A problem of the present invention is to prevent a base layer beneath the layer to be irradiated with light from deterioration in property and a functional thin film from deterioration in property as the fine patterning of a functional film is performed with light irradiation. Means for solving the problem is a compound obtained by dimerizing with light irradiation a compound (A) containing a group that has photosensitivity and can be photodimerized and a group having lyophilicity and a compound (B) containing a group that has photosensitivity and can be photodimerized and a group having liquid-repellency.

In the field of an organic thin film transistor device, an organic thin film solar cell, an organic EL display and the like, many functional thin films are investigated. The functional thin film is a thin film subjected to so-called fine patterning, which includes a material exhibiting various functions and is arranged at locations where the functions needs to be exhibited in a device with precision required for exhibiting the functions. Examples of the functions to be exhibited by patterning include functions of wiring, an electrode, an insulating layer, a light-emitting layer, a charge transporting layer and the like. As a technique of performing such patterning, there is, for example, a photolithography method. That is, a method for forming a functional thin film in which a thin film is formed over a surface of a substrate and the like, a layer containing a photoresist material is then formed on the thin film, and the thin film is finely patterned with the use of photosensitivity of the photoresist material. However, the functional thin film prepared with the photolithography method is likely to deteriorate highly in various functions since the steps such as UV irradiation, developing, washing and the like on the photolithography method are performed. Particularly, when the functional thin film is a functional organic thin film, functions of the functional organic thin film are likely to be highly damaged with performing the steps such as developing and washing.
As a method for solving the problem of a photolithography method, it has been proposed a method that a functional thin film is directly patterned on a substrate by using an ink-jet method, a nozzle coating method, and various roll printing methods, for example, a flexo printing or reversing. These printing methods use an ink which is usually relatively low in concentration and viscosity. Therefore, there are such methods for precisely forming a functional thin film at only the required position that a partition wall for preventing the ink from flowing is formed in a region surrounding the region where the functional thin film is formed, and that a lyophilic region which can accept the ink and a liquid-repellent region which do not accept the ink are formed on a surface of a substrate.
As the method in which a lyophilic region and a liquid-repellent region are formed on a surface of a substrate, there is known a method in which a liquid-repellent substance such as a fluorine-containing silane coupling agent is applied onto a surface of a lyophilic thin film to form a liquid-repellent thin film, a part of the liquid-repellent thin film is irradiated with light having a wavelength less than 200 nm to decompose the liquid-repellent substance, and then the decomposed product is removed. In the substrate obtained by this method, only a site irradiated with light becomes a lyophilic surface (Patent Document 1).
Further, as a method of using light having a wavelength of relatively long wavelength, there is a method in which a thin film of a liquid-repellent composition, containing a compound having a liquid-repellent group and a photopolymerization initiator, is formed on a lyophilic substrate, and a part of the thin film is irradiated with light to polymerize the liquid-repellent composition and make the composition insoluble in a solvent, and an unpolymerized portion of the composition is removed by use of a solvent to pattern a lyophilic region (Patent Document 2).
Moreover, as a method of using ultraviolet light with a relatively long wavelength, there is also known a method in which a liquid-repellent thin film containing a photocatalyst such as titanium oxide is formed on a lyophilic layer and a part of the thin film is irradiated with light to decompose the liquid-repellent thin film and to pattern a lyophilic region (Patent Document 3).

Compound obtained by dimerizing with light irradiation, a compound containing a group having lyophilicity, and a compound containing a group having liquid-repellency


A precision cartridge filter having an average filter diameter of 10 .mu.m or less is produced by preparing a web composed of conjugate microfine fibers by a conjugate melt-blowing process, wherein the conjugate microfine fibers have a lower melting point component, a higher melting point component, and a melting point difference between the lower melting point component and higher melting point component of 20.degree. C. or more; followed by heating and molding the web at a temperature greater than or equal to the melting point of said lower melting point component, but less than the melting point of said higher melting point component.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a process for producing a precision, cylindrical cartridge filter, by subjecting a web composed of conjugate melt-blown microfine fibers to forming under heat into a shape of a cartridge filter.
2. Field of the Related Art
A cartridge filter using melt-blown fibers (hereinafter often referred to as cartridge) is disclosed in Japanese patent application laid-open No. Sho 60-216818. Further, Japanese patent publication No. Sho 56-43139 discloses a process for producing a cylindrical fiber aggregate by after forming a web of conjugate short fibers by means of a carding machine, rolling up the web under heat. Still further, Japanese patent publication No. Sho 56-49605 discloses a process of inserting a sheet-form material having small pores into an intermediate portion of a cartridge.
However, the melt-blown fibers of the above Japanese patent application laid-open No. Sho 60-216818 are composed of a single component, a material having almost no bond of fibers to one another and retained by mechanical snarl or entanglement to one another and further having weak strength in the form of a cartridge filter; thus the fibers employ a structure provided with a central supporting member, so that filter production is not simple. Further, the fibers have a percentage of void as high as 80 to 90% so that it is difficult to retain the outer diameter of the cartridge filter even when it is used under low pressure. In particular, the smaller the particles to be filtered, the smaller the fiber diameter of the filter, so that notable shrinkage of the outer diameter of the filter occurs, resulting in anxious filtrability.
In the case of the cartridge using conjugate fibers, disclosed in the above Japanese patent publication No. Sho 56-43139, since short fibers cut to a definite length are processed, the fineness (denier) and the cut length of the fibers used have been naturally restricted. On the present level, stabilized carding of fibers of 1 d/f (denier/filament) or less is so difficult that it has been impossible to produce a cartridge capable of filtering off impurities of 10 .mu.m or less. In order to overcome such a drawback, the above Japanese patent publication No. Sho 56-49605 discloses a process of inserting a sheet-form material having small pores into an intermediate layer of a cartridge. However, the difference between the diameter of the fibers composing the sheet-form material and the diameter of the fiber of the cartridge body is so large that it is presumed that the layer of the sheet-form material works as a rate-determining step in a mechanism of surface layer filtration as in the case of membrane pleat filter. Further, such a sheet-form material is of a different kind of a stock from that of the stock constituting the cartridge, so that there have been problems of ply separation, etc. in the case of filtration of a high pressure and high viscosity fluid. Further, in the case of using short fibers, in order to improve the handling of the processing, an antistatic agent (oiling agent) has so often been attached to the fibers. Thus, such a cartridge prepared from the fibers having the oiling agent, the oiling agent dissolves in a filtrate and bubbles at the initial stage of filtration, so that it is the present status that the cartridge can be expressly washed and used in the field of foods or in a precision filtration.

Process for producing precision cartridge filter


The invention relates to a rigid mask intended for the deposition, spreading and incubation of one or several liquids on a gel (of total surface Sg) according to one or several well-defined zones of the gel, hereafter designated by "incubation surface Si", this mask comprising:. an upper surface which is in particular flat and a lower surface which is in particular flat, in particular substantially parallel to each other,. at least one orifice intended to permit deposition and spreading of the liquid on the incubation surface Si of the gel, and. at least one slit crossing the mask over the whole of its thickness and intended to permit withdrawal of the excess of liquid present on the incubation surface Si of the gel,. the lower surface of the mask being intended to be deposited in proximity to the surface Sg of the gel, under conditions such that the lower surface of the mask is not in contact with the incubation surface Si.. Application to the development of a gel previously subjected to the electrophoresis of proteins.

