An electronic device with a solid state drive and associated control method are provided. The electronic device includes: a host; a power supply component, for providing electric power to the host and the solid state drive; and the solid state drive including a control unit electrically connected to the host through a bus, a cache memory electrically connected to the control component, and a flash memory electrically connected to the control component. When a remaining power of the power supply component decreases to a threshold value, the host controls the solid state drive to enter a data secure mode and disables the cache memory; and when the remaining power of the power supply component is above the threshold value, the host controls the solid state drive to enter a high performance mode and enables the cache memory.

Due to development of technology and consumers' requirement, handheld electronic devices nowadays provide multi-functions. Take a smart phone for example, instead of providing only basic features, advanced functions such as internet, e-mail, photographing, and video recording functions are always provided as well. Consequently, power consumption of each component in the handheld electronic device should be strictly managed in order to extend standby duration of the electronic device.
Basically, current electronic devices are equipped with solid state drive (hereinafter, SSD) components to save data such as files, programs, pictures, videos and so forth. Such solid state drives are thus named as embedded multi-media card (hereinafter, eMMC).
SSD components use NAND flash memory. As flash memory is non-volatile, data saved to the SSD components are reserved even if the electronic device is shut down.
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating connections between a host and a solid state drive in a conventional electronic device. In the electronic device 100, the solid state drive 110 is electrically connected to the host 112 through a bus 120, for receiving a read command or a write command generated by the host 112. The host 112 may be a control processing unit (hereinafter, CPU), and the bus 120 may be a USB bus, an IEEE 1394 bus, or SATA bus etc.
Furthermore, the solid state drive 110 includes a control unit 101, a cache memory 103, and a flash memory 105. Being utilized by the control unit 101, the bus 120 transmits commands and data between the control unit 101 and the host 112. The control unit 101 accesses data stored in the flash memory 105 according to the commands sent from the host 112. Besides, the cache memory 103 is electrically connected to the control unit 101 and used as a temporary buffer for temporarily storing the write data from the host 112, and the read data required by the host 112.
The solid state drive 110 is one of the numerous components in the electronic device. Thus, an important purpose of the present invention is to efficiently manage power consumption of the solid state drive 110 while providing efficient operation between the solid state drive 110 and the host 112 and securing safety of the stored data.

Electronic device with solid state drive and associated control method


A control circuit comprises a power supply unit configured to generate a voltage to be supplied to a load by turning on and off a first switch in response to a drive signal and control a drive current of the load by turning on and off a second switch in response to a control signal, a first controller configured to perform a first PWM control of the drive signal, based on a measurement value of the drive current, a second controller configured to perform a second PWM control of the control signal, based on an external signal, and a synchronous controller configured to synchronize an on-period of one period of the control signal to he a multiple of one period of the drive signal. Further, in the control circuit, during the on-period of the control signal, an inductor current for generating the drive current is cut off for a portion of every period of the drive signal.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a control circuit and method for dimming a lighting device.
2. Background Art
One method for dimming a lighting device or the like is a pulse width modulation (PWM) system that switches on and off a light source such as a light emitting diode (LED) by a pulse signal having a constant frequency and it modulated duty ratio (refer to, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 8,294,388, 8,154,222, 8,198,832 and 7,321,203 and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2011-9366).
In this PWM system, for example, a direct current-to-direct current (DC-DC) converter, which usually has excellent conversion efficiency, is used as a constant current source and a constant voltage regulator. A duty ratio, which is a ratio of the width of an on state to one period of a drive pulse, i.e., an energizing portion during one period of the drive pulse, is changed to adjust the on/off time, controlling the brightness or luminance of the lighting device.
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of an example of a PWM dimming control circuit. As illustrated in FIG. 1, is DC-DC convertor 1 is a buck converter, i.e. a converter of step-down type, and functions to cause a constant current to flow through a light source 2, such as an LED, by using a PWM control signal from a constant current controller 4. The constant current controller 4 is connected to a brightness modification unit 3 and a node located at the low side of the light source 2. The constant current controller 4 controls the operation of a switch in the DC-DC converter 1 based on a brightness control signal from the brightness modification unit 3 and a feedback signal indicative of a light emission state of the light source 2.

Control circuit and control method for dimming a lighting device


A method and system for matching users of a network, such as a language learning network, employs user profile data to determine point match scores and/or compatibility match scores between users of the network such as a social network. A point match score is a measure of strength for a single interest that two users share. A compatibility match score is an aggregate measure of similarity of multiple interests that two users share. When a first user asks the system to propose another user or users for interaction, the system uses the point match scores, compatibility match scores, or both to determine which additional users to recommend to the first user. The system may present the first user with a profile for each recommended user. The first user may select one of the recommended users and engage in interaction, such as language skills learning or practice, with that user via a text, audio and/or video interface.

This document relates to online networks, such as online educational networks, learning systems, social networks and other systems where multiple users may interact with each other via text and/or video through a communications network such as the Internet. In such systems, it may be easy and common for individuals who already know each other (e.g., "friends") to connect and interact. However, social network systems may encounter difficulty connecting compatible users who may not know each other. If social network systems match users who are not compatible or who do not share common interests, or fails to match those with common interests, user interaction may be hindered and in particular educational social networks may not prove effective.
This document describes new systems and methods that provide solutions to some or all of the problems described above via matching users based on common interests primarily for the purpose of language instruction. In addition, the matching processes described in this document may provide additional benefits.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Matching users of a network based on profile data


Described herein are systems and apparatuses for enhanced comfort through contact pressure reduction. In particular, the systems and apparatuses disclosed herein prevent or otherwise mitigate pressure by actively orienting a patient over an anatomy-specific pressure-mitigating contact surface on which the patient rests. A pressure-mitigating contact portion of the contact surface includes a plurality of independently pressurized chambers configured in a specific geometric pattern that is designed to mitigate contact pressure between a support surface (e.g., bed or chair) and a specific anatomic region of a patient's body when the specific anatomic region of the patient's body is oriented over an epicenter of the geometric pattern. Additionally, a plurality of elevated side support portions and a wedge interconnected on the base material are configured to actively orient the specific anatomic region of the patient's body over the epicenter of the geometric pattern.

Decubitus ulcers (commonly known as pressure ulcers) are a frequent but often avoidable complication in many bed bound or wheelchair bound individuals. These pressure skin ulcerations typically occur as a result of steady pressure in one location on the body such as, for example, the sacrum, most notably in patients who are in bed for prolonged periods of time. Often times these patients are older, malnourished and incontinent, all factors predisposing patients to skin break down and ulceration. These patients are often not ambulatory and sit for prolonged periods of time in the same position either in bed or in a wheelchair. These individuals often are unable to reposition themselves to alleviate the pressure. Consequently, the pressure on the skin eventually causes ischemia or lack of blood flow to the area and skin breakdown results. Once the ulceration has formed and the skin barrier is broken, infection may more readily enter the body and cause infection and sepsis. The resulting infection often times leads to further disability, and in some cases, death.
There are many support surfaces on the market for the prevention of pressure ulcers. However, current support surfaces have many deficiencies including the lack of the ability to control the spatial relationship between the patient and the therapeutic surface (or contact surface) and thus patients using these support surfaces may still end up with pressure ulcer complications. Accordingly, a need exists for a system that overcomes the above problems, as well as one that provides additional benefits.
Overall, the examples herein of some prior or related systems and their associated limitations are intended to be illustrative and not exclusive. Other limitations of existing or prior systems will become apparent to those of skill in the art upon reading the following.

Pressure-mitigating surfaces with inflatable chambers and methods for deploying and controlling the same


Thiazolidinedione compounds and pharmaceutically acceptable salts thereof are described. The compounds can be used in methods of treating cancer in a subject by administering to the subject a therapeutically effective amount of the compound. The compounds can also be used in methods of inhibiting glucose uptake in a cell by contacting the cell with the compound.

Cancer cells gain growth advantages in the microenvironment by shifting cellular metabolism from oxidative phosphorylation to glycolysis, the so-called Warburg effect. This glycolytic shift enables cancer cells to adapt to low-oxygen microenvironments, to generate biosynthetic building blocks for cell proliferation, to acidify the local environment to facilitate tumor invasion, and to generate NADPH and glutathione through pentose phosphate shunt to increase resistance to oxidative stress. Kroemer, G.; Pouyssegur, J., Cancer Cell, 13, 472-82 (2008). Thus, the Warburg effect is considered as a fundamental property of neoplasia, thereby constituting the basis for tumor imaging by [18F]2-fluoro-2-deoxyglucose positron emission tomography.
From a therapeutic perspective, targeting glycolysis by blocking glucose uptake represents a clinically relevant strategy for cancer treatment, which has constituted the focus of many investigations. To date, a number of small-molecule agents with the capability to suppress the activity/expression of glucose transporters have been reported, including resveratrol (Park, J. B. J Nat Prod, 64, 381-4 (2001)), naringenin (Harmon et al., Breast Cancer Res Treat, 85, 103-10 (2004)), phloretin (Cao et al., Cancer Chemother Pharmacol, 59, 495-505 (2007)), fasentin (Wood et al., Mol Cancer Ther, 7, 3546-55 (2008)), 8-aminoadenosine (Shamnugam et al., J Biol Chem, 284, 26816-30 (2009)), and STF-31.13. Exposure of cancer cells to these agents gave rise to reduced cell proliferation and/or chemosensitization, providing a proof-of-concept that targeting glucose transporters represents a therapeutically relevant strategy for cancer treatment.
It has previously been demonstrated that the suppressive effects of the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR)γ agonist ciglitazone (1), shown in FIG. 1, on various signaling pathways, including those mediated by cyclin D1, Sp1, and androgen receptor (AR), in prostate cancer cells was attributable to its ability to block glucose entry independently of PPARγ. Wei et al., J Biol Chem, 285, 9780-91 (2010); Wei et al., Mol Pharmacol, 76, 47-57 (2009).
The pharmacological exploitation of the PPARγ-inactive analogue of compound 1, (Z)-5-(4-[(1-methylcyclohexyl)methoxy]benzylidene)-thiazolidine-2,4-dione (Δ2CG, 2), as a scaffold to develop androgen receptor (AR)-ablative agents via its permuted isomer 3 has been reported, which led to (Z)-5-(4-hydroxy-3-(trifluoromethyl)benzylidene)-3-((1-methylcyclohexyl) methyl)thiazolidine-2,4-dione (CG-12, 4) as the optimal compound (FIG. 1A). Yang et al., J Med Chem, 51, 2100-7 (2008). However, there remains a need for new energy restriction mimetic agents, particularly those exhibiting increased potencies.


