A channel layer (40) for forming a portion of a carrier path between a source electrode (100) and a drain electrode (110) is formed on a drift layer (30). The channel layer (40) includes Ge granular crystals formed on the drift layer (30), and a cap layer covering the Ge granular crystals.

In recent years, a field effect transistor (FET) having a gate electrode disposed between a source electrode into which a current flows and a drain electrode from which it flows out for controlling the current (drain current) between source/drain by a voltage applied to the gate electrode has been proposed. The field effect transistor includes an MOS type (MOSFET) having a MOS structure fir the gate and a junction type using a pn junction or a Schottky junction.
In MOSFET having the MOS structure for the gate electrode, the conductivity of a channel region through which the drain current flows is controlled by utilizing that an inversion layer due to minor carriers is formed on the surface of a semiconductor. Then, since the current value changes when a gate voltage is changed, it can function for amplification of electric signals or as a current on/off switch.
As described above, the semiconductor device having the MOS structure for the gate includes a silicon carbide semiconductor device (MOSFET) using a semiconductor including silicon carbide (refer, for example, to Japanese Patent No. 3307184).

Silicon carbide semiconductor device and method for manufacturing the same


Disclosed is a method of performing a non-isothermal nucleic acid amplification reaction, wherein the temperature at which the method is performed is non-isothermal and subject to a reduction of at least 2° C. during amplification process steps. The present invention provides an improved nucleic acid amplification technique having one or more advantages over existing techniques including, for example, decreased reaction time, increased yield, and decreased non-specific amplification products.

The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was the first widely-used in vitro method for the amplification of DNA. Although extremely powerful, the technique requires the use of thermal cycling apparatus to subject the reaction mixture to periodic temperature changes in order to effect amplification. Accordingly PCR is not especially suitable for use outside a laboratory setting, for example in the context of a point-of-care ("PoC") diagnostic device.
Partly to overcome this disadvantage, numerous different isothermal amplification techniques were devised, which avoided the need for thermal cycling. Such techniques include, for example: signal mediated amplification of RNA technology ("SMART"; WO 99/037805); nucleic acid sequence based amplification ("NASBA" Compton 1991 Nature 350, 91-92); rolling circle amplification ("RCA" e.g. see Lizardi et al., 1998 Nature Genetics 19, 225-232); loop-mediated amplification ("LAMP" see Notomi et al., 2000 Nucl. Acids Res. 28, (12) e63); recombinase polymerase amplification ("RPA" see Piepenberg et al., 2006 PLoS Biology 4 (7) e204); strand displacement amplification ("SDA"); helicase-dependent amplification ("HDA" Vincent et al., 2004 EMBO Rep. 5, 795-800): transcription mediated amplification ("TMA"), single primer isothermal amplification ("SPIA" see Kurn et al., 2005 Clinical Chemistry 51, 1973-81); self-sustained sequence replication ("3SR"); and nicking enzyme amplification reaction ("NEAR").
SDA is a technique (disclosed by Walker et al., 1992 Nucl. Acids Res. 20, 1691-1696) which involves the use of a pair of short "bumper" primers upstream to a pair of primers comprising a target-complementary portion and, 5′ of the target-complementary portion, a recognition and cutting site for an endonuclease. The "bumper" primers help to initiate the SDA reaction by generating complementary single stranded target for primer amplification. The primers hybridise to respective complementary single stranded target molecules. The 3′ end of the target strands are extended using a reaction mix including a DNA polymerase and at least one modified nucleotide triphosphate, using the primer as template (and likewise, the 3′ ends of the primers are extended using the target as template).
The extension of the target strands generates a double stranded recognition site for the endonuclease. However, because the target is extended using a modified triphosphate, the endonuclease does not cleave both strands but instead makes a single stranded nick in the primer. The 3′ ends at the nicks are then extended by the DNA polymerase (typically Klenow fragment of DNA polymerase I, which lacks an exonuclease activity). As the nicked primers are extended, they displace the initially-produced extension product. The displaced product is then free to hybridise to the opposite primer, since it essentially replicates the sequence of the target for the opposite primer. In this way, exponential amplification of both strands of the target sequence is achieved.
The amplification stage of the SDA process is essentially isothermal—typically performed at 37° C. —the optimum temperature for the endonuclease and the polymerase. However, before reaching the amplification stage it is necessary to completely dissociate the double stranded target into its constituent single strands, in order to allow the pair of primers to hybridise to their complementary target strands.
This dissociation, or "melting" is normally accomplished by heating the double stranded target to a high temperature—usually about 90° C.—in order to break the hydrogen bonds between the two strands of the target. The reaction mix is then cooled to allow the addition of the enzymes which are necessary for the amplification reaction. Because of the high temperature used to generate the single stranded targets, the SDA technique is not ideally suited to a PoC context.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,191,267 discloses the cloning and expression of N.BstNBI nicking enzyme and its use in SDA, in place of restriction endonucleases and modified triphosphates.
Another amplification technique, which is similar to SDA, is Nicking Enzyme Amplification Reaction (or "NEAR").
In 'NEAR' (e.g. as disclosed in US2009/0017453 and EP 2,181,196), forward and reverse primers (referred to in US 2009/0017453 and EP 2,181,196 as "templates") hybridise to respective strands of a double stranded target and are extended. Further copies of the forward and reverse primers (present in excess) hybridise to the extension product of the opposite primer and are themselves extended, creating an "amplification duplex". Each amplification duplex so formed comprises a nicking site towards the 5′ end of each strand, which is nicked by a nicking enzyme, allowing the synthesis of further extension products. The previously synthesised extension products can meanwhile hybridise with further copies of the complementary primers, causing the primers to be extended and thereby creating further copies of the "amplification duplex". In this way, exponential amplification can be achieved.
NEAR differs from SDA, in particular, in that no "bumper" primers and initial thermal dissociation step is required. The initial primer/target hybridisation event needed to trigger the amplification process takes place whilst the target is still substantially double stranded: it is thought that the initial primer/target hybridisation takes advantage of localised dissociation of the target strands—a phenomenon known as "breathing" (see Alexandrov et al., 2012 Nucl. Acids Res. and review by Von Hippel et al., 2013 Biopolymers 99 (12), 923-954). Breathing is the localised and transient loosening of the base pairing between strands of DNA. The melting temperature (Tm) of the initial primer/target heteroduplex is typically much lower than the reaction temperature, so the tendency is for the primer to dissociate, but transient hybridisation lasts long enough for the polymerase to extend the primer, which increases the Tm of the heteroduplex, and stabilises it.
The amplification stage in NEAR is performed isothermally, at a constant temperature. Indeed, it is conventional to perform both the initial target/primer hybridisation, and the subsequent amplification rounds, at the same constant temperature, usually in the range 54 to 56° C.
Avoiding the need for thermal cycling means that isothermal techniques are potentially more useful than PCR in PoC contexts. In addition, synthesis of significant amounts of amplification product, even when starting from a very low copy number of target molecules (e.g. as few as 10 double stranded target molecules), can be achieved.
WO 2011/030145 (Enigma Diagnostics Limited) discloses an "isothermal" nucleic acid amplification reaction performed under conditions of a temperature oscillation, in which a reaction is performed initially at a predetermined temperature, the temperature is allowed to deviate up or down from the predetermined temperature, and then causing the temperature to return to the predetermined temperature at least once during the amplification reaction. More typically the temperature is allowed to "wobble" by a small amount (about 5° C.) up and down from the predetermined temperature.
The present invention aims to provide, inter alia, an improved nucleic acid amplification technique having one or more advantages over existing techniques including, for example, decreased reaction time, and/or increased yield and/or decreased non-specific amplification products.

In or relating to uncleic acid amplification processes


Provided are electrical circuits and methods for power factor correction. An example method includes receiving, by converter, an input voltage at a fundamental frequency and generating an output voltage; generating, based on the output voltage, a first measurement signal; subtracting a first reference signal from the first measurement signal to obtain a first error signal; generating an adaptive current sense signal, generating a reference voltage based on the input voltage, subtracting the reference voltage from the current sense signal thus generating a second measurement signal to control the current measurement; subtracting the second measurement signal from the input voltage to obtain a difference signal, wherein the difference signal is largely minimized by removing overtones of the fundamental frequency; generating, based on the difference signal, a second error signal; using a sum of the second error signal as a first order correction to the first error signal to regulate the converter.

