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Ambulatory infusion pumps are useful for providing a variety of drug therapies. Ambulatory infusion pumps can be particularly beneficial for therapies which must be delivered over an extended period of time.
Although ambulatory infusion pumps are typically used in a hospital or clinic setting, with the shift of health care delivery from the hospital setting to the outpatient and home settings, reliable effective ambulatory pumps for home use are necessary to safely deliver medications. A problem with patient home use of ambulatory infusion pumps, however, is that patients and family members are typically not professionally trained in use of the devices. Thus, if a problem arises with operation of the device, the patient is often not aware of how to correct the problem. This can require the patient to call a nurse or other outside caregiver to correct the problem, often requiring an in-person visit, or to spend significant time on the phone with a customer helpline trying to describe and correct the problem. Accordingly, there is a need for a quicker and more reliable way for patients to correct errors with ambulatory infusion pumps in a home setting.
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Non-volatile data storage devices, such as universal serial bus (USB) flash memory devices or removable storage cards, have allowed for increased portability of data and software applications. Flash memory devices can enhance data storage density by storing multiple bits in each flash memory cell. For example, multi-level cell (MLC) flash memory devices provide increased storage density by storing 3 bits per cell, 4 bits per cell, or more. Data to be stored in a MLC memory may be first stored in a single-level cell (SLC) cache and later transferred from the SLC cache to the MLC memory during a background process. Alternatively, data may be written to the MLC memory in a direct-write operation.
Storing data in a MLC memory is conventionally performed using multi-stage write operations at multiple adjacent word lines of the MLC flash memory, alternating between the adjacent word lines to reduce an impact of cross-coupling effects. However, alternating between multiple word lines may require swapping data for the different word lines into a set of latches in a flash memory die to enable programming of the latched data to a particular word line. Providing sufficient temporary storage capacity (e.g. in a random-access memory) to store multiple sets of data that is swapped into and out of the latches during a direct-write operation increases the manufacturing cost of a data storage device. Further, repeatedly transferring the temporarily stored data to the latches in the flash memory die during each of multiple write stages for each of the multiple word lines introduces delays associated with the data transfer, increasing latency of writing data to the MLC memory.
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The present invention relates to aminoanthraquinones containing at least one cationic group chosen from aliphatic chains containing at least one cationic charge delocalized on a 5-membered unsaturated polynitrogen-containing ring, their use as a direct dye in applications for dyeing keratinous materials, such as human keratinous fibers, for example hair, and dyeing compositions containing them.
It is known to dye keratinous fibers, and in particular hair, with dyeing compositions containing direct dyes. Direct dyes are dye molecules having an affinity for keratinous fibers. The dyeing method that uses them is a so-called direct dyeing method which comprises allowing the direct dyes to act on the fibers, and subsequently rinsing the fibers.
The colors resulting therefrom are temporary or semipermanent colors, because the nature of the interactions which link the direct dyes to the keratinous fiber, and their desorption from the surface and/or the core of the fiber are responsible for their weak dyeing power and their poor resistance to washings and perspiration.
Cationic aminoanthraquinones whose charge is localized on the nitrogen atom have already been described among the known direct dyes. Such aminoanthraquinones are described, for example, in French Patent No. 1,422,016 and its addition No. 87,902, No. 1,391,675, No. 1,401,163, No. 1,379,649, No. 1,430,089, No. 1,584,965, No. 2,050,397, and No. 2,548,895, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,169,403, 5,314,505, 5,486,629, and 5,520,707, and European Patent Nos. 818,193 and 852,136.
However, in hair dyeing, direct dyes are being continually sought which exhibit increasingly better characteristics.
It is thus after major research studies carried out on this subject that the inventors have discovered new cationic aminoanthraquinones in which at least one cationic charge is delocalized on a five-membered unsaturated polynitrogen-containing heterocycle and contain at least one cationic group Z, Z being chosen from quaternized aliphatic chains, aliphatic chains containing at least one quaternized saturated ring, and aliphatic chains containing at least one quaternized unsaturated ring.
This new family of dyes can exhibit the very advantageous, characteristic feature of greater solubility in the dyeing media. These new dyes can also generate colors, by direct dyeing, having an intensity and a resistance to various attacks to which the hair may be subjected: light, adverse weather conditions, shampoos, and perspiration, which is substantially improved compared with that of the colors produced with known prior art cationic aminoanthraquinones.
This discovery forms the basis of the present invention.
A subject of the present invention is thus aminoanthraquinones of the formula (I):
in which formula:
R1, R2, R3 and R4, which may be identical or different, are chosen from a hydrogen atom; a halogen atom; a group Z defined below; a (C1-C6)alkyl radical; a monohydroxy(C1-C6 alkyl) radical; a polyhydroxy(C2-C6 alkyl) radical; a cyano radical; a nitro radical; a carboxyl radical; a carbamyl radical; a sulpho radical; an unsubstituted amino radical; a substituted amino radical of formula NHRxe2x80x25, wherein Rxe2x80x25 has the same meaning as R5 defined below, and wherein Rxe2x80x25 may be identical to or different from R5; and an OR6 and an SR6 group, wherein R6 is defined below;
R5 is chosen from a hydrogen atom; a group Z defined below; a C1-C6 alkyl radical; a monohydroxy(C1-C6 alkyl) radical; a polyhydroxy(C2-C6 alkyl) radical; a (C1-C6)alkoxy(C1-C6 alkyl) radical; an aryl radical; a benzyl radical; a cyano(C1-C6 alkyl) radical; a carbamyl(C1-C6 alkyl) radical; an N-(C1-C6)alkylcarbamyl(C1-C6 alkyl) radical; an N,N-di(C1-C6)alkylcarbamyl(C1-C6 alkyl) radical; a thiocarbamyl(C1-C6 alkyl) radical; a trifluoro(C1-C6 alkyl) radical; a sulpho(C1-C6 alkyl) radical; a (C1-C6)alkylcarboxy(C1-C6 alkyl) radical; a (C1-C6)alkylsulphinyl(C1-C6 alkyl) radical; an aminosulphonyl(C1-C6 alkyl) radical; an N-Z-aminosulphonyl(C1-C6 alkyl) radical; an N-(C1-C6)alkylaminosulphonyl(C1-C6 alkyl) radical; an N,N-di(C1-C6)alkylaminosulphonyl(C1-C6 alkyl) radical; a (C1-C6)alkylcarbonyl(C1-C6 alkyl) radical; an amino(C1-C6 alkyl) radical, wherein the alkyl portion is unsubstituted or substituted with at least one hydroxyl radical; an amino(C1-C6 alkyl) radical, wherein the alkyl is substituted with at least one hydroxyl radical and wherein the amine is substituted with one or two radicals, wherein each amine radical is identical or different, and is chosen from C1-C6 alkyl, monohydroxy(C1-C6 alkyl), polyhydroxy(C2-C6 alkyl), (C1-C6)alkylcarbonyl, carbamyl, N-(C1-C6)alkylcarbamyl, N,N-di(C1-C6)-alkylcarbamyl, (C1-C6)alkylsulphonyl, formyl, trifluoro(C1-C6)alkylcarbonyl, (C1-C6)alkylcarboxyl, thiocarbamyl, and the group Z defined below, or may form, together with the nitrogen atom to which they are attached, a 5- or 6-membered ring containing carbon or containing at least one heteroatom;
R6 is chosen from a hydrogen atom; a C1-C6 alkyl radical; a monohydroxy(C1-C6 alkyl) radical; a polyhydroxy(C2-C6 alkyl) radical; a group Z defined below; a (C1-C6)alkoxy(C1-C6 alkyl) radical; an aryl radical; a benzyl radical; a carboxy(C1-C6 alkyl) radical; a (C1-C6)alkylcarboxy(C1-C6 alkyl) radical; a cyano(C1-C6 alkyl) radical; a carbamyl(C1-C6 alkyl) radical; an N-(C1-C6)alkylcarbamyl(C1-C6 alkyl) radical; an N,N-di(C1-C6)alkylcarbamyl(C1-C6 alkyl) radical; a trifluoro(C1-C6 alkyl) radical; an aminosulphonyl(C1-C6 alkyl) radical; an N-Z-aminosulphonyl(C1-C6 alkyl) radical; an N-(C1-C6)alkylaminosulphonyl(C1-C6 alkyl) radical; an N,N-di(C1-C6)alkylaminosulphonyl(C1-C6 alkyl) radical; a (C1-C6)alkylsulphinyl(C1-C6 alkyl) radical; a (C1-C6)alkylsulphonyl(C1-C6 alkyl) radical; a (C1-C6)alkylcarbonyl(C1-C6 alkyl) radical; an amino(C1-C6 alkyl) radical, wherein the alkyl is unsubstituted or substituted with at least one hydroxyl radical; an amino(C1-C6 alkyl) radical, wherein the alkyl is substituted with at least one hydroxyl radical and wherein the amine is substituted with one or two radicals, which radicals are identical or different, and are chosen from C1-C6 alkyl, monohydroxy(C1-C6 alkyl), polyhydroxy(C2-C6 alkyl), (C1-C6)alkylcarbonyl, formyl, trifluoro(C1-C6)alkylcarbonyl, (C1-C6)alkylcarboxyl, carbamyl, N-(C1-C6)alkylcarbamyl, N,N-di(C1-C6)alkylcarbamyl, thiocarbamyl, and (C1-C6)alkylsulphonyl radicals, and from the group Z defined below, or which may form, together with the nitrogen atom to which they are attached, a 5- or 6-membered ring containing carbon or containing at least one heteroatom;
Z is chosen from the unsaturated cationic groups of formulae (II) and (III), and the saturated cationic groups of formula (IV):
in which:
D is a linking arm chosen from linear and branched alkyl chains, which may be interrupted by at least one heteroatom such as oxygen, sulphur or nitrogen, and
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Antenna arrays are widely used in communication and radar systems because of their high directivity and ability to control beam direction. Some examples of these systems are military radars, vehicles collision avoidance systems, cellular base stations, satellite communication systems, broadcasting, naval communication, weather research, radio-frequency identification (RFID) and synthetic aperture radars. Antenna arrays are excited using either a serial or a corporate feed network. Serially-fed antenna arrays are more compact than their corporate-fed counterparts (e.g., serially-fed antenna arrays have a substantially shorter feeding or transmission line than corporate-fed arrays). Furthermore, the ohmic and feed line radiation losses are smaller in serially-fed arrays than in corporate-fed arrays. Hence, the efficiency of serially-fed arrays can be higher than that of corporate-fed arrays.
Serially-fed antenna arrays are not without their drawbacks, however. For example, serially-fed antenna arrays have a narrow bandwidth due to the non-zero group delay of the feed network causing variation of the phase shift with frequency between the antennas of adjacent antenna units. Therefore, beam direction varies (beam squint) as the frequency changes, thereby reducing the array boresight gain and causing performance degradation, especially in narrow beam width systems.
More particularly, the main beam angle of an antenna array is determined by phase shifts between adjacent antennas of the array. In serially-fed antenna arrays, the phase shift is adjusted using a frequency dependent phase shifter. Therefore, the antenna array beam angle changes as the frequency changes resulting in beam squinting given by equation (1):
θ beam = sin - 1 ( θ f - θ f o K o d E ) ( 1 ) where: θbeam is the main beam angle, θfo and θf are the phase shifts between any two of the adjacent antennas at the center frequency and at an offset frequency, respectively, and dE is the inter-element spacing (i.e., the space between adjacent antennas in the antenna array). According to equation (1), the beam squint occurs because the phase shift between the adjacent antennas varies with frequency. In order to eliminate the beam squint, the phase shift between the antennas must be frequency independent. In other words, the group delay, which is calculated from equation (2) below, between adjacent antennas must be zero.
Group Delay = - 1 2 π d θ f d f ( 2 )
To obtain a zero group delay between the adjacent antennas (and thereby eliminating, or at least substantially reducing, beam squint), one or more NGD circuit(s) may be integrated between the adjacent antennas. In such an instance, the NGD value must be equal to the value of the positive group delay of the interconnecting transmission lines. FIGS. 1A and 1B depict conventional serially-fed antenna array arrangements wherein NGD circuits are integrated between adjacent antennas to have an overall group delay of approximately zero. In FIG. 1A, and for each set of adjacent antennas, an NGD circuit comprising a lossy parallel resonance circuit is serially-integrated into the transmission line between the two antennas. In FIG. 1B, an NGD circuit comprising a lossy series resonator circuit is integrated into the transmission line in a shunt arrangement. In each of these arrangements, in order to have a uniformly excited antenna array, an amplifier and corresponding matching circuits can be used as illustrated in FIGS. 1A and 1B.
The use of conventional NGD circuits in this manner is not without its shortcomings, however. The conventional NGD circuits employ lossy elements (e.g., a lossy resonator) to generate a desirable amount of NGD. As such, these circuits suffer from a large amount of loss in order to generate NGD (e.g., certain conventional NGD circuits may have a typical loss of 6 dB or more, meaning that more than 70-75% of the power is dissipated in the NGD circuit), which significantly limits their application.
Accordingly, there is a need for NGD circuits that minimize and/or eliminate one or more of the above-identified deficiencies.
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During the operation of a storage system, data is typically stored on one or more disks of the storage system. One method by which data is stored on the disks is to initially temporarily store the data in a temporary storage location of the storage system. The temporary storage location permits high speed access to the data. Thereafter, during the operation of the storage system, the data stored in the temporary storage location is stored to the disks of the storage system. Typically, this temporary storage method is used when the disks have a slower access rate than the temporary storage location. Thus, by providing access to data quickly, the response time from data request to data delivery is short.
However, the storage system may experience downtime. For example, downtime can include situations when the storage system loses power, or perhaps, experiences a storage system failure, such as a storage system crash. Such failures result in the inability to store data to and deliver data from the storage system. Downtime can last for a few seconds or may last for longer periods of time, such as hours or days. During such downtime, data that was initially stored in the temporary storage location may not have been stored to the disks. Consequently, the data is lost. This situation may cause data inconsistencies because when the disks are accessed after the storage system recovers from the downtime, the data stored in the disks is older than the lost data stored in the temporary storage location.
In some storage systems where there is no data loss, a battery can be attached to the temporary storage location to enable the temporary storage location to continue to operate when the storage system experiences downtime. However, the downtime can last for long periods of time. During these long periods of time, the battery will discharge and the temporary storage location will once more lose data.
A solution to prevent data loss in the temporary storage location that has a discharged battery is to use a rechargeable battery to power the temporary storage location. However, although the rechargeable battery can be recharged, over time the rechargeable battery loses the ability to retain a charge. Ultimately, the storage system may operate with a temporary storage location that has a non-functioning or low performing rechargeable battery. Thus, when the storage system experiences downtime, the data stored in the temporary storage location will once more be lost.
Thus, what is needed is a method and a system to prevent losing data stored in the temporary storage location of the storage system while ensuring that the storage system does not operate with a temporary storage location that may not be able to retain data during downtime.
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The invention relates to cooking systems, and more particularly relates to such systems that employ automatic controls.
Automated cooking systems have been known in the past. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,883,801 describes a cooking system in which weight and geometry on a package are input to a computer (FIG. 16 and Col. 14, lines 35-58). U.S. Pat. No. 5,565,655 describes a weight sensor, including a pair of facing electrodes and an annular spacer, used in a microwave oven. (See the Abstract). U.S. Pat. No. 5,426,280 (the “'280 Patent”) describes a bar code on a food package that is read to look up in memory a stored cooking program. The cooking program can include cooking time, temperature and power level setting. (See the Abstract.) U.S. Pat. No. 5,285,041 describes a code reader in a microwave oven that reads a bar code on a food package in order to control an oven. (See the Abstract.) According to U.S. Pat. No. 4,874,928 (the “'928 Patent”), food weight and steam (or humidity) are detected to determine cooking time by a microwave oven. (See the Abstract and Col. 6 (FIG. 13)). Surface temperature detection is described at Col. 1, lines 22-23. U.S. Pat. No. 4,780,588 describes an optical device that reads cooking data. Another input device enters cooking restriction data. A computer operates a heater based on the cooking data and cooking restriction data. (See the Abstract.) The control of appliances over AC power lines and networks is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,798,945 (the “'945 Patent”) and U.S. Pat. No. 5,949,779 (the “'779 Patent”).
Although the '928 Patent employs two phases of operation, it does not take advantage of various detectable food parameters that enhance the resulting cooked food. Although the '928 Patent describes calculations carried out during the cooking process that depend in part on the type of food (e.g., Col. 10, lines 36-42), there is no attempt to arrange the calculations by products of food parameters and food-type-dependent coefficients that enhance the resulting food product and improve the efficiency of downloading from a remote location. Although the '928 Patent describes adjustment of power level (Col. 7, lines 1-5 and FIG. 9(b)), it ignores the advantages of varying power level based on detected food temperature.
None of the foregoing cooking systems controls the cooking process to reach the optimum taste consistently for an inexperienced homemaker. The present invention addresses this problem and provides a solution.
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Prior to the conception and development of the present invention users of motorized welding-cutting tools, such as the Gullco KAT®, had to manually lift the welding apparatus onto a work table or other elevated areas. Bug-O® offers a similar apparatus. Typically, these motorized burner/welders operate on about an 8-foot long straight rigid track, and the combined apparatus is sometimes called a track burner. Carriages, dollies, and other lifting and transporting devices are well known in industry for moving and otherwise facilitating the use of heavy power tools, but not for such track cutting units.
Hardin et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 5,018,930, McCoy et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 5,249,823, Hodges in U.S. Pat. No. 5,599,031, and Hewitt in U.S. Pat. No. 6,109,625 all teach variations of a size adjustable wheeled cart for moving and supporting a load such as a machine. These all have four wheels fixedly connected to a frame. Others, such as Larouche in U.S. Pat. No. 6,634,658 and Wareham in U.S. Design Pat. No. D535,454 both teach wheeled moving systems with separated wheel units. However, these two merely offer flanges that support cargo for the purpose of manually moving the cargo. They would not engage and work with the track beam of a cutting/welding apparatus.
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This invention pertains to the temporary restraining of small animals, particularly for administering oral doses of medications. The small animals often panic and can easily injure both the handler and itself, and can also cause the administration to be misdosed, which may lead to erroneous data, unwanted clinical effects, and possible animal death. Therefore, the oral dosing procedure is both time consuming and labor intensive, requiring as many as three persons to execute with safety and efficacy.
