A storage apparatus includes a storage unit and a controller, wherein control of inputting/outputting data from/to a device provided in said storage unit is executed in accordance with a request received by said storage apparatus. An actual device of the storage apparatus corresponds to a virtual device which is external to said storage apparatus. The controller operates to perform a process for mapping an actual device address corresponding to a virtual device address, in accordance with a specification of the actual device to be mounted or unmounted to correspond to the virtual device, and storing and retaining mapping information obtained from the mapping in a first table. The controller also performs data input/output process for receiving, an access request for data input/output in which said virtual device address is specified, obtaining the actual device address mapped to said specified virtual device address in said first table, and accessing the actual device by said obtained actual device address.

The present invention relates to a storage apparatus (also known as a disk array apparatus or storage subsystem) which controls storing of data with respect to a storage unit such as a hard disk drive (hereinafter abbreviated as "HDD"), and particularly to a technique for utilizing and controlling system configuration definition information such as device addresses for utilizing storage apparatuses in a computer system configured by including the storage apparatus and a host computer (hereinafter abbreviated as "host") which requests data input and output with respect to the storage apparatus.
With increase in an amount of data handled in a computer system, capacity of a storage area provided by the storage apparatus is also made high in a computer system configured by including a storage apparatus which is communicably connected to a host computer of a user side via a network etc.
Before utilization of the storage apparatus, the host side is required to have I/O (input/output) configuration information as the system configuration definition, in order to perform accesses to devices provided in a storage area of the storage apparatus which is connected to a host. Conventionally, for example in mainframe-based connection, the host has retained, as the I/O configuration information, the device addresses which are control information used to uniquely specify an object in accessing the devices provided in the storage apparatus, so that the device addresses correspond one-on-one to physical structures of a side of the storage apparatus. That is, all the device addresses handled in the storage apparatus are also retained on the host side. In the access of the storage apparatus to the device from the host, the host specifies a device address and issues a request (command); and, according to the specified device address, the storage apparatus accesses a physical storage area which is provided on a HDD corresponding to the device, in order to perform an input/output process such as read/write of data. Note that the "device" indicates a unit of a physical or logical storage volume which is reserved in the storage area provided by, for example, the HDD in the storage apparatus.
Also, in conventional storage apparatus and computer system, in addition to the access (disk access) performed from the host to devices which are provided on the HDD of the storage apparatus, an access (tape access) is made to a magnetic tape unit which is connected in the system, in order to, for example, back up the data. When the data of the device of the storage apparatus is to be inputted to and outputted from the magnetic tape unit, the magnetic tape is utilized by being appropriately mounted on the address of the magnetic tape unit. The magnetic tape which is mounted on the magnetic tape unit is identified by identification information such as volume serial numbers (VOLSER). Since the above-described magnetic tape is mounted, the data of the device provided in the storage apparatus can be inputted to and outputted from the area of the magnetic tape by specifying the address of the magnetic tape unit from the host and the storage apparatus.

Storage apparatus having virtual-to-actual device addressing scheme


An antenna unit for a communication system is disclosed. The communication system includes a rail, a separable power transmission line provided along the rail, carriages running along the rail while receiving power from the power transmission line, and a fixed station for establishing communications with the carriages. Communications between the carriages and the fixed station are accomplished by transmitting a signal via the power transmission line. The antenna unit is detachably located in the path of the power transmission line. The antenna unit includes an antenna device serving as a communication antenna of the fixed station and a conductive line to which the antenna device is attached. A terminal connects each end of the conductive line to an associated separate part of the power transmission line so that the conductive line is located between the separate parts of the power transmission line, thus forming a combined power/signal transmission line. Another terminal connects the antenna device to a signal line connected to the fixed station. The antenna unit permits easy installation of an antenna without having to perform difficult winding and other steps in the field.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a communication system for movable bodies or slave units. Communication signals from a master unit are sent over power lines laid along a rail on which the movable bodies run. More particularly, the present invention relates to a detachable antenna unit in which master communication antennas are located.
2. Description of the Related Art
There is a monorail type conveying apparatus in which carriages run along a rail, which is laid on the ceiling of a factory or a warehouse, to convey loads between stations in the factory or warehouse. Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 6-153305 discloses one example of a power supply system for such a conveying apparatus. According to the power supply system, each carriage has a pickup coil, which faces power lines laid along the rail in a contactless state. The pickup coil acquires induced electromotive force as power from the alternating current that flows through the power lines.
The power supply system disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 6-153305 will more specifically be described referring to FIGS. 8 and 9. As shown in FIG. 8, two power lines 83 are supported on a rail 81 by support members 82. An alternating current (a high-frequency alternating current of, for example, 200 V) flows through each power line 83. Each carriage acquires power from a pickup device 84 provided in a contactless state facing the two power lines 83. The pickup device 84 includes a core 85 having an approximately E-shaped cross section, and a coil 86 wound around the center projection, 85a, of the core 85.
The carriage communicates with a fixed station provided on the ground, and its operation is controlled based on an instruction signal from the fixed station. When the fixed station, which is known as a parent station or master unit, and the carriage, which is known as a child station or slave unit, communicate with each other via radio signals, cross-talk may occur. Normally, therefore, trolley lines laid along a rail are used to ensure communications between the fixed station and the carriage. When trolley lines are used, however, a collector brush provided on the carriage to contact the trolley lines wears out easily. Further, the laying the trolley lines in addition to the power lines increases the line laying work.
To overcome this shortcoming, a communication method using the power lines has been proposed. In the proposed communication method, a signal for communications is superimposed on the AC that flows through the power lines. The communications between the fixed station and the carriage are accomplished via a pickup coil antenna, which is provided on the carriage.
To improve the communication reliability, it is necessary to suppress as much as possible the attenuation of a signal sent onto the associated power line from the communication antenna. Since antennas cannot be directly wound on the power lines along which the carriage moves, antennas are provided close to the power lines. Since antennas can be fixed to the power lines at the fixed station, by contrast, a communication antenna 87 on the fixed station should preferably be directly wound on each power line 83 as shown in FIG. 9.
Direct winding of the communication antenna 87 around the power line 83 as shown in FIG. 9, however, requires winding a coil midway along the lengthy power line 83. Because, generally speaking, the power line 83 is very long and heavy, handling the power line is not easy. Therefore, the work of winding the communication antenna 87 is very troublesome and inefficient. Further, it is very difficult *to prepare the antenna 87 in the field as designed, and the resulting antenna 87 does not have high quality, which may reduce the reliability of communications.

Antenna unit for communication system for movable body

Kabushiki Kaisha Toyoda Jidoshokki Seisakusho


A pitcher (10) for the controlled delivery of a liquid or a combination of liquids and solids together into another container. The pitcher has a front chute (18) for the pouring of liquids contained near the base of the pitcher and two side chutes (20, 21) for the pouring of a combination of liquids and solids.

Assorted liquids and solids have been stored, transported and served from pitchers of various construction for literally thousands of years. Three main concerns have remained in their designs namely 1) the volume of the pitcher, 2) protection given by the pitcher to the product being retained for transfer, and 3) the means of delivery of the liquid contained within the pitcher. Over the centuries the size and shape of pitchers have changed in an attempt to meet these three concerns.
Today, pitchers are commonly used to dispense beverages with ice such as ice water and ice tea. However, a difficult challenge has been finding a means by which to control the transfer of the liquid from the pitcher to another container such as a glass while guarding against spillage and preventing unwanted dispensement of the solids which for brevity are hereinafter referred only to as ice cubes.
When liquids and ice cubes are combined, their transfer from a pitcher to another container becomes more difficult. For instance, service pitchers now prevalent in the art cause splashing of the liquid during the process of pouring, especially when the contents are a liquid combined with ice cubes, due to inefficient spout and spill guard design. In order to control and direct the pour with a conventional pitcher, the fluid exit point or spout is made narrow. The size of the spout is usually smaller than that of the ice cubes afloat in the liquid. When pouring from these pitchers the dispensed liquid originates from near the top surface of the pitcher which causes the floating ice cubes to be entrained into the dispensing stream of liquid. The ice cubes often block the spout causing the slowing or completely blocking off of the flow of liquid which results in spillage. This blockage takes place all to frequently in currently used service pitchers.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,957,224 addresses this problem by teaching the combination of pouring lobes and spill guards as a means of controlling the flow of liquid and ice cubes. A principal feature of this pitcher is its spill guard which extends from the upper rim of the pitcher toward its center. This pitcher however still has the disadvantage of the ice cubes blocking the spout, thus causing spillage.
The need for controlled and non-disruptive transfer of liquid-solid combinations remains today a major concern of the hospitality industry, institutions, commercial kitchens, restaurants, and of the domestic sector. Inefficient spout and spill guard designs still do not prevent spillage in the majority, if not all, of service pitchers available in today's market.
Accordingly, it is seen that a need remains for a pitcher from which a combination of liquids and ice cubes may be poured in a more effective and controlled manner. Accordingly, it is to the provision of such that the present invention is primarily directed.


