Provided is a fuel cell separator having a coating layer on a metal substrate. The coating layer is provided with an amorphous carbon layer and a conductive section. The conductive section is composed of graphite particles, which are preferably dispersed in the manner of islands each of which has at least a part exposed from the surface of the amorphous carbon layer.

In general, a fuel cell has an electrolyte film, a pair of electrodes (an anode and a cathode) each including a catalyst layer and a diffusion layer, and a pair of fuel cell separators (an anode side separator and a cathode side separator) that sandwich the electrodes therebetween. In power generation by the fuel cell, when an anode gas supplied to the anode is a hydrogen gas and a cathode gas supplied to the cathode is an oxygen gas, a reaction of producing hydrogen ions and electrons proceeds on the anode side, and the hydrogen ions reach the cathode side through the electrolyte film, whereas the electrons reach the cathode through an external circuit. Meanwhile, on the cathode side, the hydrogen ions, the electrons, and the oxygen gas react to generate water, thereby emitting energy.
Examples of the fuel cell separator include a separator having a substrate formed of carbon, and a separator having a substrate formed of a metal.
The fuel cell separator having the substrate formed of the metal is superior in mechanical strength and moldability as compared with the fuel cell separator having the substrate formed of carbon. However, as described above, the fuel cell generates moisture during power generation, and hence the fuel cell separator having the substrate formed of the metal is apt to corrode as compared with the fuel cell separator having the substrate formed of carbon. When the fuel cell separator having the substrate formed of the metal corrodes, contact resistance increases, which may result in deterioration in the performance of the fuel cell. It is to be noted that, a simple description "the contact resistance of the fuel cell separator" used herein means both a similar material contact resistance (a contact resistance between similar fuel cell separators) and a diffusion layer contact resistance (a contact resistance between the fuel cell separator and the diffusion layer).
For example, to suppress the corrosion of the metal substrate, there is known a fuel cell separator having a metal substrate subjected to plating of a noble metal such as Au or Pt. However, the noble metals are expensive, and the plating requires use of a large amount of the noble metal, which is not practical. Alternatively, the corrosion of the metal substrate can be suppressed by forming a graphite layer on the metal substrate, but the formation of the graphite metal thereon is technically difficult.
Furthermore, for example, a booklet of International Publication No. 01-006585 discloses a fuel cell separator having a metal substrate coated with diamond-like carbon to suppress the corrosion of the metal substrate.
Furthermore, for example, JP 2003-123781 A discloses a fuel cell separator having a metal substrate coated with diamond-like carbon containing a metal to suppress the corrosion of the metal substrate.
Furthermore, for example, JP 2002-151110 A discloses a fuel cell separator in which an oxide layer is formed on a metal substrate and a conductive layer is further formed on a surface of the oxide layer to suppress the corrosion of the metal substrate and an increase in the contact resistance of the fuel cell separator.
Furthermore, for example, JP 2000-164228 A discloses a fuel cell separator in which a low-electric resistance layer and an anti-corrosion layer are formed on a metal substrate surface to suppress the corrosion of the metal substrate and the increase in the contact resistance of the fuel cell separator.
Furthermore, for example, JP 2001-283872 A discloses a fuel cell separator in which carbon particles dispersed in the manners of islands on a metal substrate are coupled with an upper side of the metal substrate through a chrome carbide layer to suppress the increase in the contact resistance of the fuel cell separator.
However, in the fuel cell separator disclosed in the booklet of International Publication No. 01-006585, the diamond-like carbon corrodes depending on a power generation environment; e.g., an operating temperature of the fuel cell (e.g., 70° C. or above), moisture generated at the time of power generation, or a potential difference involved in a power generation reaction, with the result that the contact resistance of the fuel cell separator inconveniently increases.
Moreover, in the fuel cell separator disclosed in JP 2003-123781 A, the metal corrodes together with the diamond-like carbon depending on a power generation environment of the fuel cell, and consequently the metal is turned to a metal oxide, with the result that the contact resistance of the fuel cell separator increases further.
Additionally, in the fuel cell separators disclosed in JP 2002-151110 A and JP 2000-164228 A, metal materials are used for all of the conductive layer, the low-electric resistance layer, and the anti-corrosion layer, and hence the conductive layer, the low-electric resistance layer, and the anti-corrosion layer corrode depending on a power generation environment of each fuel cell, thereby increasing the contact resistance of each fuel cell separator.
Furthermore, in the fuel cell separator disclosed in JP 2001-283872 A, not the entire metal substrate is covered with the chrome carbide layer and the carbon particles, and hence the metal substrate corrodes depending on a power generation environment of the fuel cell, thereby increasing the contact resistance of the fuel cell separator.

Fuel cell separator, manufacturing method of the fuel cell separator, and fuel cell


A system and method for a high-side power switch includes a gate driver configured to be coupled to a power switch, a voltage measurement circuit configured to be coupled directly to the power switch, a switch monitoring circuit configured to be coupled to the power switch, the switch monitoring circuit configured to measure an output current of the power switch, a current limitation circuit coupled to the gate driver and the switch monitoring circuit, the current limitation circuit configured to regulate gate-source voltage of the gate driver when the output current exceeds a threshold value, and a controller coupled to the current limitation circuit and the voltage measurement circuit, the controller configured to determine a mode of operation according to a startup voltage measured by the voltage measurement circuit during a startup sequence, the controller further configured to provide the threshold value to the current limitation circuit according to the mode of operation and a switch voltage measured by the voltage measurement circuit.

Smart power switches have grown in popularity in low-voltage applications that have medium-to-high current loads. Such applications include, e.g., modern automotive and industrial systems. Smart power switches include diagnostic abilities and protection features, particularly against short circuits or other types of current overloads. They may further include a temperature sensor and over-voltage protection features.
Smart power switches shut down when an overload event, such as a short-circuit, occurs. During a shutdown, a wire harness for the smart power switch may act as a resistive-inductive (RL) load, storing energy that a power transistor of the switch, e.g., a metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET), needs to dissipate. Dissipation of this stored energy can increase the temperature of the power switch, causing thermal stress that may damage the power switch.

System and method for a high-side power switch


A foldable trailer is disclosed having the folding means provided by a winch that operates in conjunction with a lifting member enabling the trailer to be winched into an upright position for storage. The load bearing surface can be made of one section or two sections that fold together to allow for more compact storage. Through the lifting member the winch provides upward motion of the front of the load bearing surface while simultaneously causing the hingeably attached tongue to fold downward; continued winching will result in a vertically folded and storable position. The invention may be applied to a tilting trailer.

This invention relates to a folding trailer more particularly to a large trailer that an individual would find difficult to stand up into the vertical position. The assistance of a winch or jack is used to enable one person to easily store the trailer from the towed position to the stored position. Fold up trailers have been disclosed previously such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,362,316 and 5,924,836. The present invention addresses limitations of each of these and provides a novel solution to simplify construction and allow a large and heavy trailer to be folded into an upright stored position.
The invention disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,362,316 of Wright is most similar in structure to the present invention. A rear section of the load bearing surface folds over the axle to shorten the bed and the tongue portion folds downward as the trailer in moved into the vertical position. The tongue portion is itself foldable and rotatably connects to a point behind the rolling wheels of the trailer. This allows the operator to stand on the tongue while lifting the body of the trailer to take advantage of the weight of the operator in standing up the trailer. The limitations come as the mass of the trailer increase and the operator is no longer able to lift the trailer into the vertical position. In addition the tongue structure could be quite heavy and difficult to raise into the stored position. In fact most of the other prior art in this field relies on human power to lift the trailer into the vertical position.
A winch arrangement such as in U.S. Pat. No. 5,924,836 makes the stand up procedure very easy. But in this configuration, the load bearing surface in front of the trailer wheels must be made to have a "double joint" that would increase complexity and reduce the strength because of the reliance of pins or connectors to keep the load bearing section together during use.


The invention provides a radiation sensitive composition having a polymer binder of phenolic and cyclic alcohol units. At least a portion of the phenolic units and/or cyclic alcohol units of the polymer are bonded to acid labile groups. High solubility differentials between exposed and unexposed regions are realized with only moderate substitution of the binder with the acid labile groups.

