An image forming apparatus, including an image forming unit containing a photosensitive drum and a developer device; a resin-made first frame formed in a shape of a plate and arranged on one end, along an axial direction of the rotation axis of the photosensitive drum, of the image forming unit; an enhancing member formed in an elongated shape, arranged along a planar face of the first frame on one side of the first frame and fixed to the first frame; and a metal-made first beam formed in an elongated shape, arranged along the planar face of the first frame to intersect with the enhancing member and fixed to the first frame, is provided. The first beam is fixed to the enhancing member at one end thereof in a position between longitudinal ends of the enhancing member.

1. Technical Field
An aspect of the present invention relates to an image forming apparatus having a resin frame, which is configured to support an image forming unit having a photosensitive drum.
2. Related Art
An image forming apparatus having side frames, which are made of a metal with rigidity, to support an image forming unit laterally, is known. In the image forming apparatus, while the side frames arranged on lateral sides of the image forming may be made of a metal, resin frames may be coupled to lower ends of the metal frames.

Image forming apparatus having resin frame to support image forming unit having photosensitive drum


Provided are a method of efficiently producing an sIL-2R antigen in an amount necessary for antibody generation, and a method of producing an anti-sIL-2R antibody using the antigen. Specifically, provided are a method of producing soluble interleukin-2 receptor, including culturing SCC-3 cells and recovering soluble interleukin-2 receptor from a culture of the cells, and a method of producing an anti-soluble interleukin-2 receptor antibody, including immunizing an animal with sIL-2R produced by the method.

Soluble interleukin-2 receptor (hereinafter referred to as sIL-2R) is a soluble form of IL-2R generated by cleavage of an a chain of IL-2R, which is a cell membrane protein of T cells, and is present in blood of a living body. The sIL-2R is considered as an indicator reflecting immune activation of individuals because its ability to bind to IL-2 is retained and its blood concentration is elevated in patients with infections and various diseases involving activation of an immunoreaction. In clinical use, the sIL-2R has been utilized as a marker for diagnosis and follow-up of malignant lymphoma.
Hitherto, as a method of measuring the sIL-2R, a measurement reagent based on enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA method) or chemiluminescent enzyme immunoassay (CLEIA method) using two kinds of monoclonal anti-sIL-2R antibodies against different epitopes has been developed and marketed as an in vitro diagnostic. However, the ELISA method has a problem in that the method involves complicated operations and the measurement requires a long period of time. Meanwhile, the CLEIA method has a drawback in that the method requires a dedicated measurement apparatus. Accordingly, there is a demand for development of a reagent for sIL-2R immunoassay that is simple, quick, and applicable to a general-purpose automatic analyzer.
Further, in order to measure the sIL-2R with higher precision, it is necessary to develop a reagent for sIL-2R immunoassay having higher specificity by controlling characteristics of an antibody, compatibility between the antibody and a solid support, and a non-specific reaction of the antibody. In order to improve development efficiency of the reagent for immunoassay, it is desired to acquire as wide a variety of options for anti-sIL-2R monoclonal antibodies serving as candidates as possible. To that end, it is required to use sIL-2Rs of various origins as immunogens to acquire required amounts of the sIL-2Rs as many as possible. In addition, the sIL-2R is also important as a standard for quantitative determination of measured sIL-2R. Accordingly, there is a need for a source capable of supplying the sIL-2R in a large amount and in a simple manner, which may be used as a source for an immunogen in anti-sIL-2R antibody generation or a source for a standard for sIL-2R quantitative analysis.
Regarding a related-art method of generating the anti-sIL-2R antibody, there is a report on a method involving stimulating peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) collected from human blood with influenza virus and providing an antibody using the cells as an immunogen (Patent Literature 1). However, it is difficult to acquire human blood-derived PBMCs in a large amount, and hence it is not easy to obtain an immunogen in an amount necessary for reagent development by this method. As another method of generating the anti-sIL-2R antibody, there is a report on a method involving using, as an immunogen, IL-2R-expressing cells, such as a lymphoma cell line, as they are (Patent Literatures 2 and 3). However, this method involves extremely complicated operations involving observing expression of an antibody in a cell surface in advance, and besides, it is not guaranteed that an antibody obtained using the cells as an immunogen reacts with sIL-2R cleaved out of the cells. In addition, in Non Patent Literature 1, there is a description that the sIL-2R is secreted by some lymphoma cell lines. However, the sIL-2R is unsuitable as an immunogen for antibody generation because its concentration is extremely small. Meanwhile, in Non Patent Literature 2, it is reported that SCC-3, a monocytic non-Hodgkin's lymphoma cell line, expresses IL-2R on its cell surface, but there is no report on sIL-2R secretion by the cells.
As an antigen to be used for generating an antibody against a protein of interest, a recombinant protein of the protein of interest is also generally used. However, it is often experienced that a monoclonal antibody generated by immunization with a recombinant antigen provides no or weak reactivity with a native protein of interest contained in a specimen. This phenomenon is presumed to be, for example, due to the fact that the recombinant protein contains only a partial sequence of the native protein, or even when the recombinant protein contains a full-length sequence of the native protein, there is a change in three-dimensional structure based on a difference in protein folding. Further, even in the case where a plurality of kinds of antibodies capable of reacting with the native protein of interest can be generated by immunization with the recombinant protein, when the plurality of kinds of antibodies have antigenic determinants extremely similar to each other, the number of options for two kinds of monoclonal antibodies against different epitopes necessary for immunoassay extremely decreases.

Antibody for immunoassay and method for preparing same


A hydraulic damper is disclosed for reducing undesirable pressure differentials in a hydraulic system. The damper comprises a body assembly, including first and second inlet ports for connecting the damper to a hydraulic system. A pair of lap assemblies are provided for equalizing pressure differentials between the inlet ports. Each lap assembly is in fluid communication with each of said inlet ports. A metered passageway is provided for fluidly connecting each of said inlet ports. A slide is movably received within the lap assembly to permit reciprocal motion. The slide alternately blocks and unblocks the metered passageway in response to a predetermined pressure across one of the respective inlet ports, in order to equalize the pressure differential between the ports.

The present invention is directed to the field of hydraulic dampers for reducing undesired pressure surges or oscillations in systems requiring hydraulic damping. This invention has particular applicability to the damping of periodically varying motions in systems which result in noise or oscillation in hydraulic pressure.
In a particular example, undesirable oscillation in a hydraulic system occurs in the nose wheel assembly of an aircraft, which is typically steered using a hydraulic system. The pivot point of the wheel is typically located at a point ahead of the wheel axle, rather like a caster. The mass of wheel is behind the pivot, and the dynamics of the system are such that the wheel tends to "shimmy" while moving along the ground, in a manner similar to other commonly-observed caster-type wheels, e.g. the wheels on a shopping cart.
Such wheel shimmy results in wear and tear on the wheel and supporting strut which may increase exponentially resulting structural damage to the aircraft. Suppression of shimmy often requires compromises in steering control accuracy. It is desirable to provide a hydraulic means of damping which does not compromise steering accuracy.
One known hydraulic damper uses a piston and a pair of springs to form a compliance, and a hydraulic orifice to form a damping control which reduces rapid shimmy motion while permitting the relatively slow motion of steering. However, such dampers include a number of mechanical elements.
Hydraulic systems are prone to pressure surges which occur when large valves are quickly opened or closed. This phenomenon, also known as "water hammer," is also observed in common household plumbing when faucets are abruptly turned off, producing a sound and a shock to the pipes. Such surges also create additional wear and tear in hydraulic systems, thereby shortening the operational life of the respective components.


A tire with a treads depth measuring device that includes a first electrode and a second electrode that are fixed to internal surface of the tire, and an oscillator that is electrically connected to the electrodes so that capacitance between the electrodes affects frequencies of the oscillator. Changes in frequencies of the oscillator can be used to detect and calculate changes in thickness of the tire and changes in depth of treads in the tire.

