A mortar removal drill bit system includes a toothed drill bit that includes an elongated rod that has a first end and a second end. A plurality of rectangular plates is attached to and extends laterally from the rod. Each of the plates has a distal edge with respect to the rod. Each of the distal edges is orientated parallel to a longitudinal axis of the rod. The first end of the rod is removably extendable into and attached to a drill.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to drill bit devices and more particularly pertains to a new drill bit device for aiding a person in the removal of mortar positioned around bricks and stones.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of drill bit devices is known in the prior art. U.S. Pat. No. 3,709,308 describes a diamond drill bit device for use in a plurality of drilling situations and in particular for mining purposes. Another type of drill bit device is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,592,996. Yet another drill bit is found in U.S. Pat. Des. No. 390,239.
While these devices fulfill their respective, particular objectives and requirements, the need remains for one or more drill bits that are configured for removing mortar from between bricks and stones.


Integrated circuits and methods for fabricating integrated circuits are provided. In an embodiment, an integrated circuit includes a first transistor structure that includes an etch-stop material layer, a first workfunction material layer disposed over the etch-stop material layer, a second workfunction material layer disposed over the first workfunction material layer, and a metal fill material disposed over the second workfunction material layer. The integrated circuit further includes a second transistor structure that includes a layer of the etch-stop material, a layer of the second workfunction material disposed over the etch-stop material layer, and a layer of the metal fill material disposed over the second workfunction material layer. Still further, the integrated circuit includes a resistor structure that includes a layer of the etch-stop material, a layer of the metal fill material disposed over the etch-stop material layer, and a silicon material layer disposed over the metal fill material layer.

In modern integrated circuits, a very high number of individual circuit elements, such as field effect transistors in the form of CMOS, NMOS, and PMOS elements, are formed on a single chip area. Typically, feature sizes of these circuit elements are decreased with the introduction of every new circuit generation, to provide currently available integrated circuits with high performance in terms of speed and/or power consumption. A reduction in size of transistors is an important aspect in steadily improving device performance of complex integrated circuits, such as CPUs. The reduction in size commonly brings about an increased switching speed, thereby enhancing signal processing performance.
In addition to the large number of transistor elements, a plurality of passive circuit elements, such as capacitors and resistors, are typically formed in integrated circuits as required by the basic circuit layout. Due to the decreased dimensions of circuit elements, not only the performance of the individual transistor elements may be improved, but also their packing density may be significantly increased, thereby providing the potential for incorporating increased functionality into a given chip area. For this reason, highly complex circuits have been developed, which may include different types of circuits, such as analog circuits, digital circuits and the like, thereby providing entire systems on a single chip (SOC). Precise polysilicon resistor has been used in conventional integrated circuit (IC) design. When a semiconductor device such as a metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) is scaled down through various technology nodes, a high-k dielectric material and metal are adopted to form a gate stack. For gate replacement processes, the resistance of the formed polysilicon resistors is too low. A single crystalline silicon resistor has been proposed to resolve the issue. However, the single crystalline silicon resistor cannot provide precise impedance matching for the applications, such as analog, radio frequency (RF), and mixed-mode circuits.
For example, in sophisticated applications, resistors may frequently be provided in the form of "integrated polysilicon" resistors, which may be formed above isolation structures so as to obtain the desired resistance value without significantly contributing to parasitic capacitance, as may be the case in "buried" resistive structures which may be formed within the active semiconductor layer. A typical polysilicon resistor may thus require the deposition of the basic polysilicon material, which may frequently be combined with the deposition of a polysilicon gate electrode material for the transistor elements. During the patterning of the gate electrode structures, the resistors are formed, the size of which may significantly depend on the basic specific resistance value of the polysilicon material and the type of dopant material and concentration that may be incorporated into the resistors so as to adjust the resistance values. Since typically the resistance value of doped polysilicon material may be a non-linear function of the dopant concentration, specific implantation processes are required, independent of any other implantation sequences for adjusting the characteristics of the polysilicon material of the gate electrodes of the transistors.
Transistor performance may further be increased by providing an appropriate conductive material for the gate electrode in order to replace the usually used polysilicon material, since polysilicon may suffer from charge carrier depletion at the vicinity of the interface positioned between the gate dielectric material and the polysilicon material, thereby reducing the effective capacitance between the channel region and the gate electrode during transistor operation. Thus, a gate stack has been suggested in which a high-k dielectric material provides enhanced capacitance, while additionally maintaining any leakage currents at an acceptable level. Since the non-polysilicon material, such as titanium nitride, may be formed such that it may directly be in contact with gate dielectric material, the presence of a depletion zone may thus be avoided, while, at the same time, a moderately high conductivity is achieved.
As is well known, the threshold voltage of the transistor may depend on the overall transistor configuration, on a complex lateral and vertical dopant profile of the drain and source regions and the corresponding configuration of the PN junctions, and on the work function of the gate electrode material. Consequently, in addition to providing the desired dopant profiles, the work function of the metal-containing gate electrode material also has to be appropriately adjusted with respect to the conductivity type of the transistor under consideration. For this reason, typically, metal-containing electrode materials may be used for N-channel transistors and P-channel transistors, which may be provided according to well-established manufacturing strategies in a very advanced manufacturing stage.
In some of these so-called replacement gate approaches, the high-k dielectric material may be formed in combination with a titanium nitride cap material, which may thus be used as an efficient material for confining the sensitive high-k material and providing a moderately high conductive material layer in close proximity to the gate dielectric material. Thereafter, silicon in an amorphous state is provided so as to act as a placeholder material since the amorphous silicon material may be replaced in a very advanced manufacturing stage. The resulting layer stack in combination with any additional sacrificial materials, such as dielectric cap materials and the like, may then be patterned into a gate electrode structure. Concurrently, the corresponding resistors are formed as described above. Subsequently, any further processes are performed in order to complete the basic transistor configuration by forming drain and source regions, performing anneal processes and finally embedding the transistors and also the resistors in a dielectric material. Consequently, after any high temperature anneal processes, an appropriate material removal sequence may be applied in order to expose the placeholder silicon material, which may then be removed in the gate electrode structures on the basis of highly selective etch processes. Based on an appropriate masking regime, thereafter, appropriate metal-containing electrode materials are filled into the gate electrode structures of N-channel transistors and P-channel transistors in order to adjust the required work function for these different types of transistors. Moreover, a highly conductive electrode metal, such as aluminum and the like, may be filled into the gate electrode structures. In this manner, superior gate conductivity and the desired high degree of channel controllability may be achieved. Furthermore, the work function may be adjusted, for instance, by providing appropriate metal species, wherein any drift in transistor characteristics may be substantially eliminated since any high temperature processes have been performed in the earlier manufacturing phase. In this patterning regime, the resistive structures may also receive the electrode metal, thereby imparting superior conductivity to the resistive structures, which, however, may thus reduce the resistance value, thereby requiring a reduction in line width of the resistors and/or an increase of the total length of the resistors. While the former measure may result in patterning problems since extremely small line widths have to be provided, the latter aspect may result in increased area consumption in the semiconductor die.
For these reasons, it has been proposed to remove the amorphous silicon material selectively from the gate electrode structures and preserving the silicon material in the resistors by appropriate masking regimes and the like. Although the resistance value may be significantly reduced upon preserving the amorphous silicon material, it has nevertheless been recognized that the resulting resistivity may still require significant redesigns of silicon-based resistors when formed in accordance with the above-described replacement gate approaches.
Another way of compensating for the higher resistance polysilicon materials is to replace a polysilicon gate device with a metal gate device. This replacement can be done with a replacement metal gate (RMG) process, wherein the higher temperature processing is performed while the polysilicon is present in the substrate, and after such processing, the polysilicon is removed and replaced with metal to form the replacement metal gate. More specifically, a device with a disposable polysilicon gate is processed, and the disposable gate and dielectrics are etched away, exposing an original gate oxide. The disposable polysilicon gate is then replaced by a metal gate having lower resistivity than the polysilicon material.
In known RMG processes, polysilicon is also removed from the areas forming resistors on the substrate, and replaced with metallic materials. As a result, the high resistive properties of polysilicon are not utilized for resistors on a substrate in which RMG processing has been performed.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide an RMG semiconductor fabrication process that is compatible with polysilicon resistor structures. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the foregoing technical field and background.

Methods for fabricating integrated circuits with polycrystalline silicon resistor structures using a replacment gate process flow, and the integrated circuits fabricated thereby


The invention facilitates manufacture of semiconductor memory components by reducing the number of layers required to implement a semiconductor memory device. The invention provides for a selection element to be formed in the same layer as one of the control lines (e.g. one of the wordline and bitline). In one embodiment of the invention, a diode is implemented as the selection element within the same layer as one of the control lines. Production of the selection element within the same layer as one of the wordline and bitline reduces problems associated with vertical stacking, increases device yield and reduces related production costs. The invention also provides an efficient method of producing memory devices with the selection element in the same layer as one of the control lines.

