Disclosed is an in vitro or ex vivo method for preserving and/or keeping alive mammalian, preferably human skin biopsies, enabling to transport it and, if applicable, to culture it. Also disclosed is a skin biopsy thus preserved and obtained by such a method and relates to its use as a model especially in a kit for screening or selecting cosmetic or therapeutic compounds.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an in vitro or ex vivo method for preserving and/or keeping alive mammalian, preferably human skin biopsies, enabling to transport it and, if applicable, to culture it. The present invention also comprises a skin biopsy thus preserved and obtained by such a method and relates to its use as a model especially in a kit for screening or selecting cosmetic or therapeutic compounds.
Description of the Related Art
Skin is composed of the superimposition of epidermis and dermis. The epidermis is a stratified multi-layered and squamous epithelium. It forms a barrier which can withstand the damage of desiccation, as well as mechanical, chemical and microbial aggressions. The main cell type forming the epidermis is the keratinocyte. This tissues also comprises other cell populations such as the melanocytes, the Langerhans cells and the Merkel cells (see appendix). The epidermis is conventionally sub-divided into four distinct strata comprising internal layers towards the most superficial layers: the basal layer (a layer), the spinous layer (4-15 layers), the granular layer (1-3 layers) and the thorny layer (5-10 layers). The epidermis rests on the dermis thanks to a basal membrane formed among other things of collagen molecules. The dermis contains very dense vascular and nervous networks as well as the epidermal appendices, keratinised structures extending the epidermis and including the pilous follicles, the sebaceous glands and the sweat glands. The skin rests on a sub-cutaneous tissue, called hypodermis, mainly composed of fat cells playing a part, among other things in the elasticity of the skin and the thermoregulation of the system.
In vitro or ex vivo skin culture systems have long been developed for the academic or applied research (Lebonvallet et al. The evolution and use of skin explants: potential and limitations for dermatological research." Eur J Dermatol 2010; 20 (6): 671-84). First of all, the ban of animal use for the development of cosmetic products in Europe (Pauwel M and Rogiers V. Human health safety evaluation of cosmetics in the EU: a legally imposed challenge to science. Toxicol Appl Pharmacol. 2010 Mar. 1; 243(2): 260-74), as well as the growing importance of the 3R-rule (Reducing, Replacing, Diminishing) relating to animal experimentation during pharmaceutical development (Wells D J. Animal welfare and the 3Rs in European biomedical research. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2011 December; 1245:14-6), confer to in vitro or ex vivo skin culture systems, in particular those enabling human skin culture, a strategic importance for cosmetic, chemical and pharmaceutical industries. In vitro or ex vivo skin culture systems are ideal models for the study of cutaneous biology. Indeed, they possess all the cell types of the skin, organised into a 3D structure. They reflect directly the parameters of the individuals, such as the age, the sex, the pathological state of the skin or sun exposure (Lebonvallet et al., 2010).
If the in vitro or ex vivo culture systems or devices are ideal models for research, the existing systems or devices are ill-suited for transporting them or for keeping them alive.
Several, more or less perfected culture systems or devices exist (Lebonvallet et al., 2010), however these systems or devices are generally fragile and cannot be shipped by road or plane while maintaining their integrity. Indeed, in these systems or devices, the skin biopsy is not held firmly by a physical support. It can be left to float in a cultivation medium solution or laid on an insert with a porous membrane or a stainless steel grid. The advantage of the last two methods is that the superficial part of the epidermis, the thorny layer, is kept directly in contact with the atmospheric air. This enables to study the topical application of substance at the surface of the skin.
We may also mention here the patent documents published under the numbers EP 2 019 316, US2011/045477, or WO2004/092354 which describe in vitro or ex vivo skin culture systems, but which do not contain any support or device for maintaining or transporting skin biopsies.
More recently, a stainless steel chamber system has been developed for holding firmly large skin biopsies and enable the in vitro or ex vivo culture up to four weeks (Lars Steinstraesser et al. A Human Full-Skin Culture System for Interventional Studies." Eplasty. 2009; 9: e5.). It may well be interesting enough, but this system is hardly suited for cell due to its dimensions and its composition (stainless steel). Moreover, this system is based on significant tensioning of the skin which does not reflect the physiological conditions encountered for this in vivo organ. EP 0 702 081 may also be quoted which describes a skin model comprising two types of collagen sponges of different density, Inoculated with fibroblasts and keratinocytes. This model can be placed in the centre of a well and surrounded with clotable gelatin. The publication of Jacobs et al. (Methyl green-pyronine staining of porcins organotypic skin explant cultures: an alternative model for screening for skin irritants, ATLA, 28,279-92, 2000) describes the use of pig skin biopsies placed in a culture medium, treated with an irritant, then included in a solid matrix, before being frozen and coloured. US 2003/040113 describes a multi-layered support for cell culture, in which the cell support is seeded with living cells suspended in a gel. WO 2004/022696 describes a fibrin support, comprising fibrinogen and thrombin, used for cell culture, especially keratinocytes. Finally, WO 2012/059703, filed before the present application and published on 10 May 2012, i.e. after filing the present application, describes a method for preserving and/or keeping alive the epidermis.
These documents do not divulge nor suggest a method for keeping alive and transporting a skin fragment or biopsy laid in a liquid matrix which is capable of solidifying, and hence held firmly by the matrix but also nourished, whereas the assembly is contained in an insert whose bottom is formed of a porous membrane.
As regards skin biopsies, the study of certain culture media used for keeping alive in vitro or ex vivo these skin biopsies have emphasised the deleterious effect of the presence of serum on the structure of the skin, whereas the presence of calcium at a concentration of 1.4 mM is important for the cohesion of the tissue via the stimulation of the production of extracellular matrix and of the epidermal differentiation (Lebonvallet et al., 2010).
For many years, we have sought to develop new methods so as to be able to preserve and/or keep alive mammalian, preferably human or pig, skin biopsies. All the more so since these methods enable transport and culture of these biopsies.
The development of such models is indeed quite important for dermatological research and for the studies necessary to the preparation of pharmaceutical and/or cosmetic products.
Thus, it would be desirable to have such a system, device and/or method available to obtain such skin biopsies, which are sufficiently heavy-duty to transport said biopsies (by air and/or by land).
Obtaining such a model would enable to preserve the 3D-organisation and the skin functions from a biopsy, and this advantageously with respect to the cultures of reconstructed skin, which normally take a long time to be developed and require complex techniques (whereas biopsies are easier to obtain and with a larger potential in terms of dermatological research, in particular for the studies on the extracellular matrix, 3D-structure or the interactions between the different types of cutaneous cells).
Such models would advantageously enable the realisation of studies necessary to better understanding of the role of the skin, especially of its epidermis and of the dermis, in the mechanical field as well as in the physiological field. Such biopsies, held firmly thanks to such as heavy-duty system, device and/or method, would also enable to sample cell layers from the thorny layer of the epidermis by successive superficial separations by tape stripping. Such biopsies, thus preserved and transportable, can also be used as ideal models, compared to the models of reconstructed skin and their shortcomings (see Lebonvallet et al., 2010) for predicting by in vitro or ex vivo tests, of the activity of cosmetic and/or pharmaceutical active principles or still of the secondary effects of topical compounds.

System for keeping alive and transporting skin biopsies and applications of said system


A system generates an output of documents having with a particular relevance range. The system receives an initial document comprising text, a list of documents for matching, each document comprising text, and a minimum substring match length. The system normalizes the text of the documents of the list of documents. The system searches common sub-strings between the text of the initial document and the text of each document of the list of documents. The system calculates a match percentage based on the search common sub-strings and outputs documents having a match percentage corresponding to a predetermined value. Also disclosed is a process for generating an output of documents within a particular relevance range.

1. Field of Art
The present invention generally relates to the field of search engine technologies, and more specifically, to the field of enterprise search engines for querying relevant documents from a document repository.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, an enterprise search engine is a software system to search relevant documents with given query statements. The enterprise search engine typically consists of a crawler, an indexer, a searcher and a query engine. The crawler gathers documents from pre-assigned locations and dumps them into document repositories. The indexer fetches documents from the document repositories, creates indices from the documents, and stores the indices into an index database. The searcher searches the index database and returns a list of relevant documents (referenced as "hits") in response to a specific query. The query engine parses a query expression provided by a user and sends query commands to searcher for processing.
Conventional search engine technologies are insufficient to search relevant documents for many query problems. For example, consider a problem in which the relevance of two documents is assumed to be measured at some predetermined percentage value, for example, X %. Given an input document and the percentage value X %, a search of relevant documents from the document repositories is conducted so that the relevance between this input document and any of the returning documents must be greater than X %.
The direct application of the conventional search engine to the above query problem results in several disadvantages. For example, there is a lack of an accurate and efficient measurement of the document relevance. In addition, conventional systems return a large list of documents, most of which may not be relevant to all. Thus, the precision rate of retrieval is low. Returning a large list of documents is a common problem of all conventional search engine technologies because the query presented by key terms is unable to precisely depict the documents that users are trying to retrieve.
While returning a large number of irrelevant documents, another problem with conventional search engines is they are language dependent. For each written language, a conventional search engine has to implement different language parsers and analyzers. This results in a large use of resources and generally is not efficient.
Yet another problem with conventional search engines is that they measure relevance of documents through models that are often inaccurate or are highly computing intensive. Examples of these inaccurate and resource intensive models include a term vector-space model, a probabilistic model, a latent semantic space mode, and the like.
Hence, there is a need for a system and a method to modify and improve the conventional search engine architecture to efficiently execute the queries to return documents having a high degree of relevance.

