This disclosure relates to a ring gear used in an epicyclic gear train of a gas turbine engine.
Gas turbine engines typically employ an epicyclic gear train connected to the turbine section of the engine, which is used to drive the turbo fan. In a typical epicyclic gear train, a sun gear receives rotational input from a turbine shaft through a compressor shaft. A carrier supports intermediate gears that surround and mesh with the sun gear. A ring gear surrounds and meshes with the intermediate gears. In arrangements in which the carrier is fixed against rotation, the intermediate gears are referred to as “star” gears and the ring gear is coupled to an output shaft that supports the turbo fan.
Typically, the ring gear is connected to the turbo fan shaft using a spline ring. The spline ring is secured to a flange of the turbo fan shaft using circumferentially arranged bolts. The spline ring includes splines opposite the flange that supports a splined outer circumferential surface of the ring gear. The ring gear typically includes first and second portions that provide teeth facing in opposite directions, which mesh with complimentary oppositely facing teeth of the star gears.
An epicyclic gear train must share the load between the gears within the system. As a result, the splined connection between the ring gear and spline ring is subject to wear under high loads and deflection. Since the spline connection requires radial clearance, it is difficult to get a repeatable balance of the turbo fan assembly. Balance can also deteriorate over time with spline wear.


1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to laser technology, and more particularly, to a polarization-type laser detection system which is capable of distinguishing between a reflected light signal from a target object and a back-scattered light signal from a mass of suspended particles in the air.
2. Description of Related Art
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a conventional laser detection system. As shown, this laser detection system includes a control unit 10, a laser emitter 20, and an optical receiver 30. This laser detection system is used to detect whether any target object is present nearby. In the case of a target object 40 is present nearby, the laser beam from the laser emitter 20 will be reflected back by the target object 40 and received by the optical receiver 30. The received light is then analyzed by the control unit 10 to indicate the presence of the target object 40.
One drawback to the foregoing laser detection system, however, is that, under bad weather conditions when the air is filled with suspended particles, the emitted laser beam from the laser emitter 20 would be scattered back, causing the optical receiver 30 to received a back-scattered light signal that would make the control unit 10 unable to perform the intended target detection. The laser detection system would therefore operate improperly under bad weather conditions.


1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a plasma lamp system, and more particularly, to a plasma lamp system and a bulb therefor capable of maximizing lighting efficiency by improving a point source of light characteristic and a spectrum characteristic.
2. Description of the Background Art
In general, a plasma lamp system is a lighting system which emits visible rays and ultraviolet rays when a filling material within a bulb is excited by microwave energy or electric discharge, has a long life span compared to an incandescent lamp or a fluorescent lamp, and has excellent efficiency in lighting.
A bulb of a plasma lamp system is filled with high-pressure mercury or metal halide as a primary light-emitting material leading light-emitting when excited by microwave energy or electric discharge, together with inert gas for forming a plasma at an initial stage of lighting-emitting, additives which make lighting easy and the like.
Such a conventional plasma lamp system shows different characteristics according to types of the primary light-emitting materials within the bulb.
In a UHP (ultra high performance) lamp system having a bulb filled with high-pressure mercury, mercury of about 200 atm or more emits light in operation and shows a spectrum characteristic as shown in FIG. 1. That is, in the UHP lamp system, intensity of light is high in a blue color region where a wavelength of light is about 400˜500 nanometers and in a green color region where a wavelength of light is about 500˜600 nanometers. But, intensity of light is low in a red color region where a wavelength of light is about 600˜700 nanometers. Accordingly, the UHP lamp system cannot obtain high reddish color purity, thereby having limitations on improving display performance.
In an MH (metal halide) lamp system having a bulb filled with metal halide, since intensity of light shows an independent peak in each of red, green and blue color regions, it is easy to make a proper optical spectrum. But, optimum pressure of the metal halide is relatively low because of a characteristic of metal halide, and thus the light is emitted not in parallel but radially, whereby it is not easy to apply the MH lamp system to an optical system that requires a point source of light. Therefore, in case of applying the MH lamp system to an optical system which requires a point source of light, such as a projector or a projection display, as shown in FIG. 2, the center of an arc 40 of a bulb 10 should be positioned at a focal point of a reflector 20 for reflecting light in order to obtain parallel light 30, thereby causing intricacy in manufacturing and degrading productivity.


1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to pattern recognition and object recognition techniques and, more particularly, to a human face detection position deviation-correcting method, correcting system, and correction program capable of detecting whether a detected human face has deviated in position and of correcting the position.
2. Related Art
In recent years, as pattern recognition technology and information-processing apparatuses such as computers have improved in performance, the accuracy at which characters and voice are recognized has improved at an amazing rate. It is known, however, that it is still difficult to recognize persons, objects, and scenes within images taken, for example, by a still image camera by pattern recognition technology, and that it is especially quite difficult to precisely and quickly recognize whether a human face is contained in such an image.
However, it has become quite important to recognize whether a human face is contained in such an image and to identify who is in the picture precisely and automatically using a computer in establishing biometric recognition technology, improving security, speeding up criminal investigations, increasing the rates at which image data are put in order, and speeding up search operations.
Meanwhile, in the case of ordinary users who are fond of photography and designers professionally engaging in image processing, they frequently want to make layouts about the subject human face from the taken digital photograph. In one case, for example, a picture where the face has been zoomed in is created from a picture containing the entire human body. In another case, a picture for a personal history is created.
In such cases, it is necessary to zoom into the face while precisely aligning the center of the face or to align the center of the face to the center of the photograph frame manually. Hence, complex and skilled operations are necessary.
Therefore, in the past, a method of detecting the position of a face using a facial image detection technique and aligning the position of the facial image has been proposed.
For example, in H. A. Rowley, S. Baluja, and T. Kanade, “Neural network-based face detection”, IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence, Vol. 20, No. 1, pp. 23-38, 1998, there is disclosed a technique for detecting a facial image by training a neural network using facial images.
Furthermore, in the above paper and so on, a decision is first made as to whether there is any region of human flesh color within an input image. A mosaic size is automatically determined about the region of human flesh color. A mosaic candidate region is created. The proximity to the dictionary of human faces is calculated. Thus, a decision is made as to whether there is a human face. The face is extracted. This reduces erroneous extraction due to the effects of the background. Consequently, human faces are found from images automatically and efficiently.
With the method of the above-cited paper, it is possible to detect a facial image but there is the problem that the center of the position of a human face can not always be precisely calculated as disclosed in the paper.
On the other hand, in JP-A-H9-171560, it is necessary to calculate the center line of the rotation while creating data about rotation of the face. Hence, there is the anxiety that the processing time is increased. Furthermore, it is assumed that every assumed pixel has symmetry. Therefore, it is quite difficult to stably gain the center line due to noise.
Accordingly, the present invention has been devised to effectively solve these problems. It is an object of the present invention to provide a novel human face detection position deviation-correcting method, correcting system, and correcting program capable of judging whether a detected human face has deviated from the detection position and of correcting the positional deviation from the detection position by a quick and simple method.


1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to the field of plastics. More particularly, the present invention relates to a pallet system and a pallet apparatus and a method of pallet manufacturing. Specifically, one preferred embodiment of the present invention relates to blow molding a first pallet piece and then inserting it into another mold to join it to a second blow molded pallet piece.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Pallets are used for transporting and storing various types of cargo throughout the world. Therefore, it is important for a pallet to be lightweight, compact and strong. Traditionally pallets were made of wood, however, plastic pallets are now being used with increased frequency as they are lightweight, generally stronger, do not absorb moisture, and they can be cleaned and disinfected which is important in particular for the food industry. One disadvantage of plastic pallets is that they tend to break up with continued use over time. Therefore, for these and other various reasons it is important that plastic pallets be reinforced by a variety of means.
The below-referenced U.S. patents disclose embodiments that were at least in-part satisfactory for the purposes for which they were intended. The disclosures of all the below-referenced prior United States patents, in their entireties, are hereby expressly incorporated by reference into the present application for purposes including, but not limited to, indicating the background of the present invention and illustrating the state of the art.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,417,167 discloses a plastic shipping pallet of the type usually manufactured from wood which is made of hollow plastic stringers and deck boards. The stringers and deck boards are made of plastic materials that may be either virgin plastic, recycled plastics or mixes. The stringers and deck boards are hollow but have closed ends to prevent entry of dirt, fluids, insects and vermin. The stringers and deck boards may be made in a blow molding process or using continuous extrusion and molding processes similar to that used in the manufacture of corrugated pipe. Various connection configurations for affixing the deck boards to the stringers are described including fixation by screws as well as interlocking connections between the plastic parts themselves and the use of separate interlocking components which engage the deck board and stringers.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,845,588 discloses a pallet fabricated of a thermoplastic material which is produced by joining together individually fabricated structural components, each of which is individually thermoformed from an extruded plastic parison of a multilayer structure. The structural components include a deck in the form of a continuous sheet with longitudinal and transverse sides, one or more upper runner components fastened by their top side to the bottom of the deck, each of which includes a cross member with downward-facing posts, and one or more lower runner components, each of which includes a cross member with upward-facing posts and which is fastened by the tops of its posts to the bottoms of matching posts on the corresponding upper runner components.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,868,080 discloses a reinforced plastic pallet construction and assembly method wherein multiple reinforcing bars are employed. At least some of the reinforcing bars have an exposed surface at a topside surface, underneath surface or underside surface of the pallet. In addition to functioning as a reinforcing member, the exposed surfaces of the reinforcing bars comprise an anti-skid surface for maintaining positioning of payload on the pallet or facilitating transport of the pallet, e.g., via a forklift or automated transport system. Various techniques for retaining the reinforcing bars within channels formed in the plastic pallet body are described. The reinforcing bars preferably comprise composite structural members of fiberglass reinforced plastic fabricated from a pultrusion process.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,209,464 discloses a pallet that includes a rectangular support deck having a substantially planar upper supporting surface including a plurality of channels formed therein and extending across the pallet. The deck includes support members extending from an underside of the deck that nest in recesses formed in the upper surface of the deck. An alignment portion is formed at a center point along the first edge of the deck and a second alignment portion is formed at a center point of an opposed edge of the deck. The alignment portion includes angled sides for receiving a tapered member of a complementary device.