The reduction in size of semiconductor components and increased usage of semiconductor processors has lead to an explosion of new electronic devices. Most, if not all, of these electronic devices require some amount of memory in order to function. The proliferation of such devices has significantly increased demand for memory that is efficient in size as well as power consumption. Smaller sized semiconductor components and memories have made numerous hand held electronic devices feasible. Examples of hand-held devices include cell phones, personal radios, walkie-talkies, personal data assistants, palm pilots, pagers, notebook computers, remote controls, voice recorders, audio recorders, video recorders, radios, small televisions, web viewers, cameras, and the like. Although some electronic devices require only relatively small amounts of memory, many newer electronic devices require an increasing amount of memory. For example, digital cameras, digital audio players, personal digital assistants, and the like generally seek to employ large capacity memory components, such as, for example, flash memory cards, smart media cards, compact flash cards, pen drives and/or other similar devices.
Memory components are typically divided into volatile memory and non-volatile memory. Volatile memory components generally do not retain information stored or programmed within them when power is removed from the component. Such memories typically require periodic refresh cycles to maintain their information. Volatile memory components include most forms of random access memory (RAM). RAM is available in many forms such as, for example synchronous RAM (SRAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM), synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), double data rate SDRAM (DDR SDRAM), enhanced SDRAM (ESDRAM), Synchlink DRAM (SLDRAM), and direct Rambus RAM (DRRAM). In contrast, non-volatile memory components retain their information even when power is removed. Examples of non-volatile memory components include; ROM, programmable read only memory (PROM), erasable programmable read only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read only memory (EEPROM), flash EEPROM, and the like. Comparatively, volatile memory components generally provide faster operation at lower cost than non-volatile memory components.
In many instances, such memory components comprise at least one array of memory elements and associated semiconductor control elements to support various functions like the ability of being repeatedly "written", "erased", and/or "read". A memory element with supporting semiconductor elements can be referred to as a memory device, and a memory component comprises a plurality of such memory devices. Individual memory elements in a memory component can be "written" with information, can be "erased", or can be "read". Individual memory elements are generally programmed or written to an "on" state (e.g., a logic "1") or erased to an "off" state (e.g., a logic "0"). When a memory component is "read", the information (e.g. the "on" state or "off" state) is retrieved in such a manner that the state of the individual memory elements remains unaltered. Typically, a memory component is addressed in order to be written, erased, or read. Control lines generally referred to a wordlines and bitlines or row address select (RAS) and column address select (CAS) lines control access to specific memory devices for purposes of writing, erasing or reading a specific memory element. Memory components are often fabricated with inorganic solid state technology, such as, crystalline silicon devices. A common semiconductor device employed in memory elements is the metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET).
Memory component developers and manufacturers are constantly striving to increase storage capacity and to reduce cost of manufacture for memory components. To increase device densities, manufacturers typically focus on scaling down semiconductor device dimensions (e.g. at sub-micron levels). In order to accomplish such densities, smaller feature sizes and more precise feature shapes are often required. This may include the width and spacing of interconnecting lines, spacing and diameter of contact holes, and the surface geometry, such as corners and edges, of various features. A postage-stamp-sized piece of silicon may contain tens of millions of transistors, each transistor as small as a few hundred nanometers. A resulting memory component will often comprise a multitude of individual semiconductor layers requiring numerous fabrication steps to complete. In general, more complex devices require more individual layers to implement. With the size of semiconductor features decreasing and number of layers increasing, sensitivity to alignment tolerances makes fabrication markedly more difficult. As the number of layers required to produce a semiconductor device increases, manufacturing defects generally increase and, therefore, the yield decreases.

Memory device with a selection element and a control line in a substantially similar layer


A polyimide film includes a polyimide in which a specific amount of molecular framework containing one or two silicon atoms in its main chain, wherein a total light transmittance measured in accordance with JIS K7361-1 is 85% or more; wherein a yellowness index calculated in accordance with JIS K7373-2006 is 30 or less; wherein a glass transition temperature is in a temperature range of from 150° C. to 400° C.; and wherein a tensile elastic modulus at 25° C. obtained by measuring a 15 mm×40 mm test piece at a tensile rate of 10 mm/min and a chuck distance of 20 mm in accordance with JIS K7127, is 1.8 GPa or more.

A thin glass plate has excellent hardness, heat resistance, etc. On the other hand, it cannot be easily bent, is easily broken when dropped, and has a problem with processability. Also, it has a problem in that it is heavy compared to plastic products. Due to these reasons, recently, glass products have been replaced with resin products such as a resin substrate and a resin film, from the viewpoint of processability and weight reduction, and studies on resin products that can substitute for glass products have been conducted.
For example, a rapid progress of electronics such as liquid crystal displays, organic EL displays and touch panels, has created a demand for thinner, lighter and flexible devices. In these devices, conventionally, various electron elements such as a thin transistor and a transparent electrode are formed on a thin glass plate. By changing the thin glass plate to a resin film, a flexible, thin, light panel with increased impact resistance, can be obtained.
In general, polyimide resin is a highly heat resistant resin obtained by a dewatering cyclization reaction of a polyamide acid obtained by a condensation reaction between an aromatic tetracarboxylic anhydride and an aromatic diamine. However, since the color of polyimide resin is generally yellow or brown, it is difficult for polyimide resin to be used in fields where transparency is required, such as display and optical applications. Therefore, the application of highly-transparent polyimide to display members has been studied. For example, in Patent Document 1, a polyimide resin obtained by a reaction of at least one acyl-containing compound selected from the group consisting of 1,2,4,5-cyclohexanetetracarboxylic acid, 1,2,4,5-cyclohexanetetracarboxylic dianhydride and reactive derivatives thereof, with at least one imino-forming compound which is represented by a specific formula and selected from the group consisting of compounds containing at least one phenylene group and at least one isopropylidene group, is disclosed as a polyimide resin excellent in heat resistance, transparency and low water absorption and is described as being suitable for materials of a substrate for flat panel display, mobile phone, etc.
Patent Document 2 discloses a transparent polyimide film which contains a unit structure derived from an aromatic dianhydride and an aromatic diamine and which further contains an additive for improving tear strength, or a unit structure derived from a monomer including a functional group selected from the group consisting of a hexafluro group, a sulfone group and an oxy group. In Patent Document 3, a polyimide film that has a peak top residing in a specific temperature range in a tan δ curve obtained by dividing a loss elastic modulus by a storage elastic modulus, is disclosed as a polyimide film with excellent transparency and heat resistance.
In Patent Document 4, a polyimide film obtained by imidizing a polyimide precursor produced by use of, as monomer components, a specific fluorine-based aromatic diamine and a silicone compound containing a siloxane framework that contains 3 to 200 silicon atoms, is disclosed for the purpose of obtaining, as a polyimide film used for substrates of flexible devices, a polyimide film which is colorless and transparent, which has a low residual stress that is generated between the polyimide film and an inorganic film, and which has excellent mechanical properties and thermal properties. Patent Document 4 describes that as a result of forming a polyimide film including an inorganic film (SiN film) by use of the polyimide precursor, the polyimide film showed no cracking or peeling (o) or showed cracking (A) after a bending test in which the polyimide film was bent 10 times, repeatedly.
Patent Document 5 describes that as a polyimide having a low refractive index and high folding endurance, silicone diamine containing 2 to 21 silicon atoms is contained by 10 wt % or more of the weight of the diamine raw material.
Meanwhile, in the polyimide molded article used for liquid crystal alignment films and so on (Patent Document 6), diaminosiloxane is used as a diamine component, which serves as a raw material for polyimide resin, in order to increase adhesion to an inorganic substrate.

Polyimide film, laminate and surface material for display


Absorbent devices, and more particularly absorbent devices that are worn interlabially by female wearers for catamenial purposes, incontinence protection, or both, are disclosed. The absorbent interlabial device of the present invention comprises a main absorbent portion and a pair of flexible extensions joined to the main absorbent portion. The main absorbent portion comprises an upper portion, and a lower portion opposed to the upper portion. In use, the upper portion is positioned furthest inward into the space between the wearer's labia majora. The pair of flexible extensions extends downwardly and laterally outward from the upper portion of the main absorbent portion, and preferably is capable of maintaining contact with the inside surfaces of the wearer's labia majora when the wearer's body goes through a range of motions, including squatting. Additionally, the flexible extensions are preferably capable of covering the fingertips of the wearer as the absorbent device is inserted into the interlabial space.

