An improved ignition safety device (ISD) employs one or more optical switches to accomplish a SAFE-ARM function for a laser initiated ordnance system (LIOS). At least one optical switch along with appropriate control and status monitoring provide an optical SAFE-ARM function and optionally a distribution function. An optical switch performing the SAFE-ARM function diverts a laser signal to a heat sink assembly when in a SAFED position and switches to the LIOS when in an ARMED position. When in the SAFED position, the LOSAD provides an optical block in the laser energy path between a laser firing unit and the LIOS to prevent inadvertent ordnance operation. An optical switch performing the distribution function has two or more switch positions that direct a received laser signal to two or more laser initiated devices.

Laser ordnance initiators use a laser to initiate an explosive via an optical fiber. Such initiators are reliable and generally make unintentional initiation difficult. Safety features for such laser ordnance initiators are governed by the United States Department of Defense military standard MIL-STD-1901A titled "Design Criteria Standard for Munition Rocket and Missile Motor Ignition System Design". The standard requires all such designs to include an ignition safety device (ISD), or SAFE-ARM device, whose purpose is to prevent an unintended function of the rocket or missile motor through interruption of the pyrotechnic train, interruption of the firing energy train, or control of the energy required to arm the ISD and operate the initiator. More specifically, the standard requires low-power ignition systems to employ a SAFE-ARM device that provides a physical interruption in the laser energy path between a laser firing unit (or source) and the intended target ordnance (or receptor) to prevent inadvertent ordnance operation.
Paragraph 188.8.131.52 of MIL-STD-1901A provides compliance criteria for firing energy train interruption with low voltage devices and provides an example of a firing energy train, which would require interruption, is an ignition system using a low voltage (activated by less than 500 volts) laser diode, with associated optical transmission hardware and an approved in line pyrotechnic. At least one firing energy train interrupter is required if low voltage devices are used. Low voltage devices are defined as those incorporating initiators requiring less than 500 volts or less than the maximum voltage available in the ignition system prior to commit to launch (whichever is greater). Interruption of the low voltage alone in these applications is not an acceptable design. The design of the firing energy train interruption shall comply with the following:    a. The interrupter shall be rendered ineffective by the arming energy and automatically return to a non-armed state upon removal of the arming energy.    b. If the first pyrotechnic element is positioned such that safety is dependent upon the presence of an interrupter, the design shall include positive means to prevent the ISD from being assembled without the properly positioned interrupter.    c. If the first pyrotechnic element is positioned such that omission of the interrupter will prohibit transfer to the pyrotechnic train, a single interrupter is acceptable.    d. The effectiveness of the interruption prior to initiation of the arming sequence shall be determined numerically and the methodology and results presented and justified to the appropriate service safety authority.
The conventional approach for providing SAFE-ARM functionality to laser initiated ordnance systems (LIOS) has been to relegate the function to electronic circuitry and to not provide a physical interruption or 'block' in the laser optical ignition train. As such, there is a need for an improved SAFE-ARM and distribution device for a LIOS that complies with MIL-STD-1901A.

Intuitive Research and Technology Corporation


Computer-implemented methods, carrier media, and systems for detecting defects on a wafer based on multi-core architecture are provided. One computer-implemented method for detecting defects on a wafer includes acquiring output for the wafer generated by an inspection system. Dies are formed on the wafer, and multiple cores are formed in the dies. The method also includes detecting defects on the wafer by comparing the output for a first of the multiple cores to the output for a second of the multiple cores. The first and second of the multiple cores are formed in the same die, different dies, or the same die and different dies.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to computer-implemented methods, carrier media, and systems for detecting defects on a wafer based on multi-core architecture. Certain embodiments relate to detecting defects on a wafer by comparing output generated by an inspection system for a first of multiple cores to output generated by the inspection system for a second of the multiple cores, which is formed in the same die, different dies, or the same die and different dies on the wafer as the first of the multiple cores.
2. Description of the Related Art
The following description and examples are not admitted to be prior art by virtue of their inclusion in this section.
Fabricating semiconductor devices such as logic and memory devices typically includes processing a substrate such as a semiconductor wafer using a large number of semiconductor fabrication processes to form various features and multiple levels of the semiconductor devices. For example, lithography is a semiconductor fabrication process that involves transferring a pattern from a reticle to a resist arranged on a semiconductor wafer. Additional examples of semiconductor fabrication processes include, but are not limited to, chemical-mechanical polishing, etch, deposition, and ion implantation. Multiple semiconductor devices may be fabricated in an arrangement on a single semiconductor wafer and then separated into individual semiconductor devices.
Inspection processes are used at various steps during a semiconductor manufacturing process to detect defects on wafers to promote higher yield in the manufacturing process and thus higher profits. Inspection has always been an important part of fabricating semiconductor devices such as integrated circuits. However, as the dimensions of semiconductor devices decrease, inspection becomes even more important to the successful manufacture of acceptable semiconductor devices because smaller defects can cause the devices to fail. For instance, as the dimensions of semiconductor devices decrease, detection of defects of decreasing size has become necessary since even relatively small defects may cause unwanted aberrations in the semiconductor devices.
Many different types of inspection tools have been developed for the inspection of semiconductor wafers. Defect inspection is currently being performed using techniques such as bright field (BF) imaging, dark field (DF) imaging, and scattering. The type of inspection tool that is used for inspecting semiconductor wafers may be selected based on, for example, characteristics of the defects of interest and characteristics of the wafers that will be inspected. For example, some inspection tools are designed to inspect unpatterned semiconductor wafers or patterned semiconductor wafers.
Patterned wafer inspection is of particular interest and importance to the semiconductor industry because processed semiconductor wafers usually have a pattern of features formed thereon. Although inspection of unpatterned wafers, or "monitor wafers." which have been run through a process tool, may be used as a gauge for the number and types of defects that may be found on patterned wafers, or "product wafers," defects detected on monitor wafers do not always accurately reflect the defects that are detected on patterned wafers after the same process in the same process tool. Inspection of patterned wafers is, therefore, important to accurately detect defects that may have been formed on the wafer during, or as a result of, processing. Therefore, inspecting patterned wafers or product wafers may provide more accurate monitoring and control of processes and process tools than inspection of monitor wafers.
As design rules shrink, semiconductor manufacturing processes may be operating closer to the limitations on the performance capability of the processes. In addition, smaller defects can have an impact on the electrical parameters of the device as the design rules shrink, which drives more sensitive inspections. Therefore, as design rules shrink, the population of potentially yield relevant defects detected by inspection grows dramatically, and the population of nuisance defects detected by inspection also increases dramatically. Therefore, more and more defects may be detected on the wafers, and correcting the processes to eliminate all of the defects may be difficult and expensive. In some instances, the number of noise and nuisance events detected by an inspection tool can be reduced by using optimized data acquisition parameters and optimized data processing parameters. In addition, the number of noise and nuisance events can be reduced by applying various filtering techniques to the inspection results.
Process variation has been known for a long time to be a limiting factor of inspection sensitivity. Every process exhibits some degree of variation. Process variation can be either controllable or uncontrollable. A controllable variation may become uncontrollable as device scaling reaches a certain point. Process variation can be tolerable (within spec) or intolerable (out-of-spec). Detection of relatively small defects requires suppression of the background noise from both "tolerable" and intolerable variations. In particular, background noise from both types of process variation will decrease the signal-to-noise of defects in inspection output, which can prevent the detection of relatively small defects, thereby reducing the sensitivity of the inspection.
Accordingly, it would be advantageous to develop computer-implemented methods, carrier media, and/or systems for detecting defects on a wafer that can suppress noise from process variations across the wafer thereby increasing the sensitivity of the inspection particularly for relatively small defects.


A process for degumming jute, which includes the following steps: (1) unpacking and bunching of raw jute (2); treating the raw jute with a compound enzyme, which comprises adding to a container an aqueous solution of the compound enzyme made from pectase and laccase so that the jute is treated, taking the jute out the container and patching the jute in a predetermined duration, and finally rinsing the raw jute with hot water (3); reduction bleaching, which comprises adding to the container an aqueous solution of reductive bleaching agent and bleaching the jute, and then adding a decolourizer thereto and treating the jute and finally taking the jute out the container after the treatments are carried out (4) beating the resulting jute, and then rinsing, oiling, dehydrating and drying sequentially, thereby obtaining a decolorized and impurity free jute fiber.

