The present invention provides a manipulable or reconfigurable dental model system and methods for its use to model a series of tooth configurations corresponding to sequential tooth movements during an orthodontic treatment. When a patient undergoes orthodontic treatment, teeth and bite configurations are realigned in a series of stages. Each stage represents a new pattern or dental configuration that will eventually lead to a proper final positioning of the entire dentition. Progress from the initial configuration, through the intermediate stages and finally to the final configuration may be accomplished using any one or a combination of different dental appliances. Of particular interest to the present invention, many of these appliances may be made using a dental mold representing the patient""s dental configuration. In particular, thermoformable plastic positioning appliances which fit over the patient""s teeth may be formed over a three-dimensional mold of the patient""s dentition. When successive appliances are used throughout treatment to reposition the teeth from initial to final configuration, a new mold has typically been produced to fabricate the appliance for each stage. The present invention provides an apparatus and methods which employ a manipulable or reconfigurable mold to model patient dentition and gingiva at each stage of treatment.

The present invention is related generally to the field of orthodontics. More particularly, the present invention is related to a dental model system which can be manipulated to model a series of tooth configurations for a single patient throughout orthodontic treatment.
Orthodontic treatments involve repositioning misaligned teeth and improving bite configurations for improved cosmetic appearance and dental function. Repositioning is accomplished by applying gentle controlled forces to the teeth over an extended period of time. Due to the limited space within the oral cavity and extensive movements that some teeth must undergo, the teeth will often be moved throughout a series of intermediate patterns to properly arrange the teeth. For example, molars may be temporarily distalized to create adequate space for movement of the incisors. Thus, a single patient may experience an average of 25-30 stages or alignment patterns before achieving the final desired configuration.
Such repositioning may be accomplished with a variety of orthodontic treatments and dental appliances, including conventional braces, spring retainers, positioners, and other removable aligners. With any treatment, an initial mold of the patient""s teeth is made. This mold provides a model of the patient""s teeth that the orthodontist uses to formulate a treatment strategy. In some instances, it may be desirable to create additional molds of the patient""s teeth throughout the treatment plan to reflect individual stages. For example, the treatment strategy may be re-evaluated or a dental appliance may need to be fit to an intermediate tooth configuration.
The need for intermediate tooth configuration molds is particularly significant when using removable elastic appliances to move the teeth. Such elastic appliances typically include a thin shell of elastic material that generally conforms to the pattern of a patient""s teeth, but is slightly out of alignment with the initial tooth configuration. By properly choosing the alternate configuration, placement of the elastic appliance over the teeth will move individual teeth to a desired position. Over time, multiple elastic appliances used in successive stages of treatment, will move the teeth to intermediate or final tooth positions. Such a system is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,975,893, and in published PCT application WO 98/58596 which designates the United States and which is assigned to the assignee of the present application. Both these documents are incorporated by reference for all purposes. When using elastic appliances as described above, a series of appliances are made to reflect the successive stages of treatment. Such appliances are typically made by heating and vacuum or pressure-sealing a sheet of thermoformable plastic over the dentition of a mold.
Traditional methods of dental mold making may be utilized to fabricate a mold for such use. These methods require first forming an impression of the patent""s dentition using a suitable impression material, such as alginate or polyvinylsiloxane (PVS). Plaster is then poured into the impression to create a permanent, three-dimensional mold of the dentition. To create an appliance to reflect the next desired tooth configuration in the series of treatment stages, a new mold must be created to reflect the desired configuration. This involves individually cutting the teeth from the mold and resetting the teeth in the desired configuration. Wax is then used to fill in the spaces and represent gingiva. This is a tedious process which compounds both cost and time of treatment for the patient. Resetting is accomplished by either taking into service a laboratory technician or by sending the mold out to a dental laboratory. This process typically requires 2.5 weeks to be accomplished. This represents lost time in the treatment plan as the patient cannot progress to the next stage of treatment until a positioning appliance with the new desired configuration is created. Since such an orthodontic treatment may require, for example, 25 intermediate reset molds to represent 25 stages of treatment progress, the cost and time required for such mold making may be prohibitively high.
The process of iterative mold making may be improved with the use of digital imaging and computer controlled molding systems. Here the patient""s initial tooth arrangement and shape of the patient""s dental arch are represented by a digital data set. The data set can then be manipulated to reflect progressive tooth arrangements. For each arrangement, the data may be used to guide computerized model fabrication systems to create a corresponding three-dimensional mold. Such techniques may speed production time and reduce costs by eliminating the need for artistic resetting of teeth in mold manufacturing.
Although the above described process aids in the production of iterative molds, further improvement may be desired. The cost in time and materials to produce each mold, though lessened, may still be significant. This cost is additive, as each new stage in treatment or each change in treatment requires the production of a new mold. Likewise, the cost of storing a series of molds for each patient throughout treatment may be formidable. In addition, it may be desirable to visualize a sequence of treatment stages, particularly in an academic environment or in a preliminary patient meeting.
For these reasons, it would be desirable to provide an alternative apparatus and methodology for realizing a series tooth configurations. Such apparatus and methods should be economical, reusable, reduce time consumption, reduce material waste, and, in particular, should reduce the need for fabricating multiple casts of teeth arrangements for stages in the orthodontic treatment. At least some of these objectives, as well as others, are met by the apparatus and methods of the invention described hereinafter.
The present invention provides a manipulable or reconfigurable dental model system and methods for its use to model a series of tooth configurations corresponding to sequential tooth movements during an orthodontic treatment. When a patient undergoes orthodontic treatment, teeth and bite configurations are realigned in a series of stages. Each stage represents a new pattern or dental configuration that will eventually lead to a proper final positioning of the entire dentition. Progress from the initial configuration, through the intermediate stages and finally to the final configuration may be accomplished using any one or a combination of different dental appliances. Of particular interest to the present invention, many of these appliances may be made using a dental mold representing the patient""s dental configuration. In particular, thermoformable polymeric positioning appliances which fit over the patient""s teeth may be formed over a three-dimensional mold of the patient""s dentition. When successive appliances are used throughout treatment to reposition the teeth from initial to final configuration, a new mold has typically been produced to fabricate the appliance for each stage. The present invention provides an apparatus and methods which employ a manipulable or reconfigurable mold to model patient dentition and optionally gingiva at each stage of treatment.
In one embodiment of the present invention, a single dental mold is manipulated and reconfigured to model different tooth configurations by controlling the movement of at least some individual tooth members, or groups of members, with manipulation mechanisms. The tooth members may be composed of any natural or synthetic material which can be formed to represent the teeth and other dental features in the dental model. Generally, the tooth members are supported by or on a frame which is typically configured to a patient""s dental arch. The frame provides a support, typically a hollow interior portion in which the tooth members are positioned. The tooth members are coupled individually or in groups to one or more manipulation devices located on or in the support, typically being disposed within the hollow interior portion of the frame. Each manipulation device provides the mechanisms necessary to position and rearrange one or more of the tooth members relative to the frame and to each other. In this way, multiple successive tooth arrangements can be provided using a single mold without having to provide individual casts for each arrangement.
In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a dental model system is comprised of independently reconfigurable teeth and gingiva to model different tooth configurations with supporting gingiva. The tooth members may be designed and manipulated as described above. The simulated gingiva may be independently manipulated to correspond to the patient""s gingiva throughout treatment. The presence of simulated gingiva on the dental mold is necessary for the production of some dental appliances. For example, elastic repositioning appliances are typically formed over the entire dentition and may extend to partially cover the gingiva. After trimming of such appliances, portions of the gingiva may still be covered by the appliance, particularly in the regions between the teeth. Therefore, it is necessary to form the appliance with receptacles to receive the both the patient""s teeth and associated gingiva for proper fit. This may be accomplished with simulated gingiva which is integral or independent of the dental mold of the present invention. Likewise, the simulated gingiva may be manipulated independently or jointly with the tooth members.
While the present invention is most advantageously used with only a single reconfigurable dental model system, it will be appreciated that in some cases it may be desirable to employ two or more reconfigurable model systems for a single patient, e.g. when the total tooth movement is greater than that which may be achieved with a single manipulable dental model system. Thus, in some cases, two or more reconfigurable model systems may be used for preparing or modeling multiple sets of tooth moving appliances for a single patient.
