A novel retroviral nucleotide sequence comprising a constitutive transport enhancer which functions to transport mRNA transcripts from the nucleus to the cytoplasm of a cell, wherein the mRNA transcript is either differentially spliced, alternatively spliced, incompletely spliced, or unspliced. Additionally disclosed are methods of using the constitutive transport enhancer to screen agents for antiviral activity against rev-dependent HIV proteins by expressing the proteins in a rev-negative subgenomic construct containing the enhancer either in the presence of absence of the agent. Additionally, disclosed are methods of making a constitutive transport enhancer by isolating a sequence to be tested for constitutive transport enhancer activity, inserting the sequence into a vector containing a DNA sequence not normally transported from the nucleus to the cytoplasm so that both the enhancer and DNA molecule are transcribed as part of a functional mRNA transcript in a mammalian cell, introducing the recombinant vector into a mammalian cell, assaying for the nucleocytoplasmic transport of mRNA corresponding to the DNA molecule, and isolating and purifying the sequence having constitutive transport enhancer activity.

1.1 Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to gene expression in mammalian cells. More particularly, the invention relates to a genetic element which provides for cytoplasmic expression of intron containing cellular mRNA which normally do not exit the nucleus. Nucleic acid constructs containing a gene normally transcribed into intron containing mRNA is located proximal to this genetic element such that the result of transcription from this gene is an intron containing mRNA transcript also containing the genetic element. The genetic element also can be used for complex retroviral protein expression and viral replication independent of the expression of a viral transacting protein such as rev, rex, or functionally equivalent protein.
1.2 Description of the Background and Related Art
A. Splicing of HIV RNA:
The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a lymphotropic retrovirus implicated in the pathogenesis of AIDS. As compared to other characterized retroviruses, the HIV genome appears to contain at least six novel genes (vif, vpr, tat, rev, vpu, and nef). However, a common feature of all replication-competent retroviruses is that the primary transcription product from the proviral DNA contains at least three open reading frames gag, pol and env, positioned 5' to 3' in the RNA. This product is always a genome length RNA that is spliced to generate subgenomic species, wherein the spliced RNA function as mRNA for env or other proteins that are sometimes encoded near the 3' end of the genome. Splicing, the removal of intervening sequences, is a multi-step process requiring the participation of small nuclear RNAs and protein factors that together make up small nuclear ribonucleoprotein particles (snRNP) which in turn form a large complex termed the spliceosome.
In the case of the "simple" Oncornavirus subfamily of retroviruses, a single 5' splice site is positioned near the 5' end of the primary transcript and splicing involves the use of one or two 3' acceptor sites positioned downstream in the RNA. Thus, the subgenomic molecules are always singly spliced and have had most or all of the coding region for gag and pol removed. In these RNAs, the gag and pol region has been defined as an intron. However, because splicing is inefficient, enough full length RNA remains to function as both the mRNA for the gag and pol genes and as the molecule that is packaged into virus particles (Coffin, 1991, in Fundamental Virology, eds. Field et al., pp.645-708, Raven Press Ltd.).
The situation in HIV, a member of the Lentivirus subfamily of retroviruses, is more complex. In this case, the coding regions of several novel genes are positioned near the center of the primary transcript between gag-pol and env and at the 3' end of the genome (Wong-Staal, 1991, in Fundamental Virology, eds. Field et al., pp.709-723, Raven Press Ltd. ). The central region of the genome also contains several 5' and 3' splice sites, which, in conjunction with the conventionally positioned 5' splice site near the 5' end of the RNA, are used for differential splicing of the primary transcript into over twenty different species of mRNA (Schwartz et al., 1990, J. Virol. 64:2519-2529; Schwartz et al., 1990, J. Virol. 64:5448-5456; Schwartz et al., 1991, Virology 183:677-686). These RNAs are either singly or multiply spliced. A consequence of this complicated splicing scheme is that env, as well as gag-pol, has been defined as an intron in the multiply spliced mRNAs.
B. The Relationship Between Rev, Splicing and HIV Gene
Expression and Replication:
In most cases, cellular mRNAs contain introns that are removed by splicing before transport to the cytoplasm occurs. Transport to the cytoplasm is required for the mRNA to interact with the ribosomes and accessory factors in the process of protein synthesis. Recent studies have suggested that intron-containing RNAs are usually prevented from exiting the nucleus due to the binding of splicing factors (Chang and Sharp, 1989, Cell 59:789-795; Legrain and Rosbash, 1989, Cell 57:573-583); although there are a few examples of differentially spliced cellular transcripts that are transported with a retained intron (McKeown, 1992, Annual Rev. of Cell Biol. 8:133-155). While the exact export mechanism(s) that allow these mRNAs to be transported has yet to be elucidated, recent data indicates that different RNA species may share common steps in the export pathway. In that regard, export is believed to involve targeting to the sites of exit and transport through them, probably as a RNA-protein complex. Thus, the cellular pathway of nucleocytoplasmic transport of mRNA includes a factor (one or more proteins), intrinsic to the cell, which binds to a sequence(s) contained in the mRNA.
The rev gene has been shown to be essential for the production of virus (herein "rev" refers to the gene and "rev" refers to the gene product; this convention is also followed for other gene/protein pairs such as env/env, etc.). Using infectious proviral clones of HIV to study rev function, it has been demonstrated that mutations in this gene led to severely reduced levels of protein from gag and env (Feinberg et al., 1986, Cell 46:807-817; Sodroski et al., 1986 Nature 321:412-417). In these studies, in the absence of rev, the levels of large mRNAs encoding the structural proteins were reduced, whereas the levels of doubly spliced small RNAs encoding nonstructural proteins were increased. Similarly, using an envelope protein expression vector system, when rev was deleted from the vector, steady-state levels of env mRNA in the cytoplasm were greatly reduced; env RNA accumulated in the nucleus; and no env protein could be detected unless rev was provided in trans (Hammarskjold et al., 1989, J. Virol. 63:1959-1966).
It has been shown that the HIV rev protein functions to specifically allow nuclear export of unspliced and singly spliced HIV RNA (Emerman et al., 1989, Cell 57:1155-1165; Felber et al., 1989, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 86:1496-1499); Hammarskjold et al., 1989, supra; Malim et al., 1989, Nature 338:254-257). These RNAs contain complete introns and are retained in the nucleus in the absence of rev. The details of how rev functions are not completely elucidated, although it is clear that rev action requires it to bind to a specific element in the HIV RNA known as the rev responsive element (RRE) (Daly et al., 1989 Nature 342:816-819; Hammarskjold et al., 1989, supra; Zapp and Green, 1989, Nature 342:714-716). It is believed that rev then acts to allow export of unspliced RNA by interacting with a cellular protein termed a "rev-interacting protein" (Gorlich et al., 1996, Science 271:1513-1518).
Another subfamily of complex Retroviruses, typified by HTLV I and II, seems to have evolved a mechanism similar to HIV to facilitate the transport of intron-containing RNA. These viruses utilize a protein called rex, which, like rev, must bind to a specific element present in the viral RNA (RXRE) (Ahmed et al., 1990, Genes Dev. 4:1014-1022). Rex has also been shown to substitute for rev in promoting the transport of rev-dependent mRNA (Rimsky et al., 1988, Nature 335:738-740; Lewis et al., 1990, J. Virol. 64:1690-1697). While the complex retroviruses have developed rev and rex regulation to allow the cytoplasmic expression of their intron-containing RNA, the simple retroviruses appear not to have similar transacting proteins. Rather, as shown by the present invention, simple retroviruses tap into a constitutive cellular pathway by interacting with a cellular factor or factors that may normally be used for the transport of cellular mRNA from the nucleus to the cytoplasm.
C. Relevance to Therapy against AIDS:
An important aspect in identifying anti-viral compounds that are effective against HIV is the development of in vitro assays that can be used to screen for agents that selectively interfere with the different processes involved in HIV infection and replication. One such assay, described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,910,132 involves a virus-free assay that tests the ability of compounds to inhibit specifically the synthesis of the HIV gp120 envelope protein. Another assay using recombinant vectors was developed to detect agents that would inhibit fusion between env producing cells and CD4.sup.+ cells (Nelson et al., 1989, Vth International AIDS Conference, Montreal, Quebec, Canada). However, these assays employed env-producing vectors that also encoded rev, because, inter alia, rev is required for env synthesis. Thus, in vitro assays such as these aren't able to distinguish between compounds acting to inhibit processes involving gp 120 from compounds affecting rev activity. Similarly, in vitro assays, using subgenomic constructs for the production of gag or gag-pol, are not able to distinguish between compounds acting to inhibit processes involving these proteins from compounds affecting rev activity.
Much research has been focused on the development of a vaccine against AIDS, particularly a vaccine that can readily elicit significant levels of neutralizing antibodies that would prevent the debilitating effects of HIV infection. Vaccine candidates include inactivated virus (see for example, Gibbs et al., 1991, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 88:3348-52), virus-like particles (Smith et al., 1990, J. Virol. 64:2743-2750), gag/env protein (U.S. Pat. No. 4,925,784), recombinant fusion polypeptides containing HIV envelope protein or portions thereof (U.S. Pat. No. 5,130, 248), glycosylated envelope protein (U.S. Pat. No. 4,725,669), and envelope peptides (U.S. Pat. No. 4,957,737). However, for human use, there is yet to be demonstrated a safe and effective vaccine against HIV (Sabin, 1992, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 89:8852-8855; Hilleman, 1992, AIDS Res. Hum. Retroviruses 8:1743-1747; Ada et al. 1992, Nature 359:572; and Desrosiers, 1992, AIDS Res. Hum. Retroviruses 8:411-421). A new approach, proposing the development of a simpler retroviral vaccine against HIV, is based on the general observation that mammalian immune systems are much more successful in controlling infection caused by simpler retroviruses, as opposed to infections by more complex retroviruses such as HIV (Temin, 1993, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 90:4419-4420). Thus, the development of a simplified HIV may result in a virus limited in replication such that an infected human may be able to respond by successfully mounting a protective response which would also be effective against wild type HIV. "Simplified" means that this engineered virus would express only the gag, pol, and env proteins. However, an obstacle to the development of such a HIV vaccine is that env production and viral replication is dependent on the presence of rev.