A dispenser includes a hollow containment body with a hole located inside the bottle and an orifice for pumping a liquid product contained inside the bottle. The dispenser also includes a ring nut, a piston, and a hollow stem slidable inside the body and associated with a dispensing spout to actuate the piston in order to dispense fluid contained in the bottle. The body further includes an aperture to selectively place an ambient air inlet passage in fluid communication with the hole in the body. The ring nut has a first substantially cylindrical portion and a second substantially cylindrical portion which are mutually coupled to define the air inlet passage between them.

More specifically, this invention relates to a dispenser generally consisting of a substantially cylindrical hollow containment body insertable into the neck of a bottle.
The containment body is connected to a threaded ring nut which is screwed to the neck of a bottle.
More specifically, the containment body comprises an annular portion which faces an annular portion of the ring nut and connected thereto.
At a first end of it, the containment body has an inlet orifice for the liquid in the bottle. The orifice is opened or closed by a ball which is free to roll inside the containment body, in particular inside a dispensing chamber included therein.
The dispensing chamber is defined by the space between a piston, guided by a hollow stem slidable inside the containment body, and the bottom portion (where the orifice is) of the containment body.
Between the piston and the stem there are means for opening and closing the hollow in the stem in such a way as to selectively place the inside of the stem in fluid communication with the dispensing chamber.
The movement of the stem is guided by a retaining ring attached to the containment body which also serves the function of piston limit stop.
In other words, the retaining ring defines the upper limit of the dispensing chamber, preventing the piston from coming out of the dispensing chamber.
When the piston creates an overpressure inside the dispensing chamber, the hollow in the stem is in fluid communication with the dispensing chamber and the fluid in the dispensing chamber rises along the stem and is delivered through a spout associated therewith.
In this configuration, the ball is in the lowered position and occludes the orifice.
When the piston creates a negative pressure inside the dispensing chamber, the hollow in the stem is not in fluid communication with the dispensing chamber and fluid is sucked into the dispensing chamber from the bottle.
In this configuration, the negative pressure in the dispensing chamber causes the ball to rise, leaving the orifice open.
In this type of dispenser, the piston is made to slide inside the containment body by opposing the action of a spring whose function is to keep the stem and the piston connected thereto in the raised position.
More specifically, by applying a compressive action on the stem, the piston slides in the dispensing chamber, reducing the size of the chamber and thus creating an overpressure inside it.
When the compressive action on the stem ceases, the spring takes the movable stem/piston assembly back to the raised position, increasing the size of the dispensing chamber and thereby creating a negative pressure in it.
The pressing action on the stem is exerted on the delivery spout located at the upper end of the stem and in fluid communication therewith in order to deliver to the outside atmosphere the liquid contained in the bottle.
At each delivery, a volume of air equal to the liquid delivered must enter the bottle in order to keep the balance of pressure between the inside of the bottle and the outside atmosphere.
For this purpose, prior art dispensers have a fluid inlet between the fastening ring nut and the dispensing spout connected thereto, that is to say, a passage through which air is allowed in so that air from the outside atmosphere can flow into apertures made inside the containment body.
More specifically, these apertures guarantee that the air drawn in between spout and ring nut can reach a hole made in the outside surface of the containment body inside the bottle.
These apertures place the outside atmosphere in fluid communication with the aforementioned hole when the piston is in the lowered position, that is to say when the piston is rising inside the dispensing chamber.
That way, the liquid sucked out of the bottle and into the dosing chamber is replaced by air drawn into the bottle.
When the piston is in the raised position, the apertures occlude the fluid communication between the outside atmosphere (that is to say, between the air inlet passage) and the inside of the bottle (that is to say, the hole made in the containment body).
The prior art dispensers described above have some disadvantages.
In particular, under falling water—for example in a shower—the top of the dispenser (that is, the part with the spout), which is directly exposed to the falling water, is covered by a film of water.
Thus, when the dispenser is operated, water is drawn into the containment body, in addition to air, through the passage between the spout and the ring nut.
The water that enters the containment body follows the same path as the air and, through the apertures, finds its way into the bottle, where it mixes with the liquid contained in the bottle.
This dilutes the liquid in the bottle which, after prolonged use of the dispenser, may become heavy and unacceptable.
Also known are dispensers which can overcome the disadvantage just described. These dispensers have protuberances which keep the inside surface of the ring nut spaced from an annular shoulder of the containment body. More specifically, the ring nut has an annular portion positioned to face the shoulder of the containment body from above. That way, the protuberances define a series of air passage channels designed to place the outside atmosphere in fluid communication (through the threaded inside surface of the ring nut) with the hole made in the outside surface of the containment body inside the bottle.
This minimizes water entry when the dispenser is used under falling water because the inlet passage which places the hole in fluid communication with the outside atmosphere is not directly exposed to the falling water.
Also, the slidable coupling between ring nut and delivery spout may be made in such a way as to reduce or even eliminate entry altogether.
Dispensers of this kind, too, are not free of disadvantages, however.
In effect, it should be noted that in this case the ring nut, which is made as one piece, is not very adaptable to the surface of the delivery spout. That means the coupling between the ring nut and the spout may in some cases be poorly sealed and in others, excessively stiff on account of high friction between the two parts.
Moreover, excessive expansion of the external sealing washer on account of over-tightening the ring nut obstructs the air inlet path, making it difficult for the replacement air to flow into the bottle.


An electronic device includes a substrate including a front side, a back side, a thickness between the front side and back side, one or more front-side vias extending from the front side into a part of the thickness, and an interconnect via extending from the back side toward the front side; a contact pad on the front side and including one or more protrusions extending through corresponding front-side vias and into the interconnect via; and an interconnect extending through the interconnect via and into contact with the protrusion(s).

Conventional microelectronic devices are packaged in a planar or two-dimensional (2D) surface-mount configuration. In this configuration, the package size (particularly the footprint) is dictated by both the number of and physical dimensions of the integrated circuit (IC) chips or other discrete devices included in the package, as well as the area occupied by the discrete surface-mounted passive components utilized. There is a continuing demand for smaller electronic products that at the same time provide a higher level of functionality. Hence, there is a concomitant demand for higher-performance, smaller-footprint packaged microelectronic devices for use in such products. In response, researchers continue to develop three-dimensional (3D) integration or chip-stacking technologies as an alternative to the conventional 2D format. By implementing 3D integration, multiple die may be "vertically" arranged (in the third dimension) in a single packaged electronic device, with adjacent die communicating by way of 3D (or "vertical") metal interconnects extending through the thicknesses of the die substrates. 3D integration may be done at the wafer level (wafer-to-wafer bonding), the die level (die-to-die bonding), or in a hybrid format (die-to-wafer bonding). 3D packages can provide various advantages, such as shorter signal propagation delay (and thus faster signal processing), lower power consumption, reduced cross-talk, smaller package footprint, smaller device size, and higher input/output (I/O) count and density. Moreover, the different die stacked in the 3D package may be configured to provide different functions. For example, one die might include an active electronic device while another die might include an arrangement of passive components (resistors, capacitors, inductors, etc.), an array of memory modules, or a ground plane that communicates with several interconnects.
The formation of 3D metal interconnects has generally been accomplished by either a "vias first" approach or a "vias last" approach. In the "vias first" approach, the interconnects are formed prior to circuitry fabrication, substrate thinning, and substrate (die or wafer) bonding. In the "vias last" approach, the interconnects are formed after circuitry fabrication, substrate thinning, and substrate bonding. Particularly in the case of the "vias last" approach, the interconnect metal may need to be deposited through more than one layer of material in order for the metal to land on the surface of a contact pad and form a low-resistance electrical coupling with the contact pad. For example, to reach the contact pad the interconnect metal may need to be deposited through a deep via that extends through the entire thickness of one substrate and possibly partially into the thickness of an adjacent substrate where the contact pad is located, as well as through one or more intervening layers between these two substrates such as bonding layers, insulating layers, passivation layers, etc. Moreover, as a result of preceding material addition steps, an etching step (i.e., "bottom-clear" etching) such as deep reactive ion etching (DRIE) is typically required to expose the contact pad prior to the interconnect metallization step. Effective etching and interconnect metallization steps become more challenging as the aspect ratio (i.e., depth-to-diameter) of the vias increases.
There continues to be a need for improved methods for fabricating electronic devices that provide high-quality, low-resistance contact between interconnects and contact pads.