The invention relates to a device permitting the spreading of one or several reagents on a gel, in particular an electrophoresis or immunofixation gel.
The invention also relates to a method making use of the aforementioned device.
Electrophoresis is the migration of suspended or colloidal particles in a liquid or a gel, due to the effect of potential difference across immersed electrodes. Migration is toward electrodes of charge opposite that of the particles.
Electrophoresis is useful in the study of proteins because the protein molecules act like colloidal particles, their charge being positive or negative depending upon whether the surrounding solution is acidic or basic. Therefore, the acidity of the solution can be varied by the introduction of one or more reagents and used to control the direction in which a protein moves upon electrophoresis. Furthermore, different protein particles in a mixture move toward the electrodes with different velocities depending upon the number of charges carried by the particles. The techniques of electrophoresis or immunofixation are usually followed, after the migration, by a stage of incubating the gel with a reagent in order to detect and possibly to quantify the protein fractions separated during the electrophoresis.
The most conventional case is the staining of the set of protein fractions separated by electrophoresis by means of a dye which becomes bound specifically on to the latter. In this case, the reagent used (the dye) is a product which is generally cheap and of which it is possible to prepare a solution in a sufficient quantity to immerse the gel totally therein.
However, this method cannot be envisaged in the case where it is necessary to use small quantities of reagent, when it is an expensive reagent, or when it is desired to produce on the same gel incubations on discrete zones with different reagents.
These possibilities relate for example to assaying isoenzymes contained in a serum (isoLDH, isoCK, isophosphatase) where the gel is incubated with a substrate (expensive product) for these enzymes with the aim of forming a colored or fluorescent product which permits quantification by densitometry.
The case where it is necessary to carry out, on the same gel, incubations with different reagents is constituted for example by immunofixation where various discrete zones of the gel must be incubated with various antisera of different specificity (expensive reagent) and a protein fixative.
In all these cases, use of a minimum quantity of reagent is sought.
In implementing the abovementioned methods, a sheet of filter paper cut to the size of the gel is impregnated with a quantity of reagent just sufficient for it to be entirely moistened and it is then applied to the surface of the gel.
In the case where various reagents are possibly used on distinct zones of the same gel, as many strips of filter paper are cut as there are zones to be covered by the various reagents, and these various strips are impregnated with the various reagents before being applied to the various zones where the incubation is to take place.
This method has a certain number of drawbacks. It is in fact necessary to avoid trapping air bubbles between the gel and the sheet of filter paper impregnated with reagent, because, in the region of the air bubbles, the reaction would not take place for lack of reagent on the gel. The paper being opaque, it is sometimes difficult to detect the presence of these air bubbles.
Moreover, during the incubation reaction, a proportion of the proteins which it is desired to develop can be absorbed onto the paper, or more simply be absorbed by pumping onto the latter.
If an extended incubation time is necessary (30 minutes to 1 hour), this phenomenon is accentuated by the fact that, during the incubation, evaporation from the free surface of the paper occurs. The latter having a tendency, by capillarity, to maintain a constant degree of humidity, a flow of liquid is created, from the gel to the paper, with entrainment of the protein fractions to be assayed initially contained in the gel. This leads to a loss of sensitivity of the development on the gel and, this absorption not being very homogeneous, quantification by densitometry of the developed fractions risks being subject to errors.
Furthermore, and above all, this is a manual process which is very laborious and therefore difficult to implement in routine clinical analysis, and, in current practice, has been abandoned.
Another method also used consists in using a mask constituted by a sheet of flexible plastic, preferably hydrophobic in nature, having approximately the same external outline as the gel and having one or more independent openings of rectangular shape. This mask, once applied to the gel, delimits the zone or zones intended to receive the reactant or reactants.
Use of such a mask also has a certain number of drawbacks.
After electrophoretic migration, it frequently happens that a proportion of the liquid exudes from the surface of the gel. This exudation is mainly created by electroendosmotic flow.
Before applying the mask to the gel, it is necessary to remove this excess liquid by pumping by means of a thin filter paper, because, if liquid is still present on the gel, it prevents good adhesion of the mask to the gel, as well as a good seal at the periphery of the zone(s) delimited, being assured.
As well as the additional manual operation of pumping, the filter paper risks entraining a portion of the proteins from the gel and of distorting the result.
Furthermore, the gel or the reagents used can, in certain cases, contain surfactants which will facilitate insertion of liquid between the gel and the mask and, under certain conditions, even after removal of the excess liquid which has exuded from the gel at the end of migration, the mask risks not assuring the required seal.
With this type of mask, it is important that the whole of the surface of the mask is perfectly applied to the gel. It is necessary to avoid trapping air bubbles between the gel and the plastic mask during its positioning on the gel. Otherwise, there is a risk of having either a leak of reagent under the mask, or a mixing of adjacent reagents.
An object of the present invention is to propose a device which largely overcomes the preceding drawbacks.
The subject of the present invention is a device permitting deposition, spreading and incubation of a reagent on a gel, in which quantities of reagent of the same order of magnitude as those of conventional devices are used, the device of the invention being however without the drawbacks of the conventional devices.
Another object of the present invention is to propose a device permitting deposition, spreading and incubation of a reagent on a gel, in which it is possible to incubate different zones with respectively different reagents, without there being mixing of the reagents.
The aim of the present invention is to propose a device permitting deposition, spreading and incubation of a reagent on a gel, in which manual operations are limited to the minimum.
An object of the present invention is to propose a device for deposition, spreading and incubation of a reagent on a gel, permitting accurate results to be obtained as to quantification of the substances fractionated in the gel.
An object of the present invention is to propose a device for deposition, spreading and incubation of a reagent on a gel, capable of being automated.

Device permitting the spreading of one or several reagents on a gel


A mast assembly including a locking actuator for locking a cradle of the mast in position. The locking actuator includes a housing having a first lock pin extending in a first direction and a movable member supported by the housing having a second lock pin extending in a second direction opposite the first, the locking actuator being slideably mounted to the cradle for sliding movement along an axis parallel to an axis of extension/retraction of the locking actuator. When the locking actuator is extended the first and second lock pins are inserted into respective lock holes in a base member thereby locking the cradle against pivoting movement relative to the base member.

The present exemplary embodiment relates to masts. It finds particular application in conjunction with tilting of telescoping masts for antennas, lights and other payloads, and will be described with particular reference thereto. However, it is to be appreciated that the present exemplary embodiment is also amenable to other like applications.
Telescoping masts generally include multiple tube or lattice structure sections that are configured to telescope or nest within each other. A drive system is typically configured to deploy and/or retract the tubes between extended and retracted configurations. Locks or latches may be used to lock each tube to its adjacent tube or tubes when in the extended configuration.
Military and commercial mast users often have a need to transport a telescoping mast to the location where it will be deployed. It is often desired to have these masts deployed and ready for use immediately upon arriving on location. In addition, some mast systems would be unable to fit in aircraft or trucks, or clear bridges and other overhead encumbrances without bringing the mast to a horizontal position for transport. One means to bring the mast to a horizontal position is by using a tilting mechanism. A tilting mechanism can be manual or automated. In cases where the masts and payloads are large or where time to readiness is critical an automated version is desired.
One version of an automated tilting mechanism uses an actuator to provide a rotational moment to tilt the mast which is mounted in a pivoting cradle. This rotational moment can be provided by an electromechanical, pneumatic or a hydraulic actuator, or through other mechanical means using a motor and gears, etc. An automated tilting mechanism also generally includes a locking mechanism to "lock" the pivoting cradle with the mast in the horizontal and vertical positions. When the mast carrying cradle is in the horizontal position it needs to be secured to avoid damage to the mast or payload during transportation. When the mast carrying cradle is in the vertical position it needs to be secured to provide a stable platform for the payload to function properly.
One approach to lock the tilting cradle carrying a mast in either position is by moving a large pin into a bushing that is securely fastened to the automated tilt mechanism base. To prevent rotational movement of the cradle and mast due to mast payload induced pivoting and torsional loads on the mast, four locking actuators have generally been needed, each actuator configured to a locking pin into and out of engagement with a lock hole.

Sliding locking actuator for automatic tilt mechanism


In a dwelling having a forced warm air type central heating system in which the source of heat is the hot gas products of combustion in a furnace, ambient fresh air is introduced into the dwelling to improve the quality of air in the dwelling by a fresh air input duct to the fresh air input of a relatively low temperature flue gas to the fresh air heat exchanger so that the fresh air is warmed and the fresh air output of the heat exchanger is connected by a duct to the forced warm air heating system so that the warmed fresh air is entrained with the air in the system. In a preferred embodiment, the flue gas to fresh air heat exchanger is attached to a section of the furnace flue pipe that is covered by a thermally conductive gas barrier and includes an enclosure for enclosing the outside barrier covered surface of the section of the furnace flue pipe forming an annular space between the gas barrier and the enclosure through which the fresh air flows and is warmed by heat from the flue gas.

During the winter months, most houses and dwellings are sealed tight to prevent heat loss and often the homeowner has installed energy efficient windows, extra wall and ceiling installation and replaced worn weather stripping. All this directly benefits the homeowner by curing drafty doors and windows and limits heat loss through walls and ceilings so that the homeowner incurs less cost to heat the house. However, sealing the home against heat loss creates another problem. The air in the house becomes stale. Even though the air is recirculated, it contains cooking odors, smoke, cleaning sprays and other household pollutants and also may harbor germs and viruses. One solution to this problem is to change the air.
In a forced warm air heating system, room air circulates through the house giving up its heat and returning through the the return air ducts and filter back to the furnace. In the furnace, a blower forces the air over a heat exchanger and the air flows from the heat exchanger through ducts that spill the air through room registers into the rooms of the house. The furnace flue carries unburned gas and particulate matter to the house chimney through which the gas rises and spills into the atmosphere. Clearly, the furnace combustion area heat exchanger and flue are all sealed so that no products of combustion can leak from any of these parts into the house or into the warm air heating system and all flue gas flows up the chimney and into the atmosphere outside, usually above the roof of the house.
Heretofore, flue gas to air heat exchangers have been employed for pre-heating the combustion air to a furnace of the central heating unit of a house. Usually, the central heating unit furnace is in the ground or basement part of the house and draws upon air from inside the house for combustion in the furnace. Efforts are sometimes made to pre-heat the air before combustion, using a flue gas to air heat exchanger in the flue stack from the furnace. Heretofore, a great deal of effort has been made to provide such a heat exchanger that is both efficient and economical in cost and installation. With such a pre-heater, flue gas leaking into the combustion air does not cause a problem or danger to the occupants of the house, so long as all of the pre-heated air flows into the furnace combustion chamber and none leaks into the house. The present invention has no intention of improving upon such heat exchangers or of improving combustion operation or efficiency of a furnace.

Fresh air intake system for a dwelling having central forced warm air heating


A small footprint mechanical positioning stage capable of operating in two perpendicular orientations comprises a base plate, a carriage plate, linear bearings, a brushless linear motor, and a linear encoder. The linear bearings, the linear motor, and the encoder scale are all parallel to the direction of travel of the positioning stage.