This invention presents a novel apparatus in which to complete the oral dosing procedure with increased safety to the restrained animal, increased efficacy of the dosing procedure, increased handler safety, and decreased labor intensity.
It is the primary object of this invention to provide a sturdy, sanitizable, portable restrainer that is operable by one animal handler.
It is further an object of this invention to provide a restrainer that presents the animal to the handler in a position that streamlines the oral dosing procedure, and results in increased safety for the handler and the animal being restrained.
It is further an object of this invention to provide a less stressful environment for the restrained animal by providing a better-tolerated restraint method.
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{
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It is known to provide an image capture device at a vehicle for capturing images of the scene occurring exteriorly of the vehicle, such as forwardly or rearwardly or sidewardly of the vehicle. The captured images may be processed by a processing system and the system may control the headlamps of the vehicle or may provide an image display to the driver of the vehicle or may provide other information or signals, depending on the particular application of the imaging system.
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The present invention relates to an electronic system and an operating method thereof, and particularly to a technique effective in compensating for non-linearity of an AD conversion unit and non-linearity of a DA conversion unit in an electronic system including the DA conversion unit and the AD conversion unit.
The following Patent Document 1 describes an A/D converter called a background digital correction type A/D converter. The background digital correction type A/D converter includes a main A/D conversion unit which performs a high-speed A/D conversion operation with low precision, a reference A/D conversion unit which performs high-resolution A/D conversion at low speed, and a digital correction unit which generates a final digital output signal from a digital signal of the main A/D conversion unit and a digital signal of the reference A/D conversion unit.
The following Patent Document 2 and Non-patent Document 1 describe an A/D converter called a foreground digital correction type A/D converter. The foreground digital correction type A/D converter includes a main A/D conversion unit, a reference D/A conversion unit, a switch, a foreground calibration unit, and a digital output generation unit. During a calibration operation period, a calibration digital signal is converted into a calibration analog signal by the reference D/A conversion unit, and the calibration analog signal is supplied to an input terminal of the main A/D conversion unit via the switch. A digital signal generated from an output terminal of the main A/D conversion unit is supplied to an input terminal of the digital output generation unit, the calibration digital signal and a final digital output signal of the digital output generation unit are supplied to the foreground calibration unit, and an output signal of the foreground calibration unit is supplied to a control input terminal of the digital output generation unit. As a result, the digital output generation unit is controlled by the output signal of the foreground calibration unit so that the calibration digital signal supplied to the foreground calibration unit and the final digital output signal of the digital output generation unit agree with each other.
[Patent Document 1]
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2009-130444[Patent Document 2] Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2009-159415[Non-Patent Document 1] Takashi Oshima et al, “23 mW 50-MS/s 10-bit Pipeline A/D Converter with Nonlinear LMS Foreground Calibration”, 2009 International Symposium on Circuits and Systems, PP. 960-063
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{
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Heretofore, as a kneading apparatus for kneading a material to be kneaded such as, for example, rubber or plastic, one disclosed in Patent Literature 1 has been known. This conventional kneading apparatus is a double-arm type and is driven by a drive apparatus disposed near the kneading apparatus.
More particularly, the kneading apparatus in question is provided with an externally projecting input shaft, while the drive apparatus is provided with an externally projecting output shaft. The input shaft of the kneading apparatus and the output shaft of the drive apparatus are coupled together through a coupling apparatus having gear coupling portions. With this coupling, power from the drive apparatus is transmitted to the kneading apparatus.
[Patent Literature 1]
Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2004-313927
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a magnetic driver suitable for a shutter device or aperture device to be incorporated into an image sensing apparatus such as a video camera, a film-based camera, or a digital still camera, or suitable for an optical filter driver.
2. Description of the Related Art
A rotary actuator described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-248231 is conventionally known as a cylindrical rotary actuator incorporating a coil in the direction of the rotating shaft of a magnetized rotor magnet.
This rotary actuator is characterized by including
a rotor made of a permanent magnet,
a main body case, which is made of a nonmagnetic material and accommodates the rotor by supporting it such that it can rotate in a predetermined angular range centered around its axis,
a coil placed outside one end of the main body case in the axis direction, and formed by winding a wire around a bobbin, and
a yoke made of a magnetic material having two ends bent to form an almost U-shaped section, an intermediate portion of the yoke being inserted into the coil, one end of the yoke being placed on one outer side surface of the main body case, and the other end of the yoke being placed on the other outer side surface of the main body case.
Also, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-052162, a method has been proposed in which two bearings are used, a yoke is formed into a hook shape, and the two bearings are fixed by the hook of the yoke and a portion to be inserted into a coil bobbin, thereby forming an actuator.
In above-mentioned Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-248231, however, the positioning of the rotor magnet and an arcuate magnetic pole portion of the yoke, which exerts a large effect on the driving accuracy, is performed on only a surface facing the rotor magnet on the outer circumferential surface of the main body case. Also, no method of positioning the two bearings of the rotor magnet has been disclosed. Furthermore, the hook of the yoke fixes the bearings and a cap in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-052162. Similar to Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-248231, the arcuate magnetic pole portion of the yoke is positioned on only a surface facing the rotor magnet. In addition, the complicated yoke shape may make the position of the arcuate magnetic pole portion unstable with respect to the rotor magnet.
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{
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At present, numerous countries are working on the formation of a extensive infrastructure of recharging stations (“electric filling stations”) for electric vehicles. Since, in contrast to conventional filling stations, such recharging stations require a longer stop for vehicles, it would be desirable to assist users to quickly find free recharging stations by efficient management of resources, so that they do not cause unnecessary traffic congestion.
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Force transducers are often used as force-to-frequency converters in accelerometers and other instruments. One type of force transducer employs a vibratable assembly which can be used to sense acceleration. In one known arrangement, the transducers are used in push-pull pairs in which a given acceleration results in a compression force on one transducer, and a tension force on the other transducer. This mode of operation provides a high degree of compensation for many so-called common mode errors, i.e. errors that cause the frequencies of the transducer to shift by the same amount in the same direction, because the shifts cancel in the algorithms normally used to process the transducer outputs. Such errors include vibration rectification errors, errors induced by temperature change, aging errors, and measurement errors induced by a drift in the clock frequency.
Such force transducers can also be sensitive to density or pressure variations. The density or pressure sensitivity is primarily due to mass loading effects on the beams. Specifically, gas molecules near the beams tend to oscillate with the beams. Such effectively increases the mass of the beams, thereby affecting the frequencies at which the beam vibrates. When the pressure or density of the surrounding gas increases, the effective mass of the beams also increase which lowers the beams' vibration frequencies. Because the beams' vibration frequencies are employed as a measurement of the applied force, e.g. acceleration, the density-induced or pressure-induced variation can cause an unwanted error in the sensed acceleration output. Accordingly, it would be desirable to reduce, if not eliminate this density-induced or pressure-induced error.
Precision force transducers can be packaged in a vacuum to avoid errors resulting from the density-induced variation. However, the choice of internal materials used in precision sensor designs is severely constrained due to out-gassing concerns. Because gas density within the package directly drives density-induced variations, a heavy burden of hermeticity is place on the packaging. The material constraints in hermeticity requirements, in turn, increase the cost and limit performance. Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide an accelerometer with reduced pressure effects and simpler packaging constraints.
This invention arose out of concerns associated with improving forced-sensing transducer and accelerometer operations. In particular, the invention arose out of concerns associated with providing improved vibrating beam force transducers and methods.
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This invention relates to improvements in a paper feeding apparatus used in an electrostatic copier or a document image reader in which the lowermost document in a document stack placed on a document stacker can be separated one by one and conveyed to the exposure position on a platen glass.
A recirculating document handler (RDH) and an automatic document feeder (ADF) are used as an automatic document feeder in which a plurality of documents are stacked on a document stacker and the documents are conveyed onto a platen glass of a copier. The paper separating efficiency of a document feeding unit is very important in this kind of apparatus.
The bottom conveyance type of document feeding apparatus is conventionally used as it is excellent in the paper separating efficiency. In Japanese Patent Application O.P.I Publication Nos. 69637/1983 and 76775/1976, this type of document feeding apparatus is disclosed. This apparatus is composed in such a manner that: the lowermost document stacked on a document stacker is separated from the stack and conveyed to the processing unit one by one; and the document is returned to the document stacker or a delivery stacker after the document is exposed.
A typical document feeder of a recirculating document handler (RDH) which realizes the bottom conveyance type of document feeder mentioned above, is the bottom conveyance and upper piling type of document feeder which is composed in such a manner that: a document feed opening is provided to the lower edge-portion of a document feeding unit; a document which is sent from the first document feeding unit close to the document feeding port, is guided from the second document feeding unit through the document feeding passage onto the upper surface of the platen glass of a copier; the document is moved on the platen glass to the exposure position by the motion of a conveyance belt provided on a platen glass; when the document is placed at the exposure position, an optical exposure system is reciprocated in order to expose the document; the exposed document is moved by the motion of the conveyance belt; and the document is conveyed through the recirculating passage and stacked on the uppermost position of the document stack placed on the document stacker.
In the conventional document feeder described above, the first document feeding unit is composed of: a document feeding belt which feeds the lowermost document of the document stack placed on the document feeding position; and a stop roller which comes into contact with the document feeding belt with pressure in order to prevent double feeding of documents. However, in the case of the document feeding apparatus described above, when the documents located at the regular position on the document stacker, are pushed by a push belt to the document feeding position, a plurality of documents are squeezed into the wedge-shaped portion formed by a document feeding belt and a stop roller and furthermore the documents enter into the nip portion.
Furthermore, as the above-mentioned stop roller comes into contact with the above-mentioned document feeding belt with pressure, the front side of the document and the reverse side of another document are rubbed with each other, so that the document surfaces are stained and the image on the document is damaged.
In order to solve the problems described above, the separating document feed system has been proposed in which the suction force or the blowing force by air is used.
The first type of the system was disclosed by the U.S. Pat. No. 4,345,751, which is the rotary suction document separating type of document feeding apparatus in which an rotating vacuum cylinder and the document conveyance unit are combined. This system is characterized in that: a vacuum suction cylinder is provided close to the tip of a document stack located on a document stacker; only the lowermost document of the stack is separated from the document stack by the suction force of the vacuum suction cylinder; and the separated document is adhered to the curved surface of the cylinder and sent downward so that the document can be transfered to the following conveyance unit. After the document is conveyed by the vacuum cylinder, the opening portion of the cylinder is returned to the position right below the document stack.
The cylinder unit of the document feeding apparatus of this proposal must be provided with a mechanism which is characterized in that: when a document is delivered, the vacuum suction is turned on; and when the cylinder is returned, the vacuum suction is turned off.
Furthermore, a strong vacuum suction unit by which the heavy static pressure can be generated, is necessary in order to increase the document separation force, so that it causes such problems that: the noise is increased; a wide space is necessary to install the unit; and the manufacturing cost of the document feed unit is increased.
In this rotating vacuum cylinder type of document feeding apparatus, a pipe made from aluminum alloy is used as a suction and conveyance surface. When the coefficient (.mu.) of friction between the aluminum alloy surface and the document surface is 0.3 to 0.5 and the coefficient of friction between the document surfaces is 1.0, the force necessary to pull out a document from a document stack composed of documents of A3 size, is about 1 kg The force needed to pull out a document from a document stack is determined by the area of the opening of the vacuum cylinder, the static suction pressure, and the coefficient (.mu.) of surface friction. When a strong force is given to a document in order to pull it out from a stack, the front side of one document and the reverse side of the other document are rubbed, which causes such a problem that the surfaces of documents are stained and damaged, so that the quality of images is deteriorated.
The above-mentioned vacuum cylinder and the conveyance roller must be eccentrically placed to the vacuum belt (the negative pressure belt) and their insides must be divided into two in the case of a document feeding apparatus which is composed in such a structure that: a plurality of throughholes are provided to the endless belt which conveys a document from the document stack to the platen glass; and negative pressure is activated to the document through the holes on the belt.
In the case of a plurality of endless negative pressure belt, the irregularity of speed is liable to occur among the belts. As a result, the conveyed document is sometimes deformed. Unless the deformation of a document is eliminated before copying, the document image can not be formed on a recording paper correctly. Furthermore, the structure and motion of this type of document feeding apparatus are complicated and especially the rotating mechanism of the suction drum is complicated.
Further, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,284,270, 4,324,395, 4,411,417, and the like disclose another conventional document feeding system, which is called the air-knife document separating system.
In this document feeding system, the lowermost document is conveyed by a vacuum belt in such a manner that: the lowermost document of a document stack is sucked by a vacuum suction belt having a protruded portion in the middle so that a space can be made between the document and the document stack; air is blown into the space so that the document stack can be floated by air pressure; and the lowermost document can be pulled out from the stack.
When the document has been delivered from the above-described vacuum suction belt to the following conveyance roller, the vacuum suction must be stopped until the trailing end of the document passes through the vacuum suction belt. The reason to stop the vacuum suction is that: if the vacuum suction is continued after the document is delivered to the conveyance roller, the document is rubbed by the vacuum belt or the document is pulled by the vacuum suction belt. Consequently, it is necessary for the vacuum suction belt unit to be turned on or off every time a document is fed. For that reason, consideration must be given to the suction preparing time which is defined as the time (about some hundreds millisecond) necessary to start the vacuum suction after the vacuum unit is turned on. The suction preparing time is 10 times longer than that of the conventional friction separating type of document feeder, wherein in the case of the conventional friction separating type of document feeder, this suction preparing time is 30 to 50 ms which is the same as the response time of a magnetic clutch. As a result, the response lag of the air-knife separating system is 10 times larger than that of the conventional magnetic clutch system. For that reason, the air-knife separating system is inferior from the view point of the follow-up ability at a high speed, so that it is not suitable for high speed document separation and conveyance. Accordingly, these types of document feeding apparatuses have such problems that: (1) the shape of the document stacker surface is not simple, so that the shape of the suction box can not cope with various sizes of documents; (2) as the document is sucked by an air gap, the lead time is necessary, so that these types of document feeding apparatuses are not suitable for high speed document feeding; (3) as a special blower is necessary for these types of document feeding apparatuses, the control is complicated and the cost is increased.
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This invention relates generally to pneumatic line filters, and more particularly to an evaporator for removing and evaporating liquid from a pneumatic line filter.
It is common practice in a wide variety of industrial applications to use pneumatic fluids as a source of motive power. The pneumatic fluid may be compressed air, for example, used for aspirators or driving fluid motors. In such applications, it is desirable to filter the pneumatic fluid to remove entrained foreign substances such as liquid (e.g. water vapor) or dust particles. Pneumatic line filters generally include a bowl-like housing, in which the liquid is collected and a filter for trapping the dust. In the past, when the housing was filled to capacity with liquid, the flow in the pneumatic line had to be interrupted and the housing emptied; however, this results in a shut down of the driven apparatus. To eliminate the necessity of apparatus shut-down, it was found that the housing could be provided with a drain for conducting the liquid away from the housing (see, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,828,626 issued Oct. 20 1931 in the name of Swendeman, or 3,507,098 issued Apr. 21, 1970 in the name of Veres et al). However, such drains undesirably jettison the collected liquid directly to the atmosphere. Therefore, some kind of catch basin or additional ducting is required to handle the jettisoned liquid. As is apparent, such structure increases the overall space requirements of the filter and introduces complications in its construction.
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Many digital cameras have limited dynamic range and as a result, details of a scene may be missed while capturing an image. Examples of a conventional technique for high dynamic range (HDR) image generation include a multi-exposure image composition method, where the multi-exposure image compositing method includes capturing a plurality of images with different exposures and generating HDR data. An image pyramid is a type of multi-scale signal representation where repeated smoothing and subsampling operations are applied to a source image to generate a series of reduced resolution images. The exposure fusion method merges different parts of different weighted images which may differ according to image contrast levels, saturation levels, exposure levels, and so on. The technique then restores those weighted images seamlessly using pyramidal image decomposition.
Exposure fusion is generally effective when dealing with simple exposure conditions. However, most HDR images consist of complex exposure conditions of a scene and therefore, details in over-exposed and/or under-exposed regions in the image may be lost. Specifically, higher pyramid levels may lose details of highlight and shadow regions and where lower pyramid level may lead to visible transitions in the luminance values from one region of the image to the other, also known as a halo effect.
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The present invention relates to articles having a temperature indicator applied thereon. The temperature indicator contains a bonding agent and at least one fine-grained, organic substance that is largely opaque below a defined temperatue and melts when the defined temperature is reached and thus changes its optical properties, so that the temperature indicator becomes transparent or translucent.
Temperature indicators, or thermochromic coatings are materials that change color at a certain temperature. Thermochromic materials have been used as temperature indicators in heat-shrinkable products such as, for example, heat-shrinkable collars of cross-linked polymers. To this end, in such heat-shrinkable products, heat-activatable sealants, for example hot-melted glues, are applied onto an inside surface. The sealants melt at a defined temperature, producing a desired, sealing connection between the heat-shrunk product and the substrate to be enveloped.
The necessary heating to activate the material is provided through the use of an external heating source, for example a flame. The heat activation, however, can require greater heating than is required for the actual shrink process of the heat-shrinkable product. In order to ensure that the necessary heat activation has occurred on the inside, the outside surface of the heat-shrinkable product is provided with a temperature indicator. The temperature indicator, by changing color, indicates that the temperature at which one can assume that the required heat activation of the sealant has been successfully carried out at the inside, has been reached on the outside of the surface.
A temperature indicator can also be used to avoid subjecting the outside of the material to unnecessary heating that can damage the material under certain circumstances. The temperature indicator must also be irreversible, so that it is guaranteed that the color change, once it has occurred during the thermal treatment, remains.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,344,909, for example, discloses thermochromic compositions that cerntain an organic material that decomposes while producing a visible color change. This color change proceeds, for example, from green to black, whereby a certain coking occurs among other things. The decomposition products of the organic material are colorless and pigments are added to achieve the initial green color. Gaseous decomposition products, as well as carbon-like and tar-like residues on the surface of the collar are produced in these decomposition reactions. The formation of craters can occur. Moreover, there is the risk that the original color will be restored due to the reaction of the soil moisture as a consequence of the release of undecomposed, green pigment particles.