Automotive industry is constantly progressing, and fully autonomous vehicles are soon to appear on the roads. The need to monitor tires condition in vehicles is essential for fuel saving, for lowering downtime and to reduce accidents caused by malfunctioning tires. This need is critical especially for autonomous vehicles that are typically unmanned and therefore lack a human visual inspection. Tire tread thickness and tire aging are two parameters that determines tire wear out and are essential for tire health monitoring.
Tyrata patent number U.S. Pat. No. 9,797,703 B2, shown in FIG. 1, includes transmitting an oscillating signal from a first pad, through the material with some dielectric property, to a second pad, and measuring the signal reflected to the first pad. The frequency of the signal is varied over time so that the frequency response of the system (the first pad, the material, and the second pad) may be analyzed and the resonant frequency of the system is determined. The thickness of the material is determined by the resonant frequency. The method therefore requires a frequency scanning and correlating the specific frequency to the tread depth.
Goodyear patent number US 2014/0365069 A1 offers a tread wear indicator inserted inside a tire as shown in FIGS. 2a, 2b and 2c The indicator is constructed as a plurality of radially stacked sensor elements operatively configured and located to sequentially sacrificially abrade and change in electrical resistance responsive to a progressive tread wear of the respective tread element. The sensor elements are connected by circuitry that communicates a data signal from the sensor elements to a data processor indicative of a change in cumulative resistivity of the sensor elements. The data processor receives the data signal from the sensor elements and determines a radial wear level of the tread element based on the data signal. Multiple tread wear indicators may be mounted to respective tread lugs across the tread to derive a tread wear status based upon the tread wear profiles of the respective lugs.
Goodyear patent number U.S. Pat. No. 7,578,180B2, offers an indirect tire wear measurement based on the tire inflation pressure, the tire vertical vibration frequency, and the tire vertical vibration resonance wherein the tire wear estimation is correlated to the and the tire vertical vibration resonance at different tire pressure.
Infineon patent number U.S. Pat. No. 7,762,129 B2, offers a tire tread sensing system including a magnetic field sensor and a magnetic field source configured to magnetize magnetizable particles embedded in a tire tread. The magnetic field sensor is configured to measure a magnetic field strength associated with the magnetic field source and the magnetizable particles, and the magnetic field strength is indicative of a tire tread depth. Alternatively, the particles comprise alternating permanent magnets embedded in a tread portion of a tire. Such a method requires a special tire with magnetic particles.
Patent number WO2009095113A1 offers A method for determining a tire tread depth from using a sensor placed on the inside of the tire that measures the length of the contact patch of the tire. As the tire wear out it thickness decrease and so is the width of the contact patch. The tire tread therefor depends on the contact patch. The problem is that the contact patch is also a function of the tire pressure, the load on the tire and therefore extracting the tire wear may be hard.

Tire tread wear and road condition measuring device


A dynamic weather route system automatically analyzes routes for in-flight aircraft flying in convective weather regions and attempts to find more time and fuel efficient reroutes around current and predicted weather cells. The dynamic weather route system continuously analyzes all flights and provides reroute advisories that are dynamically updated in real time while the aircraft are in flight. The dynamic weather route system includes a graphical user interface that allows users to visualize, evaluate, modify if necessary, and implement proposed reroutes.

1. Technical Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to the field of en-route trajectory re-routing of in-flight aircraft for weather avoidance, and more particularly, to computer automated trajectory re-routing of in-flight aircraft around convective weather for more efficient time-saving and fuel-saving weather-avoidance route corrections.
2. Description of Related Art
Weather is the leading cause of delay in the U.S. National Airspace System, and convective weather accounts for 60% of weather-related delays. Convective weather is common in the spring and summer months and can extend for hundreds of miles and reach altitudes well in excess of 40,000 feet. When weather is present or forecast along preferred flight routes, weather avoidance routes are planned and implemented, usually prior to take off. While aircraft are in flight, airline flight dispatchers, FAA traffic managers, and air traffic controllers review weather updates and traffic flows to determine if and how flights may be rerouted to improve flow and reduce delay. However, real-time automation that continuously searches for and proposes time- and fuel-saving corrections to existing weather avoidance routes for in-flight aircraft does not exist. And operators are busy, especially during weather events, and may miss workable opportunities for more efficient flight routes around weather. It would therefore be an improvement over the prior art to provide a system that automatically analyzes in-flight aircraft in en-route airspace and finds simple reroutes that result in more efficient flight around convective weather and potentially save substantial flying time and fuel.
The features and advantages of the present disclosure will be set forth in the description that follows, and in part will be apparent from the description, or may be learned by the practice of the present disclosure, without undue experimentation. The features and advantages of the present disclosure may be realized and obtained by means of the instruments and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

Method and system for dynamic automated corrections to weather avoidance routes for aircraft in en route airspace

The United States of America as Represented by the Administrator of the National Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA)


The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for automatically binding a silicon wafer to a carrier plate. In the binding method of the present invention, the wafer is positioned underneath the carrier plate and then lifted and bonded to the carrier plate, at or below atmospheric pressure: once this is accomplished the process returns to the previous pressure. In addition, in the apparatus which performs this process, by means of a carrier means which supplies the carrier plate and wafer to the location where binding is to be carried out, the binding surface of the carrier plate and wafer are turned upward, transported and the carrier plate is flipped around in the interval between the carrier plate transportation apparatus and the binding unit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for binding a carrier plate, used in a silicon wafer polishing apparatus, to a silicon wafer.
1. Prior Art
In the polishing of a monocrystal silicon wafer (hereafter referred to as just "wafer"), a fixed carrier plate is bonded to a plurality of wafer sheets: this carrier plate is then casted into the polishing apparatus and the polishing of the wafer is carried out.
In the prior art disclosed in First Publication Laid open number 63-245366, when a wafer is being bonded to the aforementioned carrier plate, wax has been previously applied to the inside of the wafer as a binding agent. A plurality of wafers are then placed on top of the carrier plate and after adhesion, the bonding was carried out using a pressure binding apparatus, as shown in FIG. 36.
In this apparatus on top of the main frame 80, inside the pressure lowering chamber 81, a press plate 83 is provided. To begin with a carrier plate 91 is placed on top of the pedestal 85, and resting directly above that is a press plate 83 for applying pressure to the wafer 90. At that time, while pressure is being lowered inside the pressure lowering chamber 81, which includes both the carrier plate 91 (on top of the pedestal) and the press plate 83, pressure is being applied to the wafer by the press plate 83. Following the deaeration of the binding surfaces of the wafer 90 and the carrier plate 91, the pressure lowering chamber 81 is returned to normal pressure and the bonding can then be carried out without the existence of air bubbles between the wafer and carrier plate.
However, the minimum line width of the integrated circuit (IC) used in the silicon monocrystal is 1 .mu.m. Additionally, when trying to form a circuit using optical lithography, due to the shallow depth of focus, a wafer possessing a satisfactory flatness is required. In order to obtain this desired wafer, improvements in both the polishing process as well as in the controlling of the carrier plate flatness are being carried out. There exist additional problems however, during the bonding, in the thickness and the thickness distribution of the wax layer: the wax layer thickness can be no greater than 1 .mu.m. Furthermore, there were also drawbacks in that refuse was entering into the space in between the carrier plate and the wafer as well as air bubbles were being left behind creating unwanted dimples, on the surface of the wafer following the polishing. Deterioration of the ability to flatten the carrier plate also was a point of concern.
In the bonding procedure of the prior art, when the aperture of the wafer becomes as big as 200 mm .phi., the uniform application of pressure becomes difficult. Additionally, when the wafer to which wax has been applied is facing downward, the occurrence of refuse cannot be ignored because a significant problem arises even when small particle refuse gets in between the wafer and carrier plate.

Mitsubishi Materials Silicon Corporation


A skimming apparatus with a pivot arm and a drive follower on the pivot arm that guides a belting to facilitate precise placement of the belting for efficient skimming.

This specification relates to material skimmers, and in particular fluid skimmers.
Often during industrial operations a first fluid becomes contaminated with a waste fluid. When the first fluid is of relatively high value compared to the waste fluid, a manufacturer will utilize a remediation process to separate the fluids. One such remediation process is skimming, and this particular process is used when the fluids are insoluble and the waste fluid is of less density and lighter weight than the first fluid so that the waste fluid forms a layer on top of the first fluid.
For example, many industrial machines utilize coolant fluids to facilitate particular machining and metal cutting operations and use separate way lubes and hydraulic fluids to reduce machine wear. To illustrate, machines such as mills, lathes and drills for example will utilize a coolant to cool cutting tools at the point of cut. The coolant is used to wet the surfaces and is drained into a receiving vessel, such as a sump, and is recirculated. These cutting machines also utilize a lubricating oil to lubricate the cutting machine parts. The lubricating oils mixes in with the coolant and are also collected in the same receiving tank. Due to the different densities and weights of the fluids, the lubricating oil forms a surface layer on top of the coolant. These coolants are more expensive than the lubricating oil and can be easily recycled compared to lubricating oils. The presence of the lubricating oil, over time, reduces the life of the coolant. As a result, manufacturers want to remove this contaminating lubricating oil from the coolant. There is also a presence of floating particulate, chips and other solid contaminates in the contaminating lubricating oil. One such way of removing the lubricating oil, commonly referred to as "tramp oil," and other floating contaminates, is by the use of a skimmer that introduces a driven belt with an affinity for the tramp oil on the surface of coolant fluids. The tramp oil and many solid contaminates are then carried away as the belt is driven to a scraper. The scraper scrapes the tramp oil from the belt, and the scraped oil and particulate is collected in a receiving vessel.


The present invention relates to the measuring of phase currents in an inverter, where by pulse width modulation controlled semiconductor switches invert a direct voltage from an intermediate circuit into a three-phase alternating voltage. The phase currents are measured by measuring the intermediate circuit current when an active switch state creates an unambiguous relation between the intermediate circuit current and a phase current. Time shifts in the phase current measuring can be avoided by measuring the value i.sub.d of the intermediate circuit current in two separate settings (u.sub.1, u.sub.1, u.sub.6, u.sub.6) of the same active switch state (u.sub.1, u.sub.6) in a modulation period (T.sub.sw) and by creating a resulting means value of the measured values. The mean values can be related in time to the center of the modulation period, and the third phase current at the same time can be calculated, because the sum of the phase currents is equal to zero.

