An anisotropic conductive material body includes an insulating medium; and a plurality of conductive members dispersed in the medium. At least a surface of each of the plurality of conductive members is conductive. A force is applied to at least one of the plurality of conductive members so as to change the at least one conductive member, so that the conductive property of the anisotropic conductive material body provided by the at least one conductive member is changed to an insulating property.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an anisotropic conductive material body, a display apparatus, a method for producing the display apparatus, and a conductive member. More specifically, the present invention relates to an anisotropic conductive material body usable for electrically connecting electronic components, a display apparatus including a driving circuit mounted using such an anisotropic conductive material body, a method for producing the display apparatus, and a conductive member suitable for the anisotropic conductive material body.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a display apparatus such as, for example, a liquid crystal display apparatus, a driving signal which is output from a driving circuit is input to a display panel. In a general display apparatus, a display panel including a plurality of pixels is provided with a plurality of panel connectors at a fine pitch. The driving circuit includes a plurality of driving circuit connectors. The plurality of driving circuit connectors respectively correspond to, and connect with, the panel connectors.
The driving circuit is mounted on the display panel by TAB (Tape Automated Bonding), COG (Chip On Glass) or the like. For such a manner of mounting, an anisotropic conductive layer is used.
Japanese Laid-Open Publication No. 6-59268 discloses a structure for mounting a driving circuit on a display panel using an anisotropic conductive layer.
FIG. 4 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a mounting structure disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Publication No. 6-59268.
The mounting structure shown in FIG. 4 is provided on a peripheral portion of a liquid crystal display panel 30 as more specifically described below. On the peripheral portion, a plurality of panel connectors 31 are provided at a fine pitch. The plurality of panel connectors 31 receive, for example, a driving signal for driving the liquid crystal display panel 30. Also on the peripheral portion, a driving circuit 33 for supplying a driving signal or the like is mounted by an anisotropic conductive layer 34. The driving circuit 33 is a source COF (Chip on Film) section, a gate COF section, or the like.
The plurality of panel connectors 31 are provided so as to project from a surface of the liquid crystal display panel 30 toward the driving circuit 33. A plurality of driving circuit connectors 33a are provided so as to project from a surface of the driving circuit 33 toward the liquid crystal display panel 30. The plurality of driving circuit connectors 33a are located to face the corresponding panel connectors 31, respectively.
An anisotropic conductive layer 34 includes a synthetic resin 34a, a plurality of conductive particles 34b dispersed in the synthetic resin 34a, and a plurality of insulating particles 34c dispersed in the synthetic resin 34a. The plurality of conductive particles 34b contain metal such as nickel or the like. The synthetic resin 34a has an adhering property and acts as an adhesive.
The driving circuit 33 is bonded to the peripheral portion of the liquid crystal display panel 30 with the synthetic resin 34a. The plurality of driving circuit connectors 33a and the corresponding panel connectors 31 are electrically connected to each other with the conductive particles 34b, respectively. Accordingly, a driving signal which is output from the driving circuit 33 is input to the liquid crystal display panel 30 via the driving circuit connectors 33a, the conductive particles 34b, and the panel connectors 31.
The mounting structure shown in FIG. 4 is produced as follows.
The anisotropic conductive layer 34 is provided so as to cover the panel connectors 31 which are located on the peripheral portion of the liquid crystal display panel 30. The driving circuit 33 with the driving circuit connectors 33a is located on the anisotropic conductive layer 34. The driving circuit 33 is positioned with respect to the liquid crystal display panel 30 such that the driving circuit connectors 33a face the corresponding the panel connectors 31, respectively.
In this state, the driving circuit 33 is pressed on the anisotropic conductive layer 34, and the anisotropic conductive layer 34 is heated. When the anisotropic conductive layer 34 is heated, the synthetic resin 34a becomes a dissolved state, and the conductive particles 34b dispersed in the synthetic resin 34a flow into areas between the driving circuit connectors 33a and the corresponding panel connectors 31. The driving circuit connectors 33a and the corresponding panel connectors 31 are electrically connected to each other with the conductive particles 34b. Then, the synthetic resin 34a is cured, and thus the driving circuit 33 is mounted on the peripheral portion of the liquid crystal display panel 30.
Japanese Laid-Open Publication No. 5-29386 discloses a mounting structure using an anisotropic conductive layer.
FIG. 5 is a schematic cross-sectional view disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Publication No. 5-29386.
In the mounting structure shown in FIG. 5, a plurality of panel connectors 41 are provided at a fine pitch on a peripheral portion of a liquid crystal display panel 40.
The plurality of panel connectors 41 are provided so as to project from a surface of the liquid crystal display panel 40 toward a driving circuit 43. A plurality of driving circuit connectors 43a are provided so as to project from a surface of the driving circuit 43 toward the liquid crystal display panel 40.
An anisotropic conductive layer 45 includes a synthetic resin 45a and a plurality of conductive particles 45b dispersed in the synthetic resin 45a. The synthetic resin 45a acts as an adhesive.
In the mounting structure shown in FIG. 5, the plurality of panel connectors 41 each have a recessed portion 41a.
The depth of the recessed portion 41a is smaller than the particle diameter of the conductive particles 45b dispersed in the synthetic resin 45a.
Owing to such a depth of the recessed portion 41a, the conductive particles 45b flowing in the recessed portion 41a are suppressed from flowing out from the recessed portion 41a. Therefore, a bottom surface of the recessed portion 41a and the corresponding driving circuit connector 43a are electrically connected to each other with certainty by the conductive particles 45b.
In the mounting structure shown in FIG. 4, the panel connectors 31 project from the surface of the liquid crystal display panel 30 and the driving circuit connectors 33a project from a surface of the driving circuit 33. Therefore, the gap between the panel connectors 31 and the driving circuit connectors 33a is small. By contrast, the gap between an upper surface of a portion of the liquid crystal display panel 30 which does not have a panel connector 31 thereon, and a lower surface of a portion of the driving circuit 33 which does not have a driving circuit connector 33a thereon, is larger. Therefore, the anisotropic conductive layer 34 needs to be thick in order to mount the driving circuit 33 on the liquid crystal display panel 30. Production of such a thick anisotropic conductive layer 34 requires a larger amount of synthetic resin 34a, which increases the production cost.
In the mounting structure shown in FIG. 5, the panel connectors 41 project from the surface of the liquid crystal display panel 40 and the driving circuit connectors 43a project from the surface of the driving circuit 43. Therefore, the gap between the panel connectors 41 and the driving circuit connectors 43a is small. By contrast, the gap between an upper surface of a portion of the liquid crystal display panel 40 which does not have a panel connector 41 thereon, and a lower surface of a portion of the driving circuit 43 which does not have a driving circuit connector 43a thereon, is larger. Therefore, the anisotropic conductive layer 45 needs to be thick in order to mount the driving circuit 43 on the liquid crystal display panel 40. Production of such a thick anisotropic conductive layer 45 requires a larger amount of synthetic resin 45a, which increases the production cost.
In order to solve these problems, another mounting structure is proposed.
FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view illustrating another conventional mounting structure.
In the mounting structure shown in FIG. 6, one continuous panel connector 51 is provided for one driving circuit 53, without being divided to correspond to a plurality of driving circuit connectors 53a. The panel connector 51 has a plurality of recessed portions 51a respectively facing the plurality of driving circuit connectors 53a. The depth of each recessed portion 51a is smaller than the particle diameter of conductive particles 55b of an anisotropic conductive layer 55.
On a bottom surface of each recessed portion 51a, a connector 51b is provided. The plurality of connectors 51b are provided at a fine pitch.
The conductive particles 55b are each in contact with, and thus electrically connect, the corresponding driving circuit connector 53a and the corresponding connector 51b.
A driving signal which is output from the driving circuit 53 is input to a liquid crystal display panel 50 via the driving circuit connectors 53a, the conductive particles 55b, the connectors 51b, and the panel connectors 51.
In this mounting structure, the driving circuit connector 53a is electrically connected to the connector 51b with certainty by the conductive particles 55b flowing in the recessed portion 51a of the panel connector 51. The gap between the upper surface of a portion of the panel connector 51 which does not have a recessed portion 51a thereon, and the lower surface of a portion of the driving circuit 53 which does not have a driving circuit connector 53a thereon, is small. This allows the anisotropic conductive layer 55 used for mounting the driving circuit 53 to be thinner.
However, in the mounting structure shown in FIG. 6, each conductive particle 55b needs to have a large particle diameter such that the conductive particle 55b can contact both the driving circuit connector 53a and the connector 51b located on the bottom surface of the recessed portion 51a. For example, the conductive particle 55b needs to have a particle diameter of 10 μm or greater.
When the particle diameter of the conductive particle 55b is that large, the conductive particle 55b is compressed to be flatter in a gap between the upper surface of the panel connector 51 and the lower surface of a portion of the driving circuit 53 which does not have the driving circuit connector 53a. This may cause an undesirable result that adjacent conductive particles 55b contact, and to be conductive to, each other.
The driving circuit connectors 53a are provided at a fine pitch, like the recessed portions 51a of the panel connector 51. The pitch is usually about 100 μm. When the driving circuit connectors 53a are provided at such a fine pitch, the particle diameter of the conductive particles 55b of about 10 μm may cause the following undesirable result. When the conductive particles 55b are compressed to be flatter, adjacent conductive particles 55b become conductive to each other between two adjacent driving circuit connectors 53a and thus the adjacent driving circuit connectors 53a are short circuited.
The possibility that the above undesirable result occurs is low if the particle diameter of the conductive particles is about 3 to 5 μm. However, it cannot be guaranteed that such small conductive particles electrically connect the driving circuit connectors 53a and the connectors 51b on the bottom surfaces of the recessed portions 51a of the panel connector 51 to each other.