After the tooth members and simulated gingiva on the dental mold are configured to a desired position, a dental appliance can be made to fit the dentition. In the case of elastic positioning appliances, a thermoformable polymeric material can be applied to the mold to heat and form the appliance. Alternatively, reaction casting may be used. The mold can then be reconfigured to permit fabrication of the next mold, and the steps repeated until the totality of appliances are produced. The appliances, of course, need not all be produced at the same time. Indeed, it is a particular advantage that the reconfigurable mold may be retained and used at a later date (i.e., after an initial production of appliances).
In the first aspect of the present invention, the reconfigurable model system may be produced with manual mold making methods. First an initial mold of the patient""s teeth and dental arch are created. This may be accomplished with traditional mold making methods, such as those described in Graber, Orthodontics: Principle and Practice, Second Edition, Saunders, Philadelphia, 1969, pp. 401-415. The casts may be made from materials, such as plaster, stone, acrylic, urethane, epoxy, plastics, wood, paper, metals, ceramics, porcelain, biomaterials or any material that would provide a stable structure for later processing conditions. The teeth may then be separated from the mold using knives, saws, files or other cutting tools, or the teeth may be cast individually from known methods. The frame may be produced by a variety of methods, including machining, molding, or construction from functional materials. Likewise, the frame may be generated from the mold of the dental arch, by hand-carving, machining or other methods. Appropriate attachment sections for the tooth members may be generated for coupling the members to the manipulation mechanisms.
In a second aspect of the present invention, the reconfigurable model system may be produced with the use of digital imaging and computer controlled molding systems. To create the dental arch and tooth members, a digital data set (hereinafter IDDS) representing a patient""s initial tooth arrangement and shape of the patient""s dental arch is obtained. The IDDS may be obtained in a variety of ways. For example, the patient""s teeth may be scanned or imaged using well known technology, such as X-rays, three-dimensional X-rays, computer-aided tomographic images or data sets, magnetic resonance images, etc. Methods for digitizing such conventional images to produce data sets useful in the present invention are well known and described in the patent and medical literature. Usually, however, the present invention will rely on first obtaining a cast of the patient""s teeth by traditional methods as described above. After the casting is obtained, it can be digitally scanned using a conventional laser scanner, destructive scanning or other range acquisition system to produce the IDDS. General techniques for producing plaster casts of teeth and generating digital models using laser scanning techniques are described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,605,459, the full disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
Once the initial cast of the patient""s teeth is made and digitized, a new cast model of the individual patient""s teeth may be physically re-created from the IDDS. This may be accomplished with the use of a proprietary software application, commercially known as TREAT, available from Align Technology Inc. of Sunnyvale, Calif. A description of the software is included in U.S. Pat. No. 5,975,893, previously incorporated by reference. With TREAT, a three-dimensional, digital image of the patient""s teeth and jaw, including teeth, gingiva and other oral tissue, may be generated from the IDDS data. While viewing the image, the user can virtually delete or cut away any unwanted structure (i.e. data).
The teeth and frame of the reconfigurable model system may be produced with the use of the IDDS data and TREAT software. Individual teeth may be virtually isolated by deleting unwanted sections, such as surrounding gingiva and the base of the originally scanned cast. Optionally, the data can be manipulated, deleted or added to create an attachment section on the tooth to be used for coupling to the manipulation mechanism. The resulting data may then be used to guide model fabrication systems, such as stereolithography, CNC machining, laser machining, and other molding systems, to create molds of the individual tooth members. Similar methodology may be used to produce the frame. In this case, the teeth may be virtually deleted to isolate the dental arch and other desired features. Specific design features in the frame may be created by manipulating, adding or deleting data. The resulting data may then be used to guide molding fabrication 25 systems, such as stereolithography, CNC machining, laser machining, and other molding systems, to create the mold of the frame. In either case, the molded parts may be made from a variety of materials, including but not limited to plaster, stone, acrylic, urethane, epoxy, plastics, wood, paper, metals, ceramics, porcelain or biomaterials, that would provide a stable structure for later processing conditions.
In a third aspect of the present invention, the molded tooth members, generated by any of the above described methods, may be coupled to one or more manipulation mechanisms. The mechanisms are preferably disposed within the frame and are coupled to the tooth members for independently moving each tooth member between a plurality of discrete or continuous positions. The movements may range from one to six degrees of freedom. The movements may be achieved by manual actuation of a mechanism or they may be controlled by a microprocessor in accordance with a software code. Likewise, the movements may be achieved manually with the visual aide of computer graphics. In any case, the tooth members may be manipulated to produce a series of tooth configurations for use in a variety of orthodontic treatments. Such uses may include but are not limited to visualization for educational or descriptive purposes, production of a series of removable elastic positioning appliances, and production of other appliances for dental applications.
In a fourth aspect of the present invention, simulated gingiva may be present and may be manipulated to correspond to the patient""s gingiva throughout treatment. Such simulated gingiva may be assembled with the tooth members and frame as an independent body, or it may be integral with the frame. Likewise, it may be manually manipulated or processor controlled. Manual methods may typically involve applying a putty-type material to the frame surrounding the tooth members. Such material may be, but is not limited to, wax, silicone rubber or polysiloxane impression material. Once applied, the putty may be manipulated by hand to model the gingival configuration of the patient. When the dental model system is to be reconfigured, the putty may be partially or entirely removed and reapplied when the tooth members are arranged in the new configuration. Alternatively, the simulated gingiva may be comprised of inflatable bladders or pockets which may be pressure controlled by hand or by a processor. The bladder material may be any elastomeric material, such as nylon, silicone, latex, polyurethane, or the like. The bladders may be present on the frame, surrounding each tooth member. As the bladders are inflated, with air or a suitable liquid, the surface geometry of the simulated gingival layer may be manipulated. In another embodiment, the simulated gingiva may be comprised of a flexible sheeting along the gingival line. Attached to the underside of the sheeting may be a series of support shafts which may be manipulated by hand or by a processor. Such manipulation may alter the surface geometry of the simulated gingival layer.
Additional embodiments of the present invention involve alternative designs and methods of reconfiguring a single dental model system to model different tooth and gingiva configurations. For example, a single model system may be comprised or partially comprised of a series of model shafts which may be manipulated individually or in the groups in the vertical direction by one or more mechanisms. The model shafts may be of any cross-sectional geometry and dimension, and they may have any tip design. In an initial position, the tips of the model shafts may be positioned along a plane parallel to the gingival line. Upon actuation of a mechanism, the model shafts may be raised to varying levels, individually or in groups. Together, the tips of the shafts may form the surface features of the tooth members, gingiva, and other dental features. Different tooth and gingival configurations may be accomplished by movement of the model shafts. In another example, a single dental model system may be reconfigured to model different tooth and gingiva configurations by repeated resurfacing of the original mold. In this case, portions of the original mold may be removed by manual methods, CNC machining, lasers or other material removal methods. Typically, such portions are superficial, allowing the underlying support structure to remain intact. Material may then be added to appropriate portions of the mold by manual methods, stereolithography, or other molding systems. Such resurfacing may be repeated to create different tooth and gingival configurations.
In a further aspect of the present invention, a method is provided for fabrication of a series of dental position adjustment appliances. The method includes providing a dental model system having manipulable tooth members. One or more of the manipulable tooth members is then positioned into a first-tooth arrangement. At this point, a first appliance is formed with an impression from the mold with the teeth arranged in the first-tooth arrangement. After a first appliance is formed, one or more of the manipulable tooth members is positioned in a second-tooth arrangement. A second appliance is then formed with an impression from the mold of the second-tooth arrangement. Additional successive appliances can be formed at the same time and/or at one or more later times.
In an alternative aspect, an improved method for repositioning teeth is provided using appliances comprising polymeric shells having cavities shaped to receive and resiliently reposition teeth. The improvement includes determining at the outset of treatment, a geometry for at least one appliance selected to move the teeth to a desired intermediate arrangement and at a later time (usually after the teeth have been moved through at least one, and usually at least two, three, four, five, or more stages) determining one or more geometries for at least one additional appliance having a geometry selected to move the teeth from an actual intermediate arrangement to a successive intermediate or final tooth arrangement. The actual intermediate tooth arrangement may be determined by any available method, usually by taking a mold and optically scanning the mold, but optionally by direct optical or other scanning of the patient""s teeth.

Manipulable dental model system for fabrication of a dental appliance


A method of forming a semiconductor device includes forming a trench in a passivating layer between neighboring fins. A barrier is formed in the trench. Conductive contacts are formed in the passivating layer to provide electrical connectivity to the fins. The conductive contacts are in direct contact with sidewalls of the barrier. A semiconductor device includes a passivating layer over a pair of fins. A barrier extends through the passivating layer and between the pair of fins and that electrically isolates the fins. Electrical contacts are formed through the passivating layer to the fins. The electrical contacts directly contact sidewalls of the barrier.

