An image defect inspecting apparatus of the present invention includes a template image producing section for producing a template image from reference image data, a corresponding image extracting section for extracting a predetermined image located at a position corresponding to a template image from digital data of a scanned image for inspection, data embedding sections for embedding desired same pattern data into the template image and the image extracted by the corresponding image extracting section, a normalized correlation value calculation processing unit for acquiring a normalized correlation coefficient from the template image and the extracted image, into which the pattern data is embedded, and a defect judging section for judging as to whether a defect is present by comparing the normalized correlation coefficient acquired by the normalized correlation value calculation processing unit with a predetermined threshold value so as to acquire a large/small relationship thereof.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image inspecting apparatus and an image inspecting method, and particularly relates to an image inspecting apparatus employed in an image output apparatus for outputting an image recording medium on which an image has been recorded based upon image data and image inspecting method therefor.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, as a method of inspecting a defect contained in an output image, a defect inspecting method based upon a normalized correlation method has been proposed. This defect inspecting method owns such a merit that a defect inspection can be carried out in a correct manner even when contrast of a scanned image for inspection is different from that of a reference image due to a change in illumination conditions.
A normalized correlation value C between a template image T(i, j) having N×M pixels, which is produced from reference image data, and an image I(i, j), which is extracted from a scanned image for inspection, is calculated in accordance with the following formula 1:
                                                        C              =                                                                    ∑                                          i                      =                      1                                        N                                                                                ∑                                              j                        =                        1                                            M                                                                                {                                                                              I                                                                                (                                                              i                                ,                                j                                                            )                                                                                -                                                      μ                                                                                I                                                                          }                                            ·                                              {                                                                              T                                                                                (                                                              i                                ,                                j                                                            )                                                                                -                                                      μ                                                                                T                                                                          }                                                                                ∑                                              i                        =                        1                                            N                                                                                ∑                                                  j                          =                          1                                                M                                                                                {                                                                                I                                                                                (                                                                      i                                    ,                                    j                                                                    )                                                                                -                                                              μ                                                                                I                                                                                }                                                    2                                                ·                                                                              ∑                                                          i                              =                              1                                                        N                                                                                ∑                                                              j                                =                                1                                                            M                                                                                {                                                                                T                                                                                (                                                                              i                                        ,                                        j                                                                            )                                                                                -                                                                      μ                                                                                T                                                                                }                                                            2                                                                                μ                                                                                I                            =                                                1                  NM                                ·                                                      ∑                                          i                      =                      1                                        N                                                                                ∑                                              j                        =                        1                                            M                                                                                I                                                                    (                                                  i                          ,                          j                                                )                                                                                μ                                                                                T                            =                                                1                  NM                                ·                                                      ∑                                          i                      =                      1                                        N                                                                                ∑                                              j                        =                        1                                            M                                                                                T                                                                    (                                                  i                          ,                          j                                                )                                                                                (        1        )
The normalized correlation value C becomes 1 when the template image is completely coincident with the image extracted from the scanned image for inspection. On the other hand, the normalized correlation value C becomes −1 when the template image completely disagrees with the image extracted from the scanned image for inspection (when template image and extracted image represent patterns, are inverted in light and shade with each other).
In an actual defect inspecting apparatus, a template image corresponds to ideal defectless data, which contains no noise, whereas a scanned image for inspection corresponds to image data, which is digital data into which an image is converted, which is recorded on an image recording medium and outputted from an image output apparatus. Therefore, errors and noise produced from a converting unit for conducting conversion into digital data are mixed into the scanned image for inspection.
As a result, even when a scanned image for inspection has no defect, normalized correlation value thereof is not always equal to 1. Therefore, when the normalized correlation value is larger than, or equal to a predetermined threshold value, such a judgement can be made that the reference image is coincident with the scanned image for inspection, and thus, the scanned image for inspection has no defect.
As to this defect inspecting method based upon the normalized inspection, several problems have been pointed out and solution measures have been proposed in the following related art.
In "image matching method and image matching apparatus" disclosed in JP-A-Hei.9-62841, when an image has a low gray scale value (dark image portion) such as a background of an image, the defect inspection based on the normalized correlation value in which a portion having a higher correlation value is forcibly sought owns a problem. In this example, while the correlation value C is calculated, the accumulated value of the gray scale values themselves is employed instead of such an accumulated value obtained after gray scale values have been corrected based upon difference between an average level and the gray scale values. As a consequence, such an error contained in the normalized correlation value can be avoided in the dark background where the gray scale value has no value.
Also, in "correlation value correcting apparatus/method of normalized correlative correlation values in pattern matching" disclosed in JP-A-Hei.7-121711, the following problem is pointed out. That is, even when the normalized correlation value is equal to 1, both the scanned image for inspection and the reference image are not always images, which are captured from an object having the same reflectance factor distribution. In this example, a correction amount is determined based on an average value of gray scale values of the reference image, an average value of gray scale values of the scanned image for inspection, a standard deviation of the scanned image for inspection, and a standard deviation of the reference image to correct the correction value.
However, there are some cases that the normalized correlation value cannot be calculated by the template image, which is produced from the reference image in view of the defect inspections executed over the entire area of the output image.
For instance, this case corresponds to a case in which there is no change in gray scale values within the template image of the reference image and the template image is produced in a margin portion located at a peripheral portion of a document where characters are written or a portion having uniform gray scale values such as a figure. In this case, the template image T(i, j) defined in the above-described formula does not depend upon i and j; each of gray scale values within the template image becomes equal to an average value (T(i, j)=μT), a denominator and a numerator of a right hand in the above-described formula becomes zero; and thus, the normalized correlation value C becomes unstable. In other words, when a defect is present at a position of this portion of the scanned image for inspection, the defect inspection cannot be carried out.
In accordance with the technique disclosed in JP-A-Hei.62841, even when there is no change in the gray scale values within the template image of the reference image, the correlation value can be calculated. However, this technique owns the following serious drawback. That is, the higher robustness of the image matching apparatus are lost with respect to the offset variation of the gray scale values of the image and the variation of the illumination light amount, which corresponds to the merit of the defect inspection caused by the normalized correlation of this image matching apparatus.
Also, in the technique disclosed in JP-A-Hei.7-121711, when there is no change in the gray scale values within the template image of the reference image, such a basic problem cannot be solved. That is, this technique cannot calculate the normalized correlation value.

Image defect inspecting apparatus and image defect inspecting method


Provided is a redispersible powder-dispersed cosmetic which has a clear supernatant when unused, can exhibit good powder redispersibility when shaken upon use, has a good sensation, e.g., smoothness and non-stickiness, upon application to the skin, and has an excellent effect of dissolving/removing keratotic plugs. The cosmetic is characterized by comprising (A) succinic acid and/or a salt thereof, (B) bentonite and (C) a hydrophilic surfactant. Particularly preferably, the cosmetic additionally comprises a cellulose powder. It is preferred that the component (A), i.e., succinic acid and/or the salt thereof, is contained in an amount of 0.01 to 10.0 mass % relative to the total amount of the cosmetic.

Keratotic plugs occur by accumulation and coagulation of sebum secreted from the sebaceous gland and old keratin in the surrounding area in the pores, which is responsible for acne and darkened pores. A primary treatment method to remove keratotic plugs so far includes a step of adhering a tape-agent on the skin or covering the pores with a pack-agent and then a step of absorbing the keratotic plugs thereto followed by a step of peeling the tape-agent or pack-agent off together every keratotic plugs. However, such method may cause pain when the tape-agent or the pack-agent is peeled off and may remove not only the keratotic plugs but also keratin from the healthy skin surface, which sometimes results in occurrence of skin problems. Thus, a method for effectively removing keratotic plugs from the pores has been suggested, wherein organic acids such as lactic acid and citric acid and/or salts thereof are used without resorting to such physical removing method (Patent Document 1.)
Meanwhile, cosmetics that contain powder components are shaken to redisperse the powder components upon use, i.e. redispersible powder-dispersed cosmetics, are known. As powder components, inorganic powders such as talc, titanium dioxide, and silicon dioxide, and/or organic powders such as nylon powder and polyethylene are used for the redispersible powder-dispersed cosmetics in order to suppress stickiness and impart smooth and greaseless feeling. However, when some of these powders are formulated in non-emulsified cosmetics such as skin lotions, the powders may rub against one another and as results cause stiffness, or powders may rub directly against the skin and as results harm the stratum corneum. Thus, use of spherical cellulose powder having relatively a low powder-hardness has been suggested (Patent Document 2.)
When an organic acid such as citric acid and/or a salt thereof is formulated in a redispersible powder-dispersed cosmetic containing powder components such as spherical cellulose powder in order to obtain a redispersible powder-dispersed cosmetic having an effect on dissolving and removing keratotic plugs, while keeping the advantage of an excellent feeling-in-use upon application on the skin, a sufficient feeling-in-use may not be achieved in spite of the presence of the powder components. Further, even if the cosmetic is shaken for use, powder components tend to remain at the bottom of the container, leading to unsatisfactory powder redispersion.