Anisotropic conductive material body, display apparatus, method for producing the display apparatus, and conductive member


A medical catheter assembly includes a catheter tip coupled to a distal end of an elongate catheter member and is symmetric about a plane defined by a septum of the elongate catheter member. The catheter tip defines first and second lumens, and the catheter tip defines first and second openings in the distal portion of the catheter tip. Each opening of the catheter tip is defined by a respective side surface of the catheter tip. Each opening is in fluid communication with a respective one of the first and second lumens of the catheter tip and with a respective one of a pair of lumens defined by the elongate catheter member. The distance between upper and lower surfaces of the catheter tip decreases from a distal end of the proximal portion toward a closed distal end of the catheter tip.

Catheters are flexible medical instruments intended for the withdrawal and introduction of fluids to and from body cavities, ducts and vessels. Catheters have particular application in hemodialysis procedures, in which blood is withdrawn from a blood vessel for treatment and subsequently returned to the blood vessel for circulation. Hemodialysis catheters can include multiple lumens, such as dual lumen or triple lumen catheters, which permit bi-directional fluid flow within the catheter whereby one lumen, the arterial lumen, is dedicated for withdrawal of blood from a vessel and the other lumen, the venous lumen, is dedicated for returning purified blood to the vessel. During some hemodialysis procedures, a multiple lumen catheter is inserted into a body, and blood is withdrawn through the arterial lumen of the catheter. The withdrawn blood is directed to a hemodialysis unit which dialyzes, or purifies, the blood to remove waste and toxins. Thereafter, the dialyzed blood is returned to the patient through the venous lumen of the catheter.
Generally, hemodialysis catheters are categorized as either chronic or acute in nature. Chronic catheters typically remain in place for extended periods of time, and may be implanted via surgical dissection. Acute catheters, by comparison, are designed to be placed in a patient under emergent circumstances in which speed of placement is desirable. Acute catheters typically remain in place for only a few days. As such, acute catheters are often more rigid than chronic catheters, given the urgency of placement.
In hemodialysis catheters, recirculation can occur when purified blood exiting the venous lumen of the catheter is withdrawn directly into the arterial lumen such that purified blood is returned to the dialyzer. As such, recirculation increases the time required to complete the hemodialysis procedure.


Methods, systems, and computer programs manage memory of a runtime environment executing on a virtual machine. A controller acts as an intermediary layer between the runtime environment and outside clients. The runtime environment coordinates with the controller to “hibernate” during idle periods to more efficiently utilize memory, and to quickly “refresh” state upon receiving an access attempt. A hypervisor may perform memory page compression on one or more guest “physical” memory pages utilized by an idle runtime environment. While hibernating, the runtime environment may use a listener thread to monitor for refresh requests and awaken the runtime environment when needed.

Virtual computing environments allow multiple virtual machines (VMs) to run on a single physical platform and to share physical resources. Some virtual computing environments enable configuration of VMs such that the total amount of memory designated for use by the VMs is larger than the actual amount of memory available on the host. Referred to as memory over-commitment, this feature enables a single physical platform (also referred to herein as a "host") to support the simultaneous execution of more VMs. Some virtual computing environments permit arbitrary boundaries to be placed around computing resources, such as memory, that may span more than one host. For example, a virtual computing environment may create two VMs, each configured with 4 GB of memory, from a resource pool potentially spanning multiple hosts and having a memory limit of less than the 8 GB required (e.g., a 7 GB memory limit.)
Consolidation of computing systems, which leads to the opportunity to over-commit computing resources, such as memory, is one of the key benefits of virtualization. To achieve over-commitment, the virtual infrastructure gives a VM less memory than what the guest operating system (OS) in the VM believes it has. This can be done by using a technique known as ballooning, which is described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,433,951, the entire contents of which are incorporated by reference herein. A balloon is a resource reservation application that runs as a guest application in the VM or as driver in the guest OS and that requests guest physical memory from the guest OS. After the guest OS has allocated guest physical memory for use by the balloon application, the balloon application is able to ultimately communicate information regarding the allocated guest physical memory to a hypervisor that supports the VM, which is then able to repurpose machine memory backing the guest "physical" memory allocated to the balloon application. That is, since the balloon application only reserves guest "physical" memory but does not actually use it, the hypervisor can, for example, repurpose machine memory that backs such allocated guest "physical" memory for use by another VM without fear that the balloon application would write to the guest "physical" memory (and therefore the backed machine memory).
Another technique for memory management is called hypervisor swapping. In this technique, the virtual infrastructure transparently unmaps (i.e., takes away) machine memory pages from the guest OS, swaps the content of guest "physical" memory pages to disk, and frees up machine memory for other VMs. The virtual infrastructure swaps the contents back into machine memory when the guest OS needs to access these guest "physical" memory pages. Both ballooning and hypervisor swapping may impact the performance of applications inside the guest, because there is less machine memory allocated to the guest. However, as long as the total working set of applications running in the guest is at least as large as the guest's machine memory allocation, the application may not suffer significant performance loss.
Unfortunately, there are applications and runtimes that do not work well with memory over-commitment. The Java Virtual Machine (JVM) is one of the most widely used runtimes in this category. In "cloud" environments that provide dynamic allocations of server resources, it has become increasingly popular to offer Java services by deploying JVMs running in VMs sharing resources with a physical host. It may be common for some of these JVMs to endure periods of inactivity, though the JVMs continue to consume valuable resources, such as memory. When the virtual infrastructure is under memory pressure, the virtual infrastructure may transfer this memory pressure to the VMs using the ballooning technique described above to reclaim machine memory that VMs and JVMs executing thereon may no longer be using. However, in the case of a VM running an idle JVM, additional memory pressure on the VM is likely to cause guest OS to instead page out guest "physical" memory pages relied upon by the idle JVM. In this case, when the idle JVM is later needed, for example, for processing server requests, a significant performance cost may be incurred by having to page in guest "physical" memory pages for the JVM from the guest's virtual disk device prior to resuming execution of the JVM. Similarly, the hypervisor swapping technique described above may incur a similar performance cost.

Hibernate mechanism for virtualized java virtual machines


In a system and a method for performing a safety function of a vehicle, control signals are generated and transferred to a functional unit of the vehicle by a control unit. The safety function is performed by the functional unit in dependence on the control signals. Diagnostic tests are repeatedly performed at time intervals, the diagnostic tests being used to check if a fault that can interfere with the performance of the safety function is present. Metadata of the data are transferred to the control unit by the communication system, the metadata containing information about systems. This information is used to determine at least one reliability value of the data by the control unit. In dependence on the at least one reliability value, the control unit checks if the transferred data are sufficiently reliable for the performance of the safety function.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method for carrying out a safety function of a vehicle and to a total system for carrying out this method.
2. Related Art
Modern vehicles are being increasingly equipped with active and passive protection devices. The protection devices are generally functional units of the vehicle configured to implement special safety functions in a partially or completely automated fashion. A safety function typically serves, after a defined dangerous incident or a dangerous situation has been detected and determined, to restore a state or operating mode of the vehicle that is as safe as possible or to maintain that state, in order, in this way, to avoid or at least minimize danger to persons and objects as well as personal injury and material damage. Known safety functions already in widespread use are, for example, the triggering of an airbag by an airbag system and the braking of individual wheels or of a plurality of wheels of the vehicle by an ESC system.
The carrying out of safety functions basically requires data containing information necessary for carrying out the safety function, for example information relating to the operating state or the state of movement of the vehicle. This data can be derived, for example, from sensor data of a sensor unit of the vehicle, for example a sensor unit for detecting rotational speeds of the wheels or for detecting a collision of the vehicle.
Contemporary development work has also focused on such safety functions that completely or partially assume control of the state of movement of the driving vehicle and, for example, automatically change the speed or the direction of travel of the vehicle, for example in order to prevent a rear-end collision or to drive around an obstacle.
Generally, and in particular in the case of the last-mentioned safety functions, there is, however, frequently uncertainty as to whether the data that is instantaneously available for carrying out the respective safety function (and the information contained in the data) is sufficiently safe and reliable for carrying out this safety function. In particular, there is uncertainty about the quality, the availability and the reliability of a communication system used during the transmission of the data, and in particular, uncertainty about the transmitted data quality and about possible quality losses during the reception of data. It is therefore possible, for example, for data loss or data falsification, for example due to the occurrence of a fault in the communication system during the transmission of the data, to adversely affect the carrying out of the safety function. Such an adverse effect could, for example, involve the safety function being carried out at the wrong time or using incorrectly calculated parameters.

