A removable conformal liner for a centrifuge container is described. The liner has a flexible or semi-rigid body with an opening for introducing a sample. When the liner is inserted into an internal cavity of a centrifuge container, the body of the liner conforms to the interior cavity. The liner body may be made of a material that is sufficiently resilient to allow a reversible deformation of the body by folding, twisting, collapsing, rolling, or pleating.

The invention relates to removable liners for centrifuge containers and a method of using such liners for separating solids from suspensions by centrifugation.
Centrifugation is a widely used method for separating solid and liquid phases of suspensions. The solid phase is more dense than the liquid phase, and during centrifugation, solids settle at the bottom of the centrifuge container, forming a dense pellet. The lighter liquid phase forms a top layer, also called a supernatant. At the end of centrifugation, the supernatant can be decanted and the pellet harvested or discarded. The initial separation step may be followed by wash steps. During a wash step, the pellet is resuspended in a wash liquid. The resuspended solid component then may be pelleted once again by means of centrifugation and the supernatant wash liquid decanted from the container. In certain applications, this step can be repeated several times with the same or a different wash liquid.
Currently, tube-carrying rotors, as well as bowl-type centrifuge rotors, are available on the market. The following discussion is limited to tube-carrying rotors of which there are three main types: swinging bucket rotors, fixed angle rotors and vertical tube rotors. All three types of tube-carrying rotors include a plurality of symmetrically located cavities, adapted to receive sample containers. Sample containers for centrifugation are manufactured in a variety of sizes, materials, wall thicknesses and sealing means to accommodate chemically active samples and a wide range of operating conditions.
The existing designs of centrifuge containers, however, do not offer an easy access to pellets for their harvesting or disposal. In applications dealing with diluted suspensions, complete harvesting of a pellet can be particularly difficult. In some applications, sample containers have to be cut to retrieve a pellet, which is not always an economically feasible option. Also, existing centrifuge containers cannot accommodate applications where the pellet is a hazardous material (e.g., a biohazard) and a minimal direct handling of the pellet by a technician is desirable. Furthermore, cleaning of the centrifuge containers from the solids remaining on the walls after the pellet is harvested requires laborious and tedious scrubbing and washing. The difficulty of thorough cleaning of the centrifuge container further increases as the dimensions of the neck opening of the container decreases. That is, whereas some types of solid residue may be easily cleaned from wide-mouthed bottles, such residue becomes more difficult to remove where the bottle is of narrow-mouthed construction. Also, the manufacturing of conventional centrifuge containers requires that materials are selected according to their structural strength and fatigue resistance, and not necessarily for their chemical or sterilization resistance. However, the mechanical strength of the materials does not always correspond to their chemical and physical resistance. Consequently, certain chemically aggressive materials cannot be processed in conventional centrifuge containers or require bulky and expensive designs. Finally, when an aseptic procedure is called for, the centrifuge containers have to be sterilized, which often takes 30-60 minutes. This relatively long preparation time of a conventional centrifuge container further decreases efficiency of the sample processing.
The conventional centrifuge container designs, therefore, fail to provide convenient methods for the separation of solids by centrifugation with little or no time required for cleaning and sterilization of the containers prior to the next centrifugal cycle. The conventional designs are also limited to only certain types of samples that can be processed.
It is an object of the present invention to develop a cost-efficient, rapid and convenient method for the separation of the solids from suspensions by centrifugation. Particularly, it is an object of the present invention to develop a centrifuge container assembly that minimizes the time required for its cleaning, reduces direct exposure of a technician to hazardous pellets and, at the same time, increases the efficiency of the pellet harvesting. It is also an object of the present invention to develop a centrifuge container assembly that provides a sample-tight seal and prevents sample spilling during centrifugation.
These and other objects and advantages are achieved in a removable conformal liner of the present invention. The liner is designed to have a flexible or semi-rigid body with an opening for introducing a sample. When the liner is inserted into an internal cavity of a centrifuge container, the body of the liner conforms to the shape of the interior cavity. The liner body may be made of a material that is sufficiently resilient to allow a reversible deformation of the body by folding, twisting, collapsing, rolling, or pleating. The liner body may be deformed in any way, as long the deformation does not cause irreversible structural damage to the liner. The liner may have a strengthening structure for increasing the strength of the liner body. A liner of this invention may also contain an integrally formed sealing structure for providing a seal between the liner and the centrifuge container when assembled. The sealing structure extends outwardly from the side wall of the liner body and may have an o-ring-like structure.
In another aspect, the present invention provides a removable centrifuge container assembly. The assembly includes a centrifuge container with an interior cavity and an opening, and a removable liner with a flexible or semi-rigid body placed in the container. In one embodiment, the liner body is made of a sufficiently resilient material, which allows a reversible deformation of the liner body. This embodiment is particularly advantageous for use with containers which have a narrow neck. When the liner body is made of a resilient material, it may be deformed in such a way that its dimension is sufficiently reduced so that it can fit through the neck of the container. Once released inside the container, the liner unfolds to allow placement of a sample. The centrifuge container assembly of this invention may also have a retaining-means for retaining the liner in a fixed position within the container. The retaining-means may comprise a first mating element formed on the liner body and a second mating element formed on the container. The first and the second mating elements are capable of engaging each other in order to secure the liner. Alternatively, a top portion of the liner may be draped over the edge of the container opening and secured with a retaining-means, such as a tie wrap or a resilient member.
The present invention also overcomes deficiencies of the prior techniques by providing a method of using removable conformal liners for centrifuge containers in separating the solids from suspensions by centrifugation. In this method, the removable conformal liner of the present invention with a flexible or semi-rigid body is placed into a centrifuge container. Once inside the container, the liner body conforms to the shape of the interior cavity of the container. The step of placing the liner may include deforming the liner body to reduce its dimension and fitting the deformed liner through the container opening. The method may further include a step of immobilizing the liner with a retaining-means. When centrifugation is completed, the liner is removed from the container with the pelleted solids contained in the liner. The pelleted solids on the liner may be either harvested or discarded.
The present invention has been found to provide a number of advantages. The centrifuge container assembly can be used to recover the solids from a broad range of suspensions, which includes, but is not limited to, biological materials, such as cell lysates, blood, urine and culture media, and industrial fluids, such as waste washout liquids and sludge. The invention is particularly advantageous in applications dealing with the recovery of the solids from the diluted samples and in applications where limiting direct exposure of a technician to hazardous pelleted solids is desirable
The liner of the present invention can be designed to fit a wide variety of centrifuge containers, including, but not limited to, centrifuge containers used in a swinging bucket, and vertical tube and fixed angle rotors. For example, a centrifuge container assembly of this invention has been found to be useful with swinging bucket rotors JS3.4A and JS-5.0A for Avanti J and J2 family of centrifuges (Beckman Instruments, Fullerton, Calif.).
The liners of this invention can be made disposable, which eliminates the need for the mechanical cleaning of the centrifuge containers and reduces exposure of a technician to hazardous solid materials. The use of such disposable liners also permits the centrifuge containers to be used with the increasing, numbers of suspensions, as the difficulties previously encountered in cleaning the containers of certain pelleted solids become obviated when all that is necessary is to dispose of the liner. For additional convenience, the disposable liners can be sterilized to accommodate the aseptic sample processing or fabricated in a defined particle, clean environment. The liners can be made of a material that is resistant to gamma, E-beam, and ETO sterilizing techniques. The liners may also be made of materials that are puncturable, resistant to freeze-thaw cycles, clear, chemically resistant, or have other properties useful in particular applications. A disposable and sterile liner of the present invention provides an inexpensive and convenient method for the improved recovery of the solids by centrifugation, which makes mechanical cleaning and sterilization of the centrifuge containers unnecessary. Finally, the liners of this invention assist in creating a sample-tight seal between a centrifuge container and a closure, thus preventing the sample from leaking during centrifugation.
The present invention is defined in its fullest scope in the appended claims and is described below in its preferred embodiments.

Removable conformal liners for centrifuge containers


A computer has a network interface circuit to support communications with a client device. A memory is connected to the processor. The memory stores instructions executed by the processor to supply an authoring tool to the client device. The authoring tool is configured to solicit a sequence of image layers that form a composite image and image layer visualization parameters including a parallax parameter that specifies a range of horizontal motion or a range of vertical motion for an individual image layer, panorama parameters that specify individual images to be assigned to individual cube faces, and a focus pull parameter that specifies a blur parameter to be assigned to an individual image layer.

There are many available tools for authoring sophisticated computer graphics. However, these tools tend to rely upon abundant processor power and are otherwise configured for a sophisticated, if not professional, computer animator.
Therefore, it would be desirable to provide an authoring tool that can be used on a client device with relatively small processing power. Ideally, the authoring tool would enable a relatively unsophisticated computer animator to create rich multimedia presentations.

Apparatus and method for parallax, panorama and focus pull computer graphics


The invention relates to an optical backplane, comprising a plurality of component connectors and at least two interconnections configurations interconnecting the component connectors. The at least two interconnections configurations allow a dynamical selection of an interconnections configuration interconnecting the component connectors.

