An apparatus and a system, as well as a method and article, may operate to send a selected data type without self-definition information to a receiver if a state capable of interpreting the selected data type has been maintained by the receiver, and to send the selected data type with the self-definition information to the receiver if the state capable of interpreting the selected data type has not been maintained by the receiver.

Some communications protocols may use adaptive modulation (also known as adaptive bit loading), wherein the modulation type can vary by sub-carrier. This may occur, for example, with respect to communications using the sub-carriers in various orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) systems. Thus, when adaptively modulated data, which may include packets, is sent to a receiver, a question may arise: Should the modulation used in conjunction with the communication be indicated as well (e.g., should the data be self-defined), or should the data be sent without indicating the modulation type (e.g., should the data be non-self-defined)? Transmitting self-defined data may incur greater on-air overhead. On the other hand, sending non-self-defined data may require several assumptions about the receiver state.

Data definition apparatus, systems, and methods


A latch for securing the door of an animal cage or cell which comprises a cylindrical metal barrel having an open end internally screw threaded, and an opposite end internally constricted for holding the terminal of a cable which is interposed in slideable relation into the constriction. The cable is constructed to bind the cage door frame to the door post. The other end of the cable terminates in a loop which fits into a biased slot near the end of the metal barrel. A key interposed from the open end engages a screw threaded arbor stud, rotating it to move along the inner axis of the barrel. The screw threaded arbor stud has an axial projection at its inner end which penetrates the loop and holds it in place in fully locked position. When the key is removed from the barrel, the screw member is inaccessible and cannot be loosened, until the key is reapplied by an attendant or keeper to re-engage the arbor stud, releasing the loop of the cable.

When cages or cells have their doors latched together by padlocks or cables of the usual type, it has been found that intelligent animals, especially primates, are able to reach the locks and manipulate them with their fingers until they are opened; and they are then able to escape from their cage.
It is the principal object of this invention to provide a simple, light-weight latch for securing the door of an animal cage or cell for latching the bars of the cage door in place with a strong cable, the ends of which cannot be reached and manipulated by the incarcerated animal and are only accessible for release by an attendant or keeper with a key.
This and other objects are realized in accordance with the present invention in a device comprising a hollow cylindrical barrel open at one end, and partly closed at the other end to hold in place a cable element, terminating in a stop which is caught in an axially-disposed constriction at the end of the barrel. The other end of the cable takes the form of a loop. Near the cable end of the barrel is a slot cut diagonally to the axis of the barrel and passing into the hollow axial chamber of the barrel. The open end of the barrel is internally screw-threaded to accommodate a screw-threaded arbor stud having a cylindrical nub projecting along the axis towards the cable end of the barrel. The arbor stud is moved longitudinal in the barrel along the internal screw threads by application of a key through the open end of the barrel. The key has a central female slot in the base of its shank which accommodates a boss on the arbor stud and rotates the arbor stud in the barrel when the key is interposed and turned. The cylindrical nub on the inner end of the arbor stud is constructed to penetrate and hold in place the looped end of the cable when the loop is interposed into the cylindrical barrel through the diagonal slot. When the shank of the key has been removed, the screw-threaded arbor stud and the looped end of the cable are secure in the barrel beyond reach of animal or human fingers. Thus, the latch cannot be opened until the key is reapplied through the open end of the barrel to loosen the arbor stud.
Other objects, features and advantages of the detachable security device of my invention will be apparent from a study of the attached drawings with reference to the detailed description hereinafter.


Improved techniques for maintaining cache coherence in a consistent state are provided. These techniques implement a data storage system using a journaled mirrored cache that ensures that storage operations making up certain transactions be performed atomically, so that a system failure does not result in data loss. The improved techniques also allow for efficient communication of mirroring information.

Data storage systems are arrangements of hardware and software that include storage processors coupled to arrays of non-volatile storage devices, such as magnetic disk drives, electronic flash drives, and/or optical drives, for example. The storage processors service storage requests, arriving from host machines ("hosts"), which specify files or other data elements to be written, read, created, deleted, and so forth. Software running on the storage processors manages incoming storage requests and performs various data processing tasks to organize and secure the data elements stored on the non-volatile storage devices.
Some data storage systems use a journaled mirrored cache that allows write commands to be acknowledged to the issuing host as soon as the command can be stored within cache and mirrored. This results in increased performance by reducing latency to hosts for write while maintaining the security of mirror-based persistence.

Techniques for maintaining cache coherence by atomically processing groups of storage commands


An electronic reprographic printing system that extracts a tab image from a print job, document or memory for printing on tab stock. The extracted tab image can be rotated, shifted and scaled accordingly, to be printed in the tab area of a sheet of tab stock. Depending upon the cut of tab stock, the tab image is designated to be placed on a particular occurrence of a tab in a sequence of tabs. The tab images are stored sequentially in the system memory and may be edited as required. The print job including the tab images can be printed in its entirety.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electronic reprographic printing system that is capable of extracting an image from a print job for printing on tab stock.
2. Description of the Related Art
Current printing systems are capable of shifting an image before printing on the output stock of a print job. These printing systems commonly shift the scanned images of documents in a print job a standard distance, for creating, for example, sufficient margins for binding the final product. Copying machines are also capable of forming set margins when printing on both sides of a duplex page. The process involves shifting the image in one direction on a first side and shifting the image in the opposite direction on the second side. Image shifting devices are also capable of shifting the scanned image of a document on copying paper, depending on the direction of conveyance of the copying paper. These systems commonly shift the image a preset standard distance for the entire print job. In all of the current printing systems that are capable of shifting an image, a master must be created that contains the image positioned for shifting.
The related art discloses printing systems that allow for shifting of an image during copying.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,674,864 to Stackenborg et al. discloses a reproduction device which includes a method for programming the width of an image-free edge zone on a copy sheet. By pressing a particular button on the control panel, the width of an image free edge zone can be adjusted at the left and right hand sides of a copy sheet to correlate the size of an original with the size of a selected output stock.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,745,441 to Maruta et al. discloses a copying machine that forms filing margins on both sides of a copy sheet by shifting a reduced version of the image from an original. The optical system scanning the original is shifted a predetermined distance away from its normal position for placing an image onto a copy sheet within the predetermined margins.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,819,029 to Ito discloses a copying machine with an image shift function that provides a defined filing margin on a copy sheet by shifting the transfer position of a document image to one edge of a copy paper. U.S. Pat. No. 5,210,622 to Kelley et al. discloses an electronic reprographic printing system that applies a special image shift to particular documents of a print job based on the difference between the size of the input stock that is scanned and the size of the output stock onto which the image is transferred. One use of such image shifting is the generation of tab pages from image masters that are not created on the same width as the tab stock on which the printing will ultimately be done.
In general, image shifting across an entire print job or even specialized image shifting, which variably shifts an image based on the difference between the size of the input and output stock, lacks flexibility and efficiency when used to make tabs. One problem is that to print the image in the desired location, the user must properly position the tab's image prior to scanning the image. For example, a tab master must be created, prior to shifting, on a separate sheet that includes only the tab image, positioned and oriented, to be shifted and printed on output tab stock. Another problem is that the images are scanned as pages so that when a tab image is shifted, the entire page image is shifted. Another problem with specialized image shifting is that the amount of the image shift depends upon detecting size differences in the input and output sheet.
Yet another problem occurs in the printing of a sequence of tabs. Reordering a sequence of tabs involves changing the tab master as well as all the other tab masters. Still further, when a document has been created without tabs and tabs are to be added as an afterthought, the user must go back through the whole process of creating tab masters and recreate the tab job.
While the related art recognizes image shifting for creation of tabs within a print job, a flexible and improved system is needed that allows for the selective extraction of images from anywhere within a print job, document or a memory of stored images and then variably rotates, scales, and applies the images in accordance with a desired output position and orientation of a particular tab stock (sheet or media). A system is needed that further stores the selected tab images sequentially in memory, therefore enabling the user to insert and delete tab images easily. Finally, the pages requiring tab stock in a print job are automatically printed in their proper order within the print job with their tab image on the tab (or tab extension).


The present invention provides a system and method for recognizing a 3D object in a single camera image and for determining the 3D pose of the object with respect to the camera coordinate system. In one typical application, the 3D pose is used to make a robot pick up the object. A view-based approach is presented that does not show the drawbacks of previous methods because it is robust to image noise, object occlusions, clutter, and contrast changes. Furthermore, the 3D pose is determined with a high accuracy. Finally, the presented method allows the recognition of the 3D object as well as the determination of its 3D pose in a very short computation time, making it also suitable for real-time applications. These improvements are achieved by the methods disclosed herein.