The Service Availability™ (SA) Forum has developed standard interfaces to enable the delivery of highly available carrier-grade systems with off-the-shelf platforms, middleware and service applications. Implementation of the standards allows software developers to focus on the application code that provides mission-critical services, and to minimize the need for customized high availability programming.
FIG. 1 is a conceptual architecture stack defined by the SA forum for a highly available (HA) system. The SA forum has developed the Application Interface Specification (AIS) 120 to provide a standardized interface between HA applications 110 and HA middleware 130, such that they can be independent of one another. The HA applications 110 and the HA middleware 130 are run on an operating system 140 and are hosted by a hardware platform 150. Service continuity is achieved with the cooperation of all of the components in the stack. As part of the AIS 120, the SA forum has also developed a specification for the Availability Management Framework (AMF) 125 to coordinate and manage service availability in an HA system (SA Forum, Application Interface Specification, Availability Management Framework SAI-AIS-AMF-B.04.01). An AMF configuration, which is a configuration compliant with the AMF specification, is a logical organization of resources for providing and protecting services for a given HA application. An AMF configuration consists of components grouped into service units (SUs), which are further grouped into services groups (SGs). An application may consist of one or several SGs to provide and protect services. The services are defined in terms of service instances (SIs) composed of component service instances (CSIs). At runtime, for each SI, the middleware implementing the AMF service assigns active and standby HA states to SUs, according to a redundancy model used by the HA system. The AMF specification defines five redundancy models, which include the No-Redundancy, 2N, N+M, N-Way-Active and N-Way redundancy models.
Several approaches are devised for generating valid AMF configurations. The design of the AMF configuration is driven by the required service and the specified redundancy model. Some of the approaches systematically generate AMF configurations that ensure SI protection: for example, components are created to provide and protect requested CSIs, and SUs are defined to provide and protect required SIs. In addition, the SUs are grouped into SGs with the redundancy model requested by the designer. However, when configurations are designed in an ad hoc manner, there can be a question of whether the configurations ensure SI protection. In some situations, new or additional services may be requested after a configuration is generated. In these situations, there can be a question of whether the current configuration provides and protects all the services (including the new/additional services).
AMF configurations created by designers using traditional tools also need to be validated. Validating the protection of services as requested may require the exploration of all possible SI combinations and SI-SU assignments. This is a combinatorial and complex problem. In general, the problem is NP-hard for the N+M, N-Way-Active, and N-Way redundancy models.


Many ribonucleic acid (RNA) molecules contain secondary structure that results from hybridization between complementary regions within the RNA molecule. A variety of secondary structures can be formed, including hairpins and cruciforms. RNA molecules containing secondary structure are often difficult to reverse transcribe because polymerases cannot readily process through the secondary structure.
Because of the difficulty of reverse transcribing RNA molecules with secondary structure, many techniques dependent upon reverse transcription yield anomalous results. For example, RNA molecules with secondary structure may be poorly represented in cDNA libraries. Populations of RNA with secondary structure may also yield cDNA libraries with a short insert size. Furthermore, RNA molecules containing secondary structure may be difficult to detect in assays such as reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR).
Traditionally, reverse transcription has been performed with reverse transcriptases encoded by retroviruses (e.g., avian myoblastosis virus (AMV) reverse transcriptase and Moloney murine leukemia virus (MMLV) reverse transcriptase). Several mesophillic DNA polymerases (e.g., E. coli DNA polymerase I) have also been shown to possess reverse transcriptase activity. However, these enzymes are generally used at temperatures of between about 37° C. to 42° C., a temperature range where secondary structure can be a significant problem.
Several thermophilic DNA polymerases (e.g., Thermus aquaticus DNA polymerase and Thermus thermophilus DNA polymerase) also have reverse transcriptase activity. These enzymes are useful for reverse transcription, because at the high temperatures where such enzymes are stable, secondary structure in RNA molecules is reduced. Furthermore, such enzymes can be used to directly synthesize second strand DNA and potentially even to directly amplify an RNA target. However, the utility of these thermostable enzymes is limited because they require manganese as a co-factor for reverse transcriptase activity (e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 5,322,770) resulting in deleterious effects. In some cases, the fidelity of the polymerase is reduced as compared to the fidelity of the enzyme in the presence of other cofactors, such as magnesium ions. Therefore, it is not desirable to amplify the template in the same reaction mixture in which reverse transcription reaction is conducted. This necessitates extra time consuming steps when performing RT-PCR. In other cases, the presence of manganese ions may also cause degradation of the RNA template.
Accordingly, what is needed in the art are alternative thermostable polymerases that have reverse transcriptase activity. Preferably, such thermostable polymerases should have reverse transcriptase activity in the presence of magnesium so that high-fidelity cDNAs may be obtained and so that both reverse transcription and amplification in RT-PCR reactions may conducted in the same reaction mixture.


Soybean (Glycine max), is an important and valuable field crop and is the world's leading source of vegetable oil and protein meal. Thus, there is a continuing need to develop new stable, high yielding soybean cultivars that are agronomically sound. New soybeans cultivars are desired that exhibit modified phenotypical traits, including modification of growth, temperature requirements, initiation date of floral or reproductive development, increased seed yield, resistance to diseases, nematodes and insects, abiotic stress tolerance, production of better stems and roots, altered fatty acid profiles, improvements in compositional traits, and better agronomic quality. One approach to produce such new soybean cultivars is through traditional breeding techniques wherein the soybean breeder selects and develops soybean plants having traits that result in superior varieties.
There are numerous steps in the development of any novel, desirable plant germplasm. These processes, which lead to the final step of marketing and distribution, can take from six to twelve years from the time the first cross is made. Therefore, development of new cultivars is a time-consuming process that requires precise forward planning and efficient use of resources. Furthermore, due to the number of genes within each chromosome, millions of genetic combinations exist in the breeders' experimental soybean material. Thus, developing a single variety of useful commercial soybean germplasm is highly unpredictable, and requires intensive research and development. The present invention relates to a new and distinctive soybean cultivar, designated TMG4177.