In a large system, such as a telecommunication system, it is common to enclose components, such as Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs), blades, or nodes, constituting the system inside a chassis 5, such as illustrated in FIG. 1. The chassis 5 allows designing scalable systems i.e. systems into which additional components can be added.
In order to allow the different components to communicate between them, each component is connected to a backplane 10, also illustrated in FIG. 1. A backplane is typically a PCB having slots into which other components such as PCBs, blades or cards, are plugged, and is typically just a connector without active surface mounted devices on it. The function of the backplane 10 is to carry the communication signals between the components. Typically a backplane is passive i.e. it does not require any external electrical power and it is built in such a way that copper traces can be used to exchange information between the components.
In most telecommunication systems, the backplane is designed to support a network topology such as a star, a dual-star 50 as illustrated in FIG. 2, a dual-dual-star or a fully-connected 75 network topology, as illustrated in FIG. 3. Depending on the network topology used when designing the backplane, more or less copper traces might be required, as shown in the FIGS. 2 and 3, where each circle represents a component and the lines in between the circles represent the interconnections between the components.
When the number of copper traces is important, such as in the case of a fully-connected network topology, the energy consumption also becomes important, as copper require a lot of energy in function of the distance to cover. In addition, copper traces are sensitive to interferences and offer a limited bandwidth capacity, which means that several parallel traces might be required to fulfill a given bandwidth requirement. Furthermore, since copper-based backplanes are passive, they provide a network topology adapted for use with a fixed or slightly variable number of components connected to it.

Telefonaktiebolaget L M  Ericsson (publ)


A control system is disclosed which permits operation of a Plug-in Hybrid IC-Electric Hybrid Vehicle (PHEV) in either parallel electric hybrid or IC modes with a single accelerator pedal. The operation of the electrical equipment is optimized to provide maximum electric power as long as the battery has useable capacity while being completely transparent to the driver. This control system is particularly suitable for converting an existing vehicle to a PHEV.

This invention is broadly applicable to controlling one or more electric motors driving a motor vehicle. It has particular utility as it relates to a Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV), and specifically to conversion of existing Internal Combustion (IC) engine vehicles into PHEVs, as described in U.S. Patent Application US 2007/0169970 A1, filed Jul. 26, 2007 "Electric Hybrid Vehicle Conversion" and U.S. Patent Application US 2009/0000836 A1 filed Jun. 27, 2008 "Balanced Belt or Chain Drive for Electric Hybrid Vehicle Conversion". The function of this invention is to control one or more DC electric motors to propel a vehicle, either together with the existing IC engine as a parallel hybrid, or solely by electric power as a "strong hybrid".
Kyle in U.S. Patent Application US2006/0030450 A1, Feb. 9, 2006, discloses a conversion of a conventional IC engine vehicle to an IC-electric hybrid vehicle with a control system having inputs of vehicle speed, throttle position, engine speed and electric motor speed to perform a complicated control operation on the electric motor, but with no details of how this is to be accomplished.
Hamstra and Gehrs in U.S. Patent Application US2007/0284164, Dec. 13, 2007, disclose a control system similar to the one of this invention but operated in an entirely different way due to the limitations of the motor they employ.
It is an objective of this invention to maximize the contribution from an electric storage battery to propelling a vehicle. It does this by using the electrical propulsion system to provide its maximum contribution until the storage battery is exhausted. Series wound traction motors are particularly good at starting heavy loads from a standing start and continuing to propel them up to high speeds without the need for shifting gear ratios, as is required by an IC engine with its limited operating speed range. The control system of this invention facilitates operating the electric motor in this mode, while maintaining operation of the IC engine as a back up to provide reversing in those cases when the electric motors are not electrically reversible, to drive the auxiliaries such as air conditioning, power steering and power brakes, and to provide 12 Volt battery charging. The IC engine is also available to provide extra power for acceleration and hill climbing and additional range when the batteries are exhausted.
It is an additional objective of this invention to sense when the batteries are exhausted and to prevent excessive current drain which will shorten their life.
It is yet another objective to provide a driver interface for a vehicle converted into a plug hybrid by the teachings of U.S. Patent Application US2007/0169970 A1, Jul. 26, 2007, which provides a driving experience substantially the same as before the vehicle was converted, so that the boost from the electrical system is transparent to the driver. The vehicle is operated in the same way whether electric power is available or not.

Control system for electric hybrid vehicle conversion


A mobile-side terminal apparatus of the present invention includes: a route information storing unit that stores route information related to a route that a user follows; a position acquiring unit that acquires a present position of the user; a display unit that displays the route information stored in the route information storing unit and the present position acquired by the position acquiring unit; and a position transmitting unit that performs transmission of the present position acquired by the position acquiring unit to another information processing device that stores the route information and displays the route information and the present position.

It is not by any means rare for a mountaineer to take the wrong route and go missing, and in recent years has happened many times. Also, accidents due to getting lost are not limited to mountaineering, and occur in various outdoor locations such as at sea and in the forest. Technology has been proposed so as to solve these kinds of problems with mobile phones having a GPS function (refer to Patent Document 1). In such technology, first, positional information and map data for a destination are imported from a car navigation system into a mobile phone. Then, navigation can be continuously performed with information from the mobile phone for a person who intends to move on foot from the position where he/she has alighted from the vehicle to the destination.

Mobile-side terminal apparatus, position transmission method and computer program


An apparatus for vectoring the thrust of a motor that produces thrust along a longitudinal axis by expelling combustion gases through a nozzle may include a plurality of linearly-positionable non-rotatable thrust deflectors. The thrust deflectors may be disposed at around a perimeter of the nozzle. Each thrust deflector may be independently extended to simultaneously generate both a force transverse to the longitudinal axis and a torque about the longitudinal axis.

1. Field
This disclosure relates to flight control systems for missiles, and particularly to missiles that incorporate thrust vectoring for attitude control.
2. Description of the Related Art
Missiles commonly include aerodynamic control surfaces such as fins, ailerons, rudders, flaps, canards, and other surfaces to control the attitude, or direction of travel, of the missile. However aerodynamic control surfaces may be ineffective at low velocities after missile launch, and may be ineffective at high altitudes at the upper extent or beyond the atmosphere. Thus missiles may also use thrust vectoring to control attitude at low speeds and/or high altitudes. In this context, thrust vectoring is defined as directing the thrust of a rocket motor or jet engine in a direction that is not parallel to a longitudinal axis of the missile.
Thrust vectoring is conventionally used to control pitch and yaw attitude, or elevation angle and azimuth angle. For example, thrust vectoring for large rocket motors may be accomplished by rotating the entire exhaust nozzle of the motor. For smaller rocket motors, thrust vectoring may be accomplished using rotatable devices, which may be aerodynamic vanes or fins, extending into the motor exhaust stream within or behind the motor nozzle. Since devices extending into the motor exhaust stream typically reduce the total thrust produced by the motor, thrust vectoring devices may be withdrawn from the exhaust stream when the missile has reach sufficient velocity to be control by aerodynamic control surfaces. However, thrust vectoring devices that can be both rotated and withdrawn in the environment of a rocket motor exhaust stream require complex actuation mechanisms.
Throughout this description, elements appearing in figures are assigned three-digit reference designators, where the most significant digit is the figure number and the two least significant digits are specific to the element. An element that is not described in conjunction with a figure may be presumed to have the same characteristics and function as a previously-described element having a reference designator with the same least significant digits.

Integral thrust vector and roll control system


An apparatus and method for providing a magnetic display in which a magnetic field produces visual patterns upon exposure to the apparatus. The apparatus comprises an enclosure which contains magnetically active flakes held within a dispersion medium which holds the magnetically active flakes in suspension, yet allows alignment of the flakes along the flux lines of the magnetic field when the flakes are exposed to the locus of the magnetic field.

The present invention relates to a magnetic visual display that uses magnetic force to orient magnetically active flakes contained within a dispersion medium to allow light to pass therethrough.
The existing techniques of forming a visual display through magnetic means generally comprise applying a magnetic field to fine magnetic particles dispersed within a viscous liquid. The particles migrate to the magnetic field and accumulate along the locus of the field, thereby creating an image comprising an accumulation of the particles along the locus of the magnetic field.
The attractability of these particles may be defined as an additive process, that is, prior to drawing, the entire field of visible background is generally void of any magnetic particles. When a magnetic field is displayed to the liquid, the magnetic particles are drawn up from the bottom of the liquid to the top of the liquid, thus producing a visible image at the top surface.
However, after attraction, the particles tend to precipitate away from the surface of the liquid, making it difficult to retain the image over an extended period of time. Additionally, since the magnetic particles within the influence of the magnetic field are attracted to the field, magnetic particles follow the locus of the magnetic field and are carried away from the desired area of demarcation; thus forming a discontinuous line with reduced contrast and resolution.
The prior art has dealt with contrast and resolution difficulties in a number of ways. For instance, the patent to Murata, et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 4,643,684), discloses the use of a magnetic display panel having a dispersing medium having a yield value of 5 dyne/cm.sup.2 or more, the medium comprising an inorganic thickener, fine magnetic particles, and a colorant. Murata discloses the use of a multi-cell structure which confines the dispersing medium within each cell, the structure assisting in limiting the migration of the medium and the magnetic particles from one cell into the next during the application of a magnetic field to the particles.
However, regardless of the precautions taken by the prior art, the action of the magnetic field on the magnetic particles dispersed within the liquid of the prior magnetic marking devices produces a number of inherent difficulties.
For example, during movement of the magnetic field across the magnetic particle containing liquid, the magnetic particles move through the liquid, from the bottom of the liquid to the top of the liquid, to the magnetic field. This localized movement of particles through the liquid creates a void of particles within the liquid. This void is created when the particles are pulled through to and along the top layer of the substrate by their attraction to the magnetic field. When the magnetic field is moved, as when the device is used for drawing purposes, the attracted particles are pulled along the locus of the magnetic field, throughout the substrate, creating an incomplete distribution of particles.
Additionally, a magnetic field is required to erase the image produced by these prior art devices. The erasing magnet repositions the magnetic particles after magnetic field attraction. Thus, when the cleaning or erasure of a display is desired, a magnetic field is applied to the bottom of the device to draw the magnetic particles from the top of the liquid to their original position at the bottom of the liquid, thus eliminating the image-producing particles from the top of the liquid. However, there exist a number of limitations of this technique of erasure. For instance, incomplete or nonuniform application of the magnetic field across the bottom of the liquid produces localized areas of particle accumulation after erasure, thus preventing the subsequent drawing of a true line during application of the magnetic field to the top of the liquid due to the incomplete distribution of particles throughout the liquid. Additionally, after repeated use and erasure by magnetic means, it becomes extremely difficult to redisperse the particles to attain uniformity throughout the liquid due to the magnetically attractive properties of the particles. Thus, there exists a need for an apparatus and method for producing a magnetic display which eliminates the drawing and erasure difficulties inherent in the additive processes used in the prior art magnetic display devices.
The present invention provides a magnetic visual display which is true, uniform, and of high resolution and contrast. The present invention also provides a method and apparatus for producing an image by orienting magnetically active flakes contained within a dispersion medium such that when a magnetic field is displayed to the flakes within the dispersion medium, the magnetically active flakes are oriented to change the light transmission characteristics of the dispersion medium. The orientation of the magnetically active flakes of the present invention occurs without gross translation of the flakes within the dispersion medium, thus providing a uniform, consistent dispersion of the flakes throughout the medium.


