A service provider may receive a user device that includes an embedded subscriber identity module (eSIM) associated with an equipment identifier (eID) with a previously provisioned service. The previously provisioned service may be provided by an eSIM profile (identified by an Integrated Circuit Card Identifier or ICCID) and the eSIM may contain more than one ICCID. The service provider may re-provision one of the existing ICCIDs to provide service based on the eID and historical data. The device and the carrier provisioning system may determine whether one of the profiles (ICCIDs) installed in the eSIM matches an already known eSIM profile (ICCD) and re-provision the eSIM profile (ICCD) for new wireless service. The service provider may then activate the user device for communication via the new wireless service in response to re-provisioning of the applicable eSIM profile (ICCID).

Mobile devices with embedded subscriber identity modules (eSIM) have become more popular due to many advantages over traditional SIMs (non-eSIMs). While eSIM technology has brought many advantages, it has also introduced some disadvantages. In order to reactivate a device using eSIM technology, a new eSIM profile must be downloaded to the device. If a device has been reactivated numerous times, attempting to download a new eSIM profile to the eSIM may waste resources or may result in profile download failure due to lack of available memory on the eSIM.

Methods and systems for determining eSIM profile presence for reactivation


A touch screen display may include gate line driver circuitry coupled to a display pixel array. The display may be provided with intra-frame pausing (IFP) capabilities, where touch or other operations may be performed during one or more intra-frame blanking intervals. In one suitable arrangement, a gate driver circuit may include multiple gate line driver segments each of which is activated by a separate gate start pulse. Each gate start pulse may only be released at the end of an IFP interval. In another suitable arrangement, dummy gate driver units may be interposed among active gate driver units. Gate output signals may propagate through the dummy gate driver units during the IFP internal. In another suitable arrangement, each active gate driver unit may be provided with a buffer portion that protects at least some transistor in the gate driver unit from undesired stress.

This relates generally to electronic devices, and more particularly, to electronic devices with touch screen displays.
Touch screen displays are prevalent in many applications, including consumer electronics devices such as smartphones, tablet devices, and laptop and desktop computers. The display function in such devices is typically performed by a liquid crystal display (LCD), plasma, or organic light emitting diode (OLED) display element, array that is connected to a grid of source (data) and gate (select) metal traces. The display element array is often formed on a transparent panel such as a glass panel, which serves as a protective shield. The data and select lines of the display element array may be driven by a display driver integrated circuit (IC). The driver IC receives an image or video signal, which it then decodes into raster scan pixel values (color or gray scale) and writes them to the display element array during each frame, by driving the data and select lines. This process is repeated at a high enough frame rate so as to render video.
The touch gesture detection function in such devices is typically performed using a capacitance sensing subsystem in which a touch transducer grid, structure overlays the display element array. The touch transducer structure is stimulated and sensed by touch controller circuitry. A touch stimulus signal is applied to the row segments of the grid, while simultaneously sensing the column segments (to detect a single-touch or a multi-touch gesture). Touch detection is typically performed during a blanking interval portion of the frame, while the display function is performed during a display interval portion of the frame.
The touch transducer grid structure can be implemented as a light transparent electrode plate that covers the display element array and may be formed on a rear surface of the protective panel. In some cases, the transparent electrode plate is also connected to the display elements, serving to deliver a "common voltage" to the display elements from a voltage source circuit often referred to as a Vcom conditioning circuit. The Vcom conditioning circuit helps improve the display function by adjusting a voltage on the transparent conductor plate that changes the light modulation characteristics of the connected display elements (during the display interval). As such, the transparent electrode plate is dual purposed in that it is used for both the display function and as the touch transducer grid structure.
As such, the touch screen display alternates between the display interval during which the display element array is activated and the blanking (or touch) interval during which the touch gesture detection function is activated. During each display interval, an entire frame is loaded into the display element array. The touch interval is typically positioned between successive display intervals (i.e., each touch interval occurs only after an entire frame has been scanned in). Performing inter-frame touch detection in this way may not be frequent enough for certain applications.


A flash drive has increased endurance and longevity by reducing writes to flash. An Endurance Translation Layer (ETL) is created in a DRAM buffer and provides temporary storage to reduce flash wear. A Smart Storage Switch (SSS) controller assigns data-type bits when categorizing host accesses as paging files used by memory management, temporary files, File Allocation Table (FAT) and File Descriptor Block (FDB) entries, and user data files, using address ranges and file extensions read from FAT. Paging files and temporary files are never written to flash. Partial-page data is packed and sector mapped by sub-sector mapping tables that are pointed to by a unified mapping table that stores the data-type bits and pointers to data or tables in DRAM. Partial sectors are packed together to reduce DRAM usage and flash wear. A spare/swap area in DRAM reduces flash wear. Reference voltages are adjusted when error correction fails.

Flash memory is widely used for peripheral storage in computer systems, and even for primary storage in portable devices. The NAND flash memory was invented by Dr. Fujio Masuoka of Toshiba in 1987. Flash memory uses electrically-erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM) cells that store charge on a floating gate. Cells are typically programmed by an avalanche current, and then erased using quantum-mechanical tunneling through a thin oxide. Unfortunately, some electrons may be trapped in the thin oxide during program or erase. These trapped electrons reduce the charge stored in the cell on subsequent program cycles, assuming a constant programming voltage. Often the programming voltage is raised to compensate for trapped electrons.
As the density and size of flash memory has increased, the cell size has been shrunk. The thickness of oxides including the tunneling oxide has also been reduced. The thinner oxides are more susceptible to trapped charges and sometimes fail more easily. The floating gate of NAND flash is used to trap electrons. The number of electrons in the floating gate can affect the voltage level of the output. The different level of voltage is achieved by controlling the number of electrons trapped in the depletion layer during the write process. The ever smaller floating gate area often limits the maximum number of electrons that can be trapped (now just several hundred electrons). Due to program/read interference the electrons can leak or trap into the floating gate. This electron number change will affect the voltage output level change and change the read result.
The number of program-erase cycles that a flash memory is able to withstand (or is spec'ed at) was around 100,000 cycles, which allowed for a lengthy lifetime under normal read-write conditions. However, the smaller flash cells have experienced a disturbingly higher wear and newer flash memories may be spec'ed at less than 10,000 program-erase cycles for two-level cells and about 600 for Triple-Level Cells (TLC). If current trends continue, future flash memories may only allow for 300 program-erase cycles. Such a low endurance could severely limit the applications that flash memory could be used for, and have severe impacts for Solid-State-Disk (SSD) applications.
One method to increase the density of flash memory is to store more than one bit per memory cell. Different voltage levels of the cell are assigned to different multi-bit values, such as four voltage ranges for a two-bit cell. However, the noise margins are reduced for the multi-level-cell (MLC) and TLC flash technologies and endurance problems are exacerbated.
It is expected that the underlying flash technology will have lower and lower endurance in the future. Flash drives may compensate for the lower wear tolerance of the underlying flash memories by a variety of techniques. For example, a DRAM buffer on the flash drive may act as a write-back cache, reducing the number of writes to the underlying flash memories when the host performs writes to the same data location.
What is desired is a flash drive that compensates for lower wear tolerances of underlying flash memory devices. A super-endurance flash drive is desired that uses a barrage of advanced management techniques that together reduce the number of writes to flash, hence reducing program-erase cycles on the underlying flash memory. A super-endurance flash drive constructed from low-endurance flash memory is desired.

Endurance translation layer (ETL) and diversion of temp files for reduced flash wear of a super-endurance solid-state drive


The invention relates to a light-weight device for loading solid particles into an enclosure including at least one pipe (18, 20) for the circulation of said solid particles and at least one movable element for controlling the fall velocity of the particles, which is designed to be slidably moved inside of said pipe (18, 20). The device further includes a plurality of identical guide plates (12a, 12b) connected to each other by attachment means. Said at least one pipe (18, 20) is made of a flexible material and each guide plate (12a, 12b) has at least one through opening for receiving and guiding said at least one pipe (18, 20) in a position in which the longitudinal axis of the pipe extends substantially perpendicular to the plane of each guide plate.

