Methods for the production of reversibly male-sterile plants by introduction of a polynucleotide encoding a GA-insensitive mutant protein are disclosed along with nucleic acid constructs and transformed cells useful in the production of such plants. Also disclosed are the use of plants containing recombinant nucleic acid sequences in preventing pollination of plants with pollen containing one or more transgenes and in the introduction of economically important traits into elite varieties of plants.

Reversible male sterility is a valuable trait in the production of hybrid seed. Because phytohormones are believed to be involved in the plant male organ development, male sterility can potentially be induced by alteration of endogenous hormone levels or by alteration of responses to hormones. Several attempts have been made to chemically induce male sterility with the application of phytohormones (Moore, Science, 129:1738–1740, 1959; Eeninck et al., Acta Bot. Neerla, 27:199–204, 1978; Sawhney, Can. J. Botany, 61:1258–1265, 1981; Saini et al., Aust. J. Plant Physiol., 9:529–537, 1974; Chandra Sekhar et al., Sex. Plant Reprod., 4:279–283, 1991). Although these exogenous hormone treatments successfully produced male sterile plants, the narrow window of application, the necessity of applying chemicals continuously to produce sterility, lower seed yields on the treated plants after crossing, and occasional lapses in achieving complete sterility make hormonal induction of male sterility impractical for commercial hybrid seed production. The pleiotropic effects of the hormone applications as well as environmental influences on exogenous hormone uptake, translocation and metabolism likely cause these inconsistencies. The discovery of genes involved in hormone pathways and promoters conferring tissue-specific expression permit control of endogenous phytohormone levels in specific tissues, and allow precise, effective induction of male sterility. More importantly, male sterility induced by phytohormone perturbations can theoretically be reversed by application of the appropriate phytohormonal agonists or antagonists. Fertility restoration is critical as it enables inbred male sterile lines to be maintained.
The use of molecular biology to produce male sterility in plants has been described. In a series of patents, Cigan et al. disclose the use of the anther-specific promoter 5126 and variants thereof to control expression of sequences related to pollen formation (U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,689,049; 5,689,051; 5,763,243; 5,792,853; 5,795,753; 5,837,851; and 6,072,102). Albertson et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 5,962,769) describe a method for producing reversible male-sterile plants by introduction of an expression vector that produces avidin. Male sterility is reversed by crossing to a "restorer" line expressing anti-sense avidin or a suitable ribozyme. Alternatively, sterility can be reversed by application of biotin. Baudot et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 6,207,883) disclose the male fertility gene Ms41-A in Arabidopsis and a related maize gene Zm41-A. Baudot et al. further disclose that mutation of the Ms41-A gene resulted in male sterility. Michiels et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 6,025,546) utilized a method of transforming plants with a coregulating gene combined with a male sterility gene to generate a higher frequency of male sterile transgenic plants. Poovaiah et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 6,077,991) disclose the suppression of calcium/calmodulin-dependant protein kinase expression by the use of antisense constructs to induce male-sterility. Scott et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 5,955,653) disclose the use of a tapetum-specific callase gene and its promoter to induce male-sterility. Van Tunen et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 6,005,167) disclose a method for inducing male sterility by the use of recombinant polynucleotides that inhibit the expression of one or more genes involved in the synthesis of chalcone or one of its precursors.
It has been reported that sterility in many male sterile mutants is related to the decline of endogenous gibberellin (GA) levels (Nakajima et al., Plant Cell Physiol., 32:511–513, 1991; Sawhney, Can. J. Botany, 70:701–707, 1992; Sawhney and Shukla, Am. J. Botany, 81:1640–1647, 1994) and that mutant plants could also lead to male sterility (Koornneef et al., Physiol. Plant, 65:33–39, 1985).
The gai gene isolated from Arabidopsis can negatively regulate GA responses (Peng et al., Gene Dev., 11:3194–3205, 1997: WO 97/29123). The gai mutation of Arabidopsis confers a dwarf phenotype and a dramatic reduction in GA responsiveness (WO 97/29123). The gai is a gain-of-function mutation, and the wild-type allele (GAI) is dispensable. GAI encodes a polypeptide (GAI) of 532 amino acid residues. A 17-amino acid domain is missing in the gai mutant polypeptide. GAI contains several motifs characteristic of transcriptional coactivators, suggesting that GAI acts as a transcriptional regulator. The mutant gai appears to be resistant to GA regulation.

Reversible male sterility in transgenic plants by expression of a GA-insensitive mutant protein, gai.


A segment is defined in an item of media content. A first file is received that includes content to be added to the segment. A second file is received that includes depth information related to the first file. The depth information is used to extract, from the first file, the content to be added to the segment. The extracted content is added to the media segment.

Media content producers may provide items of media content to a large number of consumers, e.g., via a broadcast, web downloads, etc. Accordingly, such items of media content are typically generic, that is, the items of media content, such as a television program, video clip, or the like, are generally not customized or tailored for a particular consumer, or for a particular set of consumers. In fact, mechanisms are lacking for customizing media content that is broadcast or otherwise provided to a variety of consumers. Also, mechanisms are lacking for personalized remote user participation in media content.


A nitride semiconductor laser device chip has a nitride semiconductor stacked-layered structure including an n-type layer, an active layer and a p-type layer stacked successively on a main surface of a nitride semiconductor substrate. A ridge stripe structure is formed in a portion of the p-type layer. The chip has a length L1 of more than 500 μm in a longitudinal direction of the stripe structure and a length L2 of more than 200 μm in a width direction of the stripe structure, and L1/L2 is more than 2.5.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to improvement of a nitride semiconductor laser device chip and of a nitride semiconductor laser apparatus including the same.
The nitride semiconductor described herein includes AlxGayInzN (0≦x≦1, 0≦y≦1, 0≦z≦1, x+y+z=1). In the nitride semiconductor, less than about 10% of the nitrogen element may be substituted with at least one element of As, P and Sb (provided that the hexagonal crystal system is maintained). Further, the nitride semiconductor may be doped with at least one of Si, O, Cl, S, C, Ge, Zn, Cd, Mg and Be.
2. Description of the Background Art
FIG. 6 is a schematic cross sectional view of a nitride semiconductor laser device chip disclosed in Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 11-340571. In this laser device chip, an n-side clad layer 801, an n-side light guide layer 802, an active layer 803, a p-side light guide layer 804, a p-side clad layer 805, a p-side contact layer 806, an insulating film 807, and a p-electrode 808 are successively formed on one main surface of a nitride semiconductor substrate 800 comprised of a plurality of layers. An n-side contact layer 809 and an n-electrode 810 comprised of a plurality of layers are formed on the other main surface of substrate 800.
The laser device chip of FIG. 6 is 400 μm long in the longitudinal direction of its resonator, and 400 μm long in the width direction of the resonator.
The n-electrode side of the laser device chip of FIG. 6 is attached by thermocompression to a heat sink metallized with Au, and an Au wire is used to provide the chip with an electrical connection, to produce a nitride semiconductor laser apparatus.
As described above, in a conventional nitride semiconductor laser device chip, special attention has not been paid to its shape and dimensions, and the laser device chip normally has four sides of approximately the same lengths.
The inventors, however, have found through a variety of studies about the shape and dimensions of the nitride semiconductor laser device chip that the laser operating lifetime of the laser device is affected by the shape and dimensions of the chip.