Object recognition is part of many computer vision applications. In some cases, the object is assumed to be planar and the transformation of the object in the image is limited to a certain degree, for example, to similarity transformations or projective transformations. There is a multitude of matching approaches of various types available in literature that are already able to solve this task. A survey of matching approaches is given by Brown (1992). In most cases, the model of the object is generated from an image of the object. Two examples for such approaches that fulfill the requirements for industrial applications, i.e., fast computation, high accuracy, robustness to noise, object occlusions, clutter, and contrast changes are presented in EP 1,193,642 and by Ulrich et al. (2003).
However, in many applications the object to be recognized is not planar but has a 3D shape and is imaged from an unknown viewpoint, because the object moves in 3D space in front of a fixed camera, the camera moves around a fixed object, or both, the object as well as the camera move simultaneously. This complicates the object recognition task dramatically because the relative movement between camera and object results in different perspectives that cannot be expressed by 2D transformations. Furthermore, not only a 2D transformation has to be determined but the full 3D pose of the object with respect to the camera. The 3D pose is defined by the six parameters of the 3D rigid transformation (three translation and three rotation parameters), which describes the relative movement of the object with respect to the camera. Different techniques have been developed for visually recognizing a 3D object in one image. They can be grouped into feature-based techniques and view-based techniques. Besides these approaches, there are approaches that use more information than only one image to recognize 3D objects, e.g., two images (e.g., Sumi and Tomita, 1998) or one image in combination with a range image (e.g., US 2005/0286767). The latter approaches are not discussed here, because they differ too much from this invention.
Feature-based techniques are based on the determination of correspondences between distinct features of the 3D object and their projections in the 2D search image. If the 3D coordinates of the features are known, the 3D pose of the object can be computed directly from a sufficiently large set (e.g., four points) of those 2D-3D correspondences.
In one form of the feature-based techniques, distinct manually selected features of the 3D object are searched in the 2D search image (e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 6,580,821, U.S. Pat. No. 6,816,755, CA 2555159). The features can be either artificial marks or natural features, e.g., corner points of the 3D object or points that have a characteristically textured neighborhood. Typically, templates are defined at the position of the features in one image of the object. In the search image, the features are searched with template matching. Several drawbacks are associated with these approaches: In general, it is difficult to robustly find the features in the image because of changing viewpoints, which results in occluded and perspectively distorted features. Template matching methods cannot cope with this kind of distortions. Consequently, these approaches are only suited for a very limited range of viewpoint changes. In addition, marker-based approaches are not flexible with regard to changing objects. It is often difficult to add the markers and to measure their 3D coordinates. Furthermore, many objects are not suited for adding markers to their surface.
Another form of feature-based recognition techniques eliminates this restriction by using features that are invariant under perspective transformations (e.g., US 2002/0181780, Beveridge and Riseman, 1995, David et al., 2003, Gavrila and Groen, 1991). For example, in Horaud (1987), linear structures are segmented in the 2D search image and intersected with each other to receive intersection points. It is assumed that the intersection points in the image correspond to corner points of adjacent edges of the 3D model. To obtain the correct correspondences between the 3D corner points of the model and the extracted 2D intersection points several methods are available in literature (Hartley and Zisserman, 2000, US 2002/0181780). The advantage of these feature-based approaches is that the range of viewpoints is not restricted.
Furthermore, there are generic feature-based approaches which are able to detect one kind of 3D object without the need for a special 3D model of the object. One example is given in U.S. Pat. No. 5,666,441, where 3D rectangular objects are detected. First, linear structures are segmented in the image. Intersections of at least three of these linear structures are formed and grouped together in order to detect the 3D rectangular objects. Because no information about the size of the object is used, the pose of the object cannot be determined with this approach. Naturally, these kinds of feature-based approaches are not flexible with regard to changing objects. They can detect only those objects for which they are developed (3D rectangular objects in the above cited example).
In general, feature-based recognition techniques suffer from the fact that the extraction of the features cannot be carried out robustly with respect to clutter and occlusions. Furthermore, the correct assignment of the extracted 2D features to the 3D features is a NP complete combinatorial problem, which makes these techniques not suited for industrial applications, where a fast recognition is essential.
View-based recognition techniques are based on the comparison of the 2D search image with 2D projections of the object seen from various viewpoints. The desired 3D pose of the object is the pose that was used to create the 2D projection that is the most similar to the 2D search image.
In one form of the view-based recognition, a model of the 3D object is learned from multiple training images of the object taken from different viewpoints (e.g. U.S. Pat. No. 6,526,156). The 2D search image is then compared to each of the training images. The pose of the training image that most resembles the 2D search image is returned as the desired object pose. Unfortunately, the acquisition of the training images and their comparison with the 2D search image is very costly because of the very large number of training images that are necessary to cover a reasonably large range of allowed viewpoints. What is more, this form of view-based recognition is typically not invariant to illumination changes, especially for objects that show only few texture. These problems make this approach not suited for industrial applications.
In another form of the view-based recognition, the 2D projections are created by rendering a 3D model of the 3D object from different viewpoints (e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 6,956,569, US 2001/0020946), CA 2535828). Again, there is the problem of the very large number of 2D projections that is necessary to cover a reasonably large range of allowed viewpoints. To cope with this, pose clustering techniques have been introduced (e.g., Munkelt, 1996). But even then, the number of 2D projections that must be compared with the 2D search image remains too large, so that these view-based recognition techniques are not suited for industrial applications. Often the number of views is reduced by creating the views such that the camera is always directed to the center of the 3D object, but then, objects appearing not in the center of the image cannot be found because of the resulting projective distortions. Another unsolved problem of these view-based recognition techniques is the creation of the 2D projections such that they are suitable for the comparison with the 2D search image. Approaches that use a realistically rendered 2D projection (U.S. Pat. No. 6,956,569) are not invariant to illumination changes because the appearance of object edges varies with the illumination direction. This problem can be reduced, but not eliminated, by the use of texture (US 2001/0020946). Other approaches create a model by extracting feature points in the images of the different sampled viewpoints and train a classifier using a point descriptor (e.g., Lepetit, 2004). Also in the search image, feature points are extracted and classified using the output of the point descriptor. Finally, the most likely 3D pose is returned. Unfortunately, this kind of approaches strongly relies on a distinct texture on the object's surface, and hence is not suitable for most industrial applications. Approaches that use only a wireframe projection of the 3D model face the problem that many of the projected edges are not visible in the search image, especially on slightly curved surfaces, which are typically approximated by planar triangles in the 3D model of the object. Often, the techniques that are used for the comparison of the 2D projections with the 2D search image are not robust against clutter and occlusions (Ulrich, 2003). Finally, the accuracy of the object pose determined by pure view-based approaches is limited to the distance with which the allowed range of viewpoints is sampled.

System and method for 3D object recognition


Molecular markers genetically linked to, and capable of identifying, a genetic locus in the cucumber plant (Cucumis sativus L.) genome conferring a general resistance against tobamoviruses, and especially against two commercially important pathogenic tobamoviruses, i.e., cucumber green mottle mosaic virus (CGMMV) and cucumber fruit mottle mosaic virus (CFMMV) are provided. Methods for providing a cucumber plant (Cucumis sativus L.,) plants, plant parts and fruits with resistance against tobamoviruses and especially against two commercially important pathogenic tobamoviruses, i.e., cucumber green mottle mosaic virus (CGMMV) and cucumber fruit mottle mosaic virus (CFMMV) are also provided.

The present invention relates to Cucumber Vein Yellowing Virus (CVYV) resistant cucumber plants (Cucumis sativus L.), methods for providing Cucumber Vein Yellowing Virus (CVYV) resistant cucumber plants (Cucumis sativus L.), molecular markers for use in the method, and plants, plant parts, tissues, cells and/or seeds derived from, or originating from, the present Cucumber Vein Yellowing Virus (CVYV) resistant cucumber plants (Cucumis sativus L.).
Cucumber plants, i.e., plants of the botanical species Cucumis sativus, belong to the gourd family of Cucurbitaceae, also comprising family members like melons and squash. The edible fruits of the plant are generally designated as cucumbers.
Cucumbers usually are cylindrical, green skinned fruits, comprising approximately 96% water. The cucumber plant, also designated as Cucumis sativus L., which has been cultivated since long, is an important horticultural crop worldwide. Cucumbers are commonly harvested in an unripe stadium and may be used for the pickle industry or the fresh market.
Cucumber Vein Yellowing Virus, also abbreviated as CVYV, belongs to the Ipomovirus genus of the family of the Potyviridae. It is a rather unstable virus with rod-shaped particles, generally being 740-800 nm long and 15-18 nm wide. The viral nucleic acid of CVYV has been reported to consist of double stranded RNA.
The virus has a narrow host range that is mainly restricted to plants of the family of Cucurbitaceae. This family includes economic important crops like cucumbers, squashes (including pumpkins), melons and watermelons. Although CVYV infections generally are a major problem in cucumber production, also squash, zucchini, watermelon and melon productions are affected.
CVYV is generally transmitted by the whitefly Bremisia tabaci. CVYV infected plants generally show vein yellowing or vein clearing and stunting with corresponding yield reduction. CVYV infection may also cause death of the plants.
Thus, CVYV can have disastrous effects in crops when they become contaminated. Prevention of infection, by, for example, raising seedlings in a whitefly free environment, or treatment using, for example, pesticides, generally is costly and/or unfriendly to the environment. In addition, these methods do not always provide satisfactory results.
Cucumber Green Mottle Mosaic Virus, also abbreviated as CGMMV, is a RNA virus of the tobamovirus genus causing a severe disease of Cucurbits. Strains of CGMMV were first reported from the United Kingdom and Europe. The virus is present in all tissues and the virus is rapidly transmitted by workers hands, clothing, knives and other equipment and is additionally seed-borne. Heat treatment of seeds is commonly used to control viral contamination. CGMMV is also capable of spreading via surface water. Symptoms of yellowing, mottling and down-curling of the leaves have been reported though perhaps most significant are reports of moderate to severe fruit mottling and distortion. Such mottling and distortion of the fruits could quickly render infected crops unmarketable.
Cucumber Green Mottle Mosaic Virus is perhaps the most widespread and renowned of the tobamoviruses infecting cucumber crops. CGMMV is a worldwide problem in cucumber production areas like The Netherlands, Spain, Greece and India. Yield losses may be a much as 15%.
Cucumber Fruit Mottle Mosaic Virus, also abbreviated as CFMMV, is another family member of the tobamoviruses causing significant economic damage to cucumber plants (Cucumis sativus L). Symptoms of Cucumber Fruit Mottle Mosaic virus (CFMMV) infections are generally first recognized on fruits and apical leaves at a relatively advanced growth stage. Leaf symptoms include severe mosaic, vein banding and yellow mottling. In some cases, fully developed plants show severe wilting symptoms that lead to plant collapse. Rapid viral spread within greenhouses may lead to significant crop losses.
Considering the economic damages caused by Cucumber Vein Yellowing Virus(CVYV) in cucumber plants (Cucumis sativus L.), it is an object, amongst other objects, of the present invention to provide Cucumber Vein Yellowing Virus (CVYV) resistant cucumber plants (Cucumis sativus L.).
Further, it is an object, amongst other objects, of the present invention to provide methods and means for providing Cucumber Vein Yellowing Virus (CVYV) resistant cucumber plants (Cucumis sativus L.).

