text
stringlengths 0
1.67M
|
|---|
Stain-resistant flooring material |
The present invention provides a flooring material including a base portion, a coating portion being positioned in contact with an upper surface of the base portion and creating an upper surface of the flooring material, wherein the coating portion is substantially free from contaminants from the base portion which decrease the stain resistance of the coating portion and wherein the coating portion includes a first particulate material which at least partially penetrates the base portion and is proud from the upper surface of the flooring material. |
1. A flooring material including a base portion, a coating portion being positioned in contact with an upper surface of the base portion and creating an upper surface of the flooring material, wherein the coating portion is substantially free from contaminants from the base portion which decrease the stain resistance of the coating portion and wherein the coating portion includes a first particulate material which at least partially penetrates the base portion and is proud from the upper surface of the flooring material. 2. A flooring material as claimed in claim 1 wherein the base portion and the coating portion are formed from the same or different plastics materials, preferably different plastics materials. 3. A flooring material as claimed in claim 1 wherein the coating portion is substantially free from a thermo-setting polymer or co-polymer. 4. A flooring material as claimed in claim 1 in which the base portion includes a PVC plastisol material. 5. A flooring material as claimed in claim 1 in which the contaminants are contaminants which are capable of diffusing from the base portion into the coating portion during manufacture of the flooring material. 6. A flooring material as claimed in claim 1 in which the contaminants are a plasticiser, a thermal stabiliser, a rheology or viscosity modifier and/or a carrier liquid for an additive to the base portion. 7. A flooring material as claimed in claim 1 in which there is interpenetration between the base portion and the coating portion only to the extent necessary to bond the two portions together. 8. A flooring material as claimed in claim 1 wherein the coating portion includes an acrylic polymer. 9. A flooring material as claimed in claim 8 wherein the coating portion includes an acrylic polymer and PvdF. 10. (Cancelled) 11. A method of making a flooring material, the method including the steps of: a) applying a base layer on a surface of a support; b) increasing the viscosity of the base layer; c) applying a coating layer on the base layer; and d) heating the layers. 12. A method as claimed in claim 11 in which the base portion includes a PVC plastisol. 13. A method as claimed in claim 11 wherein the support is an integral part of the flooring material. 14. A method as claimed in claim 13 wherein the support has been coated with one or more base layers before step (a). 15. A method as claimed in claim 11 which further includes the step of applying a layer of particulate material to the base layer after step (a). 16. A method as claimed in claim 15 wherein step (b) is carried out immediately after the step of applying a layer of particulate material. 17. A method as claimed in claim 11 which further includes the step of embossing the flooring material after step (d). 18. A method as claimed in claim 11 wherein the coating layer is a powder coating layer. 19. A method as claimed in claim 11 wherein the coating layer includes an acrylic polymer. 20. A method as claimed in claim 19 wherein the coating layer includes an acrylic polymer and PvdF. 21. A method as claimed in claim 11 wherein step (b) includes at least partially gelling the surface of the base layer. 22. A method as claimed in claim 11 which is for making a flooring material including a base portion, a coating portion being positioned in contact with an upper surface of the base portion and creating an upper surface of the flooring material, wherein the coating portion is substantially free from contaminants from the base portion which decrease the stain resistance of the coating portion and wherein the coating portion includes a first particulate material which at least partially penetrates the base portion and is proud from the upper surface of the flooring material. 23. (Cancelled) 24. A flooring material obtainable by the method as defined in claim 11. 25. A flooring material as claimed in claim 24 including a base portion, a coating portion being positioned in contact with an upper surface of the base portion and creating an upper surface of the flooring material, wherein the coating portion is substantially free from contaminants from the base portion which decrease the stain resistance of the coating portion and wherein the coating portion includes a first particulate material which at least partially penetrates the base portion and is proud from the upper surface of the flooring material. 26. A flooring material as claimed in claim 2 wherein the coating portion is substantially free from a thermo-setting polymer or co-polymer. 27. A method as claimed in claim 12 wherein the support is an integral part of the flooring material. |
Lamp operating circuit for a gas discharge lamp |
The present invention relates to a switch mode power supply for igniting and operating a high-pressure gas discharge lamp (2), comprising an ignition sub-circuit (20) which is coupled via a transformer (14) to the circuit, wherein the ignition sub-circuit comprises: -at least an ignition capacitor (22); -a switching element (30) for discharging the capacitor at a desired moment in time having a control electrode; wherein the control electrode of the switching element is connected to the commutator (6, 7, 10, 16, 18) of the lamp circuit via a control sub-circuit (32, 34, 36, 38) which comprises substantially passive elements. |
1. Switch mode power supply for igniting and operating a high-pressure gas discharge lamp, having a lamp circuit and comprising an ignition sub-circuit, which is coupled via a transformer to the lamp circuit, wherein the ignition sub-circuit comprises: at least an ignition capacitor; a switching element for discharging the capacitor at a desired moment in time having control electrode; wherein the control electrode of the switching element is connected to a commutator of the lamp circuit via a control sub-circuit which comprises substantially passive elements. 2. Switch mode power supply for igniting and operating a high-pressure gas discharge lamp as claimed in claim 1, wherein the switching element is a so-called TRIAC. 3. Switch mode power supply for igniting and operating a high-pressure gas discharge lamp as claimed in claim 1, wherein the ignition capacitor and the switching element are coupled via the primary winding of the transformer to the lamp circuit and form a resonant circuit therewith. 4. Switch mode power supply for igniting and operating a high-pressure gas discharge lamp as claimed in claim 1, wherein the switch mode power supply comprises at least one buffer capacitor for storing a voltage and wherein the ignition sub-circuit comprises at least one resistor which is connected on one side to the buffer capacitor and on the other side to the ignition capacitor of the ignition sub-circuit. 5. Switch mode power supply for igniting and operating a high-pressure gas discharge lamp as claimed in claim 1, wherein the switch mode power supply comprises a so-called Half Bridge Commutating Forward circuit. 6. Switch mode power supply as claimed in claim 1, wherein the control sub-circuit comprises at least one DIAC, for instance with a breakover voltage of 30V. 7. Switch mode power supply as claimed in claim 6, wherein the control sub-circuit comprises at least two capacitors which are connected as a capacitive divider to the DIAC. 8. Switch mode power supply as claimed in claim 6, wherein the control sub-circuit also comprises a Zener diode for triggering the DIAC at a desired voltage. 9. Switch mode power supply as claimed in claim 1, wherein the ignition sub-circuit also comprises a SIDAC so that the switching element does not remain conductive after the ignition capacitor has been discharged. 10. Switch mode power supply as claimed in claim 1, wherein the control sub-circuit comprises at least one resistor for distributing a voltage. |
Method for working nut screw for ball screw |
A method for working a nut screw for a ball screw has a first step of lathing or cutting a spiral-shaped rolling surface of the nut screw for a ball screw on which balls of the ball screw are allowed to roll, a second step of heat treating, for example, carburizing and quenching or high-frequency quenching the spiral-shaped rolling surface obtained in the first step to thereby harden the top surface layer of the rolling surface and, a third step of surface finishing the hardened top surface layer of the spiral-shaped rolling surface obtained in the second step according to an electrolytic polishing. |
1. A method for working a nut screw for a ball screw, comprising: a first step of cutting a spiral-shaped rolling surface of the nut screw on which balls of the ball screw are allowed to roll; a second step of heat treating the spiral-shaped rolling surface obtained in the first step for surface hardening to thereby obtain a surface hardened layer on the rolling surface; and, a third step of surface finishing the surface hardened layer obtained in the second step according to an electrolytic polishing. 2. The working method according to claim 1, wherein the electrolytic polishing is performed by masking a portion of the nut screw other than the rolling surface so as to serve as a positive electrode. 3. The working method according to claim 1, wherein the first step works the spiral-shaped rolling surface into a Gothic-arch shape by lathing the spiral-shaped rolling surface using a lathe or by cutting the spiral-shaped rolling surface using a rotary tool. 4. A method for working a nut screw for a deflector-type ball screw, comprising the steps of: radiating a laser beam onto an outer peripheral surface side of the nut screw having a spiral-shaped groove formed in the inner peripheral surface thereof for allowing balls to roll thereon to thereby form a deflector fit hole in the nut screw in such a manner that the deflector fit hole penetrates through the nut screw up to the inner peripheral surface of the nut screw; and, fitting and fixing a deflector for defining a circulation passage into the deflector fit hole. 5. The working method according to claim 4, further comprising the steps of: cutting the spiral-shaped groove; heat treating the cut spiral-shaped groove for surface hardening to thereby obtain a surface hardened layer on the spiral-shaped groove; and, surface finishing the surface hardened layer according to an electrolytic polishing. 6. A method for working a nut screw for a frame-type ball screw, comprising the steps of: forming a deflector fit hole in the nut screw having a spiral-shaped groove formed in the inner peripheral surface thereof for allowing balls to roll thereon in such a manner that the deflector fit hole penetrates the nut screw from the outer peripheral surface thereof up to the inner peripheral surface thereof; fitting a deflector for defining a circulation passage into the deflector fit hole; and, welding said deflector to said nut screw using a laser beam. |
<SOH> BACKGROUND ART <EOH>A ball screw, which converts rotary motion into linear motion or converts linear motion into rotary motion, not only can amplify small torque to thereby provide large thrust but also is capable of accurate positioning in a linear direction. Thanks to such performance, the ball screw is widely used in a machine tool, a semiconductor-associated apparatus, and an industrial robot. The ball screw, as shown in FIG. 4 , includes a screw shaft 102 including a spiral-shaped groove 101 and a nut screw 104 including a spiral-shaped groove 103 ; and, a plurality of balls 105 are allowed to roll between the spiral-shaped grooves 101 and 103 of the screw shaft 102 and nut screw 104 . The spiral-shaped groove 101 of the screw shaft 102 is formed by rolling work using a rolling die or by grinding into a Gothic-arch shape. On the other hand, the spiral-shaped groove 103 of the nut screw 104 is worked in the following manner. That is, the blank material of the nut screw 104 is carburized and quenched, or is high-frequency quenched so as to have a given level of hardness. Next, as shown in FIG. 5 , the spiral-shaped groove 103 is finished using a grindstone 107 mounted on the leading end portion of a rotary shaft 106 so as to have a Gothic-arch shape. However, in the above method for grinding the inside diameter of the nut screw 104 using the grindstone 107 mounted on the leading end portion of the rotary shaft 106 , the rotary shaft 106 must be formed so as to have a small diameter, so that the rotary shaft 106 is low in rigidity. Therefore, in the case of the thus-formed rotary shaft 106 , it is difficult to work the blank material that has been processed by carburizing and quenching or by high-frequency quenching to have a given level of hardness. Also, when finishing the spiral-shaped groove 103 into a Gothic-arc-like spiral-shaped rolling surface 108 , in case where the rolling surface 108 is not finished into a sufficiently smooth surface, a surface peel-off phenomenon occurs between the rolling surface 108 and the balls 105 rolling on the rolling surface 108 to thereby lower the life of the rolling surface 108 . That is, it takes a lot of time to grind the spiral-shaped groove 103 using the grindstone 107 . Also, conventionally, there is used another method in which a spiral-shaped rolling surface, after completion of heat treatment, is finished using a lapping operation instead of a grinding operation. However, in this method, lapping bars similar in shape to the spiral-shaped rolling surfaces and having grains attached thereto must be manufactured for every shapes of the rolling surfaces, which gives rise to an increase in the manufacturing cost of the nut screw. Further, FIGS. 6 and 7 shows a nut screw 201 for a deflector-type ball screw includes a spiral-shaped groove 202 formed in the inner peripheral surface thereof. In the outer peripheral surface of the nut screw 201 , there is formed a deflector fit hole 204 into which a deflector 203 can be fitted and fixed. And, in order that the deflector fit hole 204 can be fitted with the deflector 203 with no clearance between them, the deflector fit hole 204 is worked so as to have the same shape as the deflector 203 . And, a plurality of balls 207 are allowed to roll between the spiral-shaped groove 205 of a ball screw 206 and the spiral-shaped groove 202 of the nut screw 201 . Also, the balls 207 are disposed in the endless circulation passage 208 of the ball screw 206 and, in case where the nut screw 201 and ball screw 206 are rotated with respect to each other, the balls 207 are allowed to roll on the endless circulation passage through the circulation passage of the deflector 203 . By the way, conventionally, in a method for working the deflector fit hole 204 , using a cutting tool such as a drill or an end mill, the nut screw 201 is cut from the outer peripheral surface side thereof. However, since a high thrust is required of the ball screw 206 , the ball screw 206 increases in size and also the number of circulation passages increases. That is, in the conventional working method, the cutting removal amount increases as well as the working time increases in proportion to the increase in the cutting removal amount. Also, as means for fixing the deflector 203 strongly to the nut screw 201 , as shown in FIG. 8 , a deflector fit hole 204 ′ to be formed in the nut screw 201 is structured in a dovetail groove which increases in width as it goes to the deep side thereof. And, after the deflector 203 is fitted into the deflector fit hole 204 ′, the deflector 203 is caulked and deformed using a punch 209 , thereby preventing the deflector 203 from slipping off the deflector fit hole 204 ′. However, in the conventional working method for cutting the nut screw 201 using a cutting tool such as a drill or an end mill, due to the increased size of the ball screw and the increased number of circulation passages, the cutting removal amount increases as well as the working time increases in proportion to the increase in the cutting removal amount. Also, in case where the deflector fit hole 204 ′ to be formed in the nut screw 201 is structured in a dovetail groove which increases in width as it goes to the deep side thereof, there is necessary a tool which is specially designed for such hole working. This increases the working time and thus gives rise to an increase in the working cost of the nut screw. |
<SOH> BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS <EOH>FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional side view of a ball screw, showing a first embodiment of to the invention; FIG. 2 is a side view of a working apparatus for working a nut screw used in a deflector-type ball screw, showing a second embodiment of the invention; FIG. 3 is a longitudinal sectional side view of part of a nut screw, showing a third embodiment of the invention; FIG. 4 is a longitudinal sectional side view of a ball screw; FIG. 5 is a longitudinal sectional side view of a conventional method for working the rolling surface of a nut screw; FIG. 6 is a longitudinal sectional side view of a conventional nut screw; FIG. 7 is a longitudinal sectional side view of a conventional deflector-type ball screw; and, FIG. 8 is a longitudinal sectional side view of part of a conventional nut screw. detailed-description description="Detailed Description" end="lead"? |
Nucleic acid detection assay control genes |
The present invention includes methods of normalizing quantitative and non-quantitative nucleic acid detection as-says by monitoring control genes. These methods have applicability across a broad spectrum of hybridization format. |
1. A method of identifying at least one gene that is consistently expressed across different cell or tissue types in an organism, comprising: (a) preparing gene expression profiles for different cell or tissue types from the organism; (b) calculating a coefficient of variation for at least one gene in each of the profiles across the different cell or tissue types; and (c) selecting any gene whose coefficient of variation indicates that the gene is consistently expressed across the different cell or tissue types. 2. A method of claim 1, wherein step (c) comprises identifying at least one gene with a coefficient of variation of less than about 40%. 3. A method of claim 1, wherein the different cell or tissue types comprise greater than about 10 different cell or tissue types. 4. A method of claim 1, wherein the different cell or tissue types comprise greater than about 25 different cell or tissue types. 5. A method of claim 1, wherein the different cell or tissue types comprise greater than about 50 different cell or tissue types. 6. A method of claim 3, wherein the cell or tissue types comprise normal and diseased cell or tissue types. 7. A method of claim 1, wherein the organism is a mammal or plant. 8. A method of claim 7, wherein the mammal is human, dog, rat, mouse or plant. 9. A method of claim 8, wherein the expression profiles are generated by querying a gene expression database for the expression level of at least one gene in different cell or tissue types from the organism or from a cell line. 10. A set of probes comprising at least two probes that specifically hybridize to a gene identified by the method of claim 1. 11. A set of probes according to claim 10, wherein the set comprises probes that specifically hybridize to at least about 10 genes. 12. A set of probes according to claim 10, wherein the set comprises probes that specifically hybridize to at least about 25 genes. 13. A set of probes according to claim 10, wherein the set comprises probes that specifically hybridize to at least about 50 genes. 14. A set of probes according to claim 10, wherein the set comprises probes that specifically hybridize to at least about 100 genes. 15. A set of probes according to claim 10, wherein the probes are attached to a single solid substrate. 16. A set of probes of claim 15, wherein the solid substrate is a chip. 17. A method of normalizing the data from a nucleic acid detection assay comprising: (a) detecting the expression level for at least one gene in a nucleic acid sample; and (b) normalizing the expression of said at least one gene with the detected expression of an control gene identified by the method of claim 1. 18. A method of claim 17, wherein step (b) comprises normalizing the expression level of said at least one gene with the expression levels of at least about 10 control genes. 19. A method of claim 17, wherein step (b) comprises normalizing the expression level of said at least one gene with the expression levels of at least about 25 control genes. 20. A method of claim 17, wherein step (b) comprises normalizing the expression level of said at least one gene with the expression levels of at least about 50 control genes. 21. A method of claim 17, wherein step (b) comprises normalizing the expression level of said at least one gene with the expression levels of at least about 100 control genes. 22. A method of claim 17, wherein the assay is quantitative. 23. A method of claim 17, wherein the assay is a hybridization reaction conducted on a solid substrate. 24. A method of claim 23, wherein the solid substrate is an oligonucleotide array. 25. A method of claim 24, wherein the array comprises oligonucleotide probes that are complementary to the control genes. 26. A method of claim 17, wherein the assay is a polymerase chain reaction. 27. A set of probes comprising at least two probes that specifically hybridize to a gene of Table 1 or Table 2. 28. A set of probes of claim 27, comprising probes that specifically hybridize to at least about 10 genes of Table 1 or Table 2. 29. A set of probes of claim 27, comprising probes that specifically hybridize to at least about 25 genes of Table 1 or Table 2. 30. A set of probes of claim 27, comprising probes that specifically hybridize to at least about 50 genes of Table 1 or Table 2. 31. A set of probes of claim 27, comprising probes that specifically hybridize to at least about 100 genes of Table 1 or Table 2. 32. A set of probes of claim 27, comprising probes that specifically hybridize to at least about 100 genes of Table 2. 33. A set of probes of claim 27, wherein the probes are attached to a single solid substrate. 34. A set of probes of claim 33, wherein the solid substrate is a chip. 35. A method of normalizing the data from a nucleic acid detection assay comprising: (a) detecting the expression level for at least one gene in a nucleic acid sample; and (b) normalizing the expression of said at least one gene with the detected expression of a control gene of Table 1 or Table 2. 36. A method of claim 35, wherein step (b) comprises normalizing the expression level of said at least one gene with the expression levels of at least about 10 control genes of Table 1 or Table 2. 37. A method of claim 35, wherein step (b) comprises normalizing the expression level of said at least one gene with the expression levels of at least about 25 control genes of Table 1 or Table 2. 38. A method of claim 35, wherein step (b) comprises normalizing the expression level of said at least one gene with the expression levels of at least about 50 control genes of Table 1 or Table 2. 39. A method of claim 35, wherein step (b) comprises normalizing the expression level of said at least one gene with the expression levels of at least about 100 control genes of Table 1 or Table 2. 40. A method of claim 35, wherein the assay is quantitative. 41. A method of claim 35, wherein the assay is a hybridization reaction conducted on a solid substrate. 42. A method of claim 41, wherein the solid substrate is an oligonucleotide array. 43. A method of claim 42, wherein the array comprises oligonucleotide probes that are complementary to the control genes. 44. A method of claim 35, wherein the assay is a polymerase chain reaction. 45. A method of claim 17, wherein the normalizing of step (b) comprises dividing the expression level for said at least one gene by the detected expression level of said control gene. 46. A method of identifying at least one gene that is consistently expressed across different cell or tissue types in an organism or cell line, comprising: (a) querying a gene expression database for the expression level of at least one gene in different cell or tissue types from the organism or cell lines; (b) calculating a coefficient of variation for said at least one gene across the different cell or tissue types or cell lines; and (c) identifying at least one gene whose coefficient of variation indicates that the gene is consistently expressed across the different cell or tissue types or cell lines. 47. A method of claim 46, wherein step (c) comprises identifying at least one gene with a coefficient of variation of less than about 40%. 48. A method of claim 47, wherein the different cell or tissue types comprise greater than about 10 different cell or tissue types. 49. A method of claim 47, wherein the different cell or tissue types comprise greater than about 25 different cell or tissue types. 50. A method of claim 47, wherein the different cell or tissue types comprise greater than about 50 different cell or tissue types. 51. A method of claim 46, wherein the cell or tissue types comprise normal and diseased cell or tissue types. 52. A method of claim 47, wherein the organism is a mammal or plant. 53. A method of claim 52, wherein the mammal is human, rat, mouse or plant. 54. A method of claim 53, wherein the mammal is human. |
