A method for making a merged thin film read/write head, where the first pole piece includes a pedestal or pole tip portion that extends up from the first pole piece layer, uses electroplating to form the gap so that the gap layer does not have to be removed later. After the first pole piece is deposited, the coil insulation structure is built over the first pole piece. Afterwards an electrically conductive seed layer of the same ferromagnetic material as the first pole piece is formed over the wafer to provide an electrically conductive path for subsequent electroplating. After the seed layer deposition, a photoresist pattern is then formed to define the shape of the second pole piece. Nonmagnetic nickel-phosphorous is then electroplated onto the seed layer in the region not covered by the photoresist pattern to form the gap layer. The second ferromagnetic layer is then electroplated onto the gap layer to define the shape of the second pole piece. The thickness of the second pole piece layer is deliberately made thicker than the desired final thickness because the second pole piece layer is used as a mask for subsequent ion beam milling to form the notched pole tip element of the first pole piece. The photoresist is removed and ion beam milling performed to remove the seed layer and a portion of the first pole piece layer to define the pedestal pole tip element of the first pole piece. The ion beam milling does not have to remove the gap layer because the electroplated gap has been defined by the photoresist pattern to have the desired trackwidth.

In a magnetic recording disk drive, data is written by thin film magnetic transducers called "heads", which are supported over a surface of the disk while it is rotated at a high speed. The heads are supported by a thin cushion of air (an "air bearing") produced by the disk's high rotational speed.
A prior art "merged" magnetoresistive (MR) read/inductive write head is shown in the side sectional view of FIG. 1 and the partial end view, as seen from the disk, of FIG. 2. The term "merged" read/write head means that a magnetoresistive read element (or head) is located between first and second magnetic shields and an inductive write element (or head) has first and second pole tips spaced by a nonmagnetic gap, where the second magnetic shield for the magnetoresistive read element also serves as the first pole tip for the inductive write element. The thin film inductive write head includes bottom and top pole pieces P1 and P2, respectively, that are formed from thin films ("layers") of magnetic material. The pole pieces have a pole tip height dimension commonly called "throat height". In a finished write head, throat height is measured between an air-bearing surface ("ABS"), formed by polishing the tips of the pole pieces, and a zero throat height level ("zero throat level"), where the bottom pole piece P1 and the top pole piece P2 converge at the magnetic recording gap G. A thin film magnetic write head also includes a "pole tip region" which is located between the ABS and the zero throat level, and a "back region" which extends back from the zero throat level to and including a back gap BG. Each pole piece has a pole tip portion in the pole tip region and a back portion in the back region. The pole pieces are connected together at the back gap BG. The pole tips are extensions of the bottom and top pole pieces P1 and P2 of the write head. Each of the pole pieces P1 and P2 transitions to a pole tip in the pole tip region. The pole tips are separated by a gap G, which is a thin layer of insulation material, typically alumina (Al.sub.2 O.sub.3). The pole tip of the top pole piece P2 is the last element to induce flux into the magnetic layer on the disk; therefore, its width is more important than the width of the pole tip on the bottom pole piece P1. However, it is important for the pole tips to have the same width to minimize stray flux leakage around the gap.
A merged MR head, such as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, employs an MR read element and an inductive write element in combination. This is accomplished by using the top shield S2 of the MR element as the bottom pole P1 of the write element. A merged MR head has a high capability for either reading or writing. The merged MR head saves processing steps over constructing separate read and write heads because the second shield layer S2 of the MR read head also serves as the bottom pole P1 for the write head, thereby eliminating a fabrication step.
However, merged MR head structures generate significantly large side-fringing fields during recording. These fields are caused by flux leakage from the top pole P2 to the parts of the bottom pole P1 beyond the region defined by P2. The side-fringing fields limit the minimum trackwidth achievable, and therefore limit the upper reach of track density. Consequently, when a track written by the write element of a merged MR head is read by the MR element, the "off-tracK" performance of the MR element is poor. That is, when the MR element is moved laterally from the center of a track being read, it cannot move far before interference from the fields of the adjacent track begins to interfere with the fields of the track being read.
One solution to the side-fringing problem of the merged MR head is to construct a narrow "pedestal" pole tip portion PT1b on top of the second shield layer S2, as shown in FIG. 2, with the P1/S2 layer then serving as a wider bottom pole tip element PT1a. Both of these pole tip elements PT1b and PT1a form the pole tip portion of the bottom pole P1, with the pole tip element PT1b forming a pedestal on the pole tip element PT1a. The sidewalls of the bottom and top pole tips PT1b and PT2 are substantially vertically aligned and constrained to substantially equal widths.
The conventional process for fabricating the pole pieces and gap of the merged MR head involves sputter deposition and lithographic patterning. The pedestal PT1b pole tip element is formed by ion beam milling through the top and bottom pole pieces and gap layer G, using P2 as a mask, to remove the gap layer G and a portion of layer P1 in the region not beneath P2. It is this ion beam milling with P2 as a mask that causes the sidewalls of the bottom and top pole tips PT1b and PT2 to be substantially vertically aligned. Because the PT1b pole tip element is formed by ion beam milling of the gap layer G and a portion of the P1 layer not beneath the P2 layer, this type of P1 pole tip is also called a "notched" pole tip. However, because of shadowing of the ion beam caused by the top pole tip PT2 during the ion beam milling process, there is some outward taper to the bottom pole tip PT1b. In addition, because the ion beam milling rate of the material of gap layer G is slower than the ion beam milling rate of the Ni--Fe material of P1, and because P2 is to serve as the mask, a much thicker layer of P2 is required to compensate for the loss of P2 material during the ion beam milling.
What is needed is process for forming a thin film inductive write head, and particularly a merged magnetoresistive read/inductive write head, that does not require a substantially thicker P2 layer.

Method for making a thin film inductive write head having a pedestal pole tip and an electroplated gap

International Business Machines Corporation


Use of rocker shaft pedestals that are manufactured separately from the cylinder head and subsequently fixed to the cylinder head increases manufacturing and assembly costs of an internal combustion engine. The disclosed cylinder head obviates these problems by providing a cylinder head for an internal combustion engine that comprises a top deck and at least one integrally cast rocker shaft pedestal. A rocker shaft for use with a cylinder head of the invention includes at least one flat formed on an underside of the shaft that is adapted for mating with a top of a rocker shaft pedestal. Also described is an internal combustion engine comprising a cylinder block, a cylinder head having a top deck and at least one integrally cast rocker shaft pedestal, and a rocker shaft mounted on the at least one rocker shaft pedestal, the rocker shaft having a plurality of rocker arms mounted thereon. The rocker shaft includes at least one flat formed on an underside thereof adapted for mating with a top of the at least one rocker shaft pedestal. Also described is a method for manufacturing a cylinder head assembly including an integrally cast rocker shaft pedestal.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,628,875 describes a cylinder head and a rocker shaft mounting assembly. The assembly comprises four pedestal mounts, each of which is fixed to the head by means of two bolts that engage bores machined in the cylinder head. A separate cap is associated with each pedestal mount. The cap and mount are machined such that when they are bolted together they form a bore that embraces the rocker shaft and fixes the rocker shaft to the cylinder head. This arrangement requires the use of a relatively large number of components, which results in increased production and assembly costs.

Cylinder head having an integrally cast rocker shaft pedestal


The present invention involves a method for forming a one-piece band clamp. The band clamp is made by severing band material to a proper width, forming the band material to a desired length, removing a portion of the band to form a void in one end of the band material, inserting a deformation device into the void, and deforming the band material adjacent to the void to form a slot in the band material sufficiently wide to allow insertion of the band body.