Generators and transformers and electrical loads are connected together in power distribution systems that utilize alternating current (AC) power. The generators and transformers generally are designed in such a manner that a current waveform of any load should be sinusoidal and of the same shape and phase as the input power voltage supplied by the generators and transformers. In the power distribution systems, where the load current is sinusoidal and in-phase with the input power voltage, the power factor is one. Poorly conditioned loads have power factors less than 1.
Deviations of the current waveform of the load from the sinusoidal shape and phase shifts reduce the power factor and may cause losses in the power distribution systems. These losses may appear as reactive voltages and currents and harmonic generation and result in increased power dissipation in the generators, transformers, and so forth. The increased power dissipation causes reduction in power efficiency and waste of energy and other problems in the power grid. Therefore, there is a need for removal of the deviations of the waveform of the load current from the sinusoidal shape, which appear as overtones of the fundamental frequency of the input power voltage, in order to correct and improve the power factor of the load. Phase errors also need to be removed.
Existing solutions for the removal of the deviations typically involve a high-speed current sense loop which operates in a nanosecond time frame and a high-speed current sense. As the output demand or input voltage for a load current is reduced, which happens during each cycle in the AC input, the frequency of operation of the current sense loop needs to increase. However, the frequency is difficult to increase when sensing the current of light loads. Furthermore, use of high-speed current sense loop is power inefficient because switching losses increase for lower power demands. Additionally, many of the existing solutions require a multiplier circuit which multiplies the feedback value with the measured rectified AC signal. Using the multiplier circuit results in increases of the circuit complexity.
Another disadvantage of these types of circuits is that they do not operate at a constant frequency. This makes it difficult to filter switching noise and electromagnetic inference (EMI).

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Electrical circuits for power factor correction by measurement and removal of overtones using a constant or slowly varying first frequency


A semiconductor processor is described. The semiconductor processor includes logic circuitry to perform a logical reduction instruction. The logic circuitry has swizzle circuitry to swizzle a vector's elements so as to form a swizzle vector. The logic circuitry also has vector logic circuitry to perform a vector logic operation on said vector and said swizzle vector.

Two types of processor architectures are widely recognized in the field of computer science: "scalar" and "vector". A scalar processor is designed to execute instructions that perform operations on a single set of data, whereas, a vector processor is designed to execute instructions that perform operations on multiple sets of data. FIGS. 1A and 1B present a comparative example that demonstrates the basic difference between a scalar processor and a vector processor.
FIG. 1A shows an example of a scalar AND instruction in which a single operand set, A and B, are ANDed together to produce a singular (or "scalar") result C (i.e., AB=C). By contrast, FIG. 1B shows an example of a vector AND instruction in which two operand sets, A/B and D/E, are respectively ANDed together in parallel to simultaneously produce a vector result C, F (i.e., AB=C and DE=F).
As is well known in the art, typically, both input operands and output result are stored in dedicated registers. For example, many instructions will have two input operands. Therefore two distinct input registers will be used to temporarily store the respective input operands. Moreover, these same instructions will produce an output value which will be temporarily stored in a third (result) register. Respective input 101a,b and 102a,b and result registers 103a,b are observed in FIGS. 1A and 1B. Notably, the "scalar" vs. "vector" characterizations are readily discernable.
That is, input registers 101a and 102a of the scalar design of FIG. 1A are observed holding only scalar values (A and B, respectively). Likewise, the result register 103a of the scalar design of FIG. 1A is also observed holding only a scalar value (C). By contrast, the input registers 101b and 102b of the vector system of FIG. 1B are observed holding vectors (A,D in register 101b and B,E in register 102b). Likewise, the result register 103b of the vector system of FIG. 1B is also observed holding a vector value (C,F). As a matter of terminology, the contents of each of the registers 101b, 102b and 103b of the vector system of FIG. 1B can be globally referred to as a "vector", and, each of the individual scalar values within the vector can be referred to as an "element". Thus, for example, register 101b is observed to be storing "vector" A, D which is composed of "element" A and "element" D.
Some computer systems, regardless if the underlying processor is of scalar or vector design, effectively require a logical operation across elements of a single vector. In the case of, for example, an eight input AND operation (the logical diagram of which is shown in FIG. 2A), eight separate inputs (A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H) are ANDed together to produce a final scalar result (R). In the case of scalar processors, loop operations have to be written in software that accumulate the result over seven iterations of a scalar AND instruction (the pseudo-code for which is shown in FIG. 2B). Thus, in the case of a scalar processor, the multiple iterations require multiple executions of the scalar AND instruction in order to perform the calculation.
By contrast, a vector processor can entertain the prospect of implementing such an operation with the execution of a single instruction designed to perform the logical operation outright.

Vector logical reduction operation implemented using swizzling on a semiconductor chip


A reinforced booster for a bicycle brake is substantially U-shaped and attached to the pivot points of the bicycle brake to increase its braking power. The reinforced booster has a substantially U-shaped member with inner and outer peripheral edges which have high strength strands of fiber attached thereto for increasing the strength of the U-shaped member. The strands of fibers extend longitudinally along the peripheral edges of the U-shaped member. Preferably, the U-shaped member is constructed of a plurality of sheets of a non-metallic material. For example, a plurality of carbon sheets can be used to form the U-shaped member. The strands of fibers attached to the peripheral edges of the U-shaped member can be, for example, carbon fibers, polyamide fibers, glass fibers or other reinforced plastic fibers. The free ends of the booster has mounting holes which are preferably formed by strands of fibers.

Bicycling is becoming an increasingly more popular form of recreation as well as a means of transportation. Moreover, bicycling has become a very popular competitive sport for both amateurs and professionals. Whether the bicycle is used for recreation, transportation or competition, the bicycle industry is constantly improving the various components of the bicycle. One particular component of bicycles which have been extensively redesigned over the past years is the bicycle brake device. Bicycle brake devices are constantly being redesigned to be lighter and to provide additional braking power.
There are several types of bicycle brake devices which are currently available on the market. Examples of some types of common bicycle brake devices include rim brakes and caliper brakes. With respect to caliper brakes, there are mainly three types of caliper brakes: a side pull type, a center pull type and a cantilever type. In a side pull type of caliper brake device, a pair of brake arms are pivotally connected together about a center mounting bolt which attaches to the frame of the bicycle. Each of the brake arms has a lever portion which is coupled to the brake wire such that when the rider operates the brake lever of the brake operating device, the lever portions of the brake arms are pulled together, which in turn moves the brake shoes attached to the other end of the brake arms together against the rim of the bicycle wheel. A return spring is provided for biasing the brake arms away from the bicycle wheel rim when the rider releases the brake lever. Side pull types of caliper brake devices are commonly used in road bikes.
A center pull type of caliper brake device operates similar to the side pull type, except that the brake arms are attached to a brake arm bridge such that each brake arm is pivotally coupled at a separate pivot point on the brake arm bridge. The brake arm bridge is attached directly to the frame of the bicycle. A straddle cable interconnects the two lever portions of the brake arms such that a main brake wire is coupled to the straddle wire for pulling the lever portions of the brake arms together.
A cantilever type of brake device is generally mounted on bicycles which are designed for off-road use such as mountain bikes (MTB) and all terrain bikes (ATB). In particular, a cantilever type brake device is designed to provide a more powerful braking force. A cantilever type brake device is equipped with a pair of brake arms which are rotatably supported in a cantilever fashion on the front or rear fork of the bicycle frame, with the brake shoes attached to an upper portion of the brake arms. Typically, the lower end of the brake arms are rotatably supported on the brake frame and the upper end is linked to a brake cable or wire. The brake shoes are arranged opposite one another on either side of the bicycle wheel rim which is located between the arms. With this cantilever type of brake device, the bicycle arms rotate in the closing direction when the brake cable is pulled by the brake lever, which in turn results in the brake shoes being pressed against the rim of the bicycle wheel to apply a braking force.
Cantilever types of brake devices have several advantages over side pull types of caliper brake devices. For example, with such a cantilever brake device, there is no need to vary the shape of the brake device with the size of the bicycle as may be the case with a side pull type caliper brake device. Moreover, cantilever type of brake devices apply a more equal braking force than a side pull type caliper brake.
To further increase the braking force applied to the wheel rim, U-shaped boosters have been designed for attaching to cantilever type of brake devices for increasing the structural rigidity of brake devices. In particular, the booster is typically a U-shaped member having its lower free ends attached to the pivot points of each of the brake arms. Accordingly, the booster reduces the amount of outward deflection of the brake arms when a braking force is applied by the brake shoes against the bicycle wheel rim. There are currently several different types of boosters that are available on the market. Typically, the U-shaped booster is constructed out of a lightweight metallic material such as aluminum. More recently, boosters have been constructed from carbon fiber composite materials. However, the boosters constructed of carbon fiber composite materials are typically expensive to manufacture and therefore has not gained a lot of popularity.
In view of the above, there exists a need for a booster which increases the stiffness of a brake device and which is lightweight. This invention addresses this need in the art as well as other needs in the art which will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this disclosure.


A capacitance phase interpolation circuit including a first capacitance phase interpolation unit and a second capacitance phase interpolation unit is disclosed. The first capacitance phase interpolation unit includes a first capacitance group, wherein a plurality of capacitors in the first capacitance group are in a ring coupling, and the first capacitance phase interpolation unit receives a plurality of reference clock signals. The second capacitance phase interpolation unit is coupled to the first capacitance phase interpolation unit and includes a second capacitance group, wherein a plurality of capacitors in the second capacitance group are in a ring coupling, and each of the output clock signals is obtained via the first capacitance phase interpolation unit and the second capacitance phase interpolation unit by performing phase interpolation on all the reference clock signals.