This invention relates to the field of direct drive mechanical stages for precision motion control. More specifically, it relates to small footprint linear motor driven positioning stages and multi-axis mechanical positioners useful in the alignment of optic fibers.
Optic fibers are being used more and more for the transfer of information due to the large bandwidth and insensitivity to certain types of electromagnetic interference. Optic fibers are transparent glass fibers through which light waves encoded with information are passed. The fibers themselves are often less than 100 nm in diameter. Typically, they are enclosed in a protective coating. The fibers are not infinitely long and, therefore, it is necessary to align and bond fibers together. The alignment must be very precise, that is, the centers of the fibers must be aligned in order to minimize power loss across a bonded joint. Not only must fibers be joined end to end, fibers must be connected to tiny components, such as transmitters, amplifiers, and receivers. This process is referred to in the industry as pig-tailing.
In order to position fibers for fiber-to-fiber bonding or pig-tailing automatically, mechanical positioning stages and multi-axis mechanical positioners with extremely high resolution and repeatability are required. Very often, the bonding and pig-tailing take place in clean rooms. The expense of building and maintaining clean rooms is directly related to the volume of the room. Hence, miniaturization of the mechanical positioning stages for use in optic fiber alignment is extremely critical.
The extent of the motion required to execute the final fiber alignment is on the order of 100""s of microns. This is due to the relatively small size of the fiber itself. Core diameters vary from 200 microns for multi-mode fibers down to 9 microns for single-mode fibers. The relative small distances required to align the fibers are dwarfed by the size of even the smallest positioning stages now in successful use.
The smallest possible alignment stage volume is currently attainable with stages driven by piezoelectric crystals mounted in structures known in the art as flexures. These tools have limited maximum travel. This lack of travel has necessitated the use of a combination of a coarse positioning stage (millimeters of travel) with a piezoelectric flexure stage if a movement greater than about 200 microns is required for the initial alignment and/or transferring to a position for final alignment. One marketed multi-axis mechanical positioner for fiber alignment uses piezoelectric flexures for the X and Y axes and a ball screw driven stage for the vertical axis. The ball screw drive is a mechanical contact driven device subject to wear. Also, the footprint is 4 inches by 7 inches. Yet another marketed multi-axis mechanical positioner for this application is entirely ball screw driven having a footprint of about 4.5 inches by 4 inches. It is, of course, inherently subject to the problems of mechanical wear and the backlash associated with ball screw driven stages. Perhaps the most successful multi-axis mechanical positioner now being marketed is entirely driven by noncontact permanent magnet linear motors. Due to the design of the motors and other factors, the size of the footprint is still a relatively large 5 inches by 7 inches.
In addition to the need for a small footprint, it is especially desirable that as much of the multi-axis mechanical positioner as possible be located below the table surface holding the remaining apparatus needed for effecting the fiber alignment. The auxiliary apparatus may comprise fixtures for holding optic fibers and or tiny parts to which the fibers are attached and robotic apparatus for picking and placing fibers and tiny components. The auxiliary apparatus may also be optical devices for robotic vision systems to aid in alignment. Hence, it is desirable that the multi-axis mechanical positioner and all the wiring associated with it be recessed below the top surface of the table.
Footprint and travel ranges are not the only criteria for selection of a positioning stage for fiber alignment applications. Speed, accuracy, repeatability, and positioning stability are also very critical.
It is an advantage, according to the present invention, to provide a small footprint linear motor driven positioning stage that has a combination of a small footprint, a long travel range, high speed, high accuracy, high repeatability, and high position stability that make it a superior choice for fiber alignment applications.
It is a further advantage, according to the present invention, to provide multi-axis mechanical positioners based upon the small footprint positioning stage.
It is yet a further advantage, according to the present invention, that the substantial portions of the multi-axis mechanical positioner can be recessed below the surface of the table to which it is directly secured without the need for suspending a platform below the surface of the table.
Briefly, according to the present invention, there is provided a small footprint mechanical positioning stage capable of operating in two perpendicular orientations. The stage comprises a base plate comprising a flat bed, a short platform rising from the bed near one edge of the bed, and a short perpendicular wall rising from the bed near an opposite edge of the bed. The stage further comprises a carriage plate comprising a flat table plate and a short side wall pendent from the table plate near one edge of the table plate.
A first linear bearing is positioned between the base plate and the carriage plate fixed to the platform rising from the flat bed and a second linear bearing is positioned between the base plate and the carriage plate fixed to the wall rising from the flat bed and the wall pendent from the carriage plate. The first linear bearing provides maximum support in the direction perpendicular to the flat bed and the table plate and the second linear bearing provides maximum support in the direction between edges of the flat bed and table plate parallel to the direction of travel of the stage. This enables the use of the stage in two perpendicular orientations.
A direct drive brushless linear motor comprises an armature winding fixed to the base plate having a magnetic focusing plate between the armature winding and the base plate and a rare earth magnet track fixed to the table plate having a magnetic focusing plate between the magnet track and the table plate. A linear encoder reader is fixed to the flat bed and an encoder scale is fixed to the table plate.
The first and second linear bearings, the linear motor, and the encoder scale are all oriented parallel to the direction of travel of the positioning stage. The distance between the table plate and the base plate is just sufficient to accommodate the linear motor, the linear encoder, and the linear bearings.
Two of the above-described stages can be handily combined into a small footprint X-Y mechanical positioner. A second small footprint mechanical positioning stage is arranged with its base plate affixed to the carriage plate of the first small footprint mechanical stage. Further, a small footprint X-Y-Z mechanical positioner can be assembled from two of the stages above described and a vertical left stage mounted on the carriage plate of the second small footprint mechanical stage.
A small footprint X-Y-Z-Theta mechanical positioner can be assembled from three of the above-described small footprint mechanical positioning stages by using two of the stages arranged on a foundation plate mounted with base plates thereof attached to edges of the foundation plate. Flanges may be secured to the upper edges of the two stages enabling them to be secured in a table opening extending downwardly from the table surface. A carriage plate parallel to the foundation plate bridges the carriage plates of the two small footprint mechanical positioning stages. The third small footprint mechanical positioning stage is mounted on the carriage plate oriented for travel perpendicular to the travel of the first and second small footprint mechanical positioning stages. A vertical lift stage is mounted on the carriage plate of the third small footprint mechanical positioning stage, and a rotary stage is mounted on the vertical lift stage. A five-axis small footprint mechanical positioner may be assembled by attaching a goniometric cradle mount to the rotary stage and a six-axis mechanical positioner may be assembled by attaching a double goniometric cradle to the rotary stage. This construction minimizes the vertical height of the four-, five-, and six-axis stages. It is facilitated by the fact that the above-described small axis linear stages are capable of two perpendicular orientations.

Small footprint direct drive mechanical positioning stage


The present invention provides compositions and methods for capture and identification of the cellular targets of a bioactive agent. In particular, provided herein are bioactive agents tethered to capture ligand, cellular targets (optionally tagged with a reporter), capture proteins (optionally present as capture dimers), surfaces (e.g., displaying, capture ligands, capture proteins, or capture dimers), and methods of capturing and identifying the cellular targets of a bioactive agent therewith.

Cell-based phenotypic screening is increasingly being used for discovery of bioactive drug candidates. Discovering and validating protein targets for such bioactive small molecules in vivo often uses a combination of affinity enrichment and mass spectrometry methods. Such methods face several challenges. First, the moderate to weak binding between a small molecule and a protein target makes it hard to capture a target protein or protein complexes or biases the results towards high affinity interactors. Moreover, affinity enrichment methods typically use a solid support immobilized with the candidate small molecule. The kinetics of binding on solid surfaces is much slower when compared to solution-based kinetics, further decreasing the chance of capturing a target protein or protein complexes. Non-specific binding of proteins from cell lysate to the solid support results in high background that further complicates the identification of the cellular target using mass spectrometry (MS). Such methods often result in a large number of putative hits, making it necessary to run secondary screens to validate the potential targets. High-throughput validation assays for small molecule-protein interactions requires further development and optimization making it resource intensive process.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Compositions and methods for capture of cellular targets of bioactive agents


A method for evaluating distance from a first point to a second point. The method includes the steps of generating a periodic binary sequence, generating a harmonic modulation signal, generating a modulated light signal at a range finding device, wherein the modulated light signal is generated based upon the periodic binary sequence and the harmonic modulation signal, transmitting the modulated light signal from the first point toward an object at the second point, receiving a reflected light signal from the object, and determining a distance between the first point and the second point based upon a phase evaluation of periodic binary sequence and harmonic modulation signal of both the transmitted light signal and the received light signal.

