A method and system for determining the topology of a communications network that utilizes routing information fields contained within transmission frames for controlling routine transmissions. First, a plurality of transmission frames associated with routine data transmissions are collected. Next, a plurality of routing information fields are extracted from the plurality of transmission frames. Thereafter, the plurality of routing information frames are analyzed and parsed, thereby yielding interconnected topology data. Finally, the interconnected topology data from the plurality of routing information fields is converted and stored into programming language data objects, such that the data objects may thereafter be utilized to display the interconnected topology of the communications network.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates in general to an improved method and system for managing communications networks. In particular, the present invention relates to a method and system for efficiently acquiring topology information associated with a communications network. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method and system for utilizing token ring information frames such that the topology of a token ring bridged network can be discovered and displayed. Still more particularly, the present invention provides a method and system for extracting token ring network topology information utilizing extant token ring routing information frames and storing the topology information into data objects such that the interconnected topology of the token ring bridged network may be ascertained in real time without increasing network traffic.
2. Description of the Related Art
A Local Area Network or xe2x80x9cLANxe2x80x9d is a combination of computers and other communications devices that is dispersed over a relatively limited geographic area and connected by some form of communications link. LANs are characterized by the sharing of network resources such as printers or a shared array of hard disk drives, among several microcomputers. The individual devices on a LAN are commonly referred to as nodes which are connected by some connective media such as electrical cables over which messages are transmitted. Currently, there are several distinguishable types of LANs including: ring networks, star networks, token ring networks, and token ring bridged networks.
In general, the title xe2x80x9ctoken ring networkxe2x80x9d denotes a network that utilizes a ring topology, in which information contained within transmission frames is passed in a circuit from node to node. A transmission frame, referred to interchangeably as an xe2x80x9cinformation packetxe2x80x9d, is a well understood data transmission entity that, in the context of a token ring network, is a bit pattern containing data that a node has inserted for transmission after xe2x80x9ccapturingxe2x80x9d the token. A xe2x80x9ctokenxe2x80x9d, in this context, is a particular message or bit pattern contained within a transmission frame, that is passed along from one device to the next in a ring network. In this manner, a node that is ready to send, can capture the token and insert data for transmission. Therefore, a token ring network is characterized by a token, that governs the transmission of data from one network device to the next in what amounts to a loop. Token ring networks are further defined in the IEEE 802.5 standards which are incorporated herein in their entirety by reference thereto.
Token ring bridged networks are larger and more complex networks comprising multiple token ring LANs. Devices utilized to connect such networks are known in the art as xe2x80x9cbridgesxe2x80x9d. Various network protocols can be utilized within bridged networks and one such protocol frequently utilized within connected token ring networks, is known as source route bridging. When source route bridging protocol is utilized, each individual token ring network is referred to as a xe2x80x9csegmentxe2x80x9d. Token ring bridged networks that utilize source route bridging protocol are known as token ring source route bridge networks.
The development of computerized information resources, such as LANs, allows users of data-processing systems to link with other servers and networks, and thus retrieve vast amounts of electronic information heretofore unavailable in an electronic medium. Such electronic information is increasingly displacing more conventional means of information transmission, such as newspapers, magazines, and even television. As LANs continue to proliferate, and the number of personal computers (PCs) that connect to these LANs continue to grow at a rapid pace, the availability of good network management tools becomes ever more important for effective network administration. Network administrators rely heavily on tools that graphically portray a network to ease the task of network management. Network topology information is particularly useful to network administrators when performing such management tasks as diagnosing problems in the network and performing administrative tasks such as adding, removing or rearranging network devices.
The number of network tools currently utilized to map token ring network topology is rather limited. These network tools include IBM""s Lan Network Manager (LNM) for OS/2 and IBM""s LNM for AIX. These tools are useful in many tasks involved in network management including determination of network topology. However, the method by which these network management tools determines the topology of a network involves generating specialized xe2x80x9cdiscoveryxe2x80x9d data packets. These specialized packets are often logical link control (LLC) test frames, which must be added to already existing data packets on a shared medium such as a network cable. The problem presented in such a scheme is two-fold: First, effort in the form of computing resources must be expended to create and manage these xe2x80x9cdiscoveryxe2x80x9d packets, and, second, network traffic may be substantially increased to the detriment of network communications efficiency. This two-fold problem is compounded when such tools are utilized to gather topology information for token ring bridged networks, due to the increase size and complexity of such networks. As an alternative to utilizing currently existing network management programs to determine network topology, some network administrators utilize more manual, labor intensive methods to track and manage the various forms of computer networks.
From the foregoing, it can be seen that a need exists for a method and system to gather comprehensive information relating to the topology of a token ring bridged network, such as a token ring source route bridge network, and convert the collected topology information into data objects, such that the complete interconnected topology of the network may be ascertained and displayed in real time.
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide an improved method and system for managing communications networks.
It is another object of the invention to provide a method and system for efficiently acquiring topology information associated with a communications network.
It is still another object of the invention to utilize token ring information packets such that the topology of a token ring bridged network can be discovered and displayed.
It is a further object of the invention to extract and collect token ring network topology information utilizing extant token ring routing information packets and store the topology information into data objects such that the interconnected topology of a token ring bridged network may be ascertained in real time and displayed without increasing network traffic.
The above and other objects are achieved as is now described. A method and system are disclosed for determining the topology of a communications network that utilizes routing information fields contained within transmission frames for controlling routine transmissions. First, a plurality of transmission frames associated with routine data transmissions are collected. Next, a plurality of routing information fields are extracted from the plurality of transmission frames. Thereafter, the plurality of routing information frames are analyzed and parsed, thereby yielding interconnected topology data. Finally, the interconnected topology data from the plurality of routing information fields is converted and stored into programming language data objects, such that the data objects may thereafter be utilized to display the interconnected topology of the communications network.

Token ring network topology discovery and display

International Business Machines Corporation


This invention provides a maintenance liquid for ink jet recording containing water, a resin solvent, and a moisturizing agent.

1. Technical Field
This invention relates to a maintenance liquid suitably used for printers for ink jet recording.
2. Related Art
Ink jet printers have recently been commercialized as noiseless, high speed, and high resolution non-impact printers. As a solvent for an ink used for ink jet recording, an aqueous ink using water and a water-soluble organic solvent is mainly used in view of odor, safety, and the like. Also, although water-soluble dyes have heretofore been used as colorants for the ink to be used for ink jet recording, a change from the water-soluble dyes to pigments have been made in view of printing quality improvement, image robustness, and the like, and use of the pigments is being expanded. Further, there is a tendency that a content of the pigment in the ink is increased.
Under the circumstances, since the ink is discharged from a nozzle having a microdiameter of about 20 to 50 μm in the ink jet recording method, an increase in viscosity of the ink and generation of deposits tend to occur in the vicinity of the nozzle front end due to volatilization of a low boiling point solvent, separation of a colorant, aggregation, and the like, and defects such as disturbed print and nozzle clogging are caused in some cases. A cap for nozzle drying prevention and a cleaning mechanism for cleaning with ink are ordinarily provided in the ink jet printers in order to prevent such defects, but the ink remaining in the mechanisms is dried to be thickened and solidified in some cases, leading to a failure in normal cleaning operation. These problems tend to occur when the apparatus is at rest for a long period of time. Although (1) a method of cleaning an ink flow passage by using a cleaning liquid when the defect occurs, (2) a method of substituting the ink with the maintenance liquid in advance of a rest when the apparatus is scheduled to be rest for a long time, and the like have been proposed as countermeasures against the problems, the effect depends greatly on performance of the cleaning liquid or the maintenance liquid used in each of the methods.
Examples of the cleaning liquid or the maintenance liquid include a maintenance liquid comprising polyvalent alcohol, monovalent alcohol, and water (JP-B-6-8437); a maintenance liquid comprising monovalent alcohol, a negative ion surfactant, and water (JP-B-8-30200); a cleaning liquid improved in antifungal/antibacterial effect by containing an isothiazolone compound, (JP-A-4-261476); a cleaning liquid improved in antifoaming properties by containing a silicon antifoaming agent (JP-A-2000-328093); a maintenance liquid of pH 8 to 11 when a specific crosslinking ink is used (JP-A-2000-109733); a cleaning liquid comprising a surfactant (JP-A-11-263021, JP-A-11-263022); a cleaning liquid comprising a water-soluble salt of hydroxycarboxylic acid, limonene, and a surfactant (JP-A-2002-105500); and the like.
However, cleaning properties of the above cleaning liquids or maintenance liquids are insufficient in many cases due to the recent tendency of increase in colorant content in the ink mentioned above, and, as a result, there have been cases where serious reliability problems such as unstable discharge and nozzle clogging are caused. Particularly, in the pigment ink using a pigment as the colorant, the colorant (pigment) is present in the ink in the dispersed state, not in the dissolved state, and, therefore, when the pigment dispersion particles are aggregated by thickening or solidifying due to the ink drying, the cleaning liquids and the maintenance liquids are sometime insufficient for re-dispersion, thereby making the cleaning remarkably difficult.
Consequently, a maintenance liquid excellent in cleaning properties and usable for existing ink jet printers has been in demand.

