An integrated circuit, in which some areas of the chip are powered from battery, but at least two other areas of the chip can draw power from independent on-chip power-storage capacitors (which are diode-isolated to accumulate charge from an external signal line). The signal line's input buffer draws power from one capacitor, and the decoder logic draws power from another. Thus, even if the first capacitor is depleted by the signal line's staying in the high-current regime, it will be powered up again when the signal line is again driven high; and the charge stored in the second capacitor will permit the decoding logic to operate. Preferably the second capacitor also powers circuitry which encodes a unique serial number for the chip. Thus, even after the battery has died, the chip can be interrogated to ascertain its unique serial number.

The present invention relates to low-power-CMOS integrated circuits, and to modules containing a low-power integrated circuit and a battery.
Battery-Backed ICs
Many system designs have begun to make use of the low standby power consumption of CMOS memory, to provide nonvolatile memory by attaching a very small battery. For example, many personal computers contain a battery-backed clock/calendar, which continues to keep time and date information when the computer is switched off. Many portable applications have also begun to use significant amounts of memory. In such applications, battery lifetime is one of the key performance parameters, from the end-user's point of view. If an integrated circuit which is sold for use in such systems turns out to consume more power than specified, so that the system batteries are exhausted early, this could be very unwelcome to the end-user. A further important class of applications is in packaging an integrated circuit, which includes some memory functions, together with a very small battery. The power supplied by the battery is used to preserve the data in memory while the system power supply is turned off. Thus, this arrangement permits the full advantages of nonvolatile memory to be achieved, without incurring the penalties of high-voltage circuitry and slow write time (as in EPROM or EEPROM floating-gate technology).
Power-Robbing
Various integrated circuits have extracted power from signal lines. For example, Pending PCT Application: Ser.No. PCT/U.S. 90/04286, Filed Jul. 30, 1990, which is hereby incorporated by reference, discloses a line-powered transceiver chip which robs power from an RS-232 line.
Integrated Circuit with Unique ID Number
PCT application PCT/U.S. 90/02891 (Publication No. WO 90/14626), which is hereby incorporated by reference, discloses a class of integrated circuits in which each has a fully unique serial number hard-wired into the chip.
Innovative Integrated Circuit
The disclosed inventions provide an integrated circuit, in which some areas of the chip are powered from battery, but other areas of the chip can draw power from one or more on-chip power-storage capacitors (which are diode-isolated to accumulate charge from an external signal line).
Use of Two Energy-Storage Capacitors
A particularly advantageous innovative teaching is the use of two energy-storage capacitors: one is connected to power the input buffer, and one is connected to power the logic which decodes the received signal.
Thus, the integrated circuit according to this class of embodiments includes at least three separate power domains: one powered by battery voltage; a second domain powered by energy stored in a large on-chip capacitor; and a third domain powered by energy stored in another on-chip capacitor.
The problem is that, as the voltage on the one-wire bus slowly slews down, it may pass through the high-current region (between V.sub.cap -V.sub.TP and V.sub.SS +V.sub.TN) in which both the NMOS and PMOS transistors of the input buffer are at least partially turned on. If this situation occurs (as it often may), the capacitor which is driving the input buffer will inevitably be drained. However, the use of two capacitors, in the presently preferred embodiment, avoids this problem. The signal line's input buffer draws power from one capacitor, and the decoder logic draws power from another. Thus, even if the first capacitor is depleted by the signal line's staying in the high-current regime, it will be powered up again when the signal line is again driven high; and the charge stored in the second capacitor will permit the decoding logic to operate. Preferably the second capacitor also powers circuitry which encodes a unique serial number for the chip. Thus, even after the battery has died, the chip can be interrogated to ascertain its unique serial number.

Integrated circuit with both battery-powered and signal-line-powered areas


A coating comprising a polymer (I)-containing coating component and colloidal silica (II) of 60 nm or less average particle diameter, wherein 0.5 to 20 parts by mass, in terms of solid content, of colloidal silica (II) is contained per 100 parts by mass of polymer (I) and wherein the area of colloidal silica exposed from the surface of the coating occupies 35% or more based on the coating surface. This coating exhibits excellent antifouling performance and excels in transparency, weather resistance, water resistance, and elongation degree.

In recent years, in the field of paints, transformation from organic solvent-based paints to water-based paints is promoted from the view points of environmental protection and safety-hygiene. However, water-based paints are on a lower level with coating performance of weather resistance, water resistance, freeze-thaw resistance, and particularly stain-resistance comparing with organic solvent-based paints. Therefore, it is current that there are many problems to be solved.
Development of water-based paints and development of laminating methods of coatings directed to a solution of these problems have been performed in various ways. For example, as resins for water-based paints, emulsions of acrylic resins by emulsion polymerization are attracted attention because the obtained coating has characteristics having relatively good properties such as weather resistance. In addition, a method such that laminate coatings are performed with imparting properties to under coatings, intermediate coatings and top coatings respectively by using water-based emulsions to impart coating performance such as stain-resistance to the entire laminate material has been developed.
Technical methods of stain-resistant improvement include (i) a method of raising the hardness of a coating (glass transition temperature of a resin (Tg) is raised), (ii) a method to hydrophilize a coating surface to impart a faculty of self-purification to wash away a pollutant with rain, and (iii) a method to restrain adhering electrostatic pollution by regulating electrostatic property, and so on.
However, when a glass transition temperature is raised and the hardness of a coating is raised as in method (i), film formation characteristics deteriorate and problems such as occurring of cracks in winter (freezing damage characteristics) happen. In addition, large improvement of stain-resistance is difficult. In a method to hydrophilize a coating surface as in method (ii), there is a problem that weather resistance deteriorates as for hydrophilizing by monomer compositions. Further, as for the addition of materials such as surfactants, water resistance deteriorates, and there also has a problem in continuance of stain-resistant effect. In a method to regulate electrostatic property as in method (iii), addition of an antistatic agent gives bad influence for weather resistance and water resistance, and there also has a problem in the durability of the effect.
A method to contain inorganic materials is known as one of methods to solve the above problems and to improve properties of water-based paints. For example, in Patent reference 1, a coating composition in which colloidal silica is incorporated into a water-based emulsion by copolymerizing vinyl silanes and acrylic monomers is proposed, and has characteristics excellent in heat resistance, water resistance, and adhesion of a coating.
However, this coating composition needs large contents of colloidal silica of 500-20000 parts by mass in solid content for 100 parts by mass in solid content of the water-based emulsion. When large contents of colloidal silica are used, there have problems that transparency and weather resistance of the coating, storage stability of the coating composition, and coating workability become inferior.
On the contrary, Patent references 2 and 3 disclose that relatively small contents of colloidal silica are used as essential components.
In Patent reference 2, a flame-retardant paint material containing 100 parts by mass of a polyorgano siloxane-based graft copolymer emulsion in which 10-90 mass % of a unsaturated vinyl monomer is graft-copolymerized for polyorgano siloxane, and 1-50 parts by mass of colloidal silica is proposed. The above flame-retardant paint material has characteristics excellent in flame retardancy, extensibility, adhesiveness, temperature sensitivity, moisture permeability, and stain-resistance of the coating.
However, this paint material has problems of low stain-resistance with insufficient hydrophilic property, transparency, and hardness of the coating, because of containing large contents of a water-repellent silicone component which is 52 parts by mass or more of a polyorgano siloxane component for 100 parts by mass in solid content of the polyorgano siloxane-based graft block copolymer emulsion.
In Patent reference 3, an aqueous coating composition containing 100 parts by mass of a polyorgano siloxane-based graft copolymer emulsion and 1-300 parts by mass of colloidal silica is proposed. The aqueous coating composition is excellent in storage stability, and a coating has characteristics excellent in hardness, water resistance, and stain-resistance. However, lowering pollution by a further hydrophilization of the coating is requested although stain-resistance is largely improved as compared to the coating comprising the paint material described in Patent reference 2.
In addition, in Patent references 4 and 5, and so on, at a case of surface coating of cement-type materials, a method to prevent pollution adhesion from static electricity and to impart stain-resistance to a coating is proposed by preventing static electricity retention of a whole laminated material which has a multi-layer structure of an under coating, an intermediate coating, and a top coating, and each of all layers contains a silicate or silica sol.
However, when either one layer of the under coating, the intermediate coating or the top coating was a coating only with a resin, a static electricity retention was generated to cause a problem of pollution adhesion.
In addition, in Patent reference 6, an antifouling aqueous coating composition, which comprises an aqueous dispersion having a silicone structure containing phenyl group, a sulfo-succinic acid-type surfactant, a surfactant having alkylene oxide group and colloidal inorganic particles (colloidal silica), is proposed. However, in the antifouling aqueous coating composition described in Patent reference 6, stain-resistance in a satisfactory level has not achieved.    Patent reference 1: Japanese Examined Patent Application, Second Publication No. H1-41180    Patent reference 2: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. H4-23857    Patent reference 3: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. H9-165554    Patent reference 4: Japanese Examined Patent Application, Second Publication No. S53-34141    Patent reference 5: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. H5-96234    Patent reference 6: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. 2004-149668

Coating, aqueous coating material and process for producing coating using the same, and coated article with coating


The electronic trip device comprises at least one current sensor, a rectifying circuit to supply a supply current, an electronic processing unit to control an actuator designed to actuate an opening mechanism of the main conductor, and an electric power supply circuit equipped with a voltage regulator designed to supply a supply voltage to the electronic processing unit. In the electronic trip device, the power supply circuit comprises voltage raising means enabling a raised voltage to be supplied to the input of the voltage regulator designed to supply the supply voltage to the electronic processing unit, said raised voltage being greater than a voltage at the terminals of the storage capacitor. The invention also relates to a circuit breaker equipped with the electronic trip device described above.

