A hydrogen-selective thin Pd/40% Cu membrane as for use as a wall connecting high and low pressure chambers of a hydrogen generator, comprising the foil having its edge area diffusion-bonded to a copper-surfaced metallic frame; and a method of preparing the same.

The prior art is replete with descriptions of palladium-bearing alloy membranes used to prepare pure hydrogen from gaseous hydrogen-containing mixtures by permeation through a palladium-bearing metallic membrane under pressure and at elevated temperatures. Reference is made to the co-pending patent application Ser. No. 08/719,385 of common assignee which is incorporated herein by reference. Wherein an important advantage of a 60% palladium-40% copper alloy membrane with respect to temperature-cycling and minimal swelling in hydrogen is disclosed. This bears also on the publication by J. Shu, B. P. Grandjean, A. van Neste and S. Kaliaguine, entitled "Catalytic Palladium-based Membrane Reactors: A Review", The Canadian Journal of Chemical Engineering, Vol. 69, (October, 1991), herein also incorporated by reference, wherein this particular palladium-copper alloy is described as showing a sharp maximum at 40 wt % Cu.
Accordingly, for the purpose of the present invention, we use such palladium copper alloys with copper contents sufficiently near the 40% by weight optimum, (i.e. 36-42% Cu), in which narrow range more than two thirds of the maximum flux is retained. Such alloys are termed "Pd/40% Cu" in this specification and the appended claims.
As shown, for example, in the above referenced co-pending application, Pd alloy membranes can be in the form of thin flat foils or small diameter tubes (e.g. 2 mm O.D.). Foils of the Pd/40% Cu membrane are readily available in thicknesses of 0.001 to 0.0025 inches, whereas special expensive techniques a re required to make such Pd/40% Cu tubes with wall thicknesses of no less than 0.0025 inch.
As also disclosed in the above-referenced co-pending application, a palladium alloy foil can be sandwiched between gaskets, and the edge area of the sandwich can be pressed onto a metallic frame. To so produce a leak-tight two-chamber apparatus, a uniform weighty and costly edge pressure is required to at least balance the pressure in the high pressure chamber. It is thus important to replace, in a pure hydrogen generator, the gasket seal with a pressure-tight seal, such as a weld. Welding is preferred over brazing or soldering to avoid contamination of the foil by the extraneous metals of the latter.
Diffusion welding employs temperatures that range from 50 to 75% of the melting point "Procedure Development and Practice Considerations for Diffusion Welding", by S. B. Dunkerton, "ASM Handbook", vol. 6, p. 883, ASM International (1993)!. Diffusion welding of copper to a different metal or to an alloy "is conducted at a temperature greater than one-half of the absolute melting point" Diffusion welding of Solid-State Welding, by J. L. Jellison and F. J. Zanner, "Metals Handbook", 9th Ed. Vol. 6, p. 672, ASM International (1983); see first column on page 672 and Table 1 on page 677!.
The Pd/40% Cu alloy has a melting point of approximately 1200.degree. C. (1473K) "ASM Handbook", vol. 3, p. 717, ASM International (1993)!. Hence welding it to copper is expected to require a temperature in excess of about 460.degree. C. (733K). However, we have found that the hydrogen flux across the Pd/40% Cu foil deteriorates after the foil has been exposed to such high temperatures.
Underlying the present invention is the discovery that these problems can be overcome by providing a hydrogen selective Pd/40% Cu membrane wall in the form of a thin palladium-copper alloy membrane of carefully controlled composition in an open-area copper-surfaced metallic frame, hermetically bonded by diffusion-bonding the membrane to the frame.
The term "diffusion-bonding", as used herein means controlling and maintaining an elevated bonding temperature below about 350.degree. C., while subjecting the edge area of the membrane in contact with the frame to a substantially uniform high pressure, in an oxygen-free atmosphere.

Diffusion-bonded palladium-copper alloy framed membrane for pure hydrogen generators and the like and method of preparing the same


A fuel injection head for use in a fuel injection nozzle comprises a monolithic body portion comprising an upstream face, an opposite downstream face, and a peripheral wall extending therebetween. A plurality of pre-mix tubes are integrally formed with and extend axially through the body portion. Each of the pre-mix tubes comprises an inlet adjacent the upstream face, an outlet adjacent the downstream face, and a channel extending between the inlet and the outlet. Each pre-mix tube also includes at least one fuel injector that at least partially extends outward from an exterior surface of the pre-mix tube, wherein the fuel injector is integrally formed with the pre-mix tube and is configured to facilitate fuel flow between the body portion and the channel.

The embodiments described herein relate generally to gas turbine engine injection nozzles, and more specifically, to pre-mix tubes that include a fuel injector used in gas turbine engine injection nozzles.
At least some known turbine engines are used in cogeneration facilities and power plants. Such engines may have high specific work and high power-per-unit mass flow requirements. To increase the operating efficiency, at least some known turbine engines, such as gas turbine engines, may operate with increased combustion temperatures. Generally, in at least some of such known gas turbine engines, engine efficiency increases as combustion gas temperatures increase. However, operating known turbine engines with higher temperatures may also increase the generation of polluting emissions, such as oxides of nitrogen (NOX). In an attempt to reduce the generation of such emissions, at least some known turbine engines include improved combustion system designs. For example, many combustion systems may use premixing technology that includes fuel injection nozzles or micro-mixers that mix substances, such as diluents, gases, and/or air with fuel to generate a fuel mixture for combustion.
Certain known gas turbine fuel injection nozzles contain many small pre-mix tubes that receive air through a main inlet, and fuel through at least one fuel injector along the length of the tube. Each pre-mix tube is positioned between upstream and downstream plates and is surrounded by a peripheral wall that forms a fuel nozzle head. The fuel injectors typically include a plurality of very small, low-angle, openings within the walls of the pre-mix tubes that enable fuel to be injected from the nozzle head into the interior of the tubes, wherein the fuel and air can mix before exiting the tubes and entering a combustion chamber. Fuel injectors having a longer length facilitate enhanced mixing and therefore, enable increased operating efficiency and decreased emissions. However, the length of the fuel injector is generally limited by the thickness of the pre-mix tube, and tube thickness is generally limited by industry manufacturing standards and a desire to include as many tubes as possible within the fuel nozzle.
It should be appreciated that the above-descried fuel injection nozzles include many braze joints at the tube/plate and plate/wall interfaces that are required to seal the fuel. As a result, expensive EDM procedures are necessary to form the many small, low-angle fuel injection holes. In addition, intricate assembly methods are often required to meet specified performance criteria. As such, a need exists for a pre-mix tube that uses a longer fuel injector and that is manufactured with fuel nozzle geometries that reduce potentially leaky joints, and that reduces a need for post machining and/or EDM operations.

Fuel injection nozzle and method of manufacturing the same


The present invention relates to novel protozoal cyclic GMP dependent protein kinases and genes encoding same that have been isolated from Eimeria maxima and Plasmodium falciparum. Nucleic acid molecules having sequences that encode such proteins as well as antibodies raised against such proteins are also disclosed. These enzymes may be used in screening assays to identify potential antiprotozoal agents. As well, methods to obtain such nucleic acid molecules, proteins, antibodies and inhibitor are also provided as are therapeutic compositions comprising such nucleic acid molecules, proteins, antibodies and inhibitors as well as their use to protect animals from disease caused by parasites such as Eimeria maxima and Plasmodium falciparum.