Technical Field
The present invention relates to forming semiconductor devices with small device pitch and, more particularly, to forming a liner between contacts.
Description of the Related Art
As the size of transistors and other semiconductor devices decreases, these devices may be packed with ever greater efficiency onto integrated chips. In addition, improved fabrication technologies allow these devices to be formed closer together than ever before.
However, as the pitch between semiconductor devices decreases and the individual components of the devices come closer together, the risk of fabrication errors increases. In addition, the fabrication of some components may be coarse relative to others. In one example, forming contacts to the gates and source and drain regions of transistors can be difficult on tight semiconductor pitches, as a larger top critical dimension is used. This may result in contacts that are large enough to contact neighboring devices, creating short circuits that may lead to device failure.
The ground rules of the integrated chip design therefore need the contacts to be separated to prevent tip-to-tip or tip-to-side shorts, limiting the reduction in the area consumed by the device that would otherwise be possible with improved fabrication technologies.

Forming reliable contacts on tight semiconductor pitch

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION


The disclosure relates to a coating plant robot (1), in particular as a manipulating robot (1) for opening or closing a motor vehicle bodywork during a painting process, comprising a robot kinematic system (6-15) for moving an effector (14) in the space. The disclosure provides that the robot kinematic system (6-15) has a first robot arm (8) with a parallel kinematic system.

The disclosure relates to a coating plant robot, in particular as a manipulating robot for opening or closing a motor vehicle bodywork during a painting process.
In modern painting plants for painting motor vehicle bodywork units, the doors and hoods (trunk hood and engine hood) are opened during the painting process in order to be able to undertake an interior painting in the interior of the motor vehicle bodywork. Subsequently, the doors and hoods must then be closed again. For this purpose, manipulating robots are usually employed which are typically configured as SCARA robots (SCARA: Selective Compliance Assembly Robot Arm) and have exclusively parallel or perpendicularly oriented rotation axes. These SCARA robots typically have a gripper for opening the doors of the motor vehicle bodywork.
A disadvantage with such SCARA robots is the relatively low mechanical stiffness which can become a problem both with a static loading as well as with a dynamic loading.
A further disadvantage of the known SCARA robots is the limited reach. This problem can be solved with an additional linear travel axis on which the SCARA robot is displaceably mounted. However, such a linear travel axis is susceptible to dirt and is associated with additional investment and maintenance costs. Another solution to the problem of the limited reach lies in providing additional joints and robot elements, by means of which the reach of the SCARA robot can be increased. A disadvantage of this solution, however, is the fact that the SCARA robot forms a relatively large interference profile, even in the folded-together state, and the interference profile represents a hindrance for other robots and for a downwardly directed airflow in the paint booth.
Reference is also made, with regard to the prior art, to EP 1 614 480 A1 and DE 10 2005 033 972 A1. These documents disclose an application robot with a robot kinematic system which combines a serial kinematic system with a parallel kinematic system. However, these known robots do not involve a manipulating robot, but a painting robot. Furthermore, the parallel kinematic system is herein proximally arranged and is mounted on a ceiling or a wall of a paint booth. The parallel kinematic system therefore does not represent a robot arm in the proper sense.
Furthermore, reference is made with regard to the general technological background of the disclosure, to GB 2 516 545 A, DE 10 2011 121 343 A1, U.S. Pat. No. 5,423,648, JP 2003 089 090 A and U.S. Pat. No. 4,342,536.

Coating plant robot, in particular manipulating robot


An inrush current suppressing device includes a residual-magnetic-flux calculating unit configured to retain an interruption characteristic of a breaker and an attenuation characteristic of a magnetic flux that are estimated by measurement, analysis, or the like beforehand, and apply the attenuation characteristic to a magnetic flux value at the time of current interruption obtained based on the interruption characteristic of the breaker to calculate a residual magnetic flux value. The breaker is turned on in a power supply voltage phase in which the calculated residual magnetic flux value and a theoretical value of a steady magnetic flux match.

During excitation and turn-on of a no-load transformer, it is likely that, because of a magnetic saturation characteristic of a transformer core, an excitation inrush current several times larger than the rated current occurs to causes voltage fluctuations and unnecessary trips relays. To suppress the excitation inrush current, a breaker needs to be turned on in a voltage phase in which a residual magnetic flux remaining in the transformer core after interruption and a steady magnetic flux (an alternating magnetic flux generated when a rated voltage is applied to the transformer) match. For example, there is disclosed a technology for storing a phase of an alternating-current voltage at a time of breaker opening and adjusting output time of a breaker turn-on signal such that, at a time of the next turn-on, the breaker can be turned on in a phase same as the phase of the alternating-current voltage at the time of the breaker opening (e.g., Patent Literature 1).


A low-cost vehicle control system and a car using the system controls radiation of an actuator driver and thereby reduces the radiation component cost and allows downsizing of an electronic control unit to improve the versatility. The vehicle control system has an electronic control unit, a plurality of actuators and actuator drivers for driving the actuators at the actuator side. The actuator drivers, respectively, have an independent self-diagnosis section, a self-protection section, and a communication control section and are dispersed correspondingly to the actuators.

The present invention relates to a control system of a vehicle such as a car and an automobile using the same, particularly to a vehicle control system capable of reducing the cost of the control system and an automobile using the same.
FIG. 11 is a block diagram of a conventional vehicle control system of a car or the like.
The vehicle control system 60′ is constituted of an electronic control unit (ECU) 1′, a plurality of sensors 2′, and a plurality of actuators 3a′, in which a predetermined operation is performed by the electronic control unit 1′ set in a cabin in accordance with signals of the sensors 2′ provided in the engine room of the vehicle to drive the actuators 3a′.
The electronic control unit 1′ is constituted of an input interface (input I/F) 11′, an arithmetic processing section 10′, and an actuator driver 4′, in which the input I/F 11′ processes signals sent from the sensors 2′ and outputs them to the arithmetic processing section 10′, the arithmetic processing section 10′ performs predetermined operations and outputs an optimum signal to the actuator driver 4′, and the actuator driver 4′ drives the actuator 3a′ serving as a load through a connector 3b′. The actuator driver 4′ is concentratedly set in the electronic control unit 1′.
In the above vehicle control system, an engine control system of a car is a system for optimally controlling an engine by performing predetermined operations by a microcomputer serving as an arithmetic processing section in an engine control unit serving as an electronic control unit in accordance with signals sent from an engine-speed sensor, a water-temperature sensor, and an intake-air-flow sensor, outputting a fuel injection signal to a driver for driving an injector and a switching signal and a valve-opening-degree adjustment signal to a driver for driving various valves and relay switches.
In the case of the vehicle control system 60′ in FIG. 11, the actuator driver 4′ is concentratedly set in the electronic control unit 1′. Moreover, there is a publicly-known example in which actuator drivers are dispersed not in an electronic control unit but by making the drivers respectively correspond to an actuator to be driven. The official gazette of Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 79841/1996 discloses the art of a communication connector of a vehicle electronic controller for building each of the above dispersed actuator drivers in a connector connected to an actuator in order to improve the versatility of the actuator. Moreover, as other conventional examples of vehicle control systems, various arts are disclosed in the official gazette of Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 275801/1999 and the like.
In the case of a vehicle control system, a comparatively large current (approx. several amperes) generally flows through an actuator driver when driving an actuator. The actuator driver frequently uses a power transistor or power MOS in which Joule heat is produced due to an on-resistance because the comparatively large current flows when power is turned on.
Therefore, as shown by the conventional vehicle control system 60′ in FIG. 11, when the actuator driver 4′ is concentratedly set to one place in the electronic control unit 1′, a problem occurs that the calorific value of the whole of the electronic control unit 1′ is increased by the actuator driver 4′ serving as a heat-producing part and the increase of the calorific value may affect control.
Particularly, in the case of a recent car, the above electronic control unit tends to be set not in a cabin but in a vehicle engine room in order to reduce the harness cost and assembling man-hours and thereby the electronic control unit is exposed to a severer temperature environment. Therefore, to avoid the electronic control unit from being exposed to the environment, it is necessary to use a radiation component such as a heat sink or radiation fin in order to radiate heat. Thus, a problem occurs that the manufacturing cost and the cost of the whole vehicle control system in its turn increase.
In this case, as the control system disclosed in the Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 8-79841 (1996), it is considered to make actuator drivers respectively serving as a radiation component correspond to an actuator to be driven and disperse the drivers to the actuator side. However, it is not sufficient to merely disperse the actuator drivers because the following are indispensable for a present engine control system: a self-diagnosis function for diagnosing a trouble such as a disconnection or short circuit of an actuator and communicating the diagnosed state to an arithmetic processing section of an electronic control unit, a self-protection function for preventing an actuator driver from being broken down due to overcurrent or overheat when the above trouble occurs, and a timer circuit when PWM(Pulse Width Modulation)-controlling the dispersed actuator in a multiplex communication system through a serial communication line.
That is, the present inventor obtained the new knowledge that in the case of a vehicle control system having an electronic control unit and a plurality of actuators, it is necessary to disperse actuator drivers to the actuator side in order to reduce the cost of the vehicle control system, provide a self-diagnosis section, a self-protection section, and a communication-control section for each of the actuator drivers and make the drivers independent in order to keep the reliability and functionality of the system even after the actuator drivers are dispersed. In the case of the above prior art, however, the actuator drivers are not dispersed to each actuator side separately from the electronic control unit or the actuator drivers are not dispersed to easily radiate heat even if the drivers are set to the outside of the electronic control unit. Moreover, the drivers are not independent drivers capable of constructing an actual system. Therefore, it is not particularly considered to maintain the reliability and functionality of the control system even if reducing the radiation-component cost of the vehicle control system by reducing the heat produced in the electronic control unit and dispersing the actuator drivers.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Vehicle control system and automobile using the same


