The invention provides polypeptides having wax ester synthase and acyl-CoA:diacylglycerol acyltransferase activity. Also provided are the nucleic acids encoding such polypeptides, cells and organisms transformed therewith and methods of use thereof. The invention allows the modification of lipid profiles in host cells and organisms. Novel methods for the production of waxy esters are also provided by the invention.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to newly identified and isolated polynucleotides, proteins encoded by the polynucleotides, methods for producing proteins, and uses for the polynucleotides and proteins. More specifically, the current invention relates to bifunctional wax ester synthase proteins, polynucleotides encoding the proteins, and methods and compositions related thereto.
2. Description of Related Art
The capability for biosynthesis of neutral lipids is widely distributed in nature and is found in animals, plants as well as microorganisms. In bacteria, the most abundant class of neutral lipids are polyhydroxyalkanoic acids serving as intracellular carbon and energy storage (Steinbüchel, 1991), but also few examples of substantial triacylglycerol (TAG) accumulation have been reported for species mainly belonging to the actinomycetes genera Mycobacterium (Barksdale and Kim, 1977), Nocardia and Rhodococcus (Alvarez et al., 1997) and Streptomyces (Olukoshi and Packter, 1994). Furthermore, biosynthesis of wax esters (oxoesters of long-chain primary fatty alcohols and long-chain fatty acids) has been frequently reported for members of the genus Acinetobacter (Fixter et al., 1986).
TAGs are the dominating storage lipid in animals, plants and eukaryotic microorganisms. TAG biosynthesis is involved in animals in numerous processes such as regulation of plasma TAG concentration, fat storage in adipocytes and milk production (Bell and Coleman, 1980). In plants, TAG synthesis is mainly important for the generation of seed oils (Lassner, 1997) Using diacylglycerol (DAG) as a substrate, three different classes of enzymes are known mediating TAG formation (Lehner and Kuksis, 1996). Acyl-CoA:DAG acyltransferase (DGAT) catalyzes the acylation of DAG using acyl-CoA as a substrate. Two DGAT families designated as DGAT1 and DGAT2 are known, which exhibit no sequence homologies to each other. Members of the DGAT1 gene family occur in animals and plants (Cases et al., 1998; Hobbs et al., 1999; Routaboul et al., 1999; Zou et al., 1999), whereas members of the DGAT2 gene family were found in animals (Cases et al., 2001), plants (Bouvier-Navée et al., 2000) and yeasts (Oelkers et al., 2002). In human, one DGAT1 related gene and five DGAT2 related genes were identified (Cases et al., 2001).
Recently, DGAT has attracted great interest since it is a potential therapeutical target for obesity treatment (Chen and Farese Jr., 2000). Acyl-CoA-independent TAG synthesis is mediated by a phospholipid:DAG acyltransferase found in yeast and plants, which uses phospolipids as acyl donors for DAG esterification (Dahlqvist et al., 2000). A third alternative mechanism present in animals and plants is TAG synthesis by a DAG-DAG-transacylase which uses DAG as acyl donor and acceptor yielding TAG and monoacylglycerol (Lehner and Kuksis, 1993; Stobart et al., 1997), but no gene coding such a transacylase could be identified yet.
Linear wax esters are lipophilic compounds containing a long chain fatty alcohol esterified to a long chain fatty acid. These wax esters are found in a number of diverse organisms ranging from mammals to plants to bacteria. For instance, wax esters are the principal component of spermaceti oil which, until recently, was obtained from the head cavity of sperm whales. Since the world-wide ban on whale hunting, however, the only natural source of wax esters on a commercial scale has been the seeds of jojoba, a bush or shrub that is adapted to growth in hot arid habitats. In jojoba plants, waxes are stored in the seeds of the plant where they serve as a means of energy storage for developing seedlings. Wax esters have also been found in several species of bacteria such as Acinetobacter calcoaceticus, a gram negative aerobic bacteria that accumulates wax esters when grown under nitrogen limited conditions. Wax esters from these bacterial sources, however, have not been utilized on a commercial scale.
Wax esters have a multitude of important commercial applications in a variety of technical areas, including the medical, cosmetics and food industries as well as their more traditional usage as lubricants for mechanical parts and the like. The wax esters obtained from jojoba can replace sperm whale oil in most or all traditional uses. They are useful for applications in cosmetics, as a lubricant, as an additive for leather processing, as a carrier for pharmaceuticals and as a solvent. Hydrogenation of the wax to eliminate double bonds produces a hard wax which is useful for surface treatments, in textile sizing, in coating paper containers and in cosmetics (e.g., lipstick and creams). Sulphurization of the wax or other modifications make the substance useful in specialty lubricant applications, as a textile softener, as a component of printing inks, and as a component in many technical products such as corrosion inhibitors, surfactants, detergents, disinfectants, plasticizers, resins and emulsifiers. For some of these applications the fatty alcohol derived by hydrolysis of the wax ester is the most valuable ingredient derived from the wax ester.
Because the yield of the jojoba plant is extremely low, however, the oil is relatively expensive compared with edible oils from plants or technically comparable materials from petroleum and its use has been limited to cosmetic products. Thus, a need exists to develop an alternate biological source of wax esters. One possibility, in this respect, is to recombinantly engineer a microbial species for efficient production of wax esters. Toward that end, information concerning enzymes and enzymatic pathways which are involved in wax ester biosynthesis, and the nucleic acid sequences that encode these enzymes are needed.
The most detailed information concerning wax ester biosynthesis concerns wax biosynthesis in jojoba plants, where it appears that two enzymes catalyze the formation of wax esters. The first step of the pathway is catalyzed by a fatty acyl-CoA reductase which reduces very long chain fatty acyl CoA (a very long chain fatty acyl CoA generally having greater than 18 carbons), and is known to catalyze the formation of a long chain alcohol directly from this substrate via an aldehyde intermediate. The second enzyme (wax ester synthase), an acyl-CoA-fatty alcohol transferase catalyzes the formation of an ester linkage between acyl-CoA and a fatty alcohol to yield a wax ester.
The pathway of wax ester biosynthesis in A. calcoaceticus, in contrast to the jojoba plant, comprises three enzymatic steps involved in the conversion of long-chain acyl-CoA to wax esters. In the first step, acyl-CoA is reduced by an NADPH-dependent acyl-CoA reductase to the corresponding fatty aldehyde. In the second step, the aldehyde is further reduced to the corresponding fatty alcohol catalyzed by the fatty aldehyde reductase. Finally, an acyl-CoA:fatty alcohol acyl transferase (wax ester synthase) condenses the fatty alcohol with acyl-CoA resulting in the formation of the wax ester.
Wax ester synthesis and WS activity have been reported for M. tuberculosis (Wang et al., 1972), and TAG accumulation and DGAT activity have been shown for M. smegmatis (Nakagawa et al., 1976; Wun et al., 1977). However, no proteins or genes have been reported to which these activities could be attributed.
Irrespective of the species involved, therefore, a key enzymatic step involved in wax ester biosynthesis is the transfer of an acyl chain from fatty acyl-CoA to a fatty alcohol, and this reaction is catalyzed by wax ester synthase. While several wax ester synthases have been described in terms of their substrate specificities and intracellular locations, very little is known about the proteins associated with this activity and the genes encoding this enzyme. In fact, the only gene encoding a wax ester synthase that has been identified is from jojoba. Thus, a need exists to identify genes encoding wax ester synthases from other species. In particular, a need exists to identify genes encoding wax ester synthases from a species that could be engineered to produce wax esters in large quantities and at a relatively affordable cost. The present invention addresses this need by providing polynucleotide sequences encoding bacterial wax ester synthases.