Parasitic protozoa are responsible for a wide variety of infections in man and animals, many of which are life threatening to the host. For example, members of the phylum Apicomplexa (formerly called Sporozoa) comprise a large and diverse group of pathogenic protozoa that are intracellular parasites which vary tremendously in virulence depending upon the species with which the host is infected. Some species cause diseases that result in mild symptoms that might go unnoticed (i.e., mild diarrhea) and eventually disappear, while other species cause highly virulent infections that are rapidly fatal. In animal husbandry, many of these diseases can cause considerable economic loss to the owners, as many such diseases can cause effects to the animals which may not be apparent until the animal is prepared for market. For example, poultry are generally marketed within weeks after hatching and this short time period does not permit the animals sufficient time to recover from a chronic infection prior to market if not treated in time.
A protozoal infection of great economic importance in the food industry is coccidiosis, a widespread disease of domesticated animals caused by protozoa of the genus Eimeria. Some of the most significant of Eimeria species are those in poultry, namely E. tenella, E. acervulina, E. necatrix, E. brunetti, E. praecox, E. mitis and E. maxima. The disease is responsible for high levels of morbidity and mortality and can result in extreme economic losses. Accordingly, there exists a continued need to identify new and effective anti-protozoal drugs.
While coccidiosis occurs in several domesticated and wild animal species, such as cattle, sheep, pigs and rabbits, the disease is especially important in poultry, in particular chickens. See Williams, R. B., A compartmentalized model for the estimation of the cost of coccidiosis to the world's poultry production industry, Int. J. Parasitology, 29: 1209-1229 (1999).
The disease is caused by the replication within the intestine of the asexual and/or sexual stages of seven species of Eimeria (usually several species occur concurrently) and although clinical disease in intensively reared poultry is now relatively uncommon, sub clinical infections are the norm. The poultry disease is generally spread by the birds picking up the infectious organism in droppings on contaminated litter or ground or by way of food or drinking water. The disease is manifested by hemorrhage, accumulation of blood in the ceca, passage of blood to the droppings, weakness and digestive disturbances. The disease often terminates in the death of the animal but the fowl which survive severe infections have their market value substantially reduced as a result of the infection. Of the seven species of Eimeria, the most pathogenic species are E. necatrix and E. tenella, followed by E. maxima. The least pathogenic species is E. praecox.
The total cost of coccidial infections in the US runs in the hundreds of millions of dollars. In the UK alone, the total cost, corresponding to about 780 million broilers, has been estimated to be at least £42 m per annum, of which 74% is due to sub-clinical effects on weight gain and feed conversion and 24% is the cost of prophylaxis and therapy of commercial birds. See Williams, supra;
Presently, poultry flocks are protected against coccidiosis by either immunization or the use of anti-coccidial chemotherapeutic agents with the most commonly utilized method for controlling coccidial infections being the use of anti-coccidial agents. The most successful anticoccidials have been the polyether ionophores, a class of antibiotics of complex structure, which continues to be the industry standard since its introduction nearly thirty years ago. While many such ionophores exhibit anti-coccidial activity, the relative degree of activity varies from one agent to another. As well, the use of ionophores for controlling coccidiosis in animals requires that the agent be continuously administered to the animal typically by being mixed with the feed used for the entire growth period. Reports of resistance development due to the extended and constant chemotherapeutic pressure exerted by this class of compounds are not uncommon. See Stephen, B. et al., Vet. Parasitol., 69: 19-29 (1997) and Daugschies et al., Vet. Parasitol., 76: 163-171(1998). As such, there is a dire need to develop antiprotozoal compounds that are not attended by the above referenced drawbacks.
Probably the most well-studied acomplexicans are species of Plasmodium, an obligate intracellular parasite, which is the causative agent for malaria. Malaria remains a significant health threat to humans despite massive international attempts to eradicate the disease. There are four species of Plasmodium which infect humans. P. falciparum, P. vivax, P. malariae, and P. ovale.
Alone among the malaria species which infect humans, Plasmodium falciparum causes the erythrocytes, which it invades to sequester in the deep vascular beds of various tissues. Sequestration allows the parasite to develop in a microenvironment of low oxygen tension and to evade splenic immune surveillance (Langreth and Peterson (1985) Infect. Immun. 47: 760-766). P. falciparum is the most virulent species of malaria since it can cause the death of the host as a result of: cerebral malaria, pulmonary or renal failure.
More than ten years ago an urgent need for drugs against malaria was identified. The antibiotics currently in use for the treatment and prophylaxis of malaria (including the tetracyclines and clindamycin) have little action on pre-erythrocytic stages and act slowly on blood stages, but are used for treatment of drug resistant strains because of their safety rather than their efficacy. Furthermore, the rapid spread of resistance to chloroquine has heightened the need for ready availability of relatively low cost prophylactic and therapeutic anti-malarial drugs. Owing to the devastating consequences of the disease, and the potential for therapeutic intervention, researchers have long sought to identify the parasite protein(s) responsible for the devastating effects attending Plasmodium falciparum infection.
Although discovered in 1963, the importance of the cyclic nucleotide cofactor cGMP in many cellular and physiological processes was first described in the late 1970s (Lincoln and Cornwell, 1993; Baumner and Nawrath, 1995; Moro et al., 1996; Vaandrager and de Jonge, 1996). cGMP is generated by guanylate cyclase (GC) and degraded by specific cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterases (PDE). It exerts its intracellular effects by interacting with a group of intracellular proteins known as intracellular cGMP receptor proteins (Lincoln and Cornwell, 1993), which include cGMP-dependent protein kinases (PKGs), cGMP-dependent phosphodiesterases (PDEs), and cGMP-gated ion channels.
It is believed that the binding and activation of cGMP-dependent protein kinase (PKG) is responsible for most of the intracellular actions of cGMP. PKGs are known to control many cellular processes in higher animals. Although expressed in many cell types, these serine/threonine protein kinases are found at high levels in mammalian lung, cerebellum, platelets, and SMCs (Francis and Corbin, 1994). cGMP dependent protein kinases (PKG) catalyze the phosphorylation of specific protein substrates. In the absence of cGMP the activity of these enzymes is very low.
The canonical phosphorylation site for PKG substrates (Arg-Arg-X-Ser) is the same described for cAMP-dependent protein kinases (PKA, Vaandrager and de Jonge, 1996). In mammalian cells there are two types of PKG, a soluble (PKG1) and a membrane bound form (PKG2). (Vaandrager and de Jonge, 1996). Multiple splice variants of the soluble protein have been identified. Type I -PKG1 has two isoforms (type I-α and type I-β), while type If is less common and expressed only in intestinal epithelial cells (Lincoln and Cornwell, 1993), kidney, and brain (Vaandrager and de Jonge, 1996).
The present invention overcomes previous shortcomings in developing effective treatments of various types of parasitic infections by providing the nucleotide sequence of the gene encoding Eimeria maxima PKG and Plasmodium falciparum PKG respectively, the novel protein kinases encoded by each of the nucleic acid molecules, and the use of the proteins as chemotherapeutic target(s). Therapeutics identified via use of the novel nucleic acids as well as the herein disclosed assays are likewise contemplated by the present invention.

Nucleic acids encoding novel cyclic GMP dependent protein kinases from


A sample substrate adapted for use with fluorescence excitation light with a first wavelength. A reflector is disposed on a base. The reflector includes a reflecting multilayer interference coating with at least two layers. Not all of the layers L fulfill a quarterwave condition: dL·nL=(2N+1)·¼ wherein dL is a physical thickness of layer L, nL is an index of refraction of layer L at the first wavelength, N is an integer equal to or greater than zero and 1 is the first wavelength. Thicknesses of the layers ensure that any fluorescent sample material disposed on top of said multilayer interference coating would be located near an antinode of a standing wave formed by the excitation light with the first wavelength incident on said substrate.

