A method of folding together a vehicle side curtain airbag is provided that includes bending a base section of an extended air bag toward the outboard side of the vehicle and fully over onto a middle section of the air bag located directly above the base section. The adjacent base and middle sections are then rolled, as a group, by first moving a crease line between the base and middle sections toward the outboard side of the vehicle, then curling the crease line back toward the unrolled portion of the base and middle sections and then rolling the remainder of the unrolled portion of the base and middle sections. A top section of the airbag is collapsed in a pleated manner.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to automobile protective systems, namely side curtain type airbags and the manner in which individual airbags are folded together and stored prior to use.
2. Description of Related Art
Air bags are commonly used safety devices in automobiles and other fast moving passenger vehicles. Commonly, air bags are provided to protect against head on collisions. Side impact air bag protection is now becoming a more common accessory in vehicles. Curtain type air bags, used to protect against side impacts, typically have a greater surface area than front impact type airbags, thus, rolling, packing and storing curtain type air bags is challenging. Adding to the challenge of storing curtain air bags is the limited amount of free space above the doors on the vehicle's roofline and, in general, above the roofliner. The air bag equipment, further, must be isolated from other wiring and drainage devices when located in common areas. Additionally, the air bag must be hidden when not deployed while still being effectively deployable.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,371,512 to Asano et al. describes a typical side curtain air bag. Referring to FIGS. 10A and 10B of the Asano et al. patent, reproduced herein as prior art FIGS. 1a and 1b, one method of storing an uninflated curtain air bag is illustrated with the leftmost portion being located toward the vehicle inside (indicated as "inboard side"). A turned back portion 116G contacts a length of the air bag located directly above the turned back portion 116G. These two portions, in combination referred to as a rolled-up portion, are rolled by first bringing the lowest end of the rolled-up portion toward the inside of the vehicle. The lowest end is then curled until it is completely enclosed by the remainder of the rolled-up portion. The curled portions are then simply rolled upward causing the remainder of the rolled-up portion to curl around the exterior of the portion being rolled. An upper section, located directly above the rolled-up portion is collapsed in a pleated manner. The rolled-up portion is often repositioned so that the upper pleated section is substantially covered with the rolled-up portion.
One drawback to the configuration of the prior art, where the rolled-up portion is rolled toward the inside of the vehicle, is the magnitude and direction of force generated upon the actuation of the air bag system. As the air bag fills with air and the air bag unrolls, upon each revolution, the remaining rolled portion is forced toward the inside of the vehicle and through the vehicle's roofliner and garnish. This sometimes results in an occupant of the vehicle being contacted by the air bag while the air bag is deploying and risks injury to the vehicle occupant. Additionally, excessive force is generated against the roofliner and garnish. Although some is required force to dislodge the roofliner from a position overlapping the garnish, often excess force fractures the garnish which can further injure the vehicle occupant. Replacement of the garnish is also, then required.
What is desired is an air bag that can be deployed using less force directed to the inside of the vehicle than what is used in the existing art and which will not create injury concerns for vehicle occupants.

Method for storing a side curtain air bag


An image forming apparatus including a head part with an ejection port configured to eject ink, a discarded-ink tank configured to collect ejected or absorbed ink in order to restore a function of the ejection port, and a sensing device configured to sense the discarded ink collected in the discarded-ink tank, the sensing device including an absorber configured to absorb the ink and an optical sensor configured to sense the light received from the absorber is disclosed, wherein the apparatus uses ink having a characteristic such that the discarded ink is accumulated in a mountain-like shape in the discarded-ink tank, and the absorber is arranged at the location, at which discarded ink can be absorbed when a mountain top of the discarded ink accumulated in a mountain-like shape reaches a predetermined height so that the discarded ink flows along a slope of the discarded ink accumulated in a mountain-like shape to the absorber.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, an ink jet printer is known as an image forming apparatus for forming an image on a recording medium by ejecting ink drops from the ejection port of an ink head. The ink jet printer is provided with an aspirating mechanism such as an aspirating pump for aspirating ink with an ink viscosity increased by the evaporation of ink solvent at the ejection port of the head or dirt adhered to the ejection port together with the ink. Also, blank ejection to a blank ejection receiver is performed in order to adjust the viscosity of ink and an ink meniscus before the start of printing. Ink aspirated by the aspirating pump or ink blank-ejected onto the blank ejection receiver is collected in a discarded-ink tank.
When a predetermined amount of ink is collected in the discarded-ink tank, the discarded-ink tank is detached from the main body of the apparatus and replaced with a new discarded-ink tank. For example, JP-A-2000-85413 discloses a discarded ink collecting apparatus that senses by an optical sensor and informs a user whether a predetermined amount of ink is collected in a discarded-ink tank. The discarded ink collecting apparatus disclosed in JP-A-2000-85413 is provided with an inflow port for discarded ink at one end portion of the upper wall of the discarded-ink tank and a sensor window at the other end portion. Then, the bottom portion of the sensor window is provided with a white sponge and an optical sensor for sensing light reflected from the sponge. As the discarded-ink tank is filled with the discarded ink, the white sponge provided on the bottom portion of the sensor window absorbs the discarded ink and the color thereof is changed into black whereby the light reflectivity of the sponge becomes a predetermined value or less. As a result, little reflected light enters the optical sensor and it can be sensed that the discarded-ink tank is filled with the discarded ink.
Meanwhile, a water-based ink that contains a pigment and a solvent in which a wetting agent (humectant), a penetrating agent and the like are contained in water is currently being used for printing with satisfactory properties of an image such as a color reproduction property, a fastness property, a light fastness property, an ink drying property, character bleeding, color border bleeding, and a double face printing property, etc., when printing is made on a normal paper.
However, such a pigment-containing ink has a viscosity higher than that of a general dye-containing ink and it takes less time to evaporate the solvent component of the pigment-containing ink so as to reach a viscosity showing the loss of the ink fluidity. Therefore, the discarded ink in the discarded-ink tank has a viscosity showing no fluidity. Also, since it takes less time to evaporate the solvent component of the pigment-containing ink so as to reach a viscosity showing the loss of the ink fluidity, the solvent component may have evaporated to reach a viscosity showing the loss of the fluidity under a high temperature or low humidity environment when the ink is dropped into the discarded-ink tank. Thus, the ink which has reached the viscosity that shows the loss of the fluidity at a stage of dropping the ink into the discarded-ink tank adheres to the discarded ink in the discarded-ink tank as agglomerate. The ink adhering to and deposited to the discarded ink as agglomerate in the discarded-ink tank increases with time. As a result, the discarded ink is not evenly collected in height in the discarded-ink tank but is accumulated in a mountain-like shape such that the top of the mountain is located at the discarded-ink entrance of the discarded-ink tank. Thus, although there is space enough to collect the discarded ink at the end portions of the discarded-ink tank away from the ink entrance thereof, the discarded ink protrudes from the entrance of the discarded-ink tank since the discarded ink is accumulated in a mountain-like shape. When the discarded-ink tank is exchanged on the condition that the discarded ink protrudes from the entrance of the discarded-ink tank, there is a problem in that the circumference of the ink tank in the apparatus is contaminated with the protruded discarded-ink. Also, there is a problem in that the protruded ink clogs the entrance of the discarded-ink tank so that the discarded ink is poured onto the outside of the discarded-ink tank.
However, where a sensing device is provided at the end portion of the discarded-ink tank which is away from the ink entrance on the upper wall thereof, as disclosed in JP-A-2000-85143, a condition cannot be sensed such that the discarded ink does not adhere to the sponge but protrudes from the ink entrance of the discarded-ink tank.
Therefore, an image forming apparatus that can suppress the protrusion of discarded ink from the entrance of a discarded-ink tank is desired.