One-piece fastening or clamping devices are well known and are used for a variety of purposes. In one application, band clamps are used to secure electric shielding or insulation about electric wire. In another application, band clamps are used to secure pipe or other couplings to hose connections. Generally, however, fastening and clamping devices, such as band clamps, are used to reduce the size of any gap between the object constrained and the band adjacent thereto. Consequently, it can be appreciated that a one-piece band clamp is useful in any number of situations since it is not necessary to carry separate band sections and buckles and a tool to assemble them.
One type of commercially available one-piece planar cable-tie, made by the assignee of the present invention, includes a buckle section having a width greater than the remaining band body which is insertable therein. The cable-tie is produced by a method, such as stamping or die cutting, that cannot fully utilize the band material. Specifically, due to the extra width of the buckle section as compared to the band body, material between adjacent cable-ties is necessarily wasted during the manufacturing process.
A clamping device that is useful for numerous clamping jobs is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,896,402 to Jansen et al., issued Jan. 30, 1990 and entitled "Cable Tie." The device is a one-piece cable tie that utilizes a multi-planar buckle section through which the free end of the band is inserted. Jansen et al. also discloses that the cable tie is preferably made by a machine process in which the clamps are alternately formed on opposing sides of a sheet of metal material. The machine process must utilize this procedure because the buckle section is significantly wider than the overall band. Consequently, this fabricating process wastes material and adds a step to the manufacturing process which reduces efficiency. Moreover, the resulting clamp, when properly secured, results in a relatively high-profile clamp buckle and band interface.
Another one-piece clamping device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,896,402 to Young, issued Jun. 21, 1988 and entitled "Band Clamp with Formable Buckle." The device comprises a multi-planar buckle section and a planar band body section. The device is fabricated by stamping a buckle section with "wings" perpendicular to the band's body section. The wings are then folded toward each other in abutting relation to form an opening. Finally, the wings are welded or braised together at the abutting ends to form the continuous loop of the buckle. This process not only produces a high-profile clamp buckle and band interface, but the initial stamping process wastes material and the bending and welding processes are both expensive and time consuming.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,646,393, also to Young, issued Mar. 3, 1987 and entitled "Clamping Band for Electromagnetic Shielding Band Cable Connector," a one-piece clamping device for use in constraining electromagnetic shielding is disclosed. This device also comprises a multi-planar buckle section and a planar band section. The buckle includes a pair of abutting wings that are welded together after being folded to create a single, longitudinally extending opening.
Another commercially available one-piece cable tie, that has been made by the assignee of the present invention, includes a buckle having a raised section with slots formed on opposing sides of the raised section. The raised section, forming a high- profile buckle, is formed by punching the buckle in two opposing directions. However, the buckle side edges are flat and not raised.
A further integral band clamp is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,541,146 to Giannone, issued Sep. 17, 1985 and entitled "Clinching Clamp Device and Method of Attachment." The band comprises a multi-planar buckle which utilizes an "anchor" section to securely fasten the band to the encircled objects. The buckle and anchor are formed by taking an elongated strip of readily bendable metal and making a series of at least two convolutions of the band which have been bent at right angles to the device. The convolutions are wound in such a manner as to define a through-going passageway. This process of manufacture is inefficient because the step of twisting the band to produce a through-going passageway is expensive and time-consuming.
Other one-piece clamps are illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 356,083 to Schrader, et al., issued Jan. 11, 1887 and entitled "Clamp for Hose Couplings" and U.S. Pat. No. 157,032 to Smith, issued Nov. 17, 1874 and entitled "Bail-Ties." Schrader, et al. describes a hose clamp having a number of projections that can be folded to provide a buckle. In the Smith patent, wings integrally formed with the band are bent over to engage portions of the band. The manufacture of both these devices necessarily requires the utilization of either wasteful metal stamping or expensive bending and welding techniques.
A one-piece cable tie is also described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,660,869 to Caveney, et al., issued May 9, 1972 and entitled "One-Piece Cable Tie." This tie is characterized by the use of a row of teeth disposed on one longitudinal surface of the strap. The patent also describes a plastic molding process for making the cable ties. Similar devices are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,272,870 to McCormick, issued Jun. 16, 1981 and entitled "Synthetic Plastics Tie Member" and U.S. Pat. No. 4,507,828 to Furutsu, issued Apr. 2, 1985 and entitled "Bundling Belt Device." The cable ties of McCormick and Furutsu are also manufactured using plastic molding techniques.
Although one-piece clamps or cable ties and the process of their manufacture are relatively well known, there is a need for a method for manufacturing a one-piece clamping device having a low profile buckle, that can be produced quickly, inexpensively and without waste of material.

Method of producing a one-piece band clamp


The present invention relates to a cliche for offset printing for forming a mesh pattern, and more specifically, to a cliche for offset printing comprising a mash pattern with a plurality of intersection units, wherein the plurality of intersection units are formed in a curved shape with a radius of curvature 0.6 to 4 times that of a mesh line width.

In general, a photolithography process has been used for forming fine patterns in the fields of the related art, such as those of displays and semiconductors. However, because the formation of fine patterns using the photolithography process is performed through operations of photoresist coating-exposing-developing-etching-stripping, the process is generally complex, raw materials such as photoresist, etc. are consumed in large amounts, and liquid waste is generated in the developing and etching processes to thereby incur costs associated with the treatment of liquid waste.
Accordingly, to overcome these problems, methods for forming fine patterns using printing techniques other than the photolithography process have recently been developed. When fine patterns are manufactured using printing techniques, it is advantageous that the process be simple, the consumption of raw materials minimized, and the generation of liquid waste eliminated so as to lower manufacturing costs.
These methods of forming fine patterns using printing techniques have been applied to the formation of a color filter, an electromagnetic shielding (EMI) filter, a thin-film transistor (TFT) wiring and a micro pattern substrate.
Printing methods enabling the formation of fine patterns include gravure printing, offset printing, screen printing, and the like may be used therefor. Among these, offset printing is especially useful because relatively fine printing patterns may be formed to have a uniform thickness.
Offset printing is a method of printing a pattern by applying paste, such as ink, to a groove formed in a pattern of a cliche for offset printing such that the groove is filled therewith, removing the extra paste applied to areas other than the groove using a doctor blade, transcribing the paste filled in the groove to a silicon blanket (removal process), and transcribing the paste already transcribed on the silicon blanket to a subject to be printed (setting process).
A cliche for offset printing is formed by a method of etching a metal substrate to form grooves or by a method of etching a special glass substrate. For example, a thin layer of a material such as chrome is formed on a glass substrate, a photosensitive resin is applied thereto and then, areas in which grooves are to be formed are exposed to a laser beam or the like. Subsequently, the photosensitive resin of the exposed area is removed through a developing process to expose the chrome layer in the areas in which grooves are to be formed and then, the chrome in the exposed areas may be removed by the etching thereof to expose glass, which may be re-etched with a fluoride solution to manufacture a cliche for offset printing with grooves having an appropriate width and depth. However, when a glass substrate is used as a cliche for offset printing, the surface thereof may be easily damaged by being scraped with a doctor blade. In order to solve this, methods of improving the surface strength of a glass substrate by treating the surface of the glass substrate with hybrid nickel or a diamond like coating (DLC) have been recently developed.
Fine patterns may be formed by a simple method of filling a cliche for offset printing manufactured as above, in which a desired pattern is intagliated, with a paste. The method of offset printing is advantageous in that the processes there of are simpler and the manufacturing costs thereof are lower as compared to those of the related art photolithography. However, when a pattern to be printed has a plurality of intersection units, a line width reduction, which is undesirable, may be generated around the intersection units during printing pattern formation using an offset printing method. FIG. 1 is a photograph illustrating a printed mesh pattern using a cliche for offset printing of the related art. As shown in FIG. 1, it can be seen that line width reduction around the intersection units is generated when a mesh pattern is formed using a cliche for offset printing of the related art. Because depressions are generated around the intersection units during the process of scraping the paste applied to the surface of a printing substrate with a doctor blade, the phenomenon of line width reduction may occur. These depression phenomena cause the line width around the intersection units to be reduced, and disconnection may occur when the phenomena are severe. Therefore, when a wiring board has many intersection units or a mesh pattern of an electromagnetic shielding filter printed thereon, it is disadvantageous that the line width around the intersection units be reduced as the resistance properties of a product may be deteriorated by disconnection.
Although the deterioration of resistance properties may be solved to some degree by increasing the line width, permeability may be reduced by an increase in line width, thereby lowering the brightness of a display device.

Cliche for off-set printing and product manufactured using the same

Abstract: When the cliche for offset printing of the present invention is used, line width reductions generated around the intersection units during mesh pattern printing may be reduced. As a result, when a final product is manufactured by using the cliche for printing of the present invention, the surface resistance properties of the product may be improved.


A reflective mask and a reflective mask blank that can form a fine mask pattern with high accuracy in shape, achieve a sufficient contrast in a pattern inspection, and enable a pattern transfer with high accuracy. On a substrate (11), a multilayer reflective film (12) for reflecting an exposure light, a buffer layer (13), and an absorber layer for absorbing the exposure light are successively deposited in this order. This absorber layer has a layered structure composed of an uppermost layer (15) and a lower layer (14) other than it. The uppermost layer (15) exhibits a reflectance of 20% or less with respect to a light having an inspection wavelength for use in an inspection of a pattern formed in the absorber layer and further is formed of an inorganic material having a resistance against an etching condition in forming a pattern in the lower layer.

