A high side circuit includes at least one power device having a first non-drivable terminal connected to a supply voltage, at least one load connected between a second non-drivable terminal of the power device and ground, and driving circuitry. The driving circuitry includes transistors which are connected to each other and to a higher voltage than the supply voltage in order to control the turning on and the turning off of the power device and to reduce or minimize the potential difference between the second non-drivable terminal and a drivable terminal of the power device during the turning off state to avoid the re-turning on of the same power device.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a high efficiency xe2x80x9chigh sidexe2x80x9d circuit.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Different circuit configurations are known wherein a DMOS transistor can work as a switch. One configuration among these configurations is that wherein the drain terminal of the DMOS is connected to high voltages, as the supply voltage, while the source terminal is connected to a load which has the other terminal connected to ground; such circuit configuration is called xe2x80x9chigh sidexe2x80x9d. This circuit is utilized in numerous appliances as in engine control circuits or regulators, in order to drive different loads, but, particularly, inductive loads.
A typical high side circuit configuration, shown in FIG. 1, includes a DMOS transistor 1 which has the drain D connected to a supply voltage Vcc and the source S connected both to the cathode of a diode D1, and to a terminal of an inductive load 2 including an inductance L and a resistance R. Both the anode of the diode D1 and the other terminal of the inductive load 2 are connected to ground. The gate terminal G of the DMOS transistor 1 is connected both to a terminal of a current generator 1 and to a terminal of a switch S0, which can be formed by a MOS or DMOS transistor and has the other terminal connected to ground. The second terminal of the current generator 1 is connected to a voltage Vboot (produced generally by a charge pump) which is higher than the supply voltage Vcc in order to drive the DMOS 1 in a resistive way.
With the switch S0 open the gate terminal G of the DMOS 1 is connected to the voltage Vboot in order to turn on the transistor 1 allowing the current flow into the load 2. Closing the switch S0 the gate terminal of the DMOS 1 is connected to ground in order to turn off the transistor 1. In this way the inductance L is demagnetized through the diode D1 and the capacitance at the gate G of the DMOS is discharged to ground.
The aforementioned high side circuit has numerous problems.
First, the switch S0 must be dimensioned so as to withstand the voltage Vboot, which is a voltage much higher than the supply voltage Vcc.
With the decrease in the lithography of the technologies to produce DMOS transistors and also with the reduction of the gate oxide thickness, the threshold voltage of the DMOS transistors is notably reduced so that it is actually equal or lower than 1 V. The source terminal S of the DMOS 1 by the current re-circle, with the transistor turned off, can be carried to a negative voltage which can cause the non-desired turning on of the transistor 1 and a non-controlled current peak which can damage the transistor 1 and cause an efficiency loss.
Also, in the aforementioned circuit, it is provided that the charge stored in the gate G is discharged to ground rather that into the load thereby causing a further efficiency loss of the circuit.
In view of the state of the art described, it is an object of the present invention to provide a xe2x80x9chigh sidexe2x80x9d circuit which has a higher efficiency than the known circuits and solves at least the aforementioned problems.
According to the present invention, this and other objects are attained by a high side circuit comprising at least one power device having a first non-drivable terminal connected to a supply voltage, at least one load connected between a second non-drivable terminal of the power device and ground, driving circuitry comprising transistors which are connected to each other and to a higher voltage than said supply voltage in order to control the turning on and the turning off of the power device and to reduce or minimize the potential difference between the second non-drivable terminal and a drivable terminal of the power device during the turning off state to avoid the re-turning on of the same power device.
As a result of the present invention it is possible to form a xe2x80x9chigh sidexe2x80x9d circuit which, as a result of a different driving circuitry of the DMOS transistor, assures high efficiency of the high side circuit in any operating state.

Methods and apparatus for preventing inadvertent activation of power devices


The present invention relates to an inductive spin-orbit torque device and the method for fabricating the same. The method comprises steps of depositing a two-dimensional thin film using chemical vapor deposition (CVD) and sputtering a ferromagnetic material on the thin film. The crystal structure of the two-dimensional thin film includes at least one lattice plane arranged asymmetrically. The thickness of the two-dimensional thin film includes at least one unit-cell layer. The sum of the at least one unit-cell layer is an odd number. By using the vertical magnetic torque generated by the two-dimensional thin film and the miniaturization in thickness, the device size and the fabrication costs may be reduced.

Currently, popular memories include the static random-access memory (SRAM) and the dynamic random-access memory (DRAM). The advantage of the former is its fast speed while the advantage of the latter is its high density. Nonetheless, these two types of memories are mainly formed by transistors, which feature large sizes, compromising advantages, and volatility. Advanced memories mainly control the magnetism of materials to produce 0 and 1 states. They can be made of nonvolatile memory materials and own the merits of high speed and small size.
Spintronics devices are developing prosperously. In the past, magnetic moments are arranged on a plane and used as the sensing mechanism. Unfortunately, to produce significant flipping in magnetic vectors, the adopted materials should have a certain thickness, making them inappropriate for mass production. Electron spins mean that the angular momenta of electrons behave classically and act on electron orbits along with torques.
To make the magnetic memory devices according to the prior state of art with significant magnetization due to normal orientation of magnetic moments along the plane of materials, the thickness of magnetic materials should be increased, and two materials should be assembled by attachment. Nonetheless, this method increases the volume of memories, disfavoring mass production.

Inductive spin-orbit torque device and method for fabricating the same


Relative movement in X, Y and Z axis directions is made between a main spindle and a table 6 for application in a machine tool in which a work is machined. An emitting element 12 for irradiating laser beam 11 and a photosensitive element 13 are disposed on the table 6. A measuring tool 8 with its top end being shaped as a cone form is attached to the main spindle 4. The laser beam 11 is interrupted with the cone form portion 15 of the measuring tool 8 through relative movement between the table 6 and measuring tool 8 before and after machining a work. Detection signal of interruption is generated at the moment of interruption, position is detected, operation processing is performed so that difference in X, Y and Z axes before and after machining is obtained along with values for correction. Positional coordinate values for three axis directions are detected simultaneously with a measuring device of a simple constitution by use of laser beam and values for correction such as of thermal displacement is obtained by operation processing of displacement values.

Techniques for detecting positions of an activated main spindle in a NC machine tool such as a machining center, for detecting positions of an activated feeding system such as a table or the like and measuring devices employed for those are known. Measurement of positions in these cases is necessary, e.g., for correcting thermal deformation or the like occurring in the machine tool during machining process. Measurement is also made for checking figures, abrasion or the like. Objects for measurement in these cases are tool positions of the main spindle, tool lengths, tool figures or a feeding system such as a table.
Measurement is carried out in a machine tool during operation mainly concerned with whether there is or is not thermal deformation, abrasion, breaking, etc. generated by the machining action performed in the machine tool. Thermal deformation among these is specifically concerned with machining precision because it has a direct effect on the relative position between a tool and a work by generating positional deviation. In many cases main spindles specifically suffer from thermal deformation due to high speed operation in recent years. Also in the feeding system relative positional deviation is generated between itself and the main spindle under the thermal effect of a ball screw. Further, deviation of relative position between the main spindle and the table occurs during machining because of combination of various factors such as deformation generated by attachment of a tool, abrasion of the tool or the like.
For these reasons, measurement has been made for related portions and positional correction of tools or the like has been made according to the result of measurement. A typical method for measuring position is one by use of a touch sensor. This method is such that a touch probe device is attached to a main spindle, position is measured by causing the touch probe device to make contact with a work through relative movement between the work and an spindle, measurement of position is performed and final positioning is made by NC control. This method is applied in many cases and a technique for correcting position as an example for correction of thermal deformation is known in which correction of thermal displacement based on the measured temperature and automatic centering by making zero correction of varied coordinate with a touch sensor attached to the main spindle are combined so as to complement each other at determined times (see e.g. Japanese Patent Laid-open H6-304846).
A technique for correcting totally thermal displacement both of a feed screw in a machine tool and a work, that is, a technique in which thermal displacement of a ball screw is compared with the absolute standard by an invar material with little thermal expansion and a touch sensor is used for making correction based on the comparison, so that correction of thermal displacement in a work is made through control based on the reference temperature is known (see e.g. Japanese Patent Laid-open 2006-212765). The structure of a touch probe for three dimensional measurement concerned with these and a technique for extracting detection signal are also known (see e.g. Japanese Patent Laid-open H6-185911).
Recently it has also become known to use noncontact measuring devices. As an example for this, a technique for detecting position is known in which measuring means is caused to make approach to laser beam and the position at the moment when the laser beam is interrupted by the measuring device is measured. Relating to this, a technique is known in which a measuring device by use of laser beam is mounted on a turn table capable of indexing by 90 degrees on the table of a machine tool and a tool is made to approach the laser beam so that the position of axis line is measured in the situation where the position of axis line is changed by 90 degrees (see e.g. Japanese Patent Laid-open H10-138097).
This method corresponds to a technique for obtaining the position by calculating the difference from the reference value obtained by preliminary measurement. Further, as a technique which allows the top end position of the tool during rotation in a machine tool, the diameter of the tool, the length of the tool or the like to be measured quickly, a technique for measurement is known in which an optical measuring device emitting laser beam is placed at a location on the table where no obstruction occurs for machining operation and then measurement is performed (see e.g. Japanese Patent Laid-open H11-138392). As a technique concerned specifically with correction of thermal displacement, also a technique is known in which variation is obtained by use of the temperature measured with a thermometer and coefficients for correction are obtained so as to perform correction (see e.g. Japanese Patent Laid-open H5-116053). This is not a technique in which numerical values are obtained physically with a measuring device provided on the body of a machine tool but is an example of a technique for postulating the position based on the measurement of temperature.
Specifically as techniques for measuring position by use of laser beam, techniques are already known in which approach to the laser beam is made at a right angle as mentioned above. However, those techniques in the present state are such that measurement is made for a spindle moving in an axial direction, while, for coping with measurement by interrupting the same laser beam with a thing moving in the direction of another axis, the direction of the laser beam is changed by turning the table by 90 degrees as mentioned above or another laser beam is provided for another axis.
Thus, respective measurement operations have suffered from inefficiency, which has caused efficiency of machining to be lowered. Further, in case of using a touch sensor the effect of attached dirt can not be neglected and so it has been desired to secure a circumstance in which measurement is allowed to be performed. Especially the thermal displacement of a feeding system due to the thermal displacement of the main spindle and the ball screw is a factor which can not be neglected. The present invention is devised in order to solve the above mentioned conventional problems and attains the following objects.

