Expandable, rubber-modified styrene polymers for elastic polystyrene foams comprise. a) a continuous phase comprising polystyrene or a styrene copolymer containing at most 50% of copolymerized comonomers and PA1 b) from 5 to 30% by weight of a butadiene-styrene block copolymer dispersed therein,. and also a low-boiling blowing agent. The rubber particles have a compact lamellar structure without polystyrene inclusions. The expandable styrene polymers are prepared by polymerization of styrene in the presence of the block copolymer and impregnation with the blowing agent.

Foams based on expandable polystyrene particles have achieved great industrial importance as thermal insulation and packaging material. They are produced on an industrial scale by first preparing expandable styrene polymers by suspension polymerization of styrene in the presence of a blowing agent, foaming these by heating to form foam particles and subsequently welding the latter together in molds to produce shaped articles.
Polystyrene foams are rigid foams. Their low elasticity is a disadvantage for many applications, for example in the packaging sector, since the packaged goods can be only insufficiently protected against impact and shock and the foam moldings used as packaging material break at only a small deformation.
Attempts have therefore already been made in the past to increase the elasticity of polystyrene foams.
WO 94/25516 relates to prefoamed beads of rubber-modified styrene polymers having cell walls comprising a polymer matrix comprising a) a continuous polystyrene phase and b) flat rubber particles having a l':d' ratio of from 10:1 to 70:1 dispersed therein, where the individual particles have a rubber shell in which one or more polystyrene cores are enclosed. To prepare these prefoamed beads, polybutadiene or a polystyrene-polybutadiene two-block copolymer is dissolved in styrene and the styrene is polymerized. This gives a rubber-modified styrene polymer containing rubber particles which have a diameter of from 0.1 to 1 .mu.m and in which the core-shell structure is preformed. This rubber-modified styrene polymer is impregnated with blowing agent and granulated, and the beads containing blowing agent are foamed. However, the toughness of foams made up in this way still leaves something to be desired; in particular, the elastic recovery is unsatisfactory.


A guide post assembly comprises a body member and a retaining member attached to the body member. The body has a coupling portion for engaging with a first connector and a cylindrical guiding portion for engaging with a second connector. The retaining member is stamped and rolled from a thin sheet of metal material to form a spring ferrule and a resilient expanded portion extending from the ferrule. The expanded portion forms a bulge projecting outwardly from a middle position thereof which resiliently abuts against an inner wall of a housing of the second connector to retain the guiding portion of the body member in the second connector. Thus, the first and second connectors are securely connected by the guide post assembly.

The present invention relates to a guide post assembly of an electrical connector.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,474,472 and Taiwan Patent Application No. 82203331 disclose connectors having guide posts. The guide posts disclosed consist of poles. When the poles on one connector and corresponding holes on a mating connector are not accurately manufactured, the two connectors may not properly mate together. Hence, an improved electrical connector is required to overcome the disadvantages of the prior art.


A method of treating oral and systemic diseases includes impregnating or coating a toothpick with active therapeutic agents and rubbing the toothpick against mouth tissue to release the active therapeutic agents onto the tissue for penetration through the tissue. The active therapeutic agent is selected from the group consisting of, but not limited to: zinc sulfate, zinc chloride, zinc acetate, zinc phenol sulfonate, zinc borate, zinc bromide, zinc nitrate, zinc glycerophosphate, zinc benzoate, zinc carbonate, zinc citrate, zinc hexafluorosilicate, zinc diacetate trihydrate, zinc oxide, zinc peroxide, zinc salicylate, zinc silicate, zinc stannate, zinc tannate, zinc titanate, zinc tetrafluoroborate, zinc gluconate, and zinc glycinate. An additional therapeutic agent may also be impregnated or coated on the toothpick, for example, antimicrobials, antibiotics, antioxidants, anti-plaque agents, analgesics, anti-tartar agents, anti-caries agents, hemostatic agents, anti-inflammatory agents, hormones, bleaching agents, vitamins, vaccines, caffeine and monoclonal antibodies.

Before the onset of disease, healthy pink gingiva (gum tissue) surrounds the teeth, both holding them in place and preventing infectious material from entering the jaw bone or tooth itself. The tooth includes three regions known as the crown, neck, and root. Gingiva or gum tissue is the soft tissue covering the neck of the tooth. The area between the enamel and the gingiva is called the gingival crevice. The gums are under constant bacterial assault. Gingivitis develops when large masses of bacteria clog the gingival crevice.
Periodontal disease (gum disease) is one of the most prevalent chronic diseases affecting man. Children as young as 5 years of age can have gum disease. By age 35, three out of four people are affected, and by age 65, an estimated 98 percent of Americans have periodontal disease. Periodontal comes from two Greek words that mean "around the tooth." Periodontal disease is caused by certain types of bacteria that form a sticky, colorless film of bacteria that constantly forms on teeth called plaque. Plaque that is not removed can combine with other materials and harden into a rough, porous deposit called calculus (tartar). Calculus on the tooth surface (above the gum line) may not contribute to periodontal disease, but calculus on the neck or root surface (below the gums) makes removal of new plaque and bacteria more difficult. Bacteria in plaque produce metabolic by-products that diffuse into the immediate surrounding area, irritate the gingiva, and result in an inflammatory reaction. The gingiva then swells, become reddened, sensitive to touch and may bleed. It is not normal for gums to bleed when brushing or flossing. Bleeding gums is usually the first sign of gingivitis. Gingivitis is reversible. Gum disease occurs when the gingival crevice between the tooth and gum is more than three millimeters. As gingivitis progresses, the tissue surrounding the teeth is destroyed, the supporting collagen fibers begin to degenerate, and eventually the bone supporting the tooth socket degenerates and results in tooth loss.
Periodontal disease can be prevented by practicing good oral hygiene. Daily tooth brushing and flossing are the most important weapons against the formation of plaque. Brushing your teeth thoroughly at least twice a day helps remove plaque from the outer, inner, and chewing surfaces of the teeth. But careful brushing alone is not sufficient, simply because the bristles of the toothbrush cannot make contact with all parts or sides of the teeth. Dental floss helps to remove plaque from the crevices between the teeth that are often too deep to reach with any sort of brush. Toothpicks are pointed instruments used for removing food or other particles lodged at the base of or from between the teeth. Since manual dexterity decreases with increasing age, the use of toothpicks may be more convenient and require less effort than dental floss. Murtomaa H. Meurman J H, International Dental Journal 1992 Oct. 42(5):365-72.
Toothpicks are usually tapered to a point at one or both ends and are made of wood, plastic, stiff paper, metal, ivory or other materials that provide sufficient rigidity to expel particles between the teeth, yet narrow enough to fit into the interdental spaces. Toothpicks come is various shapes: straight, bent, round, flat, curved, and various combinations. Toothpicks are dispensed singularly, individually wrapped in plastic, in matchbook dispensers, in rolls to be broken off and used, and some are stored in containers. Stuart, U.S. Pat. No. 3,913,596 discloses a ribbon of stiff paper that separates into triangles to dislodge particles between the teeth. Freeman, U.S. Pat. No. 5,704,388 discloses a tubular toothpick formed from synthetic resin materials that has a defined feathered cleaning edge.
Some toothpicks claim the ability to contain different agents. Manciocchi, U.S. Pat. No. 4,509,541 discloses a toothpick attached to a hollow cylinder containing an antiseptic solution to wet the toothpick from a wick. Lichfield, U.S. Pat. No. 4,304,245 discloses a thin sheet of polymeric material rolled to form a tapered tube with a hollow core to remove blood or liquids and may also carry breath fresheners or medicines. Lichfield claims that wooden or plastic toothpicks are only useful for dislodging particles from the teeth, not delivering medications. Howard, U.S. Pat. No. Des. 335,934 discloses an ornamental design for a tobacco-impregnated toothpick. Johnson, U.S. Pat. No. Des. 358,682 discloses an ornamental design for a nicotine containing toothpick. Wiley, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,846,200 and 5,002,077 discloses a periodontal pocket cleaner, which is a wooden device used to remove material from the periodontal pockets. Wiley differentiates his device from the toothpick and does not claim the toothpick capable of delivering medications.
Besides removing food particles, toothpicks have dental hygiene functions by stimulating gum tissue, removing plaque and calculus that accumulate on the tooth surface and help prevent caries. Toothpicks are usually provided by restaurants and more socially acceptable to use than dental floss.
Using dental floss to help remove plaque from the tooth surface is known in the art. Further, it is known in the art to apply substances and medicaments to dental floss. The substances applied to dental floss can also be applied to toothpicks. As an illustration, therapeutic dental floss has been developed for the following purposes:

Therapeutic toothpick for treating oral and systemic diseases


An access restriction apparatus, an access restriction method, a computer readable program storage medium having a recorded access restriction program, and the access restriction program, all capable of making a terminal refer only to management information existing at a position designated by link position information. An access restriction apparatus for limiting the access of terminals desiring access to managed management information is provided with a supply section for supplying the terminals with partially or totally encrypted link position information indicating a linking destination of the management information, and an access management section for managing the access of the terminals to the management information based on the link position information decoded by the terminals.