A wound closure device for repairing perforations and tissue wall defects is disclosed herein. The wound closure device has a barbed elongate body and a plug member. The wound closure device may further include a foam structure. The wound closure device may also include an inner member which may be a tissue scaffold. A method for closing tissue is also disclosed.

Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a medical device and more particularly a wound closure device for repairing perforations in tissue and sealing a tissue wall.
Background of Related Art
A variety of surgical procedures, for example, laparoscopic procedures, are performed through an access port, during which the access port punctures the tissue to provide access to the surgical site.
Currently, wound closure devices such as sutures are used to close various layers of tissue post-surgery. Suturing a patient after removal of an access device may be cumbersome, while accumulating additional costs to the patient such as increased time spent in the operating room.
It would be advantageous to provide a device which enables improved, e.g., faster closure of tissue punctures or tissue perforations for certain procedures.

Medical device for wound closure and method of use


An eyeglass lens has a front side, a back side, a central portion and a peripheral portion. The lens is coated on one or both of it sides with a reflective coating, an anti-reflective coating or both. The reflective coating and/or the anti-reflective coating in the central portion of the lens is different from the reflective coating and/or anti-reflective coating in the peripheral portion of the lens. In one embodiment, the peripheral portion of the front side of the lens is coated with a reflective coating and the central portion of the back side of the lens is coated with an anti-reflective coating.

Eye fatigue can frequently arise from extraneous light rays impacting the eye from light sources other than that which the eye is focused on. Even when the eye is in an environment having but a single source of light, extraneous light rays are reflected from smooth flat surfaces in the vicinity of the eye such that extraneous light rays impact the eye from a myriad of directions.
In an attempt to minimize eye fatigue from such extraneous light rays, manufacturers of eyeglasses have experimented with the coating of eyeglass lenses with reflective coatings which tend to reflect light and/or with anti-reflective coatings which tend to minimize reflection. In prior art lenses of this type, reflective coatings are traditionally applied to the front side of the lens and anti-reflective coatings are applied to the back side of the lens. In all such cases in the prior art, the lens coatings are uniform across the entirety of the lens.
It has been found that the use of such prior art coated lenses is not wholly satisfactory in reducing eye fatigue. Accordingly, there is a need for an improved lens having additional capabilities in reducing eye fatigue.


A method of making a relief image printing element from a liquid photopolymer composition is described. The method includes the steps of (1) casting a liquid photopolymer layer onto a cover sheet and at least substantially simultaneously placing a hacking sheet onto the liquid photopolymer layer; (2) preliminarily exposing the liquid photopolymer layer to actinic radiation to create at least one island of solid photopolymer in the liquid photopolymer layer where it is desirable to laser engrave a relief image; (3) reclaiming uncured liquid photopolymer from the relief image printing element; (4) processing the at least one island of solid photopolymer to remove uncured liquid photopolymer; (5) exposing the at least one island of solid photopolymer to actinic radiation to fully cure the islands of solid photopolymer; and (6) laser engraving the at least one island of solid photopolymer to produce the relief image therein.

