A dual-cure silicone composition is provided that is useful to make an encapsulating/potting compound. The dual-cure silicone exhibits both UV- and moisture-initiated curing mechanisms, with the UV-initiated curing mechanism providing very rapid curing compared to conventional dual-cure silicones. The dual-cure silicone is an elastomeric material on curing. In a preferred embodiment, the dual-cure silicone composition is made from a mixture of a first polysiloxane component having terminal mercapto and alkoxy functionality, and a second polysiloxane component having terminal vinyl and alkoxy functionality. Methods of making the first and second polysiloxane components also are disclosed.

This invention relates to the curing of polysiloxane (silicone) compositions, which are particularly well suited for application as electronic potting compounds, and coatings.
Potting materials, regardless of the chemistry, are used for sealing electrical connectors, temperature probes and sensors in applications throughout the aerospace, defense, electronic, electrical, industrial, and marine industries. Potting compounds and encapsulants provide vibration and shock resistance, corrosion protection and thermal stress protection to sensitive electronic components. These materials range in character from very hard, rigid thermoset epoxies to soft, "gel-like" silicones. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,933,712 and 4,374,967 give a more extensive description of silicone gels. Due to their superior moisture resistance, thermal stability, cold temperature flexibility and dielectric strength, silicone based products are used extensively in the electronics industry as potting and encapsulating compounds on integrated circuit boards.
Conformal coatings, which are similar in composition to the potting and encapsulating materials, protect integrated circuit boards, and other system components from damage which may happen during fabrication, shipping and handling. Currently, silicone RTV's (room temperature vulcanization) provide satisfactory coatings. These materials, which cure when exposed to atmospheric moisture, are commercially available and well known in the art. Further information and examples of these systems are found with reference to the following U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,017,495; 3,816,184 and 3,592,795. However, moisture-cured RTV's are generally slow, requiring at best several hours, but often several days to reach full strength. U.S. Pat. No. 4,087,585 describes a two-component system which yields faster cure times if elevated temperatures are provided. Two-component products frequently require specialized mixing equipment, and extraordinary cure conditions. This adds a level of complexity to the fabrication process, which generally increases the cost of production.
A dual-cure silicone composition is provided having a first polysiloxane component and a second polysiloxane component, wherein the first polysiloxane component is selected from the group consisting of: a) polyorganosiloxanes having terminal mercapto and alkoxy functionality, and b) dimethylmercapto terminated polydimethylsiloxanes; and wherein the second polysiloxane component is selected from the group consisting of: a) polyorganosiloxanes having terminal vinyl and alkoxy functionality, b) vinylmethylsiloxane copolymers that are trimethyl terminated and have vinyl functionality pendent to the polymer backbone, and c) dimethylvinyl terminated polydimethylsiloxanes.

Dual-cure silicone compounds exhibiting elastomeric properties


In a method and an apparatus for detecting the roughness of a vessel in a living subject, an in vivo image of an inner contour of the vessel wall is obtained using an imaging modality. A dimensional value characteristic of the complexity of the inner contour is calculated from the image information in the image describing the inner contour.

The present invention concerns a method to detect the roughness of vessels, of the type wherein an inner contour of the vessel wall is acquired using an imaging modality.
The invention also concerns an apparatus to implement such a method.
Methods to detect vessel narrowings (stenoses) are necessary, for example for therapy for arteriosclerosis. In particular, a method is necessary with which the roughness of the inner vessel wall narrowed by arteriosclerosis can be gauged assessed. The roughness of the inner vessel walls also increases with progressing atherosclerosis.
Conventionally, the roughness of the arteriosclerotic deposit has been characterized with terms such as "complex" or "simple", as this is specified, for example, in chapter 1, "The Basics", page 2-5 of the book "Biostatistics" by G. R. Normal and D. L. Streiner, published by B. C. Decker, Hamilton, London, 2000. Such a dichotomous classification is unsuitable as a foundation for statistical evaluations. Viewed statistically, the generated data remain at a nominal level and are therefore only of limited use for studies. When a number of levels, for example "less", "moderate", "severe" are used for the characterization of the roughness of the arteriosclerotic deposits, the classification at best achieves an ordinal level. This is not sufficient, however, for statistical evaluations and studies that should form the basis for a therapy decision.

Method and apparatus to detect the roughness of vessels


The present invention discloses a terminal device, comprising a first terminal part and a second terminal part, the first terminal part comprising a base part; a keyboard part on the a first region of the base part; a bracket part on a second region of the base part adjacent to the first region, wherein, the thickness of the keyboard part matches the thickness of the bracket part; a first shaft on a side of the base part away from the keyboard part and connected with the bracket part so that the bracket part can rotate clockwise or counterclockwise with respect to the first shaft; a second shaft on a side of the bracket part away from the first shaft and connected with the second terminal part, so that the second terminal part can rotate clockwise or counterclockwise with respect to the second shaft.

In recent years, terminal devices, such as notebook computers, are becoming more and more popular. In the development process of the notebook computer, its configuration (pattern) is substantially not changed. Current notebook computers provide poor support for touching, and their usage configuration is relatively monotonic. Additionally, although terminal devices, such as pad computers, provide good support for touching and portability, the input of these terminal devices (e.g. word typing) is not convenient.


A method for verifying a purported location of a wide area network user is disclosed. The method comprises the steps of receiving information from a user via a wide area network, including a purported geographical location of the network user. A first network address from which the information is received is recorded, and an access code is generated and recorded. The access code is broadcast in a defined region that includes the purported geographical location of the user. A user access code is then received via the wide area network from the user. The user access code is compared with the access code broadcast in a defined region, and the first network address is compared to a second network address from which the user access code is received. If the codes and addresses match, the geographical location of the user is considered verified and the user may be validated. Various methods for broadcasting the access code and various systems for implementing the method are disclosed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to methods for communicating using a wide area network, and particularly to a method for verifying a geographical location of a user of a wide area network.
2. Description of Related Art
Wide area networks, such as the Internet, are particularly useful for facilitating communications between strangers in remote geographical locations. In recent years, this capability has led to an increasing amount of commercial and non-commercial business being transacted over wide area networks. The parties to these transactions often know little about each other except for information such as the parties voluntarily share over the wide area network. In particular, the parties transact in a virtual space wherein their physical location is unknown or not readily ascertainable. The anonymity of transacting in a virtual space is sometimes undesirable.
For example, users may sometimes misrepresent their location for the purposes of committing fraud. One method of reducing fraud and misrepresentation is to verify the physical or geographic location of the party in question. For example, a user who claims to be John Doe of Des Moines might be suspected of misrepresentation if the user's location cannot be verified to be physically located in the Des Moines area. Additionally, it is often desirable for merchants to verify the location of a customer before completing a transaction, to ensure compliance with import/export, censorship, tax, and other laws that may apply to a particular transaction. The applicability of such laws often depends on the residency or location of the customer, but according to prior art methods, there is often no reliable, cost-effective way to verify the customer's actual location.
It is desired, therefore, to provide a method and system for quickly and easily verifying geographical or physical locations of wide area network users.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method for verifying geographical location of wide area network users


An electromechanical actuator comprising an inherently conducting polymer and a conductor for conducing voltage along the polymer from a first end region thereof. The conductor is adapted for axially extending and contracting with axial expansion and contraction of the polymer. In one form, the conductor is in the form of a helix embedded in the polymer and extends along substantially the entire length of the polymer. Also disclosed is a method for manufacture of the electromechanical actuator.

Electromechanical actuators based on conducting polymers are known in the art and find use as artificial muscles as well as in a myriad of other applications. Operation of such actuators is achieved by redox processes. The actuators may be arranged for providing a bending motion or a uniaxial force.
The bending or axial force is achieved as a result of volume changes in the conducting polymer upon application of a potential to the polymer. More particularly, the volume changes occur as a result of the injection or expulsion of counter ions into or from the polymer during these processes. For instance, upon electrochemically oxidizing a neutral conducting polymer film by the application of an anodic potential to the polymer in an electrolyte, positive charges are generated along the polymer resulting in counter ions being forced to enter the polymer from the electrolyte. As a result, there may be a significant increase in the volume of the conducting polymer. During reduction with a change in the potential, electrons are injected into the solid eliminating the positive charges and forcing the counter ions and solvated molecules to be expelled into the electrolyte. The result of this is that the volume of the conducting polymer decreases and the polymer returns to its neutral state. By harnessing the changes in volume, the electromechanical actuator can be utilized to achieve the desired action such as in the case of an artificial muscle. The expansion and contraction movement of the conducting polymer may also be utilized such as for example, for operating a piston in a miniature pump and other mechanical type applications.
However, attempts to improve the efficiency of performance of electromechanical actuators can impact on the mechanical and/or electromechanical properties of the actuator. It is, therefore, desirable to enhance efficiency of performance while minimizing any impact on the mechanical and/or electromechanical properties of such actuators.

Electromechanical actuator and methods of providing same


A unit has an array of lasers having an emission surface through which beams can be emitted in a substantially vertical direction so as to define an emission side, drive electronics connected to a side opposite to the emission side of the array of lasers, and an array of modulators, located on the emission side of the array of lasers and connected to the drive electronics.

