The present invention provides an approach to enhancing the production of a foreign protein serving as a protein-based pharmaceutical product in host cells such as cultured cells derived from a mammal. The present invention provides transformed cells having a novel Hspa5 gene promoter, and a method for secreting and producing a foreign protein at high levels using the transformed host cells.

The development of gene recombination techniques has rapidly expanded the market of protein-based pharmaceutical products such as therapeutic proteins and antibody drugs. Among them, antibody drugs do not cause adverse immune responses when administered to the human body and are under active development because of their high specificity.
Examples of hosts to produce the protein-based pharmaceutical products typified by antibody drugs can include microorganisms, yeasts, insects, animal and plant cells, and transgenic animals and plants. Posttranslational modification such as folding or sugar chain modification is essential for the physiological activity or antigenicity of the protein-based pharmaceutical products. Therefore, microorganisms which cannot perform complicated posttranslational modification, or plants which differ significantly in sugar chain structure from humans are not suitable as hosts. Cultured mammalian cells, such as CHO (Chinese hamster ovary) cells, are currently mainstream due to their having a sugar chain structure similar to that of humans and permitting posttranslational modification, and further in consideration of safety.
Use of cultured mammalian cells as a host presents problems such as low growth rates, low productivity and high cost as compared with microorganisms or the like (Non Patent Literature 1). Furthermore, clinical utilization of protein-based pharmaceutical products requires administering the pharmaceutical products at large doses. Therefore, a lack of sufficient production capacity thereof has been a global issue. In the case of producing a protein-based pharmaceutical product in a cultured mammalian cell expression system, reduction in production cost has been attempted by making improvements to each production step, because the production cost is higher than that of synthetic low-molecular weight pharmaceutical products. However, increasing the amount of protein produced in the cultured mammalian cell expression system is also a promising method for reduction in production cost (Non Patent Literature 2 and 3). Accordingly, in order to increase the productivity of foreign genes in cultured mammalian cells, many approaches such as promoters, enhancers, drug selection markers, gene amplification and culture engineering approaches have been practiced so far through trial and error. In the case of using CHO cells as host cells, a human cytomegalovirus major immediate early promoter (hereinafter, referred to as a CMV promoter) derived from a virus is generally used for the expression of foreign genes, i.e., the production of protein-based pharmaceutical products (Non Patent Literature 4, 5 and 6). It is also known that a polynucleotide upstream of the transcription start site of the gene (promoter region) of elongation factor-1 alpha (EF-1α) (Patent Literature 1 and Non Patent Literature 7) or a human ribosomal protein RPL32 or RPS11 can be used alone or in combination with an additional heterologous promoter in protein expression in CHO cells (Non Patent Literature 8 and Patent Literature 2). However, these promoters regulate the expression of their downstream foreign genes in response to the intracellular physiological conditions of the cultured mammalian cells serving as a host, and often exhibit the maximum activity in the logarithmic growth phase in which the cultured mammalian cells actively proliferate. Thus, the activity of such a promoter is often attenuated in the stationary phase after the cell density reaches its maximum level. Hence, there is a demand for the development of a promoter that permits strong expression of a foreign gene throughout the culture period of cultured mammalian cells.


An image processing method includes obtaining status information of a terminal device, obtaining photographing scene information of the terminal device, determining an image processing mode based on the status information and the photographing scene information, obtaining a to-be-displayed image, and processing the to-be-displayed image based on the image processing mode.

Night photography has always been a challenge in mobile phone photography. There is an excessively large difference between brightness of a light source and brightness in an area without a light source, resulting in a very high dynamic range (also referred to as HDR). Both high-brightness overexposure and low-brightness underexposure tend to occur in single-frame photographing. In addition, because brightness is usually low in a night scene, within a limited exposure time, relatively high noise exists in a non-high dynamic scene, and it is difficult to obtain a high-quality image. In an actual photographing scene, brightness varies greatly in many high dynamic scenes, for example, a sunny outdoor backlit scene, and a night portrait scene. In a single image, only a part of information in a scene with a high dynamic range can be collected or there is a problem of overexposure in a bright area or there is a problem of insufficient brightness in a dark area.
In a night high dynamic scene, to obtain a high dynamic range picture, a general solution in the industry is fusion of a plurality of frames of images with different exposures. For example, in a solution disclosed in CN105163047A, a plurality of frames of Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPG) images are first taken with different exposure settings and used as inputs (usually three frames of images are taken, namely, a short exposure image, a normal exposure image, and a long exposure image), the three frames of input images are then converted into three frames of images with actual brightness of the scene using a camera response curve, and registration and ghosting detection operations are performed next to merging the three frames of images into one frame of high dynamic range image. In other approaches, a mediocre imaging effect is produced when images with different brightness are merged.

Image processing method and apparatus which determines an image processing mode based on status information of the terminal device and photographing scene information


A method of manufacturing a motor includes coupling a base cover to a sleeve having a penetration hole formed therein, such that one side of the penetration hole is closed; inserting a shaft in the penetration hole; coupling a plate to the shaft such that the shaft is inserted in the plate; and pressing and coupling a hub to the shaft such that the shaft is inserted in the hub while the base cover is supported in an axial direction of the shaft to the base cover by using a jig, wherein the base cover is elastically deformed to make contact with the shaft. In the method of manufacturing the motor, the jig is used to deform the base cover so as to come in contact with the shaft, thereby applying the support load in the axial direction.

1. Field
The claimed invention relates to a motor manufacturing method.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, a motor, especially a spindle motor, is used to operate the rotating polygonal mirror of a laser printer or the disk of a hard disk drive, etc. That is, various rotational bodies may be fixed as necessary to the outer perimeter of the hub. For example, in the case of an LSU (laser scanning unit), a rotating polygonal mirror may be installed, while in the case of a hard disk drive, a disk may be installed.
FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view illustrating the structure of a motor according to prior art. In the case of the motor illustrated in FIG. 1, while pressing on the hub 60 for the coupling of the shaft 10 inserted in the sleeve 30 with the hub 60, the force is concentrated on the portion where the shaft 10 and plate 50 are coupled, causing a risk of mechanical damage.
However, if the hub is pressed with a load relatively less than that which causes mechanical damage, a sufficient load may not be applied, and as the gaps between components, etc., deviate further from the designed dimensions, problems may occur as the motor cannot perform operations in a stable manner.


A photo retrieval method, system, and medium using multimodal information which prevents a photo of an irrelevant category to be retrieved having a high ranking due to an unfavorable side effect from a query expansion, by reflecting a level of consistency between an object category of a query and a category of a photo retrieved by expansion retrieval using ontology, to a photo retrieval result ranking is provided. The photo retrieval method using the multimodal information includes: assigning an object category with respect to a query; retrieving photos associated with an expanded query term extracted from the query; determining a ranking of the retrieved photo by reflecting the assigned object category; and arranging and displaying the photos in response to the determined ranking.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a photo retrieval method, system, and medium using multimodal information which prevents a photo of an irrelevant category to be retrieved as a high ranking due to an unfavorable side effect from a query expansion, by reflecting a level of consistency between an object category of a query and a category of a photo retrieved by expansion retrieval using ontology, to a photo retrieval result ranking.
2. Description of the Related Art
Popularization of digital cameras and camera phones cause many changes associated with using a photo. Unlike making a print of a photo on paper and semi-permanently storing the photo, in a digital camera, more images are easily photographed, deleted, and stored electronically. Currently, as memory capacity increases, an amount of storing photos increases in proportion. A user may store more photos due to an increase in the amount of storage available for the photos. However, storing more photos increases the difficulty of arranging photos or retrieving a particular photo.
A conventional photo retrieval method depends on retrieval by simply browsing or manual arrangement. It is not easy to retrieve several hundreds or thousands of photos by simply browsing.
To improve a browsing retrieval method, a configuration performing photo retrieval by expansion retrieval using ontology is disclosed. Query expansion by ontology has an advantage of improving a recall rate, but has a disadvantage of decreasing precision. This is because a query term that is not suitable due to ambiguity is extracted as an expanded query term when expanding a query.
For example, in a conventional ontology expansion retrieval method, with respect to a query "friend", "friend, mate, fellow, and companion . . . " are extracted as expanded query terms. However, an error of retrieving a photo associated with "mate to the glove" that is irrelevant to the query "mate" may occur by using the expansion retrieval method.
Also, an error in retrieving a photo associated with "garden rank with weeds" as a retrieval result may occur by analyzing a query "rank (line)" as "rank (dense)".
Also, applying a method frequently used in conventional text-based retrieval methods to photo retrieval may prevent expansion to unnecessary query terms by analyzing a meaning of an ambiguous vocabulary by using peripheral contexts. The method using text analysis is suitable when retrieving a text file such as in a general retrieval from the Internet. However, when retrieving a photo including a short annotation, context information for analyzing a meaning may be insufficient. Also, since a keyword included in the annotation is not always suitable for the photo, there is a limit on retrieval by using only the text information.
Accordingly, a photo retrieval method, system, and medium using multimodal information, which can prevent an irrelevant photo from being retrieved, is acutely required.

