This invention provides a modified yeast two-hybrid system in order to identify NO-dependent protein-protein interactions. Bait proteins implicated in apoptotic signaling pathways were used to identify NO-dependent interactions. The physiological relevance of these interactions is demonstrated by their occurrence and dependence on endogenous NO in mammalian cells, and by the functional interrelatedness of bait and prey.

Signal transduction is often coordinated by multi-protein complexes (Kumar and Snyder, 2002; Gavin et al., 2002; Ho et al., 2002). Constitutive interactions among proteins function in the initiation of signaling, while inducible or regulated protein-protein interactions are generally required for signal processing and propagation (Hunter, 2000). These dynamic interactions form the basis of complex regulatory circuits that determine biological function. Identifying the makeup of these circuits is a major challenge, however, because they involve multiple low affinity interactions that are controlled by dynamic post-translational protein modifications in response to multiple stimuli (Hunter, 2000; Zhu et al., 2001).
A number of non-covalent bonds form between proteins when two protein surfaces are precisely matched, and these bonds account for the specificity of recognition. Protein-protein interactions are involved in, for example, the assembly of enzyme subunits, antigen-antibody reactions, forming the supramolecular structures of ribosomes, filaments, and viruses in transport, and in the interaction of receptors on a cell with growth factors and hormones. Products of oncogenes can give rise to neoplastic transformation through protein-protein interactions. For example, some oncogenes encode protein kinases whose enzymatic activity on cellular target proteins leads to the cancerous state. Another example of a protein-protein interaction occurs when a virus infects a cell by recognizing a polypeptide receptor on the surface, and this interaction has been used to design antiviral agents.
Protein-protein interactions have been generally studied in the past using biochemical techniques such as cross-linking, co-immunoprecipitation and co-fractionation by chromatography. A disadvantage of these techniques is that interacting proteins often exist in very low abundance and are, therefore, difficult to detect. Another major disadvantage is that these biochemical techniques involve only the proteins, not the genes encoding them. When an interaction is detected using biochemical methods, the newly identified protein often must be painstakingly isolated and then sequenced to enable the gene encoding it to be obtained. Another disadvantage is that these methods do not immediately provide information about which domains of the interacting proteins are involved in the interaction. Also, small changes in the composition of the interacting proteins cannot be tested easily for their effect on the interaction.
A genetic system that is capable of rapidly detecting which proteins interact with a known protein, determining which domains of the proteins interact under physiological conditions, and providing the genes for the newly identified interacting proteins has only recently been made available. The yeast two-hybrid system currently represents the most powerful in vivo approach to screen for polypeptides that could bind to a given target protein and this invention provides a unique way of utilizing the two hybrid system for studying novel protein-protein interactions under physiological conditions.
The yeast two hybrid system described here is based on transcriptional activation. Transcription is the process by which RNA molecules are synthesized using a DNA template. Transcription is regulated by specific sequences in the DNA which indicate when and where RNA synthesis should begin. These sequences correspond to binding sites for proteins, designated transcription factors, which interact with the enzymatic machinery used for the RNA polymerization reaction.
In these systems, reconstitution into a hybrid caused by protein-protein interaction of a bait protein with a prey protein is monitored by activation of a reporter gene. Two-hybrid systems are discussed, for example, in Nandabalan et al U.S. Pat. No. 6,083,693; U.S. Pat. No. 5,283,173; U.S. Pat. No. 5,610,015; U.S. Pat. No. 5,634,463; U.S. Pat. No. 5,885,779; Klein et al. United States Statutory Invention Registration H1,892; LeGrain et al U.S. Pat. No. 6,187,535; and Rain, J.-C., et al. Nature 409, 211–215 (Jan. 11, 2001). The bait is a protein or proteins known to be involved in the pathophysiological process for which the determination is being made. The prey can be constituted of all proteins and genes expressed in cells of an affected tissue or body fluid or an election therefrom. Other methods of determining protein-protein interactions (e.g., as described in Zhu, H, et al., Science 293, 2101–2105 (2001) and as described below) can also be used. In general, the bait protein is derived from genomic DNA or a cDNA library. The cDNA library can be derived from a cell, for example, a macrophage, a cytokine activated macrophage, an endothelial cell, a muscle cell, a tumor cell or a kidney cell. Alternatively, the cDNA library can be derived from a cell treated with a drug, preferably a chemotherapeutic drug such as cisplatin.
In essence, the two putative protein partners are genetically fused to the DNA-binding domain of a transcription factor and to a transcriptional activation domain, respectively. A productive interaction between the two proteins of interest will bring the transcriptional activation domain into the proximity of the DNA-binding domain and will trigger directly the transcription of an adjacent reporter gene, for example, lacZ, giving a screenable phenotype. The transcription can be activated through the use of two functional domains of a transcription factor: a domain that recognizes and binds to a specific site on the DNA and a domain that is necessary for activation, as reported by Keegan et al. (1986) and Ma et al. (1987).
Transcriptional activation has been studied using the GAL4 protein of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae (S. cervisiae). The GAL4 protein is a transcriptional activator required for the expression of genes encoding enzymes of galactose utilization, see Johnston, Microbiol. Rev., 51, 458–476 (1987). It consists of an N-terminal domain which binds to specific DNA sequences designated UASG, (UAS stands for upstream activation site, G indicates the galactose genes) and a C-terminal domain containing acidic regions, which is necessary to activate transcription, see Keegan et al. (1986), supra., and Ma and Ptashne. (1987), supra. As discussed by Keegan et al., the N-terminal domain binds to DNA in a sequence-specific manner but fails to activate transcription. The C-terminal domain cannot activate transcription because it fails to localize to the UASG, see for example, Brent and Ptashne, Cell, 43, 729–736 (1985). However, Ma and Ptashne have reported (Cell, 51, 113–119 (1987); Cell, 55, 443–446 (1988)) that when both the GAL4 N-terminal domain and C-terminal domain are fused together in the same protein, transcriptional activity is induced. Other proteins also function as transcriptional activators via the same mechanism. For example, the GCN4 protein of Saccharomyces cerevisiae as reported by Hope and Struhl, Cell, 46, 885–894 (1986), the ADR1 protein of Saccharomyces cerevisiae as reported by Thukral et al., Molecular and Cellular Biology, 9, 2360–2369, (1989) and the human estrogen receptor, as discussed by Kumar et al., Cell, 51, 941–951 (1987) both contain separable domains for DNA binding and for maximal transcriptional activation.
Recently, Rossi et al. (1997) described a different approach, a mammalian "two-hybrid" system, which uses β-galactosidase complementation (Ullmann et al., 1968) to monitor protein-protein interactions in intact eukaryotic cells. The number of genome sequences of prokaryotic as well as eukaryotic host organisms available is increasing exponentially and there is a great need for new tools directed to the functional and global study of these newly characterized complete or partial genomes.
Systems for determining protein-protein interactions which are useful herein are also described in Fung, E. T., et al, Current Opinion in Biotechnology 12:65–69 (2001) and Delneri, I., et al, Current Opinion in Biotechnology 12:87–91 (2001). Systems for determining protein interactions or activity include those described in Sakura, T., et al., Cell (1998), 573–585 and Hare, 1, et al., Nature Medicine, Vol 5, 1241–1242 (1999). These systems involve a search for an orphan receptor or ligand where readout is measured by changes in an intracellular second messenger such as calcium or G-protein activity. Other systems for determining protein interactions or activity include those described in Scherer, P., et al, Nature Biotechnology 16, 581–586 (1998). These systems involve a search for new epitopes that has been unmasked through protein-protein interaction.
Systems for determining changes in the level of protein expression are described in Fung, E. T., et al, Current Opinion in Biotechnology 12: 65–69 (2001). Systems for determining changes in the interaction between proteins and other molecules (e.g., DNA, RNA, lipids) are described in Ren, B., et al, Science 290, 2306 (2000) and in Marshall, H. and Stamler, J. S., Biochemistry 40, 1688 (2001). Methods for determining genomic interactions include methods for assaying the expression of genes in differential display, e.g., as described in Zohinhofer, D., et al., Circulation, 103, 1396–1402 (2001) and SAGE where levels of mRNA are quantified through hybridization or other means of quantification, e.g., as described in Zhang, L., et al., Science Vol. 276, 1268–1272 (1997).
Strategies for studying cellular function involved in disease states generally rely on comparison of control and disease states. A number of different proteomic and genomic strategies, including differential profiling platforms and functional assays (e.g., interaction studies) have been routinely employed for this purpose. These assays have long relied on the assumption that they accurately simulate the pathophysiological processes under investigation. However, they are carried out in "open" air and, therefore, are performed in the absence of specific and important protein modifications that are characteristic of physiological conditions, e.g., modifications that occur in the presence of nitric oxide (NO).
Nitric oxide (NO) is a ubiquitous molecule that propagates its signal through posttranslational nitrosylation of proteins (Stamler et al., 2001). Specifically, NO targets cysteine thiol and transition metal centers to regulate a broad functional spectrum of substrates, including all major classes of signaling proteins. An emerging theme in NO biology is that NO synthases (NOS) are localized within multi-protein signaling complexes where they regulate signal transduction (Stamler et al., 2001). But whether NO can directly affect protein-protein interactions transducing these signals, particularly in a disease state, has not been previously considered.
Accordingly, current screening methodologies lack a level of validation and biological significance because the actions and interactions identified using prior art methods are not causally related to the pathophysiological processes. It is therefore an object of the present invention to describe methods for identifying protein interactions under more physiological conditions. Specifically, this invention relates to the utilization of, for example, a modified yeast two-hybrid screening methodology in order to assess the possibility of NO-dependent regulation of protein-protein interactions in a cellular context.

