A method of producing a sintered ore includes charging a sintering raw material containing a powder ore and a carbonaceous material onto a circulatory moving pallet to form a charged layer, igniting the carbonaceous material on a surface of the charged layer, introducing air above the charged layer containing a gaseous fuel diluted to not more than a lower limit of combustion concentration with wind boxes arranged below the pallet into the charged layer by suction, and combusting the gaseous fuel and the carbonaceous material in the charged layer, wherein more than 50% of a total supply of the gaseous fuel is supplied in a front ½ portion of a region supplying the gaseous fuel.

In general, sintered ore as a main raw material for a blast furnace iron-making method is produced through the process as shown in FIG. 1. The raw material for the sintered ore includes iron ore powder, under-sieve fines of sintered ore, recovery powder generated in the ironworks, a CaO-containing auxiliary material such as limestone, dolomite or the like, a granulation auxiliary agent such as quicklime or the like, coke powder, anthracite and so on, which are cut out from respective hoppers 1 onto a conveyer at a predetermined ratio. The cut-out raw materials are added with a proper amount of water, mixed and granulated in drum mixers 2 and 3 to form quasi-particles having a mean particle size of 3˜6 mm as a sintering raw material. Then, the sintering raw material is charged onto a pallet 8 of a continuous type sintering machine at a thickness of 400˜800 mm from surge hoppers 4 and 5 disposed above the sintering machine through a drum feeder 6 and a cutout chute 7 to form a charged layer 9 also called as a sintering bed. Thereafter, carbonaceous material in a surface part of the charged layer is ignited by an ignition furnace 10 disposed above the charged layer 9, while air above the charged layer is sucked downwardly through wind boxes 11 located just beneath the pallet 8 to thereby combust the carbonaceous material in the charged layer sequentially, and the sintering raw material is melted by combustion heat generated at this time to obtain a sintered cake. The thus obtained sintered cake is then crushed, granulated and agglomerates of about not less than 5 mm in size are collected as a product sintered ore and supplied into the blast furnace.
In the above production process, the carbonaceous material in the charged layer ignited by the ignition furnace 10 is thereafter continuously combusted by air sucked from top down through the charged layer to form a combustion·molten zone having a certain width in a thickness direction (hereinafter referred to as "combustion zone"). The molten portion of the combustion zone obstructs the flow of the sucked air, which is a factor of causing an extension of the sintering time to decrease productivity. Also, the combustion zone is gradually moved from the upper part to the lower part of the charged layer as the pallet 8 moves downstream, and a sintered cake layer finishing the sintering reaction (hereinafter referred to as "sintering layer") is formed in a portion after passing the combustion zone. Further, as the combustion zone is transferred from the upper part to the lower part, moisture included in the sintering raw material is vaporized by combustion heat of the carbonaceous material and condensed into the sintering raw material in the lower part not yet raising the temperature to form a wet zone. When the water concentration exceeds a certain degree, voids among the particles of the sintering raw material as a path of the gas sucked are filled with water, which is a factor of increasing airflow resistance like the molten zone.
The production volume by the sintering machine (t/hr) is generally determined by productivity (t/hr·m2)×area of the sintering machine (m2). That is, the production volume by the sintering machine is varied depending on width and length of the sintering machine, thickness of a charged layer of the raw material, bulk density of the sintering raw material, sintering (combustion) time, yield and the like. To increase the production volume of the sintered ore, therefore, it is believed that it is effective to shorten the sintering time by improving air permeability of the charged layer (pressure loss) or to increase the yield by increasing the cold strength of the sintered cake before crushing.
FIG. 2 shows distributions of pressure loss and temperature in the charged layer when a combustion zone moving in the charged layer of 600 mm in thickness is located at a position of about 400 mm above the pallet in the charged layer (200 mm below the surface of the charged layer). The pressure loss distribution shows 60% in the wet zone and 40% in the combustion zone.
FIG. 3 shows a transition of temperature and time at a certain point in the charged layer at high and low productivity of the sintered ore, or at fast and slow moving speed of a pallet in the sintering machine, respectively. The time kept at a temperature of not lower than 1200° C. starting the melting of sintering raw material particles is represented by T1 in the low productivity and T2 in the high productivity, respectively. In the high productivity, the moving speed of the pallet is fast so that the high-temperature keeping time T2 becomes short as compared to T1 in the low productivity. However, as the time kept at a high temperature of not lower than 1200° C. is shortened, the sintering becomes insufficient. Hence, the cold strength of the sintered ore is decreased to lower the yield. Consequently, to produce the high-strength sintered ore in a short time with a high yield and a good productivity, it is required to take some measures to prolong the time kept at a high temperature of not lower than 1200° C. to increase the cold strength of the sintered ore.
FIG. 4 is a schematic view illustrating a process wherein the carbonaceous material in the surface part of the charged layer ignited by the ignition furnace is continuously combusted by the sucked air to form the combustion zone, which is moved from the upper part to the lower part of the charged layer sequentially to form the sintered cake. Also, FIG. 5(a) is a schematic view illustrating a temperature distribution when the combustion zone exists in each of an upper part, a middle part and a lower part of the charged layer within a thick frame shown in FIG. 4. The strength of the sintered ore is affected by the product of the temperature of not lower than 1200° C. and the time kept at this temperature, and as the value becomes larger, the strength of the sintered ore becomes higher. Accordingly, the middle and lower parts in the charged layer are pre-heated by combustion heat of the carbonaceous material in the upper part of the charged layer carried with the sucked air and thus kept at a high temperature for a long time, whereas the upper part of the charged layer is lacking in the combustion heat due to no preheating. Hence, combustion melting reaction required for sintering (sintering reaction) is liable to be insufficient. As a result, the yield of the sintered ore in the widthwise section of the charged layer becomes smaller at the upper part of the charged layer as shown in FIG. 5(b). Moreover, both widthwise end portions of the pallet are supercooled due to heat dissipation from the side walls of the pallet or a large amount of air passed so that the high-temperature keeping time required for sintering cannot be secured sufficiently and the yield is also lowered.
As to these problems, it has hitherto been performed to increase the amount of the carbonaceous material (powdery coke) added in the sintering raw material. However, it is possible to raise the temperature in the sintered layer and prolong the time kept at not lower than 1200° C. by increasing the addition amount of coke as shown in FIG. 6, while at the same time, the maximum achieving temperature in the sintering exceeds 1400° C. and the decrease of the reducibility and cold strength of the sintered ore is caused by the reason as described below.
In Table 1 of 'Mineral engineering', edited by Hideki IMAI, Sukune TAKENOUCHI, Yoshinori FUJIKI, (1976), p. 175, Asakura Publishing Co., Ltd. are shown tensile strength (cold strength) and reducibility of various minerals generated in the sintered ore during the sintering. In the sintering process, a melt starts to be generated at 1200° C. to produce calcium ferrite having the highest strength and a relatively high reducibility among constitutional minerals of the sintered ore as shown in FIG. 7. This is the reason why the sintering temperature is required to be not lower than 1200° C. However, when the temperature is further raised and exceeds 1400° C., precisely 1380° C., calcium ferrite starts to be decomposed into an amorphous silicate (calcium silicate) having the lowest cold strength and reducibility and a secondary hematite of a skeleton-crystal form easily causing reduction degradation. Also, the secondary hematite constituting a start point of the reduction degradation of the sintered ore raises the temperature up to a zone of Mag. ss+Liq. and is precipitated in the cooling as shown in a phase diagram of FIG. 8 from the results of the mineral synthesis test so that production of the sintered ore through a path (2) instead of a path (1) shown in the phase diagram is considered to be important to suppress the reduction degradation.
TABLE 1Type of mineralTensile strength (MPa) Reducibility (%)Hematite4950Magnetite5822Calcium ferrite10235Calcium silicate193
That is, 'Mineral engineering', edited by Hideki IMAI, Sukune TAKENOUCHI, Yoshinori FUJIKI, (1976), p. 175, Asakura Publishing Co., Ltd. discloses that in controlling the maximum achieving temperature, the high-temperature keeping time and the like during combustion is a very important control item to ensure the quality of the sintered ore and the quality of the sintered ore is substantially determined depending on these controls. Therefore, to obtain a sintered ore having a high strength and excellent reduction degradation index (RDI) and reducibility, it is important that calcium ferrite produced at a temperature of not lower than 1200° C. is not decomposed into calcium silicate and secondary hematite. To this end, it is necessary that the maximum achieving temperature in the charged layer during sintering does not exceed 1400° C., preferably 1380° C., while the temperature in the charged layer is kept at not lower than 1200° C. (solidus temperature of calcium ferrite) for a long time. The time kept in the temperature range of not lower than 1200° C., but not higher than 1400° C. is hereinafter called as "high-temperature keeping time".
Moreover, there are proposed some techniques for the purpose of keeping the upper part of the charged layer at a high temperature for a long time. For example, JP-A-S48-018102 proposes a technique of injecting gaseous fuel onto the charged layer after the ignition of the charged layer, JP-B-S46-027126 proposes a technique of adding a flammable gas to air sucked into the charged layer after ignition of the charged layer, JP-A-S55-018585 proposes a technique wherein a hood is disposed above the charged layer and a mixed gas of air and coke oven gas is jetted from the hood at a position just behind the ignition furnace to make the temperature in the charged layer of the sintering raw material higher, and JP-A-H05-311257 proposes a technique of simultaneously blowing a low-melting point flux and carbonaceous material or flammable gas at a position just behind the ignition furnace.
In those techniques, however, since gaseous fuel with a high concentration is used and the amount of the carbonaceous material is not decreased in blowing the gaseous fuel, the maximum achievable temperature of the charged layer in the sintering becomes high exceeding 1400° C. as an upper limit temperature under operation control so that calcium ferrite produced in the sintering process is decomposed to form a sintered ore having low reducibility and cold strength. Hence, the effect of improving the yield is not obtained or the air permeability is deteriorated due to the temperature rising and thermal expansion by the combustion of the gaseous fuel to decrease the productivity, or further there is a risk of causing fire accident in the upper space of the sintering bed (charged layer) with the use of the gaseous fuel. As a result, any of these techniques are not brought into practical use.
When the techniques disclosed in WO 2007/052776, JP-A-2010-047801, JP-A-2008-291354 and JP-A-2010-106342 are applied to the method of producing the sintered ore with the downdraft type sintering machine to decrease the amount of the carbonaceous material added to the sintering raw material and further the gaseous fuel diluted to not higher than the lower limit concentration of combustion is introduced into the charged layer to combust the gaseous fuel in the charged layer as shown in FIG. 9, the gaseous fuel is combusted in the charged layer (in the sintering layer) after combustion of the carbonaceous material so that the width of the combustion·molten zone can be enlarged into the thickness direction without exceeding the maximum achieving temperature over 1400° C. and hence the high-temperature keeping time can be prolonged.
To produce the high-quality sintered ore having a high strength and an excellent reducibility in a high yield, it is required to ensure the time kept at a high temperature range of not lower than 1200° C. but not higher than 1400° C. (high-temperature keeping time) at least for not less than the predetermined time, whereas even if the keeping time is prolonged excessively from the predetermined time, the effect is saturated. To this end, the high-temperature keeping time is desirable to be not less than the predetermined value and uniform over the full area of the charged layer in the thickness direction as shown by a dashed line in FIG. 10. However, the techniques of WO 2007/052776, JP-A-2010-047801 and JP-A-2008-291354 have an effect of uniformizing the high-temperature keeping time in an area getting inside from the surface portion of the charged layer of the sintering raw material to a certain level as shown in FIG. 10, while it is difficult to ensure the high-temperature keeping time of not less than the predetermined value in an area ranging from the surface of the raw material charged layer to about 30% of the layer thickness because the carbonaceous material is decreased in the operation by supplying the gaseous fuel and further the area is cooled by air introduced into the charged layer. Therefore, the yield in the surface portion of the raw material charged layer is somewhat improved by the supply of the gaseous fuel, but the effect is limited. The technique of JP-A-2010-106342 proposes that the concentration of the diluted gaseous fuel to be supplied is made higher in an upstream side of the supplied area than that in the downstream side in the operation by supplying the gaseous fuel. However, the area ranging from the surface of the raw material charged layer to about 30% of the layer thickness is cooled by air introduced into the charged layer after the ignition, so that the high-temperature keeping time cannot be ensured sufficiently, and consequently the effect by supplying the gaseous fuel into the surface portion of the raw material charged layer is limited as in WO 2007/052776, JP-A-2010-047801 and JP-A-2008-291354.
We developed a technique of intensively supplying the gaseous fuel into such an area of the raw material charged layer that the time kept at a high temperature range of not lower than 1200° C. (high-temperature keeping time) is less than 150 seconds in case of sintering by combustion heat of only the carbonaceous material, the result of which is filed as Japanese Patent Application No. 2011-054513. In that technique, however, although the length of the gaseous fuel supplied (supplying position) is varied, when the concentration of the gaseous fuel supplied is constant or when the concentration of the gaseous fuel is made higher in the upstream side of the supplied area than that in the downstream side thereof as described in JP-A-2010-106342, it is actual that the maximum achieving temperature in the sintering is still lower than 1200° C. in the outermost surface portion within 100 mm from the surface of the raw material charged layer, or even if it reaches the above value, the high-temperture keeping time is difficult to be ensured for a long time.
It could therefore be helpful to provide a method of producing a sintered ore wherein the time kept at a high-temperature range is stably ensured even in the outermost surface portion of the sintering raw material charged layer and hence a high-quality sintered ore having a high strength and an excellent reducibility can be produced in a high yield.