European Patent 0 042 285 discloses a countermeasure thereto. A bonding agent is provided that enters into an interaction with the decomposed organic material in order to prevent a leaching process from the composition.
Initially, inorganic pigments that experience a change in color at a prescribed temperature were often used for temperature indication. Salts of heavy metals such as lead, cobalt, cadmium, nickel, chromium, mercury or copper were predominantly used as such pigments (see Chemie-Lexikon, Dr. Hermann Roempp, Second Edition, 1950, page 1631). For example, such compounds were mixed with a suitable bonding agent composed of a synthetic resin and spirits and were then applied onto the articles to be monitored with brushes or, respectively, spray guns.
A disadvantage of the use of such materials is that they can result in environmental pollution. Under certain circumstances, moreover, inorganic thermochromes damage the shrinkable material. This is particularly true during the shrink process. Additionally, craters can form on the surface of the material, whereby a catalytic decomposition reaction on the surface can also be anticipated; this still being capable of acting even during later use. U.S. Pat. No. 4,121,011 discloses the addition of additives to such compounds to alleviate this later disadvantage.
Another attempt at solving the problems, that have been encountered with temperature indications, is to use materials that are essentially opaque initially condition, but, which melt when a predefined temperature is exceeded and thereby change their optical properties and become transparent or, respectively, translucent. This causes the substrate or, resepctively, the color of the substrate to become visible allowing this event to be utilized as a temperature indication.
For example, German Published Application 33 07 567 discloses a heat-restroable article whereat an outer layer of polyethylene or polypropylene that is opaque at normal temperature is extruded on. When the crystallization temperature is reached, the outer, continuous layer becomes transparent and the color of the inside layer becomes visible.
German Published Application 33 26 021 discloses the use of a coating composition composed of a pigment and of a bonding agent as a temperature indicator in a heat-restorable article. The pigment and bonding agent are composed of materials having different refractive indices. When the melting temperature of the pigment and/or bonding agent is reached, a substances having a uniform refractive index is formed. This change in the refractive index leads to a visible change in color.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,269,038 discloses color indications wherein fine-grained substances are employed with a suitable bonding agent. These substances are applied as a film on non-modifiable foundations. When a temperature prescribed by the material is exceeded, this substance composed of the inorganic pigment and of the bonding agent melts. The result of the process is that the coat becomes transparent, allowing the color of the foundation to be seen.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,928,791 discloses a temperature indicator composed of a white, crystalline, organic substance that melts when the melting temperature is reached and is absorbed by the carrier. A visible, irreversible color change thereby results. Here, too, color indicators are applied on rigid, invariable foundations.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,002,385 also discloses organic substances and mixtures of inorganic salts for temperature indication. When a given temperature is reached, the material melts and is absorbed by the colored foundation.
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The present disclosure relates to an electronic device and a method of performing wireless communication using beamforming thereof.
In recent years, with the rapid development of wireless communication technology, users of wireless communication terminals have demanded various services. Applications of wireless communication terminals demand transmission and reception of a large amount of data. Users also want high speed transmission and reception of a large amount of data at high speed. To comply with these demands, various schemes have been proposed to efficiently use radio frequency resources. From among the schemes, beamforming is a technique which has recently attracted attention.
When a terminal connects to an access point (AP) or another terminal for the first time or when the terminal has maintained the connection, if the environment or the location of the terminal changes, the terminal cannot detect which one of the beams transmitted from the AP and the other terminal is optimal. The terminal cannot also detect which one of the beams it receives is optimal. In addition, with respect to a beam transmitted by the terminal and a beam received by an AP or another terminal, the terminal cannot detect which transmitting beam/receiving beam is optimal. Therefore, the terminal and the AP or other terminals need to efficiently search for the optimal transmitting beam/receiving beam.
The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11ad describes an optimum beam searching scheme for wireless local area network (LAN)/personal area network (PAN). Referring to IEEE 802.11ad standard specification, beamforming is disclosed as it is performed in a wireless LAN/PAN environment at a band of 60 GHz which is higher than that of conventional mobile communication. Electric signals can be transmitted in a corresponding direction via beamforming. When a terminal needs to communicate with a plurality of nodes via beamforming, proper beams are set for nodes respectively and communications are made with corresponding nodes by the set beams. Different beams may be used according to correspondent nodes.
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Along with the continuous development of display technology, OLED (Organic Light-Emitting Diode) has increasingly become an international research hotspot because of its advantages such as high brightness of light-emitting, color richness, low-voltage direct-current driving, simple preparation process. OLED has broader field of vision and thus can be made into products with larger sizes to meet users' requirements for various dimensions. It is determined by the aforementioned significant advantages that OLED will become the next-generation mainstream display technology.
The existing display screens on the market comprise a display area and a rim, but in order to make OLED display devices look compact and fashionable, OLED provided with a narrow rim has become a trend of OLED display device development. As for the OLED display panels in prior art, because a side portion of the array layer is required for electrical circuit cabling, the so-called “rimless” therein is just making the portion reserved for IC or periphery circuits as smaller as possible, which can only be regarded as an ultra-narrow rim or ultra-narrow rim display device, not a real rimless display device. For example, CN201110414415 discloses a display device, its periphery circuits and part of its cabling are folded into an arc structure, and a foldable substrate is folded at a middle portion of the cabling part, so as to form a display screen with a narrow rim.
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Wind power is considered one of the cleanest, most environmentally friendly energy sources presently available, and wind turbines have gained increased attention in this regard. A modern wind turbine typically includes a tower, a generator, a gearbox, a nacelle, and one or more rotor blades. The rotor blades capture kinetic energy from wind using known foil principles and transmit the kinetic energy through rotational energy to turn a shaft coupling the rotor blades to a gearbox, or if a gearbox is not used, directly to the generator. The generator then converts the mechanical energy to electrical energy that may be deployed to a utility grid.
Wind turbine rotor blades generally include a body shell formed by two shell halves of a composite laminate material. The shell halves are generally manufactured using molding processes and then coupled together along the corresponding ends of the rotor blade. In general, the body shell is relatively lightweight and has structural properties (e.g., stiffness, buckling resistance and strength) which are not configured to withstand the bending moments and other loads exerted on the rotor blade during operation. In addition, wind turbine blades are becoming increasingly longer in order to produce more power. As a result, the blades must be stiffer and thus heavier so as to mitigate loads on the rotor.
To increase the stiffness, buckling resistance and strength of the rotor blade, the body shell is typically reinforced using one or more structural components (e.g. opposing spar caps with a shear web configured therebetween) that engage the inner surfaces of the shell halves. The spar caps are typically constructed of various materials, including but not limited to glass fiber laminate composites and/or carbon fiber laminate composites. Such materials, however, can be difficult to control, defect prone, and/or highly labor intensive due to handling of the dry and pre-preg fabrics and the challenges of infusing large laminated structures.
As such, modern spar caps may be constructed of pre-fabricated, pre-cured (i.e. pultruded) composites that can be produced in thicker sections, and are less susceptible to defects. Accordingly, the pultruded composites can eliminate various concerns and challenges associated with using dry fabric alone. As used herein, the terms “pultruded composites,” “pultrusions,” “pultruded members” or similar generally encompass reinforced materials (e.g. fibers or woven or braided strands) that are impregnated with a resin and pulled through a stationary die such that the resin cures or undergoes polymerization through added heat or other curing methods. As such, the process of manufacturing pultruded composites is typically characterized by a continuous process of composite materials that produces composite parts having a constant cross-section. A plurality of pultrusions can then be joined together to form the spar caps and/or various other rotor blade components. The thickness of the pultruded material helps to lower the unit cost of the components by increasing the material throughput of the die. In addition, the die shape is simple (i.e. preferably rectangular) to increase the pull rate of material through the die.
Pultruded components, however, are not without certain drawbacks. For example, the thickness of the pultruded components does not easily conform to the aerodynamic profile of the blade. Further, changing the cross-sectional area of the pultruded component to be flexible can increase complexity of the pultrusion process, thereby slowing down the material manufacturing process.
Accordingly, the art is continuously seeking new and improved methods of manufacturing pultruded or belt-pressed rotor blade components, such as spar caps, having one or more areas of variable stiffness such that the components can conform to various locations of the rotor blade.
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1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to patient transport systems, and more particularly, to a patient transport system for transferring an immobile patient from a bed to a gurney or vice versa.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It appears to be widely accepted that a major, if not the major, work-related complaint among nurses and hospital nursing staff is back injuries caused by lifting patients and getting them in and out of a bed and to and from a gurney or a stretcher as it is commonly referred to. A survey of existing practices and techniques suggests that there is no widely adopted simple and safe method of transferring patients from a bed to a gurney, or vice versa, without lifting them. There are hoist-type lifts where the patient is suspended in a sling. The sling must be first manipulated under the patient and then the patient must be physically lifted, changing the shape of the body and applying pressures different from those existing on the patient when lying prone in bed. There are also roller boards which are inserted partially under the patient and then the patient is pulled onto the roller board. Again, the patient must be manipulated to allow the board to be inserted and then the body is pulled onto the board. In the end, the patient ends up on the board, not on the gurney or the bed. An additional disadvantage of the roller board is that either the patient must cooperate with the transferrer or more than one transferrer is required to effect the transfer. Patients have also been known to drop off the roller boards and to land on the floor between the bed and the gurney.
An earlier patent application, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/330,808, which is hereby incorporated by reference, solves this age-old problem of transferring patients from a bed or a gurney and vice versa. That patent application discloses an apparatus for transporting a patient and includes a base, a patient supporting member attached to the base, a conveyor attached to the base and a removable sheet. The sheet has a first end and a second end where the sheet first end is removably attached to the conveyor and the sheet second end is free. The sheet is adapted to be positioned on the patient supporting member, such as a mattress. In operation, an end of the sheet, which is attached to the conveyor, is rotated around a roller thereby moving the patient from the bed to a gurney or vice versa.
However, the conveyor disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/330,808 requires that the roller remain affixed to the bed or gurney, or the complete conveyor be removed from the bed or gurney. This results in a problem of storing the conveyor in a hospital room and transporting the conveyor when it is not attached to the bed or gurney.
Further, typically hospital beds vary in length and in many cases can be adjusted so that their lengths vary. In this case, a conveyor, such as that disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/330,808, may be inoperative if the length of the roller is different from that of the length of the bed. Further, if the length of the bed is varied during operation, then such a fixed length roller could affect the operation of the bed.
Therefore, it is an object of my invention to allow a patient, while lying in a prone position and completely immobile, to be moved, by one person of relatively low strength, safely from the bed to the gurney and vice versa, and to accommodate various bed lengths with one conveying apparatus.
It is also an object of my invention to provide a patient transport system for a bed or a gurney which can be easily engaged with the bed or gurney and removed.
My invention is an apparatus for transporting a patient that includes a base, a patient supporting member attached to the base, a conveyor removably secured to the base, and a sheet. The sheet has a first end and a second end, where the first end is attached to the conveyor. The sheet is adapted to be positioned onto the patient supporting member. The base and the patient supporting member can form a bed, a gurney or an apparatus that converts from a gurney to a wheelchair or vice versa.
The conveyor includes a roller rotatably secured to the base, where the roller can be made of graphite fibers, aluminum, fiberglass or steel. The roller includes a first end and a second end. The sheet first end is attached to the roller and two bearings which are removably and rotatably secured to respective first and second ends of the roller.
Each bearing includes a first leg and a second leg attached to the first leg. The first and second legs define an open ended roller receiving recess that receives an end of the roller. A tip extends from one of the legs into the roller recess. Preferably, the tip extends from the first leg, which includes an inner surface having a first section and a second section, where the tip extends at an interface of the two sections. The second leg includes a first segment and a depending second segment. The second segment is secured to the first leg. Inner surfaces of the first segment, second segment and second section define a roller engaging recess. The second section inner surface is concave shaped.
A pair of collars are provided on both ends of the roller, wherein the bearings are received between the collars.
The sheet is removably attached to the conveyor by a flexible strap having one end releasably attached to the roller and the other end releasably attached to the sheet. Preferably, a clip is releasably secured at one end of the strap for attaching to the sheet. The length of the strap can be adjusted. Preferably, Velcro(copyright) fasteners are provided on an end of the strap and along the length of the roller so the strap can be releasably secured to the roller.
The roller can be provided with a telescopic arrangement so that its length can be adjusted, wherein the roller includes a first longitudinally extending member that slidably receives a second longitudinally extending member with a recess defined in the first longitudinally extending member. Preferably, the recess has the same geometric shape as a cross-sectional shape of the second longitudinal member. A segmented handle can be attached to the roller. An annular member is slidably received by the second longitudinally extending member and a flexible strip is secured to the annular member.
A tube can be attached to the base and a post can be attached to the bearing, or vice versa. The post is slidably received by the tube so that the bearing is removably secured to the base. A pawl and ratchet arrangement can be secured to the roller and bearing to prevent the roller from rotating in a defined direction.
My invention can be used on a bed, a gurney or a convertible gurney that converts from a gurney to a wheelchair.
My invention is also a method for transporting a patient from a bed to a gurney or vice versa using the above-described conveyor including the steps of: placing a sheet on one of the mattress of the bed and the patient supporting surface of the gurney, Positioning the patient on the sheet, attaching the conveyor to the other of the bed and the gurney having the sheet, positioning the gurney adjacent to the bed so that the conveyor is along a side of the other of the gurney and the bed, the side being furthest away from the one of the bed and the gurney having the sheet, removably attaching the sheet to the roller, rotating the roller and thereby winding the sheet around the roller, moving the patient on the sheet from the one of the bed and gurney toward the roller onto the other of the bed and the roller, and removing the roller from the one of the bed and the gurney.
The method can also include the steps of attaching the sheet to straps secured to the roller and adjusting the length of the straps after the patient begins to be moved on the sheet so that all of the straps are taut.
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of packaging. More particularly, the present invention relates to a packaging substrate configured for connection to rotary cutting and grinding wheels.
2. Related Art
Rotary cutting wheels are marketed through one of a retail or bulk mode. Retail commonly results in the rotary cutting wheel being sold as a single item purchase whereas bulk sales results in multiples of the item being purchased at one time. The existing packaging varies greatly for each type of mode. Both modes require numerous warning messages attached to and accompanying the cutting.
Bulk sale packaging can include such warnings on the box and/or literature with which the bulk is sold and in some cases requires the bonding of labels to both sides of the wheel in order to affix the required warnings. Retail packaging additionally requires individual packaging wherein the rotary cutting wheel is packaged adjacent a card bearing such warnings and shrink wrapped together as one unit such that the card and associated wheel may be hung from a display rack. Other costly retail packaging has been used to contain cutting wheels, such as clam shell and blister packages.
A type of cuttings wheels is an abrasive grinding wheel, which is one of two types commonly known in the trade, a type 1 or flat wheel and type 27or raised hub wheel. The rough, porous and uneven surfaces of abrasive wheels, as opposed to steel blades, necessarily require the use of a paper blotter or blotters adhesively bonded about the hub of the wheel which are used to display at least some of the warning, identification, UPC bar code, and operating information. The amount of the information which can be printed on the blotter is limited since the blotter cannot interfere with the configuration and use of the cutting wheel. This limitation is furthered in type 27 wheels wherein only one side of the wheel may include a blotter, as the face of one side of the cutting wheel is used to cut.
While these warning, identification, UPC bar code and operating information are necessary and required, they add increased expense to the cost of the product in the case of placing double blotters, one on each side of the cutting wheel. There is also added expense and waste in shelf space in that a store supplier of the rotary cutting wheels presently has to stock, shelve and display two different types of packages for the same wheel.
Accordingly, there remains a need to improve the packaging of rotary cutting wheels in order to facilitate the display of required warning messages with minimal expense. There is also a need to reduce the waste in stock, shelf and display space within a store.
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With the increasing interest in environmental, clinical and other biological problems, there is a growing need for trace analytical methods that are suitable for complex organic mixtures. While gas chromatography, particularly in combination with mass spectrometers, has been successfully applied to the volatile species, high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) is many times used for the non-volatile components. Although HPLC technology has made big gains recently, the overall separatory power is still not competitive with gas chromatography. Therefore, there is a real need for improved HPLC detectors, since small sample sizes are required for the highly efficient HPLC separations. Thus, the detectors could be improved with respect to their detectabilities.
Of the three most commonly used HPLC detectors, the fluorometric detectors has been developed sufficiently to be suitable for most situations. For non-fluorescing samples, the absorption detector must be used, but the detection of small differences in two large signals limits conventional detectors to the 10.sup.-3 to 10.sup.-4 range in absorbence. When the species of concern does not show convenient absorption bands, e.g., saturated organic compounds, the refractive index detector is commonly used, despite its poor sensitivity. Since the scope of application of HPLC is virtually related to the detectability of the detectors, there is a real need to improve the refractive index and absorption detectors in sensitivity and detectability.
Absorption detectors can be improved by monitoring an associated effect other than the decrease in light intensity. The most convenient associated effect is the generation of heat through relaxation of the excited molecules of the specimen. The non-uniform heating resulting from absorption of a laser beam gives rise to thermal lens calorimetry. If instead, the temperature gradient, and thus a refractive index (RI) gradient, that is developed is used to deflect a probe laser beam, the technique of photothermal deflection is created. One can also use the heat waves that are generated by a pulsed or chopped excitation source as the basis for photoacoustic detection. These concepts have already been demonstrated as a detection scheme for HPLC. Since the magnitudes of all of these associated effects increase with the power of the excitation (absorbed) light source, one can achieve lower detectabilities by using these associated effects as compared to conventional measurements.
Perhaps the most sensitive way to monitor small changes in the refractive index is interferometry. The same technology that allows one to achieve high frequency stability in lasers and to measure these frequencies to great precision and accuracy, can be applied to the detection of refractive index changes.
One method of doing so would be to use a Mach-Zender interferometer and a single frequency laser to monitor the phase delays in a sample due to absorption and the subsequent heating to detect trace gases. This type of phase-fluctuation heterodyne spectroscopy has been shown to be a fairly good gas chromatography detector. However, detectability depends upon the quality of the interference that can be achieved. The Mach-Zender interferometer has relatively low finesse because a low reflectability mirror (50%) is used for splitting the beam into two paths. It also suffers from having an "idle" arm that can be perturbed by acoustic waves unless the system is evacuated.
