Polyester films which comprise not only thermoplastic polyester, e.g. polyethylene terephthalate, but also from 5 to 45% by weight of poly(m-xyleneadipamide) and optionally from 0.02 to 1% by weight of fillers, and which have, on at least one surface, an adhesion-promoting layer comprised of a hydrolyzed amino-functional silane. The films of the invention are produced by a sequential stretching process, and feature improved mechanical properties, such as a modulus of elasticity greater than 3500 N/mm2 in both orientation directions, high gloss, low haze, and very good barrier properties with respect to oxygen transmission. Films of the invention are therefore a suitable packaging material for foods and other consumable items, and as starting material for production of laminates via extrusion coating.

Biaxially oriented polyester films (e.g. biaxially oriented polyethylene terephthalate=BOPET) are increasingly used as packaging material, e.g. for food or drink, for pet food, or for detergent. Their characteristic properties for this application sector are their high optical transparency, their high gloss, and their high mechanical strength. The films mentioned also feature good barrier properties, in particular with respect to transmission of oxygen. In many applications, it is desirable for the film to provide a barrier better than that provided by BOPET. Examples here are the packaging of cheese, of coffee, of herbs and spices, or of baby foods, to mention just a few examples.
In most cases, BOPET is processed to give a laminate with other polymers (PE, PP), with paper/cardboard, or with other films or foils (e.g. BOPP, aluminum). To produce this laminate, the PET film is often extrusion-coated, using polyolefins, e.g. PE, PP, or ethylene-propylene copolymer. This is a technically simple way of obtaining the desired properties of the laminate, e.g. hot-sealability, good adhesion to other materials (e.g. to aluminum foil), or additional desired stiffness via the thick PE layer applied by extrusion (PE=polyethylene, PP=polypropylene).
However, a PET surface which has not been pretreated is not receptive to extrusion coating with polyolefins. In conventional extrusion coating, the processor will corona-treat the PET film supplied by the producer, coat the corona-treated film with an adhesion-promoting layer, dry the layer, and then extrusion-coat the material with another polymer. The necessity of coating the film with an adhesion-promoting layer implies an additional processing step, which demands expensive additional machinery and causes yield losses.
Biaxially oriented polyesterfilms which have a coating that promotes adhesion to various materials on at least one of their two surfaces are known in the prior art.
EP-A-0 359 017 describes an oriented film comprised of thermoplastic and having, on at least one of its two surfaces, an adhesion-promoting layer comprised of a hydrolyzed amino-functional silane, this layer being applied in the form of an aqueous dispersion to the film. The description of the adhesion-promoting layer says that it is comprised of a dried residue of a hydrolyzed aminosilane compound whose unhydrolyzed form has the following formula:(R1)aSi(R2)b(R3)cR1 is a functional group having at least one primary amino group, R2 is a hydrolyzable group selected either from short-chain alkoxy groups having from 1 to 8 carbon atoms or from an acetoxy group or from a halide, and R3 is an unreactive, non-hydrolyzable group, either a short-chain alkyl group having from 1 to 8 carbon atoms or a phenyl group. (a) here is greater than or equal to 1; (b) is greater than or equal to 1, and (c) is greater than or equal to 0, and the rule here is that a+b+c=4. The application weight at which this adhesion-promoting layer is applied to the PET film is such that it improves adhesion to polyolefins, applied via extrusion coating. Disadvantages of the film are its optical properties, such as transparency or gloss, and also its barrier properties, in particular with respect to transmission of oxygen. Because of these disadvantages, this film is not used in high-performance packaging applications (cheese, herbs and spices).
Transparent, biaxially oriented polyester films which feature improved barrier properties are likewise known from the prior art. In most instances, the films acquire their improved barrier properties off-line after the production process via a further processing step. Examples here are extrusion coating, coating or lamination with barrier materials, in-vacuo coating with metals or with ceramic substances, or plasma polymerization in combination with vacuum coating.
An exception here is the process described in more detail in WO 99/62694, in which a multilayer, coextruded polyester film which comprises at least one layer comprised of EVOH (ethylene-vinyl alcohol) is simultaneously biaxially oriented. This film features good mechanical properties, and in particular features good barrier properties with respect to transmission of oxygen. The best value given for achievable oxygen transmission OTR (oxygen transmission rate) in the specification are 5 cm3/(m2·bar·d). The disadvantage of the process, inter alia, is that regrind produced during the production process cannot be reintroduced into the production process without sacrificing the good optical and physical properties of the film.
Another exception is the biaxially oriented film described in JP 2001-001399, which is comprised of a mixture of polyethylene terephthalate and poly(m-xyleneadipamide) (MXD6). The proportion of poly(m-xyleneadipamide) (MXD6) in the film is from 10 to 40% by weight, and the corresponding proportion of polyethylene terephthalate is from 60 to 90% by weight. According to the invention, the film is simultaneously biaxially oriented. The specification gives the following data for the stretching parameters: The stretching ratios in both directions are from 2.5 to 5.0. However, in the examples the film is only oriented by a factor 3.0 in the machine direction and by a factor of 3.3 transversely to the machine direction. The overall stretching ratio is therefore 9.9. The stretching temperatures in both directions are from 80 to 140° C. In the examples, the film is stretched in both directions at 90° C.
According to JP 2001-001399, when a simultaneously oriented film is compared with a sequentially oriented film (e.g. oriented first in machine direction (MD or MDO) and then in the transverse direction (TD or TDO)), it has lower haze and gives more dependable processing, i.e. can be produced with a smaller number of break-offs in the second stretching phase (e.g. in the transverse direction). According to the above specification, the degree of crystallization that occurs during the sequential (non-inventive) orientation in the first stretching step (e.g. MDO) is so great that the film becomes cloudy during the second (subsequent) orientation process and becomes more delicate with respect to any further orientation process. According to the (comparative) Examples 3 and 4 set out in the specification, a polyester film with from 10 to 40% of MXD6 cannot be produced by the sequential process, because it tears in the second stretching phase.
The biaxially oriented films produced according to JP 2001-001399 by the simultaneous process feature low haze, but in particular feature good barrier action with regard to oxygen permeation. The film achieves an oxygen transmission OTR smaller than 30 cm/(m2·bar·d). According to the invention, the haze of the film is smaller than 15%. However, the film has a number of disadvantages:    It has a comparatively low level of mechanical properties. In particular, the modulus of elasticity and the ultimate tensile strength are unsatisfactory.    It tends to block and is therefore difficult to wind.    It has comparatively rough surfaces. The film also has a matt appearance, undesirable for many applications. It is therefore also comparatively difficult to print, to metallize, or to coat.

Extrusion-coatable polyester film comprising poly(m-xyleneadipamide)


Provided is a power supply system capable of being used in a well over a long period of time. A power supply system for a well according to the present invention includes a secondary battery having an operating temperature range including a temperature of the inside of a well and supplying power to a device installed in the well; and a charge-discharge mechanism for charging and discharging the secondary battery, and is installed in the well. The secondary battery to be used in the power supply system may be a molten salt battery, and may include a sensor and communication apparatus.

Recently, when excavating a well such as an oil well or a gas well, a system called MWD or LWD for acquiring well information and stratum information while performing excavation has been used in order to improve efficiency of well trajectory management, reduce costs and enhance safety, etc. For example, in the MWD system, a drill string having at the lower end a bit for excavating the stratum is provided with sensors for detecting a load and a torque of the drill bit, and sensors for detecting a position, a direction and the like of a well, etc., and detected information from the sensors is transmitted to the ground using electromagnetic waves, pressure waves, acoustic pulses or the like (see, for example, Patent Literature 1). Alternatively, the drill string is drawn out from the well during a well excavation process or after completion of excavation, and measurement devices and sampling devices are inserted into the well to perform various kinds of measurements and sampling of stratum fluids (see, for example, Patent Literature 2).


The invention relates to a nozzle system for a delivery device for liquids, wherein the nozzle system comprises a nozzle and a device which fixes the nozzle in the delivery device. The delivery device, an atomizer, has a liquid reservoir from which a liquid is forced through the nozzle under pressure. The nozzle fixing means may itself be secured by a second fixing, e.g., in the form of a check nut, or the fixing may itself be a check nut. According to the invention the fixing means on the nozzle outlet side has a specific geometry which minimizes the proportion of dispensed liquid deposited on the fixing means. Preferably, the present invention is part of a propellant-free device for nebulizing pharmaceutical liquids.