External modulation has been used in some semiconductor laser systems where one or a few edge emitting lasers were used in a linear arrangement. Single channel use of modulators with edge emitting lasers in a package is also therefore possible. However, presently, two dimensional arrays of edge emitting semiconductor lasers are not in the prior art, hence integration of modulators with such lasers is not possible in the prior art. In addition, modulators that can be integrated with arrays of vertical emitting format lasers, particularly, vertical emitting cavity, distributed feedback (DFB) lasers and distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) lasers, are not available in the prior art.

Integrated arrays of modulators and lasers on electronics


The present invention relates to a new use of tetrahydroxylated estrogens such as estetrol (1,3,5(10)-estratrien-3, 15α, 16α, 17β-tetrol), namely in a method of emergency contraception. The method of emergency contraception according to the invention comprises the oral administration of estetrol in a single dose within 120 hours of sexual intercourse.

Despite the availability of highly effective methods of contraception, a great number of pregnancies are unplanned, e.g. as a result of lack of access to contraceptives or contraceptive failure (such as condom slippage).
Emergency contraception (EC), by using a drug or device, is an important means of preventing unwanted pregnancy following sexual intercourse. Several approaches to emergency contraception have been described. Although the copper intrauterine device is the most effective EC method that can be used up to 5 days after the estimated time of ovulation, its widespread use is limited due to logistic and medical reasons. In the late 1970s Yuzpe introduced a regimen involving the combined use of oestrogen (0.1 mg ethinylestradiol) and progestogen (0.5 mg levonorgestrel) within 72 hours of the intercourse and repeated after 12 hours. The Yuzpe regimen was associated with a high incidence of nausea and vomiting due to the high oestrogen content. Since 1990s the potential of levonorgestrel (LNG), a synthetic progestogen, was recognised. Treatment with 0.75 mg LNG, repeated after 12 hours or as a single dose of 1.5 mg, within 72 hours of intercourse was shown to be associated with lower rate of side effects and higher efficacy than the Yuzpe regimen. However, if given when luteinizing hormone has already started to rise (LH surge), LNG lacks efficacy. The progesterone receptor modulator mifepristone (10 mg) offers another option for EC with very low side-effects and higher efficacy than the Yuzpe regimen. Also the interval between coitus and treatment could be extended to 120 hours with mifepristone. Yet another regimen is the treatment with the progesterone receptor modulator ulipristal acetate, which is more effective than LNG and which can be used up to 120 hours after intercourse.
There remains a need in the art for alternative methods of emergency contraception with reduced side-effects, which are effective in preventing unwanted pregnancy following intercourse, and which can be administered in a single effective dose, up to 120 hours after the intercourse.
The present invention now provides a new emergency contraceptive overcoming the above posed problems at least partially.

Use of estetrol as emergency contraceptive


The invention provides a crayon comprising an organic solvent, a resin soluble in the organic solvent, a coloring agent, a gelling agent and an interferential pearl luster pigment. The crayon provides a metallic or pearly coating film, and has characteristics such that the color tone of the coating film varies with an angle for viewing the coating film, namely, a visual angle for the coating film. Therefore, for example, when applied to a flaw caused in metallic or pearly coating of automobiles, the crayon is adapted to such coating of automobiles to form an integrated coating film, so that it is suitably used for repairing such a flaw.

Conventionally, in order to form a coating film or drawing traces having reflective metallic luster such as gold color or silver color, a crayon containing semi-evaporated glass beads is described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 58-134167. A further crayon containing metal flakes (lame) is described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 59-93770. These crayons provide a coating film having metallic luster and reflecting properties only to some extent. That is, the coating film is not sufficient in metallic luster and reflecting properties, and in addition, it is lacking in so-called depth. Further, the crayons are not adapted to metallic or pearly coating, so that even though applied to a flaw of such coating, the crayons have little performance for repairing the flaw.
Under these circumstances, paints or solid drawing materials providing a metallic or pearly coating film are also proposed. For example, a paint to be applied to a scratch caused on a surface of metallic enameled products such as covering materials to repair the scratch is described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 5-279604. The paint comprises a combination of a clear resin paint and the same resin-based pigmented paint blended with an aluminum paste and a pearl luster pigment. The pigment is a solid-liquid mixture and it has a defect that a pigment having higher specific gravity settles down with time to lose uniformity. In addition, the paint is poor in immediate effectiveness and convenience for the reason that drying requires time after being applied to a scratch on a surface of enameled products.
A solid drawing material providing a coating film having luster in metallic color or pearly color, as well as color tone which varies with an angle for viewing, is described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2003-221552. The solid drawing material is comprised of wax as a fixing agent and a pearl luster pigment dispersed therein. However, the solid drawing material using wax as a fixing agent is not sufficient in fixity of a coating film on a drawing surface such as of a metal plate or a resin board, particularly, in sticking tendency of pigment onto a coating film and resistance of a coating film to high environmental temperature. For example, a body of automobiles is exposed to sunlight and frequently warmed to high temperature, so that such a solid drawing material can not be used for repairing a flaw of coating of a body of automobiles for the reason that even though applied to the flaw to form a coating film thereon, wax in the coating film formed on the flaw is softened and melted, and then the flaw is exposed again. Depending on the case, a further problem is that a coating film formed on the flaw is melted by wax itself for automobiles when a body of the automobile is waxed.


The present invention is directed to a method of Acacia mangium regeneration through organogenesis and a method of genetic transformation of Acacia mangium. The method of regeneration comprises inducing callus from different parts of seedlings and vegetatively micropropagated plantlets as explants; adventitious bud induction followed by pinnate leaf and bud elongation and eventually, elongated shoots were induced to root. Based on the regeneration system, a marker gene GUS under cauliflower mosaic virus promoter was introduced to Acacia mangium via Agrobacterium infection. GUS staining in the regenerated plants and Southern blot hybridization prove the incorporation of the foreign gene into the host genome and expression of the foreign gene.

Forests are very important to the world economy and for maintaining and preserving our ecosystem. Forest trees have a wide range of commercial uses (timber for construction, raw material for paper and pulp production, and as an energy source). The global demand for wood products (mostly for paper and pulp and firewood in developing countries) has been increasing year by year when the natural forests are in short supply. Re-forestation is the solution to meeting such increasing demand. Usually, the fast-growing, widely adapted tree species are chosen for re-forestation. Most tree-improvement programs are based on the management of genetic resources, including the selection of superior clones from existing forests, the conservation of genetic variability, partially controlled propagation and classical breeding for desired traits. In spite of the fact that it usually takes several generations to breed, this traditional breeding has been successful in getting elite trees with fast and uniform growth. However, many other traits such as disease and insect resistance, different lignin composition and content are difficult to acquire mainly due to high heterozygosity in tree species and big segregation population. Moreover, the gene(s) conferring certain phenotypes like disease resistance may not be in the gene pool at all. On the other hand, molecular breeding based on genetic transformation of tree species offers the possibility to introduce a particular phenotype without affecting the genetic background of a cultivar. Genetic transformation in Populus species and Eucalyptus species enabled some success in modification of lignin content (Tzfira et al., 1998; Robinson, 1999). The precondition of molecular breeding of forest tree species is the availability of a reliable and reproducible genetic transformation method, which in turn relies on a system of regeneration of one whole plant from a single cell.
Genus Acacia comprises about 1200 tropical and subtropical tree species. It belongs to the family Mimosaceae. Acacia mangium is a multipurpose, fast growing and nitrogen fixing elite tropical legume tree. An adult tree is up to 30-metres tall and its bole (trunk) is often straight to over half the total height. The true leaf of a seedling is a fern-like pinnate leaf. The first pinnate leaf of a seedling has 6 or 8 leaflets, and then the bipinnate leaf develops from the second pinnate leaf on a seedling. Usually when the young seedling grows up to 8-12 bipinnate leaves, the petiole is dilated into a phyllode, while the leaflets abort completely and the true leaf disappears from the young seedling. Phyllodes are flattened leaf stems which look and act like the ordinary leaves of other plants. Branchlets, phyllodes and petioles are glabrous or slightly scurfy. Phyllodes are 5-10 cm broad, 2-4 times as long as broad, dark green, and are chartaceous when dry. The phyllodes have 3-4 longitudinal main nerves which join on the dorsal margin at the base of the phyllode. Secondary nerves are fine and inconspicuous.
Flowers are in loose spikes to 10 cm long and are solitary or paired in the upper axils. Flowers are pentamerous and the calyx is 0.6-0.8 mm long with short obtuse lobes. The corolla is twice as long as the calyx. Pods are linear, glabrous, 3-5 mm broad, about 7.5 cm long when green, woody, coiled and brackish-brown when mature, and depressed between the seeds. Seeds are lustrous, black, ellipsoid, ovate or oblong, 3.5×2.5 mm, with the orangish funicle forming a fleshy aril beneath the seed (Duke, 1984). Due to A. mangium fast growth, tolerance of infertile soil and high quality fibre, it has been increasingly used for reforestation plantation and soil rehabilitation in degraded soil. Its plantation has been studied for many years in many countries or regions, especially in tropical regions and subtropical regions, such as Australian, Indonesia, Malaysia, India, Thailand, Hawaii, China and Taiwan. Many A. mangium plantations have been established in acidic soil or abandoned land or Imperata grassland, for example, in Bangladesh (Latif et al., 1995); in Sabah (Latif et al., 1995; Williams et al., 1992) and in Serdong (Majid et al., 1994; Awang, 1994) in Malaysia; Sangmelina, Cameroon, Kenya (Duguma et al., 1994); Skaerat, Thailand (Khemnark, 1994); Hawaii, USA (Cole et al., 1996); Bogor (Anwar, 1992; Wibowo et al., 1992), Paseh and Kadipaten (Widiarti and Alrasjid, 1987) in Indonesia; Bengal, India (Basu et al., 1987), etc.
Indonesia, with some of the world's largest paper and pulp mills, has been increasingly relying on plantations as the source of wood and A. mangium is the preferred choice. Asia Paper and Pulp group has two affiliate companies with a total concession of 540,000 hectares. By 1996, one company had planted 123,000 hectares of A. mangium, about 90% of all its plantation, which represented 180 million seedlings. It is estimated that by 2004, Asia Paper and Pulp group will virtually source all its wood from plantation, mainly A. mangium plantation (Bayliss, 1998a; Bayliss, 1998b).
Besides its use for paper and pulp, A. mangium timber can be used for other applications such as cement banded particle board, plywood and decorative panel manufacture (Yusoff et al., 1989; Wong et al., 1988).
A large scale of mono-plantation of vegetative propagation from a single plant faces a higher risk of disease infection. It has been found that diseases spread very fast in this kind of plantation and cause large economic losses. Many diseases devastate A. mangium: Cinnamon fungus (Phytophehera cinnamomi) infection results in collapse and death of plants; Seedling blight, defoliation and dieback due to Glomerella cingulata caused serious losses to A. mangium in nurseries. Leaf spot by Cyclindrocladium quinqueseptatum causes defoliation of seedlings and young trees; Powdery mildew (Oidium spp) severely affected A. mangium seedlings in nurseries in Thailand; Red rot diseases, caused by ganoderma sp. affects A. mangium in Malaysia; Brown root disease caused by Phellinus noxium affects A. mangium in Malaysia and the Solomon islands (Simmons, 1987; Gutteridge and Shelton, 1994). Traditional breeding has been less successful in getting disease resistance in A. mangium, mostly likely due to lack of such a gene in the natural gene pool. Molecular breeding by introducing foreign disease resistance genes becomes an important option.
Studies on A. mangium tissue culture have been limited to micropropagation (Bhaskan and Subbash, 1996; Ahmad, 1991; Galiana et al., 1991a; Galiana et al., 1991b). A combination of traditional breeding of elite trees and techniques of large-scale vegetative propagation make the large-scale plantation possible. There has been no report on regeneration or genetic transformation of A. mangium. Our invention describes the conditions for regeneration of whole plant via organogenesis and a genetic transformation system.
The publications and other materials used herein to illuminate the background of the invention or provide additional details respecting the practice, are incorporated by reference, and for convenience are respectively grouped in the appended List of References.