Method for controlling a machine tool and apparatus therefor


A kit for the packaging and shipping of components of an explanted medical device. The kit includes sealable containers to individually package the components of the explanted medical device. The kit also includes dressing presoaked in a preservation fluid, the dressing being provided in at least one sealed container prior to the removal of the explanted medical device to maintain the dressing a presoaked, sterile condition. The amount of preservation fluid applied to the dressing is controlled, thereby eliminating the need for a reservoir of fluid to be provided.

When medical devices, such as orthopedic implants, are removed from patients ("explanted devices"), they must frequently be shipped to a third party for examination and/or analysis for a variety of reasons, including regulatory responses and determination of liability in civil court actions. These materials are potentially biohazardous to those individuals handling the items during retrieval, shipping and examination.
In the past, medical personnel responsible for returning explanted orthopedic devices had to package, label, and ship the items by using packaging and labels chosen at their own discretion, which were often less than adequate. Many packages were packed and labeled in a manner lacking protection for those handling the package from potentially contaminated material.
Several patents describe methods and devices for preserving and transporting biological materials or prosthetic devices. U.S. Pat. No. 3,255,871 to Butler is directed to the use of a translucent plastic bag in which a formaldehyde solution is formed in situ for preserving and transporting biological material. U.S. Pat. No. 4,011,947 to Sawyer describes a packaged prosthetic device and a packaging technique designed so that a prosthetic device will arrive at its ultimate position for installation in a sterile and clean condition.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,236,088 to Dhority et al. is directed to an orthopedic implant retrieval kit which, when assembled, provides a shipping and handling container for explanted orthopedic devices. The kit includes a container for holding a suitable level of formalin solution. The container is sealed within several other containers to prevent leakage. The multiple containers have absorbent material positioned thereabout to also prevent leakage.
There is a need to provide a retrieval kit in which tissue can be shipped in a secure, safe and non-degenerative manner across long distances and international boundaries. There is also a need to provide a retrieval kit in which the issue of leakage is essentially eliminated, thereby allowing the retrieval kit to be easily assembled and easily and securely shipped.


By using a recording method in which a different plurality of blank dots are printed for each color in a thermal transfer recording apparatus, a printed sheet does not have visually recognizable white dots which are seen as high frequency noise, thereby creating a high quality printing record. Such thermal transfer recording apparatus has a conversion table for receiving a line display signal, a signal indicating whether a color density signal corresponds to an odd-numbered line or to an even-numbered line and an identification signal for identifying a respective color, and outputs a print signal for each color. The print signal converted by the conversion table indicates the locations of blank dots for each respective color, and different blank dots are assigned for each different color, thereby realizing a superior image quality.

The present invention relates to a thermal transfer recording apparatus and to a method for thermally transferring ink on an ink sheet onto recording paper and performing multicolor display.
Conventionally, a variety of apparatuses and methods for doing multicolor printing with a thermal transfer recording apparatus have been realized.
FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing a printing mechanism used in a thermal transfer recording apparatus, and hereinafter operation of this mechanism will be explained in connection with fusion type thermal transfer.
An ink sheet 21 and a sheet of recording paper 22 are carried so as to be sandwiched between a thermal head 23 and a platen 24. The thermal head 23 is pressed against the platen 24 so that the ink sheet 21 and heat generating resistive members of the thermal head 23 contact each other satisfactorily. The recording paper 22 is carried so as to be sandwiched between a capstan roller 25 and a pinch roller 26. The capstan roller 25 is normally/reversely rotated by a driving motor which is not shown in FIG. 6 while the capstan roller 25 is pressed against the pinch roller 26, thereby feeding the recording paper 22 forward/backward. In the above state, while the capstan roller 25 is normally rotated to feed the recording paper 22, the thermal head 23 is energized to fuse ink on the ink sheet 21 and transfer the ink onto the recording paper 22. Then, the ink sheet 21 is peeled off the recording paper 22. Generally, yellow is printed first, and then the capstan roller 25 and the platen 24 are reversely rotated to carry the recording paper 22 back to a first position. Next, magenta and cyan are printed on the yellow in this sequence in the same way as described above so as to pile the three colors, thereby realizing multicolor printing.
A fusion-type binary recording apparatus displays each dot in accordance with respective binary signals (ON, OFF) for three colors including cyan, magenta and yellow, so that a density pattern method, a systematic dither method and so on are applied to obtain an image with density level. In the density pattern method, dots are arranged in a matrix such as a two by two or four by four matrix and pseudogradation is obtained in accordance with an area ratio to display one pixel. In the systematic dither method, one pixel is displayed with one dot while each dot is multiplied by a dither matrix to obtain psedogradation. Therefore, print recording time is so short that print recording can be obtained at a low running cost.
However, it is necessary to arrange a matrix in a larger size in order to increase the number of colors to be displayed. For example, a matrix size of 16 by 16 is required to record each color in 256 density levels. When one pixel is displayed with this matrix of 16 by 16, if a resolution of the thermal head is 300 dpi, a size of the matrix becomes approximately 1.4 square mm. Therefore, this case has a defect that gradation of a small image in a halftone cannot be displayed satisfactorily.
In a sublimation type recording apparatus, a density level can be changed by the pixel. Therefore, if the ink sheet is composed of three colors: cyan, magenta and yellow, when each color is recorded in n density levels, n cubed kinds of colors can be displayed for each pixel. If each color is recorded in, for instance, 256 density levels, approximately 16,700,000 colors can be displayed. Therefore, this type of apparatus can realize clean print recording and is frequently applied to print recording of images. However, it has defects of long print recording time, high running cost and so on.
The sublimation type recording apparatus can change a density level one pixel by one pixel. On the other hand, the fusion type multi-density level recording apparatus can change an area onto which ink is transferred by the pixel. When the ink sheet includes three colors of cyan, magenta and yellow, if each color is recorded in n density levels, n cubed kinds of colors can be displayed for each pixel. If each color is recorded in, for instance, 256 density levels, approximately 16,700,000 colors can be displayed. Therefore, the fusion type apparatus can realize clear print recording and is frequently applied to print recording of images as well as the sublimation type one. However, it has a defect in that print recording takes longer than the fusion type binary recording apparatus.
FIG. 7 is a graph showing density level characteristics which are observed when a line cycle for energizing a thermal head is 10 ms and 3.5 ms respectively. A line cycle of 3.5 ms is a general time taken to printing-record a sheet in 60 seconds with the fusion type binary record apparatus. In this graph, the horizontal axis represents a color density signal of image data to be printed, and the vertical axis represents a percentage dot area of ink transferred. As apparent from the graph, when the line cycle is 10 ms, a satisfactory density level characteristic can be obtained. On the other hand, when the line cycle is 3.5 ms, while image data is between 11h and 88h, a satisfactory density level characteristic can be obtained. However, when the image data is beyond 88h, dot-join rapidly occurs, when the image data becomes 99h or AAh, a percentage dot area rapidly increases; and when beyond AAh, dots become almost crushed. Therefore, a successive density level characteristic cannot be obtained while the percentage dot area is between 60% and 90%.
The cause of a rapid occurrence of the dot join phenomenon is that the thermal head and the ink sheet accumulate heat because of the fast line cycle and even the ink originally not intended to be transferred is likely to be transferred onto the recording paper, which cannot be improved by precise control of an energizing pulse width of the thermal head. In order to obtain a desirable successive density level by preventing the dot join, there are regularly provided dots which are not printed, for instance, two dots or one dot among every four dots in a 2.times.2 matrix, and the dots to be printed are driven with a large energy, thereby thermally diffusing printing ink around the dots and filling up an unprinted dot region with the diffused ink.
FIGS. 8A and 8B are diagrams showing an example in which one dot among every four dots is not printed and the other three dots are used for density-level recording. An energy amount of the three dots is controlled with the identical color density signal so that a percentage area becomes the same as that of an ordinary density level recording, thereby obtaining a satisfactory density level characteristic.
When a single color is printed by a conventionally proposed method for preventing dot join, a satisfactory density level characteristic can be obtained. However, when cyan, magenta and yellow are overlaid one on top of another for multicolor printing by this method, white dots, that is, unprinted dots on recording paper which exist regularly for all the colors to be displayed are visually recognized as noise of high frequency and deteriorate image quality remarkably.
When even a single color is printed, regular white dots exist on the recording paper as well as for multicolors, however, the amount of noise which is recognizable is so small that printing quality does not deteriorate. As the number of colors to be displayed for multicolor printing increases, the amount of white dots recognized as noise seems to increase, the cause of which is presently unclear.