<SOH> BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION <EOH>Nucleic acid hybridization and other quantitative nucleic acid detection assays are routinely used in medical and biotechnological research and development, diagnostic testing, drug development and forensics. Such technologies have been used to identify genes which are up- or down-regulated in various disease or physiological states, to analyze the roles of the members of cellular signaling cascades and to identify druggable targets for various disease and pathology states. Examples of technologies commonly used for the detection and/or quantification of nucleic acids include northern blotting (Krumlauf (1994) Mol Biotechnol 2(3), 227-242), ill situ hybridization (Parker & Barnes (1999) Methods Mol Biol. 106, 247-83), RNAse protection assays (Hod (1992) Biotechniques 13(6), 852-854; Saccomanno et al. (1992) Biotechniques 13(6):846-50), microarrays, and reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) (see Bustin, (2000) Journal of Molecular Endocrinology 25, 169-193). The reliability of these nucleic acid detection methods depend on the availability of accurate means for accounting for variations between analyses. For example, variations in hybridization conditions, label intensity, reading and detector efficiency, sample concentration and quality, background effects, and image processing effects each contribute to signal heterogeneity. Hegde et al. (2000) Biotechniques 29(3): 548-562; Berger et al. (2000) WO 00/04188. Normalization procedures used to overcome these variations often rely on control hybridizations to housekeeping genes such as β-actin, glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase, and the transferrin receptor gene. Eickhoffet al. (1999) Nucleic Acids Research 27(22): e33; Spiess et al. (1999) Biotechniques 26(1): 46-50. These methods, however, generally do not provide the signal linearity sufficient to detect small but significant changes in transcription or gene expression. Spiess et al. (1999) Biotechniques 26(1): 46-50. In addition, the steady state levels of many housekeeping genes are susceptible to alterations in expression levels that are dependent on cell differentiation, nutritional state, specific experimental and stimulation protocols. Eickhoffet al. (1999) Nucleic Acids Research 27(22): e33; Spiess et al. (1999) Biotechniques 26(1): 46-50; Hegde et al. (2000) Biotechniques 29(3): 548-562; and Berger et al. (2000) WO 00/04188. Consequently, there exists a need for the identification and use of additional genes that may serve as effective controls in nucleic acid detection assays. |
<SOH> SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION <EOH>The present invention includes methods of identifying at least one gene that is consistently expressed across different cell or tissue types in an organism, comprising: preparing gene expression profiles for different cell or tissue types from the organism; calculating a coefficient of variation for at least one gene in each of the profiles across the different cell or tissue types; and selecting any gene whose coefficient of variation indicates that the gene is consistently expressed across the different cell or tissue types. The coefficient of variation may be less than about 40% and the methods may comprise creating gene expression profiles for about 10, 25, 50, 100 or more different cell or tissue types. The gene expression profiles may be prepared be querying a gene expression database. The invention also includes a set of probes comprising at least two probes that specifically hybridize to a control gene identified by the methods of the invention. Such sets of probes may comprise probes that specifically hybridize to at least about 10, 25, 50 or 100 control genes. In some formats, the sets of probes are attached to a solid substrate such as a microarray or chip. The invention also includes methods of normalizing the data from a nucleic acid detection assay comprising: detecting the expression level for at least one gene in a nucleic acid sample; and normalizing the expression of said at least one gene with the detected expression of at least one control gene identified by the method of the invention. The number of control genes used to normalize gene expression data may comprise about 10, 25, 50, 100 or more of the control genes herein identified. In another embodiment, the invention includes a set of probes comprising at least two probes that specifically hybridize to a gene of Table 1 or Table 2. The set may comprise at least about 10, 25, 50, 100 or more the control genes of Table 1 or Table 2. The sets of probes may or may not be attached to a solid substrate such as a chip. The invention, in another embodiment, includes methods of normalizing the data from a nucleic acid detection assay comprising: detecting the expression level for at least one gene in a nucleic acid sample; and normalizing the expression of said at least one gene with the detected expression of at least one control gene of Table 1 or Table 2. The number of control genes used to normalize gene expression data may comprise about 10, 25, 50, 100 or more of the control genes herein identified. detailed-description description="Detailed Description" end="lead"? |
Organic electroluminescent device based upon emission of exciplexes or electroplexes, and a method for its fabrication |
An organic electroluminescent device (1) based upon emission of exciplexes or electroplexes, the device basically including an anode (2), a cathode (3), a first layer (4), which comprises organic material for transporting positive charges (5), and a second layer (6), which comprises organic material for transporting negative charges (7), said organic material for transporting negative charges (7) and said organic material for transporting positive charges (5) being capable to form between them exciplexes or electroplexes. |
1. An organic electroluminescent device (1) based upon emission of exciplexes or electroplexes, said organic electroluminescent device (1) basically including an anode (2), a cathode (3), a first layer (4), which comprises at least one organic material for transporting positive charges (5) and is set in contact with the anode (2), and a second layer (6), which comprises at least one organic material for transporting negative charges (7) and is set in contact with said cathode (3) and with said first layer (4), said organic material for transporting negative charges (7) and said organic material for transporting positive charges (5) being capable to form between them exciplexes or electroplexes. 2. The device of claim 1, wherein said anode (2) is substantially transparent. 3. The device of claim 2, and comprising a transparent substrate (9) set in contact with said anode (2). 4. The device of claim 2, wherein said anode (2) comprises indium and tin oxides (ITOs). 5. The device of claim 3, wherein said transparent substrate (9) is a sheet of glass. 6. The device of claim 1, wherein said organic material for transporting negative charges (7) has a first ionization potential, and said organic material for transporting positive charges (8) has a second ionization potential, said first ionization potential being higher by at least 0.7 electronvolts than the second ionization potential. 7. The device of claim 1, wherein said organic material for transporting negative charges (7) has a first electronic affinity, and said organic material for transporting positive charges (5) has a second electronic affinity, said first electronic affinity being higher by at least 0.4 electronvolts than said second electronic affinity. 8. The device of claim 1, wherein said material for transporting positive charges (5) is substantially made up of a tertiary aromatic amine for transporting positive charges, said tertiary aromatic amine satisfying the structural formula: in which T1 and T2 represent, each independently of the other, a tertiary amine, and in which A represents an aryl group. 9. The device of claim, wherein T1 and T2 represent, each independently of the other, a tertiary amine that satisfies a structural formula chosen in the group consisting of: in which R1 and R2, represent, each independently of the other, one chosen from among: an alkyl group, an alcohol group, or an atom of hydrogen. in which Ar1 and Ar2 represent, each independently of the other, an aryl group. 10. The device of claim, wherein Ar1 and Ar2 represent, each independently of the other, a functionality that satisfies a structural formula chosen in the group consisting of: in which R3, R4, R5, R6, R7, R9, R10 and R11 represent, each independently of the others, one chosen from among: an alkyl group, an alcohol group, or an atom of hydrogen; and in which S1, S2, S3 and S4 represent, each independently of the others, a functionality chosen in the group consisting of: in which R12, R13, R14, R15, R16, and R17 represent, each independently of the others, one chosen from among: an alkyl group, an alcohol group, or an atom of hydrogen. 11. The device of claim 8, wherein A represents an aryl group that satisfies a structural formula chosen in the group consisting of: 12. The device of claim 8, wherein said tertiary aromatic amine is chosen in the group consisting of 4,4′,4″-tri(N-3-methylphenyl-N-phenyl-amino)-triphenylamine (M-TDATA), 4,4′,4″-tri(N,N-diphenyl-amino)-triphenylamine (TDATA), or 4,4′,4″-tri(carbazol-9-yl)-triphenylamine (TCTA). 13. The device of claim 1, wherein said material for transporting negative charges (7) is essentially made up of a heterocyclic compound that satisfies one chosen from among the structural formulas: in which E1, E2, E3, E4 and E5 represent, each independently of the others, an aryl group. 14. The device of claim 13, wherein E1, E2, E3, E4 and E5 represent, each independently of the others, a substituent that satisfies one chosen from among the following structural formulas: in which R18, R19, R20, R21, R22, R23, R24, and R25 represent, each independently of the others, one chosen from among: an alkyl group, an alcohol group, or an atom of hydrogen; and in which S5, S6, S7, S8, S9, S10 S11, S12, S13, S14, S15, S16 and S17 represent, each independently of the others, a functionality that satisfies one chosen from among the following structural formulas: in which R25, R26, R27, R28, R29, and R30 represent, each independently of the others, one chosen from among: an alkyl group, an alcohol group, or an atom of hydrogen. 15. The device of claim 13, wherein said heterocyclic compound is chosen in the group consisting of: 3,5-bi(4-ter-butyl-phenyl)-4-phenyl-triazole (TAZ), or 3-(4-diphenylyl)-4-phenyl-5-ter-butylphenyl-1,2,4-triazole (PBD). 16. The device of claim 1, in which said cathode (3) comprises a metal chosen in the group consisting of: alkaline metals, or alkaline-earth metals. 17. A method for the fabrication of an organic electroluminescent device (1) based upon emission of exciplexes or electroplexes, said method including basically the steps of: depositing on an anode (2) a first layer (4) comprising at least one organic material for transporting positive charges (5); depositing on said first layer (4) a second layer (6) comprising an organic material for transporting negative charges (7); positioning on said second layer (6) a cathode (3), said organic material for transporting negative charges (7) and said organic material for transporting positive charges (5) being capable to form between them exciplexes or electroplexes. 18. The device of claim 17, wherein said organic material for transporting positive charge (5) and of said organic material for transporting negative charge (7) are chosen so as to obtain selectively a pre-set wavelength of the emission of exciplexes or electroplexes. 19. The device of claim 17, and comprising the step of positioning said anode (2) on a transparent substrate (9). 20. The device of claim 17, wherein said organic material for transporting negative charges (7) has a first ionization potential and said organic material for transporting positive charges (5) has a second ionization potential, said first ionization potential being higher by at least 0.7 electronvolts than said second ionization potential. 21. The device of claim 17, wherein said organic material for transporting negative charges (7) has a first electronic affinity and said organic material for transporting positive charges (5) has a second electronic affinity, said first electronic affinity being higher by at least 0.4 electronvolts than said second electronic affinity. 22. The device of claim 17, wherein said material for transporting positive charges (5) is substantially made up of a tertiary aromatic amine for transporting positive charges, said tertiary aromatic amine satisfying the structural formula: in which T1 and T2 represent, each independently of the other, a tertiary amine, and in which A represents an aryl group. 23. The device of claim 17, wherein said material for transporting negative charges (7) is substantially made up of a heterocyclic compound that satisfies one chosen from among the structural formulas: in which E1, E2, E3, E4 and E5 are, each independently of the others, an aryl group. |
<SOH> BACKGROUND ART <EOH>In the field of organic electroluminescent devices (OLEDs) there have recently been proposed organic electroluminescent devices that use exciplexes, which are formed by a material for transporting negative charges and by a material for transporting positive charges, for the emission of light radiation. In particular, the use is known of electroluminescent devices comprising an anode and a cathode, between which is set an intermediate layer of organic material, which comprises a mixture of the organic material for transporting positive charges and of the organic material for transporting negative charges. Although further embodiments of this type of devices envisage the insertion of further layers of organic material, the presence of the intermediate layer, inside which the exciplexes are formed, has always been considered essential for the functioning of this type of OLEDs. The presence of the mixed intermediate layer, between the anode and the cathode renders devices of this type costly and difficult to manufacture, in particular, in view of the fact that the intermediate layer is usually obtained by means of a relatively complex and somewhat difficult operation, namely a simultaneous sublimation of two substances having physico-chemical characteristics that are different from one another. |
<SOH> BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS <EOH>The invention will now be described with reference to the annexed drawings, which illustrate some non-limiting examples of embodiment, in which: FIG. 1 is a cross section of a first embodiment of the device according to the present invention; FIG. 2 is a perspective view, with parts removed for reasons of clarity, of a detail of a second embodiment of the device according to the present invention; FIG. 3 illustrates a spectrum of emission of a device built according to Example 1; FIG. 4 is an experimental graph representing the function intensity of electroluminescence vs. applied voltage, and the function current density vs. applied voltage of a device built according to Example 1; and FIG. 5 is an experimental graph representing the function efficiency of a device vs. applied voltage of a device built according to Example 1. detailed-description description="Detailed Description" end="lead"? |
Lightweight construction element and method for producing the same |
The invention relates to a lightweight construction element having an inner framework structure of light metal composed of a plurality of extruded hollow sections (1, 2, 3) joined to one another in a flat configuration, the lightweight construction element having a circumscribed circle with a diameter of at least 300 mm and a wall thickness of at most 0.5% of this value. |
1. A lightweight construction element having an inner framework structure of light metal, comprising a plurality of extruded hollow sections joined to one another in a planar configuration, the lightweight construction element having a circumscribed circle with a diameter of at least 300 mm and a wall thickness of at most 0.5% of this value. 2. A lightweight construction element according to claim 1, characterized in that the wall thickness is at most 0.34% of the diameter of the circumscribed circle of the lightweight construction element. 3. A lightweight construction element according to claim 1, characterized in that the wall thickness of the lightweight construction element is 1.5 mm. 4. A lightweight construction element according to claim 1, characterized in that the wall thickness of the lightweight construction element is 1 mm. 5. A lightweight construction element according to claim 1, in which the hollow sections are joined by friction stir welding. 6. A lightweight construction element according to claim 1, in which the individual hollow sections are joined by adhesive bonding. 7. A lightweight construction element according to claim 1, in which the hollow sections are provided with a connecting element having the form of ridges, hooks or grooves suitable for absorbing the forces occurring during joining. 8. A lightweight construction element according to claim 1, in which the hollow sections are made of aluminum, magnesium, titanium or alloys thereof. 9. A lightweight construction element according to claim 8, in which the hollow sections are made of dissimilar light metals or light-metal alloys. 10. A lightweight construction element according to claim 1, composed of mutually symmetric individual hollow sections. 11. A method for producing a lightweight construction element according to one of the preceding claims and comprising the following steps: (a) extrusion of hollow sections with a wall thickness of at most 0.5% of the diameter of the circumscribed circle of the lightweight construction element manufactured therefrom, (b) joining of a plurality of hollow sections in a planar configuration to form a lightweight construction element, which has a circumscribed circle with a diameter of at least 300 mm. 12. A method according to claim 11, in which the hollow sections are joined by friction stir welding. 13. A method according to claim 11, in which the hollow sections are joined by adhesive bonding. |
Nucleic acid amplification method |
A nucleic acid amplification method, and probes for use within the method are described. |
1. A method of analyzing circularized nucleic acids, by providing an amplification product, amplifying the said circularized DNA, which product comprises a concatemer of a sequence to be analyzed; the method further comprising the steps of: a) directly detecting the said amplification product in a homogenous hybridization reaction using singly- or ratio-labeled probes, wherein the said homogenous hybridization detection is based on an enrichment of the detection probes in the said amplification product, and/or by using a modified molecular beacon design; or b) carrying out a further signal generating reaction, comprising at least one of the following: I) providing a degradable signaling probe that is selectively degraded when it has hybridized to the said amplification product, wherein degraded probes dissociate from the said amplification product allowing further signaling probes to hybridize with the product, wherein hybridization and degradation of the probes effects a change in signal emitted by the probe. II) providing a pair of ligatable signaling probes that are designed such that they hybridize adjacent to each other onto a target sequence on an amplification product, wherein upon hybridization the probes are ligated to form a ligated product which dissociates from the target sequence, wherein dissociation of the ligated product from the target sequence allows a further pair of probes hybridize to the target sequence, and wherein upon dissociation from the target sequence the ligated product emits a signal; or c) monomerizing the said amplification product, circularizing the said monomerized amplification products, amplifying the said circularized monomers in a rolling-circle amplification reaction, and optionally repeating this procedure; and detecting or analyzing the amplification product. 2. A method according to claim 1 in which the circularized nucleic acid to be analyzed is a probe sequence. 3. A method according to claim 1 in which the circularized nucleic acid to be analyzed comprises cDNA, genomic DNA or RNA sequences. 4. A method according to claim 1 in which the monomerized amplification product of 1C is circularized using cDNA, genomic DNA, or RNA sequences. 5. A method according to claim 1 in which the circularized DNA to be analyzed has been formed through a proximity-dependent nucleic acid interaction event. 6. A method as claimed in claim 1 in which monomerization of the amplification product is achieved using a restriction enzyme and an oligonucleotide complementary to the amplification product, wherein the restriction enzyme cleaves any amplification product/oligo-nucleotide hybrids. 7. A method as claimed in claim 6 in which oligonucleotide is added in excess over the number of monomers contained in the amplification product. 8. A method as claimed in claim 1 in which the first generation amplification product is produced in a first generation amplification step, which step utilizes a polymerase enzyme, wherein the method includes a subsequent step of inactivating the polymerase enzyme. 9. A method as claimed in claim 1 in which monomerized amplification products are hybridized to and circularized on primers attached to a solid support, which primers initiate localized RCA. 10. A method as claimed in claim 1 in which circularized amplification products are hybridized to primers attached to a solid support, which primers initiate localized RCA. 11. A method as claimed in claim 1 in which monomerized amplification products are hybridized to primers attached to a solid support, and where the monomerized products are detected. 12. A method as claimed in claim 9 in which the primers are zip-code or tag sequences. 13. A method of nucleic acid amplification as claimed in claim 1 which employs probes to indicate the extent of the amplification, which method comprises the steps of: providing a signaling probe, which probe includes a sequence which is complementary to an amplification product; reacting the signaling probe with the amplification product; selectively degrading signaling probes that have hybridized to the first generation amplification product, wherein degraded probes dissociate from the first generation amplification product allowing further signaling probes to hybridize with the product, wherein hybridization and degradation of the probes effects a change in signal emitted by the probe. 