Nitride semiconductor laser device chip and laser apparatus including the same


An appearance protective case and an appearance protective case assembly are provided in which damage of a colored or marked pattern due to exposure is prevented, and in which the structure of a formed member having the colored or marked pattern printed thereon is made simple so that the formed member is easily incorporated into the appearance protective case. The appearance protective case includes a sheet-like formed member formed by draw-processing a sheet-like member treated with coloring or marking and a transparent or translucent cover case, and is assembled by fitting the sheet-like formed member into the cover case such that the sheet-like formed member extends in close contact with the inner surface of the cover case.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a protective case for protecting resin or other suitable material used for an external appearance surface of a personal computer (PC) card, a Compact Flash™ (CF) card, or other suitable device, and more particularly, the present invention relates to an appearance protective case for protecting a marked pattern or other indicia printed on the appearance surface thereof and an appearance protective-case-assembly including the appearance protective case.
2. Description of the Related Art
A PC card, a memory stick, a multimedia card, a CF card, and other such devices are widely used as a memory card or an I/O card for use in a personal computer and for communication and/or industrial use. Each such card or device has a marking pattern such as a logo that is painted or printed (hereinafter, simply referred to as printed) thereon.
Previously, a resin case has been used as an external appearance surface of an extension (i.e., a portion for storing a transmitting antenna or other element) of a PC card or a CF card. Also, the front surface of the resin case has been treated for better appearance with embossing for having a satin pattern formed thereon, with painting, or with silk-screen printing, or has had a marked pattern such as a mark or a logo printed thereon.
In the case of painting, although it is easy to paint the entire surface of the case with a single color, when a pattern is painted with two or three colors or when it is required to refrain from applying a paint material on the rear surface thereof, a masking step is needed, and also a masking jig and a masking tape are needed, thereby resulting in additional working tools and an additional working step. In addition, insufficient masking sometimes causes a stain to be produced in the boundary between the masking tape and the paint, thereby leading to deteriorated appearance.
In the case of silk-screen printing, it is necessary to print an individual product of the resin cases piece by piece with a screen plate, thereby causing a complicated work. Also, the number of steps of silk-screen printing increases as the number of colors increases, thereby resulting in an increased work load.
In addition, when the resin case is treated with embossing, although its appearance quality can be improved by changing the visual appearance of its surface, it is impossible to change its color by changing its reflection characteristics with embossing. As a result, there is a limit to the amount of expressiveness that can be achieved.
In any of the above-described methods, since a marked pattern or other indicia is printed on the front surface of the resin case, rubbing or deterioration during use causes the marked pattern or indicia to be eventually erased.
To solve the above-described problem, a method in which a transparent case is used and the inner surface of the case is treated with painting or printing has been proposed. However, since this method has drawbacks such as a very difficult masking work, an extraordinarily increased number of working steps, and a dirty appearance due to pooled ink produced during painting, this method has not been implemented.
As disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Utility Model Registration Application Publication No. 5-29744, there is a method in which a decorative sheet has a transparent surface layer formed on the front surface thereof and is drawn by pneumatic molding and then is cut, and the cut decorative sheet is inserted into a molded component so as to assemble a cover case. However, this method has drawbacks such as the requirement that an additional step of setting the drawn and cut sheet to be molded in a molding die be performed, and a damaged appearance of the decorative sheet caused by heat and a shearing force applied on the sheet to be molded during insert-forming.

Appearance protective case and appearance protective case assembly


A printing paper protective device includes a protecting plate having a bent portion for separating a paper stack and an open portion for detecting when the paper stack has disappeared. The protecting plate is placed on the printing surface of printing paper and is accommodated in a paper cassette together with the paper stack.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a printing paper protecting device which is capable of preventing the printing surface of printing paper, such as sublimation type printing paper, from being soiled during transportation or loading into a paper cassette.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 16 is a perspective view illustrating an example of how a stack of conventional printing paper is packaged. In FIG. 16, a paper stack 1, consisting of sheets of sublimation type printing paper (image-receiving paper), is loosely packaged by a first packaging material 2. In other words, the first packaging material 2 is larger than the paper. The first packaging material 2 has a notch 2a and opening perforations 2b.
FIG. 17 is a perspective view illustrating another example of how a stack of conventional sublimation type printing paper is packaged. In FIG. 17, the paper stack 1 is closely packaged by a second packaging material 3. The second packaging material 3 has an opening ribbon 3a.
FIG. 18 is a plan view illustrating an example of a paper cassette for a printer. In FIG. 18, a side wall surface of a cassette body 4 is provided with positioning protrusions 4a which make contact with the rear end portion and two side surface portions of the printing paper. A pair of separating claws 5 are mounted in the cassette body 4 at positions where they make contact with the two corners of the forward end portion of the printing paper. The separating claws 5 separate the printing paper one by one when the paper is fed. Also, a pressure plate 6 on which the printing paper is placed is provided inside the cassette body 4. Springs 7 are provided between the cassette body 4 and the pressure plate 6 to urge the pressure plate 6 in the upward direction.
How the paper stack 1 is set in the paper cassette will be explained. In the case of the paper stack 1 packaged by the first packaging material 2 shown in FIG. 16, first, the first packaging material 2 is unsealed from the notch 2a along the perforations 2b. Next, the forward end portion of the paper stack 1 is placed in the cassette body 4 at a predetermined position with the paper stack 1 being held by hand in the remaining portion of the first packaging material 2, as shown in FIG. 19. Thereafter, the remaining portion of the first packaging material 2 is pulled out in the direction indicated by an arrow in FIG. 19.
In the case of the paper stack 1 packaged by the second packaging material 3 shown in FIG. 17, since the paper stack 1 is closely packaged by the packaging material 3, it is difficult to pull out the second packaging material 3 in the manner shown in FIG. 19. Hence, after the unsealing ribbon 3a is removed, the whole of the second packaging material 3 is peeled off the paper stack 1. Then, the paper stack 1 is placed in the cassette body 4 at a predetermined position with the paper stack 1 being directly held by hand, as shown in FIG. 20.
The paper cassette with the paper stack 1 set therein is loaded in a printer body 8, as shown in FIG. 21.
In the case of the conventional paper stack which is packaged by the first packaging material 2 shown in FIG. 16, since the paper stack 2 is loosely packaged, the end portion of the paper stack 1 may become irregular due to vibrations which occur during transportation or the like. To square the ends of the paper stack 1, the paper stack 1 must be handled by hand, making the printing surface (the dyeing surface) of the printing paper soiled by fats in fingerprints or the like. In the case of the conventional paper stack packaged by the second packaging material shown in FIG. 17, since the paper stack 1 is closely packaged, the corner portions of the second packaging material 3 may be damaged, thus damaging the printing paper. Furthermore, the paper stack 1 must be handled directly by hand, and this makes the printing surface of the printing paper soiled. Printing cannot be completely done on the printing paper whose printing surface is partially soiled. Consequently, the printing paper is wasted, and the printing quality deteriorates.


A method for error correction and a system. The method may include opening a selected row of a memory bank out of multiple memory banks of a dynamic memory module; and while the selected row is open: (i) receiving selected data sub-blocks that are targeted to be written to the selected row, (ii) calculating selected error correction code sub-blocks that are related to the selected data sub-blocks, (iii) caching the selected error correction code sub-blocks in a cache memory that differs from the dynamic memory module and (iv) writing, to the selected row, the selected error correction code sub-blocks.

Advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), and autonomous vehicle (AV) systems use cameras and other sensors together with object classifiers, which are designed to detect specific objects in an environment of a vehicle navigating a road. Object classifiers are designed to detect predefined objects and are used within ADAS and AV systems to control the vehicle or alert a driver based on the type of object that is detected its location, etc.
ADAS and AV systems are required to process a significant amount of information (such as image pixels) in real time. This may involve accessing dynamic memory modules that store the information.
Dynamic memory modules may include multiple memory banks. The multiple memory banks may be arranged in groups of memory banks.
Some dynamic memory modules, such as fifth generation low power memory devices (LPDDR5), impose a significant time gap between consecutive accesses to the same group of memory banks.
There is a growing need to allow a high-throughput access to information stored in dynamic memory modules of ADAS and AV systems.

Error correction coding in a dynamic memory module


A combination includes a first chip package unit and a second chip package unit on which the first chip package unit is placed. Each of the first and second chip package units includes a substrate having a first surface, a second surface, a chip package electrically connected to the first surface, and a plurality of bonding pads formed on the first and second surfaces. The bonding pads on the first surface of the first chip package unit are respectively electrically connected with the bonding pads on the surface of the second chip package unit. The chip packages electrically connected to the first surfaces are enclosed by the substrates, and the bonding pads on the second surfaces are configured as interface terminals of the combination.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to chip package units and, particularly, to a combination of chip package units.
2. Description of Related Art
In accordance with the trend of miniaturizing electronic apparatuses, attempts are being made to pack more than one chip into a package for achieving a high density. However, each chip performs a special function, and functions of each package are invariable once assembled.
What is needed, therefore, is a combination of chip package units which overcome the above described problem.

Stack combination of plural chip package units


For clearing of the bore liners of geothermal wells, disclosed is a clearing tool that can be used without a drive motor, but with a drive hammer, to clear mineral deposits from the inside of the bore liners of geothermal wells. A forward end clears unwanted material from a live well. An aft end engages with a hammer device. The tool also has working surfaces to bear against and to cut through or to break up the unwanted material, at least one bypass passage conveying fluid from the live well through the clearing tool, and at least one exhaust passage communicating with the hammer device and conveying exhaust gases from the hammer to exhaust exit ports. The location of at least one exhaust exit port is a location that is situated aft of a forward face of the forward end of the clearing tool.

