A conveyor comprising a plurality of self-propelled carriers with each carrier having a distance sensor for stepwise detecting the distance between each carrier and a preceding carrier, and a device for controlling the speed of each carrier to maintain the distance within a predetermined range.

The present invention relates to a conveyor having self-propelled carriers, for example, for use in motor vehicle production lines.
With motor vehicle production lines, a plurality of carriers having vehicle parts (article to be transported) placed thereon need to be moved through a specified work zone with a constant distance maintained between the carriers. Accordingly, power-and-free trolley conveyors have heretofore been used.
However, the power-and-free trolley conveyor employs chains and therefore has the problem of giving off a great noise and being unable to drive the carriers at a high speed in transport zones or the like other than the work zone. Furthermore, it is extremely difficult to alter the carrier-to-carrier distance which has been determined.
Accordingly, conveyors having a plurality of self-propelled carriers have been proposed to ensure a reduced noise and to drive the carriers at a higher speed.
Nevertheless, the conveyor of this type has the problem that it is difficult to maintain a constant distance between the carriers in the work zone since the carriers are caused to run independently of one another as by electric motors.
These problems may be overcome by installing a conveyor with self-propelled carriers in the transport zone and a power-and-free conveyor in the work zone, and transferring the articles to be transported from one of the conveyors to the other conveyor, whereas the transfer procedure is cumbersome, and the line becomes difficult to alter or modify.
Alternatively, it appears feasible to install the conveyor with self-propelled carriers for the entire line and to use a chain for moving the self-propelled carriers in the work zone. However, the work zone then requires the two types of conveyors, which also makes the line difficult to alter.

Self-propelled carrier conveyor having carrier distancing control


A vehicle mounted roll-off hoist having a main hoist frame pivotally mounted at its rearward end to a vehicle such as a semi-trailer or truck, and including a pair of hydraulic lift actuators adapted to move the main hoist frame between a horizontal position and a rearwardly inclined position. A hydraulic actuator apparatus is provided for pulling a container onto the main frame of the hoist or setting off the container from the hoist. An extensible and retractable stop carriage is slidably connected to the forward end portion of the hoist main frame. Hydraulic actuator and locking elements are associated with the stop carriage for placing the container in the optimum position for transport on the vehicle. The hoist is capable of handling containers of both the outside rail and the inside rail type.

The present invention relates in general to the field of transportable containers for a great variety of materials including solid and liquid waste products. The invention finds Particular, but not exclusive, utility in containers of the type adapted to be picked up and set off by a transport vehicle such as a truck or trailer with a suitable power lift device known as a "roll-off hoist".
Containers for freight, bulk materials, and other products come in numerous sizes and load capacities. It has been a common practice heretofore to pull each container, regardless of its size and loading, aboard the transport vehicle with its forward end abutting a fixed stop on the vehicle. With such a system, the center of gravity of the container may often be located in an unfavorable position on the transport vehicle, imposing unnecessarily high loading upon a weaker area of the vehicle frame and imparting unnecessarily heavy loading to the power lift of the hoist during a roll-off operation.

Roll-off hoist for variable positioning of containers


A new technique for improving the operation of a interference suppression stem, particularly in a side-lobe canceller system, against multiple interference sources. A plurality of auxiliary receiving antennas, providing interference signals to side-lobe canceller loops, are spaced about a main directional receiving antenna and positioned to preferably form a configuration such that no lines of sight through any two auxiliary antennas are collinear or parallel to a line of sight through any other two auxiliary antennas. The configuration is then arranged relative to the main antenna such that no lines through any two auxiliary antennas are substantially parallel with the primary direction of a multiple jammer attack.

The present invention relates to improvements in interference suppression systems and more particularly to improved techniques for sampling the interference in a multiple signal environment.
Conventional interference suppression systems, for example, side-lobe canceller systems, act to isolate signals received by the main lobe of an antenna from interference that may be present in the side-lobes. Usually, such systems as exampled by U. S. Pat. 3,202,990, employing auxiliary antennas no sample the interference environment, have worked well to eliminate interference received by the main antenna when signals from only one interference source are present and supplied to a single canceller loop. However, when multiple interference sources are present, conventional systems have been less effective in reducing interference even where multiple canceller loops have been used.
In theory, if N independent interference sources are present forming a signal environment, the interference signals may be cancelled from the desired signal in a main antenna by multiple canceller loops fed by inputs from N separate auxiliary antennas. In practice, however, it has been found that conventional side-lobe canceller systems, using multiple auxiliary antennas whose positions are fixed relative to a main antenna, have limited effectiveness against multiple interference sources even when the number of auxiliary antenna-canceller loop combinations equals or slightly exceeds the number of interference sources present. Generally, the auxiliary antennas are situated symmetrically about the main antenna to provide coverage in all directions. However, the performance of such a multiple loop canceller system has been found to vary greatly with the direction of jammer attack and jammer spacing. Significantly degraded performance has been particularly noted in systems subject to interference from a plurality of closely spaced jammers (interference sources) where two in line auxiliary antennas receive nearly the same relative phases. Since canceller loops cannot change the relative phases of their received signals in such a situation, the action of the canceller loops are redundant and their combined performance is substantially equivalent to that of only one antenna-loop combination. As a result, present systems are incapable of adequately protecting receiving systems against sophisticated multiple interference countermeasure techniques.
Accordingly, the present invention has been developed to overcome the specific shortcomings of the above known and similar techniques and to provide a new technique for improving the performance and versatility of a canceller system in a multiple signal environment.

Directive optimization of coherent sidelobe canceller systems

The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy


A workstation panel lifting bracket is adapted to be mounted to a jack to raise a workstation panel off the floor a sufficient distance to allow for access beneath the panel. The bracket comprises a generally horizontal top plate that is adapted to be mounted to the jack. A leg extends downwardly and forwardly from a forward edge of the top plate. Preferably, the leg forms an angle of about 80xc2x0 to about 85xc2x0 with the bracket top plate. A foot extending forwardly from a bottom end of the leg. An upwardly turned lip is preferably formed at the end of the foot. To provide stability to the bracket, jack, and panel during raising and lowering of the panel, the bracket also include a brace on the leg. The brace has a front surface and opposed side surfaces. The side surfaces are generally triangular in shape, and the brace front surface is in a plane substantially perpendicular to a plane of said top plate. Preferably, the brace front face is approximately as long as the leg.

This invention relates to lifting brackets for use in lifting workstation panels to facilitate access beneath the panel, for example, for carpeting, wiring, etc.
Many offices use workstations made from a plurality of panels that are secured together to create private or partially enclosed spaces for their employees. These workstations sit on the carpet or other flooring in the office and typically are wired to connect a computer at the workstation to a network in the office. When the office is redecorated, such as by recarpeting the office, the workstations must be moved to allow the carpet installer access underneath the workstation. This generally requires that the workstation be disassembled during the recarpeting and then reassembled after the recarpeting. As can be appreciated, disassembling all the workstations that might be in an office can be quite disruptive. It would be beneficial if carpeters or the like could gain access beneath the workstations without the need to disassemble the workstations. It would be equally beneficial to allow for easy access to cabelers (i.e. for laying computer network cables) to the area beneath a workstation when laying cables for a computer network or telephone systems, or simply to provide electricity to the workstation.
A workstation panel lifting bracket of the present invention is adapted to be mounted to a jack to raise a workstation panel off the floor a sufficient distance to allow for access beneath the panel, for example, to lay flooring or carpeting, or to provide wiring (computer, telephone, electrical, etc.) to the workstation. The bracket comprises a generally horizontal top plate that is adapted to be mounted to the jack. A leg extends downwardly and forwardly from a forward edge of the top plate. Preferably, the leg forms an angle of about 80xc2x0 to about 85xc2x0 with the bracket top plate. A foot extending forwardly from a bottom end of the leg. An upwardly turned lip is preferably formed at the end of the foot. To provide stability to the bracket, jack, and panel during raising and lowering of the panel, the bracket also include a brace on the leg. The brace has a front surface and opposed side surfaces. The side surfaces are generally triangular in shape, and the brace front surface is in a plane substantially perpendicular to a plane of said top plate. Preferably, the brace front face is approximately as long as the leg.
The bracket can also be provided with a reinforcing member at a bottom of the leg. The reinforcing member includes a first leg and a second leg. The reinforcing member first leg is fixed to the bracket leg and extends below the end of the bracket leg. The reinforcing member second leg extends from a bottom of the first leg to the bracket foot. Preferably, the second leg engages the foot near the forward or free end of the foot.
In the illustrative embodiment shown in the drawings and described below, the bracket top plate includes an opening. The jack includes an axially movable cylinder with a button raised above the top of the cylinder by a rod. To mount the plate to the jack, the plate is positioned over the jack button, such that the hole surrounds the jack rod. A collar is then positioned around the jack rod between the bracket top plate and the cylinder button.