Methods and compositions for modification of lipid biosynthesis


A system of sending digital high definition television pictures and sound in a limited bandwidth using the principle of analyzing and sending changes in pictures and coded instructions rather than entire pictures. Delaying the presentation of the pictures slightly permits major picture changes and sound to be sent at a lower bit rate over a longer period of time. Non-changing areas of the pictures are sent to the receiver and remain on the screen until changes occur or refresh is desired. When TV cameras shift orientation, backgrounds of pictures or objects which do not change are shifted on the receiver with appropriate codes rather than repeating the entire picture. Fast changing portions of pictures are determined and sent more frequently than slower or non-changing ones. Sound information is acquired and compared to libraries of sound fragments. A code (stored or newly created) referring to the appropriate fragment is then sent with the picture information in a series of picture, command/control, and sound data packets. Reception is made with data receiver devices attached to signal reception devices. Presentation of pictures at the receiver is made from bank switched memory prior to D/A conversion. This allows screen data updates to be made prior display. Major screen changes are built up in a special memory bank over a longer period of time before display on the screen. Sound data is matched to the fragment library and played at the appropriate time by a sound reproduction unit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a television system using a narrow bandwidth, for transmitting and receiving high definition, quality television images and sounds.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Standard television has been restricted to the NTSC television standard for transmission of television for many years. The concepts of raster-scanning and interleaving of frames have produced complex and expensive equipment for studios and home TV receivers alike. The conversion to digital TV has been delayed due to bandwidth limitations on existing distribution channels (e.g., broadcast, cable satellite, etc.). Compression of digital TV signals has produced impressive reduction in bandwidths but is not capable of producing high definition digital TV on existing broadcast frequencies without significantly degrading image quality. Existing digital TV consists primarily of sending digital or compressed digital picture and sound signals with synchronizing data in a wide bandwidth signal.
Present TV resolutions need to be improved for increasing consumer requirements. The proposed FCC standard for digital TV requires a 6 MHz bandwidth and involves interlaced and non-interlaced scanned images. This type of system requires multiple repeats of non-changing image areas or compression techniques which reduce the amount of redundant data needed to reproduce images at the receiver location. Considerable overhead, and some loss of picture quality is inherent in these compression techniques such as JPEG (joint photographic experts group) and MPEG (motion picture experts group). The following patent documents are exemplary citations of the above.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,179,442, issued Jan. 12, 1993 to Azadegan et al., discloses a HDTV (high definition television) system compresses the augmentation channel for digital transmission using a QPSK (quadraphase shift keying) compression scheme to reduce the required power on a narrow RF channel having a 3 MHz wide bandwidth. U.S. Pat. No. 5,181,229, issued Jan. 19, 1993 to Langlais et al., describes a data transmission and receiving arrangement utilizing statistic coding by converting digital samples into statistic codewords intermeshed with synchronizing words. U.S. Pat. No. 5,184,218, issued Feb. 2, 1993 to Gerdes, describes a system for interpolating and extrapolating video signals for transmission, in compressed format, for HDTV. U.S. Pat. No. 5,231,486, issued Jul. 27, 1993 to Acampora et al., discloses an HDTV compression system that utilizes a processor for identifying variable length codewords in a data bitstream. Upon the identification, the processor determines whether the codeword is a high priority or standard priority, and ultimately packs the codeword into a respective data packer according to the determined priority type.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,270,813, issued Dec. 14, 1993 to Puri et al., describes an adaptive video encoding and decoding technique which facilitates the transmission, reception, storage, or retrieval of a scalable video signal. The scaling can be realized by adaptively encoding a video signal which is selectively taken from multiplicity of predictions obtained from previously decoded images and of compatible predictions obtained from up-sampling lower resolution decoded images of the current temporal reference. U.S. Pat. No. 5,285,276, issued Feb. 8, 1994 to Citta, describes a bi-rate HDTV signal transmission that compresses each frame of video signal into either a four-level or a two-level data segments, having an established partition between the segments dependent on the effective level of compression. U.S. Pat. No. 5,301,242, issued Apr. 5, 1994 to Gonzales et al., discloses an apparatus and method for encoding still and motion pictures using adaptive quantization in a compression transform technique in order to preserve or improve the quality of the compression.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,311,308, issued May 10, 1994 to Bernard, discloses a method and device for encoding and decoding an HDTV signals so that the broadcasting of HD images in the 16/9 format in a narrow bandwidth outperforms the HD MAC type channel and transmission over a ground wire network or short wave link network. U.S. Pat. No. 5,335,017, issued Aug. 2, 1994 to Brasoveanu et al., discloses an HDTV system that defines the pixels of the images with three equations, such that only the coefficients of the equations need be transmitted, and then only the coefficients of the changing pixels need be transmitted. The remaining portion of the image, i.e., the unchanging pixels, follow a pre-sent set of coefficients. U.S. Pat. No. 5,351,083, issued Sep. 27, 1994 to Tsukagoshi, discloses a system for encoding and/or decoding fast and slow motion region blocks of an image. The system makes a majority decision whether to replace the predetermined block with a surrounding block, thereby enhancing picture quality.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,444,490, issued Aug. 22, 1995 to de With et al., describes a system for producing images of a HDTV system into codeword that remove the complexity of decoding such that the images are more easily retrieved and the quality of the transmission is not diminished. U.S. Pat. No. 5,448,568, issued Sep. 5, 1995 to Delpuch et al., describes an interactive TV transmission system which utilizes compressed audio and video programs that form the transport packets. Video packets, audio packets and application packets are time division multiplexed for transmission or storage. U.S. Pat. No. 5,457,495, issued Oct. 10, 1995 to Hartung, discloses a method of coding a video signal at a fixed bit rate by vector quantizing the signal in an adaptive video coder; this provides a codebook that is updated by comprising coding error of a first frame with the coding error of a next frame. U.K. Patent Document No. 2,271,253, published Apr. 6, 1994 to Wilson, discloses a computer workstation having a video conferencing communication system therein for use in a LAN and having software support modules for processing video data in bit map form in order to provide compatibility between non-compatible hardware formats.
None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed.

Digital television system with artificial intelligence

c/o Waller & Waller, Attorney At Law, P.O. Box 4


A canister communicates with an intake manifold of an internal combustion engine through a purge pipe. The canister absorbs fuel vapor evaporated in a fuel tank. The absorbed fuel vapor is purged into the intake manifold when the engine is on. A gas leak check module communicates with the canister for drawing air by an air suction pump 43. When the engine is off, the air suction pump is driven and draws hydrocarbon floating at a vicinity of an intake port through the purge pipe. Thus, the hydrocarbon floating at the vicinity of the intake port is absorbed in the canister so that emission of hydrocarbon is reduced.

In an internal combustion engine, when fuel leaks from a fuel injector, when fuel is blown back from an combustion chamber toward the intake port, or when fuel flows out from a positive crankcase ventilation passage, the fuel containing HC may remain around an intake port with the engine off. A multi-cylinder internal combustion engine, especially, has a remaining fuel in an intake manifold. After the engine is stayed for a certain period in such a state, the remaining fuel evaporates into a floating HC. When the engine is re-started with the floating HC, the floating HC around the intake port is introduced into the combustion chamber and then exhausted as an unburned gas.
To avoid such a problem, some apparatuses have been introduced. JP-11-82192A shows a conventional apparatus in which an absorbent is provided between a throttle valve and an engine in order to absorb the fuel leaking from injection valves. In JP-2001-227421A, a HC absorbent is provided in an intake pipe for absorbing the HC remaining in the intake pipe. JP-2001-234781A shows an apparatus in which the HC remaining in an intake pipe is absorbed in a HC absorbent temporally and then the absorbed HC is purged after activation of a catalyst or after a certain period passed from starting of an engine.
Each of the conventional apparatuses described above has the HC absorbent in the intake pipe of the engine. However, the absorbed HC having a high boiling point is not purged easily. Thus, an absorbing characteristic of the HC absorbent is deteriorated and a sufficient reduction of HC is not achieved.
In JP-2001-227421A, the HC absorbent is disposed upstream of a throttle valve, for example, in an air cleaner, and a canister for absorbing a fuel evaporated in a fuel tank is utilized as the HC absorbent. Since a floating distance of the HC having a high boiling point is shorter than that of the HC having a low boiling point, the HC having a high boiling point does not reach the HC absorbent while the engine is on. On the other hand, when the HC absorbent is disposed upstream of the throttle valve or when the canister is used as a HC absorbent, the HC having a low boiling point around the intake port is not reduced effectively while the engine is stopped. Thus, when the engine is cranked, the floating HC around the intake port is introduced into the combustion chamber and is exhausted as an unburned gas.

Apparatus for reducing hydrocarbon emission of internal combustion engine


An exercise apparatus has a frame, a seat that is supported by the frame and a body support member that is supported by the frame. The seat extends at a seat angle relative to the frame. A seat adjustment device facilitates adjustment of the height of the seat with respect to the frame and causes adjustment of the seat angle when the height of the seat is adjusted.

The following U.S. Patents are incorporated herein by reference in entirety.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,864,635 discloses a resistance training exercise apparatus that includes a boom arm pivotally mounted to a flame and having an anchor segment pivoting along a first arc about a first pivot point on the frame. A press arm is coupled to a resistance mechanism and is pivotally mounted to the anchor segment of the boom arm and pivots along a second arc about a second pivot point. The user may adjustably vary the location of the second pivot point of the press arm relative to the frame by pivoting the boom arm about the first pivot point.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,496,297 discloses several mechanisms for permitting a user to adjust the seat on a stationary exercise bicycle. The described mechanisms can be used to adjust the height of the seat or the fore and aft positioning of the seat on an upright type bicycle. Each of the described mechanisms can be configured to provide users with an optimum seat position and with a convenient latch mechanism to adjust the position of the seat.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,874,615 discloses several mechanisms for permitting a user to adjust the seat on a stationary exercise bicycle. The described mechanisms can be used to adjust the height of the seat or the fore and aft positioning of the seat on an upright type bicycle. Each of the described mechanisms can be configured to provide users with an optimum seat position and with a convenient latch mechanism to adjust the position of the seat. Also described is a seat mechanism for use with a recumbent type stationary exercise bicycle where the seat can be adjusted along the longitudinal length of the bicycle.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,717,836 discloses exercise apparatus provided with a system for collapsing a user seat to a stow-away position. A user-engaged locking device releasably locks a bearing assembly and a seat frame at each of a user-exercise position and a stow-away position.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,364,535 discloses exercise apparatus having a biased tolerance-compensating engagement system between a seat-supporting carriage and a tubular support column to provide zero clearance between adjustment rollers and the support column, to minimize wobble during user adjustment.

Seat adjustment devices and exercise apparatuses having seat adjustment devices


An electric heating apparatus for deicing, a method for manufacturing the electric heating apparatus for deicing, a blade and a wind turbine including the same. The electric heating apparatus for deicing includes: a heat generating module, including a heat generating element and a bus bar for conducting electricity to the heat generating element, where the bus bar includes a lead-out portion for connecting an external power source; a thermally conductive encapsulating layer, which is insulated and is to cover the heat generating module except the lead-out portion; and a first substrate and a second substrate, respectively arranged below and above the thermally conductive encapsulating layer, so that the heat generating module and the thermally conductive encapsulating layer are arranged between the first substrate and the second substrate.