Provided herein is a tape processing apparatus having: a tape cutting device which slides a cutter holder having a cutter blade attached therein in a reciprocating sliding directions and cuts a tape by a forward sliding movement thereof; and a tape ejecting device which faces to a tape ejecting path from the tape cutting device to a tape ejecting slot and eject a tape piece of the tape forcibly from the tape ejecting slot by contacting in rotation with the cut tape piece; wherein the tape ejecting device having: an ejecting roller which contacts in rotation with the tape piece; and a power conversion mechanism which is placed between the ejecting roller and the cutter holder, converts a backward sliding movement of the cutter holder to a rotational movement for the ejecting roller, and transmits the rotational movement to the ejecting roller.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a tape processing apparatus which cuts a printed portion of a tape by a sliding movement and ejects the portion outside the apparatus.
2. Related Art
Conventionally, as this kind of a tape processing apparatus, there is known a tape printing apparatus which has a print-feed mechanism feeding a tape and printing thereon, a cutting mechanism cutting a printed portion of the tape (a tape piece) by sliding a cutter blade, and a single driving motor driving the print-feed mechanism and the cutting mechanism selectively via a clutch mechanism. JP A-2003-237155 is an example of related art. In this tape printing apparatus, a printing process is performed by the print-feed mechanism with rotating the driving motor in a normal direction and switching the clutch mechanism thereto. After the printing process, a cutting process is performed by the cutting mechanism with rotating the driving motor in a reverse direction and switching the clutch mechanism thereto.
However, in the tape printing apparatus described above, the apparatus is not so constructed that the tape piece after cutting off is not ejected forcibly outside the apparatus. In a case where an ejecting path from the cutting mechanism to an ejecting slot is long or where a tape length of the tape piece is short, the tape piece may not be certainly ejected outside the apparatus.
Also, in a case where an ejecting mechanism is provided in the tape printing apparatus described above to eject the tape piece forcibly, it is necessary to provide an ejecting drive motor for driving the ejecting mechanism or a power transmission mechanism from the ejecting drive motor to the ejecting mechanism, leading to a bulky apparatus and a complex structure therein.


A production method is provided in which submicronic particles containing silicon are incorporated into a matrix, wherein, during the incorporation of the particles, the particles are in a compacted state with a bulk density of more than 0.10 grams per cubic centimeter, and the compacted particles have a specific surface area at least 70% of that of the particles considered separately without contact between each other.

The present invention relates to a production method incorporating particles containing silicon. It also relates to the products and devices obtained from this method.
More particularly but non-limitatively, the field of the invention is that of metallic or ceramic materials or batteries or photovoltaic cells.
Methods for producing batteries incorporating particles containing silicon are known.
In fact, silicon can be used to increase the storage capacity of the battery.
The aim of the present invention is to propose a production method incorporating particles containing silicon, which is both practical to use (in particular in terms of safety and ease of handling) and yet the result obtained has a good quality.

Production method incorporating particles containing silicon


A checklist error mitigation system and method are provided to reduce the chance for error when completing a checklist. The system may receive a checklist step from an electronic or voice checklist system and highlights any switch, lever, dial or control that needs to be manipulated in completion of the checklist step. The highlighting may be accomplished by spotlighting or surface lighting.

While operating large commercial aircraft with complex systems, aircrews routinely use a checklist to perform normal and non-normal procedures. Currently Federal Aviation Regulations require a minimum of two pilots for operation of such aircraft and typically, one pilot reads the procedural steps of the checklist while the other pilot performs any necessary action. The pilot reading the procedural steps monitors the other pilot's performance to ensure that the correct actions are accomplished, and to help prevent inadvertent activation of the wrong device or selection of the wrong position of a flight control or switch.
The Federal requirement for a two pilot flight deck crew is driven, in part, by this inherent back-up capability of a two pilot crew. Nevertheless, errors continue to occur in performance of checklist items, sometimes resulting in catastrophic consequences. In addition, aircraft certified for single pilot operation can not take advantage of another pilot onboard, regardless of aircraft size or complexity.
Checklist philosophy has been developed over many years of commercial, business, and general aviation and is a critical safety factor in their operation. In an effort to mitigate potential pilot errors, there is a need for systems and methods which assist either a two pilot crew or a single pilot by increasing redundancy and lowering the potential for checklist error.
Although commercial aircraft have been specifically identified, any endeavor involving complex systems and/or machinery could benefit from the invention. For example, cargo carriers, military, railroads, maritime shipping, air traffic control, manned spaceflight, power generating facilities, etc. may all benefit from the invention.
The present invention is directed to overcoming one or more of the problems or disadvantages associated with the prior art.


A semiconductor memory device includes a memory cell array, a first row decoder which drives the memory cell array, and a second row decoder which drives the memory cell array. The first and second row decoders simultaneously drive the memory cell array.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a semiconductor memory device and more particularly to a NAND flash memory of the floating gate structure which rewrites (writes and erases) data by use of an FN tunnel current.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, the NAND flash memory is well known in the art as a nonvolatile semiconductor memory device in which data can be electrically rewritten and which is suited to be formed with high integration density and large capacity (large memory capacity) (for example, refer to Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2006-209969 and Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2005-353275).
Recently, the integration density of the NAND flash memory is further increased with the improvement of the cell structure and the progress of the fine patterning technique. Further, the high-speed operation is more strongly required with an increase in the memory capacity.
However, the width of and the distance between the word lines of the NAND flash memory become smaller with an increase in the integration density. Therefore, the resistance of the word line becomes high, the coupling capacitance between the word lines becomes large and the influence of coupling noise becomes large. As a result, access time to the memory cell array becomes long and it becomes difficult to attain the high-speed operation.
As described above, in the recent NAND flash memory, since the width of and the distance between the word lines are small, there occurs a problem that access time to the memory cell array becomes long, which means it becomes difficult to attain the high-speed operation.

Semiconductor memory device in which word lines are driven from either side of memory cell array


Systems and methods for facilitating distribution of application programming interfaces (APIs) in a social hub are described herein. The social API hub enables users (i.e., API consumers) to access (e.g., search, test, and/or otherwise utilize or consume) APIs that other users (i.e., API developers) submitted to the hub in a standardized manner. Additionally, users can wrap submitted APIs in a standard description format and add various add-ons on top of an existing API infrastructure in order to provide additional functionality.

Application programming interfaces (APIs) are specifications intended to be used as interfaces by software components to communicate with each other. For example, APIs can include specifications for routines, data structures, object classes, and variables. An API specification can take many forms, including an International Standard such as POSIX, vendor documentation such as the Microsoft Windows API, and/or the libraries of a programming language (e.g., Standard Template Library in C++ or Java API).
Cloud-based (or simply cloud) APIs are a specific type of API that are used to build applications in the cloud computing market. Cloud APIs typically allow software to request data and computations from one or more services through a direct or indirect interface and most commonly expose their features via REST and/or SOAP. For example, vendor specific and cross-platform APIs can be made available for specific functions. Cross-platform interfaces typically have the advantage of allowing applications to access services from multiple providers without rewriting, but may have less functionality or other limitations in comparison to vendor-specific solutions.
Cloud-based APIs have become powerful tools that services, components, and devices routinely rely on and utilize. Unfortunately, there are several issues related to use and development of APIs. For example, it is often an arduous task for new cloud-based APIs to gain traction (or visibility) among developers. That is, when a cloud-based API developer designs a new API, making the world aware of the new API can be exceedingly difficult.
Furthermore, application developers (i.e., API consumers) designing new applications or refining existing applications often cannot easily find, test, and/or otherwise download cloud-based APIs (i.e., the client libraries) because APIs are currently not easily searchable and, if an appropriate API is found, it is not documented or otherwise defined in a standardized fashion. Consequently, application developers may have to download many APIs before they eventually find an appropriate API and, even then, usability and/or reliability of the API can be an issue.