Regeneration and genetic transformation of

Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory Limited


The present inventions relate to micro-fluidic devices and related methods of fractionating samples of analytes, such as peptides or proteins, according to their isoelectric points. The disclosed micro-fluidic devices and related methods provide a fractionation sufficient to enhance the performance of immunochemistry and/or tandem liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry workflows. Such methods and devices are capable of fractionating complex samples in a short time, using a small amount of sample, do not require high voltages and are further characterized by their high degree of reproducibility and ease of use.

Protein research is the mainstay for understanding the machinery of biological systems. Recently, proteomics research and protein biomarker research have made a strong impact in furthering our knowledge of biological systems, and holds great promise for research into diseases, hopefully leading to useful drug treatments and diagnostics.
Traditionally, electrophoresis has been a key laboratory technique for separating and studying proteins, and has been used as an analytical technique itself. SDS-PAGE (sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis) was one of the earliest electrophoretic methods for separating complex protein mixtures according to their molecular weight. Isoelectric focusing is another electrophoretic technique that separates mixtures according to their charge. A very powerful separation technique is 2-dimensional (2D) electrophoresis, in which the mixture is first fractionated by isoelectric focusing in a gel strip, and then the strip is equilibrated with SDS, mated with a polyacrylamide slab gel, and the charge separated mixture is further separated according to molecular weight, creating a 2-dimensional image of the mixture with charge separation in the x-direction and molecular weight separation in the y-direction. The result of a 2D procedure is a spot image, and further analysis needs to be done on these spots for actual protein identification. Two approaches are antibody probing methods, like western blotting, or amino acid sequencing.
Recently, mass spectrometry (MS) has become a very important tool for identifying proteins by sequence. Total mass, and fragment masses are used to deduce the amino acid sequence, and hence protein identity. Most recently, as the capabilities of the MS instrumentation have improved, the MS has increasingly been taking the place of the second dimension of 2-D electrophoresis. Tandem liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) is the workhorse of protein identification today. The LC fractionates samples by hydrophobicity, and the MS identifies the proteins associated with the fractions. Samples analyzed by LC-MS can be more complex as instrumentation improves, analyzing up to hundreds of proteins per sample. However, typical biological samples contain thousands of proteins. Thus, some fractionation prior to LC-MS analysis is still required in the sample preparation workflow. Charge-based separations are considered to be important, because of the additional structural information that can be deduced from charge.
The methods used to prepare complex protein or peptide samples for subsequent immunoassay or LC-MS analyses were generally developed as analytical tools themselves. Consequently, they have high separation resolution, tend to be complex to run, and are usually expensive on a per sample basis. With advancements in, for example LC-MS, only crude fractionation is necessary in the preparative steps, and with the proliferation of high throughput workflows there is a need for effective, rapid, low-cost, charge-based fractionation. Also, it is advantageous to have the analytes separated in a gel-free system to minimize losses, and to simplify sample clean-up prior to any LC-MS procedure.
Strong cation exchange chromatography is a charge-based protein sample fractionation technique. This has the advantage that chromatography equipment is prevalent in the laboratory environment, and it is easily automated. It suffers the disadvantage that many of the analyte species irreversibly bind to the column, which limits the quantitative capabilities of the method. Isoelectric focusing is the other charge-based separation process frequently used in the biochemistry laboratory.
Electrophoretic separations dominate charge-based separation methods. Isoelectric focusing is done in a pH gradient. Charged molecules migrate in an electric field within the gradient where the overall charge of an amphoteric molecule is affected by pH. An amphoteric molecule gains positive charges at pH values below the pKas of the charged moieties within the molecule, hence migrates toward the cathode, or attains negative charges at higher pH values, hence migrates toward the anode. At some intermediate pH, positive and negative charges balance and there is no net movement in the electric field, the isoelectric point (pI). In isoelectric separation, a complex mixture is separated into bands along a pH gradient corresponding to each component's isoelectric point. The pH gradients are established in two basic ways: (1) with carrier ampholytes, a complex mixture of amphoteric molecules line up in the electric field to give a piecewise discrete pH gradient; and (2) immobilized pH gradients fabricated into a polyacrylamide gel by incorporating acrylamido buffers, monomers with acids or bases pendant on the side chains, which locally buffer a specific pH. Frequently, a combined approach is used.
The most typical configuration for isoelectric focusing is the IPG strip (immobilized pH gradient). This format requires relatively large sample volumes (10-50 μg), long running times (5 to 24 hours), and high applied voltage (1,000-10,000 Volts). This method has exquisitely fine separation resolution to about 0.01 pH units, and has been used as an analytical tool in protein research. The separated mixture is in a gel matrix, however, and needs to be recovered and cleaned prior to any subsequent analysis, such as LC-MS. This is usually accomplished by running an SDS-PAGE second dimension. Protein spots in the 2D-SDS-PAGE need to be excised, cleaned of SDS and eluted prior to LC-MS analysis. Non-specific adsorption of protein to the polyacrylamide matrix, and the workflow complexity of recovering the separated proteins to a liquid phase make a gel-free separation technique desirable. Additionally, the high applied voltage poses a safety hazard, and the power supplied to these systems causes them to heat, which may damage proteins or peptides, and requires active cooling.
Capillary isoelectric focusing (CIEF) is a newer technology conducting the separation in a capillary using carrier ampholytes to create the pH gradient, usually in a gel-free medium. CIEF utilizes very small sample sizes on the order of 1 μL. Proteins or peptides may be recovered by pushing the separated mixture out of the capillary along the direction of the separation. This is not easily accomplished, because the capillary ends are in contact with the anode and cathode buffer pools. So, the capillary must be disconnected from the electrophoresis running system and attached to a mechanical pumping system to recover the contents of the capillary. Usually, however, the analytes are visualized in place using fluorescent tags.
In WO 2008/006201 a CIEF device is taught wherein the analytes can be removed from the capillary via a single cross-flow channel. This geometry requires a complex fluid handling system to hydraulically position a segment of the separated analyte over the cross-flow extraction zone prior to the application of an extraction pressure to recover only that separated segment. The flow characteristics of such a device are designed so that it is impossible to simultaneously and uniformly recover all of the separated segments.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,655,477 B1 teaches a CIEF system with a multiplicity of side channels that recover separated analytes. This device requires a series of buffers of different ionic strengths to coordinate flow through the device, and the device does not intend to recover the samples for subsequent downstream analysis. Instead, UV-Visible spectra are obtained for the separated analytes within the side channels. It would be difficult to physically recover analytes because all of the movement is accomplished by electrophoretic or electroosmotic movement, and the analytes would be lost to the electrode buffer or oxidized at the electrode itself.
Free-flow electrophoresis (U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,275,706 and 6,328,868) is another gel-free separation method intended for the purification of large samples. Being gel-free is an advantage for certain protein or peptide workflows prior to subsequent immunoassay or mass spectrometry analysis. Free-flow electrophoresis (FFE) has not been well adopted because the equipment is cumbersome to use and expensive to purchase. As a continuous flow method, the equipment is difficult to set up, balance and calibrate. Furthermore, it requires a large sample volume (0.1-10 mg usually at concentrations on the order of 1 mg/mL). The method greatly shortens run times to 0.5-1 hours, and requires about 2,000 Volts to accomplish the separation at a resolution of about 0.1 pH units.
Micro FFE (μFFE) devices have been reported (e.g., S. Köhler, C. Weilbeer, S. Howitz, H. Becker, V. Beuhausen and D. Belder, PDMS free-flow electrophoresis chips with integrated partitioning bars for bubble segregation, in Lab on a Chip, 2011, 11:181). Although these address the FFE drawbacks of sample size and high voltage (about 100 V), they retain the fluidic complexity of FFE, requiring the flow rates of multiple inlet and outlet ports to be balanced.
There are numerous refinements of the FFE concept. See for example, U.S. Patent Application 2010/0252435 A1 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,328,868. These refine the FFE concept with additional flows to balance the system to deal with electroosmotic flow, operational variations, or with buffer systems that refine the pH gradient, but do not address the operational complexity or equipment expense of running FFE.
Multi-compartment electrolyzers (MCE) are large-scale isoelectric separation devices. These are comprised of liquid compartments separated by permeable membranes that allow the analyte molecules to migrate from compartment to compartment. The pH in each compartment is controlled by charged membranes (for example U.S. Pat. No. 4,971,670), and/or by various components in the buffer systems (for example U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,362,612 and 6,638,408). The initial intent was for purifying large quantities of peptides or proteins for non-MS uses. Consequently, these systems tend to be too large for analytical sample preparation. The MCE format is useful for fractionating complex samples prior to LC-MS because the fractionated material can be recovered in a gel-free, liquid phase. MCEs suffer the drawback of needing large samples (many milligrams), and generally need many hours to run, and have only crude pH resolution of about 0.1-1.0 pH units. An additional disadvantage is that proteins and peptides frequently adhere to the membranes and are lost.
Yet another approach is the Offgel™ system (Proteomics 2002, 2, 151-156 and Electrophoresis 2003, 24, 3-11) manufactured by Agilent Technologies (Santa Clara, Calif.). This is essentially an MCE wherein a linear array of open-bottomed chambers is placed on top of an IPG strip. The pH of each chamber is controlled by the average pH of the IPG segment over which it lies, and the membrane between each chamber is the IPG segment beneath the wall between two adjacent chambers. This is a very effective system for fractionating complex samples to a pI resolution of about 0.3 pH units. The fractions are recovered in liquid for relatively direct incorporation into an LC-MS workflow. The Offgel system still requires large samples, less than the traditional MCE, but more than a typical IPG strip. Long separation times (12-24 hours) and high voltages (up to 10,000 Volts) are additional disadvantages.
Ampholyte-free separations are advantageous for certain downstream analytical methods, such as mass spectrometry, since ampholytes interfere with protein and peptide mass spectra. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,447,612 and 7,615,354 B2 and U.S. Pat. Appl. 2010/0252435 A1 all suggest similar buffer systems based on mixtures of organic acids and bases.
There is a need in the protein and peptide workflows, such as LC-MS, for a technology that can fractionate a complex sample in a short time, on the order of 1 hour; can provide charge information; can use a small sample, less than about 10 μg; does not require high voltages, preferably less than 200 Volts; has a high reproducibility; and is easy to use.