Electronic devices utilizing contact pads with protrusions and methods for fabrication


An MR read transducer having passive end regions separated by a central active region comprises an MR layer made from a material having a low uniaxial magnetic anisotropy. A soft magnetic bias layer is adjacent to but spaced from the MR layer in the central region only, and the soft magnetic bias layer is made from a material having a high uniaxial magnetic anisotropy. A longitudinal bias is produced directly in each of the end regions only, and the means for producing the longitudinal bias comprise a layer made from a material having a high uniaxial magnetic anisotropy. Control of the uniaxial anisotropy can be achieved by choosing materials of appropriate magnetostriction or intrinsic uniaxial anisotropy.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates in general to magnetic transducers for reading information signals from a magnetic medium and, in particular, to an improved magnetoresistive read transducer.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The prior art discloses a magnetic transducer referred to as a magnetoresistive (MR) sensor or head which has been shown to be capable of reading data from a magnetic surface at great linear densities. An MR sensor detects magnetic field signals through the resistance changes of a read element made from a magnetoresistive material as a function of the amount and direction of magnetic flux being sensed by the element.
The prior art also teaches that in order for an MR element to operate optimally, two bias fields should be provided. In order to bias the material so that its response to a flux field is linear, a transverse bias field is generally provided. This bias field is normal to the plane of the magnetic media and parallel to the surface of the planar MR element.
The other bias field which is usually employed with MR elements is referred to in the art as the longitudinal bias field which extends parallel to the surface of the magnetic media and parallel to the lengthwise direction of the MR element. The function of the longitudinal bias field is to suppress Barkhausen noise which originates from multi-domain activities in the MR element.
Magnetostriction has been used to stabilize the read back signal of thin film inductive heads. U.S. Pat. No. 4,242,710 teaches that the composition of the pole tip and yoke material are tailored and controlled to have a proper magnetostriction coefficient, and that negative magnetostriction is best for pole pieces for thin film inductive heads.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,626,947 teaches that the characteristics of the thin film magnetic head depend on the magnitude of the magnetostriction rather than the sign and for this reason the magnetostriction coefficient should be limited to no more than 6.times.10.sup.-7. U.S. Pat. No. 4,750,072 discloses a thin film magnetic head in which the central part of the magnetic core is formed of a material having a positive magnetostriction and some side parts of the magnetic core have a negative magnetostriction to prevent the formation of edge domains.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,663,607 discusses the magnetostriction requirements of an MR element, and states that the MR element should have zero magnetostriction so that variations in composition of the MR element prevent magnetic characteristics from changing. Since it is difficult to produce a zero magnetostriction in a single layer due to manufacturing tolerances, a structure is utilized which has multiple layers with the layers alternating with a positive magnetostriction of a particlular magnitude and a negative magnetostriction of the same magnitude. The manufacturing tolerance for the multiple layers tend to cancel so that a composite film having a magnetostriction very close to zero results.
Common practice in the art has been to have a soft magnetic bias layer with a magnetostriction close to zero. However, the prior art does not discuss the effects of the use of high magnetostriction materials on the bias profile of MR sensors.

Magnetoresistive read transducer having improved bias profile

International Business Machines Corporation


There is provided a HBV precore protein having an ability of forming particles, and a means for determining it. A novel HBV precore protein that forms the virus (like) particles of HBV was identified. The present invention provides this novel HBV precore protein. Furthermore, there are provided core-like particles and virus-like particles formed by this HBV precore protein. These virus-like particles can be used for vaccines and therapeutic agents. The present invention also provides a method of determining the HBV precore protein and a method of determining the anti-HBV precore protein antibody.

Diagnosis of viral infections can be made by methods of detecting viruses or virus-related components (proteins and nucleic acids), and methods of determining specific antibodies produced by living organisms due to viral infection. In the infection of the hepatitis B virus (HBV), diagnostic markers such as HBs antigen and antibody, HBc antibody, HBe antigen and antibody, and HBV-DNA have been introduced in laboratory tests.
Generally, the presence of HBV infection can be known by the HBs antigen or the HBc antibody. Not only for infectivity of HBV but as indices for judging pathology and prognosis of HBV carriers, and therapeutic effects, determinations of HBe antigen and antibody and the amount of HBV-DNA have been used. Due to its simple and inexpensive procedures, immunological measurement of HBe antigen and antibody, among them, has been most widely used. In precore mutants that cannot produce or secrete HBe antigen, however, there are cases in which the propagation of HBV is active, infectivity and immunogenicity are potent, and pathology is active though HBe antigen is negative. On the other hand, regardless of whether they are wild types or mutants, the measurement of the amount of HBV-DNA that reflects the propagation and replication state of HBV is important, but it has problems that the procedures of pre-treatment and measurement are complicated, and lack reproducibility and stability.
Recently, a method of determining HBV core-related antigens was developed that is thought to reflect the propagation and replication state of HBV despite the presence of HBV core-related antibodies (HBC antigen and HBe antibody) or the appearance of mutants. Kimura et al. (Journal of Clinical Microbiology, 40:439-445, 2002) have developed an immunoassay that simultaneously detects HBc antigen and HBe antigen in the serum by a simple pre-treatment using a monoclonal antibody having a specificity for the HBV core-related antigens (HBV precore/core gene products containing HBc antigen and HBe antigen), and have demonstrated that it has a correlation with the NAT testing method that detects the virus genome.
According to the literature so far, the HBV precore/core gene encodes a protein comprising a full-length of 212 amino acid residues (amino acid Nos. −29 to 183, when the first amino acid of the HBc antigen was set as 1. The same holds true hereinafter), and has a signal peptide of 19 residues at the N-terminal thereof. The signal peptide comprises hydrophobic amino acid residues and functions as a signal sequence for the protein secreted to bind to the membrane. Here, it represents a sequence comprising amino acids at −29 to −11.
The precore protein, when translated, passes through the endoplasmic reticulum membrane and, after cleaving the 19-residue signal peptide, the C-terminal nucleic acid-binding domain is cleaved to become the HBe antigen (amino acid Nos. −10 to 149), which is secreted into the blood. This HBe antigen was conventionally thought to occur in association with serum proteins such as albumin and γ-globulin in the blood, and it had not been reported to form HBV particles. There are also some reports that HBe antigen is involved in the maintenance of immunological tolerance, suppression of virus replication etc., but it is not indispensable for HBV replication, and there is much to be elucidated on its biological role.
HBV precore/core gene has the second transcription initiation signal, and a product transcribed and translated from this signal turns into the HBc antigen (amino acid Nos. 1-183), which, while incorporating HBV pregenome RNA, forms a virus capsid and is coated with an outer coat (envelope) comprising HBs antigen and, then, is extracellularly released as complete virus particles (Dane particles). It has been reported that when the amino acids at positions 1-144 among the HBc antigen are present, core particles are formed and the molecule forming the core particles of the infectious virus are believed to be comprised of a protein having an amino acid sequence at positions 1-183.
Though HBc antigen and HBe antigen are proteins that share the majority of the sequences, they have significantly different properties. Significantly responsible for this difference is a cysteine residue of the amino acid at position −7 of the HBe antigen. This cysteine, in combination with the cysteine residue at amino acid position 61 in the same molecule, forms a disulfide bond and acquires the properties of e antigen (M. Nassal and A. Rieger, Journal of Virology, 67: 4307-4315, 1993). The fact that when, for example, the cysteine at position −7 is replaced with another amino acid to prevent the disulfide bond from forming, the conformation of HBe antigen is not taken also indicates the significance of this disulfide bond.
On the other hand, as HBc antigen is transcribed and translated from the amino acid at position 1, it does not have the cysteine residue at position −7 and thus takes the HBc conformation, and two molecules of HBc protein turn into a homodimer by forming a disulfide bond between the cysteine residues at amino acid position 61, thereby forming a virus capsid (core particles).
The HBV core-related antigens occurring in the serum of HBV patients are roughly divided into the HBc antigen (amino acid Nos. 1-183) that constitutes the infectious Dane particle and the secretary HBe antigen (amino acid Nos. −10 to 149) that is almost the same as the HBc antigen in terms of amino acid sequence but has an antigenicity different from that of the HBc antigen. However, in addition to the above, the presence of pre-HBe antigen (amino acid Nos. −29 to 149) in the blood that exhibits a HBe antigenicity as a minor molecule has been demonstrated by Takahashi et al. (Journal of Immunology, 147, 3156-3160, 1991).
They separated the pooled sera by centrifugation, and purified from the supernatant a protein having a HBe antigenicity using an affinity column of anti-HBe monoclonal antibody and sequenced it. As described above, the HBe antigen protein is thought to occur in the blood without forming virus particles. They also have decided the HBe antigen sequence that was purified without peeling off (disrupting) the HBs antigen which is a coat protein of HBV or without disrupting virus particles and core particles, and the HBe antigen having the signal sequence (amino acid Nos. −29 to 149) demonstrated by them is believed to occur in a free state in the serum.
On the other hand, it has been reported that, among Dane particles, there are some empty particles containing no HBV-DNA (SAKAMOTO et al., Laboratory Investigation, 48, 678-682, 1983) or replication-defective deficient particles containing shorter-than-usual HBV-DNA that underwent splicing (TERRE et al., Journal of Virology, 65, 5539-5543, 1991), but the HBV protein constituting the particle has not been analyzed in detail.
Thus, biochemical characterization of the HBV core-related antigens analyzed in the above literature cannot be considered sufficient, and the form of the HBV core-related antigens as virus markers in the blood that is thought to reflect the state of propagation and/or replication of HBV has not been resolved yet.

