A surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensor is adapted for biochemical and similar testing on large area samples such as the gel of an electrophoresis apparatus. The gel is sandwiched between a pair of plates. One of the plates is of transparent material and, sandwiched between itself and the gel is a metal layer of a mosaic of silver dots. Light from a source is directed via a reflector and undergoes total internal reflection at the interfacce between the transparent plate and metal layer. The reflected light is passed via another reflector to a light detector. The equipment is arranged so that SPR occurs at the metal layer, which resonance is critically dependent upon the refractive index of the gel. The structure including the light source and detector, together with reflectors is caused to scan across the gel surface to enable a two-dimensional representation of the changes in refractive index across the gel to be built up. This enables the progress of sequencing to be monitored.

This invention relates to surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensors for use in biological, biochemical and chemical testing. The invention is particularly concerned with adaptions of such sensors to enable larger areas to be covered and thus enable the SPR technique to be used, for example, in applications such as sequencing.
Sequencing of macromolecules, for example nucleic acids such as DNA, is usually carried out by biochemical fragmentation, followed by gel electrophoresis. Following electrophoresis, the sequence is detected by exposure of the gel to autoradiographic film to give a two-dimensional picture from which the sequence of individual nucleotide bases can be read. There are currently two main techniques used for fragmentation, the Maxam-Gilbert method involving the cleavage of DNA molecule by a two-stage addition of chemicals, and the Sanger method involving the preparation of separate samples of dideoxynucleotide of each of the four bases C, G, A and T and then the growth of a complementary DNA strand to that of the DNA under test using an enzyme. Both techniques end up with four different sub-samples, enabling identification of the four bases, each containig fragments of different lengths. A radioactive or fluorescent label is attached to each fragment to enable detection of the sequence using autoradiography. In electrophoresis, the four different sub-samples, containing respective sets of labelled fragments are each placed in a separate well and thus generate a separate and distinct track across the gel as the electrophoresis proceeds. After the electrophoresis has finished, the gel is separated and typically dried and is then, in the case of the radioactive label, exposed to autoradiographic film to obtain an image of the pattern of labelled fragments of different length and belonging to different nucleotide groups.
Autoradiography, while it can offer good sensitivity and resolution is an inconvenient technique, taking considerable skill to achieve good results, and is a fairly lengthly procedure, requiring many hours or even several weeks of exposure. Furthermore, separation of the gel after electrophoresis can lead to damage unless great care is taken, and the very necessary drying of the gel prior to exposure is also tricky since shrinking of the gel must be avoided if meaningful results are to be obtained.
In the present invention, the requirement for autoradiography is eliminated by enabling direct monitoring of the gel using a surface plasmon resonance (SPR) detector. The SPR detector operates to detect changes in the refractive index of the gel across the gel surface. Areas of the gel where fragments are present will have a different refractive index to those where they are not and a "picture" of the gel surface can thus be built up. Although the use of gel will be assumed in this specification, the technique can in fact be used with gel-less and other forms of capillary electrophoresis.
Monitoring can be in "real time"--i.e. as the electrophoresis test proceeds, or can be carried out on the gel after electrophoresis has been completed. In this latter case it may be advantageous to expose the gel to air after electrophoresis has finished so that the gel shrinks and thus concentrates the fragments into a smaller area which can be examined by the SPR detector.
The use of surface plasmon resonance in connection with biosensors has been described in detail in our copending European patent application Nos. 0305109 and 89300544.7, together with our copending British patent application Nos. 8811053.1, 8811054.9, 8811919.3 and 8813307.9.
All of the techniques described in these applications can be applied to the teaching of the present invention.
Surface plasmon resonance is the oscillation of the plasma of free electrons which exists at a metal boundary. These oscillations are affected by the refractive index of the material adjacent the metal surface and it is this that forms the basis of the sensor mechanism used in the present invention. Surface plasmon resonance may be achieved by using the evanescent wave which is generated when a p-polarized light beam is totally internally reflected at the boundary of a medium, e.g. glass, which has a high dielectric constant. A paper describing the technique has been published under the title "Surface plasmon resonance for gas detection and biosensing" by Lieberg, Nylander and Lundstrom in Sensors and Actuators, Vol. 4, page 299. Illustrated in FIG. 1 of the accompanying drawings is a diagram of the equipment described in this paper. A beam 1 of light is applied from a laser source (not shown) onto an internal surface 2 of a glass body 3. A detector (not shown) monitors the internally reflected beam 4. Applied to the external surface 2 of glass body 3 is a thin film 5 of metal, for example gold or silver, and applied to the film 5 is a further thin film 6 of organic material containing antibodies. A sample 7 containing antigen is brought into contact with the antibody film 6 to thus cause a reaction between the antigen and the antibody. If binding occurs, the refractive index of the layer 6 will change owing to the size of the antibody molecules and this change can be detected and measured using the surface plasmon resonance technique, as will now be explained.
Surface plasmon resonance can be experimentally observed, in the arrangement of FIG. 1, by varying the angle of the incident beam 1 and monitoring the intensity of the internally reflected beam 4. At a certain angle of incidence the parallel component of the light momentum will match with the dispersion for surface plasmons at the opposite surface 8 of the metal film. Provided that the thickness of metal film 5 is chosen correctly there will be an electromagnetic coupling between the glass/metal interface at surface 2 and the metal/antibody interface at surface 8 as a result of surface plasmon resonance, and thus an attenuation in the reflected beam 4 at that particular angle of incidence. Thus, as the angle of incidence of beam 1 is varied, surface plasmon resonance is observed as a sharp dip in the intensity of the internally reflected beam 4 at a particular angle of incidence. The angle of incidence at which resonance occurs is affected by the refractive index of the material against the metal film 5--i.e. the antibody layer 6--and the angle of incidence corresponding to resonance is thus a direct measure of the state of the reaction between the antibody and the antigen. Increased sensitivity can be obtained by choosing an angle of incidence half way down the reflectance dip curve, where the response is substantially linear, at the beginning of the antibody/antigen reaction, and then maintaining that angle of incidence fixed and observing changes in the intensity of the reflected beam 4 with time.
A typical basic detector comprises the following components:
1) A source of electromagnetic radiation, most likely in or near the visible light region; PA1 2) A block of transparent material such as glass on one surface of which is applied a thin film of metal, for example silver or gold, and on which is supported a medium to be tested in such a way that the metal film is sandwiched between the medium and the glass block; PA1 3) Means for directing the electromagnetic radiation from the source into the transparent block in such a way that the radiation is subject to total internal reflection at that surface of the block to which the metal film is applied; PA1 4) A detector for monitoring the intensity of the radiation which is totally internally reflected. PA1 1. Immersion in molten metal nitrates and other molten salts. This has the effect of introducing ions into the surface in a manner which can be structured and which can act as foci for island formation. PA1 2. Ion bombardment of cold or hot glass to introduce nucleating sites. The removal of the more mobile ions has been demonstrated to reduce the thickness at which the evaporated film becomes continuous. PA1 3. Electroless plating or electroplating over lightly evaporated films (0 to 100 angstroms thick). Electroless plated films survive to a greater thickness than evaporated films and could form more stable nuclei for subsequent coating. PA1 4. Evaporating onto electroless plated films. The electroless plated films have a stronger tendency to an island structure and to bigger islands with greater spacing than evaporating films. This could be of advantage in tuning to light of a prescribed wavelength. PA1 1. Controlling the surface temperature of the transparent plate during coating. Using a higher temperature substrate increases the islands' size and the spacing between them and conversely. PA1 2. Evaporating in the presence of a magnetic or electrostatic field or electron emission device to control the ion content of the vapour stream. The state of charge of the substrate is know to affect the island structure. PA1 3. Controlling the angle of incidence of the evaporated vapor stream relative to the surface of the plate. The mobility of the evaporated atoms and hence their ability to form bigger islands is greater when the momentum of the atoms relative to the glass surface is increased.
The point of incidence of the incoming beam of radiation defines a small sensitive zone centered around the point. As the refractive index of the medium changes, the angle of incidence at which SPR occurs changes and, for a fixed angle of incidence, this manifests itself as an alteration in the intensity of the totally internally reflected beam, as detected by the detector. A significant improvement in signal/noise ratio can be achieved, however, by monitoring the entirety of the dip resulting from surface plasmon resonance. This may be achieved either by rapidly scanning the incoming beam of radiation across the angles of incidence which result in surface plasmon resonance, such as described in our application No. 8811053.1, or by utilizing the so called "fan beam" as described in our copending European patent application No. 0305109. In a variant of the fan beam, a line point of incidence is formed using a wedge beam, possibly in conjunction with a semicylinder, as described in the aforementioned European patent application.


Techniques for filesystem management for cloud object storage are described. In one embodiment, a method includes writing, by a filesystem layer, a plurality of entries to a log structured file tree, including filesystem metadata and filesystem data. The method includes performing a flush operation of the entries from the filesystem layer to one or more objects in a distributed cloud object storage layer. The method includes storing the filesystem metadata and the filesystem data to the one or more objects in the distributed cloud object storage layer. The method further includes storing flush metadata generated during each flush operation, including a flush sequence number associated with each flush operation. Each object of the one or more objects in the distributed cloud object storage layer is identified by a key that identifies the flush sequence number, an object identifier, and a rebirth identifier.