A high voltage generation circuit for laser puncture in which the voltage for laser puncture can be boosted up to the laser oscillation level in a short time with low power loss. The high voltage generation circuit drives a laser unit for puncturing the skin by oscillating laser light. In the high voltage generation circuit, a capacitor is charged to supply power to the laser unit. A booster circuit supplies a current to the capacitor, and a voltage measurer measures the voltage of the capacitor. A controller controls the booster circuit based on an instruction from a user or the voltage of the capacitor to start precharge of the capacitor with a first current value at a first timing, and to start main charging of the capacitor with a second current value higher than the first current value at a second timing, later than the first timing.

Diabetic patients need to measure their blood sugar level on a regular basis to maintain a normal blood sugar level by injecting insulin, dieting and so forth based on the measured blood sugar level. Therefore, patients need to always carry measuring instruments and measure their blood sugar level by themselves on a daily basis. For that purpose, patients puncture the skin of their fingers and so forth using a puncturing apparatus and measure their blood sugar level by making blood exuding from the skin contact a blood sugar measuring device. Biological information, such as lactic acid, hemoglobin A1C and so forth, is measured using blood obtained by the puncturing apparatus as well as the blood sugar level.
Although a puncturing apparatus with a needle has grown popular today, the risk of infection and so forth has been regarded as important and therefore a puncturing apparatus having a laser puncturing device using laser light has been known. This conventional high-voltage generating circuit 1 that drives the conventional laser puncturing apparatus is configured by: switch 3 connected to battery 2; boost circuit 4 connected to this switch 3; capacitor 6 connected to the output of this boost circuit 4 and connected to flash lamp (used as an exemplary light source) 5a constituting laser puncturing device 5; trigger switch 7a that is connected to the output of boost circuit 4 and is operated by the patient to generate a trigger signal; and trigger circuit 7 connected to this trigger switch 7a, as shown in FIG. 1. This trigger circuit 7 is connected to trigger electrode 5b provided in flash lamp 5a.
Here, a lithium-ion battery having an electromotive force of 3.7V is used as battery 2, and a capacitor of 300 μF is used as capacitor 6. Then, boost circuit 4 charges capacitor 5 with a charging current of 1.2 A, and laser puncturing device 5 has an oscillation voltage of 400 V and the minimum oscillation voltage of 300 V.
In this high-voltage generating circuit 1, an output current of battery 2 is inputted to capacitor 6 through boost circuit 4 and therefore capacitor 6 is charged. Along with charging to capacitor 6, the terminal voltage of capacitor 6 rises. By this means, the voltage applied across flash lamp 5a also rises.
The voltage applied across flash lamp 5a rises to the oscillation voltage (about 400 V) by charging for about seven seconds, and then, the patient turns on trigger switch 7a. Therefore, flash lamp 5a lights on, and this light energy 5d excites laser crystal 5e. Laser light 5f is emitted from laser crystal 5e, passes through lens 5g and then punctures skin 9. When skin 9 is punctured, blood 10 exudes from skin 9.
Here, Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2 have been known as prior art document information relating to the invention of this application.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-38662
Patent Document 2: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-195245

High voltage generation circuit, puncture device, and blood test device


A heart valve prostheses crimping apparatus and method for deducing the diameter of stents containing heart valve prosthesis. A medical prosthesis catheter loading apparatus, including a crimping assembly for reducing the diameter of a prosthesis; and a catheter clamp for holding a catheter adjacent to the prosthesis. Also disclosed is an apparatus for reducing the diameter of a medical prosthesis, including a base, a crimp head connectable to the base, and an actuation mechanism connected to the base and connectable to the crimp head to actuate the crimp head. Also disclosed is a method of loading a medical prosthesis into a catheter, including the steps of reducing the diameter of a prosthesis from its normal deployed state to a diameter less than that of the lumen of the catheter; holding a catheter adjacent to the reduced diameter prosthesis; and moving the prosthesis into the catheter lumen.

1. Field
The present invention relates, generally, to medical devices and methods. Particularly, the invention relates to tissue prostheses processing apparatus and methods of making and using tissue prostheses apparatus and systems to process tissue prostheses. More particularly, the invention relates to apparatus and methods for reducing the diameter of tissue prostheses such as heart valves. Most particularly, the invention relates to a heart valve prostheses crimping apparatus and method whereby the diameter of stents containing heart valve prostheses is reduced.
2. Background Information
The state of the art includes stent crimping and balloon folding apparatus and methods produced by applicant's assignee, Machine Solutions, Inc. of Flagstaff, Ariz., USA.
A need is believed to exist for the present invention.
All US patents and patent applications, and all other published documents mentioned anywhere in this application are incorporated by reference in their entirety.


Devices and methods are provided for less-invasive surgical treatment of cardiac valves whereby the need for a gross thoracotomy or median sternotomy is eliminated. In one aspect of the invention, a delivery system for a cardiac valve prosthesis such as an annuloplasty ring or prosthetic valve includes an elongated handle configured to extend into the heart through an intercostal space from outside of the chest cavity, and a prosthesis holder attached to the handle for releasably holding a prosthesis. The prosthesis holder is attached to the handle in such a way that the holder, prosthesis and handle have a profile with a height smaller than the width of an intercostal space when the adjacent ribs are unretracted, preferably less than about 30 mm. In a further aspect, the invention provides a method for repairing or replacing a heart valve which includes the steps of introducing a prosthesis through an intercostal space and through a penetration in a wall of the heart, and securing the prosthesis to an interior wall of the heart, wherein each step is carried out without cutting, removing, or significantly retracting the ribs or sternum.