The present invention relates to sample substrates, such as plates, slides and cells, for use in examining, indicating, analyzing or identifying fluorescent, phosphorescent or luminescent sample materials, e.g. tagged molecular biological specimens, and in particular relates to such sample holders whose optical structures are adapted for enhancing fluorescence detection and imaging. The format of the sample substrates of the present invention can be adapted to formats typically used in this field, such as for example the standard format of microtiter plates.
Fluorescence microscopy is often used in the fields of molecular biology, biochemistry and other life sciences for analyzing biological molecules, including nucleic acids (DNA, RNA) and proteins (enzymes, antigens, etc.) that have been tagged or labeled with fluorescent probes. One such use is DNA diagnostics, such as for gene detection, in which a DNA sample is deposited on and bound to a glass substrate. The bound DNA on the substrate can then be imaged by fluorescence. The fluorescence of a sample was originally assessed by visual inspection through a conventional microscope, but this manual method has proved time-consuming and costly. Many different high-speed automated fluorescence imaging systems are now available.
An important figure of merit for fluorescence detection and measurement instruments is sensitivity, which is primarily determined by the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the optical imaging system of the instrument. A well-designed imaging system has a signal-to-noise ratio that is limited by its light collection ability and not by internal noise sources. The theoretical SNR of such a system is expressed in terms of the number of photoelectrons at the cathode when using a photomultiplier tube (PMT), which in turn essentially depends upon the number of photons that reach the detector from the area of interest on the sample substrate, the quantum efficiency of the detector, and the number of dark electrons generated by the detector.
One obvious approach to increasing SNR, and thereby improving sensitivity, is to reduce background noise. Sources of background noise include specular or diffuse reflection of the fluorescence-stimulating laser light from the sample, autofluorescence of the substrate holding the sample, autofluorescence from the optics in the light path of the optical imaging system, stray light, and dark current of the detector. Stray light reaching the detector can be significantly reduced by proper size and placement of apertures in the imaging system. Both stray light and much of the reflected laser light can be rejected, while passing the fluorescent light, by using dichroic and other spectral filters and beamsplitters in the system. Autofluorescence of the optical elements can be reduced by avoiding use of lens cements in the light path, using glass instead of polymeric lenses, or using curved mirrors instead of lenses wherever possible.
Autofluorescence of the substrate can be reduced by using low fluorescence materials, such as an ultrathin or opaque glass substrate. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,095,213 Strongin discloses a plastic slide that is rendered opaque and substantially nonfluorescent with a quantity of black carbon powder in the plastic. Another way of handling autofluorescence is to use a pulsed or modulated excitation and to take advantage of the differences in emission decay rates between background fluorescence and specimen fluorescence, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,877,965 to Dandliker et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 5,091,653 to Creager et al.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,552,272, Bogart discloses an assay system and method for detecting the presence or amount of an analyte of interest. It includes a test substrate with an optically active surface that enhances the color contrast, i.e. differences in the observed wavelength (or combination of wavelengths) of light from the surface, between the presence and absence of the analyte in a sample applied onto the test substrate. In particular, the substrate may comprise a reflective solid optical base, such as a silicon wafer or metallic (e.g., aluminum) base, with an optical thin film coating thereon. The coating may comprise several layers, including for example an attachment layer on the upper surface of the base, and a receptive layer on the upper surface of the attachment layer containing a specific binding partner for the analyte of interest. The total coating thickness is selected to cause incident light to undergo thin film interference upon reflection, such that a specific color is produced. Specifically, the coating material(s) should have an overall thickness of a quarterwave of the unwanted color to be attenuated so that destructive interference of that color will occur. The substrate therefore has a particular background color, which can then be used as a comparative reference against a different observed color when an analyte of interest is present. Both qualitative visual inspection and quantitative instrumented measurement are suggested. Polarization contrast by means of an ellipsometer is also suggested.
One example of the use to which the Bogart invention has been put by Biostar, Inc. of Boulder, Colo., the assignee of the aforementioned patent, is an optical immunoassay (OIA) diagnostic screening test for the rapid detection (in under 30 minutes) of the presence of specific antigens of infectious pathogens in a sample taken from a patient. Commercial products include test kits for group A and group B streptococci and for chlamydia trachomatis. These particular assays are given as examples in the Bogart patent, are described in package inserts for the corresponding Biostar products and are also described in a number of published articles in medical journals. Briefly, they all rely on direct visual detection of a change in the color of light reflection off of the test substrate due to a physical change in the optical thickness of a molecular thin film coating on the substrate surface which results from binding reactions between an immobilized antibody on the test surface and a specific antigen that may be present in a drop of sample liquid applied to the test surface. The original bare test surface has a thin film thickness that results in a predominant visual background gold color when white light is reflected off of the surface. The antigen-antibody binding reaction that occurs when the specific antigen of interest is present in the applied sample results in an increase in the thin film thickness that causes a corresponding change in the color of the test surface from gold to purple. If on the other hand, the antigen is not present in the sample, no binding takes place, the original thin film thickness remains unchanged and the test surface retains its original gold color, indicating a negative result. This diagnostic assay tool is very sensitive and easily interpreted.
Bogart further discloses, in another embodiment of his invention (FIG. 17 of the aforementioned patent), the use of these substrates for enhanced fluorescence detection. After the analyte of interest has been bound to the surface by reaction with the specific binding partner in the receptive layer of the substrate coating, fluorescent label molecules may be attached to the analyte. In particular, the fluorescent molecules may be attached to any suitably selective and specific receptive material or reagent, such as a secondary antibody, and applied to the surface. The fluorescent labels are thus bound to the analyte of interest on the surface, if present, and immobilized to the surface through the analyte bridge. Directing light of an excitation wavelength onto the surface stimulates fluorescence of any of the label bound to the surface, thereby revealing the presence of the analyte of interest. Because the maximum fluorescence wavelength may not be shifted far enough from the excitation wavelength to be distinguished, the reflective substrate may have an antireflection layer whose thickness is selected to suppress reflection of the excitation wavelength, thereby reducing the background noise reaching the detector. Bogart states that the fluorescent signal generation is not dependent on the film thickness. Though the fluorescence signal S might be increased by increasing the output power of the laser, reflected laser noise will also increase, with possibly little improvement in the resulting SNR.
In U.S. Pat. No. 6,008,892 Kain et al disclose a sample substrate which is reflective for the excitation wavelength. This substrate has a transparent coating layer thereon with controlled thickness that has been selected to ensure that a molecular sample placed on top of the coating layer is located at an antinode for the excitation light. In particular, the substrate includes a rigid base with a specularly reflective upper surface. The transparent coating on the upper surface of the base has a thickness selected such that for a particular excitation wavelength of light at normal incidence, the optical path from the top of the coating to the base reflecting surface is substantially an odd multiple (1, 3, 5, etc.) of one-quarter wavelength of the excitation light. The optical path length of the material is defined by the wavelength of light, the index of refraction of the material, and the angle of propagation through the material. In the reflective sample substrate the reflecting surface of the base is at a well defined depth slightly below the physical surface of the base by an amount equal to the sum of the skin (or penetration) depth of the reflective surface material and the optical depth of any surface oxidation on the base. By placing the sample on the coating layer at or near the antinode of the excitation light, maximum fluorescence excitation occurs. A reflective substrate also enhances fluorescence collection by nearly doubling the solid collection angle of a fluorescence imaging microscope system. Thus, the total fluorescence signal is increased, leading to a much improved signal-to-noise ratio. Also, because the coating layer is very thin, there is reduced fluorescence background noise from this material.
As Kain et al describe the base can be made completely of metal or may be composed of a rigid bottom layer with a top metal coating. The metal can be aluminum, silver, gold or rhodium. The transparent coating may be a single layer of dielectric material, such as silica, alumina or a fluoride material (such as MgF2). Alternatively, the transparent coating could be a multilayer coating with the top layer being a chemically reactive material for binding a specified biological sample constituent thereto.
Kains concept of applying a transparent quarterwave layer on a reflecting surface is limited to reflectors with rigid surfaces. Here light is not penetrating beneath the physical surface of the reflector or the penetration is limited to at most some nanometers beneath the surface (skin depth). Practically this represents a limitation to metallic surfaces such as metal substrates or metallic coatings.
As soon as dielectric layers significantly contribute to the reflection, it is difficult to define a penetration depth and the concept of adding a quarterwave layer fails. For example for aluminum mirrors very often additional dielectric layers are used to enhance the reflectivity of the metal which results in so called "pumped metallic mirrors". In this case the dielectric layers are part of the mirror and the last dielectric layer forms the physical surface of the mirror. Light penetrates into such a mirror stack and interference effects together with the metallic reflectivity establish the optical characteristics. Adding an additional quarterwave layer or an odd multiple to such a system very often fails to produce an antinode at the location of fluorescent sample when placed on this layer. In addition in most cases the interference system is disturbed which might result in a drastic decrease of reflectivity.
However as long as the odd multiple quarterwave condition is fulfilled with respect to the metallic surface it is even possible to enhance fluorescence using the reflectivitiy contribution of the quarterwave layers. Chaton et al give one example in WO 02/48691 where this effect can be seen. Chaton et al describe the use of dielectric quarterwave stacks which have a mirror function on a silicon substrate in order to enhance the fluorescence. The reflectivity of silicium at 550 nm is at about 42%. This results in a square electromagnetic field amplitude (E2) on the metallic surface of about 10% of the square of the field amplitude of the free propagating wave E2(PW). Applying a single quaterwave layer of SiO2 on that rigid metallic surface (following one embodiment of the invention of Kain et al) results in a field amplitude which is 25% higher than E2(PW) therefore resulting in an enhancement factor of 1.25. Chaton et al use a quarterwave stack with a design wavelength of 550 nm in order to reinforce reflectivity. This means that a system of alternating high and low index dielectric layers is used to increase the reflectivity, where each individual layer has an optical thickness of one quarter of the design wavelength. As an example Chaton et al use a five layer system on silicon with SiO2 (94 nm layer thickness, 3 layers) and Si3N4 (69 nm layer thickness, 2 layers) as coating materials. This results in a reflectivity of slightly below 60%. Mirrors based on quarterwave stacks are known as Bragg mirrors. Typically such a Bragg mirror is based on a quarterwave stack where the outermost layer is a high index layer. However Chaton et al use as outermost quarterwave layer an SiO2 layer, which is the low index material. It is known that the outermost layer being a low index layer results in lower reflection values. Removing the outermost layer (low index layer) would even result in higher reflectivity. As the Chaton et al describe they use SiO2 as outermost layer in order to create a physical surface which is compatible with the linker chemistry. However there is one additional positive effect the authors did not mention: Our investigations showed that using a low index layer as outermost layer results in a field amplitude for 550 nm on the surface which is fortunately maximum, 220% more than E2(PW) resulting in an enhancement factor of 2.2. If the authors had used a high index layer as outermost layer the electromagnetic field amplitude would have been minimum.
With a coating design as used by Chaton et al the reflection band is centered at the design wavelength of 550 nm and is 200 nm broad. Within the reflection band the reflectivity is increased to slightly below 60%. Because Chaton et al did not take into account the antinode condition, they conclude that the quarterwave stack is effectively enhancing the fluorescence signal for wavelengths between 450 nm to 650 nm. This wavelength range comprises the wavelengths of the fluorescence materials typically used for fluorescence lables such as CY3 and CY5. Unfortunately only for the design wavelength the antinode condition is well fulfilled. For an excitation wavelength much different from 550 nm this condition is not fulfilled. For 450 nm the enhancement factor is as low as 0.2 and for 650 nm the enhancement factor decreases down to 1.2.
It is therefore still a problem and would be desirable to create a sample which provides optimum enhancement for more than one excitation wavelength well separated from each other. Especially for the excitation wavelengths around 532 nm-548 nm (Cy3) and around 633 nm (Cy5) it is still an open question how to realize such a sample substrate.
Typically there is an inherent difference of signal intensity for Cy3 and Cy5 related for example to differences in affinity of the linker chemistry, resulting in different signal intensities. Therefore the question of how to realize for two or more excitation wavelengths approximately the same degree signal intensities may be important. It is an interesting, but even more general aspect to consider the possibility to adjust the enhancement factors for two or more excitation wavelengths independently.
In addition as discussed, the prior art solutions involve in general interfaces to metallic layers or substrates. Chaton for example restricts the discussion to a silicon substrate. Examples for rigid reflecting surfaces in Kains disclosure always involve metallic surfaces. It is therefore still a problem and would be desirable to create a substrate sample providing enhanced fluorescence signal without use of a metallic interface as do Kain et al as well as Chaton et al.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Optical substrate for enhanced detectability of fluorescence