A method of dispatching documents, wherein the basic idea is to first convert the documents from a customer-specific data format to a standardization data format, and only then to decide by means of a decision logic using the document in the standardized data format, whether the document is further transmitted to the recipient as an electronic document, or whether it is converted from the standardized to a postal data format in a converter station. The converter station then dispatches the document to a postal service printing center in the area where the recipient is located. There the document is printed out and directed for delivery by postal service personnel.

The invention starts with a system for interchanging business documents via communication networks, as described in the article "Edifakt will simplify electronic business communications" by Herbert C. Thomas, on pages 16 and 17 of the magazine "Computerwoche" (computer week) of Jun. 28, 1987.
With this system it is possible to interchange documents between different enterprises via electronic means. Such documents are e.g. invoices, orders or shipping memos. The interchange of such documents uses a worldwide standardized data format called Edifakt (Electronic Data Interchange for Administration, Commerce and Transport). This data format specifies e.g. how the syntax of a document must look or which data elements must be included for different business occasions.
It furthermore provides a number of standard messages that serve as the basis for the interchange of data for internationally structured business occasions.
The documents which correspond to the Edifakt data format are interchanged between enterprises by using an application protocol on layer 7 of the OSI reference model. This renders the transmission of data independent of the lower communication layers and thereby independent of the lower hardware and software being used. However, before documents can be transmitted, they must be converted from the data format in which they were created by the respective enterprise (in-house data format or customer-specific data format) to the Edifakt data format. This is necessary because the auxiliary means used to create documents, e.g. text processing programs, do not use the Edifakt data format as a rule. A large number of such customer-specific data formats exists.
This system for the electronic interchange of business documents has the disadvantage that both the sender as well as the recipient must have the necessary facilities for sending or receiving Edifakt documents. Since small enterprises in particular, and above all private persons, will not have such systems available within a foreseeable time, a large part of the business documents or the business mail must as before be printed in letter form and brought to the postal service, which then takes over the further delivery.
In addition electronic mail service facilities are known, such as described e.g. in patent DE 24 32 398.6. With such a facility it is possible to dispatch a letter to a postal recipient, where the letter travels part of the way as an electronic letter, i.e. in the form of a data block which is transmitted via a communication network.

Method of dispatching documents by converting the documents from a customer specific data format to a standardized data format, and then transmitting the documents via most favorable way to recipients


A sound dampening system having at least two acoustic deflection pads separated by a distance and an actuator operable to alter the distance in response to a stimulus. In some embodiments, the actuator is a shape memory alloy wire. The system is capable of alternating between a compact mode and a superior sound blocking mode. A door of an automotive vehicle incorporating such a system and a method of fabricating such a system.

Sound dampening pads are used in the doors of cars and other automotive vehicles to absorb, deflect, or otherwise mitigate transmission of sound from outside of the vehicle to the cabin. Such pads can be deployed between door panels, within the interior of the door itself, where space constraints limit the size and shape of the pad. Limits to the size and shape of sound dampening pads can correlate to limitations of the pads' ability to decrease sound transmission to the vehicle cabin.
The amount of space theoretically available to house a sound dampening pad in some contexts may not be consistent over time. For example, within the context of an automotive vehicle door having a reversibly openable window, the amount of space available to house a sound dampening system can be greater when the window is up as opposed to when the window is down. A sound dampening system which has a fixed, non-varying shape and size is incapable of utilizing this extra space.
Beyond the composition and structure of individual sound dampening pads, the use of two sound dampening pads arranged in parallel, i.e. a double-wall system, can have significant effects on sound dampening capability. In some circumstances, a double wall system having a larger distance of separation between the two walls or pads will have significantly greater sound dampening capability as compared to a double wall system with a smaller or no distance of separation between the two walls or pads. Additionally, differences in the separation space between two pads or walls of a double wall system can alter the frequency response of the system.

Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Inc.


A multi-frequency shared antenna comprises a low frequency radiation array and a first high frequency radiation array both of which are disposed on a reflection plate and provided with power by different feeding networks. The first high frequency radiation array comprises a number of high frequency radiation units, at least partial high frequency radiation units are arranged on a same axis which overlaps one of two axes of the low frequency radiation array, in all high frequency radiation units arranged on said axis, at least partial high frequency radiation units are nested with the low frequency radiation units arranged on the same axis, and the orthogonal projection area of these nested high frequency radiation units on the reflection plate falls within the orthogonal projection area of the corresponding low frequency radiation units on the same reflection plate.

With increase of mobile communication network standards, to save sites and location, reduce difficulty of estate management coordination, and decrease investment cost, multi-frequency shared antenna sharing a common site and location is eventually becoming a first choice for operators in networking business.
Currently in this industry, two constructions are mainly employed to multi-frequency shared antennae array. One solution is coaxial nesting as denoted in FIG. 1. According to this solution, a low frequency radiation unit 1a and a high frequency radiation unit 2a are coaxially arranged on a same axis 4a of a reflection plate 3a. Another solution is side by side adjoining solution as shown in FIG. 2. In this solution, a low frequency radiation unit 1b and a high frequency radiation unit 2a are separately disposed on two adjacent axes 4b and 5b of a reflection plate 3b. Needless to say, the axial nesting scheme significantly has smaller antenna width and windward area than side by side scheme and accordingly, it gets much favor from clients.
It has been found in practice that coaxial nesting technique shown in FIG. 1 suffers from certain limit during use and there are at least two drawbacks.
At first, in case that pitch between low frequency radiation units 1a arranged in line with the high frequency radiation units 2a is not integer times of pitch between high frequency radiation units 2a, in an orthogonal projection area formed by orthogonally projecting onto the reflection plate, radiation arms of the low frequency radiation unit 1a, which is enable to nest with the high frequency radiation unit 2a, will be over the high frequency radiation unit 2a and overlap and cross with the same (as shown in FIG. 3, the low frequency radiation unit 1c crosses and overlaps with the high frequency radiation unit 2c), thus causing severe interference to high frequency radiation array formed by said high frequency radiation unit 2a, and greatly increasing difficulty in design of high frequency radiation array radiation characteristics. For example, when coaxial nesting technique applies to multi-frequency shared electrically adjustable antenna working at frequency of 790˜960 MHz and 1710˜2690 MHz, to make balance between gain and parameters such as electrically down-tilted upper side-lobes, pitch range of low frequency radiation array is normally from 250 mm to 300 mm, while pith range of high frequency radiation array is normally from 105 mm to 115 mm. No matter what sort of array pitch is selected from above ranges for high and low frequency, when all the high frequency radiation units 2b and low frequency radiation units 1b are coaxial, radiation arms of some low frequency radiation units 1b will locate over the high frequency radiation units 2b, thereby causing severe interference to high frequency radiation units 2b, and greatly increasing difficulty in design of high frequency radiation array radiation characteristics. Attempts have been made to overcome this problem by reducing projection area of the low frequency radiation units 1b. However, this will also increase half-power beam width in horizontal plane of the low frequency radiation units 1b and therefore no desired results may be obtained.
Secondly, it may be applied into triple electrically adjustable antenna constructed of a low frequency radiation array and two identical high frequency radiation arrays. Regarding this point, there are two prior art solutions. One is shown in FIG. 4 where a group of high frequency radiation arrays is added to an antenna along a vertical direction. The shortcoming of this solution lies in substantial increase in antenna length. Further, transmission loss as well as antenna gain loss is increased due to lengthening of main feeder line of upper high frequency radiation array. A second solution is illustrated in FIG. 5 where a group of high frequency radiation arrays is added to an antenna at a lateral side thereof. This solution suffers from shortcoming such as substantial increase of antenna width. In addition, all the low frequency radiation arrays are distributed at a side of the high frequency radiation arrays. Due to dramatic asymmetry between left and right radiation boundary of the low and high frequency radiation arrays together with cross-interference between the two arrays, problem such as direction deflection of horizontal plane beam of the two arrays and cross polarization ratio deterioration arises. This results in increased difficulty in design.

