An ESD protection system providing extra headroom at an integrated circuit (IC) terminal pad. The system includes an ESD protection circuit having one or more first diodes coupled in series between the supply voltage and terminal pad, and a second diode coupled to ground. One or more third diodes are coupled in series between the terminal pad and second diode, and are configured to permit a voltage on the interconnection nodes between the one or more third diodes and second diode different from ground. The one or more third diodes include an n+ on an area of P-substrate. A deep N-well separates the area of P-substrate from a common area of P-substrate, which is coupled to ground. The allowable signal swing at the terminal pad is increased to greater than supply voltage plus 1.4 V. The ESD protection circuit is useful for, among other things, relatively low supply voltage ICs.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection and, more particularly, to ESD protection systems in relatively low supply voltage integrated circuits (ICs).
2. Related Art
ESD protection circuits implemented at integrated circuit (IC) input/output (I/O) pads protect the ICs from unwanted ESD events, usually up to 2 kV. Typical ESD protection circuits are designed to turn off during normal operations and turn on during ESD events, and are coupled between the chip supply voltage line and ground in order to provide an adequate discharge path.
As ICs are fabricated into the sub-micron range, supply voltages are scaled down accordingly. For example, a 0.18 μm process requires a supply voltage of approximately 1.8 V, but a 0.13 μm process requires a reduced supply voltage of only 1.2 V. In low supply voltage ICs, the signal swing at the I/O pads should be as large as possible in order to maintain a sufficient signal-to-noise ratio (SNR).
A problem with ESD protection circuits in low supply voltage ICs is limited headroom at the I/O pads. Because the diodes in the ESD protection circuit must remain off during normal operations in order to prevent clipping the signal, the allowable signal swing at the I/O pads is limited. For example, a typical ESD protection circuit includes a first diode coupled between the supply voltage (VDD) and the I/O pad, and a second diode coupled between the I/O pad and ground. Typical diodes have a forward turn-on voltage of about 0.7 V. Therefore, the diodes will remain off as long as the signal swing at the I/O pad is above VDD by approximately 0.7 V and below ground by about 0.7 V. The ESD protection circuit restrains the signal swing at the I/O pad to less than VDD+1.4 V. If the signal swing at the I/O pad exceeds VDD+1.4 V, the ESD protection circuit diodes will turn on and clip the signal, reducing linearity.
What is needed is an ESD protection system that provides extra headroom at the I/O pad in relatively low supply voltage ICs.

System for ESD protection with extra headroom in relatively low supply voltage integrated circuits


The invention discloses a method of estimating carrier frequency offset for subscriber terminal, including: determining number of effective base stations from which more than one signals are received by a subscriber terminal; combining the signals of each station corresponding to said number of effective base stations; calculating a rough estimation value of the carrier frequency offset based on combined signal. The invention also discloses a device of estimating carrier frequency offset for subscriber terminal, including: decision module, used to determine the number of effective base stations from which more than one signals received by subscriber terminal, combining module, used to combine the signals of the effective base station and output the combined signal to the carrier frequency offset acquiring module; carrier frequency offset acquiring module, used to estimate the carrier frequency offset of the merged signal. According to the invention, the carrier frequency offset for the subscriber terminal will meet system requirement, and improve cell searching success probability.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) for mobile communications, more particularly to a method and device for estimating carrier frequency offset (CFO) in subscriber terminals in Time Division Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access (TD-SCDMA) system.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the TD-SCDMA system, both base stations and terminals are supposed to send and receive data with nominal carrier frequency. However, there is always some deviation between the actual transmitting and receiving frequency and the nominal frequency because of the technology limitation of the devices. In a base station, the frequency accuracy of an oscillator, in which a carrier frequency offset in a base station required by a TD-SCDMA system is less than 0.05 PPM, may meet to the standard requirement, since limitations subjected by a base station from temperature, size, power consumption, cost and the like are smaller. In a subscriber terminal, however, a carrier frequency offset in a subscriber terminal required by the TD-SCDMA system is less than 0.1 PPM, the frequency accuracy of a selected oscillator may not meet the standard requirement, due to the limitations subjected by the subscriber terminal from temperature, size, power consumption, cost and the like are greater. Consequently, carrier frequency offsets need to be estimated in a subscriber terminal by using a known synchronous downlink pilot signal (SYNC_DL) sent by base stations, and according to the estimated value of carrier frequency offsets to perform automatic frequency control (AFC), so that carrier frequency offsets in the subscriber terminal may meet the standard system requirements.
In a method for estimating carrier frequency offset in prior art, SYNC_DL signals only send by a single base station are utilized in a subscriber terminal to estimate the carrier frequency offset. The base station has one or more antennas to transmit signals with the same carrier frequency. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a carrier frequency offset estimation system having a plurality of base stations in the prior art.
In the TD-SCDMA system, a dedicated downlink pilot time slot (DwPTS) is set, a base station sends SYNC_DL signals at DwPTS of each frame. Codes by which a SYNC_DL signal is consisted of are used to distinguish adjacent cells using the same carrier frequency, that is, the adjacent cells with the same carrier frequency are distinguished by the SYNC_DL codes. There are 32 different SYNC_DL codes defined in the standard, length of each set of SYNC_DL codes is 64 chips. During the initial search of the cells, the subscriber terminal search the SYNC_DL codes at a specific frequency point used in a cell where it currently expects to resided in to implement the downlink synchronization, and then estimate the carrier frequency offset based on the SYNC_DL codes and adjust the carrier frequency according to the estimated carrier frequency offset value to meet the system requirements.
Provided that the system requires for carrier frequency offset estimation and rough adjusting, adjusted carrier frequency offset in a subscriber terminal is less than 1 kHz, then the subscriber terminal has only received, at a corresponding frequency point, the SYNC_DL signals transmitted by one base station or received SYNC_DL signals of the cell currently expected to resided in are much greater than the SYNC_DL signals of other cells using a same frequency. If the signal power ratio is over 6 dB, it is possible for the adjusted carrier frequency offset of a subscriber terminal to meet to the system requirement. However, if the power difference between the simultaneously received SYNC_DL signals respectively in two cells with the same frequency is small, the SYNC_DL signals transmitted by one cell will interfere those transmitted by another cell. For example, when the power ratios of multiple SYNC_DL signals received by a subscriber terminal at the edge of several cells are within 3 dB, there is about 10-20% probability with the existing methods for carrier frequency offset estimation and adjustment that the carrier frequency offset of the subscriber terminal can't meet the requirement of the system.
In the TD-SCDMA system, because of the short length of a SYNC_DL signal, which is only 64 chips (50 μs), the carrier frequency offset after adjustment permitted by the standard is still greater, for example, less than 1 kHz. Even so, as shown in FIG. 1, when the subscriber terminal simultaneously receives SYNC_DL signals from several base stations, and whose power differences are small such as within 3 dB by using an existing method for carrier frequency offset estimation, which only uses the received SYNC_DL signal in a cell (base station) where it currently expects to reside in, i.e., the highest power SYNC_DL signal, to make a carrier frequency offset estimation, there is about 10-20% probability that the carrier frequency offset in the subscriber terminal after automatic frequency control can't be below 1 kHz. In this case, the initiate search for a cell by a subscriber terminal will not be implemented and probability of success for the initiate search for a cell will be affected.