The invention relates to a nozzle system for a delivery device for liquids, wherein the nozzle system comprises a nozzle and a device which fixes the nozzle in the delivery device. The delivery device, an atomizer, has a liquid reservoir from which a liquid is forced through the nozzle under pressure. The nozzle fixing means may itself be secured by a second fixing, e.g., in the form of a check nut, or the fixing may itself be a check nut. According to the invention the fixing means on the nozzle outlet side has a specific geometry which minimizes the amount of dispensed liquid deposited on the fixing means.
Preferably, the present invention is part of a propellant-free device for nebulizing pharmaceutical fluids. A nebulizer according to the invention is used, for example, to produce an aerosol of droplets for inhalation through the mouth and pharyngeal cavity into the lungs of a patient, for nasal administration or for spraying the surface of the eye.
WO 91/14468 discloses an apparatus for propellant-free administration of a metered quantity of a liquid pharmaceutical for application by inhalation. A further development of the device is described in detail in WO 97/12687. Reference is specifically made to these publications and the technology described therein is referred to within the scope of the present invention as Respimat™ technology. This term refers in particular to the technology which forms the basis for a device according to FIGS. 6a and 6b of WO 97/12687 and the associated description. Propellant-free liquids can easily be atomized using such devices.
In an inhaler of this kind liquid pharmaceutical formulations are stored in a reservoir. From there, they are conveyed through a riser tube into a pressure chamber from where they are forced through a nozzle.
The nozzle is held by a nozzle holder and the latter is secured by a check nut. The check nut has a liquid inlet side and a liquid outlet side. On the liquid inlet side is an opening through which a liquid from the pressure chamber can enter the nozzle. On the opposite side, the end face of the nozzle, the liquid then passes through two nozzle apertures which are aligned so that the jets of liquid leaving the apertures strike one another and are thereby atomized. The nozzle apertures are arranged in the inhaler in such a way that they are in direct contact with the outer environment.
This is achieved by the fact that the entire region of the nozzle holder and check nut which is located above the nozzle apertures has a recess (or hole or bore) through it which provides a pathway for a jet of liquid leaving the nozzle or an emerging aerosol to leave the atomizer through the mouthpiece.
In the region of this nozzle holder this recess is funnel-shaped while in the region of the check nut this recess is in the form of a uniform cylinder. The transition between the nozzle holder and check nut has a sharp edge so that the cross section of the recess is like an L in which the crossbar is inclined slightly downwards. The entire recess in front of the nozzle aperture, which is made up of the recess in the nozzle holder and the recess of the check nut, has a point of discontinuity in the elbow region of this L: the recess expands discontinuously, i.e., viewed from the base it first of all widens out and then bends sharply vertically in the region of the transition from the nozzle holder to the check nut. The vertical direction corresponds to the direction of spraying of the emerging liquid, i.e., the perpendicular to the outside of the nozzle (end face).
These inhalers normally deliver formulations based on water or mixtures of water and ethanol. They are able to nebulize a small amount of a liquid formulation in the therapeutically required dosage within a few seconds to produce an aerosol suitable for therapeutic inhalation. With the device, quantities of less than 100 microlitres can be nebulized, e.g., with one spray actuation, to produce an aerosol with an average particle size of less than 20 microns so that the inhalable part of the aerosol corresponds to the therapeutically effective amount. In these nebulizers with Respimat™ technology a pharmaceutical solution is converted by high pressure up to 500 bar into a low-speed aerosol mist destined for the lungs, which the patient can then breathe in.
A small amount of the liquid may be deposited from the outside as a film or as an accumulation of small droplets on the end face of the nozzle or on the end face of the fixing means for the nozzle or on the inside of the mouthpiece. This fraction of the liquid is also referred to as the mouthpiece fraction within the scope of this specification. This mouthpiece fraction reduces the amount of liquid dispensed, with the result that the inhalable fraction of the quantity delivered is reduced by the mouthpiece fraction.
The amount of liquid deposited need not be constant in every spray actuation but may depend on numerous factors such as the spatial orientation of the device during the aerosol production or the ambient temperature, relative humidity, etc. This leads on the one hand to a certain variability, however minor, in the amount dispensed which is then available for the patient to take in (delivered dose). Of the delivered dose, some has such a small particle size that the particles can be breathed deep into the lungs and this fraction is known as the inhalable fraction. However, the present specification does not expressly differentiate between the inhalable fraction and the total quantity of aerosol available for the patient to breathe in unless otherwise stated or unless clearly apparent from the context.
The liquid deposited may also cause contamination of the outer surface of the nozzle system or of the mouthpiece, which may in turn affect the pharmaceutical quality of the next aerosol mist.
Although these two effects are only slight in devices using Respimat™ technology it is important for reasons of quality control to minimize such effects.
It has now been found that in devices of this kind for dispensing liquids the proportion of liquid deposited on the outside of the nozzle system can be reduced by the particular geometry of the nozzle or nozzle fixing means. In fact, it has been found, surprisingly, that the mouthpiece fraction can be reduced if the entire area above the nozzle aperture (i.e., the area through which the dispensed liquid "flies" on its way to the mouthpiece) is funnel-shaped and has no edges.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

System comprising a nozzle and a fixing means therefor


Aspects of the disclosed technology include a lighted inflatable pool including: a wall including a first inflatable chamber; a base; at least one lighting element disposed within the wall, the at least one lighting element being configured to emit light; and a receiver connected to the at least one lighting element, the receiver being configured to receive a command for controlling the lighting element and to control the at least one lighting element in correspondence with the command.

Inflatable products have diverse uses. For example, swimming pools can be a source of fun, relaxation, and enjoyment. In the absence of an independent light source, however, inflatable products may be difficult to enjoy in dark environments. For example, darkness may render use of an inflatable swimming pool dangerous due to poor visibility. Thus, it is desirable to provide an inflatable product with a built-in light source, so that the inflatable product may be used at night. Furthermore, it may be desirable to provide lighting of different colors to enhance the users' enjoyment of the inflatable product.


A time-to-digital converter (TDC) comprises a TDC core and a masking circuit. The TDC core is configured to detect phase difference between a reference signal and a controlled signal. The masking circuit is configured to generate a mask signal based on the reference signal, the controlled signal, and a command signal including information of a predetermined value associated with the reference signal and the controlled signal. The mask signal is used to mask a portion of pulses of the controlled signal from entering the TDC core during detection of phase difference.

Phase locked loop (PLL) is an important component in communication. Nowadays, all-digital PLL (ADPLL) has been researched and developed to replace analog PLL because ADPLL is free from large analog loop filters and passive elements. Time-to-digital converter (TDC) in ADPLL replaces phase detector and charge pump, and functions to detect phase difference between a control signal of ADPLL and a reference clock signal. TDC is often used in high-speed communication systems and affects the resolution of APDLL and noise performance.
Like reference symbols in the various drawings indicate like elements.

Masking circuit and time-to-digital converter comprising the same

TAIWAN SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING COMPANY LTD.


A stent comprises a plurality of serpentine circumferential bands and a plurality of connector columns. Each connector column is located between two adjacent serpentine circumferential bands and comprises a plurality connector struts. Each connector strut is connected at one end to one serpentine circumferential band and at another end to another serpentine circumferential band. Each connector column may contain multiple types of connector struts having varying circumferential spans. Each serpentine circumferential band may have sections which vary in amplitude and/or wavelength.

The use of stents in bodily lumen is well known. A stent is typically delivered in an unexpanded state to a desired location in a bodily lumen via a stent delivery device such as a catheter. Once the stent is at the desired bodily location, it is either expanded with a balloon or other suitable device or allowed to expand by, for example, withdrawing a restraining sheath.
Because a stent often must be delivered through tortuous anatomy, it is desirable for the stent to be flexible. Increased flexibility in a stent, however, typically comes at the expense of scaffolding strength. Moreover, design features which may result in increased flexibility may also result in protruding edges which may damage vessels walls or catheter balloons during delivery of the stent through tortuous vasculature. A compromise must often be reached between flexibility and stent strength.
There remains a need for a stent which has a high degree of flexibility in the unexpanded state, yet is capable of providing adequate scaffolding strength when expanded. It is desirable for a stent to be conformable and flexible enough to be tracked to the target site within the artery and to accommodate curvature of the vessel once deployed. It is also desirable for the stent to cover enough vessel to provide adequate scaffolding, and for the stent to be strong enough in the axial direction to resist foreshortening. In the case of a balloon expandable stent, it is also desirable for the stent to be crimpable. Further, it is desirable for the stent to adequately retain a coating.
All US patents and applications and all other published documents mentioned anywhere in this application are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
Without limiting the scope of the invention a brief summary of some of the claimed embodiments of the invention is set forth below. Additional details of the summarized embodiments of the invention and/or additional embodiments of the invention may be found in the Detailed Description of the Invention below.
A brief abstract of the technical disclosure in the specification is provided as well only for the purposes of complying with 37 C.F.R. 1.72. The abstract is not intended to be used for interpreting the scope of the claims.

Varying circumferential spanned connectors in a stent


Process for producing a nitrile by dehydration reaction of an amide in the presence of a carboxylic acid having the same radical as the amide, or by adding urea to a carboxylic acid with the carboxylic acid either molten or dissolved in a solvent, where the amount of urea used is less than about 0.8 in molar ratio to the carboxylic acid, or when an exhaust gas distillate line connected to the reactor is kept at about 60.degree. C. or higher, or while a gas that is inert to the reaction is fed into the reaction and the produced nitrile and water are concurrently distilled out.

The present invention relates to a safe, high yield process for producing a nitrile from an amide. This invention further relates to the particular reaction between urea and a carboxylic acid.
In more detail, the present invention relates to a process for producing a nitrile represented by the formula (II): EQU R--CN (II)
where R represents a substituted or non-substituted alkyl group, or an alkenyl group, or an alkynyl group, or an aryl group or an aralkyl group or a mixture thereof. The process comprises dehydration of an amide represented by the following formula (I): ##STR1## where R is as defined above. The process is conducted in the presence of a carboxylic acid: EQU R--COOH (III)
where R is as defined above.
The nitrites produced are very important compounds, useful as intermediate products in production of medicines, agricultural chemicals, dyes, pigments, etc.


A video encoder/decoder implements a lapped transform by applying an overlap filter in the spatial or transform domains to transform blocks. For interlace frames whose alternating scan lines are temporally displaced, the encoder/decoder imposes a limitation on application of the overlap filter to exclude horizontal block edges between adjacent transform blocks. This limitation can be imposed in both implementations where the overlap transform is applied across all blocks of an image, as well as implementations in which the lapped transform is conditionally applied on a spatially varying basis across the image.

