A cable connector assembly (100) has a terminal connector (3), a number of cables (1) connected to the terminal connector, an outer shell (71) defining an interior space (710) receiving the terminal connector, an inner shell (70) and a wire spacer (5). The terminal connector includes an insulative base (302) having a number of terminals (303) mounted therein, a shield (301) enclosing the insulative base and a printed circuit board (31) having a number of pads (311, 312) disposed thereon and arranged in two rows. The wire spacer partially extends out of the outer shell (71) and has a number of parallel passages for extension of the cables and organization of the number of cables.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cable connector assembly, and more particularly to a cable connector assembly having an improved wire spacer.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A conventional high-speed cable assembly always has an outer shell defining an interior space, a dielectric housing having a plurality of contacts mounted thereto, a printed circuit board attached to a rear side of the housing for connecting with rear ends of the contacts, and a plurality of wires extending through a wire spacer and mounted to an end portion of the printed circuit board. The dielectric housing, the printed circuit board and the wire spacer are entirely received in the interior space of the outer shell. Typically, when the cable assembly is mounted to an external electronics equipment like server or switch, the wires of the cable assembly extending out of the outer shell without any stress buffer for reducing a pressure loadings of the cables of the wires. As a result, it is easy to cause instability and damages of the cable assembly which is subjected to pressure loadings of the cables.
Hence, an improved cable connector assembly is needed to solve the above problem.


The invention provides a method for rapidly detecting a pathogen in animals or plants comprising using a specific primer set and nucleic acid in a sample to carry on a loop-mediated isothermal amplification. If at least one amplification occurs, the sample comprises the pathogen. The invention also provides a primer set, probe and kit for detecting a pathogen in animals or plants.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an animal or plant pathogen detection, and more particularly, to an animal or plant pathogen detection using a loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) system.
2. Description of the Related Art
The detection of a nucleic acid fragment is widely used in various fields and important. For example, the rapid and accurate detection of a target nucleic acid fragment can be applied for quickly diagnosing a pathogen and is benefit for early prevention.
Agriculture once had a great contribution in the gross domestic product (GDP). However, with the social change and the improvement of the national income in recent years, the economic structure has been transformed mainly to the business and services. Agriculture is facing the internal industrial structure changes. The unstable world food supply, climate change, and high infection rate impact the agriculture industry. Reducing the infection rate is one of the object to improve the agricultural development.
Animal and plant health inspection and quarantine is an important procedure in the international exchanges in order to avoid or reduce the hazards of infectious diseases in animals, plants and products thereof, and further to safeguard the health of citizens. In 1997, Taiwan has undergone the foot-and-mouth disease, betting a total of fifteen billion in the epidemic prevention work and causing the economic losses of one hundred seventy billion. If the early diagnosis and early epidemic prevention works, the farmers' and the country's economic losses can be reduced. Therefore, in the international or domestic forward-looking development, research and study of the diagnosis and identification in the animal and plant health inspection and quarantine are the core objectives. Only with the assistance of the fast and sensitive diagnostic identification technology, the biological monitoring, checking, validation, prevention, and risk analysis and other quarantine can be effectively executed. As the reason, the diagnostic identification in the animal and plant health inspection and quarantine is the core area therein. However, the effective integration of the diagnosis and identification in the animal and plant health inspection and quarantine still lacks, and although the point of breakthrough occurs, it is difficult to have a comprehensive development.
With the development of the molecular diagnosis, the rapid and accurate diagnosis of the animal and plant health inspection and quarantine has played a crucial part. Nowadays, the nucleic acid amplification by the polymerase chain reaction is acceptable. The molecular diagnosis based on polymerase chain reaction incorporated with specific primer sets for nucleic acid amplification has been demonstrated for accurate diagnosis of aquaculture diseases with a high sensitivity and specificity, such as RT-PCR, (Dhar et al., 2002, J. Virol. Methods 104, 69-82; Nishizawa et al., 1995, J. Gen. Virol. 76, 1563-1569), quantitative real-time PCR (DallaValle et al., 2005, Vet. Microbiol. 110, 167-179) or a conventional RT-PCR method (Nishizawa et al., 1995, J. Gen. Virol. 76, 1563-1569) that has been taken as the current "gold-standard method" for detection of NNV. The detection limit of 100-1000 copies of in vitro transcribed viral RNA in the RT-PCR assay has been demonstrated (Grotmol et al., 2000, Dis. Aquat. Organ. 39, 79-88).
However, there still exist some disadvantages, such as the need for an expensive and bulky thermal cycler, multiple and complex operating processes and low amplification efficiency (Mori et al., 2001, Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 289, 150-154; Tomita et al., 2008, Nat. Protoc. 3, 877-882). Furthermore, test sample pre-treatment still remains a technically demanding and time-consuming step. The quality of RNA extraction could affect the results of the RNA-virus diagnosis. A hot phenol extraction or RNA purification kits are common methods for RNA purification and separation. In addition, the requirements for PCR-based platforms are technically demanding such as the precise temperature control necessary during the thermal cycling with the temperature variation ranging from 42° C. to 95° C., which is commonly performed by costly and bulky apparatus. In addition, the lengthy and costly diagnostic processes always need to be performed by well-trained personnel and the inaccuracy of the diagnosis may be attributed to these manual operations.
Accordingly, "isothermal amplification techniques," which allow exponential amplification of target nucleic acids at a constant and low temperature, has been developed for rapid detection of target DNA sequences (Piepenburg et al., 2006, PLoS Biol. 4, e204; Starkey et al., 2004, Dis. Aquat. Organ. 59, 93-100; Walker et al., 1994, Nucleic Acids Res. 22, 2670-2677). Among them, the loop-mediated-isothermal-amplification (LAMP) technique has attracted considerable interests as a potentially rapid, accurate, and cost-effective method for nucleic acid amplification. Specific nucleic acid sequences in the target test samples can be amplified by using four designated primers with the incorporation of Bst DNA polymerase, which is capable of high strand displacement under isothermal conditions (about 60° C.-65° C.) (Notomi et al., 2000, Nucleic Acids Res. 28, e63). Three major steps including an initial step, a cycling amplification step and an elongation step are conducted under a constant thermal condition and efficient amplification can be achieved since there is no time required for temperature ramping during the LAMP process (Nagamine et al., 2002, Mol. Cell. Probes 16, 223-229). In addition, the final amplified stem-loop DNAs consisting of cauliflower-like structures with multiple loops yields an amplification of 109 copies of target DNA molecules, so that approximately a 100-fold greater sensitivity for LAMP amplification is demonstrated when compared with a conventional PCR process. As a consequence, a new diagnostic strategy incorporated the LAMP technique for fast and accurate detection of target genes has been demonstrated. For example, a LAMP-based detection of Edwardsiella tarda from infected Japanese flounder has been reported by targeting the haemolysin gene (Sayan et al., 2004, Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 70, 621-624). Another two-step RT-LAMP protocol for identification of the G-protein associated with the infectious haematopoietic necrosis virus (IHNV) in fish was also developed (Gunimaladevi et al., 2005, Arch. Virol. 150, 899-909). Despite the attractiveness of the LAMP technique, there are still some potential drawbacks in developing rapid diagnostic devices utilizing these state-of-the-art laboratory techniques. The entire nucleic acid amplification process is still costly and labor-intensive which utilizes lab-scale equipment such as pipettes and bulky thermo-heaters with a relatively large amount of bio-test samples/reagents. More importantly, bio-test sample pre-treatment processes prior to analysis such as DNA/RNA extraction are always required and need to be performed by experienced personnel. Furthermore, there is a high risk of contamination of bio-test samples during the entire diagnostic process, which may hinder the practical applications in the field survey.
Therefore, there is a great need to develop an integrated test sample-to-answer system to carry out all the diagnostic processes with a high specificity and sensitivity, in an automatic manner.

Primer set, method and kit for detecting pathogen in animals or plants


An antenna controlling apparatus for automatically fine tuning the broadcast signal received via an antenna to precisely tune a desired channel at a tuner including an antenna driving unit for controlling the direction of an antenna to be in the optimum condition for receiving radio waves according to the radio-wave receiving condition transmitted via the antenna, a sensor for detecting the variation of the antenna as the direction of the antenna changes by the antenna driving unit, a memory for storing direction information of the antenna detected by the sensor when the direction of the antenna is in the optimum condition for receiving radio waves, and a microcomputer for reading out for a given channel the position information of the antenna corresponding to the optimum condition for the channel.