Bevel-cornered cable eyelets suitable to be operatively fitted onto a moveable brake arm of a motor vehicle park brake mechanism have an eyelet portion forming a bevel-cornered opening and a cable connection portion integral with the eyelet portion. In typical motor vehicle park brake applications, good performance can be achieved with the front corners beveled at an angle of 35-55 degrees to the front surface. The opening of the cable eyelet to receive the brake arm has a fore-and-aft inside dimension smaller than the lateral inside dimension of the opening. The bevel surfaces resist turning of the eyelet relative to the brake arm during normal use. A motor vehicle park brake cable comprises an elongate brake cable having a first end suitable to be connected to a park brake actuator and a second end attached to a bevel-cornered cable eyelet. The eyelet is readily disengaged from the brake arm, e.g., for repairs, service, etc. notwithstanding the beveled corners, by turning the eyelet 90° from its normal fore-and-aft orientation on the brake arm, e.g., manually or by other suitable technique.

Motor vehicle park brakes are known to employ a brake unit mounted at a wheel of the vehicle or driveshaft or other drivetrain component to be acted upon by the brake unit to secure the vehicle when parked. The brake unit typically has a brake pad or other friction member mounted for movement between a brake-applied position and a brake-unapplied position. In at least certain motor vehicle park brake designs the friction member is operably connected to a brake arm pivotally mounted to a housing or mounting bracket or other such component of the brake unit. The brake arm typically is connected to the end of a park brake cable which runs from a brake apply lever or other hand-operable brake actuator and/or from an electric or other automatic actuator. In certain designs the park brake cable has a cable eyelet that receives the brake arm. The cable eyelet opening must be sufficiently large to easily receive the brake arm and to be removed from the brake arm for service, repair and the like.
Applying the park brake involves tensioning the brake cable to move the brake arm and, in turn, to move the friction member of the park brake to the brake-applied position. Releasing the brake involves releasing the cable tension. Typically, a compression spring or the like is provided to assist in moving the brake arm quickly to the brake-unapplied position when the brake is released. A problem has been discovered involving the cable eyelet disconnecting from the brake arm, especially when releasing the park brake. More specifically, the brake arm slips from the cable eyelet opening, rendering the park brake inoperative until the brake cable is reattached by returning the cable eyelet onto the brake arm.
It is an object of the present invention to provide improved motor vehicle park brake cables and cable eyelets for same, and motor vehicle park brake assemblies employing such improved cables and eyelets. Additional and alternative objects of some or all embodiments of the invention will be understood by those skilled in this field of technology in view of the following disclosure and in view of the description provided of certain exemplary embodiments.

Motor vehicle park brake cable and eyelet


Communication systems, for example, wireless communication systems such as long term evolution (LTE) release 11 (Rel-11) may use methods for multiplexing of periodic channel state information reports. Such methods may support the support heavy reliance on channel state information signaling in uplink to provide improved downlink performance. A method can include multiplexing a plurality of channel state information reports into a same subframe. The plurality of channel state information reports can correspond to a user equipment. The method can further include prioritizing a set of channel state information reports including the plurality of channel state information reports.

Field
Communication systems, for example, wireless communication systems such as long term evolution (LTE) release 11 (Rel-11) may use methods for multiplexing of periodic channel state information reports. Such methods may support heavy reliance on channel state information signaling in uplink to provide improved downlink performance.
Description of the Related Art
Simultaneous transmission of multiple periodic channel state information reports in uplink on a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) or physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) is currently not supported by long term evolution (LTE) specifications.
Regarding the selection of the report to be transmitted, the LTE Release 10 (Rel-10) solution was to first prioritize the reports according to the report type. For example, first (that is, Top) priority: Types 3, 5, 6, and 2a; then 2nd priority: Types 2, 2b, 2c, and 4; and then third priority: Types 1 and 1a. Secondly in LTE Rel-10, if multiple reports have the same priority, a predetermined priority is followed. Specifically, reports are prioritized according to the smallest value of ServCellIndex.

Method for multiplexing of uplink control information


A prefabricated substation is provided with a solid state breaker and a transformer. The substation preferably transforms voltage from a medium voltage to a low voltage. The substation also breaks current flow through the substation when a fault occurs. The primary components of the substation, including the transformer and solid state breaker, are located together within the housing.

The present inventions relate generally to electrical substations, and more particularly, to a substation with a solid state breaker.
Substations are used throughout the electrical grid to change the voltage of the electrical power supply and to stop current flow to portions of the grid in the event of a fault. Primary substations are large facilities that must be secured with fencing to protect people from the high voltages transmitted through the substation. However, this requires large spaces that must be set aside for a primary substation and limits the number of places where such substations can be located. Secondary substations are smaller and are sometimes located in urban areas. Such substations typically satisfy the IEC 62271-202 standard for prefabricated substations and are housed in an above-ground enclosure that allows access to the internal components for maintenance. Thus, there are also constraints when locating secondary substations.
Another limitation of current substations is that operators must be able to access the substation to perform maintenance of the components in the substation. This presents a risk to the operator and can require additional downtime of the substation to perform maintenance. The need for maintenance access also limits where the substation can be located and the design of the substation. One particular area where maintenance is needed is the breaker(s) for the substation. A breaker is used to stop electrical current flow through the substation when an electrical fault occurs. Typically, breakers are mechanical units with physical contacts that separate from each other when a fault current is sensed. During separation of the physical contacts, a high current arc can occur between the contacts until the contacts separate far enough to extinguish the arc. While mechanical breakers of this type are useful in interrupting fault currents, repeated breaker operations and resulting arcs can wear the contacts. Thus, mechanical breakers require periodic maintenance and access to the substation.
Accordingly, the inventors believe a substation that requires less maintenance and can be placed in more locations would be desirable.


Exercise apparatus is provided, which includes pedals on which a user can exert loads in a first direction, and a motor that is configured to drive the pedals in the opposite direction and that is controlled to run at a predetermined speed, so that the loads from the user are exerted by using muscles eccentrically. The apparatus is configured such that the user's body is in a generally upright orientation when using the apparatus—preferably in a standing orientation, without using a seat.