Heart valve disease is a widespread condition in which one or more of the valves of the heart fails to function properly. Diseased heart valves may be categorized as either stenotic, wherein the valve does not open sufficiently to allow adequate forward flow of blood through the valve, or incompetent, wherein the valve does not close completely, causing excessive backward flow of blood through the valve when the valve is closed. A heart valve may also be both stenotic and incompetent. Valve disease can be severely debilitating and even fatal if left untreated, particularly if the diseased valve is the mitral valve (between the left atrium and left ventricle) or the aortic valve (between the left ventricle and the aorta). According to recent estimates, more than 80,000 patients are diagnosed with aortic or mitral valve disease in U.S. hospitals each year.
Various surgical techniques may be used to repair a diseased or damaged valve. One repair technique which has been shown to be effective in treating incompetence, particularly of the mitral and tricuspid valves, is annuloplasty, in which the effective size of the valve annulus is contracted by attaching a prosthetic annuloplasty ring to an interior wall of the heart around the valve annulus. The annuloplasty ring comprises an inner substrate of a metal such as stainless or titanium, or a flexible material such as silicone rubber or Dacron cordage, covered with a biocompatible fabric or cloth to allow the ring to be sutured to the heart tissue. The annuloplasty ring may be stiff or flexible, may be split or continuous, and may have a variety of shapes, including circular, D-shaped, C-shaped, or kidney-shaped. Examples are seen in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,917,698, 5,061,277, 5,290,300, 5,350,420, 5,104,407, 5,064,431, 5,201,880, and 5,041,130, which are incorporated herein by reference.
Annuloplasty rings may also be utilized in combination with other repair techniques such as quadrangular resection, in which a portion of a valve leaflet is excised, the remaining portions of the leaflet are sewn back together, and a prosthetic annuloplasty ring is then attached to the valve annulus to maintain the contracted size of the valve. Other valve repair techniques in current use include commissurotomy (cutting the valve commissures to separate the valve leaflets), shortening mitral or tricuspid valve chordae tendonae, reattachment of severed mitral or tricuspid valve chordae tendonae or papillary muscle tissue, and decalcification of the valve leaflets or annulus. Annuloplasty rings may be used in conjunction with any repair procedures where contracting or stabilizing the valve annulus might be desirable.
In cases where a cardiac valve is not suited to repair, the valve may be replaced, by excising the valve leaflets of the natural valve, and securing a replacement valve in the valve position, usually by suturing the replacement valve to the natural valve annulus. Various types of replacement valves are in current use, including mechanical and biological prostheses, homografts, and allografts, as described in Bodnar and Frater, Replacement Cardiac Valves 1-357 (1991). A comprehensive discussion of heart valve diseases and the surgical treatment thereof is found in Kirklin and Barratt-Boyes, Cardiac Surgery 323-459 (1986).
Using current techniques, most valve repair and replacement procedures require a gross thoracotomy, usually in the form of a median sternotomy, to gain access into the patient's thoracic cavity. A saw or other cutting instrument is used to cut the sternum longitudinally, allowing two opposing halves of the anterior or ventral portion of the rib cage to be spread apart. A large opening into the thoracic cavity is thus created, through which the surgical team may directly visualize and operate upon the heart and other thoracic contents. Alternatively, a thoracotomy may be performed on a lateral side of the chest, wherein a large incision is made generally parallel to the ribs, and the ribs are spread apart and/or removed in the region of the incision to create a large enough opening to facilitate the surgery.
Surgical intervention within the heart generally requires isolation of the heart and coronary blood vessels from the remainder of the arterial system, and arrest of cardiac function. Usually, the heart is isolated from the arterial system by introducing an external aortic cross-clamp through a sternotomy and applying it to the aorta to occlude the aortic lumen between the brachiocephalic artery and the coronary ostia. Cardioplegic fluid is then injected into the coronary arteries, either directly into the coronary ostia or through a puncture in the ascending aorta, so as to arrest cardiac function. In some cases, cardioplegic fluid is injected into the coronary sinus for retrograde perfusion of the myocardium. The patient is placed on extracorporeal cardiopulmonary bypass to maintain peripheral circulation of oxygenated blood.
Of particular interest in the present application are techniques for the repair and replacement of the mitral valve. The mitral valve, located between the left atrium and left ventricle of the heart, is most easily reached through the wall of the left atrium, which normally resides on the posterior side of the heart, opposite the side of the heart that is exposed by a median sternotomy. Therefore, to access the mitral valve via a sternotomy, the heart is rotated to bring the left atrium into an anterior position accessible through the sternotomy. An opening, or atriotomy, is then made in the right side of the left atrium, anterior to the right pulmonary veins. The atriotomy is retracted by means of sutures or a retraction device, exposing the mitral valve directly posterior to the atriotomy. One of the forementioned techniques may then be used to repair or replace the valve.
An alternative technique for mitral valve access may be used when a median sternotomy and/or rotational manipulation of the heart are inappropriate. In this technique, a thoracotomy is made in the right lateral side of the chest, usually in the region of the fourth or fifth intercostal space. One or more ribs may be removed from the patient, and other ribs near the incision are retracted outward to create a large opening into the thoracic cavity. The left atrium is then exposed on the posterior side of the heart, and an atriotomy is formed in the wall of the left atrium, through which the mitral valve may be accessed for repair or replacement.
Using such open-chest techniques, the large opening provided by a median sternotomy or right thoracotomy enables the surgeon to see the mitral valve directly through the left atriotomy, and to position his or her hands within the thoracic cavity in close proximity to the exterior of the heart for cannulation of the aorta and/or coronary arteries to induce cardioplegia, manipulation of surgical instruments, removal of excised tissue, and introduction of an annuloplasty ring or a replacement valve through the atriotomy for attachment within the heart. However, these invasive, open-chest procedures produce a high degree of trauma, a significant risk of complications, an extended hospital stay, and a painful recovery period for the patient. Moreover, while heart valve surgery produces beneficial results for many patients, numerous others who might benefit from such surgery are unable or unwilling to undergo the trauma and risks of current techniques.
What is needed, therefore, are devices and methods for carrying out heart valve repair and replacement as well as other procedures within the heart and great vessels that reduce the trauma, risks, recovery time and pain that accompany current techniques. The devices and methods should facilitate surgical intervention within the heart or great vessels without the need for a gross thoracotomy, preferably through small incisions within intercostal spaces of the rib cage, without cutting, removing, or significantly deflecting the patient's ribs or sternum. In particular, the devices and methods should allow for removal of tissue from the thoracic cavity, as well as for introduction of surgical instruments, visualization devices, annuloplasty rings, replacement valves, and the like into the thoracic cavity, to facilitate heart valve repair and replacement. The devices and methods should enable the implantation of annuloplasty rings of various shape, size, and stiffness. In addition, the devices and methods should facilitate replacement of a heart valve with various types of prostheses, including mechanical and biological prostheses, homografts, and allografts.

Less-invasive devices and methods for treatment of cardiac valves


The present disclosure relates to the automatic generation of characterized image data. For this purpose, a visual representation of a component is computed on the basis of existent structure data for the component, wherein the surface properties of the visual representation of the component may be varied based on predefined characteristic properties. Because, in the computation of such visual representations, both the component itself and the underlying characteristic surface properties are known, this information may be used for characterizing the corresponding parts in the visual representation in order to achieve automatic characterization of the computed visual representation.

Increasing digitization, particularly in the industrial sphere, is currently leading to far-reaching changes. In this regard, there already exist open operating system solutions enabling machines and physical infrastructures to be connected to the digital world. One example thereof is Siemens MindSphere, which, as a cloud-based operating system for the so-called internet of things, provides a platform for analyzing industrial data in order to realize numerous groundbreaking applications for example of artificial intelligence. In this regard, by way of example, by an optical analysis, it is possible efficiently to identify defective components and thereupon to initiate all necessary acts for a repair process.
Data processing here requires a comprehensive database precisely in applications for artificial intelligence. For this purpose, large amounts of manually acquired image data have been required hitherto for training purposes. In order to be able to train an artificial intelligence system with these image data, however, these real image data have to be correspondingly identified. During this identification process, it is necessary to identify relevant regions in each case in the image data and afterward one or more properties must be allocated to each region. By way of example, a plurality of photographs may be taken of a component, such as a mechanical shaft or a turbine blade, for example. In particular, a component may be photographed from a plurality of different perspectives, for example. Moreover, one component or else optionally a plurality of identical or similar components may also be captured photographically in different operating states, stages of aging or with different types of damage. Afterward, each individual one of these photographs has to be evaluated manually in order to identify the component in the corresponding image and optionally also to allocate characteristic properties such as aging state, possible damage, etc., to the component.
In the context of the complexity of modern industrial installations and the enormous amount of data thus obtained, even now it is no longer possible to carry out manually the capture of the images and the identification of the obtained image data that is required over and above that. Even partly automatic approaches which support a user in the identification of the image data are encountering their limits very rapidly on account of the enormous amount of image data and the complexity of the systems represented in these image data. Moreover, the above-described capture of image data and the downstream identification only make it possible to acquire image data of already existing real systems and the instances of damage or wear phenomena that have occurred in that case. Furthermore, it is also necessary, in order to acquire image data of the real components, to expose the corresponding components in each case to an extent such that the components may be photographed. Consequently, if the wear of a component over the operating time is intended to be documented photographically, then at regular intervals the corresponding component has to be demounted, photographed, and then reinstalled. This, too, requires an unmanageable effort precisely in complex technical systems.
Therefore, there is a need for the automatic generation of identified image data. In particular, there is a need for the generation of identified image data which may be used as a basis for data processing in complex technical installations. Moreover, there is a need for the analysis of components on the basis of image data identified in this way.