With a shortage of energy sources and a growing environmental awareness throughout the world, wind power has become a new energy source that has widely used at present. Upon a change of climate, an icing phenomenon may be occurred at a rotor blade of a wind turbine under freezing rain, which has a great impact on the wind turbine.
With technology development, there are many manners for deicing, specifically, researches have been done on heating materials and heating processes. At present, a conventional deicing method for the icing blade of the wind turbine includes the followings. In a case that the ice on the blade accumulates to a certain extent, the wind turbine is stopped for deicing, or it is waited until temperature rises so that the ice is removed naturally, or in a case that the ice on the blade is not serious, the wind turbine is adjusted to operate with a reduced capacity. These manners reduce power generation efficiency of the wind turbine.
Chinese patent No. CN103826336A discloses a rotor blade including an electric heating apparatus for deicing for a wind turbine, an electric heat generating module, a molding apparatus and a molding method for the same. The electric heat generating module is laid on a blade, the electric heat generating module is woven by a carbon fiber material, and two side wires are introduced from an upper side and a lower side. In a case that the blade has been iced up, the electric heat generating module can be powered on and heated, so as to melt the ice on the blade.
As described above, the conventional electric heating module for deicing for the blade of the wind turbine (including the conducting element) are directly laid on the blade by connecting to the heat generating module via a wire. Such a manner brings a risk of lightning strikes to the wind turbine.
In addition, multiple layers are required to be laid in an installation process of the conventional apparatus for deicing, which modifies a surface of the blade greatly. It is inconvenient to install such an apparatus and to deice the blade which has been iced up.

Electric heating apparatus for deicing, method for manufacturing the same, blade and wind turbine including the same

BEIJING GOLDWIND SCIENCE & CREATION WINDPOWER EQUIPMENT CO., LTD.


The present invention is directed to a method for treating cardiovascular diseases such as acute myocardial infarction, atherosclerosis, heart failure, stroke, thrombosis, carditis (including acute myocarditis, acute pericarditis and complicated pericarditis), cardiac allograft rejection, cardiomyopathy, and peripheral vascular diseases. The method comprises administering to a subject in need thereof dapansutrile, in an effective amount. A preferred route of administration is oral administration.

Acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. AMI is caused by sudden onset of myocardial ischemia and ensuing necrosis. AMI survivors remain at high risk of death in the years after the event. The most common complication of AMI is the occurrence of left ventricular (LV) dysfunction and heart failure. The initial ischemic damage to the myocardium activates a cascade of events that eventually lead to adverse cardiac remodeling and heart failure with ensuing excesses in morbidity and mortality. Interleukin-1 (IL-1) receptor antagonist (IL-1Ra), a member of the IL-1 family, is a naturally occurring anti-inflammatory protein that behaves as an acute phase reactant Like other acute-phase reactants, IL-1Ra levels increase during AMI, and its levels correlate with prognosis. (Abbate et al, Circulation, 117: 2670-2683, 2008)
Atherosclerosis is the underlying disease process responsible for vascular conditions that causes the death of over one third of the population of the Western world. It is a chronic inflammatory response in the walls of arteries, in large part due to the accumulation of macrophage white blood cells and promoted by low density lipoproteins without adequate removal of fats and cholesterol from the macrophages by functional high density lipoproteins (HDL). It is caused by the formation of multiple plaques within the arteries, resulting in a hardening of the arteries. As the disease progresses, there is a migration of the endothelial cells over the ensuing plaques. These plaques are composed of cholesterol, activated platelets, macrophages and accumulated lipoproteins. The combination of these plaques, inflammation and endothelial cell migration leads to this hardening the arteries and loss elasticity of the vessels.
Heart failure (HF) occurs when the heart muscle is weakened and cannot pump enough blood to meet the body's needs for blood and oxygen.
Myocarditis is an inflammatory disease of the heart muscle (myocardium) that can result from a variety of causes. Whilemost cases are produced by a viral infection, an inflammation of the heart muscle may also be instigated by toxins, drugs, and hypersensitive immune reactions. Acute myocarditis is an inflammatory disorder of the heart muscle in which the severity of injury depends both on the nature of the offending agent (i.e., virus) and on the ensuing inflammation.
Pericarditis is inflammation of the pericardium (the fibrous sac surrounding the heart). Symptoms typically include sudden onset of sharp chest pain.
Stroke is when poor blood flow to the brain results in cell death. There are two main types of stroke: ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and hemorrhagic, due to bleeding. They result in part of the brain not functioning properly. Signs and symptoms of a stroke may include an inability to move or feel on one side of the body, problems understanding or speaking, feeling like the world is spinning, or loss of vision to one side among other signs and symptoms.
STEMI is a common name for ST-elevation myocardial infarction (MI), which is a more precise definition for a type of heart attack. It is caused by a prolonged period of blocked blood supply that affects a large area of the heart. A non-STEMI myocardial infarction may also occur.
Thrombosis is the formation of a blood clot inside a blood vessel, obstructing the flow of blood through the circulatory system. When a blood vessel is injured, the body uses platelets (thrombocytes) and fibrin to form a blood clot to prevent blood loss. Even when a blood vessel is not injured, blood clots may form in the body under certain conditions. A clot, or a piece of the clot, that breaks free and begins to travel around the body is known as an embolus. Thrombosis may occur in veins (venous thrombosis) or in arteries. Venous thrombosis leads to congestion of the affected part of the body, while arterial thrombosis (and rarely severe venous thrombosis) affects the blood supply and leads to damage of the tissue supplied by that artery (ischemia and necrosis).
NLRP3 (NOD-like receptor family, pyrin domain containing 3), also known as NALP3 or cryopyrin, is one of the sensors of the inflammasome, a macromolecular structure involved in interleukin-1β (IL-1β) and IL-18 processing. NLRP3 senses intracellular danger during intracellular infections (bacterial and viral proteins) or tissue injury (ischemia). NLRP3 activation leads to recruitment of ASC (apoptosis-associated speck-like protein containing carboxyterminal caspase recruitment domain) and caspase-1 leading to inflammasome formation and ultimately cell death. Growing evidence suggests a central role of the inflammasome in adverse cardiac remodeling after AMI leading to further dysfunction and HF. Cardiac remodeling and HF, however, are not complications limited to AMI and may occur also after non-ischemic injury.
Toldo et al (Antioxid. Redox Signal, 22: 1146-1161, 2015) report that following ischemic injury, the formation of the inflammasome, a macromolecular structure that amplifies the response by processing interleukin-1β and IL-18 and promotion of cell death, promotes adverse cardiac remodeling and heart failure.
Marchetti et al (Cardiovasc Pharmacol, 66: 1-8, 2015) report that pharmacological inhibition of the NLRP3 inflammasome limits cell death and LV systolic dysfunction after ischemic and nonischemic injury in mice.
There is a need for a method for treating cardiovascular diseases. The method should be effective and have no significant side effects.

Methods for treating cardiovascular diseases


A self-retracting IV catheter introducer automatically retracts the catheter needle safely within a housing when the connector attached to the cannula is separated from the housing after the cannula has been inserted into a patient. In one embodiment the housing comprises a retraction tube enclosing a retraction body having a rear portion mounted within the retraction tube and a front portion carrying a needle and extending through an opening in the front of the retraction body. A connection surface on the exposed front of the retraction body is frictionally engaged with a corresponding connection surface on the connector. Abutting surfaces between the connector and the retraction tube serve as stops. Releasable frictional engagement of the connection surfaces prevents retraction. In a second embodiment the front portion of the retraction tube extends forwardly configured as springing arms having a protrusion which engages a depression in the outer surface of an extending front portion of the retraction body. The springing arms are forcibly pressed against the front portion of the retraction body when a connector for the cannula is forcibly slidably placed over the springing arms. When the connector is separated, the arms are free to spring open releasing the retraction body for complete retraction into the retraction tube along with the needle.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention is a medical device designed to facilitate insertion of a catheter into a patient's body.
2. Background of the Prior Art
Catheter insertion devices are well known in the art. When a catheter is inserted into a patient for the intravenous delivery of a fluid, a disposable needle passing through the catheter cannula is utilized to make a puncture to permit entry of the tip of the cannula into the patient. The needle is then withdrawn leaving the catheter in place either for a direct hook up to a bottle of fluid to be delivered, or to be capped for later use. The needle which is now contaminated with blood or other body fluid must be disposed of without creating a risk of needle sticks to medical personnel which are engaged in the operation of inserting a catheter. A danger to clean up and medical waste disposal personnel continues if the used needles are not rendered harmless in some way. Caps or covers that can be mounted over the needle are not a satisfactory solution because they must be put in place and can come loose and expose the used needle. An excellent discussion of the problems associated with various approaches and uses of cannula insertion products is found in Kulli, U.S. Pat. No. 4,747,831 which is incorporated herein by reference.
Retractable needles have been recognized as the best solution of these problems. A number of these approaches are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,747,831, mentioned above, which includes an external latch mechanism which is pushed to release a spring loaded needle which is withdrawn into the chamber of the device. Some embodiments have a sliding block and retractable fingers which depress spring loaded ears to allow retraction of the needle holder, racheting devices which unlatch the needle holder by rotation of parts and even frangible parts which are broken when a plunger is pushed forward. Dysarz, U.S. Pat. No. 5,129,884 is another example of an external latch which may be disengaged to allow a needle holder to withdraw a needle into the main body of the device. Walter, U.S. Pat. No. 4,828,548 discloses a holder having a piston which may be operated on by vacuum to withdraw a needle. Erskine, U.S. Pat. No. 5,501,675 is a more recent version of a latch operated device wherein a needle holding part may be released with an external latch.
The devices of the prior art often have too many complicated parts which are difficult to manufacture and especially difficult to assembly in a high speed manufacturing operation. Many of them are prone to premature firing during handling and with some it is difficult to know when the needle is safe. Disengagement of the catheter assembly from the retraction device is not fully under the timing and control of the medical operator because retraction results in immediate separation of the device form the cannula assembly. With the present invention, the assembled catheter introducer is handled as a unit. When the operator verifies that the needle is properly inserted, one hand can hold the connector that remains attached to the patient while the other hand separates the retraction body which upon separation is automatically retracted without the necessity of locating or pushing any buttons or movable parts. A portion of the hand rests against the cannula to prevent blood flow until the other hand inserts the conventional tube into the catheter connector to start the infusion of fluid. Immediately after separation the retraction body safely contains the retracted needle and the removed part is safely discarded.


