An apparatus and process for hardening cutting edges having various widths. The apparatus includes a plasma torch for projecting a plasma beam through an outlet nozzle. The outlet nozzle has a length parallel to the cutting edge and a width perpendicular to the cutting edge. The nozzle width is greater than the nozzle length. A variable electromagnet is located adjacent the nozzle for adjustably deflecting the plasma beam from a circular cross section beam to a widened beam. The electromagnet deflects the plasma beam at its width so that it is slightly wider than the width of the cutting edge to be hardened. The plasma beams with a smaller cross section have a lower power consumption and a constant gas flow rate than larger cross sectional beams.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an apparatus and a process for hardening the cutting edges of saws, especially for working wood, as well as knives, cutting tools and punching tools for working wood, paper, paperboard, plastic, leather or textiles, by an energy beam which is passed over the cutting edge of the tool to be hardened. Saws, knives or cutting tools and punching tools experience wear at the cutting edges. The useful life of these tools depends on the quality of the cutting edge, on the material cut and on the cutting output. At the end of their useful life, these tools are either reground or scrapped. Many types of saws, knives, cutting tools and punching tools are made of carbon steel, which can easily be hardened by heating and subsequent rapid cooling. But since such hardening always results in a reduction in strength, great hardness is desired only in the area of the cutting edges. The other parts of a saw, a knife or a cutting tool should have lesser hardness, but greater strength.
2. Description of the Related Art
Known methods for partially hardening cutting edges use electron or laser beams as the energy source. A disadvantage exists with the known electron beams or laser beams in that they are complicated devices. For this reason, such processes are hardly used in practice.
Another known hardening process is inductive hardening. After grinding the cutting edge, the cutting edge area is heated by an eddy current, generated by a high-frequency magnetic alternating field, and hardened by rapid cooling.
Furthermore, it is known from WO 83/00051 to carry out surface hardening of flat areas by means of a plasma beam. Hardening cutting edges by plasma beams was not considered until recently, however, because plasma beams are unstable.
In saws, welding stellite onto the tooth tips is known. The stellite material welded on is subsequently ground to the desired pointed tooth shape. However, this process is very complicated. It is an object of the present invention to provide a process for hardening the cutting edges of saws, knives, cutting tools and punching tools in which an energy beam which is simple to produce and cost-effective to operate is used.

Process for hardening cutting edges with an oval shaped plasma beam


The present invention relates to a photographic processor which includes a circular processing drum and a metering blade assembly provided within the drum. The metering blade assembly is adapted to control or meter an amount of processing solution provided on film to be processed in the film path. The metering blade assembly is adjustable so as to accommodate 35 mm or APS film in the photographic processor. The metering blade assembly is also attached to a support assembly or member which further supports an agitating roller. With the arrangement of the present invention, it is possible to adjust the width of both the agitating roller and the metering blade in accordance with the type of film to be processed in the photographic processor.

The present invention is directed to a photographic processing drum having a metering blade assembly and a method of operation.
Photographic processors come in a variety of shapes and sizes from large wholesale photographic processors to small micro-labs. As photographic processors become more and more technologically sophisticated, there is a continued need to make the photographic processor as user-friendly and as maintenance-free as possible.
Currently available photographic processors have one or more of the following shortcomings: (1) the film processing time is relatively long; (2) some photographic processors, because of their size, require a large amount of space; (3) some photographic processors may require an unacceptable amount of processing solution due to the design of the processing tank; and (4) some photographic processors generate an unacceptable amount of solution waste due to the design of the processing tank.
What is needed in the art is a photographic processor, which provides exceptional print quality while requiring a minimal number of tasks necessary for an operator to process a roll of film. What is also needed in the art is a photographic processor which is designed to maintain processing solution within a specified zone or area of the processor and minimize the circulation of solution outside of the specified zone or area.
The present invention addresses some of the difficulties and problems discussed above by the discovery of a photographic processor having an internal drum design, which minimizes the chemicals required to process a roll of film and consequently minimizes the amount of waste generated per roll of film processing. The photographic processor is extremely user-friendly and low maintenance.
The present invention accordingly provides for a photographic processor which comprises a circular processing drum for processing photographic film, with an inside surface of a perimeter of the drum defining a film path for film to be processed; a support assembly provided within the circular processing drum; and a metering blade assembly supported by the support assembly. The metering blade assembly extends from the support assembly toward a first location within the drum adjacent to the inside surface of the drum. The metering blade assembly is adapted to at least control an amount of processing solution provided on film to be processed in the film path.
The present invention further provides for a photographic processor which comprises a circular processing drum for processing photographic film, with an inside surface of a perimeter of the drum defining a film path for film to be processed; support means provided in the processing drum; and metering means for metering processing solution on the film to be processed. The metering means is supported by the support means.
The present invention further provides for a method of processing photographic film which comprises inserting film into a film path in a circular processing drum having processing solution therein, with the film path extending along an inside surface of the perimeter of the drum; and providing a metering blade along the film path to control an amount of processing solution on the film and prevent excess solution from circulating within the processing drum toward an area downstream of the metering blade with respect to the direction of travel of the film.
These and other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent after a review of the following detailed description of the disclosed embodiments and the appended claims.

Photographic processing drum having a metering blade assembly


A system and method concerns a secure transmission of a file fragmentable into a plurality of fragments, and comprises (a) initially fixing a global encryption key; (b) encrypting the fragmentable file based on said global key to form a first encrypted file; (c) encrypting the global key by means of an asymmetric encryption algorithm using a public key to obtain a global encrypted key; (d) inserting values representing the global encrypted key among the fragments of said encrypted file to form a second encrypted file; and (e) transmitting the second encrypted file.

In order to transmit files of significant size, such as images, in a secure manner, it is possible to use symmetric encipherment systems. However, this type of encipherment necessitates the dispatching of a secret key used to decrypt and encrypt the file transmitted. Consequently, such a method of transmitting secure data comprises the risk of the interception of the key which may make it possible to decrypt the data file. Moreover, the receiver will then know the key used by the sender, this therefore necessitating regular, indeed systematic, changing of the secret key to be used.
Additionally, it is very unwieldy to use an asymmetric encryption system which therefore implements a private key to encrypt each file fragment by the sender and a public key transferred to the receiver to decrypt this fragment. Specifically, on account of the receiver's partial knowledge of the key, asymmetric systems necessitate the use of large prime integers, of significant size, in particular greater than 1024 bits (in particular in the RSA algorithm) to encrypt each file fragment. Consequently, the resources and time required to implement such a method of encrypted transmission are significant.
An aim of the present invention is to alleviate these drawbacks.
The present invention proposes a method for secure transmission of data allowing the dispatching of data of significant size, in particular of images, and which is fast and effective.
Additionally, the aim of the present invention is to provide a method for secure data transmission that is robust to noise or to the loss of data, in particular by fraudulent interception of data packets.

Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique-CNRS


The present invention is an anatomical restoration dental implant system with an interlockable angled abutment assembly. The angled abutment assembly includes a screw member, an angled abutment member and a bolt member. The bolt member has a hexagonal head segment and an elongated shaft segment with screw threads for securing a healing cap to an implant fixture and connecting the angled abutment member. The angled abutment member has a continuous frusto-conical shaped divergent body with a smaller distal end, a larger proximal end and a stepped interior bore extending through the proximal end along an axis offset from an axis of the divergent body. The stepped interior bore has a narrow cylindrical section and a 12-side polygonal section. The angled abutment member can be mounted on the healing cap by engaging the head segment of the bolt member with the 12-side polygonal section of the interior bore of the angled abutment member, which allows the angular orientation of the angled abutment member to be adjustable in any 30 degree interval, and the screw member can be used to secure the angled abutment member to the bolt member.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of dental implants and in particular to a system providing a tooth analogue and a gingival tissue healing cap which results in a restoration having tissue-implant profiles similar to that of a natural tooth and its surrounding gingiva. The present invention also relates to fitting a tooth with a temporary crown and final prosthesis after the initial implant structure has been inserted and the surrounding tissue has healed. More particularly, the present invention relates to the field of anatomical restoration dental implant systems with interlockable elliptical healing cap and abutment.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Many systems have been proposed for rigidly fixing metal or ceramic materials to the alveolus of a human mandible or maxilla in an effort to provide a long term replacement for lost teeth. Early systems were successful for only limited periods of time and were eventually rejected as foreign bodies. Later systems, as described by U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,589,011 to Sneer, 3,797,113 to Brainin, 3,979,828 to Taylor, 4,324,550 to Reuther et al., and 4,416,679 to Mozsary et al., have proven to offer long term success by providing rigid anchorage in the supporting bone. Intraoral restoration of such ossointegrated devices has been accomplished with many different systems that modified the original attempts. Such modifications have been described in U.S. Pate. Nos. 4,780,080 to Harras, 4,713,003 to Symington et al., and 4,657,510 to Gittlemen. However, these restorative systems have required biologic and aesthetic compromises. The interface between an implant and its surrounding gingival tissue is often insufficiently close to prevent food and bacteria from entering this area. Such foreign matter can cause chronic infection and bone loss, resulting in eventual loss of the implant. Implants in current use have a round root form dimensionally different from that of a normal tooth root morphology. This makes aesthetic restoration difficult and impedes the development of a natural soft gingival tissue contour.
The inventor and applicant of the present invention has been practicing anatomical restoration dental implant surgery for many years and is the patentee of a series of U.S. patents related to anatomical restoration dental implant systems. U.S. Pat. No. 5,073,111 issued to Daftary on Dec. 17, 1991 (hereafter "the '111 patent") disclosed an anatomical restoration dental implant system. Shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the '111 patent disclosed an anatomical restoration dental implant system for implanting a tooth analogue 102 in the alveolus of the jawbone 104. The system comprises an implantable fixture 106 implanted through opened gingival tissue 108 into the alveolus of the jaw bone 104. A cover screw (not shown) is used for sealing the hollow of the implant fixture 106 during the time the jaw bone 104 is growing about the implant fixture 106. After osseointegration of the implant fixture 106, the gingiva 108 is reopened and the cover screw is removed and replaced by a healing cap 110. The healing cap 110 provides a predetermined contour to the re-healing gingival tissue 108. After the re-opened gingival tissue 108 has healed about the healing cap 110, the healing cap 110 is removed and replaced with an abutment 112 having the same contour as that of the healing cap 110. Having the same contour permits the abutment 112 to tightly fit the healed opening in the gingival tissue 108 upon engagement of the abutment 112 with the implant fixture 106. The abutment 112 is removably affixed to the implant fixture 106 by a screw 114. Thereafter the tooth analogue 102 is releasibly engagable with the abutment 112 by a small holding screw 116.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,035,619 issued to Daftary on Jul. 30, 1991 (hereafter "the '619 patent") disclosed an anatomical restoration dental implant system with improved healing cap and abutment. U.S. Pat. No. 5,145,372 issued to Daftary et al. on Sep. 8, 1992 (hereafter "the '372 patent") disclosed an anatomical restoration dental implant system with reinforced healing cap and abutment. The '619 patent introduced an assembly of a two-piece healing cap and a matching abutment for improving the healing process of the gingival tissue 108, and the '372 patent provided a reinforced assembly of the two-piece healing cap and the matching abutment. The two-piece healing cap configurations are designed to prevent the unnecessary damage or delay to the healing of the gingival tissues. However, it is always desirable to improve the anatomical restoration dental implant system so that it can provide a contour more nearly approximating that of a natural tooth and its surrounding tissue, and an implant root and gingival tissue interface that enhances the resistance to bacterial infection.
In addition, under some special circumstances an angled abutment member is needed for supporting a tooth analogue. A typical one of these special circumstances is that the part of a patient's jaw bone directly underneath the tooth is damaged, so that the dental implant fixture has to be implanted on an adjacent part of the patient's jaw bone. Under such a circumstance, the exposed surface of the dental implant fixture is often misaligned. After a healing cap is secured to the implant fixture, the axis normal to the top surface of the healing cap is often not aligned with the axis of the tooth. In this situation, an angled abutment member is needed. Therefore, it is also desirable to have an angled abutment assembly which can support a tooth analogue on the healing cap in such misaligned situation.

Anatomical restoration dental implant system with interlockable angled abutment assembly


A device includes a plurality of memory cells, an error detection circuit configured to detect at least one memory cell storing error data and a refresh control circuit including a register configured to store an error address corresponding to the at least one memory cell storing error data. The refresh control circuit is configured to control a refresh cycle of the error address.

The present invention relates to a semiconductor device and particularly to a semiconductor device capable of verifying whether user data includes an error or not.
Some semiconductor devices, such as Dynamic Random Access Memories (DRAMs), have a user data error correction function. Such a semiconductor device includes a separate memory area for storing error check and correction information (ECC), in addition to a memory area for storing user data. See Japanese patent Laid Open publication No. 2002-25299, for example.
The above semiconductor device corrects user data read in a read operation based on error correction information, and outputs the corrected user data to the outside. When carrying out a write operation, the semiconductor device generates error correction information, based on externally input user data, and writes the user data and the error correction information respectively to corresponding memory areas.
The semiconductor device described in the publication No. 2002-25299 has a function of switching a refresh cycle chip by chip according to an error rate, thus reducing the error rate of each chip to a certain error rate or less. Japanese patent Laid Open publication No. 2001-250378 discloses a DRAM having an error correction function. Japanese patent Laid Open publication No. 2011-165243 discloses a DRAM that sets a variable refreshing cycle.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Apparatus including refresh controller controlling refresh operation responsive to data error


A plurality of uni-directional light reflective lane markers are adapted for securance on a roadway to separate and delineate laterally adjacent traffic lanes from each other. Each lane marker comprises an elongated delineating strip extending longitudinally in a first direction and a plurality of longitudinally spaced light reflectors on the delineating strip for visually displaying the strip when it is viewed in the first direction and for at least substantially rendering the strip invisible when it is viewed in the second direction, opposite to the first direction. Thus, a particular traffic lane is clearly delineated for traffic travelling in the first direction, but is rendered substantially invisible when viewed by traffic travelling in the second, opposite directions. Conversely, the lanes for traffic travelling in the second direction are clearly delineated for oppositely moving traffic. Each lane marker preferably comprises a molded plastic member embedded in flush relationship in the roadway and the light reflectors are defined on exposed leading surfaces, formed on the proximal sides of a plurality of longitudinally spaced segments formed within the member.

Roadway delineators and markers are commonly used to separate and delineate adjacent traffic lanes. A standard lane marker may comprise a plurality of longitudinally spaced reflector elements secured on a roadway to visually display the lane marker to a driver. The reflector elements are usually formed from standard laminated plastic and ceramic materials and include a suitably colored conventional glass bead or cube-corner retro-reflective material for light reflecting purposes.
In certain lane marker applications, it has proven desirable to visually display the lane marker when traffic moves in one direction and to render the lane marker at least substantially invisible when traffic moves in the opposite direction. For example, when moveable lane barrier systems of the type described in applicant's U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,806,044; 4,815,889 and 4,828,425 are mounded on a roadway to separate oppositely directed lanes of traffic, the lane barrier system is moved laterally to increase the number of traffic lanes in one direction to accommodate rush-hour traffic or the like.
In a typical application of this type, a pair of parallel lane markers are formed in the middle of a roadway and separated from each other by approximately two feet to accommodate the width of the lane barrier system. The lane barrier system can thus separate the roadway for normal traffic flow to provide three lanes on each side thereof. When it is desired to move the lane barrier laterally to provide two lanes of traffic in one direction and four lanes of traffic in the opposite direction, each of the parallel pair of intermediate lane markers would be exposed to give rise to driver confusion in respect to delineation of the middle lanes since the pair of lane markers would be visible in both directions of traffic movement.
Further, conventional reflector elements normally project above the roadway to expose them to engagement with the tires of the vehicles. Thus, the drivers are subjected to a "rough ride" when they run over a series of the reflector elements. Furthermore, the reflector elements are subjected to wear and possible damage.

Roadway with uni-directional light reflective lane marker


An AC capacitor is coupled to a totem-pole type PFC circuit. In response to detection of a power input disconnection, the PFC circuit is controlled to discharge the AC capacitor. The PFC circuit includes a resistor and a first MOSFET and a second MOSFET coupled in series between DC output nodes with a common node coupled to the AC capacitor. When the disconnection event is detected, one of the first and second MOSFETs is turned on to discharge the AC capacitor with a current flowing through the resistor and the turned on MOSFET. Furthermore, a thyristor may be simultaneously turned on, with the discharge current flowing through a series coupling of the MOSFET, resistor and thyristor. Disconnection is detected by detecting a zero-crossing failure of an AC power input voltage or lack of input voltage decrease or input current increase in response to MOSFET turn on for a DC input.

In many applications, the power received from the electric power distribution mains by devices connected thereto is filtered by a capacitor (such as an AC capacitor) upstream of a voltage conversion and/or power factor correction circuit. The capacitor, for example, is generally directly connected to the line and neutral conductors (or between two phases) of the AC power supply, or alternatively directly connected to lines of a DC power supply.
The presence of the capacitor requires discharging it when the device is disconnected from the power supply network by the user. Indeed, the charge that is stored by the capacitor at the time when the device is disconnected can be quite high and presents a significant danger to the user.
Although many solutions exist for this problem, they are often complex and/or expensive. There is a need in the art for a simple and inexpensive AC capacitor discharge circuit.

Discharge of an AC capacitor using totem-pole power factor correction (PFC) circuitry


A pressing member is prevented from being damaged by heat, heat dissipation through the pressing member on the higher-temperature side and reduction in thermoelectric conversion efficiency due to it are suppressed, and good electrical conduction is achieved even if thermoelectric conversion elements and electrodes are not cemented through a binder. A lower-temperature side electrode 6 is projecting toward a higher-temperature side substrate 8 and the lower-temperature side electrode 6 is formed with slope faces 6a, 6b, and an angle θ of each of the slope face to a surface of a lower-temperature side substrate 7 is an acute angle. A face 3a of a p-type thermoelectric conversion element 3 in contact with the lower-temperature side electrode 6 is along one slope face 6a of the lower-temperature side electrode and a face 4b of an n-type thermoelectric conversion element 4 in contact with the lower-temperature side electrode 6 is along the other slope face 6b of the lower-temperature side electrode 6; the p-type thermoelectric conversion element 3 and the n-type thermoelectric conversion element 4 are in contact with the lower-temperature side electrode 6 through the respective slope faces; a pressing member 5 presses a portion on the lower-temperature side substrate side of an outside thermoelectric conversion element 10, toward the other outside thermoelectric conversion element 10.