The present invention relates to a method for measuring phase currents in an inverter, where controlled semiconductor switches invert direct current by pulse width modulation from an intermediate circuit to a three-phase alternating voltage, and where the phase currents are measured by measuring the intermediate circuit current when an active switch state creates an unambiguous relation between the intermediate circuit current and a phase current.
The measuring principle is known from EP 0 502 226 A1, among others. That document describes a detection circuit, which by detecting the phase voltages selects the periods of time when said unambiguous relation between the intermediate circuit current and a phase current exists. The detection circuit controls an integration circuit of the track-and-hold type with three channels, which are connected alternately to a sensor for the intermediate circuit current. One of the channels is controlled to integrate the contributions of the individual phase currents to the intermediate circuit current when there is a potential applied on the inverter output, that is that a voltage is applied that is different from zero. The resulting signal represents the effective current in a connected three-phase a.c. machine. The two other channels are controlled so that the integrated signals periodically follow each its own phase current, and these signals are combined with data on the switch state into an individual reconstruction of the three phase currents.
The known circuit and the measuring method realised in it involve quite extensive analog signal processing. Due to the principle of integration applied, the circuit has a low upper cut-off frequency, and therefore it will be less suitable for inverters with high dynamics, as for example for servo control applications.
Seen in relation to this, it is the object of the present invention to provide a method for measuring phase currents in an inverter which allows a higher upper cut-off frequency, and which can be realised with less circuitry complications than known before.

Method for measuring phase currents in an inverter


A transport vehicle spray apparatus. The transport vehicle spray apparatus has at least one storage tank. A pump transports material from the storage tank through at least one filter and a manifold to at least one spray bar. The spray bar incorporates spray nozzles through which the material from the storage tank is dispensed. In one embodiment, the spray bar is connected to a collapsible frame on the top and back of the transport vehicle storage space. The collapsible frame can expand and collapse by sliding along the length of the walls of the transport vehicle storage space. As the frame expands and collapses, the spray bar coats the interior surfaces of the transport vehicle storage space with the material from the storage tank. The transport vehicle spray apparatus is utilized to spray and coat the walls of a transport vehicle's storage space with a desired fluid.

The present invention relates to a transport vehicle spray apparatus. More particularly, the present invention provides for a transport vehicle spray apparatus including at least one storage tank and at least one spray bar that is integrated with the transport vehicle, wherein the at least one spray bar is configured to spray into the transport vehicle's storage space with a material stored in the at least one storage tank.
Transport vehicles often carry loads in their storage spaces or beds. These loads tend to leave behind an accumulation of dirt and residual matter. In some cases, the material being transported, such as asphalt, is transported "hot". Such materials are extremely viscous and if allowed to cool, may harden and adhere to the walls and bed of the transport vehicle. In such a situation it can be exceedingly difficult to remove such residual material. Transport vehicle drivers combat accumulations of such material by pre-treating the surfaces of their transport vehicle's storage space with a variety of release agent formulas. These formulas, as well as other cleaning agents, aid in cleaning the transport vehicle by creating a protective layer on the surface of the walls and bed of the storage space that the material has a harder time adhering to.
However, application of these formulas to the transport vehicle's storage space can be cumbersome, and in many instances dangerous. Individuals who attempt to clean their own transport vehicle's storage space risk exposure to the noxious chemicals in the release agent formulas. Additionally, such individuals must climb up the sidewalls of the transport vehicle's storage space, or into the storage space itself, exposing the individual to the risk of falling. Often these formulas leave a slick coating on the sidewalls and bed, which can be a slipping hazard to the individual applying the formula.
Many individuals do not want to risk such danger and therefore take their transport vehicles to a professional cleaning site, or soap rack. These sites are often quite busy, and the individual may have to wait an inordinate amount of time in order to remove the residual matter on their transport vehicle's storage space. Additionally, these sites may require that cleaning professionals be utilized, adding to the total cost. Time spent waiting may also be increased as the number of cleaning professionals can be limited. Because transport vehicles are typically cleaned and pre-treated prior to every load, utilizing these professional cleaning sites quickly becomes prohibitively expensive and time-consuming.
Devices have been disclosed in the known art that relate to spray apparatus devices. These include devices that have been patented and disclosed in patent application publications. However, the devices in the known art have several drawbacks. Some of these devices are hand-held, requiring the individual to climb in and around the transport vehicle's storage space themselves, thereby exposing the individual to potential slip and fall accidents. Some devices are external structures that are not integrated with the transport vehicle, leading to long lines and waits to use the structure. Some devices are only configured to spray an area outside of a vehicle and cannot spray into the transport vehicle's storage space.
The present invention substantially diverges in design elements from the known art and consequently it is clear that there is a need in the art for an improvement to existing spray apparatus devices. The present invention substantially fulfills these needs.


Systems and methods for controlling an operational status of a waste disposer are disclosed herein. In one example embodiment, a waste disposer assembly includes a waste disposer, a sprayer mechanism, and a switching system. The waste disposer is configured to be supported in relation to a sink. The sprayer mechanism is configured to be supportable in relation to the sink, is coupled at least indirectly to the sink by way of an extendable and retractable linkage, and includes an actuator mechanism that, upon being actuated, causes generation of a control signal. The switching system is supported in relation to the sink, is coupled at least indirectly to each of the sprayer mechanism and disposer, and is configured to operate so that, upon receiving the control signal from the actuator mechanism, a related signal is provided to the disposer causing the disposer to change or take on operational status.

Food waste disposers are used to comminute food scraps into particles small enough to pass through household drain plumbing. When implemented in household environments, such waste disposers can be activated or deactivated (e.g., turned on or off) depending upon whether the waste disposers are coupled to a power supply. The activation status of such waste disposers can be governed for example by the status of a switch as actuated by a user. It is common in many such household environments, in which a waste disposer is mounted at or near the bottom of a sink, for such a switch to be positioned along a wall nearby the sink.
Although such conventional implementations are adequate to enable users to control the activation status of waste disposers in some circumstances, users still can find it inconvenient to control the activation status of waste disposers in other circumstances. For example, the switch governing the supply of power to a waste disposer, when located on a wall nearby a sink, can be inconvenient or even difficult for a user to actuate if the user is standing immediately in front of the sink, or if the user is actively engaged with washing items in the sink such that reaching over to a wall to flip a switch may be inconvenient.
Accordingly, it would be desirable if a new or improved system or method for controlling the activation (e.g., on/off) status or other operational status of a waste disposer could be developed, so as to overcome the inconvenience associated with controlling such a status as can exist in relation to some conventional arrangements as discussed above, or to achieve one or more other additional advantages.

System and method for controlling an operational status of a waste disposer


A system and method for routing and segregating cables is provided. An embodiment includes a support member having a plurality of cable trays coupled thereto. The cable trays may be arranged in a tiered-manner such that cable receiving portions of the cable trays extend farther than an adjacent cable tray in a longitudinal direction. Cables may then be routed to individual cable trays, which route the cables to a second location. In this manner, the cables in each cable tray are segregated from cables in other cable trays, thereby reducing the twisting of the cables.

Many types of electronic components, such as servers, telecommunications equipment, junction boxes, racks/cabinets of electrical components, and the like, typically have multiple connections for cables to transmit and receive a variety of electrical, optical, data, voice, video, power, and the like, signals. It is common in such an installation to have one or more locations to which many cables are to be routed. In these types of applications, weaving and braiding is a common problem, causing the cables to become twisted and disorganized.
For example, telecommunications services are often provided by racks of equipment housed within cabinets. Each rack typically contains multiple slots capable of supporting a variety of cards, such as line cards, application specific cards, multiplexing/demultiplexing cards, DTMX cards, power supply cards, processing cards, controller cards, and the like, wherein each rack of cards may have capacity to support 512 or more cable connections. In this situation, the wires twisted together become difficult to identify and isolate. Thus, performing maintenance and/or provisioning activities that require a technician to modify the cabling, such as testing line conditions, troubleshooting line problems, accommodating service changes (e.g., changing bandwidth between OC-192, C-48, OC-12, OC-3, Gigabit Ethernet, and the like) is error prone.
This is particularly troublesome when the maintenance and/or provisioning activities are performed without taking the entire rack and/or cabinet out of service. In these situations, other cards within the rack and/or cabinet may be in active service, handling actual user traffic. Disconnecting an incorrect cable in this situation may disrupt service, causing a loss of service and loss of revenue to a commercial service provider. Thus, there is a need for a system and method of supporting, organizing, and segregating cables such that braiding and weaving of the cables is reduced, thereby allowing a technician easier access to the cables.


An IC card has a card substrate having semiconductor integrated circuit chips mounted thereon and a plurality of connector terminals formed thereon. The connector terminals are exposed from a casing. The connector terminals are laid out in plural sequences in staggered form between sequences adjacent to one another forward and backward as viewed in an IC card inserting direction. Owing to the adoption of the staggered layout, a structure or configuration wherein the amounts of protrusions of socket terminals of a card socket are changed and the socket terminals are laid out in tandem, can be adopted with relative ease. If a connector terminal arrangement of a downward or low-order IC card is adopted as a specific connector terminal sequence as it is, whereas a function dedicated for an upward or high-order IC card is assigned to another staggered connector terminal arrangement, then backward compatibility can also be implemented with ease.