The invention provides a thin-film transferring method, which can separate a thin film from a supply substrate and transfer it to a demand substrate. The method is practiced first by a process of ion implantation, which implants ions in a supply substrate to form an ion separation layer under implanted surface, and then followed by a wafer-bonding method, which joins the supply substrate with a demand substrate. The resulting bonded structure is to be going through a high-energy ion activation activity, in which the implanted ions incorporate into aerial particles, which fill the cleaves, resulting in a separation film, which is to be transferred to the demand substrate in wafer bonding process. As a part of this invention, the cooling device can remove the heat current produced from the high-energy ion activation, so as to prevent the bonded structurexe2x80x94made from different materialsxe2x80x94being damaged by heat due to the different thermal expansion coefficient.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention provides a thin semiconductor film transferring method; more particularly, it is a layer transferring method for transferring a thin film onto a dissimilar material, a thin film of the same area as the wafer, of a sub-micron thickness, and of the thickness and flatness at the VLSI standard, and with low defect in the film density.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The wafer bonding technology demonstrates to join two silicon wafers by bonding the silicon atoms on the surfaces of the wafers without glue was publicized by J. B. Lasky at the IEDM meeting held by IEEE in 1985. The said technology can join two single crystal wafers of very different lattice parameters immaculately without any glue, and the resulting bonding strength of the bonding interface can be as strong as the substrate. For this reason, the technology satisfies the strict standards for the uncontaminated bonding interface for modem electric materials and opto-electronics materials. Because of the advantages described above, the wafer bonding technology has drawn much attention after its disclosure.
Later W. Maszara utilizing the principle of elastic mechanics introduced the insertion method to measure the bonding strength in 1988. Insertion method was a simple and quick method to check the bonding qualities of two bonded wafers.
Maszara also used a heavy doping P+ type silicon layer as an etch-stop layer to fabricate submicron thickness silicon on insulator such as silicon dioxide to form the silicon on insulator (SOI) structure material. That extended the applicable field of the wafer bonding technology to advanced electric materials, opto-electronics materials, and microelectro-mechanical systems (MEMS). However, the wafer bonding technology still has some disadvantages, such as the existence of the etch-stop layer on the surface of the wafer after etching and the uniformity of etching on different sites of the etch-stop layer caused the problem related to the total thickness variation (TTV). In addition, the process requires too much time-not only many supply substrates are wasted, and some environmental pollution problems may occur due to the discarded fluid. At that time, the Separation by Implantation Oxygen (SIMOX) method was also energetically developed in making SOI material. Because the thin film formed by SIMOX method has a perfect uniform thickness, wafer bonding technology may lost its leadership in the field of SOI wafer production if its TTV value can not be improved.
Until the end of 1994, M. Bruel announced the success of the development of a new thin film transfer technology so called Smart-Cut process. With the approach of the Smart-Cut process, the thickness of SOI material can be made as well as with the SIMOX method. According to the claims of U.S. Pat. No. 5,374,564, an implantation process is performed first to implant high dosage of hydrogen ions or gas ions from VIII group into a supply substrate, and the supply substrate is bonded onto a demand substrate. A thermal treating process is then performed to gather these gaseous ions in the implantation layer, and causes the formation of micro-bubbles. The temperature is continually increased to increase the pressure of bubbles formed by incorporating micro-bubbles so as to separate the implanted thin film from the supply substrate and transfer onto the demand substrate, and the thin film on the demand substrate is formed. Because of the advantages of the Smart-Cut process, such as uniform thickness of thin film, less defects in density, no wasted materials, the unharmful released hydrogen, and that the supply substrates can be reused, the thin film transferring technology has been developed quickly with the wafer bonding method.
But the Smart-Cut process has some disadvantages, such as the thermal stresses generated from thermal treating process or the low manufacturing efficiency due to the time to reach sufficient strong bonding strength at lower temperature prior to layer splitting. The thermal treatment of the Smart-Cut process is performed by a heat source to activate the implanted hydrogen ions to be gathered to form bubbles, so that the ion separation layer is separated due to the expansion of the bubbles, and then the thin film transferring is achieved. When the thermal treatment is performed, the heat is first transmitted to the surface of the bonded substrates to rise the temperature of the surfaces, and then the heat is transmitted to the inner of the substrate due to the temperature difference between the surface and inner of wafer. That results in the following five disadvantages:
1. According to the low temperature bonding technology, the initial bonded wafer pairs need a long annealing time to enhance the bonding strength. That is, before the bonding strength is strong enough to gather bubbles to form a force to separate the wafers, the temperature must be controlled lower than 450xc2x0 C. which is the temperature that the hydrogen ions cause distinct bubbles. Because the initial bonded wafer pairs must be controlled lower than 450xc2x0 C. to perform an annealing process, the annealing time is too long, and the throughput is decreased.
2. The substrates must be heated a whole to make the uniform rising of the temperature of the substrates. And in order to achieve the expected result, the heating temperature in the prior art is about greater than 500xc2x0 C. However, when the substrates are dissimilar materials, a large thermal stresses will occur to destroy the bonding structure due to the different thermal expansion coefficients of dissimilar materials, furthermore, cracks may occur in the bonding structure before layer transferring to destroy the bonded materials.
3. The instant heat amount is transmitted unequally, so the instant temperature of each point within the substrates is unequal. That results in the timing and the position of thin film separation varies, and inner stresses cause granulation of the transferring interface, even more, cause many interstices.
4. The thermal efficiency of the annealing process which transfers thermal energy into kinetic energy is quite low, much energy of the heat source is wasted, so the manufacturing cost is increased due to the maintain in high temperature.
5. For some materials, such as Al2O or LaAlO3, the Smart-Cut process is not able to form enough micro-bubbles to separate the thin films.
The present invention directly excites the implanted ions or molecular ions by the high frequency alternating electric or electromagnetic field to increase the collision frequency. Thus, the micro-bubbles generate and expand quickly so as to transfer the thin film from the supply substrate to the demand substrate. It has been proved that the present invention can reduce the cost, increases the throughput, and improves the quality of products.
It is an object of the present invention to a thin film transferring method for a thin film on a substrate in a similar or heterogeneous material structure, having a transferring area equal to the size of the wafer, having a thickness of sub-micron degree, having a total thickness of VLSI degree, and with low defect density.
In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, an ion implantation process is performed to implant ions or molecular ions into the supply substrate and to form an ion separation layer in the supply substrate. A wafer bonding process is then performed to bond a demand substrate onto the supply substrate to form a bonded structure. Then the bonded structure is placed into a high frequency alternating electric field, or a high frequency alternating electromagnetic field to perform an ions activation process. Using microwaves, radio frequency, or inductive coupled field which increase the kinetic energy of the implanted ions, molecular ions, or reactants produced by reactions between the ions and the substrate in the bonded structure the thin film transferring from the surface along the ion implanted plane of the supply substrate to the surface of the demand substrate.
For layer transfer of dielectric loss supply substrate, the present invention performs with phase-in ion implantation. The present invention first implants the ions at high temperature to form crystal fissures, and then implants ions at lower temperature into the crystal fissures to prevent the loss of diffusion of the implanted ions, and the dosage of ions is enough to form micro-bubbles to form a separation layer. Next, perform ion activation by high frequency alternating electric or electromagnetic field to form inductive energy to increase the kinetic energy of these implanted ions to gather in gas molecules to form cracks, and separation of thin film is finished. By this way, the total dosage of implanted ions can be decreased, the cost is retrenched, and the density of the defect of the thin film is improved.
Besides, the present invention is further applied in a thin film cutting process. First, perform an ion implantation to form one or more ion separation layer within the thin film. Then, perform an irradiation of the high frequency alternating electric or electromagnetic on the thin film to gather the implanted ions in gas molecules, and a separation layer is formed to separate the thin film. The thin film cutting is finished.

