Author: claimsbot

1. An apparatus comprising:
an inner rim having a first opening formed therein;
a base wall extending outward from an inner edge of the inner rim and integral with the inner rim;
a side wall extending outward from an outer edge of the inner rim and integral with the inner rim; and
an outer rim having a second opening formed therein and an inner edge integral with the side wall;
the inner rim, the base wall, the side wall and the outer rim formed to prevent liquid seepage to one or more surrounding components of an appliance in which the apparatus is installed,
wherein a surface of the inner rim and a surface of the base wall are substantially orthogonal to one another, wherein the surface of the inner rim and a surface of the side wall are substantially orthogonal to one another, wherein a surface of the outer rim and the surface of the side wall are substantially orthogonal to one another, and wherein the surface of the outer rim and the surface of the inner rim are substantially parallel to one another.
2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first opening is configured to fit around a portion of a heating element of a water heater.
3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the second opening is larger than the first opening and configured to allow access to a portion of a heating element of a water heater.
4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the side wall comprises one or more webbed features.
5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein at least one of the one or more webbed features is positioned along a path of a wire connecting a heating element of a water heater to one or more other elements of the water heater, the wire passing through said at least one of the one or more webbed features.
6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the one or more other elements comprise at least one of a controller of the water heater and a power source of the water heater.
7. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a lip sloping outward from an outer edge of the outer rim towards the base wall.
8. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a cover attached to the outer rim.
9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the cover is configured to hide a heating element from view in a first configuration and expose the heating element in a second configuration.
10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the outer rim is positioned around an opening in a wrapper of a water heater, the opening in the wrapper surrounding a heating element of the water heater.
11. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the inner rim, the base wall, the side wall and the outer rim are made of a polymer material or a plastic material.
12. A water heater comprising:
a tank;
a layer of foam surrounding the tank;
a wrapper surrounding the layer of foam;
at least one heating element, a portion of the heating element protruding from an opening in the tank, the layer of foam and the wrapper; and
at least one foam dam surrounding the at least one heating element and at least a portion of one of the opening in the tank, the layer of foam and the wrapper, the foam dam comprising:
an inner rim having a first opening formed therein and configured to fit around a portion of the at least one heating element;
a base wall extending outward from an inner edge of the inner rim and integral with the inner rim;
a side wall extending outward from an outer edge of the inner rim and integral with the inner rim; and
an outer rim having a second opening formed therein and an inner edge integral with the side wall,

wherein a surface of the inner rim and a surface of the base wall are substantially orthogonal to one another, wherein the surface of the inner rim and a surface of the side wall are substantially orthogonal to one another, wherein a surface of the outer rim and the surface of the side wall are substantially orthogonal to one another, and wherein the surface of the outer rim and the surface of the inner rim are substantially parallel to one another.
13. The water heater of claim 12, wherein the side wall comprises one or more webbed features, at least one of the one or more webbed features being positioned along a path of a wire connecting the heating element to one or more other elements of the water heater, the wire passing through said at least one of the one or more webbed features.
14. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the foam dam further comprises a lip sloping outwards from an outer edge of the outer rim towards the base wall.
15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the lip forms a recess between a backside of the outer rim and the wrapper.
16. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a cover attached to the wrapper of the water heater, the cover being configured to hide the foam dam and heating element from view in a first configuration and expose the foam dam and heating element in a second configuration.
17. A method comprising:
aligning a first opening of a foam dam with a portion of a heating element protruding from a water heater;
aligning a second opening of the foam dam with an opening in the water heater; and
securing the foam dam to the opening in the water heater;
wherein the foam dam comprises an inner rim having the first opening formed therein and configured to fit around a portion of the heating element, a base wall extending outward from an inner edge of the inner rim and integral with the inner rim, a side wall extending outward from the outer edge of the inner rim and integral with the inner rim, an outer rim having the second opening formed therein and an inner edge integral with the side wall, and a lip sloping outwards from an outer edge of the outer rim towards the base wall, and
wherein a surface of the inner rim and a surface of the base wall are substantially orthogonal to one another, wherein the surface of the inner rim and a surface of the side wall are substantially orthogonal to one another, wherein a surface of the outer rim and the surface of the side wall are substantially orthogonal to one another, and wherein the surface of the outer rim and the surface of the inner rim are substantially parallel to one another.
18. The method of claim 17, further comprising aligning one or more webbed features formed in the side wall of the foam dam along a path of a wire connecting the heating element to one or more other elements of the water heater such that the wire passes through at least one of the one or more webbed features.
19. The method of claim 17, further comprising attaching a cover to the wrapper of the water heater, the cover being configured to hide the foam dam and heating element from view in a first configuration and expose the foam dam and heating element in a second configuration.

