A prosthetic system including a novel connector is provided comprising a first prosthetic member such as a pylon tube having a first male end, an extending member such as a prosthetic bolt having a proximal end and a distal end, the male end of the first prosthetic member having an opening therein for receiving the distal end of the bolt, and a second prosthetic base member have a female contact surface for receiving the male end of the first prosthetic member and for anchoring the proximal end of the bolt. The bolt is generally fixed in position relative to the second prosthetic member while the first prosthetic member is movable relative to the second prosthetic member. The bolt may be tightened to releasably lock the first prosthetic member in a fixed position relative to the second prosthetic member. The male end of the first prosthetic member is preferably convexly hemispherical, and the female contact surface of the second prosthetic member preferrably includes a concavely hemispherical seat for receiving the male end of the first prosthetic member.

Prosthetic limbs must be custom made because of the individual deviation in height and weight of each person and the individual idiosyncratic physiological condition of the person's residual limb including, but not limited to, the length of the residual limb, the possible weight fluctuations thereof and the atrophy of the limb that typically occurs after amputation. Moreover, the residual limb commonly changes shape due to the changes in swelling during the healing process. Because each prosthetic limb must be custom made to accommodate these individual conditions, such limbs cannot be mass produced, which considerably increases their costs.
In fitting a patient with a prosthesis following an amputation of a lower limb, the prosthesis must ensure the prosthesis swings substantially in the sagittal plane during walking by the patient. The body of the patient and his attitude or gait when walking typically require certain adjustments in the relative positioning of various components of the prosthetic device. These adjustments are frequently made in two orthogonal places--the anterior-posterior plane and in the lateral-medial plane. During the initial fitting, the prosthesis typically builds up an artificial limb utilizing adjustable elements in accord with the length and orientation of the patient's body. The final prosthetic device, however, is commonly permanently fixed at the various joints, thus precluding any further or later adjustment. An improper adjustment means that the patient wearing the leg prosthesis binds the leg unnaturally, which results in an unnatural movement pattern during walking. Nevertheless, even with the best initial fitting, the patient, while adapting to the artificial limb, may change his stance or gait to the extent that, for example, flexion of the knee joint no longer occurs in the sagittal plane. This is difficult to accommodate in a permanently bonded artificial limb, particularly when the prosthetic socket, normally molded to fit the patient's residual limb, is fixed to the remaining portion of the prosthesis.
Some adjustable fittings or connectors are available in the prior art to permit separation of the molded socket from the prosthesis to permit incremental rotation of the inferior portion of the prosthesis relative to the socket. Certain prior art devices also include later adjustment facilities to allow for the adjustment of the angular attitude and position relative to the load line of the pylon tube after the prosthesis has been in use for some time. (The load line is an imaginary line extending between the foot joint and the knee along which, ideally, the body weight acts.)
Various prosthetic joints or connectors for an endo-skeletal artificial leg are also well known. Such joints typically comprise an adjustable link designed to interconnect adjoining members of a prosthetic limb, such as a residual limb support, i.e., a prosthetic socket and a thigh member, a knee joint and a lower leg member, or at the ankle for connecting the lower end of a prosthesis to an artificial foot. The upper and/or lower portions of such an artificial joint is commonly provided with some means for adjustment.
One prior art system is the ball-and-socket type that permits appropriate flexion of the shin relative to the foot. Exemplary of such technology is Shorter et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,463,459. Such ball-coupling arrangements, however, are generally of a heavy construction in order to achieve the required strength and stability while in use. The resulting heavy weight, however, is undesirable to the wearer as it causes undue energy expenditure and lack of control of the prosthetic device.
Moreover, various types of angle adjustment units are also known for adjusting the longitudinal axis of a prosthesis. Present modular prosthetic limb components commonly utilize frusto-pyramidal bosses and screws to affect angular adjustments in alignment and speed assembly procedures. Typically, a series of metal adapters and aluminum tubes are connected together to assembly the prosthetic structure. Such adapters employ only a relatively small surface area to interface parts. Consequently, heavy metals such as steel or titanium are typically used in such amounts that increase the weight of the device significantly. Thus, though such devices are manufactured for convenient later adjustability, they are not designed for minimum weight. Furthermore, these angular adjustment units are capable of transmitting only a relatively small momentum and are expensive to design and manufacture.
In any prosthetic device, it is desirable to decrease the weight of the elements in order to decrease the strain placed on the patient. Elimination of any unnecessary parts and the use of lighter materials to replace heavier components such as the connector joint or the pylon tube are particularly desirable objectives.
Some modular componentry, on the other hand, is relatively light in weight but lacks the desired adjustability. In the case of a modular below-knee (BK) prosthesis, the lightest a prosthetic device can be is about 3 pounds. For an above-knee (AK) prosthesis, the minimal weight is about 6 pounds to maintain full adjustability. This factor is significant because a prosthesis is considered "dead weight" (without sensation) to the patient. During the swing phase of gait, the prosthesis will tend to drop away from the patient's residual limb due to its weight. During the heel strike and stances phases, the prosthesis will tend to move upward until pressure equilibrium is attained. This results in considerable "pistoning" (up and down piston-like movements) of the prosthesis due to gravity, especially in the case of poor suspension of the prosthetic device from the residual limb. This pistoning action leads to lack of control and reduced proprioception. Reduction in weight can reduce or eliminate these problems by reducing the moment of inertia required to accelerate and decelerate the prosthesis.
Accordingly, there remains a need for a prosthetic device that is light in weight while sufficiently strong, that is economical to manufacture, and that readily allows for later adjustment of the device without damaging the physical integrity of the prosthetic device.

Ultralight modular quick-adjusting connector


An optical transmitter enables output of high-power light signals while effectively suppressing occurrence of the nonlinear optical phenomena, particularly, SBS, and an optical communication system provided therewith. The optical transmitter comprises a modulation signal source for outputting modulation signals of the frequency not more than 20 kHz, a semiconductor laser source for outputting laser light amplitude-modulated according to the modulation signals from the modulation signal source, an optical amplifier for amplifying the laser light from the semiconductor laser source, and a modulation depth control system for controlling a ratio of an amplitude modulation depth of amplified laser light outputted from the optical amplifier to an amplitude modulation depth of the laser light outputted from the semiconductor laser source. The modulation depth control system controls the amplitude modulation depth of the amplified laser light outputted from the optical amplifier at least in the range of 60% or less of the amplitude modulation depth of the laser light inputted into the optical amplifier.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical transmitter for outputting light signals to an optical transmission line and an optical communication system provided therewith.
2. Related Background Art
The common optical communication systems are provided with an optical transmitter for outputting light signals, an optical transmission line, such as an optical fiber or the like, for transmitting the light signals, and an optical receiver for receiving the light signals having propagated through this optical transmission line. It is generally known as to the optical transmission lines such as the optical fibers that the nonlinear optical, phenomena become easier to occur in the optical transmission line when the power of light signals propagating therethrough is high. It is also known that the nonlinear optical phenomena degrade the signal waveform, so as to tend to cause reception errors at the optical receiver. For this reason, it is an important subject in the field of the optical communication systems to restrain occurrence of the nonlinear optical phenomena and thereby prevent the degradation of the signal waveform.
There are a variety of nonlinear optical phenomena known as those occurring in the optical fibers, one of which is the stimulated Brillouin scattering (which will be referred hereinafter as SBS). For example, Reference 1: Y. K. Park et al., "A 5 Gb/s Repeaterless Transmission System Using Erbium-Doped Fiber Amplifiers," IEEE Photon. Technol. Lett., Vol. 5, No. 1, pp. 79–82 (1993) describes the result of experiments to investigate the relationship between occurrence of SBS and degradation of transmission characteristics.
As techniques for restraining the occurrence of SBS there are, for example, the techniques described in Reference 2: S. K. Korotky et al., "Efficient Phase Modulation Scheme for Suppressing Stimulated Brillouin Scattering," IOOC '95, WD2-1 (1995), Reference 3: D. A. Fishman et al., "Degradations Due to Stimulated Brillouin Scattering in Multigigabit Intensity-Modulated Fiber-Optic System," J. Lightwave Technol., Vol. 11, No. 11, pp. 1721–1728 (1993), Reference 4: T. Sugie, "Transmission Limitations of CPFSK Coherent Lightwave Systems Due to Stimulated Brillouin Scattering in Optical Fiber," J. Lightwave Technol., Vol. 9, No. 9, pp. 1145–1155 (1991), and Reference 5: L. Eskildsen et al., "Stimulated Brillouin scattering suppression with low residual AM using a novel temperature wavelength-dithered DFB laser diode," Electron. Lett., Vol. 32, No. 15, pp. 1387–1388 (1996), and so on.
The SBS suppression techniques described in these References 2 to 5 are fundamentally the technology for suppressing the occurrence of SBS by phase modulation or frequency modulation of laser light emitted from a semiconductor laser as a light source. The phase-modulated or frequency-modulated laser light is outputted as light including signals to the optical transmission line after high-frequency signal components are superimposed thereon. The SBS suppression technique described in above Reference 5 is the technology of adequately reducing amplitude modulation of the laser light emitted from the semiconductor laser source by minimizing amplitude modulation caused during the phase modulation. In the semiconductor laser source, the phase modulation or frequency modulation of the laser light is effected by varying the refractive index of an active layer according to bias or driving current modulated by a modulation signal source, and thus it also brings about unintended amplitude modulation at the same time. Therefore, Reference 5 discloses the semiconductor laser source provided with special structure for suppressing the amplitude modulation caused during the phase modulation.