Maintenance liquid for ink jet recording


Methods for fabricating high work function p-MOS device metal electrodes are provided. In one embodiment, a method is provided for producing a metal electrode including the steps of: providing a high k dielectric stack with an exposed surface; contacting the exposed surface of the high k dielectric stack with a vapor of a metal oxide wherein the metal oxide is selected from the group consisting of RuOx, IrOx, ReOx, MoOx, WOx, VOx, and PdOx; and contacting the exposed surface of the dielectric stack with a vapor of an additive selected from the group consisting of SiO2, Al2O3, HfO2, ZrO2, MgO, SrO, BaO, Y2O3, La2O3, and TiO2, whereby contacting the exposed surface of the dielectric stack with the vapor of the metal oxide and the vapor of the additive forms an electrode and wherein the additive is present at an amount between about 1% to about 50% by atomic weight percent in the electrode.

Designers, following Moore's law, continue in their attempts to shrink the size of transistors. As transistors become smaller and smaller, gate dielectric layers have also become thinner and thinner. The continued decrease in the thickness of gate dielectric layers is leading to technical problems. Leakage through a silicon dioxide dielectric layer of a gate increases exponentially as its thickness decreases. Gate dimensions that are proposed for the future will require dielectric layers that are so thin they may stray from purely "on" and "off" states. Instead, leakage may lead to a low power, or "leaky", off state. This challenge must be addressed for the success of future transistor generations.
One alternative that is being proposed is to use high k materials in place of silicon dioxide as the gate dielectric layer. High k refers to a high dielectric constant, a measure of the ability of a material to resist the formation of an electric field within it. Differing materials possess differing dielectric constants. High k materials include compounds of oxygen such as hafnium dioxide (HfO2), zirconium dioxide (ZrO2), and titanium dioxide (TiO2), among others, and possess a dielectric constant above 3.9, the value of silicon dioxide.
However, the use of materials other than silicon dioxide as a dielectric material affects other components in the transistor structure. For example, electrodes have commonly been fabricated of doped polysilicon for use with silicon dioxide dielectric stacks. However, it has been found that doped polysilicon does not perform well with high k dielectric materials. When matched, for example, with a hafnium dioxide material in the gate dielectric stack, a doped polysilicon electrode suffers from a poor work function.
It has thus been proposed to use materials other than doped polysilicon for use as a gate electrode with high k dielectric materials. One such class of materials proposed for use as an electrode are conducting metal oxides. However, the use of conducting metal oxide as an electrode material presents several new challenges. First, the selected material must demonstrate stability over a range of temperatures. Virtually all the existing conducting metal oxides have been found inadequate for use as an electrode in combination with high k dielectrics because they have degraded with anneals. Conducting metal oxide materials have tended to dissociate, sublime, and degrade at high temperatures. This can result in changes in their electrical characteristics or the structure of the dielectric films underneath them which leads to a failure of electrical performance of the device. Additionally, a conducting useful metal oxide material must provide an acceptable work function. However, the desired work function can vary depending on whether a p-MOS device electrode or n-MOS device electrode is desired. The former generally need a high work function value, and the latter a low work function value.
Accordingly, it is desirable to identify new materials and methods of applying these materials for use as p-MOS device electrodes with high k dielectric layers. The desired process and materials should provide an effective high work function in conjunction with high k materials in gate dielectric layers. It is also desired to develop a p-MOS device electrode which performs well over a range of temperatures. In addition, it is desirable to develop these materials and methods so that they are suitable for use with current processing techniques used in integrated circuit fabrication. The present invention addresses one or more of these needs. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description of the invention and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and this background of the invention.

Conducting metal oxide with additive as p-MOS device electrode


A fairing for use with a tow cable and operable to suppress strumming vibions induced in the cable as it is towed generally longitudinally of its length through water includes a plurality of tab members extending in continuous, end to end fashion over the longitudinal length of the cables' outer jacket. Each of the tab members extends radially outwardly from the outer jacket in angularly spaced relation to adjacent tab members so that the plurality of tab members extend in an indexed helical pattern along the longitudinal length of the outer jacket.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an underwater tow cable and, more particularly, to an underwater tow cable having a fairing thereon designed to suppress strumming vibrations capable of being induced in the cable when it is towed at shallow angle with respect to the direction of tow.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In a towed array system transverse vibrations of large amplitude occur due to vortex shedding of the tow cable. These vibrations lead to serious mechanical problems. In general, a typical acoustic oceanographic instrumentation system might include a weighted cable towed from a vessel, and an acoustical array containing one or more hydrophones connected to the tow cable. The tow cable is affected by relative water motions which act on it as it is pulled through the water by the vessel. These relative water motions acting on the tow cable set up a mechanical wave motion in the cable known in the art as "strum". Strum is transverse vibrations similar in nature to the well understood resonant tensioned strings as used on musical instruments.
Strum, or vortex-induced cable vibration, can be induced in a cable which tows at an angle with respect to water flow. Strum occurs as water passes about the tow cable and forms a succession of fluid eddies or vortexes on the lee side of the cable. Each vortex gives rise to a pressure differential on the side of the cable causing a transverse mechanical displacement of the cable. This, in turn, enhances the formation of the next vortex. The organized or coherent action of vortex shedding along a sufficient length of cable is believed to be a primary requirement for the occurrence of cable strum.
In the past, various methods have been employed to suppress the occurrence of strum in tow cables. These various methods have all centered around altering the exterior of the tow cable. However, the alterations tried to date have not been very satisfactory in suppressing strum for many applications of the towed systems. Specifically, the alterations are often not effective at the low incidence angles characteristic of many critical angle towed array systems, or they are not compatible with the handling units of the towed systems.
Consequently, there is a need for an improved design tow cable operable to suppress the occurrence of strum in a towed array system at low incidence angles. In addition, there is a need for an improved design tow cable capable of being easily manipulated with existing handling systems.

Strum-suppressant cable for towed arrays

The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy


A multilayer parison extruder includes a cylinder; an annular piston movably fitted in the cylinder; a material accumulation chamber in which the piston is moved; a material conduction chamber communicating with the accumulation chamber; an annular multilayer head provided in the conduction chamber; and a die slot provided under the conduction chamber. The extruder further includes a main material extruder for supplying a main material to the accumulation chamber; and auxiliary material extruders for supplying the auxiliary materials to the multilayer head. The extruder is characterized in that pairs of opposed feed ports are provided in the multilayer head and communicate with the auxiliary material extruders. At least one pair of the inlet ports is provided for each of a pair of arc-shaped passages which are for the auxiliary materials. The arc-shaped passages are connected to the feed ports so that each of the arc-shaped passages extends in opposite directions by nearly equal distances from the corresponding feed ports along the circumference of the multilayer head.

The present invention relates to a multilayer parison extruder and, in particular, to a multilayer parison extruder in which at least four inlet ports, for introducing a corresponding one of a plurality of auxiliary materials into a corresponding one of a plurality of cylindrical slots provided in a multilayer head, are located at nearly equiangular intervals along the circumference of the head so that the uniformity of the thickness of the circumferential wall of a multilayer parison formed by the extruder is enhanced.
In a conventional multilayer parison extruder disclosed in the Japanese Patent Application (OPI) No. 99115/87 (the term "OPI" as used herein means an "unexamined published application"), cylindrical slots for auxiliary materials are provided in a multilayer head disposed in a cylinder, and two inlet ports are provided for each of the cylindrical slots and opposed to each other in the diametral direction of the cylindrical slot. Each of the auxiliary materials is supplied into the corresponding cylindrical slot through the two inlet ports so that a cylindrical multilayer parison, in which a plurality of layers are made of the auxiliary materials between layers of a main material, is extruded. However, since each of the auxiliary materials is supplied into the corresponding cylindrical slot through the two inlet ports opposed to each other in the diametral direction of the slot, the thickness of the auxiliary material layer at the points along the diametral direction of the slot which are located perpendicular to the position of the inlet ports is made unequal with respect to the thickness of the portion of the layer which is located proximate to the inlet ports. For that reason, there is a problem in that the thickness of the parison is nonuniform so as to deteriorate the yield thereof.


A construction machine according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention includes: an engine; a boom cylinder which is divided into a head side and a rod side; a regeneration line through which hydraulic fluid discharged from the head side of the boom cylinder moves when the boom descends; a regeneration motor which is connected with the regeneration line and is operated, and assists the engine; a pilot pump which generates a pilot pressure; a pilot line through which pilot hydraulic fluid discharged from the pilot pump moves; a regeneration connection line which connects the pilot line and the regeneration line; an on/off valve installed in the regeneration connection line; and a control device which closes the on/off valve when a pressure of the pilot line drops below a predetermined pressure or the hydraulic fluid discharged from the boom cylinder is supplied to the regeneration motor.