Stopped-flow, micro-fluidic device and method for the charge-based separation of complex analyte mixtures


An air intake control system is provided for an internal combustion engine of a vehicle. The control system includes an intake port of a cylinder head for an engine main body, a throttle body having a throttle valve and connected to the intake port, an electric actuator having an electric motor and arranged on the throttle body to drive open or close the throttle valve, and a connector disposed on a housing of the electric actuator in a position facing toward one axial end of a crankshaft. The connector is provided in order to connect to an outside conductor to the electric motor of the electric actuator. The resulting configuration facilitates the work to connecting the outside conductor to the connector.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an air intake control system (electronic throttle, DBW) for an internal Combustion engine of a vehicle, in which a throttle body having a throttle valve is connected to an intake port of a cylinder head which an engine main body is provided with, and an electric actuator having an electric motor is arranged on the throttle body to drive open or close the throttle valve.
2. Description of Background Art
An air intake control system in which an electronic actuator having an electric motor is mounted on a throttle body to drive open or close a throttle valve is already known, for example, from Japanese Patent No. 3536612, for example.
A connector is arranged on a housing of an electric actuator to connect an outside conductor to an electric motor which an electric actuator is provided with. It is, hence, desired to permit easy connecting work of the outside connector to the connector in a state that a throttle body has been assembled on an internal combustion engine. In Japanese Patent No. 3536612 referred to in the above, however, no consideration is made about the arrangement of a connector and no disclosure is found about the arrangement of a connector.
With the foregoing circumstances in view, the present invention has as an object thereof the provision of an air intake control system for an internal Combustion engine of a vehicle, which facilitates connecting work of an outside conductor to a connector of an electric actuator arranged on a throttle body.

Air intake control system for internal combustion engine of a vehicle


An isothermal terminator system is provided. The isothermal terminator includes a waveguide formed to define a propagation channel through which electro-magnetic (EM) radiation is directed and a terminator including a body having an exterior surface and an interior surface opposite the exterior surface. The terminator is disposed in the propagation channel such that the EM radiation is incident on the exterior surface to raise a temperature of the body. The body is substantially isothermal with the EM radiation incident on the exterior surface.

The present invention relates to an isothermal terminator and to a method of determining a shape of an isothermal terminator.
In typical radio frequency (RF) terminator assemblies, a cone shaped terminator is disposed within a waveguide through which RF radiation propagates toward an absorptive exterior surface of the cone shaped terminator. An interior surface of the terminator is on an opposite side from the exterior surface and, with the RF radiation incident on the exterior surface such that the RF radiation is absorbed by the cone shaped terminator, infrared (IR) radiation is emitted from the interior surface. The IR radiation emitted from the interior surface is detectable as an IR scene by an IR scanner positioned downstream from the terminator.
The cone shaped terminator has its conical shape because the conical shape promotes RF absorption and minimizes reflections. However, the conical shape also leads to thermal gradients being generated within the material of the cone shaped terminators. This thermal gradient leads to problems with the RF terminator assemblies being used in certain applications.

