The present invention relates to a headrest locking device, and more particularly, to a headrest locking device including a case and a lock plate slidably accommodated in the case and inserted in an engaging groove of a stay rod. Here, a horizontal tension rib is located between the lock plate and the case. The horizontal tension rib applies an elastic force to the lock plate in a direction different from a sliding direction of the lock plate, and the lock plate has a panel shape formed by integrating a body inserted into the engaging groove with the horizontal tension rib. A gap between the lock plate and the case is eliminated and a restoring function is embodied at the same time, and manufacturing costs of the lock plate are reduced.

A headrest locking device disclosed in Korean Patent Registration No. 10-1684319 (hereinafter, referred to as Patent Document 1) includes a main bracket mounted on a seat back, a stay mounted in a headrest and rotated with respect to the main bracket to move between an upright (unfolded) position and a folded position, a locking mechanism which locks the stay in the upright position with respect to the main bracket, and a pulling member which is an operation member operated to release a locked state of the locking mechanism.
The stay includes a horizontal bar, a vertical bar vertically extending backward from both ends of the horizontal bar, and an inclined bar extending from the vertical bar to be inclined toward an upper front.
The locking mechanism includes a lock link fixed to the horizontal bar of the stay, a first distortion coil spring having one end supported by the main bracket and the other end supported by the horizontal bar, a release lever, a ratchet provided between the lock link and the release lever, a second distortion coil spring having one end supported by the main bracket and the other end supported by the release lever, and a third distortion coil spring for returning of the ratchet.
The lock link includes left and right lock links fixed to both sides of the horizontal bar. The right lock link includes a right link plate, a right hinge hole formed at a top of the right link plate, a gable-shaped groove formed at a bottom end of the right link plate, and a right rear groove formed toward a rear side of the right link plate and inserted in and fixed to the horizontal bar. The right hinge hole with a right hinge shaft being inserted therein is supported by a first hinge hole for a right side plate.
According to the device of Patent Document 1 configured as described above, a contact state is maintained in which the gable-shaped groove of the lock link and a gable-shaped protrusion of the ratchet are docked on each other in the case of the locking mechanism when the stay is locked (upright).
Also, a rear end of the release lever is disposed to be inclined in a posture of pushing and lifting up the ratchet in a diagonal direction.
When the pulling member is pulled down in the locked state, the release lever rotates around a second hinge shaft clockwise and an engaging step pulls down an engaging protrusion of the ratchet.
Then, the engaging protrusion rotates the ratchet counterclockwise with respect to the axis of the earth. The counterclockwise rotation of the ratchet allows the docked gable-shaped protrusion to deviate from the gable-shaped groove.
When the gable-shaped protrusion deviates from the gable-shaped groove, the stay rotates (revolves) with respect to a first hinge shaft due to the first distortion coil spring and moves to a folded position. That is, a rotational center of the horizontal bar of the stay is changed.
When pulling of the pulling member is released immediately after the gable-shaped protrusion deviates from the gable-shaped groove, on the other hand, the release lever rotates counterclockwise through the second hinge shaft due to the second distortion coil spring and the ratchet rotates clockwise through the axis of the earth due to the third distortion coil spring such that the engaging protrusion of the ratchet pulls up the engaging step and moves upward.
While the stay is unlocked and folded as described above, when a user pushes and lifts the stay to change to the upright state again, the lock link rotates clockwise with respect to the first hinge shaft and the gable-shaped groove is engaged with and completely docked on the gable-shaped protrusion so as to enter the upright state.
As another example of a headrest locking device, in the case of a fixing device and a headrest disclosed in Japanese Patent Registration No. 4435151 (hereinafter, referred to as Patent Document 2), since a spring and a sliding portion which fix and release movement of a rod are separate components, processes of installing the spring and the sliding portion in the fixing device are necessary such that production time increases and manufacturing costs also increase.
As another example of a headrest locking device, in the case of a first embodiment disclosed in Europe Patent Registration No. 0864461 B1 (hereinafter, referred to as Patent Document 3), a process of installing wire springs, which fix and release movement of a rod and are installed on both sides of the rod, is necessary such that production time increases and accordingly manufacturing costs also increase. Also, since a lateral rod, which elastically deforms the wire springs, is connected to the wire springs only in an engaged state, a possibility of releasing the connection therebetween is present.
In a headrest locking device disclosed in Korean Utility Model Publication No. 20-2015-0000161 (hereinafter, referred to as Patent Document 4), a height of a headrest is adjustable only by operating each of stopper devices installed on both sides of a rod, which is very inconvenient, and a process of installing the stopper devices on the both sides of the rod is necessary such that production time increases and accordingly manufacturing costs also increase. Also, when the stopper device is installed on only one side instead of the both sides of the rod, vibrations may occur at the other side of the rod where the stopper device is not installed and at the headrest connected to the other side.
Meanwhile, as a technology which relates to a headrest locking device, Korean Patent Registration No. 10-1881056 (hereinafter, referred to as Patent Document 5), which has been filed by the applicant and registered, discloses a headrest locking device including a case and a lock plate slidable with respect to the case, inserted into an engaging groove of a stay rod, and including a through hole. Here, an elastic rib is disposed between the lock plate and the case. The elastic rib applies an elastic force to the lock plate in a direction different from a sliding direction of the lock plate. A curved portion is formed between both ends of the elastic rib. The curved portion comes into contact with the lock plate or the case, and both ends of the elastic rib are arranged to be spaced apart from a surface with which the curved portion comes into contact.
The lock plate includes a body portion formed of a plastic material, an insert member installed to surround the engaging groove to engage the stay rod and formed of a metal material having strength higher than that of the body portion, and a returning spring which applies an elastic force to the lock plate in a rightward direction.
The stay rods include two vertical rods and a lateral rod which connects top ends of the vertical rods. Accordingly, the lock plate includes two engaging grooves and two insert members. The returning spring is installed on each of left and right sides of the lock plate and a total of two returning springs are installed. Accordingly, in the case of a conventional headrest movement device like Patent Document 5, the lock plate includes a total of five components. Accordingly, a process of assembling the components is necessary such that production time of the lock plate increases and manufacturing costs also increase.
Also, since the insert members and the body are produced through insert-injection, manufacturing costs of the lock plate increase.


Disclosed are methods of single-site-specific cysteine modification on peptide/protein molecules under physiologically relevant conditions. This process features several significant advantages over existing methods of peptide modification, such as specificity towards thiols over other nucleophiles (e.g., amines, hydroxyls), excellent functional group tolerance, and mild reaction conditions. Especially important is the specificity observed for thiols appearing in an X-Cys-Pro-X sequence over other thiols or disulfides, where X is Phe, Trp, or Tyr; under the inventive conditions, other cysteines or reactive functional groups on the same peptide/protein chain are not functionalized.

For many years researchers in the field of bioconjugate chemistry have needed well-defined ligation strategies that can be used for modification of biomolecules. Efficient bioconjugation strategies generally involve high levels of functional group tolerance, compatibility with water and other solvents, and efficient conversions (e.g., fast reaction times and high yields). Reactions that adhere to the principles of "click chemistry" are ideal candidates for bioconjugation applications. "Click" reactions are thermodynamically driven because the products have a highly favorable enthalpy of bonds. Several reactions can be classified as "click", including copper-catalyzed Huisgen's dipolar cycloadditions of azides and terminal alkynes, addition of thiols to alkenes, addition of isothiocyanates to amines, and Diels-Alder cycloadditions. Importantly, because the starting materials for these reactions are relatively stable, in principle they could be introduced to a wide range of macromolecules and hybrid materials. Furthermore, these reactions do not generate by-products and operate on reasonable timescales, making them attractive for use in bioconjugation.
Thiol modification is an important tool in the chemical, biological, medical, and material sciences. As the only thiol-containing amino acid, cysteine is typically used for protein modification using thiol-based reactions. Despite the ubiquity of cysteine tagging, general chemical approaches do not exist for the site-specific modification of a single cysteine in the presence of other unprotected cysteines within the same peptide/protein chain (FIG. 1A). Development of a general, robust, and highly efficient method that allows single-site-specific cysteine modification would significantly expand the ability to modify biomolecules.

Cysteine arylation directed by a genetically encodable π-clamp


A wireless tire pressure monitoring system warns a driver of a vehicle of low pressure in one or more of its tires so that the driver may take corrective action before a tire blowout occurs. A pressure transducer, transmitter and antenna are integrally housed and mounted to the tire stem of a tire. When the pressure transducer senses a tire pressure below a preselected pressure, the transmitter broadcasts a radio frequency (RF) signal that, upon detection by a receiver mounted on the vehicle, warns the driver of abnormally low pressure. In a preferred embodiment, the transmitter is a SAW device that is periodically interrogated by an RF signal from a transmitter on the vehicle.

