A partial wig has a fabric support to which the hairs of the wig are secured, the support being semi-circular with a diametrical straight edge. A barrette anchorage member comprises a folded over fabric defining a conduit extending along the straight edge of and stitched to the wig support. The conduit receives a spring member of a hair barrette having a base plate to which an ornamental bow is secured and a hair retainer which rotatably latches to the base plate with the spring and anchorage members sandwiched therebetween. The spring member resiliently engages a slot of the retainer, locking the hair of a wearer and the anchorage member in place. Different barrettes may be used with the same wig and anchorage member assembly or different wigs or head covers such as veils with their attached anchorage members may be used with the same or different barrettes in interchangeable relation.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to anchorage devices for anchoring a head cover, for example a wig, a veil or the like, to the hair of a person with interchangeable hair barrettes.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Hair barrettes are widely known and are available in numerous sizes, shapes and configurations. For example one type of barrette is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,919,155. Another is disclosed in design U.S. Pat. No. Des. 306,215 which shows a bow ornament attached to a barrette of the kind disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,919,155. U.S. Pat. No. 887,149 also shows a bow ornament attached to a barrette of a different type than that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,919,155. In the latter barrette, a pin is inserted in hair and latched to hooks on a base member secured to the bow. In the former, a bowed spring member is between a base plate and a hair retainer which is latched to the base plate. The spring member and retainer clamp hair therebetween when the retainer is latched to the base plate. The barrette with the bow attached is attractive, decorative and covers the barrette so that only the decorative bow is observable when worn on the head of a person.
Wigs, either full or partial, sometimes referred to as hairpieces or switches, are also in wide use. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 578,623 discloses hair switches. The hair is secured to a base so that the base is not visible from the front. At the upper end of the switch one or more loops are attached to the base for receiving a hair pin or comb to attach the switch to a person's hair. However, the loops when used with hair pins or combs are readily observable. The loops are not disclosed as being useful with barrettes of the type described above. If so used the switch would tend to displace along the barrette, be somewhat loose and this looseness would be readily noticeable even if used with a bow decoration. This is not desirable. Further, barrettes with bow decorations are presently used with wigs, especially partial wigs. In this construction, the wigs are permanently fixed to the barrette by stitches or by glue. The wigs are permanently fixed to the barrette to avoid the problem of undesirable looseness discussed above.
Other wig structures are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,830,029; 320,928; 513,579; 1,187,244; 2,651,310; 3,485,249; 4,155,370; 320,928 and 431,892. These suffer from similar drawbacks as discussed above. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 320,928 discloses a fastener sewn to the wig and U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,485,249 and 2,651,310 show combs or other fasteners attached to the wigs.
The present inventor recognizes a need for a device for releaseably securing hair barrettes to wigs or other head covers in a secure manner so that there is no relative movement of the wig or head cover when the barrette is secured to a person's hair. A need is seen also to permit a change of decorative barrettes with the same wig structure or to provide different head coverings with a single barrette in which there is no relative movement between the head covering and barrette while providing ease of interchangeability.

Head cover with barrette anchorage member and barrette

Love Wigs, Inc. T/A Look of Love International


A speed controller for a three phase induction motor using sliding mode control to generate estimates of stator current and rotor flux to control motor speed. The controller receives only the actual operating speed and the desired operating speed as input signals. The controller establishes linked non-linear hyperplaces containing the operating points of each phase and coerces the operating points to move along the line of intersection. A change in operating conditions causes a change in the power supplied to the phase terminals.

This invention relates to a system and method of controlling the speed of an AC induction motor and, in particular, to a system using sliding mode control for the control of AC induction motor speed.
Due to present efforts directed to reducing the generation of atmospheric pollutants, the electric vehicle has received increasing interest as an alternative to the vehicle using a conventional internal combustion engine. Today, electric vehicles are beginning to enter the marketplace. These vehicles utilize centrally-located charging stations for recharging the DC power supplies used in the vehicle.
The advantages of an AC motor over the larger DC motor with its relatively complex structural requirements have favored the use of the AC motor as the driving element in the electric motor vehicle. For example, the induction motor needs no direct electrical connection to the rotor, thus eliminating the need for rotating electrical contacts. However, the speed control of the AC motor is recognized as a problem in that a motor controller is required to sense, compute and correct currents in a dynamic system having hysteresis, inertia and other time limiting responses. As a result, the controller of the AC induction motor is continually trying to provide the appropriate current for each phase of a multiphase AC motor under very demanding operating conditions.
Among the different approaches taken to provide effective motor current control is the use of analog comparators to compare actual motor currents with reference currents that are generated by the motor controller. The resultant difference signals are used to control the power supply circuits which generate the phase currents delivered to the phase terminals of the motor. The pulse width of the power supplied to the motor for each phase is a function of the difference signal provided by the analog comparator for each phase. This type of controller uses pulse-width modulated inverter circuits, one for each phase, to supply the power to the motor terminals.
Another approach to the provision of a controller for a multiphase AC motor utilizes digital circuits to generate a digital difference signal for each phase based on a comparison of the actual phase current and a desired phase current computed by a programmable logic circuit. The logic circuit also establishes a band in which the digital difference signals are to be maintained. This type of motor controller requires the sensing of actual phase currents to permit a comparison to be made and to then generate the signals to effectively control the inverter circuits which provide power to the motor phase terminals. This type of controller utilizes both analog and digital circuitry to sense when negative or positive signals are to be supplied to the individual phase windings of the motor.
Accordingly, the present invention is directed to a motor controller for use in connection with an AC motor in which the need to sense the phase currents or the rotor flux in the motor is eliminated. Further, the present invention provides a motor controller for an AC motor in which the only quantities that are monitored are the desired speed and the actual motor speed. The subject controller provides accurate and rapid motor control without relying on the use of analog monitoring components for sensing current or flux in the motor. In addition, the present controller operates to control the motor speed essentially independently of loading of the motor.


The present invention provides a compound of formula I ##STR1## or pharmaceutically acceptable salts thereof wherein R.sup.1 and R.sup.2 are the same or different and are C.sub.1-10 alkyl, phenyl, hetero-aryl, or phenyl substituted with C.sub.1-4 alkyl, OR.sup.3, NHR.sup.3, CONHR.sup.3, NHCOR.sup.3, or halo; wherein R.sup.3 is H, or C.sub.1-4 alkyl; and n is 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6. The compounds are inhibitors of matrix metalloproteinases involved in tissue degradation.

Loss of connective tissue integrity occurs in many disease processes, including osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, septic arthritis, osteopenias such as osteoporosis, tumor metastasis (invasion and growth), periodontitis, gingivitis, corneal ulceration, dermal ulceration, gastric ulceration, and other diseases related to connective tissue degradation. Although there is a high incidence of these diseases in the developed world, there is no treatment that prevents the tissue damage that occurs. Considerable lines of scientific evidence indicate that uncontrolled connective matrix metalloproteinase (MMPs) activity is responsible for the damage, and as a consequence the inhibition of these enzymes has become the target for therapeutic intervention (see Matrisian, L. M., Bases, Vol. 14, pp 445-463, (1992); Emonard, H. et al., Cellular and molecular Biology, Vol. 36, pp 131-153, (1990); Docherty, A. J. P. et al., Annals of the Rheumatic, Vol. 49, pp 469-479, (1990).
Hydroxamic acid derivatives are a class of known therapeutically active MMPs inhibitors and there are numerous references in the art disclosing a variety of hydroxamic acid derivatives. For example, European Patent Publication 0,606,046 A1 discloses arylsulfonamido-substituted hydroxamic acids useful as matrix metalloproteinase inhibitors. International Publication Nos. WO95/35275 and WO95/35276 disclose sulfonamide hydroxamic acid and carboxylic acid derivatives useful as matrix metalloproteinases inhibitors. All these references relate to mono-sulfonamide hydroxamic acids. The compounds of this invention are novel and distinct from all other sulfonamide hydroxamic acids in that it provides bis-sulfonamide hydroxamic acids.
The compounds of the present invention have unexpected superior activity in inhibiting various enzymes from the matrix metalloproteinase family such as collagenase, stromelysin, and gelatinase, and hence are useful for the treatment of matrix metallo endoproteinase diseases such as osteoporosis, tumor metastasis (invasion and growth), periodontitis, gingivitis, corneal ulceration, dermal ulceration, gastric ulceration, inflammation, and other diseases related to connective tissue degradation.

Bis-sulfonamides hydroxamic acids as MMP inhibitors


The present invention relates to a process for depolymerizing polyacrylonitrile into water soluble by-products, including ammonia and lower molecular weight carbonaceous materials by contacting the starting materials, polyacrylonitrile, and neutral, hot liquid water at a temperature from about 200.degree. C. up to the critical temperature of water at autogenous pressure. The present invention has utility as a means for degrading polyacrylonitrile without producing toxic hydrogen cyanide as a by-product.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a process for decomposing polyacrylonitrile to ammonia and water soluble products by heating with liquid water as a starting material (pH of 7.0) at high temperatures.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Polyacrylonitrile resins and their copolymers ("polyacrylonitriles") find widespread use in plastics, rubber and carbon-fiber applications. A disadvantage of current thermal processes used for their depolymerization is that hydrogen cyanide is formed as a by-product of degradation. Applicants' process uses, by contrast, only neutral, hot liquid water as a starting material to decompose the polyacrylonitrile and forms ammonia as one by-product (i.e., without the potentially toxic side effects associated with the production of hydrogen cyanide).

