A method and apparatus corrects data read from a multilevel cell memory. The multilevel cell is capable of storing three or more charge states. A first charge state read from the multilevel cell is determined to be erroneous. An output is provided corresponding to that which would be provided if the multilevel cell were maintaining a second charge state, wherein the second charge state has more charge than the first charge state.

A multilevel cell memory is comprised of multilevel cells, each of which is able to store multiple charge states, or levels. Each of the charge states is associated with a memory element bit pattern.
FIG. 1 shows a representation of a prior art multilevel cell that stores four charge states: Levels 0-3. Level 3 maintains a higher charge than level 2; level 2 maintains a higher charge than level 1; level 1 maintains a higher charge than level 0. A reference voltage separates the various charge states. Vref2 separates level 3 and level 2. Vref1 separates level 2 and level 1. Vref0 separates level 1 and level 0.
Each charge state has an associated memory element bit pattern. For one implementation, the memory element bit pattern `00` is associated with level 3, the memory element bit pattern `10` is associated with level 2, the memory element bit pattern `01` is associated with level 1, and the memory element bit pattern `11` is associated with level 0.
A multilevel cell memory is able to store more than one bit of data based upon the number of charge states that it can store. For example, a multilevel cell memory that can store four charge states can store two bits of data; a multilevel cell memory that can store eight charge states can store three bits of data; a multilevel cell memory that can store sixteen charge states can store four bits of data. For each of the n-bit multilevel cell memories, various memory element bit patterns can be implemented to be associated with each of the different charge states.
The number of charge states storable in a multilevel cell, however, is not limited to powers of two. For example, a multilevel cell with three charge states stores 1.5 bits of data. When this multilevel cell is combined with additional decoding logic and coupled to a second similar multilevel cell, three bits of data are provided as output of the two-cell combination. Various other multi-cell combinations are also possible.
One example of a multilevel cell memory is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,450,363, entitled "Gray Coding for a Multilevel Cell Memory System," by Christopherson et al., and issued to the common assignee of this application. The '363 patent describes one implementation of a multilevel cell memory. Multilevel cell memories can be used in Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM) and various types of Read-Only Memory (ROM), such as an Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (EPROM), an Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (EEPROM), and flash Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (flash EPROM).
FIG. 2 shows a prior art representation of a processor 100 and multilevel cell memory 104. A processor 100 is coupled to a bus 102 and the memory 104. The memory 104 contains an interface controller 105 and a multilevel cell memory array 150. The processor 100 is coupled via the bus 102 to the interface controller 105. The processor 100 is also coupled via the bus 102 to the multilevel cell memory array 150. The interface controller 105 provides the necessary operations to control the multilevel cell memory array 150. For one embodiment, the interface controller 105 and multilevel cell memory array 150 are located on a single integrated circuit die.

Method and apparatus for correcting a multilevel cell memory by using error locating codes


An electronic device console is disclosed for small computers and similar electronic devices of the type that has a base and an upper assembly that raises when a unique latch is released to place computer devices such as printing, data storage and other devices mounted in the assembly into operating position. The upper assembly may be completely removed from the console without the use of tools, merely by rotating the assembly and unplugging electronic connectors. Inadvertent rotation and separation of the assembly from the console is prevented by interference between side covers and the pinion gear of a viscous motion damping element of the assembly until the side covers are removed.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to small computers and similar electronic devices of the type that has a base assembly and an upper assembly that can be raised to provide access to computer devices such as printing, data storage and other devices mounted in the upper assembly.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of snap together parts for electronic devices such as computer consoles is known in the art in U.S. Pat. No. 5,392,192 issued to Dunn et al. The Dunn patent teaches a five sided box shaped steel chassis and an internal subassembly tray. The tray has bays to receive components such as disk drives. The teaching still suffers from the problem that tools must be used to remove components and subassemblies from the console.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,593,219 shows a computer housing in the shape of a rectangular base frame having rows of lugs, rows of hooks and a row of sliding slots. Cover panels having reinforcing ribs with retaining holes are fastened to the chassis by engagement between the hooks and retaining holes. Cover panels also having crossed tenons are fastened by engaging their tenons with the sliding slots. The mounting of a component within the housing is not shown in this reference.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,600,538 by Xanthopoulos is also directed to a personal computer housing. This patent shows a formed metal base chassis to which a top formed metal cover is attached by means of lugs on the cover which engage ears on the base side walls. A sub-chassis in the housing is removable through the top when a screw is removed and the cover is removed. The main circuit board is mounted on tracks between a wall of the housing and the sub-chassis. The circuit board can be slid on the tracks and removed out the back of the housing. Tools must still be used to remove components and subassemblies from the housing.

International Business Machines Corporation


The invention provides a method of analyzing the methylation status of all or part of an entire genome. Moreover, the invention features methods of and reagents for characterizing biological cells containing DNA that is susceptible to methylation. Such methods include methods of diagnosing cancer, e.g., breast cancer.

Epigenetic changes (e.g., changes in the levels of DNA methylation), as well as genetic changes, can be detected in cancer cells and stromal cells within tumors. In order to develop more discriminatory diagnostic methods and more effective therapeutic methods it is important that these epigenetic effects be defined and characterized.


Disclosed is a semiconductor package comprising a redistribution substrate, a semiconductor chip on the redistribution substrate and including a chip pad electrically connected to the redistribution substrate, and a conductive terminal on the redistribution substrate. The redistribution substrate includes a first dielectric layer, a first redistribution pattern, a second dielectric layer, a second redistribution pattern, and a first insulative pattern. The first redistribution pattern electrically connects the chip pad and the second redistribution pattern. The first insulative pattern has a first surface in contact with the first redistribution pattern and a second surface in contact with the second redistribution pattern. The second surface is opposite to the first surface. A width at the first surface of the first insulative pattern is the same as or greater than a width at the second surface of the first insulative pattern.

The present disclosure relates to a semiconductor package, and more particularly, to a semiconductor package including a redistribution substrate.
A semiconductor package is provided to implement an integrated circuit chip to qualify for use in electronic products. Typically, a semiconductor package is configured such that a semiconductor chip is mounted on a printed circuit board (PCB) and bonding wires or bumps are used to electrically connect the semiconductor chip to the printed circuit board. With the development of electronic industry, various researches have been conducted to improve reliability and durability of semiconductor packages.


An ozone generating apparatus includes an ozone generator having concentric electrodes and a means for generating a corona discharge between the electrodes, a pump for recirculating a portion of the ozone-containing gas leaving the generator through a conduit which is configured to receive a portion of the ozone containing gas, and a heat exchanger for cooling the recirculated portion of the ozone-containing gas. An oxygen-containing gas is also introduced to the heat exchanger and combined with the recirculated gas portion to form a feed gas which is chilled in the heat exchanger and then introduced into the generator.