The invention relates to the field of circuit breakers and more particularly that of the electronic trip devices equipping these circuit breakers.
The invention relates more particularly to an electronic trip device for a circuit breaker, said trip device comprising:                at least one current sensor to supply a secondary current representative of a primary current in a main conductor of said circuit breaker,        a rectifying circuit to rectify the secondary current and supply a supply current,        an electronic processing unit to control an actuator designed to actuate an opening mechanism of the main conductor, and        an electric power supply circuit equipped with a storage capacitor designed to supply the actuator with electric power and with a voltage regulator designed to supply a supply voltage to the electronic processing unit, said storage capacitor being charged by means of the supply current.
The invention also relates to a circuit breaker comprising:                at least one main conductor,        an opening mechanism of the main conductor,        an actuator designed to actuate the opening mechanism, and        a trip device with an electronic processing unit to control the actuator and an electric power supply circuit designed to supply the actuator with electric power equipped with a voltage regulator designed to supply a supply voltage to the electronic processing unit.

Electronic trip device provided with a power supply circuit comprising voltage raising means and circuit breaker comprising one such trip device


The invention provides for polynucleotides and vectors comprising at least two tag sequences. The invention also provides for polynucleotides and vectors comprising a streptavidin binding peptide sequence and a calmodulin binding peptide sequence. The invention also provides for polynucleotides and vectors wherein a gene of interest is fused in frame to at least two tag sequences, for example, a streptavidin binding peptide sequence and a calmodulin binding peptide sequence. The invention also provides for the chimeric proteins encoded by these polynucleotides. The invention also provides for methods of using the polynucleotides of the invention for detecting and/isolating protein complexes or identifying a binding partner for a protein of interest.

Identification of protein/protein interactions is at the core of understanding the biological processes occurring in living cells. Traditionally, the potential interacting proteins have been identified by genetic methods (two hybrid screens) with subsequent verification of the interaction by co-immunoprecipitation. While this method has been very successful for detection of two interacting proteins, it is of limited utility when more complex protein aggregates such as ribosomes, splice complexes or transcription complexes are investigated.
To identify and isolate yeast complex protein aggregates, an alternative method has been developed by Seraphin et al. (Rigaut et al., 1999, Nature Biotech., 17:1030-1032; Puig et al., 2001, Methods, 24: 218-219; U.S. 2002/0061513, reviewed in Terpe et al., 2003, App. Microbiol. Biotechnol., 60:523-533). This method combines purification of the protein complex of interest using two different affinity purification tags fused to at least one known protein component of a complex of interest by genetic methods, with subsequent mass spectroscopy to identify the unknown components of the isolated complex. The use of two consecutive purification steps allows for isolation of the complex, in a purified form, without disruption of the targeted complex. Only certain combinations of purification tags are suitable for this method.
The calmodulin-binding domain of the calmodulin binding peptide (CBP-tag) and the IgG binding domain(s) of Staphylococcus aureus protein A represent an efficient combination of purification tags, according to this method (Rigaut et al., supra; Puig et al., supra; U.S. 2002/0061513). The interaction between the CBP-tag and the purification matrix (immobilized calmodulin) can be controlled by the presence of Ca2+. In the presence of Ca2+, the CBP tag binds to the purification matrix whereas removal of Ca2+ with a chelating agent such as EGTA, allows recovery of the tagged protein from the purification resin under mild conditions (Stofko-Hahn et al., 1992, FEBS Lett., 302:274-278). The IgG-binding domain of protein A provides specific, high affinity binding with little non-specific interaction. However, it is very difficult to elute protein A tagged proteins from IgG-columns. Consequently, elution can only be achieved by removing protein A fusion proteins by digestion with a site-specific protease. Utilization of the IgG-binding domain of protein A therefore requires additional processing steps and leads to contamination of the purified protein with the protease.
There is a need in the art for a method to detect and identify protein complexes that does not disrupt protein-protein interactions. This method will also facilitate detection of binding partners for a protein of interest in the absence of prior knowledge of the binding partner(s) or the function of the protein complex. There is also a need in the art for a purification protocol for protein complexes that does not require digestion with a protease enzyme. This method provides a simple, generic purification protocol that can be used routinely, and, possibly, in an automated system, for the purification of protein complexes and for proteome analysis.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Compositions and methods for protein isolation


A computer-implemented method to control technical equipment that performs a production batch-run of a production process, the technical equipment providing data in a form of time-series from a set of data sources, the data sources being related to the technical equipment, includes: accessing a reference time-series with data from a previously performed batch-run of the production process, the reference time-series being related to a parameter for the technical equipment; and while the technical equipment performs the production batch-run: receiving a production time-series with data, identifying a sub-series of the reference time-series, and comparing the received time-series and the sub-series of the reference time-series, to provide an indication of similarity or non-similarity, in case of similarity, controlling the technical equipment during a continuation of the production batch-run, by using the parameter as control parameter.

In industry, technical systems perform production processes. It is desired that both the production processes and the resulting products are in conformity (or "compliance") with pre-defined specifications. However, this is not always the case. Therefore, quality categories can be assigned to particular performances (or "batch-runs") of the production processes, and can be assigned to particular products.
Simplified, a quality indicator can differentiate—at least—between conforming production and non-conforming production. Conformance is usually associated with the indicator "success" and non-conformance is usually associated with the indicator "failure". A quality indicator can also differentiate between production that results in a conforming product and a production that results in a non-conforming product. Further quality categories can also be used (e.g., "first choice", "second choice"). Quality indicators represent the internal state of the technical system that performs the production process.
Collecting data during production is a source of information that—when properly evaluated can lead to improvements (in the performance of the process). Data can result from measurement signals (e.g., the temperature of a production apparatus), from control instructions that are related to production events (e.g. to open or to close a particular valve, to add material), or from status indicators.
As batch processing is widely adopted in particular industries, such as in chemical industry, data can be collected for individual batches. Conventions regarding batch control are standardized, such as in ANSI/ISA-88 and equivalents (e.g., IEC 61512-1:1997, IEC 61512-2:2001, IEC 61512-3:2008, IEC 61512-4:2009).
For batch processing, data is available as time-series, i.e. series of data values indexed in time order for subsequent time points. Time-series are related to particular batches and/or related to the resulting products.
Evaluating the data can comprise the detection of similarities between time-series from different batch runs. Similarity can be considered, for example, if a similarity index exceeds a particular threshold. Or, in a further example, similarity can be considered if data processing recognizes patterns, such as characteristic data values over time.
Time-series from a particular batch run in the past ("historic batch run" or "reference batch-run") can serve as a reference time-series. One or more quality categories can be assigned to the reference. To stay with the above-mentioned simplified categories, the reference time-series can be classified for conforming production, for non-conforming production, for a conforming product or for a non-conforming product. A further simplification uses the success and failure categories only. Particular batch-runs conforming both in production and product (and potentially to further, more-detailed specifications) can be regarded as "golden batches".
As used herein, time-series from particular batch-runs (that are on-going) are production time-series. Similarity between the production time-series and the reference time-series can indicate the category, such as conforming production, non-conforming production (conforming product or non-conforming product), reaching the "golden batch" is desired.
However, detecting similarity between time-series is not as easy as comparing numbers with thresholds or the like. There are—at least—two constraints:
Looking at the first constraint, the time interval as the basis for time-series is not the same for all, even if the production process is the same. Batch processing does not mean to perform each particular production batch-run with same temporal length (or duration). The duration of production batch-runs usually differ from batch to batch. There are many reasons for different durations. For example, chemical reactions have variable durations due to varying ambient conditions. Operators potentially put processes on hold due to logistic reasons (e.g. tank full, next equipment occupied) and resume them at a later point in time. Operator actions have variable durations as well.
Looking at the second constraint, data does not comprise one data value over time, such as the mentioned temperature, but data usually originates from much more sources. There can be measurement values for further physical phenomena, such as pressure, there can be parameters such as the rotation speed of a motor, the opening or closing states of valves and so on. Further parameters refer to mentioned control instructions (e.g., to open/close valves, add material) and/or to status indicators. In other words, data is multi-variate data.
Dynamic time warping (DTW) is an overall term for algorithms to compare and to align time-series with each other.
An overview to DTW and to DTW-software is available, for example, in [1] Toni Giorgino: "Computing and Visualizing Dynamic Time Warping Alignments in R: the dtw Package" (Journal of Statistical Software Vol 31 (2009), Issue 7). Much simplified, DTW allows comparing time-series even if the time basis is different. Techniques are available to take differences in time into account. For example, FIG. 1 of reference [1] illustrates that two time-series can be aligned and that similarity can be calculated by investigating alignment distances. Reference [1] also explains an approach to accommodate multi-variate data.
However, there is a further constraint: some of the DTW algorithm may ignore some characteristics of the time-series, so that, for example, characteristic patterns that indicate a particular failure (of the batch-run, or the product) can't be identified. Such un-desired effects are known as "over-aggressive warping". In other words, characteristic patterns can indicate problems that occur during the production, characteristic pattern may disappear if the data processing is not sensitive enough.
Still further, relating batch-runs to quality categories can be too late, especially when the category indicates failure. The mentioned constraints may contribute to a delay.
There is a need to find approaches that take these constraints into account.