This document relates to distance evaluation devices that may be used for image acquisition, and more specifically to distance evaluation devices configured to capture images using a modulated signal.
The conversion of geometric data may be accomplished by the repetitive measuring of the distance between the surface and a known position using a device with an electrical/electronic output. Early computerized measuring machines (hereafter CMM's) used mechanical probes, which were repetitively advanced into contact and retracted from a surface to determine the distance between the surface and a known location.
More recent devices have used a beam of light to determine the distance between the source and the surface. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,470,698 to Green, Jr., et al., a system is shown which uses a reflected beam of light for measuring distances. The Green reference is directed towards a system for optimally determining the orientation of counter-rotating optical wedges used to direct a beam of light for scanning purposes.
The prior art measurement of phase shift used in an application such as described in the Green patent relies on mixing the measured signal with a reference frequency signal, and determining the frequency difference. The phase difference is measured as a time difference between zero-crossing transitions of the measured periodic signal. Any noise in the system, however, may result in errors in the measured time difference. In order to obtain sufficient accuracy, the measurement of a particular distance must be either prolonged or repeated multiple times to allow averaging of the time values to minimize the effect of any noise. The resulting impact on the system is an increase in the time required to obtain accurate distance measurements. When multiple measurements are required to derive a surface profile, and each measurement requires a longer dwell time, the overall scanning rate is reduced.
Also, in order to minimize the effect of noise on the signal measurement, band-pass filters may be employed. Band-pass filters cause limited bandwidth, which results in time domain distortions of the measured phase shift. Accommodating these distortions also results in a reduction of the rate at which distance measurements can be accurately obtained.
The nature of available photoreceivers also inserts uncertainty into the system. The signal delay of a photoreceiver is dependent upon the intensity of light received, and upon the distribution of the light intensity on the active surface of the receiver, which is defined by the angle between a scanning beam and an optical axis of the device.
In order to accommodate this dependence, it is necessary to know the phase, amplitude, and deflection angle of the light beam. As a result, measuring phase shift between electrical signals is not sufficient for accurate distance measurement. U.S. Pat. No. 6,483,595, which is hereby fully incorporated by reference, overcame the deficiencies of the prior art techniques, such as Green, by converting an output signal of the photoreceiver into a digitized signal, and comparing the digitized signal to a digitized reference differential signal corresponding to each generated light beam (or a single modulated light beam). However, due to safety regulations as well as due to technical properties of light emitting devices limiting overall energy use in generating a light beam, this approach has an inherent limitation on the overall number of frequency components that may be used in a modulated light beam, thereby reducing the accuracy of the measurements.


Apparatus is provided including a surgical tool configured to be advanced distally within a body of a subject. The surgical tool is shaped to define a side-facing suction port at a distal portion of the surgical tool to facilitate drawing tissue through the suction port and into the surgical tool, and includes a slidable transparent shutter configured to be disposed over the suction port, and to be slidably removed from the suction port. A needle is configured to be slidably disposed within the surgical tool and configured to puncture the tissue while the tissue is in the surgical tool. Other applications are also described.

The heart is enclosed in a double layered membrane termed the pericardium. The pericardium and its serous fluid protect the heart and lubricate the moving surfaces of the heart. The pericardium is composed of two layers: the outermost fibrous pericardium and the inner serous pericardium. The serous pericardium is divided into two layers, the parietal pericardium, which is fused to the fibrous pericardium, and the visceral pericardium (also termed epicardium). Pericardial serous fluid is found in the pericardial cavity (also termed the pericardial space) between the parietal pericardium and visceral layer.
Accessing of the pericardium may facilitate, for example, drug delivery, a pericardiocentesis procedure (aspiration of pericardial fluid typically for diagnosis of a pericardial disease), left atrial appendage removal, coronary artery bypass grafting, or placement of a reflection-facilitation element as described in US Patent Application Publication 2013/0103028 to Tsoref et al., which issued as U.S. Pat. No. 9,242,122 and which is incorporated herein by reference.
Complications may arise during surgical procedures to access the pericardium, and injury may be caused to internal organs such as the liver, stomach and lungs. Therefore, safe and efficient means of accessing the pericardium are desirable.


A base station (109) of a cellular communication system (100) comprises an RNC interface (301) which receives a radio link handover initiation message for a radio link from a radio network controller (113). A switch delay processor (309) determines a handover switch delay and a characteristics processor (311) sets a characteristic of a radio link handover acknowledge message in response to the handover switch delay. A message generator (313) generates a radio link handover acknowledge message and transmits this to the radio network controller (113). The radio network controller (113) comprises an RNC handover controller (125) which determines a radio link handover switch time in response to the characteristic. A better timing of the radio link handover may be achieved. The invention may e.g. be applicable to an HSDPA (High Speed Downlink Packet Access) service of a UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunication System) cellular communication system and may reduce the amount of data discarded from buffers during an HSDPA handover.

In a cellular communication system, a geographical region is divided into a number of cells served by base stations. The base stations are interconnected by a fixed network which can communicate data between the base stations. A mobile station is served via a radio communication link from the base station of the cell within which the mobile station is situated.
A typical cellular communication system extends coverage over an entire country and comprises hundreds or even thousands of cells supporting thousands or even millions of mobile stations. Communication from a mobile station to a base station is known as the uplink, and communication from a base station to a mobile station is known as the downlink.
The fixed network interconnecting the base stations is operable to route data between any two base stations, thereby enabling a mobile station in a cell to communicate with a mobile station in any other cell. In addition, the fixed network comprises gateway functions for interconnecting to external networks such as the Internet or the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), thereby allowing mobile stations to communicate with landline telephones and other communication terminals connected by a landline. Furthermore, the fixed network comprises much of the functionality required for managing a conventional cellular communication network including functionality for routing data, admission control, resource allocation, subscriber billing, mobile station authentication etc.
The most ubiquitous cellular communication system is the 2nd generation communication system known as the Global System for Mobile communication (GSM). GSM uses a technology known as Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) wherein user separation is achieved by dividing frequency carriers into 8 discrete time slots, which individually can be allocated to a user. Further description of the GSM TDMA communication system can be found in 'The GSM System for Mobile Communications' by Michel Mouly and Marie Bernadette Pautet, Bay Foreign Language Books, 1992, ISBN 2950719007.
Currently, 3rd generation systems are being rolled out to further enhance the communication services provided to mobile users. The most widely adopted 3rd generation communication systems are based on Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) technology. Both Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) and Time Division Duplex (TDD) techniques employ this CDMA technology. In CDMA systems, user separation is obtained by allocating different spreading and scrambling codes to different users on the same carrier frequency and in the same time intervals. In TDD, additional user separation is achieved by assigning different time slots to different users similarly to TDMA. However, in contrast to TDMA, TDD provides for the same carrier frequency to be used for both uplink and downlink transmissions. An example of a communication system using this principle is the Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS). Further description of CDMA and specifically of the Wideband CDMA (WCDMA) mode of UMTS can be found in 'WCDMA for UMTS', Harri Holma (editor), Antti Toskala (Editor), Wiley & Sons, 2001, ISBN 0471486876.
In a 3rd generation cellular communication system, the communication network comprises a core network and a Radio Access Network (RAN). The core network is operable to route data from one part of the RAN to another, as well as interfacing with other communication systems. In addition, it performs many of the operation and management functions of a cellular communication system, such as billing. The RAN is operable to support wireless user equipment over a radio link of the air interface. The RAN comprises the base stations, which in UMTS are known as Node Bs, as well as Radio Network Controllers (RNC) which control the base stations and the communication over the air interface.
The RNC performs many of the control functions related to the air interface including radio resource management and routing of data to and from appropriate base stations. It further provides the interface between the RAN and the core network. An RNC and associated base stations are known as a Radio Network Subsystem (RNS).
3rd generation cellular communication systems have been specified to provide a large number of different services including efficient packet data services. For example, downlink packet data services are supported within the 3rd Generation Partnership Project 3GPP release 5 specifications in the form of the High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) service.
In accordance with the 3GPP specifications, the HSDPA service may be used in both Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) mode and Time Division Duplex (TDD) mode.
HSDPA seeks to provide packet access services with a relatively low resource usage and with low latency.
Specifically, HSDPA uses a number of techniques in order to reduce the resource required to communicate data and to increase the capacity of the communication system. These techniques include Adaptive Coding and Modulation (ACM), retransmission with soft combining and fast scheduling performed at the base station.
In HSDPA, transmission code resources are shared amongst users according to their traffic needs. The base station (also known as the Node-B for UMTS) is responsible for allocating and distributing the HSDPA resources amongst the individual calls. In a UMTS system that supports HSDPA, some of the code allocation is performed by the RNC whereas other code allocation, or more specifically, scheduling is performed by the base station. Specifically, the RNC allocates a set of resources to each base station, which the base station can use exclusively for high speed packet services. The RNC furthermore controls the flow of data to and from the base stations. However, the base station is responsible for scheduling HS-DSCH transmissions to the mobile stations that are attached to it, for operating a retransmission scheme on the HS-DSCH channels, for controlling the coding and modulation for HS-DSCH transmissions to the mobile stations and for transmitting data packets to the mobile stations.
In HSDPA, each base station comprises a buffer for temporarily storing data to be transmitted to the mobile stations. Furthermore, HSDPA does not support soft handover and an HSDPA mobile station will at any given point be served by only one base station. When a hard handover occurs from one base station to another, a fixed time instant is determined for the handover. At this time instant, the mobile station switches from being supported by the first base station to being supported by the second base station. However, at the time of the handover, the buffers of the first base station may still comprise data for the mobile station which has not yet been transmitted. Accordingly, this data is merely discarded by the first base station, and retransmission techniques are used to recover the data via the second base station when the handover has taken place.
Although such process can be simple to implement, it tends to provide suboptimal performance. In particular, additional communication resource is used for the communication between the RNC and the two base stations as the discarded data must be transmitted from the RNC to the second base station. Furthermore, the retransmissions required to recover the discarded data results in a gap in the data stream received by the mobile station and can increase transmission delays substantially. For some services, such a gap may be noticeable to the user.
Hence, an improved system for radio link handover would be advantageous and in particular a system allowing increased flexibility, improved handover performance, an improved user experience, reduced resource requirements, reduced complexity and/or a reduced delay would be advantageous.