Repetitive or cyclical exercise apparatuses are frequently used in strength and fitness training and conditioning, as well as in the rehabilitation of injuries and physiotherapy. Such apparatuses include, for example, stationary indoor bicycles, step climbing machines and elliptical movement machines, amongst others.
Muscles can be exercised in various ways. In isotonic exercises the muscle length changes as force is exerted by the muscle. Isotonic exercises can either involve concentric contraction, in which a muscle shortens as it exerts force, or eccentric action, in which a muscle lengthens as it absorbs a force. In eccentric action, instead of pulling a joint in the direction of the muscle contraction, the muscle works to slow down or decelerate the movement of the joint. Exercises such as lowering a heavy weight or doing squats typically involve eccentric muscle action.
Studies have indicated that exercise which includes eccentric muscle action can produce greater gains in strength than exercise involving concentric contractions alone. Other benefits of exercises involving eccentric muscle contractions have also been observed.
Most cyclical exercise apparatuses induce mostly concentric muscle contractions, although a number of exercise apparatuses have been produced that allow exercise with both eccentric and concentric muscle contractions. These apparatus typically include pedals that are operated by the user's legs or arms and a seat in which the user sits in a recumbent position. The apparatuses are often intended for rehabilitation after injury and consequently operate at low speeds and, even when operating at high speeds, provide inadequate performance enhancement for competitive sportsmen.
The present invention seeks to provide an improved exercise apparatus that addresses or ameliorates the shortfalls set out herein above.


The present invention relates to accelerometer assemblies for implantable medical devices such as pacemakers, IPGs, PCDs, defibrillators, ICDs and the like. The accelerometer assembly of the present invention comprises a beam that deflects in response to being subjected to an externally provided force. Deflection of the beam generates a voltage in a piezoelectric material disposed in the assembly. At least one stop is provided to limit the vertical range of motion through which the beam may deflect to prevent failure, fracturing or breakage of the beam resulting from excessive deflection of the beam that might otherwise occur were the stop not present.

The present invention relates generally to accelerometers, and finds particularly efficacious application in implantable cardiac pacemakers as an accelerometer for generating an electrical output signal indicative of a patient's activity.
Present day piezoceramic cantilevered beams are well understood in the area of cardiac pacing, as well as the equations which govern their characteristics. Conventional electrical and mechanical connection of the beam is typically accomplished by clamping onto the short edge of the beam to produce a cantilever configuration defining an overall beam length.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,140,132 to Dahl describes piezoceramic material in a physical activity sensor or accelerometer An elongated piezoelectric cantilevered element is disclosed as having a weighted mass on one end of the element, and as being enclosed within an implanted cardiac pacemaker.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,235,237 to Leonhardt discloses a piezoceramic bending beam accelerometer enclosed within a housing where surface mount technology is employed. One end of the packaged accelerometer is clamped down within an enclosed package.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,653,326 to Danel et al. describes an accelerometer capable of measuring a component of acceleration by means of a variable capacitance capacitor.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,031,615 to Alt discloses a pacemaker which employs an accelerometer comprising a miniaturized mechanoelectrical converter or transducer formed in a semiconductor device.
The inventions disclosed in preceding references have certain disadvantages. For example, the beam connection to the package or pacemaker shield becomes a dominant factor in determining the sensitivity of the accelerometer when employing a bonding medium of either solder or conductive epoxy. When bonding, the medium may bleed onto the beam and result in a reduced effective net length of the beam as well as attenuation of piezoceramic sensitivity. Hence, the bonding step can adversely affect the overall beam performance and contribute to manufacturing yield loss. Additionally, many bonding methods require complex and expensive packing techniques to ensure a robust design.
Some prior art pacemaker accelerometers suffer from excessive mechanical fragility to the extent that the center cantilever beams thereof break, fracture or otherwise fail when the pacemakers are dropped onto hard surfaces from heights of only a few feet or inches.

Shock resistant accelerometer for implantable medical device


The present invention relates to an organic electroluminescence element in which a transparent first electrode, an organic light emitting layer, a second electrode are stacked on a translucent substrate in this order. The translucent substrate includes a moisture-proof layer facing the first electrode. An LR layer and an HR layer having a refractive index higher than a refractive index of the LR layer are situated between the moisture-proof layer and the first electrode in this order from the moisture-proof layer. An uneven structure is provided at an interface between the LR layer and the HR layer. A linear expansivity α of the moisture-proof layer, and a linear expansivity β of the LR layer, and a linear expansivity γ of the HR layer satisfy a relation of α≦β≦γ.

In a known general structure of an organic electroluminescence element (hereinafter referred to as "organic EL element"), a transparent electrode used as an anode, a hole transport layer, a light emitting layer, an electron injection layer, and a cathode are stacked on a surface of a transparent substrate in this order. It is known that such an organic EL element is used to produce a planar light emitting device (lighting panel). In this organic EL element, light is produced in an organic light emitting layer in response to application of voltage between the anode and the cathode, and the produced light is emitted outside through the transparent electrode and the transparent substrate and goes outside.
The organic EL element gives a self-emission light in various wavelengths, with a relatively high yield. Such organic EL elements are expected to be applied for production of displaying apparatuses (e.g., light emitters used for such as flat panel displays), and light sources (e.g., liquid-crystal displaying backlights and illuminating light sources). Some of organic EL elements have already been developed for practical uses. Recently, in consideration of application and development of organic EL elements to such uses, an organic EL element having high efficiency, prolonged lifetime, and high brightness is expected.
It is considered that the efficiency of the organic EL element is mainly dominated by three of electrical-optical conversion efficiency, driving voltage, and light-outcoupling efficiency. With regard to the electrical-optical conversion efficiency, it was reported that the organic EL element with the light emitting layer made of phosphorescent light emitting material can have external quantum efficiency greater than 20%. The external quantum efficiency of 20% is considered to be corresponding to internal quantum efficiency of about 100%. It is considered that the organic EL element having the electrical-optical conversion efficiency reaching a limiting value has been developed. In view of the driving voltage, an organic EL element which shows relatively high brightness in receipt of voltage higher by 10 to 20% than voltage corresponding to an energy gap of the light emitting layer has been developed. Consequently, it is expected that improvement of these two factors (electrical-optical conversion) is not so effective for an increase in the efficiency of the organic EL element.
Generally, the organic EL element has the light-outcoupling efficiency in the range of about 20 to 30% (this value slightly changes depending on lighting patterns, and/or a layer structure between the anode and the cathode). This light-outcoupling efficiency is not high. This low light-outcoupling efficiency may be explained by the following consideration: materials used for light emitting portion and a vicinity thereof have characteristics such as a high refractive index and light absorption properties, and therefore the total reflection at the interfaces between materials with different refractive indices and absorption of light by materials may occur and this causes inhibition of effective propagation of light to the outside. Such low light-outcoupling efficiency means 70 to 80% of the total amount of emitted light does not effectively contribute to light emission. Consequently, it is considered that improvement of the light-outcoupling efficiency causes a great increase in the efficiency of the organic EL element.
In consideration of the above background, there is studied and developed actively to improve the light-outcoupling efficiency. Especially, there have been many efforts to increase the amount of light which is emitted from the organic layer and reaches the substrate layer. For example, the organic layer has the refractive index of about 1.7, and a glass layer generally serving as the substrate has the refractive index of about 1.5, and ITO generally used for the transparent electrode has the refractive index in a range of about 1.8 to 2.0. In this case, a loss caused by total reflection at the interface between the transparent electrode and the glass layer probably reaches about 50% of totally reflected light. The value of about 50% is-calculated by use of point source approximation in consideration that the emitted light is expressed as an integration of three dimensional radiation of light from organic molecules. Unfortunately, the total reflection at the interface between the organic layer and the substrate tends to cause a great loss. In view of this, it is possible to greatly improve the light-outcoupling efficiency of the organic EL element by decreasing the loss caused by the total reflection between the organic layer and the substrate.

PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO., LTD.