Optical transmission system for reducing nonlinear optical phenomena using modulation depth control system


A process is provided to functionalize hydrogenated block copolymers of vinyl aromatics and conjugated diolefin in a melt phase. The functionality is predominantly grafted to vinyl aromatic blocks by this process. The process is preferably performed in an extruder.

Block copolymers of conjugated diolefins and vinyl aromatics are useful as elastomeric thermoplastics. The conjugated diolefin segments and the vinyl aromatic segments of these block copolymers are incompatible and phase separate into distinct domains. The continuous domains are rubbery conjugated diolefin domains. When at least some of the conjugated diolefin segments have vinyl aromatic segments at each end, the vinyl aromatic domains will tie together the rubbery segments. At temperatures below the vinyl aromatic domain glass transition temperatures, these copolymers act like vulcanized rubbers. By heating the copolymers to temperatures above the vinyl aromatic domain glass transition temperatures, the copolymers can be melt processed.
The properties of block copolymers can be further improved by hydrogenation of the conjugated diolefin segment. This process greatly increases the ultraviolet, thermal, and oxidative stability of the polymers.
As elastomeric thermoplastics, block copolymers of conjugated diolefin and vinyl aromatics have many excellent qualities, but also have shortcomings. As non-polar polymers, these block copolymers are generally not sufficiently compatible with polar engineering thermoplastics to be useful as tougheners for these engineering thermoplastics. These block copolymers are also easily dissolved in many non-polar solvents. Adhesiveness to polar substrates, and green strength could also be improved. Grafting polar functional groups to the copolymers can help eleviate these shortcomings. U.S. Pat. No. 4,628,072 discloses a method to graft alpha-beta unsaturated carboxylic acids or anhydrides to base block copolymers, and discloses advantages of these functionalized block copolymers as tougheners for various polar engineering thermoplastics. This method of functionalization incorporates the grafted groups mainly into the conjugated diolefin segments. These processes can be performed in a melt phase, and are commonly achieved in an extruder. This results in a very economical process.
Functionalization of the conjugated diolefin segments of the polymer may adversely affect elastomeric properties of the block copolymer. Further, high temperature properties of those block copolymers are generally limited by the glass transition temperature of the vinyl aromatic domains. Grafting some functional groups to vinyl aromatic segments can result in ionic associations within the vinyl aromatic domains which increase the glass transition temperature of the vinyl aromatic domains. This higher glass transition temperature results in significantly improving high temperature mechanical properties. It would therefore be preferable to graft the functional groups within the vinyl aromatic segments.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,976,628 and 4,145,298 teach processes to graft polar functionality to vinyl aromatic segments of block copolymers. The processes taught in these patents involve metalating a base polymer with a lithium alkyl in the presence of tetraalkylethylenediamine in an inert solvent and then further reacting the grafted lithium atom with carbon dioxide to form a carboxylic lithium salt. These references teach metalation in inert solvents, and, if pertinent, subsequent functionalization in the same inert solvents. These processes result in selective functionalization of vinyl aromatic blocks, but are performed in solvents. These solution based processes are undesirable because they are more expensive than melt phase processes.
These prior art processes for metalation and further functionalization of hydrogenated copolymers of vinyl aromatics and conjugated diolefins have been performed in inert solvents. Generally the solutions are 5 to 20% weight by polymer. The solvent must be heated to reaction temperatures and separated from the functionalized polymer when the reactions are finished. This adds considerable time and expense to the process. Accomplishing this process in a melt i.e. solvent free, would therefore be preferred.
Some functionalization chemistries are known to be possible in the melt phase. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,066,726 discloses a process to graft epoxy containing functional monomers onto a base polymer of the type discussed herein. This is a free radical process which requires the use of a free radical initiator. In free radical chemistry, it is known to use different initiators when operating at different temperatures, i.e., some initiators are good only for lower temperatures and others are good for use at higher temperatures.
In contrast, in metalation chemistry, one has to use the same initiators at high temperatures as are known to be useful in a lower temperature solution process because higher temperature stable alternatives are not available. It is well known that metal alkyls are unstable at higher temperatures. For example, "The Pyrolysis of Unsolvated Alkyl Lithium Compounds" by Glaze et al., Journal of Organic Chemistry, August 1966, pages 2643-2645, discusses how such alkyl lithium compounds including sec-butyl lithium, thermally decompose at temperatures in the range of 82.degree.-100.degree. C. Also, "Organometallic Chemistry. XII. The Thermal Decomposition of n-butyl Lithium, A Kinetic Study" by Finigan et al., Journal of Organic Chemistry, December 1965, pages 4138-4144, discusses the thermal decomposition of n-butyl lithium to butene-1 and lithium hydride at temperatures in the range of 100.degree.-150.degree. C. Finally, "The Rate of Ethylene Polymerization Initiated by Various Chelating Tertiary Diamine: n-butyl Lithium Complexes" by Marshall et al., Journal of Applied Polyer Science, Volume 42, pages 533-541 (1991), discusses the composition of butyl lithium in the presence of a diamine at temperatures within these ranges. Thus, it is apparent in the art that these compounds are unstable at these temperatures and that makes it unlikely that metalation, which requires these compounds, could be carried out in the melt because of the higher temperatures required for melt metalation rather than solution metalation.
There are a number of chemistries which have not worked in melt form on copolymers like those discussed herein. For example, neither sulfonation nor epoxidation of this type of polymer will work in the melt. Also, melt metalation to specifically add functionality to the vinyl aromatic hydrocarbon block is possible according to the present invention. However, with chemistries such as carbene and nitrene, it is not possible to specifically add the functionality only to either the aromatic hydrocarbon block or the conjugated diene block.
It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a process to incorporate functional groups onto vinyl aromatic segments of hydrogenated block copolymers, wherein the process is performed in a melt phase.


Embodiments of a system and method for controlling a device charging on a wireless charger are generally described herein. A method may include disabling, in response to determining that the device is currently charging on the wireless charger, haptic feedback at the device, determining whether the device is in a night mode or a day mode, in response to determining that the device is in the night mode and currently charging on the wireless charger, disabling notifications of the device, and enabling, in response to determining that the device is in the day mode, the haptic feedback and the notifications when the device has been removed from the wireless charger.

According to some technical analysts, there will be over 50 billion connected "things" by the year 2020. This will completely transform current infrastructures and will drive new innovations in industry, products, and services. Internet-of-Things (IoT) is term that represents devices and systems that communicate over a network, such as the internet. The devices and systems may include haptic feedback.
Wireless chargers are a growing new technology that allow a device to charge without physically plugging the device into a wall charger. Some IoT devices and systems use wireless charging to recharge.


Disclosed are water soluble compositions of paclitaxel and docetaxel formed by conjugating the paclitaxel or docetaxel to a water soluble polymer such as poly-glutamic acid, poly-aspartic acid or poly-lysine. Also disclosed are methods of using the compositions for treatment of tumors, auto-immune disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis. Other embodiments include the coating of implantable stents for prevention of restenosis.