In a thermoelectric conversion module wherein thermoelectric conversion elements and electrodes are cemented through a binder such as a solder or a brazing material, thermal stress occurs between the thermoelectric conversion elements and the electrodes on the higher-temperature side of the thermoelectric conversion module because of the difference between the thermal expansion coefficients of the thermoelectric conversion elements and the electrodes, so as to result in breakage of binding portions in some cases. In order to solve this problem, there are attempts to achieve good electrical conduction without cementing the thermoelectric conversion elements and the electrodes in the thermoelectric conversion module by soldering or brazing. Patent Literature 1 discloses the thermoelectric conversion module provided with pressing members to apply a pressing load from side faces on the higher-temperature side of the thermoelectric conversion elements toward the thermoelectric conversion elements.
Citation List
Patent Literature
Patent Literature 1: JP 2008-270618A


A configurable, dismantlable display case system, with supports for promotional graphics, for use as a display cabinet, the constitution thereof being simple and entailing a reduced cost, and with the possibility of changing the configuration of its assembly and the promotional campaign thereon. The modular display system consists generally of a plastic shelving unit, with trays at different levels, linked at their corners by means of pillars consisting of PVC profiles, of a generally triangular shape, which fit adjustably into corresponding housings, one at each corner and on both sides of each tray; short profiles formed by extruded PVC profiles of a more reduced length than the pillar profiles, of a generally triangular shape with rounded corners which slot adjustably into the corresponding housings of the tray, and comprising non-slip ferrules inserted into the profile forming the leg at the area in contact with the floor; and assembly method.

Promotional campaigns for certain articles are very common at stores; usually of limited duration and basically consisting of locating the articles publicised in a prominent or notable location, by means of shelving distinguishable from the remainder.
These campaigns are of limited duration; the cabinet used for the same therefore has a limited validity or life. It is therefore advisable to employ a simply-configured cabinet entailing a reduced cost which, in spite of the foregoing, provides the characteristics of safety and appearance necessary for the purpose for which it is intended.
The modular shelving unit of the present invention is an array of devices that configure a modular, assemblable shelving unit, this being the solution to the main problems and difficulties entailed by previous assemblable shelving units for the display of products at sales outlets, these being: the disposability of the cabinet, the impossibility to configure the same according to the space available and the inexistence of specialised supports for promotional campaigns.
Currently, the companies that manufacture assemblable shelving units used for the displaying of products in sales outlets only provide the basic structure of the shelving unit, i.e. a tray with housings for the installation of pillars, which can only be installed individually, either higher or lower. The latest developments seen include special housings for the installation of promotional graphics, enabling the continued use of the cabinet, since the replacement of the publicity simplifies the change thereof with no detriment to the shelving unit.
Notwithstanding the aforesaid, the main problem still presented by the most modern shelving units is that it is difficult to configure the same horizontally in order to cover larger surfaces.
Until the present, one solution has been to affix one shelving unit to another by means of cables or cords. Another advantageous solution known is a shelving unit with trays of a trapezoidal outline, which includes cylindrical pillars enabling the coupling of the trays at different levels, joined at their corners by means of clamps; this solution enables the lateral configuration of the shelving units, by joining the trays at a single pillar by means of the clamps; however, not all configurations permit the determination of trays on the same plane, nor is there a possibility of including interchangeable promotional graphics.
With regard to the known prior art, there exists a need for a visually attractive modular display system with appropriate characteristics for its use in all types of shopping malls, fairs and promotional events, which may be configured in a wide variety of shapes and sizes, is simple to assemble and dismantle, with interchangeable publicity and at a reduced cost.

Configurable and dismantlable display case system comprising a plastic shelving unit with trays at different levels, and method of assembly


A solver solves constraint satisfaction problems. The solver receives a user decision and propagates the user decision over a constraint satisfaction problem network. The solver then determines if there is a conflict on the network based on the propagation. If there is a conflict, the solver allows a user to resolve the conflict interactively by either canceling the user decision or dropping one or more previously made user decisions.

Many of the tasks that are addressed by decision-making systems and artificial intelligence systems can be represented as constraint satisfaction problems ("CSP"s). In this representation, the task is specified in terms of a set of variables, each of which can assume values in a given domain, and a set of constraints that the variables must simultaneously satisfy. The set of variables, domains and constraints is referred to as a CSP. Each constraint may be expressed as a relation, defined over some subset of the variables, denoting valid combinations of their values. A solution to a CSP is an assignment of a value to all the variables from their respective domains that satisfies all of the constraints.
A constraint based system includes a constraint solver that attempts to find one or more solutions to a given CSP, or prove that no solution exists. Constraint based systems are used for many artificial intelligence related applications and a variety of other applications, including: (1) Product configurators; (2) Robotic control; (3) Temporal reasoning; (4) Natural language processing; (5) Spatial reasoning; (6) Test-case generation for software and hardware systems; (7) Machine vision; (8) Medical diagnosis; (9) Resource allocation; and (10) Frequency allocation.
The network of constraints in a CSP can be viewed as a graph, having a node for each variable and an "arc" for each constraint. The members of each arc are the variables that appear in the constraint to which the arc corresponds. An arc is said to be consistent if for any variable of the arc, and any value in the domain of the variable, there is a valid assignment of values to the other variables on the arc that satisfies the constraint represented by the arc.
Some known constraint based systems allow a user to interact with a computer interface in order to customize and configure a solution by selecting among optional choices and making user decisions. For these systems, constraints are enforced between optional choices, allowing the user to select the choices they want, while validating that the resulting set of user decisions is valid. Some of these known systems are not fully "interactive" because they function as batch systems in which all of the user decisions are initially collected and then checked for validity as a batch. Other known systems, when receiving a user decision, propagate the user decision through its constraint network. However, a conflict due to the propagation will likely cause a removal of some of the prior selections and will likely require a restart of the entire configuration process. This causes the user to have to essentially start over, or at a minimum slows down the processing, thus diminishing the interactive experience.

Constraint satisfaction problem solver with interactive conflict resolution


The disclosure provides a class of pH-sensitive, helix/random conformation switchable antimicrobial polypeptide (HRS-AMP) compositions as a single agent to selectively kill bacteria (e.g., H. pylori) under acidic condition in the stomach with diminished bacterial resistance compared to currently used antibiotics. Methods of treating bacterial infections in the stomach are also provided.

Helicobacter pylori, the main etiological factor for the development of gastritis, gastric ulcers, and gastric carcinoma, infect about 50% of the population worldwide. To eradicate H. pylori, triple therapy is recommended as first-line therapy in the clinical setting, which involves the use of a combination of two antibiotics for optimal bacterial killing and a proton pump inhibitor (PPI) for increasing the gastric pH to enhance the antimicrobial activity and stability of antibiotics in the gastric fluid. However, the combination therapy is often associated with various side effects. In particular, it leads to undesired elimination of commensal bacteria, which are closely related to various physiological and metabolic processes, the development of the immune system, and a range of diseases, such as inflammatory bowel disease, colon cancer, Parkinson's disease, obesity, diabetes, atherosclerosis, and allergy. For example, gut microbiota play an important role in colorectal carcinogenesis, and colorectal cancer patients show significantly reduced microbial diversity in feces.
In addition, the efficacy of triple therapy is hindered by the constant increment of drug resistance, and the resistance to any of the three drugs will make the treatment end up with failure. The antimicrobial activity of the antibiotics is often insufficient to eradicate bacteria for the patients that are acid hyper-secretors or extensive metabolizers, wherein PPI fails to increase the gastric pH. To address these critical issues, anti-H. pylori therapy should be designed to feature selective killing H. pylori with potentially diminished resistance.
Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) have recently emerged as promising antimicrobial candidates, which are capable of disrupting bacterial membrane structure to combat multidrug resistant microbes. AMPs can kill H. pylori hi vivo as a single agent. However, these antimicrobial agents often suffer from high cytotoxicity (e.g., hemolysis), poor proteolytic stability, and low selectivity. We recently developed a class of radially amphiphilic (RA) antimicrobial polypeptides with a hydrophobic helical core and a charged exterior shell, affording potent antimicrobial activity that are associated with their helical structure. While these RA polypeptides afford several advantages over conventional AMPs, such as simplicity in design and stability against proteases, they lack the capability of differentiating pathogenic bacteria from commensal bacteria, which will cause non-specific killing of commensal bacteria when applied for anti-H. pylori therapy.
Accordingly, there is a need for new antibacterial polypeptides that possess properties enabling the differentiated killing of pathogenic bacteria, particularly H. pylori, versus commensal bacteria.