Thermal transfer recording apparatus and method for regularly assigning blank dots


Catalytic cracking processes are improved by employing cracking catalyst particles containing rare earth components spray impregnated thereon. In comparison to other rare earth-promoted cracking catalysts, the cracking catalysts of the invention exhibit greater activity for oxidizing carbon monoxide to carbon dioxide during the regeneration step of the cracking process wherein coke-containing catalyst particles are reactivated for cracking hydrocarbons by combustion of the coke.

This invention relates to a method for reducing carbon monoxide emissions from the regenerator utilized in catalytic cracking processes, such as the fluidized catalytic cracking process, by incorporating in the cracking catalyst a metal component active for the oxidation of carbon monoxide to carbon dioxide. More specifically, the invention relates to cracking catalyst compositions wherein rare earth components are incorporated into the cracking catalyst by spray impregnation.
In the petroleum industry, high boiling hydrocarbon feedstocks are charged to FCC units so that, by contact with a moving bed of catalyst particles, the feedstock is converted to a more valuable hydrocarbon product, such as gasoline, having a lower average molecular weight and a lower average boiling point than said feedstock. The most typical hydrocarbon feedstock so treated in FCC units consists of heavy gas oil, but on occasion such feedstocks as light gas oils, naphtha, reduced crudes, and even whole crudes are also subjected to catalytic cracking to yield low boiling hydrocarbon products.
Catalytic cracking in FCC units is usually accomplished in a cyclic process involving catalytic reaction, steam stripping, and catalyst regeneration. The hydrocarbon feedstock is blended with an appropriate amount of catalyst particles, and the mixture so produced is then passed through a catalytic reactor, commonly called a riser, wherein a catalytic cracking reaction zone is maintained such that at a temperature between about 800.degree. and 1100.degree. F. the feedstock is converted into gaseous, lower boiling hydrocarbons. After these lower boiling hydrocarbons are separated from the catalyst in a suitable separator, such as a cyclone separator, the catalyst, now deactivated with deposited coke is passed to a stripper. In the stripper, the deactivated catalyst is contacted with steam so as to convert some of the coke to hydrocarbon product vapors, which are then combined with the vapors received from the cyclone separator and transferred to other facilities for further treatment. Meanwhile, catalyst particles are recovered from the stripper, and because only a small proportion of the coke was removed in the stripper, the catalyst is introduced into a regenerator wherein, by combustion in the presence of an oxygen-containing gas such as air, the remaining larger proportion of the coke is removed and the catalyst reactivated. The cyclic process is then completed by again blending the reactivated catalyst particles with the feedstock entering the FCC unit.
One recognized problem in the conventional FCC process resides in the incomplete combustion in the regenerator. Due to the relatively low temperature of combustion in the regenerator, usually between about 900.degree. and about 1300.degree. F., the flue gas contains a substantial proportion of carbon monoxide in addition to carbon dioxide. Typically, the flue gas contains carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide in a ratio of 0.8:1 to about 10:1, CO.sub.2 :CO, with the carbon monoxide concentration often being as high as 15 mole percent. Such high concentrations of carbon monoxide are a source of concern inasmuch as it is a pollutant, and this concern has recently resulted in numerous methods to reduce the amount of carbon monoxide discharged from FCC regenerators and the like. In general, these methods aim to reduce the polluting effects of carbon monoxide by incorporating in the cracking catalyst particles metal components that are active for catalyzing the reaction of CO with oxygen at the low temperatures encountered in FCC regenerators. The metal components known for such use include the Group VIII metals and rhenium, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,072,600, chromium, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 2,647,860, Group IB, IIB, VIB, VIIB, and VIII metals, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,364,136, and certain rare earth metals, such as cerium, as taught in Netherlands Pat. No. 7300884 (GLADROW U.S. Pat. No. 3,823,092), and lanthanum, as taught in U.S. Pat. No. 4,137,151.
Of the foregoing metal promoters, platinum and the other noble metals are known to have the highest activity for oxidizing carbon monoxide. Ironically, however, such high activity is oftentimes undesirable and detrimental. In some FCC units, and especially those of older design, the high conversions of CO to CO.sub.2 attainable with a platinum-containing catalyst release heat in such large quantities that the temperature of the regenerator vessel is raised to levels that overheat the metals within the regenerator vessel. On the other hand, some metal promoters, such as rare earth promoters, usually do not sufficiently improve CO oxidation activity to justify the expense of incorporating them in cracking catalyst particles.
Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide a metal-promoted cracking catalyst of CO oxidation activity greater than that of prior art rare earth catalysts but less than that of the typical platinum-promoted FCC catalyst. It is another object to provide a method for increasing the CO oxidation activity of rare earth-promoted cracking catalysts by spray impregnating the rare earth components onto the cracking catalyst particles. These and other objects and advantages will become apparent in light of the following description of the invention and its preferred embodiment.

Process for reducing carbon monoxide emissions from regenerators of catalytic cracking units


A control apparatus of a variable damping force damper comprises first and second low-pass filters for cutting off high frequency components of a target current of the damper, where the first and second low-pass filters have different response characteristics. The control apparatus further comprises a low-pass filter selection unit for selecting one of the first and second low-pass filters based on at least one of the dynamic state of the vehicle body and the road surface condition.

In recent years, in a field of cylinder-type dampers used in a vehicle suspension system, various types of variable damping force dampers have been developed to variably control the damping force depending on dynamic states of the vehicle in order to achieve both of favorable riding comfort and high driving stability. In the past, variable damping force dampers of a mechanical type were common in which a rotary valve is provided to the piston to variably control a flow area of an orifice and the rotary valve is rotatably driven by an actuator. However, in order to simplify the structure and improve the control response time, variable damping force dampers of an MRF type have been developed in recent years, in which a magneto-rheological fluid (MRF) is used as an operating oil and the piston is provided with a magnetizable liquid valve (MLV) for controlling an apparent viscosity of the MRF (see United States Patent Application Publication No. 2006/0224285, for example).
In general, in a damper control apparatus for controlling the MRF-type variable damping force damper, a target damping force setting means sets a target damping force for each wheel according to a lateral acceleration, longitudinal acceleration, etc. of the vehicle body, and thereafter, a target current setting means sets a target current for each MLV according to the target damping force and a stroke speed of the damper. Typically, the lateral acceleration, longitudinal acceleration, damper stroke speed, etc. are detected by various sensors (lateral G sensor, longitudinal G sensor, stroke sensor, etc.) disposed at appropriate portions of the vehicle body and suspension system, and the detection signals from the sensors tend to include various high frequency noises. For this reason, it has been proposed to use a low-pass filter having a predetermined cut-off frequency to remove or reduce the high frequency noises from the detection signals of the sensors or target current, thereby improving the control reliability (see Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 7-25257 and Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 6-278638, for example).
The low-pass filters disclosed in JPA No. 7-25257 and JPA No. 6-278638 serve to remove high frequency components from the detection signals with a prescribed response characteristic, but there was a problem arising therefrom. For example, when an automobile is running meanderingly on a road having surface irregularities, the detection signal from the stroke sensor (e.g., stroke speed) may oscillate at a frequency near a sprung mass resonance frequency and the direction of the stroke speed, which can be expressed by positive and negative signs, may change accordingly, as show in FIG. 11(a). If the low-pass filter is given a low response characteristic, the damping force (or the target current) tends to overshoot at the points where the direction of damping force changes as shown in FIG. 11(b), and this can deteriorate the riding comfort. On the other hand, when an automobile is turning steadily on a flat road surface, for example, the detection signal from the stroke sensor is generally kept near zero as shown in FIG. 12(a), but high frequency noises generated from the lateral G sensor or stroke sensor itself are sometimes added onto the detection signal. In such a case, if the low-pass filter is given a high response characteristic, an amount of reduction of the damping force caused by the high frequency noises can be undesirably large, and this may unfavorably affect smooth attitude control of the automobile and deteriorate the driving stability.

Control apparatus of a variable damping force damper


A delivery node alternately connects to a first wireless terminal and a second wireless terminal. When a first packet with a virtual IP address of the second wireless terminal as a destination IP address is output from a first application to a virtual network interface, the first wireless terminal encapsulates the first packet with the use of an encapsulation header and transmits to the delivery node. The delivery node encapsulates the first packet obtained by decapsulating the received encapsulation packet again, and transmits to the second wireless terminal. The second wireless terminal transmits the first packet obtained by decapsulating the received encapsulation packet to a second application through a virtual network interface.

