Structures and methods are provided for the use with PMOS devices. Materials with large electron affinities or work functions are provided for structures such as gates. A memory cell is provided that utilizes materials with work functions larger than n-type doped polysilicon (4.1 eV) or aluminum metal (4.1 eV) for gates or capacitor plates.

Field-effect transistors (FETS) are typically produced using a standard complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) integrated circuit fabrication process. As is well known in the art, such a process allows a high degree of integration such that a high circuit density can be obtained with the use of relatively few well-established masking and processing steps. A standard CMOS process is typically used to fabricate FETs that each have a gate electrode that is composed of —type conductively doped polycrystalline silicon (polysilicon) material or other conductive materials.
The modern memory cell is composed of one transistor, such as the above described FET, and one capacitor. This modern form of the memory cell is referred to as dynamic random access memory (DRAM). In a DRAM, stored charge on the capacitor represents represent a binary one or zero while the transistor, or FET, acts as the switch interposed between the bit line or digit line and capacitor. The capacitor array plate or common node is typically charged to Vcc/2 (Vcc also written as Vdd), and therefore the charge stored on the capacitor for logic 1 is q=C*Vcc/2 and for a logic zero the stored charge is q=−C*Vcc/2 the charge is negative with respect to Vcc/2 common node voltage. The bit line or digit line connects to a multitude of transistors. The gate of the access transistor is connected to a word or row line. The wordline connects to a multitude of transistors.
In conventional DRAMS using NMOS access transistors, the transmission of a 1 or Vcc in writing a 1 into the capacitor (i.e., charging the capacitor to Vcc, though the total voltage across the capacitor is Vcc/2 as the array plate is kept at Vcc/2) is degraded unless a gate voltage higher than Vcc or Vdd is used. If the gate voltage was just kept at Vdd or Vcc the amount of voltage on the capacitor plate connected to the transistor would only be Vdd−Vtn (where Vtn is the threshold voltage). Using an n-channel access devices requires the gate voltage of the n-channel transistor be raised to Vdd+Vtn where Vtn is the threshold voltage of the NMOS transistor. This will allow the capacitor plate to see a full Vdd, e.g. [(Vdd+Vtn)−Vtn]=Vdd. Similarly for the PMOS access transistors the transmission of a zero or Vss is degraded, and the voltage of the PMOS gate has to be lowered to Vss−Vtp. The preferred voltage applied to the gate of the PMOS device when turned on in this invention is −Vtp, or more negative than Vtp. Applying this voltage to the PMOS transistor turns it on and therefore a 1 or a 0 can be written into the capacitor. If the plate connected to the PMOS is charged to Vcc or Vdd then the capacitor stores a 1, and if the plate connected to the PMOS is charged Vss then the capacitor stores a 0. Normally the array plate of the capacitor is tied to Vcc/2 and the voltage across the capacitor is Vcc/2.
The use of PMOS devices in DRAM memory cells is in itself not new, in fact the original patent (U.S. Pat. No. 3,387,286 "FIELD EFFECT TRANSISTOR MEMORY," R. H. Dennard, 4 Jun. 1968) described both the use of NMOS and PMOS devices. In 1970, the newly formed Intel Company publicly released the 1103, the first DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory) chip (1K bit PMOS dynamic RAM ICs), and by 1972 it was the best selling semiconductor memory chip in the world, defeating magnetic core type memory. The first commercially available computer using the 1103 was the HP 9800 series. These devices however were based on an old technology with gate oxides in the range of 1000 angstroms, 0.1 micron, or 100 nm. PMOS devices were used because of the normally accumulated surface on n-type wafers, techniques had not yet been fully developed to control the surface inversion in the field regions of p-type wafers. With such thick gate insulators and capacitor dielectrics there was and is little consideration and concern about tunneling leakage currents.
With the development of the LOCOS process and field implantations to control surface inversion on p-type wafers the industry changed to NMOS technology and then CMOS technology on p-type wafers. Subsequent developments and scaling of devices to below 0.1 micron, or 100 nm, dimensions have resulted in the use of ultrathin gate oxides and capacitor dielectric insulators, as low as 12 angstroms, or 1.2 nm. Such ultrathin insulators can result in large tunneling currents, in the case of silicon oxide as large as 1.0 A/cm2 (S. M. Sze, "Physics of semiconductor devices," Wiley, N.Y., 1981, pp. 402–407; T. P. Ma et al., "Tunneling leakage current in ultrathin (<4 nm) nitride/oxide stack dielectrics," IEEE Electron Device Letters, vol. 19, no. 10, pp. 388–390, 1998). While such leakage or tunneling currents may not cause faults in microprocessors and logic circuits (R. Chau et al., "30 nm physical gate length CMOS transistors with 1.0 ps n-MOS and 1.7 ps p-MOS gate delays," IEEE Int. Electron, Devices Meeting, San Francisco, pp. 45–48, December 2000) they are intolerable in DRAM devices, capacitors and cells.
FIG. 1A, illustrates a conventional DRAM cell 100. As shown in FIG. 1A, the conventional DRAM cell includes a transistor 101 and a capacitor cell 102. A gate 103 for the transistor 101 is separated from the channel 104 of the transistor 100 by an insulator 106, such as an oxide. The channel region 104 of the transistor separates a source region, or first source/drain region 108 from a drain region, or second source/drain region 110. As shown in FIG. 1A, the drain region 110 is coupled to a first plate or capacitor plate 112 of the capacitor cell 102. A second plate, or array plate 114 of the capacitor cell 102 is coupled to Vdd/2. As stated above, these cells depend upon charge storage on capacitance nodes. FIG. 1A illustrates tunneling currents which are leakage currents that will discharge the cells resulting in shortened retention times and/or lost data and faults. FIG. 1A further illustrates that a cause of leakage currents is tunneling from the source/drain of the transfer device which is connected to the capacitor plate to the gate of the transistor when the transistor is off.
As illustrated in FIG. 1B, if a zero is stored in the capacitor cell 102, then the drain 110 of the transistor will be at zero or ground potential, but the gate 103 of the transistor when turned off will be a potential Vdd. This results in a large positive potential between the source/drain at ground, e.g. drain 110 and the gate 103 at potential +Vdd which can result in tunneling leakage currents. These leakage currents would tend to make the capacitor electrode more positive and can result in data errors.
Also, tunneling leakage currents from the gate 103 to substrate/channel 104 when the transistor 101 is turned on with a large negative gate 103 to source 108 voltage will result in excessive gate currents. While the tunneling current of one gate 103 may be very small, modern DRAM arrays have a large number of capacitor cells 102 and transfer devices 101. Summed over an entire array, this leakage current, which may be up to 1 A/cm2, will result in excessive power supply currents and power dissipation.
Therefore, there is a need in the art to provide improved techniques for controlling tunneling currents in DRAM capacitors, cells and devices. Such improved techniques should take into power supply currents and power dissipation issues.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Technique to control tunneling currents in DRAM capacitors, cells, and devices


A direction-finding and positioning system of electromagnetic emission of coal or rock fracture includes a three-axis electromagnetic sensor array, a signal acquisition module and a direction-finding and positioning terminal; the three-axis electromagnetic sensor array is composed of at least four three-axis electromagnetic sensors configured to synchronously sense magnetic field strength in three-axis direction based on a tunnel magneto resistance technology, and obtain a real magnetic field vector in space by measuring; the signal acquisition module is configured to acquire magnetic field vector variable information of multiple measuring points in real-time, and after extracting magnetic field vector variable parameters, transmitting the magnetic field vector variable parameters to the direction-finding and positioning terminal; the direction-finding and positioning terminal is configured to perform direction-finding and positioning calculations according to the magnetic field vector variable parameters received, and performing a three-dimensional dynamic visual display to positioning results, positioning time, and positioning coordinates.

Coal mining conditions are complex in our country, and coal or rock dynamic disasters are one of the main disasters in coal mines. As mining depth continues to increase, frequency, intensity and damage of coal or rock dynamic disasters are all on the rise, and the number of occurrences and the number of casualties are also on the rise. Electromagnetic emission generated by deformation and fracture of coal is a relatively common physical phenomenon. As a very promising geophysical method, electromagnetic emission method has achieved considerable results in recent years in generation mechanism of electromagnetic emission of coal or rock fracture, signal characteristics, prediction of the application status of coal or rock dynamic disasters, and influencing factors and the other aspects.
At present, coal or rock electromagnetic emission technology mainly realizes the monitoring and early warning of rock-burst disasters by analyzing time series of electromagnetic precursor signals.

Direction-finding and positioning system of electromagnetic emission of coal or rock fracture

UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY BEIJING


A ride control suspension control system having suspension control units with a damper and a single pressure regulator that controls dampening in both the compression and rebound chambers of the damper. The fluid control circuit may include a plurality of check valves that coordinate the flow of fluid to and from both chambers through the pressure regulator. In one embodiment, the system includes a central controller that receives input from a variety of sensors and directly controls operation the pressure regulators in each of the suspension control units without the need for any remote processors. The ride control suspension system may also include wheel position sensors that are external to the accumulator.