A jack includes a base provided with a plurality of catch blocks, a lift arm pivotable relative to the base, and a safety member pivotally mounted on the lift arm to move therewith. Thus, when the lift arm is lifted, the first end of the safety member is locked on either one of the catch blocks of the base, so that the safety member is fixed by the base during upward movement of the lift arm so as to fix the lift arm, thereby preventing the lift arm from being lowered too quickly when the power supplied to the lift arm disappears accidentally due to malfunction so as to provide a safety effect.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a jack, and more particularly to a jack having a safety effect.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional jack in accordance with the prior art shown in FIG. 6 comprises a base 80 provided with a plurality of locking teeth 81, a lift arm 82 pivotally mounted on the base 80, and a locking rod 84 having a first end pivotally mounted on the lift arm 82 and a second end locked on the locking teeth 81 of the base 80 to prevent the lift arm 82 from being lowered down too rapidly when the power of the lift arm 82 disappears accidentally. However, the user needs to push the locking rod 84 to engage the respective locking teeth 81 of the base 80 when the lift arm 82 is lifted to a determined position, thereby causing inconvenience to the user when operating the jack, and thereby wasting the manual work. In addition, the locking rod 84 is not engaged with the respective locking teeth 81 of the base 80 exactly, so that the locking rod 84 is easily disengaged from the respective locking teeth 81 of the base 80, thereby causing danger to the user.


Techniques for spatial semantic attribute matching on image regions for location identification based on a reference dataset are provided. In one aspect, a method for matching images from heterogeneous sources is provided. The method includes the steps of: (a) parsing the images into different semantic labeled regions; (b) creating a list of potential matches by matching the images based on two or more of the images having same semantic labeled regions; and (c) pruning the list of potential matches created in step (b) by taking into consideration spatial arrangements of the semantic labeled regions in the images.

The geo-localization of photos has become an emerging need. Usually the query photos are matched with a geo-referenced dataset to obtain a prediction of the geo-location. However, robust matching of images of different types and across different views based purely on low level features is in general difficult to achieve.
Therefore, improved techniques for geo-locating photos would be desirable.

Techniques for spatial semantic attribute matching for location identification

International Business Machines Corporation


A contact element for providing high current capabilities between an electrical contact and a mating contact. The contact element includes multiple first resilient contact arms and multiple second resilient contact arms. The first contact arms and the second contact arms have first contact sections and second contact sections. The first contact sections electrically engage the mating contact when the mating contact is fully inserted into the electrical contact. The second contact sections electrically engage a portion of the electrical contact when the mating contact is fully inserted into the electrical contact. The first contact sections and the second contact sections provide redundant contact sections which allow for the passage of a high amperage current with low resistance and low temperature.

Electrical connectors for military, aviation, vehicular and other applications which required power must be able to withstand the environmental conditions, such as high vibrations, to which such connectors are subjected. The connectors also must provide high quality electrical connection through very broad ranges of temperature variations. In many instances these electrical connectors must also accommodate extremely high amperage.
Examples of such electrical connectors which are found in the prior art may include a threaded stud terminal to which a threaded nut may be selectively connected. A typical prior art terminal for connection to such threaded stud terminal includes a mating end effectively defining a generally planar eyelet that is dimensioned to be slidably passed over the threaded stud terminal. The opposed end of such a terminal typically will be crimped and/or soldered to a conductor of the wire. The eyelet is maintained in a mated condition on the threaded stud terminal by the nut which is threaded tightly against the planar portion of the eyelet for securely retaining the terminal on the threaded stud terminal and for providing the high contact forces that are desired.
Such typical prior art electrical connector performs well under routine environmental conditions. However, the threaded components of these prior art connectors are fairly expensive to manufacture. Furthermore, the threaded interconnection adds significantly to assembly time and costs and can make disassembly for periodic repair and maintenance difficult, particularly as torque wrenches are required to properly seat the hardware. A number of parts are required to perfect the electrical connection, thereby also adding to the cost of the connection and creating the possibility of foreign object debris (FOD) which could damage engines and the like. Also, as the connectors are exposed to vibration and the like, the nuts may rotate off of the threaded component, which can lead to a failed, open electrical connection. In addition, any attempt to provide environmental sealing for such an electrical connection will generally require an entirely separate protection means that is functionally and structurally unrelated to the threaded interconnection to the alternator.
Various prior art electrical connectors rely upon resiliency of the metal to achieve electrical connection. However, it is extremely difficult to achieve the high contact forces with an electrical connector that must also ensure a large surface contact area and a large cross sectional area of metal to effect a reliable electrical connection.
Other examples of prior art electrical connectors have included springs means which are intended to achieve secure electrical connection without resorting to combinations of threads and nuts. On such contact is disclosed in German Pat. No. 15 90 124. It has proven to be disadvantageous with these known contact spring sockets that one must have a relatively large sleeve to mount the contact springs and hold them in place, particularly in the case where one attempts miniaturization of contact spring sockets.
It would, therefore, be beneficial to provide a contact element which has a relatively simple structure, can be inexpensively manufactured, and is of compact size, yet has high current carrying capacity and low required plug insertion forces.