Cucumber vein yellowing virus (CVYV) resistant cucumber plants (


Polyamide compositions containing guanidinyl radicals, including tetramethylguanidinyl radicals, are described. These polyamides are useful for medical applications, for example, for treating human papilloma virus infections.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to polyamide compounds and the therapeutic uses of such compounds, such as therapies for treatment of subjects infected with human papilloma virus (HPV).
2. Description of Related Art
Human papilloma virus is a small double-stranded DNA virus that colonizes various stratified epithelia like skin, oral and genital mucosa, and induces the formation of self-limiting benign tumors known as papillomas (warts) or condylomas. Most of these benign tumors naturally regress due to the influence of host immunological defenses. Some HPVs, however, have oncogenic potential and have been associated with certain types of cancers. See, Lorincz et al., Obstetrics & Gynecology, 79:328-337 (1992); Beaudenon et al., Nature, 321:246-249 (1986); and Holloway et al., Gynecol. One., 41:123-128 (1991).
HPV is the most prevalent, sexually transmitted virus. More than 35 HPV genotypes are known to be sexually transmitted, but a subset accounts for the majority of ano-genital infections. Among these most common HPV types are two forms with high risk for carcinogenic progression (HPV16 and HPV18), and two forms that cause the majority of genital warts (HPV6 and HPV11).
An estimated 5.5 million people become infected with HPV each year in the United States, and an estimated 20 million Americans are currently infected (Cates and et al., Lancet, 354, Suppl. SIV62, 1999). Approximately 75 percent of the male and female reproductive-age population has been infected with sexually transmitted HPV, though the main public health risk is to women through cervical cancer (Koutsky, Am. J. Med., 102(5A), 3-8, 1997). Thus, millions of people in the U.S. alone require treatment each year. It is important to note that PAP smears represent the largest public health screening program in the world, and that the test is, essentially, a measure of HPV infection. The current standard for managing a positive PAP smear is "follow up". In general, no treatment is recommended unless an advanced stage of cervical dysplasia is observed (CDC Sexually Transmitted Diseases Treatment Guidelines, 2002).
Significant need exists in HPV positive subjects for effective HPV antiviral drugs. At present, no specific treatments exist for HPV or warts. Aldara™ (Imiquimod), an immunomodulator used for treating external genital warts, is the most successful treatment on the market. An effective, specific HPV treatment has the potential to significantly improve upon, and effectively compete with, Imiquimod.
The majority of human cervical carcinomas (95%) contain and express HPV DNA and it is the expression of two viral oncoproteins, E6 and E7 that appears to be critical for cellular transformation and maintenance of the transformed state. Specifically, four HPV types (HPV-16, HPV-18, HPV-31, and HPV-45) have been connected to 75-93% of the cases of cervical cancer in the United States. It has been estimated that perhaps twenty percent (20%) of all cancer deaths in women worldwide are from cancers that are associated with HPV.
HPV also causes anal cancer, with about 85 percent of all cases caused by HPV-16. HPV types 16 and 18 have also been found to cause close to half of vaginal, vulvar, and penile cancers.
Most recently, HPV infections have been found to cause cancer of the oropharynx, which is the middle part of the throat including the soft palate, the base of the tongue, and the tonsils. In the United States, more than half of the cancers diagnosed in the oropharynx are linked to HPV-16.
HPVs are grouped into types based on the uniqueness of their DNA sequence.
HPVs can be further classified as either high or low risk based on the clinical lesions with which they are associated or the relative propensity for these lesions to progress to cancer. Low risk cutaneous types, such as HPV types HPV-1, HPV-2, HPV-3, HPV-4, HPV-5, HPV-7, HPV-8, and HPV-9 cause common warts (verrucae vulgaris), plantar warts (verrucae plantaris), mosaic warts, flat warts (verrucae plane), and butcher warts. Furthermore, HPV types HPV-6 and HPV-11 cause warts of the external genitalia, anus and cervix. High-risk types, such as HPV-16, HPV-18, HPV-31, HPV-33 and HPV45 are particularly common in intraepithelial carcinomas, neoplasias and cancers. In particular, the genomes of two HPV types, HPV-16 and HPV-18, have been found to be associated with about 70 invasive carcinomas of the uterine cervix, as well as cancers of the oro-pharynx, anus, and other mucosal tissues.
Current treatment for HPV infection is extremely limited. Management normally involves physical destruction of the wart by surgical, cryosurgical, chemical, or laser removal of infected tissue. Some of these current treatments, like laser removal and surgery, are expensive and require the use of anesthesia to numb the area to be treated. Cryosurgical removal requires the use of special equipment. Furthermore, most subjects experience moderate pain during and after the procedure.
Topical creams and solutions such as preparations of 5-fluorouracil, Imiquimod, cidofovir, formaldehyde, glutaral, cimetidine, tricholoroacetic acid, bleomycin, podofilox and podophyllum preparations have also been used. (Reichman in Harrison's 7 Principles of Internal Medicine, 13th Ed. (Isselbacher et al., eds.); McGraw-Hill, Inc., NY (1993) pp. 801-803). Recurrence after these treatments, however, is common, most likely because the virus remains latent within the host epithelial cells. Therefore, subsequent repetitive treatments must be used, which can destroy healthy tissue. These treatments are not available or approved for treatment of cervical infections.
Interferon has also been employed as a treatment for persistent HPV infections and warts. However, its effectiveness is limited. Chang et al. (2002) Journal of Virology 76: 8864-74, found some cells infected with HPV genomes became resistant to interferon treatment after only a few applications. See also Cowsert (1994) Intervirol. 37:226-230; Bornstein et al. (1993) Obstetrics Gynecol. Sur. 4504:252-260; Browder et al. (1992) Ann. Pharmacother. 26:42-45.
Thus, there is a need for therapeutics for treating a number of diseases and conditions as outlined herein.

Guanidinyl-substituted polyamides useful for treating human papilloma virus

THE CURATORS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI


A shaft and rolling bearings are mounted in the housing. A magnetic sensor is fixed to a first end surface of a shaft. A circuit board carrying a magnetic sensor is fixed to a surface of a lid of the housing at the second end. As a calibration voltage feed line, a cable is connected to the circuit board and extends outside through a hole formed through the lid. With the lid fixed in position, thereby applying a preload to rolling bearings, calibration voltage is supplied to the magnetic sensor through the calibration voltage feed line, thereby writing initial calibration parameters into the magnetic sensor from an external calibration device. After writing the parameters, the calibration voltage feed line is connected, at the outside, to a stabilizing output end of a power source input/output board fixed to the surface of the lid at the first end.