Method and device for estimating carrier frequency offset of subscriber terminal


Disclosed is a chemical-mechanical polishing slurry composition having a small change in pH over time under an acidic condition and thus being easy to store for a long time. The chemical-mechanical polishing slurry composition includes an abrasive; an amount of about 0.000006 to 0.01 weight % of an aluminum component based on the total weight of the polishing slurry composition; and water. The number of silanol groups on a surface of the abrasive and a content of the aluminum component satisfy the requirements of following Equation 1:0.0005≤(S*C)*100≤4.5,  [Equation 1]                wherein, S is the number of the silanol groups present on 1 nm2 of the abrasive surface (unit: number/nm2), and C is the content of the aluminum component (weight %) in the slurry composition.

A semiconductor chip to which an integrated circuit technology is applied includes a number of functional elements such as transistors, capacitors, resistors, and the like, and these individual functional elements are connected to each other by a wire patterned in a predetermined shape to form a circuit. The size of the integrated semiconductor chip has been reduced and the functionality thereof has been expanded over several generations. In the related arts, as the size of the electrical elements has been reduced, multilevel interconnection technologies of the electrical elements have been actively studied and developed. For example, for manufacturing the semiconductor device with the multilevel interconnection, the planarization process of metal film should be carried out. Generally, it is not easy to polish the metal film because of the metal film having high strength, therefore for effectively polishing the metal film, the metal film is transformed to metal oxide which has relatively low strength and then is polished. For example, when silica is used as an abrasive in the slurry composition for polishing a metal film, the longer the storage time of the slurry composition in an acidic condition, the more changes such as an increase in particle size or pH over time, which may lead to problems in its shelf life time.


Boosting algorithms are provided for accelerated machine learning in the presence of misclassification noise. In an exemplary embodiment, a machine learning method having multiple learning stages is provided. Each learning stage may include partitioning examples into bins, choosing a base classifier for each bin, and assigning an example to a bin by counting the number of positive predictions previously made by the base classifier associated with the bin.

Computational learning or machine learning is about computer programs or algorithms that automatically improve their performance through experience over time. Machine learning algorithms can be exploited for automatic performance improvement through learning in many fields including, for example, planning and scheduling, bio-informatics, natural language processing, information retrieval, speech processing, behavior prediction, and face and handwriting recognition.
An approach to developing useful machine learning algorithms is based on statistical modeling of data. With a statistical model in hand, probability theory and decision theory can be used to develop machine learning algorithms. Statistical models that are commonly used for developing machine learning algorithms may include, for example, regression, neural network, linear classifier, support vector machine, Markov chain, and decision tree models. This statistical approach may be contrasted to other approaches in which training data is used merely to select among different algorithms or to approaches in which heuristics or common sense is used to design an algorithm.
In mathematical terms, a goal of machine learning is to be able to predict the value of a random variable y from a measurement x (e.g., predicting the value of engine efficiency based on a measurement of oil pressure in an engine). The machine learning processes may involve statistical data resampling techniques or procedures such as bootstrapping, bagging, and boosting, which allow extraction of additional information from a training data set.
The technique of bootstrapping was originally developed in statistical data analysis to help determine how much the results extracted from a training data set might have changed if another random sample had been used instead, or how different the results might be when a model is applied to new data. In bootstrapping, resampling is used to generate multiple versions of the training data set (replications). A separate analysis is conducted for each replication, and then the results are averaged. If the separate analyses differ considerably from each other, suggesting, for example, decision tree instability, the averaging will stabilize the results and yield predictions that are more accurate. In bootstrap aggregation (or bagging) procedures, each new resample is drawn in the identical way. In boosting procedures, the way a resample is drawn for the next tree depends on the performance of prior trees.
Although boosting procedures may theoretically yield significant reduction in predictive error, they perform poorly when error or noise exists in the training data set. The poor performance of boosting procedures is often a result of over-fitting the training data set, since the later resampled training sets can over-emphasize examples that are noise. Further, recent attempts to provide noise-tolerant boosting algorithms fail to provide acceptable solutions for practical or realistic data situations, for example, because their methods for updating probabilities can over-emphasize noisy data examples. Accordingly, a need exists for a boosting procedure having good predictive characteristics even when applied to practical noisy data sets.
Consideration is now being given to improving prior art systems and methods for machine learning. Attention is particularly directed to improving boosting procedures. Desirable boosting procedures are noise-tolerant in realistic or practical data situations.

