The composition for treating neurological disorders such as Alzheimer's Disease is provided. The composition includes a modified flavonoid compound having enhanced binding affinity to metabolic modulating enzymes. The composition is effective to down-regulate beta- and gamma-secretase and up-regulate alpha secretase, which results in a reduction in amyloid proteins.

In general, the present invention is related to the treatment, prevention and amelioration of neurological disorders, e.g., Alzheimer's disease, and symptoms thereof.
Alzheimer's disease is an irreversible, progressive brain disease and is the most common cause of dementia afflicting 30 million people worldwide. With Alzheimer's disease, parts of the brain essential for cognitive functioning such as memory, reasoning, attention, language, and behavior degenerate to such an extent that it interferes with a person's daily life and activities.
Although the cause of Alzheimer's disease is not fully understood, it is known that damage to the brain begins as many as 10 to 20 years before the symptoms are evident. Alzheimer's disease is characterized by the deposition of "plaques", aggregates of β-amyloid peptide fragments, on brain cells, interfering with cognitive function. In addition, Alzheimer's disease is characterized by the presence of numerous neurofibrillary "tangles", consisting of paired helical filaments which abnormally accumulate in the neuronal cytoplasm. Recent studies suggest that providing a drug to reduce, eliminate or prevent β-amyloid peptide formation, deposition and/or accumulation in the brains of patients will provide an effective therapeutic.
Currently there is no cure for Alzheimer's disease. However, drug and non-drug treatments are available that may help with cognitive and behavior symptoms of Alzheimer's. Two types of drugs are currently approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat cognitive symptoms. The first type is cholinesterase inhibitors that are designed to prevent the breakdown of acetylcholine. These drugs delay worsening symptoms for six to twelve months for about half of the people who take them. The second type of drug works by acting on the glutamatergic system by blocking NMDA glutamate receptors. Memantine is the only currently available drug of this type.
There is a need to develop and identify new compounds or agents as potential therapeutic agents for treating, preventing, or ameliorating Alzheimer's disease and other neurological disorders, such as Parkinson's disease and Huntington's disease.

Composition and method for the treatment of neurological disorders


Disclosed is an automatic nucleic acid purification apparatus which can prevent pollution due to aerosol generated from a biological sample containing high concentration target nucleic acid when the biological sample containing the high concentration target nucleic acid is mixed with other biological sample containing low concentration target nucleic acid or not containing the target nucleic acid. Further, disclosed is an automatic nucleic acid purification apparatus which can be applied to all kinds of nucleic acid purification equipments for purifying a plurality of biological samples using a magnet rode or a multi-pipette block moving in two or three axial directions, and which can minimize pollution due to the aerosol generated from the biological sample containing high concentration target nucleic acid and also can obtain accurate results.

An automatic nucleic acid purification apparatus is mainly used to isolate nucleic acid from a biological sample. This is caused by that a quantitative test can be high-sensitively and precisely performed with respect to target pathogenic bacteria of from 10 or less to one billion using real-time quantitative PCR. However, the nucleic acid purification is simultaneously performed with respect to multiple biological samples. Therefore, in case that the purification is simultaneously performed with respect to a biological sample containing high concentration target pathogenic bacteria and another biological sample not containing target nucleic acid, a false positive may be occurred by pollution due to aerosol. For example, in case of purifying target nucleic acids in a biological sample containing one billion viruses per 1 ml, even when another biological sample is polluted with a hundred millionth ml of the aerosol generated from the biological sample, i.e., 1 pl (picoliter) of aerosol, the false positive may be occurred.
Generally, a material to which nucleic acid is selectively attached is used in purifying nucleic acid. There are a method using a membrane and a method using magnetic particles. Typically, the method using magnetic particles is more widely used. In this method, instead of a vacuum manner in which it is easy to generate the aerosol, biochemistry substance is rapidly attached to magnetic particles suspended in a solution, and the magnetic particles to which the target substance is attached is cohered by magnetic field, and then the solution is removed. There has been developed various relevant automatic equipments.
According to an attaching manner of the magnetic particles, this is classified into a method of attaching the magnetic particles to a pipette, a method of attaching the magnetic particles to a tube in which a magnet rod is inserted, and a method of the magnetic particles to a multi-well plate.
Recently, an automatic method using a pipette is wisely used. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,647,994 (Labsystems Co., Ltd.), there have been described various methods of separating magnetic particles using a disposable pipette. Also, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,702,950 and 6,231,814 (Precision System Science Co., Ltd.), magnetic particles are attached to a pipette, and a basic principle thereof is the same as in U.S. Pat. No. 5,647,994. A difference between them is that a magnet is attached and detached in one direction of the pipette and thus magnetic field is controlled in one direction of a pipette tip. This patent is characterized in that a magnetic substance attracting/releasing control method comprises the steps of: providing a pipette device having a liquid suction line including a liquid inlet end for sucking liquid containing the magnetic substance from a container and discharging the liquid through the liquid inlet end, and a magnet body or magnet bodies being detachably fitted to an external peripheral surface of the liquid suction line of the pipette device; the pipette device providing attracting/releasing control by absorbing and maintaining the magnetic substance contained in the liquid and attracted to the liquid suction line due to magnetism in the magnet body or bodies on an internal surface of the liquid suction line, the magnetic substance being maintained on the internal surface of the pipette device and also by releasing the magnetic substance from the liquid suction line by means of interrupting effect by magnetism in the magnet body or bodies so that the substance is discharged together with the liquid to outside of the liquid suction line through the liquid inlet end.
In U.S. Pat. No. 6,187,2070 (Roche Diagnostics GmbH), there is disclosed a method of separation of magnetic particles, in which a permanent magnet is approached to a disposable tip so as to adhere the magnetic particles, thereby separating the magnetic particles from a solution. To this end, an apparatus for separation of the magnetic particles includes a pipette connected to a pump, a magnet, and a means for moving the magnet to the pipette side or the opposite side thereof. Herein, there is provided the method of separating the magnetic particles from the solution and then suspending them in another solution. However, one of the uppermost limits is that a lower portion of the pipette is clogged with the magnetic particles, and thus the results become inaccurate.
There has been proposed a method for nucleic acid purification, in which magnetic particles are attached to a detachable magnet rod and then moved to various solutions for nucleic acid purification. To this end, there has been developed various models such as Maxwell 16™ manufactured by Promega Co., Ltd and King Fisher™ manufactured by Thermo Co., Ltd. In these systems, since the solution is stirred by moving up and down a tube in which a rod for collecting the magnetic particles is inserted, the entire part of the tube is smeared with the solution containing nucleic acid.
In a conventional method, a reaction is performed in a container in which a biological sample is received, and magnetic particles are attached to a desired place, and then the purification is carried out. By Gen-Probe, Inc., there has been proposed a method for separating particles, which are attracted by magnetic field, using a separation rack. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,897,783 (Amersham International plc), there has been disclosed a method of moving a doughnut-shaped permanent magnet in a vertical direction to a container and thus switching magnetic field. In EP0479448 (Beckman instruments, Inc), there has been disclosed an automatic purification apparatus in which a sample containing magnetic materials is separated using a magnetic plate. The magnetic plate is formed with a plurality of holes through which a container can be passed, and the automatic purification apparatus also includes a means for moving up and down the magnetic plate. In case that magnetic particles are attached to a bottom portion, mixing of a magnetic particle suspension, a sample and a solution is occurred in a dispensable pipette, and thus the solution containing nucleic acid is smeared on an outer surface of the pipette.
When performing purification of biological substances, all of the above-mentioned methods essentially include a step of moving a pipette or a tube, on which the solution containing nucleic acid is smeared due to binding of Lysis and magnetic particles, a cleaning reaction and the like, to another space. In this step, since a vortex of air is generated on the outer surface of the dispensable pipette or the purification tube, pollution due to aerosol is unavoidable.
However, in the automatic purification apparatuses which have been developed till now, consideration for efficiently preventing the generation of aerosol is yet insignificant. As a pollution preventing system which has been developed till now, a solution drip guard for preventing solution drips from a dispensable pipette is applied to Exiprep 16 Pro manufactured by Bioneer Corporation and to MagnaPure 96 manufactured by Roche. But even though it is possible to prevent the solution drips from the pipette, it is not possible to prevent the aerosol generated from the solution containing nucleic acid attached to the hydrophobic surface of the pipette by a vortex of air generated when the pipette is moved. Therefore, it is inevitable that the aerosol is generated during a series of processes for separating target nucleic acid from a biological sample solution, and particularly, it is not possible to avoid false positive pollution in PCR due to the aerosol generated from the solution containing high concentration nucleic acid.
The present invention is to minimize the generation of aerosol generated from fine drips attached on the outer surface of the pipette by air flow and thus to minimize a cross pollution.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Automatic necleic acid purification apparatus and method for aerosol-protecting