Conformation switchable antimicrobial peptides and methods of using the same

The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois


A retail outlet with billing facilities has an integrated couponing system, including a printer to record on shoppers' coupons pay-off values randomly determined by the couponing system within predetermined parameters. Discount and other pay-off values are recorded on coupons associated with product categories. Value consideration is given a shopper by deducting the coupon value from the shopper's bill before shopper takes possession of the merchandise. Random prizes add excitement to the shopping experience.

1. Field Of The Invention
The present invention relates to merchandising and, more particularly, to coupons used to promote merchandising.
2. Prior Art
It is common practice on the part of manufacturers and retailers to make coupons available to the public in order to induce the purchase of merchandise promoted by such sellers. Normally, such coupons are distributed through the mail, free-standing inserts, and the print media. Such coupons generally carry discounts on the promoted products or services. More recently, in-store promotions have included in-store couponing, which permits shoppers to select discount coupons on merchandise intended for purchase at such retail facility. U.S. Pat. No. 4,910,672 to Off et al. discloses a system for creating discount coupons in response to the purchase of products. U.S. Pat. No. 4,949,256 to Humble discloses a coupon validation network. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,745,468; 4,876,592; 4,926,255; 5,057,915; and 5,034,807 to Von Kohorn disclose various dispensing units intended to be used with broadcast transmissions. The promotional efforts by many competing manufacturers and retailers tend to equalize and generally result in shoppers viewing all coupons and couponing systems alike, without any one seller generating special interest or excitement. In-store couponing is also perceived as a tedious chore by shoppers. It causes consumers with their shopping carts to compare coupons in supermarket aisles impeding movement through the store.
It is the object of the present invention to introduce a measure of fun and excitement into the couponing efforts by manufacturers, retailers and service providers.
It is another object of the invention to generate heightened interest on the part of shoppers by introducing an element of gaming and prize winning into the shopping process, thereby attracting shoppers to stores.
It is another object to stimulate shopper interest without interfering with the normal traffic flow in stores, such as supermarkets, nor with the common checkout counter procedures.


A system and method for maintaining processing order while permitting parallelism. Processing of a piece of work is divided into a plurality of stages. At each stage, a task advancing the work towards completion is performed. By performing processing as a sequence of tasks, processing can be done in parallel, with progress being made simultaneously on different pieces of work in different stages by a plurality of threads of execution.

Many software/firmware-based systems support multiple concurrent threads of execution. Doing so has a potential to increase concurrency and hence throughput. This approach has to be used with care when relative ordering of work done by different threads is important. The risk of race conditions is a well-known problem, and synchronization methods are needed to prevent undesired relative ordering of events. While simple synchronization schemes are relatively straightforward, they constrain parallelism.
One way to get around a limitation of using a single lock, and hence completely disabling parallelism, is to adopt pipelining. Pipelining is most commonly done in hardware, where each subpart of a piece of hardware does a different thing, and data to be processed is moved from one pipeline stage to another, much like on an assembly line. A software system can mimic this by have a software thread implement the function of each pipeline stage run on its own CPU. Work passing from one pipeline stage to another is passed from one software thread to another, and possibly through queues to accommodate potentially different rates of processing in each pipeline stage. This is sometimes done in embedded systems, employing firmware running on a multiple processor design. However, this approach has a number of limitations. First, when functionality is implemented by software and there are more pipeline stages than the number of processors (i.e. the number of threads that can be executing), the model breaks down and has to be modified by merging pipeline stages. In addition, when different pipeline stages take different amounts of time, processing efficiency suffers. Some processors will be underutilized. Further, unbalanced pipeline stages degrading performance is a problem for pipeline hardware. In general, hardware designers try hard to make sure each pipeline stage takes a similar amount of time. However, this is only possible because each hardware pipeline stage is typically very simple, and has little dynamic variability. Software-implemented functions generally have high dynamic variability. Furthermore, when code performing different tasks has to time-multiplex and share a more limited number of processors, it becomes impractical, if not impossible, to balance pipeline stages. At the very least, it becomes a complex scheduling problem. Another disadvantage of such a prior art solution—software implementing a strict pipeline model—is that handing work between software threads running on different processors as the work proceeds through the pipeline is inefficient. It engenders coordination and synchronization overhead, and quite possibly a fair amount of state transfer between CPUs running the threads.

Systems and methods for enabling threads to lock a stage prior to processing data


A one-trip through tubing window milling system is disclosed. The whipstock is delivered with the mill and downhole motor in a downhole assembly which further includes MWD equipment for proper whipstock orientation. The entire assembly is run through tubing and the MWD equipment orients the whipstock. A motor lock prevents the downhole motor from turning as fluid pressure is applied to properly anchor the whipstock below the production tubing. The motor lock is defeated and the milling commenced using the downhole motor. At the conclusion of the window milling, the bottom hole assembly, including the mill, is removed and a retrieving tool releases the whipstock for retrieval through the production tubing.

The field of this invention relates to window milling systems which can be accomplished through the production tubing in a single trip.
Many times in the history of producing wells, a lateral opening must be milled in the casing in order to continue production from an existing well. In the past it has been advantageous to be able to set a whipstock and mill a window without removing the production tubing. These techniques involve the use of a retrievable whipstock which is insertable through tubing. A good example of a through tubing retrievable whipstock is U.S. Pat. No. 5,909,770. In some instances in the past, a through tubing non-retrievable whipstock has been used in a multiple trip system for milling a window in a casing. In U.S. Pat. No. Re 36,526 a through tubing non-retrievable whipstock is delivered through tubing and anchored in the casing. A separate trip is involved in delivering the mill or mills to mill the window in the casing.
In the past, whipstocks have been oriented downhole using measurement while drilling technology known as MWD. MWD tools required high flow rates for operation in orienting the whipstock appropriately. In the past, mills have been driven by downhole motors, generally of the progressing cavity type, involving a fixed stator and a rotating rotor driven by fluid flow through the stator.
One of the impediments in the past to running one-trip through tubing systems for milling windows, has been that use of applied pressure to set a whipstock anchor if delivered through the downhole motor would start the motor turning, which would prematurely break the mill loose from the whipstock prior to proper setting of the whipstock or it would alternatively rotate the whipstock. Accordingly, in developing the one-trip through tubing window milling system of the present invention, a motor lock has been developed for the downhole motor to prevent movement of the rotor as the anchor for the whipstock is being set. The apparatus and method of the present invention also envision hydraulically setting an anchor for the through tubing whipstock while having a way to retrieve the whipstock after the window is milled. The hydraulic anchoring assembly is preferred, particularly in deviated well applications due to the difficulties in properly actuating mechanically any anchor for the whipstock. The retrieval of the whipstock after the window milling necessarily involves release of the whipstock anchor to facilitate the removal of the whipstock through tubing. Accordingly, the present invention truly discloses a one-trip through tubing system for window milling whose details will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art from reading the detailed description of the preferred embodiment which appears below.
A one-trip through tubing window milling system is disclosed. The whipstock is delivered with the mill and downhole motor in a downhole assembly which further includes MWD equipment for proper whipstock orientation. The entire assembly is run through tubing and the MWD equipment orients the whipstock. A motor lock prevents the downhole motor from turning as fluid pressure is applied to properly anchor the whipstock below the production tubing. The motor lock is defeated and the milling commenced using the downhole motor. At the conclusion of the window milling, the bottom hole assembly, including the mill, is removed and a retrieving tool releases the whipstock for retrieval through the production tubing.

One trip through tubing window milling apparatus and method


A method for reducing the loss of magnesium during the sintering of aluminum oxide articles, such as ceramic discharge vessels for lighting applications. Magnesium oxide is added to aluminum oxide articles to control grain growth during sintering, but the sintering causes magnesium loss from the article. In order to address this problem, one or more aluminum oxide articles that are enriched in magnesium oxide are added to the sintering furnace to stem the loss of magnesium oxide in the remaining articles. The enriched aluminum oxide article is made by soaking a porous aluminum oxide article in an aqueous solution of magnesium nitrate and heating the porous article to convert the magnesium nitrate to magnesium oxide. The enriched articles may then be added in one or several locations to the sintering furnace, where the magnesium from the enriched articles is released to suppress the magnesium loss.