Systems and methods for martingale boosting in machine learning

The Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York


A cellulose-fiber-dispersing polyolefin resin composite material, containing a polyolefin resin containing a polypropylene resin, and a cellulose fiber dispersed in the polyolefin resin, in which a proportion of the cellulose fiber is 1 mass part or more and 70 mass parts or less in a total content of 100 mass parts of the polyolefin resin and the cellulose fiber, and the water absorption ratio satisfies the following Formula: (Water absorption ratio [%])<(Cellulose effective mass ratio [%])2×0.01;                a pellet and a formed body using this composite material; and        a production method for this composite material.

Laminated paper that forms a beverage container made of paper, such as a milk carton, has a polyolefin thin film of polyethylene, polypropylene, or the like adhered on the surface of paper formed mainly from cellulose fibers in order to prevent penetration of beverage into the paper portion, and in order to enhance the gas barrier properties and the like, the laminate paper adopts a laminate structure into which an aluminum thin film layer is incorporated, as necessary. In recycling such laminated paper, it is necessary to perform separation treatment to a paper portion (pulp) and a polyolefin thin film portion (polyolefin thin film piece).
As a method of separation treatment, a method of stripping off a part of the paper portion from the laminated paper by agitating the laminated paper in water for a long time in a device called a pulper is general. The thus-separated paper portion is applied as a raw material of recycled paper.
However, the polyolefin thin film piece is in a state in which a large number of paper components (paper pieces formed of the cellulose fiber) are nonuniformly adhered on the surface thereof, and sizes and shapes are all different, and further the cellulose fiber adhered to the polyolefin thin film piece absorbs a large amount of water upon the separation treatment of the paper by the above-described pulper. If such a polyolefin thin film piece is attempted to be recycled as a raw material for resin products, sufficient drying treatment is required, and a large quantity of energy is consumed for recycle. Also, since the raw materials are not uniform in size and shape, it was difficult to obtain a resin with a homogeneous composition and physical properties by kneading them. Therefore, such a cellulose-fiber-adhering polyolefin thin film piece is directly landfilled and disposed of or recycled as a fuel under actual circumstances.
Therefore, from the viewpoint of reducing the environmental burden, it was desired to develop a technology for recycling the above-mentioned polyolefin thin film piece as a raw material for resin products.
Several technologies relating to recycling of laminated paper or a cellulose-containing resin material have been reported.
Japanese patent No. 4680000 (Patent Literature 1) describes, as a recycling technology on a used beverage container formed of laminated paper, a method in which the laminated paper is directly pulverized into small pieces without separating the paper into a paper portion and a polyethylene thin film portion to produce a paper-containing resin composition by kneading the small pieces together with polypropylene and the like by a twin screw extruder, and further a flow improver is added thereto, and the resulting material is subjected to injection molding.
Moreover, Japanese patent No. 4950939 (Patent Literature 2) discloses a technology on combining a used PPC sheet with a used PET material such as a used beverage container, and the like, and recycling the resulting material, and describes a method in which the PPC sheet is finely cut and water is contained therein, and then the resulting material is kneaded together with a finely cut PET material in the presence of water in a subcritical state to prepare a resin for injection molding.
According to the technology in this Patent Literature 2, a cellulose fiber of the PPC sheet and a melted PET material are easily mixed in a relatively uniform manner by kneading the PPC sheet and the PET material in the presence of water in the subcritical state.
Moreover, it is known that, if the cellulose fibers are uniformly dispersed into the resin, physical properties are improved, for example, flexural strength is improved in comparison with a resin single body, or the like. For example, JP-A-2011-93990 ("JP-A" means unexamined published Japanese patent application) (Patent Literature 3) discloses a technology in which a non-fibrillated fibrous cellulose and a thermoplastic resin are melt kneaded by using a batch type closed kneading device to produce a resin formed body which contains the cellulose fiber and has high strength.
Furthermore, Japanese patent No. 4846405 (Patent Literature 4) describes a method for obtaining a paper-blended resin composition by directly pulverizing laminated paper without separating the laminated paper into a paper portion and a polyethylene thin film portion, forming a cylindrical pellet with a non-screw type granulator, causing this pellet to absorb water, further adding polypropylene, and heating and kneading the mixture with a twin-screw extruder.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Cellulose-fiber-dispersing polyolefin resin composite material, pellet and formed body using same, and production method for cellulose-fiber-dispersing polyolefin resin composite material