Purified retroviral constitutive transport enhancer elements that enhance nucleocytoplasmic transport of mRNA, and methods of making and using the elements

The Research Foundation of the State University of NY

University of Alabama at Birmingham Research Foundation


An automobile steering lock includes a body member, a housing and a lock means. The locking means is contained in a lock housing in the housing, and consists of a base, plural number buttons, a press button, an adjust plate, plural wheels, a control plate, a press plate, a coil spring and a deadbolt. When the number buttons are all rotated to the preset coded number for unlocking, the press button can be pressed inward to force the press plate together with the deadbolt to move down to the unlocking position to free the housing from the body member. Thus this lock needs no keys, and the coded number is adjustable by a user, preventing the lock from being pried open by thieves.

This invention relates to an automobile steering lock, particularly to one having a lock means with number buttons for controlling locking and unlocking of the lock means, getting rid of the trouble of carrying a key for unlocking, and acquiring anti-theft purpose by freely changing the code number for unlocking.
Many conventional automobile steering locks have been in use, and one of them is shown in FIG. 1, including body member 10, a bearing 11, a spring 12, a cap 13 and a locking means 14 orderly fitted in a side of the body member 10, a hook 15 formed in a lower end of the body member 10, an elongate rod member 16 able to telescope in the body member 10 and having a hook 160 formed in a front end. The elongate rod member 16 has a plurality of annular grooves 161, and the body member 10 forms a sticking rod.
In using this conventional automobile steering lock, it is placed on the steering wheel of an automobile, with the hook 15 of the body member 10 hooking a portion of the steering wheel, with the locking means 14 unlocked, with the elongate rod member 16 pulled out of the body member 10 to let the hook 160 hooking an inner portion of the steering wheel, and then the locking means 14 is locked at that position. And locking and unlocking of the locking means 14 always needs a key, not convenient to use. Generally, most conventional automobile steering locks use a key for locking and unlocking. So when the key is lost, it may be very troublesome to use. Further, those kinds of automobile steering locks may be easily pried open by thieves to steel the automobile.


A telescoping base support having an elongated tube and an elongated slide coaxially and slideably nested therein is provided to form a secure support for a power ram used to deflect the entrapping structure. Ideally, the power ram is pivotably mounted to a carrige which is slideably disposed about the tube of the base support and longitudinally positionable thereon.

The use of power rams as spreaders of metal structures, particularly in rescuing victims from vehicles, is well known. The typical scenario in such application uses a double-acting hydraulic or pneumatic motor device to extricate automobile occupants trapped therein after a collision. Although vehicle crashes are probably the most common application, the application of these power rams is not so limited as they are also used to provide tremendous force necessary to move structural and heavy items in order to provide a path of egress and enable the retrieval of a person or object confined, for example, in collapsed buildings, mine shaft cave-ins, and other emergencies.
Power rams for rescue purposes are typically simple, straight hydraulic cylinder and piston devices which can expand lengthwise with force on the order of thousands of pounds. Because of the straight configuration of these devices, they must be oriented with one end against a counterstructure with the other end against the steel beam or member to be moved in a directly opposite position. Not only must there physically be a counterstructure, but the counterstructure must be strong enough to support and withstand the force necessary to effect the movement. Quite commonly, such opposite counterstructure either does not exist or is of insufficient strength to support the power ram loads needed to move the structure.
Further, the ram spreaders require cribbing or the placement and stacking of blocks of wood to fabricate a base support against which the ram is placed. Unfortunately, this often makes an inadequate or unsafe base for the ram because the wood blocking is prone to breakage, and the ram may likewise slip from the wood blocks under operational loads. In order to avoid such disadvantage, it is necessary to seat the base of the ram squarely upon the wood blocking in direct opposition to the object being moved. This is quite frequently impossible in collapsed vehicles and in turn severely limits the operating angle at which the ram may be articulated from the base.
Furthermore, in such an operation the selection of wood blocks to use as a base support for the ram is limited to those of a size which can be fit through the openings in the entrapping structure, e.g. an automobile window. Often those pieces which are small enough to fit into the entrapping structure are not large enough to provide a safe supporting structure for the power ram. Accordingly, the prior designs for power ram spreaders leave considerable room for improvement.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a power ram type spreader, which does not require the use of cribbing or the impromptu fabrication of a base support.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a ram type spreader having a configurable base support upon which the power ram can be securely braced during use.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a ram type spreader having a base support which permits angular articulation of the power ram.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a ram type spreader having a longitudinally telescoping base support.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a power ram type spreader having a base support with means for varying and securing the position of the power ram longitudinally thereon.
Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become obvious to those of skill in the art upon contemplation of the disclosure herein.

Apparatus for spreading steel structures


An information synchronization method includes sending, by a controller, a first message to a network device, where the first message carries control routing protocol (CRP) routing entry information, and is used to advertise a CRP route, and the first message includes first identification information, and after receiving the first message, storing, by a forwarding device, the CRP routing entry information into a CRP routing table of the network device as indicated by the first identification information. Hence, because a route advertised by the controller and a route advertised using a routing protocol between forwarding devices are stored in different routing tables, a related application of the route advertised using the routing protocol between the forwarding devices is not affected.

In recent years, value of software-defined networking (SDN) has been recognized by telecommunications network operators, and the SDN is the direction of future network evolution. An SDN system includes a controller and a forwarding device, where the controller may be used to control network traffic, and the forwarding device may be used to forward a received packet. A control plane and a forwarding plane (also referred to as a data plane) of a network device are separated from each other using an SDN technology, thereby implementing flexible control over network traffic, and accelerating network service innovation.
The Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) is a dynamic routing protocol used between autonomous systems (AS), and is mainly used to exchange reachable routing information between the ASs, and construct a propagation path between AS domains. A currently used version is BGP-4 (RFC 4271). As an exterior routing protocol standard on the Internet, the BGP protocol is widely applied between Internet service providers (ISPs). To provide support for a plurality of network layer protocols, the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) has extended BGP-4 to form Multiprotocol Extensions for BGP (MP-BGP).
In a current SDN architecture, if the controller uses the BGP protocol to advertise a route to the forwarding device, the route advertised by the controller and a route advertised using common BGP between forwarding devices are stored in a same BGP routing information base (RIB) also referred to as routing table). As shown in FIG. 1, a route sent by the controller is processed as a common BGP route, and after the route advertised by the controller is preferentially selected, a related application of the route advertised using the common BGP is affected. For example, a forwarding device A advertises a route P1 prefixed with X to a forwarding device B, and the controller advertises a route P2 also prefixed with X to the forwarding device B. In this case, the forwarding device B receives the two routes that are prefixed with same X. The forwarding device B forwards the routes to a forwarding device C, and during route selection, a priority of the route P2 is higher than a priority of the route P1. The forwarding device B sends the route P2 to the forwarding device C. In this case, a related application of the route P1 is affected. For example, it is specified that when a BGP Multi-Exit-Disc (MED) attribute associated with the route P1 is set to 100, the route P1 is introduced into an Intermediate System to Intermediate System (ISIS) RIB of the forwarding device C. However, in this case, because the route P2 is preferentially selected, and a MED attribute of the route P2 is set to 200, the route P2 is not introduced into the ISIS RIB, consequently, affecting a related application of the route P1 advertised using the common BGP between the forwarding devices.
If the controller uses a first Path Computation Element Communication Protocol (PCEP) or another existing routing protocol to advertise a route to the forwarding device, a similar problem still exists. To be specific, the route advertised by the controller and a common PCEP route between the forwarding devices or a route in another routing protocol are stored in a same PCEP routing information base RIB or a common routing information base RIB under the other routing protocol. In this case, the route advertised by the controller is processed as the common PECP route or the common route in the other protocol. After the route advertised by the controller is preferentially selected, a related application of the route advertised using the common PCEP or the other protocol is affected.