Recently, image data such as, for example, an image photographed with a digital camera or an image read with an optical character reader (OCR) is being exchanged through a network, such as the Internet. A cellular telephone equipped with a digital camera is available, and it is now possible to exchange image data between cellular telephones. Conventionally, an aggregate of binary data, such as image data, is managed as a file including information relating to the image, for example, information relating to image resolution.
For example, as shown in FIG. 24, conventionally first image data 161 and the information 157 relating to the image data 161 have been managed as one file; second image data 162 and the information 158 relating to the image data 162 have been managed as one file; third image data 163 and the information 159 relating to the image data 163 have been managed as one file; and fourth image data 164 and the information 160 relating to the image data 164 have been managed as one file.
If a plurality of binary data is to be copied or deleted, it has been necessary to process each binary data file individually, except for performing a process on the folder or on the directory. So, if a plurality of binary data is processed by batch processing, the batch processing may not always be completed due to an omission in the processing of a part of the binary data. Because binary data, such as image data, cannot include character information, the file name associated with the binary data is keys to retrieving such binary data, their creation dates and their update dates. Therefore, it is difficult for the user to handle such binary data.
Further, owing to the recent advancement of the information industry, data communications of document information including the binary data described above are frequently performed though networks, such as the Internet. For example, on the Internet, browser software is configured to read data described by means of a mark up language called Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML) for displaying the description of the data.
The markup language can describe a site that is desired to be linked to and the markup language is adapted to make it possible for the browser software to access link position information, such as a Uniform Resource Locator (URL), as the link destination. In the following description, "URLs" will be exemplified. In the conventional file linking by means of the HTML markup language, the linking functions to change a display corresponding to a change of URLs by changing one URL to another URL designating a position of a document. This is described in Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication Hei 11-96098 at page 5, section 0012.
Since the URL is described, however, by means of text data which is easily understood visually, the URL may easily be altered. Consequently, files other than the file designated by an original URL may easily be accessed.
More specifically, suppose a URL such as "http://www.aaa.ne.3p/20010101.html" was originally designated, the above-mentioned problem occurs at the time of amending the URL to another estimated URL such as "http://www.aaa.ne.jp/20010102.html," which is intended to refer to the next file.
That is, there is a problem in that a person having an evil intention can access the file ("http://www.aaa.ne.jp/20010102.html") other than the original file ("http://www.aaa.ne.jp/20010101.html").
Conventionally, it was impossible to prohibit tracing a URL other than the originally designated URL. If the prohibition was attempted, it was necessary to perform complicated processing, such as alteration of the file designated by the URL, in advance.
Moreover, if a URL to be kept secret is transferred by electronic mail, there is a problem in that anyone who receives the URL can easily access a file at a URL other than the transferred URL.
Accordingly, the present invention aims to provide an access restriction apparatus, an access restriction method, a computer readable program storage medium having a recorded access restriction program, and the access restriction program, capable of solving the problems described above and of allowing a terminal to refer only to management information that exists at a position designated by link position information.

Apparatus and method for controlling data access using encrypted link position information


A turbomachine engine includes a fan assembly and a core engine comprising a turbine and an input shaft rotatable with the turbine is provided. A single-stage epicyclic gear assembly receives the input shaft at a first speed and drives an output shaft coupled to the fan assembly at a second speed. A sun gear rotates about a longitudinal centerline of the gear assembly and has a sun gear-mesh region along the longitudinal centerline of the gear assembly where the sun gear is configured to contact a plurality of planet gears. A ring gear-mesh region is provided along the longitudinal centerline of the gear assembly where a ring gear is configured to contact the plurality of planet gears. The sun gear-mesh region is axially offset from the ring gear-mesh region along the longitudinal centerline.

A turbofan engine operates on the principle that a central gas turbine core drives a bypass fan, the bypass fan being located at a radial location between a nacelle of the engine and the engine core. With such a configuration, the engine is generally limited in a permissible size of the bypass fan, as increasing a size of the fan correspondingly increases a size and weight of the nacelle.
An open rotor engine, by contrast, operates on the principle of having the bypass fan located outside of the engine nacelle. This permits the use of larger rotor blades able to act upon a larger volume of air than a traditional turbofan engine, potentially improving propulsive efficiency over conventional turbofan engine designs.
Engine designs for turbomachines, including turbofans and open rotor engines, may require large gear ratios between the low speed spool and the fan rotor to permit the larger rotor blades to act upon a larger volume of air and/or to do so at certain desired operating speeds of the engine or aircraft. One challenge is that known gear assemblies may provide inadequate gear ratios for desired operations. For example, known gear assemblies may inadequately reduce the output rotational speed relative to the input rotational speed, such that the fan rotor operates too fast and inefficient and/or the turbine operates too slow and inefficient.
As such, there is a need for gear assemblies that provide desired gear ratios as may be suitable for certain turbomachine configurations.

Turbomachines and epicyclic gear assemblies with axially offset sun and ring gears


A travel assembly, for example, suited for arrangement on a vehicle such as a mining dump truck, is provided with a travel motor, a planetary speed reduction mechanism for transmitting rotation of the travel motor at a lower rotational speed, a spindle forming an axle, and a wheel supported on the spindle via a tapered roller bearing and rotatable by the planetary speed reduction mechanism. The planetary speed reduction mechanism includes a sun gear rotatable by rotation of a shaft of the travel motor, planet gears for rotating the wheel in response to rotation of the sun gear, stepped pins forming rotary shafts for the planet gears, a carrier for holding the stepped pins thereon, and bolts for fixedly securing the stepped pins on the carrier. The travel assembly is provided with a spline connection connecting the spindle and the carrier with each other and a limiting member for limiting movements of the bolts in a direction toward the tapered roller bearing.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a travel assembly suited for arrangement on a vehicle such as a mining dump truck and having a travel motor and a planetary speed reduction mechanism for transmitting rotation of the travel motor at a lower rotational speed.
2. Description of the Related Art
As a conventional technology of this sort, there is one disclosed in Ciszak et al. U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2004/0065169 A1. This conventional technology is provided with a travel motor, a planetary speed reduction mechanism for transmitting rotation of the travel motor at a lower rotational speed, a spindle forming an axle, a hub arranged on an outer side of the spindle and splined to the spindle, and a wheel supported on the hub via tapered roller bearings and rotatable by the planetary speed reduction system. The planetary speed reduction mechanism is provided with a sun gear rotatable by a shaft of the travel motor, planet gears for rotating the wheel in response to rotation of the sun gear, stepped pins forming rotary shafts for the planetary gears, a carrier supporting the stepped pins thereon and splined to the above-mentioned hub, and bolts fixedly securing the above-mentioned stepped pin on the carrier. The conventional travel assembly equipped with such a construction as described above is used for the rotational drive or the like of a tire of a mining dump truck.
With respect to the above-mentioned conventional technology, there is an outstanding desire for a construction that eliminates the hub splined to both the spindle and the planetary speed reduction mechanism with a view to increasing the strength of the spindle and cutting down the manufacturing cost, etc. To adopt such a non-hub construction as described above, it may be contemplated to directly spline the spindle and the carrier to each other. When constructed so, however, heads of the bolts that fixedly secure the stepped pins on the carrier are located opposite the proximal tapered roller bearing, leading to a potential problem that, when the bolts become loose by vibrations transmitted to the stepped pins, carrier and bolts, the heads of the bolts may come into contact with the proximal tapered roller bearing and may damage the proximal tapered roller bearing.

Hitachi Construction Machinery Co., Ltd.


Provided are an electric double-layer capacitor which can have a reduced internal resistance and an improved withstand voltage with a simple structure, and a method for manufacturing the capacitor. The electric double-layer capacitor uses an alloy of carbon and aluminum as a material of the electrode. The electrode is formed by applying carbon to an aluminum foil and heating the aluminum foil with carbon thereon to a temperature at which the aluminum foil and the carbon are alloyed.

Japanese Patent Unexamined Publications No. H11-288849 (Document 1) and No. 2001-297952 (Document 2) disclose methods for producing an electrode metal material which can reduce the internal resistance of a capacitor. The electrode metal material is used in contact with an electrolytic solution in a capacitor such as an EDLC. These methods reduce the internal resistance of an electrode by fixing carbon particles on a valve metal such as aluminum so as to secure the electric connection between the aluminum and the active carbon on the electrode. Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. 2000-269095 (Document 3) discloses a method for reducing the internal resistance of an EDLC by covering the uneven surface of a collector with carbon black particles so as to form a conductive layer. In the three methods, the collectors and the electrodes are all made of pure aluminum and pure carbon.
In Documents 1 and 2 mentioned above, the aluminum portion is covered with an oxide film caused by the water in the electrolytic solution. The potential to form the oxide film can be detected by the reaction potential on the oxidizing side, which can be measured by CV (cyclic voltammetry) or the like. An example of the CV measurement is shown in FIG. 20. In FIG. 20, the horizontal and vertical axes represent potential and current, respectively. The reference electrode is an Ag/Ag+ electrode and the counter electrode is Pt. As the working electrodes, an aluminum electrode and an aluminum electrode with carbon particles fixed thereon are used for comparison. The results show that the aluminum electrode, and the aluminum electrode with the carbon particles fixed thereon have nearly the same reaction potential. This means that both electrodes have an oxide film covering the aluminum.
These EDLCs, which have a capacitance large enough to supply a large current, can be used in electronic devices such as electric vehicles (EV) as disclosed in Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. H10-271611 (Document 4).
However, the aforementioned conventional EDLCs require a complicated and difficult-to-control process to from electrodes as follows. Carbon particles are fixed on aluminum and the aluminum is etched so that the carbon particles are halfway fixed on and slightly exposed from the aluminum.
The electric connection entirely depends on carbon particles, so that the reliability in fixing the carbon particles is very important for securing conduction. On the other hand, the aluminum portion covered with the oxide film caused by the water in the electrolytic solution does not contribute to conduction. Since the conductive portion (the carbon particle portion) and the nonconductive portion (the oxide film portion) are formed on the same aluminum foil surface, it is difficult to meet both conductivity and withstand voltage at the same time.
Because of being covered with the oxide film caused by the water in the electrolytic solution, the aluminum portion has a potential window whose size is limited by the reaction at the time of forming the oxide film. This results in a reduction in the withstand voltage.
In Document 4, a large number of EDLCs must be connected in series when used as the power supply unit of the EV because the withstand voltage cannot be increased. For example, if each EDLC has a withstand voltage of 2V and the EV requires a voltage of 400V, then as many as 200 EDLCs are required. This results in an increase in the size of the power supply unit. In other words, it is inevitable to improve the withstand voltage of each EDLC for the size reduction of the power supply unit. On the other hand, it is also being tried to improve the withstand voltage of electrolytic solutions, and electrolytic solutions with comparatively high withstand voltages are being developed.
However, the low withstand voltage of EDLCs results from the deterioration of the aluminum electrode foils. Therefore, deteriorated aluminum electrode foils cause a reduction in the withstand voltage of the EDLCs even with an electrolytic solution having a comparatively high withstand voltage.