The inside diameter of geothermal wells and pipelines becomes clogged with mineral deposits (calcides) that are laid down by the steam over time. If the wells or pipelines are not cleaned on a regular basis, they can become completely blocked over a period of years.
Geothermal wells are particularly prone to becoming clogged with mineral deposits at points in the wells where hot water feeds into the well from a geothermal field and through entry holes provided in the steel well liner tubes. The super-heated water flashes into steam as it passes through the entry holes in the steel well liner tubes. As the hot water flashes into steam, some of the minerals in the fluid are deposited on the sides of the well liner tubes. It is these build-ups of minerals, often including calcides, that grow to the point that they restrict flow from the geothermal wells.
It is important that as few fragments of material are left on the inside of the bore as possible during cleaning operations. Any fragments that are left become the starting points for new build ups on the inside of the bore. If the bore can be cleaned completely, it takes longer for the deposits to build up to a point where they restrict flow out of the wells.
These mineral deposits are very hard, and rock drilling equipment of the type that is used to drill new wells is often used to regularly clear or clean the wells. These clean out operations are often carried out annually to ensure the efficient operation of geothermal wells for the purpose of producing electricity. The cost of these cleanout operations can typically be in the order of millions of dollars.
The cost of the 'clearout' operations can be reduced to some extent if the wells can be cleared while they are live, that is, while the wells are hot and steam continues to flow out of the wells. This eliminates the need to cool or quench the wells prior to the cleanout operations, which is a costly and time consuming process in itself. Such a process also eliminates productions losses that occur during the time. Sometimes weeks, that it takes for a quenched well to resume normal steam output.
Conventional drilling equipment however is not designed to operate in live wells. The pressure of the steam that is rising out of a live well can adversely affect the efficiency of the drilling equipment.
In this specification unless the contrary is expressly stated, where a document, act or item of knowledge is referred to or discussed, this reference or discussion is not an admission that the document, act or item of knowledge or any combination thereof was at the priority date, publicly available, known to the public, part of common general knowledge; or known to be relevant to an attempt to solve any problem with which this specification is concerned.


In a security apparatus for securing an electrical connector, a plug may be fitted for insertion into a connector receptacle compliant with a connector standard. The plug has at least one aperture adapted to engage at least one latch in the connector receptacle. An engagement member is adapted to partially extend through at least one aperture and lock to at least one structure within the connector receptacle.

Owners and users of computers and other electronic devices are highly sensitive to data security concerns. Many corporations and government agencies limit access to data. One technique for restricting data access is to limit devices to which a user can connect or disconnect their computers, thereby preventing employees from copying information from computer systems onto storage media or storage devices that the employee might remove from the premises. Limiting device access can also prevent employees from uploading harmful, unlicensed, or otherwise improper software, data, or viruses onto company computers.
Companies use various techniques to prevent uploading and downloading of information. Some prohibit all removable media devices from the computers, for example including floppy drives, compact disk (CD) writers, Iomega ZIP drives and Jaz drives, and others. Another solution is to place a mechanical locking device in place of the standard media. Other techniques include attaching or gluing a lock which prevents a drive such as a floppy drive, a compact disk (CD) drive, a digital versatile disk (DVD) drive, or other drive from opening. Further security methods may include the usage of terminals without any local storage capability.
The above-described solutions do not fully ensure data security because various interfaces may remain that allow access to data, including serial ports, parallel ports, or other types of data interfaces such as Universal Serial Bus (USB) ports on any computer surfaces to which an employee can still connect an external storage device. Some companies have taken steps to prevent data access by physically removing the data ports, breaking pins inside the ports, or by sealing the ports with epoxy, resulting in an irreversible and permanent disabling of the ports. If a computer support technician desires to later update system software on the computer, the disabled ports prevent reconnection of devices that would allow updating or restoration of the system software.
Even actions such as opening the computer case, removing an internal hard drive, and replacing the drive on an unprotected computer with the capability to upload software may not be feasible due to differences in hardware and an inability to install software patches on the computer within which the hard drive is ultimately to execute.


The present invention relates to a WLP fabrication method capable of welding a lid wafer with a device wafer by using laser illumination. The WLP fabrication method can rapidly weld bonding metal strips of device and lid wafers with each other in order to couple the lid wafer with the device wafer while sealing an internal cavity from the outside without giving any thermal effect to a drive unit in the device wafer.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a package fabrication method using laser illumination. More particularly, the present invention relates to a Wafer Level Package (WLP) fabrication method capable of welding a lid wafer with a device wafer by using laser illumination.
2. Description of the Related Art
As well known in the art, electronic devices such as a Film Bulk Acoustic Resonator (FBAR) and a Surface Acoustic Wave (SAW) filter are being rapidly reduced in size as well as required of high reliability.
In these days, electronic devices are being rapidly reduced in size and thickness according to various requirements such as functional improvement and reduction in power consumption and device size. FBARs largely used in mobile phones are also following this trend. In the FBARs, accordingly, Chip Size Packages (CSPs) are gradually drawing attention, and Wafer Level Packages (WLP) are also being attempted in various aspects in order to improve productivity while reducing fabrication cost. Such a WLP is generally regarded as a major decisive factor in the competitiveness of a product in the market.
A WLP FBAR as above includes a device wafer having a micro drive unit such as a circuit mounted thereon, a lid or cap wafer coupled to the top of the device wafer and a side wall made of a metal strip for coupling the periphery of the device wafer with that of the lid wafer while sealing an air cavity or internal space designed for seating the drive unit from the outside. The cavity functions to protect internal electrode patterns from bad effects of hostile environments and foreign materials.
WLP electronic devices are fabricated according to a conventional fabrication process as follows: First, a drive unit is formed on a wafer, a cavity surrounding the drive unit is formed, and then a cap or lid is covered on the cavity via adhesive or other suitable bonding techniques to seal the cavity. Since any materials deposited on the top of the drive unit degrades the performance of a device, it is important to separate the lid from the drive unit to a predetermined gap.
Generally in the conventional fabrication process, a plurality of drive units and cavities are generally formed on a bulk wafer, and the bulk wafer is cut into a plurality of package-sized unit wafers each having a drive unit and a cavity before the lid is covered on each of the unit wafers via adhesive and so on.
However, this process has a problem in that following process steps are difficult since the bulk wafer is cut into small package-sized unit areas. In addition, since the lid is coupled to the wafer via adhesive and so on, there is a drawback in that a junction is fragile to external thermal impact.
As an improvement, such a wafer level electronic device can be fabricated into a WLP based upon a technique for designing RF device packages, particularly, eutectic metal bonding.
The eutectic metal bonding hermetically couples a cap or lid to a wafer by using a low temperature thermal reflow technique or an ultraviolet lamp technique. In more detail, a bonding metal strip is formed around a drive unit on a device wafer thereby forming a cavity, a lid is covered on the strip, and the bonding metal strip is melted via the low temperature thermal reflow technique or the ultraviolet technique to couple the lid to the device wafer. Alternatively, a corresponding metal strip may be formed on the lid to bond with the metal strip on the device wafer.
However, the above low temperature or ultraviolet lamp technique has following drawbacks. First, since these bonding techniques are performed at a relatively low temperature, the bonding metal strip is heated for a long time exposed to a heat source and thus the drive unit of the device wafer is also heated along with the bonding metal. This as a result exposes the drive unit to the heat source for a long time, excessively raising the temperature of the drive unit, so that thermal impact is applied to the drive unit degrading its properties. In particular, these bonding techniques need a relatively long working time (e.g., several minutes), and thus cause a higher risk of degradation to the drive unit. In addition, the long bonding operation of the prior art increases the entire process time and thereby lowers the productivity of a packaging process.
In order to overcome the foregoing drawbacks, it is required for the bonding metal strip to couple the upper lid wafer and the lower device wafer together for a short time period in a relative low temperature range which does not give thermal impact or effect to the device drive unit. However, since the device drive unit is made of heat sensitive material such as Au, those metals can rapidly weld via the thermal reflow at a temperature range, which is low enough not to give any thermal impact to the heat sensitive material, are very rare.