Phase interpolation technology has been widely used in electronic devices, such as clock generator, testing machine and so on, for interpolating a plurality of output clock signals having different phases from a plurality of reference clock signals.
Normally, phase interpolation technology is used in a high-frequency operating environment, and thus factors, such as high-frequency noise interference, frequency offset and phase error, are taken into consideration. Of these factors, the phase error is normally caused by process variation.
Therefore, the present disclosure discloses a capacitance phase interpolation circuit and a method thereof capable of overcoming above factors to obtain required output clock signals.

Capacitance phase interpolation circuit and method thereof, and multi-phase generator applying the same

INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH INSTITUTE


A cognitive impairment diagnostic apparatus includes: a display which displays a video for diagnosis of cognitive impairment on a display surface; an imaging unit which captures images of an eye of a subject; a detection unit which detects viewpoints of the subject on the display surface in time series based on the images captured by the imaging unit; a creation unit which creates a distribution map representing a distribution of the viewpoints detected by the detection unit; a storage unit which stores case characteristic data indicating a characteristic of a viewpoint distribution corresponding to a typical case in cognitive impairment; and a diagnostic unit which diagnoses cognitive impairment of the subject by determining whether the distribution map has the characteristic indicated by the case characteristic data.

Conventionally, techniques related to cognitive impairment diagnostic apparatuses include techniques indicated below.
Patent Literature 1 and Patent Literature 2 have proposed a medical diagnostic apparatus using line of sight detection for detecting the head part of a subject and line of sight movements and objectively diagnosing a disease related to brain functions.
Patent Literature 3 proposes a system which detects eye-ball movements of a subject for diagnosing neural impairment.
Patent Literature 4 and Patent Literature 5 have proposed a chart for visual test for testing optic nerve impairment which appears in the case of a disease of an eye specifically a retina, an optic nerve, or the like, or an intracranial disease.
Patent Literature 6 to Patent Literature 9 have proposed an autism diagnosis supporting system which diagnoses autism of a subject using a line of sight detection unit which includes at least an imaging camera unit.
Patent Literature 10 has proposed a brain dysfunction disease diagnosis supporting apparatus which detects a line of sight and pupils of a subject, and determines whether the subject has a brain disease.

Cognitive impairment diagnostic apparatus and cognitive impairment diagnostic program


A computer-based system enables users who share content on online social networking systems to control the information that is shared in association with the shared content. For example, if a first user shares a hyperlink to content in an online social networking system with one or more other users, the user may specify the information to be shared in association with the hyperlink, such as one or more images to be shared in association with the hyperlink and a summary to be shared in association with the hyperlink. The information associated with the hyperlink may be used to create a modified hyperlink which has as its target a proxy web page containing metadata representing the data to associate with the first hyperlink. The modified hyperlink may then be shared with the other users instead of the original hyperlink.

Users of online social networking systems often use such systems to transmit messages to other users and to post content to such systems for sharing with other users. For example, the Facebook social networking system provides each registered user of the system with a personal page, referred to by terms such as "wall" and "timeline," which displays a variety of information, such as personal information about the user, content posted by the user, and content posted by other users within the user's network on Facebook.
One of the primary goals of Facebook and other social networking systems is to facilitate the sharing of a wide variety of content among users in a wide variety of ways. One of the original reasons that users began using social networking systems was that they provided a convenient, user-friendly, easy way to engage in such content sharing, without requiring users to have knowledge of HTML or web programming, and without requiring users to visit different sites or use different mechanisms to share different kinds of content with other users.
For example, if a user of Facebook views content on any web site that the user wishes to share with other Facebook users, such as an article, a photograph or photo gallery, or an online coupon or promotion, the user may share a link to the content with other users. When the sharing user uses Facebook to share the link, Facebook gathers and generates information about the link that is shared, by analyzing the web page at the link address (URL), including images from the page located at that address, and a summary of that page. When recipients of the shared link view the link in Facebook, Facebook displays the link and some or all of the associated information, such as the associated image and summary. This provides more information to the receiving user than would be provided by a bare URL, thereby enabling the receiving user to understand the context and meaning of the linked information more easily than if a mere bare URL had been displayed. Furthermore, the presentation of an image and summary acts as a preview of the linked web page, and influences the receiving user's decision about whether it is worthwhile to navigate to the shared link. The preview has a substantial impact on the click-through rate (CTR) of the link, and as a result, the preview may have a direct commercial impact on the web content being linked. Facebook determines what to present in the preview by applying certain rules and algorithms on the linked web page. Because this preview is statically determined by the content of the linked page and private algorithms determined by Facebook, customizing the preview based on business goals or dynamically based on the targeted audience may be impractical or impossible. While this example refers to Facebook, Twitter and other social networks treat shared links in a similar way. The proprietary and confidential algorithms each social network applies to generate previews of linked content vary, adding to the difficulty of customizing previews of linked content.
What is needed, therefore, are improved techniques for sharing content in online social networking systems.

Shared link tracking in online social networking systems


An object is to provide a heating/cooling system capable of achieving reduction of power consumption, and enhancement of performance in a heating/cooling system usable in such a manner as to be switched to be hot/cold. The heating/cooling system having a storage chamber usable in such a manner as to be switched to be hot/cold, comprises: a refrigerant circuit comprising a compressor, a gas cooler, a pressure reducing device, an evaporator and the like, containing carbon dioxide sealed as a refrigerant therein, and having a supercritical pressure on a high-pressure side; a radiator through which the refrigerant flowing out of the gas cooler flows before entering the pressure reducing device; and an air blower which sends air through the gas cooler, the inside of the storage chamber is heated by the radiator, the inside of the storage chamber is cooled by the evaporator, and the air blower is stopped in a case where the inside of the storage chamber is heated by the radiator.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a heating/cooling system having a storage chamber usable in a switched hot/cold state.
2. Description of the Related Art
As shown in FIG. 17, this type of heating/cooling system has heretofore comprised a storage chamber 101 partitioned into a cooling chamber 102 and a heating chamber 103 by an insulated wall, and a machine chamber 109 disposed under the storage chamber 101. Moreover, the machine chamber 109 contains a compressor 111, a gas cooler 112, a capillary tube 116 which is pressure reduction means and the like, and constitutes a refrigerant circuit 110 together with an evaporator 117. An electric heater 180 is disposed in the heating chamber 103, and air heated by the electric heater 180 is sent into the heating chamber 103 by a fan 128 to thereby heat the heating chamber 103.
Here, an operation of a conventional heating/cooling system 400 will be described with reference to FIG. 17. When an operation of the fan 128 is started by a control device (not shown), and electric power is supplied to the electric heater 180, the air heated by the electric heater 180 is circulated in the heating chamber 103 by the fan 128. Accordingly, the inside of the heating chamber 103 is heated.
Moreover, the control device starts the operation of a fan 127, and starts a driving element (not shown) of the compressor 111. Accordingly, a low-pressure refrigerant gas is sucked and compressed in a cylinder of a compression element (not shown) of the compressor 111 to constitute a high-temperature/pressure refrigerant gas, and the gas is discharged to the gas cooler 112.
Furthermore, the refrigerant gas releases heat by the gas cooler 112, and enters the capillary tube 116 via an internal heat exchanger 145, the pressure is lowered in the tube, and the gas flows into the evaporator 117. There the refrigerant evaporates, and absorbs the heat from ambient air to thereby perform a cooling function. It is to be noted that the air cooled by evaporation of the refrigerant in the evaporator 117 is circulated in the cooling chamber 102 by the operation of the fan 127 to cool the inside of the cooling chamber 102. Thus, in the conventional heating/cooling system, the inside of the heating chamber 103 has heretofore been heated by the electric heater 180, and the cooling chamber 102 is cooled by the evaporator 117 of the refrigerant circuit 110 (see, e.g., Japanese Patent Application Laid Open No. 6-18156).
Here, in recent years, a hot/cold switch-usable heating/cooling system has also been developed in which both a heating member such as an electric heater, and an evaporator are disposed in one storage chamber. When the storage chamber is heated, a heater is operated to heat the storage chamber. When the storage chamber is cooled, the operation of the electric heater is stopped, the operation of the compressor is started, and the refrigerant is evaporated by the evaporator to cool the storage chamber. However, as described above, the storage chamber is heated by a heating member such as an electric heater, and therefore a problem has occurred that power consumption remarkably increases.


A cell count identifier inserting portion for inserting a cell count identifier into the header portion of a cell is provided at a predetermined position within an exchange and a plurality of cell counting portions for counting a cell into which a cell count identifier is inserted are provided on the downstream side of the cell count identifier inserting portion. A cell loss detecting portion compares the number of cells into which the cell count identifier is inserted with the number of cells counted by each of the cell counting portions, detects cell loss on the basis of the result of the comparisons and specifies the section in which cell loss is caused, if the cell loss is detected.