Anchored conversations are maintained by a conversation coordinator that retrieves an anchor position from an artifact and maintains a position of a conversation client relative to the retrieved anchor position. The conversations are synchronous and asynchronous communications. The anchors, and hence the conversations may be moved within the artifact or to other artifacts. The conversation clients include detach and re-attach buttons that allow a conversation to be detached and reattached from/to a corresponding anchor. The conversation coordinator manages conversations anchored in any number of different applications. Each conversation is accessible either by invoking an associated anchor within a corresponding artifact (embodied as an ActiveX control, for example), or via the conversation coordinator. A database is connected to each conversation and is a silent participant maintaining a record of the conversation and any metadata regarding the conversation. The database is available for query by a user and/or the conversation coordinator.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to communications and information sharing in joint and/or collaborative working environments. The invention is more particularly related to the use of chat box type communications devices anchored in a work artifact or an application. The invention is still further related to an anchored conversation that is detachable, movable between different applications, and capable of stand alone operations. The invention is also related to management of anchored conversations initiated by varied applications, including a database that maintains conversation logs and anchor histories of each conversation.
2. Discussion of the Background
In recent years a number of easy-to-use systems have become available that support synchronous and asynchronous communications between non-collocated individuals. Examples are chat, IRC, instant messenger applications (e.g. AOL Instant Messenger), MUDs, and MOOs (Evard, 1993; Curtis and Nichols, 1993). These systems have proven very popular within the workplace and many groupware platforms now include facilities which support synchronous chat applications (e.g. Lotus Domino (http://www.software.ibm.com/)).
Such systems support:
Quick and low effort contact despite geographic separation
Non-intrusive initiation of contact with others
The possibility for ongoing and frequent interactions
Communication with multiple people
Possibilities for multiple simultaneous conversations with different individuals/groups in different desktop windows.
An example implementation using IRC has the following characteristics. IRC is a network of chat server programs that support a simple protocol for text-based chat clients. There are add-ons for sound and graphics in the clients triggered by text keywords/commands. IRC clients for many operating systems (Windows, Unix, Mac) are available (e.g., mIRC). Using an IRC client program a user can exchange text messages interactively. When logged into a chat session, a user can "converse" by typing messages that are sent to other chat participants. Each IRC server provides a virtual meeting place. On IRC users meet others on "channels" (rooms, virtual places) to talk in groups, or privately. There is no restriction to the number of people that can participate in a given discussion or the number of channels that can be formed on IRC. All servers are interconnected and pass messages from user to user over the IRC network. One server can be connected to several other servers and up to hundreds of clients.
In the case of some MUDs and MOOs, conversations also have a persistent dimension so they enable the use of logs for catch-up and review. However, a common problem with most tools is that, whilst they support easy communications, they do not support the close integration of work artifacts and communications.
Conversations tend to occur in windows that are separate from, and have no connection or relationship to, the shared artifacts. This is illustrated in FIG. 1. In FIG. 1, a number of open windows, including a MUD chat window 110, can be seen on a computer display 100. Although conversants in the chat window share a communication context, they do not share a view of the work artifact(s) (e.g. Word files) under discussion. Working documents appear in separate windows.
This separation is a problem for certain kinds of collaborations, in particular collaborations that have been characterized as "tightly" coupled. Tightly coupled collaborations often involve problem solving with others through conversations over shared artifacts (e.g. whiteboards, models, documents, etc).
Conversations in tightly coupled collaborations have been characterized as "object laden" (Fleming, 1998); there is a high level of focus on the object or artifact that is under discussion and/or that is being co-constructed. Such conversations, therefore, work well in a shared context, i.e. that collaborators all have visual access to the artifact or object under construction or discussion. In Fleming's terms, the "object leads and language follows". At the other end of the continuum, loosely coupled collaborations often involve elaborative conversations. Elaborative conversations are relatively independent of the material world and include instances of narration, argument and application. Here the "language leads and the object follows", and the objects in such discourse tend to be fairly stable entities.
Evidence from interviews with collaborators who use chat applications and text-based virtual environments suggest that elaborative conversations are easy to achieve, but that "object laden" conversations are not. The latter require users to paste text into the shared chat window or to find some other means for sharing the specific content over which they wish to converse (Churchill and Bly, 1999).
Such pasting has the side-effect of taking the pasted-in material out of its context. For example, a paragraph taken from a document and pasted into a chat space no longer can be discussed in the context of the rest of the document. Reference to the rest of the document is then in the absence of the shared document.
Another option is to re-represent the entire artifact in the virtual environment and place both the artifact and users (in the form of avatars) into the virtual world. This is the approach taken in 2D graphical MUDs like the Palace (http://www.thepalace.com) and in 3D virtual environments like the MASSIVE environment where people and artifacts are represented as avatars and shared objects.
For example, in FIG. 2, a 3D graphical world is illustrated that contains a shared blackboard 200 and conversants that have been re-represented digitally as "block" avatars (210). Within simple 2D graphical virtual environments (e.g. the Palace), background images provide shared context. Task related backgrounds are created before virtual meetings can take place. The setting up of the conversation space and rendering of necessary objects in that space is costly time-wise, and represents a barrier to quick and easy contact, communications and collaborations.

Anchored conversations: adhesive, in-context, virtual discussion forums


A multi-functional adjustable umbrella base includes a base support, and a stem rotary arrangement supported by the base support for selectively rotating the supporting stem of an outdoor umbrella and for securely locking up any of its movement. The stem rotary arrangement includes an engaging member rotatably supported by the base support and coaxially connected to the supporting stem of the outdoor umbrella so as to selectively rotate the stem of the outdoor umbrella, a locking member connected to the engaging member for selectively locking the engaging member from being rotated, a paddle operatively connected to the locking member via a connecting arm, and a resilient element mounted on the base support and adapted for normally applying an urging force to the connecting member. In order to unlock the locking member, one has to step down the paddle in order to lift up the engaging portion of the locking member so as to disengage it from the engaging member. Then, the user can be readily to rotate the supporting stem of the outdoors umbrella to a desired orientation.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a support, and more particularly to a multi-functional adjustable umbrella base in which a user can be able to selectively adjust the orientation of the umbrella or retain the umbrella in position.
2. Description of Related Arts
Conventional outdoors umbrella or parasol usually comprises a fabric-made awning, an foldable awning supporting frame on which the fabric-made awning is mounted, a supporting stem sildably supporting the fabric-made awning, and a base for firmly holding the supporting stem so that the base and the above elements connected thereon are incapable of flipping over. Conventionally, the supporting stem is rigidly connected to the base without allowing any movement. However, for certain reasons, such as turning the fabric-made awning in a suitable direction, users of the conventional outdoor umbrellas may require that the umbrellas can be rotated while keeping the stability of the whole umbrella intact. Right now, a user may have to detach the whole supporting stem from the base and then remount it to there in a right orientation of the fabric-made awning. But unfortunately, not every supporting stem of outdoor umbrellas can be easily detached and remounted from its base. In worse, the user has to turn the whole umbrella, including its base, to a desired orientation. This practice is very exhaustive and, if handled carelessly, may even cause the whole umbrella to flip over and hit something or somebody nearby.
A main object of the present invention is to provide a multi-functional adjustable base for an outdoor umbrella which allows the stem of the umbrella can be selectively rotated to an desired orientation or locked up in position, while keeping the stability of the outdoor umbrella intact.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a multi-functional adjustable base for an outdoor umbrella which is simple in structure, easy to operate, and does not require to alter significantly the original shape and structure of the outdoor umbrella.
Accordingly, in order to accomplish the above objects, the present invention provides a multi-functional adjustable base for an outdoors umbrella having a supporting stem, comprising:
a base support; and
a stem rotary arrangement, which comprises:
an engaging member rotatably supported on the base support and firmly connected to the supporting stem of the outdoor umbrella;
a locking member supported on the base support and has a engaging portion adapted for selectively engaging with a bottom portion of the engaging member;
means for selectively engaging and disengaging the engaging member with the locking member; and
a paddle operatively connected to the locking member and adapted to be shifted in a locked position and an unlocked position, wherein in the locked position, the locking member is firmly engaged with the engaging member so as to restrict a rotational movement of the engaging member, and wherein in the unlocked position, the locking member disengages with the engaging member so that the engaging member is capable of freely rotating.