In recent years, Wi-Fi Direct as an interterminal communication scheme attracts attention from the viewpoint of broadband, enhanced security, and so on. A previous Wi-Fi network operates in an infrastructure mode with a specific device as an access point (AP). On the other hand, in a network conforming to Wi-Fi Direct, any P2P terminal, not a specific device, becomes an owner of a group, thereby enabling communication within the group (for example, see Non-Patent Document 1). A group owner is a P2P terminal operating as an access point of a group and, as a parent of the group, can form a group including another P2P terminal as a child (a client).
Within a P2P group formed in this manner, data can be transferred at high speeds between terminals without connecting to the Internet or the like. In particular, Wi-Fi Direct supports a robust security protocol, and therefore, can realize higher security than a conventional ad hoc mode (IBSS: Independent Basic Service Set, or the like).
However, in the wireless P2P network mentioned above, each group is independently formed and operates, so that communication is restricted within the group. Moreover, in general, the maximum number of terminals in one group has a physical upper limit. For example, in a case where Wi-Fi Direct is implemented with the use of an inexpensive wireless LAN device, the number of terminals in one group is limited to the upper limit of 5 to 10 supported by the device. Such group size limitation restricts message sharing only to the terminals in one group and hampers information sharing in a larger network including a plurality of groups. In the wireless P2P network mentioned above, it is impossible to notify, for example, disaster information, traffic information, SOS signals, voice signals or the like having urgency beyond a local group.
In view of such circumstances, Non-Patent Document 2 proposes a method of communicating between groups via a delivery node. In the communication method described in Non-Patent Document 2, a group owner of a first group selects one or a plurality of client nodes of the first group as delivery nodes. Then, the delivery node disassociates itself from the first group to connect to a group owner of a second group existing nearby, and transmits and receives information to and from the group owner of the second group. A mechanism that a delivery node disassociates itself from a currently connected group and connects to another group is called "switching." The delivery node periodically performs switching between the first group and the second group, whereby the group owner of the first group and the group owner of the second group can bidirectionally convey information via the delivery node.
On the other hand, the following technique is proposed in relation to the present invention.
Patent Document 1 proposes a switch system that includes one or more ports on a switch configured to transmit an encapsulated packet in accordance with the TRILL protocol. Moreover, it is described in the paragraph 0106 of Patent Document 1 that it is possible to link a set of VMs (virtual machines) in a network with one port profile to group them. This grouping is grouping VMs all connected to the same VLAN and has a different concept from the group formed in the wireless P2P network.
Patent Document 2 proposes an information sharing system that can realize both proper confidential information sharing and ordinary broad information sharing within a group of users existing at remote places. However, a terminal does not perform switching between groups.
Patent Document 3 describes a method of constructing a VPN (Virtual Private Network) to realize communication between hosts. For example, a tunnel connection considering security is set up between networks where a VPN is constructed. For example, in a case where, in a connection configuration of PC (personal computer) 1—GW (gateway) 1—GW 2—PC 2, a VPN is configured with the use of the PC 1 and the PC 2, a tunnel connection is set up between the GW 1 and the GW 2. Then, communication between the hosts is realized by IP routing using a temporary IP address. However, Patent Document 3 does not describe a tunnel connection in a case where there is no fixed communication path between GW 1 and GW 2.
Patent Document 4 proposes a data communication apparatus that includes a congestion detection means. The congestion detection means determines whether or not the amount of data continuously transmitted from a transmission terminal is close to a continuously receivable data size notified to the transmission terminal and, if determining it is close, determines whether or not the continuously receivable data size can be increased and, if determining it can be increased, increases the continuously receivable data size and determines whether or not congestion has occurred while receiving data. When congestion is detected, the data communication apparatus reduces the continuously receivable data size and returns a response acknowledgement.    Patent Document 1: Japanese Translation of PCT Application Publication JP-A 2013-526234    Patent Document 2: Re-publication of PCT Publication WO 2006/059639    Patent Document 3: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication JP-A 2008-092170    Patent Document 4: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication JP-A 2000-174812    Non-Patent Document 1: Wi-Fi Alliance Technical Committee PSP Task Group, Wi-Fi Peer-to-Peer (P2P) Technical Specification Version 1.1    Non-Patent Document 2: Chaki Prakash, Masato Yasuda, Kazuaki Nakajima, "Dynamic Topology Reformation for Content Dissemination in Wi-Fi Peer-to-Peer Networks," the Institute of Electronics, Information and Communication Engineers, Feb. 24, 2015, Proceedings of the 2015 IEICE General Conference BS-3-53
However, the delivery node cannot simultaneously connect to both the first group and the second group. When connecting, the delivery node connects to only one of the groups. Thus, the delivery node becomes an end point of a communication path. Therefore, a wireless terminal belonging to the first group and a wireless terminal belonging to the second group cannot directly communicate. Such a problem is hard to solve even by combining the techniques described in Patent Documents 1 to 5 and Non-Patent Documents 1 and 2.


The present invention provides a thin film transistor array substrate and a liquid crystal display panel. The thin film transistor array substrate comprises: a substrate, and the substrate comprises a first surface and a second surface oppositely located; a thin film transistor array, located on the first surface; a common electrode layer, and the common electrode layer is isolated from the thin film transistor array, and the common electrode layer comprises a plurality of first strip holes; a sensing electrode layer, and the sensing electrode layer is isolated from the common electrode layer, and the sensing electrode layer comprises a plurality of sensing units and a plurality of sensing wires, and the sensing units are distributed in row and column, and the sensing wires are electrically coupled to the sensing units of each row or each column respectively, and the sensing wires are located corresponding to the first strip holes.

The liquid crystal display (LCD) is a common electronic apparatus. It is favored by the users with its properties of low power consumption, small volume and light weight. The touch and display merge is also the popular field of the display panel researches, and the Low Temperature Poly-Silicon (LTPS) is considered to be the high end technology of the field. The in cell technology is to embed the touch panel function into the liquid crystal pixel. In the design process of the traditional pixel, the sensing wires of the sensing electrodes, the gate lines and the data lines have larger overlapping area with the common electrode layer. Therefore, larger capacitances are formed between the sensing wires of the sensing electrodes and the common electrode, between the gate lines and the common electrode and between the data lines and the common electrode. Meanwhile, resistances exist among the sensing wires of the sensing electrodes, the gate lines, the data lines and the common electrode. Thus, the resistance-capacitance (RC) loading of the pixel is larger, and the display result of the entire liquid crystal display panel is influenced. In conclusion, the RC loading of the pixel in prior art is larger, and the display result of the entire liquid crystal display panel is not ideal.

Thin film transistor array substrate and liquid crystal display panel

Shenzhen China Star Optoelectronics Technology Co., Ltd

WUHAN CHINA STAR OPTOELECTRONICS TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD


An aerodynamic device is described for mounting to an outer surface of a wind turbine blade. The aerodynamic device includes a baseplate having an inner surface defining a mounting region and a sealing region at least partially surrounds the mounting region. The mounting region is bonded to the outer surface of the blade by an adhesive. A seal is provided between the sealing region of the baseplate and the outer surface of the blade. The seal at least partially surrounds the mounting region. A barrier is provided between the seal and the adhesive. The barrier is arranged substantially to prevent contact between the seal and the adhesive.

It is known to provide a variety of aerodynamic devices on the outer surface of wind turbine blades in order to improve the performance of the blade or, for example, to reduce noise levels produced by the blades in use. Typical aerodynamic devices include flaps such as Gurney flaps, vortex generators, and other trailing edge devices such as serrations.
The devices may be formed integrally with the outer shell of the blade, or they may be mounted to the blade shell. These devices are often generally referred to as 'add-ons', and may be provided on the blade during the blade manufacturing process, or later to existing blades as a retrofit.
The aerodynamic devices typically comprise a baseplate configured for mounting to the outer surface of the blade. The baseplate supports aerodynamic features such as flaps, turbulence producing formations and/or serrations. The baseplate is typically bonded to the outer shell of the blade by means of adhesive.
The blade add-ons should remain firmly secured to the blade during the service life of the wind turbine, which is typically twenty years or more. As the blade moves through the air at high speed when the rotor rotates, these aerodynamic devices experience significant forces. Any degradation of the adhesive may therefore present a risk of the devices being torn from the surface of the blade in use.
It is therefore important to ensure that the adhesive is not compromised during mounting of the add-ons and thereafter when the wind turbine is in use. Wind turbines are often exposed to harsh environmental conditions and experience extremes of temperature and other climatic conditions. It is important to protect the adhesive from exposure to these conditions, otherwise there is a risk that the adhesive may be compromised or degrade over time. In particular, it is desirable to prevent the adhesive coming into contact with moisture, dust and direct exposure to sunlight.
One solution to this problem is described in the applicant's European patent no. EP2027390, whereby sealant is provided at the periphery of a turbulence generating strip. The sealant serves to seal the edges of the device to the outer surface of the blade. The seal prevents ingress of moisture and dust between the surface of the blade and the device and thus protects the adhesive that bonds the strip to the surface of the blade.
However, when the sealant is initially applied, it may be difficult to prevent the sealant from coming into contact with the adhesive bonding the device to the blade surface. There is therefore a risk that the sealant may interfere with the adhesive bond between the device and the blade. The sealant also remains visible around the edges of the device, and thus is itself exposed to moisture and dust in use, which may cause the sealant to deteriorate over time.
Against this background, it as an object of the present invention to address at least one of these problems.