The present invention relates to an antenna controlling apparatus and a method thereof for receiving radio waves, and more particularly to an antenna controlling apparatus and a method thereof wherein the orientation of the antenna is automatically changed to point in the direction toward which the optimum conditions for receiving broadcasts are present each time a user selects a broadcasting channel.
Generally, an antenna is for transmitting and/or receiving electromagnetic wave energy via free space. Among these, a receiving antenna is used for inputting signals transmitted from a transmitting station, so as to receive broadcast information carried thereon.
Wireless broadcasts transmit radio waves carrying given information to the atmosphere to be received by a receiving antenna. During transmission, if an obstacle lies in the transmitting path, the conditions for transmission toward the direction of the obstacle become worse. As a result, the conditions for reception are impaired.
Accordingly, when the reception conditions in electronic equipment using a receiving antenna are poor, the information loaded on the radio wave is difficult to detect. In such cases, the user changes the orientation of the antenna to point in a direction where the conditions for transmission are good to obtain a good quality of the conditions for reception of radio waves.
Also, when the user changes the channel from one which currently exhibits good conditions for reception to some other channel, several parameters for the transmission and reception of the radio wave may be altered. These include the transmitter's output power, level of modulation, and orientation with respect to the receiving antenna, and the traveling distance of the radio wave to the receiving antenna as well as atmospheric conditions through which the wave travels. If the new conditions for receiving the radio wave are poor, the user has to again change the orientation of the antenna to point in a direction where the conditions for reception are best.
Therefore, for good reception when using a conventional antenna, a user must change the antenna's orientation whenever poor conditions for receiving a radio wave via the antenna exist, as is frequently the case when changing channels.

Antenna controlling apparatus and method thereof


An object of the present invention is to provide a kneading and extruding machine which includes a screw type two-shaft kneader and a gear pump in which the degree of kneading melted resin material can be made uniform at the discharging port of the screw type two-shaft kneader. In the kneading and extruding machine of the present invention, the height of scraping flights or inverse flights of the screw in the discharging section of the screw type two-shaft kneader is determined to be an average of the inner diameter of the cylinder and the bottom diameter of the groove of the screw at the most.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a kneading and extruding machine which includes a screw type two-shaft kneader and a gear pump for kneading, melting and extruding resin material. More particularly, the present invention relates to improvements in a kneading and extruding machine for extruding resin material melted in a uniform condition.
2. Background
In general, large-scale kneading and extruding machines for kneading, melting and extruding resin material are used in order to increase the processing capacity and enhance the efficiency of energy to drive the machines. In each large-scale kneading and extruding machine, a screw type two-shaft kneader for kneading and melting resin and a gear pump for extruding resin are combined. Concerning the screw-type two-shaft kneader, in order to prevent the occurrence of damage to the screw and cylinder when they come into contact with each other, both end portions of the screw, that is, the drive side and the front end side of the screw are rotatably supported. Concerning the gear pump, in order to reduce the overall height, the gear pump is connected onto the side the cylinder at the end of the screw type two-shaft kneader.
For example, as shown in the first drawing of Japanese Examined Patent Publication No. 6-31135, the conventional kneading and extruding machine includes the following structure. In FIGS. 8 and 9, reference numeral 1 is a screw type two-shaft kneader. The screw type two-shaft kneader 1 includes a cylinder 2 horizontally arranged, and two screws 3 rotatably inserted into an inner hole 2a formed in the cylinder 2. In the cylinder 2, there are formed a supply port 2b on an upper surface at the rear end portion of the inner hole 2a, a vent hole 2c on an upper surface of the middle portion, and a discharge port 2e arranged on one side of the end portion. The section of the inner hole 2a perpendicular to its axis is formed into two circles arranged horizontally. The two circles are adjacent and communicated with each other at the adjoining portion. At the end portion of the inner hole 2a, there is formed a discharging passage 2d from the adjoining portion to the discharge port 2e along the lower side of the inner hole 2a. The two screw shafts 3 are rotatably supported by bearings 4 arranged at the front and the rear end portion of the inner hole 2a. In the two screw shafts 3, there are provided flights by which resin material is successively conveyed, kneaded, deaerated and measured from the rear to the front end portion of the inner hole 2a. At the discharging section arranged at the front end portions of the screws 3, there are provided scraping flights 3c which are linearly arranged in the axial direction of the screws 3. In this connection, diameters of the flights of the screw 3 are the same, and in this embodiment, two series of flights are formed. In this conventional example, between the kneading section and the deaerating section, there is provided a gate type kneading degree adjusting device 5 for adjusting a clearance between the inner hole 2a of the cylinder 2 and the groove bottom of the screw 3, that is, for adjusting a sectional area of the flow passage of resin material. The discharge port 2e is connected with a gear pump 7 via a diverter valve 6.
The above kneading and extruding machine operates as follows. Resin material is supplied from the supply port 2b into the screw type two-shaft kneader 1. While the supplied resin material is being heated by a heating unit (not shown) via the cylinder 2 and melted and kneaded by the shearing action of the screw 3, the rear end portion of which is rotated by a drive unit (not shown), the resin material flows toward the discharging section. The flowing direction is changed by an angle of 90.degree. in the discharging section. Then the resin material is discharged from the discharging port 2e to the gear pump 7 via the diverter valve 6. After that, the pressure of the resin material is increased by the gear pump 7, and the resin material is extruded from the gear pump 7. During the above operation, the degree of kneading of the resin material is adjusted by the kneading degree adjusting device 5, and volatile components and water are removed from the resin material via the vent hole 2c. The diverter valve 6 is used when the melted resin material discharged from the screw type two-shaft kneader 1 is changed over between the conveyance to the gear pump 7 and the discharge to the outside of the apparatus. In the initial stage of operation, or in the change in resin material, the resin material that contains mixtures is discharged to the outside of the apparatus by the action of the diverter valve 6.
Since the conventional kneading and extruding machine is arranged as described above, the following problems may be encountered.
In the kneading and extruding machine of the present invention, it is important to extrude melted material of a uniform degree of kneading, that is, it is important to extrude melted material of a uniform resin temperature. In the screw type two-shaft extruder, resin material is equally melted and kneaded by the two screws when the resin material is conveyed from the supply port to a position immediately before the discharging section. Therefore, the resin material flows into the discharging section under the condition that the kneading degree and the melting temperature are uniform. However, since the discharging port is formed on one side of the cylinder in the discharging section, the shapes of the inner hole of the cylinder and the discharging passage are not the same with respect to the two screws arranged on the right and left. Accordingly, the resin material conveyed by one of the screws reaches the discharging port under a different condition from that of the resin material conveyed by the other screw. Specifically, when the resin material is discharged from the discharging section while the flowing direction is changed, the resin material is subjected to a shearing action by the flights between the discharging section and the inner hole of the cylinder. In this case, the rotational angle (the action distance) of the screw 3 subjected to the shearing action is different. As shown in FIG. 9, the rotational angle of the left screw 3a subjected to the shearing action is .theta..sub.1, and the rotational angle of the right screw 3b subjected to the shearing action is .theta..sub.2 (.theta..sub.1 >.theta..sub.2) When the left screw 3a and the right screw 3b are rotated in a different direction, that is, when the left screw 3a is rotated clockwise and the right screw 3b is rotated counterclockwise, it is known that the resin material discharged from the left screw 3a flows on a lower layer in the discharge passage 2d, and that the resin material discharged from the right screw 3b flows on an upper layer in the discharge passage 2d. The resin material on the lower layer and the resin material on the upper layer, the viscosity of which is high in the melting condition, are seldom mixed with each other. Therefore, the resin material on the lower layer and the resin material on the upper layer flow while the layers are maintained in the previous condition. Accordingly, on the section of the flow of resin at the discharging port, the degree of kneading, that is, the melting temperature is locally different. Even after the layers of resin have been sent to the gear pump, they are not mixed. That is, under the condition that the layers are not made to be uniform, they are extruded. Even in a granulating device (not shown in the drawing) connected with the gear pump, the above condition is not changed. As a result, pellets of different physical properties, that is, pellets, the physical values of which fluctuate greatly, are produced.


In general, in a first aspect, the invention features a lithography system that includes a stage for supporting a wafer, an illumination system including a radiation source and a lens assembly, wherein the illumination system is configured to direct radiation through a mask to produce spatially patterned radiation, and the lens assembly is configured to image the spatially patterned radiation onto the wafer, a first interferometry system configured to monitor a location of the stage within the lithography system as the stage moves relative to the illumination system, a second interferometry system configured to identify an alignment feature on a surface associated with the stage, and an electronic controller coupled to the interferometry systems, wherein the electronic controller is configured to determine information about a location of the stage when the alignment feature is identified.