System and method for extending proxy server functionality into API


The present disclosure provides a method of forming an inner barrel assembly by installing a fluid collection liner including a pre-formed porous material that is able to retain a reservoir fluid in an inner barrel to form an inner barrel assembly. It also provides an inner barrel assembly including an inner barrel and a fluid collection liner disposed in the inner barrel, the fluid collection liner comprising a plurality of sections of pre-formed porous material that are able to retain at least one reservoir fluid. It further provides an inner barrel assembly including a segment of an inner barrel isolated from a bottom hole assembly and a fluid collection liner disposed in the inner barrel, the fluid collection liner including a pre-formed porous material that is able to retain a reservoir fluid.

A coring tool for obtaining core samples from a wellbore often contains a tubular housing attached at one end to a special bit, often referred to as a core bit, and at the other end to a drill string extending through the wellbore to the surface. The tubular housing is usually referred to as an outer barrel. The outer barrel contains an inner barrel and a space, or annulus, separates the outer barrel from the inner barrel. During a typical coring operation, the core bit drills into a formation of rock and a core sample, such as a core of rock, enters and fills the inner barrel, where it is preserved. The inner barrel is then subsequently retrieved to the surface.

Inner barrel assembly for recovery of reservoir fluids from a core sample


A method, system and computer program product for implementing a high level object-oriented component infrastructure is directed to providing efficient development of programmable applications and systems. Objects of a system form an object hierarchy including child-objects and parent-objects. The system components include metadata describing properties of objects that are encapsulated into each of the components. A programmable object-oriented system locates the components placed in one or several catalogs and reads the metadata. This metadata is then used by the system for determining which module needs to be loaded for creation of an instance of an object in order to support functionality requested by another system object or by an external application.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to object-oriented programmable components, and more particularly, to a method and system for processing data objects based on a high level object-oriented component infrastructure directed to providing efficient development of software applications and systems.
2. Description of the Related Art
Modern techniques for developing software applications are based on an object-oriented programming paradigm. In this paradigm, functionality of a programmable system is implemented as an interaction between programmable objects. The programmable object, according to the object-oriented paradigm, includes data structures and a set of procedures that retrieve data from the data structures and change contents of the data structures in accordance with particular rules. These procedures are called "methods," and a plurality of methods, associated with an object, is referred to as an object interface.
Generally, objects within a programmable system belong to a particular common type and the objects of the same type have the same interface (i.e., a set of methods). The types of objects are referred to as classes. Object-oriented applications are typically developed using object-oriented programming languages, such as, for example C++, JAVA and C#. The object-oriented programming languages include structures for developing object-oriented executable code and can support classes and interfaces at the code level.
Typically, modern programmable systems rely on a component infrastructure. The component infrastructure provides a number of functional components (i.e., modules). Use of modules makes a system more efficient. For example, only modules whose functionality is needed for a particular application can be loaded. Several applications can use the same modules and, thereby, save memory space. The system is more flexible from a development point of view, since modules can be simply added (or replaced) to an existing system without changing an already implemented system.
In conventional implementations, division of a program code into modules is not implemented directly by means of programming language, whereas some of the older programming languages, such as, for example, Turbo Pascal have means for creating separate programmable modules. In more commonly used modern languages, such as C++ and C#, modular organization is implemented by a component infrastructure. The main task accomplished by the component infrastructure is to provide a mechanism for developing applications not in a form of a monolithic executable file, but as a set of modules that are developed and supported separately.
An example of a general-purpose component infrastructure is Microsoft Common Object Model (COM). This infrastructure defines common rules of software coding that can be used for a wide spectrum of applications. However, while being a general-purpose infrastructure, COM provides a very limited set of services performed by objects, and the services available are very low-level. A basic COM object can only support methods for increasing or decreasing a reference counter and for determining which interfaces are supported by the object. The high-level functionality (i.e., managing messages, object properties and logical connections between objects) has to be implemented by an application developer.
Therefore, when developing applications based on general purpose object-oriented infrastructures, such as COM, the high-level service interfaces for objects have to be created for each particular application. A set of the service interfaces depends on architecture of a particular application and on the tasks it accomplishes. Typically applications directed to a particular class of tasks, for example, to anti-virus processing, require similar sets of services implemented by a component infrastructure. The object infrastructure of a higher level that can provide a means for implementing typical functional elements (i.e., patterns) is generally needed for improving efficiency of application development.
A typical problem that needs to be solved when developing applications is controlling resource allocation and, in particular, controlling life-time of created objects. A reliable object infrastructure has to have a mechanism for preventing resource leaks, including leaks within programmable objects. Typically these means are implemented by various garbage collection mechanisms (for example, in COM, reference counters are used). However, in programmable applications it is often necessary to limit maximum amount of resources allocated for processing an individual request. Conventional general-purpose object-oriented infrastructures do not provide any means for accomplishing this task.
Another typical task is an inter-object transfer of information about events invoked during data processing. One of the important requirements for the information transfer between objects is an isolation of sender-objects from receiver-objects, so that a set of the receiver objects can be changed without any changes in the code of the sender-objects. An isolation of the receiver objects from the sender objects must also be ensured, so that the receiver object can receive messages of a particular type without knowing which object was the sender of the message. Conventional general purpose object-oriented infrastructures, such as COM, do not have a built-in mechanism for support of inter-object message transfer satisfying the isolation requirements. (Built-in support for isolation of senders and receivers is only provided in COM+infrastructure).
Yet another task that needs to be solved when creating modular object-oriented applications, is cross-platform portability, so that the application can be easily transferred to a different operating system. It is highly desirable for an object-oriented infrastructure to provide an isolation of application objects from low-level application programming interfaces (APIs) of the operating system. Ideally, an object-oriented infrastructure can fully isolate components implementing the application logic from a platform-dependent program interface, so that platform-independent components can be created.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,606,742 describes an object-oriented interface that provides applications with access to functionality of the operating system. The system described herein includes a loader that dynamically loads needed fragments of executable code providing required functionality of the operating system.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,583,983 describes a system for developing object-oriented applications. The system implements a program code structure in the form of archive that contains definitions of programmable objects. The structures saved in the archive can be de-archived for implementation on different operating platforms. The system creates copies of platform-independent object implementations.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,225,426 describes a system that implements tree object structure. Each object has a number of slots containing values of properties of the object. Property slots can be defined when the object is created or they can be dynamically added in run time.
The references discussed above address only a few of particular aspects of developing applications based on object-oriented infrastructure. However, efficient development of programmable applications requires a comprehensive approach to solving the typical tasks discussed earlier. Therefore, there is a need in the art for a high level object-oriented component infrastructure directed to solving typical common tasks with regards to development of software applications and systems.