Isothermal terminator and method for determining shape of isothermal terminator


A touch screen according to the present invention includes a transparent substrate, a first detection electrode formed on the transparent substrate, a second detection electrode disposed to sterically cross the first detection electrode via an interlayer insulating film, and a polarizing plate bonded to cover the second detection electrode. Each of the first detection electrode and the second detection electrode includes, as a repetition unit, thin wire electrodes that incline in different directions and cross each other. The thin wire electrodes are formed of a combination of a plurality of conductive thin wires extending in a direction inclined 10 degrees or less from a transmission axis direction or an absorption axis direction of the polarizing plate.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a touch screen, a touch panel including the touch screen, a display, and an electronic apparatus.
Description of the Background Art
Touch panels, which detect the touch by a pointer, such as a finger, and identify the touched position coordinates, have received attention as one of the excellent input means. In general, a touch panel includes a touch screen with a touch sensor embedded therein and a detector that identifies the touched position coordinates on the basis of a signal from the touch screen. The touch panels employing various detection methods including the resistive film method and the capacitive method have been introduced commercially.
One type of the touch panel employing the capacitive method is the projected capacitive touch panel (see, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2012-103761). The projected capacitive touch panel is capable of detecting the touch if the front surface of the touch screen with the touch sensor embedded therein is covered by the protective plate, such as a glass plate having the thickness of several millimeters. Therefore, such projected capacitive touch panel has the excellent ruggedness. The projected capacitive touch panel is also capable of detecting the touched position via the glove and includes no moving parts, thus having a long life.
The projected capacitive touch panel includes, as the detection electrodes to detect the capacitance, the first detection electrodes formed on the thin dielectric film in the row direction and the second detection electrodes formed over the first detection electrodes via the interlayer insulating film in the column direction. The detection electrodes do not have an electrical contact therebetween and include a plurality of intersection points formed via the dielectric film.
The projected capacitive touch panels can be classified into the touch panels employing the self-capacitance detection method and the touch panels employing the mutual capacitance detection method (see, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication (Translation of PCT Application) No. 09-511086 (1997) and Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication (Translation of PCT Application) No. 2003-526831). According to the self-capacitance method, the capacitance between the pointer, such as a finger, and the respective detection electrodes is detected to calculate the touched position coordinates. According to the mutual capacitance detection method, the position coordinates are calculated from the change in the capacitance between the detection electrodes caused by the pointer.
When the pointer, such as a finger, touches the planar region (detection cell) divided into a grid pattern by the first detection electrodes formed in the row direction and the second detection electrodes formed in the column direction, the touched position coordinates are identified from the proportion between the detected value in the detection cell and the detected value in the adjacent detection cell according to the self-capacitance detection method and the mutual capacitance detection method described above. The reduction in the interconnect resistance of the detection electrodes can increase the sensitivity of the touch screen. Thus, the detection electrodes each formed of the thin wire electrodes made of, for example, a metal having a low interconnect resistance substitute for the traditional detection electrodes formed of the thin-film transparent electrodes.
Assume that the first and second detection electrodes are formed of the metal thin-wire electrodes linearly extending in the row direction and in the column direction, respectively. In this case, the alignment direction of the pixels included in the liquid crystal display equipped with the touch screen becomes identical to the direction of the metal thin-wire electrodes included in the detection electrodes. If the pixel alignment and the repetition pitch of the thin wire electrodes have a certain relationship, the optical interference causes moire (interference fringes), considerably deteriorating the display quality. In a case where the detection electrodes include only the metal thin-wire electrodes extending in parallel in a single direction, the detectable area for the touch is unfortunately narrowed due to the occurrence of wire breakage.
Thus, the first and second detection electrodes extending in the row direction or in the column direction are formed of the thin wire electrodes having a mesh pattern in which the metal thin-wire electrodes obliquely inclined in different directions cross each other. Such detection electrodes including the thin wire electrodes having a mesh pattern extend in the direction that agrees with the pixel alignment direction. Meanwhile, the direction of the thin wire electrodes differs from the direction of the pixel alignment because the detection electrodes include the metal thin-wire electrodes inclined in the oblique direction. In addition, the repetition pitch can be adjusted. Therefore, the occurrence of moire can be prevented. Moreover, the thin wires are interconnected in a mesh pattern. Thus, the detection region is not narrowed when the wires are partly broken (see, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2010-97536).
However, the following problem arises when the lower layer of the polarizing plate on the front surface includes the touch screen in which the first and second detection electrodes extending in the row direction and the column direction are formed of the thin wire electrodes having a mesh pattern in which the metal thin-wire electrodes obliquely inclined in different directions cross each other. When the polarized light that is in parallel with or is perpendicular to the screen, in other words, the polarized light in the column direction or in the row direction enters the touch screen from the back surface, the polarization state of the incident light is changed by the thin wire electrodes having a mesh pattern and extending in the oblique direction. This allows the light that is to be absorbed in the polarizing plate on the front surface to penetrate the polarizing plate, unfortunately resulting in a light leakage.

Touch screen, touch panel, display, and electronic apparatus


A watch includes a case having a dial, a first strap attached to a first end of the case, the first strap having a plurality of adjustment holes, a second strap attached to a second end of the case, the second strap having a buckle for mating with at least one of the adjustment holes, an adjustable loop disposed over the second strap and having a base portion and a top plate coupled to the base portion and defining a gap therebetween, the adjustable loop being transitionable between a first condition where the base portion and the top plate are relatively far from one another and the gap has a first length, and a second condition where the base portion and the top plate are relatively close to one another and the gap has a second length, the second length being less than the first length.

A wrist watch typically includes a case disposed between two straps or bands that hold the watch on a user's wrist. One of the straps may include a buckle, while the other strap includes a number of adjustment holes. A user may choose one of the adjustment holes based on the size of his/her wrist, and couple the buckle thereto. Thus, a single set of straps is capable of accommodating a number of users having different wrist sizes.
A free loop may be disposed adjacent the buckle to hold an extra portion of the strap. This free loop may be movable along the length of the strap.


Disclose is a radio system and a spectrum resource reconfiguration method thereof. The method comprises: a Reconfigurable Base Station (RBS) divides subordinate nodes into groups according to attributes of the subordinate nodes, and sends a reconfiguration command to a subordinate node in a designated group, and the RBS and the subordinate node execute reconfiguration of spectrum resources according to the reconfiguration command; or, the RBS executes reconfiguration of spectrum resources according to the reconfiguration command; and a subordinate User Equipment (UE) accessing to a reconfigured RBS after interruption. By means of the present disclosure, the reconfiguration of spectrum resources of a cognitive radio system can be realized.

With the development of radio technology, various radio services emerge massively while spectrum resources, on which radio services rely, are limited. Therefore, more and more bandwidths are demanded, which leads to a shortage of spectrum resources. On the other hand, in a conventional spectrum fixed allocation system, the utilization ratio of spectrum resources is low. In a sense, it is such a spectrum allocation system providing fixed allocation to an authorization system that causes the great shortage of spectrum resources.
Cognitive radio technology breaks through the conventional spectrum fixed allocation system to allocate spectrums dynamically among systems, thus improving the utilization efficiency of spectrums. For example, as requirements on daily communication are increasing and simple voice data communication is no longer satisfactory, the proportion of video stream media services are increasing in people's communication life, which requires more bandwidths. International Mobile Telecom (IMT) systems are in unprecedented shortage of spectrums while there are many available spectrum resources for broadcast Television (TV) systems to a great extent, e.g. spectrums of some broadcast TV systems are unused in some areas while spectrums of some broadcast TV systems are covered in some area, but unused in some moments, thus resulting in a low overall utilization ratio. Because of the spectrum fixed allocation system, the unused spectrum resources can be hardly reused, by an IMT system, for example. An IMT system of cognitive radio technology acquires information of a broadcast TV system to take an opportunity to occupy TV White spaces of the broadcast TV system in time and space, thus improving the utilization ratio of spectrums of the broadcast TV system and easing the shortage of spectrums of the IMT system.
When a secondary system takes an opportunity to improve the overall performance of a network by using spectrum resources of a main system, the Quality of Service (QoS) of the main system should also be guaranteed, e.g. a reliable power control mechanism and a main user discovery technology etc. are used to ensure that the main system is not interfered. When a main user to which a spectrum occupied by the secondary system reappears, i.e. when the main user will reuse a spectrum resource original borrowed by the secondary system, in order to strictly ensure that the secondary system will not cause harmful interference to the main user, the secondary system will not use the spectrum and sends a reconfiguration command to a User Equipment (UE) serving on the spectrum to require the UE to exit the corresponding spectrum. Further, the secondary system will search for available idle spectrum resources over again or return to an authorized frequency of the secondary system and notify information of a reconfigured spectrum resource to a UE served by the secondary system to provide services for the UE continuously. Thus, communication needs to be performed among network nodes, key parameters need to be configured, and corresponding processes need to be guaranteed, but there are no feasible methods to solve these problems in the prior art.

Radio system and spectrum resource reconfiguration method thereof


A lighting and transport system includes a cabinet having an interior with an access panel that can be opened and closed for enabling a user to access the interior when the panel is open. The interior has a plurality of receptacles that include at least one vertically extending tall receptacle that is about as tall as the cabinet. A larger receptacle is provided that is shorter than the vertically extending tall receptacle and a plurality of smaller receptacles are provided that are each smaller in volume than the larger receptacle. At least one tripod is provided that is sized and shaped to be stored inside the cabinet within the tall receptacle. A plurality of electric lighting units are sized and shaped to be contained with the smaller receptacles.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the transportation of lighting equipment. More particularly the present invention relates to an improved lighting transport apparatus that features lighting components that disassemble for storage and transport in a cabinet having vertically and horizontally extending receptacles specially configured to efficiently and conveniently carry the lighting components.
2. General Background of the Invention
Lighting is often required in environments wherein explosions can occur because of natural gas or other volatile substances that might be in the area. In the offshore oil and gas exploration industry, explosion proof lighting is required on any offshore drilling or production platform.
In offshore oil and gas well drilling, platforms that are utilized have chronic space problems. However, the equipment must be taken to the platform that is supplemental equipment to that already located on the platform. Such is often the case with lighting that must be transported, typically by boat, to an offshore oil and gas well drilling platform or production platform. Once supplemental lighting arrives at the platform, the lack of space is compounded by the large lights and/or any containers that they are shipped in.
3. General Discussion of the Present Invention
The present invention solves the problems and shortcomings of the prior art by providing a new, improved lighting and transport system having particular utility in the oil and gas well drilling industry.
The present invention provides a lighting and transport system that includes a cabinet having an interior, an access panel that can be opened and closed for enabling a user to access the interior when the panel is opened, the interior having a plurality of receptacles including at least one vertically extending tall receptacle that is about as tall as the cabinet, a larger receptacle that is shorter than the vertically extending tall cabinet, and a plurality of small receptacles that are each smaller in volume than the larger receptacle.
One or more tripods are sized and shaped to be stored inside the cabinet and within the tall receptacle.
A plurality of electric lighting units are sized and shaped to be contained within the smaller receptacles.
A plurality of accessory components can be removably fitted into the tripods, the accessory components being non-lighting and non-electrical components.
Attachments on the cabinet are provided that enable a selected lifting device to connect to the cabinet at attachments for enabling a lifting device to elevate the cabinet such as from a supply boat to an elevated offshore marine platform.


Disclosed herein are technologies related to database calculation that utilizes parallel-computation of tasks in a directed acyclic graph. In accordance with one aspect, dependency of tasks is converted into a directed acyclic graph that topologically orders the tasks into layers of tasks. A database calculation may be performed, wherein the database calculation computes in parallel the tasks in each layer of the layers of tasks.

