A gaming system for conducting a wagering game includes a game display configured to display an array of symbols indicating a randomly selected outcome of the wagering game in response to receiving a wager from a player, an input device adapted to receive inputs from a player and to output a signal to a controller corresponding to the player inputs and a controller configured to conduct a wagering game and a game feature associated with the wagering game. The controller is further configured to enable play of the wagering game responsive to an input of a first wager and to enable the game feature responsive to an input of a second wager further to the first wager. The game feature provides an opportunity for the player to receive, further to a winning outcome in the wagering game, a first positive feature in the game feature, and provides an opportunity for the player to receive, further to a losing outcome in the wagering game, a second positive feature in the game feature.

Gaming machines, such as slot machines, video poker machines and the like, have been a cornerstone of the gaming industry for several years. Generally, the popularity of such machines with players is dependent on the likelihood (or perceived likelihood) of winning money at the machine and the intrinsic entertainment value of the machine relative to other available gaming options. Where the available gaming options include a number of competing machines and the expectation of winning at each machine is roughly the same (or believed to be the same), players are likely to be attracted to the most entertaining and exciting machines. Shrewd operators consequently strive to employ the most entertaining and exciting machines, features, and enhancements available because such machines attract frequent play and hence increase profitability to the operator. Therefore, there is a continuing need for gaming machine manufacturers to continuously develop new games and improved gaming enhancements that will attract frequent play through enhanced entertainment value to the player.
One concept that has been successfully employed to enhance the entertainment value of a game is the concept of a "secondary" or "bonus" game that may be played in conjunction with a "basic" game. The bonus game may comprise any type of game, either similar to or completely different from the basic game, which is entered upon the occurrence of a selected event or outcome in the basic game. Generally, bonus games provide a greater expectation of winning than the basic game and may also be accompanied with more attractive or unusual video displays and/or audio. Bonus games may additionally award players with "progressive jackpot" awards that are funded, at least in part, by a percentage of coin-in from the gaming machine or a plurality of participating gaming machines. Because the bonus game concept offers tremendous advantages in player appeal and excitement relative to other known games, and because such games are attractive to both players and operators, there is a continuing need to develop gaming machines with new types of bonus games to satisfy the demands of players and operators.
Another way to increase the entertainment value of a game is to enhance the display of the gaming machines. For gaming machines with video displays, improvements in video technology have enabled the display of richer and more colorful graphics. For gaming machines with mechanical displays, however, the enhancements early on were less technologically advanced. For example, some mechanical reel symbols were colored by backlighting the mechanical symbols with colored lighting elements. Sometimes the reel itself might contain electroluminescent elements that defined one or more reel symbols. To display a symbol in multiple colors or formats using such an arrangement, multiple electroluminescent elements were needed for the symbol.
Recent advances in transmissive display technology have made it possible to more easily modify the appearance of mechanical displays. A transmissive display is essentially a transparent video display that is superimposed over the mechanical display. The transmissive display may then be operated to display selected video images over the mechanical display. These video images may include translucent portions such that the underlying mechanical display is visible, but in an altered state (i.e., different color, texture, etc.). The video images may also include opaque portions so as to completely block out parts of the underlying mechanical display.
The above-described transmissive display technology gives wagering game designers the capability and flexibility to more easily design and modify the appearance of mechanical displays. Accordingly, there is a need to develop new and improved wagering games for mechanical displays using this technology, with features that take full advantage of the capabilities of the transmissive display to thereby enhance the entertainment value of the wagering games.

Wagering game providing suggestion for game feature to be achieved in subsequent play


Methods and apparatus are provided for implementing the advanced encryption standard. The apparatus comprises a first multiplexer receiving during a first cycle a data word, a substitution transformation of the data word and inverse substitution transformation of the data word to provide a first output. During the next cycle, a second multiplexer receives the first output, a mixed column transformation of the first output and an inverse mixed column transformation of the first output to provide a second output. Also in the next cycle, the second output is added to a round key to provide one round of an encoded or decoded digital word compliant with the advanced encryption standard with cycle-by-cycle throughput. The method comprises shifting a received data word and processing the shifted data word using a substitution transformation (encoding) or an inverse substitution transformation (decoding) during a first cycle in an advanced encryption standard unit of a processor. In the next cycle, the result from the first cycle is processed using a mixed column transformation (encoding) or an inverse mixed column transformation (decoding) and the result is added to a round key to provide one round compliant with the advanced encryption with cycle-by-cycle throughput.

Information technology is a pervasive and critically important aspect of modern society. Information or data security is one of the paramount issues that impacts the acceptability of an information system's operations. Keeping data secure necessitates protection from unauthorized viewing, modification or destruction of the information.
Approaches to the security of information include encrypting the data to prevent its reading by an unauthorized entity. Encryption based security methods endeavor to prohibit data from being comprehended if received or accessed without proper authorization. Encryption methods generally utilize a mathematical algorithm to transform the legible data (plaintext) into an encrypted form (ciphertext), that cannot be comprehended without the knowledge and use of a key to decrypt the encrypted data.
On Nov. 26, 2001, NIST announced the Advance Encryption Standard (AES) in FIPS Publication 197. The AES uses the Rijndael cipher proposed by Vincent Rijmen and Joan Daemen September, 1999. Rijndael is a 128-bit symmetric block cipher that accepts a variable-length key of 128, 192, or 256-bits. The Rijndael algorithm is a now a well-known technology in the field of encryption, and is explicated in depth at the publicly accessible NIST website. FIPS Publication 197 is incorporated fully herein by reference thereto.
In April, 2008, Intel promulgated a White Paper describing Intel's new set of Single Instruction Multiple Data (SIMD) instructions for data encryption and decryption in compliance with FIPS Publication 197. Of the six defined instructions, four are dedicated to encryption and decryption, while the remaining two instructions support the AES key expansion procedure. The Intel White Paper entitled "Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) Instructions Set" is hereby fully incorporated herein by reference thereto.
However, to implement these AES instructions in a processor, an architecture must be defined to process the instructions in as efficient a manner as possible. Prior architecture implementations require multiple cycles of throughput to execute each instruction, resulting in reduced performance since the prior implementations are not fully pipelined.

Processor with architecture implementing the advanced encryption standard


A method of, and oral composition for, inhibiting adherence of Streptococcus pyogenes to pharyngeal and oral mucosa cells by treating these cells with an oligosaccharide having at least one fucose moiety or a galactose moiety which is free of digalactose and N-acetylneuraminyl lactose.

Adherence is an important early event in the pathogenesis of bacterial infections in animals and humans. Studies have shown that the infectious ability of bacteria is related to the ability of bacteria to adhere to host cells. In the first stages of infection, bacterial adhesins, adhesive molecules on the surface of bacteria, bind to receptor materials on the host cell membrane.
Surprisingly, it has been found that the adherence of a bacterium such as Streptococcus pyogenes to human epithelial pharangeal and oral mucosal cells can be inhibited by oligosaccharides. Streptococcus Pyogenes, a group A beta hemolytic streptococci which causes pharyngitis, exhibits tissue tropism, i.e. it is virtually found only in humans.
Early studies by Ellen and Gibbons (Infection and Immunity, pp. 826-830 May 1972) indicated that M protein functions in the attachment of S. pyogenes to epithelial surfaces. On the other hand, subsequent studies by Beachey (J. of Infectious Diseases 143(3), pp. 325-345(1981)) indicated that attachment of S pyogenes to host receptor cells occurred through fatty acid ends of lipoteichoic acid molecules on the S. pyogenes surface interacting with host cell membrane receptors. More recently Tylewska et al (Current Microbiology,16, pp. 209-216(1988)) have confirmed that the M protein in the S. pyogenes cell membrane may play an important role in S. pyogenes adhesion to host cell membranes. While the inventors do not wish to be bound to any one theory, it is believed that inhibition by oligosaccharide of the adherence of S. pyogenes to human pharyngeal and oral mucosal cells may be accomplished by the oligosaccharide effectively mimicing the host cell receptors for M protein, thus preventing binding of S. pyogenes to the receptors of M protein on the host cell membrane.

Oligosaccharide inhibition of Streptococcus pyogenes adhesion


Powder or lengths of ceramic or metallic superconductor ceramic compositions are loaded into lengths of metal tubing. Mechanical reduction of filled tubing is facilitated by use of elevated temperatures and intermittent heat treatments as required. Rolling to a flattened cross section aids bending to the final device configurations and subsequent hot-isostatic-pressing. Hot-isostatic-pressing steps (1) close defects, including voids, cracks and joints and improve microstructure, and (2) join tested wire lengths to produce a superconductor length in the final configuration. Encapsulation of the superconductor is completed and assured with metal sleeves and solder or glass.

