Bromine is scrubbed from a gaseous mixture of bromine and hydrogen bromide by passing the mixture into a mixture formed from (i) diphenylethane and/or partially brominated diphenylethane with average bromine number less than about 2 and (ii) a catalytic quantity of iron and/or iron halide in which the halogen atoms are bromine atoms and/or chlorine atoms. Component (i) is brominated, and during such bromination, the mixture is kept hot enough to melt the organics to provide a liquid phase in the scrubber. Gaseous mixtures of bromine and hydrogen bromide are formed in processes of the invention in which decabromodiphenylethane products are produced using the partially brominated diphenylethane as feed to the bromination, which is conducted using an aluminum-based catalyst. Effective ways of removing iron catalyst residues from partially brominated diphenylethane or from decabromodiphenylethane product are also described.

Decabromodiphenylethane (DBDPE), 1,2-bis(pentabromophenyl)ethane, is a time-proven commercial flame retardant for use in many flammable macromolecular materials, e.g. thermoplastics, thermosets, cellulosic materials and back coating applications.
Among prior processes for effecting bromination of diphenylethane (DPE) are those described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,457,248; 6,518,468; 6,958,423; 6,603,049; 6,768,033; and 6,974,887. The catalysts of choice in conducting such brominations are aluminum catalysts such as aluminum powder and aluminum trihalides in which the halogen is chlorine and/or bromine, and iron catalysts such as iron powder or iron trihalides in which the halogen is chlorine and/or bromine.
While the bromination process can be conducted in various ways, it is desirable to carry out the process in an excess of liquid bromine as the reactant and reaction medium. In such processes, a substantial portion of the major coproduct of the reaction, gaseous hydrogen bromide contains bromine in the vapor state. In order to recover the bromine for reuse, it is necessary to separate the bromine from the gaseous hydrogen bromide. Also, since anhydrous hydrogen bromide is commercially useful as a reactant for producing other chemical products, the removal of bromine from the gaseous hydrogen bromide provides anhydrous hydrogen bromide of sufficient purity for such commercial uses.
Heretofore, gaseous mixtures of bromine and hydrogen bromide have been fed to diphenyl oxide whereby partially brominated diphenyl oxide is formed. This reaction proceeds readily in the absence of a catalyst when using less than 2 moles of bromine per mole of diphenyl oxide.

Process for separation of bromine from gaseous hydrogen bromide and use of such process in production of decabromodiphenylethane


Amine functionality-containing materials such as cationic cellulose-based compositions are coated to suppress their tendency to generate "amine odors" in an alkaline pH environment. Further provided are effervescent compositions, liquid or solid soap formulations, fabric softeners, shampoos and the like comprising such materials coated with a suitable coating composition.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to compositions comprising amine functionality-containing materials provided with a coating which suppresses the generation and release of offensive "amine" odors. The compositions of the present invention allow for a delay of the onset of amine odors, and also greatly reduce the intensity of amine odors.
2. Discussion of the Background
Amine functionality-containing materials are commonly used in cosmetic and household products, including bathing preparations. Many products containing materials with amine functionalities (quaternary ammonium and amide moieties as well as materials with trace or greater quantities of amine) such as some liquid and solid soap, are used in everyday life. Other amine functionality-containing products include bath preparations such as bubble bath and bath powders and beads, and effervescent tablet compositions such as ActiBath.RTM.. Cationic cellulose, a quaternary ammonium-containing product, is one example of an amine functionality-containing material that is frequently included in such compositions due to the high quality "feel" or slipperiness it lends the product. The inclusion of cationic cellulose (polyquaternium 10, Polymer JR, Polymer LR, etc.) in products that are either alkaline in nature or used at an alkaline pH, generates amine-based volatile products.
A problem with the above products that are a part of our daily lives, is that the amine functionality-containing materials which ordinarily comprise these products release amine odors, commonly characterized by consumers as a "fishy" smell in an alkaline environment. These amine odors are formed as a result of the amine functionality-containing material coming into contact with alkaline materials for an extended period of time. At a neutral or low pH, amine salts are formed. These salts are not volatile and therefore non-odorous. However, in a high pH environment (above pH.apprxeq.7.5), the amine odor surfaces and is unavoidable. These amine odors are very unpleasant and represent a significant problem, especially for products which are formulated without fragrances.
One way to control these odors is to decrease the level of the amine functionality-containing materials. However, the product produced having a lower concentration of these materials is normally not as effective or desirable.
Other efforts to control the amine odor have been attempted. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,211,870 to Gilbert et al describes the use of a zeolite odor-controlling agent comprising a member selected from the group consisting of intermediate (SiO.sub.2 /Al.sub.2 O.sub.3)Y zeolites, mordenites, large pore beta zeolites, and mixtures thereof, in combination with a personal cleansing bar or in liquid cleansing compositions.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,204,023 to Behan et al discloses the use of reaction products of amines and aldehydes with the potential to chemically reduce the concentration of aldehydic malodorance by direct chemical trapping, with concomitant release of desirable perfume aldehydes into the product over time. The process, in effect, provides an exchange process by replacing unwanted aldehydes with desirable aldehydes.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,002,758 to Ichii et al (hereinafter, "Ichii '758") discusses a bathing preparation containing fumaric acid and a carbonate which does not cause floating of fumaric acid or foaming of a bath. The process provides for the mixing of a particulate material with another substance that will melt at a much lower temperature than the particulate material. Specifically, the bathing preparation is obtained by incorporating into the fumaric acid bathing preparation, or as a coating thereof, a specific amount of carboxymethyl cellulose or an alkali metal salt thereof or polyethylene glycol, and a nonionic surface active agent.
However, a satisfactory amine functionality-containing material which delays the onset of amine odors for an extended period of time and which also reduces the intensity of the amine odor has not been developed to date.

Coated amine functionality-containing materials


The present invention is intended to provide a diagnostic method for paratuberculosis by which an animal infected with Mycobacterium avium subsp. Paratuberculosis can be diagnosed at a high sensitivity in the sub-clinical infection stage before the specific antibody level begins to increase and a large number of specimens can be treated. The present invention provides: a diagnostic method for paratuberculosis characterized by collecting the blood of a subject animal, adding an anti-IL-10 antibody and a Mycobacterium avium subsp. Paratuberculosis antigen to the collected blood followed by culture, and then measuring the amount of produced IFNγ in the blood; a diagnostic method for paratuberculosis characterized in that the amount of produced IFNγ in blood is measured by the IFNγ ELISA method; and a diagnostic method for mycobacterial infection characterized by collecting the blood of a subject animal, adding an anti-IL-10 antibody and a mycobacterial antigen to the collected blood followed by culture, and then measuring the amount of produced IFNγ in the blood.