Transform coding is a compression technique used in many audio, image and video compression systems. Uncompressed digital image and video is typically represented or captured as samples of picture elements or colors at locations in an image or video frame arranged in a two dimensional grid. For example, a typical format for images consists of a stream of 24-bit color picture element samples arranged as a grid. Each sample is a number representing color components at a pixel location in the grid within a color space, such as RGB, or YIQ, among others. Various image and video systems may use various different color, spatial and time resolutions of sampling.
Uncompressed digital image and video signals can consume considerable storage and transmission capacity. Transform coding reduces the size of digital images and video by transforming the spatial-domain representation of the signal into a frequency-domain (or other like transform domain) representation, and then reducing resolution of certain generally less perceptible frequency components of the transform-domain representation. This generally produces much less perceptible degradation of the digital signal compared to reducing color or spatial resolution of images or video in the spatial domain.
More specifically, a typical transform coding technique 100 shown in FIG. 1 divides the uncompressed digital image's pixels into fixed-size two dimensional blocks, each block possibly overlapping with other blocks. A linear transform 110 that does spatial-frequency analysis is applied to each block, which converts the spaced samples within the block to a set of frequency (or transform) coefficients generally representing the strength of the digital signal in corresponding frequency bands over the block interval. For compression, the transform coefficients may be selectively quantized (i.e., reduced in resolution, such as by dropping least significant bits of the coefficient values or otherwise mapping values in a higher resolution number set to a lower resolution), and also entropy or variable-length coded into a compressed data stream by quantizer/entropy coder 120. After dequantization/entropy decoding 130, the transform coefficients will inversely transform 140 to nearly reconstruct the original color/spatial sampled image/video signal.
While compressing a still image (or an intra-coded frame in a video sequence), most common standards such as MPEG-2, MPEG-4 and Windows Media partition the image into square tiles and apply a block transform to each image tile. The transform coefficients in a given partition (commonly known as a block) are influenced only by the raw data components within the block. Irreversible or lossy operations on the encoder side such as quantization cause artifacts to appear in the decoded image. These artifacts are independent across blocks and produce a visually annoying effect known as the blocking effect. Likewise for audio data, when non-overlapping blocks are independently transform coded, quantization errors will produce discontinuities in the signal at the block boundaries upon reconstruction of the audio signal at the decoder. For audio, a periodic clicking effect is heard.
Spatial-Domain Lapped Transform
In order to minimize the blocking effect, cross block correlations can be exploited. One way of achieving cross block correlation is by using a lapped transform as described in H. Malvar, "Signal Processing with Lapped Transforms," Artech House, Norwood Mass., 1992. A lapped transform is a transform whose input spans, besides the data elements in the current block, a few adjacent elements in neighboring blocks. Likewise, on the reconstruction side the inverse transform influences all data points in the current block as well as a few data points in neighboring blocks.
For the case of 2-dimensional (2D) data, the lapped 2D transform is a function of the current block, together with select elements of blocks to the left, top, right, bottom and possibly top-left, top-right, bottom-left and bottom-right. The number of data points in neighboring blocks that are used to compute the current transform is referred to as the overlap.
The lapped transform can be implemented in the transform domain, as a step that merges transform domain quantities after a conventional block transform. Else, it can be implemented in the spatial-domain by a pre-processing stage that is applied to pixels within the range of overlap. These two implementations are mathematically related and therefore equivalent.
As shown in FIG. 2, the spatial-domain lapped transform (SDLT) 200 is a lapped transform that is implemented as matched pre and post processing steps 210, 220 prior to the forward block transform 110, and subsequent to the inverse block transform 140, respectively. (See, e.g., Srinivasan et al., "Improvements to the Spatial-Domain Lapped Transform in Digital Media Compression," U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/620,744, filed Jul. 15, 2003 [hereafter "Improved SDLT Patent Application"].) The spatial-domain lapped transform is often used to retrofit existing block transform based compression techniques in order to improve efficiency.
Typically, the pre- and post-processing stage is applied to columns of pixels straddling horizontal edges between adjacent blocks, as well as to rows of pixels straddling vertical edges between adjacent blocks. This extends the overlap range of a block to adjacent blocks in both vertical and horizontal directions.


A one piece fabric wrap has multiple elongated pockets sewn into an inner surface. A cylindrical rope light or heat tape is positioned within the multiple pockets and hook and loop material is attached to an outer perimeter of the inside surface to provide closure of the fabric wrap around frost challenged plants. A drawstring attached along a bottom edge of the fabric wrap secures the assembled foliage wrap around the base of the plant.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to protecting outdoor plants from cold temperatures. More specifically, the invention relates to a flexible enclosure used in conjunction with a low wattage heat source to protect delicate foliage from damaging cold temperatures.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As many plant enthusiasts know, protecting outdoor plants from damaging temperatures is crucial to their continued enjoyment. Particularly in warm climates when frost or freeze occurs only a few times per year, many plant enthusiasts cultivate outdoor plants that are not frost hardy. Delicate plants that thrive throughout the majority of the year are susceptible to major frost damage or even death when a cold front moves through. In order to preserve the delicate foliage, plant enthusiasts will go to great lengths to ensure that their plants will not be damaged by the freezing temperatures. When a cold front threatens, many plant enthusiasts gather old blankets, sheets, and tarps to cover their delicate plants. These makeshift plant covers are often secured by clothes pins or bricks in an attempt to adequately cover the plants. Likewise, many plant enthusiasts employ Christmas lights to provide additional warmth to their blanketed plants. While these traditional methods do enjoy some success, it is time consuming to find covering materials, and one can never be sure that the makeshift coverings will adequately protect the plants. As many delicate plants are quite expensive and their preservation is anything but certain using traditional methods, plant enthusiasts and cultivators of delicate plants have long desired a more certain way to protect their plants. To this end, one type of plant cover using a heat source has been developed as can be seen in U.S. Pat. No. 6,698,135. However, there still exists a need for an improved, simple, hassle free way to adequately protect delicate plant foliage from damaging temperatures.


A media application is disclosed. The media application provides a playback of a media item that includes a video portion and an audio portion. The media application stops the playback of the video portion of the media item while continuing to provide the audio portion of the media item. The media application resumes the playback of the video portion of the media item in synchronization with the audio portion being provided.

The Internet allows people to obtain information, connect with others and share information with each other. Common Internet destinations include news websites, content sharing platforms, social networking websites, and the like. Many websites and platforms include a content sharing aspect that allows users to view, upload, and share media items, such as video content, image content, audio content, and so on. Users can consume the media items from their user devices.


A surface mount quartz crystal unit has a substrate for surface-mounting, a pair of connecting electrodes disposed on a principal surface of the substrate, a quartz crystal blank, and a ridge corresponding to the end of the crystal blank and disposed on the substrate in spaced relation to the connecting electrodes. The ridge has a height greater than the thickness of the connecting electrodes. An electrically conductive adhesive is applied to the connecting electrodes, a spacing between the connecting electrodes and the ridge, and an upper surface of the ridge. The crystal blank is fixed to the connecting electrodes by the adhesive at respective opposite sides of an end of the crystal blank to which extension electrodes are extended from excitation electrodes. The other end of the crystal blank remains lifted about the ridge from the principal surface of the substrate under shrinking forces of the adhesive.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention elates to a surface mount quartz crystal unit, and more particularly to a surface mount crystal unit which is constructed to suppress noise generated thereby.
2. Description of the Related Art
Quartz crystal units are incorporated in oscillators as a time or frequency reference source. Particularly, surface mount crystal units are small in size and weight, and hence are widely used in various portable communications devices, for example. In recent years, specifications that surface mount crystal units are required to fulfill have been becoming stricter, and there has been a demand for surface mount crystal units which produce less noise and particularly have better phase noise characteristics.
As shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B, a surface mount crystal unit comprises casing 1 having a recess defined therein, quartz crystal blank 2 disposed in the recess, and cover 3 placed on casing 1 over the recess and hermetically sealing crystal blank 2 in the recess. Casing 1 has a substantially rectangular planar shape, and is of a laminated structure of ceramics which comprises substrate 4 for surface-mounting and frame wall 5 mounted on substrate 4. Substrate 4 has a substantially rectangular planar shape, and frame wall 5 has an opening which serves as the recess in casing 1. A pair of connecting electrodes 6 for connection to crystal blank 2 is formed on respective opposite sides of one end of an inner bottom surface of the substantially rectangular recess. A pillow member 7 is mounted on the other end of the inner bottom surface of the recess. The connecting electrodes 6 are electrically connected to mounting electrodes 8 disposed on an outer surface of casing 1 via the interface across which substrate 4 and frame wall 5 are laminated and through holes (not shown) that are defined in substrate 4.
As shown in FIG. 2, crystal blank 2 comprises a substantially rectangular AT-cut quartz crystal blank. Excitation electrodes 9 are formed respectively on the principal surfaces of crystal blank 2, and extension electrodes 10 extend from respective excitation electrodes 9 to opposite sides of one end of crystal blank 2. Extension electrodes 10 are folded back a short distance over the other principal surfaces across the end of crystal blank 2.
The opposite sides of the end of crystal blank 2 are bonded to respective connecting electrodes 6 on the inner bottom surface of the recess in casing 1 by electrically conductive adhesive 11, thus electrically and mechanically connecting the opposite sides of the end of crystal blank 2 to connecting electrodes 6. The other end of crystal blank 2 is placed on pillow member 7, but is not fixed to pillow member 7.
In the case where crystal blank 2 has a beveled or convex cross-sectional shape, pillow member 7 serves to prevent the vibrating region of crystal blank 2 where excitation electrodes 9 are disposed, from contacting the inner bottom surface of the recess. Casing 1 with pillow member 7 is also used as a common component in the case where crystal blank 2 is in the form of a flat plate.
However, the surface mount crystal unit of the above construction may have its vibrating characteristics lowered when the other end of crystal blank 2 is brought into contact with pillow member 7 due to external vibrations. For example, if the surface mount crystal unit is incorporated in a cellular phone, then a noise component is added to the vibrating frequency of the crystal unit, impairing the phase noise characteristics while the cellular phone is in operation.
The other end of crystal blank 2 is disposed in abutment against or in the vicinity of pillow member 7. If a vibration source such as a motor or the like is incorporated in the portable device, then other end of crystal blank 2 is brought into intermittent contact with pillow member 7. Low-frequency vibrating sound is propagated to the other end of crystal blank 2, and then the low frequency components are added to the vibrating frequency component. As a result, the phase noise characteristics of the surface mount crystal unit is impaired.
To solve the above problem, Japanese laid-open patent publication No. 2002-84160 (JP, P2002-84160A) discloses a surface mount crystal unit that is free of a pillow member. As shown in FIG. 3A, the disclosed surface mount crystal unit has ridge 12 as a pivot for crystal blank 2 is disposed near connecting electrodes 6 on the inner bottom surface of the recess in casing 1. Electrically conductive adhesive 11 is applied to a pair of connecting electrodes 6, and the opposite sides of one end of crystal blank 2 are placed on electrically conductive adhesive 11. At this time, the other end of crystal blank 2 abuts against the inner bottom surface of the recess. FIG. 3B is a plan view of the surface mount crystal unit with a cover omitted from illustration. Each of connecting electrodes 6 is of a rectangular shape, and ridge 12 is integrally formed with connecting electrodes 6 along one side thereof. Ridge 12 extends in the direction of the shorter sides of crystal blank 2. Ridge 12 is usually made of a metal material. In FIG. 3B, crystal blank 2 is shown by the broken lines for illustrative purposes.
When electrically conductive adhesive 11 is set or cured, the other end of crystal blank 2 is lifted under shrinking forces of electrically conductive adhesive 11 as indicated by the arrows P, Q in FIG. 3C, creating and maintaining a spacing between crystal blank 2 and the inner bottom surface of the recess in casing 1. Thereafter, cover 3 is placed over the recess, thus completing the surface mount crystal unit.
However, since ridge 12 is made of the metal material, the surface mount crystal unit suffers the following problems: Electrically conductive adhesive 11, which comprises an adhesive made of an organic material mixed with an electrically conductive filler, generally has a less tendency to adhere to metal than an insulating material, i.e., ceramics. When a mechanical shock is applied to the completed surface mount crystal unit, vertically swinging the other end of crystal blank 2, electrically conductive adhesive 11 is liable to peel off the interface between itself and ridge 12 due to stresses concentrated between electrically conductive adhesive 11 and ridge 12 which functions as the pivot for crystal blank 2, as indicated by the arrow A in FIG. 4 which shows the fixed portion of crystal blank 2 at an enlarged scale. Similarly, electrically conductive adhesive 11 is liable to peel off connecting electrodes 6.