Multi-functional adjustable umbrella base


Shaped ceramic articles can be obtained by screen printing the desired shapes from a dispersion of a precursor of the ceramic onto a receiving surface using a transfer assisted technique that applies a differential pressure, at least partially drying the screen printed shapes, and firing them to generate the shaped ceramic articles. Shaped abrasive particles made using lower viscosity sol gels that tended to flow or creep after the screen printing formation were found to have higher grinding performance over screen printed shaped abrasive particles made with higher viscosity sol gels.

Abrasive particles and abrasive articles made from the abrasive particles are useful for abrading, finishing, or grinding a wide variety of materials and surfaces in the manufacturing of goods. As such, there continues to be a need for improving the cost, performance, or life of the abrasive particle and/or the abrasive article.
Triangular shaped abrasive particles and abrasive articles using the triangular shaped abrasive particles are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,201,916 to Berg; U.S. Pat. No. 5,366,523 to Rowenhorst (Re 35,570); and U.S. Pat. No. 5,984,988 to Berg. In one embodiment, the abrasive particles' shape comprised an equilateral triangle. Triangular shaped abrasive particles are useful in manufacturing abrasive articles having enhanced cut rates.

Transfer assisted screen printing method of making shaped abrasive particles and the resulting shaped abrasive particles


The invention provides a method for inspecting a fuel cell that can simply inspect fuel cell characteristics.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an inspection method for a direct liquid fuel cell generator that generates electricity by supplying a liquid fuel and an oxidant, an inspection apparatus for a direct liquid fuel cell generator using the inspection method, and a direct liquid fuel cell generator comprising the inspection apparatus of the fuel cell generator.
2. Description of the Related Art
Fuel cells are generators that directly convert a chemical energy (free energy of combustion reactions) into a direct electrical energy, and are expected to have a higher conversion efficiency than thermal power generation. While power generation efficiency decreases when the scale of thermal power generation is small, power generation by the fuel cell is not decreased in small scale operation. Accordingly, the fuel cell is suitable for small scale power generation.
Among the fuel cells, developments of solid polymer electrolyte fuel cells have been accelerated in recent years as automobile power sources and domestic power sources. A gas containing hydrogen is introduced into an anode side, and oxygen gas or air is introduced into a cathode side in this solid polymer electrolyte fuel cell. An electromotive force is generated by the following reactions represented by the chemical formulae 1 and 2 at the anode and cathode sides, respectively.Anode: 2H2→4H++4e−  chemical formula 1Cathode: O2+4H++4e−→2H2O   chemical formula 2
The equations mean that electrons and protons are formed from hydrogen by means of a catalyst within the anode. The electrons are taken out of the cell through external circuits, and are used for power generation. The protons move in the solid electrolyte membrane and arrive at the cathode, and water is generated by a reaction between the electrons, oxygen, and the protons by a catalyst within the cathode. Electric power is generated by such cell reaction.
On the other hand, a direct methanol fuel cell has been noticed in recent years. FIG. 1 shows the structure of the direct methanol fuel cell. In the direct methanol fuel cell, a proton conductive electrolyte membrane (a perfluorocarbon sulfonic acid ion exchange membrane; Nafion made by DuPont Co. is preferably used) is sandwiched between an anode electrode and a cathode electrode. Each electrode comprises a substrate and a catalyst layer which comprises a catalyst and a proton conductive electrolyte. The catalyst is usually a precious metal or an alloy of the precious metal, which is used by being supported on carbon black. The catalyst is not supported on carbon black in some cases. A Pt—Ru alloy is preferably used as catalyst at the anode side, while Pt is preferably used as catalyst at the cathode side. Methanol and water are introduced into the anode side, and oxygen gas or air is introduced into the cathode side for operation. The reactions represented by the following chemical formulae 3 and 4 occur at the anode and cathode sides, respectively.Anode: CH3OH+H2O→CO2+6H++6e−  chemical formula 3Cathode: (3/2) O2+6H++6e−→3 H2O   chemical formula 4
These equations mean that electrons, protons and carbon dioxide are formed by the catalyst in the anode catalyst layer. Carbon dioxide generated is exhausted in the atmosphere. The electrons are taken out of the fuel cell through an external circuit, and are used for power generation. The protons move in a proton conductive electrolyte membrane, and arrive at the cathode. Water is formed in the cathode catalyst layer by a reaction of the electrons and oxygen and protons. The operating temperature of this direct methanol fuel cell is usually 50 to 120° C.
It was a drawback that a reformer should be provided in the fuel cell system and the entire system is forced to be large size, when a gas containing hydrogen is used as a fuel as in the solid polymer electrolyte fuel cell as described above, since the hydrogen gas is generally obtained by reforming methanol, natural gas or gasoline. The reforming process is generally performed at a high temperature of 250 to 300° C. In contrast, the system itself may be compact in the direct methanol fuel cell since no reformer is needed, and the power generation process can proceed at a relatively low temperature. Accordingly, the direct methanol fuel cell has been developed in recent years for applying it to a portable power source and an electric car power source by taking notice of this advantage of the direct methanol fuel cell.
An aqueous methanol solution or a vaporized mixture of methanol and water is supplied for feeding methanol and water to the fuel cell in the direct methanol fuel cell generator. Since a vaporizer should be provided as an auxiliary equipment of the fuel cell when methanol and water are supplied as an evaporated mixed gas, the total fuel cell system inevitably becomes large size. On the contrary, the system may be small size when the aqueous methanol solution is supplied, since no vaporizer is needed.
However, there are many difficult problems in the direct methanol fuel cell as described above as compared with solid polymer electrolyte fuel cells.
As an problem, the fuel supplied to the electrode moves within the electrode, enters a proton conductive electrolyte, moves within the electrolyte to arrive at the catalyst, and is used for generating electric power. The proton conductive electrolyte exhibits proton conductivity by being impregnated with water. It has been elucidated in the foregoing studies that introduction of methanol reduces proton conductivity (for example T. J. Chou and A. Tanioka, J. Phys. Chem., B102 (1998), 129). Methanol, water and oxygen as fuel components move by being dissolved into impregnated water in the proton conductive electrolyte in the catalyst layer. Reduced proton conductivity also reduces diffusion of water that moves by being pulled with the protons. Consequently, mobility of water and diffusion of methanol that is completely mixed with water are also decreased at the anode electrode. Methanol also exists at the cathode electrode since methanol supplied to the anode electrode arrives at the cathode electrode through the proton conductive electrolyte membrane. Accordingly, diffusion of water also decreases in the proton conductive electrolyte within the cathode catalyst layer. As a result, diffusion of oxygen is reduced since oxygen diffuses within the electrode by being dissolved in water in the proton conductive electrolyte. In summary, the fuel cell is confronted with a severe problem that diffusion abilities of all the fuel components of methanol, water and oxygen as fuels are reduced. Accordingly, it is inevitable for practical applications to elucidate characteristic values that can be readily measured in close relation with the degree of diffusion of the fuel.
As another problem, diffusion of the fuel is so poor immediately after resumption of operation that equipment is operated under a condition where response to variation of load is very poor, since water impregnated in the proton conductive electrolyte is dried up during pause period of the operation of the direct methanol fuel cell generator. In case of generators, particularly generators for potable appliances and automobiles in which the fuel cell is intermittently operated in daily work and variation of load occurs frequently, the response to variation of load becomes very poor, thereby causing troubles in driving the appliances. Consequently, the trouble may induce severe accidents that may threaten human life. Therefore, it should be confirmed how is the response to variations of load, and how much is the performance of the fuel cell before and during power generation.
As a different problem, the perfluorocarbon sulfonic acid membrane is swelled by being impregnated with water, and swelling is much larger when the membrane is impregnated with methanol. Therefore, the proton conductive electrolyte membrane and catalyst layer are damaged by excessive swelling when a high concentration of aqueous methanol solution is supplied by some reasons, and the performance of the fuel cell is largely decreased.
Consequently, it has been recognized that development of a simple method for deciding the performance of the fuel cell during power generation is also important.
The fuel cell may be severely damaged by the condition of the proton conductive electrolyte membrane, or by the condition of fuel diffusion, in the direct methanol fuel cell generator as described above. Therefore, an inspection method for always verifying the condition of the fuel cell is important.
The characteristics of the fuel cell have been mostly evaluated by measuring an I-V curve. However, the measurements of the I-V curve also involves the results including other lines of information such as catalyst activity and internal resistance other than the degree of diffusion of the fuel. Furthermore, voltages should be measured in a wide range of current density for measuring the I-V curve. In particular, a stationary state operation should be naturally interrupted for measuring the I-V curve of the fuel cell that is under a long-run stationary operation. Since this inspection procedure costs much labor, it cannot be readily applied for evaluation and inspection.