Paratuberculosis is caused by Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis that is one of acid-fast bacteria, and is a chronic granulomatous diarrheal infectious disease in ruminants such as cattle, goats, sheep, and buffalos. With regard to pandemic of bovine paratuberculosis in Japan, the increase of infected animals and the expansion of the outbreak areas have been seen since 1980. In particular, the outbreak numbers increased at a rate of 100 to 200 cattle/year from the 1990s, and exceeded 800 in 2000.
FIG. 1 shows the course of infection (from infection to onset of symptoms) of paratuberculosis and shift in immune response. Paratuberculosis is developed by oral infection of Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis in the early period after birth. However, most of the routes of infection are still unclear, and differences in the course of the disease between individuals are larger than those in any other diseases.
The sub-clinical infection stage between infection and onset of symptoms, (clinical signs such as diarrhea are observed), is generally 2 to 5 years or more. In some individuals, the period is about ten years or more, or the symptoms are not found throughout their life. From this standpoint, paratuberculosis is considered as an "ultrachronic infection".
The ELISA method is a diagnostic method involving detecting a specific antibody against Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis, and is prevalent all over the world because of its simplicity (see Momotani Eiichi "Up-to-date information on diagnosis of bovine Johne's disease", Journal of Clinical Veterinary Medicine, vol. 16 (9), 1998, 24-31, in Japanese). However, the method can be used in diagnosing cattle in advanced stage, or after increase of antibody level, but cannot diagnose sub-clinically infected animals before the specific antibody level increases. However, as a result of prevalence of this ELISA method as a standard for diagnosis of paratuberculosis, sub-clinically infected animals that cannot be diagnosed by the ELISA method relatively increases, although ELISA-positive cattle decreases. Therefore, the diagnosis becomes increasingly harder.
Meanwhile, as shown in FIG. 1, the cell-mediated immunity of an animal infected with Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis is induced at the early stage of infection but is then gradually decreased. Examples of diagnostic methods of such cell-mediated immunity include a johnin reaction and an interferon γ (IFNγ) ELISA method.
The Johnin reaction (johnin intradermal reaction) is a diagnostic method of detecting the cell-mediated immunological response of a host against Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis and is an intradermal reaction similar to the tuberculin reaction in tuberculosis. That is, the diagnosis is performed by: intradermally injecting a culture supernatant of Mycobacterium avium subsp. Paratuberculosis (Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis PPD, Johnin PPD) to the root of the tail of a subject animal; and observing and measuring the redness and swelling at the injection site again. The method has been conventionally used, and also in Japan, this method is employed as a diagnostic method for paratuberculosis in the Domestic Animal Infectious Disease Control Law.
However, johnin reaction requires two visits to a farm for diagnosing and moreover, in the case of many subject animals to be tested, requires more labor and time, so that it is unfavorable for the test of a large number of specimens. Therefore, to detect a specific antibody, the ELISA method tends to be more widely performed in the world than johnin reaction.
On the other hand, the IFNγ ELISA method is a method of detecting the amount of produced IFNγ in vitro utilizing a cell-mediated immunological response against Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis (see Billman-Jacobe H, Carrigan M, Cockram F, Corner L A, Gill I J, Hill J F, Jessep T, Milner A R, Wood P R, 1992. A comparison of the interferon gamma assay with the absorbed ELISA for the diagnosis of Johne's disease in cattle. Aust Vet J. 69:25-28). When the peripheral blood of a sub-clinically infected cattle that has been infected with Mycobacterium avium subsp. Paratuberculosis and a cattle that develops the disease are stimulated by a Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis antigen, IFNγ that is one of cytokines is produced in large amounts by the sub-clinically infected cattle. Therefore, it was revealed that the amount of produced IFNγ is effective in diagnosis of a sub-clinically infected cattle, (see Stabel J R, 1996. Production of gamma-interferon by peripheral blood mononuclear cells: an important diagnostic tool for detection of subclinical paratuberculosis. J Vet Diagn Invest. 8:345-350) and the present method was introduced in the 1990s.
The IFNγ ELISA method enables more sensitive diagnosis of infection of paratuberculosis than johnin reaction also utilizing a cell-mediated immunological response, but the sensitivity is lowered as the cell-mediated immunity is gradually decreased, resulting in undetectable levels. Meanwhile, various factors (such as the stage of infection and proliferation level of Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis in a lesion) may also decrease the sensitivity, so that the method still has problems as a diagnostic method.
Meanwhile, there has also been studied a diagnostic method using, as an index, a phenomenon in which a T-lymphocyte that recognizes a Mycobacterium avium subsp. Paratuberculosis antigen reacts and induces cell proliferation thereof when the lymphocyte is exposed to the antigen again (lymphocyte blastogenesis reaction, lymphocyte proliferation reaction) (see Kreeger J M, Snider T G 3rd., 1992. Measurement of lymphoblast proliferative capacity of stimulated blood mononuclear cells from cattle with chronic paratuberculosis. Am J Vet Res. 53:392-395). However, the method requires use of a radioactive isotope for proliferation of the lymphocyte, so it is not suitable for field diagnostic applications and therefore is not practical.
As described above, the infection period of Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis includes a long sub-clinical stage of infection as described above, which further includes an immunological un-responsive period difficult to diagnose the disease when diagnosis cannot be achieved by either of cell-mediated immunity or detection of a specific antibody. Moreover, the period varies greatly from individual to individual and is long (3 to 5 years), so that it is impossible to find infected animals effectively by domestic epidemic prevention or by import quarantine, which makes it difficult to eradicate paratuberculosis.
An infected animal in the sub-clinical stage of infection has a certain lesion sustainably, and microorganisms are irregularly excreted in feces, so that the feces serve as contamination sources and cause spread of infection. In particular, from the aspect of epidemic prevention, they cause big problems in the immunological un-responsive period difficult to diagnose the disease.
Examples of a diagnostic method to detect such irregular excretion of the bacteria includes isolating and identifying Mycobacterium avium subsp. Paratuberculosis excreted in feces.
However, the method requires several months to culture Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis in order to recognize the bacterial colonies. Therefore, it is difficult to diagnose the infection at an early stage, and there is a problem in that the infection is spread owing to excretion of the bacteria from a carrier animal during culture. Meanwhile, excretion of the bacteria occurs irregularly and nonpersistently, so there is also a problem in that some infected individuals are not accurately diagnosed.
It takes a long time to culture Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis because Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis belongs to the group III atypical acid-fast bacteria, which are bacteria that have special nutritional requirement and usually proliferate only in a medium supplemented with mycobactin. The bacteria grow very slowly and require 7 to 11 weeks to form visible colonies.
In recent years, there has been suggested a method that enables early diagnosis of presence or absence of Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis in feces by detecting a specific insertion sequence IS900 in DNA of Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis by a polymerase chain reaction (PCR).
However, due to nonpersistent excretion of bacteria, an assured diagnosis was not completed because some individuals cannot be diagnosed or there may be "transited bacteria" which are excreted in feces without chance to invasion into intestinal tissue after oral intake of environmental bacteria in a contaminated farm. Therefore, there has been required an immunological diagnostic method to show evidence that a host is "really infected" with Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis.
As described above, paratuberculosis has a long period during which diagnosis is difficult, and all of conventionally prevalent methods of diagnosing paratuberculosis are lacking of assurance because the infection time or the like are limited due to its immunological properties. Therefore, there are still many paratuberculosis-infected animals, in particular, carrier animals, and the disease spread worldwide, which makes it difficult to eradicate paratuberculosis.
Therefore, from the standpoint of animal hygiene, public hygiene, and livestock farming, there is an urgent need to realize prevention of paratuberculosis and eradication in the early stage of infection, and, in particular, there has been desired a diagnostic technique that enables diagnose of an infected animal in the immunological un-responsive stage difficult to diagnose the disease.
On the other hand, together with such direct economical damage due to paratuberculosis, it has recently been in the news that Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis may be involved inhuman Crohn's disease (intractable disease designated by the Ministry of Health and Welfare of Japan) (Collins M T, Mycobacterium paratuberculosis: a potential food-borne pathogen? J Dairy Sci 80: 3445-8 (1997); Engstrand L, Mycobacterium paratuberculosis and Crohn's disease. Scand J Infect Dis Suppl 98: 27-9, 1995, and Momotani Eiichi "Relationship between Johne's disease and human Crohn's disease-Review-" Journal of Clinical Veterinary Medicine, vol. 19 (No. 7 (additional volume)), 2001).
Therefore, to clarify the relationship between paratuberculosis and human Crohn's disease, there has been required a diagnostic technique that enables diagnosis of infection of Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis to human.
The present invention is intended to provide a diagnostic method for paratuberculosis by which an animal infected with Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis can be sensitively diagnosed in the incubation period before the increase of specific antibody level and a large number of specimens can be treated.

Incorporated Administrative Agency National Agriculture and Bio-Oriented Research Organization


In a packet (ATM) network, a source node at the entry of the network is responsive to a connection request from a user terminal for invoking a CAC (call admission control) algorithm to accept or reject the request depending on the amount of resource requested by the user, and allocates a portion of a free bandwidth resource exclusively to the user for the duration of the call according to established contract parameter values. Each node of the network responds to a reallocation request from the user for transmitting a copy of the request to a downstream node to elicit an acceptance message therefrom, and reserving a portion of a pool bandwidth resource and invoking the CAC algorithm to additionally reserve a portion of the free bandwidth resource. The node proceeds to allocate the reserved pool bandwidth to the user in response to the acceptance message indicating that the same amount of the reserved pool bandwidth is available in the downstream node. The allocation of the pool bandwidth is temporary. When a portion of the free bandwidth resource is reserved using the CAC algorithm, this portion is exclusively allocated to the user until the end of the call and the temporarily allocated pool bandwidth is returned to the pool resource for other users.

The present invention relates generally to integrated packet networks where the transmission efficiency is gained by statistical multiplexing effect of VBR (variable bit rate) sources, and more specifically to such a network where police functions are required to guarantee the quality of service established at call setup by controlling the bit rate behavior of user terminals.
In broadband integrated services digital networks (BISDN) where a wide range of broadband services are provided using the asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) technique, information is packetized and carried in fixed length "cells", which may be statistically multiplexed with other traffic into a high-bit rate channel. To ensure satisfactory quality of service (QOS) for all network users call admission control (CAC) and traffic enforcement (policing) control have been proposed and recommended by CCITT. Call admission control algorithm decides whether a new virtual channel connection should be admitted to the network based on the current network status such as available resources and cell loss performance, and contract parameters (such as mean traffic rate and peak traffic rate) are established. The traffic enforcement scheme monitors each individual virtual channel connection to ensure that its cell-level traffic flow in the network conforms to the contract parameters established at call setup time.
However, if statistical multiplexing gain is to be achieved, precision cell-level traffic control on variable bit rate (VBR) traffic is difficult to achieve since the user has little knowledge on the characteristics of its VBR traffic at call setup time.

Resource reallocation for flow-enforced user traffic


The invention relates to a navigation device (2) for an electronic device (1), particularly a navigation device of the joystick type with two operating positions. In one position the navigation device (2) is extended as a joystick and in a second position the navigation device is retracted to function as a rocker key.