In recent years, following high integration of semiconductor products as seen in semiconductor memories, VLSIs (very large scale integrated circuits), and so forth, there have been required fine patterns that exceed a transfer limit of the photolithography process. In view of this, in order to enable transfer of the fine pattern, there has been proposed an extreme ultraviolet lithography process (EUV lithography process) using an extreme ultraviolet light with a shorter wavelength. Herein, the EUV light represents a light in a wavelength band of a soft X-ray region or a vacuum ultraviolet region, specifically, a light with a wavelength of about 0.2 to 100 nm.
As described in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Publication (JP-A) No. H8-213303, an EUV reflective mask for use in the EUV lithography has, on a substrate of silicon, quartz, or the like, an EUV (extreme ultraviolet light in the soft X-ray region having, for example, a wavelength of about 13.4 nm) multilayer reflective layer, a buffer layer thereon, and further thereon, an EUV absorber layer formed in a pattern. The buffer layer is provided between the EUV multilayer reflective layer and the EUV absorber layer for the purpose of protecting the EUV multilayer reflective layer during a pattern forming process of the absorber layer and a repairing process thereof.
Light incident on the reflective mask in an exposure apparatus is absorbed at a portion where the absorber pattern exists, while an image reflected by the multilayer reflective film where no absorber pattern exists is transferred onto a wafer through a reflective optical system.
Referring to FIG. 4, description will be given about a manufacturing method of a reflective mask for use in the EUV lithography. FIG. 4 is a schematic sectional view showing a conventional reflective mask manufacturing process.
(1) On a SiO2 substrate 11 are formed, in order, a layered film 12 being an EUV multilayer reflective film, a buffer layer 13 thereon for the purpose of protecting the EUV layer in an absorber pattern forming process, and an absorber layer 14 being an EUV absorber thereon. Thereafter, an organic resist film 16 is applied to the surface of the absorber layer (FIG. 4(1)).
(2) The organic resist film 16 is formed with a resist pattern 16a (FIG. 4 (2)).
(3) The absorber layer 14 is etched by the use of the resist pattern 16a to thereby form an absorber pattern 14a having a predetermined pattern. Here, the formed absorber pattern 14a is subjected to inspection (FIG. 4(3)). Specifically, detection is made of a pinhole defect 21 (also called a white defect) formed by removal of the absorber layer at a portion that should not be removed by etching and a portion 22 (also called a black defect) where the absorber layer is not sufficiently removed due to insufficient etching.
(4) The defects of the absorber pattern 14a are corrected to thereby form a corrected absorber pattern 14b (FIG. 4 (4)).
(5) Finally, a pattern 13a of the buffer layer 13 is formed to thereby obtain an EUV reflective mask. When an EUV light 31 is irradiated thereto, the EUV light 31 is reflected only at a portion where the reflective layered film 12 is exposed by removing the absorber layer 14 and the buffer layer 13, and can be used for the lithography (FIG. 4 (5)).
In the foregoing EUV reflective mask producing process, use is made of a reflective inspection device using a far ultraviolet light having a wavelength of 193 nm to 257 nm in the inspection of the absorber pattern at (3).
The inspection is performed by applying this inspection light to the surface of the reflective mask formed with the pattern and by observing a contrast of reflection of the inspection light on the surface of the mask.
Further, after the removal of the buffer layer at (5), an inspection is carried out to finally confirm whether or not the absorber pattern is formed according to a specification. This final inspection of the pattern is also conducted by, like the foregoing inspection, using the far ultraviolet light as the inspection light and observing a contrast of reflected light of the inspection light on the surface of the mask.
In the foregoing formation of the transfer pattern in the absorber layer, use is made of the resist made of an organic substance. However, such a resist generally has a low resistance against dry etching so that the resist film is damaged during the formation of the pattern of the absorber layer. Therefore, the resist layer is required to have a certain or greater thickness (normally about 500 nm to 800 nm).
On the other hand, as the line width of a pattern required for a mask is reduced, it becomes difficult to form a fine pattern in such a thick resist in view of the following points.
Specifically, first, it is difficult to ensure the accuracy in shape in a vertical direction of the resist so that the shape accuracy of an absorber pattern is degraded. Secondly, an etching gas is reluctant to advance into narrow paths of the resist pattern and a gas generated by etching is also liable to stay therein so that the etching reaction is difficult to proceed at portions where the line width is narrow. Consequently, a difference is caused between etching speeds at a portion where the line width is broad and at a portion where the line width is narrow so that uniform etching cannot be achieved in the plane of the mask.
From this point of view, there has been a problem that when the conventional thick resist is used, it is difficult to form a pattern with a fine line width, for example, a resolution of 0.1 μm or less.
On the other hand, in the foregoing inspection of the pattern of the absorber layer, the inspection using the foregoing inspection light is performed between the surface of the buffer layer exposed at a portion where the absorber layer is removed or the surface of the multilayer reflective film exposed by the removal of the buffer layer, and the surface of the absorber layer at a portion where the absorber layer remains.
Therefore, there has been a problem that if a difference in reflectance with respect to the wavelength of the inspection light is small between the surface of the buffer layer or the surface of the multilayer reflective film and the surface of the absorber layer, the contrast in the inspection becomes poor so that the accurate inspection cannot be achieved.
In view of this, the present invention has been made for solving the foregoing problems and has an object to obtain a reflective mask and a reflective mask blank wherein a fine pattern can be formed in an absorber layer with high accuracy in shape, a sufficient contrast can be achieved in a pattern inspection, and a pattern transfer with high accuracy is enabled.