Further, arrangement of the optical components is such that system rigidity is difficult to maintain. The Fabry-Perot interferometer, on the other hand, typically has very high finesse, has no "idle" optical paths, and is commercially available with excellent rigidity using materials with low co-efficients of thermal expansion such as Super-Invar, a special composition made principally of nickel and iron and available from such companies as Guterl of Lockport, N.Y.
Additionally, detectability of traditional absorption detectors in HPLC needs improvement. Traditional absorption measurements gain linearly with increasing interaction length. In interferometry, increased length increases the absorbed amount, but at the same time, more volume must be heated up. Therefore, there is no net gain in the accuracy of the change in refractive index. However, the resolution of the interferometer generally increases with the distance between its mirrors, so that longer light paths are still desirable.
Therefore, it is an object of this invention to provide a refractive index and absorption detector which successfully adapts Fabry-Perot interferometry to high performance liquid chromatography detection in a system that allows the improved detectabilities of both the refractive index and absorption.
A further object of this invention is to provide a refractive index and absorption detector which provides superior measurements to traditional HPLC detectors.
A further object of this invention is to provide a refractive index and absorption detector which can provide orders-of-magnitude improvement in detectability over commercial HPLC refractive index detectors.
A yet further object of this invention is to provide a refractive index and absorption detector which achieves a detectability orders-of-magnitude better than standard absorption detectors in HPLC.
A further object of this invention is to provide a refractive index and absorption detector which has a very high finesse, has no "idle" optical paths, and is commercially available with excellent rigidity using materials with low co-efficients of expansion.
Another object of this invention is to provide a refractive index and absorption detector which improves the accuracy of both in the same instrument.
A further object of this invention is to provide a refractive index and absorption detector which is economical, durable, accurate and easy to use.
Additional objects, features and advantages of the invention will become apparent with reference to the accompanying specification and drawings.
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In the related art, controlling a robot with robot vision has required a process of calibrating a robot coordinate system and a coordinate system of a capturing unit. During calibration, the position of a reference point in a space where a robot is installed is specified in each of the robot coordinate system and the coordinate system of the capturing unit, and a matrix for transforming the position of the reference point represented in one coordinate system into the position of the reference point represented in the other coordinate system is obtained. According to the technology disclosed in JP-A-8-210816, calibration is performed by teaching reference points in the robot coordinate system by moving an arm to touch three reference points and then by capturing markers that indicate the reference points with the capturing unit that is moved by the arm to a predetermined position and by detecting the reference points in the coordinate system of the capturing unit.
According to the technology disclosed in JP-A-8-210816, teaching the positions of the reference points is required by an operation of the arm by an operator to touch the three reference points. However, it is not easy to accurately operate the arm while visually specifying whether the arm touches the reference points or not. That is, the technology disclosed in JP-A-8-210816 has a problem in that it is not easy to accurately teach the positions of the reference points. Another problem arises in that a necessary time required for calibration is prolonged when calibration is performed with accurate teaching of the positions of the plurality of reference points. As the number of calibration target robots increases, this problem becomes worse.
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In a typical laser-based printing/copying process, a photoconductive member is charged to a substantially uniform potential so as to sensitize the surface thereof. The charged portion of the photoconductive member is exposed to a light image of the original document being reproduced. Exposure of the charged photoconductive member selectively dissipates the charges thereon in the irradiated areas. This records a latent image on the photoconductive member corresponding to the informational areas contained within the original document.
One approach to the fixing of toner images onto a support has been to pass the support bearing the toner images between a pair of opposed roller members, at least one of which is internally heated. During operation of a fixing system of this type, the support member to which the toner images are electrostatically adhered is moved through the nip formed between the rolls and thereby heated under pressure. A large quantity of heat is applied to the toner and the copy sheet bearing the toner image. This heat evaporates much of the moisture contained in the sheet. The quantity of heat applied to the front and to the back sides of the sheet is often not equal.
One problem associated with moisture loss in paper is paper curl. Deformation of the paper generally occurs due to a change of physical properties in the z-direction of paper. This may occur through the following event: as sheets pass through an image fixing system, moisture is driven out and the sheet temperature is elevated. After image fixing, a sheet typically rests in a collection area exposed to its ambient surroundings, where its moisture content will reach equilibrium with the environment through absorption of moisture across the full face of at least one side of the paper sheet. However, if the copy sheet becomes part of a large compiled set, both sides of all of the papers in the compilation (except for the top sheet) will effectively be sealed off from ambient moisture. The only route available to the papers for moisture re-absorption is through the edges of the sheets, leaving the moisture content of the central portions of the sheets relatively unchanged. This uneven pattern of moisture re-absorption results in edge stresses that lead to paper curl along the edges of the paper.
Further, contact with moisture can cause curl prior to image fixing. Thus, in addition to being cosmetically unsightly, the curl creates a handling problem, in that pages with a wave pattern along their edges are more difficult to feed to secondary paper handling machines. It is especially important to papers which are used in automatic sheet-fed printing operations such as xerography. Excessive curl can cause the paper transport mechanism to jam, thereby creating operator frustration, lost time and service expense. Therefore, curl is an important mechanical property of non-woven webs such as paper which manufacturers seek to minimize, and there is a continuing need for a measuring device to predict the curl performance of webs which will be used in sheet-fed machines.
Moreover, in sheet-fed apparatuses, curl behavior is further influenced by the heat conductivity of the paper, moisture evaporation from the paper, and the other heating conditions. Thus, curl behavior is influenced by different types of paper as well as different apparatuses used with the same type of paper, resulting in the general unpredictability of the tendency of a paper to curl.
Generally, two types of curl may be generated in paper manufacture as a result of moistening or drying a paper sheet. Total (simplex) curl is when a paper curls in one direction, such as a sheet of paper rolled into a cylindrical tube. Diagonal curl results from a twist of paper, such that one portion of the paper rotates axially in one direction, while another portion of the paper rotates axially in a different, generally opposite direction.
Current curl tests for prediction of curl tendency are problematic. One procedure involves running multiple sheets through a specified (Xerox 5388) photo copier, hanging a preset number of sheets by the long edge and matching the resulting bend to a pattern of curves on a reference template. This test, however, requires the use of specific, expensive equipment and is costly and time consuming. It also requires that papers be sheeted prior to testing, delaying results.
Hot plate curl is another method currently in use. It involves placing cut samples on a heated hotplate and manually measuring the corners of the sample as they curl away from the heat. This method is time intensive and has very poor (r^2 0.30) correlation to end use as well as poor reproducibility.
Other tests do not account for the ability of gravity to alter the curl of a paper, resulting in errant data. For example, other mechanisms, such as a computer controlled hot-roll fusing apparatus, are able to test for a variety of paper parameters by mimicking the environment of a typical consumer printer, yet the nips are horizontal and have too high nip pressure, resulting in gravitational and mechanical effects on the test samples.
Therefore, it is an object of this invention to provide a test for the tendency of a paper to curl from which information can be achieved quickly and possible corrective feedback is rapid, has a low level of variability, and accounts for the effect of gravity on a tendency to curl for a variety of paper samples.
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Known methods of introducing additives to polymeric particles include dry blending the materials, melting, and compounding the melted blend with extruders and pelletizing or powdering to the desired physical form. The additives include antioxidants, processing aids, slip agents, antiblocking agents, antistatic agents, lubricants, UV stabilizers, coupling agents and colorants.
Another method of introducing additives to polymeric particles is at the extruder hopper during end use processing. Additives such as colorants, slip agents, processing aids, blowing agents, and others are introduced to virgin polymeric particles at this stage usually in concentrate form. In many instances, difficulty is encountered in metering the exact amounts necessary to do a specific job. This is especially true for additives such as processing aids and external lubricants which are used at very low levels and usually cannot be added in a concentrate form.
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an organic electro luminescence device, and more particularly, to a top emission type organic electro luminescence device and a fabrication method thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the fields of flat panel display devices, a liquid crystal display device (LCD) is widely used because it is lightweight and has low power consumption. However, the LCD is a non-luminous display device and has technical limitations in brightness, contrast, viewing angle, and large size. Therefore, new flat panel display devices capable of overcoming these drawbacks have been developed actively.
One of the new flat panel display devices is an organic electro luminescence device. Since the organic electro luminescence device is a self-luminous display device, it has a high contrast and wide viewing angle compared with the LCD. Also, since the organic electro luminescence device does not require a backlight assembly, it is lightweight and slim. In addition, the organic electro luminescence device can decrease power consumption.
Further, the organic electro luminescence device can be driven at a low DC voltage and has a fast response speed. Since all of the components of the organic electro luminescence device are formed of solid materials, it is endurable against external impact. It can also be used in a wide temperature range and can be manufactured at a low cost.
Specifically, the organic electro luminescence device is easily fabricated through a deposition process and an encapsulation process. Therefore, the fabrication method and apparatus of the organic electro luminescence device are simpler than those of an LCD or PDP.
If the organic electro luminescence device is driven in an active matrix type, uniform brightness can be obtained even when a low current is applied. Accordingly, the organic electro luminescence device has advantages of low power consumption, high definition and large-sized screen.
FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional view of a related art bottom emission type organic electro luminescence device.
As shown in FIG. 1, first and second substrates 10 and 30 are arranged to face each other. Edge portions of the first and second substrates 10 and 30 are encapsulated by a seal pattern 40. A TFT T is formed on a transparent substrate 1 of the first substrate 10 in each sub-pixel unit. A first electrode 12 is connected to the TFT T. An organic electro luminescent layer 14 is formed on the TFTs and the first electrode 12 and is arranged corresponding to the first electrode 12. The organic electro luminescent layer 14 contains light emission materials taking on red, green and blue colors. A second electrode 16 is formed on the organic electro luminescent layer 14.
The first and second electrodes 12 and 16 function to apply an electric field to the organic electro luminescent layer 14.
Due to the seal pattern 40, the second electrode 16 and the second substrate 30 are spaced apart from each other by a predetermined distance. Therefore, an absorbent (not shown) and a translucent tape (not shown) may be further provided in an inner surface of the second substrate 30. The absorbent absorbs moisture introduced from an exterior, and the translucent tape adheres the absorbent to the second substrate 30.
In the bottom emission type structure, the first electrode 12 and the second electrode 16 are an anode and a cathode, respectively.
The first electrode 12 is formed of a transparent conductive material and the second electrode 16 is formed of a metal having a low work function. In such a condition, the organic electro luminescent layer 14 includes a hole injection layer 14a, a hole transporting layer 14b, an emission layer 14c, and an electron transporting layer 14d, which are sequentially formed on the first electrode 12.
Preferably, the first electrode 12 is formed of indium tin oxide (ITO) and the second electrode 16 is formed of Al, Mg or Ca, which is a metal having a low work function.
The emission layer 14c has red, green and blue color filters in sub-pixels.
However, the related art bottom emission type organic electro luminescence device has a limitation in aperture ratio and thus has difficulty in the application to high-resolution products.
FIG. 2 is a schematic sectional view of a related art top emission type organic electro luminescence device.
Referring to FIG. 2, the emission direction of light emitted from an organic electro luminescent layer 24 is opposite to that of the bottom emission type organic electro luminescence device shown in FIG. 1. For this purpose, the construction of the first and second electrodes 22 and 26 is changed.
Also, in the top emission type organic electro luminescence device, a polarization film 29 is attached on the second substrate 30 so as to solve the reduction of contrast ratio (CR), which is caused by the reflection of an external light.
For example, when the first and second electrodes 22 and 26 are respectively the anode and the cathode, the first electrode 22 must reflect light generated from an organic electro luminescent layer 24 and the second electrode 26 must transmit the light generated from the organic electro luminescent layer 24.
Accordingly, when the first electrode 22 is formed of ITO, a reflection plate 28 must be further provided below the first electrode 22 and the second electrode 26 must be formed thinly so that light can be transmitted.
In another example, when the first and second electrodes are respectively the cathode and the anode, that is, when the polarity of the electrodes in the bottom emission type are reversed, the top emission type can be provided by changing the construction of the organic electro luminescent layer formed between the first electrode and the second electrode.
Like this, in the top emission type organic electro luminescence device, the light generated from the organic electro luminescent layer 24 and passing through the second electrode 26, and the light reflected from the first electrode 22 and passing through the second electrode 26 are emitted toward the second substrate 30, thereby achieving the top emission.
In this case, however, the wavelength of the light reflected from the first electrode 22 and passing through the second electrode 26 is lengthened due to reflection, thus causing a color shift problem. The color shift problem becomes serious as the reflectivity of the first electrode 22 increases.
Also, since the polarization film 29 is attached, only the left-polarized or right-polarized light is transmitted so that optical efficiency of the organic electro luminescence device is reduced by 50%.
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The ease and efficiency of modern day air travel has shrunk the geography of the world and people are able to travel from one place to another around the world traveling longer distances than before. As a result, air travel for many involves spending longer durations on board depending upon the distance between the departure and destination points. In order to keep passengers entertained, modern day aircrafts come equipped with entertainment programs such as music, games and videos, which are typically pre-stored and are displayed to the passengers on a display screen based on their choice and selection. These display screens may be rectangular shaped screens provided on the rear side of each cabin seat, viewable by the passenger sitting behind and facing the front portion of display screen. Some aircrafts are equipped with display screens which provide passengers moving maps showing views of the aircraft's transit path and other transit related information such as flight symbols, departure and destination marker beacons, track line i.e., path of journey from departure point to destination point, and names of cities etc. nearer to the present position of flight along with pointers. Display of such information is enabled by a system which typically utilizes the present location of the aircraft and, based on other information collected from the navigation system and global positioning receiver of the aircraft, shows moving maps providing visual representation of one or more transit related information. Generally, the moving maps show the above details in two dimensional view on the display screen with some information being presented in a three dimensional view.
During flight transit, the moving map as shown on the display screen re-orients itself based on the location of the flight and the information displayed on the screen is continuously updated to show the present location, altitude, ground speed, true airspeed, weather information etc., which keeps the passengers updated on the transit and location information of the aircraft. In long haul flights or in travel over cities with historical importance, passengers may desire seeing and learning about various historic places/monuments, either natural or man-made, which are present between the proposed departure and destination points. Such offer of knowledge on the historic places of interest provides a new kind of knowledge oriented entertainment which may be of interest to several passengers on board. For example, a person taking a flight from United States of America to Paris, there can many points of interest such as Statue of Liberty, Eiffel tower, etc. which a passenger would like to see and learn about.
However, due to the altitude of flight, and climatic conditions, it is not possible to view in real time such points of interest. There may be systems provided in aircraft display screens that allow the user to view some static images of a monument as an aircraft crosses it during its flight path; however, the view is static and does not enhance the visual or learning experience for the passenger. There is also no audio program associated with a certain point of interest that would provide information on that particular point of interest so as to educate the passenger on the historical/architectural/geographical importance of the monument/point of interest.
Accordingly, in order to provide the passengers an enhanced entertainment option and to enrich their visual experience on the points of interest encountered in the aircraft's flight path, there exists a need for technology which enables the passengers to visualize a point of interest as a three-dimensional model which provides one or more different types of views on moving maps to further enhance the visual experience of the passenger.
There also exists a need for technology which enables the passengers to learn about a specific point of interest while viewing it on the display screen by providing the option of an audio program audio program associated with a certain point of interest that would provide historical/architectural/geographical information on that particular point of interest.
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1. Current Standard Wind Power Generators (ERDA-NASA)
The contemporary “industry gold standard” for the wind generation of electricity is a propeller design with a directional mechanism to keep it facing the wind, sometimes called an ERDA-NASA design. Over time, a number of serious drawbacks and disadvantages of this design have emerged which imply that this design may not be the best way to meet the challenge of a rapidly accelerating demand for electrical power. These deficiencies include the following:
a. While thought to be more efficient than its known alternatives mostly because of its high “tip-speed ratio” (explained below), the ERDA-NASA design may not derive sufficient power from the wind to make it particularly cost-effective in the long run. It has been estimated that generating enough power for a single residential dwelling may require a propeller at least 25 feet in diameter. Other estimates suggest that very large diameter designs, from 125-200 feet, may be needed to achieve outputs in the 100 kilowatts-1000 kilowatts range. As size increases, production, installation, and maintenance costs rise very quickly. Also, given the higher stresses encountered with large, heavy units, failure rates rise making total replacement costs more likely. In addition, the efficient utilization of wind power by an ERDA-NASA unit requires supplementary control mechanisms for: turning (or orienting) the unit; feathering its blades; and overspeed braking in high winds. These control mechanisms use energy to operate—thus decreasing efficiency and further complicating design and production/maintenance costs. Units must be spaced apart roughly 10 times the rotor diameter to avoid turbulent interference with each other. Consequently, wind farms will occupy considerable acreage for a sizeable number of units. For example, one estimate requires 90 square miles for propellers 125 feet in diameter to produce 100 megawatts. Thus, for any proposed wind farm site, it remains a serious question whether ERDA-NASA units are economically feasible.
b. Safety considerations are also a factor. The higher tip speeds of today's propellers and greater dynamic strains and stresses on the materials used to make same all contribute to metal fatigue, increasing the risk of catastrophic failures. In addition, there are already abundant concerns about the detrimental effects on wildlife, especially birds and migratory fowl and raptors. ERDA-NASA units located near dwellings, or on the tops of tall buildings, also pose potentially serious hazards to human and animal life as well as to property. The tops of tall buildings are ideal sites for wind generators since wind speeds are proportionally greater at higher altitudes. In addition, the desire to develop “green” buildings gives ample motivation for incorporating rooftop wind generators into future architectural plans. Unfortunately, ERDA-NASA generators may not be the best answer because of safety issues alone.
c. ERDA-NASA units are not able to utilize wind power efficiently over a wide range of wind speeds. Current models of the ERDA-NASA wind turbines typically operate at a preferred constant wind speed of 40 rpm in a range between 6 and 60 mph. The propeller blades are feathered to prevent damage in high winds (i.e., above 60 mph). Consequently, there are significant energy losses at speeds in excess of 18 mph because the propeller blades feather to maintain a preferred constant rotation at 40 rpm. There are also significant energy losses at wind speeds less than 18 mph because generator changes (changes in load) must be made to keep that constant 40 rpm rotation. As wind speeds are highly variable, having such a narrow window of optimal wind velocities decreases expected efficiency.
d. High variation in wind speeds is not the only problem. The direction of wind current is itself in constant flux and unpredictable, especially in a small region over periods of great turbulence. Efficient wind turbines must be able to rapidly adjust to sudden directional changes over a full range, i.e., 360 degrees. Today's ERDA-NASA devices gradually reposition to take account of directional fluctuations, but by no means exhibit quick responsiveness to such directional changes.
e. Some wind generators have better applicability in smaller locations with lower electrical power demands. Individual dwellings, recreational vehicles, or marine uses may not readily accommodate smaller scale ERDA-NASA generators in terms of available physical space, safety and/or aesthetics.