Antenna control system and multi-frequency shared antenna


A crosshead shoe for the sliding transport on rails of a material to be annealed has, for the lateral guiding on the rails, an approximately U-shaped cross section with downwardly projecting legs. Special glide elements are provided on the side of the glide shoe which faces the glide plane, and/or the rail, which glide elements are designed so that as little wear and friction as possible occur during the movement of the crosshead shoes. The glide elements have glide surfaces for this purpose, the side surfaces of which glide surfaces are rounded and/or downwardly inclined, and/or the peripheral edges of which are associated with one another in obtuse angles or have a shape which is at least partially circular. These conditions exist, for example, in glide elements with polygonal or circular surfaces, which can be arranged in one or several rows or in a honeycomb pattern. Since important edges thus extend inclined to the direction of movement and furthermore no break-off-endangered acute edge angle exists, interferences (for example during travel over rail joints) do not act simultaneously onto the entire edge, so that edge break-offs can be substantially avoided. A flow channel is provided between the crosshead shoe and the base of the material being annealed, through which additional hot air is blown against areas of the material shielded from the main stream by the rail and the crosshead shoe.

So-called push-type or continuous-heating furnaces are used for the heat treatment of billets, blocks and similar material of aluminum or aluminum alloys to be annealed, through which furnaces the material is moved and is thereby exposed to the annealing temperature of several hundred degrees.
The material is placed on crosshead shoes for its movement through the furnace. The crosshead shoes can be moved on rails of the furnace, for movement of which as a rule a hydraulic pushing device that can develop a pushing force of several hundred tons is utilized.
With long furnaces and thus long paths of movement for the heavily loaded crosshead shoes on the rails, significant problems exist for maintaining a lubricant supply for glide elements provided between the crosshead shoes and the rails in order to avoid wear of the glide elements. Problems also result from the fact that the rails and crosshead shoes shield the hot air flow circulated for the heat treatment from some parts of the material to be annealed, so that the areas of the material in the "lee" of the rails and crosshead shoes heat up slower.
Known designs try to solve the first-mentioned problem, for example by using as the lubricant a graphite-oil mixture of a dry, powdery graphite lubricant, which is applied to the rails from a storage chamber of the crosshead shoe when the crosshead shoe is placed onto the rails. This measure, however, is complicated during the practical operation and as a rule is only effective at the start of the movement. After only a few meters, the remainder of the path must be covered in a dry operation using much power and with much resulting wear of the glide surfaces.
It is also known to achieve an improved sliding capability with glide elements such as a glide bar or glide plates which are made of a colloidal graphite and are mounted on the underside of the crosshead shoe surface or on the rail. However, these glide elements cannot sufficiently withstand high loads. In particular, at the corners and edges, parts of the glide elements will break off, so that the glide surfaces are significantly damaged by broken pieces, rough broken edges and wear, and thus no longer fulfill their function as a "glide surface". Also, edges are dangerous which are arranged perpendicular to the direction of movement on the glide surfaces. In other attempts to reduce wear and keep broken pieces away from the glide surface, grooves which are inclined with respect to the direction of movement have been provided in rectangular glide plates. This measure, however, is hardly successful, because the inclined grooves in the rectangular glide plates result in angles under 90.degree., which makes the plates very susceptible to pieces breaking off. Furthermore, larger broken pieces can get caught in the grooves and thus can result in further destruction of the glide surface. Damaged or even destroyed glide elements result in a great resistance to movement, so that large forces are required in order to move the crosshead shoe with the material being annealed.
Significantly smaller forces for moving the crosshead shoes with the annealing material supported thereon are needed in the conveying device known from Swiss Patent No. 666 117, in which the crosshead shoe is supported on the rails by a continuous roller conveyor extending in the conveying direction. However, this solution is very complicated in its construction and is expensive both to manufacture and also to service.
A purpose of the present invention is to provide a conveying device of this type which avoids the disadvantages of the conventional constructions while providing movement between the crosshead shoes and the rails which is as wear-resistant and jerk-resistant as possible, and at the same time permitting a pairing of glide elements on the crosshead shoes and rails with a low friction coefficient.

Conveying device for push-type or continuous-heating furnaces


A powertrain having a Lithium-ion (Li-ion) traction battery including solid active particles is operated according to a state of charge of the battery based on an estimated Li-ion concentration profile of a representative solid active particle of a reduced-order model of the battery. The concentration profile is estimated according to the reduced-order model from the measured voltage and current of the battery.

An electric vehicle includes a traction battery. The battery has a state of charge (SOC) indicative of the current charging state of the battery. Knowledge of the battery SOC enables usable battery energy and battery power capability to be calculated.
The SOC of a battery may be estimated indirectly. One approach to estimating the battery SOC involves battery current integration (i.e., coulomb counting). A problem with such battery current integration approaches is that highly accurate current sensors are required to ensure the accuracy of the SOC estimation. Another approach uses battery voltage information to estimate the SOC. A problem with such battery voltage translation approaches is that many of them are either map-based or simplified equivalent circuit model based.
A battery is operated around a given battery SOC set-point in charge sustaining driving mode. The battery SOC estimation provided by the noted existing estimation approaches may be valid in this case as the long time duration dynamics are negligible. However, slow diffusion dynamics are dominant in charge depleting driving mode. The battery SOC estimation provided by the noted existing estimation approaches will not be valid due to the high non-linearity of the slow dynamics and dynamic components along wide frequency ranges.
Another battery SOC estimation approach should be developed which can be used over wide SOC, temperature ranges, and various vehicle driving conditions.

Method and system for battery state of charge estimation


A method for manufacturing and machining dental, maxillofacial and trauma prostheses and for optimizing an amount of time used in machining a prosthesis that has been previously manufactured with additive manufacturing technology is provided. The method includes manufacturing, by using excess material and additive manufacturing technology on a printing plate, a prosthetic block including at least a prosthesis. The method further includes joining pieces and positioning elements with specific dimensions and distances between the same; positioning the prosthetic block on a machining tray using the positioning elements; fixing the prosthetic block to the machining tray using the positioning elements; and fixing the machining tray to a machining machine, such that the prosthesis is fixed in a specific and known position in the machining machine by the specific dimensions and distances of the prosthetic block. The method further includes performing a machining operation to critical areas of the prosthesis.

Additive manufacturing of any element with 3D printers, the technology of which is based on the technology of additive manufacturing, wherein a layer is superimposed over another to form complex shapes, is now used for manufacturing different products from diverse sectors, due to the simplicity involved in using said technology and to the fact that a large number of people now have access to said printers, since, among other reasons, the costs associated with acquiring the same have been reduced.
One of the many products being manufactured by additive manufacturing technology or 3D printing are prostheses for the human body, and more specifically, and related to the present invention, dental prostheses.
Manufacturing dental prostheses by means of 3D printing requires a subsequent processing of the manufactured prosthesis, which implies a machining process of the piece, both to eliminate irregularities of the piece caused by the 3D printing, as well as to provide a high quality surface finish to the piece, which 3D printing is not able to provide on its own.
The subsequent machining process is done in a machining machine that carries out the process in an automatic and guided way. In order to perform the machining process, it is necessary to fix the manufactured prosthesis to the base plate of the machining machine, this operation of fixing the prosthesis implying a loss of time, or an unproductive time, which is generally quite a high amount of time in relation to the result of the operation, in other words, obtaining a prosthesis.

Method for manufacturing and machining dental, maxillofacial and trauma prostheses


A drilling head for the controlled operation of the drill string while diverting well fluids from the well. The drilling head incorporates a kelly drive and at least one stripper rubber which rotate with the drill string extending through the drilling head. Rotation of the drive bushing and stripper rubber are controlled by bearings disposed in a bearing chamber of the drilling head through which lubricant is circulated to reduce friction and cool the bearings. A turbine ring attached to the lock nut ring of the kelly drive circulates lubricant through the bearing chamber as it rotates in association with the drive assembly of the drilling head. The turbine pump ring forces circulation of lubricant as the drive assembly rotates in addition to the circulation by the remove lubricant pump or in the event the remote pump fails to operate. The turbine ring includes a plurality of angular slots to force circulation of the lubricant as the drive assembly rotates.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a drilling head for the controlled operation of a drill string and, in particular, to a pump ring for maintaining circulation of lubricant through the bearing chamber of the drilling head.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Drilling heads are extensively used in drilling operations to prevent drilling fluids from flooding the rig floor by diverting such fluids. The drilling head typically incorporates at least one stationary or rotating stripper rubber which seals against the drill string to prevent drilling fluid from flowing through the axial passage of the drilling head. A drive assembly mounted in the upper end of the drilling head controls the rotation of the drill string and may include a kelly drive and a drive bushing. Associated with the drive assembly are bearings mounted in a bearing chamber. In order to lubricate the bearings while dissipating head generated in the operation of the drilling head, a remote lubricant pump and reservoir are mounted in fluid communication with the bearing chamber. Such lubricant systems typically include a supply line connected to the drilling head at one end of the bearing chamber and a return line connected to the other end of the chamber forming a lubricant circulation path. Lubricant pumped to the bearing chamber, lubricates and cools the bearings and returns to the reservoir.
Circulation of lubrication fluids is dependent upon continuous operation of the pump associated with the lubricant supply. However, if the pump fails or becomes clogged, lubricant supply will be interrupted resulting in damage to the bearings or more extensively to the drilling head. While the bearings are replaceable, repair of the drilling head and the associated downtime can add significantly to the cost of drilling operations. One solution is the addition of a back-up pump or an alarm system which signals the interruption of lubricant flow. However, these alternatives also add to the cost of drilling operations.