Process for depolymerization of polyacrylonitrile using hot water


A new Calibrachoa plant named ‘KLECA08187’ particularly distinguished by orange flowers with red veins, a very early flowering period, a high flower richness, and continuous flowering, is disclosed.

The present invention comprises a new and distinct cultivar of Calibrachoa, botanically known as Calibrachoa hybrid and hereinafter referred to by the cultivar name 'KLECA08187'. The new cultivar originated from an open-pollination made in Summer 2005 in Stuttgart, Germany. The female parent was the proprietary Calibrachoa plant 'CA050276' (unpatented), while the male parent was an unknown individual Calibrachoa plant.
The new cultivar was first propagated in May 2006 by vegetative cuttings in Stuttgart, Germany and has been asexually reproduced by vegetative cuttings in Stuttgart, Germany for more than 40 generations. The present invention has been found to retain its distinctive characteristics through successive asexual propagations.
Plant Breeder's Rights for this cultivar have been applied for in Canada on Jan. 31, 2008. 'KLECA08187' has not been made publicly available more than one year prior to the filing date of this application.


An adjustable rebound device may include a support platform and a warping assembly to adjust a rebound resistance of the support platform. The warping assembly may include a plurality of mounting assemblies coupled to the support platform and a rebound adjustment assembly coupled to at least one of the mounting assemblies. The rebound adjustment assembly may be configured to actuate a mounting assembly such that the support platform is warped and a rebound resistance is adjusted. A method for adjusting a rebound resistance of a platform assembly is also described. An exercise machine may include a machine base assembly, a support platform, and a warping assembly. The warping assembly may include a plurality of mounting assemblies and a rebound adjustment assembly, such that the rebound adjustment assembly is configured to actuate a mounting assembly such that the support platform is warped and a rebound resistance is adjusted.

Exercise techniques may include either upper body or lower body workouts. Some forms of exercise include jogging in place, jumping rope, or plyometrics. Plyometrics includes repeated stretching and contracting of muscles, such as by jumping or rebounding. Some studies suggest that plyometric exercises may help increase bone density, preventing osteoporosis.
One possible drawback of many exercise techniques, such as plyometrics, jumping rope, or jogging in place, is that the exercise is performed consistently on the same surface. For example, a person may jump rope on an asphalt or concrete pad, or a plyometric exerciser may perform a workout on grass or a synthetic surface, such as tartan. On such surfaces, there is typically no ability to alter the characteristics of the surface for the particular exerciser.
Another possible drawback is that certain people may not be able to perform a sustained workout due to the characteristics of the particular surface. For example, when a surface has less rebound, such as concrete, elderly or injured individuals exercising on the surface may tire more quickly than when exercising on a surface that has more rebound, such as a small trampoline. Similarly, because many exercises are often performed on ground or flooring surfaces, such as grass, concrete, hardwood, or tartan, even trained athletes may be prevented from adjusting their workout to suit their particular needs. As a result, it is often difficult for an exerciser to adjust their workout, except by changing the number of repetitions or the duration of performance of the exercise. While the exerciser may be able to perform the exercises faster or slower, or by jumping higher or lower, the exerciser cannot adjust the amount of resistance provided by the surface during a particular workout. Thus, there is no way for a person to adjust the rebound of a given surface to make it more or less rebound resistant.
Similarly, exercises such as plyometrics or jumping rope are often performed outdoors or in an open space. Thus, it may be difficult for a person to maintain a regular cadence during a workout or record the number of repetitions performed. Because the surface is often a ground or flooring surface, it is not possible for a user to calculate the volume of the workout or to verify whether their actual cadence matches a desired cadence when performing a jumping exercise.
Thus, it may be desirable to provide a device with an adjustable rebound. Further, it may be desirable to provide a method for adjusting the rebound of a support platform. It may also be desirable to provide an exercise machine having an adjustable rebound device.

Adjustable rebound device and exercise machine including adjustable rebound device


According to the present invention, there are provided a novel partial ester of a nitrogenous carboxylic acid ester with cellulose, the partial ester being useful as an antibacterial agent, a flame retardant, etc., and a simple and convenient process for preparing the same. Fibers made of said partial ester have washing-resistant antibacterial property and flame retardancy.

Recently, various and novel antibacterial agents or antibacterial products have been put on the marketplaces under the background that the infection by methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aures (MRSA) and an infectious Escherichia coli O-157 became social problems. Among them, there is a fiber blend product of a natural high molecular compound having many amino groups such as chitosan and cellulose fibers or its viscose-mixed product. However, their effectiveness is limited and their antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas auruginosa is not necessarily sufficient. In addition, a means to impart antibacterial property into cellulose has been conducted by impregnating into it a metallic antibacterial agent such as silver phosphoric acid zirconium or silver zeolite or fixing the metallic antibacterial agent on it with a binder. However, these have problem that washing repeatedly lowers the antibacterial property. Also, an organic chemical, for example 10, 10′-oxybisphenoxyarsine and 2-(4-thiazolyl)-benzimidazole are known to be used. The former has a problem of toxicity because it contains arsenic while the latter has a problem of being corrosive toward metals. Therefore, there has been desired antibacterial cellulose or its fiber having washing-resistance and high safety.
As a means to impart flame retardancy into cellulose or its fiber, it is known to enhance the nitrogen content. However, there is no one which still retains flame retarclancy even by washing repeatedly and therefore one having washing-resistance has been desired.
As a means to impart washing-resistance and flame retardancy into cellulose or its fiber, although one utilizing hydroxy methylolation reaction is known, there is a problem of generating formalin.
On the other hand, as a process for preparing a partial ester of a nitrogenous carboxylic acid with cellulose, the preparation of glycine ester and aminoenathic acid ester is described in the abstract of "Z. A. Rogovin et al; Vysokomolekulyarne Soedincniya 1, 157–61 (1959)", the preparation of aminocaproic acid ester and amonoethic acid ester is described in the abstract of "Z. A. Rogovin et al; Periodica Polytech., 5, 65–87 (1961) and the preparation of glycine ester, alanine ester and aminocaproic acid ester is described in the abstract of "Z. A. Rogovin et al; Vysokomolekulyarne Soedincniya 3, 1027–30 (1961)". Also, the preparation of p-aminobenzoic acid ester and glycine ester is described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 1-249801. However, in all the preparation processes the reaction is conducted in the presence of organic solvents such as dimthylsulfoxide, dimethylformamide and pyridine, and therefore explosion-proof type of production equipment is needed in the production and recovery equipment of the solvents is also needed. In considering many restrictions imposed on the equipment and an influence of the solvents on environment and so on, they are not necessarily industrially desirable. Any of these known literatures makes no reference about the usefulness of the products or the partial esters of nitrogenous carboxylic acid with cellulose.

Partial ester of cellulose with nitrogenous carboxylic acid and process for producing the same

Abstract: There can be prepared the partial ester of a nitrogenous carboxylic acid ester with cellulose by contacting a nitrogenous carboxylic acid ester with cellulose and heat-treating the mixture.


A preferred embodiment of a connector system includes a first electrical connector for mounting on a first substrate. The first electrical connector has a housing, and a contact mounted on the housing. The connector system also includes a second electrical connector for mounting on a second substrate. The second electrical connector includes a housing having a projection formed thereon, and a contact mounted on the housing. The second electrical connector is capable of mating with the first electrical connector so that the contact of the first electrical connector electrically contacts the contact of the second electrical connector and the projection contacts the first substrate so that at least a portion of the weight of the second electrical connector and the second substrate is transmitted to the first substrate by way of the projection.

Electrical contact between two substrates, such as a motherboard 100 and a daughter card 102 shown in FIG. 1, can be established using a connector system 104. The connector system 104 may comprise a header connector 106 mounted on the daughter card 102, and a receptacle connector 108 mounted on the motherboard 100. For example, as shown in FIG. 1, the daughter card 102 may be oriented horizontally, and the motherboard 100 may be oriented vertically. The receptacle connector 106 therefore is suspended from the motherboard 100 by the connections between the receptacle connector 108 and the motherboard 100.
The receptacle connector 108 can be the primary (or the only) structure for supporting the header connector 106 and the daughter card 102. The connections between the receptacle connector 108 and the motherboard 100 thus can function as the primary or sole support for the header connector 106 and the daughter card 102. As the daughter card 102 can weigh up to several pounds, this type of mounting arrangement can subject the connections between the receptacle connector 108 and the motherboard 100 to substantial stresses.
The stresses induced by the weight of the daughter card 102 and the header connector 106 can have a detrimental effect on the connections between the receptacle connector 108 and the motherboard 100. This problem can be particularly troublesome in applications where the receptacle connector 108 is surface mounted, i.e., where the receptacle connector 108 is mounted on a mounting surface 100a of the motherboard 100 using solder connections (such as in a ball-grid array connector). Subjecting a solder connection to substantial levels of stress and thermal cycling can weaken the solder connection, and can lead to cracking and premature failure thereof. Such degradation can potentially reduce the reliability and the useful life of the connector system.
One known solution to the aforementioned problem is to configure the receptacle connector 106 with a strain relief post that protrudes into the motherboard. However, this solution is not without detriment. First, the receptacle should be able to float or move relative to the motherboard during reflow of the receptacle connector onto the motherboard. A strain relief post, which is inserted into a hole in the motherboard, can inhibit the movement of the receptacle connector during reflow. This restraint of movement can cause stress in post-reflow solder connections and prevent proper alignment of the receptacle connector contacts and the corresponding solder pads or vias. Second, even if the hole defined by the motherboard is supersized to allow play between the strain relief post and an inner surface of the strain relief hole, the post itself must contact the inner surface at some point to carry shear force to the motherboard. Therefore, a solderable strain relief post may be needed. This adds to the cost of the components and the process.
Another known solution is to attach guide pins to the motherboard and guide pin receiving receptacles on the daughtercard. This is usually a four part assembly that takes up valuable board real estate on the motherboard and the daughtercard and often requires mechanical attachment of the guide pins/guide pin receiving receptacles to the respective boards via an externally threaded shaft and an internally threaded nut. Again, this adds cost and takes up valuable space on the PCBs.