Radio link handover in a cellular communication system


A pattern generator includes an address generator, an address topology generator, and a data topology generator. The address generator is adapted to provide a first address having a plurality of address bits. The address topology generator includes a first plurality of programmable logic gates. Each programmable logic gate of the first plurality is coupled to receive at least a subset of the plurality of address bits. The first plurality of programmable logic gates generate a second address having a plurality of modified address bits. The data topology generator is adapted to receive at least a subset of the plurality of modified address bits and generate write data based on the subset of modified address bits. A method for generating a pattern includes generating a first address having a plurality of address bits. A second address having a plurality of modified address bits is generated. The second address is a programmable combination of subsets of the address bits. Write data is generated based on a subset of the modified address bits.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to programmable logic devices and more particularly to a programmable pattern generator adapted for testing memory devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
Testing systems have been developed for determining the proper functioning of semiconductor devices, such as memory devices. The testing system typically writes a number of data patterns simultaneously to a group of memory devices under test. Memory devices often have multiple banks of memory which may be grouped into blocks and sub-blocks. The internal organization of the memory device is such that sequential addresses do not necessarily indicate adjacent locations. Also, due to the manner in which cells in a memory device are typically designed, a logic "1" on an external data line may actually be stored as a logic "0" in a given cell.
The particular internal organization of the memory device as related to the location of sequential address is referred to as its address topology, and the organization of the memory device with respect to the way data is stored is referred to as its data topology. Different memory device models typically have different address and data topologies, depending on their specific layout, size, etc.
To ensure that a test is performed as intended, the testing system must account for both the address topology and the data topology while performing the test. Various data patterns used for testing a memory device are well known in the art. For example, a checkerboard data pattern involves writing alternating logic "1" and logic "0" values in a block of cells. To ensure that the block of cells is contiguous, the testing system considers the address topology when deciding the particular cells to access. Also, the testing system considers the data topology when determining whether to write a logic "1" or a logic "0" to a particular cell to achieve the desired checkerboard pattern. Address and data topologies are typically defined by logic functions having exclusive OR, AND, and/or OR components. The logic functions are performed on the row and/or column address to account for the particular topologies.
Generally, program loops are used to implement the testing patterns used to perform a particular test. Typically, a number of instructions are used to control the looping. For example, a comparison is conducted to determine if a loop terminating condition is met at the end of the loop. If the loop terminating condition is not met the program is instructed to branch back to the starting point, and if the loop terminating condition is met, the program branches to the next instruction. This plurality of steps to control a loop adds overhead clock cycles (i.e., no testing of the device is being performed during these instructions). The number of overhead clock cycles is significant due to the number of loops typically used to complete a testing pattern. Due to the overhead, the time required to complete a test pattern using a program loop is increased.
Prior testing systems have typically used cross bar switches to manipulate a particular row or column address received from an address generator and access lookup tables based on the manipulated address. A cross bar switch typically has the same number of inputs and outputs and allows any of the inputs to be routed to any of the outputs. For example, the third input may be routed to the tenth output. In effect, a cross bar switch allows an address to be rearranged in a predetermined fashion. A cross bar switch performs no logic operations, however, the lookup tables are programmed based on the address and data topologies of the memory device to provide outputs based on logical combinations of the inputs.
Cross bar switches typically consume large amounts of circuit area and are not easily integrated with other components of the testing system, resulting in more complicated and costly circuits.
The present invention is directed to overcoming, or at least reducing the effects of, one or more of the problems set forth above.

Microsequencer with nested loop counters


An RFID tag with an RFIC module including a substrate, an RFIC chip disposed on the substrate, and a loop conductor disposed on the substrate and connected to the RFIC chip; and an antenna base material mounted with the RFIC module and including an antenna conductor with a radiating portion radiating radio waves and a coupling portion connected to the radiating portion, for electromagnetic field coupling with the loop conductor. Moreover, the loop conductor includes a first loop pattern formed on a first main surface of the substrate, a second loop pattern formed on a second main surface confronting the first main surface, and an interlayer connection conductor extending through the substrate, for connecting the first and the second loop patterns in series.

For example, Patent Document 1 (identified below) discloses an RFID (Radio-Frequency IDentification) tag that includes an RFIC (Radio-Frequency Integrated Circuit) module having a spiral coil formed on a silicon substrate; and a sheet-shaped antenna base material mounted with the RFIC module and having an antenna. The coil of the RFIC module and the antenna of the antenna base material are connected to each other via electromagnetic field coupling, and hence there is no need for DC connection using soldering, etc. For that reason, even though the RFID tag is used under sever conditions causing repetitive deformations, for example, even if it is attached to linen subjected to repetitive washing, connection between the RFIC module and the antenna can be maintained.
Patent Document 1: JP2008-310453A.
With regard to the RFID tag described in Patent Document 1, the coil of the RFIC module and the antenna are electromagnetic field coupled together. Therefore, in order to obtain desired communication characteristics of the RFID tag without variations, the RFIC module needs to be mounted on the antenna base material without variations at a certain position and posture. Particularly, in the case of the RFID tag described in Patent Document 1, since the spiral coil is formed in one surface of the silicon substrate, if the RFIC module is mounted upside down on the antenna base material, the communication characteristics, i.e. the degree of coupling between the coil and the antenna varies to a great extent.


The present invention relates to blocked polyisocyanate cross-linking agents and their use in one-component stoving lacquers, in particular in solvent-containing or predominantly water-based plastics coatings having a soft-feel effect.

