A quadri-filar helical antenna structure includes a cylindrical body having a relative dielectric constant greater than 4, and four radial metal plates on a distal end of the cylindrical body, and each radial metal plate is extended along the cylindrical body. The ends of every two adjacent radial metal plates are connected to form two antenna structures, and a circuit board is fixed. A ground surface is installed on one side of the circuit board and coupled to one of the antennas. An impedance matching circuit is installed on another side of the circuit board, and one end of the impedance matching circuit is coupled to another antenna. A feeder is installed at another end of the impedance matching circuit. Four radial metal plates having an electric length about odd multiples of a quarter of wavelength of the cylindrical body can receive satellite signals.

Traditionally, an antenna for receiving satellite signals is generally designed as a three-dimensional helical structure, which is a three-dimensional antenna having its radial metal plates extended in a helical course along a coaxial line to define a three-dimensional space. In Great Britain Pat. No. 2,258,776, a three-dimensional antenna structure is disclosed. In that patent, a plurality of radial metal plates is arranged around a coaxial line and extended in a helical course to define a three-dimensional multiple-filar helical antenna structure. Since such three-dimensional antenna has a better capability of receiving circularly polarized signals coming directly from above, therefore this kind of antenna is usually used for a global positioning system (GPS) to receive a coordinates positioning signal from a satellite group. Further, this kind of three-dimensional antenna is suitable to serve as an omni-directional antenna for receiving vertically and horizontally polarized signals. However, the shortcomings of this three-dimensional antenna resides on that its structure is not strong enough for certain applications, and corrections cannot be made easily without affecting its overall performance.
In view of the foregoing shortcomings of the multiple-filar helical antenna, many antennas for receiving satellite signals in poor weathers adopt a patch antenna instead. For example, the antenna installed at the outside of an airplane is a patch antenna which has a radial metal plate attached onto an insulator on an airplane. However, this kind of patch antenna only has a low gain when the airplane is rising at a small angle. To overcoming this drawback, antenna designers install a plurality of patch antennas onto different positions and at different angles of the body of an airplane, so that a feeder end of each patch antenna is connected to the same receiver to receive satellite signals. Since it takes a number of patch antennas to achieve this result and it is difficult to integrate all signals received by the patch antennas, therefore the cost becomes very high.
To solve the foregoing problem, U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,369,776, 6,424,316, and 6,552,693 by Leisten were disclosed, wherein these patents effectively reduce the size of traditional quadri-filar antennas and design a novel quadri-filar antenna structure. Referring to FIG. 1, the antenna has a cylindrical body 12 made of a ceramic material, and four antenna elements 10A, 10B, 10C, 10D disposed on a circumferential surface at an end proximate to the cylindrical body 12 and extended along its axial direction in a helical course, and each antenna element 10A, 10B, 10C, 10D is a metal sheet, and the cylindrical body 12 includes a penetrating hole 14 disposed along the axial direction of the center, and a metallic lining 16 is covered on the internal wall of the penetrating hole 14 and an insulator 17 is installed therein. The insulator 17 at its center installs an axial feeder conductor 18, and the axial feeder conductor 18 and the metallic lining 16 form a feeder structure, such that a feeder line of a signal receiver (not shown in the figure) can be connected to the antenna elements 10A, 10B, 10C, 10D through the feeder structure. The antenna structure further comprises a plurality of radial antenna elements 10AR, 10BR, 10CR, 10DR disposed on a distal surface of the cylindrical body 12, and each radial antenna element 10AR,10BR,10CR, 10DR is also a metal sheet coupled with the corresponding end of the antenna element 10A, 10B, 10C, 10D respectively, such that an end of the antenna element 10A, 10B, 10C, 10D is coupled to the feeder structure respectively, and a common grounding conductor 20 is disposed on the circumferential surface at the other end proximate to the cylindrical body 12, and the common grounding conductor 20 is embedded into the circumferential surface at the other end of the cylindrical body 12, and an end of the common grounding conductor 20 is coupled to another end of the antenna elements 10A, 10B, 10C, 10D, and the other end is extended to the other distal surface of the cylindrical body 12 to form a "Sleeve Balun" coupled to the metallic lining 16. Referring to FIG. 1 for the antenna structure, each antenna element 10A, 10B, 10C, 10D has a different length and a different shape, wherein the two antenna elements 10B, 10D are extended in a meandering course along the circumferential surface 12D of the cylindrical body 12 in a helical form. Therefore, its length is longer than the two antenna elements 10A, 10C in other linear courses extended in a helical course along the circumferential surface of the cylindrical body 12.
From the literature published by Leisten, the quadri-filar antenna uses a ceramic material with a high dielectric constant (εr=36) as a base, and the four antenna elements 10A, 10B, 10C, 10D have an electric length of half a coil and a half wavelength. Therefore, the size of traditional quadri-filar antennas can be reduced greatly. However, the manufacturing process is more complicated and has to go through the copper plating, exposure, etching and laser trimming processes. Particularly, the height of the Sleeve Balun must be controlled within several micrometers to eliminate unbalanced currents and thus greatly increasing the manufacturing hours, manpower and costs.
Further, manufacturers simplify the foregoing processes by Leisten's patented inventions by designing a coaxial cable precisely embedded into the penetrating hole 14. To meet the required impedance, a metal shielding layer of the metallic lining 16 on the coaxial cable is manufactured according to a particular specification. Therefore, a coaxial cable of a length of several centimeters costs about 3˜4 US dollars. Furthermore, for antennas of different specifications and requirements, it is necessary to redesign a different coaxial cable, and thus it is not easy to perform impedance matching and adjustment for antennas, and the manufacturing cost cannot be lowered effectively due to the expensive cost of the coaxial cable.

Coaxial cable free quadri-filar helical antenna structure


A centrifugal mill adapted for the continuous grinding of granulated material into fine powder is disclosed. At least one pair of grinding chambers is provided. The grinding chambers are rotated about their own axes one revolution in the opposite direction to the orbiting direction for each orbit and the orbiting radius is about 1.2 to about 4.0 times the grinding chamber radius. Under these conditions the grinding chambers do not rotate relative to the machine base so that communication with the grinding chamber and any surrounding jacket may be made through flexible hoses or tubes thereby avoiding the need for rotating seals. If desired, the grinding chamber may be subjected to atmospheres of controlled temperature, pressure and composition. As the grinding chamber atmosphere is isolated from the ambient atmosphere, contamination is avoided.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of grinding or comminution and dispersion and more particularly to the reduction of solid matter into fine particles.
The reduction of solid matter into fine particles is a necessary part of a number of industrial processes where the goal may be for a finely powdered material, a homogeneous mixture of finely powdered materials or dispersion of a finely powdered material or mixture of materials in a liquid phase. Paints may comprise a finely powdered pigment, such as titanium dioxide dispersed in an alkyd or latex system while inks may comprise a finely powdered brilliantly colored organic or inorganic pigment dispersed in oil or water vehicles. Ceramic materials comprise mixtures of finely ground silicates and aluminates. It has been found that the toughness and strength of the ultimate ceramic material is a function of the particle size to which the silicates and aluminates have been reduced.
Other examples occur in the field of powder metallurgy where it is important to reduce the metallic components to a very fine powder. In the food industry vegetable matter such as wheat, corn or rye is reduced to a fine powder to form flour, starch or a powder dispersion.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The primary crushing and grinding art is well developed but not of particular concern here where the object is to reduce granulated solid material to very fine powders. One of the oldest and simplest devices for fine grinding is the ball mill which normally comprises a cylindrical chamber which may be about 8 feet long and 4 feet in diameter and which is arranged to rotate about its axis. The axis of the cylinder is horizontal or slightly tilted and the chamber is filled about half full with steel or ceramic balls which may be, for example, about 3/16-3/8" in diameter. When the chamber is rotated at the proper speed, the balls cascade over one another to provide a grinding action between the balls and between the balls and the inside surface of the cylindrical chamber. Generally, the process is performed as a batch process over an extended period, such as 24 hours or more. While the ball mill is effective, it is relatively large and expensive and its throughput is slow so that the cost of the grinding process is relatively high.
The art has long endeavored to overcome certain of the deficiencies of the regular ball mill. One of these improvements is the so-called centrifugal or planetary mill in which the grinding chamber is orbited about an axis parallel to the axis of the grinding chamber. Wegmann U.S. Pat. No. 405,810 discloses an orbiting mill driven by planetary gears so as to produce centrifugal forces to aid in the grinding. While well adapted to a batch process the Wegmann device precludes direct attachment of input and output ducts. Another form of a centrifugal mill is disclosed in Pendleton U.S. Pat. No. 458,662. Due to the necessary supporting framework, the feed to the mill is required to pass through the machine axis by means of a rotating seal. A similar rotating seal feed is required by the Herzfeld U.S. Pat. No. 569,828 which discloses vertically oriented orbiting grinding chambers. West U.S. Pat. No. 1,144,272 describes a multiple grinding tube centrifugal mill having a planetary gear drive. Access to the grinding tubes is attained through doors 6 in the sides of the tubes thus permitting only a batch operating process. Eppers U.S. Pat. No. 1,951,823, like the Pendleton and Herzfeld patents noted above, discloses an axial feed with rotating seals for a centrifugal grinding mill.
Matthews U.S. Pat. No. 2,209,344 discloses a planetary rock crusher employing bars as the grinding media. Ore is fed into the mill at its axis and then circulated through the several planetary grinding chambers.
Shideler et al. U.S. Pat. No. 2,387,095 discloses a multiple tube centrifugal polishing or abrading machine equipped with a fixed eccentric to maintain the tubes in a fixed orientation relative to ground. The tubes are individually closed with stoppers to permit only a batch operation.
Limb U.S. Pat. No. 2,874,911 discloses a planetary centrifugal ball mill wherein the grinding chamber rotates more rapidly about its own axis then it does about its orbital axis, thereby limiting its operation to a batch process.
Joisel U.S. Pat. No. 2,937,814 discloses a planetary ball mill having two forms. The first form describes a discontinuous or batch process while the second form shows a continuous grinding process using rotary seals at the inlet and outlet. Separate motors are provided to drive the mixing chambers and to provide the orbital motion so that the relative speeds may be varied.
Matsunaga et al. U.S. Pat. No. 3,513,604 discloses a planetary polishing machine having a variable ratio of the orbital radius to the rotational radius so that the grinding chamber rotates relative to ground, thereby necessitating a batch process.
Wilkinson, Jr. U.S. Pat. No. 3,529,780 discloses a continuously fed planetary grinding mill having an intermittent discharge into a curved trough.
Bloch U.S. Pat. No. 3,876,160 discloses a centrifugal mill wherein the grinding chambers and orbital motion are separately controlled. Alternatively the grinding chamber axis may be parallel to the orbital axis, perpendicular to the orbital axis or varied respective to the radius of the planetary movement. However, in each alternative a batch operation is contemplated.
Freedman et al. U.S. Pat. No. 3,190,568 discloses a cell disintegrating apparatus for batch or continuous operation in which the disintegrating tube is rapidly oscillated in a direction perpendicular to its axis to shake and abrade cellular material.
Ohno U.S. Pat. No. 4,057,191 discloses a grinding mill having a grinding tube with one end mounted in a spherical bearing while the other end is moved in a circular path by a rotating crank so as to provide a hybrid form of a centrifugal mill.
German patent 260,777 (1913) discloses a planetary ball mill having a toroidally-shaped grinding chamber wherein the grinding chamber radius is significantly greater than the planetary or orbital motion radius. Both the feed and discharge are gravity controlled.
German patent 1,097,790 (1961) discloses a planetary crushing mill for granulated solid material suspended in a liquid wherein the rotation of the grinding chamber is independent of the planetary or orbital rotation thus requiring rotating seals at the inlet and outlet of the grinding chamber.
British patent 593,777 (1947) discloses a planetary grinding mill in which a spheroidal grinding chamber is orbited around a vertical axis and simultaneously oscillated about its own axis. The spheroidal grinding chamber is supported from one end in a pivoted bearing so that variations in the centrifugal force due to the quantity of material being ground can be used to control the feed rate to the grinding chamber.
Canadian patent 1,089,428 (1980) discloses a planetary grinding mill driven by a pair of eccentrics such that the orbiting radius is small compared with the grinding chamber radius so as to provide "a continuous operation in the sub-critical range at a high grinding rate per unit of volume of the grinding drum . . . " (page 1, 11. 22-23).
French patent 1,088,571 (1955) discloses a planetary grinding mill driven by pairs of counterbalanced cranks connected by a pair of crossarms to which one or more grinding chambers are affixed. As mechanical counterweights are utilized to balance each grinding chamber a dynamic balance would be difficult to attain.

