A device for detecting radiation includes a substantially transparent substrate with one or more substantially transparent scintillating films patterned onto the surface and with one or more integrated waveguides such that radiation of differing species may be detected by an optical light detector and such that the composition of the radiation may be analyzed. A scintillating material for detecting individual species of radiation and including one or more groups of nanoparticles mixed with a fast electron scintillating material and extruded into a transparent film such that a light pulse is emitted when said transparent film is exposed to the species of radiation targeted by the nanoparticle groups.

A. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to apparatuses for detection of radiation. More specifically, one embodiment of the present invention relates to a multichannel nanoparticle scintillation microdevice with integrated waveguides that is capable of detecting and discerning multiple types of penetrating radiation when used in combination with an optical light detector. Another embodiment of the present invention also relates to scintillating materials.
B. Description of Related Art
Fissionable weapons grade material emits a variety of ionizing radiation, including alpha, beta, gamma, X-ray and neutron radiation. Therefore, homeland security applications require a portable and/or clandestine field detector that is capable of detecting and discerning the composition of concealed nuclear material of many types and constituencies, including that nuclear material used in weapons. The detection of neutrons, gamma rays, and X-rays by such a portable and/or clandestine field detector is of significant utility, as those particles cannot be shielded as easily as alpha and beta particles.
Neutrons are commonly detected by BF3 tubes, but these devices are relatively large, with approximate sizes in the tens of centimeters, and efficiency of BF3 tubes is proportional to the physical dimensions of the tube (Westinghouse Nuclear Instruments Catalog (author unknown) 1959). In these tubes, neutrons interacting with 10B release an alpha particle. The charged alpha particle ionizes the fill gas liberating free electrons that are attracted to the anode, producing a current. Apart from the bulky shape of the device, the gases inside are extremely toxic, and the energy of the incident radiation cannot be determined.
Gamma and X-rays, on the other hand, are commonly measured by gas electron multiplier (GEM) detectors (Bambynek, W. "On Selected Problems in the Field of Proportional Counters," Nuclear Instruments and Methods, 112, 103-110 (1973)). Within a GEM detector, a gamma ray ionizes gas particles inside of a housing, thus releasing electrons. An applied high electric field between a anode and cathode causes the electrons to increase in energy, which, in turn, increases electron velocity. Enough energy is supplied by this increase in velocity to ionize more gas atoms, which creates an avalanche cascade of electrons (Va'ra, J. and T. Sumiyoshi, "Single electron amplification in a 'single MCP+micromegas+PADS' detector," IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science, (51) 5, 2262-2266 (2004)). Moreover, a voltage ranging from 500 to 3000 V is required to produce the high electric field and GEM detectors are only used to detect photon-based radiation (Chechik, R.; Breskin, A.; Guedes, G. P.; Mormann, D.; Maia, J. M.; Dangendorf, V.; Vartsky, D.; Dos Santos, J. M. F.; Veloso, J. F. C. A., "Recent Investigations of Cascaded GEM and MHSP Detectors," IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science, (51) 5, 2097-2103 (2004)).
The Geiger counter is another traditional portable radiation detection instrument. Geiger counters and similar detectors contain a gas-filled tube that conducts electricity when a particle or photon of radiation briefly causes the gas to be conductive. The detection instrument amplifies this signal and displays it to the user, either as a current measurement or an audible click. Geiger counters and the like measure, by counting incidents only, alpha, beta, gamma and X-ray radiation. Accordingly, no analysis of the composition of a concealed material containing multiple radiation types is possible and neutrons are not counted, in any event. Moreover, the resulting device is large and bulky. A very small Micro Geiger counter has been reported, but this device measures only beta particles (Wilson, C.; Eun, C.; Gianchandani, Y., "D-MicroGeiger: A Microfabricated Beta-Particle Detector with Dual Cavities for Energy Spectroscopy," IEEE MEMS 2005, 622-625 (2005)).
Another popular detection instrument, the scintillation counter, uses a scintillator to convert beta particles (known as fast electrons) into optical pulses (Price, W., Nuclear Radiation Detection, 2d ed., Mc-Graw-Hill, New York (1964)). The scintillator consists of a transparent crystal, plastic, or an organic liquid that fluoresces when struck by ionizing radiation. An optical light detector, e.g., a photomultiplier tube or photodiode, then measures the light emanating from the scintillator by converting it to an electric current (Birks, J. B., The Theory and Practice of Scintillation Counting, Pergamon Press, Oxford, UK (1964)). Some scintillators have been adapted to measure alpha particles and others measure gamma particles, converting these species into pulses of light (Knoll, G. K., Radiation Detection and Measurement, 3d ed., John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Danvers, Mass. (2000); Petr, I.; Birks, J. B.; Adams, A. "The Composite directional gamma-ray scintillation detector," Nuclear Instruments and Methods, (92) 2, 285-293 (1972); Viday, Y. T.; Grinyov, B. V.; Zagarij, L. B.; Zverev, N. D.; Chernikov, V. V.; Tarasov, V. A.; Kudin, A. M., "Research and development of ceramic scintillators applied to alpha-particle detection," IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium & Medical Imaging Conference, 2, 762-63 (1995)). Article counting and quantification of the amplitude of the signal produced by the optical detector typically can be accomplished. Scintillation counters are widely used because they can attain good quantum efficiency despite being moderately inexpensive.
The most widely used scintillators include inorganic crystals, organic-based liquids and plastics. Inorganic scintillators have the highest light output and linearity, but tend to have relative slow response times. Organic scintillators are much faster, but have lower light output. Moreover, the high Z-value and high density of inorganic crystals are suited for gamma/X-ray spectroscopy, whereas organics tend to be better suited for the direct detection of beta and alpha particles. Plastic scintillators, solids consisting of a polymerized organic scintillator in solution, are useful due to easy shaping and fabrication, and come in a variety of standard sizes and shapes. Additionally, plastics are relatively inexpensive as compared to inorganic crystals. It is desirable to use plastic scintillators in small radiation detection devices like those in certain embodiments of the present invention because such plastics are easily extruded into a variety of shapes and sizes to be used in microdevices, yet remain substantially solid.
Because organic scintillators, including plastics, demonstrate no photopeak due to a low Z-value, those in the art have loaded such scintillators with high-Z elements to provide for some possibility of photoelectric conversion upon exposure to gamma/X-rays. The addition of such elements, however, may lead to lower light output and the achieved energy resolution may be inferior to that of inorganic crystal scintillators. It is thus desirable to achieve particle loading that remains transparent, uniformly thin, and easily patterned onto microdevices.
Further, transparent fast-electron plastic scintillating materials specifically tailored to provide optimized detection of neutrons, in addition to alpha particles, beta particles, and gamma and X-rays, are useful in microfabricated devices, particularly those used to detect fissionable weapons grade nuclear material. Gadolinium has the highest thermal neutron capture cross-section of any known element (255,000 barns) and is thus ideal for thermal neutron capture reactions. Previous efforts to utilize gadolinium to detect neutrons involved its use as a foil (see, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 5,659,177) or macroscopic block (see, e.g., U.S. Pub. No. 2005/0105665; U.S. Pub. No. 2005/0127300, U.S. Pat. No. 5,057,692).
As will be further described below, doping an organic plastic scintillator with various charge conversion nanoparticles to create transparent novel scintillating materials allows for the microfabrication of devices that are capable of converting differing radiation species into electrons through independent physical mechanisms (see Pellegrin, S., Whitney, C., Wilson, C. "A Multichannel Nanoparticle Scintillation Device With Integrated Waveguides for Alpha, Beta, Gamma, X-ray and Neutron Detection," Proceedings, IEEE MEMS (2006), which is hereby incorporated in its entirety herein). Due to the flexible nature of the scintillator base, each tailored scintillator may be manufactured into a thin film and integrated into a translucent or transparent substrate to create a novel microdevice capable of detecting and discriminating all species of radiation emitting from fissionable weapons materials in an expedient and efficient manner, and at relatively low cost.

Multichannel nanoparticle scintillation microdevice with integrated waveguides for radiation detection

Louisiana Tech University Foundation, Inc.


In a wireless network, for example, an LTE network, the context information relating to a mobile terminal UE is transmitted to a plurality of network nodes eNB 2, 3 and 4 from a source network node, eNB 1. One of the eNB 2 is a handover target node and also reserves resources for the UE in anticipation of receiving it after handover. The other eNBs 3 and 4 do not reserve resources. In the event of radio link failure, the UE may attach to one of the designated eNBs 3 and 4 that have not reserved resources, but that do recognize the UE because they have received its context. The method reduces the likelihood of the UE needing to go via the time consuming IDLE state while only reserving resources at a handover target eNB.