The present invention is directed to a method of making aluminum oxide articles, and more particularly to a method of reducing magnesium loss that occurs during sintering of an aluminum oxide discharge vessel for a high-intensity-discharge (HID) lamp.
HID lamps such as high-pressure-sodium (HPS) lamps and ceramic metal halide lamps generally employ a ceramic discharge vessel made of a translucent polycrystalline aluminum oxide (PCA) for arc generation and containment. These discharge vessels (e.g., arc tubes in HPS lamps) are fabricated from a relatively pure aluminum oxide (alumina) powder and are typically formed by sintering at temperatures over 1800° C. in a hydrogen atmosphere. These conditions lead to the high total light transmission in the sintered discharge vessels that is required for lighting applications.
High sintering temperatures will cause exaggerated grain growth and reduced material strength unless controlled. A method to control grain growth in aluminum oxide has been to add small amounts of magnesium oxide to the aluminum oxide. Typically, the amount of magnesium oxide ranges from 0.02 to 0.1 weight percent (wt %) of the aluminum oxide. Some of the added magnesium oxide leaves the ceramic during sintering through vaporization in the hydrogen sintering atmosphere.
Magnesium may also be lost during the operation of the lamp and has been linked to blackening of the outer jacket glass of high pressure sodium lamps. It is therefore desirable to use as little magnesium oxide as possible for maintaining control of grain growth. Experiments have shown that the use of 0.02 wt % magnesium oxide in the aluminum oxide is about the lowest level that can be processed successfully on a production scale without risking exaggerated grain growth. However, at this level localized exaggerated grain growth may occur unless another source of magnesium oxide is added to provide a greater partial pressure of magnesium in the furnace atmosphere. The additional magnesium reduces the loss of magnesium from the discharge vessels into the furnace atmosphere.
Prior attempts to reduce magnesium loss involved adding magnesium oxide powder to the sintering furnace, but this proved difficult to control. Some regions in the sintering furnace had excessive magnesium levels and other regions had too little. The powdered magnesium oxide would also adhere to molybdenum parts of the sintering furnace and create a rough surface contacting the discharge vessels.
A further method was developed to produce a granular powder enriched in magnesium oxide that provided better control of the magnesium release during sintering. The method added magnesium oxide to aluminum oxide powder at a level of 10 wt %. The process included mixing the powders in a concentrated nitric acid solution, followed by a slow drying and a prefiring process. The resulting material was then crushed into a powder that could be placed in several locations in the sintering furnace. This method was generally satisfactory, but required the handling of concentrated acid, a long drying time, and still left a powder buildup on the molybdenum sintering fixtures.
Accordingly, it is desirable to have an improved process for adding magnesium to the sintering furnace atmosphere to reduce the loss of magnesium that occurs during sintering of aluminum oxide articles.

Method of reducing magnesium loss during sintering of aluminum oxide articles


A method for producing 5-(aminomethyl)-2-chlorothiazole, which comprises the step of mixing a compound represented by formula (2):

5-(Aminomethyl)-2-chlorothiazole is used as an intermediate for the synthesis of pharmaceuticals, agricultural chemicals and the like. JP-A-04-234864 describes, as a method for its production, a method in which an allyl isothiocyanate derivative is reacted with a chlorinating agent and then the obtained product is reacted with liquid ammonia or hexamethylenetetramine.

Method for producing 5-(aminomethyl)-2-chlorothiazole

Abstract: a mineral acid and a nitrite salt together.


A heparin mimicking polymer, its conjugate with bFGF, and method of making and using the same are disclosed. In particular, described herein are conjugates of biologic agents (e.g., bFGF) and heparin mimicking polymers having superior stability while retaining full native activity after a variety of stressors.

Basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) is unstable and rapidly degrades upon storage and during delivery, which hinders its therapeutic applications. Heparin has been shown to protect bFGF from denaturation by heat and acid, and also to prolong its half-life. Thus, the polysaccharide has been used in controlled release systems of bFGF. However, heparin is difficult to modify and exhibits batch-to-batch variability. It also has significant bioactivity in other, non-target biological pathways. It is known that sulfated and sulfonated small molecules and polymers are capable of mimicking heparin and these have been explored for stabilization of the protein. An important consideration when utilizing such polymers is that high doses of heparin (and heparin-mimicking compounds) have biological effects such as bleeding complications due to anticoagulant activity and anti-angiogenic activity. This activity would be particularly deleterious for therapeutic applications. Covalently binding a heparin-mimicking polymer to bFGF would ensure that a therapeutically useful concentration of the polymer is employed. Despite this advantage, conjugates of heparin mimicking polymers and bFGF have not yet been prepared.
bFGF has been conjugated to other proteins and peptides, but not for the purpose of increasing stability. A histidine-tagged bFGF-8b (related to bFGF) has been non-covalently conjugated to a nitriloacetic acid (NTA) Ni2+ modified poly(acrylamide), but this complex is non-covalent, requires the use of a toxic metal, and was found to be less active than bFGF. PEG-polyanions (pentosan polysulfate and dextran sulfate) have also been utilized to increase stability of a related protein keratinocyte growth factor-2 (KGF-2), but these complexes are also non-covalent. Non-covalent conjugates are likely not to be useful in vivo because of the likelihood of detachment of the polymer upon dilution before reaching target sites. Covalent conjugates of poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) and bFGF have been synthesized, but these either exhibit significant reductions in protein activity and require addition of heparin to stabilize the conjugate or large concentrations of the conjugate need to be utilized. This invention describes the first conjugate between bFGF and a heparin-mimicking polymer. The conjugate not only retains bioactivity, but is stable to environmental and therapeutically relevant stressors including storage, heat, enzymes, and reduced pH.

bFGF-polymer conjugates, methods for making the same and applications thereof

THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA


A system for providing a patient with remote medical assistance at home a patient station (100) includes at least a remotely controllable patient video camera (101) and a patient computer (110) provided with means (111) for acquiring data from medical assistance appliances (11, 12), with relay means (112) for forwarding commands to the appliances, and with means (113) for connection to a telecommunications network (3). A carer station (200) includes, at least a display screen (202) suitable for receiving images from the patient video camera (101), and a carer computer (200) provided with means (213) for connection to the telecommunications network (3) in order to set up a call with the patient station (100), means (211) for remotely controlling the patient station, suitable for remotely controlling the patient video camera (101) and for sending the commands to the patient computer (110), and means (212) for use after remote control for monitoring and feedback purposes by displaying on the display screen (202) images supplied by the patient camera (101) and by transferring to the carer computer (210) data that has been transmitted from the acquisition means (111) of the patient computer via the telecommunications network (3). The system is applicable to enabling patients to be cared for at home.

Systems are known for monitoring compliance with a particular treatment, e.g. oxygen therapy, by reporting data measured on medical appliances to a remote point. Other systems provide the option of remotely programming the equipment. Still other equipment is suitable for sending warnings or alarms concerning the state of the patient and/or the state of appliances in the vicinity to the patient, which equipment includes remote alarm systems that are triggered by voluntary action of the patient or in response to an event generated by a sensor.
Nevertheless, those known systems do not inspire carers with much confidence about what is actually taking place at the patient's home.
For systems that report measured data to a remote point, the carer is informed only after the event that treatment has not been properly complied with, and being at a distance, the carer has little means for guiding and/or educating the patient towards better compliance.
In systems that enable appliances to be remotely programmed, only certain items of data are returned in the guise of an acknowledgment of receipt in response to remote programming. If a display is provided on the remote appliance, then the patient can use the telephone to corroborate that a change of state of the appliance has taken place. Nevertheless, even with such corroboration, the carer cannot ensure that the installation is functioning properly overall (and in particular cannot inspect the tubing).
Finally, conventional alarm or warning systems do not enable action to be taken remotely on the cause of an alarm or warning, and, in the absence of further information, a carer having any doubts concerning the validity of the alarm or warning or concerning the state of the patient will have to make a visit.
One object of the present invention is to provide a system for rendering remote medical assistance to a patient at home that makes it possible in particular to guarantee that the real operation of the appliances in the vicinity of the patient does indeed comply with the expected operation thereof, to control appliances remotely in order to be able to modify their operating parameters so as to adapt them to the patient's needs, and to give the carer a maximum degree of reassurance and confidence concerning the action taken remotely.
This and other objects are attained in accordance with one aspect of the present invention directed to a patient station comprising at least a remotely controllable patient video camera and a patient computer provided with means for acquiring data from medical assistance appliances, with relaying means for forwarding commands to said appliances, and with means for connection to a telecommunications network; and a carer station comprising at least a display screen suitable for receiving images from said patient video camera, and a carer computer provided with means for connection to said telecommunications network in order to set up a call with the patient station, means for remotely controlling the patient station, suitable for remotely controlling the patient video camera and for sending said commands to the patient computer, and means, for use after remote control operations have been carried out, for monitoring and feedback purposes by displaying on said display screen images supplied by the patient camera and by transferring to the carer computer data that has been transmitted from the acquisition means of the patient computer via the telecommunications network.
Thus, the remote assistance system of the invention makes it possible remotely to monitor the operation of appliances in the patient's home, both visually by means of the patient's video camera to ensure that the patient installation is in its proper state overall, and in particular that the tubing is properly installed, or to read the information provided by displays, and also by transferring data from the acquisition means of the patient computer to the carer computer. Furthermore, it is possible for the carer to modify the operation of the appliances by sending commands via the remote control means of the carer computer and the transmission means of the patient computer. Similarly, in order to enable conversation to be established between the patient and the carer, the patient station and the carer station both include sound communication means. These dispositions have the advantage of putting the two people concerned who are distant from each other into conditions of dialog that are of particular importance for the well-being of the patient.
Two modes of establishing communication between the patient station and the carer station are envisaged. In a first mode, the patient can set up a call with the carer station voluntarily, while in a second mode, a call to the carer station is triggered by an alarm concerning a departure from expected operation or a breakdown of one of said medical assistance appliances.
Another advantageous characteristic of the remote assistance system of the invention concerns the situation of operation under downgraded conditions in which the patient station finds it impossible to set up a call to the carer station, for example outside the opening hours of a home hospitalization service. Under such circumstances, the invention provides for said system further to comprise a relay center suitable for entering into sound communication with a voice generator at the patient's home.