All manner and variety of absorbent articles configured for the absorption of body fluids such as menses, urine and feces are, of course, well known. With respect to feminine protection devices, the art has offered two basic types; sanitary napkins have been developed for external wear about the pudendal region while tampons have been developed for internal wear within the vaginal cavity for interruption of menstrual flow therefrom. Such tampon devices are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,412,833, entitled "Tampon Applicator", issued to Weigner, et al. on Nov. 1, 1983, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,413,986, entitled "Tampon Assembly With Means For Sterile Insertion", issued to Jacobs on Nov. 8, 1983.
Hybrid devices which attempt to merge the structural features of the sanitary napkins and the tampons into a single device have also been proposed. Such hybrid devices are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,092,346, entitled "Catamenial Pad", issued to Arone on Sep. 7, 1937, and U.S. Pat. No. 3,905,372, entitled "Feminine Hygiene Protective Shield", issued to Denkinger on Sep. 16, 1975. Other less intrusive hybrid devices are known as labial or interlabial sanitary napkins and are characterized by having a portion which at least partially resides within the wearer's vestibule and a portion which at least partially resides external of the wearer's vestibule. Such devices are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,662,527, entitled "Sanitary Pad", issued to Jacks on Dec. 15, 1953, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,631,062, entitled "Labial Sanitary Pad", issued to Lassen, et al. on Dec. 23, 1986.
Interlabial pads have the potential to provide even greater freedom from inconvenience because of their small size and reduced risk of leakage. Numerous attempts have been made in the past to produce an interlabial pad which would combine the best features of tampons and sanitary napkins while avoiding at least some of the disadvantages associated with each of these types of devices. Examples of such devices are described in U.S. Pat. No. 2,917,049 issued to Delaney on Dec. 15, 1959, U.S. Pat. No. 3,420,235 issued to Harmon on Jan. 7, 1969, U.S. Pat. No. 4,595,392 issued to Johnson, et al. on Jun. 17, 1986, and U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,074,855 and 5,336,208 issued to Rosenbluth, et al. on Dec. 24, 1991 and Aug. 9, 1994 respectively, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,484,429 issued to Vukos, et al. on Jan. 16, 1996. A commercially available interlabial device is FRESH 'N FIT.RTM. Padette which is marketed by Athena Medical Corp. of Portland, OR and described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,983,873 and 4,175,561 issued to Hirschman on Oct. 5, 1976 and Nov. 27, 1979, respectively.
However, many of these devices have not met with great commercial success. There are drawbacks associated with all of the above products. For example, the device described in the Delaney patent does not appear to be capable of an easy and comfortable insertion, due to the possibility of the layers of absorbent material opening up during insertion. The commercially available Padettes suffer from the disadvantage that they may not provide protection when wearer squats. The Padette product also may not reliably be expelled as intended when wearer urinates.
Thus, a need exists for an interlabial device that is small in size and that can be easily inserted and that provides protection against incontinence, menstrual discharges, and discharges of bodily exudates throughout a great range of wearer motions. A need also exists for an interlabial device that will reliably be expelled when the wearer urinates. A need also exists for an interlabial device which facilitates sanitary insertion and removal. That is, a need exists for a device which may be inserted into the interlabial space of a wearer while covering the fingertips, thus preventing the fingertips from becoming soiled.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide an absorbent interlabial device that is small in size and is easy to insert.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an absorbent interlabial device that consistently blocks the urethra so that it provides protection against incontinence, menstrual discharges, and discharges of bodily exudates throughout a great range of wearer motions.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an absorbent interlabial device that can be inserted interlabially without the wearer's hand touching her body.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an absorbent interlabial device that will reliably be expelled when the wearer urinates so that the wearer does not have to touch the soiled product.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an absorbent interlabial device that may optionally be removed with the fingers without the wearer's hand touching her body.
These and other objects of the present invention will become more readily apparent when considered in reference to the following description and when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Absorbent interlabial device with flexible extensions


The methods of the invention detect in a qualitative or quantitative fashion drug-resistance RNA and DNA in blood plasma, serum, and other bodily fluids. The methods of the invention thereby enable the assessment of drug resistance in a neoplasm without the requirement of a tissue biopsy. The inventive methods are useful for the evaluation, monitoring, and selecting of drug treatment regimens, and for determining a predisposition for or prognosis of chemoresistant neoplastic disease.

Cancer is a leading cause of death in the world. Despite the development of newer chemotherapeutic agents and combination chemotherapy regimens, metastatic neoplastic diseases are often resistant to therapy. The reasons for this drug-resistance are two-fold. First, specific genes may be expressed that impart drug-resistant characteristics to the neoplastic tissue. Second, tumors are often heterogeneous tissues in their sensitivity to specific chemotherapeutic agents. Treatment over time thus selects out the resistant tissue. An understanding of drug-resistance gene expression within a tumor over time thus is of importance in developing appropriate treatment regimens for the patient. Current methods for evaluating the drug-resistance phenotype of a patient's tumor require the analysis of a tissue specimen obtained by an invasive biopsy of the tumor. The invasive nature of these biopsies often precludes the serial longitudinal monitoring of drug-resistance in a given patient, and further, is prone to sampling error.
This invention relates to methods for evaluating the expression of drug-resistance genes (drug-resistance-associated genes) in neoplastic tissue without the requirement of tissue biopsy. Specifically, the invention provides for the detection and monitoring of drug-resistance gene nucleic acid, particularly ribonucleic acid (RNA) or deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), in a bodily fluid from an animal or human. Since bodily fluids such as blood, plasma, serum, urine, saliva, cerebrospinal fluid, and effusions are more easily and readily obtainable than most tissue specimens, the invention provides a convenient method of evaluating a tumor's drug-resistance, and thereby of selecting, monitoring, or altering drug therapies such as chemotherapy. Furthermore, the invention provides a method to evaluate drug-resistance expression of the entire tumor-burden of an animal, preferably a human, thereby reducing sampling bias induced by tumor heterogeneity, as may occur during analysis of localized tumor biopsies. The invention therefore provides methods for evaluating the presence of RNA and mutated or altered or polymorphic DNA associated with drug-resistance genes in bodily fluid, particularly blood, plasma, serum, and other bodily fluid, wherein said genes include but are not limited to the multidrug resistance 1 gene (MDR-1), said gene encoding the 170 kD transport protein P-glycoprotein (Pgp), the multidrug resistance-associated protein gene (MRP) encoding a 190 kD adenosine triphosphate binding transport protein with homology to MDR-1, and further associated genes encoding the multidrug resistance proteins MRP1, MRP2, MRP3, and MRP5, the topoisomerase I gene, the topoisomerase II alpha and beta genes, genes associated with glutathione metabolism (GSH genes) including the glutathione S-transferase genes, the thymidylate synthase gene (TS), the thymidine phosphorylase gene (TP), and the dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase gene (DPD), said gene RNAs being characterized as tumor-associated RNA or DNA herein. Co-owned and co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/155,152, incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, detects tumor-associated RNA in bodily fluids such as blood plasma and serum, wherein said RNA detection is used for detecting, monitoring, or evaluating cancer or premalignant conditions. In the present invention, methods for detecting extracellular nucleic acids are utilized in a novel manner to determine drug-resistance gene expression in a patient. Furthermore, a novel method is described herein that enables evaluation of drug-resistance gene expression in a tumor without the need of directly obtaining tumor tissue.
There is a newly-appreciated need in the art to identify drug-resistance propensity in an animal, most preferably a human, in a safe and convenient manner by detecting in a qualitative or quantitative fashion drug-resistance gene RNA and DNA such as MDR-1 RNA, MRP RNA, associated MRP1 RNA, MRP2 RNA, MRP3 RNA, MRP5 RNA, GSH transferase RNA, TS RNA, TP RNA, DPD RNA, mutated topoisomerase I RNA or DNA, mutated topoisomerase II alpha and beta RNA and DNA, and other mutated or altered DNA in bodily fluids such as whole blood or blood plasma or serum, including DNA polymorphisms including but not limited to MDR-1 polymorphisms, GSH-associated gene polymorphisms including GSH-S transferase polymorphisms, TS polymorphisms, and MDR-1 polymorphisms. Further, there is a need in the art to evaluate the predisposition in an animal, most preferably a human, to respond favorably or unfavorably to a particular chemotherapy regimen by detecting drug-resistance gene RNA or mutated or altered or polymorphic DNA in bodily fluids such as blood plasma or serum, thereby enabling particular treatment regimens to chosen.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Methods for evaluating drug-resistance gene expression in the cancer patient


The present invention relates to an adhesive composition for an electro-magnetic shielding film and an electro-magnetic shielding filter using the same, and more particularly to an adhesive composition for an electromagnetic shielding film comprising: a) an acrylic copolymer of i) (meth)acrylate ester monomers having C1, to C12 alkyl groups and ii) vinylic monomers having hydroxyl groups; and b) a multifunctional isocyanate crosslinking agent. The electro-magnetic shielding filter of the present invention offers good durability because transparentization is performed with an acrylic adhesive composition having no acidic groups, and thus oxidation of copper is prevented.