Manufacturing method of a thin film on a substrate


A locking apparatus including a portable terminal having a terminal control section and a bottom plate, wherein the bottom plate includes a first connection terminal connected to the terminal control section and a locking hole; and a cradle having a seating portion, on which the portable terminal is seated, a cradle control section, a second connection terminal located in a position corresponding to the first connection terminal and connected to the cradle control section, and a locking member located in the seating portion in a position corresponding to the locking hole, wherein the locking member is inserted into the locking hole and rotates based on locking member rotation information.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a locking apparatus and a locking method between a portable terminal and a cradle for the portable terminal, and in particular, to a locking apparatus and a locking method between a portable terminal and a cradle for the portable terminal, by which the portable terminal can be prevented from being stolen or separated from the cradle when the portable terminal is seated on the cradle for storage or charging.
2. Description of the Related Art
Through the advancement of electron and telecommunication technology, various types of terminals have been developed for processing data. In particular, portable terminals, which allow limitations in usable area to be overcome, establish a new domain, as a result of which various technologies and products have appeared.
As shown in FIG. 1, a portable terminal 10 generally holds a seating device called a cradle 20. The portable terminal 10 is seated on a seating portion 24 formed in the cradle 20 at the time when a user does not use the portable terminal, or in order that the portable terminal may be charged with electricity or may be connected to a main computer (not shown) for receiving or transmitting various data.
In general, the cradle 20 for such a portable terminal may take various shapes according to the portable terminal 10 for mobile use, and may be installed within an automobile or a room and then connected to an external power source or a main computer.
However, most often the related art cradle 20 for the portable terminal 10 merely comprises a seating portion 24, on which the portable terminal 10 is seated, and a connection terminal 23 that is provided in a side within the seating portion 24, wherein the connection terminal 23 is connectable to a connection terminal 13 that is provided in a side of the portable terminal, and the connection terminals 13 and 23 are used for charging the portable terminal 10 with electricity and/or for connecting the portable terminal 10 to a main computer connected with the cradle 20. Such a construction includes a problem in security related to the portable terminal 10 such as a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) adapted to process and store various data due to miniaturization of computers according to the advancement of electronic technology. That is, because various information is recorded in the portable terminal with data processing and storage capability, there is a risk of information leakage when the portable terminal is stolen. In particular, considering that the portable terminal 10 is sometimes used outdoors and the cradle 20 is sometimes installed within an automobile, such a security problem occupies a very important position.
Furthermore, because the portable terminal 10 itself is very expensive, the loss of the portable terminal may impose an economic burden on the user.

Locking apparatus and method between portable terminal and cradle for terminal


An advance in-flight windshear detection system which utilizes a scanning mirror to direct infrared energy located in a three dimensional space in front of the aircraft which is divided into a plurality of variable columns, onto a linear array of photoconductive infrared detectors, the detector emitting a signal representative of the radiant energy at various points in said variable located columns, and a computer for generating a displayable representation of the air temperature in front of the aircraft, the computer further capable of interpolating and extrapolating the air temperatures in the three dimensional space based upon the known and or calculated lapse rate; and a display device for graphically displaying the air temperature in front of the aircraft and above the flight path vector so as to provide a more accurate indication of windshear which is less affected by the uncertainties arising from measuring air temperature in a typically more turbulent region along the flight path vector as the aircraft approaches the ground.

Low level windshear is a major aircraft safety hazard, particularly for large swept wing commercial jets. Windshear is a weather condition which results in a rapidly changing airflow over the lift surfaces of the aircraft. Should the forward velocity of the air over the lift surfaces suddenly decrease, the lift will decrease. Hence, an aircraft may experience a forced descent due to the down flowing air mass and also by an apparent loss in forward air speed. Such conditions are typical of a low level windshear.
Ample evidence now exists to substantiate the causal relationship between low altitude windshear (LAWS) and the increase in low altitude aircraft accidents on approach and take-off. It is thus desirable that an on-board aircraft system be available for advanced detection of LAWS giving the pilot at least one minute advanced warning of hazards ahead.
Previously, windshear detection systems have been devised to detect the presence of windshear by using combinations of vertical and horizontal accelerations of the aircraft, air speed and other measurements. The deficiency of that system is that the windshear must be encountered by the aircraft before a warning is given to the flight crew, that is, the systems are reactive in nature. In addition, such systems are unaware of the general atmospheric conditions ahead of the aircraft.
Another windshear detection system that has been used in the past, utilizes a forward looking infrared radiometer to measure the temperature of the air in the extended flight path of the aircraft. This detects the infrared radiation from air and water vapor in front of the aircraft and along its current flight path vector. While this type of system is receiving some use today, it does have some drawbacks. One problem is that at low altitude, the air, especially in a wind shear, is turbulent which makes it difficult to measure a coherent temperature pattern.
Consequently, the development of airborne low level windshear detection system is of considerable value to commercial, corporate and military aircraft.

Scanning ranging radiometer for weather hazard surveillance


An external soffit system for a conservatory roof which prevents unwelcome insects or birds from forming nests and provides a more aesthetically appealing appearance of the conservatory. The soffit also provides a platform from which lights or speakers may be mounted. The soffit and supporting structure also provide added protection to the conservatory roof structure from the elements.

Conservatory rooms have typically been formed from metal frames and glass or transparent plastic panels. The roofs were formed from a series of rafters which supported transparent glass or weather-resistant plastic (e.g., polyvinylchloride) panels between the rafters. The roof end of the rafters and panels often extend beyond the side walls creating an overhang. Generally, these roofs did not incorporate gutters.
The roof overhangs can provide an inviting nesting location for birds and insects such as wasps and bees. Once established in the recessed corner of the overhangs, where the under-section of the roof meets the eaves beam, it can be difficult to eliminate these pests and prevent their return. Moreover, bird droppings and stinging insects often pose emotional and physical health concerns to individuals.
It is also important to make the roof attractive. Generally, plastic trim is used to cover exposed edges of supports and the like.


