The present invention relates to the prevention and treatment of injury and diseases to the liver, biliary tract, bile ducts, gall bladder and related hepatobiliary system. Specifically, the present invention relates to methods for decreasing the action of the RON receptor tyrosine kinase in liver physiology. More specifically, the present invention relates to the use of analogs and antagonists and antibodies for inhibiting the action of the RON receptor tyrosine kinase for the prevention and treatment of liver injury or damage in acute and chronic clinical conditions.

The present invention relates to the prevention and treatment of injury and diseases to the liver, biliary tract, bile ducts, gall bladder and related hepatobiliary system. Specifically, the present invention relates to methods for decreasing the action of the RON receptor tyrosine kinase in liver physiology. More specifically, the present invention relates to the use of analogs and antagonists and antibodies for inhibiting the action of the RON receptor tyrosine kinase for the prevention and treatment of liver injury or damage in acute and chronic clinical conditions.
Liver damage may occur in a number of acute and chronic clinical conditions including drug-induced hepatotoxicity, viral infections, vascular injury, autoimmune disease, metabolic disease and blunt trauma.
Acute liver failure comprises a group of severe liver disease with a variety of both known and unknown causative agents. Known potential precipitating agents, for example, include drugs and toxins (e.g. acetaminophen and Amanita mushroom poisoning); viruses (e.g. hepatitis B virus and Epstein Barr virus), and autoimmune hepatitis. Genetic background and/or the presence of underlying liver disease (e.g. preexisting alcoholic steatohepatitis and/or α1-antitrypsin disease) may contribute to the disease process.
At present, there is only one direct therapy for any of the multiple causes of acute liver failure (i.e., the use of N-acetylcysteine in the case of acetaminophen toxicity), and this therapy has not been broadly applicable to other causes of acute liver failure. Supportive care is the mainstay of therapy for most patients. Mortality in adults for all causes of acute liver failure taken together is >60% (even higher in children); the remaining patients progress to orthotopic liver transplantation or, rarely, recover on their own. Few useful markers exist that predict the presence and clinical course of disease, and additional specific therapies to alter the progression of acute liver failure have not been forthcoming (Lee, W. M., (1999) Chapter 35, in Schiff's Diseases of the Liver, 8:879–905).
The pathogenesis of acute liver failure in humans is poorly understood, but an initial understanding is emerging. Kupffer cells (the resident macrophage of the liver) play a prominent role in the disease process, with the release of cytokines and generation of proinflammatory mediators such as tumor necrosis factor α (TNFα) and nitric oxide (NO), both of which can negatively impact the hepatocyte and biliary tree. Endotoxemia is frequent and likely contributes to the activation of Kupffer cells in human disease. (Lee, W. M., (1999), see above). TNFα has been found to be a key mediator of both human and murine forms of acute liver failure (Muto, Y. et al. (1988) Lancet 2:72–74), and expression of TNFα by infiltrating mononuclear cells is associated with increased amounts of apoptotic hepatocytes in acute liver failure (Streetz, K. et al. (2000) Gastroenterol. 119:449–460).
Hepatocyte growth factor-like protein ("HGFL"), also known as macrophage stimulating protein ("MSP"), is a heterodimeric, kringle-containing growth factor belonging to the hepatocyte growth factor family (Bezerra et al. (1999) Protein Science 2, 666–668). HGFL has been found to bind and activate a receptor comprising a heterodimeric transmembrane glycoprotein referred to as "p185RON" or "RON" or stem cell-derived tyrosine kinase. HGFL binds to the RON receptor, which is a tyrosine kinase receptor encoded for by the RON gene (Gaudino, G., et al, (1995) Oncogene 11:2627). Functional characterization of the four kringle and putative non-enzymatically active serine protease-like domains within HGFL/MSP has been performed (Waltz, S. E. et al. (1997) J. Biol. Chem. 272:30256–30537; Wang, M. -H. et al. (1997) J. Biol. Chem. 272:16999–17004). These results suggest that the C-terminal serine protease-like domain (or β chain) of HGFL is required for binding to the RON receptor, and the kringle regions, especially kringle domains 2 and 3, are required for biological function of the HGFL/RON receptor interaction. The majority of mRNA coding for HGFL is expressed in the liver. It is also expressed, at lower levels, in other tissues including the lung, adrenals and placenta. To date, the physiological roles of HGFL in the body have not been fully understood.
Binding of HGFL ligand to RON receptor is expected to lead to receptor homodimerization, thus activating the receptor's tyrosine kinase activity and leading to cross autophosphorylation of tyrosine residues on the adjoining cytoplasmic chain. Phosphorylation of RON receptor then leads to recruitment of SH2-containing effector molecules, such as phospholipase C-γ and phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase (PI-3-kinase; for review see, Leonard, E. J. and Danilkovitch, A. 2000, Adv. Cancer Res. 77, 139–167). Heterodimerization of RON receptor with other tyrosine kinase receptors, such as the Met and erythropoietin receptors, as well as GM-CSF and the common β signal transducer that associates with interleukins-3 and -5, has also become increasingly obvious, and implies multiple roles, and avenues for RON receptor activation (Persons, D. A., et al. (1999) Nat. Genet. 23:159–165; Follenzi, A., et al. (2000) Oncogene 19:3041–3049; Mera, A. et al. (1999) J. Biol. Chem. 274:15766–15774).
A number of biological functions have been described for this ligand/receptor pair, including activation and differentiation of resident peritoneal macrophages (Iwama, A., et al. (1995) Blood 86:3394), inhibition of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) expression in endotoxin and cytokine-stimulated macrophages (Wang, M. -H., et al. (1994) J. Biol. Chem. 269:14027; Correll, P. H. et al, (1997) Genes Funct. 1:69–83; Muraoka, R. S. et al. (1999) J. Clin. Invest. 103:1277–1285; Waltz, S. E. et al. (2001), J. Clin. Invest. 108, 567–576), and stimulation of proliferation of certain epithelial cell lines and activation of PI-3-kinase activity (Leonard, E. J. and Danilkovitch, A. (2000) Adv. Cancer Res. 77:139–167).
RON activation by HGFL transduces inhibitory signals that block LPS- and IFNγ-induced iNOS expression. RON-mediated inhibition of iNOS expression in macrophages is effected by PI-3-kinase, as illustrated by the effects of transfection of a dominant-inhibitory PI-3-kinase p85 subunit and/or the addition of wortmannin, a specific inhibitor of PI-3-kinase to the response of macrophage to lipopolysaccharide (LPS or endotoxin) and interferon γ (Chen, Y. -Q. et al. (1998) J. Immunol. 161:4950–4959).
Nitric oxide generation occurs in several models of acute liver injury and elevated hepatocellular NO levels can inhibit liver damage in a variety of experimental liver injury models, possibly via inhibition of caspase activities (Torok, N. J. et al., (2000) Hepatology 32:332A, which play key roles in the development of cellular apoptosis. For example, administration of liver-specific NO donors, such as v-PYRRO (Saavedra, J. E., et al. (1997), J. Med. Chem. 40:1947–1954) can markedly blunt the progression of TNFα-induced murine acute liver failure.
The present invention shows that gene-targeted mice lacking the tyrosine kinase-containing cytoplasmic domain of the RON receptor have dramatically altered physiological responses compared to control mice possessing wild type RON receptor. These tyrosine kinase deficient (TK−/−) mice have enhanced lethality to otherwise nontoxic doses of LPS, and macrophage isolated from TK−/− mice have enhanced production of nitric oxide in response to LPS and interferon γ. Dramatic differences in the inflammatory responses in lung and skin injury models have also been noted between control and TK−/− mice (see Waltz, S. E. et al., (2001), J. Clin. Invest. 108, 567–576; McDowell, S. A., et al. (2002) Am. J. Respir. Cell Mol. Biol. 26:99–104).
Little is known about the involvement of the RON receptor in liver physiology, except that it is present in liver tissue.
The present invention now provides for the pharmacological blockage of the hepatocyte growth factor-like protein ("HGFL") ligand/RON receptor interaction and/or blockage of RON receptor downstream signaling cascades for protective effects towards acute and chronic liver disease, and in particular, acute liver failure.
Therefore, it would be advantageous to have an effective therapy for the prevention and treatment of liver disease. This need exists in any patient population in which chronic or acute liver damage has been induced for example by hepatotoxic compounds, radiation exposure, viral infection, autoimmune disease, and where it is desirable to inhibit the progression of such damage. This need further exists in any patient population at risk of developing liver damage such as in the case of drug overdose, accidental exposure to infected blood samples, or in a clinical setting which includes aggressive chemotherapy, radiation therapy or liver transplantation.

Methods for the treatment of hepatic disorders


Provided is an aerosol generating device including a heater configured to generate an aerosol by heating an aerosol generating substance; and a controller configured to control power supplied to the heater, wherein the controller distinguishes a first section, a second section, and a third section and controls power supplied to the heater, and calculates a control reference ratio by using at least two from among the first section, the second section, and the third section and controls power supplied to the heater based on the calculated control reference ratio.