Hospitals and related medical institutions, doctors' offices and various chemical and medical laboratories all require sterilization equipment. Because high pressure steam destroys heat and moisture sensitive medical instruments, the vast majority of such institutions sterilize those instruments with a "cold" sterilization system based on ethylene oxide. Although ethylene oxide is an effective sterilant, it has three primary deficiencies.
First, the highly flammable nature of ethylene oxide requires its combination with chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). Because CFCs have been shown to be destructive of the ozone layer, worldwide environmental regulations, e.g., the Montreal Protocol, prohibit CFC production in all major industrial nations after Dec. 31, 1995. As a result, the generally used mixture of 120 ethylene oxide and 88% CFC is effectively banned from the market place.
Second, ethylene oxide gas is neurotoxic and has been classified by OSHA as a carcinogenic substance. As a result, the use of ethylene oxide in hospitals will soon be eliminated independently of the CFC problem.
Finally, the natural properties of ethylene oxide that make it an effective sterilant also require that there be a prolonged aeration period (typically 12-18 hours) to eliminate the toxic residue of ethylene oxide on sterilized articles. The extended aeration period makes it impossible to effectively sterilize large numbers of medical instruments rapidly. This is becoming a significant problem particularly in hospitals and similar institutions where medical treatment is becoming more directed towards same-day procedures and ambulatory surgery.
While some alternative methods to the use of ethylene oxide have recently been introduced, including plasma-gas systems based on peracetic acid and on hydrogen peroxide, none provides a truly acceptable alternative to ethylene oxide which is effective, safe and inexpensive.
While ozone gas in general and humidified ozone gas in particular, have been in use in purification for many years, two principle problems have been associated with its use as a medical instrument sterilant, namely, the difficulties encountered in (1) generating ozone of a sufficiently high concentration and humidity to kill microorganisms and (2) maintaining a continuous flow of such humid, high-concentration ozone for a sufficiently long period of time to penetrate the protective bacterial membranes.
Ozone is an unstable substance which easily degrades to oxygen in the presence of heat or in water. Ozone may be generated several ways, the most common of which is by passing an oxygen-containing gas through a zone between two electrodes and generating a corona discharge between the electrodes. One of the electrodes is a high voltage metal electrode and the other is generally a conductor coated on a dielectric such as glass or ceramic. The first electrode is typically grounded at a high voltage transformer ground and the second electrode is generally electrically attached to the high voltage terminal of a high voltage transformer.
The corona discharge splits the natural oxygen molecules into individual, highly active oxygen atoms, which immediately combine with the nearest oxygen molecule to form a trioxygen molecule, i.e., ozone. The reaction is extremely fast and exothermic. The heat of the reaction, the heat generated by the corona discharge and the heat generated within the dielectric by the passage of current contribute directly to the destruction of the newly generated ozone.
Sterilization is enhanced by the use of humidified ozone. The ozone penetrates the membrane of the bacteria readily when the bacteria is coated with a water film which results from the required humidity level. The penetration of ozone requires less energy when it first passes through hydroxide and when it passes through the bacterial membrane when using a water film as a transfer medium. The water film transfer medium acts in the manner of an impedance transformer, whereby only a small amount of the ozone's molecular energy is required to pass through the bacterial membrane.
Prior art ozone sterilizers which used humidified ozone as a sterilant do not consistently achieve levels of greater than 6% ozone by weight in the humidified sterilant due to heat build-up in the generator.
To increase the quantity and outlet ozone concentration, various attempts have been made to increase the level of cooling and thereby the amount of ozone conversion in the generator. These attempts include feeding cold oxygen to the generator as in U.S. Pat. No. 5,002,738; feeding cold oxygen to one of two parallel annular ozone generation zones such that all of the ozonated gas from a first annular zone must pass through a second annular generation zone before leaving the generator as in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,008,087, 5,169,606 and 2,936,279; and passing oxygen through a helically-shaped dielectric as in U.S. Pat. No. 4,966,666.
In constructing ozone sterilizers in the past, unsuccessful efforts have been made to increase the rate of conversion from oxygen into ozone by attempting to devise methods of preventing the exothermic heat from destroying the generated ozone formed in the generator.
A further method of increasing conversion rates is by making the generators significantly larger in size. However, larger generators require large quantities of power which not only increases costs, but more importantly, results in significantly higher quantities of ozone-destroying heat. Further, a larger size generator would not be practical in many institutions requiring sterilizers.
Accordingly, it would be beneficial to develop an ozone sterilizer and generator that achieve a high conversion rate without significant loss of ozone in either the generator or the humidification procedure.
Further, it would be advantageous to increase the time that oxygen-containing gas used to form ozone resides in the portion of an ozone generation zone that has the highest ionization energy, i.e., nearest the electrodes, to increase the production of ozone. By increasing the production rate, and minimizing the loss due to generator heat and humidification, ozone sterilizers may be made more efficient and practical.
In view of the incipient disappearance of ethylene oxide as a sterilant, as described above, as well as the apparent lack of success of current alternative processes, there is a need in the art, particularly, the medical and scientific fields, for an efficient and effective ozone generator and sterilizer using a sustained flow of very humid, high-concentration ozone in a safe and controlled manner. There is a need in the art for an ozone sterilizer that is inexpensive to operate, has a short sterilization cycle with a high bacteria kill rate and can produce a high concentration of ozone that can be effective in a large as well as a small sterilization apparatus. Finally, there is a need for an apparatus and method for generating ozone at sufficiently high quantities for introduction into a humidifier such that a controlled amount of an effective humidified ozone sterilant is provided to achieve a high bacteria kill rate in as short a time as possible.

Ozone generator and method for ozone generation


A constant velocity joint for a drive system of a vehicle comprises: a spider trunnion for transmitting torque between first and second shaft of the drive system, the spider trunnion including a spherical outer surface; and a roller assembly operatively attached on the spider trunnion, the roller assembly including an inner roller, an outer roller, and a plurality of needle rollers engaged between the inner and outer rollers, wherein the inner roller includes a tapered outer surface with a taper angle (θt), and the outer roller includes a tapered inner surface with the same taper angle (θt). The taper angle (θt) is preferably in a range from about 0.23° and to about 1.17°, and selected in consideration of both accommodating the inner roller to move without jamming in an entire effective movement range under presence of a maximum joint angle of the drive system, and preventing self separation of the roller assembly by jamming stop between the inner, outer and needle rollers due to the tapered structure of the rollers. The inner roller is preferably configured to have a ratio LL/RR1 in a range from about 0.11 to about 0.20, where LL is a distance from the center of the spider trunnion to a starting edge of the chamfer or recessed area of the inner roller at initial or neutral position thereof, and RR1 is a radius of the spherical surface of the spider trunnion.

Tripod type constant velocity joints are well known in the automobile industry as one type of constant velocity joints used in the drive system of vehicles for transferring a uniform torque and a constant speed, while operating with a wide range of joint angle.
For instance, one example of the tripod type constant velocity joint was illustrated in Japanese Patent Application, S62-233522. This tripod type constant velocity joint typically includes tripod fixed to an end of the second rotating shaft, which functions as a driven member, and hollow cylindrical housing fixed to an end of the first rotating shaft which functions as a drive member. Three circumferential grooves are formed at three locations on the inner face of the housing at equal spacing in the circumferential direction and extend in the shaft direction of the housing. Each tripod comprises a boss connected to the second rotating shaft, and each trunnion has a cylindrical shape and extends radially from three locations at equal spacing around the boss. Each trunnion has a roller fixed at a distal end of the trunnion and with needle rollers engaged therein. In this arrangement, each roller can freely rotate about the trunnion while also be displaced in the axial direction of the trunnion. The constant velocity movement between the first and second rotating shafts is ensured with the rollers rotatably and displaceably engaging in the grooves disposed along the inner face of the housing. In order to facilitate the sliding movement, a pair of side faces are formed in circular recesses on each side of the respective grooves, and each roller is supported rotatably and pivotally along the side faces of the grooves.
When the first and second rotating shafts rotate with a joint angle present between the first and second shafts, each roller moves with complexity. For example, each roller moves in the axial direction of the housing along each of the side faces of the respective guide grooves, while the rollers change in orientation and further displace in the axial direction of the trunnion. Such movement of the rollers cannot cause a relative movement between a peripheral outside face of each of the rollers and each of the side faces to be smoothly made. Thus, a relatively large friction occurs between the faces. As a result, this tripod type constant velocity joint produces three-directional axial forces as the shafts rotate. In the application of a prior art tripod joint to the vehicles, it is known that the axial forces may cause a transverse vibration typically referred to as "shudder". This shudder disturbance may become severe particularly when a large torque is transmitted with a relatively large joint angle present.
Moreover, various suggestions and attempts were made to improve the functions or operability of the constant velocity joint. For example, FIG. 1 illustrates one known structure of a tripod type constant velocity joint, in which a spider (or trunnion) 11 is operably received in housing 12 with a roller assembly assembled to the spider 11 for transmitting torque between first and second rotating shafts. The roller assembly received in a guide groove of the housing 12 is composed essentially of outer roller 13′, inner roller 14′, and multiple needle rollers 15 engaged between the outer and inner rollers 13′ and 14′. In this example, the inner roller 14′ has a cylindrical surface on the outer diameter thereof, and the outer roller 13′ has a cylindrical surface on its corresponding inner diameter thereof, in which the cylindrical surfaces do not include any taper angle present to accommodate needle rollers 15 between the opposing cylindrical surfaces of the inner and outer rollers 14′ and 13′. In this structure, clearance δ1 is present between the outer surface of the inner roller 14′ and the needle rollers 15 (or between the inner surface of the outer roller 13′ and the needle rollers 15), which is constant throughout the length due to the opposing and parallel cylindrical surface configurations of the roller assembly regardless of the axial movement or position of the inner roller 14′ in the roller assembly. As shown in FIG. 1, the outer roller 13′ includes an inwardly-projecting portion "AA" in order to prevent the outer roller 13′ (or the inner roller 14′) from separating from the inner roller 14′ (or the outer roller 13′) of the roller assembly.


The present disclosure describes an amusement show system. The amusement show system includes guest seating, a background display, a conveyor, and a set piece disposed on the conveyor. The conveyor moves the set piece with respect to the guest seating between the guest seating and the background display. The amusement show system also includes a projection mapping system that includes one or more projectors configured to project images onto the set piece such that a first image is projected onto the set piece at a first point in time and a second image is projected onto the set piece at a second point in time.

The present disclosure relates generally to amusement park attractions and, specifically, to projection mapping systems for an amusement park attraction.
This section is intended to introduce the reader to various aspects of art that may be related to various aspects of the present disclosure. This discussion is believed to be helpful in providing the reader with background information to facilitate a better understanding of the various aspects of the present disclosure. Accordingly, it should be noted that these statements are to be read in this light and not as admissions of prior art.
Amusement parks include various attractions that entertain guests. For example, an amusement park may have attractions including rides and shows to provide a desirable experience to guests. Some attractions use a lot of space and have a large real estate footprint in operation. For example, an attraction may include a ride vehicle travelling to multiple rooms during the attraction. As such, the attraction may be costly in real estate.

Dynamic projection mapping for morphing set pieces


A lightweight, easily portable, convertible billboard display has three panels rotatably connected to each other in parallel fashion. The billboard display can be used as a vertically standing three panel display or, when two of the panels are connected by a removable connection component, as a three dimensional triangular display. Informational display items can be removably attached to the display panels. In addition, pockets, variously located within each panel, allow for the insertion and display of and full access to multi-page display items, mounted directly on the billboard display.