The present invention relates to a technology for improving compatibility related to an arrangement and functions of connector terminals for an IC card, and utilizability and reliability of an IC card, and related to, for example, a technology effective for application to a compatible memory card such as a multi media card (Multi Media Card).
There has been provided a memory card having implemented reductions in size and weight and the simplification of an interface, such as a multi media card or the like aimed to perform, for example, the transfer of information between cellular phone and digital network device. As described in, for example, the System Summary issued from the Multi Media Card Association, the multi media card has seven connector terminals as external interface terminals and adopts a serial interface. As compared with an ATA interface adopted by,a PC card or hard disk, it can lighten a load on a host system and can be used even in a simpler system.
Further, an SD card has been proposed as an upward compatible memory card like a multi media card, which adopts a serial interface and has nine connector terminals.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A method and related apparatuses facilitate the compression of firmware modules that follow a portable executable (PE) format. An example method includes an operation of storing a firmware module in memory, wherein the firmware module follows a PE format, thus having subdivisions that include an MS-DOS header. The method also includes an operation of flattening the firmware module by replacing existing content within at least one field within the MS-DOS header with fill data that is more compressible than the existing content. For example, fill data may be loaded into an MS-DOS stub field within the MS-DOS header. Alternatively, the method may flatten the firmware module by ensuring that fill data occupies all fields within the MS-DOS header except for an lfanew field and an e-magic field. In some embodiments, additional or alternative operations to flatten the firmware module may be performed, such as loading fill data into one or more fields within an optional file header of the firmware module.

In a typical legacy data processing system, firmware provides the machine instructions that control the system when the system is being powered up or has been reset, but before an operating system (OS) is booted. That is, the firmware controls the pre-OS or pre-boot operations. Firmware may also control certain operations after the OS has been loaded, such as operations for handling certain hardware events and/or system interrupts. The firmware may handle pre-boot and post-boot operations through a set of routines referred to collectively as a basic input/output system (BIOS). The BIOS thus provides the interface between the hardware components of the system and software components such as the OS. Accordingly, firmware for a legacy system is generally written specifically for the hardware platform within which the firmware will operate.
Recently, however, a new model for an interface between platform firmware and higher-level software such as operating systems was announced. That model is known as the Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI). Version 1.10 of the EFI Specification, dated Dec. 1, 2002, may be obtained from the Internet at the following address (in which the characters "." and "/" have been replaced with the characters "+" and "=, " respectively, to prevent the address from operating as a hyperlink): www+intel+com=technoloav=efi=main specification+htm. The EFI specification defines a set of standard interfaces and structures to be provided by low-level platform firmware, for use in loading additional firmware and booting the OS.
Under the EFI model, firmware drivers and pre-OS applications should be formatted according to the portable executable (PE) format. The PE format is the file format that Microsoft Corporation adopted as the standard format to be used for executable files to run under operating systems such as Microsoft® Windows® NT, Microsoft® Windows® XP, Microsoft®Windows® 2000, and Microsoft Windows CE®. The term "portable executable" reflects an intention to provide a common format for executable files for multiple operating systems. PE files may run on multiple different hardware platforms, including 32 bit architectures and 64 bit architectures. Microsoft® linkers can be used to generate executable files in the PE format from object files in the Common Object File Format (COFF). COFF is the file format used for object files generated by Microsoft® compilers. The PE format and the COFF format are both described in revision 6.0 of the "Microsoft Portable Executable and Common Object File Format Specification," dated February 1999 (the "PE/COFF Specification"), available at the following address (in which the characters "." and "/" have been replaced with the characters "+" and "=," respectively, to prevent the address from operating as a hyperlink): www+microsoft+com=hwdev=download=hardware=PECOFF+doc.
Platform frameworks based on the EFI model, such as the Intel® Platform Innovation Framework for EFI, are expected to supplant frameworks based on the BIOS model within the next few years as the frameworks of choice for designing, building, and operating data processing systems. The Intel® Platform Innovation Framework for EFI includes low-level firmware which provides boot and runtime service calls that are available to the operating system and its loader. Since the Intel® Platform Innovation Framework for EFI comports with the EFI specification, the core services of that framework provide a standard environment for operations such as loading firmware drivers, running pre-OS applications, and booting an OS. In addition, the Intel® Platform Innovation Framework for EFI defines a modular platform framework.

Method and apparatus for reducing the storage overhead of portable executable (PE) images


A method, apparatus and computer program product are provided facilitating flexible time sharing among systems. A method and apparatus may generate a secondary component carrier transmission plan including planned on and off durations. The planned on durations correspond to a time period for an apparatus and devices to communicate via an unlicensed band of the secondary component carrier. The planned off durations correspond to a time interval in which the devices may deactivate from the unlicensed band or remain disconnected from the unlicensed band. The method and apparatus may also enable provision of the plan to the devices via a licensed band of a primary component carrier and detecting a medium of the unlicensed band prior to the expiration of the time period to determine whether the medium is available in order to decide whether to turn on transmissions to the unlicensed band after one of the planned off durations.

Mobile terminals routinely communicate within a licensed spectrum via networks supervised by various cellular operators. The licensed spectrum, however, has a finite capacity and may become somewhat scarce as the number of mobile terminals that are configured to communicate within the licensed spectrum increases at fairly dramatic rates. As the demands placed upon the licensed spectrum by the various mobile terminals begin to saturate the licensed spectrum, the mobile terminals may experience increasing levels of interference or limited resources with the licensed spectrum potentially eventually becoming a bottleneck for such communications. Therefore, it may be necessary to enable cellular operations on license exempt bands as well as in suitable instances to help offload the traffic.
An increasing number of other network topologies are being integrated with cellular networks. However, there may already be some other network system or other cellular operations operating on an unlicensed band. These other network topologies include, for example, wireless fidelity (WiFi) networks, ad hoc networks and various other local area networks. The terminals, either mobile or fixed, supported by these other network topologies may communicate with one another in an unlicensed spectrum, such as a licensed-exempt industrial scientific medical (ISM) radio band. The ISM radio band supports other non-cellular systems, such as WiFi systems operating in accordance with the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standard, ZigBee systems operating in accordance with the IEEE 802.15 standard, Bluetooth systems and universal serial bus (USB) wireless systems. In this regard, the ISM radio band may include the 2.4 GHz ISM band in which WiFi 802.11b and 802.11g systems operate and the 5 GHz ISM band in which WiFi 802.11a systems operate. Though cellular technologies have not generally been deployed in the ISM band, such deployment could be considered for local-area Long Term Evolution (LTE) cellular networks as long as they meet the regulatory requirements in country-specific ISM bands, e.g., Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the United States. Another example of a license exempt band is TV White Space (TVWS), which has been investigated widely in the recent years due to the large available bandwidths at suitable frequencies (e.g., TV spectrum in the 54-698 MHz range in the U.S.) for different radio applications. In the United States, the FCC has regulated licensed or license-exempt TV bands for the secondary-system applications, e.g., cellular, WiFi, WiMax, etc., on TV Band Devices (TVBD).
In an instance in which an LTE system is deployed in a licensed band, the LTE system is typically designed for continuous transmission, since a corresponding network operator may need to buy a certain spectrum for the network operator's usage. However, in order to deploy an LTE system in a shared band without any modification, the LTE system may generally occupy the spectrum all the time, and may totally, or partially, block any other system's usage, which may be unfair and may violate a regulatory requirement of an unlicensed band.

Methods and apparatuses for provision of a flexible time sharing scheme on an unlicensed band of a system


The invention concerns the control of connections in cellular telecommunication systems. According to the invention, the available radio resources are controlled by allowing only certain conbinations of transport formats to be used by a single user. The inventive method restricts the combinations of bearer bit rates which can be used, without strictly limiting some bearers from using highest bit rates. This inventive approach allows flexible overall control of radio resources, while retaining the possibility of bearers to select between different bit rates.

In cellular telecommunication systems a single speech connection or data connection through the cellular telecommunication network is called a bearer. Generally, a bearer is associated with a set of parameters pertaining to data communication between a certain terminal equipment and a network element, such as a base station or an interworking unit (IWU) connecting the cellular network to another telecommunications network. The set of parameters associated with a bearer comprises typically for example data transmission speed, allowed delays, allowed bit error rate (BER), and the minimum and maximum values for these parameters. A bearer may further be a packet transmission bearer or a circuit switched bearer and support for example transparent or non-transparent connections. A bearer can be thought of as a data transmission path having the specified parameters connecting a certain mobile terminal and a certain network element for transmission of payload information. One bearer always connects only one mobile terminal to one network element. However, a bearer can pass through a number of network elements. One mobile communication means (ME, Mobile Equipment) may in some cellular telecommunication systems support one bearer only, in some other systems also more than one simultaneous bearers.
In the new cellular telecommunication systems such as the UMTS system (Universal Mobile Telecommunication System) under development, variable bit rate bearers will be in much more widespread use than in the present systems. Multiple simultaneous bearers with multiple bit rate options will result in high amount of combinations to be supported. It is desirable that also the air interface part of the communications system supports this kind of bearer combinations efficiently, i.e. without excessive use of radio resources. Since the bit rates of bearers may change from frame to frame, the bit rates need to be indicated in the frames. Assuming that all possible combinations of instantaneous bit rates of different bearers shall be supported, the amount of bits required for identification of the transmission rate of a radio frame may become excessive. On the other hand, fixed allocation of radio resources according to the maximum possible total bit rate is not feasible. Maximum bit rates of the bearers may be rarely used and if the resources allocated for a user are dimensioned based on the worst case combination i.e. all bearers using the highest possible bit rate, scarce radio resources will be wasted.