A technique provides preferential treatment to metadata over user data when protecting data in a mapped-RAID system. The technique involves generating metadata based on user data, storing the metadata in mirrored storage of the mapped-RAID system (e.g., 2-way mirrored storage), and storing the user data in non-mirrored storage of the mapped-RAID system (e.g., writing user data with parity in accordance with RAID 6). The mapped-RAID system provides reliability preference toward maintaining the metadata over maintaining the user data while the metadata and the user data are stored within the mapped-RAID system. Accordingly, the technique is able to concurrently provide high reliability and high storage efficiency.

Conventional data storage systems store and retrieve host data on behalf hosts. To effectively manage such host data, these data storage systems utilize metadata.
From a reliability perspective, the conventional data storage systems typically protect such host data and metadata uniformly. For example, in the event of a storage drive failure, such a conventional data storage system rebuilds any host data and metadata that was stored on the failed storage drive sequentially (i.e., rebuilds the data that resided on the failed storage drive in order from beginning to end). As another example, in the event of a storage drive failure, such a data storage system may vary the priority levels for rebuilding the host data and the metadata based on host input/output (I/O) load impact (i.e., set the priority for rebuilding both host data and metadata based on the current amount of host I/O loading). Additionally, such a conventional data storage system may uniformly distribute the host data and the metadata among the same group of storage drives (i.e., manage the host data and the metadata within the same fault domain). Furthermore, such a conventional data storage system may initiate a proactive data relocation task that relocates both host data and metadata from a storage drive that has just reached a certain amount of useful life (e.g., relocate any user data and metadata from a storage drive as soon as the storage drive reaches 95% of the storage drive's prescribed wear level).

Providing preferential treatment to metadata over user data


A cargo management system can include a receptacle and a removable storage device. The receptacle can be formed relative to an exterior panel of the vehicle and can have a rear wall spaced apart from an outer surface of the exterior panel. The outer surface can have a first contour. The removable storage device can be removably received in the receptacle and selectively secured to the vehicle. The storage device can include an upper portion, a lower portion and a latch mechanism. The upper portion can be pivotable relative to the lower portion to provide access to an interior of the storage device. The latch mechanism can selectively secure the storage device to the vehicle when in a stored position in the receptacle. An outer surface of the upper portion and the lower portion can include a second contour, where the second contour can substantially match the first contour.

Generally, it is known to provide a cargo bed with a floor for a vehicle, such as a pick-up truck. The cargo bed together with side walls and the floor can define a cargo carrying area. It is also generally known to provide external storage boxes that can be mounted within the cargo bed, typically adjacent to a cab of the pick-up truck. Such external storage boxes typically span the width of the cargo bed and are accessible from within the cargo bed of the vehicle. One disadvantage of such external storage boxes is that they are not easily accessible from outside of the cargo bed or cargo carrying area. Another disadvantage of such external storage boxes is that they are fastened or mounted to the vehicle such that they are not removable or portable. Yet another disadvantage of such external storage boxes is that they reduce a size of the cargo carrying area and do not allow full use of the cargo bed. Thus, there remains a need in the relevant art for a removable storage device that overcomes the aforementioned and other disadvantages.

Removable storage arrangement for a vehicle


A computer implemented method for processing streams of data signals representing different data items of a common business attribute transmitted by a plurality of different vendors. The streams of data signals are transmitted to the computer by the vendors. Each one of the vendors transmits the data items in a different vendor associated data item format. A rules table is provided in the computer relating each of the vendors with such vendors associated data item format. The streams of data signals transmitted by the plurality of different vendors are stored in a memory. The vendors transmitting the streams of data signals are identified by the computer. The formats of the streams of data signals transmitted by each of the vendors are mapped by the computer in accordance with the rules table into a common predetermined format for the data items. The common format of the data items is stored in a computer memory. The computer compares a common one of the data items in the common format to determine a discrepancy in the data item provided by the vendors. After any determined discrepancy is resolved, the common one of the data items is stored in a database.

This invention relates generally to computer implemented methods for processing data items of a business attribute and more particularly for processing data items from different sources of a common business attribute.
As is known in the art, many financial institutes, such as brokerage or investment firms, receive and report various types of financial information from a large number of businesses. For example, one business may be a publicly held corporation which issues equity instruments of various kinds, such as common and preferred stock and/or debt instruments of various types, such as bonds of various types. Another business may be a government which issues debt instruments such as bonds, notes and/or bills. Still another business may be a mutual fund which makes distributions from time to time. Information providers, i.e., vendors, may provide financial information relating to these businesses to its clients. This information, herein collectively referred to a business attribute, may relate to a financial instrument or a business action. For example, in the case of a financial instrument, a business attribute may include the instrument's annual yield, annual dividend, maturity date, CUSIP, etc., and in the case of a business action may include an identification of the business, i.e., company, corporation, mutual fund or government reporting the business action, the date a quarterly dividend is to be paid, the amount of the quarterly dividend, and the record ownership date for payment of the quarterly dividend.
As is also known in the art, the vendors may report this financial information to the brokerage or investment firm electronically through modems. Further, each vendor may electronically provide its information in a format unique to that vendor. Further, some of the vendors may use different terminology, format or style for the same data item. Also, there may be differences in the data for the same data item. In order to resolve these differences, or discrepancies, significant human intervention, at significant cost and delay, is required to distinguish between genuine data discrepancies and mere differences in terminology, format or style.

Computer implemented method for processing data items from different sources of a common business attribute


An electrical machine with torque limitation which is only slightly larger structurally than an identical machine without torque limitation and is thus as compact as possible has a stator with windings and a rotor supported movably relative to the stator, recesses distributed over the circumference and extending axially are present on the rotor surface, and a driver, located coaxially relative to the rotor and extending axially, is located in the air gap between the rotor and the stator, and exciter magnets on the upper driver face toward the stator and driver magnets on the inner driver face toward the rotor are located in such a way that upon rotation of the driver, the rotor is likewise capable of being set into rotation as a result of the rotary field generated by the windings and by the driver magnets.

The invention relates to an electrical machine and its use as a motor or generator, as generically defined by the independent claim.
Electric motors with a stator and rotor are known from the prior art. As a rule, the stator includes a winding with the aid of which a magnetic rotary field is generated which sets the rotor, equipped with permanent magnets, into rotation. The rotor shaft as a rule serves as a power takeoff means and can for instance drive a device located on the rotor shaft. To limit the torque exerted by the rotor shaft, mechanical slip couplings are known, of the kind also described in German Utility Model DE 1850245 U. A slip coupling of this kind has the disadvantage that because of the mechanical embodiment, it is highly likely to wear and requires a large amount of space, which makes it difficult to attain an electrical drive that is as compact as possible.

Electrical machine with torque limitation


A broadcast reception device includes: a program recording execution unit that stores, into a recording-content storage area, program identification information for identifying a broadcast program, and storage-destination information for specifying a server device storing the broadcast program; a reception function execution unit that transmits the program identification information and the program storage-destination information to the server device specified from the program storage-destination information; and an output unit that outputs sound information and image information on the broadcast program transmitted from the server device.

Recording devices, in each of which a broadcast program in digital broadcasting is stored in such a recording medium as an optical disc, or in such a storage device as a hard disc drive (HDD), have been widespread. The recording devices each plays back the recorded broadcast program, so that time-shift viewing of the broadcast program can be made.
A technique described in Japanese Patent Application laid-open No. 2008-289057 (Patent Document 1) records and plays back a broadcast program of a selected channel, and deletes the recorded broadcast program when the broadcasting of the broadcast program finishes. According to the technique described in Patent Document 1, a user who would like to record a broadcast program operates a specifying key during the playback of the broadcast program and, as a result of the operation, the recorded broadcast program is prohibited from being deleted when the broadcasting of the broadcast program finishes. Accordingly, the technique described in Patent Document 1 is capable of recording the broadcast program, which has already started, from its head position.