Self-standing display systems are commonly used by educators, lecturers, sales people and others who exhibit and display visual aids, advertising, or instructional information. Such systems routinely employ a number of interconnected panels which are either freestanding and rest on the bottom edges of the panels, or are paneled systems which are positioned on support legs. The panels have surfaces to which posters, brochures, textural documents, advertisements, or similar material can be temporarily, but securely attached for display. Attachment is accomplished by commonly available means, e.g. Velcro®, clips, pushpins, tape, adhesive or the like.
However, there currently are no display systems which are very lightweight for portability and also are versatile enough to be easily converted to a number of different configurations, depending on desired usage. For instance, the system disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,779,286, while providing an excellent convertible display, is a relatively large frame supported unit which is often used for exhibiting to larger audiences.
In addition, prior systems, while they may provide accommodation for displays to be attached to external panel surfaces, do not allow for the exhibition, directly on the panels of the system, of multi-paged informational booklets, pads, pamphlets, or brochures, such that these items can readily be reviewed and referenced in their entirety, while mounted on the system.


Vinyl heat welding rod for seam sealing vinyl resilient flooring, whether in sheet or tile form, are used to obtain a homogeneous, monolithic appearing surface. This rod is specifically made to duplicate the appearance of the flooring material. For a chip-image flooring structure, a sheet of multicolored chips having a similar, but different formulation from that of the flooring material is prepared and the sheet is cut into suitable strips, heat pressed in a rod mold, end adhered or further molded to form the desired length, and used as a vinyl heat welding rod for sealing seams in flooring. Thus, the chip pattern is evident in the seam area and does not appear different when compared to the adjacent surface.

The use of an extruded, solid colored or clear, polyvinyl chloride, round cross-section welding rod is well known in the art to join two pieces of vinyl resilient flooring together. This prior art process uses an unfilled, highly plasticized, colored polyvinyl chloride formulation that is in turn extruded through a round die to form a round cross-section, flexible, easily cut rod for seam sealing.
Extrusion yields a solid color rod or, in some cases in which there are shade variations, a swirl effect such as a barber pole results. In no instance is a distinct sharp edge design obtained. The solid color rod areas appear as a seam of solid contrasting color at every welded installation site creating a discontinuity in the flooring surface. This disrupts the flooring pattern image. The desire for a single image flooring or a flooring surface wider than the width of the flooring product, but having a continuous image has been expressed by many designers, architects, etc. No known welding rod containing a distinct pattern is known. Attempts to make such a patterned welding rod have been made in the United States, Europe, and the Far East, especially Japan, without success.
Attempts to fabricate extruded rods with colored particles requires the use of hard, non-thermoplastic, or solid colored particles that will maintain their image and do not flow during the heat developed during blending and extrusion. However, during extrusion these hard particles score or cut into the extruder barrel causing damage to the equipment. Further, they prevent the smooth, easy cutting or skiving of the welded rod when removing the excess rod material above the wear surface of the flooring, thus yielding a non-smooth surface. Such a non-smooth surface provides places where dirt particles can be trapped leading to dirty, unsightly surface conditions.
The use of the multi-colored, chip- or granule-image vinyl resilient sheet flooring for a welding rod has been attempted many times. Generally, a thin strip of flooring is cut approximately the size of a welding rod, typically 2 to 4 mm wide, and welded in the seam area. Strips having an inorganic filler, such as limestone at 20 to 65 weight percent, rapidly elongate and pull apart in the first few inches of welding due to the extremely high welding gun air temperatures, generally 300.degree. C. (572.degree. F.) to 600.degree. C. (1112.degree. F.).
Attempts to utilize the original multi-colored, vinyl chips, that are used in the flooring production, in a mold/press were unsuccessful in maintaining the chip-image. In order to consolidate these chips, whether filled or unfilled with inorganic material, sufficient heat, above 350.degree. F., is required to ensure thermoplastic flow so that the chips are fused together in a solid, coherent mass. This product flow is enough to disrupt the chip-images forming a smeared, blurred image. This is not suitable as a welding material since the image is different from the original flooring material.

Patterned heat welding rod for seaming resilient flooring


A speaker driver surround has tapered thickness to provide improved linearity of the force versus displacement response. The tapered thickness surround provides for a larger emissive piston area, thus increasing the acoustic efficiency of the transducer. The surround has an integral gasket with a groove to accept grill to cover the speaker cone.

A surround is a flexible annular ring connecting between the basket and the cone and provides a movable support for the speaker driver cone. Surrounds are commonly made from compressed foam or molded elastomer. As the driver cone is displaced by the force of the voice coil along the axis of travel, the surround is stretched from its resting position. The force required to move the cone and surround changes as a function of displacement distance in a non-linear fashion. This causes audio distortion. This non-linear effect is particularly evident in high excursion drivers because the non-linearity of the force/displacement relationship increases at high displacements.
The surround and gasket are normally two separate parts.

Tapered thickness surround for high excursion speaker driver


Provided is a metallic coated steel product which is less likely to experience LME and blowhole formation and is likely to exhibit an improved corrosion resistance at welding heat affected zones. The metallic coated steel product is a hot-dip metallic coated steel product including a steel product and a plating layer that is provided on a surface of the steel product and includes a Zn—Al—Mg alloy layer. In a cross-section of the Zn—Al—Mg alloy layer an area fraction of MgZn2 phase is from 45 to 75%, a total area fraction of MgZn2 and Al phases is not less than 70%, and an area fraction of Zn—Al—MgZn2 ternary eutectic structure is from 0 to 5%; and the plating layer has a predetermined chemical composition.

Zinc-coated steel products are widely used in the fields of building construction, automobile production, and the like to improve the corrosion resistance of structural members. A method conventionally used to improve the corrosion resistance of civil engineering structures includes the steps of welding metallic uncoated steel products together and then dipping the resulting structure in a zinc bath to plate the steel products and the surface of area around a welded zone and to ensure corrosion resistance.
In this method, however, a welding process is followed by a plating process, which leads to poor productivity and requirements of equipment, such as plating bath, and has in turn caused an increase in production cost.
To avoid these problems, a method of welding zinc-coated steel products (for example, zinc-coated steel sheets), which have been prepared in advance by metaric coating steel products, has been increasingly applied to the production of structures.
Additionally, welded structural objects have recently been increasingly prepared by welding zinc alloy-coated steel products (for example, zinc alloy-coated steel sheets), the surfaces of which are coated with zinc alloy (such as Zn—Al—Mg—Si alloy or Al—Zn—Si alloy) with an even higher level of corrosion resistance than that of commonly used conventional zinc-coated steel products, to improve further the corrosion resistance of structural members (see, for example, Patent Documents 1 to 7).
Problems specifically associated with the preparation of welded structural objects by welding zinc-coated steel products or zinc alloy-coated steel products include liquid metal embrittlement (hereinafter also referred to as "LME") in the weld metal and in the heat affected zone of the base material that occurs due to hot-dip plating of the base material, decrease in bond strength due to blowhole formation by thermal evaporation of Zn, and deterioration of corrosion resistance at areas around and behind welded zones (the areas around and behind a welded zone are hereinafter also referred to as "welding heat affected zones") due to thermal evaporation of Zn.
For example, LME is considered to be mainly caused by a zinc plating component remaining in a molten form on the surface of the heat affected zone of the base material near a welded zone and infiltrated into grain boundaries in the welded zone. In addition, it is understood that LME is more pronounced in a plating layer containing metals such as Al and Mg.
To address these problems, for example, a method including applying or placing a solid flux on a prospective weld part and then performing a welding operation on the weld part for welding coated steel products with a plating of Zn—Al—Mg alloy (Patent Document 8) has been proposed.
Additionally, a method including using a flux-cored wire and converting elements such as Al and Mg into slag to make those elements harmless to the welding process (Patent Document 9) has been proposed.
Additionally, a method including using a stainless welding wire (Patent Document 10) has been proposed.
Additionally, metallic coated steel sheets with optimum weldability (Non-Patent Documents 1 and 2) have also been proposed as products to address those problems.    Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-064061    Patent Document 2: WO 2013/002358    Patent Document 3: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2006-193791    Patent Document 4: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-332555    Patent Document 5: WO 2010/082678    Patent Document 6: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2015-214747    Patent Document 7: WO 2014/059474    Patent Document 8: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2007-313535    Patent Document 9: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2005-230912    Patent Document 10: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2006-35293    Non-Patent Document 1: Nisshin Steel technical report, No. 92 (2011) pp. 39-47.    Non-Patent Document 2: Shinnittetsu Sumikin giho, No. 398 (2014) pp. 79-82.


A manually operated, handled grout brush has an outer housing which encloses upper and lower contiguous spaces. Electric batteries in the upper space run an electrical motor, which powers gearing to rotate two sets of brushes, a grout brush head with rigid bristles for hard scrubbing and scouring dirty, mildewed, and stained rough grout surfaces, and a tile scrubbing brush head which may include one or two common scrub brushes for cleaning glossy, smooth tile surfaces.