14. A method as claimed in claim 13 in which the probe includes a sequence which is susceptible to degradation when the probe has hybridized to the amplification product. 15. A method as claimed in claim 14 in which the probe, and especially the sequence of the probe which is complementary to the amplification product, includes a sequence of RNA residues which is susceptible to degradation by RNaseH when the probe has hybridized to the amplification product. 16. A method as claimed in claim 13 in which the probe, when bound to the amplification product, is degraded by endonucleases, wherein the amplification product is modified to prevent degradation by the endonuclease. 17. A method as claimed in claim 16 in which the amplification product is modified by replacing deoxynucleotides with thiophosphorodeoxy-nucleotides. 18. A method as claimed in claim 13, in which a restriction enzyme recognition site is included in the sequence of the probe which hybridizes with the first generation amplification product. 19. A method as claimed in claim 13 in which selective degradation of the probe is achieved by a double strand specific exonuclease. 20. A method as claimed in claim 13 in which selective degradation of the probe is achieved using RNA-zymes or DNA-zymes, which RNA/DNA-zymes are contained in the first generation amplification product. 21. A method according to claim 13 to 20 in which the probes comprise a fluorescent moiety and a quenching moiety which are separated by a hairpin loop structure, wherein in an un-bound and intact conformation the quenching moiety quenches the signal from the fluorescent moiety, and wherein bound or degraged probe emits a signal. 22. A method according to claim 21 in which at least one of the stem sequences of the hairpin loop of the probe hybridizes with the amplification product. 23. A method as claimed in claim 13 in which the probe includes a pair of signalling moieties, which moieties produce a signal by FRET when the probe is intact, wherein degradation of the probe inhibits signal production. 24. A method according to claim 13 in which the probes are designed such that they will not act as templates/substrates for DNA polymerase. 25. A method according to claim 13 in which the amplification product is a single stranded linear RCA product. 26. A method as claimed in claim 13 in which dissociation of the degraded probe from the amplification product is achieved by thermal cycling. 27. A method as claimed in claim 13 in which the signaling probe is added during or after nucleic acid amplification. 28. A method as claimed in claim 1 in which one of the pair of signaling probes comprises a donor moiety and another comprises an acceptor moiety, and wherein the probes are designed such that the ligated product forms a hairpin loop structure, which upon formation allows energy transfer between the donor and acceptor moieties to produce a signal. 29. A method according to claim 1 in which, as an initial step, any non-circularized probes are removed, or rendered inert. 30. A method according to claim 29 in which non-circularized probes are removed using exonucleases. 30. A method according to claim 30 in which non-circularized probes are removed by capture on a solid support carrying an appropriate ligand for the non-circularized probes. 31. A method as claimed in claim 31 in which the ligand is a nucleic acid sequence which has sequence. affinity for non-circularized probe. 32. A method as claimed in claim 29, wherein the non-circularized probes comprise first and second segments separated by a linking segment, wherein the first and second segments are complementary to sequences on a target sequence, wherein the probe is designed to form a hairpin loop structure between the 3′ end of the probe and a sequence in a linking segment of the probe, wherein a stem of the hairpin loop structure ideally has a thermal stability that neither inhibits formation of a hybrid between the loop and the target sequence nor inhibit replication of the probe by RCA. 33. A method as claimed in claim 29 in which an excess of oligonucleotides which are complementary to a 3′ end of the probes are added before the amplification reaction, which oligonucleotides preferably include a 5′ sequence extension, whereby the 3′ end of non-circularized probes will lose complementarity to a product of the amplification process. |
Treatment of textiles with fluorinated polyethers |
A polymer adapted for the Shrink resist treatment of textile materials imparting water, stain and/or oil repellency. The polymer includes a fluorinated polyether. |
1. A polymer adapted for the treatment of textile materials, comprising a fluorinated polyether. 2. A polymer according to claim 1, of the type —A—B—A—B—, where A is a polyether amine and B is a fluorine compound. 3. A polymer according to claim 2, where B is a polyether chain. 4. A polymer according to claim 3, where B is a perfluoro polyether. 5. A polymer according to claim 4, in which the perfluoro polyether is reacted with a hydropolyether. 6. A polymer according to claim 1, comprising an ester of a perfluoropolyether reacted with a polyether amine. 7. A polymer according to claim 6, in which the polyether amine comprises polytetrahydrofuran-diamine. 8. A polymer according to claim 6 or claim 7, with added epichlorohydrin. 9. A polymer according to claim 1, adapted for the shrink resist treatment of keratinous fibre and also imparting water, stain and/or oil repellency. 10. A polymer according to claim 1, adapted for the treatment of vegetable and synthetic fibre, imparting water, stain and/or oil repellency thereto with a soft handle as compared to fluorinated polyurethanes or fluorinated acrylates. 11. A polymer according to claim 1, in aqueous solution. 12. A polymer according to claim 11, in which the concentration of the polymer in the solution is up to 20%. 13. A polymer according to claim 12, in which the concentration is 10%. 14. A method for making a polymer according to claim 1, comprising reacting polytetrahydrofuran-diamine with a ester of a perfluoroether. 15. A method according to claim 14, in which the ester is Fomblin 5027X. 16. A method according to claim 14, in which the ester is Fomblin 5028X. 17. A method according to claim 14, in which the ratio of diamine to ester is between 7:6 and 2:1. 18. A method according to claim 17, in which the ratio is 7:6. 19. A method according to claim 17, in which the ratio is 5:4. 20. A method according to claim 17, in which the ratio is 3:2. 21. A method according to claim 17, in which the ratio is 2:1. 22. A method according to claim 14, in which the reaction is carried out by heating under vacuum in the presence of an acid. 23. A method according to claim 22, in which the acid is para-toluene sulphonic acid. 24. A method according to claim 23, in which the acid is present at 2% by weight on the total of reactants. 25. A method according to claim 22, in which the reaction is carried out at between 130° C. and 160° C. 26. A method according to claim 25, in which the reaction is carried out at 150° C. 27. A method according to claim 22, in which the heating is continued for between one and three hours. 28. A method according to claim 27, in which the heating is continued for two hours. 29. A method according to claim 27, in which after the heating the product is maintained under vacuum for a further period of one to four hours. 30. A method according to claim 29, in which the further period is two hours. 31. A method according to claim 29, in which the product is cooled to below 110° C. and, whilst still fluid, dissolved in iso-propanol and water with vigorous stirring. 32. A method according to claim 31, in which epichlorohydrin is added to the solution and reacted at 65° C. until the pH falls to a value below 7.2. 33. A method according to claim 25, in which formic acid is added, to halt the reaction, to give a pH of 3.5. 34. A method according to claim 33, in which the solution is diluted with water so as to contain up to 20% solids. 35. A method according to claim 34, in which the solution is diluted with water so as to contain 10% solids. 36. A method for the treatment of keratinous fibre comprising the step of applying a polymer comprising fluorinated polyether. 37. A method according to claim 36, in which the polymer is applied by padding. 38. A method according to claim 36, in which the polymer is applied by coating. 39. A method according to claim 36, in which the polymer is applied by exhausting it on to the fibre. 40. A method according to claim 39, in which a treatment bath is heated to 40° C. 41. A method according to claim 36, in which the polymer is applied at 4-8% by weight on weight of goods. 42. A method according to claim 36, in which, after the treatment, the fibres are dried at a temperature no higher than 80° C. 43. A method according to claim 36, in which the fibre is a keratinous fibre pre-treated with permonosulphate, chlorine or a chlorine donor, followed by sulphite neutralisation and rinsing. 44. A method for the treatment of vegetable and/or synthetic fibre to impart water, stain and/or oil repellency with soft handle comprising treating the fibre with a polymer according to claim 1. 45. A method according to claim 44, in which the polymer is applied from a solution containing 60 g/l of polymer in water. 46. A method according to claim 45, in which the rate of application of polymer to fibre is 6% polymer by weight of fabric. 47. A method for treating a textile fabric according to claim 36. |
Spectacles and spectacles set |
Spectacles comprising a frame and lenses that are mounted in this frame, wherein the frame comprises an engagement holding mechanism near its middle when viewed from the front, for holding the lenses by engaging a mating component provided to the lenses; and an attraction holding mechanism near the two ends when viewed from the front, for holding the lenses by magnetic force. As a result, the lenses can be securely held and easily attached to and removed from the frame, without compromising the aesthetic design of the spectacles. |
1. Spectacles comprising a frame and lenses that are mounted in this frame, wherein the frame comprises an engagement holding mechanism near its middle when viewed from the front, for holding said lenses by engaging a mating component provided to said lenses; and an attraction holding mechanism near the two ends when viewed from the front, for holding the lenses by magnetic force. 2. The spectacles according to claim 1, wherein the frame has a right rim, a left rim, a bridge that links the right and left rims, and temples linked to the right and left rims, said lenses consist of a right lens and a left lens, and said engagement holding mechanism comprises a first engagement holding mechanism that is provided to said right rim and engages and holds the end part of said right lens, and a second engagement holding mechanism that is provided to said left rim and engages and holds the end part of said left lens. 3. The spectacles according to claim 2, wherein said first and second engagement holding mechanisms each consist of at least one protruding part that is substantially U-shaped and whose open end extends facing the approximate center of the lens, and the end parts of the right and left lenses are engaged and held in recessed parts demarcated by the insides of these substantially U-shaped curved portions. 4. The spectacles according to claim 3, wherein said protruding parts are covered on at least the inside of said recessed parts with a silicone-based resin. 5. The spectacles according to claim 4, wherein said first and second engagement holding mechanisms each comprise two protruding parts, and the insides of said recessed parts covered with said silicone-based resin both form an arc with substantially the same radius of curvature. 6. The spectacles according to claim 1, wherein said frame has a right rim, a left rim, a bridge that links the right and left rims, and temples linked to the right and left rims, said lenses consist of a right lens having a recessed part at its end part and a left lens having a recessed part at its end part, and said engagement holding mechanisms comprise said bridge, one part of this bridge being engaged with the inside of the recessed part in said right lens and one part with the inside of the recessed part in said left lens. 7. The spectacles according to claim 6, wherein said bridge comprises a first member that lies on substantially the same plane as the right and left rims and links the right and left rims, two post-shaped parts extending in post shape toward the front surface, and a second member that links the front end parts of these two post-shaped parts, and said engagement holding mechanism is such that said two post-shaped parts are engaged and held in the recessed part of said right lens and in the recessed part of said left lens respectively. 8. The spectacles according to claim 7, wherein said post-shaped parts are in the form of cylinders that are threaded on the inner peripheries thereof, and are integrated with said second member at the front surface end, said frame has two holes, and said bridge is constituted by inserting screws into the inner periphery parts of said post-shaped parts through said holes from the back side when viewed from the front. 9. The spectacles according to claim 7, wherein said post-shaped parts are in the form of cylinders that are threaded on the outside peripheries thereof, and are integrated with said second member at the front surface end, said frame has two holes, and said bridge is constituted by inserting said post-shaped parts into said holes and screwing nuts from the back side when viewed from the front. 10. The spectacles according to claim 9, further comprising springs between said nuts and the frame. 11. The spectacles according to claim 8, wherein said bridge is constituted with washers interposed between said first members and said post-shaped parts. 12. The spectacles according to claim 8, wherein said post-shaped parts are equipped with cylindrical silicone pipes around their outer peripheries. 13. The spectacles according to claim 1, wherein said frame has a right rim, a left rim, a bridge that links the right and left rims, and temples linked to the right and left rims, said lenses consist of a lens unit in which the right and left lenses are linked via a linking part, and said engagement holding mechanisms comprise said bridge, said linking part being engaged by this bridge so as to hold said lens unit. 14. The spectacles according to claim 1, wherein the main component of said frame is beta-titanium or stainless steel. 15. The spectacles according to claim 1, wherein said attraction holding mechanism comprises an attracting member provided on the lens, and an attracted member provided to the frame and attracted by the attracting member, and the end parts of said attracting members protrude rearward from the lenses when viewed from the front. 16. The spectacles according to claim 15, wherein at least part of said attracted member is fitted in a case, and this case is fixed to the frame via a holding member that absorbs force in the forward and rearward directions when viewed from the front. 17. The spectacles according to claim 15, wherein said lenses each have a hole into which said attracting member is fitted, and said attracting member is housed in a case that is threaded around the outer peripheral surface thereof, and this case is attached to the lens by being fitted into said hole. 18. A spectacles set, having a frame that constitutes the spectacles according to claim 1, and a plurality of right lenses and a plurality of left lenses detachably attached to this frame. 19. A spectacles set, having said frame that constitutes the spectacles according to claim 1, and a plurality of lens units detachably attached to this frame. 20. Spectacles comprising a frame and lenses that are mounted in said frame, wherein the frame comprises an engagement holding mechanism near its middle when viewed from the front, for holding the lenses by engaging a mating component provided to the lenses; and an attraction holding mechanism near the middle thereof when viewed from the front, for holding the lenses by magnetic force. 21. The spectacles according to claim 20, wherein the lenses consist of a right lens having a recess at the end, and a left lens having a recess at the end, and the engagement holding mechanism comprises a protrusions that engage in the recesses of the right and left lenses. 22. The spectacles according to claim 20, wherein the attraction holding mechanism comprises an attracting member provided to the lens, and an attracted member provided to the frame and attracted by the attracting member. |
<SOH> BACKGROUND ART <EOH>Consumer preferences have shifted in recent years toward spectacles whose lenses can be detached from the frame, allowing the wearer to choose between a plurality of types of lenses according to the intended use, personal taste, or fashion coordination. There has also recently been a move toward spectacles with more novel designs. For instance, there have been proposals for spectacles designed so that the frame will be as inconspicuous as possible, such as by making the frame thinner. However, in cases where lenses are constructed so as to be detachable from the frame, a problem has arisen in that a mechanism must be provided on the lenses or frame to allow the attachment and detachment of the lenses, and this detachment mechanism stands out, adversely affecting the aesthetic design. Furthermore, when the frame is made thinner or the left and right rims of the frame are constructed to support [only] the upper part of the lenses in order to make the frame stand out less, there is a danger that the lenses cannot be securely held by the frame. In view of this, it is an object of the present invention to provide spectacles with which lenses that can be detached from the frame can be securely held by the frame, and in which, furthermore, the detachment mechanism will not adversely affect the aesthetic design. |
<SOH> BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS <EOH>FIG. 1 is an overall perspective view of the spectacles pertaining to Embodiment 1; FIG. 2 is an overall perspective view of the frame pertaining to Embodiment 1; FIG. 3 is a diagram of the portion A′ in FIG. 2 , viewed in the direction of arrow II; FIG. 4 is a perspective view pertaining to Embodiment 1, illustrating the state when the lenses are mounted in the frame; FIG. 5 is a plan view of FIG. 4 ; FIG. 6 is a diagram pertaining to Embodiment 1, illustrating the state when the lenses are stored in their storage case; FIG. 7 is an overall perspective view of the spectacles pertaining to Embodiment 2; FIG. 8 is a plan view of the spectacles shown in FIG. 7 ; FIG. 9 is an overall perspective view of the frame pertaining to Embodiment 2; FIG. 10 is a perspective view pertaining to Embodiment 2, illustrating the state when the lens unit is mounted in the frame; FIG. 11 is a plan view of FIG. 10 ; FIG. 12 is an overall perspective view of the spectacles pertaining to Embodiment 3; FIG. 13 is a plan view of the spectacles shown in FIG. 12 ; FIG. 14 is an overall perspective view of the frame pertaining to Embodiment 3; FIG. 15 is a perspective view pertaining to Embodiment 3, illustrating the state when the lenses are mounted in the frame; FIG. 16 is an overall perspective view of the spectacles pertaining to Embodiment 4; FIG. 17 is an overall perspective view of the frame pertaining to Embodiment 4; FIG. 18 is a perspective view pertaining to Embodiment 4, illustrating the state when the lenses are mounted in the frame; FIG. 19 is a plan view of FIG. 16 ; 13 ; FIG. 20 is a diagram illustrating the structure of the bridge; FIG. 21 is a plan view of the spectacles pertaining to Embodiment 5; FIG. 22 is a diagram illustrating another structure of the bridge; FIG. 23 is an overall perspective view of the spectacles pertaining to Embodiment 9; FIG. 24 is a perspective view pertaining to Embodiment 9, illustrating the state when the lens unit is mounted in the frame; FIG. 25 is a plan view of FIG. 23 ; FIG. 26 is a detail enlargement illustrating the attraction holding state produced by magnets; FIG. 27 is a detail enlargement illustrating the attraction holding state produced by magnets in the spectacles pertaining to Embodiment 10; FIG. 28 is a detail enlargement illustrating the attraction holding state produced by magnets in the spectacles pertaining to Embodiment 11; FIG. 29 is a diagram of the state when a magnet case is inserted into a lens; FIG. 30 is a diagram illustrating another structure of the bridge; FIG. 31 is a diagram illustrating another structure of the bridge; FIG. 32 is a diagram illustrating another structure of the bridge; FIG. 33 is a detail enlargement of a plan view of the spectacles pertaining to Embodiment 8; FIG. 34 is an overall oblique view of the spectacles pertaining to Embodiment 12; FIG. 35 is a diagram illustrating how the lenses are mounted in the frame in Embodiment 12; FIG. 36 is a diagram illustrating another structure of the lenses; FIG. 37 is a diagram illustrating another structure of the lenses; FIG. 38 illustrates the lenses pertaining to Embodiment 13; and FIG. 39 is a diagram illustrating how the lenses are mounted in the frame in Embodiment 13. detailed-description description="Detailed Description" end="lead"? |
Communication system and method |
The present invention relates to a communication system and a communication method for simply and quickly starting communication. A cellular phone 52 is loaded with a non-contact IC card that communicates with a reader/writer of a personal computer 51 using an electromagnetic wave. When the non-contact IC card receives the electromagnetic wave emitted from the reader/writer with the cellular phone 52 placed close to the personal computer 51, the cellular phone 52 notifies the personal computer 51 of a card ID set in the non-contact IC card. When the personal computer 51 acquires Bluetooth device names of the cellular phone 52 and PDA 53 with intra-piconet synchronization established between the cellular phone 52 and the PDA 53, the personal computer 51 identifies the cellular phone 52 as a communication partner based on the Bluetooth device names already notified of as the card ID. The present invention is applicable to an information processing apparatus such as a personal computer and a cellular phone. |