Currently, 3GPP is considering development of E-UTRA and E-UTRAN as set out in the technical specification 3GPP TS 36.300 v 8.1.0 (2007-06), incorporated herein by way of reference, and related documents. 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) aims to enhance the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) standard, for example, by improving efficiency and services.
In E-UTRAN, user equipment (UE) communicates with a network node, NodeB (eNB), with data being sent on radio bearers (RBs) over a radio link between them. The eNB interfaces with a Mobile Management Entity (MME) via an interface designated as S1. The E-UTRAN network includes a plurality of eNBs and MMEs. The connection between the UE and the source eNB to which it is attached may be lost, this being known as radio link failure (RLF). It had previously been proposed that a UE experiencing an RLF and reappearing in a cell of another eNB would be handled as a transition via an idle state, RRC_IDLE. In this mechanism, when there is RLF in the source eNB, the UE enters IDLE state and selects a new target eNB. When the UE has attached to the new target eNB, and received the system information for the target eNB, the UE may perform the access procedure to establish resources in the target eNB. However, this procedure is time-consuming.
RLF may be particularly likely during fading channel conditions, when handover from the source eNB to a target eNB may be imminent. To avoid going via the IDLE state, it has been suggested that a new eNB could be prepared beforehand to accept the UE by using the handover preparation procedure. The Handover_Request message can be sent to multiple eNBs which are thus able to recognize the UE, each of the eNBs being prepared as handover candidates. Then, the UE is able to carry on with its old context after having chosen the new target eNB during the mobility phase of the RLF.
The paper by Nokia Siemens Networks et al "Radio Link Failure Recovery", R2-072382, 3GPP TSG-RAN WG2 Meeting #58, incorporated herein by way of reference, discusses RLF recovery by preparing multiple eNBs using the handover procedure. A prepared eNB has the UE context and resources reserved, so by preparing multiple eNBs, the probability is increased that the UE can recover from RLF without needing to go via RRC_IDLE, thus reducing recovery time.
The paper by Nokia and NSN "Handover Failure Recovery" R2-071717, 3GPP TSG-RAN WG2 Meeting #58, incorporated herein by way of reference, and the paper by Vodafone "Mobility in LTE_ACTIVE state, R2-0723823, GPP TSG-RAN WG2 Meeting #58, incorporated herein by way of reference, also consider the preparation of multiple eNBs during handover to avoid the UE going via the IDLE state.

Method and apparatus for radio link failure recovery in a wireless communications network


Disclosed are a method and device for compressing and reconstructing data. The method includes: disposing a transmitting EMAT array and a receiving EMAT array; exciting a Lamb wave, receiving the Lamb wave, subjecting the Lamb wave to narrowband filtering with the narrowband frequency, to form detecting data x(n); analysing the detecting data with a DFT; reconstructing original detecting data and calculating a reconstruction error according to the measurement vector and the recovery matrix by using a TLBO algorithm; optimizing measurement vector and recovery matrix; transmitting the measurement vector to a supervisory device.

Specific information of contour and size of a defect can be quicly and effectively obtained by a Lamb wave tomography. In order to achieve high-quality tomography of a large-area plate, dozens of electromagnetic acoustic transducers (EMATs) may be used, in which a transmitting EMAT may correspond to a receiving EMAT, such that hundreds of groups of data may be detected and each frame of wave needs to repeat Lamb wave transmitting and receiving steps multiple times for noise reduction processing. Therefore, Lamb wave detecting data generated by one single imaging may be in a huge amount, for example, if it is assumed that 500 kB detecting data is contained in each frame of wave, the size of data for one single imaging may be up to 5 GB or more. In a process of scanning and imaging a large area plate, in order to ensure a certain scanning speed, a single imaging usually needs to be completed within a dozen of seconds, such that the host device needs to transmit a large amount of detecting data to a supervisory device within the specified time period. However, due to limitations of interface transmission speeds of current mainstream data acquisition equipment and the supervisory device, the actual data transmission speed between the host device and the supervisory device is usually lower than 50 MB/s, such that transmission of the above large amount of detecting data completed by the device may be more than 102 s, which cannot meet the time requirement of one single imaging.
The Lamb wave tomography and real-time imaging of a defect are limited by above problems. Currently, a method for compressing and reconstructing data detected by the Lamb wave is still needed. Developing a fast, large-scale and high-quality method for compressing and reconstructing data detected by electromagnetic ultrasonic Lamb wave has a significant influence on development of the real-time Lamb wave tomography.

Method for compressing and reconstructing data

CHINA SPECIAL EQUIPMENT INSPECTION AND RESEARCH INSTITUTE

HUAZHONG UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY


A hand shield is provided comprising a body dimensioned to cover the first web space of a human hand, a proximal end extending from the body in the direction of the thumb, and a distal end extending from the body in the direction of the index finger. The body may have a variety of shapes and profiles, and comprises a base resting over the first web side of the hand, an anterior wall covering at least a portion of the anterior side of the hand, and a posterior wall covering at least a portion of the posterior side of the hand.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to the field of protective devices for human hands and, more specifically, to a shield protecting a human hand against certain types of compressive and shear forces.
2. Description of Related Art
A human hand requires protection against compressive and shear forces generated by narrow objects in a variety of professional and leisure environments. To mention just a few examples, in the dry-cleaning industry, operators carry multiple clothes hangers with hooks resting across the first web spaces of their hands or across their fingers while they move garments from one workstation to another, or during delivery of the garments. In the retail industry, store clerks carry multiple clothes hangers with hooks resting across the first web spaces of their hands or across their fingers when they move garments between racks, to and from dressing rooms, or to and from warehouses. The customers of dry cleaning or retail establishments also carry garments to their cars by holding the hooks of the clothes hangers across the first web spaces of their hands or against their fingers, or carry shopping bags with the straps resting across their fingers. In the construction industry, workers pull or slide objects such as ropes across the first web spaces of their hands.
A number of injuries derive from failing to protect the hand from the compressive and shear forces generated by narrow objects. These injuries range from strain on the skin and on the underlying muscles of the hand to more serious illnesses such as carpal tunnel, trigger thumb and finger, soft tissue injuries of the intrinsic muscles, injuries to the digital nerves, various types of skin damage, various types of wrists injuries, and arthritis.
Similarly, mechanical objects often require protection from the mechanical and shear forces generated by narrow objects in a static or dynamic environment. For instance, grab bars in the passenger compartment of a vehicle need protection against the wear and tear caused by hooks of clothes hangers attached to such grab bars.
Therefore, there is a need for an appropriately designed hand shield to protect the users from the above injuries. At the same time, there is a need for a product that may be employed not only as a hand shield, but also for shielding objects other than a human hand, for instance, for protecting mechanical parts from damage.


Some embodiments provide RFID tag reading systems comprising: multiple sets of RFID readers at a retail shopping facility; a tag evaluation control circuit communicatively coupled with the multiple sets of RFID readers and at least one memory, and configured to: receive RFID tag information from the RFID readers; obtain and apply a first set of rules and identify a transition area within the retail shopping facility based on the received RFID tag information; identify a first set of RFID readers configured to read RFID tags as they move through the identified transition area; obtain and apply a second set of rules and establish a first null area adjacent the transition area configured to enable RFID tags crossing through the first null area and prior to entering the transition area to be in a predefined state when entering the transition area.

Retail store inventory tracking can be important to many retail stores. Many stores and businesses use radio frequency identification (RFID) technology for detecting commercial items having RFID tags. RFID readers are used to read the RFID tags. However, there are some drawbacks to RFID tags.
Elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions and/or relative positioning of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of various embodiments of the present invention. Also, common but well-understood elements that are useful or necessary in a commercially feasible embodiment are often not depicted in order to facilitate a less obstructed view of these various embodiments of the present invention. Certain actions and/or steps may be described or depicted in a particular order of occurrence while those skilled in the art will understand that such specificity with respect to sequence is not actually required. The terms and expressions used herein have the ordinary technical meaning as is accorded to such terms and expressions by persons skilled in the technical field as set forth above except where different specific meanings have otherwise been set forth herein.

Systems and methods of establishing RFID null zones in detecting products in a retail environment


A cast or bandage protector comprises a lightweight, plastic bag having a rectangular shape that is open at one end. The user can insert an arm or leg through the open end of the bag to protect a cast or bandage from getting wet. A strap encircles the bag adjacent the open end thereof. The strap is also made of plastic and has a buckle at one end that is free relative to the bag to allow access to be had to the underside of the buckle. The other free end of the strap can be threaded through the buckle and cinched back on itself to tighten the strap, and hence the open end of the bag, around the arm or leg of the user. The free end of the strap is secured in place by an adhesive patch that is pressed against the strap or bag. The protector is disposed of after a single use by stripping the protector off the arm or leg and throwing it away.