Grout is commonly used between tiles, not only to connect and seal adjacent tiles, but also to enhance the overall appearance of tiled surfaces. Following initial installation of lined grout between tiled surfaces, the newly laid grout between the tiles is clean, unsoiled and presents a generally bright and fresh appearance. However, as time passes the tile surface is exposed to day-to-day activity which causes it to lose its initially clean and bright finish. It becomes darkened, dirty, mildewed, and stained. No matter how clean the actual tiles are which make up the tile surface, the adjacent grout which is dull, dirty, or stained grout will substantially detract from the overall appearance.
Cleaning soiled, mildewed, and stained grout, especially grout located between tile, has always been difficult. Although spray on or other liquid cleaners are advertised as grout cleaning agents, these, in and of themselves, are not truly effective. Hand scrubbing or scouring grout between tiles with a grout brush, perhaps in combination with these cleaning agents, is the only effective way of cleaning grout.
Manual grout brushes routinely have a single set of bristles and require rigorous back and forth hand motion against the soiled grout. This obviously becomes very strenuous for the user. It also results in the effectiveness of the cleaning operation to diminish quickly. Moreover, hand scrubbing requires that the user's hands be quite close to the grout and tiles. Over a prolonged period, the user, at some point, will scrape his or her fingers or knuckles on the grout or tile surface.
In addition, prior grout brushes have only one scrubbing surface which typically comprises hard, rigid bristles for cleaning ingrained dirt and stains in the rough, hardened grout material. Such brushes are not designed to be used on tile surfaces, on which dirt tends to be easier to remove. In fact, such hard bristle grout brushes should not be used to scrub and clean tile surfaces, which tend to be smooth, shiny, and as a result, more susceptible to being scratched or otherwise damaged by the action of hard bristles. As a result, after grout surfaces are cleaned with one brush, it is necessary that a second brush be used for the tile surface. Even the powered brushes which are used to a limited extent to clean grout, only have a single brush surface.


A ball joint includes: a ball stud having a spherical ball part and a shank part extending from the spherical ball part; a bearing cupping the spherical ball part of the ball stud; and a housing holding the bearing therein. The housing is provided with a recess in an inner surface thereof. The bearing deforms to enter into the recess of the housing in such a manner that a space is formed between the bearing and the spherical ball part.

A conventional ball joint has been prevailingly used as a joint in a suspension system and/or a steering system of an automobile. As shown in FIG. 10, the conventional ball joint includes: a ball stud 102 having a spherical ball part 104 and a shank part 103 extending from the spherical ball part 104; a bearing 106 made of a synthetic resin, cupping the spherical ball part 104 of the ball stud 102 in such a manner that the spherical ball part 104 is able to turn and rock therein, and having an open part 107 in one end; a substantially cup-shaped housing 111 holding the bearing 106 therein and having an open part 114 through which the shank part 103 of the ball stud 102 projects; an annular retaining ring 122 fitted in an opening defined by the open part 114 of the housing 111; and an elastic rubber boot 116 having a small open part 118 fitted on the shank part 103 of the ball stud 102, and a large open part 117 fitted on the retaining ring 122.
The inner surface of the bearing 106 is coated with grease in order to ensure smooth turning and rocking of the spherical ball part 104 of the ball stud 102 in the bearing 106. Generally, the inside diameter of the bearing 106 is substantially equal to the outside diameter of the spherical ball part 104. Therefore, the grease on the inner surface of the bearing 106 may be forced to flow outside through the open part 107 by the spherical ball part 104 when the spherical ball part 104 is pressed into the bearing 106. Consequently, a quantity of the grease in the bearing 106 may be reduced, that is, the bearing 106 may become unable to hold a necessary and sufficient quantity of the grease. In the case, the spherical ball part 104 may be unable to smoothly turn and rock.
In addition, torque necessary for the ball stud 102 to turn and rock is affected by a load exerted by the bearing 106 on the spherical ball part 104. In the ball joint 101 shown in FIG. 10, the entire inner surface of the bearing 106 is in contact with the spherical ball part 104 of the ball stud 102, so that the load is exerted by the entire inner surface of the bearing 106 on the spherical ball part 104. Therefore, higher torque tends to be necessary for the ball stud 102 to turn and rock.
FIG. 11 shows a ball joint 201 proposed to solve the foregoing problem. A bearing 206 included in the ball joint 201 is provided with a circumferential groove 209 in an inner surface thereof. The circumferential groove 209 serves as a grease holding means.
However, when the circumferential groove 209 is formed beforehand in the inner surface of the bearing 206, flow of the grease is obstructed by contacting portions between the spherical ball part 204 and the inner surface of the bearing 206, as shown in FIG. 12. Consequently, the grease may remain only in the circumferential groove 209, so that the grease may be unable to satisfactorily lubricate a desired wide range.


An ultra-fine pitch wedge bonding tool and method for its manufacture are disclosed. The wedge tool is formed with a foot width calculated to enable accurate bonding of wires separated at an ultra-fine pitch. The wedge tool is made out of a tungsten carbide alloy having characteristics conforming to specified constraints that lead to improved performance and enable the use of thicker wire. A pocket is formed at the tip of the wedge tool and a wire feeding hole is formed from the rear side of the tool and exiting inside the pocket, at an elevation above the bonding foot. Side walls are provided on both sides of the pocket to guide the wire exiting the feed hole inside the pocket towards the bonding foot.

1. Field
This invention relates to wedge tool for welding fine wires in the semiconductor chip industry. More particularly, the present invention relates to a wire bonding method and apparatus that enables welding wires to bonding pads positioned at an ultra-fine pitch.
2. Related Arts
Wire bonding is used in a semiconductor industry to electrically connect a chip to the circuit board. A plurality of bonding pads are located in a pattern on the top surface of the board, with the chip mounted in the center of the pattern of bonding pads. In standard chips, i.e., non-flip chip, the top surface of the chip facing away from the top surface of the substrate has a plurality of contact pads. Fine wires (which may be aluminum or gold wires) are connected between the contact pads on the top surface of the chip and the contact pads on the top surface of the board.
In general, two technologies have been developed for performing the welding of the fine wires: ball bonding and wedge bonding. In ball bonding, sometimes referred to also as capillary bonding, the connecting wires are supplied and bonded to the chip and to the substrate through a capillary tunnel traversing the entire length of the ball bonding tool. In this respect, the terms "bonding tool" "ball bonding tool" and "wedge bonding tool" refer to a tip which is installed on a bonder machine and which is used to feed and bond the wire to the pads. The ball bonding method has dominated the interconnect market because of its high speed and capabilities. However, as the need for much denser interconnects is increasing (the ITRS roadmap predicts that we are heading towards 20 μm pitch), ball bonding is reaching its limits. On the other hand, since wedge bonding can produce a smaller full strength weld than ball bonding, wedge bonding has the potential to dominate the market in ultra-fine-pitch devices.
Wire bonding is a welding process accomplished by deforming the wire and the substrate together, forming them into an alloy of the two constituents. Ultrasonic energy enhances the process by lowering the flow stress and allowing easy slip mechanisms for dislocation movement (deformation occurs by the movement of dislocations). Wedge bonding, because it directly deforms the wire without first forming a ball, is capable of producing a weld with less deformation than ball bonding. High quality welds can be produced with bond width that is only 20-25% larger than the wire diameter. This size is significantly smaller than the minimum size that a ball bonder can produce for the same wire diameter.
FIG. 1 shows the common bonding processes and compares their deformation as a function of initial wire diameter for an optimized process. Notably, the deformation caused by ball bonding requires much larger pitch than that is required by wedge bonding. Therefore, in order to achieve finer pitch capabilities, the wire diameter must be reduced—regardless of the type of bonder used. For ball bonders, reducing the wire diameter allows ball formation and subsequent deformation with a smaller final bond diameter. However, as wire diameter is decreased, conductivity and strength of the bond are also reduced. Many new devices require more current flow and the smaller diameter wire required by finer pitch devices has a negative impact on performance and reliability of the device. Wedge bonding has an advantage, because it can achieve equivalent pitch with a larger diameter wire, or finer pitch with the same diameter wire as ball bonding.
In order to develop a wedge bonder that would enable ultra-fine pitch bonding, two limitations need to be addressed. First, the ability to locate the wedge tip exactly on the desired location, including the ability to perform complicated processes. Second, the wedge tool dimensions must be reduced without affecting its strength, so as to allow working in narrow pitch and crowded wires environment.
Wedge bonder manufacturers have improved the bonders' capabilities, such that they are much faster than previous generation machines and now are capable of bonding speed of above 6 wires per second. New constant loop height and constant loop length algorithms achieve optimum control of electrical properties (impedance, capacitance). Low loop capability is superior because there is no ball adding to the bond height and the low take off angle of the wire naturally tends toward lower height. New looping motion algorithms provide the lowest loops achievable. In eight-die stacks, wedge bonds have been shown to achieve a 32% decrease in cross section and a 20% decrease in total stack height compared to standard ball bonded devices. This provides an inexpensive alternative to through silicon vias (TSVs) in 3-D packaging. Also, bond placement accuracy has improved. New machines are capable of 1 μm bond placement repeatability at 3σ.