Many electronic devices are provided with a navigation device for controlling the operation of the device by inputting signals depending on actuation of the navigation device. For example, many mobile phones are provided with navigation devices in the form of short joysticks or rocker keys to navigate in menus and play games etc. Small electronic devices, like mobile telephones, are often kept in pockets so no protruding objects on the device are desired. Thus, to keep the mobile phones small, the navigation devices are normally made as small as possible.
On the other hand, more and more games and other programs that need precision of navigation are put in the phones. There is a conflict between making the phones as small as possible and making good navigation devices with good feeling and grip. Especially when the user has large fingers, it can be really hard to navigate easily, resulting in that the user makes errors or just feels frustrated because the user needs to focus too much on the navigation itself.
In game controllers for video game machines normally one or more large joysticks are used. See e.g. U.S. Pat. No. 5,963,196 for reference. FIGS. 11-14 show an example of a design of a joystick mechanism. Such a joystick is well suited for playing games as well as navigation in menus etc, but is not suitable for small portable devices, as is takes too much place.
An object of the invention is to provide a navigation device not protruding in one operation position, and having another extended operation position providing good feeling and grip.


A signage system comprising a prism-shaped tri-panel louver having a slot at each corner into which can be slid a clip. The clip is generally V-shaped with a pair of opposing sides joined at one end to form an apex. At the apex end is a pair of opposing fingers which are generally parallel to the clip sides. The fingers form a slot on each side. The clip is slid and retained by a friction fit within the slot such that when three clips are installed the fingers and slots formed therein can hold the sign graphics strip. The clip can flex somewhat to allow for insertion in a slot in the louver.

Tri-panel rotating display signs have been used for a number of years as a technique to increase the amount of effective signage space from a generally flat panel signage display apparatus. These displays use a set of prism-shaped elongated louvers which are attached to a drive motor and gear so that the louvers rotate together. Each louver has three faces to which are attached or adhered a strip of material, commonly vinyl or other known material, which has sign graphics printed thereon or attached thereto. Each time the composite advertisement is to be replaced, each strip on one or more faces of the louver must be replaced.
One attachment method is the application of adhesive vinyl directly on the louvers. To accomplish this sometimes all of the louvers needed to be removed from the sign, laid out on a rack, then the adhesive vinyl is applied and the louvers reinstalled. Often in warmer climates a skilled person hangs in front of the sign from a scaffold or rig and applies the adhesive vinyl directly on the louver in the sign. Both application methods require the vinyl to be cut for the gaps between the louvers so the louvers can rotate.
Another method of attaching the sign to the louver uses a changeable louver face. Made of extruded aluminum or PVC a louver face plate either snaps in or slides into a clip. These changeable louver face plates can have the advertising image adhesive vinyl applied to the face plates held in a rack or jig in a shop, then get numbered, packaged, delivered to the location of the sign, and hauled up to the sign. The existing louver face plates are removed via un-snapping or sliding out and the new advertising image changeable louver face plates are installed. Then the changeable louver face plates are recycled back to the shop cleaned ready for the next installation cycle.
Other louver and clip assemblies are commercially available from various manufacturers. It would be desirable to have a louver and clip assembly that would permit easy installation and deinstallation of signage strips without necessity of removal the louver itself.


A seal member assembly structure and assembly method, a seal member, and a gas turbine, wherein, in a state where first flange parts provided on a combustor transition piece are fitted into first fitting parts provided in seal members, protruding parts provided on the first flange parts are inserted into recessed parts provided in the first fitting parts.

A typical gas turbine is configured of a compressor, a combustor, and a turbine. Air taken in through an air intake is compressed by the compressor to produce high-temperature, high-pressure compressed air. In the combustor fuel is supplied to the compressed air and then burned to obtain high-temperature, high-pressure combustion gas (operating fluid), and then the combustion gas is used to drive the turbine and a generator linked to the turbine.
In the gas turbine, a plurality of combustors are provided side by side forming a ring shape in a circumferential direction, and each combustor has an upper seal and a lower seal provided between a downstream end of a combustor transition piece and an upstream end of a shroud in a turbine. The combustor is also provided, in a side part of the combustor transition piece, with a side seal for partitioning adjacent combustors from one another. The upper seal and the lower seal, and an upper flange and a lower flange of the combustor transition piece, are fitted together and then linked by a linking pin. Therefore, the combustion gas is prevented from leaking from a gap between the combustor transition piece and the shroud by the upper seal, the lower seal, and each of the side seals.
This type of gas turbine is disclosed in, for example, JP S62-176448A.

Seal member assembly structure and assembly method, seal member, and gas turbine


An image forming apparatus includes an apparatus body, an image bearing member, and a development cartridge which has a developer bearing member that is detachable and attachable against the apparatus body. In addition, a supply portion supplies a developer to the development cartridge and is configured to connect and separate from the development cartridge in the apparatus body in the vertical direction, and a movement mechanism moves the development cartridge away from a surface of the image bearing member by supporting the development cartridge and moving it from an attached position in a substantially vertical direction. A seal portion is configured around a connecting portion between the supply portion and the development cartridge and can seal the connecting portion by compressing with movement of the development cartridge by the movement mechanism.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus including a drum unit and a development unit.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, there has been disclosed an image forming apparatus in which a plurality of image process units each having a drum unit and a development unit is detachably attachable and are aligned horizontally along an intermediate transfer belt (e.g., Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-15420).
However, in the configuration described in the Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-15420, a configuration of supplying toner from a supply unit to a development unit and a configuration of discharging the toner from the development unit to a disposal unit cannot be compatible with an exchanging performance of the development unit without difficulty. For attaining the compatibility between them, problems of complicating the toner conveying path and increasing sizes of an apparatus body arise.
In many cases, the toner conveying path extends in a vertical direction, and the supply and discharge of the toner with respect to a development unit are performed in the vertical direction. In a configuration having image process units aligned horizontally, however, the development unit and the drum unit are separated horizontally from each other when the development unit and the drum unit are exchanged.
Therefore, when the development unit is to be separated, for example, horizontally, a whole or a part of the toner conveying path must be configured to move in the horizontal direction together with the development unit. Alternatively, toner dispersion must be prevented at the time of the separation or contact by fixing the toner conveying path and arranging a shutter in a sealed fashion in a separation/contact portion separating or contacting the development unit from or with the drum unit.


This invention provides methods and systems for measuring the concentration of multiple nucleic acid sequences in a sample. The nucleic acid sequences in the sample are simultaneously amplified, for example, using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in the presence of an array of nucleic acid probes. The amount of amplicon corresponding to the multiple nucleic acid sequences can be measured in real-time during or after each cycle using a real-time microarray. The measured amount of amplicon produced can be used to determine the original amount of the nucleic acid sequences in the sample. Also provided herein are biosensor arrays, systems and methods for affinity based assays that are able to simultaneously obtain high quality measurements of the binding characteristics of multiple analytes, and that are able to determine the amounts of those analytes in solution. The invention also provides a fully integrated bioarray for detecting real-time characteristics of affinity based assays.

Nucleic acid target amplification assays such as polymerase chain reaction process (PCR), in principle, amplify and replicate specific sequences of nucleic acids of a DNA template in vitro. These assays have become a powerful tool in molecular biology and genomics, since they can increase the number of copies of target molecules with great specificity. It is of great interest to efficiently multiplex the amplification process and thus allow for multiple target amplification and quantification.
Biosensor detection systems take advantage of the selective interaction and binding (affinity) of certain biological molecules to identify molecular structures and furthermore measure levels of different analytes such as toxins, polymers, hormones, DNA strands, proteins, and bacteria. Affinity-based biosensors exploit selective binding and interaction of certain bio-molecules (recognition probes) to detect specific target analytes in biological samples. The performance of biosensors in terms of signal to noise ratio and dynamic range is generally constrained by the characteristics of the molecular recognition layer which captures the target analytes, and not by the transducer and read-circuitry. An advantage of biosensors is their capability to be implemented in parallel and in an array format. Biosensors in parallel may compensate for limited detection performance. Presently, densely packed biosensor arrays which detect thousands of different analytes simultaneously (microarrays) are popular in Genomics, Proteomics, molecular diagnostics, and systems biology.
In conventional fluorescent-based microarrays and other extrinsic reporter-based (label-based) biosensors assays, the detection of captured analytes is usually carried out after the incubation step. In some cases, proper fluorescent and reporter intensity measurements are compromised in the presence of a large concentration of floating (unbound) labeled species in the incubation solution, whose signal can overwhelm the target-specific signal from the captured targets. When the incubation is ceased and the solution is removed from the surface of the array, the washing artifacts often occur that make the analysis of the data even more challenging. Thus there exists a need for affinity based sensors that are able to simultaneously obtain high quality measurements of the binding characteristics of multiple analytes, and that are able to determine the amounts of those analytes in solution.
The emerging high-through screening and point-of-care (PoC) diagnostics applications demand the integration of the biochemical part (assays) of the detection platform with the transducer and the detection circuitry. A microarray is desired in the art that offers compact and cost-efficient solutions with a high production yield and robust functionality.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A case for a mobile device includes a housing sized to receive the mobile device. The housing defines a plurality of corner portions, each corner portion includes an interior wall. The mobile device is spaced a distance from the interior wall of the corner portions when disposed within the housing. The housing includes a plurality of protrusions disposed along at least a portion of the interior wall, the protrusions are operable to space the mobile device a distance away from the interior wall.