Photopolymerizable and/or photocurable and/or radiation curable resins can be selectively cross-linked and cured to create relief images during the production of relief image printing plates.
A common approach utilizes a photopolymerizable (also known as a photosensitive, photoimageable, photopolymer, photohardenable or photocurable) resin composition. While many different photopolymerizable resin compositions are known, they share the quality that upon exposure to certain wavelengths of light, the resin reacts with itself to form a structure that is insoluble in ink. Thus, photopolymerizable resin compositions may be used to form a hard, ink-insoluble, raised surface (i.e., relief image) for photopolymer plates.
Photopolymerizable resins can be processed in a variety of ways. For example, they can be processed as solid plates made of a cast photopolymerizable resin. They can also be processed by first forming a layer of a liquid photopolymerizable resin and then exposing the formed resin layer to actinic radiation followed by developing to remove uncured portions of the photopolymerizable resin layer. Liquid photopolymerizable resins provide an advantage over solid sheet polymers because the uncured resin can be reclaimed from the non-image areas for later reuse. Liquid photopolymerizable resins have a further advantage as compared to sheet polymers in terms of flexibility, enabling the production of images of widely varying thicknesses simply by changing the machine settings.
In the platemaking process, the front surface of the printing plate is exposed to ultraviolet light through a photographic negative to selectively crosslink and cure portions of the printing plate that are not covered by the photographic negative. Alternative, an in situ negative may be prepared by laser ablating a mask layer to create the in situ negative therein. Thereafter, those portions of the plate that remain uncured (i.e., portions covered by the negative) are removed in a development process, thereby revealing the relief image in the plate surface. The development step may comprise contacting the printing element with a suitable developing solution. In the alternative, the image may be developed using heat plus blotting.
Another approach to platemaking utilizes a direct laser engraving process, in which the printing relief is engraved directly into the relief-forming layer of the printing element by means of a laser. The term "laser-engravable" is defined as a relief layer that has the property of absorbing laser radiation so that it is removed or at least detached in those parts where it is exposed to a laser beam of sufficient intensity. The entire upper surface of the photopolymer printing plate is first exposed to ultraviolet light for a predetermined period in order to provide the entire surface with a cured layer of material. Thereafter, the cured layer of material can be laser engraved, which is most often accomplished using an IR laser. Preferably, the laser engravable layer is vaporized or decomposed thermally or by oxidation without melting beforehand, so that its decomposition products are removed from the layer in the form of hot gases, vapors, fumes or small particles.
While direct laser engraving has been used for a number of years, this technique has acquired broader commercial interest only in recent years with the advent of improved laser systems. These improvements in the laser system include better focusability of the laser beam, higher power and computer controlled, beam guidance. Direct laser engraving has several notable advantages over conventional processes of producing relief image print plates. For example, a number of time-consuming process steps, such as the creation of a photographic negative and development and drying of the printing plate can be disposed of. Furthermore, the side wall shape of the individual relief elements can be individually designed.
In the laser engraving step, the laser engraver control unit is supplied with input data through artwork which is scanned as the photopolymer plate is engraved, or alternately, supplied with a digitized representation of the engraving directly from a separate computer system wherein the artwork is provided utilizing computer aided design (CAD) software, digitization of photographic or drafted artwork, or a combination thereof.
However, there are also several noted disadvantages to the laser engraving process. Firstly, flexographic printing elements have a strong tendency to form melt edges around the engraved elements during laser engraving. At the edge of the engraved elements, the laser melts but is no longer decomposed (or is no longer completely decomposed). Such melt edges lead to ill-defined printing and generally cannot be removed, even by subsequent washing. Undesired melting of the layer also leads to unsatisfactory resolution. In addition, the degradation products which form in the course of the laser engraving frequently present problems. The nongaseous fractions of the decomposition products formed in the course of laser engraving are, as a rule, extremely tacky and may be completely or partly deposited again on the surface of the printing relief. Finally, even with the advent of improved laser systems, the laser engraving step can be extremely time consuming.
The residue produced by the laser ablation step can be removed by immersing the engraved photopolymer printing plate in a solvent solution for a predetermined time period and at a predetermined, temperature. The residue particulates which form on the plate, and particularly on the edges surrounding the laser ablated areas, are readily removed in a solvent wash step. This step can be accomplished without causing removal of the photopolymer material which defines the printable pattern, since the engraving is performed on fully cured material which is not soluble in the solution. The engraved plate is immersed in the solvent solution to remove the tackiness from the residue, thereby providing sharp edges at the perimeter of the ablated areas, as the particulates are easily removed by brushing when they are no longer self adhering. Following the washout step to remove the residue, the engraved plate is dried at a predetermined temperature for a time period sufficient to drive off any absorbed solvent.
Following the removal of the uncured residue the engraved plate then goes through a finishing step in which surface tack is removed from the engraved plate and the surface is hardened. There are typically two ways in which such surface tack can be removed and the surface hardened. One method is exposure of the front surface of the engraved printing plate to high energy ultraviolet light for a predetermined period of time. The other method is a chemical finishing method wherein the engraved plate is immersed in a solution containing chlorine, bromine or iodine. The finished plate is then ready for mounting on a printing press.
Liquid photopolymer plates are used in a wide array of printing applications and have a wide range of resolution capabilities and plate durometers. Liquid photopolymer plates have long been popular in post print corrugated operations and are also widely used in multi-wall bag and folding carton printing applications.
Typical steps in the liquid photopolymer platemaking process are as follows:
1) Casting of the plate;
2) UV exposure;
3) Reclamation of unexposed photopolymer,
4) Washout and rinsing;
5) Post exposure and rinse;
6) Drying; and
7) Detack exposure.
The overall liquid plate production sequence begins in a casting and exposure unit by placing an image-bearing transparency or negative, i.e., a transparent film having opaque regions corresponding to the reverse of the image which one desires to impart to a printing plate, onto a casting surface, which is typically a glass platen. A thin, transparent polymeric coverfilm is placed over the image-bearing transparency. The image-bearing transparency and coverfilm are secured by vacuum to the platen so that air is displaced and bubbles are not created in the liquid photopolymerizable layer. A liquid photopolymerizable resin is then released from a resin reservoir and is cast onto the cover film with the aid of a leveling blade. Substantially simultaneously with casting the liquid photopolymerizable resin, a substrate, such as a polymeric film, is placed on the layer of photopolymerizable resin, which becomes the finished plate backing. The resulting "sandwich" is then given a UV exposure from at least the top to form relief image in the photopolymer.
A second source of actinic radiation may be positioned above the substrate. In this instance, a glass platen is positioned between the substrate and the second source of actinic radiation to provide a means for controlling thickness uniformity of the layer of photopolymerizable resin by lowering the glass platen, prior to exposure, to rest on shims and make contact with the substrate.
The liquid photopolymerizable resin is exposed to actinic radiation to crosslink and cure the photopolymerizable resin and produce the relief image printing plate or other relief image product. The exposure can be a blanket exposure, in which the entire surface is exposed to actinic radiation (i.e., to create the floor layer) or may be an imagewise exposure in which the photopolymerizable floor layer is exposed through a film negative or other photomask.
The photopolymerizable resin is imaged by exposing the cast photopolymerizable resin to actinic radiation through the film negative or other photomask to selectively crosslink and cure the photopolymerizable resin. The image is typically exposed from at least one side of the plate, preferably the front side, and in some instances may be imaged from both the top and bottom as discussed above. Actinic light, such as UV light, is directed against the photopolymerizable resin layer through the film negative or other photomask. The result is that the liquid photopolymerizable resin is selectively cross-linked and cured to form a printing image surface that mirrors the image on the negative. Upon exposure to actinic radiation, the liquid photopolymerizable resin polymerizes and changes from a liquid state to a solid state to form the raised relief image.
The regions of the resin layer which were protected from actinic radiation by the opaque regions of the transparency are then washed away using a developer solution. The cured regions are insoluble in the developer solution, and so, after development a relief image formed of cured photopolymerizable resin is obtained. The cured resin is likewise insoluble in certain inks, and thus may be used in flexographic printing as described above. U.S. Pat. No. 2,760,863 to Plambeck, the subject matter of which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety, describes another typical process for preparing a printing plate using photopolymerizable resin, wherein the image-bearing transparency is placed above the photopolymerizable layer, rather than underneath the coverfilm.
A common variation on the above-described process is to expose a liquid photopolymerizable resin to actinic radiation from two sides of the resin layer. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,848,998 to Yonekura et al. The recognized advantages of exposing from the back (through a backing sheet) as well as the front (through an image-bearing transparency) include better adhesion of the photopolymerizable composition to the backing sheet, better relief image formation, and overcoming the inhibition to polymerization of photopolymerizable resin that is exposed to oxygen with increased control over the relief image height.
In all areas not exposed to UV radiation, the photopolymerizable resin remains liquid after exposure and can be recovered and reclaimed. In a typical process, the uncured photopolymerizable resin is physically removed from the plate in a further process step such that it can be reused to make further plates. The reclamation is typically accomplished by either a large planar squeegee device or an air knife that impinges the plate surface. This reclamation step has the dual benefits of allowing high mass yields (i.e., a very high percentage of the photopolymer becomes usable plate) and at the same time reducing the amount of waste that is generated by the process overall.
Any residual traces of liquid photopolymerizable resin remaining are then removed by nozzle washing or brush washing using a wash-out solution to obtain a washed-out plate, leaving behind the cured relief image. This reclamation technique not only saves material costs of the photopolymerizable resin but also reduces the use and cost of developing chemistry and makes a lighter relief image plate that is safer and easier to handle.
Residual traces of liquid photopolymerizable resin remaining in the regions of the photopolymerizable resin which were protected from the actinic radiation by the opaque regions of the image or film negative can then be washed away using a developer solution or by other development means as is known in the art. The cured regions are insoluble in the developer solution. Thereafter, the cured printing plate may be subjected to various post exposure steps. For example, the plate may be completely immersed in water and exposed to actinic radiation such as UV light emitted from a light source to perform a complete curing of the entire plate and to increase plate strength. After development, a relief image formed of cured photopolymerizable resin is obtained. Finally, the plate may be subjected to a further detack exposure step.
Liquid platemaking processes are also described, for example in U.S. Pat. No. 5,213,949 to Kojima et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,813,342 to Strong et al. and U.S. Patent Publication No. 2008/0107908 to Long et al., the subject matter of each of which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety.
One of the primary benefits of liquid platemaking is the ability of reclaiming uncured resin from the non-image areas for later reuse. However, when a liquid photopolymer plate is used for laser engraving, the entire upper surface of the liquid photopolymer printing plate is crosslinked and cured by exposure to actinic radiation (e.g., UV light) prior to the engraving step, and thus the ability to reclaim uncured photopolymer is lost. It would be desirable to provide an improved method of laser engraving liquid photopolymer printing elements that would allow uncured liquid photopolymer to be reclaimed.


The present disclosure provides immunogenic materials and methods useful for reducing the risk of fungal infections, particularly valley fever. The disclosure also provides assays for identifying compounds useful to treat valley fever, as well as methods for ameliorating the symptoms of valley fever.

Coccidioides species (C. immitis and C. posadasii) are the causative agents of coccidioidomycosis (Valley Fever), an important emerging disease endemic to the southwestern US as well as parts of Mexico and central and South America. Infection begins with inhalation of arthroconidia that initiate the parasitic phase in lungs and can result in a respiratory infection or if not controlled, a more serious disseminated disease.
Coccidioides spp. are dimorphic and produce a unique parasitic phase structure, the spherule, via a switch from polar to isotrophic growth with the spherule expanding from a barrel-shaped arthrocondium that is 3-6 μm by 2-4 μm in size to a sphere 80-100 microns in diameter. Internal septation and spore formation results in production of hundreds of endospores that if released can disseminate and reinitiate spherule formation at other places in the body. Most infections are mild and resolve without medical intervention although about 30% of infections cause flu-like symptoms that may take 1-4 months to resolve.
A variety of approaches have been used to understand genes important for the parasitic phase of these and other fungi. These include random mutagenesis, targeted disruption of parasitic phase-specific genes and targeted mutagenesis of genes identified in other pathogens as virulence factors. In addition, expression analyses have been performed to identify phase-specific or phase-induced genes. For Coccidioides, both expression analyses and the latter two mutagenesis approaches have been used, resulting in a number of mutants, some of which are altered in virulence. For example, SOWgp and MEP1 have been knocked out and the resulting mutant strains are reduced in virulence.
Over the last 50 years, many approaches to vaccination against coccidioidomycosis have been tried, including whole killed cells, live mutant vaccines that have been modified in virulence, partially purified cellular extracts, and recombinant proteins that were identified by a myriad of both low and high technology methods. To date, killed whole cell vaccines provide the best protection in mice but are not transferable to humans because of intolerable adverse effects and poor efficacy. Recombinant proteins offer the safest approach but have modest efficacy in mice and have not been tried in a higher species.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Fungal immunogens and related materials and methods

Arizona Board of Regents on Behalf of the University of Arizona


The invention is in the field of cell culture. Particularly the invention relates to methods of culturing a host cell expressing a recombinant protein in a cell culture medium comprising an effective amount of a triazine dye or supplemented with an effective amount of a triazine dye, whereby production of said protein is increased relative to cells grown without said triazine dye or any other inducer.