Superconducting ceramic compositions have been discovered only recently. Since 1973, it has been known that certain transition metal alloys showed: superconductivity as high as 23 K (-250.degree. C.) Most of these were based on niobium metal and its alloys. Liquid helium (BP=4 K) was required to maintain the superconductive state. In December 1986, Muller and Bednorz announced the discovery (Georg Bednorz and Alex Muller, Z. Phys. B64, 189 (1986)) of a new ceramic superconducting compound based on lanthanum, barium, and copper oxides. Its critical temperature for superconductivity was close to 35 K. By the following month, the critical temperature Tc for the onset of superconductivity, was raised to nearly 80 K by C. W. Chu and coworkers. (M. K. WU, J. R. Ashburn, C. J. Tang, P. H. Hor, R. L. Meng, L. Gao, Z. J. Huang, Y. Q. Wang, and C. W. Chu, Phys. Rev. Lett. 58, 908 (1987)). This was achieved by changing the composition to yttrium barium copper oxide, approximated by the formula: EQU Y.sub.1.0 Ba.sub.1.8 Cu.sub.3.0 O.sub.6.3.
Note that the formula is not exactly stoichiometric. It is believed that this lack of specific stoichiometry contributes most to the onset of superconductivity. Nevertheless, the exact mechanisms connecting superconductivity with chemical composition and stoichiometry remain unknown, even though they are receiving intensive study at this time. The most recent superconducting ceramic compositions announced to date include:
Bismuth Strontium (Calcium ) Copper Oxide: EQU Bi.sub.2 Sr.sub.3-x Ca.sub.x Cu.sub.2 O.sub.8+y EQU T.sub.c =114 K.
Thallium Barium Calcium Copper Oxide: EQU Tl Ba.sub.2 Ca Cu.sub.2 O.sub.7 EQU Tl Ba.sub.2 Ca.sub.2 Cu.sub.3 O.sub.9 EQU Tl Ba.sub.2 Ca.sub.3 Cu.sub.4 O.sub.11 EQU Tl Ba.sub.2 Ca.sub.4 Cu.sub.5 O.sub.13 EQU T.sub.c =120 K.
Superconducting ceramic compositions are normally prepared by weighing out specific quantities of selected oxides. The combination is thoroughly mixed by conventional means and then fired at elevated temperatures above about 950.degree. C. The induced solid state reaction causes the formation of the desired ceramic composition and structure. Further annealing in an oxygen atmosphere has been shown to improve the superconducting properties of the Y-Ba-Cu-0 compound. The powder so-produced is then processed by conventional means (by compacting) to form a bar which is then used as the superconducting medium.
In other methods, one can prepare superconducting thin films by the use of the electron-beam evaporation method or the vapor phase epitaxial growth method. In the former method, appropriate oxide targets are heated to the point where they evaporate and condense on a suitable substrate. Usually, one sequentially evaporates at least three different oxides, thereby forming the desired stoichiometry and composition. For example, to obtain Y.sub.1.0 Ba.sub.1.8 Cu.sub.3.0 O.sub.6.3, one evaporates copper oxide first, then barium oxide and finally yttrium oxide (which melts at 2400.degree. C.). The desired stoichiometry is obtained by controlling the thicknesses of the layers, relative to one another. Actually, the desired stoichiometry of the superconductor (for this composition) is better approximated by: EQU Y.sub.1.0 Ba.sub.1.8 Cu.sub.3.0 O.sub.7.0-X
One reason for this lies in the fact that once the three oxides have been evaporated onto a substrate, it is nearly always necessary to anneal the reacted composition in an oxygen-containing atmosphere to attain the superconducting state. As the second layer (barium oxide) is evaporated onto the copper oxide layer, it is still hot enough to react directly with the original layer to form (presumably) Ba.sub.2 Cu.sub.3 O.sub.5. This barium cuprate compound is further reacted with the hot evaporated yttrium oxide to form the final composition. Because the evaporation temperature of Y.sub.2 O.sub.3 exceeds 3400.degree. C., the final product is likely to be deficient in oxygen because of the tendency of such oxides to form lower valence states, i.e.--2CuO--Cu.sub.2 O+Cu (or Y.sub.2 O.sub.3--Y.sub.2 O.sub.3-X), at high temperatures, as is known in the art. This mandates a reannealing step in oxygen atmosphere to restore the critical oxide stoichiometry required for superconductivity. If the mixed oxides are calcined together, the solid state reaction temperature is almost always lower than 1500.degree. C. If the superconductor is to be formed on a lower-melting substrate such as Si (silicon), it has been found to be necessary to evaporate a non-reactive and thermally non-conducting layer such as zirconia (ZrO.sub.2) on the Si surface before one begins to form the superconductor composition.
To control stoichiometry, one controls the thickness of the individual, and sequential, layers evaporated. In one example, a 0.4 micron layer of ZrO.sub.2 was formed as a protective layer. Then a copper oxide layer was deposited; a barium oxide layer was formed, followed by an yttrium oxide layer. This was repeated six times to build up an 18 layer "stack", having a thickness of about 0.75 microns. The stack was then calcined at about 950.degree. C. in oxygen atmosphere, annealed at about 550.degree. C. and then cooled. This process can produce only thin films of a superconducting composition.
In the vapor phase epitaxial growth method, the methodology is similar except that the targets are not vaporized but are sublimed by bombarding the surface with an electrical discharge in an inert ionized gas. For the most part, one may use halide target compositions such as CuCl.sub.2, BaCl.sub.2 and YCl.sub.3 for sublimation sources. Ionized gas molecules such as argon or krypton bombard the target surface and cause metal chloride molecules to be redeposited onto a cooler surface. By proper control of the gaseous discharge conditions, one can cause a single crystal film of oxidic composition to build up in an epitaxial manner. That is, the growth of the superconductor becomes oriented two-dimensionally by the crystal structure of the substrate. For the most part, oxides are not used at all, but are formed during the deposition process because the whole methodology is carried out in an atmosphere containing specified quantities of oxygen gas.
The mechanism of superconductivity in such oxide-based ceramic materials is not at all well understood. The first published suggestion concerning superconductivity was made by Ogg in 1946. He proposed that superconductivity arose in quenched metal-ammonia solutions because of mobile electron pairs. The concept accepted at present is similar and is due to Bardeen, Cooper and Schrieffer (the BCS theory). It suggests that a mobile electron propagating throughout a lattice structure interacts with the bound electrons of the lattice through differences in the electron quantum spin number. If two such electrons form a pair which are bound through opposite spin-pairing (Cooper pairs), then no quantum interaction of the bound pairs can occur with the electrons of the lattice (which still have an electron moment). That the BCS theory has some validity is shown by the following example concerning the structure of the semiconductor--YBa.sub.2 Cu.sub.3 O.sub.6 as compared to that of the superconductor--YBa.sub.2 Cu.sub.3 O.sub.7. Both of these compounds have the idealized cubic perovskite structure. The 1:2:3 perovskite should have nine (9) oxygen atoms in the unit cell whereas the superconductor has less than seven (7). Thus, about one quarter of the oxygen atoms are missing in the superconductor. Yet, the exact mechanism of superconductivity cannot be directly related to this experimental observation.
Another method for preparing superconductors in useful form has been to form the oxides and then compact the so-produced powder into the bar. The bar was then heated on a pedestal by a LASER until it melted, a seed crystal was added, and a fiber was drawn at a controlled rate. The prototype wire was able to carry 30,000 A/cm.sup.2 at 4 K. before it failed. The composition used, Bi.sub.2 Sr.sub.3-x Ca.sub.x Cu.sub.2 O.sub.8+y, was sintered, then reground and sintered again at least two more times, to achieve a uniform composition. The fiber so-produced was a single crystal but was subject to the shortcomings of all ceramic fibers, namely lack of flexibility and ductility.
All of the above methods given above for producing superconducting compositions are limited in the physical form of the superconductor that they are able to produce. For example, the superconducting powder can be compacted into only rather small pellets or rods. Many devices, especially electromagnetic windings, using superconductors require long wires or ribbons, especially electromagnet windings. As superconductors, especially ceramic superconductors, lack the ductility required for drawing into wires, special manufacturing techniques are required to provide said wires. The limitations on plastic deformation also limits the bending of superconductor wires into the configurations required in the devices.
The superconductivity property is restricted to the individual crystals of the superconductor, and is commonly highly anisotropic in each crystal. Consequently, the orientation of the crystallites is a factor affecting current-carrying capacity. A non-superconducting phase in the current-carrying paths between the crystallites would add resistance that could greatly decrease current-carrying capacity. However, intergranular phases give strength to many ceramics. Superconductors, on the other hand, are likely to suffer losses in superconducting performance from the presence of secondary phases. Many of the common techniques which might be applied to the manufacture of superconducting wires require the presence of binders or other additives which would produce voids or intergranular phases. Some impurities such as water or organic solvents and binders, must be carefully removed to limit formation of voids and shrinkage cracks. Essentially no current is carried through voids or across cracks.
Because of the adverse effects of impurity phases and impurity-caused defects upon superconductor properties, a conceptually ideal technique might use a pure superconductor as starting material and not contaminate it with impurities while producing the final wire configuration of theoretically dense superconductor. I have found that available technologies for the manufacture of metal wires and tubes, and for hot-isostatic-pressing of ceramics to close voids and cracks and to join lengths of ceramics, can be applied to the manufacture of superconducting wires in bent configurations required for devices. These wires are contained in composite structures which are comprised essentially and most simply of the superconductor wire as a core tightly contained in a generally thick-walled metal tube.

Method of making superconductor wires by hot isostatic pressing after bending


The invention provides a method of synthesizing a zeolite having the CHA crystalline framework, the method including forming a reaction mixture comprising an alumina source comprising a zeolite having an FAU crystalline framework, a silica source, and an organic structure directing agent, the reaction mixture—having a combined molar ratio of M/Si+R/Si higher than the molar ratio OH/Si, wherein M is moles of alkali metal and R is moles of organic structure directing agent; and crystallizing the reaction mixture to form a product zeolite having the CHA crystalline framework, wherein the product zeolite has a mesopore surface area (MSA) of less than about 25 m2/g. The invention also includes catalyst articles made using the product zeolite, exhaust gas treatment systems including the catalyst articles, and methods of treating exhaust gas using the catalyst articles.

