A push-pull rotary switch includes a board having two circuits on opposite sides. Conductors are respectively positioned above the circuits for contacting ground and contact pads of the circuits. A shaft extends through the conductors and the board and is rotatable and moveable between inward and outward positions. The conductors are connected to the shaft to rotate and move with the shaft. A first conductor contacts the ground pad and a contact pad of a first circuit when the shaft is in the inward position. A second conductor contacts the ground pad and a contact pad of a second circuit when the shaft is in the outward position. A first trace is connected to the first circuit ground pad and a second trace is connected to the second circuit ground pad. A contactor connects a ground trace to at least one of the first and second traces at all times.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to push-pull rotary switches and, more particularly, to a push-pull rotary switch having two electrical circuits in which at least one of the two electrical circuits is enabled at all times as the switch is pushed and pulled between inward and outward positions.
2. Background Art
Push-pull rotary switches are used in the automotive industry and are typically installed in the dashboards of automobiles. Typical applications of push-pull rotary switches include automobile lighting and window wiping control. A typical push-pull rotary switch includes a shaft which can be rotated about an axis and which can be moved along the axis between inward and outward positions. An operator can push the switch into the inward position and pull the switch into the outward position. The operator can further rotate the switch when the switch is in the inward or outward position.
Generally, such a switch is configured such that the inward and outward positions of the shaft enable the switch to control separate functions of a device such as a light. For example, the operator can push the shaft of the switch into the inward position in order to cause the switch to turn the light off. Similarly, the operator can pull the shaft of the switch into the outward position in order to cause the switch to turn the light on. The switch is further configured such that rotation of the shaft modifies the function of the light. For instance, in the outward position, the operator can rotate the shaft in order to cause the switch to change the level of lighting. For example, at one rotation extreme the switch enables the light to be bright and at the other rotation extreme the switch causes the light to be dim.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a push-pull rotary switch having two electrical circuits in which at least one of the two electrical circuits is enabled at all times as the switch is pushed and pulled between inward and outward positions.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a push-pull rotary switch having two ground circuits in which at least one of the two ground circuits is grounded at all times as the switch is pushed and pulled between inward and outward positions.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a push-pull rotary switch having two electrical circuits for controlling first and second sets of device functions in which at least one electrical circuit is enabled as the switch is pushed and pulled between inward and outward positions such that the switch can control the set of device functions associated with the enabled at least one electrical circuit.
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide a push-pull rotary switch having two electrical circuits for controlling first and second sets of device functions in which at least one electrical circuit is enabled as the switch is pushed and pulled between inward and outward positions, and configured such that the set of device functions associated with the enabled at least one electrical circuit may be controlled by rotating the switch.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a push-pull rotary switch having two electrical circuits for controlling first and second sets of device functions in which at least one electrical circuit is enabled as the switch is pushed and pulled between inward and outward positions such that the switch can control the set of device functions associated with the enabled at least one electrical circuit, and configured such that the set of device functions associated with the enabled at least one electrical circuit may be further controlled by rotating the switch.
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide a push-pull rotary switch having at least one electrical circuit which is enabled at all times as the switch is pushed and pulled between inward and outward positions such that the enabled at least one electrical circuit can control different functions of a device as the switch is rotated.
In carrying out the above objects and other objects, the present invention provides a push-pull rotary switch having an electrical circuit board, first and second conductors, a shaft, a ground circuit trace, first and second circuit traces, and an electrical contactor. The electric circuit board includes a first circuit on a top side and a second circuit on a bottom side. The first and second circuits each have a ground pad and at least one contact pad. The first conductor is positioned above the top side of the board and is operable for contacting the ground pad and a contact pad of the first circuit. The second conductor is positioned below the bottom side of the board and is operable for contacting the ground pad and a contact pad of the second circuit.
The shaft extends along an axis through the first conductor, the board, and the second conductor. The shaft is rotatable about the axis and is moveable along the axis between inward and outward positions. The shaft is connected to the first and second conductors such that the first and second conductors rotate about the axis as the shaft rotates and move along the axis as the shaft moves along the axis. The first conductor contacts the ground pad and a contact pad of the first circuit to electrically connect the ground pad to the contacted contact pad of the first circuit when the shaft is in the inward position. The second conductor contacts the ground pad and a contact pad of the second circuit to electrically connect the ground pad to the contacted contact pad of the second circuit when the shaft is in the outward position.
The ground circuit trace is electrically connected to a ground source. The first circuit trace is electrically connected to the ground pad of the first circuit and the second circuit trace is electrically connected to the ground pad of the second circuit. The contactor is operable to be moved as the shaft moves along the axis between the inward and outward positions. The contactor connects the ground circuit trace to at least one of the first and second circuit traces at all times as the shaft moves along the axis such that at least one of the first and second circuits is enabled at all times as the shaft moves between inward and outward positions.
The contactor connects the ground circuit trace to the first circuit trace when the shaft is in the inward position and the contactor connects the ground circuit trace to the second circuit trace when the shaft is in the outward position. The contactor may be attached to a housing which is connected to the shaft to move up and down along the axis as the shaft moves between the inward and outward positions.
Each of the at least one contact pad of the first circuit is associated with a respective rotational position of the shaft. The first conductor contacts the ground pad and a contact pad associated with a first rotational position of the shaft to electrically connect the ground pad of the first circuit to the contacted contact pad of the first circuit when the shaft is in the inward position and is at the first rotational position of the shaft. Similarly, each of the at least one contact pad of the second circuit is associated with a respective rotational position of the shaft. The second conductor contacts the ground pad and a contact pad associated with a first rotational position of the shaft to electrically connect the ground pad of the second circuit to the contacted contact pad of the second circuit when the shaft is in the outward position and is at the first rotational position of the shaft. The contacted contact pad of the either the first and second circuits transmits a ground signal to a device to be controlled by the switch.
Either of the first and second conductors is a spring leaf having first and second members. The first member is operable for contacting the ground pad of one of the circuits when the shaft is in the inward position or outward position, and the second member is operable for contacting a contact pad of one of the circuits when the shaft is in the inward position. The first member includes a first boss for contacting the ground pad of the first circuit and the second member includes a second boss for contacting a contact pad of the first circuit.


A seamless expandable bag filter of nonwoven material using conventional filtering media and having 62% greater extended area than other commercially available extended arm filters and incorporating broad, flat sealing collars or plates on each side of the neck of the bag and sealing them together to insure a no-leak installation.

Most extended area expandable bag filters incorporating conventional filtering media employ sewn or heat-sealed seams which require greater effective filtration area for a given three-dimensional space to do a specific filtration job. Seams of any kind all reduce the life of bag filters and are leakable. There is also a need for a no-leak seal round the neck which is easy to install.


The recording head of an ink-jet printer includes a main body having ink ejection devices and a device for driving the ink ejection devices independently and an orifice plate attached to the main body having ink ejection orifices opened in positions corresponding to the ink ejection devices. At least one side of the orifice plate is made of fluoroplastic, a surface of one side of the orifice plate made of the fluoroplastic has been treated to become more water-repellent than a bulk material of the fluoroplastic itself and a surface of the other side of the orifice plate attached to the main body is more hydrophilic than the bulk material. The surface of one side of the orifice plate made of the fluoroplastic and treated to become more water-repellent contains more fluorine atoms than are inherently present in the fluoroplastic in an untreated state.