Proteomic screening for redox state dependent protein—protein interactions


Microchannels for conducting and expelling a fluid are embedded in a surface of a silicon substrate. A channel seal is made of plural cross structures formed integrally with the silicon substrate. The cross structures are arranged sequentially over each channel, each cross structure having a chevron shape. The microchannel is sealed by oxidizing at least partially the cross structures, whereby the spaces therebetween are filled. A dielectric seal which overlies the thermally oxidized cross structures forms a complete seal and a substantially planar top surface to the silicon substrate. The dielectric seal is formed of a low pressure chemical vapor deposition (LPCVD) dielectric layer. The channel is useful in the production of an ink jet print head, and has a polysilicon heater overlying the dielectric seal. A current passing through the heater causes a corresponding increase in the temperature of the ink in the microchannel, causing same to be expelled therefreom. After expulsion of the fluid, the microchannel is refilled by capillary action. Control circuitry, including bonding pads and sensors, can be formed integrally on the silicon substrate. In drug or chemical delivery systems, sensors and/or stimulation circuitry for sensing or inducing neural and other response can be formed directly in the silicon substrate which contains the microchannel. The sensor is disposed in close proximity to the chemical distribution nozzle, facilitating neural and other studies. Microvalve arrangements can be formed with the microchannel, controlled by the on-chip circuitry.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to microchannel arrangements, and more particularly, to a system for forming microchannel structures, particularly for the delivery of drugs, chemical agents, inks, and other fluids, with very high precision.
2. Description of the Related Art
There are a number of technological areas where it is desired to deliver a fluid with high spatial precision. In one area of technology, ink jet printers seek to place drops of ink on a page by propelling the ink out of small equally-spaced nozzles. Such printers generally are less expensive and quieter while printing than laser printers. However, their printing quality is generally not as good as that of laser printers, partially as a result of shortcomings in the nozzle structures currently being used. The realization of a low-cost high-resolution nozzle array is critical to the future of ink jet printers.
Presently, nozzle arrays made of glass fibers are widely used. Such nozzle heads are highly uniform and quite robust. They generally are fabricated by aligning cord fibers, assembling fiber arrays, and then bonding the glass array to supporting glass plates. In order to achieve the required precision in aligning the nozzles, notched structures made of silicon or glass are generally used as a supporting substructure. The spacing between neighboring notches and the wall thickness of the cord fibers become the main factors limiting the separation between the nozzles.
Another problem that is associated with glass nozzle heads is in the wiring that connects same to the host computer. Glass nozzles do not permit the direct integration of circuitry on-chip. Without addressing circuitry, each nozzle requires a separate wire for controlling the firing of the ink. Large numbers of wires cause a tethering problem, limiting the number of nozzles on a print head. A print head with only 10 to 60 nozzles then has to move across the paper being printed many times to print a single page. This results in slow printing speeds compared to other approaches.
In another technological area, it is well-known that complex biochemical reactions are the underlying mechanism on which the functionality of the nervous system is based. In order to understand better the behavior of biological neural networks, at the circuit level, it is important to be able to deliver drugs or other chemicals to highly localized areas of neural tissue in precise quantities while monitoring the responses in vivo. By way of example, specific caged molecules, such as calcium, can be delivered to influence cellular behavior, and NMDA (n-methyl-d-aspartate) can be delivered to modify synaptic activity. In these applications, it is important that the injecting device be very small so as not to disturb the neural system and that it be able to inject fluid volumes in the range of 10-1000 pl controllably.
The most commonly used techniques for injecting chemicals into brain tissue have been microiontophoresis and pressure-injection using single-barrel and multiple-barrel glass micropipettes. The responses of nearby neurons are then measured using separately positioned pipettes filled with electrolyte. These approaches typically suffer from relatively poor control in positioning the injecting pipette relative to the monitoring points. Additionally, the complicated procedures required for the assembly of multiple-barrel pipette structures also prevent them from being widely used. There is, therefore, a need for a neural drug-delivery probe that is able to deliver chemicals selectively at the cellular level as well as being able to record electrically from, and stimulate, neurons, in vivo. Such a probe should allow detailed studies of the neural responses to a variety of chemical stimuli, and would represent an important step toward improving scientific understanding of neural systems and treating a variety of neurophysiological disorders.
In the applications noted hereinabove, as well as others, there is a need for a microchannel nozzle arrangement wherein drive, sensor, and/or control circuitry can be combined with the nozzle. Such an integration of the nozzle or nozzles with associated integrated circuitry cannot be achieved with structures formed of quartz, or where the microchannel structure is constructed on top of a substrate, as this not only makes the overall structure larger, but also renders same incompatible with the use of the same area for forming associated circuitry and/or electrodes.
It is, therefore, an object of this invention to provide a system for forming a microchannel for the delivery of a fluid with very high precision, illustratively with a spatial selectivity on the order of 60 .mu.m or less.
It is another object of this invention to provide a system that achieves spatially selective fluid delivery and that is compatible with on-chip control systems.
It is also an object of this invention to provide a system that achieves spatially selective drug delivery and that is compatible with on-chip recording and stimulation systems.
It is a further object of this invention to provide an ink jet print head system.
It is additionally an object of this invention to provide an ink jet print head system that employs a silicon substrate having thereon on-chip drive systems.
It is yet a further object of this invention to provide a high resolution ink jet printing system.
It is also another object of this invention to provide an ink jet print head having multiple flow channels in a high nozzle density arrangement.
It is yet an additional object of this invention to provide a system in which plural microcapillary tubes are fabricated using lithographic processes.
It is still another object of this invention to provide a system in which a microcapillary tube is formed on a silicon wafer and combined with on-chip electronics.
It is a yet further object of this invention to provide a system in which a microcapillary tube is formed on a silicon wafer with dimensional control on the order of .+-.1 .mu.m and combined with on-chip structures such as heaters, microvalves, and integrated electronics.
It is also a further object of this invention to provide an ink jet printing head arrangement that can achieve printing resolution greater than 1000 dots per inch (dpi).
It is additionally another object of this invention to provide an ink jet printing head arrangement that can be fabricated, with heaters, using just five masks.
A still further object of this invention is to provide a microchannel arrangement wherein fluid flow therethrough can precisely be determined.

The Regents of the University of Michigan


The invention provides a novel NAIP nucleic and sequences. Also provided are anti-NAIP antibodies and methods for modulating apoptosis and detecting compounds which modulate apoptosis.

Apoptosis is a morphologically distinct form of programmed cell death that is important in the normal development and maintenance of multicellular organisms. Dysregulation of apoptosis can take the form of inappropriate suppression of cell death, as occurs in the development of some cancers, or in a failure to control the extent of cell death, as is believed to occur in acquired immunodeficiency and certain neurodegenerative disorders, such as spinal muscular atrophy (SMA).
Childhood spinal muscular atrophies are neurodegenerative disorders characterized by progressive spinal cord motor neuron depletion and are among the most common autosomal recessive disorders (Dubowitz, V. 1978, Brooke, M. A. 1986). Type I SMA is the most frequent inherited cause of death in infancy. The loss of motor neurons in SMA, has led to suggestions that an inappropriate continuation or reactivation of normally occurring motor neuron apoptosis may underlie the disorder (Sarnat, H. B. 1992). NAIP, a gene associated with SMA, has been mapped to human chromosome 5q13.1
Some baculoviruses encode proteins that are termed inhibitors of apoptosis proteins (IAPs) because they inhibit the apoptosis that would otherwise occur when insect cells are infected by the virus. These proteins are thought to work in a manner that is independent of other viral proteins. The baculovirus IAP genes include sequences encoding a ring zinc finger-like motif (RZF), which may be involved in DNA binding, and two N-terminal domains that consist of a 70 amino acid repeat motif termed a BIR domain (Baculovirus IAP Repeat).

