A land vehicle navigation apparatus provides a present location map and various easily understood guidance information items in conformity with the environmental criteria of a route. The navigation apparatus includes information storage for storing map data as to route search, route guidance, and other guidance data, a present position detector for detecting the present position of the vehicle, an input device for inputting commands and information for route search and route guidance, and a display monitor unit for displaying a guidance screen with a map and other information relating to the route search and route guidance in a one-screen mode, or in a multiple-screen mode. A display controller responds to an input command via the input device, reads guidance data from the information storage, and controls the display of resultant read data on the display unit. Changes between the one-screen mode and the multiple-screen mode may occur with the screen of the one-screen mode of the display corresponding to one screen of the multiple-screen mode and a present-location map screen corresponding to another screen.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to electronic navigation systems, and more particularly to a method and apparatus for providing navigation route guidance information in audible and/or visible form. The guidance information is provided to the operator of a land vehicle along a desired route between a start location and a desired destination as specified by the operator.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A variety of different navigation devices have been developed for providing the operator or user of a land vehicle with adequate guidance information along a route of travel. For example, one prior art device performs a route search to a target destination, attaining visible and/or audible guidance of a route to the destination by the use of maps. Another prior art device displays only a map covering a certain range with the vehicle's present position as its center point.
Conventional navigation systems with route search and guidance functions may include systems for performing concise and simple guidance by displaying a limited amount of information such as the distance to a next-to-turn road intersection during travel and guidance along a presently recommended route.
Another system is disclosed, for example, in Published Unexamined Japanese Patent Application (PUJPA) No. 4-335390. This system is capable of simultaneously providing the positional relationship of a destination and the present position of the vehicle and its surroundings by making use of dual screens which permit visual indication of a wide-area map covering both the present location and the destination along with a precise or detailed map around the present position.
A further prior art navigation system is capable of providing simple information concerning the direction of travel by displaying travel images using three-dimensional (3D) visual effects. Unfortunately, this system is designed to limit necessary guidance information to a minimum and results in a "trade-off", as discussed below. While this system may offer certain advantages, such as an increase in the visibility of guidance information displayed, the system suffers from a problem in that information tends to become insufficient in some cases.
With the system designed to display a wide-area map and detailed map using two divided screens, the vehicle operator may recognize the positional relationship of the destination and the present vehicle location in addition to the detailed information near or around the present location. However, the display of detailed information near the present vehicle location decreases by half in the display region due to employment of the two-screen division scheme. Another problem faced with this system is that recognizability of detailed on-map information displayed decreases with a reduction in the display scale (to enlarge a displayable coverage on the screen).
With the system using a 3D-display scheme for display of travel images, there is a drawback that a sufficient amount of information will not be available on the maps.

Land vehicle navigation system with multi-screen mode selectivity


A computer-implemented method, system and computer program product for accurately identifying an execution time of a performance test. Network latency data is grouped into clustered groups of network latency data. Furthermore, the performance test execution times for the same group of performance tests run in the local and remote cluster environments are obtained. The test execution times impacted by network latency (compensation times) are then determined based on such obtained performance test execution times in the local and remote cluster environments. Such compensation times are then grouped into clustered groups of compensation times. A regression model is built to predict a performance test execution time impacted by network latency (compensation time) using the clustered groups of network latency data and compensation times. The execution time of a performance test run in the remote cluster environment is then generated that takes into consideration the compensation time predicted by the regression model.

Performance regression testing is a comparative approach that examines how a software application performs in successive builds. For experts in intelligent test automation, this is performed by simulating a variety of usage scenarios, many of which are tests that place the application into adverse performance conditions. Simplistically, performance regression testing provides feedback on how the performance of the application varies according to recent changes in development.

Accurately identifying execution time of performance test

International Business Machines Corporation


This invention relates to a method for granting, for a mobile device which is not provisioned with a subscription to access a wireless network, the establishment of an initial wireless communication over a second wireless network (Se-PLMN) operated by a second wireless network operator (Se-MNO), the mobile device belonging to a user, the method comprising the steps of: receiving (801) by the second wireless network (Se-PLMN) an identifier of the mobile device; verifying (802), in an immutable distributed database hosted by a first wireless network operator (Fi-MNO) and the second mobile network operator (Se-MNO) in which data is replicated across a plurality of compute nodes of a network, if at least a published assertion comprising said identifier of the mobile device demonstrates that the user owns a first subscription to the first mobile network operator (Fi-MNO), said subscription allowing said first operator (Fi-MANO) to be charged by the second mobile network operator (Se-MNO) for the establishment of a wireless communication over the second wireless network; in case of a positive verification, granting the establishment of a wireless communication (804) over the second wireless network (Se-PLMN) for the mobile device to be provisioned with a second subscription of a third wireless network operator (Th-MNO).

IoT devices without a subscription with a Mobile Operator to access a 3GPP network are considered for the fifth generation wireless systems, commonly designated as 5G. Until now, devices without a subscription can only access 3GPP network for limited emergency services.
In 5G networks, it is anticipated that some IoT devices would not have an initial subscription with any operators. Such devices would still be able to access 3GPP network and use 3GPP resources in order first to obtain a 3GPP subscription. Then, the device would use the downloaded subscription to access the network as it is done today.
A first issue for the Mobile operator is, from the regulation point of view, that the operator needs to be able to associate the device with a Subscriber prior to allowing access to the device to access its network.
A second issue is, from the operational point of view, that the Mobile Operator needs to be able to charge someone for this first connection.
There are today solutions developed by the Global System for Mobile communication Association (GSMA) that rely on a bootstrap subscription. Such solution presents several drawbacks, as it would require the manufacturers to have pre-personalized their devices with such bootstrap subscription, fostering costs overhead.
Another issue with such bootstrap subscription is that contrarily to car manufacturers, IoT device manufacturers may produce hundred thousands of devices that may never be actually activated so that the costs overhead may never be recovered.
Using a device certificate (and public/private key pair) stored in the device could be a solution. However, such system would require a Public Key Infrastructure (Certificate Authority, Certificate Revocation List) which is costly. Such cost structure is not adapted to such IoT market. It would also require root of trusts (root certificate) on a per country basis which is incompatible with Telecom worldwide market.
Using pre-shared keys inside the device would require either the device manufacturer or another entity to store such pre-shared keys. Such entity would need to be accessible and trusted by the Operator. This case is equivalent to the initial subscription case, with associated cost overhead.

Method and an apparatus for publishing assertions in a distributed database of a mobile telecommunication network and for personalising internet-of-things devices


A computer system includes various security measures to insure that semi-permanent operating programs, such a boot blocks and firmware, are updated properly. For example, the system may include a security switch that can enable a host computer to load a replacement program into another computer, such as an appliance server for example, if the other computer fails. Also, if a replacement program is being loaded over a network connection that fails, the loading can resume automatically after re-establishment of the network connection. In addition, certain programs, such as boot blocks, may be verified in an execution memory, such as RAM, and loaded into a more permanent storage memory, such as ROM, only if verified.

This section is intended to introduce the reader to various aspects of art, which may be related to various aspects of the present invention, which are described and or claimed below. This discussion is believed to be helpful in providing the reader with background information to facilitate a better understanding of the various aspects of the present invention. Accordingly, it should be understood that these statements are to be read in this light, and not as admissions of prior art.
A conventional computer system typically includes one or more central processing units (CPUs) and one or more memory subsystems. Computer systems also include peripheral devices for inputting and outputting data. Some common peripheral devices include, for example, monitors, keyboards, printers, modems, hard disk drives, floppy disk drives, and network controllers.
Computer security is becoming increasingly important in today's environment of heavily networked computer systems. As a result, security and integrity features are becoming desirable in the use of personal computers and servers and the various subsystems. Of particular concern is the protection of reprogrammable start up memory of important subsystems embedded in the computer from unauthorized reprogramming or alteration of the computer's non-volatile memory.
Providing security for a system involves providing protection from a variety of possible attacks. For instance, providing security may include protecting a system from viruses. Further, it may include protecting the system from hackers. For a specific company with particular internal systems, it may include authentication of attached machines and prevention of rogue or external devices, which may be foreign to the internal system, from accessing the internal machines.
When a microprocessor based subsystem is initially turned on, the processor executes a series of instructions from a specified startup routine. It stores the basic software to provide for initial set up and configuration of the subsystem and allows the system to initiate and execute subsequent programs.
In the past, the software for an embedded device was generally stored in a read only memory device. However, it has become more common in recent years to store the software for embedded subsystems in a reprogrammable so that the subsystem's software can be upgraded when necessary. Thus, typically the software is stored in FLASH memory or a non-volatile Random Access Memory (NVRAM) to allow the functionality of the subsystem to be changed. The act of changing the contents of non-volatile memory is often called "flashing" the memory.
Flashable or reprogrammable components may be protected using digital signature technology. Specifically, the firmware may contain a protected segment which is generally not flashable or reprogrammable. This segment or "Boot Block" may be used to validate the integrity of the subsystem's memory prior to allowing it to execute. However, if the Boot Block is somehow corrupted the security system may fail. Further, this security measure may be circumvented if the flash memory can be replaced or removed. It is important to verify various start-up and memory components each time the system is powered-on to ensure that the components have not been corrupted. By validating the integrity of the program that the subsystem will execute, it is possible to know the behavior of the subsystem has not been altered either accidentally or intentionally.
Presently, digital signatures are used to authenticate the digital data. Software and firmware used by an embedded subsystem can be considered digital data. Currently there are no methods to assure the integrity of a Boot Block and firmware when firmware updates are required in embedded subsystem that have small amounts of memory. If the subsystem had large amounts of RAM memory, it could absorb the entire image, check the digital signatures and proceed with flashing the EEPROM. But for systems with small amounts of memory, the flashing of the EEPROM (which alters the integrity of the EEPROM) must proceed a piece at a time. For example, if the Boot Block or the firmware image that will be used to update the EEPROM is compromised in some way, by way of a hacker or poor network connectivity, presently there is no method of validating the correctness of the program the subsystem will execute.
Furthermore, the Boot Block typically is not changed very often, although firmware is potentially altered often. This invention allows the independent updating of both the Boot Block and firmware while providing a mechanism to insure the integrity of the software stays intact. The firmware is typically too large to be verified prior to flashing it into memory. Thus, it is possible that an unauthorized or corrupted version of firmware could be flashed into the subsystems EEPROM memory. This invention allows the subsystem to detect this prior to executing the compromised software. The Boot Block is typically small enough that the system can verify its correctness prior to flashing it into EEPROM. Only if it is unaltered and digitally signed by the correct author will the updating fo the Boot Block occur. This invention allows the updating of either piece of software independent of the other while at the same time insuring the integrity of the subsystem's firmware.
The present invention addresses the problems discussed above.