The device according to the invention is more specifically applicable to the loading of fixed-bed catalytic chemical, petroleum or petrochemical reactors with solid particles in the divided state, which may take the form of balls, pellets, cylinders, disks, rods, or bodies of any other shape, but which are generally of relatively small size. These solid particles are, more specifically, chemically inert balls used in chemical reactors, molecular sieves, or catalyst pellets used in transformation reactions of chemical or hydrocarbon products, for example reforming, cracking, hydrocarbon desulfurization, or, more generally, the hydrotreatment of petroleum fractions. Such particles usually take the form of balls, extrusions or multilobe elements whose dimensions vary according to circumstances, from a few tenths of a millimeter to a few centimeters.
When these solid particles are loaded into a reactor, it is essential that they are deposited intact on the bottom of the reactor or on the bed support plate, because if they break into small fragments they may block the outlet manifold of the reactor or the support plate, creating a pressure difference between the reactor inlet and outlet, which has a highly adverse effect on the efficiency of the reaction in the reactor and ultimately on the quality of the operator's intended production process.
The solid particles (inert balls or catalyst particles) must therefore be loaded without breakage or wear, in other words without any impact between the particles or against the walls of the reactor, that is to say without the presence of energy which might result, for example, from an excessive fall velocity inside the reactor.
In his patent application FR-A1-2 829 107, the present applicant has proposed a serpentine or helical semi-rigid sleeve in which the particles descend by rolling along the inner face of the sleeve, the velocity of descent (and consequently the kinetic energy at the end of travel) being adjustable by varying the inclination of the slope of the sleeve. However, this device is bulky because of its serpentine or helical shape and the relative rigidity of the material from which the sleeve is made, making it difficult to transport, to install, and to dismantle through the passage openings ("manholes") in the reactor.
In his patent application FR 2 874 212, the present applicant has also proposed a cylindrical flexible straight sleeve inside which a helical ramp, fixed on a central axis and wound around this axis, is used to limit the velocity of descent of the balls on said ramp. However, for very tall reactors, for example those with heights of more than thirty meters, there are potential hazards which may arise, for example, as a result of the tearing of the sleeve when it is fully loaded, in other words when its whole length is filled with solid particles. These hazards may potentially endanger the operators working at the bottom of the reactor.
In his application FR-A1-2 901 778, the present applicant has proposed a rigid sleeve formed from a plurality of basic units fastened to each other by sets of threaded rods and nuts positioned on the outside of the basic units. Each basic unit is provided with two diametrically opposed fastening flanges, each designed for attaching and/or guiding at least one fastening chain or line necessary for maintaining the sleeve inside the enclosure. This rigid sleeve includes at least one conduit for introducing particles into the reactor, in which a movable element for controlling the fall velocity of these particles is moved by means of a line. This movable element is conical or cylindrical in shape, with a height in the range from one to five times the inside diameter of the conduit, and is provided with a seal on its periphery to prevent the passage of particles between its periphery and the inner wall of the conduit.
However, this sleeve has the drawback of being particularly heavy and bulky because of the rigid material used to form each basic unit, and is therefore difficult to transport for use in reactors remote from each other or at industrial sites at a distance from its management and maintenance center. Furthermore, it is sometimes difficult to align the individual basic units correctly during their assembly, and this may lead to misalignment of the inner conduit portions of two adjacent basic units, causing the movable element to become jammed as it passes through the conduit.
Unlike the semi-rigid or flexible sleeve described in FR-A1-2 829 107 and FR-A1-2 874 212, the rigid sleeve described in FR-A1-2 901 778 cannot be flattened, curved or deformed.

Light-weight device for loading solid particles


A process for forming a facial tris-cyclometallated rhodium or iridium complex isomer from a meridional isomer comprises subjecting the meridional isomer to an isomerization reaction in the presence of an acid, an organic solvent, and silica particles.

Cyclometallated iridium complexes have been the focus of research and development in OLED (organic lighting-emitting diode, Ching W. Tang et al, Applied Physics Letters, 1987, 51, 913) display devices over last several years. Those complexes can offer higher efficiency when used as phosphorescent dopants in OLED devices since both singlet and triplet excitons generated by electroexcitation can be harvested by a phosphorescent dopant, while only singlets (25% of total excitons) can be utilized when a fluorescent material is used as a dopant. Tris-cyclometallated iridium complexes have demonstrated such advantage. There exist two stereoisomers in homoleptic tri-cyclometallated iridium complexes such as tris(2-(phenyl)pyridinato, N,C2)iridium (III) (Ir(ppy)3), namely facial and meridional isomers as shown below. The facial isomer has been shown to be more desirable as it has demonstrated higher quantum yield and thermal stability than the corresponding meridional isomer (A. B. Tamayo, et al, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2003, 125, 7377).

There are continuous efforts to develop new phosphorescent dopants for improving the efficiency and operational stability of OLED devices. Mixed tris-cyclometallated iridium complexes have recently attracted attention of research community and their applications to OLED devices have been demonstrated (T. Igarashi et al, US 2001/0019782 A1; J. Kamatani, et al, US 2003/0068526 A1; S. Akiyama et al, JP2003-192691A). However, the synthesis of those mixed ligand complexes is challenging. The method employed in the prior art involves the reaction of a bis-cyclometallated iridium complex with a third ligand in glycerol at high temperature (usually above 180° C.), which was found to produce an undesirable mixture of different homoleptic and heteroleptic tris-cyclometallated iridium complexes formed from ligand-scrambling side reactions which leads to difficulties in separation and purification of the desired compounds. Recently, a method was developed in U.S. Ser. No. 09/729,207 to prepare mixed tris-cyclometallated iridium complexes in high yields and purity, but the products obtained from that reaction are meridional isomers. Also, it was discovered that some meridional isomers could be isomerized to their facial isomers by applying heat, but the high temperature required (above 180° C.) was accompanied by severe decomposition in some cases.
It is a problem to be solved to provide an improved process for efficiently isomerizing meridional mixed tris-cyclometallated rhodium or iridium complexes to their facial isomers by reducing the extent of side reactions and high temperature degradation.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Facial tris-cyclometallated group 9 complex synthesis


An immunoassay cassette, apparatus, and method for detecting an analyte in a liquid body-fluid sample are disclosed. The cassette has a body and a support mounted on the body, for movement relative to the body to first and second transfer positions. Sample supplied to a sample well in the cassette body is transferred to a reagent reservoir on the cassette body, by moving the support to its first transfer position. Here the sample reacts with a first reagent composition in the reservoir effective to form a modified sample. The modified sample is then transferred to a reagent strip on the support by moving the support to its second transfer position. The reagent strip has a transfer zone at which sample material is transferred to the strip, a second reagent composition effective to react with the modified sample to form a detectable analyte-dependent product, and a detection zone located downstream at which the detectable product can be observed. By controlling movement of the support to its first and second positions, the cassette can effectively handle a variety of samples having different flow rates.

Assays for detecting the presence and level of a variety of analytes in body fluid samples are known. Such assays are often designed for simplicity of use so that they can be reliably conducted in a doctor's office or other clinical setting where personnel may have little training in clinical assay procedure or in interpreting assay results. In order to minimize the need for operator involvement, it is preferable that the assay be carried out in an automated or self-contained manner.
Such self-contained assays have typically been limited, for the sake of simplicity of operation, to one-step assay procedures. A number of useful assays, however, are multistage in nature, requiring more than one reacting or binding step. Further, one or more of the steps may be rate limiting, or the rate of liquid flow from one assay region to another may be dependent on the nature of the sample. Typically, multistage assays are less readily automated and generally require more input from the user, thus increasing the possibility of error.
It is therefore desirable to provide an automated, self-contained assay device which is able to perform multistage assays, in particular those containing multiple reacting or binding steps in which rates of sample movement within an assay device, or rates of assay reactions are variable, depending on the nature of the sample and the assay being performed.

Automated immunoassay cassette, apparatus and method


Embodiments of the present application disclose a target detection method and device, and relate to the technical field of video processing. The method comprises: obtaining an image sequence to be detected from a video to be detected according to an image sequence determining algorithm based on video timing (S101), extracting a first CNN feature of the image sequence to be detected based on a pre-trained CNN model, performing feature fusion on the first CNN feature based on a second CNN feature to obtain a first fused CNN feature of the image sequence to be detected (S102); inputting the first fused CNN feature into the first-level classifier, and obtaining first candidate target regions of the image sequence to be detected from an output of the first-level classifier (S103); determining a first input region of the second-level classifier based on the first candidate target regions (S104); obtaining a third CNN feature of the first input region based on the first fused CNN feature (S105); inputting the third CNN feature into the second-level classifier, and obtaining a target detection result for the image sequence to be detected based on the output of the second-level classifier (S106).

With the rapid development of network technology and hardware technology, more and more videos appear in people's lives, and the impact of videos on people's lives is growing. For example, surveillance videos obtained with the video surveillance technology enable people to easily and intuitively obtain dynamic information on an entire surveillance scenario.
Taking the above surveillance video as an example, people may need to pay special attention to a target with a certain feature, such as people running fast, people wandering in a specific region, etc. For this purpose, it is needed to detect targets in a video in actual applications.
In the related art, the target detection is generally performed for each single-frame image in a video, and it is detected in the single-frame image whether there is a suspected target region that satisfies a specific feature. For example, the specific feature is a feature of running action. After a suspected target region that satisfies the specific feature is detected in a plurality of single-frame images, a motion trajectory is generated according to the suspected target region detected in the plurality of consecutive single-frame images. Finally, it is detected whether a target with the specific feature is present in the video according to the motion trajectory.
Multi-frame images are usually needed to fully represent the above specific feature, while a single-frame image can only represent features of a target at a certain moment. Therefore, the feature of the target at one moment is likely to be similar to that of other specific features at a certain moment. For example, the action feature of legs when close together in the running action is very similar to that in normal walking. In view of above, there may be an error in the detection of a suspected target region in the single-frame image with the above method, which results a low accuracy of target detection for a video.