Recently, there has been increasing demand for alternative ways of overcoming the disadvantages of traditional cigarettes. For example, there is growing demand for a method of generating aerosol by heating an aerosol generating material in cigarettes, rather than by combusting cigarettes. Accordingly, research into a heating-type cigarette or a heating-type aerosol generator has been actively conducted.
An aerosol-generating device generally includes a heater that generates an aerosol by heating an aerosol-generating substrate, and, in order to control the heater, a separate main controller unit (MCU) is provided to control the temperature of the heater through proportional integral difference (PID) control. When an MCU controls the temperature of a heater through PID control, no overshoot occurs until the temperature of the heater reaches a target temperature for generating aerosol due to the feedback algorithm of the PID control. However, it takes a long time to heat the heater, and thus a large amount of battery power is consumed and a user has to wait for a long time.

Method for controlling temperature of heater of aerosol generation device for each interval and aerosol generation device for implementing same method


Disclosed are: a novel dinoflagellate alga; and a macrolide compound which can be used as a novel anticancer agent. Specifically disclosed is a macrolide compound produced by a dinoflagellate Amphidinium sp. Strain HYA002 or HYA0024. The macrolide compound has excellent proliferation-inhibiting effect against a human tumor cell and therefore can be used as a novel anticancer agent.

A variety of compounds constituting anticancer agents are currently developed by examining a derivation and a chemical structure thereof. Amid a growing demand for such new anticancer agents, anticancer agent development is constantly required due to such problems as side effects of an anticancer agent, generation of drug-resistant cancer cells caused by long-term use of anticancer agents and different medicinal effects by the type of cancer.
In fact, seaweed or unicellular algae is known as a natural resource required for providing an anticancer agent or candidate compounds thereof. A macrolide compound produced by dinoflagellate alga (Amphidinolide) particularly receives much academic attention due to a strong antitumor activity (Non-patent document 1). Because of the above-mentioned problems, however, seeking and development of anticancer agents, marine organism-derived antitumor substances in particular, is always regarded as a crucially important issue.
[Non-patent document 1] J. Kobayashi, et. al., teterahedron Lett., Vol. 27, p 5755, 1986

National University Corporation Hokkaido University


A holder with includes: a holder body formed by molding a resin material, a contact surface on the holder body for receiving an operating object to be held on the holder body, a grip portion on the holder body at a position apart from the contact surface for being gripped by an operator, and an electric conductor extending from the contact surface to the grip portion.

1. Field
The present disclosure relates to a holder for holding a carriage which supports an operating object and is gripped by an operator and, for example, to a holder used to build a hard disk drive (HDD) having a carriage for supporting a head suspension assembly.
2. Description of the Related Art
A carriage for supporting a head suspension assembly is built in a hard disk drive. The carriage is held by a holder formed of an antistatic resin material in a process of manufacturing the hard disk drive. The operator holds the holder. In this manner, the carriage is protected from attachment of fine dust.
The carriage is charged in the process of manufacturing. When the charged carriage comes into contact with an electric conductor such as metal, a current flows from the carriage to the electric conductor. The current causes distribution of an induction current to a magneto-resistive element on the head suspension assembly.
Reference documents are Japanese translation of PCT international application Publication No. 11-505359 and PCT international application Publication No. 2001-502839.
In particular, a current-resistance value of the magneto-resistive element has become lower due to downsizing of the magneto-resistive element. As a result, distribution of the induction current can destroy the magneto-resistive element.
In view of such circumstances, it is an object of the present technique to provide a holder which is able to better prevent an operating object such as a magneto-resistive element from absorbing a destructive charge when holding the operating object.

Holder for holding a head carriage in a hard disk drive


Disclosed is a multi-layer neural network and circuit design method. The multi-layer neural network receiving an m-bit input and generating an n-bit output comprises a neuron having a cascaded pair of CMOS inverters and having an output node of the preceding CMOS inverter among the pair of CMOS inverters as its inverted output node and an output node of the succeeding CMOS inverter as its non-inverted output node, an input layer having m neurons to receive the m-bit input, an output layer having n neurons to generate the n-bit output, at least one hidden layer provided with n neurons to transfer the input received from the input layer to the directly upper hidden layer or the output layer, an input synapse group in a matrix having each predetermined weight value to connect each output of neurons on the input layer to each neuron of the output layer and at least one hidden layer, at least one transfer synapse group in a matrix having each predetermined weight value to connect each output of neurons of the hidden layer to each neuron of its directly upper hidden layer or of the output layer, and a bias synapse group for biasing each input node of neurons of the hidden layers and the output layer.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a MDS multi-layer neural network and its designing method, and more particularly to a multi-layer neural network and the designing method thereof which can easily realize VLSI circuitry for a multi-layer neural network.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, in the pattern recognition field, neural networks which can do large-scale parallel processing in real-time have been introduced. In 1988, Hans P. Graf et al. of Bell laboratories, presented a pattern recognizing neural network wherein amplifiers, having their inputs and outputs interconnected through a resistive connecting device in a matrix, constitute synapses and neurons of the neural network, and a pair of switches which switch according to the data in a pair of RAM cells, constitute neuron interconnections.
The present inventor has filed numerous applications including: an adder (U.S. application Ser. No. 07/473,653), a multiplier (07/473,633), an A/D converter (07/473,631, 07/473,634), a pattern classifier (07/473,464), etc. These related applications disclose a neural network having synapses constructed using PMOS and/or NMOS transistors, and including neurons made from buffers in the form of cascaded pairs of CMOS inverters. The aforementioned neural circuits are based on a one-layer neural network model and solve only linearly separable problems, but not linearly unseparable problems (non-linear problems). Accordingly, their application is extremely limited. For instance, an XOR circuit cannot be properly modelled by a one-layer neural network. The limitations of one-layer neural networks are overcome by properly designed multi-layer neural networks. It is known that a neural network can learn by a back-propagation algorithm (refer to IEEE ASSP MAGAZINE, pages 4 to 22, April, 1987).
There are more restrictions, however, in the hardware implementation of multi-layer neural networks than in software simulated algorithms in a computer. This is due to the fact that hardware implementation of a multi-layer neural network depends on current VLSI technology. As a result, circuit implementation of connection weight values for neural circuits and non-linear functions is not as readily attainable as with software simulated algorithms. Although real number calculations with floating point operation and also neural network models requiring increased interconnection capability can be achieved using software, such software implemented operations become difficult with VLSI technology.

MOS Multi-layer neural network and its design method


A pillow for placement in enclosed areas utilized to collect and contain spilled or leaked hydrocarbons such as boat bilges and sumps absorbs pollutants that come in contact. The absorbed material is solidified within the pillow into a rubber-like mass. The consolidated mass will float indefinitely and is easily retrieved and handled for disposal. The pillow will not leech solidified hydrocarbons when exposed to pressure limits used to determine landfill suitability.

The present invention relates to absorbent devices used for containing and removing leaked and spilled hydrocarbons in recreational and commercial marine vessels.
For recreational and commercial vessels, there is a need to remove hydrocarbons spilled or leaked into bilges and sumps as part of the routine maintenance of the vessel. This unpleasant, yet critically important, task is necessary to prevent the hydrocarbons that accumulate in the sump or bilge from polluting an adjacent waterway by inadvertently being pumped or expelled from the vessel.
One common material used in absorbent devices for the marine environment is polypropylene fabric. This non-woven petrochemical based fabric possesses the physical properties of absorbing hydrocarbons while repelling water. It can be packaged as a flat pad or sheet, or can be rolled into a long cylindrical boom for placement in the hull of the vessel to absorb the hydrocarbons. It is also packaged as strips of the fabric encased in an open weave plastic net, resulting in a sausage-like boom. Another absorbent device relies on ground-up chicken feathers encased in a cotton pillow case. In each instance, these products are placed in bilges and sumps to extract the hydrocarbons that pool there.
The prior art absorbent devices are subject to having the absorbed hydrocarbons released by gravity, column weight or pressure upon removal from the bilge. Disposal of these items often results in the transfer of a pollutant from one environment to another.


A gas-operated firearm with a lock housing, a guide rod projecting forward from the lock housing, as seen in the shooting direction, for a lock activation device, which is located so it can be displaced on the guide rod and which interacts with a lock for its movement between a locking position and an unlocking position, and a barrel with a gas withdrawal block fastened on the lock housing, which contains at least one gas withdrawal borehole that opens into the barrel, and a pressure piston that is guided so that it can be displaced in the gas withdrawal block for the displacement of the lock activation device against the force of a lock spring. A simplified installation and dismantling of the barrel can thus be made possible in that the barrel contains a rear part, which can be placed on the lock housing and can be firmly connected with it, and a front part, which freely projects from the lock housing, without a firm connection with the guide rod.