An image reading apparatus requests an external apparatus to transmit a reading instruction. When reading the document according to the reading instruction transmitted from the external apparatus in response to the request, if a reading method for reading the document placed on a document positioning plate without conveying the document is used, the image reading apparatus displays, every time one page of the document is read, a confirmation screen for allowing a user to confirm whether to end reading the document irrespective of whether a format of a single-page file is specified or where a format of a multi-page file is specified as a format of a file to be generated from the read document.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image reading apparatus, an information processing apparatus, a control method thereof, and a storage medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
A typical scanner (image reading apparatus) reading a document and generating image data has a scan method for starting to read the document according to an instruction from a scanner driver installed in a host personal computer (PC) and transmitting the generated image data to the host PC. This scan method is referred to as a pull scan method.
In recent years, in addition to the pull scan method, as another scan method, a scanner having a pseudo push scan method has been conceived (e.g., Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-215009). In the pseudo push scan method, a user operates an operation unit of the scanner to select the host PC in which the scanner driver is installed. The scanner sends to the selected host PC a request of "perform pull scan" to cause that PC to perform the pull scan. Subsequently, the host PC performs image processing on the image data received from the scanner and stores it in a predetermined storage location.
To perform the pseudo push scan method, the user operates not the host PC but the scanner to transmit the generated image data to a desired destination.
In either of the above-described pull scan method and pseudo push scan method, various setting values (e.g., size of paper to be read, resolution, and file format) related to scan processing are previously generated by the scanner driver. These setting values are retained in the scanner driver as profile information. To perform the pull scan method or the pseudo push scan method, the user selects desired profile information from the previously-retained profile information to perform scanning.
At this point, one of the big differences in operability between the pull scan method and the pseudo push scan method for the user is whether the user can easily confirm content of the profile information. In other words, when the pull scan method is performed, the user can easily confirm the content of the profile information on a screen of the host PC.
On the other hand, when the pseudo push scan method is performed, since an inexpensive scanner, for example, has a display unit limited in size capable of displaying only limited information, the user cannot easily confirm the content of the profile information thereon. Further, when using the inexpensive scanner, in consideration of a memory capacity and processing load on a central processing unit (CPU), the detailed content of the profile information may not be obtained from the host PC.
To perform the pull scan and the pseudo push scan, function extension for improving usability may be required. For example, in a reading method for setting a document on a document positioning glass to read the document by the scanner, it is impossible to continuously read a plurality of documents to generate an image file formed of a plurality of pages.
As described above, in a method for setting the document on the document positioning glass to read the document by the scanner, the following issue is conceivable. First, to generate a file in the format of a multi-page file such as a Portable Document Format (PDF) file, since the document having a plurality of pages need to be continuously read, the user needs to confirm whether to scan a next page of the document every time one page is scanned. On the other hand, when a file is generated in the format of a single page file such as a Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG) file, since one file is formed of one page, continuous reading of a plurality of pages is not necessary.
More specifically, whether to continuously read the documents varies depending on the file format of the image data generated from the read documents. Thus, when a file is generated in the format of a multi-page file, a screen is displayed for the user to confirm whether to scan the next page of the document. On the other hand, when a file is generated in the format of a single-page file, such a screen is desired to be automatically switched not to be displayed.
However, in the case of the pseudo push scan method, as described above, since the user cannot easily confirm the content of the profile information, the user may not be able to confirm the format of a file to be generated. Thus, when the user does not know the format of the file to be generated, if the screen for confirming whether to scan the next page of the document with the user is automatically switched as described above, the user may be more confused accordingly.

Image reading apparatus, information processing apparatus, control method thereof, and storage medium


The invention is directed to a method for a software provider to enable a software-acquiring entity to arrive from an existent first signed piece of code at a second signed piece of code. Both pieces of code were generated at the software provider by use of a first software archive generator under use of generation instructions. The software provider provides to the software-acquiring entity a difference code that comprises the steps necessary to arrive from the first signed piece of code at the second signed piece of code. The difference code is combinable at the software-acquiring entity with the first signed piece of code by a second software archive generator to generate the second signed piece of code. The second software archive generator is therefor to be fed with those generation instructions that were used by the first software archive generator for the generation of both pieces of code.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a method for a software provider of enabling a software-acquiring entity to arrive from an existent first signed piece of code at a second signed piece of code. The invention also relates to a method for a software-acquiring entity of arriving from an existent first signed piece of code at a second signed piece of code.
2. Prior Art
Today's typical Java applications tend to be very large, consisting of even thousands of classes. Moreover, as the prevalent webbrowsers executing Java code require different Java packaging and signing formats, code is usually distributed twice, thereby further increasing the application's size. This increased complexity leads to ever more programming errors to become evident only when the programs are already rolled out to the customers. This necessitates bug fixes to be sent to the customers. As the Java programs are shipped in cryptographically signed containers, so far, the complete Java containers, possibly containing thousands of classes, need to be redistributed, even when only one single class file therein has been changed.

International Business Machines Corporation


A mouse having improved input methods and mechanisms is disclosed. The mouse is configured with touch sensing areas capable of generating input signals. The touch sensing areas may for example be used to differentiate between left and right clicks in a single button mouse. The mouse may further be configured with force sensing areas capable of generating input signals. The force sensing areas may for example be positioned on the sides of the mouse so that squeezing the mouse generates input signals. The mouse may further be configured with a jog ball capable of generating input signals. The mouse may additionally be configured with a speaker for providing audio feedback when the various input devices are activated by a user.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to mice. More particularly, the present invention relates to a mouse including improved input mechanisms.
2. Description of the Related Art
Most computer systems, as for example general purpose computers such as portable computers and desktop computers, receive input from a user via an input device such as a mouse. As is generally well known, the mouse allows a user to move an input pointer and to make selections in a graphical user interface (GUI). The mouse generally includes a trackball, which is located on the underside of the mouse and which rolls when the mouse moves thus translating the motion of the users hand into signals that the computer system can use. The movement of the trackball generally corresponds to the movement of the input pointer in the GUI. That is, by positioning the mouse on a desktop and moving it thereon, the user can move the input pointer in similar directions in the GUI. An optical sensor may alternatively used to track the movement of the mouse.
Conventional mice also include one or two mechanical buttons for data selection and command execution. The mechanical buttons are disposed near the top front portion of the mouse where they are easily accessible to a users fingers. In some mice, a single mechanical button is placed in the middle of the mouse while in other mice, two mechanical buttons are placed on the left and right side of the mouse. In either case, the mechanical buttons typically include button caps that pivot relative to a fixed top back portion of the mouse in order to provide a mechanical clicking action. When pressed, the button caps come down on switches located underneath the button caps thereby generating button event signals. The mice may additionally include a scroll wheel. The scroll wheel allows a user to move through documents by simply rolling the wheel forward or backward. The scroll wheel is typically positioned between the right and left mechanical buttons at the front top portion of the mouse.
The unibody mouse is another type of mouse. Unlike the conventional mouse, the unibody mouse does not include any mechanical buttons thereby making it more elegant than the conventional mouse (e.g., no surface breaks or lines). The unibody mouse includes a base and a top member that acts like a button and that forms the entire top surface of the mouse. The top member pivots relative to the base in order to provide a clicking action. In most cases, the top member moves around a pivot located towards the back of the mouse so that the top member can pivot forward and downward. When pivoted in this manner, the top member activates a switch, which causes the microcontroller in the mouse to send a button event signal to the host computer. Although this design is more elegant than the conventional mouse that includes mechanical buttons, in most cases it only operates as a single button mouse thereby limiting its functionality. The Apple Mouse manufactured by Apple Computer, Inc., of Cupertino, Calif. is one example of a unibody mouse.
Recently, dual button functionality has been implemented in a unibody mouse. In this implementation, the pivot of the top member runs through the middle of the mouse. This allows the top member to rock left and right. Switches are located in both the left and right positions to implement right and left buttons. That is, moving the top member to the right causes a right click to be generated and moving the top member to the left causes a left click to be generated. Unfortunately, the middle pivot does not allow a user to press the middle of the mouse and further the force needed to activate the buttons is high at areas near the middle pivot, and low at areas further away from the middle pivot. The pivoting action therefore feels sloppy and non uniform, which leaves a negative impression on the user. In addition, accidental activation of the buttons may be encountered when the mouse is moved around, i.e., the force used to move the mouse may cause the mouse to tilt to the right or left. Moreover, the form factor is different than other mice which click down in the forward direction and therefore clicking the mouse is not intuitive to the user.
Based on the foregoing, mice with improved form, feel and functionality are therefore desired.