Optimisation of culture conditions to obtain the greatest possible productivity is one of the main aim of recombinant protein production. Even marginal increases in productivity can be significant from an economical point of view. Many commercially relevant proteins are produced recombinantly in host cells. This leads to a need to produce these proteins in an efficient and cost effective manner. Unfortunately, one of the drawback of recombinant protein production is that the conditions in which cell culture is performed usually favors a reduction of cell viability over time, reducing both efficiency and overall productivity.
Perfusion culture, Batch culture and Fed batch culture are the basic methods for culturing animal cells for producing recombinant proteins.
Very often, especially in fed-batch and perfusion methods, inducing agents are added to the culture media to increase production of proteins in cells. These inducers induce the cell to produce more desired product. One such agent is sodium butyrate. However, the drawback of using sodium butyrate in cell culture is that it affects significantly cell viability. For instance Kim et al (2004) have shown that although sodium butyrate was able to increase protein production in recombinant CHO cells in a batch culture, at the end of the production run (after 8 days of culture), cell viability was less than 45%. Repeating the same experiments in perfusion batch culture, the authors noticed that within 6 days of treatment, cell viability was as low as 15%.
Although the use of an inducer can increase protein production, the drawback concerning cell viability has to be considered. Indeed, the use of a well-known inducer, such as sodium butyrate, can be counterproductive after about 5 days in culture, whereas a typical production period is between 12 to 15 days in fed-batch mode and can be up to 40-45 days in perfusion mode.
Because many proteins are recombinantly produced by cells grown in culture for more than 6 days, there is a need for methods allowing increased cell productivity and more efficient production runs, while maintaining acceptable cell viability over a longer time.
Therefore, there remains a need for culture conditions and production methods allowing for increased recombinant protein productivity by maintaining viable cell density, increasing the titre and/or avoiding substantial decrease in cell viability over a production period. The present invention addresses this need by providing methods and compositions for increasing production of recombinant proteins.

Methods for modulating production profiles of recombinant proteins


The present invention relates to a rotor for a vacuum pump 150 having a roots pumping mechanism, the rotor comprising at least two hollow lobes 160, 162, 164, 166, each lobe having an outer wall 208 which defines a lobe profile, a hollow cavity 210 generally inward of the outer wall, and at least one strengthening rib 226 located in the cavity to resist stress on the lobes generated during rotation.

Roots pumps typically comprise a pair of meshed, lobed rotors which rotate within a housing, causing fluid to become trapped in pockets surrounding the lobes and to be transferred from the pump inlet to the pump outlet. The rotors do not actually touch each other or the housing, so no lubricant is needed. This makes Roots pumps desirable in applications where contamination of the fluid is a problem, for example in semiconductor processing.
A simplified diagram of a typical Roots pump 100 is shown in FIG. 1. A pumping chamber 101 is formed by a plurality of stator components, including a stator housing 102 and two transverse end walls 104. The end walls 104 have apertures 106 through which two rotor shafts 108, 110 extend. The shafts are supported at each end by bearings 112. A motor 114 drives rotation of one shaft 108 and a gear mechanism 116 transmits the rotational power to the other shaft 110. The gear mechanism causes the shafts to rotate in synchronisation in opposite directions.
The shafts have mounted thereto respective pairs of rotor lobes 118, 120 and 122, 124. The radial tip of lobe 122 is hidden by lobe 120 and therefore is designated by broken lines. FIG. 2 shows a section through pump taken along the line II-II, in which the rotor lobes can be seen more clearly. As the rotors rotate, the lobes sweep past the internal surface 126 of the pumping chamber 101 thereby pumping fluid from a chamber inlet 128 to a chamber outlet 130. The tolerances between the rotor lobes and the swept surface 126 must be tightly controlled, as must the tolerances between the rotors, otherwise gaps will be generated through which fluid can pass, thereby decreasing the efficiency of the pump. Typical tolerances are in the region of 0.1 mm.
Typical Roots pumps have a reasonably high pumping capacity, but for some applications it is desirable to further increase the capacity of the pump. This can be achieved, whilst maintaining lobe tip speed, by providing a larger pump with bigger lobes. However, this is disadvantageous in that the pumps become more expensive, and if there is an accident, for example if the rotors clash, the increased energy of the lobes can be sufficient for the lobes to break through the pump housing and cause damage or injury.
Alternatively, the capacity of the pump can be increased by causing the rotors to spin faster. A typical lobe tip speed during rotation is less than 100 m/s and often less than 80 m/s. A significant increase in velocity at the tip of the lobes to for example 130 m/s would allow the lobes to be made smaller, and reduce the cost of the pump. However, even though the lobes are less massive, the increased rotational speed causes an increase in lobe energy, and in the event of an accident can likewise cause damage or injury. It should also be noted that increasing the speed causes a larger increase in kinetic energy than increasing the mass, since the energy is proportional to the mass but it is proportional to the square of the speed.
Conventional rotors are usually made from a solid block of material, typically cast iron. Such rotors may be made in various ways, including casting solid lobes and a shaft integrally, or casting solid lobes and attaching the lobes to a shaft to form the rotor.
Known lobes may be manufactured by casting a solid lobe and then drilling a hole in it to reduce its weight.

Vacuum pump rotor for a vacuum pump having a roots pumping mechanism


A fusion estimator is determined as the location of the most significant mode of a density function, which takes into account the uncertainty of the estimates to be fused. A mode detection method relies on mode tracking across scales. The fusion estimator is consistent and conservative, while handling naturally outliers in the data and multiple source models. The new estimator is applied for multiple motion estimation. Numerous experiments validate the theory and provide very competitive results. Other applications include generic distributed fusion, robot localization, motion tracking, registration of medical data, fusion for automotive tasks.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to information fusion, and more particularly to nonparametric information fusion for motion estimation.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Information fusion is important for many computer vision tasks. Information fusion is also important across modalities, for applications such as collision warning and avoidance, and speaker localization. Typically, a classical estimation framework such as the extended Kalman filter is employed to derive an estimate from multiple sensor data.
The problem of information fusion appears in many forms in computer vision. Tasks such as motion estimation, multimodal registration, tracking, and robot localization, typically use a synergy of estimates coming from multiple sources. However, typically the fusion algorithms assume a single source model and are not robust to outliers. If the data to be fused follow different underlying models, the conventional algorithms would produce poor estimates.
The quality of information fusion depends on the uncertainty of cross-correlation data. Let {circumflex over (χ)}1 and {circumflex over (χ)}2 be two estimates that are to be fused together to yield an optimal estimate {circumflex over (χ)}. The error covariances are defined byPij=E[(x−{circumflex over (x)}i)(x−{circumflex over (x)}j)]  (1)for i=1,2 and j=1,2. To simplify the notation denote P11≡P1 and P22≡P2.
Ignoring the cross-correlation, P12≡P21=0, the best linear unbiased estimator (BLUE), also called Simple Convex Combination, is expressed by:{circumflex over (x)}CC=PCC (P1−1{circumflex over (x)}1+P2−1{circumflex over (x)}2)  (2)PCC=(P1−1+=P2−1)−1  (3)
When the initial estimates are correlated P12≡P21≠0 and the noise correlation can be measured, the BLUE estimator ({circumflex over (χ)}BC,PRC) is derived according to Bar-Shalom and Campo using a Kalman formulation. The most general case of BLUE estimation also assumes prior knowledge of the covariance of χ.
A conservative approach to information fusion has been proposed by Julier and Uhlman in the form of the Covariance Intersection algorithm. The objective of the Covariance Intersection algorithm was to obtain a consistent estimator of the covariance matrix when two random variables are linearly combined and their cross-correlation is unknown. Consistency means that the estimated covariance is always an upper-bound, in the positive definite sense, of the true covariance, no matter what the cross-correlation level is. The intersection is characterized by the convex combination of the covariances{circumflex over (x)}CI=PCI(ωP1−1{circumflex over (x)}1+(1−ω)P2−1{circumflex over (x)}2)  (4)PCI=(ωP1−1+(1−ω)P2−1)−1  (5)where ω∈[0,1]. The parameter ω is chosen to optimize the trace or determinant of PCI.
Covariance Intersection has a very suggestive geometrical interpretation: if one plots the covariance ellipses P1, P2 and PBC (as given by the Bar-Shalom/Campo formulation) for all choices of P12, then PBC always lies within the intersection of P1 and P2. Thus, the strategy determines a PCI that encloses the intersection region and is consistent even for unknown P12. It has been shown in that the difference between PCI and the true covariance of χ is a semipositive matrix. More recently, Chong and Mori examined the performance of Covariance Intersection, while Chen, Arambel and Mehra analyzed the optimality of the algorithm.
Observe that the Covariance Intersection can be generalized to the fusion of n estimates as
                                          x            ^                    CI                =                              P            CI                                                        ∑                              i                =                1                            n                                                                  ω                i                                                          P                i                                  -                  1                                                                                x                  ^                                i                                                                        (        6        )                                          P          CI                =                              (                                          ∑                                  i                  =                  1                                n                                                                            ω                  i                                                                  P                  i                                      -                    1                                                                        )                                -            1                                              (        7        )            with
            ∑              i        =        1            n                  ω      i        =  1.In equations 6 and 7 the weights ωi are also chosen to minimize the trace or determinant of PCI.
Although important from theoretical viewpoint, Covariance Intersection has at least two weaknesses: it assumes a single source model and is not robust to outliers.
Therefore, a need exists for a system and method for information fusion that accommodates multiple source models and is robust to outliers.