Emissions of diesel engines include particulate matter (PM), nitrogen oxides (NOx), unburned hydrocarbons (HC), and carbon monoxide (CO). NOx is a term used to describe various chemical species of nitrogen oxides, including nitrogen monoxide (NO) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2), among others. The two major components of exhaust particulate matter are the soluble organic fraction (SOF) and the soot fraction. The SOF condenses on the soot in layers, and is generally derived from unburned diesel fuel and lubricating oils. The SOF can exist in diesel exhaust either as a vapor or as an aerosol (i.e., fine droplets of liquid condensate), depending on the temperature of the exhaust gas. Soot is predominately composed of particles of carbon. The HC content of exhaust can vary depending on engine type and operating parameters, but typically includes a variety of short-chain hydrocarbons such as methane, ethene, ethyne, propene, and the like.
Various treatment methods have been used for the treatment of NOx-containing gas mixtures to decrease atmospheric pollution. One type of treatment involves catalytic reduction of nitrogen oxides. There are two processes: (1) a nonselective reduction process wherein carbon monoxide, hydrogen, or a hydrocarbon is used as a reducing agent; and (2) a selective reduction process wherein ammonia or an ammonia precursor is used as a reducing agent. In the selective reduction process, a high degree of nitrogen oxide removal can be achieved with a small amount of reducing agent.
Catalysts employed in the SCR process ideally should be able to retain good catalytic activity over a wide range of temperature, for example, 200° C. to 600° C. or higher, under hydrothermal conditions. SCR catalysts are commonly exposed to high temperature hydrothermal conditions, such as during the regeneration of a soot filter, which is a component of the exhaust gas treatment system used for the removal of particles.
Molecular sieves such as zeolites have been used in the SCR of nitrogen oxides with a reductant such as ammonia, urea, or a hydrocarbon in the presence of oxygen. Zeolites are crystalline materials having rather uniform pore sizes, which depending upon the type of zeolite and the type and amount of cations included in the zeolite, range from about 3 to about 10 Angstroms in diameter. Zeolites having 8 member-ring pore openings and double-six ring secondary building units, particularly those having cage-like structures, are particularly well-suited for use as SCR catalysts. A specific type of zeolite having these properties is chabazite (CHA), which is a small pore zeolite with 8 member-ring pore openings (˜3.8 Angstroms) accessible through its 3-dimensional porosity. A cage-like structure results from the connection of double six-ring building units by 4 rings. Molecular sieves having a CHA structure may be prepared, for instance, according to methods disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,544,538 and 6,709,644, which are incorporated herein by reference.
Metal-promoted zeolite catalysts, also often referred to as ion-exchanged zeolite catalysts (e.g., iron-promoted and copper-promoted zeolite catalysts) for the selective catalytic reduction of nitrogen oxides with ammonia are known. It has been found that under harsh hydrothermal conditions (e.g., as exhibited during the regeneration of a soot filter with temperatures locally exceeding 700° C.), the activity of many metal-promoted zeolites begins to decline. This decline has been attributed to dealumination of the zeolite and the consequent loss of metal-containing active centers within the zeolite. Light duty diesel (LDD) applications, where the SCR catalyst is often exposed to temperature excursions associated with soot filter regeneration, place particular demand on hydrothermal stability of the zeolite. Although hydrothermal stability generally increases with decreasing framework alumina content (i.e., with increasing silica-to-alumina molar ratio or SAR), the latter also limits the amount of catalytically active Cu sites. To that end, enhancement in hydrothermal stability of lower SAR frameworks would present an effective strategy for LDD performance improvement.

CHA zeolite material and related method of synthesis


A method to assist an operator of an interactive measurement system for determining flow related parameters based upon physiological signals obtained by a measurement unit that comprises a catheter adapted to be inserted into a vessel inside a body of a human or an animal, a wire adapted to be inserted into the catheter and provided with a temperature sensor at its distal end, and a computer means adapted to receive and store detected temperature signals received from said sensor and said wire. The system further comprises a graphical user interface on a display screen connected to said computer means, wherein the method comprises the steps of:

This invention relates to flow measurements in narrow channels in general, and in particular to in vivo flow measurements in blood vessels using a method in an interactive system. The invention is applicable when performing coronary flow reserve (CFR) measurements and also when performing fractional flow reserve (FFR) measurements, each taken separately or in combination.
The invention also relates to an interactive graphical user interface and a computer program executing program instructions applicable for performing the method.
In order to measure flow in very narrow channels such as blood vessels, it has been known for a long time to employ a number of different methods, e.g. the so called timed venous collection technique, electromagnetic flow measurements, epicardial ultrasonic flow velocity measurement, the thermodilution technique, and other techniques. For details on these techniques, reference is made to xe2x80x9cMaximal Myocardial Perfusion as a Measure of the Functional Significance of Coronary Artery Diseasexe2x80x9d, by N. H. J. Pijis, (1991), Cip-Gegevens Koninklijke Bibliotheek, den Haag, (ISBN 90-9003818-3).
The present invention concerns improvements in the operation and control of the thermodilution principle, and therefore this principle will be briefly summarized below.
Application of the thermodilution principle in the coronary sinus was introduced by Ganz (Ganz et al, xe2x80x9cMeasurement of coronary sinus blood flow by continuous thermodilution in man, Circulation 44:181-195, 1971). A small catheter is introduced deeply into the coronary sinus and cold saline is delivered at its tip. Theoretically, flow can be calculated from the changes in blood temperature, registered by a thermistor close to the outlet of the coronary sinus. An advantage of this method is that only right heart catheterization is required.
The principle of thermodilution involves injecting a known amount of cooled liquid, e.g. physiological saline in a blood vessel. After injection the temperature is continuously recorded with a temperature sensor attached to the tip of a guide wire that is inserted in the vessel. A temperature change due to the cold liquid passing the measurement site, i.e. the location of the sensor, will be a function of the flow.
There are various methods of evaluating the temperature signal for diagnostic purposes. Either one may attempt to calculate the volume flow, or one may use a relative measure, where the flow in a xe2x80x9crest conditionxe2x80x9d is compared with a xe2x80x9cwork conditionxe2x80x9d, induced by medicaments.
The latter is the simpler way, and may be carried out by measuring the width at half height of the temperature change profile in the two situations indicated, and forming a ratio between these quantities.
Another way of obtaining a ratio would be to measure the transit time from injection and until the cold liquid passes the sensor, in rest condition and in work condition respectively.
The former method, i.e. the utilization of the volume flow parameter as such, requires integration of the temperature profile over time in accordance with the equations given below                               Q          rest                =                              V            /                                          ∫                                  t                  0                                                  t                  1                                                                                (                                                            T                                              r                        ,                        m                                                              /                                          T                                              r                        ,                        l                                                                              )                                                                  xe2x80x83                                                                  ⅆ                  t                                                              ∝                      V            /                                          ∫                                  t                  0                                                  t                  1                                                                                (                                                            T                                              r                        ,                        0                                                              -                                          T                                              r                        ,                        m                                                                              )                                                                  ⅆ                  t                                                                                (        1        )                                          Q          work                =                              V            /                                          ∫                                  t                  0                                                  t                  1                                                                                (                                                            T                                              w                        ,                        m                                                              /                                          T                                              w                        ,                        l                                                                              )                                                                  xe2x80x83                                                                  ⅆ                  t                                                              ∝                      V            /                                          ∫                                  t                  0                                                  t                  1                                                                                (                                                            T                                              w                        ,                        0                                                              -                                          T                                              w                        ,                        m                                                                              )                                                                  ⅆ                  t                                                                                (        2        )
wherein
V is the volume of injected liquid
Tr,m is the measured temperature at rest condition
Tr,l is the temperature of injected liquid at rest condition
T0 is the temperature of the blood, i.e. 37xc2x0 C.
Tw,m is the measured temperature at work condition
Tw,l is the temperature of injected liquid at work condition
Q is the volume flow
These quantities may than be used directly for assessment of the condition of the coronary vessels and the myocardium of the patient, or they may be ratioed as previously to obtain a CFR, i.e. CFR=Qwork/Qrest.
The latter method, i.e. determination of the transit time requires an accurate time measurement, in view of the relatively small distances in question, about 10 cm or less from injection to measurement site.
E.g. in order to obtain a correct measurement, the time has to be measured with some accuracy. Using a simple stopwatch, which is a common means of timing, is far too inaccurate for obtaining reliable transit times.
The flow F may be obtained as follows, which is a derivation for a similar technique, namely the indicator dilution technique. This is based on a rapidly injected amount of some kind of indicator, the concentration of which is measured.
For this purpose, the function h(t) is introduced which is the fraction of indicator, passing per unit of time at a measurement site at time t. In other words, h(t) is the distribution function of transit times of the indicator particles. If it is assumed that that flow of the indicator is representative for flow of the total fluid (complete mixing), h(t) is also the distribution function of transit times of all fluid particles. Suppose the total volume of fluid is made up of a very large number of volume elements dVi which are defined in such a way that dVi contains all fluid particles present in the system at t=0, with transit times between ti and ti+1. The fraction of fluid particles requiring times between ti and ti+1 to pass the measurement site, is h(ti) xcex94t by definition, and because the rate at which the fluid particles pass at the measurement site, equals F, the rate at which the particles making up dVi pass at the measurement site is Fxc2x7h(ti)xc2x7xcex94t. The total volume of dVi equals the time ti, required for all particles segments in dVi to pass at the measurement site multiplied by the rate at which they leave. In other words:
dVi=tixc2x7Fxc2x7h(ti)xc2x7xcex94t
and by integration:   V  =      F                      ∫        0        ∞                                    t          ·                      h                                      (              t              )                                                        xe2x80x83                                  ⅆ          t
The integral in the equation above represents the mean transit time Tmn, which is the average time, needed by one particle to travel from an injection site to a measurement site. Therefore:
V=Fxc2x7Tmn
or:
F=V/Tmn; Tmn=V/F
which states the fundamental fact that flow equals volume divided by mean transit time.
Although the above derivation was made for the mentioned indicator dilution technique, the result is the same for thermo-dilution since the same distribution function may be employed.
Applicant""s own International Patent Application WO 97/27802 entitled xe2x80x9cCombined flow, pressure and temperature sensorxe2x80x9d, and filed Jan. 30, 1997, discloses a combined pressure, temperature and flow sensor. Therein, the utility of the combined sensor is discussed in terms of application of the hot anemometer technique, and the thermodilution technique.
However, the time measurement is triggered by the cold saline passing a temperature sensor at a point upstream of the measurement point. This requires a special guide catheter provided with a temperature sensor.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,089,103, also assigned to the same applicant as the present application and relates to a method of flow measurements in a narrow channel. A sensor is provided, having an element sensitive to pressure, and an element sensitive to a selected chemical or physical property, e.g. temperature. When a thermo-dilution measurement is to be performed a guide catheter is filled entirely all the way up to the distal opening with cold saline, at a temperature lower than the blood temperature. Then a small bolus amount is injected into the guide catheter, normally at its proximal end. Thereby a corresponding amount will be expelled from the distal opening of the guide catheter and into the blood vessel, and thereby transported towards the measurement point by the flowing blood. When the cold saline passes a temperature sensor on the distal tip of the guide catheter, the temperature sensor registers a temperature gradient and in response thereto a timer in a control unit is initiated. Again, when the bolus of cold saline passes the sensor at the distal tip of the guide wire, a temperature gradient is recorded and the software in a control unit processes the recorded data and outputs a result a value of a flow parameter.
EP-1,125,548 (published after the priority date of the present application) relates to measurement of flow in blood vessel by thermo-dilution and in particular to a method of triggering such measurement in order to improve the measurements. In the EP-application the inventors have realized that a previous problem acknowledged in connection with thermo-dilution can be used to an advantage for triggering purposes. Namely, when a bolus of cold saline is injected into a catheter where a wire carrying the sensor unit and electrical leads for signal transmission is located, the lead resistance will be instantly affected by the cold saline by a change in the resistivity. This is a problem in that the change must be compensated for in order to arrive at a correct output signal. In accordance with the invention in the EP-1,125,548, the resistivity change is recorded as a resistance variation curve, and various parts of the recoded curve, or the entire curve, can be mathematically processed to give as a result a starting point for the determination for a transit time of the injected liquid. The starting point can be determined in different ways. According to one way the onset of the resistivity reduction is registered and the derivative of the curve is calculated, and if the derivative exceeds a preset value, time measurement is triggered. Another way is to use the peak value as a stating point for time measurement. Again the derivative, or preferably the second derivative, is calculated and the change in sign is detected. In this way the accuracy in the time measurement is significantly improved.
In order to take full advantage of the improved accuracy in the time measurement which of course also influences the overall measurement accuracy of CFR and also FFR the physician performing the diagnostic measurements must be able to easily and safely be guided through the measurement procedure, and also have the relevant measurement results presented in a way that gives a clear overview of all aspects of the results.
The object of the present invention is to achieve an improved method in a flow measurement system including an improved interactive user interface.
The above-mentioned object is achieved by a method according to the independent claim.
Preferred embodiments are set forth in the dependent claims.