An automatic evaluation system includes: a navigation device used in a vehicle; and a center that communicates with the navigation device. The navigation device includes: a stop-over determination device that automatically determines whether a user has stopped over at a store; a counting device that counts a cumulative number of stop-over times; a recommended store determination device that determines the store, at which the cumulative number of times has become two, as a recommended store; and a posting device that automatically transmits information on the recommended store to the center. The center includes a registration device that registers the information on the recommended store received from the navigation device in relation with the vehicle as a sender source.

Conventionally, a technique for referring to evaluations from others upon searching for stores such as eating and drinking establishments is known. For example, Patent Literature 1 discloses a technique of, regarding an object facility, calculating the score by user from visiting history information of the user with respect to the facility, and returning the information posted by user(s) having the calculated score equal to or higher than a predetermined value, to the source of a posted information request command.
In the technique disclosed in the Patent Literature 1, when the user presses a virtual button on a screen of his/her cellular phone, visiting history information, including positional information related to a facility, facility information, visiting date and time information, posted information, information on cumulative number of times of visiting, and information on cumulative number of times of posting, is transmitted from the cellular phone to a server, and the visiting history information is registered on the server. Further, the Patent Literature 1 describes that the user-base score is calculated from the number of times of visiting, the number of times of posting, and the latest posting time, and even when the number of times of posting and the latest posting time are the maximum scores, the total score does not become a predetermined value unless the number of times of visiting is at least ten.
However, in the technique disclosed in the Patent Literature 1, it is necessary for the user to press the virtual button on the screen of the cellular phone to make an evaluation to recommend a store, and the operation is troublesome.
On the other hand, it may be arranged such that when the user has stopped over at a store, visiting history information is automatically registered and store is recommended. However, when all the stores at which the user has stopped over are automatically registered and recommended, the number of data is huge, and the credibility of store recommendation is lowered.

Automatic evaluation system and navigation device


Disclosed are compounds that are highly selective partial agonists or antagonists at human CRF.sub.1 receptors that are useful in the diagnosis and treatment of treating stress related disorders such as post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as well as depression, headache and anxiety. The compounds have the formula ##STR1## or the pharmaceutically acceptable salts thereof wherein Ar, R.sub.1, R.sub.2, A, and Z are various organic and inorganic substituents.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to certain pyrazole derivatives which selectively bind to corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) receptors. This invention also relates to pharmaceutical compositions comprising such compounds. It further relates to the use of such compounds in treating stress related disorders such as post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as well as depression, headache and anxiety.
2. Description of the Related Art
A variety of pyrazoles have been described in the prior art. International Patent Application Publication No. WO96/01254 (Jan. 18, 1996) discloses certain pyrazole derivatives as herbicides. International Patent Application Publication No. WO94/13643 (Jun. 23, 1994) discloses certain pyrazoles and pyrazolopyrimidines as CRF antagonists. International Patent Application Publication No. WO94/13644 (Jun. 23, 1994) and International Patent Application Publication No. WO94/13661 (Jun. 23, 1994) also disclose certain substituted pyrazoles which have CRF antagonistic activities. German Patent DD210265 (Jun. 06, 1984) discloses certain pyrazoles as xanthine oxidase inhibitors.

Certain pyrazole derivatives as corticotropin-releasing factor receptor CRF.sub.1 specific ligands


A system and method to provide continuity of service in a radio broadcasting system, wherein the radio broadcasting system includes at least one modem using the COFDM technique, and transmits N time-frequency cells modulated independently of one another. A number N1 of cells conveying digital audio signal S1 and a number N2 of cells conveying analog audio signal S2 are transmitted to a receiver. When the receiver cannot decode the signal in the N1 cells, the receiver replaces the digitized audio signal S1 with the analog signal S2.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of radio broadcasting providing continuity of service and a system implementing the method.
Hitherto, narrow-band radio broadcasting systems have used purely analog modulation methods such as amplitude modulation, frequency modulation or single sideband modulation. The last-named modulation is rarely used.
In the near future, radio broadcasting systems known as "digital" systems are going to be standardized. These systems are designed for use in the bands located below the 30 MHz band, and will comply with existing channels, most usually having bandwidths of 9 kHz or 10 kHz.
Although these systems give high-quality, crystal-clear sound, they are handicapped by a phenomenon inevitably linked to digital methods, namely the total disappearance of the audio signal when the reception conditions are poor, for example excessively severe frequency-selective fading or flat fading, a generally inadequate signal-to-noise ratio, interference, etc. This is not the case for amplitude modulation transmission, for example for which, even at very low signal-to-noise ratios, the sound remains intelligible although highly noise-infested and/or distorted, a feature to which the faithful listeners of this type of broadcast are accustomed.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Various advanced methods have been proposed to overcome this problem at least partially.
One of these methods is the UEP (unequal error protection) method in which the bit stream is divided into two parts as follows:                a specially protected part, which may be received with a lower signal-to-ratio than the remainder and conveys a bit stream that is sufficient to regenerate lower quality audio conditions but is deemed to be sufficient to provide minimum continuity of service,        an unprotected part which, when it is properly received, gives the quality of the frequency audio signal referred to here above.
However, a method of this kind always has the above-mentioned drawback because, when the signal-to-noise ratio is too low, the audio signal is quite simply cut off.
An object of the present invention relates to a method and system of radio broadcasting adapted to ensuring total or almost total continuity of reception whatever the conditions.
A system of this kind is called a permanent audio link (PAL).

Radio broadcasting system and method providing continuity of service


In an exhaust gas system for an internal combustion engine, particularly of a motor vehicle, wherein the exhaust gas system comprises a nitrogen oxide reducing converter arranged in an exhaust gas line of the internal combustion engine, an exhaust gas cleaning device arranged upstream of the nitrogen oxide reducing converter and a reducing agent feed device for feeding a reducing agent into the exhaust gas of the internal combustion engine upstream of the nitrogen oxide reducing converter, a bypass line is provided which branches off from the exhaust gas line upstream of the exhaust gas cleaning device and rejoins the exhaust gas line at an entry point downstream of the exhaust gas cleaning device and upstream of the nitrogen oxide reducing converter.

The invention relates to an exhaust gas system, especially for an internal combustion engine of a motor vehicle, with a nitrogen-reducing converter, an exhaust gas cleaning device and a reduction agent feed device.
WO 99/39809 A1 discloses an exhaust gas system which has arranged in the exhaust line, in the given sequence, an oxidizing converter, a particulate filter and an SCR converter for removing nitrogen oxide from the exhaust gas. Furthermore, a supply of reducing agent for feeding in ammonia or urea solution is provided on the input side of the SCR converter. With this exhaust gas system, particulates and nitrogen oxides and non-combusted fuel constituents can be removed from the exhaust gas of an internal combustion engine. Oxidation of nitrogen monoxide (NO) to nitrogen dioxide (NO2) takes place here to a greater or lesser extent, depending in each case on the exhaust gas conditions, by means of the oxidizing converter. The NO2 formed in turn oxidizes soot deposited in the particulate filter, for a continuous regeneration of the particulate filter. However, both the removal of nitrogen oxide and the removal of soot via NO2 formed are heavily dependent on the prevailing temperature conditions and throughput ratios.
It is the object of the present invention to provide an exhaust gas system for an internal combustion engine, wherein a further improvement in the cleaning of the exhaust gas, in particular over as wide an operating range as possible and during changing operating conditions of the internal combustion engine is achieved.

Exhaust gas system, especially for an internal combustion engine of a motor vehicle


An intelligent leak test and gas flow measurement apparatus having a body with a conical bore, a center shaft positioned in the conical bore to form a laminar flow gap bounded by the surface of the conical bore and the center shaft, a precisely machined spacer at the second end portion of the body for positioning the center shaft within the conical bore, a pressure differential sensor in contact with the laminar flow gap. A temperature sensor for determining the temperature of the gas flowing through the laminar flow gap is located on a columnar housing and a static pressure sensor for measuring the static pressure is located within the columnar housing. A microcontroller connected to the pressure differential sensor, the temperature sensor and the static pressure sensor, which microcontroller uses embedded software to calculate gas flow measurements and leak detection. An inlet end cap is attached to the first end portion of the body and an outlet end cap is attached to the second end portion of the body to enclose the center bore of the body and the center shaft.