Information synchronization method, apparatus, and system


Systems and methods are disclosed for checker cores for fault tolerant processing. For example, an integrated circuit (e.g., a processor) for executing instructions includes a processor core configured to execute instructions of an instruction set; an outer memory system configured to store instructions and data; and a checker core configured to receive committed instruction packets from the processor core and check the committed instruction packets for errors, wherein the checker core is configured to utilize a memory pathway of the processor core to access the outer memory system by receiving instructions and data read from the outer memory system as portions of committed instruction packets from the processor core. For example, data flow from the processor core to the checker core may be limited to committed instruction packets received via dedicated a wire bundle.

A Dual Core Lock-Step (DCLS) processor design helps a processing system detect logic failures. For example, aviation electronics usually have higher risk of being affected by alpha particles or cosmic rays. Failure detection and correction mechanisms are important features for high reliability in such systems. DCLS is a technique applied to the systems because for its failure detection capability. DCLS deploys two identical processor cores inside. Two cores are initialized (reset) in the same states and fed with identical inputs. As a result, identical outputs from two cores are expected to be observed. A logic failure reaching the output in one of the cores can be detected by comparing the outputs of the two cores.

Checker cores for fault tolerant processing


A susceptor at least a surface thereof being coated with SiC, includes a recess where an wafer is mounted, the recess having an round portion disposed on a lower portion of an outer circumferential portion of the recess, a ring-shaped SiC crystal growth surface portion provided within the round portion in a range of 0.05 mm or more and 0.3 mm or less defined from an outer circumference vertical portion of the recess and a contact portion, where the susceptor contacts with the wafer on the recess, having a surface roughness Ra in a range of 0.5 μm or more and 3 μm or less.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a susceptor, in particular, a susceptor in which a SiC film formed on a wafer pocket is partially left without polishing so as to be a SiC grain growth surface portion.
2. Description of the Background Art
A semiconductor device is manufactured through many manufacturing processes. As susceptors that are used in an epitaxial growth process of a semiconductor wafer, because of the low reactivity and high strength, a SiC member in which SiC is coated on a carbon base material is frequently used.
There are a sheet-like susceptor in which a single wafer-housing recess is formed on a planar susceptor base material and a susceptor in which many recesses are formed on a planar susceptor base material.
The susceptor is manufactured by coating SiC on a carbon base material in which a recess is formed by means of the mechanical grinding or the like, followed by using as coated in the heat treatment or the like (refer to Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. JP-A-56-10921), or by further polishing the SiC coated surface by use of a polishing machine, followed by using in the heat treatment or the like (refer to Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. JP-A-7-335572).
However, in the susceptors manufactured according to the conventional manufacturing methods, when the susceptor is used as coated with a SiC film in the heat treatment like in the JP-A-56-10921, because SiC is very hard, when grains grow large, apexes of the grains work like a blade to cut a surface of a semiconductor wafer. Furthermore, when the coated surface is polished and used as shown in the JP-A-7-335572, stress is concentrated during the polishing process in the vicinity of a boundary portion between a bottom surface portion of the recess where a semiconductor wafer is mounted on and a vertical portion thereof to cause fine cracks in the film. Furthermore, in some cases, owing to the thermal stress during the heat treatment, with the fine crack as a starting point, cracks as shown in FIG. 6 are generated on the coated surface, resulting in a short lifetime.
Furthermore, when an entire surface of the recess where a wafer is placed is polished, in the recess, the wafer, owing to a gas remaining at a contact interface, is easy in sliding, and the gas tends to linger at a peripheral corner portion of the recess. Accordingly, there is a problem in that owing to a centrifugal force in association with a rotary motion of the susceptor and an influence of the gas, the wafer comes off the recess.
In order to overcome the problems, countermeasures such as disposing holes communicating to a susceptor bottom surface on a wafer contact surface of the recess or disposing grooves in lattice are adopted. However, in this case, there is a problem in that since a partial temperature difference is formed in the wafer surface, the wafer cannot be performed uniformly heat treatment.
Furthermore, in the conventional susceptors, an outer circumference planar portion continuing from the outer circumference portion of the recess where the wafer is placed is subjected to an ordinary CVD-SiC coating or to the mirror polishing. In the former one, a gas flow is disturbed at the outer circumference portion of a wafer mounting portion to deteriorate, for instance, the uniformity of a wafer epitaxial layer. Furthermore, when it is used repeatedly, in the outer circumference portion, it is highly likely that impurity components agglomerate to adversely affect on the wafer. In the latter case, since the gas flow in the outer circumference portion becomes excessively uniform to cause an abnormal growth protrusion in a deposition layer, for instance, on a downstream side of the gas, after the repetition use, the uniformity of the epitaxial layer of the wafer may be deteriorated.


A method for suppressing the resonant effect between capacitors connected in parallel is disclosed. By adjusting the length of the transmission line of the shunt capacitors, the performance of the shunt capacitors, which can be applied on various types of filtering circuits, can be improved in the desired bandwidth.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for suppressing the resonant effect between capacitors connected in parallel (shunt capacitors) by adjusting the length of the transmission lines between the shunt capacitors and, more particularly, to a method of adjusting the length of the transmission lines that applies to the π-filter circuit.
2. Description of Related Art
For the purpose of noise suppression or signal filtering, different filtering structures are required in designing circuits. In order to increase the capacitance or using the multi-stage structure, shunt capacitors are used in these filtering structures, and which require two or more capacitors connected in parallel. However, the finite series inductance of the capacitor mounted on PCB will limit the performance in some frequencies. Usually the equivalent circuit of a single capacitor is modeled as the series of a capacitor, resister and inductor. There exists the series resonance in the finite series inductance and the capacitance of the capacitor, which limits the performance of the shunt capacitors. In order to suppress the unwanted resonant effect, one method is using several identical capacitors. However, the bandwidth of this structure is still not wide enough.
FIG. 1 illustrates the equivalent circuit of a single capacitor. Its equivalent inductance and resistance are assumed to be 0.5 nH and 0.1Ω respectively. The inductance comes from the inner conductor of the capacitor, and the resistance is from the conductor loss of the element.
FIG. 2 shows the frequency responses of a single capacitor and two capacitors connected in parallel. A single capacitor with a capacitance of 400 pF, a series resistance of 0.1Ω, and a series inductance of 0.5 nH has the lowest impedance around the frequency of 350 MHz. This corresponds to the series resonance frequency formed by the series of the capacitance and the equivalent inductance. On the other hand, if two capacitors of capacitance 200 pF and 600 pF are connected in parallel, there exists two local minimum of impedance at 300 MHz and 500 MHz, which corresponds to the series resonant frequency of each capacitor. However, this structure creates an impedance peak at 400 MHz. This impedance peak comes from the parallel resonance between the capacitance in one capacitor and the inductance in the other capacitor. This resonant effect limits the performance of shunt capacitors in the frequency band of interest.
Further, to avoid parallel resonance while decreasing the impedance, it is common to have multiple identical capacitors connected in parallel as shown in FIG. 3. Though such method will not result in any impedance peak, which comes from the parallel resonance between the capacitors, the bandwidth will still not be wide enough.
From the above, conventional capacitors connected in parallel are not capable of either effectively suppressing resonant effect or increasing the bandwidth; therefore, it is desirable to come up with an improved method to overcome the above flaws.

Method for suppressing resonant effect between capacitors connected in parallel


Methods for increasing the enthalpy of a geothermal brine, methods for recovering heat enthalpy stored in a geothermal brine, and methods for the production of a heated brine from a natural geothermal reservoir are provided. The methods may be incorporated into a geosolar electric power generation project to provide a steady and flexible source of renewable energy from a geothermal heat source in combination with solar insolation.