Protective devices are known which comprise elongated sheathes or bags that fit around the arm or leg of a user to cover a cast or bandage that has been applied to the arm or leg. The protector prevents the cast or bandage from getting wet. As such, it is used primarily when the user is bathing in a bath or shower. However, it is not limited to that use, but could also be worn while the user is outside to prevent rain from reaching the cast or bandage.
Certain protectors of the prior art comprise bags that, are closed at one end and open at the other end. A strap is attached to the bag near the open end of the bag. The strap carries a buckle at one end. The other end of the strap is, free to be inserted through the buckle.
In using these protectors, the user inserts whatever limb has the cast or bandage into the bag until the cast or bandage is located within the bag. The user then threads the free end of the strap through the buckle and pulls back on the free end of the strap to cinch the strap tight. The free end of the strap is then secured in place using Velcro fasteners. U.S. Pat. No. 3,747,125 to Goldman and U.S. Pat. No. 4,254,765 to Brown show such bags having buckle carrying straps adjacent the open end of the bag.
While the protectors shown in the above described patents are useful, they are quite expensive and are not adapted to a single use. For example, the closed end of the bags mimic the shape of a hand or foot. This requires that pieces of plastic material first be cut with the necessary shape. The protectors are then finished by assembling the cut pieces together, i.e. by securing the pieces to each other along their edges. The expense involved in this cutting and assembly greatly increases the cost of these protectors.
In addition, the securing straps used in these protectors are often made of a fabric material that is sewn or otherwise attached to the bags. Moreover, Velcro material is used to fasten the straps in place after the straps are tightened. This Velcro material is itself expensive. Accordingly, due to the expense involved in manufacturing and selling such protectors, they are not truly disposable after a single use. These protectors have never been commercialized to the best of the Applicant's knowledge.
Since the expense of these protectors dictates trying to reuse them, the user would normally try and remove the protectors and keep them until a future time when they might. be needed again. However, this is not a good solution due to the need for such protectors to dry thoroughly and because of the possibility of bacterial or other contamination after their first use. Thus, as a practical matter, such protectors would not be reused. They are simply too expensive to constitute a product that can be disposed after a single use.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,911,511 to Rankin attempts to provide a disposable protector having a strap for tightening the open end of the bag. Rankin teaches using a plastic strap without a buckle instead of the buckle carrying straps of the Goldman or Brown protectors. In addition, the free end of the Rankin strap is secured by adhesive rather than by Velcro fasteners. While this would potentially decrease the cost of the Rankin protector, the lack of a buckle on a simple plastic type strap decreases its utility and makes one handed application very difficult.
Without a buckle, the Rankin strap cannot be cinched back on itself. Thus, when force is applied to the end of the strap, such force would often simply tend to rotate the entire protector around the limb without tightening the strap. The Rankin strap could probably be tightened adequately by a user having two hands such as when the protector is placed over a cast on the user's leg. But, when the user has only one hand to use, such as when the protector is placed over the user's other arm, the tendency of the bag to slide around the arm when the user tightens the strap is a great disadvantage. The Rankin protector is not. suited for one handed application.


The present disclosure relates to a novel and improved synthesis of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) from a glucose source. The synthesis of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) is carried out by reacting a mixture comprising a Brønsted acid, a Lewis acid, water, dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), acetonitrile, and a glucose source.

This section introduces aspects that may help facilitate a better understanding of the disclosure. Accordingly, these statements are to be read in this light and are not to be understood as admissions about what is or is not prior art.
Photo-synthetically-derived carbohydrates are a promising platform for producing fuels and chemicals with improved functionality over petroleum-based products and will facilitate a reduction in the petroleum required for commodity chemical production. In a well-established industrial process, these carbohydrates can be obtained from starch through the process of hydrolysis to glucose. Corn-derived glucose is a promising candidate to produce low-carbon fuels and chemicals and warrants further research and development as a production platform for commodity chemicals and fuels.
One of these valuable platform chemicals is 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF), which can be used to produce plastics, adhesives, fuels, and pharmaceuticals. One of the notable products that can be produced from HMF is 2,5-furandicarboxylic acid (FDCA), which can replace terephthalic acid in the production of poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET), which becomes poly(ethylene 2,5-furandicarboxylate) (PEF) when FDCA is used in place of terephthalic acid. In addition to being renewably sourced, PEF is also more lightweight and has better gas barrier properties than PET, making it a promising sustainable plastic for food and beverage packaging applications.
The majority of previously described processes for the production of HMF from renewable sources focus on dehydration of bio-derived fructose. Since fructose is typically produced from glucose, using glucose to directly produce HMF would lead to more economical processes by bypassing production of fructose in a separate reaction.
Because the commercializing production of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) from glucose has been hindered by low consumption of glucose and moderate HMF yields and selectivity, an improved method of converting glucose to HMF would be desirable.


This invention relates to methods for altering the splicing of mRNA in cells. In particular, this invention also relates to methods for increasing the ratio of wild type to misspliced forms of mRNA and corresponding encoded proteins in cells possessing a mutant gene encoding either the i) misspliced mRNA corresponding to the mutant protein or ii) a component in the splicing machinery responsible for processing the misspliced mRNA. In addition, this invention relates to treating individuals having a disorder associated with a misspliced mRNA, such as Familial Dysautonomia or Neurofibromatosis 1, by administering to such an individual a cytokinin such as kinetin.