This invention relates to lithography systems and monitoring components in lithography systems using interferometers.
Lithography systems are commonly used in fabricating large-scale integrated circuits such as computer chips and the like. The function of a lithography system is to direct spatially patterned radiation onto a photoresist-coated wafer. The process involves detennining which location of the wafer is to receive the radiation (alignment) and applying the radiation to the photoresist at that location (exposure).
In general, a lithography system, also referred to as a lithography tool, an exposure system or an exposure tool, typically includes an illumination system and a wafer positioning system. The illumination system includes a radiation source for providing radiation such as ultraviolet, visible, x-ray, electron, or ion radiation, and a reticle or mask for imparting the pattern to the radiation, thereby generating the spatially patterned radiation. In addition, for the case of reduction lithography, the illumination system can include a lens assembly for imaging the spatially patterned radiation onto the wafer. The imaged radiation exposes resist coated onto the wafer. The illumination system also includes a mask stage for supporting the mask and a positioning system for adjusting the position of the mask stage relative to the radiation directed through the mask. The wafer positioning system includes a wafer stage for supporting the wafer and wafer chuck and a positioning system for adjusting the position of the wafer stage relative to the imaged radiation. Fabrication of integrated circuits can include multiple exposing steps. For a general reference on lithography, see, for example, J. R. Sheats and B. W. Smith, in Microlithography: Science and Technology (Marcel Dekker, Inc., New York, 1998), the contents of which is incorporated herein by reference.
During exposure, the radiation source illuminates the patterned reticle, which scatters the radiation to produce the spatially patterned radiation. The reticle is also referred to as a mask, and these terms are used interchangeably below. In the case of reduction lithography, a reduction lens collects the scattered radiation and forms a reduced image of the reticle pattern. Alternatively, in the case of proximity printing, the scattered radiation propagates a small distance (typically on the order of microns) before contacting the wafer to produce a 1:1 image of the reticle pattern. The radiation initiates photo-chemical processes in the resist that convert the radiation pattern into a latent image within the resist.
Interferometry systems are typically important components of the positioning mechanisms that control the positions of the wafer and reticle and register the reticle image on the wafer. Interferometry systems can be used to precisely measure the positions of each of the wafer stage and mask stage relative to other components of the exposure system, such as the lens assembly, radiation source or support structure. In such cases, the interferometry system can be attached to a stationary structure and the measurement object attached to a movable element such as one of the mask and wafer stages. Alternatively, the situation can be reversed, with the interferometry system attached to a movable object and the measurement object attached to a stationary object.
More generally, such interferometry systems can be used to measure the position of any one component of the exposure system relative to any other component of the exposure system, in which the interferometry system is attached to, or supported by, one of the components and the measurement object is attached, or is supported by the other of the components.
To properly position the wafer, the wafer includes alignment marks on the wafer surface that can be measured by dedicated sensors. Alternatively, or additionally, alignment marks can be included on the surface of the stage. The measured positions of the alignment marks define the location of the wafer within the tool. This information, along with a specification of the desired patterning of the wafer surface, guides the alignment of the wafer relative to the spatially patterned radiation. Based on such information, the translatable stage supporting the photoresist-coated wafer moves the wafer such that the radiation will expose the correct location of the wafer.
Overlay improvement is one of the five most difficult challenges down to and below 100 nm line widths (design rules), see for example the Semiconductor Industry Roadmap, p. 82 (1997). Overlay depends directly on the performance, i.e. accuracy and precision, of the distance measuring interferometers used to position the wafer and reticle (or mask) stages. Since a lithography tool may produce $50-100 M/year of product, the economic value from improved performance distance measuring interferometers is substantial. Each 1% increase in yield of the lithography tool results in approximately $1 M/year economic benefit to the integrated circuit manufacturer and substantial competitive advantage to the lithography tool vendor.
Furthermore, lithography tool throughput is also affected by the time it takes for a tool to execute alignment procedures. In a multiple stage lithography tool, for example, time is required for executing alignment procedures at both the load/unload and exposure positions of the multiple stage positions. The time for unloading a first wafer, loading a second wafer, and performing alignment procedures for the second wafer at the load/unload position can by design be less than the time for alignment procedures and exposure of a third wafer at the exposure position. Accordingly, the time for alignment procedures at the exposure position is not necessarily eliminated by the use of a multiple stage lithography tool and can therefore affect throughput of the multiple stage lithography tool. For multiple stage lithography tools where loaded wafer chucks are exchanged between the exposure and load/unload locations and the alignment of a wafer with respect to a corresponding wafer chuck is determined at the load/unload location, the time required to align the loaded wafer chuck wafer relative to the stage at the exposure location can affect throughput.


A tool includes a driving stem secured to a handle for engaging with a tool bit, and a telescopic member engaged in and secured to the handle and having one end extendible outward of the handle. A magnet is secured to the telescopic member for allowing the magnet to be extended away from the handle to attract a fastener. The handle includes a base and a cap pivotally coupled together for receiving tool bits in the base. The magnet may be extended to a long distance from the handle for allowing the magnet to attract the fastener engaged in a deep portion of an object.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a tool, and more particularly to a tool having an extendible magnet.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Typical tools, such as the screw drivers comprise a driving stem extended from a handle. The driving stem may be magnetized for attracting the fasteners dropped in a deep portion that may not be easily fetched by the user. However, the driving stem may not be extended to a longer length such that the engagement of the driving stem into the deep portion is limited by the length of the driving stem.
The present invention has arisen to mitigate and/or obviate the afore-described disadvantages of the conventional tools.


A transmission has a drive shaft, at least two countershafts, and an output shaft. A set of gearwheels is arranged on the drive shaft, the gearwheels meshing pairwise with corresponding gearwheels on the countershafts. Gearshift sleeves provide non-rotatable interlocking of one gear wheel each of the pairs to the respective shaft on which it is provided, while the respective other gearwheel of the pair is non-rotatable interlocked to the shaft on which it is provided. Further, the countershafts each have a gearwheel meshing with a corresponding gearwheel on the output shaft. Each two gearwheels on the input shaft simultaneously mesh with one gearwheel on the first countershaft and mesh with one gearwheel on the second countershaft.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the motor vehicle transmission having gearings for six forward speeds and one reverse speed as are commonly known from modern passenger motor vehicles having advanced stickshift transmission technology incorporated therein.
More particularly, the invention relates to such a transmission with an input or drive shaft with at least one first and one second countershaft, and with an output shaft; the shafts being arranged parallel to one another but only in pairs in each case in a common plane, and gearwheels arranged on the input shaft meshing, in each case in pairs, with gearwheels of the first and second countershaft, respectively. Furthermore, shift bushings or gearshift sleeves for non-rotatably locking one gearwheel of each pair of the respective shaft that carries it are provided, while the respective other gear wheel is non-rotatably locked to the shaft which carries it; also the first and second countershaft each have a gearwheel that meshes with a gearwheel arranged on the output shaft; and lastly two of the pairs comprising a common gearwheel on the input shaft.
2. Description of the Related Art
A transmission of the aforesaid type is known from EP-PS 224 407.
Reduction transmissions of conventional design as usually utilized for motor vehicles with a standard drive configuration--i.e. with an engine arranged at the front, perpendicular to the direction of travel--in most cases use an input shaft on whose coaxial extension the output shaft is located. Located parallel to this input/output shaft is an intermediate shaft or countershaft, and between these two shaft arrangements mesh as many gearwheel pairs as there are gears provided by the transmission. For reverse gear, it is then usual to utilize another idler or reversing gearwheel that is mounted on a further countershaft so as to rotate freely.
However, this conventional reduction transmission design leads to very long transmissions if the transmission is to be provided with a plurality of gears.
On the other hand, the trend in modern automotive design is towards reduction transmissions with increasing numbers of gears, since with greater numbers of gears it is easier to utilize the optimum and therefore most economical speed range of the engine.
A further trend in modern automotive design, moreover, is that of arranging the engine and transmission, as a design unit, perpendicular to the long axis of the vehicle in the engine compartment.
There thus exist in transmission design two conflicting demands, namely on the one hand to provide as many gears as possible in the transmission, but on the other hand to make the axial length as short as possible.
In this context numerous transmissions are known in which not just one, but two or more countershafts are provided, so that the various gearwheel pairs can be arranged in a space-saving manner. In a sectioned depiction in which the various shafts are sectioned radially, the shafts in this instance lie at the vertices of an irregular polygon. This means that in each case only two of the shafts (which of course run parallel to each other) define a common plane, while all the other shafts lie outside this plane.
In the six-speed reduction transmission known from the aforesaid EP-PS 224 407, a total of five mutually parallel shafts are provided, namely an input shaft with a total of six fixed gearwheels, a first countershaft with three freewheeling gearwheels and one fixed gearwheel, a second countershaft with three freewheeling gearwheels and two fixed gearwheels, a third countershaft that carries only one reversing gearwheel for reverse gear, and lastly an output shaft with a freewheeling gearwheel that is connected via a differential to the output shaft. This known six-speed transmission thus comprises a total of seventeen gearwheels on a total of five shafts. The axial length of this transmission is determined by the shaft with the most gearwheels, i.e. in this case by the input shaft with the six fixed gearwheels.
In the known transmission, separate gearwheel pairs are each provided for first, second, third, sixth, and reverse gears, each consisting of a fixed gearwheel on the input shaft and a freewheeling gearwheel on the first or second countershaft. Only in the case of reverse gear is the reversing gearwheel on the third countershaft shifted into place between the fixed gearwheel on the input shaft and the fixed gearwheel on the second countershaft. Common output from the countershafts to the output shaft occurs via the two fixed gearwheels on the countershafts, which simultaneously mesh with the differential gearwheel on the output shaft. Only for fourth and fifth gears is there an arrangement in which a fixed gearwheel on the input shaft meshes with a freewheeling gearwheel on the first countershaft and simultaneously with a freewheeling gearwheel on the second countershaft. Either fourth or fifth gear can therefore be engaged by selectively non-rotatably locking one of these freewheeling gearwheels to the respective countershaft that carries it.
However, for the reasons already mentioned the axial length is extremely great, especially because of the total of six gearwheels required on the input shaft, and the additional gearwheel plane required for output.
EP-OS 207 910 discloses a transmission of similar configuration, but designed only as a five-speed transmission. In this case a separate gearwheel pair is provided for each individual gear, i.e. for the five forward gears and for reverse. With one input shaft, two countershafts, and one output shaft, this creates a need for a total of fifteen gearwheels, of which a total of six are arranged next to one another on the input shaft, so that here again, with respect to the gearwheel planes required for output, the resulting axial length is just as great as with the aforementioned transmission according to EP-OS 224 407, although the transmission according to EP-OS 207 910 is designed for one less gear.
EP-PS 239 553 discloses a further five-speed reduction transmission. This known transmission has only two countershafts, since reverse gear is implemented by directing power via two intermeshing freewheeling gearwheels on the countershafts, one of which has a second gear rim for first gear and operates as a freewheeling gearwheel when reverse gear is engaged, while the other gearwheel on the other countershaft is non-rotatably locked to that same countershaft when reverse gear is engaged.
But even this known transmission, with five forward gears, has a considerable length, since five gearwheels are still located on the input shaft. Thus there is only a slight reduction in axial length with respect to the output gearwheel plane, as compared to the transmissions explained earlier. In addition, this known reduction transmission still requires fourteen gearwheels for five speeds.