A method and system transforms one or more lists for a data communications system into a single list, each list of the one or more lists including a plurality of entries. The method includes removing non-terminating entries from the plurality of entries in the one or more lists, the removing each non-terminating entry removing all but a last non-terminating entry in any of the one or more lists; and eliminating from the plurality of entries one or more entries that provide for one or more impossible actions, wherein the removing of non-terminating entries and the eliminating of one or more entries that provide for impossible actions, if any, produce a single list preserving tracing of the entries in the single list to the plurality of entries.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of data memories, and more particularly relates to techniques for efficient routing of data through a data communication network.
2. Description of the Related Art
A data communications network is the interconnection of two or more communicating entities (i.e., data sources and/or sinks) over one or more data links. A data communications network allows communication between multiple communicating entities over one or more data communications links. High bandwidth applications supported by these networks include streaming video, streaming audio, and large aggregations of voice traffic. Data communication systems use a number of different known protocols. One protocol for high speed communication is a synchronous optical network (SONET) protocol. Another protocol commonly used in local area networks (LAN), is a Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Detection (CSMA/CD) protocol. One version of the CSMA/CD protocol is the IEEE 802.3 standard referred to as Ethernet. Ethernet networks typically include network equipment that transmits the data packets arranged in frames across various paths. At junctions in a network path, routers or switches handle the data. Typically, each router or switch applies one or more filters, each implemented as an Access Control List (ACL) to each packet received to determine how to handle the packet. For uses herein, an ACL refers to both an "Access Control List" and to an "Action Control List" and, where appropriate, embodiments described herein are not limited to an "access".
In general, an ACL is a list of true/false tests that are applied to fields in a packet, and associated actions in the event that a test is determined to be true. Each test or entry in an ACL is referred to as an Access Control Entry (ACE). An ACL may be viewed as a set of ACEs that define and execute permissions. An ACL typically may also provide data including an array of ACEs, and a count of the number of ACEs in the ACL. An ACL may have one or more ACEs, with each ACE including a permission access type, such as allowed, denied, or other relevant access types.
An ACE entry may contain members that specify the type of the ACE, the action to be taken when the ACE is matched, and a description of the "match condition" for the ACE. The match condition is generally represented as a value and mask for certain fields in a packet header, although other match conditions are possible, such as specifying a numerical range of allowable values for some field in the packet header. Each ACE also specifies a "continuation" action that is used when a packet matches the ACE's match condition. There are two possible values for the continuation condition: "terminate" and "skip". If the action is "terminate" then processing stops immediately and subsequent ACLs are not considered. If the action is "skip," then the action associated with the current ACL is taken and processing resumes at the next ACL in the ACL list, looking for the first matching ACE in that list. The continuation is not generally specified directly by the user; rather, it is typically an implied property based on the specific Action type of the ACE. A "Security Deny" action in the prior art has an implied continuation action of "terminate" to indicate that the packet should be summarily dropped and no further action should be taken. An ACE whose action is "Security Permit and Log" would have a continuation action of "skip" to indicate that processing should continue with the next ACL in the ACL list. The "skip" continuation action is used to allow multiple higher-level functions (for example, security logging and redirection to a web cache) to be applied to a single packet.
An ACE entry may further be limited to four parts, such as a test, an action, an action continuation, and a "hit counter" type statistics parameter. A test may be a Boolean expression specified in terms of the fields in a packet, for example, the Boolean expression may be a field in a packet header such as the IP source address destination address and a port number, for a higher layer protocol such as TCP or UDP. The test returns a true or false. An action on an ACE may include dropping a packet immediately, permitting a packet to be forwarded, or redirecting a packet to some element of a router or to a separate device for special processing such as encryption, logging of the packet, translating network addresses, or performing intrusion detection. An element of a router that performs the special processing may be, for example, a line card, a processor, or an external device.
ACLs provide for a packet filtering capability. An ACL specifies a set of tests to be applied to a packet and an associated action or set of actions to be taken when a test returns true. The packet filtering capability is used, among other things, to enforce a security policy that prevents unwanted or unsafe packets from passing through a network device where the ACL has been applied. An ACL can be used to restrict or grant access to the packets sent to or from a particular user, network host, group of users, or group of network hosts. In one respect, ACLs are ordered sets of ACEs. Several ACLs may be instantiated at the same time with the same ACE appearing in two different ACLs because ACEs are not shared between ACLs. The sequence in which ACLs are applied is determined according to a plurality of methods. In general, for example, a sequence of ACLs must apply "skip" entries in the ACL that direct skipping to a next ACL to look for a matching entry.
Referring to FIG. 1, a diagram 100 illustrates the relation between ACLs and ACEs. Each ACL is given a name 110. Each ACL 120, 130 and 140 includes a plurality of ACEs. ACL 120 includes ACEs 150(1); ACL 130 includes ACES 150(2); and ACL 140 includes ACEs 150(3).
A Content Addressable Memory (CAM) may be used to process ACLs. A CAM is a specialized memory device that is used for fast searches of data stored therein. In some networking systems, CAMs are used for a plurality of purposes. For example, a CAM may be used to store a switch port associated with a specific IEEE 802.3 host address in an IEEE 802.1d bridge. Additionally, a CAM can be configured to receive data representing Action Control Lists (ACLs) and operate on them. Generally, a CAM's architecture includes a table of memory cells to store data and control logic to search and compare the data in the table. To search for data, a system provides the data to be searched and the control logic of the CAM performs the search and provides search results to the system. Two types of CAMs are binary CAMs and Ternary CAMs (TCAMs). A binary CAM searches for and recognizes data that is comprised of bits that can have two states, 0 and 1. In general a TCAM searches for and recognizes three states: 0, 1, and X ("don't care"). Also, TCAMs can be configured to search for matching entries in a network environment. For example, if provided a pattern of 0s and 1s, the TCAM can search for a matching entry. Each entry in a TCAM may be individually configured such that different degrees of a match are acceptable, i.e., such that some of the bits of the entries are "don't care" bits, thereby allowing the TCAM to ignore some of the fields in the packet while matching an entry.
A TCAM is one type of CAM that provides hardware support for evaluating ACLs. Prior to being stored in a TCAM, however, ACLs require processing and reorganization. Translating multiple ACLs presents difficulties for matching entries using a TCAM, which matches a binary string presented as an input with each row of the TCAM. In particular, an important translation that must happen is that a sequence of ACLs must be translated into an equivalent single ACL due to the inability of a TCAM to process a "skip" entry. TCAMs do not support skipping over a section of the TCAM to continue processing later in the TCAM. An ACL with an ACE providing for such a "skip" requires that any remaining action in an ACL be skipped and the next ACL on an interface be processed. Examples of ACE entries that are skip entries include a permit entry on a security-type ACL, such an entry may have an associated action, for example "permit log," indicating to permit the packet for further processing and to record in a packet "log" that this packet arrived. In contrast, a "deny" ACE in a security-type ACL or a "permit" ACE in a feature-type ACL are types of "terminal" ACLs. A terminal ACE terminates processing immediately with some action when a match is detected. Prior art methods of merging ACEs of one or more ACLs lose the ability to track the number of matches detected by the TCAM related to the original ACLs, along with other statistics related to any user-specified ACLs. For purposes of this disclosure, "statistics" refers to data concerning the operation of an ACL and the ACE entries therein. For example, as one of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate, a known statistic is the data stored in a "hit counter" or "match counter" and variations of a "hit counter," for example, a counter of matches within a particular time period or a counter of bytes.
The speed at which the ACL comparison can be done is often a key factor in determining the overall packet forwarding rate of a router. For example, according to prior art methods, if a router applies two ACLs to every packet, then the router requires either two TCAMs operating in parallel or every packet must be passed twice through a single TCAM. Neither of the prior art solutions are efficient because using a same TCAM twice per packet effectively halves the forwarding rate of the device. And, requiring two TCAMs dramatically increases hardware costs of the router by requiring an extra TCAM and associated board space, increased power usage, and increased pin count.
Thus, there is a need to combine ACLs into a single ACL that preserves statistics and the order in which the ACEs are performed. What is needed is a system and method that transforms a plurality of ACLs into a single ACL and efficiently reduces the number of actions performed and takes into account the statistics of the ACLs.

Statistics-preserving ACL flattening system and method


A new and improved trailer coupler for connecting a trailer to a ball hitch mounted on a towing vehicle comprising a housing having a recessed socket, a retractable latching plate, a locking mechanism, an access port, a visual indicator, and an alarm system for indicating coupling and decoupling.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to trailer couplers. More particularly, the present invention is a new and improved trailer coupler that automatically locks in place when attached, provides for a visual inspection that coupler is locked into position, can be remotely unlocked for release, universally accepts all diameter ball hitches, and provides an electronic sensor for determining engagement status.
2. Description of the Known Prior Art
Many coupling devices have been developed for providing a connection between a towing vehicle and a trailer. Typically, a spherical ball is mated to a socket receiver in a male-female style trailer hitch. A popular variety uses a long, vertical sheathing attached to a female portion of the coupler, often referred to as gooseneck or neckover couplers. These types of couplers are often mated to a ball hitch mounted to a vehicle, such as pick-up trucks, in the middle of the vehicle's bed as opposed to a ball hitch generally located on the end of the vehicle near or on the rear bumper.
In operation, a trailer with a gooseneck attachment is positioned over the ball mounted in the bed of the vehicle and then lowered onto the ball. The socket receiver should, generally, have a slightly larger diameter than the ball so that the receiver fully engages or mates with the ball. Generally, once the trailer is mated to the vehicle, a separate manual operation must be performed to insure that the ball is locked into the receiving socket so that the receiver is no longer free to disengage from the ball.
In the prior art, when a ball is mounted in the middle of the bed of a pickup, the operator must get into the back of the vehicle to perform the manual operation of locking the coupler. Due to the configuration of most towing vehicles, this requires the operator to climb over the side of the bed or attempt to climb up the back gated portion where the trailer is now positioned. This practice leads to potential for an injury to the operator. Furthermore, when the operator desires to remove the trailer from the towing vehicle, the operator must once again climb into the bed of the vehicle to unlock the coupler for disengagement.
Also, it is not uncommon in the prior art for the operator, who has lowered the receiver onto the ball, to believe that the coupler is locked in when the opposite is true. Unfortunately, this leads to potentially dangerous situations where the trailer disengages while being towed.
Some of these shortcomings in the prior art also similarly apply to conventional trailer hitches mounted on the rear of a vehicle without a gooseneck assembly. Furthermore, in the prior art standard trailer hitches that use a mating system of a ball attached to the rear of a vehicle such as behind or on the rear bumper often require the locking mechanism to also act as a supporting function and sometimes even a pulling function. These configurations may be extremely difficult to operate and require substantial effort to lock or unlock.
Furthermore, many of these prior art hitches may be placed in a latched configuration but a separate manual operation is required to lock the device in the latched configuration. If a person fails to take the extra step of locking the device, then a potentially dangerous situation may exist.
Still further, theft is a common concern for individuals who use trailers due to the very nature of the easily transportable devices and cost thereof. It is a common consideration of trailer users, that even though the towing vehicle may have anti-theft systems, that there is no readily available means to determine if the trailer has been disconnected in an attempted theft. What is needed is an alarm or notification system that provides a user or owner of the trailer when an undesired decoupling has occurred through theft, accident or otherwise. Likewise, it is also desirable to know if a trailer that is not hooked to a towing vehicle is coupled to an unauthorized vehicle.
Thus, there is a need for a self locking trailer coupler which provides for an automatic locking, a visual indicator that the coupler is locked in position, a remote release for unlocking said coupler, and a coupler that may universally accept multiple diameter ball hitches.


A vehicle seat including: a back frame that forms a framework of a seat back; a back pad including a cushion material attached to a seated person side of the back frame; a back cover that covers a seated person side of the back pad; and an airbag unit that is attached to the back frame, the airbag unit including an airbag, wherein a break portion that allows the airbag to expand and deploy is formed to the back cover, wherein a fabric member that is difficult to stretch than the back cover is disposed between the break portion and the back frame, and wherein a buffer member that prevents damage due to abutment is attached to a portion of the fabric member which may abut with a part of the back frame in a process in which the airbag is expanded and deployed.