Method and apparatus for preserving the integrity of a management subsystem environment

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


A test socket for an integrated circuit package. The test socket includes a latch arm that is pivotally connected to a socket base so that the arm can move between an open position and closed position. The socket also has a spring that is attached to the base and a cover. The latch arm is pivotally connected to the cover by a linkage arm. An actuator pushes down on the cover and rotates the latch arm to an open position so that an integrated circuit package can be inserted into the socket. Movement of the cover also pushes the spring into a deflected position. When the cover is released, the potential energy of the deflected spring is transferred through the link and rotates the latch arm back to the closed position. The force of the spring is transferred to the latch arm to push the integrated circuit package into a plurality of electrical contacts of the socket.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a test socket for an integrated circuit package.
2. Description of Related Art
Integrated circuits are assembled into packages which have a plurality of external contacts that are coupled to a printed circuit board. The assembled integrated circuit packages are tested within a test socket before being assembled to the circuit board.
FIG. 1 shows a test socket of the prior art. The test socket includes an adaptor 1 that is bolted to a base 2 of the socket. The adaptor 1 contains a plurality of electrical contacts 3 that are connected to the external contacts of an integrated circuit package 4.
The socket has a spring loaded latch assembly 5 which presses the integrated circuit package 4 into the electrical contacts 3 of the adaptor 1. There are typically four latch assemblies located along each side of the socket. Each latch assembly 5 includes a latch arm 6 that is pivotally connected to the socket base 2. The socket base 2 also supports a spring 7 that is connected to a cover 8. Each latch 5 also contains a linkage arm 9 that is pivotally connected to both the cover 8 and the latch arm 6.
The socket has an actuator 10 which pushes the cover 8 toward the base 2 and rotates the latch arm(s) 6 to an open position. The integrated circuit package 4 is then inserted into the socket. The movement of the cover 8 also pushes the spring(s) 7 into a deflected position. When the cover 8 is released, the stored energy of the deflected spring(s) 7 moves the latch arm(s) 6 back to the closed position. The force of the spring(s) 7 is transferred through the link (9) connection to the latch arm(s) 6 to push the integrated circuit package 4 into the electrical contacts 3.
Some packages utilize flat solder pads instead of pins for the external contacts. These types of integrated circuit packages are sometimes referred to as land grid array (LGA) packages. The test socket shown in FIG. 1 was designed to test an integrated circuit which has a 540 LGA package. Integrated circuits have been developed with more than 540 external land contacts.
Test sockets designed for LGA packages require a significantly larger latch force than test sockets designed for pin grid array packages. It has been found that test sockets of the prior art will not adequately couple the electrical contacts to all of the external solder pads of an LGA package. Inadequate coupling between the electrical contacts and the solder pads creates invalid failures during a test routine of the package. This results in the properly functioning integrated circuit package to be discarded.
It would be desirable to provide a test socket that effectively tests LGA packages without significantly changing the test socket of the prior art. Significant changes would require additional tooling that increases the cost of the socket and, ultimately, the cost of producing the integrated circuit package.

Integrated circuit package burn-in socket linkage system


An alkaline-permanganate process for chemically decontaminating oxidized metal surfaces wetted by primary water circulating in cooling loops of nuclear reactors maintains permanganate-containing primary water at a temperature of about 90.degree. C. and at a pH of 9-12 to oxidize the wetted surfaces. Oxalic acid is then added to the water and the oxalic acid-containing primary water is maintained at a temperature of at least about 90.degree. C. and at a pH of about 5-7 while it is circulated to destroy the permanganate ions and manganese dioxide.

The invention relates to an alkaline-permanganate process for oxidizing metal oxides on surfaces wetted by aqueous solutions and more particularly to a process for oxidizing metal oxides which tend to form on the surfaces of primary cooling water systems in nuclear power plants. The invention is particularly useful for decontaminating nuclear plants and thereby reducing the radiation exposure of workers during routine maintenance and operating activities, reactor refueling and plant decommissioning.
As a nuclear power plant operates, the surfaces of the primary water loops tend to corrode slightly and form surface oxides of iron, chromium, nickel, cobalt and other metals employed in the loop. The corrosion products (referred to in the nuclear industry as "crud") are transported by the water to the core region of the reactor and become radioactive. Subsequently, the radioactivate corrosion products are retransported throughout the primary water loop and increase the radiation fields throughout the plant. In addition, radioactive ions such as cobalt 60 deposit on these surface oxides. These corrosion products are the principal source of the out-of-core radiation fields and make the greatest contribution to personnel radiation exposure.
Various dilute chemical decontamination processes have been developed for dissolving the metal oxides and recovering the dissolved ions on resin beds and filters. Permanganate processes have been developed to oxidize such metal oxides as chromium (III) oxide. In alkaline-permanganate processes, primary water containing potassium permanganate and sodium hydroxide is circulated through the coolant loop to oxidize chromium (III) oxide to chromium (VI) oxide, which is soluble in aqueous alkaline solutions. After the permanganate-containing water has been circulated for up to several hours, the residual amounts of permanganate in the water and manganese dioxide formed in the chromium oxide oxidation step are reduced to manganous ions with oxalic acid, citric acid, EDTA and the like. In acid-permanganate processes, primary water containing potassium permanganate and nitric acid is circulated through the loop to oxidize the chromium oxides. However, the permanganate ions are reduced to manganous ions in acid solutions.
These permanganate oxidation processes are normally combined with other known processes which reduce such metal oxides as ferric oxide and nickel oxides (e.g., NiFe.sub.2 O.sub.4) at the surface to acid soluble oxides. In the proprietary Can-Decon and Can-Derem processes, primary water containing organic acids and typically having a pH of about 2.5-3 is circulated through the coolant loop. In the LOMI (Low Oxidation-state Metal Ion) process, primary water containing vanadous formate and picolinic acid and typically having a pH of about 4-6 is circulated through the coolant loop. For a general discussion of these and other processes, see J. A. Ayres, "Decontamination of Nuclear Reactor and Equipment", Ronald Press Co., New York, 1970, and T. Suwa, "Development of Chemical Decontamination Process with Sulfuric Acid-Cerium (IV) for Decommissioning", J. of Nuclear Science and Technology, 23(76), pp 622-632, July 1986.
In practice, a succession of alternating permanganate oxidation steps and reduction steps are performed to dissolve the surface oxides and thereby to decontaminate reactor systems to acceptably low levels.
Alkaline-permanganate processes are particularly effective in oxidizing metal oxides. It has been estimated that up to about 4,500 man-rem of exposure may be saved by decontaminating a fueled reactor and that up to about 3,500 man-rem of exposure may be saved by decontaminating a defueled reactor before work is begun on it. In these processes, the pH of the circulating permanganate-containing water is generally maintained in the range of 9-12. In the following permanganate destruction step, oxalic acid is added and the pH of the primary water is reduced to 4-5 in order to effectively reduce the residual permanganate ions and the manganese dioxide (from the oxidation of chromium oxides) to manganous ions.
The maximum water temperature is closely controlled during the alkaline-permanganate process because the system is highly susceptible to corrosion by the chemicals employed to decontaminate the system. Thus, the permanganate-containing water temperature is maintained at a maximum of about 90.degree. C. (190.degree. F.) in the chromium oxidation step and the temperature is then lowered to below a maximum of about 80.degree. C. (175.degree. F.) in the permanganate destruction step in order to minimize corrosion of the loop. The metals normally employed in current systems are particularly sensitive to intergranular stress corrosion cracking caused by solutions containing more than about 1000 ppm oxalic acid at temperatures of 90.degree. C.
Undesireably, substantial amounts of large visible manganese dioxide particles tend to form in alkaline-permanganate processes when oxalic acid is added to the permanganate-containing water and its pH is lowered from the 9-12 range to the 4-5 range. These manganese dioxide particles may easily plug resin beds, filters and other process equipment and piping in low fluid velocity areas. In addition, these particles may remain in the system survive following decontamination steps and adsorb cobalt 60 ions.