While there are other gas flow sensors in the prior art, the present invention incorporates improvements that result in more accurate leak detection and flow measurement capabilities in a simple, easily used configuration.
One example of prior art is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,800,754 naming David M. Korpi as the inventor and Sierra Instruments, Inc. as the assignee. In the aforementioned patent, a widerange, adjustable flowmeter is disclosed. This design utilizes an adjustable laminar flow element located within a bore for fine adjustments and an adjustable, restriction secondary passage for crude adjustments. In this design, all or a selected portion of the flows to be measured can be diverted through the secondary passage. The physics of this design is based on heat transfer which is less accurate and slower to react than the technology of the present invention. Finally, by design, this apparatus is limited to low flow pressure measurements. This apparatus unnecessarily complicates the flow measurement process for various flow ranges.
Another example of prior art is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,487,062 naming John G. Olin and David M. Korpi as inventors and Sierra Instruments, Inc. as assignee. In the aforementioned patent, a mass flowmeter is disclosed. This flowmeter also includes a primary and secondary passage in addition to a pair of resistance wire coils surrounding the sensor tube whereby resistance is proportional to the fluid flow rate. Again this type of flowmeter is unnecessarily complicated.
Another example of the prior art is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,099,881 naming Takeshi Nakajima as inventor. In the aforementioned patent, the flow dividing structure of the mass flow controller includes a main mass flow passage and a bypass flow passage. Due to the conical bore design of the flow dividing structure, the cross-sectional area of the main passage cross-sectional area can be adjusted and the ratio of the areas between the main passage and bypass passage will determine the proportion of the flow passing through the bypass passage, where the measuring sensor is located. Consequently, the conical bore acts as a flow divider and not a flow sensor as in the present invention.
Another example of the prior art is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,305,638 naming Hamid Saghatchi et al as inventors. The conical portion in this invention serves a similar function as the conical portion in the Nakajima patent. As before, the conical portion is used as a flow divider rather than a flow sensor as in the present invention.
Another example of a prior gas flow measurement device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,445,035 naming Pierre R. Delajoud as the inventor. In the aforementioned U.S. Patent, a gas flow measurement apparatus is disclosed with an elongated cylindrical piston positioned concentrically within a bore is used thus forming an annular flow channel of uniform depth. Ferrules are located at each end to position the piston. While this invention is an improvement over previous gas flow sensors, there are still disadvantages. The primary disadvantage is the two adjustments that must be made to position the piston. The device also uses a cylindrical piston which does not allow the same degree of control over the acceleration of the flow. Yet another disadvantage locates the pressure measurement port where flow is not yet filly developed, which has a tendency to adversely affect the accuracy of the measurement. Finally, this design uses two pressure sensors, one pressure sensor and one pressure differential sensor.
The main disadvantages of the prior art gas flow measurement apparatus are as follows:
1) To achieve as large a differential pressure as possible, the pressure measurement device is located where the flow is not fully developed, and hence, turbulence can occur and larger uncertainty will result in the measurement. PA1 2) The prior art cannot adjust the flow rate to the desired differential pressure and maintain the desired accuracy. This is critical for in-line flow measurements when small differential pressure is required in order not to affect the flow, e.g. leak flow measurement when the unit under test is maintained at low pressure. To increase the differential pressure resolution, acceleration/deceleration of the flow is employed in the present invention. The acceleration/deceleration is achieved by creating different cross sectional area of the gas flow at the two receiving ports of the differential pressure sensor. The cross-sectional area of the gap is the area between the ends of the bore and the shaft and is represented by the following formula: EQU A=.pi..multidot.(R+h).sup.2 -.pi..multidot.R.sup.2 =.multidot.h.multidot.(2.multidot.R+h).apprxeq.2 .pi.hR PA1 A: Cross-sectional area of the gap PA1 R: The radius of the shaft at particular location PA1 h: The gap at the particular location PA1 d: density of the gas PA1 v.sub.1 : average flow velocity at the receiving port PA1 A.sub.1 : cross sectional area at the receiving port PA1 Based on the energy conservation law, ##EQU1##
To avoid the turbulence flow phenomenon on measurement, the present invention measures the differential pressure on the section of laminar flow gap where the laminar flow is fully developed, rather than two extreme ends of the flow.
where
It is obvious that the cross sectional area will be larger if R and h are increased and vice visa. The following formula is based on the mass conservation law: EQU d.multidot.v.sub.1 .multidot.A.sub.1 =MassFlow
where
Due to the fact that the cross sectional area at the two ports is different, the velocity at the receiving port is inversely proportional to the cross sectional area if all the other parameters are kept constant.
Assuming there is no significant density and temperature change along the section of the passage, the increase of the velocity of the flow will result in a decrease in the static pressure and the amount of the pressure drop is determined by the amount of the velocity change between the two ports. Now the differential pressure is composed of two parts. The first part comes from the works by friction and shear force as Hougan Poissile Phenomena. The second part is contributed by the different velocities at the two receiving ports. As a result, the differential pressure can be controlled and is more repeatable. The gas velocity can be increased or decreased by controlling the flow direction across the conical section.
Furthermore, precisely machined spacers at the second end portion of the body can linearly position the shaft within the core to control how much the differential pressure is "Amplified".
Because the different cross sectional areas at both receiving ends is critical to this application, the machining and surface finish of the shaft and bore become more important than that in the application on a flow divider due to the ratio of the area between the main passage and bypass passage.
Besides, the prior art requires remote electronics, such as PC and data acquisition systems to interpret the signals, compute the flow and perform the control function if needed. These require higher skill from the user, and complicate the application. The present invention provides an integrated solution in a compact form. Furthermore, laminar sensors in the prior art are more difficult to clean and maintain than those in the present invention.
In summary, the present invention represents an improvement over the prior art due to the more simplistic design of the apparatus, the ease of adjustability and repeatability, the ability to accelerate/decelerate flow to create improved mathematical correlations and the lower anticipated costs of manufacturing the apparatus.

Intelligent gas flow measurement and leak detection apparatus


A failure detection circuit that can detect the performance degradation of a FeRAM caused by thermal stress regardless of whether power is being supplied or not, and prevent the use of a deteriorated FeRAM. It comprises a detector FeRAM cell structured identically to a memory cell actually employed and used for detecting the performance degradation of the FeRAM, a filtering voltage generator circuit, which generates a filtering voltage used for determining the performance degradation, an expected value output circuit, which outputs an expected value equal to the data already stored in the detector FeRAM cell, a sense amplifier, which reproduces data stored in the detector FeRAM cell using the filtering voltage, and a comparator, which outputs an failure detection signal indicating the performance degradation of the FeRAM when the expected value and the data reproduced by the sense amplifier don't match.

In recent years, the growing market of portable devices such as mobile phone, PDA, and digital camera, has increased the demand for nonvolatile memory. Especially FeRAM (Ferroelectric Random Access Memory) is receiving much attention because it requires small power consumption and has high-speed data read/write capability.
FeRAM comprises memory cell created by combining capacitor element using ferroelectric material as insulator and cell selecting transistor, or memory cell composed of FET with capacitor element in its gate electrode part using ferroelectric material, and stores data by utilizing the residual polarization of the ferroelectric material.
FeRAM has a number of desirable characteristics: it can operate at low voltage, has a rewrite frequency greater than flash memory and EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory) by multiple digits, and is capable of high integration due to the fact that its circuit structure is similar to that of DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory).
However, data stored in FeRAM cannot be read accurately when placed in a high temperature environment (sometimes referred to as thermal stress hereinafter) because the capacity of the capacity element decreases due to the physical characteristics of ferroelectric material. In order to solve this, a temperature detecting circuit that detects the ambient temperature of FeRAM and generates an alarm signal when exceeding a prescribed temperature can be used for detecting performance degradation. As a temperature detecting circuit, for instance, a semiconductor integrated circuit that utilizes the voltage-current characteristics of diode for temperature sensing is described in Patent Document 1.
In Patent Document 1, a constant current Iref is flowed in a bipolar transistor Q1, of which the base and collector are connected, using a constant current circuit 100 as shown in FIG. 3, and an abnormal ambient temperature is detected by observing a voltage change VBE between the base and emitter of the transistor Q1.
Paten Document 1
Japanese Patent Kokai Publication No. JP-A-56-135963


A vehicle braking control device includes a braking force simultaneous control mode executing unit capable of executing a braking force simultaneous control mode for simultaneously controlling right/left wheels cylinders by a brake hydraulic pressure circuit according to slip ratios of right/left wheels, a braking force independent control mode executing unit capable of executing a braking force independent control mode for independently controlling the right/left wheels cylinders, and a switching controller capable of switching the braking force simultaneous control mode and the braking force independent control mode, wherein the switching controller switches to the braking force independent control mode at the time a slip ratio difference of the right/left rear wheels becomes equal to or less than a preset and predetermined value during switching from the braking force simultaneous control mode to the braking force independent control mode.

Antilock brake devices (ABS) are available as an device that suppresses idle running due to locked wheels by detecting that the wheels are locked or slipped when a vehicle is braked and executing a control for automatically loosening a brake. The antilock brake device is applied with a system for simultaneously controlling right and left braking forces to rear wheels and a system that independently controls the right and left braking forces to the rear wheels, and the systems can be switched. For example, an antiskid controller described in Patent Literature 1 described below selectively uses a select low control, an independent limiting control, and an independent control according to a travel state of a vehicle.


An exhaust header system for an internal combustion engine having improved exhaust gas flow characteristics. Primary pipes extend from openings in a flange bolted to the engines exhaust ports. The primary pipes come together at a collector pipe into which the primary pipes extend slightly. The ends of the primary pipes are substantially parallel, uniformly spaced around the collector pipe axis and have end surfaces lying substantially in a single plane. A generally pyramidal transition piece has a base corresponding to, and secured to, the primary pile end surfaces so as to cover the area between the pipe ends. The pyramid apex extends along the collector pipe centerline toward the exit end. The length and cross section of the transition piece is selected to provide a smooth transition from the greater combined internal cross section of the primary pipe ends to the lesser cross section of the collector pipe exit end.