In an enterprise or business system, an inventory management performed by a computerized inventory management system includes receiving of inventories such as raw materials, shipping orders, overhead costs, etc. These inventories may be in volumes and data relations between the raw materials, shipping orders, etc. may complicate a computation of even the simplest item that may be searched from the database.
For example, in manufacturing enterprises, there is a need to calculate production cost of their finished and semi-finished goods. Direct costs like raw materials and direct labors may be easily measured, because they are straightly posted to production orders. However, indirect overhead costs, such as storage cost, utility cost and administration cost, have to be calculated based on other factors such as, a percentage of the raw materials, a percentage of direct labor amounts, etc.

Database calculation using parallel-computation in a directed acyclic graph


Provided is a wireless communication system in which a first wireless device and a second wireless device intermittently perform wireless communication, in which the first wireless device repeatedly transmits an activation signal for activating the second wireless device at a first cycle until receiving a response signal from the second wireless device, the second wireless device repeatedly executes detection processing of the activation signal at a second cycle that is longer than the first cycle, receives, when a part of the activation signal is detected in the detection processing, the activation signal, transmits, when the activation signal is addressed to the second wireless device itself, the response signal to the first wireless device, the first wireless device transmits, when the response signal is received, data to the second wireless device, and the second wireless device receives, after transmitting the response signal, the data from the first wireless device.

With the development of the Internet of Things (IoT), devices such as sensors having wireless communication functions have been placed at various locations to perform collection of information. Devices are placed for collecting information even at locations where power sources are not secured. Such devices need to be driven by batteries for long periods of time in units of years. Thus, it is necessary for them to save power while operating.
In the related art, power saving has been achieved by intermittently performing communication and sleeping as long as possible except for times when communication is needed. In a case in which it is necessary to wait for irregularly transmitted data, in particular, a power saving technology for determining the presence of transmitted data through intermittent operations is needed. With regard to this power saving technology, it is possible to obtain a higher power saving effect by extending cycles of intermittent determination operations and shortening a time required for one determination operation.
As a technology for obtaining such a high power saving effect, preamble sampling as disclosed in Non Patent Literature 1 has been proposed. FIG. 8 is a time chart illustrating an operation example of wireless communication performed between a first wireless device 80 and a second wireless device 90 described in Non Patent Literature 1. In FIG. 8, the first wireless device 80 transmits data while the second wireless device 90 receives the data. According to this technology, the second wireless device 90 waits for a preamble transmitted from the first wireless device 80 by intermittently performing preamble detection at a predetermined cycle (preamble detection cycle). The first wireless device 80 transmits a preamble for a time longer than the preamble detection cycle of the second wireless device 90 immediately before the transmission of data. Through such transmission of a preamble, the first wireless device 80 reliably performs data communication with the second wireless device 90 that performs intermittent operations.
Note that the preamble detection is detection of a specific pattern unlike electric field intensity measurement and the like. There is thus an advantage that it is possible to perform detection with high precision even in an environment where noise is present or an environment where signals are buried in noise. Such an advantage enables application of this technology to a power saving wireless communication system in a Low Power Wide Area (LPWA) that is often used in harsh environments.

Wireless communication system, first wireless apparatus, second wireless apparatus and wireless communication method

Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation


A chemical vapor deposition apparatus for depositing at least one layer of material with controlled substrate-to-substrate variation onto a plurality of substrates is disclosed, comprising a reactor including at least one gas inlet (40) and one gas outlet (60), a planetary susceptor rotation means (14) containing a plurality of secondary susceptors (114) for supporting and heating the substrates (110), and a heating means (50) for heating the secondary susceptors.

1. Field of Invention
The invention relates to the apparatus and methods for chemical vapor deposition (CVD). The invention further relates to the planetary form of susceptor rotation utilized in CVD.
2. Description of Prior Art
In prior-art apparatus and methods for CVD, the primary emphasis has been on producing uniform layers of coating, see for example U.S. Pat. No. 5,455,070 by Anderson, U.S. Pat. No. 5,455,069 by Lee, U.S. Pat. No. 5,173,336 by Kennedy, U.S. Pat. No. 4,976,996 by Monkowski, or U.S. Pat. No. 4,705,700 by Ikeda. For simultaneously coating multiple substrates in batch processing, the planetary form of susceptor rotation is utilized extensively to achieve the level of coating uniformity required over each substrate and from substrate to substrate within a batch, see for example U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,961,399 and 4,860,687 by Frijlink, or U.S. Pat. No. 3,424,628 by Winings. FIG. 1 illustrates one example of the prior-art planetary form of susceptor rotation, where a main susceptor 14 rotates at a rotation rate of .omega..sub.m in the indicated direction about main axis 20 and includes a number of secondary susceptors 114, 214, and 314. Secondary susceptors 114, 214, and 314 rotate at the same rotation rate .omega..sub.s in the indicated direction about secondary axes 120, 220, and 320 respectively. Excellent coating uniformity within a batch, including uniformity over each substrate and from substrate to substrate, has been achieved using this prior-art planetary form of susceptor rotation.
The prior-art apparatus and methods for CVD with planetary susceptor rotation as described are sufficient to achieve the required coating uniformity over each substrate in a batch once the process for a specific coating is developed for production. However, during the process development for a specific coating, applying the prior-art apparatus and methods results in wasted source materials and unnecessary development time and cost. The prior-art apparatus for CVD with planetary susceptor rotation consumes the same amount of source materials whether one test substrate is being coated for process development or multiple substrates are being coated for production. Multiple iterations of process corrections are required to achieve the proper layer thicknesses and/or compositions during the development of a specific coating process. Each additional iteration requires a separate batch of substrates to be coated and further increases the development time and cost.

Apparatus of chemical vapor for producing layer variation by planetary susceptor rotation


A method and apparatus for improving the performance of rimless spectacle lenses. An abrasive wire is provided for polishing bore holes which are drilled in lenses. The abrasive wire includes a wire substrate with abrasive particles embedded along its length. The wire and particles are dimensioned for threading through the bore hole and allowing space to perform a soft-filing operation. By polishing the micro cracks formed during drilling, propagation leading to lens failure which arises from spectacle use can be reduced.

1. Field of the Invention
The present principles relate to a method and apparatus for polishing the inner surface of a borehole in a rimless spectacle lens.
2. The Prior Art
A popular trend that has been emerging in recent years with regard to eyewear has been the prevalence of rimless spectacles. The distinguishing feature of rimless spectacles is that supports for the spectacles, most notably the temples and nose-bridge, are directly attached to the eyeglass lenses via a screw, mounting pin or the like without utilization of a lens frame. A common problem associated with rimless spectacles is the incidence of cracking and crazing in the lens or coating due to forces applied by screws or mounting pins attaching supports to the lens. Over time, as a result of prolonged use, the cracks may spread to the outer edge of the lens, not only creating an unattractive appearance, but also requiring replacement due to a lack of structural integrity.
One approach to reducing the incidence of cracking flaws associated with rimless spectacles is to employ lenses composed of materials with an increased resistance to such flaws. See, e.g., Yang, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 7,135,545. However, there is a need for a simple and economical method for reducing the prevalence of cracking and crazing in rimless spectacles that may be applied to all lens materials, including those that are already known and commonly used.

Rimless spectacle lens bore polishing method and apparatus


A method to be used within a document image capture device, such as a document scanner (10) of detecting and measuring the document skew (25) while the document is still entering the imaging area and then effecting a rotation of the camera to accommodate the document skew so that the resulting image taken is not skewed. This can be accomplished by one of several methods, such as rotating the entire camera, rotating only the sensor element, or rotating another element in the optical path such as a prism. Use of the methods incorporated in this invention does not require the document motion to be stopped to measure and accommodate skew or to take the image.

When documents are transported for scanning using a document feeder, they may become skewed while traveling through the paper path. The skew may be caused by a number of factors, including how the paper was placed in the hopper or how the transport rollers grab the leading edge of the paper to move it. Skew may also result from manual placement of documents within the scanner if sufficient care or time is not taken.
In the prior art, the image of the misaligned (skewed) document is captured and stored temporarily. Consequently, this image is skewed. The image is then straightened by calculating the angle of skew and manipulating the pixel values that comprise the image. This causes some loss in the sharpness of the image, as well as requiring temporary storage of a skewed image within the image forming device. This invention eliminates this type of de-skewing process.


The present invention relates to an adhesive film and to a touch panel. According to the present invention, even when the adhesive film is applied to a touch panel, for example, a capacitive touch panel, and directly attached to a conductive layer, the adhesive film effectively prevents the resistance of the conductive layer from being raised and exhibits good heat resistance. In addition, according to the present invention, an adhesive film having superior durability, optical characteristics, cuttability, workability, wettability and resistance to warping is provided.