Garment materials made from jute textiles are favored by people mainly because jute fiber has good moisture absorption, gas permeability, low static behavior and good mold resistance. However, the above jute garment materials are mainly flax, ramie raw material or such garment materials which are manufactured by blending or interweaving those raw materials and other fibers like wool, chemical fiber, silk, terylene and urethane elastic fiber. The manner of making these jute garment materials including decoloring and other processing is generally characterized by long processing times, higher labor requirements and increased consumption of water and other resources.
For example, the process of degumming ramie can include various steps including unpacking, washing, pickling, boiling off, piling up, flapping, whitening, dehydrating, fluffing, oiling, patching up, oil removing, fluffing and drying. Applicant has attempted this process to degum jute, but has found that the removal rate of jute pigment is only 50%; external color of the resulting fiber is brown yellow; the lining obtained by blending or interweaving jute fiber with such external color and cotton mixed spinning, or mucilage glue, or other fibers, cannot obtain ideal grey cloth with brightness through a whitening procedure; it also baffles the dyeing of light colors which results in gloomy colors. Perhaps from some technical aspects, dark dyeing can cover up these results but the removal rate of the jute is poor, so colorama stability of product after dark dyeing is poor too. Therefore, the removal rate of the jute must reach a required degree of no less than 80% for jute to be successfully applied in producing garment materials. In addition, impurities like xylogen in the jute can cause skin urtication. The removal rate of xylogen should reach 70% in general; otherwise, even if the degumming effect is obvious, jute cannot be applied to producing garment materials.
Jute as a garment material inherently has a variety of inherent weaknesses including harsh fasciculus, stiffness, difficult removal of pigment, poor spinnability and potential skin urtication. Traditionally, jute has been used to process packing materials like jute bags. Less common applications for jute has been the production of carpets, rough wallpaper and other artwork like handbags and cushions. In recent years, increasing use of alternative packing materials like chemical fiber and plastic products have caused the jute market to increasingly shrink resulting in mass overstock and low price of jute as jute does not require rigorous soil selectivity, has a short growing period and high yield quantities. In contrast, flax has rigorous soil selectivity and low yield quantity, which results in unceasing price increases resulting in flax textile being unpopular with the common consumer.
Therefore, in China Patent Grant Publication Number CN1047415C, a kind of technique and device for jute or chemical modification of ambary kenaf blended yarn is disclosed, whose processing steps of chemical modification are as follows:    a. Pickle into NaOH solution for 20 to 40 minutes after jute selection, then seethe in sodium stearate solution for 20 to 40 minutes, acid wash it to neuter gender, whiten it by hydrogen peroxide, oil and dry it, punch it through C11 hackle, then cut it through fiber cutting machine, flip it through flip cotton rack, and oil it to keep moisture, finally pack it;    b. Blend the above modified jute or ambary fiber and cotton fiber. The disadvantages of technical scheme of this patent appear as follows: First, the technique does not appear to effectively reach the removal rates of less than 0.5% pectin content and less than 2% xylogen as described as can be proved from resulting light brown products. Second, the removal rate of pigment is only about 60%. Practice proves that through pickling in a NaOH solution and boiling, the removal rate of jute pigment that obstinately existed is bad, and the effect of xylogen removal is not so good.
In addition, an improved method of producing jute textile introduced in China Patent Grant Publication Number CN1047415C using ammonia and nitrogen treatment, mellowing, dehairing and sanforizing. However, this method aims mainly at producing jute textile and does not relate to concrete degumming and edulcoration revelation of any raw jute.
Moreover, in 24th volume of Finishing Technology No.2, April 2002, influences including enzyme classes and how dosages of bio-enzymes and treatment time affecting scouring are introduced. The experimental data provided in this literature addresses flax and xylogen content reductions from 7.2% to 5.4%, pectin content reductions from 3.5% to 1.4%. These removal rates are 25% and 60% respectively, which are the best treatment effects mentioned in the literature. However, xylogen and pectin content are still high enough that the cannot meet the production requirements of flax roving such that qualified flax products cannot be produced. As is well known to all, the plasticity and spinnability of fiber is inversely related to xylogen content. Just as it says in CN1047415, only when pectin and xylogen content are less than 0.5% and 2% respectively does the fiber possess spinnability.
Making a general view of this literature, the following disadvantages are noted. First, the maximum activity of recommended compound enzymes has not been given full consideration. It is mainly because the pH value has not changed significantly according to the different enzyme requirements resulting in low removal rate of pectin and xylogen. Second, compound enzymes are used on 1:30 liquor ratio condition that increasingly reduces labor capacity of flax degumming process and causes large waste of water and other resources like electricity and additives so that it has no economical efficiency and industrial production cannot bear it. Third, parallel literature believes "on condition of optimum temperature and similar pH value, there is synergism among compound enzyme (8 to 9 lines, 3.3 column, 4th page of literature)". However, applicant's experiments prove that if we adopt similar pH value and choose mesial magnitudes required by compound enzyme, the compound enzyme synergism is tiny. It properly proves that compound enzymes might mutually interfere with each other so as to invalidate the enzyme effects. The experimental data provided in this parallel literature indicates that compound enzyme efficacy has not been given full play. Therefore, the parallel literature has not revealed reasonable pH values in choosing compound enzymes. Fourth, the experimental object of the literature is flax. Xylogen content in flax is less than that in jute (please see Utilization of Jute published in 1993 edited by Gu Mingjin and so on, and Flax Spinning published in 1987 edited by Gu Boming and so on). Therefore, if we use methods recommended in literature to degum jute fiber and remove xylogen, the effects will be worse.
As a result, there are no garment materials blending jute and jute cotton in the market at home and abroad.

Suzhou Mbary Advanced Natural Fiber Co., Ltd.


A method for determining the position of a rotor with respect to a stator. The method includes generating offset N and Q signals when the rotor moves with respect to the stator and sampling the N and Q signals at a predetermined time interval. A section of a polar plot in which the N and Q signal sample lies is determined and compared to the section of a polar plot in which a previous N and Q signal sample lies. A long range rotor position is calculated by maintaining a count of the change of sections from previous N and Q signal samples. A sub-section rotor position for the N and Q signal sample is calculated and combined with the long range rotor position to create a linear position signal.

The present invention generally relates to sensing devices, and more particularly to absolute position sensing devices with a high sensing resolution.
Position sensors are used in a variety of devices to allow electrical systems to sense the motion or position of moving objects and components. Types of position sensors include, for example, analog potentiometers, digital encoders and capacity sensors, among other types of position sensors. These types of sensors may be used to track motion and position over a wide range of distances, and may have a similarly wide range of sensing resolutions. A position sensor""s sensing resolution determines the incremental amount of motion or displacement detectable by the sensor. For example, a higher sensing resolution allows the censor to detect smaller increments of movement.
In some instances when tracking the movement and position of a component, it may be necessary or desirable to have a very high sensing resolution relative to the distance over which the position must be tracked. For example, one possible use of high resolution position sensors may be seen in the U.S. Pat. No. 5,557,596 to Gibson et al., in which an ultra high-density storage device is described and claimed. The ultra high-density storage device of Gibson et al. uses field emitters which generate electron beam currents. The electron beam currents write information onto storage areas of a storage medium. The storage medium is positioned on a movable rotor. The rotor is moved by one or more micromovers with respect to the field emitters so that the emitters can write and access information at a number of storage areas on the storage medium.
To properly control the micromovers for high-resolution devices such as the high-density storage device of Gibson et al., a position sensor capable of accurately indicating the relative position of the rotor with respect to the emitter wafer is needed. The sensor must indicate the position of the rotor over the entire stroke of the micromover (perhaps on the order of 50 to 100 xcexcm), yet supply resolution down to a small percentage of a track width (perhaps on the order of 0.01 to 0.10 xcexcm).
A method for determining the position of a rotor with respect to a stator is described herein. The method includes generating offset N and Q signals when the rotor moves with respect to the stator and sampling the N and Q signals at a predetermined time interval. A section of a polar plot in which the N and Q signal sample lies is determined and compared to the section of a polar plot in which a previous N and Q signal sample lies. A long range rotor position is calculated by maintaining a count of the change of sections from previous N and Q signal samples. A sub-section rotor position for the N and Q signal sample is calculated and combined with the long range rotor position to create a linear position signal.

Method and system for determining position of a body

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


Embodiments disclosed herein relate to methods and systems for performing automated assays, and particularly to performing sequential assays on a sample on an automated instrument.

Technical Field
Embodiments disclosed herein relate to methods and systems for performing sequential, automated assays, such as nucleic acid testing assays.
Description of the Related Art
Automation of molecular testing of samples has become increasingly common, due in part because automation can reduce the amount of time from sample collection to receiving results, can minimize experimental variability and can reduce the need for highly trained technicians. In addition to benefits in the field of diagnostics, automation of processing and testing samples has facilitated high throughput testing. Automated devices for specimen and or sample processing typically include hardware and consumables. It is thus desirable to maximize automation of molecular testing, while minimize the amount of consumables used.
The embodiments described provide for improved automated specimen and/or sample testing that can advantageously be used in clinical and research settings.

Reflex testing of samples using residual materials from a prior test


Presented herein are systems, methods, and devices for analyzing a circuit. A netlist is obtained and parsed, where the netlist describes the circuit having one or more branches and one or more nodes. A linear system describing the circuit is obtained and compressed using a hierarchical approach. Compression involves storing off-diagonal sub-blocks in a dense matrix in a low-rank format to reduce the density of the matrix. The linear system is then solved using an iterative operation. An initial guess is used for the voltage at each node and the current through each branch. After performing the first iteration, an initial estimate for the voltage and current is stored and used as the initial guess for the second iteration. The iterative operation is continued until the estimate for the voltage at each node and the current through each branch is sufficiently accurate.