As mobile phones and other mobile electronic devices become more technologically advanced and include more features, the cost to purchase these mobile devices increases, as does the cost to replace them should they break. To prophylactically protect such devices from damage or breakage, protective cases have been devised to reduce the risk that a mobile device breaks should it be dropped or otherwise exposed to an impact force.
In particular, two types of materials have generally been employed to reduce the impact force on a mobile device, namely, elastic and resilient materials that absorb impact forces ("soft cases"), and fracture-resistant plastics ("hard cases"). Mobile device cases typically include one or the other of these materials, or include a softer resilient case surrounding a harder plastic case. The resultant device cases often suffer from protection limitations and a low quality user experience. For example, cases exclusively composed of high durometer plastics, or similarly hard materials, often include jagged or sharp corners providing an uncomfortable feeling in the user's hand. Further, high durometer plastic cases, while lending overall durability to the case, often rupture at connection points on two-piece clam shelled cases owing to a lack of resiliency, potentially exposing the mobile device to an impact force. In particular, should a mobile device case be dropped on one of its corners, the impact may cause the corners to flex inward and transfer the entire impulse force to the mobile device, which often leads to fracture of the device case and the mobile phone.
Conversely, soft resilient cases such as those made from rubber or other elastomeric materials, while providing impact protection, are often large and unwieldy, which mitigates the benefits of having a slim profile mobile device. Further, rubber or elastomeric cases still suffer from the drawbacks of hard cases, namely flexion at the corners during impact, transferring the impact force to the mobile device. As a result, mobile device cases composed of rubber or elastomers, while providing some degree of impact protection, may not be aesthetically desirable to consumers and still transfer impact forces to the mobile device at the corners.

Portable device case with corner protection element


An inventory management system includes one or more radio frequency identification (RFID) readers each configured to detect RFID labels attached to inventory items within a certain radius of the RFID reader. The one or more RFID readers are configured to automatically determine a directional movement of RFID labels and attached inventory items. A first computer server is configured to communicate, via a network connection, with one or more client devices, and also configured to receive data gathered by the one or more RFID readers. The first computer server is configured to maintain a real-time inventory status of the inventory items. The real-time inventory status includes a location of the one or more RFID labels, and further includes a current usage state of the attached inventory items. The first computer server is configured to transmit the real-time inventory status to a display of the client device.

Inventory management is an important function in many large organizations both public and private. Often, the ability to successfully manage inventory is critical to the efficient operation of the organization. As such, many aspects of management theory deal with various systems and methods for managing and controlling inventory.
Embodiments of the present invention represent an advancement over the state of the art with respect to inventory management systems. These and other advantages of the invention, as well as additional inventive features, will be apparent from the description of the invention provided herein.


A method of inspecting a display panel having a substrate and a plurality of fluorescent layers including measuring bright and dark signals reflected by the fluorescent layers while moving the substrate or an illuminating means generating the signals and an imaging means receiving the signals in a direction across the plurality of fluorescent layers at predetermined intervals, and measuring an application volume for each fluorescent layer from the signals obtained by the imaging means.

In recent years, increase of the size of screens and decrease of the size of pixels of a spread display such as an LCD and a PDP have been advanced, and it is very difficult to manufacture non-defective products, and a serious problem occurs in ensuring the yield. Thus, it is a general practice of ensuring the yield by including inspections and repairs in a manufacturing step of the flat display panel to recondition a defective panel as a non-defective one.
In particular, in order to inspect the application state of liquid phosphor applied to a back plate of the PDP, the technology disclosed in, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2000-131226 is applicable. In this technology, the structure of a measurement surface can be inspected by allowing the light to be incident on the measurement surface of an object to be inspected by light, capturing the reflected light thereby, and measuring the change in intensity of the obtained reflected light.
When carrying out the above inspection using the light, various optical conditions must be optimized according to the structural characteristic of the object in order to increase the accuracy of the inspection. Specific optical conditions include the angle of incidence, the angle of reflection, the wavelength, the intensity, the scattering, and the polarizing direction of the light.
However, in the above conventional technology, any method for optimizing the optical conditions according to the structural characteristic of the object has not been demonstrated, and problems occur in that the shape of the pattern for forming the surface is changed by the change in a manufacturing condition of the object, and the accuracy of the inspection is considerably degraded or the inspection becomes impossible if the structural characteristic is different according to the stage of the manufacturing steps even with the products of the same kind.
The object of the present invention is to provide a method for solving the disadvantages of the above conventional technology, determining the optimum optical condition for the inspection of the surface shape by the structural characteristic of the object to be inspected, reflecting the determined condition in an inspection device to carry out the inspection with high accuracy, improving the yield without degrading the yield rate, and manufacturing a substrate of high quality and high reliability.

Inspection method, and inspection device, and manufacturing for display panel


The present invention describes compounds of the general formula I

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to novel arylene-carboxylic acid (2-amino-phenyl)-amide derivatives, to a process for their manufacture, medicaments containing them and their manufacture as well as the use of these compounds as pharmaceutically active agents.
2. Description
Transcriptional regulation is a major event in cell differentiation, proliferation, and apoptosis. Transcriptional activation of a set of genes determines cell destination and for this reason transcription is tightly regulated by a variety of factors. One of its regulatory mechanisms involved in the process is an alteration in the tertiary structure of DNA, which affects transcription by modulating the accessibility of transcription factors to their target DNA segments. Nucleosomal integrity is regulated by the acetylation status of the core histones. In a hypoacetylated state, nucleosomes are tightly compacted and thus are nonpermissive for transcription. On the other hand, nucleosomes are relaxed by acetylation of the core histones, with the result being permissiveness to transcription. The acetylation status of the histones is governed by the balance of the activities of histone acetyl transferase (HAT) and histone deacetylase (HDAC). Recently, HDAC inhibitors have been found to arrest growth and apoptosis in several types of cancer cells, including colon cancer, T-cell lymphoma, and erythroleukemic cells. Given that apoptosis is a crucial factor for cancer progression, HDAC inhibitors are promising reagents for cancer therapy as effective inducers of apoptosis (Koyama, Y., et al., Blood 96 (2000) 1490–1495).
EP-A 0 847 992 describes monoacylated o-phenylenediamine derivatives as cell differentiation inducers. The same type of compounds is also the subject of EP-A 0 242 851. The compounds described in these applications are almost exclusively o-phenylene derivatives monoacylated with derivatives of benzoic acid. However, there is still a need to provide compounds with improved properties such as increased tolerability, less toxicity and less side effects.
Monoacylated o-phenylenediamines are known in the art as precursors for the preparation of the corresponding benzimidazoles, such preparation methods are e.g. described in DE-A 2 062 265; FR 2 167 954; Rastogi, R., and Sharma, S., Indian J. Chem., Sect. B, 21B (5) (1982) 485–487; Moll, R., et al., Z. Chem. 17 (1977) 133–134; and Hassan, H., et al., Indian J. Chem. 39B (2000) 764–768.
A further shortcoming of many anti-cancer drugs is a lack of selectivity. They do not sufficiently differentiate between tumor cells and normal cells, and therefore adverse reactions expressed in normal cells have limited their use in therapy. Up to now, no satisfactory drugs have been discovered, and thus an anticancer drug with reduced toxicity, better tolerability and a high therapeutic effect is very much desired. The compounds of the present invention surprisingly show low toxicity, together with a potent anti-proliferative and cell differentiation activity.

Arylene-carboxylic acid (2-amino-phenyl)-amide derivatives

Abstract: as well as processes for their manufacture, pharmaceutical compositions containing them and methods for using these compounds and pharmaceutical compositions as pharmaceutical agents. The compounds according to this invention show antiproliferative and differentiation-inducing activity, which results in inhibition of tumor cell proliferation, induction of apoptosis and inhibition of invasion.


A kit for converting an N class bus plug to a J class bus plug in which the N class bus plug has three pairs of spaced apart fuse terminals. A Z-shaped conductive strip is associated with each fuse terminal and each conductive strip has a top and a bottom. A first fastener secures the bottom of the conductive strip to its associated fuse terminal. A J class fuse is then associated with each pair of fuse terminals. The J class fuse has a flat conductive electrical contact extending outwardly from each end which overlies the top of one of the conductive strips. A second fastener then connects the electrical contact with the top of its associated conductive strip.

I. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to bus plugs.
II. Description of Related Art
Modern day factories are typically equipped with electrical bus for supplying three phase electrical power to the machinery in the factory. The electrical bus typically includes three main conductors and occasionally has a neutral phase and an integral ground bar. The supply voltage may be either 240 or with 600 volts being the maximum rating.
In order to electrically connect the electrical bus with the machinery, conventionally a bus plug is attached to the preexisting ports along a length of bus. The bus plug contains three fuses, one for each phase bar of the electrical bus. Consequently, once the bus plug is attached to the electrical bus, one end of each of the electrical fuses is electrically connected to the electrical bus (line side). The other ends of the fuses (load side) are then connected to the machinery which is powered through the electrical bus plug.
Electrical equipment of the type used in factories is typically powered by either 240 or 480 volts. Conventionally, an N class bus plug is employed with a 240 volt electrical bus and N class fuses are conventionally used with the N class bus plug. Such N class fuses are rated to operate at 240 volts.
Conversely, an R class bus plug is conventionally employed with electrical buses maintained at 480 volts. Such R class bus plugs accept R class fuses which are rated at 600 volts maximum. Such R class fuses are significantly longer than the N class fuses utilized in the 240 volt bus plug.
Since the R class fuses for 600 volts are longer in size than the N class fuses for 240 volts, the housing for an R class bus plug is also longer in size than the N class bus plug. This, in turn, increases the overall cost of an R class bus plug. Furthermore, R class bus plugs are much rarer than the N class bus plugs and thus more costly to obtain for the reconditioning and refurbishing business for such bus plugs.
There is a J class fuse which is essentially the same in size as the N class fuse, but the J class fuse is rated up to 600 volts. It is not possible, however, to simply replace the N class fuse in an N class bus plug with a J class fuse since the J class fuse uses a different electrical connection than the N class fuse. Consequently, where a 600 volt bus plug has been required, it has been necessary previously to use the larger size and more expensive R class bus plug with its larger housing.

Kit for converting N class bus plug to a J class bus plug


An abnormality diagnosis apparatus for determining whether abnormality relating to execution of automatic activation has occurred in a timer circuit. An electronic control unit includes a microcomputer for storing a history of execution of automatic activation of a device by a soak timer circuit. The microcomputer determines that an abnormality relating to execution of automatic activation has occurred in the soak timer circuit if an elapsed time measurement and the history stored by the microcomputer do not correspond with each other when a switch is operated to activate the device.

The present invention relates to an apparatus for diagnosing a circuit, and more particularly, to an apparatus for diagnosing a timer circuit that automatically activates a device.
In recent years, in a vehicle such as an automobile, installed devices, such as an engine, a transmission gear, and a brake are controlled by an electronic control unit. An abnormality diagnosis apparatus diagnoses the various devices and the electronic control unit for abnormalities. Such an abnormality diagnosis apparatus is used to improve the reliability of the vehicle. The accuracy of abnormality detection is improved by executing such detection when the condition of the vehicle is stabilized after sufficient time elapses from when the engine is stopped. For example, the abnormality diagnosis apparatus may detect whether a fuel tank has a hole from a pressure change in the fuel tank. In this case, even a subtle pressure change caused by undulation of the fuel liquid level in the fuel tank may influence the accuracy of the abnormality detection. Therefore, to ensure high accuracy in the abnormality detection, the fuel tank is diagnosed when fuel in the fuel tank is stabilized after the engine is stopped.
In a vehicle, however, power supply to equipment including the various devices and an electronic control unit is normally cut after the driver switches off an ignition switch to stop the engine. Since the abnormality diagnosis apparatus is also deactivated, the abnormality diagnosis apparatus cannot execute abnormality detection after the engine is stopped. Therefore, to enable the abnormality diagnosis apparatus to execute abnormality detection after the engine is stopped, an automatic activation timer circuit may be installed in the vehicle to temporarily activate the abnormality diagnosis apparatus (and the device that is to be diagnosed when necessary) after the engine is stopped.
To be more specific, the automatic activation timer circuit bypasses the ignition switch to supply power to devices that must perform or undergo abnormality detection. Further, the automatic activation timer circuit includes a timer unit for measuring the time elapsed from when the power supply is cut by turning off the ignition switch. When the elapsed time measured by the timer unit of the automatic activation timer circuit reaches a predetermined time, the electronic control unit supplies power to the devices that must perform or undergo abnormality detection. As a result, the abnormality diagnosis apparatus is automatically activated temporarily to detect abnormalities in the various devices.
In this case, when the engine is not running, the abnormality detection may be started simply by continuing to supply power to the automatic activation timer circuit. Further, the automatic activation timer circuit, which is provided with the above-described functions, consumes an extremely small amount of power. Thus, the automatic activation timer circuit, when installed in a vehicle, enables abnormality detection to be executed after the engine is stopped, while consuming a small amount of power when the engine is not running.
In the automatic activation timer circuit, however, the timer unit, which functions to measure time, may develop an abnormality. This would result in a fault in the elapsed time measured by the timer unit. To eliminate such a problem, a process for correcting the elapsed time measured by the timer unit is proposed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2000-329874. In this process, an electronic control unit is supplied with power (activated) whenever a predetermined time elapses, and a timer incorporated in a microcomputer of an electronic control unit is actuated. The time measured by the timer is compared with the elapsed time measured by a timer unit of an automatic activation timer circuit. Based on the comparison result, the elapsed time measured by the timer unit is corrected. Such correction of the elapsed time prevents the occurrence of a fault in the timer unit that would hinder the execution of the abnormality detection at the appropriate timing after the engine is stopped.
Even if an abnormality occurs in the timer unit of the automatic activation timer circuit, the correction of the elapsed time measured by the timer unit as described above would minimize problems caused by such an abnormality. In the automatic activation timer circuit, however, an abnormality may occur in parts other than the timer unit that are related with the execution of automatic activation. For example, an abnormality may occur in a part controlling automatic activation. As another possibility, a wire breakage may occur in a signal line within the automatic activation timer circuit. If such an abnormality occurs, the abnormality diagnosis apparatus may be automatically activated before the elapsed time measured by the timer unit reaches a predetermined time. As another possibility, the abnormality diagnosis apparatus may not be automatically activated even after the elapsed time reaches a predetermined time. In these cases, the abnormality diagnosis apparatus would not be properly activated automatically.
The state of the automatic activation timer circuit must be checked based on whether the abnormality diagnosis apparatus is automatically activated at the timing when the elapsed time measured by the timer unit reaches a predetermined time. Conventional techniques, however, provide no way of checking whether the abnormality diagnosis apparatus is automatically activated at that timing when the predetermined time has elapsed. In other words, conventional techniques fail to determine whether an abnormality relating to the execution of the automatic activation has occurred in the automatic activation timer circuit. Thus, conventional techniques fail to deal with cases in which the automatic activation of the abnormality diagnosis apparatus is not executed correctly because of such an abnormality.
Such problems in an automatic activation timer circuit are not limited to systems used in vehicles, such as automobiles, but may also occur in other systems that are not used in vehicles.