A projection lens apparatus for a rear projection television. The projection lens apparatus includes a first lens in which the negative power of the lens gradually increases from the central portion of the lens, having almost no power, to the peripheral portion, a second lens having a strong positive power, a third lens in which the positive power of the lens gradually increases from the central portion, having almost no power, to the peripheral portion, a fourth lens having a positive power at the central portion and a negative power at the peripheral portion and a fifth lens having a strong negative power, wherein the first to fifth lenses are sequentially arranged along an optical axis toward a cathode ray tube from a screen. The various lenses perform different functions. Accordingly, the projection distance and the size of the lens are reduced, thereby reducing the size of the system. Also, the various aberrations generated through the projection lenses are effectively corrected, to thereby improve performance of the image formation and the peripheral light quantity.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a projection lens apparatus for a rear projection television.
2. Background
Generally, a projection television enlarges and projects on a screen three picture images of red (R), green (G) and blue (B) emitted from a cathode ray tube (CRT) through three projection lenses. There are two different techniques for projecting an image on a screen. According to a first such technique known as a front projection technique, the picture images are projected on the front surface of the screen and are reflected therefrom so that the images can be watched by a user. According to a second technique known as a rear projection technique, the picture images are projected on the rear surface of the screen and are transmitted therethrough so that the images can be watched by the user. In this latter technique, since the lights entering the screen from the surroundings are not reflected from the screen, but rather, are transmitted through the screen, the user can easily watch the picture images even in bright indoor places.
Such a rear projection television can be generally varied in regard to the size of the system and the capability of forming the image with the projection lens. The projection lens for the rear projection television requires a short projection distance (i.e., the distance between the projection lens and the screen to reduce the size of the projection system), a small F-number to form a bright image on the screen, and an excellent image formation capability to produce an excellent image.
Accordingly, to satisfy the above requirements, a number of the projection lenses have been developed. However, in such conventional projection lenses, a variety of the problems have been encountered. First, since the existing projection lens groups are comprised of three lenses for three groups, correction of aberration is limited. Accordingly, the image formation capability is limited. Also, since the projection distance is relatively long and the size of the lens is large, the size of the system cannot be reduced. Further, the ratio of the amount of light formed on the peripheral portion of the screen with respect to the amount of light formed on the central portion of the screen is not more than 30%. Therefore, the peripheral image is darker than the central image.
Also, degradation of the performance of the plastic lens, which is generally used as the projection lens, due to the peripheral temperature variation is not properly corrected. Furthermore, to correct chromatic aberration of the R, G and B lights, the distance of the projection lens from the CRT is primarily adjusted. However, such a correction is limited, thereby dimming the peripheral image on the screen. Still further, the distortion aberration in which a rectangular screen surface is distorted on the screen which is formed by the lights enlarged and projected through the projection lens, can be corrected by means of a convergence means within the CRT. However, the larger the aberration, the greater the cost associated with correcting this aberration.

Projection lens apparatus for rear projection television


In a domain name system (DNS) server allocation method, a session management function (SMF) receives a session establishment request message sent by UE, where the request message includes a name of a data network to be accessed by the UE. The SMF obtains an IP address of a first DNS server based on the name of the data network and a geographical location of the UE. The SMF then sends to the UE a session establishment response message that includes the IP address of the first DNS server.

Multi-access edge computing provides users with a cloud-computing-based capability at the edge, close to mobile users, of an operator's network. Users can deploy applications at the edge of the network by using this capability. Multi-access edge computing can also provide real-time network information (such as user location and base station load). With this information, users can develop differentiated applications. After the cloud computing capability is deployed at the network edge, a carrier-class service environment with high performance, a low latency, and large bandwidth can be built, to accelerate distribution and downloading of content, services, and applications in a network, so that a consumer enjoys network experience with higher quality.
An ultra-low latency service is extremely sensitive to a latency, but both a transmission path and a forwarding node increase the latency. Mobile edge computing enables content and services to be deployed close to users. The transmission path is short and a quantity of forwarding nodes is small. Therefore, mobile edge computing is a prerequisite for an ultra-low latency service. Typical scenarios include internet of vehicles, industrial control, telemedicine, virtual reality/augmented reality, and the like.
For an ultra-large bandwidth service, traffic of ultra-large bandwidth is processed nearby by deploying mobile edge computing (such as a mobile edge host shown in FIG. 1) nearby, so that impact exerted by large bandwidth on a backbone network can be greatly reduced. Typical scenarios include, for example, live broadcast of a match in a stadium, live broadcast of a concert, and mobile content distribution.
The European Telecommunications Standards Organization (ETSI) defines a reference architecture for multi-access edge computing in the specification ETSI GS MEC 003. As shown in FIG. 2, the architecture mainly includes two parts: a multi-access edge computing host (Multi-access Edge Computing Host, MEC host) and a multi-access edge computing management system. The MEC host includes an MEC platform, virtualized infrastructure, and an MEC application. The virtualized infrastructure provides virtualized computing, storage, and network resources for a mobile edge application. The MEC application is deployed on the MEC host in a form of a virtual machine or a container. The MEC platform mainly includes a service registration function, a service discovery function, and some common services, such as a DNS server or a DNS proxy service. The multi-access edge computing management system includes an MEC orchestrator, an MEC platform manager, and a virtualized infrastructure manager. The MEC orchestrator maintains an overall view of all mobile edge hosts, available resources, and available MEC services in the MEC system, and triggers application instantiation and termination. The MEC platform manager is configured to manage the MEC platform, a lifecycle of a mobile MEC application, and a flow rule and a DNS rule of the application. The virtualized infrastructure manager manages a virtualized resource required for the MEC application.
The 3GPP defines a 5G standard. The TS23.502 standard defines a process in which an application function (Application Function, AF) affects a session management function (Session Management Function, SMF) to select a route. The AF sends information such as a deployment location, an offloading rule, and a routing rule of the application to a network exposure function (Network Exposure Function, NEF). The information is finally sent to the SMF through network functions such as a unified data repository (Unified Data Repository, UDR) and a policy control function (Policy Control Function, PCF). The SMF uses the information to select a data network access identifier (DN Access Identifier, DNAI) and a user plane function (User Plane Function, UPF), and set an offloading rule, a routing rule, and the like. Components in the ETSI MEC architecture, such as an MEC orchestrator, an MEC platform manager, an MEC platform, or an MEC application, all can interact with a 3GPP network as an AF. The DNAI is an identifier used by the UPF to access a local data network on which the MEC application is deployed, and a deployment location of the MEC application may be represented by using the DNAI.
UEAn MEC application service on an MEC host accessed by a user terminal or equipment (UE) is represented by using a domain name. A data network needs to allocate a DNS server to the UE, and the DNS server needs to perform IP address translation on a domain name of the MEC application service and return an IP address to the UE. However, in the conventional technology, the UE cannot obtain an IP address of a DNS server in a local data network, and consequently, the UE cannot resolve a domain name of an application service in the local data network.

Domain name server allocation method and apparatus


A control circuit 8 of a switching power source comprises a voltage detector 31 for detecting a voltage VDC of a DC power supply 1 to produce a detection voltage VDT; a comparator 41 for producing an output signal VCP when detection voltage VDT from voltage detector 31 exceeds a reference voltage VR2; a bottom voltage detector 51 for detecting a bottom point of voltage VDS across a MOS-FET 3 after energy has been discharged from transformer 2; and a switching controller 61 for selectively turning MOS-FET 3 on depending on existence or absence of the output signal VCP from comparator 41. When the input voltage VDC from DC power supply 1 so rises that detection voltage VDT of voltage detector 31 is above the reference voltage VR2, switching controller 61 serves to late turn MOS-FET 3 on at the time bottom voltage detector 51 detects the second or later bottom point of the voltage VDS across MOS-FET 3, extending the off period of MOS-FET 3 to reduce switching frequency of MOS-FET 3.

Prior art switching power sources of flyback pseudo resonance (partial voltage resonance) type have been utilized in wide applications because they advantageously have a simplified circuit structure with the high conversion efficiency and less operating noise. For example, Japanese Patent Disclosure No. 2003-61345 discloses a switching power source of such a pseudo resonance type which, however, has their defect in that change in input voltage from commercial AC power source fluctuates switching frequency of a switching element under the constant load. For example, in a switching power source applicable to power source voltages all over the world with 100 watts of rating output power and 85 to 264 volts of commercial AC input voltage, the switching element is operated with 50 kHz of switching frequency under the commercial AC input voltage of 85 volts, however, it increases the switching frequency up to 100 kHz with 264 volts of commercial AC input voltage.
In such a switching power source, as the on period of the switching element is shortened with elevation of power voltage applied on a primary winding of transformer, power voltage supply in a high range (185 to 264 volts) increases the switching frequency and thereby switching number of the switching element. Accordingly, a problem arises that the power source gives rise to increase in switching loss and deterioration in conversion efficiency under the power voltage supply in the high range.
Japanese Patent Disclosure No. 2001-231257 exhibits a DC-DC converter capable of changing either pseudo resonance or frequency reduction by switching minimum off period of the switching element based on load condition on the secondary side. This DC-DC converter controls increase in switching number of switching element per time under the light load condition by shifting to pseudo resonance under the heavy load condition and shifting to frequency reduction under the light load condition. However, the power supply of high voltage range increases switching frequency and switching number per time of switching element for the above-mentioned reason, causing increase in switching loss and deterioration in conversion efficiency in this DC-DC converter. Also, in the transition from pseudo resonance to frequency reduction or vice versa, a peak value of electric current flowing through transformer changes in a wide range depending on discontinuously varying oscillation frequency of transformer. Accordingly, under some load conditions, vibration of transformer undesirably produces acoustic sound or noise.
An object of the present invention is to provide a switching power source which improves the conversion efficiency under the power voltage supply of wide range. Another object of the present invention is to provide a switching power source capable of controlling noise resulted from transformer etc.