A variety of specialized software tools have been developed to meet the challenges of designing and manufacturing more complex and higher performance electronic systems such as printed circuit boards and integrated circuits (ICs). Part of the design process is the simulation of such circuits in order to check the integrity of the circuit design and to predict circuit behavior. For example, it may be desired to simulate an integrated circuit in order to understand the inductive effects of the circuit design. Inductive effects are important in determining power supply integrity, performing timing and noise analysis (especially for global clock networks), and analyzing signal buses and supply grids for high-performance microprocessors. In addition, operation of the circuit at high frequencies introduces coupling effects between components, such as mutual inductance, that must be taken into account during simulation in order to ensure correct results. Moreover, inductive effects have become increasingly impactful as integrated circuit technologies shrink further and low-k dielectrics are used to diminish capacitive effects.
Methods for simulation of large integrated circuits generally focus on the solving linear systems that describe the circuits. These linear systems use matrices to model circuits having a number of nodes and branches. Matrices are used to model node conductances, node capacitances, excitations from independent current sources, self-inductances of each branch, and mutual inductances between branches. The main limiting factor in simulation of such circuits is the inductance matrix, which is a dense matrix—compared to the conductance and capacitance matrices—because mutual inductances between the individual branches is taken into account. As a consequence, the computational and memory requirements of the algorithm used to solve the linear systems are greatly increased.
Certain solutions have been proposed to solve the computation problems presented by the dense linear systems describing the integrated circuits. One approach is to use sparsification techniques to reduce the size of the inductance matrix. The density of a matrix (also known as the sparsity) is the fraction of non-zero elements compared to the total number of elements. Generally, sparse matrices will have a large number of off-diagonal elements equal to zero. As integrated circuits grow large and mutual inductances are taken into account, the inductance matrix grows dense. Sparsification techniques attempt to reduce the size of the inductance matrix to make solving the linear system more efficient. However, sparsification techniques are not based on mathematically established methodologies, and often result in a loss in accuracy. Moreover, sparsification can cause the modified linear system to become unstable. Further approaches attempt to use model-order reduction techniques to simplify the system, such as those demonstrated in Kaushik Gala et al., Inductance 101: Analysis and Design Issues, Proceedings of the 38th Annual Design and Automation Conference, ACM 2001. These approaches have also faced difficulties, as many model-order reduction techniques are not effective when applied to circuits with large number of ports, which thus limits their applicability to large-scale circuit simulations.
Finally, many of these approaches combine with a direct method of solving the linear systems. Direct methods are often based on matrix factorization. The computational and memory requirements of these direct methods increase quadratically with the dimensions of the matrices in the linear system. In addition, the factorization step must be performed at every frequency point in the AC analysis, which increases the complexity of the analysis.
There is therefore a need for a new approach for simulating high speed integrated circuits that does not suffer from the drawbacks of prior approaches.

Iterative solution using compressed inductive matrix for efficient simulation of very-large scale circuits


A surgical fastener applying apparatus includes an anvil section and a cartridge section, where the cartridge section and the anvil section are movable from an unclamped position to a clamped position. The cartridge section has a plurality of retention slots, a plurality of first surgical fasteners and a plurality of second surgical fasteners. The plurality of first surgical fasteners has a first backspan with a first configuration and the plurality of second surgical fasteners has a second backspan with a second different configuration. In addition, when the first configuration applies a first compressive force to tissue and the second configuration applies a second different compressive force to tissue.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to surgical fastener applying apparatus. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to a surgical fastener cartridge that includes a plurality of surgical fasteners configured to apply varying compressive forces to tissue.
2. Background of the Related Art
Many varieties of surgical fastening apparatus are known in the art, some of which are specifically adapted for use in various surgical procedures including, but not limited to, end-to-end anastomosis, circular end-to-end anastomosis, open gastrointestinal anastomosis, endoscopic gastrointestinal anastomosis, and transverse anastomosis. Suitable examples of apparatus which may be used during the course of these procedures can be seen in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,915,616; 6,202,914; 5,865,361; and 5,964,394.
In general, a surgical fastening apparatus will include an anvil that is approximated relative to a fastener cartridge during use. The anvil includes depressions that are aligned with, and/or are in registration with slots defined in the cartridge, through which the fasteners will emerge, to effectuate formation. Certain apparatus have fastener cartridges with one or more rows of fasteners disposed laterally or radially of a longitudinal slot that is configured to accommodate a knife, or other such cutting element, such that tissue can be simultaneously cut and joined together. Depending upon the particular surgical fastening apparatus, the rows of fasteners may be arranged in a linear or non-linear, e.g. circular, semi-circular, or otherwise arcuate configuration.
Various types of surgical fasteners are well known in the art, including but not limited to unitary fasteners and two-part fasteners. Unitary fasteners generally include a pair of legs adapted to penetrate tissue and connected by a backspan from which they extend. The staples are formed into a closed configuration, such as a "B" shaped configuration. Typically, the two-part fastener includes legs that are barbed and connected by a backspan which are engaged and locked into a separate retainer piece that is usually located in the anvil. In use, the two-part fastener is pressed into the tissue so that the barbs penetrate the tissue and emerge from the other side where they are then locked into the retainer piece. The retainers prevent the two-part fastener from dislodging from the tissue. The two-part fasteners are not intended to be unlocked or removable. They are generally made of a bioabsorbable material.
During each of the aforementioned surgical procedures, the tissue is initially gripped or clamped between the anvil and cartridge such that individual fasteners can be ejected from the cartridge, through the slots, and forced through the clamped tissue. Thereafter, the fasteners are formed by driving them into the depressions formed on the anvil.
A common concern in each of these procedures is hemostasis, or the cessation of bleeding of the target tissue. It is commonly known that by increasing the amount of pressure applied to a wound, the flow of blood can be limited, thereby decreasing the time necessary to achieve hemostasis. To this end, conventional surgical fastening apparatus generally apply two or more rows of fasteners about a cut-line to compress the surrounding tissue in an effort to stop any bleeding and to join the cut tissue together. Each of the fasteners will generally apply a compressive force to the tissue sufficient to effectuate hemostasis, however, if too much pressure is applied, this can result in a needless reduction in blood flow to the tissue surrounding the cut-line. Accordingly, too much pressure in the joining of tissue together may result in an elevated level of necrosis, a slower rate of healing, and/or a greater recovery period.
Consequently, it would be advantageous to provide a surgical fastening apparatus capable of limiting the flow of blood in the tissue to effectuate hemostasis and wound closure, while maximizing blood flow in the surrounding tissue to facilitate healing. Additionally, when tissue is clamped and compressed between the anvil and cartridge, differences in the tissue can mean that portions of the tissue are thicker than other portions of tissue. It would therefore be advantageous to provide staples which could better accommodate the different tissue thicknesses.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Variable compression surgical fastener apparatus


The present disclosure relates to a device for the thermal treatment of samples, including: a base unit with a receiving region; a cover for closing the receiving region, the cover movable from a first, open position into a second, closed position; at least one connecting element connected to the cover; and a cover drive disposed in the base unit and coupled to the at least one connecting element as to drive a movement of the cover such that, during the movement from an open into a closed position, the cover is initially brought from the open position into a third position, in which the cover extends parallel to and spaced from the receiving region, and such that the cover is further moved from the third position in a direction of a shared normal until the cover has reached the closed position.