Electric double-layer capacitor, its manufacturing method, and electronic device using same

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


Methods and compositions for performing nucleic acid duplication and amplification reactions are provided. A single-stranded nucleic acid binding protein is selected and provided in the reaction mixture which is assembled at a low, nonstringent temperature to include all of the necessary reagents for successful nucleic acid duplication or amplification reactions. By incorporating a single-stranded nucleic acid binding protein into the reaction mixture at low temperature, the generation of nonspecific products such as amplification products is improved despite the reaction mixture having been fully assembled at a nonstringent temperature.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention provides a method that reduces or eliminates nonspecific primer extension products. More specifically, the method uses single-stranded nucleic acid binding proteins to reduce or eliminate these products. This invention is contemplated to be especially useful as a novel Hot Start method for the polymerase chain reaction (PCR).
2. Description of Related Art
Amplification of nucleic acids is of fundamental importance in modern science. During this process, nucleic acids are duplicated or replicated through coordinated, catalytic synthesis.
In general, nucleic acid amplification occurs through a process of hybridizing (annealing or pairing) a relatively short single-stranded nucleic acid (primer or oligonucleotide), to a relatively longer single-stranded nucleic acid counterpart (target or template) that has complementary nucleic acid sequence. Complementary annealing refers to the base pairs which form and are stabilized by hydrogen bonds described by Watson-Crick pairing rules (i.e., A-T and G-C base pairs). A polymerase can use this hybrid (or complement) to catalytically add bases or nucleotides which are present in the reaction to the 3′ end of the primer. The nucleotides are added such that they are complementary to the target or template. Since the newly synthesized strand of nucleic acid is the result of nucleotides which extend the length of the primer, this process is also known as primer extension. To be extended by a polymerase, a primer strand first must be annealed to a template strand.
Although the primer(s) used in primer extension reactions are designed to be complementary to a specific portion of the template strand, under certain conditions the primer can and will anneal to other regions of the template strand with which it is only partially complementary, or in rare cases, noncomplementary. As used herein, a fully complementary pairing is referred to as and is the result of specific priming and a partially complementary (or noncomplementary) pairing is referred to as and is the result of nonspecific priming. Since the polymerase cannot discriminate between partial versus full complements, primer extension products can and will be formed from both if both are present under extension conditions. As used herein, primer extension products from full complements are referred to as specific products and those from partial (or non-) complements are referred to as nonspecific products.
The degree to which a primer will hybridize to full versus partial (or non-) complementary sequences is governed by well-known principles of thermodynamics. A useful parameter is known as the melting temperature (Tm) and is defined as the temperature at which 50% of the primer and its true complement or intended target sequence is annealed. The most common method to determine the actual Tm is to plot temperature versus absorbance in a UV spectrophotometer (e.g., Marnur and Doty, 1962, Journal of Molecular Biology 5:109-118). This empirical determination is often not practical and thus theoretical methods have been devised to predict melting temperatures. One such method is through an equation known as the Wallace Rule (Suggs et al., 1981, In Developmental Biology using Purified Genes 23:683-693). This equation states that Tm (in ° C.) is approximately equal to 2×(#A+#T)+4×(#G+#C), where # is the number of A, G, C, or T bases present in the primer. Thus, a primer 20 bases long with an equal base content would be predicted to have a Tm of 2×(5+5)+4×(5+5)=60° C.
Although other factors such as salt concentration, DNA concentration, and the presence of denaturants affect the melting temperature, the main contribution to Tm is from the length and base composition of the primer. Given a defined primer sequence, the temperature of the hybridization reaction determines the amount of specific versus nonspecific priming based on thermodynamic principles. Temperatures significantly below the Tm will permit nonspecific priming while temperatures significantly above the Tm will restrict nonspecific and specific priming (e.g., Gillam et al., 1975, Nucleic Acids Research 2(5):625-634; Wallace et al., 1979, Nucleic Acids Research 6(11):3543-3557). Ideally, hybridization is carried out at or near the Tm of the primer(s) to generate specific complements and thus specific primer extension products. As used herein, hybridization and primer extension temperatures significantly lower than the Tm of the primers are referred to as permissive or nonstringent while temperatures at or near the Tm are referred to as restrictive or stringent. Thus, permissive or nonstringent temperatures lead to nonspecific primer extension products while restrictive or stringent temperatures lead to specific ones.
A well-known example of primer extension is the polymerase chain reaction (PCR). In this technique, DNA synthesis occurs in a series of steps comprising a cycle, this cycle being repeated many times to amplify the primer extension reaction products for further analyses. Two primers typically are used in which their respective 3′-ends face one another to generate a double-stranded DNA product whose length is defined as the distance between the primers. Typically, the cycle consists of a step which generates single-stranded DNA, a step which allows primers to hybridize with their target sequences, and a subsequent step for primer extension by the polymerase. The PCR technique is described in detail in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,683,202; 4,683,195; and 4,965,188. A variant of PCR, which is called reverse transcription-PCR (RT-PCR), is when RNA is used as a template in the reaction instead of DNA. In this technique, an initial step of converting the RNA template to DNA is performed with a polymerase which has reverse transcriptase activity. Following this initial template conversion (reverse transcription step), reactions proceed as in standard PCR.
Each cycle of PCR generates a geometric expansion of the original target (i.e., doubling per cycle), which after the 25-50 cycles typically employed in PCR can amplify the target well over a billion times. Unfortunately, amplification from nonspecific priming can also occur which is detrimental since these nonspecific products may obscure specific ones. The specificity of the PCR depends on many factors, but as previously discussed, the temperature of the hybridization and subsequent extension steps is important in obtaining specific primer extension products. Fortunately, the discovery and widespread use of thermostable polymerases, such as the polymerase from Thermus aquaticus (Taq DNA Polymerase), allows the use of more stringent reaction temperatures (Chien et al., 1976, Journal of Bacteriology 127(3):1550-1557; Saiki et al., 1988, Science 239(4839):487-491). Stringent hybridization temperatures increase the probability of generating specific products.
Although the temperatures used during the polymerase chain reaction can be stringent, the reaction mixtures themselves are not conveniently assembled at higher temperatures, temperatures at which greater priming specificity occurs. PCR reactions are usually assembled at lower temperatures such as on ice or most preferably at room temperature (i.e., 20-25° C.). If the average primer can be assumed to have a Tm of about 50-60° C., the temperatures at which reaction set-up occur are clearly significantly lower and will favor nonspecific priming. At room temperature, the conventional polymerases used in the PCR (e.g., Taq DNA Polymerase) have some degree of catalytic activity which leads to the synthesis of nonspecific reaction products. In addition, even if the reactions are assembled on ice, they must be placed in a machine which provides the temperatures necessary for cycling. Stringent hybridization temperatures higher than ice cannot be achieved instantaneously and nonspecific products can also be generated during this "ramping" stage. At permissive temperatures primers not only pair nonspecifically with the template but also pair with other primers leading to nonspecific primer extension products known as "primer-dimers." Nonspecific amplification is a ubiquitous problem during the assembly of polymerase chain reactions and is covered in greater detail in Chou et al., 1992, Nucleic Acids Research 20(7):1717-1723.
Since nonspecific amplification products can be generated during assembly of PCR reactions, a method is needed that can reduce or eliminate these artifacts. Various methods have been developed to address this problem. These techniques are generally known as "hot-start" methods because the primer extension reactions are not allowed to "start" until stringent or "hot" hybridization temperatures have been reached. Several of these methods are briefly described below.
In the simplest hot-start method, one of the critical components for successful DNA synthesis is omitted from the reaction mixture during preparation at room temperature. Then, the omitted component is added manually, as through pipetting, after the temperature of the reaction mixture has reached, or more usually exceeded, a threshold stringent temperature based upon the Tm of the primer(s). This method is often called manual hot-start PCR. For example, one may omit the polymerase or the divalent cation (e.g., Mg2+) which is essential for polymerase activity from the reaction mixture until the stringent temperature is reached or exceeded. Because a key component is unavailable at lower temperatures, nonspecific extension products cannot be formed. This method is tedious and cumbersome when multiple reactions are performed and also can lead to contamination of PCR reactions since tubes in close proximity to one another must be opened and closed manually by the operator in order to introduce the omitted component.
In another hot-start method, all of the necessary components are assembled in the reaction mixture at room temperature, but one critical component is physically isolated from the remainder of the reaction mixture using a barrier material that will melt or dissolve at elevated temperatures. Once the barrier material, typically a wax, has melted, the isolated component is introduced into the remainder of the reaction mixture and the primer extension reaction can proceed at the more stringent temperature. Conventionally, the polymerase is isolated using the barrier or wax material. This method, which is described in detail in U.S. Pat. No. 5,411,876 and Chou et al., Nucleic Acids Research 20(7):1717-1723 (1992), allows more specific amplification but is cumbersome in the set-up and implementation of the barrier material.
Another method is to use an antibody that non-covalently binds to the polymerase and prevents its activity at lower temperatures. At higher temperatures, the non-covalent bond between the antibody and the polymerase is disrupted and polymerase activity is restored for the rest of the PCR reaction. This method is further described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,338,671. Although this method is effective, the production process for generating the antibody is expensive and can introduce contaminating mammalian genomic DNA into the PCR reaction.
Yet another technique involves covalent attachment of a chemical moiety to the polymerase which blocks its activity at lower temperatures. This covalent bond can be broken after significant heating (e.g., above 95° C. for about 10-15 minutes) after which the polymerase activity is restored. A variety of chemical modifications can be introduced to produce the polymerase-moiety complex required to practice this technique as described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,677,152, 6,183,998 and 6,479,264. This technique has the disadvantage of requiring an extensive initial heating step which can damage DNA through heat-induced depurination. Such an extensive heating step also markedly reduces the activity of the polymerase relative to standard PCR methods.
In summary, primer extension reactions can be defined by two key events. One, the process of hybridizing the primer to the template and two, the extension of the hybrid by the catalytic action of a polymerase. The specificity of the hybridization is governed by the principles of thermodynamics in which lower temperatures favor nonspecific priming and amplification artifacts. Because polymerase chain reactions are conventionally assembled at lower temperatures, amplification artifacts can be a problem. Various methods have been developed to address this problem, techniques known as hot-start PCR. The present invention is a novel method of hot-start PCR.