Use of neuronal apoptosis inhibitor protein (NAIP)


An image generation apparatus includes an image file generating unit operable in one of first, second and third modes, wherein (a) if the first mode is selected, the image file generating unit generates a first image file including image data and first verirfication data used to verify whether the image data is falsified or not, (b) if the second mode is selected, the image file generating unit generates a second image file including the image data, additional information of the image data and second verification data used to verify whether the additional information is falsified or not, and (c) if the third mode is selected, the image file generating unit generates a third image file including the image data, the additional information, the first verification data and the second verification data. A selector is adapted to select one of the first, second and third modes, and a verification data generating unit is adapted to generate the first verification data using secret information and the image data and to generate the second verification data using the secret information and the additional information, and the additional information includes information relating to the image data.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image generation apparatus, an image file generation method, an image verification apparatus, an image verification method and the like, capable of verifying whether addition information of an image data was falsified.
2. Related Background Art
Digital cameras are in practical use nowadays to digitalize an optical image of a subject and store it.
Although image data photographed with a digital camera can be easily loaded in a personal computer, there is a problem that the image data can also be falsified easily on the personal computer. Reliability of image data photographed with a digital camera is therefore lower than that of a silver salt photograph, resulting in an insufficient admissibility. To avoid this, a digital camera system has recently been proposed which has the function of adding a digital signature to image data photographed with a digital camera. Conventional digital camera systems are disclosed, e.g., in U.S. Pat. No. 5,499,294 and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-200730.
A conventional digital camera system is, however, associated with a problem that a digital signature or Message Authentication Codes (MAC) of image data cannot be created independently from a digital signature or MAC of addition information of image data. It is therefore impossible to independently verify whether image data was falsified and whether addition information was falsified. A user cannot distinguish among whether image data was falsified, whether addition information of image data was falsified, and whether the image data and addition information were falsified.

Image generation apparatus, image file generation method, image verification apparatus and image verification method


A curable composition, containing a near-infrared absorptive dye represented by formula (1):

Near-infrared absorptive dyes are used for various purposes in wide fields. The dyes are used in, for example, infrared-cutting films for plasma display panels (PDPs) and solid-state image sensing devices such as CCDs, optical filters in heat-shielding films, or photothermal materials in write once optical disks (CD-Rs) or flash-meltable and fixable materials.
Moreover, the near-infrared absorptive dyes are used as information displaying materials for security inks or invisible bar code inks. The security inks are utilized to print encrypted data (such as a bar code, a two-dimensional code, or OCR characters) on paper moneys, vouchers, valuable securities, or the like, in order to prevent forgery. The inks are further used as hidden inks, which do not damage the design of a printed material.
When a near-infrared absorptive dye is employed for information display applications, it is very important for the dye to have very strong absorption in the near-infrared region and good non-visibility which indicates that it is not visible to naked eye. It has been suggested to form an infrared absorptive image by using an ink containing inorganic ion(s) (copper, iron and ytterbium, etc.), or an organic dye such as phthalocyanine dye, dithiol compound dye, squarylium dye, chroconium dye, and nickel complex dye, etc. (see, JP-A-8-143853 ("JP-A" means unexamined published Japanese patent application), JP-A-7-164729, JP-A-11-279465, JP-A-2008-291072 and JP-A-2002-146254). Although the infrared absorption property of the image created by using these inks is sufficient, it cannot be said that these inks have sufficient non-visibility. When trying to accelerate the non-visibility, the infrared absorption property becomes insufficient, and as a result, an ink having poor discrimination ability as it is mixed with a visible image is obtained. In particular, with respect to the near-infrared absorptive dyes having maximum absorption in an infrared range close to a visible range (i.e., 700 nm to 900 nm), tendency of showing insufficient non-visibility is very obvious.
As another application example of the near-infrared absorptive dye, there is a near-infrared absorptive filter for CCDs. The solid-state imaging sensing device such as CMOSs and CCDs, which are installed in a camera, has high sensitivity even for the rays of the infrared range (700 nm to 1100 nm) so that accurate color resolution cannot be obtained. To avoid such inaccurate color resolution, a reflection-type infrared absorptive filter and an absorption-type infrared absorptive filter using an inorganic ion or an organic dye are generally set in an optical system of a camera. However, since these filters are applied over the entire surface of a lens, turning ON and OFF of an infrared cut for each pixel is practically impossible. Thus it cannot be used, for example, for an application in which both an image by visual light and an image by infrared light are simultaneously taken.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Near-infrared absorptive dye-containing curable composition, ink composition and method of producing near-infrared absorptive filter

Abstract: wherein R1a and R1b may be the same or different, and each independently represent an alkyl group, an aryl group, or a heteroaryl group; R2 and R3 each independently represent a hydrogen atom or a substituent, and at least one of R2 and R3 is an electron withdrawing group; R2 and R3 may be bonded to each other to form a ring; and R4 represents a hydrogen atom, an alkyl group, an aryl group, a heteroaryl group, a substituted boron, or a metal atom, and R4 may be covalently bonded or coordinately bonded to at least one among R1a, R1b and R3.


A controller for unit ventilators which include processing means having associated memory that enables control schemes to be used. The controller is modular and compact in its construction, is easily installed in existing unit ventilators and provides not only the controlled pneumatic pressure in the output lines for the controller, but also provides electrical control signals for controlling the operation of the fan. The controller is adapted to control unit ventilators having auxiliary radiation and is also adapted to control ASHRAE cycle 3 type installations.

The present invention generally relates to apparatus for controlling heating and ventilating equipment, and more particularly for controlling heating and ventilating units and associated equipment that are often used in individual rooms of schools and the like, often referred to in the art as unit ventilators.
In the art of heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) for buildings and the like there has been a continuing effort in developing more accurate and sophisticated controls for accurately controlling the systems to provide more accurate control in terms of maintaining the desired temperature within a space, and minimizing the energy required to provide heating and/or air conditioning, and in providing increased safety. With the increased utilization of computers, such systems can now be controlled by what had been considered to be complex control schemes that had been used in only very expensive, sophisticated supervisory and control systems. In many of such systems, pneumatic pressure control lines extended between components of the system for controlling the operation of the system. The use of such pneumatic lines has existed for decades and systems using the same continue to be installed. As a result of the long use of such pneumatic control lines, there are thousands of systems in existence which are desirable targets for upgrading in the sense that more sophisticated control may be desirable from a cost benefit analysis, given the relatively inexpensive and robust technical capabilities of control systems compared to the seemingly ever increasing cost of energy for providing heating and air conditioning.
Apart from these general considerations, there are many buildings that exist which often are heated in the winter, but because they have little usage in the summer months and other reasons, true air conditioning is not provided in them. A prime example is that of school buildings which have many classrooms that are heated by individual heating units, which are commonly known as unit ventilators. Such unit ventilators are generally connected to a heating plant that communicates heat to the ventilators via a heated fluid, such as hot water or steam lines, although electrical heating elements are sometimes employed.
With the unit ventilators being located in each room, many older unit ventilators are not conducive to being controlled by a single supervisory and control system, except to the extent that the pneumatic control lines can be switched between nominal pressure values which reflect differing set points for day or night operation and the pneumatic lines can be controlled from a common pressure source. Pressure detectors in the unit ventilators are adapted to sense the difference between the day/night nominal pressures and therefore provide some degree of control, albeit not overly sophisticated. The temperature control of the rooms is provided by a pneumatic thermostat located within the room at some distance from the unit ventilator so that it provides a fair reading of the temperature of the room rather than the discharge temperature of the air that flows from the unit ventilator.
Unit ventilators generally have a damper for controlling the admission of air from outside the room, and also typically employ a fan which forces air through the ventilator which obviously includes heating coils.
Accordingly, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide an improved controller for use with unit ventilators of the type described above.
A related object is to provide such an improved controller which incorporates a processing means and is therefore adapted to utilize relatively complex and sophisticated control schemes in the operation of the controller.
Another related object lies in the provision for interconnecting the unit ventilator controllers with a remote control means so that centralized operation of many unit ventilators in a building or the like can be performed.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a controller for existing unit ventilators which employ pneumatic control lines, with the controller providing a controlled pressure in one or more pneumatic lines that are used to control pneumatic valves that regulate the position of the outside air damper as well as modulate the flow of heating fluid to the heating coils of the unit ventilator.
Yet another object lies in the provision of providing day or night modes of operation, heating or cooling modes of operation, with each mode having different temperature set points that can be independently determined. An ancillary object lies in the provision for setting the various set points from the remote controller location.
Still another object lies in the provision for enabling or disabling the room thermostat set point control, so that a room set point may be determined from the remote controller means location rather than by an individual in the room itself.
Another object of the present invention is to provide such an improved controller for unit ventilators which utilizes control schemes and input parameters that include signals that are generated that are indicative of the pneumatic output line control pressure, the room temperature, the temperature of the air immediately downstream of the heating coils, i.e., the discharge temperature of the unit.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide such an improved controller for unit ventilators which is modular and compact in its construction, is easily installed in existing unit ventilators and provides not only the controlled pneumatic pressure in the output lines for the controller, but also provides electrical control signals for controlling the operation of the fan.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide such an improved controller for unit ventilators which include processing means having associated memory that provides extreme flexibility in the operation of the control of the unit ventilator in the sense that control schemes may be provided and changed to employ any desired control algorithm that may beneficially operate the controller, provided that the size of the algorithm is consistent with the memory size.

Apparatus for controlling unit ventilators


A process for the preparation of lactic acid and 2-hydroxy-3-butenoic acid or esters thereof from a sugar in the presence of a metallo-silicate material, a metal ion and a solvent, wherein the metal ion is selected from one or more of the group consisting of potassium ions, sodium ions, lithium ions, rubidium ions and caesium ions.