A track-seeking apparatus for an optical disk drive seeks a target track by counting track crossings according to a track-crossing signal. The track-seeking apparatus also has means for detecting the ID fields on the disk and substituting a simulated track-crossing signal for the track-crossing signal in these fields, thus enabling high-speed seeking without track-count errors.

This invention relates to a track-seeking apparatus for an optical disk drive, more particularly to a track-seeking apparatus capable of high-speed seeking as required, for example, in an optical disk drive used by a computer.
Optical disk are used for storing and retrieving a variety of information, including audio and video information and, more recently, computer data. FIG. 1 shows a schematic representation of an optical disk. The disk 1 has a plurality of tracks 2 on which the information is recorded. The tracks may have the form of concentric circles as illustrated in the drawings, or they may form a single continuous spiral, in which case a track consists of one 360-degree length (one complete turn) of the spiral.
Each track is identified by a unique number called the track address. If N is the number of tracks on the disk, the tracks are customarily numbered from 1, which is the outermost track, to N, which is the innermost track. The track address is recorded in an ID (identifier) field in the track. When information is stored on or retrieved from the disk 2, the track address of the desired track is specified, causing a track-seeking apparatus to seek this track so that it can be written into or read.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the main components of a track-seeking apparatus in an optical disk drive. These include a motor 30; a light source 40; a pick-up unit 50; a driving means 60; an address reader 80; an input unit 90; and a control unit 100. The motor 30 rotates the disk at a constant rate. The light source 40 produces a light beam 41. The pick-up unit 50, which is mounted on the driving means 60 so that it can be moved back and forth in the direction of the arrow 70, focuses the light beam 41 onto the disk 1, detects the reflected light, and converts the detected light to one or more electrical pick-up signals S50 containing the information recorded on the disk, which it furnishes to the address reader 80 and the control unit 100. The pick-up signals S50 are also supplied to external equipment for reproducing the information on the disk. The address reader 80 extracts track address information from one of the pick-up signals S50 and sends this track address information to the input unit 90. The input unit 90 receives this track address information and external commands, such as the address of the track to be accessed, and exchanges control signals with the control unit 100. The control unit 100 also receives the pick-up signals S50; the function of the control unit 100 is to count the number of tracks moved or crossed by the pick-up unit 50 and send a drive control signal S100 to the driving means 60. The driving means 60 moves the pick-up unit 50 in accordance with this drive control signal S100.
The track-seeking apparatus in FIG. 2 operates as follows. When the input unit 90 receives a command to access a specified target track, first it obtains from the address reader 80 the address of the current track and performs a subtraction operation to determine the difference between the current track address and the target track address. The magnitude of this difference is the number of tracks the pick-up unit 50 must move or cross to reach to target track. The sign of the difference indicates the direction in which the pick-up unit 50 must move toward the center or toward the periphery of the disk 1. The input unit 90 sets the magnitude of the difference in a counter in the control unit 100 as an initial remaining track count, and sends the control unit 100 a direction signal indicating the desired direction of movement. From the remaining track count and direction signal, the control unit 100 generates a drive control signal S100 which causes the driving means 60 to move the pick-up unit 50 in the desired direction. From the pick-up signals S50, the control unit 100 also determines when the light beam 41 crosses a track on the disk 1, and decrements the remaining track count by one for each track crossed. When the remaining track count reaches 0, the drive control signal S100 causes the driving means 60 to stop moving the pick-up unit 50, and the control unit 100 notifies the input unit 90 that the seek operation is completed. The input unit 90 then obtains the address of the current track from the address reader 80 again to check that the correct target track has been reached. If it has not, the seek operation is repeated.
A key factor in the seek operation described above is the way in which the control unit 100 detects track crossings. FIG. 3 illustrates a prior-art scheme for detecting track-crossings as employed, for example, in the track-seeking apparatus described in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 48055/1985. As shown in waveform (a) in FIG. 3, when the light beam 41 is directed onto a track, the pick-up signal S50 received by the control unit 100 contains high-frequency components reflecting the information recorded in the track, but when the light beam 41 is between tracks, the pick-up signal S50 is substantially flat. The control unit 100 contains an envelope detector which detects the envelope of the pick-up signal S50, thus generating waveform (b) in FIG. 3. A Schmitt trigger circuit in the control unit 100 converts the waveform (b) to a pulse waveform (c) which is supplied as input to the counter in the control unit 100, with one pulse corresponding to one track.
A problem with this prior-art scheme for detecting track crossings is that it does not work when the pick-up unit 50 moves so rapidly that the rate of track crossings approaches the frequency of the information components in the pick-up signal S50, for then the envelope of the pick-up signal S50 can no longer be detected correctly and tracks are miscounted. Accordingly, the motion of the pick-up unit 50 must be limited to a comparatively low velocity. This low velocity is adequate for disks containing audio and video information, because such information is usually accessed sequentially and the pick-up unit 50 rarely has to move between widely separated tracks. It is inadequate, however, for disks containing computer data, because computer data tend to be randomly located on the disk, requiring the pick-up unit 50 to move frequently between widely separated tracks.

Apparatus for seeking a track of an optical disk in which information is recorded


A system, method, and computer program product are provided for software testing project design and execution utilizing a mockup. In use, at least one software testing project to design is identified. Additionally, at least one mockup of the at least one software testing project is generated. Further, one or more testable items associated with the at least one mockup are defined. In addition, one or more test cases associated with the at least one mockup are generated. Furthermore, the one or more test cases are linked to the one or more testable items. Moreover, the at least one mockup including the one or more test cases linked to the one or more testable items is displayed. In one embodiment, a status of the one or more test cases may be updated according to a test execution within the at least one software testing project. Furthermore, at least one defect may be linked to every mockup that showed one or more errors within and/or outside a defined testable item.

Current test methodologies are free text driven. Such test methodologies require the test designer to describe, in text, the tests expected to be run by the test executer. The test designer is left with a constant conflict of how long to make text descriptions associated with the test. If the text is too short, the test may not be clear enough. If the text is too long the executer might not read all the important parts of the text. As a result, text executers never manage to have all the right data or only the data truly needed.
Additionally, because the current test methodologies are text driven, such methodologies are limited to describe only the exact function being tested. However, test executers often find issues outside the planned tests.
Furthermore, because the current test methodologies are text driven, such methodologies face extreme difficulties when trying to link tests to defects. Thus, test executers may never have a clear view of the issues that were previously reported in a test flow.
There is thus a need for addressing these and/or other issues associated with the prior art.

System, method, and computer program for software testing project design and execution utilizing a mockup


Compositions and methods for changing a property of a coating are provided. The coating includes a dynamic material configured to be reversibly convertible between a hydrophobic state and a hydrophilic state, wherein transition between the hydrophilic state to the hydrophobic state occurs in an environment dependent manner. The coating also includes an environment altering material configured to alter the hydrophobic or hydrophilic state of the dynamic material.

Hydrophilic materials can have a tendency to interact with or be dissolved by water and other polar substances. There are a variety of hydrophilic materials that can be used as coatings on various objects. Items having these coatings can thereby have a self-cleaning quality. In contrast, hydrophobic materials can have a tendency to minimize any interaction with water or other polar substances.


A delay device has an oscillation circuit 1, a transistor 201 turned on and off by a signal from the oscillation circuit; and a delay circuit comprising a capacitor 203 and a resistor 202 connected to the transistor so that the delay circuit is intermittently controlled by the on-off operations of the transistor.

The present invention relates to a delay device having a time constant delay circuit comprising a capacitor and a resistor.
FIG. 4 is an example of a conventional delay device.. In FIG. 4, a reference numeral 2 designates a delay circuit comprising a capacitor 203 and a resistor 202 in which an electric charge in the capacitor 203 is discharged through the resistor 202 to thereby output a delay signal e. A reference voltange circuit 5 is connected to the collector of a transistor 3. When the level of an input signal a becomes "0", the transistor 3 becomes non-conductive state to open the ground circuit, whereby the capacitor 203 is charged by the reference voltage circuit 5 through a diode 4. Namely, when the input signal a is at a level of "0", the transistor 3 becomes non-conductive, and the capacitor 203 is quickly charged to a predetermined level by the reference voltage circuit 5 through the diode 4. When the level of the input signal a is changed to level of "1", the transistor 3 is turned on so that the reference voltage circuit 5 is grounded. Then, a charging circuit to the capacitor 203 is opened, and at the same time, the capacitor 203 starts discharging through the resistor 202. A discharging time is determined by the product of the capacitance c of the capacitor 203 and the resistance R of the resistor 202, i.e. a time constant of CR. Thus, a signal indicated by a in FIG. 3 is obtainable as a delay signal e.
In the conventional CR delay device having the construction as above-mentioned, when a long delay time is to be obtained, it is necessary to increase the CR constant. When the CR delay device is installed in a hybrid IC, it is difficult to use a resistor having a large resistance because of a problem of leakage. Further, a capacitor having a large capacitance, hence having a relatively large outer configuration occupies a larger area on the base substrate for a hybrid IC. On the other hand, there is a demand to increase the packing density in the field of hybrid IC. A delay device having a long delay time constructed by the conventional technique reduces the efficiency in such hybrid IC.