Such a gas-operated firearm is known by the name of Sauer 303. It also contains a system box or a lock housing, a guide rod that projects forward, as seen in the shooting direction, and a lock activation device, which is arranged so it can be displaced on the guide rod and which interacts with a lock for its movement between a locking position and an unlocking position. A barrel with a gas withdrawal block is affixed to the lock housing. It contains at least one gas withdrawal borehole that opens into the barrel and a pressure piston that is guided so it can be displaced axially in the gas withdrawal block, for displacement of the lock activation device against the force of a lock spring. In this known gas-operated firearm, the rear end of the barrel is inserted into a corresponding holder borehole of the lock housing and it is firmly connected by a connecting piece, in the area of the gas withdrawal block, with the front end of the guide rod. For the installation or dismantling of the barrel, the front shaft must first be removed in this known gas-operated firearm and then the connection between the barrel and the guide rod must be loosened, before the barrel can be pulled out from the holder borehole of the lock housing.
With other known gas-operated firearms, the front shaft must always first be dismantled if the barrel is to be removed.


A device for assembling together annular flanges by means of fastening bolts, in particular in a low-pressure turbine stage of the turbojet, one of the flanges has an element projecting from its face that faces the other flange and that is received in a notch in said other flange when the relative angular positioning of the two flanges is correct.

In the low-pressure turbine stages of turbojets, parts are assembled to one another by means of annular flanges pressed against one another and fastened together by bolts which pass through orifices in the annular flanges, these orifices being distributed regularly around the annular flanges.
Some such flanges are "festooned", i.e. their through orifices for fastening bolts are formed in solid portions which are separated from one another by notches giving such annular flanges a "festooned" shape, in other words a shape that is crenellated with edges that are rounded or rectangular.
For a low-pressure turbine of a turbojet, the various parts are stacked vertically on one another, and they are then fastened together by means of bolts which are passed blind through the orifices in the annular flanges. It can thus happen that a festooned flange is angularly offset relative to the other flanges by half of the pitch between the through orifices for passing the fastening bolts, and under such circumstances, the bolts threaded through the orifices in the other flanges pass through the notches in the offset festooned flange, and not through the orifices provided in the solid portions of that flange. Under such circumstances, the offset flange is not securely fastened to the other flanges since it is merely clamped axially between the other flanges, and it might move angularly or radially in the event of the fastening bolts loosening or under centrifugal forces.
No known means are provided to ensure proper angular positioning of annular fastening flanges, other than the care taken by operatives performing assembly, and no means are provided for warning operatives that angular positioning is bad.

Device for assembling annular flanges together, in particular in a turbomachine


Provided is a terminal, including: a ground metal part made of a first metallic material; an intermediate layer made of a second metallic material having a smaller value of standard electrode potential than that of the first metallic material, and plated thin on at least a part of a surface of the ground metal part; and a surface layer made of a third metallic material having a smaller value of standard electrode potential than that of the second metallic material, and plated thin on at least a part of a surface of the intermediate layer.

Conventionally, at an end part of an electric wire (cable) made of copper or an alloy thereof, a crimp terminal made of copper or an alloy thereof is provided, and the crimp terminal is connected to a terminal of another equipment to connect the electric wire to the another equipment.
Further, in order to achieve a more lightweight electric wire, or some other purpose, the electric wire may be made of aluminum or an alloy thereof instead of copper or an alloy thereof. As a document related to the conventional technique, Patent literature 1 can be referenced, for example.


The semiconductor device of the present invention comprises an optical transmission region, and a light receiving part for converting light propagating through the optical transmission region to an electrical signal, wherein the optical transmission region comprises a two-dimensional optical waveguide layer, and wherein at least a portion of the light receiving part is embedded in the optical transmission region, whereby the present invention can provide a semiconductor device having reduced direction dependency when light propagating through the optical transmission region is received.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device in which an optical transmission medium and a light-receiving element carrying out photoelectric conversion are mixed and mounted, and more particularly, to an optoelectronic device comprising a two-dimensional optical waveguide as an optical transmission medium. The present invention further relates to an optoelectronic wiring substrate comprising an electric wiring layer and an optical transmission layer. Furthermore, the present invention relates to a spherical device.
2. Related Background Art
For cellular phones and personal digital assistants (PDA) which are spreading at a remarkable pace in recent years, there are demands that these devices be smaller, lighter and provided with transistors capable of extremely high-speed processing.
It has been pointed out that as the processing speed of transistors increases, or as the clock frequency of the CPU increases, the influence of transmission delay in the electronic circuit substrate also increases. Since the transmission delay is proportional to a product of a wiring resistance by a wiring capacitance, it is necessary to reduce the wiring resistance or the wiring capacitance. The simplest way to prevent the transmission delay is to minimize a wiring distance within each chip or between chips.
On the other hand, the processing speed is expected to improve as the wiring distance becomes shorter, but another problem becomes apparent. That is the problem of EMI (ElectroMagnetic Interference). Since electronic parts are placed closer to each other, a wiring distance becomes shorter but a wiring density becomes higher. As a result, when high-speed signals flow through adjacent signal lines, mutual electromagnetic induction causes electromagnetic waves to interfere with each other and generate noise, making it impossible to transmit signals correctly.
There are an increasing number of cases wherein particular mobile terminals are driven with a larger current than conventional ones under the influence of proceeding devices operation at a lower voltage, thereby raising concern that influences of EMI becomes larger.
A method of using an optical wiring having an inherent advantage of causing no electromagnetic induction is proposed to solve the EMI problem.
For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-235127 discloses a circuit substrate integrating an electronic element and an optical element as shown in FIG. 35. In FIG. 35, reference numeral 5201 denotes an electronic integrated circuit substrate; 5204, a light emitting part; 5206, a light receiving part; 5207, an optical path change section; 5210, a contact electrode. Reference numeral 5211 denotes polyimide to bond the circuit substrate 5201 and the light emitting part or light receiving part. Reference numeral 5212 denotes an electric wiring; 5213, plane light emitting laser; 5214, a photodiode; 5215, a low reflection film; 5216, a polymer layer; 5217, a first clad layer; 5218, a core layer; 5219, a second clad layer; 5220, a high reflection film.
The light emitted from the light emitting part 5213 is reflected by the optical path change section, propagates through the core layer 5218 in the direction indicated by an arrow 5221 in FIG. 35, the light path is changed again and the light is received by the light receiving part 5206. When the propagation direction of the incident light is predetermined, it is possible to replace a part of the electric signal wiring in the configuration shown in the above-described FIG. 35 with an optical wiring.
However, when the incident light that propagates through the core layer 5218 is the light from the direction 5222 indicated by the arrow in FIG. 35, it is impossible for the configuration shown in FIG. 35 to receive the light.

Semiconductor device, optoelectronic board, and production methods therefor


A methodology for processing authorization request messages based on proximate wireless networks is disclosed. In particular, a computer may receive, from an access device or a communication device, an authorization request message in a transaction. The computer may then obtain network data based on a set of wireless networks that are proximate to the access device or the communication device interacting with the access device during the transaction. Next, the computer may determine a difference between the network data and previous network data, wherein the previous network data is based on one or more previous sets of wireless networks that were proximate to the access device or the communication device during one or more previous transactions. Responsive to determining that the difference exceeds threshold, the computer may initiate one or more actions associated with the transaction.

Access devices (e.g., access terminals, keycard scanners, point of sale systems, ATMs, automated fuel dispensers) are widely employed by organizations to control user access to resources. In general, to gain access to a resource held or controlled by an organization, the user may provide authentication information (e.g., credentials) to the access device to establish the user's identity. The user may provide the authentication information to the access device with a portable transaction device (e.g., a key card, a credit card). For example, to obtain access to funds stored within an account, a user may swipe a credit card at the access device, thereby enabling the access device to read authentication information (e.g., a credit card number) from the credit card.
In turn, the access device may use the provided authentication information to request access (i.e., make an authentication request) to a controlling entity (e.g., a processing entity) on behalf of the user. If the controlling entity determines that the user is authorized to access the resource, the user is granted access to the resource.
Due to their role in controlling access to resources, access devices are often targeted by fraudulent schemes. One type of fraudulent scheme that targets ATMs and point of sale systems involves the physical installation of a slim electronic "skimming" device (i.e., a skimmer) onto the access device. While present on the access device, the skimmer will read authentication information (e.g., the magnetic stripe data) from credit cards as they are swiped against the access device and store the authentication information for the fraudster to harvest. Furthermore, it is becoming increasingly common for fraudsters to include Bluetooth or Wi-Fi transmitters in skimmers so that they may communicate with the skimmer from a smartphone or a laptop while hidden from view. Because skimmers are often designed to mimic the appearance of the access device, a skimmer may go unnoticed for a long period of time, thereby allowing numerous credit card accounts to be compromised by the skimmer.
Embodiments of the invention address these and other problems.