Method, system, and medium for retrieving photo using multimodal information


The patient positioning aid assists a caregiver in rotating and positioning immobile patients. Such patients require periodic movement to prevent the development of ulcers. Conventional methods use rolled blankets or pillows to support such patients. Such improvizations are often crushed by the patients, especially by bariatric patients. The present invention has a strong resilient foam core which resists compression by a patient, yet also has a yielding surface foam layer which avoids trauma to the patient's skin. The cover is removable for cleaning, waterproof, and utilizes an anti-slip, high friction coating on the bottom which resists sliding on the bed. In addition, handles on the caregiver side of the aid assist in the maneuvering of the aid to position it properly.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains to cushions used to support patients in bed.
2. Description of Related Art including Information Disclosed under 37 CFR 1.97 and 37 CFR 1.98.
"Immobile" patients are those who are confined to bed. Such immobile patients do not have a tendency to change their position in bed voluntarily. It is therefore desirable for caregivers to manually turn patients in bed on a prescribed schedule (often every two hours) to avoid complications such as pressure ulcers, pneumonia and other related infections that arise from excessive time in a supine position. Published guidelines recommend turning patients 30° when in the lateral inclined position.
Bariatric patients are those patients who are morbidly obese, that is, have a Body Mass Index of 40 kg/m2 or are 45.5 kg (100 pounds) or more overweight The immobile bariatric patient population has special needs for a lateral turning and positioning device due to the tendency of the positioning devices to migrate away or "pop out" from behind the patient while in use. There also is a tendency by the bariatric patient to crush positioning devices due to the imposed heavy weight. Immobile bariatric patients also present challenges to caregivers with the tasks of frequent rotation or other manipulation of such patients.
A number of cushion devices have been described to aid in the maintenance of patients in desired positions on a bed.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,389,411 discloses a foam wedge with a cover having a trapezoidal opening on the bottom which exposes the foam. The foam has highly frictional characteristics which retard slippage of the wedge on the bed.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,811,140 discloses a body support device comprising two wedges which are attached by belts and are oriented along the length of the bed. This device is intended for maintaining alignment while in the supine position and relieving pressure from the bony prominences of the spine.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,842,977 discloses a pillow-enclosing casing in which a pillow, particularly a foam pillow, is rolled and reduced in volume and then inserted into a tubular casing.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,938,205 discloses a body positioner which extends from the neck to the thigh for use on an examination table. The positioner is made of elongated resilient deformable polyurethane foam and has three major surfaces and three minor surfaces.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,045,204 discloses a compressed foam article which is compressed and packaged by enclosure in a substantially air-tight sack and a vacuum is drawn in the sack.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,214,326 discloses a body positioner and protection apparatus similar to the above disclosure which also has a removable center portion for covering the side frame to protect the patient.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,233,700 discloses a similar body positioner with cut outs for providing ventilation to portions of the patient's body.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,711,067 discloses a method packaging a mattress to a small size, in which the mattress is squeezed by compression means which drive the air from mattress and is then placed in a closed container or case.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,095,569 discloses a cover sheet secured by hook and loop type fasteners on straps to the upper surface of a wedge shaped polyurethane foam pillow with primary and secondary air passageways to facilitate breathing by users.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,359,739 discloses a patient repositioning and position maintenance device with cushioned cylinders which maintain the patient in position. The cylinders are retained on a rectangular fabric sheet with two pockets for the cylinders. A triangular knee wedge is attached to the fabric sheet by hook and loop fasteners.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,878,551 discloses a method of packaging a foam pet industry product which involves placing the foam product inside a plastic bag, reducing the pressure to remove air from the bag, and sealing the bag.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,154,900 discloses a patient turning device which uses air pressure in bladders to laterally rotate a patient. The patient is supported from head to calf.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,292,964 discloses an inclined support pillow formed of two layers with additional hemi-cylindrical cushions which are attached by hook and loop fasteners.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,360,387 discloses a fertility cushion with a convex front having a removable cover attached by hook and loop strips. The multiple-foam construction of the cushion is disclosed.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,578,218 discloses a leg spacer pillow comprising two hinged portions with a butterfly shape and hook and loop fasteners to hold the pillow in the closed position.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,634,045, incorporated herein by reference, discloses a heel elevator support.
None of the discovered prior art disclosures provide the advantages of embodiments of the present invention. They provide a cushion constructed of microbiologically-resistant foam with a relatively strong and resilient core foam and a relatively yielding surface foam. Embodiments of the cushions have a general triangular wedge shape with the front and back surfaces convex. Embodiments have covers with friction and shear reducing properties on the patient sides and on the caregiver sides and nonslip properties on the bottoms, and with straps on the care provider sides to aid in manipulating the cushions.

Method of repositioning immobile patient in bed using patient positioning aid


A polymeric linking agent enables the manufacture of photovoltaic cells on flexible substrates, including, for example, polymeric substrates. Photovoltaic cells may be fabricated by a relatively simple continuous manufacturing process, for example, a roll-to-roll process, instead of a batch process.

Thin film solar cells composed of percolating networks of liquid electrolyte and dye-coated sintered titanium dioxide were developed by Dr. Michael Grätzel and coworkers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology. These photovoltaic devices fall within a general class of cells referred to as dye-sensitized solar cells ("DSSCs"). Conventionally, fabrication of DSSCs requires a high temperature sintering process (>about 400° C.) to achieve sufficient interconnectivity between the nanoparticles and enhanced adhesion between the nanoparticles and a transparent substrate. Although the photovoltaic cells of Grätzel are fabricated from relatively inexpensive raw materials, the high temperature sintering technique used to make these cells limits the cell substrate to rigid transparent materials, such as glass, and consequently limits the manufacturing to batch processes and the applications to those tolerant of the rigid structure. Furthermore, the high temperature sintering process increases the cost of manufacturing a photovoltaic cell due to the energy required to perform the sintering.

Low temperature interconnection of nanoparticles


A turbine airfoil, or a substrate exposed to a high temperature environment, having a plurality of individual cooling circuits in the airfoil wall, each individual cooling circuit having a first metering hole connecting the cooling circuit to a cooling air supply, a first diffusion cavity, a second metering hole, and a plurality of fine film cooling holes connected between the second diffusion cavity and the surface of a high temperature resistant coating. The coating is a refractory coating to provide higher heat resistance than a ceramic based thermal barrier coating. A process of forming the individual cooling circuits is also disclosed, where a ceramic core representing the above described cooling passages is secured in a “fish bowl” shaped cavity in the substrate wall, the refractory coating is applied to just under the core fingers, and the ceramic core is leached out to leave behind the cooling circuit. The cooling circuit thus formed includes a first metering hole, a first diffusion cavity, a second metering hole, a second diffusion cavity, and a plurality of micro film cooling holes to provide transpiration cooling to the coating surface.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to fluid reaction surfaces, and more specifically to a turbine airfoil with film cooling holes.
2. Description of the Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 CFR 1.97 and 1.98
A gas turbine engine includes a turbine section that has a plurality of stages of stator vanes and rotor blades reacting to a high temperature gas flow passing through the turbine to convert the chemical energy from combustion into mechanical energy by rotating the turbine shaft. The efficiency of the turbine, and therefore of the engine, can be increased by increasing the hot gas flow that enters the turbine.
To allow for higher turbine entrance temperatures, the upper stage vanes and blades are made from exotic nickel alloys that can withstand very high temperatures and have complex internal cooling air passages to provide cooling to these airfoils. A thermal barrier coating (TBC) is also applied to the airfoil surfaces exposed to the hot gas flow in order to provide further protection from the heat. A TBC is typically made from a ceramic material. Also, the TBC is typically applied after the film cooling holes have been drilled into the airfoil surface to provide for the film cooling. These film cooling holes are limited to the diameter because of the drilling process.
Thicker TBC layers have been proposed to provide more protection to the airfoil substrate from the high temperature gas flow. As the TBC gets thicker, the thermal stresses developed in the TBC will tend to cause spalling.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide for an improved high temperature resistance coating applied to a turbine airfoil.
It is another object of the present invention to provide for a high temperature resistant coating with smaller diameter film cooling holes.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide for a process of forming small film cooling holes in a high temperature resistant coating on a turbine airfoil.

Multi-metering and diffusion transpiration cooled airfoil


An improved door hinge attachment device is provided. The device includes a plate formed separately of the door and door frame that is attached to a door or door frame. The device has elongate threaded bores alignable with screw holes in the hinge plates. The device is useful with metal doors and door frames. The attachment devices have projections on the backside thereof and may be provided with covers to prevent construction material or debris from fouling the threads in the threaded bores.