A construction machine broadly refers to all machines used in civil engineering or building works. In general, a construction machine includes an engine, and a hydraulic pump operated by the power of the engine, and travels or drives a work device with the power generated through the engine and the hydraulic pump.
For example, an excavator, a type of construction machine, is a construction machine that performs work, such as excavating work to dig the ground in civil engineering, building, and construction sites, loading work to transport soil, cracking work to dismantle buildings, and grading work to clear the ground, and is formed of a travelling body that moves equipment, an upper swing body mounted to the travelling body and rotating 360°, and a working device.
Further, the excavator includes a travelling motor used for travelling, a swing motor used for swinging the upper swing body, and driving devices, such as a boom cylinder, an arm cylinder, a bucket cylinder, and an option cylinder used for the working device. Further, the driving devices are driven by hydraulic fluid discharged from a variable capacity-type hydraulic pump driven by an engine or an electric motor.
Recently, an energy regeneration system, which recovers potential energy of a working device and utilizes the recovered energy as an auxiliary means in the operations of various driving devices is applied to a construction machine.
When the working device, such as the boom, moves up and down by the boom cylinder, when the raised boom is lowered, the hydraulic fluid on the head side of the boom cylinder is pushed out from the boom cylinder at high pressure by the potential energy of the boom. The high-pressure hydraulic fluid is converted into thermal energy and dissipated or returned to a storage tank, so that the potential energy of the boom disappears.
Accordingly, the energy regeneration system accumulates the high-pressure hydraulic fluid in an accumulator and then operates the regeneration motor with the accumulated hydraulic fluid, thereby reducing fuel efficiency of the engine that drives the hydraulic pump.
However, when the regeneration motor performs a regeneration operation by the hydraulic fluid discharged from the working device, the regeneration motor is connected with the engine to assist the engine, but when the regeneration motor does not perform the regeneration operation, the regeneration motor applies a load on the engine. As described above, when the regeneration motor unnecessarily increases the load on the engine, there occurs a problem in that fuel efficiency of the engine is reduced.


A semiconductor wafer packaging system to cushion semiconductor wafers from damage from shock and vibration during transportation is described. The semiconductor wafer packaging system has at least one a wafer case to enclose the semiconductor wafers. Each wafer case is placed within a wafer case padding unit. Each padding unit includes a rectangular cushioning block and a plurality of trapezoidal spacer blocks affixed to the four sides of the rectangular cushioning block. The rectangular cushioning block has an opening to accept the wafer case and a plurality of trapezoidal notches on two adjoining sides of the rectangular cushioning block. The wafer case padding unit is placed within a packaging canister for transportation.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the systems for packaging of semiconductor wafers to prevent damage and breakage during transportation and more particularly to padding structures to buffer shock and vibration encountered during transportation of the semiconductor wafers.
2. Description of Related Art
Various containers, boxes, and filler shapes are well known and used in many industries. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,998,379 (Myers) and 4,828,929 (Pierson) are examples of boxes to carry such objects as coin rolls and cylindrical objects such as so called wheels of cheese.
The shipment of semiconductor wafers requires that the semiconductor wafers be buffered from shock and vibration. The semiconductor wafer cases are either circular or rectangular in shape.
If semiconductor wafers are to be shipped in a mixture of circular and rectangular semiconductor wafer cases, the cases must be packaged and padded in separate shipping containers to accommodate the difference in shapes of the semiconductor wafer cases. This increases the costs of shipping and of shipping materials.

Unified semiconductor wafer packaging system to unify irregular shape buffer materials

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.


An electrophotographic photoreceptor comprising a conductive support and a photosensitive layer provided on or above the conductive support, the photosensitive layer having an outermost layer comprising a cured product of a composition comprising a curable resin, a surfactant containing a fluorine atom, and a charge transporting organic compound having a specific structure.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention is related to an electrophotographic photoreceptor, a process cartridge, and an image forming apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Xerographic image forming apparatuses are equipped with an electrophotographic photoreceptor (hereinafter, sometimes simply referred to as "a photoreceptor"), a charging unit, an exposure unit, a developing unit, and a transferring unit, and form images by an electrophotographic process using these units.
Xerographic image forming apparatuses have increased in speed and have extended operating lifes due to technological developments in each member and in the system as a whole. Along with such changes, there are increasing requirements for each subsystem to be able to cope with high speeds and provide high reliability.
In order to achieve a longer operating life of an electrophotographic photoreceptor, it is very important to prevent scratches or abrasion, and curable resins are being developed in order to improve the mechanical strength of the photosensitive layer.
In image forming apparatuses with requirements for each subsystem to be able to cope with high speeds and provide high reliability, there are particularly strenuous requirements for the photoreceptor that is used for image writing and for the cleaning member that cleans the photoreceptor to be able to cope with high speeds and provide high reliability.
There have also been some investigations into the properties, such as mechanical strength, of functional layers using an alcohol soluble curable resin. However, there has been insufficient investigation from the viewpoint of improving film formation properties.

Electrophotographic photoreceptor, process cartridge and image forming apparatus


An impedance control unit is disclosed. Also disclosed are a balun unit, an electronic device, and a Doherty amplifier, each comprising the impedance control unit.

Push-pull amplifiers are well known in the art. These amplifiers comprise a pair of amplifying elements, such as transistors, wherein the input signal that is supplied to one amplifying element is phase shifted by 180 degrees relative to the input signal that is supplied to the other amplifying element. The outputs of the amplifying elements are fed to a balun, which converts the differential signal into a single-ended output signal.
In the radiofrequency (RF) domain, e.g. between 0.1 GHz and 100 GHz, the balun is often realized with transmission lines that are electromagnetically coupled. For example, the balun may use pairs of edged-coupled lines or broadside coupled lines.
An important performance parameter of a balun is the bandwidth with which it is able to provide the conversion between the differential and single-ended signals at acceptable losses. The bandwidth depends, inter alia, on the coupling coefficient that describes the electromagnetic coupling between the transmission lines. If this coefficient becomes larger, the bandwidth of the balun generally increases. The coupling coefficient can be made higher by arranging the strips of the transmission lines closer together. However, when arranging the balun on a printed circuit board or other type of laminated structure, the separation between the strips of the transmission lines is limited by the minimum allowable distance between metal structures on a given layer.
Coupled lines allow the propagation of even mode and odd mode signals. For an even mode signal, the line voltage for both lines is identical. For an odd mode signal, the line voltages for both lines show a 180 degrees phase difference. Generally, the phase velocities associated with the even mode and odd mode signals are different. This particularly holds for planar coupled lines. Moreover, the characteristic impedance for the odd mode signal is generally not equal to the characteristic impedance for the even mode signal.
In a typical push-pull amplifier comprising the pair of amplifying elements as described above, one amplifying element will output a signal Vo+Ve, whereas the other amplifying element will output a signal −Vo+Ve, wherein Vo is the odd mode component and Ve the even mode component. For most applications, only the odd mode component should be converted into the single-ended output signal by the balun and the even mode component should be rejected.
The amplifying elements of the push-pull amplifier can be operated in various classes. When operated in class A, a high quiescent current will flow and the input signal will not cause the amplifying element to enter into a non-conductive mode. In other classes, the transistor nonlinearities generate harmonic content at the output, due to the limited conduction angle which is typically controlled by the choice of the quiescent current. The efficiency for these classes is generally higher than that of class A provided that suitable impedance terminations are seen by the amplifying elements at the harmonic frequencies.
In reduced conduction angle PAs (e.g. assuming ideal classes AB, B, and C), all harmonics are shorted at the virtual drain reference plane. However, for switch-mode PAs, different requirements for harmonic terminations exist. In Class E, all harmonics are presented with an open circuit (or high impedance). In Class F or inverse Class F, a distinction (either short or open) should be made between odd and even mode impedances seen by the amplifying elements at the various frequencies.
It is known that by adding phase delay elements between the balun and the output of the amplifying elements, it is possible to manipulate the impedance seen by the amplifying elements at the various frequencies. Due to the difference in phase velocity, the effect of a delay element will be different for an odd mode signal than for an even mode signal.
EP 13182458.3 discloses a Doherty amplifier as illustrated in FIG. 1. Here, the Doherty amplifier comprises a pair of main amplifying elements Tm1, Tm2, and a pair of peak amplifying elements Tp1, Tp2.
Elements Tm1, Tm2 and elements Tp1, Tp2 are operated in a push-pull configuration. A splitter 1 splits an RF input signal towards main amplifying elements Tm1, Tm2 and peak amplifying elements Tp1, Tp2. Baluns 2, 3 create a differential signal that is fed to elements Tm1, Tm2, Tp1, Tp2. The outputs of Tm1, Tm2 and Tp1, Tp2 are connected to pairs 4, 5 of coupled lines. A further pair 6 of coupled lines is connected to pair 5 such that the phase delay between elements Tp1, Tp2 and power combining points P, P′ equals 180 degrees, whereas the phase delay between elements Tm1, Tm2 and power combining points P, P′ equals 90 degrees. In this manner, the impedance inversion required for Doherty operation can be achieved.
The differential signal present between power combining points P, P′ is fed to a balun 7 via a pair 8 of coupled lines. Balun 7 converts the differential signal into a single-ended signal that can be supplied to a load 9. A phase compensating element 10 is used at the input to ensure that the signals from Tm1, Tm2 are in phase with the signals from Tp1, Tp2 at power combining points P, P′.
In this known Doherty amplifier, phase delay elements 4, 5, 6, and 8 are used for manipulating the odd mode and even mode impedances seen by Tm1, Tm2, Tp1, Tp2 at the higher harmonics.
A drawback of this known solution is that the impedances of the even mode and odd mode cannot be controlled individually in a straight forward manner. In other words, including a transmission line or other element to influence the even mode impedance at a higher harmonic frequency, such as the second harmonic frequency, will influence the odd mode impedance at the same and other frequencies. This complicates the design of the overall amplifier and may exclude a situation wherein the optimal odd mode impedance and optimal even mode impedance are provided to the amplifying elements simultaneously.
An impedance control unit as defined by the preamble of claim 1 is known from JP6318792B2. The known impedance control unit comprises a directional coupler that includes a coupling part composed of a main signal line conductor and a sub signal line conductor arranged in parallel to the main signal line conductor; a ground conductor which is arranged separated from the main signal conductor and the sub signal conductor; a flat ground conductor which is arranged in at least one region out of a first region between the coupling part and the ground conductor, a second region in the vicinity of its side part while mutually facing the main signal conductor, and a connection conductor which connects the flat ground conductor to the ground conductor. This directional coupler has an improved directivity. By providing the flat ground conductor connected to the ground conductor by the connection conductor, it is possible to increase the phase delay during even mode operation by a large amount as compared with the phase delay during odd mode operation. More in particular, the phase delays during even and odd mode operation can be equalized thereby allowing good directivity to be obtained.