The invention concerns a scalable, large-scale castanospermine preparation method that yields levels of purity greater than 98% from castanospermine-containing plant sources, such as Castanospermum australe seed material.

Castanospermine is an alkaloid produced by the Castanospermum australe tree and is enriched in its seeds. Castanospermine is an alpha-glucosidase inhibitor which inhibits glycoprotein processing in mammalian cells by preventing removal of 3-glucose residues linked to a high mannose core structure. This Glc3Man9GlcNAc2 structure is transferred enblock to an N-linked site in a glycoprotein (N-X-S/T, where N is glutamine, X is any amino acid except Proline, followed by either a Serine or Threonine). After transfer, alpha-glucosidase removes the three glucose residues and allowing further processing by multiple mannosidases to reach a core capable of conversion to the complex type oligosaccharide structure catalyzed by multiple glycosyltransferases that is found on most glycoproteins. By inhibiting the initial step, castanospermine prevents glycoprotein processing to yield the complex-type structure. This processing occurs in the endoplasmic reticulum and is very often required in order for proper protein folding to occur and yield a physiologically active protein.
This activity of castanospermine has an antiviral effect on many viruses given that many viruses have coat glycoproteins and it has been shown that in many instances misfolded proteins lacking activity occur with castanospermine treatment. Thus, castanospermine is a potential anti-viral therapeutic (Whitby K et al., J Virol., July 2005, 79(14):8698-8706; U.S. Pat. No. 10,561,642).
An analytical, small-scale method for producing castanospermine is known (Hohenschutz L et al., 1981, Phytochemistry, 20:811-814). To purify large quantities of castanospermine needed for large-scale therapeutic use, a preparation method tailored to the needs of large-scale production, would be advantageous.

Large scale purification of castanospermine

Florida State University Research Foundation, Inc.


In one example, a filter core includes a body with a generally cylindrical shape and a substantially hollow interior. The body includes a first annular wall disposed proximate a first end of the body, and a second annular wall disposed proximate a second end of the body such that the second annular wall is axially spaced apart from the first annular wall, and the second annular wall and the first annular wall extend toward each other. As well, the filter core includes a framework connected to the first annular wall and the second annular wall. The framework and the first and second annular walls cooperate with each other to define a group of openings, each of which communicates with the substantially hollow interior of the body, and the openings collectively define an open space of the filter core.

Water filtration has become common in homes, offices and other places to produce cleaner and better tasting water. Accordingly, water containers such as pitchers have been equipped with filtration systems. In some instances, these filtration systems may employ a filter core to which one end of a piece of a filter medium is attached, such as by gluing. The free end of the piece of filter medium is then wrapped around the filter core and secured in place with more glue. The filter core includes various openings that allow unfiltered water to enter the interior of the filter core by passing through the filter medium. As well, the fluid in the filter core may also exit the filter core by passing through the filter medium. Thus, the filter core and filter medium configuration may enable a dual pass—dual filtration process.
The use of a filter core with attached filter medium has proven problematic in some respects however. For example, the filter medium is often attached to the filter core in such a way that a vertical seam is defined at the location where the two ends of the piece of filter medium butt against each other. Typically, the seam is characterized by gaps and/or other imperfections that enable fluid to enter and exit the filter core without passing through the filter medium. This condition is sometimes referred to as bypass, since the unfiltered fluid bypasses the filter medium. Bypass is a concern at least because it compromises the overall effectiveness of the filter. Correspondingly, bypass may also have a negative influence on consumer perception of the effectiveness of the filter.
Another concern with structures such as those described above relates to the methods used to attach the filter medium to the filter core. In particular, some filter products are manufactured by using glue to attach the filter medium to the filter core. The use of glue may complicate the manufacturing process. As well, the use of glue may not be viewed favorably by consumers.
Finally, some filter products require the use of O-rings, clamps and/or other mechanical devices in an attempt to prevent fluid from entering or exiting the filter core at the boundaries of the filter medium. However, the use of mechanical devices such as O-rings and clamps in this way increases the cost and complexity of the design, and may not contribute significantly to avoiding or reducing the bypass problem. Moreover, contact with devices such as O-rings can damage some types of filter media.
In light of problems such as those noted above, it would be useful to provide a filter assembly including a filter medium that is configured and arranged to reduce, or eliminate, bypass problems typically associated with a filter medium that defines a vertical seam when attached to a filter core. As well, it would be useful to provide a filter assembly that can be reliably constructed without the use of glue to attach the filter medium to the filter core. It would also be useful to provide a filter assembly that can be configured without the use of O-rings or other mechanical devices to seal the upper and lower edges of the filter medium so as to avoid or minimize bypass at those locations. Finally, it would be useful to provide a filter assembly that can provide dual, or more, filtration in a single pass of fluid through the filter medium.


In the preferred embodiment of the promoted combustion chamber disclosed herein, a thick-walled tubular body that is capable of withstanding extreme pressures is arranged with removable upper and lower end closures to provide access to the chamber defined within the body. A bracket is arranged in the chamber for dependently supporting a test sample of a material being evaluated in the chamber. To facilitate the real-time analysis of a test sample, several pressure-tight viewing ports capable of withstanding the simulated environmental conditions are arranged in the walls of the tubular body for observing the test sample during the course of a test. A replaceable heat-resistant tubular member and replaceable flame-resistant internal liners are arranged to be fitted inside of the chamber for protecting the interior wall surfaces of the combustion chamber during the evaluation tests. Inlet and outlet ports are provided for admitting high-pressure gases into the chamber as needed for carrying out dynamic analyses of the test sample during the course of an evaluation test.

1. Field of the Invention
High-pressure oxygen is commonly used in various medical devices and diving equipment as well as a typical oxidizer for liquid bipropellant propulsion systems in manned and unmanned spacecraft.
This invention relates to testing apparatus for evaluating the suitability of materials that are proposed to be used in equipment which will utilize high-pressure gases or will be exposed to high-pressure gaseous environments. More particularly, the present invention is related to a new and improved high-pressure promoted combustion chamber for conducting multiple real-time analyses of metallic and nonmetallic test samples subjected to inert or oxidizing gases under selectively-controlled environmental conditions.
2. Background Art
Heretofore environmental test chambers such as shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,659,235, 2,917,927 and 2,937,530 have been employed for determining if various electrical or mechanical devices can be safely operated in a potentially-explosive gaseous atmosphere without generating excessive heat or creating sparks that might possibly ignite the gaseous mixture. Typically these test chambers include an explosion-resistant enclosure sized to contain the device that is to be tested and a blower for circulating the potentially-explosive gas through the test chamber. The test is then conducted by operating the device inside of the enclosure to determine if an explosion occurs when the device is operated in that particular environment.
To test combustible materials such as synthetic fabrics, a so-called "autoignition" test chamber such as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,578,756 is arranged to allow a selected gas to be maintained at a moderate constant pressure inside of the chamber while minute gas samples are periodically withdrawn to determine whether the test specimen is being decomposed. The internal temperature of the chamber is controlled by immersing the chamber in a liquid bath whose temperature is periodically varied during the course of the test. In this way, a series of measurements representative of the decomposition of the tested material are obtained for given temperature ranges and gaseous environments.
In addition to determining whether particular devices can be safely used in potentially-explosive environments, it is particularly useful to establish the flammability or so-called "flame propagation" of various materials that will be subjected to these hazardous environments. A test device which has been found to be well suited for determining the flammability of various plastics and other non-metallic combustible materials in hazardous environments is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,545,252. As fully described there, a material specimen that is to be tested is put in an enclosed chamber and a source of low-pressure gas is connected to the test chamber. An electric heating coil inside of the test chamber is then selectively positioned in relation to the specimen to control the amount of heat that is being applied to the specimen. A plexiglass window is arranged in one end of the chamber so that laboratory personnel can observe the test specimen as well as accurately position the coil.
Many of the technological advances in aerospace and in medicine in recent years make it essential to evaluate the suitability of materials which are being considered for potential service in gaseous environments. One of the most critical tests of this nature is to determine whether non-combustible materials can be safely used in high-pressure oxygen-enriched environments. Heretofore these evaluation tests have been conducted by enclosing a representative sample of a proposed material in a test chamber and simply subjecting the test sample to a controlled environment for a given length of time to determine whether that material can withstand a particular environmental condition. Although these tests are useful, such static tests are nevertheless limited since only post-test analyses can be made of the remains of the test sample. It is, of course, appreciated by those skilled in the art that with the typical static test chambers of the prior art, investigators are unable to make real-time studies of the flame propagation of materials under predetermined dynamic test conditions in high-pressure inert or oxidizing gaseous environments.