Recently, with interest in digital televisions and high-quality wide-screen televisions increasing, development of cathode ray tubes (CRTs), liquid crystal displays (LCDs), and plasma display panels (PDPs) is actively progressing.
CRTs, which are widely used as displays in TVs, are superior in resolution and image quality. However, they are not suitable for wide screens of 40 inches or larger because of size and weight.
LCDs are superior in terms of power consumption and driving voltage, but they are difficult to make into wide screens and are limited in view angle.
PDPs can be made into wide screens of about 60 inches. When manufacturing a PDP device, a partitioned barrier is formed on a bottom plate and phosphor layers of red, green, and blue are formed on the barrier. The bottom plate is then covered by a top plate, so that electrodes of the bottom plate and those of the top plate face each other in parallel. Then, discharge gas is injected therein and the device is sealed. Light radiated from plasma when the gas is discharged is used to transfer images, and the barrier separates each unit cell.
PDP devices are classified into direct current (DC) and alternating current (AC) types. In DC devices, electrodes are exposed to the discharge area, and in AC devices, a dielectric glass layer is formed on electrodes.
Referring to FIG. 1, a general PDP comprises a case 11, a cover 15 covering said case 11, a drive circuit board 12 located in said case 11, a panel assembly 13, and an electro-magnetic shielding filter 14. Said electro-magnetic shielding filter 14 is coated with a conducting film made of a conducting material, which offers a grounding path passing through the cover 15 to the case 11, and is placed on a glass plate. That is, an electromagnetic wave generated from the panel assembly 13 is passed through the conducting film of the electro-magnetic shielding filter 14 to the cover 15 and the case 11 before it reaches the user. For this purpose, the conducting film of the electro-magnetic shielding filter 14 is electrically connected to the cover 15 and the case 11.
In addition to shielding electromagnetic waves, said electro-magnetic shielding filter shields near infrared rays, protects the panel from external impact, improves color resolution, prevents reflection, and enhances contrast.
Formerly, transparent conducting films satisfying industrial class A (surface resistance <2.5Ω/□) standard, such as an Ag multi-deposited film, were widely used to manufacture electro-magnetic shielding filter films for plasma display panels. But recently, with the increase in demand for plasma display panels for families, copper etching meshes or conducting fiber meshes that satisfy the class B (surface resistance <1.5Ω/□) standard in which copper or nickel is coated on polyester fiber by electroless plating are being widely used.
Generally, mesh-type electro-magnetic shielding films are manufactured by applying copper foil having a thickness of about 10 μm on a polyethylene terephthalate substrate using a transparent adhesive and etching it to pitch ˜300 μm and linewidth ˜10 μm.
When this electro-magnetic shielding film is laminated with a functional film such as an antireflection film, an aperture is formed between the two films due to the copper foil mesh. Then, because of the difference in refractive indices of air and the polymer layer, light emergent from the plasma display panel becomes scattered, thereby reducing visibility. Therefore, the aperture should be removed by a process called transparentization.
For transparentization, a method of using a hot melt resin (Japan Patent Publication No. Hei 9-258378), a method of using adhesive, a method of filling a fluid resin (U.S. Pat. No. 6,197,408), and so forth have been developed. Among these, the most simple and widely used method is the method of using adhesive by which transparentization can be attained by applying pressure without an additional process. In transparentization using adhesive, the durability of the electro-magnetic shielding filter largely depends on the component of the adhesive.
In general, rubber, acryl, and silicone are widely used for adhesives. Among these, acrylic adhesives are the most popular for preparing functional adhesive compositions because of various melt properties. General acrylic adhesives have superior adhesivity when pressurized slightly at normal temperature. This is because polymer molecules comprising the adhesives are fluid and sensitive to pressure.
The electro-magnetic shielding filter offers colors with good resolution and image quality because of each functional film. If the filter discolors during use, it cannot offer good resolution and image quality. Therefore, there should be no change in transmittivity and color between before and after a durability test. Especially, color change due to oxidation of the copper mesh under high temperature and high humidity is a serious problem.
The durability of adhesive at the area where it contacts the copper mesh is a problem. Copper looks red in a neutral state, but it turns blue because of Cu2+ when oxidized. Therefore, the cause of discoloration of the transparentized adhesive is oxidation of copper.
In widely used acrylic adhesive compositions, several functional groups are used to crosslink the adhesive. Particularly, when monomers having acidic groups (—COON) are used, the acidic groups (—COON) oxidize copper under high temperature and high humidity, thereby discoloring the electro-magnetic shielding filter and reducing color resolution.
*Description of marks for a main part of drawings*11case12drive circuit board13panel assembly14electro-magnetic shielding filter15cover21, 31transparent substrate22, 32adhesive layer23, 33layers of copper foil24, 34black screen25, 35adhesive26, 36transparent substrate27, 37reinforcing glass38Color correction layer39near infrared ray shielding layer40near infrared ray shielding layer

Pressure sensitive adhesive composition for electro-magnetic shielding film and electro-magnetic shielding filter using the same


Novel peptides that are capable of binding to uPAR and inhibiting the binding of an integrin and vitronectin are described. Also provided are nucleic acid sequences encoding the novel peptides. Methods for screening for small molecules, other peptides, or peptoids that mimic the antagonistic function of the peptides of the invention are described. The invention has applications in design of therapeutics for treating disorders characterized by upregulation of uPA and uPAR, and cancer and chronic inflammation, cell migration or uPAR: integrin binding interactions, and diagnostical applications to such disorders.

The urokinase plasminogen activator (uPA) is a serine protease that interacts with its cell surface receptor (uPAR) providing an inducible, localized cell surface proteolytic activity, thereby promoting cellular invasion. The uPA:uPAR complex converts plasminogen into plasmin which is known to degrade various matrix glycoproteins as described in Ellis et al, J. Biol. Chem. 264: 2185–2188 (1989), Vassili et al, J. Clin. Invest. 88: 1067–1072 (1991), and Mignatti and Rifkin, Physiol. Rev. 73: 161–195 (1993). The simaltaneous expression of uPA and its receptor has been associated with localized plasminogen activation and pericellular matrix degradation during directed cell migration of normal and tumor cells.
The urokinase receptor (uPAR) is a 283 amino acid glycosylphosphatidyl-inositol (GPI)—anchored receptor protein of urokinase and vitronectin which appears to be a triplication of a 90 amino acid domain as described in Plough, and Ellis, FEBS Lett. 349:163–168 (1994) and Roldan et al, EMBO J. 9: 467–474 (1990). Proteolysis of uPAR can yield fragments composed of domain 1 and domains 2–3, and subsequent analysis has shown that disulfide bonding pattern of domain 1 is completely internal to the domain, as described in Plough et al, J. Biol. Chem. 268:17539–17546 (1993), and Kieffer et al, Biochem. 33:4471–4482 (1994).
The migration and invasion of cells appear to require cell surface localized proteolysis and adhesion to specific components of the extracellular matrix. These processes are necessary for many normal and pathological processes, including tissue remodeling, embryo implantation, angiogenesis, and tumor cell invasion and metastasis as described in Fazioli et al, Trends Pharimacol. Sci. 15:25–29(1994), and Mignatti et al, Physiol. Rev. 73:161–195 (1993). Important components of the cell surface proteolytic and cellular adhesion cascades are the plasminogen activator/plasmin system, matrix metalloproteinases, and integrins, as described in Felding-Habermann et al, Curr. Biol. 5 864–868 (1993). Adhesion to the extracellular matrix component vitronectin has been reported to correlate with UPAR expression, and uPA binding sites and vitronectin receptors have been shown to colocalize on HT1080 cells, as described in Waltz et al, J. Biol. Chem. 269: 14746–14750 (1994), and Ciambrone et al, J. Biol. Chem. 267: 13617–13622 (1992). More recently it has been demonstrated that uPAR can function as a cell adhesion receptor for vitronectin in a uPA dependent manner as described in Wei et al, J. Biol. Chem. 269: 32380–32388 (1994).
Early experiments using chemical cross-linking suggested that the first domain of uPAR was sufficient for high affinity binding of uPA, however, subsequent work has shown that an intact 3-domain molecule is required, and that additional binding determinants in domains 2 and 3 are likely involved, as described in Plough et al, Biochem. 3: 8991–8997 (1994). The undefined interactions may be with the uPA EGF-like domain or indirect interactions affecting the conformation of domain 1. Previous work has been unsuccessful in distinguishing whether domain 2 and 3 has measurable affinity for uPA, because of the difficulty of separating domain 2 and 3 from trace amounts of full length uPAR as described in Plough et al, Biochem. 3: 8991–8997 (1994).
The uPA:uPAR system has been identified as promoting pericellular proteolysis, and functions attributable to uPAR include cell migration, adhesion and mitogenesis. It would be desirable, therefore, to elucidate the function of domains 2 and 3 of uPAR.