A cable manager provides horizontal cable management of adjacent patch panels or network equipment on network distribution racks. The cable manager includes a central section and a front cable routing section and is mountable on a network rack, such as an EIA rack. The central section has a longitudinal width sized to fit within the network rack, a front side, a rear side, and rack mounting holes provided on opposite longitudinal ends of the central section. The front cable routing section extends from the front side of the central section and includes a plurality of spaced fingers having an arcuate surface that provides bend radius control. A slit provides flexibility to the fingers. Ears extend laterally from the fingers. The cable manager can also include a rear cable routing section that includes a second plurality of spaced fingers. One or more passthrough openings can be provided in the central section to allow routing of cabling from the front section to the rear section. Either or both of the front and rear sections can include a removable cover. The cover may be hingedly connected.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates generally to cable management devices for patch panel or network equipment racks, and more particularly to a cable manager for use with adjacent patch panels or network equipment on distribution racks or within cabinets, with an improved finger and cover design.
2. Description of Related Art
Cabling, such as UTP, ScTP, coax and fiber optic cabling, is being increasingly used in the telecommunications industry to provide data, voice, video, or audio information. Patch panel or network equipment enclosure and rack systems are well-known in the industry and provided to manage and organize such cables to or from equipment or cross-connect systems. These systems usually include a standard EIA 19″, 23″ or other distribution frame rack on which one or more patch panels, network equipment, fiber optic enclosures and the like are mounted. Enclosures within the rack serve various functions, including operation as slack trays, splice trays, cable organizers and patch panels. These racks also serve as inter-connect or cross-connect enclosures when interfacing with equipment, or may serve as a telecommunications closet, allowing the cables to be terminated, spliced, patched or stored at places along their length.
The rack usually is formed of a frame having mounting apertures located along vertical legs or walls of the rack. Patching equipment, such as a patch panel, is mounted on the rack so as to define generally a patching side where patch cords coming from an active device or another patch panel can be cross-connected and interconnected, and a distribution side where cables from network equipment or a work station area are terminated. Generally some form of cable management is also provided on both sides of the rack to support and route the cables. While preventing detrimental bending is always important even for copper cabling, with the increasing use of fiber optic connectors as applied to connector rack systems, proper cable management and bend radius control has become increasingly important. Many known systems are unable to provide complete bend radius control, are inefficient in use, difficult to manufacture, or have other drawbacks and thus, improvement in the cable management of network rack systems is desired.


A solid carrier sprayer apparatus, including a solid carrier container, a liquid container, a solid carrier spreading apparatus, and a liquid application apparatus is provided. The solid carrier spreading apparatus can be coupled to receive solid carrier from the solid carrier container, and is configured to drop the received solid carrier substantially evenly over an area of ground. The liquid application apparatus can be coupled to receive liquid from the liquid container, and is configured to spray received liquid substantially evenly over the received solid carrier, such that the liquid is sprayed substantially evenly over the received solid carrier before the solid carrier is dropped substantially evenly over the area of ground. Methods of using a solid carrier sprayer apparatus are also discussed.

Turf grasses, such as are commonly found on golf courses and other athletic fields, typically require extensive maintenance to ensure high quality playing conditions. Such maintenance includes application of top dressing materials such as sand or organic matter, as well as application of treatments such as fungicides and fertilizer. However, each application results in undesirable compaction of the soil as machinery drives across the turf grass, as well as disruption in use of heavily used turf areas such as golf courses.

Solid carrier sprayer apparatus and methods of using same

BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY


A vacuum adiabatic body includes a heat exchange pipeline including at least two pipelines which pass through a first plate and a second plate to allow a refrigerant to move between inner and outer spaces and a sealing plug which allows the heat exchange pipeline to pass through a first point of the first plate and a second point of the second plate without contacting a third space.

A vacuum adiabatic body may suppress heat transfer by vacuumizing the interior of a body thereof. The vacuum adiabatic body may reduce heat transfer by convection and conduction, and hence is applied to heating apparatuses and refrigerating apparatuses. In a typical adiabatic method applied to a refrigerator, although it is differently applied in refrigeration and freezing, a foam urethane adiabatic wall having a thickness of about 30 cm or more is generally provided. However, the internal volume of the refrigerator is therefore reduced.
In order to increase the internal volume of a refrigerator, there is an attempt to apply a vacuum adiabatic body to the refrigerator.
Korean Patent No. 10-0343719 (Cited Document 1) of the present applicant discloses a method in which a vacuum adiabatic panel is prepared and then built in walls of a refrigerator, and the exterior of the vacuum adiabatic panel is finished with a separate molding such as Styrofoam. According to the method, additional foaming is not required, and the adiabatic performance of the refrigerator is improved. However, fabrication cost is increased, and a fabrication method is complicated. As another example, a technique of providing walls using a vacuum adiabatic material and additionally providing adiabatic walls using a foam filling material has been disclosed in Korean Patent Publication No. 10-2015-0012712 (Cited Document 2). According to Reference Document 2, fabrication cost is increased, and a fabrication method is complicated.
To solve this problem, the present applicant had filed Korean Patent Application NO. 10-2013-0049495 (Cited Document 3). This technique provides a vacuum adiabatic body in an empty vacuum state without providing a separate adiabatic material therein. In addition, this technique provides a technique in which a heat exchange pipeline is provided in the vacuum adiabatic body. The heat exchange pipeline is a pipeline in which two pipelines, i.e., an inlet pipe of an evaporator and an outlet pipe of the evaporator contact each other. The heat exchange pipeline is a pipeline in which a refrigerant flowing through the inside of the two pipelines are heat-exchanged with each other to improve performance of a refrigerating cycle.
The heat exchange pipeline passes through the inside of the vacuum space part to extend to the outside and inside of the refrigerator. Thus, to maintain the vacuum state of the vacuum space part, a position at which the heat exchange pipeline passes through the vacuum space part and a plate inside the refrigerator and a position at which the heat exchange pipeline passes through the vacuum space part and a plate outside the refrigerator have to be sealed. To achieve the above objects, this applicant has disclosed a structure for sealing a separate pipeline of a branched heat exchange pipeline in FIGS. 17 and 18, which is disclosed in Korean Patent Application No. 10-2017-0171596 (Cited Document 4).
According to the cited document 4, to maintain the sealing, the two pipelines of the heat exchange pipelines may be branched to pass through the vacuum space part to cause four penetrated portions. However, as the number of penetrated portions increases, a heat loss may occur. Also, if there is a problem in sealing at any one portion, it is not preferable because it is difficult to maintain vacuum in the vacuum space part. Also, a welding part of the two pipelines may be exposed to the vacuum space part, and thus, a gas generated from the welding part may destroy the vacuum state of the vacuum space part. Unlike the base material, the above-mentioned filler material is a component mainly for binding between members and may include a material having large outgassing.
In addition, a pressure loss of a refrigerant may occur due to a sharp bending angle of the branched point of each of the two pipelines constituting the heat exchange pipelines. The bending angle of the heat exchange pipeline more increases due to a pitch gap (about 200 mm) of the bar constituting the supporting unit. Also, since heterogeneous bonding is performed between a stainless material forming the vacuum space part and a copper material forming the heat exchange pipeline at the penetrated portion, it is difficult to carry out the work.
The cited documents disclose a feature in which the heat exchange pipeline is placed in the vacuum adiabatic body to maintain thermal insulation. For this, since many pipelines of the heat exchange pipeline may be provided at fixed positions within the vacuum adiabatic body before the vacuum adiabatic body is vacuum sealed, it may be difficult to perform the work of installation or manufacture. Also, there is high possibility that the vacuum state of the vacuum adiabatic body is destroyed by the sealing of the through-parts, leading to a great limitation in that the vacuum adiabatic body may have to be discarded after such destruction.