Method for carrying out a safety function of a vehicle and system for carrying out the method


Heavy goods vehicle tire comprising a radial carcass reinforcement (10) anchored in each of the beads to an anchoring structure (20), this carcass reinforcement (10) being partially wound around an anchoring structure (20), passing from the inside of the tire towards the outside, a first connecting reinforcement (30) partially in contact with the carcass reinforcement (10) and wound around the anchoring structure (20), a second connecting reinforcement (40) formed of a plurality of reinforcing members directed in a mean direction that makes an angle of 50 degrees at most with the circumferential direction and envelopes the first connecting reinforcement (30) to form an internal portion (41) and an external portion (42), the internal portion (41) being in contact over a length V1 with the carcass reinforcement between a first end point D1 of the said first portion and the end point P1 of the first connecting reinforcement (30), the external portion (42) being in contact with the carcass reinforcement from a point D20 as far as an end point D2 of the external portion over a length V2, the points D1 and D2 being situated radially beyond the end points P1, P2 of the first connecting reinforcement (30).

A heavy goods vehicle tire comprises a crown part surmounted radially on the outside by a tread intended to come into contact with the roadway, this crown part being extended on each side by sidewalls ending in beads. A tire comprises a plurality of reinforcement armatures including, in particular, a carcass reinforcement the purpose of which is to withstand the loads created by the tire internal inflation pressure. This carcass reinforcement extends into the crown, the sidewalls of the tire and is anchored at its ends to appropriate anchoring structures located in the beads. The carcass reinforcement is generally made up of a plurality of reinforcing members arranged parallel to one another and making an angle of or in the region of 90 degrees with the circumferential direction (in which case, the carcass reinforcement is said to be "radial"). The carcass reinforcement is usually anchored by turning it up around an anchoring structure of appropriate circumferential rigidity in order axially on the outside to form a turned-up portion of which the length, measured for example with respect to the radially innermost point of the anchoring structure, is chosen to provide the tire with satisfactory durability during use. Axially between the turned-up portion and the carcass reinforcement there are one or more elastomer-based materials which provide a mechanical coupling between the two parts of the carcass reinforcement.
In use, this tire is mounted on a mounting rim comprising rim seats intended to be in contact with the radially innermost parts of the beads and, axially on the outside of each seat, a rim flange intended to fix the axial position of the said bead when the tire is fitted and inflated to its nominal pressure.
In order to withstand the mechanical stresses of running, it is known practice to provide additional reinforcements that reinforce the bead, in the form in particular of plies arranged against at least a part of the turned-up portion of the carcass reinforcement.
During running, the tire beads are subjected to a great many bending cycles, thereby winding themselves around the rim flanges (that is to say partially adopting the geometry of the said flanges). This bending results in greater or lesser variants in curvature combined with variations in tension in the reinforcement armatures that reinforce the beads and, in particular, in the turned-up portion of the carcass reinforcement and in the said reinforcement. These same cycles induce compressive and extensile loadings in the materials of which the beads are made. Under running conditions, it is also found that the reinforcing members of the reinforcement of the carcass ply shift circumferentially and cyclically in the sidewalls and the beads of the tire. A cyclic circumferential shift is to be understood here to mean that the shift is in one direction and in the opposite direction each time the wheel revolves about a mean position of equilibrium.
Running generates within the materials of which the bead is made, and in particular within the elastomeric materials and most especially in those situated in the immediate vicinity of the ends of the reinforcements (the end of the turned-up portion of the carcass reinforcement or the ends of the additional reinforcements) stresses and/or deformations which may lead to a more or less appreciable reduction in the service life of the tire.
This is because these stresses and/or deformations may cause delamination and cracking near the ends of the said reinforcements. Because of the radial direction of the reinforcing members and because of the nature of the said reinforcing members (these are generally metal cables) of which it is made, the turned-up end of the carcass reinforcement is particularly sensitive to this phenomenon.
The document published under the reference WO 2006/013201-A1 describes a tire bead structure in which the carcass reinforcement has been not turned up by being wound partially over a bead wire but wound around an anchoring structure over at least one full turn in each of the beads. In this way, the end of the carcass reinforcement lies in a region of the bead which is not subjected to high cyclic stresses; it is thus possible to improve the endurance of the beads.
However, while such a tire bead structure is effective from a mechanical standpoint, it is nonetheless still expensive and tricky to implement using conventional industrial scale and manufacturing means.


The present invention disposes a redundancy logic device and a redundancy line which are used selectively in place of a logic device or a line, which becomes unusable, in a logic portion of a semiconductor integrated circuit device such as a gate array integrated circuit.

This invention relates to a semiconductor integrated circuit device and to a technique which will be particularly effective when utilized for defects of a logic portion of a gate array integrated circuit or the like having logic gate circuits and memories, for example.
A gate array integrated circuit device having a large number of logic gate circuits is known. A memory equipped with a logic function which includes random access memories formed as a macro-cell and a logic portion for executing predetermined logical calculation processing for the stored data of the memories is also known.
The memory equipped with the logic function is described, for example, in "Digest Of Technical Papers", ISSCC, dated Feb. 15, 1989, Session II, pp. 26-27.
In the conventional logic integrated circuit device such as the memory equipped with the logic function as described above, the logic portion comprising the combination of a plurality of logic gate circuits is not provided with a redundancy for defect relief. Therefore, if abnormality occurs in any of the logic gate circuits or connection lines, the logic integrated circuit device is rejected as being a defective product and the production yield of the logic integrated circuit device drops. This problem becomes even more severe as the scale of the logic integrated circuit device becomes significantly increased and particularly when memories that are equipped with the defect relief function are mounted to the logic integrated circuit device. That is, the effect of the defect relief function thereof is spoiled. The present inventors examined a system employing a majority logic function by multiplexing the logic portion itself, for example, in order to cope with this problem however, this system cannot be practically implemented when the scale of the logic portion is great and its construction is complicated.

Single chip IC device having gate array or memory with gate array and provided with redundancy capability


This invention pertains to a method of infecting an organ or a tissue other than a liver with an effective amount of a vector carrying genetic material of interest. This invention features a method of infecting kidney cells by introducing into the vasculature of a kidney a vector carrying genetic material of interest and maintaining the vector in contact with the renal vasculature for a period of time sufficient to allow infection of kidney cells with an effective amount of the vector, and under conditions which protect the kidney from ischemic damage. This method allows for infection of a significant number of renal endothelial cells. The method of the invention can be used for both in vivo and ex vivo applications.

The development over the past decade of methods for delivering genes to mammalian cells has stimulated great interest in the possibility of treating human disease by gene-based therapies. Gene transfer technology has advanced considerably over the past few years. Both ex vivo and in vivo gene transfers into a variety of cells and organ systems have been accomplished. In the ex vivo form of gene delivery, cells derived either from the patient or from other sources, are first generally modified outside of the body by introduction of a particular gene or genes. These cells are then re-introduced into the body, so as to achieve either local, regional or widespread distribution. In the in vivo form of gene delivery, the gene is carried in an appropriate vehicle such as a viral vector or is introduced by non-viral means such as by lipofection or direct injection into the body. The advances of in vivo gene therapy are its relative cost advantage as well as the fact that the gene can be treated as a drug.
While retroviral vectors are used primarily in ex vivo gene therapy, adenovirus based vectors are vectors of choice for in vivo gene transfer. The advantages of adenovirus therapy include: (i) ability to transfer genes with very high efficiency into many cell types without the need for cell replication; (ii) high titers of the virus are easily achievable; (iii) they can accept large DNA fragments up to approximately 8 kb; and (iv) adenoviruses are considered to be relatively safe, because most adults have in fact acquired immunity against a variety of adenoviruses and adenovirus-attenuated vaccines have been safely used in man. However, one of the major limitations is that the expression of the adenovirus is transient, lasting from several weeks to several months. This is due to the fact that DNA introduced into a cell by an adenovirus based vectors will not incorporate into the host genome. Moreover, immune response from the host can eliminate adenovirally infected cells. New generation of adenoviruses are expected to overcome the latter problem.
In spite of the major advances in the field of gene-therapy, gene transfer into the mammalian kidney has proved difficult because of the structurally complex organization of the organ and its relatively low mitotic index. Moreover, the architectural organization of the kidney is critical for proper organ function. Thus, high efficiency gene delivery to one particular cell type may be difficult to achieve. Very little literature exists on the in vivo delivery of genes into the kidney.
Tomita et al. (Biochem. and Biophys. Res. Comm. 186:129-134, 1992) report a method for in vivo gene transfer into the rat kidney. They utilize HVJ (Sendai virus) and liposome methodology. In this protocol, plasmid DNA and a nuclear protein are coencapsulated in liposomes and later cointroduced into cells. The reporter gene utilized in these studies was the SV40 large T antigen. The gene transfer was conducted by inserting a catheter proximal to the right renal artery with the abdominal aorta clipped distally beneath the left renal artery. The liposome suspension was injected into the kidneys. Four days after the injection of this mixture, SV40 large T antigen was detected immunohistochemically in 15% of glomerular capillary cells. The expression of the T antigen declined rapidly over the ensuing 2-3 days. Interestingly, no expression of the foreign gene was detected outside of the glomerulus. Akami et al. (Transplantation Proceedings 26(3):1315-1317, 1994) have used a similar HVJ-liposome complex to introduce human CD59 gene into canine kidney in vivo. They report transient and insufficient expression of the CD59 gene in the glomerular cells of the kidney.
A study by Zhu et al. (Science 261:209-11, 1993), reports the use of a particular cationic liposomc DNA mixture to deliver genes with high efficiency into a vast number of endothelial cells in a rat. The gene transfer protocol is initiated by tail vein injection. The study reports long-term expression in almost all of the endothelial cells of the body as well as in a variety of parenchymal cell types including the lung, spleen, lymph nodes, and bone marrow. It also reports that between 25-50% of endothelial cells in the kidney are transfected, but does not provide any information on whether these endothelial cells are in glomerular or non-glomerular regions. Also, there is no indication of the duration of expression in these kidney cells.
Moullier et al. (Kidney International 45:1220-1225, 1994) provides a first report of an adenoviral-mediated gene transfer into a kidney in vivo. A replication deficient adenoviral vector that contained a .beta.-gal reporter gene was selectively perfused into the renal artery or infused through a retrograde catheter into the pyelic cavity of the adult rat kidney. Transient (2-4 weeks), low levels of the .beta.-gal expression were observed in the proximal tubular cells, when the adenoviral vector was selectively perfused via the renal artery, while expression was observed in tubular cells from the papilla and medulla when the adenoviral vector was administered by retrograde infusion. No expression was observed in the endothelial cells of the kidney.
Therefore, the need still exists for development of methods for a more efficient in vivo gene transfer into specific kidney cells.