Processing data objects based on object-oriented component infrastructure


In response to the driver's brake OFF operation after a gearshift operation of a gearshift lever to a parking position, a motor MG2 is controlled to sequentially output a torque in a backward direction of a vehicle and a torque in a forward direction of the vehicle. Gears are accordingly engaged in a parking lock mechanism during rotation of a parking gear by an angle corresponding to half a tooth in the backward direction of the vehicle or during subsequent rotation of the parking gear by an angle corresponding to one tooth in the forward direction of the vehicle. This arrangement effectively ensures gear engagement in the parking lock mechanism, while desirably reducing a moving distance from a vehicle stop position before gear engagement in the parking lock mechanism.

In one proposed motor vehicle, an engine, a first motor generator, and a second motor generator linked to drive wheels via a reduction gear unit are connected to three rotational elements of a power distribution mechanism. The motor vehicle is equipped with a parking lock mechanism including a parking lock gear that is attached to a rotating shaft of the reduction gear unit, and a parking lock pole that engages with the parking lock gear and locks the drive wheels in a non-rotatable state (see, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Gazette No. H09-170533). In this proposed motor vehicle, in response to the driver's operation of a gearshift lever to a parking position, the gears are engaged in the mechanical parking lock mechanism to lock the drive wheels. In response to a start command of the engine under such conditions, the first motor generator is controlled to output a torque and crank start the engine.

Motor vehicle and control method of the same


A video-based competition platform supports video-based competitions between possibly geographically distributed competitors. The video-based competition platform enables users of electronic communication devices to create, compete, view, and vote in video-based competitions. In at least some embodiments, a video-based competition is presented to a user with two or more video clips played in conjunction. The video clips may be synchronized to a time base and/or common audio clip.

The present invention relates to media, and more specifically, to a video-based competition platform.
With the pervasive use of electronic devices having video capture and/or presentation capability, such as smartphones, laptop computers, tablet computers and smart watches, users now commonly record, edit, and communicate video content. Disclosed herein are techniques for recording, presenting, viewing, and/or voting for video content captured by multiple users in a coordinated manner via a shared video-based competition platform.


A method for controlling the air-fuel ratio of an internal combustion engine operating with alternating intake valves is presented. According to the method, engine air-fuel ratio can be adjusted by changing valve timings or fuel during a cylinder cycle.

One method to operate randomly operable valves in an internal combustion engine is described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,066,121. This method describes two intake valves of a cylinder are alternatively actuated, or opened, during different cylinder cycles of the cylinder (a cylinder cycle is defined herein as the period in crank angle duration wherein a operation of a cylinder repeats; e.g., in the case of a four-stroke cylinder cycle a cylinder cycle is 720 crankshaft angle degrees, but note that a cylinder cycle may increase or decrease depending on the number of strokes per cylinder cycle). That is, the first of two intake valves is held closed while the second intake valve opens during a cylinder cycle. Then, during the following cylinder cycle, the second valve remains closed while the first intake valve opens. In this way, opening events for the first and second intake valves are alternated every other cylinder cycle. This mode of operation may reduce power consumption and improve the cylinder air amount control.
The above-mentioned method can also have several disadvantages. For example, cylinder breathing characteristics may change depending on the valve that is operated during a particular cylinder cycle. That is, the cylinder may intake more air or less air when one valve is operated as compared to the other valve. This can cause engine air-fuel variation and engine torque variation, at least in some conditions.
The inventors herein have recognized the above-mentioned disadvantages and have developed a method of improving alternating intake valve control that offers substantial improvements.

Method for controlling air-fuel ratio for an alternating valve engine


A hollow seal for use in sealing between relatively movable first and second panels, such as between a fixed window panel and a slidable window panel of a rear window of a pick-up truck or the like. The hollow seal has an internal geometry that supports an outside layer or portion of the seal under pressurization to prevent leakage and seal blowout. The outside portion is shaped to provide a pair of laterally spaced-apart sealing lips that have a pressure-activated sealing geometry for tight sealing against the panels when under pressurization.

Hollow seals heretofore have been used for various applications, including automotive window and door seals. Hollow seals are used to provide low closure force and large gap tolerances. Heretofore, hollow seals have been plagued by leaking or even seal blow out when subjected to externally applied water pressure. Consequently, water management systems have been needed in vehicle sheet metal and interior designs to accommodate the water leakage.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,155,863 discloses a slidable window for use in a rear window of a pick-up truck or the like, wherein the window structure includes a slidable window panel between a pair of fixed window panels. The sliding window panel has a seal carrier that supports an injection molded bulb seal. The bulb seal extends around an entire periphery of the sliding window panel so as to cover gap(s) adjacent the edge of the sliding window panel. One advantageous feature of such design is the sliding panel, when closed, is flush with the fixed window panels.


A meaning extraction device includes a clustering unit, an extraction rule generation unit and an extraction rule application unit. The clustering unit acquires feature vectors that transform numerical features representing the features of words having specific meanings and the surrounding words into elements, and clusters the acquired feature vectors into a plurality of clusters on the basis of the degree of similarity between feature vectors. The extraction rule generation unit performs machine learning based on the feature vectors within a cluster for each cluster, and generates extraction rules to extract words having specific meanings. The extraction rule application unit receives feature vectors generated from the words in documents which are subject to meaning extraction, specifies the optimum extraction rules for the feature vectors, and extracts the meanings of the words on the basis of which the feature vectors were generated by applying the specified extraction rules to the feature vectors.

Text in newspaper articles, on Web pages and/or the like contains large numbers of characteristic expressions having a meaning (hereinafter also called a "class") such as people's names, place names, organization names and/or the like. By recognizing these characteristic expressions from within the text, it is possible to effectively utilize text data in question answering systems, document classification, machine translation and/or the like.
An example of extracting characteristic expressions from text is disclosed in Non-Patent Literature 1. The method disclosed in Non-Patent Literature 1 creates in advance text data having an annotation (tag) appended as solution data to the classes of characteristic expression to be extracted. Furthermore, the method disclosed in Non-Patent Literature 1 accomplishes machine learning using an SVM (Support Vector Machine) from the solution data created in advance and generates rules for extracting the characteristic expressions. By using the generated extraction rules, it is possible to extract a class of characteristic expressions from arbitrary text.
If a class of phrases is the same, the art disclosed in Non-Patent Literature 1 generates extraction rules for each class by accomplishing machine learning on the premise that text information surrounding those phrases will be similar. The surroundings of a phrase includes words in text having a prescribed relationship with that phrase, such as words positioned before or after that phrase, and also includes words showing the type of text. The text information is information showing the character string, part of speech, connection and/or the like.

Meaning extraction system, meaning extraction method, and recording medium


An apparatus for vitrifying a biological specimen includes a cap member, a tubular plunger, and a specimen chamber. The cap member includes a stem portion integrally formed with a receiving portion. The receiving portion has a disc-like shape and includes an outer surface. The outer surface includes a first skirt member comprised of a heat-sealable material. The first skirt member is attached along a circumferential portion of the outer surface. The specimen chamber has an open first end portion, a closed second end portion, and a cavity extending between the first and second end portions. The cavity is defined by oppositely disposed inner and outer surfaces. The specimen chamber further includes a second skirt member comprised of heat-sealable material. The second skirt member is attached along a circumferential portion of the outer surface.