Centrifugal grinding and mixing apparatus


Solid and liquid concrete waste is collected from a construction site and safely off-loaded at a treatment site. Solid waste is separated and sent to a crusher to be made into road bed aggregate. Liquid waste is put in a first tank to settle the solids, then moved to a second tank to settle remaining fine solids, and moved to a third tank coupled to a circulation pump with CO2 gas injection to lower the pH. The liquid in the third tank is then filtered before discharging for recycle, irrigation or dust control. A precipitate agent is preferable added to the liquid in the third tank to remove heavy metals and the precipitate is periodically backwashed from the filter into the first tank. The sludge created in the settling and filtering process is periodically dewatered in the first tank and mixed with the solid concrete waste sent to the crusher.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains generally to treatment of concrete washout waste, and more particularly to treatment of waste liquid associated with washout of concrete trucks and associated equipment on construction sites and at concrete batch plants.
2. Description of Related Art
Construction sites have long been identified as a large contributor to urban runoff pollution if the proper pollution prevention practices are not regularly performed. Construction materials washed into the storm drain have a direct impact on local waterways and habitat living in that environment.
The most common discharge into storm drains from concrete construction activity is the residue and contaminants from washing down equipment such as concrete trucks, pumps, mixers, chutes, hand tools and wheelbarrows. Other cementitious contaminants include washout from grout, mortar and stucco. Once released into a storm drain, the solids and sediments are not easily removed and the high pH and suspended solids of the waste are extremely toxic to aquatic wildlife.
Temporary washout areas with berms, haybales, linings and catchment systems are typically used on construction sites, but with poor results. These temporary sites are prone to leaking or flooding during rains. Evaporation or leaching as a method to remove the liquid waste is not environmentally safe or practical. Dumpsters and sludge boxes are also used to contain washout waste but are prone to leaking during use or during transport.
Some concrete trucks are equipped with a reclaimer system, a temporary storage for washout waste that is returned to the batch plant for recycling. These systems require valuable time for the operator to use and need ongoing maintenance to stay operational.
On some construction sites, individual plastic bags are used to contain washout waste. These small bags, typically about 5 gallons, are time consuming to use and usually require two persons to handle during washout activities. They may be left on the jobsite for several weeks exposed to the elements, rough ground, and puncture hazards.
Some existing systems transport the concrete waste to evaporation ponds or lagoons to evaporate the liquid and then bury, dispose or recycle the remaining solids. Evaporation ponds are subject to leaking high pH liquid with suspended solids and heavy metals into the environment. In some cases, pH treatment is performed in place to reduce the environmental risk of leaking evaporation ponds.

Treatment system for liquid concrete washout waste


Securely storing a public key for encryption of data in a computing device by using a user-specific key pair which is securely stored in the computing device, including receiving a target public key corresponding to a target device, obtaining a user-specific key pair from a secure registry, using a user-specific private key from the user-specific key pair to create a target key verifier based on the target public key, storing the target key verifier and the target public key in a storage area, retrieving the target key verifier and the target public key from the storage area, applying a user-specific public key from the user-specific key pair to the target key verifier for verifying the authenticity of the target public key, and encrypting data with the target public key, if authenticity of the target public key is verified, thereby creating encrypted data for transmission to the target device.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention concerns secure printing by encrypting print data using a verified printer key, without the need for an external certificate authority. In particular, the invention concerns using a user-specific private key to create an encrypted key version of a stored printer public key. When the printer public key is subsequently needed for encryption of print data, the encrypted key version is decrypted using a user-specific public key and is then compared to the stored printer public key to verify that the stored printer public key was not changed or corrupted.
2. Description of the Related Art
In computing environments, a print job generated by a computer at one location in the network can be printed by an image output device at another location. For example, a personal computer (PC) may be connected to a printer at a distant location, or a workstation may be connected to a network on which many devices and workstations reside. If the print job includes confidential or otherwise sensitive information, it is possible that there may be an unauthorized interception of the print job between the origin of the print job and the targeted printer. In particular, the print job may be intercepted by an unauthorized device connected to a local connection between an originating PC and the target printer, or by a device connected to the network on which an originating workstation and the target printer reside. Such an unauthorized device may be a PC or a workstation capable of utilizing network listening, trapping and interception tools.
To avoid unwanted interception or retrieval of print jobs, it is known to use secure printing in which a public printer key is utilized to encrypt print data at the originating computer. In some applications, the public printer key may be used in conjunction with a symmetric key to encrypt the print data. The encrypted print data is sent to the target printer where the printer private key is used to decrypt the print data and to store it. The printer private key is maintained in the printer in a secure fashion to ensure security of encrypted print data. It is preferable for a computing device to obtain the printer public key and store it, but the printer public key should be verified each time it is used to encrypt print data, to make sure that the printer public key has not been corrupted or tampered with.
Certificate authorities are often used to facilitate the secure distribution and verification of public keys for encryption purposes. A certificate authority is a trusted party that can sign a unique public key for a developer or manufacturer, such as a printer manufacturer, for secure distribution to users. For example, a certificate authority can use its own private key to sign a printer public key from a printer manufacturer by placing the printer public key in a certificate for distribution, along with other information related to the source of the printer public key and the certificate authority, and then signing the entire certificate. Users can then access the certificate containing the signed printer public key for use. In such a case, the user obtains the certificate authority's own trusted public key (verification key) and uses it to verify that the signed printer public key is authentic. The printer public key can then be trusted by the user for encryption of the user's print data to be printed on the target printer containing the corresponding printer private key.
In many cases, it is not practical for a user wishing to use a public key for a device, such as a printer public key, to utilize a certificate from a certificate authority to verify the authenticity of the public key. For example, certificate authorities are known to change their verification key from time to time to maintain integrity of the certificates. Additionally, the certificates may expire or be revoked by the certificate authority. In order to ensure the integrity of the certificates, a certificate revocation list (CRL) must be checked before relying on the integrity of the certificates. Unfortunately, it takes time for a user to obtain the certificate authority's verification key every time a user wishes to use a particular public key for encryption purposes.
In addition, not every device necessarily uses a certificate authority for the distribution of the device's public key. Also, a user may be required to store and maintain numerous verification keys from corresponding certificate authorities for supporting different public keys needed by the user's applications. Lastly, certificates from certificate authorities often contain additional information besides a signed public key, and the processing of this additional information can result in greater processing overhead in verification of the signed public key.