Abstract: The impedance control unit comprises a pair of re-entrant type coupled lines, and further comprises an electrical short between the intermediate plane and the ground plane arranged locally inside the pair of coupled lines.


The present invention provides a novel one-step process for preparing an aqueous polymer dispersion by the free radical aqueous emulsion polymerization comprising mixing at least water, a dispersant, and an oil-soluble initiator; raising a temperature from the starting to the end reaction temperature while metering at least ethylenically unsaturated monomers and a water-soluble initiator into a reaction vessel, conducting polymerization of the monomers in the presence of the water-soluble initiator at a temperature up to the end reaction temperature, and when the temperature has reached the end reaction temperature, conducting polymerization by the oil-soluble initiator. The oil-soluble initiator is inactive at the starting reaction temperature and becomes more active as a temperature approaches the end reaction temperature at which the oil-soluble initiator is fully active.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a process for the preparation of an aqueous polymer dispersion by free radical aqueous emulsion polymerization of at least one ethylenically unsaturated compound (monomer) in the presence of at least one dispersant.
The present invention also relates to the aqueous polymer dispersions obtainable by the novel process, the use thereof as binders in adhesives, sealing compounds, plastics renders, paper coating slips and surface coating materials and for modifying mineral binders.
2. Description of the Related Art
Aqueous polymer dispersions (latices) are generally known. They are fluid systems which comprise polymer coils consisting of a plurality of entangled polymer chains (i.e. polymer particles) as the disperse phase in an aqueous dispersing medium. The weight average diameter of the polymer particles is frequently from 10 to 5,000 nm.
As in the case of polymer solutions on evaporation of the solvent, aqueous polymer dispersions, on evaporation of the aqueous dispersing medium, have the potential for forming polymer films and are therefore used in particular as binders. Owing to their environmentally friendly properties, they are becoming increasingly important.
The preparation of aqueous polymer dispersions is frequently carried out by free radical aqueous emulsion polymerization [cf. for example Encyclopedia of Polymer Science and Engineering, Vol. 8, page 659 et seq. (1987); D. C. Blackley, in High Polymer Latices, Vol. 1, page 35 et seq. (1966); H. Warson, The Applications of Synthetic Resin Emulsions, page 246 et seq., Chapter 5 (1972); D. Diederich, Chemie in unserer Zeit, 24, (1990), 135 to 142; Emulsion Polymerisation, Interscience Publishers, New York (1965); DE-A 40 03 422, and Dispersionen synthetischer Hochpolymerer, F. Holscher, Springer-Verlag, Berlin 1969]. A characteristic of this process is that water-soluble free radical initiators are used as polymerization catalysts.
For reasons relating to apparatus, the free radical aqueous emulsion polymerization is frequently carried out at below 100°. Since the polymerization rates [corresponding to the instantaneous monomer conversion rate] decrease sharply with decreasing monomer concentration and, on the other hand, the operation times of the polymerization reactors, which for reaction safety reasons are equipped with expensive instrumentation, are to be minimized, the polymerization reaction in the polymerization vessel is frequently carried out only to a monomer conversion of ≧95% by weight. The conversion of the remaining monomers is then effected in a downstream polymerization step in a separate reactor generally equipped with less expensive instrumentation. As a rule, this postpolymerization is carried out using a free radical initiator or free radical initiator system optimized for these purposes. Examples of free radical initiators which are particularly suitable for the postpolymerization or reduction of residual monomer contents are to be found in EP-B 003 957, EP-B 028 348, EP-B 563 726, EP-A 764 699, U.S. Pat. No. 4,529,753, DE-A 37 18 520, DE-A 38 34 734, DE-A 42 32 194, DE-A 195 29 599, WO 95/33775, EP-A 767 180, DE-A 19839199 or DE-A 19840586.
In addition, WO 00/22003 discloses a one-stage process for the preparation of aqueous polymer dispersions having a low residual monomer content, in which process the polymerization reaction is initiated by a redox initiator system and the polymerization temperature is specified by a defined temperature profile. A disadvantage of this process is that, in addition to the oxidizing agent acting as a free radical initiator, it is essential for a reducing agent to be present, by means of which the polymerization temperature can be reduced but through which additional foreign components also enter the aqueous polymer dispersions, which foreign components generally cannot be removed from the aqueous polymer dispersion even by subsequent stripping with inert gas or with steam.
Against the background of the prior art, it is an object of the present invention to provide a further one-stage process for the preparation of aqueous polymer dispersions having a low residual monomer content, which process, however, manages without additional reducing agents.

Free-radical polymerization process producing aqueous polymer dispersion with low residual monomer content utilizing oil and water soluble initiators