A method including forming a first mask material layer on a semiconductor substrate in order to mask a cell region and to not mask a peripheral circuit region. The method further includes forming a second mask material layer on an entire surface of the substrate in the cell region and peripheral circuit region, simultaneously forming a trench having a first depth in the cell region and a trench having a second depth in the peripheral circuit region, where the second depth is greater than the first depth. The method also includes filling an insulation layer into an entire surface of the substrate including trenches, planarizing the insulation material layer and the second mask material layer to a degree that the first mask material layer is exposed, and respectively forming an STI isolation layer in both the cell region and the peripheral circuit region by removing the first and second mask material layer.

(a) Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a flash memory. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method of manufacturing an isolation layer of a flash memory, in which source resistance can be reduced by using an isolation layer having an STI (Shallow Trench Isolation) structure.
(b) Description of the Related Art
Generally, a NOR type of flash memory uses a common source scheme, and one source contact is formed per 16 cells.
In addition, an STI technique has recently been used for forming an isolation layer in a semiconductor device so as to reduce a cell size. Moreover, in the case of a flash memory having a scale of 0.35 μm or less, an SAS (Self Aligned Source) technique is used for reducing a gap between a gate and a common source line.
A method of manufacturing a flash memory using such STI and SAS techniques may be found in Korean Patent Publication No. 2004-60550.
FIG. 1A is a top plan view and FIG. 1B is a cross-sectional view showing a structure of a flash memory cell manufactured by STI and SAS techniques.
As shown in FIG. 1A and FIG. 1B, a common source region 12 is formed in a line shape by ion-implanting N-type dopants into a semiconductor substrate 10, which includes a plurality of STI isolation layers 14 formed in parallel with a bit line 18 and active regions formed between the STI isolation layers 14. Here, reference numerals 16 and 20 respectively denote a gate line and a contact electrode. However, since a line of the common source region 12 is formed in generally a square wave shape along surfaces of STI isolation layers 14 and active regions, source resistance of a flash memory cell may be significantly increased.
As shown in FIG. 2, the significant increase in source resistance is mainly caused because an actual surface resistance is formed over a wider area since the source resistance is formed along the trench surface of the STI isolation layer 14, and also because resistivity of a sidewall of the trench is high since a relatively small amount of dopant is implanted therein.
Moreover, it is notable that the trench depth of an STI isolation layer tends to be increased since a flash memory device uses a high internal voltage, and that, accordingly, the trench is formed with a smaller depth in a cell region than in a peripheral circuit region so as to prevent source resistance in the cell region from being affected by the increase in the trench depth.
However, according to a conventional method of manufacturing an STI isolation layer of a flash memory cell, a forming process of an etch mask and an etching process for trenches should be performed separately in order to form trenches having different depths on a cell region and a peripheral circuit region. Therefore, a manufacturing process may become complicated and manufacturing costs may also be increased.
The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention and therefore it may contain information that does not form part of the prior art with respect to the present invention.

Method of manufacturing an isolation layer of a flash memory


The present invention is directed to latex particulates having a greater concentration of acid at their surfaces than at their cores. A method of making such particulates can comprise copolymerizing an acidic monomer with a non-acidic monomer so as to yield a copolymer chain having more acidic monomer at one end than at the other.

The majority of inks and toners used in the printing industry employ water insoluble polymers for print adhesion and durability. Water-based inks, such as used in ink-jet printing, can incorporate water insoluble polymer as dispersed particulates. The particulates are typically designed with a glass transition temperature (Tg) near room temperature to allow formation of a print-film on the printed substrate under normal ambient conditions.
The thermal ink-jet printing process presents a significant challenge to polymer particle-based inks since the ink is jetted under high fluidic shear at temperatures that are significantly above the Tg of the particle. Thermal ink-jet printing is rather unique in requiring a polymer solid to operate above its Tg. Conversely, most other polymer solid applications typically only require performance below the Tg of the solid. Under the elevated temperature conditions of a thermal ink-jet pen, conventional polymer particles produce severely degraded print and pen performance. This degradation typically includes reduced jet drop velocity, drop weight and attainable drop frequency (print speed), and clogged pen nozzles and ink channels. Thus, there exists a need, therefore, for polymer particles for use in ink-jet inks that provide improved print performance at elevated temperatures such as are produced by thermal ink-jet pens.


An optical system includes an optical member made of a solid material being a mixture prepared by dispersing inorganic particles in a transparent medium. The transparent medium and the inorganic particles of the solid material, and the volume ratio of the inorganic particles to the transparent medium are set so that the optical system can appropriately correct aberrations such as chromatic aberrations.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical system and an optical apparatus including the same, such as silver salt film cameras, digital still cameras, video cameras, telescopes, binoculars, projectors, and copying machines.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is desired that optical systems used in image pick-up apparatuses, such as digital cameras and video cameras, have a short optical overall length (length from the lens surface on the most object side to the image plane).
In general, as the size of an optical system is reduced, aberrations (particularly chromatic aberration, such as longitudinal chromatic aberration and lateral chromatic aberration) are liable to degrade the optical performance. In particular, in a telephoto optical system whose optical overall length has been reduced, as the focal length is increased, the occurrence of chromatic aberrations increases.
In order to reduce the occurrence of chromatic aberrations in an optical system, a material having extraordinary partial dispersion is often used as an optical material.
In a telephoto optical system, the chromatic aberrations may be corrected in a unit having front lenses through which paraxial marginal ray and paraxial chief ray pass at a relatively large height from the optical axis. More specifically, the chromatic aberrations are corrected using a lens having a positive refractive power made of a low-dispersion optical material having extraordinary partial dispersion (having a large Abbe number), such as fluorite, and a lens having a negative refractive power made of a high-dispersion optical material.
Such telephoto optical systems have been disclosed in, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,241,983 (Japanese Patent Publication No. 60-49883), U.S. Pat. No. 4,348,084 (Japanese Patent Publication No. 60-55805), and U.S. Pat. No. 6,115,188 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-119092).
The paraxial marginal ray refers to the paraxial ray that comes parallel to the optical axis of an optical system at a height of 1 from the optical axis with the focal length of the entire optical system normalized to 1. In the following description, the object is described as placed to the left of the optical system, and rays coming into the optical system from the object are described as traveling from left to right.
The paraxial chief ray refers to the paraxial ray that comes at −45° with respect to the optical axis and that passes through the intersection of the entrance pupil and the optical axis of the optical system with the focal length of the optical system normalized to 1. In the following description, the incident angle is defined as being positive when it is in the clockwise direction with respect to the optical axis, and as being negative when it is in the anticlockwise direction.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,731,907 and 5,638,215 have disclosed achromatic optical systems using liquid materials exhibiting relatively high dispersion and relatively extraordinary partial dispersion.
In the telephoto optical system using fluorite or the like as an optical material, as disclosed in the foregoing three patent documents, by setting the optical overall length to be relatively large, the chromatic aberrations can be easily corrected. In contrast, a reduced optical overall length can cause chromatic aberrations to occur frequently, and makes it difficult to correct the chromatic aberrations.
This is because this type of telephoto optical system uses an optical material such as fluorite, which has low dispersion and extraordinary partial dispersion, so as to simply reduce the chromatic aberration occurring in the front lens unit with a positive refractive power. In order to correct the chromatic aberrations of an optical system accompanying the reduction of the optical overall length in, for example, a lens system using a low dispersion glass having a high Abbe number, such as fluorite glass, it is necessary to vary the refractive powers at the surfaces of the lenses by a large amount. Accordingly, it is difficult to appropriately correct both the chromatic aberrations and other aberrations occurring by increasing the refractive power, such as spherical aberration, coma, and astigmatism.
The liquid material as disclosed in the above-cited patent documents requires a structure in which it is enclosed. This makes it complicated to manufacture optical systems using such a material. In addition, the liquid material is not sufficiently resistant to the environment and its properties, such as refractive index and dispersion, vary with temperature. Furthermore, the liquid material does not form an interface with air, and it is therefore difficult to correct the chromatic aberrations sufficiently.

Optical system and optical apparatus including the same


A projector includes an exterior casing that includes an air intake port for introducing outside air into the interior thereof; and a cooling device that cools the interior of the exterior casing by the outside air introduced via the air intake port, in which the cooling device includes a first sirocco fan and a second sirocco fan that discharge air taken along axes of rotation of the fans to the direction along tangent of rotation, and an air intake port-side duct that guides the outside air introduced via the air intake port toward the first sirocco fan and the second sirocco fan, and in which the first sirocco fan and the second sirocco fan are disposed with axes of rotation thereof oriented so as to intersect with each other.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a projector.
2. Related Art
In the related art, a projector provided with an image projecting device which modulates luminous flux emitted from a light source according to image information and projects the same in an enlarged scale is known.
The projector of this type includes heat-generating devices (for example, objects to be cooled such as a liquid crystal panel or a power unit) integrated therein, and hence it is required to cool these heat-generating devices (objects to be cooled) in order to ensure normal operation of various devices. Therefore, the projector of this type is provided with a cooling fan for cooling the objects to be cooled in the interior of an exterior casing (for example, see JP-A-2006-72037 and JP-A-2006-343566).
However, as a projector disclosed in JP-A-2006-72037 is configured to cool the objects to be cooled as described above with one cooling fan, it is required to increase the capacity of the cooing fan, and hence upsizing of the entire projector is pointed out as a problem.
On the other hand, a projector disclosed in JP-A-2006-343566 is provided with a cooling fan so as to be superimposed on an optical system, and hence it is required to secure a space between the optical system and an exterior casing. Therefore, upsizing of the entire projector is pointed out as a problem in this case as well.