Solely on-premise Enterprise storage systems are proprietary storage appliances that integrate the storage controller functions and the storage media into the same physical unit. This model makes it harder to elastically scale the storage systems' capacity, performance and cost based on customers' storage demands. Cloud computing environments can be implemented to provide low cost and highly available cloud-based storage services to meet such ever-growing and elastic data storage demands. Cloud-based storage generally provides storage hosted by a third party service provider, where data storage can be purchased for use on an as-needed basis. This allows for expanding data storage capacity without incurring costs associated with adding dedicated storage. This creates the need for cloud storage service solutions which can be deployed on-cloud or hybrid (along with on-premise) environments that provide enterprise ready features, such as snapshots, backup, and recovery of applications.

Filesystem management for cloud object storage


A tether clip apparatus preventing an A pillar from completely separating from a car body at the time of deploying an airbag, may include a pillar fixing clip fixed to the A pillar, a car body fixing clip configured to be fixed to a car body panel, inserted with the pillar fixing clip, and preventing the A pillar from completely separating from the car body panel while moving within the pillar fixing clip at the time of deploying the airbag, and a metal clip elastically supporting the pillar fixing clip and the car body fixing clip so as not to separate from each other.

1. Field of the invention
The present invention relates to a tether clip preventing an A pillar from completely separating from a car body while forming a gap between the car body and the A pillar when an airbag is operated.
2. Description of Related Art
As shown in FIG. 1, a tether clip according to the related art is provided with a first pre-assembling part 41 and a second pre-assembling part 51 for pre-fixing a pillar fixing clip 40 and a car body fixing clip 50 before an airbag is deployed, wherein the first pre-assembling part 41 is made of plastic and thus, has physical properties that change according to temperature and humidity of the outside environment, to thereby make it difficult to obtain high-level reliability. For example, the material of the first pre-assembling part 41 becomes soft at the time of high temperature, which weakens separation preventing force, but is solid at low temperature, which strengthens the separation preventing force, such that deviation of the separation preventing force negatively affects product reliability.
The information disclosed in this Background of the Invention section is only for enhancement of understanding of the general background of the invention and should not be taken as an acknowledgement or any form of suggestion that this information forms the prior art already known to a person skilled in the art.


A combustion exhaust gas processing device comprises: a dust collector collecting dust in a cement kiln combustion exhaust gas; a wet dust collector using sodium hypochlorite as a catalyst-poisoning-substance stripper for removing a catalyst-poisoning substance and mercury from a combustion exhaust gas which passed the dust collector; heaters downstream of the wet dust collector for heating the combustion exhaust gas from the wet dust collector; and a catalyst device from which NOx, a persistent organic pollutant, etc. in the heated combustion exhaust gas, are removed. An upstream side of the catalyst device is installed with an oxide catalyst such as titanium-vanadium and a downstream side is installed with a platinum catalyst as a noble-metal catalyst. The temperature of the combustion exhaust gas after the wet dust collector is increased up to 140° C. or more with the heaters to prevent decline in denitration efficiency of and the decomposition efficiency of a volatile organic compound. A mercury adsorbing tower is provided for adsorbing the mercury in liquid exhausted from the wet dust collector and wastewater from the liquid is used to generate sodium hypochlorite for use in the wet dust collector.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a device and a method for processing cement kiln combustion exhaust gas to remove harmful substances such as dust, NOx, persistent organic pollutants including dioxins, a volatile organic compound and CO.
2. Background Art
As shown in FIG. 2, a cement burning facility 21 comprises a preheater 22, a calciner 23, a cement kiln 24, a clinker cooler 25 and so on, and cement raw meal R, which is fed to the preheater 22 from raw material supplying system, is preheated in the preheater 22, calcined in the calciner 23, burned in the cement kiln 24, and produced clinker is cooled in the clinker cooler 25. Here, the combustion exhaust gas from the cement kiln 24 is processed through desulferization in the preheater 22 and dust collection using an electric precipitator 26 since limestone as a main raw material has a property to adsorb SOx, and processed combustion exhaust gas is discharged in the atmosphere through a fan 27 and a stack 28.
Although there was not much harmful substance contained in the combustion exhaust gas from the cement kiln 24, such as alkali, chlorine, sulfur, and heavy metal and so on, since it is expected, with the increase in the amount of recycle raw materials and fuels processed by a cement manufacturing facility in recent years and a future increase plan, that the amount of the harmful substance increases, there is a possibility of becoming a problem from now on.
Then, in order to remove the above-mentioned harmful substances, for example, a technology is described in the first patent document. This technology comprises the steps of: bleeding a part of combustion exhaust gas from the inlet hood of a cement kiln; supplying cooling air to the bled gas to cool it to 600-800° C.; introducing the cooled exhaust gas into a cyclone to catch coarse grain dust through separation; introducing the caught coarse grain dust to the kiln inlet hood for circulation; introducing a part of cyclone exhaust gas to the kiln inlet hood to recover heat of the remainder of cyclone exhaust gas; and feeding the exhaust gas to a dust collector to remove fine grain dust.
Furthermore, for the same object as the above, a technology is described in the second patent document. This technology comprises the steps of: sampling preheated raw meal introduced to a kiln inlet hood to analyze the content of harmful substance therein; controlling the amount of emission that circulates from a cyclone to a kiln inlet hood so that an analysis result becomes desired value; controlling a cooling air flow rate so that cyclone inlet gas temperature becomes in the range of 600-800° C.; and simultaneously detecting the cooling air flow rate and the amount of the emission, and controlling the amount so that the amount of emission discharged out of a system from the dust collector becomes approximately equal to the cooling air flow rate.
Moreover, a technology is described in the third patent document, which comprises the steps of: supplying fuel from a fuel-supply opening, and waste containing ammonium nitrogen from the fuel-supply opening and/or its neighborhood to burn them; and introducing gas containing ammonia into a part of 700° C. or more in the phase before burning the waste containing ammonium nitrogen to reduce the amount of NOx generated and not to sprinkle offensive odor at the suppression of the NOx.
Furthermore, in the forth patent document, in order to effectively collect low-melting compounds from the exhaust gas of cement burning facility, a method and a device are disclosed, in which a part of exhaust gas is bled from cement burning facility to collect low-melting compounds; then the temperature of the bled exhaust gas is brought to 1100-1500° C.; and then the bled exhaust gas is quenched to 120-600° C. to collect the low-melting compounds.    Patent document 1: Japanese Patent Publication No. Heisei11-130489 gazette    Patent document 2: Japanese Patent Publication No. Heisei11-130490 gazette    Patent document 3: Japanese Patent Publication No. 2000-130742 gazette    Patent document 4: Japanese Patent Publication No. 2003-277106 gazette

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Device and method for processing cement kiln combustion exhaust gas


A closure includes a capping part (1), which is attachable to a container, in which a form-stable floor wall (9) has a sealing apparatus (11) with a sealing cone (13) is held to the rest of the capping part by means of a flexible wall area so that the sealing cone can be brought into and out of a sealing engagement relationship with a mouth opening (5) of the container. Measures are provided, for example in the form of inversions of a flexible wall area (12), to hold the sealing apparatus in end positions corresponding to open and closed positions of the sealing apparatus. In the end positions the sealing apparatus (11) can be moved by hand via an integral hand-manipulation portion (15). A pour spout (16) can be formed on the flexible wall area (12) so that it experiences a swinging upon movement of the sealing apparatus (11) between the closing and opening position corresponding to the respective positions of the flexible wall area.

This invention concerns a closure for a container, receiver, or the like. As used herein, the word "container" includes any type of receptacle or receiver.
The invention particularly concerns a one piece closure of resinous plastic which can be operated with one hand to close containers of fluid and pasty materials.
One-hand-operable tipping-lever closures are well known (see WO 81/00995) in which structurally-separate tipping (or pivotal) levers are held on a capping part to be pivotal in a snap-like manner. In one position such a tipping lever closes a passage opening in the capping part while in another position the lever opens the passage opening so that a fluid flow from a container's interior to outside atmosphere is allowed. A substantial disadvantage of this type of closure is the necessity of producing a plurality of separate parts which must be assembled in a specialized assembling procedure. It is also known (German Gebrauchsmuster DE-V-80 24 272) to attach a tipping lever as one piece with a capping part via a film-like hinge, with which part of a flow path to the outside, through a hose-like, bendable, wall extending between the tipping lever and the interior of the container is sealed. Although this closure is made as one piece, difficulties still arise in trying to reliably seal a passage of the tipping lever in a closed position, and also the hose-like wall has limitations relative to a choice of an open position for the tipping lever in that it is consistantly oriented in the direction of a middle axis of the closure which, for manipulation of particular fluids, or medians, is undesirable. It is further known (German DE-U-88 15 673) to arrange a tipping lever of a multiple-part closure to be pivotal in a plane substantially radial to a middle axis so that contents of a container can be poured out from a side thereof in the manner of a watering can. In addition to the disadvantage that manufacturing such a closure is difficult, other problems arise when this closure is to be manipulated with one hand. Finally, a one piece, one-hand-operable, closure is known (AT-PS-376 186) in which a sealing cone and a pour spout are formed on a bendable floor wall of a capping part for engaging a mouth opening of a container such that an exterior force can be applied to the sealing cone and the pour spout to temporarily move the sealing cone out of a sealing relationship with the mouth opening of the container against a return force of the floor wall so that communication of the container interior with a passage of the pour spout comes into being. The open position of the pour spout is, therefore, only held so long as the outside force is applied, which, with regard to manipulation of the closure, can cause problems when the container contents is to be dispensed, for example, on difficult to reach areas and/or where hygiene must be taken into consideration. Further, the pour spout tends to substantially stay in the open position as well as in the closed position, when it is moved there, because the flexibility of the floor wall allows only a small pivoting of the pour spout in response to force applied thereto, otherwise a firm seating of the capping part on the container would be endangered.
It is an object of the invention to provide a one piece, one-hand container of resinous plastic for closing fluid or paste containers which can be economically produced and which provides improved functionality as well as comfort in operation.