The present invention relates to vehicle ride control systems and more particularly to a control system for controlling vehicle ride in real-time.
A variety of vehicle ride control systems have been developed to provide real-time control over vehicle ride. For example, ride control systems have been developed to adjust in real-time the damping forces of a damper, such as a hydraulic shock, during both compression and rebound in response to road irregularities and other vehicle conditions. These adjustments are made as a function of a variety of factors, including a variety of sensed variables that are indicative of acceleration, deceleration, cornering, road impacts and other similar vehicle characteristics. One system designed to generate a constant compression and/or rebound force at a wheel is disclosed in PCT International Publication No. WO 96/05975, which is entitled Computer Optimized Adaptive Suspension System and Method Improvements and was published on Feb. 29, 1996. PCT International Application No. WO 96/05975 is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Since the development of the suspension system disclosed in WO 96/05975, a number of improvements in its control system and control methodology have been developed. A number of these improvements are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,502,837, which is entitled "Enhanced Computer Optimized Adaptive Suspension System And Method" and issued to Hamilton et al on Jan. 7, 2003. U.S. Pat. No. 6,502,837 is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
Although existing vehicle ride control suspension systems can provide marked improvement in handling, comfort and control of a vehicle, experience has revealed that the more effective conventional systems are excessively large and difficult to fit into the space available in existing vehicles. As a result, the commercial acceptance of ride control suspension systems has been somewhat limited. For example, in actual implementation, the ride control system of the references identified above includes a suspension control unit located at each wheel. Each suspension control unit includes a hydraulic damper with separate pressure regulators for the compression and rebound chambers, along with a fluid accumulator. Each suspension control unit also includes a separate computer controller and associated housing that is packaged with the mechanical and hydraulic components. Further, each suspension control unit includes an accumulator having an integrated LVDT that determines wheel position based essentially on the position of the piston within the accumulator. As a result of the expansion and contraction in oil volume that occurs with changes in temperature, the integrated wheel position sensor requires complicated algorithms to provide proper compensation for temperature-based changes in oil volume. In combination, the components of these prior systems are relatively bulky and rather difficult to fit into the packaging constraints of many conventional vehicle designs. Further, at least some of the components of these prior systems operate at a high level of complexity, thereby increasing cost and potentially reducing reliability. The systems are also relatively expensive to manufacture and assemble, thereby further reducing the commercial appeal of ride control suspension systems.
Accordingly, there is a long-felt and unmet need for an effective and reliable vehicle ride control suspension system that satisfies the packaging requirements of conventional vehicle designs and is economical to produce.


In one embodiment, a movement footprint of a user walking along a wall in the environment is determined at least in part based on a communication between a first communication device and a second communication device. The first communication device is carried by the user, and the second communication device is placed in the environment. A representation of the spatial division of the environment is generated based on the determined movement footprint. An estimated size associated with at least one reference object in the environment is determined according to the representation of the spatial division, and a reference size associated with the at least one reference object is obtained. Further, the representation of the spatial division is adjusted based on the estimated size and the reference size.

A wireless access node (AP) based on wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) technology has become an essential household infrastructure. With such a Wi-Fi AP, people may use various electronic devices, such as smart phones, desktop computers, notebook computers, tablet computers, to wirelessly access the Internet at home. However, quality of a radio signal transmitted by the Wi-Fi AP usually cannot meet actual needs of a user due to mismatching of AP placement and a room layout in a user residence. For example, the Wi-Fi AP is usually placed in a living room of the user residence. Accordingly, the radio signal is usually stronger in the living room but weaker in a bedroom away from the living room.
In order to enhance Wi-Fi coverage in the user residence, a conventional approach is that an engineer of a telecommunication operator for providing a Wi-Fi service analyzes the quality of the Wi-Fi signal in each room according to an indoor layout drawing of the user residence. In this case, the telecommunication operator can provide a door-to-door service in which the engineer carries a special instrument (for example, a Wi-Fi signal quality analyzer) and walks around the individual rooms in the user residence.
However, due to security, privacy and other considerations, many users hesitate to call such a door-to-door service, and even some users will refuse the engineer from the telecommunication operator (or a staff from other service providers such as a remote interior decoration service provider) to enter his/her home. If the indoor layout drawing of the user residence can be obtained remotely, human and material costs required by the door-to-door service of the telecommunication operator and other remote service providers may be saved on the one hand, and, on the other hand, user experience may be significantly improved.
In addition, a remote third-party online house rental service (such as an inter-house rental service provided by a third party) is rapidly emerging. If a tenant has questions about an actually living area or room type, he/she may ask the third party to remotely obtain an indoor layout drawing (or a room plan) of the residence, and compare it with the indoor layout drawing (or the room plan) provided by a landlord, so that the third party can perform remote authentication and handle disputes correctly.

Method and device for determining space partitioning of environment


A fire barrier for buildings includes a ceramic fiber based material such as ceramic paper. The ceramic prevents the burning of the building in case of a fire. The ceramic material may be mounted to the building on spools prior to use and rapidly deployed therefrom in the event of a fire near the building.

Currently, fires damage a significant number of buildings each year. In some areas, periodic forest or grass fires are common and these fires destroy many buildings. The close proximity of houses and other buildings often causes fires to spread quickly from building to building. While some building materials such as concrete are not burned by fire, other building materials such as plywood sheathing are readily burned by fire. The readiness with which common building materials such as plywood burn causes the fires to spread quickly from building to building, and can make the fire difficult to contain as there is a large source of fuel for the fire.
It would be desirable to improve the fire protection which is available for buildings and especially for houses and residential structures as these are often affected by periodic fires. It would be desirable to provide a fire protection device which may be quickly deployed to protect a building in case of an impending fire. Protecting a house from a fire not only protects the house from damage, but also removes a source of fuel from the fire and thereby diminishes the strength of the fire. If sufficient numbers of buildings employ such a fire protection device, a fire could be much more easily controlled and extinguished as it would lack fuel.
Existing fire barriers for houses suffer from drawbacks. One such drawback is the inability to withstand high wind. Some existing fire barriers are constructed with coverings such as covered frames that extend over a house to enclose the house. It has been found that, in many cases, these frames and coverings were unable to withstand the high winds that are often associated with a fire. In some cases, these products made the fire more damaging to the building. Other fire protection devices rely on water or other consumable goods to combat a fire, and require a dispensing system to control the application thereof. These may fail where the supply of the consumable goods is exhausted, where the strong winds that associated with the fire prevent the distribution thereof, or where the fire renders the control system or communication lines necessary thereto inoperative.
There is a need for a more effective fire barrier for buildings. There is a need for a fire barrier which protects a building from burning in a fire. There is a need for a fire barrier which is durable and which is not easily damaged by the high winds and other forces encountered during a fire. There is also a need for a fire barrier which is easily adapted to any building and which does not require specialized building construction.

Method and apparatus for protecting buildings from fire


An optical device enabling reducing device scale is constituted by M circulators (11a, 11b), (M being a natural number), a waveguide-type diffraction grating (12) including M first input/output waveguides (121a, 121b) formed at its one end and M×N second input/output waveguides (125a-1 to 125a-N and 125b-1 to 125b-N) formed at the other end, (N being a natural number), and paths from the M circulators being connected to the M first input/output waveguides; and N reflection-type optical switches (13-1 to 13-N) each for reflecting the optical paths for M adjacent waveguides out of the M×N second input/output waveguides (125a-1 to 125a-N and 125b-1 to 125b-N) and for switching over the returning-destination waveguide respectively, wherein the M circulators, the waveguide-type diffraction grating and N reflection-type optical switches are arranged in cascade. Consequently, the optical device can function preferably also as a wavelength selective optical switch available in a WDM transmission system.