Delay device with intermittent capacitor discharge


Techniques for initiating direct communication between an emergency medical device, such as an automated external defibrillator (AED) and a safety agency may include detecting an event and contacting the safety agency in response to the detected event and user authorization. For example, the AED may detect an event such as removal of the AED from a mount and alert an operator of the intent to send contact the safety agency. The AED determines whether an override command was received from the operator in a defined amount of time. When the operator does not input an override command, the AED interprets the absence of the override command as user authorization and contacts the safety agency via a communication unit. For instance, the AED may generate an advisory and send the advisory to the safety agency. The initiation of direct communication between the AED and the safety agency by the AED enables the operator to interact with a patient, e.g., perform CPR on the patient.

Cardiac arrest is life-threatening medical condition that may be treated with external defibrillation. External defibrillation includes applying electrodes to a patient's chest and delivering an electric shock to the patient to depolarize the patient's heart and restore normal sinus rhythm. The chances that a patient's heart can be successfully defibrillated increase significantly if a defibrillation pulse is applied quickly.
In some cases, the patient's need is urgent and the patient cannot wait for trained personnel, such as paramedics, emergency medical technicians, or others trained in defibrillations techniques, to arrive. In recognition of the need for prompt treatment and the advantages of early defibrillation, automated external defibrillators (AED's) are becoming more commonplace, and are available in venues such as airports, health clubs and auditoriums.
When an AED is used to treat a patient, much of the treatment is performed by the AED rather than the person who operates the AED. In general, the AED automatically measures the patient's cardiac signals, assesses whether a shock is indicated and charges a storage element in preparation for giving the shock. When a shock is indicated, the AED may cue the operator to administer the shock, or the AED may administer the shock automatically. In addition, many AED's include visual displays, voice instructions and other audible messages that tell the operator about the status of the defibrillator. By delivering therapy in advance of arrival of emergency personnel, an AED can save a patient's life.

Communication between emergency medical device and safety agency


A press formed product is disclosed. A method for manufacturing the press formed product is a method for manufacturing the press formed product including applying press processing including stretch flange forming to a single metal sheet of one sheet material after performing shearing processing of the metal sheet to manufacture the press formed product. When a region where a stretch flange crack is estimated to be likely to occur when the single metal sheet is press formed by the press processing is set as a stretch flange crack region, the press processing is applied after heating and cooling the end surface of the metal sheet positioned in the stretch flange crack region and at least the end surface in the end surface and the vicinity thereof in the single metal sheet after the shearing processing.

In recent years, in order to achieve an improvement of collision safety and a weight reduction of an automobile body, a high tensile strength steel sheet of 590 MPa or more has been increasingly applied to car body structural components. The high tensile strength steel sheet has a low hole expansion ratio, and therefore poses a problem of forming defects, such as a stretch flange crack, when press forming is performed.
As one of press formed products to be used for automobile undercarriage components, a structure component having a shape of being curved in a plan view, such as a lower arm, is mentioned, for example. When such a component shape curved in a plan view is processed by press forming, there is a risk that the stretch flange crack occurs in a curved portion.
When mass-producing automobile components by the press forming, a press processing process is performed after performing shearing processing, such as a trimming process or a piercing process, in many cases. In this case, the stretch flange crack is likely to occur from a sheared end surface edge formed by the trimming process or the piercing process.
When the high tensile strength steel sheets are applied to the component shape or the forming process described above, particularly the stretch flange crack tends to occur.
As a conventional technology relating to the stretch flange crack, PTL 1 to PTL 3 are mentioned, for example.
A method described in PTL 1 is a technology of preventing the stretch flange crack occurring when a high strength steel sheet is press formed. PTL 1 describes that, when the steel sheet is subjected to stretch flange forming with this technology, the steel sheet temperature during the forming is increased to 400° C. or more and 1000° C. or less, whereby dynamic recovery of the dislocation occurs during processing, so that the deposition of dislocation becomes difficult to occur, and thus the stretch flange crack is suppressed.
A method described in PTL 2 is a technology of applying tempering treatment of increasing mechanical strength to a predetermined part of a sheet-like panel as a press raw material to improve formability in press processing. PTL 2 describes that this technology can suppress a crack caused by stress concentration occurring with the progress of the press processing.
A method described in PTL 3 is a technology of press forming a combined blank material produced by, in a state where end portions of a plurality of sheet materials are butted, irradiating butting edges thereof with laser light to weld end portions. PTL 3 describes that, when the welded end positions and the vicinity thereof of the sheet materials are press-processed into a curved shape in a plan view by the press forming, softening treatment is applied to sheet material peripheral portions including the welded end portions and the vicinity thereof by emitting laser light thereto for annealing before the press processing. It is described that the treatment inhibits the occurrence of the stress concentration in the sheet material peripheral portions, facilitates the stretching of a softened part in the press forming, and prevents the stress concentration on the welded end portions.

Method for manufacturing press formed product


This invention is a combination pickup device and tine cleaner having an elongated sleeve with an actuating shaft mounted therein. A tine head is mounted on one end of the sleeve and a handle on the other end. A plurality of tines outwardly project from the tine head on the opposite side from the sleeve. A cleaning plate, with openings in axial alignment with the tines, is mounted on the end of the actuating shaft adjacent the tine head. An actuating knob is mounted on the opposite end of the shaft so that as debris is picked up by the tines, the plate will be pushed up adjacent to the tine head causing the actuating knob to move out of the sleeve adjacent the handle. By pushing on the knob, the shaft can be forced back into the sleeve adjacent the handle which will cause the cleaning plate to move down the tines to clean the same. A height adjustable handle provided in a modification. Also, a pin to lock the device with the tips of the tines covered by the cleaning plate is provided.

Picking up trash and debris from yards, shoulders of roads, parking lots and the like is a labor intensive job that can quickly lead to backaches and back fatigue.
The simplest remedy for the above problems, and one that has been widely used over the years, is an elongated handle with a spike sticking out one end thereof so that trash and debris can simply be speared and when the spike is full, the trash and debris can be pushed off the same with the hand into a bag or other receptacle.
The handled spike works fairly well for trash such as pieces of paper or the like, but the smaller the trash or debris is, the harder it is to accurately spear the same. This is particularly true of small pieces of relatively flat material as well as such items as drink cans, pine cones and the like. Also when picking up trash discarded by humans, there is an ever increasing danger of the user of the pickup device becoming contaminated with chemicals or disease carrying media by having to push the debris off the spike by hand.
Pickup devices with multiple spikes have been developed to eliminate the accurate spearing that the single spiked pickup device requires so that small pieces of trash, cans and the like as well as yard debris such as pine cones, encased nut hulls and the like can be more readily picked up without requiring accurate placement of the device during use.
Along with the development of multi-tined pickup devices, tine cleaning means of various types have been developed. All of these devices however require the manipulation of handles or levers which quickly becomes very tiring to the average user and with people who have arthritis and similar problems, the manipulation of such devices may be very difficult if not impossible.
The following references represent the closest prior art of which the inventor is aware:

Combination pickup device and tine cleaner


A zero clearance fireplace of the type adapted to be installed against an outside wall of an interior space or room to be heated is provided with six walls which comprise four substantially vertical walls, a top wall and a bottom wall at least two of said vertical walls having airtight glass side walls connected to the frame structure of the fireplace. The bottom wall, the vertical side wall and the top wall are provided with plenum structures which are inner connected to form a heat exchanger. The rear wall is provided with a vertical inner plenum in which outside fresh air is introduced and conducted into a bottom inner plenum below the combustion chamber of the fireplace to provide fresh outside air to the gas burner system in the combustion chamber. The top wall of the fireplace over the combustion chamber is provided with a tapered shape which diverts the exhaust gases from the gas burner in the combustion chamber directly into an exhaust stack so as to generate a high velocity exhaust of the combustion gases which generates a high draft aspiration effect through the combustion chamber.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to zero clearance fireplaces of the type usually installed close to an outside wall of a room to be heated and haVing an exhaust stack which preferably exits through the close outside wall or through a ceiling and roof using an extension chimney. More particularly, the present invention relates to a prefabricated and factory built direct-vented zero clearance fireplace having one or more airtight glass side walls and a highly efficient, high BTU output gas burner and employs a novel combustion chamber that convection cools the glass side walls to avoid breaking the glass.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In our U.S. Pat. No. 4,793,322 a zero clearance fireplace is shown and described which has a highly efficient heat exchanger combined with a gas burner system that meets all of the American National Standard Institute's specifications for gas appliances in ANSI specification Z21.50 and Z21.60. These specifications have been adapted by the American Gas Association (AGA) design certification standards for direct vented multiglass side fireplaces.
Our U.S. Pat. No. 4,852,548 shows and describes a universal fireplace of the type adapted to be used with wood burning systems or a gas burning system. One of the objects of the invention of this latter patent is to provide novel cooling means and combustion gas diverting means for cooling low temperature tempered glass panels which are provided in the doors instead of expensive high temperature glass.
These two prior art patents are concerned with low to medium BTU output burners and fireplace heaters which fall into the range of 15 to 27,000 BTUs. This amount of heat is insufficient to heat a small home or a vacation home or an apartment and when installed in such homes or living units must be augmented by other heating systems.
It would be extremely desirable to provide a high BTU zero clearance fireplace with a gas burner system having sufficient heat output to heat a small home or apartment without auxiliary heating means and which is provided with decorative multiglass side walls and produces high efficiency with low carbon monoxide and provides a low glass side wall temperature meeting all requirements of the ANSI and AGA.