Optical protection devices are provided for protecting client equipment in an optical communication system. According to one implementation, a protection device includes a passive optical coupler configured to combine optical signals from a plurality of input paths, where the passive optical coupler is further configured to provide the output signals along an optical output path. The exemplary protection device further includes one or more interrupters configured to allow at most one input from a plurality of optical inputs via the plurality of input paths to be provided to the passive optical coupler at one time.

Generally, solutions have been proposed for protection of passive optical devices using protection engines and communications between transceivers (as described herein transceivers are optical transmitters and optical receivers for bi-directional communication, and other terms may include, without limitation, transponders, optical modules, modems, etc.) to control their laser states, triggering a protection switch. This requires a communications mechanism between the transceivers, and fast laser controls on the modules associated with the transceivers. Equipment with built in optical switches (as opposed to optical couplers) can have inputs from the transceivers to perform the switch. This still requires fast laser-off capabilities, but does not require fast laser-on capabilities or coordination between transceivers. Some systems for transporting packets may be configured with some of this functionality, but not all of it.
The conventional solutions suffer from various shortcomings. For example, pluggable transceivers operating at 40 Gb/s or faster (e.g., QSFP+, QSFP28, QSFP-DD, etc.) and having only Inter-Integrated Circuit (I2C) based laser-off/laser-on controls will typically be significantly slower, resulting in longer protection switch times. These transceivers are typically multi-lane interfaces that require control for each laser individually, usually in serial fashion, which increases the laser-on/laser-off time. The standards of the Multi-Source Agreements (MSA), for instance, specifies only 100 ms for laser-off and 400 ms for laser-on. Sub-50 ms switch times typically require 10 ms laser-off/laser-on times.
Another shortcoming is that coordination of activity between transponder equipment requires direct communication paths between them. A direct communication path typically requires co-located equipment and may also dictate specific slot assignments within a chassis. Also, coordination of activity between transponder equipment in conventional systems may also require additional processing time on each transponder, as well as latency for status/control communications between the transponder.
Additionally, some systems for transporting packets may operate in mated configurations where a single Optical Transport Unit (OTU) (e.g., an Optical Transport Unit C level n (OTUCn)) line consists of optical ports on multiple adjacent circuit packs, which would require four or more of these circuit packs for protected configurations. A direct communications path between all implicated equipment can be difficult to accomplish because of how inter-card communications are done.
Conventional systems may have other issues. For example, circuit packs (modules) across multiple shelves cannot support protected configurations because they are unable to communicate with each other. Optical switches may be able overcome the problem of modules not being able to communicate with each other. However, since optical switches are larger and more expensive than passive devices, they are usually not as widespread as passive devices. In addition, pluggable transceivers operating at higher rates are usually multi-lane interfaces, which require turning off each lane (laser) individually via an I2C interface, which is too slow and results in protection switch times exceeding 50 ms.
Also, many pluggable transceivers of conventional systems do not have a high enough link budget (margin) to operate with subtending optical switch equipment which introduces loss. Multi-lane interfaces typically do not, but there are also single-lane interfaces that do not as well. Some passive optical switch devices may require several dB of link budget. This problem is even worse when the optical switches are used back to back in cascaded applications.
Therefore, there is a need in the field of optical networks to provide protection for optical network devices while overcoming the above-noted deficiencies in conventional systems.

Optical protection devices having passive splitter/couplers and built-in interrupters


A hand held tool includes a slotted handle having a jaw end, a medial section, and a gripping end, the medial section including a slot having a gear tooth rack. An operative handle has a pinion gear end and a gripping end, with pinion gear being fixed with respect to the operative handle, and the pinion gear being positioned in the slot and having a toothed portion and a non-toothed portion. An operative jaw is slidably mounted with respect to the slotted handle to cooperate with the jaw of the slotted handle to group a workpiece, the operative jaw having one or more guide mechanisms to maintain the orientation of the jaw with respect to the slot as the jaw slides and as torque is applied to the operative jaw when a workpiece is gripped.

There are at least two general styles of pliers. One style of prior art pliers is generally known within the tool trade as a slip-joint pliers or tongue-and-groove pliers as popularized by Channellock, Inc. A second style of prior art pliers is known as a plier-wrench since it combines features of both pliers and wrenches.
Yet another style of tool is the plier-wrench, which is a two-handled parallel-jaw wrench that has the general overall shape and appearance of pliers. The smooth-faced jaws of this hand tool maintain the jaws in a parallel relationship with respect to each other while being opened and closed, in the manner of wrenches. The prior art plier-wrench is two-handled in the manner of pliers.

Adjustable pliers having slidably mounted jaw


A backup flight control system for controlling the flightpath of a multi-engine airplane using the main drive engines. The backup flight control system comprises an input device for generating a control command indicative of a desired flightpath, a feedback sensor for generating a feedback signal indicative of at least one of pitch rate, pitch attitude, roll rate and roll attitude, and a control device for changing the output power of at least one of the main drive engines on each side of the airplane in response to the control command and the feedback signal.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a flight control system for airplanes and, more particularly, to a flight control system using engine thrust for emergency flight control of a multi-engine airplane.
2. Description of the Related Art
Aircraft flight control systems are extremely reliable. Multiple control surfaces, hydraulics, sensors, control computers, and control cables are used to achieve high levels of control system redundancy and reliability. However, during extremely rare occasions potentially disastrous flight control failures do occur. This is particularly true for military airplanes operated in a hostile environment. At such times, any other form of flight control would be welcome.
There are conventional backup control systems installed on many airplanes. Conventional backup control systems usually involve redundant control cables, redundant hydraulic systems, or redundant electronic control systems, and move the primary flight control surfaces, e.g., elevators, ailerons, rudders and flaps. Conventional backup control systems are vulnerable to damage which will render the flight control system useless, resulting in loss of the airplane. For example, on some airplanes, total loss of all hydraulic systems will cause loss of the airplane. In other airplanes, total loss of all control cables will cause the loss of the airplane. In still other airplanes, loss of a control surface, such as an elevator, will cause loss of the airplane.
It is well known that the flightpath of some aircraft with multiple engines may be controlled to a rudimentary degree by manually adjusting the throttle controls. Airplanes have flown with total hydraulic failures for substantial periods by manually adjusting the throttle controls. However, control was not sufficient for landing, resulting in a crash. This is because flightpath change in response to manually adjusting the throttle controls is very slow compared to that in response to normal flight control systems.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,146,972 to Engel, issued Sep. 1, 1964, discloses another type of conventional backup control system that uses auxiliary engines to control the flightpath of an aircraft. The auxiliary engines are arranged to supply thrust in various directions to overcome emergency conditions while the aircraft is in flight. The auxiliary engines are provided in addition to the main drive engines. Consequently, this type of conventional backup control system is expensive and involves modification of the aircraft to include the auxiliary engines.

The United States of America as represented by the Administrator of National Aeronautics and Space Administration


Embodiments of the disclosure provide a method, system, and computer program product for processing data such as a stream of tuples. Each tuple can contain one or more attributes. The method can include processing the attributes of the stream of tuples using stream operators operating on one or more computer processors and corresponding to one or more processing elements. The method can also include detecting an indicative element from a plurality of stream operators. The method can also include transmitting, in response to detecting the indicative element, a passthru command to a processing element corresponding to the indicative element. The method can also include altering, in response to receiving the passthru command at the processing element, a portion of attribute processing for the indicative element.