Computer-implemented determination of a quality indicator of a production batch-run that is ongoing


An accelerator operating device for electrically controlling the output of a power unit on the basis of the manipulated variable of a controller, by achieving the generation of a frictional resistance using a simple configuration. An accelerator operating device includes an extended portion turned upon the operation of a throttle grip; a torsion coil spring biasing the extended portion in a returning direction while the extended portion is turned; and a friction generating mechanism adding a frictional resistance to the turning movement. The friction generating mechanism includes a compression coil spring applying a pressing force to the extended portion, and a friction member brought into sliding contact with the extended portion by being pressed by the compression coil spring. The torsion coil spring and the compression coil spring are placed coaxially with the extended portion and overlap each other at least partially along the axial direction of the extended portion.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an accelerator operating device for electrically controlling the output of a power unit on the basis of the manipulated variable of a controller.
2. Description of Background Art
In the accelerator operating device, cables to mechanically open and close throttle valves of engines (internal combustion engines, power units) have been eliminated. Thus, in order to give drivers an operation feeling similar to that obtainable from the configuration including the cables, there is provided an accelerator operating device configured as below. For example, a moving member movable in the axial direction of a throttle grip (controller) correspondingly to turning movement of the throttle grip is provided in a throttle holder (case). As the throttle grip is turned, the moving member correspondingly moves in the axial direction and compresses an elastic member inside the throttle holder so that a frictional resistance produced by the pressing force may be changed correspondingly. See for example, FIG. 1 of Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2006-182178.
However, in the above conventional technique, a mechanism to move the moving member and also a certain space for the movement need to be provided inside the throttle holder. This leads to a complicated configuration and also makes it difficult to make the devices compact. Further, consideration is needed for where to place a sensor that detects the amount of turning movement of the throttle grip.


Extending access to a data model in a data analytics computer data processing system includes loading into a programmatically isolated process address space of a computer, an instance of an extension framework computer program and executing in the framework, computer program logic configured to establish a communicative channel between the isolated process address space and a data analytics computer data processing system executing in a separate process address space. Thereafter, within the framework a directive may be received to access a data model managed in the data analytics computer data processing system. In response, a function may be selected in respect to an API to the data analytics computer data processing system corresponding to the received directive. Finally, the selected API function may be invoked over the communicative channel and a result derived from the data model may be received in the framework from over the communicative channel in response to the selected API function.

Data analytics refers to the analysis of raw data in order to draw conclusions regarding the information reflected by the raw data. This information can then be used to optimize different processes in order to increase the overall efficiency of a business or system. Data analytics generally require the presence of a data store such as a database, against which different queries may be lodged in order to provide derived information which characterizes the data in the data store in a meaningful way. Oftentimes, the derived information may be presented in a user interface in a particular format such as a tabular form, or more abstractly in the form of a graphical visualization such as a chart or graph. Business intelligence (BI) is natural consequence of data analytics, in which different real-world questions regarding the data collected for a business are answered utilizing data analytics so as to provide "actionable insights" into the nature, operation and performance of a business.
BI and underlying data analytics as they pertain to a single data store, can be a relatively simplistic proposition. First connect to the data store according to a known methodology, such as through the use of a pre-existing database connector, and then format and launch queries against the data store according to a known schema for the data in the data store. Then, present the result of the queries in a meaningful way so as to provide the desired BI. Matters become more complex, however, when multiple different heterogeneous data stores form the data storage basis for the underlying data analytics. In that instance, multiple different manners of connecting to an underlying data source will be required along with a satisfactory understanding of the schema for each data source. To account for this complexity, in contemporary BI it has been proven effective to first generate a data model for the underlying data in each of the heterogeneous data stores and then conduct data analytics upon the data model, which then acts as a layer of abstraction over the underlying data sources.
Generally, a BI application and underlying data analytics application produces a workable starting point for the end user. However, it had become well-understood that as the end user becomes skilled in the use of BI, customizations become required as to the structure and presentation of the data model and the queries conducted against the data model so as to produce the actionable intelligence sought from the BI application. In a multi-user environment, though, permitting direct access by the end user to the data model opens the data model for corruption to the detriment of other end users. As well, to the extent that any extension to the logic of a BI application performs errantly during execution, the logic may disrupt the nominal function of the BI application for other end users. Consequently, so as to avoid the corruption of the data model and the disruption of the operation of the BI application, generally the end user is limited by the structure of the BI application to the mere aggregation of some basic operations provided by the BI application for assembly into what amounts to a macro, as opposed to a fully executing, programmatic module of limitless logic.


A transistor structure includes a main gate silicon active region having a thickness of less than or equal to 30 nm; and auxiliary gate active regions located on either side of said main gate silicon active region, said auxiliary gate active regions being spaced a distance from said main gate active region of about 200 nm. A method of forming an ultra-thin SOI MOS transistor includes preparing a silicon wafer, including forming a top silicon layer having a thickness of between about 100 nm to 200 nm, thinning the top silicon layer to a thickness of between about 10 nm to 30 nm, and forming an oxide layer over the top silicon layer; forming a layer of material taken from the group of material consisting of polysilicon and silicide; forming an oxide cap on the formed layer of material, and etching the oxide cap and layer of material to form a main gate electrode and an auxiliary gate electrode on either side thereof; forming an oxide layer over the structure and etching the oxide layer to form sidewall oxide structures about the gate electrodes; depositing a layer of material taken from the group of material consisting of polysilicon, silicide and metal, etching the newly deposited layer of material; and metallizing the structure.

This invention relates to CMOS fabrication on ultra-thin silicon-on-insulator (SOI), and specifically to a method and structure for preserving an ultra-thin silicon layer during fabrication.
When the thickness of a top silicon layer approaches 20 nm, a gate sidewall etching process produces a high density of voids in the silicon in the source/drain regions. This high density of voids degrades the performance of the device and production yield. This problem becomes more severe as the top silicon thickness is reduced, which is required in shorter channel length device fabrication.
Two techniques are known in the prior art for fabrication of ultra-thin SOI MOS transistors. The first technique requires nitride protection of a gate area and local oxidation of silicon (LOCOS) to provide a thin gate area. For ultra-thin SOI transistor fabricated by LOCOS, the thinned gate region has to be larger than the gate length by at least one alignment tolerance. The thickness of the sidewall oxide has to be larger than two alignment tolerances otherwise the silicon in this region will be completely removed during sidewall oxide etching, causing a disconnection between the source/drain regions and the channel region. However, the resistance of a thin or ultra-thin drain extension region, once formed by LOCOS, is too large for efficient use in high performance devices.
The second technique is used for conventional SOI device fabrication and requires a raised source/drain process. Such a raised source/drain process requires a seed silicon layer. Without such a seed silicon layer, selective growth of silicon cannot be accomplished. However, when the thickness of the top silicon is very thin, e.g., no thicker than 10 nm, all of the silicon in the source and drain region will be completely removed during any etching process for gate oxide sidewall formation. As a result, selective silicon growth cannot occur and the source/drain regions cannot be formed.
A transistor structure includes a main gate silicon active region having a thickness of less than or equal to 30 nm; and auxiliary gate active regions located on either side of said main gate silicon active region, said auxiliary gate active regions being spaced a distance from said main gate active region of about 200 nm. A method of forming an ultra-thin SOI MOS transistor includes preparing a silicon wafer, including forming a top silicon layer having a thickness of between about 200 nm to 100 nm, thinning the top silicon layer to a thickness of between about 10 nm to 30 nm, and forming an oxide layer over the top silicon layer; forming a layer of material taken from the group of material consisting of polysilicon and silicide; forming an oxide cap on the formed layer of material, and etching the oxide cap and layer of material to form a main gate electrode and an auxiliary gate electrode on either side thereof; forming an oxide layer over the structure and etching the oxide layer to form sidewall oxide structures about the gate electrodes; depositing a layer of material taken from the group of material consisting of polysilicon, silicide and metal, etching the newly deposited layer of material; and metallizing the structure.
An object of the invention is to provide a method of fabricating an ultra-thin SOI MOS transistor having a top silicon layer less than 20 nm thick.
Another object of the invention is to provide a SOI MOS transistor which is reliable and has a good production yield.
This summary and objectives of the invention are provided to enable quick comprehension of the nature of the invention. A more thorough understanding of the invention may be obtained by reference to the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment of the invention in connection with the drawings.