Paclitaxel, an anti-microtubule agent extracted from the needles and bark of the Pacific yew tree, Taxus brevifolia, has shown a remarkable anti-neoplastic effect in human cancer in Phase I studies and early Phase II and III trials (Horwitz et at, 1993). This has been reported primarily in advanced ovarian and breast cancer. Significant activity has been documented in small-cell and non-small cell lung cancer, head and neck cancers, and in metastatic melanoma. However, a major difficulty in the development of paclitaxel for clinical trial use has been its insolubility in water.
Docetaxel is semisynthetically produced from 10-deacetyl baccatin III, a noncytotoxic precursor extracted from the needles of Taxus baccata and esterified with a chemically synthesized side chain (Cortes and Pazdur, 1995). Various cancer cell lines, including breast, lung, ovarian, and colorectal cancers and melanomas have been shown to be responsive to docetaxel. In clinical trials, docetaxel has been used to achieve complete or partial responses in breast, ovarian, head and neck cancers, and malignant melanoma.
Paclitaxel is typically formulated as a concentrated solution containing paclitaxel, 6 mg per milliliter of Cremophor EL (polyoxyethylated castor oil) and dehydrated alcohol (50% v/v) and must be further diluted before administration (Goldspiel, 1994). Paclitaxel (Taxol™) has shown significant activity in human cancers, including breast, ovarian, non-small cell lung, and head and neck cancers (Rowinsky and Donehower, 1995). It has also shown significant activity in patients with advanced breast cancer who had been treated with multiple chemotherapeutic agents (Foa et al., 1994). As with most chemotherapeutic agents, however, the maximum tolerated dose of paclitaxel is limited by toxicity. In humans, paclitaxel's major toxic effect at doses of 100–250 mg/m2 is granulocytopenia (Holmes et al., 1995); symptomatic peripheral neuropathy is its principal nonhematologic toxicity (Rowinsky et al., 1993).
The amount of Cremophor EL necessary to deliver the required doses of paclitaxel is significantly higher than that administered with any other drug that is formulated in Cremophor. Several toxic effects have been attributed to Cremophor, including vasodilatation, dyspnea, and hypotension. This vehicle has also been shown to cause serious hypersensitivity in laboratory animals and humans (Weiss et al., 1990). In fact, the maximum dose of paclitaxel that can be administered to mice by i.v. bolus injection is dictated by the acute lethal toxicity of the Cremophor vehicle (Eiseman et al., 1994). In addition, Cremophor EL, a surfactant, is known to leach phthalate plasticizers such as di(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate (DEHP) from the polyvinylchloride bags and intravenous administration tubing. DEHP is known to cause hepatotoxicity in animals and is carcinogenic in rodents. This preparation of paclitaxel is also shown to form particulate matter over time and thus filtration is necessary during administration (Goldspiel, 1994). Therefore, special provisions are necessary for the preparation and administration of paclitaxel solutions to ensure safe drug delivery to patients, and these provisions inevitably lead to higher costs.
Prior attempts to obtain water soluble paclitaxel have included the preparation of prodrugs of paclitaxel by placing solubilizing moieties such as succinate, sulfonic acid, amino acids, and phosphate derivatives at the 2′-hydroxyl group or at the 7-hydroxyl position (Deutsch et al., 1989; Mathew et al., Zhao and Kingston, 1991,1992; Nicolaou et al., 1993; Vyas et al., 1995, Rose et al., 1997). While some of these prodrugs possess adequate aqueous solubility, few have antitumor activity comparable to that of the parent drug (Deutsch et al., 1989; Mathew et al., 1992; Rose et al., 1997). Several of these derivatives are not suitable for i.v. injection because of their instability in aqueous solution at neutral pH. For example, Deutsch et al. (1989) report a 2′-succinate derivative of paclitaxel, but water solubility of the sodium salt is only about 0.1% and the triethanolamine and N-methylglucamine salts were soluble at only about 1%. In addition, amino acid esters were reported to be unstable. Similar results were reported by Mathew et al. (1992).
Recently, Nicolaou et al. (1993) reported the synthesis and in vitro biological evaluation of a novel type of prodrug termed "protaxols". These compounds possess greater aqueous solubility and are converted to paclitaxel as the active drug through an intramolecular hydrolysis mechanism. However, no in vivo data on the antitumor activity of protaxols are yet available. Greenwald et al. reported the synthesis of highly water-soluble 2′ and 7-polyethylene glycol esters of paclitaxel (Greenwald et al., 1994). Using the strategy of polymer linkage, others have developed water-soluble polyethylene glycol (PEG)-conjugated paclitaxel (Li et al., 1996; Greenwald et al., 1996). Although these conjugates have excellent water solubility, their therapeutic efficacies are not better than free paclitaxel. Moreover, PEG has only two reactive functional groups at each end of its polymer chain, which effectively limit the amount of paclitaxel that PEG could carry (U.S. Pat. No. 5,362,831).
Other attempts to solve these problems have involved microencapsulation of paclitaxel in both liposomes and nanospheres (Bartoni and Boitard, 1990). The liposome formulation was reported to be as effective as free paclitaxel, however only liposome formulations containing less than 2% paclitaxel were physically stable (Sharma and Straubinger, 1994). Unfortunately, the nanosphere formulation proved to be toxic. There is still a need therefore for a water soluble paclitaxel formulation that can deliver effective amounts of paclitaxel and docetaxel without the disadvantages caused by the insolubility of the drug.
Another obstacle to the widespread use of paclitaxel is the limited resources from which paclitaxel is produced, causing paclitaxel therapy to be expensive. A course of treatment may cost several thousand dollars, for example. There is the added disadvantage that not all tumors respond to paclitaxel therapy, and this may be due to the paclitaxel not getting into the tumor. There is an immediate need, therefore, for effective formulations of paclitaxel and related drugs that are water soluble with long serum half lives for treatment of tumors, autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, as well as for the prevention of restenosis of vessels subject to traumas such as angioplasty and stenting.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A second phoneme is generated in consideration of a phonemic context with respect to a first phoneme as a search target. Phonemic piece data corresponding to the second phoneme is searched out from a database. A third phoneme is generated by changing the phonemic context on the basis of the search result, and phonemic piece data corresponding to the third phoneme is re-searched out from the database. The search or re-search result is registered in a table in correspondence with the second or third phoneme.

The present invention relates to a speech synthesis apparatus, which has a database for managing phonemic piece data and performs speech synthesis by using the phonemic piece data managed by the database, a control method for the apparatus, and a computer-readable memory.
As a conventional speech synthesis method, a synthesis method based on a waveform concatenation scheme is available. In the waveform concatenation synthesis method, the prosody is changed by the pitch synchronous waveform overlap adding method of pasting waveform element pieces corresponding to one or more pitches at desired pitch intervals. The waveform concatenation synthesis method can obtain more natural synthetic speech than a synthesis method based on a parametric scheme, but suffers the problem of a narrow allowable range with respect to changes in prosody.
Under the circumstances, attempts are made to improve the speech quality by preparing various speech data and properly selecting and using them. As a criterion for selection of speech data, information such as phonemic context (a phoneme to be synthesized or a few phonemes on two sides of the target phoneme) or fundamental frequency F0 is used.
The following problems are, however, posed in the above conventional speech synthesis method.
If, for example, there is no data that satisfies a phonemic context as a synthesis target, a search for necessary speech data is made again by relaxing the condition associated with the phonemic context. The execution of this re-search in speech synthesis complicates the processing, resulting in an increase in processing time. In addition, when the fundamental frequency F0 is to be used as a criterion for selection of speech data, each speech data must be evaluated in association with the fundamental frequency F0 to obtain speech data that matches most with the fundamental frequency F0 of the speech data to be synthesized.

Speech synthesis apparatus, control method therefor and computer-readable memory


A compact lens system includes a first positive lens element (1) on the object side and a second negative lens element (2) on the image side. The first positive lens element is a meniscus lens having a convex surface (11) facing the object side. The second negative lens element is also a meniscus lens having a convex surface (12) facing the image side. Both of the first and second lens elements are aspheric lenses each having at least one aspheric surface. The first and second lens elements are made of different plastic materials and are symmetrically arranged with respect to each other along the optical axis.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a lens system, and particularly relates to a compact lens system with low cost and high performance for use in a compact photographic device such as a camera phone and a compact digital camera.
2. Description of Prior Art
Portable photographic devices, such as camera phones, compact digital cameras and personal digital assistances (PDAs), generally require its lens to be compact and low cost while maintaining a high level of optical performance. Due to the limited space, photographing lenses for the portable photographic devices have dimensions much smaller than those for common photographic cameras and video cameras. Accordingly, camera phones and compact digital cameras generally employ fixed focal length lenses.
As there is a large selection of glass available with different indices of refraction and dispersion properties, glass is generally used for photographing lenses. Glass lenses are manufactured by a grinding and polishing process, which is more expensive and hard to duplicate in mass manufacturing compared to plastic lenses. This process also makes it difficult and expensive to fabricate a lens with any other shape than spherical or planar. Further, spherical surface lenses have difficulty in correcting distortion in ultra-wide angle lenses or coma in large-aperture lenses brought about by spherical aberration. Accordingly, to address this problem, an aspheric lens is used. The aspheric lens may be a plastic lens formed by plastic molding or a glass lens formed by glass molding.
In the current market, most lens systems for compact photographic devices such as camera phones are generally composed of two plastic lens elements, or of one glass lens element and two plastic lens elements (referring to U.S. Pat. No. 6,441,971). The two plastic lens elements in those conventional lens systems are generally configured as positive lens elements that are asymmetrically arranged. This renders the lens system more sensitive to temperature variations and requires a high level of precision, which limits its extensive application. Also, aberrations cannot be effectively corrected, which significantly degrades the optical performance of the lens system. In addition, the two plastic lens elements are generally made of the same plastic material or of different plastic materials with similar refractive indices, which makes the correction of field curvature difficult. Further, the aspheric lens element employed in those conventional lens systems generally has a steep surface topography with varying radius of curvature, which makes the manufacture of the aspheric lens element difficult.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,031,670 discloses a lens system composed of two plastic lens elements, one of which is a negative meniscus lens element on the object side and the other is a positive biconvex lens element on the image side. Both of the two plastic lens elements are formed as aspheric lenses for aberration correction. However, the two aspheric lens elements are asymmetrically arranged. As a result, distortions of the optical system cannot be eliminated completely. In addition, the two plastic lens elements are made of the same material having the same refractive indices. Restriction to only one lens material makes it difficult to reduce the Petzval sum and thus image field curvature. The Petzval sum is the sum when the inverse of the product of the index of refraction and focal length of each lens element is added to the total number of lens elements making up the lens system.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,212,517 discloses a lens system of a modified Gauss type having the aperture stop between lens elements. This symmetry design of the lens elements allows well-balanced correction of all types of aberrations. However, this lens system is composed of six lenses. Consequently, the overall length of this lens system is increased, which deviates from the current trend for compactness. Various symmetry arrangements of lens elements are also disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,364,643; 4,390,252; 4,396,255; 4,426,137; 4,443,070 and 4,448,497. However, these lens systems as disclosed also have the same problem of a large number of lens elements, and thus are not suitable for use in compact photographic devices.
Accordingly, a compact lens system for use in a compact photographic device is desired to overcome the above disadvantages present in the prior art.