The invention relates generally to the fabrication of semiconductor devices and, more particularly, to the fabrication of high-K dielectric layers in semiconductor devices.
Fabrication of semiconductor devices, such as a metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) integrated circuit, involves numerous processing steps. In a semiconductor device, a gate dielectric, typically formed from silicon dioxide (xe2x80x9coxidexe2x80x9d), is formed on a semiconductor substrate which is doped with either n-type or p-type impurities. For each MOS field effect transistor (MOSFET) being formed, a gate conductor is formed over the gate dielectric, and dopant impurities are introduced into the substrate to form a source and drain. A pervasive trend in modern integrated circuit manufacture is to produce transistors having feature sizes as small as possible. Many present processes employ features, such as gate conductors and interconnects, which have less than 0.18 xcexcm critical dimension. As feature sizes continue to decrease, the size of the resulting transistor as well as the interconnect between transistors also decreases. Fabrication of smaller transistors allows more transistors to be placed on a single monolithic substrate, thereby allowing relatively large circuit systems to be incorporated on a single, relatively small die area.
As MOSFET feature sizes decrease, gate oxide thickness decreases as well. This decrease in gate oxide thickness is driven in part by the demands of overall device scaling. As gate conductor widths decrease, for example, other device dimensions must also decrease in order to maintain proper device operation. Early MOSFET scaling techniques involved decreasing all dimensions and voltages by a constant scaling factor, to maintain constant electric fields in the device as the feature size decreased. This approach has given way to more flexible scaling guidelines which account for operating characteristics of short-channel devices. For example, a maximum value of MOSFET sub-threshold current can be maintained while feature sizes shrink, by decreasing any or all of several quantities, including gate oxide thickness, operating voltage, depletion width, and junction depth, by appropriate amounts.
As a result of the continuing decrease in feature size, gate oxide thickness has been reduced so much that oxides are approaching thicknesses on the order of ten angstroms (xc3x85). Unfortunately, thin oxide films may break down when subjected to an electric field, particularly for gate oxides less than 50 xc3x85 thick. It is probable that even for a relatively low gate voltage of 3V, electrons can pass through such a thin gate oxide by a quantum mechanical tunneling effect. In this manner, a tunneling current may undesirably form between the semiconductor substrate and the gate conductor, adversely affecting the operability of the device. It is postulated that some of these electrons may become entrapped within the gate oxide by, e.g., dangling bonds. As a result, a net negative charge density may form in the gate oxide. As the trapped charge accumulates with time, the threshold voltage VT may shift from its design specification. Breakdown of the gate oxide may also occur at even lower values of gate voltage, as a result of defects in the gate oxide. Such defects are unfortunately prevalent in relatively thin gate oxides. For example, a thin gate oxide often contains pinholes and/or localized voids due to unevenness at which the oxide grows on a less than perfect silicon lattice.
A more promising approach to further increasing gate dielectric capacitance may be to increase the permittivity of the gate dielectric. Permittivity, xcex5, of a material reflects the ability of the material to be polarized by an electric field. The permittivity of a material is typically described as its permittivity normalized to the permittivity of a vacuum, xcex50. Hence, the relative permittivity, referred to as the dielectric constant, of a material is defined as:
K=xcex5/xcex50
While silicon dioxide (sometimes simply referred to as xe2x80x9coxidexe2x80x9d) has a dielectric constant of approximately 3.9, other materials have higher K values. Silicon nitride (xe2x80x9cnitridexe2x80x9d), for example, has a K of about 6 to 9 (depending on formation conditions). Much higher K values of, for example, 20 or more can be obtained with various transition metal oxides including tantalum oxide (Ta2O5), barium strontium titanate (xe2x80x9cBSTxe2x80x9d), and lead zirconate titanate (xe2x80x9cPZTxe2x80x9d). Using a high-K dielectric material for a gate dielectric would allow a high capacitance to be achieved even with a relatively thick dielectric layer. For example, a nitride gate dielectric with a K of 7.8 and a thickness of 100 angstroms is substantially electrically equivalent to an oxide gate dielectric (K about 3.9) having a thickness of about 50 angstroms. For even higher-K dielectric materials, even thicker gate dielectric layers could be formed while maintaining capacitance values higher than are possible with even very thin oxide layers. In this way, the reliability problems associated with very thin dielectric layers may be avoided while transistor performance is increased.
One problem which has been reported relating to integration of high-K dielectric materials is oxidation of silicon by certain high-K dielectric materials when the high-K dielectric material is formed directly on a silicon substrate. Since oxidation results in formation of what may be referred to as a xe2x80x9cstandard-Kxe2x80x9d dielectric material, some of the benefit of the high-K dielectric material is considered to be lost. In addition, reactions considered adverse between the high-K dielectric material and standard-K dielectric materials may also occur.
Thus, a method of forming a relatively high-K dielectric material which either overcomes or takes advantage of such reactions, and which provides the electrical advantages of a higher K, is needed.
The present invention relates to a method of making a semiconductor device having a composite dielectric layer, comprising: providing a semiconductor substrate; depositing on the semiconductor substrate alternating sub-layers of a first dielectric material and a second dielectric material to form a layered dielectric structure having at least two sub-layers of the first dielectric material and at least one sub-layer of the second dielectric material, wherein the first dielectric material is a high-K dielectric material and the second dielectric material is a standard-K dielectric material, and at least one of the one or more dielectric material sub-layers contain nitrogen implanted therein using a nitridation step; and annealing the layered dielectric structure at an elevated temperature to form a composite dielectric layer about the boundary of each first dielectric material layer/second dielectric material layer.
The present invention further relates to a method of making a semiconductor device having a composite dielectric layer, comprising: providing a semiconductor substrate; depositing on the semiconductor substrate alternating sub-layers of a first dielectric material and a second dielectric material to form a layered dielectric structure having at least two sub-layers of the first dielectric material and at two sub-layers of the second dielectric material, wherein the first dielectric material is a standard-K dielectric material and the second dielectric material is a high-K dielectric material, and at least one of dielectric material sub-layers contain nitrogen implanted therein using a nitridation step; and annealing the layered dielectric structure at an elevated temperature to form a composite dielectric layer about the boundary of each first dielectric material layer/second dielectric material layer.
The present invention further relates to a method of making a semiconductor device having a composite dielectric layer, comprising: providing a semiconductor substrate; subjecting the semiconductor substrate to a nitridation step to produce a layer of standard-K dielectric material in the upper portion of one side of the semiconductor substrate; depositing on the standard-K dielectric side of the semiconductor substrate alternating sub-layers of a first dielectric material and a second dielectric material to form a layered dielectric structure having at least one sub-layer of the first dielectric material and at least one sub-layer of the second dielectric material, wherein the first dielectric material is a high-K dielectric material and the second dielectric material is a standard-K dielectric material, and at least one of the one or more dielectric material sub-layers contain nitrogen implanted therein using a nitridation step; and annealing the layered dielectric structure at an elevated temperature to form a composite dielectric layer about the boundary of each first dielectric material layer/second dielectric material layer.
Thus, the present invention overcomes the problem of forming a high-K dielectric material which overcomes and takes advantage of previously disfavored reactions between dielectric materials, to form a composite dielectric layer which includes a reaction product of the high-K dielectric material and the standard-K dielectric material, which is obtained by annealing a layered dielectric structure at an elevated temperature.


Integrated circuit devices generally include an integrated circuit chip and a lead frame which are sealed within a protective enclosure, find wide use in various products, among which are consumer electronics, computers, automobiles, telecommunications and military applications. The lead frame electrically interconnects the integrated circuit chip to circuitry external to the device. The lead frame is typically formed from a highly electrically and thermally conductive material, such as copper or copper alloys. The lead frame material is stamped or etched into a plurality of leads, and a central area, called a die attach pad, onto which the integrated circuit chip is attached. The chip is electrically connected to the leads, usually by wire bonding, and the device is encapsulated to provide mechanical and environmental protection.
Conventional lead frames for integrated circuit packages are typically made using metal etching processes to create die attach pads and leads from a conductive layer of material on a bulk substrate or other material. Such process involves etching the conductive layer of material to form discrete conductor structures (e.g., the die attach pads and the leads). The etching process typically limits the spacing between the die attach pads and/or between adjacent leads on these conventional lead frames to at least one thickness of the conductive layer of material due to physical limitations of etching technology. In addition, the portions of the conductive layer removed from the substrate during the etching process generate waste in the manufacturing process. Manufacturer lead times for producing a new lead frame configuration via etching or other processes also can be substantial.


The invention relates to a mist separator apparatus that removes mist and liquid from structures containing the same.
Many types of equipment that cut or otherwise form workpieces fabricated from hard material such as metal, ceramics or plastics sometimes require a cooling fluid to cool both the cutting tool and the workpiece as it is being cut or formed. One type of equipment is a wafer slicing machine 2 as schematically illustrated in FIG. 1 for purposes of explanation only. Generally, the wafer slicing machine 2 includes a housing 4 and a cutting assembly 6. A saw blade 8 connected to a shaft 10 is enclosed within the housing 4 and a motor 12 disposed exteriorly of the housing 4 drives the saw blade 8 to cut workpiece 14. Because a significant amount of heat is generated when cutting the workpiece 14 with the rotating saw blade 8, a liquid coolant 18, such as water or oil, is sprayed onto the rotating saw blade 8 and the workpiece 14 through a nozzle 20.
Much of the liquid coolant 18 which now contains minute particles of the workpiece 14 accumulates at the bottom of the housing 4. A mist M is also generated as a result of spraying the liquid coolant 18 onto the rotating saw blade 8 and the workpiece 14. For the wafer slicing machine 2 to operate efficiently, the liquid coolant 18 that now contains minute particles of the workpiece 14 must be drained from the housing 4 and the mist, some of which also contains minute particles of the workpiece 14, must be exhausted from the housing 4.
A conventional drain/exhaust system 22 is illustrated in FIG. 1. A header 24 is attached exteriorly near the bottom of the housing 4 so that accumulated liquid coolant containing minute particles of the workpiece 14 can drain from the housing 4 through a drain pipe 26. Also, the mist M migrates from the housing 4 through the header 24 and into a leading exhaust pipe 28 into a canister 30. While in the canister 30, the heavier mist droplets tend to settle toward the bottom of the canister 30 while the lighter mist droplets are exhausted through a trailing exhaust pipe 32. As commonly known in the art, a slight vacuum is applied to the trailing exhaust pipe 32 to draw the lighter mist droplets therethrough.
As the heavier mist droplets accumulate at the bottom of the canister 30, a sludge-like material forms. If sufficiently wet, the sludge flows through a canister drain pipe 34 for disposal.
Unfortunately, if excessive mist droplets are being exhausted through the trailing exhaust pipe 32, the sludge-like material tends to thicken and, as a result, does not effectively drain from the canister 30. Thus, a door 36 on the canister 30 must be opened to gain access into the canister 30 so it can be purged of the stagnate sludge-type material. Cleaning the canister 30 is messy and labor-intensive. Ironically, excessive mist droplets being exhausted through the trailing exhaust pipe 32 is known to be detrimental to the exhaust portion of the drain/exhaust system 22.
There is a need in the industry to provide a mist separator that removes a mist and a liquid material more efficiently and effectively from cutting or forming equipment. It would advantageous if the mist separator apparatus eliminates the use of the canister in order to eliminate the need to periodically clean the sludge-like material therefrom. It would also be advantageous if the mist separator apparatus can simultaneously reduce the amount of mist being exhausted through the vacuum-driven exhaust system while simultaneously increasing the amount of mist precipitating as liquids so the liquids can drain through the drainage system. There is also a need to provide a mist separator apparatus that inhibits the mist from directly entering into the drain/exhaust system. It would be advantageous to provide a mist separator apparatus that allows the liquid to initially drain into a drainage system and allow the mist to precipitate in a mist collecting container system which is initially separate and distinct from the drainage system. It would also be advantageous to provide a mist separator apparatus that directs the precipitating mist in the mist collecting container to merge downstream with the draining liquids. The present invention satisfies these needs and provides these advantages.