In related art, there is known a vehicle seat of a vehicle in which an airbag unit is disposed inside a seat back, and when an impact load is applied to the vehicle from a side of the vehicle, an airbag of the airbag unit is expanded and deployed to an outside of the seat back to protect a body of a seated occupant. JP-A-2017-121869 discloses this type of vehicle seat, in which the airbag unit is disposed on a back side of a back pad, and the back pad on a front side of the airbag unit is provided with a through hole serving as an expansion path of the airbag. A back cover that covers the back pad of such vehicle seat is provided in a tensioned state, and a sewn line portion that is broken by the expansion and deployment of the airbag is disposed along the through hole. In the vicinity of the sewn line portion, a stay cloth, which is a low-stretch cloth having a function of preventing stretching of the back cover in an initial stage of the expansion and deployment of the airbag so as to reliably open the sewn line portion, is sewn.
In the technique described in JP-A-2017-121869, the airbag unit is attached to a seated person side of a back pan made of a resin plate which is attached to the seated person side of a metal back frame. A pair of stay clothes are disposed around the airbag unit so as to connect between the sewn line portion of the back cover and a bracket fixing the airbag unit to the back pan. Here, when the airbag is expanded and deployed, the stay clothes do not come into contact with metal parts such as a back frame. However, there is a possibility that a part of the stay clothes may come into contact with the back frame when the airbag is expanded and deployed, for example, in a case where one end portion side of the stay cloth is directly attached to the back frame. In such a case, if the back frame includes a sharp edge portion, there is a problem that when the airbag is expanded and deployed, the stay clothes may be damaged by the sharp edge portion, and the function of the stay clothes may not be sufficiently exerted.


A bracket for holding a disk drive or other subassembly in a chassis may have a pair of rails that lie under the disk drive when the disk drive is coupled to the bracket. A bracket assembly may include an injector pivotably coupled to a base of the bracket. The injector may include a pin that engages a slot in the chassis to urge the bracket assembly into the chassis. The injector and base may, include latch elements for latching the injector to the base. A latch element of the base may be integrally formed with a body of the base.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally electronic equipment, such as computers, and, more particularly, to a bracket for mounting assemblies such as disk drives in a chassis.
2. Background Information
Electronic equipment, such as computer systems, often includes subassemblies and components, such as disk drives, that are mounted in a chassis or enclosure. Various types of assemblies are used for mounting such components. Some enclosures may accommodate multiple disk drives in adjacent positions in a chassis (vertically or horizontally). Space may be required between each of the drives for the mounting hardware, such as rails, guides, and brackets. For example, if two or more disk drives having left and right side rails and guides are placed side by side in a horizontal row, space is required between the disk drives for the rails and guides. The spacing requirements of the mounting rails and guides may limit the number of disk drives that can be placed in a given width. For example, a standard size rack width may be about 19 inches. If the width of a disk drive is about 4 inches and each disk drive requires 1 inch of additional width for mounting hardware, then no more than three disk drives (5 inches per drive times 3 drives) may fit in a single horizontal row of the rack.
A leading edge of a disk drive assembly may include an electrical connector portion (e.g., a plug) that couples with a corresponding electrical connector portion (e.g., a socket) at the rear of the chassis. When the disk drive is positioned for insertion into the chassis, the connector portions may not be visible to the installer. If a disk drive is rapidly inserted into the chassis or inserted with excessive force, the contacts may be damaged (e.g., pins may be bent or permanently deformed). In addition, an installer may have limited feedback in determining whether the connectors are fully engaged.
It would be beneficial to have a bracket for a disk drive that consumes minimal space on the sides of the disk drive. It would further be beneficial to have an injector for a disk drive system that facilitates insertion of the disk drive assembly at a measured speed and indicates to a user whether the disk drive is installed. It would be further beneficial to have a bracket in which multiple elements are formed as a single unit.


A spontaneously immortalized human keratinocyte cell line is disclosed. In a preferred embodiment, this cell line is ATCC 12191. In another embodiment of the invention, a method of assaying the effect of a test tumor cell modulation agent is disclosed. The method comprises the steps of obtaining a human stratified squamous epithelial cell culture, wherein the culture comprises human malignant squamous epithelial cells and spontaneously immortalized human keratinocytes, wherein the culture forms a reconstituted epidermis. One then treats the epidermis with a test tumor cell modulation agent and evaluates the growth of the malignant cells within the epidermis.

Human keratinocytes isolated from stratified squamous epithelia can be readily cultivated in vitro (reviewed in Leigh, et al., 1994). Cultivated keratinocytes replicate readily during early passage and can generate large numbers of cells which exhibit certain features of squamous differentiation in vivo. When cultured normal human keratinocytes are transplanted onto mice, epidermal tissue architecture is regenerated over time in an orderly fashion (Breitkreutz, et al., 1997). The ease of cultivation and transplantation of human keratinocytes coupled with the accessibility of skin for the grafting procedure and subsequent monitoring, make this somatic cell type attractive for therapeutic gene delivery. However, due to the initiation of terminal differentiation, transgene expression in keratinocytes is consistently lost regardless of the gene expression strategy used. Several reports have shown that genetically engineered human keratinocytes can recapitulate full thickness epidermis, thus demonstrating that cells with stem cell-like properties were present in the transplanted population of cells (Choate and Khavari, 1997; Choate, et al., 1996; Gerrard, et al., 1993; Garlick, et al., 1991; Greenhalgh, et al., 1994; Vogel, 1993, Fenjves, 1994).
In Vitro Tissue Culture Assays Utilizing Human Cells Derived from Stratified Squamous Epithelia
In vitro assays using monolayer cultures of adherent cells which maintain the normal in vivo tissue context do not exist for human tissues. Animal models do have the capacity to mimic some of the processes involved in the response of human tissue therapies. However, animal systems lend themselves only to qualitative and subjective scoring of tumor repopulation. Historically, simple in vitro growth assays have used monolayer cultures of rodent or human cell lines on plastic tissue culture dishes. Colony size or cell number are assessed in order to estimate the extent of survival and repopulation of cancer cells following radiation treatment. A major drawback of this approach is that it does not account for any adhesive or paracrine growth factor signals within the tumor cell environment. For this reason, studies on the growth of tumor cells in the absence of normal surrounding tissue may not accurately reflect the in vivo growth characteristics of tumor cells.
For example, human head and neck (HandN) tumors are diagnosed in 43,000 patients in the United States every year and in over 750,000 patients worldwide. Although tumor recurrence near the site of the primary tumor is the predominant cause of treatment failure and death for these patients, little is know about the molecular events contributing to tumor regrowth following treatment. Clinical and radiobiological evidence suggests that tumor proliferation rates may actually increase following wounding due to radiation exposure (Hall, E. J., 1988; Petereit, D. G., et al., 1995). It has been suggested that the wound environment provides potent tumor growth signals (Haddow, A., 1972). For example, extracellular matrix (ECM) glycoproteins present in the wound bed provide and/or sequester potent growth stimuli required for normal tissue regeneration. It is clear from these observations that the tissue context in which a tumor initially develops and/or regrows following failed cancer treatment may have significant impact on tumor growth.
Needed in the art of cell biology is a spontaneously immortalized human keratinocyte cell line with near normal chromosomal complement and a method for using this immortalized cell line in an in vitro tissue assay.
In one embodiment, the present invention is an immortalized human keratinocyte cell line, wherein the cell line comprises a normal chromosomal complement of 46 with the exception of an extra isochromosome on the long arm of chromosome 8. In one particularly advantageous embodiment, the cell line is ATCC CRL 12191.
In another embodiment, the present invention is a transgenic immortalized human keratinocyte cell line transfected with a heterologous gene. This gene may be a marker gene, most preferably green fluorescent protein (GFP).
The present invention is also a method of assaying the effect of a test tumor cell therapeutic agent by obtaining a human stratified squamous epithelial cell culture comprising malignant squamous epithelial cells, preferably human squamous carcinoma cells (SCC), and spontaneously immortalized human keratinocytes. This culture is then formed into a reconstructed epidermis. One may then treat the epidermis with a test tumor cell therapeutic agent and evaluate the growth of the SCC within the epidermis.
It is an advantage of the present invention that an immortalized keratinocyte cell line is provided.
Other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent after review of the specification, claims and drawings.

Immortalized human keratinocyte cell line


An automatic roll changer including a reel stand having a holder. At least one roll of material is rotatably mounted in that holder. A transport device is provided for transporting either at least one new material roll or at least one spent reel casing from which the material originally on the reel casing has been at least partially unwound. The transport device is adapted to more transversely to the longitudinal axes of the mounted material reel and underneath the reel stand.