A known rotation angle detecting unit rotatably supports a shaft on a housing through a rolling bearing, and includes a magnetic rotation angle sensor mounted in the housing. The magnetic rotation angle sensor comprises a magnetic drum fixed to one end surface of the shaft, and a magnetic sensor for detecting a change in magnetic flux as the magnetic drum rotates and calculating the relative rotation angle. This type of rotation angle detecting unit is used with the shaft coupled to one of the mating members such as a rotary shaft and a sensor case mounted to the other mating member.
Assembling errors are unavoidable between the respective ones of the rotation angle sensor, circuit board, shaft and housing. Thus some of today's magnetic sensors have the function of correcting the measured value based on initial calibration parameters stored for correcting measurement errors resulting from assembling errors. In order to specify the initial calibration parameters, it is necessary to perform actual measurements. Thus, output signals from the magnetic sensor are transmitted to an external calibration device to calculate initial calibration parameters in the external calibration device, and the thus calculated initial calibration parameters are written into nonvolatile semiconductor memory of the magnetic sensor (as disclosed in JP Patent Publication 2004-191101A). Among them, there is known the type in which an external calibration device is connected to the sensor power source connecting end, grounded end and signal output ends of the circuit board carrying the magnetic sensor, and the initial calibration parameters are written while supplying a calibration voltage, which is higher than ordinary use voltage, through the sensor power source connecting end. With this magnetic sensor, since the calibration voltage and the use voltage are both supplied through the sensor power source connecting end, it is not necessary to provide the circuit board with a power source connecting end for calibration, which makes it possible to reduce the size of the circuit board and to simplify its structure.
When, as described above, use voltage and calibration voltage are supplied to the magnetic sensor through the common sensor power source connecting end, it is impossible to mount a voltage stabilizing circuit between the input end of the magnetic sensor and the sensor power source connecting end, because it becomes impossible to supply calibration voltage to the input end of the magnetic sensor. If the voltage stabilizing circuit is not mounted, if the power source voltage supplied is unstable according to the use environment, such as in the case in which the generator of e.g. a construction machine or an industrial machine is used as the external power source, or if the power source voltage supplied cannot be determined to be one, it is difficult to use the rotation angle detecting unit.
Therefore the applicant proposed (in JP Patent Application 2007-23178) a rotation angle detecting unit which comprises a housing including a housing body having mounting openings at first and second ends thereof, respectively, and a lid covering the mounting opening at the first end, a shaft having its portion at the first end received in the housing and its portion at the second end protruding from the mounting opening of the housing at the second end, a rolling bearing rotatably supporting the shaft on the housing body, a magnetic drum fixed to an end surface of the shaft at the first end, and a circuit board carrying a magnetic sensor having the above-described correcting function, wherein a board internal mounting portion is provided on a surface of the lid at the second end for mounting the circuit board, wherein the lid is configured to apply a preload to the rolling bearing by pressing an outer race of the rolling bearing and to position the magnetic sensor relative to the magnetic drum when the lid is fixed in position, wherein a voltage stabilizing circuit for stabilizing and outputting use voltage and a wiring are provided parallel to each other between the input end of the magnetic sensor and the sensor power source connecting end of the circuit board, and a switching portion is provided which can disconnect the wiring, and wherein an operating port is formed in the housing through which the switching portion is accessible for disconnection.
With this rotation angle detecting unit, it is possible to supply calibration voltage to the input end of the sensor through the sensor power source connecting end of the circuit board and the parallel connected wiring. By disconnecting the wiring after writing the initial calibration parameters, it is possible to supply use voltage to the input end of the sensor through the voltage stabilizing circuit. Also, with this rotation angle detecting unit, by pushing the outer race of the rolling bearing with the lid and applying a preload to the bearing, the rigidity of the bearing increases. This prevents displacement of the shaft due to loads applied thereto and shifting between the magnetic drum and the magnetic sensor. Thus it is possible to detect the rotation angle in an optimum manner with the shaft coupled to the above-described rotary shaft and loads applied to the rotary shaft. Since the lid is used, it is not necessary to provide a dedicated cover for mounting the circuit board. The initial calibration parameters can be determined by fixing the lid.
But if the voltage difference between the input voltage value and output voltage value to and from the to the voltage stabilizing circuit (use voltage values) is large, it is necessary to use large-sized power source stabilizing element and resistor have to be used due to generated calorie. The magnetic gap between the magnetic sensor and the magnetic drum is extremely small in size compared to the power source stabilizing element. Thus, if the power source stabilizing element is mounted on the same side as the magnetic sensor, the power source stabilizing element cannot be fitted between the end surface of the shaft at the first end and the circuit board. If the power source stabilizing element is displaced from the end surface of the shaft at the first end, it can be mounted in position. But this increases the outer circumferential length of the circuit board, thus increasing the diameter of the lid and thus the size of the unit. Even if the above-mentioned voltage difference is small, if the power source stabilizing element and the like are mounted on the surface of the circuit board at the second end, since an increased number of electronic parts are mounted on this side, the area of the circuit board increases, thus increasing the diameter of the lid.
If the magnetic sensor is mounted on the surface of the circuit board at the second end and the voltage stabilizing circuit is mounted on the surface of the circuit board at the first end, the unit can be made compact in size. But in this case, the contact area between the circuit board and the surface of the lid at the second end decreases, thus making it difficult to stably mount the circuit board.


A method and kit are provided for enhancing the tolerance of an assay reagent to compounds in an assay sample, the assay reagent including a luciferase enzyme. The method includes contacting the luciferase with a tolerance enhancement agent in an amount sufficient to substantially protect luciferase enzyme activity from interference of the compound and minimize interference by at least about 10% relative to an assay not having tolerance enhancement agent.

Advances in the biological, biomedical and pharmaceutical sciences have accelerated the pace of research and diagnostics to a level unparalleled to the past. With sequences of whole genome becoming available quickly and successively, the assembly of large libraries of small molecules, the ability to move pharmaceutical development, clinical diagnostic tests and basic research from a reductionist to a whole system approach quickly all demand assays that facilitate high throughput analyses. Molecules no longer need to be singly analyzed for their effects on a lone process. Instead, the effects of many molecules on several biological systems can be studied simultaneously if appropriate, fast, reliable, and accurate assays are available.
Efficient, reliable and accurate assays for determining the occurrence of a certain biospecific events, e.g., enzyme inhibition in a cell-free environment or for assessing cell viability can be used to rapidly discover potential new pharmaceutical agents and to determine the cytotoxic effect or cell proliferation effect of such agents on cells. For instance, cancer pharmaceutical research often endeavors to identify compounds that selectively kill rapidly dividing cells, a primary characteristic of cancer cells. High throughput screens of compound libraries, coupled with efficient cell viability assays, can swiftly identify such compounds as potential cancer drugs. The efficacy of a candidate compound on cell viability can be assayed by detecting ATP since ATP production is realized only in metabolically active live cells; residual ATP is rapidly degraded upon necrotic cell death. See U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/813,279, filed Mar. 19, 2001, entitled "Improved Method for detection of ATP" (assignee: Promega) which is incorporated by reference in its entirety. In another example, the identification of potential drug compounds that should move forward in the drug development process can be made by determining the effects of these compounds on cytochrome P-450 enzyme activity. See U.S. application Ser. No. 10/665,314, filed Sep. 19, 2003, entitled "Luminescence-based methods and probes for measuring cytochrome P-450 activity" (assignee: Promega) which is incorporated by reference in its entirety. In a final example, proteases represent a large and important group of enzymes involved in diverse physiological processes including blood coagulation, inflammation, reproduction, fibrinolysis, and the immune response. The identification of protease inhibitors may be useful for the investigation, treatment or management of disease states caused by or characterized by the alteration in the activity of specific proteases. See U.S. Provisional application No. 60/353,158, filed Feb. 1, 2002 entitled "Bioluminescent Protease Assay" (assignee: Promega), which is incorporated by reference in its entirety. Assay systems like these not only facilitate the evaluation of a substance on cell viability or proliferation in a cellular environment or on the occurrence of a biospecific reaction, but also permit high throughput screens that can rapidly test thousands of compounds, streamlining new drug discovery.
The use of reporter molecules or labels to qualitatively or quantitatively monitor molecular events is well established in assays used for medical diagnosis, for the detection of toxins and other substances in industrial environments and for basic and applied research in biology, biomedicine and biochemistry. Reporter molecules or labels in such assay systems have included radioactive isotopes, fluorescent agents, enzymes, including light-generating enzymes such as luciferase. Desirable characteristics of any reporter molecule systems include safe, quick and reliable application and detection. Luminescent systems are among the most desirable since they are exceptionally safe and sensitive.
Light-emitting systems have been known and isolated from many luminescent organisms, including certain bacteria, protozoa, coelenterates, mollusks, fish, millipedes, flies, fungi, worms, crustaceans, and beetles. Those enzymes isolated from beetles, particularly the fireflies of the genera Photinus, Photuris and Luciola and click beetles of genus Pyrophorus have found widespread use in reporter systems. In many of these organisms, enzymatically catalyzed oxidoreductions take place in which the free energy change is utilized to excite a molecule to a high-energy state. When the excited molecule spontaneously returns to the ground state, visible light is emitted. This emitted light is called "bioluminescence" or "luminescence". Luminescent luciferase-based assays have been developed to monitor or measure kinase activity, P-450 activity, and protease activity. See, for instance, U.S. application Ser. No. 10/665,314, filed Sep. 19, 2003 (P-450 activity); U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/813,279, filed Mar. 19, 2001 (kinase activity); and U.S. provisional application no. 60,353,158, filed Feb. 1, 2002 (protease activity), commonly owned by Promega Corporation.
Genetic reporter systems are widely used to study eukaryotic gene expression and cellular physiology. Applications include the study of receptor activity, transcription factors, intracellular signaling, mRNA processing and protein folding. Currently, luciferase genes from a wide variety of vastly different species, particularly the luciferase genes of Photinus pyralis (the common firefly of North America), Pyrophorus plagiophthalamus (the Jamaican click beetle), Renilla reniformis (the sea pansy), and several bacteria (e.g., Xenorhabdus luminescens and Vibrio spp), are extremely popular luminescence reporter genes. Reference is made to Bronstein, et al. (1994) Anal. Biochem., Vol. 219, pp. 73-82, for a review of luminescence reporter gene assays. Firefly luciferase is also a popular reporter for ATP concentrations, and in that role is widely used to detect biomass. Various other reporter applications of luciferases have been described in the scientific literature. Luminescence may be produced by other enzymes when mixed with certain synthetic substrates; such as alkaline phosphatase mixed with adamantyl dioxetanes, or horseradish peroxidase mixed with luminol.
Luciferase genes are widely used as genetic reporters due to the non-radioactive nature, sensitivity, and extreme linear range of luminescence assays. For instance, as few as 10−20 moles of the firefly luciferase can be detected. Consequently, luciferase assays of gene activity are used in virtually every experimental biological system, including both prokaryotic and eukaryotic cell cultures, transgenic plants and animals, and cell-free expression systems. Similarly, luciferase assays of ATP are highly sensitive, enabling detection to below 10−16 moles of ATP.
Luciferases generate light via the oxidation of enzyme-specific substrates, called luciferins. For firefly luciferase and all other beetle luciferases, this is done in the presence of magnesium ions, oxygen, and ATP. For anthozoan luciferases, including Renilla luciferase, only oxygen is required along with the luciferin. Generally, in luminescence assays of genetic activity, reaction substrates and other luminescence-activating reagents are introduced into a biological system suspected of expressing a reporter enzyme. Resultant luminescence, if any, is then measured using a luminometer or any suitable radiant energy-measuring device. The assay is very rapid and sensitive, and provides gene expression data quickly and easily, without the need for radioactive reagents. Reporter assays other than for genetic activity are performed analogously.
The conventional assay of genetic activity using firefly luciferase has been further improved by including coenzyme A (CoA) in the assay reagent to yield greater enzyme turnover and thus greater luminescence intensity. (Promega Luciferase Assay Reagent, Cat. No. E1500, Promega Corporation, Madison, Wis.; see U.S. Pat. No. 5,283,179, issued Feb. 1, 1994.) Using this reagent, luciferase activity can be readily measured in luminometers or scintillation counters. The luciferase reaction, modified by the addition of CoA to produce persistent light emission, provides an extremely sensitive and rapid assay for quantifying luciferase expression in genetically altered cells or tissues.
Dual reporters are commonly used to improve experimental accuracy. The term "dual reporter" refers to the simultaneous expression and measurement of two individual reporter enzymes within a single system. In genetic reporting, examples that currently benefit from dual-reporter assays include individual cells or cell populations (such as cells dispersed in culture, segregated tissues, or whole animals) genetically manipulated to simultaneously express two different reporter genes. Most frequently, the activity of one gene reports the impact of the specific experimental conditions, while the activity of the second reporter gene provides an internal control by which all sets of experimental values can be normalized. Normalizing the activity of the experimental reporter to the activity of the internal control minimizes experimental variability caused by differences in cell viability or transfection efficiency. Other sources of variability, such as differences in pipetting volumes, cell lysis efficiency and assay efficiency, can be effectively eliminated. Thus, dual reporter assays often allow more reliable interpretation of the experimental data by reducing extraneous influences.
In genetic reporting, examples that currently benefit from dual-reporter assays include individual cells or cell populations (such as cells dispersed in culture, segregated tissues, or whole animals) genetically manipulated to simultaneously express two different reporter genes. Most frequently, the activity of one gene reports the impact of the specific experimental conditions, while the activity of the second reporter gene provides an internal control by which all sets of experimental values can be normalized.
Cell-free reconstituted systems that may benefit from dual-enzyme reporter technology are cellular lysates derived for the simultaneous translation, or coupled transcription and translation, of independent genetic materials encoding experimental and control reporter enzymes. Immuno-assays may, likewise, be designed for dual-reporting of both experimental and control values from within a single sample.
Currently, genes encoding firefly luciferase (luc), chloramphenicol acetyl transferase (CAT), beta-galactosidase (lacZ), beta-glucuronidase (GUS) and various phosphatases such as secreted alkaline phosphatase (SEAP) and uteroferrin (Uf; an acid phosphatase) have been combined and used as co-reporters of genetic activity. The following references provide representative examples of these various reporter genes used in combined form for the purpose of dual-reporting of genetic activity: luc and GUS: Leckie, F., et al., 1994; luc and CAT, and luc and lacZ: Jain, V. K. and Magrath, I. T., 1992; CAT and lacZ: Flanagan, W. M. et al., 1991; SEAP and Uf: Kondepudi, et al., 1994. See also Promega Dual-Luciferase® Reporter Assay system as well as Promega pGL3 Luciferase Reporter Vectors (available from Promega Corporation, Madison, Wis.) as well as U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,744,320 and 5,670,356 (assignee: Promega Corporation), which are incorporated by reference in their entirety.
When luciferase is combined with a sample for the purpose of detecting a product such as ATP or the occurrence of a biospecific event, e.g., inhibition or activation of caspase or P-450 activity, either in an enzyme assay or single/dual reporter assay format, one or more of the compounds in a chemical library used for high throughput drug screening may adversely interact with luciferase and thus interfere with the assay. For instance, in a caspase assay compounds that only inhibit caspase will result in decreased luminescence and would not be easily distinguishable from compounds that only inhibit luciferase activity which also decreases luminescence. There is a need for luciferase-based assays with improved tolerance for compound interference, especially when employed in high throughput screening procedures.