Because of these disadvantages, alternatives to today's ERDA-NASA type generators should be sought for addressing the aforementioned problems.
2. Vertical-Axis Wind Turbines
Numerous patents have been granted in a category of wind turbines called “vertical-axis” turbines. These turbines are so-named because they have vanes or blades displayed outward from a vertically mounted, central axis, contrary to the horizontal axis of rotation for ERDA-NASA generators. The type of device installed on many home rooftops to improve attic air circulation is a good example of a vertical-axis turbine. An anemometer is another. An immediate advantage of such devices is that they need not be rotated to always face the wind. Whatever direction the wind comes from, these devices can immediately absorb wind energy and convert it to rotational power. Such devices are sometimes technically described as having their axis of rotation transverse to the flow of fluid medium.
Previous designs of vertical axis windmills generally fall into two categories, the Darrieus rotor and Savonius rotor types. Many variations of the two have been designed over the years.
Darrieus-Type Wind Turbines—
One category of vertical-axis wind turbines is based on the original Darrieus device (U.S. Pat. No. 1,835,018). A traditional Darrieus rotor is essentially two or more long thin blades with their ends connected at the top and bottom to a vertically rotating shaft. The cross-section of long blades has an airfoil shape, and this aerodynamic feature provides the transformation of wind flow energy into rotational energy. Since the original Darrieus design, numerous devices have attempted to utilize aerodynamic thrust as the driving force for wind turbines.
Darrieus-type turbines suffer from several disadvantages. Many, especially those closely based on the original, are not self-starting. They require an auxiliary power source to reach operational speeds. Darrieus turbines have an outside rotor speed of 4 to 6 times the wind speed. Thus, in winds of 25 mph, the exposed knife blade-like rotors will be traveling in excess of 100 mph. Such an arrangement is hardly “avian friendly,” and indeed might pose extreme hazards to life and property. Moreover, efficiency of the original Darrieus design has been estimated to be only 30% to 40%. While alternative designs have meant to address some of these shortcomings, it is unlikely that any Darrieus-type design that depends on converting aerodynamic thrust to rotational energy will significantly improve these efficiency issues. The size of Darrieus-type turbines that could produce economically feasible capacities of electricity would have to be quite large posing other challenges to construction, cost-effectiveness and aesthetics.
Savonius-Type Wind Turbines—
The original Savonius wind turbine, as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 1,697,574, was essentially a pair of opposing concave vanes rotating around a central vertical axis. The classic Savonius rotors are open in the center and permit crossing fluid flow in an S-shape, past the inner edges of these rotating vanes. Later wind turbine designs have increased the number of vanes, attached vanes directly to the central shaft or other blades to prevent crossing fluid flow, and/or incorporated fixed vanes (or “stators”) that do not rotate but serve to advantageously direct wind towards the rotating vanes. Some designs have added rotating housings that orient to the direction of wind for permitting wind flow only to those vanes presenting concave surfaces and deflecting wind away from the vanes returning upwind. These housings were meant to increase overall efficiencies. Still other designs have included complex mechanisms for rotating or modifying the vanes when moving toward the wind so as to reduce resistance and improve efficiency. All such innovations share one common essential with the original Savonius patent: they all depend on the fact that wind force applied to a rigid concave surface is greater than the same or lower wind force (or static wind resistance) applied to a physically connected, yet opposed rigid convex surface. This is evidenced in the operation of a simple anemometer. The concave cup surface facing the wind will capture more wind power than the other cups presenting their back convex surfaces causing the anemometer to rotate. As this is the essential energy transformation feature in all such designs, they will all be included in the category of “Savonius-type” designs for present discussion purposes.
Due to this common design feature, most Savonius-type devices share a major disadvantage of energy loss from “drag.” Drag is the resistance resulting from moving a rigid surface against the wind or fluid medium. Because all of the vanes are surrounded by air when rotating, there is constant drag that resists their movement even against the convex backs of downwind vanes moving away from the wind. When vanes are moving upwind and presenting their rear convex surface to the wind, the effect of drag is amplified by the added applied force of the wind. The existence of drag considerably reduces the efficiency of this type of wind generator.
As noted above, ingenious devices have been designed to compensate for drag. These devices may incorporate “stators” (stationary vanes arranged symmetrically around the rotor) to: (a) funnel wind flow into the vanes moving downwind; and (b) deflect wind flow from vanes moving upwind. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,740,989. This can improve efficiency by decreasing the amplification effect of drag caused by wind forces acting on the vanes rotating upwind. Rotating housings that orient to the direction of the wind accomplish
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Content users have a large variety of content options at their disposal. A user often has hundreds of channels or services available to watch at any given time, and many additional items of content that the user can choose to watch. Sifting through this content can be difficult. Some systems collect feedback from users in an effort to identify desirable content so that recommendations can be made. Such feedback collection systems, however, are rendered less effective when users do not offer their feedback. Accordingly, there remains a need to improve content recommendation systems.
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Throughout history, engineers have used actuators to move objects providing rotary or linear motion. A rotary actuator is simply a gearing system that either increases or decreases the rotational speed of a prime mover, typically a hydraulic motor, an internal combustion engine, a turbine engine, or an electric motor, to provide a desired level of rotational speed and torque at an output. Examples of rotary actuators include: gearboxes, transmissions, differentials, Rotac® actuators, and rotary electro-mechanical actuators. Linear actuators are machines designed to provide force and linear displacement to an object. Some examples of linear actuators include: rack & pinion actuators, hydraulic rams, ball screw actuators, and crank arm actuators.
Historically, hydraulic/pneumatic motors and hydraulic/pneumatic rams have been the primary source of power for both linear and rotary actuators. Hydraulic systems offer many advantages to the designer including: high power density, accurate position control, low inertia (for high frequency response), and overload protection (via pressure relief valves).
More recently, engineers have replaced hydraulic/pneumatic actuation systems with electro-mechanical actuation systems. Electro-mechanical actuators (“EMA”), which typically include a motor, a gear box and an actuator, offer increased efficiency over their hydraulic and pneumatic counterparts and are less prone to leakage.
When designing small, high power density EMAs, a designer is faced with a problem caused by the rotational inertia associated with the EMAs electric motor. In order to create an EMA with a large force capability, the designer must create an electric motor that is capable of producing a large torque, or must create a gear train that reduces the motor's output torque requirement. If the designer chooses to create a motor with a large torque capability, its rotor will contain a significant amount of rotational inertia. If the designer chooses to utilize a gear reduction system to decrease the motor's output torque requirement, thereby reducing the motor's physical size and rotational inertia, the motor will be required to operate at a faster speed. The inertia of the motor, as felt by the output of the actuator, will be proportional to the motor's inertia multiplied by the gear reduction ratio squared.
The inertia of the EMA motor becomes extremely important when sizing the gear train and/or the actuator structure if, for instance, the actuator hits an internal stop at full speed, or if the actuated structure hits a stop at the end of its travel at full speed. In this scenario, the rotational inertia of the motor will tend to cause the actuator to continue driving through its stop, or through the structure's end stop, causing significant damage to the EMA, or its supporting structure. If the stops and structures are strong enough to maintain their integrity, the next weakest link, most likely the actuator or the gear train driving the actuator will be damaged.
Historically, the gear train and the EMA's stops are overbuilt to handle an intense torque spike associated with the rapid deceleration of the EMA's motor as the actuator hits its stops, and the internal shafting flexes as the motor spins down. This design approach tends to cause the actuator to become significantly larger and heavier than it would otherwise have to be.
Another method to handle the scenario described above is to incorporate a slip clutch in the driveline between the EMA's motor and the EMA's output. Incorporating a slip clutch in the driveline allows the EMA's output to nearly instantaneously stop, while the motor decelerates, with the stored energy of the rotating motor rotor being absorbed by the slip clutch's friction material. This type of system works well, however, it again adds components to the EMA that add size, cost, weight, and reduce the actuator's overall reliability.
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1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to apparatus for measuring electromagnetic signal characteristics and predicting a system response to a change in signal input; and, more particularly, to an adaptively controlled electromagnetic signal analyzer utilizing a biased semiconductor junction.
2. Description of the Related Art
Accurate measurement and control of electromagnetic signals is important in signal processing applications. Current approaches for achieving high measurement accuracy include: (1) using costly precision hardware and (2) calibrating the measurement errors of more moderately priced hardware. Although error calibration is generally more cost effective than using precision hardware, calibration accuracy associated with moderately priced components is limited.
Instantaneous frequency detectors are presently available in the electromagnetic signal processing market. Currently, biased semiconductor junctions are used to perform attenuation and detection separately in signal processing.
For measurement of the relative amplitude and phase between signals, the test instrument market is now dominated by heterodyne network analyzers with computerized calibration. In the past decade, much work has been completed on 4-port and 6-port network analyzers because of their potential for replacing the costly and complex electromagnetic and analog circuitry of a heterodyne analyzer by simple power detectors. Problems in achieving accurate calibration of power detectors over a wide dynamic range have limited the success of 4-port and 6-port network analyzers in the test instrument market.
For measurement of electromagnetic signal amplitude versus frequency, the test instrument market is dominated by dedicated heterodyne spectrum analyzers. Dual-purpose scalar network analyzers (SNA) which also perform scalar spectrum analyzer measurements are available. Dual use of circuitry common to network and spectrum measurements offers cost savings compared to separate spectrum and network analyzers. Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) processors also are available to calculate the absolute amplitude and phase versus frequency of a signal, but the frequency range is limited by available analog-to-digital converter (ADC) speeds.
Complex phasor modulators are available for controlling the magnitude and phase of an electromagnetic signal. Complex phasor modulators of the prior art are limited in the level of precision signal control over frequency and temperature, and they introduce signal distortion. This makes the prior art unsuitable for precise interference cancellation of amplitude-modulated or frequency-hopping signals.
Precise adaptive interference cancellation is needed in communication systems which must operate a radio transmitter in close proximity to a radio receiver. In this interference reduction approach, a sample signal is coupled from the interfering transmitter, passed through a controlled reference path, and then summed with the signals at the receiving antenna. The signal at the receiver is measured and the amplitude and phase of the interference in the reference path is adjusted to cancel the interference in the receiver.
For interference cancellation in a system with a narrow-band signal centered about a hopping carrier frequency, the control values at one carrier frequency may require adjustment at another carrier frequency. Fast frequency-hopping systems require the speed of a lookup table for determining control adjustment between hops. However, system changes or hostile jamming may degrade table accuracy; and there may be little, if any, time available for table update. Also, conventional methods for updating the table are based on calculating the correlation of signals by integrating over time the product of the signals. However, the accuracy of this signal correlation calculation breaks down for a fast hopping system. That is, the time at each frequency is too short to accurately define correlation between signals.
In summary, the accurate modeling and calibration of moderately priced electromagnetic signal amplitude, phase, and frequency measurement hardware in the prior art is limited. Also, complex phasor modulators of the prior art introduce unacceptable signal distortion in the control of amplitude-modulated and frequency-hopping electromagnetic signals. Finally, interference cancelers of the prior art based on long term signal correlation at a single carrier frequency are unsuitable for fast frequency-hopping systems.
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In the construction of window and door assemblies, it is common to use insulated glass panel units of the general type disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,003,747 and 6,675,537 which issued to or are owned by the assignee of the present invention. Usually, the insulated glass units include two parallel spaced rectangular glass panels having peripheral edge portions which receive a rectangular spacer frame. The edge portions and spacer frame are bonded and sealed together by a bonding compound such as a butyl rubber compound or a similar bonding material surrounding the spacer frame. The insulated glass panel unit is assembled into a surrounding rectangular sash frame and is retained by glazing members or beads. Preferably the sash frame and glazing beads are formed from extrusions of plastics material such as polyvinyl chloride (PVC). Such insulated glass panel units are commonly used in fixed window assemblies such as picture windows, single hung windows, sliding windows, bow and bay windows and sliding and swinging patio door assemblies such as disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 6,318,036 which issued to the assignee of the present invention.
In insulated glass panel units as described above, it is common for the outer edges of the glass panels to be exposed and unprotected during handling and shipping or be covered by a thin layer of the bonding and sealing compound. When the outer edges of the glass panels are relatively unprotected, insulated glass panel units must be carefully handled and carefully protected during shipping. Also, when the edge surfaces of the glass panels are exposed, the personnel handling the insulated glass panel units need to wear gloves in order to avoid cutting their fingers or receiving glass splinters. It is also desirable for a fixed window assembly, such as a picture window assembly, to provide for conveniently removing the insulated glass panel unit in the event of glass breakage or damage or moisture seeps into the space between the glass panels and results in etching the inner surfaces of the glass panels.
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Creating an application in a general-purpose programming language that maps to a relational database for data storage traditionally involves substantial manual effort by a human developer. For example, conventional techniques for creating a database for use with regard to an application typically involve the human developer explicitly setting up the database and manually ensuring mapping of the database with regard to the application and other configuration of the database. For instance, the human developer may explicitly draft code to map relational schema that is associated with the database to constructs of the programming language. Accordingly, these conventional techniques may place a substantial burden on the human developer to understand the mapping and configuration to be used for creating the database, to make appropriate choices with respect to creating the database, and/or to be capable of implementing the mapping and configuration so that the database functions as intended.
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1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a side dump trailer and more particularly to a stiffening structure for the side dump body of a side dump trailer.
2. Description of the Related Art
Side dump bodies for use on trucks and trailers have become extremely popular in recent years since the introduction of a side dump trailer of co-applicant Ralph R. Rogers, which is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,480,214. Co-applicant Ralph R. Rogers has also received U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,845,971; 5,967,615; 6,056,368; 6,089,670; 6,179,385; 6,199,955; 6,257,670; and 7,360,843 all of which relate to side dump bodies for use on trailers or trucks.
Conventional side dump bodies for use with trucks or trailers normally have a bottom wall and side walls which extend upwardly and outwardly therefrom with the forward and rearward ends of the side dump body being closed by bulkheads. In many cases, a side stiffening rail is secured to each of the upper ends of the exterior sides of the side walls to prevent undesirable flexing of the side dump bodies during the use thereof which can result in structural cracks in the side dump body. In some cases, a side stiffening angle member is also secured to the exterior of each of the side walls below the upper stiffening rail. Although the side stiffening rails used on the prior art trailers do reduce flexing of the side dump body, applicants have developed an unique stiffening structure for further reducing flexing of the side dump body during use.
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{
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a structure of an input protecting device provided in a signal input portion of a semiconductor circuit device.
2. Description of the Prior Art
FIG. 1 is a view showing a structure of a complementary MOS integrated circuit with a conventional input protecting circuit. Referring to FIG. 1, is shown an input portion of a system S2 which comprises, for example, a printer and the like operating in response to an output from a system S1 which comprises, for example, a micro computer and the like. The system S1 comprises in an output portion thereof an output buffer formed of an inverter having a P-channel MOS transistor T1 and an N-channel MOS transistor T2 connected in a complementary manner. An output signal from the system S1 is applied to an input terminal 1 of the system S2 through the output buffer. The system S2 comprises in the input portion a first clamping diode 3 connected between the input terminal 1 and a first power supply terminal 8 for clamping a voltage applied to the input terminal 1 to a predetermined voltage in case that the applied voltage is larger than a first predetermined voltage value, a second clamping diode 4 connected between the signal input terminal 1 and a second power supply terminal 9 for clampling the voltage applied to the signal input terminal 1 to a predetermined voltage in case that the applied voltage is smaller than a second predetermined voltage value, an input protective resistor 5 connected to a connecting point of the clamping diodes 3 and 4, and an inverter (input buffer) comprising a P-channel MOS transistor 6 and an N-channel MOS transistor 7 for outputting, after inversion, a signal received through the input protective resistor 5. An inverter output is applied to an internal circuit (not shown) through an internal output terminal 2, so that the internal circuit operates in response to a signal provided. The system S1 generates an internal supply potential V.sub.CC in response to a supply potential from an external power supply V.sub.A. The potential V.sub.CC is used as an operation supply potential for the system S1. The system S2 receives a supply potential from an external power supply V.sub.B on the power supply terminal 8 and then generates the internal supply potential V.sub.CC which is used as an operation supply potential. Assuming that the potential V.sub.CC applied to the first power supply terminal 8 is positive potential and a potential second power supply terminal 9 is a ground potential in the system S2, an operation is now described. The system S2 operates in response to an output signal of the system S1. In this case, let it be assumed that an operation supply potential is supplied to respective systems S1 and S2 via the respective external power supplies V.sub.A and V.sub.B. At this time, the input clamping diode 3 functions to clamp an input voltage to a level of "(supply potential V.sub.CC +V.sub.F)" when an overvoltage higher than the supply potential V.sub.CC is applied to the input terminal 1 of the system S2. The V.sub.F shows a forward voltage drop of the input clamping diode 3. On the other hand, the input clamping diode 4 functions to clamp an input voltage to a level of "(ground potential-V.sub.F)" when a voltage lower than a ground potential is applied to the input terminal 1. This prevents the overvoltage from being supplied to the inverter stage and the internal circuit.
The above-mentioned description was made, assuming that forward voltage drops of both input clamping diodes 3 and 4 are equally V.sub.F.
A conventional input protecting circuit in the system S2 performs the above-mentioned operation. Therefore, an input protecting function can be achieved when an operation supply potential is supplied to both systems S1 and S2. However, for example, if the system S1 is a personal computer and the system S2 is a printer serving as an external apparatus, it could happen that the power supply V.sub.A is supplied to the system S1 while the operation supply potential is not supplied from the external power supply V.sub.B to the system S2. In this case, that is, when the operation supply potential V.sub.CC is not applied to the power supply terminal 8 of the system S2, a case could happen in which a signal of "H" level is applied from the system S1 to the signal input terminal 1. In this case, a current continues to flow from the input terminal 1 to the power supply terminal 8 through the input clamping diode 3, since the power supply terminal 8 is at "L" level. Therefore, in this state, it becomes a large load for a power supply (i.e., a power supply for supplying the operation supply potential of the system S1) supplying a signal of "H" level to the input terminal 1. In addition, there were problems in which the potential of the power supply terminal 8 rises and the internal circuit of the system S2 erroneously operates due to the raised potential, when an input impedance of a power supply providing the operation supply potential to the power supply terminal 8 is high. Therefore, there were problems in which a semiconductor circuit device with an input protecting circuit structured by using the conventional input clamping diodes can not be used in an interface portion of a system.