HBV precore protein capable of forming particles


A method of removing layers of heat cured paint buildup on supporting hangers is disclosed. The method includes coating support hangers with a layer of a thermally expandable material in a water soluble carrier and thereafter applying a water insoluble coating layer. The thermally expandable material, the carrier and the water insoluble coating are all selected so as to be relatively unaffected by the curing temperatures of the paint line where the hangers are to be used. When an undesirably thick coating of cured paint has built-up on the hangers, it is removed by heating to a temperature sufficient to expand the thermally expandable material thereby cracking the paint layers. Thereafter, the hangers are soaked in a hot aqueous solution to dissolve the carrier layer and remove the cracked, cured paint layers.

Removing cured paint coatings from large volumes of racks, hangers or other paint line equipment has been a problem for production finishers. Heavy buildups of paint can flake off onto the work piece and prevent a fixture from working properly, and even light buildup can interfere with the quality of an electrostatic painting process.
Several techniques have been developed in attempts to satisfactorily remove paint coatings on such equipment. One such technique is to debond or dissolve the organic coating in an chemical solvent bath. Such solvents include methylene chloride and trichloroethane. While these solvents are often effective for debonding the paint coating from the substrate, they generate chemical waste such as stripping sludges, which result in disposal and pollution problems. Additionally, long soaking times are often required, which makes this method undesirable for continuous on-line operations.
Another technique involves applying a liquefied inert gas to the support and/or to the built-up paint layers to cause embrittlement of the paint and lessen the bond between the support and the built-up paint layers. The paint layers while still under cryogenic conditions are removed from the support by impact or blasting. The impact can be by abrasive particles which are blasted at the surface by air or mechanical means, or may be a simple mechanical impact. Repeated use of such abrasive particles or impacts tends to wear down or deform the hangers, especially where the hangers contain screws, springs or similar objects. See for example U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,554,025 and 4,705,574.
In a further technique for removing unwanted paint layers from racks, hangers, etc., a coating is formed on the hangers prior to their use in painting operations. The coating has minute bubbles on the surface. After accumulation of paint over the coating a mechanical impact to the hanger forms a gaseous layer between the hanger and the paint layers. Thereafter, the paint layers are peeled from the hanger by mechanical means. See for example U.S. Pat. No. 4,867,900.
In U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,017,303 and 4,844,833 a paint peeling composition and method for removing uncured paint from an object is disclosed. The method involves coating an object, such as floor grates in a paint spray booth, with a water soluble polyvinyl alcohol, polyvinyl acetate, or acrylic resin layer which incorporates thermally expandable microballoons. Unnecessary paint is removed from the objects by immersion in hot water. The hot water expands the thermally expandable microballoons and dissolves or disperses the carrier layer thereby removing the paint.

Thermo responsive method of removing cured paint


Dynamically steering data traffic sessions based on traffic type may include: determining that both frequency division duplex (FDD) and time division duplex (TDD) are available for an air interface between a user equipment (UE) and a base station (BS); determining a first traffic type expected over the air interface for a first data traffic session; based on at least the first traffic type, determining that FDD is a preferred duplex scheme for the first data traffic session; instructing the UE to use FDD over the air interface for the first data traffic session; determining a second traffic type expected over the air interface for a second data traffic session; based on at least the second traffic type, determining that TDD is a preferred duplex scheme for the second data traffic session; and instructing the UE to use TDD over the air interface for the second data traffic session.

In fifth generation (5G) and fourth generation (4G) cellular networks, multiple frequency bands are allocated for wireless communication (e.g., over an air interface) between a user equipment (UE) and a cellular base station (BS). These may include 600 megahertz (MHz), 700 MHz, 850 MHz, 1.7/2.1 GHz, 1.9 GHz, 2.3 GHz, 2.5 GHz, 2.8 GHz, 3.9 GHz, 5.2 GHz frequency bands. Wireless transmissions from the UE to the BS are uplink transmissions, and wireless transmissions from the BS to the UE are downlink transmissions. The 2-way traffic between the UE and BS requires duplexing, so that both endpoints may both transmit to and receive from the other.
The two common duplexing schemes are frequency division duplex (FDD) and time division duplex (TDD). FDD uses one frequency for the uplink and a different frequency for the downlink, so that both may transmit simultaneously. In contrast, TDD uses the same frequency for both the uplink and the downlink. To avoid conflicts in which both the UE and BS transmit at the same time, transmissions by the UE and the BS are scheduled in a manner that only one transmits at a time. Thus, with TDD, transmissions may not be continuous, but may instead experience additional latency, such as when data flowing in one direction (uplink or downlink) is held in a buffer, waiting for a scheduled transmission window.


An electrical enclosure for an electrical device or instrument includes an enclosure body defining an interior that receives the electrical device or instrument, the enclosure body including a back wall. A mounting foot is disposed outside the enclosure body and attached to the back wall. The mounting foot includes a generally planar body defining a mounting fastener opening that receives a fastener to secure the mounting foot to a wall or other support structure. A panel fastener is attached to and extends forward from the mounting foot, through the back wall, and into the interior of the enclosure body. The panel fastener is used to secure an internal panel to the enclosure body within the interior of the enclosure body.

An electrical enclosure may be used to house electrical controls and instruments, for example. Such electrical enclosures may be used as electrical junction boxes, terminal wiring boxes, and instruments housing, and provide a degree of protection against dust, dirt, spraying of water, oil, and noncorrosive liquids.
An example of a conventional electrical enclosure is generally indicated at reference numeral 10 in FIGS. 1-3. The conventional electrical enclosure 10 comprises an enclosure body defining an interior for receiving the electrical control or instrument or other electrical device. The enclosure body has a back wall 12, left and right side walls 14, 16, a top wall 18, and a bottom wall 20. A front side of the enclosure body is open, and a door 22 is hingedly attached adjacent to the front side for opening and closing the enclosure body. The door 22 is secured in the closed position by a latch or clamp 24 on the enclosure body. The door 22 may include a gasket or seal 26 for sealing with the front side of the enclosure body when the door is closed.
Upper and lower mounting feet 30A, 30B are welded to the exterior of the back wall 12 of the enclosure body. The upper and lower mounting feet 30A, 30B define mounting openings 32A, 32B for receiving fasteners (e.g., bolts or screws or other fasteners) to secure the electrical enclosure 10 to a wall or other support structure. Four panel mounting studs 34 are welded to the interior of the back wall 12 of the enclosure body. The panel mounting studs 34 are internally threaded (i.e., include female threads). A mounting panel (not shown) is fastened to the studs 34 in a location spaced apart from the interior of the back wall 12 by threading fasteners (e.g., screws or bolts) through the mounting panel and into the studs.

Mounting foot for electrical enclosure and electrical enclosure including the same


A waveform-based technique for generating periodicity information from an input signal includes generating a pre-processed signal by applying low pass and non-linear filtering to the input signal, wherein the pre-processed signal has highlighted speech pitch tracks. An adaptive threshold algorithm is applied to the pre-processed signal to generate a detection signal having waveform segments whose peaks are separated by a pitch period of the input signal. A period between peaks in the detection signal is determined that indicates the periodicity information. Information about the period between the peaks in the detection signal is then used to adapt a scaling value to be used by the adaptive threshold algorithm in a subsequent step. The periodicity information may be utilized in a voice activity detector in a telephonic communications system.