Method for controlling bearer properties


A method for forming a multilayer paint film comprising the steps of forming an uncured film on a substrate with a cationically depositable paint on a substrate, further coating an aqueous paint on the uncured film of the electrodeposited film in a wet-on-wet manner, and then curing with heating the both films,. wherein (i) the electrodeposited film of the cationically electrodepositable paint has a film weight reduction after curing with heating of 10% by weight or less; and PA1 wherein (ii) the aqueous paint is composed mainly of PA1 (a) a polyester resin optionally modified with a urethane and having an acid value within the range of 10 to 100 and a hydroxyl value within the range of 20 to 300; and PA1 (b) a water-soluble or -dispersible amino resin.

It has heretofore been widely practiced to coat a cationically electrodepositable paint by electrodeposition and curing with heating, followed by further coating an intercoat paint or a topcoat paint and then curing with heating.
However, in view of reduction in the number of steps of painting, economization of resources and prevention of environmental pollution, there has been a keen desire to develop a method for forming a paint film by a two-coat-one-bake process in which a surface coated with a cationically electrodepositable paint is further coated with an aqueous intercoat or topcoat paint without curing with heating the previously coated surface of the electrodepositable paint, and then the both paint films are heated to cure them simultaneously. However, up to present none has been put into practical use.
For example, when after it is coated with an organic solvent type paint, a coated surface of an uncured, cationically electrodeposited paint is heated so that the both painted films can be cured, the uncured cationically electrodeposited paint-coated surface is swollen or corroded with an organic solvent contained in the organic solvent-type paint, resulting in that depressions and protrusions, wrinkles or shrinks tend to occur in the coated surface after the curing with heating.
Alternatively, when an aqueous paint composed mainly of a polyester resin and a fully etherated melamine resin is used instead of the aforementioned organic solvent type paint, defects such as depressions and protrusions, wrinkles or shrinks do not almost occur but a problem arises that basic substances or low molecular weight substances which vaporise from the uncured cationically electrodeposited film upon heating migrate in large amounts into the upper coated film to prevent its curing reaction, with the result that the upper film is not cured sufficiently. In addition, there is also a disadvantage that the aqueous paint film itself does not have an enough smoothness or distinctness of image gloss.
A primary object of the present invention is to solve the aforementioned drawbacks involved in the method for forming a multilayer paint film by painting a cationically electrodepositable paint and an aqueous paint by a two-coat-one-bake process.
Other objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description.


An electrical card connector includes an insulating housing having a plurality of passageways and a plurality of contacts received in the insulating housing. Said insulating housing has a plurality of bars near two sides of each passageway for restricting each said contact vertically. Each bar has a barb on an inner side thereof so that the contact can be retained in the insulating housing firmly to prevent the contact from dropping out from the insulating housing.

1. Field of the invention
The present invention relates to an electrical card connector, and more particularly to an electrical card connector having a plurality of contacts firmly assembled into an insulating housing.
2. Description of Related Art
SIM ("Subscriber Identity Module") card connector is widely used in mobile electrical devices, such as mobile telephone which can receive a SIM card, for electrically connecting the SIM card to a printed circuit board in the mobile phone.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,879,169 discloses an electrical card connector including an insulating housing and a plurality of contacts retained in a plurality of corresponding receiving passageways defined on the insulating housing. Each contact has a vertical base portion, a connecting portion and a soldering portion. The contact is upwardly assembled into said receiving passageway from a bottom surface of the insulating housing and retained in the insulating housing in vertical direction in manner of an interferential engagement between two sides of the base portion and inner sidewalls of the receiving passageway. However, the interferential force between the base portion and the insulating housing is not strong enough to retain the contact firmly, the contact is easy to drop out from the insulating housing when there is a heavy shock or an external impact acted on the contact before the contact is soldered on a printed circuit board, which brings a bad influence on the process of manufacturing. So it is necessary to provide a new electrical card connector to solve the problems above.


The present invention comprises a gas turbine engine with a compressor for generating compressed air, a turbine comprising upstream and downstream rows of vanes, vane carrier structure surrounding at least one row of vanes and plenum structure at least partially surrounding the vane carrier structure capable of impinging compressed air onto the vane carrier structure. The gas turbine engine further comprises fluid supply structure including first fluid path structure defining a first path for compressed air to travel to the plenum structure, second fluid path structure defining a second path for compressed air to travel toward the downstream row of vanes, and fluid control structure selectively controlling fluid flow to the first and second fluid path structures.

Controlling gas turbine engine blade tip clearance is desirable so as to establish high turbine efficiency. Turbine efficiency improves as the clearance or gap between turbine blade tips and a surrounding static structure is minimized. During transient operations, the blade tips respond to the temperature of the hot working gases at different rates than the static structure. The difference in response results in the transient clearances being "pinched" such that the clearance at the transient time point is tighter than the clearance at steady state operation. In addition, during transient conditions such as during shutdown, the engine casing can thermally distort which results in local "pinching." Although the casing is less distorted at steady state, the transient distortion effect must be considered when determining proper blade tip clearance. Since the majority of the gas turbine engine running time occurs during steady state operation, allowing clearance for the transient distortion effect results in a performance penalty at steady state.

Radial active clearance control for a gas turbine engine


Human hair is highlighted by a procedure in which the hair initially is moistened with water and towel dried. The hair is then teased and on the teased hair is sprinkled a dry powder bleach mixture which sifts downward through the hair. A mist of a solution of hydrogen peroxide is applied to the dry powder bleach mixture and thereafter the hair is rinsed and shampooed. The final rinsing and shampoo takes place within five minutes following application of the solution of hydrogen peroxide. A dry solid powder composition used in the procedure includes at least one oxidizing agent, an activator to change the PH of the oxidizing agent from acidic to alkaline, a drying agent for absorbing moisture present in the mixture, an accelerator for accelerating the bleaching process, a thickening agent, a humectant and a chelate agent.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a new technique for treating human hair to effect what has become known in the art as highlighting together with a novel dry powder bleach composition activated by the application of hydrogen peroxide, preferably to be used with the technique.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Powder bleach materials are known in the hair coloring art which when mixed with a developer such as hydrogen peroxide of various strengths or volumes, can be applied to the hair as a bleach.
A common practice in salons providing hair highlighting and hair frosting is to cover the hair with a plastic cap having numerous perforations through which tufts of hair are pulled for treatment. A dry powder bleach composition is then mixed with hydrogen peroxide to form a paste. Protected by plastic gloves the operator then applies the paste to the tufts of hair extending through the perforations in the plastic cap. This process which leaves lightened streaks in the hair, and usually changes the color of the hair, typically takes from 35 to 45 minutes. Because the paste is uniformly rubbed into the hair down to the base of the plastic cap there is a finite line of demarcation between the treated and the untreated hair. As the hair grows out, the untreated hair or roots become obvious necessitating rather frequent retreatment of the process.
The highlighting or bleaching of hair requires a highlight or bleach composition typically activated by a mixture with hydrogen peroxide of different volumes or strengths. These compositions are mixed with hydrogen peroxide to provide the paste applied to the hair. There are many such compositions on the market today suitable for use with the tedious process above described. There obviously is a need for a faster, less time-consuming technique for highlighting human hair and for a dry powder composition which enables the process. Those needs are met by the present invention which has as an object a new and improved technique for highlighting human hair which is significantly less time-consuming than those previously employed.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a dry powder composition which remains stable and is freely disbursible and which when activated by hydrogen peroxide will rapidly effect the highlighting of human hair.

Method of highlighting hair and composition therefor


An internal pressure of a hydropneumatic drive actuator is measured by a pressure measurement device, a displacement amount of a movable mechanism is measured, a desired value and a measurement value of the displacement are inputted so that a position error is compensated by a position error compensation device, a desired value of a pressure difference of the actuator to which antagonistic driving is performed by the desired value is calculated by a desired pressure difference calculation device, outputs from the position error compensation device, the desired pressure difference calculation device, and the pressure measurement device are inputted, and a pressure difference error is compensated by pressure difference error compensation device.