Metal doors and metal door frames are well known in the art. A door is connected to the door frame by one or more hinges in a vertically spaced orientation. One common way to prepare a door or door frame for the installation of a hinge is to first form a metal attachment plate with a hinge plate recess. A recess in the plate has desired offset or depth to accommodate at least a portion of the thickness of the hinge plate. Screw holes are tapped in the attachment plate to form screw threads to accept screw fasteners. The attachment plate is then secured at a respective location to the door or door frame for receipt of a hinge plate in the recess and securement of a hinge to the door or door frame. Typically the attachment plates are thin and also are made of low strength steel such as cold rolled steel. Such an arrangement has offered a low pullout strength and often results in a thread failure or stripping of the tapped hole and failure of the door to operate properly and in some cases a failure of the door to open or close at all. Screw pullout strength can be a significant problem with heavy doors such as those used in prisons. Another current problem that exists during the installation of a metal door frame occurs when grout is poured into or other construction material is installed in the hollow area between the door frame and the building structure after the hinge attachment device is in place. A portion of the hinge attachment device is often exposed on the inside of the door frame. This permits any construction material, for example grout, put into the hollow space between the door frame and the building, to flow or move into contact with the hinge attachment device and enter the tapped screw holes making the screws hard or even impossible to install without removing the interfering construction material from the tapped holes. This may require retapping of the holes which often times will result in a threaded hole which is not useable because of the construction of the hinge attachment device. Such door and door frame constructions are of the type that are assembled at a work site without the hinge attachment screws already being in place. If the hinge attachment screws are in place during installation of the door frame, construction material may also adhere to and foul the screw threads. This would present a problem when the screws need to be extracted since the construction material would interfere with their extraction possibly causing damage to the screws or the threaded holes for the screws.
The present invention is directed to overcoming one or more of the problems set forth above.

Hinge attachment and associated method of making and assembling a door and door frame


The invention relates to a of manufacturing a silicon dioxide layer of low roughness, that includes depositing a layer of silicon dioxide over a substrate by a low pressure chemical vapor deposition (LPCVD) process, the deposition process employing simultaneously a flow of tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS) as the source material for the film deposition and a flow of a diluant gas that it not reactive with TEOS, so that the diluant gas/TEOS flow ratio is between 0.5 and 100; and annealing the silicon dioxide layer at a temperature between 600° C. and 1200° C., for a duration between 10 minutes and 6 hours.

The invention relates to a method of manufacturing a silicon dioxide layer of low roughness deposited on a substrate and to a method of manufacturing a composite substrate or wafer including such silicon dioxide layer as buried layer, in particular for applications in the fields of optics, optoelectronics or electronics.
FIGS. 1A to 1E illustrate the different steps of a prior art process employed for manufacturing such a composite substrate.
As can be seen on FIG. 1A, a silicon dioxide layer 2 is firstly deposited on a bulk substrate 1 termed the "source substrate", because it is used to provide the material that will constitute later the top layer of the composite substrate. In view of the kind of composite substrate aimed to be obtained, such source substrate may be, for example, a material such as silicon, silicon germanium, strained silicon or germanium.
Among the different techniques used to realize the deposition of the silicon dioxide layer 2, one is known to the skilled person under the acronym "LPCVD TEOS" which means "Low Pressure Chemical Vapour Deposition" of silicon oxide films using "tetraethylorthosilicate" as the source material. Such deposition is carried out by introducing a substrate or a batch of substrates 1 inside a LPCVD reactor and by exposing the substrates in the reactor to tetraethylorthosilicate, the chemical formula of which is Si(OC2H5)4, as the source material for silicon oxide (SiO2). This process provides certain advantages in terms of uniformity or density of the oxide layer obtained as compared to other oxide deposition process such as low temperature or high temperature deposition processes. Then, the dioxide layer 2 thus obtained is submitted to a thermal annealing, in order to improve its structural and electrical properties.
Layers deposited with TEOS have a significantly higher surface roughness than thermally grown layers. Consequently, an additional chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) step is required to smooth the free surface of the silicon dioxide layer 2, before bonding it with another substrate. To do so, one uses a polishing head h (as can be seen in FIG. 1B) with an abrasive paste or liquid.
Next, as seen in FIG. 1C, a zone of weakness 10 is created inside the source substrate 1 by implanting atomic species. The term "atomic species implantation" means any bombardment of molecular or ionic, atomic species which is capable of introducing such species into the material of the source substrate 1, with a maximum concentration of the species located at a given depth from the bombarded surface which depth in the present case is preferably larger than the thickness of the silicon dioxide layer 2. The molecular, ionic or atomic species are introduced into the material with an energy that is also distributed about a maximum.
Implantation of atomic species into the source substrate 1 can be carried out, for example, using an ion beam implanter or a plasma implanter. Preferably, the implantation is carried out by ionic bombardment. More preferably, the implanted ionic species is hydrogen. Other ionic species can advantageously be used alone or in combination with hydrogen, such as ions of rare gases (for example and preferably helium).
A zone of weakness 10 marks the boundary between two portions, namely a thin top layer 11 and the remainder 12 of the substrate. By way of example, reference can be made to the literature concerning the layer transfer method known under the trade name SMART-CUT®. A support substrate 3 is then bonded by molecular bonding to the free surface of the silicon dioxide layer 2 (see FIG. 1D).
Finally, as can be seen in FIG. 1E, the remainder 12 is detached from the source substrate 1, along the zone of weakness 10, to keep only the top layer 11 on the silicon dioxide layer 2 and the support substrate 3. Concerning the detachment, one of the following techniques can be used, either alone or in combination: application of stresses of mechanical or electrical origin, chemical etching or supplying energy (laser, microwaves, inductive heating, and furnace treatment). These detachment techniques are known to the skilled person and will not be described here in further detail. The composite substrate thus obtained is referenced 4.
In the above-mentioned process, the polishing step of FIG. 1B presents numerous drawbacks such as the lack of uniformity of the resulting layer 2, the lack of reproducibility of the process and the low throughput of the process. Further, this additional step increases the manufacturing cost of each substrate or wafer. Thus, there is a need for improvements in this portion of the process.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method of manufacturing a silicon dioxide layer

S.O.I. Tec Silicon on Insulator Technologies


An exercise wheel includes two wheel assemblies rotatably mounted to two ends of an axle. Each wheel assembly is rotatable about a longitudinal axis. A plurality of first grooves and a plurality of second grooves are defined in an outer periphery of each wheel assembly. Each second groove is located between two adjacent first grooves. A first roller is rotatably mounted in each first groove of each wheel assembly. Each first roller is rotatable relative to a corresponding wheel assembly about a first rotating axis. A second roller is rotatably mounted in each second groove of each wheel assembly. Each second roller is rotatable relative to a corresponding wheel assembly about a second rotating axis. The second rotating axis of each second roller is parallel to and spaced from the longitudinal axis and is at a non-parallel angle to the first rotating axis of an adjacent first roller.

The present invention relates to an exercise wheel and, more particularly, to an exercise wheel for training various muscles of a body of a user.
A type of exercise wheel includes a handle and at least one wheel rotatably mounted around a central portion of the handle. In use, a user holds two ends of the exercise wheel with two hands, with the feet or knees on the ground. The user moves the hands forward beyond the head and uses the body strength to keep the body above the ground except the feet or the knees. Then, the user moves the hand backward. Repeated movement of this type can train the muscles of the abdomen, the hands, and the legs. However, the conventional exercise wheel can only rotate in a single direction, allowing limited gestures of the user. Furthermore, the exerciser wheel of this type requires a user with sufficient muscle strength to practice difficult postures. A user with insufficient muscle strength is unable to balance the body and is, thus, apt to fall to the ground.
Thus, a need exists for a novel exercise wheel allowing a user to proceed with different postures and allowing a user with insufficient muscle strength to practice difficult postures.