The present invention relates to a method of detecting cell loss and an exchange provided with a cell loss detecting function and, more particularly, to a method of detecting cell loss caused in an exchange and detecting the section in which the cell loss is caused, and an exchange provided with such a function.
There is increasing demand not only for audio communication and data communication but also for multimedia communication in which moving pictures are transmitted as well as audio and data. As a means for realizing such broadband communication, an exchanging technique in a B-ISDN (Broadband-ISDN) system which is based on an asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) is being put to practical use. In the ATM, all the information is converted into fixed length information which is called a cell and is transferred at a high speed. More specifically, in the ATM, a line is allocated to a plurality of calls by setting a multiplicity of logical links on a physical line. The moving picture data and the audio data transmitted from the terminal at each call are separated into information units (which are called ATM cells) having a fixed length, and the cells are serially transmitted to the line, thereby realizing multiplex communication.
Each cell is composed of a block having a fixed length of 53 bytes, as shown in FIG. 8. In the 53 bytes, 5 bytes constitute a header portion and 48 bytes an information field (payload). The header portion includes a virtual channel identifier (VCI) for identifying a call so as to indicate the destination even after the data is separated into blocks. The header portion also includes a virtual path identifier (VPI) for specifying a path, a generic flow control GFC which is used for flow control between links, a payload type (PT), cell loss priority (CLP), a header error control (HEC), etc.
FIG. 9 shows the structure of an ATM exchange system. In FIG. 9, the reference numerals 11.sub.11 to 11.sub.1n, 11.sub.21 to 11.sub.2n, 11.sub.31 to 11.sub.3n, 11.sub.41 to 11.sub.4n represent line interface units (line IF units) which are connected to the corresponding transmission lines (incoming line, outgoing line), 12.sub.1 to 12.sub.4 multiplexer/demultiplexers, 13 an ATM switching unit, 14 a system controller, and 15 a maintenance terminal device. The ATM switching unit 13 is connected to the plurality of multiplexer/demultiplexers 12.sub.1 to 12.sub.4, and outputs the cell which is input from a certain multiplexer/demultiplexer to a predetermined multiplexer/demultiplexer. Each of multiplexer/demultiplexers 12.sub.1 to 12.sub.4 is connected to a plurality of line IF units 11.sub.11 to 11.sub.1n, 11.sub.21 to 11.sub.2n, 11.sub.31 to 11.sub.3n, 11.sub.41 to 11.sub.4n, respectively, concentrates and multiplexes the up cells from the plurality of line IF units and outputs the multiplexed cell to the ATM switching unit 13. In addition, the multiplexer/demultiplexers 12.sub.1 to 12.sub.4 separate the down cells from the ATM switching unit 13 and output the separated cells to the corresponding line IF units.
Each of the line IF units 11.sub.11 to 11.sub.4n is connected to the corresponding multiplexer/demultiplexers 12.sub.1 to 12.sub.4, takes ATM cells out of a payload portion of a predetermined frame type (e.g., SONET FRAME) which is input from a transmission line (incoming line) and thereafter converts the ATM cell format into an internal cell format within the exchange, outputting it to the multiplexer/demultiplexer 12. The internal cell format within the exchange has a construction in which 1 byte is added to an ATM cell format as shown in FIG. 10, and several bits of the 1 byte are used to write routing tag information TAG. The ATM switching unit 13 switches the input cell to a predetermined path by referring to the tag information TAG added thereto.
Each of the line IF units 11.sub.11 to 11.sub.4n also converts the cell having the internal cell format (FIG. 10) which is input from the multiplexer/demultiplexer into an ATM cell format (FIG. 8), and transmits the ATM cell to the transmission line side after mapping the ATM cell in the payload portion of the SONET FRAME.
The system controller 14 controls the line IF units 11.sub.11 to 11.sub.4n, the multiplexer/demultiplexers 12.sub.1 to 12.sub.4 and the ATM switching unit 13.
FIG. 11 shows the structure of the line IF units 11.sub.11 to 11.sub.4n. The reference numeral 1 represents an optical interface portion which is connected to a transmission line composed of optical fibers, and which is provided with an opto-electric converting circuit OE and an electro-optic converting circuit EO. The reference numeral 2 represents a SONET termination/ATM cell conversion portion, which converts an ATM cell format into an internal cell format within the exchange after taking the ATM cells out of the payload of a SONET FRAME. The SONET termination/ATM cell conversion portion 11 also converts the internal cell format input from the switch side into an ATM cell format, and transmits the ATM cell to the transmission line side after mapping the ATM cell in the payload portion of a SONET FRAME. The reference numerals 3a, 3b denote ATM layer performance monitors (MCCG) for monitoring the degree of performance degrade of the transmission line, and 4 an OAM cell processor which inserts or extracts an OAM cell. The reference numeral 5 represents a usage parameter controller which is provided with a function of preventing an extraordinary amount of cell (violator cell) beyond a predetermined band from entering the exchange due to a line trouble or the like.
An accounting portion 6 which executes an accounting operation for cells is provided with a function of measuring the flow rate of cells. The flow rate is measured for every cell having a different VPI value or VPI/VCI value. The reference numeral 7 denotes an interface portion connected to the switch side, 8 a microprocessor for controlling the line IF units as a whole, 9 a memory (DRAM) for working the microprocessor 8 and storing data, and 10 a flash memory for storing a boot program. Each of the elements 2 to 10 is connected by a bus, and the microprocessor 8 executes (1) control of looping a test cell, (2) control of collection and transmission of traffic data such as accounting information (traffic control), (3) control of alarm monitoring by an OAM cell, and the like.
As described above, since all information is transmitted and received in the form of a cell having a fixed length in the ATM, high-speed data transfer by a hardware is possible, thereby enabling high-speed data communication and high-quality image communication.
There is a case, however, in which cell data is lost (cell loss) in a module (ATM exchange module) which realizes ATM exchange due to a trouble in the hardware or the like. In this case, it is impossible to realize high-speed data communication and high-quality image communication. It is therefore necessary to quickly detect the loss (cell loss) of cell data in an ATM exchange module and to specify the section in which the cell loss is caused so as to repair and maintain the section.
It is, however, conventionally impossible to detect cell loss and to specify the section in which cell loss is caused by a simple method.

Method of detecting cell loss and exchange provided with cell loss detecting function


The present invention overcomes the problems that accompany the use of ramps to load and unload transducer carrying sliders in rigid magnetic disk data storage devices. The tracks in the region where the slider loads and unloads are read and the errors recorded following each slider loading operation. One technique is to track the error increase and identify imminent device failure when the rate of error increase during a given number of the most recent slider load cycles exceeds a threshold value. In another mode, a dedicated sequence of tracks is recorded at an increased linear density to assure that read errors occur to enable a more effective comparative evaluation. This makes possible a two stage evaluation, a first threshold number of errors indicative of degrading performance which initiates lower actuator velocity to inhibit further degradation and a second threshold error quantity that indicates imminent catastrophic failure and triggers a warning to the system user. To make the analysis more meaningful, certain errors may be ignored, such as simpler errors or the full number of errors in a cluster that may be the result of a single event.

Resistance to shock damage is important with respect to any rigid disk storage device, but is a critical concern in smaller drives used in portable devices such as lap top computers. Larger disk drives are subject to occasional shock conditions whereas small drives incorporated in portable equipment are regularly exposed to impact forces that often exceed 1000 g's. The common practice to overcome possible damage when the drive is not in use is the provision of a ramp structure to displace and support the transducer carrying sliders away from the disk surface. Using the load/unload (L/UL) technique, a ramp supports the suspension to retain the slider out of contact with the disk surface. Upon receipt of a read or write command, the slider is loaded from the ramp to a near contact transducing relationship with the data surface of the rotating disk and when the drive is subsequently idles the actuator causes the suspension to engage the ramp and unload or remove the slider from data transducing cooperation with the disk data surface. In those systems that seek to power down the disk drive when not in use to effect power saving, L/UL cycles are a frequent occurrence. However, the use of the L/UL technique presents its own characteristic problems. While a rigid disk magnetic disk drive is a device wherein the head or slider that carries the transducer is separated from the disk during operation by a film of air between the air bearing surface and the disk media surface, the thickness of the film of air between the slider and media has become so small that occasional contact may be expected. With the fly height of state of the art sliders no more than 2.5 microinches above the media surface, it will be appreciated that only a minuscule asperity on the disk surface, minute particulate particle, or slight pitch or roll of the slider will result in contact between slider and disk or impose a foreign object that damages both disk and the slider air bearing surfaces. With such near contact operation, the engagement of the suspension with the ramp as the slider is unloaded or the departure from ramp engagement as the slider is loaded present occasions wherein there is an increased likelihood of undesired contact. Further, with current densities of more than 4000 tracks per inch, linear densities over 130 thousand bits per inch and the necessary magnetic coating thickness measured in angstroms, very little scratching or abrasion of the media is sufficient to destroy data and create an error condition. Since at each disk surface the slider will load and unload at random angular positions about the disk surface, a distribution of errors will occur if the L/UL mechanism fails to load and or unload correctly. As a result of slider/disk contact, particularly during loading when the slider may engage the disk and unloading when the slider may also engage the disk surface, the slider comers are damaged and the disk is scratched. The level of damage depends upon the particular slider/air bearing design, disk material, loading speed, air bearing roll and pitch stiffness, and disk runout. During slider/disk contact particulates from both the damaged slider and the scratched disk may be generated. As the number of head/disk contacts increase, the air bearing performance deteriorates rapidly. All the ingredients for a catastrophic failure are present and no early warning system exists to alert the user to impending failure. In the event that the slider contacts the disk, and depending upon the severity of the contact, a slider imprint forms on the disk which can easily be seen with the aid of modest magnification. During subsequent loadings, the slider may encounter the imprint, causing additional contacts around the imprint area. This cumulative contact causes further deterioration of the slider and media.
Drives designed for use in portable equipment are expected to survive a million load/unload cycles without damage, thus the importance of failure anticipation. Current drives are expected to have hundreds of thousands of power on hours of service before mean time to failure. In practice the operation of the devices is taken for granted and the possibility of failure ignored. When the time arrives for replacement to avoid the loss of valuable data, it is important that the user have an awareness. This may occur after a long useful life or a shortened life, due for example to a portable device being subjected to shock or rough handling.