The present invention relates to elastic actuator control apparatus and method that control the operation of an elastic actuator such as a hydropneumatic drive actuator driven by deformation of an elastic body. The present invention also relates to elastic actuator drive-type movable mechanism control apparatus and method that control a movable mechanism driven by the elastic actuator.
Recently, domestic robots such as a pet robot are actively developed, and practical realization of the practical domestic robots such as a household assistance robot is expected in the future. Because it is necessary that the domestic robot go in a home to live with a human, the domestic robot differs from the conventional industrial robot and the like in the required specifications.
In the industrial robot, an electric motor and a speed reducer are used, and high hand position accuracy of repeatability of 0.1 mm or the like is realized by high-gain feedback control. However, because a mechanism driven by the electric motor often has high rigidity and poor flexibility, there are many issues from a safety standpoint.
On the other hand, the high accuracy of the repeatability of 0.1 mm or the like is not always necessary in the domestic robot, but the safety is emphasized such that the domestic robot does no injury to a human when the domestic robot comes into contact with the human. Accordingly, the electric-motor driven mechanism used in the conventional industrial robot is not suitable to the domestic-robot field in which the safety is emphasized, and the flexible and safe robot arm is required.
In order to solve the above issues, for example, there has been proposed a robot arm in which a McKibben type pneumatic actuator is utilized. In a configuration of the McKibben type pneumatic actuator, constraint means including a fiber cord is arranged in an outer surface of a tubular elastic body made of a rubber material, and both end portions of the tubular elastic body are adapted to be sealed in an air-tight manner with sealing members. When internal pressure is applied to an internal space of the tubular elastic body through fluid injection/discharge means using a compressible fluid such as air, although the tubular elastic body may try to be mainly expanded in a radial direction, the expansion is transformed into motion in a central axis direction of the tubular elastic body by action of the constraint means, which contracts a total length of the tubular elastic body. Because the McKibben type actuator is mainly formed by an elastic body, the McKibben type actuator has advantages such as the flexibility, the safety, and light weight.
However, the hydropneumatic drive actuator such as the McKibben type actuator, which is operated by the fluid pressure such as air, has an issue that generally the elastic actuator is difficult to control, for example, in the elastic actuator, the responsivity is worsened due to the elastic property generated by the fluid compressibility, the influence of the channel resistance etc., and the like.
Conventionally, in order to solve the issue, Japanese Examined Patent No. 2583272 discloses a control apparatus in which a desired track can be drawn by including a delay circuit for the robot arm driven by combination of a servomotor and a hydropneumatic drive actuator.
However, in the above control apparatus including the delay circuit, since the delay is always generated for a desired operation, responsivity is worsened and the work necessary to be processed in real time cannot be performed. The control apparatus exerts the effect only in the case of the combination of the servomotor and the fluid drive actuator, and the control apparatus cannot exert the effect in the robot arm including only the fluid drive actuator.
An object of the present invention is to resolve the foregoing issues and provide elastic actuator control apparatus and method, by which a movable mechanism such as a robot arm driven by an elastic actuator can be controlled with good responsivity and the position arid force can be controlled with high accuracy.

Apparatus and method for controlling elastic actuator

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


An electrophotographic color image forming apparatus of the present invention includes a plurality of image forming sections each including an image carrier and image transferring means. Toner images of different colors are sequentially transferred from the image carriers to a sheet being conveyed by an endless belt while electrostatically adhering to the belt, completing a color toner image. Assuming that the surface of each image carrier and that of the belt move at speeds of Vd and Vb, respectively, a ratio of Vb/Vd can be varied by the user of the apparatus. In addition, assuming that a surface of an intermediate transferring mechanism and a surface of a recording medium move at speeds of Vp and Vi, respectively, the ratio of Vp/Vi can be varied by the user.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a color copier, color laser printer, color facsimile apparatus or similar color image forming apparatus.
2. Description of the Background Art
A tandem, color image forming apparatus, belonging to a family of color image forming apparatuses, includes four photoconductive drums or image carriers arranged side by side. While a belt is conveying a sheet or recording medium via the drums, toner images of different colors formed on the drums are sequentially transferred to the sheet one above the other by biases applied to bias applying members, completing a color toner image on the sheet. In such an apparatus, the belt conveys the sheet while electrostatically retaining it thereon, so that the surface speed or moving speed of the sheet is equal or substantially equal to the surface speed of the belt.
If the surface speed of the belt and that of the drums are the same as each other, then image transfer is effected only by an electrostatic force. On the other hand, when the surface speed of the belt is made different from the surface speed of the drums, a mechanical peeling force acts in addition to the electrostatic force and obviates defective image transfer. More specifically, when a difference exists between the two surface speeds, desirable image transfer is attainable particularly when toner images of two or more colors are superposed. As far as a monochromatic image is concerned, a toner layer can be easily retained on the surface of a sheet, so that transferability above a certain level is easily achievable. However, when two or more colors are superposed, a toner layer previously transferred to a sheet lowers the transferability of the next toner layer. This problem can be effectively coped with if a difference is provided between the surface speed of the belt and that of the drums.
It is a common practice with a color image forming apparatus configured to enhance transferability of two or more colors to provide a difference between the surface speed of the belt and that of the drums and maintain the difference constant. Stated another way, the above difference is generally not expected to be varied by the user of the apparatus or a service person.
It has been customary with an electrophotographic, color image forming apparatus to sequentially transfer toner images of different colors to a single sheet one above the other for thereby forming a color image. Regarding this kind of apparatus, Japanese Patent No. 2,743,359 discloses an image transferring device capable of preventing an image from being distorted at the time of transfer. The image transferring device taught in this document allows toner images of different colors to be transferred to a sheet in accurate register without resorting to high dimensional accuracy even when a plurality of drums are used. More specifically, the image transferring device is applied to a tandem, color image forming apparatus in which toner images are sequentially transferred from a plurality of drums to a sheet being carried by an image transfer body before the image transfer body completes one rotation. The surface speed of the image transfer body is made higher than the surface speed of the drums by 0.1% to 1%. A flexible member is fitted on the circumference of the image transfer body and elastically pressed against the drums.
However, the Japanese Patent mentioned above simply teaches a method capable of maintaining the speed of a sheet constant without regard to the extension or the positional shift of an image that may occur due to a difference in diameter between the drums or the eccentricity of the drums. Further, the above document does not show or describe a method of varying a speed ratio in accordance with the mode. In this connection, a method of enhancing transferability by providing a difference between the speed of an image transfer belt, which bifunctions as a conveyor, and the speed of the drums is conventional with a monochromatic copier.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 11-52794 relates to an image forming apparatus of the type providing a difference between the peripheral speed of drums and that of an endless image transfer belt, e.g., an intermediate image transfer belt. This document contemplates to obviate color shift, color change and other defects ascribable to the relative position of the drums and belt that varies color by color, thereby stably producing high-quality color images.
More specifically, in the Laid-Open Publication mentioned above, the belt is provided with a circumferential length which is non-integral times as great as the circumference of the individual drum. Further, assume that each drum has a circumference of Ld and moves at a peripheral speed of Vd, that the belt has a circumferential length of Lb and moves at a peripheral speed of Vb, that a speed difference ratio of the belt to the drum is ΔV (≠0), and that n is an integer. Then, the above document defines the relation between the circumferential length of the belt and the circumference of the drum as:Vb=Vd×(1+ΔV)Lb=Ld×(1+ΔV)×n
With this scheme, however, it is difficult to surely reduce color shift when the speed of a sheet minutely varies due to the influence of the difference in speed between the belt and the drums, which is ascribable to a change in the kind of a sheet or the variation of temperature or that of humidity. Moreover, the above document does not teach a method of varying the speed ratio in accordance with the mode.
As stated above, by providing a difference in speed between the belt and the drums, it is possible to obviate a vermicular image, e.g., characters blank inside and to enhance transferability of two or more colors. However, although a sheet is usually expected to electrostatically adhere to the belt, the above difference is apt to reduce the adhesion and thereby make the conveying speed of the sheet from coinciding with the conveying speed of the belt, bringing about color shift in the subscanning direction. More specifically, the adhesion of the sheet to the belt is dependent on the kind of a sheet and humidity, so that optimum conditions, sufficiently taking account of humidity and the kind of a sheet, must be set and maintained in order to obviate such color shift.

Color image forming apparatus having a variable controlled speed ratio


An apparatus including: an element configured to generate or detect a terahertz wave; a semi-spherical lens configured to guide the terahertz wave outgoing from the element or entering the element; and a holder configured to hold the semi-spherical lens and the element in a state in which a flat surface of the semi-spherical lens and the element are in contact with each other or in a state in which the flat surface of the semi-spherical lens and the element clamp a substance which allows the terahertz wave to pass therethrough and the flat surface of the semi-spherical lens and the element are in contact with the substance, wherein the holder includes: a resiliently deformable portion; and a position adjusting unit configured to adjust a relative position between the semi-spherical lens and the element in a direction parallel to the flat surface of the semi-spherical lens by resiliently deforming the resiliently deformable portion.