The invention provides for a system and method for activity-entry reporting and activity-entry report generation by utilizing a drag and drop mechanism that allows users to merge submitted activities in order to generate new activities. These activities are contained within activity reports that can be modified and merged by other users in an effort to develop combined activity reports that maintain the traceability of the merged activities.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of enterprise activity reporting and report generation. More specifically, the invention relates to software and related computer programs or applications which can generate activity reports by creating new activity-entries, merging previously created activity-entries and reports, while maintaining activity-entry hierarchy. The merging of the activity-entries can be achieved through various user interface coded features including the system's drag and drop functionality, selecting multiple activity-entries and merging or any other technical implementation.
2. Description of the Related Art
Presently, current software systems allow one or more users to enter work activities, track actions, track time, such as billable time, against a client or matter. Reports and invoices can be generated through these systems and they will compile the time of all users who recorded time for a given client or matter. However, these systems are not used to report activities, compile or merge activity-entries amongst several managers who can select and choose which tasks and activity-entries to report and generate reports which can then be moved up a hierarchy to another user who can merge and manage multiple reports from multiple managers. Therefore, what is needed is an activity-entry recording and reporting software and system which enables users to record activity-entries, import activity entries from other users, merge multiple activity-entries, record time against those activity-entries and allow manager users to consolidate, approve, merge, and create reports of activities across many users.

System and method for generating and merging activity-entry reports utilizing activity-entry hierarchy and hierarchical information of the activity-entries


Disclosed are methods and apparatus for effectively provisioning services for access by other entities or services. In general, a service manager is configured to manage the provisioning of services between remote entities within a computer network. In general terms, a remote entity offers a service to another remote entity through the service manager. The service manager facilitates formation of the offer to one or more Invitee(s) specified by the service provider. After an offer is formed, it may then be provided to the specified Invitee(s). After an Invitee receives an offer, the Invitee may accept the offer through the service manager or let the offer expire. The service manager also preferably tracks the status of each offer and whether each specified Invitee has accepted such offer. After an Invitee accepts an offer, the service manager preferably records information sufficient for the Invitee to use the offered service.

The present invention relates to methods and apparatus for processing data within a computer network. More specifically, it relates to facilitating provisioning of services within such computer network.
Corporate reliance on technology has become more complex and more pervasive. Increasingly, companies are identifying opportunities to extend their core business or cut costs using the Internet. Both trends have put increasing priority on integrating disparate business applications. For this reason, enterprise application integration (EAI) has emerged as a solution for allowing information technology departments to build bridges that are designed to unify their legacy systems into a single enterprise application. Ideally, the creation of this single enterprise application would not require sweeping changes to the underlying structures.
EAI suppliers typically offer end point solutions for managing business process interactions between end points within a computer network. Although a specific enterprise software package may be designed to transparently handle diverse business processes carried out by two or more end nodes, each specific enterprise software package requires releasing customized connectors or adapters which will work for the specific business processes and applications used by the specific end nodes. As a result, these enterprise solutions are not easily scalable. Additionally, scores of adapters need to be built for each vendor (for example, Oracle corporation of Redwood Shores, Calif. SAP AG of Waldorf, Germany, and PeopleSoft Inc. of Plessanton, Calif.). As each supplier releases new versions of their software. EAI vendors find themselves unable to gain traction under the burden of supporting their existing adapters.
Notwithstanding the benefits of EAI, the software costs and resource investments of EAI prevent small-to-medium enterprise (SME) customers from embracing EAI solutions. For SMEs, reliance on web service providers represents an increasingly attractive alternative.
The web service provider market is one of the fastest growing segments of the software industry. Service providers make enterprise applications (e.g., human resources administration, recruiting, travel and expense management, sales force automation) available to customers over the web at a server device. Those applications are fully managed and hosted by the provider, providing significant cost savings to enterprises.
Some providers merely host and manage third-party packaged software for their customers ("managed hosters"). Others build new applications from the ground up to take advantage of the benefits and cost-savings of web service provider model. Service providers enjoy the profit margins and operational scalability of consumer Web companies like eBay Inc. of San Jose, Calif. and Yahoo! Inc. of Sunnyvale, Calif. While at the same time offering the feature sets of complex enterprise software applications such as software applications by PeopleSoft and Siebel Systems Inc. of San Mateo, Calif.
Although the service provider approach allows a single business to set up a host server for allowing itself and its business partners to use third party or customs applications, this approach does not allow the set up and dismantling of complex arrangements between business partners. For instance, a first business may wish to allow a second business to access a first set of services, while the second business may wish to provide a second different set of services to the first business. Additionally, each business may wish to flexibly invite selected users (while denying other users) to access particular services.
In view of the above, there is a need for facilitating the flexible and efficient sharing of services between diverse business entities in a scalable manner. In other words, mechanisms for efficiently and reliably provisioning services between business entities (as well as other entity types) is needed.