A point touch switching mechanism has a ball head component, a water separation unit, a switching unit, and a swinging block. The water separation unit can swing with respect to the ball head. The switching unit comprises a slide base connected to the water separation unit and a water separation disk fixedly connected to the slide base, so that the water separation disk can rotate forward when sliding with respect to the water separation unit, and water separation switching can be implemented when the water separation disk rotates with respect to the water separation unit. The swinging block can be connected to the water separation unit in a sliding manner, and the sliding of the swinging block and of the slide base form a connection, so that the water separation unit can drive the swinging block and drive the slide base to slide with respect to the water separation unit.

Existing switching mechanism is usually applied with sliding switch or rotating switching, as it needs to slide or rotate the switching mechanism to realize switch, it is inconvenient to operate, especially when the switch mechanism is placed high. In Chinese patent database, it is published with a single point touch shower of utility model in Dec. 1, 2010, the application is the same application of the present invention; the single point touch shower includes a fixation unit, an outlet and a switching mechanism. The fixation unit is disposed with an inlet waterway to connect to the water resource. The outlet is connected to the fixation unit in swinging way, and is disposed with several outlet functions. the switching mechanism includes a first ratchet, a stop catch and a driving mechanism, the first ratchet is connected to the outlet in freely rotating way, the stop catch is connected to the first ratchet and the outlet to limit the first ratchet to rotate backwards, the driving mechanism is connected to the first ratchet and the fixation unit to change the relatively swinging between the outlet and the fixation unit to the relatively rotating between the first ratchet and the outlet, the switch of the several outlet functions is realized by the relatively rotating of the first ratchet and the outlet. The structure of the existing technology is complex, it needs improvement.

XIAMEN SOLEX HIGH-TECH INDUSTRIES CO., LTD.


The present invention provides novel systems and methods for identifying a location. Generally described radio frequency identification tags equipped with LED's are used to provide a visual indication of a location.

The delivery of a package from a consignor to a consignee typically requires sorting the package at several locations before the package reaches the final destination. A conventional delivery network typically includes a series of customer service centers that receive and deliver packages, and several intermediate hubs that provide links between the service centers. The flow of a package through this delivery network typically begins at a service center. From there, the package flows through a series of intermediate hubs before reaching the destination facility responsible for delivering the package to the destination address. Within each intermediate hub, the package is sorted according to the destination address for the package and consolidated for transport to the next intermediate hub or service center in the delivery process.
The tremendous volume of packages flowing through the intermediate hubs creates a logistical challenge. To date, sorting at the intermediate hubs is a highly manual process that relies heavily on the knowledge-base of the sorting operator. The sorting operator reads the destination address zip code and service level from a shipping label on a package and sorts the package to the appropriate conveyor belt, bin, or chute. The sorting location for each zip code is specified in a series of standard sorting charts. Sorting charts are well known in the industry and specify the next sorting facility the package will pass according to a delivery plan. These sorting charts are typically indexed according to destination zip code and the service level of the package, wherein the service level of a package represents the committed delivery time for the package. The efficiency of the sorting operation depends on how quickly the sorting operator determines the appropriate sorting location for a package. To improve the efficiency, sorting operators memorize the zip codes associated with each sorting location and use the sorting charts sparingly. This highly manual process often results in sorting errors.
Typically, a sortation facility is directly linked to only a few sortation hubs in the network as shown in FIG. 1. However, packages may be sorted based on facilities further downstream in the delivery process. For example, assume the delivery plan for a package specifies that the package will pass through Hubs A, B and C in sequence. The sorting process at Hub A may include consolidating packages bound for Hub C into a container even though Hub A is not directly connected to Hub C. When this container arrives at Hub B, the operator only has to sort the single large container rather than several smaller packages because the packages were presorted at Hub A. This process reduces the overall handling of the packages. But, this consolidation practice is limited by the ability of sort operators to remember which packages are sorted to which location. A need therefore exists for processes to identify the sort locations that do no rely on the memory of the sorting operators. Because traditional sort processes rely so heavily on the knowledge-base of the sort operators, there is a natural hesitancy to change a sort plan that results in a change to the knowledge-base. The learning curve necessary to implement a change creates significant inefficiencies and increases the opportunity for sorting mistakes. Accordingly, any change to a sort plan must be weighed against the confusion caused by the change. As a result, many timesaving adjustments to sorting charts are discarded.
Therefore an unsatisfied need exists for improved systems and methods for sorting packages within a delivery network that overcome the deficiencies in the prior art, some of which are discussed above.

Systems and methods for using radio frequency identification tags to communicating sorting information


The disclosure provides a communication device. The communication device includes a ground conductor portion and a multi-antenna system. The multi-antenna system includes at least a first and a second resonant portion, each of which is disposed on the corresponding radiating edge of the ground conductor portion. Each of the resonant portions may have a loop resonant structure or may have an open-slot resonant structure, and has a resonant path. The electrically coupling portion makes the length of the resonant path less than or equal to 0.18 times the wavelength of the lowest operating frequency of the multi-antenna system, and thereby excites the corresponding radiating edge and forms a strong surface current distribution, and generates an effective radiating energy and at least one resonant mode, in which the effective radiating energy has a corresponding strongest radiation direction.

Technical Field
The disclosure relates to a communication device and a method for designing a multi-antenna system thereof.
Description of Related Art
Smart antenna design techniques capable of reconfiguring antenna patterns and the directions of radiation beams in response to environmental variations of the wireless communication channels are very important research topics in the field of antenna designs. If the antenna patterns and the directions of radiation beams can be steered toward the directions of transmitting or receiving energies of communication signals, the signal quality received by a receiver may be greatly improved, and the effective distance or coverage range of transmitters could also be increased.
In the prior pattern-switchable antenna techniques, if a lower frequency band is chosen for communication operations, the required overall physical size of antenna elements for multi-antenna systems would be too large for practical applications. For example, the operating wavelength of 700 MHz band for Long Term Evolution (LTE) system would be approximately 430 mm. Therefore, it's not an easy task for integrating several antenna elements for LTE700 operations into a single communication device simultaneously. On the other hands, prior active antenna array techniques would require to design feeding networks with high complexity and cost. For other prior pattern reconfigurable multi-antenna techniques, although complexity or cost of antenna feeding networks could also be reduced, these used multi-antenna elements would still occupy large areas when applied in lower frequency bands.

Communication device and method for designing multi-antenna system thereof

Industrial Technology Research Institute


The present invention provides a microneedle patch container for effectively and hygienically securing a microneedle patch from manufacture to use. The container has a bottom surface recessed from the peripheral portion towards the center, a side surface connected to the bottom surface and the peripheral portion, and a bottom-surface protruding portion protruding from the bottom surface. The flexible release-type sheet portion of the microneedle patch is secured to the protruding portion on the bottom surface. A lid can also be used which has a recessed portion pressing against the microneedle patch secured to the bottom-surface protruding portion of the container in the position corresponding to the bottom-surface protruding portion. This is preferably housed inside a pouch molded from sterilized paper or sterilized film in order to keep the microneedle patch in an aseptic state.