Wind turbine blade with aerodynamic device attached thereto


Black bear parathyroid hormone (PTH) and functional fragments thereof are provided. Also provided are methods of using black bear PTH and functional fragments for increasing cAMP in a bone-forming cell; reducing apoptosis in a bone-forming cell; decreasing the ratio of expression levels of Bax protein to Bcl-2 protein in a bone-forming cell; increasing the expression level of one or more of a bone matrix protein, a transcriptional activator, or a transcriptional regulator in a bone-forming cell; enhancing bone mineral density, increasing bone mass, decreasing bone loss, or reducing the incidence of bone fractures, or any combination thereof, in a subject; also provided are antibodies directed against black bear parathyroid hormone (PTH) and functional fragments thereof.

Bone loss diseases are currently a health threat for approximately 44 million Americans, including 10 million with osteoporosis and 34 million with low bone mass and at risk for developing osteoporosis. The number of Americans with osteoporosis is expected to rise by 2020. Consequently, a large number of individuals are at risk for bone fracture due to low bone mass. Approximately 40% of white women and 13% of white men over age 50 are at risk for hip, spine, or forearm fracture within their lifetime. The costs associated with osteoporosis-related fractures were approximately $18 billion dollars in 2002, and are expected to continue climbing. In addition to primary (age-related) osteoporosis, disuse osteoporosis is an important clinical problem, especially for patients chronically immobilized due to stroke or spinal cord injury. Fracture rates double compared to healthy controls in the first year following spinal cord injury and are also elevated compared to healthy controls after the onset of stroke. Disuse increases fracture rates primarily because reduced skeletal loading causes unbalanced bone remodeling which leads to bone loss.

Methods of using black bear parathyroid hormone


A telephone protector is contained within a housing having an input connection and an output connection. The protector comprises an externally accessible fuse compartment having fuse contact pairs. A removable fuse holder capable of locating a fuse within the fuse compartment is provided. A fuse holding element is disposed on the removable fuse holder capable of holding fuses with respect to the removable fuse holder and positioning the fuse in engagement with the fuse contact pairs. Strain relief means is provided to reduce strain on the wires entering the housing.

The present invention relates generally to a unique and useful structure for removably inserting electronic components, such as fuses, and the like, into electronic equipment. The invention relates more specifically to a unique telephone protector capable of enclosing electronic equipment useful in telecommunications applications having a uniquely constructed externally accessible removable fuse holder.
Many modern pieces of electric and electronic equipment, such as computers, telephones, and facsimile machines, have very specific power requirements, and are highly sensitive to power surges--that is a transient power pulse having a power level that exceeds the power level normally present in a certain line or connection. Given the high cost of this equipment and its repair, many equipment owners desire a way to protect their equipment from such power surges.
One popular way of protecting such equipment is to put a fuse, or a plurality of fuses, into the feeding power or telecommunications line so that the power surge encounters a fuse before it reaches the expensive equipment. If a power surge encounters a fuse, the fuse will "blow," thereby rupturing its power level sensitive element and breaking the connection between the feeder line and the equipment and protecting the equipment from the harmful surge. However, the fuses are capable of performing their function only once because the power sensitive element is not itself replaceable. After the fuse blows, it must be replaced by a new fuse. Replacement of the fuses causes many people a great deal of difficulty and frustration.
The size of the power sensitive element, and thus the size of the fuse, often depends on the power rating thereof, and is thus related to the strict power requirements of the equipment. If the fuse is intended to blow at a relatively low power level, the fuse will be quite small in size and difficult to handle. This is the case with an ever-increasing number of highly sensitive electronic equipment.
Because the fuses are so small, they are difficult to insert properly into the equipment. Further, the greater the number of these small fuses, the greater the difficulty in and the higher the level of frustration encountered while inserting the fuses properly into the equipment. Thus, it is desirable to construct a new device or structure which can reduce the difficulty inherent in inserting fuses into electronic equipment, and can substantially reduce, if not eliminate, the frustration which often accompanies the task of inserting fuses into such equipment.

Telephone protector including removable fuse holder


Filter devices are useful in hydraulic systems for removing contaminants or foreign particles from the oil in the hydraulic system. One of the problems encountered with such filters is that they are subjected to high pressure drops thereacross when the oil is cold. The subject filter device of one embodiment includes a pump driven by a two-speed electric motor. When the oil temperature is below a predetermined temperature, the pump is driven at a normal speed for increased efficiency and the pressure drop across the filter is within an optimal range. When the temperature of the oil is below a predetermined temperature, the pump is driven at a low speed so that the pressure drop across the filter remains within the optimal range. In another embodiment, an electric motor driving the pump is stopped when the oil temperature is below the predetermined temperature. In a third embodiment, the pump is driven at a substantially constant speed and a laminar flow restriction is positioned upstream of the pump to induce slight cavitation when the oil viscosity is high while permitting normal fluid flow to the gear pump when the oil viscosity is low.

Most hydraulic system have a filter device to filter contaminants and foreign particles from the oil. Some of such filtering devices have a dedicated pump whose sole function is to circulate oil from the tank through the filter and back to the tank. Heretofore, those pumps have been driven at a constant rotational speed so that the flow rate of the oil passing through the filter is fairly constant. One of the problems frequently encountered in cold weather operation is that the oil becomes quite viscous and causes a high pressure drop across the filter element until the oil warms up. The high pressure drop results in the contaminants already trapped in the filter being driven through the filter and carried into the clean oil in the tank.
Thus, it would be desirable to have a filter device for a hydraulic system wherein the pressure drop across the filter is minimized when the oil is cold while providing an optimum flow rate through the filter once the oil reaches a predetermined operating temperature.
The present invention is directed to overcoming one or more of the problems set forth above.


In the first aspect of the invention, a semiconductor device can effectively suppress the adverse short channel effect and the possible occurrence of junction leak current and has a low resistance diffusion layer to realize a short propagation delay time as a plurality of side wall films 4, 5 are formed at least in a part of the area between the gate electrode 3 and an elevated region 8 by laying a plurality of films in an appropriate order.