Apparatus and methods for provisioning services


An inverter system for operating an electric motor includes an input port for providing an electrical voltage, a bridge inverter circuit connected downstream from the input port for generating an electrical alternating voltage for the electric motor based on the electrical voltage. The bridge inverter circuit has at least one half-bridge branch including switching elements configured to be open for transferring the electric motor into a freewheeling state, and a decoupling switching element designed for decoupling the at least one half-bridge branch in the freewheeling state of the electric motor from the input port, in order to suppress a reaction of the freewheeling electric motor on the input port.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of inversion for supplying alternating voltage to electric motors, in particular electric motors in electric vehicle drives.
2. Description of the Related Art
Electric vehicle drives ordinarily include synchronous machines excited by a permanent magnet, to which alternating voltage is supplied using an inverter. FIG. 1 shows an inverter system for operating an electric motor 101 using an inverter circuit, also referred to as an intermediate circuit, which is designed as a B6 bridge. The inverter circuit includes upper half-bridge branches having high-voltage-side switching elements 103, 105 and 107 and lower half-bridge branches having low-voltage-side switching elements 109, 111 and 113. In each case, a diode 115 is situated in series with each switching element 105 through 113. If transistor switches are used to implement the switching elements, diodes 115 and switching elements 103 through 113 are ordinarily implemented jointly by one transistor switch. Freewheeling diodes 117 are situated in each case in parallel with the particular series connection made up of one diode 115 and one switching element 103 through 113 each. Furthermore, an intermediate circuit capacitor 119 is connected in parallel with the inverter circuit, intermediate circuit capacitor 119 being connected during operation in parallel with a constant voltage source which is connected to an input port 121, 123 of the inverter system. As a pulse-controlled inverter, the inverter system represented in FIG. 1 generates a three-phase alternating voltage for activating electric motor 101 with the aid of the B6 bridge inverter circuit.
If an error is detected in the system represented in FIG. 1, electric motor 101 is switched into an active short-circuit by closing three lower switches 109 through 113 or three upper switches 103 through 107. In this case, electric motor 101 behaves electrically neutral, i.e., electric motor 101 neither draws electrical power from the intermediate circuit nor does it emit electrical power to the intermediate circuit. Mechanically, electric motor 101 generates a short-circuit torque on the shaft, corresponding to the power loss in the ohmic resistances of the windings.
However, different situations are conceivable in which switching of electric motor 101 into the active short-circuit is not possible, is technically complex, is not practical or is not even allowed. Such a case occurs, for example, when the short-circuit torque is large. Furthermore, a hardware effect may occur, with the result that it may no longer be possible to switch into the active short-circuit or do so only with great technical complexity, for example, if the circuit breakers have been blown or are no longer closeable, which does not allow an active short-circuit. Furthermore, it may be the case that the circuit breakers are no longer openable, or that the voltage supply of the pulse-controlled inverter is defective, so that the power section of the pulse-controlled inverter must be supplied from a high-voltage source. Furthermore, it may be the case that electric motor 101 is not sustained short-circuit-proof.
One alternative to the active short-circuit in the error case is also for electric motor 101 to freewheel, in which case all the circuit breakers are opened. In the case of freewheeling, the electric motor generates a speed-dependent voltage by induction. If the induced voltage is, for example, higher than the voltage applied to the intermediate circuit, it is fed back into the intermediate circuit via freewheeling diode 117. A negative torque corresponding to the recovered energy then acts upon the shaft of the electric motor. Moreover, the high-voltage battery connected to the pulse-controlled inverter on the input side may be overcharged and damaged due to the energy recovery.

Inverter system for operating an electric motor


A method for controlling a photolithography process includes forming a first layer on a selected wafer. A first overlay error associated with the first layer is measured. At least one parameter in an operating recipe for performing a photolithography process on a second layer formed on the first wafer is determined based on at least the first overlay error measurement. A processing line includes a photolithography stepper, and overlay metrology tool, and a controller. The photolithography stepper is configured to process wafers in accordance with an operating recipe. The overlay metrology tool is configured to measure overlay errors associated with the processing of the wafers in the photolithography stepper. The controller is configured to receive a first overlay error measurement associated with the formation of a first layer on a selected wafer and determine at least one parameter in the operating recipe for performing a photolithography process on a second layer formed on the selected wafer based on at least the first overlay error measurement

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to the field of semiconductor device manufacturing and, more particularly, to a method and apparatus for controlling photolithography overlay registration incorporating feedforward overlay information.
2. Description of the Related Art
There is a constant drive within the semiconductor industry to increase the quality, reliability and throughput of integrated circuit devices, e.g., microprocessors, memory devices, and the like. This drive is fueled by consumer demands for higher quality computers and electronic devices that operate more reliably. These demands have resulted in a continual improvement in the manufacture of semiconductor devices, e.g., transistors, as well as in the manufacture of integrated circuit devices incorporating such transistors. Additionally, reducing the defects in the manufacture of the components of a typical transistor also lowers the overall cost per transistor as well as the cost of integrated circuit devices incorporating such transistors.
The technologies underlying semiconductor processing tools have attracted increased attention over the last several years, resulting in substantial refinements. However, despite the advances made in this area, many of the processing tools that are currently commercially available suffer certain deficiencies. In particular, such tools often lack advanced process data monitoring capabilities, such as the ability to provide historical parametric data in a user-friendly format, as well as event logging, real-time graphical display of both current processing parameters and the processing parameters of the entire run, and remote, i.e., local site and worldwide, monitoring. These deficiencies can engender nonoptimal control of critical processing parameters, such as throughput, accuracy, stability and repeatability, processing temperatures, mechanical tool parameters, and the like. This variability manifests itself as within-run disparities, run-to-run disparities and tool-to-tool disparities that can propagate into deviations in product quality and performance, whereas an ideal monitoring and diagnostics system for such tools would provide a means of monitoring this variability, as well as providing means for optimizing control of critical parameters.
Semiconductor devices are manufactured from wafers of a semiconducting material. Layers of materials are added, removed, and/or treated during fabrication to create the electrical circuits that make up the device. The fabrication essentially comprises four basic operations. Although there are only four basic operations, they can be combined in hundreds of different ways, depending upon the particular fabrication process.
The four operations typically used in the manufacture of semiconductor devices are:
layering, or adding thin layers of various materials to a wafer from which a semiconductor device is produced;
patterning, or removing selected portions of added layers;
doping, or placing specific amounts of dopants in the wafer surface through openings in the added layers; and
heat treatment, or heating and cooling the materials to produce desired effects in the processed wafer.
As technology advances facilitate smaller critical dimensions for semiconductor devices, the need for reduction of errors increases dramatically. Proper formation of sub-sections within a semiconductor device is an important factor in ensuring proper performance of the manufactured semiconductor device. Critical dimensions of the subsections generally have to be within a predetermined acceptable margin of error for semiconductor devices to be within acceptable manufacturing quality.
One important aspect of semiconductor manufacturing is overlay control. Overlay control involves measuring the misalignment between two successive patterned layers on the surface of a semiconductor device. Generally, minimization of misalignment errors is important to ensure that the multiple layers of the semiconductor devices are connected and functional. As technology facilitates smaller critical dimensions for semiconductor devices, the need for the reduction of misalignment errors increases dramatically.
Generally, a set of photolithography steps is performed on a lot of wafers using a semiconductor manufacturing tool commonly referred to as an exposure tool or a stepper. The manufacturing tool communicates with a manufacturing framework or a network of processing modules. The manufacturing tool is generally connected to an equipment interface. The equipment interface is connected to a machine interface to which the stepper is connected, thereby facilitating communications between the stepper and the manufacturing framework. The machine interface may generally be part of an advanced process control (APC) system. The APC system initiates a control script, which can be a software program that automatically retrieves the data needed to execute a manufacturing process. The input parameters that control the manufacturing process are revised periodically in a manual fashion. As the need for higher precision manufacturing processes are required, improved methods are needed to revise input parameters that control manufacturing processes in a more automated and timely manner.
Typical overlay control techniques employ a feedback control methodology, where after patterning a layer of photoresist material, metrology data is collected to measure misregistration, or overlay error, between the photoresist layer and underlying layer(s). The feedback generated from the overlay error measurement may be provided to a process controller for updating the control signals of the photolithography tools for subsequently processed wafers. The overlay error may also be used in a fault detection scheme, whereby wafers with overlay errors that exceed a predetermined threshold are reworked by removing the errant photoresist layer and patterning a new one.
Feedback overlay techniques assume homogeneity between the wafer on which the overlay error is measured and the subsequent wafers to be patterned by the photolithography tool. As wafer processing techniques change from lot-to-lot control to wafer-to-wafer control, this assumption becomes less valid. A particular wafer, lot, or subset of wafers in a lot may not have identical overlay characteristics with respect to the underlying layers. A control action may have been take during the processing of wafers in a lot to reduce overlay errors or to correct a fault condition (i.e., rework). Accordingly, controlling overlay parameters based solely on feedback metrology data may not result in an adequate reduction of overlay variations.
The present invention is directed to overcoming, or at least reducing the effects of, one or more of the problems set forth above.
One aspect of the present invention is seen in a method for controlling a photolithography process. The method includes forming a first layer on a selected wafer. A first overlay error associated with the first layer is measured. At least one parameter in an operating recipe for performing a photolithography process on a second layer formed on the first wafer is determined based on at least the first overlay error measurement Another aspect of the present invention is seen in a processing line including a photolithography stepper, and overlay metrology tool, and a controller. The photolithography stepper is configured to process wafers in accordance with an operating recipe. The overlay metrology tool is configured to measure overlay errors associated with the processing of the wafers in the photolithography stepper. The controller is configured to receive a first overlay error measurement associated with the formation of a first layer on a selected wafer and determine at least one parameter in the operating recipe for performing a photolithography process on a second layer formed on the selected wafer based on at least the first overlay error measurement.