Carbohydrates represent the largest fraction of biomass and various strategies for their efficient use as a feedstock for commercial chemicals are being established. Biomass is of particular interest due to its potential for supplementing, and ultimately replacing, petroleum. One such commercial chemical obtainable from biomass is lactic acid; a lactic acid derivative, methyl lactate, is a convenient building block towards renewable and biodegradable solvents and polymers.
Lactic acid derivatives, in particular esters of lactic acid, may be obtained from sugars via a variety of reaction processes including biochemical (enzymatic fermentation) and synthetic (catalytic conversion). Particular attention has been focussed on synthetic routes as they provide a commercially and environmentally advantageous alternative to biochemical routes.
EP 2 184 270 B1 and Holm et. al. Science (2010), 328, p 602-605 disclose the conversion of common sugars to lactic acid derivatives wherein a heterogenous zeotype or zeolite catalyst is employed. Specifically, the conversion of glucose, sucrose or fructose to methyl lactate is disclosed. A variety of heterogenous Lewis-acid zeotype catalysts are identified as particularly active catalysts for this conversion. Sn-BEA has been identified as one of the most selective catalysts, as illustrated by the conversion of glucose, fructose and sucrose to methyl lactate with yields of 43, 44 and 68% respectively. There is a desire to further improve the percentage yield of useful products such as lactate esters and esters of 2-hydroxy-3-butenoic acid for this process.
In addition to the desire to improve the product yield of such processes using Sn-BEA as the catalyst, an increase in the product yield using alternative, easier to synthesize metallo-silicate catalysts would broaden the scope of catalysts suitable for industrially scaled processes. A particular advantage would be the application of an improved process and improved catalytic activity wherein the preparation of the catalyst itself is simplified and made suitable for industrial scale production.
Zeotype and zeolite catalysts comprising an active metal can be prepared by several methods including direct synthesis and post-synthesis preparations.
Direct synthesis methods, as described in EP 1 010 667 B1 and Chem Commun. (1997) pp 425-426, although very convenient for laboratory scale synthesis, may not be suitable for industrial scale production. These direct synthesis procedures experience practical and environmental limitations posed by: the use of reagents comprising fluoride such as hydrogen fluoride (HF); lengthy synthesis times; and the use of expensive organic templating agents which are difficult to reuse.
Recently, Hermans et al Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. (2012), 51, p 11736-11739, disclosed the preparation of Sn-BEA using a post synthesis process that does not require the use of a fluoride reagent. The post synthesis process disclosed by Hermans comprises de-aluminating a commercially available zeolite (Al-BEA), physically mixing this de-aluminated zeolite with a tin salt, followed by calcination of the de-aluminated zeolite and tin salt mixture. A general post-synthesis preparation method should thus include a step of defect generation in the silica framework via de-alumination or other similar procedure, for example de-boronation; and the addition of tin (Sn) and calcination, which produces the incorporation of Sn in the silica structure.
The post-synthesis preparation process has the advantages of: a short synthesis time; the possibility that large amounts of active metal may be incorporated into the framework structures; and avoidance of the use of expensive organic templating and a reagent comprising fluoride. These advantages enable the process of preparing the Sn-BEA to be scalable and potentially suitable for industrial scale processes. A similar post-synthesis methodology has also been applied to the synthesis of Sn-MWW: Qiang et al. ChemSus-Chem [vol 6, issue 8, 1352-1356, August (2013)].
For industrial scale catalyst production, it is a significant advantage if the metallo-silicate catalysts can be prepared by a post synthesis process; however, so far reported, all catalysts prepared by the post synthesis process are poor catalysts for the conversion of C6 sugars to lactate esters and esters of 2-hydroxy-3-butenoic acid. Only low yields of the desirable esters are obtained. See Example 1 of the present application.
Therefore there is a desire to improve both the percentage yield of the process of preparing lactic acid and 2-hydroxy-3-butenoic acid or esters thereof from sugars, in particular wherein the preparation of the catalyst is industrially feasible. It would be an additional advantage if the improvement could also broaden the scope of active catalysts suitable for this process and for an industrial scale.

Process for the conversion of sugars to lactic acid and 2-hydroxy-3-butenoic acid or esters thereof comprising a metallo-silicate material and a metal ion


An indexer part, removal processing part, interface, and dry processing part are disposed adjacent to each other in a row. That is, the removal processing part that performs removal processing of an organic matter by using a removal liquid is disposed adjacent to the indexer part loading and unloading a substrate with respect to the exterior of an apparatus. The interface that gives and receives a substrate between the removal processing part and dry processing part is interposed between the removal processing part and the dry processing part that performs dry processing of a substrate after passing through the removal processing. This enables to provide a substrate processing apparatus that can completely dry the substrate after a reaction product removal processing.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a substrate processing apparatus that removes by a removal liquid an organic matter attached to a semiconductor substrate, a grass substrate for liquid crystal display, a grass substrate for photomask, and a substrate for optical disk (hereinafter referred to simply as a "substrate"). Included in such organic matter is polymer that is formed by subjecting a thin film existing on the substrate surface to dry etching using a resist film as a mask.
2. Description of the Background Art
The manufacturing process of a semiconductor device includes the step in which a thin film of metal such as aluminum or copper (a metal film) formed on a substrate such as a semiconductor wafer is etched by using a patterned resist film as a mask, thereby to obtain wiring of the semiconductor device.
This etching step is executed for example by dry etching such as RIE (reactive ion etching).
Since the power of reactive ions used in the above dry etching is extremely strong, the resist film is changed at a constant rate when the metal film etching is terminated. As a result, part of the resist film is changed to a reaction product such as polymer and deposited on the sidewall of the metal film. This reaction product cannot be removed in a subsequent resist removal step. It is therefore necessary to remove this reaction product before or after executing the resist removal step.
Conventionally, to remove a reaction product deposited on the sidewall of a metal film, a removal liquid that functions to remove the reaction product is supplied to a substrate after dry etching step or after resist removal step. Thereafter, the substrate is washed with deionized water, and the deionized water is dried by spinning.
In the meantime, due to the recent pattern miniaturization, the deionized water attached to a substrate might not be removed satisfactorily only by drying it spinning. If the deionized water remains on the substrate, there is a fear that the remaining deionized water is reacted with a thin film, air compositions, and contaminants in the air, thereby forming new contaminant.
Hence, if there is a process of supplying deionized water to a substrate, it is necessary to completely dry the substrate.
Particularly when deionized water remains on the substrate after the reaction product removal processing, a metal thin film part is often present on the substrate surface. This causes the problem that unnecessary oxide is formed by the reaction of the metal with the deionized water. Further, when this substrate is transported to a processing under vacuum, e.g., CVD, the deionized water attached to the substrate can adversely affect the processing.

Substrate processing apparatus for removing organic matter by removal liquid


A flavored potato slice contains even distribution of flavoring, including even distribution of flavoring particles on the surface of the slice. Such potato slice is produced by a process in which the particles are suspended in a marinade in which the raw potato slices are immersed.

The usual way to apply flavoring to a french fry is for the consumer to dip it into flavoring, usually ketchup. Some consumers dip their french fries into salad dressings, taco sauces and the like. This is messy. Also, use of such dips adds cost to the restaurant in which the french fries are served.
There are currently in the marketplace french fries bearing a batter coat containing flavoring. However, such coatings are flour based or gum-starch based and have a high fat content. Also, because the coating tends to be thick, it is visible and, therefore, looks different than a french fry. Finally, the flavoring is only on the outside.


This invention is directed to a method of aligning an electrical receptacle assembly having plural electrical terminals projecting therefrom along only one side of the assembly to the edge of a substantially rectangular, planar conductive panel formed of a dielectric material, such as a printed circuit board (PCB), where such terminals are to be reflow soldered to electrically conductive paths on the surface of said planar conductive panel. The method includes the steps of (a) preparing a conductive panel joined on at least one side thereof with a carrier support portion secured to the conductive panel by plural frangible webs which may be readily severed after the soldering of the contacts to the conductive paths, (b) selecting an electrical receptacle assembly comprising an elongated housing having plural cavities, where each cavity includes an electrical terminal mounted therein, with the ends of the terminals aligned within a plane, and a pair of oppositely disposed tabs extending from the housing, (c) providing an elongated opening within the carrier support portion adjacent to the edge of the conductive panel and of a size to receive the elongated housing, where the tabs are adapted to lie upon the surface of said carrier support portion, and thereafter (d) seating the electrical receptacle assembly within the opening whereby the electrical receptacle assembly is aligned with the conductive paths on the planar conductive panel, and each terminal end contacts a corresponding conductive path on the surface of the planar conductive panel.