(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical device suitably applicable as a wavelength selective optical switch (λ-SW) for switching over optical paths for respective wavelengths as well as optical level adjusting devices (AGEQ: Automatic Gain Equalizer) for equalizing the optical levels associated with respective wavelengths.
(2) Description of the Related Art
In recent years, there have been introduced large-capacity transmission systems in order to cope with rapidly increasing data traffic due to the widespread of the Internet.
Building up of photonic networks including WDM transmission systems interconnected in mesh configuration in the future would enable provision of a plurality of transmission paths. Thereby it would be made possible to effectively utilize the limited transmission capacity by emphatically allotting lines to transmission paths much in demand depending on the time zone. A WDM transmission system can be realized by switching over the transmission paths for respective wavelengths, wherein there would be necessitated wavelength selective optical switches as essential devices.
Further, a long distance WDM transmission system utilizes amplification relays through optical amplifiers, which causes unevenness in the optical levels of respective wavelengths due to the wavelength dependency of the amplifier gain. Optical amplifiers have the property of concentrating the gain to wavelengths with high intensities, thus resulting in increases in the unevenness of optical levels at every passage through the amplifiers. In order to prevent this, it is necessary to uniformize the optical level for wavelength, and optical level adjusting devices capable of adjusting the amount of attenuation for each wavelength are inserted into transmission paths.
FIG. 20 is a schematic view illustrating a first conventional exemplary configuration (refer to Patent Literature 1) of the aforementioned wavelength selective optical switch. In wavelength selective optical switch 910 according to the first conventional exemplary configuration four waveguide-type diffraction gratings (AWG: Arrayed Waveguide Grating) 911 to 914 and an optical switch 919 are combined such that there are configured a 2×2 switch having two input ports and two output ports (an input port 915 and an add port 916 at the input side and an output port 917 and a drop port 918 at the output side)
In the wavelength selective optical switch illustrated in FIG. 20, demultiplexed lights obtained by demultiplexing through two AWGs 911, 912 at the input side are subjected to path through/switching processes by the optical switch 919 and then distributed to either of two multiplexing AWGs 913, 914 at the output side. Namely, the two AWGs 911, 912 are used to demultiplex wavelength-multiplexed light from the two ports 915, 916 at the input side and the other two AWGs 913, 914 out of the four AWGs are used to output the light on paths which are switched over by the optical switch 919 as wavelength-multiplexed light from the two ports 917, 918 at the output side
FIG. 21 is a schematic view illustrating a second conventional exemplary configuration (refer to Patent Literature 2) of the wavelength selective optical switch. In the wavelength selective optical switch 920 illustrated in FIG. 21, input WDM light is directed to a switch 923 through an optical fiber 922 after the wavelength demultiplexing through an AWG 921 and then multiplexed and outputted by the AWG 921 to a port corresponding to an optical fiber 922 which is the switching-destination.
FIG. 22(a) is a schematic view illustrating a conventional exemplary configuration (refer to Patent Literature 3) of the optical level adjusting device. In an optical level adjusting device 930 illustrated in FIG. 22(a), lights wavelength demultiplexed by a first AWG 931 are inputted to a Mach Zehnder interferometer (MZI) 932 illustrated in FIG. 22(b). The intensities of the lights are adjusted by the MZI 932 and then the lights are multiplexed and outputted by a second AWG 933.
However, the aforementioned wavelength selective optical switch illustrated in FIG. 20 employs four AWGs 911 to 914 and on account of many AWGs being used there is a problem of increasing the size of the entire wavelength selective optical switch 910.
Further, the wavelength selective optical switch illustrated in FIG. 21 employs a single AWG. However, there is a need for connecting the substrate forming the AWG 921 and the respective optical switches 922 through optical fibers, wherein the number of the optical fibers should corresponds to the number of ports, with the result that there occurs the problem of increasing the device size.
Further, the optical level adjusting device 930 illustrated in FIG. 22(a) employs two AWGs 931, 932, with the result that there occurs the problem of increasing the size of the entire optical level adjusting device.
The present invention has been made in view of the aforementioned problems and aims at providing optical devices capable of functioning as a wavelength selective optical switch or optical level adjusting device and enabling reduction in the device size (device scale).
Patent Literature 1
The Journal of the Institute of Electronics, Information and Communication Engineers, Vol. 82, No. 7, pp. 746–752, July 1999
Patent Literature 2
Japanese Patent Laid-Open (Kokai) HEI 8-46569
Patent Literature 3
Japanese Patent Laid-Open (Kokai) 2002-250827


A spirit level includes a spirit level body. At least one measurement surface is arranged along the spirit level body, and the spirit level body is formed by a hollow profile member—preferably of rectangular cross-section. The at least one measurement surface extends uninterruptedly along the hollow profile member. At at least one first or second side wall which is preferably formed at a right angle to the measurement surface is at least one opening for insertion of at least one magnet or magnetizable body into the cavity in the spirit level body.

The invention concerns a spirit level and a process for the production of the spirit level according to the invention.
Spirit levels are already part of the state of the art and are disclosed for example in U.S. Pat. No. 7,552,540 B2. That spirit level however is not a spirit level having a spirit level body formed by a hollow profile member. By virtue of the open structure such a spirit level body tends more easily to suffer from impurities and is often of a lower degree of stability than a hollow body. The spirit level disclosed in the state of the art admittedly also has magnets arranged on the rear side of the measurement surface, but they are disposed at or on the outside of a profile member, which makes the fixing thereof definitely more complex and also involves problems in regard to stability and durability of the fixing of the magnets.
EP 0 852 697 B1 discloses a hollow profile member which includes the magnets at the inside thereof. They are inserted through the opening cross-section in the longitudinal direction of the hollow profile member, which makes assembly and fixing of the magnets in the interior of the hollow profile member difficult.
Spirit levels are also known in which a magnet is secured to the spirit level body through the measurement surface. In that case the measurement surface is disrupted by a recess or opening in which the magnet is disposed. Impurities can accumulate in such openings or recesses, and in the worst-case scenario that can result in a discrepancy in measurement.
In addition the measurement surface which is interrupted by the magnets can result in damage to the object being measured and measurement inaccuracies if the magnet installation for example projects from the measurement surface or impurities and contamination can accumulate therein.
A general problem in the case of magnetic spirit levels moreover is that the aim is to ensure good adhesion to the object being measured and thus the magnets should be disposed as close as possible to that object. An increase in distance between the magnet and the object being measured reduces the holding force. The greatest problem is thus that there is a technical conflict between a closed or uninterrupted measurement surface and adequate adhesion to the object being measured.
The object of the invention is to avoid the above-described disadvantages and to provide a spirit level which is improved over the state of the art, and a process for the production of a spirit level.


An electrical connector having an active cooling system is described herein. The electrical connector can include a conductor having an electrically conductive pin, and a conductor receiver slidably coupled to the conductor. The conductor receiver can include a wall having an electrically conductive material forming a cavity into which the pin is received. The conductor receiver can also include an insulating sleeve mechanically coupled to the wall. The conductor receiver can further include a heat sink mechanically coupled to the insulating sleeve and a channel that collects heat absorbed by the heat sink. The heat collected by the channel can be vented outside the conductor receiver. Alternatively, the wall of the conductor receiver can be coupled to an insulator and have at least one aperture that vents heat from the cavity to the insulator.

Electrical connectors are used in a number of different electrical applications. For example, electrical connectors are used in households, commercial facilities, and industrial sites. Electrical connectors can be used for a number of different applications, including but not limited to lighting, electronics, appliances, motors, fans, and control centers. Each electrical connector is rated for a certain voltage and/or current. As the current and/or voltage rating of a connector increases, the size of the conductors increase. Correspondingly, the size (e.g., length, width) of the pins (also called and/or electrically and mechanically coupled to conductors) and receivers (also called pin receivers or conductor receivers) of the mating connector components also increases.
When a conductor is not properly connected to a conductor receiver and/or when an electrical connector is used to conduct higher power levels, one or more of a number of electrically-related problems can arise. For example, when voltage is applied to a conductor that is not properly connected to a conductor receiver, overheating (even to the extent of a fire) can result. Also, to compensate for the temperature rise, conductors and a corresponding electrical connector can be sized larger than actually needed so that the proper amount of voltage and/or current, net of losses from an inadequate connection between the conductor and conductor receiver, is delivered. In addition, if the components of the electrical connector are mechanically coupled and decoupled on a relatively frequent basis, the parts (e.g., conductor, conductor receiver) may wear more quickly because of the inadequate connection between the conductor and the conductor receiver, causing subsequent connections to generate more heat from energy that is not conducted because of the inadequate connection.


Compounds, compositions and methods are provided for inhibiting the expression of human STAT3. The compositions comprise antisense oligonucleotides targeted to nucleic acids encoding STAT3. Methods of using these oligonucleotides for inhibition of STAT3 expression and for promotion of apoptosis are provided. Methods for treatment of diseases, particularly inflammatory diseases and cancers, associated with overexpression or constitutive activation of STAT3 or insufficient apoptosis are also provided.