In order to impart modification effects and functional effects to a skin surface layer and a skin stratum corneum, liquid materials, ointments, cream preparations, tape preparations, patch preparations, poultice preparations, and the like containing medicinal ingredients have been conventionally used. Such preparations are intended to exhibit the effects by allowing the medicinal ingredients to penetrate into skin through their application or attachment to a skin surface. However, the above-mentioned conventional preparations cannot achieve sufficient effect, because simply applying the preparations to the skin brings about easy disappearance and loss of the medicinal ingredients due to a perspiration function of the skin, contact of the skin with the outside, and the like. Moreover, since the skin has a barrier function for preventing entry of foreign matters into a body, it is difficult to allow the medicinal ingredients to penetrate into the skin only through their application or attachment.
Recently, as a method for solving these drawbacks and surely supplying the medicinal ingredients into the skin, microneedles have been developed, and research thereof has been conducted. The microneedles are microscopic needles with a length of less than 1 mm (Patent Document 1). When the microneedles are made of material which is easily dissolved to disappear in vivo, the inserted microneedles are dissolved in the skin and then absorbed to disappear (Patent Document 2). Therefore, if the medicinal ingredients are contained in the microneedles beforehand, the medicinal ingredients can be supplied to a particular place in the skin. A microneedle array is formed by arranging a number of such microneedles on a substrate, and it has been largely expected on practical uses because a delivery amount can be increased in proportion to the number of the needles (Patent Documents 2 to 4, Non-patent Document 1). A microneedle patch is an easily usable product formed by supplementing the microneedle array with an adhesive tape and the like for sticking the microneedle array on the skin.
Because the microneedles have generally a length of shorter than 1 mm and a diameter of around 0.1 mm, they do not cause pain and bleeding at their insertion. An insert point closes quickly and does not leave any trace. As a result, the microneedles are recognized as an excellent method for delivering the particular medicinal ingredients to the particular point of the skin. The microneedles have attracted attention by having application as cosmetics, for example delivery of skin active components such as hyaluronic acid to the skin surface, concealment of lentigines and birthmarks, and the like, in addition to medical application such as delivery of vaccine.
An early microneedle comprised around 100 microneedles on a solid substrate with an area of around 1 cm2. However, based on a recent increased demand for improving a wide part of a face at a time, a microneedle array comprising the microneedles on a softened substrate have been developed in order to fit the array to a non-planar face.
Suitable containers are necessary for providing the microneedle arrays to consumers in the market. Since the microneedle array has a needle portion and it is necessary to protect the needle portion during transport, sale or preservation, containers for patches, such as tapes, which are widely used conventionally (Patent Documents 5 and 6), cannot be used as they are. In addition, containers for solid substrates (Patent Documents 7 to 9) cannot be used for the microneedle array with a soft substrate.


A method of fabricating a high-density array of holes in glass is provided, comprising providing a glass piece having a front surface, then irradiating the front surface of the glass piece with a UV laser beam focused to a focal point within +/−100 μm of the front surface of the glass piece most desirably within +/−50 μm of the front surface. The lens focusing the laser has a numerical aperture desirably in the range of from 0.1 to 0.4, more desirably in the range of from 0.1 to 0.15 for glass thickness between 0.3 mm and 0.63 mm, even more desirably in the range of from 0.12 to 0.13, so as to produce open holes extending into the glass piece 100 from the front surface 102 of the glass piece, the holes having an diameter the in range of from 5 to 15 μm, and an aspect ratio of at least 20:1. For thinner glass, in the range of from 0.1-0.3 mm, the numerical aperture is desirably from 0.25 to 0.4, more desirably from 0.25 to 0.3, and the beam is preferably focused to within +/−30 μm of the front surface of the glass. The laser is desirable operated at a repetition rate of about 15 kHz or below. An array of holes thus produced may then be enlarged by etching. The front surface may be polished prior to etching, if desired.

A previously demonstrated process for making such dense arrays of holes in glass is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,754,429. The disclosed method involves glass exposure with a femtosecond laser followed by acid etching. It relies on selective etching in which the laser-damaged glass etches at a significantly higher rate than the rest of the glass. Although technically sound, this approach utilizes expensive and maintenance-hungry femtosecond laser technology, and the laser exposure process is relatively slow.
According to US Patent Publication No. 20030150839, tapered (conical) holes 120-130 μm in diameter may be made by laser ablation followed by acid etching to remove surface defects and chips. The disclosed process requires an ion-exchange step before laser irradiation. Irradiation conditions beyond laser spot size and fluence are not disclosed.
US Patent Publication 20090013724 describes hole formation by laser irradiation and acid etching in glasses of various compositions. Lasers with wavelengths 355 nm and 266 nm were used. The recommended (numerical) beam aperture is NA<0.07 and the focus is disclosed as either within the glass or behind the back surface. Hole profile and placement accuracy are not specifically addressed.
What is needed is a relatively low-cost and reliable process for forming relatively small holes at relatively tight minimum pitch, with good positioning accuracy and reasonably small variation in diameter throughout the depth.
According to one aspect of the present disclosure, fabricating a high-density array of holes in glass, the method comprises providing a glass piece having a front surface, then irradiating the front surface of the glass piece with a UV laser beam focused to a focal point within +/−100 um of the front surface of the glass piece most desirably within +/−50 um of the front surface. The lens focusing the laser has a numerical aperture desirably in the range of from 0.1 to 0.4, more desirably in the range of from 0.1 to 0.15 for glass thickness between 0.3 mm and 0.63 mm, even more desirably in the range of from 0.12 to 0.13, so as to produce open holes extending into the glass piece 100 from the front surface 102 of the glass piece, the holes having an diameter the in range of from 5 to 15 μm, and an aspect ratio of at least 20:1. For thinner glass, in the range of from 0.1-0.3 mm, the numerical aperture is desirably from 0.25 to 0.4, more desirably from 0.25 to 0.3, and the beam is preferably focused to within +/−30 um of the front surface of the glass. The laser is desirable operated at a repetition rate of about 15 kHz or below, and generally of sufficient irradiation duration to form an open hole extending just up to a back surface of the glass piece. An array of holes thus produced may then be enlarged by etching. The front surface may be polished prior to etching, if desired.
Variations of the methods of the present disclosure are described in the text below and with reference to the figures, described in brief immediately below.

Methods of forming high-density arrays of holes in glass


Novel electrospun nanofibers and nanofibrous membranes, methods of manufacturing the same, and methods of using the same are provided. The nanofibers include a cactus mucilage, such as mucilage from Opuntia ficus-indica. An organic polymer can be added to the cactus mucilage before electrospinning. The nanofibrous membranes can be used in water filtration.

Water is fundamental for life on earth, and clean water is a necessity for everyone. Access to clean water is necessary for continuity of a healthy life. Unfortunately, getting clean water is a hardship many people still face. Although access to potable water has improved in the last hundred years, communities in developing countries are still affected by unhygienic drinking water. About 1.1 billion people in developing countries struggle with the challenge of cleaning contaminated water in their communities [1]. Additionally, 1.4 million children die from diarrhea annually [1]. Many of these unfortunate deaths could be prevented by increasing access to safe drinking water, but the process of cleaning contaminated water is sometimes difficult and costly.
Water is also essential in industries such as electronics, pharmaceuticals, and food [2]. Contaminants in water can be chemical or biological, either naturally occurring in the environment or man-made. To help maintain global sustainability of human health and welfare, we must develop ways to filter and clean our existing water resources. Of particular interest is the filtration of environmental contaminants with inexpensive, non-toxic, natural materials.
Since ancient times, people have tried different methods of cleaning water. It has always been important to remove the smell, taste, turbidity, metals, and pathogens that can exist in water [3]. Some of the methods to reduce contamination in water include sedimentation, chemical treatment, and filtration.
Sedimentation is a method of waiting for the particles in water to settle to the bottom by means of gravity and then removing the clean supernatant water. While this method has been used for thousands of years and is inexpensive, it is incapable of removing small microbes and metals that remain in the water [3].
Chemical treatment is also used to kill off viruses and bacteria living in water. The chemicals most widely used are chlorine and iodine. While these chemicals are easy to come by, getting the exact dosage to disinfect can be difficult. In addition, these chemicals are poisonous and adding too much in drinking water can cause illnesses, organ damage, and even death [4].
Filtration is commonly used in conjunction with sedimentation and chemical treatments [3]. Water filtration by definition means to sift out the impurities found in water. The size of the filtering pore is important to determine the size of particles that can be separated. Traditionally, filters can be made of sand, gravel, and charcoal. Newer filtering methods are made from materials including ceramics and carbon. Many existing nanofiber meshes are made up of non-organic materials that are not biodegradable.


In general, techniques are described for writing data to a storage device that comprises an interface and a controller. The interface may receive a request to sequentially write data stored in a first group of tracks to an I-region, where the first group of tracks was also previously written. The controller may move data stored in a second group of consecutive tracks different than the first group of tracks from the I-region to an E-region, the second group having cardinality equal to the tracks that must be moved for the first group to be written sequentially in the I-region. The E-region comprises a portion of the storage device reserved for temporary storage. The controller may determine a position of the I-region where data from one of the second group was previously stored, and write data from the first group of tracks sequentially to the I-region, starting at the position.