The ground conductor, the side conductor, and the ceiling conductor surround the antenna element, which is connected to the coaxial power supply part arranged on the surface of the ground conductor. The ceiling conductor is arranged to face the ground conductor with the antenna element therebetween. The ceiling conductor is provided with an opening whose size, shape, and position are changed to vary the directivity of radio waves.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a monopole antenna mainly used for mobile communication, and more specifically, to a monopole antenna suitable for base stations.
2. Description of the Related Art
Prior art antennas are shown in FIGS. 36 and 37.
A first prior art antenna shown in FIG. 36 will be described as follows. FIG. 36 shows one technique to change the directivity of the vertical plane of the antenna, and FIGS. 37(A)-37(D) show examples of radiation directivity of monopole antennas.
FIG. 36 shows a ground conductor 111, a coaxial power supply part 112, and an antenna element 113 connected to the coaxial power supply part 112 on the ground conductor 111. In this case, a monopole antenna has an axis symmetric structure where the ground conductor 111 is shaped like a disk, the coaxial power supply part 12 is located at the center of the surface of the ground conductor 111, and the antenna element 113 is connected to the coaxial power supply part 12 in a manner to be perpendicular to the ground conductor 111. The radio waves of the antenna are nondirectional with respect to the horizontal plane of the antenna.
A method of changing the directivity of the radio waves on the vertical surface in a monopole antenna is to change the size of the ground conductor 111. When the ground conductor 111 have a finite size, radio waves diffract at the edge of the ground conductor 111. The size of the diffraction depends on the size of the ground conductor 111; the larger the ground conductor 111 is, the smaller the diffraction becomes, and vice versa. The entire radio waves of the antenna are the sum of the radio waves from the antenna element 113 and the diffraction waves from the edge of the ground conductor 111. If the antenna is divided into two sides: the top side having the antenna element 113 and the bottom side below the ground conductor 111, fewer radio waves flow to the bottom side and more radio waves are applied to the top side with increasing the ground conductor 111 in size. Also, the maximum radiation direction approaches the horizontal plane of the antenna. On the other hand, as the ground conductor 111 becomes smaller, more radio waves flow to the bottom side, making the maximum radiation direction approach the upright direction of the antenna. However, when the diameter of the ground conductor 111 is equal to or below xc2xd wavelength, the radio waves flow equally to the top and bottom sides, exhibiting directivity in the form of the number 8 on the vertical plane of the antenna. At this moment, the maximum radiation direction is the horizontal plane of the antenna. FIGS. 37 show the radiation directivity when the ground conductor 111 has a diameter of about xc2xd wavelength (37A), about 0.8 wavelength (37B), and about 3wavelength (37C). In FIGS. 36 and 37, X and Y indicate the direction parallel to the surface of the ground conductor 111 and Z indicates the direction perpendicular to the ground conductor 111. The radio directivity is calibrated in 10 dB, and the unit used is dBd, referred to the gain of a dipole antenna.
Thus a monopole antenna can change the directivity of the radio waves on the vertical plane of the antenna by changing the ground conductor 111 in size.
The second prior art antenna will be described with reference to FIG. 38 showing a technique to change the directivity of an antenna. FIG. 38 illustrates a monopole antenna array provided with two antenna elements, and FIG. 39 shows an example of radiation directivity.
The antenna array comprises a ground conductor 121, coaxial power supply parts 122 and 123, antenna elements 124 and 125, power supply paths 126 and 127, and a power distribution/composition circuit 128. The antenna elements 124 and 125 are connected to the coaxial power supply parts 122 and 123, respectively, on the ground conductor 121. The coaxial power supply parts 122 and 123 are connected to the power distribution/composition circuit 128 via the power supply paths 126 and 127, respectively. The ground conductor 121 is provided on the XY plane.
The following will describe the case where there are two antenna elements 124 and 125, and radio waves are strong in the X axis direction.
The antenna elements 124 and 125 are arranged xc2xd wavelength apart from each other on the X axis to be symmetric with respect to the origin point, and currents to be supplied have a phase difference of 180 degrees. At this moment, the array factors become co-phase in the +X and xe2x88x92X directions to reinforce each other. When the antenna is symmetric with respect to the ZX plane and the ZY plane, the radio waves become symmetric with respect to the ZX plane and the ZY plane. The waves to be radiated become strong in the +X direction and the xe2x88x92X direction where the radiation waves from the antenna elements 124 and 125 have the same phase. Furthermore, changing the size of the ground conductor 121 or the distance between the antenna elements allows the directivity of the radio waves on the vertical plane of the antenna to change.
FIG. 39 shows as an example the radiation directivity when the antenna elements are made of a xc2xc wavelength metallic wire, the antenna elements are supplied with power at a one to one ratio, and the ground conductor is a rectangle having one side of 2.75 wavelength parallel to the X axis and the other side of 2.25 wavelength parallel to the Y axis. In FIG. 39, X and Y. indicate the direction parallel to the plane of the ground conductor 121, and Z indicates the direction perpendicular to the ground conductor 121. The radio directivity is calibrated in 10 dB, and the unit is dBd, referred to the gain of a dipole antenna.
Thus, an antenna capable of changing the directivity of radio waves is achieved by arranging the antenna elements so as to form an array at an appropriate interval and by providing the antenna elements with an appropriate phase difference and an appropriate power distribution ratio.
However, the first prior art antenna has the following drawback; intensifying the radiation in the horizontal direction of the antenna requires a two-dimensionally large ground conductor 111, which is against miniaturization of the monopole antenna. A monopole antenna is not allowed to occupy so large an area on the ceiling, which is one of the best sites indoors for a monopole antenna. Hence the first prior art antenna, which must be large in size because of its being difficult to be small two dimensionally, is unsuitable.
On the other hand, the second prior art antenna can intensify radio waves by providing directivity in the horizontal direction of the antenna. However, it requires to have the power supply paths 126 and 127 and the power distribution/composition circuit 128, which causes a intrinsic loss in these components 126, 127, and 128 due to the structure of the circuit. Another loss is caused when the waves radiated from one antenna element 124 (125) are undesirably received by the other antenna element 125 (124) due to poor isolation between the antenna elements. These losses deteriorate the radiation efficiency. The latter-mentioned loss in particular leads to a reflection loss as the entire antenna array, and the reflected signal may reversely flow to each device connected to the antenna, thereby badly affecting the characteristics of each device. In order to secure excellent antenna characteristics, the former-mentioned loss should be reduced in the power supply paths and the power distribution/composition circuit 128, and the latter case requires to establish good isolation between the antenna elements. In the former case, components having a fewer loss can be employed as the power supply paths 126 and 127 and the power distribution/composition circuit 128. The latter case needs to extend the distance between the antenna elements. Hence, the antenna array in the second prior art is unsuitable for miniaturization of an antenna. When there are more than two antenna elements, the distance between them is considered to become larger than in the second prior art antenna which have two antenna elements. The large-scale antenna array is unsuitable for miniaturization of an antenna. A monopole antenna is not allowed to occupy so large an area on the ceiling, which is one of the best sites indoors for a monopole antenna. Hence the second prior art antenna, which must be large in size because of its being difficult to be small two dimensionally, is also unsuitable.
When an antenna is installed on a ceiling, in order to enhance the efficiency of wave radiation, it is preferable to hang the antenna elements upside down from the ceiling so as to make them face the space into which radio waves are radiated. It is further preferred that there is nothing to disturb the propagation of the radio waves between the antenna and the entire radiation space, and that the space including the entire radiation objects can be seen from the antenna elements. It is further desired to install a monopole antenna inconspicuously not to be an eyesore; however, in the prior art antennas shown in FIGS. 36 through 39 the antenna elements project from the ceiling unsightly, and the first and second prior art antennas cannot satisfy the demand due to their failure to be miniaturized.
In view of the above problems, the main object of the present invention is to provide an antenna, which is small in size, particularly its top side, and capable of changing the directivity of radio wave.
In order to achieve the object, the present invention comprises a ground conductor; a power supply part arranged on a surface of said ground conductor; an antenna element connected to said power supply part; and a side conductor surrounding a space including said antenna element apart from said antenna element. Consequently, the wave radiation along the horizontal plane of the antenna can be intensified without increasing the two-dimensional size very much. The reason for this is as follows. The side conductor functions as the periphery of the ground conductor to prevent wave diffraction effectively, thereby intensify wave radiation in the horizontal direction of the antenna. Furthermore, the side conductor is arranged above the ground conductor, which hardly increases the two-dimensional size of the antenna.
It is preferred that the antenna is further provided with a ceiling conductor facing said ground conductor with said antenna element therebetween because this structure can reduce the size of the antenna in the vertical direction. Since the ceiling conductor functions as the tip of the antenna element, the antenna element can be reduced in length by that. The antenna is reduced in size in the vertical direction accordingly.
It is preferred that the edge portion of said ceiling conductor is electrically connected to said side conductor, because this structure allows the directivity of the radio waves along the horizontal plane to be adjusted as desired. The reason for this is as follows. When the edge portion of the ceiling conductor is connected to the side conductor, current leaks form there towards the ground conductor. As a result, radio waves are hardly radiated in the direction extending outside from the ceiling conductor along the connection point. Setting the direction along which the connection point of the ceiling conductor and the side conductor is provided can set the directivity of the waves along the horizontal plane.
It is preferred that said ceiling conductor has a circular central portion because this allows the directivity of the waves along the horizontal plane to be adjusted more freely. The reason for this is as follows. When the edge of the ceiling conductor is connected to the side conductor, the minimum point of the waves is formed in the direction extending outside along the connection point, which enables the adjustment of the directivity. However, there are cases where the radiation level is lower than desired at the minimum point. In contrast, the circular center of the ceiling conductor allows waves to be radiated from the entire circumference of the circular portion, making the wave radiation approximately nondirectional on the horizontal plane. As a result, the radiation of waves becomes a mixture of the radiation from the circular portion and the radiation from the remaining portion, thereby compensating the minimum point of the waves. The amount of radiation of waves from the circular portion can be adjusted by changing the size of the circular portion.
It is preferred that said side conductor is electrically connected to said ground conductor, because it can achieve the matching of input impedances. The reason for this is as follows. When the antenna is reduced in size in the vertical direction by providing the ceiling conductor, the ceiling conductor and the ground conductor are arranged close to each other, which causes capacitive component between them, leading to mismatching of the input impedances. In contrast, electrically connecting the ceiling conductor to the ground conductor via the side conductor causes a continuity loop between these conductors, which develops an inductance. Consequently, the inductance compensates the capacitive component, thereby solving the mismatching of the impedances.
It is preferred that at least one of said ground conductor, said side conductor, and said ceiling conductor has an opening because the set wave directivity can be set as desired by adjusting the position, size, and other conditions of the opening when it is formed.
It is preferred that the antenna is provided with means for adjusting the size of said opening. Adjusting the size of the opening allows the directivity and impedances to be fine adjusted after the formation of the opening.
It is preferred that said power supply part is arranged on the origin point, said ground conductor is arranged on the XY plane, said ground conductor and said side conductor are designed to be symmetric with respect to the ZY plane, and said opening is arranged to be symmetric with respect to the ZY plane. This structure allows the directivity of waves to be symmetric with respect to the ZY plane.
It is preferred that said ground conductor and said side conductor are designed to be symmetric with respect to the ZX plane, and said opening is arranged to be symmetric with respect to the ZX plane. This structure allows the directivity of waves to be symmetric with respect to the ZX plane.
It is preferred that said antenna element is electrically connected to said ceiling conductor. This stabilizes not only the structure of the antenna but also the impedance of the antenna, thereby improving the characteristics of the antenna.
It is preferred that the antenna is provided with a dielectric member having permittivity higher than air in a space surrounded by said ground conductor and said side conductor. This makes the antenna compact and low-profile.
It is preferred that said space is filled with said dielectric member. This makes the antenna compact and low-profile. In addition, there is no clearance inside the antenna that brings dust inside the space or causes condensation, thereby improving the reliability.
It is preferred that said dielectric member is structured as a lid for the space surrounded by said side conductor, and either,said ground conductor or said ceiling conductor is provided on said dielectric member. This develops no clearance inside the antenna that brings dust inside or causes condensation, thereby improving the reliability. Furthermore, the space inside the antenna can be easily sealed by using the dielectric member as a lid.
It is preferred that said side conductor is made of a via hole formed in said dielectric member. This facilitates the formation of the side conductor because the via hole can be formed comparatively easily by a general substrate production method.
It is preferred that the antenna is provided with at least one matching element arranged apart from said antenna element, said matching element being electrically connected to said ground conductor. This changes the impedance of the antenna to establish good matching conditions.
It is preferred that at least one said matching element is electrically connected to said antenna element. This increases the input impedance of the monopole antenna.
It is preferred that at least one said matching element is electrically connected to said ceiling conductor. This changes the input impedance of the monopole antenna.
It is preferred that a radio device comprising: a monopole antenna of the present invention; amplification means for amplifying transmission signals supplied to said monopole antenna and reception signals supplied from said monopole antenna; frequency selection means for selecting frequencies of the transmission signals and reception signals; and a cabinet for storing said monopole antenna and said amplification means, and is also preferred that said cabinet is provided with a concave portion on a surface thereof for storing said monopole antenna inside. Consequently, a radio device far from being an eyesore can be achieved while maintaining or improving the compact and low-profile characteristics. This is because the monopole antenna is stored in the concave portion on the cabinet surface, making the antenna hard to be seen from outside. Since the compact and low-profile characteristics of the antenna are improved, incorporating the antenna inside the device does. not disturb the compact and low-profile characteristics of the radio device.
It is preferred that an arrangement structure of a monopole antenna comprises a plurality of monopole antennas of the present invention arranged in a manner to conform the direction for minimizing the directivity of the horizontal plane of each of said monopole antennas. As a result, the wave transmission of adjacent monopole antennas has minimum influence to each other, thereby establishing excellent isolation between them.