Matching engine for querying relevant documents


A tire valve element assembly comprises a pressure sensing and transponder arrangement. The arrangement is mounted on a short valve element so as to extend axially from the short valve element and is sized to slidably fit within and be removable from a valve stem of a tire. The tire valve element assembly is adapted to be connected via an electrically conducting receptacle within the stem, so as to be a direct substitution for an existing in situ valve element in the tire valve stem. The arrangement is in fluid contact with the interior of the tire to sense the pressure within the tire when the short valve element is in situ. The arrangement, when in situ, is electrically connected to a conductive portion of the valve element via the receptacle to facilitate an antenna system for radio frequency communication with the arrangement.

A number of systems are known for providing tire pressure information to a driver of a vehicle. Typically, these are binary systems which only provide the driver with information as to whether the tire pressure is above or below a predetermined pressure.
One known system utilises a magnetic coupling across the tire wall between a pressure sensor within the tire and a data processing device outside the tire. This arrangement is awkward to install and can be unreliable.
Typically, such systems transmit the tire pressure information to the driver's cabin via connecting wires. This arrangement is disadvantageous since it is necessary to provide a means for maintaining electrical contact between the wiring outside of the tire, and the pressure sensing device mounted within the tire. Further, the installation of such systems can be expensive and time consuming.
While it would be desirable to use wireless transmitting means, to date there has not been a satisfactory system which is able to be powered effectively and to withstand the relatively harsh environment in and around a vehicle tire, and thus provide reliable and effective transmission of the data to the driver's cabin.

In situ tire valve assembly employing short valve element as antenna


Provided herein are consumer products contained in conventional containers. A consumer product packaged according to the present invention is one which exhibits birefringence, and the packaging used according to the present invention is arranged so that the consumer product is caused to exist between two layers of polarizing film and is thus capable of exhibiting the phenomenon of birefringence to consumers under ambient lighting conditions.

Liquid consumer products including those such as soaps, cosmetics, shampoos, shower gels, cleansers, hand cremes, etc. have been known for quite some time. Most typically, such products contain one or more surfactants (anionic, non-ionic, and/or cationic) which exist in an isotropic phase, which phase by definition is recognized by those skilled in the art as being micellar in nature.
Under particular conditions, certain surfactants may exist in a lamellar, or liquid crystalline phase. One of the characteristics of a surfactant that exists in a lamellar phase is that it displays the phenomenon of birefringence when viewed under a polarized light source, which inherent feature is not exhibited by micellar-phase materials. Birefringence gives rise to a variety of colors in such lamellar liquids when viewed through a polarizing film.

Display methods for liquids having optical effects


Polymer films comprising plasticizer compounds represented by Structure 1 as described in the specification are useful as protective films in polarizing plates for display applications. Methods of manufacturing such polymer films and polarizing plates are also disclosed.

The proliferation of flat panel displays into increasing numbers of applications places higher demands on the performance of all display components. Flat panel displays based on liquid crystal switching modes and electroluminescent technology both depend on the use of polarizing plates to improve the image quality. With the increasing penetration of flat panel displays into mobile and outdoor application comes the demand for improved environmental stability of all components.
One component of displays that have long been known to have severe restrictions on environmental durability, in particular with respect to exposure to elevated temperature and humidity, are polarizing plates. Polarizing plates are multi-layer structures comprising an oriented polarizing film. Polarizing films require a protective covering to maintain stability of the polarizing film. Conventionally, protective polymer films 1 have been laminated to both faces of a polarizing film 2 as shown in FIG. 1. The most commercially successful class of polarizing films comprises oriented polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) that has been dyed to provide polarizing activity in the visible light spectrum. The protective films are required to be optically transparent, dimensionally stable, mechanically tough, and chemically compatible with polarizing films. The most commercially successful of these protective films has been cellulose triacetate (commonly known in the polarizer industry as triacetyl cellulose or TAC), although other polymers may be used.
For the purposes of this invention the following terms are defined:
A "polarizing film" is defined herein as a self-bearing oriented polymer film with associated addenda that performs the function of polarizing light. For example, oriented PVA film that has been dyed by complexation with dichroic organic compounds or iodine and cross-linked with borate, including ancillary addenda, is an effective polarizer film. Henceforth herein it is understood that the term "dye" includes dichroic organic compounds and iodine, except as otherwise specified.
A "protective film" is defined herein as a self-bearing polymer film with associated addenda, such as plasticizers, UV absorbers, stabilizers, etc., that is laminated, adhered to, coated, or otherwise applied onto the polarizing film to provide protection for the polarizing film. Protective functions can include providing stability in terms of mechanical, optical, chemical, or other properties and resistance to environmental degradation. The durability of polarizing plates is conventionally measured based on retention of their polarization efficiency and light-transmission performance when exposed to elevated temperature and/or humidity environments for extended time periods.
A "protective film" can comprise part of a composite film including, for example, a carrier layer. A "polarizing plate" is defined herein as the multilayer polymer film structure consisting of at least one polarizing film and at least one protective film. The invention is particularly advantageous when the protective film is the first self-bearing film contiguous to the polarizing film in a polarizing plate.
Previous approaches have been described which attempt to improve the environmental durability of polarizing plates. For the most part these efforts have focused on controlling the moisture content and moisture permeability of the protective films in the polarizing plate (See, for example, US 20020192397A1, US 20020162483A1, and US 20030037703A1). These approaches have attempted to control the moisture permeation properties through the use of high levels of organic compounds known to plasticize the protective film. For the purposes of this invention a plasticizing compound or "plasticizer" is defined as a compound that is chemically compatible with the polymer and reduces brittleness or imparts improved flexibility and elongation to the film.
In support of the present invention, intensive study was undertaken to determine the key factors compromising the durability of polarizer plates under environmental stress, i.e., elevated temperature and/or humidity. This study has shown that acceptable moisture permeation of the protective film, as defined for example in US patent application 20020192397A1, allows polarizer plates to rapidly achieve moisture uptake equilibrium. The key factor contributing to long-term failure of polarization efficiency and light transmission performance of polarizer plates was determined to depend on the release of active chemical species, particularly those that are mobile. In particular, these species were found to be related to the breakdown products of plasticizer and other protective film components. These findings are supported by prior work as found, for example, in: Shinigawa et al. "Investigation of the Archival Stability of Cellulose Triacetate Film: The Effect of Additives to CTA Support," Polym. Conserv., 105 (1992), 138-150; and Ram et al. "The Effects and Prevention of the 'Vinegar Syndrome'," J. Imaging Sci. and Tech., 38 (1994), 749-761, all hereby incorporated by reference.
Prior attempts to improve the durability of polarizer plates have been described. US patent application 20020192397A1 discloses the use of elevated levels of phosphate ester plasticizers to control the moisture permeability of the protective film. However, as noted by Ram et al. and Shinigawa et al., phosphate ester plasticizers release strongly acidic compounds upon exposure to elevated humidity. In addition, chemically active hydroxy arenes, such as phenols, are released.
The use of a small-molecule basic compound (tributyl amine) is also disclosed in US 20020192397A1 to reduce the odor of acetic acid in TAC protective films. Small-molecule basic compounds are not preferred, however, as they readily migrate into the polarizer film and are reactive toward the polarizer dye components.
The use of ester compounds that can release chemically active hydroxy arenes, such as phenol, is also not preferred. The current study has shown that undesirable reaction with iodine in the polarizer film to produce iodophenols occurs in polarizer plates that have been subjected to elevated temperature and humidity when hydroxy arene ester plasticizers are employed. The reactivity of hydroxy arenes toward halogens is well known, as described by Morrison, R. T. and Boyd, R. N., Organic Chemistry, 3rd Ed., Allyn and Bacon, Boston, 1976, pp. 801-802, hereby incorporated by reference.
US 20020162483A1 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,753,140 disclose the use of elevated levels of aromatic ester plasticizers to control moisture permeability and moisture content in protective films for polarizer plates. Such compounds release strongly acidic compounds and/or chemically active hydroxy arenes upon exposure to elevated humidity. US patent application 20030037703A1 discloses the use of elevated levels of monocarboxylic acid esters of polyhydric alcohols as plasticizers to control moisture permeability of protective films for polarizer plates. Due to the use of esters of monocarboxylic acids, again elevated humidity conditions lead to the production of mobile acidic compounds.
In the cases described above (US 20020192397A1, US 20020162483A1, and US 20030037703A1), the acidic species and hydroxy arenes produced have the potential to readily migrate through the polarizer plate structure. Strongly acidic species can participate in the degradation of the protective films, the adhesion interface to the polarizing film, and most critically, the organic dyes in the polarizing film. Interaction of the dyes in the PVA polarizing film with such reactive species can produces significant hue shift contributing to degradation of the polarizer plate performance.
In addition, in the cases described above (US 20020192397A1, US 20020162483A1, US 20030037703A1) high levels of these compounds (>15% by weight) are incorporated into the polymer lamination films in order to provide significant control of moisture permeability and moisture content. These high levels are undesirable as they lead to unacceptable loss of toughness by the protective film through reductions in polymer modulus (Handbook of Plasticizers, G. Wypych, ed., ChemTec Publishing, NY, 2004, Chap. 10).