Many vehicles have one or more tires that may deflate or go completely flat during travel without the driver being immediately aware of the condition. These include tractor-trailer combinations, motor homes, buses and various types of vehicles and trailers being towed that have axles mounted with two or more tires, or tandem rear axles that may have a total of four, six or eight tires. Unlike those of motorcars, drivers of these vehicles cannot sense that a tire has low pressure or suffered a blowout. The large size and heavy weight of these vehicles isolate a driver from noise and vibration created by a blowout. Likewise, a driver towing another vehicle is insulated from any sensation of a deflating or flat tire on the towed vehicle.
Low tire pressure can often lead to a blowout of the tire if it goes undetected. While traveling on an interstate highway at speeds of between 55 and 65 m.p.h., a blowout can cause extensive damage, especially when it goes undetected. The tire disintegrates and its debris damages the vehicle or trailer, often extensively. The wheel hits against the pavement, and usually suffers damage. In the case of dual rear wheels, where there is four wheels per axle, continued motion with one of the tires deflated may even cause the deflated tire to catch fire. There have been cases reported in which such a fire has caused total loss of the vehicle or trailer. Most disconcerting about a loss of pressure or low pressure in a vehicle's tire is, however, that it affects the load carrying capability, steering, breaking and overall control of the vehicle. Loss of a load bearing tire may result in a driver losing control and causing damage to the vehicle, passengers and other property and passengers of other vehicles.
Needless to say, the continual prospect of suffering a blown tire makes drivers of buses, motorhomes, tractors and other large or towing vehicles very uneasy.
Because a tire with abnormally low pressure is a candidate for a blowout, a system which monitors all the tires and provides early warning of an abnormally low pressure would go a long way toward providing peace of mind to the drivers, as well as provide improved safety, prolong the life of tires, prevent tire destruction and fires, and save time. However, though instrument panels in vehicles are over-populated by gauges and lights for providing all sorts of warning, most vehicles do not have a tire pressure monitor that drivers who spend a lot of time on the road desperately want and need. In addition to the failure to recognize the importance of detecting at an early stage low tire pressure to prevent blowouts, there is at least one other reason for the absence of tire pressure monitoring systems: prior art tire pressure monitors have adopted expensive and impractical approaches to this problem.
In the art, there are several examples of tire pressure monitors and alarm systems. These are typically fastened to the rim of the wheel and require that a hole be drilled through the wheel. See U.S. Pat. No. 4,954,677 of Alberter et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 4,894,639 of Schmierer; U.S. Pat. No. 4,866,982 of Gault; U.S. Pat. No. 4,768,375 of Echardt et al.; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,784,993 of Lothar et al. These systems include a transducer of some sort that converts the pressure to a signal for communicating the pressure to a remote display.
The disadvantage of these tire pressure monitors is that the transducers are mounted through the wheel rim. Thus, the wheel must be either specially manufactured or adapted (if possible) with holes that are drilled in the wheel to receive the transducers. As holes cause undue stress on the wheel retrofitting preexisting wheels, it gives rise to safety and liability problems. Thus, they must be manufactured for these systems as original equipment. However, they must meet strict Department of Transportation guidelines and undergo stress tests before approval.
These systems also require that the wheel be removed from the vehicle and disassembled to gain access to the transducers for service. Furthermore, they require some sort of electrical connection between the transducer and any remote monitoring device. With a rotating wheel, this electrical connection requires special contacts, complicating the system, introducing added cost and reducing reliability.
The problem of connecting the transducer to a monitor has been solved in part by radio frequency communications. As shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,890,090 of Ballyns, a pressure transducer is coupled to a radio frequency transmitter that is mounted within the tire and secured to the wheel rim. Although it has the advantage of wireless communication of the pressure to a remotely placed monitor, it suffers from the same disadvantages of the rim mounted transducers: it is difficult to install and service, and requires special adaption of the wheel.
To avoid this communication problem, it is possible to indirectly monitor the condition of the tire using tire rotation sensors like those installed as original equipment on vehicles with anti-lock braking and some all-wheel drive systems. To detect a deflating tire, these sensors are monitored for abnormal changes in rotation speeds of the tire indicating deflation. Doing so requires sophisticated sensors, data processing equipment and algorithms, and a vehicle originally equipped with this advanced and expensive technology. It is a sophisticated approach, but one that is not feasible for most vehicles such as buses, trucks and motor homes currently being manufactured and on the road that are not using this technology.
Another approach avoids altogether mounting transducers on a tire. Yet it is just as complicated and expensive. An elaborate, and extremely expensive air pressure line is built into the car that runs from a wheel, through a hub and down an axle to a sensor located within the vehicle. This approach is generally available only to the most sophisticated and expensive vehicles and must be installed as original equipment.
Despite previous substantial efforts to improve the safety of tires, current tire pressure monitoring systems continue to run in the vein of being expensive and elaborate; they require substantial modification to wheels and to the car for their use; and they offer methods having little to no feasibility for retrofitting the millions of ordinary wheels that are in use and will continue to be manufactured and used.


An apparatus for inspecting bump junctions in a semiconductor flip chip mounting which is able to inspect a state of a junction portion, has a simple structure and is safe and suitable for mass production of semiconductor devices and a method of inspecting the same; in an apparatus for inspecting bump junction in semiconductor flip chip mounting in which a semiconductor bare chip is mounted reversely on a substrate through the bumps, the surface of the semiconductor bare chip is irradiated with a laser light and radiation heat from the heated chip is detected with an infrared camera, a computer acquires temperature distribution on the chip surface from a picture processing unit and analyzes the temperature distribution, thereby to decide the quality of the bump junction state, and decision processing is performed by acquiring data of temperature distribution from a reference semiconductor device of known excellent quality in advance by the same method and comparing with these data.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for inspecting a bump junction of a semiconductor element and a substrate in a flip chip for performing inverted mounting on a substrate made of organic or ceramic matter through a bump or the like and a method of inspecting the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a flip chip which is attracting attention recently in advancing high density mounting, ball shaped metals or the like called bumps 2 are connected by soldering or the like 0o electrodes 17 of a plurality of bare chips 1 arranged evenly as shown in FIG. 1. These fitted bumps 2 are connected also by soldering or the like to electrodes 18 of a substrate made of an organic or ceramic matter or the like.
Since such a flip chip has a connecting portion with the substrate on the back of the bare chins 1 for the purpose of executing high density mounting, it has such a disadvantage in point of inspection that the connecting portion cannot be seen directly as against that the connecting portion was located at a position that could be seen directly in a conventional surface mount device (SMD) component.
Therefore, such a method that it is confirmed for the substrate in which flip chips are used whether connection has been made nicely by applying a current to the bare chip 1 and confirming the operation without inspecting the connection has been adopted at a stage of trial manufacture, but such an inspection method is not suitable for mass production. Further, in such a test with turning on electricity, the bare chip 1 is operated when an electric current is turned on under any circumstances of the connecting portion. Therefore, even when a large void has been generated at a portion where the bump 2 has been connected by soldering for example, judgement is made to be an excellent article since there is no problem electrically and sufficient connection inspection cannot be made in such a case, thus producing a reliability problem.
As a result, an apparatus for inspecting a connecting portion in bare chip mounting becomes necessary. In an apparatus for inspecting a solder junction portion of a semi-conductor device shown in FIG. 2 (Patent Laid-Open No. HEI4359447), it has been tried to make the junction portion of the bump 2 between a substrate 18 and a bare chip 17 visible by utilizing transmission of X-rays. In this apparatus, however, X-rays are radiated from right above the connecting portion so as to measure a shadow thereof. Therefore, an X-ray source has to be brought to right above the connecting portion, and the X-ray source has to be moved to right above of individual bump 2 at the connecting portion of the substrate 18 where a plurality of bumps 2 are arranged in flip chip mounting. Further, since the connecting portion cannot be visually observed directly, it is also difficult to move the X-ray source to right above the connecting portion. Furthermore, the X-ray source is expensive, and consideration for a human body also becomes necessary concerning the use thereof.
A flip chip which is presently focused with the spotlight of attention is a mounting method which has been developed for the purpose of executing high density mounting, but it is a mounting construction in which the junction portion between the bare chip and the substrate cannot be visually observed directly because high density mounting is performed. Therefore, a conventional inspection apparatus of a type used for an SMD component or the like is not applicable to the connection inspection of flip chip mounting in which the junction portion cannot be observed directly.
Further, although that which utilizes an X-ray apparatus has been invented as an inspection apparatus for flip chips, there have been extremely difficult problems in such points that not only there are difficult points in point of mechanism such as arrangement and movement of an X-ray source for inspection, but also consideration for a human body is required thus making products expensive.
As described above, since there has been heretofore no suitable inspection apparatus for flip chips, it is foreseen that yield of flip chips is deteriorated, and future progress or realizability of high density mounting by flip chips is apprehended due to cost increase.
Therefore, a non-contact inspection apparatus and inspection method that can be used preferably for such flip chips and are provided with sufficient inspection performance suitable for mass production of semiconductor devices have been desired.

Apparatus for inspecting bump junction of flip chips and method of inspecting the same


The present invention relates to a pogo stick structure, more particularly, a pogo stick comprising a housing unit, foot support plate, piston, spring mechanism, and handlebars. The external portion of the housing unit includes a plurality of LED lights that light in accordance with the piston impinging the ground. LED lights displayed on the housing may be of different colors and may be arranged in a multitude of ways. Furthermore, the displayed LED lights may light in different patterns and at different times as a result of an electronic processing unit. A foam layer may cover the housing and protect the lights from accidental damage.