Wafer level package fabrication method using laser illumination


Mammalian genes coding for bcl-y are disclosed. Bcl-y is involved in mediating cell death or survival.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is in the field of recombinant genetics.
2. Related Art
The mechanism of cell death has come under increasing scrutiny in the last few years as scientists have sought to understand the biological basis of this phenomenon. Recent studies have shown that, in many cases, cell death is an active process involving a complex network of death triggers, death regulators and death effectors. The interactions of these death factors produce cell death pathways whose characteristics are really no different in principle from the pathways of intermediary metabolism. This realization has opened up the "black box" of cell death, allowing physiologists, biochemists and geneticists to begin to delineate cell death pathways and to identify the molecules involved.
Classically, two distinct forms of cell death have been recognized: necrosis and apoptosis. These processes have been distinguished based mostly on morphological criteria. In necrosis, cell and organelle swelling is a notable feature and the cells eventually burst releasing their contents into the surrounding tissue space. By contrast, the hallmark of apoptosis is cell shrinkage and organelle changes are uncommon. The exception to this is the nucleus where the chromatin condenses and becomes redistributed just under the nuclear envelope. Rather than bursting, apoptotic cells break up into small parcels containing plasma membrane, cytosol, organelles and pieces of nucleus. These so-called "apoptotic bodies" are eventually phagocytosed by neighboring cells, and can be visualized histochemically. Another important attribute of apoptosis (and the only established biochemical marker) is the discrete degradation of DNA resulting in a characteristic "DNA ladder" when analyzed on DNA-separating gels. These features (cell swelling vs. cell shrinkage and DNA ladder formation) have been used to characterize the death process in a variety of in vitro and in vivo models of cell death. However, it is important to realize that, although necrosis and apoptosis are still discussed in the literature as being distinct entities, they may, in fact, represent the extremes of a continuum of cell death processes and might share certain molecular features.
There are profound clinical implications to understanding the biology of cell death. In the normal development of a multicellular organism, many more cells are produced than are needed in the mature or adult tissue. Therefore, the process of cell birth (mitosis) must be counterbalanced by a process for reducing cell number. Obviously, if this homeostatic mechanism is disturbed, cells will die when they shouldn't and will live when they should die. There is a tremendous range of diseases in which a disruption of the normal cell death pathway may therefore play a central role. In nervous system disorders such as stroke and head trauma, neurons die due to external death triggers such as a lack of oxygen or excess excitatory neurotransmitters. Recent studies suggest that at least a portion of this neuronal death may occur by an apoptotic mechanism. In other neural diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, neurons die as part of a degenerative process whose triggers have not yet been determined, but which could possibly involve apoptosis. By contrast, in disorders such as cancer and hyperimmune diseases, cells live when they should die, resulting in tumors (cancer) or an overactive immune system (autoimmune diseases). Thus, the ability to intervene pharmacologically in the cell death pathway may provide a completely new set of therapeutic agents useful in a wide range of human diseases.
Several gene families have been implicated as critical players in the cell death pathway One of the most interesting of these gene families is the bcl-2/ced-9 family. The first member of this family, bcl-2was initially identified as a causal factor in certain types of lymphatic cancer (B-cell lymphoma, hence the name). In this disorder, bcl-2 is overexpressed resulting in an abnormally longer lifespan for B-cells which allows these cells to accumulate additional mutations resulting in frank malignancy and lymphatic tumor development. Since being identified, the bcl-2 gene and its protein product have been intensively studied and found to be an effective blocker of both necrotic and apoptotic cell death in several model systems, including models of nerve cell death. The biochemical function of bcl-2 is not known (i.e., it is not clear whether it acts as an enzyme, receptor or signaling molecule). However, some experiments suggest that bcl-2 may play a role in cellular antioxidant pathways. This antioxidant theory of bcl-2 action is bolstered by the finding that the bcl-2 protein is localized to intracellular membranes, including mitochondria, an organelle thought to participate in the production of toxic oxygen radicals. However, it should be kept in mind that some experiments suggest that bcl-2 can block cell death even under conditions when oxygen radical-inducing death does not occur, suggesting that there may be several parallel pathways of cell death, with bcl-2 having the ability to block several of these pathways.
Since the discovery of bcl-2, nine other genes structurally related to it have been discovered (see Table 1). These genes include ced-9, a bcl-2 homologue found in the worm, C. elegans, and several related genes expressed in viruses. The existence of this gene family suggests that a group of bcl-2-like molecules function within the cell to control cell viability. Interestingly, not all bcl-2 family members block cell death. Instead, some seem to promote cell death. In addition, some members of the family can bind to other members of the family, and this interaction appears to regulate the cell death pathway. These findings have led to the hypothesis that the bcl-2 family members form part of a combinatorial mechanism. In this model, the interaction of family members with each other, and possibly with unrelated proteins, can determine whether a cell will live or die.
For a recent review of the bcl-2 family of proteins, reference is made to Davies, A. H., Trends Neuroscience 18:355-358 (1995). See also WO95113292, WO9500160 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,015,568.
Because of the importance of the bcl-2 family in controlling cell death, a PCR-based cloning strategy was employed to identify new members of this family with particular emphasis on finding bcl-2 homologues which are enriched in the brain. The present invention is directed to the molecular cloning and analysis of one such homologue, which is designated bcl-y.

Genes Coding for Bcl-y, a Bcl-2 Homologue


A technique for improving voice recognition in low-cost, speech interactive devices. This technique calls for implementing a affirmative/negative discrimination unit in parallel with a word detection unit to permit comprehension of spoken commands or messages issued by binary questions when no recognizable words are found. Preferably, affirmative/negative discrimination will include either spoken vowel analysis or negative language descriptor detection of the perceived message or command. Other facets include keyword identification within the perceived message or command, confidence match level comparison or correlation table compilation in order to increase recognition accuracy of word-based recognition, volume analysis, and inclusion of ambient environment information in generating responses to perceived messages or queries.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to voice recognition technology and is particularly concerned with portable, intelligent, interactive devices responsive to complex voice commands.
2. Description of the Related Art
An example of conventional portable interactive voice recognition equipment is a voice recognition toy. For example, the voice recognition toy that was disclosed by the Japanese Laid Open Publication S62-253093 contains a plurality of pre-registered commands that are objects of recognition. The equipment compares the voice signals emitted by the children or others who are playing with the toy to pre-registered voice signals. If the two voice signals coincide, the equipment generates a pre-determined electrical signal corresponding to the voice command, and causes the toy to perform specific operations based on the electrical signal.
However, toys such as "stuffed dolls" that carry on conversations and perform operations based on the results of voice recognition using the aforementioned canned matching technique, however, are liable to recognize words and expressions that are different from those uttered by the speaker, leading to inaccurate or inappropriate responses. Such errors may frustrate or confuse the speaker, especially children, leading to disuse once the novelty has worn off.
Further, even when correctly recognizing these words and expressions, these toys are unable to react or respond in a manner appropriate for changing situations or environments. In most cases, their limited hardware and software capabilities only permit simple, one-step query and answer type operations. For example, a toy containing pre-registered expressions such as "good morning" and "good night", will simply mimic the speaker or perform some simple response when the speaker says "good morning". The toy will not query the speaker for further information or otherwise assess its surrounding environment.
Such limitations clash with emerging market trends that toys should perform increasingly sophisticated actions. If a child says "good morning" and the toy merely replies "good morning", the novelty wears off quickly. Therefore, voice recognition interaction technology for toys and similar devices should be enhanced and improved to handle more complex and intuitive dialogue, as well as improve recognition accuracy over the widely-implemented matching techniques discussed above.
One potential solution may be to incorporate into such devices continuous voice recognition/response technology that continuously recognizes voice and responsively performs appropriate and complex actions. This approach is quite successful in addressing several of the limitations presented by canned matching. However, proper implementation of conventional continuous voice techniques require copious amounts of memory, complicated signal manipulation circuitry and processing power currently beyond the means of most commercially available personal computers and digital assistants. Accordingly, continuous voice simply does not provide a practical recognition solution for the ultra-cost sensitive electronic toy, gaming or appliance markets.

Interactive voice recognition method and apparatus using affirmative/negative content discrimination


There is provided an inspection system capable of easily performing inspection of a radio section under an actual environment and enabling a user to easily identify a trouble. In this system, an analysis/display device (400) analyzes the data outputted from an inspection device (200, 300) and extracts a radio parameter. By using the radio parameter extracted from the data obtained by inspection of a cabled section, an inspection device (100) inspects the state of radio communication between a communication terminal device (50) and abase station device (150). The analysis/display device (400) aligns the cabled message and the radio message obtained by analyzing the data outputted from the inspection devices (100, 200, 300) in time series or in sequence of calls and displays them.

At the present day when radio communication system has been developed, it is necessary to perform maintenance work efficiently when a failure occurs and for this purpose, it is important to inspect information transmitted/received among apparatuses and specify the failure in early stages.
Conventional inspections regarding (1) a radio section between a communication terminal apparatus and a base station apparatus (Uu), (2) a wired section between the base station apparatus and a radio network control system (Iu) and (3) a wired section between the radio network control system and a core network (Iub) have been carried out individually.
In the inspection of the radio section by (1), the inspection apparatus receives a signal transmitted from the communication terminal apparatus or the base station apparatus, demodulates and decodes the signal using radio parameters, analyzes the acquired data and displays messages transmitted/received among the apparatuses. In this way, the user can specify which of the base station apparatus or the communication terminal apparatus is the cause of a failure occurred in the radio section (for example, Patent Document 1).
In a conventional radio section inspection apparatus, radio parameters are acquired using any one of "A. a method of designating user-designated radio parameters for the inspection apparatus" and "B. a method whereby the inspection apparatus monitors signals transmitted/received among communication apparatuses."
Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-72665

Inspection apparatus, analysis display apparatus, inspection system and inspection method


A processing circuit, which carries out coincidence counting, acquires calibration data so that time delays of γ-ray detection signals from radiation detectors coincide with one another. A technique for acquiring calibration data faster and easily is provided to attain high time precision and respond to multi-channeling of detectors. A signal from a test signal generator is sent to signal processing apparatuses and coincidence count events are generated as a test. The events generated are processed by a delay time control apparatus and a variable delay circuit is controlled to improve the accuracy of coincidence counting.