A wide variety of header systems have been developed for exhausting combustion gases from the cylinders of internal combustion engines and directing the gases to an exhaust pipe in order to improve horsepower, vary the maximum torque band and improve fuel efficiency of the engine. Basically, a header includes a flange plate that bolts up to the engine's exhaust ports, primary tubes that extend from holes in the flange plate at the exhaust port locations to a collector tube which collects the exhaust and directs it into the exhaust pipe having a muffler, catalytic converter, etc.
In the past, automobile manufacturers have provided cast iron header manifolds because they are easier to manufacture and emit less noise. However, these header systems provided less than ideal emission control and gas milage, so that tube-type headers are now provided on many new production cars. After market tube-type headers have long been offered both for improving street performance and for racing.
A variety of header designs have been developed. The most common is the 4-into-1 design in which four primary tubes from the flange to a collector or transition pipe where the total cross sectional area of the primary pipes is collected and reduced to the cross section of the exhaust pipe. In other designs, pairs of primary pipes are brought together, then the combined primaries are brought together in a collector. In pure race cars, the primary pipes from the flanges may be brought outside the vehicle independently, functioning as individual exhaust pipes. In other designs, primary pipes from opposite banks of a V-8 or V-6 engine may be brought together in a selected configuration.
Each of the header components has an effect on performance. For example, using a smaller primary tube diameter tends to lower the torque peak, which is advantageous in a street vehicle but not in a full race car. Longer primary tubes also increase low-end torque, as will a larger collector. Equal length primary pipes assure that each cylinder is scavenged equally. Uniform flow and avoidance of turbulence in the primary pipe, collector and exhaust system are important in reducing back pressure and maximizing both power and fuel efficiency.
The point where the primary pipes come together and enter the collector has been found to be a problem area in assuring smooth, non-turbulent exhaust gas flow through the collector. The cross sectional area of the combined primary pipe ends transitions through the collector to the (generally smaller) exhaust pipe cross section. The cross sectional area that is formed between the bundled primary pipe ends, approximately square with four primary pipes and approximately triangular with three primary pipes, is a major cause of turbulence.
Attempts have been made to smooth this transition by cutting back the adjacent surfaces of adjacent primary pipes, then welding them together to substantially eliminate the area between the pipe ends. This is difficult, expensive in design and manufacture, and with a number of complex welds may actually add to turbulence in this transition region.
Thus, there is a continuing need for improvements in header design to reduce or eliminate turbulence caused by the joining of adjacent primary pipes at the collector and transitioning to the exhaust pipe diameter.

Gas flow headers for internal combustion engines


A vehicular hydraulic system having a pump, flow-splitting valve, first application and second application arranged in series. The flow-splitting valve diverts a portion of the primary fluid flow to the second application when the pressure exceeds a threshold value. A valve member disposed in the flow-splitting valve defines a pressure-reducing orifice that communicates fluid across the valve member. A one-way relief valve prevents fluid flow through the pressure-reducing orifice when the pressure in the valve is below the threshold value. When the pressure exceeds the threshold value, fluid flows through relief valve and the pressure reducing orifice resulting in the movement of the valve member and exposure of a bypass port to thereby divert a portion of the primary fluid flow to the second application. The relief valve may be selectively variable to thereby provide for the adjustment of the threshold value.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to hydraulic systems for vehicles and, more particularly, to a hydraulic system having a hydraulic fluid pump and at least two hydraulic applications.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many trucks with hydraulic braking systems, particularly larger gasoline powered and diesel powered trucks, incorporate hydraulic braking assist systems, rather than vacuum assist systems commonly found in passenger automobiles. The use of vacuum assist braking systems can be problematic in vehicles having a turbo-charged engine and such vehicles will also often employ hydraulic braking assist systems. Furthermore, there is an aftermarket demand for hydraulic braking assist systems for vehicles, such as hotrods, that may not otherwise have a brake assist device or for which the use of a vacuum assist system presents difficulties. Such hydraulic braking assist systems are well known and sold commercially.
Typically, these hydraulic braking assist systems are connected in series between the steering gear and hydraulic pump and use flow from the pump to generate the necessary pressure to provide brake assist as needed. The flow from the pump is generally confined within a narrow range of flow rates and is not intentionally varied to meet changing vehicle operating conditions. Because of the series arrangement, the application of the brakes and engagement of the hydraulic braking assist system can affect the flow of hydraulic fluid to the steering gear, thereby affecting the amount of assist available to the steering gear. Specifically, when a heavy braking load is applied, it causes an increase in backpressure to the pump which can exceed a threshold relief pressure (e.g., 1,500 psi) of the pump. Above this level, a bypass valve of the pump opens to divert a fraction of the outflow back to the intake of the pump, where the cycle continues until the pressure from the brake assist device drops below the threshold value of the bypass valve. During this relief condition, a diminished flow of fluid is sent to the steering gear which may result in a detectable increase in steering effort by the operator of the vehicle to turn the steering wheel under extreme relief conditions.
To at least partially alleviate this condition, it is possible to place a flow-splitter or priority valve in the hydraulic system to divert a portion of the flow of fluid being discharged from the pump to the steering gear under heavy braking conditions. The disclosure of U.S. Pat. No. 6,814,413 B2 describes the use of such a flow-splitter and is hereby incorporated herein by reference. Although the flow-splitters disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,814,413 B2 are effective, they are relatively complex to manufacture and, thus, relatively expensive. A simplified valve structure for use in such a hydraulic system having both a brake assist device and a steering assist device arranged in series is desirable.

Vehicular hydraulic system with priority valve and relief valve


A metal atomizing device includes a casing with an inlet tube for providing liquid metal into the casing and an outlet is defined through the casing. The inlet tube and the outlet share a common axis. A polygonal impact member is located at an outlet of the inlet tube and a plurality of gas inlets are connected to the casing so as to provide noble gas into the casing and mixed with the liquid metal that impacts on the impact member. A collection member is located at the outlet of the casing and a pipe communicates with the collection member and the inlet tube so as to send the larger particles into the casing.

A conventional metal atomizing device generally includes a heater for providing high temperature to the metal, an inlet for ejecting the metal into to a chamber and side nozzle for providing variety of noble gas to mix with the metal in the chamber. The noble gas is expanded in volume by the temperature and the metal is mixed with the noble gas, and the combination of the metal and the noble gas is ejected from a nozzle. Basically, the particles of the metal can be small as 15 μm which is not satisfied in some industries.
The present invention intends to provide a metal atomizing device which provide the particles of metal to 10 to 5 μm.


The present invention relates to preparations and methods for treating a GD2 positive cancer by administering a preparation comprising a chimeric or humanized anti-GD2 antibody to a patient, wherein the patient is not concomitantly treated with Interleukin-2 (IL-2 wherein a GD2 positive cancer is treated in the patient. Furthermore, the invention relates to preparations and methods for the treatment of a GD2 positive cancer in a patient, wherein a preparation comprising an anti-GD2 antibody is administered to the patient as a continuous infusion, without concomitantly administering IL-2. The present invention further relates to preparations and methods for the treatment of a GD2 positive cancer in a patient, wherein the one or more anti-GD2 antibody treatment periods is/are preceded, accompanied, and/or followed by one or more treatment periods with a retinoid.