HANGZHOU HIKVISION DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.


A portable storage container that both stacks and nests with similar containers includes a plurality of walls extending upwardly from a floor. At least one bail member is moveable between a plurality of positions for supporting the similar containers at varying heights. The bail member is moveable between a low nest position and a high nest position. In the low nest position, minimal clearance between the floors of the stacked containers is provided, and the stacked containers have the lowest overall height. In the high nest position, a ledge protruding outwardly from an outer surface of a wall of the upper container is supported on a support portion of the bail arm.

The present invention relates generally to portable storage containers and more particularly to portable storage containers that provide the ability to select different nesting and stacking depths.
Portable storage containers that both stack and nest with similar containers are commonly used for transporting and storing goods. Nesting is typically achieved when an empty container receives a like container therein such that there is at least some overlap between the walls of the containers. The stacking feature is typically used when an occupied container has a like container supported thereon, such that the goods contained in the lower container are preferably not contacted or damaged by the upper container. Many containers use members known bail members to achieve the stacking feature. Bail members may typically be positioned out of the way for purposes of nesting, but then moved to a stacking position for allowing containers to be stacked thereon.
The bail members in some containers are movable among three positions: a nesting position, a first stack position and a second stack position. In the nesting position, the bail members are out of the way and the upper container can substantially nest within the lower container. The bail members support containers in the first stack position at a first distance from the floor, where the upper container is not substantially nested within the lower container. The bail members also can be moved to the second stack position to support the upper container at a second distance from the floor, where the upper container is partially nested within the lower container.
The depth at which the bail members can support a container stacked thereon is limited because structure for supporting the bail member must be provided and the structure must still be able to nest with a container nested thereon. Providing bail members that extend substantially below the top band of the container can diminish stability and structural integrity. Additionally, the longer the arms of the bail member are, the more likely they are to become misaligned.


A virtual ablation electrode assembly includes a non-conductive outer cap fitted over an inner electrode to form a fluid chamber between a cap inner surface and an exterior surface of the electrode. The inner electrode includes an interior fluid trunk and one or more fluid distribution branches extending from the fluid trunk to the exterior surface. A plurality of pores extends between the cap inner surface and a cap outer surface. When the electrode is energized and when fluid is delivered through the one or more fluid distribution branches from the trunk, the conductive fluid fills the fluid chamber and flows out from the chamber through the plurality of pores of the cap establishing ionic transport of ablation energy from the inner electrode to a target site in close proximity to the cap.

Therapies have been developed for treating atrial and ventricular tachycardias by destroying cardiac tissue containing an identified ectopic foci or an aberrant conduction pathway; one of these therapies includes the application of ablative RF energy delivered through a catheter, which may be introduced transvenously into the heart, to a target site via a virtual electrode formed by conductive fluid infused out from a portion of the catheter in proximity to the site. An ablation electrode contained within that portion of the catheter and shielded by a non-conductive porous shell energizes the infused fluid; the rate of infusion and conductivity of the fluid can be controlled to work in conjunction with various electrodes with different surface areas. The creation of the virtual electrode enables the current to flow with reduced resistance or impedance throughout a larger volume of tissue, thus spreading the resistive heating created by the current flow through a larger volume of tissue and thereby creating a larger lesion than could otherwise be created with a 'dry' electrode. Furthermore, virtual electrodes reduce the potential for complications arising from an excessive electrode temperature (approximately greater than 100 degrees Celsius), typically associated with 'dry' ablation electrodes in direct contact with the target site, which may cause formation of blood coagulum and sub-surface explosions or pops within the tissue.
Physicians have long used the technique of pressing an RF electrode, which terminates a distal end of a catheter, against the endocardium, applying RF energy, and dragging the electrode along the endocardium to create an elongated lesion. Consequently, there remains a need for an improved RF ablation catheter including a virtual electrode assembly that is simple to fabricate and to use efficaciously in this manner.


Technologies are generally described for systems, devices and methods effective to migrate a virtual machine between computing devices. A first and second node may be identified effective to access the virtual machine at a first computing device. First and second vectors related to the first and second nodes, respectively, may be determined. The first and second vectors may relate to values of a parameter. The parameter may relate to communication between the nodes and the first computing device. The vectors may form a distribution. A feature of the distribution of the vectors may be determined. A first magnitude between the first computing device and the feature may be determined. A second magnitude between the second computing device and the feature may be determined. The virtual machine may be migrated from the first computing device to the second computing device if the second magnitude is less than the first magnitude.

Unless otherwise indicated herein, the materials described in this section are not prior art to the claims in this application and are not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
One or more virtual machines may be executed on a host computing device. The host computing device may be effective to run a hypervisor or virtual machine manager software. The hypervisor or virtual machine manager may be effective to provide a virtual operating platform for guest virtual machines and may manage execution of the guest virtual machines. One or more client computing devices may be configured to communicate with the host computing device to access computing services under execution by the host computing device. In some examples, client computing devices may communicate with the host computing device through a network.

Virtual machine migration based on communication from nodes


A motorized tilting mechanism for a reclining chair allows the chair be placed in a zero gravity position. A base frame comprising 2 sub-frames pivot in relation to each other to provide simple tilting mechanism.

Motorized reclining chairs are well known with tens of thousands of chairs being produced monthly. Typically a chair will have two drive mechanisms, the first to recline the back of the chair and the second to extend the footrest. These mechanisms may also interact with the seat bottom to provide a small variation in tilt. Such motorized chairs have found wide acceptance in homes around the world and are particularly favoured by the aged or infirm, particularly people with medical conditions. Similar chairs with further drive mechanisms to independently tilt the back with respect to the base are also popular for bariatric use.
Zero gravity chairs which are movable to a heart-rest, or Trendelenburg, position in which the legs are raised to be level with or above the heart are used widely in clinical and even home situations to alleviate blood pooling in the legs and improve or increase blood/fluid circulation. Typically the home versions of such chairs are manually operated, with motorized operation restricted to large, expensive and bulky clinical chairs.
It would be desirable to combine the zero gravity feature in to home based motorized reclining chairs to benefit a large number of aged, infirm or obese people. Known examples of such chairs typically tilt the chair from a separate base frame and as such are unnecessarily complex and hence expensive and inaccessible to the masses.
The object of this invention is to provide a motorized reclining chair with a simple tilt function to alleviate the above problem, or at least provide the public with a useful alternative.


A decorative pompon having a plurality of elongated elements of a predetermined length bound together with a retaining ring and extending generally radially outward therefrom. At least one of the elements is a tube that may be used to guide an anchor thread through the retaining ring so that the pompon may be easily secured to an article such as clothing, toys, luggage, packaging and jewelry.

a) Field of the Invention
This invention relates to decorative elements, and more particularly, to decorative tufts or pompons that are typically attached to items of clothing as ornamentation or used as craft items.
b) Description of the Prior Art
It is well known that pompons consisting of cotton or other fibrous strands are widely used as ornaments on women's and children's clothing and other articles. These pompons consist of a multiplicity of strands, in the form of a bundle that is centrally held together tightly by a retaining ring. The retaining ring may be made from an elastomeric material, such as a rubber O-ring, or simple thread or cord that is looped around the fiber bundle, tightly drawn, and tied off. Regardless, the retaining ring exerts inwardly directed forces that force the bound fibers to flare radially outward evenly around the retaining ring, thus causing the fibers to form a generally spherical ball, or pompon.
Typically, pompons are secured to an article using either an adhesive or an anchor thread. If an adhesive is used, its application to the pompon will cause many of the soft cotton fibers to be encapsulated by the adhesive which will tend to flatten the secured half of the pompon. Use of an adhesive to secure a pompon to an article will prevent the pompon from freely dangling from the article, thus detracting from the usefulness of the pompon, since it is generally desirable to have the pompon dangle from the article.
The alternative use of an anchor thread to secure the pompon to an article may allow the pompon to dangle from the article once secured, however the anchor thread must pass through the retaining ring of the pompon to ensure a secure connection. Passing the anchor thread through the retaining ring of each pompon is generally a very difficult task.
An anchor thread may be formed integrally with each pompon, in which case, a few of the fibers are cut to a longer length than the bulk fibers. In doing so, an anchor thread will be created with the pompon which is secured by the retaining ring and may be used to secure the pompon to an article.
Creating an integral anchor thread with each pompon makes the otherwise relatively simple pompon manufacturing process more complex.
As described above, pompons are typically used to decorate an article of clothing. Each pompon is generally secured using its own anchor thread, as described above, or is individually glued to the clothing. An anchor thread may be used to string together two or more pompons along a single thread; however, in doing so, adjacent pompons have a tendency to interfere and flatten the fibers of neighboring pompons.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a decorative pompon that overcomes the deficiencies of the prior art.
It is another object of the invention to provide a decorative pompon that is easy and inexpensive to manufacture and attach to an article.
It is another object of the invention to provide a decorative pompon that may be easily threaded to an anchor thread without deforming or otherwise interfering with the fibers of the pompon.