Mouse with improved input mechanisms using touch sensors


A set comprising a panel and a fastening device for securing a furniture component, such as a hinge, an interior fitting, a carrying device or a slider, to the panel. The fastening device includes an element with a first element surface comprising a protruding part which protrudes from the first element surface. The panel comprises an edge surface and a panel surface, which includes an insertion groove. The fastening device is configured to be assembled to the panel with the first element surface facing the panel surface. The edge surface includes an edge groove and a flexible tongue is arranged in the edge groove. The protruding part is configured to be inserted into the insertion groove and includes a recess and the flexible tongue is configured to cooperate with the recess for a locking of the fastening device to the panel.

Furniture components are known that are fixed to e.g. a furniture panel by screws. A drawback with the known systems is that it time consuming to assemble the furniture components to the furniture.
The above description of various known aspects is the applicant's characterization of such, and is not an admission that any of the above description is considered as prior art.


A single element, multi-frequency dipole antenna including two substantially equal arm sections of conductive material extending co-axially in a straight line in opposite directions from each other, each arm section being a mirror image of the other arm section throughout its entire length, each arm section including at least two contiguous shorter sub-sections of j.sub.1, j.sub.2, . . . j.sub.n lengths, wherein j.sub.1 represents the length of the innermost sub-section, sub-sections terminated by discontinuities wherein j.sub.1 represents the 1/4 wavelength of the highest resonant frequency and each consecutive-integer sequence of j sub-sections represent the 1/4 wavelength of lower resonant frequencies.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains to the field of antennas. More particularly, this invention pertains to dipole antennas and to a novel single-element dipole antenna that radiates and receives multiple frequencies.
2. Description of the Prior Art
If we could visualize the radiation surrounding us as we conduct our daily lives, we would be truly amazed. There is radiation of virtually every frequency imaginable swimming about us in a huge cloud as we work and play. Much of this radiation has to do with radio and television broadcasting. This invention concerns the reception of television radiation or broadcasting and how it can be captured using newer, smaller and more efficient equipment.
Television broadcasting has been around since the 1940's. It was given a significant boost after the United States began orbiting satellites about the earth that receive television broadcasts from point sources on the earth's surface and then re-broadcast the same signal over a wider area for capture by dish antennas and cabled to various households. Huge television dish antennas sprung up along side many houses and apartment complexes for private use and television cable companies were created for disseminating cabled satellite broadcasts to various households. The result was that television has become a major aspect of everyday life both in the United States and abroad.
Original satellite television broadcasting began on what is known as the "C" band, i.e., a frequency range in the 4 gigahertz (GHz) band. The satellites that broadcast television signals to the ground are parked in geosynchronous orbits and spaced 2.degree. apart from each other. Each of these satellites can have two dozen or more transponders each of which transmits a television signal at a standard frequency or channel. In order to increase isolation between transponders transmitting at a given frequency on the adjacent satellite, the transponders are arranged so that they are orthogonally polarized or cross-polarized, that is, their "E-fields" are at right angles to each other. This requires that the antenna feed must be capable of changing its polarization each time the receiver's channel is changed or when the receiving antenna is moved to an adjacent satellite.
A common feed antenna in television viewing incorporates the dipole radiating element. A dipole antenna is a simple resonant antenna consisting of two substantially equal arm sections of conductive material extending co-axially in a straight line in opposite directions from each other. It is called a "resonant" antenna because it creates a natural undamped frequency that is equal to, or very close to, the frequency or a divisional portion of the signal inducing electrical currents in it.
In reality, the standard dipole feed antenna for satellite dish antennas is about 11/2 inches long and is housed in a short section of a wave guide terminated at one end by a conductive floor forming a cavity therein called a "cavity", that looks much like a coffee cup. Formally it is defined as a cylinder, open at one end, comprising conducting walls and serving as a resonator for electromagnetic waves. However, no wave guide or cavity is required for a more general dipole application. The cavity, with the dipole antenna at its center, is set at the focal point of an earth station with the dipole antenna facing toward the reflector. The dipole antenna receives the satellite radiation reflected from various parts of the dish and passes it down a "balun" to a processing unit for introduction into a cable leading to a television set. A "balun" is a term given to a short piece of transmission line that matches the impedance (resistance) of the antenna and which transforms from an unbalanced transmission line, such as coaxial cable, to a balanced transmission line such as twin lead transmission line that feeds the dipole. The various television satellites separate their channels by polarizing the odd and even channels orthogonal (perpendicular) to each other.
To handle the different polarizations of adjacent stations, the dipole antenna is made to rotate, first to one position for alignment with one channel, then to another position for alignment with another channel. The rotation can be as much as 180.degree. but usually is about 90.degree.. It is this rotation that has caused one of the big problems in TV reception.
To effectively rotate, there must be separation between the central mast of the dipole antenna and the support equipment into which the incoming signal is fed; or so the industry thought. Accordingly, there is provided on all dish antennas a rotation device that causes the dipole antenna to physically rotate about a base shaft. The incoming signal must bridge the gap between the antenna mast and the base shaft and this is accomplished by a standard rotation coupling. The incoming signal is quite weak, having travelled over many thousands of miles from the earth station to the satellite and then back to the dish, and is very susceptible to being further weakened by the slightest electrical mismatch caused by imperfect mechanical fit.
Unfortunately, the rotation coupling of the dipole antenna provides this mechanical interference. Despite refinement in design, the coupling and its rotational driver not only degrade the incoming signal but produce a certain amount of base noise that effectively lessens the net signal passed to the processing equipment down the line. The signal is greatly weakened upon reaching the discriminating and processing equipment and results in a weak TV picture.
If that were not the only problem, a new form of TV signal is now being broadcast from recently orbited satellites. This new form is call "Ku" band radiation. It is of higher frequency, in the 12 Ghz band, which means the wave length is shorter. It is also linearly polarized meaning that the antenna must be rotated to capture the signal efficiently.
The main problem with dipole antennas is that they have been thought of as limited to only one frequency band. There has been much effort expended to increase the ability of dipole antennas to receive more frequency bands. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,125,840; 4,410,893; 4,460,877; and 5,229,782 have been issued for this purpose, however, they all have one major drawback and that is they are multi-element. This means that if one wishes a dipole antenna to pick up other bands of radiation, one must hang other components on the dipole to effect this result. For instance, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,125,840 and 4,410,893 call for so many additional elements, in order for the dipole antenna to pick up additional frequencies, that it begins to resemble a Christmas tree with many ornaments hung about its exterior. Any time one adds more elements to an antenna, the antenna becomes far less sturdy and is affected by natural occurrences, such as weather, wind, rain, etc., that normally wouldn't affect the basic or single element antenna. In addition, more elements means more chances the antenna will move out of alignment and require additional tuning in order to remain efficient.
In addition, in the field of cellular telephone communications there is a need for such a wide band dipole antenna to allow operation over a wide band one or more of which may be assigned to a particular cellular telephone.