Protective films containing compatible plasticizer compounds useful in polarizing plates for displays and their method of manufacture


The present invention is a structurally stable utility cart having a collapsible kneeling board to cushion the knees of the user and a collapsible hand support that the user can grab hold of when shifting to and from kneeling or crouching positions to upright standing positions. The kneeling board and hand support are independently collapsible without one affecting the movement of the other. Further, the device is readily collapsible for compact storage without substantially affecting the overall structural stability. The present invention also provides a utilitarian container, generally for storing various gardening tools.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to carts, and more particularly, to a highly stable utility cart adapted for gardening which provides a kneeling board and hand support which are both foldable.
2. Description of Related Art
There are many bodily positions to which gardeners must contort themselves in their pursuit of the perfect landscape. In particular, gardeners frequently change from kneeling or crouching positions to upright positions and vice versa. The kneeling position is particularly painful to the knee caps, especially on hard or rocky surfaces. Crouching, the alternative lowering position, is also uncomfortable since long periods in this position tend to limit blood circulation to the lower extremities. Moreover, gardeners frequently have to reach and extend themselves under imbalanced conditions in order to beautify or improve the landscape while contouring the land, planting, or pruning flowers, shrubs and trees. The constant shifts between the above-mentioned positions, without some type of support, can lead to back ailments. Therefore, a cart having support features in addition to the capability to carry a wide array of instruments is desired.
Although some carts have been adapted for use by gardeners, the carts are generally directed only toward carrying gardening tools, such as shears, pruners, hoes, and the like, and not as a support for the gardener. Moreover, collapsible utility carts, including all of the relevant art discussed below, are generally unstable, particularly in the collapsed position. Although collapsing the cart has the advantage of compact storage, such prior devices lack the capability of accomplishing the multiple needs as described above.
Considering the elevational side view of a typical prior cart, the cart generally has a main carriage with a wheeled single axle resting in a vertical plane offset from a vertical axis passing through the center of gravity of the carriage. Though offset, this vertical axis generally rests very close to the vertical plane of the axle, resulting in a cart that is easily tipped from the standing position by passing the center of gravity through the vertical plane. Carts are so designed to easily lift heavy loads placed in the carriage; but such designs sacrifice stability and therefore are not useful as a support structure for the gardener. Collapsing the collapsible portions of such a device usually substantially worsens this problem, as the center of gravity is then shifted even closer to the vertical axis of the axle.
Accordingly, a need will be seen for a structurally stable cart adapted for gardening use that maintains the above described mechanical advantages, yet provides comfortable supports on which the user may rest his knees, and additional supports to assist the user in raising or lowering himself in and out of the kneeling position without fear of upsetting the cart. In addition, the cart should be easily compacted for storage in limited space.
Prior patents showing utility carts include U.S. Pat. No. 5,203,815 issued to Miller on Apr. 20, 1993, describing an apparatus for carrying fishing equipment. The purpose of the device discloses an interlinked collapsible pair of shelves for storing fishing equipment. Unlike the present invention, due to the inter-linkage of the shelves the device does not provide independent utilization of each shelf unit limiting its adaptability for use as a personal support.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,460,188 issued to Maloof on Jul. 17, 1984 describes a cart with a seat, storage compartment and multi-position foldable backrest. Unlike the present invention, this device does not provide a kneeling board and hand support suitable for use during garden work. Moreover, the cart can be easily tipped over if used as a crutch.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,521,030 issued to Vance on Jan. 4, 1985 describes a collapsible and slidable cart for transporting groceries, packages, and the like. This device does not provide a kneeling board and hand support as in the present invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,835,503 issued to Humphries et al on May 20, 1958 describes a garden tool cart. This device is specifically designed to have the center of gravity of a load rest near the vertical plane passing through the wheels, permitting easy movement but sacrificing stability.
French Patent Application FR 2 584 358 of Demnard, published on Jan. 9, 1987 describes a two-wheeled trolley with foldable racks for compact storage. This device would be highly unstable and dangerous for use as a support during garden work.
British Patent Application GB 2 247 650 A of Tanner, published on Mar. 11, 1992 discloses a complicated garden trolley device which has numerous structures around its single handle. The center of gravity of this device is relatively high. Furthermore, in its collapsed position, this device can easily be tipped.
None of the above noted inventions and patents, taken either singly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed.


A deployable solar photovoltaic power generation system includes an array of photo voltaic panels mounted to expandable truss. In response to environmental input data, the array of photovoltaic panels can be deployed or stowed.

One of the most significant barriers to implementing photovoltaic power generation plants in the United States is not in the fundamental development of the solar photovoltaic panels, but rather in the balance of system designs. The Department of Energy recognized this issue by launching the Sunshot Initiative in 2010 which focused on balance of system designs rather than photovoltaic panel fundamentals or manufacturing hurdles. Current reports from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory state that balance of system costs are approaching 70% of total systems costs. Installation of solar photovoltaic power generation systems for a period of 5 to 10 years on a particular site is not currently cost effective because of the costs involved in planning, designing, permitting, and installing of solar power generation exceed that of other power generation systems.
Because of the surface area of photovoltaic panels for power generation, wind loads drive the design of photovoltaic panel arrays for power generation systems. Consequently, photovoltaic panel arrays are currently designed for the full wind loads found in U.S. building codes. Full wind load design requires substantial amount of ballast weight in the base of the photovoltaic panel array and a substantial amount of structural steel in the frame of the photovoltaic array.
No current system exists that will allow short-term installation of solar photovoltaic power generation systems in a cost-effective manner. PWRstation SA of Lausanne, Switzerland markets a mobile rack solar panel system under the mark EXOrac. The EXOrac system is only able to be installed for very short periods due to an inability to resist wind loads generally required in the permitting process for solar photovoltaic generation systems. The EXOrac system requires continuous monitoring by humans and is manually retracted and rolled indoors to be stored during a wind or snow event. Because of its flimsy structure, the EXOrac system is incapable of meeting building code requirements. For this reason, the EXOrac system is not able to receive installation permitting by the authorities having jurisdiction and thus has had little impact on the market.

Deployable solar photovoltaic power generation system


A filtering technique for a free space communication that features encoding and decoding of signals employing a filtering apparatus that includes a bulk holographic transform function. Employing the encoding and decoding technique facilitates providing a great number of channels of communication in a unit volume while preventing unwanted cross-talk between the communication channels. In addition, secure communication links between transmitters and receivers may be provided.

The present invention relates to an wireless, or free space, communication. Particularly, the present invention concerns discriminating techniques suited for wireless free space interconnects.
Reliance upon wireless technology is increasing as the need to increase computational efficiency becomes salient. Specifically, improved operational characteristics of data links employ advancements in wireless communication systems to replace conventional hardwired technology. A well-known example includes the replacement of conventional hardwired telephony with wireless cellular technology. This has generated a need for improvement methodologies that move away from traditional RF wireless technology to optical technology.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,057,319 to Ash et al. discloses an optical interconnect system in which individual connections are made involving the passage of light between a specific device in one array of optical devices and a specific device in another array of optical devices. This is achieved via a phase hologram plate of the transmission type fixed relative to each array.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,140,657 to Thylen discloses a device for optically coupling an optical fiber, forming part of an optical communication system, to an optical semiconductor laser amplifier. Specifically, the semiconductor laser amplifier has an input facet and an output facet, and the optical fiber has an end surface arranged opposite to at least one of the facets. A diffraction optics element is disposed between the end surface of the fiber and the surface of the facet in order to adapt the nearfield of the fiber end to the nearfield of the facet surface while filtering the same to reduce spontaneous emission noise. The diffraction optics element is described as being a phase hologram.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,072,579 to Funato discloses an optical pickup apparatus that includes first and second light sources that selectively emit one of first and second light beams, respectively. The first and second light beams are different in wavelength and are suitable for accessing first and second optical disks respectively. A coupling lens converts a corresponding one of the first and second light beams into a collimated beam. An objective lens forms a light spot on a corresponding one of the first and second optical disks by focusing the collimated beam. A holographic optical element receives a reflection beam of the light spot from one of the first and second optical disks and provides holographic effects on the reflection beam so as to diffract the reflection beam in predetermined directions of diffraction depending on the wavelength of the reflection beam. A photo detector receives the reflection beam from the holographic optical element at light receiving areas and outputs signals indicative of respective intensities of the received reflection beam at the light receiving areas, so that a focusing error signal and a tracking error signal are generated based on the signals. A drawback with the aforementioned optical interconnect systems is that each coupling device requires precise alignment of the optical elements to achieve efficient coupling of optical energy while avoiding cross-talk between adjacent channels.
What is needed, therefore, is an improved free space interconnect technique that reduces cross-talk between adjacent channels.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Filtering technique for free space interconnects


A particle/seed dispenser is composed of a motor-spatula assembly and a base housing, or handle. The motor-spatula assembly includes two or more V-shaped spatulas and an electrical motor physically connected to a proximal end of each V-shaped spatula, or separate motors are connected to the respective spatulas. The motor rotor(s) is(are) eccentric, namely the rotational center of gravity of the rotor is not exactly co-axial with the axis of the rotor drive shaft so that when running the motor and the motor-spatula assembly vibrate. Successive first, second etc. spatulas extend from the base-housing, each under the previous, the successive spatulas being of increasing length so that particles poured into the first cascade out to the second, and in some cases from there to the third etc. For more effective singulation a series of dremples or rills are formed in the trough of each spatula. The cascading of the particles through successive spatulas provides a substantial improvement in the regularity in the rate of dispensing the particles.