Broadcast reception device, broadcast reception method, and broadcast reception program


The present invention relates to systems and methods that predict behaviors of alerting and filtering systems based on simulation from messaging logs. By logging contextual information, such as the presence, activity, and availability of users, as well as incoming messages and their properties, forecasting services can be created that serve to provide users with an interactive “what if” capability, informing them what they might expect in terms of future behaviors of an automated message alerting and/or filtering system, based on recent messaging histories. A log of the history of incoming messages and contextual data is examined by modeling and simulation tools. The tools reveal the influence of alternate settings on the system's behavior, in response to an expected stream of incoming messages, providing users with insights about how control settings affect alerting, filtering, or routing behaviors.

Communications and computer systems provide a vast array of options for receiving information, whereby many users typically have a plurality of high-technology mediums at their disposal in which to receive the information. However, given the ever-increasing numbers of communications options, problems are beginning to develop with respect to managing such communications while remaining productive with the task at hand. Among these problems, many users now face a deluge of e-mail and/or other information from which to sort through and/or respond, such that the capability of being able to send, receive and process information has almost become a hindrance to being productive. With such large numbers of e-mail and/or other electronic information (e.g., Instant Messaging, Cell phones), it has become difficult to manage information according to what is important and what is not as important without substantially expending valuable time to make a personal determination as to the importance. As an example of these determinations, users may have to decide whether messages should be responded to immediately, passed over to be read at a later time, or simply deleted due to non-importance (e.g., junk mail).
Some attempts have been directed to information management problems. For example, attempts have been made to curtail the amount of junk or promotional e-mail that users receive. Additionally, some electronic mail programs provide for the generation of rules that govern how e-mail is managed within the program. For example, a rule providing, "all e-mails from certain coworkers or addresses" are to be placed in a special folder.
These attempts at limiting certain types of information, however, generally are not directed at the basic problem behind e-mail and other information transfer/reception systems. That is, conventional systems often cause users to manually peruse and check at least a portion of some if not all of their received messages in order to determine which messages should be reviewed or further processed. As described above, this takes time from more productive activities. Thus, with the large quantities of information being received, there is a need for a system and methodology to facilitate efficient processing of electronic information while mitigating the costs of manual interventions associated therewith.

Methods and interfaces for probing and understanding behaviors of alerting and filtering systems based on models and simulation from logs


The present invention provides a one-bottle dental bonding composition that provides a bonding layer excellent in bonding strength, independent of the skill of the practitioners, and, more preferably, that releases fluoride ion gradually into oral cavity over an extended period of time. The one-bottle dental bonding composition comprises a radical polymerizable monomer (A) having an acidic group in the molecule, another radical polymerizable monomer (B), a photopolymerization initiator (C) and a water-soluble organic solvent (D), and is substantially free of water.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a dental bonding composition and, in particular, to an one-bottle dental bonding composition which is applied onto tooth without any pretreatment of the surface thereof in advance and still provides an excellent bonding layer in a single step, and/or which releases fluoride ion gradually into the oral cavity over an extended period of time.
2. Description of the Related Art
Commercially available dental bonding agents are mainly classified into two groups, a self-etching type and a wet-bonding type as they are called. In the case of bonding agents in the wet-bonding type, the surface of a tooth is treated or etched beforehand with phosphoric acid in order to raise the bonding strength between the tooth and the object to be bonded, and then, while still wet with water after water cleansing, applied with the bonding agent. Such a procedure makes the bonding agent penetrate into tooth deeply in a manner like natural collagen and provides a thicker resin-containing layer on the tooth surface at the same time.
On the other hand, in the case of the bonding agents in the self-etching type, the tooth surface is thoroughly dried by application of blowing air by an air syringe, and subjected, without any pretreatment as described above, to application of a (weakly acidic) bonding agent having a function as an etching agent, thereby providing an bonding layer on the surface of the tooth. By the use of these self-etching bonding agents, the pretreatment process with phosphoric acid inevitably associated with the wet-bonding agents becomes no more required, reducing the risk of the tooth being excessively etched into by phosphoric acid.
However, these methods described in the prior art have disadvantages in that there were required at least two steps to provide the solid bonding layer connecting the tooth and an object to be bonded, thus reducing the efficiency of the manipulation, and that, especially when the bonding agent consists of two or more separately bottled ingredients, addition of another step for mixing and stirring is inevitable, resulting in a possibly large variation in bonding strength of the resulting bonding layer depending on the skill of the practitioners.


A permanent chill mold for the continuous casting of metals, comprising a mold tube (1) placed in a water box, a water gap being formed between the inner side of the wall of the water box and the outer side (2) of the mold tube (1). In the water gap, at least one sheet metal water deflector (3) is situated, the mold tube (1) being supported at least in one direction to be laterally freely shiftable with respect to the water box and the working position of the mold tube (1) being adjusted by the flow relationships in the water gap.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to a permanent chill mold for the continuous casting of metals.
2. Description of Related Art
Tube-shaped chill molds made of copper or copper alloys, for casting profiles made of steel or other metals having a high melting point have been described many times in the related art. Mold tubes are cooled by cooling water, in this context, which flows through a water gap between the inner side of the wall of a water box surrounding the mold tube and the outer side of the mold tube. Normally, the mold tube is correctly aligned in the water box, by adjusting screws, in such a way that the desired width of the water gap around the outside of the mold tube sets in. Since the mold tube is submitted to extreme thermal stresses, the exact alignment of the mold tube in the water box must be made very carefully, so that different flow speeds do not occur, based on different widths of the water gap, and with that, differently great heat dissipation. This would result in different strand shell growth and differently severe shrinkages. This, in turn, could lead to material stresses and cracks in the strand shell, which increases the risk of a strand break-out.


The invention is directed to a cryosurgical instrument and to an accessory system operating on the base of refrigerant evaporation, wherein the portions of the refrigerant are periodically provided to the distal cryotip of the cryosurgical instrument via a central lumen thereof. The internal surface of the distal cryotip is preferably covered by a porous coating capable of soaking at least one portion of the refrigerant. The vapors obtained as a result of the refrigerant boiling on the porous coating of the cryotip are preferably removed through the central lumen of the cryosurgical instrument into the atmosphere. These features may be combined to construct a cryosurgical instrument with relatively high freezing power and small outer diameter which may be designed as a flexible cryocatheter or alternatively as a rigid cryoprobe.

There is a significant number of patents which describe different constructions of cryosurgical probes and catheters. These patents aims to solve some of the problems, which are common to the cryosurgical probes and catheters of the prior art.
One of these problems is the construction of relatively cheap and simple probes or catheters with high reliability and sufficiently effective thermal insulation of their lateral non-operating walls. Moreover, cryosurgical catheters should have high flexibility, especially, when they are used for cardiac procedures. In addition, the closed distal end (cryotip) of such probe or catheter must provide in many cases high specific freezing capacity at sufficiently low-temperatures.
Analysis of United States patents related to this field shows, that the structure of the proposed probes and catheters intended for cryosurgery does not satisfy the above-mentioned requirements.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,971,383 proposes a cryogenic surgical instrument with a coaxial assembly of flexible tubes, wherein the inner tube is connected to a supply of cryogenic liquid, and the space between the outer wall of the inner tube and the inner wall of an intermediate tube forms a return line for evaporated cryogenic liquid, which is vented to the atmosphere. The space between the outermost coaxial tube and the intermediate tube contains a gas, such as normal butane, for providing thermal insulation of the inner and intermediate lumens.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,716,353 describes a probe for cryosurgery which consists of three tubes: an inner tube for supplying a cryogenic refrigerant to a cryotip positioned at the distal end of an outer jacket tube, and an intermediate tube situated concentrically around the inner tube. The channel between the inner and intermediate tubes serves as venting path for venting cryogenic refrigerant from the freezing zone. This construction is simple, but it does not provide sufficient thermal insulation as required in the construction of cryogenic catheters. Consequently, it may cause over-heating of the vented cryogenic refrigerant, as well as over-cooling of tissues adjacent to the intermediate section of the catheter.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,573,532 describes a cryosurgical instrument which comprises tubes for cryogenic fluid supply and for the return of cryogenic fluid vapors, wherein these tubes are concentric and the return tube is sealed with a cryotip. Vacuum insulation of the return lumen is also proposed. However, this construction is relatively expensive and has low reliability. In addiiton, the proposed vacuum insulation limits the flexibility of the probe, especially, when it is very long, as in the case of catheter implementations.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,674,218 describes a cryosurgical instrument, a system and method of cryosurgery. According to this patent a cryogenic liquid (preferably, liquid nitrogen) is initially sub-cooled below its normal boiling point and in that state supplied into the open proximal end of the internal supply line. The outer lumen of the cryosurgical instrument is provided with active vacuum insulation.
Obviously, this construction cannot provide high flexibility and therefore cannot be used as the basis for construction of a catheter for use in cryosurgery.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,254,116 describes a cryocatheter with a set of vent holes in the lateral wall of a central feeding lumen, wherein sub-cooled liquid nitrogen is delivered into the central feeding lumen as a cryogenic liquid. This construction, however does not ensure proper thermal insulation of the cryocatheter.