Exon skipping is a common result of splice mutations and has been reported in a wide variety of genetic disorders1, yet the underlying mechanism is poorly understood. Often, such mutations are incompletely penetrant, and low levels of normal transcript and protein are maintained1 Familial dysautonomia (FD) (MIM#2239001), also known as Riley Day syndrome or hereditary sensory and autonomic neuropathy III (HSAN-III), is the best-known and most common member of a group of congenital sensory and autonomic neuropathies (HSAN) characterized by widespread sensory and variable autonomic dysfunction (Axelrod F B: (1996) Autonomic and Sensory Disorders. In: Principles and Practice of Medical Genetics, 3rd edition, AEH Emory and DL Rimoin eds. Churchill Livingstone, Edinburgh. pp 397-411; Axelrod F B (2002) Hereditary Sensory and Autonomic Neuropathies: Familial Dysautonomia and other HSANs. Clin Auton Res 12 Supplement 1, 2-14). FD affects neuronal development and is associated with progressive neuronal degeneration. Multiple systems are impacted resulting in a markedly reduced quality of life and premature death (Axelrod F B: (1996) Autonomic and Sensory Disorders. In: Principles and Practice of Medical Genetics, 3rd edition, AEH Emory and DL Rimoin eds. Churchill Livingstone, Edinburgh. pp 397-411; Axelrod F B (2002) Hereditary Sensory and Autonomic Neuropathies: Familial Dysautonomia and other HSANs. Clin Auton Res 12 Supplement 1, 2-14).
FD is a recessive disorder that has a remarkably high carrier frequency of 1 in 30 in the Ashkenazi Jewish population5. FD is caused by mutations in the IKBKAP gene2,3 (Genbank Accession No. NM—003640.), and all cases described to date involve an intron 20 mutation that results in a unique pattern of tissue-specific exon skipping. Accurate splicing of the mutant IKBKAP allele is particularly inefficient in the nervous system. Three FD mutations have been identified in the I-k-B kinase (IKK) complex-associated protein (IKBKAP): IVS20+6T→C, which leads to variable, tissue-specific skipping of exon 20 (FIG. 1a), R696P, and P914L2,3,6. All FD patients tested to date carry at least one IVS20+6T→C mutation, with more than 99.5% being homozygous, and the remainder being heterozygous with either R696P or P914L on the alternate allele.
The IVS20+6T→C mutation does not cause complete loss of function. Instead, it results in a tissue-specific decrease in splicing efficiency of the IKBKAP transcript; cells from patients retain some capacity to produce normal mRNA and IKAP protein (Slaugenhaupt et al. (2001) Tissue-specific expression of a splicing mutation in the IKBKAP gene causes familial dysautonomia. Am J Hum Genetics 68:598-605). The mRNA is widely distributed. Highest levels are in the nervous system, but substantial amounts are also present in peripheral organs (Mezey et al. (2003) Of splice and men: what does the distribution of IKAP mRNA in the rat tell us about the pathogenesis of familial dysautonomia? Brain Research 983:209). It has been reported previously that all FD tissues tested express both wild-type (WT) and mutant (MU) IKBKAP mRNA2,4. The effect of the most common (splicing) mutation varies from tissue to tissue—neuronal tissues seem primarily to express mutant mRNA; somatic tissues express roughly equal levels of normal and mutant mRNA. Accurate measurement of the ratio of the two mRNA species using both densitometry and real-time quantitative PCR has revealed that the levels of WT IKBKAP mRNA vary between tissues and are lowest in central and peripheral nervous systems4. This leads to a drastic reduction in the amount of IKAP protein in these tissues.
There are other disorders that are caused, at least in part, by missplicing including Neurofibromatosis 1 (NF1), also known as von Recklinghausen NF or Peripheral NF. NF1 occurs in 1:4,000 births and is characterized by multiple cafe-au-lait spots and neurofibromas on or under the skin. Enlargement and deformation of bones and curvature of the spine may also occur (Riccardi, 1992, Neurofibromatosis: phenotype, natural history, and pathogenesis. 2nd ed. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press). Occasionally, tumors may develop in the brain, on cranial nerves, or on the spinal cord. About 50% of people with NF also have learning disabilities (Chapter 6 in Rubenstein and Korf, 1990, Neurofibromatosis: a handbook for patients, families, and health-care professionals. New York: Thieme Medical Publishers).
The NF1 gene was identified and the protein product characterized in 1990 (Cawthon et al., 1990, Cell 62: 193-201; Wallace et al., 1990, Science 249:181-6). The entire sequence of the expressed NF1 gene has been reported (Viskochil et al., 1993, Annu Rev Neurosci 16: 183-205; Gutmann and Collins, 1993, Neuron 10: 335-43; Genbank Accession No. NM—000267). The gene is has at least 59 exons and codes for a 2818 amino acid protein called neurofibromin. To date, 180 different NF1 mutations have been identified. The NF1 Genetic Analysis Consortium maintains a database of mutations identified in more than 45 collaborating laboratories throughout the world. According to data from the Consortium, the NF1 mutations described to date include 4 chromosomal rearrangements, 89 deletions (14 deletions involving the entire gene, 35 deletions involving multiple exons, and 37 small deletions), 23 insertions (3 large and 20 small), 45 point mutations (29 stop mutations and 16 amino acid substitutions), and 18 intronic mutations affecting splicing, and 4 mutations in 3′ untranslated region of the gene. About 30% of NF1 patients carry a splice mutation resulting in the production of one or several shortened transcripts (Vandenbroucke et al., 2002, BMC Genomics 3:13 and Serra et al., 2001, Hum Genet. 108:416-29).
Cytokinins are a class of plant hormones defined by their ability to promote cell division in plant tissue explants in the presence of an auxin, such as indoleacetic acid, and nutrients, including vitamins, mineral salts, and sugar. In promoting cell division of plant cells, cytokinins are active at low concentrations (as low 0.01 parts per million (ppm)), but exhibit activity only in the presence of an auxin. Certain cytokinins, including zeatin and 6-(3,3-dimethylallyl)-aminopurine, also occur as the base moiety components of transfer RNA in yeast, bacterial, animal cells and plant cells. The cytokinin kinetin (6-furfuryl-aminopurine) forms complexes with certain RNA-binding proteins of wheat embryo extracts and appears to promote protein synthesis in plants (see, e.g., Spirin and Ajtkhozhin (1985) Trends in Biochem. Sci., p. 162). Kinetin and other cytokinins are used in conjunction with auxin used in horticulture and in plant tissue culture, such as in the production of plantlets from plant callus tissue. Cytokinins are also used in the production of protein-rich yeast (see e.g., East German Patent No. 148,889 (1981) (Derwent World Patent Index Abstract)) and to augment the growth of microbial cultures (Merck Index, 10th Ed. (1983) Entry 5148, Merck and Co., Rahway, N.J., U.S.A.).
Kinetin belongs to the family of N6-substituted adenine derivatives known as cytokinins, or plant growth factors, that also includes zeatin, benzyladenine and 2iP (FIG. 1b). Kinetin is also known as 6-furfurylaminpurine (C10H9N5) and has a molecular weight of 215.21 (Soriano-Garcia and Parthsarathy, 1975, Biochem Biophys Res Commun 64:1062-8). Kinetin is currently marketed as an anti-aging ingredient in skin treatments due to its ability to ameliorate aging characteristics in cultured human fibroblasts8, possibly through anti-oxidant activity9.
Certain cytokinins have been shown to inhibit the growth of tumor cells in vitro (see, e.g., Katsaros et al. (1987) FEBS Lttrs. 223:97-103). It appears that this effect is mediated via the cytotoxic affects of adenosine analogs, such as the 6-(substituted amino) purine cytokinins, that interfere with tRNA methylating enzymes (Wainfan et al, (1973) Biochem. Pharmacol. 22:493-500). When immortalized fibroblast cells are contacted with adenosine analogs the cultured cells exhibit decreased growth rate and a change in morphology from the normal flattened elongated morphology typical of cultured fibroblasts to a very elongated spindle-shape characteristic of a cytotoxic response. The very elongated shape of immortalized cells exhibiting this response is not shape characteristic of young, healthy, primary cultures of normal diploid fibroblasts.
Kinetin has been shown to be capable of delaying or preventing a host of age-related changes of human skin fibroblasts grown in laboratory culture which has led to its incorporation into topical skin products. West MID (1994) The cellular and molecular biology of skin aging. Arch Dermatol 130:87-95. Fibroblasts, which produce collagen and elastin, have been shown to decrease in number and vitality as skin ages not only in vitro, but also in vivo. The number of fibroblasts decreases at least 50% between birth and the age of 80 years. West MID (1994) The cellular and molecular biology of skin aging. Arch Dermatol 130:87-95. Rattan S I, Clark B F. (1994) Kinetin delays the onset of aging characteristics in human fibroblasts. Biochem Biophys Res Commun 201:665-72. Kinetin has been shown to delay or prevent a range of cellular changes associated with in vitro aging of human skin cells, including alterations in cell morphology, growth rate, size, cytoskeletal organization, macromolecular synthetic activity and accumulation of lipofuscin aging pigments but kinetin did not alter the maximum in vitro life span of human skin cells or their ability to multiply in culture. Rattan S I, Clark B F. (1994) Kinetin delays the onset of aging characteristics in human fibroblasts. Biochem Biophys Res Commun 201:665-72. Thus, kinetin was devoid of activities associated with cellular immortalization, malignant transformation and carcinogenesis. Rattan S I, Clark B F. (1994) Kinetin delays the onset of aging characteristics in human fibroblasts. Biochem Biophys Res Commun 201:665-72.
Using rats as a mammalian model, it has been shown that plant cytokinins can affect lipid peroxidation in erythrocyte, muscle, liver, heart and kidney tissue, Celik I, Tuluce Y, Ozok N. (2002) Effects of indoleacetic acid and kinetin on lipid peroxidation levels in various rat tissues. Turk J Biol 26; 193-196. Celik et al. (2002) showed that kinetin had much less toxicity as compared to indoleacetic acid (IAA), when administered orally to rats. Celik I, Tuluce Y, Ozok N. (2002) Effects of indoleacetic acid and kinetin on lipid peroxidation levels in various rat tissues. Turk J Biol 26; 193-196. It was shown that IAA interacts primarily with the liver and kidney tissue cells, resulting in lipid peroxidation synthesis, whereas kinetin had no such effect in the liver or kidney.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Methods for altering mRNA splicing and treating familial dysautonomia by administering benzyladenine


A surgical instrument having at least two distal jaw parts each having a proximal part, an instrument holder for enabling a user to hold the surgical instrument, a pull-push rod connected to the jaw parts for pivotably moving the jaw parts such that the jaw parts are movable commonly and in opposite directions from one another, and a sliding block guide for guiding movement of the push-pull rod consisting of a circular arc-shaped groove foamed in the proximal part of each the jaw part. Each circular groove in each respective jaw part is displaced by 180.degree. from another circular groove in another jaw part. Each circular groove defining a virtual circle. At least two circular arc-shaped groove blocks are disposed on the instrument holder. Each circular groove block being configured to slidably engage a corresponding circular groove, such that a center of each virtual circle is defined about each groove block and at least two linkage arms for enabling the pull-push rod to manipulate the jaw parts, each having a first end and a second end. The first end of each linkage arm being connected to the push-pull rod, and the second end of each linkage rod being connected to the proximal part of the corresponding jaw part at a linkage point positioned at a predetermined distance from the virtual circle defined by the circular groove of said corresponding jaw part.

The invention relates to a surgical instrument with at least two distal jaw parts actuatable commonly and in opposite directions in a pivotingly movable manner by a pull-push rod, whose movement is guided by a sliding block guide consisting of a groove arranged in the jaw parts and a groove block engaging into the groove, wherein each jaw part on the proximal side comprises a circular arc shaped groove which in jaw parts neighboring one another are each arranged displaced by 180.degree..
Such a surgical instrument is known for example from the U.S. Pat. No. 4,887,612. With this instrument the jaw parts are each pivotable commonly and in opposite directions about a journal bearing, as a point of rotation, lying on the longitudinal axis of the instrument. Since the section line of the force exerted by the pull-push rod goes through this journal bearing serving as a pivoting bearing of the two jaw parts and also through the groove block common to both annular grooves, no reduction in force of the movement of the jaw parts with the pull-push rod is possible.
The U.S. Pat. No. 4,712,545 describes a surgical instrument with which for the pivoting movement of a single pivotable jaw part a virtual point of rotation lying outside the shank is formed by a sliding block guide so that here a reduction in force on moving the movable jaw part is achieved. However with this solution known from this US patent only instruments with a single movable jaw part may be realised. This is due to the fact that the grooves are incorporated in the inner flanks of the outer jaw part and the outer flanks of the inner jaw part. Furthermore the grooves and guides can only be manufactured with difficulty which increases the cost of manufacture.


Methods and apparatus are described for absolute electrical property measurement of materials. This is accomplished with magnetic and electric field based sensors and sensor array geometries that can be modeled accurately and with impedance instrumentation that permits accurate measurements of the in-phase and quadrature phase signal components. A dithering calibration method is also described which allows the measurement to account for background material noise variations. Methods are also described for accounting for noise factors in sensor design and selection of the optimal operating conditions which can minimize the error bounds for material property estimates. Example application of these methods to automated engine disk slot inspection and assessment of the mechanical condition of dielectric materials are presented.