The present invention relates to blocked polyisocyanate cross-linking agents and their use in one-component stoving lacquers, in particular in solvent-containing or predominantly water-based plastics coatings having a soft-feel effect.
The use of CH-acid esters as isocyanate blocking agents is prior art; cf. the work reported by S. Petersen in Liebigs Ann. Chem. 562 (1949) page 205 et seq. An advantage of these blocking agents, for example, diethyl malonate or ethyl acetoacetate, is the low stoving range of 80xc2x0 C. to 120xc2x0 C. for producing the coatings. Moreover, unlike other blocking agents, they produce no harmful substances.
Disadvantages of these blocking agents are firstly the increased tendency of the coatings to yellow during the stoving process and secondly the tendency of the blocked polyisocyanate cross-linking agents to crystallise. For example, a polyisocyanate based on 1,6-diisocyanatohexane (HDI) and blocked with diethyl malonate, despite a considerable quantity of solvent, solidifies after a few days to form a glass-like composition, which can, however, be carefully melted again.
Accordingly, methods of averting these disadvantages have also been published in the patent literature. In DE-A 19 748 587 it is proposed that, instead of exclusively diethyl malonate, a mixture of diethyl/diisopropyl malonate be used for the blocking. In this way the tendency to crystallise is counteracted.
DE-A 19 813 352 describes the incorporation of formaldehyde for the same purpose. Furthermore, the incorporated formaldehyde as well as the content of certain hydrazides and HALS amines prevent the development of a distinct thermal yellowing of the stoving lacquer. It has been found, however, that in the case of certain polyisocyanates the method of DE-A 19 813 352 is inadequate to prevent opacity and precipitation (see comparison examples 2 and 3).
The object of the invention is to prepare polyisocyanate cross-linking agents blocked with CH-acid esters in such a way as to ensure that the cross-linking agents are stable in storage and that as little thermal yellowing as possible occurs in the coatings. This object was achievable with the blocked polyisocyanate cross-linking agents according to the invention.
The invention provides blocked polyisocyanate cross-linking agents which are dissolved in a solvent (mixture) and have a content of blocked isocyanate groups of from 5 to 20%, preferably 8 to 14%, and contain
The invention finally also provides the use of the blocked polyisocyanate cross-linking agents according to the invention for curing organic polyhydroxyl compounds in polyurethane stoving lacquers in solvent-containing phase or in aqueous phase. These are used, for example, in automobiles, for plastics coatings having a soft-feel effect.
Besides the above-mentioned components which are essential to the invention, the blocked polyisocyanate cross-linking agents according to the invention may also contain hydrazides and HALS amines as additives which provide resistance to thermal yellowing, as described in EP-A 829 500 or DE-A 19 856 968.
In addition, the blocked polyisocyanate cross-linking agents according to the invention further contain 5 to 50 wt. %, preferably 15 to 30 wt. %, of solvents. Solvents which exhibit a tendency to be miscible in water are preferred, such as, for example, 1-methoxy-2-propyl acetate, isobutanol, butyl glycol, N-methylpyrrolidone, butyl diglycol or butyl diglycol acetate.
The blocked polyisocyanate cross-linking agents according to the invention are
non-crystallising, clear products which are stable in storage
curing components which react with themselves and also with OH components at 80xc2x0 C. to 120xc2x0 C.
coreactants for both solvent-based and water-based OH components.
The polyisocyanate cross-linking agents according to the invention may be prepared as follows:
The polyisocyanate component, optionally with a little solvent, for example, 1-methoxy-2-propyl acetate (MPA), is initially introduced at approximately 50xc2x0 C.; the CH-acid ester, for example, malonic ester, is added thereto as a mixture with approximately 2 to 3% of a 30% Na methylate solution and the reaction is allowed to proceed at 60xc2x0 C. to 90xc2x0 C. until the calculated NCO content has been attained. Then the calculated quantity of diamine, for example, 1-amino-3,3,5-trimethyl-5-aminomethylcyclohexane (IPDA), dissolved in additional MPA, is added thereto and the reaction continued at approximately 50xc2x0 C. to 70xc2x0 C., so that NCO groups are no longer detectable. Thereafter, at 40xc2x0 C. to 50xc2x0 C., the clear solution of paraformaldehyde and about 10%, based on paraformaldehyde, of a 30% Na methylate solution as base and isobutanol are added to the batch, which is then stirred for 1 to 2 hours at 40xc2x0 C. to 50xc2x0 C., as a result of which the formaldehyde is chemically bound (the incorporated form). The detectable amounts of free formaldehyde are only less than 0.1%. For the special embodiment of the cross-linking agents according to the invention, in particular for light-coloured coatings, at this stage of the batch the stabilisers which provide resistance to thermal yellowing, for example, the above-mentioned addition product of 2 mol propylene carbonate and 1 mol hydrazine, and the HALS amine Tinuvin 770 DF(copyright) (Ciba Speciality) can be stirred in. In order to adjust the required viscosity to within a range of  less than 10000 mPas, the batch is diluted with further alcohol, for example, isobutanol and/or butyl glycol, and finally made slightly acid (pH 5.0-6.9) with 0.5 to 2.5%, based on the batch, of dibutyl phosphate.
The polyisocyanates constituting the blocked polyisocyanate cross-linking agents according to the invention are known coating polyisocyanates having aliphatically and/or cycloaliphatically bonded isocyanate groups and an isocyanate content of 7 to 30 wt. %, preferably 12 to 25 wt. %.
Polyisocyanates preferably used are known per se coating polyisocyanates based on 1,6-diisocyanatohexane (HDI), 1-isocyanato-3,3,5-trimethyl-5-isocyanatomethylcyclohexane (IPDI) and/or bis(4-isocyanatocyclohexyl)methane (H12MDI or Desmodur W(copyright)/Bayer AG) having biuret, isocyanurate, urethane, allophanate and/or uretdione groups. The asymmetrically trimerised (that is, in addition to isocyanurate also having iminooxadiazindione groups) coating polyisocyanates based on 1,6-diisocyanatohexane, of the type described, for example, in EP-A 798 299, can also be used as polyisocyanate components.
Polyisocyanates based on other isocyanates can also be used, such as, for example, diisocyanatobutane-1,4,2,4- or 2,6-diisocyanato-1-methylcyclohexane, 2,5- and/or 2,6-bis(isocyanato)norbomane, 3- and/or 4-isocyanatomethyl-1-methyl-cyclohexane, 1,4-bis(2-isocyanatoprop-2-yl)benzene, 1,3-diisocyanatomethylbenzene, 1,3- or 1,4-bis(isocyanatomethyl)cyclohexane.
The most preferred polyisocyanate components are polyisocyanates based on 1-6 diisocyanatohexane which contain isocyanurate groups.
Suitable blocking agents are CH-acid esters, for example, diethyl malonate or ethyl acetoacetate and/or their methyl, isopropyl, isobutyl or tertiary butyl derivatives. Diethyl malonate is preferred.
The diamine component incorporated in the cross-linking agents according to the invention has the task of reacting mildly with the NCO groups still remaining after the NCO-blocking reaction and thereby contributing to the enlargement of the molecules. In this way 5 to 20 equivalent. %, preferably 7 to 10 equivalent. %, of NCO groups are reacted by diamine extension and a possible tendency to crystallise is prevented. Aliphatic and cycloaliphatic diamines are suitable. Examples which may be mentioned are ethylenediamine and propylenediamine, 4,4xe2x80x2-diaminodicyclohexylmethane and 1,4-diaminocyclohexane 3,3,5-trimethyl-5-aminomethylcyclohexylamine (IPDA) is preferred.
As a result of the incorporation of formaldehyde into the cross-linking agents according to the invention, firstly the tendency to crystallise, in particular that of blocked polyisocyanates based on HDI, is distinctly lessened, as is also the thermal yellowing of the stoving lacquers.
Per 100 equivalent. % of blocked and diamine-extended polyisocyanate, preferably 0.1 to 0.4 mol, i.e. 10 to 40 equivalent. %, of paraformaldehyde is added and reacted with a base, for example, Na methylate. This amounts to 0.5 to 5.0 wt. % formaldehyde, based on the cross-linking agents according to the invention without the solvent content.
The stabilisers disclosed in EP-A 0 829 500 can be used as additional stabilising components. Preferred stabilisers according to the invention are the incorporable hydrazide corresponding to formula (Ia)
which is easily attainable by addition of hydrazine hydrate to 2 mol propylene carbonate, and the HALS amine Tinuvin 770 DF(copyright) which is unsubstituted at the N atom (Ciba Speciality).
Preferably 3 to 6 wt. % of the hydrazide stabiliser and preferably 0.5 to 1.5 wt. % of the formadehyde stabiliser, each based on the cross-linking agents according to the invention without the solvent content, are used here.
The solvents or solvent mixtures used can be the solvents known per se from polyurethane chemistry which are not reactive with NCO groups. Examples are 1-methoxy-2-propyl acetate, solvent naphtha 100 or butyl acetate as well as N-methylpyrrolidone and butyl diglycol acetate. If the NCO groups are blocked, then preferably alcohols are used, for example, butanols such as isobutanol or butyl glycol, in order to render possible a transesterification with the alcohol groups of the blocking agent. If the polyisocyanate cross-linking agent according to the invention is used in conjunction with aqueous OH components for the production of water-based binder compositions, it additionally contains 5 to 20% by weight, based on the polyisocyanate cross-linking agent solution, of N-methylpyrrolidone.
The polyisocyanate cross-linking agents according to the invention exhibit satisfactory stability in storage, that is, no crystallisation, little thermal yellowing and good coating properties.
The coating films obtainable with the cross-linking agents according to the invention exhibit permanently stable soft-feel surfaces with good adhesion to the substrate (haptic qualities). They are therefore suitably mainly for the coating and lacquering of plastics surfaces.

Malonic ester-blocked HDI trimer with IPDA stabilization and formaldehyde stabilization


An improved process for denitrating tobacco with minimal losses of desirable tobacco solubles employing electrodialysis is disclosed. The process comprises subjecting an aqueous tobacco extract to membrane electrodialysis such that nitrate salts are extracted, without substantial loss of desirable tobacco solubles, while minimizing conflicting reactions in the electrodialysis unit and prolonging membrane life. Conflicting reactions are reduced and membrane life is enhanced by isolation of the electrodes to prevent electrolysis in the extract and brine by use of an anion permeable membrane adjacent the cathode and by use of a catholyte, the anion of which forms soluble salts with polyvalent cations. The denitrated extract when combined with denitrated insoluble fibrous tobacco materials may be employed to produce tobacco products having reduced nitrogen oxide delivery.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method for denitrating tobacco extract via electrodialysis.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Tobacco contains a number of nitrogen containing substances which during the burning of the tobacco yield various components in the smoke. Removal of some of these smoke components, such as the oxides of nitrogen, is considered desirable.
Nitrate salts, such as potassium, calcium and magnesium nitrates, are a major class of nitrogenous substances which are precursors for nitrogen oxides, especially citric oxide. These nitrate salts are normally found in great abundance in burley tobacco stems and strip and to a lesser degree in flue-cured tobacco stems and in reconstituted tobaccos which utilize these components. Attempts have been made to reduce or remove the nitrate from these tobaccos to bring about a significant reduction in the oxides of nitrogen delivered in their smoke. Among the techniques which have been employed to this end are extraction methods whereby the nitrates are removed from the tobacco material.
In accordance with extraction techniques, tobacco materials are generally contacted with water. In this manner, an extract containing the tobacco solubles including the nitrate salts, is formed. The extract is collected and may be discarded or may be treated to remove the nitrate ions. The denitrated extract may thereupon be reapplied to the fibrous insoluble tobacco material from which it was originally removed.
For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,131,118 and 4,131,117 describe denitration of an aqueous tobacco extract by crystallizing the nitrate as potassium nitrate followed by reapplication of the denitrated extract to the tobacco. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,847,164 denitration of tobacco extracts is effected by means of ion-retardation resins which retard ionic material, specifically potassium nitrate, while non-ionic constituents in the tobacco extracts pass unaffected. In the practice of this method rapid neutralization of the resins results, necessitating plant shutdown for regeneration employing costly chemical treatments.
In addition to denitration, extraction processes are employed to remove other components from tobacco. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,616,801 describes a process for improving the tobacco burn properties, smoke flavor and ash by controlling the ion content of the tobacco. In accordance with the process therein disclosed the proportion of metallic ions in an aqueous tobacco extract is adjusted, followed by reapplication of the treated extract to the tobacco. Among the treatments suggested for adjusting the metal ion content are ion exchange and membrane electrodialysis. Removal of potassium ions and their replacement with ammonium, hydrogen, calcium or magnesium ions are particuarly desirable in the practice of this process. Other ions, including nitrate, may also be removed to improve the tobacco properties. In Example 6, substantial quantities of various tobacco solubles, including both nitrate and potassium ions, were removed by means of electrodialysis.
Parent application Ser. No. 127,479, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,253,929 describes nitrate removal from tobacco extract by means of electrodialysis, whereby a substantial reduction in nitrate salts is achieved with minimal loss of other tobacco solubles. It has now been discovered that it is possible to minimize conflicting reactions and salt precipitation in the electrodialysis unit and thus prolong the useful life of the electrodialysis membranes during such denitration.