Method of forming an ultra-thin SOI MOS transistor


A key coded power connector and a system and method for making key coded power connections are disclosed. A power connector such as a power adapter connector is configured with either a visual keying system, a physical keying system, or both. The physical keying system prevents a user from connecting a host device to a connector of the power source which does not support that host device. The visual keying system provides the user with an early indication that the particular device is not supported by a power source. The user can visually compare a marking key on the host device with the making key on the power connector and determine whether or not the power source is capable of outputting sufficient power to operate the device. The visual and physical keying systems prevents a user from improperly connecting a host device to a power source which does not support that device.

With the continued growth and availability of consumer electronic devices on the market, consumers have accumulated a variety of such devices many of which require power adapters or connectors to a power source. These devices include laptop computers, handheld devices such as personal digital assistants (PDA), cellular telephones, digital cameras, audio recorders, Compact Disc (CD) players, MP3 players and portable digital video disc (DVD) players. Each device may be of varying form factor and power consumption requirements. As such, there are designated power adapters which may be used to properly supply power to each device. However, often the respective power adapters are very similar in appearance. Because many electronic devices are used by consumers who are unaware of the power consumption requirements for the particular device they seek to operate, the ability to physically connect a device to an incompatible power source may be problematic and have undesirable consequences. For example, if a consumer connects a device to a source that is incapable of delivering sufficient power to the device, the device will not work leaving the user to question the integrity of the device and/or the power source.


A filter assembly capable of unbalanced to balanced conversion. An unbalanced to balanced conversion unit is coupled to an input terminal for transforming a received unbalanced signal thereat to a balanced signal and a lattice filter coupled between the unbalanced to balanced conversion unit and two output terminals for eliminating or rejecting the noise of the balanced signal.

The invention relates to a filter assembly of a front-end module used in mobile communication systems, and more specifically to a filter assembly capable of balanced to unbalanced conversion.
Currently, dual-band, tri-band and quad-band mobile phones are available for operating in different mobile communication systems. Dual-band mobile phones switch between the operating frequencies of 900 MHz and 1800 MHz, tri-band mobile phones switch between the operating frequencies of 900 MHz, 1800 MHz and 1900 MHz, and quad-band mobile phones switch between the operating frequencies of 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 1900 MHz and 850 MHz. The quad-band communication system is characterized by support of media applications, high speed connectivity and fast audio and image downloads. Additionally, quad-band mobile phones are compatible with all mobile communication systems. Consequently, it is desirable to have a front-end module for accommodating to the quad-band mobile communication systems.
FIG. 1 shows a conventional front-end module in a mobile communication system. As shown in FIG. 1, the front-end module 10 comprises a duplexer 12, a power amplifier 22, a low noise amplifier 24 and an antenna 20. The duplexer 12 comprises two bandpass filters 14 and 16, a 90° phase shifter 18, an output terminal 13 coupled between the bandpass filter 14 and the power amplifier 22, an input terminal 15 coupled between the bandpass filter 16 and the low noise amplifier 24, and an antenna terminal 17 connected to the antenna 20.
A transmitted signal is amplified by the power amplifier 22 to the duplexer 12 via the output terminal 13. The bandpass filter 14 proceeds to allow the signal within a certain frequency band to pass therethrough and the antenna 20 then transmits the passed signal via the antenna terminal 17. Similarly, when receiving a signal, the antenna 20 feeds the received signal to the 90° phase shifter 18 via the antenna terminal 17 and the signal is then outputted to the bandpass filter 16, which applies the received signal to the low noise amplifier 24 via the input terminal 15. The low noise amplifier 24 then filters the noise in the low frequency (LF) signal passing through the passband filter 16 and amplifies the signal. In order to eliminate the quality degrading disturbance in the signal passing through the bandpass filter 16, which stems from the signal passing through the bandpass filter 14, a 90° phase shifter 18 is typically disposed therebetween to separate the transmitted and received signals by the difference in signal phases. The signal, however, must be transformed from an unbalanced signal to a balanced signal when outputted to the antenna terminal 17 via the output terminal 13 or inputted from the antenna 17 to the input terminal 15. Hence, an unbalanced to balanced conversion transformer (Balun) is required to be disposed before the bandpass filter 14 or after the bandpass filter 16 in the signal transmission path to reject the noise.
In recent years, when making filters and duplexers used in RF communication systems, the piezoelectric thin film process is typically employed in manufacturing ultrasonic components. The conventional piezoelectric thin film acoustic component can be roughly classified as a film bulk acoustic resonator (FBAR) or a solidly mounted resonator (SMR) depending on structure. SMR is supported by a Bragg reflector and FBAR is manufactured in Microelectromechanical (MEMS) surface micromachining or bulk micromachining to empty the parts below the lower electrode or supporting layer to enable the thin film structure to conform to the total reflection boundary condition of acoustic waves.
FIG. 2A is a schematic diagram of a film bulk acoustic resonator (FBAR) in a stacked crystal filter (SCF) arrangement. As depicted in FIG. 2A, the FBAR 30 comprises an input electrode 32, an output electrode 34, a grounded electrode 36, an upper piezoelectric layer 31, and a lower piezoelectric layer 33. The input electrode 32 receives a signal from the input terminal 35 and the upper piezoelectric layer 31 then generates a bulk acoustic wave to the lower piezoelectric layer 33 in response to the signal excitation, thereby a resonance is generated between the input electrode 32 and the output electrode 34. The output electrode 34 then outputs the signal to an output terminal 37. The FBAR 30 is only used for unbalanced signal transmission since the input and output signals share the grounded electrode 36.
In order to compensate for the defect of the FBAR 30, another FBAR in a SCF arrangement is provided as shown in FIG. 2B. The FBAR 40 comprises an input electrode 42, two output electrodes 46 and 48, a grounded electrode 44, an upper piezoelectric layer 41, a lower piezoelectric layer 43 and a dielectric layer 50. While the transmission principle is the same as the described operation, the FBAR 40, however, is capable of both balanced and unbalanced signal transmission due to the insulation of the dielectric layer 50. Thus, the unbalanced signal only exists at the input terminal 45 of the input electrode 42 and the grounded terminal of the grounded electrode 44 whereas the balanced signal is outputted to the output terminals 47 and 49 by the output electrodes 46 and 48.
FIG. 2C shows a conventional FBAR in a coupled resonator filter (CFR) arrangement. The FBAR 60 of FIG. 2C comprises an input electrode 62, two output electrodes 66 and 68, a grounded electrode 64, an upper piezoelectric layer 61, a lower piezoelectric layer 63, a plurality of first coupling layers 72 and a plurality of second coupling layers 74. The operating principle thereof is the same as the previously described operation because the FBAR 60 is similar to the FBAR 40 except that the dielectric layer 5Q is replaced with the interleaved first coupling layer 72 and the second coupling layer 74. The first coupling layer 72 and the second coupling layer 74 comprise different material having different acoustic impedance but the same thickness of a quarter-wavelength. Thus, the unbalanced signal only exists at the input terminal 65 of the input electrode 62 and the grounded terminal of the grounded electrode 64 whereas the balanced signal is outputted to the output terminals 67 and 69 by the output electrodes 66 and 68.
FIG. 3A shows a schematic diagram of the frequency response of the FBAR 40 in FIG. 2B. As shown in FIG. 3A, there are three resonant modes in the frequency response of FBAR 40. Generally speaking, there is only a passband in a common bandpass filter and the operating band of the quad-band mobile communication system is from 850 MHz to 1900 MHz, thus the modes outside the 1400 MHz to 1800 MHz frequency range cannot reject noise effectively, resulting in signal quality degradation. Hence, the FBAR 40 and FBAR 60 cannot meet the low noise requirement of the mobile communication systems.
FIG. 2D shows a solidly mounted resonator (SMR) in SCF arrangement and FIG. 3B is the frequency response thereof. As shown in FIG. 2D, the SMR 80 comprises an input electrode 82, two output electrodes 86 and 88, a grounded electrode 84, an upper piezoelectric layer 81, a lower piezoelectric layer 83, a dielectric layer 90, a plurality of first reflective layers 92, a plurality of second reflective layers 94 and a substrate 96. The operating principle of the SMR 80 is substantially similar to the FBAR 40 except that a plurality of first and second reflective layers 92 and 94 are disposed under the lower surface of the output electrode 88 for support, wherein the interleaved first reflective layer 92 and the second reflective layer 94 formed on the substrate 96 are acoustic reflectors and made of different materials having different acoustic impedance. The thickness of the first reflective layer 92 and the second reflective layer 94 is a quarter acoustic wavelength and thus when the acoustic wave progresses to the first and second reflective layers 92 and 94, a Bragg reflection which approximates a total reflection is formed and the resonant energy is then maintained in the SMR 80. The unbalanced signal only exists at the input terminal 85 of the input electrode 82 and the grounded terminal of the grounded electrode 84 whereas the balanced signal is outputted to the output terminals 87 and 99 by the output electrodes 86 and 88. FIG. 3B shows a frequency response curve 140 of the SMR 80 when the first reflective layer 92 and the second reflective layer 94 are made of tungsten (W) and SiO2 respectively, and a frequency response curve 130 when the first reflective layer 92 and the second reflective layer 94 are made of AlN and SiO2 respectively. Because the acoustic impedance ratio between AlN and SiO2 is smaller than that between W and SiO2, a narrower reflection bandwidth having better noise rejection performance in the bandpass filter is obtained. The reflectivity of the reflective layers with smaller acoustic impedance ratio, however, is worse, thus there exists a need for more layers. Consequently, the propagation route of the acoustic wave is increased and the Q value thereof is also degraded due to the transmission loss.