The present invention relates to pitch period (periodicity) detection, and more particularly to a periodicity detector for use in voice activity detection.
Voice Activity Detection (VAD) is the art of detecting the presence of speech activity in noisy audio signals that are supplied to a microphone of a communication system. VAD systems are used in many signal processing systems for telecommunication. For example, in the Global System for Mobile communication (GSM), traffic handling capacity is increased by having the speech coders employ VAD as part of an implementation of the Discontinuous Transmission (DTX) principle, as described in the GSM specifications (particularly in GSM 06.10--fullrate speech transcoding; and in GSM 06.31--Discontinuous Transmission (DTX) for full rate speech traffic channel, May 1994). In noise suppression systems, such as in spectral subtraction based methods, VAD is used for indicating when to start noise estimation (and noise parameter adaptation). In noisy speech recognition, VAD is also used to improve the noise robustness of a speech recognition system by adding the right amount of noise estimate to the reference templates.
Next generation GSM handsfree functions are planned that will integrate a noise reduction algorithm for high quality voice transmission through the GSM network. A crucial component for a successful background noise reduction algorithm is a robust voice activity detection algorithm. The GSM-VAD algorithm has been chosen for use in the next generation hands-free noise suppression algorithms to detect the presence or absence of speech activity in the noisy audio signal coming from the microphone. If one designates s(n) as a pure speech signal, and v(n) as the background noise signal, then the microphone signal samples, x(n), during speech activity will be: EQU x(n)=s(n)+v(n), (I)
and the microphone signal samples during periods of no speech activity will be: EQU x(n)=v(n). (II)
The detection of states (I) and (II) described in the above equations is not trivial, especially when the speech/noise ratio (SNR) values of x(n) are low, such as occur in a car environment while driving on a highway.
The GSM VAD algorithm generates information flags indicating which state the current frame of audio signal is classified in. Detection of the above two states is useful in spectral subtraction algorithms, which estimate characteristics of background noise in order to improve the signal to noise ratio without the speech signal being distorted. See, for example, S. F. Boll, "Suppression of Acoustic Noise in Speech Using Spectral Subtraction", IEEE Trans. on ASSP, pp. 113-120, vol. ASSP-27 (1979); J. Makhoul & R. McAulay, Removal of Noise From Noise-Degraded Speech Signals, National Academy Press, Washington, D.C. (1989); A. Varga, et al., "Compensation Algorithms for HMM Based Speech Recognition Algorithms", Proceedings of ICASSP-88, pp. 481-485, vol. 1 (1988); and P. Handel, "Low Distortion Spectral Subtraction for Speech Enhancement", Proceedings of EUROSPEECH Conf., pp. 1549-1553, ISSN 1018-4074 (1995).
The GSM VAD algorithm in turn utilizes an autocorrelation function (ACF) and periodicity information obtained from a speech coder for its operation. As a consequence, it is necessary to run the speech coder before getting any noise-suppression performed. This situation is illustrated in FIG. 1. The digitized microphone signal samples, x(k), are supplied to a speech coder 101, which in turn generates autocorrelation coefficients (ACF) and long term predictor lag values (pitch information), N.sub.p, as specified by GSM 06.10. The ACF and N.sub.p signals are supplied to a VAD 103. The VAD 103 generates a VAD decision that is supplied to one input of a spectral subtraction-based adaptive noise suppression (ANS) unit 105. A second input of the ANS 105 receives a delayed version of the original microphone signal samples, x(n). The output of the ANS 105 is a noise-reduced signal that is then supplied to a second speech coder 107. (The second speech coder 107 is shown as a separate unit. However, it will be recognized that the first and second speech coders 101, 107 may physically be the same unit that is run twice.)
From the above discussion, it is apparent that the GSM VAD algorithm requires the execution of the whole speech coder in order to be able to extract the short term autocorrelation and long term periodicity information that is necessary for making the VAD decision.
The periodicity information in the speech coder is calculated by a long term predictor using cross correlation algorithms. These algorithms are computationally expensive and incur unnecessary delay in the hands-free signal processing. The requirement for a simple periodicity detector gets more acute with the next generation codecs (such as GSM's next generation Enhanced Full Rate (EFR) codec) because it consumes a large amount of memory and processing capacity (i.e., the number of instructions that need to be performed per second) and because it adds a significant computational delay compared to GSM's current Full Rate (FR) codecs.
The utilization of the periodicity and ACF information from the speech coder 101 for use by the VAD decision in the noise reduction algorithm is a costly method with respect to delay, computational requirements and memory requirements. Furthermore, the speech coder has to be run twice before a successful voice transmission is achieved. The extraction of periodicity information from the signal is the most computationally expensive part. Consequently, a low complexity method for extracting the periodicity information in the signal is needed for efficient implementation of the background noise suppression algorithm in the mobile terminals and accessories of the future.
Conventional periodicity detectors, such as those described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,920,907 and 4,164,626, are primarily based on analog processing of the signals, and fail to take into account the problems of material fading and slow processing time. Furthermore, the computationally expensive techniques described in these patents are designed to process input signals that consist only of clean signals with no additive noise.
Other conventional periodicity detectors, such as those described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,548,680; 4,074,069; and 5,127,053, use the standard GSM type pitch detectors based on linear predictive coding (LPC) modelling of the input signal. These techniques, which suffer from the problems identified above, also fail to adapt the processing to the time varying nature of the signal, but instead use estimation model parameters (like the LPC order, frame length, and the like) that are not time-varying.

Detection of periodicity information from an audio signal


The invention is directed to methods of treating cancers using Interferon-ε (IFN-ε), wherein the IFN-ε includes various natural, synthetic and recombinant IFN-ε in compositions.

Bibliographic details of the publications referred to by author in this specification are collected alphabetically at the end of the description.
The reference in this specification to any prior publication (or information derived from it), or to any matter which is known, is not, and should not be taken as an acknowledgement or admission or any form of suggestion that the prior publication (or information derived from it) or known matter forms part of the common general knowledge in the field of endeavor to which this specification relates.
Cancer is a complex, multifaceted, cellular disorder. It can lead to debilitating levels of disease with potentially significant morbidity and mortality rates. The economic cost to the healthcare sector in the treatment of cancer, not to mention the emotional burden to individuals and families, is substantial. Much effort has been invested in understanding cancer biology and endogenous and exogenous factors which retard its development. Despite great advances over the decades, further research is crucial in order to fully understand this disease.
Ovarian cancer, for example, is a complex, heterogeneous disease comprising a number of molecularly distinct tumors that arise not only from ovarian cells but also cells of the fallopian tubes and/or surrounding tissue (Jayson et al. (2014) The Lancet 384(9951):1376-88). Many women are first diagnosed when they already have reached advanced stage disease and of those who respond to treatment, more than half will relapse and die within 5 years (AIHW. (2010) Cancer series 52 Cat No. CAN48).
The vast majority of ovarian cancers are of epithelial origin (EOC) and have the fourth highest female cancer fatality rate (Jayson et al. (2014) supra). EOC is classified based on histological subtype including mucinous, clear cell, endometroid and serous carcinomas, each of which is associated with a distinct morphology, mutational profile, cell of origin and prognosis. Serous carcinomas are the most commonly diagnosed EOC and there is increasing evidence to suggest that EOC is derived from the secretory epithelial lining of the distal fallopian tube. The standard therapeutic options, surgical resection and platinum-based chemotherapy, are often ineffective as many women with advanced disease are not surgical candidates and chemoresistence leads to increasing rates of recurrence (Jayson et al. (2014) supra).
Extensive molecular profiling of ovarian cancers has shown that mutations in BRCA1/2 genes confer significantly increased risk of high-grade serous carcinoma (HGSC), the most common and lethal EOC (Bowtell et al. (2010) Nature Rev Cancer 10(11):803-8). BRCA1 and BRCA2 are both documented interferon (IFN) regulated genes (IRGs) and play an important role in the homologous recombination repair pathway of DNA (Venkitaraman (2014) Science 343(6178):1470-5), somatic and germline mutations of which contribute to overall chromosomal instability. Molecular profiling has also identified that high grade serous carcinoma (HGSC) with higher expression of immune-associated genes such as CD8A, Granzyme B and CXCL9, designated the immunologic subtype, demonstrate the best overall survival (Tothill et al. (2008) Clin Cancer Res. 14(16):5198-208), highlighting the potential benefit of immune-driven suppression in this cancer, Molecular profiling has identified similarities in the mutational profile of basal-like breast cancers and serous ovarian cancers with high frequency TP53, BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations, down-regulation of RB1 and amplification of cyclin E1 common to both (Kobolt et al. (2012) Nature 490(7418):61-70). Additionally, while the role of hormones in ovarian cancer tumorigenesis remains unclear, there is evidence of poor prognosis in progesterone receptor (PR) negative patients irrespective of estrogen receptor (ER) expression (Sieh et al. (2013) The Lancet Oncology 14(9):853-62), which bears similarities to the reports of poor prognosis in breast cancer patients with either triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) or estrogen receptor positive/progesterone receptor negative (ER+/PR−) cancers (Thakkar and Mehta (2011) Oncologist 16(3):276-85). Much is still unknown about the common drivers in these two cancers, both have common elements of oncogene and tumor suppressor gene expression, hormone sensitivity and immune cell involvement.
There is a need to further examine the effect of immune induction in regulating the development and treatment of ovarian cancer as well as other cancer types.
This is particularly the case with respect to the interplay between innate and adaptive immunity. The innate immune response represents pre-existing, inherent, first line and rapidly inducible defense to pathogens and responses to homeostatic cues (Mangan et al. (2007) Eur J Immunol 37(5):1302-12; Smith et al. (2007) J Immunol 178(7):4557-66). This is mediated through resident cells such as macrophages, natural killer (NK) and epithelial cells. Adaptive immune responses encompass the recognition, and response to antigens with elicited responses being gradual and specific, mediated through antibody secreting B lymphocytes and T helper and effector lymphocytes. The adaptive response is sculpted by the innate system. In the reproductive tract, both arms of the immune system must balance the presence of an allogenic fetus, essentially containing "foreign" proteins, with the control of harmful pathogens e.g. viruses and bacteria. It must also maintain homeostasis against a background of cyclical hormonal milieu and structural changes that occur in the mucosa.
The innate and adaptive immune cells of the female reproductive tract (FRT) produce cytokines and chemokines, thereby influencing various reproductive processes including sperm migration, fertilization, implantation, endometrial remodeling and immune response to infectious or other challenge (Salamonsen et al. (2007) Semin Reprod Med 25(6):437-44).
In its simplest form, the innate response includes physicochemical barriers such as mucous secretions, pH and redox state. In its most sophisticated form it is represented by the innate immune response which senses pathogens within minutes and starts a series of reactions, culminating in the production of products like antimicrobial defensins, NOS enzymes, chemokines that recruit and activate inflammatory cells and cytokines that modulate cell behavior. One family of inducers having pleiotropic activity is the type I interferons (IFNs).
Clinical trials for the treatment of ovarian cancer using type I IFNs, specifically IFNα and IFNβ have been underwhelming, largely due to the dose-limiting toxicity preventing high-dose therapy in late stage disease as is the case with other solid tumors (Berek et al. (1985) Cancer Res. 45:4447-53; Willemse et al. (1990) Eur J Cancer Clin Oncol 26(3):353-8; Markman et al. (1992) Gynecol Oncol. 45(1):3-8; Frasci et al. (1994) Eur J Cancer 30(7):946-50; Bruzzone et al. (1997) Gynecol Oncol. 65(3):499-505; Moore et al. (1995) Gynecol Oncol. 59(2):267-72; Berek et al. (1999) Gynecol Oncol. 75(1):10-4; Markman et al. (2004) Oncology 66(5):343-6). Some success, however, has been reported using intraperitoneal IFNα in the treatment of malignancy ascites from ovarian cancer notwithstanding that the mechanisms underlying IFN's efficacy against ascites remain unclear (Berek et al. (1985) Cancer Res. 45:4447-53). It is important to understand the role of IFNs in disease pathogenesis in order to best direct therapy.
IFN epsilon (IFNε) is a type I IFN (Fung et al. (2013) Science 339(123):1088-1092; Peng et al. (2007) Prot Expr Purif 53(2):356-362). The Ifnε gene is located on chromosome 9p in the type I IFN locus (Hardy et al. (2004) Genomics 84(2):331-45). IFN shares roughly 30% amino acid sequence homology with IFNα and IFNβ, and in vitro studies demonstrated that IFNε signals through the characteristic type I IFN receptors 1FNAR1 and 1FNAR2, however, its potential anti-tumor properties have hitherto not been addressed.
Interestingly, unlike other type I IFNs which remain at undetectable levels until pathogen-induced, IFNε has been found to be constitutively expressed primarily in organs of the FRT such as uterus, cervix vagina and ovary. IFNε is produced by luminal and glandular epithelial cells of the FRT and is unaltered in the absence of hemopoietic cells.
Additionally, regulation of IFNε is distinct from other type I IFNs. Unlike Ifnα and Ifnβ, murine Ifnε expression is largely unaltered in response to pathogenic stimuli
Instead, IFNε levels vary significantly across stages of the murine estrous cycle, with expression levels 30-fold higher during estrus than diestrus, an expression pattern that is reflected in human tissue during the menstrual cycle. This indicates that unlike other type I IFNs, IFNε is hormonally regulated.
There is a need to investigate the role of IFNε in cancer biology.