Method and apparatus for inspecting direct liquid fuel cell generator, and direct liquid fuel cell generator

Abstract: The method is an inspecting method for a direct methanol fuel cell generator comprising an anode electrode including an node catalyst layer, a cathode electrode including a cathode catalyst layer, and N pieces of cells having an electrolyte disposed between the anode electrode and the cathode electrode, for power generation by feeding an aqueous methanol solution to the anode electrode and an oxidant gas to the cathode electrode. The fuel cell generator is inspected by measuring voltage changes of the voltage V of one electromotive unit caused by generating a current density change ΔI or −ΔI (mA/cm2) satisfying the condition of 0.2≦ΔI≦5 in a finite current density I (mA/cm2) loaded on the plural electromotive units arbitrarily connected in series in the fuel cell generator under power generation during a time interval Δt (sec) satisfying the condition of 10−5≦Δt≦0.5.


A standard operating procedure (SOP) file generating system (12) includes a drawing selection module (120), an information reading module (121), a data determining module (122), a machining type determining data module (124), and a file generating module (127). The drawing selection module selects an engineering drawing. The information reading module reads product information and machining data of the engineering drawing. The data determining module determines whether the machining data accords with machining requirement. The machining type determining module determines a machining type. The file generating module generates an SOP file.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to procedure file generating systems, and particularly to a system for generating standard operating procedure (SOP) files.
2. Description of Related Art
With rapid development of industries, an industry product comprises more and more workpieces that are manufactured in relatively complicated machining procedures with various machining equipment. For the purpose of simplifying the machining procedures, a standard operating procedure (SOP) file is applied to control the manufacturing of the product. Typically, an SOP file is compiled according to the experience of operators. However, when complex products with various workpieces are manufactured, generating an SOP file depending on the experience of operators costs too much time.
Therefore, a heretofore unaddressed need exists in the industry to overcome the aforementioned deficiencies and inadequacies.

System for generating standard operating procedure(SOP) files

Hong Fu Jin Precision Industry (ShenZhen) Co., Ltd.


An apparatus (10) for positioning a device (228) includes a stage assembly (218) and a first transfer device (268A). The stage assembly (218) positions the device (228) and includes a device stage (250) that retains the device (228). The stage assembly (218) positions the device (228) in a work area (238) and a transfer area (240). The transfer device (268A) transfers a first utility to or from the device stage (250) in a non-contact fashion when the device stage (250) is in the transfer area (240) and does not transfer the first utility to or from the device stage (250) when the device stage (250) is in the work area (238). The first utility can be electrical power and/or electrical signals. Additionally, the apparatus (10) can include a loader (242) that loads the device (228) onto the device stage (250) when the device stage (250) is in the transfer area (240).

Lithography exposure apparatuses are commonly used to transfer images from a reticle onto a semiconductor wafer during semiconductor processing. A typical exposure apparatus includes an illumination source, a reticle stage assembly that positions a reticle, an optical assembly, a wafer stage assembly that positions a semiconductor wafer, and a measurement system that precisely monitors the position of the reticle and the wafer.
The reticle stage assembly and the wafer stage assembly require one or more utilities to function. Examples of utilities include electrical power and electrical control signals. These electrical utilities are usually transferred with electrical wires. Unfortunately, movement of the stage causes vibration of the wires that can influence the accuracy of the position of the stage. Moreover, the movement of the wires can generate particles that reduce the performance of the exposure apparatus.

Exposure apparatus including a non-contact utilities transfer assembly


A composition for treating the symptoms of a hangover. The composition is provided in the form of a capsule, pill, liquid, powder for mixing, or patch. The composition includes a therapeutically effective amount of cannabidiol, an antioxidant blend, a detox blend, and a hydration blend. The antioxidant blend includes prickly pear, acai berry extract, and taurine. The detox blend includes milk thistle, dihydromyricetin, glutamine, branched chain amino acids, inositol, and pepper. The hydration blend includes electrolytes, vitamins, and N-acetyl cysteine.

Hangover is the term used to describe the short-term symptoms experienced by humans after drinking alcohol, also known as ethanol. Hangover symptoms include, but are not limited to, thirst, fatigue, lethargy, headache, dizziness/faintness, loss of appetite, stomach ache, nausea, elevated heart rate, sleep disruption, and biological rhythm disruptions. Other hangover symptoms of which the individual may or may not be aware include, but are not limited to, dehydration, electrolyte imbalance, low blood sugar, vitamin loss, gastrointestinal disturbances, the toxic effects of acetaldehyde and congener, and reduced liver function.
Hangover symptoms are usually experienced the day after drinking. The severity of the symptoms vary depending on the amount and the type of alcohol consumed. A more severe hangover is likely following consumption of a higher volume of alcohol. In fact, the negative effects of alcohol occur even if the individual is unaware of the hangover symptoms.
When abused, alcohol can have a negative effect on a human's brain and body. It is so toxic that the human's liver must work in overdrive to break down the alcohol so it can be expelled from the human's system. The liver needs water to break down alcohol. Because alcohol is a diuretic (i.e., it dehydrates the body), the liver must take water from elsewhere in the body to function, which leads to severe dehydration. The liver takes water from the brain's dura mater, a fluid-filled membrane that separates the brain from the skull. When water is taken from this membrane, it shrinks and causes painful headaches.
Two other less common hangover symptoms are anxiety and depression. When alcohol is consumed, dopamine is released into areas of the brain associated with reward. This is the reason alcohol can be highly addictive to some. The next day, dopamine levels are depleted, which can lead to depression and anxiety.
Alcohol also interferes with the ability to form new long-term memories, leaving intact previously established long-term memories and the ability to keep new information active in memory for brief periods. As the amount of alcohol consumed increases, so does the magnitude of the memory impairments. Large amounts of alcohol, particularly if consumed rapidly, can produce partial (i.e., fragmentary) or complete (i.e., en bloc) blackouts, which are periods of memory loss for events when alcohol was in a person's body.
Hangover remedies have been developed. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 9,603,830 (which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety) discloses a composition for preventing or treating a hangover that includes dihydromyricetin and N-acetyl cysteine.
Despite the development of hangover remedies, the need still exists for a more effective hangover preventative or treating agent.

Composition and method for preventing or treating hangover symptoms


An improved hand held spray gun. The spray gun includes at least one manual trigger which when squeezed moves a valve needle to initiate fluid flow. A knob is provided to adjust the maximum fluid flow when the trigger is squeezed. When the trigger is released, a compression spring returns the valve needle to its closed position. An over travel spring is compressed only if an excessive force is applied to the trigger to prevent damage to the spray gun. The over travel spring is stronger than the valve needle return spring so that it compresses only after the spray gun is fully on. If the maximum fluid flow adjustment knob is turned too far, compressed air is vented through the knob as a tactile warning to the spray gun operator to not turn the knob further. The vented air also may whistle to provide an audible warning that the knob should not be turned further.

A typical prior art hand held paint spray gun includes a gun body having a nozzle assembly mounted on one end and having a handle depending from adjacent an opposite end. A trigger is attached to the gun body to pivot towards and away from the handle. When an operator holds the gun by the handle and squeezes the trigger, an air valve is opened and then a valve needle is moved to open a fluid valve. The air valve supplies any air required for atomization and for shaping the spray pattern. If the trigger is only partially squeezed, the fluid valve may be only partially opened to permit the operator to apply a lighter coating, for example, for feathering when touching up a coating. The spray gun also includes an adjustable stop which limits trigger travel to adjust the maximum paint flow from the gun when the trigger is fully squeezed. Trigger travel may be limited either by a direct adjustable stop for the trigger or indirectly by limiting the maximum linear movement of the valve needle.
Fluid flow is typically adjusted by rotating a knob on the back of the gun body. When the fully triggered fluid flow from a spray gun is adjusted to less than the maximum flow the trigger will stop short of the spray gun handle when it is squeezed. In some cases, if an operator squeezes the trigger too hard, the gun will be damaged. In order to reduce the risk of damage to the gun from squeezing the trigger too hard, the gun components must be designed to be stronger than is required for normal operation. The stronger gun components add weight to the gun, which in turn will increase operator fatigue. It has not been possible to construct prior art commercial quality spray guns from lighter weight materials such as plastics without risk of failure.