Peptide ligands of the urokinase receptor

Brigham and Women's Hospital Harvard Medical School


A bench-rest rifle is provided having a shaft and a longitudinally extending barrel affixed thereto with a bolt and a system, wherein the shaft has a flat base and two lateral longitudinally extending ribs between which is received the barrel, with the ribs extending vertically in a use position of the rifle. An upper surface of the ribs is convexly curved and protrudes upwards beyond the barrel. A thickness of the base is less than 1/5.sup.th of an outer diameter of the barrel and may be about 1/10.sup.th of the outer diameter of the barrel. A longitudinally running and laterally extending ribs may be provided at the front position of the shaft to provide rigidity and stability to the shaft which, preferably, is formed of plastic.

The invention is directed to a rifle, particularly a bench-rest rifle, with a stock, a barrel affixed thereto with a bolt and a system, as well as a telescopic sight that can be attached thereto.
Rifles of this type have long since proven their usefulness for precision shooting. They are able to deliver a number of shots with the highest precision, even at longer distances.
In the known bench-rest rifles, it is disadvantageous that for every shot there occurs a certain tipping motion triggered by the recoil, whereby a renewed aiming of the rifle may be required or, respectively, whereby the shots following the first may no longer be one hundred percent precise.


Suppressors and baffles therein provide for sound and/or flash suppression of a firearm. The baffles include a first cone portion, a second cone portion, and a neck connecting the first cone portion and the second cone portion. The first cone portion and second cone portion define a passageway through which hot gases and a bullet may be expelled through and out of the suppressor. The first cone portion directs at least some expelled gases around the outer edge of the first cone portion and to the neck and second cone portion. The second cone portion together with a suppressor body block movement of the expelled gases. A port in the neck allows the expelled gases blocked by the second cone portion to escape toward the passageway to disrupt the flow of the expelled gases and thereby further suppress the sound and/or flash.

Firearms propel a bullet through a barrel of the firearm by an explosion occurring within a chamber. The explosion produces a high velocity expulsion of gases that propel the bullet through the barrel. However, the high velocity expulsion of hot gases escaping from the barrel produce a substantial amount of sound and a visible flash. It is often desirable to reduce the amount of sound and/or flash escaping from the barrel. Firearm suppressors are mounted on the end of the barrel to reduce the sound and/or flash. However, even with existing firearm suppressors, it is desirable to further reduce the amount of sound and/or flash that exits the suppressor.

Firearm suppressor baffles and related multi-baffle configurations for increased sound and flash suppression


A nebulizer device for use in administering liquid medication and fluids to the nasal passages utilizing the venturi and siphon effects to produce a mist in two air streams from one external air source. The nebulizer device comprises two major sections, a cap section and a reservoir section, with the cap section having an integrally molded pair of siphon tubes which fit over opposing pairs of air tubes attached to the reservoir section. Pressurized air introduced into the reservoir section travels through the air tubes and exits small diameter orifices which are position relative to similar small diameter orifices of the siphon tubes. This interface creates a venturi effect whereby liquid medication is siphoned from the bottom of the reservoir section, through the space provided between the inside diameter of the siphon tubes and the outside diameter of the air tubes, and exits as mist or liquid droplets through the small orifices of the siphon tubes. These two mist streams are directed to the two nostrils of the patient, while a nose shield attached to the cap section keeps the liquid medication out of the patient's eyes.

The present invention relates to devices used for administering liquid medication in mist or liquid droplet form to a patient. The particular design of the present invention is directed to administering the liquid medication to the nasal passages of a patient while emphasizing simplicity in design, ease of manufacture, and simplicity of use.
Devices used for administering liquid medication to a patient by way of mist or liquid droplets are generally called nebulizers. Present art nebulizers are designed with a single exist port whereby mist or liquid droplets exit the device to be inhaled by the patient. The mist from these present art nebulizers leaves the device in a low pressure flow rate as a result of baffles or air dams that redirect a venturi jet stream of liquid droplets as the liquid medication is drawn from a liquid reservoir in the device. These devices are best suited for the inhalation of the liquid droplets through the patient's mouth. Certain medical conditions, however, require the introduction of liquid droplets through the patient's nasal passages. The present art nebulizers, with a single orifice and typically low pressure flow rates, are not effective in introducing liquid medication through the two nostrils of a patient, particularly when the patient's nasal passages are congested or otherwise obstructed.
Accordingly, one principle object and purpose of the present invention is to provide a nebulizer which expels a liquid medication mist in two separate mist streams which can be directed to the nostrils of a patient. It is an additional objective and purpose of the present invention to provide a nasal nebulizer which is simply in construction, easy to produce, and simple to use.


An apparatus comprises a module which stores document information to which content that includes link character strings linked to other items on an item basis is caused to correspond, a first display control module which displays content on an arbitrary item stored as first content according to a user operation, a second display control module which lists the link character strings included in the displayed first content and displays them together with the first content, a selection module which selects, according to a user operation, a link character string displayed, and a third display control module which displays content on an item stored in such a manner that the item is linked to the selected link character string.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an information display apparatus and a recording medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is known that a conventional electronic dictionary device stores a character string to which information on a link to another item has been added (or a linked character string) in the contents of each item of a document content in advance and, when the linked character string is selected while the contents of an item is being displayed, reads and displays the contents of an item at the link destination. This enables the user to browse an item related to the linked character string instantly.
An electronic dictionary device with the function of creating the user's own link table has been proposed as follows (Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2010-211441). With the electronic dictionary device, while information on explanation (contents) of an arbitrary entry word is being displayed, the user not only specifies a character string of a passage in the explanatory information as a link source, but also displays another explanatory information, specifies it as a link destination, and stores them in the form of a table. In this way, the user's own link table is created. When displaying explanatory information, the user highlights the character string of the passage stored as the link source in the user's own link table and specifies the highlighted character string, enabling explanatory information at the link destination to be read and displayed.
However, with a conventional information display apparatus that displays document information, since linked character strings stored as link sources are scattered in a document, even if they are highlighted in a series of documents, they are difficult to find, causing the problem of making the selection of them complicated.

Information display apparatus and recording medium


A toner has at least 100 parts by weight of binder resin and 0.1 to 15 parts by weight of colorant. The toner has a number average particle size (Dn) of 0.5 to 6.0 .mu.m, a particle size distribution coefficient (volume average particle size (Dv) / number average particle size (Dn)) of 1.0 to 1.3 and a variation coefficient of particle number distribution of 20% or less.. The toner contains 0.1 to 5.0% by weight of methanol-soluble resin component extracted by the first Soxhlet extraction with methanol and 50 to 99% by weight of THF-soluble resin component extracted by a second Soxhlet extraction with tetrahydrofuran (THF) after the Soxhlet extraction with methanol, wherein the maximum glass transition point (Tg.sub.2) of the methanol-soluble resin component and the glass transition point (Tg.sub.1) of the THF-soluble resin component satisfies the following relation; EQU 0 (.degree. C.)<Tg.sub.2 -Tg.sub.1 .ltoreq.150 (.degree. C.). and EQU 50 (.degree. C.).ltoreq.Tg.sub.1.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a toner for developing electrostatic latent images used for forming electophotographic positive images from electrostatic latent images, and a process for producing the toner.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various methods for electrophotography are known in the art as described in U.S. Pat. No. 2,297,691, Japanese Patent Publication No. 42-23910 and Japanese Patent Publication No. 43-24748. The electrophotographic images are usually fixed by heat, pressure or heat and pressure, or by exposing to a solvent vapor to obtain a copied article or printed matter after forming an electric latent image on a photosensitive material by a variety of methods using a photoconductive substance, developing the latent image with a toner, and transferring the toner image on a transfer material such as paper using a direct or indirect method depending on the requirement. The toner that is not transferred and left on the photosensitve material is cleaned off by various conventional cleaning methods if necessary, repeating the steps described above thereafter.
The toner as described above is usually composed of particles comprising a binder resin and colorant as main components and contains, if necessary, a charge control agent and external additive for fixing. The particle size is usually in the range of several to 20 or 30 microns. This toner is usually produced by a so-called crushing method in which colorants such as dyes, pigments or magnetic members are mixed with a thermoplastic resin and the resin is fused to uniformly disperse the colorants in the thermoplastic resin, followed by crushing of the resin and classification of crushed particles.
Recently, an image forming device using electrophotography has been widely used simply not only as a office copy machine to copy written manuscripts but also for the purposes of full color copying providing a high quality of images and high precision output for computers. Printers are now also used for personal computers as computers have come into wide use. In accordance with this trend, lowering the fixing temperature become required for the purpose of saving electric power.
Accordingly, a higher performance of the toner has been required because the requirement to form excellent images can not be attained provided that improvements in performance such as image quality and fixing ability of the toner are not satisfied.
One measure for attaining a high quality image is to make the particle size of the toner small. Improvements in the image quality and image resolution have been actually performed by making the particle size as small as several microns. However, it is difficult to make the particle size as small as 5 to 6 microns or less by the conventional crushing method since crushed debris adheres to the crushing device due to the strong impact required to make the particles as small as possible. Moreover, only a limited degree of sharpness of the particle size distribution is attained by classification of the particles due to the presence of a cohesive force caused by finely grinding the particles. As a result, controlling the electrostatic charge of the toner is difficult, thereby causing undesired scattering and fogging of images.
Toner produced by a polymerization process has been proposed to provide reduced size toner particles or to obtain a sharp particle size distribution. For example, methods for producing particles having a sharp particle size distribution in the range of 1 to 10 .mu.m are disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 6-52432 and Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-93002.
Although such particles having a sharp particle size distribution are excellent in fluidity, there exists another problem in that the toner tends to coagulate or agglomerate when forming close packing or, especially, when exposed to high temperatures. Once the toner or developer has agglomerated, incomplete charging is liable to occur, which leads to poor resolution of developed images.
This leaves significant problems when the glass transition point and mean molecular weight of adhesive resins are decreased so as to make finer toner particles or to lower the fixing temperature.