Cryosurgical instrument and its accessory system


A continuous web as a component of a disposable wearing article is fed in a machine direction and first continuous elastic members are fed via guide elements adapted to oscillate the elastic members in a cross direction. Each of the guide elements has a first servomotor having a rotary shaft adapted to repeat reversal of its rotational direction, a first arm connected directly with the rotary shaft and extending in a direction crossing the rotary shaft so that the first arm swings around the rotary shaft as the rotary shaft rotates, and a first feed member adapted to direct the first continuous elastic members toward the guide element formed on the first arm.

The present invention relates to a process and apparatus to attach elastic members to a disposable wearing article being continuously manufactured such as a disposable diaper or training pants. The present application is based on, and claims priority from, Japanese Application Serial Number 2002-328829, filed Nov. 12, 2002, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
In the course of continuously manufacturing disposable wearing articles such as disposable diapers, it is well known to feed continuous elastic members toward a single continuous web being fed in a machine direction as a component member of the article while these continuous elastic members are oscillated in a cross direction relative to the machine direction and to attach these continuous elastic members in a stretched state to the continuous web. For example, in the case of the process and the apparatus for attachment of the elastic members to the pull-on diaper disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 1999-332913A, guide means for positioning of the elastic members are provided so as to be opposed to the web continuously fed in the machine direction. These guide means are oscillated in the cross direction orthogonal to the machine direction by driving means including a servo mechanism.
The servo mechanism adopted by the apparatus disclosed in the above cited publication comprises a servomotor and a timing belt connecting an output shaft of the servomotor with the positioning guide means so that the positioning guide means may move along a rectilinearly extending feed means as the timing belt travels. In this well-known apparatus, a rotational velocity of the servomotor depends on various factors such as an inertia of the timing pulley mounted on the output shaft of the servomotor and rotating together with the output shaft, an inertia of the traveling belt, an inertia of the positioning guide means moving along the feed means, a vibration of the belt during its traveling and a friction between the positioning guide means and the feed means. These factors interfere with rotation of the servomotor at a high speed and consequently impede a production rate for the diaper from being improved.

Process and apparatus to attach elastic members to disposable wearing article being continuously manufactured


A power stage in a multi-phase switching power supply incorporates a current sense circuit coupled to the output voltage disconnect transistor to conduct a portion of an inductor current flowing in the output inductor of the power stage. The current sense circuit is controlled by the same control signal controlling the output voltage disconnect transistor. The portion of the inductor current being conducted by the current sense circuit includes an upslope current and a downslope current of the inductor current. A phase redundant controller generates a sense current signal indicative of the portion of the inductor current conducted by the current sense circuit. Accurate current sensing is implemented for the power stage where the current sense value dose not require temperature compensation.

Electronic systems, such as laptop computers, typically include power management integrated circuits for regulating the power usage of the electronic systems. Furthermore, electronic systems incorporating integrated circuits typically employ voltage regulators to convert a main bus voltage from a power source supplying the system to one or more voltages necessary for driving the integrated circuits therein. For example, a 12 volts supply voltage provided to an electronic system may need to be reduced to 1.8 volts to drive an integrated circuit in the electronic system. In another example, modern server systems include processors and local memory coupled to components and executing embedded software to perform certain tasks. In practice, the processor power supply is provided by a voltage regulator converting an input voltage from a power source (e.g. 12V) to a voltage value specified for the processor (e.g. 1.0V).
Switch mode power supplies or switching regulators, also referred to as DC to DC converters, are a type of voltage regulators often used to convert an input supply voltage to a desired output voltage at a voltage level selected for an integrated circuit. In one example, a 12V or 5V supply voltage may be reduced to 1V for supplying an embedded processor. A switching regulator provides power supply function through low loss components such as capacitors, inductors, and transformers, and power switches that are turned on and off to transfer energy from the input to the output in discrete packets. A feedback control circuit is used to regulate the energy transfer to maintain a constant output voltage within the desired load limits of the circuit.
Some switching regulators employ pulse width modulation (PWM) to control the duty cycle of the power switches. That is, the on-time of power switches may be controlled at a given fixed or variable frequency by adjusting the pulse width. Switching regulators employing PWM control include a PWM controller or modulator to drive a power block including the power switches, the driver circuit for the power switches and the LC filter circuit. In some cases, the switching regulator is a single phase converter and the PWM controller generates a single phase PWM clock signal to drive a single phase power block. In other cases, the switching regulator is a multi-phase converter and a multi-phase PWM controller generates clock signals with different phase shifts to drive a multi-phase power block, each clock signal driving a respective power block cell. Multi-phase PWM controllers are desirable when the voltage regulator has to deliver a regulated output voltage with high precision over a wide range of load conditions.
In an electronic system incorporating a voltage regulator, it is often necessary to measure the output current or load current of the voltage regulator to implement power management functions. In a multi-phase converter, it is sometimes necessary to measure the load current at each power block cell associated with each clock phase, such as to determine the load balancing between the power block cells.
Modern server systems often demand high level of availability and protection from system failures, such as power loss. To ensure system reliability, modern server systems sometimes implement redundant server systems where a redundant server is provided to replace another server detected to be down. Because the redundant server has to have the same computing power as the primary server, providing redundant servers increases space and cost concerns.
In practice, power supplies are often the point of failures on server systems. As a result, redundancy power supply has been implemented in server systems since a redundant power supply often can be implemented at lower cost and less space than a redundant server system. In server systems using multi-phase power supplies, N+2 phase redundant solutions are becoming popular. That is, the multi-phase power supply includes the N phase necessary to supply the power demand of the server system plus two more phases as redundancy. In the event one of the operating phases failed, the failed phase will simply be isolated from the system in such a way that the rest of the phases in the multi-phase power supply continues to provide power uninterrupted.

Phase redundant power supply with oring FET current sensing

Alpha and Omega Semiconductor International LP


The present disclosure provides a dimming method and a dimmer. In the dimming method, when a mains power state is switched to an emergency state, a dimming ratio K is used to perform dimming control on a load unit; the dimming ratio K is calculated as follows: K=Psource/Pload. The dimmer includes: an emergency power source power acquisition module, configured to acquire an output power Psource of an emergency power source; a load unit power acquisition module, configured to acquire a power Pload of a load unit in a mains power state; and a dimming signal generation module, configured to acquire a dimming ratio according to K=Psource/Pload when the mains power state is switched to an emergency state, generate a dimming signal according to the dimming ratio K, and output the dimming signal to the load unit. The present disclosure also provides a dimming emergency inverter and an emergency lighting system.

In normal situations, lighting systems of office buildings, residences and the like are powered by the mains power. When the mains power is suddenly cut off, especially in emergencies such as fire, in order to ensure that people can be evacuated in an orderly manner, the lighting system will be switched to an emergency power supply system immediately after the mains power supply is cut off. At present, there are many researches on emergency power supply systems, involving the configuration of the power as supplied and the switching to emergency power supply mode.
Most emergency lighting systems in the related art are not equipped with a dimming function. In an emergency state, when an emergency power source such as a generator or an inverter supplies power to an emergency lighting device, the full power of the emergency lighting device must be output. However, only a small part of the power of normal lighting are required by specifications, regulations and actual demand in order to meet the requirement of emergency lighting, so a lot of generator power will be wasted or the battery capacity in the inverter will be increased, thereby resulting in considerable energy consumption of the emergency system, volume increase, and cost waste, and limiting the number of emergency lighting devices powered by the emergency power source.
As to very few emergency lighting technologies equipped with the dimming function, they also have some shortcomings and limitations.
U.S. Patent Publication No. US20170033598A1 discloses an emergency inverter, in which an output power of the inverter is detected when a mains power state is switched to an emergency state, and at the same time, a dimming signal is output from low to high according to a dimming ratio until the output power of the inverter reaches its rated power. This takes a certain period of time, and in practice, at the instant when the mains power state is just switched to the emergency state, the demand for the lighting state is more important; in addition, this technology cannot be used in emergency lighting systems powered by other emergency power sources such as generators and other inverters.
Based on the above analysis, existing dimming solutions in emergency power supply need to be improved and perfected, and the present solution is developed accordingly.