Fraudulent wireless network detection with proximate network data


A light sculpture device, and more specifically, an article of furniture which displays light patterns, includes a box-like enclosure mounted on a hollow base. The enclosure includes a plurality of planar mirrored panels joined together at right angles to form a substantially rectangular structure in such that the reflective surfaces are directed interiorly of the enclosure. At least one of the planar mirrored panels is translucent to permit an observer to view inside of the enclosure. A plurality of lights are secured to the hollow base which emit light within the enclosure. The light pattern is produced by the light source along with the reflections of the light source produced on the reflective surfaces. This light pattern is viewed through the translucent planar mirrored panel. The light source can be but is not limited to a plurality of incandescent sources, low voltage sources, light emitting diodes, or even a visual display. The light source can be controlled by a device such as a sound activated circuit or a voice activated circuit or processing system and an input device and accompanying software. Also provided is a ventilation system for circulating air throughout the light sculpture device, thus minimizing the heat generated by the light source.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a light sculpture device and, more specifically, to an article of furniture which displays a light pattern.
2. Description of Prior Art
Illuminating apparatuses have gained widespread popularity. In some applications, such as with sales establishments, the use of the device is intended to gain the attention of prospective buyers. In other applications, such as in clubs, restaurants, and lounges, the intended use is merely for decorative purposes or for the amusement of patrons.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,610,918 issued Oct. 5, 1971 to Gordon A. Barlow discloses a plurality of planar reflective panels and at least one transparent panel angularly joined together to form a hollow body containing a light source. The light source along with reflections of the light source on one or more of the reflective panels is viewed through the transparent panel.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,694,645 issued Sep. 26, 1972 to Malcolm H. Brantz shows an illuminated display including a housing having a front panel through which continuously changing light patterns are viewed.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,790,772 issued Feb. 5, 1974 to Peter M. Newman et al. discloses a light box assembly which includes a box-like structure having interiorly mirrored walls and multiple light sources mounted on walls within the box which continuously activate and deactivate to change a light pattern.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,843,524 issued Jun. 27, 1989 to Edward D. Krent et al. shows furniture or the like having an illuminated, decorative design formed on at least one surface thereof.
None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed.


There is disclosed a screen printing apparatus comprising a squeegee arranged above a screen in a manner opposed to the screen, the squeegee being supported such that the squeegee is movable in a vertical direction and at the same time movable in a direction of printing of a printing material, a plurality of urging devices arranged on a supporting frame supporting the squeegee in a manner suspended therefrom, for urging the squeegee toward the screen, an urging force-detecting device for detecting urging forces of the urging devices during movement of the squeegee for printing, and a first control device for controlling the urging devices based on results of detection by the urging force-detecting device to adjust urging forces applied by the urging devices to the squeegee.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a screen printing apparatus, and more specifically to a screen printing apparatus which is capable of holding a squeegee thereof in a level state.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, a screen printing apparatus is known as one of printing apparatuses which print (coat) a printing material (coating material) formed by a thin piece such as a sheet of paper. In the screen printing apparatus, a squeegee slides on a screen having ink placed thereon from a printing start side to a printing end side whereby the printing material placed on a printing table is printed. Further, after the printing, a scraper slides on the screen from the printing end side to the printing start side to thereby scrape ink remaining on the screen back to the printing start side. And then, these operations are repeatedly carried out in an alternating manner to thereby print a plurality of printing materials in succession.
That is, in the screen printing apparatus, the printing table on which a printing material such as a sheet of paper is placed is arranged in a vertically movable manner, and a carrying gripper carries the printing material onto the table. During the printing, the printing material is held on the printing table by vacuum.
The screen which is masked in a predetermined manner is arranged over the printing table in a vertically movable manner. Above this screen, the squeegee and the scraper are positioned in a manner opposed to each other. The squeegee and the scraper are each arranged in a vertically movable manner such that each of them can be brought into or kept from contact with the screen. Further, the squeegee and the scraper are both horizontally movable above the screen.
As shown in FIG. 8, during the scraping process after the printing, the printing table 81 and the screen 82 have been moved away from each other. The scraper 83 has been moved to a position in which it is in lightly urging contact with the screen 82, whereas the squeegee 84 has been moved to a position away from the screen 82. In this state, the squeegee 84 and the scraper 83 are moved horizontally from the printing end side to the printing start side, whereby ink 85 remaining on a masking portion of the screen 82 is scraped away. The ink 85 scraped in this way is collected into a lump at the printing start side on the screen 82.
Then, in the printing process following the scraping process, as shown in FIG. 9, the screen 82 and the printing table 81 are moved toward each other, whereby the screen 82 is overlaid on the printing table 81. At this time, the squeegee 84 and the scraper 83 are switched in their positional relation relative to the screen 82. That is, during the printing process, the squeegee 84 is in lightly urging contact with the screen 82, whereas the scraper 83 is kept from contact with the screen 82. In this state, the squeegee 84 and the scraper 83 are moved horizontally from the printing start side to the printing end side, whereby the lump of the ink 85 is spread out over the screen 82 by the squeegee 84 and the spread ink 85 adheres to a printing material 86 through non-masking portions of the screen 82 to print the printing material.
When the printing is carried out as described above, conventionally, parallelism of the squeegee to the screen is adjusted before starting printing work. In case this adjustment of parallelism is not properly carried out, there occurs low printing pressure on one side of the squeegee, causing a blurred print, i.e. faulty printing. Further, conventionally, it is impossible to adjust printing pressure during a printing operation. Therefore, whenever such a faulty printing occurs, the printing is required to be stopped to adjust the parallelism between the squeegee and the screen, resulting in a degraded manufacturing efficiency or productivity.


A process is provided for forming a bipolar transistor and a structure thereof. In particular a single polysilicon self-aligned process for a bipolar transistor having a polysilicon emitter is provided. A sacrificial layer defining an opening is provided in a device well region of a substrate, and, after forming a self-aligned base region within the opening, emitter material is selectively provided in the opening to form an emitter-base junction. The sacrificial layer functions as a mask for ion implantations to form the base region, and if required, an underlying local collector region. The sacrificial layer is removed, to expose the well region adjacent sidewalls of the emitter structure. A self-aligned link region implant may be performed before forming isolation on exposed sidewalls of the emitter structure. Extrinsic base contacts are formed in the surface of the surrounding well region. The sacrificial layer is preferably a material which may be removed by an etch process with high selectivity to the substrate to avoid damage on overetching, for improved manufacturability and reliability. The process flow is compatible with CMOS processing, and applicable to bipolar CMOS integrated circuits.

In fabrication of bipolar transistors for silicon integrated circuits, a conventional "double-polysilicon" structure is formed with two layers of polysilicon, using a first polysilicon layer for base electrodes and a second polysilicon layer for an emitter electrode. Polysilicon is a preferred emitter material compared with single crystal silicon to improve forward current gain of the transistor. Thus, increased doping of the base can be used to prevent premature punchthrough when using shallow base widths required for high speed operation. In a double-polysilicon structure, the collector-base overlap area may be reduced if the extrinsic base contact is opened in an area of the base polysilicon layer which extends over a field isolation layer, rather than directly over the active device area. Thus the collector-base parasitic capacitance is reduced, and reduced spacing between a self-aligned emitter and base electrodes may be achieved.
Processes are known for fabrication of bipolar transistors having a self-aligned structure, using a first polysilicon layer for the extrinsic base contact and a second polysilicon layer for the emitter contact, for example as described in an article entitled "High Speed Polysilicon Emitter-Base Bipolar Transistor" by Hee K. Park et al., IEEE Electron Device Letters, EDL-7 No. 12 December 1986. Self-alignment of the base and the emitter allows for minimization of both the extrinsic base resistance and the collector-base junction capacitance.
In a conventional known process for fabricating a bipolar transistor for a bipolar and complementary metal oxide semiconductor (BiCMOS) integrated circuit, a typical process flow includes the following steps: a substrate is provided in the form of semiconductor wafer having an N epitaxial (epi-)layer overlying a N+ buried layer. The latter forms a buried collector. A device well region is defined in the N epi-layer and a field oxide isolation layer is formed surrounding the device well region. Then a first (base) polysilicon layer is deposited overall, extending over the device well region. The first polysilicon layer is photoengraved (PE) and etched to open a hole in first polysilicon layer, which forms an emitter opening. An intrinsic base region is formed in the device well within the emitter opening. A dielectric layer, typically silicon dioxide, is formed over first polysilicon layer, and dielectric sidewall spacers are formed on exposed sidewalls of the base polysilicon layer defining the emitter opening. A second polysilicon layer is then deposited, forming an emitter-base junction on the intrinsic base region, and the second polysilicon layer patterned to form an emitter structure isolated from the base polysilicon layer by the dielectric layer and the sidewall spacers. Contacts to the first and second polysilicon layers are then formed in a conventional manner.
The latter double-polysilicon process requires deposition of first and second polysilicon layers and the resulting structure has highly non-planar topography. In particular, the topography of the polysilicon layer forming the emitter may have a sharp discontinuity in the emitter region, requiring a very thick polysilicon layer to fill the emitter opening without leaving voids. The non-planar topography of the thick polysilicon layer complicates subsequent processing steps, including metallization and dielectric planarization, and creates problems in contact imaging, and contact etch selectivity. The depth differential of the contact to the emitter and the contact to a sinker for contacting the collector (or to a nearby CMOS well contact in a BiCMOS process) may be very large, and the contacts are in close proximity to one another. The resulting high aspect ratio contact holes are difficult to silicide, and contact etch selectivity to the underlying layers may be a problem.
A major disadvantage of this latter process is that there is a risk of damage to the emitter-base junction area of the substrate silicon during etching of the emitter opening in the first polysilicon layer, because there is no etch stop, i.e. there is little or no etch selectivity for etching polysilicon relative to the underlying silicon. Damage to the emitter-base junction region due to over-etching can have severe implications for device reliability, e.g. increased transistor noise which is detrimental to analogue applications. If the sidewall spacer oxide has incomplete conformality, variable recessing of the base during silicon over-etch, and consequent sidewall spacer width variability, can lead to variability in emitter width. The ensuing variations in emitter-base capacitance along the sidewall spacer edge and emitter polysilicon contact area cannot be avoided without exacerbating the topography related problems.
Furthermore, the process does not allow for the link region of the base to be more deeply or more heavily doped than the base implant doping, leading to higher than desirable base resistance and/or emitter-base edge leakage problems.
Thus, the latter process for a double-polysilicon self-aligned NPN bipolar transistor is complex and suffers from a number of process related problems, which lead to issues including poor manufacturability, i.e. low yield, and unsatisfactory device reliability.
As described in an article entitled "A High Speed Bipolar Technology Featuring Self-Aligned Single Poly Base And Submicrometer Emitter Contacts" by W. M. Huang et al. IEEE Electron Device Letters vol. 11, No. 9, September 1990, problems with etching double polysilicon structures may be avoided by fabricating the emitter contact with the first layer of polysilicon. The latter process is known as the "STRIPE" (self-aligned trench isolated polysilicon electrodes) process. The polysilicon layer is etched to define trenches for isolating the emitter region from the base regions. A low energy boron implant into the trench region defines a link region. Then the trench is filled with oxide and then the emitter region is N+ doped by an arsenic implant. This process reduces the possibility of etch damage of the active emitter area and avoids the highly non-planar topography of the conventional double polysilicon process. However, other process related problems remain in the PE and subsequent processing steps, including etching of the polysilicon layer to form narrow trenches (0.2 to 0.4 .mu.m) for isolation between the emitter and base regions.
Another approach to forming a single polysilicon self-aligned bipolar transistor, comprises forming a base region in the device well similarly as described above, and then forming an emitter structure by depositing a layer of polysilicon overall, patterning and etching the polysilicon to leave an emitter structure in the form of a mesa, and isolating the emitter mesa with oxide sidewall spacers, and then forming contacts to the base contact region surrounding the emitter mesa. For example, a process of this type described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,055,419 to Scovell, entitled "Method Of Manufacturing A Bipolar Transistor", issued 8 Oct. 1991. However, the latter process does not avoid the risk of damage to the underlying silicon layer in the base contact region during overetching of the polysilicon layer defining the mesa.
While other processes for formation of bipolar transistors are known, it is also desirable for bipolar CMOS integrated circuits that a process for forming a bipolar transistor should be compatible with conventional known silicon technology for CMOS processes, so that optimal performance of both bipolar and CMOS devices can be achieved without unduly adding to the overall number of process steps and process complexity.