The present invention relates to a radiological imaging apparatus and a timing correction method therefor, and more particularly, to a radiological imaging apparatus and a timing correction method therefor suitable for use in a Positron Emission Tomography (hereinafter referred to as "PET") apparatus.
A PET inspection is an inspection carried out by administering radio pharmaceuticals (hereinafter referred to as "PET pharmaceuticals") containing positron emitters (15O, 13N, 11C, 18F, etc.) and having the nature of accumulating in a specific region (e.g., cancer cells) to an examinee and detecting γ-rays emitted from the affected area of the examinee by being provoked by the PET pharmaceuticals accumulated in the region using radiation detectors. When a positron emitted from the positron emitter contained in the PET pharmaceuticals encounters with neighboring electrons and annihilates, a pair of γ-rays having energy of 511 keV are emitted in substantially diametrically opposite directions. It is possible to identify locations where the PET pharmaceuticals are accumulated, that is, the affected area of cancer of the examinee based on the respective detection signals outputted from a pair of radiation detectors which have detected this pair of γ-rays.
To identify the affected area of cancer, it is necessary to identify the respective positions of the pairs of radiation detectors which have detected the pairs of γ-rays generated by annihilation of positrons and it is necessary to take a coincidence count of detection signals outputted from these radiation detectors. This requires time resolution with high precision. However, even when γ-rays enter two radiation detectors simultaneously, there is a variation in signal transmission from the respective radiation detectors to a coincidence circuit and there are differences in the times at which signals arrive at the coincidence circuit. For this reason, it is necessary to adjust transmission delays of signals from the respective radiation detectors so that the times at which signals arrive at the coincidence circuit coincide with one another.
Conventionally, timing correction of signals detected by radiation detectors is realized by acquiring calibration data using a calibration radiation source and adjusting a time variation of signal transmission based on the calibration data. This timing correction method is described, for example, in JP-B-6-19436 and Japanese Patent No. 3343122.
The signal timing correction method described in JP-B-6-19436 will be explained. First, γ-rays from the radiation source are detected by a radiation detector, a timing signal is created based on an output signal of the radiation detector and this timing signal is inputted to the coincidence count apparatus through a delay adjusting circuit. The sensitivity of the signal outputted from the coincidence count apparatus is measured. Next, the sensitivity of γ-rays from the radiation detector is measured using the same method as that described above while changing an amount of delay to be set in the delay time adjusting circuit. This is the method of correcting a signal delay time by setting the amount of delay corresponding to the highest measured sensitivity in the delay time control apparatus.
Next, the signal timing correction method described in Japanese Patent No. 3343122 will be explained. This method corrects timings of signal transmission by setting a calibration radiation source within a field of view of the PET apparatus, creating timing data indicating a time difference measured value of a coincidence event which occurs between a pair of radiation detectors, calculating a time delay value corresponding to each radiation detector and setting this time delay value in the corresponding radiation detector channel.
However, the above described conventional technologies obtain calibration data necessary for timing correction using a radiation source and γ-rays emitted for one event form a pair, and therefore it is possible to obtain calibration data for only the circuits connected to the two radiation detectors into which the respective γ-rays are introduced. For this reason, it takes a long time to obtain calibration data corresponding to all radiation detectors.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a radiological imaging apparatus and a timing correction method therefor capable of reducing a time required to acquire timing calibration data to be used for timing correction of output signals of radiation detectors.

Radiological imaging apparatus and timing correction method therefor


A network relay apparatus includes: a clock generation circuit, a processing circuit, a load detector and a clock cutoff circuit. The clock generation circuit is configured to generate a clock signal having periodical clock pulses. The processing circuit is configured to operate in synchronism with the clock pulses, in order to process data that is to be relayed by the network relay apparatus. The load detector is configured to detect a load of processing by the processing circuit. The clock cutoff circuit is configured to cut off supply of the clock pulses from the clock generation circuit to the processing circuit in order to partially eliminate the clock pulses at a rate corresponding to the load detected by the load detector and to provide the clock signal having the partially eliminated clock pulses to the processing circuit.

The present invention relates to a network relay apparatus, such as switch or router.
The network relay apparatus has an important role of relaying data in a computer network. There has been significant performance improvement and capacity increase of the network relay apparatus, accompanied with scale expansion of the computer network and an increase in amount of data transmitted in the computer network. Such performance improvement and capacity increase of the network relay apparatus, however, tends to increase power consumption of the network relay apparatus. It is accordingly required to reduce power consumption of the network relay apparatus, i.e., to achieve power-saving of the network relay apparatus.
One proposed measure enables generation of a high clock signal having relatively high frequency and a low clock signal having relatively low frequency and switches over the clock signal used to drive a processing circuit from the high clock signal to the low clock signal, so as to achieve power-saving of the network relay apparatus (see, for example, JP 2007-228490A and JP 2007-228491A). Another proposed technique disclosed in JP 2007-316805, so-called gating, cuts off supply of a clock signal to a memory at regular intervals, so as to achieve power-saving of the network relay apparatus.

Network relay apparatus and control method thereof


A first virtualization control mode to be used for configuring one or more compute instances is determined. Based at least partly on the mode, preparatory configuration operations for launching a compute instance are initiated. The operations include transferring at least a portion of a machine image to a storage device accessible from a host, and initialization of a virtual network interface. A compute instance is instantiated using the machine image at the host. The compute instance is a thread of an intermediary process launched by an administrative agent at the host in response to a launch request.

Many companies and other organizations operate computer networks that interconnect numerous computing systems to support their operations, such as with the computing systems being co-located (e.g., as part of a local network) or instead located in multiple distinct geographical locations (e.g., connected via one or more private or public intermediate networks). For example, data centers housing significant numbers of interconnected computing systems have become commonplace, such as private data centers that are operated by and on behalf of a single organization, and public data centers that are operated by entities as businesses to provide computing resources to customers. Some public data center operators provide network access, power, and secure installation facilities for hardware owned by various customers, while other public data center operators provide "full service" facilities that also include hardware resources made available for use by their customers.
The advent of virtualization technologies for commodity hardware has provided benefits with respect to managing large-scale computing resources for many customers with diverse needs, allowing various computing resources to be efficiently and securely shared by multiple customers. For example, virtualization technologies may allow a single physical virtualization host to be shared among multiple users by providing each user with one or more "guest" virtual machines hosted by the single virtualization host. Each such virtual machine may represent a software simulation acting as a distinct logical computing system that provides users with the illusion that they are the sole operators of a given hardware computing resource, while also providing application isolation and security among the various virtual machines. Instantiating several different virtual machines on the same host may also help increase the overall hardware utilization levels at a data center, leading to higher returns on investment.
A network-accessible service that provides virtualized computing functionality may have to manage hundreds of thousands, or even millions, of virtual machines concurrently. Some of the virtual machines, established for long-running client applications, may remain operational for weeks, months, or years, and may each consume a substantial amount of computing, memory and storage resources. Other virtual machines may be short-lived, e.g., lasting for just a few minutes or seconds to perform a specific task on behalf of a client, may each consume a smaller amount of resources, and may benefit more from short startup times. The same client may need a variety of different types of virtual machines for different applications and use cases, and the demand for the different types vary substantially over time. Designing a virtualization service that can efficiently handle large, dynamically changing mixes of virtual machines with widely differing functional and performance requirements remains a non-trivial technical challenge.
While embodiments are described herein by way of example for several embodiments and illustrative drawings, those skilled in the art will recognize that embodiments are not limited to the embodiments or drawings described. It should be understood, that the drawings and detailed description thereto are not intended to limit embodiments to the particular form disclosed, but on the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope as defined by the appended claims. The headings used herein are for organizational purposes only and are not meant to be used to limit the scope of the description or the claims. As used throughout this application, the word "may" is used in a permissive sense (i.e., meaning having the potential to), rather than the mandatory sense (i.e., meaning must). Similarly, the words "include," "including," and "includes" mean including, but not limited to. When used in the claims, the term "or" is used as an inclusive or and not as an exclusive or. For example, the phrase "at least one of x, y, or z" means any one of x, y, and z, as well as any combination thereof.