Projector including an image projecting device and an interior cooling device


In various embodiments, a molded product delivery apparatus or a blow molding machine includes a first transfer member that includes first paired chucks that hold a portion of an outer wall of a neck portion of a molded product, and a second transfer member that includes second paired chucks that hold another portion of the outer wall of the neck portion of the molded product. From a state where the molded product is held by both of the first paired chucks and the second paired chucks simultaneously, by opening one of the first paired chucks and the second paired chucks without interfering with the other, the molded product is delivered between the first paired chucks and the second paired chucks.

When delivering a molded product, for example, a preformed product (preform), an intermediate molded product (for example, a partially blow molded product) for use in blow molding, or a final molded product, such product must be transferred by holding its neck portion, which is not to be blow molded. The reason for this is that, when its shoulder portion, barrel portion and bottom portion to be blow molded are held at relatively high temperatures before and after blow molding, they will be deformed.
Thus, a molded product transfer apparatus used in a blow molding machine shown in the patent document 1 to 3 transfers a preform by holding the uneven portion (such as a support ring or a bead ring) of the neck portion of the preform.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Molded product delivery apparatus and blow molding machine


The invention is directed to a sprinkler toy and a method for producing a geyser-like burst of liquid supplied by a source of pressurized liquid. The sprinkler toy may include a reservoir in fluid communication with the pressurized liquid source, wherein the volume of the reservoir may increase as the liquid is supplied to the reservoir by the pressurized liquid source. The sprinkler toy may further include a valve in fluid communication with the reservoir and operatively coupled to the reservoir, wherein the valve may be moveable between a closed position and an open position, wherein the increase of the volume of the reservoir from a first volume to a second volume may cause the valve to move from the closed position to the open position, and wherein the pressure within the reservoir when the valve moves to the open position may cause a geyser-like burst of liquid stored in the reservoir to discharge through the valve. In alternate embodiments, the sprinkler toy may further include nozzles in fluid communication with the pressurized water source and providing a constant discharge of liquid, and a housing having moving components that move in response to the increase in volume of the reservoir.

The present invention relates generally to a sprinkler toy and, more particularly, to a sprinkler toy discharging a constant mist of water and periodically discharging a larger geyser-like burst of water.
Various sprinkler systems adapted for the amusement of children have been previously described. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,550,876 to Kulesza et al. discloses a sprinkler toy in the shape of a fire hydrant and including a connector for placing the toy in fluid communication with a garden hose. A first spring nozzle is capable of communicating with the connector through a pivotally operated valve. The first nozzle includes a plurality of apertures for producing an upwardly directed, diffused liquid spray. A second nozzle, also capable of fluid communication with the connector through a pivotally operated valve, is connected to the remainder of the toy by a flexible hose. U.S. Pat. No. 6,082,633 to Kephart et al. discloses a toy sprinkler comprising a hub assembly having a water pressure activated spinning cap member and a manifold member connected to a pressurized water source. Multiple right angle arm assemblies are connected to the manifold and directed by a conduit to wand members mounted to remote ends of arm assemblies. The conduit affords sufficient slack to allow removal of the wand members from the arm assemblies and the aiming of water ejected from the wand members.
As a further example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,250,565 to Ogie et al. discloses a toy sprinkler with the appearance of an amusing figure or creature with appendages that simulate movement of the appendages of the figure or creature. Liquid-carrying conduits extending along appendages of the figure cause the appendages to move either in a planer path when liquid at low pressure passes through the conduits, or randomly when liquid at high pressure passes through the conduits. Still further, U.S. Pat. No. 6,592,055 Mariono discloses a free standing sprinkler device having an inflatable hoop-shaped manifold for children to utilize as a recreational fun toy. The inflatable manifold is mechanically removably connected by fluid transmitting coupling components to a base manifold and accordingly expands to a hoop-shaped component, responsive to the fluid pressure within, a sufficient size so as to permit persons to step or jump through the hoop-shaped component which appropriately sprinkles water therefrom on such persons.

Sprinkler toy with geyser-like burst of water


If, in uphill deceleration determination procedure, it is determined that the vehicle is being decelerated on an uphill slope, a transmission shift lever is in D range, the motor is in order, the start gear is a first specified gear or lower, a to-be-selected traveling gear is a second specified gear or lower, an actual even-numbered gear is a third specified gear or higher, and actual odd-numbered gear is a fourth specified gear or higher, a first, a second and a third synchronizer mechanisms are put in neutral position to create a state in which no gear is selected. Then, a shift to a gear suited for re-acceleration is conducted by activating operating the first, second and the third synchronizer mechanisms.

In the field of automotive transmissions, there are known mechanical automatic transmissions designed such that actuators perform gear operations (gear selection and shift) and clutch operations, instead of a driver manually doing these as in manual transmissions, thereby accomplishing automatic gear shifts. As one type of such mechanical automatic transmission, there is known a dual-clutch automatic transmission which has two clutches to transmit torque to gears and conducts gear shifts in the manner alternately transmitting drive torque to gears belonging to different groups.
In the dual-clutch automatic transmission, in order to reduce drive torque variations accompanying the clutch operations for gear shifts and reduce time taken for gear shifts, a process called "pre-shift" is performed. Specifically, the gear to be selected next is determined from vehicle traveling state and others and preselected while its associated clutch is disconnected, or on standby, and then, the gear shift is accomplished by engaging the standby clutch and disengaging the other clutch.
As exemplified by Japanese Patent Application Laid-open (Kokai) No. 2010-36781, there is known a dual-clutch automatic transmission for a hybrid vehicle having an internal combustion engine and an electric motor as power sources, comprising a first and a second transmission units each having an input shaft, the input shaft of the first transmission unit engaging with a rotor of the electric motor, wherein a smooth gear shift is conducted by bringing the rotating speed of the input shaft of the first transmission unit to a desired level matching the vehicle speed and a gear to be selected next, by means of the electric motor, while no gear is selected in the first transmission unit, thereby enabling a skip gear shift in the first transmission unit with the clutch associated with the first transmission unit being kept engaged.


A method of searching one or more ligand-candidate compounds to a target biopolymer from a three-dimensional structure database, which comprises the steps of: (i) the first step of assigning hydrogen-bonding category numbers, information for calculating force-field energy, and information for generating conformations to two or more trial compounds in addition to atomic three-dimensional coordinates thereof; (ii) the second step of preparing physicochemical information about a ligand-binding region and one or more dummy atoms based on the three-dimensional atomic coordinates of the target biopolymer; (iii) the third step of estimating the most stable docking structure, wherein said step further comprises the steps of examining possible docking structures by docking a trial compound to the biopolymer while varying conformations of the trial compound, evaluating interaction energies between the target biopolymer and the trial compound, and repeating structure optimization; (iv) the fourth step of deciding whether or not the trial compound should be adopted as a ligand-candidate compound based on given criteria including the interaction energy values between the target biopolymer and the trial compound in the most stable docking structure estimated according to the step (iii); and (v) the fifth step of repeating the step (iii) and the step (iv) for all of the trial compounds.