High-pressure promoted combustion chamber

The United States of America as represented by the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration


A timing device that includes an OTP NVM, a first periodic signal generator operable to generate a periodic signal having a first frequency, a second periodic signal generator operable to generate a periodic signal having a frequency that is lower than the first frequency, and selection logic. In a first operating mode, the selection logic is configured to output the first periodic signal at an output terminal as long as a crystal clock feedback signal is received at the input terminal and output the second periodic signal when the crystal clock feedback signal is not received at the input terminal. In a second operating mode, the selection logic is configured to output the first periodic signal as long as a output enable signal is received at the input terminal and not provide any output at the output terminal when the output enable signal is not received at the input terminal.

Conventional integrated circuits include a clock input pin for receiving a clock signal from an integrated circuit timing device or include an input pin that connects to a piezoelectric crystal and an output pin that provides a feedback clock signal to the piezoelectric crystal. In order to meet the needs of these two types of integrated circuits a wide range of integrated circuit timing devices have been developed.
In many cases a system may start with an integrated circuit that connects to a piezoelectric crystal and then subsequent products may move up to a more sophisticated integrated circuit that requires a more complex and more accurate integrated circuit timing device. In these instances, the system manufacturer must first design a system that includes a piezoelectric crystal and implement connections to the piezoelectric crystal and then later redesign the system to accommodate a conventional integrated circuit timing device.
This adds expense to the product upgrade process that would be unnecessary if a single integrated circuit timing device could be used both as a replacement for a piezoelectric crystal and as a conventional integrated circuit timing device. Accordingly, there is a need for a single integrated circuit timing device that can be used both as a replacement for a piezoelectric crystal and as a conventional integrated circuit timing device.

Timing device having multi-purpose pin with proactive function


An ozone processing device has a processing chamber in which a wafer is disposed, and a shower head in the processing chamber. The shower head is away from the surface to be processed of the wafer and facing the wafer. The surface of the shower head which faces the wafer has gas injection holes from which a gas to be supplied to the wafer and exhaust gas flow path portions that are areas in which the gas is not injected. An area in which the gas injection holes are formed is in the central part of the shower head, and a plurality of the exhaust gas flow path portions extending from the area toward the outer periphery of the shower head are arranged in the circumferential direction of the shower head. The gas injection holes are formed in each of areas disposed between the exhaust gas flow path portions.

A shower head is provided in a processing device for carrying out, for example, CVD (Chemical Vapor Deposition) and ozone oxidation, and is configured to supply a gas to be used for reaction, such as a material gas, to an object to be processed, such as a wafer (for example, a patent document 1).
Gas injection holes are uniformly arranged on the surface of the shower head, and it can be considered that the gas to be injected from the gas injection holes is uniformly applied to the processing object, such as a wafer.
However, since the gas supplied to the processing object flows from the center toward the outer periphery of the processing object, the exhausting of the gas injected to the central part of the processing object is interfered by the gas injected to the peripheral part of the processing object. Therefore, as compared with the gas injected to the peripheral part of the processing object, the gas injected to the central part of the processing object is hard to be exhausted. As a result, the pressure difference is generated between in the central part and at the peripheral part on the surface of the processing object (pressure in the central part>pressure in the peripheral part), and the gas is hard to be supplied to the central part of the processing object and is easy to be supplied to the peripheral part of the processing object at which the exhausting is quickly carried out and the pressure is low.
In this way, when the deviation of the gas to be supply to the processing object occurs, there is possibility that the processing having excellent in uniformity cannot be carried out to the surface to be processed of the processing object.


Aspects of the present disclosure address improved systems and methods for core-route-based clock tree wirelength reduction. A method may include accessing an integrated circuit design comprising a clock tree comprising routes that interconnect terminals of a plurality of clock tree instances. The method further includes identifying a core route in the clock tree. The method further includes determining a first offset based on a distance between the first terminal and the core route and determining a second offset based on a distance from the second terminal to the core route. The method further includes determining a target offset based on a combination of the first and second offsets and moving the clock tree instance toward the core route by the target offset.

An integrated circuit (IC) layout specifies portions of various components of an IC. When the IC is to include a large number of registers, latches, flip-flops and/or other types of clocked devices ("sinks") that are to be clocked by one or more clocks, the IC must include one or more clock trees for delivering the clock signal from the clock source to all of the sinks to be clocked by it. A clock tree distributes a clock signal from its root to a set of sinks within an IC through a branching network of drivers (e.g., buffers or inverters). A single driver distributes the clock signal to a grouping of other drivers and/or sinks. Connectivity between a driver and its fanout is represented by a "clock net" and will be physically implemented by routed wires.
Electronic design automation (EDA) software systems commonly perform clock-tree synthesis (CTS). Conventional approaches to CTS typically include a global wirelength reduction stage and a detailed wirelength reduction stage. During the global wirelength reduction stage, components of the clock tree (referred to hereinafter as "clock instances") are interconnected using a Steiner-tree approach in which the components are aligned to a Steiner route between their parents and children. During the detailed wirelength reduction stage, a compass-search algorithm is used to iteratively move clock instances to different locations, and a validation is performed at each move to verify the move results in a reduction in wirelength and conforms with design constraints (e.g., skew and slew). However, the compass-search, algorithm-based wirelength reduction is slow because it is a brute force approach that tests locations in an unguided way. While it does use the results it has found to guide future searches, storing and maintaining this information utilizes a large amount of computational resources. Additionally, to save runtime, the compass-search algorithm is "greedy," so the algorithm can easily get stuck in a local minimum, which means that despite the high runtime, the algorithm may not find an optimal location.

Clock tree optimization by moving instances toward core route


Described herein is a filtration media comprising: (i) a first filtration medium comprising an anion exchange nonwoven substrate, wherein the anion exchange nonwoven substrate comprises a plurality of quaternary ammonium groups; and (ii) a second filtration medium comprising a functionalized microporous membrane wherein the functionalized microporous membrane comprises a plurality of guanidyl groups; wherein the first filtration medium is positioned upstream of the second filtration medium.

Manufacturing of large scale or commercial quantities of therapeutically useful targeted biomaterials, such as proteins, can be accomplished by growing cells that are engineered to produce a desired protein in bioreactors under controlled conditions. The technology used involves, for example, the fermentation of microorganisms which have been altered through recombinant DNA techniques or the culturing of mammalian cells which have been altered through hybridoma techniques. The cells are suspended in a broth which contains the salts, sugars, proteins, and various factors necessary to support the growth of particular cells. The desired product may be either secreted by the cells into the broth or retained within the cell body. The harvested broth is then processed to recover, purify, and concentrate the desired product.
The separation, or purification, of these targeted biomaterials from a heterogeneous mixture has proven to be a formidable task for at least the following reasons: the desired product often represents a small percentage of total cell culture fluid, which comprises significant quantities of particulate and soluble contaminants, and the cell culture fluid can comprise high salt concentrations.
As a result of these factors, extensive downstream processing has been necessarily used to yield high quantities of purified product. Such downstream processing includes the many stages of processing that take place subsequent to the production of the targeted biomaterial including, for example, centrifugation, cell disruption, mechanical sieving, microfiltration, ion-exchange, cross-flow filtration, affinity separation, sterilization, purification, and packaging. The downstream processing represents a major cost in the production of bioprocessed products.
Various filtration articles have been described for the purification or separation of targeted biomaterials from fluid mixtures. U.S. Pat. Publ. No. 2011/0207196 (Koehler et al.) describes a depth filter layer with an inorganic double hydroxide layer for retaining contaminants such as DNA, while proteins of biotechnological processes are transmissible therethrough. U.S. Pat. No. 5,567,615 (Degen et al.) describes an affinity separation method involving dynamic filtration said to be particularly useful in the isolation of biologically active compounds. U.S. Pat. Publ. No. 2012/0252091 (Rasmussen et al.) describes a substrate grafted with a polymer that has affinity for binding neutral or negatively charged biomaterials.

Filtration medium sequence for biomaterial purification


A thrombosis filter that has an improved filtering function and can be securely anchored at a desired location and be removed through an endovenous route even after the growth of neointima. The thrombosis filter of this invention includes a first and a second filtering and holding unit, each unit including a coupling mechanism at its outer extremity in the form of a hook, and a plurality of resilient struts which include vein wall junction portions that lie parallel to the vein wall and are biased into contact therewith. The preferred embodiment includes picks that impale the vein wall to a limited depth. The units are interconnected by a core shaft which consists of a compression member and a pair of core wires.