A socket for electric parts is equipped with a socket body having a mounting face on which an electric part is mounted; contact pins fixed on the socket body, each having a contact portion, a trigger portion, and a spring portion; and a cover mounted on the socket body, free to move up and down. The end edge of the contact portion contacts a corresponding lead of the electric part and is configured to incline with respect to the end edge of the lead. The trigger portion and the spring portion are configured to project toward the center of the socket body. The width of the spring portion projecting toward the center of the socket body is such as to increase progressively in going to the base portion of the contact pin. In this way, a high pressure of contact between the lead and the contact pin and a sufficient wiping action are ensured, and a socket for electric parts capable of continued high performance over a long period of time is provided.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a socket for electric parts which is used for the testing of electric parts, such as IC packages, and a mounting to a circuit substrate.
2. Description of the Prior Art
What is called an open-top type socket for electric parts has been known in the past, and its structure is rich in variety. This socket is equipped with a socket body having a mounting face for mounting an electric part thereon; numerous contact pins arranged in the socket body, each having a base portion, a contact portion, a trigger portion, and an arcuate spring portion; and a cover put on the socket body, free to move up and down. Each contact pin is moved outwardly against its biasing force through the trigger portion pushed by the downward pressure of the cover so that the electric part can be mounted on the mounting face from above the cover. By releasing the pressure from the cover pressed down, the contact pin is returned to its original position to press the contact portion of the contact pin against each of leads of the electric part placed on the mounting face of the socket body.
FIG. 1 is a left-hand sectional side view showing an example of the socket mentioned above. In this figure, reference numeral 1 denotes a socket body of rectangular plane shape, having a guide groove 1a piercing the socket body vertically and a mounting base 1b; 2 denotes a cover of bilaterally symmetrical frame shape, having a pillar 2a inserted to slide freely in the guide groove la and a cam 2b along which a part of each of contact pins described later slides; 3 denotes a spring imparting the biasing force of an upward movement to the cover 2; 4 denotes contact pins, each having a contact portion 4a, a trigger portion 4b sliding along the cam 2b of the cover 2, an arcuate spring portion 4c, a base portion 4d interposed between respective two of numerous insulating ribs configured in the socket body 1, and connecting terminals 4e inserted and fixed in holes bored through the socket body 1; and P denotes an electric part, such as an IC package, having leads L which are mounted on the mounting base 1b of the socket body 1 upon loading and each of which comes in contact with the contact portion 4a of the contact pin 4. Also, the cover 2 is constructed so that its upward movement is limited to the position shown in the figure by a locking mechanism, not shown, placed between the socket body 1 and the cover 2.
The loading of the electric part P at the position shown in the figure and its unloading therefrom are performed by pressing down the cover against the resilience of the spring 3. Specifically, when the cover is pressed down from the position of the figure, the trigger portion 4b is displaced outwardly, by the cam 2b, to the position indicated by a chain line in FIG. 1, against the resilience of the spring portion 4c. At the same time, the contact portion 4a is moved outwardly to the position indicated by a corresponding chain line to retire from the position held by each lead L of the electric part P.
This outward movement for the retirement of the contact portion 4a is also performed in cacti of the right-hand contact pins, not shown, arranged symmetrically with respect to the contact pins 4, and thus in this state, it becomes possible that the electric part P is mounted on, or dismounted from, the mounting base 1b. Subsequently, the downward pressure of the cover 2 is released, and thereby the cover 2 and the contact pin 4 are returned to the positions indicated by solid lines in virtue of the restoring force of the spring 3 and its own biasing force, respectively. In this way, the loading or unloading of the electric part P is completed.
In the conventional socket for electric parts, as mentioned above, the trigger portion 4b of the contact pin 4 is in general located away from the center of the socket body 1, that is, close to the outer side of the socket body 1. This position of the trigger portion 4b is disadvantageous when the socket body is made small in size. Thus, to compactly design the socket body, it is considered that the trigger portion is located closer to the center of the socket body. In this case, however, it is imperative that the center of turning of the contact pin 4 is situated nearly below the center of the socket body 1 because of its inner structure. Hence, the problem is produced that an open angle of the contact portion 4a where the cover 2 is pressed down becomes smaller, and when the downward pressure of the cover 2 is released to return each contact pin to its original position, the contact portion 4a catches in each lead L of the electric part P.
Furthermore, in order to improve the stability of contact between the contact portion 4a of each contact pin 4 and the lead L of the electric part P, the socket for electric parts of this type requires a wiping action, as it is usually called, to slide the contact portion 4a along the lead L, upon loading. In order to increase the efficiency of this wiping action, it is necessary to minimize an angle of advance .theta. (FIG. 2) made by the contact portion 4a with the lead L when the downward pressure of the cover 2 is released. However, if the angle of advance .theta. is made small, a case may crop up in which the contact portion 4a strikes the end face of the lead L (see FIG. 2) and is not smoothly seated on the lead L.
In the shop in which the electric parts like IC packages are mass-produced, where the socket of this type is used to carry out the performance tests of produced electric parts, the operations of the downward pressure of the cover 2 and the release therefrom are repeatedly performed and consequently, the contact pin 4 is repeatedly oscillated between the positions indicated by the solid and chain lines. In general, the contact pin 4 is constructed of thin electrically conductive material such as beryllium copper, and thus is liable to produce a stress, particularly in the arcuate spring portion 4c, because of the repeated oscillating motion of the contact pin 4.
For each contact pin 4 used in the conventional socket, the arcuate spring portion 4c is constant in width. Thus, in each of the conventional contact pins, since stress concentration is liable to occur in a particular part of the arcuate spring portion 4c, the fracture rate of the arcuate spring portion 4c is extremely high. Even though it is not fractured, the spring force of the arcuate spring portion 4c will be reduced, and thus the pressure or contact between the arcuate spring portion 4c and each lead L of the IC package will be decreased, frequently causing inconvenience to the examination and performance test of the electric part.
FIG. 3 shows the result of the simulation of stress distribution in the conventional contact pin. High stresses are concentrated in regions R1 and R2 of hatching portions. The stress concentration is brought about along the arcuate spring portion 4c, and tends to increase in going from a connection between the contact portion 4a and the trigger portion 4b to the base portion 4d.


A method of pumping an aqueous fluid through an electroosmotic membrane situated between a cathode and an anode includes oxidizing water to O2 at the anode and reducing O2 at the cathode. A potential difference E between the cathode and the anode is 1.4 V or less.

Electroosmosis is a well-known technique for transporting fluids through membranes. A porous material (a membrane) is sandwiched between two conductive porous electrodes (an anode and a cathode) that are connected to a suitable energy source. Application of a potential difference across the electrodes creates an electric field between them and hence an electric field gradient is created across the membrane. Most surfaces possess a charge due to surface ionisation. This creates an electric double layer (EDL): when a fluid containing ionic species is placed in contact with the surface, a first layer of ions having a charge opposing the surface charge adsorbs to the surface. In turn, this first ionic layer promotes the formation of a diffuse second layer which is a region of solvent having an increased concentration of ions which are opposite in charge to the ions in the first layer. When an electric field is applied across the surface, the electric field gradient induces motion of the ions in the diffuse layer due to the Coulomb force. The ions in the diffuse layer are attracted towards the oppositely charged electrode. The motion of the ions causes the surrounding medium to move with them due to viscous forces. This causes the fluid to move through the membrane, effectively pumping the fluid from one side of the membrane to the other.
The rate and extent of transport of the fluid can be controlled by appropriate selection of the applied voltage and/or the current which is passed. Electroosmotic pumps exploit these phenomena to control the movement of fluids, and have become a familiar tool in microfluidics applications, capillary electrophoresis, and other laboratory analytical techniques. Microfluidic structures, or microsystems, consist of a series of microchannels and reservoirs, at least one dimension of which is generally in the micro- or nanometer range and usually not greater than 1-2 mm. Fluids can be directed through these microchannels and subjected to a variety of actions such as mixing, screening, detection, separation, reaction etc. Such microstructures are of growing importance in chemical and biotechnical fields as they allow tests and analysis to be carried out on a very small scale, thus reducing the amount of sample and reagents consumed in each operation. This means work can be carried out quickly and at less expense than previously, with the production of fewer waste materials. Such microsystems are often referred to as "lab-on-a-chip", or Micro-Total-Analysis Systems (μTAS). The use of microfluidic pumps which utilise electro-osmosis is considered a promising technology for many microsystem applications, as these pumps are relatively simple to fabricate and a good performance can be obtained for a wide range of ionic concentrations.
A common method of generating electroosmotic flow is to electrolyse water. Water is oxidized at an anode to produce O2 and reduced at a cathode to produce H2:
Anodic reaction: 2H2O→O2+4H++4e−
Cathodic reaction: 4H++4e−→2H2
Overall reaction: 2H2O→2H2+O2.
If an electroosmotic membrane is located between the anode and the cathode which allows transport of H+ through the membrane, the potential difference applied to the electrodes to cause electrolysis will also create electroosmotic flow of water through the membrane. Platinum electrodes, or other noble metal electrodes, are typically employed for these reactions. The O2 and H2 are generated in gaseous form at the electrodes.
This commonly-used method has a number of drawbacks. O2 and H2 gas can become trapped in the pores of the membrane. This blocks the pores and impedes transport of the fluid through the membrane, dramatically decreasing the electroosmotic flow. H2, which is approximately 26 times less soluble in water than O2, is particularly problematic in this respect. It has previously been proposed to address this problem by using certain electrode metals, such as palladium, which absorb hydrogen. However, after a period of operation the electrode becomes saturated with hydrogen, and then hydrogen gas starts to form. Also, the electrode can become damaged by holding a concentration of hydrogen which is too high, causing the metal lattice to expand irreversibly. For a typical electroosmotic pump, saturation of such electrodes and bubble formation begins to take place after several hours of operation, limiting the useful lifetime of the pump. In any electroosmotic system employing water electrolysis there is also a risk of explosion due to reactions between H2 and O2. High electrode potentials are also required: the standard potential for the electrolysis of water is −1.23 V and therefore an electrode potential of 1.23 V or greater is required; with the inert electrodes commonly used, a large overpotential is needed and therefore voltages of about 2 V or greater are commonly employed. With such large voltages there is a risk of undesirable, and potentially dangerous, side-reactions such as the generation of ozone or chlorine gas (e.g. from NaCl dissolved in the water).
To overcome these drawbacks, another alternative system has recently been proposed which uses the Ag2O/Ag redox couple at both cathode and anode. In this system Ag is oxidized at the anode surface to produce Ag2O as a solid. Ag2O is reduced at the cathode surface to produce solid silver.Anodic reaction: 2Ag+H2O→Ag2O+2H++2e−Cathodic reaction: Ag2O+2H++2e−→2Ag+H2O
Thus, an electrical potential is maintained across the membrane, enabling electroosmotic pumping, but electrolysis of water is avoided. Such systems are disclosed, for example, in J. Am. Chem. Soc, 2011, vol. 133, pp. 2374-2377.
Although the Ag2O/Ag system avoids the problems associated with water electrolysis, it still suffers from drawbacks. The volume of fluid that can be moved by the electroosmotic pump is limited by the amount of active electrode material (Ag and Ag2O) which is present at the electrodes and which is consumed during the reaction. The system can be regenerated only if the polarity of the electrodes is reversed, thereby reversing the electrochemical reactions. However, reversing the polarity of the electrodes causes the direction of electroosmotic flow to be reversed. This decreases the net flow across the membrane and under typical conditions the net fluid flow is almost zero. Moreover, silver can undergo reactions with species in the fluid, leading to irreversible erosion of the electrode materials.
There is therefore a need for an electroosmotic system which enables the efficient transport of fluids without the problems associated with the electrolysis of water and which also avoids the drawbacks of the silver/silver oxide redox couple described above.
The present inventors have now found that the methods described herein are capable of generating electroosmotic flow without the disadvantageous effects of methods based on water electrolysis or the silver/silver oxide redox couple.