This invention relates to a hand held motor-vibrated seeder or more generally to a particle dispenser for dispensing powder particles into a chemist's weighing dish, or dispensing seeds sequentially into earth-containing pockets of a grower's seedling tray, otherwise known as a plug tray.
A chemist is often required to weigh out exact quantities of each of several chemical powders that will be mixed and chemically co-reacted. This laboratory weighing process typically consists of manually shaking a powder from a container onto a weighing dish for weighing. Ideally, the shaking is stopped when the desired weight is reached, but because great precision is required, it is difficult to stop at the right moment because of the irregular and uncontrolled powder-pouring rate.
The term "particle" as used hereinafter is meant to include seeds.
Home owners and other small scale growers of flowers and vegetables tolerate the imprecision of dispensing seeds directly by hand, and often compensate by awaiting sprouting after which they may then be thinned by hand.
For larger scale growers, the direct dispensing by hand is not tolerable because of the associated large labor costs. For commercial growers, there is described in my patent U.S. Pat. No. 5,414,955, issued May 16, 1995, a seeder that simultaneously picks up many individual seeds and simultaneously dispenses each one in a corresponding of regularly spaced apart seedling-tray pockets.
For small scale growers, there has been used a hand held seeder having a handle and a V-shaped spatula mounted in the handle. A buzzer and a battery are mounted together and to the spatula end in that is mounted in the handel. Such buzzers have a coil of wire wound about an iron core and flexible conductive ferrous reed having one end fixedly mounted and the opposite end normally lying against an electrical contact. One end of the wire coil is electrically connected to the fixed end of the reed.
When a voltage is applied to the contact and the other end of the wire coil, the reed and contact serve momentarily as a closed electrical switch, causing a current in the coil that produces a magnetic field that draws the other end of the reed to hammer the core, ending a first vibration cycle. This breaks the circuit and the reed falls back on the contact which begins a sequence of such cycles of buzzer vibrations.
It is an object of this invention to provide a particle dispenser providing improved particle singulation and improved dispensing accuracy.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a particle dispenser that dispenses particles at a slow and more constant rate.
It is another object of this invention to provide such a dispenser suitable for being manufactured as a hand-held particle dispenser.


The present invention provides diagnostic and prognostic methods for predicting the effectiveness of treatment of a cancer patient with an IGF-1R kinase inhibitor. Methods are provided for predicting the sensitivity of tumor cell growth to inhibition by an IGF-1R kinase inhibitor, comprising assessing whether the tumor cell has undergone an epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT), by determining the expression level of epithelial and/or mesenchymal biomarkers, wherein tumor cells that have undergone an EMT are substantially less sensitive to inhibition by IGF-1R kinase inhibitors. Improved methods for treating cancer patients with IGF-1R kinase inhibitors that incorporate the above methodology are also provided. Additionally, methods are provided for the identification of new biomarkers that are predictive of responsiveness of tumors to IGF-1R kinase inhibitors. Furthermore, methods for the identification of agents that restore the sensitivity of tumor cells that have undergone EMT to inhibition by IGF-1R kinase inhibitors are also provided.

The present invention is directed to methods for diagnosing and treating cancer patients. In particular, the present invention is directed to methods for determining which patients will most benefit from treatment with an insulin-like growth factor-1 receptor (IGF-1R) kinase inhibitor.
Cancer is a generic name for a wide range of cellular malignancies characterized by unregulated growth, lack of differentiation, and the ability to invade local tissues and metastasize. These neoplastic malignancies affect, with various degrees of prevalence, every tissue and organ in the body.
A multitude of therapeutic agents have been developed over the past few decades for the treatment of various types of cancer. The most commonly used types of anticancer agents include: DNA-alkylating agents (e.g., cyclophosphamide, ifosfamide), antimetabolites (e.g., methotrexate, a folate antagonist, and 5-fluorouracil, a pyrimidine antagonist), microtubule disrupters (e.g., vincristine, vinblastine, paclitaxel), DNA intercalators (e.g., doxorubicin, daunomycin, cisplatin), and hormone therapy (e.g., tamoxifen, flutamide).
IGF-1R is a transmembrane RTK that binds primarily to IGF-1 but also to IGF-II and insulin with lower affinity. Binding of IGF-1 to its receptor results in receptor oligomerization, activation of tyrosine kinase, intermolecular receptor autophosphorylation and phosphorylation of cellular substrates (major substrates are IRS1 and Shc). The ligand-activated IGF-1R induces mitogenic activity in normal cells and plays an important role in abnormal growth. A major physiological role of the IGF-1 system is the promotion of normal growth and regeneration. Overexpressed IGF-1R (type 1 insulin-like growth factor receptor) can initiate mitogenesis and promote ligand-dependent neoplastic transformation. Furthermore, IGF-1R plays an important role in the establishment and maintenance of the malignant phenotype. Unlike the epidermal growth factor (EGF) receptor, no mutant oncogenic forms of the IGF-1R have been identified. However, several oncogenes have been demonstrated to affect IGF-1 and IGF-1R expression. The correlation between a reduction of IGF-1R expression and resistance to transformation has been seen. Exposure of cells to the mRNA antisense to IGF-1R RNA prevents soft agar growth of several human tumor cell lines. IGF-1R abrogates progression into apoptosis, both in vivo and in vitro. It has also been shown that a decrease in the level of IGF-1R below wild-type levels causes apoptosis of tumor cells in vivo. The ability of IGF-1R disruption to cause apoptosis appears to be diminished in normal, non-tumorigenic cells.
The IGF-b 1 pathway in human tumor development has an important role. IGF-1R overexpression is frequently found in various tumors (breast, colon, lung, sarcoma) and is often associated with an aggressive phenotype. High circulating IGF1 concentrations are strongly correlated with prostate, lung and breast cancer risk. Furthermore, IGF-1R is required for establishment and maintenance of the transformed phenotype in vitro and in vivo (Baserga R. Exp. Cell. Res., 1999, 253, 1-6). The kinase activity of IGF-1R is essential for the transforming activity of several oncogenes: EGFR, PDGFR, SV40 T antigen, activated Ras, Raf, and v-Src. The expression of IGF-1R in normal fibroblasts induces neoplastic phenotypes, which can then form tumors in vivo. IGF-1R expression plays an important role in anchorage-independent growth. IGF-1R has also been shown to protect cells from chemotherapy-, radiation-, and cytokine-induced apoptosis. Conversely, inhibition of endogenous IGF-1R by dominant negative IGF-1R, triple helix formation or antisense expression vector has been shown to repress transforming activity in vitro and tumor growth in animal models.
It has been recognized that inhibitors of protein-tyrosine kinases are useful as selective inhibitors of the growth of mammalian cancer cells. For example, Gleevec™ (also known as imatinib mesylate), a 2-phenylpyrimidine tyrosine kinase inhibitor that inhibits the kinase activity of the BCR-ABL fusion gene product, has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of CML. The 4-anilinoquinazoline compound Tarceva™ (erlotinib HCl) has also been recently approved by the FDA, and selectively inhibits EGF receptor kinase with high potency. The development for use as anti-tumor agents of compounds that directly inhibit the kinase activity of IGF-1R, as well as antibodies that reduce IGF-1R kinase activity by blocking IGF-1R activation or antisense oligonucleotides that block IGF-1R expression, are areas of intense research effort (e.g. see Larsson, O. et al (2005) Brit. J. Cancer 92:2097-2101; Ibrahim, Y. H. and Yee, D. (2005) Clin. Cancer Res. 11:944s-950s; Mitsiades, C. S. et al. (2004) Cancer Cell 5:221-230; Camirand, A. et al. (2005) Breast Cancer Research 7:R570-R579 (DOI 10.1186/bcr1028); Camirand, A. and Pollak, M. (2004) Brit. J. Cancer 90:1825-1829; Garcia-Echeverria, C. et al. (2004) Cancer Cell 5:231-239 ).
An anti-neoplastic drug would ideally kill cancer cells selectively, with a wide therapeutic index relative to its toxicity towards non-malignant cells. It would also retain its efficacy against malignant cells, even after prolonged exposure to the drug. Unfortunately, none of the current chemotherapies possess such an ideal profile. Instead, most possess very narrow therapeutic indexes. Furthermore, cancerous cells exposed to slightly sub-lethal concentrations of a chemotherapeutic agent will very often develop resistance to such an agent, and quite often cross-resistance to several other antineoplastic agents as well. Additionally, for any given cancer type one frequently cannot predict which patient is likely to respond to a particular treatment, even with newer gene-targeted therapies, such as protein-tyrosine kinase inhibitors, thus necessitating considerable trial and error, often at considerable risk and discomfort to the patient, in order to find the most effective therapy.
Thus, there is a need for more efficacious treatment for neoplasia and other proliferative disorders, and for more effective means for determining which tumors will respond to which treatment. Strategies for enhancing the therapeutic efficacy of existing drugs have involved changes in the schedule for their administration, and also their use in combination with other anticancer or biochemical modulating agents. Combination therapy is well known as a method that can result in greater efficacy and diminished side effects relative to the use of the therapeutically relevant dose of each agent alone. In some cases, the efficacy of the drug combination is additive (the efficacy of the combination is approximately equal to the sum of the effects of each drug alone), but in other cases the effect is synergistic (the efficacy of the combination is greater than the sum of the effects of each drug given alone). Target-specific therapeutic approaches are generally associated with reduced toxicity compared with conventional cytotoxic agents, and therefore lend themselves to use in combination regimens.
Several groups have investigated potential biomarkers to predict a patient's response to protein-tyrosine kinase inhibitors, for example EGFR inhibitors (see for example, PCT publications: WO 2004/063709, WO 2005/017493, WO 2004/111273, and WO 2004/071572; and US published patent applications: US 2005/0019785, and US 2004/0132097). However, no diagnostic or prognostic tests have yet emerged that can guide practicing physicians in the treatment of their patients with such inhibitors.
Thus, there remains a critical need for improved methods for determining the best mode of treatment for any given cancer patient. The present invention provides methods for determining which tumors will respond most effectively to treatment with IGF-1R kinase inhibitors based on whether the tumor cells have undergone an epithelial to mesenchymal transition ("EMT"; Thiery, J. P. (2002) Nat. Rev. Cancer 2:442-454; Savagner, P. (2001) Bioessays 23:912-923; Kang Y. and Massague, J. (2004) Cell 118:277-279; Julien-Grille, S., et al. Cancer Research 63:2172-2178; Bates, R. C. et al. (2003) Current Biology 13:1721-1727; Lu Z., et al. (2003) Cancer Cell. 4(6):499-515), and for the incorpora of such determinations into more effective treatment regimens for cancer patients, whether such inhibitors are used as single agents or combined with other anti-cancer agents.