A method, a mobile device arid a computer program product for acquiring GPS on a mobile device possessing GPS capability are disclosed. The method comprises the step of setting a current value of the period of the power-up phase of the GPS dependent upon adaptive predictions of when the GPS should be powered on to meet specifications on positioning accuracy and GPS acquisition time.

Techniques for the positioning of mobile devices in a wireless environment are important for a number of applications, such as emergency location services, ad hoc networks, and vehicle tracking.
In the mobile phone industry, competing technologies address the specific issues of Emergency-911 (E-911) position location. Broadly speaking, these technologies fall into two categories: (1) network-based technologies and (2) Global Positioning Systems (GPS) technologies. The network-based technologies use network-based metrics (e.g., time of flight, angle of arrival etc). The GPS technologies use line-of-sight measurements to satellites.
Network-based and GPS technologies each attempt to meet the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) requirements for E-911 Emergency Location Services. The FCC requirements set specific statistical requirements on the position accuracy on any technology. Currently the FCC's E-911 Phase II Plans dictate that 67% of all attempts for a position location must have an accuracy of less than 50 m, and 95% of calls must have an accuracy of less than 150 m (Federal Communications Commission E-911 http://www.fcc.gov/911/enhanced/). Although not mandated, it is generally accepted that acquisition time of a position fix must be in a reasonably short time scale. A positioning technology that can deliver a position fix within a timescale of 30 seconds is generally considered reasonable for E-911 services, since such a small amount of time has negligible impact on the total time taken for the emergency services to reach the emergency scene.
GPS-based techniques are known to provide accurate position measurements. However, such techniques are prone to a lengthy GPS acquisition time (the length of time taken from the time a GPS device is powered on until that device obtains a position fix). A principal reason for this is that the device does not know a priori which GPS satellites are currently in view and must undertake an exhaustive search to find the satellites in view. This is termed a "cold start". Generally speaking in cold start mode, a GPS device can take up to several minutes to find a location fix, which is a time-scale deemed inappropriate for many applications, such as E-911.
One simple approach to overcome this difficulty involves simply keeping the GPS device switched on at all times. After an initial fix, the satellite almanac and ephemeris data are continuously kept up-to-date, and a cold start phase can be avoided. In this mode, the GPS device is said to be in "hot start" mode. A principal disadvantage of always keeping the device in a hot-start mode is the drain on the battery resources of the mobile device. Battery power in a mobile device is a precious resource, and any steps that can be taken to maximize battery life are advantageous. Simply keeping a GPS device powered on at all times to avoid the cold start is generally considered an unacceptable solution. This is particularly the case for an application like E-911, where the GPS location finding capability is likely to be only rarely utilized.
A potential resolution to the problem of cold starts can be found in the Assisted-GPS (A-GPS) system proposed by Qualcomm; see Qualcomm White Paper, How A-GPS Works, 2001 (http://www.snaptrack.com/pdf/How_aGPS_works.pdf). In this system, the network "assists" the mobile device by transferring updated almanacs and ephemeris, collected by base stations, to the mobile device upon receipt of a location request. This speeds up the GPS acquisition of a mobile device relative to the acquisition from a cold start. The system also integrates network positioning information to find optimal position accuracy. However, this approach at attempting to solve the cold start problem comes at the cost of increased complexity in the network system design and incurs additional costs for the required extra infrastructure (i.e. network hardware and communications). This system is also not workable if the mobile device is disconnected from a network, but still requires a GPS position fix.
Another system attempting to address cold start is the use of periodic power-down of the GPS device. In this mode, the device is periodically switched off for a set period. As long as the time switched off remains small, at each onset of the power-up phase, the GPS device effectively commences in hot start mode. This periodic power-down of a GPS device is termed "TricklePower" by GPS chipset manufacturers; see Laipac Technology Inc., Reference Guideline to TF GPS, September 2001, (http://www.laipac.com/datasheets/gps/TF%20GPS%20Series.pdf). In this mode, a user is allowed to set initially the power-up period, Pu. For example, setting Pu=30 minutes means the GPS device powers up every 30 minutes to acquire a position fix. Once the fix is obtained (usually within seconds), the GPS device enters power-down mode.
Simply guessing what value to set Pu at is not optimal. A need clearly exists for an improved GPS acquisition system.


A method for controlling centrifuges to improve solid-liquid separations, and particularly to achieve desired or optimal solids concentration in the concentrate discharge, is described. The method utilizes mass and solids balances on the centrifuge, together with measured and/or specified values for variables in the balances and for operating conditions of the centrifuge. The system further provides for the measurement of mass or solids concentrations of the concentrate and/or centrate streams as input for a feedback control system which adjusts the shot duration, shot interval or feed rate to modify operation of the centrifuge.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to methods for controlling centrifuges to improve solid-liquid separations, and particularly to achieve desired or optimal solids concentration in the concentrate discharge.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In certain industrial processes, intermittently discharged disk-stack centrifuges are used to carry out solid-liquid separations. A single stream, the feed, consisting of a mixture of an insoluble, sedimentable solid phase and a liquid phase, is continuously delivered to the centrifuge. The sedimentable solid phase is separated from the non-sedimentable liquid phase on the disks within the spinning bowl, and is flung to the periphery of the inside of the bowl, where it accumulates. At discrete intervals, the bowl is opened momentarily and the accumulated solids are discharged from the bowl.
The discharged material is referred to as the concentrate, because it is enriched in solid phase relative to the feed. Another exit stream, the centrate, is deprived of the solid phase relative to the feed. The product of interest may be in the liquid phase, such as in the clarification of alcoholic beverages or industrial fermentations in which the product is secreted into the medium. Alternatively, the product may be in the solid, sedimentable phase, as when a highly-expressed recombinant protein forms inclusion bodies intracellularly.
The operational parameters of an intermittently discharged disk-stack centrifuge are feed flow rate, shot interval, and shot duration. The term "shot" is a colloquial expression for the discharge event, stemming from the noise made on discharge which is similar to the firing of a weapon. Feed flow rate is the rate at which the feed is conveyed into the machine. The shot interval is the length of time between discharges of the concentrate. The shot duration is the length of time the bowl is opened during a discharge. The feed flow rate determines the residence time of solid particles in a centrifuge and the rate at which solids and liquid enter the machine. The shot interval and shot duration together determine the rate of removal of solids, and to some extent influence the concentration of solids in the discharged material.
The degree to which the interdependent process objectives of yield, purification and concentration of solids in the discharge are achieved is a measure of the performance of the intermittently discharged disk-stack centrifuge. Yield is a measure of the amount of product leaving the centrifuge in the stream which will be processed further compared to the amount of product entering the centrifuge. Purity is the ratio of the concentration of the product in a stream to the concentration of something else in the stream, such as nonvolatile solids or protein. Purification is the ratio of the purity of the product in the stream which will be processed further, compared to the purity of the product in the feed stream. Purification is a measure of the degree of separation achieved in the centrifuge between product and contaminants.
The concentration of solids in the discharge is the performance variable most directly controllable via the operating parameters of the centrifuge. The process objectives of yield (for a liquid phase product) and purification (for a solid phase product) are not directly controllable, but depend somewhat on the concentration of solids in the discharged stream. For a liquid-phase product, the greater the proportion of the liquid that is discharged in the concentrate stream, the lower is the yield of product in the centrate stream. In order to maximize the yield, no liquid would be allowed to be discharged in the concentrate stream. However, if no liquid is included in the discharge, the resulting concentrate is a very thick paste that cannot be discharged. Thus, in order for the solids phase to be conveyed out of the machine at discharge, some volume of liquid must be discharged with the solids. Optimized performance with respect to yield for a liquid-phase product requires, then, that the amount of liquid discharged with the solids be just sufficient to prevent the discharged slurry from forming a paste that cannot be conveyed out of the machine. That is, the discharge should be just thin enough to be discharged efficiently.
To optimize the purification of a solid-phase product, the amount of liquid in the concentrate stream should be no more than is necessary to allow efficient discharge of the concentrate. This is because soluble material in the liquid will reduce purity. Achieving an optimal concentration of solids in the concentrate is essential for optimized centrifuge operation. Additionally, it is desirable to achieve a particular target solids concentration in the concentrate when the next processing step has a low tolerance for liquid, is limited in its volume handling capacity, or benefits from low solids concentration variability. In summary, good control of the solids (or liquid) content of the discharged stream is essential when the objectives are to optimize yield for a liquid-phase product, to optimize purification for a solid phase product, or to produce a discharge having a high solids concentration or a solids concentration in a narrow range.
In the past, the operating parameters to control the amount of liquid in the discharged concentrate were chosen empirically at the beginning of processing, and then altered during the separation in response to in-process measurements. The performance of the centrifuge during operation was monitored by periodically removing a sample of the concentrate stream and measuring the volumetric percentage of solids using a small centrifuge (a Gyro tester). If the volumetric percentage of solids in the discharge deviated from a target value, then the centrifuge operating parameters were varied by trial-and-error until the measurement came within a prescribed range of the target.
Sometimes this approach succeeded and the solids content of the concentrate met process expectations. Frequently, however, the process objective for solids content was not achieved, resulting in high variability in solids content and consistently suboptimal purification. The most important causes of this high variability were the imprecision in the in-process measurement of volumetric percent solids, and the lack of a model by which process objectives (solids content, yield, purification), the operational parameters of the centrifuge (feed flow rate, shot interval, and shot duration), in-process measurements, and characteristics of the feed stream could be related.
The present invention provides a method for controlling the centrifuge that greatly increases the likelihood of producing a concentrate discharge having a desired or optimal solids concentration. This method is based on mathematically sound mass balances and a model to relate process objectives, the operational parameters of the centrifuge, in-process measurements, and the characteristics of the feed stream.