1-21. (Cancelled) 22. A communication system comprising a ubiquitous network including an information processing apparatus and a plurality of communication terminals, wherein the information processing apparatus comprises: first acquisition processing means for acquiring identification information of the communication terminal close thereto using a first wireless communication unit that sends power to and transmits data to and receives data from the communication terminal close thereto through a loop antenna, first synchronization processing means for establishing synchronization for wireless communication with the plurality of communication terminals including the communication terminal close thereto using a second wireless communication unit, second acquisition processing means for acquiring terminal name information from the plurality of communication terminals with which synchronization is established by the first synchronization processing means, using the second wireless communication unit, and identification processing means for identifying, as a communication partner, the communication terminal having the identification information acquired by the first acquisition processing means, from among the plurality of communication terminals having the terminal name information acquired by the second acquisition processing means, and wherein the communication terminal comprises: first providing processing means for providing identification information of own terminal to the information processing apparatus, using a third wireless communication unit that transmits and receives data using at least a portion of power induced through an loop antenna, second synchronization processing means for establishing synchronization by transmitting and receiving predetermined signals through a fourth wireless communication unit in response to a request from the information processing apparatus when the synchronization of wireless communication is established using the second wireless communication unit, and second providing processing means for providing terminal name information of own terminal, using the fourth wireless communication unit transmitting and receiving data, in response to a request from the information processing apparatus transmitted through the second wireless communication unit. 23. A communication method for a communication system including a ubiquitous network including an information processing apparatus and a plurality of communication terminals, wherein the information processing method for the information processing apparatus comprises: a first acquisition processing step for acquiring identification information of the communication terminal close thereto using a first wireless communication unit that sends power to and transmits data to and receives data from the communication terminal close thereto through a loop antenna, a first synchronization processing step for establishing synchronization for wireless communication with the plurality of communication terminals including the communication terminal close thereto using a second wireless communication unit, a second acquisition processing step for acquiring terminal name information from the plurality of communication terminals with which synchronization is established in the first synchronization processing step, using the second wireless communication unit, and an identification processing step for identifying, as a communication partner, the communication terminal having the identification information acquired in the first acquisition processing step, from among the plurality of communication terminals having the terminal name information acquired in the second acquisition processing step, and wherein the communication method for the communication terminal comprises: a first providing processing step for providing identification information of own terminal to the information processing apparatus, using a third wireless communication unit that transmits and receives data using at least a portion of power induced through an loop antenna, a second synchronization processing step for establishing synchronization by transmitting and receiving predetermined signals through a fourth wireless communication unit in response to a request from the information processing apparatus when the synchronization of wireless communication is established using the second wireless communication unit, and a second providing processing step for providing terminal name information of own terminal, using the fourth wireless communication unit transmitting and receiving data, in response to a request from the information processing apparatus transmitted through the second wireless communication unit. 24. An information processing apparatus comprising: first acquisition processing means for acquiring identification information of a communication terminal using a first wireless communication unit that transmits and receives predetermined data, synchronization processing means for establishing synchronization for wireless communication with a plurality of communication terminals including the communication terminal using a second wireless communication unit that transmits and receives desired data, second acquisition processing means for acquiring terminal name information from the plurality of communication terminals with which synchronization is established by the synchronization processing means, using the second wireless communication unit, and identification processing means for identifying, as a communication partner, the communication terminal having the identification information acquired by the first acquisition processing means, from among the plurality of communication terminals having the terminal name information acquired by the second acquisition processing means. 25. An information processing apparatus according claim 24, wherein the wireless communication coverage distance of the first wireless communication unit is shorter than the wireless communication coverage distance of the second wireless communication unit. 26. An information processing apparatus according to claim 24, wherein the first acquisition processing means acquires the identification information of the communication terminal close thereto using the first wireless communication unit that sends power to and transmits data to and receives data from the communication terminal close thereto through a loop antenna. 27. An information processing apparatus according to claim 24, wherein each of the identification information and the terminal name information contains a Bluetooth device name. 28. An information processing apparatus according to claim 24, wherein each of the identification information and the terminal name information contains an IP address unique to the communication terminal. 29. An information processing apparatus according to claim 24, further comprising start-up processing means for starting the second wireless communication unit in response to the acquisition of the identification information by the first acquisition processing means. 30. An information processing method comprising: a first acquisition processing step for acquiring identification information of a communication terminal using a first wireless communication unit that transmits and receives predetermined data, a synchronization processing step for establishing synchronization for wireless communication with a plurality of communication terminals including the communication terminal, using a second wireless communication unit that transmits and receives desired data, a second acquisition processing step for acquiring terminal name information from the plurality of communication terminals with which synchronization is established in the synchronization processing step, using the second wireless communication unit, and an identification processing step for identifying, as a communication partner, the communication terminal having the identification information acquired in the first acquisition processing step, from among the plurality of communication terminals having the terminal name information acquired in the second acquisition processing step. 31. An information processing method according to claim 30, wherein the identification information contains a Bluetooth device name, and wherein the first acquisition processing step comprises acquiring the identification information of the communication terminal close thereto using the first wireless communication unit that sends power to and transmits data to and receives data from the communication terminal close thereto through a loop antenna. 32. A communication terminal comprising: first providing processing means for providing identification information of own terminal in response to a predetermined request from an information processing apparatus using a first wireless communication unit that transmits and receives predetermined data, synchronization processing means for establishing synchronization with the information processing apparatus by transmitting and receiving predetermined signals through a second wireless communication unit that transmits and receives desired data, and second providing processing means for providing terminal name information of own terminal using the second wireless communication unit in response to a request from the information processing apparatus received through the second wireless communication unit. 33. A communication terminal according claim 32, wherein the wireless communication coverage distance of the first wireless communication unit is shorter than the wireless communication coverage distance of the second wireless communication unit. 34. A communication terminal according to claim 32, wherein the first providing processing means provides the identification information of own terminal to the information processing apparatus using the first wireless communication unit that transmits and receives data using at least a portion of power induced through a loop antenna. 35. A communication terminal according to claim 32, wherein each of the identification information and the terminal name information contains at least a Bluetooth device name. 36. A communication terminal according to claim 32, wherein each of the identification information and the terminal name information contains an IP address unique to the communication terminal. 37. A communication method comprising: a first providing processing step for providing identification information of own terminal in response to a predetermined request from an information processing apparatus using a first wireless communication unit that transmits and receives predetermined data, a synchronization processing step for establishing synchronization with the information processing apparatus by transmitting and receiving predetermined signals through a second wireless communication unit that transmits and receives desired data, and a second providing processing step for providing terminal name information of own terminal using the second wireless communication unit in response to a request from the information processing apparatus received through the second wireless communication unit. 38. A communication method according to claim 37, wherein each of the identification information and the terminal name information contains at least a Bluetooth device name, and wherein the first providing processing step comprises providing identification information of own terminal to the information processing apparatus using the first wireless communication unit that transmits and receives data using a portion of power induced through a loop antenna. 39. An expansion device connectable with an information processing apparatus, comprising: a connection terminal, electrically connected to the information processing apparatus, for transmitting and receiving data, first acquisition processing means for acquiring identification information of a communication terminal close thereto using a first wireless communication unit that sends power to and transmits data to and receives data from the communication terminal close thereto through a loop antenna, synchronization processing means for establishing synchronization for wireless communication with a plurality of communication terminals including the communication terminal close thereto using a second wireless communication unit, second acquisition processing means for acquiring terminal name information from the plurality of communication terminals with which synchronization is established by the synchronization processing means, using the second wireless communication unit, and identification processing means for identifying, as a communication partner, the communication terminal having the identification information acquired by the first acquisition processing means, from among the plurality of communication terminals having the terminal name information acquired by the second acquisition processing means. 40. An expansion device connectable with a communication terminal, comprising: a connection terminal, electrically connected to the communication terminal, for transmitting and receiving data, first providing processing means for providing identification information of own terminal in response to a request from an information processing apparatus using a first wireless communication unit that transmits and receives data using at least a portion of power induced through an loop antenna, synchronization processing means for establishing synchronization with the information processing apparatus by transmitting and receiving predetermined signals through a second wireless communication unit that transmits and receives desired data, and second providing processing means for providing terminal name information of own terminal using the second wireless communication unit in response to a request from the information processing apparatus received through the second wireless communication unit. 41. A program for causing an image processing apparatus to perform: a first acquisition processing step for acquiring identification information of a communication terminal using a first wireless communication unit that transmits and receives predetermined data, a synchronization processing step for establishing synchronization for wireless communication with a plurality of communication terminals including the communication terminal using a second wireless communication unit that transmits and receives desired data, a second acquisition processing step for acquiring terminal name information from the plurality of communication terminals with which synchronization is established in the synchronization processing step, using the second wireless communication unit, and an identification processing step for identifying, as a communication partner, the communication terminal having the identification information acquired in the first acquisition processing step, from among the plurality of communication terminals having the terminal name information acquired in the second acquisition processing step. 42. A program for causing a communication terminal to perform: a first providing processing step for providing identification information of own terminal in response to a predetermined request from an information processing apparatus using a first wireless communication unit that transmits and receives predetermined data, a synchronization processing step for establishing synchronization with the information processing apparatus by transmitting and receiving predetermined signals through a second wireless communication unit that transmits and receives desired data, and a second providing processing step for providing terminal name information of own terminal using the second wireless communication unit in response to a request from the information processing apparatus received through the second wireless communication unit. 43. An image processing apparatus according to claim 24, wherein the first acquisition processing means operates when the proximity of the communication terminal is detected in response to a change in the load of the first wireless communication unit. 44. An information processing method according to claim 30, wherein the first acquisition processing step is performed when the proximity of the communication terminal is detected in response to a change in the load of the first wireless communication unit. |
<SOH> BACKGROUND ART <EOH>Bluetooth® commands attention as wireless short-range communication means and a variety of Bluetooth devices are developed and commercially available. Bluetooth is a wireless communication standard standardized by Bluetooth SIG (Special Interest Group), and a Bluetooth device communicates with another device having a Bluetooth module using a 2.4 GHZ band (IMS (Industrial Science Medical)). A network formed using Bluetooth is referred to as a piconet or is referred to as a scatternet including a plurality of interconnected piconets depending on configuration. Bluetooth devices, functioning as a master role and a slave role, are contained in the network. For convenience, the Bluetooth device functioning as the master role is simply referred to as a master, and the Bluetooth device functioning as the slave role is simply referred to as a slave. FIG. 1 illustrates the concept of the piconet and the scatternet. As shown, the piconet includes a single master, and one or a plurality of slaves perform communications under the control of the master. In this example, a piconet 1 includes a master 1 , a slave 1 - 1 , and a slave 1 - 2 . A piconet 2 includes a master 2 and a slave 2 - 1 . A scatternet is formed of the piconet 1 and the piconet 2 interconnected to each other. As shown in FIG. 1 , a communication link between the piconet 1 and the piconet 2 is disabled. To transmit and receive various information in the piconet, all Bluetooth devices in the piconet must be synchronized in frequency axis and time axis. The synchronization in the frequency axis and the synchronization in the time axis are now discussed. In Bluetooth, a signal is sent from the master to the slave using a frequency width of 79 MHZ. The master sends the signal by randomly changing (hopping) the transmission frequency of information by a frequency width of 1 MHz rather than concurrently occupying the frequency width of 79 MHz. The receiving slave synchronizes with the randomly changing transmission frequency of the master, thereby appropriately changing the reception frequency thereof to receive the information sent from the master. A pattern of changing frequencies of the master and the slave is called a frequency hopping pattern, and a state in which the frequency hopping pattern is commonly shared by the master and the slave is defined as a frequency axis synchronization established state. To allow the master to communicate with a plurality of slaves in a Bluetooth system, a communication path (channel) between the master and the slaves is time-division multiplexed by a unit of 625 μs. A time duration of 625 μs is called a time slot. A state in which the time slot is commonly shared is defined as a time axis synchronization established state. As will discussed more detail later, all slaves calculate a frequency hopping pattern to establish the synchronization in the frequency axis based on a Bluetooth address of the master, adds an offset to a Bluetooth clock managed by own slave in accordance with a Bluetooth clock of the master, and sets the timing of the time slot to establish the synchronization in the time axis. Each Bluetooth device has a 48 bit Bluetooth address unique thereto, and based on the Bluetooth address, a hopping pattern is uniquely calculated. All Bluetooth devices manage their own Bluetooth clocks. Before forming the piconet, the master and the slave exchange a variety of information including the Bluetooth address, and the Bluetooth clock to establish the frequency axis synchronization and the time axis synchronization. The process of a conventional Bluetooth device to establish the frequency axis synchronization and the time axis synchronization and to form a piconet is discussed below with reference to flowcharts shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 . In the process to be discussed below, the master 1 , the slave 1 - 1 , and the slave 1 - 2 shown in FIG. 1 are synchronized, and the piconet 1 is configured. Packets, etc. exchanged therebetween will be discussed later, and a general flow of the process is discussed here. In step S 1 , the master 1 broadcasts an IQ (Inquiry) packet to detect slaves present surrounding the master. For example, if the slave 1 - 1 and the slave 1 - 2 are present in the master 1 as shown in FIG. 1 , the slave 1 - 1 receives the IQ packet sent from the master 1 in step S 31 . In step S 32 , the slave 1 - 1 replies to the master with a packet (FHS packet) indicating own attribute information. Similarly, the slave 1 - 2 receives the IQ packet in step S 51 , and replies to the master with the FHS packet thereof in step S 52 . The FHS packet sent from the slave to the master contains, as the attribute information of the slave, the Bluetooth address and the Bluetooth clock of the slave. The master 1 receives the FHS packet from the slave 1 - 1 in step S 2 , and receives the FHS packet from the slave 1 - 2 in step S 3 . An “Inquiry” refers to a series of steps of the master including broadcasting the IQ packet and receiving the FHS packet sent in response, and a series of steps of the slave including receiving the sent IQ packet, and sending the FHS packet in response. In step S 4 , the master 1 sends, to the slave 1 - 1 , an ID packet generated based on the FHS packet received in step S 2 . The slave 1 - 1 receives the ID packet in step S 33 . In step S 34 , the slave 1 - 1 sends the same ID packet as the one received to notify the master that the transmission and the reception of packets are enabled. Upon receiving the ID packet sent from the slave 1 - 1 in step S 5 , the master 1 proceeds to step S 6 . The master 1 sends the FHS packet to the slave 1 - 1 , and notifies the slave 1 - 1 of the Bluetooth address and the Bluetooth clock as own attribute information. In step S 35 , the slave 1 - 1 receives the FHS packet from the master 1 , and the Bluetooth addresses and the Bluetooth clocks required to establish intra-piconet synchronization are now exchanged between the master 1 and the slave 1 - 1 . In step S 36 , the slave 1 - 1 sends the ID packet to the master 1 , and acknowledges that the FHS packet has been received. In step S 37 , the slave 1 - 1 establishes synchronization with the master 1 based on the Bluetooth address and the Bluetooth clock notified of by the master 1 . The process of the slave to establish synchronization based on the information notified of by the master will be discussed in detail later. Upon receiving the notification from the slave 1 - 1 in step S 7 , the master 1 proceeds to step S 8 . In succession to exchanging the FHS packet and the ID packet with the slave 1 - 1 , the master 1 exchanges these pieces of information with the slave 1 - 2 . In other words, process steps of the master 1 in steps S 8 through step S 11 , and process steps of the slave 1 - 2 in steps S 53 through S 57 are respectively identical to process steps in steps S 4 through S 7 , and process steps in steps S 33 through S 37 . More specifically, the master 1 sends the ID packet to the slave 1 - 2 in step S 8 . In response, the slave 1 - 2 sends the ID packet to acknowledge the reception of the ID packet. In step S 10 , the master 1 sends the FHS packet to the slave 1 - 2 to notify the slave 1 - 2 of own attribute information. In step S 55 , the slave 1 - 2 receives the FHS packet from the master 1 . In step S 56 , the slave 1 - 2 sends the ID packet to the master 1 . In step S 57 , the slave 1 - 2 establishes synchronization with the master 1 based on the Bluetooth address and the Bluetooth clock sent from the master 1 . A series of process steps from the “inquiry” to the establishment of synchronization is referred to as “page”. In step S 12 , the master 1 requests the slave 1 - 1 to notify of the Bluetooth device name. Each Bluetooth device has its own Bluetooth device name set therefor, and the modification of the Bluetooth device name is up to a user. The Bluetooth device name is used for the user to operate the master to select a communication partner (slave), for example. If the communication partner is selected based on the Bluetooth address, the user must make a mental note of addresses of all Bluetooth devices present in the piconet. The Bluetooth address is a number represented by 48 bits. Upon receiving the request from the master 1 in step S 38 , the slave 1 - 1 proceeds to step S 39 . The slave 1 - 1 notifies the master 1 of the set Bluetooth device name. In step S 13 , the master 1 receives the Bluetooth device name notified of by the slave 1 - 1 . In step S 14 , the master 1 also requests the slave 1 - 2 to notify of the Bluetooth device name. The slave 1 - 2 , which has received the request in step S 58 , notifies the master 1 of the set Bluetooth device name in step S 59 . Upon receiving the notification from the slave 1 - 2 in step S 15 , the master 1 displays a selection screen for selecting a slave to communicate on a display thereof in step S 16 . Presented on the selection screen are the Bluetooth device names acquired in steps S 13 and S 15 . Viewing the selection screen, the user may select the slave to communicate with later. FIG. 4 illustrates the selection screen presented on the Bluetooth device (master) provided subsequent to the establishment of synchronization. As shown, a selection window 1 appears. A master screen 11 displaying information of the master operated by the user is presented on the left-hand side of the selection window. The master screen 11 includes a device name screen partition 11 A and an address screen partition 11 B. The Bluetooth device name of the master is displayed on the device name screen partition 11 A, and the Bluetooth device address is displayed on the address-screen partition 11 B. More in detail, a category of the Bluetooth device of the master is displayed on the upper row of the device name screen partition 11 A, while the Bluetooth device name modifiable to the user's preference is displayed on the lower row of the device name screen partition 11 A. In this example, the category is “(personal) computer”, and the device name is “Red's computer”. Profile selection buttons 12 are arranged in a vertical column at the approximate center of the selection window 1 . The user selects the profile for the slave. The profile defines a communication system of the slave. As shown in FIG. 4 , eight profile selection buttons 12 appear. Displayed on the right portion of the selection window 1 are slave screen partitions 13 through 19 . Like in the master screen 11 , each slave screen partition includes a device name screen partition and an address screen partition. In the example shown in FIG. 4 , communications are going on between the slave screen partition 16 and the master. The category of the Bluetooth device displayed on the slave screen partition 16 is “cellular phone”, and the Bluetooth device name displayed on the slave screen partition 16 is “red cellular phone”. FIG. 5 illustrates another example of the selection screen displayed on the Bluetooth device subsequent to the establishment of synchronization. A selection window 31 presents a profile on the left-hand portion thereof, and a Bluetooth device name of the slave with a blank arrow mark interposed therebetween. For example, the master performs Bluetooth communications at the profile for transferring a music file to a slave (a black player) displayed on a first row of the selection window 31 . The piconet is thus established. To start communications, communicable Bluetooth devices are listed as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 . The user then must select a communication partner. After selecting the communication partner, the user must further select the profile in accordance with the device of the communication partner. A system using Bluetooth communication has been proposed in which a charge for a commodity purchased from a vending machine is paid using a cellular phone having a Bluetooth module. In such a system, the user may be expected to select the communication partner to greater or lesser degrees. The purchasing procedure using the system in the vending machine may become complicated in comparison with the purchasing procedure using banknotes. |