1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a pressure sensor and particularly to an inexpensive and simple pressure sensor having good static pressure characteristics.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional pressure sensor has a silicon base 9 and a boss 10 (see, for example, JP-UM-A-5-50335). The conventional pressure sensor will now be described in detail with reference to FIG. 1. FIG. 1 is a sectional view of the conventional pressure sensor.
In FIG. 1, a metal 5, which is a metal base, has a hole 6 to which a pressure is applied. Also a glass 4, which is a base, has the hole 6 to which a pressure is applied. The glass 4 and the metal 5 are mounted to each other by Au eutectic bond or the like. The glass 4 performs electrical and mechanical insulation.
Also, the silicon base 9 has the hole 6 to which a pressure is applied. The silicon base 9 and the glass 4 are mounted to each other. The boss 10 is provided between the silicon base 9 and the glass 4.
A silicon sensor 1, which is a sensor, has a diaphragm 2 connected to the hole 6. The silicon sensor 1 has a strain gauge 3 for converting a strain (displacement) occurring in the diaphragm 2 to an electric signal. One side of the silicon sensor 1 is mounted to the silicon base 9.
The other side of the silicon sensor 1 contacts a room B. The hole 6 and the diaphragm 2 form a room A.
A static pressure is applied to the silicon sensor 1, the silicon base 9, the glass 4 and the other parts in the conventional example of FIG. 1.
In the conventional example of FIG. 1 constructed as described above, the pressure applied to the hole 6 is converted to an electric signal. The strain gauge 3 in the conventional example of FIG. 1 generates an electric signal based on the differential pressure between the room A and the room B and the static pressure.
When the static pressure is applied, the silicon sensor 1, the silicon base 9 and the glass 4 are deformed, respectively. Since the silicon sensor 1 and the silicon base 9 have a large Young's modulus, these are deformed slightly. Since the glass 4 has a small Young's modulus, it is deformed largely.
The silicon base 9 and the boss 10 in the conventional example of FIG. 1 restrain transfer of the influence of deformation of the glass 4 to the strain gauge 3 of the silicon sensor 1. The boss 10 reduces the bond area between the silicon base 9 and the glass 4.
Moreover, some conventional pressure sensors (semiconductor pressure converting apparatus) separately have a structure for detecting a differential pressure and a structure for detecting a static pressure, and also have a structure for reducing interference with a differential pressure signal while increasing output of a static pressure signal (see, for example, Japanese Patent No. 2,656,566).
However, the conventional example of FIG. 1 has a problem that an error occurs in the application of the static pressure (static pressure characteristics).
Specifically, since the Young's modulus of silicon is different from the Young's modulus of glass, when the static pressure is applied, the deformation of the silicon sensor 1 and the silicon base 9 differs from the deformation of the glass 4, and a strain based on the deformation of the glass is generated in the strain gauge 3.
Moreover, since the glass 4 has characteristics such as delayed elasticity and viscoelasticity, it causes a strain in the diaphragm 2 and thus causes a strain in the strain gauge 3. This causes an error in the conventional example of FIG. 1.
Also, the silicon base 9 and the boss 10 in the conventional example of FIG. 1 have problems of increase in the number of components, increase in the number of processing steps, and high cost.
Moreover, the formation of the boss 10 has a problem of deteriorating the yield of bond. The formation of the boss 10 also has a problem of lowering broken pressure reduce the bond area.
Meanwhile, the conventional example of Japanese Patent No. 2,656,566 has a problem that it does not restrain occurrence of an error in the static pressure characteristics and cannot acquire good static pressure characteristics.


The present invention generally pertains to communications systems and is particularly directed to an improved base station for use in a subscriber communication network, such as a wireless digital telephone system.
A base station for a wireless telephone system having a plurality of subscriber stations is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,675,863 issued June 23, 1987, for "Subscriber RF Telephone System For Providing Multiple Speech And/Or Data Signals Simultaneously Over Either A Single Or A Plurality of RF Channels".
The base station described in the above-referenced patent communicates signals between subscriber stations and an external communication network having a plurality of ports. Such base station includes a communication circuit for enabling simultaneous communications between a plurality of the ports and a plurality of subscriber stations over a given communication channel having multiple sequentially repetitive time slots, with predetermined time slots being assigned respectively to predetermined subscriber stations; a remote-connection processor (RPU) for directing communications between the time slot assigned to a given subscriber station and a given port; and an exchange for connecting the communication circuit to the ports. The exchange includes a switch, which responds to a control signal from the RPU by physically connecting a selected port to a selected communication channel time slot assigned to a given subscriber station. The communication circuit includes a plurality of channel control units (CCUs) for coupling the assigned communication channel time slot to the given subscriber station in response to a command signal communicated by the RPU to CCU's over a base-station control channel (BCC) in response to status messages provided over the BCC to the RPU to indicate the usage status of the communication channel time slots and the subscriber stations. The assigned communication channel time slot is coupled to the given subscriber station by an assigned time slot in an assigned radio frequency (RF) channel. The BCC is provided over lines seprately connected directly from the RPU to each of the CCUs. Control commands and status messages are communicated between the CCUs and the subscriber stations over a radio control channel (RCC) assigned to a predetermined time slot of a predetermined RF channel.


In situations where power lines exist between two devices which wish to communicate to each other, it has been recognised that the existing power lines may be used both for power transmission and communications, thereby avoiding the need to install separate communication cabling. In the past, this has been achieved by way of high speed power line modems, which are capable of connecting to the power line and inserting a carrier signal onto the power lines and additional to the power signal, and modulating the carrier signal with information to be transmitted. However, the circuitry of such modems must be able to withstand the large power levels present on the power lines, and the cost of such modems is usually significantly higher than standard modems which can be used where dedicated communications cabling is available, thereby offsetting some of the cost savings in using only a single line for both power and communications. Furthermore, devices connected to the power line are often quite simple in nature and consequently the required rate of communications will be extremely low, as only relatively small amounts of information need to be transmitted. In such situations, the high speed and high cost of a power line modem will go substantially unutilised.
Any discussion of documents, acts, materials, devices, articles or the like which has been included in the present specification is solely for the purpose of providing a context for the present invention. It is not to be taken as an admission that any or all of these matters form part of the prior art base or were common general knowledge in the field relevant to the present invention as it existed before the priority date of each claim of this application.
Throughout this specification the word “comprise”, or variations such as “comprises” or “comprising”, will be understood to imply the inclusion of a stated element, integer or step, or group of elements, integers or steps, but not the exclusion of any other element, integer or step, or group of elements, integers or steps.