Electrical connector with strain relief features


A method of configuring a random access resource, a terminal, and a network node are provided. The method includes: receiving configuration information of a physical random access channel PRACH resource transmitted by a network node; wherein the configuration information is configured to indicate a PRACH transmission resource reserved by the network node for the terminal and used to transmit a beam failure recovery request.

In a future 5th Generation (5G) mobile communication system, also referred to as a New Radio (NR) system, to achieve a goal of a downlink transmission rate of 20 Gbps and an uplink transmission rate of 10 Gbps, high frequency communication and a large-scale antenna technology will be introduced. In particular, the high frequency communication may provide a wider system bandwidth, and an antenna size may also be smaller, which are more advantageous for a deployment of a large-scale antenna in a base station and in a terminal. However, the high-frequency communication has disadvantages such as a high path loss, vulnerability to disturbances, and link vulnerability, etc., while the large-scale antenna technology may provide a large antenna gain. Therefore, a combination of the high frequency communication and the large-scale antenna technology is an inevitable trend of the future 5G mobile communication system.
However, the problem of link vulnerability in high-frequency communication still exists. In the related art, when a signal in the high-frequency communication is shielded, a beam failure recovery mechanism may be used to switch a beam, and a communication link is switched from a poor beam to a candidate beam with a better communication link, so as to avoid a wireless link from failing and effectively improve robustness of a link. Although transmission of a beam failure recovery request through a plurality of channels or signals is supported in the 5G systems, when the terminal communicates in a large-scale antenna system, beam failure may occur at any time, and the beam failure recovery request needs to be transmitted, but the network node cannot learn when a channel or a signal for transmitting the beam failure recovery request is configured for the terminal, causing that a fast beam failure recovery cannot be achieved.

Method of configuring random access resource, terminal, and network node


An electronic circuit includes a group of devices which facilitate scan testing of at least one part of the electronic circuit. Those devices include a scan test device. The circuit further includes a state machine which operates to transfer data from an input pin of the circuit which is dedicated to the state machine to the devices relating to scan testing. The state machine supports a plurality of data transfer protocols. The choice of the protocol to be used is made as a function of a signal received on the input pin. Responsive to an input pin signal, the state machine enters an operational mode wherein scan test programming data is serially received at the input pin and communicated to the devices which facilitate scan testing. More specifically, the scan test programming data is serially communicated to a scan test register, where the data is output in parallel to the scan test device.

1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of testing of electronic circuits, and in particular to the testing of digital electronic integrated circuits.
2. Description of Related Art
A digital electronic circuit is customarily fabricated on the basis of what is called an RTL description (standing for "Register Transfer Level") which describes the operations of the circuit in an appropriate programming language, for example, one of the C, Verilog or VHDL language (standing for "Very High Speed Integrated Circuit Hardware Description Language"). An RTL description can customarily be validated with the aid of simulation software tools.
A description at the logic level (called a "netlist"), describing a set of logic gates (corresponding to assemblies of transistors) and of connections, can be synthesized on the basis of the RTL description. The operation of a netlist can be validated by virtue of functional tests.
Steps of placement and routing lead to a drawing of the masks (called a "layout") on the basis of the description at the logic level. Thereafter, what is called an LVS test (standing for "Layout versus Schematic") can be executed so as to verify that the layout does indeed correspond to the logic description.
Then the circuit is fabricated on the basis of the layout.
The fabricated circuit must finally be tested so as to verify that no logic gate is "stuck" at a fixed value ("stuck at 0 or stuck at 1"), because of, for example, a short-circuit. To thus test the fabricated circuit, it is known to carry out what is called a scan test. Scan tests use the principle according to which any digital circuit consists of a relatively easy to test combinatorial part and of a sequential part limited to D-type flip-flops. The D-type flip-flops can be connected together by virtue of multiplexers to make it possible readily to control the signals dispatched or received from the combinatorial part.
FIG. 1 shows an exemplary digital part of a relatively simple electronic circuit able to be tested by a scan test. The digital part 1 comprises a sequential part 2 and a combinatorial part 3. The sequential part 2 comprises flip-flops 6A, 6B, 6C, . . . , of type D each associated with a multiplexer 80A, 80B, 80C, . . . , and grouped into a chain 2. Each of the flip-flops 6A, 6B, 6C, . . . , comprises a data input respectively 7A, 7B, 7C, . . . , a scan input respectively 8A, 8B, 8C, . . . , an output respectively 8B, 8C, 8D, . . . , a clock input, not represented, and an enabling input controlled by an enabling signal scan_en. When the enabling signal is at a logic "1" level, the logic state of the scan inputs 8A, 8B, 8C, . . . , is copied over to the corresponding outputs 8B, 8C, 8D, . . . , at each rising clock edge. On the other hand, when the enabling signal is in a logic "0" state, the logic state of the data inputs 7A, 7B, 7C, . . . , is copied over to the corresponding outputs 8B, 8C, 8D, . . . , at each rising clock edge.
The enabling signal scan_en also commands a switch 9. When the signal scan_en is in a logic "0" state, the signal scan_out at the output 5 of the electronic circuit takes the value of the signal Scomb at the output of the combinatorial part 3, termed the functional output. When the signal scan_en is in a logic "1" state, the signal scan_out at the output 5 takes the value of the signal Sseq at the output of the sequential part 2, termed the scan output.
FIG. 2 shows timecharts illustrating the manner of operation of a scan test of the digital part represented in FIG. 1.
Initially, the signal scan_en takes a nonzero value lasting, for example, five clock cycles, thus allowing shifts within the chain 2. The chain 2 comprising five flip-flops, five clock cycles are therefore necessary for loading the chain with new input values.
After these five cycles, the signal scan_en goes to zero. The outputs of the flip-flops then take values prescribed by outputs termed secondary 7B, 7C, 7D, 7E of the combinatorial part 3. The value of the signal Scomb is read at the output termed primary of the combinatorial part 3, that is to say the functional output.
This is subsequently followed by five new shift cycles within the chain, the signal scan_en having resumed a nonzero value. At each clock cycle, a value of the signal Sseq is read at the output of the chain 2. Stated otherwise, the secondary outputs are read one by one during these five cycles termed purge cycles. These five purge cycles make it possible furthermore to reload the chain with new input values.
Each sequence of five values of the input signal is called a test vector. Methods of automatic test program management or ATPG (standing for "Automatic Test Pattern Generator") make it possible to generate test vectors intended to be placed at the input scan_in of the chain. The values of the signals of the test vectors are such that, if the fabricated circuit is operationally correct, all the connections must change value at least once during the conduct of the scan test.
In practice, for more complex digital circuits, the chain can comprise a relatively high number of flip-flops, for example, of the order of a thousand or some ten thousand. Such a chain length renders the duration of reading of the values of the secondary outputs relatively lengthy. The scan test is therefore also relatively lengthy.
It is known to arrange several relatively short chains rather than a single relatively long chain, so as to avoid excessive test durations. A single enabling input signal scan_en and a single clock signal clk can control all the chains. On the other hand, with each scan chain are associated an input scan_in and an output scan_out respectively. The number of pins required for performing the scan test therefore increases with the number of chains. This is a drawback.
Specifically, the complexity of the routing of the tracks of the card comprising the electronic circuit increases with the number of pins, as well as the risk of congestion. It may also be possible to reuse already hard-wired pins, in which case a multiplexer will have to be envisaged for each reusable pin, thereby running the risk of decreasing the speed of operation of the circuit. Furthermore, it may possibly be necessary to adapt the I/O cells of the pins to be reused so that the command cells support other types of signals. The consumption also increases with the number of pins.
An optimization between the number of pins and the duration of the test must therefore be performed.
In practice, the vectors generated by ATPG methods contain relatively little effective information. This is related to the very structure of combinatorial logic. It is known to profit from this ineffectiveness by using, as shown in FIG. 3, relatively short scan chains 21, 22, . . . ,2N. The scan chains 21, 22, . . . , 2N are loaded via a logic combination of a reduced number of inputs called pseudo scan_in at the pins 141, . . . , 14n. These logic combinations are carried out by a decompressor 10. The outputs of these short chains are connected to compression logic 13 whose outputs called pseudo scan_out are dispatched to the pins 151, . . . , 15n.
ATPG methods are capable of generating vectors termed compressed applicable directly to the pins 141, . . . , 14n. These vectors have a smaller length than the ATPG vectors, so that the duration of the test is then lower overall.
In FIG. 3, the digital part 12 comprises a tested part 11, decompression means 10 and compression means 13. The tested part 11 comprises a relatively high number N of chains 21, 22, . . . , 2N and combinatorial parts not represented in FIG. 3.
The tested part 11 is linked to an enabling pin 16, to a clock pin 17 and to a pin 18 for resetting to zero of the scan test.
Moreover, a command register 20 or TMC (standing for "Test Mode Control") makes it possible to store certain command parameters of certain analog parts not represented, such as, for example, a phase-locked loop or PLL, or else yet another multiplexer. These parameters, for example, control the wiring of a PLL, or else also the programming of a multiplexer. The TMC 20 thus makes it possible to place the fabricated circuit in a desired mode, and in particular in a desired test mode. The TMC 20 can, for example, be programmed via a standard interface, for example, 12C (standing for "Inter Integrated Circuit"). This programming generally requires at least one digital pin 19.
The decompression means 10 make it possible to transform a relatively low number n of compressed input vectors into N chain input vectors. The compression means 13 make it possible to transform N chain output vectors into n compressed output vectors. N can, for example, be of the order of a hundred, while n can be of the order of about ten. It is thus possible to obtain relatively short test durations, on account of the number N of chains 21, 22, . . . , 2N, with a relatively low number 2*n of pins 141, 14n, 151, . . . , 15n.
However, a compression is effective only onwards of a certain number of vectors, typically 7 or 8. Thus, for n=8, the compression rate is about 50, so that N is about 400. For n=5, the compression rate is about 10 only. But, for a number n of 8, eight input pins 141, 14n and eight output pins 151, . . . , 15n dedicated to the scan test are required, i.e. sixteen pins to be added to the enabling pin 16, to the clock pin 17, to the pin for resetting to zero of the scan test 18 and to the digital pin 19.
Thus, in the case of circuits comprising a relatively reduced number of pins, this compression might not be performed in an effective manner, so that the duration of the test may still be relatively high.
The IEEE 1149.1 specification, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference, proposes the use of a state machine to decrease the number of pins dedicated to (that is to say reserved for) the scan test. The state machine is controlled by a certain number of pins dedicated to the state machine: a command pin TMS, a data pin TDI, a clock pin TCK, a resetting to zero pin TRSTN and an output pin TDO. The state machine makes it possible to transmit the data received at the data pin TDI to the input of the desired chain by using a predefined protocol. However, having regard to the complexity of the scan test, this management can turn out to be inoperative, in particular in the case of a compression.
Generally, the known scan tests require a certain number of pins reserved for the scan test. There is a need to limit the number of pins thus dedicated to the scan test, so as to reduce the associated proportions.