A compact connector assembly for an implantable medical device includes a receptacle for receiving the proximal end of a coaxial bipolar lead having a distal end attachable to a desired tissue location. The receptacle includes an open end for receiving the proximal end of the lead and a closed end carrying a conductive pin. The pin has a portion inside the receptacle projecting toward the open end thereof and adapted to make electrical contact with one of the lead conductor terminals. The proximal end of the lead has a conductive socket for receiving the projecting portion of the pin inside the receptacle. An adapter terminal may be used to convert the proximal end of the lead to the industry VS-1 standard.

Although it will become evident to those skilled in the art that the present invention is applicable to a variety of implantable medical devices utilizing pulse generators to stimulate selected body tissue, the invention and its background will be described in terms of a specific example of such devices, namely, cardiac pacemakers for providing precisely controlled stimulation pulses to the heart.
Present day cardiac pacemakers are typically designed to be implanted in a "pocket" of fatty tissue near the patient's upper breast or lower abdomen. Accordingly, the electronic circuits within the pacemaker are hermetically sealed within a housing made of a material compatible with body tissue. Electrical connection is made with the pacemaker electronic circuits via feedthrough terminals that pass through the hermetically sealed housing. The feedthrough terminals are electrically connected to a connector receptacle in the pacemaker housing for receiving the proximal end of a pacing lead. The lead has a distal end having electrodes attached to the desired tissue location. For cardiac pacing, such a lead is typically inserted through one of the main veins of the patient, for example, the superior vena cava so that the distal end of the lead is directed inside the heart.
Good electrical contact must be maintained between the proximal end of the pacing lead and the pacing lead receptacle on the pacemaker. Further, the connection must be secure so that it does not come apart during use yet it must be detachable in the event the pacemaker or lead needs to be replaced. Moreover, the connection must at all times remain insulated and sealed from body fluids; such fluids are conductive and could cause an electrical short if permitted to infiltrate the connector assembly.
Multiconductor pacing leads such as coaxial bipolar leads include a pin electrode projecting from the proximal tip or extremity of the lead and one or more proximal ring electrodes. The pin and ring electrodes are designed to make secure electrical contact with mating terminals carried by the pacemaker lead receptacle. Recently, there has been an effort to standardize this interface between the pacing lead and pacemaker. See, for example, Calfee et al., "A Voluntary Standard For 3.2 mm Unipolar and Bipolar Pacemaker Leads and Connectors,"PACE, Vol. 9, pp. 1181-85 (November-December 1986). The standard described therein, now referred to by the designation VS-1 (Voluntary Standard - 1), has been adopted by most pacemaker manufacturers worldwide. Among other things, the VS-1 standard defines and specifies the dimensions of the pacing lead and the pacemaker receptacle into which the proximal end of the pacing lead is inserted. Examples of VS-1 connectors are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,076,270; 5,012,807; 4,848,346; and 4,934,366.
The very nature of an implantable device makes it desirable, of course, to reduce as much as possible the size of the housing of such a device. The VS-1 standard connector receptacle/pacing lead dimensions are factors which contribute to determining the size of the housing of the implantable medical device. It has now become evident that these standard dimensions place constraints on the ability to reduce the size of the housing. Accordingly, it would be desirable to have a connector assembly that removes the constraints imposed by the VS-1 standard connector assembly dimensions so as to permit the design of more compact implantable medical devices. At the same time, it would also be desirable for the pacing lead comprising part of such an assembly to be adaptable for use with pacemakers having pacing lead receptacles complying with the VS-1 standard.