Toner for developing an electrostatic image and process for producing a toner


An improved vaginal cleansing device comprising a T-shaped coupling, a first valve, a venturi, a second valve, concentrate reservoir, a solution delivery tube, and an applicator nozzle. The T-shaped coupling is interposed between a water source line and a shower head and diverts water to the first valve. The first valve controls the flow of water through the cleansing device and, when open, delivers water to the venturi. The venturi drafts concentrate from the concentrate reservoir under the control of the second valve and delivers either water or a mixture of water and concentrate to the solution delivery tube, and the solution delivery tube delivers the water or mixture to the applicator nozzle.

The field of the invention is feminine hygienic devices of the type used for vaginal irrigation and cleansing.
Recent attention has been directed toward the development of an improved vaginal irrigation and cleansing device of a type which may be temporarily or permanently coupled to the plumbing of a private home. However, despite this attention those skilled in the art have failed to provide a cleansing device which satisfies a number of basic requirements for use in a private home. Specifically, the efforts of those skilled in the art have failed to produce a device which (1) is inexpensive, (2) may be readily incorporated into the plumbing of a home without interfering with the function of existing plumbing fixtures, (3) is capable of providing a cleansing solution comprising either pure water or a mixture of water and concentrate, (4) is capable of delivering the cleansing solution at a safe yet sufficient pressure to insure proper cleansing action, and (5) is capable of delivering the cleansing solution over a variable controlled temperature range without employing an electrical heating apparatus.


Apparatus for the analog/digital conversion of a measurement voltage with an analog/digital converter, which has an integrating component with an operational amplifier, a resistor and a capacitor in a feedback loop, wherein a reference voltage is applied to the inverting input of the operational amplifier and wherein the measurement voltage is applied to the non-inverting input of the operational amplifier The capacitor is charged during a charging phase of time length (t1) and discharged during a discharging phase of time length, wherein the analog/digital converter further includes a comparator connected downstream from the operational amplifier, a memory element connected downstream from the comparator, a time generator producing the charging time and a counter, the counter detects the edges, or the period length of the pulse-width modulated output signal provided by the A/D converter on the output, and a synchronizing element is provided, which synchronizes the edges of the pulse-width modulated, output signal with the clock pulse of the counter at least within a predetermined measurement duration.

Representative of a method for A/D conversion, for the transforming of an analog input voltage into a digital number proportional to the amplitude, is the count method. Embodiments of the count method are the single-ramp method and the double-ramp method, wherein, by means of an integrating component, in the case of the first-mentioned method, only the input voltage is integrated, while, in the case of the second-mentioned method, both the input voltage and the reference voltage are integrated.
The period length for the A/D conversion of a measurement signal is determined by the sum of the discharging time t1 and the charging time t2 of a capacitor, which is arranged in the feedback loop of the integrating component. The switching between the charging phase and the discharging phase occurs, in each case, at that point in time, when the output voltage of the integrating component reaches a predetermined threshold voltage. This is implemented via a downstream comparator, whose one input receives the output voltage of the integrating component and whose other input receives the threshold voltage.
For measuring the period length of the pulse-width modulated output signal, the time between two rising, or two falling, edges of the pulse-width modulated, output signal is registered by means of a counter. The resolution in the determining of the period length is, in such case, dependent on the frequency of the counter clock signal—the higher the counter clock frequency, the better is the time resolution. If, for example, the counter is operated with the counter clock frequency f, then the following holds for the smallest measurable time change Δt:Δt=1/f.
Known A/D converters become naturally more expensive, as their resolution becomes higher. Moreover, the resolution of known A/D converters is usually fixedly predetermined, so that, usually, an A/D converter optimally adapted for the particular case of application is installed.
In process measurements technology, the tendency is in the direction of multiparameter measuring devices—thus measuring devices able to measure a plurality of different, physical or chemical, process variables. Examples of such process variables include e.g. temperature, pressure, fill level, flow, pH-value, ion concentration, conductivity, etc. of a medium to be measured. The quality of a measurement is determined, in principle, by the measurement accuracy and/or the time resolution of the measuring, thus the measurement rate. Usually, these two requirements work against one another. Thus, for a highly accurate measurement, a correspondingly long time is needed. In contrast, if the time for a measurement is limited, then the increased rate of measurement is at the cost of measurement accuracy. The escape route is represented by A/D converters, which are appropriately fast and which, at the same time, have a high bit-resolution. The disadvantage of these converters is that they are relative expensive, which, in turn, drives the manufacturing costs for the measuring devices significantly upwards.
Exactly in the case of multiparameter measuring devices, yet another aspect enters the picture: In process measurements technology, different requirements, as regards measurement accuracy and as regards time resolution, are placed on the providing of the measured value, i.e. on the A/D conversion of the measurement signals representing the individual process variables. In terms of an example, consider temperature, a process variable, which usually changes relatively slowly as a function of time, since, in the normal case, no abrupt temperature jumps arise. However, exactly in the case of temperature measurements, usually a high measurement accuracy is required. Mentioned in this connection is the monitoring and/or control of temperature in a chemical process. Since the temperature changes relatively slowly, relatively much time is available for registering the measured value.
Quite different is the situation e.g. in the case of a pressure measurement. In this case, it is necessary also to be able to detect suddenly occurring, pressure jumps. This is only possible, when the measurement duration is correspondingly short; in the case of many pressure measurements, however, the accuracy of measurement is of lower importance. It makes sense in this connection then to find a compromise, or a flexible solution, as the case may be, which permits an adapting of the registering of the measured value, as regards both measurement accuracy and measurement duration, to the particular requirements of a given application.

Apparatus for analog/digital conversion of a measurement voltage


The embodiments disclose an antenna, an antenna array and a base station. The antenna includes two pairs of oscillator units that are orthogonal in polarization and have a same structure, each pair of oscillator units comprising a radiating portion and a feeding portion; the radiating portion includes a radiating substrate and two radiating bodies disposed on a surface of the radiating substrate; the radiating bodies are spaced apart from and symmetrical to each other, the feeding portion includes a feeding substrate, a ground disposed on a surface of one side of the feeding substrate and a microstrip disposed on a surface of the other side of the feeding substrate; the radiating substrate and the feeding substrate are perpendicular to and connected to each other, the ground is connected to the radiating bodies, and the microstrip line is spaced apart from and coupled to the radiating bodies.