Vitrification is a relatively new approach for cryopreserving biological tissue. Vitrification addresses many of the problems associated with traditional, slow freezing techniques. For example, vitrification avoids cellular damage caused by ice crystal formation, eliminates the need for expensive programmable freezers, and reduces the long period of time needed to complete conventional cryopreservation programs.
The use of vitrification in the clinical setting has broadened with increasing success of the technique using standardized protocols for different cell types. For example, vitrification is currently finding use in the field of reproductive medicine as a means for vitrifying oocytes, embryos and blastocysts. Great successes and improvements in vitrifying these cell types are currently being made.
One important limitation to vitrification techniques is that very rapid heat transfer is needed to effectively cryopreserve tissue. The need for rapid heat transfer requires that vitrification devices be minimally-sized and capable of holding only small tissue volumes. Additionally, the amount of time that a biological tissue sample is exposed to cryoprotectants must be optimized to prevent cyotoxic effects.
Therefore, currently available vitrification devices are optimized for microscopic manipulation of a small number of cells prior to transfer into microvolume devices. Experiments using conventional carriers thus often fail to effectively cryopreserve large tissue volumes or cell suspensions. Effective tissue vitrification requires relatively short but adequate exposure to high concentration of cryoprotectants, ultra-rapid heat transfer during freezing and thawing, and rapid removal of the cryoprotectants immediately after thawing.

Systems and methods for vitrifying tissue


The present invention relates to methods inhibiting tumor metastasis and treating cancer in a subject that involve administering to the subject an antibody which recognizes GPIIIa49-66, under conditions effective to inhibit tumor metastasis and/or treat cancer in the subject.

Tumor metastasis is the main cause of death from cancer and a major challenge for improving cancer management. Hematogenous tumor cell spreading is a highly complex process, including detachment of cancer cells from the primary site, migration into and transport along the bloodstream, and finally tumor cell arrest and proliferation within distant tissue. Thus survival of tumor cells within the bloodstream and adhesion in the vasculature at the metastatic site are crucial for tumor cell dissemination. Extensive evidence indicates that the interaction of tumor cells with platelets within the bloodstream plays an important role during the early phase of metastasis. (Gay et al., "Contribution of Platelets to Tumour Metastasis," Nat. Rev. Cancer. 11(2):123-134 (2011); Labelle et al., "Direct Signaling Between Platelets and Cancer Cells Induces an Epithelial-Mesenchymal-Like Transition and Promotes Metastasis," Cancer Cell 20(5):576-590 (2011)).
The involvement of platelets and coagulation factors in hematogenous tumor metastasis has long been recognized. Cancer patients frequently present with signs of thrombosis, and these are most severe if the disease has progressed to a metastatic stage (Gay et al., "Contribution of Platelets to Tumour Metastasis," Nat. Rev. Cancer. 11(2):123-134 (2011); Labelle et al., "Direct Signaling Between Platelets and Cancer Cells Induces an Epithelial-Mesenchymal-Like Transition and Promotes Metastasis," Cancer Cell 20(5):576-590 (2011); Tomita et al., "Prognostic Impact of Thrombocytosis in Resectable Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer," Interact. Cardiovasc. Thorac. Surg. 7(4):613-615 (2008); Suppiah et al., "Thrombocytosis as a Prognostic Factor for Survival in Patients with Metastatic Renal Cell Carcinoma," Cancer 107(8):1793-1800 (2006); Ayhan et al., "The Value of Preoperative Platelet Count in the Prediction of Cervical Involvement and Poor Prognostic Variable in Patients with Endometrial Carcinoma," Gynecol. Oncol. 103(3):902-905 (2006); Shimada et al., "Thrombocytosis Associated with Poor Prognosis in Patients with Esophageal Carcinoma," J. Am. Coll. Surg. 198(5):737-741 (2004); Borsig, L., "The Role of Platelet Activation in Tumor Metastasis," Expert Rev. Anticancer Ther. 8(8):1247-1255 (2008)). Furthermore, thrombocytopenia or the inhibition of platelet function can markedly suppress tumor metastasis (Francis et al., "Effect of Antihemostatic Agents on Experimental Tumor Dissemination," Semin. Thromb. Hemost. 28(1):29-38 (2002); Amirkhosravi et al., "Blockage of GPIIb/IIIa Inhibits the Release of Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF) From Tumor Cell-Activated Platelets and Experimental Metastasis," Platelets 10(5):285-292 (1999); Troxler et al., "Platelet Function and Antiplatelet Therapy," Br. J. Surg. 94(6):674-682 (2007); Rothwell et al., "Effect of Daily Aspirin on Risk of Cancer Metastasis: A Study of Incident Cancers During Randomized Controlled Trials," Lancet 379(9826):1591-1601 (2012)). Subsequent animal models in which specific platelet functions were altered through drug treatment or controlled genetic ablation have led to a model of platelet supported tumor metastasis in which tumor cells enter the bloodstream (intravasation), and bind and activate platelets (cohesion) and leukocytes (Sierko et al., "Inhibition of Platelet Function: Does it Offer a Chance of Better Cancer Progression Control?" Semin. Thromb. Hemost. 33(7):712-721 (2007); Trikha et al., "Role of AlphaII(b)beta3 Integrin in Prostate Cancer Metastasis," Prostate 35(3):185-192 (1998)). These host cells then assist tumour cell arrest at the vessel wall (adhesion) and survival within the vasculature (immune evasion), which enables exit from the circulation (extravasation), and tumour cell survival and proliferation within target tissues of metastasis (Jain et al., "Platelet Glycoprotein Ib (alpha) Supports Experimental Lung Metastasis," Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 104(21):9024-9028 (2007); Nieswandt et al., "Lysis of Tumor Cells by Natural Killer Cells in Mice is Impeded by Platelets," Cancer Res. 59(6):1295-1300 (1999); Palumbo et al., "Platelets and Fibrinogen Increase Metastatic Potential by Impeding Natural Killer Cell-Mediated Elimination of Tumor Cells," Blood 105(1):178-185 (2005)). These contributions of platelets to tumour cell survival and spread suggest that agents directed against these processes may give rise to new therapies for patients with a high risk of metastasis or for minimizing the risk of cancer cell dissemination during tumor surgery.
The present invention is directed at overcoming this and other deficiencies in the art.

Humanized single-chain antibody against beta 3 integrin for the treatment and prevention of metastasis


Small molecule xanthine oxidase inhibitors are provided, as well as compositions, methods for their use for treating disorders, mediated at least in part, by xanthine oxidase.

Field of the Invention
This invention is directed to compounds, pharmaceutical compositions and methods. The methods of this invention are useful in treating a condition mediated at least in part by xanthine oxidase including by way of example, gout, hyperuricemia, hypoxia and the like.
State of the Art
Gout is caused by hyperuricemia, namely, abnormally high levels of uric acid in the blood. Gout is usually presented as acute inflammatory arthritis, as well as tophi, kidney stones, or urate nephropathy. Gout affects 1-2% of adults in developed countries and represents the most common case of inflammatory arthritis in men. In the United States, gouty arthritis accounts for millions of outpatient visits annually. Furthermore, gout and hyperuricemia are also associated with chronic diseases such as hypertension, diabetes mellitus, metabolic syndrome, and renal and cardiovascular disease.
Xanthine oxidase (XO) is a form of a molybdoflavin protein, xanthine oxidoreductase (XOR). It plays an important role in the catabolism of purines in humans, as it catalyzes the oxidation of hypoxanthine to xanthine and then catalyzes the oxidation of xanthine to uric acid. Meanwhile, reactive oxygen species (ROS), including superoxide and H2O2, are generated during this process. In a bioprotective role, uric acid can serve as an antioxidant to prevent macromolecular damage by ROS. However, overproduction of uric acid causes hyperuricemia which can lead to gout and other diseases or conditions. Therefore, maintaining uric acid at normal levels represents an important therapeutic goal for the prevention of gout and related disorders. For most patients with primary gout, the condition is directly related to the overproduction of uric acid (hyperuricemia).
Currently, two drugs have been developed to treat gout. Allopurinol is the most commonly used therapy for chronic gout and has been used clinically for more than 40 years. Allopurinol lowers uric acid production by inhibiting XO activity, and is used as a first-line urate-lowering phamacotherapy. Allopurinol, a structural isomer of hypoxanthine, is hydroxylated by XO to oxypurinol, which coordinates tightly to the reduced form of the molybdenum center, replacing the Mo—OH group of the native enzyme. Unfortunately, while rare, allopurinol has life-threatening side effects such as a hypersensitivity syndrome consisting of fever, skin rash, eosinophilia, hepatitis, and renal toxicity, for which the mortality rate approaches 20%. It also causes Stevens-Johnson syndrome (SJS) and toxic epidermal necrolysis (TENS), two life-threatening dermatological conditions. Febuxostat, a non-purine xanthine oxidase inhibitor, has been approved for the management of gout in Europe and the United States. Side effects are also found with this drug including elevated serum liver enzymes, nausea, diarrhea, arthralgia, headache, and rash.
Notwithstanding the need for drugs with improved safety in the treatment of gout, hyperuricemia, and related disorders, drugs available for treatment and prevention of such disorders remain limited. Therefore, safe and effective xanthine oxidase inhibitors are needed for treating such disorders.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Xanthine oxidase inhibitors and methods of use