Adaptive and in-situ load/unload damage estimation and compensation

International Business Machines Corporation


A resin-molded, annular protector for a wire harness for a vehicle includes a split pair of a main body and a lid body both having a semiannular shape, and split ends of the protector are joined and locked together. Lock holes are provided in a peripheral wall of the lid body by cutting portions of the inner peripheral side of the peripheral wall from the split ends, leaving engagement sections on the outer peripheral side of the lid body and opening the top ends of the cut portions in the outer peripheral surface of the lid body. Lock sections projecting from the inner peripheral side of the split ends are provided in the peripheral wall of the main body, at positions facing the lock holes.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to protectors for wire harnesses, and more particularly, the invention improves lock parts of a protector in which a main body and a lid body are joined and locked.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventionally, wire harnesses that are routed in vehicles are covered with resin-molded protectors in the required areas to protect the electrical wires of the wire harnesses from external interference materials and the like, and to regulate directions of the electrical wires. This type of protectors normally includes a main body and a lid body. The main body and the lid body are joined and locked while a wire harness is passed therethrough.
As an example of a lock structure of the above-described protectors, Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication H6-86425 (Related Art 1) discloses the lock structure of a protector 1 shown in FIG. 7. The protector 1 includes a main body 2 and a lid body 3 both having a semiannular shape. The main body 2 and the lid body 3 are connected via a thin-walled hinge part 4 at a first end side thereof, while a lock claw 5 that is provided in an outer surface of a second end side of the main body 2 engages with a lock frame 6 that is provided in an outer surface of the second end side of the lid body 3. Thereby, the main body 2 and the lid body 3 are joined and locked.
In the lock structure described in Related Art 1, the lock claw 5 projects from the outer surface of the main body 2, and the lock frame 6 from the outer surface of the lid body 3 of the protector 1. Therefore, when the main body 2 and the lid body 3 are joined and locked, the lock part projects from an outer peripheral surface of the protector 1 that is mounted to form an annular shape. Consequently, the protector 1 becomes bulky and could be unlocked when the lock part thereof interferes with external members. In addition, when a wire harness that is inserted through the protector 1 presses the lid body 3 to expand outwardly, the lock frame 6 is caused to bend outwardly. Consequently, the lock claw 5 possibly disengages from the lock frame 6.
Related Art 1: Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication H6-86425
A purpose of the present invention is to solve the above-described problems. In the present invention, lock parts of a protector do not project outwardly, and therefore the size of the protector is reduced. In addition, the lock parts are prevented from interfering with external members, and engagement force of the lock parts is improved.


The invention relates to a method for preparing 7-methoxy-3-desacetylcefalotin by a hydrolysis process which takes place in water and is catalyzed by an enzyme obtained from Bacillus pumulis possessing acetyl hydrolasic activity.

This antibiotic is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,297,488, which illustrates different synthesis paths comprising carbamoylation of various desacetylated intermediates with various agents, using different protective groups on the carboxyl and/or on the amino group. It also describes the passage of enzymatic hydrolysis to produce certain of these derivatives, using acetil-esterase from citrus fruit peel, although with very slow reactions (6-15 hours) and without commenting on the quality of the products obtained. A similar process is also described by the same authors in Tetrahedron Lett 46, 4653-6 (1973), using protected intermediates such as p-nitrobenzyl esters, on which a deprotection and an enzymatic hydrolysis are carried out, to hence obtain 7-methoxy-3-desacetylcefalotin in carboxylic acid form. The product is then treated with chlorosulphonyl isocyanate to obtain cefoxitin.
The synthesis paths generally used on an industrial scale in modern chemistry produce optically pure cefoxitin, using 7-ACA (7-aminocephalosporanic acid) as raw material, and comprise four main steps, preferably carried out in the following order:
1. acylation of the amino group in position 7
2. introduction of the methoxy group in position 7α
3. removal of the acetyl group in position 3
4. carbamoylation of the hydroxyl group in 3 obtained in the preceding step.
Step 1 corresponds to the synthesis of cefalotin, a cephalosporin. This is then transformed into the corresponding cephalomycin by methoxylation to give the intermediate II (step 2):
and then desacetylated to give the compound I.
Although other sequences are possible, the aforedescribed is advantageous as it does not use protective groups either for the amino group or for the carboxyl group, and hence enables the number of necessary operations to be minimized, while enabling a raw material saving.
For example WO2004/083217A1 (page 6) describes the saponification of the intermediate II with sodium hydroxide in a water-methanol mixture cooling to −45° C.; this temperature is maintained for the entire duration of hydrolysis, and can be raised only on termination of the reaction, after neutralizing the base with acid.
The compound I is then isolated as the benzathine salt, after removing the methanol by distillation at moderate temperature; it is thus evident that 1) the use of methanol is justified by the need to reach very low temperatures for the reaction and 2) it is necessary to remove the solvent before isolating the product.
Alternatively the product can be extracted in solvent either in the undissociated form by acidification, or as a basic salt, for example tetrabutylammonium, as described in EP 1748049A2.
Cefoxitin can be obtained from the compound I by carbamoylation of the isiocyanate group, as described in the aforesaid patents, or with other isocyanates, as described for example in U.S. Pat. No. 4,292,427.
In all cases, given the lability of β-lactam structures and the need to operate under extremely basic conditions, the desacetylation of compound Ito give compound II is conducted at very low temperature to prevent product degradation; consequently organic solvents are used to lower the freezing point of the solutions.
These are therefore methods requiring the cooling of thousands of liters of solutions to a temperature of the order of −45° C., these temperatures to be maintained for the entire duration of the reaction, by using refrigeration machines or refrigerant fluids (such as liquid nitrogen); this results in a considerable energy cost. The solvent is then removed by distillation under vacuum by heating to +30/+40° C., with further considerable energy consumption (both for heating the solution and for the operation of the vacuum pump and condenser cooling).
It must also be considered that the use of solvents such as methanol involves danger due to solvent inflammability, possible operator intoxication, release of vapours into the environment, and drawbacks due to the production of methanol-containing aqueous effluents, which must be suitably disposed off.
A more ecocompatible path is therefore highly desirable, such as hydrolysis taking place only in water at ambient temperature. To effect such hydrolysis in a reasonable time and avoid product degradation a catalyst is required, for example an enzyme.
Enzymatic desacetylation of cephalosporins (not of cephamycins as in compound II) has been known for some time and has been described with enzymes of various origins.
For example acetyl esterase from wheat germ was described by Gilbert et al. in GB 1121308 (Glaxo, 1964), the enzyme present in citrus fruit peel was described by Jeffery et al in Biochem. J. 81, pages 591-6 (1961).
The aforesaid U.S. Pat. No. 4,297,488 describes the enzymatic hydrolysis of various cefoxitin synthesis intermediates, catalyzed by acetyl esterase from citrus fruit; however the method described therein is not applicable on an industrial scale, because of the poor performance of the catalyst. This is an enzyme of low specific activity involving very lengthy reaction times (6-15 hours described), difficult to produce as it derives from a poorly reproducible source subject to seasonal variations. Moreover it is applied in soluble form, is not recycled, and neither the purification nor the immobilization of the enzyme is described. Neither the yields of the acetyl derivatives obtained nor their quality are described.
Other enzymes active on cephalosporins have been discovered, starting from those involved in the biosynthesis path of cephalosporin C in Acremonium chrysogenum (or Cephalosporium acremonium) and in Streptomyces clavuligerus; these are considered as undesirable enzymatic activities, which lead to the formation of desacetyl cephalosporin C, a fermentation by-product. It should be noted that the biosynthesis of cephamycins in Nocardia lactamodurans and in Streptomyces clavuligerus does not comprise the hydrolysis of the acetyl group on a cephamycin (P. Liras, Antonie van Leeuwenhoek 75, 1999, pages 109-24); acetyl esterase activity on cephamycins is therefore not known, not even in cephamycin producer microorganisms.
Enzyme catalized hydrolyses of the acetyl group on 7-ACA or on cephalosporin C have been described, but not on cephamycins; in particular:
1) an esterase produced by Bacillus subtilis (Abbott and Fukuda, Antimicrob Agents Chemother 8, 3, pages 282-8, 1975 and Appl Microbiol, 30,3, pages 413-8 1975) is used in immobilized form for hydrolyzing 7-ACA to 3-desacetyl-7-ACA. The enzyme is sufficiently active and stable but tends to become detached from the immobilization support. Other authors (Takimoto et al. Appl Microbiol Technol 65, pages 263-7, 2004) describe the fermentation of this enzyme in recombinant Eschericia coli, its purification and immobilization on solid support and its use for producing 3-desacetyl-7-ACA.
2) The Rhodosporidium toruloides described by Politino et al. in Appl Environm Microbiol 63, 12, pages 4807-11, 1997, produces an enzyme active on 7-ACA, which can be used as catalyst in this reaction both in the form of a non-fermenting biomass (resting cells) and as an isolated and purified enzyme. The hydrolytic activity manifested by this enzyme on cefalotin is however low, only 34% of that on 7-ACA; Hydrolysis of cephamycins is not described. The same enzyme is also used by Chiang et al. (US 2002/0048781BMS, 2002) who describe a strain of recombinant Acremonium crysogenum, able to express acetyl esterase from Rhodosporidium, used to produce desacetylcephalosporin C directly in fermentation broths.
3) Another acetyl esterase is described by Venturi et al. in Appl Environ Microbiol 64, 2, pages 789-92, 1998: this is a xylan esterase produced by Bacillus pumilus, an enzyme connected with the degradation of xylans, which also shows activity on 7-ACA and on cephalosporin C; other publications describe expression of the same enzyme in coli. Activity on cephamycins is not described.
Hence enzymatic hydrolysis of the acetyl group of cephamycins has never been applied on an industrial scale in the state of the art; moreover, notwithstanding the wide literature available on a similar reaction in cephalosporins, an enzyme has not been described which is sufficiently active and stable for use on cephamycins.