<SOH> BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS <EOH>FIG. 1 illustrates the concept of a piconet and a scatternet. FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a known process for establishing intra-piconet synchronization. FIG. 3 is a continuation of the flowchart of FIG. 2 , illustrating the known process for establishing the intra-piconet synchronization. FIG. 4 illustrates a screen for selecting a communication terminal. FIG. 5 illustrates another screen for selecting a communication terminal. FIG. 6 illustrates a configuration of a communication system implementing the present invention. FIG. 7 is an external view of a personal computer of FIG. 6 . FIG. 8 is another external view of the personal computer of FIG. 6 . FIG. 9 is a further external view of the personal computer of FIG. 6 . FIG. 10 is a side view of the personal computer of FIG. 6 . FIG. 11 is a block diagram of the personal computer of FIG. 6 . FIG. 12 is a block diagram illustrating the structure of a non-contact IC card reader/writer of FIG. 11 . FIG. 13 is a block diagram illustrating the structure of a Bluetooth module of FIG. 11 . FIG. 14 is an external view of a cellular phone of FIG. 6 . FIG. 15 is another external view of the cellular phone of FIG. 6 . FIG. 16 is a block diagram illustrating the structure of the cellular phone of FIG. 6 . FIG. 17 is a block diagram illustrating the structure of the non-contact IC card of FIG. 16 . FIG. 18 illustrates specifications of the non-contact IC card of FIG. 17 . FIG. 19 is a functional block diagram of the cellular phone of FIG. 6 . FIG. 20 is a flowchart illustrating a process of the communication system of FIG. 6 . FIG. 21 is a continuation of the flowchart of FIG. 20 , illustrating the process of the communication system of FIG. 6 . FIG. 22 is a flowchart illustrating another process of the communication system of FIG. 6 . FIG. 23 is a continuation of the flowchart of FIG. 22 , illustrating the other process of the communication system of FIG. 6 . FIG. 24A illustrates another structure of the cellular phone of FIG. 6 . FIG. 24B illustrates yet another structure of the cellular phone of FIG. 6 . FIG. 25A illustrates a further structure of the cellular phone of FIG. 6 . FIG. 25B illustrates a still further structure of the cellular phone of FIG. 6 . FIG. 26A illustrates a further structure of the cellular phone of FIG. 6 . FIG. 26B illustrates a still further structure of the cellular phone of FIG. 6 . FIG. 27 is a flowchart illustrating a process of the cellular phone of FIG. 6 . FIG. 28 is a flowchart illustrating another process of the cellular phone of FIG. 6 . FIG. 29 is a flowchart illustrating yet another process of the cellular phone of FIG. 6 . FIG. 30 is a flowchart illustrating a further process of the cellular phone of FIG. 6 . FIG. 31 is a flowchart illustrating a still further process of the cellular phone of FIG. 6 . FIG. 32 is a flowchart illustrating yet a still further process of the cellular phone of FIG. 6 . FIG. 33 illustrates a concept of a ubiquitous society implementing the present invention. detailed-description description="Detailed Description" end="lead"? |
Organic compounds |
An isolated BSAP1, GID 2.1, GID 2.2, GID3 and GID4 gene expressed in dendritic cells of the immune system, BASP1, GID 2.1, GID 2.2, GID3 and GID4 polypeptides expressed by such gene and their function in the identification of compo8unds which are (ant)agonists to BASP1, GID 2.1, GID 2.2, GID3 and GID4 polypeptides. |
1. An isolated gene expressed in dendritic cells of the immune system which is selected from BASP1, GID2, GID3 and GID4. 2. An isolated gene according to claim 1 comprising the polynucleotide, sequence of SEQ ID NO:1, or SEQ ID NO:2, or SEQ ID NO:3, or SEQ ID NO:5, or SEQ ID NO:7, or SEQ ID NO:8, or SEQ ID NO:10, or SEQ ID NO:11. 3. An isolated gene according to claim 1 encoding a polypeptide of sequence SEQ ID NO:4, or SEQ ID NO:6, or SEQ ID NO:9, or SEQ ID NO:12. 4. An isolated polypeptide encoded by a GID 2.1, GID 3 and/or GID 4 gene according to claim 1. 5. A vector comprising a gene according to claim 1 and/or a polypeptide according to claim 4 and/or SEQ ID NO:6. 6. An expression system comprising a gene according to claim 1, or a corresponding isolated promoter sequence as pan of a recombinant vector, wherein said expression system or pan thereof is capable of producing polypeptide encoded by a GID 2.1, GID 3 and/or GID 4 gene and/or a polypeptide according to SEQ ID NO:6 when said expression system or pan thereof is present in a compatible host cell. 7. An isolated host cell comprising an expression system according to claim 6. 8. A diagnostic kit for a disease or suspectability to a disease as described above, comprising: (a) a gene encoding a sequence of e.g. of SEQ ID NO: 4, or SEQ ID NO: 6, or SEQ ID NO: 9, or SEQ ID NO: 12, (b) a nucleotide sequence complementary to that of (a); (c) a polypeptide; or d) an antibody to a polypeptide. 9. An isolated antibody against a polypeptide as claimed in claim 4 or of SEQ ID NO:6. 10. An assay for screening to identify agonists or antagonists which decrease or enhance the production and or the biological activity of a polypeptide as claimed in claim 4, comprising (a) a polypeptide as claimed in claim 4 or of SEQ ID NO:6; (b) a host cell supporting an expression system comprising a polypeptide as claimed in claim 4 or of SEQ ID NO:6; (c) a host cell supporting an expression system comprising the corresponding gene promoter and a recombinant polynucleotide transgene fused to a marker polynucleotide that expresses the resulting fusion polypeptide comprising a polynucleotide as claimed in claim 4 or of SEQ ID NO:6; or (d) an antibody to a polypeptide as claimed in claim 4 or of SEQ ID NO:6. 11. An antagonist or an agonist of the expression and or the biological activity of a gene according to claim 1 that is characterized in that said antagonist or agonist can be provided by the following method steps: A) contacting (a) a polypeptide encoded by a GID 2.1, GID 3 and/or GID 4 gene or of SEQ ID NO:6; (b) a host cell supporting an expression system comprising a polypeptide encoded by a GID 2.1, GID 3 and/or GID 4 gene or of SEQ ID NO:6; (c) a host cell supporting an expression system comprising the corresponding gene promoter and a recombinant polynucleotide transgene fused to a marker polynucleotide that expresses the resulting fusion polypeptide comprising a polypeptide encoded by a GID 2.1, GID 3 and/or GID 4 gene or of SEQ ID NO:6; or (d) an antibody to a polypeptide encoded by a GID 2.1, GID 3 and/or GID 4 gene or of SEQ ID NO:6 with a candidate compound, B) determining the effect of the candidate compound on any of a), b), c) or d); C) choosing an agonist or antagonist determined in step B). 12. An antagonist or an agonist according to claim 11 for use as a pharmaceutical. 13. A pharmaceutical composition comprising a pharmaceutically effective amount of an agonist or an antagonist according to claim 11 in combination with pharmaceutically acceptable carrier(s)/excipient(s). 14. A method of treating abnormal conditions related to both an excess of and insufficient level of expression of a gene according to claim 1; or related to both an excess of and insufficient activity of a polypeptide encoded by a GID 2.1, GID 3 and/or GID 4 gene or of SEQ ID NO:6, comprising administering a therapeutically effective amount of an agonist or antagonist wherein said antagonist or agonist can be provided by the following method steps: A) contacting (a) a polypeptide encoded by a GID 2.1, GID 3 and/or GID 4 gene or of SEQ ID NO:6: (b) a host cell supporting an expression system comprising a polypeptide encoded by a GID 2.1, GID 3 and/or GID 4 gene or of SEQ ID NO:6; (c) a host cell supporting an expression system comprising the corresponding gene promoter and a recombinant polynucleotide transgene fused to a marker polynucleotide that expresses the resulting fusion polypeptide comprising a polypeptide encoded by a GID 2.1. GID 3 and/or GID 4 gene or of SEQ ID NO:6; or (d) an antibody to a polypeptide encoded by a GID 2.1. GID 3 and/or GID 4 gene or of SEQ ID NO:6 with a candidate compound. B) determining the effect of the candidate compound on any of a), b), c) or d); C) choosing an agonist or antagonist determined in step B); to a subject in need of said treating. 15. A method according to claim 14 wherein abnormal conditions which may be treated include acute and chronic inflammatory diseases, including for example inflammatory skin diseases such as allergic and atopic dermatitis, and chronic inflammatory diseases whose symptoms appear in other tissues such as intestine and colon, lung and vascular tissue; e.g. such as abnormal immune reactivity in autoimmune diseases, or undesired immunological reactions associated with therapeutic treatment of diseases as in transplant rejection crises; e.g. immune hypo-reactivity or suppression in diseases such as cancer, and that associated with persistent viral or microbial infection. 16. A gene according to claim 1 expressed in DCs of the immune system and encoding a protein of the corresponding polypeptide sequence, whose expression in DCs is regulated by inflammatory stimuli, as a specific molecular target in DCs for therapeutic intervention in diseases in which immunological reactions are a primary component of etiology, progression and/or exacerbating symptoms associated with the disease. 17. A bispecific reagent which is other than an antibody, having the ability to bind to a polypeptide as claimed in claim 4 or of SEQ ID NO:6 and to a viral, bacterial or eukaryotic parasite or to a cancer cell. 18. A method for inducing an immunological response in a mammal that comprises inoculating said mammal with a polypeptide as claimed in claim 4 or of SEQ ID NO:6 in an amount sufficient to produce antibody and/or T cell immune response(s) to protect said mammal from diseases. 19. An immunological/vaccine formulation (composition) that, when introduced into a mammal, induces an immunological response in that mammal to a polypeptide as claimed in claim 4 or of SEQ ID NO 6, wherein said formulation comprises a polypeptide as claimed in claim 4 or of SEQ ID NO:6, or an expression vector comprising a polypeptide as claimed in claim 4 or of SEQ ID NO:6, or host cells comprising cells from said mammal that is treated that contain an expression vector comprising a polypeptide as claimed in claim 4 or of SEQ ID NO:6. |
Method and device for controlling the triggering of passive safety system and the use thereof |
A method and device for controlling the triggering of passive safety systems, such as airbags in vehicles, in response to criteria being detected that are to be interpreted as the existence of a dangerous impact. One of these criteria is the impact speed. A measure of the impact speed is ascertained in that first the instant of the impact onset of the vehicle against an obstacle is detected and then the instant is detected when the acceleration of the rigid support structure of the vehicle transitions from light to heavy acceleration. The time difference between the impact-onset instant and the acceleration-transition instant is a measure of the impact speed. To ascertain the instants, integral values of acceleration signals from acceleration sensors may be utilized and analyzed in an appropriate manner. The method and device are applicable, in particular, in the discrimination of impact processes at low driving speeds. |
1-17. (Canceled) 18. A method for controlling a triggering of a passive safety system in response to a detection of criteria that are to be interpreted as an existence of a dangerous impact, comprising: detecting an instant when the impact of a vehicle against an obstacle begins, the instant being ascertained at the time at which an acceleration of a rigid support structure of the vehicle transitions from a light acceleration to a heavy acceleration, the instant being associated with an impact-onset instant and an acceleration-transition instant; ascertaining a time difference between the impact-onset instant and the acceleration-transition instant; and inferring an impact velocity from the time difference, the criteria including the impact velocity. 19. The method as recited in claim 18, wherein: the passive safety system includes an airbag in the vehicle. 20. The method as recited in claim 18, further comprising: ascertaining an integral value of an acceleration signal from an acceleration sensor disposed on the rigid support structure; and if a low threshold value that is above a noise level is exceeded by the integral value, inferring an impact onset. 21. The method as recited in claim 18, further comprising: comparing an integral value of an acceleration signal from an acceleration sensor disposed in a front region of a vehicle on the rigid support structure to a threshold value that, with respect to a predefined vehicle velocity, corresponds to a transition between the light acceleration and the heavy acceleration, the transition being inferred when the threshold value is exceeded. 22. The method as recited in claim 21, further comprising: empirically establishing the threshold value by impact testing. 23. The method as recited in claim 18, further comprising: comparing integral values of acceleration signals from two of a plurality of acceleration sensors disposed symmetrically to a vehicle longitudinal axis in a front region of the vehicle on the rigid support structure; determining in each case a mutual deviation according to an operational sign; and performing at least one of the following: ascertaining at the acceleration-transition instant of one of the acceleration sensors a number of differences of the operational-sign deviations, a magnitude of the number of the differences corresponding to a measure of an overlap, and comparing a magnitude of an integral value of an acceleration signal from a central acceleration sensor disposed in a front region of the vehicle on the rigid support structure on the vehicle longitudinal axis to empirically determined threshold values, each threshold value corresponding to a measure of the overlap at a predefined rigidity of the obstacle. 24. The method as recited in claim 20, further comprising: measuring a vehicle velocity; and subjecting the vehicle velocity and the integral value to a plausibility check as to whether the integral value is utilizable in a meaningful way. 25. A device for controlling a triggering of a passive safety system in response to a detection of criteria that are to be interpreted as an existence of a dangerous impact, comprising: at least one acceleration sensor located in a front region and on a support structure of a vehicle in order to detect a transition from a light acceleration to a heavy acceleration; an impact sensor located on the vehicle to detect an onset of the impact of the vehicle against an obstacle; and an evaluation circuit for determining a time difference between an impact-onset instant and an acceleration-transition instant as a measure of an impact velocity, the evaluation circuit using the time difference to control the triggering. 26. The device as recited in claim 25, wherein: the passive safety system includes an airbag in the vehicle. 27. The device as recited in claim 25, wherein: the impact sensor includes an impact switch, a closing of which establishes the impact-onset instant. 28. The device as recited in claim 25, further comprising: another acceleration sensor within which is formed the impact sensor, the other acceleration sensor being disposed on the support structure, wherein: the impact-onset instant is established by an integral value of an acceleration signal from the other acceleration sensor exceeding a minimum-velocity threshold value. 29. The device as recited in claim 25, wherein: the evaluation circuit compares an integral value of an acceleration signal detected by the at least one acceleration sensor with a threshold value, a signal that corresponds to the threshold value being exceeded establishing the acceleration-transition instant. 30. The device as recited in claim 29, wherein: the threshold value is empirically established by impact testing. 31. The device as recited in claim 25, wherein: the at least one acceleration sensor includes a plurality of acceleration sensors disposed in the front region of the vehicle and symmetrically arranged with respect to a vehicle longitudinal axis, and the evaluation circuit utilizes acceleration signals from the acceleration sensors to detect an acceleration transition. 32. The method as recited in claim 31, wherein at least one of: integral values of the acceleration signals from at least two of the acceleration sensors are compared repeatedly at time intervals, a mutual deviation being determined according to an operational sign, at the acceleration-transition instant, the number of differences of operational-sign deviations being ascertained, the magnitude of the number of differences corresponding to a measure of the overlap, and a magnitude of an integral value of the acceleration signal from one of the acceleration sensors centrally disposed with respect to the vehicle longitudinal axis is compared to empirically determined threshold values, each threshold value corresponding to a measure of the overlap at a predefined rigidity of the obstacle. 33. The device as recited in claim 25, further comprising: an arrangement for detecting additional criteria, including a vehicle velocity, a differential speed with respect to the obstacle; and an arrangement for utilizing the additional criteria to exclude an erroneous interpretation of the detected criteria. 34. The method as recited in claim 18, wherein: the method is used in a discrimination of an impact process at a low impact speed. 35. The method as recited in claim 34, wherein: the method is used in a crash test. 36. The device as recited in claim 25, wherein: the device is used in a discrimination of an impact process at a low impact speed. 37. The device as recited in claim 36, wherein: the device is used in a crash test. 38. The method as recited in claim 18, wherein: the method is used in a discrimination of an impact with 100% overlap against rigid obstacles. 39. The method as recited in claim 38, wherein: the method is used in a crash test. 40. The device as recited in claim 25, wherein: the device is used in a discrimination of an impact with 100% overlap against rigid obstacles. 41. The device as recited in claim 40 wherein: the device is used in a crash test. |
<SOH> BACKGROUND INFORMATION <EOH>To protect passengers in a motor vehicle, the vehicles are increasingly equipped with production passive safety systems, in particular with airbags. Depending on the type and severity of the specific impact, the airbags are to be triggered in such a way that the particular passenger of the vehicle strikes the inflated airbag with sufficiently gentle force and is decelerated. It is usual, for example, to ignite an airbag in two stages and to control the time interval between the two ignition procedures. The control of the triggering classically occurs when the abrupt braking of the vehicle upon impact against an obstacle exceeds a threshold value, this control being implemented with the aid of an acceleration sensor, which is affixed on the rigid support structure of the vehicle and assigned to the control unit. Avoiding erroneous activation becomes increasingly more important, especially at low driving speeds. For reasons of product liability, but also because of testing regulations mandated by law for type approval, the impact velocity, in particular at low driving speeds, must be detected as accurately as possible, at least with respect to the magnitude, so that low speeds that are in close proximity to each other are also able to be discriminated. This is not possible with speed sensors commonly used in motor vehicles, at least in those cases where the conventional measuring tolerances of ∓10% are insufficient to reliably implement the discrimination, especially since additional variation parameters such as vehicle aging and the like must be taken into account. Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to indicate a possibility of ascertaining a utilizable measure for the impact velocity, in particular at low vehicle speeds. According to the present invention, what is achieved is the recognition that a certain time interval elapses between the first impact against an obstacle and the deformation onset of the rigid parts of the vehicle structure during which deformable parts of the vehicle structure are deformed. This time characteristic of the impact velocity is essentially proportional and may thus be utilized as a measure for the impact velocity. While this is true only for barriers that are identical in rigidity and mass, this happens to be the case in test regulations. It is particularly important to detect the impact onset, for example with the aid of an impact switch, and to detect the transition from light to heavy acceleration or delay. In particular the latter instant may be established by analyzing the integral values of acceleration signals. This makes it possible at low vehicle speeds to distinguish even among vehicle speeds that are in close proximity to each other and thus to comply with the US requirement according to NHTSA 208, for example, in the low-risk deployment range. The corresponding requirement, namely to differentiate between a frontal impact against a rigid barrier as the obstacle at 26 km/h and at 32 km/h may thus be met. On the same basis, it is also possible to classify the degree of overlap, in particular in order to ascertain whether the given overlap amounts to 100%, in accordance with the aforementioned regulation. Furthermore, in combination with other criteria, a conclusion may be reached on the same basis as to whether or not an impact against a hard barrier has occurred. The obtained data may then be utilized in a variety of algorithms to influence the triggering conditions, possibly together with additional criteria. |