Various types of solar thermal electric power generation plants either already exist commercially or are in late developmental stages. These plants collect and concentrate solar energy (energy contained in sunlight) and convert the solar energy to thermal energy (heat). The thermal energy is then used to generate electric power.
Even in geographic locations that enjoy substantial, strong sunlight and relatively clear weather year-round, the available sunlight is often not sufficient to generate enough electricity to fully utilize, and maximize the economic investment in, a solar thermal plant. For example, solar thermal plants that lack thermal energy storage capabilities cannot generate electricity during nighttime or on overcast days. In addition, the number of hours of daylight are defined and constrained by season.
Some of these limitations can be overcome or lessened by storing thermal energy produced when sunlight is sufficient and recovering it to generate electricity when sunlight is unavailable or insufficient. The degree to which these limitations can be overcome or lessened, and the degree to which the overall utilization of the plant can be expanded, depend primarily on the amount of thermal storage available to the plant and the size of the solar energy collection field relative to the plant's electricity-generating capacity. Most of the thermal storage approaches that have been commercialized to date involve limited capacities that facilitate storage of thermal energy sufficient to operate the generators for four to six hours (Mills and Morgan, Aursa 2007). However, some studies suggest that it may be possible to store thermal energy for up to 16 hours (Stoddard et al., NREL 2006). This storage capacity allows a solar thermal plant to generate electricity into the late afternoon and evening hours or, at most, overnight, following a day of sufficient sunlight. However, it does not allow a plant to store thermal energy during a sunny season for electricity production during a less sunny season or during successive overcast days, or to continue operation during successive overcast days even in a season of normally strong sunlight.
Current methods of short-term thermal energy storage include steam accumulators, pressurized hot-water tanks, hot oil/rock storage vessels, and molten salt. These methods become costly when used to store more than a few hours worth of the heat needed for medium-size or larger electric power plants. In addition, none of these methods adequately addresses long-term, seasonal storage needs.
Geothermal reservoirs are also used to generate electricity. These reservoirs produce hot liquid brine, steam, or a mixture of brine and steam, depending on conditions in the reservoir, at a well-head or in a flash separator. A small minority of geothermal fields produce superheated "dry" steam, while most produce either hot brine or a combination of liquid brine with some flashed vapor, mostly steam. Because pressurized gaseous streams are ultimately used to drive turbine generators, the mass of produced geothermal fluid that can be used to drive a turbine is determined by the amount of the produced geothermal stream that is flashed into steam. Alternatively, the amount of electrical power that can be generated by a binary fluid geothermal power plant depends on the amount of heat that can be transferred from the produced geothermal stream to the binary fluid.
Geothermal power plants usually have fairly low thermal efficiencies relative to solar thermal plants and most other power plants, because of the lower-temperature fluids produced from most geothermal reservoirs. Even a stream produced from a highly efficient geothermal resource will normally flash steam with a temperature less than 450° F. (232° C.). An optimized steam Rankine-cycle power plant utilizing steam flashed from produced geothermal brine will typically enjoy a thermal efficiency of 25% or less, and such efficiency only applies to heat available in the flashed steam, typically less than a quarter of the total mass of the produced geothermal fluids. For this reason, many geothermal resources that might otherwise be considered potential sites for geothermal electric power production do not have sufficiently high thermal efficiency to result in an economically attractive project. Thus, many geothermal and hydrothermal reservoirs are not developed for electric power generation. The thermal energy otherwise available in such resources remains inaccessible from an economic standpoint and thus remains untapped.
Typically, geothermal power plants are fairly small, with the majority less than 100 MW in generating capacity, as a result of reservoir and other limitations. Despite current limitations in generating capacity, which result from a combination of the limitations of current methods, commercial considerations, and reservoir characteristics, many geothermal reservoirs contain a very large amount of thermal energy that could be extracted if the combination of technological and commercial considerations allowed, especially over a long period of time. The available geothermal heat per square mile of geothermal field associated with a 50° F. (28° C.) temperature change within the field (fluids and rock included) is over 190 trillion BTU per square mile. In an eight-square-mile geothermal structure, the available thermal energy could reach 1500 trillion BTU, the heat-equivalent of 1.5 TCF of natural gas. Thus, geothermal heat sources are potentially very, very large energy sources, if they can be tapped and utilized efficiently. Unfortunately, a substantial majority of these sources do not have the requisite temperatures and hydrothermal flows needed to economically sustain a geothermal power plant over a period of time sufficient to make such a project economically attractive. Thus, methods to efficiently access a greater portion of the immense thermal energy within a broad range of geothermal reservoirs would substantially increase society's ability to harness geothermal resources for electric power generation.
Anderson (1978) attempted to increase the overall efficiency of a geothermal power plant by segregating higher-temperature wells that produce more steam into a high-temperature gathering system and collecting lower-temperature geothermal fluids in a separate gathering system. In the geothermal electric power plant, the higher-temperature thermal energy is transferred by heat exchange into a dual power-fluid cycle, which improves the capability of the plant to efficiently generate electric power. Unfortunately, sizable geothermal reservoirs that are suitable for the segregation process of Anderson are rare, resulting in limited opportunities for the application of this process.
The rate at which heat and/or fluids can be withdrawn from geothermal hydrothermal reservoirs is also limited. If fluids are withdrawn too rapidly, then the pressure of the reservoir will normally drop unless replacement fluid flows to the production wells from elsewhere. Unfortunately, replenishment from deeper hot-water resources is often limited, if present at all, such that fluids flowing into production wells are replenished by colder fluids from the flanks of the reservoir, or are not replenished at all. The rate at which this colder fluid is heated by hot geothermal reservoir rock is limited by the rate of heat conduction through the rock itself. As a result, at high production rates, the reservoir pressure drops relatively rapidly because of incomplete fluid replenishment, and the temperature of the reservoir drops over time as colder fluid migrates to the production wells. The combination of lower reservoir pressure and temperature eventually reduces the fluid production rates and, to an even greater extent, the heat production levels, which in turn reduces the amount of power generated.
Spent geothermal brine has been injected into formations to replenish fluid flows to a production well in a geothermal reservoir. However, the spent geothermal brine is injected a great distance from the production well, for example, at least a mile away from production well, and is estimated to take in excess of 50 to 100 years to migrate back to the production well (NDC 1978). While this approach is acceptable for reducing temperature drops, it is ineffective for controlling the pressure drop in the production zone. However, the injection of spent brine in closer proximity to the production well is considered unacceptable because it would cool the produced fluids, thereby reducing the power-generating capability of the geothermal field.
It has also been suggested that supercritical brine could be used to enhance oil recovery and to create synthetic geothermal reservoirs from oil fields. Specifically, Meksvanh et al. (2006) describes a method for injecting a supercritical brine into porous or permeable geologic structures (e.g., sedimentary rock formations) for the purpose of enhancing oil recovery from oil fields. The resulting synthetic reservoirs can subsequently be used for thermal storage and electricity production. The Meksvanh method uses solar concentrators to heat reservoir brine directly to temperatures exceeding both the critical temperature and the critical pressure of the brine (374° C.; 22 MPa (3204 PSIA)). This process temperature is achievable by means of solar collectors, but at substantial cost. The supercritical brine is passed through the rock formations until equilibrium is reached between the supercritical brine and the rock formation, and until a relatively homogeneous temperature is reached throughout the reservoir. Unfortunately, injecting a supercritical brine into a much cooler geologic rock formation results in a loss of approximately half of the electrical generating capability initially and, therefore, a large loss in power-generating capability. Moreover, although the loss in power-generating capability will be reduced as the supercritical brine and the rock formation approach a state of thermal equilibrium, reaching such a state would take many years in the formations described in Meksvanh. For these reasons, the methods described by Meksvanh are not suitable for short-term solar energy storage or electrical power generation wherein the solar heat injected and stored is recovered and utilized within a short (e.g., one month or less) time frame.
The Meksvanh process also suffers from the problem that injection of heated fluids into porous and permeable rock formations can result in fluid and heat loss due to entrapment in fault blocks or selective transportation out of the injection zone of the reservoir through permeability streaks in the formation. There may also be heat losses to shallower sedimentary zones. There could even be a circulation of reservoir fluids with an influx of brine that together result in a cooling of the injection zone. These effects can further extend the time to reach thermal equilibrium, if it is possible to reach thermal equilibrium at all.
There have also been attempts to use solar energy to "augment" geothermal energy by heating geothermal fluids after they are produced from a reservoir. Rappoport (1978) uses heat-transfer fluids to collect geothermal heat from remote wells, then uses solar collectors to replenish heat lost from these streams in transit and to add heat to the heat-transfer fluid before utilizing the heat in a centralized geothermal power plant. In Meksvanh et al., produced brine from oilfields or other permeable reservoirs is heated to supercritical conditions in solar concentrators. Some of this supercritical brine may be used in a power plant. In both the Rappoport and Meksvanh processes, the radiative heat from solar concentrators is added directly to produced geothermal heat energy and then used for power generation.

Methods and systems for electric power generation using geothermal field enhancements


The present invention provides an antenna for radio communication equipment used as an antenna for portable radio equipment or the like which has been required to be downsized. The antenna comprises a ground horizontal surface section, a main erecting surface section connected to the ground horizontal surface section and extending in a direction perpendicular to the ground horizontal surface section, an auxiliary erecting surface section with one edge thereof facing via a power feed point to ground potential and the other edge thereof extending substantially in parallel to the main horizontal surface section, an auxiliary horizontal surface section connected to the auxiliary erecting surface and extending at a specified clearance with the main horizontal surface section, a connecting section connected to the ether edge of the main horizontal surface section as well as to the other edge of the auxiliary horizontal surface section and extending in a direction perpendicular thereto, and a second extending section connected at right angles to the connecting section and extending in a direction substantially parallel to the ground horizontal surface section, and these components are monolithically formed with a sheet of electrically conductive plate.