A passive safety system includes a containment, a reactor in the containment, a plurality of safety injection tanks connected with the reactor and having water and nitrogen gas to supply water thereof into the reactor through a safety injection line communicating to the first safety injection line upon a loss of coolant accident, a plurality of core makeup tanks connected with the reactor to supply water thereof into the reactor through a second safety injection line communicating to a safety injection line upon the loss of coolant accident, and a plurality of passive residual heat removal systems to remove residual heat from the reactor upon the loss of coolant accident or a non-loss of coolant accident. The water in each of the safety injection tank is stably supplied to the reactor for many hours by a differential head resulting from gravity or gas pressure.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a passive safety system of an integral reactor, and more particularly to a passive safety system of an integral reactor, which includes a passive safety injection system (core makeup tank and safety injection tank) and a passive residual heat removal system.
In more detail, the present invention relates to a passive safety system capable of safely protecting a reactor by removing residual heat and maintaining a core water level in a reactor by using natural force such as gas pressure or gravity without active equipment such as a safety injection pump, which requires power supply, or a facility such as a safeguard vessel for a considerable amount of time at which the residual heat emitted from a reactor core is significantly reduced.
2. Description of the Related Art
Different from a typical industrial power plant, a nuclear power plant generates residual heat from a reactor core for a considerable amount of time after a reactor has been shutdown, and an amount of the residual heat is rapidly reduced by lapse of time. Accordingly, the nuclear power plant has various safety facilities to remove the residual heat from the reactor core and to ensure safety upon an accident.
Among several safety facilities, there are a safety injection system and a residual heat removal system as main systems to ensure the integrity of the core. The safety injection system complements a coolant when the coolant of the reactor is lost due to the loss of coolant accident such as the break of a line connected with the reactor, and the residual heat removal system removes sensible heat and residual heat of the reactor after the reactor core has been shutdown.
A passive reactor of a commercial reactor (loop type pressurized water reactor) includes a core makeup tank (high pressure safety injection), a pressurized-type safety injection tank (intermediate pressure safety injection), and an in-containment refueling water storage tank (low pressure safety injection). An active reactor of the commercial reactor includes a high pressure safety injection pump (high pressure safety injection), a pressurized-type safety injection tank (intermediate pressure safety injection), and a low pressure safety injection pump (low pressure safety injection, integrated into high pressure safety injection pump lately.
The safety injection tank applied to the commercial reactor is a device to rapidly supply cooling water into the reactor by using the pressurized nitrogen gas in the safety injection tank when the internal pressure of the reactor is rapidly reduced due to the large loss of coolant accident. In other words, the safety injection tank is designed to cope with the large loss of coolant accident. The safety injection tank is a facility to create the margin of time until coolant is actually injected at a safety injection flow rate from a gravity-driven passive safety injection system or a high pressure safety injection pump, and the safety injection tank is used for a short time (about 1 minute to 4 minutes after actuated).
Accordingly, when the pressure of the reactor is rapidly reduced due to the large loss of coolant accident in the active reactor, the safety injection system of the active reactor is actuated in the sequence of "pressurized-type safety injection tank→high pressure safety injection pump". When the pressure of the reactor is slowly reduced due to a small loss of coolant accident in the active reactor, the safety injection system of the active reactor is actuated in the sequence of "high pressure safety injection pump→pressurized-type safety injection tank".
When the large loss of coolant accident or the small loss of coolant accident occur in the passive reactor, the passive safety injection system has the same actuating sequence of "core makeup tank→pressurized-type safety injection tank→in-containment refueling water storage tank" in the two cases. However, since a gravity tank such as the core makeup tank has a low gravitational head, an injection flow rate is low. Accordingly, in the initial stage of the large loss of coolant accident, an injection flow rate of the pressurized-type safety injection tank occupies most parts of a safety injection flow rate. In addition, an automatic depressurization system having a multi-stage structure is installed in a passive reactor (AP1000 in the U.S., loop type reactor) to rapidly lower the pressure of the reactor so that the reactor and the containment make pressure balance in an early stage to smoothly perform gravity safe injection (in-containment refueling water storage tank).
In addition, the passive residual heat removal system removes the sensible heat of the reactor and the residual heat of the core upon an accident. The main cooling water circulating schemes of the passive residual heat removal system include a scheme of directly circulating primary cooling water and a scheme (SMART reactor in Korea) of circulating secondary cooling water by using a steam generator. In addition, a scheme of injecting the primary cooling water into a cooling tank and directly condensing the primary cooling water (AP1000, Nuscale in the U.S.) is partially used.
In addition, emergency core cooling schemes using a safeguard vessel, a pressurized-type safety injection tank, and a passive residual heat removal system in relation to an integral reactor are disclosed in Korean Patent Registration Nos. 10-419194, 10-856501, and 10-813939 issued on Feb. 5, 2004, Aug. 28, 2008, and Mar. 10, 2008, respectively. A reactor having a similar concept, in which a safeguard vessel is applied, has been developed (IRIS, Nuscale in the U.S.).
However, since the safeguard vessel is a pressure vessel that is smaller than a containment building (a containment vessel or a reactor building) but larger than a reactor, the safeguard vessel has a great difficulty in solving problems related to the manufacturing and the transporting of the vessel, the long term of construction works, the integrity of a device installed in the safeguard vessel under a high temperature and high pressure environment upon a loss of coolant accident, and the convenience in refueling and maintenance.
In a core makeup tank, a pressure balance line is connected with a high-temperature line, and an isolation valve is mounted on a safety injection line. The core makeup tank has the same design pressure of the reactor. Accordingly, when the tank is manufactured in large size for the purpose of usage for many hours, the manufacturing cost is greatly increased, and the pressure boundary of the reactor is expanded. In addition, since the safety injection tank is similar to that of the loop type active reactor, the safety injection tank is insufficient for the purpose of the usage for many hours.
In addition, different from the loop type reactor, since an integral reactor fundamentally eliminates a large loss of coolant accident, the reactor is maintained under the high pressure for many hours when the loss of coolant accident occurs. Accordingly, the integral reactor has a difficulty in injecting external cooling water into the integral reactor by gravity without increasing the external pressure of the reactor (pressure balance) through a safeguard vessel.
Further, in a passive residual heat removal system to cool a primary system of the reactor through a direct circulation scheme, the pressure boundary of the primary system is expanded to a condensation heat exchanger in actuation, so that the condensation heat exchanger must be installed in the containment. Accordingly, the containment must be designed to serve as an ultimate heat sink in the final stage. As described above, since the pressurized-type safety injection tank applied to the commercial reactor must be designed at higher pressure, the manufacturing cost of the pressurized-type safety injection tank is greatly increased, and the safety injection is finished early (in the range from several tens of seconds to several minutes), so that the pressurized-type safety injection tank is not suitable for the integral reactor that must be actuated for many hours.
In addition, the active safety system has a difficulty in ensuring the reliability of a power supply system to actuate the above systems.