Density estimation-based information fusion for multiple motion computation


A breading machine has first and second combination battering/breading units positioned in close proximity to each other. Certain features of the invention have utility with machines having only a single battering/breading unit. Each of the combination units has a battering unit for applying a fluent batter to a food product. The battering unit includes a batter reservoir and a battering unit conveyor system for delivering food products from said batter reservoir to a battering unit conveyor discharge section that propels the food product from the battering unit. The combination units also include a breading unit for receiving food product from an associated battering unit. The breading unit includes a breading reservoir and breading unit conveyor system for applying particulate breading to the food product at a breading station by moving breading material from the breading material reservoir and food product coated with the batter to the breading station. A drive motor is coupled through respective first and second transmissions to provide motive power to the conveyors systems of each of the first and second combination battering/breading units for moving food products simultaneously through the combination battering/breading units.

Flaccid food products, such as fish filets and chicken tenders, and delicate, frangible products, like croquettes, are typically breaded and fried for consumption by restaurant customers. These products, together with other foods that are fried, are frequently produced and consumed in volumes sufficient to justify in-restaurant use of machinery that batters and then coats the products with particulate breading material.
The prior art machinery used for breading food products functioned for both relatively rigid products, like bone-in chicken parts, onion rings, etc., and the noted flaccid products. The machines in question utilized open mesh wire conveyor belts that carried the products through the machinery. The machines often comprised a battering unit, where the products were coated with a fluent batter, and a breading unit where breading was applied to the product and adhered to the batter coating. The battering units had a conveyor belt that delivered battered products to a breading unit conveyor belt before the breading was applied.
Machines have been constructed with the battering unit supported vertically above the breading unit. The battering and breading units were oriented so that a single attendant, at one end of the machine, could load items into the battering unit and receive the items, breaded, from the breading unit. This was a particularly effective way to bread food products to order, as the attendant could load the number of items constituting an order into the machine, receive the breaded items and fry them at once. The superposed battering and breading units also provided a small "footprint" that minimized the space occupied by the machine.
These machines were not without drawbacks. The unit conveyors were spaced vertically apart and configured so that battered items dropped from one conveyor to the other. Flaccid and frangible products, like fish filets, chicken tenders, and croquettes, presented problems. Flaccid products were often folded or heaped on the breading unit conveyor when breading was applied. Consequently, some flaccid products were only partially breaded while others were unevenly coated. Frangible products were sometimes broken up when dropped from one conveyor to the other. Relatively rigid products were more effectively handled although they sometimes landed roughly on the breading unit conveyor material and the impacts sometimes created clouds of breading and spillage.
The battering and breading machine that is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,924,356 overcame the handling problems associated with flaccid and frangible food items, as well as rough handling of dimensionally stable items, by locating the battering unit laterally spaced from and in-line with the breading unit. The battering unit conveyor was positionable adjacent the breading unit conveyor so that flaccid and frangible items were handed-off to the breading conveyor without folding, heaping, or breaking up. The machine had a relatively large foot print and required the attendant to load items into the end of the machine that was opposite from the discharge end. This required sufficient floor space for the attendant to move around the machine from one end to the other.
Another problem with the prior art breading units was that after breading material was applied, the food products often carried breading material that was either loose, or only weakly adhered to the product. Food products carrying such breading were delivered from the breading units and placed in fryers where the breading was dislodged. This material was sometimes later be adhered to food products during frying, creating unappealing appearance and flavor.
Unloading breading material from prior art breading machines has sometimes been difficult. Some prior art machines were constructed in such a way that the entire breading reservoir had to be physically removed from the machine in order to dump the breading material. Some reservoirs were equipped with trap doors that allowed breading material to fall from the reservoir while others utilized panels that were moved into position under conveyors so that the breading could be conveyed along and discharged from the machines at a discharge location. The prior art machines were constructed for discharging breading material from machines that had particular architectures. For example, where the machines had a distinct reservoir that was located at an elevated location trap doors enabled dumped breading to be collected under the reservoir. Where the under-conveyor panels were used, the machines had a discharge location for food products that also served as the discharge location for the breading material.
Issued U.S. Pat. No. 6,244,170 to Whited et al. concerns a new and improved food product breading machine that reliably conveys flaccid and frangible food products to a breading station without folding, heaping or breakage. The disclosure of the '170 patent to Whited et al is incorporated herein by reference. The present invention concerns improvements to the apparatus disclosed in the '170 patent to Whited et al.
As disclosed in the '170 patent, the breading machine had a reservoir that was mounted to pins or posts supported by a base plate. The reservoir included a drive roller for a breading conveyor that was activated by a motor positioned to the side of the reservoir and connected to the drive roller by a transmission. The entire reservoir could be removed by decoupling the drive roller and motor. Due to the angled base of the reservoir, its engagement produced a side force against the coupling between motor and the reservoir drive roller.
A latching system for coupling the reservoir to the drive motor consisted of a latch that was mounted on the breader reservoir, rotated downward over the coupling. This system works well in eliminating the breader reservoir from moving side-to-side axially but does nothing for supporting the breader load vertically. Also the latch had a tendency to ride up out of its groove causing the breader to become disengaged during operation, resulting in break in production.


A power transmitting apparatus, which simultaneously or sequentially supplies electric power to a plurality of power receiving apparatuses in a wireless manner, includes a power transmitting unit configured to transmit electric power to the plurality of power receiving apparatuses, a reception unit configured to receive a power transmission end request and an abnormality content regarding power transmission from a first power receiving apparatus from among the plurality of power receiving apparatuses, and a power transmission determination unit configured, based on the abnormality content, to determine whether to stop power transmission to power receiving apparatuses that have not completed power transmission and that are not the first power receiving apparatus from among the plurality of power receiving apparatuses.

Field
Aspects of the present invention generally relate to a power transmitting apparatus, a power transmitting method, and a storage medium.
Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, there has been provided a technique for supplying electric power in a non-contact manner (a wireless manner). There are four types of non-contact power supply methods, that is, an electromagnetic induction method, a magnetic field resonance method, an electric field coupling method, and a radio wave receiving method. Among these methods, the magnetic field resonance method can transmit a sufficient amount of electric power over a long distance as its feature. With such characteristics, the magnetic field resonance method has particularly received attention among these four methods. In the magnetic field resonance method, a one-to-N power transmission method using the characteristic of long-distance power transmission has been discussed (see, e.g., Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2009-136132). The one-to-N power transmission method enables a power transmitting apparatus to wirelessly transmit electric power to a plurality of power receiving apparatuses.
The one-to-N power transmission includes a simultaneous power supply method and a time-division power supply method. In the simultaneous power supply method, the power transmitting apparatus simultaneously supplies electric power to the plurality of power receiving apparatuses, whereas in the time-division power supply method, the power transmitting apparatus sequentially supplies electric power to each of the power receiving apparatuses. The power receiving apparatus includes a power storage device such as a secondary battery mounted therein. The power receiving apparatus stores power in the power storage device using any of the simultaneous power supply method and the time-division power supply method. Among power storage devices, the secondary battery in particular needs to avoid being overcharged, over-discharged, and a rise in ambient temperature thereof. In such a non-contact power supply method, therefore, both of the power transmitting apparatus and the power receiving apparatus need to have functions of stopping power supply in case of abnormality.
The wireless power consortium (WPC) has developed a non-contact charging standard called "Qi". With the "Qi" standard, a method for stopping the power supplied to a power receiving apparatus is discussed. According to this method, a power transmitting apparatus stops supplying the power in response to a request from the power receiving apparatus. Moreover, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2012-44735 discusses a power supply stop method performed by a power receiving apparatus. According to this method, in a case where the power receiving apparatus detects any abnormality while electric power is being supplied, the power receiving apparatus stops the power supplied thereto. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2012-44735 also discusses a method performed by a power transmitting apparatus which supplies power to a plurality of power receiving apparatuses using a time-division power supply method. In a case where one of the plurality of power receiving apparatuses stops the power supplied thereto, the power transmitting apparatus performs shift processing so that the power is supplied to another power receiving apparatus.
However, there are cases where the power transmitting apparatus is a cause of a power supply abnormality. In such a case, a similar abnormality may occur again if the power transmitting apparatus continues the power supply processing. The reoccurrence of the abnormality is not desirable.

Power transmitting apparatus, power transmitting method, and storage medium


A barge mounted, vertically adjustable receiver is provided which allows connection of a tug boat or pusher boat to a barge and which permits compensation to be made for changes in the draft of the barge by changing the vertical position of the receiver on the barge without disconnection the boat and barge.