Dimming method, dimmer, dimming emergency inverter and emergency lighting system


A composite article comprises a first layer resulting from the reaction of at least one ethylenically unsaturated monomer and a second layer different than the first layer and resulting from the reaction of an isocyanate-reactive resin and a polyisocyanate. Adhesion promoter is dispersed in at least one of the first layer and the second layer. The adhesion promoter comprises a first reactive end group selected from the group of an ethylenically unsaturated monomer, an ethylenically unsaturated acrylate monomer, an ethylenically unsaturated methacrylate monomer, or a combination thereof and a second reactive end group that reacts with isocyanate. The adhesion promoter reacts into the first and second layers through differentially reactive groups such that the adhesion promoter is compatible with the first and second layers to improve adhesion therebetween. A method of forming the composite article is also disclosed.

1. Field of the Invention
The subject invention relates to a composite article and a method of forming the same, and specifically, to a composite article having improved adhesion between layers.
2. Description of the Related Art
Bowling balls can be comprised of a core and a cover stock surrounding the core. Additional layers or components may be present in the core resulting in an inner and outer core to vary different properties of the bowling ball, mainly performance. The inner core is typically a center weight within the bowling ball and may be formed of various materials. The inner core may not be spherical and is shaped to enhance performance by effecting the precession or flare of the bowling ball. As understood by those of ordinary skill in the art, these performance weights can be, but not limited to being, oblong, boomerang shaped, dog bone shaped, etc. The outer core is the layer between the inner core and the cover stock and provides a spherical core. The coverstock is the outer-most shell of the bowling ball. There are different types of materials that may form the coverstock, such as, polyester and polyurethane compositions.
The type of material forming the cover stock is selected depending upon the desired reactivity of the bowling ball when rolled and the desired on-lane performance. For example, cover stocks formed of polyester are very durable and hard, but the polyester cover stocks have low friction on oiled lane surfaces. This low friction causes the bowling ball to skid more and maintain a straighter trajectory when rolled, i.e., less hook is achieved. Polyurethane cover stocks, on the other hand, tend to be softer, have different polymer morphology compared to polyester balls and have higher friction. The higher friction can cause the bowling ball to be more reactive on the bowling lane and perform better. Additional additives may be added to the polyurethane coverstock to provide different levels of texture and effective friction, such as resins, ceramics, or glass particles.
Polyurethane materials have been used for bowling ball coverstocks for many years. Polyurethane materials are used industry-wide for professional bowling balls (and high-end amateur products) because they provide the necessary on-lane performance desired at the higher levels of play.
The polyurethane materials of the related art generally comprise the reaction product of a polyol and a polyisocyanate forming cross-linkages with the polyol and having a non-reactive diluent dispersed within the matrix. The non-reactive diluent is typically a plasticizer and is one of the most important elements contributing to ball reactivity. Plasticizers such as 2,2,4-trimethyl-1,3-pentanediol diisobutyrate (Kodaflex "TXIB"), from Eastman Chemical Company, are used in such polyurethane elastomeric materials.
Typically, bowling ball cores can be constructed using various materials. The most common materials are unsaturated polyesters, especially, styrenated polyesters. Advances in core designs have resulted in the development of a round core that is constructed from an inner geometric shape, or inner core, and a shell cast around this inner core forming an outer core. The outer core must be prepared using materials that adhere well to the cover stock. Most bowling balls are drilled with holes to fit a user's hand and fingers. When the bowling ball is drilled, the interface between the outer core and the cover stock undergoes increased stresses. If the cover stock and outer core are not sufficiently adhered to one another, the bowling ball core can separate from the cover stock and/or crack between the finger holes. Still another issue present in the related art is that the outer core has a tendency to shrink over time after production, which further increases the stresses at the interface between the outer core and the cover stock.
The use of hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA) as an adhesion promoter is well known. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,639,546 and 6,509,086 disclose the use of HEMA to promote adhesion in composite articles. However, the '546 patent requires a radical curing process and is unlikely to form a thin film. Moreover, the polyethylenically unsaturated monomers form a cured layer that promotes adhesion when cured with a photoinitiator. The '086 patent discloses a system that incorporates a urethane acrylate as an additive to the acrylate layer. The result of such a system is two similar polymer layers that do not have dual adhesive and cohesive forces interacting between the layers.
Most related art systems wipe or spray the adhesion promoter directly onto the first layer prior to casting the second layer. Such an additional step results in additional time required in manufacturing, potentially exposing employees to added chemical exposure hazards, and there questions whether there is adequate assurances that the adhesion promoter has sufficiently bonded with the first layer prior to casting the second layer.

Composite article and method of forming the same


Host cells comprising recombinant vectors encoding the FK-520 polyketide synthase and FK-520 modification enzymes can be used to produce the FK-520 polyketide. Recombinant DNA constructs comprising one or more FK-520 polyketide synthase domains, modules, open reading frames, and variants thereof can be used to produce recombinant polyketide synthases and a variety of different polyketides with application as pharmaceutical and veterinary products.