Single-element, multi-frequency, dipole antenna


A disc-shaped electrode plate body is made of high-purity glassy carbon and has a large number of very-small-diameter through holes each of which has a plurality of spherical recesses in its internal wall surface.

The present invention relates to an electrode plate used in a plasma etching process of semiconductor wafers. More specifically, the invention relates to an electrode plate used in the parallel-plate-type plasma gas etching apparatus, in which a large number of very-small-diameter through holes for enabling transmission of a reaction gas are formed in a disc-shaped electrode plate body.
In the parallel-plate-type plasma gas etching process, an upper electrode plate in which a large number of very-small-diameter through holes for enabling transmission of a reaction gas are formed in a disc-shaped electrode plate body is opposed to a disc-shaped lower electrode plate on which semiconductor wafers are placed. The reaction gas is dissociated by application of a high-frequency power across the two electrode plates, and resultant radicals and ions are vertically made incident on the semiconductor wafers to etch the portions not covered with a photoresist pattern.
Conventionally, an upper electrode plate of the above kind that is made of high-purity glassy carbon is known as a replacement of an electrode plate made of high-density graphite (Japanese Patent Application Unexamined Publication No. Sho. 62-252942].
This electrode plate for plasma etching made of high-purity glassy carbon is produced in the following manner. First, a liquid thermosetting furan resin or phenol resin, a mixed resin thereof, or one of these liquid resins mixed with a powder of the same thermosetting resin is shaped and set into a disc-shaped resin plate having a uniform thickness distribution. Then, the resin plate is fired and carbonized in an inert atmosphere at about 800.degree. C. After being graphitized, when necessary, at a temperature not more than 3,000.degree. C., the resin plate is purified in a deashing furnace. Very-small-diameter through holes are formed in the glassy carbon plate, which is produced by the firing and carbonizing process, by drilling it by, for instance, electric discharge machining. Alternatively, they are formed by drilling during the process of producing the shaped resin plate.
In the above electrode plate for plasma etching, the internal wall surface of the through holes has no pores, i.e., it is a smooth surface. However, it has been found that at the initial stage of the high-frequency power application across the upper and lower electrode plates, plasma hardly develops in a stable manner and, therefore, the charge density varies on the electrode surface.
This will cause an etching rate variation on the semiconductor wafer surface, that is, the semiconductor wafer cannot be etched uniformly. Several times of blank discharging is required to obtain stable plasma. As a result, non-uniformly etched wafers are increased, and the life of the electrode plates is shortened.


The present invention provides methods and compositions for the diagnosis of Alzheimer""s disease. In particular, the present invention provides modified beta-amyloid peptides, antibodies that specifically bind to the modified beta-amyloid peptides, and methods for using these compositions in the diagnosis of Alzheimer""s disease, as well as methods to monitor treatment and/or disease progression of Alzheimer""s disease in patients. The present invention also provides compositions and methods useful in research involving amyloid precursor protein (APP) metabolism and Alzheimer""s disease.