Decorative pompon and a method for manufacturing the same


A backlight assembly device includes lamps, an inverter, a sensing unit, a normal lighting determiner and an inverter controller. The inverter applies a control signal to the lamps to control operation of the lamps. The sensing unit outputs sensing voltages in response to currents flowing in the lamps. The normal lighting determiner compares the sensing voltages to a reference voltage for determining an operating state of the lamps to output a determination signal and varies the reference voltage in response to a change in the operating state of the lamps. The inverter controller outputs the control signal in response to the determination signal.

(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a backlight assembly, a display device and a driving apparatus of a light source for the display device.
(b) Description of Related Art
Display devices used for monitors of computers and television sets generally include either self-emitting display devices such as organic light emitting displays (OLEDs), vacuum fluorescent displays (VFDs), field emission displays (FEDs), and plasma panel displays (PDPs), or non-emitting display devices such as liquid crystal display (LCD) devices requiring an external light source.
An LCD device includes two panels provided with field-generating electrodes and a liquid crystal (LC) layer having dielectric anisotropy disposed between the two panels. The field-generating electrodes are supplied with voltages to generate an electric field across the LC layer, and a light transmittance of the LC layer varies in response to a strength of the electric field, which is controlled by the voltages supplied. Accordingly, desired images are displayed by adjusting the voltages supplied. The external light source for the LCD devices may be an artificial light source that is installed in the LCD devices or natural light.
The artificial light source, which is part of a backlight assembly, is often implemented with a plurality of fluorescent lamps that are connected to a plurality of inverters for driving each of the lamps. Each of the inverters receives a DC (direct current) input voltage from an external source and converts it to an AC (alternating current) voltage, which is applied to each of the lamps to turn on each of the lamps and to control brightness of each of the lamps. The AC voltage may be stepped up by a transformer prior to being applied to each of the lamps. The inverter also senses a monitored voltage related to a current flowing through each of the lamps and controls the AC voltage applied to each of the lamps based on the monitored voltage.
The lamps may be disposed under an LC panel assembly, such as in a direct-type backlight assembly, or may be disposed along one or more edges of the LC panel assembly, such as in an edge-type backlight assembly.
As explained above, the conventional artificial light sources require several peripheral devices such as inverters and sensors, which undesirably increase manufacturing cost.

Backlight assembly, display device and driving apparatus of light source for display device


An image processing apparatus includes an input unit configured to input a moving image on a frame-by-frame basis, a feature quantity calculating unit configured to calculate a feature quantity of the input image, a storing unit configured to store the feature quantity corresponding to a plurality of frames, a motion determination unit configured to determine whether an object of the input image is moving or motionless, a smoothing unit configured to smooth feature quantity of a plurality of images in accordance with a result of determination made by the motion determination unit, and an image correcting unit configured to correct the input image in accordance with an output from the smoothing unit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus, an image processing method, and a storage medium. In particular, the present invention relates to an image processing technique that controls a gradation of moving images.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, various image correction techniques for controlling contrast, white balance, color balance, etc. of still image data have been proposed. One of the image correction techniques is discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 11-317959 (see FIG. 9).
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 11-317959 discusses a method for checking features of an image based on a color bias ratio in a highlighted portion of the image, adjusting the degree of white balance correction in accordance with the determined features and optimizing contrast, highlights, and shadow to faithfully reproduce a color of the object.
On the other hand, such an image correction technique for correcting contrast, white balance, color balance, etc. of an image is also necessary for a moving image, similar to a still image.
However, when the above described image correction technique is applied to moving images, since the image correction method corrects an image on a frame-by-frame basis, a correction value would differ between adjacent frames, which causes a problem in that the correction value difference is perceived as a flicker (flicker of an image) by a viewer. In particular, such a change caused by the image correction occurs in a motionless portion (e.g., background) of the moving image. Thus, the change is perceived as image degradation.

Image processing apparatus and method, and storage medium for controlling gradation of moving images


Proteolytic peptide mass mapping as measured by mass spectrometry provides an important method for the identification of proteins, which are usually identified by matching the measured and calculated m/z values of the proteolytic peptides. A unique identification is, however, heavily dependent upon the mass accuracy and sequence coverage of the fragment ions generated by peptide ionization. The present invention describes a method for increasing the specificity, accuracy and efficiency of the assignments of particular proteolytic peptides and consequent protein identification, by the incorporation of selected amino acid residue(s) enriched with stable isotope(s) into the protein sequence without the need for ultrahigh instrumental accuracy. Selected amino acid(s) are labeled with 13C/15N/2H and incorporated into proteins in a sequence-specific manner during cell culturing. Each of these labeled amino acids carries a defined mass change encoded in its monoisotopic distribution pattern. Through their characteristic patterns, the peptides with mass tag(s) can then be readily distinguished from other peptides in mass spectra. The present method of identifying unique proteins can also be extended to protein complexes and will significantly increase data search specificity, efficiency and accuracy for protein identifications.

Proteomics is a newly emerging field in the post-genomics era1. A major activity of proteomics is the identification of unique proteins in cellular complexes in a high throughput mode2. Peptide mass mapping followed by database searching is a major approach towards the identification of a protein using mass spectrometry (MS). Using this approach the measured and calculated masses of proteolytic peptides are compared for a best mass-fit to possible proteins3,4. The most commonly used method is an in-gel digestion of the protein spots separated by two dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (2D PAGE) for analysis by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight (MALDI-TOF) MS5,6. Mass accuracy and precision are of prime importance to ensure specificity of the search for a target protein in database searches.
The mass-to-charge (m/z) ratios of a large number of proteolytic peptides covering much of the protein sequence must be precisely determined. Too few proteolytic peptides from a target protein in a MALDI-TOF MS spectrum reduces the specificity and precision of the database search and can give false positives. Currently, the typical sequence coverage of a protein in a MALDI-TOF MS spectrum is less than 40%7-14. This depends largely on sample availability7, sample preparation methods8, matrix solution conditions9, and matrix crystal morphology10, as well as the physical properties of proteins such as charged side chains11,12, peptide hydrophobicity13, and the potential to form stable secondary structures14. In most cases, MS data acquisition and interpretation have proven to be time-consuming in the identification of unique proteins in complexes because of problems such as low sample availability, background or artifact ions, mass degeneracy of peptides from protein impurities and post-synthetic modifications of proteins as examples15 Ultrahigh mass accuracy provided by high-cost instruments is often required to determine the absolute m/z values of these proteolytic fragments16,17. To increase the specificity of identification of proteolytic peptides, the external labeling of the C-termini of tryptic peptides with H2O containing 50% 18O during trypsin digestion has been used18,19. Although this is a useful method for excluding unrelated peaks from the data search, its selectivity and sensitivity is poor because only the C-termini of all tryptic peptides are labeled with 18O.
It is necessary to extend the limited resource of peptide signals available in MALDI-TOF MS spectra for characterizing proteins by further increasing the specificity of proteolytic peptide identification. Stable isotope labeling; that is, the replacement of 13C for 12C, 15N for 14N, or 2H for 1H, in proteins or DNA oligomers can generate internal mass "signatures" with characteristic mass shifts in their isotopic distribution patterns without affecting their chemical and structural properties20. Uniformly 15N-labeled proteins have been generated for the accurate MS-based quantitation of protein expression21 and for improvements in the sensitivity and accuracy of molecular mass measurements22.
Stable isotope 13C/15N-labeled nucleotides have successfully been incorporated as internal markers to determine the nucleotide composition of PCR products23.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to increase the specificity of mass spectrometric proteolytic peptide identification.
Additional objects, advantages and novel features of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows, and in part will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon examination of the following or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and attained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

Stable isotope, site-specific mass tagging for protein identification


Disclosed is a vaccine against an infective agent, the vaccine comprising a liposome having an exterior and an interior and having externally disposed affinity associated antigen material of at least one, preferably nonpartitioning, antigen representative of said infective agent. Also disclosed is a method of preparation and use of this vaccine.