The present invention relates to a method of searching a three-dimensional structure databases, which can be utilized for finding novel lead-structures of medicaments, pesticides, and other biologically active compounds.
Medicaments generally exhibit their biological activities through strong interactions with target biopolymers. In recent years, three-dimensional structures of biopolymers, which play important roles in living bodies, have been revealed successively on the basis of progresses in X-ray crystallographic analyses and NMR technology. With the advance of these researches, methodologies of theoretical approach based on information about three-dimensional structures of biopolymers and their successful results have been reported with respect to lead generations of new drugs, which were conventionally achieved mostly by random screenings or accidental discoveries. Importance of such approach is recognized with increasing interest, and researches from various viewpoints have been conducted in all the world.
An object of these researches is to provide a process for creation of ligand candidate structures by means of a computer. Another object is to provide a process for searching for ligand structures from a three-dimensional structure database containing known compounds. The former (automatic structure construction approach) is advantageous in that the process can suggest a wide variety of possible ligand structures irrespective of known or unknown structures. On the other hand, the latter (database approach) is used in searching for novel biologically active compounds from databases comprised of accumulated structures of known compounds. When a search is applied to a database which consists of compounds stocked in an own company or commercially available compounds, this method is particularly advantageous in that compounds, this method is particularly advantageous in that compounds found to reach criteria of hit (xe2x80x9chit compoundsxe2x80x9d) can be obtained without any synthetic efforts, and their association constants to target biopolymers and biological activities can be measured.
Synthesis of a compound with a novel molecular skeleton generally needs several months even for an expert, and accordingly, years of and burden of work are required to synthesize a lot of promising structures and measuring their activities. However, if hit compounds are already available, measurements of association constants and biological activities can be easily performed for dozens of promising ligand candidate compounds. In addition, based on the structure of a compound found to have a considerable extent of high association constant or activity, an efficient lead generation is achievable by designing compounds with higher association constants and biological activities and synthesizing the compounds. For these reasons, approaches have recently been interested which comprises the steps of searching three-dimensional structure databases consisting of known compounds and discovering novel pharmacologically active compounds.
However, one of problems of this method is by what query the search is carried out. Generally, a three-dimensional structure database is searched by queries of whether or not given atomic groups or functional groups exist which are presumed as essential for the desired activity in typical biologically active compounds used as templates, or alternatively, whether or not their relative positions are similar to those of the template compounds. Where the structure of a target biopolymer is unknown, basically no approach can be relied on other than this process. However, since these queries are based on assumptions and hypotheses, hit compounds may often fail to have the same activity as that of the template compounds. Where two or more molecules with quite different structural features exhibit similar activities, it can only become possible to create more probable operating hypotheses, with reference to functional groups essential for the activity and their relative positions, by means of structural information about these molecules.
The most difficult problem in the search of three-dimensional structure databases lies in the handling of conformational flexibility of compounds. It has been known that the conformations of a ligand as it binds to a biopolymer (i.e., the most stable complex is formed) do not necessarily accord with any of stable structures of the molecule itself, in the state of a crystal or a solution, or a structure with the most stable energy obtained by energy calculation, and that one ligand molecule can form stable complexes in different conformations depending on target biopolymers. Generally, a set of atomic coordinates representing a three-dimensional structure of one conformation among multiple possible conformations is contained as for one compound in a database. Furthermore, except for databases derived from crystal structures, information of three-dimensional structure of each compound is obtained from two-dimensionally inputted structure through calculation. These three-dimensional structures often represent one of local minimum structures that can be taken by the molecule, per se.
Therefore, if a search is carried out merely on the basis of conformations contained in a database to judge whether or not compounds meet the criteria of hit, most compounds fail to be selected which should be hit if other conformations are considered. Although the number of conformations to be considered may vary depending on the number of rotatable bonds, as well as factors such as degrees of precise consideration of conformations, several tens to hundreds of thousands conformations should be taken into account for a moderately flexible molecule containing 3 to 6 rotatable bonds. In order to consider these possible conformations, available processes are limited to either of those comprising the steps of selecting promising conformations and inputting them in a database beforehand, or alternatively, generating conformations and examining at the time of conducting a search. In any events, enormous computer resources and calculation time are required.
Recently, Kearsley et al. with Merck prepared a database which comprises 20 conformations at most for a single compound and reported xe2x80x9cFLOG,xe2x80x9d a searching system in which a search is carried out using searching standard mainly consisting of relative positions of functional groups (M. D. Miller, S. K. Kearsley, D. J. Underwood, and R. P. Sheridan: Journal of Computer-Aided Molecular Design, 8, 1994, pp.153-174, FLOG: A system to select xe2x80x98quasi-flexiblexe2x80x99 ligands complementary to a receptor of known three-dimensional structure). It was reported that the FLOG took approximately one week to complete searching a database containing 2,000,000 conformations for 100,000 compounds by means of a super computer CRAY. The twenty conformations in average for each compound are stored by selecting energetically stable local minimum structures through prior conformational analysis of each compound, for which enormous time and burden of work are needed. Nevertheless, twenty conformations per a single compound are insufficient.
In addition, the method adopts the query which comprise the presence or absence of functional groups presumably essential for the activity of a compound as a template, as well as distance, angle, or direction between the groups. These queries are most plain among possible queries, and although they have advantages to shorten calculation time using simple algorithm, high probability cannot be expected that hit compounds actually have the desired activity. The reason lies in that a molecule having inappropriate whole molecular shape and size fails to exhibit activity, even if functional groups merely have desired relative positions. If a three-dimensional structure of the target biopolymer is known, the most effective search can be achieved by means of such information, which provides high probability that hit compounds have the desired activity.
For example, Eyermann et al. with Dupont Merck performed a database search based on relative positions of functional groups of ligand molecules which had been analyzed by X-ray crystallography as a complex with a biopolymer (P. Y. S. Lam, P. K. Jadhav, C. J. Eyemann, C. N. Hodge, Y. Ru, L. T. Bacheler, J. L. Meek, M. J. Otto, M. M. Rayner, Y. N. Wong, C. H. Chang, P. C. Weber, D. A. Jackson, T. R. Sharp, and S. Erickson-Viitanen: Science, 263, 1994, pp.380-384, Rational design of Potent, Bioavailable, Nonpeptide Cyclic Ureas as HIV Protease Inhibitors.). In the HIV protease system, compounds were searched for as to criteria where the three positions of an oxygen atoms in water molecules are in similar relative positions which connect the protease to the ligand through hydrogen bonds at the centers of two benzene rings in the peptide ligand molecule. Among the hit compounds, one compound was selected which well fitted into the ligand-binding region and formed hydrogen bonds other than those formed by the oxygen atoms used as query. They reported that a compound with high activity was developed based on the structure of this compound by repeated works of synthesizing compounds with appropriate modifications while measuring inhibitory activities against the enzyme. However, the publication lacks detailed descriptions as for the search process, and their technique of handling conformations is not deducible.
The search query capable of providing the highest probability that hit compounds have desired activity is that whether or not compounds stably bind to a ligand-binding region of the target biopolymer. Although in some cases the desired activity fails to be exhibited due to physicochemical factors such as water solubility even if a compound satisfies the criteria, reaching the criteria is an essential requirement for the expression of activity. On the other hand, the presence or absence of specific functional groups and the relative positions of functional groups are not necessarily essential for the expression of activity, and even if a compound falls within a different family and has dissimilar skeletal structure to the known active structures, the compound may possibly exhibit the same activity if it can form a complex between the target biopolymer at a similar extent of stability. Therefore, compounds satisfying the criteria that they can stably bind to a ligand-binding region of the target biopolymer have high probability of being actual candidates as ligands. In other words, by using the criteria of fitting to a ligand-binding region of the target biopolymer, it becomes possible to identify compounds which exhibit the desired biological activity and have a wide variety of structures from databases.
In order to determine whether or not a given ligand molecule can bind to the target biopolymer, it is necessary to find the most stable docking structure among possible docking structures and to know the degree of stability of the docking structure. Also, in order to find the most stable docking structure between a given biopolymer and a ligand molecule, it is necessary to estimate stabilities of all docking structures by considering all possible binding modes (corresponding to rotation or translation of one molecule while fixing another compound), and possible ligand conformations. However, since the process needs enormous calculation, it cannot be achieved by interactive methods using a graphic display. Therefore, the development of an automatic docking method has been desired which can perform the above process automatically and efficiently.
As automatic docking methods, Kuntz et al. developed a method for estimating possible binding modes by representing the shape of a ligand-binding region by means of several to dozens of inscribed spheres and comparing a set of vectors formed by the centers of the spheres with a set of intramolecular vectors of a ligand compound (R. L. Desjarlais, R. P. Sheridan, G. L. Seibel, J. S. Dixon, I. D. Kuntz and R. Venkataraghavan: J. Med. Chem. 31 (1989) 722-729). Using Shape Complementarity as an Initial Screen in Designing Ligands for a Receptor-Binding Site of Known 3-Dimensional Structure.). In a recent improved process, the process is modified so that intermolecular energy can be calculated in addition to the score representing coincidence between the vectors.
However, this method is disadvantageous because it needs an undue time even only for covering all binding modes. Some improved processes include alternations so that conformations can be varied for the docking of a single compound. However, the processes are not designed so as to provide an automatic procedure covering all of the docking processes. Although energy evaluation can be done concerning hit compounds, only simple scores can be calculated and hydrogen bonds or the like are disregarded during the docking process. Furthermore, its accuracy is insufficient, i.e., there is a problem in that, for example, the true docking structure determined by crystal analysis fails to be judged as the highest rank and is sometimes judged as rather low in rank. Moreover, its unavoidable defect is in that the process is carried out fundamentally by a fixed conformation for each compound, and conformational flexibilities cannot be handled. In a manual operation cannot compensate for the above defect especially, its practical utility is low in a three-dimensional database search which requires full automatic operation for numerous compounds.
The inventors of the present invention developed xe2x80x9cADAM,xe2x80x9d a method for estimating the most stable docking structures of a biopolymer and a ligand molecule automatically and without any preconception, and they successfully solved all of the aforementioned problems (PCT/JP93/0365, PCT International Publication WO 93/20525; M. Yamada and A. Itai, Chem. Pharm. Bull., 41, p. 1200, 1993; M. Yamada and A. Itai, Chem. Pharm. Bull., 41, p. 1203, 1993; and M. Yamada Mizutaui, N. Tomioka and A. Itai, J. Mol. Biol., 243, pp. 310-326, 1994).
In the applications of xe2x80x9cADAMxe2x80x9d to several enzyme-inhibitor systems whose structures had been elucidated by crystallographic analyses, all the resulted docking models with minimum energy perfectly reproduced the structure in the crystal, and torsion angles of rotatable bonds in the ligand molecule and hydrogen-bonding schemes were also accurately reproduced. The high accuracy of xe2x80x9cADAMxe2x80x9d is based on the calculations of structure optimization (energy minimization) performed altogether three times. Though the time required may vary depending on the performance of a computer, numbers of dummy atoms, number of heteroatoms, number of rotatable bonds and the like and cannot be generalized, it takes from several minutes through approximately 1 hour to obtain an initial docking model with an ordinary drug molecule by means of a commonly used workstation (R4400). This speed is dozens of times faster than the fastest method which handles possible conformations reported so far.
However, although ADAM is suitable in searching for the most stable docking structure between the target biopolymer and a single ligand molecule, the method is not suitable for searching novel ligand compounds from a wide variety of numerous compounds contained in a three-dimensional structure database as it is. Therefore, further improvement has been desired.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a method suitable for searching novel ligand compounds from a wide variety of numerous compounds, thereby solving the problems of the state of the art.
The inventors of the present invention performed various researches. As a result, they succeeded in developing a process for selecting one or more promising ligand candidates from an enormous number of trial compounds: wherein the process comprises the steps of estimating the most stable docking structure for each trial compound; and selecting one or more ligand candidate compounds from all the trial compounds by given criteria including the interaction energy between the target biopolymer and the trial compound in the most stable docking structures; and the aforementioned step of estimating the most stable docking structure for each trial compound comprises the steps of:
evaluating all possible docking structures generated through docking of the trial compound to the biopolymer, while varying conformation of the trial compound and repeating structural optimizations, based on interaction energies between the biopolymer and the trial compound, e.g., hydrogen bonds, electrostatic interaction, and van der Waals force. The present invention was achieved on the basis of these findings.
The present invention thus provides a method of searching one or more ligand compound to a target biopolymer from a three-dimensional structure database, which comprises the steps of:
(i) the first step of assigning hydrogen-bonding category numbers, information for calculating force-field energies, and information for generating conformations, to two or more trial compounds, in addition to three-dimensional atomic coordinates thereof;
(ii) the second step of preparing physicochemical information about a ligand-binding region and one or more dummy atoms based on the three-dimensional atomic coordinates of the target biopolymer;
(iii) the third step of estimating the most stable docking structure, wherein said step further comprises the steps of generating possible docking structures by docking a trial compound to the biopolymer while varying conformations of the trial compound, and evaluating interaction energy between the target biopolymer and the trial compound, based on the hydrogen-bonding category number, the information for calculating force-field energies, and the information for generating conformations assigned to the trial compound in addition to the three-dimensional atomic coordinates according to the step (i) and based on the physicochemical information about the ligand-binding region prepared in the step (ii):and then;
(iv) the fourth step of deciding whether or not the trial compound should be adopted as a ligand-candidate compound based on given criteria including the interaction energy values between the target biopolymer and the trial compound in the most stable docking structure found according to the step (iii); and
(v) the fifth step of repeating the step (iii) and the step (iv) for all of the trial compounds.
The method of the present invention may comprise the sixth step of further selecting the ligand-candidate compounds selected in the step (iv) based on different criteria including the number of hydrogen bonds formed between the target biopolymer and/or interaction energy values derived therefrom.