Process for producing 7-methoxy-3-desacetylcefalotin


A linear drive ultrasonic motor includes at least an ultrasonic vibrator having a piezoelectric element, a driven member which is driven by a frictional force between the driven member and the ultrasonic vibrator, a pressing member which presses the ultrasonic vibrator such that a frictional force is generated between the ultrasonic vibrator and the driven member, a case member which accommodates the ultrasonic vibrator, the pressing member, and the driven member, and a coupling member which is coupled with the driven member at an interior of the case member. The case member includes an opening portion for allowing a part of the coupling member to pass through.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a linear drive ultrasonic motor
2. Description of the Related Art
A vibration apparatus in Japanese Patent No. 3524248 Specification (FIG. 3A and FIG. 3B) can be cited as an example of a conventional linear drive ultrasonic motor. Here, FIG. 3A and FIG. 3B are diagrams showing a structure of the conventional linear drive ultrasonic motor, where FIG. 3A is an exploded perspective view and FIG. 3B is a vertical cross-sectional view.
The vibration apparatus shown in FIG. 3A and FIG. 3B includes a case 906 which accommodates a vibrating body 901, a mobile object 904 which passes through the case 906 and makes a contact with the vibrating body 901, and a pressing spring 905 which generates pressing force (a bias) which brings the mobile object 904 and the vibrating body 901 in a pressurized contact. The pressing spring 905 is installed at an outer side of the case 906. An opening portion is formed in a side of the case 906, facing the vibrating body 901, and the pressing force of the pressing spring 905 acts on the vibrating body 901 through the opening portion. In other words, this vibration apparatus has a structure in which, the pressing spring 905 is installed on the outer side of the case 906 while covering the opening portion of the case 906, and a deformed portion (a plane surface portion covering the opening portion) of the pressing spring 905 which generates the pressing force is exposed.
However, in the vibration apparatus described in Japanese Patent No. 3524248 Specification, when installed on some external apparatus, for avoiding a change in the pressing force of the pressing spring 905, there is a restriction (limitation) of designing that the pressing spring 905 does not make a contact with a member of the external apparatus, in other words, that an arrangement is to be made to avoid pressing spring 905. Furthermore, for generating sufficient pressing force such that the mobile object 904 can be moved, it is not possible to fix a side of the pressing spring 905 to the external apparatus. As the side of the pressing spring 905 cannot be fixed, the protection of the contents of the case 906 has not been sufficient.


A method and apparatus for stimulating producing strata in oil or gas wells. The formation is penetrated using existing shaped charges, and an oxygen-rich material then is introduced into the producing formation. Thus, oxygen is available within the formation to sustain an explosive reaction with the existing formation hydrocarbons acting as fuel. This explosive reaction will cause fracturing of the formation and will counteract plugging that often results from the use of conventional shaped charges. In one embodiment, a container encloses shaped charges surrounded by oxygen-rich material. The shaped charges are ignited first, perforating the well casing and any surrounding cement. Additional explosive charges at each end of the container then are ignited. This forces the oxygen-rich material into the perforation tunnels. Alternately, the oxygen can be a part of the shaped charge and projected into the formation with the shaped charge to accomplish the same results.

The quantity of oil and gas production from a hydrocarbon bearing strata into a borehole is influenced by many physical factors. Darcey's flow equation, which defines flow in a well, takes into account the reservoir constants of temperature, viscosity, permeability, reservoir pressure, pressure in the borehole, thickness of the producing strata, and the area exposed to flow.
It has long been known that increasing the exposed flow area in a producing well increases production. For example, it is known that drilling a larger diameter hole exposes more of the producing strata and thus increases production.
Enlarging the flow areas, in open hole intervals, has been accomplished by using both explosives and chemicals. However, use of these agents is somewhat limited where the producing strata are cemented behind steel casing. In cased applications, the well is "perforated" to create small holes that extend through the steel casing, the annulus cement and the adjacent formation.
Prior to the invention of the shaped charge, wells were perforated with multiple, short-barreled guns. The bullets penetrated the casing, the annulus cement, and the producing strata. The shaped charge, with its greater penetration and reliability, though, has largely replaced the so-called "bullet guns."
A shaped charge makes a hole through the casing and into the strata by forming a high speed stream of particles that are concentrated in a small diameter jet. As the high energy particles hit solid material, the solid material is pulverized. Thus, shaped charges can be used to place numerous small perforations where desired in a well. However, the fine material from the pulverized rock and the shaped charge particles can have a detrimental effect on fluid flow in the area around the perforation. Debris from the spent charge as well as fragments and particles from the pulverized formation tend to plug the perforations and obstruct passages in the fractured formation.
The formation pressure acts on the small oil droplets in the formation to force the hydrocarbons from the connected pore spaces into the well bore. The magnitude of the area in the formation exposed by the perforations directly affects the amount of flow and/or work required for that production. Accordingly, increasing the exposed flow area by perforation does two favorable things: it increases the flow rate directly, and, it reduces the amount of work required to maintain a given production rate. Increasing the flow area in a well increases the ultimate recovery from the well/reservoir by conserving formation pressure or reservoir energy.
The present invention provides a method and apparatus capable of increasing the exposed surface area in a formation when using shaped charges to perforate a well. This apparatus and method augment the use of shaped charges by including the introduction of oxygen rich material into the formation with the explosive. The delivery of an oxygen source to the hydrocarbon-containing formation, in the presence of the explosive reaction, provides sustained explosive burning of the hydrocarbons in the vicinity of the perforation. The burning in the formation continues until the oxygen-rich material is depleted, when the burning self-extinguishes. Thus, the extent of the burning can be controlled by selecting the amount of oxygen-rich material to be introduced into the formation.
This significant secondary reaction in the strata has two beneficial effects. In the first place, the reaction will cause a cleaning effect on the fine particles that might otherwise plug the perforation. The cleaning effect occurs when the explosive burning causes high pressure gases to be generated, and these pressurized gases are discharged rapidly back into the borehole or casing. Secondly, the extended burning or explosion in the treated statum causes further fracturing of the formation. This results in further expansion of the exposed flow areas in the formation beyond the initial shaped charge perforation. In addition, in the event the strata being perforated are water bearing, the explosive reaction will not occur; rather, only oil or gas bearing formations will be stimulated.