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has issued licenses for the usage of low-frequency test bands in 5G systems to China Telecom, China Mobile and China Unicom. Among them, China Mobile has obtained frequency bands of 2.515-2.685 GHz and 4.8-5 GHz, and China Telecom and China Unicom has obtained a frequency band of 3.4-3.6 GHz. This fully reflects on supporting 5G international standards and technology verification and accelerating the development of 5G industry. Massive multi-input multi-output antenna technology (Massive MIMO) is undoubtedly one of the most critical technologies in 5G systems.
Adopting large-scale antennas can significantly increase spectrum efficiency, especially when capacity requirements are large or coverage is wide, which enables 4G networks to meet network growth requirements. From the operator's point of view, this technology has a good prospect, and it should be implemented in 5G hardware in advance, and 5G air interface function should be provided through software upgrade to facilitate 5G deployment.
Massive Multiple Input Multiple Output (Massive MIMO) technology has the following advantages:
With Massive MIMO antenna arrays, the spectral efficiency is 3 to 5 times greater than that of ordinary macro base stations.
Massive MIMO increases the flexibility of network coverage, and the operators may utilize horizontal and vertical coverage features of Massive MIMO to provide coverage in different scenarios.
With amazing high-capacity gains, Massive MIMO is expected to help the operators to draw users by machine-flexible billing policies, which provides an incomparable user experience, stimulates the user's data consumption, gains traffic revenue, and increases the operator's income.
Massive MIMO is compatible with 4G terminals, and the operators can now benefit from 4G network deployments. At the same time, it also supports 5G-oriented network evolution to maintain and enhance the return of existing investments.
It can be seen that in order to realize the technical advantages of Massive MIMO, how to design a Massive MIMO antenna is an urgent problem to be solved.
It should be noted that the information disclosed in this section are only used for better understanding of the background of the present disclosure, and thus it may include information that does not constitute prior art known to those of ordinary skill in the art.


A state detection mechanism includes a movable member, a spring member, a fringesection, and a stopper member. The spring member displaces the movable member arranged at the first predetermined position to a second predetermined position by applying restoration force in a D direction to the movable member. The fringe section restricts the displacement by abutting to a protrusion member formed on the movable member arranged at the first predetermined position. The stopper member restricts rotation of the movable member, which rotates around an axis that extends in a D direction, by abutting to the protrusion member formed on the movable member arranged at the first predetermined position. When torque is transmitted to the movable member from a shaft, the movable member rotates wound an axis that extends in the D direction, and the protrusion member and the stopper member abut to each other.

An image formation apparatus such as a copying machine is provided with various kinds of process cartridges, for example, a photosensitive cartridge, a developer tank cartridge, a charging unit, and a cleaner unit, which are attached detachably to the image formation apparatus. Some of these cartridges deteriorate through usage. Consumable materials in some others among these cartridges are used up. Therefore, each of the cartridges needs to be replaced with another cartridge at an appropriate time. At this replacement, on one hand, the cartridge is replaced with a cartridge in a new state. However, on the other, the cartridge is replaced with a used cartridge (hereinafter, referred to as a cartridge in a used state), which has been used before but still usable.
In many of the image formation apparatuses, usage history of a process cartridge is recorded in order to (i) detect an appropriate time for replacing the process cartridge and then notify an operator of the appropriate time for the replacement and (ii) optimize process conditions according to the usage history of the process cartridge.
In case where the cartridge newly attached has not been used before (hereinafter, referred to as in an unused state) (in the new state), there is no problem in recording the usage history from a time when the cartridge is attached. However, in case where the cartridge newly attached is in the used state, the cartridge has been already used to a certain degree. Consequently, if the usage history of the cartridge in the used state is recorded from the time when the cartridge is attached in the same manner as the cartridge in the new state, the usage history may cause an error in (i) detecting the time for replacing the process cartridge or/and (ii) optimizing process conditions. Therefore, it is preferable that the image formation apparatus is arranged so as to be able to identify whether the process cartridge is in the unused state or in the used state when the process cartridge is attached to the image formation apparatus.
For example, Patent Documents 1 through 3 listed below disclose means for allowing the image formation apparatus to identify whether the cartridge attached is in the unused state or in the used state when the process cartridge is attached to the image formation apparatus.
(Patent Document 1)
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 99980/1990 (Tokukaihei 2-99980 (published on Apr. 11, 1990))
(Patent Document 2)
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 308277/1990 (Tokukaihei 2-308277 (published on Dec. 21, 1990))
(Patent Document 3)
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 271039/2003 (published on Sep. 25, 2003)
Patent Document 3 discloses an initial detection mechanism 200 as illustrated in FIGS. 6(a) and 6(b). This initial detection mechanism 200 is provided to a photosensitive cartridge attached to an image formation apparatus. The initial detection mechanism 200 includes (i) a shaft 230, (ii) a mobile body 210 fit on the shaft 230 so as to be capable of sliding in a direction of an arrow F (hereinafter, referred to as an F direction), and (iii) a cover member 220 on which an opening 220a is formed. The mobile body 210 has an axis body 210a.
According to this initial detection mechanism 200, when the photosensitive cartridge is in the unused state, as illustrated in FIG. 6(a), the mobile body 210 is arranged at a position where the axis body 210a passes through the opening 220a from an inside of the cover member 220 and comes in contact with a sensor 250 of the image formation apparatus. Hereinafter, the position where the mobile body 210 is arranged as illustrated in FIG. 6(a) is referred to as a position a.
The mobile body 210 at the position a is pressed in a direction parting from the sensor 250 (the F direction) by a spring member 260 being compressed. However, the displacement of the mobile body 210 due to the pressure from the spring member 260 is restricted by a protrusion 210b formed on an outer periphery surface of the axis body 210a. The protrusion 210b restricts the displacement by abutting on an outer surface of the cover member 220 around the opening 220a. Thus, the mobile body 210 stays at the position a.
When the photosensitive cartridge is used, the shaft 230 rotates. Along with rotation of the shaft 230, the mobile body 210 and the axis body 210a also rotate (rotate around an axis that extends in the F direction). Moreover, due to this rotation, the protrusion 210b formed on the axis body 210a slides on the outer surface of the cover member 220 around the opening 220a of the cover member 220. Eventually, the protrusion 210b moves up to a position where the protrusion 210b faces a cut (not illustrated) made by cutting off a part of the outer surface of the cover member 220.
When the protrusion 210b faces the cut, the protrusion 210b does not abut to the outer surface of the cover member 220. This moves the mobile body 210 to the direction parting from the sensor 250 (in the F direction) by restoration force of the spring member 260. Moreover, as illustrated in FIG. 6(b), the mobile body 210 stops moving when a bottom surface inside the mobile body 210 abuts to an end of the shaft 230. As a result, the axis body 210a is arranged at a position away from the sensor 250. Hereinafter, the position where the mobile body 210 is arranged as illustrated in FIG. 6(b) is referred to as a position b.
The mobile body 210 arranged at the position b is supported by being pressed by the spring member 260 towards the end of the shaft 230. Accordingly, although the mobile body 210 supported at the position b may move a little in the direction of the position a (an opposite direction to the F direction) due to vibrations or the like, the mobile body 210 is eventually pushed back to the position b by the spring member 260. Consequently, the mobile body 210 is kept at the position b, and never goes back to the position a automatically.
According to the initial detection mechanism 200 as explained above, when the photosensitive cartridge is in the unused state, the mobile body 210 is arranged at the position a, and the axis body 210a of the mobile body 210 is in contact with the sensor 250 of the image formation apparatus. In case where the sensor 250 is in contact with the axis body 210a, the image formation apparatus identifies that the photosensitive cartridge is in the unused state.
Moreover, when the photosensitive cartridge is used, the mobile body 210 moves from the position a to the position b and the axis body 210a is away from the sensor 250. In case where the sensor 250 is not in contact with the axis body 210a, the image formation apparatus identifies that the photosensitive cartridge is in the used state.
In this way, in the initial detection mechanism 200, the image formation apparatus can identify whether the photosensitive cartridge is in the unused state or not.
In the initial detection mechanism 200, the mobile body 210 moves from the position a to the position b when the photosensitive cartridge comes to be in the used state from the unused state. Then, the mobile body 210 never returns to the position a automatically. However, it is possible by hand of an operator (a) to disassemble the initial detection mechanism 200 and (b) to reassemble the initial detection mechanism 200 so that the mobile body 210 is arranged at the position a again. The reason why this procedure is made possible is that the mobile body 210 is rearranged at the position a in the initial detection mechanism 200 of this photosensitive cartridge after the photosensitive cartridge returns to the new state (the unused state) by recycling of the photosensitive cartridge that has been used up and collected.
However, there may be a case where the photosensitive cartridge in the used state is to be reattached to the image formation apparatus, which photosensitive cartridge has been removed from the image formation apparatus and left in the used state (usable). In the arrangement mentioned above, an user or the like, who does not know that the photosensitive cartridge is in the used state, may (a) disassemble the initial detection mechanism 200 and (b) reassemble the initial detection mechanism 200 so that the mobile body 210 is arranged at the position a again. If such a case occurs, the image formation apparatus mistakenly identifies that the photosensitive cartridge, which is in the used state and reattached to the image formation apparatus, is in the unused state.