This invention is directed to the method of aligning a card edge connector to a planar conductive panel, such as a printed circuit board (PCB), without the necessity of plated through holes or board locks, such as found with surface mounted connectors, which thereafter are subjected to soldering of terminals to conductive paths along the planar conductive panel, and to the resulting assembly thereof.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,695,106 is representative of a surface mount connector, preferably to a PCB, where securing same to the PCB is effected by soldering posts or pins to the PCB. The soldering operation, as known in the art, may be accomplished by a number of techniques. By way of example, the soldering operation currently employed in the soldering of electrical connectors to PCBs may involve a vapor phase reflow soldering step, or an alternative soldering operation such as IR heating. This soldering step is used to render solder paste or other conductive medium, previously deposited on the conductive paths or pads, into a molten state so that a solder fillet can be formed with the respective solder tails. Other soldering methods, such as reflow soldering, may also be used in establishing a connection between the retention posts and pads located on the lower surface of the printed circuit boards opposite from the surface mount interconnections.
While the present invention contemplates the use of a soldering operation to effectively secure the connector to the edge of a planar conductive panel, the uniqueness hereof lies in the manner by which the connector is precisely aligned with the conductive paths or pads of a planar conductive panel, preferably a PCB, prior to soldering the terminals of the connector to the conductive panel.

Method of producing a card edge mounted connector and the resulting assembly thereof


The present invention is directed to synthetic cytoskeletal active compounds that are related to natural Latrunculin A or Latrunculin B. The present invention is also directed to pharmaceutical compositions comprising such compounds and a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier. The invention is additionally directed to a method of preventing or treating diseases or conditions associated with actin polymerization. In one embodiment of the invention, the method treats increased intraocular pressure, such as primary open-angle glaucoma. The method comprises administering to a subject a therapeutically effective amount of a cytoskeletal active compound of Formula I or II, wherein said amount is effective to influence the cytoskeleton, for example by inhibiting actin polymerization.

Glaucoma is an ophthalmic disease that leads to irreversible visual impairment. It is the fourth most common cause of blindness and the second most common cause of visual loss in the United States, and the most common cause of irreversible visual loss among African-Americans. Generally speaking, the disease is characterized by a progressive neuropathy caused at least in part by deleterious effects resulting from increased intraocular pressure on the optic nerve. In normal individuals, intraocular pressures ranges from 12 to 20 mm Hg, averaging approximately 16 mm Hg. However, in individuals suffering from glaucoma, intraocular pressures generally rise above 25 to 30 mm Hg and can sometimes reach 70 mm Hg. Importantly, the loss of vision can result from intraocular pressures only slightly above or even within the statistically normal range, in eyes which are unusually pressure-sensitive, over a period of years. Moreover, extremely high pressures (e.g., 70 mm Hg) may cause blindness within only a few days. [See, e.g., P. L. Kaufman and T. W. Mittag, "Medical Therapy Of Glaucoma," Ch. 9, Sec. II (pp. 9.7-9.30) In P. L. Kaufman and T. W. Mittag (eds.): Glaucoma (Vol. 7 of S. M. Podos and M. Yanoff (eds): Textbook of Opthalmology Series). London, Mosby-Year Book Europe Ltd. (1994); A. C. Guyton, Textbook of Medical Physiology (W. B. Saunders Co., Sixth Ed.), pp. 386-89 (1981)].
Open-angle glaucoma constitutes approximately 90% of all primary glaucomas and is characterized by abnormally high resistance to fluid (aqueous humor) drainage from the eye. Normal resistance is required to maintain an intraocular pressure sufficient to maintain the shape of the eye for optical integrity. This resistance is provided by the trabecular meshwork, a complex tissue consisting of specialized endothelial cells, connective tissue beams and extracellular matrix. The resistance of the trabecular meshwork normally is such that intraocular pressure is ˜16 mm Hg, a pressure at which aqueous humor leaves the eye at the same rate at which it is produced (2.5 μL/minute).
Typical treatments for glaucoma comprise a variety of pharmaceutical approaches for reducing intraocular pressure (IOP) to normal levels. Beta-blockers and carbonic anhydrase inhibitors only reduce aqueous humor production, which is needed to nourish the avascular lens and corneal endothelial cells, and the prostaglandins effect is on the uvealscleral outflow pathway, which only accounts for 10% of the total facility. There are currently no commercially approved therapeutic agents which act directly upon the trabecular meshwork, the site of increased resistance to aqueous humor outflow and thus responsible for elevated IOP. Therefore, a medical need remains for improved IOP-lowering medications that target this structure. Pharmacological agents which target the trabecular meshwork may provide relief to the significant numbers of patients that do not respond adequately to current IOP-lowering medications and/or cannot tolerate the side effects associated with these agents.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,586,425; 6,110,912; and 5,798,380 disclose a method for the treatment of glaucoma using compounds that affect the actin filament integrity of the eye to enhance aqueous humor outflow. These patents also specifically disclose kinase inhibitors and latrunculin-A, latrunculin-B, swinholide-A, and jasplakinolide, which cause a perturbation of the actin cytoskeleton in the trabecular meshwork or the modulation of its interactions with the underlying membrane. Perturbation of the cytoskeleton and the associated adhesions reduces the resistance of the trabecular meshwork to fluid flow and thereby reduces intraocular pressure.
Trabeculectomy is the most common form of glaucoma filtration surgery and remains as the first-line therapy for surgical reduction of pharmacologically uncontrolled intraocular pressure in primary open angle glaucoma. This procedure establishes a limbal fistula through which aqueous humor drains into the subconjunctival space establishing a filtering bleb to lower intraocular pressure. The success of the procedure is highly dependent on pharmacological modulation of wound healing.
A major advance in the surgical management of glaucoma has been the use of antimetabolites to prevent scarring after glaucoma filtration surgery. Postoperative scarring of the filtering bleb is the most crucial factor in determining the short and long-term outcome of modern glaucoma filtration surgery. The antimetabolites mitomycin C (MMC) and 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) are the most widely used to suppress scarring and thus failure of the filtering bleb. In a large retrospective study, conventionally performed trabeculectomy, has shown a failure rate of up to 30% within 3 months after surgery. To lower the incidence of this detrimental complication, various methods have been investigated in order to avoid the naturally occurring scarring of the filtering bleb, mostly dealing with the intraoperative or postoperative application of antimetabolic drugs—that is, 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) or mitomycin C (MMC), the two most widely used cytotoxic agents.
Despite their positive long-term effect on prolonged filtration, the application of cytotoxic drugs to a surgically opened eye increases the incidence of severe complications such as concomitant increases in vision threatening complications. MMC exhibits a high incidence of severe post-application complications as does 5-FU although its side effects mainly affect the corneal epithelium and its clinical use is limited by severe pain and discomfort to the patient. No sufficient method has been established to achieve satisfying postoperative long term surgical results with only minimal or no side effects for the patient.
There exists a need for effective and cost-practical cytoskeletal active compounds to treat glaucoma, to modulate wound healing after trabeculectomy, and to treat other diseases or disorders that are affected by the integrity of the actin cytoskeleton. Natural latrunculins, cytoskeletal active macrolides harvested and isolated from marine sponges such as Latrunculia magnifica, Negombata magnifica, and Spongia mycofijiensis, and from nudibranches, for example Chromodoris lochi, are difficult to obtain a large quantity. Latrunculin analogs currently can only be prepared using lengthy, low-yielding, and impractical syntheses (A. B. Smith III et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1992, 114, 2995-3007; J. D. White and M. Kawasaki, J. Org. Chem. 1992, 57, 5292-5300; A. Fürstner et al., Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2003, 42, 5358-5360; A. Fürstner et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 2005, 102, 8103-8108). There exists a need for novel cytoskeletal active compounds that can be prepared using simple and practical synthetic procedures.

Cytoskeletal active compounds, composition and use


An infrared detector includes: a first light receiving layer having a first cutoff wavelength; a second light receiving layer having a second cutoff wavelength longer than the first cutoff wavelength; an intermediate filter layer having a third cutoff wavelength that is the same as or longer than the first cutoff wavelength and the same as or shorter than the second cutoff wavelength, the intermediate filter layer being disposed between the first light receiving layer and the second light receiving layer; a first barrier layer disposed between the first light receiving layer and the intermediate filter layer; and a second barrier layer disposed between the second light receiving layer and the intermediate filter layer.