Spray gun having trigger overtravel protection and maximum flow adjustment knob warning


A system and method for enabling an enhanced camp-on feature for a communications device. In an illustrative embodiment, the system includes a first mechanism for providing information pertaining to why a first user of a first communications device is unable to be contacted. A second mechanism enables a second user of a second communications device to make a camp-on selection based on the information. In a more specific embodiment, the information includes state information pertaining to the first communications device. The first means includes a first module running on the first communications device. The first module is adapted to selectively relay the state information to an entity connected to the network. In the specific embodiment, the entity connected to the network includes Private Branch eXchange (PBX) system.

This invention is related in general to telecommunications and more specifically to systems and methods for handling a failed attempt to establish a phone call.
Systems for enhancing communications functionality are employed in various applications including telephone, email, instant messaging, text messaging, and multimedia messaging applications. Such applications often require functionality that provide users various communications options that may improve communications efficiency and versatility.
Functionality and features that enhance communications options are particularly important in proliferating telecommunications applications, such as Voice-Over-Internet-Protocol (VOIP) and cellular applications. An exemplary VOIP application may involve transferring messages, such as voice messages, over a packet switched network between a VOIP phone and another VOIP phone, a cellular phone, a phone connected to a circuit-switched network, such as the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), a pager, and/or another communication device. Conventionally, VOIP phones and associated networks may enable certain calling features, including call forwarding, three-way calling, caller-identification (caller ID), and automatic busy-number call back (camp-on), and so on. Unfortunately, existing telephony applications often provide relatively limited feature sets that do not fully leverage existing communications infrastructure, reducing communications options, functionality, and efficiency.

System and method for employing state information to enhance network functionality


A photographing device comprises a detector configured to detect a plurality of subjects from an image photographed by a photographing part; a priority setting part configured to set a priority on each of the plurality of subjects detected by the detector using one or a plurality of pieces of photographing history information, the photographing history information including focused subject information that shows one or a plurality of focused subjects in a history image, the focused subject information being related to the history image, the history image being photographed by the photographing part in the past; a focused subject selector configured to select the subject on which a lens is focused from the plurality of subjects, in order of the priority set by the priority setting part; and a presenting part configured to present the subject selected by the focused subject selector.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a photographing device provided with an object detection function and an autofocus function, a photographing device controlling method, a photographing device controlling program, and a computer-readable recording medium in which the photographing device controlling program is recorded.
2. Related Art
Nowadays, some of photographing devices, such as a digital camera and a mobile phone provided with a camera function, have an autofocus function of detecting not only a human face but also objects, such as an animal face, an automobile, a tree, and a building, to focus automatically on any one of detected objects during photographing.
In the photographing device provided with the autofocus function, it is necessary to decide the object on which the photographing device focuses in some way when plural objects are detected.
For example, in a technology disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2010-124057 (published in Jun. 3, 2010), a time for which a camera photographs the object is recorded for every object (subject) recognized by the camera, a priority is set on the subject in the descending order of the recording time, and the camera focuses on the subject having the higher priority.
In a technology disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2010-217613 (published in Sep. 30, 2010), when plural objects are detected, the object on which the terminal focuses is decided using pieces of data, such as phonebook data, an electronic mail history, an internet search history, and a photographing history, which are stored in the own terminal.
However, conventionally the object (subject) on which the device decides to focus is not always the desired object on which a user wants to focus. For example, in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2010-124057, although the camera decides to focus on the object having the longest photographing time, the object having the longest photographing time is not always the desired subject of the user.
In Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2010-217613, the object on which the terminal focuses is decided using pieces of data, such as the phonebook data, the electronic mail history, the internet search history, and the photographing history, which are stored in the terminal. The pieces of data stored in the terminal is only information with which an interest and a preference of the user are presumed, but the pieces of data do not always agree with the desired object of the user.
The present invention has been devised to solve the problems described above, and an object thereof is to construct a photographing device that decides the object that probably becomes the desired object of the user as the focused object.

Photographing device, photographing device controlling method, photographing device controlling program, and computer-readable recording medium in which photographing device controlling program is recorded


A method and system for introducing supplemental material to an exhaust aftertreatment device, including: a delivery system, an air pump operable to input pressurized air to the delivery system, and a turbosupercharger of an internal combustion engine operable to deliver pressurized air to an inlet of the air pump. The supplemental material introduced to the exhaust aftertreatment device is pressurized by the pressurized air input from the air pump, and the air inlet to the air pump is pressurized by the turbosupercharger for the internal combustion engine. The delivery system uses existing pressurized air generated within the engine system from the turbosupercharger to supplement air pressure supplied to the turbine-style air pump used by the delivery system. The supplemental material may comprise ammonia, hydrogen, carbon monoxide, or urea.

Manufacturers of compression-ignition engines incorporate exhaust aftertreatment systems to meet requirements of various emissions regulations and to address customer satisfaction issues. Emissions regulations implemented in countries throughout the world include standards for allowable levels of exhaust gas constituents output as a result of combustion of fuel in an internal combustion engine. The primary regulated exhaust gas constituents include hydrocarbons ('HC'), carbon monoxide ('CO'), nitrides of oxygen ('NOx'), and carbon particulate matter ('PM'). Engine manufacturers meet various emissions regulations by designing engines, engine control systems and exhaust aftertreatment devices to reduce NOx to nitrogen ('N2') and oxygen (O2), and oxidize HC, CO, and PM to water ('H2O') and carbon dioxide ('CO2'). Compression-ignition engines operating at lean air/fuel ratios typically have low engine-out emissions of CO and HC, and higher levels of engine-out emissions of NOx and PM.
Engine system designers reduce NOx emissions and PM of compression-ignition engines using several different aftertreatment devices and control schemes. The aftertreatment devices include, for example, NOx adsorber catalysts, diesel particulate filter devices ("DPF"), oxidation and three-way catalysts, and selective catalytic reduction catalysts. The aftertreatment devices are placed in an exhaust gas feedstream for use in conjunction with engine management control schemes to reduce engine-out and tailpipe emissions below regulated levels. Each aftertreatment device typically has a preferred set of operating parameters over which it operates optimally. When the exhaust gas feedstream is outside the optimal range of operating parameters for a specific aftertreatment device, emissions performance may be adversely affected.
Engine system designers implement various systems to ensure the exhaust gas feedstream from the engine is within an optimal range of operating parameters for each aftertreatment device. One system is a delivery system that introduces a supplemental material into the exhaust gas feedstream upstream of the aftertreatment device. Supplemental materials typically include diesel fuel, ammonia (NH3), or aqueous urea. Diesel fuel is injected into the exhaust feedstream to shift the exhaust air/fuel ratio to stoichiometry or rich of stoichiometry. Added diesel fuel in the exhaust causes an exothermic reaction and increased temperature in the aftertreatment system. Increased temperature facilitates regeneration of DPF devices and desulfation of NOx adsorber catalysts. A shift in air/fuel ratio typically facilitates desorption of NOx from a catalyst surface, and leads to conversion to nitrogen (N2), oxygen (O2), and water (H2O). Ammonia or aqueous urea is injected into the exhaust feedstream to enhance and improve conversion of NOx to N2 in a selective catalyst reduction device.
A system for delivering supplemental material to an exhaust gas feedstream typically comprises an injecting device, a fluid delivery system, and an air pressurizing system. The fluid delivery system typically comprises a fluid reservoir containing supplemental material and a fluid conduit for delivering the supplemental material to the injecting device. The air pressurizing system typically comprises an air pump or air compressor whose output is connected to the injecting device. An injecting device typically comprises a metering device wherein the pressurized air from the air pump and the supplemental material are mixed and delivered to a nozzle placed in the exhaust system for dispersal into the exhaust gas feedstream.
An internal combustion engine may be described as an air-pumping device, wherein fresh air is drawn into the engine through an intake system and pushed out through the exhaust system. Backpressure is a term that describes resistance to airflow through the exhaust system. The magnitude of backpressure increases as components are added to the exhaust system for emissions control and noise abatement. Designers must understand and accommodate a range of backpressure levels over the entire range of engine operation when determining operating requirements for a delivery system for supplemental materials. The air pressurizing system of the delivery system must effectively pressurize the delivery system at high speed, high load, and high exhaust backpressure conditions and at low speed, low load, and low exhaust backpressure conditions. Designers have proposed air pressure systems that incorporate a conventional turbine-style pump to pressurize the air for use with the delivery system. However, a typical turbine-style pump may lack the dynamic range and capacity to deliver sufficient level of air pressure and flow of supplemental material at high speed, high load, and high backpressure conditions. Designers have proposed the use a high-pressure, positive-displacement pump with capacity to operate over the entire range of backpressure for a given system. A high-pressure, positive-displacement pump typically adds significant cost, mass and power consumption to a system, and is rarely used at its maximum capacity.
Therefore, what is needed is a pump for an air pressuring system for a system that delivers supplemental material to an exhaust gas feedstream that is capable of meeting the performance requirements for high speed, high load, and high backpressure operation, without incurring the costs associated with a high-pressure, positive-displacement pump.

