent has met commercial acceptance, and thus is satisfactory for the containment of the volatile, toxic gases used in such curing operations. However, there is still a need to provide a curing method and apparatus which will yield an improvement in the performance of such curing systems while, concomitantly, being less costly and which at least equal, or exceed, the effectiveness of safety provisions of the prior art systems.

Method and apparatus for curing of articles


A method is provided for producing a high-strength galvanized steel sheet having a microstructure that contains martensite in an area proportion of 20% or more and 60% or less and ferrite in an area proportion of 40% or more and 80% or less includes, in sequence, hot-rolling a steel slab containing a specific component composition, performing cold rolling, performing primary annealing, performing pickling, performing secondary annealing, and performing galvanizing treatment, in which in the primary annealing, heating is performed at an average heating rate of 0.1° C./sec. or more and less than 3° C./sec. in the temperature range of 600° C. to 750° C., an annealing temperature of 750° C. to 850° C. is maintained for 10 to 500 seconds, and then cooling is performed from the annealing temperature range to a cooling stop temperature of 600° C. or lower at an average cooling rate of 1 to 15° C./sec, in which in the pickling, the pickling weight loss of the steel sheet is 0.05 to 5 g/m2 in terms of Fe, in which in the secondary annealing, an annealing temperature of 750° C. to 850° C. is maintained for 10 to 500 seconds, and then cooling is performed from the annealing temperature at an average cooling rate of 1 to 15° C./s, and in which after the galvanizing treatment, cooling is performed at an average cooling rate of 5 to 100° C./sec.

In recently years, improvement in the fuel economy of automobiles has recently been required to regulate the amount of CO2 emission from the viewpoint of global environment conservation. In addition, it is also required to improve safety by focusing on collision characteristics of automobile bodies in order to ensure the safety of passengers in case of accident. Thus, a reduction in the weight of automobile bodies and an increase in the strength of automobile bodies are being actively promoted.
To achieve both of the reduction in the weight and the increase in the strengthening of automobile bodies, an increase in the strength of a material for members to the extent that rigidity is not impaired and a reduction in weight by reducing the thickness of sheets are said to be effective. Nowadays, high-strength steel sheets are positively used for automotive parts. Steel sheets used for structural members and reinforcing members for automobiles each have a tensile strength (TS) of 780 MPa or more and even 980 MPa or more. The transformation strengthening is effective in increasing the strength of steel sheets. Multiple phase steel sheets composed of soft ferrite and hard martensite have good ductility and a good strength-ductility balance and thus have relatively good press formability. However, in multiple phase steel sheets, changes in conditions, such as annealing temperatures, in production in common continuous annealing lines cause significant variations in material properties, such as tensile strength (TS), so that the material properties are liable to vary in the longitudinal direction of coils. In this case, it is difficult to stably performing press forming in continuous press lines, thereby seemingly causing a significant reduction in workability. To ensure the amount of martensite required for strengthening, the amounts of C, Mn, and so forth are increased in multiple phase steel sheets. Mn is a more oxidizable element than Fe. Thus, in the production of galvanized steel sheets and galvannealed steel sheets with high Mn contents, ensuring wettability is problematic. Specifically, Mn in steel is selectively oxidized even in a non-oxidizing atmosphere or reducing atmosphere used in a common annealing furnace, concentrated on a surface to form an oxide, thereby reducing wettability with molten zinc at the time of coating treatment and possibly causing an uncoated portion.
In contrast, Patent Literature 1 discloses a method for improving wettability with molten zinc, the method including heating a steel sheet in an oxidizing atmosphere in advance to rapidly form an Fe oxide film on a surface at an oxidation rate of a predetermined rate or more and to inhibit the oxidation of added elements on a surface of a steel sheet, and then performing the reduction annealing of the Fe oxide film. However, in the case of a large amount of the steel sheet oxidized, iron oxide can adhere to a hearth roll to disadvantageously cause pressing flaws on the steel sheet. Patent Literature 2 discloses a method in which after annealing, a steel sheet is subjected to pickling to remove an oxide on its surfaces, annealing again, and galvanizing. However, Patent Literature 2 states a 590 MPa grade steel sheet, but contains no description of a steel sheet having a tensile strength (TS) of 780 MPa or more. Furthermore, Patent Literature 2 contains no description of elongation properties and variations in material properties serving as indices of press formability.

Method for producing high-strength galvanized steel sheet and high-strength galvannealed steel sheet


A photoresist composition comprises about 0.5 to about 20 parts by weight of a photo-acid generator, about 10 to about 70 parts by weight of a novolac resin containing a hydroxyl group, about 1 to about 40 parts by weight of a cross-linker that comprises an alkoxymethylmelamine compound, and about 10 to about 150 parts by weight of a solvent.