Method for electrolytic denitration of tobacco


An audio scrambler operates on segments of audio divided from a continuous audio signal to rotate head-to-tail the string of information contained in the segment by an amount which is at pseudo-random between the successive segments. When the segments are compressed to video format, the scrambled compressed audio signals are inserted into an unused line of the vertical blanking space of a television system for transmission with the video signals. The inserted audio is combined with decoy signals, also in the vertical blanking space to increase security of transmission. Concurrent scrambling of compressed audio signals and video signals is provided.

The invention relates to an audio scrambler which can be used singly, or in combination with, a video scrambler.
Signal scrambling techniques are known in audio as well as in video systems for the purpose of preventing unauthorized hearing or viewing. In contrast to a cryptographic security system, a scrambler system does not necessarily provide total privacy in the communication. It does not insure that the message will not be unscrambled by somebody determined to do it. At least scrambling will make it difficult, or costly, for someone to reconstitute the scrambled message without the knowledge of the code.
The present invention adapts for audio scrambling a technique which has been disclosed in a television system for video scrambling. The technique is found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,070,693 issued Jan. 24, 1978 to Harold B. Shutterly. While the scrambling method in the patent is applied exclusively to a television video signal, it affords several advantages when, as proposed by the present invention, it is adapted for audio scrambling in general, and more particularly, used for transmitting the audio on the video channels of a television system.
It is known in the prior art to concurrently scramble the audio and the video signals of a television system. See for instance U.S. Pat. No. 3,919,462 of A. Hartung et al., No. 3,852,519 of Patrick R. J. Court and No. 3,736,369 of Joseph H. Vogelman et al.
It is known from U.S. Pat. No. 3,872,503 of H. B. Shutterly, to divide a continuous signal into successive segments, or samples and with these to generate time-compressed audio signals in the video format which can be accommodated with true video signals for concurrent use, e.g. for transmission in a television system. Discontinuities and unwanted transients at the junction between segments are eliminated from the constructed signal by adding repeated portions of the segment, or sample, at the ends thereof.
It is known from U.S. Pat. No. 3,789,137 of George F. Newell to time-compress segments of an audio signal to convert them into video format for recording, or transmission. Analog-to-digital conversion and digital to analog conversion at both ends of the conversion scheme are used with two registers for alternately processing in digital form successive segments divided from the original continuous audio signal.
It is known from U.S. Pat. No. 3,731,197 of J. E. Clark to divide a continuous audio signal into successive segments which are sampled for storage and scrambling in accordance with a code before transmission. The same code at the receiving end allows reconstruction of the segments and continuous reproduction of the audio signal.
It is known from U.S. Pat. No. 3,824,467 of R. C. French, or U.S. Pat. No. 3,970,790 of G. Guanella, to divide an audio signal into segments and to rearrange such segments so as to form an unintelligible transmitted signal.
It is known from U.S. Pat. No. 3,925,612 of G. Guanella, et al. to scramble a polarity modulated message pulse series with a shift register which is scrambled cyclically, scrambling being obtained by output feed back into selected locations of the shift register.
It is known from U.S. Pat. No. 3,819,852 of Peter Wolf to store the audio in time-compressed form during the period of a line in the vertical blanking interval subsequently to the video signal.

Scrambling system for television sound signals


An image-assisted monitoring of the displacement of an object, for example a catheter, relative to a vascular system, is enable in which the position of the object is continuously measured and reproduced in an MR angiogram. Shifts/deformations occurring in the course of an examination are determined by obtaining slice images which are compared with images of the same slice which are derived from an original data set. The MR angiogram and/or the position are corrected accordingly.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an MR method for the image-assisted monitoring of the displacement of an object relative to a vascular system, in which a first MR data set is acquired which represents the course of the vascular system within a three-dimensional volume, after which the position of the object is continuously measured and reproduced in an MR angiogram derived from the first MR data set.
2. Description of Related Art
An MR method of this kind is known from Proceedings of 3rd SMR, 490, 1995. A comparatively long period of time (from 8 to 20 minutes) is required for the acquisition of an MR data set. Therefore, this MR data set is acquired before introduction of the object, for example a catheter, into the vascular system. After introduction of the catheter, the position of the object is continuously measured in real time and is reproduced in an MR angiogram derived from the first MR data set.
The known method meets its limits when the patient moves during the intervention. The real-time measured position of the object can then no longer be reproduced at the correct location in the angiogram, because the motion of the patient has not been taken up in the angiogram.

MR method for the image-assisted monitoring of the displacement of an object, and MR device for carry out the method


Cast resin lenses which are removed from casting molds early in a cure cycle are coated for protection against exposure to oxygen to provide increased post cure surface polymerization and abrasion resistance.

1. Field of the Invention
Manufacture of cast resin lenses with particular reference to improvements in post-cure procedures.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
In the manufacture of lenses of cast allyl diglycol carbonate and copolymers of the monomer and other resins, it is desirable to remove the castings early in the cure cycle for ease of separation from the molds and to prevent costly breakage of molds at separation. This early removal, however, requires post-curing of the cast lenses wherein exposure to oxygen normally inhibits further polymerization of the surfaces of the lenses. Accordingly, the lenses are left vulnerable to surface abrasion and are difficult to dye to uniform color densities.
In view of the foregoing, an object of this invention is to avoid the usual low surface cure of post-cured lenses that have been removed from their molds early in the preliminary curing cycle.
A further object is to accomplish greater than usual yield and quality of cast lens products with minimal cost and complication of equipment and/or procedure.
Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description.


There is such an issue with the well-known optical element that it is difficult to achieve a high transmittance since the transmittance is determined according to the pattern size of the light transmission regions, so that the luminance of the display device to which such optical element is mounted is deteriorated. Provided is an optical element which employs a structure in which the shape of a conductive pattern where electrophoretic particles cohere in a wide viewing field mode is formed in a comb-like shape and plural stages and plural rows of light transmission regions are disposed in the spaces between the comb teeth. This makes it possible to exclude the electrophoretic particles from the regions other than the comb-like electrode for allowing the light to transmit that part.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical element which variably controls the range of exit directions of transmission light, and to a display device, an electronic apparatus, and a lighting device using the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
Display devices such as liquid crystal display devices, for example, are used as information display modules of various kinds of information processing devices such as mobile phones, PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants), ATMs (Automatic Teller Machines), personal computers, and the like.
Further, as the displays are becoming large-scaled and multi-purposed, various luminous intensity distribution characteristics are required for the display devices. Particularly, there are demands for restricting the visible range so that others cannot peep at the display and a demand for not emitting light to undesired directions from the viewpoint of preventing information leakage. For dealing with such demands, an optical film capable of restricting the visible range (or the emission range) of the display device has been proposed and put into practical use. However, in a case where the display device is viewed from a plurality of directions simultaneously, it is necessary to take out the optical element every time. Therefore, there is an increasing demand for acquiring states of a wide visible range and a narrow visible range arbitrarily without going through a trouble of taking out the optical element.
For dealing with such demand, an optical element capable of switching the visible range of the display device between a wide viewing field mode and a narrow viewing field mode has been proposed.
As shown in FIG. 17A and FIG. 17B, this optical element 600 can arbitrarily acquire two states of a wide viewing field mode (see FIG. 17B) that is in an emission state of light 65 and a narrow viewing field mode (see FIG. 17A) by disposing an electrophoretic element 602 between light-transmission regions 601 of high aspect ratio arranged independently on a substrate two-dimensionally and controlling the dispersion state of the electrophoretic element 602 with the electric field generated by the voltage from outside. For example, it is the optical element acquired by: using a transparent substrate; applying, exposing, developing and curing a transparent photosensitive resin layer by applying heat to form the light transmission regions 601; and disposing the electrophoretic element 602 between the light transmission regions 601.
FIG. 18 is a sectional view showing an optical element of a related technique. An optical element 900 includes: a transparent substrate 110; another transparent conductive film 123 formed on the surface of the transparent substrate 110; a plurality of light transmission regions 120 which are formed on the top face of the transparent conductive film 123 by being isolated from each other; electrophoretic elements 140 disposed between those light transmission regions 120; and another transparent substrate 115 which is disposed on the light transmission regions 120 and includes a transparent conductive film 125 on the face that is in contact with the light transmission regions 120. The optical element 900 is disclosed in FIG. 8 of U.S. Pat. No. 7,751,667 B2 (Patent Document 1), for example.
However, there are following issues in the related technique disclosed in FIG. 8 of Patent Document 1.
Since both of the transparent conductive film 123 and the transparent conductive film 125 are disposed in a planar manner in the element regions of the transparent substrate 110 and the transparent substrate 115, transmission of light towards the front face direction is blocked in the region other than the light transmission regions 120 both in the narrow viewing field mode and the wide viewing field mode (see the narrow viewing field mode of FIG. 24A, FIG. 24B and the wide viewing field mode of FIG. 25A, FIG. 25B) and the transmittance in the front face direction is determined according to the pattern size of the light transmission regions. Therefore, it is difficult to improve the transmittance more than that. As a result, the luminance of the liquid crystal display device to which the optical element is mounted is deteriorated.
It is therefore an exemplary object of the present invention to provide an optical element which is capable of increasing the transmittance in the wide viewing field mode than the narrow viewing field mode and capable of suppressing deterioration of the luminance in the wide viewing field mode of the display device to which the optical element is mounted.