In the vaccine art antigens are introduced into an organism in a manner so as to stimulate an immune response in the host organism. The induction of an immune response depends on many factors among which are believed to be the chemical composition and configuration of the antigen, the potential of the immune system of the challenged organism, and the manner and period of administration of the antigen. An immune response has many aspects some of which are exhibited by the cells of the immune system, (e.g., B-lymphocytes, T-lymphocytes, macrophages, and plasma cells). Immune system cells may participate in the immune response through interaction with antigen, interaction with other cells of the immune system, the release of cytokines and reactivity to those cytokines. Immune response is conveniently (but arbitrarily) divided into two main categories--humoral and cell-mediated. The humoral component of the immune response includes production of immunoglobulins specific for the antigen. The cell-mediated component includes the generation of delayed-type hypersensitivity and cytotoxic effector cells against the antigen.
In some instances immune response is the result of an initial or priming dose of an antigen that is followed by one or more booster exposures to the antigen. Priming with relatively strong immunogens and liposomes is discussed in "Liposomal Enhancement of the Immunogenicity of Adenovirus Type 5 Hexon and Fiber Vaccines", Kramp, W. J. et al., Infection and Immunity, 25:771-773 (1979) and "Liposomes as Adjuvants with Immunopurified Tetanus Toxoid: the Immune Response", Davis, D. et al., Immunology Letters, 14:341-8 (1986/1987).
Ideally, an antigen will exhibit two properties, the capacity to stimulate the formation of the corresponding antibodies and the propensity to react specifically with these antibodies. Antigens bear one or more epitopes which are the smallest part of an antigen recognizable by the combining site of an antibody.
In particular instances antigens or fractions antigens with particular presenting conditions, the immune response precipitated by the desired antigen is inadequate or nonexistent and insufficient immunity is produced. This is particularly the case with peptides or other small molecules used as antigens.
In such cases the vaccine art recognizes the use of substances called adjuvants to potentiate an immune response when used in conjunction with an antigen or immunogen. Adjuvants are further used to an elicit immune response sooner, or a greater response, or with less antigen or immunogen or to increase production of certain antibody subclasses that afford immunological protection, or to enhance components of the immune response (e.g., humoral, cellular). Liposomal vaccines and adjuvancy are further discussed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/397,777, now abandoned, to Popescu et al., filed on date even herewith the teachings of which are incorporated herein by reference.
Known adjuvants are Freund's Adjuvants (and other oil emulsions Bortedella Pertussis, Lipid A (the glycophospholipid moiety of lipopolysaccharide found in Gram-negative bacteria), aluminum salts (and other metal salts), Mycobacterial products (including muramyl dipeptides), and liposomes. As used herein the term "adjuvant" will be understood to mean a substance or material administered together or in conjunction with an antigen which increases the immune response to that antigen. Adjuvants may be in a number of forms including emulsion (e.g., Freund's adjuvant) gels (aluminum hydroxide gel) and particles (liposomes) or as a solid material.
It is believed that adjuvant activity can be affected by a number of factors. Among such factors are (a) carrier effect, (b) depot formation, (c) altered lymphocyte recirculation, (d) stimulation of T-lymphocytes, (e) direct stimulation of B-lymphocytes and (f) stimulation of macrophages.
With many adjuvants adverse reactions are seen. In some instances adverse reactions include granuloma formation at the site of injection, severe inflammation at the site of injection, pyrogenicity, adjuvant induced arthritis or other autoimmune response, or oncogenic response. Such reactions have hampered the use of adjuvants such as Freund's adjuvant.
In particular embodiments liposome adjuvants are utilized. U.S. Pat. No. 4,053,585 issued Oct. 17, 1977 to Allison et al. states that liposomes of a particular charge are adjuvants.
Other substances such as immunomodulators (e.g., cytokines such as the interleukins) may be combined in adjuvants as well.
Humoral immune response may be measured by many well known methods. Single Radial Immunodifussion Assay (SRID), Enzyme Immunoassay (EIA) and Hemagglutination Inhibition Assay (HAI) are but a few of the commonly used assays.
EIA, also known as ELISA (Enzyme Linked Immunoassay), is used to determine total antibodies in a sample. The antigen is adsorbed to the surface of a microtiter plate. The test serum is exposed to the plate followed by an enzyme linked immunogloublin, such as IgG. The enzyme activity adherent to the plate is quantified by any convenient means such as spectrophotometry and is proportional to the concentration of antibody directed against the antigen present in the test sample.
Tests to measure cellular immune response include determination of delayed-type hypersensitivity or measuring the proliferative response of lymphocytes to target antigen.
Liposomes are completely closed lipid bilayer membranes containing an entrapped aqueous volume. Liposomes may be unilamellar vesicles (possessing a single bilayer membrane) or multilameller vesicles (onion-like structures characterized by multiple membrane bilayers, each separated from the next by an aqueous layer). The bilayer is composed of two lipid monolayers having a hydrophobic "tail" region and a hydrophilic "heads" region. The structure of the membrane bilayer is such that the hydrophobic (nonpolar) "tails" of the lipid monolayers orient toward the center of the bilayer while the hydrophilic "head" orient towards the aqueous phase.
The original liposome preparation of Bangham, et al. (J. Mol. Biol., 1965, 13:238-252) involves suspending phospholipids in an organic solvent which is then evaporated to dryness leaving a phospholipid film on the reaction vessel. Next, an appropriate amount of aqueous phase is added, the mixture is allowed to "swell," and the resulting liposomes which consist of multilamellar vesicles (MLVs) are dispersed by mechanical means. This technique provides the basis for the development of the small sonicated unilamellar vesicles described by Papahadjopoulos et al. (Biochim. Biophys. Acta., 1968, 135:624-638), and large unilamellar vesicles.
Unilamellar vesicles may be produced using an extrusion apparatus by a method described in Cullis et al., PCT Application No. WO 86/00238, published Jan. 16, 1986, entitled "Extrusion Technique for Producing Unilamellar Vesicles" incorporated herein by reference. Vesicles made by this technique, called LUVETS, are extruded under pressure once or a number of times through a membrane filter. LUVETs will be understood to be included in the term "unilamellar vesicle".
Another class of liposomes are those characterized as having substantially equal lamellar solute distribution. This class of liposomes is denominated as stable plurilamellar vesicles (SPLV) as defined in U.S. Pat. No. 4,522,803 to Lenk, et al., monophasic vesicles (MPVs) as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,588,578 to Fountain, et al. and frozen and thawed multilamellar vesicles (FATMLV) wherein the vesicles are exposed to at least one freeze and thaw cycle, as described in Bally et al., PCT Publication No. 87/00043, Jan. 15, 1987, entitled "Multilamellar Liposomes Having Improved Trapping Efficiencies" corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 4,975,282. U.S. Pat. No. 4,721,612 to Janoff et al. describes steroidal liposomes for a variety of uses. The teachings of these references as to the preparation and use of liposomes are incorporated herein by reference.
Lipids of net negative charge are well known in the art and include for example, phosphatidyserine, phosphatidic acid, and phosphatidylglycerol. Lipids of net positive charge are well known in the art and include for example, aminodiglycerides, glyceridecholine, stearylamine, trimethylstearylamine, and dioctadecyl trimethylamonnio propane. In general any bilayer forming amphiphile which has a charged hydrophilic moiety may be used.
In addition, lipid charge may be manipulated by a number of methods well known in the art, such as by linking the lipid to a moiety of appropriate net charge. For example, the neutral lipid cholesterol may be linked to succinic acid (negative charge) to yield cholesterol hemisuccinate (CHS) of negative charge. The tris(hydroxymethyl)aminomethane form of CHS is designated CHS.sub.tris its application to liposomes is more fully discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,721,612 the teachings of which are incorporated herein by reference.


The present disclosure is directed to dynamically prioritizing, selecting or ordering a plurality threads for execution by processor circuitry based on a quality of service and/or class of service value/indicia assigned to the thread by an operating system executed by the processor circuitry. As threads are executed by processor circuitry, the operating system dynamically updates/associates respective class of service data with each of the plurality of threads. The current quality of service/class of service data assigned to the thread by the operating system is stored in a manufacturer specific register (MSR) associated with the respective thread. Selection circuitry polls the MSRs on a periodic, aperiodic, intermittent, continuous, or event-driven basis and determines an execution sequence based on the current class of service value associated with each of the plurality of threads.

A set of critical resources, such as processor cache memory and main system memory, exist within a computing system. When multiple applications are executed on the system, for example applications executed by threads on a multi-core processor, contention for such critical resources may occur. Techniques for management of critical system resources vary greatly. For example, in simplest form, implementation of critical system resource management may be left to individual system components based on their individual needs and usage model. Such an ad-hoc division of critical system resources frequently results in compromised, and often unsatisfactory, system performance and/or behavior.
Several Quality of Service (QoS) techniques have been proposed and used in software and/or hardware space when multiple applications are executed and/or virtual machines are implemented simultaneously. Often, hardware-only QoS techniques are unsatisfactory because hardware is unable to determine an optimal thread execution sequence without knowing the priority of the thread being executed (e.g., the priority of the thread with respect to other threads being executed by the system). Software solutions, such as those implemented at the operating system level, are unable to efficiently handle resource contention while achieving optimal hardware performance and energy efficiency across a variety of platforms, each having different system hardware and hardware configuration.
Although the following Detailed Description will proceed with reference being made to illustrative embodiments, many alternatives, modifications and variations thereof will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

Operating system assisted prioritized thread execution


A switch is disclosed having first and second switch elements each configured to provide power to a sensor when in one state and configured to switch to a second state and provide positional information, for example. The sensor configured to effect the first and second switches to switch to the second state and to switch back to the one state, the first and second switch elements configured to switch alternately and in a complementary way.