Method and apparatus for controlling photolithography overlay registration incorporating feedforward overlay information


Nucleotide sequences are disclosed encoding novel, insecticidal TIC4747 and related proteins exhibiting Hemipteran and Lepidopteran inhibitory activity, as well as fragments thereof. Particular embodiments provide compositions and transformed plants, plant parts, and seeds containing a polynucleotide construct encoding one or more of the toxin proteins within the TIC4747-related protein toxin class.

Improving crop yield from agriculturally-significant plants including, among others, corn, soybean, sugarcane, rice, wheat, vegetables, and cotton, has become increasingly important. In addition to the growing need for agricultural products to feed, clothe and provide energy for a growing human population, climate-related effects and pressure from the growing population to use land other than for agricultural practices are predicted to reduce the amount of arable land available for farming. These factors have led to grim forecasts with respect to food security, particularly in the absence of major improvements in plant biotechnology and agronomic practices. In light of these pressures, environmentally sustainable improvements in technology, agricultural techniques, and pest management are vital tools to expand crop production on the limited amount of arable land available for farming.
Insects, particularly insects within the order Hemiptera, are considered a major cause of damage to field crops, thereby decreasing crop yields in infested areas. Hemipteran pest species which negatively impact agriculture include, but are not limited to, stink bug, Western tarnished plant bug and Tarnished plant bug.
Historically, the intensive application of synthetic chemical insecticides was relied upon as the pest control agent in agriculture. Concerns for the environment and human health, in addition to emerging resistance issues, stimulated the research and development of biological pesticides. This research effort led to the progressive discovery and use of various entomopathogenic microbial species, including bacteria.
The biological control paradigm shifted when the potential of entomopathogenic bacteria, especially bacteria belonging to the genus Bacillus, was discovered and developed as a biological pest control agent. Strains of the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) have been used as a source for insecticidal proteins since it was discovered that Bt strains show a high toxicity against specific insects. Bt strains are known to produce delta-endotoxins that are localized within parasporal crystalline inclusion bodies at the onset of sporulation and during the stationary growth phase (e.g., Cry proteins), and are also known to produce secreted insecticidal protein. Upon ingestion by a susceptible insect, delta-endotoxins as well as secreted toxins exert their effects at the surface of the midgut epithelium, disrupting the cell membrane, leading to cell disruption and death. Genes encoding insecticidal proteins have also been identified in bacterial species other than Bt, including other Bacillus and a diversity of other bacterial species, such as Brevibacillus laterosporus, Lysinibacillus sphaericus ("Ls" formerly known as Bacillus sphaericus) and Paenibacillus popilliae.
Crystalline and secreted soluble insecticidal protein toxins are highly specific for their hosts and have gained worldwide acceptance as alternatives to chemical insecticides. For example, insecticidal toxin proteins have been employed in various agricultural applications to protect agriculturally important plants from insect infestations, decrease the need for chemical pesticide applications, and increase yields. Insecticidal toxin proteins are used to control agriculturally-relevant pests of crop plants by mechanical methods, such as spraying to disperse microbial formulations containing various bacteria strains onto plant surfaces, and by using genetic transformation techniques to produce transgenic plants and seeds expressing insecticidal toxin protein.
The use of transgenic plants expressing insecticidal proteins has been globally adopted. For example, in 2012, 26.1 million hectares were planted with transgenic crops expressing Bt toxins (James, C., Global Status of Commercialized Biotech/GM Crops: 2012. ISAAA Brief No. 44). The global use of transgenic insect-protected crops and the limited number of insecticidal proteins used in these crops has created a selection pressure for existing insect alleles that impart resistance to the currently-utilized insecticidal proteins.
Hemipteran pests injure plants by puncturing tissues with their piercing and sucking mouthparts and then extracting plant fluids. The principle damage to tissues comes from loss of plant fluids and injection of digestive enzymes. The puncture sites can be predisposed to colonization by pathogenic organisms, causing significant yield and quality loss. One family in the order of Hemiptera, Pentatomidae, has many members commonly referred to as Stink Bugs. Certain species of Stink Bugs that are agricultural pests have become difficult to control with insecticidal chemicals due to the emergence of resistant populations.
Various characteristics of Stink Bugs result in a high susceptibility to resistance emergence. For example, Stink Bugs can have multiple generations in a single growing season. Further, they can overwinter as adults almost anywhere where they can be protected (including homes), and then begin feeding on various host plants as the temperatures rise. Once development begins, Stink Bugs have two to three generations, depending on the species and host plants.
On corn, Stink Bugs are most often found feeding on young plants in late spring and early summer. Feeding at this time results in holes in the leaf, and if severe, results in deformed plants. The Brown Stink Bug is the primary Stink Bug pest for corn crops during the early vegetative stages. The Brown Marmorated Stink Bug, another corn pest, is generally found in late summer on corn usually feeding on the ear, directly destroying the kernels. This is especially a concern on sweet corn and can be quite damaging.
On soybean, most of the injury from Stink Bugs occurs during second half of the growing season when significant feeding takes place on pods and developing seed. Darkish spots will occur where the mouthparts puncture the plant tissue, although these are difficult to see. This can cause deformation and abortion of the seeds, as well as provide a route for infection by pathogenic organisms. Stink Bug feeding on soybean often results in delayed leaf maturity and foliage retention. During seed formation, seeds will become shriveled, deformed, undersized, and even be aborted. Feeding on more developed seeds will result in minor shriveling and discoloration. This not only negatively affects yield, but also will result in lower market value or inhibit the sale of produced seed.
Due to warming temperatures, stink bugs are expanding their population size and geographical range in the United States. Due to the damage on agricultural crops inflicted by stink bugs, their high susceptibility to the emergence there is a need to find new and novel insect toxins that are effective against Hemipteran insect pests such as stink bugs.

Insecticidal proteins toxic or inhibitory to hemtpteran pests


A III-V semiconductor device on a silicon substrate is constructed with a silicon (Si) substrate onto which gallium arsenide (GaAs) indium phosphide (InP) and aluminum indium arsenide (AlInAs) to form a structure of AlInAs over InP over GaAs over Si. The GaAs is applied in at least one layer over the Si, followed by at least one layer of InP and at least one layer of AlInAs. A portion of the structure is doped and a cap or passivation layer is applied.

1. Field
The present disclosure relates to semiconductor fabrication and more particularly to metamorphic High Electron Mobility Transistor (mHEMT) technology.
2. Background
Metalorganic Chemical Vapor Deposition (MOCVD) is a technique that is used to deposit very thin layers of atoms onto a semiconductor wafer, useful in the manufacture of high speed III-V semiconductor devices. The reference to "III-V semiconductor devices" refers to semiconductor devices using elements from groups III and V of the periodic table of elements, such as transistors based on gallium arsenide (GaAs).
III-V semiconductor devices have advantages over silicon-based semiconductor devices in terms of speed and high gain. Because electrons can move very fast in III-V materials, transistors or devices containing III-V semiconductors are useful in applications which require for high speed and low power logic applications due to its high electron mobility. It allows high-speed and low-voltage logic-circuit-block to couple with the current Si—CMOS platform even for future microprocessor applications. III V Field Effect Transistor (FET) devices exhibit high drive current gain over Si CMOS, it retains the high carrier mobility of the Quantum-well FET. III-V based materials on silicon are under consideration for possible replacement of the Si-CMOS devices in future.
In the MOCVD process, source chemicals are vaporized and transported by hydrogen into the reactor together with other gases at typical reaction pressure, temperature. There, a pyrolysis reaction of the vapors of a volatile metal-organic compound and a gaseous hydride, the critical chemical reaction takes place that turns the chemicals into the desired crystal, which is the III-V compound semiconductor. In one existing technique, the Jesus A. del Alamo group (MIT) leads the technology using Molecular Beam Epitaxy (MBE) apparatus. From his result, the devices on InP substrate with gate width (Lg)=50 nm exhibits threshold voltage (Vt)=0.1 V, Peak Gm (Gm,max)=1.75 mS/μm, fT=465 GHz and the maximum unity current gain cut-off frequency (fMax·)=1.06 THz at a moderate value of VDS=0.75 V by MBE. The industry leader, Intel, announced LG=75 nm In0.7Ga0.3As Quantum-well Field Effect Transistor (QWFET) on Si with composite high-K gate stack achieves high transconductance of 1750 μS/μm and high drive current of 0.49 mA/μm at VDS=0.5 V by MBE.