Recently, a market for mobile communication devices, such as mobile phones, PHSs and PDAs, has been growing. Such mobile communication devices are moving towards slimness, lightness, low-power consumption, high resolution, and high brightness.
In particular, a device equipped with a touch panel or touchscreen as an input device has a structure in which a transparent conductive plastic film, for example, a polyethylene terephthalate (PET) base film having a conductive thin layer of an ITO formed on one side thereof, is stacked on conductive glass, a reinforcing material, or a decoration film through an adhesive film in consideration of lightness and breakage prevention.
Adhesives used for attaching a transparent conductive film in a touchscreen or touch panel need to have various physical properties, such as uneven surface leveling performance for relieving an uneven surface due to a decoration film, durability for controlling generation of curls or bubbles when exposed to severe conditions, for example, high temperature or high humidity, cuttability for preventing the adhesives from sticking out or being squashed when cut, and excellent adhesion to various substrates as well as optical characteristics, workability, and resistance to warping.
Particularly, a capacitive touch panel is designed to have a structure such that an adhesive film is directly attached to a conductive layer (for example, ITO). Thus, an adhesive layer employed for the capacitive touch panel needs to suppress a change in resistance of a transparent electrode formed of, for example, ITO.
A touchscreen or touch panel may be exposed to various environments during manufacture, storage, transport, and sale. Specifically, when the touchscreen or touch panel is exposed to severe conditions, for example, high temperature and high humidity, a substantial change in resistance can occur in an electrode of the screen or panel, causing serious damage or product defects.
One approach to solve such problems is addition of a tackifier or plasticizer to the adhesives. However, when a tackifier is added to the adhesives, modulus of the adhesives at low temperature increases, while durability at high temperature decreases. Also, when a plasticizer is added, modulus of the adhesives can decrease, whereas poor compatibility of the plasticizer with the adhesives can deteriorate reliability over time.


A transceiver provides a high-speed transmission signal using shared resources and reduced area. A differential amplifier has its current source/sink connected to a supply terminal. A multiplexing circuit is configured to connect an input of the differential amplifier to an I/O pad so as to output a received input/output signal to internal integrated circuit logic during one mode, or alternatively connect an output of the differential amplifier to the I/O pad so as to output a signal received from the internal integrated circuit logic for input/output during another mode. A level translation operation on the signal may be performed with respect to outputting the signal received from the internal integrated circuit logic.

1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an improved transceiver providing high-speed transmission signal using shared resources and reduced area.
2. Description of Related Art
With the advancement of CMOS technology, device sizes have decreased to achieve higher processing speed. High-speed differential signaling systems have been developed to minimize cross talk and capacitive coupling problems. It has also become increasingly difficult to interface core devices operating at a lower voltage to the Input/Output devices operating at a higher voltage. As the core is shrinking, size of the chip is going to be limited by the Input/Output circuit.
To ensure noise free signaling, conventional high-speed signaling systems use voltage translator and current driver circuits, to be coupled to the receiver to enable the system as a transmitter and receiver, better known as transceiver. FIG. 1 illustrates a prior art transceiver circuit. The transceiver circuit consists of translators T1 and T2 for providing translated data fed with inputs I and EN respectively, where I is the low voltage input signal to be translated and EN is the signal for enabling the driver D to transfer the signal to the OUT pad for transmission. Here EN and I are the signals coming from the core. Receiver R is a configuration to receive IN and REF as inputs and output CIN signal that goes to the core, thus enabling reception.
The above said elements are coupled as discrete devices to perform as a signaling system with a drawback of the system being that as the size of the core is scaled down, translation of signals and area creates a bottleneck for overall system performance.
Therefore, a need exists to provide a scheme to integrate the transceiver, voltage translator, and driver circuits as a single device by sharing current and voltage resources of transmitter and receiver. The present invention provides such a scheme.
There is also a need to obviate the shortcomings of the prior art by providing a transceiver using differential amplifier architecture occupying minimum area by resource sharing of transmitter and receiver.
There is also a need to provide a transceiver which can operate to implement high-speed signaling.
There is further a need to provide a low voltage differential signaling I/O buffer with efficient resource sharing by coupling two transceivers configured to produce complementary outputs.
There is further a need to provide a transceiver occupying minimum area by resource sharing of the transmitter and receiver.

Transceiver providing high speed transmission signal using shared resources and reduced area


The present disclosure provides novel methods of making aluminum complexes with utility for promoting epoxide carbonylation reactions. Methods include reacting neutral metal carbonyl compounds with alkylaluminum complexes. For example, a compound of formula I:

Bimetallic complexes containing a cationic metal-centered Lewis acid in combination with an anionic metal carbonyl are highly active catalysts for the ring-expanding carbonylation of strained heterocycles, including epoxides, aziridines, oxetanes and lactones. In particular, such bimetallic catalysts comprising a cationic aluminum complex as a Lewis-acidic component and a carbonyl cobaltate anion are useful for the double carbonylation of epoxides to succinic anhydrides (Rowley et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2007, 129, 4948-4960).
The syntheses of such aluminum carbonyl cobaltate complexes reported to date in the literature rely on a salt metathesis reaction performed by treating a chloroaluminum complex with a cobalt tetracarbonyl alkali metal salt to produce the desired aluminum cobaltate catalyst along with alkali metal chloride. Unfortunately, this procedure has features that make its implementation on large scale impractical. Firstly, the alkali metal salt of the carbonyl cobaltate utilized for the synthesis is not commercially available and must be formed in a separate step (typically from dicobalt octacarbonyl) then isolated and purified prior to use. In addition, the final catalyst product must be purified to remove residual alkali metal salts. Typically, this is done by recrystallizing the air sensitive catalyst which, while practicable at laboratory scale, is problematic at production volumes. As such, there remains a need for methods of making aluminum carbonyl cobaltate complexes that are practical and efficient for large-scale use.

Synthesis of metal complexes and uses thereof

Abstract: is reacted with a neutral metal carbonyl compound (such as Q′dMe(CO)w′) to produce an aluminum-based carbonylation catalyst:


A flash memory cell and a method of forming the same are described. The flash memory cell may include a substrate having a source and a drain, a gate element, and a dielectric layer between the substrate and the gate element. The dielectric layer includes a dielectric material having a dielectric constant that is greater than that of silicon dioxide.

Various techniques known in the art can be used to fabricate a semiconductor device such as a transistor. In general, these techniques involve repeating, with variations, a number of characteristic steps or processes. One of these characteristic steps or processes involves applying a layer of material to an underlying substrate or to a preceding layer, and then selectively removing the material using, for example, an etch process. Another of the characteristic steps or processes involves selectively adding a dopant material to the substrate or to one or more of the subsequent layers, in order to achieve desirable electrical performance. Using these characteristic processes, a transistor, generally comprising different types of material, can be accurately formed.
Transistors may be used as memory cells in a flash memory array as well as in other applications or devices. A typical flash memory cell includes a substrate in which source and drain regions have been formed, and a gate element formed on the substrate in proximity to the source and drain regions. The gate element typically includes a floating gate and a control gate separated by an oxide-nitride-oxide (ONO) layer.
According to the conventional art, the gate element and the substrate (specifically, the source and drain regions in the substrate) are separated by a tunnel oxide layer that consists of silicon dioxide. Typically, the tunnel oxide layer is approximately 80-100 Angstroms (Å) thick. One function of the tunnel oxide is to provide a barrier for the stored electrons in the floating gate, thereby guaranteeing the reliability of the memory cell.
While conventional memory cells perform satisfactorily, it remains desirable to improve the reliability of memory cells. For instance, it is desirable to scale down the size of memory cells, so that a greater number of smaller memory cells can be put into a given area. Improvements in reliability, particularly with regard to the capacity for charge retention, become increasingly important as memory cells are scaled down in size.
Accordingly, a device and/or method providing improved memory cell performance—in particular, an improved capacity for charge retention—would be advantageous. In other words, it is desirable to scale down the sizes of memory cells while continuing to provide substantially the same reliability of larger memory cells. The present invention provides these advantages.

Flash memory with high-K dielectric material between substrate and gate


A method is used to produce thermally shrinkable and electromagnetic wave proof tube and the product thereof which is internally or externally covered with a metallic net-like sleeve woven by soft zinc coated copper wires so as to make the electric cords arrangement in the tube neat, signal transmissions in a higher quality, appealing to eyes and durable against abrasion in use. The net-like sleeve can be woven by means of a weaving machine with different number of soft zinc-coated wires, such as 16, 24, 32 and 48 wires to obtain net-like sleeves of various densities and sizes. A so woven net-like sleeve is expandedly supported by a hollow metallic rod into shape and it can be adhered to the outer or inner surface of a thermally shrinkable tube. The metallic net-like sleeve can shrink along with the plastic tube when heated. It not only can neatly bind electric cords in a tube but also makes the tube appealing to eyes, durable against abrasion and anti-electromagnetic wave in practical operation.

The present invention relates to a method of producing thermally shrinkable and electromagnetic wave proof tube internally or externally covered with a metallic net-like sleeve woven by soft zinc coated copper wires so as to make the electric cords arrangement in the tube neat, signal transmissions in a higher quality, appealing to eyes and durable against abrasion in use. The net-like sleeve can be woven by means of a weaving machine with different number of soft zinc-coated wires, such as 16, 24, 32 and 48 wires to obtain net-like sleeves of various densities and sizes. A so woven net-like sleeve is expandedly supported by a hollow metallic tube into shape and it can be adhered to the outer or inner surface of a thermally shrinkable plastic tube. The metallic net-like sleeve can shrink along with the plastic tube when heated. It not only can neatly bind electric cords in a tube but also makes the tube appealing to eyes, durable against abrasion and anti-electromagnetic wave in practical operation.
A conventional method is used to produce hollow plastic tubes which are thermally shrinkable when heated so that electric power lines, signal cords and various wires can be integrally housed and neatly packed therein when heated. However, the prior art tubes are made of plastic material in a rather thin manner, thermal heating easily makes the thickness of the wall of such a tube unevenly distributed. The tubes can be broken out of friction or abrasion in practical use.