Passive safety system of integral reactor


A female housing (10) is formed with a retainer mount hole (11) communicating with cavities (14) into which female terminal fittings (50) are insertable while crossing the cavities (14). The retainer mount hole (11) makes an opening from the upper surface of the female housing (10) to the opposite side surfaces thereof, and a retainer (40) is inserted through one of the opposite side surfaces. Reinforcements (20) are provided on the upper surface of the female housing (10) to cross over the opening of the retainer mount hole (11) in a direction intersecting with the opening. The reinforcements (20) are behind pressing portions (13) and arranged on planes of projection of the pressing portions (13) when viewed from the front.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a connector with a retainer.
2. Description of the Related Art
U.S. Pat. No. 5,746,628 discloses a connector with a housing made of a synthetic resin. Cavities are formed in the housing and terminal fittings are accommodated in the cavities. A retainer mount hole is formed in a side surface of the housing and communicates with the cavities. A retainer is insertable into the retainer mount hole along a direction normal to the terminal inserting direction. The retainer initially is at a partial locking position where the retainer is retracted from the cavities to permit the insertion and withdrawal of the terminal fittings. However, the retainer can be moved to a full locking position where a portion of the retainer is in the cavities and engaged with jaws at the rear ends of the properly inserted terminal fittings to retain the terminal fittings in the cavities.
A demand exists for a shorter connector. The above-described connector can be shortened by reducing the thickness of the upper and lower walls. However, this thinning may require the retainer mount hole to open in three adjacent surfaces of the housing, e.g. upper wall and opposite side walls. A housing that is open at three adjacent surfaces is not strong and the entire housing may be resiliently deformable.
The invention was developed in view of the above problem and an object thereof is to provide a strong housing with a retainer mount hole.

Connector with reinforced retainer mount hole


A slide fastener and related pull are disclosed. The pull is formed of an elongate strip of material defining a handle portion between a first end and an opposite second end. The first end of the pull is attached to the article bearing an elongate set of engaging structures for the slide fastener. A slide for operably engaging the set of engaging structures is attached to the pull toward the opposite second end. Accordingly, the handle portion forms an easily graspable quasi-pull chord for opening and closing the pull fastener. In a preferred embodiment, a tab portion of the pull extends from the slide attachment point on the pull to the second end of the pull, and it is detachably secured to the article when the slide fastener is in its closed position. Accordingly, the pull itself can be used as a storage device to hang objects such as a towel, a pair of shoes or the like therefrom. The pull can also serve as a protective cover for the pull fastener and have surface ornamentation thereon.

Slide fasteners such as zippers and zip-lock type structures are widely used on a variety of articles including clothing, luggage and other containers. The typical slide fastener includes a pull attached to the sliding portion of the fastener to allow a user to move the sliding portion as needed to open or close an article.
For example, a typical zipper includes an elongate set of zipper teeth attached to the article adjacent to an opening in the article. A zipper slide travels along the zipper teeth to operably engage or disengage the zipper teeth depending on the direction of travel of the zipper slide. Namely, when the zipper slide is moved in a first direction along the zipper teeth, adjacent zipper teeth on opposite ends of the opening join together to essentially close the opening. The zipper slide disengages the adjacent zipper teeth when moved in a direction opposite from the first direction, thereby allowing access to the opening.
A conventional pull in a zipper is usually a short piece of metal or the like that is pivotally secured at one end to the zipper slide. A user grasps the opposite free end of the conventional pull and urges the zipper slide in the desired direction, thereby either opening or closing the zipper as desired.
Conventional slide fasteners and their pulls have been in loyal service since the 1800's; however, they still have several drawbacks. For example, slider pulls tend to move or flop around during use of the article to which the slider fastener is attached. In some situations, like when an athlete is wearing the article containing the slide faster during an athletic activity, this movement can distract the athlete or even compromise his or her performance.
Also, physically challenged individuals can have difficulty grasping and maintaining hold of a conventional pull. Similarly, people wearing outdoor gear including gloves or mittens often have trouble grasping a conventional zipper pull. Accordingly, they usually must remove their gloves or mittens to open or close a zipper. Such removal of protective gear is undesirable under some conditions such as when the zipper is on a backpack of a hiker, skier or snowboarder being used outside in inclement weather.
The engaging structures of a slide fastener, such as the teeth in a zipper, must remain free of obstructions during opening and closing of the slide fastener. Accordingly, most engaging structures on a slide fastener are exposed to an exterior surface of the article. Such exposure is often not aesthetically pleasing, and can lead to damage of these structures, particularly when the slide fastener is being used on an article intended for outdoor, rugged use.
Efforts have been made to improve the aesthetics of these structures. For example, a flap of material that usually extends from one or both sides of the article over the engaging structures is known. This flap of materials is particularly common in articles of apparel, such as in the fly on a pair of pants. While this flap tends to hide the engaging structures of the slide fastener, it also frequently becomes entangled in them. Moreover, these types of flaps tend to cover the slider pull, thereby further compromising a wearer's ability to easily grasp the pull.
In addition, conventional slider pulls do not effectively serve as a storage device for other gear or the like.


A device for cardiocirculatory assistance, also named a ventricular assist device, includes a haematic pump (50) with a pump body (7) having an inner space (21) defined by a rigid structure (51) and a pair of mobile membranes (16, 17) alternately driven in opposite directions by alternately positive pressure and negative pressure gas supplied to recesses (19, 20) surrounding the two membranes by means of an external pneumatic force generating unit (1). This device achieves excellent operation results while maintaining a reduced size and reduced weight.

It is known that in heart-surgery practice some devices for the mechanical assistance of the heart are used, commonly indicated as "ventricular assist devices (V.A.D.)" or "total artificial hearts (T.A.H.)".
These are essentially devices adapted to mechanically pump blood to produce pulsing or continuous blood flows.
Such devices are employed to solve acute reversible heart failure clinical cases (as infarct or myocarditis) or are used to support the circulatory function while waiting for a heart transplant.
There have been for years several both left and right ventricular assist devices or biventricular assist devices (T.A.H); some of them are commercially available, others have been developed only at an experimental stage.
In most cases, the currently existing devices exhibit some difficulties to be accommodated inside the chest, because of problems both with size and weight.
Other drawbacks that can be found therein are caused by their inner configurations and their pumping modes, which may induce haemolysis or blood clot formation.
Some solutions currently use a balloon (ventricular sac) or a single membrane as a blood contacting flexible element. These devices, as their inherent feature, do not allow blood circulation in the pump, thus avoiding the above mentioned problems. Another negative aspect of these currently available solutions is represented by the weight and size of the driving units associated with the pumping device, which render the portability, namely the easy transport by the patient, essentially non-existent.