Furthermore, in order to avoid the above-mentioned malfunction, a method of structuring an I/O portion using bipolar transistors can be considered, but in this case, problems are caused in which a consumed power becomes large.
A structure of an input protecting circuit with the above-mentioned input clamping diodes is shown, for example, in page 469 of RCA Solid State Q MOS Data Book.
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a structure of a filter element of an air cleaner unit of an open element type built in an engine of an automobile and the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
Although a typical air cleaner unit built in an air suction system of an automobile engine is of a covered type in which a filter element is housed in an air cleaner case connected to a suction duct, an air cleaner unit of an open element type, in which a filter element itself is directly connected to a suction duct without any cover such as an air cleaner case, is also known as one of options or replacement parts.
In such an open-element air cleaner unit, since the filter element is exposed outside, the air suction efficiency is higher than that of the covered type, by which an output increase effect of the engine can be obtained. Therefore, the open-element air cleaner unit is often substituted for an existing one in, for example, a sports car. However, since the mount space in an engine room is limited, the shape and structure of the filter element are so designed as to achieve high air suction efficiency.
FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing an example of a conventional air cleaner unit 10 of the above-mentioned open element type. A filter element 11 is shaped like a tapered cylinder with a filter wall made of an adequate filter material, such as paper, cloth and nonwoven cloth, and having a zigzag shaped cross section. A ring-shaped connecting member 12 made of synthetic rubber and having a suction duct connecting opening 12a, and an edge member 13 made of synthetic rubber with a metallic blank cap member 13a, are respectively integrally connected by vulcanization adhesion to ends of major and minor diameter side openings of the filter element 11. The air cleaner unit 10 is mounted in an engine by fixing the suction duct connecting opening 12a in engagement with a joint fitting 20 connected through a joint collar 21 made of rubber and the like, and connecting the collar 21 to an inlet pipe 22 on the side of the engine.
Only a peripheral part of the blank cap member 13a of the air cleaner unit 10 and the edge member 13 may be combined into one rubber ring.
In the conventional air cleaner unit 10 shown in FIG. 2, the filter element 11 is formed as a tapered air suction plane having a zigzag shaped cross section, by which a large air suction area can be secured even if the occupation capacity, that is, the outer dimensions thereof, are relatively small. Accordingly, it is possible to efficiently suck more air with the filter element 11 having small outer dimensions.
However, it is pointed out that turbulent flow arises almost just under the blank cap member 13a when air is sucked through the tapered cylindrical filter wall of the filter element 11 in the above-mentioned conventional air cleaner unit 10, and that the turbulent flow makes the air suction sound louder and causes a considerable loss of sucked air.
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{
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Although steel buildings have long been established as a viable construction method for warehouses, factories, and the like, the need for the framework of these buildings to be pre-cut and then transported to a building site adds significant non-value added costs for transportation, packaging, loading, unloading, and repeated handling of the material. Furthermore, pre-cutting may increase the lead-time to manufacture if a factory must produce and ship components needed for design alterations.
To date, there has been no attempt to fully manufacture steel building components on-site.
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{
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a suction device used for an internal combustion engine for distributing intake air to each cylinder of the internal combustion engine. More particularly, the present invention relates to a suction device used for an internal combustion engine capable of enlarging an amount of compaction for absorbing an impact.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, the prior art related to a suction device used for an internal combustion engine is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 8-193546 and Japanese Patent No. 2887873. Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 8-193546 discloses a technique by which intake air is evenly distributed to each cylinder of an internal combustion engine and the generation of suction noise, that is, the generation of a rumbling noise, which is an unpleasant noise transmitted into a passenger compartment when an automobile is accelerated, is reduced. Further, Japanese Patent No. 2887873 discloses a technique by which a necessary intake air passage length is ensured when a suction manifold is formed into a U-shape.
In this connection, the technique disclosed in the above Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication 8-193546 has the following disadvantages. Since the profile and state of connection of a throttle passage (first chamber) connected with a throttle body are complicated and also the profile and state of connection of a surge tank (second chamber) are complicated, the number of components is increased in the process of resin molding. Therefore, it is difficult to reduce the manufacturing cost. Further, since an air current is not smooth, the air resistance is so high that a loss of the engine output occurs. Furthermore, as it is necessary to provide a space for arranging a suction device in a cylinder head portion of an internal combustion engine (multiple cylinder engine), it is impossible to decrease the height of an engine compartment. Furthermore, it is difficult to provide a suction manifold passage length variable control system by which the air charging efficiency can be enhanced, in the engine speed range from low to high, when a passage length of a suction manifold is varied according to a running state of the internal combustion engine.
Japanese Patent No. 2887873 has the following disadvantages. Each lower branch tube of the suction manifold is formed into a U-shape, from the surge tank. Therefore, length of the passage of the suction manifold is extended. However, since the space in which components are arranged is limited, it is impossible to gently curve the U-shaped portion. Accordingly, the air resistance becomes high, which causes a loss of the engine output.
The present invention has been accomplished to solve the above problems. It is a task of the present invention to provide a suction device used for an internal combustion engine characterized in that: intake air can be evenly distributed to each cylinder of the internal combustion engine while the resistance of a current of intake air is being reduced, the suction device can be easily mounted on a vehicle; and the air charging efficiency can be enhanced according to a running state of the internal combustion engine.
Also, there is conventionally provided an independent fuel injection system in which an injector (fuel injection valve) and a fuel tube are arranged close to a connecting section of a suction manifold of a suction device with an internal combustion engine and fuel is independently injected from a respective injector (fuel injection valve) into each cylinder of the internal combustion engine, which is called MPI (Multi Point Injection).
In this case, the following situation is envisaged. A suction manifold of a suction device used for an internal combustion engine is arranged laterally with respect to the running direction of a vehicle and connected onto the front side of the internal combustion engine, and an impact force is given to the suction device from the front of the vehicle. In this case, the following problems may be encountered. When the suction manifold is deformed, an excessively large deformation is generated in the connecting section of a fuel tube. Therefore, an engagement section of the injector with the suction manifold is damaged or the leakage of fuel is caused by the buckling of the fuel tube.
In order to solve the above problems, Japanese Patent No. 2699915 discloses the following technique. A suction device (suction manifold block) of an internal combustion engine is connected with an outside of the internal combustion engine which arranged laterally with respect to the running direction of a vehicle. There is provided a fragile section, which extends in the axial direction of the suction manifold, in this suction device. In the case of a car collision, this fragile section of the suction manifold is broken, so that an impact force of the car collision is absorbed, and a horizontal cross section of the suction manifold is crushed, so that an occupied cubic volume is decreased and the amount of compaction of the suction device is increased.
That is, in the case of a car collision, the fragile section of the suction manifold is broken, so that the impact force can be absorbed, and the horizontal cross section is crushed and the occupied cubic volume is decreased. In this way, the amount of compaction can be increased.
In this connection, the above structure has the following disadvantages. Since the fragile section is arranged in a portion of the suction manifold which is easily broken by an impact force caused by a car collision, the mechanical strength of this fragile section of the suction manifold is not sufficiently high against external vibration and internal pressure fluctuation when this suction device is normally used.
The present invention has been accomplished to solve the above problems. It is a task of the present invention to provide a suction device used for an internal combustion engine characterized in that the mechanical strength for external vibration and internal pressure fluctuation, which are caused when the suction device is used in a normal state, is sufficiently high while a partial fragile section is not provided in the suction device; and a predetermined portion of the suction device is broken in the case of a car collision so that an impact force caused by the car collision can be absorbed.
A suction device used for an internal combustion engine of the first embodiment of the present invention is composed as follows. The suction device includes a throttle passage, a surge tank and suction manifolds which are arranged from an upstream side to a downstream side. On the downstream side of the throttle passage, there is provided an air connector which is arranged in the longitudinal direction on a side wall face of the surge tank. This air connector is arranged on a wall face corresponding to a position which is substantially a center of the suction manifold which opens to the surge tank. Due to the above structure, intake air can be evenly distributed from the air connector to each suction manifold via the surge tank. In the suction device of the internal combustion engine, when the position of the opening section of the air connector with respect to the surge tank is determined as described above, the length of the passage of the suction manifold including the surge tank can be made equal. Therefore, a rumbling noise (suction noise) can be suppressed.
In the suction device used for an internal combustion engine of the second embodiment of the present invention, the air connector is embedded on a wall face corresponding to a position which is substantially the center of an opening at which the suction manifold is open to the surge tank. Therefore, a total height of the air connector and the surge tank can be reduced.
In the suction device used for an internal combustion engine of the third embodiment of the present invention, the suction manifold is formed from the surge tank to the suction port in such a manner that the suction manifold substantially encircles the outer circumferential wall faces of the air connector and the surge tank. Therefore, in the suction manifold, it is possible to ensure a passage of an appropriate length for obtaining the air charging efficiency corresponding to a running state of the internal combustion engine. Due to the above structure, it is possible to increase an output of the internal combustion engine.
In the suction manifold of the suction device of the internal combustion engine of the fourth embodiment of the present invention, at least one portion on the wall face of the suction manifold is commonly used in the suction manifold and the surge tank. Therefore, volumes of the surge tank and the suction manifold can be increased. Due to the above structure, air resistance can be reduced without increasing the size of the suction device. Therefore, the air charging efficiency for each cylinder of the internal combustion engine can be enhanced.
In the fifth embodiment of the present invention, the suction manifold is open inward on one of the side walls of the surge tank and extended in such a manner that the suction manifold encircles at least an outer circumferential wall face from the side wall face to the other side wall face on the opposite side. Therefore, the radius of curvature of the suction manifold can be made sufficiently large. Accordingly, air resistance can be reduced to as small as possible. Due to the foregoing, the suction device used for an internal combustion engine can be easily mounted on a vehicle, and an engine output of the internal combustion engine can be increased.
According to the suction device used for an internal combustion engine of the sixth embodiment of the present invention, wall thickness in the circumferential direction of the wall section forming the suction passage is substantially uniform, that is, the suction device does not have a partial fragile portion. Therefore, a sufficiently high mechanical strength can be exhibited with respect to external vibration and fluctuation of internal pressure when the suction device is normally used. Since wall thickness in the circumferential direction of the wall section which is substantially perpendicular to the running direction of the vehicle is smaller than wall thickness in the circumferential direction of the wall section which is substantially horizontal to the running direction of the vehicle, an impact force can be absorbed by a breakdown of the wall section which is substantially perpendicular to the running direction of the vehicle in the case of a car collision. Therefore, deformation of the wall section which is substantially horizontal to the running direction of the vehicle can be reduced to as small as possible. For example, damage given to the injector and the fuel tube, which are attached to the wall section of the connecting section with the internal combustion engine, can be reduced.
In the wall section in the suction device used for an internal
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{
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to laser treating pile fabrics and, more particularly, to changing a fiber height in the pile fabric by laser energy, while maintaining a desired feel or hand of the fabric, wherein selected fabrics can exhibit color alteration.
2. Description of Related Art
Materials have commonly been used to make clothing, linens, footwear, belts, purses and wallets, luggage, vehicle interiors, furniture coverings, wall coverings, and many other manufactured goods. Consumer demand for graphics on these materials has increased over the recent years. Consumers often desire graphics on these materials to give the materials a unique and attractive appearance.
The typical methods of forming graphics on materials include dyeing, printing, weaving, embossing, and stamping. Unfortunately, such methods are very costly in terms of capital investment and operating cost. In addition, these prior methods are often unfriendly to the environment.
Lasers have been used in the fabric industry to cut fabrics into separate pieces. Lasers have also been used to fix dyes. However, in the past, certain technical barriers have often prevented the use of lasers to form graphics on certain fabrics.
Therefore, the need exists for a laser treatment of a pile fabric that can preserve the hand (feel) of the fabric, while still imparting a change in fiber length. That is, the need exists for pile fabric that can have a sculpted, three-dimensional appearance, without destroying the traditional soft feel of the pile. Thus, the aesthetic feel or tactile quality of something, such as a fabric, textile, or carpeting, that indicates its fineness, texture, and durability (hand) is substantially preserved, while imparting a variation in the pile height.
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Liquid crystal displays perform display by making a displaying side substrate and a liquid crystal driving side substrate face to each other, enclosing a liquid crystal compound between the two to form a thin liquid crystal layer, and electrically controlling the liquid crystal alignment within the liquid crystal layer with the liquid crystal driving side substrate to change the amount of transmitted light or reflected light of the displaying side substrate selectively.
Such a liquid crystal display includes various driving methods such as the static driving method, the passive matrix, and the active matrix. In recent years, a color liquid crystal display using a liquid crystal panel of the active matrix or the passive matrix is rapidly getting in prevalence as a flat display for such as a personal computer or a portable information terminal.
FIG. 3 is one example of a liquid crystal display panel of the active matrix. A liquid crystal display 101 assumes the structure of being a color filter 1 serving as a displaying side substrate and a TFT array substrate 2 serving as a liquid crystal driving side substrate facing each other with a gap portion 3 of about 1 to 10 μm in between, and this gap portion 3 is filled with a liquid crystal L, and the surroundings thereof are sealed with a sealing material 4. The color filter 1 assumes the structure of a black matrix layer 6 formed into a predetermined pattern to shield the boundary portion between the pixels against light, a pixel portion 7 in which a plurality of colors (typically, three primary colors of red(R), green(G), and blue(B)) are arranged in a predetermined order to form each pixel, a protective film 8, and a transparent electrode film 9 are laminated on a transparent substrate 5 in this order from the side near to the transparent substrate.
On the other hand, the TFT array substrate 2 assumes the structure of being TFT elements aligned on a transparent substrate, and a transparent electrode film is disposed (not illustrated). Also, an alignment film 10 is disposed on the inner surface side of the color filter 1 and the TFT array substrate 2 facing thereto. Then, a color image is obtained by controlling the light transmittance of the liquid crystal layer that lies in the background of the pixels colored in each color.
Here, the thickness of the gap portion 3, i.e. the cell gap (the gap distance between the displaying side substrate and the liquid crystal driving side substrate) is no other than the thickness of the liquid crystal layer. Therefore, in order to prevent display mura such as color mura or contrast mura and to impart good display performances such as uniform display, fast responsiveness, high contrast ratio, and wide viewing angle to the color liquid crystal display, one has to maintain the cell gap to be constant and uniform.
As a method of maintaining the cell gap, a method in which numerous spherical or rod-shaped particles 11 made of glass, alumina, plastic, or the like and having a predetermined size are dispersed in the gap portion 3 as spacers; the color filter 1 and the TFT array substrate 2 are bonded; and a liquid crystal is injected is known. With this method, the cell gap is determined and maintained by the size of the spacers.
However, the method of dispersing particles in the gap portion as spacers involves various problems such as a tendency of the spacer distribution being deviated. As a method of solving these problems of the particulate spacers, columnar spacers 12 having a height corresponding to the cell gap in a region (non-display region) that is located on the inner surface side of the color filter 1 and overlaps with the position where the black matrix layer 6 is formed are begun to be formed, as illustrated in FIG. 4. The columnar spacers 12 have been formed within the region where the black matrix layer is to be formed, i.e. the non-display region, by applying a photosetting resin in a uniform thickness on a transparent substrate of a color filter and exposing and setting the obtained coating film in a pattern by photolithography.
In recent years, such a liquid crystal display has been rapidly increasing its display area. When the substrate area increases in this way, it will be difficult to adopt a mechanic press method that has been conventionally carried out in curing the sealing material and enclosing the liquid crystal, in view of ensuring the uniformity of the curing of the sealing material, problems of equipment, and the like. Therefore, it is now often carried out by the vacuum press method. However, with the vacuum press method, the load applied onto the cells is extremely small as compared with the mechanic press method, so that the liquid crystal that has been superfluously injected into the cell cannot be squeezed out. Typically, when the cells are assembled by mechanic pressing, they are sealed in a state in which a sufficient load is imposed on the cells, so that the columnar material will not depart from the opposing substrate even if the liquid crystal undergoes thermal expansion due to energization of the backlight or the like. However, when the cells are assembled by the vacuum press method, the load applied onto the cells is weak, so that the opposing substrate will depart from the columnar material when the liquid crystal undergoes thermal expansion. By this, the liquid crystal will be present in deviation in the lower part of the liquid crystal panel, thereby causing display mura called gravity defect.
As a method of solving such a problem, one can conceive a method in which the density of the number of the above-described columnar spacers is reduced so as to keep the substrates parallel even with a weak load such as by the vacuum press method. However, when the density of the number of columnar spacers is reduced, there will be a problem in the uniformity of the panel particularly in the case of a large-size liquid crystal display, so that the method cannot be adopted.
On the other hand, one can conceive a method of reducing the hardness of individual columnar spacers, a method of reducing the size of the columnar spacers themselves, or the like method. However, when such a method is adopted, the amount of plastic deformation will typically be large, thereby raising a problem such as generation of display defect when a local load is applied, for example, in the case of a pressure resistance test such as finger pressing test.
Here, no prior art documents regarding the present invention have been found.
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The disclosed embodiments relate generally to red-eye repair techniques, and more particularly, to specific characterization, discernment, and repair techniques utilizing multiple recognition channels (e.g., red, golden, and white recognition channels). In certain embodiments, the red-eye repair techniques may be applied to an image automatically with limited or no input from a user.
In photography, red-eye is the occurrence of glowing red pupils in a color photograph due to eye shine. Red-eye is believed to be caused by the red reflection of the blood vessels in the retina when a strong and sudden light strikes the eye. The tonality and intensity of red-eye may vary from person to person based on ethnicity, pigmentation levels, and other factors. Today's compact digital cameras commonly used in embedded systems exacerbate the problem of red-eye artifacts because of the proximity of the camera's flash unit and the lens. One common technique to mitigate red-eye is to use multiple flashes to contract the pupils before capturing the final image. However, this provides incomplete red-eye reduction, lengthens the amount of time needed to capture the final image, and presents more of a drain on the camera device's power source.