Method for controlling intermittently discharged centrifuges


An electrode includes a composite mixture layer formed by applying a composite mixture having one of a cathode active material or an anode active material on one of main surfaces of a plurality of current collectors formed in substantially rectangular shapes; and a non-applied part to which the composite mixture is not applied at both end parts in the longitudinal direction. One current collector is connected to the other adjacent current collector at one end side in the longitudinal direction through a connecting part to which the composite mixture is not applied and which is provided continuously to the non-applied parts. In the electrode constructed as described above, a plurality of current collectors can be laminated to obtain a multi-layer structure and an electric current can be collected from a lead welded to only one end part of the current collector. Thus, the electrode of a new form having an excellent productivity and a high capacity can be provided.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electrode having a current collector and a composite mixture layer to which a composite mixture including one of a cathode active material and an anode active material is applied and a method for manufacturing the electrode, and more particularly to an electrode having a new electrode form and a method for manufacturing the electrode.
2. Description of the Related Art
As cordless and portable electronic devices have been increasingly developed, batteries employed as power sources for driving various types of electronic devices, especially, secondary batteries have been demanded to be compact and light. For these electronic devices, there have been used nickel-cadmium secondary batteries, lead-acid batteries and nonaqueous electrolyte batteries using active materials capable of doping with and dedoped from lithium, what is called, lithium type batteries.
Particularly, the lithium type batteries such as lithium batteries or lithium-ion batteries have advantages, among these batteries, that they are high in their battery voltage, energy density, low in their self-discharge and excellent in their cyclic characteristics. Accordingly, these lithium type batteries have been used as practical and commercial batteries.
In recent years, it has been necessary for the lithium type batteries to have battery forms adapted to the forms of the electronic devices. The lithium type batteries need to have, for example, forms of sheets or forms of strips so that they can be mounted on the electronic devices such as hardwares.
Since liquid type batteries using nonaqueous electrolyte solution as electrolytes employ metallic cans as outer jacket materials in order to prevent the leakage of liquid and ensure a safety, the forms of the batteries cannot be changed. Therefore, it is difficult to adapt the forms of the liquid type batteries to the forms of the electronic devices, and, the batteries having, for example, the shapes of sheets or the shapes of strips cannot be realized.
Thus, solid electrolyte batteries using solid electrolytes in which there is no fear that liquid as the electrolyte leaks and laminate films or the like are used as the outer jacket materials are put to practical use. Since the solid electrolytes and the laminate films used for the outer jacket materials are excellent in their flexibility, the solid electrolyte batteries having the solid electrolytes and the laminate films are also excellent in their flexibility. The batteries can be relatively easily formed into the shapes of sheets or the shapes of strips.
When the multi-function of the hardware is taken into consideration, the battery needs to have a high capacity, so that the area of the electrode having the composite mixture layer and the current collector needs to be widely and adequately ensured. When the electrode has a single-layer structure, a wide electrode area is required in order to achieve a desired battery capacity. Further, for the outer jacket of the battery, an area equal to or more than the area of the electrode is necessary. Accordingly, when the area of the electrode is increased in the electrode having the single-layer structure, the uses thereof are inconveniently restricted and a manufacture cost is disadvantageously increased. Thus, there is made a proposal that an electrode has a multi-layer structure by forming a composite mixture layer and laminating, for instance, a rectangular current collector to ensure a wide electrode area and achieve a desired battery capacity and make an external form of the battery compact.
However, when the electrode has the multi-layer structure by laminating the current collectors, it is necessary to pull out leads respectively from the current collectors upon manufacturing the electrode, so that a volume energy density is decreased for the leads. Accordingly, it is inconveniently difficult to more increase a high capacity.
Further, when the electrode has the multi-layer structure, since various kinds of steps such as cutting a lead for each current collector and welding and connecting the lead are required, there exist problems that a manufacture cost is high, much labors and time are required for producing the battery and a productivity is not good.

Electrode, battery using the same and method for manufacturing the electrode


A premix burner is provided for a gas turbine, in the form of a double-cone burner, which has two partial cone shells which are arranged nested one inside the other, forming air inlet ducts between them, through which combustion air from the outside flows into a conical inner space of the premix burner. Linear rows of holes of injection openings, which extend transversely to the flow direction of the combustion air, are arranged on the outer walls of the air inlet ducts and through which a gaseous fuel is injected into the combustion air which flows past transversely to them. A method for reworking such premix burners is also provided.

The present invention starts from a premix burner for a gas turbine in the form of a so-called "double-cone burner", as is known, for example, from U.S. Pat. No. 5,921,770, which is incorporated by reference. The first figure of this application is generally reproduced here as FIG. 1.
The premix burner 10 according to FIG. 1 is comprised of two hollow partial cone shells 11, 12 which extend along an axis (29 in FIG. 2) and are nested one inside the other in an offset manner in relation to each other. The offset of the respective center axis or longitudinal symmetry axis of the partial cone shells 11, 12 in relation to each other creates, on both sides, in a mirror-image arrangement, a tangential air inlet duct 18, 19 in each case through which combustion air 20 flows into the conical inner space 30 of the burner. The two partial cone shells 11, 12 have in each case an entry section in the form of a cylinder 14, 15. Accommodated in the region of the cylinders 14, 15 is a nozzle 24 for atomizing a preferably liquid fuel 23 which, after combustion together with the injected combustion air 20, forms a flame front 28.
Naturally, the premix burner 10 can be of purely conical design, that is to say without the cylinders 14, 15. The partial cone shells 11, 12 furthermore have in each case a fuel line 16, 17 which are arranged along the tangential air inlet ducts 18, 19 and provided with injection openings 21 in the form of linear rows of holes through which a gaseous fuel 22 is injected into the combustion air 20 which flows past there, as is represented by means of arrows. These fuel lines 16, 17 are preferably placed at the latest at the end of the tangential inflow before entry into the inner space 30 in order to ensure optimum air/fuel mixing.
Towards the combustion chamber 25, the premix burner 10 has a front plate 13, serving as an anchor for the partial cone shells 11, 12, with a number of holes 26 through which cooling air 27 can be fed to the front section of the combustion chamber 25 as required.
The design and arrangement of the injection openings 21 for the gaseous fuel 22 has considerable influence upon the mixing of the fuel with the combustion air 20. The fuel 22 is injected into the air inlet passage 18, 19 of the premix burner 10 perpendicularly to the air flow. Mixing of the fuel 22 with the air is influenced both by the location of the injection openings 21 and by the flow velocity of the gaseous fuel.
In premix burners of the described type in use up to now, use is made of injection openings 21 which are represented as a row of holes R1 in FIG. 2, wherein such a row of holes is associated in each case with each of the two air inlet ducts 18, 19. If natural gas is used as the gaseous fuel, 32 injection openings 21 with a small outside diameter are arranged in the row of holes R1.
It has now transpired that during operation of such premix burners the mixing-through of the combustion air and the gaseous fuel can be improved more in order to lower the peak values of the flame temperature in the burner and therefore to reduce pollutant emissions (for example NOx).