The present invention provides the onium salt comprises the material represented by the following general formula (0-1),

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an onium salt which can be used for preparing a chemically amplified positive resist composition to be used for processing of a semiconductor or a photomask blank, etc., a chemically amplified positive resist composition using the same and a resist patterning process using the composition.
Description of the Related Art
In recent years, as an integrated circuit progresses toward a higher integration, a finer circuit pattern profile has been required. Among these, a chemically amplified resist using an acid as a catalyst has been exclusively used in the patterning process of the size of 0.2 μm or less. Also, high-energy beam such as ultraviolet beam, far ultraviolet beam, electron beam, etc., has been used as a light source at this time, in particular, electron beam lithography which has been utilized as an ultrafine processing technology is indispensable as a processing method of a photomask blank used for producing a photomask for a semiconductor manufacturing.
A polymer containing a large amount of aromatic skeletons having an acidic side chain, for example, a polyhydroxystyrene, has been utilized as a resist composition for KrF excimer laser, but it shows remarkable absorption in wavelength of near 200 nm of the light, so that it has been never used as a resist composition for ArF excimer laser. However, it is an important material in the point that high etching resistance can be obtained as a resist composition for electron beam or a resist composition for extreme ultraviolet (EUV), which is a useful technology for forming a smaller pattern than the processing limit by ArF excimer laser.
In general, as a base polymer of a positive resist composition for electron beam or a resist composition for EUV, mainly used is a material in which an acid-labile protective group which protects the acidic functional group of the phenol side chain contained in the base polymer is deprotected by an acid generated from a photoacid generator by irradiating high-energy beam as a catalyst whereby it is solubilized in an alkaline developer. As the above-mentioned acid-labile protective group, a tertiary alkyl group, a t-butoxycarbonyl group, an acetal group, etc., have been mainly used. Here, when a protective group such as an acetal group which requires a relatively small activation energy necessary for deprotection is used, there is a merit that a high sensitivity resist film can be obtained, but if suppression of a generating acid diffusion is insufficient, the deprotection reaction occurs even in the unexposed area of the resist film, whereby there are problems that deterioration of line edge roughness (LER) or lowering in in-plane uniformity of a pattern line width (CDU) is generated.
Various improvements by selection or combination of a material(s) to be used for the resist composition, or change in the processing conditions, etc., have been investigated for controlling the above-mentioned resist sensitivity or pattern profile. As one of the points necessary for the improvement, there is a problem of diffusion of an acid which causes serious influence on resolution of a chemically amplified resist. The problem of the acid diffusion causes serious influence on sensitivity and resolution not only in the processing of a photomask but also in a general resist composition so that many investigations have been done.
An acid diffusion controlling agent is a material to suppress acid diffusion, and is in fact an essential component to improve performances of the resist, in particular resolution. Various investigations have been done on the acid diffusion controlling agent, and amines (Patent Document 1) or weak acid onium salts have generally been used. As an example of the weak acid onium salt, in Patent Document 2, it has been disclosed that good resist pattern can be formed without forming T-top, difference in line widths between isolated pattern and dense pattern, and standing wave by adding a triphenylsulfonium=acetate. Also, in Patent Document 3, it has been stated that sensitivity, resolution and exposure margin have been improved by the addition of a sulfonic acid ammonium salt or a carboxylic acid ammonium salt. Further, in Patent Document 4, it has been stated that a resist composition for KrF and electron beam comprising a combination containing a photoacid generator which generates a fluorine-containing carboxylic acid is excellent in resolution, and process admissibility such as exposure margin, depth of focus, etc., have been improved. Moreover, in Patent Document 5, it has been also stated that a resist composition for F2 laser light comprising a combination containing a photoacid generator which generates a fluorine-containing carboxylic acid is excellent in line edge roughness (LER), and a problem of footing profile has been overcome. The above-mentioned documents concerning the onium salt relate to a material to be used for patterning using KrF, electron beam or F2 lithography. In Patent Document 6, a positive photosensitive composition for ArF excimer laser exposure containing a carboxylic acid onium salt has been disclosed. These are to suppress the acid decomposition reaction of the acid-labile group and make the acid diffusion distance small (to control) by exchanging a strong acid (sulfonic acid) generated from the other photoacid generator by exposure with weak acid onium salt to form a weak acid and a strong acid=onium salt so that a strong acid (sulfonic acid) having high acidity is exchanged to a weak acid (carboxylic acid), and thus, it apparently acts as an acid diffusion controlling agent.
However, when patterning is carried out by using the above-mentioned resist composition containing a carboxylic acid onium salt or a fluorocarboxylic acid onium salt, it involves the problem that LER is large, so that development of an acid diffusion controlling agent which can reduce LER has been desired.

Onium salt, chemically amplified positive resist composition, and patterning process

Abstract: wherein Rf represents a fluorine atom or a trifluoromethyl group; Y represents a cyclic hydrocarbon group having 3 to 30 carbon atoms, the hydrogen atom in the cyclic hydrocarbon group may be substituted by a hetero atom itself or a monovalent hydrocarbon group which may be substituted by a hetero atom(s), and the hetero atom(s) may be interposed into the cyclic structure of the cyclic hydrocarbon group and the monovalent hydrocarbon group; and M+ represents a monovalent cation.

Abstract: There can be provided an onium salt which can improve resolution at the time of forming a pattern and give a pattern with less line edge roughness (LER) when it is used in a chemically amplified positive resist composition.


A radio frequency receiver 30, 32, includes a first component block 12, 16, 18, 20; a second compensating component block 22, 22a-22b, 34; and control circuitry 26 operable for controlling the state (e.g., load, bias, gain) of the first component block. When the control circuitry 26 causes a change in the state of the first component block that is expected to induce a DC offset in a signal, the control circuitry 26 changes the state of the second component block to compensate for an estimate of the DC offset. Preferably, the second component block is a filter 22, 22a-22b, 34, that temporarily changes from a nominal cutoff frequency to an elevated cutoff frequency so that voltage will settle quickly and accurately at an estimated voltage, the estimated voltage being predetermined and based on the state change to the first component block. A method is also described for practicing the invention.

Radio frequency components or blocks, such as mixers and analog baseband circuits, introduce a significant DC level in the signal path of direct conversion radio receivers, necessitating DC-offset compensation to cancel the self-imposed DC change from the signal. Prior art solutions passed the received signal through a high pass filter (HPF) prior to an analog-to-digital converter (ADCs) to prevent reduction of the dynamic range of the ADC. Such prior art high pass filters employed a low cut-off frequency (fc) so as not to distort the signal spectrum. For instance, in wideband code division multiplex access (WCDMA) frequency division duplex (FDD), the low frequency cutoff removes about one percent of the bandwidth (i.e.: 10-20 kHz). The remaining portion of the self-imposed DC offset is removed from the signal with additional high pass filters, if necessary.
A self-imposed DC offset may be added to the signal whenever the gain or some other parameter at baseband is modified, the load or the bias current of a mixer is changed, the low noise amplifier (LNA) is switched on or off, or the state of any other component along the signal chain is modified. However, existing methods and apparatus to compensate for self-imposed DC offset suffer in either speed or accuracy. For example, a receiver employing digital modulation of gain control or other parameters introduces a risk of high transient signals at the baseband processing. Those transient signals can deteriorate reception at the radio receiver, such as by saturating the receiver, undermining synchronization, etc. Specifically, download conversion mixers and the first blocks of analog baseband circuitry are susceptible to cause such reception degradation. Prior art solutions employing a high pass filter with a high cutoff frequency may quickly remove the majority of the DC offset, but the resulting voltage typically remains variable within an insufficiently narrow band for an inordinate period of time. Conversely, prior art solutions employing a high pass filter with a low cut off frequency may settle at a stabilized voltage more quickly, but take much longer to remove the majority of the DC offset.
Compactness and low power consumption are important considerations in cellular phone design. Analog DC-compensators typically require large-scale capacitors that occupy an inordinately large circuit area. Additionally, such capacitors sometimes draw excessive power from the cellular phone battery. This invention is directed toward providing a method and apparatus to compensate for self-imposed DC offset that reduces or eliminates at least some of the above identified drawbacks in the prior art.

Method and apparatus for compensating DC level in an adaptive radio receiver