The STAT (signal transducers and activators of transcription) family of proteins are DNA-binding proteins that play a dual role in signal transduction and activation of transcription. Presently, there are six distinct members of the STAT family (STAT1, STAT2, STAT3, STAT4, STAT5, and STAT6) and several isoforms (STAT1, STAT1, STAT3 and STAT3). The activities of the STATs are modulated by various cytokines and mitogenic stimuli. Binding of a cytokine to its receptor results in the activation of Janus protein tyrosine kinases (JAKs) associated with these receptors. This in turn, phosphorylates STAT, resulting in translocation to the nucleus and transcriptional activation of STAT responsive genes. Phosphorylation on a specific tyrosine residue on the STATs results in their activation, resulting in the formation of homodimers and/or heterodimers of STAT which bind to specific gene promoter sequences. Events mediated by cytokines through STAT activation include cell proliferation and differentiation and prevention of apoptosis.
The specificity of STAT activation is due to specific cytokines, i.e. each STAT is responsive to a small number of specific cytokines. Other non-cytokine signaling molecules, such as growth factors, have also been found to activate STATs. Binding of these factors to a cell surface receptor associated with protein tyrosine kinase also results in phosphorylation of STAT.
STAT3 (also acute phase response factor (APRF)), in particular, has been found to be responsive to interleukin-6 (IL-6) as well as epidermal growth factor (EGF) (Darnell, Jr., J. E., et al., Science, 1994, 264, 1415–1421). In addition, STAT3 has been found to have an important role in signal transduction by interferons (Yang, C.-H., et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 1998, 95, 5568–5572). Evidence exists suggesting that STAT3 may be regulated by the MAPK pathway. ERK2 induces serine phosphorylation and also associates with STAT3 (Jain, N., et al., Oncogene, 1998, 17, 3157–3167).
STAT3 is expressed in most cell types (Zhong, Z., et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 1994, 91, 4806–4810). It induces the expression of genes involved in response to tissue injury and inflammation. STAT3 has also been shown to prevent apoptosis through the expression of bcl-2 (Fukada, T., et al., Immunity, 1996, 5, 449–460).
Aberrant expression of or constitutive expression of STAT3 is associated with a number of disease processes. STAT3 has been shown to be involved in cell transformation.
It is constitutively activated in v-src-transformed cells (Yu, C.-L., et al., Science, 1995, 269, 81–83). Constitutively active STAT3 also induces STAT3 mediated gene expression and is required for cell transformation by src (Turkson, J., et al., Mol. Cell. Biol., 1998, 18, 2545–2552). STAT3 is also constitutively active in Human T cell lymphotropic virus I (HTLV-I) transformed cells (Migone, T.-S. et al., Science, 1995, 269, 79–83).
Constitutive activation and/or overexpression of STAT3 appears to be involved in several forms of cancer, including myeloma, breast carcinomas, prostate cancer, brain tumors, head and neck carcinomas, melanoma, leukemias and lymphomas, particularly chronic myelogenous leukemia and multiple myeloma. Niu et al., Cancer Res., 1999, 59, 5059–5063. Breast cancer cell lines that overexpress EGFR constitutively express phosphorylated STAT3 (Sartor, C. I., et al., Cancer Res., 1997, 57, 978–987; Garcia, R., et al., Cell Growth and Differentiation, 1997, 8, 1267–1276). Activated STAT3 levels were also found to be elevated in low grade glioblastomas and medulloblastomas (Cattaneo, E., et al., Anticancer Res., 1998, 18, 2381–2387).
Cells derived from both rat and human prostate cancers have been shown to have constitutively activated STAT3, with STAT3 activation being correlated with malignant potential. Expression of a dominant-negative STAT3 was found to significantly inhibit the growth of human prostate cells. Ni et al., Cancer Res., 2000, 60, 1225–1228.
STAT3 has also been found to be constitutively activated in some acute leukemias (Gouilleux-Gruart, V., et al., Leuk. Lymphoma, 1997, 28, 83–88) and T cell lymphoma (Yu, C.-L., et al., J. Immunol., 1997, 159, 5206–5210). Interestingly, STAT3 has been found to be constitutively phosphorylated on a serine residue in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (Frank, D. A., et al., J. Clin. Invest., 1997, 100, 3140–3148). In addition, antisense oligonucleotides to STAT3 have been shown to promote apoptosis in non small cell lung cancer cells (Song et al., Oncogene 22:4150, 2003) and prostate cancer cells (Mora et al., Cancer Res. 62: 6659, 2002).
STAT3 has been found to be constitutively active in myeloma tumor cells, both in culture and in bone marrow mononuclear cells from patients with multiple myeloma. These cells are resistant to Fas-mediated apoptosis and express high levels of Bcl-xL. STAT3 signaling was shown to be essential for survival of myeloma tumor cells by conferring resistance to apoptosis. Thus STAT3 is a potential target for therapeutic intervention in multiple myeloma and other cancers with activated STAT3 signaling. There is a distinct medical need for novel therapies for chemoresistant myeloma. Velcade was approved in May 2003 with an 188 evaluable patient pivotal trial based on tumor shrinkage, not survival. 28% showed a partial tresponse. The data is currently under FDA review.
Catlett-Falcone, R., et al., Immunity, 1999, 10, 105–115. A gene therapy approach in a syngeneic mouse tumor model system has been used to inhibit activated STAT3 in vivo using a dominant-negative STAT3 variant. This inhibition of activated STAT3 signaling was found to suppress B16 melanoma tumor growth and induce apoptosis of B16 tumor cells in vivo. Interestingly, the number of apoptotic cells (95%) exceeded the number of transfected cells, indicating a possible antitumor "bystander effect" in which an inflammatory response (tumor infiltration by acute and chronic inflammatory cells) may participate in killing of residual tumor cells. Niu et al., Cancer Res., 1999, 59, 5059–5063. Constitutively activated STAT3 is also associated with chronic myelogenous leukemia.
STAT3 may also play a role in inflammatory diseases including rheumatoid arthritis. Activated STAT3 has been found in the synovial fluid of rheumatoid arthritis patients (Sengupta, T. K., et al., J. Exp. Med., 1995, 181, 1015–1025) and cells from inflamed joints (Wang, F., et al., J. Exp. Med., 1995, 182, 1825–1831).
Multiple forms of STAT3 exist, generated by alternative splicing. STAT3 is a short form of STAT3 (also, STAT3) that differs predominately by the absence of 55 amino acid residues at the C-terminus. This domain contains the transactivation domain, and thus, STAT3 may act as a negative regulator of STAT3 function (Caldenhoven, E., et al., J. Biol. Chem., 1996, 271, 13221–13227). STAT3 has been found to be more stable and have greater DNA-binding activity than STAT3, while STAT3 is more transcriptionally active.
There are currently several approaches for inhibiting STAT3 expression. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,719,042 and 5,844,082 to Akira, S. and Kishimoto, T. disclose the use of inhibitors of APRF, including antibodies, antisense nucleic acids and ribozymes for the treatment of IL-6 associated diseases, such as inflammatory diseases, leukemia, and cancer. Schreiber, R. D., et al., in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,731,155; 5,582,999; and 5,463,023, disclose methods of inhibiting transcriptional activation using short peptides that bind p91. Darnell, J. E., et al., in U.S. Pat. No. 5,716,622, disclose peptides containing the DNA binding domain of STATs, chimeric proteins containing the DNA binding domain, and antibodies to STATs for inhibiting STAT transcriptional activation.
The use of an antisense oligonucleotide targeted to the translation start region of human STAT3 has been disclosed (Grandis, J. R., et al., J. Clin. Invest., 1998, 102, 1385–1392). In this report, a phosphorothioate oligodeoxynucleotide complementary to the translation start region of STAT3 inhibited TGF-β stimulated cell growth mediated by the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR).
There remains an unmet need for therapeutic compositions and methods targeting expression of STAT3, and disease processes associated therewith.

Antisense oligonucleotide modulation of STAT3 expression


An air induction system wherein the outlet air assembly includes a sleeve-lined convolute duct. A sleeve liner is disposed within a convolute duct which spans the convolutes, wherein an attached end of the sleeve liner is attached to a non-convolute portion of the convolute duct, wherein a free end is freely slidable in the convolute duct, and wherein the free end of the sleeve liner and the attached end of the sleeve liner each serve as a sealing cuff whereby air flow is laminar therethrough irrespective of the convolutes.