A water treatment method is provided. The method includes filtering water in a membrane filtration unit including at least one membrane filtration module, collecting a permeate and collecting a retentate at the outlet of the membrane filtration module, withdrawing solid materials and/or hydrocarbons contained in the retentate, in order to provide a treated retentate, recycling the treated retentate at the inlet of the membrane filtration module, and providing a treated water flow from the permeate from membrane filtration module(s). An installation adapted for applying this method is also provided.

In the field of the production of hydrocarbons, after the operations for recovering hydrocarbons by means of the natural pressure of the underground formation containing the hydrocarbons, a so-called "primary" recovery, it is generally proceeded with so-called "secondary" recovery by injection of water. Within this context, it is generally necessary to treat water before its injection into the underground formation, in order get rid of the major portion of contaminants which it may contain, notably solid materials and drops of hydrocarbons. To do this, it is known how to resort to membrane filtration of water. Membrane filtration may be frontal or tangential. Tangential filtration has lesser risks of clogging the filters and therefore has a significantly longer lifetime (or requires less strict or less frequent maintenance).
Within the scope of tangential filtration, the retentate from the membrane filters is recycled towards said membrane filters. Carrying out a preliminary treatment of the water to be treated by means of a cyclonic separator, of a flotation unit or other unit, is known before feeding the membrane filters, in order to reduce the risks of clogging of the filters. However, membrane filtration devices presently used still have risks of clogging the membrane filters, which is particularly undesirable within the context of offshore hydrocarbon production, or even in Ran an undersea medium, where it is desired to limit as much as possible operations for maintenance or replacement of membrane filters. Therefore there exists a need of developing a method for treating water within the scope of enhanced oil recovery which allows a reduction in the risks of clogging of membrane filters.

Water treatment in at least one membrane filtration unit for assisted recovery of hydrocarbons


The present invention discloses a method for making low-topography buried capacitor including the steps of first depositing oxide layers, and then forming a small pre-contact hole by a dry etch method and a large contact hole by a wet etch method while using silicon nitride caps and sidewall spacers previously deposited on the word lines and on the bit lines as etch stop layers. A buried capacitor that has significantly improved topography can be fabricated in a semiconductor device.

Dynamic random access memory DRAM cells have been widely used in modern semiconductor devices. They have been named as dynamic because the cells can retain information only for a limited time and they must be read and refreshed periodically. This is in contrast to a static random access memory (DRAM) cell which does not require periodic refresh signals in order to retain stored data. In a typical DRAM cell, the structure includes a transistor and a storage capacitor. When DRAM cells were first developed, planar type storage capacitors which occupy large wafer surface areas are used. As the circuit density increases in modern semiconductor devices where smaller chips are being made and are being packed with ever-increasing number of circuits, the specific capacitance of a storage capacitor must be increased in order to meet such demands.
Different approaches have been used in achieving higher capacitance on limited usage of wafer real estate. For instance, one solution is to store charges vertically in a trench which requires a deep trench formation and encounters significant processing difficulties. The second solution is to build a stacked capacitor on top of the transistor which allows a smaller cell to be built without losing storage capacity. The solution of using a stacked capacitor has become a more accepted and popular approach in the semiconductor fabrication industries.
In modem DRAM cells, smaller dimension and higher capacitance value per unit area are desirable characteristics for achieving high charge storage capacity. A DRAM capacitor is normally formed by two layers of a semi-conducting material and one layer of a dielectric material. For example, a widely used DRAM capacitor utilizes a thin oxide layer sandwiched between two polysilicon layers to produce a high capacitance capacitor cell. The capacitor can be built by stacking over the bit line on the surface of a silicon substrate. The effective capacitance of a stacked cell is increased over that of a conventional planar cell due to its increased surface area.
A typical 16-Mb DRAM cell 10 having a stacked capacitor 20 built on top is shown in FIG. 1. The DRAM cell 10 can be formed in the following manner. First, standard CMOS fabrication steps are used to form the transistor all the way through the gate oxide growth process. To form the word lines 12, a first polysilicon layer of approximately 2,500 .ANG. thick is deposited and then doped with phosphorous. A thick layer of insulating material 16 such as TEOS (tetraethoxy silicate) oxide of approximately 3,000 .ANG. is then deposited on top of the first polysilicon layer. By using standard photomasking processes, the two layers are etched by a plasma etching technique as a stack. After LDD implants are made in the silicon substrate, oxide spacers are formed on the polysilicon gate structure by depositing a thick layer of TEOS oxide of approximately 2,000 .ANG. and then etched by a plasma process. Gates 12 and 14 are thus formed and covered by a thick insulating layer 16 of oxide. A source and drain mask is then applied to carry out an ion implantation process for forming the source and drain regions in the silicon substrate.
In the next fabrication step, photomasking is used to form window openings for the cell contact and plasma etching is used to remove any native oxide layer on the silicon substrate. A second polysilicon layer 22 of approximately 3,500 .ANG. is then deposited and patterned by a photomask to form the lower electrode of the stacked capacitor 20. A dielectric layer 24 of a composite film of oxide-nitride-oxide (ONO) is deposited as the dielectric layer for the capacitor. The total thickness of the ONO composite film is approximately 70 .ANG.. The ONO composite film can be formed by using a thin layer of native oxide as the first oxide layer, depositing a thin nitride layer on top and then oxidizing the nitride layer to grow a top oxide layer. To complete the fabrication of the stacked capacitor, a third polysilicon layer 24 of approximately 2,000 .ANG. thick is deposited on top of the dielectric layer and then doped and patterned by a photomask to form an upper electrode. After the formation of the stacked capacitor, peripheral devices can be formed by masking and ion implantation, followed by the formation of a bit line 28 of a polysilicon/metal silicide material. A thick insulating layer 32 of BPSG or SOG is then deposited over the capacitor and reflowed to smooth out the topography and to reduce the step height. Other back-end-processes such as metalization to form metal lines 34 are used to complete the fabrication of the memory device 10.
The stacked capacitor 10 shown in FIG. 1 has been successfully used in 16 Mb DRAM devices. However, as device density increases to 256 Mb or higher, the planar surface required for building the conventional stacked capacitors becomes excessive and can not be tolerated. Furthermore, the topography of the device formed in FIG. 1 requires more difficult planarization processes to be performed on the DRAM device. For instance, a more recently developed method of chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) can not be used.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a method for making a low-topography buried capacitor that does not have the drawbacks or shortcomings of the prior art methods for making stacked capacitors.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a method for making a low-topography buried capacitor for a DRAM device that is compatible with high density memory cells.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a method for making a low-profile buried capacitor by first dry etching a small pre-contact hole and then wet etching a large contact hole.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a method for making a low-topography buried capacitor by first forming a small pre-contact hole that has significantly sloped sidewalls by manipulating the etchant gas ratio.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a method for making low-topography buried capacitor by first forming a small pre-contact hole that has a significantly sloped sidewall to expose a small substrate area.
It is another further object of the present invention to provide a method for making low-profile buried capacitor by first forming a small pre-contact hole and then forming a large contact hole substantially parallel to the pre-contact hole in a wet etch process.
It is yet another further object of the present invention to provide a method for forming low-profile buried capacitor by first forming a small pre-contact hole in a dry etch method which stops at the nitride caps and spacers on the word lines and the bit lines and then forming a large contact hole in a wet etch method which stops at the nitride caps and spacers on the word lines and bit lines.
It is still another further object of the present invention to provide a method for forming a low-topography buried contact by first providing a small pre-contact hole and then forming a large contact hole having sidewalls substantially parallel to the sidewalls of the pre-contact hole while stopping at the nitride coating layer on the word lines and the bit lines.