Coaxial bipolar connector assembly for implantable medical device


A cleaning composition comprising at least one low molecular weight polyorganosiloxane selected from the group consisting of straight chain polydiorganosiloxane represented by a general formula: ##STR1## (wherein R.sup.1 is an organic group of single valence substituted by the same or different group or unsubstituted, and l is an integer from 0 to 5), and cyclic polydiorganosiloxane represented by a general formula: ##STR2## (wherein R.sup.1 is an organic group of single valence substituted by the same or different group or unsubstituted, and m is an integer from 3 to 7). To use it as a water system cleaning agent, polyoxyalkylene group containing polyorganosiloxane, a surfactant, and water are additionally mixed. Accordingly, a cleaning effect free from environmental destruction and contamination, equivalent to flon containing cleaning agents, and satisfactorily stable in terms of dispersion as a water system cleaning agent can be obtained. In addition, to use as a dewatering cleaning agent, the low molecular weight polyorganosiloxane is additionally mixed alone or with a surfactant and/or a hydrophilic solvent. Accordingly, cleaning and water substituting properties equivalent to flon containing dewatering cleaning agents and environmental safety can be obtained.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to cleaning compositions which will replace cleaning agents containing an organic solvent including flon and the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
In manufacturing various parts such as metal parts, plated and coated parts, and electronic and semiconductor parts, flon containing solvents such as flon 113, and organic solvents such as trichloroethane, trichlorethylene, tetrachloroethylene, and carbon tetrachloride are widely used as cleaning agents for eliminating oil stains and the like.
The above organic solvent containing cleaning agents are also used as dewatering cleaning agents after having washed various parts with water in order to avoid the following problems that are associated with direct drying of water present on an object to be cleaned:
(1) Heating (100.degree. C. or more) which entails energy loss; PA1 (2) Reducing in productivity due to time taken in drying; PA1 (3) Likely deformation of the object to be cleaned due to heating (thermal expansion that exceeds the tolerance); and PA1 (4) Increase in space for installing a cleaning system including a cooler and a heat shielding unit. PA1 a chain polysiloxane represented by the formula: ##STR6## (wherein p, q, r, and s are positive integers); and a cyclic polysiloxane represented by the formula: ##STR7## (wherein t, u, and v are positive integers).
The term "dewatering cleaning agent" is used herein to denote a cleaning agent into which an object to be cleaned, which has been washed with water, is immersed or with which the object is rinsed by shower thereby to have water present on the object substituted by itself and then vaporized by air at room temperature or heated to 60.degree. C. or less so that the object can be dried.
However, ever since it has been found that the destruction of the ozone layer by discharge of flon affects seriously the human body and the ecological system, the use of flons such as flon 12 and flon 113 whose ozone destruction coefficients are high is on the gradual decline on a global scale for an eventual total ban.
Stricter regulations are imposed also on chlorine containing organic solvents such as trichloroethylene and tetrachloroethylene which are presumed to induce soil and underwater contaminations and the like.
Flons whose ozone destruction coefficients are lower than the currently used flon containing solvents are being developed, some of which are under fabrication on a commercial basis. However, these new developments are not so welcome because they still are destroyers of the ozone layer.
What gradually attracts attention as a replacement for the above organic solvents is a surfactant-based water system cleaning agent which is free from environmental destruction and contamination. However, cleaning agents containing only surfactants are not satisfactory in penetrability, thereby not cleaning, e.g., stains penetrated into narrow portions and medium to high viscous, persistently sticky oil stains.
Japanese Patent Publication No. 50463/1988 discloses a method of cleaning woven materials by using silicone containing compounds. According to the disclosure, a liquid cleaning composition containing an effective amount of cyclic siloxane having 4 to 6 silicon atoms is used. However, the liquid cleaning compositions including the above silicone containing compound are not suitable for use not only in general industrial products due to their being specifically prepared for woven materials, but also in systems using water (hereinafter referred to as "water system" ) due to their being based on a single cyclic siloxane or the mixture of a cyclic siloxane and an organic solvent. Further, such compositions are not so dispersive in water that the addition of a surfactant thereto does not assist in blending them homogeneously, thereby causing phase separation immediately. Thus, they are not adapted for use as water system cleaning agents.
On the other hand, Japanese Patent Laid Open No. 56203/1978 recites an aerosol aqueous cleaning composition containing a chain polydimethylsiloxane having 2 to 3 silicon atoms in a single molucular. Since its content is limited to about 0.02 to 0.1 wt. %, no such advantage as improving the cleaning property of water system cleaning compositions is disclosed.
Under such circumstances, the development of high-performance water system cleaning agents free from environmental problems is strongly called for.
In the meantime, the use of lower alcohols such as isopropyl alcohol is under study for a new development that can replace the above-mentioned organic solvents for dewatering. However, isopropyl alcohol has a flash point of 11.7.degree. C., which is lower than room temperature, and this involves some danger of fires under ordinary handling conditions. In addition, isopropyl alcohol is highly compatible with water, so that the initial dewatering property is ensured, but its repetitive use causes dissolved water to be present again. As a result its dewatering property will be impaired on a long-term basis. To refine isopropyl alcohol for reuse by removing water from the water containing isopropyl alcohol, a tremendous equipment investment is required. That isopropyl alcohol is toxin to the human body is another factor that tends to keep it from using.
The use of hydrocarbon and higher alcohols which have higher flash points than room temperature allows a comparatively easy removal of water, but their low volatility prevents drying themselves at low temperatures, e.g., 60.degree. C. or less, thereby making them unsuitable for applications to dewatering cleaning agents.
Therefore, an object of the invention is to provide water system cleaning compositions which have cleaning capability equivalent to that of organic solvent containing cleaning agents including such as flon and which are stable as water system cleaning agents and free from environmental destruction and contamination.
Another object of the invention is to provide dewatering compositions which have the substituting and drying properties equivalent to those of organic solvent containing dewatering cleaning agents, which have few risks of fires and which are free from environmental destruction.


A method of rendering customized pointing indicia including the steps of monitoring application program interface messaging and intercepting a call for a unique system pointer identifier. A stored collection of predefined vector shapes is accessed, from which a predefined vector shape is selected correlated to the current system pointer identifier. The stroke and fill attributes are set for the vector shapes. A sequence of rasterized frames of vector shapes having different attributes are created and displayed to produce animated pointing indicia effect. The customized vector shape is rasterized and displayed to an end user operating a computer. Customization, animation, and magnification of pointing indicia are performed responsive to user input, which may be a touchscreen event, body movement, hand gesture, mouse event, or a key stroke.

Low vision individuals often require customization of computer screen interfaces to discern text and images. Customization systems may be built into the operating system itself or may comprise feature-rich, third-party products such as those sold under the MAGIC brand manufactured by Freedom Scientific, Inc., based in St. Petersburg, Fla.
A deficiency in the current state of the art is that of scaling pointing indicia such as a cursor or caret from small to large dimensions. For example, all mouse pointers have a discrete minimum and a common maximum size. The minimum size is a multiple of the system metrics for the mouse pointer. Generally, this metric is a 32×32 pixel square under operating systems sold by Microsoft Corporation out of Redmond, Wash. under the brands WINDOWS 7, VISTA, and XP. However, it is common for a mouse pointer to only occupy a 16×16 square, top-left justified, within this metric.
When the screen is magnified to a high level, such as 16-fold, the mouse pointer becomes pixelated and distracting to the user. Various smoothing techniques may be applied to reduce pixelation, but such processes consume CPU cycles and still lead to imperfect results. A serious problem with presenting a jugged and pixelated pointing indicia to a low vision user is that such flaws may undermine the confidence of a low vision user in her ability to see clearly: the user may be in doubt on whether the flaws are introduced through magnification of the pointing indicia are whether the poor vision of the user is the cause of the perceived imperfections.
Yet another deficiency is limited customization of pointing indicia. Some low vision users have difficulty distinguishing certain colors making it burdensome—or even impossible—to identify and observe the movement of the pointing indicium as it navigates a computer screen. Accordingly, what is needed is a vector-based pointing indicium whose outlining border and body may be independently colorized to enable the low vision users to better distinguish the pointing indicium from the background content of the screen.
Finally, although animation of pointing indicia is well known in the art, animation of a pixelated cursor—especially at higher magnification levels—suffers from the same flaws as described above. Therefore, there exists a need for a method of animating a vector-based pointing indicia.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Vector-based customizable pointing indicia


A vehicle includes a body structure and a frame rail assembly. The frame rail assembly extends forward from the bulkhead along a longitudinal centerline. The frame rail assembly includes a frame rail defining a rail axis and a reinforcing member. The frame rail defines a longitudinally extending seam and the frame rail extends forward from the bulkhead along the longitudinal centerline. The frame rail further defines an end portion. The reinforcing member is secured to the frame rail at the end portion to increase a stiffness of the frame rail at the end portion. The reinforcing member is configured to limit a stress at the seam, transverse to the rail axis, resulting from a load applied to the end portion of the frame rail and laterally offset from the longitudinal centerline.

Vehicles include some form of a body structure, which often includes a pair of laterally offset frame rails that extend forward from a bulkhead. A bumper structure, including a load bearing beam, may be attached to a forward end of the frame rails. In the event of an offset frontal applied load, in which a load is applied to a forward corner of the vehicle, the applied load may be transmitted or transferred to the adjacent frame rail.

Automotive frame rail reinforcing member to manage an offset, frontal applied load


A variable aperture stop with no moving parts is disclosed. The aperture stop comprises a first region comprising a first optically transmissive medium, a second region comprising a second optically transmissive medium, and an electro-optical structure adapted to selectively switch the second region between a first state of optical transmissivity and a second state of optical transmissivity upon application of an electric potential thereto. The electro-optical structure comprises a top optically transmissive conductor, a bottom optically transmissive conductor positioned below and parallel to the top conductor so as to define a space therebetween, the space including the first region and the second region, and an electric voltage applicator coupled to the top conductor and adapted to apply an electric voltage to the top conductor that creates the electric potential between the top and bottom conductors.

The present disclosure relates to aperture stops in general and in particular, to a variable, apodizable aperture stop with no moving parts.
Optical devices such as cameras, video recorders, telescopes and satellites include an aperture stop that controls the amount of light passing through the lens of the device. The size of the aperture is typically controlled by mechanical means. For example, in the case of a camera, the lens' diaphragm may be made from thin metal blades that overlap. A rotatable aperture control ring is fitted around the barrel of the lens, and the blades move smoothly toward or away from the center of the lens upon rotation of the control ring, which in turn results in the aperture being reduced or enlarged in radius. Alternatively, a movable sheet having a plurality of apertures of different sizes may be placed in front of the lens to achieve the desired aperture size. With such a configuration, however, the number and range of aperture sizes available is necessarily limited.
As with all mechanical devices, such mechanical aperture stops are subject to wear and tear and thus have a limited life. For the same reasons, they often are prone to becoming unreliable, which is especially problematic in space applications where faulty aperture stops cannot be easily or quickly serviced. In the case where repair or replacement of the aperture stop is not possible, the optical device is rendered useless. Mechanical aperture stops are also vulnerable to environmental disturbances such as high shock or vibration and temperature variations, which is especially problematic in harsh environments like space. In addition, due to the mechanical nature of such aperture stops, movement of the optical device in which they are placed is often inevitable, which has an adverse affect on the quality of the images produced. This is especially problematic in applications in which movement of the optical device cannot be tolerated such as in space, where focus may not be adjustable.
Another significant problem associated with mechanical aperture stops is the occurrence of diffraction at the sharp edges of the aperture. When observing space scenes, the excessive glare resulting from such diffraction is especially problematic. The size of mechanical aperture stops also makes them unsuitable for applications requiring a high degree of miniaturization. In today's technological world where smaller is better, such aperture stops are highly undesirable.
Accordingly, there is a need for a variable, apodizable aperture stop having no moving parts.