Secure printing with authenticated printer key


An isolation valve for a single crystal pulling apparatus providing a good sealing performance is disclosed. The apparatus comprises a casing having two opposite valve seats, a first valve seat having a first opening communicable with the main chamber of the apparatus, a second valve seat having a second opening communicable with the pull chamber of the apparatus. The body of the isolation valve includes a first plate movable in and out of contact with the first valve seat to open and shut the first opening, a second plate movable in and out of contact with the second valve seat to open and shut the second opening, and a bellows connecting the first and second plates. The isolation valve also comprises a holder holding the first plate out of contact with the first valve seat when the first plate is opposite to the first valve seat, a passage communicable with a fluid supply and the interior of the valve body, and a controller controlling the pressure of a working fluid supplied from the fluid supply into the interior of the valve body. The controller has a first set pressure at which the first and second plates are in contact with the first and second valve seats and a second set pressure at which the first and second plates are out of contact with the first and second valve seats.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an isolation or gate valve for a single crystal pulling apparatus opening and shutting a passage between a main chamber and a pull chamber of the single crystal pulling apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
A single crystal pulling apparatus in accordance with the Czochralski method of pulling a single crystal rod from a melt of a raw crystal , e.g., polycrystal comprises a cup-shaped crucible holding a raw crystal and placed in the main chamber, a hollow cylindrical heater surrounding the crucible, and a hollow cylindrical heat insulator surrounding the heater. The single crystal pulling apparatus further comprises a hollow cylinder defining the pull chamber joined with the top end of the hollow cylinder defining the main chamber. A single crystal rod which is pulled from the melt into the pull chamber is taken out of the pull chamber. An isolation valve is provided in a passage between the main chamber and the pull chamber for opening and shutting this passage.
Japanese unexamined patent application publication HEI.2-252687 (Patent Application No.1-70692) discloses an example of a prior art isolation valve. FIG. 4 shows this example. The prior art isolation valve 1 comprises a valve body or shutter 2 in the form of a circular tray. The valve body 2 shuts and opens a cylindrical outlet 3a extending upwards from a flange 3 integrally disposed on the top of a hollow cylinder defining the main chamber. The exterior cylindrical surface of the outlet 3a has an O-ring 4 mounted thereon. The interior surface of the rim of the valve body 2 is in or out of sealing contact with the O-ring 4.
The valve body 2 is connected to a valve rod 6 by means of an arm 2a fastened by screw bolts to the valve body 2. The upper end of the valve rod 6 is connected to a piston 7a of an air cylinder 7 to move the valve rod 6 up and down. A joint between the piston 7a of the air cylinder 7 and the valve rod 6 has an arm 5 extending outside a casing of the isolation valve 1 for rotating the valve rod 6 and thereby the valve body 2. Thus, the valve rod 6 and the valve body 2 are movable up and down and rotatable in the casing of the isolation valve 1.
When the interior surface of the rim of the valve body 2 is in sealing contact with the O-ring 4 to shut the outlet 3a, the valve body 2 isolates the main chamber from the pull chamber. On the other hand, when the valve body 2 is rotated from the position shown in FIG. 4 to open a space above the outlet 3a, the isolation valve 1 enables the pull chamber to communicate with the main chamber.
The isolation valve 1 is employed in order to isolate the main chamber from the pull chamber when a single crystal (e.g., silicon single crystal) rod that has been pulled from a polycrystal melt held in the crucible placed in the main chamber which is taken out of the pull chamber. Employing the isolation valve enables continuously charging raw polycrystal in a melt while taking a pulled single crystal rod outside a pull chamber essentially without any intrusion of the outside air into the main chamber
Alternatively, employing the isolation valve enables the sequent steps of placing a raw polycrystal charger in the pull chamber after a step of taking the single crystal rod out of the pull chamber, exhausting a gas out of the pull chamber to vacuum or substituting the gas in the pull chamber with an inert gas, and opening the isolation valve so that the raw polycrystal charger can additionally charge the raw polycrystal in the melt of the crucible.
If the isolation valve 1 isolates the main chamber from the pull chamber when the single crystal rod is taken out of the pull chamber after the single crystal rod has been pulled from the melt, the crucible holding the polycrystal melt in the main chamber can be at a high temperature while the main chamber is under vacuum or the atmosphere of an inert gas (e.g. gaseous argon) and the interior of the single crystal pulling apparatus can be protected from pollution by the outside air.
In a process of the sequent steps of opening the pull chamber to the outside air while the main chamber is under a reduced pressure, taking the single crystal rod out of the pull chamber and replacing a gas in the pull chamber with vacuum or the inert gas, the pressure of the main chamber happens to exceed the pressure of the pull chamber. In this case, a gas leaks from the main chamber to the pull chamber unless the isolation valve 1 securely seals the outlet 3a. This abnormally reduces the pressure of the main chamber, or by chance the replacing inert gas may diffuse from the pull chamber to the main chamber thanks to an excess in pressure of the replacing gas due to poor control. The diffusion of the replacing inert gas pollutes the atmosphere of the main chamber to disturb the pulling of the single crystal rod and adversely affect the quality of the single crystal rod.
When the isolation valve 1 shuts the outlet 3a, the operating arm 5 rotates the shaft 6 and the valve body 2 is turned from the space distant from the outlet 3a back to the space above the outlet 3a, and the air cylinder 7 depresses the valve body 2 to cap and seal the outlet 3a. In order to isolate the main chamber from the pull chamber, the air cylinder 7 is required to hold the capping of the valve body 2 on the outlet 3a.
The apparatus of continuously pulling the single crystal rod closes the door in the sidewall of the cylinder defining the pull chamber and then exhausts the gas out of the pull chamber to make the pull chamber vacuum, or repeats the steps of making the pull chamber vacuum and subsequent introducing the inert gas into the pull chamber after the single crystal rod is taken out of the pull chamber.
In the isolation valve 1, the assembly of the arm 2a and the valve body 2 cantilevers from the shaft 6, so that it is difficult that the air cylinder 7 drives a free or remote end of the valve body 2 to securely cap and seal the outlet 3a when the isolation valve 1 is required to fully isolate the main chamber from the pull chamber. Since the pressure of the pull chamber becomes negative to the pressure of the main chamber when the pull chamber is made vacuum, the pressure difference between the pull chamber and the main chamber may turn up the free end of the valve body 2. Once the free end of the valve body 2 is turned up, the sidewall of the outlet 3a and the free end of the valve body 2 produces a gap to impair the isolation between the pull chamber and the main chamber. The gas leak from the main chamber to the pull chamber causes the above problems. In particular, if the diameter of a semiconductor wafer sliced from the single crystal rod will be increased from now on and the diameter of the outlet 3a will accordingly increased, it is important to solve the above problems.