There currently exists various types of panel antenna, such as a reversed L-type of or a reversed F-type of antenna which are small and suitable for incorporation into portable equipment as an antenna for radio communication equipment, for instance, radio equipment and a transceiver each mounted on a vehicle, a cordless telephone set, mobile radio equipment, or portable radio equipment each of which is growing in use for a general purpose.
As improvement in the panel antennas, there has been disclosed configuration of an antenna for radio communication equipment, in Japanese Patent Publication No. HEI 2-55961. The antenna can easily match impedances, in other words, has high-flexibility in adjustment of antenna-impedance, and is well suited for size reduction even if a geometrical dimension of a main component of the antenna and a position for taking out a feeding point are restricted.
FIG. 7 schematically shows the configuration of the conventional type of antenna applied to a cordless telephone set. In FIG. 7, the antenna in the example comprises a conductive main erecting surface section 711 with one edge thereof connected to a shield housing 730 which is a ground conductor and erecting to the other edge thereof by a height H; a conductive main horizontal surface section 712 having a width W with one edge thereof connected to the other edge of the main erecting surface section 711, crossing the main erecting surface 711 at right angles and horizontally extending to the other edge thereof by a length H; a conductive auxiliary erecting linear section 713 with one edge thereof connected to the shield housing 730 via a feeding point 720, and linearly extending to the other edge thereof in parallel to the main horizontal surface section 712; a conductive auxiliary horizontal linear section 714 with one edge thereof connected to the other edge of the auxiliary erecting linear section 713, said conductive auxiliary horizontal linear section linearly extending, at a specified space to the main horizontal surface section 712, to the other edge thereof in parallel to the main horizontal surface section 712; a linking section 715 for electrically connecting the other edge of the auxiliary horizontal linear section 714 to a position of the other edge of the main horizontal surface section 712 or a position at a specified space from the position of the other edge thereof; a first conductor width section 716 having a width t1 provided along the whole length or a portion of the length of the auxiliary horizontal linear section 714 and constituting a capacitor for adjusting impedance; and a second conductor width section 717 having a width t2 provided along a portion of the length of the auxiliary horizontal linear section 714 and constituting a capacitor for adjusting a central frequency.
In the antenna based on the conventional technology described above, impedance can be adjusted by (1) adjusting a distance between the auxiliary horizontal linear section 714 and the main horizontal surface section 712, (2) adjusting a position at which the auxiliary horizontal linear section 714 is connected to the main horizontal surface section 712 via the linking section 715, (3) adjusting a capacity according to a width t1 and a length of the first conductor width section 716, and (4) adjusting a position of forming the second conductor width section 717 according to change in a longitudinal direction of the auxiliary horizontal liner section 714.
Also, in a case where the second conductor width section 717 is provided right under the other edge of the main horizontal surface section 712 in which a voltage value becomes a maximum, central frequency in a resonance system of the antenna can be adjusted according to adjustment of the width t2 and a dimension of the area.
In the conventional type of antenna for radio communication equipment as described above, a main erecting surface section and a ground conductor each connected to a feeding point comprise a shield housing for shielding circuit components mounted on a printed board, so that restriction is added to the design that the upper edge surface portion of the shield housing facing to the main horizontal surface section should be formed in parallel to the main horizontal surface section, which lowers the flexibility of the designing, and it is difficult to uniformly form a ground potential surface facing to the main horizontal surface section and in parallel thereto.
Also, the auxiliary erecting linear section, auxiliary horizontal linear section, linking section, first conductor width section, and second conductor width section each one of an antenna for radio communication equipment are formed on the printed board, so that, in designing an antenna as well as a printed board design, designing restrictions are added to each design, and for this reason, design flexibility as a whole radio communication equipment is lowered.
Accordingly, the invention is made to solve the above-described problems and it is an object of the present invention to provide an antenna for radio communication equipment which has high designing flexibility and is excellent in manufacturing workability because only an antenna therein can be designed independently from the other components by forming a ground potential surface in substantially parallel to the main horizontal surface section monolithically formed with the antenna.
Also, it is another object of the present invention to provide an antenna for radio communication equipment which can flexibly be designed because the antenna has high flexibility in adjustment of an impedance and a central frequency in a resonance system of the antenna even if dimensions of the antenna are under certain restrictions.
Further, it is another further object of the present invention to provide an antenna for radio communication equipment in which components each constituting the antenna are monolithically formed, and an antenna can be designed separately from other portions of the radio communication equipment, so that high flexibility in designing can be achieved as a whole radio communication equipment.

Antenna for radio communication equipment having improved impedance adjustment


An apparatus and method for outputting content information are provided. The apparatus includes a detection unit which detects a connection of a source device, a generator which generates metadata related to the source device, a storage unit which stores content stored in the source device and the metadata, a loader which classifies the content based on the metadata, and an output unit which outputs the classified content on a display screen.

1. Field of the Invention
Apparatuses and methods consistent with the present invention relate to outputting contents information, and more particularly, to outputting contents information, in which once a source device is connected to an Internet Protocol television (IPTV), contents stored in the source device and information related to the contents are automatically stored in a storage device in the form of metadata and the metadata is output on a screen of the source device, thereby enabling contents desired by a user to be run even after the source device is disconnected from the IPTV.
2. Description of the Related Art
A mobile device may be connected to a digital television (DTV) by communication means such as Universal Serial Bus (USB), IEEE 1394, Bluetooth, or the like, and enables digital contents to be recorded, written or read. Here, the term "contents" means all types of information that can be viewed under the control of a user and encompass moving images, sound, music, voice, photos, and so on. Examples of mobile devices include personal digital assistants (PDAs), personal communication systems (PCSs), mobile phones, camcorders, personal video recorders (PVRs), digital cameras, MP3 players, and so on.
As shown in FIG. 1, in order to display content stored in a camcorder 20 on a DTV 10, a user may connect the camcorder 20 to the DTV 10. First, the user stores the content stored in the camcorder 20 in his or her personal computer (PC), prior to displaying the content stored in the camcorder 20 through an output device of the DTV 10. To this end, a plug and play (PNP) interface such as USB is used and a connection between the PC and the DTV 10 is established through several operations.
In a case where the DTV 10 does not support sharing of data of the PC or is not capable of communicating with the PC, a separate output line for connecting an output port of the PC storing the content of the camcorder 20 with an input port of the DTV 10 is required, and undesirable deterioration of picture quality may result.

Apparatus and method for outputting contents information


A device for fast memory access in a computer system that employs a high-speed associative memory for storing extracts that each include an address and an associated information element. Each extract is associated with a presence flip-flop and a reference flip-flop, their respective states being changed when an extract is used. The device according to the invention is designed to operate using two clock phases. During a first clock phase, the device compares an address to be translated with each address contained in the high-speed associative memory, evaluates a saturation condition, and latches the result of this evaluation. During the second clock phase, the device updates reference indicators as a function of the coincidence signals which are latched during the first phase and of the latched evaluation signal. The invention can be used in conjunction with cache memories and for translation of virtual addresses to real addresses.