Database systems are typically configured to separate the process of storing data from accessing, manipulating, or using data stored in a database. More specifically, database systems use a model in which data is first stored and indexed in a memory before subsequent querying and analysis. In general, database systems may not be well suited for performing real-time processing and analyzing streaming data. In particular, database systems may be unable to store, index, and analyze large amounts of streaming data efficiently or in real time.

Managing passthru connections on an operator graph

International Business Machines Corporation


An AGC circuit includes a low noise RF amplifying module with an adjustable gain, a frequency converter, an IF/Baseband amplifying module with an adjustable gain, an A/D converter, an AGC module and a gain distribution module. The AGC module is configured for detecting a level of a digital IF/Baseband signal outputted from the A/D converter, comparing the detected level with a reference level and generating a digital AGC signal and a digital gain distribution control signal based upon the comparison result. The gain distribution module is subject to control of the digital AGC signal and digital gain distribution control signal and configured for generating digital gain control signals to selectively adjust at least one of the gains of the low noise RF amplifying module and the IF/Baseband amplifying module in a digital manner to keep an IF/Baseband signal outputted from the IF/Baseband amplifying module at a desired level.

1. Technical Field
The present invention generally relates to automatic gain control circuits, and particularly to an automatic gain control circuit used in digital television receivers.
2. Description of Related Art
Digital televisions have the advantages of higher definition (or higher resolution) and compact disc (CD) level multi-channel audio output as compared to traditional analog televisions. Nowadays, various countries such as United States, Europe and Japan have already established their own digital television broadcast formats, e.g., vestigial sideband ("VSB") for the United States. The detailed information with respect to the VSB broadcast format has been published in a paper by Wayne et al. on IEEE Transactions on Consumer Electronics, vol. 41, No. 3 (August 1995), entitled "VSB Modem Subsystem Design for Grand Alliance Digital Television Receivers", the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
A typical digital television receiver primarily includes an antenna for receiving radio frequency (RF) signals (i.e., generally high frequency signals), a tuner for channel select, an automatic gain control circuit and a demodulator. The automatic gain control circuit generally includes a low noise RF amplifier, a frequency converter, an Intermediate Frequency (IF)/Baseband amplifier, and an analog-to-digital (A/D) converter and an automatic gain controller. The low noise RF amplifier is for amplifying an RF signal of the selected channel. The frequency converter is for converting the selected RF signal into an intermediate frequency (IF) signal/baseband (zero-IF) signal. The IF/Baseband amplifier is for amplifying the IF/Baseband signal to be an amplified IF/Baseband signal. The A/D converter is for converting the amplified IF/Baseband signal into a digital IF/Baseband signal. The digital IF/Baseband signal is outputted to the demodulator for demodulation as well as the automatic gain controller. The automatic gain controller receives the digital IF/Baseband signal, compares the digital IF/Baseband signal with a reference level and then generates gain control signals in analog form to independently control gains of the low noise RF amplifier and the IF/Baseband amplifier, so as to regulate the signal outputted from the IF/Baseband amplifier at a desired level.
For the above-described low noise RF amplifier, when the low noise RF amplifier receives relatively weak RF signals, gain (or magnification) of the RF signals can be increased to improve the noise performance of the digital television receiver. When receiving strong RF signals, a linearity of the gain of RF signals may not accurately adjust and signal distortion may occur. As a result, the performance of the digital television receiver will degrade.
Therefore, what is needed is an automatic gain control circuit which includes a low noise RF amplifier and a gain thereof has an improved linearity and can be accurately adjust.

Automatic gain control circuit using gain shift


Simultaneous source-sink flow, or radial counterflow, is driven by a centrifugal pump disposed within a casing. Radially outward source flow of brine goes into a shrouding tank and concentrates while a radially inward sink flow of fresh water flows back over the pump to axial extraction. An axial pump drives sink flow and axial extraction. Convergent sink flow passes under an inductor to an axial exhaust port. Induced viscosity and inductive repulsion hinder the passage of brine in sink flow, so only fresh water can reach the axial exhaust port. Crystallization of scale-forming salts is aided by Joule heating from the inductor. Solvent and gases are continuously axially extracted in sink flow, favoring crystallization. Sodium chloride is cooled and crystallized in the shrouding tank. Brine comprising other salts flows out of the tank to treatment by suitable means. Thus brine is separated into fresh water, crystallized salt, and concentrated brine.

This invention relates to centrifugal pumps, fluid separation, and desalination without filter media, membranes, ion exchange, electrodialysis, or distillation. It applies to scale prevention by physical water treatment, and also to continuous crystallization and oil-water-brine separation assisted by electromagnetic force.
Approximately half of the world's installed desalination capacity is in reverse osmosis plants. Reverse osmosis (RO) desalination is done by means of a membrane separating brine from product water. High pressure on brine causes low salinity water to permeate through to the other side of the membrane. Chemical diffusion is the conventional explanation of how reverse osmosis works.
The applied pressure in reverse osmosis is sufficient to overcome the osmotic pressure at the given concentration of salts in the brine. Higher salinity requires higher pressure. Brackish water reverse osmosis pressure is between 17 and 27 bar (one bar is one times the atmospheric pressure, 105 Pa or 105 N/m2, which in English units is 14.7 pounds per square inch). Seawater operating pressure is between 52 and 60 bar, typically about 1000 psi in English units. Desalting seawater is 3 to 5 times more expensive than desalting brackish water, which is twice as expensive as ordinary municipal drinking water treatment. For potable water, the target is total dissolved solids (TDS) of less than 500 parts per million (ppm).
The disadvantages of reverse osmosis are: (1) the energy required for operating pressure, (2) the necessity of extensive pretreatment upstream of the membrane, (3) costs and downtime due to membrane fouling, and (4) a voluminous stream of reject brine that pollutes the environment. RO reject brine is classified as industrial waste by the US Environmental Protection Agency. Dewatering the RO reject brine using reverse osmosis would require very high pressure because of the very high osmotic pressure that must be overcome, therefore this solution is prohibitively expensive. Dumping or hiding the reject brine is not a solution.
An example of the unsolved problem posed by the voluminous stream of RO reject brine is the largest reverse osmosis plant in the United States, the Yuma Desalting Plant. This expensive modern facility has been idle since a 6-month test period ending in 1993 because dumping of its voluminous 9,400 ppm RO reject brine stream proved environmentally unacceptable. If operated at full capacity, with feed of saline agricultural drainage water (TDS 2,900 ppm) from the Wellton Mohawk Valley of approximately 390 million liters (102.7 million gallons) per day, the Yuma Desalting Plant could produce about 275 million liters (72.4 million gallons) of desalted water per day.
The Yuma reject brine stream (TDS 9,400 ppm) is a daunting 117 million liters, or 117,000 m3 per day. Although the waste brine is relatively low in salinity, over time the salts accumulate where it is dumped, poisoning local fauna and creating a putrid trap for migrating waterfowl. From this example it should be clear that concentration of RO reject brine is an important unsolved problem in the art of desalination and a critical need for environmental protection as humanity struggles to increase water supply.
Seawater salinity is approximately 35,000 ppm. Most of the salt is sodium chloride, but calcium carbonate and sulfate salts are also present in high concentrations, and these other salts are what cause scale, an insulating crust on heat exchange surfaces, making distillation difficult. These scale-producing salts also block reverse osmosis membranes, so a necessary step is pretreating the brine upstream of the membrane.
Various physical water treatment devices and processes use electromagnetic force in combination with flow velocity to cause Lorentz force on ions in the feedwater. Laminar flow is considered to be good, because turbulent flow would remix the ions. However, because Lorentz force is proportional to flow velocity, and laminar flow must be slow, prior art in this area has significant limitations.
Getting potable water from seawater is much more challenging for reverse osmosis than the Yuma reject brine (TDS 9,700). The energy requirement is very large, due to the high pressure required. RO desalination of seawater has a typical recovery rate of only 50%, so the reject brine would have a salinity of approximately 70,000 ppm, or 7%, and it would be as voluminous a stream as the stream of potable water produced. Dumping such a voluminous stream of highly concentrated industrial waste is not a long-term option in a world with rapidly increasing water needs. A high salinity plume dumped into the ocean is not a sustainable solution because no one wants a local Dead Sea. Various proposals for hiding the waste stream underground or in the ocean have transportation problems and are not really solutions at all.
The only known dewatering method to reduce the volume of reject brine is evaporation ponds, which require valuable space and blight the environment near production facilities. Evaporation ponds are a toxic trap for migrating waterfowl. Industrial waste dumpsites, even temporary ones, are not satisfactory solutions to the unsolved problem of reject brine from reverse osmosis.
Another major cause of environmental blight is oil and natural gas wells, which produce 20 to 30 billion barrels of brine each year. This water ranges in salinity from a few thousand to 463,000 ppm. The volume is 70 times the total of all liquid hazardous wastes generated in the U.S. Approximately 95% of this brine is reinjected, at least by responsible operators, but that still leaves a huge stream being dumped into evaporation ponds. A need exists for a better way than evaporation ponds to concentrate produced brine from oil and gas wells. A need also exists for electromagnetic oil-brine separation means.