<SOH> BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS <EOH>FIG. 1 schematically, the assignment of various sensors and evaluation and computing circuits with respect to the control of the triggering of an airbag according to the present invention. FIG. 2 schematically, the basic profile of detectable signals in an impact. FIG. 3 schematically, the comparison of such signal profiles at different driving speeds. FIG. 4 schematically, the idealized representation of various acceleration-transition instants at different driving speeds in order to determine a measure of the impact velocity. FIG. 5 schematically, the profile of the integral values in an acceleration sensing in the passenger cabin. detailed-description description="Detailed Description" end="lead"? |
Method of film-forming transparent electrode layer and device therefor |
A method and apparatus for forming a transparent electrode layer of a thin-film compound semiconductor solar cell by using only a direct-current sputtering system, wherein a preliminary layer is formed in a first process by direct-current sputtering from a target by supplying thereto a specified low electric power preset so as not to damage the substrate by sputters and a complete layer is deposited thereon in a second process by sputtering from the same target by supplying a high electric power. The same layer is also formed by direct-current sputtering from a pair of oppositely disposed targets of the same material. The method and apparatus are capable of easily forming a high quality transparent electrode layer at an increased speed. |
1. A transparent electrode layer forming method of forming a transparent electrode layer of a thin film compound semiconductor solar cell by a sputtering method, wherein the transparent electrode layer is formed by two direct-current sputtering processes: the first process forms a precursory layer having a thickness in a range of 650 Å to 1500 Å by applying a specified low electric power to a target and the second process forms a complete transparent electrode layer by applying a specified high electric power to the same target. 2. A transparent electrode layer forming method as defined in claim 1, characterized in that the low electric power to be supplied to the target in the first direct-current sputtering process is of 0.6 to 2.1 W per 1 cm2 of the target surface and the high electric power to be supplied to the target in the second direct-current sputtering process is of 2.1 to 10.4 W per 1 cm2 of the target surface. 3. A transparent electrode layer forming method as defined in claim 1, characterized in that the first sputtering process forms the precursory layer of having a thickness smaller than that of a final layer deposited by the second sputtering process. 4. A transparent electrode layer forming method as defined in claim 1, characterized in that a substrate having a molybdenum (Mo) electrode layer, a p-type light-absorbing layer and a n-type buffer layer formed thereon subsequently in the described order is used as a base material and a transparent electrode layer of ZnO group is formed on the buffer layer of the substrate by using a target of ZnO:X (with X being Ga, Al, In or B) group material. 5. (canceled) 6. (canceled) 7. (canceled) 8. (canceled) 9. (canceled) 10. (canceled) 11. A transparent electrode layer forming method of forming a transparent electrode layer of a thin film compound semiconductor solar cell by a sputtering method, wherein the transparent electrode layer is formed by two processes: a first process forms a precursory layer having a thickness in a range of 650 Å to 1500 Å by sputtering from a pair of oppositely disposed targets of the same material and a second process forms a complete transparent electrode layer by dc sputtering from a single target by supplying thereto high electric power. 12. (canceled) 13. (canceled) |
<SOH> BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION <EOH>The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for forming by a sputtering technique a transparent electrode layer of a thin-film compound semiconductor solar cell. FIG. 1 shows a basic structure of a thin-film solar cell fabricated from a compound semiconductor, which comprises a SLG (soda lime glass) substrate 1 having subsequently formed thereon a molybdenum (Mo) rear-side positive electrode layer 2 , a CIGS thin-film light absorbing layer 3 (p-type), a ZnS buffer layer 4 (n-type) and a transparent negative electrode layer 5 . In the thin-film compound-semiconductor solar cell, the transparent electrode layer 5 is required to have a high transparency and a low resistance to effectively collect light falling on the solar cell and is usually formed by a sputtering method since it is advantageous from the view point of securing the mass productivity and the quality of the product. However, in the case of sputtering a thin layer of a transparent electrode 5 , particles sputtered from a target may damage by their impact energy a buffer layer 4 affecting a junction plane between the buffer layer 4 and the light absorbing layer 3 . To prevent the buffer layer 4 from being damaged by sputters, it is preferable to form a transparent electrode layer by using a RF sputtering method with a reduced electric power, which method is, however, accompanied by a considerable decrease in speed of forming the layer. In view of the above, a conventional process disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. Hei-11-284211 is devised to form a transparent electrode layer 5 in such a manner that a first conductive layer functioning as a protection layer for the junction plane is formed by the RF sputtering method with a low electric energy and then a second conductive layer is formed thereon by the direct-current (DC) sputtering method at an increased speed with an increased electric power to produce a transparent electrode layer 5 composed of the first and second conductive layers. However, the RF sputtering method cannot increase the speed of forming the transparent electrode layer 5 . This is a bottleneck in solving the problem of high-speed mass production of the solar cells. The combination of RF and DC sputtering methods requires the provision of two kinds of power supply sources which must be switched over to each other, resulting in complicating the power supply control system. In other words, the process of forming a transparent electrode layer of a solar cell by using both the RF sputtering method and the DC sputtering method can not sufficiently increase the layer forming speed and complicates the power supply sources and the power supply control system. |
<SOH> SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION <EOH>Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a transparent electrode layer forming method capable of easily producing a high-quality transparent electrode layer of a thin-film compound semiconductor solar cell at a high forming speed by sputtering particles of material from a target by supplying electric power from a DC power supply source only, whereby a transparent electrode layer is formed in two sputtering processes: the first process forms a precursory layer by sputtering from a target by supplying thereto a DC electric power preset to a specified low energy not to cause any sputter damage affecting the quality of the solar cell product and the second process forms a complete transparent electrode layer by sputtering from the same target by supplying thereto a higher DC electric power. The present invention also provides an apparatus for forming a transparent electrode layer or a substrate with particles sputtered from a target in a vacuum bath by stepwise changing a DC current applied to the target from a DC power supply source by means of a controller capable of controlling the DC power supply in steps in a range from a low power to a high power. Another object of the present invention is to provide a method of forming a transparent electrode layer of a thin-film compound semiconductor solar cell, which is capable of easily forming a transparent electrode layer on a substrate at a high speed by sputtering from a pair of targets of the same material disposed opposite to each other by applying electric power from a DC power supply source only without damaging the substrate by sputters. Another object of the present invention is to provide a method of forming a transparent electrode layer of a thin-film compound semiconductor solar cell, whereby a transparent electrode layer is formed in two sputtering processes: the first process forms a precursory layer by sputtering from a pair of targets of the same material disposed opposite to each other in order to shorten the time of forming the precursory layer and the second process forms a complete transparent electrode layer by sputtering from a single target supplied with a high electric power from a DC power supply source. The present invention also provides an apparatus for forming a transparent layer on a substrate with particles sputtered from a pair of targets of the same material by changing step-by-step a DC electric power applied to the targets by means of a controller capable of controlling the DC power supply in steps in a range from a low power to a high power. |
Unitary surgical device and method |
Unitary surgical devices (10) are disclosed. One group of the illustrated devices has a pair of biocompatible, bioresorbable anchors (16, 18) connected to fixed lengths suture. The anchors (16, 18) and fixed length of suture are connected to each other prior to surgery. Another group of unitary surgical devices has a pair of fixating mechanisms (15, 17) connected to a base (21) prior to surgery. The second group of illustrated devices generally includes extracellular matrix material either as part of the base (21) or supported on the base (21). The extracellular matrix material serves as tissue regenerating material. In the second group of unitary surgical devices, the fixating mechanisms illustrated generally comprise suture, anchors or pre-formed holes in the base. All of the illustrated unitary surgical devices are useful in repairing a damaged meniscus. The first group of unitary surgical devices can be used to approximate inner surfaces of a tear in the meniscus. The second group of devices can be used either as an insert to be placed between and approximated to the inner surfaces of the tear or as an insert to replace a void in the meniscus left after a menisectomy. |
1. A unitary surgical device for implantation in a patient for repairing a body tissue in the patient, the unitary surgical device comprising: a first biocompatible anchor including at least one of the following: a bioresorbable barbed dart; a bioresorbable tack; a bioresorbable backstop; and a bioresorbable male locking member; a second biocompatible anchor including at least one of the following: a bioresorbable barbed dart; a bioresorbable tack; a bioresorbable backstop; and a bioresorbable female locking member; and biocompatible tissue repair material extending between and connected to the first anchor and to the second anchor prior to surgery, the tissue repair material including at least one of the following: a fixed length of suture; a sheet of collagen-containing material; a sheet of biologically remodelable collagenous matrix; laminar ECM material; formed ECM material; comminuted ECM material; ECM fiber; ECM foam material; cross-linked ECM material; a sheet of bioresorbable material; and a base and a different material secured to the base, at least one of the base and the different material including ECM material. 2. The unitary surgical device of claim 1 wherein the tissue repair material includes tissue regeneration material. 3. The unitary surgical device of claim 2 wherein the tissue regeneration material includes ECM material. 4. The unitary surgical device of claim 3 wherein the ECM material includes material derived from mammalian submucosa. 5. The unitary surgical device of claim 1 wherein the ECM material includes material derived from mammalian submucosa. 6. The unitary surgical device of claim 1 wherein at least one of the anchors is sized and shaped to bear against a non-articulating surface of the meniscus of the patient. 7. The unitary surgical device of claim 1 wherein the tissue repair material is sized and shaped to extend over a portion of patient's meniscus and to extend over an area from which a portion of the patient's meniscus has been removed. 8. The unitary surgical device of claim 1 wherein the tissue repair material is wedge-shaped in cross-section. 9. The unitary surgical device of claim 1 wherein the tissue repair material further includes suture and a backstop. 10. The unitary surgical device of claim 1 further comprising a package holding the unitary surgical device. 11-54. (Cancelled) 55. A unitary surgical device for implantation in a patient for repairing a body tissue in the patient, the unitary surgical device comprising: a first biocompatible anchor including at least one of the following: a bioresorbable barbed dart; a bioresorbable tack; a bioresorbable backstop; and a bioresorbable male locking member; a second biocompatible anchor including at least one of the following: a bioresorbable barbed dart; a bioresorbable tack; a bioresorbable backstop; and a bioresorbable female locking member; and biocompatible tissue repair material extending between and connected to the first anchor and to the second anchor prior to surgery, the tissue repair material including at least one of the following: a fixed length of suture; a sheet of bioremodelable collagenous matrix; bioremodelable collagenous tissue matrix having a density greater than 0.5 g/cm3 connected to the first fixating mechanism and the second fixating mechanism; bioremodelable collagenous tissue matrix having a density greater than 0.7 g/cm3 connected to the first fixating mechanism and the second fixating mechanism; bioremodelable collagenous tissue matrix having a density greater than 0.9 g/cm3 connected to the first fixating mechanism and the second fixating mechanism; bioremodelable collagenous tissue matrix seeded with cells; bioremodelable collagenous tissue matrix combined with a biological lubricant; formed bioremodelable collagenous tissue matrix material; pieces of bioremodelable collagenous tissue matrix; bioremodelable collagenous tissue matrix foam; cross-linked bioremodelable collagenous tissue matrix; a sheet of bioresorbable material; and a base and a different material secured to the base, at least one of the base and the different material including bioremodelable collagenous tissue matrix. 56-64. (Cancelled) |
<SOH> BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION <EOH>Articular cartilage is a type of hyaline cartilage that lines the surfaces of the opposing bones in a diarthrodal joint (e.g., knee, hip, shoulder, etc.). Articular cartilage provides a near frictionless articulation between the bones, while also functioning to absorb and transmit the compressive and shear forces encountered in the joint. Further, since the tissue associated with articular cartilage is aneural, these load absorbing and transmitting functions occur in a painless fashion in a healthy joint. Human joints also have another type of cartilage present: intra-articular fibrocartilage. Intra-articular fibrocartilage can be present in the form of a discus articularis, that is, as a plate or ring of fibrocartilage in the joint capsule separating the joint surfaces (articular cartilage) of the bones of the joint. Such fibrocartilage is present, for example, in the temporomandibular joint, between vertebrae, and in the knee joint. In the knee joint, the intra-articular fibrocartilage comprises the meniscus, a crescent-shaped or semi-lunar-shaped disc of tissue that is located between the femoral condyles and the tibial plateau. The meniscus primarily functions as a shock absorber, absorbing the shock of compressive and shear forces in the knee. The meniscus also provides a substantially frictionless surface for articulation of the knee joint. When cartilage tissue is no longer healthy, there can be debilitating pain in the joint. Cartilage health can be adversely affected by disease, aging, or trauma. The adverse effects of disease, aging and trauma can be in the form of a tear in the cartilage or in the form of a breakdown of the cartilage matrix. In the knee, the meniscus is frequently damaged in twisting injuries. It is also damaged with repetitive impact over time. Meniscus degeneration can also occur by aging; as a person ages, the meniscus can become soft in places, so that even common motions like squatting can cause meniscal tears. Common surgical procedures for treating meniscal damage include tear repairs and meniscectomies. A tear repair is most commonly performed when the tear is a clean longitudinal vertical lesion in the vascular red zone of the meniscus. The basic strategy is to stabilize the tear by limiting or eliminating radial separation of the faces of the tear when the meniscus is load bearing. Many devices and surgical procedures exist for repairing meniscal tears by approximating the faces of the meniscus at the tear. Examples of such devices and procedures are disclosed in the following U.S. Pat. Nos.: 6,319,271; 6,306,159; 6,306,156; 6,293,961; 6,156,044; 6,152,935; 6,056,778; 5,993,475; 5,980,524; 5,702,462; 5,569,252; 5,374,268; 5,320,633; and 4,873,976. Meniscectomies involve the surgical removal of part of the meniscus. Such procedures have generally been performed in cases of radial tears, horizontal tears, vertical longitudinal tears outside the vascular zone, complex tears, or defibrillation. Although meniscectomies provide immediate relief to the patient, in the long term the absence of part of the meniscus can cause cartilage wear on the condylar surface, eventually leading to arthritic conditions in the joint. U.S. Pat. No. 6,042,610 assigned to ReGen Biologics, Inc., hereby incorporated by reference, discloses the use of a collagen scaffold device comprising a bioabsorbable material made at least in part from purified natural fibers. The purified natural fibers are cross-linked to form the device of that patent. The device produced can be used to provide augmentation for a damaged meniscus. Related U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,042,610; 5,735,903; 5,681,353; 5,306,311; 5,108,438; 5,007,934; 4,880,429 also disclose a meniscal augmentation device for establishing a scaffold adapted for ingrowth of meniscal fibrochondrocytes. It is also known to use naturally occurring extracelluar matrices (ECMs) to provide a scaffold for tissue repair and regeneration. One such ECM is small intestine submucosa (SIS). SIS has been described as a natural biomaterial used to repair, support, and stabilize a wide variety of anatomical defects and traumatic injuries. See, for example, Cook® Online News Release provided by Cook Biotech Inc. at “www.cookgroup.com”. The SIS material is derived from porcine small intestinal submucosa that models the qualities of its host when implanted in human soft tissues. Further, it is taught that the SIS material provides a natural matrix with a three-dimensional structure and biochemical composition that attracts host cells and supports tissue remodeling. SIS products, such as OASIS™ and SURGISIS™, are commercially available from Cook Biotech Inc., Bloomington, Ind. Another SIS product, RESTORE® Orthobiologic Implant, is available from DePuy Orthopaedics, Inc. in Warsaw, Ind. The DePuy product is described for use during rotator cuff surgery, and is provided as a resorbable framework that allows the rotator cuff tendon to regenerate. The RESTORE Implant is derived from porcine small intestine submucosa, a naturally occurring ECM composed primarily of collagenous proteins, that has been cleaned, disinfected, and sterilized. Other biological molecules, such as growth factors, glycosaminoglycans, etc., have also been identified in SIS. See: Hodde et al., Tissue Eng., 2(3): 209-217 (1996); Voytik-Harbin et al., J. Cell. Biochem., 67: 478-491 (1997); McPherson and Badylak, Tissue Eng., 4(1): 75-83 (1998); Hodde et al., Endothelium 8(1): 11-24; Hodde and Hiles, Wounds, 13(5): 195-201 (2001); Hurst and Bonner, J. Biomater. Sci. Polym. Ed., 12(11): 1267-1279 (2001); Hodde et al., Biomaterial, 23(8): 1841-1848 (2002); and Hodde, Tissue Eng., 8(2): 295-308 (2002). During seven years of preclinical testing in animals, there were no incidences of infection transmission from the implant to the host, and the SIS material has not adversely affected the systemic activity of the immune system. See: Allman et al., Transplant, 17(11): 1631-1640 (2001); Allman et al., Tissue Eng., 8(1):53-62 (2002). While small intestine submucosa is available, other sources of ECM are known to be effective for tissue remodeling. These sources include, but are not limited to, stomach, bladder, alimentary, respiratory, and genital submucosa. In addition, liver basement membrane is known to be effective for tissue remodeling. See, e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,379,710, 6,171,344, 6,099,567, and 5,554,389, hereby incorporated by reference. Further, while ECM is most often porcine derived, it is known that these various ECM materials can be derived from non-porcine sources, including bovine and ovine sources. Additionally, the ECM material may also include partial layers of laminar muscularis mucosa, muscularis mucosa, lamina propria, stratum compactum layer and/or other such tissue materials depending upon other factors such as the source from which the ECM material was derived and the delamination procedure. The following U.S. patents, hereby incorporated by reference, disclose the use of ECMs for the regeneration and repair of various tissues: U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,379,710; 6,187,039; 6,176,880; 6,126,686; 6,099,567; 6,096,347; 5,997,575; 5,993,844; 5,968,096; 5,955,110; 5,922,028; 5,885,619; 5,788,625; 5,733,337; 5,762,966; 5,755,791; 5,753,267; 5,711,969; 5,645,860; 5,641,518; 5,554,389; 5,516,533; 5,460,962; 5,445,833; 5,372,821; 5,352,463; 5,281,422; and 5,275,826. |