A Type II Superlattice (T2SL) epitaxially grown on a compound semiconductor substrate is formed by repeatedly laminating different crystal materials having a lattice constant close to the substrate in a short period. There is an advantage such that, since infrared rays can be absorbed by transition between minibands formed in the superlattice, a quantum efficiency is high. In the T2SL, a cutoff wavelength can be changed by controlling a film thickness of a material forming the superlattice. For example, from middle-wavelength infrared rays (3 to 5 μm) to long-wavelength infrared rays (8 to 12 μm), it is relatively easy to design a wavelength to be detected.
A configuration is proposed that detects two-wavelength infrared light by a single element by using two T2SLs having sensitivity with respect to different wavelengths as light receiving layers and disposing a barrier layer between the two light receiving layers.
FIG. 1 illustrates a known two-wavelength detection element. A first absorption layer 202, a barrier layer 204, a second absorption layer 206, and an interface layer 208 are disposed in this order, and the second absorption layer 206 is connected to a reading chip by the interface layer 208. Light enters from a side of the first absorption layer 202 having a large band gap. By switching polarities of biases applied to the first absorption layer 202 and the second absorption layer 206, light having a first wavelength and light having a second wavelength are detected.
Examples of the related art include Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2015-38977

Infrared detector and imaging device using the same


A silicon nitride film having a thickness of 3 nm or less is formed on the surfaces of a P-well and N-well, as well as on the upper and side surfaces of a gate electrode, in which the silicon nitride film can be formed, for example, by exposing the surface of the P-well and N-well, and the upper and side surfaces of the gate electrode to a nitrogen-gas-containing plasma using a magnetron RIE apparatus. Then, pocket layers, extension layers and source/drain layers are formed while leaving the silicon nitride film unremoved.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device suitable for composing CMOS (complementary metal-oxide semiconductor) and a method of manufacturing thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
General procedures for manufacturing conventional CMOS transistor are as follows. FIGS. 15A through 17C are schematic sectional views serially showing process steps of a conventional method of manufacturing a CMOS transistor.
First as shown in FIG. 15A, an element isolation region 4 is formed in the surficial portion of a P-type semiconductor substrate 1, and wells are then formed in the device forming areas partitioned by the element isolation region 4, where a P-well 2 is formed in an N-channel MOS (NMOS) area, and an N-well 3 is formed in a P-channel MOS (PMOS) area.
Next as shown in FIG. 15B, an insulating film and a polysilicon film are formed on the semiconductor substrate 1, and then patterned to thereby form gate insulating films 5 and gate electrodes 6, respectively, in the device forming areas.
Next as shown in FIG. 15C, a resist film 21 is formed so as to cover the PMOS area and to expose the NMOS area. Using the resist film 21 and gate electrode 6 together as a mask, arsenic is ion-implanted at a high concentration to thereby form extension layers 11 in the P-well 2, and then boron or indium is ion-implanted to thereby form pocket layers 9 deeper in the P-well 2. Ion implantation of boron or indium herein is carried out from a direction normal to or declined away from the surface of the semiconductor substrate 1.
Next as shown in FIG. 16A, the resist film 21 is removed, and a resist film 22 is formed so as to cover the NMOS area and to expose the PMOS area. Using the resist film 22 and gate electrode 6 together as a mask, boron is ion-implanted at a high concentration to thereby form extension layers 12 in the N-well 3, and then arsenic is ion-implanted to thereby form pocket layers 10 deeper in the N-well 3. Ion implantation of arsenic herein is carried out from a direction normal to or declined away from the surface of the semiconductor substrate 1.
Next as shown in FIG. 16B, the resist film 22 is removed, an insulating film is formed over the entire surface, and the film is then anisotropically etched so as to leave a portion of such film only on the side surfaces of the gate electrodes 6, to thereby form side walls 13.
Next as shown in FIG. 16C, a resist film 25 is formed on the semiconductor substrate 1 so as to cover the PMOS area and to expose the NMOS area. Using the resist film 25, gate electrode 6 and side walls 13 together as a mask, arsenic is ion-implanted at a high concentration to thereby form deep source/drain diffusion regions 14.
Next as shown in FIG. 17A, the resist film 25 is removed, and a resist film 26 is formed on the semiconductor substrate 1 so as to cover the NMOS area and to expose the PMOS area. Using the resist film 26, gate electrode 6 and side walls 13 together as a mask, boron is ion-implanted at a high concentration to thereby form deep source/drain diffusion regions 15.
Then as shown in FIG. 17B, the resist film 26 is removed, and a silicide layer, which is typically a cobalt silicide layer 16, is then formed on the gate electrodes 6 and source/drain diffusion regions 14 and 15.
This process successfully yields a CMOS transistor.
The foregoing process however suffers from a drawback such that the resist films 21, 22 used as the masks when the pocket layers and extension layers are formed must be removed after these layers are formed, where ashing or wet treatment required for removing the resist films 21, 22 inevitably oxidizes the silicon substrate. Oxidation of the silicon substrate results in loss of the implanted impurities, which fails in attaining an expected concentration and profile. Oxidation of the silicon substrate is also disadvantageous in that making the extension layers distant from the gate portion to thereby substantially deepen junction of the extension layers. This undesirably causes degradation of the characteristics, which is typified by short-channel effect.
Another disadvantage of the above-described manufacturing method relates to annealing which is necessary for activating impurities in the source/drain region 15 after the formation thereof, where the annealing undesirably promotes outward diffusion of impurities which reside in the channel to thereby cause depletion of the channel, or undesirably promotes outward diffusion of impurities which reside in the source/drain diffusion region 15.
There is known a technique for suppressing the outward diffusion, which is an oxide film capping based on RTO (rapid thermal oxidation). Another known technique relates to formation of an outward diffusion preventive film, which is typified by a nitride film having a thickness of 100 nm or around formed by CVD process. The oxide film capping, however, suffers from a drawback such that profile of the source/drain diffusion layer becomes deeper due to accelerated diffusion induced by oxygen. On the other hand, formation of the nitride film having a thickness of 100 nm or around on the side surfaces of the gate electrode by the CVD process tends to result in increased stress and abnormal diffusion.

Method of manufacturing a semiconductor device with a notched gate electrode


The present disclosure provides biological fuel cells comprising a paper-based fuel delivery layer which delivery fuel to the biological anode and cathode via capillary action and/or evaporation. In some embodiments the paper-based fuel delivery layer incorporates an outwardly extending fan-shaped region which enables a constant volumetric flow rate through the cell.

Fuel cells provide clean and efficient mechanisms for energy production. However, both enzymatic and microbial biofuel cells are typically bulky devices containing three-dimensional voluminous fuel reservoirs and macro-scaled electrodes of different geometries. Accordingly, there remains a need for small, portable, lightweight fuel cell-based systems.
Enzyme-based fuel cells run on the same fuel as the human body, such as the glucose in Coca-Cola, but without the expense of the noble metal catalysts of conventional fuel cells, or the short shelf-life of microbial fuel cells. The design of enzymatic fuel cells today is based on over 20 years of research focused on ensuring that each liberated electron is efficiently and rapidly transferred to a solid electrode, either via electron-carrying mediators, or via direct electron transfer from enzyme to electrode. Although electron transfer is no longer a performance limiter, enzyme fuel cells remain limited in power output and lifetime, and thus are ill-suited to power practical devices such as cell phones and autonomous sensors.
The gist of the present challenge is to design cells that allow rapid transport of both fuel and oxygen to bound enzyme, and thereby circumvent the rate-limited performance of current designs. More specifically, cells must be designed to ensure an ever-present three-phase-interface between fuel, air and enzyme, a condition which is essential for each enzyme to turn over at its maximum rate.


A concrete form foam block, of an Insulating Concrete Form System, comprises a pair of opposed and parallel foam panels spaced using a plurality of plastic ties. Each tie comprises full panel height flanges which engage the panels and a web portion extending therebetween. The web comprises a plurality of horizontal members, preferably four or more, which are distributed substantially along the full height of the flanges. The web includes a pair of full height anti-flash members for preventing the escape of flash during formation of mould-in panels. The top edges and bottom edges of each panel are formed with longitudinal tongues and grooves which interlock with adjacent blocks. Preferably additional transverse top tongues and complementary bottom grooves are located at each tie, forcing the alignment of vertically adjacent block's flanges. The combination of full height and aligned flanges results in a substantially continuous flange for the attachment of finishing materials. Preferably, indicia are provided, seen from the outside of the panel, for locating the position of the flanges. The same tie can be used in both a moulded-in or a slide-in configuration. Slide-in panels are formed with "T"-shaped slots amenable to accept the flanges of the ties.