Scan test circuitry using a state machine and a limited number of dedicated pins


A multi-band antenna includes a ground plane, and a radiating unit including an L-shaped first radiating arm, a U-shaped second radiating arm, a feed-in arm and a coupling arm. The first and second radiating arms are connected to the ground plane, and have respective free end portions that are spaced apart from and overlap the ground plane, that face each other, and that define an opening in spatial communication with an inner space defined by the first and second radiating arms and the ground plane. The feed-in arm is disposed in the inner space between the first radiating arm and the ground plane, is connected to the ground plane, and overlaps the opening. The coupling arm is connected to the connecting segment, and overlaps the free end portions.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a multi-band antenna and an electronic device provided with the same for communication purposes.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional electronic device is generally provided with a plurality of antennas corresponding respectively to different frequency bands. For example, a conventional electronic device may be provided with a dual-band inverted-F antenna covering frequency bands of 2.4˜2.5 GHz and 5.15˜5.875 GHz for Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN), and a single-band monopole antenna covering a frequency band of 3.3˜3.8 GHz for Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX). Moreover, for each type of the dual-band inverted-F antenna and the single-band monopole antenna, the conventional electronic device requires at least two antennas in order to achieve signal diversity.
However, with the rapid development of wireless communication, the dual-band inverted-F antenna has become obsolete. Instead, there is a requirement of a single unitary multi-band antenna capable of covering all of the above-mentioned frequency bands or even a broader frequency band (e.g., 2.3˜2.7 GHz).
Moreover, in order to achieve a better effect of the signal diversity, insertion loss between two multi-band antennas operating in a same frequency band should be smaller than −20 dB.

Multi-band antenna and electronic device provided with the same


The inventively advanced mount accommodates a conventional mount (such as an air mount) so as to include, at the mount's foundation-securing plate, at least one motion sensor and at least one vibratory actuator. Each sensor is correlated with an actuator. For each sensor-actuator pair, the electrical feedback loop includes generation by the sensor of a signal resulting from the local vibration of the foundation-securing plate, generation by a processor/controller of a signal derived from the sensor's signal, and exertion upon the foundation-securing plate by the sensor's paired actuator of a vibratory force commanded by the processor/controller's signal. Many preferred inventive embodiments collocate each sensor with its paired actuator and implement a conventional vibration suppression algorithm involving collocated velocity feedback. The inventive "passive-active" mount uniquely brings to bear, sequentially and complementarily, passive vibration control followed by active vibration control.

This invention relates to methods, apparatuses and systems for isolating vibrations emanating from sources such as machinery, more particularly to those which implement a resilient element and which provide support for such sources.
It is environmentally desirable in many contexts to reduce transmission of vibrations to neighboring structure. For example, the U.S. Navy has an interest in attenuating the transmission, via connecting members to supporting structure, of unwanted vibrations from heavy machinery such as ship engines. Devices for reducing such transmission are generally known as vibration "isolators" because they serve to "isolate" the machine's vibration from contiguous structure. A vibration isolator is used to join one object to another and to restrict, to some degree, the transmission of vibration. Both passive and active vibration isolation systems have been known in the art.
Passive vibration isolators have conventionally involved a passive damping arrangement which provides a resilient element ("spring") along with a damping mechanism ("energy releaser"), and which serves as a support ("mount"), for vibrating machinery or other structure. Passive vibration isolation devices, alternatively referred to as "mounts" or "springs" or "spring mounts" in nomenclature, operate on the principle of low dynamic load transmissibility by a material having a resiliant property. Passive mounts are designated "passive" because their function is based upon their inherent property rather than on their ability to, in an "active" manner, react to an in-situ condition.
Passive mounts have been known to use any of various materials for the resilient element, such as rubber, plastic, metal and air. Elastomeric mounts rely primarily upon the resilience and the damping properties of rubber-like material for isolating vibrations. Mechanical spring mounts implement a helical or other metal spring configuration. Pneumatic mounts utlilize gas and an elastic material (such as reinforced rubber) as resilient elements in a bellows-like pneumatic spring assembly. A pneumatic mount or spring typically comprises a flexible member, which allows for motion, and a sealed pressure, container or vessel having one or more compartments, which provides for filling and releasing a gas.
Pneumatic springs are conventionally referred to as "air springs" because the gas is usually air. In conventional usage and as used herein the terms "air spring," "air mount" and "air spring mount" are used interchangeably, and in the context of these terms the word "air" means "gas" or "pneumatic," wherein "gas" or "pneumatic" refers to any gaseous substance.
In general comparison with other material-type passive mounts, air mounts are advantageous by virtue of their lighter weight greater energy-storage capacity per unit weight, and impedance tuning capability by means of air pressure adjustment. Due to their greater resilience, air mounts typically have lower resonant frequencies than have other passive mount types. Consequently, air mounts are, in general, more effective vibration isolators.
One important factor, however, for an air mount to be as effective as designed, and which has often been neglected, is the rigidity of the backing or the rigidity of the below-mount foundation. The stiffer the foundation, the better the performance of the isolation mount. An ideal foundation is a rigid base; however, for most passive vibration isolation applications, design and effectuation of a below-mount structure approximating a rigid base is impractical or cost-ineffective. Suffice it to say that there remains appreciable room for improvement in the majority of passive vibration isolation applications. The need is extant for a more effective yet feasible and economical approach to passive vibration isolation.
Active vibration isolation has more recently become known in the art. Basically, a sensor measures the structure's vibration, an actuator is coupled with the structure, and a feedback loop tends to reduce the unwanted motion. Typically, an output signal, proportional to a measurable motion (such as acceleration) of the structure, is produced by the sensor. Generally speaking, the actuator includes some type of reaction mass. A processor/controller processes the sensor-generated output signal so as to produce a control signal which drives the reaction mass, the actuator thereby producing a vibratory force, whereby the motion (e.g., acceleration) of the structure is reduced.
The three basic components of an active vibration isolation system are a motion sensor (e.g., a motion transducer), a processor/controller and a vibratory actuator. The sensor responds to vibratory motion by converting the vibratory motion into an electrical output signal that is functionally related to, e.g., proportional to, a parameter (e.g., displacement, velocity or acceleration) of the experienced motion. An accelerometer, for example, is a type of sensor wherein the output is a function of the acceleration input; the output is typically expressed in terms of voltage per unit of acceleration. The most common processor/controller is a "proportional-integral-derivative"-type ("PID"-type) controller, a kind of servomechanism, which proportionally scales, and integrates or differentiates, the sensor response. The actuator is essentially a device adapted to transmitting a vibratory force to a structure; such an actuator has been variously known and manifested as an inertia actuator, inertial actuator, proof mass actuator, shaker, vibration exciter and vibration generator; as used herein, the terms "actuator," "inertia actuator" and "vibratory actuator" are interchangeable and refer to any of these devices. The actuator generates a force, applied to the structure, based on the electrical output signal from the processor/controller.