The present invention provides compositions and methods for diagnosing Alzheimer""s disease. In particular, the present invention provides modified beta-amyloid peptides, antibodies that specifically bind to the modified beta-amyloid peptides, and methods of use of these compositions in the diagnosis of Alzheimer""s disease, as well as methods to monitor treatment and/or disease progression of Alzheimer""s disease in patients. The present invention also provides compositions and methods useful in research involving amyloid precursor protein (APP) metabolism and Alzheimer""s disease.
Alzheimer""s disease (AD) is the fourth most common cause of death in the United States, next to heart disease, cancer and stroke. It presently afflicts more than four million people, and this number is expected to double during the next forty years with the aging of the population. Alzheimer""s disease is also the most common cause of chronic dementia, with approximately two million people in the United States suffering from dementia. At present, it is estimated that ten percent of the population older than 65 years of age have mild to severe dementia. This high prevalence, combined with the rate of growth of the elderly segment of the population, make dementia and particularly Alzheimer""s disease, important current public health problems.
To date, Alzheimer""s disease is the third most expensive disease in the United States, and costs approximately $100 billion each year. Costs associated with AD include direct medical costs such as nursing home care, direct nonmedical costs such as in-home day care, as well as indirect costs such as lost patient and care-giver productivity. Medical treatment may have economic benefits by slowing the rate of cognitive decline, delaying institutionalization, reducing care-giver hours, and improving quality of life.
Alzheimer""s disease is a complex multi-genic neurodegenerative disorder characterized by progressive impairments in memory, behavior, language, and visuo-spatial skills, ending ultimately in death. Hallmark pathologies of Alzheimer""s disease include granulovascular neuronal degeneration, extracellular neuritic plaques with xcex2-amyloid deposits, intracellular neurofibrillary tangles and neurofibrillary degeneration, synaptic loss, and extensive neuronal cell death. It is now known that these histopathologic lesions of Alzheimer""s disease correlate with the dementia observed in many elderly people.
Research on the causes of and treatments for Alzheimer""s disease has led investigators down numerous avenues. Although many models have been proposed, no single model of AD satisfactorily accounts for all neuropathologic findings; nor do these models of AD satisfactorily account for the requirement of aging for disease onset. Cellular changes, leading to neuronal loss and the underlying etiology of the disease, remain unknown. Proposed causes include environmental factors (Perl, Environmental Health Perspective 63:149 [1985]), metal toxicity (Perl et al., Science 208:297 [1980]), defects in beta-amyloid protein metabolism (Shijo et al., Science 258:126 [1992]; and Kosik, Science 256:780 [1992]), and abnormal calcium homeostasis and/or calcium activated kinases (Mattson et al., J. Neuroscience 12:376 [1992]). The mechanisms of disease progression are equally unclear. Considerable human genetic evidence has implicated alterations in production or processing of the human amyloid precursor protein (APP) in the etiology of the disease. However, intensive research has proven that AD is a multifactorial disease with many different, perhaps overlapping, etiologies.
Early detection and identification of Alzheimer""s disease facilitate prompt, appropriate treatment and care. However, there is currently no laboratory diagnostic test for Alzheimer""s disease. Although studies have suggested that calcium imaging measurement in fibroblasts were of potential clinical use in diagnosing Alzheimer""s disease (Peterson et al., Neurobiology of Aging 9:261 [1988]; and Peterson et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 83:7999 [1986]), other studies using similar cell lines and techniques have shown no difference in calcium levels in Alzheimer""s and normal control fibroblasts (Borden et al., Neurobiology of Aging 13:33 [1991]). Thus, there remains a need for diagnostic methods for Alzheimer""s disease. In particular, reliable and cost-effective methods and compositions are needed to allow reliable diagnosis of Alzheimer""s disease.
The present invention provides compositions and methods for diagnosing Alzheimer""s disease. In particular, the present invention provides modified beta-amyloid peptides, antibodies that specifically bind to the modified beta-amyloid peptides, and methods of use of these compositions for the diagnosis of Alzheimer""s disease. The present invention also provides compositions and methods useful in research involving amyloid precursor protein (APP) metabolism and Alzheimer""s disease.
The present invention provides isolated and modified xcex2-amyloid (xcex2A) peptides comprising at least one malondialdehyde adduct. In one embodiment, the modified xcex2A peptide comprises the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:1. In another embodiment, the modified xcex2A peptide comprises at least one malondialdehyde lysine adduct The present invention also provides purified antibodies directed against a modified xcex2-amyloid peptide comprising at least one malondialdehyde adduct. In some embodiments, the antibody is a monoclonal antibody, while in other embodiments, the antibody is a polyclonal antibody. In other related embodiments, the invention provides compositions comprising the antibody directed against the modified xcex2A-peptide comprising at least one malondialdehyde adduct.
The present invention further provides methods for detecting at least one modified xcex2-amyloid peptide comprising at least one malondialdehyde adduct, comprising the steps of: providing a sample suspected of containing at least one modified xcex2-amyloid peptide comprising at least one malondialdehyde adduct, and an antibody directed against at least on modified xcex2-amyloid peptide comprising at least on malondialdehyde adduct; contacting the sample with the antibody under conditions such that the antibody specifically binds to the modified xcex2-amyloid peptide comprising at least one malondialdehyde adduct, to form an antigen-antibody complex; and detecting the presence of the antigen-antibody complex. In some embodiments, the sample is selected from the group consisting of blood, plasma, serum, serous fluid, and cerebrospinal fluid. In some preferred embodiments, the sample is from a subject. In particularly preferred embodiments, the subject is a human. In further embodiments, the subject is selected from the group consisting of subjects displaying pathology resulting from Alzheimer""s disease, subjects suspected of displaying pathology resulting from Alzheimer""s disease, and subjects at risk of displaying pathology resulting from Alzheimer""s disease. In some particularly preferred embodiments, the methods further comprise the step of diagnosing Alzheimer""s disease. In additional particularly preferred embodiments, the Alzheimer""s disease diagnosed using the methods of the present invention is selected from the group consisting of late onset Alzheimer""s disease, early onset Alzheimer""s disease, familial Alzheimer""s disease and sporadic Alzheimer""s disease. In some preferred embodiments, the methods further comprise the step of monitoring the efficacy of treatment of Alzheimer""s disease.