A quad-line kite having a sail shape consisting of a center rectangle or square and two outside pentagonal sections, one horizontal and at least two vertical spars, three strips of vent screen along the spars, and four control lines each attached to one quadrant of the kite, such that the kite can be flown at virtually equal speed in any direction or rotated about its axis in either direction, due to the unique balance of sail warping and air spilling capability, and also having a high sail area to weight ratio, enabling it to be flown in light as well as strong winds.

In recent years significant advances have been made in controllable flight kite and related airfoil technology, beginning in the 1940's with two-line kites that allowed for the first time a significant degree of flight control, and culminating within the last few years in four-line, or quad-line, kites that permit precision flying. This invention relates to an improved quad-line kite with exceptional balance of control, maneuverability at roughly equivalent speed in any direction, rotation about its axis in either direction, and flight capability in especially light winds.
Early development of kite control can be traced to Paul Garber, who in 1944 developed the Navy Target Kite (U.S. Pat. No. 2,388,478) which was maneuvered via two lines. This kite was flown from shipboard to serve as a gunnery target. A variety of two line kites for recreational use followed, represented in popular versions by the Peter Powell (U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,954,235 and 4,076,189), a two-line kite shaped like a traditional diamond kite, and the Flexifoil (U.S. Pat. No. 4,129,272), a two-line kite shaped like an aerofoil and inflated by wind pressure from the front.
In the most recent development, a number of four-line, or quad-line, kites have been marketed. These kites in general exhibit a remarkable degree of precision flying and control by means of the four control lines. Typical examples of these quad-line kites that are available include models with names such as "Revolution" (U.S. Pat. No. 4,892,272), "Omni" (Stunt Kite Quarterly Magazine, back cover, Fall/Winter 1991), and "Tetrad" (American Kite Magazine, p.45, Summer 1991). All are significant advancements over two-line kites in terms of their ability to be rotated or flown in various directions at the operator's command via the four lines.
The available quad-line kites, while substantially advanced over the prior art of two-line kites, nevertheless do have limitations. These limitations generally relate to the ability of the kite to move in various directions. For this purpose, it is helpful to understand that the edge of the kite connected to lines attached to the upper ends of the control handles (as they are held by the operator) is generally considered to be the "front" of the kite. Therefore, when the kite in question is moving in the direction of that edge, it can be said to be moving "forward". Movement in the opposite direction of that edge is generally termed "reverse."
The Revolution is advertised by its manufacturers as being capable of "forward and reverse flight." No mention is made of the possibility of sideways flight. Experienced operators are able to cause the kite to fly directly sideways, but this maneuver is not achievable by non-experts. However, even in the hands of an expert, the rate of sideways flight is markedly slower than the rate of forward flight. Also, it is difficult to maintain the Revolution in motion once sideways flight has begun. In addition, the rate of reverse flight is much slower than the rate of forward flight. Thus, the Revolution falls short of the ideal kite which would have the ability to fly with stability in all directions at equal speed.
To address this problem, two other manufacturers have devised quad-line kites. The Tetrad is advertised to provide flight "in all directions." In this respect its manufacturer has succeeded. The Tetrad is maneuverable in all directions by quad-line operators of average ability. However, the rates of sideways and forward/reverse flight are not equal, and the kite is unacceptably slow in all directions. The Tetrad is also difficult to accelerate smoothly from a hovering position into flight in a given direction. Additionally, it is difficult to cause the Tetrad to continue moving with stability in any direction once movement has begun.
The Omni also advertises "performance in all directions." Like the Tetrad, the Omni is maneuverable in all directions by operators of average ability. Also like the Tetrad, the Omni exhibits a resistance to beginning motion in a given direction. The Omni is capable of stable sideways motion, but forward and reverse flight are difficult to maintain. Most importantly, however, the Omni's rates of movement are not equal. In contrast with the Revolution, which moves fastest in a forward direction, the Omni is much faster in the sideways direction than in forward or reverse.
In all of the above cases, there is an instability in motion or a resistance to motion that is manifested by the kite twisting slightly and moving in a direction other than the desired one. Another universal problem is the excessive weight of the spars relative to the sail area of the kite. This hinders the ability of the kites to fly in low wind. Finally, each of the above kites has a limitation in its ability to move as quickly in one direction as it can in others. Therefore, in summary, the available quad-line kites (1) do not exhibit the desired ability to easily begin and maintain flight in all directions, (2) do not exhibit the desired ability to fly in low wind, and (3) do not exhibit the desired ability to move with equal speed in any direction.


An electrical assembly comprising a housing forming a liquid tank inside thereof, dielectric liquid in the liquid tank, at least one fuse, and a blown fuse indication system. Each of the fuses is immersed in the dielectric liquid, and is provided with a striker pin. The blown fuse indication system is adapted to indicate a blowout of any one of the fuses by an indication signal. The blown fuse indication system comprises a first indication member and a second indication member. The first indication member is movable by the striker pins. The second indication member is immovably connected to the housing, and adapted to generate the indication signal as a response to relative movement between the first indication member and the second indication member.

Blown fuse indication systems are used in transformers and other electrical devices.
Herein, a transformer is a static electrical device comprising a housing and a winding system located inside the housing, the winding system comprising a primary winding and a secondary winding, and the transformer being adapted to transfers electrical energy between the primary winding and the secondary winding without an electrically conductive connection between the primary winding and the secondary winding.
A known transformer comprises fuses immersed in dielectric liquid inside a liquid tank formed by a housing of the transformer, and a blown fuse indication system adapted to indicate a blowout of any one of the fuses by an indication signal. The blown fuse indication system comprises micro switches immersed in the dielectric liquid, and adapted to generate the indication signal, and wires adapted to transfer the indication signal from the micro switches to outside the housing.
One of the problems associated with the above known transformer is that replacing the micro switches is difficult. Further, the wires of the blown fuse indication system create a galvanic contact path close to live components inside the housing.

Electrical assembly comprising blown fuse indication system


Provided are an AMOLED pixel unit, a method for driving the same, and a display device. The AMOLED pixel unit includes a compensating unit, a light emitting control unit, a driving transistor, a storage capacitor and an organic light emitting diode, wherein the compensating unit is switched on under the control of a signal on a scan line; the light emitting control unit is switched on under the control of a signal on a light emitting control line; an anode of the organic light emitting diode is connected to a second terminal of the storage capacitor, and a cathode of the organic light emitting diode receives a second power supply signal. Such a circuit can effectively compensate for the drift and the non-uniformity of the threshold voltages of the transistors and the non-uniformity of the voltages of the organic light emitting diodes.