Metamorphic growth of III-V semiconductor on silicon substrate by MOCVD for high speed III-V transistors

NANO AND ADVANCED MATERIALS INSTITUTE LIMITED


A semiconductor structure with dispersedly arranged active region trenches is provided. The semiconductor structure comprises a semiconductor substrate, an epitaxial layer, and an active region dielectric layer. The semiconductor substrate is doped with impurities of a first conductive type having a first impurity concentration. The epitaxial layer is doped with impurities of the first conductive type having a second impurity concentration and is formed on the semiconductor substrate. The epitaxial layer has a plurality of active region trenches formed therein being arranged in a dispersed manner. The active region dielectric layer covers a bottom and a sidewall of the active region trenches. Wherein, the active region trench has an opening in a tetragonal shape on a surface of the epitaxial layer, and the first impurity concentration is greater than the second impurity concentration.

For a long time, schottky diode has been an important power device featuring a metal-semiconductor junction to create a schottky barrier so as to provide the function of rectification. With the characteristics of high switching speed and rectification, the schottky diode has been widely applied to high speed switching power devices, digital computers, and output regulators
However, the present schottky diodes fabricated by using semiconductor structures has the disadvantages of low reverse breakdown voltage and large reverse leakage current. In addition, the reverse current increases with increasing temperature to result in the problem of thermal instability. Thus, schottky diode should be operated under the reverse bias much smaller than the rated value, which brings some additional limitations to the application of schottky diode.
In view of the above mentioned problem, various improvements of semiconductor structures have been developed to enhance reverse breakdown voltage and reduce leakage current, and a commonly-used improvement is to form a boron-implanted termination (BIT). The termination region is capable to moderate the electric field generated at the edge of active region under reverse bias so as to enhance reverse breakdown voltage and reduce leakage current. However, under forward bias, the output current of the semiconductor device would be restricted by the arrangement of trenches. Sometimes, a greater forward bias voltage is demanded for such semiconductor device to achieve a desired output current value, which badly influences the application thereof.
Please refer to FIG. 1, which shows a schematic view of a conventional arrangement of the active region trenches. As shown, the semiconductor structure 1 has a plurality of active region trenches 11 and an epitaxial layer 12. The active region trenches 11 has an active region dielectric layer 111 and a polysilicon layer 112 located therein, and the active region trenches 11 are of continuous stripe-shaped structures regularly arranged in the epitaxial layer 12. However, such continuous stripe-shaped structure restricts the effective usage of epitaxial layer 12 surface area and limits the output current under forward bias. Thus, in order to achieve a desired current output, a higher forward bias voltage or a larger chip size should be used, wherein the later is the method being used in the present practice to increase output current. However, neither of these methods has industrial economic efficiency.
Accordingly, it is believed that the people skilled in the art would notice that the conventional semiconductor structure has the disadvantage of low current output under forward bias, which usually needs a higher forward bias voltage to achieve the desired current output. Thus, the problem of insufficient rated output current value does exists in the conventional art.

Semiconductor structure with dispersedly arranged active region trenches


Described are a collision prevention device and a method for a vehicle in motion on the ground. The collision prevention device includes means for localizing obstacles; means for acquiring obstacle localization data; means for localizing the equipped vehicle; a collision prevention computer, and presentation means for presenting warnings to a driver of the equipped vehicle.

The present invention relates to a collision prevention device and a method for a vehicle. The device can notably be installed on board an aircraft in order to warn of potential collisions between the aircraft and an object or other vehicle, when the aircraft is on the ground.
The density of airport traffic is on the increase both in the local airspace and on the ground. The reported incidents occurring during aircraft taxiing phases are becoming more frequent, notably when an aircraft is taxiing to an apron from a runway of an airport.

Collision prevention device and method for a vehicle on the ground


Improvements in trunnion shaft-controlled swashplate axial hydraulic piston pumps as well as hydraulic systems used in hydrostatic transmissions utilized. e.g., in zero-turn-radius (ZTR) wheeled vehicles, such as grass mowers, with one embodiment thereof pertaining to, in combination, the noted pump, devoid of any internal servo control, and a reversible power actuator, for controlling the angle of the swashplate, externally affixed to the housing containing the pump and operatively interconnected with an end of the trunnion shaft extending from the pump housing, with the power actuator being one of a rotary actuator, a fluid power axial cylinder and a rotary electronic actuator. Usage in a ZTR wheeled vehicle requires the prime mover to independently drive two hydraulic transmissions that are controlled by a human operator via a mechanical lever, either two single-axis or one dual-axis joystick control, or a steer-by-wire unit, connected with right and left power actuators

Axial swashplate type piston pumps, such as the one illustrated in prior art FIG. 1, are the main components in most hydrostatic transmissions. Such pumps generate a pump action by causing each piston to reciprocate within its piston bore with reciprocation of the piston being caused by a swashplate that the pistons impinge upon as a cylinder block rotates. Pump displacement, of course, depends on the bore size and the piston stroke as well as the number of pistons that are utilized. The swashplate pivot angle determines the length of the piston stroke, which can be varied by changing the noted swashplate angle, as is well known in the art. For a variable displacement pump, the swashplate can be integrated on a pivoted yoke, as illustrated in prior art FIGS. 2 to 4, near the center of the pump, or mounted onto cradle surfaces of either the front housing, as illustrated in prior art FIG. 5, or at the end cap, again as is well known in the art.
With the swashplate rotating at its extreme pivot angle, a maximum fluid volume is discharged from the pump outlet. However, when the swashplate is centered with the cylinder barrel, the pump will not generate any fluid flow. In some axial swashplate type piston pump designs, the swashplates have the capability of crossing over-center which results in the increasing and decreasing of the fluid flow volumes being generated at opposite ports. In an over-center axial swashplate piston pump, each system port can be either an inlet or an outlet port depending on the pivot angle of the swashplate. Over-center axial swashplate piston pumps are very widely used in hydrostatic transmissions and are generally referred to as closed-loop pumps.
Different control options are available for most variable displacement axial piston pumps for dynamically controlling the pivot angle of the swashplate according to the special requirements of the specific application. For example, constant pressure control, constant horsepower control, and electrical flow control are typical popular options that are used to control the dynamic response of the swashplate of such a pump. These noted control options are typically integrated into a control device that is attached to the pump housing. This control device is generally known as a compensator and controls the angular position of the pump swashplate via a servo-piston, examples of which are illustrated in prior art FIGS. 2 to 5. Such compensators are very widely used in most medium and heavy-duty axial piston pumps. Light duty axial piston pumps, which typically use spherically-nosed pistons instead of using pistons with slippers for low cost production, normally have no other control options beyond direct mechanical control. In other words, an external lever is coupled to the trunnion shaft of the axial piston pump for changing the pump fluid flow rate and direction during the operation thereof. The trunnion shaft is linked to the swashplate, in a manner well known in the art, with the rotation or pivoting thereof causing an angular change of the swashplate. The axial piston pump illustrated in prior art FIG. 1 includes a return-to-neutral device wherein a large plate having two spaced holes is connected to the pump trunnion shaft. In order to stroke this pump, a separate linkage (not shown) is attached to one of the noted holes.
The patent literature includes a large number of references pertaining to axial swashplate type variable displacement piston pumps that include control devices therefor. Examples thereof, which will be briefly discussed hereinafter, include: U.S. Pat. No. 3,677,362 to Chatterjea; U.S. Pat. No. RE 31711 to Horiuchi; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,443,706 B1 to Deininger et al.
Turning first to U.S. Pat. No. 3,677,362 to Chatterjea, the structure thereof pertains to a directional valve with a two-axis mechanical handle/joystick for controlling a hydrostatic transmission but no details are provided about how to attach the actuator to the pump swashplate. One embodiment of the control devices of the present invention utilizes a directional flow control valve with a single-axis handle, while other embodiments utilize electronic joystick control for two-axis applications.
U.S. Pat. No. RE 31711 to Horiuchi sets forth a conventional structure to control the angle of the swashplate by using an axial servo spool/piston at the uppermost location of the swashplate. In the control devices of the present invention, an external actuator is utilized in an operative interconnection with the trunnion shaft at that location.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,443,706 B1 is similar to above-noted U.S. Pat. No. RE 31711 to Horiuchi and uses a servo-spool/piston at both the uppermost and lowest ends of the swashplate in order to control the swashplate angle, rather than at the trunnion shaft location as is the case with the control devices of the present invention. In addition, a rotary valve is used as a directional flow control valve to supply fluid flow into and out of the servo spools. In contrast thereto, the control devices of the present invention utilize a rotary actuator, not a rotary directional flow control valve, to rotate the swashplate via the trunnion shaft, and not via a servo spool.
In all of the prior art structures, the actuators and/or cylinders for pivoting the pump swashplates are physically located inside the pumps themselves and are controlled by compensators. Thus, there is direct control of the swashplate within the pump itself which is expensive and complex. In addition, servicing and maintenance require that the pump unit be opened up and at least partially disassembled.
It should be understood that for most variable displacement pumps, an optional, complicated, servo control system is the preferred control system for differing hydraulic systems. Such control systems include the previously-noted constant pressure control, constant horsepower control and electronic control. Such a servo system usually provides for an interaction between the work condition, i.e., the work being performed, and the pump swashplate. For that reason, the necessary servo valve is generally placed inside the hydraulic pump itself, or attached to the pump at a location remote from the swashplate trunnion shaft since the servo valve requires its flow passages to be connected to the pump end cover.
For zero-turn-radius (ZTR) machines or vehicles, no servo valve is required since the human operator can sense the working conditions and physically make the necessary changes based upon his/her decision. Thus, the simplest and most logical way to add automatic swashplate control is via a trunnion shaft location thereof in the manner set forth in the present invention.

Control devices for swashplate type variable displacement piston pump