A handheld tool, or a pair of such tools, such as for use in removing/installing a bolt-type clamping ring on a container barrel/drum, where the clamping ring has a pair of clamping ends each with a throughbore. Each tool has an elongated handle and an elongated lever arm transversely connected to one end of the handle. The lever arm is capable of being inserted into the throughbore of a selected clamping end and leveraged with the handle to exert a first moment on the selected clamping end. Each tool also has a second lever arm, such as a socket with an open-ended slot, which is suspended alongside the first lever arm. The second lever arm is capable of engaging the selected clamping end and being leveraged with the handle to exert a second moment which is orthogonal to the first moment. In this manner, the first and second moments operate to hold the selected clamping end fixed relative to the tool so that the selected clamping end may be controlled with the handle. The pair of clamping ends may also be simultaneously and independently controlled with the use of two handles/tools so as to contort the geometry of the drum clamping ring and enable its removal/installation.

Container drums and barrels are commonly known and widely used, such as for shipping, storage, etc. They typically have a rigid cylindrical construction, such as steel, and come in a variety of sizes, such as for example 10 gallon to 55 gallon drums. Open headed drums include a top cover/lid which is cable of being secured to the upper rim of the drum using a drum clamping ring, also typically constructed from a high strength material, such as steel. One commonly used type of drum clamping ring is a bolt-type drum clamping ring shown at reference character 30 in FIGS. 3, 4, and 8 having an annular band 31 with a preferably arcuate cross-section, which terminates at a pair of adjacent clamping ends 32 and 33. As shown in FIG. 3, each clamping end 32, 33 is a lug or flange extending from the annular band 31 and having respective throughbores 34, 35. The throughbores are alignable with each other, preferably along an axis tangential to the annular band, for receiving a clamping bolt, such as 52 shown in FIG. 8. The clamping bolt 52, together with a nut 53, is used to draw the clamping ends 32, 33 together for constricting the annular band 31 and thereby securing the drum cover 36 on the drum 50. When removing the drum clamping ring from a drum, the clamping bolt is first released and removed from the throughbores of the clamping ends. As can be seen between FIGS. 8 and 9, the removal of the clamping bolt typically increases the gap width of the drum clamping ring, such as from 70 in FIG. 8, to 70′ in FIG. 9. However, the increase in gap width alone is typically insufficient to then enable removal of the clamping ring.
Therefore, once the clamping bolt is removed, mechanical assistance is typically required to manually remove the bolt-type drum clamping ring from the drum. One common practice has been to use an elongated bar, such as the long shank of a screwdriver, by inserting the bar through one of the throughbores and leveraging the bar to manipulate/control the clamping end. While this makeshift practice provides a crude solution for assisting in the removal or installation of a drum clamping ring, it has been known to be awkward and clumsy with an increased risk of injury to a user and damage to the clamping ring. Screwdriver shanks, for example, are typically much narrower than the throughbore diameters such as to produce play and cause slippage and possible injury to a user. There is therefore a need for a simple tool to assist in the removal and/or installation of bolt-type drum clamping rings on container drums and barrels safely and easily with little risk of injury to a user.

The Regents of the University of California


The invention relates to a method for monitoring a state of wear of a damping device within a system. The system includes a vehicle seat having a first portion which is movably mounted in at least one direction with respect to a second portion, a damping device for damping oscillations is arranged between the first portion and the second portion, and a first sensor that determines an instantaneous relative position of the first portion with respect to the second portion. A displacement function in relation to the relative position of the first portion with respect to the second portion is defined as a function of time, and a current value of the displacement function is determined at selected intervals and summed. The sum is compared with a predetermined first limit.

Vehicle seats generally have portions which are mounted so as to oscillate relative to one another. For example, a vertical oscillation arrangement is arranged, according to which a first portion designed as an upper portion of the vehicle seat is oscillatory mounted by means of a scissor frame so as to oscillate with respect to a second portion designed as a lower portion of the vehicle seat. A horizontal oscillation arrangement is also possible. However, the present invention is explained using a vertical oscillation arrangement.
In addition to the scissor frame, a spring, for example in the form of a pneumatic, hydraulic and/or mechanical spring, and/or a damping device, for example in the form of a hydraulic damper, is arranged between the first and the second portion, for example.
For example, a first part of the damping device is attached to the first portion of the vehicle seat and a second part of the damping device is attached to the second portion of the vehicle seat, wherein the first part and the second part of the damping device are movably arranged relative to one another. For example, the first part of the damping device in the form of a piston is arranged on the upper portion of the vehicle seat and the second part of the damping device in the form of a cylinder on the lower portion of the vehicle seat. A movement of the upper part with respect to the lower portion results in an up and down movement of the scissor frame. At the same time, the piston of the damping device is moved into and out of the cylinder of the damping device. The energy of this movement is converted into heat in the damping device.
However, the damping device in particular wears out over time, which is associated with a loss of damping performance. It is known from prior art to replace the damping device with a new damping device after a certain predetermined service life, but without taking into account the actual load of the damping device.

Method for monitoring a state of wear of a damping device


When forming fins and heat transfer tubes by aluminum material, a pressure loss in the tube does not increase and a heat exchanger can be provided having heat transfer performance equal to or higher than a copper tube. The heat exchanger includes fins made of an aluminum material having a low deformation resistance and heat transfer tubes made of an aluminum material having a higher deformation resistance than the aluminum material forming the fins, and on whose internal surface the groove is provided to penetrate the fin to be fixed. It is also arranged that the tube axial direction (a) of the inner surface of the heat transfer tube and the direction (b) of the groove provided on the internal surface of the heat transfer tube are substantially parallel. In this case, the groove direction (b) forms an angle of 0 degrees to 2 degrees with respect to the tube axial direction (a) of the inner surface of the heat transfer tube. The depth of the groove of the heat transfer tube after tube expansion is 0.2 mm to 0.3 mm, and the top width of the ridge top portion is 0.08 mm to 0.18 mm. Further, the number of grooves of the heat transfer tube 20 is 40 to 60, and an apex angle α is 5 degrees to 20 degrees.

Conventionally, in a heat exchanger of an air conditioner or the like, internally grooved heat transfer tubes are generally arranged at a regular interval and a refrigerant flows therein. A tube axial direction and groove extending direction on the tube inner face form a certain angle (7°-30°), multiple grooves are processed to form ridges, and it is arranged that a fluid flowing in the tube is subjected to a phase transition (condensation and evaporation). In such a phase transition, the performance of the heat transfer tube has been improved by increasing a surface area in the tube, a fluid agitating effect by internal grooves, a liquid membrane retention effect between grooves by a capillary effect of the grooves, and the like (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

Heat exchanger and air conditioner using the same


A RAID control apparatus comprises at least a cache memory; an update information management table for storing update information; an update information storage unit for storing, in the update information management table, update information by detecting a data update; a reference value generation unit for generating a reference value expressing a load of a write back processing by using a Small Write method and a Read & Bandwidth Write method based on the update information; a write method determination unit for determining a write method according to the reference value and a write unit for carrying out a write processing, in order to provide a write back method for a RAID apparatus capable of improving a processing speed at the time of updating even in the case of including the processing of updating a part of data stripes.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a write back method for a RAID control system in a disk array subsystem.
2. Description of the Related Art
RAID (redundant array of independent/inexpensive disk drives) apparatuses are widely used as means for storing a very large amount of data handled by a computer system. A RAID 5 especially, is widely utilized for reasons such as a high cost performance ratio, a simple configuration accomplishing protection of data, et cetera.
Since the RAID 5 maintains a redundancy of data by using a parity disk, the data (i.e., parity data) therein needs to be updated when performing a write back processing.
Here, the write back processing means the processing of writing, to the disk, information no longer needed by a cache memory when writing new information into a cache memory within a RAID control apparatus of a disk.
FIG. 1 exemplifies data within a cache memory comprised by a RAID control apparatus in the case of updating all data stripes at the time of a write back processing.
An update data sent from a host computer, et cetera, to the RAID control apparatus is subjected to a striping (simply "striped" hereinafter) thereby. And, if data as the target of updating exists in a cache memory, the aforementioned data will be updated by the update data.
Here, one piece of data striped by a RAID control apparatus is called a "data stripe" in the following description.
The data 1 shown by FIG. 1 indicates the data of a RAID 5 comprising four disks (i.e., disks #0 through #3 shown by FIG. 1), with the data being striped across #0 through #3.
And the data 1 shown by FIG. 1 indicates the case of all the data stripes #0 through #2 being update data.
Since all the updating data stripes (i.e., data stripes #0 through #2) are in the cache memory, parity data (i.e., a data stripe #3) can be generated without performing a processing of reading from the disks #0 through #3. Then the generated data 1 is stored in the disks #0 through #3 (NB: the writing method is called a "Bandwidth Write method").
FIG. 2 exemplifies data within a cache memory comprised by a RAID control apparatus in the case of updating a part of data stripes at the time of a write back processing.
Data 2 shown by FIG. 2, likewise FIG. 1, shows data of RAID 5 comprising four disks (i.e., disks #0 through #3 shown by FIG. 2), with the data being striped in #0 through #3.
And the data 2 shown by FIG. 2 indicates the case of only the data stripes #0 and #1 being update data.
In this case, since a part of data of the stripes is in the cache memory, it is necessary to generate parity data by reading pre-update data from the disks #0, #1 and #3 and obtaining an exclusive logical sum (simply called "XOR" hereinafter) with the update data (i.e., the data stripes #0 and #1), followed by storing the update data and the generated parity data in the disks #0, #1 and #3, respectively (this storing (i.e., writing) method is called a "Small Write method").
As described above, at the time of a data update processing under the RAID 5, in particular updating a part of the update data (i.e., a write processing to a disk), it is necessary to read once the pre-update data and parity data from the disks and generate new parity data (called "update parity" hereinafter) corresponding to the update data, followed by writing the update parity as well as the update data to the disk.
That is, updating a part of data stripes has faced the problem of needing an extra process, such as reading a pre-update data from the disk, et cetera, as compared to the case of updating all the data stripes, thus resulting in slowing down the processing speed at the time of updating.
In the meantime, a laid-open Japanese patent application publication No. 07-311659 has disclosed a disk array apparatus for managing update data after a write processing by a host computer by storing the update data in a cache memory, and also managing a pre-updated data by using a cache management table if the pre-updated data is left in the cache memory in order to shorten the time required for a write back processing, thereby improving a throughput.