Radial counterflow inductive desalination


The disclosed technology relates generally to electromechanical devices, and relates more specifically to a nanoelectromechanical switch device and a method for manufacturing the same. In one aspect, an electromechanical device includes a first electrode stack and a second electrode stack, both electrode stacks extending in a vertical direction relative to a substrate surface and being spaced apart by a gap. The electromechanical device additionally includes a third electrode stack comprising a beam extending in a vertical direction in the electrode gap and being spaced apart from the first electrode stack by a first gap, from the second electrode stack by a second gap, and from the substrate by a third gap; and a connector portion overlapping the first and second electrode stacks, wherein, in operation, the beam is movable in a first direction so as to electrically connect with the first electrode stack or in a second direction so as to electrically connect with the second electrode stack, and, in a rest position, the beam is isolated from the first and the second electrode stacks. Additionally, at least one of the first or second electrode stacks comprises two electrodes including a top electrode stacked over a bottom electrode, wherein the top and bottom electrodes are separated by an electrical insulator.

1. Field of the Invention
The disclosed technology relates generally to electromechanical devices, and relates more specifically to a nanoelectromechanical switch device and a method for manufacturing the same.
2. Description of the Related Technology
Nanoelectromechanical systems, as generally understood in the industry, are microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) scaled down to sub-micron feature sizes. Nanoelectromechanical devices in the sub-micron size regime can have some device characteristics not that may not be attainable in MEMS, owing to, for example, the high surface-to-volume ratio and ultralow active masses (e.g., in the femtogram range). One category of such devices, nanoelectromechanical switches (NEMS) can offer an alternative transistors in logic or memory applications. In some aspects, NEMS may offer several advantageous device characteristics compared to transistors. For example, NEMS may offer higher Ion/Ioff ratios compared to transistors with practically no leakage in the off state. On the other hand, some NEMS devices may have some drawbacks such as, for example, their relatively large footprints. For example, NEMS devices, whose switching is based on beam connectors that run in a horizontal direction relative to the substrate surface, can have significantly larger footprint in comparison to transistors fabricated with similar design considerations. There have been proposals for vertical electromechanical switch devices in which the electrodes and connector follow a vertical arrangement relative to the substrate, for example in US patent application 2008/0035928 A1, as an attempt to try to mitigate the relatively large footprints of NEMS. These state of the art proposals however still present additional connection problems that need to be solved. There is therefore a need to improve such vertical electromechanical switch devices and methods for manufacturing such devices.

Vertical electromechanical switch device


A method for synchronously writing data from memory to a disk drive memory device minimizes the number of actual I/O operations by writing data to disk in large chunks. The method comprises the steps of: allocating an array for saving buffer pointers; mapping the data to the disk space; allocating a buffer for each block of disk space; copying the data into the buffer; saving a pointer to the buffer in the array and then writing physically adjacent blocks to disk in one I/O operation. The method also updates and reads address blocks in the buffer pool and writes them to disk only at the end of the write request.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the exchange of data between a computer and a peripheral. In particular, the present invention relates to a method for synchronously writing data to a disk drive.
2. Description Of Related Art
Computer systems including mass storage media such as hard disks are well known. These computer systems include file systems for transferring data to and from the hard disk. A particular limitation in the operational speed of such computers is the input/output (I/O) throughput or the rate at which file systems can read and write data to mass storage devices. File system performance is important because of increased demand on I/O throughput in recent years. Existing file systems such as the UNIX System V file system have severe performance problems for sequential access to files on disk. This presents a particular problem for applications such as VLSI design and image processing applications that process large quantities of data in a small amounts of time, and thus, need to transfer data very quickly between disk and memory.
A particular problem with the prior art file systems is that data is written to the disk drive one block at a time and the blocks have a relatively small size (512-1024 bytes). For example, if the file system has four blocks of data to be transferred to the disk, prior art system would require four separate I/O operations to write the data from memory to the disk drive. This decreases performance because I/O operations are typically very slow in comparison to other operations performed by the central processing unit.
The prior art has attempted to increase the I/O throughput by increasing the block size. An increase in the block size improves throughput because it takes about the same amount of time to transfer a 1 K-byte block of data from memory to disk with a single I/O operation as to transfer a 4 K-byte block of data in a single I/O operation. Thus, rather than requiring four I/O operations to transfer a 3.5 K-byte file to disk, only a single I/O operation is required if the block sized is increased to 4 K-bytes. However, the problem with increasing the block size is that it wastes disk space. Most UNIX file systems include many very small files. For a 4 K-byte block size the wasted disk space can reach 45.6%.
The file systems also include a free list of blocks of the disk. The list identifies those portions of the disk that are available for use. Commonly, the free list is a linked list of pointers to free blocks. Initially, the linked list will identify free block in adjacent areas of the disk space. However, after use the free list deteriorates from its original form where adjacent blocks are listed sequentially into a random list of block positions. This deterioration decreases the I/O throughput since the seek time for the disk between each block access increased because the list does not identify sequential blocks on the disk. Attempts to increase system file performance have included schemes to store the data sequentially on the disk. However, these schemes have not been completely successful in increasing file system performance.
Prior art systems such as UNIX 4.2 Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD) and the Counterpoint Fast File System attempt to improve system I/O throughput. Both systems use a bit map of free blocks instead of a linked list of free blocks. Additionally, large data block I/O operations are provided to increase throughput. For example, the BSD allows transfers from disk to memory in blocks of up to 8 K-bytes and fragments of 1-7 K-bytes for reads and delayed writes. The Counterpoint Fast File System implements a fast file system algorithm in which free disk blocks are bit mapped. Reads and delayed writes are handled in clusters (up to 32 K bytes in one disk I/O). However, the use of the bit map and transfer of contiguous blocks of data to the disk drive was limited to delayed writes and reads. Synchronous writes, writes in which the file system waits for the write operation to be completed before proceeding with other operations, were not improved in the prior art file systems. Measurement of Network File System (NFS) server performance on systems implementing the Counterpoint Fast File System reveals that the network file system server continues to write very slowly to the disk (in the neighborhood of 30 K bytes/sec). The slowness in writing to disk is largely due to the inefficiency of the local file system in handling synchronous writes. The handling of synchronous writes is left the same as that of the original UNIX System V. Therefore, there is a need for an improved method for writing synchronously to mass storage devices.

Disk caching method for writing data from computer memory including a step of writing a plurality of physically adjacent blocks in a single I/O operation


The present invention generally relates to a new formulation containing nanoparticles encapsulating siRNA for the use of RNAi technology for gene silencing of galectin-1 involved in tumour progression. More in particular the present invention relates to the use of RNAi molecules for treating central nervous cancer, more in particular for treating glioblastoma multiforme (GBM).