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


A method for controlling a data transmission state by a terminal in a wireless communication system may comprise: transmitting capability configuration information of the terminal to a node of a network; applying a triggered communication environment configuration on the basis of the capability configuration information from the node; transmitting, to the node, first connection configuration information related to a wireless local area network (WLAN) connection configuration; and applying a first communication environment reconfiguration triggered from the node on the basis of the first connection configuration information, wherein the capability configuration information includes LWA function permission information of the terminal.

Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide various types of communication services, such as voice and data. In general, a wireless communication system is a multi-access system capable of supporting communication with multiple users by sharing available system resources (bandwidth, transmission power, etc.). Examples of the multiple access system include a code division multiple access (CDMA) system, a frequency division multiple access (FDMA) system, a time division multiple access (TDMA) system, an orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) system, a single carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) system, a multi-carrier frequency division multiple access (MC-FDMA) system, and so on.
Machine-to-machine (M2M) communication, and various devices and technologies, such as a smartphone, and a tablet PC that require a high data transfer rate, appear and supplied. Accordingly, the amount of data that needs to be processed in a cellular network is rapidly increasing. In order to satisfy the data throughput that rapidly increases as described above, a carrier aggregation technology for efficiently using a more frequency band, a cognitive radio technology, a multi-antenna technology for increasing the capacity of data transmitted within a limited frequency, a multi-BS cooperation technology, etc. are developed.
Meanwhile, a communication environment is advanced in a way that the density of nodes capable of being accessed by a user equipment (UE) nearby is increased. The node refers to a fixed point that includes one or more antennas and can transmit/receive a radio signal to the UE. A communication system having a high density of nodes may provide a UE with communication service having higher performance through cooperation between nodes.

Method and device for controlling data transmission state in wireless communication system


A touch panel support which has a full flat surface and an outstanding operability is provided. The touch panel support includes a touch panel assembly and a case assembly for supporting the touch panel assembly. The touch panel assembly has, on the periphery thereof, a stepped engagement part which is lower than the surface of the touch panel assembly. The case assembly has a case main body for accommodating the touch panel assembly so as to allow a force feedback perpendicular vibration thereof and a bezel which is secured to the opening of the case main body. The bezel is engaged with the engagement part of the touch panel assembly so as not to inhibit the perpendicular vibration of the touch panel assembly. The surfaces of the touch panel assembly and the bezel are formed to be flush with each other.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a touch panel support to be used to operate electronic devices, and more particularly to a support structure for a force feedback type (sense-of-touch feedback type) touch panel assembly.
2. Description of the Related Art
The touch panel is an electronic device into which a display device such as a liquid crystal panel and a position input device like a touch pad are combined. The touch panel assembly serving as the touch pad can employ a number of schemes, which have been suggested, such as the resistance membrane scheme, the electrostatic capacitance scheme, the surface acoustic wave scheme, the infrared scheme, and the electromagnetic induction scheme. In the case of mobile devices, there are growing needs for a force feedback type touch panel (also referred to as the sense-of-touch feedback type) which is configured to provide the feeling of input operations.
Recent years have seen the widespread use of the electrostatic capacitance scheme touch panel assembly which facilitates fingertip touch input and scrolling operations.
Conventionally, the frame-shaped bezel surface for protecting the periphery of the touch panel assembly was projected in a step height shape from the touch panel surface. This has led to a possibility of causing an obstacle to input operations.
Disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2011-53745 is a mounting structure of the resistance membrane scheme sense-of-touch feedback type touch panel with the surface flattened as shown in FIG. 2.
However, the structure disclosed in the Publication is configured, as described in paragraph (0060), such that the sense-of-touch feedback type touch panel is mounted onto the housing by being fitted from outside over the housing. This structure may lead to a possibility of causing the touch panel to be dislodged from the housing by accident.


This invention discloses a new MOSFET device. The MOSFET device has an improved operation characteristic achieved by connecting a shunt FET of low impedance to the MOSFET device. The shunt FET is to shunt a transient current therethrough. The shunt FET is employed for preventing an inadvertent turning on of the MOSFET device. The inadvertent turning on of the MOSFET may occur when a large voltage transient occurs at the drain of the MOSFET device. By connecting the gate of the shunt FET to the drain of the MOSFET device, a low impedance path is provided at the right point of time during the circuit operation to shunt the current without requiring any external circuitry.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention disclosed herein relates generally to the circuit configuration and packaging configuration of power MOSFETs. More particularly, this invention relates to a novel and improved circuit diagram for preventing shoot through problem by using a shunt FET and different configurations for integrating the shunt FET.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Conventional power MOSFET devices still face the shoot through problems that result in excessive dissipation and efficiency loss. Referring to FIG. 1 for a circuit diagram of a conventional buck converter 10 that includes a high side MOSFET 15 and a low side MOSFET 20 serially connected between an input terminal 25 having an input voltage represented by Vin and a ground terminal 30. The drain of the low side MOSFET 20 is connected to the source of the high side MOSFET 15 at a mid point 35 connecting to the load 40 through inductance L and capacitance C. When the buck converter 10 operates at high speed, a shoot through condition becomes a problem when both the high side and low side MOSFET are turned on at the same time causing a shoot through current to flow between the input terminal 25 and the ground terminal 30. The shoot through condition results in excessive dissipation and efficiency loss. In order to avoid the shoot through problem, a controlling circuit 45 is implemented to control the gate signals to generate a dead time between the gate signals for the high side and low side MOSFET. FIG. 2 shows such a dead time between the time when the high side MOSFET 15 is turned off and the time when the low side MOSFET 20 is turned on such that the high side and low side MOSFETs are prevented from turning on simultaneously.
However, the shoot through problem cannot be completely avoided due to the fact that a large drain current is generated at the low side MOSFET 20 when the high side MOSFET 15 is turned on as shown in FIG. 3 due to a large rate of change of the voltage, i.e., dV/dt, at the mid-connection point 35. FIG. 4 shows an equivalent circuit of the buck converter wherein the drain current generated flows through the gate-drain capacitor Cgd and then to the ground through the internal gate-source capacitor Cgs or through an equivalent circuit segment comprises gate resistor Rg inductor Lg, and external gate drive resistance Rext. Under such circumstances, if the impedance from the gate to the ground is not below a certain value then the drain current, i.e., Cdg*dV/dt, will generate a voltage drop across the gate of the low side MOSFET that would be large enough to turn on the low side MOSFET 20 thus inducing shoot-through. In modern circuit designs, a designer typically controls the problem by using a large gate-source capacitance Cgs or a low Crss/Ciss ratio. Alternately, the problem may also be prevented by providing a low gate resistance and using a high current gate drive with low Rext. However, if the gate drive circuitry, i.e., the control circuit 45, is remote from the MOSFET, the inductance Lg may become quite large. This causes the current path connected with Rg, Rext, and Lg to have great impedance thus leaving only the Cgs path to sink the transient current. The only way to suppress the shoot through current is by increasing the capacitance Cgs to reduce the impedance. However, this solution will lead to excessive gate charge losses in the low side MOSFET 20. For the above reasons, a person of ordinary skill of the art is faced with limitations and difficulties in designing a converter to effectively prevent the shoot through problem.
Therefore, a need still exists in the art to provide an improved device configuration and manufacturing methods to make MOSFET devices with a very low impedance path for the Cdg*dV/dt current. The low impedance suppresses the gate-source voltage spike, and thus prevents shoot-through problems and resolve the above discussed difficulties as now encountered in the prior art.


This invention provides a new procedure for attaching molecules to semiconductor surfaces, in particular silicon. The molecules, which include, but are not limited to porphyrins and ferrocenes, have been previously shown to be attractive candidates for molecular-based information storage. The new attachment procedure is simple, can be completed in short times, requires minimal amounts of material, is compatible with diverse molecular functional groups, and in some instances affords unprecedented attachment motifs. These features greatly enhance the integration of the molecular materials into the processing steps that are needed to create hybrid molecular/semiconductor information storage devices.