Computer-implemented method and apparatus for automatically generating identified image data and analysis apparatus for checking a component


A method of fabricating an optical fiber preform includes an operation of glazing the outside surface of the preform using inductive heating, of the plasma torch type, for localized heating of the preform. A flow of gas between the plasma and the preform in the area of the outside face of the preform on which the plasma impinges reduces the power of the plasma in this outside surface area.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention concerns a plasma torch and a method of fabricating a glass preform to be used in the production of an optical fiber, and in particular a method of glazing the external surface of the preform. It also concerns a preform fabrication system using that method.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As is known in the art, a preform to be used in the production of an optical fiber by a drawing operation is conventionally fabricated or surfaced by depositing silica in successive concentric layers onto a primary preform and by glazing the surface of the outside layer of the resulting cylindrical member.
A preform fabrication method known in the art starts from a cylindrical primary preform onto which silica is deposited in concentric layers by heating the preform locally, using inductive heating means of the plasma torch type, and depositing molten silica obtained from grains of silica injected into the plasma at the mouth of the torch. The molten silica is incorporated into the heated silica at a high temperature in the area of the outside surface of the preform on which the plasma impinges.
Some of the silica melted in this way evaporates because of the high temperatures reached in the plasma and tends to be deposited in the form of soot on cooling. These deposits of soot can be a particular problem because they affect in particular outside areas of the preform which are cooler than the target area. Such deposits are also produced in abundance when one of the two ends of the preform must be heated locally so that it can be cut and the preform obtained in this way worked at one end to have a conical pointed shape which must be of the same optical quality as the rest of the preform for subsequent production of a fiber by hot drawing.
It is known in the art to glaze the outside surface of a preform by heating the preform by means of a plasma torch under conditions corresponding to those for depositing a layer of silica, but without feeding any silica. This improves the surface state of the preform because the plasma vitrifies some of the soot present on the preform. The action of the plasma evaporates a non-negligible quantity of silica because of the intense heating of the target area of the outside surface of the preform. As is known in the art, technological constraints rule out reducing the power of the plasma, which would otherwise be desirable to prevent evaporation of silica during glazing. Soot is therefore created and deposited onto the parts of the preform which are sufficiently cool, and in particular onto the portion of the outside surface of the preform where the glazing operation has just been carried out. Soot remaining on the outside surface of a preform constitutes a serious problem in terms of quality and compromises subsequent drawing operations performed to obtain a fiber.
Attempts have therefore been made to reduce the production of soot by increasing the speed of movement in translation of the preform relative to the plasma torch. The drawback of this solution is that it increases the internal stresses which inevitably occur when the preform is heated by a plasma because of its instantaneous localization to a limited area of the preform and the sudden variations in temperature which then occur between the strongly heated area and the adjoining areas of the preform. It is known in the art to eliminate the internal stresses produced in a preform by annealing in a furnace, but this takes significantly longer than a glazing operation; it conventionally takes about 15 hours.
Document EP-0 887 318 mentions that, to avoid the problems associated with the formation of soot during the operation of drawing a large-diameter preform into a smaller diameter intermediate preform using an oxygen-hydrogen torch, the soot is expelled by a flow of gas with a high flowrate, of the order of 150 l/min.
The object of the present invention is therefore to provide a plasma torch which in particular prevents the deposition of soot during the glazing of an optical fiber preform.

Method of glazing an optical fiber preform with a plasma of reduced power


A system, method and computer program product for determining purchase eligibility of a financial product; including, classifying the financial product according to an ontological model into one or more classification types, assigning a marker to each classification type corresponding to the attributes of the financial product, and applying decision one or more rules to the financial product to determine whether the financial product is eligible or ineligible for purchase or participation.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to determining whether a financial product is eligible for purchase under the terms of business of one or more agreements between the parties to a transaction, and more particularly to the use of an ontological model to facilitate such a determination.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many companies engage in the business of purchasing financial products and assets such as loans. Freddie Mac is one such company and engages primarily in the purchase of home mortgage loans. Often, such purchases are made pursuant to agreements between the parties to the transaction, agreements which control not only the relationship between the parties and their duties and responsibilities but also dictate key terms of the transaction. Specifically, the terms of business contained in the agreements dictate the characteristics a loan must have to be deemed eligible for purchase. Loan characteristics used in such agreements to determine purchase eligibility include, for example: original loan amount, occupancy type, loan purpose, property type, maturity term, and indicator score.
Multiple agreements may be applicable for a given transaction. For example, in the case of home mortgage loan purchases by Freddie Mac, a master agreement known as a Seller/Servicer Guide governs transactions between Freddie Mac and a plurality of lenders. In addition, individual lenders who sell to Freddie Mac may enter into negotiated agreements that change, in some way, the terms of business contained in the master agreement. Accordingly, in order to accurately determine loan purchase eligibility from such lenders, terms of business contained in both the master agreement and the negotiated agreements would need to be considered.
Due to a number of factors, incorrect determinations are sometimes made regarding the purchase eligibility of a loan. That is, due to the large number of terms of business and their intertwined nature, the effects of which are difficult to assess, loans may be allowed to be purchased that should not be eligible. Conversely, loans may be prevented from being purchased due to erroneous determination of ineligibility. Either scenario would have negative financial consequences for the prospective purchaser of the loan. Further complicating the analysis is the fact that the terms of business change over time, often quite frequently. Such changes, if not effected in the analysis, will result in similar discrepancies and consequences.
An additional drawback inherent in current systems is the labor intensive nature of translating terms of business contained in the master and negotiated agreements into business rules that can be used by automated tools to help determine purchase eligibility. These terms of business are often drafted in legally complex language and, as mentioned above, are often intertwined. It is not uncommon for errors to be made in the translation of such terms of business into business rules with mathematical and logical operators for use in an automated process. That the terms of business may not be static and may in fact change many times in a year further complicates the process and requires additional resources to maintain the accuracy of the systems. The introduction of a new purchase eligible loan type into such an environment creates similar difficulties and is labor intensive, thereby extending the "time to market" for such a product.
Even when, under the current systems, the purchase eligibility of a loan is determined accurately, it is difficult to trace that determination back to the specific relevant terms of business used to determine eligibility. Specifically, in the case of loans determined to be ineligible, it is particularly useful to have additional visibility and traceability to the terms of business in the master agreement and/or the negotiated agreement that caused the loan to be deemed ineligible for purchase.

System, method and computer program product for determining loan purchase eligibility

Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac)


Rights clearances management for assets, such as media assets. A rights brokerage service enables potential licensees to clears rights to use assets within designated projects, such as advertising campaign projects. The potential licensee uses an interface to select or identify an asset without necessarily accessing the asset itself. The rights holders and the rights held by each rights holder are identified based on the asset identity. A request is automatically issued to the rights holders to approve use of the asset for the project. The potential licensee may use an interface to track progress of approvals from the rights holders. Unenforceable rights are detected and approval is automatically obtained. If all enforceable rights are cleared, the asset may be committed for approval by a project manager or other authority. When approved, a license to use the asset is automatically created between the potential licensee and each of the rights holders.

A content management system, such as a Digital Asset Management system (DAM) is often employed to enable multiple users to store, search, and access content that is owned or licensed. This content is generally provided as one or more media assets in a digital format, such as pictures, text, videos, graphics, illustrations, images, audio files, fonts, colors, and the like. Conventional media asset management systems provide for storage, search and retrieval of media assets, but often the assets are not available for permitted use without obtaining approvals associated therewith. Moreover, there may be incomplete knowledge, or even no knowledge, of whose approvals are required.

Licensed rights clearance and tracking for digital assets


The present invention relates to a thermoplastic polyurethane contact lens prepared from a mixture comprising: (a) at least one polyethylene glycol; (b) at least one di-isocyanate; and (c) at least one diol of formula (I): wherein n is an integer from 1 to 25; wherein the polyethylene glycol, di-isocyanate and diol are reacted under substantially anhydrous conditions. Further aspects of the invention relate to a process for preparing a contact lens. The invention also relates to a process for preparing a polyurethane xerogel in the form of a molded article, said process comprising the steps of: (i) preparing a reaction mixture comprising at least one polyethylene glycol, at least one di-isocyanate and at least one diol of formula I as described above; (ii) reacting the reaction mixture formed in step (i) under substantially anhydrous conditions to form a polyurethane xerogel; (iii) injection molding the polyurethane xerogel to form a molded article, (iv) hydrating the xerogel molded article to form a contact lens.