Method for pumping an aqueous fluid through an electroosmotic membrane


A pattern that includes trenches of different depths is formed on a substrate using nanoimprint lithography. A subsequent metal deposition forms lines of different thicknesses according to trench depth, from a single metal layer. Vias extending down from lines are also formed from the same layer. Individual bit lines are formed having different thicknesses at different locations.

This invention relates to nonvolatile memories and methods of forming nonvolatile memories. In particular, this application relates to nonvolatile memory arrays in which floating gate memory cells individually hold one or more bits of data.
Nonvolatile memory systems are used in various applications. Some nonvolatile memory systems are embedded in a larger system such as a personal computer. Other nonvolatile memory systems are removably connected to a host system and may be interchanged between different host systems. Examples of such removable memory systems include memory cards and USB flash drives. Electronic circuit cards, including non-volatile memory cards, have been commercially implemented according to a number of well-known standards. Memory cards are used with personal computers, cellular telephones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), digital still cameras, digital movie cameras, portable audio players and other host electronic devices for the storage of large amounts of data. Such cards usually contain a re-programmable non-volatile semiconductor memory cell array along with a controller that controls and supports operation of the memory cell array and interfaces with a host to which the card is connected. Several of the same type of card may be interchanged in a host card slot designed to accept that type of card. However, the development of the many electronic card standards has created different types of cards that are incompatible with each other in various degrees. A card made according to one standard is usually not useable with a host designed to operate with a card of another standard. Memory card standards include PC Card, CompactFlash™ card (CF™ card), SmartMedia™ card, MultiMediaCard (MMC™), Secure Digital (SD) card, a miniSD™ card, Subscriber Identity Module (SIM), Memory Stick™, Memory Stick Duo card and microSD/TransFlash™ memory module standards. There are several USB flash drive products commercially available from SanDisk Corporation under its trademark "Cruzer®." USB flash drives are typically larger and shaped differently than the memory cards described above.
Different types of memory array architecture are used in nonvolatile memory systems. In one type of architecture, a NAND array, a series of strings of more than two memory cells, such as 16 or 32, are connected along with one or more select transistors between individual bit lines and a reference potential to form columns of cells. Word lines extend across cells within a large number of these columns. Typically word lines, bit lines and other similar conductive components are formed by patterning a conductive layer using a pattern established by photolithography.

Method of forming a single-layer metal conductors with multiple thicknesses


A fuel filler pocket assembly includes a fuel filler pocket in a vehicle. The vehicle includes a fuel cover door for covering the fuel filler pocket. The fuel filler pocket includes a first fuel filler pocket portion and a second fuel filler pocket portion for attachment to the vehicle. The second fuel filler pocket portion is formed separate and independent from the first fuel filler pocket portion. The first fuel filler pocket portion is attachable to the second fuel filler pocket portion to provide the fuel filler pocket and a fuel door release cable is attached to the second fuel filler pocket portion. Preferably, the first fuel filler pocket portion forms a major portion of the fuel filler pocket and the second fuel filler pocket portion forms a minor portion of the fuel filler pocket.

It is well known in the prior art to provide a fuel filler pocket which surrounds a fuel filler neck and is closed by a fuel cover door. A fuel filler cap may be removed from the fuel filler neck and gasoline may be inserted into the fuel filler neck by a gasoline pump nozzle. The fuel filler pocket provides a housing for the fuel filler neck and also provides structure to which the fuel filler neck is attached. It is known to provide a fuel filler pocket which is an integral cup-shaped piece connected to the vehicle body sheet metal. The fuel filler pocket also typically serves the purpose of capturing and draining any fuel spillage around the filler neck.
It is also known in the prior art to provide the fuel cover door which is also mounted to the vehicle sheet metal and which is movable between a closed condition covering the fuel filler pocket and the fuel filler neck and an open condition in which the fuel filler neck is accessible. As is well known in the art, the fuel cover door may be electronically released and opened by a remote button located in the passenger compartment of the vehicle which depresses a plunger mounted on the fuel filler pocket to release the fuel cover door. However, if the electrical release should function improperly, it is also known that the fuel cover door may be opened mechanically by a back-up fuel cover door release cable typically located in the rear compartment of the vehicle. The release cable may be manually pulled to depress the plunger and release and open the fuel cover door, as is also well known in the art.
However, one of the shortcomings of this arrangement is the accessibility of the release cable and the plunger during assembly. The fuel filler pocket is a single component mounted to the vehicle body sheet metal. The release cable extends between the rear compartment and the fuel filler pocket. The plunger is attached to the end of the release cable. To assemble the plunger to the fuel filler pocket, the plunger and the release cable must be fished out from between the inner and outer body sheet metal and attached to the fuel filler pocket which is already mounted on the vehicle. The plunger end of the release cable can then be attached to the small plunger hole in the fuel filler pocket. However, accomplishing this attachment requires one operator on the inside of the vehicle or underneath the vehicle who fishes the release cable through the inner and outer sheet metal body panels and inserts the plunger into the plunger hole from behind the fuel filler pocket while a second operator stands outside the vehicle and places the nut on the plunger from the inside of the pocket to attach the plunger and release cable to the fuel filler pocket.
In light of the difficulty in assembling the release cable to the fuel filler pocket, many vehicles continue to have the traditional fuel cover doors which are manually flipped open, instead of remotely released.


A liquid crystal display device including a pixel containing a first memory circuit, a second memory circuit, and a liquid crystal element is provided. The first memory circuit includes a first capacitor. One electrode of the first capacitor is electrically connected to one electrode of the liquid crystal element. The second memory circuit includes a second capacitor. One electrode of the second capacitor is electrically connected to the one electrode of the liquid crystal element. The first memory circuit has a function of storing a charge corresponding to a first signal. The second memory circuit has a function of storing a charge corresponding to a second signal. A voltage is applied to the liquid crystal element by supplying a third signal to the other electrode of the first capacitor and supplying a fourth signal to the other electrode of the second capacitor, whereby an image is displayed.

In a liquid crystal display device, the resolution of the display image has been increasing. The number of pixels in the liquid crystal display device has been increasing due to increased resolution. The number of output lines driven by a driver IC, for example, increases with the increase in the number of pixels, which leads to a problem of increased power consumption of the driver IC.
For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a structure where, in order to reduce the power consumption of the driver IC, a boost control circuit is provided in a pixel to enable the driver IC to drive with low voltage amplitude.
United States Patent Application Publication No. 2017/0025080

Liquid crystal display device, method for driving liquid crystal display device, and electronic device

SEMICONDUCTOR ENERGY LABORATORY CO., LTD.


A work transfer apparatus is equipped with a work feeder 23, a rotatable turn table 11 formed several work-storing pockets 11a at its outer periphery and a separation mechanism 24 provided between the work feeder 23 and the turn table 11. The separation mechanism 24 has a communicating passage 24a. A work detector (15a, 15b) is provided in the work-storing pocket 11a. A work stopper 14 is provided at the work feeder 23 on an upstream side of the work detector (15a, 15b), for separating a preceding work W1 and the succeeding work W2.