This application is based upon and claims the benefits of priority from the prior Japanese Patent Application No. 2000-361455, filed on Nov. 28, 2000, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a semiconductor device and a method of manufacturing the same. More particularly, it relates to an MIS type semiconductor device having an elevated source/drain structure and a method of manufacturing the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
Currently, integrated circuits formed by integrally arranging a number of transistors and resistors on a semiconductor substrate are popularly being used in essential parts of computers and communication devices. Due to the trend toward a higher degree of integration of devices, many of the dimensions defined by applicable design rules are becoming smaller and smaller. In the case of MIS type semiconductor devices, the diffusion layer is required to be made shallow in order to suppress the short channel effect that arises as a result of a reduced gate length. However, at the same time, the increase in the resistance of the diffusion layer due to the reduced depth thereof has to be avoided. In an attempt at reducing the depth of the diffusion layer and, at the same time, avoiding the resultant increase of the resistance thereof, there has been proposed a technique of combining a structure where only the silicon in the source/drain region is raised, or a so-called elevated source/drain structure, and the use of silicide, which is a compound of silicon and metal, formed in a self-aligning manner (T. Yoshitomi, et al., 1995 Symposium on VLSI Technology Digest of Technical Papers, p. 11).
Several methods have been proposed for forming such an elevated source/drain structure. They include vapor phase epitaxial growth and solid phase epitaxial growth. However, when an epitaxial growth technique is used, facets are produced near the gate oxide film and the element isolation zone to make it impossible to provide a sufficiently large thickness in the vicinity of those areas for the film formed by epitaxial growth. Particularly, as a result of a small thickness of the epitaxially grown film in an area near the gate, impurities can be implanted deep into the substrate in the subsequent ion implantation step to give rise to the problem of a short channel effect. Additionally, the problem of a junction leak arises in the succeeding silicide step because of the short distance from the pn junction. Then, an additional step for forming a side wall on the elevated source/drain region is required to be conducted before the silicide step in order to suppress the leak due to the silicide to consequently increase the number of manufacturing steps. Furthermore, as elements are miniaturized, both the distance between the gate electrode and the source region and the distance between the gate electrode and the drain region are reduced to give rise to a risk of short-circuiting.
Because of the above-identified problems and other problems, there is a strong demand for a semiconductor device having an elevated source/drain structure that has a shallow and low-resistance diffusion layer and is free from the problems of leak and short-circuiting.
An first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a semiconductor device comprising:
a silicon substrate;
a gate insulating film formed on a surface of the silicon substrate;
a gate electrode formed on the gate insulating film;
a first side wall film formed on a side surface of the gate electrode, and extending to the surface of the silicon substrate;
an elevated region formed by epitaxial growth of silicon on the surface of the silicon substrate;
a second side wall film formed on the first side wall film, being made of different material from the first side wall film and separated from the surface of the silicon substrate by the elevated region; and
a source region and a drain region formed in the silicon substrate and having a same conductive type with the elevated region.
A multilayer type side wall films are formed on the respective side surfaces of the gate electrode of each MIS type element such as a transistor or a resistance by laying a number of layers that are directed toward a surface of the silicon substrate. With this arrangement, the leak current that can be generated by the tunnel phenomenon between the gate and the source or the drain is effectively suppressed.
Of the walls, the wall located close to the gate electrode is referred to as the first side wall film and the one formed remote from the gate electrode is referred to as the second side wall film. Then, a gap is formed between the second side wall film and the top surface of the silicon substrate and the materials used for the first side wall film and their equivalents are eliminated from the gap to arrange an elevated source/drain region there in order to reduce the distance between the region and the channel. As a result, the distance between the diffusion layer of the substrate located below the region and the part of the channel located below the gate edge is reduced to by turn reduce both the reach of impurity diffusion and the depth of the diffusion layer in the diffusion layer forming process and consequently suppress the short channel effect.
Both the short channel effect and the leak can be further reduced by suppressing the generation of facets in the epitaxial growth process and by filling the elevated region in the gap between the second side wall film and the silicon substrate. Generally, crystal facets having a specific facet index are formed in the epitaxial growth process to suppress the epitaxial growth in the direction of the facet. Particularly, in the case of solid phase epitaxial growth, the (110) plane grows at a rate about twice as slow as the (100) plane, whereas the (111) plane shows a growth rate twenty times as low as the (100) plane. While a silicon substrate having a (100) plane is generally used, not only a (100) plane but also a (110) plane and a (111) plane that show a low growth rate are formed in the solid phase epitaxial growth process. Similarly, in the case of vapor phase epitaxial growth, a (311) plane is apt to be formed. When the DHF process is insufficient, the epitaxially grown film produces facets due to the gate insulating film. It is believed that the amorphous silicon (to be referred to as a-Si hereinafter) deposited on the insulting film is bonded, if weakly, to atoms of the insulating film and such facets reflect the difference in the bond energy. As a result of a series of experiments conducted by the inventor of the present invention, it is found that such facets are apt to be produced more in the vicinity of a silicon oxide film than in the vicinity of a silicon nitride film. Therefore, if the gate insulating film is formed from an oxide film, facets are formed due to the oxide film but, on the other hand if an epitaxially grown facet is made to contact the lower end of the side wall film of silicon nitride film, it is possible to realize epitaxial growth on the side wall film without forming facets because of the existence of the silicon nitride film. In the case of solid phase epitaxial growth, while the etched region under the second side wall film is completely filled with amorphous silicon and hence facets are formed in the subsequent solid phase epitaxial growth process, all the amorphous silicon filling the etched region is crystallized if the solid phase epitaxial growth process is conducted thoroughly because the epitaxial growth, if slow, takes place also on the facets.
The elevated region can be made to grow in contact with the surface of the second side wall film and also extend under the second side wall film to provide a sufficient film thickness for the epitaxially grown film near the second side wall film so that the silicide film can be sufficiently isolated from the pn junction to satisfactorily suppress any leak attributable to the silicide film.
The structure forming a space surrounded between the first side wall film and the elevated region isolates the elevated source/drain from the gate electrode by the space with a low dielectric constant to reduce the parasitic capacitance.
In another aspect of the invention, a multilayer film structure, or a structure having a plurality of side wall films, is formed in at least part of the area between the gate electrode and the elevated source/drain region by means of a method as described below.
Namely, in the aspect of the invention, there is provided a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device comprising:
forming a gate insulating film on a silicon substrate;
forming a gate electrode on the gate insulating film;
forming a first insulating film to cover the gate insulating film and the gate electrode;
forming a second insulating film on the first insulating film with a material different from that of the first insulating film;
selectively leaving the second insulating film on a side surface of the gate electrode with the first insulating film interposed therebetween by etching a surface of the second insulating film and using the first insulating film as etching stopper;
exposing the surface of the silicon substrate by removing the first insulating film not covered with the second insulating film;
forming an elevated region on the exposed surface of the silicon substrate by epitaxial growth of silicon; and
changing at least a surface layer of the elevated region into metal silicide film.
The above method may be partly modified so as to make the epitaxially grown film contain a conductive type impurity by causing gas containing the conductive type impurity substance to flow in the epitaxial growth step. Then, the operation of ion implantation and that of partly removing the side wall films can be omitted to simplify the overall process.

MIS semiconductor device having an elevated source/drain structure


A device for lifting and holding a cabinet to be mounted to a wall or ceiling. A base member is mounted on a suitable support, and a hollow, linear, elongate drive shaft extends upwardly from the base member. An elongate lift shaft is received coaxially within the drive shaft, with the lift shaft being driven in a longitudinal movement up and down within the drive shaft. At least two elongate, hollow stabilizer shafts are spaced outwardly from the drive shaft, with a longitudinal axis of each stabilizer shaft being substantially parallel with a longitudinal axis of the drive shaft. An elongate idler shaft is received coaxially within each stabilizer shaft, with each idler shaft being movable longitudinally within its respective stabilizer shaft so that the upper end of the idler shaft can move up and down relative to the upper end of the respective stabilizer shaft. A planar lift plate is attached to the upper end of the lift shaft and the upper ends of each of the idler shafts so that the lift plate moves up and down as the upper ends of the lift shaft and the idler shafts move up and down. The lift plate is constrained to remain substantially perpendicular to the drive shaft by the idler shafts as the lift plate moves up and down.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to devices used in lifting and holding a bulky item, such as a cabinet or a ceiling frame, in proper position during installation of the item. In particular, the invention relates to a lifting device that can be used by an installer to lift, position and install and item such as a heavy, bulky, kitchen cabinet without requiring the help of a second person.
2. State of the Art
Normally, when installing an item such as a cabinet or ceiling frame, it is necessary for a helper to lift the cabinet in place against a wall or ceiling while the item is secured to the wall or ceiling by the installer. The use of a helper increases the labor cost of such installation. It would be highly desirable to provide apparatus that can be safely operated by one person to lift and hold a cabinet in place while that person secures the cabinet to the wall or ceiling.
The use of apparatus to lift heavy items is, of course, known in the prior art. U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,725,329; 3,365,080; and 4,027,802 disclose apparatus for lifting ceiling frames. While these devices disclose hoists for lifting ceiling frames, they do not disclose or suggest devices which are suitable for installing cabinets. U.S. Pat. No. 1,725,329 discloses a device for raising a platform, but there is no suggestion that the platform could be used for lifting and holding cabinets or ceiling frames in place while the cabinets or ceiling frames are being installed to the wall or ceiling.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,715,760; 4,955,592; and 5,322,403 disclosed apparatus that can be used in lifting cabinets and the like during installation to a wall or ceiling. Each of the devices of these patents utilizes a single support shaft extending upwardly from a base member to support the cabinet. The cabinet must be precariously balanced on the upper end of the single support shaft. The device of U.S. Pat. No. 4,715,760 has a small platform at the top of the support shaft upon which the cabinet is placed; however, the small platform provides only minimal stabilization for the cabinet as it is being lifted. The cabinet must be carefully balanced and steadied during the lifting operation. U.S. Pat. No. 4,955,592 utilizes a larger platform at the upper end of the lift shaft, but the cabinet must still be carefully balanced and steadied during the lifting operation to prevent unsafe tilting of the cabinet.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,322,403 utilizes a tripod that supports the lift shaft intermediate its top and bottom ends. The lift shaft has a massive counterweight that extends to the floor, and the portion of the lift shaft that extends below the top of the tripod is connected rigidly with the bottom of the legs of the tripod. This arrangement stabilizes the lift shaft against unsafe tilting, but the apparatus itself becomes bulky and hard to use.


The invention provides isolated Rgp nucleic acids and their encoded proteins. The present invention provides methods and compositions relating to altering RGP levels in plants. The invention further provides recombinant expression cassettes, host cells, transgenic plants, and antibody compositions.