The technical field of this invention is that of nondestructive materials characterization. This includes inspection of materials for hidden objects and characterization of surface, near-surface, and bulk material condition for flat and curved parts or components using magnetic field based or eddy-current sensors or electric field based or capacitive sensors. These nondestructive evaluation (NDE) techniques are applied across a wide variety of applications, ranging from manufacturing quality control to the detection of buried objects. Interrogation using electromagnetic fields is one technique that often proves to be of great use since it is sensitive to both geometric and electrical properties of materials. Additionally, many other non-electrical properties of interest can affect the measured electrical properties, such as cure state, fatigue, cracking, and temperature, which further the use of electromagnetic methods.
Although the full electromagnetic spectrum can be considered useful to some degree for NDE, here the focus is on fields that are sufficiently low in frequency to be considered quasistatic. A common magnetoquasistatic (MQS) measurement device used in NDE is the eddy-current sensor. Conventional eddy-current sensing involves the excitation of a conducting winding, the primary, with an electric current source of prescribed frequency. This produces a time-varying magnetic field, which in turn is detected with a sensing winding, the secondary. The spatial distribution of the magnetic field and the field measured by the secondary is influenced by the proximity and physical properties (electrical conductivity and magnetic permeability) of nearby materials. When the sensor is intentionally placed in close proximity to a test material, the physical properties of the material can be deduced from measurements of the impedance between the primary and secondary windings. Traditionally, scanning of eddy-current sensors across the material surface is then used to detect flaws, such as cracks. Similarly, a common electroquasistatic (EQS) measurement technique uses capacitive sensors. This involves placing parallel plates on either side of a relatively insulating material, forming a capacitor, for which the admittance is dependent on the properties of the material.
Advances in these techniques have resulted in sensors which utilize spatially-periodic planar windings (MQS) or electrodes (EQS) which can be fabricated accurately using micro-fabrication, flex-circuit, or wire winding techniques depending on the sensor's size. Representative sensor geometries are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,814,690 and 5,015,951. The periodic and planar nature of these sensors has allowed their terminal response to be modeled for layered materials, using semi-analytic methods. Their periodic nature also allows a means for affecting the cumulative depth to which a material is interrogated.

Absolute property measurements using electromagnetic sensors


A technique is disclosed for capturing a security breach. In one embodiment, the technique comprises initially deploying a honey pot; detecting a breach of the honey pot; and automatically redeploying the honey pot.

Today's computer systems are subject to breaches by malicious code, such as computer viruses and worms. Early detection and capture of such breaches would be beneficial as this data can be analyzed and used to protect a computer system from future attacks. There are several ways that can be used to capture a security breach. A user can submit malicious code samples after the user's computer has been attacked. A problem with this method is that the user's system is already breached with possibly severe consequences. Another way to obtain information about a potential attack is to obtain sample code from sharing groups. However, this kind of information can be unreliable. Yet another way of obtaining information is via a honey pot.
Honey pots are computer programs or systems that are meant to be breached for the purpose of capturing information associated with the breach. Such information can then typically be analyzed in an attempt to understand and prevent future attacks. Types of honey pots can include synthetic honey pots and sacrificial honey pots. Synthetic honey pots emulate services which can be attacked, and are typically easy to deploy and manage. However, synthetic honey pots can be development intensive and typically do not fully emulate a real system. Sacrificial honey pots can be actual computer systems, permitting the honey pot to capture attacks that may occur in a real environment. However, a sacrificial honey pot can take a significant amount of time to set up and manage. For example, once a honey pot is breached, analysis and subsequent redeployment of the honey pot are typically performed manually. Thus, it would be desirable to have a technique for capturing a security breach that is efficient to deploy and manage.


This invention provides an improved apparatus and method for encapsulating the solder ball interconnections of an integrated circuit assembly which accommodates the use of high viscosity encapsulating materials and enables flush molding to be accomplished without substantially altering the exposed surface of the integrated circuit chip. In accordance with the preferred embodiment of this invention, an integrated circuit chip assembly including an integrated circuit chip mounted on a chip carrier or directly on a circuit board in a standoff relationship by solder ball connections is provided. A mold is placed over the integrated circuit chip. The mold of one embodiment has a compliant material disposed on the molding surface of the mold cavity. The mold also has at least one inlet hole for dispensing encapsulant into the mold, at least one opening for applying a vacuum to the mold and at least one vent. The mold is placed so that the compliant material is flush against the exposed surface of the integrated circuit chip. External pressure is applied to the mold to seal the mold to the surface of the substrate. A metered volume of encapsulant material is dispensed through the inlet into the space surrounding the integrated circuit chip and the space between the integrated circuit chip and the chip carrier or circuit board while a vacuum is applied to the mold to facilitate flow into the mold and around the solder ball interconnections. After the required amount of encapsulant material is dispensed, the material is cured to form a bond between the integrated circuit chip and the chip carrier or circuit board and reinforce the solder ball connections. In another embodiment of the mold of this invention, a bore hole extends through the mold and into the cavity. The bore hole is fitted with a push pin and a retractable spring support which together serve as a biasing mechanism during the molding process.

This invention relates to an apparatus and method for encapsulating and reinforcing the electrical interconnections between an integrated circuit chip and a substrate. More specifically, this invention relates to an improved molding apparatus to encapsulate and reinforce solder joints between an integrated circuit chip and a Z substrate.
An integrated circuit chip assembly generally comprises an integrated circuit chip attached to a substrate, typically a chip carrier or a circuit board. The most commnonly used integrated circuit chip is composed primarily of silicon having a coefficient of thermal expansion of about 2 to 4 ppm/.degree. C. The chip carrier or circuit board is typically composed of either a ceramic material having a coefficient of thermal expansion of about 6 ppm/.degree. C., or an organic material, possibly reinforced with organic or inorganic particles or fibers, and having a coefficient of thermal expansion in the range of about 6 to 50 ppm/.degree. C. One technique well known in the art for attaching the chip to the substrate is flip chip bonding. In flip chip bonding, a pattern of solder balls, usually having a diameter of about 0.002 to 0.006 inches, is formed on the one surface of the integrated circuit chip, fully or partially populating the active chip surface with interconnection sites. A matching footprint of solder wettable terminals is provided on the substrate. The integrated circuit chip is then placed in alignment with the substrate, and the chip to substrate connections are formed by reflowing the solder balls. During operation of the integrated circuit chip assembly, cyclic temperature excursions cause the substrate and the integrated circuit chip to expand and contract. Since the substrate and the integrated circuit chip have different coefficients of thermal expansion, they expand and contract at different rates causing the solder ball connections to weaken or even crack as a result of fatigue. To remedy this situation, it is common industry practice to reinforce the solder ball connections with a thermally curable polymer material known in the art as an underfill encapsulant.
Underfill encapsulants are typically filled with ceramic particles to control their rheology in the uncured state, and to improve their thermal and mechanical properties in the cured state. Underfill encapsulants have been used widely to improve the fatigue life of integrated circuit chip assemblies consisting of an integrated circuit chip of the flip chip variety attached to a substrate comprised of an alumina ceramic material having a coefficient of thermal expansion of about 6 ppm/.degree. C. More recently, integrated circuit chip assemblies have been manufactured using substrates comprised of a reinforced organic material having a composite coefficient of thermal expansion of about 20 ppm/.degree. C.
The underfill encapsulation process is typically accomplished by dispensing a liquid encapsulant directly onto the substrate at one or more points along the periphery of the integrated circuit chip. The encapsulant is drawn into the space between the integrated circuit chip and the substrate by capillary forces, and forms a fillet around the perimeter of the integrated circuit chip. The diameter of the filler particles in the encapsulant is typically smaller than the height of the space so that flow is not restricted, with typical encapsulant formulations having viscosities of about 10 Pa-s at the dispense temperature. Once the underfilling process is completed, the encapsulant is heat cured in an oven. Cured encapsulants typically have coefficients of thermal expansion in the range of 20 to 40 ppm/.degree. C. and a Young's Modulus of about 1 to 3 GPa, depending to a large degree on the filler content. Depending on the materials the integrated circuit chip and the substrate are composed of, it may be desirable to further alter the cured properties of the encapsulant. However, the requirement that the encapsulant have low viscosity in the uncured state so that it flows readily into the space between the integrated circuit chip and the substrate severely restricts the formulation options. For example, the addition of more ceramic filler would result in a lower coefficient of thermal expansion, but would cause an increase in the viscosity of the uncured encapsulant. Furthermore, even with the use of underfill encapsulation, fatigue life of an integrated circuit chip assembly is shorter when the integrated circuit chip is interconnected to an organic substrate as opposed to a ceramic substrate due to the greater mismatch in thermal expansion between the typical integrated circuit chip and organic substrates.
Also known in the art is a method wherein a package body is formed around the perimeter of the flip chip using a two step process. First the integrated circuit chip assembly is underfilled as described above. Next, a package body is formed around the perimeter of the integrated circuit chip using a molding process. The prior art also suggests a process, wherein additional reinforcement is achieved by forming a package body around the integrated circuit chip assembly using a single step operation. In this process, a large opening of about 50% of the size of the integrated circuit chip is formed in the substrate directly underneath the integrated circuit chip. This approach essentially eliminates the space between the integrated circuit chip and the substrate that is typical of a conventional integrated circuit chip to substrate interconnection, but has the drawback of limiting the active surface area of the integrated circuit chip that can be utilized for forming interconnections.
The prior art also suggests a molding apparatus comprised of an upper and lower mold which when joined together around an integrated circuit lead frame defines a package area. Encapsulant material flows from a reservoir into a package area forming a packing body around the integrated circuit chip lead frame.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved apparatus and a method of encapsulating and reinforcing the electrical interconnections of an integrated circuit chip assembly which allows the use of highly viscous encapsulating materials. It is also an object of this invention to provide a method and apparatus for encapsulating the integrated circuit chip assembly which enables flush molding without reducing the active interconnection area of the integrated circuit chip or substantially altering the exposed surface of the integrated circuit chip.

Biasing mold for integrated circuit chip assembly encapsulation

International Business Machines Corporation


The present invention provides methods for inhibiting target gene expression, by expressing in a cell a nucleic acid construct comprising an inverted repeat and a sense or antisense region having substantial sequence identity to a target gene, wherein the inverted repeat is unrelated to the target gene.