Butyric acid (BA) is a natural product. It is supplied to mammals from two main sources: 1) the diet, mainly from dairy fat, and 2) from the bacterial fermentation of unabsorbed carbohydrates in the colon, where it reaches mM concentrations (Cummings, Gut 22:763-779, 1982; Leder et al., Cell 5:319-322, 1975).
BA has been known for nearly the last three decades to be a potent differentiating and antiproliferative agent in a wide spectra of neoplastic cells in vitro (Prasad, Life Sci. 27:1351-1358, 1980). In cancer cells, BA has been reported to induce cellular and biochemical changes, e.g., in cell morphology, enzyme activity, receptor expression and cell-surface antigens (Nordenberg et al., Exp. Cell Res. 162:77-85, 1986; Nordenberg et al., Br. J. Cancer 56:493-497, 1987; and Fishman et al., J. Biol. Chem. 254:4342-4344, 1979).
Although BA or its sodium salt (sodium butyrate, SB) has been the subject of numerous studies, its mode of action is unclear. The most specific effect of butyric acid is inhibition of nuclear deacetylase(s), resulting in hyperacetylation of histones H3 and H4 (Riggs, et al., Nature 263:462-464, 1977). Increased histone acetylation following treatment with BA has been correlated with changes in transcriptional activity and the differentiated state of cells (Thorne et al., Eur. J. Biochem. 193:701-713, 1990). BA also exerts other nuclear actions, including modifications in the extent of phosphorylation (Boffa et al., J. Biol. Chem. 256:9612-9621, 1981) and methylation (Haan et al., Cancer Res. 46:713-716, 1986). Other cellular organelles, e.g., cytoskeleton and membrane composition and function, have been shown to be affected by BA (Bourgeade et al., J. Interferon Res. 1:323-332, 1981). Modulations in the expression of oncogenes and suppressor genes by BA were demonstrated in several cell types. Toscani et al., reported alterations in c-myc, p53 thymidine kinase, c-fos and AP2 in 3T3 fibroblasts (Oncogene Res. 3:223-238, 1988). A decrease in the expression of c-myc and H-ras oncogenes in B16 melanoma and in c-myc in HL-60 promyelocytic leukemia was also reported (Prasad et al., Biochem. Cell Biol. 68:1250-1255, 1992; and Rabizadeh et al., FEBS Lett. 328:225-229, 1993).
BA has been reported to induce apoptosis, i.e., programmed cell death. SB has been shown to produce apoptosis in vitro in human colon carcinoma, leukemia and retinoblastoma cell lines (Bhatia et al., Cell Growth Diff. 6:937-944, 1995; Conway et al., Oncol. Res. 7:289-297, 1993; Hague et al.; Int. J. Cancer 60:400-406, 1995). Apoptosis is the physiological mechanism for the elimination of cells in a controlled and timely manner. Organisms maintain a delicate balance between cell proliferation and cell death, which when disrupted can tip the balance between cancer, in the case of over accumulation of cells, and degenerative diseases, in the case of premature cell losses. Hence, inhibition of apoptosis can contribute to tumor growth and promote progression of neoplastic conditions.
The promising in vitro antitumor effects of BA and BA salts led to the initiation of clinical trials for the treatment of cancer patients with observed minimal or transient efficacy. [Novogrodsky et al., Cancer 51:9-14, 1983; Rephaeli et al., Intl. J. Oncol. 4:1387-1391, 1994; Miller et al., Eur. J. Cancer Clin. Oncol. 23:1283-1287, 1987].
Clinical trials have been conducted for the treatment of .beta.-globin disorders (e.g., .beta.-thalassemia and sickle-cell anemia) using BA salts. The BA salts elevated expression of fetal hemoglobin (HbF), normally repressed in adults, and favorably modified the disease symptoms in these patients (Stamatoyannopouos et al., Ann. Rev. Med. 43:497-521, 1992). In this regard, arginine butyrate (AB) has been used in clinical trials with moderate efficacy (Perrine et al., N. Eng. J. Med. 328:81-86, 1993; Sher et al., N. Eng. J. Med. 332:1606-1610, 1995). The reported side effects of AB included hypokalemia, headache, nausea and vomiting in .beta.-thalassemia and sickle-cell anemia patients.
Butyric acid derivatives with antitumor activity and immunomodulatory properties have been reported in U.S. Pat. No. 5,200,553 and by Nudelman et al., 1992, J. Med. Chem. 35:687-694. The most active butyric acid prodrug reported in these references was pivaloyloxymethyl butyrate (AN-9). None of the compounds disclosed in these references included carboxylic acid-containing oxyalkyl compounds of this invention.
BA and/or its analogues have also been reported to increase the expression of transfected DNA (Carstea et al., 1993, Biophys. Biohem. Res. Comm. 192:649; Cheng et al., 1995, Am. J. Physical 268:L615-L624) and to induce tumor-restricted gene expression by adenovirus vectors (Tang et al., 1994, Cancer Gene Therapy 1:15-20). Tributyrin has been reported to enhance the expression of a reporter gene in primary and immortalized cell lines (Smith et al., 1995, Biotechniques 18:852-835).
However, BA and its salts are normally metabolized rapidly and have very short half-lives in vivo, thus the achievement and maintenance of effective plasma concentrations are problems associated with BA and BA salts, particularly for in vivo uses. BA and BA salts have required large doses to achieve even minimal therapeutic effects. Because of the high dosage, fluid overload and mild alkalosis may occur. Patients receiving BA emanate an unpleasant odor that is socially unacceptable.
While BA salts have been shown to increase HbF expression, and appear to hold therapeutic promise with low toxicity in cancer patients, they nevertheless have shown low potency in in vitro assays and clinical trials. There also remains a need to identify compounds as effective or more effective than BA or BA salts as differentiating or anti-proliferating agents for the treatment of cancers. Such compounds need to have higher potency than BA without the problems associated with BA (such as bad odor). Consequently, there remains a need for therapeutic compounds that either deliver BA to cells in a longer acting form or which have similar activity as BA but a longer duration of effectiveness in vivo.
The compounds of this invention address these needs and are more potent than BA or BA salts for treating cancers and other proliferative diseases, for treating gastrointestinal disorders, for wound healing and for treating blood disorders such as thalassemia, sickle cell anemia and other anemias, for modulating an immune response, for enhancing recombinant gene expression, for treating insulin-dependent patients, for treating cystic fibrosis patients, for inhibiting telomerase activity, for detecting cancerous or malignant cells, for treating virus-associated tumors, especially EBV-associated tumors, for augmenting expression of a tumor suppressor gene and for inducing tolerance to an antigen. For example, one of the advantages of the compounds of the invention is increased water solubility of the free carboxylic acids compounds of the invention and their salts, and easier administration, especially for intravenous administration.


Many computer systems are used in fault tolerant environments such as the banking industry, airline industry, mercantile markets, and so forth. In such environments any downtime to a computer system caused by a computer system failure can be catastrophic to businesses and customers that rely on such systems. To safeguard against such failures, many computer systems rely on maintenance systems to monitor the health of the systems and take corrective action in the event problems are detected.
Unfortunately, many of these maintenance systems are unable to precisely diagnose the root cause of a problem or take corrective action fast enough to prevent the computer system from failing. To compound problems further, many maintenance systems monitor the health of computer systems by testing them in a “service mode.” Typically, when a computer is placed into a service mode, the normal operational mode of the computer system is interrupted or degraded. Additionally, the service mode creates an artificial testing atmosphere in which problems that may occur in the normal mode of operation never present themselves in the service mode, and hence, may go undetected, possibly jeopardizing the operating stability of the computer system.


Traditionally firearm barrels have been manufactured out of steel alone, but users have long desired lighter weight firearms that remain durable and reliably accurate. In order to address this desire, it has previously been known to construct strong, lightweight barrels for firearms using composite materials. For example, some previously known composite gun barrels include an inner tubular structure made from a hard material such as steel alloy and an outer jacket made from a composite material such as a continuous carbon fiber-reinforced polymer matrix composite. This combination lightens the gun while retaining barrel strength and stiffness.
The manner in which these previously known gun barrels have been made includes applying carbon fiber in a wet filament winding operation, wherein dry carbon fiber strands are combined with a resin (such as a crosslinkable epoxy, a polyimide, cyanate ester, inorganic polymer or thermoplastic polymer) in a wet dip pan process, then wound around an inner liner and processed. The composite barrel may then be cured such that the resin bonds the outer shell to the inner liner, followed by attaching the barrel to a receiver and stock.
Such carbon fiber-reinforced composites may provide a suitable balance of thermal properties, mechanical properties, and processing characteristics for many common firearms applications. However, such composite gun barrels can also pose problems not encountered with traditional steel barrels. For example, difficulty may arise in constructing the composite barrel in a manner and quantity around and along the liner that ensures that the barrel does not burst upon firing, achieving satisfactory strength and stiffness in the principal directions (for example, axially and torsionally), providing adequate environmental durability, and dampening the shock wave that propagates when a projectile is fired.
Some of the above issues can be addressed by using additional windings (i.e., more circumferential “hoop wraps”) to improve burst strength and more axially oriented helical windings to improve axial tensile and flexural strength and stiffness. However, adding more layers of windings can lead to manufacturing and curing complications, higher material expense, more weight, and/or a bulkier barrel profile than desired.
Thermal management is also a significant problem when using continuous fiber composite (CFC) material for the outer shells because the resin content within the CFC is a relatively poor conductor (i.e., insulator of the heat generated by hot gasses within the liner). Additional layers of CFC windings exacerbate the heat removal problem. During operation, the barrel will heat up. In the case where the matrix phase is an organic polymer, if the cured resin within the CFC reaches its glass transition temperature, Tg, the CFC softens significantly and the mechanical integrity of the composite barrel is compromised. As the barrel is heated to even higher temperatures, irreversible thermal decomposition of the cured matrix occurs and barrel structural integrity is further compromised.
A further problem relates to stresses within the barrel arising from thermal expansion differences between the composite outer liner and the inner liner of the composite barrel. As the inner steel liner heats during operation, it expands both radially and longitudinally. Composite structures in the prior art have a substantially lower average effective coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) in the longitudinal direction than steel and so when heated, the CFC outer shell expands substantially less than the steel liner. This may increase or decrease thermal stresses in the barrel depending on the state of thermal residual stress from processing. For example, when a stainless steel liner and a typical CFC are subjected to heating during operation, uneven expansion can produce thermal stresses on the liner-CFC interface, possibly even causing separation of the CFC from portions of the liner or fractures within the CFC shell. Even if no separation occurs, minor variations in the CFC or metal liner properties, or geometric variation, may promote uneven thermal stresses at the interface between the barrel and CFC that may result in nonlinear deformation or displacement of the barrel from its original axis. Even a very slight displacement can significantly degrade accuracy. Furthermore, even if the barrel and liner remain perfectly true, the various layers of windings within the CFC can have different CTEs, especially longitudinally. When subjected to elevated operating temperatures, differences in the thermal expansion of adjacent winding layers within the CFC can result in high level of interlaminar shear stress and even delamination.
From the above, it can be seen that there is a need to produce an improved composite barrel that uses materials that provide superior axial and torsional strength and stiffness while minimizing weight, radial bulk and interlaminar stress, resists deformation when heated and reduces high amplitude vibrations at the muzzle end of the barrel.