Biological markers predictive of anti-cancer response to insulin-like growth factor-1 receptor kinase inhibitors


A memory card comprising a circuit board having opposed upper and lower circuit board surfaces, multiple side edges, a chamfer extending between a pair of the side edges, a plurality of pads disposed on the lower circuit board surface, and a conductive pattern which is disposed on the upper circuit board surface and electrically connected to the pads. At least one electronic circuit device is attached to the upper circuit board surface and electrically connected to the conductive pattern of the circuit board. A body at least partially encapsulates the circuit board and the electronic circuit element such that sections of the upper circuit board surface, including one which extends along the entirety of the chamfer, is not covered by the body.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to memory cards, and more particularly to a memory card (e.g., a multi-media card or secure digital card) which is configured to include at least one I/O pad adjacent the chamfer of a substrate (e.g., a printed circuit board or PCB) which is itself integrated into a module of the memory card. Further in accordance with the present invention, there is provided various methods which may be employed to facilitate the efficient, cost effective simultaneous fabrication of a plurality of modules which each include a substrate having an I/O pad adjacent the chamfer thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
As is well known in the electronics industry, memory cards are being used in increasing numbers to provide memory storage and other electronic functions for devices such as digital cameras, MP3 players, cellular phones, and personal digital assistants. In this regard, memory cards are provided in various formats, including multi-media cards and secure digital cards.
Many memory cards include a module which itself comprises a printed circuit board (PCB) having a conductive wiring pattern disposed thereon. Attached to one side or surface of the PCB and electrically connected to the conductive pattern thereof is a plurality of electronic circuit devices, such as semiconductor packages, semiconductor dies, and/or passive elements. These electronic circuit devices and a portion of the PCB are often covered or encapsulated by an encapsulant material. The PCB also includes a plurality of input/output (I/O) pads disposed on the side or surface thereof opposite that having the electronic circuit devices thereon. These I/O pads are not covered by the encapsulant material, and thus are exposed in the completed module which comprises the PCB, the electronic circuit devices and the encapsulant material. Attached to the module is a skin or case of the memory card, such case generally defining the outer appearance of the memory card. The module is coupled to the case such that the I/O pads disposed on the PCB are not covered by the case, and thus remain exposed in the fully assembled memory card. These I/O pads of the memory card provide an external interface for an insertion point or socket. The completed memory card has a generally rectangular configuration, with most memory cards including a chamfer formed at one edge thereof which is adjacent to the I/O pads. In this regard, the I/O pads of the memory card usually extend along one of the lateral sides or edges of the card to but not along the chamfer thereof. In an effort to simplify the process steps needed to fabricate the memory card, there has been developed various memory cards wherein the case is eliminated by applying the encapsulant material the electronic devices and to the PCB such that the enapsulant material hardens into a cover or body of the memory card which is sized and configured to meet or achieve a desired "form factor" for the memory card.
The arrangement and positioning of I/O pads in the memory card module is typically dependent on the circuit construction corresponding to the electronic circuit devices included in the module and the resultant wiring patterns. As indicated above, the I/O pads of the memory card typically do not extend along the chamfer thereof. In this regard, currently known manufacturing methodologies for the mass production of memory cards are not well suited for the cost effective, simultaneous manufacture of a plurality of circuit boards which each include at least one extra I/O pad positioned along and adjacent to the memory card chamfer. The inclusion of one or more additional I/O pads along the memory card chamfer is highly desirable due to the resultant improvement in the data transfer capacity of the memory card which is an emerging requirement in many applications. For example, in the case of MMC's (multi-media cards), the construction of such cards is such that an ESC pad (which is one of the I/O pads) is positioned adjacent to the chamfer of the card and used to provide increased data transmission speed. In accordance with the currently known methods used to facilitate the construction of memory cards including one or more additional I/O pads adjacent the chamfer, the chamfer of the module must typically be directly formed on the encapsulant body of the module by a mold, with the PCB of such module being singulated from a single row of PCB's in a substrate, rather than such PCB's being arranged in a matrix within the substrate. The result is increased time and complexity in the manufacturing process, and thus in the overall cost for the memory card module.
The present invention addresses and overcomes the above-described shortcomings of the prior art by providing various methods which may be employed to facilitate the efficient, cost effective simultaneous fabrication of a plurality of modules which each include a substrate (e.g., a printed circuit board or PCB) having at least one I/O pad adjacent a chamfer formed therein. These modules are each integrated into a memory card which is configured to include at least one additional I/O pad adjacent the chamfer defined thereby. These and other attributes of the present invention will be described in more detail below.

Chamfered memory card module and method of making same


An organic light-emitting diode display is disclosed. In one aspect, the display includes a substrate including a bending area and a non-bending area and a plurality of thin-film transistors (TFTs) formed in the non-bending area. The display also includes a plurality of first pixel electrodes and a plurality of second pixel electrodes formed over the TFTs and electrically connected to the TFTs, the first pixel electrodes formed in the bending area and the second pixel electrodes formed in the non-bending area.

Field
The described technology generally relates to an organic light-emitting diode display.
Description of the Related Technology
In general, an organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display outputs various information such as display status or operating conditions, a user interface for easy usage, as well as an image or a video. Attempts are being made to further improve user experience by enabling an OLED display to be flexible.


The invention proposes a variable valve train (1) for a gas exchange valve (8) of an internal combustion engine, which gas exchange valve (8) is actuated by a cam (2), said valve train (1) comprising a force transmission device (4) that is arranged between the cam (2) and the gas exchange valve (8) and includes a hydraulic lifting device (9) comprising a pressure piston (10) that is arranged for longitudinal displacement in a cylinder (12), said pressure piston (10) defining a pressure chamber (13) that is connected to a pressure medium supply of the internal combustion engine and said pressure piston (10) permitting, under high-pressure loading, an actuation of the gas exchange valve (8) independently of the cam (2). The force transmission device (4) is configured as an oscillating lever or rocker arm (3) mounted for pivoting on a lever shaft (6) comprising a longitudinal channel (14) that transports pressure medium and acts as a link (15) between the pressure medium supply and the pressure chamber (13).