Motor vehicle transmission having gearings for six forward speeds and one reverse speed

Getrag Getriebe-Und Zahnradfabrik H.H. GmbH


A straw and chaff spreading assembly consisting of a left spreader plate having a plurality of spreader fins fixedly attached thereto, a right spreader plate, having a plurality of spreader fins fixedly attached thereto, left spreader plate rotating means capable of rotatably mounting and upwardly angularly accelerating the left spreader plate, right spreader plate rotating means capable of rotatably mounting and downwardly angularly accelerating the right spreader plate; and, an oblongated straw and chaff deflecting shield fixedly mounted upon the rearward end of the harvester combine and positioned forward of the axes of rotation of the left and right spreader plates.

As a common harvester combine machine moves forward through a crop such as wheat, the wheat is cut and conveyed upwardly into the combine, and into a threshing cylinder mounted therein where the grain is stripped from the wheat stalks. The grain is then conveyed by the combine to a series of sieves where the chaff is blown away from the grain by blasts of air. The grain separated from the chaff is then conveyed within the combine to a grain chute, while the straw stalks and chaff are typically conveyed or blown rearwardly to fall upon the ground through a rear straw and chaff output port. In the absence of some mechanism for broadcast spreading the straw and chaff, the straw and chaff typically falls into elongated piles trailing behind the combine harvester.
Such piles of straw and chaff tend to soak up herbicide subsequently spread over the ground, preventing weed seeds underlying the piles from being killed. Thus, after a wheat harvest where such piling of straw and chaff is allowed, rows of undesirable weeds may grow. Where the straw and chaff is evenly spread over the ground, subsequent application of herbicide will effectively and consistently treat the ground and kill all weed seeds.
A known, but deficient, method of spreading straw and chaff emitting from the rear output port of a harvester combine is to rotatably mount a pair of circular spreader plates side by side beneath the combine's rear straw and chaff output port. Such spreader plates typically have spreader fins extending upwardly from their upper surfaces. Viewing such spreader plates from above, the plates are rotatably driven by gear driven axles so that the left spreader plate rotates in a clockwise direction, and so that the right spreader plate counter-rotates counter-clockwise. Such counter-rotation of the left and right spreader plates causes the spreader fins to propel straw and chaff rearwardly away from the harvester combine. A presumed advantage of such counter-rotation of the left and right spreader plates and fins is that straw and chaff falling from the output port upon the discs is not thrown by the fins forwardly toward the combine and toward the output port. A disadvantage of such counter-rotation of the left and right spreader plates and fins is that the straw and chaff is thrown rearwardly in a relatively concentrated stream, resulting in undesirable accumulation of the straw and chaff behind the harvester combine.
The instant inventive straw and chaff spreading assembly eliminates such undesirable rearward concentration of straw and chaff by reversing the counter-rotation of the spreader plates and by interposing an arcuately curved deflector shield between the spreader plates and the harvester combine; the shield accommodating for straw and chaff thrown forwardly by the spreader plates. The combined actions of the reverse counter-rotating spreader plates and the deflector shield results in true broadcast spreading of straw and chaff which emits from the straw and chaff output port of the harvester combine.


A control circuit for an automatically controlled feed forward nonlinear distortion compensation amplifier. The control circuit controls a distortion detection loop and a distortion removal loop. The distortion detection loop is a loop for feeding forward input to a main amplifier into a first directional coupler. The distortion removal loop is a loop for feeding forward distortion elements into a second directional coupler. The main amplifier is preceded by a variable attenuator and a variable phase shifter. A variable attenuator and a variable phase shifter are also located in a feed forward path to the second directional coupler. The control circuit controls the variable attenuator and the variable phase shifter preceding the main amplifier for detecting the distortion elements. The control circuit controls the variable attenuator and the variable phase shifter located in the feed forward path to the second directional coupler for removing the distortion elements. A temperature compensation signal and an adjustment signal are added to a control signal by each adder provided at the output stage of the control circuit.

1. Field of the invention
This invention relates to an automatically controlled feed forward nonlinear distortion compensation amplifier (which will be hereinafter referred to as an FF amplifier) and an improvement in a control circuit applied thereto.
2. Description of the related art
An automatically controlled feed forward nonlinear distortion compensation system is one of many techniques for providing amplifiers with very low distortion. An amplifier provided with this system, that is, an FF amplifier, consists of a loop for detecting distortions and a loop for eliminating them.
FIG. 3 shows a configuration example of the conventional FF amplifier wherein a distortion detection loop 10 consists of a divider 12, a variable attenuator 14, a variable phase shifter 16, a main amplifier 18, and a directional coupler 20. A distortion elimination loop 22 consists of a variable attenuator 24, a variable phase shifter 26, an auxiliary amplifier 28, and a directional coupler 30. Further, a control circuit 32 is provided to control the variable attenuators 14 and 24 and the variable phase shifters 16 and 26.
The distortion detection loop 10 operates so as to extract only distortion elements occurring in the main amplifier 18. The distortion elimination loop 22 operates so as to add the distortion elements extracted by the distortion detection loop 10 to the output of the main amplifier 18 but in the opposite phase for eliminating the distortion elements. First, input to the FF amplifier is supplied by the divider 12 to the variable attenuator 14 and the directional coupler 20. The variable attenuator 14 attenuates the input signals from the divider 12 and the variable phase shifter 16 shifts the phase of the signals attenuated by the variable attenuator 14. The main amplifier 18 amplifies the output of the variable phase shifter 16, then outputs the amplified signals via the directional couplers 20 and 30 to an external device. At the same time, the distortion elements produced in the main amplifier 18 are extracted by the directional coupler 20 in response to the output of the main amplifier 18 and the signal supplied from the divider 12 for feeding into the variable attenuator 24. To optimize extraction of the distortion element, "a first optimum operation condition" must be satisfied, as described below.
The variable attenuator 24 attenuates the distortion elements fed from the directional coupler 20 and the variable phase shifter 26 shifts the phase of the attenuated distortion elements. The auxiliary amplifier 28 amplifies the output of the variable phase shifter 26. The output of the auxiliary amplifier 28 is added by the directional coupler 30 to the output of the directional coupler 20. Thus, the distortion elements are added to the signals amplified by the main amplifier 18 in opposite phase, thereby eliminating the distortion elements from the output of the FF amplifier if "a second optimum operation condition" described below is satisfied.
To optimize operation of an FF amplifier having such a configuration, the following two optimum operation conditions must be satisfied: The first optimum operation condition requires that the transfer function of the path denoted by 100 in FIG. 3 be equivalent to the transfer function of the path denoted by 110 except that they have opposite signs and similarly the second requires that the transfer function of the path denoted by 200 in FIG. 3 be equivalent to the transfer function of the path denoted by 210 except that they have opposite signs.
The variable attenuators 14 and 24 and the variable phase shifters 16 and 26 are provided to satisfy these optimum operation conditions. The control circuit 32 is provided to control the attenuators and phase shifters to enable the FF amplifier to always operate under the optimum operation conditions.
For the FF amplifier to make distortion compensation for providing the improvement effect of 30 dB or more, the gain variation and phase variation in each of the loops 10 and 22 must be kept within .+-.0.3 dB and .+-.2.degree. respectively. Thus, very flat frequency characteristics are required for the parts making up the FF amplifier. On the other hand, the variable attenuators 14 and 24 and the variable phase shifters 16 and 26 which can cause the amounts of attenuation and phase shift to be continuously changed are required for the FF amplifier to make distortion compensation, configuration examples of the variable attenuators and variable phase shifters being as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 respectively.
The variable attenuator shown in FIG. 4 is a circuit using a PIN diode 34. For example, signal inputs from the divider 12 and control inputs from the control circuit 32 are applied to the PIN diode 34. The variable phase shifter shown in FIG. 5 is provided with a variable capacitance diode 36 and a circulator 38; the signal inputs are applied to the circulator 38 and the control inputs to the cathode of the variable capacitance diode 36.
As described above, very flat frequency characteristics of gain and phase shift amount are required for the parts making up the FF amplifier. Amplification circuits with semiconductors require some temperature compensation since their characteristics change in response to a temperature change because of the nature of semiconductor material. However, conventional temperature compensation methods have several problems.
The following temperature compensation methods are available: Use of a thermosensitive device to provide a bias circuit for transistors making up an amplification circuit; or location of a temperature compensation circuit separate from an amplification circuit. If complete temperature compensation is enabled by these methods, complete distortion compensation operation will always be performed even when the amounts of attenuation and phase shift cannot be automatically controlled. Resultantly, leading-in operation, when automatic control is started, becomes fast and control operation also becomes stable. However, it is very difficult to decide temperature compensation circuit constants.
As an alternate temperature compensation method, the control ranges in the variable attenuators 14 and 24 and the variable phase shifters 16 and 26 (the ranges of the amounts of attenuation and phase shift that can be controlled) are preset widely and then changes in gains and the phase shift amount are absorbed under the control of the variable attenuators 14 and 24 and the variable phase shifters 16 and 26. This method is preferred to the method using a temperature compensation circuit or the like in that the need for the difficult decision of circuit constants is eliminated; however, distortion compensation operation without controlling gains or phases, that is, in a free running condition is not always placed in the best condition. Therefore, leading-in operation, when automatic control is started, becomes slow and stability of control operation gets worse. When a digital-to-analog converter is used at the output stage of the control circuit 32, if the control range is set widely, resolution per bit is degraded.
The conventional FF amplifier also contains some problems with adjustments. To adjust the FF amplifier for starting distortion elimination operation, if the distortion detection loop and distortion elimination loop are adjusted so that the FF amplifier performs the best distortion compensation operation in a free running condition with no automatic control, then the leading-in operation, when automatic control is started, becomes fast and control operation also becomes stable. For this purpose, however, it is necessary to provide a variable attenuator and a variable phase shifter separate from the variable attenuators 14 and 24 and the variable phase shifters 16 and 26 for automatic control or it is necessary to adjust the gains and phase shift amounts of the main amplifier 18 and the auxiliary amplifier 28.
The method of adding one more variable attenuator and one more variable phase shifter to each loop has a number of disadvantages such as low reliability, an increase in cost, and an increase in transmission loss because of an increase in the number of circuit parts. The method of adjusting the gains and phases of the main amplifier 18 and the auxiliary amplifier 28 contains a problem that it is difficult to make separate adjustments of the gains and phases such as change of only the phase without changing the gain or change of only the gain. Further, a skilled engineer is needed for adjustments because very flat frequency characteristics are required for the FF amplifier as described above.