Computing service with configurable virtualization control levels and accelerated launches


The present invention relates to a member for an automobile front side member, in which the member has a simple sectional shape, is lightweight, is provided with a flat portion for mounting other parts on the member, and is excellent in axially compressive properties in the lengthwise direction against an impact. The member for the front side member according to the present invention comprises an Al alloy extruded square pipe, wherein the inside wall of each corner portion of the square pipe is made thicker than the wall of each side portion of the square pipe. The square pipe of the present invention includes a pipe square or rectangular in sectional shape, or a pipe provided with a flange on the square or rectangular pipe and so on.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an Al alloy extruded square pipe for use in the structure of an automobile, and more particularly, to an Al alloy extruded square pipe which is an energy absorption member excellent in axially compressive properties in the lengthwise direction for an automobile front side member.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A member for an automobile front side member (which will be hereinafter simply referred to as also a front side member) as shown by a front side member 150 in FIG. 15 is provided on the left and right sides of an engine room at the front of an automobile, and functions as an absorber which absorbs energy of the shock of impact when happened, resulting in maintaining the safety of users.
As generally known, when the front side member 150 causes multiple buckling deformation so as to be crushed (i.e., so-called accordion buckling) as the result of receiving a compressive load in the lengthwise direction caused by the impact, the buckled front side member absorbs energy more efficiently than the broken or bent front side member.
FIG. 16 shows the relation between the load and the rate of deformation when a compressive load is axially applied to the front side member 150. As shown in FIG. 16, the front side member 150 causes buckling at an initial load P1, and makes rapid progress in deformation at a fixed load (mean load) P2, so that multiple buckling deformation is presented. The initial load P1 is considered to be as low as possible with the intention of reducing the shock of impact when happened, while the fixed load P2 is considered to be as high as possible with the intention of improving energy absorption efficiency.
A front side member is required to be lightweight, be easily formed, be easily installed with various members such as a suspension and an engine and so on.
Conventionally, various types of front side members have been proposed as follows. As shown FIG. 10, for instance, proposed has been a front side member 60 formed by cutting an Al alloy extruded square pipe 61 crosswise into a plurality of members 62 and thereafter integrating these members with each other again by welding, whereby energy of the impact is absorbed by deforming the front side member 60 so as to start from its weld beads 63 (See Japanese Patent Toku-Kai-Sho No. 64-67482). However, the problems with this method are that the manufacturing process is increased in number, and its cost goes up, since this front side member is structured by integrating a large number of members with each other by welding.
As shown in FIG. 11, proposed has been a front side member 70, in which members 71, 72 formed by sheet metal processing are welded together into a member approximately square in sectional shape as shown in FIG. 11(a), and an intermediate portion is formed to be pentagonal or more polygonal in sectional shape as shown in FIG. 11(b) (See Japanese Patent Toku-Kai-Hei No. 6-206576). Otherwise, as shown in FIG. 12, proposed has been a front side member 80, in which concave and convex beads 82, 83 are formed at an intermediate portion of an Al alloy extruded square pipe 81 by pressing (See Japanese Patent Toku-Kai-Hei No. 7-52820). The front side member 70 or 80 still presents the problems in that the manufacturing process is increased in number and its cost goes up.
On the other hand, a front side member annular in sectional shape has been also proposed for the purpose of heightening energy absorption efficiency (See Japanese Utility Model Jitsu-Kai-Hei No. 4-108484). However, since this front side member is annular in sectional shape and has no flat portion, it is difficult to mount other members on this front side member.
As shown in FIG. 13, proposed has been an Al alloy extruded square pipe 90, in which all four corner portions 92A to 92D and all four side portions 93A to 93D are uniform in wall thickness, for the purpose of reducing the weight or the like. However, this square pipe is still inferior in energy absorption efficiency.
As shown in FIG. 14, proposed has been a front side member 100 which is a rectangular pipe having the shape, in which a cross is enclosed by a rectangle in section, and composed of an inner longitudinal pillar 104, an inner lateral pillar 105, two longitudinal sides 103A, 103C of a large wall thickness and two lateral sides 103B, 103D of a small wall thickness, whereby even an elongate member easily causes multiple buckling deformation (See Japanese Patent Toku-Kai-Hei No. 6-247338).
However, the problems with the member 100 are that this member has a complicated sectional shape, is hard to be formed by extrusion, and increases in weight.
3. Object of the Invention
It is an object of the present invention to overcome the above problems, and particularly, to provide a member which is used for an automobile front side member and satisfies the requirements in that a member should have a simple sectional shape, be easily formed by extrusion and easily worked subsequently to extrusion, be lightweight as much as possible, be provided with a flat portion for mounting other parts on the member, be excellent in axially compressive properties in the lengthwise direction against an impact, that is, show high energy absorption efficiency and so on.

Aluminum alloy extruded square pipe excellent in axially compressive properties for automobile front side member


An apparatus for testing insulated high voltage devices includes a first ground plane connected to a reference voltage potential having a first plurality of resiliently compressible conductive fibers extending therefrom and a second ground plane connected to the reference voltage potential having a second plurality of resiliently compressible conductive fibers extending therefrom. The first and second ground planes are arranged to receive an insulated high voltage device under test connected to a voltage potential greater or less than the reference voltage potential between them and configured such that at least a portion of the first and second pluralities of resiliently compressible conductive fibers are in compressive contact with the insulated high voltage device under test. A method of testing insulated high voltage devices is also presented herein.

High voltage electrical devices, such as bus bars, wiring harnesses, or a combination thereof are preferably tested while energized with high voltage in contact with a ground plane to verify the integrity and adequacy of the electrical insulation on the device and ensure that no electrical arcs are generated due to insulation defects.
Prior means for performing such tests have involved various apparatuses and methods. A first example test apparatus includes machined metal plates acting as ground planes which surround the device under test. The metal plates are specially shaped to conform with the particular geometry of the device under test. Because these metal plates are customized for each device this first example test apparatus has the drawbacks of requiring separate ground planes that are specially configured for each unique device configuration under test along with the manufacturing costs and time for making each ground plane, and changes to the ground planes driven by engineering changes during the design cycle of the device under test. A second example test apparatus includes a chamber containing metal ball chains connected to ground that are arranged over and under the device under test. Since the metal ball chains under the device are noncompressible, this second example test apparatus is not well suited for inflexible devices, such as bus bars. A third example test apparatus is a metallic vacuum chamber in which the device under test is placed. The vacuum in the chamber increases the arc distance. This third example test apparatus has the drawbacks of requiring a sealed interface to test the device. The pneumatic features of the third example test apparatus have high costs for design, integration and maintenance. In addition, certain devices under test are not capable of withstanding the differential pressure needed. A fourth example test apparatus is a wand or cuff that replaces the ambient air around the device under test with an inert gas. This fourth example test apparatus is designed for manual use and has low test repeatability and therefore is unsuitable for regular high-volume production use.

Apparatus and method for testing insulated high voltage devices


A variable compression ratio device of an internal combustion engine includes a piston inner part connected to a connecting rod and a piston outer part fitted on an outer periphery of the piston inner part. The piston outer part is only slidably in an axial direction, and is movable between a low compression ratio position near the piston inner part and a high compression ratio position near the combustion chamber. A skirt part is slidable and is guided by an inner peripheral surface of a cylinder bore of an engine. The skirt part is integrally formed on the piston inner part. A peripheral wall of the piston outer part is terminated directly above the skirt part. Thus, switching of the position between the low compression ratio position and the high compression ratio position by an inertia force of the piston outer part is performed smoothly with a reduction in weight of the piston.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an improvement of a variable compression ratio device of an internal combustion engine, wherein a piston includes a piston inner part which is connected to a connecting rod via a piston pin and a piston outer part which is fitted on an outer periphery of the piston inner part so as to be only slidable in an axial direction. The piston outer part is movable between a low compression ratio position near the piston inner part and a high compression ratio position near a combustion chamber, with an outer end surface of the piston outer part facing the combustion chamber. A cam mechanism is provided between the piston inner part and the piston outer part that alternately gives the low compression ratio position and the high compression ratio position to the piston outer part. An actuator is provided in the piston inner part to operate the cam mechanism. The cam mechanism includes a lift member which is supported by the piston inner part and is moved by the actuator alternately to a lift release position and a lift position. A plurality of first cam top portions are projectingly provided integrally on a top surface of the lift member. A plurality of second cam top portions are projectingly provided on an undersurface of a head part of the piston outer part. In the lift release position of the lift member, the first cam top portions and the second cam top portions are meshed with each other to move the piston outer part to the low compression ratio position. In the lift position of the lift member, the first cam top portions and the second cam top portions cause their top surfaces to abut on each other to move the piston outer part to the high compression ratio position.
2. Description of the Related Art
Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2004-44512 discloses a variable compression ratio device for an internal combustion engine.
In the conventional variable compression ratio device of an internal combustion engine, a cam mechanism moves a piston outer part alternately to a low compression ratio position and a high compression ratio position. The cam mechanism includes a lift member which is supported by a piston inner part to move between a lift release position and a lift position. A plurality of first cam top portions are projectingly provided integrally on a top surface of the lift member. A plurality of second cam top portions are projectingly provided on an undersurface of a head part of the piston outer part. In the lift release position of the lift member, the first cam top portions and the second cam top portions are meshed with each other to move the piston outer part to a low compression ratio position. In the lift position of the lift member, the first cam top portions and the second cam top portions cause their top surfaces to abut on one another to move the piston outer part to a high compression ratio position. Therefore, in either of the low compression ratio position and the high compression ratio position of the piston outer part, the piston inner part and the piston outer part abut on each other in a large area via the cam mechanism, so that heat transfer from the piston outer part at a high temperature to the piston inner part at a low temperature is excellently performed. Thus, the variable compression ratio device has an advantage of being capable of enhancing a cooling performance of the piston.
However, since a skirt part which is slidably fitted to an inner peripheral surface of a cylinder bore to stabilize the posture of the piston is formed at the piston outer part, when the piston outer part switches the position between the low compression ratio position and the high compression ratio position by using its inertia force, the piston outer part is slid accompanying the skirt part on the inner peripheral surface of the cylinder bore, so that a delay in switching of the position sometimes occurs due to sliding resistance of the skirt part. In addition, since the piston inner part is slidably fitted to the inner peripheral surface of the piston outer part over its entire outer peripheral surface, the fitting area of the piston inner part and the piston outer part is large, thereby increasing the weight of the piston.