The invention relates to an arrangement for storage, which includes a warehouse rack containing shelves (14) located on columns, a handling machine movable to the designated shelf of the warehouse rack, and a handling device capable of placing goods or a storing device (30) for storing goods on the shelves (14) or taking them down from the shelves (14) and moving them to a designated location. A passive lifting device (240) is associated with the warehouse rack (10) and the handling machine (100) is formed as a locomotive handling machine capable of moving on a designated path, and the handling device (130) is located on the handling machine (100), and on the handling machine (100), there is an active lifting device (200), which can be coupled with the passive lifting device (240) and forward the handling machine (100) to the designated shelf in cooperation with the passive lifting device (240).

1. FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The object of the intervention is an arrangement for storage, as well as a warehouse rack and handling machine particularly for such arrangement.
2. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART
Currently, various types of arrangements are in use for storage, which arrangements comprise shelf systems made of warehouse racks, and machines packing goods from and to such shelf systems. According to the simplest version, a shelf system includes shelves on columns, where the columns and shelves define compartments. Goods are packed on the shelves usually in boxes or on pallets by means of a handling machine operating in aisles between warehouse racks.
Apart from manual work, the simplest case is that the handling machine is a forklift truck, by means of which the operator lifts the lift-fork to the desired height in front of the desired compartment and uses it to lift out from the compartment the box or pallet together with the goods in or on it, then lowers the lift-fork and forwards the goods to the desired location.
Furthermore, automatic storing systems are known, where computer controllable handling machines are installed in front of warehouse racks, which machines are capable of moving sideways, as well as upwards and downwards, and which lifts out from or places into the desired compartment the goods determined by the control, and in case of lifting them out, it puts down the out-lifted goods to a designated location.
A deficiency of the known systems is that only one handling machine can carry out fully efficient work in front of one warehouse rack only because they cannot bypass one another, and apart from a few exceptions, the operation of two handling machines at the same time between warehouse racks standing opposite each other is not feasible due to the usually small distance between them.
Another deficiency of the known systems is that the higher the warehouse, the more difficult it is to create an appropriate handling machine, moreover, to the end of quick service, in larger warehouses, handling machines have to be designed to be highly efficient and to operate fast, otherwise the average time of handling goods from the desired location to the desired compartment or from the desired compartment to the desired location is unacceptably long, which cannot be allowed in warehouses with great traffic and operating with many kinds of goods.
Due to the above reason, it is desired to the develop an arrangement for handling which allows that one rack is serviced by multiple handling machines at the same time, preferably in such a manner that they interfere with the operation of each other as little as possible.

Arrangement for storage, warehouse rack and handling machine particularly for such an arrangement

Abstract: The invention relates also to a locomotive handling machine (100) provided with an active lifting device (200), and to a warehouse rack (10) mounted with a passive lifting device (240).


Disclosed is a method of forming a nitride film on an object to be processed (“processed object”). The method includes a step (step (a)) of exposing the processed object to dichlorosilane which is a precursor gas and a step (step (b)) of exposing the processed object to plasma of a processing gas which includes an ammonia gas and a hydrogen gas after step (a). Alternatively, step (a) and step (b) may be alternately repeated and a step of removing dichlorosilane (step (c)) may be further provided between step (a) and step (b).

When a device such as a semiconductor device is manufactured, a film is formed on an object to be processed ("processed object"). As a method of forming a film, a plasma enhanced-atomic layer deposition ("PE-ALD") method has attracted attention in recent years. For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2006-278497 discloses a PE-ALD method.
The PE-ALD method disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2006-278497 forms a nitride film. Specifically, the PE-ALD method disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2006-278497 includes supplying dichlorosilane into a reaction tube in which a wafer is accommodated (step 1), supplying hydrogen radicals into the reaction tube (step 2), and then supplying ammonia radicals into the reaction tube (step 3). In the PE-ALD method, step 1, step 2, and step 3 are sequentially performed at each of plural cycles. According to the PE-ALD method, a dichlorosilane based reactant is adsorbed onto the wafer in step 1 and hydrogen is substituted for chlorine included in the reactant in step 2 and a nitriding treatment is performed in step S3. Therefore, a nitride film of high quality, that is, a nitride film with a small wet etching rate ratio ("WERR") is small, may be formed. In the meantime, the WERR is a scale of quality of a film to be evaluated and a ratio of a wet etching rate of a film to be evaluated by hydrofluoric acid with respect to a wet etching rate of a thermally oxidized film by hydrofluoric acid. When a film to be evaluated has a small WERR, the film is evaluated as a film of high quality.

Method for forming nitride film using plasma process


An apparatus for prefetching data for a processor is presented. The apparatus may include a memory, a first counter, a second counter, and a control circuit. The memory may include a table with at least one entry in which the at least one entry may include an expected address of a next memory access and a next address from which to fetch data, wherein the next address is an offset value different from the expected address. The at least one entry may also include a maximum limit for the offset value. The first counter may increment responsive to an address of a memory access matching the expected address. The second counter may increment responsive to the address of the memory access resulting in a cache miss. The control circuitry may be configured to increment the maximum value of the offset value dependent upon a value of the second counter.

1. Field of the Invention
This disclosure relates to processors and, more particularly, to implementation of data prefetch systems.
2. Description of the Related Art
To improve execution performance, a processor may include one or more levels of cache memories (commonly referred to as "caches"). A cache may be used to store frequently accessed instructions and/or memory data, and improve performance by reducing the time for the processor to retrieve these instructions and data. A processor may include a fast low/first-level (L1) cache backed by a larger, slower second-level (L2) cache. Some processors may include a high/third-level (L3) cache for further performance improvement.
Some processors may include a prefetch buffer for a given cache to further improve memory access times. A prefetch buffer for the given cache may read data from a higher level cache or a system memory in anticipation of an upcoming request from the cache, i.e., prefetch data before the processor requests the data. A prefetch buffer may learn memory access patterns corresponding to one of more software processes running in the processor. Using these patterns, the prefetch buffer may then read data before the cache request it.
Prefetch buffers may have a fixed limit in terms of how many bytes of data may be prefetched (i.e., the look-ahead distance). For some software processes, the fixed limit may be too small, such that the data is read into the processor faster than the prefetch buffer can read it, which may result in the processor pausing execution to wait for the data. For other processes, if the fixed limit is too large, older data in the cache may be discarded to make room for the new data being fetched, which may result in data in active use by the processor being deleted too early or the prefetched data being stale (i.e., the original data is modified by another process or functional block in the system after being fetched).
Determining a look-ahead distance that adequately supports processes that consume data rapidly and processes that consume data slowly may be a difficult design trade-off. A system is desired in which a prefetch buffer system may support various software processes when the processes have various data usage rates.

Dynamically adjusting the hardware stream prefetcher prefetch ahead distance


A device is provided to harvest bone grafts. The device generally consists of two pieces: an auger-type drill bit and a guide. The guide may have arms, etc., to keep the guide in place along a bone, and also may have a pivotable drill guide for the drill bit to be inserted. The auger drill bit may include a shoulder that acts as a depth guide to prevent the drill from extending too deep into bone. The device may be used to make multiple passes through a bone using only one drill hole. A method for harvesting bone graft is also provided.

1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a drill and method for extracting bone grafts. More specifically, the present invention relates to removing bone graft material from a patient using a combination drill bit and guide.
2. State of the Art
In the course of a variety of surgeries, it becomes necessary to graft bone from one part of the body to another in an effort to strengthen bones that have had operations. For example, bone grafting is very common in orthopedic surgery, neuro/spine surgery, and plastic surgery. Several bone graft products are commercially available and usually depend on bone harvested from cadaver donors (allograft bone). However, processing of cadaver bone may have deleterious effects on the biological properties of the bone products. Allografts are only osteoconductive, and they involve considerable cost, pose the risk of disease transmission, and are objectionable to certain religious groups.
Autologous bone grafts are harvested directly from the patient and are considered to be the "gold standard," because they are inherently biocompatible, osteoconductive, osteoinductive, and osteogenic. Harvesting autologous bone is usually carried out by taking bone from a part of the patient's body other than the surgical site. This results in additional surgical time and the additional surgical harvest has its own attendant risk of complications, such as donor site pain and morbidity. The major disadvantage of autograft bone is that it requires harvesting of bone from a separate donor site which prolongs surgical time and creates donor site morbidity. Many patients complain that the pain associated with the donor site is greater than that of the primary operative site. The iliac crest of the pelvis is a common donor site, and one current method for harvesting bone from the iliac crest includes using a trephine device to take a core sample of bone.
It is advantageous to have a technique for harvesting bone from the iliac crest of the pelvis (a very common donor site) in a way that limits donor site pain, speeds the harvesting process, and provides adequate bone volume for a variety of surgical needs.