Such a device can be a thermocycler, for example. Such devices are used to expose samples to a predetermined temperature profile, for example, for incubation or for carrying out the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), which generally takes place in a plurality of cycles in which the samples are first heated with DNA polymerase and then cooled again. A tempering block of such a device can include a plurality of receptacles for reaction vessels. These receptacles can be designed as depressions in a surface of the tempering block. The reaction vessels can be designed as receptacles formed in a microtiter plate, for example, in the form of microwells. The microwells can be formed, for example, as recesses of the microtiter plate, which can engage in corresponding receptacles in the tempering block when the microtiter plate is placed on the tempering block. However, there are also microtiter plates, for example, the so-called 1536 microtiter plates, in which the reaction vessels are formed by a honeycomb structure on a planar base surface. To control the temperature of samples present in such microtiter plates, a tempering block having a planar surface is used, which on the rear bears against the base surface of the microtiter plate when the microtiter plate is placed on the tempering block. Thermocyclers exist which are designed to press reaction vessels by way of a cover in firm thermal contact with the tempering block. For this purpose, a pressing force must be applied against the cover. For in-situ PCR or hybridization, specimen slides are known, in which the sample is applied to a surface region surrounded by a respective enclosure. Such samples applied to specimen slides can likewise be thermally treated in thermocyclers.
A generic automatically actuatable thermocycler device is known from EP 1 013 342 A2. The thermocycler described therein includes a base unit in which a receiving region with a tempering block for receiving one or more reaction vessels open at the top is present. Further, the thermocycler device includes a cover connected to the base unit via a hinge joint. The cover can be pivoted about the hinge joint, in particular, by means of a motor, so as to open and re-close the receiving region. Spring elements are arranged on the thermocycler device such that the cover and the reaction vessel or reaction vessels can be pressed against one another, and the reaction vessels are closed off directly by the cover. So as to achieve an increased pressing force of the cover against the reaction vessels, the device moreover includes an additional electrochemical linear motor which is arranged such that, once the cover has been fixed on the base unit, the cover and the reaction vessels can be pressed against each other.
The disadvantage here is, on the one hand, that two different motors are required for opening and closing the cover and for exerting a pressing force of the cover against the reaction vessels. On the other hand, shearing forces, that is forces having a horizontal force component, are exerted on the reaction vessels by the pivoting movement of the cover about the hinge joint. This can have a disadvantageous effect, for example, if a microtiter plate comprising the reaction vessels is closed and sealed by a sealing mat which is pressed between the cover and the microtiter plate. Due to the horizontal force component, the sealing mat may become undulated, bunched or displaced, in particular in the edge region, causing the reaction vessels present there to be inadequately sealed. A further disadvantage of the device described in EP 1 013 342 A2 is the relatively extensive space requirement in terms of height when the cover is being opened or closed.
EP 0 955 097 B1 discloses a thermocycler including a cover that can be closed automatically and likewise includes a base unit with a receiving region for reaction vessels containing a tempering block. The cover is coupled via pressure springs to a plate-shaped heating element, hereafter referred to as a heating plate. The cover, together with the heating plate, can be moved between a first position, in which the cover seals the receiving region and the heating plate covers the reaction vessels, and a second position, in which the cover leaves the receiving region open, or in which the heating plate does not cover the reaction vessels, by means of a cover carrier. The cover carrier is used to displace the cover along a first path segment extending parallel to the surface of the tempering block, at a predetermined distance from the tempering block, toward a stop until the cover abuts against the stop. In this position, the cover and the heating plate are aligned parallel to and vertically spaced from the heating block. By further displacing the cover carrier, the cover is moved downwardly along a second path segment until it exerts a predetermined pressure on the reaction vessels. For this purpose, the cover is guided in guide slots in opposite plates attached to the cover carrier such that the horizontal movement of the cover carrier causes a downward movement of the cover toward the reaction vessels. The pressure with which the heating plate bears against the reaction vessels when the end position of the cover is reached is determined by the shape and the course of the guide slots and by the pressure springs which press the heating plate coupled to the cover against the reaction vessel. The pressure which the heating plate exerts on the reaction vessel is thus not variable or specially adaptable to the type of reaction vessels used. Since the cover is displaced relative to the tempering block by a displacement in the horizontal direction so as to open or close the receiving region, the entire device takes up a comparatively large amount of space, in particular a large surface area on a support. This is disadvantageous with respect to efficient use of work surfaces in laboratories.

Apparatus for the thermal treatment of samples


A capacitive sensor including a first electrode that has at least one conducting surface being disposed for receiving an alternating current signal, and a second electrode that has at least one conducting surface being disposed to generate an input signal for a detecting device. The sensor further includes a middle electrode that has at least one conducting surface placed between the first electrode and the second electrode, as well as being grounded to a ground. The at least one conducting surface of the middle electrode, the at least one conducting surface of the first electrode, and the at least one conducting surface of the second electrode are contained within a holding material holding within itself the first electrode, the second electrode and the middle electrode.

This invention relates to sensors, and more particularly, to capacitive proximity sensors.
Capacitive sensors using a single plate capacitive proximity detector are known. The publication entitled: Capacitive Sensors-Design and Applications (ISBN#0-7803-5351-X) by Larry K. Baxter, 1st ed. (IEEE, Piscataway, N.J., 1997) describes one known capacitive proximity sensing system. Typically, a balance is achieved such that the system is stable. The balance is disrupted, for example, when a third object projects itself into the system, thereby altering a previous capacitance. The net result is a disruption of the balance. The balance can be achieved by using a bridge circuit with the proximity detecting capacitor in one arm of the bridge and a second capacitor, that has been adjusted to null the output of the bridge, in the other arm. Alternatively, the system can consist of two virtually identical oscillators that are independent of each other. Each of the two identical oscillators generates a signal with a frequency, dependent on a capacitance, that is virtually identical to the other oscillator. Thus, when one capacitance is changed, the balance between the two frequencies is disrupted and the disruption can be measured, for example, by way of an electronic device.
To understand the instant invention, some related background is necessary. Capacitance is the linear coefficient that relates the charge induced on one electrode to the potential applied to a different electrode. There is also self-capacitance that relates to the charge on an electrode to its own potential. For example, consider a situation with N electrodes, all electrically isolated from one another. Electrode i has charge Qi and potential Vi. The charge on electrode i can be expressed as:                               Q          i                =                              ∑                          j              =              1                        N                                          xe2x80x83                                                        C              ji                                                                  V                                  j                                                        xe2x80x83                                                              .                                                          (        1        )
Here, Cji is the capacitance of electrode i with respect to electrode j. Given the geometry, the capacitance can be calculated. In electrostatics it is known that for any geometry, Cji=Cij.
One embodiment of the invention is a capacitive sensor which includes a first electrode that has at least one conducting surface being disposed for receiving an alternating current signal, and a second electrode that has at least one conducting surface being disposed to generate an input signal for a detecting device. The sensor further includes a middle electrode that has at least one conducting surface placed between the first electrode and the second electrode, as well as being grounded to a ground. The at least one conducting surface of the middle electrode, the at least one conducting surface of the first electrode, and the at least one conducting surface of the second electrode being contained within a dielectric material holding within itself the first electrode, the second electrode and the middle electrode.
Another embodiment of the invention is a capacitive proximity sensing system which includes a first electrode that has at least one conducting surface being disposed for receiving an alternating current signal, and a second electrode that has at least one conducting surface being disposed to generate an input signal. The sensing system further includes a middle electrode that has at least one conducting surface placed between the first electrode and the second electrode, as well as being grounded to a ground. The at least one conducting surface of the middle electrode, the at least one conducting surface of the first electrode, and the at least one conducting surface of the second electrode being contained within a dielectric material holding within itself the first electrode, the second electrode and the middle electrode. The sensing system also includes an oscillator coupled to the first electrode generating the alternating current signal, and a detector that receives the input signal. An output of the detector is representative of the capacitance between the first electrode and the second electrode. Other detection methods known in the art may be used in place of the synchronous detector, such as envelope detection.


The present invention provides a composition for sheet using a biomass, an eco-friendly composite sheet, and fabrication method thereof, where the sheet comprising the composition according to the present invention has eco-friendly characteristics, that is, being recyclable and not harmful to the human body. Further, the sheet according to the present invention is excellent in elongation and hardness and also has good scratch resistance.

Most of the sheets currently available are made of a thermoplastic resin material using PVC as a base material. PVC, a thermoplastic resin, uses a large amount of plasticizer in order to secure ductility. Phthalate compounds, which are most widely used as the plasticizer, tend to give off endocrine disruptor that are carcinogens, while in use or disuse. Thus, the fact is that many countries all over the world have regulations on the use of the phthalate compounds. The phthalate compounds are a kind of "endocrine disruptor" that may interfere with the body's endocrine system in human and other mammals. The phthalate compounds are hazardous substances that are reported to have such toxicity as comparable to cadmium, have adverse effects on the liver, kidneys, heart, lungs, etc. as demonstrated by the results of the animal experiments and do harms to genital organs, causing female infertility and reducing sperm production, and so on.
On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 2B, Korean Patent Publication No. 1020110134987 discloses a bio-composite material "A" prepared by adding and mixing an organic natural powder, such as of jute, hemp, flax, bamboo, Cannabinaceae, sisal, rice straw, rice chaff, wood flour, green tea, etc. to a biodegradable resin "B", a petroleum-based resin, or the like and then performing an extrusion or injection molding process.
Accordingly, the inventor of the present invention completes a composition for sheet using a biomass that complies with low-carbon and eco-friendly policies and reduces the production cost by using a biomass.

Composition for sheet using biomass, eco-friendly composite sheet, and fabrication method for thereof


According to some embodiments, a network layer header of a network packet is received, metadata associated with the network packet is received, a header offset associated with the network packet is determined based on the metadata, and the network layer header is stored in an aligned cache based on the header offset.

Conventional communication networks allow network devices to exchange packets of information, or network packets, with one another. For example, one personal computer connected to a network may transmit packets to another personal computer that is also connected to the network. Certain types of network devices are used to facilitate the exchange of network packets between other network devices. A network switch or router may receive streams of network packets from other network devices, such as personal computers and handheld devices, process the packets, and forward the packets to appropriate other network devices, including other network switches or routers. The network packets may be received and forwarded by several network devices until they reach an appropriate destination.
A network packet may include actual data intended for transmission and data appended thereto for network purposes. The former type of data will be referred to herein as "data" and the latter type will be referred to as "header information". Such header information may include, among other information, a source address, a destination address, a source port and a destination port. A network packet may be processed and forwarded based on its header information.
According to some environments, distinct portions of header information are associated with each of the link, network, transport and application layers of a seven-layer ISO OSI protocol stack. In this regard, header information for each layer is successively appended to a packet's data before it is transmitted. Each successively-appended portion of header information may be considered a separate header. Header information of a network packet may therefore be seen to include a link layer header, a network layer header, etc.
FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional network packet as stored in a memory upon receipt by a network device. The FIG. 1 packet includes a link layer header and a network layer header appended to the packet's data. As shown, the link layer is a point-to-point protocol (PPP) layer and the network layer is an Internet Protocol (IP) layer. The represented packet is therefore a "IP over PPP" packet. FIG. 2 also illustrates a received and stored network packet. The FIG. 2 packet is an "IP over Ethernet" packet. As such, the associated data link layer is IP and the associated network layer is Ethernet.
According to some systems, the minimum burst size for accessing the FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 memory is eight bytes. Consequently, the memory is accessible on a quad word (64 bit) boundary. Neither the FIG. 1 nor the FIG. 2 network layer headers are aligned with a quad word boundary. Rather, the FIG. 1 network layer header is offset from a quad word boundary (0x2000) by two bytes and the FIG. 2 network layer is offset from a quad word boundary (0x2008) by six bytes.
A conventional system may include several processing units for processing a network layer header of a received packet. However, each of these units must somehow extract and align the network layer header with an accessible memory boundary before processing the network layer header. Each unit must also unalign the header after completion of its processing.