Direct vented multi glass side fireplace


Described is a system and method by which data accesses to information related to a CMOS device are synchronized. A special xe2x80x9coperation regionxe2x80x9d is provided through which the information is accessed. More specifically, a xe2x80x9cCMOS Operation Regionxe2x80x9d is enabled through which CMOS information is read or written. When an AML interpreter performs a read or write instruction to the CMOS operation region, the ACPI system passes that instruction to a process for handling that operation region, in this example the system kernel. The process may include mechanisms that synchronize accesses to the Operation Region so that a load or store operation is fully completed prior to allowing a subsequent load or store operation. In this way, the information associated with the CMOS that is loaded in memory is not corrupted by asynchronous accesses.

The present invention relates to computer systems, and more particularly, to a configuration management subsystem of a computer system.
ACPI (Advanced Configuration and Power Interface) is an open industry specification that defines a flexible and extensible interface for computer system configuration and power management. The interface enables and supports power management through improved hardware and operating system coordination. ACPI allows the operating system to control the power states of many ACPI-compliant hardware components, and/or to pass information to and from some hardware components, such as the temperature of a thermal sensor or the power remaining in a battery.
During the boot process, an ACPI namespace is populated with software objects that are read from ACPI tables that are stored in an ACPI BIOS. Each hardware device in the machine has associated with it one or more of the objects in the ACPI namespace. As part of reading the ACPI tables and populating the ACPI namespace, often information is read from a CMOS device and placed temporarily in memory. For the purpose of the following discussion, the term xe2x80x9cCMOS devicexe2x80x9d means that portion of a computer having battery-backed storage, more specifically referred to as the PC-compatible Real Time Clock/CMOS Device. The typical CMOS device is the only place that computer firmware can store data that will not be lost even if the machine loses power. The typical CMOS device contains between 64 and 512 bytes of such non-volatile memory.
Because existing firmware systems do not provide safeguards on access to the CMOS devices, the information in memory may be easily corrupted if data is changed in the CMOS device while the data is also being read by another process. More specifically, the CMOS device is accessed through an indexed pair type mechanism. The CMOS device defines two separate and distinct registers. The first register (known as the index register) is used to define which offset in CMOS is desired. The second register (known as the data register) is used to access the data at the specified offset. To access CMOS properly, the index register must first be programmed with the desired offset, then the data is read from or written to the data register. A CMOS interleaved-access problem occurs if two pieces of code try to access the index and data register simultaneously. The following brief example best illustrates the problem:
1. Thread #1 attempts to read the contents of the CMOS device at Offset 0xc3x9713, so it writes 0xc3x9713 to the index register. However, before it has a chance to read from the data register, Thread #1 is preempted.
2. Thread #2 attempts to write 0xc3x97F3 to CMOS at Offset 0xc3x9720, so it writes 0xc3x9720 to the index register. However, before it has a chance to write to the data register, Thread #2 is preempted.
3. Thread #1 gets scheduled and runs again. It resumes from its last point of execution and reads the data from the data register. However, because the index register is now 0xc3x9720, the data is not the intended data, so it tries again and writes 0xc3x9713 to the index register. However, before it has a chance to read from the data register, Thread #1 is again preempted.
4. Thread #2 gets scheduled and runs again. It writes 0xc3x97F3 to the Data register, but since the index register is now 0xc3x9713, it wrote 0xc3x97F3 to the wrong offset.
5. Thread #1 runs again and reads from the data register, and gets the 0xc3x97F3.
As can be seen, interleaving accesses to the CMOS device can result in corruption. The simultaneous accesses to the CMOS device may be by two pieces of code in firmware, or may be between the firmware and the computer""s operating system. Existing firmware systems do not provide safeguards against such corruption. Thus, a need exists for a system and method for providing reliable access to a CMOS device by components interacting with a configuration management system.
Briefly stated, the present invention provides a system and method by which data accesses to information related to a CMOS device are synchronized by creating a special operation region through which the information is accessed. The invention defines an operation region of a new type from those available. More specifically, a xe2x80x9cCMOS Operation Regionxe2x80x9d is enabled through which the CMOS information is read or written. The memory within the CMOS device is typically composed of several disjoint 64-byte chunks, called xe2x80x9cbanks.xe2x80x9d The CMOS Operation Region presents an xe2x80x9caddress spacexe2x80x9d from 0 to N where N is the highest-numbered byte. The CMOS Operation Region abstracts the banks into the flat address space. AML that reads from or writes to a specific byte just refers to it by its offset in the address space.
When the AML interpreter performs a read or write instruction to the new operation region, the ACPI system passes that instruction to a process for handling that operation region, in this example the system kernel. The process may include mechanisms that synchronize accesses to the Operation Region so that a load or store operation is fully completed prior to allowing a subsequent load or store operation. In this way, the information associated with the CMOS device may be accessed in one atomic operation (i.e., not preemptable).
Other advantages will become apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the drawings, in which:

System and method for accessing a CMOS device in a configuration and power management system


The present invention relates generally to branched macromolecules and their use as imaging or contrast agents. In particular, the invention relates to dendrimers, derived from lysine or lysine analogs, bearing a plurality of functional moieties and their application to imaging techniques in which a disease state may be imaged with a targeted contrast agent.

The reference in this specification to any prior publication (or information derived from it), or to any matter which is known, is not, and should not be taken as an acknowledgment or admission or any form of suggestion that that prior publication (or information derived from it) or known matter forms part of the common general knowledge in the field of endeavour to which this specification relates.
Diagnostic imaging techniques, such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), X-ray, nuclear radiopharmaceutical imaging, ultraviolet-visible-infrared light imaging, and ultrasound, have been used in medical diagnoses for many years. MRI and optical imaging methods are unique among imaging modalities in that they yield complex signals that are sensitive to chemical environment.
Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) obtains images of the body in thin slices by measuring the characteristics of hydrogen nuclei of water (and nuclei with similar chemical shifts), modified by chemical environment across the slice. The signal intensity depends on the amount of water in a given place and on the magnetic relaxation times. It is this latter characteristic that can be manipulated with the use of contrast agents to change the signal intensity and the appearance of different tissues on the MR image.
Contrast agents are chemical substances introduced to the anatomical or functional region being imaged, to increase the differences between different tissues or between normal and abnormal tissue, by altering the relaxation times.
Achieving sufficient sensitivity is a significant problem for MRI in particular, where concentrations in the range of 10-1000 μM of the image enhancing moiety are required to produce an adequate signal. Accordingly, targeted agents may be utilised which deliver concentrations of the imaging agent to the target so that sufficient improvement in the signal is observed during the course of imaging. Even then however, the problem can be further complicated for targeted agents if the desired target is present at low concentrations. For example, in order to image biological receptor targets that are present at less than μM concentrations, great signal enhancement is required at the target site to prove sufficient image contrast.
The most commonly used contrast-enhancing agents are paramagnetic species such as metal ions. Gadolinium (Gd) is preferred because it has seven unpaired electrons that produced an especially short paramagnetic effect on adjacent water protons. Since paramagnetic metal ions useful for relaxivity enhancement are usually toxic, placing such ions in physiological compatible complexes reduces their toxicity without substantially reducing their effectiveness.
Presentation of a plurality of paramagnetic particles enhances the use of a contrast-enhancing agent. It also reduces the amount of contrast agent actually required compared to agents having macromolecules bearing fewer particles. For example, it is believed that a 50% reduction in T1 relaxation time of water protons in a target tissue is a requirement for an effective MRI contrast agent. Analysis of tumor enhancement for MRI using an antibody conjugated with 4 Gd atoms per antibody molecule found no tumor enhancement and predicted that a far greater ratio of imaging metal atoins per macromolecule would be required.
Conventional MRI contrast-enhancing agents have only one chelant per molecule. These agents are typically short-lived in the subject's body or other physiological environments. Thus, in many instances, large doses must be administered in order to achieve a desired degree of contrast enhancement. In other instances, maximal contrast enhancement cannot be achieved without administering a potentially fatal or otherwise physiologically intolerable dose to the subject.
There exists a need therefore, for new imaging agents which may advantageously provide multiple signalling or imaging entities and/or specifically target cell or tissue types.

BAKER IDI HEART AND DIABETES INSTITUTE HOLDINGS LTD