A lens barrel includes an external operation member for manual operation, a driving source, a movable lens supported movably along an optical axis, a lens moving mechanism arranged to receive a movement of the external operation member and move the movable lens at least along the optical axis and to receive a motion of the driving source and move the movable lens at least along the optical axis, and a switching mechanism for varying a ratio of the amount of the movement received from the external operation member to the amount of movement of the movable lens.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a lens barrel capable of both lens driving using a driving source and lens driving using a manual operation.
2. Description of the Related Art
Japanese Laid-open Patent Application No. Hei 2-253214 proposes a built-in focusing motor type of lens barrel which is arranged to allow a photographer to substantially serially perform an automatic focusing operation and a manual focusing operation without the need to perform a special switching operation.
The arrangement of the switching mechanism disclosed in Japanese Laid-open Patent Application No. Hei 2-253214 will be described below in brief. Although it is known that when a vibration wave motor is not driven, the rotor of the vibration wave motor is in pressure contact with the stator thereof and held by a large frictional force, the disclosed switch mechanism makes use of this nature of the vibration wave motor. The switching mechanism utilizes a differential mechanism and is arranged to enable switching between the output of the vibration wave motor and the output from a manual operation ring without the need for a special operation, thereby allowing the photographer to perform automatic focusing and manual focusing substantially in series.
FIG. 11 shows the arrangement of the switching mechanism. The arrangement shown in FIG. 11 includes a mount 301 for permitting attachment and detachment of the lens barrel to and from a camera body, a back lid 327 attached to an internal-diameter portion of the mount 301, a fixed tube 330 attached to the mount 301 and serving as a structure part connected to a guide tube 303 which supports a focusing lens 305, the fixed tube 330 further serving to form the external appearance of the lens barrel, and the guide tube 303 fixed to the fixed tube 330 and a motor unit body 331 by screws or the like. The internal peripheral portion of the guide tube 303 is maintained in sliding contact with the external peripheral portion of a focusing-lens tube 304 which holds the focusing lens 305. The guide tube 303 has a plurality of cams 303a for causing the focusing lens 305 to move forward and backward. A plurality of rollers 306 are mounted on the focusing-lens tube 304 in such a manner as to project radially from the external peripheral surface of the focusing-lens tube 304, and the external peripheral surfaces of the respective rollers 306 and the end faces of the corresponding cams 303a are held in sliding contact with each other. The motor unit body 331 is fixed to the fixed tube 330 and the guide tube 303 by screws or the like. Elements 309 to 319 are the constituent parts of a motor unit.
The shown arrangement also includes a ring-shaped stator 312 which serves as a vibrator, and a rotor 313 which is maintained in pressure contact with the stator 312. The rotor 313 rotates about the optical axis of the lens barrel by a vibration of the stator 312. The arrangement also includes a vibration absorber 311 for preventing the vibration of the stator 312 from being transmitted to the outside, a disk spring 310, a pressure adjusting ring 309, and a vibration absorber 314 for absorbing the vibration of the rotor 313. A communication ring 315 supports the rotor 313 and the vibration absorber 314 on its one end surface, and is maintained in contact with the external peripheral surfaces of at least three rollers 317 on the opposite side face. The rollers 317 are respectively supported on a roller ring 316 in such a manner as to be rotatable about axes which pass through an intersection point of the optical axis in a plane perpendicular to the optical axis. The movement of each of the rollers 317 along the rotational axis thereof is restricted by a washer 318. The internal peripheral side of the roller ring 316 is fitted onto the motor unit body 331. A manual-operation input ring 319 is supported on the motor unit body 331 in such a manner as to be rotatable about the optical axis, and is maintained in abutment with the external peripheral surfaces of the respective rollers 17.
A toothed portion 319a is formed around the external periphery of the manual-operation input ring 319, and the toothed portion 319a is meshed with a toothed portion 332a formed around the internal periphery of a manual operation ring 332 so that the manual-operation input ring 319 and the manual operation ring 332 can rotate integrally. The manual operation ring 332 is fitted onto the fixed tube 330 and the motor unit body 331 in such a manner as to be supported rotatably about the optical axis. A focusing key 307, which is fixed to the roller ring 316 at its one end, extends through an opening 331a formed in the motor unit body 331 to control the rotation of the rollers 306 about the optical axis. The lens barrel also includes an electrical circuit board 328 which executes control of a motor and other associated elements.
The operation of the above-described arrangement will be described below. However, since the operational principle of the motor is known, the description of the operation of the motor is omitted, and the following description will refer to only the operations of the essential parts of the arrangement.
When electrical power is supplied to vibrate the stator 312, the rotor 313, the vibration absorber 314 and the communication ring 315 integrally rotate about the optical axis. Then, forces are produced which cause the respective rollers 317 in contact with the communication ring 315 to rotate about their mounting axes. Since the manual-operation input ring 319 is frictionally held by a side face of the motor unit body 331, the rollers 317 roll in contact with the side face of the manual-operation input ring 319, and the roller ring 316 which rotatably supports the rollers 317 rotates about the optical axis. The amount of rotation of the roller ring 316 is selected to be 1/2 of the amount of rotation of the rotor 313. The amount of rotation of the roller ring 316 is transmitted to the focusing lens 305 and the focusing-lens tube 304 by the focusing key 307 via the rollers 306. The rollers 306 are engaged with the cams 303a formed in the guide tube 303, so that as the focusing key 307 rotates, the rollers 306, the focusing-lens tube 304 and the focusing lens 305 move along the optical axis while rotating about the optical axis, thereby effecting automatic focusing.
Since the internal-diameter toothed portion 332a is meshed with the external-periphery toothed portion 319a of the manual-operation input ring 319, as the manual operation ring 332 is manually rotated, the manual-operation input ring 319 is rotated about the optical axis. The rotational force of the manual-operation input ring 319 acts as a force which causes the rollers 317 to rotate about their respective rotational axes. During this time, since the communication ring 315, the rotor 313 and other associated elements are nonrotatably held by the frictional force acting between the rotor 313 and the stator 312, the roller ring 316 rotates at a rotational speed which is 1/2 of the rotational speed of the manual operation ring 332 as described above. The rotation of the roller ring 316 is transmitted to the focusing lens 305 via the focusing key 307, thereby effecting manual focusing.
However, in the related-art mechanism described above, during focusing, it is possible to effect only serial switching between the automatic focusing operation and the manual focusing operation, and the angle of rotation of the manual operation ring 332 and the angle of rotation of the rotor of the vibration wave motor are associated with the movement of the focusing lens 305 in the same relationship at all times. More specifically, if the manual operation ring 332 is caused to make one rotation, the roller ring 316 makes a 1/2 rotation to move the focusing lens 305. During automatic focusing, if the rotor of the vibration wave motor makes one rotation, the roller ring 316 similarly makes a 1/2 rotation to move the focusing lens 305.
In practice, if a photographer is to perform manual focusing, particularly in the case of a focusing operation which requires a large angle of rotation of the manual operation ring 332, the photographer must perform the operation of rotating the manual operation ring 332 to some extent and, after having shifted his/her hold on the lens barrel, rotating it to a further extent. As a result, the photographer cannot perform a rapid manual focusing operation, so that he/she misses a photographic opportunity.
Incidentally, a lens barrel which allows automatic focusing and manual focusing to be serially performed without a special operation is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,052,781 and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 013,331 (filed on Feb. 4, 1993).


An implantable medical device includes a first component including a first material, a second component including a second material, and a fiber matrix including a plurality of fibers. The fiber matrix joins the first component to the second component. The fiber matrix includes a first a first portion connected to the first component, and a second portion connected to the second component. The first portion of the fiber matrix is interpenetrated with, and mechanically fixed to, the first material. The first portion of the fiber matrix directly contacts the first material.

Medical devices, particularly implantable medical devices, often consist of a variety of materials having physical characteristics beneficial for a specific application. For example, implantable medical leads may be formed from a biocompatible polyurethane polymer, such as a thermoplastic polycarbonate polyurethane. In some embodiments, it may be desirable to attach an external non-polyurethane polymer, such as a silicone polymer, component to at least a portion of an implantable medical lead. For example, creating a joint that attaches a silicone polymer to a polyurethane polymer may require a series of complex processing operations, for example preparing the polyurethane polymer and/or silicone polymer surfaces, because silicone polymer and polyurethane polymer are typically not readily bondable to each other. In some embodiments, such processing may include plasma treating a polyurethane polymer surface to clean and/or chemically activate the surface. The process may additionally or alternatively include applying a primer or adhesive to the polyurethane polymer surface before applying, such as overmolding, the silicone polymer onto the prepared polyurethane polymer surface. Often such complex processing must be completed in a short span of time because the polyurethane polymer surface may begin to deteriorate after it is prepared. If the polyurethane polymer surface deteriorates to a certain extent, the joint that forms between the silicone polymer and the polyurethane polymer may not have adequate strength.
Other material combinations in which the materials are not readily bondable to each other may require similarly complex processing. Example material combinations include silicone polymer and polyether ether ketone. Additionally many thermoplastics cannot be readily heat bonded to thermoset polymers, and require additional processing. Joining materials which are not readily bondable to each other may require surface treatment and/or adhesives which may take significant time to cure, thus slowing production of the medical devices and increasing their cost. What is needed is a better method for joining materials that are not readily bondable to each other.

Fibrous joinery interface between structures


A system includes at least one imaging sensor and a processor. The processor is configured to acquire, using the imaging sensor, detected data describing an environment of an autonomous vehicle. The processor is further configured to derive reference data, which describe the environment, from a predefined map, to compute difference data representing a difference between the detected data and the reference data, and to transfer the difference data. Other embodiments are also described.

U.S. Pat. No. 9,767,369 describes a vehicle receiving one or more images of an environment of the vehicle. The vehicle may also receive a map of the environment. The vehicle may also match at least one feature in the one or more images with corresponding one or more features in the map. The vehicle may also identify a given area in the one or more images that corresponds to a portion of the map that is within a threshold distance to the one or more features. The vehicle may also compress the one or more images to include a lower amount of details in areas of the one or more images other than the given area. The vehicle may also provide the compressed images to a remote system, and responsively receive operation instructions from the remote system.
U.S. Pat. No. 9,494,935 describes computer devices, systems, and methods for remotely operating an autonomous passenger vehicle. When an autonomous vehicle encounters an unexpected driving environment unsuitable for autonomous operation, such as road construction or an obstruction, vehicle sensors can capture data about the vehicle and the unexpected driving environment, including images, radar and lidar data, etc. The captured data can be sent to a remote operator. The remote operator can manually operate the vehicle remotely or issue commands to the autonomous vehicle to be executed by on various vehicle systems. The captured data sent to the remote operator can be optimized to conserve bandwidth, such as by sending a limited subset of the captured data.
US Patent Application Publication 2019/0302761 describes at least partial control of a vehicle transferred to a control system remote from the vehicle. Sensor data may be received from a sensor(s) of the vehicle and the sensor data may be encoded to generate encoded sensor data. The encoded sensor data may be transmitted to the control system for display on a virtual reality headset of the control system. Control data may be received by the vehicle and from the control system that may be representative of a control input(s) from the control system, and actuation by an actuation component(s) of the vehicle may be caused based on the control input.

Transferring data from autonomous vehicles


Provided are compositions and methods for inhibiting hypoxia-induced damage. The compositions and methods involve the use of one or more agents that can inhibit one or any combination of the genes BCL2L14, BLOC1S2, C20RF42, CPT1A, FBP1, GCNT3, RHOB, SCIN, TACR1 and TNFAIP6. Polynucleotide and non-polynucleotide agents which can be used for inhibiting one or more of the genes are included. The method involves introducing one or more gene inhibiting agents to a cell, tissue, organ, or individual such that formation of hypoxia related damage is inhibited. Kits which contain the agents and printed information about using them for inhibiting hypoxia induced damage are also included.

Hypoxia is a state of lower than normal tissue oxygen tension. Hypoxia and decreased supply of nutrients are the hallmarks of ischemia. Hypoxia and ischemia have been implicated in a host of human diseases, including cancer, heart disease, and neurological disorders. Additionally, organs and tissues which are obtained for transplantation frequently deteriorate due at least in part to hypoxia while being stored and transported for transplantation. Compositions and methods for treating hypoxia-associated diseases or conditions are needed. The present disclosure meets these needs.