Method for making low-topography buried capacitor by a two stage etching process and device made

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd.


An interface module for a unit designed to transmit and/or amplify communication signals inside an antenna distribution system includes a first analog interface for forwarding and receiving communication signals from mobile terminals and a second interface for forwarding and receiving communication signals from the antenna distribution system. A signal path forwards the received communication signals between the first and second interfaces. A controllable digital unit in the signal path is configured for digitizing incoming communication signals to digital signals and converting outgoing communication signals to analog signals. The digital unit is configured to evaluate characteristic signal parameters of the digital communication signals and select a subset of signals from the digital communication signals. The controllable digital unit is further configured for forwarding the selected subset of signals.

In this case, the invention deals with the problem of ensuring adequate radio communication on so-called essential, non-public communication channels which are enabled for train radio or commercial radio, the disaster control action forces, the rescue service action forces, the police, fire brigades, emergency doctors and other ancillary workers and must not be used for public radio communication. It also deals with the entire operational mobile radio of applications with particular security tasks in industry, local public transport, authorities, airports and the military.
The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention and, together with a general description of the invention given below, serve to explain the principles of the invention. It should be understood that the appended drawings are not necessarily to scale, presenting a somewhat simplified representation of various features illustrative of the basic principles of the invention.

Interface module for a unit of an antenna distribution system, and antenna distribution system


A roof ventilation system having a strip with an air-permeable portion located adjacent to a ridge slot. Stand-off clips are provided which can be placed over the air-permeable strip at fastener locations which are located on flat portions of the roof panels. The stand-off clip is U-shaped and include a flange at each end of the U-shape. The flanges extend in the same direction. A sealing material may be placed beneath the air-permeable strip at such fastener locations to prevent the ingress of moisture beneath the panels.

It is known to ventilate the roof structure of a building utilizing a ridge vent. Such vents are created by an open slot running along the roof ridge, which causes ventilation out of the attic by convection air flow and by suction from wind blowing across the roof. A strip of air permeable material is installed over the ridge slot which prevents the ingress of moisture and debris, but allows air flow for ventilation. A ridge cap is then installed over the air permeable strip.
For roofs having contoured shapes, such as roofs having an outer surface formed by a roofing panel having a plurality of stiffening ribs and standing seams, it is known to use a ventilation strip having a surface which includes a plurality of recesses shaped to match the ribs or standing seams of the roof panel. The strip has an air-permeable portion in order to allow airflow. A ridge cap is then installed over the air-permeable strip. Such a system is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,561,953, which was invented by the present inventor.
A problem has been identified, however, which arises during the installation of a ridge cap over the ventilation strips. The problem is based upon crushing of the air permeable strip in the fastener connection area and/or dimpling or pull through of the fastener due to overdriving. The problem does not exist for some styles of roofs in which fasteners can be installed on or near stiffening ribs. However, when fastening occurs away from a stiffening rib, through the ridge cap, the ventilation strip and into the decking, the ventilation strip can be locally crushed during fastener installation, resulting in an uneven or damaged ridge cap. This problem is further evidenced in roof vent material having greater thicknesses, such as two or more inches, which is starting to see use in profiled ridge vent applications for metal and/or composition roofs. This can lead to a further problem of creating an entry point for moisture through the ridge cap and into the sheathing and internal roof support structure.

Method of installing a roof ventilation strip and installation system


Methods and apparatus provide for automated synthesis of an integrated circuit whose voltage is varied during operation (also known as dynamic voltage and frequency scaling or DVFS). The automation may include estimating technology parameters from timing libraries, and determining a translation factor that can be used in estimating path delays for an arbitrary voltage from path delays at another voltage. The automation may also include estimating a relative difficulty to synthesize a design for meeting sets of timing constraints specified at different operating voltages and frequencies by assigning one of the constraints a common base value among all the sets, translating the other constraint to maintain equivalency of synthesis difficulty, comparing the resulting equivalent constraints to identify a hardest-to-synthesis constraint set, and using that constraint set as a goal for a first synthesis of the circuit.

1. Field
The present invention generally relates to synthesis of circuits and more specifically to synthesis of circuits that can operate at multiple frequencies and voltage levels.
2. Description of Related Art
Design of integrated circuits can involve using automated synthesis tools for determining a design and placement of circuitry to implement functions specified by a functional specification. Often, a synthesis tool will use building blocks, such as certain pre-defined logic assemblies, that have been characterized and are contained in a library. In many cases, such a library has been designed in view of certain process parameters, such as minimum feature size.
It is known that circuits and portions of circuits are designed with the expectation that they perform at certain clock rates, or otherwise can produce an output within a required time of receiving a triggering input. As such, circuits are synthesized and modified toward the view of meeting such timing requirements across a functional block being synthesized, or some other portion of a circuit, a circuit, or a chip, etc.
Power consumption of electronics has become an important issue. One way to reduce power consumption of a circuit is to reduce its operating voltage. However, it is generally true that a given circuit operates more slowly as its voltage is lowered (if it works at all). Slower operation usually correlates to lower performance. Thus, it is frequently a goal of integrated circuit design to be able to design circuits that can operate across a variety of voltage levels, which can be varied during operation such that an appropriate voltage setting can be selected for a level of performance. Circuit designs (e.g., for programmable or dedicated processors) that can select an operating frequency and voltage pair from among a number of frequency/voltage operating pairs may be described as Dynamic Voltage Frequency Scaling (DVFS) designs.
Improved methods for setting constraints during synthesis of DVFS designs is desirable.

Method and apparatus for dynamic frequency voltage switching circuit synthesis


In one embodiment, a power system comprises: a first compressor unit, a syngas generator in fluid communication with a fuel stream and the first compressor unit, a syngas expander unit configured to directly receive the first syngas stream from the syngas generator, a first steam generator, a water gas shift reactor, and a carbon dioxide removal unit. The first compressor unit is configured to compress an air stream and form a first pressurized stream, while the syngas generator is configured to generate a first syngas stream. The syngas expander is configured to reduce the pressure of the first syngas stream. The first steam generator is configured to cool the second syngas stream. The carbon dioxide removal unit configured to remove carbon dioxide from the converted syngas stream.

This disclosure relates to a system and process of generating synthesis gas in a gas turbine combined cycle.
In many industrialized nations, power plants are subject to, or will become subject to, economic penalties for emission of various materials to the environment. For example, controls on carbon dioxide emissions results in emissions trading and taxes, and requires permits. As the cost of emission penalties increase, measures to curb emissions are continually sought, either as a retrofit to existing plants to reduce emissions and/or as a design of new carbon dioxide (CO2)-lean power plants to lower overall emissions.
One CO2 capture method is a fuel decarbonisation process, also known as a pre-combustion capture pathway. The process converts hydrocarbon (HC) fuels to a hydrogen-based fuel and carbon monoxide (e.g., synthesis gas or "syngas"). The carbon monoxide (CO) is then converted to carbon dioxide, which is removed from the system before the combustion process in the power plant.
A typical decarbonisation plant is highly complex as it involves many catalytic reactors such as a desulphurization reactor, pre-reformer, auto-thermal reformer and water-gas-shift reactor. Furthermore, the process is currently thermodynamically inefficient and costly. For example, a typical decarbonisation process often results in an 8-12% penalty in the overall plant efficiency due to the energy required and released during the reforming process. Thus, there is a strong need to create a more efficient decarbonisation system.
Traditionally, heat recovery in decarbonisation processes have involved generating low and high-pressure steam depending on the temperature level of the heat available. Steam has been preferred in the past because it is well known and widely used in the industry; however, alone, it is ineffective at significantly improving the efficiency of the process. Although energy is released during reformation at a temperature greater than about 800° C., this heat is recovered in the form of saturated steam at only about 200° C. to about 300° C. Saturated steam is generated to avoid metal temperatures in the region of about 500° C. to about 900° C.; which can result in metal dusting. This results in a large quantity of unused energy and large efficiency penalties. The steam is superheated in the exhaust gas of the combined cycle and low temperature heat is often rejected to either the environment or the low-pressure section of the steam bottoming cycle.
In order to meet emission goals, a power plant can employ a fuel decarbonisation system designed to minimize CO2 emissions. These systems reform a hydrocarbon fuel (for example, natural gas) into a synthesis gas, comprising CO and H2. Unfortunately, the reformation process results in a large penalty to the overall efficiency of a power plant primarily due to the loss of high temperature energy. Furthermore, low temperature heat may be rejected either to the environment or to a low-pressure section of a steam bottoming cycle. Therefore, a more efficient decarbonisation process is needed, which captures the high temperature heat energy released during reformation and utilizes the low temperature heat energy rejected throughout the cycle.

Syngas power systems and method for use thereof


A display device includes a base layer including first and second portions, and a third portion between the first and second portions and configured to be bent, folded, or rolled, a light emitting element layer on one surface of the base layer at the first portion, and including light emitting elements, a circuit board on the one surface of the base layer at the third portion, and electrically connected to the light emitting elements, protective patterns spaced apart from each other on another surface of the base layer, including a resin, and also including first protective patterns spaced apart from each other on the other surface of the base layer at the first portion, and at least one second protective pattern on the other surface of the base layer at the second portion, and at least one of a heat dissipation layer or a cushion layer below the protective patterns.