The present invention provides a method of verifying that all flash EEPROM transistors in a NAND string are properly erased without overerasing by applying a bias voltage to the source of the bottom select gate of the NAND array and applying a non-negative erase verify voltage to the control gates of each transistor during an erase verify. The bias voltage is at least equal to the erased threshold voltage of the worst case transistor to ensure proper erase verification. If all transistors are not erased, then another erase operation is performed. Erasing is repeated until the erase verify operation indicates that all transistors are properly erased. By erasing and verifying according to the present invention, the NAND array is completely and properly erased while minimizing overerasing the array.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to non-volatile semiconductor memory arrays, and more particularly to NAND EEPROM arrays biased during erase verify to reduce overerase and improve reliability.
2. Related Art
Non-volatile semiconductor memories, such as flash EEPROMs, are well known in the art. Flash EEPROMs typically are transistors comprising source and drain diffusion regions of a first conductivity type (e.g., n-type) formed within a semiconductor substrate of a second conductivity type (e.g., p-type), a polysilicon floating gate overlying a channel region between the source and drain regions, a first insulative layer separating the floating gate from the channel, a polysilicon control gate overlying the floating gate, and a second insulative layer separating the control gate from the floating gate. The flash EEPROM can be programmed, read, or erased by applying different voltages to the transistor.
The EEPROM can be programmed by biasing the control gate to a higher voltage than the substrate. As a result, electrons are accelerated from the substrate across a channel formed between the substrate and floating gate and "tunnel" to the floating gate by Fowler-Nordheim tunneling. The floating gate accumulates and traps the electrons to raise the threshold voltage V.sub.t of the EEPROM. Once programmed, the EEPROM retains the raised threshold voltage.
The EEPROM can be read by applying a read voltage to the control gate of the EEPROM, typically via a word-line, and by applying positive bias to the drain, typically via a bit-line. The read voltage is a voltage below the V.sub.t of a programmed transistor and above the V.sub.t of an erased or unprogrammed transistor. Thus, if the EEPROM is programmed, the transistor will be "off" and not conduct drain current, and if the EEPROM is erased or unprogrammed, the transistor will be "on" and conduct drain current. By sensing this drain current, the EEPROM can be read as storing a "1" or a "0".
The EEPROM can be erased by biasing the substrate to a higher positive voltage than the control gate (e.g., by applying 18 V to the substrate and grounding the control gate) to force the electrons from the floating gate. As a result, the threshold voltage is lowered to a set erased threshold voltage, such as between -1.0 V and -1.5 V.
A well-known non-volatile memory array using this type of flash EEPROM is a NAND array 10 having columns and rows of NAND strings 11, as shown in FIG. 1. Each NAND string 11 consists of N EEPROM transistors 12-1 to 12-N (as described above), where N is typically equal to 8 or 16. Each EEPROM transistor 12, which stores one bit value, is connected serially to other transistors 12 at common drain/source regions, and the string of transistors 12 is connected between a string-select transistor 13 and a ground-select transistor 14. The drain of string-select transistor 13 is connected to a bit-line, and the source is connected to the drain of the first EEPROM transistor 12-1. The drain of ground-select transistor 14 is connected to the source of the last EEPROM transistor 12-N, and the source is connected to an array ground.
A particular transistor, such as transistor 12-2, of NAND string 11 is typically programmed, for example, by applying a program voltage (i.e., 18 V) to the control gate of the selected transistor 12-2, a pass voltage (i.e., 7-10 V) to the control gates of unselected transistors 12, a logic "0" (i.e., 0-0.3 V) to the bit line, a supply voltage V.sub.cc (i.e., 3.3 V) to the gate of string-select transistor 13, and 0 V to the gate of ground-select transistor 14. As a result, string-select transistor 13 is turned on, unselected transistors 12 are turned on to act as pass transistors regardless of their programmed state, and ground-select transistor is turned off. The large voltage difference between the control gate and substrate of selected transistor 12-2 causes Fowler-Nordheim tunneling to raise the threshold voltage of transistor 12-2, thereby programming the desired transistor.
A particular transistor, such as transistor 12-2, is read by applying, for example, a read voltage (i.e., 0 V if the V.sub.t of the erased transistors are negative and the V.sub.t of programmed transistors are positive) and a pass voltage (i.e., 4.5 V) to the control gates of the unselected transistors 12 and string-select and ground-select transistors 13 and 14. As a result, the unselected transistors 12 are turned on and act as pass transistors. A circuit senses if current flows through transistor 12-2, i.e., if transistor 12-2 is turned on, to determine whether a "0" or a "1" is stored.
Transistors 12 of NAND string 11 can be simultaneously erased by applying, for example, a large erase voltage (i.e., 20 V) to the substrate of each transistor 12 and 0 volts to the gate of transistors 12 while floating the gates of select transistors 13 and 14. Due to the large voltage drop, electrons are removed from the floating gates of each transistor 12, thereby shifting the voltage threshold of each transistor negative to erase the transistors.
However, the EEPROM transistors are usually not identical due, in part, to non-uniform process parameters during the fabrication of the transistors. Consequently, even though the same potential is applied during the same erasing operation, the threshold voltages for the transistors may vary, which can result in a range of threshold voltages both below and above the desired erased V.sub.t. When transistors are not properly erased, reading errors may result. For example, an improperly erased transistor having a V.sub.t higher than the read voltage may be mistakenly read as a programmed, rather than an erased, memory cell. During reading, a margin is necessary to minimize effects of read disturb, temperature variations, charge gain, and other adverse effects.
To ensure all transistors are properly erased, a very large or long erase voltage is typically applied to all the transistors. The erase voltage is chosen to be greater than the erase voltage required to erase the worst-case transistor, i.e., the oldest, slowest speed, or highest threshold voltage transistor. Thus, by overerasing the transistors, all transistors are ensured to be erased.
However, problems arise with this type of method. First, by overerasing all the time, fresh memory cells are unnecessarily and repeatedly overdepleted and programmed, thereby reducing the reliability of these cells and increasing these cells' programming times during their lifetime. Second, as the memory cells age, some cells may be increasingly slow to erase so that even with a margin for the erase voltage, some cells may not be guaranteed to properly erase.
Accordingly, a method of ensuring that all the transistors in a NAND string are properly erased is desired that overcomes the deficiencies discussed above with conventional methods.


A portable exercise machine utilizing resistance bands is provided. The exercise machine includes a platform and a pair of arms attached to the platform. The pair of arms may extend laterally away from the platform. Resistance bands may be attached to the arms. A user may thereby stand on the platform and/or straps and use the resistance bands for exercise. The arms may further pivot relative to the platform, allowing the user to perform a plurality of different exercises.

The present invention relates to a portable resistance band exercise machine and, more particularly, to a platform with extending arms and the resistance bands attached to the extending arms.
An exercise machine may be any machine used for physical exercise, such as weight lifting machines and cardio machines. Typically, exercise machines are very bulky and are not easily portable. Further, many exercise machines only work out a few body parts and the resistance is very limited.
As can be seen, there is a need for a versatile and lightweight exercise machine.

Portable resistance band exercise machine


The present invention relates to a method of production of antibodies wherein the heavy and light chains of a particular antibody molecule are encoded by the DNA present in a dicistronic message in which the two cistrons are linked by an optimised intergenic sequence.