This invention relates generally to pogo sticks and, more particularly, to pogo sticks having flashing lights which illuminate in response to bouncing on the pogo stick.
A pogo stick can be generally described as a bouncing apparatus. A user of a pogo stick steps on a foot rest extending from a housing unit, holds handles attached to the housing and hops repeatedly. The user bounces up and down as a piston is forced upward on a spring-like mechanism.
Pogo sticks first became popular in the 1920's. Since then, pogo sticks have been used both for leisure and entertainment purposes. For example, the New York hippodrome chorus girls performed entire shows on them, marriage vows were exchanged on them, exercise is enjoyed by many, jumping contests have been held, and world records for consecutive jumps have been set.
While pogo sticks have been used for entertainment purposes, audiences are focused on the user of the pogo stick rather than the pogo stick itself. For example, a show performed on a conventional pogo stick is entertaining for the viewer because of the actions of the pogo stick operator, rather than the actual pogo stick structure itself.
In the past, designs have included lights on the footpads of pogo sticks. This presented problems for both the observer and operator of the pogo stick. For example, lights on the footpad might be blocked by the operator's feet and prevent an observer from viewing and being entertained by the lights.
Additionally, footpad lights present a serious defect since they might become damaged due to their location near the operator's feet. It is common that while using a pogo stick the feet of the operator may occasionally slip off the foot pads and hit the lights located near or on the foot pads. Thus, it is not desirable to place lights on the footpads.
Further, lights placed near or on the location of the footpads can present a danger to the operator. When feet slip off the footpads during use and cause damage to footpad lights, a loose electrical connection or even an open circuit may result. These present dangerous conditions that could lead to electrical shock and other problems for the operator.
It is also known to position lights at the handlebars of a pogo stick to provide visual feedback to the operator. However, lights in this position are dangerous because the user of the pogo stick looks down instead of looking up at the field of view, making it all too easy to land in an awkward or hazardous position. Also, such lights are not intended for viewing by observers, who may have a hard time viewing such lights, as the operator's hands may be in the way.
It is desirable to provide illumination for pogo-type devices in order to address these and other problems. It is also desirable to add new creativity with pogo devices in order to keep prospective and current users interested in the item. Moreover, new features are needed to enhance the growth and enjoyment of pogo sticks and maintain popularity.


A transgenic plant cell is provided containing a DNA molecule encoding an enzyme selected from the group consisting of fructosyltransferase, glucosyltransferase B, mutants of glucosyltransferase B, glucosyltransferase C, glucosyltransferase D, mutants of glucosyltransferase D and functional fragments of each enzyme. A transgenic plant regenerated from the plant cell is also provided. A method of improving the ensilability and the nutritional value of plants is also provided comprising introducing into the cells of the plant an expression cassette comprising the above DNA molecule operably linked to a promoter functional in the cells of the plant to yield transformed plant cells, and regenerating a transformed plant from the transformed cells. The transformed plants also provide improved digestibility in ruminants.

The storage carbohydrates found in plants, including sucrose, glucans, starch and fructans, are an important source of feed for animals, particularly grazing ruminants. Often these carbohydrates can be of limited availability in pasture plants.
The nutritional value of forage-based diets for ruminants is limited by the microbial efficiency of the rumen. Rumen microorganisms require protein and carbohydrates to synthesize microbial protein and volatile fatty acids. Either the protein or carbohydrate can limit the microbial efficiency. If a diet has high levels of soluble protein, adequate quantities of readily fermentable carbohydrates should be included in the diet to avoid ammonia loss.
Excessive protein degradation in the rumen of animals may be the most limiting nutritional factor in legume or grass pastures or silage. Such pastures have the potential to produce a forage with high protein levels but this protein is not always utilized efficiently. Such pastures exhibits a high protein-low energy imbalance. Due to this energy imbalance, the ruminant fed with a high proportion of legume or grass forage, such as with grazing pure alfalfa, cannot fully benefit from the high protein content of the forage.
The cost of feeding a highly degradable protein source goes beyond the nitrogen losses and reduced microbial efficiency. There is an energy cost in detoxifying excess ammonia resulting from excessive rumen degradable protein. When comparing a 17% crude protein vs. a 19% diet, this maintenance cost is equal to one (1) pound of milk per cow daily (Shultz T. On-line, Milk Lines (July 1997).
hftp//www.ucce.tulare.ca.us/pub/milk0797.htm#MUN
In mammals the detoxification of ammonia is accomplished by the liver through the urea cycle. Carbamoyl phosphate is the starting point of the urea cycle and carbamoyl phosphate synthase uses energy from ATP to fuse a carbon dioxide molecule with an ammonia molecule and a phosphate to make an active form of ammonia that can be added to an acceptor molecule to make urea. (Makemson J. & Kuhn (Online). Amino acid catabolism and the urea cycle.
http://www.fiu.edu/.about.biology/bch3033/lectures/webureacyc.htm
This maintenance cost is perceived by some animal nutritionists as being the most important cause of reduced efficiency of highly degradable proteins in the feedstuff.
Legume digestibility declines during maturation of the plant as glucose and sucrose are remobilized in the plant and therefore cannot be stored in aerial parts effectively. However, the production of immobile carbohydrate sources such as glucans or fructans in aerial plant parts offer great potential to improve forage digestibility in legumes and grasses.
Good ensuing conditions for forages depend on the quick attainment and maintenance of an oxygen-free condition. The aerobic degradative processes are inhibited through the elimination of atmospheric oxygen, the formation of organic acids and a pH of 4 to 5. (Muck, 1988). The type of further ensuing activity or changes depends on the composition of the crop and the microorganisms present. Crops that have a naturally high level of carbohydrates ferment rapidly, produce a great deal of lactic acid, a low pH, and a generally high silage quality.
Many forages, such as legumes, however, do not produce good natural fermentation. When the level of carbohydrates is low, the amount of acid that is produced is low. Also, the high protein percentage in legumes tends to act as a buffer, as well as a source of ammonia and amine-type compounds, therefore making the attainment of a low pH even more difficult.
Compositional factors are near critical levels so that unfavorable fermentation (low palatability and high spoilage losses) frequently occur unless special precautions are taken. (Barnes and Gordon, 1972). The most popular additive to help the preservation of the forage involve the use of inoculants and the use of acids. Sugars such as molasses are also added to help the pH reduction process.
Extensive conversion of protein to non-protein nitrogen occurring during silage fermentation results in excessive production of ammonia in the rumen. Because milking cows fed high-protein alfalfa as their principal forage may receive as much as 60% of their total protein from the alfalfa, it is important to minimize protein degradation during harvest and storage. Degradation is greatest in the direct-cut silages but wilted alfalfa silages (haylage) may have as much as 20% ammonia N. (Conrad and Klopfenstein, 1988).
Barnes, R. F. & C. H. Gordon. 1972. Feeding value and on-farm feeding. pp. 601-630. In: Alfalfa Science and Technology. C. H. Hanson (ed.) No. 15 in the series Agronomy. ASA, Madison, Wis.
Bethard, G. (On-line) Estimating Rumen Available and Nonstructural Carbohydrates in Dairy Cattle Diets. Available hftp://www.cyber.vt.edu/dl/cows/9718.html.
Conrad H. R. & T. J. Klopfenstein. 1988. Role in livestock feeding-greenchop, silage, hay, and Dehy. pp. 539-551 in: Alfalfa and Alfalfa Improvement; C. H. Hanson (ed.). No 29 in the series Agronomy.
Franck, R. 1995. The Balancing Act. Dairy Herd Management, February 1995: 50-52.
Muck, R. E. 1988. Factors Influencing Silage Quality and their Implications for Management. J. Dairy. Sci. 71: 2992-3002.
Nocek, J. E., and J. B. Russell. 1988. Protein and energy as an integrated system. Relationship of ruminal protein and carbohydrate availability to microbial synthesis and milk production. J. Dairy Sci. 71:2070.
Paterson, J. A.; R. L. Belyea, J. P. Bowman, M. S. Kerley & J. E. Williams. 1994. The impact of forage quality and supplementation regimen on ruminant animal intake and performance. pp. 59-114 in: Fahey, G. C. Jr. (ed.) Forage Quality, Evaluation, and Utilization. ASA, CSSA, SSSA, Madison, Wis.
Stokes, S. R., W. H. Hoover, T. K. Miller & R. Blauweikel. 1991. Ruminal digestion and microbial utilization of diets varying in types of carbohydrate and protein. J. Dairy Sci. 74: 871-881.
Vagnoni, D. B. & G. A. Broderick. 1995. Effect of Energy supplementation of alfalfa hay or alfalfa silage on protein supply to lactating cows. U.S. Dairy Forage Research Center. 1995 Research Summaries.
Van Keuren, R. W. and A. G. Matches. 1988. Pasture production and utilization. pp. 515-551 in: Alfalfa and Alfalfa Improvement; C. H. Hanson (ed.). No 29 in the series Agronomy.