1. Field of the Invention
Disclosed is a photoresist composition and a method of forming a photoresist pattern using the photoresist composition. Specifically, disclosed in an embodiment is a photoresist composition capable of preventing a reverse-tapered shape of a photoresist pattern and a method of forming a photoresist pattern using the photoresist composition.
2. Description of the Related Art
A liquid crystal display (LCD) apparatus displays an image using optical and electrical properties of liquid crystal, such as an anisotropic refractive index and an anisotropic dielectric constant. Desirable characteristics of an LCD apparatus include lighter weight, lower power consumption, and lower driving voltage in comparison with other types of displays, such as a cathode ray tube (CRT) or a plasma display panel (PDP).
Generally, the LCD apparatus includes an LCD panel and a light source providing the LCD panel with light. The LCD panel includes a plurality of pixels and a plurality of thin-film transistors (TFTs). The pixels and the TFTs are formed using a photolithography process that employs a photoresist composition.
The photoresist composition can be classified as either a positive photoresist composition or a negative photoresist composition. When a negative photoresist composition is used for forming a fine pattern, the light energy in an exposure process is preferably lowered to reduce interference with an adjacent pattern from light diffraction. However, when the light energy in the exposure process is lowered, a lower portion of a photoresist film is not provided with sufficient light energy. Thus, a photoresist pattern can have a reverse-tapered shape, wherein the width of an upper portion of the photoresist pattern is greater than that of a lower portion of the photoresist pattern.
The photoresist pattern having the reverse-tapered shape can be easily damaged by external pressure, for example, by an increase in pressure applied when being dried during a manufacturing process.

Photoresist composition and method of forming a photoresist pattern using the same


An integrated wheel disconnect system is provided, including, a mechanically actuated engagement interlock selector assembly. The engagement interlock selector assembly including a housing, an interlock mechanism disposed in the housing, a spring disposed in the housing, and an actuator assembly, arranged to displace the interlock mechanism towards or away from the spring. The engagement interlock selector assembly is operated by an actuator module, such as a pin, sliding along an external ramp on the interlock mechanism, the mechanism moving axially to selectively engage and disengage the wheel hub from the drive axle.

Example aspects herein relate to an integrated wheel disconnect system for a vehicle, and more particularly, to a system which selectively connects or disconnects driving and driven components of the wheel disconnect system to render selected wheels passive or driven.
Four wheel drive vehicles often have either front or rear wheels that have selectively driven or non-driven modes which operate by selectively engaging or disengaging the wheels from an associated drive train. In these four wheel drive systems, typically, a transfer case, coupled to the vehicle transmission, is designed such that it can be engaged or disengaged from the drive train. The engagement of the transfer case with the drive train selectively supplies power to a set of wheels. Although efficiencies can be obtained by solely disengaging the transfer case when not needed, it is known in the art that disengaging the wheels from the drive train improves driving efficiencies dramatically.
Where a transfer case is selectively disengaged from the drive train and the associated wheel set remains engaged, losses may result from the wheels "back driving" the system and having to overcome the rotational moment of inertia of half shafts, axle carrier assemblies, pinion shafts, and associated frictional losses in bearings, seals and gears. Therefore, it is desirable to have a wheel disconnect system that works in concert with the transfer case, engaging when the transfer case is engaged and disengaging when the transfer case disengages. It should be recognized that such wheel end disconnect systems may be used on either the front or rear wheels, depending upon which wheel set has the primary drive function.
Prior art wheel end disconnect systems utilize a vacuum system in order to disengage the wheel spindle from the drivetrain. Typically, such systems include a spindle supported by bearings in a support coupled to a suspension member, having an outer end portion adapted to mount a wheel thereon, and an inner extending portion, disposed towards the center of the vehicle with a radially extending flange that has engaging elements formed, generally on an outer diameter, of the flange. A drive element adapted to rotate under power is mounted adjacent the flange, with an engaging element or clutch slideably mounted thereon, such that it can be selectively moved into and out of engagement with the spindle flange of the wheel. The engaging element or clutch requires an axial force, as previously described, provided by a vacuum system, to disengage from the wheel assembly. Generally, a spring is also provided, that urges the engaging clutch back into engagement once the vacuum has been removed.
An inherent limitation of such a system is that a separate vacuum system must be provided, with associated difficulties in scaling the system properly to provide constant negative pressure.