Technologies described herein are directed to isolating or insulating at least portions of an evaporator coil within a climate control unit (CCU) of a TCCS so as to reduce or even eliminate adverse effects caused by a leaked working fluid. Such adverse effects may include a threat of ignition, asphyxiation of occupants, damage to cargo, and other harmful effects caused by emission of a noxious gas. A leak isolation structure is provided to isolate evaporator tubes of an evaporator coil from at least one of a plurality of turns of the evaporator coil.

A transport climate control system is generally used to control environmental condition(s) (e.g., temperature, humidity, air quality, and the like) within a climate controlled space of a transport unit (e.g., a truck, trailer, a container (such as a container on a flat car, an intermodal container, etc.), a box car, a semi-tractor, a bus, or other similar transport unit). The transport climate control system can include, for example, a transport refrigeration system (TRS) and/or a heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system. The TRS can control environmental condition(s) within the climate controlled space to maintain cargo (e.g., produce, frozen foods, pharmaceuticals, etc.). The HVAC system can control environmental conditions(s) within the climate controlled space to provide passenger comfort for passengers travelling in the transport unit. In some transport units, the transport climate control system can be installed externally (e.g., on a rooftop of the transport unit, under the transport unit or on a front wall of the transport unit, etc.).
The transport climate control system can include a climate control circuit with a compressor, a condenser, an expansion valve, and an evaporator. A working fluid can include a refrigerant that can be compressed and expanded as it flows through the climate control circuit and can be used to heat and/or cool the particular space.

Isolated evaporator coil for a transport climate control system


A stage apparatus includes an X-direction movable member provided parallel to a reference plane and relatively movable thereto only in a specific X-direction via an X-direction guide device; a Y-direction movable member supported by the X-direction movable member thereon to be movable only in a Y-direction orthogonal to the X-direction of the reference plane via a Y-direction guide device, wherein the X-direction movable member is provided in between a stationary support plate, which is parallel with the reference plane, and the Y-direction movable member; three ball retaining through-holes formed in the X-direction movable member at three vertices of an imaginary triangle; and three balls installed in respective the three ball retaining through-holes so as to contact the stationary support plate and the Y-direction movable member, wherein the three ball retaining through-holes allow each of the three balls to rotate in any rotational direction therein.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a stage apparatus which moves a movable stage in two orthogonal directions in a plane, and a camera shake correction apparatus using the stage apparatus.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Conventional stage apparatuses in which a movable stage is moved in two orthogonal directions in a plane are generally provided with a stationary support plate, and an X-direction movable plate and a Y-direction movable plate both of which are parallel to the stationary support plate. The X-direction movable plate is movable relative to the stationary support plate in a plane parallel thereto only in a specific X-direction, and the Y-direction movable plate is movable relative to the X-direction movable plate in a plane parallel to the stationary support plate only in a Y-direction orthogonal to the X-direction.
Applying a linear moving force in the X-direction to the X-direction movable plate by an actuator causes the X-direction movable plate and the Y-direction movable plate to move linearly in the X-direction relative to the stationary support plate. Additionally, applying a linear moving force in the Y-direction to the Y-direction movable plate by another actuator causes the Y-direction movable plate to move linearly in the Y-direction relative to the X-direction movable plate.
However, if the stage apparatus having the above described structure is not provided with any device for keeping the stationary support plate, the X-direction movable plate and the Y-direction movable plate parallel to one another, the X-direction movable plate and the Y-direction movable plate rattle relative to the stationary support plate, and each of the X-direction movable plate and the Y-direction movable plate may move while making contact with nearby elements adjacent thereto to produce friction, which may interfere with the smooth movement of each of the X-direction movable plate and the Y-direction movable plate in the X-direction and the Y-direction, respectively.

Stage apparatus and camera shake correction apparatus using the stage apparatus


A grid interconnection device includes a relay controller configured to control separation or interconnection of a relay; a receiver configured to receive, from a predetermined transmission path, power failure information containing at least local area information indicating an area in which a power failure occurs; a determination unit configured to determine an occurrence of a power failure in a power distribution system, when the power failure information includes local area information of an area to which the power distribution system belongs; and a detector configured to detect an islanding state. The detector increases detection sensitivity of the islanding state when the determination unit determines the power failure in the power distribution system. The relay controller performs separation control for the relay when the islanding state is detected by the detector.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a grid interconnection device and a grid interconnection system which includes a power conversion circuit for converting power from a power generation device into predetermined alternating-power, and which connects the power generation device to a power distribution system through the power conversion circuit and a relay.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, there has been known a system, as shown in FIG. 1, in which a plurality of power distribution systems (banks) are arranged under a power distributing substation 20, and in which a large number of customers 100a to 100c are connected in parallel to a bank 1. Specifically, each of the customers 100a to 100c includes a grid interconnection system having a power generation device and a grid interconnection device which connects the power generation device to the power distribution system. In such a grid interconnection system, when power supply to a predetermined customer (for example, the customer 100a) from the power distributing substation 20 is stopped, processing of separating the power generation device in the predetermined customer from the power distribution system is performed. However, in rare cases, disruption of power supply from the power distribution system cannot be detected and thus the separation processing is not performed. The above described state, in which the power supply from the power distributing substation 20 is stopped while the power is supplied by the power generation device in the customer 100a, is called as an islanding state. As a method for detecting the islanding state, there are a passive islanding detection method and an active islanding detection method.
The former method is a method for detecting the islanding state by using a variation in the power distribution system caused when the power supply from the power distribution system is stopped, for example, a phase change (phase jump phenomenon) in a voltage of the power distribution system, a frequency change, a voltage change and the like. Meanwhile, the latter method is a method for detecting the islanding state by applying disturbance, for example, an active variation such as a frequency variation, a phase variation, a voltage variation and a load variation, to an output of the grid interconnection system in the customer, and by using a variation in the power of the power distribution system according to the disturbance. Since the two methods have different characteristics, the interconnection guideline in Japan specifies simultaneous use of the two methods to increase power failure detection accuracy. A power failure can be normally detected in most cases by use of the above methods. However, complete detection cannot be achieved.
In consideration of the circumstances as described above, there has been proposed a transfer trip method for separating a power generation device from a system by transmitting a power failure signal in a power distribution system, which is notified from a power distributing substation, to a grid interconnection system by use of transmission means.
According to one related art, a transfer main device is provided in a power distributing substation and a transfer sub-device is provided in a grid interconnection system in a customer. By using a power line connecting the main device to the sub-device, a carrier is constantly transmitted from the transfer main device and is received by the transfer sub-device. When the carrier no longer reaches the transfer sub-device, a power receiving relay is cut off to prevent an islanding state in the grid interconnection system in the customer.
According to another related art, positions of respective power generation devices and state information of switches in a system are obtained and stored. Based on the stored information, it is individually identified under which distribution lines in which power distributing substations the respective power generation devices are located. When an accident happens in the system, a transfer trip signal is selectively transmitted only to the power generation device which is targeted for transfer trip, based on the above identification. As described above, in the another related art, since a destination is specified and power failure information is transmitted thereto, the transfer trip target can be set to the minimum.

Grid interconnection device, grid interconnection system and transfer trip system


The invention measures the rates of a whole population of existing lines together with a line characteristic, such as capacitance, that can be measured prior to provisioning. Using these measures, a rating we refer to as a “quality figure” is generated for each distribution point by looking at the rate of the lines running through that distribution point, and comparing those rates to the rates of other lines having the same line characteristic across the whole population of lines. Distribution points that have lines operating better (faster) than the average for their given line characteristic will have higher quality figures. To estimate the rate of a new line, the quality figure of the distribution point that the new line passes through is used in conjunction with the measured line characteristic as a look up on the whole population of lines.

Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) technology, often referred to as "broadband", is a family of services that provide digital data transmission over the metallic twisted copper pairs that form the telephone lines in a local telephone network. DSL is commonly used to provide a customer's home with a network connection, typically to the Internet via an ISP.
The rate, or speed, of a broadband line depends on a number of factors, including the length of the telephone line over which the service operates, and the general quality of the line. Other factors that affect the rate include external factors such as interference.
Predicting broadband line rates can be a challenge. If a telephone line has had broadband provisioned on it before, then the rate for the previous line can be used as a guide. However, if this is not available, then current methods simply average existing broadband line rates from the same exchange or region. This tends to result in estimates that rarely match the actual outcome. Some techniques are slightly more sophisticated, and group all lines having a similar line characteristic, and the select the minimum rate that say 80% of the lines can reach.
Even though there are clear technical difficulties in estimating the rate of a broadband line, there is still a growing expectancy for line rate predictions to be more accurate and not simply quote some potential (advertising) maximum.