Polyketides are a class of compounds synthesized from 2-carbon units through a series of condensations and subsequent modifications. Polyketides occur in many types of organisms, including fungi and mycelial bacteria, in particular, the actinomycetes. Polyketides are biologically active molecules with a wide variety of structures, and the class encompasses numerous compounds with diverse activities. Tetracycline, erythromycin, epothilone, FK-506, FK-520, narbomycin, picromycin, rapamycin, spinocyn, and tylosin are examples of polyketides. Given the difficulty in producing polyketide compounds by traditional chemical methodology, and the typically low production of polyketides in wild-type cells, there has been considerable interest in finding improved or alternate means to produce polyketide compounds.
This interest has resulted in the cloning, analysis, and manipulation by recombinant DNA technology of genes that encode PKS enzymes. The resulting technology allows one to manipulate a known PKS gene cluster either to produce the polyketide synthesized by that PKS at higher levels than occur in nature or in hosts that otherwise do not produce the polyketide. The technology also allows one to produce molecules that are structurally related to, but distinct from, the polyketides produced from known PKS gene clusters. See, e.g., PCT publication Nos. WO 93/13663; 95/08548; 96/40968; 97/02358; 98/27203; and 98/49315; U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,874,748; 5,063,155; 5,098,837; 5,149,639; 5,672,491; 5,712,146; 5,830,750; and 5,843,718; and Fu et al., 1994, Biochemistry 33: 9321-9326; McDaniel et al., 1993, Science 262: 1546-1550; and Rohr, 1995, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. Engl. 34(8): 881-888, each of which is incorporated herein by reference.
Polyketides are synthesized in nature by PKS enzymes. These enzymes, which are complexes of multiple large proteins, are similar to the synthases that catalyze condensation of 2-carbon units in the biosynthesis of fatty acids. PKSs catalyze the biosynthesis of polyketides through repeated, decarboxylative Claisen condensations between acylthioester building blocks. The building blocks used to form complex polyketides are typically acylthioesters, such as acetyl, butyryl, propionyl, malonyl, hydroxymalonyl, methylmalonyl, and ethylmalonyl CoA. Other building blocks include amino acid like acylthioesters. PKS enzymes that incorporate such building blocks include an activity that functions as an amino acid ligase (an AMP ligase) or as a non-ribosomal peptide synthetase (NRPS). Two major types of PKS enzymes are known; these differ in their composition and mode of synthesis of the polyketide synthesized. These two major types of PKS enzymes are commonly referred to as Type I or "modular" and Type II "iterative" PKS enzymes.
In the Type I or modular PKS enzyme group, a set of separate catalytic active sites (each active site is termed a "domain", and a set thereof is termed a "module") exists for each cycle of carbon chain elongation and modification in the polyketide synthesis pathway. The typical modular PKS is composed of several large polypeptides, which can be segregated from amino to carboxy termini into a loading module, multiple extender modules, and a releasing (or thioesterase) domain. The PKS enzyme known as 6-deoxyerythronolide B synthase (DEBS) is a Type I PKS. In DEBS, there is a loading module, six extender modules, and a thioesterase (TE) domain. The loading module, six extender modules, and TE of DEBS are present on three separate proteins (designated DEBS-1, DEBS-2, and DEBS-3, with two extender modules per protein). Each of the DEBS polypeptides is encoded by a separate open reading frame (ORF) or gene; these genes are known as eryAI, eryAII, and eryAIII. See Caffrey et al., 1992, FEBS Letters 304: 205, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,824,513, each of which is incorporated herein by reference.
Generally, the loading module is responsible for binding the first building block used to synthesize the polyketide and transferring it to the first extender module. The loading module of DEBS consists of an acyltransferase (AT) domain and an acyl carrier protein (ACP) domain. Another type of loading module utilizes an inactivated ketosynthase (KS) domain and AT and ACP domains. This inactivated KS is in some instances called KSQ, where the superscript letter is the abbreviation for the amino acid, glutamine, that is present instead of the active site cysteine required for ketosynthase activity. In other PKS enzymes, including the FK-506 PKS, the loading module incorporates an unusual starter unit and is composed of a CoA ligase like activity domain. In any event, the loading module recognizes a particular acyl-CoA (usually acetyl or propionyl but sometimes butyryl or other acyl-CoA) and transfers it as a thiol ester to the ACP of the loading module.
The AT on each of the extender modules recognizes a particular extender-CoA (malonyl or alpha-substituted malonyl, i.e., methylmalonyl, ethylmalonyl, and 2-hydroxymalonyl) and transfers it to the ACP of that extender module to form a thioester. Each extender module is responsible for accepting a compound from a prior module, binding a building block, attaching the building block to the compound from the prior module, optionally performing one or more additional functions, and transferring the resulting compound to the next module.
Each extender module of a modular PKS contains a KS, AT, ACP, and zero, one, two, or three domains that modify the beta-carbon of the growing polyketide chain. A typical (non-loading) minimal Type I PKS extender module is exemplified by extender module three of DEBS, which contains a KS domain, an AT domain, and an ACP domain. These three domains are sufficient to activate a 2-carbon extender unit and attach it to the growing polyketide molecule. The next extender module, in turn, is responsible for attaching the next building block and transferring the growing compound to the next extender module until synthesis is complete.
Once the PKS is primed with acyl- and malonyl-ACPs, the acyl group of the loading module is transferred to form a thiol ester (trans-esterification) at the KS of the first extender module; at this stage, extender module one possesses an acyl-KS and a malonyl (or substituted malonyl) ACP. The acyl group derived from the loading module is then covalently attached to the alpha-carbon of the malonyl group to form a carbon-carbon bond, driven by concomitant decarboxylation, and generating a new acyl-ACP that has a backbone two carbons longer than the loading building block (elongation or extension).
The polyketide chain, growing by two carbons each extender module, is sequentially passed as covalently bound thiol esters from extender module to extender module, in an assembly line-like process. The carbon chain produced by this process alone would possess a ketone at every other carbon atom, producing a polyketone, from which the name polyketide arises. Most commonly, however, additional enzymatic activities modify the beta keto group of each two carbon unit just after it has been added to the growing polyketide chain but before it is transferred to the next module.
Thus, in addition to the minimal module containing KS, AT, and ACP domains necessary to form the carbon-carbon bond, and as noted above, other domains that modify the beta-carbonyl moiety can be present. Thus, modules may contain a ketoreductase (KR) domain that reduces the keto group to an alcohol. Modules may also contain a KR domain plus a dehydratase (DH) domain that dehydrates the alcohol to a double bond. Modules may also contain a KR domain, a DH domain, and an enoylreductase (ER) domain that converts the double bond product to a saturated single bond using the beta carbon as a methylene function. An extender module can also contain other enzymatic activities, such as, for example, a methylase or dimethylase activity.
After traversing the final extender module, the polyketide encounters a releasing domain that cleaves the polyketide from the PKS and typically cyclizes the polyketide. For example, final synthesis of 6-dEB is regulated by a TE domain located at the end of extender module six. In the synthesis of 6-dEB, the TE domain catalyzes cyclization of the macrolide ring by formation of an ester linkage. In FK-506, FK-520, rapamycin, and similar polyketides, the TE activity is replaced by a RapP (for rapamycin) or RapP like activity that makes a linkage incorporating a pipecolate acid residue. The enzymatic activity that catalyzes this incorporation for the rapamycin enzyme is known as RapP, encoded by the rapP gene. The polyketide can be modified further by tailoring enzymes; these enzymes add carbohydrate groups or methyl groups, or make other modifications, i.e., oxidation or reduction, on the polyketide core molecule. For example, 6-dEB is hydroxylated at C-6 and C-12 and glycosylated at C-3 and C-5 in the synthesis of erythromycin A.
In Type I PKS polypeptides, the order of catalytic domains is conserved. When all beta-keto processing domains are present in a module, the order of domains in that module from N-to-C-terminus is always KS, AT, DH, ER, KR, and ACP. Some or all of the beta-keto processing domains may be missing in particular modules, but the order of the domains present in a module remains the same. The order of domains within modules is believed to be important for proper folding of the PKS polypeptides into an active complex. Importantly, there is considerable flexibility in PKS enzymes, which allows for the genetic engineering of novel catalytic complexes. The engineering of these enzymes is achieved by modifying, adding, or deleting domains, or replacing them with those taken from other Type I PKS enzymes. It is also achieved by deleting, replacing, or adding entire modules with those taken from other sources. A genetically engineered PKS complex should of course have the ability to catalyze the synthesis of the product predicted from the genetic alterations made.
Alignments of the many available amino acid sequences for Type I PKS enzymes has approximately defined the boundaries of the various catalytic domains. Sequence alignments also have revealed linker regions between the catalytic domains and at the N- and C-termini of individual polypeptides. The sequences of these linker regions are less well conserved than are those for the catalytic domains, which is in part how linker regions are identified. Linker regions can be important for proper association between domains and between the individual polypeptides that comprise the PKS complex. One can thus view the linkers and domains together as creating a scaffold on which the domains and modules are positioned in the correct orientation to be active. This organization and positioning, if retained, permits PKS domains of different or identical substrate specificities to be substituted (usually at the DNA level) between PKS enzymes by various available methodologies. In selecting the boundaries of, for example, an AT replacement, one can thus make the replacement so as to retain the linkers of the recipient PKS or to replace them with the linkers of the donor PKS AT domain, or, preferably, make both constructs to ensure that the correct linker regions between the KS and AT domains have been included in at least one of the engineered enzymes. Thus, there is considerable flexibility in the design of new PKS enzymes with the result that known polyketides can be produced more effectively, and novel polyketides useful as pharmaceuticals or for other purposes can be made.
By appropriate application of recombinant DNA technology, a wide variety of polyketides can be prepared in a variety of different host cells provided one has access to nucleic acid compounds that encode PKS proteins and polyketide modification enzymes. The present invention helps meet the need for such nucleic acid compounds by providing recombinant vectors that encode the FK-520 PKS enzyme and various FK-520 modification enzymes. Moreover, while the FK-506 and FK-520 polyketides have many useful activities, there remains a need for compounds with similar useful activities but with better pharmacokinetic profile and metabolism and fewer side-effects. The present invention helps meet the need for such compounds as well.

Polynucleotides encoding the fkbB gene of the FK-520 polyketide synthase gene cluster


A separation management system includes a data input module for receiving and filtering aircraft information and airspace information related to a control aircraft and a relevant aircraft, the aircraft information enabling the calculation of a trajectory window for each aircraft. A conflict monitoring module may be included in the system for monitoring the trajectory window for each aircraft with respect to time and probabilistic location, the conflict monitoring module determining when a trajectory overlap occurs resulting from the intersection of the trajectory window for the control aircraft and the relevant aircraft. In addition, the system may include a separation routing module for rerouting the control aircraft when a trajectory overlap for the control aircraft is detected by the conflict monitoring module.

Controlling assets or vehicles operating in a defined space is a task that has both civilian and military applications. In a common situation, air traffic control may involve moving commercial airplanes through airspace. Civilian air traffic control and military aircraft (asset or vehicle) tasking include the coordinated movement of multiple aircraft (assets or vehicles) through a crowded space filled with terrain, weather, and other obstructions. Aircraft may include both manned and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV).
In practice, traditional methods of airspace separation management are usually geared to operating in a voice-based procedural control airspace environment, typically including geographical boundaries to separate potentially conflicting aircraft from one another. These methods may generally rely on rigid procedures and traffic patterns to maintain safety under the large latencies and uncertainties that necessarily exist in a voice based system.
The current methods generally include highly structured airspace routing plans that are created after intensive planning. The large number of aircraft managed in the airspace makes the structured plans complex. Therefore, the structured plans may not easily handle large scale on-line disruptions. In extreme situations, an entire portion of airspace may be cleared during an airspace disruption as a precautionary measure, which in some cases unnecessarily disrupts aircraft routed along otherwise predictable flight paths.
Other airspace management methods include reactive collision avoidance and may be used in conjunction with the structured plans. For example, potential or impending conflicts may be handled by short term collision avoidance measures using a human controller or automated collision avoidance system (ACAS) methods. However, short term collision avoidance may not be effective within an airspace shared by UAVs or when structured plans experience large scale disruptions.
Generally speaking, traditional airspace management methods may benefit from improved flexibility and by taking a reactive approach to collision avoidance resulting in a reduced density of aircraft in the airspace. As implemented, the traditional approach may become overburdened with increased density when the preplanned routes become disrupted. Accordingly, there is need for improved techniques that create flexibility and more effective use of airspace when routing aircraft.