Isolation valve for single crystal pulling apparatus


Lithographic printing form precursors comprising positive working polymeric coatings on substrates may during storage or transportation undergo undesirable changes in their imaging properties. It has been found that acceptable properties can be restored by carrying out a heat treatment which involves a relatively short heating stage followed by accelerated cooling.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to methods of providing printing form precursors. The invention relates further to such precursors per se, and to their use. The invention also relates to the reclaiming of printing form precursors which do not meet an acceptable specification, to bring such precursors within specification.
This invention relates primarily to positive working printing form precursors. In such precursors the coating after imagewise exposure becomes more soluble in the exposed areas than in the non-exposed areas, in a chemical developer. The exposed areas are selectively dissolved away and only the remaining areas of the coating are ink-receptive.
2. Background Information
For many years the coatings used for positive working printing form precursors comprised alkali soluble resins and naphthoquinone diazide (NQD) derivatives, either as functional groups on the resins or as separate compounds. These coatings are imaged using flood UV radiation, delivered via a mask. These coatings have good stability over time.
In recent years there has been a move towards printing form precursors which can be imaged using IR lasers which have digital output and are computer-controlled, allowing the imaging step to be controlled by an operator from a computer screen.
The use of a digital process employing IR lasers has important advantages over the earlier UV methods but there is the disadvantage that the properties of the IR-sensitive printing form precursors tend not to be as stable over time, as those of the UV-sensitive precursors.
Thus, it has been observed that with many IR-sensitive positive working printing form precursors there may be a reduction in xe2x80x9csensitivityxe2x80x9d over time, after the coating has been applied to a substrate and dried, this effect being the result of reduced developer solubility of the unexposed coating with time prior to exposure. In this specification xe2x80x9csensitivityxe2x80x9d is referred to in the context of the entire process of exposure and development. It does not refer only to the matter of how the areas of the coating which are exposed react to that exposure. In the lithographic printing art this xe2x80x9csensitivityxe2x80x9d is sometimes called xe2x80x9coperating speedxe2x80x9d, or the skilled person may say that the coating has become xe2x80x9cslowerxe2x80x9d.
It is difficult for an operator to adjust for precursors whose sensitivity has reduced substantially (i.e. outside a defined specification). Therefore it would be desirable to have a method which improves precursors having positive working heat or IR-sensitive coatings, such that an operator has a more consistent and stable product.
Lithographic printing form precursors which can be imaged using IR lasers are described in WO 97/39894. Fundamentally the change in solubility on imaging using IR lasers are caused by heat not by chemical breakdown (xe2x80x9cphotolysisxe2x80x9d) in the coating. The heat is produced by the interaction of the IR radiation and IR absorbers present in the coatings, and acting as light-to-heat converters.
In order to provide IR and/or heat sensitive precursors with more even properties over time a stabilizing heat treatment was described in WO 99/21715. Good results are achieved when a positive working precursor is given a xe2x80x9cconditioningxe2x80x9d heat treatment at a moderate temperature, for example 40-90xc2x0 C., for an extended period, for example at least 4 hours. In the method described the heat treatment is applied to a precursor or a packet of 13 precursors.
In EP-A-1074889 there is described a related method to that of WO 99/21715, in which the precursor undergoes a xe2x80x9cconditioningxe2x80x9d heat treatment step under conditions which inhibit the removal of moisture from the precursor. One method of inhibiting the removal of moisture from a precursor during the xe2x80x9cconditioningxe2x80x9d heat treatment is to wrap the precursor in a water-impermeable sheet material; another is to carry out the heat treatment in a non-drying environment, for example a humidity controlled oven.
In the method of EP-A-1074889 the xe2x80x9cconditioningxe2x80x9d heat treatment step is similar to that described in WO 99/21715, in that it preferably employs an elevated temperature for an extended period; for example 40-90xc2x0 C. for at least 4 hours. The conditioning heat treatment may be carried out on a stack of precursors.
Thus WO 99/21715 emphasizes the importance of the conditioning heat treatment step. EP-A-1074889 does likewise, and additionally emphasizes the importance of moisture during the conditioning. Neither focuses on the cooling of the heat treated precursors.
EP-A-1074386 describes a process in which a printing form precursor undergoes a heat treatment regime which includes a conditioning heat treatment as described above, followed by the controlled slow cooling of the precursor. The controlled slow cooling should take at least 1 hour, and most preferably at least 6 hours. The cooling rate should not exceed 1xc2x0 C./min, and most preferably should not exceed 0.2xc2x0 C./min. The experiments described in EP-A-1074386 are all on individual precursors, and in practice the controlled slow cooling involves allowing them to cool in the conditioning oven, which had been switched off. Additionally, the possible application of the invention of EP-A-1074386 to precursor coils or stacks of precursors is described. Controlled slow cooling of a precursor coil or a stack of precursors is defined as cooling under conditions such that heat is lost from the coil or stack more slowly than if the same coil or stack were cooled under ambient conditions.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a heat treatment which leads to printing form precursors with good properties, in an expeditious manner.
It is a further object of the present invention to reclaim off-specification printing form precursors efficiently.
This invention is directed to a method of preparing a printing form precursor and such a precursor, the method comprising:
(a) providing an imageable coating on a substrate, wherein the coating comprises a positive working polymeric composition;
(b) subjecting the precursor to a heat treatment at an elevated temperature; and
(c) accelerating the cooling of the precursor.
This invention is also directed to a method of improving the imaging characteristics of a thermally imageable lithographic printing form precursor having degraded imaging characteristics, the method comprising:
(a) heating the thermally imageable precursor to an elevated temperature in the range of 45-110xc2x0 C.; and
(b) accelerating the cooling of the heated precursor to 30xc2x0 C. or below.
This invention is also directed to a method of treating a printing form precursor, the method comprising:
(a) providing a precursor comprising a heat imageable coating on a substrate, the coating comprising a positive working polymeric composition which comprises a polymer having hydroxyl groups, an insolubilizer which acts to inhibit the dissolution of the coating in a developer prior to heat imaging but not after heat imaging, and a radiation absorbing compound able to absorb electromagnetic radiation in the range 600 to 1400 nm and covert the radiation to heat;
(b) heating the precursor, in the form of an individual precursor or a precursor web or in a packet, is subjected to an elevated temperature for a period to exceeding 5 hours; and
(c) accelerating cooling of the precursor to bring the precursor temperature to 30xc2x0 C. or below in less than 1 hour.
This invention is also directed to a method of treating a printing form precursor included in a stack, the method comprising:
(a) providing a stack comprising a precursor having a heat imageable coating on a substrate, the coating comprising a positive working polymeric composition which comprises a polymer having hydroxyl groups, an insolubilizer which acts to inhibit the dissolution of the coating in a developer prior to heat imaging but not after heat imaging, and a radiation absorbing compound able to absorb electromagnetic radiation in the range 600 to 1400 nm and convert the radiation to heat;
(b) subjecting the stack to an elevated temperature for a period not exceeding 8 hours; and
(c) accelerating the cooling of the stack to bring the stack temperature to 30xc2x0 C. or below over a period not exceeding 8 hours.
This invention is also directed to a method of producing a lithographic printing form bearing a pattern in a coating thereon and such a printing form, the method comprising:
(I) preparing a precursor by a method comprising:
(a) providing an imeagable coating on a substrate, wherein the coating comprises a positive working polymeric composition,
(b) subjecting the precursor to a heat treatment at an elevated temperature, and
(c) accelerating the cooling of the precursor;
(II) imagewise exposing the coating of the precursor; and
(III) contacting the exposed coating with an aqueous developer thereby removing imagewise exposed regions of the coating.
Other aspects of this invention will be apparent from the detailed description set forth below.


A floor nozzle for use with a vacuum cleaner has an agitator rotatably disposed in a housing and includes a rotor and at least one elongate web mounted on a circumferential surface of the rotor. The elongate web is made of a flexible material and has a plurality of teeth on at least one of opposite surfaces thereof. The elongate web has a T-shaped helical anchor foot inserted in a complementary T-shaped helical groove defined in the circumferential surface of the rotor. The floor nozzle also has a turbine rotatable under a vacuum developed by the vacuum cleaner and operatively coupled to the agitator for rotating the agitator.

The present invention relates to a floor nozzle having an agitator for use with a vacuum cleaner.
Floor nozzles for use with vacuum cleaners have an agitator comprising a rotor with bristles attached to its circumferential surface. When cleaning a floor such as a carpeted floor, the bristles on the rotating rotor rub the carpet to brush up dust particles which are then drawn into the floor nozzle under a vacuum developed by the vacuum cleaner.
One major problem with the conventional agitators is that waste pieces of thread and other filamentary objects tend to get entangled with the bristles. Frequently, the entire surface of the agitator is covered with such unwanted fibrous matters to the point where the desired function of the agitator can no longer be performed. Removal of the entangled thread pieces is tedious and time-consuming.

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


An absorbent article including a liquid-permeable top layer, an absorbent core layer, a breathable outer cover, and an inner nonwoven filament layer between the absorbent core and breathable outer cover. The outer cover includes a breathable film and an outer nonwoven filament layer. The inner nonwoven filament layer has a mean fiber denier which is higher than the mean fiber denier of the outer nonwoven filament layer. The inner nonwoven filament layer serves as a dampness inhibitor which reduces or prevents perceived dampness on the external surface of the outer cover by lowering thermal conductivity between the absorbent core and the outer cover surface.

Absorbent articles, such as diapers, child training pants, adult incontinence garments, swim wear and the like, typically include at least a liquid-permeable top layer for direct contact with the wearer, an absorbent core layer, and a substantially liquid-impermeable outer cover material. The absorbent core is positioned between the top layer and the outer cover material. When the absorbent article is exposed to a liquid insult, liquid passes through the top layer and into the absorbent core. The outer cover prevents the liquid in the absorbent core from leaving the garment.
Many of today's absorbent garments utilize breathable outer cover materials. Breathable outer cover materials are substantially impermeable to liquids, but are permeable to water vapor. Breathable outer cover materials permit escape of water vapor from the absorbent garment, increasing the garment comfort and reducing skin rashes and other irritations that result when water vapor is trapped inside the garment and heated by the wearer's body. Many of today's absorbent garments are highly breathable, for maximum wearer comfort.
One shortcoming of breathable absorbent articles is a cold, damp, clammy feel that often occurs on the outside of the garment, i.e., on the outside of the outer cover material. As liquid water in the absorbent core evaporates and passes through the outer cover material, the associated evaporative cooling causes a lowering of temperature of the absorbent core and adjacent outer cover material, resulting in a clammy, damp-feeling outer cover. There is thus a need or desire in the absorbent garment industry for absorbent articles which are highly breathable, yet which reduce or avoid the perceived dampness caused by evaporative cooling.

Absorbent product with nonwoven dampness inhibitor


A reusable cannula that supports minimally invasive surgical procedures, such as endoscopic and thorascopic procedures, fabricated from a composition including polyarylsulfone material that is non-conductive, radiolucent, and sterilizable. The cannula is compatible with endoscopic devices as well as standard housing/seal and trocar systems.

1. Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure relates to a reusable nonmetallic cannula for use in minimally invasive surgical procedures, and, in particular, to a cannula fabricated from a non-conductive radiolucent polyarylsulfone which is capable of withstanding repeated sterilizations.
2. Description of the Related Art
Cannulas are typically used in minimally invasive surgical procedures such as laparoscopic, endoscopic, and arthroscopic procedures. In minimally invasive procedures, the operating instrumentation is typically deployed through a narrow cannula inserted through a small opening or incision in the body to reach a remote interior operating site. In laparoscopic surgery, for example, the abdominal cavity is insufflated with a biologically non-reactive gas such as CO2. A cannula assembly typically incorporating a cannula seal is introduced within the body cavity, and laparoscopic surgical instrumentation is advanced within the cannula to perform the surgical procedure. The seal within the cannula assembly forms a fluid-tight seal about the instrumentation to prevent egress of gas from the cavity.
From a cost efficiency point of view, it may be desirable to utilize cannula assemblies which can be reused, in whole, or in part. However, reuse of a cannula assembly requires disassembly, cleaning and sterilization of its component. Sterilization is typically accomplished through an autoclaving process which involves subjecting the cannula with superheated sterilizing steam under pressure. In the past, cannulas which have been typically fabricated from metals such as stainless steel are capable of withstanding a minimum number of autoclaving processes. However, disadvantages associated with the use of metallic cannulas are their electrically conductive properties, radiopaque qualities, and their relatively high expense of manufacture.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a cannula which is reusable, electrically non-conductive, radiolucent, easily assembled and disassembled for autoclaving, capable of withstanding repeated sterilizations, and relatively inexpensive to manufacture.
In accordance with the present disclosure, a reusable nonmetallic cannula for use in minimally invasive surgical procedures, such as endoscopic and laparoscopic procedures, is disclosed. The cannula is preferably fabricated from a polyarylsulfone that is non-conductive, radiolucent, and capable of being subjected to repeated sterilizations. The cannula is configured to be compatible with a wide range of standard housing/seal and trocar systems and can be produced in a wide range of individual sizes and lengths.