A measurement system and a method for determining steam quality (i.e. vapor mass fraction) measurements of multiphase fluid flowing through pipes are described. An acoustic sensor device consists of an acoustic transmitter and an acoustic receiver that are designed to be attached to a pipe. The acoustic transmitter and the acoustic receiver are exposed to an interior space of the pipe through openings in a wall of the pipe. Acoustic waves generated by the transmitter and captured by the receiver traverse the multiphase fluid flowing into the pipe. Swept-frequency acoustic interferometry (SFAI) technique is used to measure ultrasonic acoustic properties of a fluid. Machine-learning techniques based on principal component analysis, support vector machine regression and support vector machine classification are used for determining steam quality.

In many industrial activities, such as the production of oil and gas from underground reservoirs, fluids flow through pipes to and from reservoirs. It is sometimes desirable to characterize such fluids in a minimally invasive manner. For example, characterizing a multiphase fluid (e.g., two phase fluid) flowing through a pipe to determine/estimate the quality (i.e., vapor mass fraction) and/or flow rate of fluid may be desirable. One manner of investigating and characterization of a multiphase stream involves acoustics, or sound waves. For example, the technique of swept-frequency acoustic interferometry (SFAI) can be used to characterize a multiphase fluid. By generating sound waves of different frequencies (i.e., sweeping the frequency) that are introduced into the fluid carrying pipe one at a time, the characteristics of the multiphase fluid may be determined/estimated.
In some applications, the multiphase fluid flowing through a pipe may be under relatively high pressure and/or high temperature. For example, the fluid flowing through a pipe may be partially liquid and partially vapor (e.g., liquid water and steam). Thus, a fluid characterization device, system, and process that can be used in acoustic characterization of a fluid that is under relatively high pressure and/or high temperature may be desirable.


A thrombin derivative having a lowered fibrinogen activity, a process for producing thereof, an anhydrothrombin derivative having a lowered fibrinogen activity, and a process for producing thereof are provided. This invention is to provide a thrombin derivative formed by modifying carboxyl group(s) of the thrombin and an anhydrothrombin derivative formed by modifying carboxyl group(s) of the anhydrothrombin. The thrombin derivative can be utilized as a composition for inducing platelet aggregation and further as a reagent of specific aggregation for clinical testing and the like. By affinity chromatography using carboxyl group(s) bound with anhydrothrombin as a ligand, it is made possible to carry out necessary purification with high selectivity relative to the blood coagulation factor VIII. Further, the anhydrothrombin derivative which results from modifying carboxyl group(s) of anhydrothrombin produces sufficient antithrombogenic effects at a smaller amount as compared with the previous anhydrothrombin and, therefore, can be utilized as an agent for inhibiting the thrombogenesis.

In recent years, as means for synthesizing a substance for preventing thrombogenesis, a method which comprises causing the activated blood coagulation factor which is a serine protease to react with such an inhibitor as phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride (PMSF) thereby converting active site serine into dehydroalanine and consequently eliminating the serine protease activity but retaining the binding ability with thrombin substrates (designated as "anhydridization") disclosed in the official gazette of JP-A-11-49800 and a method which eliminates the serine protease activity by the manipulation of gene recombination have been developed. The anhydrothrombin which is obtained by treating thrombin by the use of such a method inhibits interactions between activated blood coagulation factors and substrates competitively, and is expected to be utilized as a ligand for an adsorbent of thrombin substrates (such as, for example, an activated blood coagulation factor and fibrinogen) and as an inhibitor against thrombogenesis.
However, since serine protease activity of anhydrothrombin was eliminated by only the chemical treatment or the manipulation of gene recombination and its fundamental binding ability with substrates is not different from untreated thrombin, it has been difficult to absorb and to recover blood coagulation factor VIII selectively from such a liquid as plasma, which is a mixture of several thrombin substrates (such as blood coagulation factors V, VIII, XI, and XIII, fibrinogen, and Protein C). Further, the anhydrothrombin has found only limited utility because it is required to be used in an unduly large amount for the purpose of showing the same antithrombogenetic effect as the antithrombotic agent as mentioned above, though it indeed can function as an antithrombotic agent.
In diagnosis of abnormality of platelet functions, determination of ability of platelet aggregation is an essential requirement and thrombin is used for the determination as a substance that induces platelet aggregation. However, since thrombin activates fibrinogen as well as induces platelet aggregation, it has been a problem that fibrin clot exerts an adverse effect on the determination of the ability of platelet aggregation.
Concerning the thrombin which constitutes an activated blood coagulation factor or the anhydrothrombin which results from anhydridizing the thrombin, this invention has an object of providing a thrombin or anhydrothrombin derivative having an improved selectivity thereof for a thrombin substrate (blood coagulation factor VIII) by the modification using a chemical or genetic manipulation, a substance for inducing aggregation of blood platelets and a clinical testing agent containing the thrombin derivative as a component, an adsorbent using the anhydrothrombin as a ligand, and an antithrombotic agent having an improved antithrombotic ability thereof constituting the anhydrothrombin derivative as a main component.