Electrostatic latent images are developed with a toner in such a configuration that an electrostatic-latent-image-bearing member is disposed to face a developer-bearing member which bears thereon a developer consisting of a magnetic carrier and a toner by relatively moving the developer-bearing member and the electrostatic-latent-image-bearing member at different velocities, with the development being carried out under conditions represented by formula (1):                                           0.1                                      xe2x80x83                                    mm                    ≤          k                =                              L            ·                          [                                                (                                      Vr                    /                    Vp                                    )                                -                1                            ]                                ≤                      2                                      xe2x80x83                                    mm                                              (        1        )

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and a device for developing electrostatic latent images.
2. Discussion of Background
The device for developing electrostatic latent images incorporated in the electrophotographic printers and copying machines has been investigated from various angles in order to improve the printing speed and image reproducibility. In particular, there is an increasing demand for the reproducibility of an image constituted of picture elements with high density to achieve high-speed printing and obtain high resolving power and resolution of the printed image.
In a development method using a two-component developer made of a magnetic carrier and a powdered toner, when the transporting velocity (Vp) of the surface of a latent-image-bearing member is increased to improve the printing speed, the period of time during which the developer passes the latent image formed on the latent-image-bearing member is necessarily curtailed, thereby producing many problems. For example, insufficient amount of developer lowers the image density, halftone images lack uniformity in image density, thin line images become broken, and the toner fails to transfer to a small-size dot image. In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, many trials have been made to increase the amount of developer that can be brought into contact with the latent images and to extend the period of time during which the developer is in contact with the latent images. For instance, it is proposed to increase the width (L) of a contact portion between the developer and the latent-image-bearing member, which will be hereinafter referred to as a development nip width or simply a nip width, and to increase the transporting velocity (Vr) of the developer-bearing member with respect to the transporting velocity (Vp) of the latent-image-bearing member. The above-mentioned width (L) is the width of a contact portion of the latent-image-bearing member with the developer in a direction of the transporting direction of the latent-image-bearing member.
However, it is known that extension of the contact time between the developer and the latent image at the nip width, which will be hereinafter referred to as a nip time, and increase in amount of the developer which comes in contact with the latent image bring about abnormal images. To be more specific about the abnormal images, the image density of a solid image area becomes lower at an end portion thereof in a transporting direction of the latent-image-bearing member, the toner fails to transfer to the end portion of a halftone image area, and the image density is changed at the boundary between the solid image area and the halftone image area. In other words, abnormal images tend to appear at the boundary of image density, that is, the boundary between the adjacent latent images differing in electric potential, and at the point where the electric potentials of latent images suddenly show a discontinuous change. Such abnormal images are considered to result from transient development. Namely, only a toner component is transferred from the developer to the latent-image-bearing member while the developer passes the development nip. While a layer of developer that is a dielectric member with an electrostatic capacity supported by the developer-bearing member passes through a discontinuous electric field for development, abnormal images are easily produced. Such abnormal images caused by the discontinuous potential in latent images will be referred to as defective images in the present invention.
In recent years, in line with the trend toward a small-size developer unit, there has been a tendency for reduction in size of the developer-bearing member and the latent-image-bearing member. Therefore, the diameters of the currently available developer-bearing member and the latent-image-bearing member in a cylindrical form are both reduced, whereby the curvature radius is reduced at a position where the developer-bearing member is brought into the immediate proximity of the latent-image-bearing member. The result is that the development nip width (L) necessarily decreases. Therefore, curtailment of the nip time easily decreases the amount of developer to be brought into contact with the latent-image-bearing member in a manner similar to that as mentioned above. For preventing this problem from happening, it is proposed to make a difference between the aforementioned transporting velocities Vp and Vr larger. In this case, however, the defective images are also induced.
It is therefore a first object of the present invention to provide a developing method which does not produce defective images such as image blurring and intermission in thin line images, but can produce images with sufficient image density and excellent resolving power as a whole, particularly, in thin line images and small-size dot images.
A second object of the present invention is to provide a developer unit for use with the above-mentioned developing method.
The first object of the present invention can be achieved by a method for developing electrostatic latent images in such a configuration that an electrostatic-latent-image-bearing member is disposed to face a developer-bearing member which bears thereon a developer comprising a magnetic carrier and a toner, the method comprising the step of relatively moving a surface of the developer-bearing member and a surface of the electrostatic-latent-image-bearing member at different velocities to develop the electrostatic latent images with the toner, wherein the development is carried out under conditions represented by formula (1):                                           0.1                                      xe2x80x83                                    mm                    ≤          k                =                              L            ·                          [                                                (                                      Vr                    /                    Vp                                    )                                -                1                            ]                                ≤                      2                                      xe2x80x83                                    mm                                              (        1        )
wherein Vp is a transporting velocity (mm/sec) of the surface of the electrostatic-latent-image-bearing member, Vr is a transporting velocity (mm/sec) of the surface of the developer-bearing member, and L is a width (mm) of a contact portion between the developer and the electrostatic-latent-image-bearing member.
The second object of the present invention can be achieved by a unit for developing electrostatic latent images comprising an electrostatic-latent-image-bearing member and a developer-bearing member which has a permanent magnet therein and bears thereon a developer comprising a magnetic carrier and a toner, wherein a surface of the developer-bearing member and a surface of the electrostatic-latent-image-bearing member are relatively moved at different velocities, and the electrostatic latent images are developed with the toner in such a configuration that the developer-bearing member is kept parallel to the electrostatic-latent-image-bearing member at a position where the developer-bearing member is located nearest to the electrostatic-latent-image-bearing member, with the development being carried out under conditions represented by formula (1):                                           0.1                                      xe2x80x83                                    mm                    ≤          k                =                              L            ·                          [                                                (                                      Vr                    /                    Vp                                    )                                -                1                            ]                                ≤                      2                                      xe2x80x83                                    mm                                              (        1        )
wherein Vp is a transporting velocity (mm/sec) of the surface of the electrostatic-latent-image-bearing member, Vr is a transporting velocity (mm/sec) of the surface of the developer-beating member, and L is a width (mm) of a contact portion between the developer and the electrostatic-latent-image-bearing member.

Method and device for developing electrostatic latent images


The present invention provides a process for producing nitroalkanes by dehydroxylation of nitroalcohols. This provides an alternate reaction route for making nitroalkanes, such as 2-nitropropane and its derivatives.

Generally, nitroalkanes are useful as solvents, reactants and reaction intermediates in various industries including coatings, paints, inks, adhesives, polymers, resins, etc. For example, nitroalkanes are used as feedstocks to prepare nitroalcohols which can be further reduced to aminoalcohols. In particular, nitromethane (CH3NO2) is a highly polar liquid often used as a solvent, such as an extraction solvent, a reaction medium, or a cleaning solvent. It is also a reaction intermediate for the production of pharmaceuticals, pesticides, explosives, fibers, and coatings. Another valuable nitroalkane, for example, is 2-nitropropane (CH3CHNO2CH3) which is a colorless liquid commonly used as a solvent, chemical intermediate, or starting material to produce other industrially useful compounds. As a solvent, 2-nitropropane is slightly soluble in water and miscible in numerous solvents including most aromatic hydrocarbons, ketones, esthers, and ethers. Thus, it is useful for making inks, paints, adhesives, varnishes, polymers, resins, and coatings. 2-nitropropane is also used in explosives and as a gasoline additive.
Nitroalkanes are produced industrially by contacting propane with nitric acid at high temperatures, such as 350-450° C., which results in a mixed product containing: nitromethane, nitroethane, 1-nitropropane, and 2-nitropropane.
A different process for preparing nitroalkanes is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,319,059. In this process, an alpha-bromoalkanoic acid is first reacted with an alkali metal nitrite, in the presence of a magnesium ion (Mg2+), in an aprotic solvent to form a chelate, which is neutralized with a mineral acid to produce a nitroalkane having one less carbon atom than the reactant bromoalkanoic acid.
No known processes for preparing nitroalkanes by dehydroxylating the corresponding nitroalcohols are known.
Reductive dehydroxylation is known for activated alcohols, e.g., benzylic alcohols. It has not been documented for nitroalcohols such as the 1,2-nitroalcohols.
The ability to produce nitroalkanes from alternative feedstocks, such as, nitroalcohols or nitropolyols, is desirable.

Dehydroxylation of nitroalcohols to nitroalkanes


Thermoplastic silicone-containing composition are useful as a hydrogel contact lens material. The compositions are based on polymers including a siloxane segment and a highly hydrophilic segment.

The present invention generally relates to thermoplastic silicone-containing materials useful as a hydrogel contact lens material.
Hydrogels represent a desirable class of materials for many biomedical applications including contact lenses. Hydrogels are hydrated, cross-linked polymeric system that contain water in an equilibrium state. Silicone hydrogels are a known class of hydrogels and are characterized by the inclusion of a silicone-containing material. Typically, a silicone-containing monomer is copolymerized by free radical polymerization with a hydrophilic monomer, with either the silicone-containing monomer or the hydrophilic monomer functioning as a crosslinking agent (a crosslinker being defined as a monomer having multiple polymerizable functionalities) or a separate crosslinker may be employed. Such silicone hydrogels, based on polyurethanes, are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,034,461, for example. An advantage of silicone hydrogels over non-silicone hydrogels is that the silicone hydrogels typically have higher oxygen permeability due to the inclusion of the silicone-containing monomer. Because such hydrogels are based on monomers polymerizable by free radical, these materials are thermosetting polymers.
The present invention provides a class of silicone hydrogel materials that are thermoplastic. These materials can be cast into articles such as contact lenses by methods other than free radical polymerization, for example, by compression molding or injection molding. The materials include a silicone-containing moiety and a highly hydrophilic moiety, thus the materials exhibit relatively high oxygen permeability while being able to absorb and retain water. When cast into contact lenses, the materials are optically clear, and the materials are stable at relatively high temperatures.