The disclosure of U.S. Ser. No. 60/090,416 is hereby incorporated by reference.
Mature plant cell walls generally contain about 30-40% hemicellulose. Hemicellulose in monocot walls consists mainly of arabinoxylan (also referred to as glucurono-arabinoxylan or pentosans), a branched polymer consisting of .beta.-gylosyl backbone decorated with arabinosyl and glucuronosyl residues. This polymer is often referred to as arabinoxylan because of the relatively low proportion of glucuronosyl residues. Carpita, N. C., "Structure and Biogenesis of the Cell Walls of Grasses" Annual Review of Plant Physiol. and Plant Molecular Biology 476:445-476 (1996).
Dicot cell walls, in contrast, contain xyloglucan as the main hemicellulosic polymer. Xyloglucan is also a branched polymer consisting of a linear .beta.-glycosyl backbone which is decorated with xylosyl residues, some of which residues are substituted with galactosyl residues.
Cell walls of corn grain constitute about 6-8% of the total dry weight for both coarse and fine fiber. Whistler, R. L. et al, Hemicelluloses In Industrial Gums: Polysaccharides and Their Derivatives, San Diego: Academic Press, pp. 295-308 (1993). The grain cell wall contains 45-65% arabinoxylan, the remainder being mainly cellulose. Under certain circumstances it would be advantageous to reduce the concentration of arabinoxylan in the grain cell wall.
Arabinoxylans are considered to be anti-nutritional components of animal feed. This is because they can absorb large amounts of water, leading to increased viscosity and possible sequestering of other digestible feed components, such as starch and proteins, away from digestive enzymes. Arabinoxylans are also known to lower the food conversion ratio (FCR). In studies where fungal xylanase is included in cereal-derived feed, improved FCR and weight gain in broilers and pigs (Veldman and Vahl, H. A., "Xylanase in broiler diets with differences in characteristics and content of wheat" British Poultry Science 35:537-550 (1994). The improvement observed for FCR and weight gain is higher than can be expected from arabinoxylan breakdown and digestion alone. Thus, arabinoxylan appears to reduce the digestion of other feed components. Therefore, it would be desirable to reduce the concentration of arabinoxylan in grain.
Cellulose microfibrils have the highest tensile strength of any of the other cell wall polymers. Increasing the cellulose/arabinoxylan ratio in the cell wall should lead to a harder pericarp and improved handling ability of the grain.
About 12% of the corn processed through wet-milling is fiber. Of this 12%, approximately 4% is coarse fiber (mainly pericarp-derived) and the rest is fine fiber. Whereas the coarse fiber consists of approximately 9% starch, fine fiber can have up to 30% starch which constitutes 2.5% of the total dry mass. The other major fraction of fine fiber is arabinoxylan which makes up to 21% of this fraction. It is likely that some of the starch becomes intricately associated with arabinoxylan, thereby making it difficult to extract during wet-milling. Thus, the need arises for a method to reduce the concentration of arabinoxylan in grain to improve starch extractibility.
Under other circumstances, it is desirable to increase the concentration of arabinoxylan in grain. Dietary fiber in grains from a number of plant species grown for human consumption has been shown to reduce cholesterol and low density lipoprotein levels in the plasma. Corn soluble fiber (arabinoxylan) has been shown to be superior to that of wheat in rats in lowering cholesterol levels. In the case of crops such as corn, grown for human consumption, it would therefore be desirable to increase the arabinoxylan content.
There are markets for isolated arabinoxylan preparations for various industrial use, i.e., as thickeners, emulsifiers or stabilizers in food, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals. Whistler, supra. Increasing the concentration of arabinoxylan in corn grain targeted for wet-milling would make the process of arabinoxylan isolation more economical.
Finally, the modulation of hemicellulose content can be utilized to control plant growth. For example, plant growth is determined by concerted synthesis of cell wall polymers. It is expected that increased synthesis of one of the cell wall polymers, such as hemicellulose, will cause an increase in the synthesis of the rest of the polymers as well. It is expected that increased production of arabinoxylan or xyloglucan in vegetative tissue will accelerate plant growth. In contrast, it is expected that decreased production of arabinoxylan or xyloglucan will inhibit the synthesis of other cell wall polymers. In this regard, reduced production of arabinoxylan will slow plant growth. Additionally, tissue-specific control of hemicellulose productivity is used to modify plant organ growth and development. Early flowering, larger fruit size, or stronger stalk or stem quality is achieved by operably linking a tissue specific promoter to an Rgp gene the expression of which increases hemicellulose biosynthesis.
In view of the foregoing, it would be desirable to modulate the arabinoxylan and xyloglucan concentration in crop plants.

Alteration of hemicellulose concentration in plants


The artificial cattail of the present invention includes a stem made from a wooden dowel, and a blossom made from a tubular polyethylene form cord coated with flocking. Synthetic or real leaves are attached to the stem. The artificial cattails can be any color. In making the artificial cattails, the stem is inserted through the tubular cord, which is then coated with adhesive and sprayed with the flocking material.

Cattails are popular for use in flower arrangements, taxidermy exhibits, and other decorative or ornamental displays. However, the blossoms of real cattails decay or deteriorate over time. Also, it is difficult to dust real cattail blossoms. Therefore, the use of real cattails is limited.
There have been attempts to make artificial cattails which simulate real cattails, but the artificial products have not been good replicas of authentic cattails. For example, one artificial cattail known to the applicant is made from a pipe-cleaner type material. In this pipe-cleaner artificial cattail, the blossom is formed with soft fleece-like material wrapped on a wire, and the wire is wrapped at the opposite ends of the fleece material to simulate the cattail stem. This artificial cattail does not have a realistic appearance, and is easily deformed into unusual and odd shapes. Therefore, such a pipe-cleaner type artificial cattail is not desirable for people wanting an artificial, yet realistic, product.
Therefore, a primary objective of the present invention is the provision of an artificial cattail which is realistic and natural in appearance.
Another objective of the present invention is the provision of a method for making a realistic appearing artificial cattail.
A further objective of the present invention is the provision of an artificial cattail which is easy and economical to manufacture, and durable in use.
Still another objective of the present invention is the provision of an artificial cattail which can be manufactured in miscellaneous colors.
These and other objectives will become apparent from the following description of the invention.

Artificial cattails and method for making artificial cattails


A new and improved gate valve suitable for use with high pressure, high temperature fluids such as those developed in coal gasification processes and the like which comprises a valve gate assembly including opposed outwardly facing valve discs is bodily movable from a valve open position to a valve seat confronting position in which the valve discs are aligned with but spaced from opposed valve seats in the flow passage. Upon further downward movement of the valve stem the valve discs are moved laterally outwardly into engagement with the valve seats. In order to accommodate situations where the opposed valve seats are spaced relatively close together, the valve discs are mounted on annular spring washers which normally bias said valve discs away from said valve seats. A pair of toggle elements are actuated by downward movement of the valve stem to force the valve discs laterally outwardly into engagement with the valve seats after the assembly has been moved to the valve seat confronting position.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to gate valves and more particularly relates to gate valves of the type designed for operation with high temperature, high pressure fluids such as those generated in coal gasification processes and the like. Specifically, the present invention is an improvement of the type of gate valve disclosed in a copending application of Henry A. Waller, Ser. No. 082,969, filed concurrently herewith and assigned to the same assignee as the present invention.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Over the years, a wide variety of gate valves and slide valves of various types have been developed. U.S. Pat. No. 380,037 discloses a valve for steam engines wherein valve members are supported on curved bows and are pressurized to expand against the opposing valve seats. U.S. Pat. No. 1,783,329 discloses a gate valve wherein opposite valve members are biased outwardly against the seats by a pair of coil springs. U.S. Pat. No. 2,541,968 discloses a gate valve wherein sloped wedging surfaces are provided for moving a pair of valve members outwardly against facing annular valve seats. U.S. Pat. No. 2,778,600 discloses a gate valve wherein leaf springs are provided for biasing a pair of valve gates to slide in a longitudinal direction with respect to each other and wedging forces are provided to cause the valve gate to move laterally apart for seating. U.S. Pat. No. 2,826,391 discloses a wedge valve wherein valve elements are wedged outwardly apart against valve seats. Another wedge valve is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,861,770. U.S. Pat. No. 3,478,771 discloses a sectional body gate valve with a valve seat scraper device having springs biasing the valve members apart from one another. U.S. Pat. No. 3,815,868 discloses a double disc gate valve wherein rotatable valve discs are used and are wedged apart for seating. Said copending Waller application discloses a double disc gate valve wherein the valve discs are supported by a pair of flexure elements which normally bias the valve discs away from the confronting valve seats when the valve gate assembly is in a valve seat confronting position. The discs are interconnected by an upwardly bowed flexure element which is retained between upper and lower holding members connected to the transversely extending valve stem of the gate valve. A downward force is exerted on said bowed flexure element to flatten it and force the valve discs outwardly into engagement with the opposed valve seats.


A container system for beer formed of a bottle body, a cap and sealing gasket formed of a blend of butyl rubber and one or more thermoplastic polymers. Preferably, the butyl rubber is present in an amount of from about 20 to about 60% by weight of the composition and the one or more thermoplastic polymers are present in an amount from about 40% to about 80% by weight of the composition. The system provides good sealing properties and prevents oxygen, and chlorinated substances such as chlorinated phenols or anisoles, that may be present in the packaging, from entering the bottle.