This invention relates to the recording head of an ink-jet printer which uses a fluoroplastic orifice plate or an orifice plate having a fluoroplastic layer formed on the surface of a base, characterized in that the surface of either type of orifice plate is treated to become super-water-repellent, or treated to become more water-repellent than the water-repellent fluoroplastic bulk material. The invention also relates to a process for producing the recording head.
A typical process for producing the recording head of a thermal ink-jet printer comprises the steps of preparing a semiconductor device (the main body of the head) by forming a drive circuit and heaters (thin-film resistors) on a silicon substrate, opening ink supply holes through the silicon substrate from the back side and forming a cavity on each heater that serves as an ink chamber, attaching an orifice plate to the entire surface of the semiconductor device (the main body of the head), and opening each ink ejection orifice (nozzle) in a position corresponding to each heater.
It is known that the areas around the orifices in the recording head of an ink-jet printer (hereunder sometimes referred to as an ink-jet recording head) can generally be provided with consistent ink ejection characteristics by imparting water repellency. Therefore, in order to impart water repellency to the surface of the orifice plate, it has heretofore been attempted to coat the surface of the orifice plate with a fluoroplastic film, or implant ion molecules containing fluorine atoms into the surface of the orifice plate, or form tiny asperities on the surface of the orifice plate.
For instance, JP 6-316079 A discloses an ink-jet recording head in which the very limited areas peripheral to the ink ejection ports are coated with C2F4+ ions by the method of inorganic Ion implantation to be rendered water-repellent. JP 10-151744 A discloses an ink-jet recording head in which tiny asperities with sizes of 10-100 nm are formed on the surface of an orifice plate such that not only its surface but also the inner surfaces of the orifices within a depth of 3 xcexcm from the surface become water-repellent.
Therefore, from the viewpoint of water repellency, it is preferred to use a fluoroplastic orifice plate or an orifice plate having a fluoroplastic layer formed on the surface of a base. However, fluoroplastics inherently have high level of water repellency and very poor adhesion, so it has been extremely difficult to attach the orifice plate to the semiconductor device or form mask materials such as photoresist and metal mask on the orifice plate before opening (boring) orifices.
The present invention has been accomplished under these circumstances and has an object providing a recording head which uses a fluoroplastic orifice plate or an orifice plate having a fluoroplastic layer on the surface and which is characterized in that the surface of either type of orifice plate is treated to become super-water-repellent.
Another object of the invention is to provide a process for producing the recording head.
In order to attain the object described above, the first aspect of the present invention can also be described as a recording head of an ink-jet printer which comprises a main body having ink ejection devices and a device for driving the ink ejection devices independently, and an orifice plate the other side of which is attached to the main body and which has ink ejection orifices opened in the positions corresponding to the ink ejection devices, the orifice plate having at least one side formed of a fluoroplastic, the surface of the one fluoroplastic side having been treated to become more water-repellent than the bulk material of the fluoroplastic whereas the surface of the other side of the orifice plate is more hydrophilic than the bulk material of the fluoroplastic, and said more water-repellent surface of the one fluoroplastic side containing more fluorine atoms than are inherently present in the fluoroplastic in an untreated state.
Preferably, the orifice plate is composed of a fluoroplastic member and is such that the surface of the other side which is attached to the main body has been treated to become more hydrophilic than the bulk material in an interior of the fluoroplastic member whereas the surface of the one side has been treated to become more water-repellent than the bulk material and the more water-repellent surface layer of the fluoroplastic member contains more fluorine atoms than are inherently present in the bulk material in the interior of the fluoroplastic member in the untreated state.
Preferably, the orifice plate comprises a base which is more hydrophilic than the bulk material of the fluoroplastic itself at the other side of the orifice plate and a fluoroplastic layer formed on the base at the one side, a surface of the fluoroplastic layer having been treated to become more water-repellent than an interior of the fluoroplastic layer, and the surface of the fluoroplastic layer treated to become more water-repellent contains more fluorine atoms than are inherently present in the interior of the fluoroplastic layer in the untreated state.
In order to attain another object described above, the second aspect of the present invention can also be described as a process for producing a recording head of an ink-jet printer comprising the steps of preparing an orifice plate having at least one side formed of fluoroplastic, treating the surface of the one fluoroplastic side to become more hydrophilic than the bulk material of the fluoroplastic, attaching the other side of the orifice plate to the main body of a head having ink ejection devices and a device for driving the ink ejection devices, the other side being more hydrophilic than the bulk material of the fluoroplastic, forming on the one side of the orifice plate a mask for masking the regions of the orifice plate other than those corresponding to the ink ejection devices, using the mask to open ink ejection orifices in the orifice plate at the positions corresponding to the ink ejection devices, removing the mask, and implanting ions into the surface of the one fluoroplastic side of the orifice plate so that the surface is treated to become more water-repellent than the bulk material of the fluoroplastic.
Preferably, the orifice plate itself is made of the fluoroplatic, and the treating step to become more hydrophilic is a step of treating both sides of the orifice plate made of the fluoroplastic to become sore hydrophilic than the bulk material of the fluoroplastic.
Preferably, the orifice plate comprises a base which is more hydrophilic than the bulk material of the fluoroplastic itself at the other side of the orifice plate and a fluoroplastic layer formed on the base at the one side of the orifice plate, the treating step to become more hydrophilic is a step of treating a surface of the fluoroplastic layer formed at the one side of the orifice plate to become hydrophilic, the mask is formed on the fluoroplastic layer of the orifice plate, and the implanting step is a step of implanting ions into the surface of the fluoroplastic layer of the orifice plate so that the surface is treated to become more water-repellent than the interior of the fluoroplastic layer.
Preferably, the fluoroplastic layer is formed by applying a fluoroplastic coat to the base, vapor-phase deposition of a fluoroplastic film on the base, or bonding a fluoroplastic sheet to the base.
Preferably, the ions are implanted only into regions of a specified range including those where the ink ejection orifices are opened, with the other regions being masked by the mask.

Recording head and process for producing the same


A bagel slicer generally comprising a base, a flexible connector, a lid and a knife. The base has upwardly projecting bagel retention protrusions and two end walls attached to opposing ends of the base which define a bagel receiving space. Between the walls there is a first plurality of elongated side members in a parallel spaced relationship to each other, and a second plurality of elongated side members in a parallel spaced relationship to each other and to the first plurality of elongated side members. Each elongated member is engaged with the walls such that there remains slots between them to insert a knife. A flexible connector is attached to the lid and one of the walls. The flexible connector allows the lid to be shiftable angularly away from or toward the bagel receiving space to facilitate removal or insertion of the bagel into the space, and to shift directly vertically for optimum engagement with bagels of different thicknesses to contact a substantial portion of the bagel for optimum stabilization of the bagel.

This invention relates generally to a device for slicing and/or skinning of food products, particularly bagels. A number of machines and devices for slicing bagels have been proposed in the prior art. These generally have a receptacle where the bagel is held vertically, and the bagel holder contains a pair of opposed slots or grooves into which a cutting instrument is inserted and moved back and forth in a sawing action to slice the bagel. In some cases the receptacle contains multiple opposed slots for making multiple slices. Due to the movement of the bagel back and forth caused by the sawing of the knife, and the resulting damage to the bagel, some prior art taught the use of tapered walls, moveable side doors, or pivotally connected sides which would be closed in efforts to hold the bagel stationary and prevent damage to the bagel while being sliced. In commercial settings, such as restaurants and delicatessens, speed, safety, cleanliness, uniform bagel slicing or skinning, and a minimum amount of space required to use the device are all desired. However, as far as is known, a bagel slicer having these characteristics as well as the capacity of being economically manufactured has not been available and accepted in the trade.


A method for automatically switching a user interface of a handheld terminal device and a handheld terminal device are provided. The method in an embodiment of the present disclosure includes: obtaining a current state of the terminal device by using a first sensor, and obtaining current trigger states of touch sensors of the terminal device, where the current state is a horizontally holding state or a vertically holding state, and the touch sensors are set on the back and/or a side of the terminal device; determining a current holding mode of the terminal device according to the current state of the terminal device and the current trigger states of the touch sensors; and switching a user interface to a user interface corresponding to the current holding mode of the terminal device. An embodiment of the present disclosure further discloses the handheld terminal device.

With the development of science and technology, to increase the sense of science and technology of a mobile phone, provide convenience for the use of a user, and enhance the aesthetic feeling of the mobile phone, a designer upgrades a display screen of the mobile phone to a touch display screen, that is, implements a touch operation by superposing and combining a touch panel and a liquid crystal display module (LCM), so that the user is capable of directly using the mobile phone by touching the touch display screen.
In the prior art, holding modes of a mobile phone include a left-hand holding mode, a right-hand holding mode, and a two-hand holding mode, where the left-hand holding mode refers to that a user uses the left hand to hold the mobile phone and uses the left hand to operate the mobile phone, the right-hand holding mode refers to that a user uses the right hand to hold the mobile phone and uses the right hand to operate the mobile phone, and the two-hand holding mode refers to that the user uses both the left and right hands to hold the mobile phone and/or operate the mobile phone. A user interface (UI) of a touch mobile phone is generally designed for the right-hand holding mode, and in consideration of the use habit of a user, the UI of the mobile phone needs to be changed according to a holding mode of the user, so as to provide convenience for the user to use the mobile phone.
In most existing mobile phones, a user may select the left-hand holding mode, or the right-hand holding mode, or the two-hand holding mode by changing the setting of a mobile phone, so that the mobile phone switches a user interface according to a holding mode selected by the user. However, because the mobile phone cannot automatically differentiate whether the user adopts the left-hand holding mode, or the right-hand holding mode, or the two-hand holding mode to use the mobile phone, the mobile phone fails to automatically switch the user interface to a user interface corresponding to a current holding mode of the user, which is not flexible enough and lowers the user experience.