Neuroblastoma, after brain cancer, is the most frequent solid cancer in children under five years of age. In high-risk neuroblastoma, more than half of the patients receiving standard therapy have a relapse and ultimately die from the disease. 90% of cases occur between ages zero to six. The worldwide incidence in industrialized countries is around 2000 cases per year.
Monoclonal antibodies against specific antigens are increasingly being used in oncology. The entirely different mode of action compared to cytotoxic therapies have made them a valuable asset as is shown by forerunners like trastuzumab, cetuximab, bevacizumab, rituximab and others. The disialoganglioside GD2 is a glycosphingolipid expressed primarily on the cell surface. GD2 expression in normal tissues is rare and primarily restricted to the central nervous system (CNS), peripheral nerves and melanocytes. In cancerous cells, GD2 is uniformly expressed in neuroblastomas and most melanomas and to a variable degree in bone and soft-tissue sarcomas, small cell lung cancer, renal cell carcinoma, and brain tumors (Navid et al., Curr Cancer Drug Targets 2010; 10:200-209). Because of the relatively tumor-selective expression combined with its presence on the cell surface, GD2 represents a promising target for antibody-based cancer immunotherapy.
Accordingly, several anti-GD2 antibodies are subject to preclinical or clinical investigation in neuroblastoma, melanoma and other GD2-related cancers.
APN311 is a formulation of the chimeric monoclonal anti-GD2 antibody ch14.18 recombinantly produced in Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells, which is the standard mammalian cell line for production of commercially available antibodies. In a Phase I clinical study in relapsed/refractory neuroblastoma patients remissions were achieved with this antibody as single agent. A Phase III trial comprising treatment with APN311 was initiated in 2006 by the International Society of Pediatric Oncology European Neuroblastoma (SIOPEN) and is presently investigating the effects on event-free and overall survival related to treatment with APN311 together with isotretinoin, i.e. cis-retinoic acid (cis-RA), with or without s.c. IL-2. In a comparable US study using a treatment package of 4 drugs, namely a related antibody produced in SP2/0 murine hybridoma cells together with i.v. Interleukin-2 (IL-2 or IL2), Granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) and isotretinoin, interesting survival improvement was seen in children with neuroblastoma in complete remission following initial therapies and no evidence of disease.
APN301 is a formulation of an immunocytokine comprising a humanized anti-GD2 antibody (hu14.18) and IL-2 as a fusion protein. The antibody portion specifically binds to the GD2 antigen that is strongly expressed on neuroblastoma and several other cancers. IL-2 is a cytokine that recruits multiple immune effector cell types. In neuroblastoma patients, APN301 is designed to localize GD2-positive tumor cells via the antibody component. The fused IL-2 then stimulates the patient's immune system against the tumor by activation of both, NK and T cells, whereas the Fc portion of the antibody is designed to trigger tumor cell killing by antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC) and complement-dependent cytotoxicity (CDC). The immunocytokine has shown activity in a Phase II clinical study in children with relapsed/refractory neuroblastoma (Shusterman et al.; JCO 2010 28(33):4969-75.) and was also tested in a Phase I/II study in late stage malignant melanoma, showing immune activation.
Other anti-GD2 antibodies in research or development are, for example, the monoclonal antibody 3F8 (murine in phase II, as well as humanized in phase I), and 8B6 (specific to 0-acetylated GD2, preclinical). Furthermore, anti-idiotypic antibodies such as e.g. 4B5, 1A7, and A1G4 have been under investigation as potential tumor vaccines, however, their development seems to be abandoned. WO 2008/049643 also describes anti-idiotypic antibodies, which mimic GD2 epitopes, i.e. GD2 mimotopes.
Another version of the 14.18 anti-GD2 antibody is hu14.18K322A as described in WO2005/070967, which has a point mutation in the Fc region in order to reduce CDC, but maintain ADCC, e.g. by expression in a cell line suitable for enhancing ADCC, such as YB2/0. The reduction in CDC is considered to result in reduced pain associated with the antibody treatment.
Anti-tumor activity of antibodies generally occurs via either complement dependent cytotoxicity (CDC or complement fixation) or through antibody dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity (ADCC). These two activities are known in the art as "effector functions" and are mediated by antibodies, particularly of the IgG class. All of the IgG subclasses except IgG4 (IgG1, IgG2, IgG3) mediate ADCC and complement fixation to some extent, with IgG1 and IgG3 being most potent for both activities. ADCC is believed to occur when Fc receptors on natural killer (NK) cells and/or other Fc receptor bearing immune cells (effector cells) bind to the Fc region of antibodies bound to antigen on a cell's surface. Fc receptor binding signals the effector cell to kill the target cell. CDC is believed to occur by multiple mechanisms; one mechanism is initiated when an antibody binds to an antigen on a cell's surface. Once the antigen-antibody complex is formed, the C1q molecule is believed to bind the antigen-antibody complex. C1q then cleaves itself to initiate a cascade of enzymatic activation and cleavage of other complement proteins, which then bind the target cell surface and facilitate its death through, for example, cell lysis and/or ingestion by macrophages.
It is believed that antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC) plays an important role in immunotherapy. Unfortunately, ADCC is often depressed in cancer patients. Cytokines are considered to augment ADCC by direct activation of immune cells or by enhancement of tumor-associated antigens (TAA) on tumor cells. For example, Aldesleukin (IL-2) causes activation of natural killer (NK) cells, generation of lymphokine-activated killer (LAK) cells, and augments ADCC. Aldesleukin (IL-2) has been effective at inducing measurable antitumor responses in patients with renal cell carcinoma and melanoma. Furthermore, GM-CSF has been shown both in vitro and in vivo to enhance antitumor immunity through direct activation of monocytes, macrophages, dendritic cells, and antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC), and indirect T cell activation via TNF, interferon and interleukin 1 (IL-1). GM-CSF is considered to enhance functions of cells critical for immune activation against tumor cells, alone or with other cytokines or monoclonal antibodies.
Thus, in current clinical trials investigating anti-GD2 antibodies, in particular ch14.18, the antibody treatment is combined with cytokine treatment (and retinoid treatment), especially with IL-2 and/or GM-CSF. Accordingly, the prior art teaches that it is advantageous to administer cytokines to GD-2 positive cancer patients, in particular in combination with anti-GD2 antibody treatment.
In contrast, a key aspect of the invention is that such patients can be treated with an anti-GD2 antibody without IL-2, especially without any cytokine treatment.
The treatment with one or more cytokines in combination with the antibody may have severe side effects, such as e.g. fever, allergic reactions, hypotension, capillary leak syndrome etc., which may even lead to death. The accompanying cytokine treatment even potentiates adverse events of the antibody treatment, e.g. pain, since there is a synergy in adverse effects of both drugs. However, with the preparations and methods of the present invention, it is possible to completely omit any cytokine(s). Thus, the present invention results in substantially reduced adverse effects of the treatment with the antibody.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Preparations and methods for treating a GD2 positive cancer


An azimuth meter using spin-valve giant magneto-resistive elements, which is simple in manufacturing process, can be made compact in size and contribute to power saving, is disclosed. The azimuth meter comprises a quadrilateral plane coil having two pairs of parallel opposed sides and four spin-valve giant magneto-resistive element pairs, each pair of the elements disposed on a plane parallel to the coil. The longitudinal directions of two elements of each pair orthogonally cross each other, and cross only a respective side or only the same side of a pair of the opposed sides of the plane coil at substantially 45 degrees. The pinned layer of one of the two elements is magnetized in its longitudinal direction, and that of the other element is magnetized in the same direction as the pinned layer of that one element. The paired elements are connected to each other at one end. While a voltage for measurement is being applied between the other ends, a  midpoint potential is taken out of the ends of the elements connected to each other to determine an azimuth.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an azimuth meter using spin-valve giant magneto-resistive elements, and more particularly to an azimuth meter which measures the azimuth while applying bias magnetic fields to spin-valve giant magneto-resistive elements.
2. Description of the Related Art
The present applicant already applied for a patent on an azimuth meter combining anisotropic magneto-resistive elements with a plane coil, and the application was registered as U.S. Pat. No. 6,556,007. The azimuth meter disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,556,007 has a substantially square plane coil 1 and eight magneto-resistive elements 61, 62, 71, 72, 81, 82, 91 and 92 on a plane parallel and close to the plane coil as shown in the exploded perspective view of FIG. 14. Two of the magneto-resistive elements (e.g. 61 and 72) cross one side (e.g. 11) of the plane coil and the longitudinal direction of those magneto-resistive elements at substantially 45°, and the longitudinal direction of those two magneto-resistive elements are at a right angle to each other. Two magneto-resistive elements (e.g. 61 and 62 or 71 and 72) each of which crosses each of two opposed sides (e.g. 11 and 12) of the plane coil and which longitudinal directions form a right angle with each other constitute magneto-resistive element pairs 6, 7, 8 and 9. One end of each element of paired magneto-resistive elements (e.g. 6) is connected to that of the other element, and a voltage Vcc for measurement is applied between the other ends of the paired magneto-resistive elements (e.g. 6). While a biasing magnetic field is being applied by the plane coil to the magneto-resistive element pair, intermediate potential outputs of the magneto-resistive element pair are taken out from their connected ends of the magneto-resistive element pairs 6, 7, 8 and 9. An intermediate potential output difference Vx is figured out between the two magneto-resistive element pairs 6 and 7 crossing the two opposite sides 11 and 12 of the plane coil 1. An intermediate potential output difference Vy between the two other magneto-resistive element pairs 8 and 9 crossing the two other opposite sides 13 and 14 of the plane coil 1 is also figured out in a similar way. Next, while biasing magnetic fields in the reverse direction are being applied by the plane coil 1 to the magneto-resistive element pairs 6, 7, 8 and 9, similarly an intermediate potential output difference Vx of the two pairs 6 and 7 of the magneto-resistive elements crossing the two opposite sides 11 and 12 of the plane coil 1 is figured out. An intermediate potential output difference Vy between the two other magneto-resistive element pairs 8 and 9 crossing the two other opposite sides 13 and 14 of the plane coil 1 is figured out in a similar way. Then, with respect to the two magneto-resistive element pairs 6 and 7 crossing one pair of opposite sides 11 and 12 of the plane coil, the differential voltage is figured out between the intermediate potential output difference Vx earlier obtained while a biasing magnetic field was being applied and the other intermediate potential output difference Vx obtained while a biasing magnetic field was being applied in the reverse direction. Also with respect to the two magneto-resistive element pairs 8 and 9 crossing the two other opposite sides 13 and 14 of the plane coil, the differential voltage is figured out between the intermediate potential output difference Vy obtained while a biasing magnetic field was being applied and the other intermediate potential output difference Vy obtained while a biasing magnetic field was being applied in the reverse direction. The direction of an external magnetic field (e.g. earth magnetism) can be figured out from the ratio between these two differential voltages.
The resistance of a magneto-resistive element to an electric current varies with the intensity of a magnetic field applied in a direction at a right angle to the flowing direction of the current, and decreases with an increase in the intensity of the magnetic field at right angle to the current. For use in an azimuth meter, it is desirable for individual magneto-resistive elements to be substantially equal in the rate of resistance variation, and for this reason crystallomagnetic anisotropy is provided in the longitudinal direction to each magneto-resistive element of the azimuth meter described above.
In the azimuth meter disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,556,007, as shown in FIG. 14, the respective longitudinal directions of the four magneto-resistive elements 61, 71, 81 and 91 and those of the other four magneto-resistive elements 62, 72, 82 and 92 are perpendicular to each other. In order to provide crystallomagnetic anisotropy to these eight magneto-resistive elements in their respective longitudinal direction, it is necessary to form the four magneto-resistive elements 61, 71, 81 and 91 in the same direction while applying magnetic fields to their longitudinal direction and, after that, to form the other four magneto-resistive elements 62, 72, 82 and 92 perpendicular thereto while applying magnetic fields to their longitudinal direction.
Moreover, since external magnetic fields (earth magnetism and the like) working in the widthwise direction of the magneto-resistive elements have to be detected, if the dimension in the widthwise direction is reduced, the influence of the demagnetizing field will increase to reduce sensitivity in measuring weak magnetic fields, such as earth magnetism. This necessitates relatively wide magneto-resistive elements, but wider magneto-resistive elements are less resistant, inviting greater power consumption in applying a voltage for measurement to the magneto-resistive element pairs. For this reason, the magneto-resistive elements should be elongated to increase their resistances, but wider and longer magneto-resistive elements would be correspondingly greater square measure, making it necessary to increase the size of the azimuth meter.