The air induction system (AIS) of an internal combustion engine of a motor vehicle, see generally 10 in FIG. 1, is a complex and finely-tuned system, balancing requirements and constraints that are often in tension with one another.
Conventionally, an air cleaner with a mass air flow sensor package 10a is connected to the engine intake manifold (not shown) by an air cleaner outlet duct assembly 12 which includes a convolute duct 14. Convolute air ducts of various lengths and sizes are used to transfer clean, filtered and metered air from an air filter to the engine air intake manifold. Oftentimes, these convolute ducts are of a complicated serpentine configuration due to limited space within the motor vehicle engine compartment.
The outlet duct assembly must fulfill the following main functions: provide a smooth airflow with minimum flow restriction (pressure loss); absorb engine motions under engine torque roll in all operating conditions; isolate engine vibrations from transmitting to the body structure; resist collapse under vacuum; maintain sealing at all system connections; and provide duct flexibility to ease efforts of the air filter service.
It is a challenge to keep a proper balance as between all of these needs because many of the requirements are conflicting. For example, to accommodate engine movement, the outlet duct assembly 12 must have flexibility, the flexibility being provided by convolutes 16 in the sidewall 18 of an air duct to thereby provide a convolute duct 14 having a convolute portion 14a and non-convolute portions 14b on either side thereof.
Convolute ducts are generally formed using an injection or blow molding process. The convolute duct is normally made from soft materials, such as a thermoplastic elastomer (TPE), or rubber. The flexibility depends on the parameters of convolute duct like material hardness, wall thickness, radius, and length. The convolutes 16 of the convolute duct 14 are characterized by a plurality of raised circumferential ridges 20 (see FIG. 1B) which allow compression, extension, deflection and distortion of the convolute duct sidewall 18. Thereby, a convolute duct performs as a decoupling agency for assembly, engine movements, shock absorption and noise, vibration and harshness (NVH) control.
Though convolute ducts 14 are effective in absorbing engine motions and isolating vibrations, a problem with convolute ducts is that the internal circumferential ridges 20 of the convolutes 16 have large surface roughness, and each provide a cavity 22 adversely affecting local air flow. The surface of the ridges 20 and the cavities 22 create flow resistance and turbulent counterflow air CF which opposes the air flow F, thus increasing pressure loss through the convolute duct 14. This frictional resistance is known in the art as the "friction pressure loss". In particular, highly convolute ducts with compound angles can further restrict air flow, due to large flow turbulence.
The amount of friction pressure loss across a convolute duct is based in part upon the fluid characteristics, such as the fluid's density, the fluid's viscosity and the fluid's flowing rate. However, most importantly, the surface roughness of the convolute duct sidewall has the biggest effect on the friction pressure loss.
Since the convolutes have internal circumferential ridges, with large surface roughness, when airflow passes through the convolute duct, airflow is strongly affected by this surface roughness. Surface roughness is a defining feature of many of the high Reynolds-number fluid flows known in fluid dynamics engineering. In fact, the higher the Reynolds number (Re), the more likely the effects of roughness will be significant. The friction factor of a rough wall can be calculated by the formula:
                              1                      f                          1              /              2                                      ≈                              -            1.8                                                                                log            [                                          6.9                Re                            +                                                (                                                            ɛ                      d                                        3.7                                    )                                1.11                                      ]                                              (        1        )            where f is the friction factor of the rough wall, Re represents the Reynolds number, ε represents the wall roughness height (e.g., convolute height in this case), and d represents the duct diameter. Equation 1 shows that the higher convolutes height ε, the larger is the wall roughness friction.
For the flow in a circular duct, the head pressure loss can be expressed as:
                              h          f                =                  f                                L            d                                                        V              2                                      2                            g                                                          (        2        )            where L is the duct length and V is the average velocity of airflow in the duct.
The pressure loss for a horizontal duct is:Δp=ρghf  (3)
Combining Equations 2 and 3, the pressure loss due to the wall-roughness friction can be derived:
                              Δ                                                              p                =                  f                                              ρ                                                                                LV                2                                                    2                            d                                                          (        4        )
From Equation 4, it is indicated that the pressure loss is directly proportional to the wall-roughness friction factor f. Therefore, in order to reduce the pressure drop, it is critical to minimize the wall-roughness friction factor. From Equation 1, reducing convolute height would decrease the wall friction, but this would conflict with the duct flexibility requirement. In order to absorb engine roll motions and decouple engine vibrations from vehicle body structure, the convolute duct must have sufficient flexibility with a minimal 12 mm convolute height. This size of convolute height will result in large friction factor according to Equation 1. For example, for a 150 mm long convolute duct with an 80 mm diameter and a 12 mm convolute height, the friction factor is 0.089 at 200 g/s flow rate. The wall roughness friction can result in 0.1 KPa friction pressure loss, based on the calculations per Equations 1, 2, 3 and 4.
It is well known that the more air flow that can be delivered to the engine, the engine will be able to generate more power. The pressure loss across the convolutes of a convolute duct means less air is pushed into engine. Consequently, engine power output is reduced as a result of pressure loss caused by a convolute duct.
An alternative to reducing pressure loss in a convolute duct is to decrease the convolute quantity and shorten the convolute duct. Although less convolutes will be able to reduce the air friction resistance, it still has inherent problems. First, less convolutes will lessen the ability of the duct to absorb engine vibrations. Engine vibrations can be easily transmitted to the body structure. Consequently, the excessive vibrations from the engine could cause discomfort to drivers and passengers. Secondly, each convolute has to take more engine positional displacements due to less convolutes. As a result, the durability of a short convoluted duct is always a significant concern. Finally, a short convolute duct needs more assembly effort in the vehicle assembly plant. Commonly, this type of duct can cause human ergonomic issues, thus increasing the assembly cost and time.
Another approach is to design the convolute duct with a large inner diameter. Although lowering the pressure loss within the convolute duct, the large diameter convolute duct has several limitations. As a general rule, a convolute duct must keep a 25 mm clearance to other components within an engine compartment, known in the art as "dynamic clearance" which ensures there is no hard contact between the convolute duct and surrounding components under engine torque roll conditions. Therefore, the size and routing of the convolute duct are restrained in the tight engine compartment of today's motor vehicles. Furthermore, the engine throttle body and mass air flow sensor have relatively small diameters due to their standard design dimensions. If the convolute duct diameter is too large relative these components, the air flow can experience sudden expansion at the exit of the mass air flow sensor and a sudden contraction at the entry of the engine throttle body. This sudden expansion and contraction of the air flow can cause significant pressure loss.
Accordingly, what remains needed in the art is an air induction system for an internal combustion engine of a motor vehicle in which the outlet air assembly includes a convolute duct which avoids its inherent frictional pressure losses.

Flexible sleeve liner for a convolute duct


A bush component force detection device detects a component force acting on a cylindrical bush which is inserted into a hole provided in a frame of a vehicle to pivotally support a rod-like member inside thereof. The device includes: a cylindrical inner ring provided between a bush and a hole and mounted on an outer circumferential surface of the bush; a cylindrical outer ring disposed outwardly of the inner ring with a predetermined space from the inner ring and mounted on an inner circumferential surface of the hole; and a sensing unit that is a cylindrical member disposed in the space between the inner ring and the outer ring substantially concentrically to the rod-like member, the sensing unit having one end connected with the inner ring, the other end connected with the outer ring, and strain gauges disposed on an outer circumferential surface of the sensing unit.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a bush component force detection device that detects a component force acting on a bush which is provided in a connecting portion of a structural member of a vehicle.
2. Related Art
The suspension of a vehicle has an effect on riding comfort and driving stability of the vehicle, and so component forces of the suspension are measured and the riding comfort and driving stability of the vehicle are evaluated based on a result of the measurement, and the elasticity of the suspension is also adjusted. Therefore, the riding comfort and driving stability of a vehicle can be improved by accurately measuring dynamic change in each component force in portions of the suspension.
Various methods have been proposed to detect changes in component forces such as yaw, pitch, and roll which act on the portions of the suspension mechanism. For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2011-85514 discloses a load measurement sensor which includes a plurality of strain gauges and is tightly fixed to a rod-like body such as a damper in the suspension mechanism of a vehicle.
Here, shafts, which serve as connecting portions between the frame of the vehicle and an arm member, are base points for allowing the arm member to be moved, and thus for the design and adjustment of the suspension mechanism, it is necessary to detect component forces in the connecting portions between the frame and the arm member with high accuracy.
However, even if a sensor is mounted on a damper, an arm member or the like as described above for measuring the behavior of each of the portions of the suspension, the behavior of each shaft (movable connecting portion of each member) may not be measured accurately. That is, in order to measure the behavior of each shaft of the suspension, calculation is performed based on a result of measurement made by a sensor which is mounted on an arm or a damper connected to the shaft to be measured, and thus the calculation gives only a predicted value. Particularly, when an elastic body such as rubber is used for a bush which serves as a bearing of the suspension, it is necessary to take spring characteristics and holes into consideration, and thus such a predicted value may be much different from an actual component force.


A method and apparatus to allow program steps in an issue queue to be sent to the execution queue in a non program order provides reduced stall by allowing out of program order steps to be executed as needed resources become available. The method uses a modulus operation to preassign locations in the execution queues, and keep the entries in proper program order. The method employs an additional bit to represent the modules result (value) and may also utilize a load store number mapping memory to increase execution speed. With such an arrangement a computer system may decrease the lost performance due to waiting for required resource (i.e., memory or bus) availability for the current instruction, by issuing instructions for which the memory or bus resource is available even though the instruction is not the next one in the original program order. Thus the present invention allows memory reference instructions to issue as resources are available.