Method and apparatus for delivery of supplemental material to an exhaust gas feedstream with supplemental air assistance


Multiple sheets spiral bound together as a unit by a continuous filament. The sheets have a plurality of closely spaced perforations aligned along an edge thereof. The filament is an elongated rod-like member having an outer surface and a centrally-located longitudinal axis. The filament is flexible and is disposed in spiral configuration through the perforations. The filament additionally comprises an inner surface defined by an internal elongate passage extending therethrough. The internal opening facilitates crimping of the inventive filament after it has been spiraled into a plurality of closely spaced perforations aligned along an edge of a stack of sheets. The internal opening in the filament also provides improved control over the outer dimension of the filament during manufacture.

This invention relates generally to the field of binding of sheets, e.g., papers, books, calendars, notebooks, cookbooks, etc. More specifically, this invention relates to a continuous filament for spiral binding a stack of sheets together as a unit. The inventive filament is formed of an elongated flexible rod-like member having an internal opening extending therethrough. The internal opening facilitates crimping of the inventive filament after it has been spiraled into a plurality of closely spaced perforations aligned along an edge of a stack of sheets. The internal opening in the filament also provides improved control over the outer dimension of the filament during manufacture.
Conventional spiral bound books, e.g, cookbooks, calendars, notebooks, tablets, etc., have been on the market for many years. The spiral binding method has commonly been used in connection with school related products but also in many other applications. Typically, a suitable length of solid wire or solid filament of suitable plastic material, e.g., polyvinyl chloride (PVC), is spirally wound through a series of closely spaced perforations along an edge of a stack of sheets. After spirally winding, the free ends of the coiled length are bent to create closures at each end to prevent unwinding of the spiral binding during use of the bound book. In bending the ends of solid wire or filaments to create these closures several drawbacks are encountered. Often, solid wire and solid filaments are difficult to bend thus requiring considerable effort and possibly additional tooling. Also, over time, such solid wire and filaments have a tendency to return to their unbent state thus promoting unwinding of the spiral binding during use. Finally, maintaining close tolerance over the outer diameter of the wire or filament over its entire length is extremely important in fabricating a filament that is suitable for spiral binding. It is exceedingly difficult to maintain control over this dimension where the wire or filament being fabricated is solid. Therefore, there is a long-felt need for a filament for use in spiral binding having closures that can be created with minimal effort and that will retain their bent configuration over time. Also, there is a long-felt need for a filament for use in spiral binding wherein it is easy to control the outer diameter over the length of the entire filament during manufacture.
There have been suggestions in the prior art for providing a wire or filament for use in spiral bound books. Representative spiral bound books are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,407,232 (DesJarlais) and U.S. Pat. No. 4,519,629 (Podosek). These books employ solid wires or filaments that are subject to the aforementioned drawbacks or deficiencies.
Representative methods and machines for spiral binding are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,584,632 (Stiles et al.); U.S. Pat. No. 5,527,141 (Malmstrom); and, U.S. Pat. No. 3,826,290 (Pfaffle).
Other patents generally disclosing hollow filaments and fibers include U.S. Pat. No. 5,585,182 (Aneja et al.); U.S. Pat. No. 4,940,617 (Baurmeister); U.S. Pat. No. 4,175,153 (Dobo et al.); U.S. Pat. No. 5,149,517 (Fain et al.); U.S. Pat. No. 4,384,022 (Fowler); U.S. Pat. No. 5,604,012 (Okamoto et al.); U.S. Pat. No. 5,604,036 (Price et al.); U.S. Pat. No. 4,129,675 (Scott); and, U.S. Pat. No. 5,405,668 (Sandt). None of the aforementioned patents describe use of a filament for spiral binding multiple sheet products nor any advantages achievable in such a spiral bound product.

Hollow filament with crimp for use in spiral binding


The present disclosure provides a treadmill rack, including a mounting frame, an adjusting board and a supporting board, where the mounting frame includes a first beam, a second beam, a third beam and a fourth beam, the first beam is parallel to the third beam, the second beam is parallel to the fourth beam, the adjusting board is rotatably connected to the third beam and is configured to be rotated to abut against the first beam, the supporting board is detachably connected with the adjusting board, the first beam, the second beam, the third beam and the fourth beam enclose a receiving cavity, the supporting board is configured to be accommodated in the receiving cavity after being detached from the adjusting board.

Treadmill is a type of fitness equipment for running and walking sports, in which some users may walk and meanwhile watch videos on their phones or tablets. Since no supporting rack for the phones or tablets are provided in existing treadmills, the users can only hold the phones or tablets in hand and watch the videos while walking in the treadmills. It may result in soreness of arms when the users hold the phones or tablets in hand for a long period. In particular, in a case that the user watches videos in a handheld tablet which should be supported by both hands due to its large size, when an accident occurs, the user needs to release his hand(s) from the tablet to balance his body by holding an armrest of the treadmill, which causes the tablet to fall off and, in severe cases, even be damaged thereby.

SHENZHEN SUPER TOP INNOVATION TECHNOLOGY LIMITED


In order to easily verify the details including a use state of devices of a network each time function processing is to be executed, a CPU sequentially acquires log information of each function of each device notified from another PC, when each device is to be operated in accordance with the function set by the other PC, and sequentially stores the log information of each acquired function and manages the stored log information. In response to a request for the log information of each function from the other PC, the corresponding log information among the managed log information is notified to the other PC via the network.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a data processing apparatus capable of data communications with various apparatuses connected to a communications medium, a data processing method, a storage medium storing a computer-readable program, and the like.
2. Related Background Art
Devices such as personal computers (PC), printers, scanners, digital copiers and digital cameras are now widely used and networks such as LAN's are prevailing. Under such circumstances, needs of sharing a printer, a modem or an image reader on a network are increasing. By sharing devices such as printers and scanners on the network, the environment that various devices can be used on the network has been established.
However, a method of combining devices to realize a particular function such as a copy function to be realized by a combination of a scanner and a printer or a combination of a digital copier and a scanner, is not available in some cases. Even if such a method is made available, specific devices are required or only devices of a particular kind can be used. Devices capable of being applied to general use are not known.
Conventional log information of devices such as printers and scanners connected to a network, such as the number of use frequencies of each printer or scanner, is managed independently for each device. Log information of each function of a device selected by a user has not been managed by a network administrator or the user. Such a management method has not been considered as yet.
Therefore, for example, when a user starts executing a desired function or the user requests a log for verification, the user cannot verify a necessary function log. A user cannot confirm and verify the details, from various viewpoints and in wide field, of the use state and the like of various devices shared in a network environment.

Data processing apparatus, data processing method, and storage medium storing computer-readable program