Compositions and methods for inhibiting hypdxia induced damage


A method and system for transferring state variables between an old and new model in an adaptive mesh-free analysis is described. The old and the new model are associated with a set of old and new integration points, respectively. A third set of nodes is formed to include old boundary nodes and the set of old integration points. For each of the new integration points, a sub-set of the third set is defined. The support of each node of the sub-set covers the new integration point to be evaluated. A local interpolant with a desirable consistency condition and interpolation properties is constructed to interpolate state variables at the new integration points. All of the non-interpolated approximation can be transformed into the interpolated approximation with the desired consistency condition and smoothness using this procedure.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to the area of computer aided engineering analysis, more particularly to method and system for transferring state variables between an old and a new model in an adaptive mesh-free analysis.
2. Description of the Related Art
Finite element analysis (FEA) is a computerized method widely used in industry to model and solve engineering problems relating to complex systems since its invention in late 1950's. With the advent of the modern digital computer, FEA has been implemented as FEA computer program product. Basically, the FEA computer program product is provided with a model of the geometric description and the associated material properties at certain points within the model. In this model, the geometry of the system under analysis is represented by solids, shells and beams of various sizes, which are called elements. The vertices of the elements are referred to as nodes. The individual elements are connected together by a topological map, which is usually called mesh. The model is comprised of a finite number of elements, which are assigned a material name to associate with material properties. The model thus represents the physical space occupied by the object under analysis along with its immediate surroundings.
Although FEA has been successfully applied to many fields to simulate various engineering problems, there are some instances that FEA may not be advantageous due to numerical compatibility condition is not the same as the physical compatibility condition of a continuum. For example, in Lagrangian type of computations, one may experience mesh distortion, which can either end the simulation prematurely or result in drastic deterioration of accuracy. In addition, the FEA often requires a very fine mesh in problems with high gradients or a distinct local character, which can be computationally expensive. For this reason, adaptive FEA has been developed to allow the FEA mesh be regenerated after certain number of solution cycles, such that the original mesh can be refined in the region experiencing high distortion.
Adaptive re-meshing procedures for simulations of impact/penetration problems, explosion/fragmentation problems, flow pass obstacles, and fluid-structure interaction problems etc., have become formidable tasks to undertake. The difficulties here are not only re-meshing procedure, but also mapping the values of state variables from the old model to the new model. Many ad hoc techniques such as smoothing have used for the process of transferring state variables. The problem associated with these ad hoc techniques is that the accuracy and convergence properties can not be preserved from one mesh or model to the next. As a result, inconsistent analysis results are produced.
Another method called "mesh-free analysis" has become one of the focused research topics during the 1990's. Many applications of using mesh-free analysis have been achieved in the past decade. In comparison with conventional finite element methods, the characteristics of smoothness and naturally conforming of the approximation, exemption from meshing, and higher convergence rate and the easy of nodal insertion and deletion have make mesh-free methods attractive alternative numerical techniques for nonlinear analysis of industrial applications. In a highly non-linear structural analysis, a mesh-free model can be regenerated after the error indicator exceeds a pre-determined level. Since there is no mesh, the generation of a new model is relatively easier comparing to that of the finite element analysis. Similar to the finite element analysis, the state variables need to be transferred between the old and the new models with preservation of accuracy and convergence properties. Therefore, it would be desirable to have a consistent means to transferring state variables between an old and a new model in an adaptive mesh-free analysis.

Method and system for transferring state variables in adaptive mesh-free analysis


A block having first and second permanent cavities. The first cavity includes a first vertical, continuous V-groove from the rop of the block to a pocket which has a permanent horizontal bottom wall. The second cavity includes a second V-groove that is parallel to the first V-groove, and which is continuous from the top of the block to a second permanent horizontal bottom wall that is at a predetermined height with respect to the bottom wall of the first cavity. Each cavity includes a bar pivotally attached to the block, which includes a flat surface for pressing normally to the bottom of the V-groove, along a vertical line of contact with the vertical cylindrical portion of a tool in the V-groove when the bar is positioned horizontally across the V-groove and is drawn to the block.

1. Field of the Invention.
The present invention relates in general, to work holders for abrading operations, more particularly to a work holder for grinding a punch and a die for cutter faces in parallel planes, in the same operation, square to each other's axis, simply, quickly, and accurately.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Sharpening a punch and die set commonly involves grinding the elements in separate uncoordinated set-up operations. To grind the punch, the spring, spring support, and spring retainer nut are stripped from the punch. The punch shaft is then clamped in a grinder vise adjusted so that the axis of the shaft is perpendicular to the axis of the grinding wheel shaft. The cutter face of the punch shaft is then progressively traversed by the outer diameter of the grinding wheel until it is square with the axis of he shaft. The punch is then reassembled.
The die is ground similarly by securing it on a magnetic grinder plate and adjusting so that the axis of the die is perpendicular to the axis of the grinding wheel shaft. The cutter face of the die is then progressively traversed by the outer diameter of the grinding wheel until it is square with the axis of the shaft.
The grind must result in the cutter faces of the punch and die being true to one another, that is, in parallel planes when they are aligned face-to-face on a common axis.
One tool designed for holding a work piece is described in U.S. Pat. No. 1,705,629, patented by W.H. Wildbore, Mar. 19, 1929. The block has a first longitudinally extending V-groove which is interrupted between its ends by a transversely extending groove. Also, a transverse recess is formed at one end of the block in a second block or plate, that is attached to the first block, extending normally from the first block rearward of the bottom of the V-groove. Longitudinally extending grooves on each side of the first block slidingly receive the ends of a U-shaped yoke for pressing the work-piece into the first groove by means of a screw through the yoke which bears upon the work-piece. The transversely extending grooves accommodate flanges or peripheral projections on the work-piece.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,376,674, patented Apr. 9, 1968 by A.M. Ernesto describes a fixture for holding and positioning a punch or tool bit for grinding surfaces on the tool at angles related to the surfaces and the tool.
The fixture includes a plate that is suitable for holding by a magnetic chuck of a grinder. The plate has a vertical central pin and a pair of opposed horizontal pins one at each longitudinal end of the plate. A longitudinal block having a series of threaded vertical apertures along its length, rests on the plate, rotatably mounted by the vertical pin on the plate. A downward extending pin through one end of the longitudinal block limits the extent of rotation of the longitudinal block by interception of one of the horizontal pins.
A tool clamping block member is mounted on the longitudinal block for sliding movement along the longitudinal block. The tool clamping member includes at one end of the clamping member a vertical slit having a longitudinal top bearing surface for receiving a hold down bolt. This allows the clamping block member to be clamped ar any location along the length of the longitudinal block by bolting down at the closest threaded vertical aperture.
At the other end of the member, on a line parallel with the longitudinal block, is a vertically oriented V-channel, straddled by a horizontal semicircular yoke or bridge that is bolted to the clamping block member. A fastening screw through the top of the yoke clamps the tool in the clamping block member by bearing on the side of the tool, pressing the tool directly into the V groove.
To set the height of the tool more accurately in the clamping member, an alternate base is provided with a line of threaded vertical apertures ending with a smooth bore vertical aperture. The threaded apertures are for clamping the clamping block member to the alternate base by a hold down bolt as described above, positioned so that the vertical V-groove is over the smooth bore vertical aperture. A pin of selected length is inserted in the smooth bore vertical aperture for supporting the tool at a predetermined height with respect to the alternate base, whereupon the tool is clamped against the V-groove by the fastening screw.
U.S. Pat. No.
4,748,774, patented Jun. 7, 1988 by J.A. Giangrasso, discloses a fixture for holding each pin of a batch injection mold injector pins for grinding, so that each pin is ground to a length identical with the others.
A plate suitable for holding by a magnetic chuck of a grinder includes a perpendicular jaw block at one end. A movable stop member is slidingly mounted on a shaft that is rigidly attached perpendicularly to the jaw block, so that the stop member can traverse the plate, to and from the jaw block.
The head of the pin to be ground abuts the movable stop member which is adjusted to a position along the shaft and locked in place on the shaft by a set screw when the straight end of the pin is moved by the stop member to set the pin tip at a predetermined position with respect to the grinding wheel. The pin is clamped on the jaw block, by the straight end, close to the tip, by a V-groove on the block, and an angled clamp face which urges the pin into the apex of the V-groove as it is closed on the pin by a thumb screw attached to the block.
Once the set-up is made, a second pin is ground like the first by resting the head on the stop member, and clamping the straight end of the pin in the V-groove by using the angled clamp arrangement for the V-groove.


An apparatus for mounting on a goal is provided for assisting in scoring and target practice. The apparatus is preferably formed of a laminate fabric that is capable of being printed or decorated on at least one side, and is provided with at least one target area that allows a projectile, such as a puck or ball, to pass through the apparatus and into a goal when the apparatus is mounted on a goal. A network of reinforcement means is fixed on a rear surface of the apparatus in a manner that frames each of the target areas. A plurality of tethering means with length adjustment means is provided, preferably extending from and integral some of the reinforcement means. The apparatus is provided with an attached jacket, such that the apparatus can be stowed by rolling it into a scroll-like form and wrapping it with the jacket.