Control circuit for automatically controlled feed forward nonlinear distortion compensation amplifier

Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corporation


A screen printing apparatus for printing on a board, such as a circuit board, through a screen using a paste prior to surface-mounting electronic components on the board, and more particularly a screen printing apparatus that performs a screen printing while automatically discharging the paste that is accommodated inside the main body.

A screen printing apparatus is known from JP-A-5 (1993)-57870 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,947,022 (Jul. 9, 1999), for example. In the screen printing apparatus of this type, a pair of scrapers or blades is provided inside the apparatus main body so as to be inclined inward and opposed to each other. Solder paste accommodated inside the main body is pushed out of the opening opened between the scrapers or blades with air pressure or discharge pressure produced by rotation of a rotary body, and screen printing is performed by fluid pressure of the paste discharged from the discharge opening. A surplus of the paste is collected by scraping it with one of the pair of scrapers or blades that follows the other during screen printing.
In the screen printing performed by using such a known type of screen printing apparatus, it is unavoidable that the liquid flux including solder particles leaks out from between the scrapers or blades and a screen during printing and remains on the screen for, for example, the following reasons: a desired number of printing operations are repeated automatically; in general, screens have deformed portions and small asperity; and solder particles and flux as components of the solder paste tend to be separated from each other by shearing force generated by the discharge pressure exerted on the solder paste during printing. Therefore, to obtain good printing results, it is necessary to frequently clean and remove the paste residue adhered to the screen manually or with a cleaning device. In this case, the paste residue removed from the screen is disposed of as wastes. However, solder paste is as expensive as 50,000 to 300,000 yen per 100 g and accordingly, disposal of reusable paste residue is uneconomical. Moreover, printing operations need to be suspended during a cleaning operation, which causes the efficiency of the printing operations to be lowered.
The present invention has been made to eliminate the drawbacks or disadvantages of the prior art as mentioned above.
It is, therefore, the main object of the present invention to provide a screen printing apparatus in which in each printing, a residual of the paste adhered to the upper surface of a screen in the preceding printing can be introduced and used for printing.
Another object of the invention is to provide a screen printing apparatus in which a paste accommodation chamber is provided inside the apparatus main body and the paste accommodated in the accommodation chamber is stirred and kneaded efficiently and sufficiently and discharged in the state in which its viscosity is adjusted so as to be suitable for printing.
A further object of the invention is to provide a screen printing apparatus which can be disassembled easily so as to be capable of facilitating cleaning and maintenance, inspection, or the like of main components such as the main body and a paste stirring unit.
Other objects of the invention will become apparent from the description which will be made in respect of its embodiments hereinafter.

Screen printing apparatus having paste chamber with discharge opening and structure for introducing paste residue from previous printing into discharge opening


The invention concerns a motor vehicle lamp which can be mounted on the exterior of a body of a vehicle. The lamp has a bowl-shaped housing whose outer rim, or edge, is fused, or welded, to a base plate. The lamp has a base, or ground, surface in the form of an elongated rectangle. A light-transmissive shield is mounted at one of two long side edges of the housing. A cross member, bar, or web, extends from an inwardly directed side of the base plate into the housing with a top edge thereof being fused to the inside surface of the housing.

This invention relates to a motor vehicle lamp which can be mounted to a body of a vehicle of a type in which an interior cavity is defined by a plastic base plate which is attachable to the body, a plastic bowl-shaped housing and a light-transmissive shield which is arranged at an opening of a side wall, or edge, of the housing, and of a type in which at least one cross member, or support web, is molded onto the base plate for supporting the interior of the housing resting thereon.
Such a motor vehicle lamp is known from German patent document DE-OS 38 36 032. In a motor vehicle lamp described and depicted in this publication, a base plate and thus also a free edge of a bowl-shaped housing have an approximately square shape so that the base plate and the housing individually, and even more so after assembly thereof, have a high warp resistance. This warp resistance is increased by having a light-transmissive shield arranged at a right angle to the base plate and formed, or molded, directly at the edge of the base plate, thus becoming a unit with the base plate. In order to further increase the warp resistance of such relatively small lamps, the thicknesses of base plates and housings could be increased without substantially increasing material costs. However, a sharp increase in cost would be incurred by increasing wall thicknesses in large lamps in which several different light sources have their own reflectors and are arranged in rows next to one another. In order to allow extremely thin wall thicknesses of base plates and housings for such lamps, while at the same time providing sufficient warp resistance, it is possible that one could strengthen lamp components with ribs. If a lamp of this type had strengthening ribs injected, or sprayed, onto an interior of a bowl-shaped housing, a material accumulation would occur at intersections between the ribs and an outer surface of the shell, so that shrinkage of the material during a cooling process thereof would cause indentations on the outside of the shell. This disadvantage does not occur if cross members, or webs, are formed, or molded, onto the base plate, as depicted in German patent document DE-OS 38 36 032. In this regard, the cross member, or support bar, is made with double walls and is arranged along the edge of the base plate. However, this embodiment and this location of the cross member cannot always be realized, particularly in those instances when lamps are shaped to be very flat, or slim, along their edges. Usually single-walled and thin support cross members for the base plate have to be arranged in great numbers and crossing, if possible, in order to exhibit a warp-resistance effect. However, this is not possible in most lamps because of space constraints.
It is an object of this invention to reinforce not only the base plates by means of cross members, but also the housings in such motor-vehicle lamps which vary substantially in length and width and which have thin housing and base-plate walls, without requiring that additional cross members be injected onto the housings, yet still allowing for the changing of light bulbs.


The device uses the principle of the Doppler effect laser velocimeter. It comprises emitter and receiver optic guides formed by integrated optics techniques on a single substrate, preferably made of glass. The emitter guides, connected to a light source, produce two mutually coherent beams inclined with respect to one another in such a way as to constitute interference fringes in a measuring volume situated outside the substrate. The receiver guides transmit the light diffused by the passage of particles in movement through the measuring volume to a detection and processing circuit. The substrate is mounted in a support fixed in an orifice of a wall along which a fluid flows transporting the particles to be examined. The substrate comprises a face which comes into contact with the fluid. This device enables the velocity, size and/or number of particles in movement in a fluid moving along a wall to be determined.