Insulating Concrete Form Systems ("ICFS") are known which act as a form to contain the fluid concrete while it solidifies, and also provide insulation for the finished structure. ICFS utilise a plurality of individual units or blocks, assembled in an interlocking arrangement, to create the forms for the concrete walls Each block comprises a pair of foamed plastic panels, which are held together with a plurality of ties.
The ties are truss-like and comprise flange portions which reside within the foam panels and an intermediate web portion connecting the flange portions, thus securing and holding the panel portions. One such example is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,229,920 to Lount, issued Oct. 28, 1980 who teaches use of a block having a multi-component tie.
More contemporary ICFS designs have implemented ties having integral flanges and web portions. Examples of this construction include U.S. Pat. No. 5,390,459 to Mensen, U.S. Pat. No. 4,884,382 to Horobin and U.S. Pat. No. 4,731,968 to Obino.
Horobin teaches slide-in ties which have complementary flanges and "T" slots formed in the panels. Each slot extends from the top of the panel to a point just lower than the mid-point. Accordingly, both the tie and the flange portions of the tie are substantially less in height than the panel. The flange itself has an "H" profile in plan; the outer portion for engaging the panel's "T"-slot, and the inner portion for stabilizing the inner face of the panel. The tie's web comprises three horizontal tension members, joined together at the flanges.
Obino provides a tie similar to Horobin, but the flanges are moulded into the foam of the panel. Both the web and flanges are substantially shorter than the panels. The web structure is continuous; lacking any holes.
In Mensen, the tie is moulded into the panel with the flange located flush with the outside of the panel. The flange extends substantially the full height of the panel. In side view, the tie resembles an "H", the horizontal dash representing the web portion being much narrower that the flanges. Diagonal gussets extend from the web's midpoint to points adjacent the distal ends of each flange.
These above designs result in non-optimal distribution of the hydrostatic stress of the fluid concrete across the narrow central web portion of the tie and in the upper and lower portions of the foam panels. In Horobin and Obino, the foam portion is completely unsupported by the tie at the panel's upper and lower ends. In Mensen, the tips of the flanges are inadequately supported by the gussets. The result is excessive deformation of the top and bottom portions of the foam panels when filled with concrete. This is especially apparent when high vertical concrete lifts (a full; 8' high wall) are poured in a single stage.
Mensen, Horobin and Obino permit attachment of interior and exterior surface finishing materials such as drywall or siding to the vertically-oriented flange portions of the ties. Of these three designs, only Mensen provides a flange which extends substantially the full height of the panels and is visible from outside the block for ease of attaching fastening devices.
Conventional systems permit vertical misalignment such that the flanges of adjacent blocks are not always aligned vertically. This poses difficulties for installers who need to accurately locate the flanges when attaching finishing materials
Within the typical dimensions of building construction there is frequently the need for a half-height concrete form block to be used, for example, below and above window openings. Although some ICFS designs provide a custom block having a less-than-standard height, none of the existing designs permits a block to cut horizontally in half to create a "half-height" block which continues to provide independently structurally sound characteristics.
In summary, the blocks of conventional systems, as described above, have the following features in common:
a pair of substantially rectangular foamed plastic panels; PA1 two or more ties which extend across the space between panels for securing the panels in opposing, parallel, and spaced orientation, the spacing forming a cavity therebetween for containing the fluid concrete while it solidifies; PA1 the web portions of the ties being substantially less in height than the panels; and PA1 means associated with the edges of the panels for engaging cooperating means on adjacent blocks in order to assemble the complete wall form system. PA1 inadequate support of hydrostatic pressures; PA1 deficient flange configuration, being either, PA1 that they are too short to provide a convenient support upon which to mechanically fasten finishing materials as in Horobin and Obino, or PA1 that they cause interruption of the integrity of the outer face of the panel, compromising adhesion of surface mount materials like stucco, as is the case in Mensen; and PA1 permitting misalignment of flanges between vertically adjacent blocks, further complicating the mechanical fastening of the finishing materials. PA1 a pair of rectangular foam plastic panels having inner and outer faces, top and bottom and end edges; PA1 at least two ties spaced longitudinally and parallel from each other, each of which extend perpendicularly between the inner faces of the panels so as to space the panels in opposing and parallel orientation, each tie having two opposed flange portions and a web portion extending therebetween, each flange portion forming a vertical stud which extends substantially the height of the panels and is moulded within each panel, the web portion comprising a plurality of horizontally extending members distributed substantially along the full height of the flanges, the web having a majority of its cross-sectional area comprising open space; and PA1 interlocking means along the edges of the panels so that the block interlocks with other blocks when placed adjacent one another.
Disadvantages associated with the above systems include:
Despite attempts to solve various shortcomings of the conventional blocks, the applicant is not aware of a system which provides sufficient strength to competently support the hydrostatic head of a full-height wall of fresh concrete, and enables convenient attaching of finishing materials.


A shaper circuit is provided in a line adapter, not in an ATM switch. A billing section is provided on the output side of the shaper circuit. The shaper circuit is configured to output M cells for N cell slots at a temporally smooth rate, where M and N are integers. This configuration serves to optimize buffer capacity for shaping, prevents charging for discarded cells, and allows a full rate setting matched to a line speed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the configuration of a line adapter that interfaces between an ATM switch section and each line accommodated in an asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) switching machine that accommodates high-speed and low-speed lines in intermingled fashion and performs cell-based switching.
2. Description of the Related Art
In an ATM switching machine accommodating high-speed lines operating at 46 Mbits/s, 155 Mbits/s, etc. and low-speed lines operating at 6 Mbits/s, 1.5 Mbits/s, etc. in intermingled fashion, cell traffic from the ATM switch section fluctuates greatly, and therefore, it is necessary to provide a shaper circuit for smoothing out the traffic for delivery to each line.
A shaper circuit has on its input side a cell buffer for storing cells. Arriving cells are temporarily stored in the cell buffer, and read out and output at a constant rate, thus smoothing out the cell traffic. According to traffic theory, when there is a large difference between the incoming cell highway speed and the outgoing cell rate (line rate) in the shaper circuit (which means that the outgoing line rate is low), the cell buffering capacity of the cell buffer must be increased to reduce the cell loss rate (CLR).
Traditionally, such a shaper circuit has been placed in the ATM switch section, in which case, however, a cell buffer having a capacity matched to a low-speed line had to be provided for each line so that various kinds of lines of different speeds can be supported. Such cell capacity is redundant for high-speed lines, and increases the cost of the ATM switching machine.
Generally, in ATM switching, a charge is made to a subscriber based on the cell amount transmitted to the subscriber's line. On the other hand, in a shaper circuit, when cells are input in bursts, cell loss may occur; therefore, a measure must be taken to prevent a charge from being made for discarded cells.
In the prior art, the shaper circuit has been constructed to read out a cell for output for every N cell slots, where N is a value equal to the incoming cell highway speed divided by a specified outgoing cell rate. Here, N is not limited to an integer but may take a real number given in fixed point representation. The shaper circuit may sometimes be required to output cells at a rate perfectly matched to the line speed (at full rate) in order to minimize cell discard in the shaper circuit. In this case, the N is set to a value equal to the system cell highway speed divided by the line speed. This value is not always expressed in fixed point representation with a finite number of digits, such as 3/7, and in such a case, the above prior art shaper circuit cannot output cells at exactly the full rate.
For cells output on the line from the ATM switching system, a format conversion buffer is provided that converts data contained in the cells conforming to the cell format in the ATM switching machine, to the cell format on the outgoing line. Further, a phase-locked oscillator (PLO) is used to synchronize the line clock to the system clock. However, when system switching is made for the purpose of system maintenance, etc., a situation occurs where the PLO is temporarily put out of synchronization. In this situation, if the system speed is high and the line speed is low, there is a possibility that cells exceeding the capacity of the cell buffer may be sent out. This has necessitated the provision of a buffer capacity larger than that used in normal system operation.
In the prior art, since a method has been employed in which human operators perform checks by tracing output cell data, cell slots, etc. using general-purpose measuring instruments, there has been a limitation in testing the speed and cell rate under actual operating conditions. Furthermore, the need for necessary measuring instruments has lead to an increase in cost.


In a design part reusing method in a configuration tool, a reference link defining an alias relationship between one functional object and another functional object is set. The reference link is explicitly displayed on a display between icons respectively representing one functional object and another functional object. One functional object and another functional object are set as aliases on the basis of the reference link. The reference link is explicitly disconnected to cancel the alias relationship on the display.

The present invention relates to a part reusing method of allowing a designer to smoothly reuse past design results in a control design configuration tool used to develop control software such as a system control program for a control system.
A control design configuration tool is a software system for designing a control system, converting a design result into a data form usable in a controller, and outputting the converted data. FIG. 8 shows a control design example on such a control design configuration tool. A designer displays, in an editing window or editing sheet 81 of a display, basic functional parts (to be referred to as control parts hereinafter) 82, 83, and 84 corresponding to input/output (I/O) points such as analog input (AI) parts and analog output (AO) parts and control points such as PID parts. The designer then defines connection relationships 85 and 86 of input/output terminals 82b, 83a, 83b, 84a of these control parts to design a control system and create control software.
At this time, if the past design results constituted by a plurality of control parts can be effectively reused, the efficiency of the design jobs can be improved, and hence the productivity can be improved.
In many conventional control design configuration tools, even if basic functional parts (control parts) corresponding to the minimum functional units of the controller and the set values (data) of the respective control parts are reusable, the design results constituted by a combination of a plurality of control parts cannot be reused.
In order to solve this problem, an attempt has been made to represent a design result having a specific function in the form of software IC parts on a configuration tool. More specifically, a design result (reusable parts) constituted by a plurality of control parts is defined as a black box, and input/output data associated with the function of this black box are represented by the input/output terminals of the black box.
In the form of software IC parts described above, it is difficult to obtain information serving as a clue to determine whether to apply the design result and associated with connection destinations of the input/output terminals of the reusable parts (black box). For this reason, a design result to be reused cannot be smoothly searched. That is, it is difficult to determine destination parts to be connected to the input/output terminals of the reusable parts and the attributes of the destination parts by simply observing the constituent parts of the design result to be reused. Therefore, inappropriate basic control parts may be connected to reusable parts in design due to the shortage of information associated with connections between the input/output terminals, thus degrading efficiency of design jobs.
Conventionally, in order to obtain such information, an instruction manual attached to the design result representing software IC parts, and a document describing information associated with connections between the input/output terminals must be separately searched, thus requiring a long search time.
Even if connection destination parts connected to the design result to be reused have set values or data common to the parts connected to the reusable parts, no means is provided to share these data. The same data must be input again at the reuse destination. As a result, the data input becomes time-consuming and cumbersome, and input errors may degrade the design quality.