Abnormality diagnosis apparatus for automatic activation timer circuit


An image forming apparatus and an image forming method for transferring and fixing is capable of securely transferring and fixing a toner image onto a recording medium after transferring the toner image formed on an image carrier onto an image transfer member with small energy consumption for high-speed printing. In this apparatus an endless belt-like intermediate transfer member facing to four image forming units is tensioned by a heating roll and the like, and a pressing member for pressing the recording medium against the intermediate transfer member in the most downstream portion of a contact area with the heating roll in the rotational direction of the intermediate transfer member. The toner image on the intermediate transfer member is heated by the heating roll at specified temperatures, and the toner melted is brought into tight contact with the recording medium at normal temperatures for transferring and fixing. The temperature of toner at the outlet of the pressure-contact portion with the pressing member is caused to lower below the toner softening point temperature. At this time, the recording medium serves as a cooling member.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus and an image forming method using an electrophotographic process, and more particularly to an image forming apparatus and an image forming method for transferring and fixing, after a toner image formed on an image carrier is transferred onto an intermediate transfer member, the toner image on the intermediate transfer member onto a recording medium to obtain a recorded image.
2. Description of the Related Art
As a conventional image forming apparatus, there has been known an image forming apparatus in which toner on an image carrier is primarily transferred onto an intermediate transfer member having a parting property and a toner image on the intermediate transfer member is melted on a recording medium by heating and pressing means for fixing simultaneously with secondary transfer. As this heating and pressing means, a heating roller and a pressing roller which are brought into pressure contact through the intermediate transfer member are known. Toner on the intermediate transfer member is melted at a pressure-contact portion between the two by the heating roll to cause the toner to percolate through the recording medium, and the recording medium is separated from the intermediate transfer member by taking advantage of the parting effect of the intermediate transfer member.
In such an image forming apparatus, in order to transfer a toner image on the intermediate transfer member onto a recording medium and fix it at the same time, there are various severe conditions, and it is considerably difficult to attain transfer and fixing of a good toner image. To this end, as means for improving the transfer and fixing of toner images, there have been proposed techniques described in, for example, Japanese Published Examined Patent Application Nos. Sho 46-41679 (1971), 57-20632 (1982), 58-36341 (1983), and 64-1027 (1989),and Japanese Published Unexamined Patent Application No. Sho 57-163264 (1982).
The technique described in the Japanese Published Examined Patent Application No. sho 46-41679 is to heat a recording medium without heating a toner image on an intermediate transfer member to melt the toner image by the heat of the recording medium for transferring and fixing on the recording medium.
The technique described in the Japanese Published Examined Patent Application Nos. sho 57-20632 and 58-36341 are to selectively heat the toner on an intermediate transfer member to its fusion temperature by radiation heating means without heating the recording medium, and to bring the toner image on the intermediate transfer member into contact with the recording medium for transferring and fixing.
The technique described in the Japanese Published Unexamined Patent Application No. sho 57-163264 is to previously heat the intermediate transfer member and the toner image transferred thereon, and to place the two in close contact with each other in a state in which the recording medium has been heated for transferring and fixing the toner image on the recording medium.
The technique described in the Japanese Published Examined Patent Application No. Sho 64-1027 is to preliminarily heat toner at this side of a nip portion (transfer fixing area) in which the toner image on the intermediate transfer member is urged against the recording medium. More specifically, a belt-like intermediate transfer member is wound around the heating roll by 90.degree. or more to preliminarily heat the toner by the utilization of the heat of the heating roll at this side of the nip portion with the recording medium for raising the toner temperature to near the fusion temperature of the toner. Thereafter, in the nip portion, the toner is further heated and fused to transfer the toner image onto the recording medium and fix it.
The conventional technique as described above, however, has the following problems.
The technique described in the Japanese Published Examined Patent Application No. Sho 46-41679 is desirable in terms of such points that the intermediate transfer member is not likely to be overheated, but the image carrier can be prevented from being thermally affected, but the utilization of heat is low, and a considerably large amount of thermal energy must be applied to a recording medium consisting of ordinary sheet. Further, in the case of transferring and fixing a toner image at high speeds, it is necessary to further apply a large amount of thermal energy to the recording medium, and as a result, the technique has a disadvantage that the consumption energy increases and when the recording medium is not smoothly fed, but jam is caused, combustion is very likely to be caused.
Also, in the technique described in Japanese Published Unexamined Patent Application Nos. Sho 49-78559 and 50-107936, this will be inferior to conductive heating means such as a heating roll in actual thermal efficiency because radiation heating is used as means for selectively heating only toner. Also, since most of thermal energy absorbed by toner is conducted to the intermediate transfer member at lower temperatures while it shifts from a radiation heating area to a transfer fixing area in which it is brought into contact with the recording medium, there is a disadvantage that the toner will have to be heated that much in excess in advance, thus lowering the total thermal energy efficiency. Moreover, since the radiation heating means is used, a paper sheets is likely to be burnt when jam occurs.
On the other hand, the technique described in the Japanese Published Unexamined Patent Application No. Sho 57-163264 has an advantage that the temperature of an intermediate transfer member can be set to be low because the three parties of the intermediate transfer member, toner and recording medium are heated together. Also, there is little heat flow between a toner image on the intermediate transfer member and the recording medium at the pressure-contact portion, the deteriorated fluidity of the toner is low accordingly, and
the toner sufficiently percolates through the recording medium to be transferred from the intermediate transfer member. Since, however, the toner temperature when separated from the intermediate transfer member is higher than the toner softening point temperature and the toner is in a fluid state, there is a tendency that the toner is scattered and is easily offset to the intermediate transfer member. Also, since it is necessary to heat the three parties of the intermediate transfer member, toner and recording medium together, the total consumption energy will become great. In addition, there is a problem that the heat is conducted to the image carrier side by means of the rotational movement of the intermediate transfer member heated by the heating roll and the temperature in its vicinity rises to cause obstruction to the charging function. If an attempt is made following such a mechanism to prevent the heat of the intermediate transfer member from being conducted to the image carrier side, a considerably large cooling equipment will be required to increase the cost of the apparatus.
In the technique described in the Japanese Published Examined Patent Application No. Sho 64-1027, although it is possible to make the set temperature of the heating roll low since the toner is preliminarily heated at this side of the nip portion (transfer fixing area), the total consumption energy will become great in the same manner as the above-described conventional examples because the toner and recording medium are re-heated in the transfer fixing nip portion.

Image forming apparatus capable of heating a toner image on an intermediate transfer member and method therefor


A golf putting practice device adapted to serve as a substitute for a floor vent that fits into a floor duct of a forced air circulation system of a building and includes a ball receiving enclosure and at least one flat support plate member extended outwardly from the ball receiving enclosure. The front wall of the ball receiving enclosure includes a notched portion that provides a golf ball open access to the enclosure when the device is installed into a floor duct. A plurality of apertures are formed in the support plate member to allow for air flow through the plate.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to a golf putting practice device and more particularly to such a practice device that fits into the floor duct of a forced air circulation system of a building.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A wide variety of golf putting practice devices are known in the prior art. Many such devices are designed to sit on the surface of a floor for putting practice. However, such practice devices include a ramped sidewall that leads up to a putting cup and, therefore, are not truly representative of putting on a golf green.
To overcome the deficiency of ramped golf practice devices, there have been developed in the prior art practice devices that are adapted to fit into the floor duct of a forced air circulation system of a building such as those disclosed in U.S. Patents to Birchler, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,120,063; Ridge, U.S. Pat. No. 5,275,405 and Frotten, U.S. Pat. No. 5,620,375. Although the golf practice devices disclosed in these patents substantially eliminate the need for a ramped sidewall, they all are formed from flat support plates that surround a ball receiving portion of the device, which flat plates provide an obstruction to such portion.
To lessen this problem, the Frotten patent discloses a golf practice device fabricated of a resilient material so that the device can be installed in a floor duct by bending the support plate for insertion underneath the carpet surrounding the duct. Although such configuration is an improvement in reducing obstruction to the ball receiving portion, the Frotten practice device cannot readily be moved from one vent to another and depending on the thickness of the carpet under which it is installed, the path to the cup is not completely level.
The present invention is designed to provide a golf putting practice device that overcomes the deficiencies of the foregoing prior art.


A device that allows a user to retain carbonation in conventional plastic beverage bottles for extended periods of time. In a first embodiment, a fluid impermeable, inflatable, elastic bladder is employed to fill the vapor space in the bottle when the beverage is dispensed. With the vapor space filled, the CO2 carbonization gases cannot dissipate. The bladder is removably attached to a nozzle cap. The nozzle cap incorporates an arrangement including an inflating tube that permits a user to inflate the bladder by simply blowing into the inflation tube.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to fluid dispensers. More specifically, the present invention is drawn to a device for retaining carbonization of carbonated beverages.
2. Description of the Related Art
Because of convenience and cost, carbonated beverages are now mostly sold in plastic bottles instead of the glass containers that were used in the past. The plastic bottles are light in weight and unbreakable. However, when the consumer attempts to store the beverage over a period of time after partial use, the beverage loses its carbonation and the consumer is left with a flat, tasteless drink that is often discarded. This scenario results in a loss of not only a refreshing drink but also a loss of money. Retail establishments utilize re-carbonization systems to maintain the palatability of their beverages. To employ such systems in the home, however, would involve a relatively costly endeavor. A simplistic, inexpensive, device for maintaining carbonization in a two or more liter plastic bottle would certainly be a welcome addition to the marketplace.
The related art is awash with devices designed to maintain carbonization in fluids and to assist in dispensing the fluids. Examples of such devices are cited and identified in the accompanying IDS. However, none of the above inventions and patents, taken either singly or in combination, is seen to disclose a device for retaining carbonization as will be subsequently described and claimed in the instant invention.


According to one embodiment, a semiconductor power converter includes first and second electrical conductors opposed to each other, first and second semiconductor elements joined to a first joint surface of the first electrical conductor, first and second convex electrical conductors joined to the first and second semiconductor elements, a junction joined to the first and second convex electrical conductors and a second joint surface of the second electrical conductor, power terminals, signal terminals, and an envelope sealing the constituent members. The envelope includes a flat bottom surface which extends perpendicular to the semiconductor elements and in which first and second bottom surfaces of the electrical conductors are exposed.

In recent years, hybrid vehicles that use an engine and a motor in combination have rapidly become widely used to achieve higher fuel efficiency. On the other hand, marketing of electric vehicles that can run by a motor alone is in progress. To be feasible, these vehicles require use of a power converter for AC/DC conversion between a battery and the motor.
In the hybrid and electric vehicles, the semiconductor power converter is expected to be small and highly reliable. To this end, the power converter requires high cooling efficiency. As a measure to achieve this, a power converter structure of the double-sided cooling type has been proposed in which electrical conductors are connected individually to the obverse and reverse surfaces of a semiconductor element and heat is released from the electrical conductors to a cooler.
In assembling a power converter of the double-sided cooling type, joining work is required in at least two positions to join the semiconductor element and the electrical conductors on its opposite surfaces. Further, there is a problem that the number of assembly man-hours increases if joining of power terminals and signal terminals is taken into account. If the joining positions increase, moreover, the number of man-hours for the inspection of joint soundness increases, and assembly errors are accumulated so that finished-product dimensional stability is reduced.
A mounter is assumed to be used to enhance mass-productivity. In this case, parts may become misaligned due to shaky transportation or flow of melted connecting bodies, possibly reducing the assembly yield.