BRITISH TELECOMMUNICATIONS public limited company


The invention relates to transdermal therapeutic system for the transdermal administration of buprenorphine, comprising a buprenorphine-containing self-adhesive layer structure comprising                A) a buprenorphine-impermeable backing layer, and        B) a buprenorphine-containing pressure-sensitive adhesive layer on said buprenorphine-impermeable backing layer, the adhesive layer comprising                    a) at least one polymer-based pressure-sensitive adhesive,            b) an analgesically effective amount of buprenorphine base or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, and            c) a carboxylic acid selected from the group consisting of oleic acid, linoleic acid and linolenic acid, levulinic acid and mixtures thereof, in an amount sufficient so that said analgesically effective amount of buprenorphine is solubilized therein to form a mixture, and the carboxylic acid buprenorphine mixture forms dispersed deposits in the said pressure-sensitive adhesive,wherein said buprenorphine-containing pressure-sensitive adhesive layer is the skin contact layer.

The active ingredient buprenorphine (5R,6R,7R,9R,13S,14S)-17-Cyclopropylmethyl-7-[(S)-3,3-dimethyl-2-hydroxybutan-2-yl]-6-methoxy-4,5-epoxy-6,14-ethanomorphinan-3-ol) is a partially synthetic opiate with high potency. Cancer patients may be treated with daily doses of around 1 mg. Despite its rather high molecular weight of 467.64 daltons, it is currently used for transdermal administration. The commercial TTS product Norspan®, also known as BuTrans®, delivers buprenorphine to the skin sufficiently to treat patients in pain for a time period of 7 days (about 168 hours) and allows therefore a use of the TTS over a time period of 7 days and allows in a fixed dosing regimen a once-weekly TTS exchange. This is specifically beneficial in terms of convenience and patient compliance. Thus the overall efficacy of the pain medicament is enhanced. However, the long administration periods may cause problems with skin irritation, which in combination with the considerable size (i.e., area of release) of the TTS may be problematic. Also, the large amount of excess drug in the TTS necessary to sustain enough driving force for sustaining the appropriate drug delivery over the long period of time is costly and has the potential to be subject to illicit use.
It is therefore desirable to reduce the overall size (i.e., area of release) of the TTS as well as the total amount of buprenorphine in the TTS before administration and also the amount remaining in the TTS after proper use, the residual amount. Thereby, the amount of drug available for illicit use (before and after proper use), and the amount to be wasted after proper use are both reduced. US Patent Application No. 2010/0119585 describes a certain TTS size and amount of drug reduction in comparison with the commercial TTS product Transtec® approved for an up-to-4 days administration regimen. Thus, the TTS needs to be replaced after 4 days at the latest. It is recommended to change Transtec® twice a week always on the same days at specific times, e.g. Monday mornings and Thursday evenings.
For convenience reasons it is, however, desirable to maintain the once weekly exchange mode (7 day dosing regimen) as, e.g., provided by the commercial product Norspan® instead of the every three to four days exchange mode as provided by, e.g., Transtec®.
All references and publications cited herein are hereby incorporated by reference in their enteritis for all purposes.

Transdermal delivery system comprising buprenorphine


Provided are recombinant constructs comprising DNA sequences encoding enzymes effective in altering the biosynthesis and accumulation of sterol compounds and tocopherols in transgenic plants. Also provided are methods of using such constructs to produce transgenic plants, seeds of which contain elevated levels of sitostanol and/or sitostanol esters, and α-tocopherol, as well as reduced levels of campesterol and campestanol and their corresponding esters. These seeds also contain the novel sterol brassicastanol. Oil obtained from seeds of such transgenic plants is also provided. This oil can be used to prepare food and pharmaceutical compositions effective in lowering the level of low density lipoprotein cholesterol in blood serum. In addition, novel DNA sequences encoding plant steroid 5α-reductases are also disclosed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to transgenic plants having improved nutritional characteristics. More particularly, the present invention relates to transgenic plants, fruit and vegetable parts of which contain modified levels of sterol compounds, such as elevated levels of beneficial phytosterols, e.g., sitosterol, phytostanols, e.g., sitostanol, and esters thereof. Such transgenic plants can also contain elevated levels of tocopherols, such as α-tocopherol. In addition, these transgenic plants can contain reduced levels of campesterol and campestanol, and their respective esters, in their fruit and vegetable parts. Nucleic acid sequences encoding a variety of different enzymes that affect the biosynthesis and accumulation of sterol compounds and tocopherols in plants, and methods for using these sequences to produce such transgenic plants, are also provided. These methods comprise, for example, introducing a 3-hydroxysteroid oxidase such as a cholesterol oxidase, optionally in combination with a steroid 5α-reductase, and further optionally in combination with at least one tocopherol biosynthetic enzyme, into plants to elevate the levels of sitostanol and tocopherols, respectively, especially in seeds.
2. Description of Related Art
Phytosterols and Phytostanols
Phytosterols and phytostanols are well known to be beneficial for lowering serum cholesterol (Ling et al. (1995) Life Sciences 57: 195-206) and reducing the risk of cardiac disease. These compounds are poorly absorbed in the liver, and block the absorption of dietary cholesterol. Phytosterols and phytostanols, however, are present only in low amounts in seeds of dicotyledonous plants such as soybean, cotton, etc. Recently, strong evidence has been obtained demonstrating the role of phytostanols (hydrogenated forms of phytosterols, for example sitostanol) in reducing serum cholesterol in humans (Ling et al., supra). Ferulate and fatty acyl esters of sitostanol are naturally present in cereal grains in low levels (Seitz (1989) J. Agric. Food Chem. 37: 662-667; Dyas et al. (1993) Phytochem. 34: 17-29). In addition to phytosterols and phytostanols, grains and seeds also contain tocopherols and tocotrienols. Tocopherols act as antioxidants, and play a major role in protecting cells from damage caused by free radicals (Halliwell (1997) Nutrition Review 55: 44-60).
Insect-Resistant Transgenic Plants Expressing 3-Hydroxysteroid Oxidases
U.S. Pat. No. 5,518,908 discloses a method of controlling insect infestation in plants, comprising expressing a structural coding sequence encoding a 3-hydroxysteroid oxidase in cells of such plants, or in plant-colonizing microorganisms that can be applied to the plants, to impart insect resistance to the latter. In the case of transgenic plants, the goal was to provide monocotyledonous and dicotyledonous plants constitutively expressing an insecticidally effective amount of a 3-hydroxysteroid oxidase in plant parts such as leaves, flowers, and, in the case of cotton, bolls. The inventors expressed a preference for the use of constitutive promoters such as the nos, ocs, CaMV 19S and 35S, ssRUBISCO, and FMV 35S promoters to achieve this goal. Expression of the 3-hydroxysteroid oxidase in the cell cytoplasm, in extracellular spaces via the use of a secretory signal sequence, and in vacuoles and chloroplasts via the use of appropriate targeting sequences, is disclosed. However, no transgenic plants expressing a 3-hydroxysteroid oxidase transgene were produced. The invention disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,518,908 is therefore distinctly different from that provided herein, as will become apparent from the description below.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,554,369, a divisional of the '908 patent, claims a method of controlling lepidopteran or boll weevil insect infestation of plants, comprising providing a 3-hydroxysteroid oxidase for ingestion by the insect.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,558,862, to the same inventors, claims a method of controlling insect infestation in plants by applying to the plant environment or plant seed a plant-colonizing microorganism that expresses heterologous DNA encoding a 3-hydroxysteroid oxidase.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,763,245, also to the same inventors, claims a method of controlling insect infestation in plants, comprising providing both a 3-hydroxysteroid oxidase and an insectidical Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) protein for ingestion by lepidopteran insects. A method of producing a genetically transformed plant producing an insecticidally effective amount of a Bt protein and a 3-hydroxysteroid oxidase, comprising inserting into the genome of a plant cell a recombinant vector comprising nucleic acid sequences encoding the two proteins, as well as a promoter heterologous to the protein coding sequences which is effective to result in expression of the protein coding sequences in an insecticidally effective amount in a genetically transformed plant, is also claimed. As in their '908, '369, and '862 patents, supra, the inventors emphasize the use of constitutive promoters to provide uniform expression in the flowering portions of plants. Transgenic corn expressing either a Bt protein alone, or in combination with a 3-hydroxysteroid oxidase, i.e., cholesterol oxidase, is disclosed. Two populations of F1 generation plants expressing both proteins were produced by crossing plants subjected to a cholesterol oxidase transformation event with a plant subjected to a Bt transformation event.
Finally, European Pat. EP 0 706 320 B1 (corresponding to PCT International Publication WO 95/01098), also to the same inventors, and claiming priority from the same U.S. patent application from which the '908 patent issued, discloses transgenic tobacco expressing a 3-hydroxysteroid oxidase gene under the control of the constitutive FMV 35 promoter. As in the other patents discussed supra, the inventors again emphasized the use of plant constitutive promoters for expressing the 3-hydroxysteroid oxidase transgene to produce insect resistant plants.
Thus, a common feature of the disclosure of each of these patents is an emphasis on the use of a constitutive plant promoter to achieve expression of an insecticidally effective amount of a 3-hydroxysteroid oxidase in the flowering parts of plants to control insect infestation. Seed-specific, embryo-specific, and plastid-specific expression are neither disclosed nor suggested. Furthermore, no reason is given why such expression would be desirable, nor is any motivation provided therefor.
In addition to the foregoing patents, several reports relating to the expression of a 3-hydroxysteroid oxidase gene in transgenic plants have appeared in the technical literature. Corbin et al. (1994) Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 60: 4239-4244 discloses the cloning and expression of the insecticidal choM cholesterol oxidase gene from Streptomyces in E. coli, and transient expression thereof in tobacco protoplasts using the constitutive FMV 35S promoter. Cho et al. (1995) Appl. Microbiol. Biotechnol. 44: 133-138 discloses the expression of the Streptomyces cholesterol oxidase gene choA in transformed tobacco callus under the control of the constitutive CaMV 35S promoter. Corbin et al. (1996) HortScience 31: 699, Abstract No. 786, discloses the cloning and expression of a cholesterol oxidase gene in transgenic tobacco plants to yield plant tissue that exerted potent activity against boll weevils. Estruch et al. (1997) Nature Biotechnology 15: 137-141 is a review of approaches to pest control in transgenic plants, focusing primarily on Bacillus thuringiensis endotoxins. The use of cholesterol oxidases as insecticidal proteins is also discussed. The authors note that enzymatically active cholesterol oxidase was detected in extracts of tobacco protoplasts transformed with native cholesterol oxidase genes, citing the 1994 Corbin et al. and 1995 Cho et al. papers, supra. Discussing future directions in the area of insect resistant transgenic plants, the authors speculate on the use of "tighter tissue-specific promoters," without giving any specific examples or suggestions. Jouanin et al. (1998) Plant Science 131: 1-11, another review article, focuses on the use of Bacillus thuringiensis δ-endotoxins and plant-derived genes such as those encoding enzyme inhibitors and lectins, to create insect resistant transgenic plants. The authors note the insecticidal activity of Streptomyces cholesterol oxidase genes, as well as the fact that most of the existing insect-resistant plants express a single resistance gene placed under the control of a constitutive promoter. In discussing strategies to retain insect susceptibility to B. thuringiensis genes expressed in transgenic plants, the authors note the use of constitutive, tissue-specific, and inducible promoters. They suggest that a means of avoiding the development of resistance by insects due to high selection pressure when constitutive toxin expression is employed in transgenic plants is via the use of tissue-specific promoters to limit insect exposure to the toxin in certain parts of the plant attacked by the insect. However, no specific examples or suggestions as to any particular tissues or tissue-specific promoters are disclosed. Interestingly, the authors note that targeted expression of insecticidal genes in transgenic plants could ensure public acceptance thereof, giving as an example the expression of an insect toxin in leaves of potato plants rather than in the tubers to control the Colorado potato beetle. This suggests toxin expression in plants only where it is needed to control insect pests, e.g., in non-food plant parts, when possible. Finally, Corbin et al. (1998) HortScience 33: 614-617 reviews strategies for identifying and developing new insecticidal proteins for insect control in transgenic crop plants. In addition to discussing Bacillus thuringiensis δ-endotoxins, the authors also review research on cholesterol oxidase. Without providing any experimental details, they note that they expressed the cholesterol oxidase gene from Streptomyces A19249 in transgenic tobacco, and demonstrated insecticidal activity of this tissue against boll weevil larvae. They also note that they are currently characterizing the expression and biological activity of cholesterol oxidase produced in transgenic cotton plants, again providing no experimental details.
Taken together, the foregoing patents and journal articles reveal that the approach generally employed up to this time to confer insect resistance on plants by recombinant methods has been to express an insecticidal protein constitutively in a transgenic plant. While suggesting that tissue-specific expression may have certain advantages, these publications provide no specific examples or strategies. Targeting of enzymes involved in insect resistance to plastids via the use of appropriate signal peptides in conjunction with constitutive promoters has been suggested. Note, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,518,908. The use of tissue-specific promoters, such as seed-specific promoters, for this purpose, and direct transformation of plastids, especially those in seed tissues, has not been disclosed or suggested. This literature does suggest, however, that limiting expression to plant parts attacked by insects, for example leaves, and avoiding expression in plant parts used as food or sources of food products or ingredients, for example potato tubers, is desirable. Thus, these references teach away from the concept of expressing an insecticidal protein such as a cholesterol oxidase in a plant part such as a seed, which can be a food, and a source of food products or ingredients such as oil and meal. Nor do any of these references teach or suggest the modification of endogenous phytostanol levels in plants transformed with such genes, or that such modification is even possible using such genes. Thus, these references provide no motivation to employ a cholesterol oxidase to alter phytosterol/phytostanol levels in plants, nor do they suggest that overexpression thereof in planta to modify phytosterol/phytostanol profiles carries with it a reasonable expectation of success.
Nutritional Value of Plant Oils
Vegetable and bran oils are the best natural sources of phytosterols and phytostanols. However, the amount of phytostanols in these oils is low relative to that of other sterol compounds. Increasing the content of phytostanols such as sitostanol in plant oils is thus desired in the art. Currently, most sitostanol is produced by processing soy oil, and converting β-sitosterol to sitostanol by hydrogenation. Such modifications are known to improve the anti-atherogenic activity of these phytosterols. However, besides adding cost, such chemical interventions can result in the formation of undesirable isomers. Therefore, modification of phytosterols by transesterification and/or reduction of double bonds in planta is an economical, efficient means of producing desired phytosterol derivatives, including phytosterol esters, phytostanols, and phytostanol esters. The ability to convert phytosterols to phytostanol esters naturally would add significant nutritional value to grains and seeds. Furthermore, naturally enhancing the levels of sitostanol, sitostanol esters, and tocopherols would not only improve the nutritional value of cereal grains and seeds, but also facilitates "stacking" of a combination of nutritionally important bioactive molecules in a single, convenient source. In this way, foods and food products containing bioactive molecules having superior bioavailability and efficacy can be designed to improve human nutrition and cardiovascular health.