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


Methods, systems, and computer-readable media are provided to determine a route through a predefined space. A first path from a source location to a common path within the space is determined, as well as a second path from a destination location a common path. If a shared path, which is the part of the first path which overlaps a portion of the second path, exists, it is excluded. If any portion of the common path separates the first and second path, it is included. A route is returned which is the combination of the remaining path segments.

In many facilities, such as hospitals and military installations, the ability to quickly and efficiently navigate to a destination is critical. Additionally, certain areas, which may otherwise be part of the most direct route in terms of distance, may be secured areas that are not accessible to the general public. Examples of secured areas may include operating rooms and quarantine wards.
Traditional mapping and routing methods can become computationally intense by constructing multiple routes, calculating a value which represents the desirability of a given route based on the distance and other considerations (such as number of turns, traffic capacity, accessibility, etc.) of multiple candidate routes, and then comparing candidates to determine the optimal route. Additionally, either inside or outside of a building, routes are typically determined for a user based on the distance and time it would take the user to get from a first location to a second location.

Providing a route through a predefined space


An absorbent article, such as a diaper, panty diaper, sanitary napkin or incontinence device includes a topsheet, a backsheet and an absorbent core enclosed between the topsheet and the backsheet. The absorbent core includes an anti-bacterial agent or an alkali metal or alkaline earth metal chloride in combination with an organic zinc salt, in particular, zinc ricinoleate. The combination of antibacterial or (earth) alkali metal chloride and organic zinc salt exerts a synergetic effect in the suppression of malodours, such as ammonia.

One important area of development in the area of absorbent articles of the above-mentioned type is the control of odourous compounds forming typically after the release of body fluids, especially over a longer period of time. These compounds include fatty acids, ammonia, amines, sulphur-containing compounds and ketones and aldehydes. They are present as natural ingredients of body fluids or result from degradation processes of natural ingredients such as urea, which are frequently assisted by microorganisms occurring in the urogenital flora.
Various approaches exist to suppress the formation of unpleasant odours in absorbent articles. WO 97/46188, WO 97/46190, WO 97/46192, WO 97/46193, WO 97/46195 and WO 97/46196 teach for instance the incorporation of odour inhibiting additives or deodorants such as zeolites and silica. The absorption of bodily liquids reduces however the odour inhibiting capacity of zeolites as soon as these become saturated with water, as mentioned for instance in WO 98/17239.
A second approach involves the addition of lactobacilli with the intention of inhibiting malodour-forming bacteria in the product. The incorporation of lactobacilli and their favourable effect are disclosed for instance in SE 9703669-3, SE 9502588-8, WO 92/13577, SE 9801951-6 and SE 9804390-4.
Another approach is the use of partially neutralized superabsorbent materials (acidic superabsorbent materials) (see WO 98/57677, WO 00/35503 and WO 00/35505).
Therefore, an ongoing demand exists in the art for effective odour-control systems in absorbent articles. In particular, it would be desirable to provide an odour-control system which achieves efficient odour reduction while maintaining the bacterial flora in the urogenital region.
US 2006/0036223 and US 2006/0036222 disclose absorbent articles comprising a bodily exudate modifying agent, a skin care formulation, and a bodily exudate modifying agent neutralizer. The latter may be an enzyme inhibitor which can be selected from a large group of compounds including zinc salts of both saturated and unsaturated monocarboxylic acids. Optionally, the skin care formulation comprises a further ingredient selected from the group comprising amongst many other members preservatives, antimicrobial actives and antifungal actives. US 2006/0036223 and US 2006/0036222 aim at reducing the viscosity of bodily exudates to facilitate absorption of the exudates into the absorbent article. Odour reduction is not an issue.
EP-A-165 074 describes a hydrophilic polymer material, e.g. for the manufacture of sanitary napkins and diapers. The hydrophilic polymer material can be produced by a process during which a specific hydrogel is dried and may be contacted with an aqueous solution. Apart from electrolytes, nutrients, physiologically active polypeptides and proteins, the aqueous solution may also contain antibacterial agents. Moreover, zinc ions may be incorporated into the hydrogel, e.g. in the form of zinc sulphate or a salt of an acidic amino acid. Zinc ions are stated as having a beneficial effect on cell growth. Odour reduction is not addressed in the reference.
The bacteriostatic, bactericidal and antifungal compositions of EP-A-0 366 869 comprise lysozyme, a mineral component and an immunomodulating agent. The mineral component, which is stated as enhancing the mycobactericidal effect of lysozyme, may comprise zinc and/or iodine (Claim 5). Zinc can be provided as zinc sulfate, zinc oxide, zinc gluconate and other salts and compounds of zinc. The immunomodulating agent contained in the composition may be selected from, among many others, benzoic acid.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,721,295 and 5,847,031 relate to absorbent polymer compositions comprising an ionic or covalent cross-linking agent. The ionic cross-linking agent may be a metallic compound selected from the group consisting of water-soluble magnesium, calcium, aluminum, zirconium, iron and zinc compounds (cf. Claims 6 and 21 of D8a; and Claims 6 and 19 of D8b). The zinc compounds may be the salts of inorganic acids or carboxylic acids. A huge many of suitable covalent cross-linking agents is mentioned in the reference, amongst those citric acid. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,721,295 and 5,847,031 further describe an active substance-containing composition comprising the absorbent polymer composition and at least one active substance, which may be selected from the group consisting of drugs, pesticides, bactericides and perfumes. The focus of the references is on biodegradability, and odour reduction is not an issue.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,015,547 relates to a storage clarity-stable aqueous or aqueous/alcoholic solution of zinc ions in the presence of at least one of bicarbonate and carbonate ions. The solution comprises a zinc salt of a first anion. Optionally, the solution may contain antibacterial agents. The gist of the patent is on combining zinc ion containing compounds and bicarbonate and/or carbonate ion containing compounds each of which is in solution, i.e. without liberation of carbon dioxide and without the formation of insoluble basic salts of zinc and carbonate.
The articles for applying a skin care composition to the skin in accordance with U.S. Pat. No. 6,153,209 may comprise a skin care agent which, amongst a large number of compounds, may be zinc acetate. Antibacterial actives are mentioned in a long list of further ingredients. However, the reference does not suggest any effect in terms of odour reduction by using a combination of an organic zinc salt, such as zinc acetate and a preservative.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,005,557; US 2003/0077307 and US 2006/0064068 relate to articles, in particular disposable absorbent articles having a film-forming composition comprising a viscosity enhancing agent, and optionally anti-microbials (selected from a lengthy group). The documents provide a very long list of viscosity enhancing agents including metal ester complexes of aluminum, magnesium, or zinc with stearates, behenates, palmitates or laureates. The object of these documents is not the reduction of odour but the formation of a protective barrier against fluids, body exudates and other irritants.
The highly swellable absorption medium of US 2004/0213892 comprises at least one Lewis acid as a coating agent. A large number of suitable Lewis acids is provided, amongst those benzoic acid, citric acid and water-soluble acetates, formates, oxalates or lactates of inter alia zinc. However, the document fails to disclose a preservative in combination with an organic zinc salt. Moreover, the object of US 2004/0213892 is on a reduced caking tendency in a moist environment and/or at high temperatures, whereas odour reduction is not an issue.
US 2005/0101927 is concerned with moisturizing and lubricating compositions which may be used on absorbent products. The absorbent products comprise an immobilizing agent. Many compounds, including zinc stearate, are stated as being suitable as the immobilizing agent. While the optional addition of preservatives is envisaged, odour reduction is not an issue.
WO 99/00090 relates to a faecal management device which comprises a specific bag comprising a moisture vapour permeable wall material. According to a specific embodiment, the wall material further comprises an odour control agent. Many odour control agents are exemplified, amongst those zinc ricinoleate and, as a different type of odour control agents, antimicrobics such as benzoic and sorbic acid. However, WO 99/00090 fails to disclose a preservative and organic zinc salt in combination for achieving malodour reduction. In particular, the function of zinc ricinoleate as an ammonia absorber is not addressed.
WO 99/30753 is concerned with odour control particles for use in absorbent articles. The odour control particles comprise an effective amount of a liquid activated particle separating means. There are two kinds of these separating means, namely physical and chemical ones. Sodium chloride (NaCl) is given as an example of a physical separating means. Citric acid is exemplified as a chemical separating means. The odour control particles for absorbent particles comprise odour control active materials, amongst those zinc cations. Any other known odour control active is referred to as being likewise suitable for combating malodours. No organic zinc salt is mentioned in WO 99/30753.
DE 10256569 A1 relates to water-absorbing, crosslinked, acid group-containing polymers in the form of mainly open-cell foam comprising at least one odour control agent selected from compounds with an anhydride group, compounds with an acidic group, cyclodextranes, bactericides and surfactants with an HLB value of less than 12. One example of bactericidal compounds are zinc compounds such as zinc chloride. However, no organic zinc salt is mentioned in this reference.
From other technical areas it is further known that organic zinc salts of unsaturated hydroxylated fatty acids such as zinc ricinoleate are deodorizing active ingredients (see for instance DE-A-1792074, DE-A-2548344 and DE-A-3808114).
As will be appreciated from the above, the prior art is not aware of the favorable, in particular synergistic effects of using an antibacterial or alkali metal chloride in combination with an organic zinc salt.
It is one technical object of the present invention to overcome deficiencies discussed above in connection with the prior art.
It is one further technical object to provide an absorbent article having an efficient odour control system.
It is one further technical object of the present invention to considerably reduce or eliminate ammonia formation in absorbent articles.
Further objects will become apparent from the following description of the invention.