Method of searching novel ligand compounds from three-dimensional structure database

Room 203, Mansion Kaneki, Koishikawa 5-chome, Bunkyo-ku


The present disclosure provides systems and methods to aid engineers and designers in pinpointing optimal aerodynamic designs given a target objective. Advantageously, the present invention allows a user to tackle shifts in requirements or to simply conduct preliminary design feasibilities, quickly and efficiently. The present invention includes: (1) a genetic algorithm-based optimizing routine; (2) an existing semi-empirical, aeropredictive code (APC); and (3) an interface between the two. The present invention defines bounds for an array of variables that define the overall aerodynamic geometry and performance measures of a device. The genetic algorithm-based optimizing routine interfaces with the APC to determine a design that best fits the requirements.

The design of aerospace systems such as missiles and other projectiles relies heavily on the identification of system requirements early on in the development process. Having these firmly defined at an early stage gives engineers the capability of rapidly identifying configurations suitable for the required missions to begin the detailed, evolutionary design process. Aerospace systems require a careful balance between performance and mission objective. This balance forces designers to continuously trade off different aspects of the system to attain the best, most cost effective alternative. However, it is not uncommon for system requirements to shift, or even not to be fully identified, during the initial phases of a program. Depending on the complexity of the system, these setbacks could prove costly, both budget- and schedule-wise.
Most design efforts rely on trial-and-error approaches that leverage well-known trends and are often too general for the application of interest. This process can be quite lengthy and the end results are highly dependent on the designer's experience. For example, aerodynamic platforms such as missiles include numerous components that greatly affect performance in a nonlinear manner. Changes in a single component can potentially destabilize a previously aerodynamically-stable missile. Therefore, trial-and-error approaches may not be the most adequate for the problem at hand, as they may not result in the best-fit solution or be very effective or cost-efficient.
Moore et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,721,682 issued Apr. 13, 2004, the contents of which are herein incorporated by reference, describe an improved aeroprediction code (APC) that allows aerodynamics to be predicted for Mach numbers up to 20 for configurations with flares. Moreover, the improved APC advantageously extends the static aerodynamic predictions for Mach numbers less than 1.2, improves the body alone pitch damping for Mach numbers above 2.0, and develops a new capability for pitch damping of flared configurations at Mach numbers up to 20. The improved APC also permits determination of aerodynamic effects associated with power-on events and trailing edge flaps.

Systems and methods for optimization of missile and projectile aerodynamic configurations

The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy


A policy decision point for processing resource-reservation requests within a data network. It includes a software bus for communicating with management modules for processing the resource-reservation requests, and transmission of each resource-reservation request to one or more management modules, in application of a set of rules.

Certain services require express reservation of resources within the network.
Certain networks, including the Internet, were designed for transmitting data, but neither voice nor video. Within the Internet, transmission takes place in the form of packets, each packet being conveyed independently of the others. However, voice and video transmission need to minimize jitter, i.e. the mean difference in transit times between any two packets in a given transmission, and also overall transit time, so as to ensure that listening or viewing at the destination are sufficiently comfortable.
This minimizing of jitter and/or transit time is conventionally performed by reserving dedicated resources within the nodes of the network, commonly called "routers ".
Nevertheless, it is clear that there is a need to control such reservation of resources. It is necessary to verify that a request for resource reservation is made by an entity having sufficient authorization to make such a request, and in particular an entity that has taken out an appropriate subscription for using the network.
When there are incompatibilities between a plurality of requests to reserve resources, for example because they require the same network element to be reserved at the same instant, this can lead to managing priorities.
To be able to do this, resource-reservation requests must be sent to an authorization manager, commonly referred to as a policy decision point (PDP) which implements this control.
FIG. 1 is a diagram of an example of a network suitable for implementing the invention and showing the context in which such a policy decision point operates.
A user A seeks to set up a voice call with a user B through a data network N. User A is connected to the network N via an access node or "edge router " RA, and user B is connected to the same network N via an access node RB.
The resource-reservation request is conveyed to a policy decision point M. By way of example, this request might come directly from user A via an arrow referenced R1, or from access node RA via an arrow referenced R2.
If the request comes from the user, it can comply with the session initiation protocol (SIP), for example, in compliance with the Internet engineering task force request for comments (IETF RFC) No. 2543.
If the request comes from the access node RA, it can comply with the common open policy service (COPS) protocol in application of IETF RFC 2748 published in January 2000.
The function of the policy decision point M is then:                to verify that the request can indeed be authorized. This verification can be performed, for example, firstly as a function of the resources that are presently available in the network N, and secondly as a function of the subscription taken out by user A; and        where appropriate, to make the resource reservations corresponding to the request with each of the nodes concerned within the network N.
Consequently, in that mechanism, any resource-reservation request terminates in the policy decision point M.
This gives rise to various problems:                the policy decision point needs to handle resource-reservation requests of different kinds (video, voice, . . . ) and of different characteristics (low/high data rates, . . . ). It therefore needs to contain all of the logic necessary for processing such requests, and in practice this is not possible given the rapid evolution in the types of service that are available in this kind of network; and        when there is a change in the policy decision point (delivery of a new version), any personalization or parameterization that might be requested by the operator running the policy decision point cannot be taken into account.