The present invention relates to thrombosis filters for trapping blood clots. To be more specific, it relates to thrombosis filters which can be securely fixed at a selected location in the vascular system, and removed when it is no longer required.
In recent years, pulmonary embolism has become an increasingly common medical emergency. Pulmonary embolisms may be caused by venous thrombosis that in turn may be caused by blood flow retention, venous intima damage or coagulation abnormalities. Emergency or prophylactic treatments for these conditions include anticoagulant therapy, thrombolytic therapy, thrombectomy and inferior vena cava blocking procedures.
Among these therapeutic options, when an inferior vena cava blocking procedure is selected, one option is to perform a laparotomy under general anesthesia during which the inferior vena cava is ligated, sutured and shortened, or clipped. A laparotomy however, requires a general anesthetic and is susceptible to thrombosis formation due to the discontinuation of anticoagulant therapy prior to surgery. Another option is to intravenously insert a thrombosis filter into the inferior vena cava which requires a local anesthetic. Percutaneous filter insertion is now more widely employed since it requires only a local anesthetic. However, such filters become fixed in the inferior vena cava wall by neointimal hyperplasia within two or three weeks after being implanted after which they cannot be removed percutaneously.
Blood is returned to the heart from the lower part of the human body through the inferior vena cava and from the upper part of the body through the superior vena cava. The neck vein, known as the jugular vein, leads to the superior vena cava which is a vein that enters the upper part of the heart. A percutaneously inserted catheter that extends through the jugular vein, the superior vena cava and then into the heart can be manipulated to exit the heart through the mouth of the inferior vena cava that opens into the heart. The inferior vena cava, a vein that enters the lower part of the heart, can be accessed through the patients femoral vein. Thus, the inferior vena cava can be reached through two endovenous routes, both of which are available percutaneously.
A prior Thrombosis Filter is shown in FIG. 1. A filter of the type shown in FIG. 1, is the subject of PCT application No. PCT/US92/11311. The Thrombosis Filter disclosed in that PCT application can be inserted in the patient and be removed when no longer required requiring only a local anesthetic. The structure of the filter illustrated in FIG. 1 is such that the ends of the struts contact the vein wall at an acute angle and could under some conditions penetrate the wall of the vein in which it has been inserted. If a penetration of this type does occur, in addition to the trauma of a punctured blood vessel, the position of the filter within the blood vessel shifts to a less than optimum position, the likelihood of additional penetrations by other struts increases and removal of the filter becomes more difficult.


Semiconductor chip structures are provided with embedded thermal conductors for removing heat from one or more electrically conductive levels thereof, wherein the conductive levels are formed on a dielectric material having a low dielectric constant and low thermal conductivity. One or more cooling posts, e.g., multiple thermally conductive plugs are selectively disposed within the semiconductor chip structure adjacent to one or more electrically conductive levels and thermally coupled thereto so that heat produced by conductive lines within the wiring levels is transferred into and through the cooling posts for forwarding to a supporting substrate, which may have a back surface coupled to a cold plate, or to an upper surface of the semiconductor chip structure. The thermally conductive plugs of each cooling post have a second thermal conductivity, and the first thermal conductivity is less than the second thermal conductivity, for example, one third or less. As a specific example, the wiring levels may comprise copper, and the plurality of dielectric layers supporting the wiring levels may comprise a low k dielectric glass or nanofoam.

Modern Very Large Scale Integrated (VLSI) chips require cooling to improve reliability of their circuitry and interconnects, to increase their circuit switching performance, and to regulate thermally generated noise in their circuits. Cooling reduces the likelihood that a metal wire will form voids or a contact will become open. It also reduces the extent of time-dependent transistor mobility and threshold degradation which adversely affects circuit performance and operation. Furthermore, in typical complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) microprocessors, every reduction in temperature of 10.degree. C. produces a 2% rise in operating frequency. For CMOS transistors, high temperatures yield significantly larger leakage currents, due to the thermal generation of carriers. This deleterious current doubles every 11.degree. C. and is known to adversely affect the functional operation of dynamic and analog circuits.
As VLSI circuits shrink to improve performance and increase operating frequencies, higher amounts of heat are generated, for example, due to constant switching of these devices. The removal of heat within a semiconductor chip structure thus becomes a major obstacle to the efficient performance of the device. Therefore, a need continues to exist for enhanced heat removal techniques for semiconductor devices.
In addition to the continued reduction in chip size, new materials are being incorporated to increase circuit performance. For example, dielectric materials with a dielectric constant (k) lower than that of conventional oxide reduce the parasitic capacitance between neighboring conductors, thereby improving circuit speed. However, most low k dielectrics are also lower in density than silicon oxide, and exhibit lower thermal conductivities as well thus further increasing the need for enhanced heat removal techniques.

Semiconductor chip structures with embedded thermal conductors

International Business Machines Corporation


In the piezoelectric transducer, the elastic member vibrates, being excited by the first electromechanical transducing element. The impedance element on the second electromechanical transducing element is adjusted so that the vibration frequency and the resonance frequency of the elastic member should be almost the same. In the ultrasonic motor using the piezoelectric transducer, the vibration having the same frequency as that of the vibration of the elastic member is applied to the elastic member. This applied vibration has a direction differnt from that of the viration of the elastic member. The applied vibration and the vibration of the elastic member form approximate elliptical vibration, thereby rotating the rotor. The piezoelectric transducer of variable structure can control the resonance frequency in a wide range without electric power. The piezoelectric transducer can efficiently transduce applied electricity into approximate elliptical vibration of the elastic member, thereby generating great mechanical drive power. The electromechanical transducing element and the impedance element can compose a simple and compact vibration control unit. Since the electromechanical transcuding element and the impedance element form a closed circuit consuming no electric power, no power source circuit is required. The vibration control unit adjusts the resonance characteristic of the closed circuit, thus quantitatively controlling the frequency distribution and the amplitude of the mechanical vibration.

This invention relates to a piezoelectric transducer with an adjustable resonance frequency and to an ultrasonic motor using such a piezoelectric transducer.
In particular, this invention relates to a vibration control unit for controlling mechanical vibration occurring with a mechanical component, and further to a vibration control unit for controlling a frequency distribution, an amplitude and other conditions of mechanical vibration.
Conventionally, an electromechanical transducing element uses an electrostrictive element, a magnetostrictive element or a piezoelectric element, and transduces an electric signal into mechanical vibration, thereby causing ultrasonic vibration. A piezoelectric transducer comprises the electromechanical transducing element provided with a resonator so that ultrasonic vibration with a large amplitude can be obtained.
In the related-art piezoelectric transducer, the configuration and structure of the resonator should be adjusted to obtain suitable resonance frequency for various purposes.
Japan Published Unexamined Application No. 63-125100 proposes a piezoelectric transducer in which the resonance frequency is adjustable. As shown in FIG. 5. in a piezoelectric transducer 50, a control piezoelectric element 54 having a control electrode 53 and a driven piezoelectric element 56 having a driven electrode 55 are stacked on top end of an elastic member 52 functioning also as a ground electrode. An elastic member 58 is arranged via an insulator 57 on top of the driven piezoelectric element 56. The piezoelectric transducer 50 is fastened with a bolt 59 and a nut 60. A direct-current power source 61 with variable voltage is connected to the control electrode 53. On the other hand, the driven electrode 55 is connected via a matching circuit 62 to a drive power source 63. Direct-current voltage from the direct-current power source 61 connected to the control electrode 53 is applied to the control piezoelectric element 54 of the piezoelectric transducer 50. Known piezoelectric elements contract and expand in proportion to applied voltage. Since the control piezoelectric element 54 expands and contracts in proportion to the applied direct-current voltage, the fastening force of the bolt 59 onto the piezoelectric transducer 50 can be optionally adjusted. Consequently, the resonance frequency of the piezoelectric transducer 50 can be varied according to the voltage applied by the direct-current power source 61. By controlling the direct-current voltage, the alternating current of the drive power source 63 is put in phase with the mechanical resonance frequency of the piezoelectric transducer 50, and ultrasonic vibration is efficiently raised.
However, the related-art piezoelectric transducer requires a fastening mechanism such as a bolt and nut combination. The structure of the piezoelectric transducer is thus limited. At the same time, the direct-current voltage should be applied to the piezoelectric element so as to control the resonance frequency of the piezoelectric transducer. The piezoelectric transducer must be mechanically highly precise to obtain a desired resonance frequency from its configuration. In the related art, the resonance frequency of the piezoelectric transducer cannot be adjusted freely in a wide range.
A known vibration control unit absorbs mechanical vibration by using a piece of rubber. Another known vibration control unit analyzes the phase, the amplitude and other conditions of the mechanical vibration, applies vibration of a phase opposite to that of the mechanical vibration to the mechanical component, and thus controls the mechanical vibration.
However, these related-art vibration control units fail to control a certain band of mechanical vibration occurring with the mechanical component.
For example, the former related-art vibration control unit using the piece of rubber can control the vibration in a wide frequency band. However, the vibration control unit cannot control the vibration of a specified small range of frequencies.
The related-art vibration control unit applying vibration from the outside requires a complicated structure so that the vibration control unit applies the vibration having a phase opposite to that of the mechanical vibration synchronously with the mechanical vibration. The vibration control unit requires an actuator for applying vibration from the outside, a sensor for detecting vibration, and a control circuit for executing high speed calculation. The vibration control unit thus requires an intricate, sophisticated, and large-sized structure, thereby occupying large space. However, the place where the vibration control unit is used is limited.
Conventionally, to obtain a desired frequency distribution, amplitude and other desired conditions of the mechanical vibration transmitted to a vibrating member, the configuration, material and other structural factors of the vibrating member are altered, and the vibrational characteristic of the vibrating member is adjusted.
However, in the above related art, the configuration, material and other structural factors need to be determined by means of calculation or actual measurement. It is thus difficult to adjust the frequency distribution and the amplitude of the mechanical vibration to a desired conditions.
The mechanical vibration transmitted to the vibrating member determines the structure of the vibrating member. When the vibrating member originally functions as a transmission, a support for other members, or the like, the design of the vibrating member is restricted within narrow limits.
At the same time, when the frequency distribution, the amplitude and other conditions of the mechanical vibration transmitted to the vibrating member vary, the vibrating member should be designed so that the vibrating member can correspond to variances of the vibration conditions. Such designing of the vibrating member is difficult. The vibrating member which can follow widely varied vibration conditions cannot be designed.