Current electrical requirements for heavy-duty diesel engines, for example, require several electrical inputs to the Engine Control Unit (ECU) from the electronic throttle control. These inputs are typically a single analog signal, which changes in response to the driver's request for fuel, and a position switching function which is a signal to the engine that the throttle is at idle or is at some other specific point. These position sensors have typically been mechanical contact electrical devices.
Non-contact electronic sensors are emerging as the sensor of choice for a variety of reasons. Non-contact sensors, however, may not be able to provide the switch using the existing wiring and electrical strategies. One such switch type that non-contact sensors are incompatible with is a switch type known as a form "C" switch.
FIG. 1 illustrates an electrical diagram of a typical ECU for an Idle Validation Switch (IVS) input that may be implemented using a form "C" switch. Such inputs may be provided to the form "C" switching device to allow the ECU to sense the state of the Normally Open (NO) and Normally Closed (NC) signals associated with the IVS. Form C switches are implemented either such that one contact is broken before the second contact is made, which is typically referred to as "break before make" or both contacts are made at the same time, which is referred to as "make before break".
Certain engine manufacturers may require that the source of ground and power to the IVS and the Accelerator Position Sensor (APS) be independent of one another. Such a requirement would limit the switching apparatus such that the apparatus may not use the same ground and power source that the APS uses. This typically does not present a problem for contact type resistive potentiometers, as they typically use the completion of a circuit to register the switching function. Because a non-contact sensor may use active electronic devices, however, each of the IVS and APS functions may have its own source of power and ground, independent of the other. A form C switch, for example, requires three wires to implement the common (COM), normally closed (NC) and normally open (NO) terms, where one wire is a common return and the other two wires carry the NC and NO signals to the engine control unit. A typical APS may also require three wires to implement the device.
Therefore the typical wiring harnesses for vehicles only requires a 6-wire interface which may be incompatible with non-contact sensors. Currently, to accommodate non-contact sensors, vehicle manufacturers must change their wiring harness and connector configuration to add a seventh wire in order to accommodate the additional power or ground reference.

Non-contact sensor idle validation switch


The present invention includes apparatus for simultaneous loading of multiple samples for molecular separation, including a separation area with walls wherein at least one of the walls has apertures having loading sites, a gel located within the separation area, and a plurality of wells within the gel. The apertures are connected to the plurality of wells by channels structurally configured to convey samples from the apertures to the wells.

A great deal of diagnostic procedures and laboratory research are carried out wherein DNA, RNA or proteins are separated according to their physical and chemical properties via electrophoresis. This process is widely used and has many applications. For example, electrophoresis is used to analyze DNA molecules according to their resultant size after being digested by restriction enzymes. It is also used to analyze the products of a polymerase chain reaction (PCR).
In some instances, molecules are driven toward a capture layer, which has part of a molecular recognition pair e.g. antibody-antigen, DNA-DNA probe, biotin-avidin, ligand-receptor, lectin-carbohydrate or others. Only specific parts of each pair of molecules that move through the capture layer are captured (e.g., an antigen when the capture layer contains a specific antibody), while the non-specific molecules pass through the layer unimpeded.
Electrophoresis separation is carried out in a separation medium, such as a gel of agarose or acrylamide or a combination of the two. Agarose gels are cast in open trays and form a horizontal slab whereas acrylamide gels are vertically cast between two glass plates.
Prior to electrophoresis separation, wells are introduced into the gel for sample deposition by applying a comb-like structure prior to the solidification or polymerization of the gel matrix. A row of approximately 8–15 wells is formed across one end of the gel.
In order to effect the electrophoresis separation, two opposite ends of the gel are exposed to a buffered solution which is connected by electrodes, often made of platinum, to an electrical power source. Once the electrical power source is switched on, the electric field forces negatively charged molecules to move towards the anode and positively charged molecules to move towards the cathode. DNA is negatively charged and therefore, in the agarose or acrylamide gels which provide sieving action, DNA molecules move towards the anode at a rate which depends on their size, wherein the smaller the molecules the faster they move. The running distance should be long enough to allow sufficient differentiation between molecules.
It is desirable to visualize and to document the results of the electrophoresis separation test. In electrophoresis separation of DNA molecules, this has been done by immersing the gel slab after the electrophoresis separation has been completed in a solution of a fluorescent compound, such as ethidium bromide, which intercalates within DNA molecules and emits visible light when exposed to an ultra-violet (UV) light. In order to document the results, a picture of the gel is taken through one of various photographic means.
Prior art electrophoresis systems are potential sources of contamination to the working environment in which the tests are performed. The two major sources of contamination are ethidium bromide and PCR products. Ethidium bromide is a hazardous chemical due to its mutagenic activity and therefore, exposure to ethidium bromide may induce malignant tumors. PCR is an extremely sensitive method to the extent that a single molecule of DNA product from one PCR (out of the trillions of molecules being produced) may interfere with the subsequent PCR such that it will produce incorrect results.
Also, conventional electrophoresis is time consuming in terms of preparation and handling. This is particularly true when a large number of samples are to be analyzed, and loading of samples is done one by one.
Several inventions have been directed towards eliminating contamination, such as U.S. Pat. No. 5,972,188, which describes the use of a membrane loader for gel electrophoresis; and an electrophoresis apparatus with a cover, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,582,702, and 5,865,974 incorporated herein by reference. The apparatus is directed towards the running of electrophoresis separation, as well as detecting and analyzing the results, within a self-contained, disposable unit.
Attempts have been made to reduce the time it takes to run an electrophoresis separation as well by loading many samples at once. Further, simultaneous loading of samples could reduce contamination and human error. Standards in cell culture, ELISA and PCR analysis provide different sized plates, with corresponding pipettes for ease in sample loading and analysis. For example, 96-well plates are typically used. Correspondingly, pipettes that fit this configuration are available and are widely used. Use of standard microtiter pipettes would greatly reduce the loading time for electrophoresis.
Saito et al., in U.S. Pat. No. 5,785,835, address this issue by providing an apparatus for loading of samples into wells within an exposed gel with standard pipettes. However, the testing apparatus has limited resolution capacity since a running distance of only 0.8 cm is available. In U.S. Pat. No. 6,071,396 a gel-matrix layer is described with wells arranged for loading of samples with standard pipettes. In this patent, the running distance is increased by diagonally offsetting the entire array of wells. U.S. Pat. No. 6,013,166 describes a method for reducing the linear dimension necessary for electrophoresis separation in a micro-gel format.
In addition, several needle guide designs have been developed to aid in loading samples directly into wells in a way that would save time and prevent inaccuracies. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,656,145 provides a needle guide for loading samples into a vertical slab gel. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 5,843,295 is directed towards a combination comb/loading guide unit. In both of these designs, the loading sites are positioned directly on top of the wells so as to allow for simple, direct loading of samples.

Electrophoresis apparatus for simultaneous loading of multiple samples

Abstract: The present invention further includes apparatus for electrophoresis separation having a substantially closed electrophoresis area, an electrophoresis gel located within the electrophoresis area, and multiple rows of wells within the electrophoresis gel, wherein the rows are arranged in a stagger format.

Abstract: A device is provided for delivering samples into wells for molecular separation, having a flat surface with a top side and a bottom side, multiple loading sites on the top side arranged in standard format, multiple apertures on the bottom side arranged in stagger format and leading to the wells, and a channel through the flat surface connecting the loading sites to the apertures.

Abstract: The present invention provides a method for simultaneous loading of multiple samples into an electrophoresis apparatus, including the steps of providing an electrophoresis apparatus having an area with walls defining the area and a gel within the area having multiple wells arranged in stagger format, wherein the walls include apertures having loading sites and channels structurally configured to direct samples into the wells, loading the samples into the loading sites with a standard multiple loading mechanism, and conveying the samples from the loading sites to the wells.


The invention relates to the field of RNA stabilisation, and more particularly to the use of deuterium oxide (D2O) during storage and/or synthesis of RNA molecules. Described herein are deuterium-stabilised ribonucleic acid (RNA) molecules that display an increased resistance to thermal and enzymatic hydrolysis. Also described are aqueous compositions comprising stabilized RNA molecules and methods for making same. The invention is particularly useful for in the manufacture of RNA-based therapeutics, such as mRNA vaccines, to render them less sensitive to temperature fluctuations.