In some preferred embodiments, the methods comprises an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. In particularly preferred embodiments, the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay is selected from the group consisting of direct enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays, indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays, direct sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays, indirect sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays, and competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays. In alternative preferred embodiments, the antibody used in the methods of the present invention further comprises a conjugated enzyme, wherein the conjugated enzyme is selected from the group of enzymes consisting of horseradish peroxidases, alkaline phosphatases, ureases, glucoamylases, and xcex2-galactosidases. In some particularly preferred embodiments, the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay further comprises an alkaline phosphatase amplification system. In alternative preferred embodiments, the methods further comprise at least one capture antibody, while in still further embodiments, the methods further comprise at least one detection antibody wherein the detection antibody is directed against the antibody directed against the modified xcex2-amyloid peptide comprising at least one malondialdehyde adduct. In still further embodiments, the detection antibody further comprises at least one conjugated enzyme selected from the group consisting of horseradish peroxidase, alkaline phosphatase, urease, glucoamylase and xcex2-galactosidase. In still further preferred embodiments, the methods further comprise the step of quantitating the at least one modified xcex2-amyloid peptide comprising at least one malondialdehyde adduct in the sample.
The present invention also provides kits for the detection of at least one modified xcex2-amyloid peptide comprising at least one malondialdehyde adduct, comprising an immobilized support and at least one antibody directed against at least one modified modified xcex2-amyloid peptide comprising at least one malondialdehyde adduct. In some preferred embodiments, the kit comprises an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kit. In still further embodiments, the kit further comprises components selected from the group consisting of needles, sample collection tubes, 96-well microtiter plates, instructions, at least one modified xcex2-amyloid peptide comprising at least one malondialdehyde adduct, an antibody-enzyme conjugate directed against a modified xcex2-amyloid peptide comprising at least one malondialdehyde adduct, at least one capture antibody, 96-well microtiter plates precoated with the at least one capture antibody, at least one coating buffer, at least one blocking buffer, distilled water, at least one enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay enzyme reaction substrate solution, and at least amplifier system. In some preferred embodiments, the amplifier system is an alkaline phosphatase enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay amplifier system.
The present invention also provides methods for detecting at least one antibody directed against a modified xcex2-amyloid peptide comprising at least one malondialdehyde adduct, comprising: a) providing a sample suspected of containing at least one antibody directed against a modified xcex2-amyloid peptide comprising at least one malondialdehyde adduct; at least one modified xcex2-amyloid peptide having at least one malondiadehyde adduct, and a detection antibody; b) contacting the sample with the modified xcex2-amyloid peptide, under conditions such that the antibody directed against a modified xcex2-amyloid peptide comprising at least one malondialdehyde adduct specifically binds to the modified xcex2-amyloid peptide to form an antigen-antibody complex; c) contacting the antigen-antibody complex with the detection antibody, under conditions such that the detection antibody specifically binds to the complex; and d) detecting the specific binding of the detection antibody to the antigen-antibody complex. In some preferred embodiments, the sample is selected from the group of samples consisting of blood, serous fluid, plasma, serum, cerebrospinal fluid, hybridoma conditioned culture medium, ascites fluid, and polyclonal antiserum. In some particularly preferred embodiments, the sample is from a subject, while in other preferred embodiments, the subject is human. In alternative preferred embodiments, the subject is selected from the group consisting of subjects displaying pathology resulting from Alzheimer""s disease, subjects suspected of displaying pathology resulting from Alzheimer""s disease, and subjects at risk of displaying pathology resulting from Alzheimer""s disease. In still further preferred embodiments, the mehtods further comprise diagnosing Alzheimer""s disease in the subject. In some preferred embodiments, the Alzheimer""s disease is selected from the group consisting of late onset Alzheimer""s disease, early onset Alzheimer""s disease, familial Alzheimer""s disease, and sporadic Alzheimer""s disease. In preferred embodiments, the method comprises an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. In some preferred embodiments, the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay is selected from the group consisting of direct enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays, indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays, direct sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays, indirect sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays, and competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays. In still further embodiments, the detection antibody further comprises a conjugated enzyme, wherein the conjugated enzyme is selected from the group of enzymes consisting of horseradish peroxidases, alkaline phosphatases, ureases, glucoamylases, and xcex2-galactosidases. In additional embodiments, the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay further comprises an alkaline phosphatase amplification system.
The present invention also provides kits for the detection of at least one antibody directed against at least one modified xcex2-amyloid peptide comprising at least one malondialdehyde adduct, comprising an immobilized support, at least one purified and modified xcex2-amyloid peptide comprising at least one malondialdehyde adduct, and at least one detection antibody. In some preferred embodiments, the kit is an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kit. In some preferred embodiments, the kit comprises components selected from the group consisting of needles, sample collection tubes, 96-well microtiter plates, instructions, at least one purified antibody directed against at least one xcex2-amyloid peptide comprising at least one malondialdehyde adduct, at least one 96-well microtiter plate precoated with at least one xcex2-amyloide peptide comprising at least one malondialdehyde adduct, at least one coating buffer, at least one blocking buffer, distilled water, at least one enzyme reaction substrate solution, and at least one amplifier system. In some particularly preferred embodiments, the amplifier system is an alkaline phosphatase enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay amplifier system.

Compositions and methods for diagnosing alzheimer""s disease