The central subsystem of a computer generally comprises three types of units: processors, memory modules forming the main memory, and input-output controllers. Usually the processors communicate with the memory modules through a bus that allows addressing and transfer of data between the processors and the main memory. To execute a program instruction, its operands must be located in the main memory. The same is true for successive instructions of the program to be executed. In the case of a multiprocessing system, the memory must be partitioned to allow multiplexing between programs. For this purpose, virtual addressing is generally used in conjunction with a pagination mechanism which includes dividing the addressable space, or "virtual space," into zones of a fixed size called "pages." In a system of this kind, a program being executed addresses a virtual space that corresponds to a real portion of the main memory. Thus, a logical or virtual address is associated with a physical or real address of the main memory.
An instruction that requires addressing contains information that enables the processor executing it to obtain a real address. In general, this virtual address is segmented, i.e., it is composed of a segment number, a page number, and a shift within the referenced page. The segment number in turn can be subdivided into a segment table number and a shift within this table.
In order to access an item of information in memory associated with this segmented address, several memory accesses are necessary. It is first necessary to access an address space table allocated to the process (program being executed) From this table, using a segment table number, the real address of the corresponding segment table is then obtained. Next, as a function of the shift in the segment table, a segment descriptor is accessed which makes it possible to calculate the real address of a page table. Eventually a real page address is found, using a function of the page number defining the shift within this page table, thereby making it possible to address the memory. The real address of a word or particular octet is obtained by concatenation of the real page address with the shift within this page defined by the least significant bits of the virtual address.
A memory access is relatively time consuming, due primarily to the use of a bus that is common to both the processors and the memory module. To improve system performance, the successive memory accesses typically required to obtain a real address are avoided as much as possible. Most processes have a locality property according to which, during a given phase of its execution, the number of pages used by a process is very small relative to the total number of pages allocated to that process.
The locality property can be used to facilitate the translation of a virtual address into a real address by the use of "extracts." Each extract includes a virtual address and an associated real address, and is used by the program during a single execution phase. A plurality of extracts are stored in high-speed memory or in the registers. To perform a translation of a virtual address into a real address, a high-speed associative memory is accessed to determine whether the virtual address to be translated is already present in the high-speed memory. If it is, the real address is obtained directly without accessing the main memory.
The locality property motivates the use of cache memories composed of small, high-speed memories in which the pages most recently referenced are permanently stored. The probability that a new reference will relate to an item of information already present in cache memory is high, so the effective access time is reduced. In a manner analogous to the translation of the virtual address into a real address, a cache memory comprises a table containing the real addresses of the pages present in the cache memory. This table, called a directory, can be consulted in an associative fashion to determine whether the information associated with a given real address is contained in the cache memory. If it is, a word or an octet is obtained by addressing the cache memory by means of the least significant bits of the virtual address of the word or octet.
Issues related to the translation of addresses will now be discussed, it being understood that the same considerations may apply to cache memories. In both cases, the issue is that of rapidly obtaining information associated with a page address. In the case of translation of an address, the page address is a virtual address and the associated information is the corresponding real address, while in the case of cache memory, the page address is a real address and the associated information is composed of all the data contained in the page.
As previously discussed, the high-speed translation memory is an associative memory. The memory comprising a given number of registers, or more generally, locations, each capable of storing one extract. Each extract can be accompanied by additional information such as right-of-access indicators or indicators reporting that a write access has been effected in the page associated with the extract. Moreover, each extract is associated with a presence indicator which, for a given logical value, indicates that the associated extract is valid. These presence indicators are, for example, set to zero at initialization, i.e., each time a process is activated in a particular processor. Thus, as the process uses new pages, the associated extracts are loaded into associative memory and the respective presence indicators are simultaneously set to 1. When a memory access must be executed, the virtual address is compared with the virtual address of each extract stored in associative memory. If there is a match between the virtual address being sought and one of the virtual addresses of an extract stored in the memory while its associated presence indicator is set to 1, the corresponding real address can be obtained directly by simply reading the register that contains the real address.
In order for this translation mechanism to be practical, the associative memory must be of limited size. Consequently, for processes with many pages, the associative memory can not store all the extracts corresponding to these pages. When associative memory is full, the only way to store a new extract therein is to erase an old extract. It is therefore necessary to provide a method for eradicating an old extract and storing a new extract in its place. To accomplish this, a replacement algorithm is used that decides which old extract is to be replaced by a new extract. Many algorithms have already been proposed, as for example:
the FIFO ("first in, first out") algorithm, in which the oldest algorithm is replaced;
the RAND ("random choice") algorithm, in which the extract to be replaced is chosen at random;
the LFU algorithm ("least frequently used"), in which the least frequently used extract is replaced; and
the LRU ("least recently used") algorithm, in which the least recently used extract is replaced. The LRU algorithm theoretically gives good results, but in practice it is preferable to use a simplified version, called the "pseudo-LRU." To generate n extracts, a true LRU requires the presence and management of log.sub.2 (n) bits per extract to maintain an ordered history of the uses of the extracts. On the other hand, a pseudo-LRU requires only a single bit per extract, called a reference bit or an indicator bit.
According to the pseudo-LRU algorithm, the reference bit is set to a first logical value (1 for example) when its associated extract is used. When the associative memory is full, all the presence indicators are set to 1, and a new extract must be loaded. The extract to be replaced is the first extract encountered with a reference bit set to 0 according to the chronological order of filling. When saturation is reached, i.e., when all but one of the reference bits are set at 1, all the reference bits are reset to 0, and the extract whose reference bit is at 0 is replaced by the new extract. Resetting all the reference bits obliterates the history of the use of the extracts.
In view of the phenomenon of locality and the large number of memory accesses which occur during the execution of a program, the performance of a computer system depends in large measure on the speed with which its associative memory functions. It is therefore advantageous to optimize the associative read circuits, as well as the circuits that manage the presence and reference indicators, so that their updating does not slow down operation of the system.

Cache memory utilizing a two-phase synchronization signal for controlling saturation conditions of the cache


The present disclosure relates to a system for the selective extraction and recycling of medication from body fluid, using a pressurized filtration system and device. The disclosure further relates to methods for extracting and/or recycling medication from body fluid in a pressurized system and methods of using the medication collected/extracted from that body fluid.

In large scale bioterrorism, epidemics, and world-wide pandemics, medications will run out and there will be insufficient quantity to treat exposed, sick, poisoned, exposed or infected people. Recycling and recovering medication and their metabolites from body fluid dramatically increases the overall amount of medication available to treat the population, and number of lives saved.
During the recent H1N1 (swine flu) virus epidemic, countries with antiviral factories began to hoard antiviral medication as well as their necessary critical ingredients and reagents and their exportation to other countries was stopped. Some countries even outlawed the exportation of antiviral medication [2]. Recently, several news outlets published stories stating that drug shortages, due to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), have already begun [3,4,5,6]. China has recently threatened to cut off the supply of life-saving antiviral medication to the United States of America [17].
The world population is an estimated 7.7 billion people with the US population accounting for an estimated 327 million people. The US has stockpiled approximately 28 million courses of the antiviral medication Tamiflu [7] which is used to treat influenza.
Lack of available supply of medication, inability to import new medications or their critical ingredients, and inability to rapidly ramp up medication production to meet the demands of the population will result in increased mortality, prolonged illness and increased viral loads. This directly impacts how contagious someone is, and drastically increases the risk of further spread and the potential of an epidemic or pandemic.
During the Ebola outbreaks, the affected African tribal populations had no access to modern means of transportation. The rapid disease progression coupled with its high mortality made the outbreak amenable to sequestration and quarantining the affected population. These factors resulted in the disease quickly dying off along with the affected population and further spread was prevented.
As recent world events demonstrate, quarantine and sequestration are impractical and ineffective with diseases such as COVID-19 and influenza due to long latency periods; estimated to be as long as two weeks between time of infection and onset of symptoms. The existence of asymptomatic or minimally symptomatic individuals who can spread the disease without even realizing that they have contracted the potentially deadly illness further complicates matters. Another dangerous aspect of the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak is that it affects large population centers with access to modern means of transportation. All of these factors have contributed to COVID-19 progressing from a small localized outbreak to a world-wide pandemic in less than 90 days. Lack of effective or available treatments and medication shortages can potentially contribute to the spread of infections, thereby turning an epidemic infection into a world-wide pandemic. This jeopardizes the lives of hundreds of thousands if not millions of people as exemplified by the 1918 Spanish Flu Pandemic which killed an estimated 25-50 million people world-wide. The inability to rapidly scale-up medication production, coupled with the limited amount of critical ingredients or woefully inadequate available supply of medications to meet the demands of the population is why on-site recycling of life-saving medication is of paramount importance. The same is true in cases of bioterrorism where a cure must either be made readily available or the limited available supply of medication must be recovered and recycled in order to rapidly expand the potential number of people treated and lives saved.
The idea of recycling medications from human excretion or secretions can understandably be off-putting and seemingly irrelevant to modern society. However, this does not mean it is without value. There are cases in modern medicine where fecal transplants are performed for patients with C. Difficile infections or Ulcerative Colitis. At times of crisis such as large-scale pandemics, epidemics, and acts of bioterror, recycling medication may become the only viable option to provide any treatment at all once the supply chain is broken.
During World War II (WW II) Penicillin was difficult to manufacture and in critically short supply. Doctors employed a very time-consuming and complex 21-stage, drug specific, chemical process to recover penicillin from urine during that time of crisis and used it to treat additional patients. The method was published in a medical journal and implemented in military facilities during WW II [16].
This 21-step method was time consuming, very technical, laborious and required a fully functional lab, complete with supplies, reagents and highly trained staff. The time-consuming and complex 21-step chemical method was drug specific to penicillin and would not work to recover any other medications from urine.
Since WW II, we have had world-wide advances in various fields of science and technology. Factory production of medication coupled with their ease of availability have made the thought of recycling medication seemingly irrelevant. However, the above reasoning does not factor in the disruption of the supply chain of medication, or their ingredients, which commonly occur during times of crisis.
We are currently battling a world-wide COVID-19 pandemic, and there is always potential that another world-wide pandemic or large-scale act of bioterrorism will also occur in our lifetime. During these trying times, the needs of the affected population may very well likely exceed the supply of medication, treatment or cure that is available. Thus, there is an urgent need for a practical and immediately implementable modern method for the selective extraction and rapid recycling of medication from body fluid.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Pressurized filtration system and device for rapid extraction and recycling of medication from body fluid


A developing device including a housing, a developing roller rotatably provided to the housing, a layer thickness regulation blade contacting the developing roller, and a seal member arranged between the housing and each end of the developing roller, wherein the layer thickness regulation blade includes a blade main body extending along an axial direction of the developing roller, and a blade rubber part protruding from a surface of the blade main body facing the developing roller and contacting the developing roller, wherein an end surface of the blade rubber part in the axial direction is in contact with an inner end surface of the seal member in the axial direction, and wherein a suppression part configured to suppress a strength of flow of the developer is provided at a corner part between the blade rubber part and the seal member.

A known developing device used in an image forming apparatus includes a housing for accommodating developer therein, a developing roller rotatably held in the housing, a layer thickness regulation blade contacting the developing roller and a seal member arranged between the housing and the developing roller (see, for example, JP-A-2010-164736). In this developing device, the layer thickness regulation blade has a blade main body made of sheet metal and a blade rubber part protruding from the blade main body and contacting the developing roller.
The seal member is provided in a shape following an outer peripheral surface of the developing roller and one end thereof is adhered to each end portion of the blade main body. Further, an end surface of the seal member at an inner side in an axial direction of the developing roller is in contact with an end surface of the blade rubber part at an outer side in the axial direction of the developing roller.