Method of producing thermally shrinkable and electromagnetic wave proof tubes and product thereof


A laser processing device and a laser processing method are provided. The laser processing device includes: at least two lasers each configured to generate a laser beam; focusing members corresponding to the at least two lasers respectively and configured to adjust focus positions of at least two laser beams generated by the at least two lasers; and a beam combination member configured to receive the at least two laser beams whose focus positions have been adjusted, and output the at least two laser beams coaxially.

Laser cutting technology has been increasingly and widely applied in the industry due to such advantages as high precision, flexible and non-contact machining process, and less thermal effect on a material. An energy density of a laser beam gradually decreases from a midpoint of a focus area (where the laser beam has a maximum energy density) to the outside.
Hence, when a to-be-processed workpiece has a thickness greater than a thickness of the energy focus area of the laser beam, it is necessary to cut the to-be-processed workpiece through the laser beam multiple times. During this period, a laser cutting line may be offset greatly, and thereby the yield may be adversely affected.

Laser processing device and laser processing method

CHENGDU BOE OPTOELECTRONICS TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.


To synchronize data stored by a first device (e.g., a client system) with data stored by a second device (e.g., a server system), the first device encodes a first set of ordered data identifiers, stored in memory of the first device, to produce an encoded value, wherein the first set of ordered data identifiers is bound in accordance with a range indicator, and transmits the encoded value and the range indicator to the second device. The first device subsequently receives from the second device a remedial set of ordered data identifiers stored in memory of the second device when the encoded value does not match a corresponding value determined by the second device, wherein the remedial set of ordered data identifiers is also bound in accordance with the range indicator.

Mobile data networks and network-based computing allow users to access data using various devices and at various locations. For example, during any given day a user may access an email account from a laptop computer at home, a personal computer at work, a tablet computer and/or a smart-phone while commuting, etc. However, when storing the same data, such as emails, in multiple locations there are a variety of potential errors or failures that can cause the data stored on a particular device to become out of synch with corresponding data stored on a data server (e.g., an email server) or another device.


A dc motor drive system with a PWM control system permits a high-accuracy rotation drive control while detecting the currents flowing into the coils without using shunt resistors. The system drives output MOS transistors by the PWM control to make the currents flow into the coils, and drives to rotate the dc motor. The system includes current sensing MOS transistors having a predetermined size ratio 1/m (M>1) to the output MOS transistors that make the currents flow into the coils. The current sensing MOS transistors are capable of making flow reduced currents proportional to the currents of the output MOS transistors.

The present invention relates to a drive control technique for a brushless motor (also called permanent-magnet synchronous motor), and a technique effective for application to the PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) drive control of a three-phase dc motor, for example, a technique effective for use in a drive control device for a spindle motor that drives to rotate a disk-type storage medium such as a hard disk.
A hard disk drive uses a brushless three-phase dc motor being generally called the spindle motor in order for rotating a magnetic disk. While rotating the magnetic disk with the spindle motor at a high speed, and bringing a magnetic head for reading/writing close to the surface of the rotating magnetic disk to travel the magnetic head radially, the hard disk drive performs to write and read information.
With regard to the drive control for the brushless motor, it has been a general trend to adopt the PWM drive control system that controls the magnitude of currents flowing into the coils of the motor by varying the pulse width of the control signal, in order to achieve high efficiency and low power consumption.
The PWM drive control system requires the detection of the dc currents flowing into the coils in order for the current control and excessive surge current protection. In the dc motor control circuit of the conventional PWM drive control system, the detection of the dc currents flowing into the coils has generally been implemented with resistive elements called the shunt resistors connected in series to switching transistors that drive the coils (refer to the Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2001-275387).

Drive control device for direct current motor, rotation drive system for direct current motor and semiconductor integrated circuit for driving coil


An optical element positioning apparatus capable of moving an optical element from a storage state to a use state and improving the accuracy of positioning the optical element to a use position on an optical path. A holding member that holds the optical element is guided by guide shafts to be movable between the storage state and the use state. The holding member is provided with guide-supporting and receiving portions through which the guide shafts are slidably inserted. The guide shafts are supported by holding portions. A degree of freedom in positioning the holding member at the use position is provided. Holding-member positioning parts of the guide-supporting and receiving portions are pressed by an urging device against ends of the holding portions, whereby the holding member is positioned and held at the use position.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical element positioning apparatus suitable for use in an optical equipment having a bending optical system.
2. Description of the Related Art
An image pickup apparatuses is generally demanded to have a telephoto lens or a zoom lens and to have an ability of compactly storing a lens barrel at non-photographing time for ease of handling and transport of the image pickup apparatus.
To this end, some image pickup apparatus has a bending optical system that includes a reflection optical element such as a prism disposed between an object-side lens group attached to an extendable and retractable barrel and an image-side lens group for forming an image on an image pickup element disposed within an apparatus main body.
Another image pickup apparatus with a bending optical system has a lens barrel retractable into an empty space created by moving a reflection optical element to a retract position, so as to store the lens barrel inside a main body of the apparatus.
A film scanner (image pickup apparatus) has also been proposed that includes an optical source for illuminating a film screen, a photoelectric conversion means for fetching a film image, and an image forming optical system for leading the film image to the photoelectric conversion means, which are held by holding means that is movable in a direction perpendicular to a scanning direction of the photoelectric conversion means (see, for example, Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 09-284501).
This image pickup apparatus includes an elastic member (pin spring) disposed between the holding means (carriage) and supporting means (lead screw) that drives and movably supports the holding means. The lead screw is lodged between the carriage and the pin spring, whereby play between the carriage and the lead screw is eliminated, thus making it possible to position the carriage with high accuracy.
With the prior art disclosed in Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 09-284501, the carriage is movable in a state that play in a direction perpendicular to a moving direction of the carriage is reduced by the elastic member, whereby the carriage can be stably held at any desired position in its movable range.
However, in the case of an image pickup apparatus having a bending optical system (e.g., a portable compact digital camera), flexure is generated in, e.g., the lead screw due to the weight of the carriage depending on the orientation of the camera (such as vertical, horizontal, upward, or downward orientation). Specifically, when the camera orientation is changed, the carriage position slightly changes. Thus, even if the above-described prior art is applied to the image pickup apparatus of this type, it is difficult to position a reflection optical element of the image pickup apparatus with high accuracy.


Some embodiments provide a method for automatically generating several design solutions that remedy a design rule violation committed by a set of shapes in an IC design layout. The method receives a marker that indicates the design rule violation and contains information about the violation. The marker in some embodiments can be rendered as a geometric shape in the IC design layout. Based on the marker, the method generates several solutions each of which will cause the set of shapes to meet the design rule when the solution is applied to the set. Each solution requires moving at least one edge of a shape in the set of shapes.

An integrated circuit ("IC") is a device (e.g., a semiconductor device) or electronic system that includes many electronic components, such as transistors, resistors, diodes, etc. These components are often interconnected to form multiple circuit components, such as gates, cells, memory units, arithmetic units, controllers, decoders, etc. An IC includes multiple layers of wiring that interconnect the IC's electronic and circuit components.
Design engineers design ICs by transforming logical or circuit descriptions of the ICs' components into geometric descriptions, called design layouts. IC design layouts typically include (1) circuit modules (i.e., geometric representations of electronic or circuit IC components) with pins and (2) interconnect lines (i.e., geometric representations of wiring) that connect the pins of the circuit modules. In this fashion, design layouts often describe the behavioral, architectural, functional, and structural attributes of the IC. To create the design layouts, design engineers typically use electronic design automation ("EDA") applications. These applications provide sets of computer-based tools for creating, editing, analyzing, and verifying design layouts. The applications also render the layouts on a display device or to a storage for displaying later.
Fabrication foundries ("fabs") manufacture ICs based on the design layouts using a photolithographic process. Photolithography is an optical printing and fabrication process by which patterns on a photolithographic mask (i.e., "photomask," or "mask") are imaged and defined onto a photosensitive layer coating a substrate. To fabricate an IC, photomasks are created using the IC design layout as a template. The photomasks contain the various geometries (i.e., features) of the IC design layout. The various geometries contained on the photomasks correspond to the various base physical IC elements that comprise functional circuit components such as transistors, interconnect wiring, via pads, as well as other elements that are not functional circuit elements but are used to facilitate, enhance, or track various manufacturing processes.
Before the design layouts are released to fabs, the design layouts are verified against a set of design constraints or rules (e.g., a design constraint that requires a minimum distance between two geometries in a design layout) imposed on the various geometries of the IC design layouts. By abiding the design constraints, the design engineers ensure that the ICs manufactured based on the design layouts would function properly. To aid the design engineers in verifying the design layouts, some EDA applications provide design violation markers. Each of the violation markers indicates that a set of geometries of the IC design layout does not meet a design constraint or rule. These markers are in form of data and can be rendered on a display device along with the design layouts to provide visual cues for the engineers to spot and address any design rule violations.

Method and system for automatic generation of solutions for circuit design rule violations