The invention relates to an optic device for detection of characteristics of particles in movement in a fluid flowing along a wall, a device comprising a light source, means, connected to the light source, for producing at least two mutually coherent light beams forming between them a predetermined angle so as to form an interference zone constituting a measuring volume on the path of the fluid, optic means for detection of the light diffused by particles passing through the measuring volume, optoelectronic means for detection, connected to the optic means for detection and supplying electronic signals representative of the light diffused, and processing means, connected to the optoelectronic means for detection.
A Doppler effect laser velocimeter enables the velocity of submicronic particles in a fluid to be measured. A velocimeter of this kind is based on particles passing through a succession of equidistant dark and bright zones belonging to a network of interference fringes.
FIG. 1 illustrates the principle of Doppler effect laser velocity measurement using the fringes method. Two coherent light beams 1 and 2, originating from the same laser 3, cross at the focal point of a convergent lens 4 inside a measuring volume 5. FIG. 2 represents the measuring volume 5 in greater detail. Inside the measuring volume 5, a system of interference fringes appears disposed according to equidistant planes parallel to the internal bisecting line of the two beams 1 and 2. The distance between two successive planes is the interfringe distance i. A particle driven by a fluid in movement perpendicularly to the fringes (axis X'X of FIG. 2, arrow 6 of FIG. 1), crosses the measuring volume 5 and passes successively through in the dark and bright fringes. The light flux diffused by a particle is modulated at a frequency proportional to its velocity. The light diffused by a particle is collected by an optic detection device. The diffused light is generally measured by retro-diffusion, that is to say on the side where the emission source constituted by the laser 3 is located, as represented in FIG. 1. The detection device comprises an objective 7 with fairly wide opening to collect the light diffused by the particles and form the image of the measuring volume on a diaphragm situated in front of a photo-multiplier 8. The latter supplies electrical signals representative of the light diffused by the particles to an electronic processing circuit 9. The signals supplied to the processing circuit 9 are presented in the form of a succession of sine wave trains, as represented in FIG. 3. Each of the trains, one of which is represented between two broken lines, is due to the passage of a particle in the measuring volume 5. The frequency of a sine wave train is representative of the velocity of the corresponding particle in the measuring volume. The processing circuit performs a frequency analysis of the signals. Known processing techniques use spectral analysis, frequency followers or image correlation. These various techniques enable mean values of the velocity of a particle to be obtained. Counting techniques, for their part, enable instantaneous values of the velocity of a particle to be obtained.
The Doppler effect laser velocimeter has up to now remained reserved for laboratory measurements. Known velocimeters are costly and require difficult adjustments, notably adjustment of the angle A (FIG. 1) of the beams 1 and 2. Modification of the angle A in fact modifies the interfringe distance i, and consequently the frequency of the measured signals. The optic detection device also has to be carefully aligned.
The Doppler effect laser velocimeter has up to now been used more particularly for measuring the velocity of particles in a fluid or, indirectly, for friction measurement near a wall. With known velocimeters, a section of the wall has to be transparent. The light beams reach the wall with a low incidence and the signals collected are very noisy on account of the light reflections on the walls. Only long and delicate optic adjustments, impracticable in the industrial world, enable acceptable signal-to-noise ratios to be obtained, in a laboratory.

Optical device for detecting the characteristics of moving particles


The present invention concerns a method for in vivo generation of a linear polynucleotide with 5′ and 3′ free ends from a vector having no free end, said linear polynucleotide being integrated into the host cell genome. The vector having no free end according to the present invention comprise the polynucleotide to be linearized or excised flanked by a cleavage site, said cleavage site being preferably not found in the host cell genome. The present invention also relates to the resulting cells and their uses, for example for production of proteins or other genes, biomolecules, biomaterials, transgenic plants, vaccines, transgenic animals or for treatment or prophylaxis of a condition or disorder in an individual.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention concerns a process of in vivo liberation a linear DNA fragment from a vector in order to integrate this fragment into the cellular genome. The invention further concerns the use of this process and the results of this use.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
The first breakthrough of reverse genetics 20 years ago was Transgenesis. The transgenesis is the technique which allows to introduce a exogenous DNA sequence into a host cell. For example, DNA micro-injection in an egg fertilized by mammal leads, in a certain number of cases, to the integration of micro-injected DNA molecule into the genome of the fertilized egg. Transgenesis implies that a foreign DNA fragment is introduced into the genome of a multicellular organism and transmitted to progeny. Therefore, the foreign DNA must be present in a stable form in the embryo at an early stage of development in order to be transmitted into progeny.
DNA transfection in mammal cells by means of precipitated calcium phosphate precipitation can also lead, in a certain number of cases, to the integration of the exogneous DNA to the genome of the cell host which is called stable transfection. The exogenous DNA can be introduced into cells under two forms, either linear or circular. When the DNA is introduced under linear form, the linear fragment is prepared in vitro before its introduction into the host cell, generally by excision of the desired fragment with restriction enzyme from a plasmid for example. As regards the DNA under circular form, the introduced DNA is generally a supercoiled plasmid.
All cells have systems of maintenance and repair of their DNA. One of the particular signals of stress which activates the intervention of these systems is the generation of DNA free ends in the cell. The cell has then two solutions to resolve this type of problem:
The first solution is the degradation of the DNA presenting the free ends (for example the case where the cell should eliminate a DNA being able to have a viral activity). This solution is based on the presence in these systems of maintenance and repair of exonucleases, which degrade the DNA by digesting it from the free ends.
An other solution is the recombination of the free ends with the cellular genome. This recombination can take different forms, notably the integration of the exogenous molecule into the genome of the cell.
As a consequence, the works aiming at integrating of the exogenous DNA by introduction of naked double-stranded DNA under circular or linear form meet three types of major problems as well as certain number of collateral problems.
The first one of these problems is the efficiency of the integration of the exogenous molecule in the DNA of the cell host. This lack of efficiency implies the injection of very hight amount of exogenous DNA for a very few number of integration. In some species such as fish, plants or insects, the exonucleases are so efficient that the exogenous DNA is never integrated in the chromosome and it stays episomal. For example, if the circular form is used for the exogenous DNA, a nick is necessary for having integration. Indeed, the integration process needs the presence of a free end. If the linear form is used, most of the exogenous DNA is degraded by the exonucleases due to the presence of the free ends.
The second problem is the integrity of the integrated DNA. The linear fragment of exogenous DNA exposes its free ends to the cellular exonucleases before its arrival to the nucleus. This prolonged exhibition of its ends in the cell limits in a significant way the chances of the exogenous DNA to be wholly integrated into the cellular genome. A way of increasing the chances to be wholly integrated into the genome consists in adding some cohesive single-stranded DNA overhangs at each ends of the exogenous DNA, for example made by digestion with the same restriction enzyme. These cohesive extremities allow the DNA fragments to associate in a multimer and to prevent the complete degradation of the DNA before its integration. Another way of increasing the chances is to surround the DNA fragment to integrate with long and neutral DNA sequences. In the case of the exogenous DNA is included in a supercoiled plasmid, the intregrated fragment comprises not only the exogenous DNA but also the whole vector.
The third problem is the control of the number of integrated copies. The multimerization, deliberated or not, of the exogenous DNA presents the inconvenience to favor the insertion of several copies of the exogenous DNA fragment. Similarly, when the exogenous DNA has a circular form, the plasmid is integrated as a concatemer. This multiple insertion has for consequence to introduce a chromosome instability and to result in problems of regulation of the expression due to the presence of the same gene in multiple copies.
Transgenesis is, more than ever, an essential tool for biologists. The study of human diseases relies to a great extent on the use of animal models. Vast gene sequence informations are available for the pharmaceutical industry. These informations would provide new targets for drug. However, the function of the majority of the genes and related proteins in an organism remains unknown and the efficiency of target validation does not appear to have significantly changed.
Genetic studies and structural genomics have shown that biochemical pathways and physiology are highly conserved throughout the animal world. Animal models can therefore be used to investigate processes relevant to human diseases. Animal model can be used to efficiently identify and validate optimal screening targets. Screening target selection can be improved and will lead to fewer failures and a more efficient drug development process.
Mouse is a well known mammalian model which is abundantly used. The most widely used method for the production of transgenic animals is the microinjection of DNA into the pronuclei of fertilized embryos. This method is rather efficient for the production of transgenic mice but is much less efficient for the production of large transgenic mammals such as cows and sheep. Moreover, the transgenic animals from the available transgenesis method are often mosaic for the transgene resulting in the lack of transmission of the transgene to the progeny. Some animals present a high resistance to transgenesis such as fish or bird. Among them, the problem of fish transgenesis is more detailed below.
Tank fish have risen to high popularity as vertebrate models in developmental biology and genetics. Indeed, the zebrafish (Danio rerio) is a popular model system for vertebrate developmental studies because it offers the opportunity to combine classical genetic analysis with an easily accessible and manupilable embryo. Genetic studies of the zebrafish benefit from the 2–3 month generation time, the ability of females to routinely lay hundreds of egg, and the small size of the adults. Embryological studies benefit from the large, transparent embryos.
However, the usefulness of tank fish is still limited by the lack of some methodological tools, above all a simple and efficient technology for transgenesis, which has become a major technique in fundamental research and has varied applications in agronomy and biomedecine. In particular, attempts to establish embryonic stem (ES) cells in fish as cellular vectors for transgenesis, have so far been unsuccessful.
Therefore, the method of choice to generate transgenic fish remains the injection of high concentrations of DNA (approximately 106 plasmid copies) in the cytoplasm of one cell-stage embryos. Plasmids have been microinjected in linearized and circular form, and in both types of experiments transgenesis has been achieved. This technology is fast and easy, due to the transparency and great size of most fish eggs, but unfortunately, it is also rather inefficient, with a frequency of genomic integration and germline transmission which usually lies in a range of a few percents [Stuart et al., 1988 Development 103, 403–412; Stuart et al., 1990, Development 109, 577–584; Culp et al., 1991, Proc Natl Acad Sci USA, 88, 7953–57; Lin et al., 1994 Dvelopmental biology 161, 77–83; Collas et al., 1998 Transgenic Research, 7, 303–309]. Recent studies have shown that this is likely to be due to late and mosaic integrations: DNA persists in an unintegrated form in the egg cytoplasm and is inherited only by a subset of blastomeres. After injection, the plasmid sequences are transiently amplified and form long concatemers consisting of many unit-length copies of the plasmid arranged in tandem (Stuart et al. 1988, supra). The foreign DNA usually inserts into one site in the host genome but usually consists of tandem arrays of the original injected construct (Culp et al., 1991, Supra).
It is generally accepted that increasing the frequency of transgenic fish generated by plasmid microinjection is difficult. Injecting higher amounts of DNA is toxic to the embryos so one must attempt to improve the efficiency of integration. Several attempts to improve the rate of integration and transmission of transgenes have been performed. For example, the use of DNA-NLS complexes has been reported, although most authors found no improvements with this technology [Liang et al., 2000 Mol Reprod Dev 55, 8–13]. In principle, technologies using flanking repeats of adeno-associated virus [Fu, 1998 Nature Biotech, 16, 253–257] or of transposons [Izsvak et al., 2000 J Mol Biol 302, 93–102] may also increase transgene integration. However, to the best knowledge of the inventors, positive results have not been not reported with these techniques, which also suffer from the potentially deleterious presence of repeats in the plasmids. Moreover, these vectors are limited for the size of the DNA sequences that can be engineered into them.
Therefore, numbers of methods have emerged to improve and develop new ways to increase the transgenesis efficiency. Nevertheless, a very limited amount of methods allows better control and numbers of species remain resistant or very inefficient for this technology. Main problems encountered are:                Transgenesis control and efficiency        Early integration events (germ line transmission)        The control of integrated copy number.