Modular policy decision point for processing resource-reservation requests within a data network


The present invention relates to methods of increasing protein expression levels whereby at least one amino acid in a protein amino acid sequence is substituted for the amino acid, proline. Preferably, the substitution occurs within 15 amino acids, more preferably within 10 amino acids and most preferably within 5 amino acids of a cysteine amino acid residue. The present invention not only includes methods for polypeptides with proline substitutions, but also polynucleotides with codon substitutions for which a codon for any amino acid, except proline, is substituted for a codon encoding for proline.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to methods of increasing protein expression levels whereby at least one amino acid in a polypeptide amino acid sequence is substituted for the amino acid, proline.
2. Background
The ability to obtain a high level of expression of secreted recombinant proteins in yeast and mammalian cells is often found to be protein dependent. Efforts in maximizing recombinant protein expression are often focused on increasing the levels of the mRNA of the recombinant gene. However, the rate-limiting step in the expression of certain proteins is not the level of mRNA but rather is due to inefficiencies in the folding, addition of post-translational modifications and secretion of the recombinant proteins.
Combining random mutagenesis with the display of proteins on the surface of yeast is a powerful technique to identify proteins with altered properties. In this technique, mutant proteins are displayed on the cell surface and screened for either higher-affinity binding or increased expression levels of the displayed protein by FACS (fluorescence activated cell sorting). Display of mutant libraries on the yeast cell surface has been used to identify mutants of both single-chain antibodies and single-chain T-cell receptors that have a higher affinity for antigen or peptide/MHC, respectively. The yeast surface display method has also been used to improve the level of expression of a single-chain T-cell receptor.
There remains a need in the art for identifying structural characteristics or features of proteins which permit high expression of recombinant proteins, particularly eukaryotic proteins, whose expression may be limited due to inefficiences in folding, addition of post-translational modifications and/or secretion of proteins.

Methods of increasing protein expression levels

Applied Research Systems Ars Holding N.V.


Oscillators (101a and 101b) are attached to a spring material (100) whose both ends (105a and 105b) are held, and piezoelectric elements (103a, 103b, and 106) are attached to the spring material or the oscillators. Assuming that an axis parallel to an axis connecting the both ends of the spring material is a Y-axis, an axis parallel to a plane including the Y-axis and the oscillators and orthogonal to the Y-axis is an X-axis, and an axis orthogonal to the Y-axis and the X-axis is a Z-axis, the oscillators are asymmetric with respect to a plane including the Y-axis and the Z-axis. Consequently, when acceleration is applied, torsional vibrations act on the spring material. When the torsional rigidity of the spring material is set to be low, the resonant frequency of the torsional vibrations can be reduced. Since the both ends of the spring material are held, the spring material is bent in a small amount. Therefore, it is possible to realize a downsized piezoelectric power generating mechanism with a low resonant frequency.

When sensors located at a number of points are connected to each other via a network, information obtained from the respective sensors can serve for control and security of an information device and monitoring of an environment. For example, large-scale structures such as a high-rise building and a bridge are required to have a life of several decades. The repair of such structures before being damaged, rather than after being damaged seriously, can be done at lower cost with a higher degree of safety. In view of this, it is considered to install an acceleration sensor or a strain sensor in such a structure so as to perform long-term monitoring, thereby predicting damage to be caused thereto and the like. Also, it is considered to attach a sensor to person's clothing, belongings, or appliances so as to record its position, temperature, and the like, thereby managing goods, predicting person's behavior, performing environmental measurement, and the like.
When long-term observations are performed using a sensor as described above, a conventional battery or cell does not serve practically as a power source for the sensor because it provides only a short operation period and costs more for replacement.
When the sensor is operated intermittently, the operation can continue for a long term with several μW of electric power. As a method for obtaining such electric power, there is a method of collecting vibration energy in an environment where the sensor is attached as electric energy.
As a power generating mechanism that collects vibration energy as electric energy, a power generating mechanism using a piezoelectric material as described in Patent Document 1 is known. When a piezoelectric material is strained, an electric charge is generated in the polarization direction, resulting in the generation of an electric field. With the use of such a material, mechanical vibration energy can be converted into electric energy. Patent Document 1 discloses a power generating mechanism in which one end of a piezoelectric material shaped into a strip is fixed, and a mass is attached to the other end thereof, so that the piezoelectric material is bent and deformed due to external vibrations, thereby generating electricity.
In order to generate electricity efficiently with such a vibration-type power generating mechanism, it is required that the oscillation frequency of vibration energy to be collected and the resonant frequency of the power generating mechanism be approximated to each other. More specifically, it is necessary to analyze vibrations to be collected as electric energy, so that the resonant frequency of the power generating mechanism is set in accordance with the analysis.
For example, FIG. 15A shows a change with time in acceleration caused when a human is walking, and FIG. 15B shows frequency components of acceleration caused when a human is walking. As shown in FIG. 15B, vibrations generated when a human is walking include a large number of low frequency components of not more than several Hz. Thus, in order to generate electricity by body movements of a human while he/she is walking, it is necessary to use a power generating mechanism with a resonant frequency as low as the above.
Further, structures such as a building and a bridge also are vibrated due to the wind or a movable body passing in the vicinity thereof. Since a structure itself is large in size, its oscillation frequency is known to be as low as approximately several Hz. Thus, a power generating mechanism with a low resonant frequency is required also in the case of collecting electric energy from vibrations of a structure.
Meanwhile, when a power generating mechanism is large in size, the place where a sensor including the power generating mechanism is to be attached is limited. For this reason, a power generating mechanism is preferably as small in size as possible.    Patent Document 1: JP 2005-45988 A

Piezoelectric power generating mechanism with spring material


Two nulling amplifiers are used with an auto-zeroed differential amplifier. While one nulling amplifier is compensating the main amplifier, the other nulling amplifier is being zeroed for both differential mode (DM) and common mode (CM) offsets. By using two nulling amplifiers, one always connected to the main amplifier, a relatively constant open-loop gain is maintained for the main amplifier. A further improvement is make-before-break timing overlap of the switch operations between the two nulling amplifiers and the main amplifier. This ensures that the main amplifier is continuously driven by one or both null amplifiers, thereby maintaining a low impedance at the main amplifier auxiliary port. Both DM and CM offset sampling and precharging of each of the two nulling amplifiers is performed so as to substantially reduce switching glitches in the output of the main amplifier.

Auto-zeroed operational amplifiers are a class of analog circuits that combine analog and digital (switching) circuitry resulting in very low input-referred DC offset and noise. These operational amplifiers are often used in precision applications where high gain is necessary to resolve very small voltages. Examples include RTD, thermocouple, resistive current measurement and other sensing applications. The use of an auto-zeroed operational amplifier may relax the accuracy requirements of the A/D converter, saving cost. Today's auto-zeroed operational amplifiers bear little resemblance to the early chopping schemes that were used to reduce the average offsets. Those circuits were very simple using discrete amplifiers and switches to chop the amplifier's inputs and outputs using a clock. Heavy filtering was required to achieve low offset, and filter out the switching noise. Chopper amplifiers had a low frequency bandwidth, usually a few Hertz, limited by the large settling time constants.
Another scheme uses chopper stabilization of a wideband amplifier and a chopper amplifier. The chopper amplifier was used to "stabilize" or reduce the DC offset error of the wideband amplifier. Higher operating bandwidths were thereby achieved, but these chopped circuits had high output noise and required additional output signal filtering to be practical.
Early auto-zeroed amplifiers combined a wideband "main" amplifier and a single "nulling" amplifier. The single nulling amplifier has a sample and hold to correct its own offset, and to reduce the offset of the main amplifier. Early implementations required external capacitors and had sampling frequencies of a few hundred Hertz. Great improvements have been made in the state of the art over the years. Modern auto-zeroed operational amplifiers are now able to achieve DC offsets of a few microvolts with very low temperature drift.
However, due to the internal clock switching in the nulling amplifier, some switching noise will appear at the output. This will be most predominant around the sampling clock frequency. If this noise is not symmetric, i.e., generating substantially equal amounts of positive and negative glitches, an average DC offset may result in the system. Therefore, reduction of these glitches is essential for good DC performance and may require filtering. The filtering may be expensive depending upon how close the signal of interest is to the sampling frequency. Increasing the sampling rate is helpful to make filtering simpler and to increase the available bandwidth. Recent generations of auto-zeroed operational amplifiers have added clock spreading circuits to spread the switching noise over a wider range of frequencies allowing even higher useful bandwidths.

Minimizing switching noise and its effects in auto-zeroed amplifiers


A variable-bias power amplifier is provided, comprising: a first variable voltage source generating first bias voltages based on bias control signals; a first amplifier circuit amplifying an output RF signal to generate a first amplified signal based on the first bias voltages; a second variable voltage source generating second bias voltages based on the bias control signals; a second amplifier circuit amplifying the output RF signal to generate a second amplified signal based on the second bias voltages; and a DC isolation circuit between the first amplifier circuit and the second amplifier circuit, electrically isolating DC currents at the first amplifier from DC currents at the second amplifier, wherein the first variable voltage source can be controlled independently from the second variable voltage source, and the first amplifier circuit, the second amplifier circuit, and the DC isolation circuit are all formed on a single die.