It is well known that computer operating speed benefits from providing queues that hold software instructions in the correct order as issued from the main processor, rather than completing a single issued operation instruction and then returning to the main processor to obtain the next instruction. One benefit of using queues to store the instructions temporarily while waiting for an opportunity to execute the instruction is that the main processor may issue a group of instructions to the queue, and continue operating on other portions of the overall program without having to wait for the results of the instructions to arrive. Another benefit of using queues is that the main processor may have separate queues for different types of functions and thus send out parallel series of instructions that result in increased overall system speed. Typical types of queues may include memory load queues, store to memory queues, and arithmetic operation queues.
Typically, most processors issue instructions in the same order that they are specified in the software program. This is because the order of operations is very important in a software program, and issuing instructions out of the proper order may likely result in an incorrect result. Therefore typically, the instruction queue receives the instructions in the same order as issued by the main processor, and presents them for execution in that same order. An example of the operation of a queue might be a first in first out (i.e., FIFO) system where the instruction is sent to the first available queue location in a series of queue locations. As soon as the prior queue location becomes available, the instruction is moved up, and so on until the instruction reaches the first queue memory location and is executed as soon as the needed resource is available. Note that not all queues operate in the same fashion as this illustrative example, but some method of maintaining the order of instruction issuance is needed.
The queues discussed above are a form of memory, and like any memory resource, they have a finite size or storage capacity. Making a queue larger results in greater ability to buffer the issuance of instructions from the main processor, and therefore increases the overall system operating speed in many circumstances, but at the expense of increased system cost and size. However, the main processor must know when the queue is full, i.e., when the execution of the instructions is not keeping pace with the main processor's ability to issue new instructions, or else there will be issued instructions that overflow the queue's memory capacity and become lost. A lost instruction is likely to result in an erroneous program output and consequent system failure.
Since historically the processors issued instructions in the same order as the instructions occur in the program, and the order of instructions is the same in the queues, then knowing when a queue has reached its maximum capacity, i.e., the queue is full, is important. Since the operation of a queue necessarily requires that it be known whether or not a particular memory location has a current instruction resident, then detecting whether or not the queue is full is straight forward in the case of sequentially ordered and issued instructions since all previous queue memory locations will be occupied. For example, in the illustrative FIFO case, the main processor will know to stop issuing instructions to a queue that has the last queue location filled. Note again that other queue types operate differently from the illustrative example, but in all types of queues the main processor may determine whether or not a particular queue is full.
It would improve the overall computing system speed of operation if the instructions in a queue could be executed out of the sequential order in which they were issued, since the resource (for example a particular memory location) needed for the next instruction in the normal execution order may not be available, while the resource needed for an instruction that is five memory locations behind the next instruction may be available right now. It improves the efficiency of the system to use available resources and not wait for the currently needed resource to become available. However, this requires that certain types of instructions be allowed to be executed out of the issuance order, and creates a problem with the main processor not being able to easily determine when a particular queue is full. This is because when a particular instruction, for example a memory reference instruction, issues, not all of the other memory reference instructions prior to it in the program order need necessarily have already been issued.
It would be a benefit to the overall computer system speed of operation to provide a method and an apparatus to allow random insertion of instructions into a queue while still allowing the main processor to know when the instruction queue is full.

Method and apparatus for determining availability of a queue to which a program step is issued out of program order

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


A power transmission apparatus is provided with a housing, which rotates together with an input shaft, a differential mechanism, and a main clutch. The main clutch links the input shaft and the first output shaft. The differential mechanism distributes drive force that is inputted from the input shaft via the housing into a first output shaft and a second output shaft. The differential mechanism is provided with a ring gear that is provided within the housing, a sun gear that is provided within the ring gear, and a planetary gear. The planetary gear is engaged with the ring gear and the sun gear and supported in such a manner as to be orbital and rotational. The first output shaft is linked to the ring gear. The main clutch is formed of a plurality of outer clutch plates and inner clutch plates, which are provided on the inner circumferential surface of the housing and on the outer circumferential surface of the ring gear.

The present invention relates to a power transmission apparatus.
Conventional power transmission apparatuses have been known, which transmit drive force inputted from a driving source to two output shafts using a differential mechanism and distribute the drive force into the two output shafts by linking the input shaft to one of the output shafts using a clutch mechanism.
The power transmission apparatus described in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 9-144845, for example, is provided with a differential case which is rotated by drive force from a driving source and a differential mechanism that is contained within the differential case. The differential mechanism is provided with a sun gear, an internal gear and a pinion gear. The sun gear and the internal gear are contained within the differential case so as to be freely rotatable. The pinion gear is contained in a accommodation hole within the differential gear so as to be freely rotatable in an engaged state with the sun gear and the internal gear. In the apparatus described in this document, the pinion gear is contained in the accommodation hole within the differential case so as to be freely rotatable, and therefore, a carrier for supporting the pinion gear can be omitted, so that a space can accordingly be created in a location adjacent to the pinion gear. A clutch mechanism for linking the sun gear and the internal gear is provided in this space, and thus, reduction in the number of parts, miniaturization and reduction in weight can be achieved.
However, the space that is created by omitting the carrier, that is to say, the space between the sun gear and the internal gear, is extremely small. In this case, the volume of the clutch that is placed in the space between the sun gear and the internal gear is limited, and therefore, it is difficult to transmit greater torque to this clutch. Therefore, in the case of the conventional apparatus, it is necessary to increase the space between the sun gear and the internal gear in the axial direction, so that the space can accommodate a clutch having a large capacity for transmitting greater torque. Thus, the apparatus inevitably becomes long in the axial direction, which causes a problem such that the length in the axial direction and the weight of the transfer (or differential) for containing this apparatus increase.


In an auto image stabilization system, a driving member formed as a wire of shape memory alloy (SMA) is retained by a projection of an image capturing unit. A distance Lb from the rotation center of an elastic deforming part to center of gravity (point of application) of the image capturing unit is longer than a distance La from the rotation center of the elastic deforming part to the projection (power point). In the configuration, equivalent mass (apparent mass) of the image capturing unit becomes (Lb/La) times, and it causes deterioration in response. Consequently, the driving member having an ellipse-shaped section in which a value obtained by dividing the width in the longer direction of the section by the width in the shorter direction is 1.3 or larger is employed. As a result, heat dissipation of the driving member increases, so that response in the SMA actuator can be properly improved.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a driving apparatus for driving a movable part by using an actuator connected to the movable part.
2. Description of the Background Art
A shape memory alloy (hereinbelow, also called "SMA") has a property such that even if it is plastic-deformed by an external force at a temperature equal to or less than martensite transformation start temperature, when heated to a temperature equal to or higher than reverse transformation end temperature, the SMA regains its memorized original shape. A driving apparatus using, as an actuator, an SMA having such a property is known.
In the case of making auto image stabilization by an actuator using the SMA (hereinbelow, also called "SMA actuator"), the driving performance of cancelling out a hand shake of about at least 10 Hz is demanded.
A technique for improving the driving performance of an SMA actuator having low response is proposed in, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 2003-125590. According to the technique, by improving a phase lag by performing two or more derivative control actions in a servo control system, the response of the SMA actuator is increased.
However, in the technique of Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 2003-125590, two or more derivative control actions are performed. Consequently, noise included in a measurement signal of position or the like is also amplified, and a special filter or the like is necessary as a countermeasure. Since tuning of the derivative control is difficult, there is also a problem such that a correction according to a change in environment temperature and the like is necessary. In the case of improving the response of the SMA actuator only by improving the control system (software), various problems occur as side effects. As a result, the response cannot be properly improved.


Load curtailment systems and methods track energy consumption information about a site over time. The energy consumption information is used to track power levels and to determine whether an energy surplus or an energy deficit accrues for the site based a predetermined setpoint. A load management system is used to offset the deficit or surplus by charging or discharging energy storage in a manner preventing average power draw within at least a subdivision of a utility billing period from exceeding the setpoint, thereby managing demand charges billed by a utility based on power draw of the site.

Electrical energy and power generation and distribution has been a mainstay for residential and commercial energy needs all over the world and for many years. Various forms of electrical energy generation have been devised, including coal fired power plants, nuclear power plants, hydroelectric plants, wind harness plants, and others. All of these forms of electrical energy generation are well known to those of skill in the art of power generation and details of their operation need not be set forth herein.
As power generation has advanced, power usage has increased. Due to advances in technology and cultural factors, the demand for electrical energy steadily rises. Energy production facilities and distributors such as electrical utility providers therefore meet the rising demand for electricity with greater production capabilities. However, utility providers do not need to provide the same magnitude of electrical power to consumers at all times. Consumer needs greatly fluctuate based on the time of day, time of year, and other related factors. Therefore, utility providers have implemented programs wherein they charge more per watt of energy consumed during predetermined periods of time when overall consumer demand is expected to be higher than usual. These programs are referred to herein as "time-of-use" energy billing programs. These programs help the providers offset their costs of operating peaking power plants that are primarily brought online during those high-demand periods of time, and are not typically directly associated with the activity of any single consumer.
Utility providers have also implemented programs to charge consumers for consuming energy at high power levels. Under these programs, the consumer is billed a "demand charge" that is based on and directly related to the highest magnitude of power drawn from the grid at some point during a billing period. Therefore, these programs are referred to herein as "demand charge" energy billing programs. The magnitude of the power level used to determine the demand charge may be determined in a number of ways, and the most common methods of calculation are based on measuring the instantaneous power draw of the site at any point in time over the billing period (or within a subdivision of the billing period) or an average power draw of the site over a period of time within the billing period. For example, under the average power draw scheme, the utility provider measures the average consumption of the consumer's site over a plurality of time periods (e.g., consecutive 15-minute spans of time) within the billing period (e.g., one month), and the highest average power during one of those time periods is the basis for the demand charge for that billing period. Consumers are constantly in need of ways to limit utility costs and to improve the efficiency of their consumption of utility power.