The specification discloses a sterile system and associated method for dressing vascular access sites in the skin penetrated by needles or catheters. The system includes a sealed container defining a sterile enclosure within which are provided dressing components including a sterile absorbent pad for being adhesively secured over the vascular access site to cover and protect the penetration area and the lead-in portion of the catheter tube, and a sterile adhesive strip for being adhesively secured to the skin of the patient under the tube as it emerges from beneath the pad, and between the skin and the pad along the edges of the pad in opposite directions from the tube exit location. The dressing components cooperate to engage the tube against lateral and longitudinal movement to provide a more secure infusion site. The system as a whole provides a more sterile, reliable and uniform dressing for vascular access sites.

It is common in the medical field to introduce treatment substances, such as blood, saline solution, chemotherapy or other drugs into a patient by intravenous infusion methods. These methods generally involve the sterile insertion of a needle or catheter into a vein at a chosen access site and thereafter introducing the treatment substance from a sealed, sterile source into the vein through the needle or catheter.
For example, to insert the catheter, a suitable access site is selected and the skin is cleansed, as by rubbing with isopropyl alcohol, and a needle is first inserted into a vein adjacent the site. The catheter is then threaded through the needle and the needle removed. Alternatively, a catheter having a built in hub and needle cannula may be used, wherein only the cannula penetrates the skin.
The catheter is typically immobilized to reduce damage to the vein and the skin adjacent the access site, avoid unintended displacement of the catheter and to reduce patient discomfort. To avoid bacterial buildup and possible infection, dressings are placed over the catheter insertion site and changed on a frequent basis.
A problem often encountered during the initial installation of the catheter and during changing of the dressing involves the immobilization of the catheter or needle. Normally, the step of dressing the site involves placing an absorbent bandage or gauze pad over the site and securing the gauze in place with waterproof tape. In addition, the tape also helps immobilize the catheter to prevent damage to the site and to reduce patient discomfort. This typically involves surrounding at least a portion of the catheter with tape and attaching the tape to the gauze pad or skin on opposite sides of the catheter. To improve the fit of the tape to the catheter, the tape may be trimmed to an appropriate size during the dressing change and may also be cut with scissors to shape the tape for receiving the catheter.
Case-by-case adaptation of tape and bandages complicates the dressing change procedure and also introduces a possible source of infection, since the tape is usually not sterile and, even if initially sterile, the tape may become contaminated during handling, especially if cut with unsterilized scissors. Changing of the dressing using such methods is therefore often time consuming and difficult to accomplish, since the tape is usually cut on site. In addition, the skill of the medical personnel who apply or change the dressing impacts the quality, sterility and effectiveness of the dressing change, particularly if the tape is cut to fit the catheter.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a sterile system and method for dressing vascular access sites.
Another object of the invention is to provide a system and method for dressing vascular access sites which helps avoid patient discomfort and infection.
It is another object of the invention to provide a system and method of the character described which helps to improve the uniformity of site dressings and lessens the time and skill required to effectively dress a vascular access site in a sterile manner.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a system of the character described which is cost effective and easy to use.

Sterile system for dressing vascular access site


Described is a device for driving a dermatological laser. The system includes a first diode, an inductor, a switch, and a photodetector. A first end of the inductor is coupled to an end of the first diode, and a second end of the inductor is coupled to a flashlamp. An electrical control of the switch is coupled to a control system, a first end of the switch is coupled to a power source, and a second end of the switch is coupled to the first end of the inductor and the end of the first diode. The photodetector is adapted to measure at least one of output energy or output power of a laser medium pumped by the flashlamp. The photodetector is in communication with the control system for modulating a flashlamp that drives current to maintain a predetermined value of the measured output energy or output power.

Lasers are widely used in dermatological applications such as hair removal, removal of pigmented lesions, tattoos, vascular lesions, wrinkles, acne, and skin tightening. These and similar applications are effected by heating only a small structure in the skin to a temperature above that which initiates a healing process that removes or replaces the small structure. These laser treatments are typically based on selective targeting of a chromophore in the skin by an appropriate choice of wavelength and pulse duration of the laser light. For example, the blood vessels in vascular lesions are irradiated with a color of light, usually yellow, that is well absorbed by the blood. The absorbed light heats the blood and the blood then heats the vessel walls. Lasers that are able to emit pulses of high peak power work well because the heat builds up in the vessel walls faster than it can be conducted through the wall to the surrounding skin tissue. Most of the heat is confined to the vessel and so it is damaged while most of the surrounding tissue is spared. Treatment pulse durations of several milliseconds are often most effective but effective pulse durations can range from a hundred of microseconds to hundreds of milliseconds. Some lasers can be pumped by flashlamps to get the large pulse energies required for creating the desired thermal profile in the skin.
Several lasers are well suited for use in medical applications. Some high power, pulsed lasers are the preferred instruments for treating certain dermatological conditions. Many of these lasers can be pumped with flashlamps. Flashlamps offer an economical means of delivering several megawatts of pump power in short duration pulses. Examples of flashlamp pumped medical lasers are dye lasers and solid state lasers such as Alexandrite, Ruby and Nd:YAG. Some flashlamp pumped lasers are most efficient when the pulse duration of the laser is shorter than the desired treatment pulse duration for heating the tissue target. In these cases, the laser can be made to emit a long train of short sub-pulses that are spaced in time to produce an effective pulse duration that equals the desired treatment pulse duration.
Some driver circuits for flashlamps use a series of energy storage capacitors that can be discharged sequentially through the flashlamp to generate a train of laser sub-pulses. Each capacitor can be individually charged to different voltages so that the magnitude of the flashlamp current in the sequentially produced flashlamp sub-pulses can be made to increase over that of the previous sub-pulse. The maximum number of sub-pulses in a driving configuration, however, using a series of energy storage capacitors is limited to the number of capacitors. Another disadvantage is that, in practice, the energy delivered in each laser sub-pulse needs to be adjusted individually for the desired output energy. This system becomes complex and difficult to calibrate for a large numbers of sub-pulses.
In other driver circuits, an IGBT is used to connect an energy storage capacitor to the flashlamp. The amplitude of the flashlamp current is determined by the capacitor voltage and the impedance of the flashlamp. The problem with this circuit is that the capacitor voltage drops during the pulse. Therefore, the flashlamp current and hence the peak power of the resultant laser pulse both decrease during the pulse. When used in a multiple sub-pulse mode, each laser sub-pulse has a lower peak power than the previous sub-pulse. At some point in time the laser gain can fall below threshold and lasing ceases. This is a problem for lasers, such as pulsed dye lasers, that suffer a drop in the laser efficiency during a single pulse and in each subsequent sub-pulses due to thermal and other degradations in the lasing medium.

Voltage bucking circuit for driving flashlamp-pumped lasers for treating skin


The invention consists in structuring scintillation radiation detectors as Photonic Bandgap Crystals or 3D layers of thin filaments, thus enabling extremely high spatial resolutions and achieving virtual voxellation of the radiation detector without physical separating walls. The ability to precisely measure the recoil electron track in a Compton camera enables to assess the directions of the gamma rays hitting the detector and consequently dispensing with collimators that strongly reduce the intensity of radiation detected by gamma cameras. The invention enables great enhancements of the capabilities of gamma cameras, SPECT, PET, CT and DR machines as well as their use in Homeland Security applications. Methods of fabrication of such radiation detectors are described.