A method and system are provided for generating code from a graphical model in a graphical modeling environment. The graphical model includes at least one signal having a data size, a data dimensionality, or both that can vary from a first time instance to a second time instance as the model executes. The size and dimensionality of the signal can vary without the use of a graphically rendered connection to convey the size and dimension information to a block associated with the signal.

Various classes of graphical models describe computations that can be performed on computational hardware, such as a computer, microcontroller, FPGA, and custom hardware. Classes of such graphical models include time-based block diagrams such as those found within Simulink® from The MathWorks, Inc. of Natick, Mass., state-based and flow diagrams, such as those found within Stateflow® from The MathWorks, Inc. of Natick, Mass., data-flow diagrams, circuit diagrams, and software diagrams, such as those found in the Unified Modeling Language. A common characteristic among these various forms of graphical models is that they define semantics on how to execute the diagram.
Historically, engineers and scientists have utilized graphical models in numerous scientific areas such as Feedback Control Theory and Signal Processing to study, design, debug, and refine dynamic systems. Dynamic systems, which are characterized by the fact that their behaviors change over time, or the fact that their states change or the fact that their behaviors change due to a system environment, are representative of many real-world systems. Graphical modeling has become particularly attractive over the last few years with the advent of software packages such as Simulink® from The MathWorks, Inc. of Natick, Mass. Such packages provide sophisticated software platforms with a rich suite of support tools that makes the analysis and design of dynamic systems efficient, methodical, and cost-effective.
A dynamic system, either natural or man-made, is a system whose response at any given time is a function of its input stimuli, its current state, the current time, and other input parameters. Such systems range from simple to highly complex systems. Physical dynamic systems include a falling body, the rotation of the earth, bio-mechanical systems (muscles, joints, etc.), bio-chemical systems (gene expression, protein pathways), weather and climate pattern systems, etc. Examples of man-made or engineered dynamic systems include: a bouncing ball, a spring with a mass tied on an end, automobiles, airplanes, control systems in major appliances, communication networks, audio signal processing, nuclear reactors, a stock market, etc.
Professionals from diverse areas such as engineering, science, education, and economics build graphical models of dynamic systems in order to better understand system behavior as it changes with the progression of time. The graphical models aid in building "better" systems, where "better" may be defined in terms of a variety of performance measures such as quality, time-to-market, cost, speed, size, power consumption, robustness, etc. The graphical models also aid in analyzing, debugging and repairing existing systems (be it the human body or the anti-lock braking system in a car). The models may also serve an educational purpose of educating others on the basic principles governing physical systems. The models and results are often used as a scientific communication medium between humans. The term "model-based design" is used to refer to the use of graphical models in the development, analysis, and validation of dynamic systems.
Graphical modeling environments such as Simulink®, assist in simplifying the process of designing, simulating, and implementing dynamic systems. A graphical model is a representation of a real-world system through a graph containing nodes (i.e. blocks) interconnected by arcs (i.e. lines). Blocks are functional entities that perform mathematical operations, transformations or both on the data and information being processed by the system. The lines, often referred to as signals in the art, represent streams of information, such as data, data types, timing information, and control information, flowing into, out of, and between various blocks. Signals in current graphical model environments have a number of attributes, such as data dimensions (i.e., signal dimensionality) and data type amongst other attributes. Signal data can be organized into a one-dimensional data structure for example, a vector or can be organized into a two-dimensional data structure, for example, a matrix, or can be organized into a three-dimensional or four-dimensional data structure.
As a model in a graphical modeling environment executes, signal dimensionality must be known so that signals can be properly processed within each block. If signal dimensionality is allowed to vary while the model executes, the time varying information regarding signal dimensions must somehow propagate along with the signal values. Using existing technology, the signal dimensions can propagate explicitly through additional lines in the model. The present invention is concerned with systems and methods that allow signal dimensionality to propagate implicitly.
For implicit propagation, there is no need for the user to provide explicit means in the model to handle the ongoing propagation of signal dimensions. Each block is able to query somehow for its signal dimensions at each time instant. In this case of implicit signal dimension propagation, each signal with variable dimensions has a mechanism by which each block connected to that signal has a way to get and/or set that signal's dimensionality at each time instant. For example, each block reading a variable sized signal on an input port needs a way to get that signal's dimensionality. Similarly, blocks that write to a dynamic sized signal on their output need a set method for the signal's dimensions. This "dimensionality attribute" does not require a line of its own and need not appear as a signal in any way in the model. This is not to say that it would be impossible for the user to have some kind of visible affordance related to a dynamically sized signal; it is just not a requirement that this dimensionality information be explicit in the model.
Moreover, the time varying nature of a signal's variable data dimensionality implies that memory requirements for input and output buffers associated with blocks that operate on such signals might increase, decrease, or both, as the model executes. To accommodate a signal's variable data dimensionality it is often the case that a worst case memory allocation occurs before the model begins execution so that memory sufficient for each signal's maximum data size is pre-allocated. Alternatively, an engine and code generated from the model can provide for run-time dynamic memory allocation to accommodate the memory requirements of a signal as its size varies during execution of the model. As an example of dynamic memory allocation, container objects from a C++ Standard Template library can be used as signals in a graphical modeling environment. These objects have dynamic memory allocation built into them.
In graphical models with dynamically sized signals using a worst case memory allocation scheme, the actual size of the signal buffers remains fixed and the entire structure is filed with relevant data and irrelevant data. The relevant data being the data on which a block is to carry out an operation on. The remainder of the data is ignored by blocks that use that buffer.
Graphical modeling environments, such as the technical computing environment of MATLAB® from the MathWorks, Inc. of Natick, Mass., can provide a "model-based design" approach to designing an implementation. The term "model-based design" is used to refer to a graphical model acting as a design. A model-based design may be used as a design specification for an implementation, such as an implementation of an algorithm in hardware circuitry or the implementation of code to run on a computer. A graphical block diagram modeling environment can produce designs in graphical block diagram form to specify computations that can be performed on computational hardware such as a general purpose processor, microcontroller, DSP, FPGA, PLD, or ASIC. That is, a model-based design is well suited for use as a design specification, for the model-based design can drive the building process of an implementation of the design. For instance, the model-based design can act as a specification from which to automatically generate code from a graphical model in a graphical modeling environment.
Although a graphical modeling environment, such as Simulink® from the MathWorks, Inc. of Natick, Mass., provides graphical block diagram models for the design and code of the computations to execute on computational hardware, the graphical block diagram model design does not provide for the design of the implementation of a model having one or more signals with dynamic dimensioning without using graphical connections in the model to convey the dimension information. The many applications that can benefit from dynamically sized signals are more conveniently modeled if the dynamic sizes did not have to be explicitly handled by the person building the model.

Generation of code from a graphical model


Systems and methods for validating data in a communication network environment include receiving a data transformation specification from a user. The data transformation specification is analyzed to determine data transformation rules which are indicative of a relationship between corresponding fields of the source repository and the target repository. Test cases and test scripts are generated based on the data transformation rules and the test cases and the test scripts are executed on the source repository and the target repository to validate the relationship between the corresponding fields of the source repository and the target repository. Thereafter, a log file, indicative of the outcome of the execution of the test cases and the test scripts, is generated.

In recent time, most of the organizations use various systems and methods to manage their day to day working. Examples of such software tools may include enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, customer relationship management (CRM) systems, and supply chain management (SCM) systems. Each of these software tools is associated with various data repositories and has its own respective data model. Examples of data stored in the data repositories include customer data, transaction data, business research data, and so on.
It is well known, by those skilled in the art, that each of the software tools may use, retrieve and store the data in different formats. Further, in an organization, the various software tools, configured to manage the day to day working of the organization, are often interlinked. This makes it important that the data used and stored by each of these software tools are accurate, updated and consistent.
However, with time, various changes take place in the organization which may involve installation of new applications, re-platforming of applications, migration of data repositories from one vendor to a different vendor and so on. In many situations, this involves migrating the data from an existing data repository to a new data repository.
During this migration, many errors, such as system field limitations, mergers and migrations, data repository migrations, inconsistent standards, discrepancies in data format, difference in structure of data repositories, missing data, data fields filled with default values or nulls, spelling errors and data anomalies, may creep in and degrade the quality of data. This adversely affects the functioning of the new application or re-platformed application or the new data repository. Erroneous data transformation may adversely impact the functioning of the organization. For example the organization having erroneous data transformation processes may suffer from losses arising from extra costs to prepare reconciliations, delay or scrapping migration to a new application or new data repository, failure to bill or collect receivables, inability to deliver orders, failure to meet contracts and so on. The erroneous data can also lead to incompetent future decisions of enterprise and has the potential to negatively impact the growth of the enterprise.