Method for automatically switching user interface of handheld terminal device, and handheld terminal device


In one example, techniques of this disclosure may enable a point of local repair (PLR) network device to signal availability of link protection or node protection to a merge point (MP) network device and enable a network device to actively determine whether or not it is a merge point router. Based on whether or not the network device determines it is a MP, the network device may selectively clean up LSP states when there is an upstream link or node failure. The RSVP-TE protocol may be extended to enable a network device to send a tear down message to a downstream router, which may enable the downstream router to conditionally delete locale LSP state information. In some instances, a PLR network device may directly send a tear down message to a MP network device even though the PLR network device may not have a working bypass LSP.

Routing devices within a network, often referred to as routers, maintain routing information that describes available routes through the network. Upon receiving an incoming packet, the routers examine information within the packet and forward the packet in accordance with the routing information. In order to maintain an accurate representation of the network, routers exchange routing information in accordance with one or more defined routing protocols, such as the Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) or the Intermediate System to Intermediate System (ISIS).
Multi-protocol Label Switching (MPLS) is a mechanism used to engineer traffic patterns within Internet Protocol (IP) networks. By using MPLS, a source device can request a path through a network, i.e., a Label Switched Path (LSP). An LSP defines a distinct path through the network to carry MPLS packets from the source device to a destination device. A short label associated with a particular LSP is affixed to packets that travel through the network via the LSP. Routers along the path cooperatively perform MPLS operations to forward the MPLS packets along the established path. LSPs may be used for a variety of traffic engineering purposes including bandwidth management and quality of service (QoS). A packet may be a formatted set of data.
A variety of protocols exist for establishing LSPs. For example, one such protocol is the label distribution protocol (LDP). Another type of protocol is a resource reservation protocol, such as the Resource Reservation Protocol with Traffic Engineering extensions (RSVP-TE). RSVP-TE uses constraint information, such as bandwidth availability, to compute paths and establish LSPs along the paths within a network. RSVP-TE may use bandwidth availability information accumulated by a link-state interior routing protocol, such as the Intermediate System-Intermediate System (ISIS) protocol or the Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) protocol.
Head-end routers of an LSP are commonly known as ingress routers, while routers at the tail end of the LSP are commonly known as egress routers. Ingress and egress routers, as well as intermediate routers along the LSP that support MPLS, are referred to generally as label switching routers (LSRs). A set of packets to be forwarded along the LSP is referred to as a forwarding equivalence class (FEC). A plurality of FECs may exist for each LSP, although there may, in some examples, be only one active LSP for any given FEC. Typically, a FEC definition includes the IP address of the destination for the packets traversing the LSP, e.g., a destination IP address within headers of packets transported by the LSP. In general, each router along the LSP maintains FEC to Nexthop Label Forwarding Entry mapping that associates a FEC with an incoming label and an outgoing label. The ingress LSR, referred to as a label edge router (LER), uses label information, propagated upstream by each LSR along a path from the egress LER, to affix a label to each packet destined for the FEC, thereby admitting the packet to the LSP. More specifically, transport LSRs along the path use MPLS protocols to receive MPLS label mappings from downstream LSRs and to advertise MPLS label mappings to upstream LSRs. When an LSR receives an MPLS packet from an upstream router, the LSR performs a lookup in the context and swaps the MPLS label according to the information in its forwarding table based on the lookup and forwards the packet to the appropriate downstream LSR or egress LER. The egress LER removes the label from the packet and forwards the packet to its destination in accordance with non-label based packet-forwarding techniques. If Penultimate Hop Popping (PHP) is enabled for the LSP, then the penultimate LSR removes the label from the packet before forwarding to Egress LER.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Refresh interval independent fast reroute facility protection tear down messaging


An oxygen permeable contact lens fabricated from a copolymer of a (a) siloxanyl alkylester, an ester derivative of acrylic or methacrylic acid, surface wetting agent and an oxygen permeable crosslinking agent. The copolymer can be made either hard, soft or elasticmeric with improved oxygen permeability.

The human cornea is an independent organism that obtains its life sustaining oxygen from the tears of the eye. The oxygen consumption rate of the human cornea is approximated to be 2.8 ml/cm.sup.2 -hr. This value has been determined by Jauregui and Fatt, "Estimation of the Vivo Oxygen Consumption of the Human Corneal Epthelium", in the American Journal of Optometry and Archives of American Academy of Optometry, June 1972, page 507.
Contact lenses have been made from various materials since the early 1950's. Table I illustrates some of the materials, the common term, its composition and its disadvantages.
TABLE I ______________________________________ COMMON COMMON TERM COMPOSITION DISADVANTAGE ______________________________________ Hard 95% + Poly- Very low gas methylmethacrylate permeability Semi-Rigid 90% + Cellulose Poor stability Acetate Butyrate Soft 60% + Polyhydroxy- Poor durability Methacrylate PMMA/Silicone 40%-60% Poly- Marginal oxygen methylmethacrylate permeability & & 40%-60% stability Siloxanyl alkyl ester Silicone 10%-90% Phenyl- Poor surface siloxanes and wettability & 10%-90% poor durability Methylvinylsiloxanes ______________________________________
Attempts have been made in correcting these disadvantages. Some of these attempts have been some what successful, but not entirely. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,152,508, they deal with stability, but the increasing of oxygen permeability was never really attained, due to the use of non-oxygen permeable crosslinking agents. The use of dimethacrylates (the preferred embodiments) did improve the stability over that of U.S. Pat. No. 3,808,178, but did decrease oxygen permeability to some degree. Thus, a material with excellent oxygen and carbon dioxide permeability is preferably for metabolic action of the cornea. The surface of the material must be wettable and compatible with fluids of the eye.

Method of making a contact lens material with increased oxygen permeability


Novel deployment devices for use as adjuncts with tissue repair implants. The devices are removeably mounted to mesh tissue repair implant devices to manipulate the devices into position and provide for secure fixation about the periphery of such mesh implant devices by providing guide structures such as grooves for directing and positioning a surgical tacking instrument.

Body wall defects such as hernias and trocar punctures are typically repaired by implanting surgical mesh patch implants at the site of the body wall defect. The mesh patch implants are secured to the surrounding tissue in a conventional manner including tacking, suturing, gluing, etc. A surgical mesh implant is typically constructed to have one or more layers of a porous surgical mesh shaped to conform to the body wall defect in order to provide for optimal securement. The mesh implants must also be designed to promote sufficient tissue ingrowth such that the body wall defect repair is incorporated into the body wall tissue to provide superior strength and durability. Another desired attribute of a tissue repair implant is that it have softness and flexibility, along with minimal mass in order to provide the patient with the requisite post-operative comfort.
Since tissue repair implants are typically made from surgical meshes or fabrics that are flexible, the implants may present deployment issues to the surgeon during the course of a surgical repair procedure, when it is necessary to insert the mesh into a patient's body cavity and then appropriately affix the mesh implant to secure it in place in order to effect the repair of the tissue defect. Typically, the mesh in its relaxed configuration will be significantly larger than the size of the defect and the size of the opening in the patient through which the mesh is introduced. The mesh implant is usually folded or rolled by the surgeon in order to introduce it to a location adjacent to the tissue defect. It must be then unfolded or unrolled to its at-rest planar configuration to allow for fixation. The mesh repair implant must then be moved into place adjacent to the body wall so that it can be fixated in a conventional manner using tacks, sutures, etc. Those skilled in this art will appreciate the difficulties in moving and fixating a soft, low mass, flexible mesh implant during a surgical repair procedure. The difficulties are significantly enhanced in minimally invasive surgeries.
In order to improve the handling characteristics of mesh implants, devices have been developed that urge the mesh implant into a planar configuration after insertion into the patient's body. In the case of mesh implants for open procedures, elastic supports such as monofilament rings have been sewn into the mesh implants. However, it is known that these support structures may fail in vivo leading to life threatening complications and severe patient pain and discomfort. Instruments have also been developed to deliver tissue repair implants to a tissue defect site. The instruments typically have manipulatable fingers or members that maintain the mesh in a substantially planar position at the defect site; and, after the implant is affixed to the defect site the fingers or members are withdrawn into the delivery instrument and the instrument is removed. Such instruments also have disadvantages. The fingers or members may injure tissue or viscera causing a variety of complications, and the instruments may fail in use and not properly function to maintain the mesh implant in a planar position, or may fail to release the implant. In addition, the instruments are typically disposable, and, are expensive, thereby adding to the cost of the procedure.
In many open tissue defect procedures, it is necessary to utilize a skirted mesh device or a device having a pocket in order to provide an accessible structure for affixing the device securely to the inner wall of the body cavity (e.g., the peritoneum and fascia), since the surgeon is not able to affix the mesh from the visceral side of the device. In an endoscopic procedure, the surgeon can view the visceral side of the tissue repair patch remotely via an endoscopic camera system, and precisely guide a fixation instrument to fixate the device about the periphery and interior to the periphery in a multiple crown fixation pattern. In an open procedure this is typically not possible and the surgeon must guide the end of a fixation device by estimating the position of the periphery of the mesh device and by palpating the patient's skin to determine the location. This technique may have several deficiencies associated with it. As mentioned previously, in order to have an adequate repair with the best prospects for proper healing it is necessary to secure the mesh implant such that the mesh is placed as close and flush to the surface of the interior body wall as possible. If the mesh is not secured uniformly to body tissue about its periphery, the mesh may wrinkle or otherwise deform leaving sections of the mesh elevated above the surface of the body wall. This type of installation will not provide an optimal surgical or patient outcome, and revision surgery may be required. In addition, the spaces between the raised section of the mesh and the body cavity wall may be prone to surgical adhesions, infections, poor tissue integration, bowel entrapment, etc., further complicating the outcome for the patient.
There is a need in this art for novel adjunct devices that may be combined with a surgical tissue repair implant such that the device urges a tissue repair implant into a planar configuration for optimal surgical affixation, but is removable after the affixation is completed. There is a further need for such a device that has features which enable the surgeon to guide the end of an affixation instrument to properly locate fasteners about the periphery of the device.