This invention relates to radiation sensitive compositions such as photoresists that provide high solubility differentials between exposed and unexposed regions, and increased transparency to activating radiation.
2. Background Art
Photoresists are photosensitive films used for transfer of an image to a substrate. They may be negative or positive acting. After a coating of a photoresist is formed on a substrate, the coating is selectively exposed through a photomask to a source of activating energy such as ultraviolet light. The photomask has areas that are opaque to activating radiation and other areas that are transparent to activating radiation. The pattern in the photomask of opaque and transparent areas define a desired image to be transferred to a substrate.
In the case of a negative photoresist, exposed portions of a photoresist coating become less soluble in a developer as the result of a photochemical reaction, thereby resulting in differential solubility between the exposed and unexposed portions. This difference in solubility allows for the selective removal of unexposed portions of the photoresist coating and the subsequent transfer of an image to a substrate.
In the case of a positive acting photoresist, exposed portions of the photoresist coating become more soluble in developer than unexposed portions as the result of a photochemical reaction allowing for selective removal of exposed areas by development.
Following development of a photoresist coating, portions of the substrate bared by development may be altered such as by etching. The historical background, types and processing of conventional photoresists are described by Deforest, Photoresist Materials and Processes, McGraw Hill Book Company, New York, Chapter 2, 1975 and by Moreau, Semiconductor Lithography, Principles, Practices and Materials, Plenum Press, New York, Chapters 2 and 4, 1988, both incorporated herein for their teaching of photoresist compositions and methods of making and using the same.
Most commercial photoresist formulations, both positive and negative, comprise a film forming binder and a radiation sensitive component. Many of these film forming binders are phenolic resins. For example, many positive acting photoresists currently in commercial use comprise a novolak resin and a naphthoquinone diazide sulfonic acid ester photoactive compound where the novolak resin is the reaction product of formaldehyde and a phenol. Examples of such photoresists are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,377,631 and 4,404,272incorporated herein by reference. Another class of positive acting photoresists comprise a poly(vinylphenol) and a naphthoquinone diazide sulfonic acid ester. Examples of these photoresists are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,869,292 and 4,439,516, both incorporated herein by reference.
An important property of a photoresist is image resolution. A developed image of fine line definition having vertical side-walls is highly desired to permit transfer of the fine line image to an underlying substrate.
Another important property of a photoresist is photospeed. Photospeed is a common way of describing the sensitivity of a photoresist or other radiation sensitive compositions to activating radiation. Enhanced photospeed is especially important in applications where a number of exposures are needed, for example, in generating multiple patterns by a step and repeat process, or where activating energy of reduced intensity is employed. Increased photospeed also permits reduction in the radiation sensitive component of the photoresist and/or a decrease in the required energy of exposure for image formation.
Some cationic photoinitiators have been used to induce selective photogenerated acidic cleavage of certain "blocking" groups pendant from a photoresist binder, or cleavage of certain blocking groups that comprise a photoresist binder. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,968,581; 4,883,740; 4,810,613 and 4,491,628, and Canadian Patent Application 2,001,384, all of which are incorporated herein by reference for their teaching of the described binders and acid labile blocking groups, and methods of making and using the same. Such cleavage is reported to create different solubility characteristics in exposed and unexposed areas of the polymer. Upon selective cleavage of the blocking group through exposure of the photoresist, a polar functional group is said to be provided, for example, carboxyl or imide.
It has been found that these reported systems have limitations. For example, to realize significant solubility differentials between exposed and unexposed regions (and thereby provide high resolution of the developed image), known systems generally require that a somewhat large portion of the photoresist binder contain acid labile blocking groups. That is, a large portion of the polar functionalities of the resist are substituted with blocking groups so that a sufficient solubility differential is provided between exposed and unexposed regions of the resist. Consequently, exposure results in cleavage of a significant mass of the resist. This can result in shrinkage of the photoresist in exposed regions and thereby compromise resolution of the image patterned in the photoresist coating layer.
Other problems can arise upon subsequent etching of the substrate that underlies the developed photoresist image. For example, to etch an aluminum or silicon oxide substrate rather stringent conditions are often employed. Aluminum chlorine gas is frequently used to etch such substrates and extensive localized heating often occurs during the etching sequence. As a consequence, the patterned photoresist coating on the substrate can experience shrinkage as the acid labile groups of the unexposed resist pattern undergo thermally induced cleavage. This can result in the imaged photoresist lines having a wrinkled or roughened surface, a condition known in the art as reticulation and which can be undesirable, particularly for high resolution applications.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,128,232, incorporated herein by reference, a photoresist composition is described, the composition having a resin binder comprising a polymer having a major portion of phenolic units and a minor portion of cyclic alcohol units. This application discloses that by employing cyclic alcohol units in the binder, the resist composition exhibits enhanced transparency to activating radiation. This application also discloses that the concentration of the cyclic alcohol units should be limited to retain developer solubility of an exposed layer of the resist composition.
It would be desirable to have a photoresist binder that could provide high solubility differentials upon exposure with only a moderate substitution of the binder with acid labile groups. It also would be desirable to have a photoresist binder that contained acid labile groups but was resistant to reticulation during stringent processing steps. It would be further desirable to have a radiation sensitive composition that was highly transparent to activating radiation.

Radiation sensitive compositions comprising polymer having acid labile groups


A mitering gauge is constructed from three legs of a triangle. Two of the legs have fixed lengths and the third leg is adjustable in length. One of the fixed length legs is formed as a sliding plate and the other fixed length leg is formed as a fence pivotally mounted on the plate for orienting a work piece with respect to a feed direction of a woodworking machine. The third leg is formed as a gauge bar having a plurality of holes spaced in predetermined positions along its length. Different holes in the gauge bar may be aligned with an anchor block mounted on the plate for adjusting the angular orientation of the fence to a number of frequently used mitering angles.

Mitering gauges are attached to woodworking machines for making angled joints between two work pieces. Typically, the joints are formed by cutting the ends of the two work pieces at equal angles. Each of the two ends of the work pieces are separately oriented with respect to a cutting tool at a predetermined angle that is set by the mitering gauge.
For example, it is well known to use a mitering gauge as an attachment to a table saw for orienting a work piece with respect to a rotating saw blade. One edge of the work piece is held against a straightedge or "fence" that is oriented at a predetermined angle with respect to the saw blade. The fence is moved with respect to the saw blade for feeding the work piece into engagement with the saw blade. Different angles may be cut in the ends of wood pieces by angularly adjusting the fence with respect to the direction of the feed movement.
One widely used type of mitering gauge features a fence which is pivotally mounted on a guide rail that slides within a groove (also referred to as a miter slot) formed in a saw table top. The miter slot is parallel to the plane of rotation of the saw blade. One side of the fence functions as a straightedge for aligning a surface or edge of a work piece and the other side supports a gauge that is graduated with a protractor scale. The gauge pivots together with the fence past a reading mark on the guide rail for orienting the fence to a predetermined angle. A thumb screw or similar means tightens the gauge to the guide rail. The work piece is mounted so that one end extends beyond the length of the fence, and the work piece together with the mitering gauge is guided along the miter slot formed in the table top to cut off the end of the work piece at the desired angle with the saw blade.
Although it is possible to set this type of widely used gauge within a tolerance of less than one degree, errors of a magnitude no greater than five minutes may be noticeable in four inch length miter joints. Accordingly, several "trial and error" cuts may be required to set the gauge at an angle that will produce an accurate joint. Such trial and error cuts are time consuming and wasteful of work piece material.
Some of these known mitering gauges also include locating pins for more conveniently setting the gauges to a limited number of widely used angles. The locating pins are attached to the guide rails and are sized to engage one of a number of bores formed in an arcuate peripheral portion of the gauges. The bores are spaced at predetermined angles about the peripheral portion and are aligned with the locating pin by pivoting the gauge to one of the predetermined angles.
The locating pins provide for some improvement in the accuracy and repeatability of the known mitering gauges at a limited number of selected angles; but the gauges are difficult to manufacture, assemble, and maintain within a tolerance that avoids noticeable errors in miter joints. Much of this difficulty is related to a very limited radial distance that separates the fence pivot from the bores in the arcuate portion of the gauge. Even slight errors in the spacing or sizing of the bores lead to considerable angular errors in the orientation of the fence.
Another known type of mitering gauge features a sliding plate for supporting a work piece and for feeding the work piece into a rotating blade. The plate is rectangularly shaped and is sized to cover a portion of a saw table top on one side of the saw blade. A guide rail is attached to the bottom of the plate for sliding within a miter slot formed in the saw table top. One end of an extended length fence is pivotally mounted on a top surface of the plate near the blade for orienting work pieces with respect to the guide rail. A graduated scale is located along a far edge of the plate which can be read against the other end of the fence for orienting the fence to a desired angle. A fastener carried by the fence engages an arcuate slot in the plate centered at the fence pivot for locking the fence to the plate at the desired angle.
Although the scale along the far edge of the plate is located at a substantial distance from the pivot axis, contributing to greater accuracy, considerable skill and experience with the gauge are required to set the gauge within a tolerance that avoids noticeable errors. In addition, a correct setting is not easily repeatable once the gauge has been moved to another position.
Yet another known type of mitering gauge is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,841,188 to Wiater. The gauge is mounted directly on a saw table top, and a saw blade performs a feed movement within a slot formed through the table top. A fence is divided into two sections by a pivot axis. One section of the fence is mounted on the table top at a fixed angular orientation to the blade slot but may be adjusted through a short distance along the slot. The other section of fence is adjusted angularly about the pivot axis for orienting a work piece with respect to the blade slot. A thumb screw carried by the angularly adjustable fence section engages one of a number of holes tapped in the table top for setting the fence at a fixed angular orientation. Since the one fence section can be adjusted along the slot, the angularly adjustable fence section can be set through a continuum of angles even though only a limited number of tapped holes are provided for maintaining the angularly adjustable fence section in a fixed orientation. However, the ability to adjust the one fence section along the slot requires that trial and error efforts be used to set the angularly adjustable fence section to a desired angle.


An interposer assembly including a plate and a plurality of conductive contacts extending through plate passages for forming electrical connections with pads on overlying and underlying substrates.