The ability of antibodies to recognise specific antigens has made them highly useful and effective tools in medicine and biotechnology. Antibodies specific for antigens on selected types of cell have been used to target these antibodies to the selected cell. The binding of antibodies to receptors on cells has been found in some cases to affect the function of the cell. Therapeutic and diagnostic agents have also been conjugated to antibodies to specifically target these agents to selected cells. This technique has been used particularly in the targeting of cancer cells. Antibodies have also been used to target antigens on virally- or bacterially-infected cells, to target other molecules, such as TNFα, or for use in assays. In biotechnology, antibodies have many uses such as probes, in purification and in catalysis.
All whole antibody molecules consist of four polypeptide chains—two identical heavy chains and two identical light chains. Each chain comprises both variable and constant domains. Light chains comprise two domains: VL and CL, whilst heavy chains comprise at least five domains: VH, CH1, hinge, CH2 and CH3 and an optional CH4. The four chains are always organised in the same general fashion: the two heavy chains are linked together by at least one disulphide bond and each heavy chain is also linked to one of the light chains by a disulphide bond such that both light chains are linked to a separate heavy chain.
Whole antibody molecules are roughly Y-shaped and consist essentially of two main functional parts. The first functional part is responsible for the recognition of specific antigens and is formed by the upper part of the arms of the Y. The antigen binding region in each part comprises one VH domain and one VL domain. Each variable domain contains three hypervariable regions which, together with the three hypervariable regions in the other chain, form the antigen-binding site. These hypervariable regions are known as complementarity determining regions (CDR1, CDR2 and CDR3). The CDRs, which form loops, are supported on framework regions. Due to its variability between antibodies, the regions comprising VH and VL are known as the 'V' regions.
The second functional part is responsible for triggering the effector functions of other cells that will dispose of the antigen recognised by the antibody and is formed by the lower parts of the arms and the stem of the Y. This region is known as the constant 'C' region due to its relative constancy. It comprises the CL domains and all the heavy chain C domains.
There are two types of light chain: κ and λ, and five types of heavy chain: α, δ, γ, ε and μ. The class of the antibody is determined by the type of heavy chain it has: IgA, IgD, IgE, IgG and IgM respectively.
Antibody fragments, which have had part of their constant region removed by enzymatic cleavage, are also used in medicine and biotechnology. These include Fab, Fab′, F(ab′)2 and Fv fragments.
It is known to direct production of large amounts of monoclonal antibodies (having a particular antigen-specificity) by fusing an antibody-producing spleen cell with a myeloma cell, resulting in a hybridoma (Kohler, G. and Milstein, C. Continuous cultures of fused cells secreting antibody of predefined specificity. Nature, 256, 495-497 (1975)). However, such antibodies are unsuitable for use in human therapy as they are immunogenic in humans. Most monoclonal antibodies are produced by non-human cells.
Recombinant DNA techniques have been developed which enable the useful properties of more than one antibody to be combined to make one new antibody. The production of chimeric antibodies, in which the antigen-binding site comprising the complete V region of one antibody is linked to the constant region from a different antibody, is described in EP-A-0120694 (Celltech Limited), EP-A-0125023 (Genentech Inc. and City of Hope), EP-A-0171496 (Research Development Corporation, Japan), EP-A-0173494 (Stanford University) and WO-A-86/01533 (Celltech Limited).
WO-A-86/01533, for example, describes the preparation of a chimeric antibody in which murine V regions are joined to human constant regions. However, the large proportion of residues in chimeric non-human/human antibodies which are derived from the non-human donor result in the possibility of the antibody eliciting a potentially harmful immunological response, particularly if administered over a prolonged period (Begent et al., Br. J. Cancer, 62, 487 (1990)).
Antibody 'humanisation' is a technique which makes non-human/human chimeric antibodies appear more like human antibodies to the human immune system and has been developed in an attempt to overcome the unwanted immunological response mentioned above. EP-A-0239400 (Winter) describes how, instead of using a complete murine variable region, the CDRs of a murine monoclonal antibody are grafted onto the framework regions of the variable domains of a human antibody. Thus, it is only the CDRs forming the antigen-binding domain itself that are murine and the other residues are human.
Reichmann et al., ("Reshaping human anitbodies for therapy", Nature, 332, 323-324, 1988) found it to be advantageous to convert other human residues in the variable domain to their non-human donor counterparts to improve antigen-binding activity. Such a residue was found at position 27 of the human heavy chain, which, when converted from the human serine to the corresponding rat residue (phenylalanine), resulted in improved antigen-binding ability. Another such residue was found at position 30. However, a construct which contained a human serine to rat tyrosine change at position 30 of the heavy chain in addition to the change at position 27 mentioned above, did not have a significantly altered binding activity over the humanised antibody with the serine to phenylalanine change at position 27 alone.
Heavy chain residues 27 and 30 are within the structural loop adjacent to CDR1. Queen et al., (WO 90/07861) conjectured that other residues which interact with the CDRs are also important in determining antigen-binding affinity. With this in mind, Queen et al., proposed four criteria for determining which residues should come from the donor and which from the acceptor when designing humanised antibodies. In a more definitive analysis, Adair et al., (WO 91/09967) disclosed a hierarchy of residue numbers that will enable a humanised antibody to be designed.
A number of reviews discussing CDR-grafted antibodies have been published including Vaughan et al., (Nature Biotechnology, 16, 535-539, 1998).
Antibody conjugates, in which the constant region has been fused to effector or reporter molecules which may act as therapeutic or diagnostic agents, have also been described (WO 95/01155, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,927,193, 4,331,647, 4,348,376, 4,361,544, 468,457, 4,444,744, 4,460,459 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,460,561 and reviews by Waldmann, T. A., Science, 252, 1657, (1991); Koppel, G. A., Bioconjug. Chem., 1, 13, (1990); Oeltmann, T. N. and Frankel, A. E., FASEB J., 5, 2334, (1991); and van den Bergh, H. E., Chemistry in Britain, May 1986, 430-439).
It was known to produce normal, chimeric or humanised antibodies by transfecting a suitable host cell with two expression vectors, one containing a DNA sequence encoding the heavy chain and one containing a DNA sequence encoding the light chain of the required antibody (WO-A-91/09967). Alternatively, it was known to transfect a suitable host cell with an expression vector that contains both the DNA sequence encoding the heavy chain and the DNA sequence encoding the light chain of the required antibody. In the latter example, the DNA sequences encoding the heavy chain and the light chain are either under the control of their own individual promoters (WO-A-91/09967) or are present in a dicistronic message (Better, M., Paul Chang, C., Robinson, R. R. and Horwitz, A. H. Escherichia coli: Secretion of an Active Chimeric Antibody Fragment. Science, 240, 1041-1043 (1988)).
A dicistronic message was used by Better et al., to produce a chimeric mouse L6 Fab antibody directed towards a ganglioside antigen expressed on the surface of many human carcinomas. A dicistronic message was chosen in this case in an attempt to ensure that both the truncated heavy chains (Fd) and the κ light chains were translated in close physical proximity so that they would assemble correctly and be secreted. Dicistronic messages are only able to function in bacteria whereas the 'one gene, one promoter' concept functions in both mammals and bacteria. In a dicistronic message, a promoter is associated only with the first cistron. The second cistron is transcribed by the polymerase 'reading through' to the second cistron such that both cistrons are represented by a single RNA molecule. The two coding DNA cistrons are separated by a stretch of DNA known as an 'intergenic sequence' or 'IGS'. This IGS region is also present in the RNA molecule that is transcribed from the DNA.
Optimisation of the translational initiation rate has for some time been recognised as essential for high level expression of secreted heterologous proteins in E. coli (Simmons, L. and Yansura, D. Nature Biotech, 14, 629-634 (1996)). However, different Fab's have different framework and CDR sequences which confer different properties to the molecule, including differences in the ease (or rate) of folding within the E. coli periplasm (Knappik, A. and Pluckthun, A. Prot Eng 8, 81-89 (1995)). For example, a Fab′ which folds into its native conformation easily and rapidly within the E. coli periplasm is likely to be 'tolerated' at a high level and rapid translation can be accommodated to achieve high-level accumulation. A Fab′ which folds more poorly is likely to be tolerated less well by the host bacterium if rapidly translated, potentially saturating host folding/secretion machinery and having a deleterious effect on host cell physiology.
Thus, when producing antibodies using a host cell-expression vector system, a high level of expression of a particular antibody may be tolerated, but for a different antibody, a high level of expression might prove toxic to the cell, perhaps because of different efficiencies of secretion or folding.
The level of expression of a particular antibody is determined by the amount of heavy and light chains present. For maximal production, the ratio of heavy chains to light chains should be balanced, such as equal quantities of both. However, if either the heavy or the light chain is present in a lesser amount, this will limit the amount of antibody produced. Accumulation of excess heavy chain is likely to be particularly poorly tolerated.
In the case of an antibody encoded by a dicistronic message, the upstream cistron may contain either the DNA coding for the heavy chain or the light chain of an antibody with a particular antigen specificity. The downstream cistron would then encode the respective light chain or heavy chain partner. It would be advantageous if the level of expression of the antibody chain corresponding to the coding DNA in the downstream cistron of a dicistronic message could be regulated to produce the desired level of expression for a particular antibody.