Temporary aids for deployment and fixation of tissue repair implants


This invention provides an optical glass including, by mass %: 30 to 40% of B2O3; 2.5 to 6% of Li2O; 10 to 17% of ZnO; 12 to 22% of La2O3; 15 to 25% of Gd2O3; 0 to 5% of SiO2; 0 to 5% of Bi2O3; 0 to 15% of Al2O3; 0 to 3% of ZrO2; 0 to 5% of WO3; 0 to 5% of Ta2O5; 0 to 3% of TiO2; 0 to 5% of Y2O3; and 0 to 5% of MgO+CaO+SrO+BaO.

Recently, precision optical apparatuses such as a digital camera and a video camera have been increased in performance and downsized remarkably. Due to the realization of high performance and downsizing, there is a demand for optical elements such as an optical lens that are downsized, highly integrated, and capable of high performance to be used in the optical apparatuses. Among the optical elements, an aspherical lens is taking a major role in optical designing because use of a single aspherical lens realizes aberration elimination that has heretofore been realized by using plural spherical lenses and enables the high integration of optical system. In order to realize higher integration, there is an increasing demand particularly for an aspherical lens having a high refraction low dispersion property.
In an optical element molding method, a precision press molding method wherein a press molding surface is used as it is without polishing or the like attracts attention. The precision press molding method is a method of press-molding an optical glass gob called pre-form at a temperature higher than a glass transition point (Tg) by using a metal mold having a highly precise molding surface of a desired shape, and the precision press molding method is an important molding method that enables bulk production of the aspherical lens.
A releasing film or the like is formed on a surface of the metal mold used in the precision press molding for the purpose of preventing adhesion of optical glass. Because deterioration of the releasing film is accelerated along with an increase in temperature and a film formation cost for the releasing film is high, there is a demand for an optical glass that can be molded at a low temperature, i.e., having a low glass transition temperature.
Boric acid-based glasses have heretofore been proposed as the optical glass having a low transition temperature in the field of high refraction (refractive index nd: 1.65 to 1.72) and low dispersion (Abbe number νd: 47 to 57) as disclosed in Patent Documents 1 and 2. However, the optical glasses disclosed in the publications have a problem of a lack in mass productivity due to its high liquid phase temperature (L.T.) and tendency to cause devitrification in the case of forming a pre-form thereof.
Though boric acid-based glasses obtained by improving the formerly mentioned boric acid-based glasses have been proposed by Patent Documents 3 and 4, the proposed optical glasses have a large linear thermal expansion coefficient and have a problem that an yield tends to be lowered since the glass is easily cracked due to heat shrinkage during press molding.
Patent Document 1: JP-A-8-26766
Patent Document 2: JP-A-5-201743
Patent Document 3: JP-A-2000-119036
Patent Document 4: JP-A-2000-16831


The method of the invention is based on the unique electron-carrying function of a photocatalytic unit such as the photosynthesis system I (PSI) reaction center of the protein-chlorophyll complex isolated from chloroplasts. The method employs a photo-biomolecular metal deposition technique for precisely controlled nucleation and growth of metallic clusters/particles, e.g., platinum, palladium, and their alloys, etc., as well as for thin-film formation above the surface of a solid substrate. The photochemically mediated technique offers numerous advantages over traditional deposition methods including quantitative atom deposition control, high energy efficiency, and mild operating condition requirements.