Soft contact lenses offer a viable alternative to spectacles for the correction of visual defects such as myopia, hypermetropia and astigmatism. Early lenses were manufactured from polymers based on 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate, (HEMA). Although these lenses provided some comfort but did not provide sufficient oxygen permeability to prevent problems associated with corneal hypoxia. Attempts to address this problem included copolymerising HEMA with hydrophilic monomers such as methacrylic acid and N-vinyl pyrrolidone. Although these polymers increased the level of oxygen permeability, the incorporation of these comonomers also leads to problems such as protein and lipid deposition, corneal desiccation, staining and lens dehydration.
More recently, a new generation of polymers has been developed to further increase the level of oxygen. These materials are based on the copolymerisation of silicone methacylates with hydrophilic comonomers. The lenses produced from these materials were originally designed for extended wear. Though daily wear products also exist now. Although successful in further increasing DK, these new materials still suffer from limitations such as lipid binding and dryness, all of which decrease lens on eye comfort.
There is therefore still a need for new contact lens polymers, which offer sufficient oxygen levels for normal corneal metabolism during daily wear, and which provide a high level of comfort throughout the day.
One class of polymers which holds considerable promise for novel contact lens materials are PEG based polyurethanes.
Urethane chemistries have also been widely investigated in the field of biomedical devices. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,786,034 discloses hard, hydrophilic polyurethane materials formed from reacting a specific polyol with a polyfunctional isocyanate. U.S. Pat. No. 3,821,186 teaches similar such materials. Likewise, U.S. Pat. No. 4,136,250 teaches a polymer formed by reacting a high molecular weight polydimethyl siloxane diol with 2 mole equivalents of isophorone di-isocyanate and then reacting with excess hydroxyl-containing monomers. Further urethane copolymers are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,454,309 and 4,359,553.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,930,196 discloses polyurethane hydrogel contact lenses prepared from prepolymers made by reacting (a) at least one multifunctional compound; (b) at least one di-isocyanate; and (c) at least one diol. The prepolymers so formed are then reacted with excess water to form a hydrogel polymer suitable for use as a contact lens.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,644,033 discloses a polyurethane hydrogel formed from the reaction of a polyoxyethylene and a polyfunctional isocyanate in a non-aqueous solvent. The materials can be molded into contact lenses.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,932,200 discloses a polyurethane formed from reacting a diol component and an organic di-isocyanate with critical selection of the amount of water in the reaction mixture and the diol component. The polyurethane is in the form of a gel that has applications in burn/wound care dressings and as surgical implants.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,885,966 and 5,175,229 disclose hydrophilic polymeric soft contact lenses prepared from prepolymers that are isocyanate-capped oxyethylene-based diols or polyols having a molecular weight of about 7000 to 30,000, wherein essentially all of the OH groups are capped with polyisocyanate. The prepolymers are hydrated to form polyurea-polyurethane polymers that are characterised by having a non-ionic surface which is resistant to non-specific protein adsorption.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,989,710 discloses linear polymers comprising polyurethane/urea polyethylene glycol combined with units of polypropylene glycol. The presence of polypropylene glycol leads to a higher modulus and tensile strength.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,563,233 discloses a hydrophilic polyether polyurethane polymer which is the reaction product of a polyoxyalkylene glycol, a glycol and an organic di-isocyanate. Similarly, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,932,200 and 5,120,816 discloses contact lenses made from hydrogels derived from the reaction product of polyethylene glycols and di-isocyanates. Urea groups are introduced into the backbone by incorporating qualitatively measured amounts of water into the reaction mixture. In each case, the presence of water leads to the formation of urea groups in the backbone chain which in turn gives rise to increased modulus values that are undesirable in the contact lens industry.
The present invention seeks to provide new polyurethane-based materials that are suitable for use in the contact lens industry. The polyurethane-based materials of the invention are thermoplastic copolymers that exhibit exemplary physical properties, for example, in terms of modulus, oxygen permeability, light transmissibility, surface wettability and wearer comfort over extended periods. Advantageously, the thermoplastic materials described herein are suitable for use in conventional injection molding apparatus, thereby enabling high throughput production of contact lenses.


Automatic generation of hypertext markup language (HTML) files based on bitmap image data, which faithfully preserves layout information of an original document from which the bitmap data was obtained. Generally, multi-column document layouts result in automatic generation of HTML files that use HTML "table tags" to display each of the different columns. More particularly, a bitmap image is obtained such as by scanning or retrieval of a pre-existing image, and the bitmap image is segmented into blocks. The location of each block is determined, each block is analyzed in preparation for insertion of appropriate data into an HTML file, and layout analysis is performed to identify layout relationships between the blocks based on the relative locations of the blocks in the bitmap image. Based on the layout relationships, a block type is determined for each block, column span and row span data for each block is determined, blocks are re-ordered if needed, and an HTML file is generated in which blocks are tagged as data elements in a row of an HTML "table tag" based on block type and based on column and row span information for the block.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention concerns generating a hypertext markup language (HTML) file based on an input bitmap image, and is particularly directed to automatic generation of an HTML file, based on a scanned-in document image, with the HTML file in turn being used to generate a Web page that accurately reproduces the layout of the original input bitmap image.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, the popularity of the internet has grown dramatically. One reason for such growth has been the widespread adoption of HTML (HyperText Markup Language), which is a language for describing document appearance, document layout and hyperlink specifications. It defines the syntax that describe the structure and the content of a document including text, images, and other supported media. The language also provides connections among documents and other Internet resources through hypertext links and other hyperlinks. Using HTML, a Web page can be created which contains, in addition to bitmap images, graphic images, and text of various styles and sizes, hyperlinks which permit a viewer of the Web page to easily jump to another point within the page or to a completely different Web page, even one that is provided by a different server.
Once an HTML file is made available on the World Wide Web via a server, any client connected to the World Wide Web can access the page merely by typing the page address in the appropriate field of his browser. After the address has been entered, the browser requests the server to send the HTML file, which can contain text, references to graphic and bitmap image files, and formatting and hyperlink information for the entire page. Upon receipt of the HTML file, the browser automatically requests the graphic and bitmap image files referenced in the HTML file from the identified source.
To display the HTML file and the downloaded image files, the browser relies on HTML commands embedded in the HTML file. These commands are referred to as "tags". The tags indicate features or elements of a page and cause the browser to perform various functions, such as a particular type of formatting. HTML tags can be identified in HTML files by their syntax. That is, the tags are surrounded by left and right angle brackets, such as "<P>". In this case, "<" indicates the start of the HTML tag, "P" is the tag itself (here a tag indicating a new text paragraph), and ">" indicates the end of the tag. Often, tags come in pairs so as to indicate the start and end of a special function. The beginning tag initiates a feature (such as heading, bold, and so on), and the ending tag turns it off. Ending tags typically consist of the initiating tag name preceded by a forward slash (/) For example, <strong> and </strong>, surrounding text, will display the surrounded text more strongly that other text. Any additional words in a tag are attributes, sometimes with an associated value after an equal sign (=), which further define or modify the tag's actions.
HTML 3.0 is presently the de-facto World Wide Web standard that defines permissible tags and nesting of tags. Approximately 100 different tags are permitted and defined.
Because of the complexity of HTML 3.0, as well as its cumbersome usage requirements, considerable effort is expended by the Web designer when authoring visually appealing and useful Web pages. For example, assume that an organization had good existing written marketing materials which it wanted to reproduce identically on a Web page. Even this seemingly simple task has typically required that a specialist spend a significant amount of time authoring HTML instructions by hand in an attempt to reproduce the layout and appearance of the written materials.
Several systems have been proposed that would automate this job of authoring HTML files from written documents. Xerox Text Bridge Pro and Caere Omni Page Pro are examples of systems which scan in written documents and generate HTML files based on the scanned-in document image. Where these systems fail is in producing HTML files that accurately represent the layout, tables and images of the original written document. In particular, a major problem has been automatically generating HTML instructions for the case where the written document is arranged in columns, or, more generally, when regions in the original document are horizontally adjacent. The term "horizontally adjacent," when used with respect to two image blocks, means a situation where the vertical extent of the two blocks overlap, or, equivalently, where a horizontal line can be found which will intersect both blocks. Similarly, the term "vertically adjacent," when used with respect to two image blocks, means a situation where the horizontal extent of the two blocks overlap, or, equivalently, where a vertical line can be found which will intersect both blocks.
A typical example of the problems associated with such systems is illustrated by reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. FIG. 1 depicts an original printed document 10 to be converted into HTML format. As shown in FIG. 1, the original document, has, among other features: title 1 in the upper left corner, subtitle 2 in the upper right corner, text columns 4, 5 and 6, picture 7 in the lower left corner, and footer 9 in the lower right corner.
FIG. 2 illustrates how a Web page 20 would be displayed on display 23 by a Web browser based on the HTML file generated by an existing system for converting bitmap images into HTML. Elements in FIG. 2 corresponding to those in FIG. 1 are numbered similarly to those in FIG. 1. Thus, after processing by the existing system, title 1 is reproduced as title 11. However, subtitle 2, rather than being reproduced in the upper right corner, is instead reproduced as element 12 in the upper left corner, just below title 11. Similarly, the entire text column structure of the original document has been eliminated, and picture 17, rather than being in the lower left corner, occupies the entire width of the page and is interposed between lines of text. Finally, footer 19 is reproduced in the lower left corner, instead of the lower right corner.
The above comparison shows the complete failure of commercially available systems to capture many layout and stylistic elements of the original document. Other known available systems also too frequently miss important layout features. Accordingly, the problems caused by the complex and cumbersome nature of HTML are not adequately addressed by commercially available systems.