Interposer assemblies with molded plastic plates and metal contacts inserted in passages in the plates are used for forming electrical connections between contact pads on opposed substrates. The contacts and pads are spaced very close together in land grid array rows and columns to establish a large number of differential pair signal and ground connections extending through the plate.
Conventional interposer assemblies include contacts having opposed ends which form pressure connections with pads on substrates. Permanent soldered connections may connect the contacts to pads on one substrate.
It is desirable for the interposer assembly contacts to form reliable electrical connections between opposed substrate pads.
Interposer assembly contacts include contact surfaces which mechanically engage substrate contact pads and form electrical connections with the contact pads. Conventional interposer assemblies have single surface contacts which engage each pad to form a single electrical connection with each pad. The contact may wipe along the pad to improve the quality of the electrical connection. Impurities, oxides or contaminants on either the contact surface or the pad can impair formation of the electrical connection between the contact surface and the pad.
Contacts used in interposer assemblies may include a separate spring element to bias a single contact surface against a pad.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved interposer assembly in which each contact makes redundant contacts with each pad so that each contact establishes two reliable electrical connections with each pad. The connections should have small contact areas to increase the contact pressure between the contact and the pad.


A method includes synchronizing a received signal with at least two orthogonal frequency division multiplexed OFDM training signals having only in-phase values and being real in the time domain and determining a frequency offset correction from the synchronization of the received signal and training symbols responsive to a cross-correlation between said training symbols to enable estimating all possible frequency offsets for correction for enabling OFDM demodulation of said received signal.

The invention relates to optical communication, and, more particularly, to a full range offset correction technique for coherent optical orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing OFDM Systems.
Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) is a prevailing multiplexing technique in digital mobile communication systems and starts to rise in optical communication systems. It provides flexible multiple access and multiplexing/demultiplexing ability in a low-cost and spectral efficient way. In the OFDM modulation, the data symbols are divided into multiple orthogonal narrow-bandwidth subcarriers and transmitted simultaneously. Due to its feasibility of digital dispersion compensation and narrow-bandwidth subcarriers, it can be very resistible to multi-path fading and chromatic dispersion. This makes it outstand among other modulation schemes.
However, the detection can encounter dramatic difficulty if the frequency of the local oscillator (LO) has an offset from the incoming signal, which may come from Doppler effects, channel fading, or the instability of the frequency synthesizers in transmitters or receivers. The tolerance of the frequency offset is much smaller than the subcarrier spacing, makes it difficult to implement in the environment of large frequency offset. For example, in the coherent optical OFDM (CO-OFDM) fiber communication system, the local laser, as a LO, can be shifted by a few GHz due to temperature variation. Fortunately, the detection problem caused by frequency offset can be perfectly corrected if the frequency offset amount is precisely known.
Accordingly, there is a need for a quick wide searching range frequency offset estimator coherent optical OFDM systems.

Full range offset correction for coherent optical OFDM systems


An ignition timing controlling system is provided for calculating an ignition timing based on a basic ignition timing, a learning correcting quantity including a large correcting quantity and a small correcting quantity, and a feedback correcting quantity. In response to an occurrence of knocking, a large retard value is produced. When the large retard value exceeds a reference value, the learning correcting quantity of the small correcting quantity is changed to the learning correcting quantity of the large correcting quantity.

The present invention relates to a method for controlling the ignition timing of an internal combustion engine such as an automotive engine and more particularly to a method of controlling the ignition timing at a time when a maximum limit ignition timing for obtaining maximum torque without causing knocking is largely retarded in accordance with an octane number of gasoline used in the engine or engine operating conditions.
A learning control system for correcting the ignition timing has been proposed. The control system is adapted to advance the ignition timing so as to produce a maximum torque as long as the level of the engine knock does not exceed a tolerable level. If the knock occurs, the control system operates to retard the ignition timing by a predetermined value. A maximum limit ignition timing for producing the maximum torque without causing knocking depends on a type of the engine and on the octane number of the fuel used in the engine. Namely, when high-octane gasoline or mixture thereof with regular gasoline is used, the ignition timing is advanced compared with that for low-octane gasoline to increase the torque. If the octane number varies, or if a large change in engine operating conditions occurs, the ignition timing varies accordingly so that it is necessary to correct the timing through a learning control system.
The maximum ignition timing is advanced as the octane number of the fuel increases. However, it is not advisable to advance the timing in accordance with the octane number over a limit ignition timing for producing a maximum torque dependent on the engine operating conditions because the torque is reduced.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open 61-157771 (U.S. Pat. No. 4,694,801) discloses a control system wherein the operation thereof is divided into an entire correction and a individual correction. In the entire correction, all of learning correcting quantities stored in a memory are roughly corrected to set the quantities to values approximate to limit values. In the individual correction, the learning correcting quantities are individually and finely corrected, in accordance with engine speed and intake air pressure. Thus, when the value of the fine correcting quantity becomes large and exceeds a predetermined value, the correcting operation is returned to the rough correction. At that time, the value is the deviation of the actual ignition timing from a desired value.
However, it takes a long time for a calculation of a correct ignition timing because an error between a desired ignition timing and an actual ignition timing is large. Accordingly, the calculation changes from the fine correction to the rough correction, so that a delay may occur. The delay of the returning is a problem in the case that the ignition timing is advanced because the knocking is not likely to occur.
To the contrary, when the high-octane gasoline is changed to the low-octane gasoline, the limit ignition timing is largely retarded so that the delay in returning to the rough correction causes a frequent knocking. Thus, it is necessary to quickly change the fine correction to the rough correction.
Moreover, the knocking induces more knockings because the knocking causes the temperature in the cylinder to rise.

Method for controlling ignition timing of an internal combustion engine


A device is provided for use to securely clamp a medical mechanism to a person carrier, such as a lifter, stretcher, gurney, or the like, to facilitate providing medical treatment to a person during transport of the person to a medical facility, The device has an open condition released from the person carrier and a closed condition whereupon it clamps very securely to a rail of the person carrier; with the material of the person carrier facilitating securing to the person carrier the device as well as the medical mechanism to be secured to the person carrier. The medical mechanism may, by way of example, be a relatively heavy mechanism for providing infusate to the person or a relatively heavy control for the infusate providing device. No matter what it could be severely damaging to the person on the carrier, medical personnel and transport personnel if a relatively heavy mechanism loosened from the person carrier and moved uncontrolled around the transport.

1. Field of Application
This invention relates to clamps and clamping mechanisms; and, more particularly, to clamping mechanisms for securely positioning a device, such as a medical device, to an injured person carrier, such as a litter, stretcher, or the like, that is to be transported, possibly, if by air wherein there may be erratic movements of the aircraft, or, if by land, wherein the terrain may produce erratic movements of the land transport.
2. Description of the Prior Art
At times, especially during armed conflicts or terrorism, people are injured. Such injuries may be quite serious and require the injured person to be placed on a stretcher, litter or like injured person carrier and transported by ambulance, helicopter or other suitable and appropriate transporter to a medical treatment facility.
Sometimes a medical device is required for the injured person while being transported to a medical treatment facility. Such medical devices could include oxygen tanks, infusing devices for blood and other infusates, devices for warming the blood or other infustate, power supplies for medical uses and devices, and the like. Keeping such medical devices close to the injured person is often accomplished by somehow associating the medical device and injured patient carrier. To facilitate transport of injured person(s) as rapidly as possible injured person carrier(s) awaiting use may be equipped, in advance, with such medical devices.
Transport of injured persons to medical facilities may at times be over relatively smooth city streets and/or highways but may also be by helicopter or other medical transport aircraft through unpredictable air currents, military ambulance over rough terrain, or combinations of such transporters. The resulting ride could therefore be subject to unforeseen air currents or rapid aircraft movements that cause the aircraft to drop suddenly, make rapid and sharp turns and otherwise continue on its journey to transport the injured person(s) to a medical facility as quickly as possible. Such rapid transporter movements require any and all medical devices to be secured against reacting to the sudden change of movements and directions by flying off into space and within the transport vehicle and possibly further injuring the injured person or injuring persons who are assisting the injured person medically and/or flying or driving the transport.
Existing equipment and mechanisms for securing medical devices to injured person carriers may have to be kluged together to avoid unwanted reactions of the medical device(s) to unforeseen and unwanted and sudden movements of the injured person transport, or, if available, may be relatively complex in construction and use, and/or excessive in weight and cost. There is purported to be a device that has similar goals, however, that device mounts on the litter by bracing on both litter 'poles' and because of it's dimensional requirements and its need for multiple structural connection that device is much heavier and costs much more to make. It may even be considered to be dangerous to the person on the litter because the supported device is held over the person on the litter.