This invention relates generally to metallic particles and films, and more particularly to methods for their production by linking the electron pumping features of certain biological systems, such as the photosynthetic machinery, with the reductive precipitation of metallic particles.
Photosynthesis is the biological process that converts electromagnetic energy into chemical energy through light and dark reactions. In green algae and higher plants, photosynthesis occurs in specialized organelles, called chloroplasts. The chloroplast is enclosed by a double membrane and contains thylakoids, consisting of stacked membrane disks (called grana) and unstacked membrane disks (called stroma). The thylakoid membrane contains two key photosynthetic components, photosystem I and photosystem II, designated PSI and PSII, respectively, as depicted schematically in FIG. 1. During photosynthesis, water is split into molecular oxygen, protons and electrons by PSII. Electrons derived from the splitting of water molecules are transported through a series of carriers to PSI where they are further energized by a light-induced photochemical charge separation and transported across the thylakoid membrane where they are used for the enzymatic reduction of NADP+ to NADPH. This biological reaction is further utilized for chemical energy production, primarily in the form of ATP.
Ultrafine metallic particles, e.g., nanoparticles, are important precursors for use in the fabrication of advanced material structures, such as thin continuous films. Conventionally, metallic films have been deposited on substrates by methods such as chemical vapor deposition (CVD), sputtering, plating, and the like. Unfortunately, such methods do not generaly offer a degree of control desired for the deposition of nanostructured materials, e.g., films having nanometer range thicknesses or grains. Therefore, a method which could drive the nucleation, growth and deposition of nanoparticles in a quantitative, rapid, and energy-efficient manner would be highly desirable for many applications, including materials processing, catalysis, separations, electronics, energy production processes, and environmental applications.
Despite the extensive investigation concerning the photosynthetic machinery, the use of photosynthesis-related principles for materials synthesis and processing has not been described. The present invention, by exploiting the electron pumping characteristics of the photosynthetic machinery for nanoparticle production and processing applications, provides improved methods and materials which overcome or at least reduce the effects of one or more of the aforementioned problems.
This invention broadly concerns methods for the controlled deposition of ultrafine metallic particles and thin films via biomolecular electronic mechanisms. In particular, the invention takes advantage of the electron-pumping characteristics of photosynthesis system I (PSI), and other biological systems having similar features, for photocatalytically reducing metal precursor chemicals into metallic nanostructured materials.
Therefore, according to one aspect of the invention, a metallic film is formed by providing a liquid suspension which is at least partly comprised of a plurality of photosystem I-containing units, metal precursors, and any other component necessary or desired for effecting the photochemical reaction on the PSI-containing unit, e.g., electron donor molecules. The liquid suspension is contacted with light, preferably in the form of intermittent flashes, under conditions effective for causing the controlled reductive precipitation of the metal precursors on the photosystem I-containing units to form photosystem I-metal complexes. Generally, the liquid suspension containing the photosystem I-metal complexes is provided above the surface of a solid or semisolid substrate, such as a surface comprised of gold, silicon, silica, alumina, zirconia, titania, or any of a variety of other materials. Thereafter, the liquid of the liquid suspension is removed, for example by applying heat and/or vacuum to evaporate the liquid. Upon removal of the liquid, a film is thereby formed on the surface of the substrate that is at least partly comprised of the metal from the photosystem I-metal complexes.
In another aspect of the invention, a plurality of PSI-containing units may be anchored or otherwise coated on a desired substrate prior to performing the photo-induced formation of the photosystem I-metal complexes. This PSI-coated substrate is then contacted with a solution containing a plurality of metal precursors, electron donor molecules and other desired components. The solution and the underlying PSI-coated substrate are thereafter contacted with light energy under conditions effective for causing the reductive precipitation of the metal precusor on the photosystem I-containing unit to form photosystem I-metal complexes that are spatially constrained along the surface of the substrate. Under appropriate reaction conditions, the metal particles on the PSI-containing units are controllably grown to a size at which metal particles on adjacent PSI-containing units above the substrate merge into a continuous metallic film.
In another aspect of the invention, metallic nanoparticles are provided by forming PSI-metal complexes in a suitable liquid suspension and thereafter separating the metal particles from the PSI-metal complexes. The means by which the metal particles are separated may include any suitable chemical, physical or mechanical treatment sufficient to remove the particles from the complexes without adversely affecting their chemical composition or structural integrity.
The methods of the present invention offer numerous advantages over other technologies, e.g., CVD, sputtering, electroless plating, MBE, etc., for the production of metallic particles, films, and other materials such as alloys and composites. First the methods allow for precisely controlled metal particle nucleation and growth for atomic-level deposition. The methods are energy-efficient and have no requirement for high temperature or pressure/vacuum systems, such as are required for other technologies. Moreover, the methods offer controllable deposition kinetics which may be varied through modulation of the light energy input level. Finally, the methods are environmentally benign and non-interfering, i.e, light is the controlling mechanism.
The nanosized particles of this invention, and the products derived therefrom, will support a broad range of applications, including energetics (e.g., as fuel in propellants), explosives, microelectronics, catalysis, powder metallurgy, coating and joining technologies, and others. For example, for catalysis/separations applications, reductions in metallic film thicknesses will reduce metal cost, allow higher hydrogen flux, enhance permselectivity, and improve membrane reactor efficiency. The membrane reactors have been used in energy generation and environmental application processes, such as the advanced power generation and environmental application processes, such as the advanced power generation systems-integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) systems.
In the petrochemical industry, important applications may include hydrogen separation and membrane reactions concerning hydrocarbon (such as propane and ethylbenzene) dehydrogenation and natural gas steam reforming (e.g., CH4+HzOxe2x86x92CO+3H2), oxidative reforming of methane to syngas, and partial oxidation or oxidative coupling of methane into hydrogen and higher hydrocarbons. For these chemical reactions, palladium (Pd)-based membranes may be preferred in terms of temperature resistance and hydrogen permeability, however other metals, e.g., platinum and osmium, may also be used. In addition, metallic nanoparticle arrays of uniform particle size in the range of about 2.5-100 nm deposited over a large area oxide (1 cm2) support offer promising alternatives to single crystal surface catalysts.
The methods of the invention also find use in a variety of applications involving electronic materials and devices, such as electronic circuit board fabrication, metallic (Pd) buffer layer preparation for superconducting RABiTS (Rolling-Assisted Biaxially Textured Substrate), and multilayer devices (such as hard disk reading head memory chip) based on GMR (Giant Magnetorresistance).

Photobiomolecular metallic particles and films


A transponder detection system for detecting the presence at a detection area of a vehicle on which the transponder is mounted. Two antenna arrays are located on opposite sides of the detection area, and have their boresights directed to the detection area. For each array, a sum and difference signal of signals received from the transponder are measured. The sum channel signal is used to establish whether a transmission has occurred, and the difference channel signal is used to isolate any transponder that is at the detection area.

In barrier-based toll collection systems and other types of transponder supported operations, the separation of transponder and non-transponder equipped vehicles is a key system design feature. Conventionally, this process is accomplished by the use of the antenna pattern of the transponder/reader communication system. The antenna is focused on the decision area and if communications occur in this antenna pattern area, then the vehicle is declared to have a transponder and electronic processing is utilized. The problem with this approach is that the antenna pattern must be small enough to avoid communicating with vehicle transponders adjacent to the decision area and associating that communications with a non-transponder equipped vehicle in the decision area. These adjacent transponders can be behind the vehicle in the decision area, i.e., "bumper to bumper reads" or can be in an adjacent lane, i.e., "cross lane reads."
Another problem occurs when multiple vehicles, each with transponders, arrive in a sequence at the barrier. If the system communicates with the vehicles in a different order from the order in which they physically arrived, an error will be made since they will be processed in the "electronic order" not the physical order. This error, i.e., an "out of sequence read," associates the wrong vehicle with a transmission and can result in a vehicle being processed incorrectly.
Conventional systems have attempted to solve these problems in four basic ways. First, the communications area of the antenna is made as small as possible while trying to maintain reliable processing. Second, the data processed is kept to a minimum or vehicle speed is limited so that the amount of time that the vehicle is in the communication zone allows for multiple communications tries, thus improving the performance. Third, the design of the barrier and mounting of the antenna attempts to minimize and control multi-path effects so that the communication zone has a minimum number of potential fades. Fourth, the transponder is mounted in the vehicle so that all vehicles have the same antenna pattern and communication coverage. In the extreme, this means that the transponders are "trimmed in power" to achieve consistent communication coverage.
Different techniques have been employed to accomplish these error reduction functions. In one approach, a directive antenna illuminates a small area of road and limits the communication zone area by using a backscatter communication technique. This provides a path loss attenuation that increases at a rate of R.sup.4 and, thus improves coverage control. In addition, the transponder is in a specific place in the vehicle and a vehicle detector activates the communication process. This technique makes transponder location critical and the transponder antenna pattern variation from vehicle to vehicle causes many processing errors. The use of the vehicle detector to activate the process minimizes processing errors but decreases collection performance since the probability of vehicle detection is then multiplied times the communication processing probability. Specified performance values of greater than 99.995% probability of correct processing makes this approach unattractive.
In another approach, antennas buried in the road are used for communication with the transponder equipped vehicles. The transponders are then mounted on the bumper of the vehicle thus controlling the communication zone used to perform the processing. The road antennas are expensive to install and failure requires penetration of the road surface for repair, therefore shutting down of the traffic lane. In addition, the mounting of the transponder on the bumper requires a much more rugged housing and makes difficult any vehicle operator interface with the system processing results.


In a case where a position of a recognized cell is shifted from a position of a ruled line of an actual cell, if the recognized cell is deleted, a part of the ruled line of the actual cell is deleted. According to an aspect of the present invention, straight lines are detected from regions around four sides constituting the recognized cell, and an inside of a region surrounded by the detected straight lines is deleted.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus configured to edit a table region in an image.
Description of the Related Art
FIG. 3 illustrates an example of a scanned image. This scanned image may be desired to be edited in some cases. Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-094760 discloses an editing function of the scanned image.
Specifically, according to Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-094760, a table region constituted by a plurality of ruled lines is identified from the scanned image, and character recognition of a character inside the table region is further performed. In addition, vectorization of the respective ruled lines constituting the table region is performed.
Subsequently, while the scanned image is displayed on a left window, a vectorization result and a recognized character are displayed on a right window (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-094760).
When a user performs character editing on this right window, the above-described identified table region is deleted from the left window. Subsequently, a table to which the character after the editing is added is generated, and the generated table is displayed on the left window.
According to the technology disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-094760, in a case where the identified table region includes the ruled line of the cell, the ruled line of the scanned image is also deleted.

Information processing apparatus, information processing method, and storage medium


A backwashable filtering device comprising a housing, a main filter in the housing, an inlet for receiving liquid into the housing and an outlet for discharging liquid from the housing. A rotatably mounted spraying member is disposed in the main filter which is preferably cylindrical in shape for receiving liquid and discharging it against the inner surface of the filter to backwash and cleanse the filter. Filtering passage is defined in the housing between the inlet and the outlet for directing water against an outer surface of the main filter for the purpose of filtering the water. Valves are provided in the housing associated with the main filter for selectively directing liquid toward the opposite sides of the main filter for the purposes of filtering and backwashing respectively.