Expression control using variable intergenic sequences


The subject invention relates to an apparatus and process for testing various parameters and properties of high strength flexible, fabric laminates. In particular, the apparatus comprises a machine using individually controlled loads to test various material parameters.

Plain-woven fabrics are widely utilized as structural materials for many applications including inflated structures, fabric roofing, and large canopies, among others. In these capacities, the materials are primarily affected by variations in weather, i.e., temperature changes, precipitation, and wind, though stress due to weight and pressure is also a concern. Therefore, while such structures are designed to be lightweight and pliable, they must also exhibit superior strength and durability.
These materials may also find application in lighter-than-air vehicles, such as aerostats, balloons, and airships, including blimps and dirigibles, which are used in many different applications, such as near large sporting, entertainment or cultural events, or in large metropolitan areas to provide advertising or to provide high level coverage of the events. Lighter-than-air vehicles are also used in high altitude applications, for the purpose of weather monitoring and/or military surveillance. In such instances, the higher a vehicle can operate translates into an increased amount of area that can be viewed for surveillance purposes and/or weather monitoring. Additionally, lighter-than-air vehicles that possess the ability to operate at altitudes above 50,000 feet are not a hazard to commercial air traffic, are more difficult to detect and/or destroy, can be used for the surveillance of wide areas, and thus can provide a strategic and/or economic, as well as providing a means to relay communications.
Of particular interest herein are structural materials for use as the hull material in lighter-than-air vehicles, though the apparatus and method of using the same disclosed herein will find application in testing materials for any of the foregoing uses. For example, typical high altitude lighter-than-air vehicles are made from flexible, fabric laminates including lightweight materials that withstand a wide range of temperature variation and daily expansion and contraction due to such temperature variations, ozone degradation, and exposure to ultraviolet light. Materials employed for more conventional uses may experience these same conditions, though generally to a lesser extreme.
Many uses of these materials result in localized stresses in addition to overall stress and strain. For example, if the material bears logo or identification lettering, as in the case of advertising balloons or dirigibles, the logo or lettering may generate localized heat accumulation. Other potential localized stress areas are seams where panels of flexible, fabric laminate are joined together using structural seam tape to form larger structures. The area along the edge of the seams is subject to greater stress, due to the transition in stiffness of the fabric laminate to the seam area, resulting in increased potential for material failure.
In light of the environmental extremes and other stresses experienced by materials used for any of the foregoing applications, and particularly those experienced by materials used for lighter-than-air vehicle application, the materials of choice for such applications are typically high strength materials. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,074,722 to Cuccias teaches a fabric laminate made of a layer of polyurethane resin used to bond layers of high strength liquid crystal thermotropic (melt spun) polyester (VECTRAN®), aromatic polyaramide (KEVLAR®), or polyester (DACRON®) fiber woven yarn to a polyvinyl fluoride (TEDLAR® or MYLAR®) layer, and having an outer layer of a material that is resistant to degradation by ultra violet radiation. U.S. Pat. No. 6,979,479 teaches a laminate of a liquid crystal polymer fiber yarn layer (VECTRAN®) as an interior surface, an adhesive layer, a polyimide layer, and a polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) layer which forms the exterior surface.
In these materials, the various layers function as a gas barrier, to retain helium or hydrogen, and/or to provide protection from degradation caused by, for example, ozone or ultraviolet radiation. The flexible, fabric laminate may further include a thin metallic coating to provide a means for passive thermal management, reduce helium permeation, minimize the affects of lightening strikes, and provide a means for uniform static electricity distribution over the hull surface.
As noted above, the flexible, fabric laminate materials experience a variety of extreme environmental parameters. In addition, stress and strain is compounded by the need to use materials that minimize the weight of the vehicle or device. For example, a reduction in the quantity of laminating adhesive, opening the fabric weave to leave more space between fibers or yarns and using the smaller, lower denier yarn can help to reduce the weight but may also reduce the strength and increase local stress concentrations in a fabric laminate. Clearly, there is a fine balance between the necessity to use a lightweight material, yet use a material that can withstand extreme operating conditions.
In light of the foregoing, it is imperative that the properties of a flexible, fabric laminate and its constituent materials be known in as detailed a manner as possible in order to predict potential use limitations, up to the point of material failure. Knowledge of the strength and property limitations of flexible, fabric laminate materials, and particularly of lightweight, high strength fabric laminate materials, will allow for use of the materials within the confines of certain system designs.
Known machines and apparatuses that are used to test material strengths and property limitations of the type discussed hereinabove are limited to devices capable only of creating uniaxial and/or symmetrical biaxial stress. Typically, a tensile test machine is used to generate uniaxial forces to evaluate the strength and performance of materials. However, for inflated structures, such as an airship, aerostat, or blimp, the stresses in the hull material due to the inflation pressure are biaxial and unlikely to be equal. For example, the stress in the hoop or circumferential direction is two times the stress in the longitudinal or axial direction. To characterize and evaluate the actual performance of airship hull fabric laminates, it is necessary to test them while under simultaneous, unequal, independent, biaxial stress. If the lighter-than-air vehicle is spherical, such as a balloon, the stresses are generally equal in all directions.
Certain machines are capable of testing in-plane shear strength as well; however, machines with this capability do not create independent biaxial stress. While machines with the ability to apply symmetric biaxial force can simulate operational stresses to a certain degree, they fail to provide a means to accurately test a fabric laminate under more realistic applied stress conditions that the material will experience in use, particularly, the application of sheer stress simultaneously with independently varied biaxial stresses.
As can be seen from the foregoing, what is needed is an apparatus capable of generating biaxial loads, independently of each other, to assess biaxial stress and strain, and to further test and evaluate in-plane sheer. In addition, such an apparatus that also assesses gas permeability, gas barrier film delamination and other such parameters while simultaneously subjected to biaxial loads and in-plane shear is needed to more accurately predict the performance of flexible, fabric laminate materials under extreme conditions.

Biaxial stress, sheer, permeability, and peel test method and machine to conduct the same


To miniaturize an engine, to concentrate heavy masses and to reduce friction loss of a balancer. An engine crankcase structure in which a crankcase is vertically partitioned into an upper case and a lower case, each journal supporter is formed in the upper case and in the lower case so that the rotational axis of a crankshaft is located on a partition face of the crankcase in parallel with a direction of the width of the body. The crankshaft is supported so that the crankshaft can be rotated. An oil filter is directly attached to the lower case. An oil cooler and a secondary balancer are arranged in the front of the lower case.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the crankcase structure of an engine. In particular, the present invention relates to the crankcase structure of an engine provided with a balancer.
2. Description of Background Art
In the background art, some engines mounted in a vehicle such as a motorcycle are provided with a secondary balancer. The secondary balancer is provided with a balancer shaft parallel to the crankshaft and is configured so that secondary engine vibration is effectively reduced by rotating the secondary balancer by two times the number of revolutions of the crankshaft (see JP-A-2000-310286). A balancer according to the above background art is configured by one or two shafts, and the layout is determined in consideration of a relation between the balancer and each part of the engine.
In the above-mentioned engine, the balancer is arranged in the front of the crankcase. However, in the case of a motorcycle for example, an exhaust pipe connected to the cylinder head is arranged so that the exhaust pipe passes the front side and the downside of the crankcase. Accordingly, there are many limitations on the balancer layout. In addition, an oil cooler and an oil filter are often arranged in the front of the crankcase and these including the balancer are required to be properly laid out.


To enhance bonding accuracy of a bump electrode, while coping with narrowing pitch of the bump electrodes, a protruding electrode, whose leading end is sharpened, is provided to a semiconductor chip, and the protruding electrode is bonded to a lead electrode, while having a leading end of the protruding electrode bite into the lead electrode.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device, a semiconductor module, and a method of manufacturing the semiconductor device, and in particular is suitably applied to a bump electrode, used for a flip-chip method, a TAB (Tape Automated Bonding) method or the like.
2. Description of Related Art
In a related art TCP (Tape Carrier Package), COF (Chip On Film), COG (Chip On Glass) or the like, there is a method of forming a bump electrode on a semiconductor chip, for example, as disclosed in PCT international application: No. WO96/42107, in order to couple a semiconductor chip and a motherboard.

Method of manufacturing a semiconductor device including a protruding electrode bonded to a lead electrode


In an information processing apparatus for transmitting and receiving information via a communication medium established relative to an external apparatus, it is determined whether the information to be transmitted and subject to specific processing in the external apparatus is selected or not. If it is determined that the information to be transmitted is selected, the selected information is transmitted via the communication medium. If it is determined that the information is not selected, designation information indicating the information selectable subject to transmission is transmitted via the communication medium. Then, the information designated by the designation information received in response to the transmission of the selection information is transmitted to the external apparatus via the communication medium.