Other techniques that attempt to programmatically mitigate red-eye only work well when red-eye artifacts are actually predominantly red in color and/or are present in familiar orientations and shapes, i.e., front-facing and circular. Still other existing red-eye repair techniques use red-eye replacement techniques that are overly simplified, often resulting in jagged pupils or solid black pupils that may actually make the photo look more unnatural and less realistic than the original, unaltered photo with red-eye artifacts.
In addition to red artifacts, the inventor has noticed that the color of a “red-eye” may also be golden (i.e., a mixture of various degrees of red, orange, yellow, and white), or even pure white. This condition can occur, e.g., when photographing faces using a strong light source such as a flash that exists at a small displacement from the lens, and most often when the pupil is wide open. While the return signal from a red-eye artifact has a predominantly red hue, the hue can be altered by the color filter array chromaticities in the camera image sensor, and the color may also be distorted by erroneous clipping of the image's red, green, and blue signals during color processing. This artifact can be exacerbated by the gain factors required in low-light situations in which the flash is required. Further, artifacts may come in a variety of shapes, sizes, and overlapping topological layers. Specular shine, i.e., the reflection of light off the cornea or sclera (i.e., the whites of the eyes), is another aspect that may be considered in red-eye repair and replacement to achieve photographically reasonable results.
Accordingly, there is a need for techniques to implement a programmatic solution to red-eye repair that is robust enough to handle a large number of red-eye cases and color types automatically. By discerning between red, golden, and white eye artifacts, and locating and characterizing human faces in an image, for example, more specific automatic repair techniques may be employed to achieve photographically reasonable results.
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1. Technical Field
This application relates to wireless communication techniques in general, and to a system and method of transmit power control for a mobile wireless device with multiple operating modes of the antenna in particular.
2. Description of the Related Art
An antenna is used in a mobile communication device for picking up received signals and for radiating transmitted signals. For transmitting purposes, the radiated radio frequency field includes “Far Field” and “Near Field” components. The far field is the radiated field that is useful for wireless communication. The transition from the near field to the far field is gradual but a practical definition is that the near field is dominant at distances less than twice an antenna's largest dimension squared divided by the wavelength from the antenna. Conversely, the far field refers to the field generated by the antenna at distances beyond twice an antenna's largest dimension squared divided by the wavelength.
The near field is close to the user's body, and also close to the circuitry within the wireless device, both of which may result in various side effects. One of these side effects is radiation absorption to the human user, measured by the Specific Absorption Rate or SAR. SAR is the measurement of the amount of radiation absorption by the human body. SAR is usually calculated in watts per kilogram or milli-watts (mW) per gram.
Different countries have different regulatory requirements for SAR. For example, in North America, the SAR of a handheld wireless communication device might be regulated to not exceed the 1.6 mW/g limit while the device is held at a human head. It is a challenge to design an antenna and its surrounding structure of a wireless communication device to generate a strong far field, while also minimizing SAR, as these may be conflicting requirements.
Certain designs may utilize multiple operating antenna positions to satisfy the conflicting requirements. For example, a whip antenna can have two operating positions—an extended position and retracted position; a flip mobile phone can have open and close positions, and the antenna can further be extended and retracted in combination with the open and close positions. Each of the positions may have different effects to the SAR of the user and to the antenna gain in the far field. This may not be an acceptable solution, as improving the situation in one field may be done at the expense of the situation at the other field.
The SAR is proportional to the transmitted power generated by a device. The transmitted power is typically regulated by a transmit power control unit in the device. A maximum allowed transmit power is usually set to a given value in a transmit power control unit so that the SAR cannot exceed the regulatory limit.
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{
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This invention relates to remediation of environmental contamination. More particularly, the invention relates to methods for accelerating or enhancing in situ dehalogenation of nonaqueous halogenated solvents in ground water. These methods involve adding to the contaminated ground water a composition of matter that both functions as an electron donor for halorespiration processes carried out by indigenous or exogenously supplied bacteria, wherein the nonaqueous halogenated solvents are dehalogenated and degraded to innocuous compounds, and promotes mass transfer of the nonaqueous halogenated solvents from a source into the ground water where such solvents can be broken down.
For many years little care was taken in the handling of organic solvents and other materials that were used in industry and at government installations, such as military bases. Because of poor handling techniques and, occasionally, intentional dumping, many industrial sites and military bases now have contaminated areas containing relatively high concentrations of these contaminants. Chlorinated solvents, such as trichloroethylene (TCE), perchloroethylene (PCE), and other types of liquids, are common at such sites, and if not removed can infiltrate groundwater supplies, rendering the water unfit for consumption and other uses.
A variety of techniques have been used to promote the removal of such chemical contaminants, both from the soil and from the ground water. The principle method of ground water remediation currently used where dense, non-aqueous phase liquids (DNAPLs) are involved is what is commonly referred to as “pump-and-treat” remediation. According to this method, wells are drilled into the contaminated area and contaminated ground water is pumped above the surface, where it is treated to remove the contaminants.
The limitations of the pump-and-treat method have been documented in articles such as D. M. Mackay & J. A. Cherry, Groundwater Contamination: Pump and Treat Remediation, 23 Environ. Sci. Technol. 630-636 (1989). The authors of this article concluded that pump-and-treat remediation can only be relied on to contain ground water contamination through the manipulation of hydraulic gradients within an aquifer. The reasons for the failure of the pump-and-treat method to decontaminate aquifers are rooted in the limited aqueous solubility of many DNAPLs in ground water and other processes involving contaminant desorption and diffusion. Because of the low aqueous solubility of most DNAPLs, their removal by ground water extraction requires exceptionally long periods of time.
Due to the general impracticability of the pump-and-treat method, considerable attention has been paid recently to other methods for effecting remediation. One such process is commonly referred to as enhanced solubilization. This method uses micellar surfactants to increase the effective solubility of the DNAPLs to accelerate the rate of removal. The mechanism of solubilization displayed by surfactants arises from the formation of microemulsions by the surfactants, water, and the solubilized DNAPLs. For example, Table 1 shows solubilization of PCE by various nonionic and anionic surfactants. These data indicate that even dilute surfactants can significantly increase the aqueous solubility of PCE.
TABLE 1SurfactantPCESurfactantConcentrationSolubilized (mg/l)Water0%240Nonylphenol ethoxylate and2%11,700its phosphate ester (1:1)Sodium diamyl and dioctyl4%85,000sulfosuccinates (1:1) in 500 mgCaCl2/lNonylphenol ethoxylate1%1,300
A serious drawback with the surfactant-enhanced aquifer remediation is that the vertical mobility of the solubilized DNAPLs substantially requires that an aquiclude be present to catch any solubilized contaminant that migrates vertically. Many aquifers, however, lack such an aquiclude. If the traditional surfactant-enhanced aquifer remediation method were to be used with an aquifer lacking an aquiclude, there is a significant risk that the solubilized DNAPLs will spread vertically and contaminate an increasingly large volume. Another drawback of surfactant-enhanced aquifer remediation is the need to pump high concentrations of contaminated water above ground, which results in exposure risks to workers and the environment, and the need to dispose or recycle the surfactant.
Another method for effecting remediation of ground water contaminated with DNAPLs is known as enhanced bioremediation. Enhanced bioremediation, as opposed to intrinsic bioremediation, of halogenated solvent-contaminated ground water falls into the two broad categories of aerobic and anaerobic bioremediation. The aerobic processes, regardless of whether they are carried out in situ or in a bioreactor, require addition of (1) oxygen as the electron acceptor for catabolism of the halogenated solvents, and (2) a carbon source, such as methane, propane, phenol, toluene, or butane. The utilization of an appropriate carbon source induces an enzyme that fortuitously degrades many halogenated solvents, but without any immediate benefit to the microorganisms involved. This process has been applied in situ to aqueous contamination in several instances, and at least one patent has been granted for this approach (U.S. Pat. No. 5,384,048). It has also been used to treat aqueous contamination in above-ground bioreactors with numerous variations, especially using proprietary microorganisms and nutrient mixes. Many patents have been granted in this area, e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,057,221; 5,962,305; 5,945,331.
Anaerobic bioremediation of halogenated solvents is a fundamentally different process than aerobic bioremediation. Under appropriate anaerobic conditions, chlorinated solvents can be used directly by some microorganisms as electron acceptors through a process that has come to be known as “chlororespiration,” or, more generally, “halorespiration.” D. L. Freedman & J. M. Gossett, Biological Reductive Dechlorination of Tetrachloroethylene and Trichloroethylene to Ethylene Under Methanogenic Conditions, 55 Applied Environ. Microbiol. 2144-2155 (1989), first published the complete degradation pathway for chlorinated ethenes to ethene. In the following years, several publications reported evidence that the degradation could be achieved through microbial respiration, indicating that the microorganisms could actually grow by using chlorinated solvents directly as electron acceptors. The primary requirement to facilitate this process is the addition of a suitable electron donor or carbon source. Many electron donors have been described in the literature, including acetate, lactate, propionate, butyrate, formate, ethanol, hydrogen, and many others. U.S. Pat. No. 5,277,815 issued in 1994 for in situ electron donor addition along with control of redox conditions to effect the desired end products. U.S. Pat. No. 5,578,210 issued later for enhanced anaerobic in situ bioremediation using “biotransformation enhancing agents,” i.e., electron donors such as propylene glycol, glycerol, glutamate, a mixture of proteose peptone, beef extract, yeast extract, malt extract, dextrose, and ascorbic acid, and mixtures thereof. Based primarily on what was publicly available in the scientific literature, studies of enhanced anaerobic in situ bioremediation of chlorinated solvents began in the mid-1990s. This approach generally includes electron donor addition, sometimes with other micronutrients, to facilitate biotransformation of aqueous-phase contaminants. To date, only a few large-scale studies have been published in the peer-reviewed literature, but environmental consulting companies and remediation contractors are increasingly using the general approach.
With one very recent exception, discussed below, all of the work done in this area to date has focused on the biodegradation of aqueous contaminants, because microorganisms cannot directly degrade nonaqueous contaminants. Consequently, bioremediation is not generally thought to be applicable to sites with residual DNAPLs in the subsurface. Therefore, the technologies currently in use include thermal technologies such as steam stripping, in situ chemical oxidation, surfactant flushing, or co-solvent flushing. Surfactant (or co-solvent) flushing, briefly described above, is a chemical process that aims to facilitate transport of nonaqueous contaminants, but without attention to biodegradation. At many sites, however, the pump-and-treat process continues to be used to hydraulically contain residual source areas although it is almost universally accepted that these systems will have to operate in perpetuity because of their inefficient removal of nonaqueous contaminants.
The notable recent exception to the focus of bioremediation on aqueous contaminants away from residual source areas is a study by C. S. Carr et al., Effect of Dechlorinating Bacteria on the Longevity and Composition of PCE-Containing Nonaqueous Phase Liquids under Equilibrium Dissolution Conditions, 34 Environ. Sci. Technol. 1088-1094 (2000), demonstrating that anaerobic bioremediation of tetrachloroethene (PCE) enhanced mass transfer from the nonaqueous phase to the aqueous phase and significantly shortened the longevity of the nonaqueous source. The mechanisms identified were (1) enhanced dissolution of PCE resulting from the continuous removal of the compound from the aqueous phase by bacteria, and (2) increased solubility of the intermediate chlorinated ethenes relative to PCE, allowing the total moles of chlorinated ethenes in the aqueous phase to increase due to biotransformation. This study is important because it identifies some of the advantages of enhancing mass transfer from the nonaqueous phase to the aqueous phase.
In view of the foregoing, it will be appreciated that providing methods for accelerating or enhancing in situ bioremediation of halogenated solvents in ground water
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1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a magnetic data processing apparatus such as a check reading apparatus having a magnetic head and a motor, and relates more particularly to an improvement for reducing noise produced in the magnetic head in response to leakage flux from the motor.
2. Description of Related Art
A check reading apparatus conveys a check on which magnetic ink characters are printed through the transportation path on which a magnetic head is disposed to read the magnetic ink character information. A stepping motor or other type of electric motor is used as the drive source of the transportation mechanism for conveying the check. Such motors produce leakage flux which can cause the magnetic head to produce noise represented by electromotive forces. Noise produced by the magnetic head will interfere with its reading the information in the magnetic ink characters on the check. It is therefore necessary to suppress the noise caused by leakage flux from the motor.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Appl. Pub. JP-A-H11-306502 teaches a mechanism for suppressing this noise. The mechanism taught in JP-A-H11-306502 covers the motor with a shield plate to control the direction of leakage flux from the motor, and positions the motor and the magnetic head relative to each other so that the flux is oriented in a direction that does not produce electromotive force (noise) in the coil of the magnetic head. This suppresses noise applied to the magnetic head due to leakage flux from the motor.
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{
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This invention relates to systems which sense spatial relationships and to the individual sensors used in the systems. The system is capable of producing a decision based on the values of one or more sensors. The system finds application in a variety of gesture recognition applications, exemplified by communication devices for nonvocal deaf or deaf-blind individuals. The system also finds application providing information on complex animate and inanimate motion which can be stored and/or processed immediately to construct a true or transformed model of the original motion. The model may be used to analyze the original motion or used as a control input to a second application.
There are various methods of sensing spatial relationships of interrelated parts, such as human and robotic joints and other moveable parts. In particular, there is a strong interest in improving on and developing new goniometric, i.e., angle measuring, devices. Commonly used goniometers, such as optical encoders, resolvers, potentiometers, Hall-effect sensors, and the like, are based on optical, electrical, mechanical and electromechanical technologies, etc. Most available goniometers are housed in bulky mechanical structures which can be difficult to mount and of ten interfere with the motion they are intended to track. The devices can be expensive, have limited resolution and can be difficult to use in a case where the bend axis is not rigidly defined and varies during flexure (e.g., a finger joint).
There is therefore a need for a low-profile, high resolution goniometer which is easily and unobtrusively mounted to a surface to monitor angles between two or more moveable structures associated with that surface (e.g., to monitor the bending of a joint or hinge, or the interrelation between the angles of a number of joints or hinges). The output of such a goniometer may be used to control the movement of computer generated objects or figures on a computer monitor, as well as to control the operation of physical machinery, and the like.
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{
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to electricity power generation, and particularly provides an electrical power generation device (generator) utilizing the oscillating action of the Karman vortex street to generate the induced alternate current. This device converts the energy from fluid motion to useable energy.
2. Description of the Related Art
Reynold's number, Re, a non-dimensional number which is defined as the ratio of fluid inertia to viscosity force, is often used to describe fluid flow. The Re for compressible fluid is defined as follows,
Re = ρ V ∞ L μ , ( 1 ) where ρ, V∞, μ is respectively the density, velocity, and dynamic viscosity of the fluid, and L is the characteristic length. When fluid passes a non-streamlined body (or called body, or vortex generating body) in a given rang of Re, since the adverse pressure gradient exists in the boundary layer of the fluid on the body, the fluid starts to separate with the time developing. A lot of experimental and theoretical studies had shown that when Re is from 50 to 500, the vortices are continuously and periodically shed from each side of the body and the rotation direction of the paired vortices is alternate. Two stable, regularly spaced rows of vortices with laminar core are formed in the wake behind the body. This fluid motion pattern is called the Karman vortex street, named after the Germany fluid dynamist Theodore Von Karman (1881-1963), owning to his exploring research on this fluid motion. FIG. 1 presents the pattern of the Karman vortex street. The circulation conservation law can explain the formation of the Karman vortex street. It means that when a vortex produces, another vortex with apposite circulation surely exists. In practices, when flows pass the buildings, electrical lines, bridge piles, etc., the Karman vortex street will appear. Another non-dimensional parameter, Strouhal number, also describes the relation between the vortex shedding frequency and fluid velocity in the Karman vortex Street. The Strouhal number, St, is defined as
St = fL V ∞ , ( 2 ) where f is the vortex shedding frequency and the other variables are same as before. Under a range of Re, the Strouhal number is fixed, therefore, the fluid velocity can be found by measuring the vortex shedding frequency, which is the basic principle of the widely used Karman vortex flow meters.
The vortices in the Karman Vortex Street behind the vortex generating body are conducted to downstream. At the same time, because of the circulation around a vortex, a force along the lateral direction (perpendicular to the fluid direction) acts on the vortex. This force is called lift. In the Karman vortex street, fluid behaviors alternately force along the two rows of vortices. According to the principle of action and opposite action, the alternate shedding of vortices can create periodic lateral force on the body, which induces the body oscillation. In engineering practices, this oscillation could make the body fatigued and damaged. For example, the accident of Tcomn Narrow Bridge was caused by the Karman vortex street.
To convert this oscillating energy generated by the Karman Vortex Street to the usable energy, such as electrical power, is the purpose of this invention.
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{
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Sensing devices are widely used in consumer, commercial, industrial, medical, environmental, and military applications. Sensors that detect molecules, that is biosensors and chemical sensors of various types, are gaining increasing importance in the sensor field. Sensors currently exist that detect volatile organic compounds in the air and can be used to differentiate odors. Other types of sensors, such as immunosensors, can detect certain small or large molecules with a high degree of specificity. Still others detect very large molecules, such as DNA or RNA. There exist yet other sensors that are useful in detection of biochemical surface markers on disease-causing bacteria or viruses. For some types of sensors, low sensitivity may not be a limiting problem, as it may have been in the past. Instead, the sensitivity of a particular sensor may be so great that a relatively small number of molecules may be detected if they enter the operating zone (detection area or “sweet spot”) of the sensor.
Technologies are being developed with the potential to detect single molecules or individual molecular events. Such technologies may also be useful in detecting a single organism that may be harmful, such as: a bacterium, virus, or other pathogen, such as a prion. Detection of extremely low concentrations of toxic gas molecules in the air also may be achieved. However, if the concentration of the species to be detected (analyte) is very low, the probability of a single molecule entering the operating zone of the sensor would also be very low, and the arrival of analyte in a relatively tiny operating zone of a sensor might be a rare event. The probable time for the analyte in so low a concentration to migrate to the sensor operating zone could consequently be long or excessively long. Thus, the analyte would often not be detected quickly, if at all, even if the sensitivity of the sensor were more than adequate. For simplicity, analytes are often referred to herein as molecules or particles.