The present invention relates in general to filtering apparatus and, in particular to a new and useful filtering and backwash apparatus, particularly for filtering water supplied to a house.
Such filter apparatus are known per se. Their inlet is connected to the house water main and their outlet leads to the points of utilization. They prevent soiling matter entrained by the water, such as sand, and other particles, from penetrating to the consuming points and causing trouble or even damages. The main filter is passed by the water permanently in the same direction, so that dirt, etc. becomes deposited on the upstream side of the filter. The more the filter is choked with extraneous matter, the higher the resistance to flow becomes and the pressure drop in the filter. To restore the initial state, the filtering apparatus must be cleaned from time to time. This is advantageously done by reversing the flow through the filter, for which purpose the design is suitably adapted. During the reversal or back-flushing, the flow is directed against the down-stream side of the filter, so that the initial upstream side now becomes the downstream side. Due to this reversal of flow through the filter, dirt deposits or the like are broken away and drained along with the wash water through an outlet which has been open during the back-flush operation. Advantageously, the outlet of the filter remains closed during this time, which may be done simultaneously with the reversal to back-flush.
As a rule, the pressure in the house water main is predetermined, i.e. it cannot be varied. Further, requirements on the purity of water determine the mesh size of the filter. On the other hand, the velocity of water flow through the filter depends on the pressure in the piping and on the size of the screen apertures. This means that the purifying effect during the back-flush is greater in more choked filters than in less choked ones where the passages through the filter have not yet been too strongly reduced. This is related to the fact that with a reduction of the sectional area of the individual screen apertures, the flow velocity therethrough increases and that with an increased flow velocity, the adhering particles are more easily broken away than at a relatively slower velocity.
Even with a heavily clogged screen, an unfavorable cleaning effect may be obtained if, first, larger portions of the dirt layer are broken away at different locations and the flushing water then flows only through these exposed portions of the filter while the other, still heavily clogged filter portions hardly allow any passage of water.

Back-flush filtering apparatus, particularly for a house water supply system


An inflatable mattress construction having use as a maternity mattress. The mattress is provided with a central, generally cylindrical cavity which extends through the thickness of the mattress. The lower end of the cavity is enclosed by a bottom panel, while a top panel is located within the cavity and the peripheral edge of the top panel is sealed to the upper surface of the mattress bordering the cavity. The central portion of the top panel is secured to the bottom panel. A gas, such as air, can be supplied to the chamber between the panels to thereby inflate the upper panel and adjust the depth of the cavity to accomodate the abdomen of a pregnant woman.

Maternity mattresses have been proposed in the past, in which the mattress is provided with a cavity in its upper surface, adapted to receive the abdomen of a pregnant woman resting face down on the mattress, so that maximum support may be provided with a minimum amount of discomfort.
One type of maternity mattress has been associated with a normal inner spring bed mattress, in which the coil spring mattress, which is supported on a box spring, is provided with a cavity to receive the abdomen of the pregnant woman. This type of maternity mattress is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 4,051,566. To adjust the depth of the cavity in the mattress, an insert is mounted in the cavity and is supported by a power operated mechanism located beneath the bed. Through operation of the power mechanism, the insert can be raised and lowered within the cavity to provide the desired depth of cavity to accommodate the abdomen.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,054,960 describes an inflatable maternity mattress in which the central portion of the mattress is provided with a generally cylindrical opening or cavity to receive the abdomen of the pregnant woman. To adjust the depth of the cavity, air is introduced or exhausted from the mattress. This not only adjusts the depth of the cavity, but also changes the thickness or height of the mattress. Thus, to provide a cavity with a minimum depth, air is exhausted from the mattress to correspondingly reduce the thickness of the mattress to a minimum.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,054,960 also shows an inflatable plug to be inserted within the opening in the mattress when the central cavity is not required.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,089,854 is directed to a maternity cot and mattress, in which the mattress and the supporting cot are provided with aligned openings adapted to receive the abdomen of a pregnant woman. The lower end of the opening or cavity is enclosed by a pair of adjustable straps which are disposed in an X-shaped configuration. By lengthening or shortening the straps through use of a buckle, the depth of the cavity can be adjusted to accommodate various stages of pregnancy.


The present patent discloses a novel one pot two-step process for the synthesis of ivacaftor and related compounds of [Formula (I)], wherein R1, R2, R3, R4, R5, R6, R7 and Ar1 are as described above; its tautomers or pharmaceutically acceptable salts thereof starting from indole acetic acid amides.

Ivacaftor, also known as N-(2,4-di-tert-butyl-5-hydroxyphenyl)-1,4-dihydro-4-oxoquinoline-3-carboxamide, having the following Formula (A):

Ivacaftor was approved by FDA and marketed by vertex pharma for the treatment of cystic fibrosis under the brand name KALYDECO® in the form of 150 mg oral tablets. Kalydeco® is indicated for the treatment of cystic fibrosis in patients age 6 years and older who have a G55ID mutation in the CFTR (cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator) gene.
U.S. 20100267768 discloses a process for preparation of ivacaftor, which involves the coupling of 4-oxo-1,4-dihydro-3-quinoline carboxylic acid with hydroxyl protected phenol intermediate in the presence of propyl phosphonic anhydride (T3P®) followed by deprotection of hydroxyl protection group and optional crystallization with isopropyl acetate. The publication also discloses the use of highly expensive coupling reagent, propyl phosphonic anhydride; which in turn results to an increase in the manufacturing cost. The process disclosed is schematically represented as follows:

Article titled "Discovery of N-(2,4-Di-tert-butyl-5-hydroxyphenyl)-4-oxo-1,4-dihydroquinoline-3-carboxamide (VX-770, Ivacaftor), a Potent and Orally Bioavailable CFTR Potentiator" by Hadida, S et. al in J. Med. Chem., 2014, 57 (23), pp 9776-9795 reports N-(2,4-di-tert-butyl-5-hydroxyphenyl)-4-oxo-1,4-dihydroquinoline-3-carboxamide (VX-770, 48, ivacaftor), an investigational drug candidate approved by the FDA for the treatment of CF patients 6 years of age and older carrying the G551D mutation.

WO 2014125506 A2 discloses a process for the preparation of ivacaftor in high yield and purity by using novel protected quinolone carboxylic acid compounds as intermediates.
Article titled "Expeditious synthesis of ivacaftor" by Jingshan Shen et. al in Heterocycles, 2014, 89 (4), pp 1035-1040 reports an expeditious synthesis for ivacaftor featuring modified Leimgruber-Batcho procedure. The overall yield is 39% over six steps from commercially available 2-nitrobenzoyl chloride.
U.S. 2011/064811 discloses a process for preparation of ivacaftor, which involves condensation of 4-oxo-1,4-dihydro-3-quinolone carboxylic acid with 5-amino-2,4-di-(tert-butyl)phenol in the presence of HBTU followed by the formation of ethanol crystalate, which is then treated with diethyl ether to yield ivacaftor as a solid.

CN 103044263 A discloses a process for the preparation of ivacaftor as shown below:

U.S. Pat. No. 7,495,103 discloses modulators of ATP-binding cassette transporters such as ivacaftor and a process for the preparation of modulators of ATP-binding cassette transporters such as quinolone compounds. The process includes condensation of 4-oxo-1,4-dihydro-3-quinolone carboxylic acid with aniline in presence of 2-(1H-7-azabenzotriazol-1-yl)-1,1,3,3-tetramethyluronium hexafluoro phosphate methanaminium (HATU) as shown:

U.S. 2011/230519 discloses a process for preparation of 4-oxo-1,4-dihydro-3-quinoline carboxylic acid by reaction of aniline with diethylethoxymethylenemalonate at 100-110° C. followed by cyclization in phenyl ether at temperature 228-232° C. and then hydrolysis, as shown below:

U.S. Pat. No. 7,402,674 B2 discloses 7-Phenylamino-4-quinolone-3-carboxylic acid derivatives, process for their preparation and their use as medicaments.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,981,854 discloses 1-aryl-4-quinolone-3 carboxylic acids, processes for their preparation and anti-bacterial agents and feed additives containing these compounds.
Article titled "Ozonolysis Applications in Drug Synthesis" by Van Ornum, S. G.; Champeau, R. M.; Pariza, R. in Chem. Rev., 2006, 106 (7), pp 2990-3001 reports that ozonolysis for the synthesis of numerous interesting bioactive natural products and pharmaceutical agents.
Article titled "Safe Execution of a Large-Scale Ozonolysis: Preparation of the Bisulfite Adduct of 2-Hydroxyindan-2-carbox-aldehyde and Its Utility in a Reductive Amination" by Ragan, J. A. et. al. in Org. Proc. Res. Dev., 2003, 7 (2), pp 155-160 reports various routes to bisulfite adduct, the most efficient of which involved vinyl Grignard addition to 2-indanone followed by ozonolysis and workup with aqueous NaHSO3 to effect reduction and bisulfite formation in a single pot. The utility of bisulfite adduct is as an aldehyde surrogate in a reductive amination reaction.