Absorbent articles comprising an organic zinc salt and an anti-bacterial agent or alkali metal chloride or alkaline earth metal chloride


A thickener blend composition, and method for thickening aqueous systems, comprising an associative thickener wherein the same group that is attached to or within the backbone of the associative thickener is reversibly switched between being hydrophilic and hydrophobic in nature. When the group that is attached to or within the backbone is rendered hydrophilic, the aqueous thickener is pourable and readily incorporated into aqueous polymer compositions. When this group is rendered hydrophobic, the thickener performs its thickening function efficiently. Switching is readily accomplished by adjusting the pH of the associative thickener composition and the aqueous polymer composition being thickened.

This invention relates to blends of aqueous thickener polymer compositions, and their method of use. In particular, one aspect of this invention relates to aqueous blends of associative thickeners, which are soluble in water over a broad pH range, with alkali soluble or alkali swellable emulsions, with or without hydrophobic modification (HASE or ASE thickeners respectively), in their low pH, insoluble, emulsion form.
Aqueous polymer systems, for example coatings containing emulsion polymer binders, typically use thickeners to obtain the desired degree of viscosity needed for the proper formulation and application of the aqueous system. One general type of thickener used in aqueous polymer systems is referred to in the art by the term "associative." Associative thickeners are so called because the mechanism by which they thicken is believed to involve hydrophobic associations between the hydrophobic moieties in the thickener molecules and/or between the hydrophobic moieties in the thickener molecules and other hydrophobic surfaces. Associative thickeners typically are water soluble over a broad pH range of from 2 to 10, and are thus relatively pH-independent. Hydrophobically modified ethoxylated urethane thickeners (HEUR thickeners) are examples of associative thickeners with pH-independent solubility.
Another type of thickener used in aqueous polymer systems is referred to in the art as an alkali soluble or alkali swellable emulsion thickener, which thickens aqueous polymer systems effectively at pH values of 6 and greater because they are typically water insoluble at pH values of less than 6 and water soluble at pH values of greater than 6. The alkali soluble or alkali swellable emulsion thickeners are typically provided in the emulsion form at pH values below 5. At this low pH, the viscosity of the product is acceptable and product solids by weight can typically be in the range of 30% to 50%. Alkali soluble or alkali swellable emulsion thickeners that contain no hydrophobic groups and thicken by a non-associative mechanism upon neutralization with base are described in the art as ASE thickeners. Alkali soluble or alkali swellable emulsion thickeners that are hydrophobically modified and thicken at least partially by an associative mechanism upon neutralization with base are described in the art as HASE thickeners. As used herein, however, the terms ASE and HASE are not restricted to just the emulsion form of these polymers.
Thickeners are typically sold as pourable aqueous liquids. For ease of use, it is desirable for the viscosity (Brookfield at 6 rpm) of such thickener products to be less than 15,000 centipoise (cps), or even less than 5,000 cps, so that the product will readily drain from its storage container, and be readily incorporated into the aqueous system to which it is added. The viscosity of the aqueous thickener product can be decreased by reducing the active solids concentration, but this has the drawback of limiting formulation latitude in terms of weight solids of the aqueous system to be thickened by the product.
To provide a balance of properties that cannot be provided by a single thickener, it is desirable to be able to blend two or more different thickeners into a single product. For instance, U.S. Patent Application Publication No. US 2007/0161745A1 discloses blending a multiplicity of different HEUR thickeners to provide a unique balance of high shear rate and low shear rate viscosity enhancements.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,125,919 discloses blends of thickeners and includes the combination of HASE thickeners with HEUR thickeners. However, the embodiment also requires that the composition comprise at least one macromolecular organic compound having a hydrophobic cavity, such as a cyclodextrin compound. Unfortunately, the cyclodextrin component adds significant cost to the blend composition.
It would be useful to supply aqueous blends of pH-independent soluble associative thickeners with ASE and/or HASE thickeners at a viscosity that can be handled and poured readily without incurring the additional cost of the cyclodextrin compound. Thickeners with pH-independent solubility commonly provide much better flow and leveling in coatings than do ASE or HASE thickeners. It would be useful to improve the flow and leveling performance of ASE or HASE thickener products by providing them as a blend with a pH-independent soluble associative thickener. However, to date it has not been possible to blend pH-independent soluble associative thickeners with ASE or HASE thickeners in their low pH emulsion form at practical weight solids because the viscosity of the aqueous blend is exceedingly high, essentially existing as a gel. Thus, there remains a need in the art for inexpensive pourable blends of HASE or ASE and pH-independent soluble associative thickeners with both low viscosity and the highest active thickener solids possible.

Thickener blend composition and method for thickening aqueous systems


A compressible and melt-flowable thermally conductive interface may be either tacky and pressure sensitive or be non-tacky and dry, and may include one of more thermally conductive fillers in one or more forms. The interface either melt flows or cures at low temperature, such as about 40-50xc2x0 C. Certain embodiments provide a bond strength between a heat generating component, such as an integrated circuit, power transistor and the like, and a heat dissipating element, such as a heat sink or cold plate, sufficient to permit elimination of the need for mechanical fasteners.

The present invention relates to a thermal interface and, in particular, to a compressible thermally-conductive interface.
Management of the operating temperature of modern electronic components is often a substantial challenge in that as more and more functionality is provided in electronic components of seemingly ever-decreasing size, the removal of heat generated by such component becomes more difficult. In addition, these electronic components are being made to operate at faster operating rates which also increases the heat generated by such components. Thus, the problem of heat removal is compounded by the combined effects of smaller size and greater operating frequency.
Conventional approaches to removing heat from electronic components involve the transfer of the heat to a thermal dissipating element, such as a heat sink, cold plate or other suitable heat removal means. In the prior art arrangement of FIG. 1, for example, a semiconductor die 10, which produces heat when operating, is coupled to a heat sink or heat spreader 20, which dissipates heat aided by heat sink fins 22. Die 10 is mounted to a circuit board 12 and is connected thereby to external apparatus (not shown) by solder ball or pin connections 14. Typically, die 10 is protected by an encapsulant 16, such as a molded plastic. To provide a heat transfer path between die 10 and heat sink 20, an interface of a thermally-conductive material is placed between die 10 and heat sink 20, and the collection of die 10, circuit board 12, heat sink 20 and interface 24 are mechanically fastened and held together, such as by clamps or clips 30. Typical conventional interface pads 24 may be conformable to an irregularly-shaped component, but they are not compressible, which limits their utility.
Heat transfer is often aided if the interface pad 24 undergoes a phase change, i.e. melt flows, at suitably low temperature under the pressure of clamps 30, thereby to better conform and intimately contact the surfaces of the heat generating component 10 and of the heat dissipating elements 20. Such interface pads 24 have little or no bonding strength and so must be secured mechanically, as by clamps, clips and the like. Conductive interface pads such as type CP7508 available from AI Technology, Inc. of Princeton, N.J., will flex and melt-reflow at about 50xc2x0 C. under normal clamping pressures, although they are not compressible and have little or no bonding strength to bond die 10 to heat sink 20. While the melting helps to eliminate trapped air spaces and voids between the two interfacing surfaces, even if some bonding strength develops after melt-reflow, that bonding strength drops essentially to zero each time the melt-reflow temperature is reached.
The lack of compressibility, low-temperature phase change and/or substantial bonding strength of conventional interface pads tends to limit their effectiveness and/or convenience of use in improving heat transfer across an interface. The need for mechanical clamps and fasteners can add as much as US$0.50-US$1.00 to the installed cost of a typical integrated circuit, such as a CPU for a computer.
While the conventional interface pads may work satisfactorily for a single component, such as a CPU chip, they are less effective for modules including plural components that can have a planarity tolerance of the heights of the various components as large as about 0.5 mm (about 20 mils) as illustrated in FIG. 2. A plurality of heat-generating and non-heat generating components 10 mounted to a circuit board or substrate 12 have top surfaces that are either at different heights or are tilted. Such differences in height arise, for example, from differences in the height of the components 10 and differences in their mounting to and placement on substrate 12. A conformable interface pad is flexible and so will tend to bend or drape across the differing height components 10, but is inherently incapable of being in intimate thermal contact with the heat sink 20 and both the taller and shorter components 10. A similar problem exists for a single component 10 that has an irregular or non-planar surface.
A compressible interface pad, if available, could accommodate such planarity tolerances. Prior art compressible interface materials include thermal greases and gels which are messy to use and require mechanical clips or clamps, and; elastomers that do not under go a phase change or melt-flow within the safe case operating temperatures of typical electronic components, and which often also require clips or clamps.
Accordingly, there is a need for a thermal interface material that provides the desirable characteristics of compressibility with a low temperature phase change or compressibility with low-temperature in situ curing to a substantial bonding strength.
To this end, the thermally conductive interface of the present invention comprises a blend of a compressible binder and at least one thermally conductive filler, wherein the compressible binder includes one of (a) a mixture of a thermoplastic rubber and a thermoplastic pressure sensitive adhesive, (b) a mixture of an epoxy blend and a curing agent for curing at less than 75xc2x0 C. and a thermoplastic pressure sensitive adhesive and (c) a mixture of an epoxy blend and a curing agent for curing at less than 75xc2x0 C. and a thermoplastic rubber or elastomer.