Bone graft harvesting device and method of use


A method and an arrangement are provided for updating a first block of digital data (601) by performing a number of update operations which must either all succeed together or all fail together. The number of update operations is greater than or equal to one. A first identifier (TID) is activated (701) which is common to all those update operations that concern the first block of data and must either all succeed together or all fail together. All those update operations are performed (703) that concern the first block of data and must either all succeed together or all fail together. The updated first block of digital data is stored (707) into a logical flash memory device (1101) together with a value that associates the updated first block of data with the first identifier. The first identifier is deactivated (710).

The invention concerns generally the technology of handling updates which may consist of several lower-level operations which must all succeed or all fail in a consistent manner. Especially the invention concerns the technology of utilizing a memory address translation layer when performing transactions.
The concept of performing a transaction is widely used in the field of maintaining file systems where integrity of data and obedience to certain business rules are of primary concern. As an example we may consider a banking application where an accounts file lists all accounts with their currently valid balance, and a separate account entries file lists all performed account entries. Let us assume that a new record has been made to the account entries file, describing the payment of a certain sum of money to or from a certain account. However, a corresponding update operation to the accounts file was not performed. The result is a violation of data integrity in the file system: the balance of a certain account read from the accounts file is not the same as the one obtained by going through the records in the account entries file. This kind of conflict is usually known as a transaction consistency violation. Another example of a dangerous situation is a so-called business rule violation, which means that a certain application-specific rule is violated: for example an entry was made to an account that should have already been closed for approval.
The concept of transaction means that all such lower-level operations that cause changes to the data in a file system are grouped together to form an entity where all operations must either succeed together or fail together. The lower-level operations are also known as update operations. A transaction is usually divided into three successive phases, namely starting a transaction, updating data, and committing the transaction. If a fatal system failure (e.g. a system reset) occurs, either all update operations are performed or no changes are made to the data, depending on whether the commit phase had been reached or not. A fatal system failure during an already started commit phase causes it to be suspended but finished at the next start-up of the system. If the fatal system failure occurred before a transaction reached its commit phase, all traces of that transaction are automatically deleted during the next start-up.
The transaction mechanism usually supports a reverse operation known as the rollback transaction, which means canceling all update operations that were made at the updating phase instead of making them permanent through committing.
FIG. 1 illustrates a simple, conventional file system which can be used to perform transactions. A control unit 101 manages both a log file 102 and a database file 103. The control unit 101 writes the operations that constitute a transaction first into the log file 102 according to arrow 104. After all operations have been successfully written into the log file 102, the control unit 101 rewrites them, i.e. makes the corresponding changes, to the database file 103. This operation may be seen as transferring the changes from the log file 102 to the database file 103 according to arrow 105.
If we compare the log file arrangement of FIG. 1 to a straightforward non-transaction oriented updating of data in the database file 103, we note that the former doubles the amount of file write operations and introduces a file read operation which is not present in the latter. It is clear that such loading of the file system must have certain harmful effects especially in large-scale systems like banking applications where the daily number of transactions is easily in the order of hundreds of thousands or millions.

Method and arrangement for performing atomic updates using a logical flash memory device


A coating formulation for forming a conductive coating film on a surface of a collector for constructing an electrode plate for an electricity storage device is provided. The coating formulation contains (A) a polymeric acid, (B) a vinyl carboxylate copolymer represented by the following formula (1):

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a coating formulation useful in forming a conductive coating film for its arrangement between a collector and an electrode active material layer (hereinafter also referred to as "electrode layer"), and also to a conductive coating film, a member for an electrode plate, the electrode plate for an electricity storage device, and the electricity storage device, all of which can be obtained using the coating formulation. More specifically, the present invention is concerned with a coating formulation capable of forming between a collector and an electrode layer a conductive coating film which is excellent in electrolyte resistance and oxidation resistance and can enhance the adhesion between the collector and electrode layer, and also with a conductive coating film, a member for an electrode plate, the electrode plate for an electricity storage device, and the electricity storage device, all of which can be obtained using the coating formulation.
2. Description of Related Art
A wide variety of chargeable and dischargeable batteries (storage devices) have been put to practical use as power sources for mobile equipment such as cellphones and notebook-size personal computers. Among these, commonly used are lithium ion secondary batteries which are light in weight, high in voltage and large in capacity, electric double-layer capacitors which are good in charge-discharge rate characteristics, and the like. Batteries for power applications such as vehicle-mounted batteries are, however, required to output or input a large current in a short time upon starting or stopping, so that conventional batteries are not suited for their high internal resistance and practically-insufficient charge-discharge cycle characteristics at high charge-discharge rate. Moreover, these conventional batteries are not sufficient in charge-discharge capacity from the viewpoint of cruising distances, and considering from the viewpoint of safety, are not sufficient either in the adhesion between electrode active material layers and metal collectors.
As one of reasons for which a conventional battery cannot exhibit sufficient characteristics as a battery as described above, it is possible to mention that the resistance value between its metal collector and active material layer is high and the adhesive force between its metal collector and active material layer is insufficient. As a measure for lessening these problems, a method has been proposed, which reduces the resistance at an interface between a metal collector and an active material layer and improves the adhesive force between them by providing the metal collector with a conductive coating layer (coating layer) and forming an active material layer on a surface of the coating layer (Patent Documents 1 and 2).
Especially, a method has been proposed, which uses, as a binder, a polyvinyl alcohol modified with silanol groups which chemically bond to hydroxyl groups on a surface of a metal collector as shown by the below-described equation (A) (Patent Documents 3 and 4). With this method, however, practically-sufficient charge-discharge cycle characteristics cannot be achieved at a high charge-discharge rate for batteries, which are intended for power applications, such as vehicle-mounted batteries. In particular, this method is insufficient for the prevention of deteriorations in battery characteristics when a long-term charge-discharge cycle test or high-temperature shelf test is conducted.
wherein R10 represents H or —COCH3, and R11 and R12 represent H or an ethyl group.
A method has also been proposed, which coats a conductive composition after treating a surface of a collector beforehand with a silane coupling agent or the like (Patent Document 5). The use of this method is, however, accompanied by a problem in that the resulting battery is provided with an increased internal resistance value, and hence, with a lowered charge/discharge rate because an active material layer is formed via an insulating layer although the insulation layer is thin.
To cope with these problems, a method has been proposed, which uses a conductive composition containing polyvinyl alcohol, a silane coupling agent, a polycarboxylic acid capable of forming ester bonds with hydroxyl groups on a metal surface of a collector and those of the polyvinyl alcohol and with silanol groups of the silane coupling agent, and a conductive aid (Patent Document 6). This method which makes use of the polycarboxylic acid can further improve the adhesive force of an active material layer to the collector, and therefore, can further improve the charge-discharge characteristics at a high charge-discharge rate over the conventional method which uses polyvinyl alcohol alone or the conventional method which uses a silanol-modified polyvinyl alcohol. This method is, however, not sufficient in avoiding deteriorations of battery characteristics after the battery is charged and discharged in multiple cycles over a long term or is left over in a charged state at high temperatures.
Further, positive electrode plates in a lithium ion secondary battery are placed under extremely strong acidic conditions. On the other hand, its negative electrode plates are placed under extremely strong reducing conditions. Concerning the coating films to be formed on the surfaces of its collectors, deteriorations and breakages caused by these severe conditions have, therefore, also arisen as problems. There is, hence, an outstanding desire for the development of coating films equipped with high oxidation resistance.
Furthermore, the conventional batteries and capacitors are also accompanied by the problems of the adhesion failure between electrode layers and collectors (substrates) and the high resistances at the interfaces between electrode layers and substrates as described above. Various coating formulations have been proposed. Conductive coating films formed with these coating formulations may bring about improvements in adhesion failure, but are still insufficient in electrolyte resistance and oxidation resistance. It is, therefore, the current situation that the resistances between electrode layers and collectors have increased further and the problems have not been resolved.

Coating liquid, conductive coating film, electrode plate for electricity storage device, and electricity storage device

Abstract: wherein R1 is selected from the group consisting of H, Na, organic groups derived from vinyl carboxylate monomers, and cations capable of forming electrolytes for the electricity storage device, R2 to R4 are independently selected from the group consisting of H, Na, C1-C6 alkyl groups, and cations capable of forming electrolytes for the electricity storage device, and a ratio (m/n) of m to n is from 0.0001 to 1, (C) a conductive material, and (D) a polar solvent.

Dainichiseika Color & Chemicals Mfg. Co., Ltd.


Screening assays and methods of using same for screening to identify modulator agents or compounds that affect pcdh18 mediated inhibition of T cell effector function are described herein. Pharmaceutical and immunogenic compositions comprising agents or compounds that modulate pcdh18 mediated inhibition of T cell effector function are also encompassed. Methods for modulating pcdh18 mediated inhibition of T cell effector function using agents identified using assays described herein in pharmaceutical and immunogenic compositions are also envisioned. Adenocarcinoma is an exemplary tumor type that expresses pcdh18 and for which such pharmaceutical and immunogenic compositions would confer benefit to patients. Also encompassed are methods for reducing pcdh18 mediated inhibition of T cell effector function so as to achieve more effective T cell responses to pcdh18 expressing tumors.