Roll changers are typically employed in connection with web-fed rotary printing, for example, and are used for feeding a web of material, for example a paper web, to a printing press. In web-fed rotary printing, the web of material to be imprinted is unwound from a roll of material. This roll of material is rotatably seated in the roll changer, and it is necessary to maintain a sufficient paper tension in the web when pulling the web of material off the roll of material. When a roll of material becomes almost exhausted, i.e. the web of material wound on the roll of material is substantially unwound, this exhausting or depleted roll of material must be replaced by another fresh roll of material. Therefore, at least two separate holders, for seating two separate rolls of material are provided in roll changers. A roll change from the old or exhausting roll to the new or fresh roll of material can be performed by a manual roll change while the press is stopped. Alternatively, this roll change can be accomplished by a flying roll change, or by a stopped roll change with a web storage device. As soon as the old web of material has been replaced by the fresh web of material, the spent core of the old roll of material is removed from the holder of the roll changer to make room for a fresh roll of material for the next roll change. In other words, following each roll change it is necessary to remove an unwound spent core from the roll changer.
The removal of the spent cores can be performed manually by the operator at the roll changer. If the removal of the used-up cores is intended to be performed automatically, a suitable logistic arrangement for the spent cores in required. It is known in the prior art to transport spent core containers to the roll changer following a roll change. The supply tracks, on which the fresh rolls of material are being transported to the roll changers, are also used for transporting the spent core containers. As a result, it is necessary to provide for the supply of the roll changers with fresh rolls of material and for the removal of wound-off spent cores from the roll changers on a common supply track. This can lead to interferences with the production process, in particular with more complex press lines.
DE 196 11 494 A1 discloses an unwinding system for wound rolls. The spent cores are moved out of the roll changer in their longitudinal direction.
WO 95/20537 A1 shows a roll changer, with an additional lifting arrangement for spent rolls inside the roll changer.
DE 78 17 607 U1 describes an arrangement for suspending and removing bales of material by the use of a carrier driven by a revolving chain.
EP 0 454 634 A2 shows a revolving transport chain for bringing fresh cores to a winding machine.
DE 42 15 739 C2 describes a crane-like arrangement for transporting cores from a storage trough to a container.
A transport cart with a lifting device for a spent roll receiver is known from GB 2 191 967 A.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,934,604 discloses a roll changer with a roll stand, in whose holder at least one roll of material is rotatably seated, and with a first transport device for transporting at least one fresh roll of material. A second transport device is arranged for removing an at least partially unwound spent core. The second transport device is passed through underneath the roll stand transversely with respect to the longitudinal axis of the installed roll of material.
JP 10-120258 A shows a roll changer where the removal of the spent core takes place in approximately the lowest position of the holders of the roll changer.

Automatic reel changer comprising a reel stand and a method for disposing of residual reel casings


In one embodiment, the present invention includes a method for injecting a gain compensation value into a signal path of a receiver for a predetermined time when a change to a control value for an amplifier of the receiver occurs. This gain compensation value may be used to at least substantially remove a gain change caused by the change to the control value, improving audio performance by reducing or removing audible artifacts caused by the gain change.

Radio receivers such as AM and frequency modulation (FM) receivers are well known and are pervasive. Conventionally, these receivers have been formed of analog circuitry to receive an incoming radio frequency (RF) signal, downconvert the signal, and demodulate the downconverted signal to obtain an audio signal for output. Typically, the circuitry for AM and FM receivers, even in a combined radio, includes separate dedicated paths for AM and FM operation. While such analog-based circuitry may perform well, the area associated with this analog circuitry typically exceeds that used for digital circuitry, and the analog receivers typically include many discrete components. In contrast, digital circuitry is generally available in ever-decreasing sizes, as the benefits of advanced semiconductor processes provide for greater integration benefits. Furthermore, the cost of digital integrated circuits (ICs) is generally less than corresponding analog circuitry.
Accordingly, some radio receivers are being designed to incorporate greater amounts of digital circuitry. While such circuitry may improve performance and can be formed in small packages, typically there are complexities in processing RF signals that require significant digital processing to match the relatively simple circuitry of an analog receiver.
Additional issues exist in radio receivers. Some radio receivers include circuitry such as an automatic gain control (AGC) circuit to adjust an output level to an appropriate reference level. Because the incoming signal for an AM receiver is an AM modulated signal, any gain changes that occur rapidly (i.e., within the audible bandwidth of approximately 100 Hertz (Hz)-20 kHz) may produce undesirable noise such as in the form of audible artifacts, clicks and so forth. Accordingly, AGC circuits generally adjust gain continuously and slowly.
A receiver can include multiple amplifiers or other gain blocks, both analog and digital, within different portions of a signal processing path. While control for digital gain blocks can be adjusted slowly enough to reduce audible artifacts below a desired level, changes to analog gain blocks may occur instantaneously, producing undesired audible artifacts. Using numerous small steps that can be slowly controlled to adjust analog gain blocks may reduce these audible artifacts. However, such designs lead to excessive complexity and control, increased die size and greater power consumption.


A new covered landfill or remediated waste containment cell having an excavated bottom surface, lined with a watertight liner and a leak detection system for determining whether or not leakage has occurred, either from the top, or from the bottom. The cover over the landfill containment cell substantially prevents rainwater from coming in the top, and the liner stops water from erupting up from the bottom. This containment cell allows a method of storing waste in an essentially non-contaminating manner, thereby providing an environmentally sound procedure and apparatus for storing toxic wastes. This containment cell is particularly suitable for remediating old leaking landfill sites within a short distance of the old site.

In the past, storage of waste including garbage and other materials in landfills has created problems. As rain falls on the top of the piled-up garbage and other materials, those materials become wet and create leachate from the rain water and the materials which have been "leached" out of the garbage. This leachate generally contains many of the undesirable toxic materials that were contained in the waste. Old landfills were placed into gravel pits or other open areas that were already excavated into the earth. These gravel pits were especially undesirable because the water from the rain falling down carried toxic materials from the landfill materials, reaching and contaminating the aquafer line underneath the gravel bed. The toxic materials that are carried into the aquafer from the landfill garbage have created huge environmental problems in our water table, sometimes requiring remediation.
As many of the landfill sites have been placed next to riverbeds throughout the entire United States, the leachate which is produced from the rain in combination with the landfill materials has flown into the rivers, which are the water intake sources for many of America's largest cities.
Modern day landfills have been placed on non-porous clay beds lined with heavy non-porous liner materials in order to alleviate the problems of leachate draining directly into our waterways. However, as the earth shifts, these clay beds experience fissures and other forms of cracks therein. Consequently, although the modern day landfills are not nearly as offensive as the old-time gravel pit bed landfills, they are nevertheless still very dangerous to the environment. Some of the dangers which become a problem include noxious fumes and odors, scavenger birds, and rodents, all of which have the potential to cause various health hazards.
Therefore, it would be of great advantage to the environment to create an odor free, water tight, leak proof, waste storage containment cell for storing our waste in an environmentally correct storage situation.
Furthermore, it would be of great advantage to provide such a storage containment system which will allow us to try and identify the stored materials in their respective discrete containers in case those materials may have a use for some industry in the future. The containment storage units would be advantageously located so that they may be retrieved at a later date.

Waste storage containment cell, method of operating, and apparatus therefore


Antagonistic peptides of prostaglandin E2 receptor subtype EP4 and their use in the treatment or prevention of medical conditions associated with oligouric nephropathy, bone resorption, abnormal intestinal crypt cell proliferation or patency of the ductus arteriosus and the like are provided herein. The antagonistic peptides of the present invention can include the following formula:X-A-RnYm wherein “X” is a hydrogen atom or an amine protecting group producing a carbamate or an amide when reacting with the amine; “A” is L-(4,4′)-biphenylalanine or D-(4,4′)-biphenylalanine; “R” is an amino acid selected from the group consisting of threonine, serine, tyrosine, glutamic acid, alanine, leucine and glycine; “Y” is lysine; “n” is an integer ranging from 5 to 7; and “m” is an integer ranging from 0 to 2.