Filter assembly with unbalanced to balanced conversion and reduced noise


A converter housing including a primary housing portion for housing a first converter brick, an intermediate housing portion, and a secondary housing portion for housing a second converter brick. The intermediate housing portion includes an inlet having a first axis and an outlet having a second axis that is angled with respect to the first axis. The first converter brick is disposed within the primary housing portion while the intermediate housing portion defines flow channels that communicate with a downstream end of the first converter brick along an outer surface of the primary housing portion and toward the outlet. The intermediate housing portion includes indented attachment surfaces which engage and hold the primary housing portion.

This section provides background information related to the present disclosure which is not necessarily prior art.
Internal combustion engines control the mixture of fuel and air supplied to combustion chambers of the engine. After the spark plug ignites the air/fuel mixture, combustion takes place and later the combustion gases exit the combustion chambers through exhaust valves. The combustion gasses are directed by an exhaust manifold and to a catalytic converter or other exhaust after treatment system. In addition, a turbocharger can provide enhanced performance and reduced emissions by utilizing the exhaust gases to drive a turbine wheel that can then be utilized to drive a compressor to compress the intake air supplied to the engine.
Increasing government emission requirements have led to the use of multiple catalysts for treating the exhaust gases in order to meet the emission requirements. However, packaging additional catalysts in a confined area becomes challenging for automobile designers. Furthermore, the packaging of multiple catalysts closer to the turbo outlet has been found to shorten catalyst light off time by minimizing heat loss, thus improving the catalyst's efficiency. Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a multiple catalyst architecture with the converter housing shaped and sized to allow flexible packaging within various available vehicle environments.

External exhaust guiding flow chambers for multiple catalyst architecture


A portable electronic alarm device containing a plurality of compartments for storing a limited supply of medications and indicating when a medicine should be taken according to a predetermined schedule. The device also records the times that alarms sound and the times that they were acknowledged. The user can review the recorded times to determine compliance with the schedule. Additionally, a base station is provided to support the device, store larger supplies of medicine, and provide amplified alarms.

Medications are most effective when taken according to the prescribed schedule. However, people often fail to comply with a medication schedule due to forgetting how often medication should be taken or when they last took the medication. Such problems are especially prevalent with those who take several medications on different schedules. The elderly are especially prone to problems since they often take several medications and often have failing memories.
Various electronic devices exist for assisting the user in following a medication schedule. Generally these devices consist of a timer which activates an alarm when medication is to be taken. Exemplary devices are described in U.S. Pat Nos. 4,258,354, 4,768,176, 4,837,719 and 5,020,037.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,258,354 discloses a portable alarm device which stores medications within a plurality of compartments and sounds an alarm indicating when a medication in one of the compartments is to be taken. The times for taking medication are programmed at hourly intervals by inserting a strip which contains perforations indicating the schedule.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,768,176 discloses an apparatus for alerting a patient to take medication which contains compartments for each medication and an alarm indicating when, and which medication, should be taken. The alarm is deactivated when the appropriate compartment is accessed. A "night" switch operates to deactivate all future alarms until a specified time in the morning.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,837,719 discloses a medication clock for signaling the times that dosages of a medication should be taken. The device also provides a record of when each medicine was taken for comparison with the medication schedule. In addition, the device can monitor and record temperature, blood pressure and pulse rate of the user.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,020,037 discloses an alarm pill box which cancels the alarm when a compartment lid is opened. A visual display is used to indicate the number of times that the lid has been opened within one day.
In summary, these patents disclose a device which provides various procedures for alerting a user when medication should be taken and, in some instances, recording when medications were taken. However, these devices do not provide a simple portable unit which stores medications and indicates when the medication is to be taken. Additionally, the devices do not provide the user with the ability to review the schedule to insure that medication is taken at proper times and to determine when medications are to be taken in the future. The devices also fail to allow for irregular schedules for medications taken at different times on subsequent days.


To provide a method for manufacturing a module having a selectively permeable membrane wherein the surface of the selectively permeable membrane thereof can be washed with good efficiency and further contaminants having been exfoliated from the surface of the membrane by a washing operation can be discharged from the inside of a housing with good efficiency; and the above module having a selectively permeable membrane. A module wherein a selectively permeable membrane is held in a housing and both ends of the above selectively permeable membrane are fixed, the both ends of the above selectively permeable membrane are fixed to an upper holder and an under holder connected by at least one washing tube, and then, the membrane is held in the housing; and a module having a selectively permeable membrane manufactured by the above manufacturing method.