Numerous messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) vaccines are being developed currently by various pharmaceutical companies around the world to curb the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, mRNA therapies are being investigated in a number of medical conditions. This increase of interest in RNA pharmaceutics may help to pave the road for mRNA therapeutics in numerous other fields as well.
However, RNA molecules are inherently unstable and prone to both non-enzymatic and enzymatic hydrolysis, which is a major issue during processing, transport, and storage. One of the most critical factors that needs to be controlled is temperature. All the mRNA vaccines and other mRNA-based therapeutics are sensitive to temperature fluctuations, which can accelerate their degradation. Therefore, there is an urgent need for thermostable mRNA therapeutics.
Some groups have studied a potential role for deuterium oxide (D2O) as a thermal stabilizer. For instance, the use of D2O has been described for thermostabilizing a live attenuated oral polio vaccine (Wu R. et al., Vaccine, Vol 13, No. 12, pp. 1058-1063 (1995); Newman J. F. E. et al., Vaccine, Vol. 15, pp. 1431-1435 (1995); Milstien J. B et al., Journal of Infectious Diseases (1997) doi:10.1093/infdis/175.supplement_1. s247; and Sen A. et al., Expert Review of Vaccines (2009) doi:10.1586/erv.09.105, and Pathak A. K. and Bandyopadhyay T., J. Chem. Phys. 146, 165104 (2017), doi.org/10.1063/1.4982049). However, the effects were observed with whole attenuated polio viruses and thermostabilization of naked RNA molecules was not studied nor demonstrated. Moreover, the effects of mRNA synthesis in D2O on the mRNA stability was never addressed and RNA tautomerism was not implicated.
The use of deuterated ribonucleotides during synthesis of RNA molecules has been studied as well. International PCT Patent Publication No. WO 2019/158583 of Ethris GmbH discloses the use of deuterated adenosine, cytidine, guanosine, and/or uridine residues for obtaining polyribonucleotide with reduced immunogenicity. U.S. Patent Application Publication Nos. US 2015/0119665, US 2015/0252071 and US 2015/025207 to ASED LLC. describe, among other things, the synthesis of deuterated nucleobases, deuterated nucleosides, deuterated oligonucleotides, and deuterated RNAs having potential for therapeutic uses. U.S. Pat. No. 5,721,350 describes the deuterated nucleotide and nucleoside units which are used to synthesize strands of RNA and DNA in NMR applications. International PCT Patent Application Publication No. WO 1992/001673 of Medical Research Council describes the synthesis spin labelled ribonucleosides and ribonucleotides that may comprise deuterium, and uses of these compounds as probes, for example in protein structure and orientation studies. International PCT Patent Application Publication No. WO 2019/219070 of Chia Tai Tianqing Pharmaceutical Group Co. Ltd. describes deuterated oligonucleotides and uses thereof in treating hepatitis B virus infection. However, these patent documents do not teach deuterium as a RNA stabilizer in aqueous solution, let alone increased resistance of RNA molecules to thermal or enzymatic degradation.
Hydrogen bonds play an important role in structural integrity and functionality of most known biomolecules including secondary and tertiary structures of nucleic acids, secondary, tertiary, and quaternary structure of proteins and of biopolymers (Li X. Z., Walker B., and Michaelides A. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. (2011) doi:10.1073/pnas.1016653108). Ingle et al. (Nucleic Acids Res. (2014) doi:10.1093/nar/gku934) have found that substituting deuterium for protium at a ribose 5′-carbon produces a kinetic isotope effect on cleavage but this phenomenon appeared to be highly dependent on the nucleotide sequence of the RNA molecule. Hohlffelder et al. (Biomed Res. Int. (2013) doi:10.1155/2013/592745) demonstrated that D2O increases transcriptional activity of T7 RNA Pol but any potential effect on stabilization or thermal degradation of RNAs was not investigated nor shown.
Therefore, there is still a need for RNA-based therapeutics that comprises thermostable RNA molecules resistant to temperature fluctuations.
There is also a need for compositions comprising stabilised RNA molecules, including mRNAs and for methods for stabilizing RNA molecules.
There is particularly a need for methods directed at reducing thermal degradation of a RNA molecule, wherein the RNA molecule is synthesized in the presence of deuterium and/or wherein the RNA molecule stored in the presence of deuterium.
The present invention addresses these needs and other needs as it will be apparent from the review of the disclosure and description of the features of the invention hereinafter.

Deuterium-stabilised ribonucleic acid (RNA) molecules displaying increased resistance to thermal and enzymatic hydrolysis, aqueous compositions comprising stabilised RNA molecules and methods for making same


The present invention provides a safe non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery with characteristics analogous to those of a conventional battery by minimizing battery expansion that causes damage to a device during high temperature exposure or storage. The non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery comprises: (a) a chargeable and dischargeable positive electrode; (b) a negative electrode capable of absorbing and desorbing lithium; (c) a separator for preventing direct electron transfer between the positive electrode and the negative electrode; and (d) an non-aqueous electrolyte; the non-aqueous electrolyte comprising a non-aqueous solvent and a solute, the non-aqueous solvent comprising a lactone, the solute comprising lithium bis(fluorosulfonyl)imide represented by the formula (1):(F—O2S—N—SO2—F)Li.

In recent years, information electronic devices such as a personal computer, a cell phone and a PDA and audio-visual electronic devices such as a video camcorder and a minidisc player have been developed to be compact, light and cordless. With this development, demand is increasing for secondary batteries with high energy density as a power source for these devices. Under such circumstances, the commercialization of non-aqueous electrolyte secondary batteries with higher energy density than conventional secondary batteries such as lead acid battery, nickel cadmium battery and nickel metal hydride battery is proceeding.
Non-aqueous electrolyte secondary batteries as typified by a lithium ion secondary battery and a lithium ion polymer secondary battery use, as a positive electrode active material, a transition metal oxide with an average discharge potential of 3.5 to 4.0 V relative to that of metal lithium, such as lithium cobalt oxide (LiCoO2), lithium nickel oxide (LiNiO2) and spinel structure type lithium manganese oxide (LiMn2O4), or a solid solution material incorporating a plurality of transition metals (LiCoxNiyMnzO2, Li (CoaNibMnc)2O4). They are used singly or in combination thereof. These active materials are mixed with a conductive material and a binder, which is then applied onto a current collector made of, for example, aluminum, titanium or stainless steel, followed by rolling to give a positive electrode.
As for a negative electrode, a carbonaceous material capable of absorbing and desorbing lithium ions is commonly used. As the carbonaceous material, there are used artificial graphite, natural graphite, graphitized mesophase carbon made from coal pitch or petroleum pitch, non-graphitizing carbon (hard carbon), etc. They are used singly or in combination thereof. These carbonaceous materials are mixed with a binder and the like, which is then applied onto a current collector made of, for example, copper, iron or nickel, followed by rolling to give a negative electrode.
A negative electrode using a graphite material typically has an average potential allowing release of lithium ions which is 0.2 V lower than that of a negative electrode using non-graphitizing carbon (hard carbon). Accordingly, graphite materials are mostly used in the field which requires a high voltage and flat plateau in voltage characteristic.
A non-aqueous electrolyte is desired to be proof against an oxidizing atmosphere of the aforesaid positive electrode which discharges at a potential as high as 3.5 to 4.0 V relative to a potential of metal lithium and against a reducing atmosphere of the negative electrode which charges and discharges at a potential close to that of metal lithium. Currently, a non-aqueous electrolyte is prepared by dissolving lithium hexafluorophosphate (LiPF6) in a non-aqueous solvent obtained by mixing ethylene carbonate with a high dielectric constant (hereinafter referred to as "EC") with a linear carbonate with low viscosity such as diethyl carbonate (hereinafter referred to as "DEC"), dimethyl carbonate (hereinafter referred to as "DMC"), or ethylmethyl carbonate (hereinafter referred to as "EMC").
Such non-aqueous electrolyte, however, contains a linear carbonate whose viscosity is low and boiling point is around 100° C.; therefore, it has a high vapor pressure at high temperatures, which may cause the battery itself to expand. Moreover, since LiPF6, which is thermally unstable and prone to hydrolysis, is used as a solute, a gas is likely to occur inside the battery, promoting the expansion of the battery.
In view of the foregoing, studies have been carried out on a lithium salt as an alternative to LiPF6. For example, the use of LiBF4, lithium bis(perfluoromethylsulfonyl)imide (LiN(SO2CF3)2, hereinafter referred to as "LiTFSI") or lithium bis(perfluoroethylsulfonyl)imide (LiN(SO2C2F5)2, hereinafter referred to as "LiBETI"), all of which are more thermally stable than LiPF6, reduces the ionic conductivity of a non-aqueous electrolyte and thus lowers the discharge characteristic of a battery. Further, LiTFSI has the problem that it corrodes aluminum, which is mostly used as a current collector for a positive electrode, at a high potential of 3.7 V or higher relative to a potential of metal lithium. The use of LiBETI improves the corrosiveness; however, because it has a large molecular weight, it is likely to increase the viscosity of a non-aqueous electrolyte.
Recently, lithium bis(fluorosulfonyl)imide is being developed as an imide salt (see, for example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. Hei 8-511274).
In order to prevent the vapor pressure from increasing at high temperatures, the use of a solvent with a high boiling point such as propylene carbonate (hereinafter referred to as "PC") or γ-butyrolactone (hereinafter referred to as "GBL") is considered instead of using the linear carbonate with a low viscosity and a low boiling point. GBL, however, reacts with LiPF6 at high temperatures, thereby increasing the polarization resistance of a battery to decrease the charge and discharge characteristics.