Developing device having developing roller, layer thickness regulation blade and seal member


The circuit includes a memory element connected to an enabling input receiving an enabling signal, and in turn including a first reset circuit receiving an internal reset signal, and a second reset circuit receiving an external timing control signal, to generate an operating step enabling signal having a first switching edge on receiving the enabling signal, a second switching edge on receiving the reset signal, and a third switching edge on receiving the external timing control signal. A control input receives a timing mode signal, and is connected to the first and second reset circuits to enable them selectively. By enabling the second reset circuit and supplying the external timing control signal, in successive cycles, with different delays in relation to the enabling signal, different readings of the memory are enabled to characterize the response and optimize the timing of the memory device.

As is known, the timing of the reading of a memory (e.g., a nonvolatile memory such as an EPROM, to which reference is made herein by way of example) is often linked to basic time events such as the propagation or precharge intervals of basic lines (e.g., word lines, bit lines, redundancy) and the instant in which the data item in a given memory location is evaluated.
As such events are not independent and cannot always be optimized at the design stage, solutions are required capable of characterizing each structure and subsequently modifying timing according to existing conditions.

Circuit and method to adjust memory timing


A method of producing hypothiocyanite by combining a hypohalous acid and thiocyanate.

There has been an alarming rise in the occurrence of disease-causing microbes that have become resistant to drug therapy. This antibiotic resistance is largely due to increased use of antibiotics and the remarkable resiliency of pathogenic organisms that have developed ways to survive the drugs that are meant to target them. Pneumonia, tuberculosis, malaria, and ear infections are just a few of the diseases that have become difficult to treat with our current arsenal of antibiotic drugs. All FDA-approved antibiotics that are currently in use are organic molecules. The principal endogenous non-immunological anti-microbial agent in the secretions of human exocrine glands such as saliva, tears, and milk is an inorganic electrophilic thiocyanating agent commonly referred to as "hypothiocyanite" (OSCN−).
There is an enzymic method for synthesizing hypothiocyanite, and there are some products on the market that are based upon this technology. The only conventional chemical method for synthesizing hypothiocyanite is based upon the synthesis of thiocyanogen in halogenated hydrocarbon solvents using salts of lead (reagents that are highly toxic and/or carcinogenic).
Hypothiocyanite is synthesized in vivo by oxidation of thiocyanate (SCN−) by hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) in a reaction that is catalyzed by peroxidase enzymes (including LPO, MPO, EPO, and SPO). However, these enzymes are not effective catalysts under the conditions that hypothiocyanite is relatively stable (above pH=8). The use of uncatalyzed oxidants, according to the literature, do not oxidize thiocyanate to give hypothiocyanite. The only non-enzymatic method of synthesizing hypothiocyanite in the literature involves hydrolysis of thiocyanogen, a compound that is typically prepared in an expensive process that involves metathesis of the toxic heavy-metal salt Pb(SCN)2 with Br2 in the carcinogenic solvent carbon tetrachloride. It would be desirable to have a method of hypothiocyanite production which did not involve complex enzymatic steps or the use of toxic heavy metal salts. It is to such a process that the present invention is directed.

The Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma


A cooling system is disclosed. The cooling system may have an evaporator, an evaporator fan, a condenser, and at least one compressor. The compressor may be either a single speed or a variable speed compressor. In addition, the system can use a mechanical or electrical pulsed operation refrigerant flow control valve for controlling refrigerant flow to the evaporator.

Existing cooling systems generally have components including a compressor, a condenser, and an evaporator. In most systems, the compressor motor utilizes the majority of the energy as it starts up in order to provide the proper amount of cooling. However, repeatedly starting and running a compressor motor can be inefficient, because the start-up energy requirements of many compressor motors are high in comparison to the energy required to maintain the motor at a desired speed. In addition, the refrigeration system may not function at peak efficiency until the refrigerant pressure in the system increases to a certain target pressure because such systems use capillary tubing or other passive pressure reduction devices to move refrigerant to the evaporator. Because capillary tubing only allows a particular amount of refrigerant through at any given time, in some circumstances, the evaporator may be starved of refrigerant if the capillary piping cannot supply sufficient refrigerant to the evaporator. Conversely, during light loads, the capillary will provide too much refrigerant to the evaporator and may cause it to be flooded with refrigerant. Both evaporator starving and flooding reduce efficiency of the refrigeration system. Conventional modulating expansion valves are not employed as their poor response time and inaccurate superheat control only offers little advantage over the passive expansion devices, such as capillaries, orifice packs or porous plugs. In addition to the above energy efficiency and capacity deficiencies, flooding can result in liquid refrigerant entering the compressor, which can harm the compressor and reduce its life expectancy.

Cooling system with increased efficiency


An explosion-proof thermal imaging system is provided. The system include an explosion-proof housing having a window that is configured to allow thermal radiation therethrough. An infrared camera is positioned within the explosion-proof housing and is disposed to receive and image thermal radiation that passes through the window. An emissivity target is disposed within a field of view of the infrared camera, but on an opposite side of the window from the infrared camera. A temperature sensor is operably coupled to the infrared camera and is configured to provide an indication of temperature proximate the emissivity target.

Infrared cameras generally form an image using infrared radiation, similar to the way in which a standard camera forms an image using visible light. However, an infrared camera typically operates with longer wavelength illumination, such as 14,000 nanometers. Infrared cameras are highly useful in a number of applications to provide a non-contact indication of heat present in an image field. Moreover, the infrared cameras, in some contexts, can be calibrated such that an indication of surface temperature can be derived directly from the image provided by the infrared camera.
One environment in which infrared cameras are particularly useful is in process control and monitoring. In such environments, process fluids, such as petrochemicals, slurries, pharmaceutical compounds, and the like may be processed and conveyed to various locations within the processing facility. However, process control and monitoring environments represent a challenge for a number of devices in that the environment itself may have highly flammable or explosive gases present therein. Accordingly, in some such environments, it is important for electronic devices used therein to be housed in an explosion-proof enclosure. When so housed, even if the circuitry of the device generates a spark or has an electrical component with a surface temperature high enough to ignite the environment, the resulting ignition will be entirely contained within the enclosure and not able to escape into the ambient environment. This is important in order to ensure safety of the process control installation and workers therein.
One example of an explosion-proof rating is an ATEX certification to Ex d standards EN60079-0 and EN60079-1 for potentially explosive atmospheres. Generally, explosion-proof housings are relatively bulky in order to be mechanically robust enough to contain an internal explosion without rupturing. Generally, such explosion-proof housings are very robust metal enclosures that are designed to withstand explosive pressures. However, for devices, such as infrared cameras that rely on optical sensing of the environment, the enclosure must accommodate a transparent window of some sort in order to allow the infrared camera to view the environment. Typical window materials used to allow infrared energy to pass through are fragile and cannot withstand much of any impact without some damage. However, in order to contain the explosive pressure and impact requirements, the window must be relatively thick. Further, in some applications, a guard of some sort must be placed in front of the window. This can be restrictive to the infrared energy. Accordingly, explosion-proof requirements for infrared cameras can limit the effectiveness of the infrared camera. Providing an infrared camera/explosion-proof housing assembly that is suited for hazardous process installations would represent an important advance in the use of infrared cameras in such installations.


A bonding pad structure of liquid crystal display, having a plurality of bonding pads formed at part of the upper surface of the edge area of the substrate, and an overcoat layer with one side being inclined surface and positioned at the other part of upper surface of the bonding pad. The inclined surface is formed when patterning the overcoat layer covering the bonding pad by using the mask with gradient transmittance and removing the overcoat layer formed at part of the upper surface of the bonding pad. Also discloses a manufacturing method of the bonding pad structure of liquid crystal display.

With the increase in size of the liquid crystal display (LCD), the RC delay of various signal lines in the LCD may become more apparent, which will result in less efficient pixel charge and eventually affect the display quality of the LCD.
In order to reduce the stray capacitance between the signal lines and lower the RC delay, the current solution is adding one overcoat layer having a huge thickness after the second layer of metal (i.e. the metal for manufacturing the source and drain) of the array substrate is manufactured. The overcoat layer may increase the distance from the second layer of metal to the pixel electrode and the public electrode, thus can be used to reduce the stray capacitance.
In addition, in order to save the cost, the overcoat layer and the passivation layer are manufactured at the same time, also, a relatively large opening area is manufactured at the edge area of the array substrate so as to expose the bonding pad structure. However, since the thickness of the manufactured overcoat layer is relatively large (normally being 1.5 μm to 3.0 μm), the conductive layer can be easily broken when being manufactured on the bonding pad structure and the overcoat layer.
In addition, the bonding pad structure is electrically connected to, for example, the chip on the film (COF) through the anisotropic conductive film (ACF), and the conductive particles are scattered in the ACF. When the ACF is pressed, the conductive particles will move toward the periphery of the bonding pad structure, wherein a part of the conductive particles will reach the bottom of the overcoat layer; since the thickness of the overcoat layer is relatively large, the part of conductive particles may hardly go over the overcoat layer so as to gather at the bottom part of the overcoat layer, hence causing the short circuit between different signal lines (such as the scan line and the data line).