Abstract: determine if a valid activation command is received from the operator, and upon receipt of a valid activation command activate a continuous analysis of detected temperature signals,

Abstract: display on said graphical user interface an operator instruction in an instruction window instructing the operator to perform steps in a measurement procedure to obtain said flow related parameters,

Abstract: detect steps performed by the operator during the measurement procedure and display on said user interface the current status of said performed steps,

Abstract: display on said user interface, in real-time, temperature curves related to the measurement procedure,

Abstract: determine at least one flow related parameter based upon the temperature measurements obtained during said measurement procedure,

Abstract: display on said user interface said at least one determined flow related parameter.


A food product slicer with a rotatable slicer knife includes a ring guard disposed about a portion of the peripheral cutting edge of the slicer knife. A removable ring guard cover includes a food catching wall positioned in the gap between the peripheral cutting edge of the knife and the ring guard.

Food product slicers having circular slicer knives are commonly used in restaurant and grocery businesses, among others. It is common to provide a ring guard disposed about a portion of the knife cutting edge to protect the edge of the knife and it is preferred to have the ring guard mounted in a manner to prevent removal by the end user in order to assure the knife protecting function. Food product tends to be thrown off the rotating slicer knife onto the ring guard. U.S. Pat. No. 5,509,337 provides a slicer in which the ring guard is movable away from the plane of the knife cutting edge to facilitate cleaning. However, it would be desirable to provide a food product slicer that limits the need for cleaning the ring guard.

Food product slicer with removable ring guard cover


The invention is a 1.5 volt primary electrochemical battery cell with an alkali metal lithium negative electrode (such as lithium), a positive electrode (comprising iron disulfide for example) and a nonaqueous electrolyte. The electrolyte has a solute including lithium iodide dissolved in an ether-containing solvent including a 1,2-dimethoxypropane based solvent component and no more than 30 volume percent 1,2-dimethoxyethane. When 1,2-dimethoxypropane is used to replace at least most 1,2-dimethoxyethane in the solvent, the cell provides good discharge capacity at low temperature while maintaining excellent discharge capacity at room temperature.

This invention relates to a primary nonaqueous electrolyte electrochemical battery cell, such as a lithium/iron disulfide, with good low temperature performance characteristics.
Batteries are used to provide power to many portable electronic devices. Common advantages of lithium batteries (those that contain metallic lithium or lithium alloy as the electrochemically active material of the negative electrode) include high energy density, good high rate and high power discharge performance, good performance over a broad temperature range, long shelf life and light weight. Lithium batteries are becoming increasingly popular as the battery of choice for new devices because of trends in those devices toward smaller size and higher power. The use of high power consumer devices in low temperature environments is also becoming more common. While lithium batteries can typically operate devices at lower temperatures than batteries with aqueous electrolytes, electrolyte systems that provide the best high power discharge characteristics, even after storage for long periods of time, do not always give the best performance at low temperatures.
One type of lithium battery, referred to below as a Li/FeS2 battery, has iron disulfide as the electrochemically active material of the positive electrode. Li/FeS2 batteries have used electrolyte systems with a wide variety of solutes and organic solvents. The salt/solvent combination is selected to provide sufficient electrolytic and electrical conductivity to meet the cell discharge requirements over the desired temperature range. While the electrical conductivity is relatively low compared to some other common solvents, ethers are often desirable because of their generally low viscosity, good wetting capability, good low temperature discharge performance and good high rate discharge performance. This is particularly true in Li/FeS2 cells because the ethers are more stable than with MnO2 cathodes, so higher ether levels can be used. Among the ethers that have been used are 1,2-dimethoxyethane (DME) and 1,3-dioxolane (DIOX), which have been used together and in blends with other cosolvents. However, because of interactions among solvents, as well as with the electrolyte solutes, cell performance has been difficult to predict based on the properties of individual solvent and solute components.
A wide variety of solutes has been used in Li/FeS2 cell electrolytes; lithium trifluoromethanesulfonate (also commonly referred to as lithium triflate or LiCF3SO3) is among them. An example of a Li/FeS2 cell with a lithium triflate solute in a solvent blend comprising DIOX and DME is found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,952,330, which is hereby incorporated by reference. A solvent blend of 40 to 53 volume percent cyclic ether (e.g., DIOX), 32 to 40 volume percent linear aliphatic ether (e.g., DME) and 8 to 18 volume percent alkylene carbonate (e.g., propylene carbonate) is disclosed. However, such an electrolyte can result in poor cell discharge performance at high discharge rates.
Another example of a cell with an electrolyte containing lithium triflate dissolved in a solvent comprising DIOX and DME is found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,290,414, which is hereby incorporated by reference. A blend of from 1:99 to 45:55 DIOX:DME with an optional cosolvent (e.g., 0.2 weight percent 3,5-dimethylisoxazole (DMI)) is disclosed as a solvent. The disclosed cell had low impedance following storage at high temperature.
While electrolytes containing lithium triflate can provide fair cell electrical and discharge characteristics, such electrolytes have relatively low electrical conductivity, and lithium triflate is relatively expensive. Lithium iodide (LiI) has been used as an improved performance and lower cost alternative to lithium triflate. U.S. Pat. No. 5,514,991, which is hereby incorporated by reference, discloses a cell with improved high rate discharge performance, even after storage at high temperature. LiI is the sole solute, and the electrolyte solvent comprises at least 97 volume percent ether (e.g., 20:80 to 30:70 by volume DIOX:DME, with 0.2 volume percent DMI as a cosolvent).
However, it has been discovered that when LiI is used as the solute in an electrolyte containing DME in the solvent, especially more than 40 volume percent, discharge capacity at low temperatures, such as −20° C. and below, can be very low. This is believed to be due to formation of a DME solvate that can precipitate from the electrolyte solution at low temperatures or otherwise degrade low temperature cell performance. Simply reducing the DME content in the solvent can prevent this problem, but some of the improvement in high rate and high power discharge performance realized with LiI as the solute is sacrificed.
In view of the above, an object of the present invention is to provide a primary nonaqueous electrolyte battery with good discharge characteristics at low temperatures.
Another object is to provide a Li/FeS2 cell with excellent electrical and discharge characteristics, including high rate and high power discharge capacity, over a broad temperature range, including low temperatures.
Another object of the invention is to provide a cell that is economical to produce and has excellent electrical characteristics during and following storage and use at low temperatures.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide a 1.5 volt primary nonaqueous electrolyte cell with a LiI-containing electrolyte with good low temperature electrical performance.