The invention concerns a process for producing a modular connection element (C.sub.0) from independent elementary connectors (4.sub.1 to 4.sub.8), having openings. The shielding elements (5d) are made from sheet metal. The surfaces of the overall connection element (C.sub.0) thus obtained are covered by shielding elements (5d) and elementary connectors (4.sub.1 to 4.sub.8) are joined together by pushing of specific zones of shielding elements (50d to 52d) into the openings. One application of the invention would be connection elements (C.sub.0) between printed circuit mother and/or daughter boards.

Several configurations of modular elements of this type have been proposed, with or without shielding.
By way of nonlimiting example, the following may be cited: French Patents FRA 2,685,554 and FRA 2,685,556,and U. S. Pat. No. 4,451,107.
By way of example and in a more precise manner, the previously mentioned French Patent application FRA 207 2,685,0556 concerns a modular electrical connection element. This element comprises an insulating unit having a central region to receive electrical contact elements and two side branches that are approximately perpendicular to the axis of the central region and have a width that is equal to that of the module. Each side branch has, on an external surface, a shielding element, extending over a major part of its surface. The shielding elements comprise at least one means for maintaining position in the insulating unit, at least one electrical connection means extending beyond the insulating unit, and at least one elastic electrical contact means through at least one corresponding opening of said side branch opening onto an internal surface of said side branch.

Process for producing of a modular electrical connection element and modular electrical connection element thus obtained


Tracking methods and systems for providing timing recovery of continuous signals is presented. According to one embodiment, the method includes: sampling a continuous signal; estimating a timing disturbance of the sampled continuous signal; generating a timing adjustment signal in accordance with the estimated timing disturbance; and adjusting a sampling signal associated with a sampling device based on the timing adjustment signal.

In, for example, hard disk drive (HDD) data storage systems, a continuous readback signal needs to be sampled prior to data detection. Data storage systems, however, introduce time-varying timing disturbances into the continuous readback signal. These delays are due to many factors, including disk speed variation, frequency offset between the different clocks used in the writing and reading processes, and clock wander. As data storage densities are pushed toward one terabit per square inch (1 Tb/in2) and beyond, advanced signal detection algorithms such as iterative soft decoding are being suggested to cope with the lower signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) and higher inter-symbol interference (ISI) inevitable at these densities.
In HDD systems, low SNR is a direct consequence of decreased track widths of the recording medium to accommodate increased track density. Unfortunately, at low SNRs, conventional phase-locked loop (PLL)-based decision-directed timing recovery schemes exhibit a large residual timing jitter. Residual timing jitter refers to the residual timing error introduced by the timing recovery system and is the difference between the estimated timing disturbance and the actual timing disturbance in a continuous readback signal as it is processed by the timing recovery system. Large residual timing jitter leads to frequent loss of lock, an event where the estimated timing disturbance differs considerably from the actual timing disturbance for a significantly long duration leading to misindexing of the detected bits and thus error bursts. Large residual timing jitter erodes SNR gains achieved by advanced signal detectors and ensures loss of lock. It is therefore desirable to develop timing recovery methods and systems that can perform well in low SNR environments. For conventional PLL-based decision-directed timing recovery schemes, the residual timing jitter can be decreased by employing reliable detection schemes within PLLs, such as a full Viterbi structure with a long decision window instead of a Viterbi detector having a short decision window. It is difficult, however, to maintain the stability of a PLL having a long delay. Another approach for reducing residual timing jitter is to use a soft timing error detector (TED), which uses soft information from a Soft Output Viterbi Algorithm (SOVA) with a forced short decision window. Test results show that the soft TED provides some improvement in terms of the residual timing jitter and the overall bit error rate (BER). Nevertheless, the soft TED method alone may not provide adequate performance at low SNRs, especially when a large PLL bandwidth is needed to track a relatively rapidly changing timing disturbance.
Accordingly, there exists a need for a new timing recovery system and method to perform timing recovery in low SNR partial response recording channels.


This invention discloses a power supply management circuit which comprises at least one switching circuit coupled between a power supply and a power recipient circuit, and at least one voltage booster circuit coupled between a control circuit and the power recipient circuit, wherein the control circuit is configured to turn on-or-off the switching circuit, and to activate or de-activate the voltage booster circuit.

The present invention relates generally to integrated circuit (IC) design, and, more particularly, to power supply management for IC memory devices.
A need for low power electronics has been driven by portable applications, packing density of ICs and conservation of energy. Reducing power supply voltage is an effective way to reduce power consumption of an IC. On the other hand, ever scaling down in semiconductor device sizes demands low supply voltage operations. But small device sizes and low supply voltage cause high leakage and instability in device operations. Cell operation of a static random access memory (SRAM) is one example. FIG. 1 shows a column 100 of SRAM cells 102[0:n], where n is an integer. The SRAM cell 102[0] shown in FIG. 1 has six transistors. Two P-type metal-oxide-semiconductor (PMOS) transistors 110 and 120, and two N-type metal-oxide-semiconductor (NMOS) transistor 115 and 125 form two cross-coupled inverters to store a state in either node C or node D. Two NMOS transistor 130 and 135 serve as pass-gates between a pair of complementary bit-lines (BLs) 140 and 145, and node C and D, respectively. The gates of both the NMOS transistors 130 and 135 are coupled to a word-line (WL) 150. A high voltage power supply (Vcc) line 160 is coupled to the sources of the PMOS transistors 110 and 120 of every cell 102 in the column 100, while a low voltage power supply (Vss) line 170 is coupled to the sources of the NMOS transistors 115 and 125 of the cells 102[0:n]. When writing to the cell 102[0], the complementary BLs 140 and 145 are forced a voltage to overwrite a previous state stored in nodes C or D, therefore, lower Vcc will make the writing easier. When reading from the cell 102[0], the BLs 140 and 145 become driven by nodes C and D, apparently, higher Vcc will make the reading easier. Writing and reading put contradictory demands on the Vcc. As the Vcc scales down with the device sizes, and process variations increase in proportion to the device sizes, it is increasingly difficult for a fixed power supply voltage to meet these contradictory demands.
As such, what is needed is a dynamic power supply that can increase or decrease it voltage on demands.

Dynamic power supplies for semiconductor devices


A sheet supplying device for an imaging apparatus is provided with a sheet tray configured to mount a plurality of sheets in a stacked state. The sheet tray is inclined such that leading ends of the plurality of sheets are lower than trailing ends thereof. Further provided is a feed roller that faces an uppermost sheet of the plurality of sheets mounted on the sheet tray to be press-contacted thereto. The feed roller is driven to rotate to feed the uppermost sheet. Further provided is a sheet guide mechanism having at least one guiding section provided in front of the feed roller. The guiding section is inclined such that the leading ends of the plurality of sheets are moved toward the feed roller by their own weight. The guiding section is configured such that the degree of inclination of the guiding section varies depending on the amount of the plurality of sheets.

1. Technical Field
Aspects of the invention relate to sheet supplying device employed in an imaging device such as a printing device (e.g., a printer, a facsimile device, a multi function peripheral, etc.) or a scanning device for supplying sheets one by one in the imaging device.
2. Related Art
Conventionally, a sheet supplying device has been known and widely used. Such a sheet supplying device is typically configured such that a plurality of sheets are stacked on a sheet tray, and an upper surface of a leading end side portion of stacked sheets are press-contacted with a sheet feed roller. The sheet feed roller rotates to feed the recording sheet one by one in the imaging device. In such a conventional sheet supplying device, the upper surface of the stacked sheet should be press-contacted to the sheet feed roller regardless of the amount of the stacked sheets. In order to ensure the contact, the sheet tray is made movable toward and away from the sheet feed roller, and is biased toward the sheet feed roller using a spring or the like. In such a conventional configuration, room is required that allows the sheet tray, which has a substantially same size of the recording sheets, to move within a certain movable range. Obstacles have been encountered in providing desired room while downsizing the device.
To deal with the above drawback, Japanese Patent Provisional Publication No. HEI 10-101241 discloses a sheet supplying device, which is configured as follows. A stack of sheets is placed on a sheet tray such that the leading end portion of the stack of sheets is oriented toward a lower front side, and the leading end side of the stacked sheets is in contact with a support unit. The support unit in this publication is configured such that the recording sheets are movable toward the feed roller by means of their own weight. That is, stack of the recording sheets is moved toward the feed roller and is press-contacted thereto. With the configuration described in the publication, it is unnecessary to provide a room that allows the sheet tray to move. Thus, the entire device can be downsized.
According to the configuration disclosed in the publication No. HEI 10-101241, since the inclination angle of the supporting unit is fixed, when the amount of the stacked sheets is relatively large, a relatively large pressing force is applied to the feed roller by the weight of the sheets. In such a case, the plurality of sheets overlap when fed. On the other hand, if the amount of the stacked sheets is relatively small, the sheets are not press-contacted sufficiently because of their light weight, and the sheets may not be fed or fed properly by the feed roller.