Azimuth meter having spin-valve giant magneto-resistive elements


A rubber composition includes an elastomer having an elongation at break (Eb) of about 50% or more according to ASTM-D 412 at 25° C., a water-insoluble keratin, and a reinforcing filler. A tire component including the composition and a method for making the composition are also disclosed.

Rubber goods such as tire treads often are made from elastomeric compositions that contain one or more reinforcing fillers such as, for example, particulate carbon black and silica; see, e.g. The Vanderbilt Rubber Handbook, 13th ed. (1990), pp. 603-04.
There is continuing interest to provide tires with a high level of handling, steering response, and low fuel consumption. A common method of increasing the steering response of the tire is to use a tread rubber with high stiffness. High stiffness compounds typically have a high dynamic storage modulus (G′). Conventional compounding techniques used to increase the dynamic storage modulus include using a high filler loading, using a filler with a high surface area, and using less softener. However, each of these conventional methods has performance and processing, tradeoffs.
For example, the above mentioned conventional techniques can increase the hysteresis of the rubber compound. Increasing the hysteresis of the rubber results in more energy loss as heat, and thus increases fuel consumption.
In addition, increasing the flier loading, using a filler with a high surface area, and lowering the softener level can have a negative effect on processing, as each of these increases the time it takes to disperse the filler into the rubber and increases the viscosity of the rubber composition.


The present invention provides a circuit board structure with an embedded semiconductor chip and a method for fabricating the same. The circuit board structure includes a carrier board having a first surface, a second surface, and a through hole penetrating the carrier board from the first surface to the second surface; a semiconductor chip having an active surface whereon a plurality of electrode pads are formed and a non-active surface, embedded in the through hole; a photosensitive first dielectric layer formed on the first surface of the carrier board and an opening formed thereon to expose the non-active surface of the semiconductor chip; a photosensitive second dielectric layer formed on the second surface of the carrier board and the active surface of the semiconductor chip.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to circuit board structures and a method for fabricating the same, and more particularly, to a circuit board structure with a semiconductor chip embedded therein and a method for fabricating the same.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As the semiconductor package technology continues to evolve, many different types of semiconductor devices have been developed. Fabrication of a semiconductor package comprises the steps of mounting a semiconductor chip on a package substrate or a lead frame, electrically connecting the semiconductor chip to the package substrate or the lead frame, and performing an encapsulation process using an encapsulant. Among these different types of semiconductor devices, a ball grid array (BGA) package represents advanced semiconductor package technology, which features utilizing a package substrate with a plurality of solder balls aligned in grid array and formed on the back surface of the package substrate for electrically connecting a semiconductor chip to external devices, such that more I/O connections can be accommodated within the same unit area of a surface of the semiconductor chip carrier so as to cater for the high-integration semiconductor chip.
In the traditional semiconductor package, the semiconductor chip is attached to the top surface of the substrate and undergoes wire bonding packaging or connected with a flip chip packaging, then the back surface of the substrate is implanted with a plurality of solder balls for electrical connection with the semiconductor chip, thus achieving a high pin number. But the undesirably long connection path of the bonding wires may bring about increased impedance, thereby making it difficult to enhance the electrical performance during high-frequency use or high-speed operation. Moreover, traditional packages require connecting an interface repeatedly which undesirably increase the fabricating cost.
In order to effectively enhance the electrical performance to meet the requirement for applications of the next generation electronic devices, the semiconductor package industry is devoted to the research in embedding a semiconductor chip in the carrier board for establishing direct electrical connection in order to reduce the length of the electrical transmission pathway as well as reduce signal loss and signal distortion, thereby improving high-speed operation.
FIG. 1 shows a cross-sectional schematic view of a conventional semiconductor package in which a semiconductor element is embedded in a substrate. A method for fabricating the conventional semiconductor package with an embedded semiconductor element comprises: preparing a carrier board 10 having a first surface 101 and an opposing second surface 102; forming at least one through hole 100 penetrating the carrier board 10 from the first surface 101 to the second surface 102 of the carrier board 10; receiving a semiconductor chip 11 in the through hole 100 and securing the semiconductor chip 11 to the through hole 100 by a glue material 110, wherein the semiconductor chip 11 has an active surface 11a and a non-active surface 11b opposing the active surface 11a, the active surface 11a having a plurality of electrode pads 111 formed thereon; forming a circuit build up structure 12 on the first surface 101 of the carrier board 10 and the active surface 11a of the semiconductor chip 11, wherein the circuit build up structure 12 further comprises a dielectric layer 120, a circuit layer 121 stacked on the dielectric layer 120, and conductive vias 122 formed in the dielectric layer 120 and electrically connected to the electrode pads 111 of the semiconductor chip 11.
Although the foregoing chip-embedded semiconductor package can solve various drawbacks of the prior art, the foregoing circuit build up structure 12 is formed on a single surface, that is, the first surface 101 of the carrier board 10, thus resulting in asymmetry of the circuit board in terms of structure. The structural asymmetry is accompanied by unbalanced thermal stress during a fabrication process that features an increasing number of circuit layers, and variation of temperature during, for example, substrate baking, and a thermal cycle. The unbalanced thermal stress tends to cause problems, such as warpage of the substrate structure, interlayer delamination, and even chip cracking.
Thus, there is an urgent need for developing a chip-embedded semiconductor package to overcome drawbacks of the prior art, such as warpage and high production cost.

Circuit board structure with embedded semiconductor chip and method for fabricating the same

Phoenix Precision Technology Corporation


A digital to analog converter that may include a digital gain block; an analog gain block; a digital to analog conversion (DAC) block and a controller that is configured to: determine a digital gain factor, selected out of multiple digital gain factors, of the digital gain block and an analog gain factor, selected out of multiple analog gain factors of the analog gain block; wherein the DAC block is preceded by the digital gain block and is followed by the analog gain block; wherein the digital gain block is configured to multiply a digital input signal by the digital gain factor to provide an intermediate digital signal; wherein the DAC block is configured to convert the intermediate digital signal to a converted analog signal; and wherein the analog gain block is configured to multiply the converted analog signal by the analog gain factor to provide an output signal; wherein an increment of the analog gain factor results in a decrement of the digital gain factor.