A seismic brace includes an elongated central brace unit and a rigid restraining member. The central brace unit has two ends adapted to be connected fixedly to a framework of a building, and a middle portion interconnecting the ends and having a cross-sectional area that is smaller than those of the ends. The restraining member is disposed around the middle portion of the central brace unit in a tight fit manner so as to prevent buckling of the central brace unit when the building is subjected to an earthquake, and includes two halves that are interconnected removably.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a seismic brace that has two ends connected fixedly to a framework of a building, and more particularly to a seismic brace that includes an elongated central brace unit and a restraining member which is disposed around the central brace unit in a tight fit manner to prevent buckling of the central brace unit when the building is subjected to an earthquake.
2. Description of the Related Art
Referring to FIGS. 1, 2, and 3, a first conventional seismic brace 70 is shown to have an elongated diagonal central brace unit 130 connected fixedly to a framework of a building at two ends thereof, and a rigid restraining member 120 that includes a rectangular steel tube 122 sleeved around a middle portion of the central brace unit 130 in a tight fit manner to prevent buckling of the central brace unit 130 when the building is subjected to an earthquake, and a concrete material 110 that fills a space between the central brace unit 130 and the steel tube 122. The central brace unit 130 has a cross-shaped cross-section, is welded to cross-shaped-cross-sectioned plates (not shown) on the framework of the building at two ends of the central brace unit 130, and includes a main plate 132 having a middle portion and two ends that are wider than the middle portion, and two wing plates 131, 133 welded respectively to two opposite side surfaces of the main plate 132. An unbounding layer 140 is disposed between the concrete material 110 and the central brace unit 130 so as to permit relative longitudinal sliding movement of the central brace unit 130 and the restraining member 120. For example, the unbounding layer 140 is a grease layer.
Although the central brace unit 130 is able to absorb effectively the energy of earthquakes, to delay the damage of the framework of the building resulting from the shock of earthquakes, and to break prior to breakage of the parts of the framework coupled to the central brace unit 130, the first conventional seismic brace 70 has a disadvantage in that the restraining member 120 cannot be removed from the central brace unit 130 after each earthquake to permit inspection of the central brace unit 130.
Referring to FIGS. 4, 5, 6, and 7, a second conventional seismic brace 72 is shown to include an elongated diagonal central brace unit connected fixedly to a framework of a building at two ends thereof, and a restraining member 160. The central brace unit includes two spaced-apart T-shaped-cross-sectioned plate assemblies 150, each of which consists of a main plate 151 and a wing plate 152 that are welded to and that are perpendicular to the main plate 151. The restraining member 160 includes two adjacent rectangular steel tubes 162 sleeved respectively around the plate assemblies 150 and interconnected fixedly by connecting steel plates 170, and a concrete material 110 that fills spaces between the plate assemblies 150 and the steel tubes 162. Each of the plate assemblies 150 is spaced apart from the concrete material 110 by an unbounding layer 140. As such, two spaces 73 (see FIG. 5) are formed between the plate assemblies 150 at two ends of the second conventional seismic brace 72 so as to permit insertion of two connecting plates (not shown), which are fixed on the framework of the building, thereby attaching the second conventional seismic brace 72 fixedly to the framework. Likewise, the restraining member 160 cannot be removed from the plate assemblies 150.

Seismic brace with a removable restraining member disposed around a middle portion of an elongated central brace unit


A liposome comprising a phospholipid, a hydrophobic active comprising a carboxylate group, and a component selected from a group consisting of: a hydrophilic adjuvant comprising a positively charged group, a complex of said hydrophobic active with said hydrophilic adjuvant, and combinations thereof. An aqueous liposome dispersion comprising the liposome, and a personal care composition comprising the liposome. A process of preparing the liposome, comprising the steps of: forming a premix by dissolving a phospholipid, a hydrophobic active comprising a carboxylate group in an organic solvent; evaporating off said organic solvent from the premix to form a phospholipid film; and hydrating said lipid film with a hydration medium comprising a hydrophilic adjuvant comprising a positively charged group and homogenize the medium to form an aqueous liposome dispersion.

In a cosmetic application, the topical delivery of skin actives into a deep skin layer, i.e., across the stratum corneum to the dermal layer, is oftentimes desired. However, an intact skin poses a major obstacle to the delivery of skin actives through the stratum corneum. The stratum corneum consists of corneocytes embedded in a lipid matrix composed of organized lipid bi-layers, where the lipid materials act as extra intercellular glue sealing the spaces between the cells in the stratum corneum.
In order to deliver skin actives across the intact skin, several approaches have been developed. One of them is to either destroy or fluidize the lipid bi-layer in the stratum corneum using hydrophobic medium such as the oil phase in an emulsion, thereby enhancing the penetration of actives.
Another approach is the use of a vesicular system such as liposomes. Liposomes are vesicles composed of phospholipid bi-layers. A phospholipid molecule has a polar "head" and two non-polar "tails". Due to its structure, the phospholipid tends to form a vesicular bi-layer, i.e. liposome, with the polar heads of phospholipids aligning toward an outer or inner aqueous phase while the non-polar tails align toward each other. Such liposomes have been used to construct carriers for the delivery of actives.
However, effective entrapment of actives into a liposome and maintaining the stability of such a liposome may still be a challenge. It is known in the industry that the chemistry of to-be-entrapped actives affects the entrapment efficiency and associated loading rate of the actives into liposome. Hydrophobic actives comprising a carboxylate group, like glycyrrhetinic acid, pose such a challenge.
Therefore, there exists a need for a liposome into which hydrophobic actives comprising a carboxylate group may be formulated. The liposome should be stable and have a satisfying loading rate of such hydrophobic actives, and thereby have improved penetration into deep skin layer, and thus have improved residual amount of actives within skin layers.
While many others have sought to improve the liposome delivery of hydrophobic actives, the benefit of this present invention was not met and not disclosed in the art. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,569,464 relating to an aqueous dispersion for encapsulating hydrophilic or hydrophobic drugs, where the aqueous dispersion comprises a liposome, a hydroxyl acid, and an amino acid as a stabilizing agent, and EP patent 0211647 B1 relating to a liposome-forming composition comprising a hydrating agent and liposome-forming materials.

Liposome and personal care composition comprising thereof


A device including a housing for a semiconductor chip is disclosed. One embodiment provides a plurality of leads. A first lead forms an external contact element at a first housing side and extends at the first housing side into the housing in the direction of an opposite second housing side. The length of the first lead within the housing is greater than half the distance between the first and the second housing side.

The present invention relates to a device including a housing for a semiconductor chip, a component, a method for producing a housing for a semiconductor chip, and a method for producing a component.
A housing for a semiconductor chip is conventionally produced by a semiconductor chip and electrical leads that are to be connected to electrical contact elements of the semiconductor chip being arranged relative to one another in a specific manner and being surrounded by a material such as a potting or molding compound, which can subsequently be cured. Outside the housing the leads form external contact elements with which the housing can be electrically contact-connected elsewhere, for instance on a circuit board.
It has been illustrated that particularly in the case of specific types of housings such as very small or thin housings, e.g., the PSSO (Plastic Single Small Outline) housings, problems can occur on account of the construction. It can happen, for example, that the embedding into the molding compound, i.e. in one embodiment the distance between the bonding wires and a closest point of the molding compound surface at the bending side is only approximately 0.8 mm. Since the bonding wires in these housings are therefore embedded into the molding compound only inadequately, delaminations and wire cracks can occur in the event of mechanical stresses such as flexures.
For these and other reasons, there is a need for the present invention.

Device including a housing for a semiconductor chip including leads extending into the housing


An electric lock for a motor vehicle opening leaf includes a bolt, a pawl, a central opening lever, and an actuator with three abutment positions and capable of interacting with the central opening lever, the actuator including a driver. The driver includes a toothed driving wheel and a driven wheel. The driven wheel includes a second driving member, a motor intended for driving the actuator, a central transfer lever able to be moved by the driven wheel of the driver by the second driving member and the movement of which is capable of being transmitted to the central opening lever in order to move the pawl into its retracted angular position. One of the wheels of the driver includes a first circle-arc shaped oblong slot and the other wheel includes a first driving member extending through the first circle-arc shaped oblong slot.