A multiport switch assembly comprises a plurality of discrete switch devices coupled together in a way that virtualizes the behavior of a multiport switch assembly. Each of said switch devices preferably has fewer ports than the number of ports made externally available by the multiport switch assembly. The multiport switch assembly preferably comprises a plurality of tiers of switch devices and a processor connected directly or indirectly to all or at least some of the switch devices. The processor executes code that permits the multiport switch assembly to appear, from the viewpoint of external logic (e.g., management entities, end nodes, routers, etc.), to operate as a single switch device. This alleviates the burden on the external logic, which otherwise would have to control each individual switch device to accomplish the desired switching behavior of the switch assembly.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to computer networks. More particularly, the invention relates to electronic switches through which communications pass from one point in a network to another. Still more particularly, the invention relates a plurality of switching devices that are combined together in such a way as to virtualize a larger, multiport switch.
2. Background Information
Initially, computers were most typically used in a standalone manner. It is now commonplace for computers and other types of computer-related and electronic devices to communicate with each other over a network. The ability for computers to communicate with one another has lead to the creation of networks ranging from small networks comprising two or three computers to vast networks comprising hundreds or even thousands of computers. Networks can be set up to provide a wide assortment of capabilities. For example, networks of computers may permit each computer to share a centralized mass storage device or printer. Further, networks enable electronic mail and numerous other types of services. Generally, a network's infrastructure generally comprises switches, routers, hubs and the like to coordinate the effective and efficient transfer of data and commands from one point on the network to another.
Internetworking of high-performance computers has become the focus of much attention in the data communications industry. Performance improvements in processors and peripherals, along with the move to distributed architectures such as client/server configurations, have spawned increasingly data-intensive and high-speed networking applications, such as medical imaging, multimedia, and scientific visualization. Various protocols have been developed to provide the necessary communications capacity.
One such protocol is InfiniBand™. InfiniBand™ permits high data rates of 2.5 gigabits per second ("Gbps") in each direction. An exemplary InfiniBand™ architecture is shown in FIG. 1. The InfiniBand™ architecture is designed around a point-to-point, switched input/output ("I/O") fabric, that interconnects a plurality of end node devices 10 via connection "fabric" 12 comprising a plurality of switches 14. The end nodes 10 can range from I/O devices such as disk arrays and tape drives to complex host computers.
The InfiniBand™ switched fabric 12 provides a reliable transport mechanism in which messages are enqueued for delivery between end nodes. The InfiniBand™ protocol defines standard media and signaling conventions for transporting data in a serial fashion, provides error detection codes and a packet structure for transporting the data, and creates some standard services (e.g., subnet manager, subnet administrator). Details regarding the InfiniBand™ protocol can be found online at www.infinibandta.org.
The InfiniBand™ architecture can be scaled to provide for a relatively small or large numbers of nodes. As such, the switches 14 may be required to provide anywhere from a relatively few ports to a large number of ports. Semiconductor devices ("chips") are available that provide a switching function. For example, Mellanox Technologies currently offers an 8-port switch called the InfiniBridge MT21108. Messages entering any one of the eight ports can be directed to any one of the other seven ports. A subnet manager 18 is also provided to configure the switches 14.
In the event a system architect designs an InfiniBand fabric using 8-port switches 14, for obvious reasons, an 8-port switch such as the MT21108 device is well suited for use in such a network. However, it may be desired for the switches 14 in the network to have more than eight ports. For example, 16-port switches 14 may be desired. Despite the desire, in this example, for 16-port switches, the switch devices available on the market may have less than 16 ports, such as the 8-port MT21108 switch device. Further, it is generally very expensive to develop and test a new switch device. Moreover, multiport switches 14 may be desired having more ports than currently available semiconductor switch devices provide. It may be cost and time prohibitive to develop new switch devices having the desired number of ports to match the continuously changing needs of network architects. A solution to this problem is needed.


With the invention, tubular support bodies for bridging two adjacent vertebrae are shown. Two cages (1, 2) which are placed one within the other are provided with cut-outs, and each of them has a support flange (5) at the outer end face (6). A first cage (1) has at least three radially projecting protrusions (7) at its jacket (9a) which can be introduced into three axially extending lead-in channels (8) or a multiple thereof in the jacket (9b) of the other cage (2) in order to be able to reach latch-in positions (10, 11, 12) of different depths.

The invention relates to a tubular support body for bridging two vertebrae having two cages which are placed one within the other and are provided with cut-outs and which each has a support flange at the outer front surface.
Support bodies of this kind are implanted in the region of the intervertebral discs when the intervertebral discs themselves no longer withstand the stresses which the adjacent intervertebral discs exert on them and a support body is required as a fill-in.
Support bodies of this kind are often designed as cages which are filled with autologous bone chips prior to the implantation. The cut-outs in the cages are herein chosen in such a manner that the bone tissue is captive, but that a supply of the bone tissue takes place through the cutouts after the implantation at the same time.
The patent specification DE 195 04 867 shows support bodies which can be pushed together to their insertion length prior to implantation. This has the disadvantage that the required construction length must be very precisely determined in advance. The orthopaedist must therefore have an entire arsenal of components in the operating room in order to assemble one of a suitable size.
A different design is shown in EP-A-0 693 274 with adjustable threads which determine the length of a support body at a suitable height and are subsequently secured by screws which penetrate radially into the thread. An embodiment of this kind has the disadvantage that it can actually be fixed only once due to the damage which arises at the thread. Achieving a certain bias force on the securing screws is possible only via a plastic deformation of the threaded passages at the support body.

Tubular support body for bridging two vertebrae


A stitching geometry and method for selective interlaminar reinforcement of a CMC wall (20A). The CMC wall is formed of ceramic fiber layers (22) individually infused with a ceramic matrix, stacked, and at least partially cured. A row of holes is formed in the wall, and a ceramic fiber thread (25) is infused with a wet ceramic matrix and passed through the holes to form stitches (28, 30, 31). The stitches are then cured, causing them to shrink more than any remaining wall shrinkage, thus tensioning the stitches and compressing the wall laminae together. The stitches may have through-wall portions (30, 31) that are angled differently in different wall areas as a function of interlaminar shear over interlaminar tension, optimizing wall reinforcement locally depending on magnitude and direction of shear. Alternate rows of stitches (54, 56) may have offsets in a stitch direction (34) and/or different through-wall angles (A1, A2).

Ceramic matrix composites (CMC) are used for components in high-temperature areas of gas turbines. CMC walls may be formed by laminating multiple layers of ceramic fabric or fibers in a ceramic matrix. However, interlaminar stresses work to damage the interlayer bonds and separate the layers. Alternately, three-dimensionally woven CMC walls offer improved through-thickness properties over 2D laminated walls. 3D walls are reinforced at the preform stage, during which a ceramic fiber structure is woven to nearly final shape by weaving, braiding, or knitting. However, this technique is not feasible for oxide-based CMCs without considerable investment, because infiltrating a particulate loaded ceramic slurry into a thick, tightly packed, brittle fiber preform is extremely difficult. It can result in incomplete and heterogeneous matrix infiltration, even when using state-of-the-art processing, and even for relatively thin 3D preforms such as 3-4 mm. The problem is worse with more realistic component wall thicknesses such as 5 mm or more. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,568,594, 4,888,311, 4,921,822, 5,077,243, 5,294,387, 5,306,554, and 5,460,637 teach oxide matrix CMCs in which the largest matrix particles are preferred to be greater than 1 micron in diameter. This size is taught as preferable both for sintering shrinkage control and high temperature stability. However, these large particle sizes are especially difficult to infiltrate into a thick, densely packed fibrous preform, because the preform acts as a filter. All of the above patents also teach bimodal particle size distributions including a smaller size range much less than 1 micron. The smaller particles infiltrate nicely, but they are segregated from the larger particles via the filtration effect.
In addition, 3D preforms have the following constraints:                Limited to simple shapes such as extruded, flat, or cylindrical, depending on production method        Not conducive to localized optimization of reinforcement geometry        High development costs for complex shapes, due to custom loom setups, etc.        3D preforms often cannot be compacted for maximum fiber volume without losing the through-thickness reinforcement benefit        Long development time & expense precludes iterative design approaches        Expertise resides in a limited number of specialty shops, none of which offer all available options.

Ceramic matrix composite wall with post laminate stitching


Absolute temperature measurements of integrated photonic devices can be accomplished with integrated bandgap temperature sensors located adjacent the photonic devices. In various embodiments, the temperature of the active region within a diode structure of a photonic device is measured with an integrated bandgap temperature sensor that includes one or more diode junctions either in the semiconductor device layer beneath the active region or laterally adjacent to the photonic device, or in a diode structure formed above the semiconductor device layer and adjacent the diode structure of the photonic device.

Integrated photonic devices, such as lasers, semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOA), modulators, and filters, tend to be highly sensitive to operating temperature, especially when implemented in silicon-based (e.g., silicon/III-V heterogeneous) material platforms. Therefore, PICs often provide some form of thermal management for temperature-sensitive devices. For example, feedback-controlled integrated heaters or coolers may be employed to actively adjust the temperature of photonic devices. Alternatively, device settings and parameters (e.g., voltages to induce phase shifts) may be controlled or adjusted in a manner that compensates for temperature fluctuations. Either case relies on accurate knowledge of the temperature. Due to high variation in power density across the die, however, PICs are often subject to widely varying thermal gradients, rendering temperatures measured adjacent to the PIC or from the backside of the PIC substrate insufficiently accurate. This problem is exacerbated as the functional density of PICs grows, e.g., due to an increasing number of optical lanes per PIC, entailing higher power densities and larger thermal gradients. Accordingly, temperature measurements are preferably performed by integrated sensors in close proximity to the photonic devices to be monitored. Conventionally used types of integrated temperature sensors, such as resistive temperature devices (RTD) or thin-film thermistors, however, measure only relative temperature, unless individually calibrated at two temperatures. It is desirable for an integrated sensor to, instead, provide an absolute temperature measurement while avoiding the high-cost calibration of each individual part.