The fabrication of ordered molecular assemblies on conducting silicon and other surfaces is of considerable interest owing to its potential applications in the microelectronic industry. One goal of semiconductor fabrication is to increase the density of active elements provided on an integrated circuit. In order to accomplish this, efforts have turned to the use of self-assembling molecular structures as an alternative to, or in conjunction with various lithographic processes to form the active elements used in integrated circuits.
In addition, interest has turned to the use of organic molecules to form such active elements (e.g., memory elements) (see, e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,272,038, 6,212,093, and 6,208,553, and PCT Publication WO 01/03126) and/or to form components of certain devices (e.g., field effect transistors, gates, sensors, transducers, etc.).
Organic molecules covalently attached to silicon are very stable due to the strength of Si—O and Si—C bonds. A number of approaches exist to form a covalent link between silicon and organic molecules (Buriak and Allen (1998) J. Am. Chem. Soc., 120: 1339-1340; Bansal and Lewis (1998) J. Phys. Chem. 102: 1067-1070; Zhu et al. (1999) Langmuir 15: 8147-8154; Coulter et al. (2000) J. Vac. Sci. Technol. A 18: 1965-1970; Bourkherroub and Wayner (1999) J. Am. Chem. Soc. 121: 11513-11515; Cleland et al. (1995) Faraday Commun., 91: 4001-4003; Bateman et al. (1998) Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 37: 2683-2685). These approaches include chemical, electrochemical and vapor deposition on a hydrogen-terminated silicon surface.
Such approaches, however, have typically involved difficult reaction conditions, have been relatively inefficient, have degraded the organic molecule(s), and/or have resulted in the production of fairly toxic materials.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

High temperature attachment of organic molecules to substrates

The Regents of the University of California


A method for transmitting wireless audio streams in an audio system comprising a first transmitter unit, the method includes: transmitting a first audio block in a first audio frame, the first audio block comprising a first primary audio package having a transmitter unit address of the first transmitter unit; transmitting a first primary pilot package, the first primary pilot package comprising the transmitter unit address of the first transmitter unit, a first primary time offset, and a channel identifier of a first primary audio package of a second audio block in a second audio frame; and transmitting the first primary audio package of the second audio block at a start time depending on the first primary time offset and the channel identifier.

Wireless communication to and from hearing devices has been increasing in continuation of the developments within wireless communication technology. In a crowded environment where audio is distributed to the crowd, for example in an airport or in a movie theatre, it is known to stream audio via a telecoil solution having a limited bandwidth with limited possibilities of separating different audio streams.
Digital solutions of audio streaming have enhanced possibilities for broadcasting audio. However, the range of a single transmitter unit transmitting an audio stream is limited, thus there is a need for a method that allows reception of the same audio stream from different transmitter units.
The limited battery power of hearing devices however requires ways of minimizing data transmission from the hearing device, in an effort to prolong battery life. Hence the shift from receiving the audio stream from one transmitter unit to receiving the same audio stream from an alternative transmitter unit, demands that the transmission of data from the hearing device is eliminated or seriously minimized.
Thus, there is a need for an audio system that provides audio streaming to a moving user, without relying on transmission of data back and forth between the audio system and the hearing device during handover between a first and second transmitter unit.

Method and apparatus for transmitting wireless audio streams


A suspension package includes upper and lower covers. The covers include oval exterior walls that define oval product-receiving wells. Oval mounting rings are mounted to the covers to support resilient films over the wells. The covers define generally rectangular inner exterior walls that support hinges along a hinge axis. By combining rectangular covers adjacent to hinges with oval covers spaced from the hinges, material costs are reduced and fabrication is simplified.

This invention relates to suspension packages of the type that suspend an article within upper and lower covers, held in place by resilient suspension films.
Suspension packages of the general type described above are known to the art, as shown for example in Hojnacki, U.S. Pat. No. 5,183,159, Baillod, U.S. Pat. No. 4,491,225 (assigned to the assignee of the present invention) and U.S. Pat. No. 5,769,235 (assigned to the assignee of the present invention).
The suspension package disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,769,235 includes upper and lower generally rectangular covers. The covers are hinged together, and each supports an oval mounting ring. The mounting ring in turn supports the suspension film. In this suspension package, the mounting ring is provided with mounting legs that are latched in place in recesses of the covers. This arrangement can provide the important advantage that the suspension film is automatically tensioned when the mounting ring is secured in place in the cover. However, molding of the covers and the mounting ring is complicated by the need to form latching surfaces on the mounting ring and the covers. Also, the use of an oval mounting ring inside a rectangular cover increases the need for interior walls and thereby further increases the cost of the covers.
The present invention is directed to an improved suspension package that is well adapted to low cost fabrication techniques, and that reduces or minimizes material costs.


Compounds of Formula I, stereoisomers, and pharmaceutically acceptable salts or prodrugs thereof, their preparation, and their uses for the treatment of hepatitis C viral infection are described:

The following description of the background of the invention is provided to aid in understanding the invention, but is not admitted to be, or to describe, prior art to the invention. All publications are incorporated by reference in their entirety.
Hepatitis C is a viral disease that causes inflammation of the liver that may lead to cirrhosis, primary liver cancer and other long-term complications. Nucleosides are a well-recognized class of compounds shown to be effective against a variety of viral infections, including hepatitis B, HIV, and herpes. A few nucleosides are reported to inhibit hepatitis C (HCV) virus replication, including ribavirin, which currently is marketed as a drug combination with various interferons, and nucleosides containing a 2′-C-methyl ribose sugar.
Nucleosides are generally effective as antiviral agents following conversion of the nucleoside to the corresponding nucleoside 5′-triphosphate (NTP). Conversion occurs inside cells through the action of various intracellular kinases. The first step, i.e. conversion of the nucleoside to the 5′-monophosphate (NMP) is generally the slow step and involves a nucleoside kinase, which is encoded by either the virus or host. Conversion of the NMP to the NTP is generally catalyzed by host nucleotide kinases. The NTP interferes with viral replication through inhibition of viral polymerases and/or via incorporation into a growing strand of DNA or RNA followed by chain termination.
Use of nucleosides to treat viral liver infections is often complicated by one of two problems. In some cases, the desired nucleoside is a good kinase substrate and accordingly produces NTP in the liver as well as other cells and tissues throughout the body. Since NTP production is often associated with toxicity, efficacy can be limited by extrahepatic toxicities. In other cases, the desired nucleoside is a poor kinase substrate so is not efficiently converted into the NMP and ultimately into the NTP.
For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 6,312,662 discloses the use of certain phosphate prodrugs for the liver-specific delivery of various drugs including nucleosides for the treatment of patients with liver diseases such as hepatitis C, hepatitis B and hepatocellular carcinoma.


In a developing unit including a collecting roller for collecting the developer falling from a developing roller and a developer removing device for removing the developer collected by the collecting roller from the collecting roller, the developer removing device includes a casing for supporting the collecting roller, a scraper for removing the developer adhering to the collecting roller and a scraper supporter for supporting the scraper, and the scraper is supported by pressing it against the casing by the scraper supporter.

(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a developing unit and an image forming apparatus using this. The present invention is, in particular, directed to a developing unit for visualizing an electrostatic latent image formed on a photoreceptor drum with a developer that has been electrified by blending two components, i.e., an electrostatically chargeable toner and a magnetic carrier, wherein toner which falls from the developing roller's developing area for supplying toner to the photoreceptor drum is collected, as well as to an image forming apparatus using this.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
In a conventional image forming apparatus such as a printer etc. using the electrophotography, a printout of an image is formed by electrifying a photoreceptor drum that is driven rotationally by a charger, forming an electrostatic latent image by illuminating the photoreceptor drum with light in accordance with image information, forming a toner image by applying toner to the electrostatic latent image by a developing unit and transferring the toner image to a sheet material or other recording media.
As a developer used for the developing unit of the image forming apparatus, use has been made of, for example a dual-component developer which is prepared by mixing two components, or an electrostatically chargeable toner and a magnetic carrier.
The thus constructed image forming apparatus entails the problem that the toner scattering from the developing roller of the developing unit adheres onto the photoreceptor drum surface and the thus adhering toner transfers to the recording medium, the transfer belt or the like, degrading image quality.
Further, with increase in the processing speed and with downsizing of the carrier particles (e.g., the carrier's particle size has reduced from 80 μm to 50 μm in diameter) to support high-speed configurations of recent image forming apparatus, another problem has emerged that the carrier drops from the developing roller surface, dirtying the apparatus interior and also producing scratches on the photoreceptor drum with the dropping carrier.
To deal with these conventional problems, there has been a proposal in that a toner collecting roller with a scraper is provided for the developing unit so as to collect scattered toner and the collected developer having adhered on the toner collecting roller is removed by the scraper (see patent document 1: Japanese Patent Application Laid-open Hei 7-319279).
When in the above-described prior art the scraper is mounted to the developing unit, it is a common practice that in order to make the scraper uniformly abut the toner collecting roller, the scraper is backed with a reinforcement arranged on the scraper supporting side and fixed to the scraper fixture etc., using screws at plural places (some or several places).
However, since the scraper becomes worn out at its front contact part which is put in sliding contact with the toner collecting roller, the scraper needs to be replaced periodically upon maintenance. For this reason, the scraper attachment structure with screw fastening as stated above entails the problem that the work in assembling the scraper and its replacement for maintenance are complicated.
Further, the attachment structure of the scraper with screw fastening gives rise to a fear that the scraper might be deformed by stress concentration at the screw-fastened positions and also makes the developing unit bulky.

Developing unit and image forming apparatus using the same