Suppression of the expression of particular genes is an important tool both for research and for the development of genetically engineered organisms more fitted for a particular purpose. Gene silencing can be accomplished by the introduction of a transgene corresponding to the gene of interest in the antisense orientation relative to its promoter (see, e.g., Sheehy et al., Proc. Nat'l Acad. Sci. USA 85:8805–8808 (1988); Smith et al., Nature 334:724–726 (1988)), or in the sense orientation relative to its promoter (Napoli et al., Plant Cell 2:279–289 (1990); van der Krol et al., Plant Cell 2:291–299 (1990); U.S. Pat. No. 5,034,323; U.S. Pat. No. 5,231,020; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,283,184), both of which lead to reduced expression of the transgene as well as the endogenous gene.
Posttranscriptional gene silencing has been reported to be accompanied by the accumulation of small (20–25 nucleotide) fragments of antisense RNA, which are reported to be synthesized from an RNA template and represent the specificity and mobility determinants of the process (Hamilton & Baulcombe, Science 286:950–952 (1999)). It has become clear that in a range of organisms the introduction of dsRNA (double-stranded RNA) is an important component leading to gene silencing (Fire et al., Nature 391:806–811 (1998); Timmons & Fire, Nature 395:854 (1998); WO99/32619; Kennerdell & Carthew, Cell 95:1017–1026 (1998); Ngo et al., Proc. Nat'l Acad. Sci. USA 95:14687–14692 (1998); Waterhouse et al., Proc. Nat'l Acad. Sci. USA 95:13959–13964 (1998); WO99/53050; Cogoni & Macino, Nature 399:166–169 (1999); Lohmann et al., Dev. Biol. 214:211–214 (1999); Sanchez-Alvarado & Newmark, Proc. Nat'l Acad. Sci. USA 96:5049–5054 (1999)). In plants the suppressed gene does not need to be an endogenous plant gene, since both reporter transgenes and virus genes are subject to posttranscriptional gene silencing by introduced transgenes (English et al., Plant Cell 8:179–188 (1996); Waterhouse et al, supra). However, in all of the above cases, some sequence similarity is required between the introduced transgene and the gene that is suppressed.
In one example, introduction of a sense transgene consisting of the 5′-UTR ("untranslated region"), coding region and 3′-UTR of an ACC oxidase gene under the control of the CaMV 35S promoter resulted in reduced ACC oxidase enzyme activity in 15% of a population of tomato plants (Hamilton et al., Plant J. 15:737–746 (1998); WO98/53083). However, if inverted and sense repeats of part of the 5′-UTR of this ACC oxidase were included in the construct, suppression was observed in 96% of the plants (Hamilton et al., supra). In addition, suppression of another ACC oxidase gene related in sequence to the coding region of the transgene but not to the 5′-UTR of the transgene was suppressed, showing that double-stranded RNA of any part of the transcript targets the entire RNA transcript for degradation. In addition, high frequency and high level posttranscriptional gene silencing have been found by introduction either of constructs containing inverted repeats of the coding regions of virus or reporter genes, or by crossing together plants expressing the sense and antisense transcripts of the coding region of the target gene (Waterhouse et al., Proc. Nat'l Acad. Sci. USA 95:13959–13964 (1998)). Similar results were obtained by expression of sense and antisense transgenes under the control of different promoters in the same plant (Chuang & Meyerowitz, Proc. Nat'l Acad. Sci USA 97:4985–4990 (2000)).
As gene silencing is a powerful tool for regulation of gene expression, both of endogenous genes and of transgenes, improved methods of gene silencing are desired.

Methods of gene silencing using inverted repeat sequences


The present disclosure discloses a fluorescent dispersed particle gel, a fluorescent gel, a fluorescent modified polyacrylamide composite, and a preparation method and use thereof.

The water injection development has emerged as the primary mode of oil field exploitation in China, because of the fact that reservoir suffers from serious heterogeneity, the long-term water injection development causes growth of dominant channels, the oil fields have sequentially entered a stage of high water-cut, such that the oil recovery efficiency is low, the exploitation benefits are poor, about 2/3 residual oil remains underground and is difficult to extract, the exploitation of the complex and water-drive oil reservoirs such as low-permeability cracks, high temperature and high salinity is especially austere.
It is urgent to efficiently regulate and control the dominant channels to improve the recovery rate of the water-drive development oil fields.
The dispersed particle gel drive control (profile control) technology is a newly developed chemical technology for water control, and the adopted dispersed particle gel takes partially hydrolyzed polyacrylamide functional polymer as a main material, and utilizes a certain crosslinking technology and dispersed technology to form bulk gel on the ground, and the bulk gel is subjected to mechanical shearing and physical rounding to prepare the uniformly dispersed aqueous phase solutions with different particle size distributions. The system has wide particle size distribution (nanometer level), low viscosity, high shear resistance, desirable coalescence-expansion capacity (may be 30 times or more), resistance to a high temperature of 130° C., resistance to salt content of 300,000 mg/L, environmental friendliness and low cost with simple conditions and efficient process for the preparation, and exhibits the characteristics of on-line production and injection.
The dispersed particle gel can perform regulation and control of the dominant seepage channel through direct plugging with single particle, bridging with a plurality of particles, or coalescence and expansion by using the plurality of particles. But the dispersed particle gel injected for a long time is inevitably produced due to the serious influence of the development of the reservoir seepage dominant channels. According to the change characteristics of the underground seepage field and the pressure field of the water injection well group, the injected dispersed particle gel is preferentially produced from the dominant seepage channel which is seriously developed. By analyzing the time of visible fluorescent tracer agent and the concentration of visible fluorescent tracer agent in regard to the concentration of the dispersed particle gel of the produced liquid of the oil well corresponding to the water injection well group, the development condition of the dominant channel of the oil well corresponding to the water injection well group can be judged, thereby provide a basis for the adjustment of the subsequent process of injecting the dispersed particle gel. Given that the injected dispersed particle gel is uniformly dispersed in an aqueous solution and the concentration of produced liquid is low, the production condition of the dispersed particle gel cannot be visually observed. The concentration of the dispersed particle gel can be measured with the starch-cadmium iodide method by reacting bromine with the polymer amide group in the first step reaction of the Hofmann rearrangement to form the N-bromoamide, the compound is hydrolyzed to produce hypobromous acid, which quantitatively oxidizes iodide ions to produce iodine. However, the method requires high quality of the produced liquid, and an effective measurement can only performed when the concentration of the dispersed particle gel in the produced liquid is generally more than or equal to 20 mg/L, thus it is difficult to monitor the development condition of the dominant seepage channel of the water injection well group according to the dispersed particle gel in the produced liquid.
CN102936490A discloses a preparation method of an environment-friendly multi-scale zirconium dispersed particle gel plugging agent. The method is performed according the following steps: (1) adding a zirconium acetate cross-linking agent solution into the non-ionic polyacrylamide solution to obtain a zirconium gelling solution, wherein the mass fraction of the non-ionic polyacrylamide in the gelling solution is 0.6-1.0%, the mass fraction of the zirconium acetate cross-linking agent is 1.0-2.0%, uniformly stirring, and standing still at 30° C. for gelling to obtain the zirconium bulk gel; (2) taking a colloid mill as shearing equipment, adjusting the rotating speed of the colloid mill to be within a range of 100-3,000 rpm, and controlling the shearing distance to be within a range of 10-170 μm, wherein the bulk gel prepared in the step (1) and water are mixed according to the mass ratio of 1-6:1 and the mixture is added into a colloid mill; (3) starting a colloid mill, circularly shearing the zirconium gel for 3-15 min, and uniformly dispersing it to obtain the product.
CN102996106B discloses an online continuous production and injection integrating method and device for dispersed particle gel. The method comprises the following steps: curing a polymer and preparing a bulk gel system; then pumping the prepared gel system into a colloid mill through a flowmeter to prepare a dispersed particle gel; introducing the prepared dispersed particle gel into a buffer tank, and pumping the dispersed particle gel in the buffer tank into a water injection well through a high-pressure plunger pump.
However, the two methods mentioned above mainly relate to a preparation method of the dispersed particle gel, and the dispersed particle gel of the produced liquid in the dominant seepage channel of the water injection well group cannot be effectively analyzed.
Therefore, the research on methods for analyzing the dominant seepage pathway is of great significance.

Fluorescent dispersed particle gel, fluorescent gel and fluorescent modified polyacrylamide composite and preparation method and use thereof

China University of Petroleum (East China)

The Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration and Development (RIPED) of the Petro China Company Limited (Petro China)

China University of Geosciences (Beijing)


A method for creating a highly reflective surface on an electroplated conduction layer. A barrier layer is deposited on a substrate using a self ionized plasma deposition process. The barrier layer has a thickness of no more than about one hundred angstroms. An adhesion layer is deposited on the barrier layer, using a self ionized plasma deposition process. A seed layer is deposited on the adhesion layer, also using a self ionized plasma deposition process, at a bias of no less than about one hundred and fifty watts. The combination of the barrier layer, adhesion layer, and seed layer is at times referred to herein as the barrier seed layer. The conduction layer is electroplated on the seed layer, thereby forming the highly reflective surface on the conduction layer, where the highly reflective surface has a reflectance of greater than about seventy percent.