Photonic Bandgap Crystals (hereinafter PBC) are periodically structured materials characterized by ranges of frequency in which light cannot propagate through the structure. A PBC is generally composed of at least two materials differing in their refraction indexes, whose periodicity is approximately half the wavelength of light unable to propagate through the lattice. A complete photonic band gap is a range of frequencies in which there are no real solutions of Maxwell's equations. The theoretical treatment of the interaction of such periodic materials with electromagnetic radiation is analogous to the treatment in solid-state physics of the interaction of atomic lattices with electrons, showing the existence of distinct energy bands separated by gaps.
As actual photonic crystals are complex structures, in general it is hard to locate the bandgaps analytically. One method entails finite difference numerical analysis, calculating the evolution in time of the electromagnetic fields, thus extracting measurable quantities such as transmission or reflection. Another method consists in diagonalizing the Magnetic field Hermitian operator in the frequency domain, thus finding its eigenvectors, the allowed modes and extracting the band diagrams. See "Introduction to Photonic Crystals: Bloch's Theorem, Band Diagrams, and Gaps" by Steven G. Johnson and J. D. Joannopoulos, MIT 2003. 2D Photonic Crystal slabs and their bandgaps as a function of the dimensions and refractive indexes of the composing materials have been extensively investigated, see for example "Intrinsic eigenstate spectrum of planar multilayer stacks of two-dimensional photonic crystals" by K. H. Dridi Optics Express 2003/Vol. 11, No. 10/p 1156.
Simple two-dimensional PBCs structured for example by periodic holes in a high refractive index matrix, can exhibit polarization-dependent bandgaps, in the frequency (w=a/λ) versus the wavenumber (k) domain. These crystals, though, cannot confine electromagnetic radiation in the third dimension, due to the "leaking" of the transverse electromagnetic waves into the 3rd dimension. Limiting the "thickness" of the slab and constricting the slab between two air boundaries, or low refraction index materials, can minimize the "leakage" into the third dimension. There are two basic topologies for 2D photonic crystals, low-index holes in a high index matrix or high index rods in a low index matrix.
The largest bandgaps in 2D PBG crystals are obtained with triangular lattices with very large, almost touching holes and when the dielectric constant contrast is large, ε˜12 for example. Photonic Bandgap structures having high contrast refractive indexes, effectively act as mirrors. Moreover PBCs modify the spontaneous emission rate of excited atoms within the lattice, when the imbedded atom has an emission frequency in the bandgap. The absence of electromagnetic modes inside the photonic bandgap, causes atoms or molecules imbedded in the crystal, to be locked in an excited state relative to the ground state. Photonic Bandgaps can be switched on and off by rapidly changing the refractive index of a non-linear component of the PBC, electrically or optically.
A software program for computing the band structures (dispersion relations) and electromagnetic modes of periodic dielectric structures (the MIT Photonic-Bands MPB) is freely available for download from the www.ab-initio.mit.edu/mpb website. Photonic Crystal design tools are also available commercially, for example from Photon Design ltd. Oxford, UK.
Gamma ray radiation such as, the 140 keV γ-rays emitted from technetium-99m or the 511 keV γ-rays emitted following the annihilation of positrons emitted from fluorine-18, are usually detected by scintillation crystal detectors such as NaI (Tl), CsI (Tl), Bi4GeO4 or CdWO4 scintillators or semiconductor detectors such as Ge or CdZT. The γ rays interact with the atoms of the crystal through the Photo-electric or Compton effects and Pair generation processes. Table 1 gives the energy and atomic number dependency of the 3 processes.
TABLE 1Type ofZ dependenceZ dependenceInteractionEnergy dependence(cm2/atom)(cm2/g)PhotoelectricE−3.5Z4 to 5Z3 to 4ComptonE−0.5 to −1Z~Z independentPair productionE to ln EZ2Z
The energy transfer from a hard photon (hν) to an atomic electron (e) in the photoelectric effect is given by Ee=hν−Eb where Eb is the binding energy of the electrons of the stopping material. The atom excited by the stripping of one of its electrons, returns to its stable state by emitting one or more X-rays whose energies are determined by its discrete energy levels and denoted accordingly as the M, L or K X-rays.
In the Compton effect which is effective at higher energies and low Z elements, the incoming photons are scattered by the free electrons of the stopping material, imparting them part of their energy. The energy of the scattered gamma ray (1) is given byE1=hν′ mec2/[1+cosθ+(mec2/E0)]or cosθ=1−(mec2/Ee)+(mec2/E1+Ee)the recoil electron's energy is given byEe=hν′=[(hν)2/mec2(1−cosθ)]/[1+(hν/mec2)(1−cosθ)]
The maximal energy of the recoil electron is therefore at Eemax=E/(1+mec2/2E)
The recoil angle φ of the electron, relative to the direction of the impinging gamma ray, is given bycotφ=1+(hν/mec2)tan(θ/2)
It is important to note that following the momentum equalities, the incoming gamma ray, the scattered gamma ray and the recoil electron are all on the same plane.
The differential cross section of the Compton Scattering for unpolarized photons is given by the Klein-Nishina equation:[dσ/dΩ]=(re2/2)(ν′/ν)2[(ν/ν′)+(ν′/ν)−sin2θ]where re=(e2/mec2) is the "classical" radius of the electron equal to 2.82 10−13 cm
This equation which assumes scattering by free electrons, has to be modified by a form factor S(k,k′) at energies where the binding energies of the electrons become important, as compared with the energy of the gamma ray, causing the angular distribution in the forward direction to be suppressed.
In the pair production effect the two 511 Kev hard photons generated by the annihilation of the positron, again interact with the stopping material through the Compton or Photoelectric effects and cause ejection of electrons and their eventual absorption, as explained above.
The electrons so produced by the three processes are stopped in the crystal producing low energy photons in the visible range, along their track. If the crystal is transparent to these photons, they can emerge from the crystal and be detected by a photon detector such as a photomultiplier tube or a photo-diode.
The range of the knoked-off electron in the crystal can be obtained by observing that
      R                                (              E        0            )        =                    ∫                  E          0                0                                    (                                    ⅆ              x                        /                          ⅆ              E                                )                                                                    ⅆ          E                      =                  -                              ∫            0                          E              0                                                                                (                                                      ∂                    E                                    /                                      ∂                    x                                                  )                                            -                1                                                                                ⅆ              E                                          =                        ∫          0                      E            0                                                        (                          1              /              S                        )                                                                                ⅆ            E                              and using the Bethe-Bloch equation for electron absorption in matterdE/dx=C[1/v]NZ ln{f(I,v)},where C is an empirical constantv=velocity of incident particle; N=number of atoms per cm3; Z=atomic number of absorbing medium; I=the mean excitation energy; f=a function of I and v.
The electron's range in low Z materials and in the 0.01≦T≦2.5 MeV range may be approximated by the empirical formulaR=0.412T1.27−0.0954lnT where R is the range in g/cm2 units and T the kinetic energy of the electron in units of MeV
The length of part of an electron track, may be calculated by observing that E=∫(∂E/∂x)dx; therefore the energy absorbed in part of the track is
      E    0    =                              (                                    ∂              E                        /                          ∂              x                                )                avg                                    ∫                      R            0                                                                              ⅆ                                                    x                      =                                        (                                          ∂                E                            /                              ∂                x                                      )                    avg                                                                    R          0                                                          giving                                                  for                                                            R          0                    =                        E          0                /                                                            (                                                      ∂                    E                                    /                                      ∂                    x                                                  )                            avg                                      (                              R                0                            )                                .
Thus if the energy absorbed in this part of the track E0 and the average differential absorption (∂E/∂x) are known, the length of the portion of the track (R0) may be calculated.
The underlying principles of Compton Cameras, namely that knowing the energy of the scattered gamma ray E1, the position of the subsequent (usually photo-electric) event and the energy of the recoil electron and the position of its track, enable to derive the direction of the incoming gamma ray, are self evident and follow from the Compton effect equations. The practical obstacles are the measurement of the electron's position before the scattering and the direction of its recoil after interaction with the incoming gamma ray. Numerous variations of two-detector geometries and schemes have been proposed, that consist in detecting the position of the gamma-electron interaction position with one detector and that of the subsequent photoelectric event with the second detector, in addition to their energies, in order to determine the direction of the incoming gamma ray on the "scattering plane". As the absolute direction of the "scattering plane" in space remains unknown, the absolute direction of the incoming gamma ray remains ambiguous and within a "cone" whose aperture is the scattered gamma ray's scattering angle relative to the incoming gamma ray in space.
In medical physics applications, as the "gamma ray-to-detector" distance is small (an approximation that is certainly wrong in case of astrophysics geometries), knowledge of the approximate direction of the incoming gamma ray, up to a cone, enables to approximately locate the position of the gamma source; moreover looking at the intersection of a number of "cones" enables to reduce the indeterminacy of the source position. A further reduction of this indeterminacy has been proposed by combining multiple pinhole collimators and the "Compton direction up to a cone" that consists in eliminating for each event, the pinholes that do not fall within the "cone", thus benefiting from the increased efficiency of multiple pinholes.
An additional uncertainty as to the direction of the recoil electron arises from the fact that the "free" electron is not at rest. If the electron's "motion" is taken into account, its recoil direction will not be exactly in the "scattering plane" but slightly out of it. This effect is sometimes referred to as the "doppler brodening" of the recoil electron's direction.
Radiation detectors are used in several healthcare instruments to map the radiation emitted by the body of a patient which has previously been injected with a radionuclide. Gamma Cameras endeavor to detect the location of the radiating source, by collimating the incoming radiation and then detecting the points of interaction of the collimated gamma rays with the radiation detector. Straight tubular collimators give a map of the radionuclides in the body of the patient, while pinhole collimators give the emission intensity coming from the focal point of the collimator, at the expense of blocking anything else. High resolution collimators immensely reduce the radiation intensity detected by the gamma camera and greatly increase the time needed for mapping the radionuclide distribution with acceptable spatial resolutions.
Gamma cameras with straight tubular collimators give a 2D projection of the radionuclide distribution, on the surface of the camera and cannot give depth information. SPECT (Single Photon Emission Computer Tomography) consists in rotating the Gamma Camera, to obtain several 2D maps from multiple directions and reconstruct the distribution along the third dimension, thus enabling to obtain a Tomographical image of the radionuclide distribution. Obviously dispensing with the collimator in SPECT is also of great benefit, reducing the scanning time or the amount of radionuclide injected or both.
PET (Photon Emission Tomography) consists in injecting the patient with a positron emitting radionuclide and detecting the annihilation pair of 511 keV gamma rays emitted in opposite directions, using two radiation detectors in time coincidence, thus determining a line that crosses the position of the radionuclide source. Detecting a multiplicity of such pairs of 511 keV gamma rays gives lines that crisscross the radiation source and enables to determine its position. The accuracy of the line crossing the radionuclide is determined both by the spatial extensions of the detectors and the exact location within the detector of the interacting gamma ray. Thus there is a need for a high efficiency and high spatial resolution gamma detector.
Cross section images of a body (slices) can be imaged by Computerized Tomography (CT) consisting in irradiating the body with intense X-rays from all 180° or more angles, detecting the unattenuated X rays that traversed the body using radiation detectors, and reconstructing a density map of the slice of the body traversed by the X rays, that is consistent with the integral absorption data obtained from all angles. The spatial resolution of such density images and the thickness of the slices, are dependent, inter alia, also on the spatial resolution of the radiation detectors. Multiple adjacent slices require thin adjacent detectors with minimal separating walls. A high spatial resolution continuous radiation detector therefore enables imaging a continuous multiplicity of thin slices and thus obtaining a continuous volumetric image.
Search of the previous art has not revealed any patent, patent application or publication that deals with scintillator fiber arrays structured as Photonic Bandgap Crystals, nor scintillator fiber arrays with an ability to find the position of the scintillation along the fiber.