Techniques for managing assignment and reassignment of short codes are described herein. One or more computing devices may assign a short code to a first messaging campaign for a first time period. After expiration of the first time period, the one or more computing devices may then reassign the short code to a second messaging campaign for a second time period.

Text and multimedia messaging have become highly popular modes of communication among users of telecommunications devices. The most popular type of messaging, Short Message Service or "SMS" messaging, is a text messaging service of phone, Internet, or mobile telecommunications systems, using standardized communications protocols that allow the exchange of short text messages between fixed line or mobile telecommunications devices. Mobile telecommunications device users may create and transmit short text messages addressed to the phone number of the destination mobile telecommunications device. SMS standards were defined in 1985 as part of the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) series of standards, as a means of sending messages of up to 160 characters to and from GSM mobile handsets. Text messaging is now evolving into new protocols, including protocols based on IP Multimedia Subsystem or IMS technology.
With the growth in its popularity, text messaging has also become a useful communications mode for marketing. Marketers may create campaigns involving the creation and distribution of messages to multiple receiving devices. In many cases, such marketers don't use traditional telephone numbers for messages to and from receiving devices, but instead use short codes. Short codes are special numbers, significantly shorter than full telephone numbers, which can be used to address text or multimedia messages to and from telecommunications devices. Short codes are designed to be easier to read and remember than normal telephone numbers. Short codes may be used for a wide variety of campaigns, such as voting, ordering pizza or ringtones, competing for free concert tickets, and making charity donations. Messages sent to a short code can also be billed at a higher rate than standard messages, and may be used by a customer to subscribe to a recurring monthly service that will be added to the customer's mobile phone bill until the user texts, for example, the word "STOP" to terminate the service.
Because short codes are typically shorter than telephone numbers, however, there are a limited number of possible short codes. In the United States, short codes are typically five and six digits long and are made available to wireless telecommunications carriers and other entities through the Common Short Code Administration under authority of the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association. Short codes can be leased at the rate of $1000 a month for a selected code or $500 for a random code from CSCA. Users of short codes can thus compile their own pools of leased short codes which they can use and reuse over the lifetime of the short code leases.
Wireless carriers and other entities that use short codes face many obstacles, due in part to the limited number of available short codes and to the difficulty in managing short code pools. Many such entities manage their short codes manually. Manual management may result in a variety of errors that negatively impact customer experience. For example, a short code used in connection with a short term promotion may be reassigned to a new promotion, resulting in receipt of messages from consumers who are replying to the previous campaign messaging. Manual management is also time consuming and expensive. In some instances, customers receiving short code messages may view them as spam, resulting in the customers placing the short code on a blacklist and thereby reducing the number of customers who receive future messages from that short code. In other instances, it is difficult to track responses to short code messages.

Short code management for messaging campaigns


A new and distinct cultivar of Bracteantha plant named ‘Golbra’, characterized by its upright, somewhat outwardly spreading and uniform plant habit; vigorous growth habit; freely flowering habit; daisy-type inflorescences with bright yellow-colored elliptical involucral bracts and orange-colored disc florets; and strong peduncles that hold the inflorescences just above the foliar plane.

The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Bracteantha plant, botanically known as Bracteantha bracteata, and hereinafter referred to by the name 'Golbra'.
The new Bracteantha is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Kittsee, Austria. The objective of the program is to create and develop new Bracteantha cultivars with uniformly mounded plant habit, freely flowering habit and attractive inflorescences.
The new Bracteantha originated from an open-pollination by the Inventor in 1992 of a non-patented proprietary selection as the female, or seed, parent with an unknown selection of the Bikini-type of Bracteanthas, not patented, as the male, or pollen, parent. The new Bracteantha was discovered and selected by the Inventor as a single flowering plant within the progeny of the stated open-pollination in a controlled environment in Kittsee, Austria in 2002. The selection of this plant was based on its uniform plant habit, freely flowering habit and attractive inflorescences.
Asexual reproduction of the new Bracteantha by terminal cuttings in a controlled environment in Hann. Muenden, Germany since 2002, has shown that the unique features of this new Bracteantha are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.


A damper element for damping pressure pulsations in a liquid includes a first side including a first wall portion at least partially defining a chamber containing a gas and a second side including a second wall portion at least partially defining the gas-containing chamber. The second side is overlappingly joined with the first side such that the first and second wall portions combine to define substantially an entire cross-section of the gas-containing chamber. Both the first and second wall portions are convexly curved outwardly away from the gas-containing chamber.

The invention relates to fuel rails for the fuel system of an internal combustion engine, and more particularly to damper elements located within the fuel rails for damping pressure pulsations created by the fuel injectors.
It is known to use damper elements within the fuel rails of fuel-injected fuel systems. The damper elements minimize the otherwise negative effects (e.g., fuel line hammering, improper fuel distribution to injectors, etc.) that can result from pressure pulsations within the fuel rail.


Reaction products of oxo compounds and amines or ammonia, in which at least one substituent is aromatic and monosubstituted to trisubstituted by halogen, can be catalytically hydrogenated to the respective amines, the halogen essentially being completely retained if an Ni-containing or Co-containing catalyst is employed and the reaction is carried out in the presence of organic sulphur compounds.

The invention relates to a process for the preparation of amines in which at least one substient is aromatic and is monosubstituted to trisubstituted by halogen. In this connection, the process starts out from reaction products of oxo compounds and amines or ammonia which carry halogen substituents in the circumstances mentioned. These reaction products are catalytically hydrogenated, an Ni-containing and/or Co-containing catalyst being employed and the reaction being carried out in the presence of organic sulphur compounds.
The catalytic hydrogenation of reaction products of oxo compounds and amines or ammonia is known. Aldehydes and ketones may be mentioned as oxo compounds in accordance with the following scheme: ##STR1##
From an aldehyde or ketone and a primary or secondary amine or ammonia, a hemiaminal can therefore first be formed which can react further with a further molecule of the amine or ammonia to give the aminal with the elimination of a molecule of water or (only with primary amines or ammonia) can also react to give the azomethine (Schiff's base, aldimine, ketimine) with the elimination of a molecule of water. Aldimines can additionally be obtained in an indirect manner as reaction products of aldehydes and ammonia by partial hydrogenation of nitriles. All reaction products mentioned (hemiaminal, aminal or azomethine) can be catalytically hydrogenated to give the corresponding amines (Houben-Weyl, Methoden der Organischen Chemie (Methods of Organic Chemistry), 4th edition, volume IV/lc (1980), p. 127/128, 239/240 and 436). Such catalytic hydrogenations should also be possible with the retention of halogen. However, this result is limited to the use of palladium catalysts, and it is further pointed out that the reaction is advantageously carried out at low temperatures and using a deactivated catalyst (page 240). Even using other catalyts, such as platinum or Raney nickel, halogen should be retained (Houben-Weyl, loc. cit.). However, the specific hydrogenations indicated in the references cited do not represent a systematic investigation (page 436, paragraph 3) and in some cases show extremely moderate yields, as in the case of p-chlorobenzyl methyl ketone which can only be converted into the respective amine in 10% of the theoretical yield (Houben-Weyl, bottom of page 436). By-products have to be taken into account, especially in the preparation of strongly basic amines (Houben-Weyl, age 240, paragraph 2).


Embodiments of process kits for use in plasma process chambers are provided herein. In some embodiments, a process kit for use in a process chamber includes an annular body having an upper portion and a lower portion extending downward and radially inward from the upper portion, wherein the annular body includes an inner surface having a first segment that extends downward, a second segment that extends radially outward from the first segment, a third segment that extends downward from the second segment, a fourth segment that extends radially outward from the third segment, a fifth segment that extends downward from the fourth segment, a sixth segment that extends radially inward from the fifth segment, a seventh segment that extends downward from the sixth segment, and an eighth segment that extends radially inward from the seventh segment.

Plasma process chambers typically include a substrate support to support a substrate and a target disposed opposite the substrate support. The target provides a source of material for sputtering onto the substrate during processing. RF power is provided to the plasma process chamber to create a plasma in a processing volume disposed between the target and the substrate support. Plasma process chambers typically include process kits for protecting chamber walls from unwanted deposition and to confine the plasma. Process kits generally include a process shield. For high RF power processes, a plasma facing surface of the process shield is prone to erosion, leading to unwanted particle generation of the material that makes up the process shield and unwanted re-sputtering of the target material disposed on the process shield. The inventors have observed that shorter spacing between the target and the substrate increases the contamination and re-sputtering issues.
Accordingly, the inventors have provided improved process kits.

Apparatus for improved anode-cathode ratio for rf chambers


The present invention relates to the + or - pirmenol stereoisomers and to selected metabolites of pirmenol or (+,-)-cis-.alpha.-[3-(2,6-dimethyl-1-piperidinyl))propyl]-.alpha.-phenyl-2 -pyridinemethanol which are active as antiarrhythmic agents. The pharmacological use of the metabolites that is the present invention is as antiarrhythmic agents. Pharmaceutical compositions comprising the metabolites are also within the scope of the invention.