Semiconductor power converter and method of manufacturing the same


An automatic firearm capable of automatic or semiautomatic fire. The firearm has a receiver having a moveable hammer. A selector is rotatably mounted in the receiver. A first sear is rotatably mounted in the receiver to engage the hammer where the first sear contacts a first camming surface of the selector. A second sear is rotatably mounted in the receiver to engage the hammer where the second sear contacts a second camming surface of the selector. A disconnect is rotatably mounted in the receiver where the disconnect contacts a third camming surface of the selector. The selector has a number of selectable positions disposed so that rotation of the selector between a first and last selectable position of the number of selectable positions is less than 180 degrees.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a firearm and, more particularly, to a firearm having a fire control selector.
2. Description of Earlier Related Developments
Automatic and semiautomatic firearms may be provided with a fire control selector enabling the user to switch between modes of fire, such as for example, safe, semi automatic, burst and/or automatic. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,760,328 and 4,433,610, which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety; disclose M4 type firearms, each having a fire control selector protruding from the receiver of the firearm. Here, the user rotates the fire control selector with a thumb or other finger(s) to switch between firearm modes of operation. A problem arises when a user has difficulty with the range of motion required to switch the selector from one mode to another. Another problem arises when a user would like to change the fire selector mode more quickly without having to go through such an extensive range of motion. Another problem arises when a user would like to switch hands of operation of the firearm. Accordingly, there is a desire to provide a firearm control selector requiring less range of motion between modes that enables ambidextrous operation.


A color filter substrate is used in a display device including pixels arranged in columns and rows to define a matrix pattern. The color filter substrate includes a transparent substrate and coloring layers, including a first color filter layer, a second color filter layer and an light shielding layer, provided on the transparent substrate. The first and second color filter layers include a first color filter column and a second color filter column, respectively, each of which is arranged for an associated column of pixels. The light shielding layer includes an light shielding column, which is provided for a gap between two adjacent columns of pixels. In a gap between two pixels that are adjacent in a row direction, an intercolumnar overlap area, in which the light shielding column and at least one of the first and second color filter columns overlap each other, and an intercolumnar non-overlap area, in which the light shielding column is overlapped by neither the first nor the second color filter column, are defined, and the intercolumnar non-overlap area is defined so as to extend continuously in the row direction through the gap between the two adjacent pixels.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a color filter substrate for use in a color liquid crystal display (LCD) and other display devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
LCDs are relatively small, thin and lightweight display devices with comparatively low power dissipation. By taking advantage of these features, LCDs are currently used extensively in a broad variety of electronic appliances. Among other things, active-matrix-addressed LCDs with switching elements are used particularly widely in office automation (OA) equipment including personal computers, audiovisual (AV) appliances such as TV sets, and cell phones. Meanwhile, the size, definition, effective pixel area ratio (i.e., aperture ratio), viewing angle, color purity and other quality parameters of LCDs have recently been increased or improved by leaps and bounds.
An LCD for a big size TV monitor, in particular, is recently required to increase its response speed and improve its viewing angle characteristic (or widen its viewing angle range) more than anything else. However, the conventional twisted nematic (TN) or super twisted nematic (STN) mode LCDs have just narrow viewing angle ranges, which is a problem. Thus, to overcome this problem, various technologies have been developed so far.
A multi-domain vertical alignment (MVA) mode LCD is a typical product of those new technologies (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 11-242225, for example). The MVA mode LCD includes a protrusion for controlling the pretilt angles of liquid crystal molecules (i.e., controlling the orientations thereof) on the surface of a substrate and an electrode with a slit or any other form of opening. The protrusion and the slit contribute to grouping the orientations of the liquid crystal molecules, thus improving the viewing angle characteristic and increasing the response speed of the liquid crystal molecules. For example, Example 5 of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 11-242225 discloses an MVA mode LCD in which multiple columns of protrusions are provided for a counter electrode on a color filter substrate and a plurality of slits are cut through pixel electrodes on an active-matrix substrate opposed to the color filter substrate. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 11-242225 also discloses an arrangement in which both the pixel electrodes and the counter electrode have slits and an arrangement in which both the pixel electrodes and the counter electrode have protrusions.
Meanwhile, to fabricate an LCD panel, a liquid crystal material needs to be injected into the gap between an active-matrix substrate and a color filter substrate facing each other. More specifically, a seal resin is applied onto the inside edges of the active-matrix substrate and the color filter substrate, thereby forming sealing portions. Next, the sealing portions of these substrates are bonded together such that a predetermined gap is left between the two substrates. Thereafter, a liquid crystal material is injected into this gap and then the resultant liquid crystal cell is sealed up. A vacuum injection process has often been used in the prior art as a method for injecting the liquid crystal material. In the vacuum injection process, first, the liquid crystal cell is loaded into a vacuum chamber, thereby evacuating the liquid crystal cell and creating and holding a vacuum in the cell. Next, an injection port, provided in the sealing portions, is put into a liquid crystal material stored in a container. Thereafter, the pressure in the chamber is raised back to the ordinary pressure again, thereby making the liquid crystal material permeate the liquid crystal cell at the atmospheric pressure. Then, the injection port is sealed with a resin. However, according to this vacuum injection process, it takes a lot of time to finish injecting the liquid crystal material. This problem gets even more serious when this process is applied to making a big LCD panel for a big-screen TV.
Thus, to avoid this problem, the injection process has recently been replaced by a dropping process more and more often (see Japanese Patent Gazette for Opposition No. 8-20627, for example). In the dropping process, a sealing portion is provided on the surface of one of two substrates facing each other, a liquid crystal material is dropped onto the area inside the sealing portion, and then the substrate with this sealing portion and the other substrate are bonded together and the sealing portion is cured. According to this dropping process, a liquid crystal cell can be obtained while the liquid crystal material injected is being encapsulated.
In the dropping process, however, it is difficult to constantly drop the same amount of liquid crystal material onto the sealing portion per unit time at a controlled rate. That is why some bubbles may remain in the liquid crystal cell due to the inconstant dropping rate. Those bubbles will be referred to herein as "residual bubbles". The techniques of eliminating those residual bubbles from the dropping process are disclosed by Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publications No. 2002-107740 and No. 11-174477, for example. Specifically, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2002-107740 discloses a method for preventing residual bubbles from being produced due to the lack of the liquid crystal material injected by collecting the liquid crystal material once dropped if the amount of the liquid crystal material dropped has deviated from a reference value. On the other hand, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 11-174477 discloses a method for preventing residual bubbles from being produced due to the emission of gases (e.g., adsorbed water) from color filters in an LCD with a color filter substrate by thermally treating and degassing the color filter substrate and then dropping a liquid crystal material.
Those residual bubbles produced by the dropping process are very noticeable in an MVA mode LCD, in particular. For example, suppose a pixel electrode has a plurality of slits as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 11-242225. In that case, liquid crystal molecules with various different orientations are present around the shorter side of each slit 11 (i.e., the side intersecting with the longer sides thereof) as identified by the reference numerals 12a, 12b, 12c, 12d, 12e and 12f in FIG. 7B. Thus, the liquid crystal molecules have disturbed, abnormal orientations. As a result, not just the viewing angle characteristic deteriorates but also the luminance and response speed of the panel decrease as well. Furthermore, when black display is switched into white display, the white presented on the screen instantaneously becomes brighter than the intended one to produce an after image, too. It should be noted that electrode portions near the shorter sides (i.e., ends) of the slit connect together parts of an electrode that are divided by the slit, and will be referred to herein as "electrically connecting portions" after Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 11-242225.
Thus, in Example 6 of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 11-242225, multiple columns of protrusions are arranged in a zigzag pattern on the counter electrode on the color filter substrate, while a plurality of slits are arranged in the same zigzag pattern on the pixel electrodes on the active-matrix substrate. In such an arrangement, a black matrix (BM) 140 having openings with a closed cross section is provided as shown in FIG. 7B in order to cover those portions with the abnormal orientations. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 11-242225 also discloses that the electrically connecting portions 12e and 12f are shielded from light with a storage capacitor electrode, which is provided for the active-matrix substrate to stabilize the potential at the pixel electrodes.
However, if a LCD panel is fabricated by the dropping process using such a BM, then the BM constitutes a barrier, which prevents the liquid crystal material dropped from being distributed sufficiently broadly, thus slowing down the progress of the liquid crystal material and producing bubbles eventually.
A similar problem is observed in any liquid crystal display device including a BM having openings with such a closed cross section, no matter whether the LCD operates in the MVA mode or in the TN mode. Particularly, if the thickness of the liquid crystal layer is reduced to increase the response speed, then the progress of the liquid crystal material will be even slower and the bubbles will be produced even more easily. Also, comparing the MVA mode LCD and the TN mode LCD to each other, the bubbles produced are more noticeable in the MVA mode LCD than in the TN mode LCD. This is because the liquid crystal material used for the MVA mode LCD has higher viscosity than that used for the TN mode LCD. Thus, the liquid crystal material has higher flow resistance around the surface of the alignment film. In addition, the MVA mode LCD has protrusions for controlling the orientations of liquid crystal molecules.
It should be noted that neither the technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2002-107740 nor that disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 11-174477 was developed to prevent those residual bubbles from being produced by a BM with such openings. Thus, it is difficult to overcome those problems by any of these techniques.
In order to overcome the problems described above, preferred embodiments of the present invention provide a color filter substrate that can eliminate those residual bubbles, which would otherwise be produced when an LCD panel is made by a dropping process, and a display device including such a color filter substrate.