There is proposed a seal for a retractable spout of a container, comprising a flexible generally elongate tubular body including a first annular end and an opposite second annular end. The first annular end of the seal is fixedly held circumferentially around or adjacent, an opening in the container through which the spout is configured to extend to thereby inhibit movement of a flowable substance out between an outer surface of said spout and an edge of said opening. The second annular end of the seal engaging with and extending outwardly from a lower or inner end of said spout. In this way when the spout is in a retracted position the second annular end bears against a bearing surface of the container to thereby inhibit movement of said flowable substance out through said spout.

There are various types of dispensing containers currently on the market that include a sealable spout. A popular use of such dispensing containers is for drink bottles configured to hold water or other fluids.
A simply type of spout used for drinking bottles has a push-pull configuration, wherein when the spout is physically pulled into an extended arrangement a passageway is opened to allow movement of the fluid therethrough. One example of such as spout is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 8,701,906 to Blast Max LLC., that has a push-pull, flow-through drinking spout including upper and lower seals.
Another drink bottle is disclosed in US 20110198361 (Chen), which teaches a bottle cap with a pivotal spout that is configured to be positioned at an obtuse angle for drinking and stored vertically in a crevice, flush against one side of a loop handle when not in use. These types of bottles primarily rely upon the misaligned of channels to inhibit the flow of the fluid therethrough and often include a flexible abutment surface or button seal.
All the above types of seals however tend to wear over time, which may result in leakage of the fluid.
Other drink bottle manufactures use bite-actuated mouthpieces that allow passage of a fluid when a user bites onto the spout. One such spout is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,533,783 to Camelbak Products, LLC., that teaches a drink bottle include a bite-actuated dispensing spout that is pivotally coupled to the cap of the drink bottle.
Such bite-actuated mouthpieces however have a tendency to suffer from mechanical damage during use, which may lead to leakage or failure of the seal.
The present invention will be described with particular reference to a fluid, such as water, however the reader should appreciate that the seal could be used with respect to containers for holding any type of flowable material including, but not limited to, granular material, such as salt, spices or sugar.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a seal for a retractable spout. It is another object of the present invention to overcome at least some of the aforementioned problems or at least provide the public with a useful alternative.
It should be appreciated that any discussion of the prior art throughout the specification is included solely for the purpose of providing a context for the present invention and should in no way be considered as an admission that such prior art was widely known or formed part of the common general knowledge in the field as it existed before the priority date of the application.


A head feeding mechanism which includes a screw shaft adapted to rotate in the normal and reverse directions using a motor as a drive source, a nut member engaged with the screw shaft, and a spring member connected to a head and adapted to elastically press the nut member against the screw shaft and which causes the head to reciprocate in the thrust direction of the screw shaft through the intermediation of the nut member through rotation of the screw shaft. The nut member has a substantially cylindrical female screw engaged with a male screw of the screw shaft, and the nut member is elastically biased in both the radial direction and the thrust direction of the screw shaft by the spring member. In this construction, if the elastic biasing force in the radial direction of the spring member holding the nut member in pressing contact with the screw shaft is set small, the female screw of the nut member does not move over the male screw of the screw shaft, so that a small torque suffices for the motor rotating the screw shaft, which is effective in achieving a reduction in the size of the motor and the entire head feeding mechanism including the motor. Further, the thrust play of the nut member due to backlash is removed, making it possible to prevent a malfunction attributable to external vibration, such as a dropout.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a feeding mechanism for feeding an optical pickup, a magnetic head or the like in the radial direction of a disk and, in particular, to a head feeding mechanism suitable for achieving a reduction in size.
2. Description of the Related Art
When recording on and/or reproducing information from a disk such as a CD (compact disk), an MD (mini disk), an FD (floppy disk) or the like by using an optical pickup, a magnetic head or the like, it is necessary to feed the optical pickup, the magnetic head or the like in the radial direction of the disk. FIG. 6 shows a conventionally known head feeding mechanism.
In FIG. 6, numeral 1 indicates a carriage for an optical pickup (head) P including an objective lens 2, the carriage 1 being arranged between a guide shaft 3 and a screw shaft 4. The guide shaft 3 and the screw shaft 4 are arranged parallel and opposed to each other, and the screw shaft 4 is rotated in the normal and reverse directions by a thread motor M. On either side surface of the carriage, there protrude receiving portions 1a and 1b. One receiving portion 1a abuts the peripheral surface of the guide shaft 3, and the other receiving portions 1b are engaged by the screw shaft 4. Further, a plate spring 5 is fastened to the carriage 1 by a screw, and this plate spring 5 extends in a direction perpendicular to the axis of the screw shaft 4. A half nut 6 formed of synthetic resin and having a U-shaped cross-sectional shape is mounted to the forward end of the plate spring 5, and a female screw formed in the semi-cylindrical inner peripheral surface of the half nut 6 is held in pressing contact with the male screw of the screw shaft 4 and in mesh therewith due to the elastic force of the plate spring 5.
In the optical pickup feeding mechanism, generally constructed as described above, when the screw shaft 4 is rotated by the thread motor M in either the normal or the reverse direction, the torque is converted to a linear movement by the half nut 6, and transmitted to the carriage 1, so that the carriage 1, supporting the half nut 6 through the intermediation of the plate spring 5, moves in the axial direction of the guide shaft 3 and the screw shaft 4, whereby the entire optical pickup P is fed in the radial direction (to the inner or outer periphery) of the disk (not shown) to perform recording on and/or reproduction of information from the disk.
In the conventional technique described above, the female screw formed in the semi-cylindrical inner peripheral surface of the half nut 6 is held in pressing contact with the male screw of the screw shaft 4 due to the elastic force of the plate spring 5, whereby the torque of the screw shaft 4 is converted to a linear movement by the half nut 6 and transmitted to the carriage 1. Thus, the elastic biasing force of the plate spring 5 must be set to be larger than a certain level to ensure the engagement of the screw shaft 4 with the half nut 6. Thus, a relatively large torque is also required of the thread motor M, which is the drive source for the screw shaft 4.
Recently, there is a trend for in-car or portable CD players, MD players, floppy disk apparatuses and the like to be reduced in size. As a result, there is a demand for reducing the size of the thread motor, screw shaft, etc. used in the head feeding mechanism for the optical pickup, the magnetic head or the like. However, when a reduction in the size of the thread motor and the screw shaft is thus promoted, the torque of the thread motor is reduced, so that it is necessary to set the elastic biasing force of the plate spring, which holds the half nut in pressing contact with the screw shaft, to be small. Further, when the diameter of the screw shaft is reduced, the difference between the outer diameter and root diameter of the male screw formed on the outer peripheral surface of the screw shaft is reduced, and the difference between the inner diameter and root diameter of the female screw of the half nut is also inevitably reduced. For this reason, in the above-described conventional technique, when the size of the optical pickup feeding mechanism is reduced, it can happen that the female screw of the half nut moves over the male screw of the screw shaft due to vibration or the like transmitted from the exterior of the device. Or, due to the backlash required between the screws of the half nut and the screw shaft, the half nut is liable to move in the thrust direction of the screw shaft, resulting in a malfunction such as a dropout.
According to the present invention, there is provided a head feeding mechanism which includes a screw shaft adapted to rotate in the normal and reverse directions using a motor as a drive source, a nut member engaged with the screw shaft, and a spring member connected to a head and adapted to elastically press the nut member against the screw shaft and which causes the head to reciprocate in the thrust direction of the screw shaft through the intermediation of the nut member through rotation of the screw shaft, wherein the nut member has a substantially cylindrical female screw engaged with a male screw of the screw shaft, and wherein the nut member is elastically biased in both the radial direction and the thrust direction of the screw shaft by the spring member.
In this construction, if the elastic biasing force in the radial direction of the spring member, which holds the nut member in pressing contact with the screw shaft, is set to be small, there is no fear of the female screw of the nut member moving over the male screw of the screw shaft, so that a small torque suffices for the motor which rotates the screw shaft, which is effective in reducing the size of the motor and of the entire head feeding mechanism including this motor. Further, since the nut member is biased in the thrust direction of the screw shaft by the spring member, the thrust play of the nut member attributable to backlash is removed, and it is possible to prevent a malfunction such as a dropout from being generated by external vibration.
In the above-described construction, it is desirable to form on the spring member a joint portion to be held in pressing contact with the side surface of the nut member and an engagement portion to be engaged with the male screw of the screw shaft, and to elastically bias the nut member in the thrust direction of the screw shaft by the elastic force between the joint portion and the engagement portion. This makes it possible to reliably impart a biasing force in the thrust direction to the nut member with a simple construction.
In this case, it is desirable to provide the spring member with a first elastic arm extending to the screw shaft side using the head side as a stationary end, and a second elastic arm extending from the first elastic arm in the thrust direction of the screw shaft, and to form the joint portion on the free end side of the first elastic arm and form the engagement portion on the free end side of the second elastic arm. In this construction, it is possible to secure the requisite spring length of each of the first and second elastic arms, so that the elastic force which biases the nut member in the radial direction and the thrust direction of the screw shaft is easy to adjust, and it is possible to reduce variation in the elastic biasing force in each direction.