The present invention relates to selected metabolites of pirmenol, i.e., (+,-)-cis-.alpha.-[3-(2,6-dimethyl-1-piperidinyl)propyl]-.alpha.-phenyl-2- pyridinemethanol or N-[4-phenyl]-4-(2-pyridyl)-4-hydroxybutyl]-cis-2,6-dimethylpiperidine. The pharmacological activity of both pirmenol and the metabolites that are the present invention is antiarrhythmia. Thus, pharmaceutical compositions and use therefor comprising an antiarrhythmic effective amount of the metabolites are also within the scope of the invention.
Pirmenol is the starting material for synthetic preparation of the present invention metabolites. Therefore, U.S. Pat. No. 4,112,103, describing pirmenol, is incorporated by reference herein.
Precursors for pirmenol are disclosed in CA 97(11):92158m. These include .alpha.-[3-(2,6-dimethyl-1-piperidinyl)-1-propenyl]-.alpha.-phenyl[1(Z),2. alpha.,6.alpha.]-2-pyridinemethanol and .alpha.-[3-(2,6-dimethyl-1-piperidinyl)-1-propynyl]-.alpha.-phenyl[1(Z)-2. alpha.,6.alpha.]-2-pyridinemethanol. These disclosed precursors are different from the present invention because each precursor includes an unsaturated hydrocarbon chain. Also, the present compounds differ from both pirmenol and these precursors in the 2,6-dimethylpiperidine moiety.


An optical prism mounting system is described that includes a prism having a flexible insertion tab system. Also described, is a prism holder having an insertion channel, and a method of mounting the prism in a tonometer. The flexible insertion tab system includes a spring tab and a bendable tab; the spring tab is flexed as the prism moves along the channel; the flexible insertion tab system connects with the prism holder and snaps into a locked position at the end of the channel; and the prism and the prism holder can be separated after use by disengaging the flexible insertion tab system. An optical operating range of the optical prism is from about 0 ADC to about 600 ADC, and the maximum time for setting the tonometer is not more than about 150 seconds.

Tonometers are instruments used to measure intraocular pressure. There are three types of tonometers—indentation, air puff and applanation. Applanation tonometers are based the physical principle of the Imbert-Fick law where the pressure inside a sphere is equal to the force applied divided by the area flattened or applanated, i.e., Intraocular pressure=Contact force/Area of contact. Applanation tonometers measure the force required to flatten (or applanate) a constant area of the eye to determine the corresponding intraocular pressure. Indentation and air puff tonometers are not based on the Imbert—Fick law, and are thus, less accurate for measuring intraocular pressure. Additionally, air-puff tonometers aerosolize tears creating an inhalation hazard. (Micoraerosol Formation in Noncontact Air Puff Tonometry, Arch. Ophthalmology, vol. 109(2), pp. 225-28 (1991).) At this time, the Goldmann Tonometer is the most common device used to measure eye pressure. However, the Goldmann prism cannot be disinfected, as discussed in multiple technological publications. (Ocular Tonometry and Sporadic Creutzfel—Jacob Disease: A confirmatory Case Control Study, Br. J. Med. Res., vol. 4(12), pp. 2322-33 (2014).) In fact, the prism in a Goldmann tonometer is not replaced, and is, instead, repeatedly with multiple subjects, which results in potential results in a serious contamination problem.
Applanation tonometers are available in several forms, and they all, generally, include a replaceable prism. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,070,875 ("the '875 Patent") discloses an applanation tonometer having a replaceable prism, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,736,778 ("the '778 Patent") improves on the prism and its replacement, while otherwise relying on tonometer components such as described in the '875 patent. A standard set-up for an applanation tonometer 100 is illustrated in FIG. 1, where the prism 110 is manually inserted into a prism holder 120. However, existing applanation tonometers do not require the prisms to be replaced when measuring the intraocular pressure of multiple subjects, and are thus, problematic. Reusing the prism for multiples subjects can result in the spread of infectious diseases, causing a public health issue. Existing tonometers are also energy inefficient and offer less than optimal optical performance due to the manual insertion or placement of the prism with an inconsistent or variable insertion force.
Various new features of the replaceable prism described in this application address the above-discussed problems associated with applanation tonometers that use standard, manually-inserted and replaceable prisms.

Replaceable prism with flexible tab system for applanation tonometer, applanation tonometer containing same, and method of loading prism into applanation tonometer


Providing fluid to an internal delivery site of a patient includes moving the fluid from a fluid reservoir through a conduit and through a delivery device at the delivery site while maintaining the fluid at a predetermined pressure. The delivery device may comprise an inflatable balloon with apertures formed in its periphery for directing the fluid into the vessel walls. Pressurized fluid is provided through the apertures of the balloon to the vessel wall. The pressure is automatically controlled to avoid both pressure spikes and unacceptable deflation of the balloon during administration of the fluid. A further feature includes comparing the pressure with the volume infused and in the event that pressure decreases while the volume infused increases beyond certain limits, the delivery of the fluid is stopped. Further features include a timer for limiting the inflation time of the delivery device and a volume detector for controlling the amount of fluid delivered. In one described embodiment, a pneumatic driver system is used to pressurize the fluid.

The invention relates generally to fluid control and, more particularly, to automated control over fluid delivery pressure.
Infusion pumps are used to more precisely control the infusion of medical fluids into the vascular system of a patient. Syringe pumps are one type of an infusion pump in which the syringe plunger is moved into the syringe barrel at a controlled rate to administer the syringe contents to the patient. Such pumps are typically used to administer the infusion fluid generally as opposed to locally. That is, the medical fluid is placed into the bloodstream of the patient for general distribution throughout the body rather than applying the medical fluid only to a localized delivery site in the body. Consequently, such pumps are typically controlled to deliver the medical fluid in accordance with a desired flow rate rather than at a precisely controlled pressure.
While many such pumps include a pressure sensor, the sensed pressure is typically used only to trigger pressure alarms that will shut off the flow from the syringe pump if an occlusion or other undesirable condition is detected. The pressure provided by the pump is often only controlled to reside in a particular pressure range, which may be relatively wide, and to remain below a predetermined upper limit; the range and upper limit being selected in dependence upon the particular application.
However, in the case of local drug delivery systems for injecting medical fluids into the walls of blood vessels, into body organs or other internal delivery sites, pressure control is a primary fluid delivery parameter. In some cases, it is desirable to treat a disease by locally applying a medical drug in a high concentration. The concentration may be so high that the drug could cause damage to other parts of the body or even be life threatening if allowed to freely enter the blood stream of the patient, yet the drug may have the desired effect if confined to a local application. In such local applications, it has been found that pressure control is important. Excessive pressure may cause a dissection of the vessel wall and too little pressure will not force the medical fluid into the vessel wall but may allow it to be swept away by the bloodstream before it can be delivered to the desired location.
Studies have indicated that the application of particular medical fluids to the vessel walls following the performance of an angioplasty procedure on those walls has the potential of impeding restenosis at that site. For example, see Wolinsky et al., Local Introduction Of Drugs Into The Arterial Wall: A Percutaneous Catheter Technique, Journal of Interventional Cardiology, Vol. 2, No. 4, 1989, pgs 219-228. These studies indicate that the application pressure of the medical fluid to the vessel walls contributes greatly to the success or failure of the treatment. Thus, it would be of value to precisely control the pressure of the medical fluid applied in such a procedure.
The inflation balloons used in such catheter based, local introduction techniques typically include a certain number and size of apertures through which the medical fluid will be delivered to the vessel walls. The balloon is positioned at the desired location in the vessel and pressure is applied to inflate the balloon. However, the apertures tend to impede a rapid inflation because they allow a part of the inflation pressure to escape. Additionally, the apertures may allow some of the inflation fluid to escape into the bloodstream during inflation. In the case where the fluid to be applied to the vessel walls has some higher level of toxicity to the patient if the fluid should enter the bloodstream, a more rapid balloon inflation is desired. One means of achieving a more rapid inflation is to apply a higher pressure during initial inflation to force the balloon into its operative configuration as soon as possible and then lower the pressure to maintain the target pressure. An automated system would be desirable to achieve this control over inflation.
Additionally, while the balloon is inflated, and even when only partially inflated, the blood flow is interrupted or at least impeded. To avoid injury to the patient, a time limit on the inflation is imposed. Therefore, full inflation of the balloon should occur as rapidly as possible so that administration of the medical fluid can be started as soon as possible so that all of the medical fluid can be applied to the delivery site before expiration of the time limit.
More precise pressure control is also desired where the medical fluid applied to the vessel walls has some higher level of toxicity to the patient if the fluid should enter the bloodstream. In this case, it is necessary to maintain the balloon at a predetermined pressure throughout the application of the drug to lessen its chances of entering the bloodstream. The balloon must be kept at a high enough pressure so that the apertures formed in the balloon are in extremely close contact with the vessel walls. That is, the balloon cannot be permitted to deflate to an extent where the apertures are exposed to the bloodstream so that the medical fluid would be taken from the delivery site by the blood flow. By this means, drags which may be somewhat toxic if applied to the patient through the bloodstream may be locally applied to the walls of a blood vessel to perform a post-angioplasty or other function while not adversely affecting the patient.
In one type of prior inflation/deflation system, a syringe is attached to the proximal end of a catheter containing the balloon and a pressure gauge is located adjacent the syringe to measure the pressure of the medical fluid in the catheter. The plunger of the syringe is manually moved into the syringe barrel to expel the fluid contents from the syringe through the catheter and into the vessel walls through the balloon apertures. The pressure indicated on the pressure gauge is monitored by the operator during the movement of the syringe plunger and the operator varies the movement of the syringe plunger in an attempt to maintain the desired pressure. It has been found that manual methods such as this typically do not adapt quickly enough to compensate for pressure variances as the fluid is being delivered into the vessel walls. Pressure variances may be caused by various factors including site geometry, blood pressure, the number of apertures in the balloon, catheter geometry, and the viscosity of the medical fluid being applied, for example.
A drop in the pressure indicated on the pressure gauge may stimulate the operator to accelerate the movement of the plunger into the syringe barrel which may result in a pressure spike. High pressures have been found to result in necrosis of the inner media of the vessel (Wolinsky et al., id. ) and if too high, dissection of the vessel. Low pressures have the effect of transmitting the drug into the bloodstream, as discussed above. Thus, it is desirable to provide a system which permits a more rapid response time with more precise control over the pressure.
A further consideration in such systems is deflation and removal of the delivery device. In the case where the delivery device comprises an inflatable balloon having apertures for applying a medical fluid, deflation should occur so that the drug remaining in the balloon is captured by the catheter, rather than being released into the blood stream. Applying a pressure below the pressure of the delivery site, which in some cases may require a negative pressure, should occur relatively rapidly so that the medical fluid is not released into the bloodstream. The pressure in the system may change as the balloon is collapsed, thus monitoring the pressure and correcting it as it varies during removal of the balloon is desirable. Applying a negative pressure which is too large will unnecessarily draw blood or other body fluids into the catheter while too little negative pressure may allow the medical fluid to enter into the bloodstream.
In an angioplasty system in which a catheter having an inflatable balloon is positioned at a delivery site for applying pressure to the vessel walls by inflating the balloon, more precise pressure control may also provide a benefit. Although this is a closed system in that the inflation fluid is not continuously leaving the system as in the drug delivery system, pressure must be monitored for proper performance of the procedure. Excessive pressure may cause damage to the vessel walls while insufficient pressure will not expand the vessel walls enough to successfully accomplish the angioplasty.
It has also been found desirable in many drug delivery systems to more precisely control the volume of the medical fluid delivered along with more precise pressure control. In some applications, the volume of the drug to be applied to the delivery site, such as blood vessel walls, is very small (less than five milliliters). Present fluid injection systems have not permitted the precise control over pressure in the delivery of such a small amount of fluid.
Hence, it has been recognized by those skilled in the art that a more accurate fluid pressure control system is desirable. It has also been recognized that a system which provides automated control over pressure during the delivery of fluid is also desirable. It has been further recognized that a system which accurately controls pressure during the local application of medical fluid while avoiding infusion of the medical fluid into other areas is desirable. The present invention fulfills these needs and others.