Energy-based curtailment systems and methods


A system and method are provided to monitor, store and communicate data on parameters of a consumable product stored in a sealed container. In one embodiment, the method includes hermetically sealing the product in the container, and packaging the container for sale to a consumer. Packaging includes attaching a system to the container to monitor and store in the memory data on parameters of the consumable product. Attaching the system includes affixing a flexible substrate including a laser-detector pair directly to an outer surface of the container. The laser-detector pair is configured to pass laser light through the container to reflect from a reflector affixed to the outer surface of the container opposite the laser-detector pair to non-invasively sense parameters of the consumable product. The method further includes providing an interrogator to the consumer to communicate with the system to access the data.

Consumable products stored or transported within sealed containers are subject to degradation in quality over time arising both from chemical reactions occurring in the product or container, and environmental conditions, such as heat, cold, light, leakage, moisture or pressure, to which the container is exposed. For example, when white wine or red wine is exposed to air, the color of the wine changes. In aged wines, both white and red, this is natural and to be expected. But if wine is young (1 or 2 years old), it can be a sign that the wine has been exposed to too much air. This can either mean the bottle has been open for a few days or it may have happened in the winery or during the bottling with a poorly air sealed/defective bottle cork, or poorly sealed/defective wine tank.
Additionally, it is frequently desirable for a purchaser or consumer of the consumable product to be able to quickly and reliably identify or authenticate and track a manufacturer, manufacture date and manufacturing batch of the consumable product.
Thus, there is a need for a system and method to help monitor, store and communicate data on condition or parameters of a consumable product stored in a sealed container.

System and method to monitor and report condition of a consumable product


This invention relates to a reaction product obtained by contacting a polymer comprising units derived from dicyclopentadiene with a vinyl terminated macromonomer, a vinyl monomer or a vinylene monomer, in the presence of a metathesis catalyst, where the vinyl monomer or vinylene monomer is represented by the formula:

Metathesis is generally thought of as the interchange of radicals between two compounds during a chemical reaction. There are several varieties of metathesis reactions, such as ring opening metathesis, acyclic diene metathesis, ring closing metathesis, and cross metathesis. These reactions, however, have had limited success with the metathesis of functionalized olefins.
Methods for the production of polyolefins with end-functionalized groups are typically multi-step processes that often create unwanted by-products and waste of reactants and energy.
R. T. Mathers and G. W. Coates Chem. Commun., 2004, pp. 422-423 disclose examples of using cross-metathesis to functionalize polyolefins containing pendant vinyl groups to form polar-functionalized products with a graft-type structure.
D. Astruc et al. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2008, 130, pp. 1495-1506, and D. Astruc et al. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2005, 44, pp. 7399-7404 disclose examples of using cross metathesis to functionalize non-polymeric molecules containing vinyl groups.
For reviews of methods to form end-functionalized polyolefins, see: (a) S. B. Amin and T. J. Marks, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2008, 47, pp. 2006-2025; (b) T. C. Chung Prog. Polym. Sci., 2002, 27, pp. 39-85; and (c) R. G. Lopez, F. D'Agosto, C. Boisson Prog. Polym. Sci., 2007, 32, pp. 419-454.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,399,725 discloses certain vinyl terminated oligomers and polymers that are functionalized, optionally, for use in lubricant applications.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,372,930 discloses certain vinyl terminated oligomers and polymers that are functionalized in U.S. Pat. No. 8,399,725.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,283,419 discloses end functionalized polyolefins prepared from vinyl terminated polyolefins by cross metathesis.
Additional references of interest include U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,988,764; 6,225,432; 6,111,027; 7,183,359; 6,100,224; 5,616,153; PCT Publication Nos. WO 03/025084; WO 03/025038; WO 03/025037; WO 03/025036; and WO 99/016845.
Thus, metathesis reactions can provide functionalized polyolefins that have end-functionalization. However, to date it has not been feasible to polymerize polyolefins having end-functionalization to each other.
Thus, a need exists for a method to prepare polyolefins that utilize end-functionalization to provide new polymers with unique physical properties.

Functionalized resins obtained via olefin metathesis

Abstract: wherein    each X is, independently, —CO2R, —CONR1R2, CN, a C1 to a C20 alkyl group;    R is a C1 to a C20 alkyl group or an aromatic group;    each R1 and R2 is, independently, a hydrogen, a C1 to a C20 alkyl group, or an aromatic group;    each R5 is, independently, a hydrogen atom or a C1 to a C40 alkyl group;    each Ar is, independently, an aromatic group; and    each n is, independently, from 0 to about 40.


A planetary scale object rendering system may provide a plurality of spherical mesh topologies of different levels of detail made up of abutting faces. Tessellation of the faces may be provided at continuous levels of detail. The geometry data at different locations and levels of detail in the mesh topology may be randomly accessible. The geometric data may be organized in quadtrees in some embodiments. A layered quadtree data structure may be formed from the bottom layer up with successively higher parent layers formed from the root nodes of previous child layers. The quadtree structure may be randomly accessed from the top down.

This relates generally to planetary scale object rendering. As used herein, planetary scale object rendering involves rendering objects of at least 100,000 times difference in scale.
With planetary object rendering, used, for example, in Google Earth, a user may view the entire Earth and see one level of resolution and then may, effectively, zoom in to a particular region on the Earth and see a greater resolution with respect to the smaller area. Thus, Google Earth allows users to select particular regions to view, how much of those regions to view, and thereby the system determines the resolution that the user may see.
Planetary viewers may provide convenient platforms for visualizing various scientific data, as well as for personal, social, and mass media. Planetary viewers may also be used in navigation, eco-management, geographical oversight and planning, environmental science, emergency planning and response, as well as for entertainment.
Rendering a planetary scale object, such as the Earth, with high precision in real time is challenging for 3D geometry processing due to the large variations in viewing distance and viewing area and the need for real time retrieval of a very large amount of two dimensional data, including surface elevation data. For example, a planetary viewer may view regions as close as one meter and as far as tens of thousands of kilometers, with viewing areas as small as one square meter and as large as the entire hemisphere.


A shower head adapter includes a body part, which has one side connected to the inner circumferential surface of the inlet side of a main shower head body and the other side connected to a hose. The shower head adapter also includes a first circular groove formed along the outer circumferential surface thereof and a main body connecting part, which has an end on the other side protruding inwards from the inner circumferential surface thereof. A part of the inner circumferential surface is coupled to the outer circumferential surface of the inlet side of the main shower head body. A snap ring is inserted in the first circular groove. The diameter of the outer circumferential surface of the snap ring is larger than the diameter of the protruding inner circumferential surface of the main body connecting part.

Descriptions disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention and they may therefore contain information that does not include the prior art that is already known to a person of ordinary skill in the art.
A shower head consists of a main shower head body and a hose connecting to the main shower head body. The hose connects to a bathtub in the bathroom and when water is provided, the water is carried to the main shower head body through a flow channel inside the shower head.
The main shower head body has a flow channel and a plurality of outlets linked with the flow channel formed therein, such that water may be sprayed through the plurality of outlets. The user may shower on any part of the body by gripping the shower head.
However, the hose is twisted or moves freely when flow speed of water increases during a shower. This may result in a reduction in lifespan of the hose in case the hose is continuously exposed to such a situation.


A method implemented in a base station used in a wireless communications system is disclosed. The method includes transmitting, to a user equipment (UE), an indication of a type of enhanced physical downlink control channel (ePDCCH) transmission, where the type of ePDCCH transmission comprises either localized transmission or distributed transmission, and transmitting, to the UE, an indication of the number of physical resource block (PRB) pairs allocated for the ePDCCH transmission, where the indication of the number of PRB pairs allocated for the ePDCCH transmission is conveyed in 2 or 3 bits. Other methods, apparatuses, and systems also are disclosed.

Widely deployed wireless voice and data communications systems include multiple-access systems capable of supporting communication with multiple users by sharing the available system resources (e.g. bandwidth and transmit power). Examples include code division multiple access (CDMA) systems, time division multiple access (TDMA) systems, frequency division multiple access (FDMA) systems, 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) systems, and orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) systems.
Generally, a wireless multiple-access communication system can simultaneously support communication for multiple wireless terminals, i.e. user equipment (UE) apparatus. Each UE receives communications from one or more base stations via a downlink and sends communications back to the base station via an uplink. The communications link may be established via a single-in-single-out (SISO), multiple-in-single-out (MISO) or a multiple-in-multiple-out (MIMO) system.

Method of control signaling transmission and reception for user equipment in a LTE communication system


Techniques for secure browsing may be realized as a method including: in response to a non-browser instruction to resolve a first resource reference, submitting the first resource reference to a server; receiving a response from the server indicating approval of the first resource reference; directing the first resource reference to a browser application based on the approval response; in response to a non-browser instruction to resolve a second resource reference, submitting the second resource reference to the server; receiving a response from the server indicating disapproval of the second resource reference; and determining not to direct the second resource reference to a browser application based on the disapproval response.