Non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery and electrolyte for the same


Each of a plurality of pixel circuits is an insulated gate transistor and includes a first kind transistor having a maximum value of a gate potential difference to be applied equal to or higher than a first value. Each of a plurality of analog signal processing circuits is an insulated gate transistor and includes a second kind transistor having a maximum value of a gate potential difference to be applied equal to or lower than a second value that is lower than the first value. Each of a plurality of analog signal processing circuits does not include an insulated gate transistor having a maximum value of a gate potential difference to be applied not higher than the second value.

1. Field of the Invention
One disclosed aspect of the embodiments relates to an imaging apparatus including a pixel circuit unit and a peripheral circuit unit on a single semiconductor substrate.
2. Description of the Related Art
For improved performance, in an imaging apparatus which includes a pixel circuit unit and a peripheral circuit unit on a single semiconductor substrate, providing an analog signal processing circuit or a digital signal processing unit (e.g., logic circuit) in the peripheral circuit unit has been considered.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2007-27711 discloses thicker gate insulating films of a sensor region and an analog region than a gate insulating film of a digital region.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2011-54832 discloses that the film thickness of insulating films of transistors is different between a light reception unit and a peripheral circuit unit.
For improved image quality, a pixel circuit unit needs to be driven at voltage as high as possible. On the other hand, power consumption of imaging apparatuses with increased functionality of a peripheral circuit unit therein has been a problem. According to Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2011-54832, a light reception unit and a peripheral circuit unit are driven at an equal voltage. It means that reduction of power consumption may not be sufficiently considered. The present disclosure provides an imaging apparatus which attempts higher image quality and lower power consumption.


In a multi-chamber process equipment in which a plurality of process chambers for processing a single wafer are connected with a wafer transfer chamber in parallel through respective gate valves, and a wafer transfer means is provided for carrying the wafer between the wafer transfer chamber and each process chamber through one of the gate valves, there are further provided a plurality of vacuum pumps in order to prevent cross contamination among processes, improve throughput and prevent condensation in the process chambers. The vacuum pumps are connected with the wafer transfer chamber, and designed to reduce the pressure in the wafer transfer chamber to different vacuum levels. Therefore, the degree of vacuum in the wafer transfer chamber can be set at a desired value according to the process chamber to be opened, by operating the vacuum pumps properly, so that cross contamination between the wafer transfer chamber and the process chambers is prevented effectively.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to multi-chamber process equipments for fabricating semiconductor devices.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In recent years, the advance in device miniaturization and IC complexity is increasing the need for more accurate and more complicated processes, and wafers of larger diameters. Accordingly, much attention is focused on multi-chamber process equipments (or systems) in view of increase of complex precesses, and enhancement of throughput in an individual wafer processing system.
FIG. 14 shows one conventional example. A multi-chamber process equipment of this example includes a wafer transfer chamber 1, a plurality of process chambers 3 connected with the transfer chamber 1 through respective gate valves 2, a load lock chamber (preliminary evacuation chamber) 5 connected with the transfer chamber 1 through a gate valve 4, and a wafer load chamber 7 connected with the load lock chamber 5 through a gate valve 6.
In the wafer transfer chamber 1 and the load lock chamber 5, there are provided wafer transfer arms 9 and 10 for carrying a wafer 8, as shown in FIG. 14. The transfer arm 10 is designed to take each wafer 8 from wafer cassettes 11, 11 placed in the wafer load chamber 7, through the gate valve 6, and bring the wafer into the wafer transfer chamber 1. The transfer arm 9 is arranged to receive the wafer 8 from the arm 10, and insert the wafer through one of the gate valves 2 into a predetermined one of the process chambers. The wafer 8 is shifted from one process chamber to another by the transfer arm 10 according to the sequence of processes.
Another conventional example is shown in "NIKKEI MICRODEVICES", May, 1990, page 47. A multi-chamber process equipment of this example includes a wafer transfer chamber, a plurality of parallel PVD or other process chambers connected with the transfer chamber, a cooling chamber, a preclean chamber, a buffer chamber, and RTP/etching/CVD chamber (or chambers), a load lock chamber, and other chambers. The pressure of each chamber is held at a predetermined degree of vacuum (base pressure) according to the object of the chamber. For example, the wafer transfer chamber is held at 10.sup.-8 Torr (1.3.times.10.sup.-6 Pa), the PVD chamber is held at 10.sup.-9 Torr (1.3.times.10.sup.-7 Pa), and the load lock chamber is held at 10.sup.-5 Torr (1.3.times.10.sup.-3 Pa).
Japanese Patent Provisional Publication (TOKKAI) No. 61-55926 shows still another conventional example.
In these equipments, the pressures of the different chambers are determined so as to ensure the clean wafer processing environment. In general, the pressures are made closer to the atmospheric pressure in the following order; (Process chamber)<(Wafer transfer chamber)<(Load lock chamber).
In the conventional process equipments, however, a wafer is readily affected by dew condensation especially in a low temperature etching chamber which is cooled to -20.degree. C..about.-70.degree. C. if the chamber is not evacuated sufficiently before loading of the wafer. Therefore, it is required to reduce the pressure in the chamber below a base pressure of the chamber (10.sup.-6 Torr, for example). Moreover, the degree of vacuum of the wafer transfer chamber is lower (that is, the pressure is higher) than that of the process chamber. Therefore, when the process chamber is opened, there arises a flow of residual water content from the wafer transfer chamber to the process chamber, resulting in the dew condensation. The conventional equipments cannot prevent condensation satisfactorily even if the pressure of the process chamber is decreased sufficiently below the base pressure.
On the other hand, cross contamination is caused by a flow of residual gases from a process chamber for heat treatment or photo-assisted CVD, to the wafer transfer chamber if the degree of vacuum in the wafer transfer chamber is too high.
Furthermore, the conventional equipments cannot sufficiently reduce variations of wafer properties such as sheet resistance from wafer to wafer, especially when the wafers are processed in a high temperature silicide CVD chamber. It is possible to reduce the variations of the sheet resistance by decreasing the pressure in the load lock chamber below the above-mentioned level. However, the pumping operation must be continued for three hours or more.

Multi-chamber wafer process equipment having plural, physically communicating transfer means


A method and system for execution in a graphical user interface environment are provided to incorporate digital image files in an email message. A template layout gallery is presented that includes a plurality of template layouts for digital image files for possible inclusion in the email message. When an indication is received that at least one digital image file is selected to be included in the email message and that one of the template layouts is to be applied to the at least one selected digital image file, the selected layout is created within the email message body according to the selected template. Prior to sending, the images are compressed.

Personal computers (PCs) are increasingly being used for purposes far different from the standard word-processing and data-handling modes. PCs today are increasingly being used for communication purposes as well as the standard computing purposes. One such communication purpose involves communication via email, and specifically the incorporation of digital images in an email message.
Digital images can be stored on a computer and can take different paths into the computer. For example, digital cameras are now being widely used by consumers. In use, the digital cameras record and store digital images. These digital images can be moved from the more limited storage area of the camera to the storage area on a PC or other computing device. These storage areas are rapidly increasing in size, such that storage of a very large quantity of digital images is possible without affecting the operability of the computing device. As another example, standard photographs can be scanned into the computing device, thus converting the photograph into a digital image. Whatever the path into the computer, the user of the computer frequently desires to share the images with others.
Email offers a convenient and inexpensive method of communication. For example, a user can target a great number of people with a single outgoing message, in contrast to regular mail. In the past, however, the email context presented certain drawbacks in use. One method of sending digital images along with an email message involves sending the images as attachments. In this method, one or more individual images are attached to the email as additional files. To view the images, the person receiving the email message must double-click or otherwise open each attached file. To view any of the other images attached, the user must repeat the same procedure. In this method, then, people are required to open the files one at a time, and view them one at a time. This type of method is less than convenient and is not intuitive for novice computer users. Another problem with this method is the size of the attached files. Digital image files can be quite large. If they are not otherwise compressed in some fashion, the number of digital image files that can be attached is limited. This limitation is often imposed by the servers handling the email messages. Another method that can be used is to scroll through an email in the preview pane to view multiple picture attachments. This requires the use of the preview pane.
Another method used to include digital images within an email message is to copy the image into the message body. The main problem with this method is the formatting issues that arise. Using this method, any text that the sender includes is not associated with a particular image. Thus, if the sender includes text with a certain image, and then later moves that image within the email message body, the text will not move with the image unless the sender also separately moves the text. Moreover, including images of different sizes and orientations presents the receiver with an untidy and unpleasing view of the images. Also, any resizing of the images must be done on an image-by-image basis, making the process cumbersome and time-consuming. The basic problem with this method is that including images in-line within the message body is very cumbersome and results in an unpleasing view of the images. Any improvements in the view are cumbersome to effect. The file size is also large in this case as well, just as with the first method described above.
It would be desirable to provide to the computer user an opportunity to easily include and send digital images within the body of an email message. It would be desirable if this opportunity allowed the sender to easily format the presentation, including the layout, size, orientation and background effects, and to associate text with each image, if desired. It would also be desirable to compress the images for the sender. Therefore, there exists a need to improve the sender and receiver experience in the use of digital images within an email message.

Dynamic-template incorporation of digital images in an electronic mail message