Random integration of a polynucleotide by in vivo linearization


A hybrid helicopter (1) includes a central fuselage (2) defining a front end (3) and a rear end (4), the hybrid helicopter (1) having a main lift rotor (10), an additional lift surface (20), a mechanical interconnection system (40), and at least one turbine engine (61, 62) for continuously driving the main rotor (10) in rotation. Furthermore, the main rotor (10) is mechanically connected to the mechanical interconnection system (40) by rotary rotor mast (12), and the additional lift surface (20) is arranged at the rear of the hybrid helicopter (1) between the rotor mast (12) and the rear end (4) of the fuselage (2), each end zone (21′, 22′) of the wings (21, 22) of the additional lift surface (20) being provided with a vertical element (23, 24) fitted with a rudder (23′, 24′).

More particularly, the invention relates to a hybrid helicopter of the vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) advanced concept type of aircraft. Given the specificity of the invention, its technical field is restricted to vertical takeoff and landing rotorcraft having a main lift rotor acting as a rotary wing, and the technical field does not extend to airplanes, for example, regardless of whether or not they permit vertical takeoff and landing.
Indeed, the aerodynamic constraints and problems to be solved, e.g. on rotary wing aircraft, differ significantly from the constraints and problems encountered with fixed wing aircraft, which explains why they are not included in the technical field of the invention.
This advanced concept of a hybrid helicopter combines, at reasonable cost, the efficiency of a conventional helicopter in vertical flight with high speed travel performance made possible by the use of pusher propellers and the installation of modern turbine engines.
In order to understand the object of the invention, it is appropriate to summarize the main flying machines that correspond to airplanes and to rotorcraft.
The term "rotorcraft" is used to designate any aircraft for which lift is provided in full or in part by one or more substantially vertical axis propellers of large diameter, referred to as rotors or as rotary wings.
Within the category of rotorcraft, several distinct types can be distinguished.
Firstly, there is the helicopter in which at least one main rotor driven by an appropriate engine provides both lift and propulsion. A helicopter is capable of hovering, i.e. remaining at a stationary point in three dimensions, it can take off and land vertically, and it can move in any direction (forwards, backwards, sideways, up, down). The great majority of rotorcraft that are produced in the world are helicopters.
Then the autogyro is a rotorcraft in which the rotor does not receive power, but provides lift by auto-rotating under the effect of the forward speed of the aircraft. Propulsion is provided by a turbine engine or by a propeller having a substantially horizontal axis in forward flight that is driven by a conventional engine. This formula is incapable of vertical flight, except when the rotor is initially launched by an auxiliary device enabling the rotor to be rotated faster than normal: an autogyro therefore cannot perform hovering flight, but is capable of moving up or down on paths of very steep slope. It could be said to be an airplane with a wide range of speeds that does not suffer from stalling and that can use short runways.
A gyrodyne is a rotorcraft that is intermediate between a helicopter and an autogyro, with a rotor that provides only lift. The rotor is normally driven by an engine installation during stages of takeoff, hovering or vertical flight, or landing, like a helicopter. A gyrodyne also has an additional propulsion system that is essentially different from the rotor assembly. In forward flight, the rotor continues to provide lift, but only in auto-rotation, i.e. without power being transmitted to said rotor. The Jet gyrodyne from the manufacturer Fairey is an embodiment of this concept.
Various other novel formulae have been investigated to a greater or lesser extent, some of which have given rise to practical embodiments.
In this respect, mention can be made of the compound that takes off and lands like a helicopter, and cruises like an autogyro: its rotor also rotates because of the forward speed of the aircraft and provides part of its lift, while the remainder is provided by an auxiliary wing. A puller propeller having a substantially horizontal axis delivers the force needed to move in translation. As an example, mention can be made of the experimental compound SO 1310 Farfadet having its rotor propelled by jet propulsion in a takeoff or landing configuration and also rotating in a cruising configuration, propulsion then being provided by a propeller. That aircraft has two separate turbines for actuating the rotor and the propeller.
Similarly, document U.S. Pat. No. 6,513,752 discloses an aircraft comprising:                a fuselage and a wing;        two variable-pitch propellers;        a rotor with weights "at its ends" (sic);        a power source driving the two propellers and the rotor;        control means for adjusting the pitch of the propeller such that:                    in forward flight, the thrust from the propellers causes the aircraft to move forward; and            in hovering flight, the anti-torque function is performed by one propeller providing thrust towards the front of the rotorcraft and the other towards the rear of the rotorcraft, and the rotor is driven by the power source; and                        the power source comprises an engine and a clutch, which by disconnecting the rotor from the engine, enables the rotor to turn faster than an outlet from said engine, because of the above-mentioned weights.
Additionally, it is stated that the clutch makes autogyro mode in forward flight possible. Consequently, the aircraft according to document U.S. Pat. No. 6,513,752 is of the compound type.
In addition, the power transmission gearbox disposed between the power source and the propellers enables said propellers to operate at a plurality of speeds of rotation relative to the speed of an outlet from said power source.
Another particular formula for a rotorcraft is the convertible. This term covers all rotorcraft that change configuration in flight: takeoff and landing in helicopter configuration, cruising flight in airplane configuration, e.g. with two rotors that are tilted through about 90° in order to act as propellers. The tilting rotor formula has given rise to the Bell Boeing V22 Osprey aircraft, for example.
Of these various rotorcraft formulae, the helicopter is the simplest, such that is the most widespread in spite of the fact that the maximum forward speed of a helicopter is about 300 kilometers per hour (km/h), which is slow and less than the speed that can be envisaged with formulae of the compound or convertible types, which are technically more complex and more expensive.
Another innovative formula is known that is referred to as a "hybrid helicopter", for convenience.
The hybrid helicopter comprises a fuselage with a cockpit at its front, a main rotor for driving blades in rotation by using at least one turbine engine, and advantageously by using two turbine engines placed on the top of the fuselage one either side of the longitudinal plane of symmetry of the aircraft.
The hybrid helicopter also has a set of wings made up of straight (i.e. non-swept) wings disposed on either side of the fuselage. Two pusher propellers are placed on either side of the fuselage, on the wings.
Furthermore, the hybrid helicopter has a tail boom with stabilizer and control surfaces at its end, and in particular: for controlling pitch, a horizontal stabilizer surface with two pitch control surfaces that are movable relative to the front portion; and, for steering, two appropriate fin surfaces, e.g. substantially vertical surfaces, on respective sides of the horizontal stabilizer.
Specifically, the horizontal stabilizer and the vertical stabilizers form an upside-down U-shape relative to the fuselage.
Furthermore, the hybrid helicopter is fitted with an integrated drive system that, in addition to comprising the two turbine engines, the rotors, and the two propellers, also comprises a mechanical interconnection system between those elements.
In that configuration, the hybrid helicopter is remarkable in that the speeds of rotation of the turbine engine outlets, of the propellers, of the rotor, and of the mechanical interconnection system are mutually proportional, with the proportionality ratio being constant regardless of the flying configuration of the hybrid helicopter under normal conditions of operation of the integrated drive system.
Consequently, and advantageously, the rotor is continuously driven in rotation by the turbine engine(s), and always develops lift regardless of the configuration of the hybrid helicopter, both in forward flight and when hovering. The hybrid helicopter is thus neither an autogyro, nor a gyrodyne, nor a compound, but is a novel type of rotorcraft.
More precisely, the rotor serves to provide all of the lift of the hybrid helicopter during stages of takeoff, landing, and hovering, and some of its lift in cruising flight, the wing then contributing some of the lift of said hybrid helicopter.
Thus, the rotor provides the major fraction of the lift of the hybrid helicopter in cruising flight, and possibly also makes a small contribution to propulsion or traction forces, while minimizing drag.
The anti-torque and steering control functions are performed by making use of differential thrust exerted by the propellers. In vertical flight, the propeller on the left of the fuselage exerts thrust towards the rear of the hybrid helicopter while the propeller on the right produces thrust towards the front, assuming that the rotor turns clockwise.
The hybrid helicopter makes it possible not only to perform missions that take a long time in vertical flight or in cruising flight at high speed, but also makes it possible to have long range, while still being capable of hovering and taking off vertically.
Nevertheless, the propellers are close to fuselage, which gives rise to noise nuisance for the passengers of a hybrid helicopter.
In addition, the tail boom can give rise to vibration known to the person skilled in the art as "tail shake". It should be observed that this "tail shake" phenomenon applies to rotorcraft only.
In practice, the main rotor behaves like an aerodynamic exciter. Thus, its wake is turbulent. Turbulence corresponds to variations in pressure, speed, and angle of incidence of the slipstream, which variations are distributed over a rather wide range of relatively high frequencies.
The wake behind the main rotor of the hybrid helicopter is pulsed at the fundamental frequency equal to the product b×Ω, where b is the number of blades of the main rotor and Ω is the speed of rotation of the rotor.
Nevertheless, frequencies that are harmonics of b×Ω may possibly also appear.
Under such conditions, the tail surfaces are subjected simultaneously to such aerodynamic excitation, thereby leading directly to exciting resonance modes of the helicopter structure.
It should also be observed that the exhaust gas leaving the turbine engines heats the rear structural assemblies comprising the tail boom and the tail surfaces, which can give rise to problems in finding materials to constitute these rear structural assemblies.
The vibration that results from "tail shake" can also be a source of discomfort for passengers. The "tail shake" phenomenon is then combated with the help of active devices, e.g. devices that act on the tail surfaces or indeed on the tail boom.