When raw water is filtered using a permselective membrane module directly or after pretreatment, a pressurized or submerged type module is generally employed. With the pressurized type, permselective membranes are housed in a vessel, and raw water is fed to the membranes by means of external pressure produced by, for example a pump, and filtered. With the submerged type of module, permselective membranes are submerged in a filtration tank, and raw water is sucked through the membranes to obtain the filtrate.
Pressurized hollow fiber membrane modules are classified into outside-in and inside-out types. With the outside-in type, raw water is fed to the outer surface of the hollow fiber membranes and filtered from the inside of the membranes. With the inside-out type, raw water is fed to the inner surface of the membranes and filtered from the outside of the membranes. After a certain period of filtration, cleaning is generally carried out to remove suspended solids deposited on the surface of the hollow fiber membranes. More particularly, with the outside-in type, part of the filtrate is forced to flow from the inside of the membranes to the outside, and with the inside-out type, from the outside to the inside, thereby peeling the solids off of the membrane surface.
Because the outer surface area of the membrane is larger than the inner surface area, the outside-in type, in which raw water is supplied from the outside, reduces the amount of water per membrane area to decrease the load on the membrane, which is advantageous for producing the same amount of filtrate. In recent years, however, hollow fiber membrane modules have increased in size, and the number of hollow fiber membranes contained in the vessel has also increased. Thus, although suspended solids on the surface of the membranes near the center of the membrane bundles can be removed by cleaning, it is difficult to efficiently discharge the solids to the outside of the bundles, causing the possibility of re-deposition on the membrane surface.
An air scrubbing technique is used in the cleaning described above. In air scrubbing, air is introduced from the lower part of a hollow fiber membrane module. The resulting bubbles rise through membranes and shake the hollow fiber membranes, thereby widening the gap between membranes and efficiently discharging the suspended solids to the outside of the module. In a large module, however, even if air is introduced from the outer periphery of the bundles, the air does not reach the hollow fiber membranes near the center of the membrane bundles. This results in problems such as the inability to clean suspended solids on the surface of hollow fiber membranes near the center of the membrane bundles.
Various approaches have been taken to overcome these problems. For example, in the module shown in FIG. 1 of Patent Document 1, which comprises U-shaped bundles of hollow fiber membranes bonded thereto, when air is introduced from below the U-shaped region, the bubbles pass between membranes to reach the membranes near the center of the bundles, thus allowing efficient cleaning. However, because the hollow fiber membranes in the U-shaped region are not fixed, the membranes are strongly shaken during air scrubbing, resulting in possible membrane breakage. Moreover, during this shaking, friction is produced between the membranes and the binding member that is used to form the U-shape, resulting in possible membrane breakage.
Patent Document 1: JP H10-28846 A
Patent Document 2 suggests providing a feed water inlet through a space opened in a resin partition which seals hollow fiber membranes with resin. The space for the feed water inlet is provided by binding a plastic tubular material in parallel with hollow fiber membranes, and then pulling off the tubular material after curing the resin. This requires the additional task of pulling off the tubular material, and may also cause poor sealing if the resin for sealing the membranes in contact with the tubular material is removed together when pulling off the tubular material. Moreover, if a resin with high rigidity, such as epoxy resin, is used, the resin may crack while removing the tubular material. In addition, it is very difficult to locate the tubular material in a predetermined position by binding it with hollow fiber membranes. When inserting hollow fiber membranes with the tubular material being fixed at a predetermined position, the tubular material must be avoided while inserting the membranes, resulting in possible breakage of the membranes in contact with the tubular material.
Patent Document 2: JP S61-242607 A
Patent Document 3 discloses a hollow fiber membrane module comprising a number of porous hollow fiber membranes around a pipe with perforations in the side surface. In the module, at least one of the pipe and hollow fiber membrane bundles is housed in an outer cylindrical vessel while being fixed with an adhesive. This pipe, however, is equipped with a raw water inlet, an outlet for draining the liquid inside the vessel, and a cleaning air inlet for vibrating the hollow fiber membranes. This configuration requires opening and closing the valves, as well as switching flow paths for each filtration and cleaning cycle, thus complicating the operation of a filtration apparatus composed of this hollow fiber membrane module. Moreover, the location of the air release valve on the side surface of the vessel results in incomplete discharge of air from the module. This incomplete discharge of air further increases the possibility of suspended solids adsorbing onto the hollow fiber membranes.
Patent Document 3: JP H7-136469 A
Patent Document 4 discloses a method for manufacturing a hollow fiber membrane module. The method comprises inserting hollow fiber membrane bundles into a casing, attaching a temporary sealing cap to each end of the casing in the longitudinal direction of the casing, fixing only the ends of the membrane bundles by curing a resin inside the temporary caps, sealing the casing ends and membrane ends by adhesive curing, and removing the temporary sealing caps in the longitudinal direction of the casing.
Patent Document 4: JP H7-31852 A
Patent Document 5 discloses a hollow fiber membrane separating module. In this module, a number of hollow fiber membranes contained in the module casing are divided into two to seven bundles, each wound with a protective net. The ends of each bundle wound with a protective net are fixed to the module casing with an adhesive, while being separated from the ends of other bundles with a partition plate therebetween. Thus, in this module, one bundle is contained in one section. Whereas this kind of configuration is applicable to relatively small modules or modules with sections of specific shapes, it is difficult to apply to large modules or modules with sections of complicated shapes (shapes with relatively many acute angles).
Patent Document 5: U.S. Pat. No. 2,932,394
Patent Document 5 also discloses the technique of winding a protective net around bundles of hollow fiber membranes and accommodating the bundles in the module casing. Similarly, Patent Document 6 discloses the technique of preparing a module by binding hollow fiber membrane bundles with a tubular protective net and loading the bundles into a casing.
Patent Document 6: JP H2-203924 A
Patent Document 7 discloses a hollow fiber membrane filtration module having one end of the hollow fiber membranes sealed and the other end open. In this module, a tubular material with perforations in the side surface near the center of hollow fiber membrane bundles is fixed with an adhesive to the hollow fiber membrane bundles, with the end thereof opposite to the open end of the membranes being open. The aforementioned Patent Document 3 also discloses a hollow fiber membrane module comprising a pipe with perforations in the side surface, the pipe being used as a raw water inlet, an outlet for draining the liquid inside the vessel, and a cleaning air inlet. Both the tubular material and the pipe described in these patent documents serve as a raw water inlet.
Patent Document 7: JP S61-192310 A
Patent Document 8 discloses a hollow fiber membrane module containing hollow fiber membrane bundles provided with a fixed end, achieved by fixing both ends of a number of hollow fiber membranes with an adhesive. In this module, slits for introducing air are provided in the fixed end of the membrane bundles at the lower end of the module. Because the fixed end of the hollow fiber membrane bundles is shaped with an adhesive resin, the slits in the fixed end are made after the adhesive resin is cured, or by curing the adhesive together with a member with slits, and then pulling off the member. Providing slits by these methods poses problems such as the resin cracking during processing, damage to the hollow fiber membranes, and unstable product quality.
Patent Document 8: JP S61-106307 U

Permselective membrane module and method for manufacturing the same


The described technology provides a method for dynamically adjusting operating voltage of a device, including receiving device characteristics data related to a device, performing a margining test for the device to generate a performance curve characterizing variation of the device's current performance speeds at various operating voltages from expected performance speeds at the various operating voltages, determining an operating voltage for the device based on the device characteristics data and the performance curve, and adjusting the operating of the device based on the determined operating voltage.

Computing devices, such as a cellular phone, a tablet, a laptop computer, use secondary or rechargeable batteries as energy sources. These batteries have charging and discharging curves that provide voltages as function of remaining capacity of the batteries as the batteries age. Operating the batteries using the discharge curves ensures that batteries are operated according to safety standards and that as the battery ages, its operation is altered to gain optimal performance. Moreover, the manner in which the voltage levels of the batteries are managed also affects the performance of the computing device components, including various processors, sensors, memory components, and other components using transistors.
This background information is provided for the purpose of making known information believed by the applicant to be of possible relevance to the invention. No admission is necessarily intended, nor should be construed, that any of the preceding information constitutes prior art against the invention.

Dynamically adjusting device operating voltage based on device performance


A stringer manufacturing method for machining one end portion of an elongated member that is provided with a cap flange, a web, and a base flange and that has an inverted T-shape in a front view, an I-shape in a front view, or a T-shape in a front view into a desired shape to obtain a desired stringer. The one end portion of the elongated member is machined into a desired shape by using a vertical articulated robot (1) that has at least 6 axes and that has, at the tip of a valve unit (13), an abrasive nozzle assembly (14) that injects ultrahigh-pressure water containing abrasive and a catcher cup (15) that recovers the ultrahigh-pressure water ejected from the abrasive nozzle assembly (14).

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a manufacturing method for a stringer (longeron), for example, a stringer used as a reinforcing member for an aircraft main wing.
2. Description of the Related Art
For stringers used as reinforcing members for aircraft main wings, for example, there is a known stringer made of carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, Publication No. 2003-53851.


Embodiments herein describe techniques for synchronizing LFSRs located on two compute devices. To synchronize the LFSRs, a first one of the compute devices may transmit a first training block that includes a predefined bit sequence. The training block is scrambled by a transmitting (TX) LFSR on the first compute device and then transmitted to the second compute device. The second compute device performs an XOR operation to recover the outputs of the TX LFSR that were used to scramble the data. The second compute device can use the outputs of the TX LFSR to determine future outputs of the TX LFSR. These future outputs are then used to initialize a receiving (RX) LFSR on the second compute device. Now, when subsequent training blocks are received, the second compute device can use the initialized RX LFSR to descramble the scrambled training blocks.

The present invention relates to initializing a linear feedback shift register (LFSR) in a descrambler, and more specifically, to identifying a future state of the LFSR by comparing received scrambled data to expected data.
High speed serial (HSS) links are used for communications in various known computer chips and computer systems. A given computer chip may include multiple instances of a specific HSS link using the same interface protocol. Many HSS interfaces utilize LFSRs to scramble the data that is transmitted. This scrambling provides many advantages such as clock retention and improving DC balance; however, synchronization is required to accurately descramble the received data bit stream.

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION


The generation and usage of workflows for processing data on a printing device includes receiving a request to create a workflow for a printing device. One or more operations that may be included in the workflow are displayed, and user-selection of at least one of the one or more operations is received. The user-selected operations are added to the workflow, and a user-selection of an order in which multiple ones of the user-selected operations are to be performed is received. When the creation of the workflow is completed, an indication of such is received and the workflow is saved. According to another aspect, a request to process data is received, the appropriate workflow identified, and the data processed by performing the operations in the sequence in an order identified by the sequence.

Printers have become increasingly commonplace in homes, businesses, and elsewhere throughout the world. Conventional printers allow users to generate paper copies of documents (e.g., supplied to the printer by a computer), and some also allow users to make copies of already generated paper documents.
Currently, in order for a computer to print documents on a printer, the computer is typically required to have a printer-specific set of instructions that define how the computer is to communicate with the printer. The set of printer-specific instructions for a particular printer is commonly referred to as a "driver" for that printer. The driver for a printer also typically allows the user of the computer to set a wide variety of printer parameters (e.g., print quality, number of pages to print, etc.). However, the use of such drivers is problematic because the computer is usually required to have such a driver for each printer at which it desires to print documents. This requires the user to install multiple drivers (one per printer), which can be burdensome to the user. For example, a person taking his or her portable computer out of his or her office for a meeting at another location and desiring to print documents on a printer at that location is required to have the proper driver(s) for that printer installed on his or her portable computer in order to print to that printer. This results in a user-unfriendly situation as the user must find some way to obtain the necessary drivers in order to print documents at that location.
The generation and usage of workflows for processing data on a printing device described herein helps solves these problems.

Generation and usage of workflows for processing data on a printing device

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


A method of determining the level of immunosuppression in a mammal involves determining the level of expression of at least one selected TCR subunit protein, or protein in the T lymphocyte signal transduction pathway, and comparing the level to that found in healthy individuals. The method is useful to identify patients having T lymphocytes capable of activation for autologous adoptive immunotherapy and for identifying agents which cause or reverse immunosuppression.