Amplifiers are used in a variety of applications, including devices that transmit and receive wireless signals. One particular type of power amplifier often used in radio frequency (RF) communication transceiver circuits is the Doherty amplifier.
The Doherty amplifier power-combines two separate amplifiers: a carrier amplifier and a peaking amplifier, each of which is biased differently. The carrier amplifier operates as a normal class AB amplifier, while the peaking amplifier operates as class C amplifier. An RF input signal is split (e.g., using a quadrature coupler), and is sent to both the carrier amplifier and the peaking amplifier, which separately operate to amplify their respective inputs. The outputs of the carrier amplifier and the peaking amplifier are then combined to provide a final amplified signal. In operation, the carrier amplifier operates most of the time, handling average input signals, while the peaking amplifier operates only when peak power is needed.
The design of amplifiers (including power amplifiers) typically involves trade-offs in various device parameters. In general, device technology process optimization involves trade-off of competing parameters such as power, density, gain, efficiency, and linearity. Often, improving the power density is a direct trade-off for linearity. In an amplifier, power density is important for minimizing the drain-source capacitance (Cds) and the gate-source capacitance (Cgs) per watt of the amplifier. This allows for improved bandwidth, and also allows more power to be used in a given circuit footprint, which, in turn, can lead to cost reduction in constructing the amplifier.
Linear amplifiers that are used in amplifier architectures such as a Doherty amplifier generally require good linearity in their operation. This is because in a Doherty amplifier, the carrier amplifier must operate the majority of the time of a load state at close to maximum efficiency, which corresponds to the worst-case linearity for the amplifier. Furthermore, in Doherty amplifiers the peaking amplifier must operate in class C or low class B, which also degrades linearity.
Conventional amplifiers use a single, constant gate and drain voltage fed to an entire die and/or die fingers in a given amplifier path. However, different circuit elements of different positions on the die do not operate identically, this can lead to a loss in linearity. For example, RF current density will be higher at the outer edges of package leads, meaning that center paths are not equivalent to edge die pads. This is also true from a thermal standpoint where temperature gradients of 40° C. or higher are possible.
It would therefore be desirable to provide a way to improve the linearity of RF amplifier circuits, while minimizing the associated loss of power density.

System and method for adaptive linearization of RF amplifiers


A system and a method for recovering hydrocarbons from a reservoir containing hydrocarbons, by in-situ combustion. The system includes a primary liquid production wellbore having a substantially horizontal primary production length extending through the reservoir, a vent well in fluid communication with the reservoir at a venting position which is relatively higher in the reservoir than the primary production length, an injector apparatus in fluid communication with the reservoir along an injection line in the reservoir which is relatively higher in the reservoir than the primary production length and relatively lower in the reservoir than the venting position, and an injection gas source connected with the injector apparatus. The method includes providing the system, injecting an injection gas containing oxygen into the reservoir to cause combustion of hydrocarbons contained in the reservoir, producing hydrocarbon liquid from the primary liquid production wellbore, and venting combustion gases from the vent well.

In-situ combustion (ISC) has the potential to be an economical thermal oil recovery process for heavy oil and oil sand deposits. The in-place fuel burned to generate heat in ISC is the least valuable portion of the oil. Moreover, ISC is not compromised by wellbore or overburden and underburden heat losses, and can potentially compete favourably with steam processes such as steam assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) for application to thin reservoirs.
Examples of ISC processes include those disclosed in: "Experimental and Numerical Simulations of a Novel Top Down In-Situ Combustion Process", Coates, R., Lorimer, S., Ivory, J., Society of Petroleum Engineers, SPE 30295, 1995; U.S. Pat. No. 5,211,230 (Ostapovich et al); U.S. Pat. No. 5,456,315 (Kisman et al); U.S. Pat. No. 5,626,191 (Greaves et al); U.S. Pat. No. 6,167,966 (Ayasse et al); U.S. Pat. No. 6,412,557 (Ayasse et al); PCT International Publication No. WO 2005/121504 A1 (Ayasse); PCT International Publication No. WO 2006/074555 A1 (Chhina et al); PCT International Publication No. WO 2007/095763 A1 (Ayasse); and PCT International Publication No. WO 2007/095764 A1 (Ayasse).

System and method for the recovery of hydrocarbons by in-situ combustion


The invention provides a belt type photosensitive member cleaning apparatus for a wet type image forming apparatus which can effectively remove liquid developer pressed out by a pair of pressing out rollers for removing remaining liquid developer from a belt like photosensitive member after developed to prevent such liquid developer from flowing out and soiling to a window for a sensor or the photosensitive member. Each of the pressing out rollers provided in a stage next to a first pressing out roller has grooves formed at the opposite end portions thereof such that liquid developer which tends to be pressed out from the opposite ends of each of the second pressing out rollers is collected in the grooves. A pair of wiper blades having a length greater than the longitudinal ranges of the pair of pressing out rollers are disposed for being pressed against the outer peripheries of the pair of pressing out rollers including inner faces of the annular grooves at the opposite ends on the outer peripheries of the pair of pressing out rollers.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a wet type image forming apparatus which is employed in an electrophotographic printing apparatus or a like apparatus and converts an electrostatic latent image formed on a belt type photosensitive member into a visible image, and more particularly to a construction of a cleaning apparatus for a belt type photosensitive member of an image forming apparatus of the type mentioned.
2. Description of the Related Art
A development station of a wet type image forming apparatus which employs a belt type photosensitive member generally has such a construction as shown in FIG. 8. Referring to FIG. 8, a bell type photosensitive member (hereinafter referred to simply as photosensitive member) B on which an electrostatic latent image is formed is fed in a direction indicated by an arrow mark a to a position between a development roller 1 and an upper roller (not shown) located above the development roller 1. Then, liquid developer T1 is supplied from a liquid developer supply port (not shown) to a very small gap between the development roller 1 and the photosensitive member B to develop the photosensitive member B when the photosensitive member B passes the gap.
Then, the photosensitive member B passes between a first pressing out roller 4 and an upper roller (not shown) located above the first pressing out roller 4, whereupon the liquid developer is pressed out from the photosensitive member B by a contacting pressure between the two rollers. The photosensitive member B is further pressed by a pair of second pressing out rollers 5, which are provided in the following stage and rotate in a direction opposite to the direction of the arrow mark, so that the remaining liquid developer is removed from the photosensitive member B. By the processing, the image on the photosensitive member B is converted into a film-like image. Then, the image is dried and transferred to paper.
The wet type image forming apparatus described above, however, has a problem in that, when the second pressing out rollers 5 remove remaining liquid developer from the photosensitive member B, they press out part of liquid developer T2 as seen in FIG. 8, and the thus pressed out liquid developer T2 sometimes soils a window of a sensor (not shown) provided in the proximity of an end portion of the photosensitive member B or soils an end portion of transfer paper.

Belt type photosensitive member cleaning apparatus for wet type image forming apparatus


A fly swatter with a hitting grid and a stem, whereby the hitting grid is joint to the stem by a joint; the hitting grid is rotatable against the force of a spring from a relaxed position about an axis which lies in the plane of the hitting grid and runs perpendicularly to the longitudinal axis of the stem; the hitting grid is lockable in a pre-loaded position with a locking device, and the locking mechanism of the locking device is releasable by way of a trigger, is characterized in that the joint with the turning axis of the hitting grid is assembled between the stem and the hitting grid; the locking device is assembled remote to the trigger; and a string, a wire or different transmission are provided, which transfer a triggering force from the trigger onto the locking device.

DE 296 20 891. UI discloses a fly swatter pistol, where a firing pin is ejected with the target area by means of a pressure spring after release of a tension lever.
EP 0461 397 B1 discloses a fly swatter with a grid-shaped plate which is hinged to an elongated handle. In an open resting position, the plate is spring-loaded.
DE 254165 discloses a pistol-like device for killing insects, where two metal strips, connected to each other and held apart in a jaw like fashion in the locked position, are shut when releasing a trigger device.
The assemblies mentioned above consist of various materials and are constructed in a complex way. As a result, the production is expensive and the assemblies are vulnerable.
DE 324 235 discloses a flytrap, operating according to the type of a hitting shutter, for catching and destroying insects, where a loop-shaped, springy bat is held in the resting position by a trigger in such a way, that it strikes forward when pressure is exerted on the trigger. The bat is fastened to a pistol-like handle. The bat is formed by a wire, whereby a grid-shaped front part is at a lever which provides a spring at its free end. The spring is therefore separated from the grid-shaped front part by the lever. The assembly is, thereby, strongly bent in the pre-loaded state and the bat must cover a comparatively long way before it strikes the point of impact. Correspondingly, there is the danger of the insect noticing the movement and escaping.


Provided is a package for an optical device and an optical device module that can reduce or prevent damage occurrence in an optical fiber optically coupled to an optical device while ensuring a good airtightness. A package for an optical device includes a package main unit that accommodates an optical device; a pipe portion that is provided in the package main unit and through which an optical fiber optically coupled to the optical device is inserted; and a fixing portion that is provided in the package main unit and to which one end of the optical fiber is fixed, and the pipe portion includes a first pipe section having a base end fixed to the package main unit and a second pipe section joined to a tip of the first pipe section, having a higher thermal expansion coefficient than the first pipe section, to be sealed by a sealing material.

Semiconductor lasers have features such as low power consumption, compact, or the like and are widely used in various fields such as optical communication, optical storage, material processing, or the like. An optical device such as a semiconductor laser is typically accommodated in a package to be modularized for use (Patent Literature 1).
In an optical device module disclosed in Patent Literature 1, in a package accommodating the optical device, a ferrule to which a tip of an optical fiber optically coupled to the optical device is joined is fixed on a stem. An insertion tube is fixed to the package, and the optical fiber is inserted through an optical fiber insertion hole formed of a ring-shaped member inserted into the insertion tube. The insertion tube, the ring-shaped member, and the optical fiber are hermetically sealed and fixed by a low-melting point glass.

Package for optical device and optical device module