As an existing technology to realize near field communication, there is known RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) or NFC (Near Field Communication).
Recently, a non-contact transfer technology called 'Transfer JET' is developed. In this transfer technology, power supply is required, communication distance is a maximum of 3 cm, but data transfer speed is very high, that is, 560 Mbps.
In existing wireless communication terminals, in order to transmit a recorded image through wireless communication and to print out said image, a user must perform complicated operations such as selecting the image, initiating a transmitting function using a menu screen and specifying a communicating party.
As a known technology, when a plurality of files is transmitted from a data transmitting apparatus to data processing apparatus, there is a wireless communication system which provides an interface displayed in the data processing apparatus, for selecting the file to be transmitted (Japanese Patent-Laid-Open 2006-020078). Namely, a data receiving apparatus displays file information regarding files capable of being transmitted from the transmitting apparatus and the receiving apparatus provides a user interface for selecting a file to be transmitted.
As another known technology, an information processing system is known wherein the adjacency or contact of a communication apparatus is detected and the processing specified by information transmitted from the detected apparatus is executed by an application program (Japanese Patent-Laid-Open No. 2006-157392).
When near field communication system is utilized, there is a convenience that an image recorded in a first wireless communication terminal is transmitted to a second wireless communication terminal only by moving the first wireless communication terminal close to the second wireless communication terminal.
However, there is a disadvantage in that the image in the first wireless communication terminal cannot be transferred when the image is not in the selected state. Further, there is no prior art notifying the user of that state and conveniently specifying the image to be transferred.

Information processing apparatus, system and control method for transmitting data enabling selection of an image to be transmitted


To provide fine particle films including fine particles which are arranged at a high density in a highly accurate and regular manner is enabled. The fine particle film is a fine particle film including a substrate and plural number of protein fine particles which are arranged on the surface of the substrate in a plane direction parallel to the surface of the substrate, wherein each of the protein fine particles has plural number of first binding sites and one or more second binding sites respectively including a condensed amino acid, and each of the first binding sites binds to other first binding site carried by an adjacent fine particle while the second binding site binds to the substrate, wherein at least a part of the condensed amino acids constituting the second binding site are substituted.

Fine particles have a great ratio of the surface area to the volume thereof, and they generally behave in a different manner from materials having small ratio of the surface area to the volume. For example, fine particles of inorganic materials such as titanium oxide, zinc oxide and the like have eliminating action of ultraviolet ray, antibacterial action, catalytic action and the like.
Among fine particles of inorganic materials, fine particles having a diameter in a nanometer size (superfine particles) are expected to exhibit a quantum effect. Accordingly, industrial utilization of the fine particles has drawn attention. In particular, in respect of superfine particles having the diameter in nanometer size, there is an urgent need to develop industrial manufacturing techniques of elements utilizing the quantum effects.
Protein fine particles having the diameter of about 10 to 20 nm have drawn attention in regard to utilization for biosensors and the like. Particularly, among various protein fine particles, there exist fine particles capable of including inorganic materials inside. Such protein fine particles have both features of fine particles of the inorganic materials as described above and of fine particles of a protein.
The fine particles described hereinabove usually have distributed in the form of a colloidal solution. However, it is disadvantageous in efficient utilization of the fine particle functions in the colloidal solution as it is. Therefore, techniques which allow industrially efficient utilization of the functions of fine particles have been sought in which the aforementioned colloidal solution is utilized as a raw material.
Conventionally, two-dimensional crystal films comprising protein fine particles have been utilized in crystal structure analyses of a protein by an electron microscope. In this analysis, a two-dimensional crystal film comprising the protein fine particles is produced by filling a colloidal solution of the protein fine particles in a trough, and concentrating the protein fine particles on a gas-liquid interface of this colloidal solution. According to this process, because the two-dimensional crystal film is formed on the gas-liquid interface, the two-dimensional crystal film is liable to be disrupted through vibration.
Thus, as a technique which can be industrially utilized in an efficient manner, methods to arrange fine particles on a substrate have been believed to be most efficient. Therefore, to establish techniques for readily forming an ideal fine particle film on a substrate with fine particles being regularly arranged at a high density has been desired.
As a technique for arranging protein fine particles on a substrate developed heretofore, a transfer method developed by Yoshimura et al. (Adv. Biophys., Vol. 34, p99-107 (1997)) is explained below with reference to FIG. 12.
First, in the step shown in FIG. 12 (a), a liquid 24 with protein fine particles 45 dispersed therein is injected into a sucrose solution 23 having the concentration of 2% using a syringe 25.
Next, in the step shown in FIG. 12 (b), the liquid 24 is elevated up to the surface of the sucrose solution 23.
Next, in the step shown in FIG. 12 (c), the liquid 24 reached to the gas-liquid interface first forms an amorphous film 26 of the protein fine particles, and the protein fine particles 45 reached afterwards come to attach beneath the amorphous film 26.
Next, in the step shown in FIG. 12 (d), a two-dimensional crystal film 27 of the fine protein fine particles 45 is formed beneath the amorphous film 26. Then, as is illustrated in FIG. 12 (d), on a film 28 including the amorphous film 26 and the two-dimensional crystal film 27 of the protein fine particles 45, disposed a substrate 21 (silicon wafer, carbon grid, glass substrate or the like), thereby transferring the film 28 to the surface of the substrate 21.
However, according to the aforementioned conventional method, it is highly possible that a breakage of the film 28 occurs in the step shown in FIG. 12 (d), and it is also highly possible that a part of the protein fine particles of the two-dimensional crystal film 27 may fall away upon the transfer. Accordingly, there are problems involving difficulties in transferring a two-dimensional crystal film having a great area to a substrate without failure.
Therefore, according to the aforementioned method of Yoshimura et al., there is disclosed a method to accelerate the transfer of protein fine particles onto a substrate surface by treating the substrate surface with aminopropylmethoxy silane so that the substrate surface is positively charged at pH of around 7, in instances where the protein has negative charge at pH of around 7. In addition, it has been also revealed that protein fine particles are liable to bind with each other.
However, when the state of transfer of the protein fine particles to the substrate in the two-dimensional crystal film which was obtained according to the method described above is observed, with SEM or AFM, directions of symmetric axes of the protein fine particles are revealed to be random. Such random directionality results from the sites being random where the protein fine particles contact with the substrate in the method described above. Therefore, according to the method described above, protein fine particles may form a comparatively aggregated structure, however, it is difficult to obtain a two-dimensional crystal film having protein fine particles arranged at a high density in a highly accurate and regular manner, with directions of the symmetric axes of the protein fine particles being coordinated. In other words, directional control of the crystal axis of the two-dimensional crystal film is extremely difficult.

Fine particle film and producing method of the same

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


Methods and systems are provided for fabricating and measuring physical features of a semiconductor device structure. An exemplary method of fabricating a semiconductor device structure involves obtaining raw measurement data for a wafer of semiconductor material from a metrology tool and adjusting a measurement model utilized by a metrology tool based at least in part on the raw measurement data and a value for a design parameter. The wafer has that value for the design parameter and an attribute of the semiconductor device structure fabricated thereon, wherein the measurement model is utilized by the metrology tool to convert the raw measurement data to a measurement value for the attribute.

Semiconductor devices, such as transistors, are the core building block of the vast majority of electronic devices. In practice, it is desirable to accurately and precisely fabricate transistors and other semiconductor devices with physical features having specific physical dimensions to thereby achieve semiconductor devices having their intended performance characteristics and to improve yield. However, the hardware tools used to fabricate the devices may exhibit performance variations. As a result, devices may be fabricated with features that deviate from their specified physical dimensions, which, in turn, could lead to failures at wafer test and, accordingly, reduce yield. Thus, it is desirable to measure physical features, critical dimensions and/or other properties of devices during fabrication to correct any deviations from the intended physical dimensions and thereby reduce the likelihood of failures at wafer test and improve yield.
Obtaining highly accurate measurements using non-destructive metrologies (which reduce yield) typically take an undesirably long amount of time or undesirably increases costs. For example, to use scatterometry to measure a particular device feature of a semiconductor device structure, a specific model must be developed to convert raw measurement spectra to a corresponding measurement for that feature. The model is often developed after the process for fabricating that semiconductor device structure has been substantially established or fixed, and therefore, the time required to develop and accurate model and the time required to develop the fabrication process are compounded, thereby increasing the overall time-to-solution. Additionally, the resulting model often assumes that one or more design parameters for the semiconductor device structure are fixed (by virtue of the design process being pre-established), and therefore, is inflexible and unable to accommodate subsequent changes to those design parameters.