Variable aperture stop with no moving parts

Abstract: An apodizable, variable aperture stop with no moving parts is also disclosed. The aperture stop comprises a conductor having a perimeter, and an electro-optical structure coupled to the conductor. The electro-optical structure defines a first region within the perimeter of the conductor and is adapted to selectively switch the first region between a first state of optical transmissivity and a second state of optical transmissivity upon application of an electric potential thereto. The aperture stop produces an aperture having variable, optically transmissive regions representing an apodization when the first region is in the second state of optical transmissivity. Methods for manufacturing both aperture stops are also disclosed.


To provide a semiconductor device which can detect low illuminance. A photoelectric conversion element, a diode-connected first transistor, and a second transistor are included. A gate of the first transistor is electrically connected to a gate of the second transistor. One of a source and a drain of the first transistor is electrically connected to one of a source and a drain of the second transistor through the photoelectric conversion element. The other of the source and the drain of the first transistor is electrically connected to the other of the source and the drain of the second transistor. By using transistors which have different threshold voltages for the first transistor and the second transistor, a semiconductor device which can perform detecting of low illuminance can be obtained.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device. In particular, the present invention relates to a semiconductor device having a photoelectric conversion device and a transistor. Further, the present invention relates to an electronic device using such a semiconductor device.
2. Description of the Related Art
A large number of photoelectric conversion devices generally used for detecting an electromagnetic wave are known, and for example, a photoelectric conversion device having sensitivity to ultra-violet rays to infrared rays is collectively referred to as an optical sensor. An optical sensor having sensitivity to a visible light region with a wavelength of 400 to 700 nm is particularly referred to as a visible light sensor. A large number of visible light sensors are used for devices which need illuminance adjustment, on/off control, or the like depending on human living environment.
In particular, in a display device, ambient brightness of the display device is detected to adjust display luminance. This is because unnecessary power consumption can be reduced by detecting ambient brightness and obtaining appropriate display luminance. For example, such an optical sensor for adjusting luminance is used for a mobile phone or a personal computer.
In addition, not only ambient brightness but also luminance of a display device, in particular, luminance of a backlight of a liquid crystal display device is detected by an optical sensor to adjust luminance of a display screen.
In such an optical sensor, a photodiode is used for a detecting portion and output current of the photodiode is amplified in an amplifier circuit. A current mirror circuit is used for such an amplifier circuit, for example. (e.g., see Reference 1: Japanese Patent No. 3444093).

Semiconductor device and electronic device using the same

Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.


A method and system to display a pop-up window when a user leaves a website are disclosed. A user accesses a website with a web browser. When a web page from the website is loaded into the user's browser, a client-side variable is set to a particular value, such as the current time. When the web page from the website is unloaded from the browser, a hidden pop-up window is loaded. The hidden pop-up window is programmed to sleep and then check the value of the client-side variable. A change in the value of the client-side variable indicates a new web page from the same web server has been loaded into the web browser and the user has not left the website. However, if a web page from a different web server is loaded into the browser, then the value of the client-side variable remains unchanged. Consequently, when the hidden pop-up window awakes and checks the value of the client-side variable, the pop-up window can determine whether the user has left the original website. If the user has left the original website, the pop-up window is displayed. If not, the pop-up window is unloaded before ever being displayed to the user.

Online retailers have come up with many clever methods to advertise their goods and services on the World Wide Web via the Internet. One such scheme is referred to as a pop-up window. A pop-up window, sometimes referred to as a pop-up advertisement, is a window that suddenly appears (pops up) when a user takes a particular action, such as when a user selects a link with a mouse click or presses a special function key on a keyboard. Generally, pop-up windows are one of two types. A pop-up advertisement is a window that appears on top of the active window, thereby disrupting the user by blocking the view of the active window. A pop-under advertisement is a pop-up window that appears underneath the active window so that it does not disturb the user.
While pop-up windows are primarily used for advertising, there are a variety of other uses for pop-up windows. For example, an online retailer might use a pop-up window to present a survey, or otherwise solicit information, from the user.

Method and system to display a pop-up window when a user leaves a website


Fabric suspension frame pole ratchet mechanism. In some embodiments, an example fabric suspension frame may include a pole support side arm, a pole configured to have fabric spooled thereon, and a pole ratchet mechanism. The pole may be configured to be manually rotated in a first rotational direction and a second opposite rotational direction. The pole ratchet mechanism may include a ratchet sleeve attached to the pole, a ratchet slider configured to be positioned in a receiving slot of the pole support side arm, and a ratchet shifter attached to the pole. The ratchet sleeve may define a first set of teeth, and the ratchet slider may define a second set of teeth configured to selectively engage with the first set of teeth. The ratchet shifter may be configured to be manually shifted between an engaged position and a disengaged position.

Sewing machines generally function by reciprocating a threaded needle into and out of one or more layers of fabric to form a row of stitches in the fabric. While some sewing machines are operated in a stationary fashion while the fabric is repositioned underneath the needle, other sewing machines, such as quilting machines, are operated in a maneuverable fashion by repositioning the needle while the fabric remains stationary. When operated in this maneuverable fashion, the fabric typically remains stationary and mounted on a frame, known as a quilting frame or fabric suspension frame.
A fabric suspension frame used for quilting generally includes one or more poles upon which layers of fabric are spooled. In particular, a first pole may be spooled with an upper quilt-top fabric, a second pole may be spooled with a lower quilt-backing fabric, a third pole may be spooled with a middle quilt-batting fabric, and a fourth pole may be spooled with a composite sandwich of the three layers of fabric quilted together as the finished quilt. At least one of the poles may include a mechanism for applying tension to the layers of fabric in order to provide a generally flat sewing surface for the quilting process undertaken using the quilting machine.
Typical pole tensioning mechanisms often include a ratchet wheel and pawl system. However, one problem encountered with current pole tensioning mechanisms is difficulty encountered when engaging and disengaging the ratchet wheel and pawl systems. For example, friction in a typical ratchet wheel and pawl system may create pressure that can be hard to overcome, and there exists the possibility that a user's fingers may become pinched. Another problem encountered with current pole tensioning mechanisms is the cost and complexity associated with portions of the pole tensioning mechanism that are separate from the pole itself and are instead integrated into other portions of the fabric suspension frame.
The subject matter claimed herein is not limited to embodiments that solve any disadvantages or that operate only in environments such as those described above. Rather, this background is only provided to illustrate one example technology area where some embodiments described herein may be practiced.


In an ATM network, the physical resources are shared by many connection and the bandwidth is allocated virtually to each connection. The connection admission control (CAC) algorithm uses traffic descriptors, desired quality of service (QOS) parameters etc., to compute a required bandwidth for a requested connection by which it makes a decision to admit or reject the connection. Unlike any prior CAC, the CAC of the invention for constant bit rate (CBR) service takes also into consideration the cells delay variation (CDV) for calculating the required bandwidth.