Many diseases are characterized by the development of progressive immunosuppression in the patient. The presence of an impaired immune response in patients with malignancies has been particularly well documented. Cancer patients and tumor-bearing mice have been shown to have a variety of altered immune functions such as a decrease in delayed type hypersensitivity, a decrease in lytic function and decreased proliferative response. S. Broder et. al., N. Engl. J. Med., 299, 1281 (1978), E. M. Hersh et. al., N. Eng. J. Med., 283, 1006 (1965).
Many other diseases are also characterized by the development of an impaired immune response. Progressive immunosuppression has been observed in patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), sepsis, leprosy, cytomegalovirus infections, malaria, etc. The mechanisms responsible for the down-regulation of the immune response, however, remain to be elucidated.
T lymphocytes (T cells) are critical in the development of all cell-mediated immune reactions. Helper T cells control and modulate the development of immune responses. Cytotoxic T cells (killer T-cells) are effector cells which play an important role in immune reactions against intracellular parasites and viruses by means of lysing infected target cells. Cytotoxic T cells have also been implicated in protecting the body from developing cancers through an immune surveillance mechanism. T suppressor cells block the induction and/or activity of T helper cells. T cells do not generally recognize free antigen but recognize it on the surface of other cells. These other cells may be specialized antigen-presenting cells capable of stimulating T cell division or may be virally-infected cells within the body that become a target for cytotoxic T cells.
Cytotoxic or suppressor T cells usually recognize antigen in association with class I Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) products which are expressed on all nucleated cells. Helper T cells, and most T cells which proliferate in response to antigen in vitro, recognize antigen in association with class II MHC products. Class II products are expressed mostly on antigen-presenting cells and on some lymphocytes. T cells can be also divided into two major subpopulations on the basis of their cell membrane glycoproteins as defined with monoclonal antibodies. The CD4.sup.+ subset which expresses a 62 kD glycoprotein usually recognize antigen in the context of class II antigens, whereas the CD8.sup.+ subset expresses a 76 kD glycoprotein and is restricted to recognizing antigen in the context of Class I MHC.
The CD4.sup.+ subset can be further subdivided into two functionally distinct groups. One group of cells positively influences the immune response of T cells and B cells. The second group of cells induces suppressor/cytotoxic functions in CD8.sup.+ cells.
The definitive T-cell marker is the T-cell antigen receptor (TCR). TCR-2 is a heterodimer of two disulfide-linked polypeptides (.alpha. and .beta.) while TCR-1 is structurally similar but consists of .gamma. and .delta. polypeptides. Both TCR-1 and TCR-2 are associated with a complex of polypeptides which comprise the CD3 complex.
The TCR found on the surface of all T cells is composed of six or seven different subunits which can be divided into three distinct subgroups of proteins. R. D. Klausner et. al., Annu. Rev. Cell Biol., 6, 403 (1990). One subgroup of proteins comprises the .zeta. family dimers. Three proteins, encoded by two genes, appear to comprise the .zeta. mily. These proteins are .zeta., its alternately spliced form, .eta., and the .gamma. chain of multisubunit Fc.gamma. receptors. The heterodimers .alpha..beta. or .gamma..delta. within the receptor complex are responsible for ligand binding. The heterodimer is found on most mature T cells and the .alpha..beta. heterodimer is found predominantly on T cells that are .gamma..delta. located in epithelia.
The final subgroup of proteins which comprise the TCR are the CD3 chains which encompass three distinct, but closely related subunits. These subunits are the glycoproteins .gamma. and .delta. and the non-glycosylated protein .epsilon.. The CD3 chains are encoded by three homologous, clustered genes. F. Koning et. al., Eur. J. Immunology, 20, 299 (1990); R. S. Blumberg et. al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 87, 7220 (1990). Diversification of receptor types is the result of segregation of chains of the TCR complex into multiple subunits. Incompletely assembled complexes are degraded, resulting in the surface expression of only completely assembled receptors. R. D. Klausner, New Biol., 1, 3 (1989).
T-cell recognition events lead to signal transduction and appropriate biochemical signals that control cellular responses. The ability of TCR to transduce signals to multiple biochemical cascades is the central event of immune cell activation. The details of this signal transduction pathway, however, are poorly understood. For the TCR, one or more tyrosine (Tyr) kinases likely have an essential role in T-cell activation. R. D. Klausner et. al., Cell. 64. 875 (1991). At least two signal transduction pathways are activated upon stimulation of TCR by antigen or by monoclonal antibodies directed against CD3 or the .alpha..beta. heterodimer. Stimulation of TCR activates a tyrosine kinase. L. E. Samelson et. al., Cell 46, 1083 (1986); M. D. Patel et. al. J. Biol. 262, 5831 (1987); E. D. Hsi et. al., J. Biol. Chem. 264, 10836 (1989). Phosphorylation of several proteins on tyrosine residues is induced within seconds of TCR stimulation. C. H. June et. al., J. Immunol. 144, 1591 (1990). None of the TCR chains possesses intrinsic kinase activity. The tyrosine kinase Fyn, however, coprecipitates with the CD3 complex. L. E. Samelson et. al., Proc Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 87, 4358 (1990). The T-cell-specific member of the Src family of tyrosine kinases, Lck, is tightly, but noncovalently, associated with the cytoplasmic domain of either the CD4 or CD8 molecule. The extracellular domains of CD4 and CD8 bind to MHC class II and class I molecules, respectively. Upon binding of TCR to an antigen-MHC complex on a presenting cell, the TCR would be brought into close proximity with either a CD4 or CD8 molecule that could independently bind to the appropriate MHC molecule.
TCR also activates a phosphatidylinositol-specific phospholipase C which leads to hydrolysis of phosphatidylinositol-4,5,-bis-phosphate. A. Weiss et. al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 81, 4169 (1984); J. B. Imboden et. al., J. Exp. Med. 161, 446 (1985). This leads to the liberation of two second messengers. Inositol-1,4,5-tris-phosphate is responsible for transient Ca.sup.+2 mobilization. Diacylglycerol is a potent activator of protein kinase C. B. Berridge et. al., Nature, 341, 197 (1989).
The cytoplasmic domain of the TCR .zeta. chain is sufficient to couple stimulation of the receptor with the signal transduction pathways. B. A. Irving et. al., Cell. 64, 891 (1991). A chimeric protein linking the extracellular and transmembrane domains of CD8 to the cytoplasmic domain of the .zeta. chain was constructed. The chimeric protein activated the appropriate signal transduction pathways in the absence of CD3 .gamma., .delta., and .epsilon.. Therefore the role of CD3 .zeta. is to couple the TCR to intracellular signal transduction mechanisms.
The identification and isolation of soluble mediators of the immune response has heightened interest in the development of clinical trials using immunotherapy as a form of treatment. Interleukin-2 (IL-2), a lymphokine produced by helper T cells, stimulates the growth of T cells that bear IL-2 receptors, either in vivo or in vitro. The in vitro incubation of resting lymphocytes in supernatants containing IL-2 for three to four days results in the generation of lymphocytes capable of mediating the lysis of fresh tumor cells, but not normal cells. These cells are referred to as lymphokine activated killer (LAK) cells. I. Yron et. al., J. Immunol. 125. 238 (1980); M. T. Lotze et. al., Cancer Res. 41, 4420 (1981); and S. A. Rosenberg et. al., J. Natl. Cancer Inst., 75, 595 (1985).
The activation of T lymphocytes to generate T-activated killer cells (T-AK) has been described as taking lymphocytes by leukophoresis or from peripheral blood, and stimulating said cells with a monoclonal antibody (MAb) to a T cell surface receptor such as anti-CD3 (soluble or solid phase bound). The T cells can be stimulated with or without addition of one or more cytokines such as IL-2. Alternatively, T cells can be purified before stimulation with the MAb to a surface receptor. Experimentation with T-AK cells has demonstrated that CD8.sup.+ cells are responsible for the non-MHC restricted cytolytic activity seen in these cultures. P. M. Anderson et. al., J. Immunol. 142. 1383 (1989); C. M. Loeffler et. al., Cancer Res, 51, 2127 (1991). The ability of IL-2 to expand T lymphocytes having immune reactivity and the ability to lyse fresh autologous, syngeneic, or allogeneic natural killer (NK) cell-resistant tumor cells, but not normal cells, has resulted in the development of cell transfer therapies.
Typical adoptive immunotherapy involves the administration of immunologically active cells to an individual for the purpose of providing a beneficial immunological effect such as reduction or control of cancer. These immunologically active cells are typically taken by venipuncture or leukophoreses either from the individual to be treated, as in autologous treatment, or from another individual, as in allogeneic treatment. The lymphocytes are then cultured to increase their number and to activate their antitumor activity, and then infused back into the patient. Thus, the majority of conventional efforts in adoptive immunotherapy are directed at expanding cells in vitro followed by infusion back into the patient.
Animal experiments involving the transfer of immunologically active cells from healthy animals to animals with cancerous tumors have indicated that adoptive immunotherapy can elicit an antitumor effect in certain tumor models with a high degree of effectiveness. The administration of IL-2 together with LAK cells has proven effective in the treatment of a variety of murine malignancies. The transferred LAK cells also proliferate in vivo as a result of IL-2 treatment. Human clinical trials have demonstrated that LAK cells plus IL-2 or IL-2 alone can be effective in mediating the regression of established metastatic cancer in selected patients. S. A. Rosenberg, "Immunotherapy of Patients with Advanced Cancer Using Interleukin-2 Alone or in Combination With Lymphokine Activated Killer Cells" in Important Advances in Oncology 1988, J. B. Lippincott Co., 217, (1988).
The success of adoptive immunotherapy has been limited by the large number of cells required in the therapy, the large amount of culture medium and large number of hours involved in culturing cells to develop LAK activity, the length of time sufficient LAK activity must be maintained for the desired therapeutic efficacy, the time involved in clinical treatment and the side effects of treatment. Improvements in the in vitro culturing process have been made in order to increase the efficacy of adoptive immunotherapy. Cells cultured in IL-2 and/or monoclonal antibodies against the antigen receptor complex CD3 (anti-CD3 MAb) have been found to induce proliferation of a greater number of T cells, which demonstrate an increased anti-tumor activity. P. M. Anderson et. al., Cancer Immunol. Immunother. 27, 82 (1988); P. M. Anderson et. al., J. Immunol. 142, 1383 (1989); and A. C. Ochoa et. al., Cancer Res. 49, 963 (1989).
There has been limited success with efforts to activate in vivo antitumor mechanisms. Only a minority of patients receiving high doses of IL-2 experienced therapeutic effects and significant toxicity is observed. The direct infusion of anti-CD3 monoclonal antibody alone induces nonspecific antitumor function in mice. D. W. Hoskin et. al., Cancer Immunol Immunother., 29, 226 (1989). Based on the positive results in murine models, direct infusion of anti CD3 has been attempted in humans. Although patients who have directly received the anti-CD3 MAb OKT3 have experienced the activation of some T cells in vivo. The toxicity of intravenous OKT3 reaches the maximum tolerated dose (MTD) at low doses before it starts showing some immune efficacy. W. Urba et. al., Cancer Res., in press. It is believed that the free OKT3 is responsible for the majority of these toxic effects.
T lymphocytes from hosts bearing tumors exhibit decreased immune function in a variety of in vitro tests. R. Lafreniere et. al., J. Surg. Oncol. 43, 8 (1990); R. J. North et. al., J. Exc. Med. 159, 1295 (1984); M. Sarzotti et. al., Int. J. Cancer. 39, 118 (1987). It has been observed that before the decrease in the immune responsiveness in peripheral blood lymphocytes, T lymphocytes infiltrating tumor exhibit poor cytotoxic activity against autologous or allogeneic tumor cells. E. F. Klein et. al., 1980, In: Contemporary Topics in Immunobiology, I. P. Witz and M. G. Hanna, Jr., eds. Plenum Press, N.Y., p 79-107; B. M. Vose et. al., J. Cancer, 44, 846 (1981).
The molecular basis of the decreased immune responsiveness of the T cells is poorly understood. It has been proposed that decreased immune responsiveness of the T cells is caused by the development of suppressor lymphocytes. S. B. Mizel et. al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 77, 2205 (1980); C. C. Ting et. al., Int. J. Cancer. 4, 644 (1979). Another proposal is that responsive T-cell clones are deleted. S. Webb et. al., Cell. 63, 1249 (1990). It has also been proposed that decreased immune responsiveness of the T-cells is the result of the induction of T-cell energy. M. K. Jenkins et. al., J. Exp. Med. 165, 302 (1987). Others have suggested that the major alteration in the immune response is produced by a modification in the presentation of the antigen which
results in an inadequate response of the CD4.sup.+ helper T lymphocytes. These data have been strengthened by the observation that tumor cells transfected with cytokine genes induce a protective antitumor response, and result in an immunological memory response. E. R. Fearon et. al., Cell. 60: 397 (1990).
Augmentation of the immune response in immune compromised patients via infusions of lymphokines and/or adoptive immunotherapy has met with variable success. In view of the fact that the immune system of the patient being treated may already be suppressed, a need exists for effective methods of measuring the progression of immunosuppression so that attempts at augmenting the immune system can be effectively timed. A need exists for a method by which the patient's level of immuno-suppression can be estimated and on the basis of which the patient's likely response to therapy can be predicted accurately and the patient's therapeutic plan can be developed. A method is needed by which the clinician can determine whether the patient's T lymphocytes will be capable of activation and, thus, whether autologous adoptive immunotherapy will likely be efficacious. A need exists for a method by which the immunosuppressed state of T lymphocytes during disease progression can be circumvented or reversed so that the T cell immune response in the patient can develop or be augmented. A need also continues to exist for a method of screening for immunosuppressive agents and agents that reverse or inhibit immunosuppression.