One or more interfaces receive, from one or more sources, supplier data, comprising transactional data and an industry type, and supplier profile data, comprising supplier acceptance category information, associating each of a plurality of predetermined supplier acceptance categories with one or more industry types, and profile type information, associating each of a plurality of predetermined profile types with one or more transaction characteristics of a plurality of transaction characteristics and one or more supplier acceptance categories of the plurality of predetermined supplier acceptance categories. One or more processors determine: a transaction characteristic associated with the transactions based on the transactional data; a supplier acceptance category associated with the supplier based on the industry type and the supplier acceptance category information; and a profile type associated with the supplier based on the transaction characteristic, the supplier acceptance category, and the profile type information; and output the profile type.

Commercial credit cards have long provided card holders with a convenient and economic payment option with customer suppliers accepting the commercial credit card. However, not all customer suppliers may accept a commercial credit card. Financial institutions may make efforts, including phone and/or mail campaigns, to onboard its customer's suppliers to acceptance of a commercial credit card or other electronic payment in order to save time and transaction costs for the customer and/or the suppliers.


A method for manufacturing a film structure includes: a positional deviation amount detection process of detecting an amount of positional deviation related to a relative position of a second cured film formed on a rear surface of a film with respect to a first cured film formed on a front surface of the film; a relative position adjustment process of correcting a position or a rotation speed of a second transfer roll to adjust the relative position such that the amount of positional deviation detected in the positional deviation amount detection process is reduced; a first tensile force detection process and a second tensile force detection process of respectively detecting a tensile force of the film between a first pressurizing roll and a second pressurizing roll before and after the relative position adjustment process; and a tensile force adjustment process of adjusting the tensile force of the film such that the tensile force of the film detected in the second tensile force detection process approaches the tensile force of the film detected in the first tensile force detection process.

The imprint technology is a technology of forming a cured film to which a fine shape is transferred by pressing a mold with a surface with a fine shape worked thereon in advance against a resin applied to a surface of a base material. Examples of the imprint method include a thermal imprint method and a UV imprint method.
The thermal imprint method is a method for obtaining a cured film to which a fine shape is transferred by pressing a mold heated to a temperature that is equal to or greater than a glass transition temperature against a thermoplastic resin applied to a surface of a base material. The UV imprint method is a method for obtaining a cured film to which a fine shape is transferred by irradiating an ultraviolet curable resin applied to a surface of a base material with UV light in a state in which a mold at an ordinary temperature is pressed against the ultraviolet curable resin.
In a case in which a target base material is a film of PET or the like, a scheme of transferring a fine shape to the film at the same time with feeding of the film using a roll-shaped mold with a surface with a fine shape formed thereon is typically employed. The aforementioned scheme is known to have a high throughput and is called a roll-to-roll imprint method.
A typical process for forming a fine shape on the basis of the roll-to-roll imprint scheme of the UV imprint method will be described (see Japanese Patent No. 4976868).
According to a typical roll-to-roll imprint scheme based on the UV imprint method (roll-to-roll UV imprint scheme), a transfer material is extruded from an application unit and is applied onto a successively traveling film (film base material). Then, the film passes between a transfer roll with a surface with a transfer shape (fine shape) formed thereon and a pressurizing roll that is pressed against the transfer roll with a predetermined pressurizing force. In this manner, the transfer shape (fine unevenness) on the surface of the transfer roll is filled with the transfer material.
Next, the transfer roll is irradiated with UV light from a UV light source, thereby curing the transfer material in a state in which the transfer shape is filled with the transfer material. Finally, the film passes between a mold releasing roll and the transfer roll and travels along the mold releasing roll. In this manner, the film is separated from the transfer roll, and a cured film to which the transfer shape has been transferred is formed on the film.
This scheme is a scheme of forming a cured film on one surface of the film base material, and in a case in which it is necessary to form cured films on both surfaces of the film base material, it is necessary to perform a similar process on the other surface of the film base material as well.

Method and apparatus for manufacturing film structure

PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO., LTD.


A video surveillance system having a plurality of aerial camera devices such as cameras on drones operable from a plurality of docking stations. Each station has a dock for receiving, charging, and controlling the aerial camera devices.

A camera may be used to acquire information about a place or an object. The information is visual image data generated by the camera corresponding to the scene falling with the field of view of the camera.
A typical video surveillance system uses one or more cameras to acquire information about an area being monitored. The one or more cameras are placed in strategic locations to ensure appropriate coverage of the area being monitored. When deployed within the typical video surveillance system, the cameras are static.

Video surveillance system with aerial camera device


Disclosed is a composition comprising a derivative of NDGA and 7-hydroxystaurosporine. The composition can be in a unit dose form or kit. Also disclosed are methods for achieving cytotoxicity, particularly of rapidly dividing cells such as cancer, by administering a composition of the invention. In various embodiments of the invention subjects with cancer achieve prolonged survival and/or diminution in the size of their malignancies and cancer metastasis.

Carcinogenesis is a multistage event affected by a variety of genetic and epigenetic factors and is typified by the outbreak of uncontrolled cell growth originated from different tissues. A universal goal for anticancer research lies in the development of a clinical treatment that is highly effective in curtailment of tumor growth, non-toxic to the host, and is affordable for most patients. Drugs that inhibit targets that are unique to dividing cells, particularly cells dividing in an uncontrolled manner, are an ideal paradigm for chemotherapeutic agents, the greater the specificity to cells that are dividing in an uncontrolled manner the lower the risk of attendant side effects.
The inventors and colleagues have previously reported that the tetra-O-methyl nordihydroguaiaretic acid (M4N), also known as EM1421 and terameprocol, a semi-chemically synthesized derivative of nordihydroguaiaretic acid (NDGA) possessed antiviral (1, 2) and anti-cancer (3) activities in cultured cells, in mouse models (3, 4), and in human xenografts in nude mice (5). As a transcription inhibitor, M4N suppresses Sp1-regulated cdk expression and causes cell cycle arrest at the G2 phase of the cell cycle (3, 4). The overexpression of Sp1 has been shown to have significant roles in development and progression of gastric cancer (6, 7). The safety and possible tumoricidal capability of M4N was examined for human patients either through intralesional (8) or topical applications (9). M4N currently undergoes Phase I/II clinical trials in patients by intravenous infusion (10). The clinical trial data so far indicated that M4N had substantial anticancer efficacy. However the data also suggested that it is desirable if we can find some ways to strengthen the anticancer activity of the drug since the tumoricidal efficacy of this drug is not strong enough in most of cases. There are many reports to indicate that the combination drug regimens based on several anticancer drugs are effective for the treatment of certain type of cancers (11, 12). In this study we explored possible anticancer combination drug treatments based on M4N, and investigated mechanistic backgrounds for effective anticancer therapy. Inhibiting cell death is widely accepted as a necessary step in the transition from normal to cancer cells, and most cancer therapies exert their effects by indirectly reversing this process (13, 14). Mitochondria are known to be a key element in cell death mechanisms. The activation of Apaf-1, caspase-9 and -3, and ICAD (DFF45) by cytochrome c egress from mitochondria is considered to be the most important mechanism for apoptosis induction (15). Usually mitochondrial membrane potential depolarization accompanies activation of cell death signal in mitochondria (16, 17). In many cancer cells, mitochondrial membrane potential is hyperpolarized rather than depolarized, which is one of many indications implying that cell death mechanism at the mitochondrial level is often broken in cancer (13, 14). For this reason it is quite understandable why many efforts of anticancer drug development are focused on normalizing mitochondria-related cell death pathway (18-20). Bcl-2 family proteins which are either pro-apoptotic or anti-apoptotic regulate cell death at the mitochondrial level (21). BNIP-3 is a protein belonging to Bcl-2 family protein family. This protein is a pro-apoptotic protein which is considered to mediate cell death signal through mitochondria under the stress conditions, most notably under hypoxic condition. Since cancer cells are often exposed to hypoxic condition because tumors often don't get enough blood oxygen supply, the study on this particular protein is very important to understand pathology of cancer development and prevention.
In recent years many cancer researchers have investigated extensively about autophagy as well as cell death, considering the exploitation of both of these physiological mechanisms to be crucial for establishing effective anticancer therapeutic regimens (27, 28). In the literatures there is clear evidence from the phenotypes of mutant mice, and cells derived from the mice, that autophagy functions to sustain cell survival, particularly during stress (29-36). It is also clear that there is functional interaction between autophagy and cell death pathways (37, 38). In response to metabolic stress, autophagy can delay cell death by apoptosis, and in apoptotic-defective cells, inactivation of the autophagy survival pathway promotes necrotic cell death in vitro and in tumors in vivo (29, 31, 38). Considering this recent progress in cancer research, mechanistic perspectives of both cell death and autophagy will be addressed for establishing effective combination drug regimens based on M4N in this study.
This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application 61/306,680, filed Feb. 22, 2010, which is incorporated by reference in its entirety.