Valve trains of a generic type in which the lift of the gas exchange valve is the result of the superposition of a mechanical lift caused by the cam and a variably adjustable lift of a hydraulic lifting device that acts independently of the cam on the movement of the gas exchange valve, are known in the prior art. Thus, for example, DE 101 56 309 A1 describes a cup tappet valve train comprising a hydraulic lifting device. This comprises a pressure piston that is arranged between in inner side of the cup bottom and the valve stem and actuates the gas exchange valve relative to the cup tappet as a function of the change of volume of a pressure chamber defined by the pressure piston. The pressure chamber, in its turn, is connected through channels in the interior of the cup tappet and in the tappet guide of the internal combustion engine to a hydraulic medium supply whose pressure and volume stream can be adjusted in conformance with the point of operation.
As alternatives to the aforesaid cup tappet, the cited document proposes further force transmission devices that are known to the person skilled in the art on the one hand, as stationary support elements arranged in the internal combustion engine for mounting a tilting valve lever and, on the other hand, as a tappet, for example, of a pushrod valve train, guided longitudinally in the internal combustion engine for loading valve levers. Insofar, the aforesaid document does not provide any incentives that would occasion a person skilled in the art to also apply such hydraulic lifting devices in valve train architectures other than those named above.

Variable valve train of an internal combustion engine


A system and method for peer-to-peer datacasting in a broadcasting network is disclosed. The method may include providing first and second peers and a source, wherein the first and second peers are configured to communicate data with the source via the broadcasting network, wherein each of the first and second peers stores an updatable software object, wherein the source stores the most recent version of the software object, and wherein the second peer is configured to communicate data with the source via the first peer. The method may also include receiving, at the first peer, an update request for a software object from the second peer and obtaining, at the first peer, the most recent version of the software object associated with the update request. The method may further include transmitting, at the first peer, the requested most recent version of the software object to the second peer and updating the software object of the second peer with the received software object.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to data broadcasting (datacasting), and in particular, to peer-to-peer datacasting in a broadcasting network, for example, a television (TV) broadcasting network.
2. Description of the Related Technology
In addition to audio and video (A/V) services, advanced digital TV services offer a data service in which software objects are distributed via a digital broadcasting channel. The software objects include, but are not limited to, electronic program guide (EPG), software component (e.g., Java applets, library, and web components), software application (e.g., game), and firmware image, etc. For this purpose, advanced television systems committee (ATSC) and digital video broadcasting (DVB) specify data broadcasting services (also known as datacasting). Digital broadcasting provides a one-way channel from a broadcaster to a number of client devices, but lacks a return channel from the client devices to the broadcaster. Without the return channel, the broadcasters do not know how many client devices need the software object and whether the client devices receive it when the software object is broadcasted. To compensate the lack of the return channel, the datacasting service of this type uses a carousel server which repeatedly broadcasts the software objects in a continuous cycle over a digital broadcasting channel. The client devices may choose to ignore the software object or to wait for another software object until it is broadcasted by the carousel server.

System and method for peer-to-peer datacasting in a broadcasting network


A manufacturing history management system according to an aspect of the present disclosure includes a data generation unit, a data storage unit, and a data extraction unit. The data generation unit generates manufacturing history data by associating internal void information specific to a product and manufacturing history information of the product with a product identification code. The data storage unit stores the manufacturing history data relating to a plurality of the products generated by the data generation unit. The data extraction unit checks the internal void information of the manufacturing history data of the plurality of products stored in the data storage unit against the internal void information of a predetermined product and extracts the manufacturing history data that matches the internal void information of the predetermined product from the manufacturing history data of the plurality of products stored in the data storage unit.

The present disclosure relates to a manufacturing history management system and a manufacturing history management method.
Recently, for the purpose of product quality control and the like, a manufacturing history management system for managing the manufacturing history of a product has been developed. International Patent Publication No. WO 2018/117120 discloses a technique for ensuring consistent traceability in a manufacturing step of steel products.
The technique disclosed in International Patent Publication No. WO2018/117120 ensures the traceability of steel products (manufacturing history management) by marking steel products with a steel product management code. The steel product management code is associated with a steel piece identification code indicating a steel piece used as a material of a steel product and positional information indicating a position in the steel piece. By doing so, consistent traceability is ensured in the process from casting to manufacturing a steel product.

Manufacturing history management system and manufacturing history management method


An expert system having a computer which can receive input data and from stored data to produce an optimized die draft schedule for a given wire drawing machine. The system is adaptable to store data for a plurality of die drawing machines, producing an optimized die draft schedule for a range of input and output rod/wire sizes on each drawing machine for which the system has stored operating parameters. Alternatively, operating parameters for additional drawing machines can be entered, enabling generation of optimum die draft schedules for most wire drawing machines. An enhanced mode may be made available to enable comparison of computed values and operator estimated values.

Selection of appropriately sized dies in a die drafting operation has heretofore involved choosing ever smaller die apertures based on the experience or set of experiences of an operator, which are often reduced to a chart or series of approximation calculations.
Most die draft selection techniques rely on standard area reductions between each die to calculate the die draft. This method works well when the selected sizes are based on standard reductions, such as Brown and Sharp size reductions. It may not work well for odd sizes or unusual rod materials. Problems can also arise when drawing non-standard materials or special alloys.
One known method of selecting the various dies is described in "Wire Drawing Practice: Die Drafting," by Bobby C. Gentry, published in Wire Journal, August 1975. This calculation-based approximation technique is based on many years of practice and experience. Since each successive die size calculation relies on previous die size calculations, each calculation must be carefully verified to eliminate errors in the die draft schedule.
A chart or table is prepared from calculations incorporating a fixed ten percent slip rate between the capstan surface velocity ("capstan velocity") and the wire linear velocity ("wire velocity"). An optimal die draft schedule may require repeated adjustment of calculated values. A tenth-gauge reduction table is usually generated, from which the dies are selected. This time-consuming effort is imprecise and expensive, as it may, if erroneous, result in wire breaks which require restringing the rod, and is inherently consumptive of the engineer's valuable time.
As can be readily appreciated, the analysis of hundreds of wire drafting parameters in producing an efficient and effective wire drafting schedule for various rod and wire sizes on a given wire-drafting machine can be an extraordinarily time-consuming task because of the numerous combinations and permutations of the relevant parameters, and may require repeated adjustments, even if slight in magnitude, in order to provide effective and efficient operation of the wire drawing machine or machines.
In view of the foregoing limitations and shortcomings of the prior art methods and apparatus, as well as other disadvantages not specifically mentioned above, it should be apparent that there exists a need in the art to eliminate imprecision and time-consuming trial-and-error methods of die selection. It is, therefore, a primary object of this invention to fulfill that need by providing a computer-based system of selecting dies for a given rod/wire size requirement.
An advantage of the present invention resides in the fact that the intellectual expertise of the skilled engineer and operator are combined in a computer-based application wherein little skill in generating the die draft schedule is required for reliable and economic operation.


A balloon for use in a catheter, wherein the balloon is formed from an aromatic polyester, preferably a blend of a major component comprising an aromatic polyester, and a minor component comprising a compatible secondary thermoplastic semicrystalline polymer having a crystallinity less than that of the aromatic polyester of the major component.

One of the therapeutic procedures applicable to the present invention is known as percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA). This procedure can be used, for example, to reduce arterial build-up of cholesterol fats or atherosclerotic plaque. Typically a guiding catheter is steered through the vascular system to the site of therapy. A guidewire, for example, can then be advanced through the guiding catheter and a balloon catheter may be advanced within the guiding catheter over the guidewire. The balloon at the distal end of the catheter is inflated causing the site of the stenosis to widen. The original catheter can then be withdrawn and a catheter of a different size or another device such as an atherectomy device can be inserted.
The design of medical devices for insertion into body organs has always involved trading off various performance characteristics in the design of a satisfactory implement. PTCA requires a catheter that is stiff enough to be pushable and go through blockage, while being flexible enough to go around bends. Dilatation balloon catheters commonly have a guidewire lumen pass through the balloon with the balloon and guidewire lumen being bonded at the distal end.
Conventional angioplasty balloons fall into high, medium, and low pressure ranges. Low pressure balloons are those that have burst pressures below 6 atmospheres (6.1.times.10.sup.5 Pascals). Medium pressure balloons are those that have burst pressures between 6 and 12 atm (6.1.times.10.sup.5 and 1.2.times.10.sup.6 Pa). High pressure balloons are those that have burst pressures above 12 atm (1.2.times.10.sup.6 Pa). Burst pressure is determined by such factors as wall thickness and tensile strength, for example.
High pressure balloons are desirable because they have the ability to exert more force and crack hard lesions. High pressure balloons are also useful in stent deployment. A biocompatible metal stent props open blocked coronary arteries, keeping them from reclosing after balloon angioplasty. A balloon of appropriate size and pressure is first used to open the lesion. The process is repeated with a stent crimped on a high pressure balloon. The stent is deployed when the balloon is inflated. A high pressure balloon is preferable for stent deployment because the stent must be forced against the artery's interior wall so that it will fully expand thereby precluding the ends of the stent from hanging down into the channel encouraging the formation of thrombus.
High pressure balloon materials are typically stiffer than conventional medium or low pressure balloon materials. Whereas medium or low pressure balloons use materials such as polyethylene, high pressure balloons use materials such as Nylon 12 or polyethylene terephthalate (PET). See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,490,421 (Levy), U.S. Pat. No. Re. 32,983 (Levy), U.S. Pat. No. Re. 33,561 (Levy), and EP 0135990 (Levy), which disclose a high molecular weight, biaxially oriented, flexible, polymeric balloon with a tensile strength of at least 31,714 psi (218.86 MPa), which can be made of PET. See, also, U.S. Pat. No. 5,264,260 (Saab), which discloses a PET balloon, optionally melt blended or mixed with other polymeric or nonpolymeric materials, having an intrinsic viscosity of less than or equal to 0.6 dl/g and a calculated radial tensile strength greater than about 25,000 psi (172 MPa).
Although biaxially oriented PET is advantageous because of its tensile strength, conventional high pressure balloons made only of biaxially oriented PET are very stiff and typically do not have sufficient rewrap such that they can be removed easily after deflation, nor are they sufficiently puncture resistant. Thus, there is a need in the industry for high pressure balloons that have the advantages of biaxially oriented PET, but also display improved rewrap and puncture resistance when compared to balloons made only of PET.