Shingled magnetic recording (SMR) regions restrict the ability to write data into its current location. This restriction is due to the size of SMR regions and a magnetic head that reads and writes the date into the tracks of an SMR region. The magnetic head is wider than the target track width it writes to, causing this difficulty. The traditional approach for sequential write operations is to write the first few tracks of sequential data into a scratch region, creating a validity hole in the data's original location. Data is then written in place in the validity hole. In this implementation, each sequential write will result in additional utilization of scratch space.
Such techniques for handling various writes and re-writes of data in a shingled region of an SMR hard disk drive (HDD) face numerous inefficiencies. It may be difficult to rewrite the shingled region without writing additional tracks to an E-region of the SMR HDD. Further, E-regions may contain many stale copies of the same logical sectors, which may require compaction to free. These writes may further be encountered in looped or repeated benchmarks, reducing overall efficiency of the writes. Further, the initial sequential write may be fragmented, potentially leading to a degradation in read performance.

Atomic write-in-place for hard disk drives


A belt buckle assembly, especially for a seat belt system in a motor vehicle, includes a belt buckle (10) and a plug-in tongue (12) lockable in the belt buckle (10) by means of a locking mechanism. A component of the locking mechanism of the belt buckle (10) interacting with the plug-in tongue (12) inside the belt buckle (10) and/or the plug-in tongue (12) has/have design features at a locking portion (16) interacting with the locking mechanism of the belt buckle (10) inside the belt buckle (10). The design features enable the plug-in tongue (12) to be locked in the belt buckle (10) only at one of at least two possible orientations of the plug-in tongue (12) in the belt buckle (10).

The invention relates to a belt buckle assembly, especially for a seat belt system in a motor vehicle, comprising a belt buckle and a plug-in tongue lockable in the belt buckle.
So far it has been common practice in seat belt systems in motor vehicles that the plug-in tongue of a seat belt can be inserted into and also locked in a corresponding belt buckle at two different orientations. More exactly speaking, the planar plug-in tongue can be inserted into and locked in a slit of the belt buckle at a first orientation or at a second orientation rotated by 180° with respect thereto (relative to the inserting direction).
Such "freedom" of orientation on the one hand has the advantage that when fastening the seat belt the vehicle occupant need not pay attention at which of the two orientations he/she inserts the plug-in tongue into the belt buckle. On the other hand, one of the two possible orientations necessarily entails an undesired twisting of the webbing. Twisting of the webbing does not only result in a loss of comfort, but in this case an optimum contact of the seat belt with respect to the safety of the vehicle occupant is not ensured, either.
Another drawback is resulting for plug-in tongues having a curvature or offset. If the plug-in tongue is inserted into the belt buckle at the wrong orientation, a press button for releasing the locked plug-in tongue arranged next to the inserting slit of the belt buckle is no longer just freely accessible, because the curvature or offset projects above the press button.
DE 38 38 755 A1 illustrates a generic belt buckle assembly in which a buckle tongue is movably supported on a tongue member. The buckle tongue is displaced via an operating element disposed at the tongue member. When the tongue member fully contacts the buckle housing, the operating element is pressed or pushed into the tongue member so that the buckle tongue is pushed or pressed out sufficiently far so that the buckle tongue can be locked in the belt buckle. In a specific embodiment of the known belt buckle assembly plural end pieces provided separately from the belt buckle are provided for shoulder belts and a crotch strap. Due to their recesses adapted to the shape of a shoulder of the buckle tongue the end pieces can be slipped onto the shoulder only in a particular order. In this case the operating element does not contact the belt buckle but a particular one of the end pieces disposed between the belt buckle and the plug-in tongue.
From DE 201 13 868 U1 a plug-in tongue is known which in a transition area between a locking portion adapted to be inserted into a belt buckle and a retaining portion on which a seat belt can be mounted has an encoding projection. Thus the plug-in tongue can be inserted only into a belt buckle associated therewith which is provided with a corresponding recess for the encoding projection. In this way mix-up of the corresponding plug-in tongues is to be excluded in the case of belt buckles that are located next to each other.


Methods, systems, and computer readable media for determining social compatibility using a selected group are disclosed. According to one method, the method occurs at a computing platform. The method includes receiving, via a communications interface, interaction information about a first person. The interaction information is associated with at least one member of a selected group. The method also includes determining, using the interaction information, whether the first person is compatible with a second person.

Online dating has grown immensely over the past two decades. In particular, dating websites have expanded from searchable text profiles to include many aspects of modern social networks, including instant messages, video chats, and/or other interactions between users. While profiles and digital interactions help members of dating websites to discover more about each other, it is still possible for some members to be tricked or "catfished" by other members. As such, members of these dating websites often feel that in-person meetings or dates are the only ways to determine whether people are who they appear to be and whether chemistry or compatibility exists between the parties.
Generally, after varying amounts of communications, two members of a dating website will arrange a meeting. Generally, the meetings are natural progressions for exploring a potential relationship. While going on dates can be a very effectively way to gauge chemistry, the cost and time involved may inhibit the number of dates a person goes on. Many times members of dating sites can make poor decisions on which users to meet. For example, since online interactions and/or profiles are limited indicators of a true in-person meeting, incompatible people may appear as compatible. As a result, in-person meetings with incompatible people may waste precious dating resources. By culling out incompatible people from a pool of potential companions prior to an in-person meeting, cost and time associated with dating can be minimized.
Accordingly, a need exists for improved methods, systems, and computer readable media for determining social compatibility using a selected group.


In order to improve reliability of an MR head including a substrate, an MR element formed on the substrate, a reinforcing body, and a sliding surface with respect to a magnetic recording medium, in which the substrate and the MR element are exposed to the sliding surface, the substrate and the reinforcing body are bonded to each other by using a non-organic film, for example, a multi-layered film including metal layers. Alternatively, the substrate and the reinforcing body are bonded to each other via an adhesive film not exposed to the sliding surface.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a magneto-resistive (MR) head provided with an MR element, and in particular, to an MR head that runs in contact with a magnetic medium and a method for producing the same. The present invention also relates to a magnetic recording/reproducing apparatus using the MR head.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, to increase the density of magnetic recording, attention has been given to producing a magnetic head using a thin film technique. In particular, an MR head is being studied as a head of a rotating drum type VTR and the like (for example, IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MAGNETICS, Vol. 34, No. 4, July 1998 (SONY)).
FIGS. 10 and 11 respectively show a perspective view and a cross-sectional view of a typical configuration of an MR head (yoke type). The MR head comes into contact with a recording medium, such as a magnetic tape and a magnetic disk, on a side face 10 on the left side of the figure. A magnetic flux generated from the recording medium is guided from a lower magnetic yoke 11 to an upper rear magnetic yoke 13, an MR element 14, and an upper front magnetic yoke 15, and a change in resistance caused by magnetization rotation of the MR element 14 is taken out from an output terminal 16. The MR head further is provided with a magnetic gap 18, a bias layer 19, a protective film 20, a lower substrate 21, an upper substrate 22, and an adhesive film 23. In order to show an internal configuration, in FIG. 10, the protective film 20, the adhesive film 23, and the upper substrate 22 are not shown.
An MR element portion 30 is formed by a thin film formation technique, so that it is weak in terms of strength unlike a bulk material. Therefore, the element portion is interposed between the lower substrate 21 and the upper substrate (reinforcing body) 22. In order to bond the MR element portion 30 to such a substrate, the adhesive film 23 is provided at least on one side of the MR element portion 30. As the adhesive film 23, an organic adhesive is used.
However, when the MR head is allowed to slide over the recording medium, a component of the recording medium adheres to the adhesive film 23 exposed to a sliding surface between the MR head and the recording medium. On the other hand, a component of the adhesive film also adheres to the recording medium. Because of these adhesions, both the MR head and the recording medium are likely to be damaged.
Furthermore, due to the difference in material between the adhesive film 23, and the lower substrate 21 and the upper substrate (reinforcing body) 22, as the MR head runs in sliding contact with the recording medium, recession (biased abrasion) becomes more likely to occur in the MR head. When the gap occurs between the MR head and the recording medium because of the recession on the sliding surface, a spacing loss degrades reproduction characteristics.
The present invention provides an MR head that is capable of suppressing a decrease in reliability even when it slides over a magnetic recording medium, and a method for producing the same. The present invention also provides a magnetic recording/reproducing apparatus using the MR head.
According to the present invention, in an MR head including a substrate, an MR element portion formed on the substrate, a reinforcing body, and a sliding surface with respect to a magnetic recording medium, the substrate and the MR element portion being exposed to the sliding surface, the substrate and the reinforcing body are bonded to each other in such a manner that an organic film is not exposed to the sliding surface with respect to the magnetic recording medium.
In one embodiment of the MR head according to the present invention, the substrate and the reinforcing body are bonded to each other via a non-organic film.
In another embodiment of the MR head according to the present invention, the substrate and the reinforcing body are bonded to each other via an adhesive film that is not exposed to the sliding surface with respect to the magnetic recording medium. The adhesive film may be an organic film or a non-organic film. However, it is preferable that the adhesive film is not formed in a range of 5 xcexcm from the sliding surface along an interface between the substrate and the reinforcing body.
Furthermore, according to the present invention, an MR head including a substrate, an MR element portion formed on the substrate, a reinforcing body, and a sliding surface with respect to a magnetic recording medium, in which the substrate and the MR element portion are exposed to the sliding surface, is produced by a method including the acts of: forming an MR element portion on a surface of a substrate; forming a flat surface above the MR element portion; forming non-organic films each including metal layers respectively on the flat surface and the surface of the reinforcing body; and subjecting the metal layers to solid-phase welding, thereby bonding the substrate and the reinforcing body to each other.
Furthermore, according to the present invention, a magnetic recording/reproducing apparatus including the above-mentioned MR head and a magnetic recording/reproducing apparatus including the MR head produced by the above-mentioned method are provided.
These and other advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading and understanding the following detailed description with reference to the accompanying figures.