Piezoelectric transducer and an ultrasonic motor using the piezoelectric transducer


A method of fabricating high density multi-chip interconnects whereby one or more polymer layers thereon are cured at approximately room temperature utilizing high energy electron bombardment. The polymer layers, typically in the range of five to twenty microns in thickness, cured in accordance with the present invention, have very low ambiant temperature interlayer stresses, resulting in higher reliability and/or a wider operating temperature range for the finished high density multi-chip interconnect. In addition, curing times are grossly reduced, thereby making the manufacturing processing much more orderly and rapid. Interlayer adhesion of polymer layers cured in accordance with the present invention may be enhanced by the baking of the same at an elevated temperature below the glass transition temperture for the polymer. Various methods and parameters are disclosed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of hybrid circuits, and more particularly to high density multichip interconnect circuits for interconnecting unpackaged integrated circuits.
2. Prior Art
Recently, considerable interest has developed in forming multi-chip modules wherein a plurality of integrated circuits in chip form are mounted on a substrate and interconnected to provide the functions of Ultra Large Scale Integration (USLI) and higher integration without the normally associated problems thereof. Such interconnecting devices, sometimes referred to as high density multi-chip interconnects (HDMI), allow the testing of individual integrated circuits before mounting, thereby eliminating the need for redundancy for suitable yields. This can allow closer connection of the functional blocks on the HDMI than could be achieved in a corresponding single chip device. It also results in a faster circuit by reducing parasitic capacitance, and can eliminate the need for on-chip line drivers sometimes required on large single chip integrated circuits because of the long interconnect lines. It reduces costs by allowing testing of the integrated circuit functional blocks and the elimination of only the bad ones before using the same in the HDMI, and of course allows one to obtain the advantages of wafer scale integration without the attendant problems thereof even in applications wherein the market volume for the product is too small to consider larger scale or wafer scale integration.
At the present time, HDMI technology is somewhat of a mix, in some ways resembling integrated circuit fabrication techniques and in other ways somewhat resembling printed circuit board fabrication techniques. By way of example, conductor line widths are beginning to approach those used in at least older integrated circuit designs, and bonding techniques used to interconnect the chips to the HDMI are those typically used in conventional integrated circuit packaging. On the other hand, the materials used for the insulative layers, typically polymers, and the number of cross-overs typically required are more similar to that found in printed circuit board fabrication, as opposed to the silicon-oxide layer and the deposited metal interconnect layer of typical integrated circuits. Because of the varied materials used and the wide range of properties thereof, such structures may encounter problems regarding adhesion between layers, and stability and reliability of the interconnect, particularly when cycled over a large temperature range such as may be encountered in various ordinary applications for such devices.
In certain other prior art applications, thin layers of polymer have been cured by the bombardment thereof with high energy electrons. Such layers typically have been of a thickness of the order of 2,000 angstroms, very much thinner than that commonly used in HDMI construction.

Hybrid circuit structure fabrication methods using high energy electron beam curing


Disclosed are a method of adhering active enzymes to an inert support, the product produced thereby, and a method of using the enzyme-coated support in enzyme-catalyzed reactions such as the glucose isomerase-catalyzed conversion of glucose to fructose. The method includes the steps of coating an inert support with a cationic copolymer, preferably a polyamine, and most preferably a di-C1-C6-alkylamino-epichlorohydrin copolymer, and then adhering enzyme to the coated support in the absence of any intervening cross-linking agent.

Enzymes are biological catalysts. They are proteins and are commonly water-soluble. Enzymes are isolated and used in an extraordinarily large and diverse number of commercial applications, including analytical, medical, food-processing, and industrial applications. For example, enzymes are used to prepare food products such as cheese, bread, and alcoholic beverages; enzymes are used to resolve amino acids; enzymes are used in meat tenderizers, detergent formulations, leather tanning agents, and in digestive aids. Enzymes are also used extensively in the processing of starch, such as in starch hydrolysis, sucrose inversion, glucose isomerization, etc. These uses for enzymes, as well as many others, are addressed in great length in the relevant literature.
Enzymes in solution are difficult to recycle while maintaining high catalytic activity. Even without attempting to recycle the enzymes, it is often difficult to maintain high catalytic activity of enzymes for any extended period. These factors often make enzymatic catalysis an expensive proposition due to the necessity to replace the enzyme often.
To minimize the need for replacement, enzymes have been immobilized or otherwise insolubilized on inert supports or carriers. The enzyme remains catalytically active, but because the enzyme is affixed to a solid support, it can be removed from the reaction solution by filtering or screening. By immobilizing the enzyme on a solid support, the enzyme can be recycled more easily and the active useful life of each enzyme batch can be increased.
Immobilized enzymes are used in many different reactor systems, such as in packed columns, stirred tank reactors, fluidized-bed reactors, etc. In general, immobilizing the enzyme provides one or more benefits, including more favorable conditions wherein the enzyme can be used, greater structural stability, increased active life span of the enzyme, minimized effluent problems, minimized material handling problems, and (potentially) increased activity of the enzyme itself.
The patent literature describes a great many means of immobilizing enzymes on an inert support. One general method is to adsorb the enzyme at a solid surface as, for example, when an enzyme such as amino acid acylase is adsorbed on a cellulosic derivative such as DEAB-cellulose; papain or ribonuclease is adsorbed on porous glass; catalase is adsorbed on charcoal; trypsin is adsorbed on quartz glass or cellulose, chymotrypsin is adsorbed on kaolinite, etc.
Another general method to immobilize enzymes is to trap an enzyme in a gel lattice, such as glucose oxidase, urease, papain, etc., being entrapped in a polyacrylamide gel; acetyl cholinesterase being entrapped in a starch gel or a silicone polymer; glutamic-pyruvic transaminase being entrapped in a polyamide or cellulose acetate gel, etc.
A further general method is to use a cross-linking reagent to bind the enzyme to the support. In this approach, bifunctional or polyfunctional reagents that induce intermolecular cross-linking covalently bind the enzymes to the solid support. Glutaraldehyde or bisdiazobenzidine-2,2′-disulfonic acid are conventionally used as cross-linking reagents.
Conventional methods of immobilizing enzymes, however, all possess distinct drawbacks that detract from their use in industrial processes. For example, when an enzyme is directly adsorbed on the surface of a support, the binding forces that result between the enzyme and the support are often quite weak. Consequently, the enzyme is often readily desorbed from the support. Alternatively, the enzyme may be deactivated partially or extensively once immobilized (presumably due to conformational constraints caused by the binding reaction or due to adverse interactions between the support and the active site of the enzyme).