Variable compression ratio device of internal combustion engine


Pharmaceutical compositions containing irbesartan, alone or in combination with a diuretic, providing tablets with a high relative amount of active agent and excellent wetting and disintegration properties.

Irbesartan, 2-n-butyl-4-spirocyclopentane-1-[(2'-(tetrazol-5-yl)biphenyl-4-yl)methyl]- 2-imidazolin-5-one, is a potent, long-acting angiotensin II receptor antagonist which is particularly useful in the treatment of cardiovascular ailments such as hypertension and heart failure. Irbesartan has the following structure: ##STR1## and is described in Bernhart et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,270,317, incorporated herein by reference. Preferred pharmaceutical compositions of this drug contain, as active ingredient(s), irbesartan alone or in combination with a diuretic such as hydrochlorothiazide.
Irbesartan may be administered in dosages containing a substantial quantity of the active agent (e.g., 75-300 mg). Certain physical properties of the drug present a challenge in developing formulations suitable for preparing a tablet having both a substantial quantity of active agent and a small enough tablet mass to allow ease of swallowing.
Irbesartan is, for example, a fluffy material, with relatively low bulk and tap densities. These properties make it difficult to formulate a large amount of the drug into a small tablet with uniformity of weight, hardness, and other desirable tablet properties. In addition, irbesartan has certain undesirable flow characteristics, for example, is sticky and can adhere to surfaces such as tablet punch faces and dies, causing problems in tableting, especially on a high speed tablet press. The low aqueous solubility of irbesartan also presents a challenge, since, to keep the tablet mass small, only limited amounts of excipients may be added to facilitate wetting, disintegration, and ultimately, rapid and complete drug release. The addition of a diuretic such as hydrochlorothiazide, which is also a fluffy material exhibiting poor flow and low aqueous solubility, can further contribute to tableting problems.
Thus, there is a need in the art for pharmaceutical compositions containing irbesartan, alone or in combination with a diuretic, which have good properties for tablet formation, and yet which contain a low mass of excipients so that small, easily swallowed tablets with a high content of active agent may be prepared.


Embodiments of the present invention relate to systems, devices, and methods for delivering distending media to an organ of a patient with a dispensing device for acquiring an image of the organ while distended. In one embodiment, an insufflating device comprises a controller for detecting a pressure level of the distending media within an organ of a patient, wherein the controller is configured to signal an operator to acquire an image of the organ when the pressure level is within a predetermined pressure range for a predetermined period of time. Further, the insufflating device comprises a valve assembly in communication with the controller and in fluid communication between the source of distending media and the organ of the patient, wherein the valve assembly is configured to adjust a flow rate of the distending media delivered to the organ of the patient.

Colorectal cancer, cancer of the large intestine and rectum, is second only to lung cancer in the amount of cancer deaths caused each year. Approximately 5% of all people will develop colorectal cancer within their lifetime. As is true with many other cancers, early detection of colon cancer or its precursors greatly increases chances of survival.
Precancerous polyps begin to form in the colon when cells in the lining of the intestine mutate and begin dividing rapidly. If left untreated, 8 to 12 percent of polyps will become cancerous tumors. Polyps sometimes bleed, and there may be some noticeable rectal bleeding that leads to early detection of precancerous growths. However, most of the time, this blood is invisible to the naked eye and is only detectable microscopically.
Gastrointestinal imaging can be used to accurately identify precancerous polyps and can thereby be used to prevent the development of colorectal cancer. The diagnostic performance of gastrointestinal imaging, including but not limited to computer tomography (CT) imaging and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), may be facilitated by distending a desired body part prior to and during the diagnostic procedure. Ideally, distention is maintained throughout the procedure to obtain the most accurate image. Currently, it is known to distend the colon or other body parts of an individual prior to and during examination by direct connection of an insufflator to the proximal end of a rectal catheter or insertion tip that is inserted into the rectum of the individual. With this device, air or carbon dioxide (CO2), for example, can be introduced into the colon. The sudden introduction of a sizeable amount of air or other gaseous media to an organ of the patient may cause the patient to experience discomfort or even pain.
Currently, the practice of using an electromechanical insufflator to comfortably control distension of the colon with carbon dioxide for radiographic imaging of the colon, typically referred to as CT colongraphy (virtual colonoscopy), is mostly utilized with computed tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) devices. Distending the colon with a gaseous media during such diagnostic procedures to open the colon's lumen provides a high to low contrast boundary defining its interior surface when exposed to X-rays when using a CT scanner. The radiologist can then view the resulting surface image in either 2-D or 3-D post scan to identify anatomic abnormalities, such as pre-cancerous growths, on the surface of the colon that could potentially represent a disease state in the colon. Currently, an operator of an electromechanical insufflator determines whether the organ of the patient to be scanned has been properly insufflated with the distending media by comparing the pressure and volume data from the insufflating device. In addition, an operator of the electromechanical insufflator may initiate a scout scan using the computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging device to further evaluate whether the organ of the patient has been properly insufflated. Further, an operator of an electromechanical insufflator may be stationed in an adjacent viewing room to a CT suite where the patient and the insufflator is located. Thus, the operator may not be able to adjust or control the insufflator unless he is located in the CT suite with the patient and the insufflator.
Therefore, there exists a need for an insufflating system that is configured to simplify techniques for distending an organ for acquiring images as part of a medical imaging procedure. Moreover, there exists a need for an insufflating system that provides greater control over the delivery of the insufflating medium to safely deliver and distend an organ in a manner that is comfortable to the patient.

System, device, and method for providing and controlling the supply of a distending media for CT colonography