Bonding pad structure of liquid crystal display and method of manufacturing the same

SHENZHEN CHINA STAR OPTOELECTRONICS TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.


A driver circuit for a laser includes a first differential amplifier with a first controlled current source, and at least one second differential amplifier with an associated second controlled current source. The at least one second differential amplifier is connected in parallel with the first differential amplifier so that the laser is a common load of the first and the at least one second differential amplifiers. A control circuit controls the current sources based on an external control voltage.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a driver circuit for a laser used as an electrical-to-optical transducer in optical communication systems.
2. Background Information
To modulate the laser, use is commonly made of a differential amplifier. Below the so-called threshold current, the laser acts like a light-emitting diode, and the optical output power in this current range is very low. Above the threshold current, lasing occurs, and the optical output power P.sub.opt increases linearly with increasing modulating current I.sub.mod. The rise of the function P.sub.opt =f(I.sub.mod) is dependent on the laser type and specimen used and varies with temperature and aging. To obtain the typical optical output powers specified in the data sheet, a modulating current of I.sub.mod =5 mA is required for a 0.8-.mu.m laser of high quantum efficiency and low temperature, for example; for 1.55-.mu.m lasers of moderate quantum efficiency, I.sub.mod must be 40 mA.
Prior art driver circuits for lasers employ a differential amplifier which is adapted to the properties of the respective laser and optimized for maximum current, cf. H. M. Rein, "Multi-Gigabit-Per-Second Silicon Bipolar IC's for Future Optical Fiber Transmission Systems", IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, Vol. 23, No. 23, June 1988, pages 664 to 675, and K. Yamashita et al, "Master-Slice Monolithic Integration Design and Characteristics of LD/LED Transmitter for 100-400 Mbit/s Optical Transmission Systems", Journal of Lightwave Technology, Vol. LT-4, No. 3, March 1986, pages 353 to 359. In the solutions described, the optimization for maximum current was performed because the transit frequency of a silicon bipolar transistor depends on the emitter-current density, cf. H.-M. Rein, R. Ranft, "Integrierte Bipolarschaltungen", Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 1980, pages 100 et seq. The transit frequency decreases with decreasing emitter-current density, and the depletion-layer capacitances and collector-substrate capacitances of the transistor increase with increasing transistor areas. As a result, the optimum bandwidth of the differential amplifier is achieved only within a small current range which depends essentially on the emitter area and corresponds approximately to operation at maximum emitter-current density. If, in such driver circuits, the emitter-current density is reduced by a factor of 10, for example, the influence of the parasitic capacitances on the pulse response will increase so that the bandwidth will be greatly limited and the pulse shape will be substantially degraded. Therefore, such driver circuits are only suitable for lasers with constant properties if no disadvantages in the transient response are to result.


A compute device to manage workflow to disaggregated computing resources is provided. The compute device comprises a compute engine receive a workload processing request, the workload processing request defined by at least one request parameter, determine at least one accelerator device capable of processing a workload in accordance with the at least one request parameter, transmit a workload to the at least one accelerator device, receive a work product produced by the at least one accelerator device from the workload, and provide the work product to an application.

In modern cloud environments, compute devices (sometimes referred to as compute sleds) host many computer applications (e.g., workloads) that each perform specific functions. Each application requires processing power to complete various application tasks (e.g., functions, processes, operations within a workload), such as data processing but also input and output tasks such as displaying data, receiving data, or the like. Many of the abovementioned tasks are processed using computer programs that embody complex logic sequences. Such logic sequences often execute faster when carried out by a specialized component, such as a field programmable gate array, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or other device specifically configured for performing such computation (e.g., an accelerator device). An accelerator device may be configured using, for example, a hardware definition language, to perform tasks assigned by a computer application.
Given that accelerator devices typically specialize in executing a particular type of task (e.g., encryption, compression, etc.), an operating system of the compute device, or the application executing on the compute device, typically must identify the available features of the accelerator device(s) and manage communications with the accelerator device(s), taking away from compute resources (e.g., processor cycles) that could otherwise be spent on executing the application.

Technologies for coordinating disaggregated accelerator device resources


A toy train car packaging container is disclosed that can include a removable cover that may be used as packaging and also in the building of a toy railway system. In particular, in one exemplary embodiment, a removable cover is disclosed that can couple to and be removed from a housing adapted to support one or more toy train car vehicles, tracks, and accessories. The removable cover can include a cut-away opening in its lower region representing an entry or exit point of a toy train car vehicle and allowing the toy train car to pass therethrough. In addition, a base is further provided to support the removable cover in a substantially upright configuration when assembled in a toy railway system configuration.

This section is intended to introduce the reader to aspects of art that may be related to various aspects of the present disclosure described herein, which are described and/or claimed below. This discussion is believed to be helpful in providing the reader with background information to facilitate a better understanding of the various aspects of the present disclosure described herein. Accordingly, it should be understood that these statements are to be read in this light, and not as admissions of prior art.
Generally, one of the favorite toys for many generations has been a toy train in which various wheeled toys simulating railway cars, wagons, or other vehicles are coupled together. Further, storage and carrying packages for such toy train cars are generally known in the art, and may take a variety of shapes and sizes depending on the desired package size, which is generally dependent on the size of the toy(s) to be stored therein. However, such packaging for toy train cars generally lacks any additional utility other than for the storage and housing of the toys. For example, in a situation where a child or user can open and remove one or more toy railway cars from the package, the package may not serve any additional utility afterwards and may even be discarded.
Hence, what is needed is a dual-purpose packaging container for a toy train railway that can not only store and transport the toy train cars, but also serve an additional utilitarian function in the building of a toy railway system.

Dual-purpose toy train car housing cover


An in-situ delay measurement is performed for an envelope-tracking power amplifier of an RF input signal. Because the delay measurement is in-situ, the delay measurement avoids the necessity to down convert and digitize a version of an RF output signal from the envelope-tracking power amplifier.

The power consumption by a radio frequency (RF) power amplifier is a major factor for the battery life in devices such as cellular phones. An increase in the RF power amplifier efficiency thus has a major impact on the overall power consumption for such devices. To improve the RF power amplifier efficiency, it is conventional to use an envelope-tracking power supply to provide an envelope-tracking power supply voltage to the RF power amplifier. The envelope-tracking power supply voltage will thus have an amplitude variation that is generally synchronized with the envelope for the amplified RF output signal produced by the RF power amplifier. But due to processing delays and non-idealities, the amplitude variation for the envelope-tracking power supply voltage will tend to be delayed or out-of-synchronization with the envelope for the amplified RF signal. This mismatch leads to undesirable non-linearities and distortion.

In-situ measurement of the delay between the envelope and the RF signal in envelope-tracking systems


In a method of diagnosing the deterioration of the insulating paper in an oil-filled electric apparatus, the total amount of furfural is determined by adding the amount of furfural adsorbed on the insulating paper to the amount of furfural dissolved in insulating oil in an oil-filled electric apparatus, and the deterioration of the insulating paper is diagnosed by the correlation between the total amount of furfural determined and the polymerization degree of the insulating paper, which indicates the degree of deterioration thereof. The method thus permits the precise diagnosis of the deterioration of the insulating paper.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of diagnosing the deterioration of insulating paper used in an oil-filled electric apparatus such as an oil-filled transformer, an oil-filled reactor or the like.
2. Description of Related Art
The life of an oil-filled electric apparatus such as an oil-filled transformer, an oil-filled reactor or the like is generally estimated from the degree of deterioration of the insulating paper used therein. The degree of deterioration of the insulating paper is determined by measuring its tensile strength, the degree of polymerization thereof and the like. Investigation is increasingly made as to whether or not deterioration of such insulating paper can be diagnosed by measuring the deterioration products, ex. furans such as furfural, furancarboxylic acid and the like, and aldehydes such as acetoaldehyde, formaldehyde and the like.
However, the measurement of the degree of deterioration of insulating paper by measuring its tensile strength and the degree of polymerization thereof is limited to the opportunity for internal inspection which allows the insulating paper to be collected from an oil-filled electric apparatus. On the other hand, as the insulating paper decomposes, furfural (also referred to as furaldehyde) is produced and dissolves in insulating oil. Since the amount of furfural dissolved in the insulating oil can be measured by collecting the insulating oil, there is the advantage that the life of the oil-filled electric apparatus can be diagnosed during the operation thereof. However, it has become clear that the furfural produced from the insulating paper used in the oil-filled electric apparatus not only dissolves in the insulating oil but also is well adsorbed on the insulating paper, as described below. This led to the finding that the total amount of furfural cannot be measured by analyzing only the furfural dissolved in the insulating oil.
Since this finding has previously not been taken into account, there has been the following problem: If the degree of deterioration of insulating paper is diagnosed from the analytical result of furfural dissolved in insulating oil, the calculated amount of furfural produced is smaller than the actual furfural amount by the amount of furfural adsorbed on the insulating paper. This results in poor precision of diagnosis of the life of the apparatus.

Method of diagnosing deterioration of insulating paper in oil-filled electric apparatus