Compositions containing enzymes bound to cationic copolymers


Disclosed are nanoparticles of a light emissive polymer, comprising nanoparticles of a cyano-substituted poly(arylene vinylene) polymer; and a biocompatible surfactant adsorbed to the surface of the nanoparticles of the polymer, and preparation method thereof, wherein the method comprises: (1) uniformly mixing a dialdehyde monomer represented by a general formula OHC—Ar1—CHO, a dicyanide monomer represented by a general formula NC—Ar2—CN, and a liquid surfactant; (2) adding water to the resulting mixture to prepare an aqueous micelle dispersion; and (3) adding a polymerization catalyst to the aqueous micelle dispersion, followed by carrying out colloidal polymerization of the resulting mixture at room temperature under an atmosphere. The nanoparticles of the light emissive polymer of the invention are stabilized with a biocompatible surfactant, so that it can form a stable aqueous dispersion phase, and has particle size and fluorescence efficiency suitable for a biomolecular marker or a cell or in vivo imaging; therefore, it can be used as a cell or in vivo light emission contrast agent.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to nanoparticles of light emissive polymers and preparation method thereof. More particularly, the present invention relates to nanoparticles of light emissive polymers, having a particle diameter, emission performance and aqueous dispersion phase which are suitable for the application as a biomolecular marker, or applications to cells or in vivo applications, so that can be used as an optical imaging contrast agent, and preparation method thereof.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In life science, fluorescence-based techniques have been widely applied for defining various basic life phenomena from molecular biology to disease diagnosis. In particular, the fluorescence-based technique uses various experimental parameters including wavelength of excitation light, wavelength of fluorescence, fluorescence lifetime or fluorescence anisotropy, as well as fluorescence intensity, thereby making it possible to multiplex signals from a plurality of targets, and provides a resolution in nanometer level and sensitivity in single molecule level.
Fluorescence-related photophysical phenomena are sensitive to the change in surrounding environments, and there are various molecular-controllable phenomena such as extinction or increase of fluorescence, generation of energy transfer, etc. resulting from interactions between homogeneous or heterogeneous materials. Such properties have been employed for the development of intelligent contrast agents for the study of interactions between biomolecules, and early diagnosis of diseases.
Fluorescent materials which have been used as an immunomarker, or a contrast agent for cells or a living body include organic fluorescent molecules [D1: Kim et al., Prog. Polym. Sci. 32:1031-1053 (2007)], fluorescent proteins [D2: Zhang et al., Nat. Rev. Mol. Cell. Bio. 3:906-918 (2002)], and inorganic quantum dots [D3: Seydack et al., Biosens. Bioelectron. 20:2454-2469 (2005), D4: Gao et al., Nat. Biotechnol. 22:969-976 (2004), and D5: Michalet et al., Science 307:538-544 (2005)].
The performances of fluorescence-based molecule detection and imaging depend on optical properties of fluorescent marking materials or contrast agents, in particular, fluorescence intensity and optical stability. The fluorescence intensity defining the sensitivity limitation of signal detection is determined by the product of the fluorescence efficiency and the absorption coefficient of a fluorescent material. In particular, the absorption coefficient for excitation light should be high in order to apply the fluorescent material to cells or a living body, where the density of excitation light is low due to scattering or absorption of the light and autofluorescence interference is severe.
The absorption coefficient for excitation light of organic fluorescent molecules or nanoparticles containing organic fluorescent molecules depends on the chemical structure of the molecule. The organic fluorescent molecules such as fluorescein, rhodamine, cyanine, etc., as described in [D6: Resch-Genger et al., Nat. Method 5:763-775 (2008)], have a molar absorption coefficient (ε) of from 2.5×104 to 2.5×105 M−1cm−1, which is not sufficient for clinical applications. In addition, organic fluorescent molecules such as coumarin, rhodamine, and the like have considerably low optical stability under continuous irradiation of excitation light, as described in Eggeling et al., Anal. Chem. 70:2651-2659 (1998) (D7).
Meanwhile, as described in D4, 5, and 6, inorganic quantum dots such as CdS, CdSe, CdTe, InP, PbS, etc. have a molar absorption coefficient (ε) of from 5×105 to 5×106 M−1cm−1, which corresponds to scores of times the value of organic fluorescent molecules, and are optically stable. However, as described in Derfus et al., Nano Lett. 4:11-18 (2004) (D8), there is a limitation in application to cells or in vivo application due to potential toxicity problems caused by a heavy metal composition.
In addition, ACS Nano 2:2415-2423 (2008) (D9) discloses π-conjugated polymers having an absorption coefficient (ε) of 1×109 M−1cm−1 or higher in a state of nanoparticle with a diameter of about 15 nm, and improved optical stability of 103 times or more compared with organic fluorescent dyes under continuous excitation light irradiation. However, π-conjugated polymers such as poly[2-methoxy-5-(2-ethylhexyloxy)-1,4-phenylenevinylene](MEH-PPV), poly[2,5-di(3,7-dimethyloctyl)phenylene-1,4-ethynylene](PPE), poly[{9,9-dioctyl-2,7-divinylene-fluorenylene}-alt-co-{2-methoxy-5-(2-ethylhexyloxy)-1,4-phenylene}](PFPV), poly[(9,9-dioctylfluorenyl-2,7-diyl)-co-(1,4-benzo{2,1′,3}-thiadiazole)](PFBT), etc., exhibit higher fluorescence efficiencies (Φ)) in a solution, while the fluorescence efficiencies are in general significantly declined in solid phase such as nanoparticles, thin films or the like.
Furthermore, GREENHAM et al., Nature 365:628-630 (1993) (D10) and GREENHAM et al., Chem. Phys. Lett. 241:89-96 (1995) (D11) disclosed a cyano-substituted poly(phenylene vinylene)s. These materials are π-conjugated polymers having a cyanovinylene group in their structures, which have been reported to exhibit fluorescence efficiency (Φ)) of 0.35 or higher in solid thin film. However, D10 and D11 use the π-conjugated polymers having a cyanovinylene group only for making thin films for electronic devices, and do not suggest using the same as a biomolecular marker, or optical image contrast agents to be injected into cells or a living body.

Nanoparticles of light emissive polymers and preparation method thereof

Korea Institute of Science and Technology


A well barrier can include an annular seal element, an anti-extrusion backup having radially inward and radially outward portions, and a biasing device that exerts a biasing force against the radially outward portion of the anti-extrusion backup. A method of operating a well barrier can include setting the well barrier by decreasing a longitudinal distance between abutments of the well barrier, thereby compressing a seal element between the abutments, and unsetting the well barrier by increasing the longitudinal distance between the abutments and radially inwardly retracting an anti-extrusion backup positioned longitudinally between the seal element and one of the abutments. Another well barrier can include an annular seal element, an anti-extrusion backup, an abutment displaceable relative to the seal element to compress the seal element, a sleeve reciprocable relative to the abutment, and a biasing device that biases the sleeve toward the anti-extrusion backup.

It is sometimes desirable to be able to retrieve a well tool from a well. In such circumstances, it is desirable for the well tool to have an outer size that is smaller than any obstructions or restrictions through which the well tool must pass while it is being retrieved.
Some well tools, such as well barriers (packers, plugs, hangers, etc.) are expanded in operation in a well. If the well tool has been expanded downhole, it can be difficult to retrieve the tool through the obstructions or restrictions.
It will, thus, be readily appreciated that improvements are continually needed in the arts of constructing and utilizing tools for use in subterranean wells.