Design part reusing method in configuration tool


A method of creating an interlaced composite image. The method comprises receiving a plurality of images selected for generating an interlaced composite image by interlacing a plurality of image strips from each image, providing a filter as a function of an approximate inverse transform of an undesired distortion dataset representing at least one estimated undesired distortion caused by an autostereoscopic display element when a user views the interlaced composite image via the autostereoscopic display element, generating a reduced artifact interlaced composite image by applying the filter on the plurality of images, and outputting the reduced artifact interlaced composite image.

The present invention, in some embodiments thereof, relates to autostereoscopic displays and, more particularly, but not exclusively, to an apparatus and a method for reducing artifacts in autostereoscopic displays.
In recent years, there has been rapid improvement in graphics display techniques aimed at providing a perception of three dimensions and other optical illusions. Three dimensional images displayed on a two-dimensional screen using conventional display technology contain limited three dimensional cues such as obscuration, depth effect, and illumination effects. For enhanced three dimensional displays, special architectures depart from conventional two dimensional displays.
Common three dimensional (3D) displays, also referred to as auto-stereoscopic displays, provide 3D visualization without requiring the user to wear glasses or other devices. Of special interest are auto-stereoscopic displays that use optics such as lenticular lenses, a lenticular mask, and parallax barrier to direct a set of views to different angles. This type of displays is by far the most common in print as well as in digital displays such as computer monitors, mobile devices and recently also television sets.
Another type of product that provides a 3D visualization without requiring the user to wear glasses or other devices are lenticular printing articles. These articles are created in a process consisting of creating a composite interlaced composite image by interlacing various images, and attaching it with a lenticular lens arrangement, such as a sheet, to form a lenticular image article. When digitally processing the composite interlaced composite image, various images are collected are flattened into individual, different frame files, and then digitally combined by interlacing into a single final file in a process which may be referred to herein as interlacing. The lenticular printing can be used to create a dynamic image, for example by offsetting the various layers at different increments in order to give a 3D effect to the observer, various frames of animation that gives a motion effect to the observer, a set of alternate images that each appears to the observer as transforming into another. One of the most common methods of lenticular printing, which accounts for the vast majority of lenticular images in the world today, is lithographic printing of the composite interlaced composite image directly onto lower surface of a lenticular lens sheet.

Methods and systems of reducing blurring artifacts in lenticular printing and display


The present invention pertains to a book scanner that reads the image of an document such as a book or magazine while it is placed open and face up, and more particularly, to an image reader that detects the height distribution of the document prior to performing a pre-scanning to detect the size of the document and the background luminance of the document. Thus, a focal length adjustment is performed in response to the detected height distribution while the pre-scanning takes place in order to prevent defocusing caused by the curvature of the document consisting of an open book or magazine. The book reader also reads the book in at least two spectral regions to detect and eliminate image anomalies.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to an image reader suitable for reading a bound document, such as a book or magazine.
2. Description of the Related Art
Image readers, called book scanners, have already been commercialized. In these devices, an image sensing unit is arranged above a document table, so as to provide an open space several tens of centimeters in height between the document table and the image sensing unit. When reading a bound document (hereinafter referred to as "book document") such as a bound document file or magazine, a user places the open book document on the document table so that the document surface is facing upward. When the start key is pressed, an illumination lamp is turned ON, and prescanning is executed. Operation settings are set based on the information obtained by the prescanning, and thereafter a main scanning is executed. In the main scanning, the image read is sequentially output to an external device. If the external device is a printer, a copy image is formed on a real-time. The efficiency of multi-page reading operations is increased because the pages of a book document disposed on document table can be turned when using a book scanner. Furthermore, damage to scanned documents is greatly reduced compared arrangements requiring face-down orientation of open book documents. In the following discussion, book documents include filed documents.
Unlike a single sheet document, the document surface (i.e., the surface to be read) of a book document is curved. In other words, depending on the position along the bilateral direction on the book, the height of the document varies. Due to this height differential, distortion occurs in the read image in accordance with the state of curvature and unsharpness of focus. A book scanner measures the curved condition (the height distribution of the surface of the document), and carries out focus adjustment and distortion correction depending on the result of the measurement. For the method to measure the curved condition of the document surface, a method in which the image of an edge surface, which is the part of the book called the `head`, is taken and image analysis is performed (U.S. Pat. No. 5,585,926), as well as a slit-light projection method used in three-dimensional measurement (U.S. Pat. No. 5,084,611) are available.
In pre-scanning, in addition to the measurement of height distribution, the density of the background of the document, the size of the document and the positions of the user's hands that hold the document to maintain the curved condition are also measured. Measurement of the background density is necessary to set the density of the output image, measurement of the document size is necessary for the purpose of automatic paper selection (APS) and automatic magnification selection (AMS). Depending on the positions of the hands, the range of masking so as to eliminate the images of the hands from the read image is set.
However, in a conventional book scanner, the problem arises that where the curvature of the surface of the document is large, there are areas that go out of focus during pre-scanning, so that the accuracy of measurement during pre-scanning regarding the condition of the document, including the background density and size, decreases and the reading operation parameter settings become inappropriate.
In addition, in a conventional book scanner, because the background density, the size of the document, and the height distribution of the document are all measured based on the information taken from an optical image of one wavelength distribution, the measurement accuracy is not optimal for all measured parameters.


A decorative lawn ornament for supporting an object, such as a rain gauge, comprises an assembly featuring a decorative member, a support device and a support mechanism. The decorative member comprises a metal plate shaped to have visual appeal having a hole therein for mounting on the support device. The support device features a receiving portion for supporting the object, a mounting portion for detachably engaging the plate and a reinforcing portion for supporting said receiving portion on said mounting portion. The mounting portion features a groove in the top surface of a protruding member which extends from one side of the plate to the other through the hole. To mount the plate on the support device, the top edge of the hole in the plate fits within the groove and the bottom edge of the hole slides over the bottom surface of the protruding member and snaps into place. The support mechanism comprises a rod removably engaged to a hole in the bottom of the protruding member, such that the rod can be driven into the ground to support the assembly.

In lawn and garden care, both decorative ornaments and weather devices, such as rain gauges, are often used. Efforts have been made to combine the functional and decorative nature of these two classes of objects. Decorative rain gauges which often feature nature-oriented statuettes are an example of such a combination. The resulting products, while both useful and visually appealing, lack adaptability and versatility as their method of display is limited to resting on a horizontal surface and their appearance is limited by the permanency of their decorative aspect.

Decorative lawn ornament for supporting a weather device


Device for producing a drilled hole with an undercut in a facing panel, consisting of a drilling machine and a drilling tool for forming the drilled hole connected to the drilling machine via an adapter for transferring torque; and a holding device of a supporting stand having a swivel bearing for holding the drilling machine so that it can swivel with the drilling tool attached to it. To extend the service life of the drilling tool the adapter consists of a drive part connected to the drilling machine so as to transfer torque and a tool holder connectable with the drive part and a device for releasably securing the tool holder to the drive part so that the center line of the tool holder is inclined relative to the center line of the drive part, which is aligned with the drive axis of the drilling machine, so that only a portion of the circumference of the drilling tool engages the panel during formation of the drilled hole. When the drilling tool is not being driven to form the drilled hole, the tool holder can be detached from the drive part, rotated relative to it and resecured to it so that a fresh engagement region of the drilling tool replaces a worn engagement region.

The present invention relates to a device for making a drilled hole with an undercut, particularly in a facing panel made of ceramics, stone, concrete or the like.
A known device for making a drilled hole with an undercut consists of a drilling machine for producing a torque, a drilling tool for engaging a facing panel to form a drilled hole therein; holding means of a supporting stand having a swivel bearing for receiving and mounting the drilling machine so that it can swivel with the drilling tool attached to it and an adapter receiving the drilling tool, which is connectable to the drilling tool and the drilling machine so as to transfer torque from the drilling machine to the drilling tool.
To produce a drilled hole with an undercut, devices are known which have a bearing bush with a concave recess in which a drilling tool provided with a convex collar is supported and mounted so as to swivel. By swivelling out the drilling tool while simultaneously performing a stirring movement, lateral cutting edges provided on the drilling tool ream out an undercut in the region of the bottom of the drilled hole. An expansible fixing plug with an expansible sleeve can be inserted and fixed in the undercut in an interlocking manner.
Such drilled holes with an undercut can also be made in a facing panel or similar structure, but in that case the undercut must be made very exactly, so that, when an expansible anchor is inserted and expanded, the expansion pressure that is produced is not too great. To produce an exact undercut, these devices are designed to allow an automatic, machine-controlled swivelling. In addition, drilling tools that have a drilling head set with diamond chips are used. When the drilling tool clamped in alignment with the drive axis of the drilling machine digs into the facing panel, the entire end face of the truncated cone-shaped drilling head comes into engagement. This requires a high contact pressure of the drilling tool, which leads to the diamond chips becoming prematurely blunt, because of the slower cutting speed in the center of the end face of the drilling tool. This considerably reduces the service life of the drilling tool.

Device for making a drilled hole with an undercut

fischerwerke Artur Fischer GmbH & Co. KG.