The invention relates generally to the field of integrated circuit fabrication and, in particular, to improved metallization methods useful in the production of semiconductor devices.
During the manufacture of integrated circuits, such as semiconducting devices, various conductive and insulative layers of material are deposited on a substrate to provide circuits and interconnects between the circuits. As integrated circuits continue to shrink in size and become more powerful, newer and better manufacturing techniques are devised to improve their performance.
It is desirable for the metallization process to provide surfaces that have high reflectivity. Reflectivity is an indication of the surface roughness, or smoothness, as determined by the amount of light reflected from the surface. Surfaces with a low reflectivity are typically rougher than surfaces of the same material that have a high reflectivity. The reflectivity is expressed in terms of a percentage, based on the intensity of the reflected light compared to the intensity of the incident light. A highly reflective surface tends to be easier to planarize using a process such as chemical mechanical polishing.
Metal layers that are electroplated on sputtered barrier and seed layer systems typically exhibit a high degree of surface roughness. This is especially true for copper layers that are electroplated on top of a tantalum nitride, tantalum barrier layer and copper seed layer that are deposited using a self ionized plasma sputter process. High surface roughness of the electroplated copper layers manifests itself as a relatively low reflectance, which condition is also called haze, which in other words is a reflectance that is below about seventy percent.
Self ionized plasma deposited barrier seed layer also typically exhibit a high degree of instability. As the layer self anneals, the mean sheet resistance and sheet resistance uniformity tend to change for several hours or so after deposition. The reflectivity problems and resistivity problems, described above, adversely affect later processes such as the chemical mechanical polishing step, and tends to impact line resistance and electromigration properties of the layer.
There exists a need, therefore, for improved methods of manufacture to enhance the uniformity of the underlying layers and increase the reflectance of the plated layers, while at the same time maintaining adequate barrier layers between the electroplated layer and the substrate.
The above and other needs are met by a method for creating a highly reflective surface on an electroplated conduction layer. A barrier layer is deposited on a substrate using a self ionized plasma deposition process. The barrier layer has a thickness of no more than about one hundred angstroms. An adhesion layer is deposited on the barrier layer, using a self ionized plasma deposition process. A seed layer is deposited on the adhesion layer, also using a self ionized plasma deposition process, at a bias of no less than about one hundred and fifty watts. The combination of the barrier layer, adhesion layer, and seed layer is at times referred to herein as the barrier seed layer. The conduction layer is electroplated on the seed layer, thereby forming the highly reflective surface on the conduction layer, where the highly reflective surface has a reflectance of greater than about seventy percent.
In another aspect the invention provides a method for creating a highly reflective surface on a metal layer system having a substantially constant mean sheet resistance. A barrier layer is deposited on a substrate using a self ionized plasma deposition process. The barrier layer has a thickness of no more than about one hundred angstroms. An adhesion layer is deposited on the barrier layer, using a self ionized plasma deposition process. A seed layer is deposited on the adhesion layer, also using a self ionized plasma deposition process, at a bias of no less than about one hundred and fifty watts. A conduction layer is electroplated on the seed layer, thereby forming the highly reflective surface on the conduction layer, where the highly reflective surface has a reflectance of greater than about seventy percent.
An advantage of the invention is that the electroplated conduction layer deposited on the barrier seed layer formed as described above exhibits a significantly higher reflectance, or in other words much lower surface roughness, than an electroplated conduction layer deposited on a barrier seed layer formed by prior art processes. Furthermore, the self ionized plasma deposited barrier seed layer as described above tends to be more uniform and stable over time with respect to the mean sheet resistance of the layer, which may indicate a lower degree of self annealing. Because the mean sheet resistance of the barrier seed layer is relatively constant over time, the amount of elapsed time between the barrier seed layer deposition and the electroplating step is less critical, and may be substantially shorter. The process is also tends to reduce electromigration within the electroplated conduction layer.

Method for forming barrier and seed layer


A lubricant supported electric motor assembly includes an electric motor module, a shifting and first stage module, and a final drive module sequentially operably interconnected with one another for producing drive torque that is ultimately conducted to a wheel of a vehicle. The electric motor module includes a stator and a rotor defining an internal rotor cavity. The shifting and first stage module is disposed within the internal rotor cavity and includes a first planetary gear reducer assembly and an output gear selectively coupleable to said first planetary gear reducer assembly. The final drive module is disposed adjacent the shifting and first stage module and includes a second planetary gear reducer assembly operably coupled with the output gear. A shifting mechanism establishes selective coupling between the first planetary gear assembly and the output gear to transfer adjustable torque from the shifting and first stage module to the final drive device.

This section provides a general summary of background information and the comments and examples provided in this section are not necessarily prior art to the present disclosure.
Various drivelines in automotive, truck, and certain off-highway applications take power from a central prime mover and distribute the power to the wheels using mechanical devices such as transmissions, transaxles, propeller shafts, and live axles. These configurations work well when the prime mover can be bulky or heavy, such as, for example, various internal combustion engines ("ICE"). However, more attention is being directed towards alternative arrangements of prime movers that provide improved environmental performance, eliminate mechanical driveline components, and result in a lighter-weight vehicle with more space for passengers and payload.
"On wheel", "in-wheel" or "near-wheel" motor configurations (i.e, wheel-end electric motors) are one alternative arrangement for the traditional ICE prime mover that distribute the prime mover function to each or some of the plurality of wheels via one or more electric motors disposed on, within, or proximate to the plurality of wheels. For wheel end drives packaged in a harsh wheel-end environment, robustness to shock and vibration are important. However, to meet these harsh conditions, the wheel-end electric motors often incorporate large, heavy components, and thus become heavy and bulky, resulting in electric motors that require more space than desired. In other words, to meet the requisite shock and vibration requirements, current electric motors often consume valuable space and generally are required to increase the overall mass and weight of the electric motor. Yet, in wheel-end electric drive vehicular powertrain applications, minimal package volume is an important feature and consideration.
In addition to smaller package volume, high torque density (per kg and per liter), higher power density, lower current requirements of power-electronics, lower cost, functional safety/fail safe and greater efficiency are additional important considerations for wheel-end electric motors. Prior art designs address some of these other considerations through the reduction of ohmic losses, improved magnetics, very high-speed motor operation, high diameter motors, and/or improvements in minimized cross-section of support structures. Yet, while these prior art wheel end electric drive configurations may be able to meet some of the requirements for wheel-end electric drive vehicular powertrain applications, the current approaches still do not adequately consider the tradeoffs of motor magnetic and electric structures with elements in the powertrain mechanical system. Accordingly, there remains a continuing need for wheel-end electric drive motors which improve performance during operation in high shock and vibration environments, while providing the lighter and smaller footprint sought, as well as addressing all of the other important considerations and needs when the electric drive motor is implemented in a wheel-end electric drive vehicular powertrain application.

Lubricant supported electric motor assembly for compact, power dense wheel-end applications

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The invention disclosed herein provides a subsonic wind tunnel capable for accurately maintaining a desired Mach number, pressure and temperature for use in aerothermal testing of materials. The invention allows the Mach number to be precisely controlled in the test section of the wind tunnel by employing a restricted outlet acting as a sonic throat for the wind tunnel. In the preferred embodiment, the restricted outlet is constructed to be variable in cross sectional area allowing a range of Mach numbers to be tested. The variable outlet is varied during the operation of the wind tunnel so that an actual trajectory with changing Mach numbers, pressure, and temperature is simulated.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a wind tunnel testing apparatus and methods for use in aerothermal testing, and more particularly to such materials and methods utilizing a low velocity subsonic flow with shear and heat flux conditions equivalent to a hypersonic or supersonic flight path of a test object.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of wind tunnels for simulating flight conditions is a common practice in the aerospace industry. Utilizing wind tunnels, objects are subjected to carefully controlled environmental conditions and monitored to determine how the object behaves. All wind tunnels operate under the same basic principle. A gas is accelerated to a desired velocity with a test object located within the gas stream. The conditions in the wind tunnel are controlled for a variety of parameters such as pressure, temperature, and velocity.
Wind tunnels are typically categorized depending on the speed of the gas flow that they produce. The gas speed is characterized by a Mach number, which is the speed of the gas divided by the speed of sound in the gas. Wind tunnels are generally divided into one of four categories depending on the Mach number of the gas flow: subsonic, transonic, supersonic, and hypersonic. Subsonic wind tunnels are the simplest of the four and are relatively inexpensive. They accelerate a gas to a speed less than that of sound, usually up to Mach 0.6. Increasing in complexity, but still relatively simple are transonic wind tunnels that provide for gas flows near the speed of sound, from Mach 0.6 up to Mach 0.9. Supersonic wind tunnels accelerate the gas beyond the speed of sound, over Mach 1, and hypersonic wind tunnels accelerate the gas to well beyond Mach 2. As the required gas velocity increases, the wind tunnel becomes increasingly more expensive to build and operate.
Traditionally, an object to be tested is subjected to environmental conditions that are similar to the environmental conditions the object will experience in normal operation. In most applications, this requires that the gas in the wind tunnel be heated and accelerated to a significant fraction of the flight speed of the test object. Additionally, to simulate high altitude conditions, the ambient pressure in the wind tunnel may need to be reduced.
Using present technology to test materials for a missile designed to fly at Mach 6 would require the test gas to be heated to 2500 F and the gas to be accelerated to 6 times the speed of sound. This has several drawbacks. First, in order to accelerate the gas to such a high velocity, a converging-diverging nozzle must be used. A converging-diverging nozzle is a nozzle that accelerates the flow of subsonic gas to the speed of sound as it converges at the throat, or minimum diameter of the nozzle, and then, as the nozzle diverges, the gas is further accelerated to supersonic and hypersonic speeds. Such nozzles are expensive to build and a separate nozzle is required for each Mach number of interest. The nozzle must be as large as, if not larger, than the object to be tested. In addition to being expensive to build, massive amounts of gas must be available to supply the high mass flow rates encountered with such a large nozzle. Finally, the nozzles themselves must be kept cool, thus requiring large cooling systems. These limitations restrict the practical size of the nozzle commonly resulting in use of a nozzle that is undersized for a given application.
Aerothermal testing examines how a material responds to conditions of high temperatures and viscous shear forces. In applications that are not shear sensitive, matching the heat flux to that expected under operational flight conditions is sufficient. Testing other materials, such as ablators, requires that both the heat flux and shear force must be simultaneously matched. The parameters that primarily contribute to the heat flux and shear force are the pressure, temperature, and Mach number of the gas to which the test object is subjected. For any given point on a high-speed flight trajectory, an equivalent subsonic flow condition having a different pressure and temperature exists that will provide matching heat flux and shear conditions. The required values of pressure, temperature, and Mach number are calculated using conventional methods such as standard closed-form empirical boundary layer approximations, computational fluid dynamics, or other computational programs such as ATAC available from ITT Aerotherm.
Prior attempts at simulating high-speed aerothermal conditions with a subsonic test section relied on a diffuser from which the test gas exited directly into atmospheric pressure or into a controlled pressure environment. With this arrangement, it was not possible to control the test section pressure or Mach number and hence it was only possible to simulate the heat flux over the test article. Other problems were encountered due to a mismatch between the required mass flow and the scale of the diffuser and resulted in a non-uniform flow condition over the test article.