Retrievable anti-extrusion foldback-ring backup for sealing element


An information transmission system according to the present invention is constructed by connecting a transmission device which transmits information to an NC machine tool 20 via a network 2. The NC machine tool 20 comprises an operating panel 25 including an operation key 22, a keyboard 23, and a screen display section 24, and a control device 29 consisting of an input/output control section 40 which has a display control section 42. The display control section 42 receives information transmitted from the transmission device via the network 2, and display the same on the screen display section 24. Since the received information is automatically displayed on the screen display section 24 of the operating panel 25 being frequently looked at while an operator operates the NC machine tool 20, and that makes it possible to certainly give information to be given to the operator quickly and efficiently.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an NC machine tool of an information transmission system which is configured to connect a control device of said NC machine tool to a transmission device which transmits information, such as an instructing message and a machining program or the like via telecommunication circuits, and the information transmission system.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Generally, in a production site where various products are machined, machining is performed according to a production instruction based on an overall production planning. The production instruction includes contents, such as a product number of a product which should be machined, its machining schedule (scheduled machining start date and time and scheduled machining completion date and time), and the quantity of products to be machined, is usually communicated to each operator via a production instruction document prepared for every machine tool and printed on a paper medium, and is ensured for thoroughness through meetings or the like.
Moreover, in said meetings, operations which the operators should perform are also instructed and the operators perform the operations according to the contents of instruction.
By way of example, when a delay in procurement of materials arises, or when an order of product of short time limit for delivery is received, it becomes necessary to change said production planning, consequently, if the production planning is changed, naturally, it is also necessary to change the production instruction based on a new production planning.
In this case, when the change arises before each operator is informed of the production instruction or when there is enough time even after having informed of the production instruction, so serious problem may not occur, in case of an emergency, however, it is necessary that those who direct the production instruction should go to each operator""s work area to inform each operator directly of the changes in the production instruction, or even to ask operators to stop the machine tools under operation and summon them so that they may be informed of these changes. A similar thing may also be said with regards to the above-mentioned operation instructions.
Thus, in a conventional manner of instruction content communication, when changing the instruction contents, there has been a problem regarding the communication of these changes in a quick and efficient way. For this reason, for example, when there is a change in the quantity of products to be machined, a number of products will be uselessly machined, or when there is a change in kind of products, unnecessary products are machined or set-up operations become useless, thereby a drop-off in productive efficiency is caused.
Moreover, an NC machine tool comprises a machining motion mechanism, such as a main spindle unit and a feed mechanism or the like which are a motion mechanism for machining a work piece, and a numerical control device which numerically controls operation of this machining motion mechanism, and such numerical control is performed based on a machining program generated depending on machined products.
This machining program is usually generated by a programmer well versed in this using a manual program generation device and an automatic programming device. Then, the generated machining program is usually carried in a condition that it is suitably stored in a recording medium, then read from the recording medium by the numerical control device of storing object, and then stored in the numerical control device.
On the other hand, in recent years, connecting said manual program generation device and said automatic programming device to the numerical control device of the NC machine tool via network, such as LAN, and transmitting the generated machining program to each numerical control device via the network and storing the same have also been performed.
By the way, when an approach of storing the machining program in the numerical control device after storing the same in the recording medium once is employed, and since the operators of the NC machine tools perform the operations for storing the machining program in the recording medium into the numerical control device, it is expected that this operator grasps in detail the actual condition and what kind of machining program is stored in the numerical control device of the NC machine tool which the operator is in charge.
On the other hand, when an approach of transmitting and storing the machining program in each numerical control device via the network is employed, since the operator does not perform storing operations, such situation where a new machining program is stored (addition of the machining program) or a suitably modified machining program is stored in the form of overwriting on the already stored machining program (change of the machining program) may happen when the operator does not become aware thereof.
However, when the addition or the change in the machining program are made in the place where the operator may not know it like this, this may cause confusion among operators on the information, whether or not, a trial machining has already been completed regarding the machining program stored in the numerical control device, in other words, the operator can not make clear whether the trial machining has already been completed or not, sometimes, such a situation where the operator misunderstands that the trial machining has already been completed with regard to the added or changed machining program and has resulted in continuous machining using the machining program occurs. In this case, if there is the error in the machining program, a serious accident may be happen such as, a tool and a work piece may come into collision.
The present invention is made in view of the above actual situation, the object thereof is to provide an NC machine tool and an information transmission system which will enable the transmission of a production instruction, an operation instruction or the like quickly and efficiently to an operator who operates a machine tool, and further, will certainly enable the operator to recognize a machining program to be stored when storing the machining program in a control device of the NC machine tool via telecommunication circuits.
The present invention in order to achieve the above-mentioned objective relates to an NC machine tool of an information transmission system configured to connect the NC machine tool, comprising: a machining motion mechanism; a control device which controls operation of this machining motion mechanism; and an operating panel including at least input means for inputting a signal to said control device, and screen display means to a transmission device which transmits information via telecommunication circuits, and the information transmission system.
Said control device is configured so that it can be connected to the transmission device which transmits the information via the telecommunication circuits, and is configured so as to receive the information from said transmission device, and display received information on said screen display means.
By way of example, the information to be transmitted are: instructing messages, such as production instruction messages, i.e., kind, quantity, machining schedule of products that should be machined, operation instruction messages, i.e., a set-up of machining, and a note in machining or the like; and a machining program.
Then, when transmit information is the instructing message, the instructing message is received by the control device and this is displayed on the screen display means. Moreover, when the transmit information is the machining program, a program number is extracted from the machining program, and the extracted program number is displayed on the screen display means.
Thus, when the operator confirms the instructing message and the program number displayed in this way, the operator then performs operations according to the confirmed instructing message, or recognizes the machining program automatically transmitted to and stored in the control device of the NC machine tool from the transmission device, and also recognizes addition or change of the machining program which has been stored in the control device.
In this way, if it is configured in a way so that the instructing message and the program number may be automatically displayed on the screen display means of the operating panel, at which the operator frequently looks, during the operation of the NC machine tool, instruction contents to be given can certainly be given to the operator quickly and efficiently, and in addition, the operator can be made to certainly recognize the addition and the change on the machining program stored in the control device.
Incidentally, the program number is usually set to the machining program for every machining program for identification, and this program number is indicated with a cord which consists of, for example, xe2x80x9cO****xe2x80x9d (alphabet O and four digits following thereto). Accordingly, the program number mentioned above can be extracted by searching the cord containing xe2x80x9cOxe2x80x9d in the machining program.
Moreover, the control device may be configured to display the information so that all or a part of an image already displayed on the screen display means are covered with said information when displaying the same. Although an image, such as an operating state (for example, main spindle rotating speed of a main spindle unit, current position of a feed mechanism or the like) of said machining motion mechanism, is usually displayed on the screen display means, by covering all or a part of the existing display image with an image concerning the received information, namely, by displaying to overlap the existing display image therewith as described above, it becomes easier for the operator to confirm the displayed information, and the instructing message can be accurately communicated to the operator, or the operator can be made to recognize more certainly the machining program stored in the control device.
Moreover, by displaying to overlap the existing display image, it becomes impossible for the operator to recognize the image having been displayed until then, and it becomes impossible for the operator to perform operations while looking at a screen display until the displayed image concerning the received information disappears. Therefore, for example, it becomes impossible for the operator to perform operations to read the machining program of the products in order to machine products before modification even though the production instruction has been modified by transmitting the instructing message, and that makes it possible to prevent, beforehand, wrong products from being machined. Moreover, it becomes impossible to perform an editing operation of the machining program during transmission of the machining program, for example, when a machining program already stored in the control device is replaced with a machining program which has been modified therefrom by the transmission process, that makes it possible to prevent such a situation where the operator calls the replaced machining program to perform continuous machining using the machining program which has not completed trial machining yet, while not fully grasping the addition and the change of the machining program.
It is preferable to delete the displayed information when confirmation that the operator has recognized this can be obtained, for this reason, it is recommended to configure it so that a confirmation signal for confirming that the operator has recognized the displayed information can be inputted from said input means, and to configure the control device so that said control device may receive the inputted confirmation signal to complete the display of the received information.
Furthermore, said control device may be configured so that all or a part of other signals inputted from said input means may be made to be invalid after displaying said received information on said screen display means until receiving the confirmation signal inputted from said input means.
As mentioned above, it is possible to prevent the operator from performing the operations while looking at the screen display if all or a part of the existing display image are displayed so as to be covered with an instructing message image, however, unless otherwise being covered, as described above, for example, it may happen that even though the production instruction has been modified by transmitting the instructing message, the operator calls the machining program of the product to machine the wrong products in order to machine the products before modification, and in addition, since the editing operation of the machining program is available during transmission, the operator calls the machining program changed by the transmission process to perform the continuous machining using the machining program which has not completed the trial machining without fully grasping the addition and the change of the machining program.
Therefore, if all or a part of the other signals inputted from said input means are made to become invalid between an input of the confirmation signal and deletion of the received information as described above, a readout of a new machining program can be made impossible, or the editing operation of the machining program can be made not to be performed, and that makes it possible to prevent the occurrence of the problem mentioned above.
Moreover, said control device may be configured so that the image for indicating an under-reception is displayed on said screen display means while receiving said information.
Although a period of time for the control device to receive the machining program is a relatively short period of time, it may still happen that the operator performs the editing operation on the existing machining program stored in the control device during the reception. For this reason, when the existing machining program is replaced with the machining program which has been modified therefrom by the transmission process, a situation where the machining program which must have been replaced is further replaced with the machining program which the operator has edited may arise, that makes it impossible for the side which transmits the machining program (management side) to accurately manage the machining program stored in the control device of each NC machine tool.
Therefore, as described above, if it is configured so as to display that is under reception on the screen while the control device is receiving the machining program, the operator can be made to recognize this and this can prevent the occurrence of the problem mentioned above.
Incidentally, the indication that it is under reception can be performed, for example, by blinking a part of an image which is displayed on the screen display means, or by displaying the message that it is under reception on the screen display means.
In addition, said telecommunication circuits according to the present invention includes various communication circuits for configuring network, such as LAN, VAN, and leased telephone circuits and optical communication circuits.

NC machine tool and information transmission system


Auditing systems and methods detect access authorization of a media device for a service during an audit. An exemplary embodiment receives an audit trigger at a media device communicating the service to a media presentation device, determines whether the media device is authorized to communicate the service to the media presentation device, and communicates a security watermark from the media device to the media presentation device. The security watermark is displayed on a display of the media presentation device and indicates authorization to access the service to an auditor performing the audit.