<SOH> SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION <EOH>The present invention is directed toward devices and surgical methods for the repair and regeneration of diseased or damaged intra-articular fibrocartilage such as the meniscus in the human knee joint. In one aspect, the present invention provides a unitary surgical device for implantation in a patient for repairing a body tissue in the patient. The unitary surgical device comprises first and second biocompatible anchors and biocompatible tissue repair material extending between and connected to the first and second anchors. The anchors and tissue repair material are connected to each other prior to surgery. The first anchor includes at least one of the following: a bioresorbable barbed dart; a bioresorbable tack; a bioresorbable backstop; and a bioresorbable male locking member. The second anchor includes at least one of the following: a bioresorbable barbed dart; a bioresorbable tack; a bioresorbable backstop; and a bioresorbable female locking member. The biocompatible tissue repair material includes at least one of the following: a fixed length of suture; a sheet of collagen-containing material; laminar ECM material; formed ECM material; comminuted ECM material; ECM fibers; ECM foam material; a sheet of bioresorbable material; and a base connected to the first anchor and to the second anchor and a different material secured to the base, at least one of the base and the different material including ECM material. In another aspect, the present invention provides a unitary surgical device for surgical implantation in a patient for regenerating intra-articular fibrocartilage tissue in the patient. The unitary surgical device comprises a first fixating mechanism, a second fixating mechanism and tissue repair material extending between and connected to the first and second fixating members prior to surgery. The first fixating mechanism includes at least one of the following: a length of suture; a bioresorbable barbed dart; a bioresorbable tack; a bioresorbable backstop; and a bioresorbable male locking member. The second fixating mechanism includes at least one of the following: a length of suture; a bioresorbable barbed dart; a bioresorbable tack; a bioresorbable backstop; and a bioresorbable female locking member. The tissue repair material includes at least one of the following: a sheet of ECM material connected to the first anchor and the second anchor; laminar ECM material connected to the first anchor and the second anchor; ECM foam; comminuted ECM; ECM fibers; cross-linked ECM material; formed ECM material; and a bioresorbable base connected to the first anchor and the second anchor and a different material on the base, where at least one of the base and the different material includes ECM. In another aspect, the present invention provides a unitary surgical device for surgical implantation in a patient for regenerating intra-articular fibrocartilage tissue in the patient. The unitary surgical device comprises a base having at least two layers and a length of suture disposed or positioned between the layers of the base. At least part of the unitary surgical device is made from ECM material. In another aspect, the present invention provides a unitary surgical device for surgical implantation in a patient for regenerating meniscal tissue in the patient. The unitary surgical device comprises a base having two panels. The two panels have a V-shaped configuration in cross-section, and meet along an apex portion. The two panels have end portions spaced distally from the apex portion. The end portions are spaced from each other to provide a gap. The unitary surgical device may also include tissue regeneration material between the two panels of the base. The unitary surgical device also includes opposing anchors on the end portions of the base panels. The opposing anchors are suitable for fixation to the native meniscus. In another aspect, the present invention provides a unitary surgical device for surgical implantation in a patient for regenerating tissue in the patient. The unitary surgical device comprises a base made of a bioresorbable polymer and ECM material on the base. In addition, the unitary surgical device includes a first fixating member secured to the base prior to surgery. The first fixating member is suitable for fixation to the patient's tissue. In another aspect, the present invention provides a unitary surgical device for surgical implantation in a patient for regenerating tissue in the patient. The unitary surgical device comprises a base made of ECM material and a first fixating member secured to the base prior to surgery. The first fixating member is suitable for fixation to the patient's tissue. In another aspect, the present invention provides a unitary surgical device for surgical implantation in a patient for regenerating tissue in the patient. The unitary surgical device comprises a base having two opposing edges and a plurality of holes along one of the edges of the base. The unitary surgical devices includes ECM material. In another aspect, the present invention provides a method of repairing a tear in the meniscus in the knee of a patient. The meniscus has an articulating surface and a non-articulating surface. The tear results in the meniscus having two inner surfaces. The method comprises the acts of providing a unitary surgical device having a pair of resorbable anchors and a fixed length of suture connected to the anchors. After the tear in the meniscus is located, the unitary surgical device is implanted to approximate the two inner surfaces of the meniscus at the tear, with suture extending across the articulating surface of the meniscus across the tear and the resorbable anchors being spaced from the tear. In another aspect, the present invention provides a method of repairing a damaged meniscus in the knee of a patient. The meniscus has a non-articulating surface, a peripheral rim and an inner portion. The method comprises the acts of providing a wedge-shaped unitary surgical device including a fixating mechanism. A portion of the damaged meniscus inward of the peripheral rim of the meniscus is removed. The unitary surgical device is implanted with a portion inward of the peripheral rim. The unitary surgical device is fixated to the meniscus by fixating at least part of the base of the unitary surgical device to the meniscus with the fixating mechanism. |
Emulsified fuel compositions prepared employing emulsifier derived from high polydispersity olefin polymers |
A water blended fuel composition comprising water, a normally liquid fuel and an emulsifying amount of at least one of a hydrocarbyl-substituted acylating agent and the reaction product of said hydrocarbyl-substituted acylating agent and an amine, an alcohol, a metal, reactive metal compound or a mixture of two or more thereof, wherein the hydrocarbyl substituent is a polymerized olefin having a polydispersity {overscore (M)}w/{overscore (M)}n greater than 5. Such polyolefin substituents can be prepared by polymerization of olefins in the presence of a calcined catalyst comprising a partially or fully neutralized ammonium salt of a heteropolyacid. |
1. An emulsified water-blended fuel composition comprising: (A) a liquid hydrocarbon based fuel; (B) water; and (C) a minor, emulsifying amount of at least one of a fuel-soluble hydrocarbyl-substituted carboxylic acylating agent and a reaction product of said acylating agent and at least one of ammonia, an amine, an alcohol, a reactive metal, a reactive metal compound and a mixture of two or more thereof, wherein the hydrocarbyl substituent comprises a group derived from at least one polyolefin, said polyolefin having {overscore (M)}w/{overscore (M)}n greater than 5 resulting in a water in fuel emulsion. 2. The fuel composition of claim 1 wherein the hydrocarbon fuel (A) is present at a level about 50 to about 99% by weight of the water-blended fuel composition; water (B) is present at a level of about 1 to about 50% by weight of the water-blended fuel composition; and component (C) is present at a level of about 0.005 to about 10% by weight of the water-blended fuel composition. 3. The fuel composition of claim 1 wherein the polyolefin has {overscore (M)}w/{overscore (M)}n ranges from about 6 to about 20; wherein less than 5 percent by weight of the polyolefin molecules have a number average molecular weight of less than 250; wherein the polyolefin has {overscore (M)}n of at least about 800; wherein the polyolefin has at least about 30% terminal vinylidene (I) groups. 4. The fuel composition of claim 1 wherein the polyolefin comprises polyisobutylene. 5. The fuel composition of claim 1 wherein the polyolefin is prepared by contacting (a) at least one C2-C30 olefin or polymerizable derivative thereof with (b) a catalyst comprising a partially or fully neutralized salt of a heteropolyacid, wherein said catalyst has been calcined at from about 500° C. for about 1 to about 4 hours; and wherein the heteropolyacid is a phosphotungstic acid, a phosphomolybdic acid, a silicotungstic acid or a silicomolybdic acid. 6. The fuel composition of claim 5 wherein the salt is selected from the group comprising ammonium salt, cesium salt and combinations thereof. 7. The fuel composition of claim 1 wherein the polyolefin is prepared by blending at least two polyolefin components having different number average molecular weights, each such component having a {overscore (M)}w/{overscore (M)}n of less than 5. 8. The fuel composition of claim 1 wherein the hydrocarbyl substituted carboxylic acylating agent is selected from the group comprising at least one monocarboxylic acid or a reactive equivalent thereof; at least one hydrocarbyl-substituted succinic acylating agent consisting of at least one hydrocarbyl substituent and at least one succinic group wherein the hydrocarbyl substituent is derived from a polyolefin; at least one hydrocarbyl-substituted succinic acid or succinic anhydride represented correspondingly by the formulae wherein R is a hydrocarbyl group. 9. The fuel composition of claim 1 wherein the hydrocarbyl substituted carboxylic acylating agent is reacted with an amine selected from the group comprising at least one monoamine; at least one polyamine; at least one hydroxylamine and combinations thereof. 10. The fuel composition of claim 8 wherein the hydroxyamine is selected from the group consisting of primary, secondary and tertiary alkanolamines represented correspondingly by the formulae and mixtures of two or more thereof; wherein in the above formulae each R is independently a hydrocarbyl group of one to about 8 carbon atoms, and each R′ is independently a hydrocarbylene group of about 2 to about 18 carbon atoms. 11. The fuel composition of claim 1 wherein the hydrocarbyl substituted carboxylic acylating agent is reacted with an alcohol or water. 12. The fuel composition of claim 1 further comprising (D) an emulsifying amount of at least one cosurfactant distinct from (C). 13. The fuel composition of claim 12 wherein said at least one cosurfactant has a hydrophilic-lipophilic balance (HLB) in the range of about 1 to about 40 and is selected from the group comprising at least one compound selected from the group consisting of (a) Poly(oxyalkylene) compounds; (b) sorbitan esters; and (c) fatty acid diethanolamides and combinations thereof. 14. The fuel composition of claim 12 wherein said at least one cosurfactant comprises a fatty monocarboxylic acid containing from about 8 to about 24 carbon atoms or an amine salt thereof. 15. The fuel composition of claim 12 wherein the at least one cosurfactant comprises a hydrocarbyl substituted succinic acid or anhydride containing from about 8 to about 24 carbon atoms in the hydrocarbyl group. 16. The fuel composition of claim 1 further comprising (E) at least one organic nitrate cetane improver and is present at a level of about 0.05 to about 10% by weight of the water-blended fuel composition. 17. The fuel composition of claim 15 wherein component (E) comprises 2-ethylhexyl nitrate. 18. The fuel composition of claim 1 further comprising (F) at least one antifreeze and is present at a level of about 0.1 to about 10% by weight of the water-blended fuel composition. 19. The fuel composition of claim 1 further comprising (G) at least one water-soluble, ashless, halogen-, boron-, and phosphorus-free amine salt, distinct from component (C) and is present in amounts ranging from about 0.001 to about 15% by weight of the emulsified water-blended fuel composition. 20. The composition of claim 19 wherein the amine salt (G) is selected from the group consisting of ammonium nitrate, hydroxyammonium nitrate, methylammonium nitrate, ethylene diamine diacetate, urea dinitrate, and mixtures of at least two thereof. 21. An emulsified water blended fuel composition comprising: (A) a normally liquid hydrocarbon based fuel boiling in the gasoline or diesel fuel range; (B) water; (C) a minor emulsifying amount of the reaction product of a hydrocarbyl substituted carboxylic acylating agent and at least one of ammonia, an amine, an alcohol or a mixture of two or more thereof wherein the hydrocarbon substituent is derived from at least one polymerized olefin which has been prepared by contacting (a) at least one C2-C30 olefin or polymerizable derivative thereof with (b) a catalyst comprising a partially or fully neutralized salt of a heteropolyacid, wherein said catalyst has been calcined; and (G) at least one water-soluble, ashless, halogen-, boron-, and phosphorus-free ammonium or amine salt, distinct from component (C). 22. A method for operating an internal combustion engine comprising fueling said engine with the fuel composition of claim 1. |
<SOH> BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION <EOH>The present invention relates to emulsified water-blended fuel compositions, more particularly to water-blended fuel compositions containing a liquid fuel, water, an emulsifier and optionally, at least one of a cosurfactant, combustion modifier, an organic cetane improver and an antifreeze. Internal combustion engines, especially diesel engines, using a mixture of water and fuel in the combustion chamber can produce lower nitrogen oxides (NO x ), hydrocarbon and particulate emissions per unit of power output. Water is inert toward combustion, but acts to lower peak combustion temperatures which results in less NO x formation. Exhaust Gas Recirculation (EGR) works on the same principle (i.e., inert materials tend to lower peak combustion temperatures and hence reduce NO x ). Water can be separately injected into the cylinder, but hardware costs are high. Water can also be added to the fuel as an emulsion. However, emulsion stability has historically been a problem. It would be advantageous to provide a water-blended fuel composition that has improved emulsion stability. It would also be advantageous to provide water-blended fuel compositions comprising a reduced chlorine content or chlorine-free emulsifier composition. The present invention provides such advantages. U.S. Pat. No. 5,669,938, Schwab, Sep. 23, 1997, discloses a fuel composition which consists of (i) a water-in-oil emulsion comprising a major proportion of a hydrocarbonaceous middle distillate fuel and about 1 to 40 volume percent water, (ii) a CO emission, and particulate matter emission reducing amount of at least one fuel-soluble organic nitrate ignition improver, and optionally containing (iii) at least one component selected from the group consisting of di-hydrocarbyl peroxides, surfactants, dispersants, organic peroxy esters, corrosion inhibitors, antioxidants, antirust agents, detergents, lubricity agents, demulsifiers, dyes, inert diluents, and a cyclopentadienyl manganese tricarbonyl compound. European Patent EP 0 475 620 B1, Sexton et al., Aug. 11, 1995, discloses a diesel fuel composition which comprises: (a) a diesel fuel; (b) 1.0 to 30.0 weight percent of water based upon said diesel fuel; (c) a cetane number improver additive, present in an amount up to, but less than, 20.0 weight percent based upon said water, said additive being selected from an inorganic oxidizer, a polar organic oxidizer and a nitrogen oxide-containing compound; and (d) 0.5 to 15.0 wt. % based on the diesel fuel of a surfactant system comprising (i) one or more first surfactants selected from surfactants capable of forming a lower phase microemulsion at 20° C. when combined with equal volumes of the fuel and water at a concentration of 2 grams of surfactant per deciliter of fuel plus water, which microemulsion phase has a volume ratio of water to surfactant of at least 2; at least one said first surfactant being an ethoxylated C 12 -C 18 alkyl ammonium salt of a C 9 -C 24 alkyl carboxylic or alkylaryl sulfonic acid containing 6 or more ethylene oxide groups; and (ii) one or more second surfactants selected from surfactants capable of forming an upper phase microemulsion at 20° C. when combined with equal volumes of the fuel and water at a concentration of 2 grams of surfactant per deciliter of fuel plus water, which microemulsion phase has a volume ratio of water to surfactant of at least 2; at least one said surfactant being an ethoxylated C 12 -C 18 alkyl ammonium salt of C 9 -C 24 alkyl carboxylic or alkylaryl sulfonic acid containing less than 6 ethylene oxide groups; the said first and second surfactants being present in a weight ratio which forms with components (a), (b) and (c) a single phase translucent microemulsion. European patent publication EP 0 561 600 A2, Jahnke, Sep. 22, 1993, discloses a water in oil emulsion comprising a discontinuous aqueous phrase comprising at least one oxygen-supplying component (such as ammonium nitrate); a continuous organic phase comprising at least one carbonaceous fuel; and a minor emulsifying amount of at least one emulsifier made by the reaction of: (A) at least one substituted succinic acylating agent, said substituted acylating agent consisting of substituent groups and succinic groups wherein the substituent groups are derived from a polyalkene, said acylating agents being characterized by the presence within their structure of an average of at least 1.3 succinic groups for each equivalent weight of substituent groups, and (B) ammonia and/or at least one amine. U.S. Pat. No. 5,047,175, Forsberg, Sep. 10, 1991, discloses salt compositions which comprise: (A) at least one salt moiety derived from (A)(I) at least one high-molecular weight polycarboxylic acylating agent, said acylating agent (A)(I) having at least one hydrocarbyl substituent having an average of from about 20 to about 500 carbon atoms, and (A)(II) ammonia, at least one amine, at least one alkali or alkaline earth metal, and/or at least one alkali or alkaline earth metal compound; (B) at least one salt moiety derived from (B)(I) at least one low-molecular weight polycarboxylic acylating agent, said acylating agent (B)(I) optionally having at least one hydrocarbyl substituent having an average of up to about 18 carbon atoms, and (B)(II) ammonia, at least one amine, at least one alkali or alkaline earth metal, and/or at least one alkali or alkaline earth metal compound; said components (A) and (B) being coupled together by (C) at least one compound having (i) two or more primary amino groups, (ii) two or more secondary amino groups, (iii) at least one primary amino group and at least one secondary amino group, (iv) at least two hydroxyl groups or (v) at least one primary or secondary amino group and at least one hydroxyl group. These salt compositions are disclosed to be useful as emulsifiers in water-in-oil explosive emulsions, particularly cap-sensitive water-in-oil emulsions. U.S. Pat. No. 4,708,753, Forsberg, Nov. 24, 1987, discloses a water-in-oil emulsion comprising (A) a continuous oil phase; (B) a discontinuous aqueous phase; (C) a minor emulsifying amount of at least one salt derived from (C)(I) at least one hydrocarbyl-substituted carboxylic acid or anhydride, or ester or amide derivative of said acid or anhydride, the hydrocarbyl substituent of (C)(I) having an average of from about 20 to about 500 carbon atoms, and (C)(II) at least one amine; and (D) a functional amount of at least one water-soluble, oil-insoluble functional additive dissolved in said aqueous phase; with the proviso that when component (D) is ammonium nitrate, component (C) is other than an ester/salt formed by the reaction of polyisobutenyl (M n =950) succinic anhydride with diethanolamine in a ratio of one equivalent of anhydride to one equivalent of amine. U.S. Pat. No. 3,756,794, Ford, Sep. 4, 1973, discloses an emulsified fuel composition consisting essentially of (1) a major amount of a hydrocarbon fuel boiling in the range of 20-400° C. as the disperse phase, (2) 0.3% to 5% by weight of an emulsifier, (3) 0.75% to 12% by weight water, (4) 0.3% to 0.7% by weight of urea as emulsion stabilizer and (5) 0.3% to 0.7% by weight of ammonium nitrate. PCT Patent Publication WO 00/15740 describes an emulsified water-blended fuel composition comprising: (A) a hydrocarbon boiling in the gasoline or diesel range; (B) water; (C) a minor emulsifying amount of at least one fuel-soluble salt made by reacting (C)(I) at least one acylating agent having about 16 to 500 carbon atoms with (C)(II) ammonia and/or at least one amine; and (D) about 0.001 to about 15% by weight of the water-blended fuel composition of a water-soluble, ashless, halogen-, boron-, and phosphorus-free amine salt, distinct from component (C). In one embodiment, the composition further comprises (E) at least one cosurfactant distinct from component (C); in one embodiment, (F) at least one organic cetane improver; and in one embodiment, (G) at least one antifreeze. PCT Patent Publication WO 01/00688 describes dispersants for lubricants which are the reaction product of an amine, an alcohol, or a mixture of two or more of two or more thereof, and a hydrocarbyl-substituted acylating agent, wherein the hydrocarbyl substituent comprises at least one polymerized olefin, the resulting polyolefin having {overscore (M)} w /{overscore (M)} n of greater than 4 or 5, preferably 6 or 7.5 to 20. The polyolefin preferably has {overscore (M)} n of at least 1500, and preferably at least 30% terminal vinylidene (I) groups. Polyolefins have been prepared by heteropolyacid catalyzed polymerization of olefinic compounds. U.S. Pat. No. 5,710,225, Johnson et al., Jan. 20, 1998, discloses a method for producing polymers by polymerization of olefins, by contacting a C 2 -C 30 olefin or a derivative thereof with a heteropolyacid. The heteropolyacid catalyst can be partially or fully exchanged with cations from the elements in groups IA, IIA and IIIA of the periodic chart, Group IB-VIIB elements and Group VIII metals, including manganese, iron, cobalt, nickel, copper, silver, zinc, boron, aluminum, bismuth, or ammonium or hydrocarbyl-substituted ammonium salt. The heteropolyacids can be used in their initial hydrated form or they can be treated (calcined) to remove some or all of the water of hydration. Calcining is preferably conducted in air at a temperature of, for instance, up to 500° C. although temperatures much over 350° C. generally do not provide much advantage. In the resulting polymers, the combined terminal vinylidene and β-isomer content is preferably at least 30%. It is often desirable to use highly reactive polyolefins to prepare hydrocarbyl-substituted acylating agents (e.g., anhydrides) by way of a thermal route rather than a chlorine catalyzed route. The thermal route involves simply conducting the reaction at an elevated temperature without the use of an added catalyst or promoter. The thermal route avoids products containing chlorine. The reactivity of the polyolefin is believed to be related to the end group in the polymer with terminal olefins (terminal vinylidene) and terminal groups capable of being isomerized thereto, β-isomers, being identified as the reactive species. The thermal route to substituted succinic anhydrides using highly reactive polyisobutylenes (PIBs) has been discussed in detail in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,071,919, 5,137,978, 5,137,980 and 5,241,003. Conventional PIB has terminal vinylidene content of roughly 5%. The terminal isomer groups of conventional PIB and high vinylidene PIB are given in EP 0 355 895 and in the aforementioned PCT Patent Publication WO 01/00688. High vinylidene materials can contain at least 30 percent terminal vinylidene and β-isomer groups. In preferred cases the polyisobutylene can contain at least 50 percent terminal vinylidene groups, and more preferably at least 60 percent terminal vinylidene groups. |
<SOH> SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION <EOH>The present invention provides an emulsified water-blended fuel composition comprising: (A) a liquid hydrocarbon based fuel; (B) water; and (C) a minor emulsifying amount of at least one of a fuel-soluble hydrocarbyl-substituted carboxylic acylating agent and a reaction product of said acylating agent and at least one of ammonia, an amine, an alcohol, a reactive metal, a reactive metal compound and a mixture of two or more thereof, wherein the hydrocarbyl substituent comprises at least one polyolefin, said polyolefin having {overscore (M)} w /{overscore (M)} n greater than 5. In one embodiment, the composition further comprises (D) at least one cosurfactant distinct from component (C); in one embodiment, (E) at least one organic cetane improver; and in one embodiment, (F) at least one antifreeze. In another embodiment, the composition further comprises (G) a water-soluble, ashless (i.e. metal-free), halogen-, boron-, and phosphorus-free amine salt, distinct from component (C). The invention also relates to a method for operating an internal combustion engine comprising fueling said engine with the composition of the present invention. detailed-description description="Detailed Description" end="lead"? |