A slide feeder, a slide system and a slide feeding method are disclosed. Conventional slide feeders are incapable of feeding the same slide mounts repeatedly to an external appliance with no help by a human hand, accordingly are unsuited to a scanning work at a high speed and incapable of separating slides stably at a feeding time. To overcome these problems, the present invention comprises feeding slide mounts stocked in a first slide stock section to an external appliance and stocking slide mounts discharged from the external appliance into a second slide stock section in a first operation mode, and feeding and stocking the slide mounts reversely in a second operation mode. Furthermore, the slide mounts are carried in a feeding direction with a rotating force of a roller. Moreover, the slide mounts are separated with a separating pad at a feeding time.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a slide feeder, a slide system and a slide feeding method, and more particularly, is suitably applicable, for example, to a slide feeder which feeds slides to a slide scanner.
2. Description of the Related Art
A slide mount (hereinafter simply referred to as a slide) 1 is conventionally configured by holding a developed photographic film 2 corresponding to a frame with a frame like case 3 made of synthetic resin, paper or the like as shown in FIG. 1.
There have conventionally been used an apparatus which converts an image on the slide 1 (that is, an image recorded on the photographic film 2) into an electric signal by optically scanning the image (hereinafter referred to as a film scanner) and an apparatus which is configured to be capable of consecutively feeding the slide 1 one by one to the film scanner (hereinafter referred to as a slide feeder).
Such a conventional slide feeder has a configuration in which structures are different between a first slide stock section for stocking the slide 1 which has not yet been fed to a slide scanner and a second slide stock section for stocking the slide 1 discharged from the slide scanner, thereby being incapable of automatically feeding the slide 1 stocked in the second slide stock section again into the slide scanner.
When such a conventional slide feeder is to carry out works of preliminary scanning a plurality of slides 1 with the slide scanner, selecting a slide for a color adjustment or the like and then regularly scanning the slides 1 once again with the slide scanner, for example, the conventional slide feeder therefore requires a manual work to return the slides 1 stocked in the second slide stock section to the first slide stock section thereby posing a problem of inconvenience in use.
Furthermore, the conventional slide feeder uses a molded feeding block 4 which is disposed in the above described first slide stock section so as to be movable in a feeding direction (indicated by an arrow g) of the slides 1 and a reverse direction as shown in FIG. 2, and sends out the slides 1 to the slide scanner by pushing the slides 1 with the feeding block 4 in the feeding direction on the basis of a driving force given from a driving system (not shown) to the feeding block 4.
Accordingly, such a slide feeder is incapable of feeding a next slide 1 until the feeding block 4 returns to an original position after feeding the slide 1 and is not suited to a high-speed scanning work, thereby being still insufficient or problematic in performance.
Furthermore, the conventional slide feeder separates the slides 1 using a metal leaf spring 5 as shown in FIG. 2 to prevent the slides 1 from being fed in a plurality to the slide scanner, but the leaf spring 5 cannot stably separate the slides 1 framed with the thin paper cases 3 (FIG. 1), thereby being still insufficient or problematic in stable feeding capability for the slides 1.
In view of the foregoing, an object of this invention is to provide a slide feeder, a slide system and a slide feeding method which are capable of first enhancing convenience in use and secondly remarkably improving performance.
The foregoing object and other objects of the invention have been achieved by the provision of a slide feeder which comprises: a slide carrying mechanism section which is disposed between a first and second slide stock sections, and feeds the slide mounts stocked in the first slide stock section into an external appliance, and takes and carries the slide mounts discharged from the external appliance so as to be stocked into the second slide stock section in a first operation mode, and feeds the slide mounts stocked in the second slide stock section into the external appliance and carries the slide mounts discharged from the external appliance so as to be stocked into the first slide stock section in a second operation mode.
As a result, this slide feeder is capable of feeding the same slide mounts repeatedly into the external appliance simply by switching the operation modes with no help by a human hand.
Furthermore, the slide feeder according to the present invention uses a rotatable roller and roller driving means for rotatingly driving the above described roller which are disposed in the slide carrying mechanism section for carrying the slide mounts so that the slide mounts stocked in the first slide stock section are pressed to the roller, thereby being carried in a feeding direction with a rotating force of the above described roller.
As a result, this slide feeder is capable of sending out a next slide mount immediately after sending out a slide mount. Accordingly, the slide feeder is sufficiently capable of coping with a high-speed treatment of slide mounts in practical use, for example, with an external appliance.
Furthermore, the slide feeder according to the present invention uses a separating pad having a taper surface which is disposed in the slide carrying mechanism section for carrying the slide mount and strikes leading ends of the slide mounts in the feeding direction against the taper surface of the separating pad, thereby separating the slide mounts at a feeding time.
As a result, the slide feeder is capable of performing separation of the slide mount at the feeding time more securely than that performed using, for example, an elastic member such as a leaf spring.
Furthermore, according to the present invention, a slide system is composed between the slide feeder for carrying slide mounts and an external appliance to which the slide mounts are fed.
As a result, this slide system is capable of feeding the same slide mounts repeatedly into the external appliance simply by switching the operation modes with no help by a human hand.
Furthermore, the slide feeding method according to the present invention comprises: in a first operation mode, feeding slide mounts stocked in the first slide stock section which is disposed in a slide feeder from the slide feeder to the external appliance, and taking and carrying the slide mounts discharged from the external appliance so as to stock the slide mounts into the second slide stock section disposed in the slide feeder; and in a second operation mode, feeding the slide mounts stocked in the second slide stock section to the external appliance, taking the slide mounts discharged from the external appliance and carrying the slide mounts so as to stock into the first slide stock section.
In this way, this slide feeding method is capable of feeding the same slide mounts repeatedly into the external appliance simply by switching the operation modes with no help by a human hand.
The nature, principle and utility of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which like parts are designated by like reference numerals or characters.

Slide feeder, slide system and slide feeding method


A liquid crystal display includes a plurality of subpixels respectively having switching elements and arranged in a matrix, a plurality of gate lines connected to the subpixels via the switching elements and transmitting a gate signal for turning on or off the switching elements, and a plurality of data lines connected to the subpixels via the switching elements and transmitting a data voltage. The respective subpixels are located in areas defined by two adjacent gate lines and two adjacent data lines, which are uniquely connected to a pair of gate line and data line, and at least one of the subpixels is connected to the different gate lines or the data line positioned at opposite side with respect to the other subpixel of the same row. In this case, a pair of subpixels adjacent above and below are connected to the gate line therebetween or the gate lines positioned at opposite side each other. In this way, any inversions for each color can be performed without changing conventional driving ICs.

A typical liquid crystal display ('LCD'), which includes two panels and a liquid crystal layer with dielectric anisotropy disposed therebetween, displays desired images by adjusting the strength of the electric field applied to the liquid crystal layer to control the transmittance of light passing through the panels. The LCD is a representative of flat panel displays ('FPDs'), and one of the LCDs using thin film transistors ('TFTs') as switching elements is widely used.
Meanwhile, in order to increase light efficiency of the LCD, red, green, blue and white subpixel configuration (referred to as 'four color subpixel configuration' hereinafter) that further includes white subpixels in addition to red, green and blue subpixels has been proposed.
In such a four color subpixel LCD, since the number of the subpixels is even, the subpixels representing the same color (referred to as 'the same colored subpixels' hereinafter) appear by unit of even number in a row direction. Therefore, a data driving integrated circuit ('IC') performing a conventional N×1 dot inversion that changes polarities of data voltages each row cannot give the polarity inversion to the same colored subpixels. That is, the same colored subpixels in a row are always supplied with the data voltages with the same polarity.
For example, when the red, green, blue and white subpixels are arranged in a stripe, i.e., red, green, blue, white, red, green, blue, white, . . . in a row direction, a 1×1 dot inversion gives the polarities of +, −, +, −, +, −, +, −, and so on. For red subpixels, the first one has the positive polarity; so has the second.


An electrical device includes a conductive member and a voltage-resistant connector to be mounted to the metal enclosure. The conductive member such as a metal enclosure, includes a pair of clasping portions separated from each other. Each of the pair of clasping portions includes a pair of fixing arms. The voltage-resistant connector includes a main body to electrically connect a high-voltage output and a load of the electrical device, and an insulated member between the main body and the conductive member to increase a beeline distance between the voltage-resistant connector and the insulated member to avoid arcing therebetween. The insulated member defines a pair of holes corresponding to the clasping portions. The pair of fixing arms of each of the pair of clasping portion extends through a corresponding hole and clasps the insulated member to fix the voltage-resistant connector on the conductive member.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure generally relates to electronic devices, and more particularly to an electronic device with a voltage-resistant connector that electrically connects a high-voltage output and a load of the electrical device.
2. Description of Related Art
In a liquid crystal display (LCD), a voltage-resistant connector is used to connect a high-voltage output and a load. Often, the voltage-resistant connector is secured to a conductive member, such as a metal enclosure, of the LCD with double-sided tape. A beeline distance between the voltage-resistant connector and the metal enclosure is equal to a thickness of a plastic housing of the voltage-resistant connector, resulting in arcing between the voltage-resistant connector and the metal enclosure.
Therefore, a need exists in the industry to overcome the described limitations.