A side guard protection device and method for treating ingrown nails includes a plastic, flattened U-shaped channel member received down the side edge of the nail. One arm of the guard extends under the ingrown edge of the nail and the other arm of the guard lies across the upper surface of the nail, with the two arms joined at a curved section which fits snugly around the edge of the nail. The side guard is applied to one or both edges of an ingrown nail with the use of an adhesive and catalyst for instantly bonding the guard to the nail, and the adhesive is used to provide a smooth level surface over the top of the nail. The side guard directs the nail to grow straight, and the guard advances with and may be trimmed with the nail as it grows.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a device and method for treating ingrown nails on toes and fingers.
2. Background of the Related Art
A normal nail on a toe or finger has a relatively large radius or curvature corresponding generally to the circumference of the toe or finger. However, certain conditions may cause the edge or edges of the nail to become curved or curled inwardly, especially at or near the end of the nail. As a result, the interned edge or edges of the nail protrude into the flesh of the toe or finger, giving rise to the condition known as ingrown toenail or ingrown finger nail.
Since an ingrown nail may cause discomfort and in some cases severe pain, a number of devices and appliances have been devised to treat the condition. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 137,106 to E. E. Stedman discloses a curved spring which overlies the toe and engages the edges of the nail. U.S. Pat. No. 1,596,532 to F. Haener discloses a double walled guard with portions adapted to lie above and below the nail, respectively, and double walled arms extending rearwardly to embrace the edges of the nail. U.S. Pat. No. 2,342,530 to E. F. Coates discloses a protective nail device which includes two complementary sections, with each section having a thickened edge portion which lies along the edge of the nail and a relatively thin upper portion which lies along the top of the nail, and the device extends forward of the end of the nail to hold the flesh in its proper position with respect to the nail. U.S. Pat. No. 2,505,086 to R. P. Andrews discloses a wide sheet of plastic with an attaching flap which is inserted under the ingrown side of the nail. U.S. Pat. No. 2,920,621 discloses a nylon channel inserted under the edge of the nail to serve as an abutment for a lipped metal strap which lies horizontally across the face of the nail and is then taped into position with adhesive tape. U.S. Pat. No. 3,981,298 to Philip G. Vironda discloses a liquid material spread across the base of the nail, causing the material to harden and to become adhered to the nail and to serve as a support to retain the form of the nail as it grows. U.S. Pat. No. 4,674,486 to Ronald G. Hoffman discloses a resilient strip of material placed on the upper surface of the toenail, which urges the side edges of the nail upwardly and thereby tending to fatten the toenail and eliminated the inwardly curved edges of the ingrown nail. U.S. Pat. No. 5,012,799 to Werner G. Remmen discloses a steel wire spring having a central inverted V-shaped bridge, and the free ends of the wire are curved downwardly to form small lips slipped over the side edges of the toenail.
A number of nail trimming devices and instruments have also been devised for the purpose of cutting and treating ingrown toenails, including U.S. Pat. No. 2,479,514 to L. C. Rucker, U.S. Pat. No. 3,799,160 to Harry L. Hahn, U.S. Pat. No. 4,936,322 to Damian G. DeSantis, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,964,213 to Patricia A. Suggs.
Despite the number of devices and methods which have been developed for the treatment of ingrown nails, none have been fully satisfactory to the podiatry and beauty industries. A significant number of people continue to have discomfort and severe pain as a result of ingrown nails.

Side guard protection device and method for treating ingrown nails


A prescription dispensing system having a dispensing station for holding an inventory of prescription medications, a secure internet connection to the dispensing station for access by a potential prescription medication recipient, by healthcare personnel in a physician office and by pharmacy personnel at the pharmacy distribution center in a remote location, at least two webcams for visual and auditory communication between the location of the dispensing station and the pharmacy personnel via the internet to allow identification of the correct medication, identification and communication with the correct potential prescription medication recipient, and visual validation and recording of all documentation from the physician's office or potential prescription medication recipient, and a biometric reader disposed at the dispensing station for identifying a potential prescription medication recipient. The system may include various enhancements to allow accurate dispensing of the proper medication and direct secure internet communication between the pharmacist and the authorized recipient of the medication.

Obtaining the proper medication is frequently a time-consuming, inefficient, and expensive process. The physician diagnoses an ailment, frequently at the physician's office, and the often-sick patient is then required to carry a handwritten, sometimes illegible, paper prescription to an often-distant grocery store, discount store or chain pharmacy to have it filled. Each of these steps underutilizes expensive professionals due to inefficient operations and administration.
Attempts to simplify this process are often stymied, however, by the necessary regulation of the dispensing of prescription medications. State and federal law requires the involvement of a registered pharmacist before the medication is provided to the patient (or other person retrieving the medication on behalf of the patient). Most physician's offices do not have a pharmacist at hand, so the trip to a pharmacy of some sort to obtain the actual medication has heretofore been necessary.


A method and an apparatus are provided for determining brake wear of a vehicle. A brake wear estimation includes determining, for each of one or more time periods during which a vehicle brake is actuated, a speed of the vehicle at a start time of the respective time period and a speed change parameter indicative of a change of speed of the vehicle during the respective time period. The estimation additionally includes determining, for each of the one or more time periods, a respective brake wear parameter indicative of brake wear of one or more vehicle brakes during the respective time period based on the speed of the vehicle at the start time of the respective time period, the speed change parameter indicative of the change of speed of the vehicle during the respective time period, and the mass or weight of the vehicle.

Currently, automakers typically install sensors (or a clip type pin) to detect when a brake pad of a brake of a vehicle needs replacement due to accumulated brake wear. Such sensors do not give any indication or information about how brake pads wear (e.g. over time), nor do they allow to shed light on how driving behaviour degrades brake pads or influences brake pad wear.
Also, automakers may specify a number of travelled kilometres required before a brake needs replacement. However, also such approach does not give any indication or information about how brake pads wear (e.g. over time), nor does it allow to shed light on how driving behaviour degrades brake pads or influences brake pad wear.
Further, in the prior art, there is no brake wear estimation approach which may check if brake pad degradation is caused by the driver's behaviour or by a faulty brake system.
US 2015/0240895 A1 relates to a method for abrasion warning of a brake friction pad of a vehicle. The system may include a friction pad abrasion sensing system (ESC) including a pressure sensor. The ESC system may recognize a speed change in association with a wheel speed sensor of the vehicle, measure a braking pressure using the pressure sensor included in the ESC system when the vehicle is decelerated, calculate and accumulate an abrasion index proportional to the measured braking pressure, and generate and output a notification message when the accumulated abrasion index is more than a predetermined reference value. However, it was recognized by the inventors that a brake pad wear degradation computation can be improved, since the document was recognized to fails considering two factors for brake pad degradation, namely vehicle loading and road slope contributions, e.g. on a downward slope. Further, the document does not show or suggest that the pressure sensor data may be due to a faulty brake system. Also, the document would need additional sensors to be installed and/or access or installation of some kind of electronic control unit.
US 2006/0131950 A1 relates to a brake lining and wear estimation system operating using extant vehicle sensors such as those used to implement height and stability control systems or anti-lock brake systems. Compressed air systems used on heavy duty vehicles to support the operation of various systems, including air brakes, provide pressure monitoring features in various pneumatic circuits, which can be monitored to estimate brake lining application pressure or vehicle loading. Vehicle speed and brake actuation periods are derived from other commonly employed sensors. Data collected from the sensors is supplied to a central, programmable computer over a data bus to generate the heat and wear estimates. However, the document also to fails considering two factors for brake pad degradation, namely vehicle loading and road slope contributions, e.g. on a downward slope, and it cannot show aspects of influence of the driver's behaviour. Further, the document does not show or suggest that an overall detection of a faulty brake system may be performed, but merely appears to consider whether an actuation valve is faulty, thereby neglecting that the brake system as an entire system may be faulty, in that a working brake actuation valve does not infer a faultless brake system.
WO 2005/090821 A1 relates to a sensing system for a disc brake, having an actuator, a lever, one or more adjusting and thrust devices, one or more back plates, receiving brake pads and one or more brake discs. Sensors are provided sensing the position of an actuating stroke and also sensing further features of the disc brake correlated with the stroke. The sensed actuating stroke is compared to a reference value at said sensed further features of the brake. A warning signal is issued if the value of the actuation stroke deviates more than a predetermined value from the reference value. However, the document does not in any way provide a function of brake pad wear estimation, nor does it describe a way as to how the influence of driver behaviour affects brake wear characteristics.
US 2015/0348058 A1 relates to a vehicle computer system configured to communicate with a mobile device, comprising a wireless transceiver configured to communicate with the mobile device. The vehicle computer system also includes a processor in communication with the wireless transceiver. The processor is configured to receive information from one or more vehicle sensors regarding vehicle usage, send the information to an off-board server via the wireless transceiver, wherein the information is utilized in a damages-model regarding the vehicle, and output the information concerning the damages-model to a user display. The document mentions brake pad degradation analysis, but does not give any details on how to efficiently and accurately estimate brake pad degradation in real-time, e.g. for obtaining information on the driver's behaviour and its influence on brake pad degradation, or brake system anomaly or fault detection.