1. Field of the Invention
This disclosure relates to an apparatus configured to generate a terahertz wave or an apparatus configured to detect a terahertz wave.
2. Description of the Related Art
A terahertz wave is an electromagnetic wave having a component falling within a given frequency range in a range from 0.03 THz to 30 THz. In such a frequency range, many types of characteristic absorption coming from structure or condition of various substances such as biological molecules as a principal example exist. By using the characteristics described above, an inspection technology configured to perform analysis and identification of substances in a non-destructive manner is developed. In addition, application to a tomography apparatus configured to visualize interiors of substances, in which an imaging technology, a high-speed communication technology, and transmissivity of the terahertz wave are effectively utilized, is expected.
Examples of a method of achieving generation and detection of the terahertz wave include a method of irradiating a light conductive element with a femtosecond laser. The light conductive element is obtained by forming a semiconductor film provided with an antenna electrode at a minute space on a substrate.
In order to improve efficiency of isolating the terahertz wave outgoing from the light conductive element, or efficiency of importing the terahertz wave into the terahertz wave incoming into the light conductive element, a semi-spherical lens having the same degree of refractive index as the substrate having the semiconductor film formed thereon is used. The semi-spherical lens is used with a flat surface portion thereof tightly in contact with a surface of the substrate having the antenna electrode formed thereon.
In order to improve efficiency of isolating and the efficiency of importing of the terahertz wave, alignment of an optical axis of the semi-spherical lens (an axis of rotational symmetry) and the antenna electrode of the light conductive element is important.
As a method performing the alignment, Japanese Patent No. 4762944 discloses a method of fixing the positions of the semi-spherical lens and the light conductive element by fitting the semi-spherical lens and components such as the light conductive element in a plurality of depressed portions formed on a holder configured to hold the semi-spherical lens and the light conductive element. In this case, accuracy of alignment is determined by the processing accuracy or the size of the depressed portions.
In order to confirm whether the alignment between the semi-spherical lens and the element is achieved with high degree of accuracy, detection of the terahertz wave by actually using an apparatus configured to generate or detect the terahertz wave and observation of an intensity or an amplitude of the detected terahertz wave are needed. When the alignment is insufficient, the alignment needs to be performed again. In the case of the configuration as Japanese Patent No. 4762944, the apparatus needs to be disassembled once and assembled again. Therefore, alignment cannot be performed while observing the intensity or the like of the terahertz wave. Therefore, the operation of the alignment may become complicated.

Apparatus configured to generate terahertz wave and apparatus configured to detect terahertz wave


The present invention provides a variable steering gear ratio apparatus adapted to adjust the steering gear ratio based on the vehicle speed and steering angle, thereby facilitating steering manipulation by applying a small steering gear ratio when the vehicle comes to a parked state, the vehicle speed is low, or the steering angle is large. By applying a large steering gear ratio when the vehicle speed is high or the steering angle is small, the steering stability of the vehicle improves.

The steering gear ratio can be evaluated by the following equation: steering gear ratio=(steering rotational angle)/(wheel rotational angle).
Generally, a vehicle steering system transmits the rotation of a steering wheel to a gear box via a steering shaft. The rotational movement of the steering wheel is converted into a linear movement of a rack and pinion in the gear box to rotate the wheel. Therefore, the rotational angle of the wheel is constantly formed in relation to the rotational angle of the steering wheel. That is, the steering gear ratio is constant in the conventional system.

Variable steering gear ratio apparatus and method using the same


A peptide compound having the sequence Lys-Pro-Ser-Ser-Pro-Pro-Glu-Glu [SEQ ID NO:2] or a substitution variant, addition variant or other chemical derivative thereof inhibits cell invasion, endothelial tube formation or angiogenesis in vitro. A number of substitution variants and addition variants of this peptide, preferably capped at the N- and C-termini, as well as peptidomimetic derivatives, are useful for treating diseases and conditions mediated by undesired and uncontrolled cell invasion and/or angiogenesis. Pharmaceutical compositions comprising the above peptides and derivatives are administered to subjects in need of such treatment in a dosage sufficient to inhibit invasion and/or angiogenesis. The disclosed compositions and methods are particularly useful for suppressing the growth and metastasis of tumors.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention in the fields of biochemistry, organic chemistry and medicine relates to peptide compounds and methods of their use to treat diseases and conditions associated with movement, migration and adhesion of cells including diseases that involve angiogenesis such as tumor invasion and metastasis.
2. Description of the Background Art
Several disease processes have been demonstrated to require the invasion or migration of cells as part of their pathology. These include tumor invasion, tumor metastasis, pathological angiogenesis, inflammation, and endometriosis (Liotta et al., 1991; Fox et al., 1996; Osborn, 1990; Mareel et al., 1990; Aznavoorian et al., 1993; Lennarz and Strittmatter, 1991; Fernandez-Shaw et al., 1995).
In the case of tumor angiogenesis, quiescent endothelial cells can become motile in response to a variety of angiogenic growth factors as well as to changes in the basement membrane induced by tumor cells and various accessory cells found within a tumor (Blood and Zetter, 1990; Liotta et al., 1991; Odedra and Weiss, 1991). Neovascularization of a tumor enables the metastatic spread of aggressive tumor cells by (1) providing a route of escape for the metastatic cells as well as (2) nurturing the tumor by providing a growth-conducive environment (Cornelius et al., 1995; Blood and Zetter, 1990; Weaver et al., 1997; Weinstat-Saslow and Steeg, 1994; Leek et al, 1994).
The process of tumor metastasis may be viewed as bi-directional, comprising the following steps
(1) endothelial cells migrate into a tumor in response to a chemotactic gradient produced by the tumor cells or by accessory cells (stromal cells, leukocytes); and PA1 (2) aggressive tumor cells concomitantly invade toward the developing neovasculature. PA1 (a) at least about 20% of the biological activity of Ac-KPSSPPEE-Am in one or more of the following in vitro bioassays: (i) invasion in a Matrigel.RTM. assay; (ii) endothelial tube formation on Matrigel.RTM., or (iii) endothelial tube formation on a fibrin matrix in the presence of basic fibroblast growth factor and vascular endothelial growth factor; or PA1 (b) binding activity such that it competes with labeled Ac-KPSSPPEE-Am for binding to a cell or molecule which has a binding site for Ac-KPSSPPEE-Am. PA1 (a) SEQ ID NO:2 wherein the Glu at position 7 or 8 or both is replaced by one or any two of the substituent amino acids Gln, Asp or Asn; PA1 (b) SEQ ID NO:2 wherein Ser at position 3 or 4 or both is replaced by one or any two of the substituent amino acids Thr, Ala, Gly, hSer (homoserine) or Val.beta.OH (.beta.-hydroxyvaline); PA1 (c) SEQ ID NO:2 wherein the Lys at position 1 is replaced by His, Arg, Gln, Orn (ornithine), Cit (citrulline) or Hci (homocitrulline); PA1 (d) SEQ ID NO:2 wherein the Pro at position 2, 5 or 6 is replaced by Hyp (hydroxyproline); PA1 (e) an addition variant of SEQ ID NO:2, wherein Leu, Ile, Val, Nva (norvaline), Nle (norleucine), Met, Ala, or Gly is added to the C-terminal Glu or to any C-terminal substituent for Glu at position 8 as disclosed above. PA1 (f) an addition variant of SEQ ID NO:2, wherein any of the following peptides are added to the C-terminal Glu or to the C terminal substituent for Glu at position 8: Leu-(Gly).sub.n ; Ile-(Gly).sub.n ; Val-(Gly).sub.n ; Nva-(Gly).sub.n ; or Nle-(Gly).sub.n, wherein n=1-10. PA1 (g) an addition variant of SEQ ID NO:2 wherein one or more of the following residues or peptides is added to the N-terminal Lys, or to any N-terminal substituent of Lys at position 1 as disclosed: Gly, Lys-(Gly).sub.n ; Tyr-(Gly).sub.n ; or Gly-(Gly).sub.n, wherein n=1-10; and PA1 (h) a combination of one or more of (a)-(g).
The process of invasion may further fuel angiogenesis by the proteolytic release of growth/angiogenic factors bound to extracellular matrix (ECM), including basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), and hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) as well as other factors including interleukin -8 (IL-8) and granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF). Also generated are proteolytic fragments of the ECM which are themselves chemotactic for both tumor cells and endothelial cells (Fox et al., 1996; Leek et al., 1994; Vlodavsky et al, 1990; Sweeney et al., 1991; Taipale and Keski-Oja, 1997).
It has been suggested that only 1-2% of the total cells in a tumor are capable of metastasis. As this statement is based on a static view of the tumor phenotype, it is probably inaccurate. In reality, metastasis appears to depend on disseminated tumor cells becoming exposed to an environment which supports their spread and survival (Weaver et al., 1997). In the majority of patients presenting with a clinically detectable primary tumor, metastasis has already occurred (Welch, 1997). Metastatic disease occurs when the disseminated foci of tumor cells seed a tissue which supports their growth and propagation, and this secondary spread of tumor cells is responsible for the morbidity and mortality associated with the majority of cancers. Clinical management of metastatic disease is often unsuccessful with conventional cytotoxic therapies. Metastasis differs substantially from the growth of the primary tumor in that it involves the simultaneous outgrowth of many foci which are phenotypically similar from the standpoint of their aggressiveness This outgrowth is dependent on the ability of cells that have metastasized to invade locally and to recruit neovessels.
By preventing interaction of adhesion molecules, the important process of cell migration/invasion and angiogenesis can be diminished or halted, with a number of important consequences for those diseases and conditions which are caused in part by undesirable cell migration, invasion and angiogenesis. In addition to vascular phenomena, such cell migration/invasion is important in tumor metastasis, which can be suppressed by the compositions and methods disclosed herein. Administration of effective amounts of these compositions will also disrupt the molecular interactions required for angiogenesis.
The art recognizes the need for novel treatments of subjects with cancer, in particular patients with metastatic cancer who have the poorest prognosis. Such treatment should be as devoid as possible of undesired side effects such as those associated with conventional chemotherapy and some of the experimental biotherapies. The present invention is directed to this objective. Inhibition of tumor cell invasion and endothelial cell migration (an important component of the angiogenic process) provide a novel approach to treating subjects with metastatic cancer. By inhibiting the local spread of tumor cells and angiogenesis at metastatic sites, metastatic foci should be induced to regress due to deprivation of their blood supply thus encouraging the subsequent expression of the cells' endogenous apoptotic program.
Furthermore, the inhibition of invasion of tissue by leukocytes and the concomitant angiogenesis would be useful for treating inflammation and other disease processes wherein cellular invasiveness is part of the pathogenic process. Inflammation and tumor invasion and metastasis and angiogenesis are known to involve similar mechanisms and extracellular factors (Liotta et al., 1991; Fox et al., 1996; Osborn, 1990; Mareel et al., 1990; Aznavoorian et al., 1993; Lennarz and Strittmatter, 1993).
Blasi et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 5,416,006) discloses plasminogen activators and their chemical modification, in particular phosphorylated uPA and tPA as thrombolytic agents. These workers examined phosphorylated uPA by generating tryptic phosphopeptides therefrom and noted the existence of KPSSPPEELK [SEQ ID NO: 1] (corresponding to positions 136-145 of uPA). This decapeptide was not tested for any function, nor ascribed any properties of functional relevance. More importantly, as disclosed herein, this peptide (unphosphorylated), capped or uncapped, is inactive in an in vitro assay of cell invasion.
Citation of the above documents is not intended as an admission that any of the foregoing is pertinent prior art. All statements as to the date or representation as to the contents of these documents is based on the information available to the applicant and does not constitute any admission as to the correctness of the dates or contents of these documents.