Color filter substrate comprising a light shielding column and display device having the same


Methods, systems, and devices are described for wireless communication. An access point (AP) may determine a single user bias for a wireless device based on a feedback signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and an SNR based on a modulation and coding scheme (MCS). The AP may also determine a multi-user SNR for the wireless device based on the feedback SNR, the single user bias, a multi user loss, and a group bias. The AP may then select an updated MCS based on the multi-user SNR. In some cases, the AP may transmit a reference signal to the wireless device and receive a compressed beamforming feedback report from the wireless device based on the reference signal. The feedback SNR may be based on the compressed beamforming feedback report. The AP may also maintain a blacklist of groups with channel correlation that satisfies a threshold, and refrain from scheduling those groups together.

The following relates generally to wireless communication, and more specifically to multi-user multiple-input, multiple-output (MU-MIMO) rate prediction based on single user (SU) signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) feedback. That is, a rate implicit in a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) may be determined dynamically based on a feedback report.
Wireless communications systems are widely deployed to provide various types of communication content. Examples of communication content may include voice, video, packet data, messaging, broadcast, and so on. These systems may be multiple-access systems capable of supporting communication with multiple users by sharing the available system resources (e.g., time, frequency, and power). A wireless network, for example a wireless local area network (WLAN), such as a wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) (i.e., Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11) network may include an access point (AP) that may communicate with one or more stations (STAs) or mobile devices. The AP may be coupled to a network, such as the Internet, and may enable a mobile device to communicate via the network (or communicate with other devices coupled to the access point). A wireless device may communicate with a network device bi-directionally. For example, in a WLAN, a STA may communicate with an associated AP via downlink (DL) and uplink (UL). The DL (or forward link) may refer to the communication link from the AP to the station, and the UL (or reverse link) may refer to the communication link from the station to the AP.
In some wireless systems, an AP may communicate with one or more grouped sets of client devices simultaneously. Multi-user groups may change, which may make a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) decision based on a packet error rate (PER)-based rate adaptation inaccurate. That is, multi-user MCS may depend on a multi-user grouping, thus the frequent grouping change may cause a rate adaptation loop to be inaccurate. Moreover, PER-based rate adaptation may be inaccurate in the presence of interference in sounding feedback.

Multiple user MIMO rate prediction based on single user SNR feedback


A battery securing structure with setting-cleared elements for being integrally assembled and welded onto a main board is provided. The battery securing structure comprises al insulation body, a first elastic structure, a second elastic structure, and a plurality of setting-cleared elements. The insulation body has a battery engagement portion and a securing portion. The first elastic structure is disposed on the bottom of the battery engagement portion for being electrically connected to one electrode of the battery. In addition, the second elastic structure is disposed on lateral side of the battery engagement portion for being electrically connected to another electrode of the battery. Moreover, a plurality of the setting-cleared elements is disposed on the securing portion.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a battery securing structure and particularly to a battery securing structure with setting-cleared elements.
2. Description of Related Art
In most main boards, a jumper for clearing the CMOS (Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor) setting values is popularly disposed in order to facilitate a reset operation for users. Generally, the jumper attached with an operation instruction, is a 3-pin or 2-pin jumper and adjacent to the CMOS battery securing structure of the main board. When the users connect the jumper cap to 2-pins labeled "CLR_CMOS," various manual set parameters stored in the BIOS is restored to values preset prior to the delivery of the main board from a factory.
Moreover, pins of the CMOS battery securing structure on the main board and pins of the jumper are all in DIP pins that can be plugged into a main board and welded thereon. As the length of the pins is too long, the assemblers nay contact the two "CLR_CMOS" pins by a mistake, thereby causing a short circuit and further degrading perforce of the assembly. Meanwhile, the jumper is adjacent to the battery securing structure, but they are two separately-assembled independent structures and cannot be assembled integrally, thus causing inconvenience to the assemblers and increasing the assembly time.

Battery-securing structure with setting-cleared elements


A method and system for modifying program applications of a legacy computer system to directly output data as XML using a DOM instance, models the legacy computer system, maps the model to an XML schema and automatically modifies one or more applications to directly output XML formatted data from an internally constructed DOM instance in cooperation with a writer engine. The writer engine allows for an arbitrary number of contexts to be simultaneously active and builds a complete DOM instance by using the multiple contexts to buffer output data. The writer engine directly loads XML schema information to construct and output DOM instances in accordance with the schema and subject to further transformation by XSLT stylesheets.

The Internet and e-commerce are rapidly reshaping the way that the world does business. In addition to direct purchases made through the Internet, consumers increasingly depend upon information available through the Internet to make purchasing decisions. Businesses have responded by allowing greater access of information through the Internet both directly to consumers and to other businesses such as suppliers. One result of the increased access to electronic information through the Internet is a decreased dependency and desire for printed "hard copy" information.
Extensible Mark-up Language ("XML") provides an excellent tool for business-to-business electronic commerce and publication of data via the Internet. XML specifies a format that is easily adapted for data transmission over the Internet, direct transfer as an object between different applications, or the direct display and manipulation of data via browser technology. Currently, complex transformations are performed on data output in legacy computer system formats in order to put the data in XML format.
One example of the transformation from written reports typically output by legacy computer systems to electronic reports is the telephone bill. Historically, telephone companies have relied on mainframe or legacy computer systems running COBOL code to track and report telephone call billing information. Typically, these legacy computer system reports are printed, copied and distributed to those who need the information. However, conventional legacy computer system report formats are difficult to transmit or manipulate electronically. Yet, the electronic distribution of bills, such as through e-mail, a biller's web site or at a bill consolidator chosen by the consumer, enhances flexibility and control of bill payment, especially with complex business invoices.
Generally, in order to make conventional legacy reports available in different formats, a complex transformation of the data is performed based on a report print stream. One transformation technique is to write a "wrapper" around the legacy computer system. The wrapper includes parsers and generators that transform legacy computer system reports into XML formatted output. Parsers apply a variety of rules to identify and tag data output in a legacy report. For example, a parser might determine that a data field of a telephone bill represents a dollar amount based on the presence of a dollar sign or the location of a decimal point in the data field, or that a data field represents a customer name due to absence of numbers. Once the parser deciphers the legacy report, a generator transforms the legacy computer system data into appropriately tagged XML format.
Although the end result of the parsing and transforming process is data in an XML format, the process itself is difficult and expensive to implement and cumbersome to maintain. Without careful study of underlying program logic, it is generally not possible to reliably determine all potential outputs from the legacy computer system. In particular, even a fairly large output sample is almost certain to be incomplete in that some program logic is only rarely exercised. Another difficulty with the parsing and transforming process is that, as changes are made to the underlying program applications of the legacy computer system, the parsing and transforming systems generally require updates that mirror the underlying changes. These downstream changes increase the time and expense associated with maintaining the legacy computer system, and also increase the likelihood of errors being introduced into the XML formatted output.
Another difficulty associated with the use of XML is that, although XML dramatically improves the utility of output data, the generation of XML output depends upon underlying programs that adhere to an exacting data structure. For instance, the generation of syntactically correct XML requires adherence to a rigid labeled tree structure so that output data is identified by "tags" and "end tags" associated with the XML data structure as defined by an XML schema. When writing a deeply embedded element of an XML tree, such as a subschema within a defined XML schema, tags corresponding to all of that element's ancestor elements must also be written. When writing another element, not part of a current XML subschema, the current subschema must be closed off to an appropriate level with balancing closing end tags for the ancestor elements. XML schema also specify type and cardinality constraints on their elements. Thus, substantial and exacting bookkeeping of programs that output XML is necessary with respect to the XML schema in order to minimize errors on the part of programmers.
One particular application of XML that has gained acceptance is the Document Object Model ("DOM") created by the World Wide Web Consortium ("W3C"). DOM is a platform-neutral and language-neutral interface that allows programs to dynamically access and update content, structure and style of documents. Commercial packages are available that provide DOM application programming interfaces ("APIs") and that provide Extensible Stylesheet Language ("XSL") and XSL Transformation ("XSLT") tools to modify an XML DOM according to XSL and XSLT templates.
The DOM includes a standard set of methods for manipulating DOM elements. Generation of a DOM instance satisfying an XML schema generally requires a step-by-step construction of each node in the DOM tree so that all parent elements are created along with embedded elements of an XML tree. If an element is added that is not part of the current subschema, the DOM tree generally must be traversed to an appropriate ancestor node with new descendents of the node created to establish a correct context. Thus, substantial and exacting bookkeeping for DOM construction is necessary in order to minimize errors on the part of programmers.

Method and system for reporting XML data based on precomputed context and a document object model