Prostaglandins are derived from the oxygenation of arachidonic acid by prostaglandin (PG) synthases. Prostaglandins mediate a wide variety of physiological actions, such as vasomotricity, sleep/wake cycle, intestinal secretion, lipolysis, glomerular filtration, mast cell degranulation, neurotransmission, platelet aggregation, leuteolysis, myometrial contraction and labor, inflammation and arthritis, patent ductus arteriosus, cell growth and differentiation. Prostanoids mediate their actions through binding to distinct receptors which belong to the super family of rhodopsin-like seven transmembrane helical receptors. These receptors are coupled to heterotrimeric G-proteins comprised of α, β and γ subunits which, upon activation, elicit alterations in cell calcium, initiate phosphoinositide hydrolysis, or promotion or repression of cyclic adenosine monophosphate synthesis (Narumiya, S. et al. 1999; Physiol. Rev. 79: 1193-1226.).
Of the five pharmacologically-distinct prostanoid receptors PGE2, PGI2, PGD2, PGF2α, and TxA2, four subtypes of PGE2 receptor are described (Ichikawa, et al. 1996). These are EP1, EP2, EP3, which have several splice variants, and EP4. Cloned human EP4 (also known as prostaglandin E2 receptor subtype EP4) is a 488 amino acid glycoprotein, linked to GαS, and is involved in the stimulation of adenylate cyclase and cAMP synthesis (U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,759,789 and 5,605,814). The EP4 receptor is expressed at high levels in the intestine, but at much lower levels in the lung, kidney, thymus, uterus and brain (Bastien, Y. et al. 1994; J. Biol. Chem. 269 (16): 11873-77). The EP4 receptor is involved in fluid filtration in the kidney, differentiation of monocyte/macrophage precursors into osteoclasts, proliferation of intestinal crypt cells, and patency of ductus arteriosus in the mammalian fetus.
PGE2 is abundantly produced in the kidneys and is involved in the regulation of renal microcirculation, salt and water transport, and renin release (Breyer, M. D. et al. 1998; Kidney Int. 54 (Suppl. 67): S88-94). All EP receptors are regionally distributed in the kidney structures (Morath, R. et al. 1999; J. Am. Soc. Nephrol. 10: 1851-60) and are associated with specific functions. All studies conducted on the distribution of EP receptors in the kidneys have shown that the EP4 receptor is uniquely expressed in glomeruli (Breyer, M. D. et al. 1996; Am. J. Physiol. 270: F912-918. Morath, R. et al. 1999; J. Am. Soc. Nephrol. 10: 1851-60). However, the presence of this receptor in other structures of the nephron, such as the collecting duct (Breyer, M. D. et al. 1998; Kidney Int. 54 (Suppl. 67): S88-94), the media of renal arteries and vasa recta (Morath, R. et al. 1999; J. Am. Soc. Nephrol. 10: 1851-60) has been separately reported. EP4 transcripts have also been found in juxtaglomerular granule cells, and is consistent with PGE2-induced cAMP synthesis in these cells. EP4 may therefore also play a role in renin secretion.
Glomerular prostaglandins are thought to affect filtration (Schlondoff, D. et al., 1987; Kidney Int. 29: 108-19) and renin release. PGE2 increases cAMP levels in isolated glomeruli (Freidlander, G. et al., 1983; Mol. Cell. Endocrinol. 30: 201-214). It was suggested that the EP4 receptor coupled to cAMP synthesis, may regulate glomerular filtration (Sugimoto, Y. et al. 1994; Am. J. Physiol. 266(5 Pt 2):F823-8). Using small molecule antagonists (Kohno, Y. et al. WO 00/16760) and peptide antagonists (Peri, K. G. et al. WO 00/01445), a direct role of the EP4 receptor in modulating kidney filtration and urine output has been demonstrated.
Bones undergo continuous remodeling, wherein bone formation is carried out by osteoblasts and bone resorption is carried out by osteoclasts. These processes are controlled by several humoral factors such as parathyroid hormone, estradiol, vitamin D, cytokines, growth factors and prostaglandins. It has been illustrated that osteoclast induction by interleukin-1 (IL-1) is inhibited by aspirin-like drugs (Tai, H. et al. 1997). PGE2 analogues with EP4 receptor agonistic activity (no specific agonists or antagonists to this receptor exist to date) promote osteoclast formation in co-cultures of mouse osteoblasts and bone marrow cells. Similar experiments using cells from EP4-knockout mice resulted in reduced osteoclast formation, suggesting a role of the EP4 receptor in osteoclastogenesis in mice (Narumiya et al. 1999).
The ductus arteriosus is a normal large, low resistance, shunt vessel in fetuses, facilitating the bypass of blood towards the lungs. Since the fetus does not use its lungs (oxygen is provided through the mother's placenta), fetal lungs are collapsed and pose a high resistance to blood flow. Hence, blood flows from the right ventricle through the ductus into the descending aorta. High levels of circulating prostaglandins, particularly PGE2, keep the ductus in the foots open. When the infant is born, the lungs are inflated, the pulmonary resistance drops, PGE2 levels decrease, the ductus begins to close, and blood from the pulmonary artery thus enters into the lungs. The high levels of oxygen in the new born often close the ductus, in most cases within 24 hours. Patent Ductus Arteriosus (PDA) is the condition wherein the ductus doesn't close. In cases of PDA, morbidity and mortality rates are directly related to the flow volume through the ductus arteriosus. A large PDA may cause pulmonary hypertension, edema, recurrent infections, and may lead to congestive heart failure, if left untreated over long periods. Development of pulmonary vascular obstructive disease may occur. It is estimated that if left untreated, the mortality rate is 20% by the age of 20, 42% by the age of 45, and 60% by the age of 60. Females are 2 to 3 times more likely than males to develop PDA.
PDA can be treated either by drugs such as Indomethacin, which is a prostaglandin synthesis blocker, or by corrective surgery. Indomethacin, however, has side effects on renal ischemia and renal hypofusion, resulting in ischemic renal failure in preterm infants. EP4 is expressed in fetal pig (Bhattacharya, M. et al. 1999; Circulation 100(16): 1751-6), fetal lamb (Bouayad, A. et al., 2001; Am. J. Physiol. Heart Cir.c Physiol. 280(5); H2342-9) and fetal baboon (Smith G. C. et al., 2001; J. Cardiovasc. Pharmacol. 37(6): 697-704) ductus arteriosus. Paradoxically, EP4 knock-out mice die after birth due to insufficient closure of ductus arteriosus (Nguyen, M. et al. 1997; Nature, 390: 78-81).
A selective peptidic antagonist of the EP4 receptor has been used in the treatment of fetal ductus arteriosus (Peri, K. G. et al., WO 00/01445 and Wright, D. H. et al. Am. J. Physiol. Regul. Integr. Comp. Physiol. 2001; 281 (5): R1343-60).
Prostaglandins, particularly PGE2, play an important role in intestinal crypt cell proliferation. In fact, the inducible prostaglandin synthesizing enzyme COX-2 was shown to be present in intestinal polyps, as well as in colon tumors (Shattuck-Brandt, R. L. et al., 1999; Mol. Carcinog. 24(3): 177-87). COX-2 selective blockers such as Nimesulide were used to prevent chemical induction of colon carcinogenesis (Jacoby, R. F. et al. 2000; Cancer Res. 60(18): 5040-4). Recently, the actions of PGE2 have been shown to be mediated by the EP4 receptor, as deduced from the low incidence of colon polyps in EP4−/− mice, due to azoxymethane and the efficacy of the EP4 selective antagonist ONO-AE2-227 in reducing aberrant crypt foci in azoxymethane-treated min mice (Mutoh, M. et al. 2002; Cancer Res. 62(1): 28-32).
There thus remains a need to develop selective peptide antagonists of the prostaglandin E2 receptor subtype EP4 and peptidomimetics thereof. More specifically, there remains a need to develop selective peptide antagonists of the prostaglandin E2 receptor subtype EP4 useful in the treatment and prevention of colon carcinogenesis, treating end-stage renal disease, acute renal failure and other conditions of renal insufficiency preventing bone resorption in osteoporosis, in addition to conditions preventing closing of the ductus (PDA) in the neonates.
The present invention seeks to meet these and other needs.
The present description refers to a number of documents, the content of which is herein incorporated by reference in their entirety.


A system, method and computer program product for annotating a computer program. The method includes applying a program checking tool to the computer program to produce one or more warnings, mapping one of the warnings into an annotation modification, and modifying the computer program in accordance with the annotation modification. These steps are repeated until the program checking tool produces no warnings that are suitable for mapping into an annotation modification. The resulting modified computer program is then provided to a user for use or further development.