A kit for locating on the steering wheel of a watercraft a switch assembly for operating actuating mechanisms for tilting upwardly or downwardly the outdrive of a motor associated with the watercraft to enable the operator of the watercraft to keep both hands on the steering wheel especially when the watercraft is travelling at a high rate of speed. The kit comprises a switch assembly for mounting on the steering wheel; a cable reel assembly having a rotary housing and a stationary housing mounted to the vehicle; and a wiring harness having a first end electrically connected to the switch assembly, an intermediate section fixed to the rotary housing and coiled into a plurality of convolutions within a chamber in the stationary housing for expansion within the chamber if the steering wheel is turned in one direction and contraction within the chamber if the steering wheel is turned in the other direction, and being operatively connected to the actuating mechanisms which causing the tilting of the motor.

The prior art abounds with power-operated mechanisms for tilting outboard and/or inboard-outboard motors mounted on the transom of a boat. These power-operated mechanisms are useful to avoid damaging the propeller and the engine when docking or beaching a boat in shallow water and when operating the boat through weed beds. These power-operated mechanisms are also useful to raise and lower the larger and heavier high-powered outboard motors which are extremely difficult to handle manually and for holding the foot of the outboard motor in a raised position when the boat is positioned on a trailer for towing by a land motor vehicle. These power-operated mechanisms are especially useful to tilt or trim the outdrive of the motor to its most efficient angle relative to the transom of the boat to achieve peak performance of the motor and the boat irrespective of the distribution of weight within the boat.
The switches for actuating the power-operated mechanisms for raising and lowering the outdrive of outboard motors mounted on the transom of a boat are almost universally positioned on the upper end of a control lever, mounted on the sidewall of the boat on one side of the operator (driver), which operates both the throttle linkage and the transmission of the outboard motor. The high powered motors being installed on boats used by professional bass fishermen and others who like to travel at high rates of speed are likewise normally mounted on the upper end of the control lever so located. Since the operator of the boat must remove one hand from the steering wheel to actuate one of the switches to trim the motor either up or down to reach peak performance, a dangerous and hazardous situation is created. Thus, it is desirable to relocate the switches to the steering wheel so that the operator will not have to remove one of his hands from the steering wheel when the boat is travelling at high rates of speed.
U.S. Pat. No. Re. 27,932 to Mettetal, Jr. discloses several embodiments of typical, prior art, mechanisms for tilting an outboard motor, namely: a combination hydraulic and electrical circuit mechanism (FIGS. 1-4); a hydraulic mechanism (FIGS. 5-7); and a mechanical screw and nut mechanism (FIGS. 8-10). The present invention is adaptable for use with any of these types, or any other types, of mechanisms for tilting the outdrive of a motor.
Several kits are on the market for relocating the actuating switches to places such as the steering wheel, dashboard or the floor of the boat. Examples of such kits are depicted on pages 7 and 8 of the 1989/1990 Catalog of T-H Marine Supplies, Inc., 118 Celtic Circle, Madison, Ala. These kits have several disadvantages, deficiencies or drawbacks. The kit for relocating the switch to the steering wheel has the disadvantage or drawback in that the cable leading from the switches to the power trim wiring harness coils or wraps around the steering column or shaft when the steering wheel is rotated. For safety reasons, it is therefore desirable to provide switches adapted for mounting on the steering wheel to enable the operator of the boat to trim the outdrive of the motor while traveling at a high rate of speed without having to take his hands off of the steering wheel.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a relative inexpensive kit for locating or relocating on the steering wheel the switches of a power-operated mechanism which tilts or trims the outdrive of a motor for a boat.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide the power-operated mechanisms which causes the tilting or trimming of the outdrive of a motor for a boat with means located on the steering wheel to cause such tilting or trimming.
It is another object of the present invention to locate on the steering wheel of a steerable vehicle the switch assembly which energizes a component of the vehicle which affects the operation of the vehicle.
Additional benefits and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art to which this invention relates from the subsequent description of the preferred embodiments and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.


A resin BD lens having a property of refracting a light beam in a direction corresponding to a main scanning direction may cause a variation in generation timing difference among a plurality of horizontal synchronization signals and accordingly degrade accuracy to correct the starting position of an electrostatic latent image. The present invention uses a glass BD lens having a property of refracting a light beam in a direction corresponding to the main scanning direction.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to light scanning apparatuses including a light source that emits a plurality of light beams for exposure of a photosensitive member, and image forming apparatuses including the light scanning apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally known image forming apparatuses are configured to deflect a light beam emitted from a light source by a rotary polygon mirror and scan a photosensitive member with the light beam deflected by the rotary polygon mirror to form an electrostatic latent image on the photosensitive member. Such an image forming apparatus is provided with an optical sensor to detect a light beam deflected by the rotary polygon mirror. The optical sensor generates a synchronization signal, based on which a light beam is emitted from the light source, thus bringing starting positions of electrostatic latent images (images) into coincidence with each other in the scanning direction (main scanning direction) of the light beam on the photosensitive member.
For a higher image forming speed and higher resolution of images, a known image forming apparatus includes a light source in which a plurality of light emitting elements each emitting a light beam are arranged as shown in FIG. 9A. In FIG. 9A, X-axis direction corresponds to the main scanning direction and Y-axis direction corresponds to the rotational direction (vertical scanning direction) of the photosensitive member. Such an image forming apparatus is adjusted in the assembly process at the factory about an interval between the light emitting elements in Y-axis direction while rotating the light source in the direction of the arrow shown in FIG. 9A. While rotating the light source in this way, an interval between exposure positions on the photosensitive member in the vertical scanning direction of the light beams emitted from the light emitting elements is adjusted to be an interval corresponding to the resolution of the image forming apparatus.
As the light source rotates in the direction of the arrow shown in FIG. 9A, however, an interval between the light emitting elements changes not only in Y-axis direction but also in X-axis direction. Then, a conventional image forming apparatus includes an optical sensor generating a horizontal synchronization signal, based on which each light emitting element is allowed to emit a light beam at a timing specified for the light emitting element, thus bringing the starting positions of the electrostatic latent images into coincidence with each other.
In the aforementioned assembly process, the angle (adjustment amount) to rotate the light source is different for each imaging forming apparatus because the light source may be differently mounted in different image forming apparatuses or optical members such as lenses and mirrors have different optical properties. This means that a plurality of image forming apparatuses have different intervals between light emitting elements in X-axis direction after the rotation adjustment of their light sources. In that case, when the emission timings of light beams from the light emitting elements are uniformly set for all image forming apparatuses based on the synchronization signal generated by the optical sensor, then some of the imaging forming apparatuses may have a starting position of an electrostatic latent image displaced in the main scanning direction.
In order to suppress such displacement of the starting position of an electrostatic latent image in the main scanning direction due to the rotation of the light source in the assembly process, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2008-89695 discloses an image forming apparatus including a first light emitting element and a second light emitting element, each of which emits a light beam. A plurality of horizontal synchronization signals are generated based on the light beams emitted, and based on a difference in generation timing between the plurality of horizontal synchronization signals, an emission timing of a light beam from the second light emitting element is set with reference to the emission timing of a light beam from the first light emitting element.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2011-48085 discloses a light scanning apparatus including a lens made of resin as an fθ lens and including an optical sensor to receive a light beam passing through a light-gathering lens (BD lens) different from the fθ lens, thus generating a synchronization signal.
The BD lens of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2011-48085 made of resin similarly to the fθ lens leads to the following problem. A BD lens has a property of refracting a light beam in the direction corresponding to the main scanning direction. As the temperature inside the light scanning apparatus increases due to the rotation of the rotary polygon mirror, the property of the BD lens to refract a light beam changes, resulting in the possibility of changing a generating timing of a horizontal synchronization signal. In the case of the image forming apparatus disclosed by Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2008-89695, detected generating timings of the plurality of horizontal synchronization signals are affected by the change in properties of the BD lens, so that the difference in generation timing between the plurality of horizontal synchronization signals will change and thus accuracy to correct the starting position of an electrostatic latent image will deteriorate.