A roadway/platform mat construction is provided for disposition over soft ground. The mat construction includes a rectangular, panel-like mat structure including opposite transverse end margins and opposite side longitudinal margins. The mat construction defines a first rectangular surface and a second rectangular surface facing opposite and paralleling the first surface and including elongated transverse members carried by the opposite ends of the mat structure and projecting outwardly of the second surface thereof. The transverse members are of a length measured longitudinally of the mat construction equal to substantially one-quarter the length of the overall mat structure and the spacing between opposite end members of each mat structure measured longitudinally thereof is equal to substantially one-half the length of the mat structure.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to mat structures to be constructed preferably of wood or wood products and a temporary roadway or platform lying upon soft ground formed from such mat structures.
2. Description of Related Art
Various different forms of board mat constructions heretofore have been provided such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos: 1,970,037, 2,639,650, 2,652,753, 2,819,026, 2,912,909, 4,289,420, 4,462,712, 4,600,336, 4,875,800, 4,889,444 and 5,020,937. However, these various different forms of mat constructions, in many instances, do not provide sufficient ground traction between the mat constructions and the underlying ground surface and between the upper surface of the mat construction and a vehicle moving thereover. Furthermore, these previously known mat constructions may not be readily mass produced at low cost and the spacing of multiple transverse boards thereof spaced along the length of the mat require relatively precise spacing jigs in order to effect mass production. In addition, many of these previously known forms of mat constructions require extensive cleaning after each usage on soft ground and are difficult to correctly assemble when laying down a mat construction.


The invention encompasses delivery of reactants for chemical vapor deposition by direct liquid injection of a liquid ammonia solution. In a preferred embodiment, a solution of titanium tetraiodide in liquid ammonia provides reactants for the deposition of titanium nitride.

The physical and chemical properties of titanium nitride, namely its high electrical conductivity, hardness, melting point and thermal and chemical stability have made it a material of choice for diffusion barrier layers in the manufacture of semiconductor devices. A major challenge in adapting titanium nitride films to sub-half-micron generation ultra-large-scale-integrated ("ULSI") circuit technologies is the synthesis of continuous layers conformal to holes and trenches of sub-quarter-micron diameter in the substrate, corresponding to aspect ratios equal to or greater than 4:1. Such deposition is especially difficult to achieve using lower processing temperatures, such as might be desirable for compatibility with polymer dielectric layers, for example.
Physical vapor deposition ("PVD") techniques, which place the elemental constituents of a deposit onto a substrate, have provided layers satisfactory for very-large-scale-integrated ("VLSI") circuitry. PVD, such as by sputtering, of titanium nitride can be accomplished at temperatures well below 250.degree. C. However, the resulting layer typically has several deficiencies. The most problematic flaw is the poor conformity of the layer to deep and narrow trenches, which renders it unreliable for protection of ULSI contacts from the thermal and chemical rigors of subsequent processing steps.
In chemical vapor deposition ("CVD") techniques, species in the vapor phase over the substrate react to form the deposit on the substrate, often with plasma enhancement. These techniques provide superior coverage of complex topographies, but they generally require higher, sometimes unacceptably high, substrate temperatures during deposition. A variety of organic and inorganic CVD chemistries have been applied to the deposition of titanium nitride. One of the more common of such CVD processes uses a gaseous reactant mixture containing titanium tetrachloride and ammonia. The production of acceptable films from this chemistry typically requires substrate temperatures in excess of 600.degree. C., too high to be universally appropriate for all metallization levels. A lower-temperature variation with titanium tetrabromide still requires a minimum substrate temperature of 400.degree. C.
Thermodynamic calculations indicate that deposition of titanium nitride from a reactant gas mixture of titanium tetraiodide and ammonia could occur at substrate temperatures lower than 300.degree. C. Titanium nitride films have been produced from these reactants in plasma-enhanced CVD processes. (See, e.g., Goldberg et al., pp. 247-257, Advanced Metallization for ULSI Applications in 1994, Blumental et al., eds., Materials Research Society [1995] and Kamata et al., Shinku, Vol. 31, pp. 841-844 [1988].) Reports of this process have described the incorporation of hydrogen in the reactant gas mixture. The hydrogen serves as a carrier gas for the other reactants and is also believed to act as a reducing agent and to prevent the recombination of titanium and iodine species liberated by the thermal decomposition of titanium tetraiodide.
The reported deposition reaction for this chemistry is EQU 2TiI.sub.4(g) +2NH.sub.3(g) +H.sub.2(g) .fwdarw.2TiN.sub.(s) +8HI.sub.(g),
which has a negative Gibbs free energy at temperatures greater than about 283.degree.0 C. However, the properties of titanium tetraiodide preclude its straightforward substitution into an analogous process using lighter halides. Difficulty in delivering titanium tetraiodide into the process chamber presents a significant hindrance to efficient deposition of titanium nitride from this chemistry. The melting point of titanium tetraiodide is about 150.degree. C. At this temperature, the vapor pressure of titanium tetraiodide is only about 1.3 Torr, so that its efficient incorporation into a carrier gas is problematic; this difficulty, in turn, limits the rate at which the tetraiodide can be delivered to the deposition site. Maintaining the transport pathway at an elevated temperature, a common tactic for such nonvolatile reactants, does not enhance the rate of tetraiodide delivery. If heated much above the melting point, titanium tetraiodide partially converts to the triiodide and the diiodide, both of which have even lower vapor pressures than does the tetraiodide.
An alternative to gas-phase transport available for nonvolatile or heat-sensitive reactants is conveyance of the reactant in a liquid state into or into the vicinity of the deposition chamber, and only thereafter volatilizing the reactant. This technique has been used to deposit nitrides from some low-vapor-pressure organometallic titanium compounds. However, the introduction of pure titanium tetraiodide by this direct liquid injection technique would be hindered by its high melting point. Another approach that has been used for reactants having similar problematic physical properties is the injection of a liquid carrier solvent containing the dissolved reactant into the deposition chamber, where both solvent and reactant enter the vapor phase near the substrate upon exposure to the elevated processing temperature. However, finding an appropriate solvent, giving an adequate solubility without the introduction of deleterious contaminants, for a given reactant is not completely straightforward. For example, conventional direct-liquid-injection solvents, such as hydrocarbons or chlorinated hydrocarbons, do not dissolve titanium tetraiodide. Carbon disulfide does dissolve titanium tetraiodide to some extent. However, the reaction of carbon disulfide with ammonia at CVD process temperatures would form byproducts that would be incorporated into the final film product as undesirable impurities.

Direct liquid injection of liquid ammonia solutions in chemical vapor deposition


A Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) module for a vehicle can include a semiconductor integrated circuit with a microelectromechanical system (MEMS) and a substrate, the MEMS comprising a micro-mirror assembly including a mirror and a gimbal structure. The gimbal can be configured concentrically around and coplanar with the mirror. When rotated, the gimbal drives the mirror to oscillate at or near a resonant frequency and is coupled to the mirror via mirror-gimbal connectors. A support structure can be coupled to a backside of the mirror and gimbal structures and can increase the stiffness of the mirror to help the mirror better resist dynamic deformation. To limit the added rotational moment of inertia, the support structure can be etched to form a matrix of cells (e.g., formed by a mesh of circumferential and radial ridges) such that up to approximately 90% of the support structure material forming the support structure is removed.