1. Field
One or more embodiments disclosed herein relate to a scan driving circuit and a driving method for the scan driving circuit.
2. Description of the Related Art
Personal computers, portable phones, portable information terminals, and monitors of various information devices are all equipped with displays. The display may be, for example, a liquid crystal display, an organic light emitting diode display, or a plasma display panel. An organic light emitting diode display in particular has excellent emission efficiency, luminance, viewing angle, and response time.
An organic light emitting diode display generates images using pixels that include organic light emitting diodes. The pixels are arranged in a matrix at cross points of data lines, scan lines, and power supply lines. In addition to an organic light emitting diode, each pixel includes a driving transistor and one or more capacitors. Light is emitted from the diode based on a recombination of electrons and holes in a light emitting active layer.
Over time, the amount of current flowing in the organic light emitting diode of each pixel may change based on a deviation in the threshold voltage of the driving transistor. As a result, non-uniformity may occur in the display. Additionally, the characteristics of the driving transistor may change based on manufacturing process parameters. Because it is difficult for the transistors in an organic light emitting diode display to have the same characteristics, the threshold voltage deviation of the driving transistors in the pixels may be different.
In attempt to overcome this deviation, a compensation circuit may be used in each pixel. The compensation circuit may charge a voltage corresponding to the threshold voltage of the driving transistor for 1 horizontal period. However, in some displays and especially in a high-resolution organic light emitting diode display, coupling may occur in a parasitic capacitor between lines and horizontal striped patterns. This may adversely affect display performance.


1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to austenitic stainless steels and nickel-base alloys, particularly such alloys, and methods of making the same, wherein the alloys are strengthened by nanometer-size hollow oxides which serve as nucleation sites for chromium-rich carbide precipitates within the alloy grains.
2. Prior Art
Strengthening of metallic alloys primarily is achieved through alloy grain size control, solute additions to a base metal to produce solid solution strengthening, and/or dispersion (precipitation or second phase) strengthening effects. These methods have been applied to a variety of metallic alloy systems and are the basis for strengthening of many of the high-value alloys available in the metal market today. For example, according to U.S. Pat. No. 4,758,405, high strength Al alloys have been produced by gas atomization of an Al alloy melt with an inert gas such as argon, helium or nitrogen containing 0.5-2% by volume of oxygen. U.S. Pat. No. 4,999,052 discloses austenitic stainless steels strengthened with nitrogen in solid solution and containing a dispersant such as a nitride, for example, titanium nitride, and/or an oxide such as yttria. The role of nitrogen in iron-base alloys, particularly austenitic stainless steels, has received considerable attention during the past 80 years. Two fairly recent symposia on this subject have provided state-of-the-art reviews. Proceedings of the International Conference on High-Nitrogen Steels-88, Editors J. Foct and A Hendry, Publ. Institute of Metals, London GB (1988); Proceedings of the International Conference on High-Nitrogen Steels-90, Editors G. Stein and H. Witulski, Publ. Verlag Stalil Eisen, MbH, Dusseldorf (1990).
Alloy 654SMO is a relatively new austenitic stainless steel of high strength and good corrosion resistance. B. Wallen, M. Liljas and P. Stenvall, Avesta 654 SMO--a New High Molybdenum, High Nitrogen Stainless Steel, Avesta Corrosion Management, Avesta AB, S-774 80 Avesta, Sweden.
An overview of mechanisms for strengthening austenitic stainless steels is provided by K. J. Irvine et al., "High-Strength Austenitic Stainless Steels," Journal of The Iron and Steel Institute, October 1961.
Alloys 625 and 718 are representative of high strength nickel-base alloys. H. L. Eiselstein et al. "The Invention and Definition of Alloy 625," Inco Alloys International, Inc, P.O. Box 1958, Huntington, W. Va., Superalloys 718, 625 and Various Derivatives, E. A Loria, Ed., The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society, 1991. Such alloys have been produced by the powder metallurgy process. F. J. Rizzo et al. "Microstructural Characterization of PM 625-Type Materials," Crucible Compaction Metals, McKee and Robb Hill Roads, Oakdale, Pa. 15071 and Purdue University, West Lafayette, Ind. 47906, included in Superalloys 718, 625 and Various Derivatives, E. A Loria, Ed., The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society, 1991. See also R. B. Frank "Custom Age 625 Plus Alloy--A Higher Strength Alternative to Alloy 625, Carpenter Technology Corporation, P.O. Box 14662, Reading, Pa. 19612, also included in Superalloys 718, 625 and Various Derivatives, E. A Loria, Ed., The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society, 1991.
However, the options for improving the properties and performance of metallic alloys are becoming limited in terms of new developments, and new, innovative methods are needed in order to provide a new generation of advanced alloys that can stand up to increasingly severe future demands.


Functional and parametric degradation of microcircuits due to total ionizing dose (TID) creates significant obstacles to the deployment of critical state of the-art technologies in space missions. Moreover, since device dielectrics in which such degradation occurs vary from one fabrication lot to the next, these effects must be re-evaluated on a lot-by-lot basis. Space mission designers are moving toward smaller, cheaper designs that reduce system-level shielding and consequently, limit the lifetimes of the space missions. Currently, mission radiation reliability requirements are achieved by shielding the electronics box and/or by the shielding on the satellite or spacecraft in conjunction with the use of radiation-hardened electronics. However, space missions are targeting more radiation-harsh environments thereby demanding improved shielding techniques. For example, vulnerable components typically require shielding over 4 pi-steradians. Often, the most effective mitigation against total ionizing dose (TID) degradation is the addition of radiation shielding to the electronics box. Unfortunately, shielding materials can add significant mass to a system. One conventional method for reducing additional mass to the system is to apply spot shielding in the form of cover plates only on the critical components that require shielding. This conventional method provides limited shielding because of the omnidirectional natural radiation environment in space. However, reducing radiation shielding for the electronics box and/or reducing spacecraft-level shielding will necessitate more complex spot shielding to protect the components from the omnidirectional radiation environment. Such complex spot shielding entails complex patterned designs that require labor-intensive machining of complex metal designs and time-consuming installation. Furthermore, the shielding effectiveness of such complex patterned designs must be verified with three-dimensional ray-trace analysis. Small package sizes make component-level shielding fabrication even more challenging.
What is needed is a method for forming a component-level radiation shield that eliminates the problems and disadvantages associated with the aforementioned conventional practices.


Photodynamic therapy (PDT), which is also called as photochemotherapy, is a technique for treating incurable disease such as cancer without operation or treating skin disease such as acne by the use of a photosensitizer. There has been active study about PDT since the early twentieth century. Currently, PDT is used to increase immunocompetence in diagnosis and treatment of cancer, autologous bone marrow transplantation, antibiotics, AIDS treatment, skin graft or treatment of arthritis and the like, and so its applications have been gradually expanded. Specifically, PDT used in the treatment of cancer is a therapeutic method utilizing a principle in which a photosensitizer—which is a chemical compound showing sensitivity to light—is administered to the body; when it is exposed to external light, singlet oxygen or free radicals are generated via the chemical reaction by rich oxygen in the body and external light; and then such singlet oxygen or free radicals destroy various lesion sites or cancer cells by inducing cell death.
As photosensitizers used in PDT, porphyrin derivatives, chlorin, bacteriochlorin, phthalocyanine, 5-aminolevulinic acid derivatives and the like are known. Cyclic tetrapyrrole derivatives as photosensitizers also have properties for being utilized as agents for early diagnosis of tumor since they show fluorescence and phosphorescence according to their chemical properties as well as being selectively accumulated to cancer cells. In addition, metalloporphyrin, in which metal is bound to the interior of cyclic tetrapyrrole, shows various properties according to the kind of bound metal, thereby being applied to early diagnosis of tumor cells such as cancer cells by use of a diagnostic technique wherein metalloporphyrin is used as an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) contrasting agent. 5-Aminolevulinic acid derivatives, which are the most widely known photosensitizers, have advantages wherein the method of use is simple, they can relatively easily penetrate into the skin due to small molecular weight, and they are safe with few side effects. Furthermore, one of the photosensitizers receiving attention is a chlorin-type photosensitizer, chlorin e6. As an example of the composition using chlorin e6, Korean Patent Application No. 10-2006-0136610 discloses antitumoric compositions for oral administration comprising chlorin e6 or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof as an active ingredient.
As explained above, usage in the treatment of skin diseases such as acne was suggested as one of the applications of PDT, but no report has been made about its successful application.


Conventionally, as disclosed in Patent Literature 1, an on-board electronic device having CPUs and substrates, respectively corresponding to types of functions, such as a navigation board on which a CPU to perform navigation processing is mounted and an audio board on which a CPU to perform audio processing is mounted, is known. Note that this type of on-board electronic device is often integrated with a display and a touch panel.
Further, in recent years, in accordance with multimedization in the vehicle, a configuration, where a user interface unit (UI unit) having integrated display and touch panel is connected to a plurality of electronic devices mounted on the vehicle such as a navigational device and an audio instrument, via a display control unit (hereinbelow, DCU), is increasingly adopted. The DCU plays a role in control of the respective operations of the plurality of electronic devices connected to the own device, and generation (or acquisition) of image data to be displayed on the display based on requests from the respective electronic devices, and display of the image data on the display. Hereinbelow, a unit where the UI unit and the DCU are integrated will be referred to as a display unit for vehicle.
A conventional DCU has two substrates, i.e., a main board mounted with a main CPU and a sub board mounted with a sub CPU and a power supply circuit. The main CPU mainly controls the operations of the electronic devices connected to the own device, and draws an image to be outputted to the display. The sub CPU performs management (acquisition and storage) of vehicle information inputted from an in-vehicle network, and controls electric power supply to the respective elements of the display unit for vehicle in cooperation with the power supply circuit.
The conventional DCU has two substrates, i.e. the main board and the sub board, mainly for reducing the area of each substrate to an area smaller than that of the display.
More particularly, to realize a function, performed with a main board and a sub board, using one substrate, the area of the substrate is larger than the area of the display. When the area of the substrate is larger than the area of the display, its housing is also larger than the display, to impair mountability to the vehicle.
Accordingly, in the conventional DCU, a function to be provided in the DCU is shared with the two substrates, the main board and the sub board, so that the size of each substrate is suppressed to be equal to or smaller than the size of the display.
However, in the conventional display unit for vehicle (more particularly, DCU) having two substrates, the manufacturing cost such as costs of parts and machining cost is increased. The machining cost here includes costs necessary for assembling work of the respective substrates in the housing and wiring connection work between the substrates.
Further, it is desired to increase the CPU clock for improvement in DCU performance. However, in the conventional DCU, the space in the housing is partitioned with the two substrates. When the clock is increased, radiation with a cooling fan becomes insufficient. Accordingly, from the viewpoints of manufacturing cost and heat dissipation, it is preferable that the number of the substrates is one.
On the other hand, as described above, when a function realized with two substrates is simply integrated in one substrate, the area of the substrate becomes larger than the area of the display, which might impair the mountability. Especially, when the difference between the area of the display and the area of the substrate is large, i.e., when the area of the substrate is larger, the mountability is impaired.