Electronic device with voltage-resistant connectors


An electronic bass musical instrument that has the appearance, character and ambiance of a traditional washtub bass where the sounds of the bass are produced electronically by manually pressing an electrically conductive string extending along a neck of the bass against selected electrically conductive contacts arranged at spaced positions along the neck thus sending signals to an electronic control circuit of the instrument, whereby the sounds of the bass are produced electronically, providing vastly improved tonal quality and pitch accuracy to the sounds produced.

(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to an electronic bass musical instrument. More specifically, the present invention pertains to an electronic washtub bass musical instrument having the appearance, character and ambiance of a traditional washtub bass where the sounds of the bass are produced electronically, thereby providing vastly improved tonal quality and pitch accuracy to the sounds produced.
(2) Description of the Related Art
The washtub bass, or "gutbucket," is a stringed instrument used in American folk music that uses a metal washtub as a resonator. The traditional washtub bass is comprised of an inverted metal washtub, an elongate staff or stick held by the bass player in an upright orientation on top of the inverted washtub, and a single string that is secured to the top of the staff or stick and the center of the inverted washtub bottom. The pitch of the single string is adjusted by the bass player by pushing or pulling on the staff or stick to change the tension in the string.
The washtub bass was used in jug bands that were popular in some African American communities in the early 1900s. In the 1950s, U.S. folk musicians used the washtub bass in jug band-influenced music.
The hallmarks of the traditional washtub bass design are simplicity, very low costs and do-it-yourself construction. However, these gave the traditional washtub bass its historical reputation for poor tonal quality and difficult, if not impossible pitch control.


An image sensor includes a substrate made of an insulating and transparent material, a plurality of photoelectric conversion elements which are provided on the substrate and arranged in a predetermined direction of the substrate, a driving circuit, which is provided on the substrate and extends parallel to the photoelectric conversion elements, for driving the photoelectric conversion elements, and a conductive film adjacent to at least one of the photoelectric conversion elements and the driving circuit, for receiving an external noise signal.

Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to an image sensor and an optical reading unit using the same, and more particularly to an image sensor and an optical reading unit using the same which can be applied to a facsimile machine, a digital copy machine and so on.

Image sensor and optical reading unit using the same

Ricoh Research Institute of General Electronics Co., Ltd.


Ophthalmic lens molds made from one or more thermoplastic polymers with average polarities from about 1% to about 7%, ophthalmic lenses including silicone hydrogel contact lenses molded using these less polar thermoplastic polymers, and related methods are described. When the molds are used to cast mold silicone hydrogel contact lenses, the resulting polymerized lens bodies have ophthalmically acceptably wettable surfaces.

In cast molding methods of producing ophthalmic lenses, such as contact lenses, a reaction mixture or polymerizable lens precursor composition is cured in a lens shaped cavity defined by a first mold member with a concave lens forming surface and a second mold member with a convex lens forming surface, or a female and male mold member, respectively. The mold members are typically produced by injection molding a thermoplastic polymer into mold shaped cavities. Examples of thermoplastic polymers used to make ophthalmic lens molds include non-polar thermoplastic polymers, such as polypropylene, polystyrene, and polyethylene; and polar thermoplastic polymers, such as ethylene-vinyl alcohol polymers and polyvinyl alcohol polymers. When cast molding a contact lens, after placing the polymerizable composition in the first mold member, the first and second mold members are placed together or coupled together to form a lens assembly with the lens shaped cavity therebetween. The mold assembly is then cured to polymerize the polymerizable composition, forming the polymerized lens body in the lens shaped cavity of the mold assembly.
Over the years, a number of different types of thermoplastic polymer materials, including polar and non-polar thermoplastic polymers, have been used to manufacture ophthalmic lenses using various types of polymerizable compositions and using various lens-making processes, including spin casting, lathing and cast molding.
One example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,921,205 issued to Drew, Jr. et al., describes a process of making and machining lens blanks to form either soft or rigid gas permeable contact lenses. The process of Drew, Jr. involves specifically formulating a material for a mold member in order to cause the lens blank to strongly adhere to the mold member after curing. The process includes forming the mold member, casting a polymerizable lens blank into the mold member, curing the lens blank in the mold member to create an integral blank-mold member structure, and machining the integral blank-mold member structure by first machining away the softer mold member to reveal the lens blank, and then machining the lens blank to form a lens. Drew, Jr. et al. lists a number of types of conventional soft lens materials and rigid gas permeable lens materials that can be used in accordance with the disclosure, but does not discuss any silicone hydrogel materials. While Drew, Jr. et al. lists a number of types of polymers that can be used for the mold member including polybutylene terephthalate (PBT), both polar and non-polar mold materials were found to be equally useful when used in the described method. Due to the manufacturing procedures used, wettability of the lens surfaces was not impacted by the choice of thermoplastic polymer used for the mold, as both the region of the mold used to mold the lens surface and the surface of the lens which was in direct contact with the mold member are machined away in the process of forming the lens.
Another example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,075,066 issued to Matsuda et al., describes soft contact lenses made by crosslinking glycosoaminoglycan using photoirradiation in a plastic mold, such as a PBT mold. The manufacturing methods described in Matsuda et al. include cut polishing, spin casting, pressing and molding, with spin casting being particularly preferred. In the spin-casting manufacturing method described, after crosslinking of the lens forming material in the mold using UV light, the lens and the mold are soaked in an aqueous solution to swell the lens, allowing it to be detached from the single mold member used in the spin casting method. For this lens material (crosslinked glycosoaminoglycan), wettability of lens surfaces results from the nature of the lens material itself, and is related to the degree of substitution (DS) of photoreactive groups of the glycosaminoglycan. This is illustrated in Experimental Example 1, which lists the DS of the polymerizable material and the wettability of the resulting lenses, as determined by measuring advancing and receding contact angle. Thus, the choice of mold material in Matsuda et al. does not impact the wettability of the resulting lens.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,997,428 issued to Andino et al. is directed to contact lens molds made of a first UV transparent section which molds an optical surface of the lens, and a second UV opaque section which does not mold an optical surface of the lens. Andino et al. discloses the use of both non-polar and polar thermoplastic polymers, including PBT and Acetal, for use in the sections of the lens molds. Andino et al. does not discuss any preference for mold materials beyond those that exhibit good adhesion to each other when used to form a single mold member, does not discuss any types of lens materials such as silicone hydrogels, and does not discuss the wettability of the lenses made using the described mold materials.
When contact lens molds made of non-polar thermoplastic polymers such as polypropylene or polystyrene are used to cast mold silicone hydrogel contact lenses, it is known that additional measures typically need to be taken in order to make the lens surfaces ophthalmically acceptably wettable. For example, a surface treatment such as a plasma treatment can be applied to the lens surfaces as part of the manufacturing process. Alternatively, a polymeric interpenetrating network wetting agent can be incorporated into the lens body as part of the manufacturing process in order to make the lens body ophthalmically acceptably wettable.
Recently, cast molding silicone hydrogel contact lenses in molds made of highly polar thermoplastic polymers such as ethylene-vinyl alcohol (EVOH) copolymers, for example SOARLITE™ S (a polar resin of EVOH copolymers with an average polarity of from about 10% to about 12% available from Nippon Gohsei, Ltd., Osaka, Japan) has been found to result in lenses having ophthalmically acceptably wettable surfaces. Previously, when molded using non-polar thermoplastic polymers, it was necessary to apply a surface treatment such as, for example a plasma treatment, or to include an interpenetrating network of a polymeric wetting agent in silicone hydrogel contact lenses in order for the lens surfaces to be ophthalmically acceptably wettable when hydrated. The use of contact lens molds comprising these highly polar thermoplastic polymers (i.e., thermoplastic polymers with average polarities greater than or equal to 9%, such as, for example, greater than or equal to 10%, greater than or equal to 12%, greater than or equal to 15%, etc.) made it possible to produce wettable silicone hydrogel contact lenses without the need for a surface treatment, or an interpenetrating network of a polymeric wetting agent in the lens body. However, these highly polar thermoplastic polymers such as EVOH are expensive materials, which negatively impacts production costs. Molds made of EVOH typically are harder and more brittle than would be ideal, which negatively impacts lens yields. Also, due to the high level of adhesion typically seen between EVOH molds and silicone hydrogels, after curing a silicone hydrogel contact lens body in a mold assembly of mold members comprising EVOH, separation of the mold assembly to separate the two mold members of the mold assembly typically requires a "wet" demolding process, i.e., a demolding process involving the application of a liquid to the mold assembly containing the polymerized lens body, in order to allow the two mold members to be separated, leaving the lens body remaining in contact with one and only one of the two mold members. It is believed that the high level of adhesion observed between EVOH molds and silicone hydrogels is due at least in part to the fact that EVOH is an elastomeric thermoplastic. Further, after wet demolding, the silicone hydrogel lens body may need to be exposed to an additional amount of a liquid during a "wet" delensing process in order to release the lens body from the one remaining EVOH mold member with which it remained in contact following the demolding step. Additionally, silicone hydrogel contact lenses often require the use of an organic solvent-based washing process in order for the lenses to become ophthalmically acceptably wettable, further increasing material, equipment and production costs.
In view of the above, it can be appreciated that a need exists for contact lens molds comprising new types of materials for cast molding silicone hydrogel ophthalmic lenses, new silicone hydrogel ophthalmic lenses cast molded using molds comprising these new types of materials, and associated manufacturing methods that use less expensive, more process-friendly molding materials, do not require the use of expensive processing steps such as "wet" demolding steps, both "wet" demolding and "wet" delensing steps, or organic solvent-based washing steps, and which can produce high yields of silicone hydrogel lens bodies having ophthalmically acceptably wettable surfaces without application of a surface treatment or the presence of an interpenetrating network (IPN) of a polymeric wetting agent in the lens body.
All publications, including patents, published patent applications, scientific or trade publications and the like, cited in this specification are hereby incorporated herein in their entirety.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Polar thermoplastic ophthalmic lens molds, ophthalmic lenses molded therein, and related methods

CooperVision International Holding Company, LP


Various methods and systems are provided for a leakage passageway for a fuel injector of a common rail fuel system. In one embodiment, a fuel injector for an engine comprises an injector accumulator, an injector flow limiter valve configured to control a flow of fuel from a common fuel rail and into the injector accumulator, and a leakage passageway coupled between the injector accumulator and an inlet of the injector flow limiter valve, the leakage passageway bypassing the injector flow limiter valve.