The present invention relates to a work transfer apparatus for separating several works fed sequentially and transferring them one by one.
A known work transfer apparatus for transferring works such as IC chips on which electronic components are integrated, or electronic chips like a resistance, a condenser, or an inductor, is equipped with a work feeder for feeding works, a turn table formed with work-storing pockets at its outer periphery and a separation mechanism provided between the work feeder and the turn table.
Several works are sequentially fed by the work feeder and separated by the separation mechanism. The works are once stored in the work-storing pockets one by one and transferred to the next stage.
It is highly required that the works be completely separated from each other by the separation mechanism before being stored in the work-storing pockets because they are touching each other when sequentially fed by the work feeder.
Powder dust will be generated from, for example, electronic components vulnerable to friction when the components are separated by being pressed onto the passage wall or suction in a separation mechanism. Such powder dust attached on electrodes of the components could cause inferior conductivity after several processes and soil the components or any mechanism they are fed.
In view of the problems discussed above, a purpose of the present invention is to provide a work transfer apparatus with a separation mechanism in which works suffer the minimum friction during pressure- or suction-separation, the completely separated works being promptly transferred into work-storing pockets.
The present invention provides a work transfer apparatus including: a work feeder for feeding a plurality of works; a rotatable turn table with a plurality of work-storing pockets at the outer periphery of the turn table; and a separation mechanism provided with a communicating passage extending between the work feeder and the turn table, wherein the turn table is rotated by a driver to shift the work-storing pockets at a work-receiving position one by one, the work-receiving position facing the communicating passage, a suction opening being provided in the vicinity of the turn table so that the suction opening communicates with the work-storing pocket located at the work-receiving position, a work detector is provided in the vicinity of the turn table, for detecting the work stored in the work-storing pocket located at the work-receiving position; and a work stopper provided on the communication passage of the separation mechanism on an upstream side of the work detector, the work stopper being able to protrude into and be retracted from the communication passage, the work stopper being driven by a controller based on a signal from the work detector.
The work stopper may be provided along the communicating passage of the separation mechanism and in the vicinity of the outer periphery of the turn table.
The work stopper may include a separating pin and a pin-driving mechanism, the separating pin protruding into and being retracted from the communicating passage of the separation mechanism in the vicinity of the turn table by the pin-driving mechanism under control of the controller.
The work transfer apparatus may further include a pin detector in the vicinity of the separating pin, for detecting the separating pin while protruding into and being retracted from the communicating passage of the separation mechanism, the controller controlling the driver to rotate the turn table based on a signal from the pin detector.
In the work transfer apparatus, the work detector may include a photo emitter provided at a wall of the work-storing pocket at base or cover side and a photo receptor provided at an opposing wall of the work-storing pocket.
In the work transfer apparatus, in response to the signal from the work detector, the controller may drive the work stopper to protrude into the communication passage to separate the work in the work-storing pocket from other works when the work has been stored in the work-storing pocket located at the work-receiving position, whereas the controller may drive the work stopper to be retracted from the communication passage when no works have been stored in the work-storing pocket located at the work-receiving position.
In the work transfer apparatus, the separation mechanism and the turn table may be supported by a supporting base, and enclosed by a cover.
In the work transfer apparatus, the work stopper may include a separating pin provided on the supporting base or the cover, the separating pin being able to protrude into and be retracted from the communicating passage.
In the work transfer apparatus, the work detector may include a photo emitter provided at either the supporting base or the cover and a photo receptor provided at the other of the supporting base and the cover.
In the work transfer apparatus, the controller may halt the driver based on a signal from the pin detector when the separating pin has not protruded enough into the communicating passage.
In the work transfer apparatus, the pin detector may operate when a protrusion attached to the separating pin comes close to the pin detector.
According to the present invention, several works fed by the work feeder are sequentially transferred through the communicating passage. The preceding work is stopped by the separating pin of the work stopper stuck into the communicating passage. The separating pin is then retracted from the communicating passage so that the preceding work is stored in a work-storing pocket located at the receiving position on the turn table due to a negative pressure caused by suction through the suction opening. The work stopper is operated by the controller based on a signal from the work detector so that the separating pin is stuck into the communicating passage again to stop the succeeding work.


A method and apparatus for classifying possibly vulnerable plaques from sets of DCE-MRI images includes receiving a set of MRI slice images obtained at respectively different times, where each slice image includes voxels representative of at least one region of interest (ROI). The images are processed to determine the boundaries of the ROIs and the voxels within the identified boundaries in corresponding regions of the images from each time period are processed to extract kinetic texture features. The kinetic texture features are then used in a classification process which classifies the ROIs as vulnerable or stable.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the breast is quickly becoming an important component of breast cancer screening in the United States. The American Cancer Society revised its MRI screening guidelines in 2007 to include women with a 20 to 25 percent increased lifetime risk, including family history of breast and ovarian cancers or a history of prior treatment for Hodgkin's disease. MRI has become a tool for breast cancer screening because of its advantages over mammography and ultrasound. First, breast MRI is more sensitive than x-ray mammography and ultrasound and thus may be used to detect lesions that would otherwise remain undetected. Second, MRI has been shown to be advantageous in screening women with dense breast tissue, which is common in younger patients. Third, and likely most importantly, the dynamic contrast enhanced (DCE) component of DCEMRI provides information about vascularity of a lesion that is more difficult to obtain using x-ray mammography or ultrasound.
Triple negative (TN) breast cancer has recently gained much attention in the field of breast cancer research. TN breast cancer is a molecular subtype that lacks expression of the estrogen receptor, progesterone receptor, and the HER2 receptor. Because of its lack of receptor expression, targeted therapies are ineffective, and chemotherapy is currently the only treatment available. TN breast cancer is also particularly aggressive and accounts for 12% to 26% of all breast cancers, most often occurring in young patients and African-American patients. The research community has become interested in TN breast cancer because of its particularly aggressive clinical course and lack of targeted therapies. Studies examining the pathological phenotype have revealed a heterogeneous group of breast cancers that often present as interval cancers, presenting in the months in between annual breast cancers screenings. This clearly suggests the need for greater exploration into the detection methods and biological understanding of TN breast cancers. Studies have shown that x-ray mammography is less effective in TN breast cancer screening than DCE-MRI due to the greater sensitivity of DCE-MRI in detecting TN and basal-like breast cancer phenotypes. A similar pattern of enhancement, described as rim enhancement, was observed in both subtypes. Although, qualitative radiologic descriptors have been developed for small pilot studies in TN breast cancer cases, the inventors are unaware of any quantitative classification of the TN subtype.

Classification of biological tissue by multi-mode data registration, segmentation and characterization

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

The Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania


An all-rounded illumination enveloped fluorescent lamp. The light translucent materials used for lamp carrier disk fixing lamp tube, segregation board segregating wires, ballast circuit board and rear housing enables light emitted by the lamp tube to penetrate through the rear housing, thus causing the whole lamp body to illuminate as the lamp is turned on. The rear housing, which is made of PC plastic with proper amount of colour powder added, provides good light transmission property but is not transparent, thus shielding the ballast. No darkness zone is formed when in use. The lamp thus provides an advantageous aesthetic quality and illumination effect. The light transmission amount of the rear housing is increased further by setting the circuit board perpendicular to the lamp carrier disk or by adjusting the circuit board to be smaller than the bottom projection of lamp tube.

Existing enveloped fluorescent lamps in the current market are commonly made up of a lamp envelope, lamp tube, lamp carrier disk, ballast on circuit board, rear housing and lamp base. With this type of fluorescent lamp, the lamp tube is fixed on the proximate end of the lamp carrier disk; the ballast circuit board is set on the distal end of the lamp carrier disk; the ballast connects to the lamp tube and lamp base; the lamp carrier disk and circuit board are fixed and encapsulated in the space connecting the lamp envelope and rear housing, such that the lamp envelope contains the lamp tube and the rear housing contains the ballast; and the lamp base is fixed firmly on the tail portion of the rear housing. As a result, only a lamp envelope made of transparent or translucent materials can let light emitted by the lamp tube to penetrate through the lamp envelope on the proximate end of lamp body. The rear housing is made of non-translucent plastic materials in order to shield the inner ballast and to give a beautiful appearance of the lamp. Hence, with the darkness zone formed by covering with a plastic rear housing at the distal end of enveloped fluorescent lamp, the aesthetic appearance is lost, while light output for illumination also suffers. Additionally, the enveloped fluorescent lamps in the current market always come in bulky dimension and it is difficult to use in the application areas where a small dimension is required.

All-rounded illumination enveloped fluorescent lamp


A novel and improved closed nozzle injector is provided which effectively and accurately controls the timing and rate of fuel injection while minimizing parasitic losses and needle valve element wear. The closed nozzle injector includes a needle valve element movable between open and closed positions, an outer control volume, an injection control valve for controlling the flow of pressurized fuel from the outer control volume to affect opening and closing of the needle valve element and a needle valve biasing feature for optimizing the speed of needle valve opening and closing. The needle valve biasing feature includes an inner guide portion formed on the needle valve element with a larger diameter than an outer guide portion, an inner control volume, and an inner restriction orifice for restricting the flow of pressurized supply fuel to the inner control volume to create a fuel pressure bias closing force which advantageously slows down the opening of the needle valve element. The fuel pressure bias closing force increases as the needle valve element opens thereby causing the needle valve element to hover in an open position without contacting a hard stop. The inner control volume and inner restriction orifice also result in a hydraulic damper effect which slows the closing motion of the needle valve element toward the end of the closing event thereby permitting higher needle closing velocity earlier in the closing event.