Suppression of cancer growth and metastasis using nordihydroguaiaretic acid derivatives with 7-hydroxystaurosporine


The present invention relates to a handover method for a mobile communication system. The handover method according to the present invention informs a current state to a serving base station(BS) when a re-entry process has been delayed or a handover has failed due to an error occurred in the handover procedure during handover, and receives from the serving BS a status information response message containing available interval and unavailable interval reset information and link disconnection time reset information for extending the link disconnection time. So, the present invention minimizes or prevents a handover delay or extend a link disconnection time with the serving BS, thereby allowing a terminal to receive a continuous service even during the handover procedure.

A handover technology for allowing a terminal to continuously receive a service provided from a base station during moving for ensuring mobility of the terminal in a wireless communication system has been proposed. The handover refers to a technology that as a terminal moves from a serving base station (BS) in which the terminal is receiving a service to another base station (Target BS), data contexts which are currently transmitted/received to/from the serving BS are transferred to the target BS with a minimum interruption time for continuous communication. The handover technology may ensure the service continuity for the mobile terminal.
Especially, among various types of handovers, an Entry Before Break (EBB) handover of disconnecting a link to the serving BS after entry into the target BS in a state of maintaining the link connected to the serving BS has an advantage of enabling a continuous data reception from the serving BS even during handover.
However, during the EBB handover, if a re-entry process to the target BS has been delayed or the handover has failed due to an error occurred in the handover procedure, there is no way to inform the current state to the serving BS. Consequently, a continuous service from the serving BS cannot be guaranteed or a handover delay may be caused.

Method and apparatus for handover in a mobile communication system


A jack support apparatus has an outer tube having an outer tube body with an outwardly-extending outer tube jack cradle and an opposite outer tube opening, an inner tube having an inner tube body with a plurality of spaced-apart inner tube holes and an outwardly-extending inner tube jack cradle, the inner tube body slidably received within the outer tube body through the outer tube opening, the outer and inner tube jack cradles configured to each selectively engage one of the wheel axle and the cup axle of the jack, a tube spring operable between the outer tube body and the inner tube body to bias the outer tube and the inner tube apart, and a pin operable through an outer tube hole for selectively engaging any of the plurality of inner tube holes, the pin being biased inwardly toward the inner tube by a pin spring.

The subject of this patent application relates generally to tools and equipment, and more particularly to a jack support apparatus configured for providing mechanical "fail-safe" support to hydraulic floor jacks.
The following description includes information that may be useful in understanding the present invention. It is not an admission that any of the information provided herein is prior art or relevant to the presently claimed invention, or that any publication specifically or implicitly referenced is prior art.
Applicant(s) hereby incorporate herein by reference any and all patents and published patent applications cited or referred to in this application, to the same extent as if each individual publication or patent application were specifically and individually indicated to be incorporated by reference. Where a definition or use of a term in an incorporated reference is inconsistent or contrary to the definition of that term provided herein, the definition of that term provided herein applies and the definition of that term in the reference does not apply.
By way of background, in a variety of contexts but particularly the automotive context, a jack is often needed or employed to lift a portion of the vehicle to change a tire or the oil or to perform other repairs. Most vehicles come equipped with a mechanical scissor-lift jack for jacking up a portion of the vehicle, as by positioning such a jack on the ground under the vehicle with its lift surface adjacent to a frame member or jack point and then actuating the jack as by rotating the lead screw to cause the jack to extend upwardly, make contact with the vehicle, and then lift the vehicle as the jack's lead screw is further rotated. While such scissor-lift jacks, screw-type jacks, and other mechanical jacks are generally effective, they are relatively time consuming to operate, typically have smaller weight capacity than other kinds of jacks, and are relatively less safe due to their relatively small base.
Alternatively and certainly in more common use by auto mechanics in shops and regular do-it-yourselfers at home are hydraulic floor jacks, which have a relatively larger wheeled base and a lift arm that is pivotably installed on the base operably in conjunction with a hydraulic cylinder and piston and related handle that may be used to push or pull the jack into position and then actuated or pumped up and down via its yoke mechanism to operate a valve and push hydraulic fluid into the cylinder and pressurize it, thereby pushing the lifting piston up or out of the cylinder. When the hydraulic jack is thus positioned as desired under a vehicle with its lift cup at the free end of the lift arm adjacent to the lift point on the underside of the vehicle, as the handle is continually pumped, the lifting piston is gradually extended from the cylinder such that its mechanical coupling with the arm causes the arm to pivot upwardly relative to the base and hence to lift the vehicle. When the job is completed and the vehicle is to again be lowered, typically, the handle is simply slowly rotated to open the valve and gradually release pressure in the hydraulic cylinder and thus gradually lower the vehicle. It will be appreciated that the key to safe and effective operation of such hydraulic jacks is creating and maintaining the required pressure in the cylinder and that if such pressure were suddenly lost such as due to a valve, seal or o-ring, or other mechanical failure, the jack would lose all power and no longer be able to support the vehicle, causing the vehicle to suddenly drop, which of course would be extremely dangerous and even deadly.
Oftentimes, whether for safety reasons or because both sides or two portions of a vehicle are to be lifted, one or more jack stands may be employed to support a portion of the vehicle once it is lifted to a sufficient height by a jack. An automotive jack stand is typically formed having flared legs or a somewhat pyramid-shaped base with a central vertical passage in which is slidably installed a shaft having a lift surface at its upper end and horizontal teeth along the shaft that may be selectively engaged by a cross-pin passing through the jack stand base so as to intersect the passage and thus seat against a tooth of the shaft to effectively lock the shaft at a desired vertical position relative to the base and thus become a somewhat rigid weight-bearing structure at a desired pre-set height. Thus, with the jack stand so configured and positioned at a desired location on the ground underneath the vehicle, the employed jack can be slowly lowered until the weight of that portion of the vehicle is on the jack stand rather than the jack, allowing the jack to be removed and, as needed, to be used elsewhere such as to lift another portion of the vehicle.
Accordingly, jack stands have the advantage of supporting the weight of at least a portion of a vehicle with effectively no moving parts, or certainly only mechanical parts that are less likely to fail, while not relying on and tying up a jack at all times while a vehicle is being supported. But even so, such jack stands have a number of shortcomings. For one, due to the structure and the minimum height of a typical jack stand, it cannot be inserted until the vehicle is a minimum height off the ground at the desired location, which can create complexities even if just one side is to be lifted and particularly if both sides of the vehicle must be lifted, requiring that the vehicle be "walked up" by gradually jacking up one side and then the other in alternating fashion while gradually increasing the height setting of each jack stand until both jack stands on opposite sides of the vehicle are safely positioned at the same final height. Further, and perhaps more significantly, it will be appreciated that the locations of a traditional jack stand and of the jack itself must be different. For many older vehicles that have significant areas of the frame or chassis available or lengthwise pinch welds along the length of the chassis or frame to serve as jack points, the jack and jack stand locations being different is not problematic even if still not ideal when it is desired to jack up and then support a vehicle in the same vicinity (e.g., the front left if the driver's side front tire were to be changed). But for many newer vehicles with weight-reduction designs, composite panels, and somewhat hidden frame and chassis features, only a select few jack points are provided by the manufacturer that alone must be used to jack up the vehicle else damage the vehicle or have it fall, such as four total jack points at the respective four "corners" of the vehicle. In such vehicles that have dedicated jack points, which are usually no larger than the jack surface itself, it is thus impossible to both jack up the vehicle at a particular jack point and place a jack stand at that same jack point.
To address such challenges of employing jack stands at dedicated jack points on newer or exotic vehicles or when there is simply not much room to employ a jack and jack stand separately side-by-side, one proposed product is effectively a jack stand that may be assembled and disassembled and thus be employed with a hydraulic floor jack as the vehicle is lifted so that the jack and jack stand can be at the same location. One such product, known as the "RennStand" manufactured and sold by Safe Jack in Pasco, Wash., has a crossbar that may be disassembled from its two opposite legs and positioned on or across the jack surface or floor jack cup, between the jack surface and the vehicle jack point, which crossbar may also accept on its top side various adapters depending on the jack point configuration. By positioning the jack and thus the crossbar and jack surface appropriately under the vehicle and raising the jack until the crossbar or any related adapter is in contact with the vehicle jack point, further actuation of the jack will lift the crossbar and that portion of the vehicle to the desired height or ground clearance. With the jack and vehicle so lifted, height-adjustable legs of the RennStand may be assembled onto opposite ends of the crossbar and adjusted to a desired height at or above the ground via clevis pins and corresponding cross-holes in the crossbar and legs, and then the jack may be lowered until the weight of that portion of the vehicle is on the RennStand and the jack can be removed, the splayed legs of the RennStand effectively straddling the floor jack. As such, while the RennStand is aimed at solving the problem of locating a jack stand at the same jack point at which a vehicle is to be lifted or jacked up, it does so through a system of removable parts and pins that is relatively cumbersome, which separable parts or pins may fail or be lost, rendering the RennStand inoperable, and which assembled RennStand results in a jack "bridge" of sorts that has a wider base or "footprint" than the floor jack itself, a disadvantage for certain automobiles and automotive repairs where tight spaces are involved.
What has been needed and heretofore unavailable is a compact and easy-to-use tool or piece of equipment that effectively converts a hydraulic floor jack into a jack stand, thereby more safely, quickly, and effectively supporting a vehicle especially with limited jack points and limited space. Aspects of the present invention fulfill these needs and provide further related advantages as described in the following summary.