Medical catheter with a high pressure/low compliant balloon


Devices and methods are provided to fabricate nanosheet field-effect transistor devices having dummy nanosheet channel layers disposed above active nanosheet channel layers to protect the active nanosheet channel layers from oxidation during work function metal patterning processes that are implemented as part of a multi-threshold voltage process module. The dummy nanosheet channel layers have a reduced thickness so that the dummy nanosheet layers do not function as active channel layers of the nanosheet field-effect transistor devices. The dummy nanosheet channel layers serve as oxygen infusion blocking layers to protect the active nanosheet channel layers from being infused with oxygen and oxidized by a directional plasma etch process performed during a work function metal patterning process.

Continued innovations in semiconductor process technologies are enabling higher integration densities and device scaling. As the semiconductor industry moves towards the 7-nm technology node and beyond, semiconductor FET device structures must be scaled to smaller dimensions to provide increased device width per footprint area. In this regard, non-planar FET devices such as nanosheet FET devices, nanowire FET devices, vertical FET devices, FinFET devices, etc., are a viable option for continued CMOS scaling. In general, a nanowire FET device comprises a device channel which comprises one or more nanowire layers in a stacked configuration, wherein each nanowire comprises an elongated semiconductor layer that has a width which is substantially the same or slightly larger than a thickness of the elongated semiconductor layer. A nanosheet FET device is similar to a nanowire FET device sheet in that a device channel comprises one or more nanosheet layers in a stacked configuration, but wherein each nanosheet layer has a width which is substantially greater than a thickness of the nanosheet layer. In nanowire/nanosheet FET devices, a common gate structure is formed above and below each nanowire/nanosheet layer in the stacked configuration, thereby increasing the FET device width (or channel width), and thus the drive current, for a given footprint area.
The threshold voltage (Vt) of a FET device is the voltage that is required to turn the transistor on. Multi-threshold voltage CMOS (MTCMOS) technologies implement methods for fabricating FET devices with multiple threshold voltages in order to optimize device performance (delay, power, etc.) for different applications. The threshold voltage of a FET device can be tuned using various techniques. For example, the threshold voltage of an FET device varies with gate dielectric thickness, wherein the threshold voltage decreases as the thickness of gate dielectric layer decreases. In addition, multi-Vt fabrication methods can tune the threshold voltages of non-planar FET devices by changing the thickness and/or material composition of work function metal (WFM) layers that are formed as part of high-k gate dielectric/metal gate (HKMG) structures for the non-planar FET devices such as nanosheet FET devices. The material composition of the work function metal layers can be modified through dopant implantation, or by forming multilayer WFM structures comprising stacks of two or more different types of work function metal layers.
The HKMG structures for p-type FET devices and n-type FET devices are typically formed with different WFM layers (one for p-FETs and one for n-FETs) as a way to optimize or otherwise tune the threshold voltages of the n-FETs and p-FETs, without the need for channel doping to achieve Vt tuning. In addition, the threshold voltages of n-type FET devices in different device regions can be tuned by using different metallic composition and/or layers for work function metal layers for the n-type FET devices. Similarly, the threshold voltages of p-type FET devices in different device regions can be tuned by using different metallic composition and/or layers for work function metal layers for the p-type FET devices. In this regard, WFM patterning methods are widely used in the semiconductor industry to fabricate FET devices with different work function metal layers so as to realize FET devices with multiple threshold voltages. However, the WFM patterning process can result in the formation of interfacial oxide layers (or increase the thickness of existing interfacial oxide layers) on active silicon channel layer of the FET devices as a result of etching environments used for the WFM patterning. The unwanted growth (or regrowth) of interfacial oxide layers on silicon channel layers of FET devices results in non-uniformity of the channel layers of the FET devices, as well as degraded device performance.

Reduction of multi-threshold voltage patterning damage in nanosheet device structure

International Business Machines Corporation


Provided is an envelope which includes: a first substrate; a second substrate opposed to the first substrate; a frame interposed between the first substrate and the second substrate; and a low melting point metal for bonding the first substrate and the frame to each other. In particular, in such a configuration, the substrate or the frame has a first region and a second region which are brought into contact with the low melting point metal, and in the first region, a material capable of higher maintaining airtightness with the low melting point metal than the second region is in contact with the low melting point metal, while in the second region, a material having a stronger binding power on the low melting point metal than the first region is in contact with the low melting point metal.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an envelope capable of keeping its interior hermetically sealed and a method of manufacturing the same. The envelope is suitable for an image-forming apparatus.
2. Related Background Art
Up to now, there have been known two types of electron-emitting devices, a thermionic source and a cold cathode electron source. The cold cathode electron source includes a field emission device (hereinbelow referred to FE device), a metal/insulating-layer/metal device (hereinbelow referred to MIM device), and a surface conduction electron-emitting device (hereinbelow referred to SCE device).
Concerning those technologies, some examples of background arts proposed by the present inventor are as follows. Device formation using an inkjet formation method is described in detail in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 09-102271 and Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2000-251665. An example in which those devices are arranged in an XY-matrix shape is described in detail in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 64-031332 and Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 07-326311. Further, a wiring forming method is described in detail in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 08-185818 and Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 09-050757. A driving method is described in detail in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 06-342636 and the like.
Up to now, seal bonding has been employed in manufacturing an envelope which keeps its interior vacuum. In the seal bonding, frit glass as a seal member is applied or placed between glass members, and then the entire envelope is put into a seal bonding furnace such as an electric furnace, or put on a hot plate heater (or interposed between an upper hot plate and a lower hot plate), and heated to a seal bonding temperature to melt and bond the seal bonding portions of the glass members with the seal bonding glass. An example of such an envelope manufacturing method is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 11-135018.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2001-210258 discloses a flat panel display in which a low melting point metal is used for seal bonding. Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2001-210258 also discloses use of a material that has high affinity to a low melting point metal material formed on a seal bonding surface as a measure of holding the low melting point metal material.
Flat panel displays using electron sources need ultra high vacuum in order to operate cold cathode electron-emitting devices and the like stably for a long period of time. Therefore, in such flat panel displays, a substrate having plural electron-emitting devices and a substrate having phosphors which face each other across a frame are seal-bonded to each other with frit glass and a getter is provided to maintain the vacuum state by adsorbing discharged gas.
Getters are classified into evaporables and non-evaporables. Evaporating getters are alloys each mainly containing Ba or the like. An evaporating getter is heated in a vacuum glass envelope by energization or high frequency to form an evaporation film on an inner wall of the container (getter flash), and gas generated in the container is adsorbed by an active getter metal face to maintain high vacuum.
On the other hand, non-evaporating getters are Ti, Zr, V, Al, Fe, and the like. A non-evaporating getter material is heated in vacuum for "getter activation", which gives the getter material a gas adsorbing characteristic. The getter material thus can adsorb discharged gas.
Flat panel displays in general are thin and have difficulties in finding enough space to set an evaporating getter which maintains vacuum and to provide a flash region for instant electric discharge. Accordingly, the getter setting region and the flash region are placed near a supporting frame outside the image display area. This reduces conductance between a central portion of the image display area and the getter setting region, and slows the effective exhaust speed of the electron-emitting devices and the phosphors at the central portion. In an image display device having an electron source and an image display member, the major area where produces undesirable gas is generated is the image display region which is irradiated with an electron beam. Accordingly, a non-evaporating getter has to be placed in the vicinity of phosphors and the electron source which are the sources of undesirable gas if the phosphors and the electron source are to be kept in high vacuum.

Envelope, envelope manufacturing method, image display device, and television display device


In an embodiment, an integrated circuit includes a communication interface configured to be coupled to a communication bus and an input circuit. The communication interface has a plurality of terminals. The input circuit has a first input coupled to a first terminal of the plurality of terminals, and a second input coupled to a second terminal of the plurality of terminals. The first input of the input circuit is configured to receive a first signal and the second input of the input circuit is configured to receive a second signal. The input circuit is configured to generate a reset signal at an output of the input circuit based on the first and second signals while the communication interface is unselected.