Systems and methods for fabricating semiconductor device structures


A portable hoist adapted for attachment to a ball hitch mounted in a central location in a flat bed of a truck is disclosed. The hoist comprises an elongate base frame member, a receptacle mounted at the front end of the base frame member and adapted for releasable attachment to the ball hitch, an upright frame member, and a boom having load engaging device mounted to the upright member. The upright member and the base frame member are pivotally interconnecting so as to permit pivotal movement of the upright frame member about a horizontal axis extending laterally across the bed of the truck. A load is lifting via the operation of lifting device interconnected between the base frame member and one of the upright frame member and the boom.

Vehicle mounted hoists or cranes have become increasingly popular in recent years. Typically the hoist or crane is mounted on the bed of a vehicle such as a pickup truck, and are used for loading and unloading the truck. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,069,922 to Hawkins discloses a portable crane including an apparatus for supporting a hoist mounted on the frame of a pickup truck. The apparatus includes a upright structure carrying an outwardly extending boom and an auxiliary or supplemental support leg provided outside of the vehicle to support this hoist mechanism and prevent excessive unbalanced loading on the wheel structure of the vehicle.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,556,358 to Harlan also discloses a hoist for lifting loads into a vehicle such as a truck. The portable hoist includes a fixed mounting that is attached to a support, i.e., the sidewall of a truck. An upright support structure is connected to the mounting by a vertical hinge assembly so that the support structure can swing about a vertical axis. A boom is pivotally secured to the support structure so that the free end of the boom can be raised or lowered.
Although these and other structures can provide good lifting capability using a vehicle such as a truck, typically, these devices are cumbersome to use, requiring permanent mountings, complex assembly and limited range of maneuverability. Accordingly there exists a need for a device that is easily assembled and disassembled and mounted to a conventional vehicle such as a pickup truck, and still provide a sufficient range of movement and load capacity.


The present invention provides a transdermal delivery system for hydrophilic anti-emetic agents and methods of using thereof. The system includes an anti-emetic hydrophilic adhesive composition of a hydrophilic polymer and hydrophilic anti-emetic agent, a patch containing at least one hydrophilic layer of the composition, and an apparatus that generates hydrophilic micro-channels in skin of a subject using the patch or composition. The system preferably avoids the use of penetration enhancers and is particularly useful for transdermal delivery of hydrophilic anti-emetic agents.

Drug delivery across the skin of a patient obviates a variety of problems associated with oral administration of the drug, for example, nausea or vomiting, drug inactivation by gastrointestinal enzymes, and fluctuations in blood concentrations of the drug resulting from fluctuations in absorption from the gastrointestinal tract, and from hepatic first pass inactivation. Drug delivery across the skin of a patient also avoids the inconvenience associated with drug injection.
Transdermal drug delivery has been tackled using one of the two complementary approaches known in the art. One approach utilizes a method of puncturing the skin or otherwise disrupting the impermeable layers of the skin to facilitate the entry of drugs into the systemic circulation, and the other approach provides formulations of drugs that may be applied to the skin in the form of patches, films or matrices of varying compositions.
Transdermal Delivery Apparatus
Electrotransport or iontophoretic drug delivery devices have been disclosed as being useful for the delivery of many types of drugs for which it is anticipated that transdermal delivery would be advantageous. U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,169,920 and 6,317,629 to Alza for example disclose iontophoretic drug delivery apparatus, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,983,130 to Alza discloses an electrotransport agent delivery method and apparatus suitable for ionizable drugs.
Electroporation is also well known in the art as a method to increase pore size by application of an electric field. Electroporation is disclosed as a means for transiently decreasing the electrical resistance of the stratum corneum and increasing the transdermal flux of small molecules by applying an electric field to increase the size of existing pores (Chizmadzhev et al., Biophysics Journal, 1998,74 (2), 843-856).
U.S. Pat. No. 5,019,034 to Weaver et al. describes apparatus for applying high voltage, short duration electrical pulses on the skin to produce electroporation.
WO 97/07734 to Eppstein et al. discloses thermal ablation of the stratum corneum using an electrically resistive element in contact with the stratum corneum, such that a high current through the element causes a general heating of tissue in its vicinity, most particularly the stratum corneum, that is the 10-50 micron thick outermost layer of the skin.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,885,211, 6,022,316, 6,142,939 and 6,173,202 to Eppstein et al., which are incorporated herein by reference, describe methods for forming micro-pores in the stratum corneum by heating tissue-bound water above the vapor point with a heat-conducting element, so as to enhance transdermal transport of an analyte or active substance. Further enhancement techniques include the use of sonic energy, pressure, and chemical enhancers.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,964,482 to Gerstel, U.S. Pat. No. 6,050,988 to Zuck, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,083,196 to Trautman et al. describe other apparatus and methods for facilitating transdermal movement of a substance.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,148,232 to Avrahami, which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference, describes a device for ablating the stratum corneum of a subject. The device includes a plurality of electrodes, which are applied at respective points on skin of a subject. A power source applies electrical energy between two or more of the electrodes to cause ablation of distinct regions of the stratum corneum (SC), primarily beneath the respective electrodes. Various techniques for limiting ablation to the stratum corneum are described, including spacing of the electrodes and monitoring the electrical resistance of skin between adjacent electrodes. The device disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,148,232 and continuations thereto (U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,983,135; 6,579,946; and 6,611,706, and International Patent Applications Nos. WO 01/85234, WO 02/085451 and WO 02/092163 are referred hereinafter in the specification by the name ViaDerm.
Transdermal Patches
There are two prevalent types of transdermal patch designs, namely the reservoir type where the drug is contained within a reservoir having a basal surface that is permeable to the drug, and a matrix type, where the drug is dispersed in a polymer layer affixed to the skin. Both types of designs also typically include a backing layer and an inner release liner layer that is removed prior to use.
Patches usually comprise penetration enhancers and adhesive layers, which known to cause irritation or edema. In addition, patches are known to produce non-uniform rates of drug release between different patients and different skin types.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,668,232 describes a matrix for a transdermal patch, which comprises a reservoir layer comprising a water-swellable polymeric matrix composed of an adhesive material, and a drug that is partially or wholly soluble in the adhesive material. The inclusion of the water-swellable polymer is alleged to increase the release rate of the drug from the matrix.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,230,898 describes a transdermal patch comprising a matrix composed of a water-insoluble material that contains islands of solid particles of a drug in a water-soluble/swellable polymer and an underlayer that controls the amount of water vapor passing from the skin to the matrix. The matrix is said to be activated by water vapor from the skin.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,559,222 describes a transdermal matrix-type patch in which the matrix is composed of a mixture of mineral oil, polyisobutylene (an adhesive), and colloidal silicon dioxide. The addition of the silicon dioxide allegedly affects the flow characteristics of the mineral oil-polyisobutylene mix.
Compositions or devices in the form of specific types of patches adapted for the transdermal delivery of anti-emetics include: U.S. Pat. No. 5,989,586 that discloses a transdermal patch comprising two-phase drug-containing matrix for sustained release of the drug; WO 00/47208 that discloses a transdermal composition comprising a matrix containing an alcohol, a penetration enhancer, water, and an anti-vomiting agent selected from tropisetron, ondansetron and granisetron; and WO 98/53815 that discloses a transdermal delivery device for the delivery of tropisetron or granisetron comprising an adhesive layer comprising specific alkylacrylates and hydrophilic monomers.
There remains an unmet medical need to overcome skin trauma, pain and uncontrollable delivery rate encountered with patches known in the art, and to provide a transdermal delivery system for hydrophilic drugs, which enables increased drug efficacy and sustained activity.

Transdermal delivery system for anti-emetic medication


A method for making a heater is provided. A support and a flexible substrate are provided. The flexible substrate is fixed on a surface of the support. A carbon nanotube film is drawn from a carbon nanotube array. One end of the carbon nanotube film is attached on the flexible substrate. The carbon nanotube film is wrapped around the support by whirling the support to form a carbon nanotube layer. The carbon nanotube layer includes a plurality of carbon nanotubes aligned in a first direction. The flexible substrate is heated to a temperature of about 80° C. to about 120° C. The flexible substrate is then shrunk along the first direction. A plurality of electrodes are electrically connected with the carbon nanotube layer.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a method for making a heater.
2. Description of Related Art
A typical heater includes a heating element and at least two electrodes. The heating element is electrically connected with the two electrodes. The heating element generates heat when a voltage is applied to it. The heating element is often made of a metal such as tungsten. Metals, which have good conductivity, and can generate a lot of heat even when a low voltage is applied. However, metals can easily oxidize, thus the heater element has a short life. Furthermore, because metals have a relative high density, the heating element made of metals are heavy, which limits applications of such heater.
Therefore there is room for improvement in the art.