Reactive stimulation of oil and gas wells


A touch sensitive display includes: an upper substrate, a lower substrate, an organic light-emitting component, and a touch sensing component. The lower substrate is disposed below the upper substrate and the organic light-emitting component is disposed above the lower substrate. The touch sensing component designed by a single layer structure is disposed under or above the upper substrate. Therefore, the present invention can achieve the purpose of lightening the touch sensitive display and simplifying manufacturing process of the touch sensitive display.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a display device, and more particularly relates to an organic light-emitting display integrated with touch technology.
2. Description of the Related Art
Flat panel displays and touch panels have been popularized and widely used, and have also replaced the traditional video output devices (e.g.: Cathode Ray Tube (CRT)) and the physical keystroke devices (e.g.: keyboard, mouse, etc).
In terms of flat panel displays, liquid crystal displays (LCD) are in the main stream at present but there still exist a lot of problems in displaying characters in such displays. More and more manufacturers have begun spending time and effort in doing research and making development in organic light-emitting display (OLED). In an OLED structure, there is no need to have a backlight source, and the OLED is mainly formed by organic material coating and glass substrate. The organic material radiates light by itself when an electric current is passed through. Therefore, OLEDs have a lot of advantages when compared to LCDs as they are lighter, smaller, more sensitive, larger in visible angle, and more flexible.
In reference to integration of an OLED with a touch panel, FIG. 1 shows a schematic structure view of a traditional touch sensitive display. As shown, a touch sensitive display 9 comprises a touch panel 91 and an organic light-emitting display 92. The touch panel 91 is directly pasted on the organic light-emitting display 92. Typically, the touch panel 91 such as a capacitive touch panel comprises a touch substrate 911, a first transparent conducting layer 912, and a second transparent conducting layer 913. The first transparent conducting layer 912 and the second transparent conducting layer 913 are respectively formed on both sides of the touch substrate 911 (while in fact, they can be formed on the same side) for sensing touch signals.
The organic light-emitting display 92 comprises an upper substrate 921, a lower substrate 922, and a light-emitting component 923. The light-emitting component 923 is stacked on the lower substrate 922, and the organic light-emitting component 923 further comprises a pixel electrode layer 9231, an intermediate layer 9232, and a counter electrode layer 9233, and then the intermediate layer 9232 further comprises an electron injecting layer, an electron transporting layer, an organic light-emitting layer, a hole transporting layer, and a hole injecting layer. Moreover, the upper substrate 921 is disposed on the organic light-emitting component 923 and the touch panel 91 is disposed on the upper substrate 921 by a laminating process, forming the touch sensitive display 9.
As a result of the above description, volume and thickness of the touch sensitive display having an integration of a touch panel and an organic light-emitting display, increases. In addition, because it is necessary to conduct lamination after manufacturing both the touch panel and the organic light-emitting display separately, complicated manufacturing process is required. Therefore, there is still further space for the improvement of the design of the present touch sensitive display.


A plasmonic all-optical switch includes a graphene layer, a first dielectric layer located on the graphene layer, a nano-antenna located on the first dielectric layer, and a second dielectric layer located on the nano-antenna. An incident beam is propagated by means of a surface plasmon wave generated at an interface between the graphene layer and the first dielectric layer. Further, localized surface plasmon resonance is selectively generated at an interface between the nano-antenna and the second dielectric layer by means of a pump beam incident to the nano-antenna to decrease an intensity of the incident beam. The plasmonic all-optical switch may operate at an ultrahigh speed just with a small light energy without any electric method, greatly reduce power consumption of an IT device by applying to an all-optical transistor or the like, and increase a processing rate.

1. Field
Embodiments relate to a plasmonic all-optical switch, and more particularly, to an all-optical switch for controlling light by using dielectric permittivity which varies depending on the existence of a pump light source, and a light control method using the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, techniques for dynamically controlling plasmon characteristics of a photoactive material have been developed and played very important roles such as data processing and transmitting and energy harvesting. In most optical devices, the propagation of a surface plasmon wave is determined by a refractive index of a metal surface or a dielectric substance adjacent thereto. If the dielectric permittivity of a dielectric substance can be controlled, it is possible to actively change plasmon characteristics of an entire system and manipulate a light propagation in a metallic nano-structure as desired. Through study activities on this, a new study field "active plasmonics" for controlling a propagation of light in a nano-structure having a size not greater than an optical wavelength has come to the fore.
Various methods have been proposed to control a plasmon mode in a nano optical device, for example a light control method using heat, a light control method using a gate voltage, a light control method using light, or the like. Most studies have used the light control method using a gate voltage. However, even though a surface plasmon electric field is strongly confined to a metal-dielectric interface with a width not greater than a wavelength, due to very weak coupling between the electric field and the light, a very high voltage and a long channel are required for light switching and modulation. Further, devices which have been studied so far have a slow switching time, and thus, are not suitable for the ultrahigh speed information communication era which requires data transmissions of several Gbit/s.

Plasmonic all-optical switch and light control method using the same

KOREA INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY


A steering lock assembly that does not require tools for fixing a lock bolt cover relative to a housing to cover a cavity formed in the housing includes a housing having a cavity formed therein with a lock bolt received in the cavity. A lock bolt cover covering the cavity has an opening through which the lock bolt extends. A snap belt is fixed to one of the lock bolt cover and the housing and engages the other of the lock bolt cover and the housing to fix the lock bolt cover relative to the housing. In one embodiment, crush ribs formed on the snap belt minimizes contact between the cover and housing to minimize rattle.

This invention relates to a steering lock module, and in particular an automotive steering lock assembly having a lock bolt cover.
A steering lock assembly for use in a vehicle typically includes a housing mounted in a vehicle steering column. The steering column houses a steering shaft that upon rotation changes the angular direction of vehicle wheels to steer the vehicle. The steering shaft is selectively locked by a lock bolt reciprocally mounted in a cavity formed in the steering lock assembly housing. The lock bolt is engageable with the steering shaft to prevent rotation of the steering shaft, and thus the ability to steer the vehicle. A lock bolt cover is fixed to the housing over the cavity using screws, bolts, stakes, pins, and the like to fix the cover to the housing.
The lock bolt cover and housing are typically formed from metal which upon loosening of the fastener over time results in the cover and housing cooperatively creating a rattle which is annoying to the end user. In addition, assembly of the steering lock assembly is time consuming because of the use of screws, bolts, stakes, pins, and the like requires tools, such as a screw driver, wrench, and the like, to secure the lock bolt cover to the housing. Accordingly, a need exists for a steering lock assembly which can be easily assembled without the use of tools to secure the lock bolt cover to the housing and minimizes rattle.

Huf North America Automotive Parts Mfg. Corp.


A cup and lid in combination. The cup includes a side wall, a closed bottom and an open top. One of the side wall and the lid includes a recess defined therein, and the other of the side wall and the cup lid includes a connector that is adapted to be temporarily secured in the recess.

It is customary to configure disposable soft drink cups so that each cup can be nested in a like cup beneath it in a stack. This greatly reduces the storage space for multiple cups. Such cups are rarely supplied with lids in place on the open mouth of the cups because this would preclude the cups being nested. Hence, the lids are usually supplied and stored in a container separate from the container for the cups. And, thus, the cups and lids must be handled separately and brought together for use.
In the prior art U.S. Pat. No. 6,176,420, granted Jan. 23, 2001 to G. E. Sarson et al. for "Disposable Cup With Spill Resistant Lid" proposes to configure the cup with an integral lid that can be folded between a raised position and a semi-closed position. The construction does not allow the cup opening to be fully and reliably closed.
P. S. Takacs in his U.S. Pat. No. 5,244,106, granted Sep. 14, 1993 for "Bottle Incorporating Cap Holder" proposed to store the cap for a bottle in a recess in the base of the bottle. Of course, such an arrangement is not nestable with other like bottles.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,047,852 granted Apr. 11, 2000 to M. G. Evans et al. for "Hot Beverage Lid With Thermal Flex-Guards" proposed attaching the lid to flaps or a cylinder of heat insulating material at the wall of the cup. Again, if the cups are nested for storage the lid must be stored and handled separately.
There continues to be a need for a cup and lid combination in which these items can be stored together in a nested condition.
There continues to be a need for a cup and lid combination in which these items can be stored together in a nested condition.


The invention relates to a novel peptide conjugate useful for stabilizing the actin cytoskeleton of mammalian cells. More particularly, the invention relates to a conjugate of a peptide found within the sequence of a bacterium's major outer sheath protein and bovine serum albumin (BSA), and the use of this conjugate for stabilizing the actin cytoskeleton of mammalian cells, and for preventing or controlling the migration of mammalian cells.