This invention relates to closed nozzle fuel injectors having a control chamber for permitting servo-control of a needle valve element and, specifically, to a servo-controlled closed nozzle injector which effectively control needle valve movement to enhance injector operation and combustion in an engine.
In most fuel supply systems applicable to internal combustion engines, fuel injectors are used to direct fuel pulses into the engine combustion chamber. A commonly used injector is a closed-nozzle injector which includes a nozzle assembly having a spring-biased nozzle valve element positioned adjacent the nozzle orifice for resisting blow back of exhaust gas into the pumping or metering chamber of the injector while allowing fuel to be injected into the cylinder. The nozzle valve element also functions to provide a deliberate, abrupt end to fuel injection thereby preventing a secondary injection which causes unburned hydrocarbons in the exhaust. The nozzle valve is positioned in a nozzle cavity and biased by a nozzle spring to block fuel flow through the nozzle orifices. In many fuel systems, when the pressure of the fuel within the nozzle cavity exceeds the biasing force of the nozzle spring, the nozzle valve element moves outwardly to allow fuel to pass through the nozzle orifices, thus marking the beginning of injection. In another type of system, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,676,114 to Tarr et al., the beginning of injection is controlled by a servo-controlled needle valve element. The assembly includes a control volume positioned adjacent an outer end of the needle valve element, a drain circuit for draining fuel from the control volume to a low pressure drain, and an injection control valve positioned along the drain circuit for controlling the flow of fuel through the drain circuit so as to cause the movement of the needle valve element between open and closed positions. Opening of the injection control valve causes a reduction in the fuel pressure in the control volume resulting in a pressure differential which forces the needle valve open, and closing of the injection control valve causes an increase in the control volume pressure and closing of the needle valve. U.S. Pat. No. 5,463,996 issued to Maley et al. discloses a similar servo-controlled needle valve injector.
Internal combustion engine designers have increasingly come to realize that substantially improved fuel supply systems are required in order to meet the ever increasing governmental and regulatory requirements of emissions abatement and increased fuel economy. It is well known that the level of emissions generated by the diesel fuel combustion process can be reduced by decreasing the volume of fuel injected during the initial stage of an injection event and decreasing the time required for valve closing. It is also desirable to limit the impact velocity of the needle valve element against its seat upon closing. As a result, many proposals have been made to provide control devices in closed nozzle fuel injector systems. U.S. Pat. No. 5,133,645 to Crowley et al. discloses a common rail fuel injection system having two common rails serving respective banks of injectors. Fuel is supplied to each rail by a respective cam-operated reciprocating plunger pump. Each injector includes a nozzle element positioned in a spring cavity which receives high pressure fuel from the common rail via a check valve. The spring cavity is also connected, via an orifice, to a pressure control volume positioned above the nozzle element. A solenoid operated control valve opens to connect the control volume to drain thereby initiating injection as fuel flows from the nozzle cavity through the orifice to drain, and closes to terminate injection. U.S. Pat. No. 4,249,497 to Eheim et al. discloses a fuel injection system wherein fuel injection is controlled by controlling the differential pressure across a nozzle valve element using a single valve which opens to direct fuel to drain so as to start injection and closes to end injection. However, these references fail to disclose a means for effectively controlling the rate of needle valve element opening and closing.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,638,791 to Tsuzuki et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 5,771,865 to Ishida both disclose a common-rail fuel injection system with a fuel injector having a back pressure control chamber (pressure chamber) which is fluidically connected to a high-pressure inlet port (fuel pipe) and a control port (low pressure passage) which drains to a solenoid actuator. These references also disclose orifices that restrict the flow of fluid into the back pressure control chamber and the solenoid actuator passage.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,941,215 to Augustin is noted for disclosing a fuel injector having a spring chamber which is fluidically connected to a supply line via a passage which acts as a simple throttle structure.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,959,360 to Nichols discloses a fuel injector nozzle assembly incorporating passages in the nozzle assembly for diverting the fuel from the nozzle assembly. Specifically, Nichols discloses a nozzle valve element having an axial passage formed therein for diverting fuel from the nozzle cavity into an expansible chamber formed in the nozzle valve element. A plunger is positioned in the chamber to form a differential surface creating a fuel pressure induced seating force on the nozzle valve element to aid in rapidly seating the valve element. The Nichols reference does not suggest the desirability of controlling the rate of opening and closing of the nozzle valve element.
Although some systems discussed hereinabove control needle valve element movement, further improvement is desirable. None of the above discussed references disclose a fuel injector incorporating a simple servo-controlled needle valve capable of increasing the time required to open the needle valve element and decreasing the time required for valve closing while limiting the impact velocity of the needle valve element against its seat upon closing.
It is an object of the present invention, therefore, to overcome the disadvantages of the prior art and to provide a fuel injector which is capable of effectively and predictably controlling the opening and closing of a needle valve element to permit control of the rate of fuel injection.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a servo-controlled injector capable of effectively slowing the opening of the needle valve element.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a servo-controlled injector capable of effectively speeding up the closing of the needle valve element.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a servo-controlled injector capable preventing the needle valve element from sticking in the open position.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a servo-controlled injector permitting the flow rate of fuel injected during the initial portion of the injection event to be more accurately controlled so as to minimize emissions.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an injector for use in a variety of fuel systems, including common rail system, accumulator pump systems and pump-line-nozzle fuel systems, which effectively controls the rate of injection.
It is a still further object of the present invention to provide a servo-controlled injector capable of preventing needle valve element bounce in the open position.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a servo-controlled injector wherein the needle valve element can hover on a fuel cushion when in the open position.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide an injector which offers maximum flexibility in controlling injection rate shape.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a servo-controlled injector which provides a quick needle valve element closing while limiting the impact velocity of the needle valve element against its seat.
It is a still further object of the present invention to provide a servo-controlled injector capable of minimizing parasitic fuel losses.
These and other objects of the present invention are achieved by providing a closed nozzle injector for injecting fuel at high pressure into the combustion chamber of an engine, comprising an injector body containing an injector cavity and an injector orifice communicating with one end of the injector cavity to discharge fuel into the combustion chamber wherein the injector body includes a fuel transfer circuit for transferring supply fuel to the injector orifice. The injector also includes a nozzle valve element positioned in one end of the injector cavity adjacent the injector orifice and movable between an open position in which fuel may flow from the fuel transfer circuit through the injector orifice into the combustion chamber and a closed position in which fuel flow through the injector orifice is blocked. Movement of the nozzle valve element from the closed position to the open position and from the open position to the closed position defines an injection event during which fuel may flow through the injector orifice into the combustion chamber. The needle valve element includes an inner guide portion having an outer surface contacting the injector body and an outer guide portion having an outer surface contacting the injector body. The inner guide outer surface includes an outer diameter greater than an outer diameter of the outer guide outer surface. The closed nozzle injector further includes an outer control volume positioned adjacent an outer end of the needle valve element, a control volume charge circuit for supplying fuel from the fuel transfer circuit to the outer control volume, a drain circuit for draining fuel from the outer control volume to a low pressure drain, an injection control valve positioned along the drain circuit for controlling the flow of fuel through the drain circuit to control the movement of the needle valve element between the open and closed positions and an inner control volume positioned axially along the needle valve element between the inner guide portion and the injector orifice.
The closed nozzle injector may include a spring chamber positioned axially along the needle valve element between the inner guide portion and the outer guide portion and a bias spring positioned in the spring chamber to bias the needle valve element toward the closed position. The spring chamber is positioned to receive unrestricted high pressure fuel from the fuel pressure circuit. The fuel injector may further include an inner restriction orifice positioned to restrict fuel flow from the fuel transfer circuit to the inner control volume wherein the inner restriction orifice is sized to create a pressure difference between the fuel transfer circuit and the inner control volume. The fuel injector may further include an outer restriction orifice positioned to restrict fuel flow from the fuel transfer circuit to the outer control volume. The outer diameter of the inner guide outer surface is sized to generate a fuel pressure biasing force acting on the inner guide portion which tends to bias the needle valve element toward the closed position during an injection event. The needle valve element may be a one-piece unitary structure including the inner and the outer guide portions. The needle valve element may further include a valve seat portion have a valve seat diameter less than the outer guide portion diameter. The inner restriction orifice may be formed in the needle valve element.
The present invention is also directed to a closed nozzle injector for injecting fuel at a high pressure into the combustion chamber of an engine comprising the injector body, the nozzle valve element movable between open and closed positions, the outer control volume, the control volume charge circuit, the drain circuit, the injection control valve and a needle valve biasing feature for creating a fuel pressure bias closing force on the needle valve element which biases the needle valve element toward the closed position and for increasing the fuel pressure bias closing force on the needle valve element during movement from the closed position to the open position. The needle valve biasing feature further functions for creating a fuel pressure bias opening force on the needle valve element which biases the needle valve element toward the open position and for increasing the fuel pressure bias opening force as the needle valve element moves from the open position toward the closed position. The needle valve biasing feature may further include the inner guide and outer guide portions, the inner control volume, the inner restriction orifice, the outer restriction orifice and/or the valve seat portion having a valve seat diameter less than the outer guide portion diameter.