THROMBIN DERIVATIVES AND PROCESS FOR PRODUCING THE SAME, ANHYDROTHROMBIN DERIVATIVES AND PROCESS FOR PRODUCING THE SAME, PLATELET AGGLUTINATION-INDUCING COMPOSITIONS, METHOD OF INDUCING PLATELET AGGLUTINATION, CLINICAL TEST REAGENTS, CLINICAL TEST METHOD, THROMBOSIS INHIBITORS, ADSORBENT AND PROCESS FOR PRODUCING THE SAME


Prodigiosin analogs which reactivate the p53 pathway are provided, as well as compositions of these compounds, and methods for reactivation of the p53 pathway using these compounds are provided. The prodigiosin analogs may be used to treat cancer in which p53 mutation plays a role, including prostate cancer, breast cancer, kidney cancer, ovarian cancer, lymphoma, leukemia, and glioblastoma, among others.

Various publications, including patents, published applications, technical articles and scholarly articles are cited throughout the specification. Each of these cited publications is incorporated by reference herein, in its entirety and for all purposes.
Prodigiosin (represented by tautomeric Formulas (A1) and (A2)) is the parent member of the tripyrrole alkaloid family of natural products that shows potent anti-cancer activity against tumors with mutated p53 proteins.

Activation of p53 can induce cell-cycle arrest and apoptosis through transcriptional regulation of specific target genes. However, p53 is mutated in in more than 50% of humor tumors, making functional reactivation of the p53 pathway an attractive strategy for cancer therapy development. Prodigiosin is able is further able to induce the expression of the p73 protein and disrupt its interaction with mutant p53, thereby rescuing p53 pathway deficiency and promoting anti-tumor effects. Accordingly, it is desirable to identify and synthesize prodigiosin analogs that are suitable as cancer treatments through restoration of the p53 pathway and inducing the expression of the p73 protein.


The present invention discloses a temperature sensing circuit which is adaptive toward low voltage IC environment, it mainly comprises: a temperature sensing unit, a temperature threshold control unit and a transconductance amplifier. The temperature sensing unit includes a bipolar transistor and PMOS transistors, and senses temperature via detecting voltage. The temperature threshold control unit includes PMOS transistors and NMOS transistors, and makes an over-temperature alert signal persistently sent out until temperature is lowered to a specified value when the temperature sensing unit detects an over-temperature state. The transconductance amplifier includes PMOS transistors and NMOS transistors, and makes the temperature sensing circuit of the present invention adapt to a low voltage IC environment. Further, the circuit architecture of the present invention does not require any use of operational amplifier or band-gap voltage reference source. Therefore, the present invention can reduce the production and design cost.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor IC, particularly to a temperature sensing circuit having a temperature range control unit.
2. Description of the Related Art
With new electronic products persistently emerging, more and more functions are integrated into a single product. For example, the digital camera and MP3 player are being integrated into a mobile phone or many multimedia devices are being integrated into a notebook computer. As a result, manufacturers need to incorporate more chips into a single electronic product to satisfy such functional integration. In addition, with the increasing of CPU clock frequency at the same time, more heat is generated within the electronic product. However, overheating of any electronic product may result in data loss, system instability, or even chip burnout. An external temperature sensing element not only increases the manufacture cost, it also can not measure the temperature of the chip precisely. Therefore, the common solution is to implement a temperature sensing circuit within IC, which has the advantages of small size, fast response, high accuracy, low power consumption and easy software control.
The temperature sensing circuit usually allows the user to preset a temperature range. Once the temperature range is exceeded, a procedure is executed to lower the temperature automatically, or IC operation is interrupted directly. The operation of the current IC temperature sensing circuit is mainly implemented by an internal current source and an analog/digital converter inside the IC. As the forward voltage drop in a semiconductor PN junction varies proportionally with the temperature, the IC temperature sensing circuit could use such characteristic to detect the temperature of the IC. However, almost all the current temperature sensing circuit needs an operational amplifier and a band-gap voltage reference source. Thus, the current temperature sensing circuit cannot apply to a low-voltage IC environment. Further, the current temperature sensing circuit itself lacks an intrinsic temperature threshold control function. The temperature sensing function and the temperature threshold control function are separately realized with independent circuits, which are cascaded afterward. Therefore, the conventional technology not only inconveniences designers, but also increases the cost of manufacturing.
In order to solve the abovementioned problems, the present invention proposes a temperature sensing circuit for low voltage operation, which contains a temperature threshold control unit that can persistently send out an over-temperature alert until the temperature is lowered to a specified value, the present invention also lower the production cost since it does not require the use the operational amplifier and the band-gap voltage reference source.

Temperature sensing circuit for low voltage operation