Internet browsing has increasingly become a standard part of the use of mobile computing devices, and correspondingly uniform resource locator (URL) addresses are often provided to a mobile device in many different ways, from short message service (SMS) messages to links within mobile applications. Furthermore, mobile devices may have a variety of applications available for browsing. Because there are multiple vectors available both for receiving and entering web addresses, safeguards limited to specific vectors may still allow attacks from bad URLs received and entered through unprotected vectors. Indeed, there is currently a lack of capability to examine and clear a URL on a mobile device irrespective of its source or the eventual browser selected to display it.
In view of the foregoing, it may be understood that there may be significant problems and shortcomings associated with current URL firewall technologies.


The invention concerns an external door-handle for automotive vehicles with a supporting frame (supporting shackle) which can be fastened to the door sheet-metal, to which supporting frame (supporting shackle) a door pull is articulated; and with a swivel arm (rotary shackle) articulated in the supporting frame, which swivel arm (rotary shackle) can be operated by the handle; a transmission part, in particular a Bowden cable, is coupled to the swivel arm (rotary shackle), through which the door is opened via transmission parts; a massive block is supported so it can be swiveled against spring pressure; in case of a lateral impact, the massive block is located in a locking position because of its mass, in which locking position it prevents an opening of the door; wherein the massive block is articulated to the swivel arm and, in the locking position, prevents a swiveling of the swivel arm into the open position.

The invention involves an external door-handle for automotive vehicles with a supporting frame (supporting shackle) which can be fastened to the door sheet-metal and the like. The door pull is articulated to the supporting frame (supporting shackle). The external door-handle also has a swivel arm (revolving shackle), articulated in the supporting frame, which can be operated by the handle. Coupled to the swivel arm (revolving shackle) is a transmission part, in particular a Bowden cable, through which the door can be opened via transmission parts. A massive block is supported so that it can be swiveled against spring pressure. Because of its mass, the massive block is located, in case of lateral impact, in a locking position in which it prevents an opening of the door.
German Offenlegungsschrift 2023859 discloses supporting a compensating mass on the internal side of a door-handle arrangement. If a compressive force suddenly acts against the external sheet-metal of the door, the compensating mass prevents a swiveling of the handle in the opening direction.


An imaging system is provided comprising an imaging probe and at least one delivery device. The imaging probe comprises an elongate shaft, a rotatable optical core and an optical assembly. The elongate shaft comprises a proximal end, a distal portion, and a lumen extending between the proximal end and the distal portion. The rotatable optical core is positioned within the lumen of the elongate shaft and comprises a proximal end and a distal end. The rotatable optical core is configured to optically and mechanically connect with an interface unit. The optical assembly is positioned in the elongate shaft distal portion and proximate the rotatable optical core distal end. The optical assembly is configured to direct light to tissue and collect reflected light from the tissue. The imaging probe is constructed and arranged to collect image data from a patient site. The at least one delivery device is constructed and arranged to slidingly engage the imaging probe. Methods of introducing the imaging probe and the at least one delivery catheter into a patient are also provided.

Imaging probes have been commercialized for imaging various internal locations of a patient, such as an intravascular probe for imaging a patient's heart. Current imaging probes are limited in their ability to reach certain anatomical locations due to their size and rigidity. Current imaging probes are inserted over a guidewire, which can compromise their placement and limit use of one or more delivery catheters through which the imaging probe is inserted. There is a need for imaging systems that include probes with reduced diameter, high flexibility and the ability to be advanced to a patient site to be imaged without a guidewire, as well as systems with one or more delivery devices compatible with these improved imaging probes.

Imaging system includes imaging probe and delivery devices


Exemplary embodiments provide a method for laying out an integrated circuit (“IC”) design and the IC design layout. In one embodiment, the IC design layout can include a first feature placed on a first intersecting point of a grid. The placed first feature can define a local grid area. The local grid area can further include a plurality of local intersecting points having an outer perimeter spaced from any outermost local intersecting point in a spacing ranging from a length of a grid side to a length of a grid diagonal of a grid unit. A second feature can either be restrictively placed on any local intersecting point of the local grid area, or be randomly placed on any location outside the outer perimeter of the local grid area.

Electronic devices, particularly integrated circuits, include a large number of components fabricated by layering several different materials onto a silicon wafer. In order for the components to function as an electronic device, they are selectively, electrically connected to one another. For example, metal lines are utilized to provide component electrical connection within a layer, while vias connect different metallization and via layers.
When designing an electronic device, a designer creates a circuit description, including electrical connection of the components. The circuit description is input into a computer aided design (CAD) software package running on a computer to form a three-dimensional geometric image of the electronic device, known as a layout.
The layout program generates geometric data using the computer from which a semiconductor chip, circuit board, integrated circuit, or other electronic device is laid out and produced. Generally, a layout includes a set of geometric shapes contained in several layers. In a layout, metal lines are represented as trenches in a layer, and vias are represented as holes in a layer. Typically, the layout is checked to ensure that it meets all of the design requirements, e.g., that there are a sufficient number of vias between a particular upper metal line and a lower metal line to carry the requisite current between the metal lines. Subsequently, a mask that includes the semiconductor circuit layout pattern is imaged onto a substrate that is at least partially covered by a layer of resist using a lithographic projection.
However, there are many problems related to electronic device layouts. A difficult problem relating to via spacing and arrangement arises as electronic device sizes continue to shrink. In the past, an electronic device layout was large enough to accommodate unrestricted via layout. The unrestricted via layout provides a relaxed spacing between neighboring vias, which gives rise to a lower packing density. Today, with electronic device designs, and individual electronic device components such as vias, becoming increasingly smaller and smaller, individual components are required to be spaced closer for a tight packing density.
For example, to resolve minimum spacing between individual components, off-axis illumination with a combination of sub-resolution assist features has been used for 65 nm node hole imaging. When technology advances to 45 nm or less node, very strong off-axis illumination or immersion lithography at higher NA is required. Problems still arise, however, due to insufficient process margin for the manufacturing and the higher cost of the strong off-axis illumination.
Thus, there is a need to overcome these and other problems of the prior art and to provide an IC design layout and the method for laying out the IC design for randomly placing features in the presence of strong pitch restrictions.

Method for layout of random via arrays in the presence of strong pitch restrictions


Redundant valve apparatus including a first valve seat and a second valve seat located in the fluid passage of a hollow valve body between the inlet portion of the fluid passage and the outlet portion of the fluid passage and a poppet member having valve seat sealing surfaces for cooperating with and sealing the first valve seat and the second valve seat. One of the valve seats is fixed within the hollow valve body and the other valve seat is movable within the hollow valve body. The redundant valve apparatus also includes an actuator nut for controlling the operation of the poppet member and for moving the movable valve seat to cause the valve seat sealing surfaces on the poppet member to sequentially engage one valve seat and then the other valve seat. The redundant valve apparatus includes a spring for biasing the poppet member to the proper position within the hollow valve body such that the first valve seat and the second valve seat are properly positioned with respect to the valve seat sealing surfaces of the poppet member in all valve open and closed conditions. An expandable and contractible bellows surrounds the first valve seat and the second valve seat and the associated poppet member and the spring for providing a fluid tight seal in case either the first valve seat or the second valve seat and the associated valve seat sealing surfaces should leak. The bellows also permits the redundant valve apparatus to be leak tested when it is installed in position to be used.

Various spacecraft and missiles utilize liquid propellants including fuels and oxidizers that are very dangerous. These chemicals can react violently with other materials with disastrous results and can cause serious injury or death to personnel that may come into contact with such chemicals. This serious problem is greatly aggravated by the fact that large quantities of such materials are utilized in spacecraft and missile operations.
The tanks containing such fluids and oxidizers must be periodically filled and drained and such transfers of fluids are high risk operations. These operations involve connecting a suitable valve to an onboard tank on the spacecraft or missile and then opening the valve to permit passage of fluid through the valve and into or out of the onboard tank. Obviously, if a valve leaks during or after such an operation, it could have disastrous results. Consequently, such valves are thoroughly leak tested prior to being put in to operation. However, in spite of such testing, leaks have developed in previous valves during such transfer operations. These leaks have caused serious property damage and injuries to and the deaths of personnel involved in the transfer operations.
In order to help avoid these serious consequences, more than one valve can be utilized so that if one valve fails the other valve will most likely not fail. However, it is possible that several valves will fail even though they have been previously tested for leaks.
This invention overcomes these problems associated with previous valves used in dangerous spacecraft and missile fluid transfer operations and allows such transfer operations to be carried out with minimal risk of dangerous fluid leaks. With this invention, it is possible to leak test each of the redundant valve structures independently just prior to the transfer operation with the valve apparatus in place connected to the onboard tank. If one of the redundant valves fails to pass the independent leak test prior to or after the dangerous fluid transfer operation, appropriate corrective action can be taken so that the defective valve is not placed in service.