The cellular cytoskeleton functions to maintain the spatial shape and volume of mammalian cells; it is crucial for functions such as locomotion (migration), endocytosis, phagocytosis, and mechanoprotection. Actin is one of the key proteins of the cytoskeleton, and the physiologic assembly and disassembly of actin filaments in response to regulatory signals maintains homeostasis of cellular functions and responds to external stresses to protect the cell. Actin filaments are often found in bundles called stress fibers that terminate in focal complexes at the plasma membrane, where they communicate with the extracellular matrix through focal adhesions and associated membrane proteins called integrins. Cells move by remodeling actin filaments at their leading edge. Inflammatory cells like neutrophils and macrophages require actin filament assembly to migrate to sites of infection or injury and to engulf microorganisms or other foreign objects. Cells like fibroblasts that maintain the integrity of connective tissue extracellular matrix (ECM; collagen, for example) require actin filament assembly to migrate to heal wounds and to phagocytose collagen to maintain homeostasis of the ECM. Epithelial cells require actin filament assembly to migrate over wounds and to maintain cell-cell junctions in a protective barrier that protects the underlying connective tissue from microbes and their products. So, the cytoskeleton is a central part of the cellular machinery in virtually all cells and all tissues of the body.
Phalloidin, jasplakinolide and amphidinolide H are three actin-stabilizing agents that bind to actin filaments and aggregate them in vitro (Holzinger and Meindl, 1997; Lee et al., 1998; Saito et al., 2004). Besides their application in investigating actin dynamics and actin dependant events in mammalian cells, phalloidin has become a very valuable reagent in cytoskeletal imaging techniques when conjugated to fluorescent dyes. Similar to phalloidin, Jasplakinolide induces actin polymerization and stabilizes pre-existing actin filaments in vitro (Bubb et al., 1994, Holzinger, 1997; Mathur et al., 1999; Rosado and Sage, 2000, Bubb et al., 2000). Jasplakinolide differs from phalloidin, in that it is cell permeant. It gets into the cell and can therefore be more easily used for in vitro experiments using cells in culture. Jasplakinolide is a naturally occurring cell permeable cyclic peptide, produced by a sponge, Jaspis johnstoni. It is known to inhibit the growth of prostate carcinoma cell lines in vitro (Senderowicz et al., 1995), and to prevent the self-renewal of acute myeloid leukemia cells (Fabian et al., 1995). In each of these reports, the effects of Jasplakinolide were attributed to its ability to bind and stabilize actin filaments.
There are a number of laboratory reagents, like Cytochalasin, that are highly useful in research because they are cytoskeletal inhibitors, but there are fewer laboratory reagents with cytoskeletal stabilizing effects. The above-noted actin-stabilizing reagents come from living organisms: mushrooms, sponges, and algae. Obtaining such agents from biological sources involves labour-intensive procedures. Thus, the development of new synthetically accessible laboratory reagents with cytoskeletal stabilizing effects is highly desirable.
Over the past 15 years, there has been a great expansion of knowledge about how bacteria exploit or perturb the host cell cytoskeleton. Numerous bacterial proteins that act on cytoskeleton-regulating signal transduction pathways have been identified and characterized (Finlay and Cossart, 1997; Cossart, 1997; Cossart and Lecuit, 1998; Aktories and Barbieri, 2005; Patel and Galan, 2005; Rottner et al., 2005; Caron et al., 2006). Notably, bacterial agonists of cytoskeletal remodeling are now being considered for their potential applications in modulating membrane receptor activity and innate immunity, concentrating mostly on bacteria that are exogenous pathogens (Finlay and Hancock, 2004; Hayward et al., 2006). The same strategies applied to indigenous bacteria, which have evolved in concert with the host, would theoretically expand the probability of identifying potential target molecules.
Cellular turnover among gingival epithelial cells and ECM turnover in the periodontal connective tissues are among the most rapid in the body due to these tissues being in constant proximity to a large mass of bacteria that colonize on the teeth as a subgingival biofilm. Treponema denticola is one of the most prominent bacteria that colonize at the interface of the bacterial biofilm and the gingival tissues, and it is a key organism associated with progressive chronic periodontitis (Ellen and Galimanas, 2005).
The major surface antigen of T. denticola is known as the major outer sheath protein (Msp). This protein was first characterized in McBride's laboratory at the University of British Columbia (Haapasalo et al, 1992). The full gene was cloned, sequenced, and investigated in detail, as reported in subsequent publications (Fenno et al., 1996, 1997). For over a decade, Applicants have investigated the effects of T. denticola and more recently Msp on oral host cells, mostly gingival fibroblasts and epithelial cells, and recently neutrophils. Applicants' laboratory is the only laboratory that has reported on the cytoskeletal effects of Msp and of this bacterium.
Current literature (Amin et al., 2004; Batista da Silva et al, 2004, Wang et al., 2001) suggests that the major outer sheath protein (Msp) of the indigenous oral spirochete Treponema denticola induces significant cytoskeletal reorganization through disassembly of actin filaments and stress fibers ventrally near the middle of the cell, accompanied by the assembly of a mesh of subcortical actin filaments that disrupt some cellular functions. A few recent papers that are highly novel show that cell exposure to Msp uncouples store operated calcium channels (SOCs) and prevents the normal affinity modulation (cellular adhesion, spreading, and migration) when fibroblasts contact extracellular collagen (see FIG. 1). Both effects appear to involve Msp-induced reorganization of the actin cytoskeleton, including assembly of a subcortical mesh of actin filaments. These novel discoveries are published in Wang et al. 2001, Paes da Silva et al. 2004, and Amin et al. 2004 and references therein. Msp also inhibits chemotaxis in neutrophils and suppresses their calcium and actin responses to chemoattractants (Puthengady Thomas et al., 2006). Since these publications, Applicants have been trying to seek ways to determine the active peptide domains of Msp that determine its cytoskeletal effects.
During the course of these studies, Applicants have surprisingly and unexpectedly produced a novel peptide conjugate with cytoskeletal stabilizing effects.

Peptide with putative role in cytoskeletal protection


A system and method for facilitating acquisition of automotive core parts from automotive recyclers for remanufacture includes identifying automotive cores and determining the value of the cores with a core fulfillment system. The core fulfillment system includes an interchange database with automotive core descriptions and corresponding interchange identification indicators. The system includes a core supplier database that includes automotive core descriptions with corresponding core supplier identification indicators and an interchange number matching module that equates database entries in the interchange database with database entries in the core supplier database. An interface module provides access to the core fulfillment system, accepts vehicle information, and provides demand and pricing information regarding automotive cores. Vehicle information is received and compared to automotive core descriptions, automotive interchange numbers, and core supplier identification indicators that correspond to the vehicle identification information. Automotive cores are identified based upon the comparison, and a core value is determined.

Automotive recyclers such as salvage yards acquire used automotive parts, such as powertrain, chassis, and body parts of automobiles. Many of the mechanical parts from these vehicles are referred to in the salvage industry as "cores". Cores are typically extracted from automobiles that were purchased by the recyclers for the purpose of disassembling them to sell the cores. In other instances, cores may be acquired from manufacturers of the parts themselves, where a defect has been found in the manufactured part so that the part cannot be used unless remanufactured.
The automotive recyclers sell the extracted cores from automobiles to core suppliers that gather large quantities of a particular core for a particular vehicle. Core suppliers identify the purchased cores and then verify that the cores can be remanufactured or otherwise reconditioned. These gathered quantities of cores for a particular vehicle are then sold to remanufacturers who recondition these parts. For remanufacturers, receiving good, rebuildable cores in large quantities is important since remanufacturing of the cores often requires tooling and machining lines that must be set up for a particular core. Thus, remanufacturers typically prefer to purchase cores from core suppliers in bulk rather than from automotive recyclers one piece at a time.
The remanufacturers recondition or remanufacture these cores and then sell these remanufactured/reconditioned parts to wholesale or retail automotive part suppliers. Because these cores are reconditioned rather than being entirely manufactured, the remanufactured parts can be sold for less than the corresponding new parts.
Automotive recyclers use a standard parts identification system referred to as an interchange, such as the Hollander interchange, for example, to help identify parts from vehicles. Such interchange systems allow an automotive recycler to identify the make, model, and year range of most parts on a given vehicle, and to identify the parts using a proprietary alphanumeric identification system. In contrast, core suppliers and remanufacturers may utilize different identification numbers than the automotive recyclers. For example, core suppliers and remanufacturers may use Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) numbers, casting numbers, and remanufacturer-specific proprietary stock keeping unit (SKU) numbers. These numbers are very specific and do not have the same year make model breakdown availability that salvage industry interchanges have. The core supplier numbers are very specific whereas the salvage industry interchange numbers are very broad and may encompass many different numbers.
Efforts to date to improve the ability to cross reference core supplier numbers to salvage industry interchange numbers have been largely unsuccessful in providing a cost-effective manner of identifying specific cores sought by core suppliers. Additionally, core suppliers have not been able to satisfactorily characterize salvage yard inventories. Efforts aimed at improving the ability of the parties to accurately identify and supply the required parts have been extremely labor-intense and have not provided a satisfactory return on the amount of resources expended. What is needed is a system and a method for quickly and accurately determining salvage yard inventories and determining the value of a particular part from a particular automobile.

Automotive core fulfillment system and method


A cooler (1) has a cooling plate (1a), a cooling fin (1b) provided on a center portion of a lower surface of the cooling plate (1a), and a lower projection (1c) provided on a peripheral portion of the lower surface of the cooling plate (1a). A semiconductor device (3) is provided on an upper surface of the cooling plate (1a). A bus bar (5) is connected to the semiconductor device (3). A cooling mechanism (8) encloses a lower surface and a lateral surface of the cooler (1). An O-ring (9) is provided between a lower surface of the lower projection (1c) and a bottom surface of the cooling mechanism (8). A bolt (10) penetrates a sidewall of the cooling mechanism (8) and screws the cooler (1) to the cooling mechanism (8).

In a semiconductor package, a semiconductor device is provided on the upper surface of a cooler via an insulating substrate. Heat generated from the semiconductor device is radiated through cooling fins provided on the lower surface of the cooler. Conventionally, an O-ring is provided between a cooling mechanism and the cooler, and the cooler is fixed to the cooling mechanism with bolts from the upper surface of the cooler. However, it is needed to secure insulation distances between the external connection part of a bus bar protruding from resin and the heads of the bolts, and hence, a package size has been problematically upsized. To solve this problem, there is proposed, for example, a structure in which the O-ring and the bolts are positioned on its lateral surface (for example, see PTL 1).