One solution to this problem of infrequent encounters between analyte and sensor is to increase the surface area of the sensor in contact with the milieu in which the analyte is to be detected. This approach has several distinct disadvantages. Typically, the cost of material of which sensors are made is high. Increasing the effective area of the operating zone may therefore be expensive. In addition, making the sensor much larger may often defeat its purpose. For example, it might no longer be sized appropriately for the application, as in an implantable device for human use or an unobtrusive detector for possible bioterrorism. Another solution to the problem is to concentrate the analyte prior to analysis. This approach may be less costly and may entail minimal increase in size of the overall system, however, the signal to noise ratio might not be improved if molecules in the milieu that interfere nonspecifically with detection of the analyte are concentrated along with the analyte.
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{
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1. Field of the Invention
My invention relates to exercise equipment and more particularly to drink dispensers to be carried by individuals when running, walking, rollerblading or engaging in other exercise and athletic activities.
2. Relation To Prior Art
To meet a need of athletes and exercisers who become thirsty but are reluctant to stop to quench their thirst, a variety of on-the-run thirst quenchers are known. Examples of different but related devices intended to meet this need are described in the following patent documents. U.S. Pat. No. 4,702,473, issued to Paquette, described a combination hand weight and water dispenser that included a water-discharge aperture operated by a user's mouth. U.S. Pat. No. 4,712,794, issued to Hall, described a jogger's fluid-weighted exercise jug with a mouth-operated liquid-dispensing cap to be held in both hands to facilitate body balance.
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{
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Currently, with development of an electronic communication industry, User Equipment (UE) such as a cellular phone, an electronic scheduler, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a laptop computer, and the like has become a necessity of a modern society, and plays an important role of transferring information changing fast. This UE provides a convenient operation environment to a user via a Graphic User Interface (GUI) and provides various multimedia based on a web environment.
Recently, a user prefers a slimmer UE meeting portability and an appearance design. However, the UE applies various functions and receives a plurality of electronic parts, such that there is a difficulty in manufacturing the UE in a slim profile.
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{
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device with a quantum-wave interference layer which reflects carriers, i.e., electrons or holes, effectively and a quantum-wave interference layer which transmits carriers, i.e., electrons or holes, effectively. Especially, the present invention relates to a light-emitting device such as a laser or a light-emitting diode with a structure which confines carriers in an active layer so as to improve its luminous efficiency.
2. Description of the Related Art
A semiconductor device has been known to have a double hereto junction structure whose active layer is formed between n-type and p-type cladding layers. The cladding layers function as potential barriers for effectively confining carriers, or electrons and holes, within the active layer.
However, a problem persists in luminous efficiency. Carriers overflow the potential barriers of the cladding layers, which lowers luminous efficiency. Therefore, further improvement has been required, as presently appreciated by the present inventors.
As a countermeasure, forming cladding layers having a multiple quantum well structure of a first and a second layer as a unit in a laser diode in order to reflect carriers has been suggested by Takagi et al. (Japanese Journal of Applied Physics. Vol. 29, No.11, November 1990, pp.L1977-L1980). This reference, however, does not teach or suggest values of kinetic energy of carriers to be considered.
The inventor of the present invention conducted a series of experiments and found that, although it can be understood that Takagi et al. used a band gap energy alternative to a kinetic energy, the suggested thickness of the first and the second layers by Takagi et al. were too small to confine electrons, and that preferable thicknesses of the first and second layers are 4 to 6 times larger than those suggested by Takagi et al. So a problem still persisted in inadequacy of reflecting carriers.
Further, the present inventor thought that multiple quantum-wave reflection of carriers might occur by a multiple layer structure with different band width, like multiple light reflection by a dielectric multi-film structure. And the inventor thought that it would be possible to confine carriers by the reflection of the quantum-wave interference layer and filed an application with respect to this (Japanese Patent Application laid-open No. H10-303406).
Then the inventor of the present invention concerned a characteristic of electrons as a wave and considered that the quantum-wave interference layer functions as a transmission layer of carriers, by analogy with the multiple reflection of the light. That is, when each thickness of layers in the. multiple layer structure is about an order of the wavelength of a quantum-wave of carriers, an interference effect of quantum-wave is considered to occur with respect to a conduction of carriers in the multiple layer structure. The interference effect caused a conduction as a wave. Accordingly, the inventor of the present invention considered that not a conduction of particle in a classical theory but a resonance of waves, an interference, or other phenomenon is occurred by an interference effect of electrons. This wave behavioral characteristic of electrons improves a mobility and a propagation velocity.
It is, therefore, a first object of the present invention is to provide a semiconductor device with a new structure, having both of a quantum-wave interference layer with a large reflectivity to carriers, which functions as a reflection layer, and a quantum-wave interference layer with a high transmittivity and a high mobility to carriers, which functions as a transmission layer.
In light of these objects a first characteristic group of this invention is described as follows. A first aspect of the present invention is a semiconductor device constituted by a first quantum-wave interference layer having plural periods of a pair of a first layer and a second layer, the second layer having a wider band gap than the first layer, and a second quantum-wave interference layer having plural periods of a pair of a third layer and a fourth layer, the fourth layer having a wider band gap than the third layer. Each thickness of the first and the second layers in the first quantum-wave interference layer is determined by multiplying by an odd number one fourth of a quantum-wave wavelength of carriers in each of the first and the second layers, and each thickness of the third and the fourth layers in the second quantum-wave interference layer is determined by multiplying by an even number one fourth of a quantum-wave wavelength of carriers in each of the third and the fourth layers.
A second aspect of the present invention is to form each thickness of the first and the second layers in the first quantum-wave interference layer by multiplying by an odd number one fourth of quantum-wave wavelength of carriers in each of the first and the second layers existing at the level near the lowest energy level of the second layer and to form each thickness of the third and the fourth layers in the second quantum-wave interference layer by multiplying an even number one fourth of quantum-wave wavelength of carriers in each of the third and the fourth layers existing at the level near the lowest energy level of the fourth layer.
A third aspect of the present invention is to form a xcex4R layer, which varies an energy band sharply, at an interface between the first and the second layers. A thickness of the xcex4R layer is substantially thinner than that of the first and the second layers.
A fourth aspect of the present invention is to form a xcex4T layer, which varies an energy band sharply, at an interface between the third and the fourth layers. A thickness of the xcex4T layer is substantially thinner than that of the third and the fourth layers.
A fifth aspect of the present invention is to define each thickness of the first and the second layers as follows:
DRW=nRWxcexRW/4=nRWh/4[2mRW(ER+VR)]xc2xdxe2x80x83xe2x80x83(1-1)
and
DRB=nRBxcexRB/4=nRBh/4(2mRBER)xc2xdxe2x80x83xe2x80x83(1-2)
A sixth aspect of the present invention is to define each thickness of the third and the fourth layers as follows:
DTW=nTWxcexTW/4=nTWh/4[2mTW(ET+VT)]xc2xdxe2x80x83xe2x80x83(1-3)
and
DTB=nTBxcexTB/4=nTBh/4(2mTBET)xc2xdxe2x80x83xe2x80x83(1-4)
In Eqs. 1-1 to 1-4, h, mRW, mRB, mTW, mTB, ER, ET, VR, VT, nRW, nRB and nTW, nTB represent Plank""s constant, the effective mass of carriers in the first layer, the effective mass of carriers in the second layer, the effective mass of carriers in the third layer, the effective mass of carriers in the fourth layer, the kinetic energy of the carriers at the level near the lowest energy level of the second layer, the kinetic energy of the carriers at the level near the lowest energy level of the fourth layer, the potential energy of the second layer relative to the first layer, the potential energy of the fourth layer relative to the third layer, odd numbers and even numbers, respectively. Carriers injected into the second layer and the fourth layer are preferably existing around the lowest energy of the second layer and the. fourth layer, respectively.
A seventh aspect of the present invention is the first quantum-wave interference layer having a plurality of partial quantum-wave interference layers IRk with arbitrary periods TRk including a first layer having a thickness of DRWk and a second layer having a thickness of DRBk and arranged in series. The thicknesses of the:first and the second layers satisfy the formulas:
DRWk=nRWkxcexRWk/4=nRWkh/4[2mRWk(ERk+VR)]xc2xdxe2x80x83xe2x80x83(2-1)
and
DRBk=nRBkxcexRBk/4=nRBkh/4(2mRBkERk)xc2xdxe2x80x83xe2x80x83(2-2)
In Eqs. 2-1 and 2-2, ERk, mRWk, mRBk, and nRWk, nRBk represent plural kinetic energy levels of carriers flowing into the second layer, effective mass of carriers with kinetic energy ERk+VR in the first layer, effective mass of carriers with kinetic energy ERk in the second layer, and arbitrary odd numbers, respectively.
The plurality of the partial quantum-wave interference layers IRk are arranged in series from IR1 to IRj, where j is a maximum number of k required to from a first quantum-wave interference layer as a whole.
An eighth aspect of the present invention is the second quantum-wave interference layer having a plurality of partial quantum-wave interference layers ITk with arbitrary periods TTk including a third layer having a thickness of DTWk and a fourth layer having a thickness of DTBk and arranged in series. The thicknesses of the third and the fourth layers satisfy the formulas:
DTWk=nTWkxcexTWk/4=nTWkh/4[2mTWk(ETk+VT)]{fraction (1/2)}xe2x80x83xe2x80x83(3-1)
and
DTBk=nTBkxcexTBk/4=nTBkh/4(2mTBkETk)xc2xdxe2x80x83xe2x80x83(3-2)
In Eqs.
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The sodium salt of (S)-2-(6-methoxy-2-naphthyl)propionic acid is a commercially available anti-inflammatory agent with the generic name of naproxen sodium.
A process used for the production of naproxen sodium involves reacting (S)-2-(6-methoxy-2-naphthyl)propionic acid dissolved in toluene with an aqueous sodium hydroxide solution, with subsequent removal of water by heating the slurry to an ending temperature of 100.degree. C. and a pressure of 1 atmosphere. The resultant anhydrous naproxen sodium has an average particle size in the range of about 30 to about 70 microns, and is in the form of small needle-like particles typically having an aspect ratio of about 10, with the length being approximately 200 to 300 microns and the width ranging from about 15 to about 45 microns. To achieve the required high chiral purity naproxen sodium (99% minimum), it has been necessary to use long cycle times and to form and use (S)-2-(6-methoxy-2-naphthyl)propionic acid of relatively high chiral purity (97% minimum).
A highly desirable contribution to the art would be the provision of forms of sodium (S)-2-(6-methoxy-2-naphthyl)propionate having an average particle size significantly larger than about 70 microns, especially if such material could have a chiral purity of at least 98% (S)-enantiomer, and a process technology enabling the production of such material. The achievement of these objectives would be of inestimable value from the standpoints, inter alia, of processing time, plant capacity and product handling operations.
This invention is deemed to constitute such a contribution to the art, as it enables the achievement of the foregoing objectives.
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Various ligands and receptors belonging to the tumor necrosis factor (TNF) superfamily have been identified in the art. Included among such ligands are tumor necrosis factor-alpha (“TNF-alpha”), tumor necrosis factor-beta (“TNF-beta” or “lymphotoxin-alpha”), lymphotoxin-beta (“LT-beta”), CD30 ligand, CD27 ligand, CD40 ligand, OX-40 ligand, 4-1BB ligand, LIGHT, Apo-1 ligand (also referred to as Fas ligand or CD95 ligand), Apo-2 ligand (also referred to as Apo2L or TRAIL), Apo-3 ligand (also referred to as TWEAK), APRIL, OPG ligand (also referred to as RANK ligand, ODF, or TRANCE), and TALL-1 (also referred to as BlyS, BAFF or THANK) (See, e.g., Ashkenazi, Nature Review, 2:420-430 (2002); Ashkenazi and Dixit, Science, 281:1305-1308 (1998); Ashkenazi and Dixit, Curr. Opin. Cell Biol., 11:255-260 (2000); Golstein, Curr. Biol., 7:750-753 (1997) Wallach, Cytokine Reference, Academic Press, 2000, pages 377-411; Locksley et al., Cell, 104:487-501 (2001); Gruss and Dower, Blood, 85:3378-3404 (1995); Schmid et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., 83:1881 (1986); Dealtry et al., Eur. J. Immunol., 17:689 (1987); Pitti et al., J. Biol. Chem., 271:12687-12690 (1996); Wiley et al., Immunity, 3:673-682 (1995); Browning et al., Cell, 72:847-856 (1993); Armitage et al. Nature, 357:80-82 (1992), WO 97/01633 published Jan. 16, 1997; WO 97/25428 published Jul. 17, 1997; Marsters et al., Curr. Biol., 8:525-528 (1998); Chicheportiche et al., Biol. Chem., 272:32401-32410 (1997); Hahne et al., J. Exp. Med., 188:1185-1190 (1998); WO98/28426 published Jul. 2, 1998; WO98/46751 published Oct. 22, 1998; WO/98/18921 published May 7, 1998; Moore et al., Science, 285:260-263 (1999); Shu et al., J. Leukocyte Biol., 65:680 (1999); Schneider et al., J. Exp. Med., 189:1747-1756 (1999); Mukhopadhyay et al., J. Biol. Chem., 274:15978-15981 (1999)).
Induction of various cellular responses mediated by such TNF family ligands is typically initiated by their binding to specific cell receptors. Some, but not all, TNF family ligands bind to, and induce various biological activity through, cell surface “death receptors” to activate caspases, or enzymes that carry out the cell death or apoptosis pathway (Salvesen et al., Cell, 91:443-446 (1997). Included among the members of the TNF receptor superfamily identified to date are TNFR1, TNFR2, TACI, GITR, CD27, OX-40, CD30, CD40, HVEM, Fas (also referred to as Apo-1 or CD95), DR4 (also referred to as TRAIL-R1), DR5 (also referred to as Apo-2 or TRAIL-R2), DCR1, DcR2, osteoprotegerin (OPG), RANK and Apo-3 (also referred to as DR3 or TRAMP) (see, e.g., Ashkenazi, Nature Reviews, 2:420-430 (2002); Ashkenazi and Dixit, Science, 281:1305-1308 (1998); Ashkenazi and Dixit, Curr. Opin. Cell Biol., 11:255-260 (2000); Golstein, Curr. Biol., 7:750-753 (1997) Wallach, Cytokine Reference, Academic Press, 2000, pages 377411; Locksley et al., Cell, 104:487-501 (2001); Gruss and Dower, Blood, 85:3378-3404 (1995); Hohman et al., J. Biol. Chem., 264:14927-14934 (1989); Brockhaus et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 87:3127-3131 (1990); EP 417,563, published Mar. 20, 1991; Loetscher et al., Cell, 61:351 (1990); Schall et al., Cell, 61:361 (1990); Smith et al., Science, 248:1019-1023 (1990); Lewis et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., 88:2830-2834 (1991); Goodwin et al., Mol. Cell. Biol., 11:3020-3026 (1991); Stamenkovic et al., EMBO J., 8:1403-1410 (1989); Mallett et al., EMBO J., 9:1063-1068 (1990); Anderson et al., Nature, 390:175-179 (1997); Chicheportiche et al., J. Biol. Chem., 272:32401-32410 (1997); Pan et al., Science. 276:111-113 (1997); Pan et al., Science, 277:815-818 (1997); Sheridan et al., Science, 277:818-821 (1997); Degli-Esposti et al., J. Exp. Med., 186:1165-1170 (1997); Marsters et al., Curr. Biol., 7:1003-1006 (1997); Tsuda et al., BBRC, 234:137-142 (1997); Nocentini et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., 94:6216-6221 (1997); vonBulow et al., Science, 278:138-141 (1997)).
Most of these TNF receptor family members share the typical structure of cell surface receptors including extracellular, transmembrane and intracellular regions, while others are found naturally as soluble proteins lacking a transmembrane and intracellular domain. The extracellular portion of typical TNFRs contains a repetitive amino acid sequence pattern of multiple cysteine-rich domains (CRDs), starting from the NH2-terminus.
The ligand referred to as Apo-2L or TRAIL was identified several years ago as a member of the TNF family of cytokines. (See, e.g., Wiley et al., Immunity, 3:673-682 (1995); Pitti et al., J. Biol. Chem., 271:12697-12690 (1996); WO 97/01633; WO 97/25428; U.S. Pat. No. 5,763,223 issued Jun. 9, 1998; U.S. Pat. No. 6,284,236 issued Sep. 4, 2001). The full-length native sequence human Apo2L/TRAIL polypeptide is a 281 amino acid long, Type II transmembrane protein. Some cells can produce a natural soluble form of the polypeptide, through enzymatic cleavage of the polypeptide's extracellular region (Mariani et al., J. Cell. Biol., 137:221-229 (1997)). Crystallographic studies of soluble forms of Apo2L/TRAIL reveal a homotrimeric structure similar to the structures of TNF and other related proteins (Hymowitz et al., Molec. Cell, 4:563-571 (1999); Cha et al., Immunity, 11:253-261 (1999); Mongkolsapaya et al., Nature Structural Biology, 6:1048 (1999); Hymowitz et al., Biochemistry, 39:633-644 (2000)). Apo2L/TRAIL, unlike other TNF family members however, was found to have a unique structural feature in that three cysteine residues (at position 230 of each subunit in the homotrimer) together coordinate a zinc atom, and that the zinc binding is important for trimer stability and biological activity. (Hymowitz et al., supra; Bodmer et al., J. Biol. Chem., 275:20632-20637 (2000)).
It has been reported in the literature that Apo2L/TRAIL may play a role in immune system modulation, including autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis [see, e.g., Thomas et al., J. Immunol., 161:2195-2200 (1998); Johnsen et al., Cytokine, 11:664-672 (1999); Griffith et al., J. Exp. Med., 189:1343-1353 (1999); Song et al., J. Exp. Med., 191:1095-1103 (2000)].
Soluble forms of Apo2L/TRAIL have also been reported to induce apoptosis in a variety of cancer cells, including colon, lung, breast, prostate, bladder, kidney, ovarian and brain tumors, as well as melanoma, leukemia, and multiple myeloma (see, e.g., Wiley et al., supra; Pitti et al., supra; U.S. Pat. No. 6,030,945 issued Feb. 29, 2000; U.S. Pat. No. 6,746,668 issued Jun. 8, 2004; Rieger et al., FEBS Letters, 427:124-128 (1998); Ashkenazi et
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