Jack support apparatus and method of use


The present invention relates to a cast steel alloy for producing cast parts with ferritic structure, wherein the alloy contains iron (Fe), carbon (C), chromium (Cr) and molybdenum (Mo). An increased resistance to intercrystalline corrosion is obtained when the alloy additionally contains titanium (Ti) and niobium (Nb).

In the case of such an exhaust system of a combustion engine the individual components of the exhaust system are exposed to a comparatively high thermal load, so that as a rule only metallic materials, in particular steel alloys are used in order to produce such components of an exhaust system. These components are mainly gas-conducting pipes and housings for exhaust system treatment devices such as for example silencers, particle filters, catalytic converters. Parts of these components, such as for example flanges, can be castings, preferentially cast steel components.
In addition to this, the hot combustion gases create an aggressive environment which in particular in conjunction with water or steam leads to a comparatively high corrosion risk for the components or cast components. There is a particularly high corrosion risk in the case of an SCR-system, with which a comparatively aggressive reduction agent is employed. Usually, in the case of an SCR-system, a watery urea solution is fed to the exhaust gas flow, wherein the urea reacts into ammonia through hydrolysis, which in an SCR-catalytic converter is used for the reduction of nitrogen oxides. Such an ammonia-containing atmosphere is comparatively aggressive and increases the corrosion hazard for the components and cast components involved. Corrosion-resistant steel alloys, i.e. stainless steel alloys, are for example austenitic. Accordingly, it is usual in the case of exhaust systems to use austenitic cast steel alloys for producing cast components, i.e. cast steel alloys with which cast components having an austenitic structure can be produced. Austenite cast steel however is comparatively expensive, which is in particular due to the nickel content of austenitic cast steel alloys.
However, ferritic cast steel alloys also exist. However, these are not all resistant to intercrystalline corrosion. Such an intercrystalline corrosion occurs for example at temperatures between 300° C. and 700° C. in conjunction with a corresponding aggressive environment. The intercrystalline corrosion is due to the known ferritic cast steel alloys becoming sensitized in the mentioned temperature range (300° C. and 700° C.) so that chromium carbides form which precipitate on the grain boundaries and withdraw the chromium from the surroundings near the grain boundary. However, chromium is decisive for the corrosion resistance of the alloy in conventional ferritic cast steel alloys. This sensitization takes place either during the operation of the exhaust system at the operating temperatures usually prevailing there, which lie in the mentioned temperature window, or even during the welding of the individual cast components or components, when these for example pass through said temperature window during cooling-down following the welding operation. A further consequence of the sensitization is the so-called grain decay, as a result of which the cohesion of the material in the structure is disturbed.
A further disadvantage of known ferritic cast steel alloys is the formation of comparatively large grains in the structure, which likewise has a negative effect on the resistance to intercrystalline corrosion. In addition, strength disadvantages are incurred.
Ferritic cast steel alloys are clearly more economical than austenitic cast steel alloys, so that there is great interest within the scope or large series production, particularly during the manufacture of exhaust system for combustion engine, to produce the cast components or component employed—as far as possible—from ferritic cast steel alloys. However, this is not possible with the currently available ferritic cast steel alloys in many cases for the mentioned reasons.
The present invention deals with the problem of stating an embodiment for a cast steel alloy, wherein the hazard of intercrystalline corrosion even at higher temperature loading is reduced, which for example occurs on the castings produced from it during joining, particularly during welding, and/or during operation of an exhaust system.

Eberspaecher Exhaust Technology GmbH & Co. KG


Generally speaking, systems, methods and media for updating device drivers of an operating system for a server computer system are disclosed. Embodiments may include a method for updating device drivers for a server computer system by a build server. Embodiments of the method may include determining whether device drivers for an operating system image source need to be updated, such as by crawling a vendor website. Embodiments may also include in response to determining that device driver updates need to be downloaded, scheduling a time for download of device driver updates. Embodiments of the method may also include downloading the scheduled device driver updates based on the scheduled time and storing the device driver updates in a device driver update database. Further embodiments of the method may include installing the operating system image source on a target server and installing the device driver updates on the target server.

Computer systems are well known in the art and have attained widespread use for providing computer power to many segments of today's modern society. Computer systems such as personal computers (PCs) and servers may typically include a system unit having a central processing unit (CPU) and associated volatile and non-volatile memory, including random access memory (RAM) and basic input/output system read only memory (BIOS ROM), a system monitor, a CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive, a fixed disk storage drive (also known as a "hard drive"), user input devices, and a network interface adapter. One of the distinguishing characteristics of these systems is the use of a motherboard or system planar to electrically connect these components together. Computers systems typically include software such as computer programs in addition to the hardware. As advances in semiconductor processing and computer architecture continue to push the performance of computer hardware higher, more sophisticated computer software has evolved to take advantage of the higher performance of the hardware, resulting in computer systems that continue to increase in complexity and power.
Computer systems have thus evolved into extremely sophisticated devices that may be found in many different settings. Many organizations utilize server computer systems for more complicated tasks such as providing e-commerce websites, providing complex multi-user applications, maintaining large databases, or performing other resource-intensive tasks. Organizations with significant computing needs often have many servers performing a wide variety of tasks with the servers communicating with each other via a network such as a local area network (LAN). To help maintain and configure these computer systems, system administrators may utilize a build server to maintain an operating system (OS) image source that can be used to help install the operating system on newly acquired servers or other servers that require operating system installation (such as servers where an OS reinstall occurs to help correct operational problems). Installation of a new operating system from an OS image source is often automated so that the operating system is copied from the build server to the new, target server over the network.
One problem with the automated installation process is that the newly installed operating system will often not boot if the incorrect device drivers are included within the operating system as copied from the OS image source. If the incorrect device drivers are included with the operating system when the server is first booted, an OS image crash may occur that results in an inability to use the server until the problem is fixed. This can often occur when an OS image source has the device drivers for a particular server model and the target server is a newer model that requires updated device drivers. To many customers, the OS image crash is an unacceptable situation since the server will have to be rebuilt and their server availability will be delayed. Depending on the applications that the customer intends to run on the server, this could result in huge losses in profits. The failure of the rebuilt server to boot also requires diagnosis of the problem (incorrect device drivers) and manual download and installation of the correct drivers, requiring wasted manpower in addition to server downtime. While the correct device drivers can be downloaded to restore functionality of the server, the problems resulting from outdated device drivers waste valuable resources and can cause customer dissatisfaction.

Automated operating system device driver updating system

International Business Machines Corporation


A liquid discharge head includes a head, a liquid supply conduit, a liquid discharge conduit, a radiator, first and second wiring boards, and a heat conductive member. Liquid is supplied to the head for discharge through the liquid supply conduit. Liquid that passes through the head flows to the liquid discharge conduit. The radiator includes a flow path through which a coolant flows. The coolant is different from the liquid supplied to the head for discharge. The first wiring board is between the head and the radiator and has a connector connected to a wiring extending through an inner space of the radiator. The second wiring board is between the head main body and the first wiring board, and includes, thereon, a driving control element. The heat conductive member extends between the head and the radiator, and is in thermal contact with the radiator.