A system includes a gantry of a medical imaging device; a linear guide; a carriage system configured to detachably accommodate the gantry and supported in a movable manner via the linear guide parallel to a longitudinal direction relative to a base area; and a drive system configured to move the carriage system parallel to the longitudinal direction relative to the base area while the gantry is accommodated in the carriage system. In at least one embodiment, the gantry includes a chassis configured to move the gantry on the base area in a traveling manner relative to the carriage system while the gantry is detached from the carriage system.

Sectional imaging methods with ring modalities, for example computed tomography devices (CT devices), acquire anatomy and function in patients' bodies quickly and with very good spatial resolution and tissue resolution. This is routinely used in diagnostics around the world, wherein the modality is stationary and the patient moves on a tabletop that is able to travel within the modality.
In minimally invasive therapy, if possible, the patient should not be moved and so the modality should move over the patient. For soft-tissue interventions, for example in tumor therapy, excellent soft-tissue resolution and flexible adjustable scan lengths are required. Large modalities complicate access to the working area on the patient and should therefore only be brought to the patient for the duration of the scan. The rest of the time they should remain in the same room in a remote waiting position or even be available for use in another room for imaging or other interventions.
The flexibility of a moving rail-bound modality is restricted, such as is the case for example with a CT sliding gantry or a ceiling-hung MRI. It is difficult to achieve excellent image quality and high positioning/repositioning accuracy when the modality travels freely on the floor in the room, for example with wheels. Achieving flexible use together with excellent image quality requires complex structures in the room as well as complex structures for the devices.
A rail-supported gantry is, for example, known from U.S. Pat. No. 9,161,731 B2, U.S. Pat. No. 6,959,068 B1, DE 10 2012 201 529 B4 and DE 10 2012 216 858 A1.
A cover for a linear guide and a linear drive is, for example, known from DE 10 2014 213 204 A1.
A mobile gantry on wheels is, for example, known from US 2011/0 222 667 A1, US 2017/0 325 763 A1, U.S. Pat. No. 9,554,953 B, US 2018/0 184 994 A1 and US 2019/0 343 701 A1.

System and method for moving a gantry of a medical imaging device


Illumination devices (10), systems and methods that convert an alternating current (AC) supply (14) to a direct current (DC) for powering a plurality of light emitting diodes (LEDs) are disclosed. An illumination device (10) comprises a full wave rectifier (12) for converting the AC supply into a direct current (DC). A current limiting diode (CLD) module (16), comprising at least one CLD is coupled in series to an output of the full wave rectifier and a light emitting diode (LED) module (18) comprising a plurality of LEDs is coupled in series between an output of the CLD module (16) and the full wave rectifier (12).

The rapid development in LED efficiency in recent years has resulted in the adoption of LEDs in illumination applications, replacing incandescent bulbs in many applications and beginning to replace cold cathode fluorescent lamps (CCFLs) and fluorescent tube lamps in some specialty lighting applications. Whereas LED applications in the non-illumination sectors have many well established designs for drive circuitry, the same cannot be said for LEDs operated directly from the mains power supply. Unlike other applications, LED lamp products used for illumination have to compete against incandescent lamps and CCFLs with low entry cost. As such, it is not very competitive to use expensive drive circuitry to operate LED lamps off the mains because the replacement cost versus other lamp technologies will be higher and the payback time will be longer.
In non-illumination applications, usually there is a readily available low voltage power supply. This, plus the use of constant current drivers, enables a rather cheap solution to drive LEDs in instrumentation and displays in many end applications. For LEDs to be operated from the mains directly, the first challenge is the cost of the AC to DC power adapter. In the current state of art, a good power adapter for LED operation with a constant current source is almost half the cost of the overall LED lamp. Typically a switched mode power supply is implemented. Other existing LED power supply schemes include half-wave rectification, full wave rectification and rectification with smoothing capacitors and inductors. However, these schemes introduce the problems of lower power factor and high total harmonic distortion to the power supply.
Power adapters with constant current drivers typically use a switch mode power supply together with circuitry to generate a constant current for driving LEDs. While the constant DC current provides efficient LED operation, the drive circuit and power adapter have a high component count and consequently a high cost is involved. In addition, a large amount of space is taken up by this design due to the size and number of components used. This is rather undesirable when the power adapter and drive circuit have to be fitted into the size of a conventional light bulb.
Full wave rectification circuit power adapters and drive schemes have an advantage over the switch mode power supply in that they have fewer components and therefore require less space and are relatively low cost. However, one limitation of this design is that the voltage and current follow half-sinusoidal waveforms, which are not suitable for driving LEDs.
Half-wave rectification is not competitive due to low light output as a result of missing half a cycle of operation in DC mode. While this can be rectified by providing additional LEDs in the circuit to operate in the reverse cycle, the cost of the LEDs is doubled.
A typical LED, such as an InGaN LED, typically has a near zero forward current until the turn-on voltage followed by a steep rise in forward current for a small increase in voltage. In a typical design, the forward voltage is designed to be at the maximum allowable through the LED at peak cycle. The resultant average drive current for the whole cycle is much lower than that of the DC drive current. This is partly due to the high turn-on voltage of the LED and this results in lower flux output for a full wave rectification-based LED module.
The waveform of the current and voltage generated by the full wave rectification circuit is not optimal in light output efficiency in terms of lumens per watt of the system. This is because only a small part of the power cycle is at the maximum allowable drive current and consequently only a small part of the power cycle is at the maximum light output, as shown in FIG. 1. The time-average light output is much lower than in DC mode. Moreover, the LED is constrained in the maximum voltage and maximum drive current it can tolerate without creating electrical overstress. Full wave rectification without modification of the sinusoidal forward voltage and forward current waveforms would severely limit the drive current through the LEDs throughout much of the power cycle, resulting in a rather low overall average DC current and low average power. FIG. 2 shows an example of the luminous intensity (Iv) waveform resulting from a full wave rectified power supply. For about 40% of the duration of the power cycle, the light output is practically zero and for 70% of the duration of the power cycle, the light output is less than half the peak value.
In conventional bridge rectification circuits, a higher amount of heat is generated due to the elevated forward voltage of the rectified power supply over part of the power cycle, which leads to a higher LED junction temperature. The light output of the LED decreases as the junction temperature rises as a result of the LED thermal characteristics. This leads to a second contribution to light output drop, over and above the effect caused by current saturation in the LED junction.
Some full wave rectification circuits include a filter capacitor which acts to smooth out the variation in the DC waveform. However, the capacitive load causes harmonic distortion to the power supply and there is a drop in the power factor of the system. An example of such a circuit used to drive LEDs directly off the AC mains supply is shown in FIG. 3. The bridge circuit converts the sinusoidal waveform from the AC mains to a full-wave rectified DC waveform. The circuit uses a capacitor C1 and an inductor L1 to smooth the resulting DC waveform, while the value of resistance for resistor R1 is chosen to limit the current flowing through the LEDs LED1 to LEDn. Sometimes an over-current protection device D1 is incorporated in the circuit. The main losses of the system include power loss in resistor R2 of the AC-to-DC conversion block and power loss in resistor R1 used to limit the current flowing through the LEDs. In one example of the circuit shown in FIG. 3, six InGaN LEDs with a typical voltage of 3.3V are used in the LED string. In another design, two LED strings, each having six LEDs, are used in parallel. Both of these designs have approximately 20V drop across the LEDs in total with the typical average voltage of 3.3V per LED. The excess of the rectified voltage over the LEDs is taken up by the resistor R1 and dissipated as heat.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,272,018 discloses another prior art power adapter design in the form of a switched mode power supply scheme with power factor correction. The complex circuit has a higher component count and increases the cost of the design to supply DC power to an LED string.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,600,670 discloses another switch mode power supply scheme to provide a constant DC supply, which needs multiple types of components and has a high component count. For a low cost product such as an LED lamp, these schemes are not suitable although the DC power supply quality is good in terms of high power factor and low harmonic distortion to the power supply.
Another problem with driving LEDs directly off the AC mains is the variation in forward voltage of individual LEDs due to their mass production. For example, the operating forward voltage of a white LED typically ranges from about 2.8V to about 3.5V for higher grade LEDs, whilst lower grade LEDs range from about 2.8V up to about 3.9V. When the LEDs are stringed in series, the number of LEDs used needs to be determined precisely. However, due to the variation in the forward voltage from LED to LED, there is a need to specify a narrow forward voltage range for the LEDs. This requirement necessitates tight forward voltage binning for the LEDs. This increases the manufacturing cost of LEDs to cover the cost of rejects in the forward voltage binning process. If no forward voltage binning is performed, there will be a variation of total forward voltage coming from the LEDs, resulting in an increase in light output variation of the LED devices.
As stated above, many circuit designs for powering LEDs from an AC power supply utilise inductive components, such as transformers, inductors or magnetic coils. These components introduce electromagnetic radiation noise and as a result require additional EMI suppression measures in the circuit design. In addition, the magnetic coils cause humming noise in the presence of magnetic parts, for example, in fluorescent tube lighting fixtures.
Further circuit designs for powering LEDs from an AC power supply are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,344,275, U.S. Pat. No. 7,066,628, U.S. Pat. No. 6,867,575, U.S. Pat. No. 6,830,358, U.S. Pat. No. 6,636,027, U.S. Pat. No. 6,461,019 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,072,280. However, these designs suffer from one or more of the aforementioned problems or drawbacks.
Drawbacks are also encountered with conventional systems for controlling colored LEDs being powered from an AC supply. In conventional LED color control systems, either pulsed width modulation or resistive switches are used to control the color and brightness levels of red, green and blue (RGB) LEDs to produce the color gamut. Pulse width modulation has the advantage of high efficiency in lumens per watt, but a drawback is the need for complex circuitry to implement the color mixing, including the use of LED drivers, color control integrated circuits (ICs), a microprocessor and a power adapter for low voltage supply. Resistive switches utilize series resistance to reduce the current flowing through the LED circuits. Although this method is cheaper and simpler than pulsed width modulation, it reduces the efficiency of the illumination system through heat losses in the series resistance, especially at high dimming levels.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

AC to DC LED illumination devices, systems and method


In accordance with various aspects of the disclosure, a detecting engine for detecting targets/materials in hyperspectral scenes is disclosed. The detecting engine combines data partitioning and dimensionality reduction to reduce the number of computations needed to identify in which pixels in a hyperspectral scene a given material is present. Computation reduction (in some instances, by two fold) greatly impacts the speed of and power consumed by the detecting engine making the engine suitable for hyperspectral imaging of large scenes, processing using many filters per pixel, or missions requiring testing large numbers of reference spectra to see which are present in a scene.