ATM based broadband networks will support diverse applications ranging from voice and circuit emulation to variable bit rate video and data, each having diverse traffic characteristics. This diversity of traffic poses new challenges in terms of bandwidth allocation and traffic control within the network.
The resource (bandwidth) allocation problems in ATM networks are very different from the ones present in circuit switched or the existing packet switched networks. In existing telephone networks, for example, new connection requests are blocked on the basis of a shortage of trunks. In an ATM node this is not the case, since the physical resources are allocated virtually, and shared by many connections. In other words, all connections are statistically multiplexed onto the same link and yet expect the network to meet certain performance requirements for each connection. The problem of allocating appropriate bandwidth to each connection then becomes a crucial one. Routes are typically selected and connections accepted so as to "optimise" some measure of resources utilisation while providing adequate QOS to the carried traffic. This requires knowledge of both the current traffic conditions and the impact of adding a new connection.
The resource allocation procedure hence forth referred to as the connection admission control (CAC) algorithm, uses the connection traffic descriptors (e.g., peak rate, mean rate also referred to as average rate or sustainable bit rate, and maximum burst size) along with the desired QOS parameters (e.g., cell loss, cell delay and cell delay variation) to access the amount of bandwidth required by the connection. The decision to accept or reject a connection is then based on the amount of available bandwidth on the outgoing link, in addition to other parameters which the network administrator may deem necessary to consider.
It should also be noted that although the connection admission control algorithm deals with the cell level performance of a connection, it impacts the call level performance as well via network dimensioning and routing. Both network dimensioning and routing need estimates of required bandwidth for typical connections to determine facility requirements and select appropriate routes respectively.
Generally speaking, in an ATM network a traffic contract is negotiated between the user and the network at each connection setup. The user supplies the traffic characteristics (descriptors), the desired QOS, and the destination address to the network controller. The ATM network controller would pass connection request on to the CAC algorithm. The CAC algorithm then determines whether there is enough free bandwidth available on each hop of the source-destination route to accept the connection.
A connection can belong to one of the four service categories defined by such industry-wide association bodies as ATM FORUM. These service categories are: (1) constant bit rate (CBR) service; (2) variable bit rate (VBR) service; (3) available bit rate (ABR) service; and (4) unspecified bit rate (UBR) service. ATM FORUM defines these services as follows:
The CBR service is for applications and services which have very stringent cell loss, delay and delay variation requirements. PA1 The VBR service is for applications and services which have less stringent cell loss, delay and delay variation requirements than the applications which use the CBR service. PA1 The ABR service is currently being defined by ATM FORUM. This service is meant primarily for data applications such as LAN-to-LAN interconnections. PA1 The UBR service is primarily for data applications. This service has no guaranteed quality of service associated with it. However, the QOS for the UBR service is engineered to meet certain (target) objectives. PA1 (a) .zeta.=1n(.delta.)/L=0 (small d and infinite buffer size, i.e. L->.infin.) produces the mean bandwidth r.sub.i for connection "i" which is given as ##EQU2## (b) .zeta.=1n(.delta.)/L=-.infin. (no buffer) produces the peak bandwidth .gamma..sub.1 for connection "i". PA1 Because all connections are statistically multiplexed at the physical layer and the bit rate of connections varies, a challenging problem is to characterise, as a function of the desired grade of service, the effective bandwidth requirement of both individual connections and the aggregate bandwidth usage of connections multiplexed on a given link. This information is provided by accounting (on each link) for the amount of bandwidth currently allocated to accommodate existing connections, and by identifying how much additional bandwidth needs to be reserved on links over which a new connection is to be routed. Because of the statistical multiplexing of connections and shared buffering points in the network, both the accounting and reservation are based on some aggregate statistical measures matching the overall traffic demand rather than on physically dedicated bandwidth or buffer space per connection. In addition to the inherent complexity of such a matching, another major challenge is to provide these traffic control functions in real-time, upon the arrival of a connection request. The corresponding procedures must, therefore, be computationally simple enough so their overall complexity is consistent with real-time requirements. PA1 we propose a computationally simple approximation for the equivalent capacity or bandwidth requirement of a single or multiplexed connections on the basis of their statistical characteristics. When connections are statistically multiplexed, their aggregate statistical behaviour differs from their individual statistical representation. One needs, therefore, to define new metrics to represent the effective bandwidth requirement of an individual connection as well as the total effective bandwidth requirement of connections multiplexed on each link. The purpose of the equivalent capacity expression is to provide a unified metric to represent the effective bandwidth of a connection as well as the effective aggregated load on network links at any given time. These link metrics can then be used for efficient bandwidth management, routing, and call control procedures.
The exact problem of bandwidth allocation can be modelled as .SIGMA. G/D/1/K queuing model. However, the solution to the exact problem is too complicated to meet the real time requirements of a bandwidth allocation algorithm. Therefore suitable approximations must be made. One approximation model is the On/Off fluid flow process.
In "Effective bandwidths for the multi-type UAS channel" by R. J. Gibbens and P. J. Hunt in Queuing Systems (1991) pages 17-28, the uniform arrival and service (UAS) model is used to study traffic offered to a multi-service communication channel. As shown in FIG. 1, a plurality of sources i=(1, . . . , N) 10 are multiplexed at a multiplexer 12 to an outgoing link 14. The traffic from each source is assumed to be of the On/Off pattern in which the source generates cells at a constant rate .gamma. for a period of time t.sub.1 and is silent for a period of time t.sub.2. The multiplexer 12 has a buffer 16. The rate .gamma. is constant, but both t.sub.1 and t.sub.2 are random variables. The On and Off periods are usually assumed to be exponentially distributed. According to Gibbens and Hunt, the effective bandwidth of i-th CBR connection can be approximated as follows: ##EQU1## where T.sub.1i and T.sub.2i are the mean values of the On and Off periods respectively of i-th connection, i.e. T.sub.1i =<t.sub.1i > and T.sub.2i =<t.sub.2i >. .mu..sub.i =1/<t.sub.1i > and .lambda..sub.i =1/<t.sub.2i >. .zeta.=1n(.delta.)/L<0. .delta. is the cell loss probability and L is the buffer size (expressed in terms of the number of cells it can hold).
In equation (1)
CACs according to known schemes use aggregates of either peak bandwidth or effective bandwidth, such as .SIGMA..gamma..sub.i, or .SIGMA.r.sub.i, as the criterion for accepting or rejecting the requested call.
An article entitled "Equivalent Capacity and Its Application to Bandwidth Allocation ;in High-Speed Networks" by R. Guerin, H. Ahmadi and M Naghshineh in IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications Vol. 9, No. 7, September 1991, pages 968-981, describes also in detail the CACs based on the fluid flow model and the stationary bit rate approach using Gaussian approximation. The article mentions that:
The article then reports that:
Guerin et al considered two approximations, fluid flow approximation and stationary approximation. The fluid flow approximation is substantially same as the one discussed by Gibbens and Hunt referenced above. This approximation produces the effective bandwidth for connection (i) as c.sub.i.
The stationary approximation results in an equation of ##EQU3## where m is the mean aggregate bit rate and .sigma. is the standard deviation of the aggregate bit rate and .epsilon. is the buffer overflow probability.
Finally the article states that the equivalent capacity, C is taken to be the minimum of ##EQU4## where N is the number of multiplexed connections.
Guerin et al uses this equivalent bandwidth as the criterion for accepting or rejecting the requested call.
As discussed above, constant bit rate connections are ideally characterised by periodic cell arrivals at the switch or multiplexer. However, in reality due to buffering in the customer premises equipment (CPE) and the upstream switches the traffic characteristics of the CBR connections change from a well behaved periodic (100% correlated) cell stream to a stochastic (or less correlated) cell stream with cell inter-arrival times distributed according to the delay experienced by the cell in the queues. This variation in the inter-arrival time causes the peak rate of the connection to momentarily increase or decrease around the application's peak rate, resulting in an increase in the buffer and bandwidth requirements. This increase in the buffer and bandwidth requirements is dependent on the absolute value and distribution of cell delay variation (CDV).
Therefore, the amount of bandwidth allocated to CBR connections is a function of: (1) peak rate of the connection; (2) the CDV value and distribution; (3) the available buffering; and (4) the QOS requirements of the connections. Hence an admission control scheme discussed above will not work in many cases where CDV and available buffering must be taken into consideration.
The known approximation schemes such as those discussed above have not addressed these effects and the invention improves the calculation of required bandwidth by taking into account of CDV cell delay variation and available buffering.

Connection admission control for ATM networks


An electromagnetic actuator status defines two pairs of poles between which an elongate magnetisable armature can see-saw through a mid position between two home positions defined by two of the poles. A closed low reluctance path in each home position includes a permanent magnet which keeps the armature in either home position. An electromagnet is energised by a current pulse, to repel the armature from one home position and attract it to the other. Resilient energy storage means resists the final movement of the armature towards each pole. A non-magnetisable curved central region of the armature makes rolling contact with a complementary curved surface with the stator to cover and uncover openings therein. The stator is housed within, or forms a fluid chamber and fluid supplied thereto can be delivered selectively through one or the other of the two openings.

UK 1,513,966 describes electromagnetic switching devices, FIGS. 10 and 11 of which show such a device in which an armature 3 can rock between two points under the influence of electric current produced changes in the flux linking the armature and four poles 6, 6′ 7 and 7′. In FIG. 11 springs are shown permanently linking one end of the armature two of the poles, to centre the armature between the poles. Examples of the centring springs are shown in FIGS. 12 and 13.
In both devices shown in FIGS. 10 and 11 of UK 1,513,966 a layer of non-magnetic material from which the coil bobbin is constructed, exists between the ends of the magnets and the magnetic material forming the poles 6, 6′, 7 and 7′ respectively. This significantly weakens the flux density available to attract and hold the armature in contact with poles 6 and 7′ (or 6′ and 7). In fact, unless current is flowing in the solenoid coil of the FIG. 11 device, the armature appears to be held by the centring springs midway between the poles, out of contact therewith. That device is therefore not a truly bistable device, but can adopt an intermediate third state, in which the armature makes no contact with any of the poles. In fact since the springs shown centre the armature in the absence of current in the coil, the forces exerted by the springs on the armature are greater than the force of attraction due to the permanent magnet, and it is only when the magnetic force acting on the armature is increased by the flux due to the current flowing in the coil, that the spring forces are overcome and the armature will move into contact with one or the other set of poles 6 and 7′ or 6′ and 7.
An electromagnetic actuator is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,621,660 which employs permanent magnets, a pivoting armature and a winding through which an electric current is passed to shift the armature from one position to another. The armature co-operates with ports and passages in a housing containing the actuator so as to cover and uncover openings therein to control the flow of fluid from one passage to another. However no attempt is made to store energy during armature movement, subsequently to accelerate the armature in transit between its two positions. The actuator does not therefore have a fast response time. In addition the armature will impact against the newpoles as it transfers from one pair of poles to the other, and this can introduce significant wear and shorten the life of the device.

Electromagnetic fluid flow control valve