In some vehicles, fuel is provided to a diesel engine by a common rail fuel system. In the common fuel rail system, fuel injectors inject fuel from the common fuel rail to cylinders of the engine for combustion. In some examples, the common fuel rail system may include a large accumulator coupled to all the fuel injectors. In other examples, each fuel injector may have a smaller injector accumulator. Further, fuel flowing to each fuel injector may be regulated by a flow limiter valve to reduce over-fueling. During an injection event at one fuel injector, the flow limiter valves corresponding to the other fuel injectors may be closed, thereby closing off the fuel volume of the non-injecting fuel injectors from the common fuel rail. As a result, the total common rail fuel volume may be reduced, thereby resulting in larger pressure fluctuations in the common rail. As a result of the larger pressure fluctuations, components of the common fuel rail system may degrade more quickly over time.

Method and systems for a leakage passageway of a fuel injector


A valve drive of an internal combustion engine is disclosed , having at least one main camshaft, on which at least one cam carrier is provided such that it is fixed so as to rotate with said main camshaft and can be displaced axially between at least two axial positions, wherein at least one valve actuating cam for actuating a gas exchange valve of the internal combustion engine is assigned to the cam carrier. The valve actuating cam is mounted rotatably and a rotary angular position of the valve actuating cam with regard to the cam carrier can be set by means of an adjusting device.

The invention relates to a valve drive of an internal combustion engine with at least one main camshaft on which at least one cam carrier is provided in fixed rotative relationship to the main camshaft and axially shiftable between two axial positions, wherein at least one valve actuating cam for actuating a gas exchange valve of the combustion engine is assigned to the cam carrier.
Valve drives of the aforementioned type are known from the state of the art. They are used in combustion engines in which the operating cycle of gas exchange valves of individual cylinders of the combustion engine can be influenced for improving the thermodynamic properties. The at least one cam carrier which can also be referred to as cam part, is arranged on the main camshaft in fixed rotative relationship with the camshaft and so as to be axially displaceable. Usually several, i.e., at least two valve-actuating cams are assigned to the cam carrier. Each of these valve-actuating cams has an eccentricity, which serves for actuating one of the gas exchange valves of the combustion engine at a defined rotational angle of the main camshaft. The valve-actuating cams thus co-rotate with the main camshaft so that the respective gas exchange valve of the combustion engine is actuated at least once per revolution of the main camshaft by the assigned valve-actuating cam or its eccentricity. For this purpose, the valve-actuating cam preferably interacts with a cam follower of the gas exchange valve through intimate contact with the cam follower.
Preferably multiple valve-actuating cams are provided which can be assigned to different cam groups. The valve-actuating cams of a cam group differ for example regarding the angular position of their eccentricity or the extent of the eccentricity in radial direction (height) and/or in circumferential direction (length). As a result of the axial displacement of the cam carrier, the cam carrier can be caused to assume at least two axial positions, for example a first and a second axial position. In the first axial position the gas exchange valve is actuated by a first one of the valve-actuating cams and in the second axial position by a second one of the valve-actuating cams, which are assigned to the same cam group. Displacement of the cam carrier thus allows in particular selecting the opening time point, the opening duration and/or the lift of the gas exchange valve, in particular in dependence on an operating state of the combustion engine.
The shifting or displacement of the cam carrier in axial direction occurs by means of an actuating device, which includes a shift gate assigned to the cam carrier and a positionally fixed actuator, which is usually fastened on a cylinder head of the combustion engine. The actuator has for example an extendable catch, which can be brought into engagement with an in particular helical or spiral-shaped sliding track of the shift gate. The sliding track is provided on the shift gate, which is assigned to the cam carrier. The shift gate is for example situated on the cam carrier or is at least operably connected with the cam carrier for effecting the axial shifting. The sliding track is preferably constructed as a radial groove, which traverses the circumference of the shift gate, i.e., it is formed in the shift gate so as to have an open rim. The shift gate has thus at least one sliding track into which the catch of the actuator can be introduced for shifting the cam carrier.

Valve drive of an internal combustion engine


Methods and systems for controlling elevator systems are provided. The methods include receiving inputs from at least one interactive input device, wherein the inputs include elevator call requests, tracking one or more people located within a monitored area using at least one sensor, assigning elevator assignments to the one or more people based on at least one of the inputs from the at least one interactive input device and a grouping algorithm based on the tracking of the one or more people, and scheduling operation of at least one elevator car based on the elevator assignments.

The following description relates to elevator systems and, more specifically, to method and systems for improved elevator dispatching.
Tracking potential users of elevator systems and inputs received therefrom (e.g., elevator call requests) plays an important role in intelligent building technologies. Such technologies can include, but are not limited to, building security and safety technologies, elevator scheduling optimization technologies, and building energy control technologies.

Systems and methods for improved elevator scheduling


The present invention provides a system and method for voice based network management. A network management system uses voice based scripts that allow network management operations to be performed over a phone. In one embodiment, the voice based scripts use a Voice Extensible Markup Language (VXML). However, the voice based script can be any form of communication that allows a user to conduct network management operations using Dual Tone Multi-Frequency (DTMF) signaling or speech commands.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to the field of network management.
2. Background of the Invention
A computer network generally includes a number of network devices or components, such as routers, switches, gateways, etc. Generally, each network device has status conditions that may continuously change during operation. For example, a network router may have a variable number of network connections open at any one time.
Network management pertains to issuing commands and gathering information from these network devices. For example, a network administrator may want to monitor or manage the number or type of network connections for the router or simply verify the router is up and running. Different network protocols such as SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol), Telnet, or HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) are used for conducting these network management operations.
The problem with current network management systems is that they require a computer terminal for accessing the network device and retrieving the network management data.

System and method for voice based network management


A counterbalancing epicyclic sickle drive has a pair of oppositely rotating weights that offset the inertial forces of the sickle during its abrupt acceleration and deceleration at opposite ends of its path of travel. One of the weights rotates with the main shaft of the drive about its longitudinal axis, while the second weight is fixed to an oppositely rotating crankshaft that orbits about the axis of the main shaft in eccentric relationship thereto. The weight on the main shaft is heavier than the weight on the crankshaft so as to offset changes in inertial forces produced by the crankshaft weight during increased acceleration of its center of gravity at opposite ends of its elliptical path of travel about the axis of the main shaft.

Counterbalancing sickle drives are known in the art. See for example U.S. Pat. No. 3,941,003 owned by the assignee of the present invention. In that patent, a pair of equal counterbalance weights rotate in opposite directions about the axis of the main shaft of a gearbox that supplies driving power to the sickle. Each time the sickle approaches one end of its path of travel, the counter-rotating weights come into superimposed relationship with one another at the opposite end of the path of travel so as to counteract the inertia of the sickle. While this arrangement does a good job of counterbalancing the reciprocating sickle, it fails to compensate for the centrifugal force generated by an oscillating sway bar used in the translation of rotary motion from the gearbox to reciprocal motion of the sickle.
It is also known in the art to use an epicyclic drive for reciprocating a sickle. This entirely eliminates the need for an oscillating sway bar. However, until the present invention, no epicyclic sickle drive having the ability to counterbalance the reciprocating sickle has been available.
Accordingly, one important object of the present invention is to provide an epicyclic sickle drive that is capable of counterbalancing the sickle it reciprocates. In one preferred embodiment, the drive includes a crankshaft that orbits about the axis of a main shaft as the main shaft rotates, while simultaneously rotating oppositely from the main shaft. A drive stud on the crankshaft is offset from the axis of the crankshaft to such an extent that the stud simply moves back and forth in a straight line path of travel as the crankshaft orbits about the main shaft, thereby reciprocating the sickle that is bearing-coupled to the stud. The main shaft has a first counterbalance weight secured thereto that rotates with the main shaft during its operation. A second counterbalance weight is fixed to the crankshaft so that the crankshaft weight rotates oppositely from the main shaft weight. While the center of gravity of the main shaft weight moves at a constant velocity in a circular path of travel about the axis of the main shaft, the center of gravity of the crankshaft weight moves in an elliptical path of travel about that axis. Thus, the center of gravity of the crankshaft weight decelerates and accelerates adjacent opposite ends of its elliptical path of travel, creating a condition that must be compensated for by the main shaft weight. Accordingly, the main shaft weight is heavier than the crankshaft weight by an amount that produces the desired compensation.