Generator for document with HTML tagged table having data elements which preserve layout relationships of information in bitmap image of original document


An orthodontic dental distractor was invented for rapid orthodontic tooth movement into a fresh extraction socket. It is derived from the concept of distraction osteogenesis. The device includes a distractor head, a movable joint and a screw. The distractor head has one end engageable with a molar band mounted on a molar and another end connecting with a sliding bar on which a screw seat is fixedly mounted. The movable joint is engageable with a canine band mounted on the canine. The screw has a screw head and is engageable with the screw seat and the movable joint. By turning the screw head, the screw can drive the movable joint moving toward the screw seat and consequently moving tooth rapidly.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a device for rapid orthodontic tooth movement into a fresh tooth extraction space for correcting severe front teeth crowding or protrusion in orthodontic treatment.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Conventional orthodontic treatment for severe anterior teeth crowding or protrusion generally takes one and half to two years. Generally, there are five steps in the treatment procedure.
1. Extracting the first premolars. PA1 2. Initial teeth leveling by using orthodontic brackets and arch wires. Depending on the alignment of teeth, this step lasts about three to six months. PA1 3. Retracting canine backward into the first premolar extraction space for anterior teeth. This step lasts about four to six months for children and seven to eight months for adults. PA1 4. Retracting anterior teeth to level the protruding teeth. This step lasts about six months. PA1 5. Fine adjustment of occlusion and tooth angulation. This step lasts about three to six months.
This treatment procedure is too long to the patients. It is not esthetic to wear braces for such a long period and it is very burdensome for the patients to maintain their oral hygiene as well. It also is very inconvenient and time-consuming for the patients to visit orthodontist's office in such a long period. Two major steps make the period of orthodontic treatment long. They are the step 3 (canine retraction) and step 4 (anterior retraction), which take a whole year in a total. Several efforts including using postaglanding injections into the periodontal ligaments have been made to shorten the time needed for these two steps. However, the results are not very convincing in the clinical point of view and it is very painful for the patients as well.
FIGS. 1 and 2 show the conventional method for canine retraction after first premolar extraction with an elastic power chain. The first molar 1 is engaged with a molar band 12 and a bracket 121 welded on the buccal surface thereof. The canine 3 is engaged with a canine band 32 and a bracket 321 welded on the buccal surface thereof. An elastic power chain 2 is engaged between the brackets 121 and 321. Through the elastic force of the elastic power chain 2, the canine 3 can be pulled gradually toward the first molar 2 and a space is left behind the canine. The regular rate of canine retraction with elastics is 1 mm per month. It takes 4-6 months to retract a canine into a desirable position accordingly. After the canine had been retracted all the way back into the first premolar space, the anterior teeth have gotten space for anterior retraction.
The strength of the elastic power chain 2 is not consistent to control the tooth movement. It absorbs saliva and deteriorates quickly in patient's mouth. It has to be changed frequently, which causes a lot of inconvenience for the patients as well. For people with a busy life and working schedule, this is simply just too long and not good enough.


This apparatus for manufacturing a semiconductor single crystal includes: a crucible; a heater; a crucible driving unit; a chamber for housing the crucible and the heater; and a hydrogen mixed gas supplying device for supplying into the chamber a hydrogen mixed gas including an inert gas in admixture with a hydrogen-containing gas that contains hydrogen atoms, wherein the hydrogen mixed gas supplying device includes: a hydrogen-containing gas supply unit; an inert gas supply unit; a hydrogen-containing gas flow rate controller; an inert gas flow rate controller; and a gas mixing unit for uniformly mixing together the hydrogen-containing gas and the inert gas so as to form a hydrogen mixed gas.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for manufacturing a semiconductor single crystal in a hydrogen-containing atmosphere.
This application claims priority from Japanese Patent Application No. 2005-180001, filed on Jun. 20, 2005, and U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/693,945, filed on Jun. 27, 2005, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
2. Background Art
A silicon single crystal, which is one type of semiconductor single crystal, is manufactured by using a heater to heat a polycrystalline silicon starting material held in a crucible within an airtight chamber so as to form a silicon melt, and growing a silicon single crystal while pulling it from the silicon melt by the Czochralski (CZ) method. The resulting silicon ingot is sliced to prepare silicon wafers, and chips such as integrated circuits are fabricated on the silicon wafers.
An inert gas (primarily argon gas) has hitherto been used as the atmosphere within the chamber when pulling such a silicon single crystal. The reason for using the inert gas is to inhibit chemical reactions between the silicon melt, components of the chamber and the growing silicon ingot, thereby avoiding entry of byproduct-forming impurities. In addition, when supplying a large amount of gas, a flow of gas within the chamber arises. By utilizing the flow of gas within the chamber, metal contamination can be avoided, enabling a silicon single crystal of higher quality to be achieved.
The effectiveness of admixing a very small amount of hydrogen gas in the atmosphere within such a chamber has recently began to be reported (see, for example, Patent Documents 1 to 4). According to the art disclosed in these Patent Documents, the hydrogen atoms act upon grown-in defects, particularly void defects such as crystal oriented particles (COP), that have been introduced into the crystal, thereby being able to shrink or eliminate void defects in much the same way as nitrogen doping of the silicon melt.
Known techniques for safely supplying hydrogen gas, which is flammable, into such a chamber include a method for specifying a hydrogen concentration using a triangular diagram (Patent Document 5), and a method for supplying hydrogen gas so as to efficiently dissolve hydrogen atoms into a silicon melt (Patent Document 6).
However, the prior-art method for supplying hydrogen gas into a chamber described in Patent Document 6 is a method for supplying hydrogen mixed gas which uses a hydrogen gas supplying device that stores beforehand in a cylinder or the like an amount of hydrogen mixed gas required for at least one pull of a silicon single crystal in a hydrogen atmosphere. In such a prior-art method for supplying hydrogen mixed gas, because a content of hydrogen atoms in the hydrogen mixed gas is predetermined, it is very difficult to optimally control the hydrogen concentration in response to changes in a crystal pulling environment during pulling of the silicon single crystal. Hence, achieving maximum benefits of pulling a silicon single crystal in a hydrogen atmosphere is a challenge.
Also, because an apparatus for manufacturing a silicon single crystal having a large diameter that uses several hundred liters or more per minute of such a hydrogen mixed gas would require a hydrogen mixed gas storage means of a quite considerable size, there is some concern that such a prior-art arrangement would entail high equipment costs. An additional concern is the difficulty of continuously and stably supplying hydrogen mixed gas into the chamber at a high flow rate over a period of several days during a single pull.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. S61-178495
Patent Document 2: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. H11-189495
Patent Document 3: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. 2000-281491
Patent Document 4: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. 2001-335396
Patent Document 5: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. 2004-182525
Patent Document 6: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. 2004-217460