1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for recording and/or reproducing information on an optical recording medium, for example a magneto-optical disk drive, a direct read after write drive (DRAW), a phase changing disk drive, CD-ROM or the like.
2. Related Art Statement
The disks for use in such an apparatus are provided with a protective layer (hereinafter, referred to as a cover glass) such as glass, resin (PC, PMMA or the like) formed on its side surface on which the reading light and the writing light are incident, in order to protect or guard the recording layer of the recording medium. This cover glass has different thicknesses in accordance with the types of the disk, even in the same DRAW disk. For example, the thicknesses of the disks are 1.2 mm for the magneto-optical disk, 1.2 mm and 0.6 mm for the phase changing disk, and 1.2 mm and 0.09 mm for the standard DRAW disk of 356 mm.
An objective lens for use in an optical pick-up of the information recording and/or reproducing apparatus has generally a number aperture NA of 0.45-0.6, and is designed by taking aberration caused by the above-discussed cover glass into consideration. On considering allowable level at the reading/writing property of the signal, in the case of the cover glass having a 1.2 mm thickness, the limit of the allowable level is in the order of xc2x10.05. If the allowable level exceeds this limit value, the reading/writing property of the signal becomes considerably deteriorated. If the reading/writing operation of the signal is performed by exchanging the disks having a different thickness of the cover glass, for example, the disk having a 1.2 mm thickness of the cover glass and the disk having a 0.6 mm thickness of the cover glass, therefore, it is difficult to perform this reading/writing operation of the signal with one information recording and/or reproducing apparatus. That is, two information recording and/or reproducing apparatus must be required.
In order to remove the above defect, for example, Japanese Patent Application Opened No. 241,095/93 provides the feature of inserting parallel plates between a light source and a collimator to compensate a spherical aberration caused by the difference in thickness of the cover glass of the disk.
However, the optical pick-up disclosed in the Japanese Patent Application Opened No. 241,095/93 has a problem as follows:
For example, a spherical aberration component xcfx8940 of a coefficient of a wave front aberration and a value of the wave front aberration, which are caused, for example, in case of passing the light through the cover glass having thickness t can be obtained from xe2x80x9cOptics 14xe2x80x9d (1985), pp. 219-221 and expressed as follows:
xcfx8940=(t/8)xe2x88x92{(n2xe2x88x921)/n3}xe2x88x92NA4xe2x80x83xe2x80x83(1)
"ugr"=0.0745|xcfx8940|xe2x80x83xe2x80x83(2)
wherein the numeral aperture of the objective lens is NA, and the refractive index is n. Therefore, in the pick-up having NA=0.55 and n=1.57 and using the light of wavelength xcex=780 nm, if the disk having the cover glass of t=1.2 mm is exchanged to the disk having the cover glass of t=0.6 mm, the spherical aberration of xcfx8940=0.00260, "ugr"=0.248 xcexrms is generated.
While in case of compensating the above-discussed spherical aberration by arranging the parallel plates for compensation between the light source and the collimator lens, if the numerical aperture at the light source side is NAxe2x80x2=0.25 and the refractive index is n=1.57, the thickness txe2x80x2 of the parallel plates is expressed as follows:
txe2x80x2={n3/(n2xe2x88x921)}xe2x88x92(8/NAxe2x80x24)xe2x88x92xcfx8940=14.07 mm
Moreover, in order to insert such thick parallel plates between the light source and the collimator lens, the light source must be moved by a following distance 1:
l=txe2x80x2(1xe2x88x921/n)=5.11 mm.
In such a way, the optical pick-up disclosed in the Japanese Patent Application Opened No. 241,095/93 requires a moving mechanism for inserting the compensating parallel plates and a mechanism for moving the light source in accordance with the insertion of the parallel plates, so that the construction of the apparatus becomes complicated and the optical system becomes large. In the reading/writing operation, moreover, the objective lens is moved with the following up of the eccentricity of the disk by a tracking servo, thereby causing non-coincidence of the light axis of the objective lens to the light axis of the collimator lens, resulting in a generation of comma aberration or stigmatism.
It is an object of the present invention to eliminate the above described disadvantages of the conventional information recording and/or reproducing apparatus.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an information recording and/or reproducing apparatus capable of performing the reading/writing operation for plural kinds of optical recording media having cover glasses of a different thicknesses by means of a unity apparatus.
According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an information recording and/or reproducing apparatus comprising: a light source; at least two objective lenses corresponding to at least two kinds of optical recording media having different thicknesses of a protective layer, respectively; a holder for supporting these objective lenses; a selection means for selecting these objective lenses in accordance with the optical recording medium; the light of the light source being illuminated on the optical recording medium through the objective lens selected by the selection means, thereby performing a recording and/or reproducing of the information.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided an information recording and/or reproducing apparatus comprising: a light source; an objective lens corresponding to an optical recording medium having a predetermined thickness of a protective layer; a holder for supporting the objective lens; an optical element for converting a wave front for an optical recording medium having a protective layer of thickness different from the above optical recording medium; a selection means for inserting the optical recording medium in an optical path between the objective lens and the optical recording medium, selectively and detachably, in accordance with the thickness of the protective layer of the optical recording medium to be recorded and/or reproduced for the information
According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided an information recording and/or reproducing apparatus comprising: a light source an objective lens for generating at least two light spots corresponding to at least two kinds of optical recording media having different thicknesses of a protective layer; a holder for supporting these objective lenses; the light from the light source being illuminated on the optical recording medium through the objective lens, thereby performing recording and/or reproducing of the information.
According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an information recording and/or reproducing apparatus comprising: a light source an objective lens corresponding to an optical recording medium having a predetermined thickness of a protective layer; a holder for supporting the objective lenses; objective lens drive means for driving the objective lens relatively for the optical recording medium, a correction optical element capable of displacing the lens unitedly, for compensating a spherical aberration for an optical recording medium having the thickness different from the above optical recording medium.
According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an information recording and/or reproducing apparatus comprising: a light source; two optical systems corresponding to two kinds of optical recording media having different thicknesses of a protective layer; a selection means for selecting these optical systems in accordance with the optical recording medium; characterized by comprising: the selection means for detecting the information provided on a cartridge having the optical recording medium accommodated therein, and for selecting either one of said two optical systems.
According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an information recording and/or reproducing apparatus comprising: a light source; two optical systems corresponding to two kinds of optical recording media having different thicknesses of a protective layer; a selection means for selecting these optical systems in accordance with the optical recording medium; characterized by comprising: the selection means for detecting the position on the information recording surface of the optical recording medium and the thickness of the protective layer, and for selecting either one of said two optical systems.
According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, there is provided an information recording and/or reproducing apparatus comprising: a light source; at least two optical systems corresponding to at least two kinds of optical recording media having different thicknesses of a protective layer; a selection means for selecting these optical systems in accordance with the optical recording medium; the light from the light source being illuminated on the optical recording medium, thereby performing a recording and/or reproducing of the information; and a detection means for detecting which objective lens of said at least two objective lenses.
In an embodiment of the information recording and/or reproducing apparatus according to the present invention, the selection means includes at least a part of a lens drive means for controlling a relative position of the objective lens for the optical recording medium by displaying the objective lens in predetermined direction during the recording and/or reproducing of the information.
In this case, the construction becomes simple and the apparatus can be downsized and inexpensive.
In a preferable embodiment of the information recording and/or reproducing apparatus according to the present invention, the correction optical element is so constructed that it is intervened selectively in the optical path between the optical recording medium and the objective lens with the use of at least a part of a lens drive means for controlling a relative position of the objective lens for the optical recording medium by displaying the objective lens in predetermined direction during the recording and/or reproducing of the information.
Therefore, the construction becomes simple and the apparatus can be downsized and inexpensive.
According to the first aspect of the present invention, the reading/writing operation can be performed for the plural kinds of the optical recording media in the single apparatus without causing the deterioration of the optical property due to the difference in thickness of the protective layer of the optical recording medium, by selecting the suitable objective lens with the selection means in accordance with kinds of the optical recording medium due to the thickness of the protective layer. The plural objective lenses are exchanged and selected in accordance with the kinds of the optical recording medium and the objective lens can be optionally selected as compared with the case of inserting the correction optical element between the objective lens and the optical recording medium, the objective lens having a small operating distance may be used, and the overall construction of the apparatus can be made thin.
According to the second aspect of the present invention, the correction optical element capable of being displaced with the objective lens integrally is intervened selectively in the optical path between the optical recording medium and the objective lens in accordance with kinds of the optical recording medium due to the thickness of the protective layer, so that the reading/writing operation can be performed for the plural kinds of the optical recording media in the single apparatus without causing the deterioration of the optical property due to the difference in thickness of the protective layer of the optical recording medium. Moreover, the correction optical element is displaced with the objective lens integrally, so that they do not collide and thus the correction optical element can be positioned near the objective lens. Therefore, the objective lens having a small operating distance may be used, as compared with the case of inserting only the correction optical element always between the objective lens and the optical recording medium, and thus the overall construction of the apparatus can be made thin.