The purpose of a program checking tool is to analyze a given computer program to determine whether or not it has certain desirable properties. Program checking tools, often called program checkers, are specific examples of verification systems that can also be used to analyze hardware components, formulae, algorithms, or, more generally, behavioral designs.
A good program checking tool has the property that the warnings it produces are informative and easy for a designer to understand. An informative warning message should, ideally, include a characterization of each possible defect (e.g., "array index out of bounds", "timing constraint not satisfied", "race condition", "deadlock", "failure to establish invariant") and a source location in the computer program where the verification system tried, but failed, to show the absence of the defect (e.g., "line 218 of file 'ABC.source'"). If a warning message is informative and easy to understand, the designer can more easily determine whether a warning is real or spurious, and what its cause is. The designer can then act accordingly, correcting the program at the source of the problem, or ignoring the warning, possibly annotating the program so that the warning will be suppressed next time the program checking tool is run. The cost of a programming error can be greatly reduced if it is detected early in the development process.
Dynamic, or run-time, checkers are a class of authoring tools that perform program checking functions and generate execution traces by executing or simulating the execution of the computer program in question. An example of such a tool is Eraser (S. Savage, M. Burrows, G. Nelson, P. Sobalvarro, and T. E. Anderson, "Eraser: A Dynamic Data Race Detector for Multithreaded Programming," ACM Transactions on Computer Systems, 15(4):391–411, (1997)).
In general, the use of run-time checkers entails a number of disadvantages: there may be an overhead to their use, i.e., the program to be checked may make intensive use of expensive resources or may use resources not available to the run-time checker; some errors in the program may only manifest themselves under certain run-time conditions, such as certain values of the initial parameters, and thus may not be discovered by the run-time checker; and some errors may be non-reproducible.
By contrast, static checkers catch errors at compile time without executing the program and are valuable because they can be applied throughout the development cycle. A common example of a static checker is a type checker, which detects errors such as the application of a function to inappropriate argument values. An example of a static checker is PREfix (available from Intrinsa Corp., (1998)), Testbed Studio, (available from BiZZdesign BV, P.O. Box 321, 7500 AH Enschede, of The Netherlands; see also www.BiZZdesign.com/products/products.html). Another static checker is the Compaq Extended Static Checker for Java ("ESC/Java"), which checks for additional errors that are not caught by traditional type systems, such as dereferencing a null pointer, indexing an array outside its bounds, or accessing a shared variable without holding its protecting lock. ESC/Java uses an underlying automatic theorem prover to precisely reason about whether or not these kinds of errors can occur.
Static checkers generally rely on the programmer to supply annotations. The computer program may be annotated by a developer to indicate aspects that may not be apparent to the checker, or to impose restraints on how the program operates, or to describe program properties such as invariants. The annotations may permit the program checking tool to find defects using a local (modular) analysis, because the annotations provide a specification of other parts of the program. In modular checking, the static program checker analyses one program module at a time, where a module may be a function, subroutine or some suitable compartment of the program. During such a modular analysis, the program checking tool verifies that the supplied annotations are consistent with the program. The presence of the annotations guides the checking process, thus making the checking problem conceptually and computationally simpler.
For example, conventional type checkers follow this modular approach and rely on type annotations to guide the type checking process. Similarly, static race detection checkers, like rccjava (Flanagan, C., and Freund, S. N., "Type-based race detection for Java," PLDI'00, ACM SIGPLAN Notices, 35(5):219–232, May 2000) rely on annotations describing the locking discipline. Additionally, extended static checkers like ESC/Modula-3 (Detlefs, D. L., Leino, K. R. M., Nelson, G., and Saxe, J. B., "Extended Static Checking," Research Report 159, Compaq Systems Research Center, December 1998) and ESC/Java (see www.research.compaq.com/SRC/esc/Esc.html) are modular checkers whose annotations include preconditions, postconditions, and object invariants.
The main costs in using a program checking tool, from the perspective of the programmer, comprise annotating the program, waiting for the tool to complete its analysis, and interpreting the tool's output. Often the dominant cost of using a program checking tool is annotating the program, especially for large legacy programs, because of the number of special constraints and conditions that need to be conveyed to the program checking tool via annotations.
Thus, a limitation of the modular checking approach is the burden on the programmer to supply annotations. Although programmers have grown accustomed to writing type annotations, they have been reluctant to provide additional annotations. This reluctance has been the major obstacle to the adoption of modular checkers like ESC/Java and rccjava. The burden of introducing annotations appears particularly pronounced when faced with the daunting task of applying such a checker to existing (unannotated) code bases. Preliminary experience with ESC/Java has indicated that a programmer can annotate an existing unannotated program at the rate of at most a few hundred lines per hour, though a lower rate is more usual if the programmer is unfamiliar with the code.
Some prior attempts at solving this problem have focused on modifying the program checking tool to eliminate the need for annotations altogether. An example of this approach is the abstract interpreter Syntox, for Pascal programs (Bourdoncle, F., "Abstract debugging of higher-order imperative languages." Proceedings of the ACM SIGPLAN '93 Conference on Programming Language Design and Implementation, ACM SIGPLAN Notices, (June 1993), 28(6):46–55). Such an approach has a number of disadvantages. It may reduce the number of program properties that the tool can check, thereby reducing the overall usefulness of the tool. It may increase the number of warnings produced by the tool thereby causing a concomitant increase in the effort of interpreting the tool's output. And, without an annotation language, a programmer has no way to formally write down properties to be used and checked by the program checking tool.
Other prior attempts at solving this problem try to minimize, but not eliminate, the number of annotations required. An example of this approach is an ML-style type inference algorithm (where ML—"meta-language"—is a functional programming language, see Milner, R., "A theory of type polymorphism in programming,"Journal of Computer and System Sciences, (1978), 17(3):348–375; Damas, L. and Miner, R., "Principal type-schemes for functional programs," Conference Record of the Ninth Annual ACM Symposium on Principles of Programming Languages, (POPL '82), 207–212, (January 1982)). This approach also has a number of disadvantages. For example, it may require a significant redesign of the program checking tool. The resulting tool may also be significantly more complicated, because it cannot rely on annotations to provide certain kinds of information.
Another prior attempt is a system for finding software defects called PREfix, cited hereinabove. It uses annotations, but these are not programmer-supplied. Instead, the annotations are inferred by PREfix and are stored in a database associated with the program being checked. This approach also has a number of disadvantages. Without a human-writeable annotation language, a programmer has no way to formally write down properties to be used and checked by the program checking tool. Without a human-readable annotation language, a programmer cannot inspect the annotations inferred by the tool. And, since PREfix both infers annotations and uses them, its design is different from, and is likely to be more complicated than, the design of a program checking tool that simply uses the annotations.
An approach not found in the prior art, and which is one of the foundations of the present invention, is to utilize the warnings produced by the program checking tool itself to infer annotations and to insert those annotations directly into the program. In this way, the program checking tool would function much as a black box in the sense that its internal workings are irrelevant for the purpose of the analysis. Such an approach could be repeated iteratively in such a way as to generate a modified computer program containing many new annotations at relatively little burden to the author but in such a way that the annotations would be intelligible.
A parser such as lex (see, for example, lex & yacc, 2nd Edition, by J. Levine, A. Mason & D. Brown, O'Reilly Publishing, (1992)) has not hitherto lent itself to such a scheme. Although parsers often suggest alterations to their input to correct lexical or syntactical errors and even act on these suggestions in the parser's internal representation of the input so the parser can continue to process the remainder of the input, such tools do not modify the program based on the suggestions and certainly do not iterate their analysis.
Similarly, LCLint is a tool that generates warnings about potential errors in programs (Evans, D., Guttag, J., Horning, J., and Tan, Y.-M., "LCLint: A tool for using specifications to check code," in, ACM SIGSOFT Foundations in Software Engineering, pp. 87–96, Software Engineering Notes, 19(5), December 1994), but although it may output suggestions for how to fix these potential errors, it does not insert annotations into the program.
Additionally, an ML-style type inference algorithm, as described above, infers type annotations for an underlying type checker but neither uses the type checker iteratively nor as a black box, and does not write the inferred annotations into the computer program.
Accordingly, the present invention is designed to reduce the cost in annotating programs by using the program checking tool as a black box, thereby leveraging off the functionality of the program checking tool, rather than having to duplicate it.

Method and apparatus for automatically inferring annotations

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


The present invention is to provide a semiconductor element achieving a high-level detection sensitivity when utilized as a sensor. The present invention relates to a semiconductor element including an organic film, a first electrode, a second electrode, and a semiconductor layer, in which the first electrode, the second electrode and the semiconductor layer are formed on the organic film, the semiconductor layer is arranged between the first electrode and the second electrode, the semiconductor layer contains a carbon nanotube, and the organic film has a water contact angle of 5° or more and 50° or less.

Semiconductor elements such as transistors, memories and capacitors have been used for various electronic devices such as displays and computers with utilizing the semiconductor characteristics thereof. For example, IC tags and sensors are being developed which utilize the electric characteristics of a field effect transistor (referred to below as FET). Among these, research on FET type biosensors which detect biological reactions by utilizing a FET is being actively undertaken from the viewpoint that labeling with a fluorescent substance or the like is unnecessary, the electrical signal conversion is fast, and connection to an integrated circuit is easy.
In the related art, a biosensor using an FET has a structure in which a gate electrode is removed from a MOS (metal-oxide-semiconductor) type FET and an ion sensitive film is deposited on an insulation film, and thus, is called an ion sensitive type FET sensor. This biosensor is designed to function as various kinds of biosensor by putting biomolecule substances to be recognized on the ion sensitive film.
However, for application to an immunosensor or the like utilizing an antigen-antibody reaction requiring high-level detection sensitivity, there are technical limitations on the detection sensitivity and it has not been made for practical use yet. In addition, since the process of forming a film of an inorganic semiconductor such as silicon requires expensive manufacturing equipment, it is difficult to reduce costs, and furthermore, since the process is carried out at a very high temperature, there is a problem in that the kinds of materials usable as a substrate are limited and it is not possible to use a lightweight resin substrate or the like.
Meanwhile, FETs using carbon nanotubes (also referred to below as CNTs) having high mechanical and electrical characteristics are known and sensors utilizing the electrical characteristics of CNT-FETs are being developed. For example, a sensor using CNT grown directly on a substrate has been disclosed (e.g., refer to Patent Document 1). In addition, a sensor has been disclosed in which CNTs are dispersed in a solvent and then this dispersion liquid is coated to form a semiconductor layer (refer to, e.g., Patent Documents 2 to 4).

Semiconductor element, method for manufacturing same, and sensor in which same is used