The reported methods for the synthesis of ivacaftor suffered from several drawbacks such as harsh conditions, high temperature reactions and use of large excess of polyphosphoric acid and corrosive phosphoryl chloride etc. Furthermore, synthesis of ivacaftor requires use of high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) techniques for the separation of ivacaftor and their analogues.
Therefore, development of a simple and efficient synthetic route is in urgent need. Accordingly the present inventors developed environmentally benign, cost effective and short synthetic route for the synthesis of ivacaftor and their analogues.

Process for the synthesis of ivacaftor and related compounds

Council of Scientific and Industrial Research


An electronic device comprises a silicon substrate (base material), an underlying insulating film formed on the silicon substrate, a capacitor constructed by forming a bottom electrode, a capacitor dielectric film, and a top electrode sequentially on the underlying insulating film, and a voltage supply circuit for supplying a voltage with a bipolar waveform to at least one of the bottom electrode and the top electrode, wherein an amplitude of the voltage is set to 5×105 d (V) or less (d: an interval (cm) between the top electrode and the bottom electrode). Accordingly, an electronic device and a method of applying a voltage to a capacitor, capable of prolonging a lifetime of a capacitor by preventing degradation of a capacitor dielectric film are provided.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electronic device and a method of applying a voltage to a capacitor.
2. Description of the Related Art
ABO3 perovskite type dielectric materials such as BST ((Ba,Sr)TiO3), and the like are currently being investigated widely as applications for the capacitor dielectric film in the decoupling capacitor, DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory), and so on. Also, ABO3 perovskite type dielectric materials with the ferroelectric characteristic are currently being investigated as the capacitor dielectric film in the nonvolatile memories such as FeRAM (Ferroelectric Random Access Memory), and so on.
DC voltage is usually applied to the dielectric film, which is used in such element, for a considerable long time in practical use.
Technologies relevant to the present invention are disclosed in Patent Literatures 1, 2.                [Patent Literature 1] Patent Application Publication (KOKAI) Hei 10-93050        [Patent Literature 2] Patent Application Publication (KOKAI) 2004-88892
When the capacitor dielectric film is exposed to the electric field for a long time in this manner, such a problem is caused that the reliability of the capacitor is lowered. It is known that, when the capacitor dielectric film made of high-dielectric material or ferroelectric material is subjected to an electrical stress, the film is degraded due to movement of electrons or ions in the film. As the mechanism of such degradation, resistance degradation, TDDB (Time Dependent Dielectric Breakdown), etc. have been reported.
If the capacitor dielectric film is degraded in this manner, a leakage current exceeding an allowable value is generated between the top electrode and the bottom electrode constituting the capacitor and then the lifetime of the capacitor is shortened. Therefore, an electronic device that is capable of enhancing the lifetime of the capacitor by preventing degradation of the capacitor dielectric film is required.

Electronic device and method of applying voltage to capacitor


A percussion rotary hand-held power tool including a percussion piston (3), an anvil (5), a chuck (4) for receiving a working tool, an axially displaceable and rotatable guide tube (6) located in the housing (2) and extending in a telescopic-like manner over the chuck (4) and the anvil (5) from a chuck region up to a region of the percussion piston (3), and a sealing element (8) located between the guide tube (6) and the housing (2) and having at least one axial seal (9) for performing only axial movement and at least one rotary shaft seal (10) for performing only rotary movement.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a percussion rotary hand-held power tool including an axially displaceable anvil, an axially displaceable percussion piston, and a rotatable guide tube which serves as a working tool spindle and provides for axial guidance of the percussion piston.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the hand-held power tools of the type described above, axial blows from the percussion piston are transmitted to a working tool by an axially displaceable anvil which has, however, a small displacement path. As a result of an oscillating movement of the anvil, dust can penetrate into the percussion mechanism and/or oil can be released from the percussion mechanism into the environment. However, the penetration of dust into the percussion mechanism and/or release of oil therefrom can be prevented with appropriate seals. With an insufficient reaction force applied by the working tool, the highly accelerated anvil can reach into an axially adjacent, working tool-side, idle stroke region. This can be used for cutting off the idle stroke.
Axial displacement and high speed of the anvil in the direction of the working tool, which take place during the idle stroke, lead to a noticeably reduced scrapping capability of the sealing elements and to penetration of dust into the percussion mechanism during the slow movement of the anvil back to its operating point. From the percussion mechanism, the dust can penetrate further into the power tool drive. The dust penetration into the power tool drive substantially reduces the service life of the drive components.
German Publication DE-197 24 53 1A1 discloses a power tool in which the guide tube, which serves as a working tool spindle and is movable axially for cutting off the idle stroke, extends in a telescopic-like manner over the anvil from the chuck region up to the percussion piston region. In case of an idle stroke, the axially displaceable guide tube, as a result of its axial displacement, reduces the relative displacement of the anvil and, thereby, penetration of dust into the percussion mechanism. However, an axial displacement of the rotatable guide tube complicates sealing of the space between the radially outer side of the guide tube and the housing. Insufficient sealing of this space leads to penetration of dust into the percussion mechanism and further into the drive.
European Publication EP-0759341 discloses a power tool with an axially stationary guide tube which serves as a rotatable working tool spindle and which telescopically extends over the anvil and extends from the chuck region to the region of the percussion piston, and with a rotary shaft seal provided between the outer surface of the guide tube and the power tool housing. The idle stroke cut-off is effected by a separate switch sleeve which is located in the guide tube and is displaced axially by the anvil.
British Publication No. 2,053,769 discloses a percussion mechanism with rotatable and axially displaceable components and with separate axial sealing and rotary shaft sealing.
European Publication EP-0 735 230 discloses a percussion rotary hand-held power tool with a rotary swivel provided with a sealing element including separate from each other, axial seals and radial seals which are separated by a sleeve-shaped housing element having one axial degree of freedom and one circumferential degree of freedom.
An object of the present invention is to provide a percussion rotary hand-held power tool with a rotatable and an axially displaceable guide tube that is adequately sealed against dust penetration even during the idle stroke.
This and other objects of the present invention, which will become apparent hereinafter, are achieved by providing a percussion rotary hand-held power tool including a housing, a percussion piston located in the housing, an anvil located in the housing, a chuck for receiving a working tool, an axially displaceable and rotatable guide tube serving as a working tool spindle, located in the housing and extending in a telescopic-like manner over the chuck and the anvil from a chuck region up to a region of the percussion piston, and a sealing element located between the guide tube and the housing and having at least one axial seal for performing only axial movement and at least one rotary shaft seal for performing only rotary movement.
According to the present invention, efficient, special seals such as rotary shaft rings for a pure rotational movement and scrapper rings for a pure axial movement substantially prevent dust penetration into the percussion mechanism and further into the power tool drive despite the complex percussion-rotary movement of the guide tube.
Advantageously, there is provided, in the power tool housing, an axially displaceable housing element arranged between the guide tube and the housing coaxially with the guide tube. The housing element is supported in the housing without a possibility of rotation relative thereto. The housing element insures a simple separation of the rotational and percussion movements.
Advantageously, the housing element is formed as a sleeve, which permits to use standard annular seals.
Advantageously, the axial seal is formed as a static seal, e.g., as a bellows which permits to achieve a space-saving and reliable sealing for the existing limited number of limited axial displacements.
Advantageously, the housing element is at least partially radially offset which permits to provide an axial stop in the housing for the guide tube.
The novel features of the present invention, which are considered as characteristic for the invention, are set forth in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, both as to its construction and its mode of operation, together with additional advantages and objects thereof, will be best understood from the following detailed description of preferred embodiments, when read with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Percussion rotary hand-held power tool with a rotatable guide tube