Transition metal oxide nanowires |
Nanowires are disclosed which comprise transition metal oxides. The transition metal oxides may include oxides of group II, group III, group IV and lanthanide metals. Also disclosed are methods for making nanowires which comprise injecting decomposition agents into a solution comprising solvents and metallic alkoxide or metallic salt precursors. |
1. A nanowire comprising a transition metal oxide comprising: AxA′1-xMyM′1-yO3 wherein: A and A′ are each independently selected from group II, group III, group IV and lanthanide metals; M and M′ are independently for each occurrence a transition metal; x is a whole or fractional number between 0 and 1 inclusive; and y is a whole or fractional number between 0 and 1 inclusive. 2. The nanowire of claim 1, wherein said transition metal is tetravalent. 3. The nanowire of claim 1, wherein M and M′ are independently selected from the group consisting of Ti, Zr, Mn, Tc, and Re. 4. The nanowire of claim 1, wherein the length of the nanowire is greater than about 100 nm. 5. The nanowire of claim 1, wherein the diameter of the nanowire is less than about 50 nm. 6. A nanowire comprising a transition metal oxide comprising: AxA′1-xMyM′1-yO3 wherein: A and A′ are each independently selected from group II and group IV metals; M and M′ are each independently a group IVB metal; x is a whole or fractional number between 0 and 1 inclusive; and y is a whole or fractional number between 0 and 1 inclusive. 7. The nanowire of claim 6, wherein the group II and group IV metals are selected from Ba, Pb, and Sr. 8. The nanowire of claim 7, wherein said group IVB metals are selected from Ti and Zr. 9. The nanowire of claim 6, wherein x is about 1 and y is about 0. 10. The nanowire of claim 9, wherein A is Ba. 11. The nanowire of claim 6, wherein x is about 0 and y is about 1. 12. The nanowire of claim 11, wherein M is Ti or Zr. 13. The nanowire of claim 6, wherein the length of the nanowire is greater than about 100 nm. 14. The nanowire of claim 13, wherein the diameter of the nanowire is less than about 50 run. 15. A nanowire comprising a transition metal oxide, wherein said transition metal oxides are selected from the group consisting of BaTiO3, PbZrO3, PbZryTi1-yO3 and BaxSr1-xTiO3, wherein x is a whole or fractional number between 0 and 1 inclusive, and y is a whole or fractional number between 0 and 1 inclusive. 16. A nanowire comprising a transition metal oxide represented by AxA′1-xMO3 wherein: A is a lanthanide metal; A′ is a divalent metal; M is a tetravalent transition metal; and x is a whole or fractional number between 0 and 1 inclusive. 17. The nanowire of claim 16, wherein M is selected from Mn, Tc, and Re. 18. The nanowire of claim 16, where A′ is a Group II metal. 19. The nanowire of claim 18, wherein A′ is Ca. 20. The nanowire of claim 16, wherein A is La. 21. The nanowire of claim 20, wherein x is about 1. 22. The nanowire of claim 19, wherein x is about 0. 23. The nanowire of claim 16, wherein the length of the nanowire is greater than 100 run. 24. A nanowire comprising a transition metal oxide, wherein said transition metal oxides are selected from the group consisting of LaMnO3, CaMnO3 and La1-xCaxMnO3, wherein x is a whole or fractional number between 0 and 1 inclusive. 25. A method of preparing transition-metal-oxide nanowires comprising: a) injecting a decomposition agent into a solution comprising a solvent, a coordinating ligand, and a precursor metallic alkoxide or metallic salt; and b) heating said solution. 26. The method of claim 25, wherein said solution is heated to above about 200° C. 27. The method of claim 25, wherein said precursor metallic alkoxide comprises a AM-alkoxide, wherein A is a divalent metal and M is a tetravalent transition metal. 28. The method of claim 27, wherein said solution further comprises a further A′M′ alkoxide or a further metallic salt. 29. The method of claim 25, wherein said solvent is an organic solvent. 30. The method of claim 29, wherein said organic solvent is selected from the group consisting of an aliphatic compound, an aromatic compound, and an alkyl. 31. The method of claim 30, wherein said organic solvent is a higher alkyl. 32. The method of claim 31, wherein said organic solvent is heptadecane. 33. The method of claim 25, wherein said coordinating ligand comprises an amphipathic compound. 34. The method of claim 25, wherein said coordinating ligand comprises an amine. 35. The method of claim 34, wherein said coordinating ligand is an alkylamine with a long chain alkyl moiety. 36. The method of claim 25, wherein said coordinating ligand is selected from the group consisting of bis (2-ethylhexyl) amine, tridodecylamine, palmitic acid, trihexylamine, tridecylamine, lauric acid, oleic acid, and trioctylamine. 37. The method of claim 25, wherein said decomposition agent is an oxidant. 38. The method of claim 37, wherein said decomposition agent is selected from the group consisting of peroxides, chlorates, perchlorates, nitrates, permanganates, and water. 39. The method of claim 37, wherein said decomposition agent is selected from the group consisting of hydrogen peroxide and water. 40. The method of claim 25, wherein said precursor alkoxide is a bimetallic alkoxide. 41. The method of claim 25, wherein said precursor alkoxide is selected from the group consisting of metallic isopropoxides and bimetallic isopropoxides. 42. The method of claim 41, wherein said precursor alkoxide is selected from the group consisting of BaTi[OCH(CH3)2]6 and SrTi[OCH(CH3)2]6. 43. The method of claim 25, wherein said precursor alkoxide is Mn(OAc)2. 4H2O. 44. The method of claim 25, wherein said precursor metallic salt has the form MX, wherein M is a trivalent or tetravalent metal, and X is an acid or base. 45. A method for preparation of transition metal oxides of the general formula AxA′1-xMyM′1-yO3 wherein: A and A′ are each independently selected from group II and group IV metals; M and M′ are each independently a group IVB metal; x is a whole or fractional number between 0 and 1 inclusive; and y is a whole or fractional number between 0 and 1 inclusive; the method comprising: a) injecting a decomposition agent into a solution comprising a solvent and a precursor metallic alkoxide or metallic salt; and b) heating said solution. 46. The method of claim 45, wherein said precursor alkoxide comprises an AM-alkoxide. 47. The method of claim 45, wherein said solution further comprises a further precursor A′M′ alkoxide or metallic salt. 48. The method of claim 45, wherein said precursor alkoxide is a bimetallic alkoxide. 49. The method of claim 45, wherein said precursor alkoxide is selected from the group consisting of metallic and bimetallic isopropoxides. 50. The method of claim 49, wherein said precursor alkoxide is selected from the group consisting of BaTi[OCH(CH3)2]6 and SrTi[OCH(CH3)2]6. 51. The method of claim 45, wherein said solvent is an organic solvent. 52. The method of claim 51, wherein said organic solvent is selected from an aliphatic compound, an aromatic compound, or an alkyl. 53. The method of claim 52, wherein said organic solvent is a higher alkyl. 54. The method of claim 53, wherein said organic solvent is heptadecane. 55. The method of claim 45, wherein said coordinating ligand comprises an amphipathic compound. 56. The method of claim 45, wherein said coordinating ligand comprises an amine. 57. The method of claim 56, wherein said coordinating ligand is an alkylamine with a long chain alkyl moiety. 58. The method of claim 45, wherein said coordinating ligand is selected from the group consisting of bis (2-ethylhexyl) amine, tridodecylamine, palmitic acid, trihexylamine, tridecylamine, lauric acid, oleic acid, and trioctylamine. 59. The method of claim 45, wherein said decomposition agent is an oxidant. 60. The method of claim 59, wherein said decomposition agent is selected from the group consisting of peroxides, chlorates, perchlorates, nitrates, permanganates, and water. 61. The method of claim 59, wherein said decomposition agent is selected from the group consisting of hydrogen peroxide and water. 62. A method for preparation of transition metal oxides of the general formula AxA′1-xMO3 wherein: A is a lanthanide metal; A′ is a divalent metal; M is a tetravalent transition metal; and x is a whole or fractional number between 0 and 1 inclusive, wherein said method comprises a) injecting a decomposition agent into a solution comprising a solvent and a precursor metallic alkoxide or metallic salt; and b) heating said solution. 63. The method of claim 62, wherein said precursor metallic salt has the form MX, wherein M is a trivalent or tetravalent metal, and X is an acid or base. 64. The method of claim 62, wherein said precursor alkoxide is Mn-alkoxide. 65. The method of claim 64, wherein said precursor alkoxide is Mn(OAc)2.4H2O. 66. The method of claim 63, wherein said precursor metallic salt is selected from the group consisting of A′(NO3)3. mH2O and A(NO3)3.mH2O, wherein m is an integer from 1 to 10. 67. The method of claim 66, wherein A′ is La and A is Ca; and m is 6. 68. The method of claim 62, wherein said solution is heated to above about 200° C. 69. The method of claim 62, wherein said solvent is an organic solvent. 70. The method of claim 69, wherein said organic solvent is selected from the group consisting of an aliphatic compound, an aromatic compound, and an alkyl. 71. The method of claim 70, wherein said organic solvent is a higher alkyl. 72. The method of claim 71, wherein said organic solvent is heptadecane. 73. The method of claim 62, wherein said coordinating ligand comprises an amphipathic compound. 74. The method of claim 62, wherein said coordinating ligand comprises an amine. 75. The method of claim 74, wherein said coordinating ligand is an alkylamine with a long chain alkyl moiety. 76. The method of claim 62, wherein said coordinating ligand is selected from the group consisting of bis (2-ethylhexyl) amine, tridodecylamine, palmitic acid, trihexylamine, tridecylamine, lauric acid, oleic acid, and trioctylamine. 77. The method of claim 62, wherein said decomposition agent is an oxidant. 78. The method of claim 77, wherein said decomposition agent is selected from the group consisting of peroxides, chlorates, perchlorates, nitrates, permanganates, and water. 79. The method of claim 78, wherein said decomposition agent is selected from the group consisting of hydrogen peroxide and water. |
<SOH> BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION <EOH>Bulk transition metal oxides that exhibit ferroelectric, piezoelectric, converse piezoelectric, pyroelectric, magnetoresistive, and high-permittivity dielectric properties have been widely used in industry to fabricate various memory devices, ferroelectric capacitors, electromechanical actuators, resonators, sensors, optical switches and waveguides. For example, these transition metal oxides may be used in non-volatile ferroelectric random-access memory (NVFRAM) devices. The basis of NVRAM devices may be the ferroelectric property of the material. Ferroelectric properties of a material include the spontaneous permanent dipole moment exhibited by the material that can be reoriented by external electric field. NVFRAM devices use non-volatile ferroelectric polarization in lieu of field-effect gates and modulate the conductance of the doped semiconductor materials. Nonvolatile FRAMs may be used in consumer electronics, such as smart cards, and may be used as the next-generation memory architecture to replace dynamic RAMs (DRAMs). These metal oxides may also be used as ferroelectric dynamic random-access memory (FDRAM) devices. Ferroelectric materials exhibit a high permittivity, for example, e>300 for barium strontium titanate compared to ε=7 in silicon oxide, which may be exploited to make charge-storage and DRAM devices. FDRAMs work in a similar fashion to conventional DRAMs and store information as charge in a capacitor. The high permittivity of a ferroelectric material allows the significant reduction in the capacitor size and hence the size of the whole RAM device. Ferroelectric oxides typically exhibit a host of other related properties, such as piezoelectricity, pyroelectricity, and large nonlinear optical coefficients. Central to all these diverse properties of ferroelectric oxides is the structural phase transition of the underlying oxide lattice, wherein below a certain phase transition temperature, the crystal lattice as a whole develops a spontaneous dipole moment or polarization and becomes ferroelectric. The same distortion of the unit cell, added together coherently throughout the crystal, also results in the deformation of the whole crystal that leads to piezoelectricity. In addition, owing to the loss of the inversion symmetry, the crystal in the tetragonal phase exhibits a large second order optical susceptibility that is responsible for second harmonic generation. Converse-piezoelectric, that is, the deformation of the material upon the application of the electric field, and piezoelectric applications of bulk transition metal oxides may also be used as the basis of bulk and micrometer-sized electromechanical actuators, pumps, and more generally the whole class of micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS). Examples of converse-piezoelectric applications include piezoelectric actuators employed to move and position an object down to Angstrom precision and the piezoelectric fluid pumps used in inkjet-printer heads. The piezoelectric property exhibited by the material, i.e., the development of voltage (or surface charge) upon the deformation of materials, is the physical basis of force and motion sensors, and resonators. Some examples of sensor applications are piezo-cantilevers used in atomic force microscopy to sense feature heights and accelerometers used to deploy air bags in motor vehicles. The resonator applications utilize both converse-piezoelectric and piezoelectric properties of the material to drive mechanical oscillations of the material using electrical inputs and to detect these resonant oscillations electrically. These resonators can be used as high-frequency bandpass filters in telecommunication systems, replacing bulky inductive-capacitance (L-C) filters. The pyroelectric properties exhibited by bulk transition metal oxide materials, including the change of voltage between opposite faces of the material with a change in temperature, is the physical basis of sensitive temperature and infrared sensors. Dielectric properties of bulk transition metal oxides may lend themselves to use in integrated circuits and other semiconductor applications. Another interesting member of the transition metal oxide family are the doped lanthanum manganites. In the bulk, these transition metal oxides have stimulated considerable scientific and technological interest due to its amazing variety of electronic and magnetic properties, including charge and orbital ordering, metal/insulator and ferromagnet/antiferromagnet transitions, lattice and magnetic polarons, and colossal magnetoresistance (CMR). Magnetoresistive perovskite manganites are currently used in many business sectors such as consumer electronics, the wireless telephone industry, and the automobile industry. These industries currently employ large and expensive magnetic field sensors in their products. The development of nanocrystalline manganite sensors could greatly impact these fields. Experimental studies have been performed on the effects of reduced dimensionality on the phase transitions of metal oxides, including thin film ferroelectric oxides and single crystal samples. However, existing preparation of nanocrystal solids of ferroelectric oxides for example, such as sol-gel synthesis and co-precipitation have yielded highly agglomerated samples with poor crystalline quality. No general synthetic route has existed for the synthesis of nanocrystals with more than two elements. Previous investigations of thin-film and nanocrystalline samples have shown that their physical properties are critically dependent on their dimension. Despite intensive experimental efforts, however, a general method to synthesize well-isolated crystalline nanostructures of for example, perovskite oxides has been lacking. |
<SOH> SUMMARY <EOH>This application generally relates to nanowires comprising transition-metal-oxides. In one embodiment, the nanowires comprise a transition metal oxide represented by in-line-formulae description="In-line Formulae" end="lead"? A x A′ 1-x M y M′ 1-y O 3 in-line-formulae description="In-line Formulae" end="tail"? wherein: A and A′ are each independently selected from group II, group III, group IV and lanthanide metals; M and M′ are independently for each occurrence a transition metal; x is a whole or fractional number between 0 and 1 inclusive; and y is a whole or fractional number between 0 and 1 inclusive. The numbers represented by x and y may be selected such that the sum of the valency of A, A′, M and M′ is about 0. In one embodiment, M and M′ are independently selected from Ti, Zr, Mn, Tc, and Re. In another embodiment, the nanowires comprise a transition metal oxide represented by in-line-formulae description="In-line Formulae" end="lead"? A x A′ 1-x M y M′ 1-y O 3 in-line-formulae description="In-line Formulae" end="tail"? wherein: A and A′ are each independently selected from group II and group IV metals; M and M′ are each independently a group IVB metal; x is a whole or fractional number between 0 and 1 inclusive; and y is a whole or fractional number between 0 and 1 inclusive. In a particular embodiment, the group II and group IV metals are selected from Ba, Pb, and Sr. In another particular embodiment, the transition metal is tetravalent. In another embodiment, the transition metals or group IV metal is selected from Ti and Zr. In one embodiment, x is about 1, y is about 0, and A is Ba. In another embodiment, x is about 0, y is about 1, and M is Ti or Zr. In another embodiment, the nanowires comprise the transition metal oxides BaTiO 3 , PbZrO 3 , PbZr y Ti 1-y O 3 or Ba x Sr 1-x TiO 3 , wherein x is a whole or fractional number between 0 and 1 inclusive, and y is a whole or fractional number between 0 and 1 inclusive. In another embodiment, the nanowires comprise a transition metal oxide represented by in-line-formulae description="In-line Formulae" end="lead"? A x A′ 1-x MO 3 in-line-formulae description="In-line Formulae" end="tail"? wherein: A is a lanthanide metal; A′ is a divalent metal; M is a tetravalent metal; and x is a whole or fractional number between 0 and 1 inclusive. In an embodiment, M is selected from Mn, Tc, and Re. In another embodiment, A′ is Ca. In yet another embodiment, A is La. In yet another embodiment, x is about 1 and A is La. In another embodiment, x is about 0 and A′ is Ca. In one embodiment, the length of the nanowire is greater than 100 nm, greater than 1 μm, greater than 5 μm, greater than 10 μm, or even greater than 50 μm. In yet another embodiment, the diameter of the nanowire is less than 500 nm, less than 100 nm, less than 50 nm, less than 5 nm, or even less than 1 nm. In another aspect, this disclosure relates to the method of preparation of transition-metal-oxide nanowires comprising: a) injecting a decomposition agent into a solution comprising a solvent, a coordinating ligand, and a precursor metallic alkoxide or metallic salt; and b) heating said solution. In certain embodiments, the solution is heated to above about 200° C., above about 240° C., or even above about 260° C. In one embodiment, the precursor alkoxide has the form AM-alkoxide, wherein A is divalent metal and M is a tetravalent metal. In another embodiment, the solution further comprises another A′M′ alkoxide or salt. In an embodiment, the solvent has a boiling point above about 110° C., above about 150° C., about 200° C., or even above about 250° C. In another embodiment, the solvent is an organic solvent. In an embodiment, the organic solvent may be an aliphatic compound, an aromatic compound or an alkyl. In one embodiment, the organic solvent is a long chain alkyl, or higher alkyl. In another embodiment, the organic solvent is heptadecane. In another embodiment, the coordinating ligand may be an acid or amine. In an embodiment, the coordinating ligand may be an amphipathic compound. In one embodiment, the coordinating ligand is an alkylamine with a long chain alkyl moiety or hydrocarbon. In a further embodiment, the coordinating ligand may be selected from bis (2-ethylhexyl) amine, tridodecylamine, palmitic acid, trihexylamine, tridecylamine, lauric acid, oleic acid, and trioctylamine. In another embodiment, the method comprises injecting one or more decomposition agents. In an embodiment, the decomposition agents may be an oxidant. Decomposition agents may include peroxides, chlorates perchlorates, nitrates, permanganates and water. Decomposition agents may be, for example, hydrogen peroxide or water. The precursor alkoxide may be a bimetallic alkoxide. In an embodiment, the precursor alkoxides are metallic or bimetallic isopropoxides. In a further embodiment, the precursor alkoxides are BaTi[OCH(CH 3 ) 2 ] 6 , or SrTi[OCH(CH 3 ) 2 ] 6 . In another embodiment, the precursor alkoxide may be for example, Mn(O i-Pr) 2 or Mn(OAc) 2 -4 H 2 O. In yet another embodiment, the precursor metallic salt may have the form Mx, wherein M is a trivalent or tetravalent metal, and X may be any metallic salt moiety, for example a conjugate acid or a conjugate base. In another embodiment, this disclosure relates to the method of preparation of transition metal oxides of the general formula in-line-formulae description="In-line Formulae" end="lead"? A x A′ 1-x M y M′ 1-y O 3 in-line-formulae description="In-line Formulae" end="tail"? wherein: A and A′ are each independently selected from group II and group IV metals; M and M′ are each independently a group IVB metal; x is a whole or fractional number between 0 and 1 inclusive; and y is a whole or fractional number between 0 and 1 inclusive; the method comprising: a) injecting a decomposition agent into a solution comprising a solvent and a precursor metallic alkoxide or metallic salt; and b) heating said solution. In yet another embodiment, this disclosure relates to a method of preparation of transition metal oxides of the general formula in-line-formulae description="In-line Formulae" end="lead"? A x A′ 1-x MO 3 in-line-formulae description="In-line Formulae" end="tail"? wherein: A is a lanthanide metal; A′ is a divalent metal; M is a tetravalent transition metal; and x is a whole or fractional number between 0 and 1 inclusive, wherein said method comprises a) injecting a decomposition agent into a solution comprising a solvent and a precursor metallic alkoxide or metallic salt; and b) heating said solution. In another aspect, this disclosure relates to applications of these materials in fabricating nanoscale devices. These applications may include the fabrication of (a) nanometer-sized memory devices, such as a nano-memory stick, volatile and non-volatile random-access memory devices and (b) nanoscale electromechanical devices such as actuators, resonators, and force and motion sensors. Other devices include those based on the dielectric properties of the nanowires. These devices can be incorporated into the nanoscale electronic and electromechanical device architecture as well as silicon-based microelectronic circuitry. Yet other devices incorporating these nanowires include magnetic field sensors and magnetic recording and storage devices. |
Methods for assessing the risk of obesity based on allelic variations in the 5'-flanking region of the insulin gene |
The invention features methods for determining the risk of development of diabetes in a subject by examining the paternal insulin VNTR class. The invention further provides methods to facilitate rational therapy and maintenance of obese patients. |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.