Method and apparatus for determining brake wear at a vehicle


A defect scan method is carried out to detect a defective portion in a storage medium of a storage device, the storage medium including multiple storage regions including a first storage region and a second storage region. The defect scan method includes scanning a part of the storage regions of the storage medium to detect a defective portion therein, before the storage device is connected to a host, a scanned storage region including the first storage region and a non-scanned storage region including the second storage region, mapping logical addresses to physical addresses of a non-defective portion of the first storage region, scanning the second storage region to detect a defective portion therein, after the storage device is connected to the host, and mapping logical addresses to physical addresses of a non-defective portion of the second storage region.

Defect scan is usually performed with respect to a storage device such as a hard disk drive or the like. The defect scan is an operation of writing data to a storage medium such as a magnetic disk, test whether the data can be normally read or not, and detect a defect sector in which data cannot be normally read due to a defect, such as a scratch on the medium, etc. A physical address of the defect sector is registered in a defect list and the defect sector is set to be unusable. To set the defect sector to be unusable, when a logical address is mapped to a physical address after the defect scan, so-called skip processing may be executed. In the skip processing, the logical address is not mapped to the physical address of the defect sector but is allocated to the physical address of a sector subsequent to the defect sector. Alternatively, to set the defect sector to be unusable, so-called replacement processing may be executed. In the replacement processing, use of the defect sector is avoided by preparing a spare region in the storage medium, mapping a logical address which should be mapped to the physical address of the defect sector to a physical address of a normal sector in the spare region instead and using the normal sector in the spare region instead of the defect sector. Even if several defect sectors are included in the storage medium, the storage device may be shipped as a conforming item by using the defect scan.
As the storage capacity increases, the time required for the defect scan increases and the entire manufacturing process time also increases.
Such defect scan may be executed not only for the storage device having the magnetic disk, but also for a storage device having semiconductor memory such as a solid state drive (SSD), etc.

Storage device and a method for defect scanning of the same


An apparatus for recording and reproducing optical information comprises a laser beam source for emitting a laser beam; a collimator lens for forming light emitted from the laser beam source as an approximately parallel light beam; an objective lens for converging the approximately parallel light beam from the collimator lens in the shape of a spot on a recording face of an optical information recording medium; a device for recording and reproducing the optical information by converging the laser beam in the shape of a spot by the objective lens on the recording face of the optical information recording medium; a prism symmetrically arranged with respect to an optical axis in an optical path from the collimator lens to the objective lens; and a device for making a parallel light beam from the collimator lens through the prism incident to the objective lens so as to provide a light intensity distribution in which the light intensity in a peripheral portion of the optical axis is larger than that on the optical axis.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for recording and reproducing information with respect to information recording medium such as an optical disk, etc.
2. Description of the Related Art
A general apparatus for recording and reproducing optical information has a laser beam source such as a semiconductor laser, a collimator lens for forming a light beam emitted from the laser beam source as an approximately parallel light beam, and an objective lens for converging the parallel light beam from the collimator lens in the shape of a spot on a recording face of an optical information recording medium such as an optical disk. In this apparatus, the information are recorded and reproduced by converging the laser beam in the shape of a spot on the recording face of the optical information recording medium.
In such an apparatus, to record and reproduce the information of high density, it is sufficient to reduce the distance between tracks of the optical information recording medium and the distance between pits. In this case, it is necessary to reduce the diameter of the light spot converged on the recording face of the optical information recording medium by the objective lens.
The diameter .phi. of the light spot is determined by a wavelength .lambda. of the laser beam and a numerical aperture NA of the objective lens and is represented as follows. EQU .phi..alpha..lambda./NA
Namely, the diameter of the light spot is decreased as the wavelength .lambda. of the laser beam is decreased and the numerical aperture NA is increased.
In general, a semiconductor laser (LD) is used as the laser beam source of the apparatus for recording and reproducing optical information. Accordingly, the wavelength .lambda. of the laser beam is normally ranged from 780 to 830 nm so that it is impossible to greatly narrow this range.
Further, as the numerical aperture NA of the objective lens is increased, the depth of focus of the objective lens is decreased so that the influence of inclination of the recording face of the optical information recording medium, etc. is increased. Therefore, it is necessary to perform an aligning operation of a focusing position with high accuracy so that there is a fear that the converging degree of the light spot is reduced. Further, when the numerical aperture NA is increased, the number of constructional elements of the lens is increased and cost is increased.
To solve the above problems, for example, in a technique proposed in Japanese Patent Application Laying Open (KOKAI) No. 63-247920, it is possible to form a small light spot by partially interrupting the light beam near an optical axis of the lens even when the light source having the same wavelength .lambda. and the objective lens having the numerical aperture NA are used.
However, in such an apparatus, the small light spot cannot be formed without loss of quantity of light emitted from the laser beam source.

Recording and reproducing optical information device which converts the first beam into a second beam having different light intensity distribution


An extendable device engages and operates a handle mounted on an electrical switching apparatus. The extendable device includes a first linear portion and a second linear portion, each of the first and second linear portions having a first end and a second end, a handle adaptor extending away from the second end of one of the first and second linear portions and a retainer mechanism structured to engage the first linear portion and the second linear portion such that the extendable device can be adjusted to a particular length and maintained at the particular length. The handle adaptor is structured to engage the handle such that the handle can be moved from a first position to a different second position.

1. Field
The disclosed concept pertains generally to handle operators and, more particularly, to handle operators which extend beyond a flash protection boundary of, for example, a motor control center.
2. Background
A flash protection boundary ("FPB") is implemented and regulated to protect those that work around live electrical equipment from severe injury resulting from an arc flash. An arc flash is a type of electrical explosion that can result from a low impedance electrical connection to ground or a voltage phase in an electrical system. For example, when insulation or isolation between electrified conductors is breached or can no longer withstand the applied voltage, an arc flash can occur. An arc flash can cause substantial damage, fire or injury. An enormous amount of concentrated energy can explode outward from the electrical equipment, spreading hot gases, melting metal, causing death or severe burns and creating intense pressure that can damage hearing or brain function and light that can damage eyesight. The fast-moving pressure wave also can send loose material, such as pieces of equipment, metal tools and other objects, flying, injuring anyone standing nearby.
An FPB is calculated to determine the distance surrounding the potential arc point inside which qualified workers must be protected when working. In accordance with the National Fire Protection Association ("NFPA") 70E standard, FPB is defined as the distance from exposed live parts within which a person could receive a second-degree burn if an electrical arc flash were to occur. This standard also defines incident energy as the amount of energy impressed on a surface, a certain distance from the source, generated during an electrical arc event. Incident energy is expressed in calories per cubic centimeter squared (cal/cm2). As workers get closer to the energized equipment, the energy increases. The FPB is different for different types of equipment and depends, in part, on the voltages involved. Typically, the higher the voltages, the larger the danger zone. At voltage levels above 600 volts, the FPB is the distance at which the incident energy is 1.2 cal/cm2, equating to a second-degree burn. For situations where the fault clearing time is 0.1 second (or faster), the FPB is the distance at which the incident energy level equals 1.5 cal/cm2. This is defined by NFPA 70E 130.3(a), second paragraph, and is the burn level at which the skin will just heal without scaring.
In accordance with NFPA regulations, employers are required to perform a hazard analysis to determine FPBs, to provide appropriate protection for employees and to mark with a warning label electrical equipment having a potential for arc flash. A method of determining this boundary is to calculate the magnitude of the arc (a function of the available short circuit current), estimate how long the arc will last (a function of the interrupting time of the fuse or circuit breaker) and then calculate how far away an individual must be to avoid receiving an incident energy of 1.2 cal/cm2.
The FPB distance can be calculated according to EQ. 1 as follows (in accordance with formulae D.3(d) and D.3(e) Modified of NFPA 70E-2004).FPB=53×MVAbf×T  (EQ. 1)wherein:
FPB represents the flash protection boundary in feet;
MVAbf equals 1.732×V×Isc×0.707/106;
MVAbf represents the bolted fault energy of the arc (MVA);
T represents arcing time (in seconds);
Isc represents bolted short circuit current (in amperes); and
V represents line-to-line voltage (in volts).
All persons crossing the FPB must wear appropriate personnel protective equipment (PPE), such as, but not limited to, protective clothing, for their protection.
In addition to the FPB, there is also a shock protection boundary ("SPB") which includes a limited approach ("LA") distance, a restricted approach ("RA") distance and a prohibited approach ("PA") distance. The LA distance is the distance an unqualified worker must stay away from energized equipment. The RA distance is the distance that a qualified worker must stay away from energized equipment without voltage rated PPE. The PA distance is the distance considered to be the same as actually touching energized equipment.
An FPB is required around electrical equipment, such as switchboards, panelboards, industrial control panels, motor control centers, and similar equipment, when an individual works on or in the proximity of exposed energized (energized and not enclosed, shielded, covered, or otherwise protected from contact) components. This includes conducting activities, such as examination, adjustment, servicing, maintenance or troubleshooting.
In the case of motor control centers, a motor control center ("MCC") generally has an assembly of one or more enclosed sections having a common power bus. An MCC can include several motor starters. An MCC is typically used for low-voltage, three-phase, alternating current motors from about 230 volts to about 600 volts. An FPB is calculated for the MCC, and therefore, a worker must typically enter the FPB to perform operations and maintenance on the MCC unit.
The implementation and regulation of FPBs and the provision of PPE afford protection for workers that are required to work in hazardous areas. However, there is room for improvement in removing workers from a hazardous zone. For example, the use of long-handled tools can allow the worker to perform certain operations from outside of the FPB.