Provided is a display apparatus. A stand type of the display apparatus may be converted into a tilt type or a flip type as necessary.

The present disclosure relates to a display apparatus.
As an information-oriented society develops, needs for diverse forms of display apparatuses are increasing. Accordingly, research has been carried out on various display apparatuses such as liquid crystal display devices (LCDs), plasma display panels (PDPs), electro luminescent displays (ELDs), vacuum fluorescent displays (VFDs), and organic light emitting diode modules (OLEDs), which have been commercialized. The display apparatus has a function in which image and sound signals are received from other devices to output the received signals through a display module and a speaker.
The display apparatus may be used in various forms according to consumer's taste or need. For example, a user may use the display apparatus in a state where it is mounted on a floor or predetermined furniture such as a table. Also, the user may use the display apparatus in a state where it is hung on a well.
In case where the display apparatus is mounted on the floor or predetermined furniture, the display apparatus may be largely classified into two types. One is a tilt stand type in which a base contacts a floor with a wide area and a main body of the display apparatus is mounted on the base. The other one is a flip stand type in which a main body directly contacts a floor and is supported on the back.


A telephone system which offers a voice message service and which enables visual indication of waiting messages at subscriber locations using suppressed ringing connections through the switching network of the system.

This invention relates to telephone systems and, in particular, to telephone systems which offer voice message services for their subscribers.
Many telephone systems now include voice message services which can be subscribed to by the telephone subscriber locations served by the system. In these telephone systems, a voice message system can be accessed via the central office switch serving the subscriber locations. Communication between the switch and the subscriber locations is over analog or digital lines to the subscriber locations. These lines may be connected by direct metallic path to the switch or through subscriber loop carriers.
For subscriber locations utilizing the voice message service, the voice message system acts to record unanswered calls to the locations. These calls can then be accessed later by the subscriber locations. The voice message system communicates with the central office switch over so-called "simplified message desk interface" links. Via these links, the voice message system transmits message waiting indicator requests and message completion requests to the switch.
The message waiting indicator requests identify the telephone numbers of the subscriber locations having recorded messages at the voice message system. These requests instruct the switch to send stutter dial tone to the subscriber locations when the subscriber locations go off-hook. The stutter dial tone provides an audible indication that a voice message is waiting.
A subscriber location can then access the voice message system over its established voice path and any waiting message can be transmitted by the voice message system to the subscriber location. After the subscriber accesses the voice message system, the voice message system sends a completion request to the switch, instructing it to discontinue sending stutter dial tone and to now send normal dial tone to the subscriber location when it goes off-hook.
As can be appreciated, in the above telephone system, the necessity for the subscriber location to go off-hook in order to be made aware of waiting messages requires frequent monitoring the subscriber location. This limits the attractiveness of the voice message service as compared to other voice message system, such as, for example, answering machines, which include visual indicators, e.g., lamps, which provide a ready visual indication that a message is waiting.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a telephone system and method of the above-type in which a visual indication that there are voice messages waiting on a voice message system can be established at a subscriber location
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a telephone system and method of the above-type in which a visual indication that there are voice messages waiting on a voice message system can be established using existing systems and with a minimal disturbance at the subscriber location.

Visual message waiting indication in a telephone voice message system


A biosafety cabinet includes one or more air filters below the work surface and a system for holding, sealing, replacing and disposing the air filters through the work access opening of the biosafety cabinet. The air filters under the work surface of the biosafety cabinet capture particulates entering the cabinet from the exterior environment and the particulates within the cabinet's work chamber. Instead of a mechanical clamp, the perimeter of the air filters are sealed using a gasket and a tape, eliminating the accumulation of the contaminants around mechanical clamps. The air filters may be accessed through the work access opening of the biosafety cabinet, packaged for disposal and removed from the biosafety cabinet without being exposed to the exterior environment. A filter cover with an adhesive surface is used to cover and lift the used, contaminated air filter within the biosafety cabinet.

A biosafety cabinet is a ventilated cabinet that uses a variety of combinations of air filters, unidirectional air flow, and containment to provide personnel, product, and cross contamination against particulates or aerosols from bio-hazardous agents. Conventional biosafety cabinets include one or more High Efficiency Particulate Arresting (HEPA) filters, although other types of air filters may be used as well. A HEPA filter is a type of air filter that can remove at least 99.97% of airborne particles down to 0.3 micrometers (μm) in diameter.
Typically, biosafety cabinets have an opening allowing the user to gain physical access to a working area, workspace, or chamber within the cabinet. The user can close off the opening using a door, a panel, or the like, which is done for purposes of conducting experiments or some process within the cabinet that would emit hazardous byproducts or germicidal (ultraviolet) light. The door may include a sliding view screen, may be replaced by a sliding view screen, or may be of some other variation known to those of ordinary skill in the art. For purposes of consistency, the term "door" is used throughout the application to refer to all such variations. The door, panel, or the like, is often made of glass or some other substantially transparent material, and can form all or a portion of a substantially transparent panel referred to as a sliding view screen.
The biosafety cabinets may include one or more air filters below the work surface to capture the contaminated particulates in the air leaving the workspace area but before the particulates reach other areas of the biosafety cabinet including the cabinet blower and positive pressure plenums inside the biosafety cabinet. The conventional biosafety cabinets required the use of mechanical clamps, hardware and extruded gasket to seal the air filters to the biological safety cabinet, making it hard to clean around the sealing material. To keep a safe clean-air-level inside the biosafety cabinet, the air filters need to be replaced at certain intervals. The filters are replaced when the cabinet air flows can no longer be set to within ±5% feet-per-minute (FPM) of the nominal set point by adjusting the speed control and/or balancing damper. The filters are also replaced if they are damaged.
With the conventional biosafety cabinets, when removing the air filter, it is necessary to remove an exterior panel to gain access to the air filter. Before any seal panels are removed, the cabinet should be decontaminated. The filters collect microorganisms and other potentially harmful particles generated in the work area during their lifetime, and maintenance personnel should not be exposed to these microorganisms. Clothing and/or breathing apparatus may be required during the filter change to reduce the hazard. It is advisable to seal the contaminated side of the filter by taping a plastic sheet or cardboard over the face before removal. This should minimize the number of particles shaken loose from the filter. Once removed, the filter should immediately be sealed in a chemical hazard bag and then disposed of safely in accordance with environmental regulations. After filter replacement has been completed, the cabinet and the room should be cleaned and decontaminated in a manner consistent with the nature of the hazardous material. The cleaning materials, along with the protective gear and clothing should be properly disposed.

Biosafety cabinets with air filters accessible through the work chamber


A restraint may include a longitudinal body having a first end and a second end. The restraint may also include a plurality of engagement features distributed between the first end and the second end. A dimension of at least one of the longitudinal body and the plurality of engagement features may vary along at least a portion of a length of the longitudinal body. The restraint may further include a head disposed at the first end of the longitudinal body. The head may define an aperture and may include a pawl that configured to individually engage the plurality of engagement features. The dimension may vary incrementally or continuously along at least the portion of the length of the longitudinal body from the first end to the second end.

An evacuation slide assembly may include an inflatable slide that helps passengers disembark from an aircraft in the event of an emergency or other evacuation event. The slides may deploy from a door sill or a side of the aircraft fuselage. Controlling the deployment dynamics of an evacuation slide is often an important consideration that may affect the safety, efficiency, and overall feasibility of an evacuation.


Customer premises weather station systems and methods are operable to present local weather information on a media presentation system display located at the customer premises. An exemplary embodiment detects at least one ambient weather condition using a detector located at a customer premises, determines occurrence of a degradation of at least one characteristic of an over the air (OTA) media content signal received by a receiving antenna located at the customer premises, and generates a report in response to the determined degradation of the OTA media content signal characteristic. The report is configured to be presented on a display to a customer. The report may indicate the at least one ambient weather condition.

Media devices may be configured to receive media content by receiving over the air (OTA) media content signals. An exemplary media device includes a set top box (STB) that is configured to receive a satellite signal. Another example is a television that is configured to receive local broadcast station television signals. Yet another example is a computer, cell phone, tablet PC, or other electronic consumer device that is configured to receive media content over a cellular system, a WiFi system, or other over the air type network.
At times, local weather at the customer premises may potentially interfere with reception of the OTA media content signal. However, the customer of the media device may not appreciate that local weather conditions are interfering with reception of the OTA media content signal. When poor signal reception interferes with the quality of the presented media content, the customer may call into a service center, a call center, or the like operated by the media service provider to inquire about the reason that their media device is not receiving, or is receiving with poor quality, the OTA media content signal. If the media customer service representative responding to the customer's service inquiry is unaware of the local weather conditions, trouble shooting the customer's device to determine the source of the reception problem may be relatively difficult. Accordingly, there is a need in the arts to provide improved information to ascertain the nature of OTA reception problems.