The present disclosure herein relates to a display panel of which at least a portion may be folded, and a display device including the same. In addition, the present disclosure herein relates to a method for manufacturing a display device that may be folded.
A display device displays various images on a display screen to provide information to a user. In general, a display device displays information within an assigned screen. In recent years, a flexible display device including a foldable flexible display panel is being developed. The flexible display device may be foldable, rollable, or bendable, unlike a rigid display device. The flexible display device that is capable of being variously changed in shape may be portable regardless of a size of an existing screen to improve user's convenience.
The display device includes a display panel, and a film for protecting or supporting the display panel may be located under the display panel.
Due to a thickness of the film, when a portion of the display panel is folded, portions of the film may contact each other to be potentially damaged.

Display device and method for manufacturing the same


A computer chassis construction for severe environmental conditions enclosing a plurality of circuit cards and a power supply includes a top cover, bottom cover, a pair of side plates and a pair of end plates secured together to form an airtight seal along all abutting edges. A backplane is fixed adjacent the bottom cover mounts a plurality of connectors for electrical connection with mating connectors along a first edge of each of a plurality of circuit cards. Mounting grooves for receiving second, third and fourth edges of each of the plurality of circuit cards are provided to rigidify the assembly. An internal partition separates the plurality of circuit cards from the power supply and the latter is also rigidly secured within the chassis. Integral cooling is provided for both the circuit cards and power supply.

With the ever increasing utilization of computers and computer systems for seemingly unending applications in various technological fields, it has become increasingly important to provide chassis or housings for computer components which will withstand severe environmental conditions. The problem has been long recognized in the aircraft industry, for example, and is becoming increasingly important with respect to other vehicular applications, particularly land vehicles. Generally speaking, environmental conditions will be most severe for military vehicles such as tanks, armored personnel carriers and the like which are required to perform under widely diverse climatic conditions but also severe operational conditions, i.e., conditions attendant to the specialized function of the vehicles. For computer and other electronic components, it is critical that such components be constructed, supported and enclosed in such a way as to be able to withstand such conditions including maximum extremes of shock, vibration, temperature, EMI, humidity, fungus as well as sand/dust, etc.
It is the principal object of the present invention to provide a versatile, compact, lightweight VME bus system which is low in cost, compact, versatile and lightweight, but which also meets the most rigorous environmental and electromagnetic military standards. Significantly, no external shock or vibration isolation is required by reason of the highly rigid nature of the construction. The present invention also incorporates modular construction, ease of repair and low maintenance.
Thus, in one exemplary embodiment of the invention, a computer chassis construction is provided which has a basic box-like configuration including aluminum alloy top and bottom walls or covers, a pair of side walls or plates and a pair of end plates rigidly fastened together as a rectangular enclosure.
A conventional backplane is rigidly mounted within the enclosure, adjacent the bottom cover. The backplane is provided with a plurality of connectors for supporting a plurality of thin, commercially available circuit cards (five in a preferred embodiment) in substantially parallel, upright relationship. The backplane also supports the power supply which is located behind one of the end plates, referred to herein as the face plate which is at the "front" of the enclosure. The other end plate is at the "rear" of the enclosure. As a result, the enclosure is divided into a circuit supporting area and a power supply supporting area by means of an interior partition rigidly mounted between the side plates and extending generally between the top and bottom of the enclosure.
The interior partition, also constructed of aluminum alloy material, has a first plurality of parallel, elongated grooves machined therein so as to extend substantially parallel to the side plates of the enclosure.
A similarly configured second plurality of grooves are machined in the interior surface of the end plate opposite the face plate, such that the first and second sets of grooves face each other within the circuit card supporting area of the enclosure.
The first and second sets of grooves (five in each set in accordance with the preferred embodiment) are designed to receive opposite parallel edges (referred to here as second and third edges) of the circuit cards mounted on the backplane, (the edge of each card electrically connected along the backplane will be referred to herein as the first edge). In order to rigidify the cards within the opposed grooves, commercially available, expandable locking bars, sold under the name Wedge-Lok.TM. (Series 40-5 or 40-5P), manufactured by EG&G Birtcher Co. of El Monte, California, are utilized, one along each of the second and third edges of each card. The locking fins rigidly clamp the second and third edges of the cards against adjacent groove sidewalls.
A card comb is rigidly secured to the interior surface of the top cover, and extends transversely of the top cover, between the forward and rearward ends thereof. The card comb is provided with a plurality (five in the preferred embodiment) slots, designed to receive portions of the fourth or top edges (opposite the first edges) of the circuit cards.
Upon assembly of the top cover to the end and side plates of the enclosure, the circuit cards will be rigidly and immovably secured within the circuit card supporting area of the enclosure.
Further rigidity and stiffening of the backplane (and card assembly) is achieved by transverse bars sandwiching the backplane and extending between the enclosure side plates, between the face plate and rear end plate. These bars are fastened to each other through the backplane, to the side plates, and to the bottom cover.
In the power supply supporting area of the enclosure, the power supply box is secured to the backplane via a voltage and I/O connector and to the interior partition separating the circuit supporting area from the power supply supporting area. The power supply is also operatively connected to the face plate which incorporates the various power, I/O connectors, indicators, etc. for the power supply.
It is another feature of this invention that no moving parts are required and, more particularly, no active cooling scheme is necessary. The circuit cards are in heat conducting relationship with the enclosure (rear) end plate which is provided on its exterior surface with a plurality of cooling fins, and to the interior partition which, in turn, is in heat conducting relationship with the enclosure side plates. The latter are also provided with cooling fins on their exterior surfaces.
In a similar manner, the power supply is in heat conducting relationship with the interior partition.
It is another feature of this invention that EMI protection is facilitated and enhanced by plating the surfaces of the side and end plates with thin layers of copper, nickel and tin, in that order.
It is still another feature of the invention that captive fasteners are employed to secure the top and bottom covers, side plates and end plates as described further herein, thereby minimizing the potential for losing the fasteners in the field during repair/replacement procedures.
The above described chassis construction thus incorporates the following features:
(1) the chassis is designed to house and power circuit cards for computer systems used in very severe environments, i.e., pre-specified maximum extremes of shock, vibration, temperature, EMI, humidity, fungus, as well as sand/dust environments;
(2) the chassis construction provides for the dissipation of circuit card heat by internal conduction, external convection and radiation from cooling fins;
(3) the chassis envelope meets the 11/2 1/2 ATR (Air Transport Rack) form factor (ARINC 404A Standard);
(4) the power supply is completely enclosed within and heat sink provided by the chassis;
(5) the chassis face plate provides an easy means to access and perform maintenance on the power supply and associated cabling and connectors;
(6) the chassis walls are processed with a multi-layer metal plating for enhanced EMI protection;
(7) the chassis top and bottom plates employ a specific type of captive fastener and fastener spacing to insure EMI integrity;
(8) the chassis design provides the internal means to insure rigid internal mounting of the power supply, backplane and circuit card assemblies;
(9) a card edge comb integral to the top plate is provided for insuring immobilization of the circuit card assemblies;
(10) the overall chassis construction design provides extreme stiffness of structure and immobilization of internal components to enhance the system's immunity to vibration. As a result, the system can be "hard mounted" directly in a land, sea or airborne platform without the need for shock mounting or external vibration isolation;
(11) the chassis has been tested and certified to the environmental specifications and testing procedures which are defined in MIL-STD-810D; and
(12) the chassis has been tested and certified to EMI immunity specifications which are defined in MIL Standard-461.
Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description which follows.

Severe environment enclosure with thermal heat sink and EMI protection


A portable electrical energy source provides power for a portable electronic device and includes a base, a chargeable battery, and a connector. The base includes a first surface and a second surface facing away from the first surface. The base defines a receiving room between the first surface and the second surface. The chargeable battery is received in the receiving room. The connector is positioned on the first surface and is electrically connected to the chargeable battery, which is electrically connected to the portable electronic device. The chargeable battery charges the portable electronic device through the connector.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a portable electrical energy source.
2. Description of Related Art
Portable communication transceivers, such as mobile telephones, are becoming increasingly popular. In many instances, it is desirable to provide a visual display on the communications transceiver to supply the operator with a visual message or graphical image. The drawback is that the visual displays require relatively high electrical power, which causes the batteries to be depleted quickly.
Therefore, it is desirable to provide a portable electrical energy source that can overcome the above-mentioned limitations.

Portable electrical energy source with increased power supply efficiency


An elevator for traveling on a rail attached to the outside of a high-rise building supports a telescoping arm for reaching any position on or above the building. A platform attached to the telescoping arm can deliver materials to the building while under construction and thereafter be used for building maintenance such as window washing. The movable platform adjacent a building can take the place of scaffolding for a safer work environment. The telescoping arm may have various attachments for different functions including a cabin for rescuing people trapped in a high-rise during a fire or for positioning fire fighters and hoses or fire fighting equipment next to a fire.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to a combination elevator and crane for use on high-rise structures. The invention can be used for fire fighting and rescue and can also be used for construction and maintenance of high-rise structures.
2. Description of the Related Art
Currently vertical transportation in high-rise structures is limited to stairs and elevators. Fire fighters on the outside of the building are limited by how high their ladders will reach when fighting fires or attempting rescues. Construction and building maintenance is limited as to access to the outside walls and roof of the building. For example window washing is limited to a plank or precariously dangling from ropes extending from the top of a building. Construction of the building is similarly hampered by the need for scaffolding and lack of easy transportation and access to all areas on the outside of a high-rise building.

High-rise fire-fighting, rescue and construction equipment