Digital to analog converters (DAC) are used at the end of a digital processing chain where analog signal reproduction is required. Such uses include digital audio devices such as Compact Disc/MP3 players, HD radio and digital telephones. In all these applications, it is highly desirable to achieve a high signal to noise ratio (SNR) at the analog output while achieving the required, maximum high output signal level. In DAC applications, SNR is defined as the ratio between RMS of maximum amplitude output divided by the RMS of the integrated noise floor with no signal present and integrated within the frequency band of interest. SNR is usually specified in decibels (dB). For example, specifications for SNR of greater than 100 dB is common in smartphones and digital telephones and with modern sensitive headphones, a requirement for 120 dB is now considered state-of the-art.
Electronic noise is inherent in all analog circuits. Higher supply power (supply voltage and/or quiescent current) is traditionally used to lower noise floor and increase SNR. In mobile applications however, battery capacity limits available supply power and power consumption must be minimized.
The analog output of a DAC may be a voltage or a current. Most modern current-output DACs usually have differential outputs in order to achieve high common-mode and power-supply rejection and to reduce even-order distortion. An example of a DAC with differential current outputs and an operational amplifier differential to single ended converter is shown in FIG. 1A. An operational amplifier 203 connected as a differential to single-ended converter is often used to obtain a single ended voltage output across the desired frequency range. The amplifier 203 acts as a transimpedance amplifier. In this example, the output voltage, Vout, has a value of Vout=(Iout+−Iout−)×R, where Iout+ and Iout− are the complementary current outputs from the DAC 201 and R is the value in ohms of the feedback resistor FR 202 connected output and the inverting input of the operational amplifier and also for the shunt resistor SR 204 (of value R) that is connected from the non-inverting input of the operational amplifier to ground, as shown in the FIG. 1A below.
The transimpedance Vout/(Iout+−Iout−) of this connection is equal to R ohms, in other words Vout=(Iout+−Iout−)×R=2×Iout+×R. Also it should be noted that for this example, the voltage at both of the inputs of the operational amplifier is Vin_=Vin+=Iout+×R volts. The voltage gain of the amplifier, Av=Vout/Vin, is therefore equal to two.
There are many variations of transimpedance amplifiers but for each the prime parameters of interest are the transimpedance and the voltage gain.
One common alternative to the single ended amplifier transimpedance stage is a Differential-Input-to-Differential-Output "DIDO" amplifier acting as a differential output transimpedance stage which is in some cases followed by a second differential-to-single-ended voltage amplifier.
Another alternative to the current-output DAC with a transimpedance stage is a voltage-output DAC followed by a voltage amplifier or buffer.
Additionally, in some applications, the output may be current and not voltage.
There are three major sources of output voltage noise in a circuit comprising of a DAC with current outputs followed by a transimpedance amplifier. First the current noise, present at the output of the DAC, is converted to voltage noise at the output of the transimpedance amplifier. Second there is the resistor noise, thermal and flicker, which is related to the value of the transimpedance. Third there is the amplifier input referred noise that is created primarily in the input stages of the amplifier and which is not related to the value of the transimpedance. All three noise sources mentioned are further amplified to the output by the closed loop voltage gain of the amplifier.
There are a multitude of amplifier and DAC designs and the relevant design criteria are determined by the requirements of maximum output voltage range, maximum voltage range of the amplifier inputs and of the DAC outputs, and current output range of DAC, and in each case the design will tend towards a trade-off between the supply power and output noise when meeting the maximum amplitude requirement.
In practice, the noise floor is more apparent when the output signal is low, but the design for the transimpedance amplifier is ultimately set by the required gain and highest output signal that is required. In the example, the transimpedance is R, the output Vout=(Iout+−Iout−)×R, and the input voltage to the op amp is Iout+×R. The value for the transimpedance is set by the highest required output given the maximum Iout from the DAC, which in turn determines the value for the noise due to the transimpedance. As previously stated, the lower the value for the transimpedance, or R as depicted in the example, and the lower the voltage gain, the lower is the noise floor. The value for the transimpedance, or R in the example, must be set high enough such that the gain is sufficient to produce an output signal at a level to meet the highest output requirement for the application. This results in a practical limit to the noise floor when limited by DAC and amplifier power consumption.
Another consideration is that the signal voltage range at the input to the operational amplifier needs to be such that the amplifier input stage can safely operate without introducing distortion. In many cases the DAC architecture also imposes similar limits on its output voltage range. Therefore, in order to keep the signal voltage at the input of the transimpedance amplifier within limits set by the architecture and supply voltages, while supporting large output signals, Vout, it may be necessary to have a higher voltage gain across the amplifier. The problem is that increased voltage gain also amplifies the noise at the output of the amplifier. For example, the circuit shown in FIG. 1B is again an example of a DAC 201 with differential current outputs and an operational amplifier 203 differential to single ended converter, but in this case there is a higher voltage gain and hence a lower signal at the input of the operational amplifier for the same output signal voltage. The positive input of operational amplifier 203 is shunted to ground via shunt resistor SR 204 having an impedance of R/2 while the negative input of operational amplifier 203 is shunted to ground via shunt resistor SR 205 having an impedance of R while the feedback resistor FR 202 also has an impedance of R.
In this second example, the output signal is the same as in the first example Vout=(Iout+−Iout−)×R, but the signal voltage at the inputs of the operational amplifier is now Vin=Iout+×R/2, half that of the previous example. Alternatively, the lower input signal allows the value of R to be increased and hence the maximum output signal to be raised while keeping the input signals to the operational amplifier at levels that do not require high supply voltages to the amplifier input stage and DAC output. The point to note is that in order to cater for the large output signal requirement, not only is the value of R increased and hence the transimpedance R increased and, in turn, the resistive noise level, but also that the amplifier now has increased voltage gain which in turn increases the noise floor at the output from all three major noise sources by 6 dB.
The need to meet the gain criteria using the transimpedance amplifier effectively sets a limit on the noise levels and the result is that the desired noise levels and hence the signal to noise ratio of the output signal for state-of-the-art applications and devices is difficult to meet.
In other cases of DAC architectures such as voltage-mode DACs, similar noise analysis can be performed and similar design issues limit SNR

Dynamic gain switching digital to analog converter


A hydrostatic hybrid drive system for road vehicles includes a pump/motor unit (1) connected to the powertrain of the vehicle, controlled by a control unit (5) in a pump or motor operation, and connected to a high-pressure hydraulic accumulator via a first working line (7). The first working line can be closed by a control valve (45) and connected to a low-pressure hydraulic accumulator via a second working line (9). The high-pressure hydraulic accumulator and low-pressure hydraulic accumulator are formed by a double-piston accumulator (11), in which a high-pressure side and a low-pressure side having respective accumulator pistons (15, 17) are formed in an accumulator housing (13). The fluid chambers (23, 25) of the high-pressure side and the low-pressure side are separated by a central housing part (21) through which the common piston rod for both accumulator pistons (15, 17) extends. The control unit (5) of the pump/motor unit (1) having a control area can be supplied from the first working line (7) via a line connection (59) provided on the first working line (7) between the pump/motor unit (1) and the control valve (45).

In light of the scarcity of natural resources and the increasing impact of CO2 on the environment, the current trend in automotive engineering is to use hybrid drive systems. The systems that are currently in use usually involve electric motor powered hybrids, which hybrids store the electric energy generated in braking modes and recover drive energy from the stored energy to provide assistance to the vehicle for the drive mode and, in particular, for acceleration processes. This strategy offers the possibility of decreasing the drive power of the internal combustion engine serving as the primary drive for comparable road performance. The result of such "downsizing" is not only a reduction in fuel consumption, but it also raises the possibility of assigning the vehicles concerned to a lower emissions class that satisfies a lower-cost road tax category.
These goals can also be achieved with a hydraulic hybrid system owing to the high energy density and the compact design of hydraulic systems. To make available additional drive torque even at low speeds and starting from zero speed for acceleration processes or to provide assistance to the braking action during braking modes, a hydraulic hybrid system stores the hydraulic energy in a hydraulic accumulator by a pump/motor unit. This hydraulic energy can then be used, as required, as the drive energy when the pump/motor unit is in motor mode. This hydrostatic drive system with recovery of the braking energy is disclosed in document DE 601 18 987 T2.


A continuous media file is comprised of stripe sets over disk drives in one or more RAID sets. In a preferred embodiment, the RAID set includes n disk drives. The data storage of each disk drive in the RAID set is partitioned into an integer number m of hyper-volumes, and the parity is stored in one hyper-volume of each of m disk drives in the RAID set. The stripe set includes a series of transfer units of data in respective ones of the disk drives. Each transfer unit includes an integer number j of data blocks, and each hyper-volume includes an integer number k of transfer units. Each stripe set includes (m)(n-1) transfer units of data. The transfer units of the RAID set are allocated for the storage of continuous media data in a right-to-left and then top-to-bottom order in which the transfer units appear in an m row by n column matrix in which the rows of the matrix represent parity groups of hyper-volumes in the disk drives and the columns of the matrix represent storage in the respective disk drives. At most one write access to each parity hyper-volume need be performed during write access to a stripe set. Parity changes for the data being written are accumulated in non-volatile memory, and written to the RAID set after completion of the writing of the data.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a data storage system employing a redundant array of disk drives (RAID), and more particularly to a continuous media or video file server employing RAID techniques.
2. Background Art
In a data storage system employing RAID techniques, a set of disk drives are configured into a RAID set storing data and parity computed across the disk drives in the RAID set. Therefore, if one of the disk drives in the RAID set fails, data in the failed disk drive can be reconstructed from the data and parity information in the other disk drives in the RAID set.
In a file server employing RAID techniques, it is conventional to employ a file directory for mapping a file name to a list of data blocks stored in respective ones of the disk drives in the RAID set. The data blocks are typically of a fixed size, such as 512 bytes, that are conveniently handled by the buffers and control circuitry provided by commodity 5 and 1/4 inch or 3 and 1/2 inch disk drives. A write access to a data block involves reading old data from an addressed disk drive, reading old parity corresponding to the old data from another disk drive in the raid set, computing a change in parity by an exclusive-OR of the old data with the new data to be written, computing the new parity by an exclusive-OR of the change in parity with the old parity, and then, in a single transaction, writing the new data and the new parity back to the respective disk drives.
It is desirable to use a data storage system employing RAID techniques for storing continuous media such as digital video. This could be done by using the conventional RAID techniques described above for a file server. However, this has been found to cause computational inefficiencies and load balancing and data availability problems under normal operation and under a failure mode of operation when there has been a failure of one of the disk drives in the RAID set.

Storage and access of continuous media files indexed as lists of raid stripe sets associated with file names


[Problems to be solved] To provide an optical switching device which can switch between input/output optical paths of input/output ports while suppressing the influence on optical signals passing through other input/output ports.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical switching device and optical transmission system used in wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) optical communications and the like.
2. Related Background Art
An example of optical switching device used in WDM optical communication systems is a wavelength-selective switch disclosed in Document 1, i.e., OFC 2002 Postdeadline Papers, FB7-1, "Wavelength-selective 1×4 switch for 128 WDM channels at 50 GHz spacing". This wavelength-selective switch comprises a plurality of I/O ports, each constituted by an optical fiber and a lens, a diffraction grating, and a MEMS mirror which are combined together, thereby making it possible to attain a smaller size and a lower cost.

Optical switching device and optical transmission system

Abstract: [Means to solve problems] An optical switching device comprises an optical switch array 6 for switching between input/output paths of a plurality of input/output optical fibers. The optical switch array 6 comprises a substrate 8, on which a cantilever 11 is supported. A part of the cantilever 11 on the leading end side is provided with an annular support 12, which supports a movable mirror 7 inclinably. The movable mirror 7 reflects an optical signal from any of the input/output optical fibers toward another input/output optical fiber. The leading end of the cantilever 11 is provided with a comb part 14. Arranged on the upper face of the substrate 8 are electrode 15a, 15b for tilting the movable mirror 7 with respect to the annular support 12 and an electrode 16 for moving the movable mirror 7 in the direction different from the tilting direction of the movable mirror 7.