The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art.
A motor vehicle latch is intended to be fixedly mounted on a door leaf of a motor vehicle and typically includes a pin intended to pivot, during closure, in one direction around a striker fastened on the structure of the motor vehicle in order to ensure closure of the door leaf. Opening of the door leaf is enabled by a rotation of the pin in the reverse direction. The rotation in the reverse direction during opening of the door leaf follows the displacement of the external or internal vehicle which is linked to the latch through a control means which generally acts on an opening lever in order to make the latter pivot which, in turn, releases the pin via a hooking device in the desired direction.
In the process of electrically opening a latch in normal operation, the pawl that retains the pin is driven by an electric actuator so as to release the pin. As soon as it is no longer retained by the pawl, the pin can pivot so as to release the striker. Once the electric actuator is no longer engaged with the pawl, the pawl is brought back to the pin by a spring.
In general, latches use one motor for each function. The functions may consist of lockout, super-lockout, child safety locking, so-called "cinch-in" power closure or electric opening. Thus, for locking, super-locking, child safety locking type functions, the motor is generally used through a stop-to-stop sequence in order to allow resetting the mechanical state by launching the following sequence by a reverse powering of the motor.
For power closure or electric opening type functions, the power of the motor is generally used in one single direction, often through a stop-to-stop sequence, with a return mechanism, commonly called "back-drive," allowing resetting the system for the next operation. The return movement is either ensured by the motor, or enabled by a declutching associated to a mechanical return when the current is switched off. The return operation terminates on a stop and in general no reverse power supply of the motor could be used for another function.
Using one single motor, there is known the U.S. Patent Publication No. 2015/0145265 disclosing an actuator configured to make a locking assembly switch from a closed state in which an element is locked into an open state in which the item is unlocked. A pin operational in a first position to engage a striker connected to another element of the vehicle when the locking assembly is in the closed state. The pin in a second position enables the striker to be cleared when the locking assembly is in the open position. The actuator comprises a driver and a gear system. The gear system is operational so as to displace a release element. The release element is configured to be operationally linked to the pin so that the movement of the release element urges the pin to be displaced towards the second position. This actually consists of a latch with limited functions because of the device and the monostable nature of the actuator. This latch is intended to perform an electric opening.
There is also known the French patent publication FR 2783551 disclosing an electric latch for a door leaf of a motor vehicle, including a latch case, a first compartment of which contains a pin and a pawl, and a second compartment of which tightly contains a lockout lever adapted to set the latch in the locked-out/unlocked-out position, and an electric motor for powering the opening, characterized by the fact that, in the second compartment, the electric motor is adapted to rotatably drive, through a gear train, a toothed wheel provided with at least one radially eccentric crankpin, the crankpin being intended, during the rotation of the wheel, to drive a control lever until a radially eccentric pin on the wheel comes into contact with an elastic opening end-of-stroke stop, the electric power supply of the motor being time-programmed for a period that is long enough to ensure that the pin reaches the elastic stop, the control lever being rotatably linked with an opening lever arranged within the first compartment and adapted to cooperate with the pawl so as to displace it into the pin release position. This disclosure shows a latch with one motor for the electric opening and one motor for the locking/unlocking, and thus having a compactness that is likely to be improved. Furthermore, in order to determine the position of the actuator, contactors or buttons supply the electronic control unit with information.
Furthermore, there is also known the European patent publication EP 1035280 A disclosing an electrically-actuated latch for a door of a motor vehicle, provided with a locking unit, a control unit which may be connected to corresponding manual control members associated to the door and capable of interacting with the locking unit to open it, first and second deactivation means which may be selectively activated to deactivate the opening of the locking unit from inside and outside the vehicle respectively, and an electric actuator having an output element movable from a rest position along a first stroke so as to cause opening of the locking unit and according to a second stroke, different from the first pathway, so as to selectively activate the first blocking means. Thus, this application discloses a middle spring-biased double-return latch enabled by an oversized motor in order to overcome the force of the springs during the functional strokes, the latch uses two motors altogether. Furthermore, at least one of the end-of-stroke positions is not stable and finally this latch is still likely to gain in compactness.
Thus, the prior art uses several motors to enable access to different functions or just one actuator which may adopt two positions thereby limiting the functions of the associated latches. There are latches with one motor that are adapted to offer several functions, nevertheless, in order to use the same motor for several different operations, these latches should be equipped with micro-switches, and the electronic control unit must stop the power supply accordingly, so that another stroke is available to offer another function. Hence, the actuator is controlled by sending instructions at each stoppage in a sequential and seldom repeatable manner.
When such a sequential gesture is used, the repeatability of the operation is poor, because it depends on the responsiveness of the system and on the inertia of the latter. Usually, a latch should be provided with an independent embedded electronic management, so as not to rely on the central unit of the vehicle in order to gain in responsiveness. All this overfills the latch as a whole and does not facilitate the integration of backup batteries for the "off" operation in case of maintenance or insufficient battery charge of the car for example.


CVD Si.sub.3 N.sub.4 can be made by placing a substrate (2) inside a CVD reactor (4) having an interior and interior walls (6). The interior walls of the reactor are include a high temperature metal selected from the group consisting of Mo, Nb, Rh, Hf, Ta, W, Re, and Ir. An inert gas is flowed through the reactor (4) and the pressure inside the reactor is reduced to less than about 40 kPa. The substrate (2) and interior of the reactor (4) are heated to a temperature between about 1200.degree. C. and about 1700.degree. C. A reactant gas mixture of a silicon halide and an excess of a nitrogen-containing compound is flowed into the reactor such that the silicon halide reacts with the nitrogen-containing compound to form Si.sub.3 N.sub.4. The high temperature metal on the interior walls (6) of the reactor (4) inhibits the formation of Si.sub.3 N.sub.4 on the interior walls of the reactor so the majority of the Si.sub.3 N.sub.4 forms on the substrate (2).

Silicon nitride (Si.sub.3 N.sub.4) is useful in applications that require oxidation and wear resistance, high emissivity, and low thermal and electrical conductivity. Si.sub.3 N.sub.4 can be used in bulk form or as a matrix or coating for composites. For example, crystalline Si.sub.3 N.sub.4 can be used to coat carbon-carbon composites as taught in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 4,472,476 to Veltri et al. Similar coatings and Si.sub.3 N.sub.4 processes are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,226,194 to Kuntz, and commonly assigned U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,214,037, 4,289,801, and 4,671,997 to Galasso et al. and 4,500,483 and 4,610,896 to Veltri et al.
Crystalline Si.sub.3 N.sub.4 can be made with a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,226,194 to Kuntz, herein incorporated by reference in its entirety. When used to make matrices for composites, the same process is called chemical vapor infiltration (CVI). Si.sub.3 N.sub.4 made by a CVD reaction often is called CVD Si.sub.4 N.sub.4.
The CVD reaction typically takes place at pressures less than about 40 kPa (absolute) inside a closed, cylindrical, graphite reactor. Substrates to be coated or infiltrated with matrix are held in place inside the reactor with graphite fixtures. After heating the substrate and interior of the reactor to a reaction temperature between about 1200.degree. C. and about 1700.degree. C., reactant gases are admitted to the bottom of the reactor. Typical reactant gases include silicon fluoride (SiF.sub.4) and ammonia (NH.sub.3). The reactant gases flow upwards (axially) through the reactor and react to form Si.sub.3 N.sub.4 until one of the reactant gases, usually SiF.sub.4, is expended. In prior art methods, the Si.sub.3 N.sub.4 deposits uniformly on the interior walls of the reactor, the fixtures, and the substrate. The radially uniform deposition has been attributed to homogenous mixing of the reactant gases within a few centimeters of the bottom of the reactor. Useable Si.sub.3 N.sub.4 is that which forms on the substrate. Because only a fraction of the reactant gases makes useable Si.sub.3 N.sub.4, the prior art method can be costly.
Another drawback of the prior art method is short reactor life. The combination of high reaction temperature, corrosive reactant gases (especially NH.sub.3), and temperature cycling can cause the graphite CVD reactors to crack after only several runs. Typical reactor life can be about 4 to about 12 runs. To protect expensive graphite heating elements that surround the reactor from corrosive reactant gases that may leak through cracks in the reactor, cracked reactors must be discarded. The need to replace reactors frequently also contributes to the costliness of the prior art method.
Therefore, what is needed in the industry is a method of making Si.sub.3 N.sub.4 that deposits less Si.sub.3 N.sub.4 on reactor walls and fixtures than prior art methods. It also would be desirable if reactor life could be extended.


An electrical connector comprises an insulating housing defining a receiving space with an inserting port, a pair of guiding slot on two lateral sides of the receiving space and a plurality of first and second contact receiving channels, and a plurality of signal and power contacts respectively received in the first and the second contact receiving channels. The insulating housing has at least one protruding portion in front of the second contact receiving channel, a distance between the protruding portion and an opposed face of the insulating housing is narrow than a dimension of the guiding slot in a vertical direction to prevent a guiding post of a complementary connector from inserting into the second channel by mistake.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electrical connector which has power contacts.
2. Description of Related Art
An electrical Connector is widely used in electrical equipments, such as computer, mobile telephone, electrograph, etc, the electrical connector mates with a complementary connector and electrically connects with a print circuit board to provide an electrical connection between two electrical equipments. Usually, the electrical connector has a guiding portion for easily insertion of the complementary connector.
U.S. Pat. No. D525,940 discloses such an electrical connector with a guiding portion, the electrical connector comprises an insulting housing, a plurality of signal contacts and power contacts retained in the insulating housing, a shielding cover and a board locking member assembled to the insulating housing. The insulating housing has a mating portion engaging with a complementary connector, the mating portion has a mating port which defines a plurality of contact receiving slot, receiving slots for the power contacts are arranged on two opposed sides of receiving slots for the signal contacts. A pair of guiding portions are defined on two ends of the mating port near the receiving slots for the power contacts, the guiding portion is a guiding slot, which communicates with the mating port to guide a guiding post of the complementary connector. However, since the height of receiving slots for the power contacts is approximately equal that of the guiding slot, when the electrical connector engages with the complementary connector, the guiding post of the complementary connector may inserts into the receiving slots for the power contacts by mistake and damages the power contacts.
Hence, an improved connector is required to overcome the disadvantages of the prior art.