It is generally desirable that participants in a sport practice their skills. In particular, it is desirable that participants in a sport requiring that a projectile, such as a puck or ball, be shot, driven, thrown, or otherwise propelled into a goal area, practice their aiming skills with reference to the goal area. The goal area is generally defined as a two-dimensional region through which the projectile must pass to be counted towards a player's score; the region may be defined by markers, posts, or a frame around two or more sides of the two-dimensional area. The space behind the goal may be blocked by a net, mesh, board, or other means to prevent a projectile from travelling too far beyond the goal area.
An individual player may practice his or her goal-scoring skills equipped with a projectile playing piece, equipment to be used in propelling the projectile, and a goal; for example, in the sport of hockey, a solo player may practice scoring goals on an empty goal with a puck and a hockey stick. However, in some sports the goal area is protected by a goaltender, whose role is to block the projectile from entering the goal area. Scoring a goal by propelling the projectile into the goal area, therefore, presents more of a challenge than is available in solo practice, because portions of the goal area are blocked. Even for those sports participants whose interest is more recreational than competitive, solo practice in this fashion may present an insufficient challenge to maintain the participant's interest.
Therefore, it is desirable to provide a means to increase the challenge of solo recreational or competitive sports practice.


Adeno-associated virus 2/8-microRNA-101(AAV2/8-miR-101) therapy for liver cancer is provided. In particular, the invention provides a recombinant AAV 2/8 vector, comprising mutated capsid, for the enforced expression of pre-miR-101 and for the treatment of liver cancer.

Although identified relatively recently, miRNAs have been recognized as one of the major regulatory gene families that utilize identical cellular enzymes/pathways as siRNA with similar mechanisms leading to translational repression of target mRNA. Emerging evidences strongly suggest a crucial role played by miRNAs in various cellular mechanisms including cancer pathogenesis. Micro-RNA genes are transcribed, generally by RNA polymerase II (Pol II), generating the primary miRNA (pri-miRNA). In the nucleus, the RNase III endonuclease Drosha cleaves the pri-miRNA to produce ˜70-nucleotide precursor miRNA (pre-miRNA). Exportin-5 transports the pre-miRNA into the cytoplasm, where it is cleaved by another RNase III endonuclease, Dicer, to a ˜21-nucleotide miRNA duplex. These miRNA molecules are loaded into RNA-induced silencing complex (RISC) which will help knockdown target messenger RNA.
In the recent past, a particularly important role for miRNAs in cancer pathogenesis has emerged. Virtually all examined tumors globally displayed abnormal miRNA expression contributing to cellular transformation and tumorigenesis. Due to their importance in controlling various cellular functions related to cell division and differences and their dramatic alterations in cancer, potential therapeutic approaches have been envisaged. Several lines of evidences suggest that miRNA replacement represents a viable and efficacious strategy. Although specific miRNAs are often over-expressed in cancer cells, most miRNAs are down regulated in tumors.
Silencing of an abnormally elevated miRNA or enforced expression of under expressed miRNA in cancer are ideal targets for gene correction therapy. Small interfering RNAs and miRNAs share similar endogenous biological processing pathways. miRNA expression and processing can be regulated through similar mechanism that controls siRNA. The similarities between miRNA and siRNA suggest that miRNAs also have the potential to affect epigenetic mechanisms including methylation and histone deacetylation leading to diseases like cancers caused by somatic gene aberrations.
Global miRNA profile studies revealed several specific miRNAs with altered expressions contributing to hepatocyte transformation and metastasis. The role of miRNAs in human cancer is further supported by the fact that >50% of miRNA genes are located at fragile genomic loci prone to deletion or amplification that are frequently altered in human cancers. Correcting the altered micro-RNA genes in liver cancer may constitute an important therapeutic approach. Significant under expression of miRNA-101, is a molecular lesion associated with tumor progression. Genomic loss of miRNA-101 in cancer leads to over expression of EzH2 and concomitant dysregulation of epigenetic pathways, resulting in cancer progression.
miRNAs' have a broad specificity as they do not require a perfect match with the complementary sequence of their target mRNA. This creates a possibility of unintended, non-specific targeting of genes. But the fact that the miR-101 silences the expression of several tumor promoting genes such as COX-2, PKCa, suggests that its enforced expression in cancer cells will knockdown tumor promoting genes. Even though the role of miR1O1 has been studied in several solid epithelial malignancies, relatively little is known about its involvement in the progression of liver cancer.
Enhancer of zeste homolog 2 (EzH2) is a mammalian histone methyltransferase that contributes to the epigenetic silencing of target genes and regulates the survival and metastasis of cancer cells. Of the 34 miRNAs predicted to regulate EzH2, only miR-101 is found to have a strong negative association with cancer progression from benign to localized disease to metastasis. Analysis of human prostate tumors revealed that miR-101 expression decreases during cancer progression, paralleling an increase in EzH2 expression. Expression and function of EzH2 in cancer cell lines are inhibited by microRNA-101 (miR-101).
EzH2 is over expressed in aggressive solid tumors by mechanisms that remain unclear. EzH2 is a catalytic sub-unit of polycomb group of repressor proteins which catalyze methylation of chromatin leading to transcriptional silencing of several tumor suppressor genes or anti-oncogenes. The loss of miR-101 and concomitant elevation of EzH2 is most pronounced in metastatic cancer, suggesting that the loss of miR-101 may represent a progressive molecular lesion in the development of more aggressive disease. Approaches to reintroduce miR-101 into tumors may have therapeutic benefit by reverting the epigenetic program of tumor cells to a more normal state.
Hepato-cellular cancer (HCC) is commonest primary liver cancer accounting for roughly 90% of this class of malignancy with poor prognosis due to rapid spread. Inadequacy of current therapies and presentation of patients with advanced diseases have meant that the treatment is generally palliative and prognosis is extremely grave. Early detection combined with novel effective combinatorial therapies are needed for improving management of HCC patients. The increasing evidences have indicated that miR-101 was regarded as a metastatic determinant and a key component in tumor metastasis in several malignancies including liver cancer.
One of the most difficult challenges impeding the advancement of RNA/-based HCC therapy is efficient and safe delivery of effecter sequences. Ideally, vectors deliver silencing molecules selectively to most if not all the malignant hepatocytes. Viral vectors are generally more efficient vehicles in vivo than non viral vectors. Viral vectors have been successfully used for enforced expression of miRNAs in various gene therapy studies established their delivery and efficacy.
Although viral vectors permit the efficient delivery and stable expression of miRNA, establishment of safety, efficacy and potent gene silencing are crucial ingredients for selecting the viral delivery vehicle. A key area of research in the use of RNA/for clinical applications is the development of a safe delivery method, which to date has involved mainly viral vector systems similar to those suggested for gene therapy.
Adeno-associated virus (AAV) is one of most promising vectors for gene therapy. The recombinant AAV (rAAV) provides a nonpathogenic and latent infection by integrating into the host genome; it also shows high transduction efficiency of both dividing and non-dividing cells and tissues with persistent transgene expression. Such recombinant AAV's have the advantage of exhibiting modified tropism, (i.e., being highly selective with respect to the tissues it infects), as well as having a higher rate of transduction efficiency when compared to native AAV. Adeno-associated virus (AAV) is currently being tested in several human gene therapy trials because of its several unique features that distinguish it from other gene therapy vectors. These features include (i) a broad host range; (ii) lack of cell-mediated immune response against the vector; (iii) ability to integrate into a host chromosome or persist episomally, thereby creating potential for long-term expression; (iv) minimal influence on changing the pattern of cellular gene expression and the like.
Hence there is a need for a treatment for liver cancer incorporating the expression of pre-miR-101.

Adeno-associated virus 2/8—micro RNA-101 therapy for liver cancer


A general method and strains of bacteria are described by means where the endogeneous DNAK protein or homolog of the DNAK protein is tagged with a recognizable amino acid sequence and that through this tag, DNAK may be efficiently removed, and as such, recombinant protein purification may be greatly improved both in yield and purity with simplified purification steps that remove the DNAK and reduced cost, waste accumulation and labor, and the isolated recombinant protein will significantly benefit research and therapeutics in its application.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to methods for isolation of recombinant proteins, and namely methods that involve the removal of DNAK during the isolation procedure.
2. General Background and State of the Art
Obtaining substantial amounts of pure protein is essential in innumerable biological studies and indispensable to the biochemical characterization of proteins. The ease of growth, well-characterized genetics, and the large number of tools for gene expression has long made Escherichia coli (E. Coli) the organism of choice for protein overproduction.
DNAK is an abundant protein (about 1% of the total protein of E. coli) that interacts with a wide range of newly synthesized polypeptides whereby it acts as a chaperone. Chaperone proteins assist in the proper folding of newly expressed proteins and assembly into oligomers and thus prevent protein aggregation through interaction. DNAK binding to other proteins occurs when DNAK is bound to ADP, and release these proteins when bound to ATP. DNAK is also a required factor to disaggregate preformed protein aggregates, and it participates in the degradation of damaged proteins through protease specific channels.
While important for protein production, DNAK contamination presents a significant problem in protein purification. DNAK is able to bind to many proteins that are not endogenous to the bacterial host strain. Moreover, DNAK contamination may prevent the separation of recombinant fusion protein production, impair analysis of unfolding-refolding experiments, and cause strong antigenic responses in rats and rabbits even when the chaperone is present in trace amounts, which thereby affects antibody production.
Some recombinant protein isolation methods utilize E. coli DNAK deletion strains in order to eliminate DNAK contamination, but only when DNAK is not required to improve the solubility and the quality of the isolated recombinant proteins. Still, these deletions strains have narrower ranges of permissive temperatures for growth and exhibit multiple cellular defects which may reduce the overall yield of recombinant protein as well as stability of the strain.
Other methods involving fusion protein production utilize software based algorithms that determine appropriate amino acids surrounding the putative DNAK binding site of the recombinant protein and alter the sequence in order to decrease putative affinity for DNAK. Upon purification of these fusion protein bound to resin, MgATP plus soluble denatured E. coli proteins are used to wash the protein prior to elution. However, such methods are effective in only a limited number of cases, and not generally for all fusion proteins. Also, they do not eliminate contamination of their isolated recombination proteins that inherently contain putative DNAK binding sites. In addition, reagents of this procedure agents are costly and some are not suitable for commercial or therapeutic use (e.g. glycerol).
Alternate methods employ co-chaperone proteins which bind to DNAK in any of the nucleotide bound states. The co-chaperone protein was histidine tagged at the N-terminus, and this fusion recombinant protein was isolated by a one-step purification with nickel affinity chromatography. Despite the ability to remove DNAK via this co-chaperone, the method does not completely eliminate the DNAK, and relies on the transformation of an additional recombinant protein which reduces cellular resources needed to express the target recombinant protein at higher levels.