The citation of references herein shall not be construed as an admission that such is prior art to the present invention.
CD8+ CTL play an essential role in killing of virus-infected and transformed cells but in unmanipulated hosts fail to control tumor growth. Although the frequency of antigen-specific T cells in cancer patients is low, demonstrable priming occurs in response to tumor growth [1]. Investigation of animal models and tumor-bearing patients show production of antigen-specific CTL in the periphery but whose effector phase T cell function is suppressed upon entrance into the tumor [2,3], a phenotype postulated to contribute to tumor escape from immune-mediated eradication [4]. This implies the tumor microenvironment induces tumor infiltrating T cell (TIL) lytic dysfunction, a conclusion that has been substantiated by several experimental approaches [5]. In a murine model of colorectal carcinoma (MCA38) nonlytic TIL were shown to be recently-activated effector memory cells (CD44+ CD62LloCD69+CD95L+CD122+CD127+ [6]). The dysfunctional lytic phenotype was subsequently shown to be due to a tumor-induced block in proximal TCR-mediated signaling that obviates ZAP70 activation, in turn due to rapid inactivation of p56lck upon contact with cognate tumor cells [7]. The nature of the tumor-induced block remained undefined in advance of the discoveries presented herein.

Methods and agents for modulating protocadherin-18 activity


A satellite power plant with a gas turbine, electric current generator and liquid metal circulation heat recovery unit is constructed so that, when a future planned major power plant is erected, the excess fuel gas from its coal gasifier can supply its combustion chamber with the heat recovery unit fuel effective gas turbine unit and the current generator can cover the peak power demand. A device for recovery of low-temperature heat for local heating purposes has its optimum low-temperature thermal energy extraction when the heat recovery unit is shut down.

Integrated power plants which utilize coal and especially lignite or low-value coals as a basis, are known (see German patent 36 44 192), such coal-fired plants being provided as so-called major power plants with outputs in the megawatt range. They can be provided as so-called combination or integrated power plants in which a coal gasifying unit is integrated with a gas turbine main unit, a steam turbine main unit and an electricity-generating main unit driven by one or both of those turbine units.
A major power plant of this type can also be utilized in combination with at least one relatively more remote satellite power plant which may be located closer to the consuming region than the main power plant.
A satellite power plant of this type can comprise a gas turbine unit and an electric current generating unit. The waste heat from the gas turbine main unit of the combination or integrated power plant is supplied to the steam turbine cycle in which a portion of the steam, to utilize its sensible heat, can be supplied to the coal gasifier.
The coal gasifier generally is operated to supply fuel gas quantities which are called for by the demand of the gas turbine main unit of the power plant and an excess can be supplied to the satellite power plant.
In this manner it is possible to achieve a very high utilization of the heat generated by the fuel and, at the same time, obtain a high conversion of the thermal energy of the fuel to electrical energy.
However, there is not always a need at any particular place for a major power plant of the combination type described above, and it is possible that a satellite power plant or a number of satellite power plants which may have outputs of an order of magnitude less than the major power plant, can satisfy the requirements of a particular region.
In those cases, it is uneconomical and undesirable to erect a major power plant at these locations.
It has been a practice heretofore, however, not to provide satellite-type power plants independently of the major power plants, but rather to utilize small independent generating systems, i.e. so-called free-standing power plants in these areas.
However, in regions in which future industrialization or other prognoses of the socioeconomic factors indicate that a major power plant will be required in the future, these completely independent power generating units may ultimately prove to be uneconomical and undesirable as compared with satellite and major power plant systems.


An overhead-line mast includes a bar-shaped and insulated mast head, current-carrying conductors fastened to insulators of the insulated mast head and a ground conductor disposed on a mast tip of the insulated mast head. The ground conductor is connected electrically to a neutral point on a mast base by a ground conductor connection extending in the interior of the overhead-line mast. The ground conductor connection is sheathed by an insulating layer. The insulating layer is covered in each case by an insulating cone at the level of the current-carrying conductors. An annular electrode extends in or on each insulating cone. An insulating filler is inserted between the insulating layer and the insulating cones on one hand and the insulators of the insulated mast head on the other hand.

Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an overhead-line mast with a bar-shaped and insulated mast head, current-carrying conductors fastened to insulators of the insulated mast head, and a ground conductor disposed on a mast tip of the insulated mast head.
The invention can be used, for example, in three-phase overhead lines, but is also suitable for any other type of current (direct current, single-phase current, polyphase currents other than three-phase current).
An overhead-line mast in the form of a straight bar that is made of steel, for example, is clamped at one end in a foundation and includes an upper part which has an insulated construction (insulated mast head) and supports the phase conductors or, in general, the current-carrying conductors as well as the ground conductor (bar-type mast) on the mast tip. Such a structure has large advantages because of the extremely simple shape, the very small width of right of way and the conductor configuration, which is very well suited for minimizing the electric and magnetic field in the vicinity of the surface of the ground.
In order to realize such an overhead-line concept or mast concept, the ground conductor must be guided from the mast tip to the ground. For reasons of insulation, guiding an overhead ground wire outside the mast in air requires appropriately large spacings from the current-carrying conductors, with the result being that the advantages of the very simple mast concept with the smallest widths of right of way do not come to bear.

Overhead-line mast with insulated mast head


A mobile terminal reduces power consumption when operating at a high transmit power by altering a modulation scheme used for transmitting signals over an uplink to a base station. The mobile terminal receives uplink load indications from the base station and determines it current transmit power level. Based on this information, the mobile terminal selects an appropriate modulation scheme.

Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) phones have recently been introduced into the market. While WCDMA phones provide much higher data rates than phones using older technologies, the newer WCDMA phones consume more power and drain batteries more quickly. Consequently, the battery life and "talk time" for WCDMA phones is significantly less than phones using older technology. The reduced battery life and talk times for WCDMA phones is undesirable from a consumer perspective.
When engaged in normal voice communications, a WCDMA phone transmits continuously. This continuous transmission is one of the primary reasons for the undesirable current drain in WCDMA phones. Another reason for current drain is the presence of a duplexer in the transmit path. The duplexer introduces an undesirable path loss, but is necessary in WCDMA phones because the transmitter and receiver are on simultaneously. Additionally, WCDMA phones require a linear amplifier in the transmit circuitry, which is another reason for the high current drain in WCDMA phones.
Accordingly, there is a continuing need for new systems and methods to reduce power consumption in WCDMA terminals.

Reducing power consumption in mobile terminals by changing modulation schemes


A method of non-dispersive analysis of gas mixtures for determining the concentration of some gas component therein. A radiation source is arranged which emits, through the gas mixture being analyzed, radiation within a wavelength range within which the absorption spectrum band used in the determination of the concentration of the said gas component is located; an optical transmission band filter the transmission band of which coincides with the said spectrum band is provided in the path of the radiation traversing the gas mixture being analyzed; a detector is used for detecting the radiation which has traversed the gas mixture being analyzed and the optical transmission band filter, whereby a first signal is obtained from the detector; a different second signal is generated in the detector by means of an additional gas or an additional gas mixture interposed between the radiation source and the detector; and the result of the concentration measurement is formed computationally by using the different measurement signals. Furthermore, in the method the transmission bands of the said transmission band filters are arranged within the same measuring range; as the additional gas there is used a compensation gas or a compensation gas mixture in which the compensation gas is the gas component the concentration of which is being determined or a corresponding other gas or a compensation filter. The absorption properties of the compensation filter are selected to be such, or the amount of the compensation gas is selected to be such, that the broadening of the absorption lines in the absorption spectrum band used will change the said different second signal.