An output circuit, a digital/analog conversion circuit and a display apparatus can reduce the number of required input voltages and the number of transistors to save the necessary area. The output circuit and the digital/analog conversion circuit comprise a selection circuit for receiving as input a plurality of (m) reference voltages having mutually different respective voltage values, selecting two of the voltages according to a selection signal and outputting them and an amplifier circuit for receiving as input the voltages output from the selection circuit at two input terminals T1, T2 and outputting the voltage obtained by interpolating the voltage difference of the two input terminal voltages V(T1), V(T2) to a predetermined ratio. It may alternatively be so arranged that the selection circuit sequentially outputs the selected two voltages and the amplifier circuit sequentially receives as two input the two voltages and outputs the output voltage obtained by interpolation.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an output circuit, a digital/analog circuit and a display apparatus realized by using the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
Liquid crystal displays (LCDs) provides advantages of being thin and lightweight and operating at a low power consumption rate. Hence, they have recently been finding a variety of applications including display sections of portable telephone sets (mobile phones, cellular phones), PDA (personal digital assistants), notebook-sized personal computers and other mobile electronic appliances. Additionally, as a result of the technological advancement in the field of displaying moving scenes on large display screens of liquid crystal display apparatus in most recent years, stand type large screen liquid crystal display apparatus and large screen liquid crystal television sets have become available to say nothing of mobile applications. Many liquid crystal display apparatus are active matrix drive type apparatus that can operate as high definition display apparatus. Now, a typical configuration of active matrix drive type liquid crystal display apparatus will be briefly described by referring to FIG. 20 of the accompanying drawings. FIG. 20 schematically illustrates an equivalent circuit for certain principal components connected to a pixel of a liquid crystal display 1.
Generally, the display section 960 of an active matrix drive type comprises a semiconductor substrate formed by arranging transparent pixel electrodes 964 and thin film transistors (TFTs) 963 in the form of a matrix (having 1,280×3 pixel columns×1,024 pixel rows in the case of a color SXGA panel), an opposed substrate 966 on which a single transparent electrode 966 is formed and liquid crystal filled between the two oppositely disposed substrates.
The operation of turning on and off each of the TFTs 963 that function as switches is controlled by a scanning signal. More specifically, as a tone voltage that corresponds to a video signal is applied to one of the pixel electrodes 964 to turn on the corresponding TFT 963, the transmittance of the liquid crystal there is changed due to the potential difference produced between the pixel electrode 964 and the opposed substrate electrode 966 and the potential difference is maintained by a corresponding liquid crystal capacity 965 for a predetermined period of time to display an image there.
A plurality of data lines 962 for transmitting a plurality of level voltages (tone voltages) to be applied to the pixel electrodes 964 and a plurality of scanning lines 961 for transmitting scanning signals are arranged on the semiconductor substrate to form a lattice (1,280×3 data lines and 1,024 scanning lines in the case of a color SXGA panel). Thus, the scanning lines 961 and the data lines 962 operate as large capacitive load due to the capacity that arises at each of intersections of two lines, the liquid crystal capacity sandwiched between the semiconductor substrate and the opposed substrate electrode and other factors.
Scanning signals are supplied to the scanning lines 961 by means of a gate driver 970, while a tone voltage is supplied to each of the pixel electrodes 964 by means of a data driver 980 by way of the data lines 962.
The operation of rewriting the data of a scene is performed in each frame period (1/60 seconds), during which the pixel rows (lines) are sequentially selected as scanning lines and tone voltages are supplied to the respective pixel electrodes by way of the data lines.
While the gate driver 970 is required only to supply at least binary scanning signals, the data driver 980 is required to drive the data lines by drive voltages of multi-valued level, the multi-value being a function of the number of data lines. Therefore, a differential amplifier that can highly precisely output voltages is used for the buffer section of the data driver 980.
High image quality liquid crystal display apparatus (with an increased number of colors) have been developed in recent years. Currently, there is an increasing demand for liquid crystal display apparatus that can display at least 260,000 colors (6-bit video data for each of RGB) and preferably 26,800,000 colors (8-bit video data for each of RGB).
Therefore, the data driver that outputs tone voltages that corresponds to such multi-bit video data required to highly precisely output voltages. Furthermore, as the number of elements of the circuit section for processing video data rises, the chip area of the data driver LSI increases to push up the manufacturing cost. Now, this problem will be discussed in detail below.
FIG. 21 of the accompanying drawings illustrates the configuration of the data driver 980 of FIG. 20. Some of the principal components of the data driver 980 are shown in blocks in FIG. 21. Referring to FIG. 21, the data driver 980 comprises a latch address selector 981, a latch 982, a tone voltage generating circuit 983, decoders 984 and buffer circuits 985.
The latch address selector 981 determines the timing of data latch according to clock signal CLK The latch 982 latches video digital data at the timing determined by the latch address selector 981 and outputs the data simultaneously to the decoders 984 according to STB signal (strobe signal). The tone voltage generating circuit 983 generates tone voltages for a number of different tones that correspond to the video data. The decoders 984 select one of the tone voltages corresponding to the input data and output it. The buffer circuits 985 receive the tone voltages output respectively from the corresponding decoders 984 and amplify the electric currents thereof, which are then output from them as output voltages Vout.
For example, when 6-bit video data are input, the number of tones is 64 and the tone voltage generating circuit 983 generates tone voltages of 64 different levels. Then, the decoder 984 is designed to select one of the tone voltages of 64 levels.
When, on the other hand, 8-bit video data are input, the number of tones is 256 and the tone voltage generating circuit 983 generates tone voltages of 256 different levels. Then, the decoder 984 is designed to select one of the tone voltages of 256 levels.
Thus, as the number of bits increases for video data, the circuit size of the tone voltage generating circuit 983 and that of the decoders 984 increase. When the number of bits of each video data is raised from 6 to 8, the circuit size is expanded by four times. Therefore, the chip area of the data driver LSI increases remarkably as the number of bits of each video data rises to consequently push up the manufacturing cost.
To cope with this problem, techniques have been proposed to suppress the increase of the chip area of the data driver LSI if the number of bits rises. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,246,351 (Patent Document 1) describes such a technique. FIG. 22 of the accompanying drawings schematically illustrates the circuit arrangement proposed in above-cited Patent Document 1 (and corresponds to FIG. 2 of Patent Document 1). Referring now to FIG. 22, it comprises a string DAC section (decoder section) 4001 that includes a string of a set of resistors R000 through R255 and a set of voltage selection switches S000 through S255 for selecting a voltage that are arranged at respective positions located between adjacent resistors and an interpolation amp section 4100 that includes switches 4004 for selectively receiving as input the voltages supplied to a differential amplifier having a plurality of homo-polar differential pairs and two input terminals 4002, 4003 to the non-inverting inputs of the differential amplifier.
The string DAC section 4001 selects the two voltages between the opposite ends of a resistor selected out of the resistors R000 through R255 of the resistor string by the switches S000 through S255 that are controlled by the upper M bits of a digital data and the selected voltages are supplied respectively to the input terminals 4002, 4003 of the interpolation amp section 4100. The two voltages selected by the switches are limited to the voltages at the opposite ends of one of the resistors R000 through R255 of the string of resistors and hence the voltages at the opposite ends of a plurality of serially connected resistors or same voltages would never be selected.
In the interpolation amp section 4100, the voltages V1, V2 supplied respectively to the input terminals 4002, 4003 are selectively input to non-inverting inputs 4111, 4121, 4131, 4141 by means of the switches 4004 that are controlled by the lower N bits of the digital data so that it is possible to output the voltages that can internally divide the difference voltage between the voltages V1 and V2 to appropriate ratios that correspond to the ratios of the numbers of different inputs of V1 and V2. Since four differential pairs are provided in FIG. 22, it is possible to output four voltages including three voltages that internally divides the difference voltage between the two voltages V1, V2 of the terminals 4002, 4003 to ratios 1:3, 1:1 and 3:1 and V1, using the LSB (least significant bit). Thus, it is possible to reduce the number of levels of the voltage to be input relative to the number of levels of the voltage to be output to 1/(number of differential pairs). Therefore, it is possible to reduce the number of power supply lines and the area of the string DAC section.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,396,245 (Patent Document 2) describes another technique. FIG. 23 of the accompanying drawings schematically illustrates the circuit arrangement proposed in above-cited Patent Document 2 (and corresponds to FIG. 5 of Patent Document 2). Referring now to FIG. 23, the interpolation amp section 4100b slightly differs from the interpolation amp section 4100 of Patent Document 1 in terms of configuration. For example, while the four differential pairs are driven by so many different electric current sources in the arrangement of FIG. 22, the four differential pairs are driven by a single common electric current source 4200b in the arrangement of FIG. 23.
The arrangement of FIG. 23 is identical with that of FIG. 22 in that two voltages are selected from a string of resistors R000b through R255b by means of switches S000b through S255b and the input to the differential amplifier 4100b is controlled by means of switches 4004b to internally divide the difference voltage between V1 and V2 to output corresponding voltages. Thus, the arrangement of FIG. 23 also provides the advantage of reducing the number of input power supply lines. The fact that the two voltages selected by the switches are limited to the voltages at the opposite ends of one of the resistors R000b through R255b of the string of resistors is also common to the arrangement of FIG. 22 and that of FIG. 23.
ECL multi-valued logic circuits comprising two differential pairs respectively having bases adapted to receive input signals, collectors connected to a common load resistance and emitters commonly connected to each other so as to be driven by electric current sources having different electric current values and an output transistor for driving the output terminals, using one of the terminals of the load circuit as input (see, inter alia, JP-A-61-248619).
When applying any of the above known arrangements to a multi-output driver such as the data driver of a display apparatus, it is important to minimize the area of the differential amplifier. When any of the known arrangement described above by referring to FIGS. 22 and 23 is used for the data driver, while it is possible to reduce the size of the part of decoders, the number of differential pairs has to be increased to two, four, eight, . . . on in order to reduce the number of tone power source lines by ½, ¼, ⅛, . . . . Then, the area occupied by the differential amplifier is increased to a very large extent to lose the area-saving effect.

Output circuit, digital/analog circuit and display apparatus


A synchronized JAVA debugger maintains synchronization between a JAVA source file in the debugger current working directory and a corresponding JAVA stored procedure in a database to be debugged. The debugger includes fetching module, storage module, display module, and execution module. The fetching module fetches a corresponding JAVA source file for a JAVA stored procedure from a database. The display module displays a recompile option, as a button, menu, or command line interface. In response to selection of the recompile option in the user interface, the execution module terminates the debugging session, sends a modified JAVA source file to the remote target JAVA Virtual Machine (JVM) and instructs the remote JVM to recompile the JAVA stored procedure using the modified JAVA source file before a new debugging session is started. Communication between the debugger and the remote database is by sending and receiving JAVA Debug Wire Protocol (JDWP) command packets.

Generally, JAVA debuggers process JAVA class files (extension .class) while debugging. JAVA class files are created by compiling JAVA source files (extension .JAVA). A debugger may use the JAVA source files to display the execution control. For instance, if a break point is reached while debugging a JAVA class file, the debugger would stop execution and display the break point on the corresponding JAVA source file.