Anti-invasive and anti-angiogenic compositions and methods


A retimer is provided. The retimer includes: a data channel circuit, configured to implement, under a function of a current phase locked loop, equalization processing-based transparent transmission of a signal between a first communications device and a second communications device; and the link adjustment circuit, configured to: when determining, based on link status information of the data channel circuit, that a rate of a link needs to be changed, configure an operating parameter of a target phase locked loop as an operating parameter corresponding to a changed rate; and switch the currently used phase locked loop to the target phase locked loop when detecting that the link enters a rate-changing state, where the data channel circuit is further configured to implement, under a function of the target phase locked loop, the transparent transmission of a signal between the first communications device and the second communications device.

A delay of data transmission between different communications devices has large impact on user experience. In addition, emergence of high real-time application scenarios such as self-driving and facial recognition places a higher requirement for a low delay of data transmission between different communications devices.
Currently, a feasible solution is using a panel or a cable with a low link loss. However, using a panel or a cable to reduce a link loss causes an increase of costs. A low-loss panel and an extremely low-loss panel that are frequently used are used as an example, and costs of the latter is about 4 to 6 times that of the former. In addition, using a panel can resolve only a problem of interconnection within a specific length range due to limitation of panel performance. For example, the extremely low-loss panel supports the Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe) 4.0, and supports a maximum length of about 20 inches.
Reducing a delay of data transmission between different communications devices is an urgent problem that needs to be resolved.

Signal transmission method and system and retimer


A server, method and/or computer-readable medium verifies a location factor associated with a token. The server generates a challenge and encrypts the challenge by a key commonly shared by the server and the token, and transmits the encrypted challenge to the token. The token decrypts the encrypted challenge by the commonly shared key and manipulates the challenge by an elliptic curve cryptography (ECC) procedure so that the server can verify that the signed manipulated challenge was generated at the token based upon the ECC public key.

As computer systems and associated networks become more ubiquitous and complex, as the sensitivity of the content of the systems and network increases, and as the conventional user access paradigms changes for organizations of all types and sizes, from main offices or workplaces having dedicated IT systems to decentralized networks of IT servers and the like, system security rapidly becomes a major concern. Where secure access is required for individuals in a multi-user environment, security and identity verification and management become more important in maintaining system and network security and data integrity.
In view of these concerns, conventional computer systems and associated networks include a server that acts as a certificate authority for authenticating users. Particularly, the server issues certificates to the users after successful performance of an authentication process, which involves the user presenting a token, such as universal serial bus (USB) tokens, smartcards or the like, to the server via a client device such as a host computer. The token is generally accepted as an integral part of a two-factor security paradigm in which possession of the token is the first factor and authentication of the holder of the token is the second factor. The token includes a key that is used by the token to generate a digital signature, which is presented to the server. The server acting as the certificate authority issues a certificate to the token if the digital signature is valid.
Problems can arise when, for example, a user of a token inadvertently or even intentionally reveals the token's key to a third party such as a process running in the multi-user processing environment including unauthorized or malicious processes. These processes can than generate a digital signature based upon the key obtained from the token, thereby deceiving the server acting as the certificate authority into improperly issuing a certificate. Accordingly, the certificate authority may not be able to obtain a level of trust needed to issue higher levels of privileges to a particular token because the certificate authority is unable to verify that the digital signature was generated by the token rather than by an unauthorized or malicious process that has gained access to the key.
Therefore it would be desirable for a solution to facilitate a server to verify that a digital signature was actually generated at a specific token rather than by an unauthorized or malicious process in order to give higher levels of privileges to the specific token. In addition, factors such as scalability, standards compliance, regulatory compliance, security administration and the like must also be taken into consideration.
While a general background including problems in the art are described hereinabove, with occasional reference to related art or general concepts associated with the present invention, the above description is not intended to be limiting since the primary features of the present invention will be set forth in the description which follows. Some aspects of the present invention not specifically described herein may become obvious after a review of the attendant description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. Accordingly, it is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory only in nature and are not restrictive of the scope or applicability of the present invention.

Methods and systems for verifying a location factor associated with a token


An optical transmitter and an optical communication system, each for providing a good transmission characteristic of a main signal and allowing suppression of SBS (stimulated Brillouin scattering). The optical transmitter comprises a light source for outputting a carrier beam, an optical modulator for modulating the carrier beam based on a main signal and sending out an optical signal into an optical fiber transmission line, an oscillator for outputting a low frequency signal, a first circuit for frequency or phase modulating the carrier beam based on the low frequency signal, and a second circuit for superposing an opposite phase signal having a phase opposite to that of the low frequency signal with the main signal and supplying a resulting signal to the optical modulator.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to suppression of stimulated Brillouin scattering which occurs in an optical fiber transmission line, and more particularly to an optical transmitter and an optical communication system which allow such suppression.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, it has become possible to obtain an optical signal which is high in power and low in chirping by using an optical amplifier and an external optical modulator. When an optical signal which is high in power and coherent in this manner is to be transmitted by means of an optical fiber transmission line, stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) occurs in a fiber and degrades the transmission quality, and accordingly, a countermeasure against it is demanded.
An optical transmitter is known wherein bias current for inducing laser oscillations is supplied to a laser diode and modulation current is superposed with the bias current so as to directly obtain a modulated optical signal. Another optical transmitter is known wherein fixed or controlled bias current is supplied to a laser diode and continuous wave (CW) light outputted from the laser diode is modulated by an external optical modulator.
Meanwhile, it has been proposed to further frequency or phase modulate, for example, an intensity modulated optical signal in order to suppress SBS occurring in an optical fiber transmission line. The bandwidth (spectral line width) of an optical signal is expanded by frequency or phase modulation, and consequently, a threshold value with which SBS occurs increases. As a result, the SBS is suppressed.
In order to perform, for example, frequency modulation of a light beam outputted from a laser diode, it is effective to superpose a low frequency signal with bias current to be supplied to the laser diode. However, the superposition of the low frequency signal with the bias current not only modulates the frequency (wavelength) of the light beam, but also modulates the intensity (power) of the light beam. Such generation of an intensity modulated component with a low frequency signal gives rise to a problem that it degrades the transmission characteristic of the main signal and, for example, long haul transmission becomes difficult.
An optical transmitter has been proposed which includes means for suppressing an intensity modulated component by a low frequency signal described above (for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Application No. Heisei 7-92510). This optical transmitter includes a circuit for modulating injection current to a semiconductor laser light source with a suppression signal so that output light of the semiconductor laser light source may be phase or frequency modulated, a first external modulator for intensity modulating the intensity of the output light of the semiconductor laser light source with a signal to be transmitted, and a second external modulator for canceling an intensity modulated component by the suppression signal. However, according to this prior art, one external modulator is required for each of modulation with a signal to be transmitted and modulation for cancellation of an intensity modulated component by a suppression signal, and accordingly, this gives rise to a problem in that the construction of the optical transmitter is complicated due to the requirement for the two external modulators and peripheral circuits for them.

Optical transmitter and optical communication system