1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a fence support that is inexpensive and may be easily and quickly installed.
2. Background Discussion
Typical rural fences consist of a fencing material such as wired type mesh or barbed wire stretched over posts made of wood or metal. These posts are either driven into the ground with sledgehammers or powered or manual drivers, or a hole is dug into the ground, the post is inserted into the hole, and then concrete is poured into the hole and allowed to harden. Installing such fence posts is both laborious and time consuming For example, it normally takes about an hour to install a post by digging a hole, inserting the post, and pouring in the concrete.
It is sometimes desirable to brace the post using, for example, angle iron, a tee post, or tubing. One end of the brace is bolted to the top of the post and the other end is inserted into a hole in the ground and filled with concrete. A right triangle is formed, with the post and surface of the ground being the legs of triangle and the brace being the hypothenuse. Sometimes the braces pounded into the ground and then bolted or welded to the top of the post. This requires some skill and luck to make the brace intersect the top of the post at the desired position and angle. Frequently, the brace does not end up were desired.
If the post is not in the ground deep enough, or if the ground is soft, for example sandy or wet, the post is pulled from the ground when the fencing material is stretched from the post. The braces remain in place, but the post rises from the ground in much the same way that a pole vaulter is vaulted from the ground when he makes his jump. When this happens there is not a good solution. Typically, sand bags or rocks are placed around the post and positioned to exert a force in a direction opposite to the force being exerted by the stretched fencing material.


The ability to incorporate non-genetically encoded amino acids (i.e., “non-natural amino acids”) into proteins permits the introduction of chemical functional groups that could provide valuable alternatives to the naturally-occurring functional groups, such as the epsilon —NH2 of lysine, the sulfhydryl —SH of cysteine, the imino group of histidine, etc. Certain chemical functional groups are known to be inert to the functional groups found in the 20 common, genetically-encoded amino acids but react cleanly and efficiently to form stable linkages with functional groups that can be incorporated onto non-natural amino acids.
Methods are now available to selectively introduce chemical functional groups that are not found in proteins, that are chemically inert to all of the functional groups found in the 20 common, genetically-encoded amino acids and that may be used to react efficiently and selectively with reagents comprising certain functional groups to form stable covalent linkages.


This invention generally relates to a control switch and device that includes tailored feedback to assist a person in adjusting various functions for a variety of systems.
Modern mass production vehicles tend to include more and more special features or subsystems. The addition of more features to a vehicle provides the potential for a more enjoyable driving experience; however, introducing more and more features or subsystems into a vehicle is not without problems.
An important need is to provide a driver the ability to control or adjust the various available subsystems without unduly distracting the driver from the task of driving the vehicle. It is important, therefore, to provide a driver with input control devices that allow a driver to realize that a desired adjustment or function selection has been accomplished without diverting the driver's attention from the road.
Therefore, there is a need for a device that is readily usable by a driver to control a variety of the subsystems available within a vehicle. Prior to this invention, no satisfactory solution has been found that addresses the various needs discussed above. This invention is a device that provides customized feedback to a driver, which is indicative of the adjustment or selection that has been made. Moreover, this invention provides a device that is readily usable for controlling a variety of functions for a variety of vehicle subsystems.


A memory device having a three-dimensional structure has been proposed in which memory holes are made in a stacked body in which electrode layers that function as control gates of memory cells are multiply stacked with insulating layers interposed between the electrode layers, and silicon bodies used to form channels are provided on the side walls of the memory holes with a charge storage film interposed between the silicon bodies and the side walls.
In such a three-dimensional device, the memory holes and slits are made in the stacked body that includes the multiple layers of electrode layers and the multiple layers of insulating layers by, for example, RIE (Reactive Ion Etching). High shape controllability and dimensional controllability are desirable for the etching in such a case.


The present invention relates to firearms in general and in particular to a novel safety mechanism, a magazine-latching mechanism and a firing trigger mechanism in a 45 caliber recoil-operated blowback type semi-automatic pistol and the like.
In conventional automatic and semi-automatic firearms there is generally provided a magazine for holding a plurality of rounds. Each of the rounds is automatically loaded into a chamber in the firearm and ejected therefrom upon the firing thereof. The magazine-latching mechanism and in particular the control for operating the magazine-latching mechanism, depending on the type of firearm, is typically located on the handle or the frame of the firearm. Similarly, the control for operating the firing safety mechanism of prior known firearms typically comprises a non-self-retracting lever, a button or the like which is located on the frame of the firearm. The controls of the magazine-latching mechanism and the safety mechanism of prior known firearms, being in exposed positions, are subject to being inadvertently dislodged. If these controls are dislodged inadvertently, serious safety-related problems can result. For example, if the control for the magazine-latching mechanism is dislodged inadvertently, it could result in a dislodging of the magazine itself from the firearm during a firing of the firearm. Similarly, if the control for the safety mechanism is dislodged inadvertently, the firearm could be placed in a condition for firing at a time when an operator of the firearm believes that the safety mechanism is on.
In addition to firearm safety related features, the appearance of a firearm is also very important. In the minds of many users, a firearm with clean lines and a minimum of externally protruding controls is pleasant to view and a pleasure to operate.


The present invention pertains to electronic circuitry and particularly to a specialized circuit useful in telephone communication.
It is well-known in the telephone communication arts to provide at a telephone sub-station a suitable dial or other device for interrupting a DC path on a repetitive basis so as to transmit dial pulses that affect switching systems at a central station. It happens that in certain types of telephone systems it is required that the bell, buzzer, or other audible means used to indicate an incoming call, be continuously in circuit with the dial means or other instrumentality that is connected across the lines.
The difficulty or problem that arises in a telephone subset context when the aforesaid conditions apply is that so-called "dial tap" is encountered, that is to say, the buzzer, bell or other audible means for signaling an incoming call necessarily operates in response to the dial pulses placed on the line as the dial means is being rotated in effecting its purposes. In other words, an annoying sound is heard by the user of the telephone instrument when he is trying to dial out on the line.
Accordingly, it is a primary object of the present invention to overcome the problem or difficulty of "dial tap" as it is encountered in certain telephone systems.
Another object is to accomplish the successful overcoming of the aforestated problem in a very simple, low-cost way.
A further object is to provide a simple electronic circuit in a package that can be interposed between the conventional telephone lines and the buzzer device.
The above and other objects are achieved and implemented by a primary feature of the present invention according to which an electronic circuit that operates as a discriminating means is provided for insertion between the so-called "line" terminals of a telephone instrument and the "device" terminals, which are the terminals directly connected to a buzzer, bell or other audible device. This discriminating means functions so as to block the passage of the repetitive dial pulses and prevent them from affecting the buzzer device, while permitting conventional or regular ringing current of appropriate frequency to pass to the buzzer device thereby to actuate such device and to make audible to the user the fact that there is an incoming call.
The discriminating means operates by reason of a suitable time delay arrangement which is effective, in the case of the extended time period of the ringing signal, to actuate a latching device, such as a silicon controlled rectifier or similar device. On the other hand, since the dial pulse signals that would ordinarily cause the annoying dial tap problem are of short duration, that is, on the order of less than 100 milliseconds, these will not be effective to cause actuation of the latching device and hence the path for transmission of such dial pulses will be completely blocked. Moreover, means are provided that prevent build-up of the succession or series of dial pulses from affecting the latching device and causing spurious operation.
Other and further objects, advantages and features of the present invention will be understood by reference to the following specification in conjunction with the annexed drawing, wherein like parts have been given like numbers.


1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a vehicle, and more particularly to an energy-saving vehicle.
2. Description of the Related Art
For vehicles, upward resistance occurs during high-speed travelling, and automakers try to overcome the upward resistance by increasing weight of the vehicles. However, increase of weight also results in high energy consumption. Moreover, automakers use ethanol driven vehicles, hydrogen vehicles, air-powered vehicles and so on to replace conventional vehicles whereby saving energy. But an un-neglectable problem with them is that energy consumption thereof is still high after various transmission devices are used.


Over the past several years, internet-enabled smart phones, tablets and gaming consoles have become essential personal accessories, connecting users to friends, work, leisure activities and entertainment. Users now have more choices and expect to have access to content, data and communications at any time, in any place. As more users utilize these services, telecommunication networks must meet these increases in user demand, and support the array of new services and provide fast, reliable communications. Therefore, improved methods and solutions for dynamically allocating underutilized telecommunication resources (e.g., RF spectrum, etc.) of a first telecommunication network for access and use by wireless devices that subscribe to other networks will be beneficial to the telecommunication networks, service providers, and to the consumers of telecommunication services.