Low cost wind tunnel for supersonic and hypersonic aerothermal testing

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


A water closet includes a urinal disposed adjacent to a stationary bowl which is movable between a retracted position and a used position in which the urinal is arranged to receive liquid waste. The urinal is pivotally mounted to the water closet to allow the urinal to be pivoted between the retracted position and the used position. In one embodiment, the urinal pivots about a horizontal axis, while in another embodiment the urinal pivots about a vertical axis. In both embodiments, the use position is disposed forwardly of the retracted position with to respect to the user, and when in the retracted position the urinal is disposed in a recess in the tank of the water closet. A plunger-activated valve is mounted on the tank to supply a limited amount of water (such as one pint) to the urinal for flushing when the urinal is returned to the retracted position.

This invention relates to water closets.
Typical water closets (also known as toilets) include a stationary bowl for receiving liquid and solid human waste. A seat is provided over the bowl to allow persons to sit on the water closet during use. The seat is generally pivotally mounted to the water closet to allow it to be repositioned away from the bowl opening during, e.g., male urination.
The waste is flushed from the bowl and removed through a drain using water stored in a tank mounted to the bowl Typically, large amounts of water (such as between 11/2 gallons and 41/2 gallons) are used during flushing.


A paper tray mechanism that is applicable to machines with paper trays, such as printers, scanners, copiers, fax machines, all-in-one multifunction center and the like, comprises an input paper tray, an output paper tray, where both trays are movable and attached to the machine at sides, and an interconnecting mechanism therein between the two trays. When one paper tray is moved by the user, due to the interconnecting mechanism therein between, another paper tray will automatically move simultaneously. Therefore, this invention provides a paper mechanism that only needs one simple and easy step to have both paper trays unfolded/folded and unstashed/stashed so that some spaces are saved for other usage and machine is compact enough to be repacked into the original box.

Even though many uses of papers have been replaced by electronic documentations due to concerns of environmental issues, documents still have to be printed on papers under certain circumstances. With the help of machines such as printer, copier, fax machine, scanner, and all-in-one multifunction center, graphics, symbols, texts, and pictures can be printed onto papers for a better visualization and comprehension of the enclosure. A printer, as an instance, usually contains at least one set of the printing mechanism and one set of the paper transporting mechanism. After a paper enters the printer, the paper transporting mechanism passes the paper to the printing mechanism inside the printer to have graphics, symbols, texts, and pictures printed onto the paper; then the paper transporting mechanism outputs the paper from the printer. In order to ensure the paper which enters and exits the printer is flat, paper trays, either fix or movable, are usually included and attached at the paper entrance and exit ends of the printer. If the movable paper trays are used for both input and output paper trays, paper trays can be either folded along the side of the printer or slid into the printer body to allow more spaces for other usage or to have the printer ready to repack into the original box. Nevertheless, using printers with movable paper trays require more setting up/unset up steps. In order to have the printer ready, the user has to either unfold or pull out the paper trays one by one before papers can be fed into it. On the other hand, after using the printer, the movable paper trays need to be either folded or slid in separately before the printer is compact enough to free up spaces for other usage or repack into the original box.


The present invention relates to polymeric membranes. In particular, the present invention relates to the use of membranes comprising polyvinyl alcohol in electrophoresis.

Any discussion of the prior art throughout the specification should in no way be considered as an admission that such prior art is widely known or forms part of common general knowledge in the field.
Electrophoresis is the motion of dispersed particles relative to a fluid under the influence of an electric field. The combination of electrophoresis with a porous membrane, which allows the passage of macromolecules or cells of particular sizes and/or charges, enables the separation and/or purification of macromolecules or cells.
In electrophoretic separation of macromolecules or cells, a porous size exclusion membrane (separation membrane) is used to put into contact two liquids, between which the transfer of macromolecules or cells takes place under the influence of an electric field generated perpendicular to the separation membrane (Galier & Roux-de Balmann, J. Membrane Sci. 2004, 241: 79-87; Saxena et al., Adv. Colloid Interface Sci. 2009, 145: 1-22). Sample and harvest chambers are formed using two restriction membranes located on either side of a separation membrane (FIG. 1). The restriction membranes have very small pore sizes, which retain aqueous solutions with trans-membrane pressure but conduct current when used with an ionic buffer (Horvath et al., Electrophoresis 1994, 15 (1), 968-971).
Electrophoresis offers several advantages over convention separation techniques. In particular, greater separation resolution compared to conventional pressure-driven membrane filtration (due to the pH dependant electrophoretic mobility of macromolecules) and operation under lower shear conditions compared to chromatographic or ultrafiltration-based fractionation techniques, better preserving protein structure.
One such electrophoresis device is the Gradiflow apparatus, which utilises a polyacrylamide (PAm) separation membrane of controlled pore size to achieve size exclusion of macromolecules (Z. S. Horvath, G. L. Corthals, C. W. Wrigley, J. Margolis, Electrophoresis 1994, 15 (1), 968-971). The pore size of the separation membrane is controlled by varying the composition of the PAm reagent solution during membrane preparation. Feed (upstream) and product (downstream) chambers are formed using two restriction PAm membranes located on either side of a PAm separation membrane (FIG. 1). The restriction membrane has very small pore sizes, which retain aqueous solutions with trans-membrane pressure but conduct current when used with an ionic buffer.
However, PAm membranes have several disadvantages which limit commercial application:                Preparation of the PAm membranes requires stringent oxygen-free conditions, which is capital and labour-intensive to scale-up;        Fabrication of PAm membranes requires use of toxic acrylamide (Am) monomer, which has health and safety implications for manufacture. Additionally, residual Am monomer in the membranes may raise regulatory concern in applications targeting therapeutic administration of fractionated biomacromolecules;        PAm membranes are subject to membrane fouling.
Accordingly, there is a need for alternative membranes suitable for use in electrophoresis to separate macromolecules, wherein the membranes are easy and safe to manufacture, wherein the membranes do not contaminate macromolecules passing through the membrane or coming into contact with the membrane, and wherein the membranes have reduced membrane fouling.
It is an object of the present invention to overcome or ameliorate at least one of the disadvantages of the prior art, or to provide a useful alternative.


Nootropic compositions and methods of providing or using the same are provided herewith. Some preferred compositions include a combination of free amino acids and one or more peptides. Compositions may optionally include one or more of an anti-adherent, a B vitamin, shilajit, a sugar, a fatty acid, ashwaganda, ginseng, or rodiola, among other things.

Some compositions comprising specific amino acids are known for attempting to treat one or more disorders associated with a deficiency of an amino acid. For example, US Patent Application Publication No. 2007/0286909 teaches a composition comprising a homogenous mixture of certain free amino acids in an attempt to treat insomnia, soft tissue injury, and emotional distress. Some compositions comprising specific amino acids are known for attempting to improve recovery of muscle strength and function. For example, US Patent Application Publication No. 2014/0343112 teaches a composition comprising specific concentrations of specific amino acids in an attempt to improve muscle strength and function.
Unfortunately, some known compositions can require that users take numerous doses of numerous formulations or pills for extended periods of time with little or no improvement in treating or preventing certain disorders.
The present disclosure is directed toward one or more improved features identified below, and to devices and systems that address the above-mentioned problems.

Amino acid compositions and methods of manufacturing the compositions