Light steering typically involves the projection of light in a pre-determined direction to facilitate, for example, the detection and ranging of an object, the illumination and scanning of an object, or the like. Light steering can be used in many different fields of applications including, for example, autonomous vehicles, medical diagnostic devices, etc., and can be configured to perform both transmission and reception of light. For example, a light steering transmitter may include a micro-mirror to control the projection direction of light to detect/image an object. Moreover, a light steering receiver may also include a micro-mirror to select a direction of incident light to be detected by the receiver, to avoid detecting other unwanted signals. A micro-mirror assembly typically includes a micro-mirror and an actuator. In a micro-mirror assembly, a mirror-mirror can be connected to a substrate via a connection structure (e.g., a torsion bar, a spring, etc.) to form a pivot point. One such type of micro-mirror assembly can be a micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS)-type structure that may be used for a light detection and ranging (LiDAR) system in an autonomous vehicle, which can be configured for detecting objections and determining their corresponding distances from the vehicle. LiDAR systems typically work by illuminating a target with an optical pulse and measuring the characteristics of the reflected return signal. The return signal is typically captured as a point cloud. The width of the optical-pulse often ranges from a few nanoseconds to several microseconds.
The performance of a MEMS micro-mirror structure directly affects the quality of the point cloud and the image. To increase the detection range of a LiDAR system, a large aperture is often preferred, which can increase the moment of inertia of the micro-mirror. However, large aperture MEMS micro-mirrors can be prone to larger dynamic deformation, which may cause a large divergence of a corresponding light spot and reduce the image resolution. Furthermore, high resolution imaging requires a high resonant frequency of the MEMS system. Large apertures and high resolution often require springs with higher stiffness and a larger driving force to maintain a predetermined amplitude of a particular mirror deflection angle. This can markedly increase the power requirement of the system, which is generally not preferred. These engineering tradeoffs can present significant challenges in contemporary designs and solutions to overcome these challenges are needed.

MEMS mirror structure with backside skeleton


A system that facilitates interaction with a 3-dimensional (3-d) virtual environment is described. In this system, a controller device provides information associated with the 3-d virtual environment to a first display. Furthermore, the system includes at least one portable electronic device, which includes a second display and a 3-d motion sensor that detects motion of the portable electronic device, such as: linear motion, rotational motion and/or a gesture. This portable electronic device communicates the detected motion to the controller device. In response, the controller device provides a subset of the 3-d virtual environment and associated context-dependent information to the portable electronic device, which are displayed on the second display.

Field
The present disclosure relates to a system and technique to facilitate interaction by multiple users with a 3-dimensional (3-d) virtual environment.
Related Art
Networked electronic devices, such as computers, are increasingly popular. These devices facilitate increased communication, interaction and collaboration among users.
Interactions among multiple users of networked electronic devices are often facilitated using virtual environments (which are also referred to as 'virtual worlds' or 'virtual reality'). However, using existing systems and software tools, these interactions can become more difficult as the number of users in these systems increases. For example, if multiple users attempt to manipulate objects, such as avatars, at the same time in a virtual environment, the displays on their networked electronic devices may become cluttered by their actions, as the interaction widgets associated with different users' actions are displayed with the common content of the virtual environment. Similarly, it can be difficult for large numbers of users to collaboratively edit or modify common content using a virtual environment, because a user's actions may be obscured by another user's actions in the virtual environment.
Hence, what is needed is a method and a system that facilitates the interaction of multiple users in a virtual environment without the problems listed above.

System for interacting with objects in a virtual environment


The present invention relates to a composition having antiviral activity for prophylaxis or treatment of flavivirus infection or a disease resulting therefrom in humans or animals, characterized in that said composition consisting of baicalein, or analogs, or derivatives thereof. The composition may further comprise a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier. The antiviral activity may include inhibition of virus attachment to host cells, inhibition of intracellular virus replication and direct virucidal activity. The flavivirus may comprise dengue virus type-1, dengue virus type-2, dengue virus type-3, dengue virus type-4 and Japanese encephalitis virus.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a composition having antiviral activity for prophylaxis or treatment of positive-stranded RNA virus infection or a disease, and more particularly to the composition comprising flavonoid baicalein for prophylaxis or treatment of a flavivirus infection.
2. Description of Related Arts
The positive-stranded RNA virus including flavivirus family comprises many medically important viruses which include dengue, a serious mosquito-borne disease common in the tropics and sub-tropical regions of the world. Dengue has caused many deaths and afflicted millions of people annually and threatened almost 2.5 billion people living in the regions. It is amongst the most rapidly spreading mosquito-borne viral infection.
Dengue is caused by dengue virus a member of the genus flavivirus, family Flaviviridae, a positive-strand RNA virus. Other common medically important virus in this family includes Japanese encephalitis virus, Yellow fever virus, Hepatitis C virus, West Nile encephalitis virus, Murray Valley encephalitis virus, Tick-borne encephalitis virus, St. Louis encephalitis virus and Kyasanur Forest disease virus. Infection by any of these viruses results in a wide spectrum of clinical illnesses ranging from a silent asymptomatic or mild febrile infection, self-limited infection to the severe encephalitis, hepatitis and deaths. Similarly, dengue can manifests as self-limited dengue fever (DF) to severe dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF) and dengue shock syndrome (DSS). There are four serotypes or genotypes of dengue virus, dengue virus type-1 (DENV-1), dengue virus type-2 (DENV-2), dengue virus type-3 (DENV-3) and dengue virus type-4 (DENV-4) which are transmitted to human by at least two species of mosquitoes, Aedes agypti and Aedes albopictus. All four dengue virus genotypes cause similar clinical symptoms. The mechanisms of how one contracted severe dengue is still unknown. The severity of dengue is said to be directly correlated to the amount of virus present in a person's blood.
To date, there is no approved therapeutics or antiviral therapy for the treatment of most of the flavivirus infection if not all of them, including dengue. There is no effective antiviral that can help to reduce dengue virus load in patients to prevent the severe manifestation of dengue, DHF or DSS. Due to the rapidly expanding dengue disease globally, it is critical to develop an effective antiviral drugs or acceptable vaccines against dengue. Effort to prevent dengue using vaccine is plagued with many potential issues and risks. Therefore, an effective drug that can help to reduce dengue virus load during early stage of infection is much desired.
Plants and plant derived compounds remained an important source of new antiviral drugs due to their potential low side effects and their ubiquitous accessibility in nature. There have been a few reports on antiviral activities of various phytochemicals against dengue viruses. Among these include the flavonoids. Flavonoids are low molecular weight phenolic compounds found widely in different types of plants. Different types of flavonoids can be found in fruits, roots, nuts, seeds, bark, steams and flowers of plants. Baicalein (5,6,7-Trihydroxyflavone), which is a type of flavonoid, is found in the roots of a number of herbal plants.
Antiviral activities of baicalein have been evaluated against a number of common human viruses which include the double-stranded DNA viruses, herpesviruses and few negative-stranded respiratory viruses but none that demonstrate it as inhibitor of a positive-stranded RNA virus replication. The application of baicalein as an effective inhibitor of the positive-stranded RNA virus, more specifically the flavivirus, dengue virus replication is emphasized in the present invention.
US Patent Application Publication No. 2010/0004325 A1 disclosed a new molecular and cellular effect of baicalein, which is selected by a proxlylhydroxylase 2 (PHD2) inhibitor screening method using a compound library. The cited art analysed the hypoxia inducible factor (HIF) protein expression induced by baicalein in cells, quantitatively analyzed the inhibitory effect of baicalein against PHD2, confirmed the inhibitory effect against factor inhibiting HIF, and confirmed whether VEGF is expressed by using a reporter assay and ELISA. The cited art proved that baicalein can be used as a drug to treat ischemic disease, and other related diseases. Nonetheless, the cited art did not mention specific composition of baicalein that will work as inhibitor against flavivirus replication. Therefore, there is a need to have a certain workable composition or concentration of baicalein that exhibit antiviral property, particularly to dengue virus. Besides that, there is a need to maximise the potential of baicalein for reducing viral RNA replication in treating and preventing infectious diseases triggered by RNA viruses belonging to the genus of Flavivirus by having different concentrations of baicalein to exhibit direct virucidal activity, prophylactic property, and anti-attachment activity.
US Patent Application Publication No. 2008/0176932 A1 is an invention that relates to a pharmaceutical composition having synergistic anti-tumour effects, more specifically to a pharmaceutical composition comprising of flavonoids. The cited art further relates to the preparation and pharmaceutical use of the composition, which contains baicalein and baicalin or scutellarin. The cited prior art also disclosed compositions of baicalein and baicalin or scutellarin and its related compound that exhibit anti-tumour effects, but did not mention the composition on flavivirus replication. Therefore, there is a need to have a composition or a compound that exhibit antiviral property and inhibit flavivirus replication, particularly in dengue virus and Japanese encephalitis virus.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,083,921 relates to pharmaceutical compositions having antiviral, antibacterial, or immune modulating property in general and in particular to pharmaceutical compositions useful in the treatment or prevention of infection by parainfluenza or respiratory syncytial virus. The pharmaceutical compositions are obtained from combinations of plants containing baicalin, chlorogenic acid, and forsythiaside particularly in isolated and purified form. The pharmaceutical composition usefulness does not extend to positive stranded RNA viruses particularly flavivirus. Therefore, there is a need to resolve the cited prior art by having a composition consisting of baicalein as the active antiviral ingredient, to treat and prevent infection caused by the positive-stranded RNA virus such as the flavivirus, for example dengue virus and Japanese encephalitis virus.

Antiviral composition against flavivirus