Organic light emitting diodes (OLED) have been increasingly used as current-type light-emitting devices in high-performance Active Matrix Organic Light Emitting Diode displays. With increasing of display size, conventional passive matrix organic light emitting diode displays require a shorter driving time for a single pixel, and thus require an increased transient current, which causes increased power consumption. Meanwhile, a voltage drop on a line of nanometer indium tin oxide (ITO) will be too large when a large current is applied, such that an operating voltage of OLED is too high and efficiency of OLED is decreased. The currents for OLEDs are input to active-matrix organic light-emitting diode displays when switching transistors are scanned progressively, which can solve the above problems well.
In design of an AMOLED backboard, a main problem to be solved is non-uniformity of luminance among respective pixels of AMOLED.
First, for AMOLED, pixel circuits are constituted by thin film transistors to supply currents for driving OLED devices, respectively. In prior art, Low-temperature poly-silicon thin film transistors (LTPS TFT) or oxide thin film transistor (Oxide TFT) are mostly adopted. Compared to a general amorphous silicon thin film transistor (amorphous-Si TFT), LTPS TFT and Oxide TFT have higher mobility and more stable characteristics, and thus are more suitable for AMOLED display. However, due to limitations of the crystallization process, LTPS TFTs produced on a large-area glass substrate often have non-uniformity on electrical parameters such as threshold voltage, mobility and the like, and such non-uniformity may cause current difference and luminance difference among OLED devices, that is, a mura phenomena occurs, which may be perceived by human eyes. Although process of Oxide TFTs achieves a better uniformity, similar to a-Si TFTs, a threshold voltage of Oxide TFT may drift under a high temperature or supplied with a voltage for a long time. Due to different images as displayed, drifts of threshold voltages of TFTs in respective areas on a panel may be different from each other, which may cause display luminance difference, such display luminance difference often renders in turn an image sticking phenomenon since such display luminance difference has a relation to a previously displayed image.
Second, in large-size display applications, since a certain resistance exists in a power supply line on the backboard, and driving currents for all pixels are supplied from an ARVDD power supply, a supply voltage for an area near to a location of the ARVDD power supply is higher than a supply voltage for an area far from the location, such a phenomenon is known as a voltage drop of the power supply (IR Drop). As the voltage of the ARVDD power supply has a relation to currents in different areas, IR drop may also cause driving current differences in different areas, and thus a mura phenomenon appears during display. LTPS process for constructing pixel units by adopting P-type TFTs is sensitive to such an IP drop since a storage capacitor therein is connected between the ARVDD and a gate of TFT, and thus voltage variation of ARVDD may directly affect a gate-source voltage Vgs for driving the TFT.
Third, the non-uniformity of the electrical characteristics of the OLED devices may also be resulted from non-uniform thickness of the mask during an evaporation process. For the a-Si or Oxide TFT process constructing pixel units by adopting N-type TFTs, a storage capacitor therein is connected between a gate of a driving TFT and an anode of the light-emitting device, if voltages at the anodes of the OLED devices of respective pixels are different when a data voltage is transmitted to the gates, the gate-source voltages Vgs actually applied to the TFTs may be different, so that display luminance are different due to different driving currents.
In prior art, an AMOLED voltage-type pixel unit driving circuit is provided, and a voltage-type driving method is similar to a conventional AMLCD driving method, wherein a voltage signal representative of a gray scale is supplied from a driving unit, and the voltage signal is converted to a current signal for a driving transistor inside the pixel circuit so as to drive OLED to achieve the luminance corresponding to the gray scale. Such a method has advantages of fast driving speed and simple implementation, is suitable to be used in the driving of a large size panel, and is thus widely adopted in display industry. However, it is necessary to design additional devices comprising TFTs and capacitors to compensate for non-uniformity of TFTs, IR Drop and non-uniformity of OLEDs.
As shown in FIG. 1, a conventional circuit configuration of a voltage-driven type pixel unit adopts two TFTs and a capacitor (2T1C), wherein a data voltage on a data line is transmitted to a gate of a driving transistor TQ through a switching transistor TK and is then converted into a corresponding current by the driving transistor TQ for being supplied to an OLED device. In normal operation, the driving transistor TQ is in a saturation region and provides a constant current during a scanning period for a row of pixels. The current may be represented as:
      I          O                                      L                                      E                                      D        =            1      2                          μ        n            ·      Cox      ·              W        L            ·                        (                                    V                                                                                data                        -                          V                                                                                oled                        -                          V                                                                                thn                                )                2
Wherein, for all pixel units, μn represents a carrier mobility, Cox represents a gate oxide layer capacitance, W/L represents a width/length ratio of a channel of a transistor, Vdata represents a data voltage, Voled represents an operating voltage of OLED, Vthn represents a threshold voltage of the transistor, wherein Vthn has a positive value when the transistor is an enhanced TFT and has a negative value when the transistor is a depleted TFT.
Although the pixel unit driving circuit in the prior art has been widely used, it has the following problems inevitably: there is difference among currents in different pixel units if the different pixel units have different Vthn; in addition, if Vthn in a pixel unit drifts with elapse of time, the current may vary with time, thus rendering an image sticking; moreover, the non-uniformity of the OLED devices will render different operating voltages of the OLED devices, which may also contribute to the difference among currents of different pixel units.

AMOLED pixel unit, method for driving the same, and display device


A multi-platen, multi-slurry chemical mechanical polishing method comprises providing a substrate having a surface that includes at least one nitride structure and an oxide layer atop the nitride structure, performing a first CMP process on the substrate using a first platen with a silica based slurry to remove a bulk portion of the oxide layer without exposing the nitride structure, performing a second CMP process on the substrate using a second platen with a ceria based slurry to remove a residual portion of the oxide layer and to expose at least a portion of the nitride structure, and performing a third CMP process on the substrate using the first platen with a silica based slurry to remove at least one defect caused by the ceria based slurry.

Shallow trench isolation (STI) is a standard process used in nanofabrication to isolate the active areas of semiconductor devices. An STI process generally consists of digging trenches in the silicon wafers and filling them with a dielectric oxide material. A typical STI process includes a chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) step to planarize the dielectric oxide material after it has been deposited into the shallow trenches. Standard CMP processes generally use a silica-based oxide slurry to polish the STI layers.
Shallow trench isolation CMP using conventional, silica-based oxide slurries has a number of problems such as variation of pattern density across the die, non-uniform polishing rate within the wafer, and insufficient selectivity of oxide to nitride. Furthermore, current silica-based oxide slurries are not capable of meeting planarity requirements of STI modules for the sub-65 nm technology node. Silica-based slurries may leave oxide in some areas of the wafer while polishing nitride in other areas of the wafer, thereby causing problems for subsequent processing steps due to poor planarity on the surface of the polished wafer.
Ceria-abrasive based slurries are another option because they provide a unique across wafer uniformity advantage. These slurries do not have significant nitride polish rates, thereby allowing the polishing process to be stopped when the nitride layer is exposed without significant polishing of the nitride layer occurring. This results in excellent across-wafer uniformity. Ceria based slurries, however, entail a higher cost and have a higher incidence of defects.

Multi-platen multi-slurry chemical mechanical polishing process


A non-lethal cartridge having sufficient discharge energy for use, without modification, in conventional firearms. When used with a firearm with a rifled barrel, the cartridge comprises a non-lethal projectile having a grooved outer surface and a dense powder ballast. Upon discharge, the dense powder ballast is dispersed. When used with a smooth bore firearm, the cartridge also comprises a cylindrical casing having rifling grooves on the inner surface thereof. These grooves will impose a spin on a projectile fired from the cartridge casing. The dense powder ballast will provide sufficient initial inertial mass to permit proper functioning of the firearm, but disperses and dissipates a portion of the discharge energy, simulating the recoil impulse and permitting the non-lethal projectile to simulate the trajectory of standard ammunition.

Non-lethal ammunition typically launches a projectile with a kinetic energy that will produce non-lethal effects upon target impact. Existing semi-automatic and automatic weapons such as semi-automatic shotguns are designed to fire projectiles with kinetic energies far greater than non-lethal projectiles of the same caliber. The weapon operating systems are designed to function with projectiles which have a specific minimum ammunition impulse. There is a great and still unsatisfied need for firing non-lethal ammunition from conventional weapons such as semi-automatic shotguns. However, the recoil impulse and trajectory of the non-lethal ammunition needs to be compatible with the standard combat ammunition recoil impulse and trajectory to fully utilize the weapon's capabilities.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to non-lethal cartridges having sufficient discharge energy for use, without modification, in conventional In particular, the present invention relates to a non-lethal cartridges having sufficient discharge energy for use, without modification, in conventional firearms with a rifled barrel, which non-lethal cartridge comprises: a non-lethal projectile having a grooved outer surface which will mate with the rifling of said firearm and impart a spin to said projectile when traversing the barrel thereof; a dense powder ballast contained within a payload cup which payload cup will open upon discharge, causing a dispersion of said dense powder ballast; and wherein said dense powder ballast provides sufficient initial inertial mass to permit proper functioning of the firearm, but disperses and dissipates a portion of the discharge energy, simulating the recoil impulse and permitting said non-lethal projectile to simulate the trajectory of standard ammunition.
In another embodiment, the present invention relates to a non-lethal cartridge having sufficient discharge energy for use, without modification, in conventional firearms with a smooth bore, which non-lethal cartridge comprises: a cartridge casing comprising a cylindrical portion having an inner surface thereon, and rifling provisions formed on the inner surface of the cylindrical portion for imposing spin on a projectile fired from the cartridge casing; a non-lethal projectile disposed within said cartridge casing, said non-lethal projectile having a grooved outer surface which will mate with the rifling of said cartridge casing and impart a spin to said projectile when fired from said cartridge casing; a dense powder ballast contained within a payload cup which payload cup will open upon discharge, causing a dispersion of said dense powder ballast; and wherein said dense powder ballast provides sufficient initial inertial mass to permit proper functioning of the firearm, but disperses and dissipates a portion of the discharge energy, simulating the recoil impulse and permitting said non-lethal projectile to simulate the trajectory of standard ammunition.
2. Description of Related Art

Non-Lethal cartridges with dense powder ballast

The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Army


A safety interlock and retraction mechanism for all types of presses comprising a sensing or activating valve which does not apply full force to a press ram until the ram displaces to the expected work material thickness and a pneumatically operated retraction mechanism which eliminates the need for a return spring. The art differentiates between the thickness of an operator's finger relative to a work material thickness in order to promote safety. The art further provides an increased press ram force by eliminating the return spring force subtracting from the ram force.