Galectin-1 (Gal-1) is a naturally occurring galactose-binding lectin, which is overexpressed in glioblastoma multiforme (GBM). This lectin is associated with tumour progression, and a potent immune suppressor in the tumour micro-environment.
To inhibit Gal-1 in GBM, an effective therapy is required that reaches the central nervous system tumour, with limited systemic effects.
Gliomas are the most common type of intrinsic brain tumour, affecting 5-10 persons/100,000/year. Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most frequent glioma of astrocytic origin categorized by the world health organization as a grade 4 tumour [Louis, D. N. et al. (2007) Acta neuropathol. 114, 97-109]. Current treatment modalities fail to rescue GBM patients. Optimal treatment regimen consists of maximal surgical resection, followed by chemo- and radiation therapy. This multimodal treatment results in a median overall survival of 14.6 months [Stupp, R. et al. (2009) The lancet oncology 10, 459-466]. The poor prognosis has provoked a quest for many novel treatments over the past years. However, very few have reached clinical efficacy.
The potential of immunotherapy as novel approach to further improve the survival of GBM patients has been explored. Immunotherapy will harness the patient's own immune system towards the GBM. In relapsed malignant glioma patients, a substantial though still modest amount of long term survivors was reported, surviving more than 24 months after reoperation and dendritic cell vaccination [De Vleeschouwer S. (2008) Clin. Cancer Res. 14, 3098-3104; De Vleeschouwer, S. (2012) Cancer Immunol Immunother. 61, 2105-2112]. In newly diagnosed GBM patients, a median survival of 18.3 months in case of an integrated postoperative radiochemoimmunotherapy approach was reported, and a two year survival rate of more than 42% of the patients according to long-term analysis data. Despite this clinical feasibility, the final outcome for many patients remains unchanged with immunotherapy. Consensus is arising that GBM tumours are very potent immune-evasive tumours, pre-disposed to circumvent immune targeting therapies [Weathers S. P. & Gilbert M. R. (2015) J. Neuro oncol. 123, 331-337; Grauer, O. M. et al. (2009) Brain Pathol 19, 674-693].
Currently, the mediators that create this immune-evasive tumour micro-environment are under intensive investigation. Galectine-1 (Gal-1) has been identified as a potent naturally occurring immune-suppressive molecule, preferentially upregulated in GBM [Le Mercier M. et al (2010) Brain Pathol 20, 17-27, Toussaint, L. G. 3rd et al. (2012) Molecular cancer 11, 32].
Galectine-1 can induce apoptosis in activated CD8+ T cells, antagonize T cell signaling and block pro-inflammatory cytokine secretion [Rubinstein, N. et al. (2004) Cancer cell 5, 241-251; Garin, M. I. et al. (2007) Blood 109, 2058-2065]. It was previously demonstrated in the GL261, murine glioblastoma model, that depletion of Gal-1 can increase the efficacy of DC-based immunotherapy [Verschuere, T. et al. (2014) Int J Cancer. 134, 873-884]. From these data, Gal-1 is considered a potent immune regulator (in GBM). Gal-1 is not only involved in the immune suppression for GBM progression, but also several other key features have been attributed to this lectin [Camby, I. et al. (2006) Glycobiology 161, 37R-157R]. Upregulation of Gal-1 is correlated with an increased motility of GBM cells. Via rearrangement of the actin skeleton, Gal-1 can introduce a migratory phenotype in GBM cells. Moreover, Gal-1 has been proven to promote the angiogenesis in the tumour-micro environment. Not only the GBM cells can over express Gal-1, but also the endothelial cells, associated with the tumour. Functioning as a modulator for vascular endothelial growth factor maturation, Gal-1 can promote vessel growth. Furthermore, Gal-1 has been discovered as a mediator in chemo-resistance of GBM cells towards temozolomide, the most commonly used chemotherapeutic agent in GBM. Gal-1 can regulate the endoplasmatic reticulum stress to promote cell survival under temozolomide treatment [Le Mercier, M. et al. (2008) J. Neuropathol. Ex Neurol 67, 456-469; Le Mercier, M. et al. (2008) Toxicol appl. pharm. 229, 172-183; Croci, D. O. et al. (2014) Cell 156, 744-758.] In summary, Gal-1 is a crucial mediator at the interface of many GBM promoting phenomena, and therefore an ideal candidate to target.
Many strategies have been used to target Gal-1. In particular small-molecules such as Davanat®, OTX-008 (Anginex) have proven effectiveness in various cancers [Astorgues-Xerri, L. et al. (2014) Eur J Cancer 50, 2463-2477. Besides small molecules, also antibodies have been designed to tackle Gal-1. Two major obstacles are met when suppressing Gal-1: the targeting of both the intra- and extracellular fraction of Gal-1, and the specificity of the suppression. Interfering with other galectines is still under debate, as some galectines might have tumour regressing properties. To fulfil these requirements, the design of RNA interference based molecules is a very attractive approach. Short double stranded small interfering RNA molecules (siRNA) can be loaded into the RNA induced Silencing Complex (RISC complex), and selectively destroy the mRNA encoding Gal-1 [Schutze N. (2004) Mol. cell endocrinol. 213, 115-119]. Several papers have already demonstrated the efficacy of siRNA targeting Gal-1 in GBM cells [Le Mercier et al. 2008, both cited above]. Although efficacy of siRNA is seldom an issue, reaching a critical concentration at the tumour site is a major point of concern. The most attractive method mentioned in literature is to reach the GBM tumour via intraventricular injection where the siRNA molecules are infused with an osmotic mini-pump [Thakker, D. R. et al. (2004) Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 101, 17270-17275]. In a clinical setting, convection enhanced delivery systems are used for intracerebral injections in the context of brain tumours [Debinski, W.& Tatter, S. B. (2009) Exp. Rev. Neurother. 9, 1519-1527]. Even with promising clinical outcomes, complications are inherent with this invasive technique. Infections, haemorrhages, wound healing problems and unreliable distribution volumes are often observed. In particular for drugs that need to be administered chronically on a long term, CED seems unattractive.
In recent years, a mounting body of evidence has accumulated that the intranasal pathway might represent a non-invasive alternative administration method [Illum, L. (2000) Eur. J. Pharm. Sci. 11, 1-18; Mistry, A. et al. (2009) Int J Pharm. 379, 146-157]. The intranasal transport has been described as a direct pathway from the nasal cavity towards the central nervous system. Transport of molecules along this pathway involves extra- and transcellular transport through the olfactory and respiratory mucosal epithelium of the nasal cavity. Perivascular and perineural transport along the (ilia olfactoria towards the olfactory bulbus and transport along the trigeminal nerves towards the brainstem seem to be of paramount importance Lochhead J. J.& Thorne, R. G. (2012) Adv. Drug Deliv. Rev. 64, 614-628. From there, a rapid spread into the CNS can occur. Direct transport from the nose to the brain beholds many advantages such as: better patient compliance through self-delivery, avoiding (too much) systemic absorption, and circumventing the blood-brain barrier (BBB) [Groothuis, D. R. (2000) Neuro Oncol. 2, 45-59]. This barrier cannot be crossed without high lipophilicity, or receptor-targeting e.g. transferrin and high expression of efflux-pump will avoid passage. Successful exploitation of the intranasal pathway will open a window of opportunity for many therapeutic molecules to treat GBM and other brain diseases [Kim, I. D. et al. (2012) Mol. Ther. 20, 829-839; Hashizume, R. et al. (2008) Neuro-oncol. 10, 112-120]. A literature overview describes the pharmaceutical aspects to further enhance the nose-to-brain transport [van Woensel, M. et al. (2013) Cancers 5, 1020-1048], with comments on the design of pharmaceutical formulations that improve the transport, protect the active drug, and thereby increase the overall bio-availability in the CNS of the active compound. In this respect, nanoparticulated formulations could offer an interesting new versatile platform. For improvement of the nose-to-brain transport, chitosan nanoparticles are gaining interest rapidly. Chitosan is a β-(1-4)-linked D-glucosamine and N-acetyl-D-glucosamine molecule, which are linked via glycosidic bonds [Bernkop-Schnurch, A. & Dunnhaupt, (2012) Eur. J. Pharm. Biopharm. 81, 463-469]. As a biodegradable, biocompatible, mild immunogenic, and little toxic polymer, chitosan presents ideal characteristics that are necessary for a future pharmaceutical use in humans. Moreover, with mucoadhesive and permeation-enhancing properties, this excipient seems an ideal candidate to further enhance the nose-to-brain transport. Chitosan promotes permeation by transiently opening the tight junctions in between epithelial cells [Bonferoni, M. C. et al. (2009) Expert Opin. Drug Deliv. 6, 923-939; Davis, S. S. & Illum, L. (2003) Clin. Pharmacokinet. 42, 1107-1128; Soane, R. J. et al. (2001) Int. J. Pharm. 217, 183-191]. Production processes of chitosan nanoparticles are widely described. Ionic gelation is one of the most popular methods due to the ease of manufacture, and the avoidance of harmful reagents. Chitosan has also been widely investigated for its transfection potential, in particular for siRNA delivery in the cytosol due to the endosomal escape [Katas, H. & Alpar, H. O. et al. (2006) J. Control. Release 15, 216-225].
Danhier et al. (2015) Int. J. Pharm. 481, 154-161, disclose anti-galectin-1 and anti-EGFR siRNA loaded lipid-chitosan particles made from chitosan with a Mr of 5 kDa.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,964,575 discloses the use of anti-galectin-1 targeted siRNA for the treatment of cancer and discusses delivery via nasal inhalation, without further on particles for delivery.
Le Mercier et al. (2008)J. Neuropathol. Exp. Neurol. 67, 456-469 disclose the administration of anti-galectin-1 siRNA to the brain via osmotic minipumps.
Le Mercier et al. (2008) Toxicol. Appl. Pharmacol. 229, 172-183 discloses the transfection of Galectin siRNA in human tumour cells which are subsequently implanted in mice.
Van Woensel (2013) Cancers 5, 1020-1048, reviews formulations for intranasal delivery, and discusses chitosan nanoparticles with pharmaceutical active compounds.
US20130337067 discloses nanoparticles with small Mr (7-10 kDa) for intranasal delivery to the brain and with larger Mr (50 to 190 kDa) for intraperitoneal delivery.
US20110033547 discloses various types of chitosan particles, without guidance for specific application routes.
Malhotra (2013)J Pharmacol. 2013, article 812387 discloses chitosan particles with chitosan of 10 kDa for intranasal delivery.
Malhotra 2013 equally discloses chitosan particles of 5-10 nm made from chitosan with Mr 20 kDa.


A blockout apparatus for preserving a through passage in a structural member formed thereabout is provided. The blockout apparatus comprises a tubular body portion having first and second ends defining mouth openings and an intermediate section extending therebetween to define a longitudinal through passage. The tubular body portion includes a gasket flange formed at least partially about each of the first and second end mouth openings to project transversely outward therefrom. A hardware mounting portion is integrated with the tubular body portion, which hardware mounting portion defines an engagement base disposed in open communication with the through passage. The engagement base is structurally augmented relative to the tubular body portion to retentively engage preselected mounting hardware for weight bearing support of an implement therefrom.