Apparatus, systems and methods for customer premises weather reporting at a media device


The present invention provides a cell matrix receptor specific for the Cys Ser Val Thr Cys Gly (SEQ ID NO: 1) region of thrombospondin. Also provided are purification, cloning and expression methods. Antibodies directed against the receptor protein are useful in numerous diagnostic, prophylactic and therapeutic areas.

The basement membrane is a ubiquitous, specialized type of extracellular matrix separating organ parenchymal cells from interstitial collagenous stroma. Interaction of cells with this matrix is an important aspect of both normal and neoplastic cellular processes. Normal cells appear to require an extracellular matrix for survival, proliferation and differentiation, while migratory cells, both normal and neoplastic, must traverse the basement membrane in moving from one tissue to another. In particular, metastatic cancer cells arising in squamous or glandular epithelium must traverse the basement membrane to enter the circulatory and lymphatic systems (intravasation); the circulating neoplastic cells are typically arrested in the capillary beds of an organ, invade the blood vessel walls, and penetrate the basement membrane to extravascular tissue (extravasation), where a secondary neoplasm is then established. The mechanisms of cellular interaction with the basement membrane are thus of great interest.
The interaction of cells with extracellular matrices is dependent upon the ability of the cells to attach themselves to the matrix; it is known that this attachment may be mediated by specific glycoproteins which typically bind cells to discrete collagen types present in the matrix. Fibronectin-mediated attachment of fibroblasts, myoblasts, and smooth muscle cells to interstitial type I and type III collagen, and chondronectin-mediated attachment of chondrocytes to type II cartilage collagen, are exemplary.
It has been found that the attachment of both normal and neoplastic cells to the basement membranes is similarly mediated. The primary constituents of the basement membrane are type IV collagen, glycoproteins and proteoglycans. The glycoprotein laminin mediates the attachment of both epithelial and neoplastic cells to the basement membrane, binding the cells to type IV collagen. Since, as previously noted, metastasizing tumor cells must traverse basement membranes at multiple stages in the metastatic process, and since the first step in this process is tumor cell attachment to the basement membrane, the elucidation of this mechanism and the corollary characterization of specific attachment factors which promote or inhibit tumor cell attachment to this membrane has important implications for cancer diagnosis and management.
A number of studies show that TSP can bind to multiple cell surface receptors on the same cell or bind to different receptors on different cells. For example, platelets can bind TSP through GPII.sub.b -IIIa, GPI.sub.a -II.sub.a (Karczewski et al., J. Biol. Chem. (1989) 264:21332-21326 and Tuszynski et al., J. Clin. Invest. (1991) 87:1387-1394), and the vitronectin-receptor (Tuszynski et al., Exp. Cell Res. (1989) 182:481). Smooth muscle cells, endothelial cells, U937 monocyte-like cells, and melanoma cells can bind TSP through a vitronectin-like receptor. Squamous cell carcinoma bind TSP through a Mr 80,000/105,000 that is not an integrin or GPIV (Yabkowitz et al., Cancer Res. (1991) SI:3648-3656).
Receptors for other extracellular matrix proteins have been isolated. Liotta et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 4,565,789) describe the isolation of a laminin receptor. Mecham et al. (J. Biol. Chem. (1989) 264:16652-7) describe an elastin receptor which exhibits structural and functional similarity to the 67 kd laminin receptor. CD36 has been implicated as binding the Cys Ser Val Thr Cys Gly (SEQ ID NO: 1) sequence of thrombospondin (Asch et al., Biochem. Biophys. Res. Comm. (1992) 182:1208-1217). However, CD36 is an 88 kd protein. The Cys Ser Val Thr Cys Gly (SEQ ID NO: 1)-specific receptor of the present invention is different from these previously isolated extracellular matrix protein receptors.

Cys-Ser-Val-Thr-Cys-Gly specific tumor cell adhesion receptor


The present invention relates to compositions and methods comprising genes and peptides associated with cyclic peptides and cyclic peptide production in mushrooms. In particular, the present invention relates to using genes and proteins from Galerina species encoding peptides specifically relating to amatoxins in addition to proteins involved with processing cyclic peptide toxins. In a preferred embodiment, the present invention also relates to methods for making small peptides and small cyclic peptides including peptides similar to amanitin. Further, the present inventions relate to providing kits for making small peptides.

More than 90% of human deaths resulting from mushroom poisoning are due to peptide toxins found in Amanita species of mushrooms, such as A. phalloides, A. bisporigera, A. ocreata, and A. virosa. Animals, especially dogs, are frequent victims of poisoning by Amanita mushrooms. Two dogs died after eating toxin containing mushrooms in Michigan, See Schneider: Mushroom in backyard kills curious puppy, Lansing State Journal, Sep. 30, 2008. Besides species in the genus Amanita, other genera of mushrooms make similar toxins, such as phallotoxins and amatoxins. These other genera include Galerina, Conocybe, and Lepiota. Poisonings due to Galerina species have occurred, see FIG. 31.
High concentrations of peptide toxins are found in the above ground mushroom portion (otherwise known as carpophores or fruiting bodies) of the toxin producing mushroom species. These toxins include two major families of compounds called amatoxins (for example, α-amanitin. FIG. 1A) and phallotoxins (for example, phalloidin, phallacidin, FIG. 1B). Both classes of compounds are bicyclic peptides with a Cys-Trp cross-bridge. In general, amatoxins are 8 amino acids in length while phallotoxins are 7 amino acids in length. Amatoxins are produced by Amanita and some Galerina species of mushrooms. Galerina species in general do not make phallotoxins. Amatoxins survive cooking and remain intact in the intestinal tract where they are absorbed into the body where large doses irreversibly damage the liver and other organs (Enjalbert et al., (2002) J. Toxicol. Clin. Toxicol. 40:715; herein incorporated by reference).
Amatoxins and phallotoxins are used extensively for experimental research. Amatoxins are a family of bicyclic peptides that inhibit RNA polymerase II while phallotoxins bind and stabilize F-actin. However Amanita species do not grow well in the laboratory and harvesting from wild sources limits availability of a natural source of these peptides.
Thus it would be useful to have methods for obtaining large quantities of bicyclic amatoxins in addition to custom designed bicyclic amatoxin and phallotoxin peptides using cultivatable mushrooms.

Use of galerina marginata genes and proteins for peptide production

Board of Trustees of Michigan State University


Removing attachments from sent e-mails, including: providing a selectable e-mail setting to delete attachments from copies of e-mails saved in a sent folder on an e-mail server, such that a user is provided with choices as to when attachments are to be deleted; the e-mail user selecting whether attachments are automatically deleted prior to saving sent e-mails or selecting a specific amount of time before the attachments are automatically deleted; the e-mail user composing an e-mail and attaching at least one attachment to the e-mail; sending the e-mail with the at least one attachment to at least one other user; saving a copy of the e-mail in the sent folder either (a) without saving any of the at least one attachment, or (b) with the at least one attachment, and then deleting the at least one attachment after the specific amount of time.

1. Field of the Invention
This disclosure is directed to a method for automatically removing attachments from sent e-mail.
2. Description of Related Art Including Information Submitted under 37 CFR 1.97 and 1.98
Malik (U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2006/0095527) discloses a method and apparatus for minimizing storage of common attachment files in an e-mail communication server. The Malik abstract states that the Malik "invention provides an e-mail communication system that minimizes the number of duplicate copies of common attachment files to e-mail communications that are stored in the mail store of an e-mail server . . . [and] attachment files are deleted only after the recipients of the associated e-mail communications delete each of the respective e-mails. See also the related patent to Malik (U.S. Pat. No. 7,003,551).
The abstract of Winjum et al. (U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2005/0102361) discloses attachments that "are configured to have a data field indicating if the attachment is to persist when a corresponding electronic message is deleted."
Tagg (U.S. Pat. No. 6,625,620) discloses a method "of creating a plurality of attachment databases to contain . . . attachments; and embedding an attachment engine within . . . applications for creating, deleting, and re-using said attachments in said plurality of attachment databases"(see the abstract of Tagg).

International Business Machines Corporation


The disclosed methods and systems can be used to install and configure a skin analysis device, for example. In one aspect, a system for installing a device onto a plane area is disclosed. The system comprises: an installation assistor comprising a reference mark for determining a position for installing the device; and a bracket for mounting the device. The bracket includes: at least one side substantially flat for affixing to the plane area; a sliding member extending from a side of the bracket that is opposite to the side for affixing to the plane area; and a raised member extending from the side of the bracket that is opposite to the side for affixing to the plane area, at a predetermined distance from the sliding member, wherein the raised member corresponds to a recessive portion of the device that is configured to lodge the raised member.

In conventional skin diagnosis, a professional skin analysis apparatus is often involved to obtain information of skin conditions. To provide a final diagnosis, however, not only does it require a highly-trained professional (typically a dermatologist) to operate the apparatus, but it also entails his or her professional judgment on the skin analysis results rendered by the apparatus. Then, according to the diagnosis, the professional can recommend skin care products or treatments to the patients. To the general public, the conventional skin analysis apparatus is not readily accessible to install or operate.