This disclosure relates generally to the field of image processing, and more particularly to a system and a method for detecting materials in a hyperspectral scene.
In many conventional image processing scenarios comprising hyperspectral imaging (HSI) systems, hyperspectral sensors collect data of an image from one spatial line and disperse the spectrum across a perpendicular direction of the focal plane of the optics receiving the image. Thus a focal plane pixel measures the intensity of a given spot on the ground in a specific waveband. A complete HSI cube scene is formed by scanning this spatial line across the scene that is imaged. The complete HSI cube may be analyzed as a measurement of the spectrum, the intensity in many wavebands, for a spatial pixel. This spatial pixel represents a given spot on the ground in a cross-scan direction for one of the lines at a given time in the scan direction. These spectra are analyzed to detect targets or spectral anomalies.


A lift-out device for attachment to a pitless adapter in a water well assembly for use when servicing well pumps including a light source mounted near the lower end of the lift-out device for illuminating the interior of a well casing to facilitate attachment of the device to a pitless adapter. Apertures are located in the side of the tubular pipe member adjacent the light source, and a socket for electrically connecting said light source to an external power source such as a rechargeable battery pack is preferably mounted in the handle of the device. The illumination device is preferably cushioned in order to prevent breakage during use and storage.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to water well systems as well as pitless well pipe adapters, and more particularly to an improved lift-out tool for attachment to a pitless well adapter fitting for raising and lowering said adapter and the submersible water pump connected thereto into and from the well casing, and more particularly still to a lift-out tool for attachment to a pitless well adapter having an integral illumination means for facilitation of the attachment procedure.
2. Background of the Invention
A so-called pitless adapter is a specialized pipe fitting that is secured to a well casing below ground, beneath the frost line. The bottom end of the pitless adapter is connected by piping to a water pump suspended within the well, such that well water pumped upwardly from the well pump through the adapter may be diverted horizontally through a hole in the casing and piped to a house or home or other use, thereby minimizing the risk of frost-frozen pipes. The pitless adapter has an elbow that is connected through the well casing to the water discharge line. A water-tight seal is created between the pitless adapter and the well casing such that the risk of contamination of the water well by external sources leaking through the connection is also minimized.
The pitless adapter is generally a two-piece unit comprising a portion that permanently attaches to the well casing and an adapter body that can be removed from the permanently attached portion during access and removal of the water pump. The permanently attached mechanism has a receiver that allows the adapter body to slide and seal with the attached mechanism for reinstallation of the pump. The pitless adapter body is threaded on its upper side to threadably accept a lift-out device comprised essentially of a threaded fitting on a pipe or rod such that the pipe can be used to lift and lower the pitless adapter body and attached pump to and from the water well, either in performing routine maintenance or replacing such pump with a new pump. Pitless adapters therefore provide a useful means for accessing and servicing parts of a well system, particularly the well pump.
A significant problem arises in manually connecting a lift-out device to the pitless adapter body inside the well casing. Because the pitless adapter is several feet down and substantially inside the well casing, which is itself essentially a deep, dark, narrow hole, it is very difficult to see the threaded connector on the pitless adapter body and to thread the lift-out tool to such adapter body. Common practice is to try to shine a flashlight into the hole while threading the lift pipe into the adapter body, or to use a mirror to try to reflect sunlight down the well casing. This technique fails because the usual flashlight beam can only travel a few feet into the hole before dispersing into darkness, and the mirror also usually does not provide sufficient light and is useful only on sunny days. A flashlight, mirror and similar devices, usually therefore will not illuminate the threads of the adapter sufficiently to be a reliable aid. In addition, it is difficult and cumbersome for a single person to hold a flashlight pointed into the well casing in one hand while steadying the lift pipe and threading it to the adapter body with only the other hand. Thus, threading the pipe into the adapter becomes a hit or miss affair, which is both inconvenient and time consuming, and usually requires two workers, one to hold the flashlight and one to thread the lift-out tool to the adapter.
Thus, a need exists for an improved illuminating device for enabling a worker to more easily attach a lift-out device to a pitless well adapter to remove a water pump from a water well for servicing or the like.
Although all are dissimilar to the present invention, a number of tools in the prior art are known that include a means for illuminating a work area. These include the following:
U.S. Pat. No. 893,319 issued to A. G. Gillespie et al. on Jul. 14, 1908, entitled "Cable Raising or Separating Device," discloses an elongated tool for separating cables such as telephone switchboard cables. A small lamp in the lower end of the device aids workers in seeing between separated cables.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,278,111 issued to G. A. Kleinpell on Mar. 31, 1942, entitled "Tool for Air Pressure Release Bars of Elevator Doors," discloses a tool having an elongated shaft for enabling an elevator operator to release manually the air pressure in an elevator door mechanism. A light source is mounted at the end of the tool to aid an operator in using the tool and illuminating a work area.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,594,908 issued to L. H. Gaulke et al. on Apr. 29, 1952, entitled "Grapple Hook Means," discloses a tool of a well-known type for gripping objects via a plurality of grappling arm elements. A bracket clamp is provided for holding a flashlight such that the flashlight shines on the grappling arm and the work area surrounding the grappling arm.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,706,769 issued to A. Cook on Apr. 19, 1955, entitled "Hand Tool," discloses a screwdriver having a light that illuminates the work area. The light is conveyed through the handle of the screwdriver through transparent plastic.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,348,715 issued to L. R. Christensen et al. on Sep. 7, 1982, entitled "Lighted Tool Holder," discloses a holder having a flashlight-like appearance with a cylindrical adapter mounted to the working end of the holder to which a screwdriver or other tool or device may be temporarily mounted.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,586,741 issued to E. J. Muti on May 6, 1986, entitled "Flashlight Holder," discloses an extension rod for lowering and holding a flashlight down a hole. Although Muti articulates the need to illuminate a distant point in a hole, the technique disclosed in the Muti requires the lowering of two separate shafts into the hole.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,864,899 issued to J. D. Morse on Sep. 12, 1989, entitled "Illuminating Light Bulb Remover," discloses an elongated handheld tool for removing and/or replacing light bulbs to and from overhead light fixtures and having the additional feature of an illumination source mounted near the end of the handle. The bulb is held by a conical member on the end of the tool.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,152,598 issued to G. D. Schaffer on Oct. 6, 1992, entitled "Hole Locator Device," discloses a device to aid in installing ceiling fixtures. The Schaffer invention is comprised of a tapered translucent plastic shank having a base portion with a socket into which a flashlight may be fitted, and a tip with a sharp point and a means for holding an electrical wire. The shank is pushed upwardly into the fixture hole and through the ceiling insulation so that the location of the hole will be immediately evident in the upper adjacent floor or attic. The electrical wire is then secured to the tip of the shank so that when the worker pulls the shank out of the ceiling the wire is also pulled downwardly through the hole.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,502,625 issued to M. Peng on Mar. 26, 1996, entitled "Multipurpose Hand Tool," discloses a combination spanner, screwdriver and illuminator. Although the illuminator is secured within a tube handle in the device, the device is not arranged so that light shines through the tube to illuminate a work area, but rather the combination tools are designed to be used separately.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,515,250 issued to J. A. Ortega on May 7, 1996, entitled "Magnetic Vale Spring Shim Remover," discloses a tool for working on engine valves, and more particularly for removing valve spring shims, which are hard to reach and/or remove. Ortega uses prongs containing magnetic tines so that when the tines physically contact the valve spring shims, the shims are attracted to the magnetic tines and can be easily removed. Ortega discloses an alternative embodiment wherein the handle of the Ortega shim remover is hollow and a light is positioned between members to aid in correct placement and removal of the valve shims.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,980,063 issued to T. D. F. Ford et al. on Nov. 9, 1999, entitled "Illuminated Elongated Tubular Body," discloses a system for emitting light along an elongated tube, or more simply a light stick or wand.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,126,295 issued to G. Hillinger on Oct. 3, 2000, entitled "Fiber Optic Lighting Wrench System for Ratcheting Wrench," discloses a ratchet wrench having a fiber optic bundle therein so that light is transmitted from a light source through the handle via the fiber optic bundles and exits around the work area.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,293,172 issued to J. C. Smith on Sep. 25, 2001, entitled "Telescopic Pocket Door Angle Drill," discloses a telescoping angle drill apparently primarily designed to be used to remove and install pocket door track hardware. The Smith hand tool also includes a light mounted next to the right angle driver on the exterior shell of the tool. Although the Smith patent illustrates generally a light mounted to the exterior surface of a hand tool, such light source is not incorporated into the handle or other portion of the tool.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,318,875 issued to K. Hrabar et al. on Nov. 20, 2001, entitled "Illuminated Nut Driver," discloses a nut driver having a light source located in the handle portion. The light source shines through a longitudinal bore in the tool shaft through an opening in the nut driver on the tip of the shaft. The light illuminates an area adjacent to where a nut is to be placed or removed.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,367,944 issued to L. Wang on Apr. 9, 2002, entitled "Socket Wrench and Light Source Arrangement," discloses a socket wrench having a light mounted in the socket assembly and a battery mounted in the handle so that light is emitted through the open end of the socket.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,379,020 issued to S. E. Lewis et al. on Apr. 30, 2002, entitled "Plumbing Tool," discloses a stopcock tool having a handle portion, a telescoping shaft, and an interchangeable head portion, which may have different arrangements depending upon the intended use of the tool. A clamp is provided on the outside of the shaft for securing a flashlight facing downwardly whereby a work area can be illuminated. The shortcoming of this device is in the inability of a flashlight light beam to illuminate a deep hole as the beam of emitted light will travel only a short distance from the lens of the flashlight.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,454,453 issued to D. Ambrosio on Sep. 24, 2002, entitled "Hand Tool for Driving, and Selectively Illuminating Through, a Conventional Socket," discloses a conventional socket driver having an illuminated fiber optic strand for directing light through the driver's longitudinal central bore.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,478,442 issued to S. Chen on Nov. 12, 2002, entitled "Screwdriver Having a Light Emitting Device," discloses a screwdriver having a light assembly in the handle or gripping portion of the screwdriver and further having a light guiding sleeve surrounding the shank of the screwdriver. Light emitted from the upper end of the handle is transferred along the channel between the sleeve and shank to the tip of the screwdriver.
Although lacking an illumination means, references pertaining generally to pitless well adapters exist in the prior art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,467,181 issued to H. W. Maass on Sep. 16, 1969, entitled "Pitless Well Adapter," discloses an improved adapter arrangement, which is easier to remove and has a simplified construction. Mass illustrates a T-coupling having an internally threaded socket which is threaded to facilitate installation and removal of the pitless adaptor and water pump using a threaded vertical pipe or drop pipe.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,689,611 issued to M. B. Martinson on Sep. 21, 1954, entitled "Means for Extracting the Liquid from a Cased Well Below the Top End of the Casing," discusses the past practice of digging pits adjacent to a well opening, which practice is now discouraged. In Martinson, a "handle" is threaded to the upper opening in the T-coupling or socket member, which is used to lift and lower the well pipe and coupling when it is to be serviced.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,687,056 issued to G. L. Doering on Aug. 17, 1987, entitled "Pitless Adaptor," teaches a modified adaptor wherein the top threaded opening of the pitless adapter is connected to a pipe leading to a yard hydrant, and having a plug which when removed allows water to flow not through the service line but to the hydrant.
Although each may be useful for its particular purposes, none of the aforementioned references teach or disclose an improved pitless adapter lift-out tool that can be more easily attached to a pitless well adapter for use in removing a water pump from a water well, wherein the improvement comprises an integrated illumination means for lighting the interior of a water well casing. Further, the light source in the present invention is connected to the lift-out tool so that it is properly insulated and grounded and will not short circuit upon contact with water and in addition can withstand over time repeated rough use and extended periods of nonuse.