Generally, a circuit, such as a system on chip (SoC) or an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), has a supply voltage range in which it operates properly. If the system begins operating when the supply voltage is below the operating range, the system may malfunction. For example, a power management integrated circuit (PMIC) may have an operating supply voltage range from 3 V to 5.5 V. Beginning operation of such PMIC at, e.g., 2 V, may cause such PMIC to startup in an unknown state.
Circuits generally use a reset signal to bring the system to a defined state during startup. For example, FIG. 1 shows integrated circuit (IC) 102 receiving a reset signal to place IC 102 in a known state after startup. As shown in FIG. 1, RC circuit 106 is used to keep reset voltage VRST low while the supply voltage VDD increases. IC 102 is off while the voltage VRST is low. When the reset voltage VRST increases above a threshold, then IC 102 turns on. RC circuit 106 is designed such that when the reset voltage VRST increases above the threshold, supply voltage VDD is inside the operating voltage supply range of IC 102.
Instead of using a dedicated reset terminal (e.g., pin or pad), some ICs include a power-on reset (POR) to detect that power has been applied to the IC. After detecting that power has been applied, the POR circuit internally generates a reset signal that places the IC in a known state.

Chip reset via communication interface terminals


An improved automated pipetting system for programmingly pipetting predetermined quantities of liquid between preselected groups of test tubes, vials or wells arranged on a horizontal table. A substantially rigid overhead frame mounted over the table on which the test tube arrays or the like are arranged. A pair of parallel X-axis guide shafts mounted in the rigid frame. A pair of helical screws rotatably mounted in the frame parallel to the pair of X-axis guide shafts. Each helical screw is driven by a stepper motor coaxially connected thereto. A pair of X-axis roller sections are movably mounted on the pair of X-axis guide shafts and support a Z-axis probe mechanism via a pair of Y-axis guide shafts and a parallel Y-axis helical screw. A stepper motor is drivingly and coaxially connected to the Y-axis screw for moving the Z-axis probe mechanism along the Y-axis guide shafts. The Z-axis probe mechanism is movably mounted on the pair of Y-axis guide shafts. The Z-axis probe mechanism is also connected to at least one stepper motor for moving a corresponding probe along the Z-axis. The Z-axis probe mechanism may include a plurality of probes, each one of which is drivingly connected to a stepper motor. The movement of the stepper motors are controlled by a computer in accordance with a computer program.

This invention relates to certain improvements in an automated pipetting system and, particularly, to an improved system with multiple pipetting probes which have individual positioning and individual metering controls.
Conventional automated pipetting systems are used to perform repetitive laboratory mixing, sampling or transferring of fluids in multiwell plates or multiple sets of vials or test tubes. Generally, one or more probes having fluid carrying tips are manipulated over an array of tubes by an arm which is robotically driven in three dimensions (X, Y, Z axes) to carry out programmed procedures under control of an associated computer. Desired procedures include dropping measured quantities of fluids into the tubes at specified depths, prewetting the probes' tips, blowing out the tips to clear them, touching the tips to samples or a cleaning surface and changing the tips.
However, conventional pipetting systems have a number of limitations. Many systems have only one probe with one tip. Some systems have changeable pipette heads with multiple tips in parallel, but all tips are controlled together so that each one dispense the same amount as the others. A few systems have independently metered probes, but they are not independently driven in the Z-axis (vertical) direction because the space taken up by the probe drive mechanisms would not fit the desired tight spacing of the plate wells of test tube array. Therefore, such systems can only drive all the probe tips together to the same depth in the wells or tubes. There are some systems with independent Z-axis drive for up to four probes, but the manner in which they are driven and supported preclude the possibility of automatically picking up and ejecting disposable tips or adding more probes. Because of the design of the supporting arm is typically only supported from the rear the precision to which the probes can be positioned in the Z-axis is compromised. None have an integral mixing table.


A flexible switch has a deformable body and a plurality of electrodes, at least one of the electrodes being provided on the deformable body. The switch has a first state in which the electrodes are spaced apart and a second state in which the electrodes are in electrical contact, and the switch is configured to allow movement between the states when a force is applied to or removed from the deformable body.

Switches are present in many modern devices, operating to indicate or effect a change, or indicate an extent or degree of change. For example, limit switches and proximity switches are typically operated by the motion of a machine or by the presence or absence of an object. Limit switches need to be rugged, easy to install and reliable. Various types of limit switches are available, the most common being mechanically or magnetically operated. These switches can be placed on every day appliances, such as photocopiers, printers and refrigerators, or in more complex machinery. However, limit switches can be complex and expensive and on-going use can cause failure due to moving parts or changes in orientation.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,681,723 describes a membrane switch. The membrane switch uses two opposed sheets of material which are support so that there is a predetermined space between them. A user applying a force between these sheets, at least one of which is flexible, allows a mechanical contact on one of the sheets to bridge conductive elements on the second sheet. Membrane switches are commonly used for keyboards or other interfaces. In some instances, at least one of the sheets may be made flexible, however a careful arrangement of the opposed sheets is required to ensure that switching occurs accurately.
US20130100575 shows a dielectric elastomer which has been modified to provide a switching capability. The dielectric elastomer device (DED) comprises a flexible dielectric elastomer sandwiched or mounted between flexible electrodes. The DED is coupled or coupleable to a flexible conducting track. Movement of the DED causes movement in the flexible track and where the flexible track is appropriately designed this can result in switching over the percolation threshold (the threshold between where a material containing an array of particles is conducting or non-conducting). This can create a change in resistance of order of magnitude. However, the system requires careful construction of the conducting track.
The electric circuit device of US20130100575 may therefore be used as a dielectric elastomer switch (DES), enabling analogue and/or digital or Boolean circuitry to be integrated into the dielectric elastomer device. Doing so provides "soft" electronics for controlling an actuator or generator without any external circuitry, eliminating off-membrane circuitry and permitting simple fabrication (the DED and conducting element or sensor being made of the same materials, in the same process). A DES is useful for switching high voltage signals and can be printed onto dielectric elastomer surfaces using the same technology for making the DEDs themselves.
US20150287552 shows a development from US20130100575 in which, in an embodiment, a similar dielectric elastomer and conductive track design is used. However, the conductive track is now designed such that the effective geometry of the conductive track changes suddenly upon deformation. This means, for instance, that the effective cross sectional area of the conductive track changes with movement of the switch. This enhances the switching by increasing the change in resistance and increasing the sensitivity of the switching. However, in each case there remains some parasitic conductivity when the switch is in an 'off' state.
The soft switches of the prior art generally suffer from one or more disadvantages which may include unpredictable or inconsistent behaviour, linearity in the resistance/deformation relationship, complexity of design or fabrication, the need for hand fabrication, and/or difficulties in automating fabrication.

Flexible switches affected by lateral or vertical actuation


The plurality of pieces of low density cellular material, such as foam plastics, form a core panel having opposite side surfaces and with adjacent pieces having opposing edge surfaces extending between the side surfaces. Sheets of flexible material, such as veils or mats or scrim, are adhesively attached to the side surfaces, and portions of one sheet extend between the opposing adjacent edge surfaces for limiting flexing of the panel. The pieces may be tapered, and portions of the one sheet may project between the edge surfaces either partially or fully to form double wall webs. The webs may have flanges adhesively attached to the other sheet on the opposite side. One sheet may also be stretchable in areas not adhesively attached to the pieces to provide for curving the panel from a planar position maintained by the sheet on the opposite side.

In many applications, composite sandwich panels are partially or entirely curved, rather than having only planar surfaces. A prominent example is the blades of wind turbines used to produce electrical energy. These blades are commonly comprised of sandwich panels, and the cores of those panels are required to conform to specified curvatures within the blades. The principal core materials used today in the production of wind turbine blades are balsa wood and foam plastics. In prior art, conformability of these materials is often achieved by cutting or scoring through the thickness of the wood or foam core to divide it into a plurality of strips or blocks of rectangular cross-section. These are adhesively connected, on only one face of the core, to a continuous flexible sheet material, commonly a scrim comprising fiberglass rovings.
The flexible scrim serves as articulated joints between each of the rigid strips or blocks. When the core panel embodying prior art is placed into a concave mold, with the non-scrim face of the panel against the mold surface, the strips or blocks hinge open relative to one other, forming wedge-shaped spaces within the core panel between opposing surfaces of the strips or blocks. These spaces fill with resin during the molding process, thus increasing the weight and cost of the sandwich panel. The resin within the spaces is not combined with reinforcing material, such as fiberglass, so its structural contribution to the panel is severely limited.
In some core panels, the low density cellular material is scored mostly, but not entirely, through the thickness of the core, and the flexible sheet material is omitted. The cutting or scoring of the balsa wood or foam plastic is generally done using saw blades, and the score lines comprise saw kerf voids which fill with undesired molding resin even when the core panel is in a planar position in a non-curved mold. The saw kerfs between the strips or blocks permit a limited degree of articulation when the core panel is placed in a concave mold with the scrim against the mold surface, but the core panel retains wedge-shaped voids between the strips or blocks which fill with excess resin.