Some businesses have televisions (TVs) or other display devices available at their business premises for customer viewing. For example, a sports bar will have many TVs located about the bar so that their customers are able to view their favorite sporting events. Many businesses obtain their programming from a program provider, such as a cable network, an Internet service provider, or satellite system provider, since such programming providers are able to provide a wide range of programming services that are not available over the local public systems.
For example, a sports bar in Denver may be able to receive, via local wireless signals, a broadcast of a local sporting event provided by a local television station. However, it is unlikely that the sports bar will be able to provide a sporting event in another city unless they are receiving programming from a cable network or satellite system provider.
Various premium services are available from the program providers. As used herein, a premium fee service is any service in which fees are charged. For example, a premium service may include a fee-based service paid monthly or on a per-use basis, or may be additional services which may include premium program channels, and/or premium service events or programs. For example, a premium service package sold to the sports bar in Denver may include one or more premium service sports channels that provide coverage of sporting events in many different cities. Accordingly, the sports bar may tune one or more of its TVs to those particular sporting events that are of interest to its customers.
Generally, business operators are honest individuals who responsibly pay for services that are provided by their cable network or satellite system provider. However, unscrupulous business operators may, on occasion, pirate or otherwise illegally access premium service programming that they have not contracted and/or paid for. As an example, a residential account set top box (STB) may be authorized to receive a particular premium service channel. Generally, residential account rates are less than commercial account rates. Thus, the unscrupulous business operator may take a residential account STB to their place of business, and use the authorized residential account STB to show programs available on the premium service channel to their customers.
Account packing is another example of an unauthorized access to a premium service. For example, a hotel operator may contract with the program provider for an authorized residential account STB for use at their home. However, an unscrupulous hotel operator may take this residential account STB to the hotel and hook up many STBs at the hotel. The unauthorized STBs would be operable since the unauthorized STBs are receiving the authorized residential account signal.
Many systems have been devised to detect theft of unauthorized premium services. On-site audits can be a very effective tool in discouraging the potentially unscrupulous business operator. However, the program provider typically prefers to maintain a positive, open business relationship with its customers, and on site audits may be undesirable from a public relations viewpoint. Further, the clever unscrupulous business operator can take measures to defeat an onsite inspection to detect the theft of unauthorized premium services. For example, an unauthorized residential account STB could be hidden away in the business premises such that the on-site auditor could not visibly detect the use of the residential account STB.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide for a way to detect the illegal theft of unauthorized services by an unscrupulous business operator in an unobtrusive manner, and/or without notice so that the unscrupulous business operator does not have time to reconfigure their system to avoid detection of the theft of the unauthorized services.

Systems and methods for auditing authorization of a service using displayed watermarks


To enable radiation rays to be efficiently used. A scout scan parameter setting unit sets a rotation movement position to which an X-ray tube and an X-ray detector are moved so as to rotate around a subject on the basis of subject information of a subject on which a scout scan is performed at the time of performing a scout scan. At the time of starting execution of the scout scan, a rotating unit moves the X-ray tube and the X-ray detector so as to rotate around the subject to the rotation movement position which is set by the scout scan parameter setting unit. After that, a scout scan is performed in the rotation movement position.

The present invention relates to a radiographic apparatus and, more particularly, to a radiographic apparatus for generating a scout image of a subject by performing, in a rotation movement position to which an irradiator for applying radiation rays and a detector for detecting the radiation rays which have passed the subject are moved so as to rotate around the subject, a scout scan in which the irradiator irradiates the subject with radiation rays, and the radiation rays passed through the subject are detected by the detector.
A radiographic apparatus such as an X-ray CT (Computed Tomography) apparatus generates a slice image of a section of a subject on the basis of projection data obtained by scanning the subject with radiation rays such as X-rays. Such a radiographic apparatus is used in wide-range applications such as medical and industrial applications.
An X-ray CT apparatus performs a scout scan for generating a scout image in order to set scan parameters prior to execution of a scan for generating a slice image.
In the scout scan, an X-ray tube for emitting an X-ray to a subject and an X-ray detector for detecting the X-ray applied from the X-ray tube and passed through the subject are fixed in positions forming a predetermined view angle around the subject. In the fixed position at the predetermined view angle, an X-ray is applied from the X-ray tube to the subject, and the X-ray passed through the subject is detected by the X-ray detector. On the basis of projection data generated by the X-ray detector which has detected the X-ray, a scout image as a radioscopic image of the subject is generated and displayed.
After that, the operator refers to the scout image generated by the scout scan and enters scan parameters such as a slice position corresponding to a section whose slice image is generated. A scan such as an axial scan or a helical scan is performed to generate a slice image of the section in the slice position entered by the operator (refer to, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-58651).
The scout scan is performed by fixing, for example, the X-ray tube in front of a chest region of the subject supported in a face-up position on a table and emitting an X-ray from the position.
Consequently, when the subject is a female and a scout scan is performed so as to include a chest region, in some cases, the dose of radiation on the mammary gland having high radiation sensitivity is large and it is difficult to acquire images by effectively using radiation rays such as X-rays. Also in the case of a region having high radiation sensitivity such as a lens in the head of a subject or thyroid in the neck in/around the body surface of the subject, there is a similar inconvenience.
An object of the present invention is, therefore, to provide a radiographic apparatus capable of easily capturing an image by efficiently utilizing radiation rays.

Radiographic apparatus and method of using the same

GE Medical Systems Global Technology Company, LLC


A rotary tool of the present aspect has a body and a cutting edge positioned on the outer periphery of the body. The cutting edge has a first section and a second section when viewed on an imaginary plane defined by cutting a rotational trajectory of the rotary tool on a plane including a rotational axis. The first section has a first region and a second region. A first radius of curvature of the first region is greater than a second radius of curvature of the second region in at least one of a plurality of the first sections.

A roughing end mill described in JP 2005-279884 A (Patent Document 1), for example, has been used for cutting workpieces. In the rotary tool described in Patent Document 1, a waveform-shaped cutting edge is positioned on the outer periphery of a cylindrical body portion of the rotary tool.
A wave height and a pitch of the waveform-shaped cutting edge in the rotary tool described in Patent Document 1 are set in accordance with processing conditions, and also, ridge portions each having a convex arc-shape with a constant radius of curvature, and valley portions each having a concave arc-shape with a constant radius of curvature are provided in the waveform-shaped cutting edge.
In general, the pitch is required to be narrowed in order to reduce the cutting resistance. However, when the pitch is narrowed in the rotary tool described in Patent Document 1, adjusting only the radius of curvature of the valley portion may not be sufficient, and it may be necessary to reduce the radius of curvature of the ridge portion. When the radius of curvature of the ridge portion is reduced, there is a risk that stress is concentrated at the apex of the ridge portion during the cut processing and the cutting edge may be damaged.


A head positioning system includes a calculating circuit for outputting a signal u.sub.k corresponding to an equilibrium of a step motor for driving a head on the basis of a position error of the head detected at each sampling time. The calculating circuit includes a first calculator for calculating a temporary equilibrium u".sub.k on the basis of a position error, a memory for storing u.sub.k-1 to u.sub.k-N at respective sampling times, a predictor for calculating a predicted value u'.sub.k and an average value u'".sub.k in accordance with outputs from the first calculator and the memory, a comparator for comparing u'.sub.k with u".sub.k to check if they satisfy certain conditions, outputting u".sub.k as u.sub.k to a step motor driver when the conditions are satisfied, and outputting u'".sub.k as u.sub.k to the step motor driver when the conditions are not satisfied, and a second calculator, activated by the comparator when the conditions are not satisfied, for calculating back the position error using the output u.sub.k from the comparator so that the first calculator recalculates u".sub.k.

The present invention relates to a head positioning system having position error compensation and, more particularly, to compensation for erroneous detection of a position error detector in positioning of a disk apparatus such as a floppy disk drive (FDD).
It is well known that, in an FDD which uses a floppy disk as a recording medium and a magnetic head as a head, a step motor is used as an actuator for positioning the magnetic head because a servo mechanism can be simplified and in terms of advantages in the size of an apparatus and the cost.
Recently, as such an FDD apparatus is made compact and its capacity is increased, a pitch of data tracks (tracks per inch) of a magnetic disk is reduced, and therefore eccentricity of the data track cannot be ignored. For this reason, positioning accuracy is improved by controlling the step motor not by an open loop but in a feedback manner using a sector servo system.
In the sector servo system, as is well known, the data surface of a magnetic disk is divided into several sectors, and track position error information is written in a start position or an end position of the sector, thereby obtaining track position error information at each sampling time determined by the number of sectors and the rotational frequency of the disk. Then, the magnetic head is feedback-controlled on the basis of the information obtained at the sampling point. U.S. patent application No. 921514 (now U.S. Pat. No. 4,788,608) filed on Oct. 22, 1986 (European Patent Application No. 86114617.3) discloses a method of performing the sector servo system. That is, in this method, a digital filter for generating a sine wave having the same frequency as that of a second frequency component in a variation component in a target data track with respect to an impulse input is provided in a feedback loop, thereby positioning the magnetic head at a position of the target data track with high accuracy.
However, in this method, tracking control of the magnetic head with respect to a data track is performed on the basis of position error information obtained at only each sampling time determined in accordance with the number of sectors and the rotational frequency of the disk. Therefore, if the position error signal itself does not represent a correct value due to noise or defects in the medium, the tracking characteristic of the magnetic head with respect to a data track is degraded when the magnetic head is positioned in accordance with the position error signal.

Head positioning system for compensating for erroneous detection of recorded position error information