Lift-out device for pitless well adapters


Methods, computer code, and means are described that can control load in a network. In some applications, the monetary cost of operating the network can be reduced. Utilization of links in the network can be monitored. A degree of suboptimality with respect to some criteria can be assessed. In some instances, the criteria could be based at least partly one or more monetary billing structures of some subset of two or more links. A subset of the forwarding decisions of one or more forwarding nodes in the network can be adjusted automatically, based at least partly on the assessing. The adjustment can attempt to reduce the degree of suboptimality.

By changing the forwarding decision of a network, a network user can decrease the cost of using the network, or otherwise enhance the load distribution of the network. One approach to decreasing the cost of using the network is for a person to periodically intervene and adjust the forwarding decisions of the network.
Unfortunately, manually adjusting the forwarding decisions of particular network nodes is an imperfect solution. First, manual adjustments are labor intensive. Second, manual adjustments are slow. Because of the dynamic nature of network traffic, manual adjustments that may have had the result of decreasing cost at one point in time may not have the effect of decreasing cost at a later time—or worse, even increase the cost.
Another difficulty with adjusting forwarding decisions is that monetary billing structures can be complicated, such as when the monetary billing structure is not flat. Particularly when multiple monetary billing structures (e.g., of multiple providers such as internet service providers) of multiple links are considered with the dynamic nature of network traffic, correctly adjusting forwarding decisions while attempting to decrease the cost of using the network can present a significant challenge.
What is needed is an effective solution for adjusting the load distribution in a network, for example to decrease the cost of using the network.


A multi-position creeper has multiple seating positions including a supine configuration, an inclined seating configuration and an upright seating configuration. The creeper includes a frame having a first support frame, a second support frame and a third support frame. A locking mechanism is utilized to pivotally lock the first and second support frames together. A coupling assembly is used to connect the second and third support frames together.

The present invention relates to creepers, such as an automotive mechanic's creeper, and more particularly, to a creeper that is transformable between a number of seating configurations, including a supine configuration, an inclined seating configuration and an upright seating configuration.
In the field of automechanics, a mechanic is often required to work on the underside of a vehicle while performing maintenance or repair. Devices called creepers are widely used to mobilize a mechanic while working under a vehicle. Creepers generally allow the mechanic to move freely in a supine position and work underneath the vehicle while allowing for a minimal clearance under the vehicle. Creepers generally include a flat platform mounted on wheels or casters.
Creepers have been developed which allow the flat platform of the creeper to be transformed into a "rolling seat" for working around the vehicle's exterior, rather than just underneath the vehicle's chassis. These mechanic's creepers allow the mechanic to sit on the creeper in an upright position when working on portions of the vehicle, such as the wheels or doors. Such a mechanic's creeper thus provides two separate work platforms for the mechanic, instead of one, which can decrease the expense in maintaining two separate creepers. Additionally, these mechanic's creepers are usually foldable, thus allowing the creeper to be into collapsed into a compact closed position which can be easily stored around the work area.
While these transformable mechanic's creepers eliminate the need to have two separate creepers, they generally create a raised, upright seating position which, for some maintenance and repair work, places the mechanic's upper torso a bit too high in relation to the work area. Generally, the upright seating position creates a "stool on wheels" and provides no back support for the mechanic when performing the work. As a result, the mechanic often is required to bend forward in a hunched position when sitting on the creeper which can lead to backache and fatigue.
Accordingly, what is needed is a mechanic's creeper which addresses the shortcoming of prior art creepers and which provides the mechanic with an easily transformable mechanic's creeper that can be moved into various seating configurations with minimal effort. The present invention satisfies these and other needs.

Multi-position mechanic's creeper with tool tray


Subject-matter of this invention is a method for assembling components, such as M.O.S, devices and the like, upon printed circuit boards by clinching, such method including the steps of providing a board bearing a printed circuit with places upon which a component is to be assembled; applying the component upon the board with its pins in contact with the places of the circuit among which it is to be assembled; pressing the component in order that the pins are forced to penetrate through the thickness of the board; and clinching the end portions of the pins protruding from the back side of the board.

This invention relates to a method for assembling components, such as M.O.S. devices and like, upon printed circuit boards, without resorting to any soldering operation.
As is known, the number of electronic apparatus which include as basic components printed circuit boards upon which active or passive circuit components are assembled is extremely large.
As far as the boards are concerned, a broadly used type of board usually consists of a thin plate of dielectric material, usually polycarbonate or a polyester such as mylar, upon which the network of electric connections, that is the electric circuit itself, is applied upon one or both sides. The circuit components are subsequently applied by means of a separate and independent multiple soldering operation.
Under the term of multiple soldering operation it is to be understood that, even for assembling a single component, having a plurality of pins, a plurality of single soldering operations are typically necessary in order to solder the various pins to be connected to various points of the printed circuit.
This multiple soldering operation in the manufacture of many electronic devices is a real bottle neck of the whole manufacturing process. In fact, it is evident that, whatever the execution times and modes of such soldering operations may be, they are extremely critical because a bad soldering operation can entail conduction irregularities or even ohmic discontinuities, and improperly centered soldered connections can entail burrs or even cause undesired short-circuits.

Method for assembling components upon printed circuit boards


A photodetector according to an embodiment includes: a photodetector element unit including a first cell array including a plurality of first cells arranged in an array and a second cell array including a plurality of second cells arranged in an array, each of the first and second cells including a photoelectric conversion element, the second cell array being arranged to be adjacent to the first cell array; a first pulse height analyzer unit analyzing a pulse height of an electrical signal outputted from the first cell array; a second pulse height analyzer unit analyzing a pulse height of an electrical signal outputted from the second cell array; and a signal processing unit determining non-uniformity of a distribution of photons entering the first and second cell arrays using an output signal of the first pulse height analyzer unit and an output signal of the second pulse height analyzer unit.

A silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) is a photodetector element including two-dimensionally arranged avalanche photodiodes (hereafter referred to as "APDs"), which operate in a mode called "Geiger mode" when a reverse-bias voltage higher than a breakdown voltage of the APDs is applied thereto. The gain of an APD operating in Geiger mode is very high, 1×105 to 1×106. Therefore, a very weak light emission of a single photon can be measured using the APD.
A resistor having a high resistance value called "quenching resistor" is connected in series to each APD of a SiPM, When a single photon enters the APD to cause a Geiger discharge, the quenching resistor causes a voltage drop to terminate the amplification. As a result, a pulsed output signal can be obtained. Each APD of the SiPM acts in this manner. Accordingly, if the Geiger discharge occurs in a plurality of APDs, an output signal can be obtained, the output signal indicating a charge value or pulse height value obtained by multiplying an output signal of a single APD by the number of APDs in which Geiger discharge occurs. Therefore, the number of APDs in which the Geiger discharge occurs, i.e., the number of photons entering the SiPM, can be determined from such an output signal. This enables the counting of the number of photons.
As described above, if a plurality of photons enters the SiPM, the number of photons can be correctly counted as long as a single photon enters each APD of an APD array, since the Geiger discharge occurs in each APD. However, it takes some time for an APD in which a Geiger discharge occurs to recover to the original reverse-bias potential state. If a photon enters thereto during such a time, a sufficient reverse-bias is not applied to the APD. As a result, the photon is not counted. Therefore, the recovery time is called "dead time." If a large number of photons reach the APD array during the dead time, there would be a loss in the counting of photons. Accordingly, the output signal shows nonlinear values relative to the number of photons. As a result, the photon counting accuracy is considerably degraded.
The spatial distribution and temporal distribution of the photons entering the SiPM greatly relate to the cause of such a degradation. For example, cases where light rays having the same energy enter the SiPM uniformly and non-uniformly are considered. If the light rays enter non-uniformly, a frequency with which a single APD receives a light ray during a short period increases. Accordingly, the output signal in such a case becomes lower than that in the case where the light rays enter uniformly. However, the APDs of the SiPM are connected in parallel, and there is no information on which APDs are in the Geiger mode at which timing. Therefore, such an output signal, which is an erroneous signal having information that a lower number than the actual number of photons enter, the energy resolution of the SiPM is degraded.
In order to improve the characteristics of SiPMs, the number of APD arrays for receiving photons is increased, or the dead time is shortened in some SiPMs. However, if the number of APD arrays is increased, the area of each APD may be reduced. This would degrade the photon detection efficiency and the gain. The shortening of dead time is in a trade-off with an increase of noise or a decrease of gain. Accordingly, this cannot solve the problem fundamentally.

Photodetector and computed tomography apparatus


A nitrile-group-containing highly saturated copolymer rubber comprising α,β-ethylenically unsaturated nitrile monomer units (a) in 5 to 60 wt %, α,β-ethylenically unsaturated dicarboxylic acid mono ester monomer units (b) in 0.1 to 20 wt %, (meth)acrylic acid alkoxyalkyl ester monomer units which have alkoxyalkyl groups with 2 to 8 carbon atoms (c) in 11 to 50 wt %, and conjugated diene monomer units (d) in 20 to 83.9 wt %, where at least part of the conjugated diene monomer units (d) are hydrogenated.

A nitrile group-containing highly saturated copolymer rubber such as a hydrogenated acrylonitrile-butadiene copolymer rubber is superior in heat resistance, oil resistance, ozone resistance, etc. compared with a general nitrile group-containing copolymer rubber high in a ratio of carbon-carbon unsaturated bonds in its main chain structures such as an acrylonitrile-butadiene copolymer rubber.
As the composition of such a nitrile-group-containing highly saturated copolymer rubber, for example, Patent Document 1 proposes a cross-linkable rubber composition containing a highly saturated nitrile rubber which has α,β-ethylenically unsaturated dicarboxylic acid mono ester monomer units, a polyamine cross-linking agent, and a basic cross-linking accelerator. While a rubber cross-linked product which is improved in heat resistance and compression set is obtained by this composition, further improvement of the cold resistance has been desired.

Nitrile group-containing highly saturated copolymer rubber


In a web crawler, a URL selection module selects URLs for pages to be downloaded. The URL selection module accesses an interaction data store that stores interaction data for web pages, including interaction data that indicates human interactions with the pages. To reduce the effects of link farms, the URL selection module filters the URLs to select only those URLs that have human interaction histories and provides the selected URLs to a download module for web page downloading.

In internet technology, web crawlers are used to find new web pages by collecting and following URLs (Uniform Resource Locators). By following an URL and downloading the corresponding web page the links within that web page can be added to the web crawler's URL collection. The web pages are stored for indexing and ranking by internet search engines. Internet search engines use web page ranking algorithms that relate the links within a web page to the relevance of the web page.
The use of link popularity algorithms to rank web pages has lead to the problem of "link farms". In order to manipulate a web page's ranking, a large sub-web of interlinked web pages is created and linked to a web page so that the page receives a high search engine ranking. In addition to distortion of web page rankings, a problem with link farms is that a web crawler spends a lot of resources following links and collecting web pages for eventual indexing into a search engine, even though many of these pages are created only for page ranking and are not otherwise used by, nor useful for humans.
What is required is a system, method and computer readable medium that provides enhanced web crawling.

System, method and computer readable medium for web crawling


An efficient way to perform power control and to communicate data with a base station is desired. According to an aspect, the apparatus generates a downlink grant for a device, the downlink grant indicating to the device subsets of uplink resources allocated for transmitting data segments and subsets of downlink resources for receiving power control commands for respective data segments, the subsets of the uplink resources being non-concurrent with the subsets of the downlink resources. The apparatus transmits the downlink grant to the device. The apparatus receives, from the device, a first uplink transmission in a first subset of the uplink resources based on the transmitted downlink grant. The apparatus generates a first power control command based on the received first uplink transmission. The apparatus transmits, to the device, the first power control command in a first subset of the downlink resources. The apparatus may be a base station.

Field
The present disclosure relates generally to communication systems, and more particularly, to an uplink (UL) communication in a frequency division duplex network.
Background
Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide various telecommunication services such as telephony, video, data, messaging, and broadcasts. Typical wireless communication systems may employ multiple-access technologies capable of supporting communication with multiple users by sharing available system resources. Examples of such multiple-access technologies include code division multiple access (CDMA) systems, time division multiple access (TDMA) systems, frequency division multiple access (FDMA) systems, orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) systems, single-carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) systems, and time division synchronous code division multiple access (TD-SCDMA) systems.
These multiple access technologies have been adopted in various telecommunication standards to provide a common protocol that enables different wireless devices to communicate on a municipal, national, regional, and even global level. An example telecommunication standard is Long Term Evolution (LTE). LTE is a set of enhancements to the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) mobile standard promulgated by Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). LTE is designed to support mobile broadband access through improved spectral efficiency, lowered costs, and improved services using OFDMA on the downlink, SC-FDMA on the uplink, and multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antenna technology. However, as the demand for mobile broadband access continues to increase, there exists a need for further improvements in LTE technology. These improvements may also be applicable to other multi-access technologies and the telecommunication standards that employ these technologies.
For efficient communication from a user device to a base station, an appropriate power control for the communication is desired. Therefore, an efficient way for a user device to perform power control of communication with the base station is desired. In addition, efficient use of communication resources is desired for data communication between the user device and the base station.

Uplink scheduling with power control command in an FDD half-duplex network


Disclosed herein are methods, processes, compositions, and kits for generating bone graft materials for use at a site of bone defect that utilizes a composition which contains liposomal Wnt polypeptide, such as liposomal Wnt3a polypeptide, liposomal Wnt5a polypeptide, or liposomal Wnt10b polypeptide. Also disclosed herein are methods, processes, compositions, and kits for enhancing mammalian bone marrow cells that utilizes a composition which contains liposomal Wnt polypeptide, such as liposomal Wnt3a polypeptide, liposomal Wnt5a polypeptide, or liposomal Wnt10b polypeptide.

Wnt proteins form a family of highly conserved secreted signaling molecules that bind to cell surface receptors encoded by the Frizzled and low-density lipoprotein receptor related proteins (LRPs). The WNT gene family consists of structurally related genes which encode secreted signaling proteins. These proteins have been implicated in oncogenesis and in several developmental processes, including regulation of cell fate and patterning during embryogenesis. Once bound, the ligands initiate a cascade of intracellular events that eventually lead to the transcription of target genes through the nuclear activity of β-catenin and the DNA binding protein TCF (Clevers H, 2004 Wnt signaling: Ig-norrin the dogma. Curr Biol 14: R436-R437; Nelson & Nusse 2004 Convergence of Wnt, beta-catenin, and cadherin pathways. Science 303: 1483-1487; Gordon & Nusse 2006 Wnt signaling: Multiple pathways, multiple receptors, and multiple transcription factors. J Biol Chem 281: 22429-22433).
Wnt proteins are also involved in a wide variety of cellular decisions associated with the program of osteogenesis. For example, Wnt proteins regulate the expression level of sox9, which influences the commitment of mesenchymal progenitor cells to a skeletogenic fate. Wnt proteins influence the differentiation of cells, into either osteoblasts or chondrocytes. In adult animals, there is evidence that Wnt signaling regulates bone mass. For example, mutations in the human Wnt co-receptor LRP5 are associated with several high bone mass syndromes, including osteoporosis type I, and endosteal hyperostosis or autosomal dominant osteosclerosis, as well as a low bone mass disease, osteoporosis-pseudoglioma. Increased production of the Wnt inhibitor Dkkl is associated with multiple myeloma, a disease that has increased bone resorption as one of its distinguishing features. For further details, see, S. Minear et al., Wnt proteins promote bone regeneration. Sci. Transl. Med. 2, 29ra30 (2010); and Zhao et al., Controlling the in vivo activity of Wnt liposomes, Methods Enzyrnol 465: 331-47 (2009).

Wnt compositions and methods for purification

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