The present invention is generally directed to a blockout apparatus for integration in a structural member which preserves a through passage in the structural member while providing built in support for weight bearing hardware. More specifically, the present invention is directed to such blockout apparatus having integrated measures conveniently accessible to a user for stable and secure mounting of certain weight bearing hardware directly thereon, when the blockout apparatus is incorporated within a structural member.
Various prefabricated structural members formed of concrete or other such materials known in the art are widely used in various applications. Examples of these structural members include modular forms molded into particularly configured units, such as the so-called T-beam forms, used as building blocks in the construction of various building structures. Like structural members of numerous other type, these T-beam forms generally include a planar top panel and one or more vertical beams formed underneath the top panel to project vertically downward therefrom (to give the structural member/form a "T-beam" sectional profile). The vertical beam typically projects downward from a mid-portion of the top panel and extends underneath along substantially the full length of its bottom surface.
In substantial building structures like parking garages and the like, numerous concrete T-beam structural forms of this type are arranged and assembled together so that their top panels collectively form a ceiling for one level of the building and, if necessary, a flooring base for the elevated level immediately above. The vertical beams in a row of assembled structural forms then align to collectively define supporting joist structures for the overall surface defined overhead by the top panels of the assembled forms.
Much like flooring joists used in traditional construction to provide cross-run support underneath subfloor boards, a series of supporting joists run parallel underneath the top panel surface being supported. Various pipes, cable, conduits, and other such implements required to meet the mechanical, electrical, plumbing (MEP) needs of the given building structure are routed through the vertical beams of assembled T-beam forms—accommodated through cross openings, or passages, pre-formed therein. Typical concrete T-beam structural forms known in the art are provided with one or more of these cross-passages prefabricated through their vertical beams.
The cross-passages are preserved by tubular blockout devices incorporated into the structural members. In the case of molded structural members like concrete T-beam forms, the tubular blockout devices are placed suitably in a given mold prior to the concrete's pouring. The blockout devices then remains embedded within cured concrete, each preserving a cross-passage for the resulting structural form.
When a collection of such structural forms having cross passages are arranged and assembled together, the cross passages provide portals for freely running the various MEP implements transversely through intervening vertical members. Building codes and technical standards applicable to given applications, however, invariably require any extended run of such implements to be adequately secured to a stabilizing structure at each incremental span along the run. It is not enough that extended runs of implements pass unimpeded through the vertical beams. They must be mounted by appropriate hardware to a stable nearby structure.
In the case of electrical cables that are run along pipe-like conduits passed through the structural forms' cross passages, this requires a user to first install one or more securement anchors into the nearby structural surface to establish mounting points for the required hanging hardware. Typically, the securement anchors must be installed into the concrete surface of the top panel(s) spanning the distance between two spaced vertical beams.
This presents a number of drawbacks. First, installing a securement anchor normally requires either drilling or other impact penetration of the overhead ceiling surface (formed by the concrete top panel surface). The user is not only required to operate extraneous tools that he/she may not otherwise need to operate, it consumes considerable time which, when repeated for every incremental span of an extended conduit run, accumulates to a significant delay in completing installation. The task also requires high dexterity and strained effort to carry out. What is more, the overhead drilling and hammering process creates potentially hazardous puffs of dusty debris which in addition to requiring inconvenient cleanup exposes the user to respiratory and optical contamination, and injury from falling pieces of residual debris. Penetrating the concrete material also creates unnecessary points of possible weakening and potential compromise in the concrete form itself.
There is therefore a need for measures to simplify, speed up, and abate if not eliminate the undue hazards in the process of installing and securing continuous runs of such implements as pipes, cables, conduits, and the like through intervening portions of various structural members. There is a need for such measures which afford users convenient built in measures to accommodate the secure mounting of hardware to hold such implements passed through the structural members. There is a need for such measures which obviate the need for users to separately install points of securement on which to safely mount requisite hanging/supporting hardware.

Hardware mountable blockout apparatus and structural member integrating the same


An improved fuel injection spray director plate including conically chamfered entries to the flow passages through the plate. The conical chamfer may extend part way or all the way through the plate. In a currently preferred embodiment, the chamfer extends only part way through the plate, and the remaining cylindrical portion of the passage provides desirable directional capability for the spray. Preferably, the conical chamfer axis forms an angle with the cylindrical portion axis. Preferably, a flow passage is positioned in the director plate such that the main flow direction of fuel exiting the fuel injector valve is received into the chamfer of the passage. Preferably, a second conical portion is formed in the passage between the first conical portion and the cylindrical portion.

Fuel injected internal combustion engines are well known. In direct-injected engines, the injection tip of the fuel injector extends into the combustion chamber and includes a perforated plate, known in the art as a "spray director plate," for dispersing and directing fuel injected from the injection valve. In a conventional engine fuel injection system, the injection tip of the injector extends into a plenum or rail of the engine's intake manifold where the injected fuel is mixed with intake air before being discharged into the engine's combustion chamber.
As is well known in the automotive arts, the configuration and positioning of a director plate with respect to the injection valve ball and valve seat are critical elements in the most fuel-efficient distribution of fuel into the manifold or firing chamber. A typical fuel injection valve includes a beveled circular seat and a reciprocably-actuated ball that seals against the seat in a circular sealing line.
The perforations through a director plate may be considered as fuel flow passages. It is known in prior art director plates to form a passage by drilling or punching with a tool from either the flow-entrance or flow-exit side, either parallel to or at an angle to the plate axis, resulting in a cylindrical passage having an abrupt corner at the tool entrance and typically a ragged or torn corner at the tool exit. A known problem in prior art fuel injectors is that, over time in use, deposits may build up at the flow entrances and exits to the cylindrical passages, as well as on the sidewalls, adversely affecting the control of the volume and spray pattern of fuel.
What is needed in the art is a fuel injector director plate having an improved configuration of flow passages that results in a reduced propensity to form deposits.
It is a principal object of the present invention to reduce the forming of deposits in the flow passages of a fuel injector spray director plate.

Fuel injector director plate having chamfered passages and method for making such a plate


An optical module for LED luminaire is provided. The optical module can be used with LED arrays so that the luminaire with LED arrays can utilize the present invention to improve the luminance, brightness, luminance uniformity and coefficient of utilization to meet the user's demands. The optical module includes at least a radiation guiding unit and at least an anti-glare unit. The radiation guiding units are arranged abreast to adjust the radiation pattern to fit the coverage range. The anti-glare unit is formed on the both sides of the radiation guiding unit to prevent glare. The optical module of the present invention, when used in a luminaire, can form the expected distribution curve according to the objects to be lighted.

The basic criteria for lighting design include illuminance, brightness, uniformity (lowest illuminance/average illuminance), coefficient of utilization (the flux received in the effective luminance range/the lighting source flux), luminaire efficacy (luminaire flux/light source flux), and so on. There is a trade-off between the coefficient of utilization and uniformity. It is a big challenge to improve high coefficient of utilization while to maintain the uniformity. How to reach a good balance between the coefficient of utilization and the uniformity remains a big task to the lighting designer.
Recently, the LED lighting is becoming popular. As the LED lighting has the advantages of eco-friendliness, high efficiency, low maintenance cost and long lifespan, the LED lighting will replace the conventional lighting source eventually, such as mercury lamp, incandescent lamp, halogen lamp. Since the single LED's flux is not sufficient for the luminance needed, an LED array with plurality of LEDs is needed. This type of LED light source has the following drawbacks:    1. Different lighted targets may require different second-order optical designs according to the distance from the light source (such as different height of the road), the shape of the lighted area, or the lighted space (different road width or distance between lamps). The suitable lighting distribution curve cannot be achieved by simply changing the LED array arrangement.    2. The LED light source usually uses a lamp casing as the second-order optical reflector; hence, it is difficult to form optimal radiation pattern.    3. LED's light radiation is directional, thus, the LED light source can easily generate glare and cause uniformity problem which makes the user uncomfortable.    4. The same LED chips may generate different radiation patterns because of the different packaging manner or packaged by different manufacturers. Therefore, the second-order optical design of the lighting device is restricted by the packaging manufacturer and the packaging method.
Therefore, the present invention provides an optical module which can guide the LED light radiation to the righted area with expected efficacy.


A support plate includes a plate body, which has a shape of a flat plate with predetermined width and length and made of metal, and a radio coverage area member, which is provided at one of opposite ends of the plate body so as to be located adjacent to a radio coverage area of an antenna and made of plastic. Further, a mobile communication terminal has the support plate that supports a mobile communication terminal body on which at least one antenna is installed and transmits and receives radio waves through the antenna.

In general, mobile communication terminals function to exchange predetermined information between subscribers using radio communication.
Specifically, these mobile communication terminals transmit or receive image information including speech information and character information using a predetermined frequency bandwidth.
Thus, the mobile communication terminals are equipped with an antenna so as to be able to transceive such information through the frequency bandwidth.
Each mobile communication terminal generally has a single antenna in its body.
Thus, a transmission or reception rate of the information is dependent on radiation performance of the antenna.
Recently, these mobile communication terminals have been equipped with two antennas, which use different frequency bandwidths.
For example, a world phone has two antennas so as to support different frequency bandwidths, such as Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) and Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), at the same time.
Further, a dual-standby phone has two antennas so as to support the same two frequency bandwidths (GSM and GSM) at the same time.
Such two antennas are applied to a slide-type mobile communication terminal.
The slide-type mobile communication terminal has a main body and a sub-body slidably connected with the main body.
Generally, the main body is equipped with a liquid crystal display window, and the sub-body is equipped with a plurality of key pads.
Further, one of the two antennas is mounted in an upper end of the main body, and the other antenna is mounted in a lower end of the sub-body.
The reason why the antennas are disposed on the upper and lower ends in this way is to maximize the radiation performance of the antennas by having the antennas spaced apart from each other by a predetermined distance.
Thus, the two antennas are used as an intenna (built-in antenna) type.
The sub-body has a flat support plate thereinside which is made of a metal. The support plate is less than or equal to a width and a length of the sub-body.
Thus, the support plate can support the sub-body.
However, although the two antennas are spaced apart from each other by a predetermined distance, the radiation performance thereof cannot be easily improved when the body is sensitive to ground condition.
In addition, this support plate is made of a metal, and the upper end thereof is located adjacent to a region where the antenna transmits and receives the radio waves. As such, the upper end of the supporting body supporting the sub-body reduces the radiation performance of the antenna installed on the upper end of the main body.

Support plate and mobile communication terminal having the same


Improved burner constructions for gas-fired infra-red generators having ceramic fiber matrix through the thickness of which gaseous combustion mixture is passed and as it emerges it is burned to heat emerging surface to incandescence. Burner matrix can be loaded with silicon carbide particles to improve its emissivity, can be made water repellent and its uniformity can be improved. Burner body can be casting, with sheet metal addition to form a baffle and air seal and to grip matrix edges. Combustion mixture plenum can have movable partition assembly separating it from air seals, to adjust portion of matrix at which incandescence is generated. Metal screen can be stretched in front of incandescent surface to assist with low-temperature operation. Large size matrix can have central support fitted and secured to back of burner body. Air seal can be provided by narrow curtain of air extending around internal faces of burner body. Annealing lehr is desirably provided with gas-fired infra-red irradiation, and can have heat losses reduced by diminishing amount of metal used as in a conveyor to move workpieces through.

The present invention relates primarily to apparatus and methods for treating substrates such as webs of paper, textile and non-wovens, which are manufactured in long lengths and are heat treated during or after their manufacture.
Among the objects of the present invention is the provision of novel apparatus and methods for effecting such heat treatment.