Light scanning apparatus and image forming apparatus including light scanning apparatus


A method and a brake system, in which method a vehicle having a service brake and a parking brake is held by autonomous brake actuation, wherein in a first step, an actuation of the service brake is performed, and in the event of a predefined condition being met, a transfer from the service brake to the parking brake takes place. According to an aspect of the invention, during the transfer, both an actuation of the parking brake and also an additional actuation of the service brake takes place.

Motor vehicles are generally equipped with a hydraulic service brake system in which pressure is built up in a master brake cylinder, and is transmitted to wheel brakes via brake lines filled with a hydraulic medium, in accordance with a brake pedal actuation by the driver. It is often also possible for an autonomous pressure build-up to be performed according to demand, and independently of a brake pedal actuation, by an electronic control unit. Driving safety functions such as driving dynamics regulation (Electronic Stability Control, ESC), and increasingly also assistance functions such as a holding function of the vehicle (Active Vehicle Hold, AVH), are provided by means of a driver-independent brake actuation of said type. Said holding function can, by means of an autonomous pressure build-up and a shutting-in of brake pressure in the wheel brakes, automatically hold the vehicle at a standstill on a gradient even over a relatively long period of time. If the vehicle is equipped with an electrically actuable parking brake system, a transfer from the service brake system to the parking brake system takes place under certain conditions (for example if the driver opens the door).
DE 103 45 485 A1, which is incorporated by reference, discloses a brake device having a service brake and parking brake function, which brake device comprises a hydraulic pressure-generating unit for the hydraulic application of the brake device, a self-locking, preferably electric force generating unit for additional application of the brake device, and a brake-application element which is acted on both by the hydraulic pressure generating device and also the additional force generating device. In the case of an actuation of the parking brake function, the additional brake application takes effect after the hydraulic brake application. The level of the brake-application force of the additional brake application is higher than the level of the brake-application force of the hydraulic brake application. An electric parking brake which acts jointly with a hydraulic service brake on a brake-application device provided with friction lining is known under the name "integrated parking brake" (IPB).
EP 1 678 018 B1, which is incorporated by reference, discloses a method for stabilizing a motor vehicle which is braked at a standstill, which motor vehicle is equipped with a brake system which can be actuated independently of the driver and which comprises a service brake and a parking brake. After the vehicle comes to a standstill, a parking brake force which is to be generated by the parking brake for maintaining the vehicle standstill state is determined, and a service braking force which simulates the parking brake is generated independently of the driver by means of the service brake, whereupon the predetermined parking braking force is built up by means of the parking brake and, when or after the parking braking force is attained in the parking brake, the service brake is deactivated. This method is intended to prevent the vehicle from rolling away, which may occur in the case of a partially icy roadway as a result of the parking brake being provided for example only on the rear wheels, whereas the service brake acts on all of the wheels of the vehicle.
It is often the case that vehicles are equipped only with a hydraulic service brake at least one wheel, in particular at the front wheels, and with an integrated parking brake at least one wheel, in particular at the rear wheels. When a transfer from the hydraulic holding function of the service brake to the electric parking brake takes place in a vehicle equipped in this way, a retroaction of the parking brake on the hydraulic brake can lead to an undesired slow release of the brake pads and to slippage of the brake disk, with a disturbing noise being generated.


The present invention relates to the use of nanofibrillar cellulose hydrogel in cell culture and medical applications. The invention relates to a composition comprising nanofibrillar cellulose, cross linkable polymer and at least one bioactive agent. The invention also provides methods for producing the composition and uses thereof. The present invention further relates to the use of said composition for manufacturing of a shaped matrix, the method of preparing said matrix, the matrix and the use of said matrix in various applications.

Tissue engineering is a field wherein artificial tissues that can be used for medical applications are created in vivo, such as implantable organs, or in vitro, such as models for tissue functionality. Constructs which have been tissue engineered usually consist of a scaffold i.e. a porous matrix that has been seeded with cells. The properties of the matrix have a significant effect on the cell activity and functionality.
Nanofibrillar cellulose (NFC) has recently found applications in various areas, including biomedical and pharmaceutical applications as well as tissue engineering. In higher plants, cellulose is organized in morphologically complex structure consisting of β(1→4) D-glucopyranose chains. These chains are laterally bound by hydrogen bonds to form fibrils with a diameter in nanoscale, which are further organized in microfibril bundles. Furthermore, cellulose molecules are associated with other polysaccharides (hemicelluloses) and lignin in plant cell walls, resulting in even more complex morphologies. The cellulose nanoscale fibers can be released from the highly ordered structure by mechanical process and combined with other treatments, such as enzymatic pre-treatment. The cellulose nanoscale fibers can be used to form hydrogels which are a family of natural and synthetic polymers which can be used for cell culturing and tissue engineering.
An area in tissue engineering is the cell seeding process. Cells may be seeded either after or during fabrication. Additive manufacturing of biocompatible materials is a way to fabricate scaffolds for tissue engineering purposes. Additive manufacturing includes fabrication techniques that form 3D structures layer by layer. Some of said techniques are suitable for fabricating scaffolds from hydrogels. Ready-to-use alginate scaffold in well plates for cell culture, such as AlgiMatrix™ 3D Culture System (Gibco®), exists on the market.
Falange and Wu et al. (2012) disclose that stem cells have been used for wound healing and tissue repair. Sirviö et al. (2014) disclose biocomposite cellulose-alginate films produced using Ca2+ crosslinking. The use of Ca2+ only in crosslinking results in a stiff but fragile structure, wherein the cells are not able to move. Yoo et al. (2014) disclose fabrication of alginate fibers using microporous membrane based molding technique.
The existing cell culture compositions have problems such as the presence of starch which makes the composition too fragile. In addition, while some hydrogels can hold their shape after printing, they are often very soft and easily squashed when handled, which can ruin detailed structures.
Despite the ongoing research and development in the area of cell culturing and tissue engineering there is still a need for the development and use of generally acceptable methodologies in order to provide improved compositions and methods for cell culturing and tissue engineering. There is also a need for a method which enables transplanted cells to be adhered to the site they are delivered.


Components of a design object are graphically displayed on a display device of an apparatus for making a design reference. A designated interference check element graphically displayed on the display device imitates an article or human being moving in an area in which an actual design object is arranged. The interference check element is graphically displayed in a predetermined moving area of the interference check element in the area in which the design object is arranged. An interference between the interference check element and the design object is detected while the interference check element and the design object are moved relative to each other such that the interference check element is moved along the moving area, and a detected interference is displayed on the display device.

The present invention relates to a method for making a design reference and an apparatus therefor, and more particularly to a method for making a design reference and an apparatus therefor suitable for interactively and comparatively checking the validity of a layout plan of components of a design object.
An apparatus for making a design reference (hereafter referred to as a CAD apparatus) comprises a display screen on which a design object is to be displayed and an input device for generating coordinate data based on the designation of a point on the display screen in order to display a point, line or characters at the designated point and write a coordinate of that point and the displayed data into a memory by using an interactive technique. Such an apparatus is disclosed in the U.S. Pat. No. 4,451,895.
In the prior art CAD apparatus, data of a design object is converted to image data in order to display it on a display screen, and comparative checking of the design object is done by visually watching the data on the display. For example, in a CAD apparatus disclosed in Japanese Application JP-A-59-17382, scaled orthogonal lines are displayed on a display screen. An operator watches the orthogonal lines to visually measure a distance between two points on the screen. A CAD apparatus disclosed in Japanese Application JP-A-60-3791 recognizes a vector related to a point on a display screen which an operator picked.

Method for making of design reference and apparatus therefor