MR head with MR element and reinforcing body mounted via non-organic film

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


A mobile multimedia framework API is provided that is capable of operation in mobile hardware devices. The mobile multimedia framework API includes a playback interface, controls, an event listener, an error list, exceptions, events, control types, and protocol handlers. Advantageously, a memory size of the mobile multimedia framework API is less than 100 kilobytes.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to multimedia frameworks, and more particularly multimedia frameworks having a reduced footprint and capable of operating on mobile computing devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
Java, originally developed by Sun Microsystems, is an object-oriented, multi-threaded, portable, platform-independent, secure programming environment used to develop, test and maintain software programs. Java programs have found extensive use on the World Wide Web, which is the Internet's multimedia information retrieval system. These programs include full-featured interactive, standalone applications, as well as smaller programs, known as applets, that run in a Java-enabled Web browser or applet viewer.
Recently, the computer industry has sought to add computer processing and communications capabilities to devices other than what would normally be considered a traditional computer. Such devices are quite varied and include, for example, personal digital assistants (PDAs), smartphones, cellular phones, desktop screen phones, in-vehicle devices, vehicle traffic lights, kiosks, business organizers (e.g., IBM WorkPadT.TM., PalmPilot.TM., and the like), computer peripherals (such as printers, fax machines, and the like), handheld or palmtop computing devices, and the like. For convenience, these devices, as a class, are referred to herein as "pervasive computing" clients as they are devices that are designed to be connected to servers in a computer network and used for computing purposes regardless of their location.
Palmtop computers and the like are now being proposed as pervasive computing devices for use in an automobile. In-vehicle navigation systems, of course, are well-known. Representative systems are described in U.S. Pat. Nos.: 5,121,326, 5,191,532 and 5,792,109. U.S. Pat. No. 5,121,326 describes a navigation system that displays a general map of the driver's location. As the driver approaches an intersection, the display provides a detailed map of the intersection to provide further guidance to the driver. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,191,532, a navigation system is disclosed where driving directions can be provided even though the user's exact destination is not listed in the systems database. Certain geographic features such as cities and landmarks are used to approximate the destination for purposes of providing directions. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,729,109, the inventors provide a vehicle navigation system that uses speech generation to give spoken directions when the driver is approaching an intersection.
However, these mobile devices are often unable to run many multimedia applications. Although desktop computers are designed to handle the large processing and memory requirements of multimedia applications, most mobile computing devices do not have the processing power or memory demanded by these applications.
One reason for the large processing and memory requirements for multimedia applications is the application program interface (API) required by the underlying multimedia framework called by the applications, often 2–3 megabytes in size. The API is a language and message format used by an application program to communicate with the operating system or some other system or control program such as a database management system (DBMS) or communications protocol. APIs are implemented by writing function calls in the program, which provide the linkage to the required subroutine for execution. Thus, an API implies that some program module is available in the computer to perform the operation or that it must be linked into the existing program to perform the tasks.
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a prior art Java media system 100. The Java media system 100 includes a desktop computer 102 having a media player 104 coupled to the Internet 106 via a network communication protocol. The processing power of desktop computer 102 is very large compared to that of a mobile computing device, such as a PDA. As such, the desktop computer 102 can efficiently play media files using the installed media player 104. However, as mentioned above, mobile computing devices such as a PDA do not have the processing power or memory requirements needed by conventional Media framework APIs and related implementations. Thus, mobile devices generally cannot run conventional media players created using conventional media framework APIs.
In view of the foregoing, there is a need for systems and methods providing mobile multimedia frameworks capable of operating on mobile computing devices. The systems and methods should provide a multimedia framework capable of operating on mobile devices having reduced processing capability, such as cell phones, PDAa, and Java-enabled car "Telematics".

Mobile multimedia Java framework application program interface


The presence detector has a passive infrared sensor for detecting the presence of persons in a room, an image sensor operating in the visible spectral range and an electronic evaluator for the evaluation of signals from these sensors. The signal from the passive infrared sensor is used to actuate the image sensor and, if necessary, to switch on the room lighting. Once activated, the image sensor is used to detect both movement and occupancy of a space being monitored. Application of the presence detector for the xe2x80x9con-demandxe2x80x9d activation and/or control of conditioning facilities of a room, wherein the signals of both sensors are used for the control of the conditioning facility.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a presence detector having a passive infrared sensor for detecting the presence of stationary persons in a room.
2. Description of the Related Art
In modem presence detectors, the passive infrared sensor is equipped with a pyro-sensor for detecting thermal radiation and a structure for focusing the thermal radiation from the room being monitored, which impinges upon the pyro-sensor. The signal of the pyro-sensor detects movements of heat sources which differ from the ambient temperature in the room being monitored (see EP-A-0 303 913, for example). Today, such passive infrared sensors are obtainable in many versions and at favorable prices. However, conventional infrared sensors are either unable, or poorly able, to detect stationary persons working, for example, at a PC. Therefore, passive infrared sensors have only limited use in presence detectors in an office environment. Furthermore, it is not possible to determine the level of occupancy of a room with the passive infrared sensors currently available on the market.
If, instead of a conventional passive infrared sensor, a passive infrared sensor array using so-called thermopile technology is employed (see European patent application 98 115 476.8), then the presence detector can indeed detect stationary objects which exhibit a temperature difference vis-a-vis the environment, and also respond to warm objects such as heaters, computers or locations exposed to sunlight. However, for sufficiently high resolution, these sensor arrays are currently still very expensive. Accordingly, an improved presence detector which can detect stationary persons that is manufactured at competitive price is required.
An object of the present presence detector is to reliably detect stationary persons and to distinguish them from warm objects in the room.
Another object is to provide a cost effective presence detector that can determine the level of occupancy of a room.
These and other objects are achieved with a presence detector of the type referred to at the outset, in that an image sensor operating in the visible spectral range, and an electronic evaluator for the evaluation of the image information, are provided in addition to the passive infrared sensor. The signals of both sensors are then evaluated and the passive infrared sensor signal is used to activate the image sensor. If necessary, it is also used to switch on the room lighting.
The monitoring of the room for the presence of persons is primarily carried out by the image sensor. The passive infrared sensor is mainly used to activate the image sensor and to switch on the lighting of the relevant room if this is necessary. This arrangement has an added advantage that the image sensor can always operate under adequate light conditions. Since the image sensor operates in the visible spectral range, it cannot xe2x80x9cseexe2x80x9d in the dark, and with insufficient brightness it has to rely on suitable lighting.
In one embodiment, the presence detector includes a rapid reaction passive infrared sensor to switch on the lighting of the relevant room when entered by a person. Due to the use of the rapid reaction passive infrared sensor, which switches on the room lighting as soon as a person enters a room in which there are inadequate lighting conditions, the image sensor is always present in an adequately illuminated room and no additional lighting adjustments are needed for the proper functioning of the image sensor.
In another embodiment, the image sensor is provided to detect the presence of persons in the relevant room.
The image sensor can take the form of a complimentary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) image sensor or is an active pixel sensor.
The image sensor scans the room to be monitored by imaging, digitizing the image and storing it as a reference image in a memory. The use of an active pixel sensor, which is characterized by a very low power consumption, makes it possible to access individual pixels. If the active pixel sensor consists of a sufficiently large number of pixels, raster scanning is obtained in which even small movements, such as hand movements, for example, can be detected. In the active state of the presence detector, the image sensor generates an image of the monitored room at intervals of fractions of a second, stores these images for a specific time and compares them with the reference image and/or with each other.
In a further embodiment of the presence detector, the image sensor is designed to measure the ambient brightness. In this regard, the image sensor can have an arrangement for measuring the ambient brightness, such as a photo-diode operationally coupled with the image sensor.
In other embodiments, the passive infrared sensor switches on the lighting when this is actually required, and the lighting can be switched off by the image sensor when, because of adequate brightness, it is no longer required.
In a further preferred embodiment of the presence detector, the image sensor""s visual range is subdivided into several partial areas, and a separate evaluation of the sensor signal for each partial area takes place during the evaluation of the image sensor signal. This embodiment has the advantage that the occupancy of the room, that is to say, the number of persons in it, can be at least estimated and used, for example, for the control of heating/ventilation/air-conditioning as required.
In a yet another embodiment of the presence detector, the image sensor has an optical system for displaying several partial areas on the same display area. This results in multiple use of the image sensor and an increase in resolution, allowing an image sensor of a lower resolution to be used, which leads to a corresponding cost reduction for the image sensor.
The invention further concerns a use of the presence detector for the xe2x80x9con-demandxe2x80x9d activation and/or control of conditioning facilities of a room. Conditioning facilities are understood to be facilities for influencing the ambient conditions prevailing in the respective room, such as room brightness or climate. At least for reasons of energy savings, there is a requirement to regulate ambient conditions, in particular to switch off or reduce the lighting, heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning in empty rooms and to switch them on or to adjust them to normal operation as soon as somebody enters the room. Moreover, xe2x80x9con-demandxe2x80x9d control means the control of heating/ventilation/air-conditioning according to the number of persons located in a room.
Accordingly, the signal of the passive infrared sensor can be used to activate the image sensor and, if necessary, to switch on the room lighting. Additionally, the ambient brightness may be measured and used to determine whether to switch the room lights off. The signals of both sensors are used to control the heating, ventilation, and/or air-conditioning of the room. The image sensor signal is additionally used to switch-off the lighting.