This invention relates to the sealing of beer bottles, and to the compositions for use in this.
A beer bottle is filled with beer and is formed of a bottle body, a cap and a sealing gasket. The body has a neck opening, the cap fits over this opening so as to close it, and the sealing gasket is trapped between the neck opening and the cap.
The gasket must provide a good seal between the body and the cap so as to prevent inward migration of contamination or unwanted outward escape of carbon dioxide. Preventing inward migration is particularly important because beer is very susceptible to the development of off-tastes and these can be caused by a variety of contaminants. For instance the inward migration of oxygen will spoil the flavour as will the inward migration of chlorinated phenols and chlorinated anisoles. Chlorinated phenols are often applied initially as fungicides to wood or other containers in which the beer bottles may be stored, and chlorinated anisoles are often generated as microbial metabolites of the chlorinated phenols.
Unwanted outward migration of carbon dioxide is undesirable since the beer would then acquire a flat taste and texture, and so the seal must withstand moderate pressures, for instance up to about 5 and often about 7 bar without venting. It might be thought that it would be desirable for there to be no sensible upper limit on the pressure that the gasket can withstand without venting. In practice however it is desirable for the gasket to vent at a pressure below a pressure at which the bottle will burst. This is because if a beverage bottle is left in an exposed place, for instance hot sunshine, high pressures can be generated spontaneously. It is desirable that the gasket should vent in preference to the bottle shattering. In practice this means that the gasket should vent before the pressure exceeds around 12 or 13 bar.
The ideal gasket for beer bottles therefore would prevent ingress of oxygen and off flavours and would give a good seal at a moderate internal pressure, typically up to about 5 bar, but would vent at a higher pressure that is below the burst pressure of the bottle, and that is typically in the range 5 to 12 or 13 bar.
The steps of lining the gasket into the cap and of subsquently filling and closing the beer bottles are all conducted at very high speed and so it is necessary that the gasket material should be capable of being used in these high speed processes and that it should give uniform results. For instance it is not satisfactory to use a composition that gives a venting pressure of, for instance, 12 bar in some bottles if it is liable to give venting pressures as low as 9 bar or as high as 15 bar in other bottles since a significant number of the bottles would still be liable to burst and this is unacceptable.
A wide variety of processes and compositions have been proposed for forming the gasket in various container closures, for instance bottle caps. These include plastisols, solutions in organic solvents, aqueous dispersions (including aqueous latices) and mouldable thermoplastic compositions. An early disclosure of the use of thermoplastic compositions for forming container closures is in GB 1,112,023 and 1,112,025. Beer bottles are not mentioned. GB 1,112,023 and 1,112,025 describe a wide variety of ways of introducing the compositions into the cap and a wide variety of thermoplastic compositions that can be used.
Methods that are described in these two patents include inserting and bonding a preformed uniform disc into the cap, inserting and bonding a preformed contoured disc into the cap, flowing a composition into the cap while rotating it and optionally moulding it, flowing a composition into the cap and moulding it while the composition is still hot, inserting a disc of composition carried on a metal plate, transferring composition by a moulding dye and moulding it into the cap, compression moulding the composition into the cap, and so on. In all the examples, the composition was formed into a sheet, discs were cut from it and the discs were then inserted into the caps and cold moulded into the caps. In many of the examples the inserted disc had a diameter substantially the same as the diameter of the cap.
Thermoplastic compositions that were described include blends of ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) and micro crystalline wax, EVA and low density polyethylene (LDPE) having a melt flow index (MFI) of 7, similar blends containing also butyl rubber having Mooney viscosity of 70, a blend of equal amounts of LDPE having MFI 7 with butyl rubber having Mooney 70, blends of different types of EVA, a blend of LDPE with polyisobutylene, a blend of EVA with ethylene propylene copolymer, an ethylene acrylic acid ester copolymer, a blend of this with LDPE, a blend of LDPE with ethylene propylene copolymer, and a blend of LDPE with chloro sulphonated polyethylene.
Various disclosures of forming gaskets from thermoplastic compositions have appeared from time to time since then and these have listed a wide variety of polymers that can be used. Generally, most of the polymers named above have been listed. An example is EP 331,485 in which molten material is positioned in the cap while still molten (or semi molten) and is moulded into the cap.
In practice, the thermoplastic compositions that have been proposed and used most widely as gaskets for containers are compositions of polyethylenes, ethylene vinyl acetate polymers, and blends thereof. None of the others have attracted any great commercial interest, presumably because of perceived difficulties in making or using the compositions or in their performance.
As indicated, the gasket properties required for beer bottles are quite rigorous. Very good results can be obtained with, for instance, a cap that is a crown closure having a gasket formed of cork lined with aluminium. However this is uneconomic for beer bottle closures and a synthetic polymeric gasket is required.
Of the very wide range of polymeric gasket materials that have been available in recent years, the type that has been used most widely for beer bottles is based on polyvinyl chloride plasticol. However it is well recognised that bottled beer has a relatively short shelf life and can acquire off-tastes on prolonged storage and so a polymeric gasket that permitted a longer shelf life would be highly desirable. Also, the use of polyvinyl chloride in contact with potable or edible materials has in recent years been considered to be undesirable for other reasons and so again it would be desirable to provide beer bottles with an improved type of gasket material.

Containers and compositions for sealing them


A remote control for a monitoring system of a building is provided including a mobile device having a plurality of communication channels and a media storage area. An application is stored in the media storage area of the mobile device. The application is configured to communicate with a control panel of the monitoring system. The application dynamically selects a communication channel to establish a communication link with the control panel based on a predetermined hierarchy. The application operates in one of a plurality of modes based on the communication channel selected.

Embodiments of the invention relate to an automation system and, more particularly, to a method for using a mobile device as a means of remotely controlling such an automation system.
Building automation systems (BAS), such as those used to provide security and monitoring to residential properties for example, have become increasingly popular. Building automation systems are systems in which a computerized (intelligent) network of electronic devices monitor and control a multitude of individual systems or devices in a building, such as a home for example. By using intelligent automated systems in a building, energy and maintenance costs of the building may be reduced and the building can be made more secure.
Multiple individual systems are controlled in a BAS. Exemplary systems include, for example: a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system, an energy management system (EMS) such as a lighting control system a security and access control system (SAC), and a fire, life, safety system (FLS). In a conventional BAS, each system is controlled commonly, such as through a control panel configured to communicate with each system via one or more wireless networks.
Remote control devices configured to communicate with a control panel of a BAS may be expensive and generally only work within a certain distance of the control panel. Mobile devices having a specific application downloaded thereon, such as a smartphone or personal digital assistant (PDA) for example, may be used to communicate with a third party server in communication with the RAS to monitor at least one of the systems of the BAS, such as a security system for example. Because the mobile device is only able to communicate with the third party server and not the control panel of the BAS directly, the functionality of the mobile device with respect to management of the BAS is limited.

Mobile user interface for security panel

UTC FIRE & SECURITY AMERICAS CORPORATION, INC.


This rotary press-in steel pipe pile includes: a steel pipe; a first blade which is formed in a substantially helical shape on the steel pipe so as to be positioned close to the distal end the steel pipe and in which a first sectorial gap having a central angle is formed in a circumferential direction thereof; and a second blade which is formed in a substantially helical shape on the steel pipe so as to be positioned close to the rear end of the steel pipe with respect to the first blade and in which a second sectorial gap having a central angle is formed in a circumferential direction thereof. The first sectorial gap of the first blade and the second sectorial gap of the second blade are disposed at positions that do not overlap in a circumferential direction, and the central angle of the second sectorial gap is set to be smaller than the central angle of the first sectorial gap.

In the related art, with respect to a method of driving a rotary press-in steel pipe pile having a helical blade provided at a distal end of a steel pipe into the ground by applying a rotating force to the rotary press-in steel pipe pile, many methods have been proposed. For example, a steel pipe pile described in Patent Document 1 is provided with an drilling edge provided at a lower end of a steel pipe, a lower helical blade provided on the outer periphery of a lower portion of the steel pipe and having an outer diameter of twice the diameter of the pile, and an upper helical blade provided on the proximal end side of the steel pipe. Ground is drilled by the drilling edge, and a soil removal plate for removing drilled soil entered the bottom surface side of each helical blade to the outside of each helical blade is provided.
Further, a rotary press-in steel pipe pile described in Patent Document 2 has a steel pipe having a distal end portion formed in a helical shape, a lower helical blade made by helically forming a substantially circular steel plate larger than the diameter of the steel pipe along the distal end shape of the steel pipe, and an upper helical blade provided on the proximal end side of the steel pipe and made by helically forming a doughnut-shaped steel plate.
Further, in a rotary press-in steel pipe pile described in Patent Document 3, a distal end of a steel pipe is formed in a helical shape, a single blade protrudes to the inside and the outside of a distal end portion of the steel pipe, and the angle between a portion protruding to the outside and a steel pipe main body is made to be an approximately right angle. Further, a sectorial gap is formed in this blade, and thus the movement of soil while rotationally driving the steel pipe pile can be carried out smoothly.

NIPPON STEEL & SUMIKIN METAL PRODUCTS CO., LTD.


Disclosed is a method for protecting a heat dissipation fan of a projecting device, including: when a heat dissipation fan is in a working state, obtaining fall-related information when a projecting device is falling; determining fall-related information of the heat dissipation fan according to the fall-related information of the projecting device; terminating the operation of the heat dissipation fan when the fall state information of the heat dissipation fan is in a falling state; resuming the operation of the heat dissipation fan when the fall state information of the heat dissipation fan is that the fall ends. Further disclosed is an apparatus for protecting a heat dissipation fan of a projecting device, corresponding to the method.

With the development of projecting technology, projecting device is evolving in the direction of portability and practicability, and more and more portable projecting devices have appeared in the market. Micro projecting device is constantly upgrading its projection resolution and brightness at the same time of reducing its volume, making its performances gradually closing to that of the traditional projecting device in terms of resolution, brightness, projection area and projection distance.
The resolution and brightness of the portable projecting device increases, at the same time, power consumption increases. In this respect, a heat dissipation fan with larger diameter and more power is needed theoretically to effectively dissipate heat of the projecting device. If a heat dissipation fan with larger diameter and more power is used, its anti-falling capability is significantly reduced at work due to the increase in diameter and speed, likely to damage the heat dissipation fan.
Since the problem of the anti-falling capability of the heat dissipation fan cannot be effectively solved, currently the portable projecting device mainly uses a low-power heat dissipation fan within the projecting device plus an auxiliary heat dissipation device for heat dissipation, which increases the volume of the projecting device and is not conducive to portability and usage.

Method and apparatus for protecting heat dissipation fan of projecting device