A wheel (4) for setting sown seeds, for use in a sowing machine, is rigidly connected in rotation with at least one gauging wheel (5) having a rolling radius smaller than the radius of the periphery of the setting wheel (4). The gauging wheel (5) is a wheel with a deformable peripheral coating, such as a low pressure pneumatic tire (13).

Such a setting wheel, used in a so-called precision seed drill, is disclosed in FR-A-No. 2 478 942. In such a sowing machine which ensures the placement of the seeds with a very high precision, it is still more necessary to avoid a displacement of the seed at the moment it is driven in by the setting wheel, due the effect of the sliding speed of the latter. In order to avoid this sliding effect, the hereabove patent proposes to drive the setting wheel in such manner that its peripheral speed is substantially equal to the advancement speed of the sowing machine, and preferably superior by 1 to 2% to said speed. In practice and as proposed in this patent, the setting wheel is rotatably mounted on an axis which is associated in height to the drill coulter which opens the furrow and brings the seeds in the dihedron between the bottom of the furrow and the periphery of said wheel via a channel formed on its rear face and surrounding the lower front periphery of the setting wheel. The wheel is driven in rotation by a transmission device of any known type such as a pinion and chain system from one of the wheels of the sowing machine, in practice the gauging wheel which adjusts the ploughing depth of the coulter of each element, or from the tractor power take-off.
This embodiment has various disadvantages amongst which one can cite the necessity for each setting wheel to use an extra transmission liable to break and to get soiled, and the fact that since the gauging wheel of each element is placed at a distance, in principle rearwardly from the transverse axial line of the setting wheel, the ground irregularities to which the gauging wheel can be faced such as stones, a transverse furrow or a localized ground zone exhibiting an adherence fault have an influence on the depth of the furrow and on the rotation speed of the setting wheel. Moreover, the setting wheels are usually narrow, their width corresponding generally to the width of the furrow and, for preventing the ground from adhering to the periphery and attracting the seeds imbedded in the ground, it is necessary to provide on each wheel a cleaning device which brakes the setting wheel, and this is liable to increase the sliding effect and is remedied by the chain or belt transmission connecting the setting wheel to the gauging wheel which carries the load of the element and therefore is well adhering to the ground.

Societe Sogefina, Societe de Gestion Financiere Armoricaine


The invention relates to small edible portions (i.e., bite-sized snacks) comprising a soft nut butter inner core coated with a crunchy grain-based outer coating. The bite-sized snacks have an equivalent spherical diameter of about 1 to 3 cm. Texture analysis of the bite-sized snacks determines that the bite-sized snacks have a soft texture with an average peak force in the range of about 800-5,000 g and an average positive area in the range of about 2,000-15,000 g*sec. The bite-sized snacks unexpected have both a soft and crunchy texture and are surprisingly shelf stable.

Nut butters are typically prepared by roasting and blanching raw nuts and then grinding them. The resulting product is a soft plastic-like material, which is a mixture of nut particles and oil that is released from the cellular structure of the nuts during the grinding operation. Nut butters have pleasing organoleptic properties, such as a smooth and creamy texture that melts in the mouth, which enhance the consumer's enjoyment of the nut butter as it is eaten. Many consumers enjoy eating nut butters, such as peanut butter, directly out of the container with a spoon, because of the nut butter's appealing aroma, flavor, and its soft, smooth and creamy textures.
Nut butters, such as peanut butter, are valuable food sources. Nut butters typically have high-quality protein and "good" (mono- and polyunsaturated) fats. Unlike many meat products, nut butters do not have to be refrigerated or frozen during storage, but instead are shelf-stable for extended periods of time. Nut butters are typically less expensive than meat products, making them a useful source of high-quality protein for low-income populations. Because they are plant-based, nut butters also provide convenient, high-quality protein for vegetarians, vegans, and anyone who wishes to reduce their consumption of animal-based protein.
Because of these properties, nut butters are often incorporated into convenience foods and snack foods. Nut butters can be found in candy bars, cookies, granola bars, high-protein energy bars, and similar foods that are shelf-stable, easy to carry, and can be eaten directly out of the packaging without mess. Convenience foods containing nut butters are particularly popular as filling snacks between meals or as an energy source before or after exercise.
However, these convenience foods can also be disappointing to a consumer looking for the pleasing organoleptic properties of nut butter when eaten directly out of the container. Convenience foods and snack foods containing nut butters are often dry, crumbly, pasty, chewy, or have another texture that is unlike the soft, smooth and creamy textures of nut butter alone.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a convenience food or snack food comprising nut butter that retains the soft, smooth and creamy textures and other pleasing organoleptic properties of nut butter alone. It would also be desirable to provide a convenience food or snack food comprising nut butter that is shelf-stable, portable, and easy to consume on the go.


A scroll compressor comprises an orbiting scroll and a fixed scroll, each of which has a wrap formed on an end plate in upstanding position. These orbiting and fixed scrolls are assembled together with the wraps facing inwardly to each other so as to define a plurality of spaces by the wraps and the end plates of both scrolls. These spaces move toward the center of both scrolls during the orbiting movement of the orbiting scroll so as to reduce the respective capacities of the spaces. Thus, compression of a fluid is carried out. This compressor also includes a motor for driving the orbiting scroll and a driving shaft for connecting the orbiting scroll and the motor. At the end of the driving shaft on the motor side, a first oil supply pump is provided with its suction port communicating to an oil sump of the compressor. Also, a second oil supply pump communicating with the discharge side of the second oil supply pump is provided at the end of the driving shaft on the compressor section side, whereby the oil supply pump of the compressor is made of a multistage type.

The present invention relates to a scroll compressor for refrigeration or air-conditioning.
A scroll compressor of the aforementioned type is in, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,462,772, with the scroll compressor contained in a sealed chamber, wherein the lower end portion of a driving shaft is disposed in an oil sump of the compressor and an oil flow passage is formed through the shaft with a radial eccentricity. In this arrangement, a lubricating oil is supplied to rotating portions of the compressor by means of a centrifugal force generated in accordance with the magnitude of the eccentricity of the oil flow passage.
A disadvantage of the above-described arrangement resides in the fact that the lift or head of oil supply can not be made sufficiently large because the head depends on the diameter of the shaft, and more specifically, to that of the rotor section of a motor. In particular, as the centrifugal force is under the influence of a rotational speed of the shaft, a sufficient oil supply head can not be obtained when the rotational speed of the compressor varies due to, for example, the driving by an inverter, particularly during its operation at a low rotational speed.
Although the oil supply pump provided at the end of the driving shaft may be increased in capacity in order to overcome the above disadvantage, such increase brings another disadvantage that the arrangement becomes complicated in structure and increased in size.

Scroll compressor with first and second oil pumps in series


A memory device is proposed. The memory device includes a plurality of memory cells, wherein each memory cell includes a storage element and a selector for selecting the corresponding storage element during a reading operation or a programming operation. The selector includes a unipolar element and a bipolar element. The memory device further includes control means for prevalently enabling the unipolar element during the reading operation or the bipolar element during the programming operation.

Different types of memory devices have been proposed in the last years. For example, a phase-change E2PROM is a non-volatile memory exploiting the properties of a material that can be reversibly switched between an amorphous phase and a crystalline phase. The phase-change material exhibits different electrical characteristics depending on its phase, each one representing a corresponding logic value. An example of a phase-change E2PROM is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,166,758.
Typically, the memory device includes a matrix of memory cells, each one consisting of a storage element connected in series to an access selector. During a reading or programming operation on the memory device, the selectors are suitable biased so as to allow accessing the corresponding storage elements.
A solution known in the art for implementing those selectors is that of using bipolar elements; for example, each bipolar element can be a diode (as described in US-A-2002/0079524) or a base/emitter junction of a BJT transistor. In this case, the bipolar element is forward biased when selected (while it is reverse biased otherwise).
A drawback of the solution described above is that the bipolar element exhibits a high leakage current when reverse biased. Moreover, the bipolar element involves a high voltage drop when forward biased (for example, 0.6 V); this voltage drop adversely affects the accuracy of the reading operation.
In order to avoid the drawbacks referred to above, the selectors are commonly implemented with MOS transistors (and especially NMOS transistors). However, in this case each NMOS transistor must be quite wide in order to sustain the high current that necessarily flows through the corresponding storage element during a programming operation. This causes a waste of area in a chip of semiconductor material wherein the memory device is typically integrated.