This invention relates to the field of marine transport and more specifically to barge cargo transport. In particular, the present invention relates to connected or articulated tug and barge units, also known as articulated pusher boat and barge units used in the transport of petroleum products and other commodities.
Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, the operation of the prior art arrangements between articulated tug and barge vessels will be described. In FIG. 1, tugboat 14 is shown approaching the stern of barge 10. In the stern of barge 10 is notch or well 12 which is sized to receive the bow of tugboat 14. Tugboat or pusher boat 14 approaches the stern of barge 10 and positions itself within notch 12 such that coupling unit 16, 16' of tugboat 14 aligns with vertical channels 18, 18' on barge 10. Once tugboat or pusher boat 14 is properly seated within notch or well 12 of barge 10, alignment is achieved between coupling unit 16, 16' and vertical channels 18, 18' at which time coupling unit 16, 16' is extended by the pusher boat operator to engage with teeth 28 of vertical channel 18 and teeth 28' (not shown) of vertical channel 18'. The advantages of this interconnection between the pusher boat or tugboat 14 and barge 10 are that the boat and barge are securely connected, and boat 14 has far greater control over the acceleration and deceleration of barge 10 and greater control over the direction of travel than would be available to the tug if tow lines were being used to pull the barge through the water.
One means for making the connection between boat 14 and barge 10 is through the use of a coupling unit as shown in FIG. 3. Coupling unit 16 of FIG. 3 operates to secure boat 14 to barge 10 through use of screw drive 36 which extends coupling unit helmet 30 outwardly from the side of boat 14 to connect with teeth 28 of vertical channels 18, 18' (FIG. 1). The operation of the particular coupling unit shown in FIG. 3 is fully discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,688,507 to Kuhlman, et al., and that patent specification is incorporated herein by reference.
Still referring to FIG. 3, the general operation of coupling unit 16 will be discussed. Once the pilot has navigated boat 14 into notch or well 12 of barge 10, cast component or helmet 30 of coupling unit 16 is extended toward vertical channels 18, 18' (FIG. 1). The extension of helmet 30 is initiated by operation of screw 36 which has steel ball 32 attached to one end and on which helmet 30 can pivot. The extension and retraction of screw 36 is operated by use of either low speed electric motor 46 or high speed electric motor 44. In the case of high speed electric motor 44, the force from motor 44 is communicated by shaft 42 to gear 38, the rotation of which causes rotation of screw 36. Rotation of screw 36, depending on the direction selected, will either extend or retract steel ball 32 and helmet 30 which are attached to screw 36. Referring now to FIGS. 4 and 5, the configuration of helmet or cast component 30 is shown. Helmet 30 is designed such that teeth 48 of helmet 30 engage teeth 28 of vertical channels 18, 18' of barge 10 (FIG. 1). It will be appreciated that upon extension of screw 36 of coupling unit 16 (FIG. 3) to bring helmet 30 in contact with vertical channels 18, 18' that teeth 48 of helmet 30 will engage with four of teeth 28 on the fore and aft sides of vertical channels 18, 18'. This design provides six faces of contact between helmet 30 and vertical channels 18, 18' thereby providing a very secure interconnection with a minimum of vertical play between the vertical channels 18, 18' and coupling units 16, 16'.
The manner of coupling tug and barge units just described provides a secure, dependable interconnection between a tug or pusher boat 14 and barge 10 and offers far greater control and maneuverability over barge 10 than the previously used methods of attaching tow cables to barges and pulling them through the water. It will be appreciated by examination of FIGS. 1 and 2 that the connection procedure between 11 boat 14 and barge 10 of directing boat 14 into notch 12 and positioning boat 14 such that coupling unit 16, 16' can be extended to fit into channels 18, 18', virtually requires that this coupling and uncoupling to be conducted in reasonably calm water. Any substantial movement between boat 14 and notch barge would prevent proper alignment of the boat and barge thereby defeating connection of coupling unit 16, 16' to vertical channels 18, 18'. In addition, attempting to engage or disengage boat 14 and barge 10 in rough waters can lead to uncontrolled contact between boat 14 and barge 10 resulting in damage to both vessels. Therefore, it is necessary that the connection between boat 14 and barge 10 be made in calm waters. Once the connection is achieved and the arrangement of FIG. 2 is presented, the boat and barge unit can tolerate very rough seas. One report on the device shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,688,507 indicated that a boat and barge unit coupled by such a device withstood and traveled through a storm having waves in excess of 35 feet.
While this report to indicates the strength and durability of this type of extended screw ram and channel connection between the boat and barge combination, it will also be appreciated that uncoupling and re-coupling the boat 14 and barge 10 in rough seas is dangerous and very unlikely to be successful. The lack of success in coupling the boat and barge combination during rough seas is a result of the rapid movement of both vessels in the rough waters and the difficulty in achieving sufficiently satisfactory alignment between boat 14 and barge 10 to allow coupling unit 16, 16' to be extended to interconnect with vertical channels 18, 18'.
Another drawback of the prior art just described is that once the boat 14 is connected with barge 10, the draft of barge 10--the amount, or depth, of barge 10 which is below water--cannot change appreciably. For example, if boat 14 connects with barge 10 while barge 10 is loaded and sitting low in the water (a deep draft), boat 14 will connect near the upper portion of vertical channels 18, 18'. If the barge is then unloaded without disconnecting boat 14, the barge will rise in the water and begin to lift the bow of boat 14 out of the water as the draft of barge 10 becomes more shallow. Conversely, if boat 14 connects with barge 10 while barge 10 is empty and barge 10 is then subsequently filled, the draft of barge 10 will increase and barge 10 will sink further down into the water. This could ultimately result in forcing boat 14 down into the water, and could result in sinking boat 14.
In many types of articulated boat and barge applications, the loading and unloading of barge 10 is not an issue. In these cases, boat 14 approaches and connects with barge 10 when it is already loaded. Boat 14 then pushes barge 10 to the desired location where boat 14 disconnects from barge 10 before it is unloaded. In these types of applications, the respective drafts of boat 14 and barge 10 do not change. However, there are types of applications in which it is desirable to connect boat 14 to an empty barge 10, then move the barge to a point where it can be loaded with a commodity, followed by moving the loaded barge to a different location where the commodity can be unloaded. If this sequence of events were to occur on a river or other relatively calm or protected waterway, it would not be difficult for boat 14 to disconnect from barge 10, wait for the barge to be loaded or unloaded, and the draft of barge 10 to change and stabilize, and then to reconnect boat 14 to barge 10. However, if this connection and reconnection between boat 14 and barge 10 is to take place on the open sea or in rough seas, this sequence of events cannot be effected as boat 14 and barge 10 are, generally, incapable of successfully uncoupling and recoupling in seas presenting even slight swells.
Therefore, a substantial need exists for a device and method of interconnecting a tug or pusher boat to a barge which permits the draft of the barge to change while allowing the connection between the pusher boat and the barge to compensate for the vertical movement of barge while avoiding any connecting and reconnecting of the boat and barge.

Articulated tug and barge mobile lightering connection


A circuit board has a plurality of pads arranged as a grid array in a quadrangle region. A surface mount type circuit component is connected to the circuit board through the pads. Each of pads arranged in the outermost side of the quadrangle region is formed in a substantially quadrangle shape in plan view.

1. Field
The present invention relates to a circuit board for mounting a semiconductor circuit component having a surface mount type package. Particularly it relates to a circuit board for mounting a surface mount type circuit component which is formed so that electrodes formed in the bottom of a package are connected to pads of the board through metal bumps such as solder balls.
2. Description of the Related Art
As a wide variety of such packages serving as semiconductor circuit components to be mounted on circuit boards have advanced in recent years, surface mount type leadless packages which do not use any lead or pin for electric connection to the boards have been put into practical use broadly.
For example, a BGA (Ball Grid Array) package, an LGA (Land Grid Array) package, etc., are used as such surface mount type leadless packages. In the BGA package, connection terminals are formed in such a manner that solder balls are attached to electrodes (pads) which are formed, for example, as a grid array, on the bottom of the package so as to be connected to an external circuit. In the LGA package, pads (lands) formed as a grid array on the bottom of the package are used directly as connection terminals.
There is also known a CSP (Chip Size Package) having substantially the same size as that of a bare chip constituting a semiconductor. This CSP can be configured so that pads are provided on the bottom of the package so as to be connected to pads of a circuit board through solder balls or other metal bumps.
The BGA package is mounted on a circuit board by so-called reflow soldering which is performed in such a manner that soldering is performed by heating the solder balls while the solder balls are brought into contact with pads of the circuit board to be connected.
The LGA package is mounted on a circuit board through a socket provided with contactors being in contact with pads formed on the bottom of the package or the LGA package is mounted directly on a circuit board through solder balls attached to the pads.
The CSP can be also mounted on a circuit board substantially in the same manner as these circuit components.
When the circuit board mounted thus with the surface mount type semiconductor having no lead is attached to the inside of a housing of an electronic apparatus to use the circuit board, the circuit board is incorporated as one of constituent members of circuits in the electronic apparatus.
In a process of executing the circuit board incorporating operation, stress may be sometimes applied on the circuit board in a direction crossing a board surface or shock may be applied on the circuit board because of falling, etc. As a result, the circuit board may be warped or distorted. This may affect junction portions between the circuit component and the board, so that there is a possibility that the pads of the board will be peeled or soldered portions will be broken. There is a problem that the circuit board cannot fulfill its original function.
If the pads of the circuit board are peeled from the board body, the circuit board per se has to be exchanged for a new one. Accordingly, a considerably great deal of labor is required for assembling the electronic apparatus.
Particularly in recent years, there has been used the circuit board per se made of a thin material for reduction in size and thickness of the outer appearance of the electronic apparatus. In this case, the stiffness of the board is lowered so that the board is apt to be deformed by stress or shock applied externally. There is an increasing possibility that such an accident that peeling of the pads in the circuit board for mounting a surface mount type circuit component using no lead such as a BGA circuit component will occur.
For example, JP-A-2003-78240 has heretofore disclosed a proposal to prevent lowering of peel strength of the pads in such a manner that the pads of the circuit board mounted with a BGA circuit component or a CSP circuit component are formed so that pads in outermost circumferential corner portions become larger in diameter than pads in the other portions. In this proposal, the space of the circuit board cannot be used effectively because the pads are circular. Moreover, when external stress is applied, the external stress is concentrated at one point of an outer edge of each pad. There is therefore a problem that the pads are apt to be peeled.