The present invention relates in general to safety and retraction mechanisms for presses. More specifically, the mechanism of this invention represents a unique safety interlock and retraction mechanism for clinching, crimping and punching presses, especially those presses as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,937,694 issued to Mueller on Aug. 17, 1999. The aforesaid U.S. Pat. No. 5,937,694 issued to Mueller is hereby incorporated by reference. Many prior art presses as described in Mueller utilize one or more return springs to retract the ram from the work material and do not offer a safety interlock mechanism. When the aforesaid return spring(s) is used, the actuator must present a force upon the cams and cam rollers greater than the compressed spring force in order to actuate the ram toward the work material. Unfortunately, this results in less force upon the work material since the spring force must be overcome. Utilization of a return spring further limits the ram displacement due to the limitation on spring length within the fixed size frame and may also limit the ram retraction rate.
The present art represents an air cylinder retraction mechanism which eliminates the requirement for a return spring and further provides an interlock feature which prohibits full force actuation unless the desired work material having a predetermined thickness range is placed between a punch and die of the press. That is, the present art utilizes one or more pneumatic actuators having an internal return mechanism or spring and a pneumatic valve which allows only a nominal pneumatic actuator return force application to the ram unless the ram displacement is sufficient to indicate that a thinner or predetermined thickness of work material is between the punch and die and not a thicker material such as an operator's finger.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a press retraction mechanism apparatus and method of use which ensures safety and eliminates the need for a return spring to retract the ram from the work material.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a safety interlock apparatus and method of use which prohibits full force actuation of the press unless a predetermined thickness range of desired work material is placed between a punch and die of the press.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a safety interlock and retraction mechanism apparatus and method of use which provides an increased force upon the work material due to the absence of a counteracting return spring force.
A yet further object of the present invention is to provide a safety interlock and retraction mechanism apparatus and method of use which does not suffer the prior art limitations of ram displacement.

Safety interlock and retraction mechanism for clinching, crimping, and punching presses


Oxygen is removed from natural gas by contacting oxygen-containing natural gas with nitric oxide under conditions sufficient to produce nitrogen dioxide.

This invention relates generally to the field of natural gas production, transportation, and processing. In one aspect, this invention relates to a method of removing oxygen from natural gas. In another aspect, this invention relates to an apparatus for removing oxygen from natural gas.
Natural gas is one of the most popular forms of energy today. It is used for heating, cooling, production of electricity, and it finds many uses in industry. Natural gas is produced, sometimes along with oil, by drilling into the earth""s crust to locate subterranean deposits of natural gas. In most natural gas fields, the subterranean natural gas deposits are under sufficient pressure that the natural gas will flow freely to the earth""s surface. In some older natural gas fields, however, a lifting system is required to extract natural gas from the subterranean formation.
One common problem associated with the production of natural gas is the presence of oxygen in natural gas. Typically, oxygen enters the natural gas via air leaks in the production or transportation system. Air leaks are primarily a problem in the portions of the system where natural gas is maintained at less than atmospheric pressure. When a lifting system is required to draw the natural gas out of the ground, the natural gas located between the subterranean natural gas deposit and the initial pipeline booster compressor typically has a pressure which is less than atomospheric pressure. In these subatmospheric pressure regions, air is naturally drawn into the system through even the smallest of openings due to the pressure differential between the conduit carrying the natural gas and the atmosphere.
Although oxygen typically enters natural gas near the upstream production and transportation end of the system, the negative impacts of oxygen in natural gas are apparent throughout the midstream and downstream transportation and processing regions. Problems associated with the presence of oxygen in natural gas include the following: (1) oxygen contributes substantially to the corrosion of piping used to transport the natural gas from the gathering wells to the gas plant, (2) during regeneration of molecular sieves at the gas plant, oxygen reacts with hydrocarbons and hydrocarbon residues to produce char which plugs and coats the molecular sieves, thereby reducing the life of the molecular sieves, (3) oxygen contributes to the deterioration of amine fluids used in the gas plant to remove acid gasses from the natural gas stream, and the salts generated as a result eventually precipitate or cause foaming in the treaters of the gas plant, and (4) purchasers of natural gas recognize the problems associated with the presence of oxygen in natural gas and, therefore, impose a penalty on the price they will pay for gas containing excessive amounts of oxygen.
In the past, operators of natural gas facilities have attempted to lower oxygen levels in natural gas by seeking out and repairing air leaks in the production and transportation systems. However, even with these preventative measures, oxygen levels of greater than 50 ppmv (parts per million by volume) in natural gas are common.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a system for removing oxygen from natural gas.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a system for removing oxygen from natural gas which does not require expensive reactors, separators, chemicals, and/or catalysts.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide a system which converts the oxygen in natural gas into a marketable compound which is easily separable from natural gas.
Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent in the description which follows and the appended claims.
In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, a method for removing oxygen from natural gas is provided. The method comprises contacting a volume of oxygen-containing natural gas with nitric oxide under conditions sufficient to produce nitrogen dioxide.
In accordance with another embodiment of the present invention, an apparatus for removing oxygen from natural gas is provided. The apparatus comprises a natural gas line for transporting natural gas, a nitric oxide source, and a nitric oxide injector fluidically coupled to the natural gas line and the nitric oxide source. The nitric oxide injector is operable to conduct nitric oxide from the nitric oxide source into the natural gas line.
The present invention provides a simple and economical system for the in-line removal of oxygen from natural gas. The by-products of the inventive system are marketable compounds which are easily separable from natural gas.

Method and apparatus for removing oxygen from natural gas


A hunting ladder for attachment to a tree or pole includes a plurality of ladder sections that can be assembled together to form a rigid structure, including side rails and rungs extending between the side rails. In an exemplary embodiment, the side rails comprise elongate structural beams. External bolsters, shaped to match and closely abut the structural beams and adapted to be mounted to the outside of adjacent ladder sections, couple the ladder sections together. Fasteners extendable through the side bolsters and the structural beams allow adjacent ladder sections to be coupled together and uncoupled, as desired. In an exemplary embodiment, a seat is attached to an upper portion of the ladder without requiring attachment of the seat to the tree or pole.

In the hunting industry, the average age of the hunter is increasing. The passion for hunting of this generation is not on the decline, and there is increasing concern about the declining physical abilities of hunters and for safety while hunting from an elevated platform. There are numerous hunting ladders that attempt to provide safe elevated platforms with an integral ladder for climbing. Conventional hunting ladders require a tree, utility pole or some other vertical column for support, as compared to freestanding tri-pods.
Some hunting ladders utilize a single metal tube (square or rectangular) for the column, which creates a major concern regarding the strength-to-weight ratio of the unit. Certainly the single column could be sized to facilitate a clear span from the ground to the point where the ladder connects to the tree, but then the unit becomes too heavy to be transported easily. As a result, it has become somewhat "standard" in the industry to add a brace from the mid-span of the ladder to a point on the tree to prevent the ladder column from collapsing as the user ascends. This makes the set-up of the unit more difficult because the user must adjust the brace for each particular tree diameter. Furthermore, as the user ascends the ladder above the brace connection point, the ladder has a tendency to "kick-out" at the bottom before the top can be securely attached to the tree. Therefore, this brace only adds to the complexity and cost of the system.
Other hunting ladders utilize a square or rectangular tube that incorporates an internal or external splice component, which allows adjacent sections to be connected. Such a design has several disadvantages. First, in order to make the adjacent sections relatively easy to assemble and disassemble, there must be a certain amount of clearance between the mating of male/female components. This clearance results in a non-stable, non-integral column after assembly. As this clearance is reduced, the unit becomes much more difficult to assemble and disassemble. Add to this the requirement that the mating sections be held perfectly parallel during the assembly process, and the task can become time consuming and frustrating.
By using an internal or external splice component to connect adjacent ladder sections without bolting the sections together, it is common to have separation of the ladder sections after assembly at the tree. Since most of these units are installed in late summer and early fall, the ground is usually dry and very firm. After the installer securely attaches the top of the ladder to the tree, it cannot move down the tree. Later in the year during hunting season, which is normally October through January, soil conditions are typically wet. As the user ascends the ladder, the bottom section can sink into the wet, softened soil, but the top section cannot move down the tree because it is securely attached to the tree. Consequently, the sections can separate, causing a catastrophic failure of the ladder column.
Some have attempted to address these shortcomings by fabricating a modular ladder column wherein each sidepiece of the ladder section has a pair of parallel square tubes connected together by a continuous W-W wire-form welded to the tubes. However, in such a design, adjacent sections are connected together with four sleeves, one sleeve for each of the four square tubes. While this design is structurally superior to the single-tube column design, it does not eliminate the tube-in-tube or tube-over-tube section jointing technique. Moreover, the four square tubes and the four sleeves must be held in perfect alignment for the adjacent sections to mate together, which adds to the difficultly of the assembly. Additionally, this is a terribly inefficient method to manufacture the column.
Steel tube fabrication has also proven inadequate because it is difficult to provide permanent non-skid ridges onto the ladder rungs for safety while climbing. Mud, snow and even water can cause the ladder rungs of most ladders to be dangerously slippery if the manufacturer does not add traction enhancing devices, such as adhesive-backed sandpaper or a metal strip with raised features to resist slipping.
Thus, it has been found that a need yet exists for an improved hunting ladder for attachment to a tree or pole, which ladder is safe in use, convenient, lightweight, easy-to-use, and easy to assemble. It is to the provision of such an improved hunting ladder meeting these and other needs that the present invention is primarily directed.