Memory device with unipolar and bipolar selectors


A negative resist composition comprising (A-1) an alkali-soluble resin containing a repeating unit represented by formula (1) defined in the specification, (A-2) an alkali-soluble resin containing a repeating unit represented by formula (2) defined in the specification, (B) a crosslinking agent crosslinking with the alkali-soluble resin (A-1) or (A-2) by the action of an acid, (C) a compound that generates an acid upon irradiation of an actinic ray or radiation, and (D) a nitrogen-containing basic compound.

The present invention relates to a negative resist composition suitably used in an ultra-micro lithography process, for example, the production of VLSI and high capacity microtips, and other fabrication processes. More particularly, it relates to a negative resist composition capable of forming high precision patterns using radiation, particularly, an electron beam or an X ray.
In processes for the production of semiconductor devices, for example, IC or LSI, fine fabrication has been conducted by means of lithography using a photoresist composition. In recent years, as the degree of integration increases in integrated circuits, it has been desired to form an ultra fine pattern in a submicron region or a quarter micron region. With such a trend, an exposure wavelength tends to become shorter such as from g-line to i-line or a KrF excimer laser beam. Further, the development of lithography using an electron beam or an X ray as well as the excimer laser beam also proceeds at present.
The electron beam lithography is regarded as the next generation pattern formation technique or the pattern formation technique after the next generation, and thus the development of a negative resist having high sensitivity and high resolution has been strongly desired. For the purpose of shortening the time for wafer process, it is a very important subject to increase the sensitivity of resist. In the negative resist for an electron beam, however, pursuit of the increase in sensitivity results in the degradation of line edge roughness and development defect property in addition to the decrease in resolution and the degradation of pattern profile. As a result, a problem of severe yield reduction of devices occurs. Therefore, it has been strongly desired to provide a resist composition satisfying these properties at the same time. The term xe2x80x9cline edge roughnessxe2x80x9d as used herein means a phenomenon wherein an edge between a line pattern of resist and a surface of substrate irregularly fluctuates in the direction vertical to the line due to the characteristics of resist, and the edge looks uneven when the pattern is observed from just above. Since the unevenness is transferred to the substrate in an etching step using the resist as a mask, the unevenness causes deterioration in electric properties thereby resulting in the yield reduction. A trade off relation between high sensitivity and high resolution, good resist pattern profile, good line edge roughness and good development defect property exists in the resist composition for an electron beam, and it is a very important subject to be solved that these characteristics are satisfied at the same time.
As a resist suitable for the electron beam or X ray lithography process, a chemical amplification resist mainly utilizing an acid catalyst reaction has been used in view of high sensitivity. In case of a negative resist, a chemical amplification composition containing an alkali-soluble resin, a crosslinking agent, an acid generator and other additives as main components is effectively employed.
With respect to improvement in characteristics of the chemical amplification negative resist, various investigations attending to the alkali-soluble resin have been made. For instance, the use of a resin containing a p-hydroxystyrene unit and having a narrow dispersity is described in Japanese Patent 2962145. The use of polyvinyl phenol having a low molecular weight and a narrow dispersity and a mixture thereof is described in JP-A-7-120924 (the term xe2x80x9cJP-Axe2x80x9d as used herein means an xe2x80x9cunexamined published Japanese patent applicationxe2x80x9d). The use of a copolymer of hydroxystyrene wherein the hydroxy groups are partially esterified is described in JP-A-9-43837. The use of a mixture of a copolymer having a low molecular weight and containing a hydroxystyrene unit and a homopolymer of hydroxystyrene is described in JP-A-10-186661. The use of a copolymer of hydroxystyrene wherein the hydroxy groups are partially etherified is described in JP-A-2000-162773. The use of a polymer containing a hydroxystyrene unit having the hydroxy group in the 3-position is described in European Patent 1117002A1.
However, any of these alkali-soluble resins hitherto known cannot fulfill requirements for high sensitivity, high resolution, good resist pattern profile, good line edge roughness and good development defect property at the same time in the ultra fine pattern region.
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to solve the problems of performance-improving techniques in the ultra fine process of semiconductor devices.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a negative resist composition which fulfills requirements for high sensitivity, high resolution, good resist pattern profile, good line edge roughness and good development defect property at the same time in fine process of semiconductor devices using particularly, an electron beam or an X ray.
Other objects of the present invention will become apparent from the following description.
As a result of the intensive investigations, it has been found that the above-described objects can be accomplished by a chemical amplification negative resist composition comprising two kinds of alkali-soluble resins having specific structures, a crosslinking agent, an acid generator and a nitrogen-containing basic compound.
Specifically, the present invention includes the following negative resist compositions:
(1) A negative resist composition comprising (A-1) an alkali-soluble resin containing a repeating unit represented by formula (1) shown below, (A-2) an alkali-soluble resin containing a repeating unit represented by formula (2) shown below, (B) a crosslinking agent crosslinking with the alkali-soluble resin (A-1) or (A-2) by the action of an acid, (C) a compound that generates an acid upon irradiation of an actinic ray or radiation, and (D) a nitrogen-containing basic compound.
In formula (1), A represents a hydrogen atom, an alkyl group, a halogen atom or a cyano group; and R1 and R2 each independently represent a hydrogen atom, a halogen atom, a hydroxy group, an alkyl group, an alkenyl group, a cycloalkyl group, an aryl group, an aralkyl group, an alkoxy group, an alkylcarbonyloxy group or an alkylsulfonyloxy group, or R1 and R2 may be combined with each other to form a ring.
In formula (2), A, R1 and R2 have the same meanings as A, R1 and R2 defined in formula (1) respectively, provided that the alkali-soluble resin (A-2) has the structure different from that of the alkali-soluble resin (A-1).
(2) The negative resist composition as described in item (1) above, wherein the alkali-soluble resin (A-1) contains a repeating unit represented by formula (1) and at least one repeating unit selected from repeating units represented by formulae (3), (4) and (5) shown below and/or the alkali-soluble resin (A-2) contains a repeating unit represented by formula (2) and at least one repeating unit selected from repeating units represented by formulae (3), (4) and (5) shown below.
In the above formulae,
represents a ring structure selected from the following structures:
A has the same meaning as A defined in formula (1); X represents a single bond, xe2x80x94COOxe2x80x94, xe2x80x94Oxe2x80x94 or xe2x80x94CON(R16)xe2x80x94; R16 represents a hydrogen atom or an alkyl group; R11 to R15 each independently have the same meanings as R1 defined in formula (1); R101 to R106 each independently represent a hydrogen atom, a hydroxy group, a halogen atom, an alkyl group, an alkoxy group, an alkylcarbonyloxy group, an alkylsulfonyloxy group, an alkenyl group, an aryl group, an aralkyl group or a carboxy group; and a to f each independently represent an integer of from 0 to 3.
(3) The negative resist composition as described in item (1) or (2) above, wherein the crosslinking agent (B) is a phenol compound that has at least two benzene rings and does not contain a nitrogen atom.
(4) The negative resist composition as described in any one of items (1) to (3) above, which further comprises a surface active agent.


Multilayer pearl luster pigment on the basis of a platelet-shaped substrate comprising a material having a refractive index of more than 1.8, which comprises at least

The invention relates to a multilayer pearl lustre pigment having a pronounced colour flop, based on a platelet-shaped substrate comprising a material having a refractive index of more than 1.8 .
Multilayer pigments which exhibit an angle-dependent colour change between two or more intensive interference colours are known.
For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 4,434,010 describes a multilayer interference pigment consisting of a central layer of a reflective material (aluminium), and alternating layers of two transparent, dielectric materials of high and low refractive index, for example titanium dioxide and silicon dioxide, on either side of the central aluminium layer. In a further embodiment of the pigment, the layers following the central aluminium layer are formed by magnesium fluoride and chromium. This pigment exhibits an intensive colour flop from green to purplish red.
EP 0 753 545 describes goniochromatic lustre pigments based on transparent, non-metallic, platelet-shaped substrates, which have at least one layer stack comprising a colourless coating with a refractive index nxe2x89xa61.8 and a reflective, selectively or non-selectively absorbing coating which is at least partly transparent to visible light, and which also have, if desired, an external protective layer in addition.
These pigments have the disadvantage that they are produced by a technically very complex and costly process, for example by chemical vapour deposition (CVD) or physical vapour deposition (PVD) techniques. Further disadvantages are the frequent difficulty in reproducing the pigments in the desired product quality, and their deficient weathering stability.

Abstract: (i) a first layer of a material of low refractive index in the range from 1.35 to 1.8,

Abstract: (ii) optionally, a second layer of a material having a refractive index of more than 1.8.

Abstract: (iii) a semitransparent metal layer which is applied to the substrate or to the layers (i) or (ii) and

Abstract: (iv) if desired, an aftercoating, the substrate being platelet-shaped titanium dioxide, zirconium dioxide, xcex1-iron(III) oxide, tin dioxide or zinc oxide.