The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.

1. A memory system comprising:
a memory chip that includes a memory cell array having a plurality of memory cells;
a first writing unit that writes first data in a first memory cell in the memory cell array; and
a second writing unit that writes second data, which is used in adjusting a threshold value of the first memory cell, in a second memory cell which is adjacent to the first memory cell.
2. The memory system according to claim 1, further comprising:
a classifying unit that classifies the first data; and
a generating unit that generates the second data according to classification of the first data performed by the classifying unit.
3. The memory system according to claim 1, further comprising a verifying unit that verifies the threshold value of the first memory cell in which the first data is written, wherein
based on a verification result of the verifying unit, the second writing unit writes the second data in the second memory cell.
4. The memory system according to claim 1, further comprising:
a verifying unit that verifies the threshold value of the first memory cell in which the first data is written; and
an identifying unit that, based on a verification result of the verifying unit, identifies a first memory cell for which threshold adjustment is required.
5. The memory system according to claim 4, wherein, based on a verification result of the verifying unit, the identifying unit identifies, as a first memory cell for which the threshold adjustment is required, a first memory cell having a threshold value smaller or greater than a first threshold value.
6. The memory system according to claim 4, wherein, based on a verification result of the verifying unit, the identifying unit identifies, as first memory cells for which the threshold adjustment is required, a first memory cell having a threshold value smaller than a first value and a first memory cell having a threshold value greater than a second value which is greater than the first value.
7. The memory system according to claim 1, wherein the second memory cells are connected in a word line that is neighboring to a word line in which the first memory cells are connected.
8. A control method for a memory system that includes a memory chip including a memory cell array having a plurality of memory cells, the control method comprising:
writing first data in a first memory cell in the memory cell array; and
writing second data, which is used in adjusting a threshold value of the first memory cell, in a second memory cell which is adjacent to the first memory cell.