The invention relates to a method of non-dispersive analysis of gas mixtures for the determination of the concentration of a gas component present therein, the method comprising the following steps; a radiation source is arranged which emits, through the gas mixture being analyzed, radiation within a wavelength range within which the absorption spectrum band used in the determination of the concentration of the said gas component is located; an optical transmission band filter the transmission band of which coincides with the said spectrum band is provided in the path of the radiation traversing the gas mixture being analyzed; a detector is used for detecting the radiation which has traversed the gas mixture being analyzed and the optical transmission band filter, this first intensity generating in the detector a first signal; at least one different intensity is produced in the detector by means of an additional gas or an additional gas mixture interposed between the radiation source and the detector, by using radiation which has also traversed the gas mixture being analyzed and the transmission band filter, this second intensity generating in the detector a second signal; the result of the concentration measurement is formed computationally by using the different measurement signals. The invention also relates to the use of this method and to a sensor means used in its application.
In measuring the concentration of a gas by the infrared technique, the method most commonly used is a non-dispersive method, i.e. the absorption signal is measured through an optical transmission band filter having a transmission bandwidth typically in the same order of magnitude as the width of the spectrum band used for measuring the concentration of the gas component being measured. The measured radiation signal is in this case the integrated value of the transmissions at the different wavelengths of the transmission band. Such devices are described in publications U.S. Pat. No. 3,745,349 and HEWLETT-PACKARD JOURNAL, September 1981, pp. 3-5: R. J. Solomon--"A Reliable, Accurate CO.sub.2 Analyzer for Medical Use." In the former publication, two infrared radiation sources emitting through the sample gas are used, but the radiation from one radiation source is rendered, for example by means of an optical gas filter, narrower than the wavelength range used in the measurement. The purpose is to provide a reference source issuing a radiation intensity which is not affected by the gas mixture being analyzed in the detector. The objective is to compensate for the effect of dirt and other substances accumulating in the measuring chamber and having absorption within the same range as the gas being measured, and to avoid the problems of matching different detectors. Modulated infrared sources are used, in which case an actual signal and a reference signal are obtained alternately in one and the same detector, signals which have thus traversed the same path and detect impurities in the same manner. In the former publication these problems have been solved by using a structure having no moving parts. In the latter publication, an attempt has been made to overcome the same problems but by using a rotating disk which contains different filters for obtaining a reference value.
The absorption spectrum of a gas in molecular form normally consists of absorption spectrum bands produced by molecular vibrations and, within them, a fine structure, i.e. absorption lines, due to rotational transitions. When measured with sufficient discrimination, the absorption spectrum band of a gas is thus made up of a large number of very narrow absorption lines. For example, carbon dioxide has a molecular vibration absorption spectrum band having a mean wavelength of 4260 nm. A more detailed analysis shows that the region is made up of more than 80 narrow absorption lines caused by rotation. The half-intensity linewidth and intensity of these lines are dependent on many factors, such as temperature, self-absorption due to the long measuring path, and collisions by other molecules present in the gas mixture. In measurement signal compensation on the first two can in general easily be taken into account by measuring the temperature and the linearization effects due to the measurement geometry on the gas concerned. On the other hand, the change, sometimes significant, due to collisions by other gas components must be taken into account specifically in order to minimize concentration errors. Changes in the half-intensity linewidth of carbon dioxide in a nitrogen mixture and an oxygen mixture are described in the publication APPLIED OPTICS, Vol. 25, No. 14/1986 pp. 2434-2439. Cousin, Le Doucen, Houdeau, Boulet, Henry--"Air broadened linewidths, intensities, and spectral line shapes for CO.sub.2 at 4.3 .mu.m in the region of the AMTS instrument." The half-intensity linewidth of the carbon dioxide line (ordinal number 67) of a gas mixture at normal pressure is, in an oxygen mixture, 0.055 cm.sup.-1 (0.10 nm) and, in a nitrogen mixture, 0.060 cm.sup.-1 (0.11 nm) for a concentration of 5% CO.sub.2. The portion of self-broadening by carbon dioxide in these figures is only approx. 0.003 cm.sup.-1.
Polar gases such as nitrous oxide have a much greater effect on the half-intensity linewidth than nitrogen and oxygen, discussed in the above-mentioned publication. For this reason, for example, the measurement result of the amount of carbon dioxide in a patient's breathing gas is corrected, for example, by measuring the laughing gas concentration, as in publication U.S. Pat. No. 4,423,739 and by using this result computationally to correct the carbon dioxide concentration. This method is not very reliable, for according to it, it is necessary to know, for example, all the gas components affecting the broadening of the absorption lines, their concentrations must be measured, and ample experimental material must be obtained for the correction calculations. The procedure described in the publication yields a completely erroneous result if there is some factor unknown in advance relating to the gas mixture being analyzed. It is known that the effect of oxygen on the measurement result of nitrogen can be corrected in a manner similar to that mentioned in the said patent, although the error is smaller. By the procedures described in publication U.S. Pat. No. 3,745,349 and in the said article in publication HEWLETT-PACKARD JOURNAL the problem described above cannot be solved, and it has not been discussed in them.
The concentration of a gas is proportional to the number of gas molecules at the measurement volume and pressure. The number of molecules participating in infrared absorption is retained more or less unchanged in a collision process if the conditions do not otherwise change. Only the distribution of energy is slightly changed, causing a broadening of the absorption line. The absorbance value integrated across the absorption line is thus retained practically unchanged. However, by the infrared technique it is not possible to measure absorbance directly; instead, transmission is measured. According to the Lambert-Beer law, EQU T=10.sup.-8
where T is transmission and a is absorbance, applies to one wavelength. Only linearization yields an absorbance value proportional to the concentration: EQU a=-log T.
Especially when the measuring is carried out non-dispersively within a certain bandwidth, the total transmission signal Tm will be an integral across the spectrum range of the filter .lambda.1-.lambda.2: ##EQU1## where F(.lambda.) is the wavelength-dependent transmission function of the filter and T(.lambda.) is the wavelength-dependent transmission function of the gas sample. This signal is linearized experimentally, since the Lambert-Beer law no longer applies. The end result is usually different from the total absorbance A, which is in practice independent of collision broadening and is an integral across absorbances a(.lambda.): ##EQU2## In fact, the size of the error in Tm depends on the bandwidth of the filter. Measured by using a very narrow transmission band watch is in the same order as the total width (e.g. in the order of 0.1-1.5 nm) of an individual absorption line in the absorption band, the need for correcting the collision broadening is very small or nil. On the other hand, if the transmission band of the filter is even narrower (e.g. less than approx. 0.05-0.5 nm) than the full width of a single absorption line being measured, collision broadening causes a reduction of the signal corresponding to the concentration, since the absorption peak becomes lower. Such a case is reported in publication WO-94/24528, in which one absorption peak of oxygen is measured by using a very narrow-band laser diode. In this case, however, the Lambert-Beer law applies with respect to the laser wavelength, and after linearization the absorbance can be integrated as a function of the wavelength, so that the collision broadening can be compensated for.
If the filter band extends over a plurality of absorption peaks, as is usual in the measuring of carbon dioxide, there is need for correction, since the concentration reading increases as the collision broadening increases. Thus the problem caused by the broadening of the absorption lines is not solved by the arrangement described in publication EP-405 841, wherein two detections are used of which one is approximately within one half of the absorption spectrum band and at a concentration deviating (either high and/or low) from the measuring range of the gas being measured, and the other one is within the other half of the absorption spectrum band and at the analyzed concentration of the gas being measured, the result concentration being calculated on the basis of these measurements. Thus, for example, when the question is of certain isotopes of carbon dioxide, the measurements are carried out through transmission band filters of which one has a band of 4.0-4.4 .mu.m and the other one a band of 4.2-4.6 .mu.m. It is known that the extreme limits of the spectrum band concerned are 3.5 .mu.m and 4.7 .mu.m, and thus it must be noted that each range contains a large but indefinite number of absorption lines, in which case the situation is not necessarily always under control. The concentration error is also affected by the length of the measuring channel, i.e. that dimension of the measuring chamber in which radiation traverses it. In the case of a short channel the need for compensation is smaller, whereas in the case of a longer channel, in which the absorption of the gas being measured has reduced the transmission to a substantially greater degree, the need for compensation can be considerable. In the measuring of carbon dioxide in a patient's breathing air, in which for example a considerable portion of the gas mixture may be nitrous oxide, i.e. laughing gas, a concentration value measured and calculated in a conventional manner may be up to 15% too high, owing to the error explained above, due to the transmission integral.

Correction of collision broadening in non-dispersive absorption measurement of gases


A connector assembly and an electrical connector for electrically coupling at least two electrical conductors is provided whereby the connector assembly comprises a support structure wall separating the assembly into a first and a second portion; a conductive wall for providing electrical connectivity between the first and second portions; a first biasing member disposed in the first portion, the first biasing member being adapted to deflect upon a first electrical conductor being inserted into the first portion, the first biasing member being further adapted to bias the first electrical conductor against the conductive wall; and a second biasing member disposed in the second portion, the second biasing member being adapted to deflect upon a second electrical conductor being inserted into the second portion, the second biasing member being further adapted to bias the second electrical conductor against the conductive wall to electrical couple the first and the second electrical conductors.

In the electronic industries, an electrical connector typically comprises a hollow housing, an opening of the housing for introduction of a conductor, a metal contact mounted in the hollow housing adjacent to the opening, a spring means mounted in the hollow housing for biasing the conductor (inserted through the opening), into electrical contact, with the metal contact. Another opening of the housing is typically provided for introduction of a tool to affect the spring means to aid in the removal of the conductor from the hollow housing. Such a connector is typically called a semi-toolless clamp connector.
In some of such connectors, two conductors may be introduced. In such cases, two spring means are used whereby these two spring means are manufactured directly adjacent each other as one integral part for ease of assembly into the housing. This causes a problem wherein a deflection in one spring means affects the other spring means and may cause the other spring means to deflect which can compromise the electrical contact between the relevant conductor and the other spring means.
In addition, due to manufacturing considerations, a single main wall is typically provided to hold the two spring means. The main wall is typically provided on one side with the two spring means adjacent each other so as to facilitate alignment of the spring means with the openings of the housing. A rib/stopper may be provided extending from the main wall to urge the spring means to its original form in a biasing manner. This can give rise to a problem whereby the rib portion further from the main wall typically suffers from structural weakness and fails to adequately perform the biasing function. The spring means further from the main wall may then be over-bent during insertion of the conductor, and thus may not engage the conductor securely. Further, the structural weakness may lead to the spring means being deformed such that it does not return to its form and may not be reusable.
In addition, there is typically no means for fixing the metal contact and/or the spring means securely or at a correct position in the hollow housing. This can result in an electrical connector that is not accurately assembled or has an internal assembly that is loose that causes malfunction during use. Furthermore, the instability of the internal assembly is made worse as the main wall is typically provided on one side. Thus, during insertion of conductors, the spring means are typically unbalanced in the housing.
Further, as the spring means are typically provided side by side as an integral part, another problem can arise in that electrical conductors may, upon insertion into openings, cross into adjacent voids. This can lead to difficulty in removal of the electrical conductors using a tool.
In view of the above, there exists a need for an electrical connector and to a connector assembly that seeks to address at least one of the problems above.

Electrical connector and a connector assembly