Geometric-waveform oscillator for processing light, the geometric waveform oscillator including a plurality of masses, at least one force producing element, and a plurality of elastic elements, each of the force producing elements being coupled with a respective one of the masses, at least one of the masses including a light processing module, each of the force producing elements applying a force to the masses, the elastic elements coupling the masses together, the elastic elements coupling the masses with a respective support, wherein the mass values of the masses, the force values of the forces, and the stiffness coefficients of the elastic elements, are selected such that the light processing module oscillates according to the geometric-waveform.

Oscillating mirrors are employed to scan objects and raster-scan displays. Such a mirror is generally connected to two vibrating flexural beams, thereby forming a single degree-of-freedom (DOF) structure, wherein the structure has a single torsional resonance frequency. Such scanners oscillate according to a sinusoidal waveform. The high gain (i.e., large compliances) which is exhibited by a second order system at its natural frequency (when there is a small amount of damping), gives rise to a significant angular deflection under a moderate sinusoidal torque.
Sinusoidal motion of the mirror reflects the light beam in a non-uniform manner, thereby yielding non-uniform intensity and hence, a low level of performance. It is possible to improve the scanning performance, if the mirror oscillates according to a triangular waveform. However, the value of the torque which is to be applied to the mirror in order to provide oscillatory motion having the triangular waveform, is approximately two orders of magnitude greater than in the case of sinusoidal motion. In large scale applications, where large torques can be produced, it is possible to produce this additional torque. However in small scale applications, such as micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS), due to the inherently small dimensions and the limitation of the commonly used electrostatic excitation, it is much more difficult to provide the needed torque.

Oscillating mirror having a plurality of eigenmodes

Technion Research & Development Foundation Ltd.


The embodiments of the present invention provide a thin film transistor including a gate, an upper active layer, a lower active layer, an upper source, a lower source, an upper drain and a lower drain. The upper active layer and the lower active layer are disposed at an upper side and a lower side of the gate, respectively, the lower source and the lower drain are connected to the lower active layer, respectively, and the upper source and the upper drain are connected to the upper active layer, respectively. The embodiments of the present invention also provide an array substrate including the thin film transistor, a method of fabricating the array substrate, and a display device including the array substrate.

An array substrate is an important component of a display device, and includes at least a data line, a gate line, a thin film transistor and a pixel electrode. FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional thin film transistor, including a source 1, a drain 2, a gate 3 and an active layer 4. The data line is connected to the source 1 of the thin film transistor, the gate line 5 is connected to the gate 3 of the thin film transistor, the drain 2 is connected to the pixel electrode 6, and the pixel electrode 6 is charged by the thin film transistor. The stronger charging capability the thin film transistor has, the shorter charging time becomes, and thereby the better display effect is obtained.
With people's increasing demand on display quality of the display device, the number of pixel units in the array substrate is required to be increased, so as to improve the resolution of the display device. The larger the number of the pixel units is, the longer the charging time becomes. Consequently, the charging efficiency of the thin film transistor is increasingly required to be improved, and the charging time of the thin film transistor is increasingly required to be reduced.

Thin film transistor, array substrate and method of fabricating the same, and display device


When a roaming communication unit (15) requires an updated encryption key to ensure continued secure communications with other communication units of its home system, it transmits a rekey request to a base site (16) for the system (14) in which it has a presence. The latter provides the rekey request to a key management facility (17) for that system. This key management facility, in turn, provides the rekey request to the key management facility (13) for the roaming communication unit's home system (10). The latter then forwards a rekeying message that includes a rekeying encryption key to the roaming communication unit (15) with the second system's key management facility (17) acting as an intermediary. In a preferred embodiment, the rekey message is encrypted using an encryption key that is presently available to the roaming communication unit but not to the second system's key management facility. Therefore, although the latter acts as an intermediary to facilitate the rekeying process, the latter is not able to decrypt the rekeying message and thereby gain access to the encryption key or keys of the roaming communication unit's home system.

Encryption methodologies of various kinds are well known in the art. In general, the contents of a so-called plain-text message (which may comprise, for example, an alphanumeric message, digitized voice or vocoded voice, and so forth) are encoded pursuant to an encryption algorithm as a function of one or more encryption keys. Ideally, the resultant data stream will appear, for all intents and purposes, as a random string of data elements (such as alphabetic characters or binary ones and zeros) notwithstanding the underlying pattern of the original informational content itself Encryption techniques are often employed to protect wireless communications from unauthorized monitoring and eavesdropping.
Maintaining the security of an encrypted communication system usually requires ongoing care and careful observation of specific procedures. For example, the encryption key(s) itself must be well protected as the encryption algorithm utilized by a given system will itself often be known or ascertainable. As part of ensuring such security, the encryption key or keys for a given system will often be changed from time to time. There are various ways to facilitate this activity, but generally speaking, system operators prefer to arrange for a new key to be provided to the communication units of a given system on an as-needed basis (or shortly before such anticipated need). When a system operator has direct physical access to a given communication unit a new encryption key can be installed with a relatively high assurance of security as the operator can chose a physical location and the circumstances attending such installation.
It is not always convenient or even possible, however, for all of the wireless communication units in a given system to be brought, more or less simultaneously, to a common location to permit the physical installation of a new encryption key. As a result, the logistic challenge of installing a new encryption key over a wide number of geographically distributed communication units can be challenging enough to discourage some operators from varying their encryption keys in a sufficiently aggressive manner to comport with generally recommended security protocols.
One solution has been to provide a wireless transmission to such wireless communications units that includes the new encryption key. To protect that new encryption key, the rekeying message, including the new encryption key, is often encrypted through use of another encryption key. In a relatively closed system, this approach tends to constitute a satisfactory solution. The key management facility of a given wireless communication system can readily accommodate the necessary process to effect the installation of new encryption keys while using another encryption key with an acceptable level of security.
Many modern communication units, encrypted and otherwise, are capable of extra-system performance, however. For example, an encrypted communication unit belonging to a first system can roam outside of that first system and into a second system and nevertheless operate compatibly within the second system. This compatible operation can include, for example, both encrypted and clear communications with other units that also belong to the first system. When the home system switches its encryption key, however, this switch must be accomplished for roaming communication units as well as for more locally positioned units. Otherwise, the roaming units will no longer be able to communicate in an encrypted mode compatibly with other system users.
To meet this need, the prior art provides for a communication link between the key management facilities of differing systems. So configured, a roaming communication unit can communicate with the key management facility of a non-home system and request, for example, a rekeying event. That key management facility then contacts the home key management facility for that communication unit and receives the rekeying information. The rekeying information will be encrypted with the second encryption key in accord with prior practice. To make use of that information, however, the non-home system key management facility must be provided with the second encryption key (because the non-home system key management facility must have clear access to the new encryption key in order to facilitate rekeying the roaming communication unit). This means that the non-home system key management facility therefore will have access to the other system's encryption key itself.
For many applications this is acceptable. For other applications, however, this presents an unacceptable breach of security. Non-system access to one's encryption key permits a variety of unauthorized and undesired activities, including but not limited to eavesdropping, inappropriate programming of the communication units themselves, and so forth. Notwithstanding this attendant risk of compromised security, however, the above-described process, whereby an intervening key management facility has knowing access to the encryption key of another system in order to thereby effect the proper and timely rekeying of a roaming communication unit, essentially represents a typical and present best available rekeying process.
Skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of various embodiments of the present invention. Also, common but well-understood elements that are useful or necessary in a commercially feasible embodiment are typically not depicted in order to facilitate a less obstructed view of these various embodiments of the present invention.

Encryption key rekeying apparatus and method