Optical element, and display device, electronic apparatus, lighting device using the same


A propeller hub rotatable about an axis is provided with a plurality of airfoil surfaces peripherally arranged about the axis and defining a first pitch angle that is acute and adjustable with respect to the tangent on the circular arc described by rotation of the airfoil surface as seen in a plane perpendicular to the axis, and further by a second pitch angle being acute and adjustable and measured with respect to the axis of rotation within a plane containing the axis of rotation. Peripherally adjacent airfoil surfaces may have their first pitch angles oppositely oriented and second pitch angles oppositely oriented to respectively propel fluid inwardly and outwardly with respect to the axis of rotation. The air foil surfaces may be directly connected to the hub and extend conically outward or connected to the hub by means of arms that may be angled airfoil surfaces functioning as conventional screw propellers. The hub may be mounted coaxially adjacent a counter rotating screw.

The present invention relates to propeller drive systems for bodies traveling through a fluid medium, such as fast boats and aircraft. In particular, the invention relates to propellers having blades mounted substantially parallel to the axis of rotation of the propeller shaft, in contrast to conventional screw-type propellers in which the blades are mounted radially with respect to the propeller shaft axis.

Side propellers for the propulsion of fast boats and aircraft


A method of efficiently recharging a supplementary battery of a vehicle can recharge the supplementary battery with power from a main battery. A method of controlling a supplementary battery recharging system includes: acquiring charged current of a supplementary battery; starting a timer when the charged current exceeds a limit range; updating a current limit on the basis of a timer value and temperature information of the supplementary battery; and controlling a target voltage using the updated current limit.

(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of efficiently recharging a supplementary battery of a vehicle, and more particularly, to a method that can recharge the supplementary battery with power from a main battery, and a recharging system for performing the same.
(b) Description of the Related Art
A vehicle is started using a battery voltage, and instruments such as indoor lamps and electrical devices such as an air conditioner of the vehicle are provided with power from a battery and a generator. When an engine of the vehicle is driven by rotating a starter motor to start the vehicle, an AC generator coupled to the engine through a fan belt generates electricity so as to recharge the battery.
In the case of an electric vehicle (EV) or a hybrid vehicle (PHEV/HEV), a motor thereof performs energy regeneration and torque supplement, and a main battery provides power. The main battery provides a high voltage (e.g., about 330V), in general. An electric car is provided with a supplementary battery in addition to the main battery. The supplementary battery provides power to operate an electrical switch for supplying a high voltage of the main battery to a motor control unit (MCU) or serves as a buffering device for voltage balancing in operations of devices driven by a low voltage (e.g. 12V) in the vehicle.
In particular, the main battery supplies power to the motor and devices in the vehicle, which are driven by electricity, after the vehicle is started. The supplementary battery provides power to operate an electrical switch for supplying a high voltage of the main battery to a motor control unit (MCU) or serves as a buffering device for voltage balancing in operations of devices driven by a low voltage (e.g. 12V) in the vehicle. The supplementary battery can be recharged by a low voltage DC-DC converter (LDC) that converts the voltage of the main battery to a low voltage. When the LDC recharges the supplementary battery, the output voltage of the LDC is controlled according to supplementary battery charging current. A supplementary battery charging logic will now be described with reference to FIGS. 1A-1B (RELATED ART).
FIGS. 1A and 1B illustrate an exemplary logic for controlling charging of a supplementary battery of a vehicle.
In FIGS. 1A and 1B, the charging control logic controls an LDC voltage by applying a current limit Batt Current Limit and a cancellation current limit Cancellation Batt Current Limit to current battery charged current Batt Current Filtered.
Referring to FIG. 1A, when a state that the current battery charged current Batt Current Filtered is greater than the current limit Batt Current Limit continues for a predetermined monitoring period (e.g. N=10 seconds), the LDC decreases the output voltage (i.e. target voltage) by 1 step (e.g. 0.1 V). The procedure is repeated at a monitoring interval.
When the current battery charged current Batt Current Filtered is lower than the Cancellation Batt Current Limit, as shown in FIG. 1B, voltage control is cancelled and thus the target voltage is set to a default LDC voltage. Here, the default LDC voltage may be fixed or controllable according to the state of the supplementary battery, for example, state of charge (SOC) and/or temperature of the supplementary battery.
When the logic as shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B is applied, charging current exceeds the current limit for a long time if recharging of the supplementary battery which has been discharged is started, and thus the target voltage is stepped down several times and a difference between the target voltage and the default LDC voltage increases. Here, battery charged current decreases upon completion of recharging of the supplementary battery and voltage control is canceled when the battery charged current is reduced below the cancellation current limit, and thus the target voltage stepped down several times is recovered to the default LDC voltage. When such situation is repeated, supplementary battery life is decreased.

Supplementary battery recharging system for vehicle and method of controlling the same


Safety equipment is disclosed comprising a three-phase heat pipe for the protection of apparatus from exceeding maximum or minimum safe working temperatures. The heat pipe has a working fluid selected so that it will not function below the desired temperature. A working fluid which has a melting point slightly above the minimum safe temperature of the equipment to be protected is preferred for protecting equipment from exceeding its minimum safe working temperature. This heat pipe may be used to cool an apparatus to a temperature where the heat pipe automatically stops functioning and keeps an apparatus from exceeding its minimum design temperature. A working fluid which has a melting point slightly below the maximum safe temperature is preferred to keep equipment from exceeding its maximum safe working temperature. This heat pipe will be inactive at normal operating temperatures but will release excess heat to cooler surroundings before safe working temperatures are exceeded. Transfer may also be by capillary action in a heat pipe having a wick.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to new and useful improvements in safety equipment for the protection of an apparatus from exceeding its safe operating temperature range, and more particularly to safety equipment which is simple, passive, extremely reliable, and does not release the contents of the apparatus to the atmosphere.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
It is well known that when heat is added to and removed from an apparatus the amount of heat removed and the amount of heat added must be precisely the same amount or the temperature of the equipment will eventually exceed either its maximum safe working temperature or its minimum safe working temperature. Instruments and controllers in various degrees of sophistication are added to the apparatus depending on the complexity of the apparatus. Redundant controls are added to very critical types of apparatus. Whenever possible a passive safety device is installed for the eventuality that the control system fails. When the contents of an apparatus can be vented to the atmosphere a safety valve may be used to vent the contents of the apparatus directly to the atmosphere, or indirectly by venting the contents through a flare system. When it is uneconomical or environmentally unacceptable to vent the contents of an apparatus to the atmosphere a passive safety system is more difficult to design, and in the case of atomic power plants a design for a passive safety system has not been realized.
The simplicity and reliability of the passive heat pipe has been recognized. This apparatus was chosen to maintain the permafrost under the Alaskan pipeline. Its reliability has been proposed as a way of eliminating some of the redundancy in atomic power plants.
Burelbach et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,478,784 discloses the use of a heat pipe for maintaining adjacent or related components of a nuclear reactor within specified temperature differences.
Huebotter et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,560,533 discloses the use of heat pipe exchangers to transfer energy from the primary coolant to the steam/water coolant system of an atomic power plant.
Neider et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,727,455 discloses a semiconductor power module with an integrated heat pipe for regulating temperature.
The reliability of the heat pipe results since only gravity or capillary action in a wick is necessary for the heat pipe to function. Conventional two-phase heat pipes located in the vertical position use gravity for working fluid circulation and comprise a vertical pipe containing liquid which is vaporized from the bottom end and flows as a vapor to the upper end where the vapors condense and flow by gravity back to the bottom end. Heat pipes which must transfer heat horizontally use capillary action in wicks for working fluid circulation. In horizontal heat pipes, capillary wicks transfer liquid from one end of the pipe where the vapors condense to the other end where the liquid is vaporized.
The simplicity of the heat pipe results from its construction, which may be as simple as only a sealed tube partially filled with a liquid. Various extended surface designs may be used externally to increase the capacity of an individual pipe. Internals may also be used to increase the capacity of a pipe. Heat exchanger bundles are made by installing parallel pipes. The interior volume may be tied together, or they may be individually sealed so that the failure of one pipe will not affect the performance of the remaining pipes.
The operation and construction of two phase heat pipes are well known, and these construction techniques will be used in the design of the three phase heat pipe which constitutes this invention. They are not a part of this invention but will be discussed briefly below.

Passive three-phase heat tube for the protection of apparatus from exceeding maximum or minimum safe working temperatures

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