An inkjet head, more generally referred to as a liquid discharge head, used in a printer or other liquid discharge apparatus has a head with a piezoelectric element for discharging ink, or other liquids, and a driving control integrated circuit (IC) for driving the piezoelectric element. A substrate, on which the driving control IC is mounted, or a substrate, on which an electronic component is mounted, is generally accommodated within an inner cover to prevent adhesion of ink or foreign matters to the substrate.
Heat generated by the driving control IC is transferred to the outside by the inner cover functioning as a heat sink. Thus, as the inner cover becomes physically larger, it dissipates more heat generated by the driving control IC. In recent years, the load of the driving control IC has been increasing due to increases in printing rates/speeds, and this has led to an increase in the amount of heat generated by the driving control IC. Considering overall limits on the acceptable size of the entire apparatus, the continued enlargement of the inner cover size to account for increases in heat generation has reached its limit.

Liquid discharge head and liquid discharge apparatus


An apparatus is provided for automatic, intermittent feed of workpieces into a lathe. The apparatus includes a collet having a side entry for receiving workpieces and a workpiece positioning aperture, in alignment with the lathe spindle, for finally positioning the workpieces for machining. The collet further includes dowel pins that initially position the workpiece and a plunger that reciprocates intermittently to advance and press the individual workpieces into the positioning aperture. The apparatus includes a delivery chute for intermittently dropping the individual workpieces into the collet assembly side access for initial positioning. A control system positions the collet assembly to receive the workpiece, releases the workpiece from the delivery chute, actuates the plunger to press the workpiece into final position for machining, actuates machining, and, at its completion, actuates the plunger to withdraw the workpiece whereupon it drops from the machine by gravity.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an apparatus for positioning workpieces in a lathe, wherein individual workpieces are fed into the lathe intermittently. More particularly, the invention relates to automatic feeding of contact lens molds into a lathe collet that positions and secures each mold for finish lathing of a surface of a contact lens formed in the mold.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In a conventional method for making contact lenses, a mold, having one surface conforming to a desired surface of the lens, typically a radius concave surface, is filled with a desired lens polymer. After the lens material cures, the exterior or exposed surface of the polymeric casting is lathed to produce the opposite surface of the contact lens. Typically, the lathing forms the posterior lens surface, adding optical power characteristics to the lens.
The lathing process involves securing the lens mold in a chucking device or collet that fixes the mold in coaxial alignment with the lathe spindle. A cutting tool is then brought into contact with the rotating mold, with the tool arranged and programmed to follow various pathways to achieve the desired finished surface.
The mold must be accurately positioned in the collet to ensure achieving a precisely machined optical surface on the lens. Both collet and mold design are important contributors in achieving satisfactory finished lenses. However, the process of loading the molds into the lathe requires such accuracy and dexterity that, conventionally, loading by hand by the lathe operator is necessary, which hand operation limits productivity of this process.
In Ademovic, U.S. Pat. No. 4,924,739, a method and apparatus for positioning contact lens molds for lathing is disclosed which includes a conically surfaced lens mold that conforms to an inner surface of a collet for fixing the lens mold into position for lathing. In operation, an operator must load the lens mold into the hollow lathe spindle, connect an air line to the spindle which, when actuated, propels the mold into its final position within the collet, with the surface to be machined exposed. After machining, the operator must reverse the operation, employing vacuum to extract the finished lens mold. The difficulty with this apparatus and method is that while the accuracy of positioning the mold and the collet is addressed by the design of the mold and collet, the process requires that an operator must perform a number of manual tasks, which reduces overall productivity of the process.
Schlotfeldt, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,909,982, describes a contact lens polishing apparatus that is provided with an automatic feed system, wherein a chute delivers lens blanks onto a horizontal support, with the lens blanks facing upward. The individual blanks are advanced horizontally by a piston mechanism onto a pedestal which secures the blank in place and elevates it into contact with the polishing tool. The finished lens is pneumatically blown from the pedestal and then discharged from the machine. This machine, while eliminating hand feeding, is somewhat complex with the blanks traveling a rather complex pathway.
It remains desirable in the processing of contact lenses and similar workpieces to improve productivity of a lathing step by providing an automatic feed apparatus for molds or workpieces that insures precision yet eliminates manual operation of the system, by means of a simple, reliable feeding and discharge apparatus, including a collet assembly having an improved design for initial positioning of the molds or workpieces.

Automated collet loading for the manufacture of contact lenses


A detecting apparatus for determining whether liquid crystal glasses are displaced in a cartridge is disclosed. The detecting apparatus includes: a signal sensing device for sending sensing signals to an internal of the cartridge and for receiving the reflected signals from the internal of the cartridge; a reflector installed in the internal of the cartridge for receiving the sensing signals from the signal sensing device and for reflecting the sensing signals back to the signal sensing device; and wherein a determination of whether the liquid crystal glass is displaced in the cartridge is made by determining whether the reflected signals from the reflector are received after the sensing signals are sent. Upon determining whether liquid crystal glasses are displaced in the cartridge, impurities are prevented from getting into the cartridge and thus the cleanliness is enhanced and the labor power is reduced.

1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to liquid crystal display technology, and more particularly to a detecting apparatus for determining an empty cartridge.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
With the technology development, liquid crystal displays are the most popular displays. The liquid crystal panel is a key component for the liquid crystal display. In the manufacturing process, the liquid crystal glasses are stored in cartridges of stacking machines. Sensing signals devices are usually adopted to detect whether the liquid crystal glasses are in the cartridges. A reflective signal sensing device is adopted for a more precise detection.
The typical reflective signal sensing devices have the following problems. First, as a through hole is needed on a top plate of the cartridge, dust or particles may get into the cartridge via the through hole so that the liquid crystal glasses are polluted. FIG. 5 shows a typical cartridge with one through hole on the top plate. As shown in FIG. 5, the through hole 91 is on the top plate 92 of the cartridge. The paths of the sensing signals are shown in FIG. 5 with dashed lines b. Second. In order to keep the liquid crystal glasses from being polluted, labor cost are needed to clean the cartridge frequently.

Detecting apparatus for determining liquid crystal glasses displacement in a cartridge

Shenzhen China Star Optoelectronics Technology Co., Ltd.


Compressible conical springs with unsecured tabs are positioned between an outer helmet and an inner rigid liner to absorb and distribute impact forces to minimize concussion risks and other head injuries.

This invention relates to helmets and more particularly football helmets that may reduce the severity of head injuries and concussions in contact sports. Many sporting events carry with it a risk of concussion to the participates. Concussions are known as mild traumatic brain injury (MTBF) and there is mounting medical evidence that even mild. MTBF events are associated with a greater risk of long-term brain damage associated with the neurodegenerative disease of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).
While conventional athletic helmets reduce of head injury risks in contact sports, there remains for variation and improvement within the art.


A cyclotron resonance chemical vapor deposition method for coating mechanical component parts, in which the method is particularly advantageous in coating for parts having substantially flat surfaces and corners which are subject to wear. The method includes disposing the parts in a reaction chamber, inputting a reactive gas into the reaction chamber and exciting the reactive gas in the reaction chamber by applying microwave electromagnetic energy in the presence of a magnetic field. A layer is deposited on the corners and flat surfaces of the parts by chemical vapor reaction such that the layer at the corners is thicker than that on the flat surfaces due to the concentration of the electric field at the corners, thus providing more wear resistance at the corners.

This invention relates to a microwave enhanced CVD method for forming a carbon film and its products.
Recently, ECR CVD has attracted the interests of researchers as a new method of manufacturing thin films, particularly amorphous thin films. For example, Matsuo et al discloses one type of such an ECR CVD apparatus in U.S. Pat. No. 4,401,054. This recent technique utilizes microwaves to energize a reactive gas into a plasma state by virtue of a magnetic field which functions to pinch the plasma gas within the excitation space. With this configuration, the reactive gas can absorb the energy of the microwaves. A substrate to be coated is located distant from the excitation space (resonating space) for preventing the same from being spattered. The energized gas is showered on the substrate from the resonating space. In order to establish an electron cyclotron resonance, the pressure in a resonating space is kept at 1.times.10.sup.-3 to 1.times.10.sup.-5 Torr at which electrons can be considered as independent particles and resonate with a microwave in an electron cyclotron resonance on a certain surface on which the magnetic field takes a particular strength required for ECR. The excited plasma is extrated from the resonating space, by means of a divergent magnetic field, to a deposition space which is located distant from the resonating space and in which is disposed a substrate to be coated.
In such a prior art method, it is very difficult to form a thin film of a polycrystalline or single-crystalline structure, so that currently available methods are almost limited to processes for manufacturing amourphous films which have lower hardness. Also, high energy chemical vapor reaction is difficult to take place in accordance with such a prior art and therefore a diamond film or other carbon films having high melting points, or uniform films on uneven surface, such as exteriors of the parts of watchs, which have depressions and caves can not be formed.

Microwave enhanced CVD method for coating mechanical parts for improved wear resistance

Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.