A method of detecting DTX frames in frames received over a communication channel and a power control method are described, where radio link protocol (RLP) information received over the channel may be received, and one or more frames associated with the RLP information may be determined as an erasure or a DTX frame, based on the RLP information. Such determination may be incorporated into outer loop power control algorithms for adjusting a threshold related to a specified quality of service.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is generally related to communication systems, and more particularly, to a power control method with discontinuous transmission (DTX) frame detection in these communication systems.
2. Related Art
In a Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) system, a power control mechanism is typically used to minimize power consumption and interference while maintaining a desired level of performance. Conventionally, this power control mechanism is implemented with two power control loops. The first power control loop (often referred to as an "inner" power control loop, or "inner loop") adjusts the transmit power to each mobile station such that the signal quality of the transmission received at the mobile station receiver (e.g., as measured by a signal-to-noise ratio) is maintained at a particular target signal-to-noise ratio, or target Eb/N0. The target Eb/N0, where Eb is the energy per information bit, and N0 is the power spectral density of the interference seen by the receiver, is often referred to as a power control set point, or threshold. The second power control loop (often referred to as an "outer" power control loop, or "outer loop") adjusts the threshold such that the desired level of performance, e.g., as measured by a particular target block error rate (BLER), frame error rate (FER), or bit error rate (BER) for example, is maintained.
For example, for link (e.g., forward link or reverse link) power control, the inner loop compares the threshold to a measured Eb/N0 of the received signal. This is periodically measured in a 1.25 ms interval, for example. If measured Eb/N0 is smaller than the threshold, the receiver requests an increase in power on the link. In other words, there are too many decoding errors when the receiver is decoding frames of a received transmission, such that the FER is outside an acceptable range (i.e., too high). If measured Eb/N0 is larger than the threshold, the receiver requests a decrease in power on the link, i.e., the decoded transmission contain no errors, thus the system may be too efficient (FER is below the acceptable range) and transmit power may be being wasted.
The outer loop surrounds the inner loop and operates at a much lower rate than the inner loop, such as at 20 ms intervals, for example. The outer loop maintains the quality of service of the link. If there was no outer loop, the system would operate at a fixed threshold. But, a fixed threshold may not be adequate for changes in channel and/or environmental conditions, such as changes in channel conditions, transmit power, system load, speed of mobile, rate of channel, decoding of channel, etc. The threshold needs to adaptive to changing channel/environmental conditions. The outer loop looks at quality of the link, and if quality is too poor, the outer loop will increase the threshold accordingly. If link quality is too good, (i.e., an FER less than a target FER of about 1% voice transmissions, higher for data transmissions), the outer loop readjusts the threshold so as not to unduly waste system resources.
Outer loop power control may be adversely affected if the wireless communication system permits discontinuous transmission. Discontinuous transmission, or DTX, is a mode of operation in which a base station or mobile station switches its transmitter on and off autonomously when there is no data to send, so as to avoid releasing the channel, which can be costly in terms of resources, processing inefficiencies, etc. Release of channel destroys data throughput, causing an increase in system down time. Data transmission in the DTX mode reduces transmission power and increases the entire system capacity due to the decrease of interference within the system. DTX mode is an efficient way to use base station/mobile station resources. A system in DTX mode however, exhibits a problem when a receiver does not know whether frames have been transmitted or not, because the transmitter in the DTX mode transmits frames unannounced (i.e., autonomously). This makes it difficult for a receiver (such as a base station, for example) to perform power control.
Frames which are transmitted as DTX frames may have similar Eb/N0 to frames that are transmitted, but which contain errors. Frames that are transmitted and received with errors are referred to as "erasures". Accordingly, it may be difficult for the receiver to discriminate between frames transmitted with genuine errors and received with errors (erasures) and frames that have not been transmitted with data, i.e., an empty data frame transmitted with zero gain, for example—the DTX frame.
Current DTX detection procedures at the receiver have attempted to distinguish erasures from DTX frames. Current DTX detectors discriminate based on detection of energy (Eb/N0) only. This has proven difficult, especially if signal strength is low. At a low Eb/N0, DTX detection can be unreliable because a DTX frame may be mistaken as an erasure, and vice versa. These cases of mistaken identity may prevent the outer loop to effectively track changes in link due to changed channel/environmental conditions. Thus, the outer loop at the receiver cannot determine whether to maintain or change the threshold. Since the outer loop sets the threshold for the inner loop to meet, inner loop power control is also affected. In other words, if a DTX detector cannot accurately discriminate between erasures and DTX, power control may be inaccurate, potentially wasting power and/or system resources, causing unnecessary retransmissions and/or an inadvertent release of the channel, unnecessarily increasing system down time. This may translate to loss of link performance and system capacity. Accordingly, there exists a need to accurately detect DTX frames.

Power control method with DTX frame detection for a communication channel


An electrical connector includes an insulating body, and a plurality of pins. Each of the pins has a contacting part and a piercing part. The piercing part extends from the rear end of the contacting part. There is at least one piercing end formed at the edge of the piercing part. The pins are installed at the insulating body. Thereby, the piercing parts of the pins pierce through the insulating layer of the wire to contact and electrically connect with the conducting lines of the wire in the inner part of the insulating layer. The manufacturing process is simplified, the cost is reduced, and environmental protection standards are met.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electrical connector. In particular, this invention relates to an electrical connector that improves the connection between the pin and the wire. The present invention simplifies the manufacturing process, reduces the cost, and confirms to environmental protection standards.
2. Description of the Related Art
As electronic devices have become smaller and have begun to provide multiple functions, the requirements for the electrical connector have increased. Electrical connectors need to have a powerful signal transmitting ability and a lot of characteristics, such as a smaller and simple structure, etc. Universal serial bus (USB) connectors and D-SUB connectors have become the most common input/output interface.
However, USB connectors and D-SUB connectors adopt a welding method to connect the pin with the wire. The manufacturing process is complex, the cost is high, and pollutants are easily released into the environment during the welding process.


A CMOS device comprising a FinFET comprises at least one fin structure comprising a source region; a drain region; and a channel region comprising silicon separating the source region from the drain region. The FinFET further comprises a gate region comprising a N+ polysilicon layer on one side of the channel region and a P+ polysilicon layer on an opposite side of the channel region, thereby, partitioning the fin structure into a first side and a second side, respectively. The channel region is in mechanical tension on the first side and in mechanical compression on the second side. The FinFET may comprise any of a nFET and a pFET, wherein the nFET comprises a N-channel inversion region in the first side, and wherein the pFET comprises a P-channel inversion region in the second side. The CMOS device may further comprise a tensile film and a relaxed film on opposite sides of the fin structure adjacent to the source and drain regions, and an oxide cap layer over the fin structure.

1. Field of the Invention
The embodiments of the invention generally relate to complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) devices, and, more particularly, to a field effect transistor (FET) used in a CMOS device.
2. Description of the Related Art
In FET devices, hole mobility is augmented when the channel is under compression in a direction parallel to the current. Electron mobility is augmented when the channel is under tension in a direction parallel to the current. Thus, there is the complication of the need to supply oppositely stressed materials for pFETs and nFETs if the switching speed is to be optimal for both simultaneously. Conventional CMOS devices typically involve either favorably straining only pFETs or nFETs while relieving the strain on the opposite type, or be depositing separate straining films for each type of FET, which is generally costly and complicated to fabricate. Therefore, there remains a need for a novel CMOS device that has oppositely stressed materials for pFETs and nFETs.

International Business Machines Corporation


The system of the present invention is a system for supplying air and controlling the flow of air into and out of the chambers of a patient supporting air mattress. It includes an electric motor powered variable speed blower, a two position rotary valve, air mattress supply lines communicating between the rotary valve and the chambers of the air mattress, a continuous exhaust line also connected to the rotary valve, stepper motor controlled valves in the air mattress supply lines, pressure sensors between the stepper motor controlled valves and the chambers of the air mattress and a control unit for controlling the stepper motor controlled valves to control the amount by which the chambers of the air mattress are inflated.

Numerous systems have been proposed for controlling the flow of air to a low air loss inflatable air mattress. For example, Suzuki et al., in U.S. Pat. No. 6,108,843 employed a set of on/off valves in combination with pressure sensors to control pressures within a set of air sacks of an air mattress. Schild, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,117,518 discloses a rotating valve to alternately supply air to sets of air chambers in an air mattress. Thomas et al, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,095,568 teach a flat plate valve system for distributing air to an air mattress.
The prior art evidences a search for a simple, reliable and compact means for providing a flow of air to the chambers of a low air loss air mattress. Numerous complex valves for controlling the flow of air have been developed.
One object of the present invention is to provide a simple, compact air mattress air supply and control system that is able to operate in different modes to supply air to different types of air mattresses.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an air mattress air supply and control system having a fan and motor that will not over heat as is now the case with many existing systems.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide an air mattress air supply and control system that can receive an input corresponding to the weight of the supported patient, sense pressure in the chambers of various zones of the mattress, convert those sensed pressures to interface pressures between the patient and the mattress depending on the location of the zone and weight of the patent and then control the flow of air to an air mattress so that the patient/mattress interface pressure in each zone remains below a selected value to prevent the formation of bed sores.
Still yet another object of the present invention is to provide an air mattress air supply and control system that can be quickly deflated with reverse air flow so that cardiopulmonary resuscitation can be administered to a patient supported by the mattress.