Transgenic plants containing altered levels of sterol compounds and tocopherols


Apparatus and method to improve the speed, scalability, robustness and dynamism of multicast data transfers to remote computers. Many Grid Computing applications, such as Genomics, Proteomics, Seismic, Risk Management, etc., require a priori transfer of sets of files or other data to remote computers prior to processing taking place. Existing multicast and data transfer protocols are static and can not guarantee that all nodes will contain a copy of the replicated data or files. The fully distributed data transfer and data replication protocol of the invention permits transfers which minimize processing requirements on master transfer nodes by spreading work across the network. The result is higher scalability than current centralized protocols, more dynamism and allows fault-tolerance by distribution of functionality. The ability to distribute the protocol is simplified through our innovative symmetric-connectionless data transfer protocol.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to transferring and replicating data among geographically separated computing devices, and, in particular, to implementing a multicast file transfer protocol to transfer files more rapidly, robustly and to more computing devices than current methods permit. In addition, the invention can be used to asynchronously maintain a set of replicated files throughout computer failures and introduction of new computers into the network.
2. Description of the Related Art
Grid Computers, Computer Farms and similar Computer Clusters are being used to deploy a novel type of parallel applications based on concurrent independent tasks related only by their individual contribution to a global problem's resolution. Until now all parallel applications were based on splitting a single task into a multitude of collaborating subtasks (i.e. OpenMP, PVM, MPI, etc). However, in some application areas users have recently started to split single large problems into a multitude of sub problems which can be resolved independently of one another. This methodology allows higher scalability and permits the use of Grid Computing techniques and the use of cost efficient computing solutions (i.e. clusters), but requires that the necessary data files first be replicated to the remote nodes prior to the computation taking place. It is this problem of replicated data transfers that our invention addresses.
Existing art to address data file transfer falls into three categories.
First, tasks can make use of on-demand file transfer apparatus, better known as file servers. For problems where file access is minimal, this type of solution works as long as the cluster size (i.e. number of remote computers) is limited to a few hundred. For large and frequent file accesses, this solution does not scale beyond a handful of nodes. Moreover, if entire data files are accessed by all nodes, the total amount of data transfer will be N times that of a single file transfer (where N is the number of nodes). This waste of network bandwidth limits scalability and penalizes computational performance as the nodes are blocked waiting for remote data.
Second, users or tasks can manually transfer files prior to execution though a point-to-point file transfer protocol. There are three types of point-to-point protocols. Standard file transfer protocols (i.e. ftp, tftp) where one file is transferred to one remote node, one packet at a time. Sliding window file transfer protocols, such as the "parallel file transfer protocol" from Donald J. Fabozzi II where multiple packets transit concurrently on their way to a single remote node. And parallel file transfer protocols (ex HPSS PFTP) where multiple point-to-point file transfers operate concurrently. While these methods improve network bandwidth utilization over demand based schemes, the final result is the same: a file is transferred "N" times over the network when replicating information unto "N" remote computers. Moreover, additional file transfers must continually be initiated to cope with the constantly varying nature of large computer networks (i.e. new nodes being added to increase a cluster or Grid size or to replace failed or obsolete nodes).
Third, users or tasks can manually transfer file prior to execution through a multicast (or broadcast) file transfer protocol (ex StarBurst SMFTP). In this scheme each file fragment sent over the network is simultaneously read by all participating remote computers. Hence network bandwidth usage is limited to the same amount of data traffic as for a single point-to-point file transfer. This is currently the most frequent scheme used to resolve problems having been split into multiple concurrent independent tasks as described above. However, this form of apparatus is imperfect. For instance, error recovery is concurrent to the multicast phase. This imposes an increased workload on the master file server node and eventually will limit scalablity. These schemes also are based on the notion of node registration, where prior to the multicast phase, all active and participating remote computers must register to participate in a transfer request. Hence, new nodes being booted during or after the multicast transfer phase will not be participating in the effort to replicate files. Another drawback is that registered computers which crash during the multicast phase cannot join back the transfer group after reboot. Finally, these schemes cannot survive through a crash on the master file server (i.e. the computer which performs the multicast file transfer). These sum of these limitations is that current multicast file transfer art work fail at their task of insuring correct file replication among all participating remote computers in a normal setup of dynamic and error prone network of computers. They lack the fault-tolerance, ability to handle dynamic registration, scalability to tens of thousands of nodes and capability to persist with the file replication effort once the master transfer process terminates.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Completing an interrupted data replication operation