On a BD-ROM, an AVClip and a plurality of playback section information (PlayItems) are recorded. The AVClip includes a video stream multiplexed with a plurality of elementary streams. The playback section information Playable_PID_entries showing the playback start point and the playback end point in the video stream correlated with the filtering specification of each elementary stream. The filtering specification specifies whether each of the plurality of elementary streams are able to be played back or not.

With an object of setting BD-ROMs apart from DVDs while maintaining compatibility with DVDs, a technique that has been introduced into BD-ROM playback apparatuses is playback of video in two different modes, specifically, movie mode and enhanced mode. Movie mode is a playback mode that has the playback apparatus execute a program for performing DVD-like control to provide playback control that is DVD-compatible. One the other hand, enhanced mode is a playback mode that executes Java programs or the like while playing the same digital stream as movie mode. FIG. 1 illustrates screen display in movie mode and enhanced mode. Video playback in conjunction with the execution of a Java program enables playback in which graphics rendered by the Java program are composited with the video. Since such compositing is not possible with DVDs, this enhanced mode could prove to be highly instrumental in setting BD-ROMs apart from DVDs.
Graphics data of subtitles, buttons, or the like is multiplexed with the video stream of the video, and these together constitute one transport stream. This is to tightly synchronize display of the subtitles, buttons or the like with the video. With the transport stream being constituted in such a manner, the graphics data of subtitles, buttons, or the like is read by the playback apparatus regardless of whether the playback mode is enhanced mode or movie mode. The graphics data is read from the digital stream and placed in a margin area, resulting in the graphics data appearing on the screen in a manner such as the subtitle "I'm continuing down the highway", and buttons "YES" and "NO" in FIG. 1. However, when a Java program attempts to render a character string or a graphic in the margin area, the character string or graphic is obstructed by the subtitles and the buttons. In addition, the subtitles and the buttons pose a further nuisance if the size of the video is reduced for use in the Java program. This is because if the subtitles and buttons are reduced at the same rate as the video, they become too small to read and therefore simply appear as dirt on the screen. Faced with the problem of the rendition area of the Java program being obstructed, the Java programmer will be seized with the temptation to either delete or hide the subtitles and buttons. However, when the movie work is composed of a plurality of digital streams, the number of subtitles and buttons multiplexed differs between digital streams. In addition, the display position of the subtitles and the buttons also changes with each digital stream. In other words, a disparity exists in that buttons and subtitles may be included in some digital streams but not in others. When such a disparity exists, it is considerably difficult to write a Java program in a manner that the subtitles and buttons are deleted or hidden, and therefore this disparity poses an obstacle to Java programming.

Recording medium, playback apparatus, recording method, program, and playback method


The embodiments herein provides methods for forming a PVD silicon oxide or silicon rich oxide, or PVD SiN or silicon rich SiN, or SiC or silicon rich SiC, or combination of the preceding including a variation which includes controlled doping of hydrogen into the compounds heretofore referred to as SiOxNyCz:Hw, where w, x, y, and z can vary in concentration from 0% to 100%, is produced as a hardmask with optical properties that are substantially matched to the photo-resists at the exposure wavelength. Thus making the hardmask optically planarized with respect to the photo-resist. This allows for multiple sequences of litho and etches in the hardmask while the photo-resist maintains essentially no optical topography or reflectivity variations.

1. Field of the Invention
The embodiments herein generally relate to a fabrication process for forming a hardmask for use in a lithographic multi-patterning fabrication process.
2. Description of the Background Art
Reliably producing submicron and smaller features is one of the key requirements of very large scale integration (VLSI) and ultra large scale integration (ULSI) of semiconductor devices. However, with the continued miniaturization of circuit technology, the dimensions of the size and pitch of circuit features, such as interconnects, have placed additional demands on processing capabilities. The multilevel interconnects that lie at the heart of this technology require precise imaging and placement of high aspect ratio features, such as vias and other interconnects. Reliable formation of these interconnects is critical to further increases in device and interconnect density. Additionally, forming sub-micron size features and interconnects with reduced waste of intermediate materials, such as resists and hardmask materials, is desired.
As circuit densities increase for next generation devices, the width or pitch of interconnects, such as vias, trenches, contacts, devices, gates and other features, as well as the dielectric materials there between, are decreasing to 45 nm and 32 nm dimensions, As device scaling was extended to further below the resolution limit of the lithography scanners, multi-patterning was employed to enable meeting the feature density requirements of today's integrated devices. Multi-patterning is a process of performing several resist coating, lithographic patterning, and etching operations to ultimately pattern a film layer in multiple steps. When combined, the overlapping pattern operations form the features in an underlying hardmask layer, which when fully patterned, may be used to pattern an underlying layer, or serve as an implant or diffusion mask.
During simple, non-multi-patterning of an underlying hardmask layer, the current "ultra violet light" wavelengths used for exposure will reflect off the un-patterned interface of the resist and conventional hardmask layer, and may also reflect off the underlying previously formed features, and will as a result, affect the precision of the sidewalls and size of the exposed and developed features in the resist. To correct for this, optical proximity correction (OPC) may be employed in the lithograph mask, which results in an intentional distortion of the position where the resist exposing wavelength reaches the resist, with the result that actually formed developed feature meets a desired feature size and profile. However, with smaller geometries and reflection of the provided exposure's ultra violet electromagnetic energy, OPC is unable to cure distortion effects without additional processing.
One enabler of multiple patterning has been the use of optically opaque films to block the exposure wavelength from penetrating to the previously masked hardmask layer, which is sometimes called a memory or memorization, layer. The function of the memory layer is to serve as the hardmask for etching a pattern into a layer there below which may, for example, be a dielectric material, or may, for example, be a mask for another purpose. To pattern the memory layer multiple times, a tri-layer scheme, having an uppermost resist layer, is used in each pattern step. The tri-layer has sufficient opacity to prevent the lithographic resist exposure wavelength from reaching the surface of the memory layer and thus preventing reflections of the exposure electromagnetic energy off of previously formed hardmask features back into the resist, which would result in unintended exposure of areas therein. After each patterning step of the multi-patterning scheme, the tri-layer must be stripped off with wet and/or gas based chemistries, and the wafer and the memory layer must be wet cleaned and dried and a new tri-layer applied thereto before the next pattern of the multi-pattern can be formed in the memory layer.
While the benefits of multiple patterning in terms of resolution, depth of focus and lithographic defect sensitivity are understood, there is additional desire to control the process budget and increase and maintain yield.
Therefore, there is a need for an improved method for lithographically creating a multi-patterned hardmask on a substrate.

Optically tuned hardmask for multi-patterning applications


Systems, devices, and methods are discussed herein for wirelessly transmitting power and/or data to an implanted device, such as an implanted electrostimulator device. In an example, the subject matter includes a layered transmitter device with multiple conductive planes and excitation features. The transmitter device can be tuned to identify and apply device parameters for efficient wireless communication with a deeply implanted device. The transmitter is generally configured for midfield powering applications by providing signals that give rise to propagating signals inside of body tissue.

Various wireless powering methods for implantable electronics are based on nearfield or farfield coupling. These and other methods suffer from several disadvantages. A power harvesting structure in an implanted device is typically large (e.g., typically on the order of a centimeter or larger). In nearfield communications, coils external to the body can similarly be large, bulky and oftentimes inflexible. Such constraints present difficulties regarding incorporation of an external device into a patient's daily life. Furthermore, the intrinsic exponential decay of nearfield signals limits miniaturization of an implanted device beyond superficial depths, for example, at depths greater than 1 cm. On the other hand, the radiative nature of farfield signals can limit energy transfer efficiency.
Wireless midfield technology can be used to provide signals from an external source to an implanted sensor or therapy-delivery device. Midfield-based devices can have various advantages over conventional nearfield or farfield devices. For example, a midfield device may not require a relatively large implanted pulse generator and one or more leads that electrically connect the pulse generator to stimulation electrodes. A midfield device can have a relative small receiver antenna and can therefore provide a simpler implant procedure, which can lead to a lower cost and a lower risk of infection or other complications related to implant or explant.
Another advantage of using midfield powering technology includes a battery or power source that can be provided externally to a patient, and thus the low power consumption and high efficiency circuit requirements of battery-powered implantable devices can be relaxed. Another advantage of using midfield powering technology can include an implanted device that can be physically smaller than a battery-powered device. Thus, midfield powering technology can help enable better patient tolerance and comfort along with potentially lower manufacturing and implantation costs.
There is a current unmet need that includes communicating power and/or data using midfield transmitters and receivers, such as to communicate power and/or data from an external midfield transmitter to or from an implanted device, such as a neural stimulation device or a sensor device.

Enhanced wireless communication and power transfer between external and implanted devices