Evaluation and treatment of patients with progessive immunosuppression

The United States of America as represented by the Department of Health and Human Services


The disclosure relates to an earphone. The earphone includes a housing, a first speaker located in the housing and configured to play a first sound in a high frequency range, and a second speaker located in the housing and configured to play a second sound in a low frequency range or a middle frequency range. The first speaker includes a thermoacoustic device unit including a sound wave generator including carbon nanotube structure. The second speaker is an electric loudspeaker, electromagnetic speaker, or capacitive speaker.

In general, the speaker includes different types such as low frequency speakers, middle frequency speakers and high frequency speakers according to the frequency range of the sound. The low frequency speakers can play a sound with frequency below 300 Hz, the middle frequency speakers can play a sound with frequency in a range of 300 Hz-2 KHz, and the high frequency speakers can play a sound with frequency above 2 KHz.
The earphone usually includes a speaker installed in the casing of the earphone. However, the speaker is only a single type of the low frequency speakers, middle frequency speakers and high frequency speakers. Thus, the earphone can only play a single type of the low frequency sound, middle frequency sound and high frequency sound and cannot realize the complementary between the low frequency sound, middle frequency sound and high frequency sound.
What is needed, therefore, is to provide an earphone which can overcome the shortcomings as described above.


A method and a feeding chute for feeding logs (10) into a disc chipper by means of the gravity. The logs (10) are supported laterally by means of adjacent bottom portions (31, 32) of the chute (3) and shoulders between those. The logs are turned parallel with the longitudinal direction of the chute by means of a moment (M) which occurs when the direction of the main axis (27) of the ellipse forming the shearing surface of the log deviates from the direction (27') perpendicular to a the direct line (30) drawn via the rotating center (28) of the blade disc and the center (29) of the ellipse. The bottom portions (31, 32) of the chute are inclined around a longitudinal axis in such a way that from two adjacent bottom portions of the chute, the one (31) further away from the rotating axis of the disc forms a bigger angle (.beta.') with respect to the horizontal plane than the angle (.beta.") formed by the portion (32) closer to the rotating axis.

The present invention concerns a feeding method and a feeding chute of a disc chipper fed by means of the gravity. In the pulp and paper industry, a disc chipper is generally used for chipping wood prior to further processing. In a chute fed chipper, the logs are fed along an inclined chute against the blade disc of the chipper. The blade disc rotates around a horizontal or less than 20.degree. inclined axle. The logs slide against the blade disc due to the gravity. Knives are attached to the blade disc in about the direction of the radius, chipping the wood against a stationary counter blade.
The logs encounter the blade disc at a feeding angle which in a chute fed chipper is the angle between the plane of the disc and the plane including the log and perpendicular to the plane of the disc. Test have shown that the quality of chips improves when the feeding angle between the log and the blade disc is decreased. The decreasing of the feeding angle is, however, restricted by the increase of the size of the shearing ellipse of the head of the log, which results in the decrease of the cross section the feeding funnel, if the feeding opening cannot be enlarged at the same time. In addition, practice has proven that smaller feeding angles increase feeding problems of the chipper, as the shearing surface of the log increases and the balancing effect of the gravity on the feed decreases.
The need of enlarging the feeding chute has become the primary problem, which has the effect that the feeding of wood is uncontrollable with the methods of prior art. When small test plants give a good chipping result with the new chipping angles, the quality of the chips with mass production chippers remains significantly lower.
Manufacturers of chippers have developed different feeding methods, which differ from the traditional structure, but these feeding methods, however, have the problem of the restless moving of the logs, especially laterally. The smaller the diameter and the length of the log is, the more lateral movement there is. Slim logs have more space laterally. The length of the logs gets shorter in chipping, so that at the end of chipping the short logs can easily change their direction and turn as much as 90.degree., so that no chips are produced any more.
According to the invention the feeding of the logs into the chipper is provided so that they maintain their feeding direction better. Thus, the problem can be avoided that the chipper would be blocked by transversal logs which have changed their direction, or that when the feeding direction is changed, the size of the chips would be changed and oversized chips would be produced.

Feeding method and feeding chute of disc chipper