There are provided a mobile device and a method of controlling a screen of the mobile device. The mobile device includes: a display unit including an effective display area for displaying a screen; a touch screen panel including a plurality of sensing electrodes; and a control unit detecting a touch input based on a sensing signal generated from the plurality of sensing electrodes and controlling the screen displayed by the display unit, wherein when the touch input corresponds to a previously set first input gesture, the control unit controls such that a size of the screen is reduced at a predetermined first ratio and the reduced screen is only displayed in a portion of the effective display area.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mobile device providing an interface environment, which can be operated by a user using one hand and in which the user may provide a touch input that is input as a predetermined touch gesture to reduce a screen and display the reduced screen in only a portion of a display unit, and a method of controlling the screen of the mobile device.
2. Description of the Related Art
As mobile devices such as smartphones, tablet PCs, personal digital assistants (PDAs), and the like have come into widespread use, various methods have been suggested to increase user convenience in the use thereof. There is a tendency for mobile devices that are currently being developed and launched to include a large-sized screen in order to increase user convenience. By applying a large-sized display unit to a mobile device, viewer convenience in terms of watching videos or reading text may be increased, and currently, a large screen display unit is being applied not only to tablet PCs but also to smartphones.
Currently launched smartphones mostly provide a large screen of 4.5 inches or more, and some provide a screen of 5 inches or more. Although the provision of such a large screen may degrade portability, a large amount of text and images may be viewed on a single screen, and input via a touch screen becomes more convenient, and thus, the tendency for increased screen size in smartphones is expected to continue due to these strengths.
However, as the size of smartphone screens has gradually increased, not only portability of smartphones has been reduced, but operability thereof has decreased. That is, a mobile device having a screen of 4 inches or so may be operated by a user holding the mobile device with one hand and using only the thumb of the holding hand. However, as the screen size has increased to near 5 inches or even beyond 5 inches, a mobile device with such a screen cannot be operated using only one hand. Thus, in addition to a more convenient user interface using a large-sized screen, a method of executing any input using one hand needs to be provided according to circumstance.
Of the related art documents shown below, Patent Document 1 is related to a method of controlling a virtual keyboard device displayed on a display unit using a input gesture of a user, and Patent Document 2 is related to a method of expanding or reducing a predetermined portion of a screen displayed by a display unit according to a input gesture of a user.

Mobile device and method of controlling screen thereof


Implementations include providing a database system that a plurality of tenant systems interact with, providing a shared database schema and a plurality of tenant database schemas, the shared database schema including a shared table, and each tenant database schema being assigned to a respective tenant and including a view into the shared table, which includes a tenant specification field, and a row visibility field, the tenant specification field indicating a tenant, to which a respective row is assigned, and the row visibility field indicating visibility of a respective row to respective tenants.

An enterprise can operate a software system that is accessed by a plurality of entities (e.g., customers). For example, the enterprise can provide software services that are accessed by the multiple entities in a multi-tenant configuration. Example software systems can include, without limitation, an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, a customer relationship management (CRM) system, a supply chain management (SCM) system, and a product lifecycle management (PLM) system.
Infrastructures such as cloud computing infrastructures are based on sharing resources. The sharing principle can be beneficial on the software as a service (SaaS) level where, for example, a single application instance (e.g., ERP application, CRM application, SCM application, PLM application) is shared among multiple groups of users. Such sharing enables significant cost reduction and maintenance efforts. This approach of sharing a single application instance is called multi-tenancy. Multi-tenancy can be described as a principle of delivering SaaS, where a group of consumers (e.g., users, servers), defined as one tenant, share a single application instance with other tenants, and each tenant has its own view onto the application (e.g., in both functional and non-functional aspects).
Multi-tenant architectures enable each tenant to access shared data, and tenant-specific data stored in a database system. Shared data is data that is shared with all tenants of the software system. For example, a vendor of the software system can provide shared data that is the same for all tenants. Tenant-specific data, however, is specific to an individual tenant, and should only be accessed by a respective tenant.

Tenant table sharing with content separation


A metallocene catalyst system component for polymerization of olefins includes at least one 2-arylindenyl ligand substituted on the 1-position by a substituted or unsubstituted alkyl, alkylsilyl, or aryl substituent of 1 to 30 carbon atoms.

Crystalline, amorphous, and elastic polypropylenes are known. Crystalline polypropylenes are generally regarded as comprising of predominantly isotactic or syndiotactic structures and amorphous polypropylene is regarded as comprising predominantly of an atactic structure. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,112,300 and 3,112,301 both of Natta, et. al. describe isotactic and prevailingly isotactic polypropylene.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,175,199 to Natta et al. describes an elastomeric polypropylene which can be fractioned out of a polymer mixture containing prevailingly isotactic and atactic polypropylenes. When separated from the polymer mixture, a fraction of this polymer showed elastomeric properties which were attributed to a stereoblock structure comprising alternating blocks of isotactic and atactic stereosequences. U.S. Pat. No. 4,335,225 discloses a fractionable elastomeric polypropylene with a broad molecular weight distribution.
Elastomeric polypropylenes with narrow molecular weight distributions are also known which are produced in the presence of bridged metallocene catalysts. Polymers of this type were described by Chien et. al. in (J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1991, 113, 8569-8570), but their low melting point renders them unsuitable for certain applications. In addition, the activities of these catalyst systems are low
U.S. Pat. No. 5,594,080 discloses an unbridged, fluxional metallocene catalyst system useful for the production of elastomeric polyolefins. These fluxional, unbridged catalysts can interconvert between geometric states on the time scale of the growth of a single polymer chain in order to produce isotactic, atactic stereoblock polyalphaolefins with useful elastomeric properties. Polyolefins produced with these fluxional catalysts systems can have a range of properties, from amorphous gum elastomers to useful thermoplastic elastomers to non-elastomeric thermoplastics.
The commercial utility of a catalyst system is closely tied to the polymerization activity. Processes that lead to an increase in activity of a polymerization system are of considerable practical utility. The activity of a polymerization system can in some cases be influenced by additives to the polymerization system. For example for both classical Ziegler-Natta systems as well as metallocene systems, the addition of hydrogen can result in an increase in propylene polymerization activity, see Pasquet, V., et al., Makromol. Chem. 1993, 194, 451-461 and references cited therein. One of the explanations for the hydrogen effect is the reactivation of the dormant sites resulting from 2,1-propylene misinsertions, see Corradini, P., et al., Makromol. Chem., Rapid Commun. 1992, 13, 15-20; Corradini, P., et al., Makromol. Chem., Rapid Commun. 1992, 13, 21-24; and Busico, V., et al., Makromol. Chem., Rapid Commun. 1993, 14, 97-103. Since hydrogen is also a chain transfer agent, the addition of hydrogen decreases the molecular weight, which limits the practical utility of the hydrogen effect where high molecular weight polymers are desired.
Activation of ethylene polymerization systems by the addition of small amounts of an alpha olefin is also known, see for example Brintzinger, H., et. al. Angew. Chemie, Int. Ed. Engl. 1995, 34, 1143-1170. This so-called "comonomer effect" (see Spitz, R., et al. Makromol. Chem. 1988, 189, 1043-1050) is useful in a process for the synthesis of ethylene polymers, but not for alpha olefin polymers. Hefert, N., et. al. Makromol. Chem. 1993 194, 3167-3182 report no effect of hexene on the rate of propene polymerization with a metallocene catalyst. Several explanations have been forwarded to explain this "comonomer effect" including a "trigger mechanism" (Ystenes, M., Makromol. Chem. "Macromolecular Symposia" 1993, 66, 71-81) and improved rates of diffusion due to the solubilization of active centers by incorporation of comonomer (see Koivumaki. J., et al. Macromolecules 1993, 26, 5535-5538).
Activation of propylene polymerization systems in the presence of 5% ethylene have been previously reported for magnesium chloride supported Ti-based catalysts by Spitz, R., et al. in Makromol. Chem. 1988, 189, 1043-1050 and in Spitz, R., et al. in "Transition Metal Catalyzed Polymerization", Quirk, R. P., Ed., Cambridge Univ. Press 1988, pp. 719-728, and with V-based Ziegler catalysts by Valvassori, A., et al. in Makromol. Chem. 1963, 61, 46-62. While such "synergistic effects" have been observed with classical Ziegler-Natta catalyst systems, Koivumaki et. al. point out that such synergistic effects do not work for homogeneous metallocene systems (see Koivumaki, J., et al. Macromolecules 1993, 26, 5535-5538).
Accordingly, there is a need for processes to improve the activity of metallocene catalysts systems capable of producing elastomeric polypropylenes of high molecular weight with high melting points.

Catalyst systems for high melting thermoplastic elastomeric α-olefin polymers and plastomers

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