Circuit board for mounting a semiconductor circuit with a surface mount package


An array of crystalline silicon dies on a substrate and a method for yielding the array are provided. The method comprises: delineating an array of die areas on a crystalline semiconductor wafer; implanting the die areas with hydrogen ions; overlying the die areas with a layer of polymer to form, for each die, an aggregate including a die area first wafer layer; polymerically bonding an optically clear carrier to the die areas; thermally annealing the wafer to induce breakage in the wafer; forming, for each die, an aggregate wafer second layer with a thickness less than the die thickness; and, for each die, conformably attaching the aggregate wafer second layer to a substrate. The substrate can have an area of up to approximately two square meters and the wafer second layer can have a thickness of greater than and equal to approximately 20 nanometers.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to the fabrication of integrated circuit (IC) devices and, more particularly, to the assembly of thin sheets of single crystal silicon onto substrates.
2. Description of the Related Art
The use of substrate materials other than silicon is of interest, as it would enable the realization of new display products that are not otherwise feasible to make. For example, there is broad agreement in the flat panel display (FPD) industry that system-on-glass (SOG) technology is a natural evolutionary step for FPDs, especially for mobile devices. As an example of this evolution, improvements in liquid crystal display (LCD) technology create a need for high performance thin film transistor (TFT) driver components on transparent substrates such as glass and polymer. In fact, SOG is a natural confluence of display and microprocessor evolution, because integration is a proven solution for greatly reducing costs while improving the compactness and reliability of electrical systems.
Another aspect of interest is flexibility, the ability of a microsystem to bend, conform, or maintain its integrity under external xe2x80x9cstressxe2x80x9d. These attributes would enable the manufacturing of a variety of one-use products and/or the manufacturing of robust products that maintain their functionality under a wide range of external, xe2x80x9cenvironmentalxe2x80x9d conditions. Therefore, there is motivation to develop microsystems or products that use TFT microelectronic devices that are robust, have high performance, and are cheap to make.
Low-temperature polysilicon (LTPS) technology uses a laser beam to crystallize amorphous silicon and form thin polycrystalline silicon layers, also referred to as polysilicon layers. Display drivers and analog-to-digital converters for SOG devices can be formed in this manner. Unfortunately, this approach remains relatively expensive for LCD production. Moreover, polysilicon TFTs formed by LTPS technology may not provide the capability to realize sophisticated functions like central processor unit (CPU) operations and digital signal processing. Finally, the steadiness of drive currents produced by polysilicon TFTs may be inadequate for organic light emitting diode displays (OLEDs).
It would be advantageous if a process could inexpensively use SOG technology to produce TFTs able to implement sophisticated functions like CPU and digital signal processing.
It would be advantageous if a process could inexpensively use SOG technology to produce TFTs with drive currents sufficient for OLEDs.
It would be advantageous if a process could inexpensively produce TFT microelectronic devices on flexible substrates.
The present invention describes an array of crystalline silicon dies with thicknesses of 20 nanometers (nm) or more on a substrate with an area of up to two square meters. The present invention also describes a method for yielding the above-mentioned array. The present invention is accomplished using rapid thermal breakage of a crystalline silicon wafer, rapid mechanical placement of the dies on the substrate, and intermolecular bonding of the dies to the substrate. The present invention allows the formation of integrated circuit devices, such as thin film transistors, on transparent or flexible substrates.
Accordingly, a method is provided for assembling crystalline semiconductor thin film sheets onto substrates. The method delineates an array of die areas on a crystalline semiconductor wafer and implants the die areas with hydrogen ions. Then, the die areas are overlain with a layer of polymer to form, for each die, an aggregate including a polymer layer and a die area wafer first layer. An optically clear carrier is polymerically bonded to the die areas and the crystalline wafer is thermally annealed to induce breakage in the wafer. For each die, a wafer second layer with a thickness less than the die thickness is formed and, for each die, the wafer second layer is conformably attached to a substrate using intermolecular bonding.
The wafer second layer can be attached to a substrate with an area of up to approximately two square meters and the wafer second layer can have a thickness of greater than or equal to approximately 20 nm.
The wafer second layer can be conformably adapted to a substrate interface surface with a concavity or curvature. In some aspects of the method, the substrate is transparent, such as a glass substrate. In some aspects, the substrate is flexible, such as a plastic substrate.
Additional details of the above-described method and an array of crystalline silicon dies on a substrate are presented in detail below.

Crystalline silicon die array and method for assembling crystalline silicon sheets onto substrates


In a method and system for providing dispersion compensation in an optical system, there is coupled into the optical system at least one pathway into which there is connected a tunable chirped fiber Bragg grating, each such grating providing a respective tunable amount of dispersion. At least one respective DGD element is connected into the respective pathway for each such grating. The set of all such respective DGD elements in a given pathway introduces a bias differential group delay DGD(bias) having an absolute value that, for at least one tuning value of the grating, is substantially equal to differential group delay introduced by the grating.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to optical fiber devices and methods, and in particular to improved systems and methods for providing tunable dispersion compensation in an optical transmission link with minimum differential group delay.
2. Description of Prior Art
An ongoing issue in the development of optical fiber transmission systems is chromatic dispersion. An optical fiber introduces a certain amount of wavelength-dependent time delay into transmitted data. The steepness of the slope of the wavelength-dependence function increases with the length of the transmission line. In today's optical fiber transmission systems, it is possible for an optical fiber to be used to transmit data at different wavelengths over a distance of hundreds, or even thousands, of kilometers. Without suitable dispersion compensation, chromatic dispersion may lead to an unacceptably large difference in arrival times of signals having different wavelengths.
A dispersion compensator addresses the problem of dispersion by introducing offsetting wavelength-dependent delays into the optical transmission link, thus reducing the difference in arrival times to an acceptably small level. One optical device that can be used to provide dispersion compensation is a chirped fiber Bragg grating (CFBG). See, e.g., Eggleton et al., "Integrated Tunable Fiber Gratings for Dispersion Management in High-Bit Rate Systems," Journal of Lightwave Technology, vol. 18, 1418 et seq. (2000).
A Bragg grating is formed by using a high-intensity ultraviolet light source to "write" a periodic series of changes into the refractive index of a segment of optical fiber. Through the use of a particular writing scheme, it is possible to create a series of refractively modified regions, each of which functions as a wavelength-specific dielectric mirror that reflects light at a particular wavelength back down the length of the fiber segment, while allowing light at other wavelengths to pass through. A "chirped" fiber Bragg grating (CFBG) may be used as a dispersion compensator. In a CFBG, the wavelength reflectivity and spacing of the refractively modified regions are chosen to introduce a negative dispersion in an optical data signal, thereby substantially reducing or eliminating differences in arrival times caused by chromatic dispersion.
A CFBG typically exhibits a certain amount of birefringence. Because of this birefringence, the optical response from a CFBG will exhibit a certain amount of polarization mode dispersion (PMD). The presence of PMD in an optical transmission link will introduce a polarization-dependent delay, causing signals having different polarizations to arrive at different times at the destination point. As used herein, the term "polarization mode dispersion" (or "PMD") refers to the physical phenomenon that causes the difference in arrival times. The quantification of this phenomenon is referred to herein as "differential group delay" (or "DGD").
In the simplest case of a grating with dispersion D and birefringence B operating at a given wavelength λ (e.g., 1550 nm), the grating will exhibit first-order PMD, which is characterized by a single value of differential group delay (DGD) between the two principal states of polarization (PSPs) with a value that can be expressed as follows:DGD=BDλ  (1)
It is known that the DGD for a given CFBG can be reduced by connecting thereto an element that introduces a fixed amount of oppositely signed DGD into the transmission link. See, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 6,137,924 to Strasser et al. (hereinafter referred to as "the '924 patent"), which discloses a technique for eliminating DGD by adding into an optical path to a static CFBG a segment of polarization-maintaining fiber (PMF). The amount of DGD introduced by the PMF segment varies with its length.
Further known in the art is a CFBG that is tunable over a range of dispersion values. Tuning is accomplished in a number of ways including, for example, applying to the CFBG a thermal or strain component, the gradient of which can be precisely controlled. Moreover, it is known to concatenate two or more CFBGs to achieve a larger or more symmetric tuning range.
Current techniques, such as those disclosed in the '924 patent, are directed to the use of a fixed DGD element in conjunction with a static (i.e., non-tunable) CFBG. While these techniques are attractive because of their simplicity, it is not known how to apply them to a dispersion compensator having one or more tunable gratings. In a tunable CFBG, DGD varies as a function of the tuned dispersion. Thus, where a fixed DGD element is used to provide PMD compensation in conjunction with a tunable grating, it will be appreciated that the fixed DGD element can at best only minimize the DGD for one particular setting of a tunable CFBG. Some DGD will always result at other settings. As a result, there exists a need for a means of achieving the minimum value of DGD in a CFBG over its entire tuning range.
A further issue arises where two or more gratings are concatenated. In that case, there are many tuning voltages that will yield the same value for total dispersion. Thus, an effective DGD minimization technique must allow for different tuning trajectories. Also, a particular tuning trajectory may be dictated, for example, by considerations of power consumption, or the like. In this case, a means of constructing the device in order to achieve minimum DGD along a given tuning trajectory is needed.

Tunable dispersion compensator with minimum differential group delay