1. A method of removing iron oxide scale from sheet metal and further cold reducing the sheet metal, wherein the iron oxide scale generally comprises a wustite layer that is bonded to a base metal substrate of the sheet metal, a magnetite layer that is bonded to the wustite layer, and a hematite layer that is bonded to the magnetite layer, the method comprising the steps of:
providing a surface conditioning apparatus having at least one surface conditioning member;
conditioning a surface of the sheet metal with the surface conditioning apparatus by bringing the at least one surface conditioning member into engagement with the surface of the sheet metal in a manner to remove substantially all of the hematite and magnetite layers from the surface, and in a manner to remove less than substantially all of the wustite layer from the surface so that a portion of the wustite layer remains bonded to the base metal substrate of the sheet metal; and
cold reducing the sheet metal with the wustite layer that remains bonded to the base metal substrate of the sheet metal.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of conditioning the surface of the sheet metal includes removing at least 10% of the wustite layer from the surface of the sheet metal before cold reducing the sheet metal.
3. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of conditioning the surface of the sheet metal includes removing between 10% and 50% of the wustite layer from the surface of the sheet metal before cold reducing the sheet metal.
4. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of conditioning the surface of the sheet metal includes removing an amount of the wustite layer from the surface so that a remaining layer of wustite measures no more than about 0.001 inches in average thickness.
5. The method of claim 1 wherein the at least one surface conditioning member is a rotating conditioning member having a generally cylindrical conditioning surface, and wherein the step of conditioning the surface of the sheet metal with the surface conditioning apparatus includes bringing the generally cylindrical conditioning surface of the rotating conditioning member into engagement with the surface of the sheet metal.
6. The method of claim 5 wherein the at least one rotating conditioning member comprises a brush having a plurality of resilient fibers.
7. The method of claim 1 further comprising cold reducing the sheet metal as an individual sheet.
8. The method of claim 1 further comprising cold reducing the sheet metal as a continuous coil.
9. The method of claim 1, further comprising cold reducing the sheet metal prior to applying a coating layer to the sheet metal.
10. A method of removing iron oxide scale from sheet metal and cold reducing the sheet metal, wherein the iron oxide scale generally comprises a wustite layer that is bonded to a base metal substrate of the sheet metal, a magnetite layer that is bonded to the wustite layer, and a hematite layer that is bonded to the magnetite layer, the method comprising the steps of:
providing a surface conditioning apparatus having at least one rotating conditioning member with a generally cylindrical conditioning surface; and
conditioning a surface of the sheet metal with the surface conditioning apparatus by bringing the generally cylindrical conditioning surface of the at least one surface conditioning member into engagement with the surface of the sheet metal in a manner to remove substantially all of the hematite and magnetite layers from the surface, and in a manner to remove less than substantially all of the wustite layer from the surface so that a portion of the wustite layer remains bonded to the base metal substrate of the sheet metal; and
cold reducing the sheet metal with the portion of the wustite layer remaining bonded to the base metal substrate of the sheet metal.
11. The method of claim 10 wherein the step of conditioning the surface of the sheet metal includes bringing the generally cylindrical conditioning surface of the at least one surface conditioning member into engagement with the surface of the sheet metal in a manner to reduce an arithmetic mean of distances of departure of peaks and valleys on the surface, measured from a mean center line, to less than 50 micro inches.
12. The method of claim 10 further comprising cold reducing the sheet metal as individual sheets.
13. The method of claim 10 further comprising cold reducing the sheet metal as a continuous coil.
14. A method of removing rust from sheet metal surfaces and cold reducing the sheet metal, where the rust generally comprises a wustite layer bonded to the sheet metal surface, a magnetite layer bonded to the wustite layer, and a hematite layer bonded to the magnetite layer, the method comprising:
providing a surface conditioning apparatus having a surface conditioning member;
conditioning the surface of the sheet metal with the surface conditioning apparatus by the surface conditioning member removing substantially all of the hematite layer and the magnetite layer from the surface so that a portion of the wustite layer remains bonded to the sheet metal surface; and,
then cold reducing the sheet metal with the portion of the wustite layer on the sheet metal surface.
15. The method of claim 14 further comprising cold reducing the sheet metal as individual sheets.
16. The method of claim 14 further comprising cold reducing the sheet metal as a continuous coil.
17. The method of claim 14 further comprising removing at least 10% of the wustite layer from the sheet metal surface before cold reducing the sheet metal.
18. The method of claim 14 further comprising removing an amount of the wustite layer so that the portion of the wustite layer remaining bonded to the sheet metal surface measures no more than about 0.001 inches in average thickness.

The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.

What is claimed is:

1. A complex comprising:
a primary moiety for modulating a cellular function; and
at least two cell surface receptor ligands covalently connected to said primary moiety.
2. The complex of claim 1 further comprising a manifold covalently connected to said primary moiety and each of said cell surface receptor ligands.
3. The complex of claim 2 further comprising linking moieties forming covalent linkages from said manifold to said primary moiety and to each of said cell surface receptor ligands.
4. The complex of claim 1 wherein said primary moiety is a nucleoside, nucleotide, an oligonucleoside, an oligonucleotide or a pro-drug form of said nucleoside, nucleotide, oligonucleoside or oligonucleotide.
5. The complex of claim 1 wherein each of said cell surface receptor ligands is the same.
6. The complex of claim 1 comprising at least three cell surface receptor ligands.
7. The complex of claim 1 having three copies or said cell surface receptor ligand.
8. The complex of claim 1 wherein said primary compound is a peptide, protein, a molecule that can bind RNA, an antibiotic or an antibacterial compound.
9. The complex compound of claim 2 wherein said manifold moiety comprises a linear chain hydrocarbon, a branched chain hydrocarbon, an aliphatic ring system, an aromatic ring system, a heterocyclic ring system, a mixed ring system having two or more aliphatic aromatic and heterocyclic rings connected or fused, wherein said complex compound also having a plurality of reactive sites thereon.
10. The complex of claim 2 wherein said manifold is cholic acid or a derivative thereof.
11. The complex of claim 2 wherein said cell surface receptor ligands are carbohydrates.
12. The complex of claim 11 wherein said carbohydrates are mono-or polysaccharides.
13. The complex of claim 10 wherein said saccharides are each galactose, lactose, N-acetylgalactosamine, mannose or mannose 6-phosphate.
14. The complex of claim 2 wherein said cell surface receptor ligands are each galactose or lactose.
15. A chemical complex having the formula:
8
wherein
said primary moiety is a nucleotide, nucleoside, oligonucleotide or oligonucleoside;
each of said linkers are, independently, bi-or trifunctional;
said manifold is derivatized at a plurality of sites;
each of said cell surface receptor ligands is a carbohydrate; and
n is an integer from 2 to about 8.
16. The complex of claim 15 wherein said primary moiety is a nucleoside, nucleotide, oligonucleoside,oligonucleotide or a pro-drug form of said nucleoside, nucleotide, oligonucleoside or oligonucleotide.
17. The complex of claim 15 wherein there are at least three copies of the same cell surface receptor ligand.
18. The complex of claim 15 wherein said primary moiety is a peptide, protein, a molecule that can bind RNA, an antibiotic or an antibacterial compound.
19. The complex of claim 15 wherein said manifold comprises a linear chain hydrocarbon, a branched chain hydrocarbon, an aliphatic ring system, an aromatic ring system, a heterocyclic ring system, a mixed ring system having two or more aliphatic aromatic and heterocyclic rings connected or fused, wherein said complex compound optionally has a plurality of reactive sites thereupon.
20. The complex of claim 15 wherein said manifold is cholic acid or a derivative thereof.
21. The complex of claim 15 wherein said cell surface receptor ligands are carbohydrates.
22. The complex of claim 21 wherein said carbohydrates are independently mono-or polysaccharides.
23. The complex of claim 22 wherein said saccharides are, independently, galactose, lactose, N-acetylgalactosamine, mannose or mannose 6-phosphate.
24. The complex of claim 15 wherein said cell surface receptor ligands are galactose or lactose.
25. The complex of claim 15 wherein n is from 2 to 6.
26. The complex of claim 15 wherein n is from 2 to 4.
27. A method of facilitating cellular uptake of a primary moiety comprising: identifying a cell surface receptor on a target cell;
attaching a plurality of cell surface receptor ligands on said primary moiety to form a complex; and
contacting said cell with said complex.
28. The method of claim 27 wherein said complex compound has the formula:
9
wherein
said primary moiety is a nucleotide, nucleoside, oligonucleotide or oligonucleoside;
each of said linkers bi-or trifunctional;
said manifold is a multifunctional compound capable of being derivatized at a plurality of sites;
each of said cell surface receptor ligands is a carbohydrate; and
n is from 2 to about 8.
29. The method of claim 27 wherein said primary compound is a nucleoside, nucleotide, oligonucleoside, oligonucleotide or pro-drug form of said nucleoside, nucleotide, oligonucleoside or oligonucleotide.
30. The method of claim 27 wherein said complex comprises at least 3 copies of said cell surface receptor ligand.
31. The method of claim 27 wherein said complex has from three to four copies or said cell surface receptor ligand.
32. The method of claim 27 wherein said primary compound is selected as a peptide, protein, a molecule that can bind RNA, an antibiotic compound or an antibacterial compound.
33. The method of claim 27 wherein said manifold comprises a linear chain hydrocarbon, a branched chain hydrocarbon, an aliphatic ring system, an aromatic ring system, a heterocyclic ring system, a mixed ring system having two or more aliphatic aromatic or a plurality of heterocyclic ring connected or fused, said complex having a plurality of reactive sites thereon.
34. The method of claim 27 wherein said manifold comprises cholic acid or a derivative thereof.
35. The method of claim 27 wherein said cell surface receptor ligands are carbohydrates.
36. The method of claim 35 wherein said carbohydrates are mono-or polysaccharides.
37. The method of claim 36 wherein said saccharides are galactose, lactose, N-acetylgalactosamine, mannose or mannose 6-phosphate.
38. The method of claim 27 wherein said cell surface receptor ligands are galactose or lactose.
39. The method of claim 28 wherein n is from 2 to 6.
40. The method of claim 28 wherein n is from 2 to 4.