A planar heater 1 in which a power supply terminal unit 108 which supplies an electric power is arranged on a central portion on a lower surface of a silica glass plate-like member 102. The power supply terminal unit includes small-diameter silica glass tubes 105a and 106a, which contain a connection line which supplies an electric power to a carbon heat generator and a large-diameter silica glass tube 2 which contains the small-diameter silica glass tubes 105a and 106a. A flange portion 2a is formed on a lower end of the large-diameter silica glass tube 2, and a bent portion 2b having different diameters is formed between an upper end of the large-diameter silica glass and the flange portion 2a, and the first heat shielding plates 19, 20 and 21 configured by metal plates or opaque silica glass plates are contained in the large-diameter silica glass tube below the bent portion.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a planar heater, more particularly to a planar heater in which a carbon wire heat generator is sealed in a silica glass plate-like member, and to a planar heater preferably used in a heat treatment for a wafer in a semiconductor manufacturing process.
2. Description of the Related Art
In semiconductor manufacturing processes, various heat treatments are performed to a silica wafer and the like in the steps. These heat treatments require severe temperature management, and a heat treatment atmosphere is required to maintain clean atmosphere in which particles such as dust are not present.
For this reason, a heater used in a heat treatment requires good temperature uniformity and good temperature rising/dropping controllability, and needs to satisfy various conditions such as a condition that a contamination material such as particles are not emitted. As one of these semiconductor manufacturing heaters, a heater having a structure in which a heat generator and a non-oxide atmospheric gas are sealed in a supporting member such as a silica glass member is known.
The present inventors developed a semiconductor heat treatment apparatus heater as a very preferable semiconductor manufacturing heater in which a carbon wire heat generator fabricated by weaving a plurality of carbon fiber bundles each obtained by bundling extra fine carbon fibers is sealed in a supporting member such as a silica glass member together with a non-oxidizing atmospheric gas and have filed the heater as Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2007-220595.
The heater described in Patent Document 1 will be described below with reference to FIGS. 9 to 11. FIG. 9 is a plan view showing a planar heater, FIG. 10 is a side view of a planar heater shown in FIG. 9, and FIG. 11 is a sectional view along an I-I line in FIG. 10.
As shown in FIGS. 9 and 10, in a planar heater 100, a heating surface 101 is circular planarly formed, and a carbon wire heat generator CW is sealed in a silica glass plate-like member 102. The silica glass plate-like member 102 includes a first silica glass member 102a, a second silica glass member 102b, and a third silica glass member 102c.
The upper and lower surfaces of the first silica glass member 102a and the third silica glass member 102c are planarly formed. On the other hand, in the upper surface of the second silica glass member 102b, a trench 102d having the same shape as that of an arrangement pattern shown in FIG. 9 is formed. In the lower surface of the second silica glass member 102b, trenches 102e1 and 102e2 radially extending from the center are provided.
On the planar heater 100, as shown in FIG. 9, the heating surface 101 is divided into four regions A, B, C, and D. More specifically, a carbon wire heat generator CW is arranged in each of the regions A and B which are regions obtained by dividing an inside region of the heating surface 101 by two and furthermore, the regions C and D which are regions obtained by dividing an outside region positioned on the circumference of the inside region of the heating surface 101.
The trench 102d in the inside regions (region A and region B) of the heating surface 101 communicates with a through hole formed in positions a and b of the central portion on the heating surface 101. On the other hand, the trench 102d in the outside regions (region C and region D) of the heating surface 101 communicate with a through hole formed in outer circumferential positions e and f of a heating surface 101a.
One end of the trench 102e1 communicates with a through hole formed in a position c of the central portion on the heating surface 101, and the other end communicates with the through hole formed in the position e of the outer circumferential portion of the heating surface 101. Similarly, one end of the trench 102e2 communicates with a through hole formed in a position d of the central portion on the heating surface 101, and the other end communicates with the through hole formed in the position f of the outer circumferential portion of the heating surface 101.
The carbon wire heat generator CW is contained in the internal portion of the trench 102d in the inside regions (region A and region B) and the outside regions (region C and region D), a connection line 103b is contained in the trench 102e1, and a connection line 103a is contained in the trench 102e2.
Furthermore, at the lower central portion of a first silica glass member 2a, as shown in FIGS. 10 and 11, an electric power supply terminal unit 108 having connection lines 103a, 103b, 104a, and 104b energized to the carbon wire heat generator CW is arranged. The connection lines 103a and 103b are connection lines to energize the regions C and D of the outside regions, and the connection lines 104a and 104b are connection lines to energize the center portion side regions A and B.
As shown in FIGS. 10 and 11, the connection line 103a is contained in a silica glass tube 105a, and the connection line 103b is contained in a silica glass tube 105b. The silica glass tubes 105a and 105b which contain the connection lines 103a and 103b pass through the first silica glass member 102a to be brought into contact with the lower surface of the second silica glass member 102b.
Therefore, the connection line 103a enters the trench 102e2 from the silica glass tube 105a at the position d, and is connected to carbon wire heat generators CWC and CWD in the regions C and D of the outside regions through a through hole at the position f. Similarly, the connection line 103b enters the trench 102e1 from the silica glass tube 105b at the position c, and is connected to the carbon wire heat generator CW in the regions C and D of the outside regions through a through hole at the position e.
The connection line 104a is contained in silica glass tube 106a, and the connection line 104b is contained in a silica glass tube 106b. The silica glass tubes 106a and 106b pass through the first silica glass member 102a to be brought into contact with an internal portion bottom surface in which a through hole formed in the second silica glass member 102b opens. Therefore, the connection line 104a passes from the silica glass tube 106a through a through hole at the position a, and is connected to the carbon wire heat generator CW in the center portion side regions A and B. The connection line 104b passes from the silica glass tube 106b through a through hole at the position b, and is connected to the carbon wire heat generator CW in the center portion side regions A and B.
End portions of all the silica glass tubes 105a, 105b, 106a, and 106b which contain the connection lines 103a, 103b, 104a, and 104b are sealed and contained in the internal portion of a large-diameter silica glass tube 107.
In this manner, since the connection lines 103a, 103b, 104a, and 104b are concentrated on a central portion on a rear surface of the heating surface 101 and configured as the power supply terminal unit 108, a compact heat generator can be achieved. A heater obtained by sealing the heat generator in a clean heat-resistant support member such as a high-purity silica glass member together with a non-oxidizing gas does not generate particles or the like, and are very preferably used as a semiconductor manufacturing heater as described above.
In the meanwhile, Radiant heat from the carbon wire heat generator CW is propagated to not only the heating surface 101 of the planar heater but also to the lower side of the planar heater 100. In particular, a lower end portion of the large-diameter silica glass tube 107 is attached to a flange or the like of a casing through an O ring. For this reason, radiant heat from the carbon wire heat generator CW passes through the internal portion of the large-diameter silica glass tube 107, is propagated to the O ring, and deteriorates the O ring to pose a technical problem.


A lane departure warning mirror for a vehicle is disclosed that includes a reflecting member and a supporting member that supports the reflecting member on an area of a vehicle within a driver peripheral vision area, wherein the reflecting member is disposed so that an edge mark in a detection area is mirrored to the driver's peripheral vision area.

More than half of vehicle accidents are caused when a vehicle departs from a lane of travel due to, for example, driver distraction during driving, even in the case where the driver looks ahead.
To prevent an unintentional lane departure, a lane departure warning system has been proposed. Such a departure warning system detects departure of the vehicle from the lane of travel by using a camera installed in the vehicle, and alerts the driver about the departure by a warning means, such as a flashing lamp and/or an audio device. However, such a system can be expensive.
A lane departure warning mirror for a vehicle is proposed herein. In one embodiment, the lane departure warning mirror includes a reflecting member and a supporting member that supports the reflecting member on an area of a vehicle within a driver peripheral vision area. The reflecting member is disposed so that an edge mark, such as a center line marker, a road side mark, road side guard rail, edge or curb stone, or any other mark representing an edge of a lane or road, in a detection area is mirrored.
Accordingly, the lane departure warning mirror disclosed herein is capable of warning a driver about an imminent lane departure at minimal cost so that the driver may take an appropriate action.

Nissan Technical Center North America, Inc.