An output buffer circuit is disclosed in which a first signal whose voltage amplitude is smaller than the voltage between zero and the power source voltage VDD and the minimum level is the same as the ground level Gnd and a second signal whose maximum level is the same as the power source voltage VDD but the voltage amplitude is smaller than the voltage between zero and the power source voltage VDD are generated, and it is thereby arranged such that maximum value of the voltages applied between any two terminals of all of the MOS transistors constituting the output buffer circuit becomes .vertline.VDD-threshold voltage of MOS transistor.vertline.. Therefore, the withstand voltage of devices can be substantially improved. In addition, depending on the first and second signals, the finally output signal can be given the amplitude between the ground level Gnd and the power source voltage VDD.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an output buffer circuit and, more particularly, to an arrangement for improving the withstand voltage of an output buffer circuit comprising TFTs.
2. Description of the Related Art
Output buffer circuit is used for example as a circuit for outputting a signal generated in a circuit to a circuit in the next stage.
FIG. 3 is a circuit configuration diagram showing an output buffer circuit used in a liquid crystal display of an active matrix type. This circuit is such that address pulses generated in a vertical shift register are output to gate lines 22 through output buffer circuits 21. As shown in FIG. 3, the output buffer circuit 21 is formed of a CMOS transistor having a PMOS transistor mp1 and an NMOS transistor mn1.
Since the transistors forming the pixels are NMOS transistors in the described circuit, the amplitude of the input video signal in general is approximately between 0.5 V and (power source voltage VDD-threshold voltage Vth), i.e., the signal does not have the voltage amplitude between 0 V and the power source voltage VDD. However, the signal voltage output to the gate line 22 is required to have a dynamic range between 0 V and the power source voltage VDD. Therefore, a voltage of the same magnitude as that of the power source voltage PDD is applied between drain and gate, source and gate, and drain and source of the transistors mp1 and mn1 constituting the output buffer circuit 21.
Since the power source voltage PDD in general is as high as 14 to 18 V, if such high voltage is applied to the device directly, the reliability on the device will be impaired. As a measure to solve the problem, it is considered to make the gate oxide film thicker. When the gate oxide film is made thicker, however, such inconveniences are caused that the threshold voltage Vth is increased or the operating speed is lowered (gm is lowered), and in addition, such a problem is encountered that the entire process must be changed.

Output buffer circuit with two level shifts and bias


The present invention relates to an exhaust gas treatment device (1), in particular for an internal combustion engine, preferably in a motor vehicle, comprising a housing (2) as well as a substrate body (3) which is situated therein and through which exhaust gases can flow in an axial direction (5). The substrate body (3) is supported axially on the housing (2) via an axial bearing (8) on at least one axial end face (11).

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an exhaust gas treatment device, in particular for an internal combustion engine, preferably in a motor vehicle.
2. The Prior Art
Exhaust gas treatment devices such as a catalytic converter or a particulate filter, in particular a soot filter, usually have a housing in which a suitable substrate body is arranged. The substrate body usually consists of a ceramic material, while the housing is made of sheet metal. Different thermal expansion coefficients result in extremely different thermal expansion properties of the housing and substrate body in operation of the exhaust gas treatment device. Accordingly, the substrate body cannot be mounted directly on the housing but instead must be secured via appropriate bearings in the housing. It is customary to use a radial bearing, in which a bearing mat made of a suitable bearing material surrounds the substrate body on the outside radially and supports it radially on the housing. This also results in an axial fixation and support of the substrate body on the housing by way of the bearing mat, i.e., by way of the radial bearing, due to an appropriately dimensioned radial compression of this bearing mat at the time of installation. Such a design has proven successful at least for catalytic converters.
In the case of particulate filters, in particular soot filters, a pressure drop which occurs in flow through the substrate body is much greater than the pressure drop with a substrate body of a traditional catalytic converter. Accordingly, the axial forces acting on the substrate body of a particulate filter (pressure difference at the axial end faces, frictional forces of the gas flow) are much greater than those with a traditional catalytic converter.

Abstract: To improve the axial support of the substrate body (3), the axial bearing (8) has a supporting ring (10) mounted on the housing and having a U-shaped profile (12), which is open axially toward the end face (11). A bearing ring (17) made of bearing material engages into the U-shaped profile (12) of the supporting ring (10) on its axial end, which faces away from the substrate body (3) and is supported thereon axially. With its axial end facing the substrate body (3), the bearing ring (17) is supported on the end face (11).


The present invention involves a method and apparatus for depositing a silicon oxide onto a substrate from solution at low temperatures in a manner that produces homogeneous growth of the silicon oxide. The method generally comprises the following steps: (a) Chemically treating a substrate to activate it for growth of the silicon oxide. (b) Immersing the treated substrate into a bath with a reactive solution. (c) Regenerating the reactive solution to allow for continued growth of the silicon oxide. In another embodiment of the present invention, the apparatus includes a first container holding a reactive solution, a substrate on which the silicon oxide is deposited, a second container holding silica, and a means for adding silica to the reactive solution.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention involves a method and apparatus for depositing a silicon oxide onto a substrate. More particularly, the present invention involves a method and apparatus for depositing a silicon oxide onto a substrate from solution at low temperatures in a manner that produces homogeneous growth of the silicon oxide.
2. Description of Related Art
There are various methods used to grow inorganic materials onto a substrate that are well-known in industry. However, these existing methods all have significant negative attributes that add to the expense and complexity of the process. For example, the growth of thin films of inorganic material in the electronics industry is often accomplished through the use of chemical vapor deposition (CVD). CVD requires the pyrolysis or photolysis of volatile compounds to create chemical fragments that are deposited on the surface of a substrate. The temperature of the substrate must be sufficiently high to allow mobility of fragments on the growth surface. These fragments travel around the surface until they find thermodynamically stable sites to which they attach. CVD therefore requires the use of high temperatures, volatile compounds or low pressures, each of which adds to the environmental load of the process.
Another method used to grow inorganic materials is sol-gel. Although sol-gel is a low temperature method, it involves multiple steps to form a true inorganic material. In sol-gel, precursor compounds are dissolved in solution and reacted with additional reagents (usually water or an acid) to give a gel. If a film or coating is required, then the gel must be spin-coated onto the substrate. Since most sol-gels consist of nanoparticles or clusters with a significant organic content, additional thermal or chemical treatments are required to form a true inorganic material.
Previous research (U.S. Pat. No. 2,505,629; U.S. Pat. No. 5,073,408; U.S. Pat. No. 5,132,140) has described processes for deposition of SiO2 layers on silicon surfaces using a room temperature (30 to 50° C.) solution growth. The growth of liquid-phase deposited (LPD) SiO2, for deposition of SiO2 on the surface of soda lime silicate glass, is based on the chemical reaction of H2SiF6 with water to form hydrofluoric acid and solid SiO2. However, one of the major disadvantages of previous SiO2 LPD methods is the very low deposition rate of about 8 nm/hour. This low deposition rate makes it impractical for growing insulator layers for most applications. There exists, therefore, a need for a method to uniformly grow inorganic materials in a low temperature process with a high deposition rate.
In order to increase the rate of film growth several additives have been used. Initially most researchers investigated boric acid (U.S. Pat. No. 4,468,420; Nagayama, et al., 1988; Homma, et al., 1993; Chou and Lee, 1994; Huang, et al., 1998). As an alternative various metal compounds have been investigated (U.S. Pat. No. 4,431,683; U.S. Pat. No. 4,693,916) or a combination of organic additives (U.S. Pat. No. 6,080,683). However, while these approaches do result in faster film growth, the additives are incorporated into the films and in some cases film quality suffers from the presence of the additives. Further approaches involve the use of photolysis to assist film growth (Huang, et al., 1996) or electrolytic reactions (U.S. Pat. No. 5,616,233).

Method for low temperature growth of inorganic materials from solution using catalyzed growth and re-growth