Hybrid helicopter that is fast and has long range


A system, device, and method for sharing contention mini-slots among multiple priority classes determines an aggregate feedback state for each of the priority classes, determines a preferred allocation of contention mini-slots for each of the plurality of priority classes using the aggregate feedback state, and determines an actual allocation of contention mini-slots for each of the plurality of priority classes using the preferred allocation. The actual allocation of contention mini-slots is determined by making a preliminary allocation for each of the priority classes based on the preferred allocation and then allocating any remaining contention mini-slots among the priority classes.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to communication systems and, more particularly, to multiple access protocols for supporting users having different priority classes.
2. Discussion of Related Art
In today's information age, there is an increasing need for high speed communications that provides guaranteed quality of service (QoS) for an ever-increasing number of communications consumers. To that end, communications networks and technologies are evolving to meet current and future demands. Specifically, new networks are being deployed which reach a larger number of end users, and protocols are being developed to utilize the added bandwidth of these networks efficiently.
One technology that has been widely employed and will remain important in the foreseeable future is the shared-medium network. A shared medium network is one in which a single communications channel (the shared channel) is shared by a number of end users such that uncoordinated transmissions from different end users may interfere with one another. In modern broadband communications networks, the shared communications channel is typically one of a number of frequency bands carried over a shared physical medium, such as a hybrid fiber-optic/coaxial cable (HFC) network or by electromagnetic waves in free space. Since communications networks typically have a limited number of communications channels, the shared medium network allows many end users to gain access to the network over a single communications channel, thereby allowing the remaining communications channels to be used for other purposes. However, the shared medium network is only feasible when each end user only transmits data intermittently, allowing other end users to transmit during periods of silence.
In the shared medium network, each end user interfaces to the shared channel by means of an Access Interface Unit (AIU) which allows the end user to transmit and receive information via the shared channel. A single AIU may support one or a number of end users. Each end user wishing to utilize the shared channel participates in a Medium Access Control (MAC) protocol which provides a set of rules and procedures for accessing the shared channel. For convenience, each participant in the MAC protocol is referred to as a MAC User.
One type of shared medium network utilizes a single headend unit for coordinating access by the MAC Users to the shared channel. The headend unit is typically situated at a common receiving end of the shared channel and is able to transmit messages to all MAC Users that share the channel. The headend unit coordinates access to the shared channel by sending control messages to the MAC Users which enable one or more MAC Users to transmit. MAC Users only transmit when enabled to do so by the headend unit.
FIG. 1 shows an exemplary shared medium network 100 as is known in the art. As illustrated in FIG. 1, a headend unit 110 is coupled to a plurality of AIUs 120.sub.a through 120.sub.n (collectively referred to as AIUs 120) via a shared channel 130. In the preferred embodiment, the shared channel 130 is one of a number of communications channels carried by a shared physical medium such as a hybrid fiber-optic/coaxial cable (HFC) or wireless network. In other embodiments, the shared physical medium may be coaxial cable, fiber-optic cable, twisted pair wires, and so on, and may also include air, atmosphere, or space for wireless and satellite communication. The headend unit 110 is also coupled to a communications network 140, which may include networks such as the Internet, on-line services, telephone and cable networks, and other communication systems.
Continuing to refer to FIG. 1, in the preferred embodiment, the shared physical medium, such as an HFC or wireless network, has or supports a plurality of communications channels. For ease of reference, the communications channels in which a headend unit, such as the headend unit 110, transmits information, signals, or other data to an AIU, such as AIU 120.sub.n, are referred to as downstream channels. Also for ease of reference, the communications channels in which an AIU, such as AIU 120.sub.n, transmits information, signals, or other data to a headend unit, such as headend unit 110, are referred to as upstream channels. These various upstream and downstream channels may, of course, be the same physical channel, for example, through time-division multiplexing and duplexing. They may also be separate physical channels, for example, through frequency-division multiplexing and duplexing. These various channels may also be logically divided in other ways, in addition to upstream and downstream directions. In the preferred embodiment, the communications medium is an HFC network, with downstream channels in the frequency spectrum (band) typically 50-750 MHz (and up to 1 GHz), and with upstream channels in the frequency spectrum typically 5-42 MHz.
In a simple model of an exemplary HFC network, the headend unit uses a single downstream channel to send information to a group of MAC Users, and a single upstream channel is used by all (or a number) of the group of MAC Users to send information to the headend unit. Since the headend unit is the only device which transmits on the downstream channel, the downstream channel is not a "shared channel" as that term is applied to the present invention. However, since multiple MAC Users transmit on the upstream channel, the upstream channel is a shared channel, and the MAC protocol must provide for orderly access to the channel so as to maximize the data throughput over the channel.
A number of different MAC protocols have been developed for use over a shared medium network. These protocols can generally be categorized as contention-free protocols, which avoid collisions on the shared channel by means of various scheduling methods, and contention-based protocols, which do not avoid collisions but instead resolve any collisions that do occur on the shared channel. Contention-free protocols, such as time-division multiple access (TDMA) and round-robin polling, are typically less efficient than contention-based protocols under light loads (i.e., many idle MAC Users) because the contention-free protocols generally allocate some amount of bandwidth to each MAC User whether or not the MAC User has information to send. On the other hand, contention-based protocols only allocate bandwidth to those MAC Users that have information to send, although some amount of bandwidth is wasted whenever collision resolution is required. Under heavy loads (i.e., many active MAC Users), there are likely to be many collisions. Thus, the effectiveness of a MAC protocol is generally dependent on the number of MAC Users as well as the amount of information they have to send.
One type of MAC protocol utilizes a reservation system in which each MAC User that wants to transmit data on the shared channel is required to make a reservation with the headend unit. Each MAC User that has data to transmit but has not already made a reservation waits for contention opportunities provided by the headend unit. Each contention opportunity is provided to a selected group of MAC Users, and allows each of the MAC Users in the specified group to contend for a reservation at a specific time provided it has data to send. For convenience, the term "data" is used generically to mean a collection of bits of information that may carry various forms of multimedia signals (e.g., voice, video, etc.).
In a typical contention-based reservation system such as the system described immediately above, the MAC Users contend for the shared channel as peers. In other words, when a number of MAC Users are given an opportunity to contend, any of the number of MAC Users having data to transmit may contend. When the MAC Users are distinguishable by different QoS requirements, low-priority MAC Users can force collisions with high-priority MAC Users, and collision resolution may allow low-priority MAC Users to transmit before high-priority MAC Users. When low-priority MAC Users prevail over high-priority MAC Users, it becomes more difficult for the system to meet the QoS requirements of the high-priority MAC Users. Therefore, a need remains for a system, device, and method for sharing contention mini-slots among multiple priority classes.

System, device, and method for sharing contention mini-slots among multiple priority classes