Apparatus for manufacturing semiconductor single crystal


A drill cuttings handling system apparatus for use on an oil and gas drilling rig located on a drilling platform where the platform has drilling equipment that includes a system for circulating drilling mud through the borehole created by the drilling equipment that includes a drill cuttings shaker for removing drill cuttings from the circulating drilling mud and a drill cuttings collection trough. The drill cuttings handling system is comprised of a cyclone cuttings hopper, a vacuum pump, an engine and a solids pump. Conduit is attached to the cyclone cuttings hopper for delivering by vacuum flow a quantity of drill cuttings from the drill cuttings collection trough of the drilling mud system of the drilling rig to the cyclone cuttings hopper. Discharge conduit is connected to the solids pump to dispense drill cuttings from the solids pump to a desired location such as a cuttings box. Control means for detecting the level of cuttings in the system and remotely controlling the flow of cuttings into and out of the hopper by remote control of valves and/or pumps is utilized.

In the drilling of oil and gas wells, whether offshore or onshore, rotary drilling techniques require the use of drilling mud circulated through the borehole during the drilling process. Typically, the drilling mud is pumped from a mud holding tank, through mud supply lines, down through the borehole and returned to the surface of the borehole. The circulating drilling mud, as it is returned to the surface of the borehole, is used to carry the drill cuttings produced from the bottom of the advancing borehole to the surface for disposal.
The drilling mud that is returned to the surface, along with the carried drill cuttings, is typically transferred to a shaker or sieving device that is utilized to remove the carried drill cuttings drilling mud. The drilling mud, absent the removed drill cuttings, is re-circulated to the borehole and the drill cuttings, removed by the shaker, are typically collected in a drill cuttings collection trough that is in communication with the shaker and conveyed to dryers for further processing on the rig or to storage boxes or containers for treatment and disposal at a later time.
Various techniques are currently utilized to convey the drill cuttings from the drill cuttings collection trough. These techniques include the use of conveyors, chutes, and suction lines. These techniques, whether the incorporate conveyors, chutes, suction lines or combinations thereof, typically require elaborate networks of conveyors, hoses, chutes, and tanks that take up valuable rig space. These systems typically require substantial amounts of time to set up and take down which can have a negative impact on the time associated with the drilling process.
The present invention is designed to provide a portable vacuum and pumping apparatus and system to handle drill cuttings that may be brought to the well location in single a unit. The unit is easily set up for use and is easily removed from the well location. The unit is easy to operate and maintain, provides a method and means to monitor and control the flow of cuttings through the unit and thus eliminates many of the problems associated with conventional drill cuttings systems. All of the components of the system may be incorporated onto a transportable skid for easy transportation to and from a drill site.


The use of an S1P receptor modulator of the formula (Ia) or (Ib) wherein the meaning of the different residues is that indicated in claim 14, in the preparation of a medicament for preventing, inhibiting or treating an inflammatory condition selected from polymyositis, dermatomyositis and nerve-muscle diseases e.g. muscular dystrophies and inclusion body myositis.

Polymyositis is an immune-mediated disorder leading to an inflammation of the muscles. It results in weakness that can be severe. Polymyositis is a chronic illness with periods of increased symptoms, called flares or relapses, and minimal or no symptoms, known as remissions.
The therapy of such muscle inflammation diseases, and in particular polymyositis, is only partially effective, and in most cases only offers a short delay in disease progression despite anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressive treatment. Accordingly, there is a need for agents which are effective in the inhibition or treatment of muscle diseases, e.g. polymyositis, including reduction of, alleviation of, stabilization of or relief from the symptoms which affect the muscles.

Sphingosine 1 phosphate receptor modulators and their use to treat muscle inflammation


A method for joining or repairing boron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs). In joining BNNTs, the nanotube structure is modified with amorphous carbon deposited by controlled electron beam irradiation to form well bonded hybrid a-C/BNNT structures. In repairing BNNTs, the damaged site of the nanotube structure is modified with amorphous carbon deposited by controlled electron beam irradiation to form well bonded hybrid a-C/BNNT structures at the damage site.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to nanocomposites, and, more particularly to amorphous carbon-boron nitride nanotube (BNNT) hybrids.
2. Description of Related Art
All references listed in the appended list of references are hereby incorporated by reference, however, as to each of the above, to the extent that such information or statements incorporated by reference might be considered inconsistent with the patenting of this/these invention(s) such statements are expressly not to be considered as made by the applicant(s). The reference numbers in brackets below in the specification refer to the appended list of references.
Utilizing the full mechanical capabilities of individual nanotubes is a primary research goal in nanotube reinforced nanocomposite materials. Most studies on structural applications of nanomaterials, such as carbon nanotubes (CNTs), have focused on attempts to improve dispersion in structural matrices to achieve or exceed the performance of state-of-the-art carbon fiber reinforced polymer ("CFRP") composites. This approach has yet to yield mechanical properties that compete with CFRPs, the aerospace structural material of choice [10, 11], because CNTs have not demonstrated the load carrying capacity of carbon fibers due to poor intertube load transfer and physical defects created during processing and fabrication. Practical use of these nanomaterials requires creating stable and strong linkages between nanotubes without sacrificing their mechanical advantage. Cross-linking between shells via electron beam irradiation [12-15] and application of large compressive forces [16] have been studied and offer a viable approach to improve tube-to-tube load transfer and hence, mechanical properties. However, these approaches result in unwanted mechanical degradation and have limitations in scale-up for their applications to hierarchical macroscopic nanocomposite materials.
It is a primary aim of the present invention to use amorphous carbon (a-C) to form stable connections between the tubes using electron beam irradiation.
It is an object of the invention to provide a method for in-situ transmission electron microscope (TEM)-atomic force microscope (AFM) techniques which precisely position BNNT specimens and use electron beam radiation to deposit a-C to modify and join BNNTs one or more times.
It is an object of the invention to provide a method for joining BNNTs in which the a-C joint on BNNT structures is comparable with those of currently available structural fibers and films such as both CNT and BNNT yarns, carbon fibers, carbon fiber reinforced composites, both CNT and BNNT sheets, both CNT and BNNT composites and mixed composites of CNTs, boron carbon nitrides (BCN)s, and BNNTs.
It is an object of the invention to provide a method for a-C welding of BNNT structures which transfers load between the tubes for structural material designs.
Finally, it is an object of the present invention to accomplish the foregoing objectives in a simple and cost effective manner.
The above and further objects, details and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description, when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Amorphous carbon-boron nitride nanotube hybrids

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


A method of determining a second application related to a first application being executed by using a use log of a portable terminal and executing the second application according to a user input and an apparatus for supporting the same are provided. The portable terminal may determine the second application related to the first application being executed, based on a use log collected in a previous context state identical or similar to a current context state of a user. At this time, in order to determine the current context state of the user, the portable terminal may use information related to a location of the portable terminal and information related to a current time.

A portable terminal is able to determine its location in various ways. For example, a portable terminal can determine its location using a Cell Positioning System (CPS) scheme. Such a scheme is also called a Cell-ID scheme corresponding to a technology which collects a signal from a base station close to the portable terminal to measure the location. As another example, a portable terminal can determine its location using a Global Positioning System (GPS) scheme. Such a scheme is a technology which measures the location by using a GPS signal received from a satellite and may be more accurate as compared to the CPS scheme. As another example, a portable terminal can determine its location using a Wi-Fi Positioning System (WPS) scheme. Such a scheme is a technology which compares information of an Access Point (AP) received through Wi-Fi and information of a pre-stored AP to determine the location of the portable terminal. In addition, a portable terminal can measure and supplement its location information using a gravity sensor and an acceleration sensor included within the portable terminal.
However, the CPS scheme has a disadvantage in that an error margin of the location of the portable terminal is large. Further, when the location of the portable terminal is determined using the GPS scheme or the CPS scheme, or the gravity sensor and the acceleration sensor, additional power to operate a module related to the sensors may be consumed. Accordingly, a method of minimizing power consumption of the portable terminal and accurately measuring the location of the portable terminal is required.
The above information is presented as background information only to assist with an understanding of the present disclosure. No determination has been made, and no assertion is made, as to whether any of the above might be applicable as prior art with regard to the present disclosure.