Closed nozzle fuel injector with improved controllabilty


An apparatus for detecting position or temperature distribution of an object has a lens which is rotated around a pyroelectric type infrared sensor to collect incident infrared ray on the sensor while scanning the incident infrared ray in a rotational direction. The optical scanning is operated also in the longitudinal direction by providing with a plurality of lenses having different view in the longitudinal direction, the lenses being rotated sequentialy around the sensor. Further, detection of temperature of an object is conducted without using optical chopper by alternately observing the object and a standard temperature material which is arranged in a part of view, or by providing a stationary slit unit on a curved surface formed around a center axis which is the same as the rotation axis of the lens and a movable slit unit having the same pitch and arranged adjacent to the stationary slit unit and rotating together with the lens to intermitting the incident infrared ray.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an apparatus for detecting the position or temperature of an object by using a pyroelectric type infrared sensor.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As a pyroelectric-type infrared detecting apparatus, there has been hitherto known a device in which an object is mechanically scanned with a scanning reflecting mirror using a point sensor or a linear array sensor or a device in which the whole object area is covered by a two-dimensional array sensor. However, these devices have drawbacks in that the former devices which use a scanning reflecting mirror are large in size and are high in cost because of their complicated structure and the latter devices, which use a two-dimensional array sensor to obtain a wide range of view, require a wide-angle infrared lens which is difficult to fabricate and is therefore expensive. Particularly, a device, wherein the temperature of an object is measured by using a pyro-electric sensor, is large in size since the measurement must be carried out by interrupting incident infrared rays using of an optical chopper to determine the difference between the value when the chopper is opened and the value when the chopper is closed.
Recently, a pyro-electric type infrared detecting device of the scanning type has been studied as an industrial measuring device such as a line scanner or a sensor for detecting indoor status for crime prevention, diaster prevention or air conditioning and the like. An example of such a device is disclosed in Japanese unexamined patent publication No. 53-41279/1978.
Hereinafter, an example of a conventional pyro-electric type infrared detecting device will be explained with reference to the drawings of this application.
FIG. 7 shows a conventional scanning type non-contact temperature measuring apparatus. In FIG. 7, element 21 is a motor rotating at a constant speed; element 22 is a rotational axis of the motor; element 23 is a rotating disk; element 24 is a pin; element 25 is a scanning reflection mirror; element 26 is a supporting shaft; element 27 is a connecting arm; element 28 is an object to be measured; element is a reflecting mirror; element 30 is a reflecting mirror; element 31 is a rotating sector for interrupting infrared rays; element 32 is a lens for collecting light, and element 33 is an infrared ray detector.
With referrence to the scanning type non-contact temperature measuring device constituted as above, the action of the device will be explained below.
The rotational movement of the motor 21 is transmitted to the scanning reflecting mirror 25 through the connecting arm 27 to cause reciprocal movement of the scanning reflecting mirror 25. The infrared ray emitted from each point of measuring object scanned by reciprocal movement of the scanning reflecting mirror 25 is reflected by the reflecting mirrors 29 and 30, and collected by the collecting lens 33 and sent to the infrared detector 32. The rotation sector 31 provided in front of the infrared ray detector 33 is rotated by the motor 21, and the temperature can be measured since a groove is formed to transmit the infrared ray at one position of the scanning reflecting mirror.
However, the above mentioned structure, wherein the scanning reflecting mirror 25 is arranged in front of collecting lens 32, involves drawbacks in that the device is difficult to be installed or to be made compact in size due to its complicated driving system construction, or in that while the angle of view of the collecting lens can be made wide in the direction of rotation, the angle of view in the direction of the rotation axis is significantly limited for the lens.

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


An abdominal sonar includes an ultrasound transducer array with a plurality of ultrasound transducers. The abdominal sonar further includes at least one additional ultrasound transducer. A digital signal processor is communicatively connected to the plurality of ultrasound transducers and the at least one additional ultrasound transducer. The digital signal processor individually operates the plurality of ultrasound transducers and the at least one additional ultrasound transducer. The digital signal processor receives reflected ultrasound signals back from each of the plurality of ultrasound transducers and the at least one additional ultrasound transducer and converts the received reflected ultrasound signals into an audio signal. A system for monitoring a pregnancy includes an ultrasound transducer array and at least one additional ultrasound transducer. A digital signal processor is communicatively connected to the ultrasound transducer array and the at least one ultrasound transducer. The digital signal processor converts received raw fetal heart and uterine activity waveforms into an audio signal. A wireless transmitter broadcasts the received audio signal. A wireless receiver receives the broadcast audio signal. A patient monitor extracts the raw fetal heart and uterine activity waveforms from the audio signal and processes the waveforms to obtain an indication of fetal heart rate and an indication of uterine activity.

The current disclosure is related to the field of physiological monitoring of a pregnant patient. More specifically, the present disclosure relates to the use of ultrasound in physiological monitor of a pregnant patient.
External fetal monitoring provides valuable information regarding the physiological condition of both a pregnant mother and a fetus during labor prior to delivery. Currently, a tocodynamometer is used to detect the uterine activity, or contraction, of the mother, while an ultrasound transducer is used to detect fetal heart rate (FHR). The use of two different modalities to monitor these physiological parameters requires two devices to be attached to the mother. This results in redundancy of components and decreases the mobility and/or comfort of the mother during labor.


A liquid action substance battery having its external terminal welded after assembling the battery in which safety of the battery is enhanced by protecting an explosion-proof valve against being torn apart in the subsequent welding work of the external terminal even if the position of a negative pole action substance being press-bonded to the inner surface of the battery can is shifted and that substance is extruded to the bottom face of the battery can. The liquid action substance battery employing an alkaline metal such as lithium, sodium or potassium or its alloy as the negative pole action substance, and an oxyhalide such as thionyl chloride, sulfuryl chloride or phosphoryl chloride in a liquid state at normal temperature as the positive pole action substance, and storing and sealing the negative pole action substance and the positive pole action substance in the bottomed battery, wherein a metal plate is welded to the inner surface at the bottom part of the battery can to form a partial space between them so that welding heat is not transmitted directly to the negative pole action substance when the external terminal is welded.

A liquid action substance battery employing an alkaline metal such as lithium, sodium or potassium, or its alloy as the negative pole action substance and oxyhalide such as thionyl chloride, sulfuryl chloride or phosphoryl chloride in a liquid state at normal temperature as the positive pole action substance, is commonly used, for example as a backup power source for a memory used in various industrial equipments, for its characteristics of large energy density, of excellent storage capacity and of availability over wide range of temperature.
In this battery, the negative pole action substance consisting of alkaline metals or its alloys is generally press-bonded to the inner surface of the can doubled as a negative pole terminal, and the positive pole substance mainly consisting of porous carbon is mounted in the can with a separator their-between. The liquid action substance mainly consisting of said oxyhalid, which is a positive pole action substance doubled as an electrolyte, is stored in the can. In addition, said positive pole substance is consisted of porous carbon and positive pole current collector such as metallic mesh or metallic rod.
In the liquid action substance battery as mentioned above, the negative pole action substance directly contacts with the positive pole action substance. However, since a protective coating which is chemical reaction products (alkaline metal halide salt such as lithium chloride) between the negative pole action substance and the positive pole action substance or electrolyte melted in the substance, is formed on the surface of the negative pole action substance, accordingly said coating could prevent direct reaction between the negative pole action substance and the liquid positive pole action substance doubled as electrolyte, and could prevent from self-discharging of the battery as well, and therefore it contributes to keep the battery safe, for example by preventing from heat generating.
In other side, these batteries are usually connected to the external terminals or connectors for their use, accordingly the external terminals or leading foils are commonly welded to the bottom face or top face of the battery, for example by spot welding.
However, in case that welding heat is directly transmitted to the negative pole action substance while welding of the external terminal to the bottom face of the battery can, the negative pole action substance might be melted. Accordingly it can't keep separate the negative pole action substance against the positive pole action substance by mean of the protective coating covered over the surface of said negative pole action substance. Then the negative pole action substance immediately reacts with the positive pole action substance in the cell, thereby inner pressure in the cell being increased, accordingly the explosion-proof valve consisting of cross-like thin plates placed on the bottom of the can happen to be torn apart.
In order to avoid such risk as mentioned above occurred in welding the external terminal to the bottom surface of the can, the position of the welding of the external terminal on the bottom surface of the can has been commonly shifted to the near center of the bottom surface, not to the peripheral part of the bottom surface of the can where the negative pole action substance is located nearby.
However, in case that press-bonding position of the negative pole action substance to the can would be off the point and the negative pole action substance would extrude to the bottom face of the can, the welding heat would be transmitted to the negative pole action substance while welding of external terminal, accordingly internal pressure in the can is increasing and as a result the explosion-proof valve rarely happen to be torn apart.
JP6-68863A showed a measure to deal with such a problem as mentioned above. The measure described in the documents primarily deal with the disruption of explosion-proof valve before it works, in case that the liquid action substance battery happens to fall down in the soldering pot, immediately thereby the battery would be exposed to large amounts of heat with high temperature. However, as a secondly effect, the measure could be against the danger of the disruption of the can while welding of the external terminal, by means of inserting a resin ring such as poly-tetra-fluoro-ethylene, etc. in the bottom of the battery can.
However this measure has some disadvantages as mentioned below. In view of thermal stability and resistance against oxyhalide, fluororesin such as poly-tetra-fluoro-ethylene, etc. are used as a resin ring. But the fluororesin is not preferable because lithium fluoride is formed in the reaction of the fluororesin with lithium used as the negative pole action substance. Moreover, in view of structural and manufactural restriction, the resin ring should be inserted beforehand in the bottom of the battery can before the negative pole action substance is press-bonded to the inner surface of the can. In that case, however, vibration and static electricity generated during transferring process of resin ring after insertion in the battery can, happen to make the resin ring disorder or slant. Therefore said measure is not preferable in view of mass production of the batteries.
The purpose of the invention being made in view of aforementioned circumstances, is to enhance the safety of the liquid action substance battery having its external terminal welded after assembling the battery so as not to be tore apart in the subsequent welding work of the external terminal, even if the position of the negative pole action substance being press-bonded to the inner surface of the battery can would be shifted and that substance would be extruded to the bottom face of the battery can.