Method of using use log of portable terminal and apparatus using the same


A line coupling having a housing which has a tube connection piece and a housing head. A passage duct extends from a first opening, which is formed by the tube connection piece, to a second opening, which is formed by the housing head. A tube connection structure is arranged in the passage duct. The tube connection structure is connected in a form-fitting manner via first coupling means to a first end of an inner tube which extends out of the housing head through the second opening. The section of the passage duct between the first opening and tube connection structure and inner tube form a flow duct for fluid. A container is also disclosed having a container housing which forms a container hollow space and a container opening. The container opening is formed by an outwardly projecting connection piece, and has a line coupling.

Line couplings serve for connection of lines to other lines or for connection to a container and the like. EP 0 330 871 A1 discloses a line coupling which has a housing which is composed of a tube connection piece and a housing head. A passage duct extends from a first opening, which is formed by the tube connection piece, to a second opening, which is formed by the housing head. The manner in which a connection piece is inserted into the housing head is also shown, wherein sealing elements are arranged between the housing head and the connection piece.
A disadvantage of this configuration is that it is actually only possible for fluid to be conducted into a container which is closed off by way of the housing head. However, liquid removal is not possible if the container has a fill level which is below the housing head.

Line coupling and container having the same


A secondary battery includes an electrode assembly comprising a first electrode, a second electrode, and a separator between the first electrode and the second electrode; an external member wrapped around a side surface of the electrode assembly; a cover coupled to the external member; and a terminal protection member between the electrode assembly and the cover.

1. Field
Embodiments relate to a secondary battery, and more particularly, to a secondary battery.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, a secondary battery is typically formed by storing an electrode assembly and electrolyte in a pouch type external case. In this case, the electrode assembly often includes a positive electrode plate, a negative electrode plate, and a separator located between the electrode plates.
Such a secondary battery usually does not include a structure for protecting electrode terminals, and thus, is susceptible to external mechanical shock.
Specifically, a high capacity secondary battery includes a stack type or wound type electrode assembly that have a plurality of unit batteries and a plurality of separators. Since a plurality of electrode tabs extend from the high capacity secondary battery, if the electrode tabs are moved, a short circuit may be generated.
Furthermore, when a high capacity battery is charged or discharged, intense heat is generated from an electrode terminal by electrode tabs of an electrode assembly. Thus, the battery might spark or explode due to the intense heat.

Lithium polymer secondary battery with external wrapping member


A method of preparing a purified monoester composition is provided. The method generally involves a step of adding triglycerides to the crude monoester composition, with a follow up step of extracting into an alcohol/water phase, of the monoester to be purified. The process can be utilized to isolate and purify monoglycerides and propylene glycol monoesters, to advantage. The invention also concerns equipment for conduct of the processes, provision of preferred food additives, and provision of preferred food industry compositions.

Monoesters such as monoglycerides are widely used food additives, for example as emulsifiers and dough conditioners. In general, such materials comprise esters of fatty acids. The term "monoglyceride" specifically refers to a derivative of glycerol, i.e. a glyceride, in which only one of the three available hydroxy groups of the glycerol moiety is esterified. By "esterified" in this context, it is meant that the glycerol moiety forms the alcohol residue of an ester (typically with a fatty acid residue).
In general, crude monoglyceride mixtures are made from reacting naturally occurring triglycerides, often obtained from oil seed processing, with glycerol. Such reactions generate a mixture of monoglycerides, diglycerides and triglycerides. Limitation on monoglyceride production, via this approach, is generally controlled by: (1) solubility of the glycerol in the reaction mixture; (2) the overall equilibria statistics; and, (3) time. Typical commercially available crude monoglyceride mixtures made using this approach include ratios of monoglyceride:diglyceride:triglyceride (by weight) of about 45:45:10; or about 60:35:5, depending on processing conditions used.
In many instances, it is preferred to utilize more purified monoglycerides. That is, crude monoglyceride compositions or mixtures are purified for at least partial isolation of the monoglycerides from the diglycerides and triglycerides. In general, monoglyceride distillation has been the most widely utilized technique for such purifications. Typically the crude monoglyceride mixture is distilled under vacuum, in a short path distillation process. The distillate generally comprises greater than 90% (by weight) monoglycerides. The remainder generally comprises diglyceride. During the process, the monoglycerides are generally heated to at least 200.degree. C.
In other processes, supercritical extractions have been used for isolation of monoglycerides. These generally concern extraction under pressures greater than atmospheric (typically 30-80 atmospheres) and temperatures in excess of 100.degree. C. (typically 110.degree. C. or so). They generally concern extractions with low molecular weight hydrocarbons, such as propane. Such approaches are generally prohibitively expensive, for application on a large scale.
Closely related materials to monoglycerides include propylene glycol monoesters (PGME's). Such materials are generally made from esterifying propylene glycol with naturally occurring oils, i.e. fatty acid mixtures, resulting in a mixture of monesters and diesters. Generally the monoesters are isolated by distillation. Such materials are also widely utilized as emulsifiers and as dough conditioners in the food industry.

Method for preparation of purified monoglycerides; and, products


Synchronized devices comprising a distributed system attempt to agree on a compatible sequence of commands to execute. Each device in the distributed system may act as a proposer, acceptor, or a learner. Each proposer proposes a command for each device to execute. The acceptors either accept or reject the proposed commands. The learners keep track of the proposed commands and determine, using a transactional substrate, whether the acceptors have a accepted sequences of commands that commute with respect to one another. Once the learners have determined that a quorum of acceptors have accepted sequences of commands that commute with respect to one another the accepted commands are executed by each device in the distributed system.

As personal computing devices become more powerful, containing increased storage space and processing capabilities, the average user consumes an increasingly smaller percentage of those resources in performing everyday tasks. Thus, many of today's personal computing devices are often not used to their full potential because their computing abilities greatly exceed the demands most users place upon them. An increasingly popular method of deriving use and value from the unused resources of powerful modern personal computing devices is a distributed computing system, in which the computing devices act in coordination with one another to provide more reliable access to data and computational resources. An advantage of distributed systems is the ability to continue to operate in the face of physical difficulties that would cripple a single, larger computing device. Such difficulties could include sustained power outages, inclement weather, flooding, and terrorist activity, for example.
To compensate for the increased risk that individual member computing devices may become disconnected from the network, turned off, suffer a system malfunction, or otherwise become unusable, redundancy can be used to allow the distributed computing system to remain operational. Thus, the information stored on any one personal computing device can be redundantly stored on at least one additional personal computing device, allowing the information to remain accessible, even if one of the personal computing devices fails.
A distributed computing system can practice complete redundancy, in which every device within the system performs identical tasks and stores identical information. Such a system can allow users to continue to perform useful operations even if all but one of the devices should fail. Alternatively, such a system can be used to allow multiple copies of the same information to be distributed throughout a geographic region. For example, a multi-national corporation can establish a world-wide distributed computing system.
However, distributed computing systems can be difficult to maintain due to the complexity of properly synchronizing the individual devices that comprise the system. Because time-keeping across individual processes can be difficult at best, a state machine approach can be used to coordinate activity among the individual devices. A state machine can execute a command by changing its state and producing a response. Thus, a state machine can be completely described by its current state and the action it is about to perform, removing the need to use precise time-keeping.
The current state of a state machine is, therefore, dependent upon its previous state, the commands performed since then, and the order in which those commands were performed. To maintain synchronization between two or more state machines, a common initial state can be established, and each state machine can, beginning with the initial state, execute identical commands in identical order. Therefore, to synchronize one state machine to another, a determination of the commands performed by the other state machine needs to be made. The problem of synchronization, therefore, becomes a problem of determining the order of the commands performed, or, more specifically, determining the particular command performed for a given step.
One mechanism for determining which command is to be performed for a given step is known as the Paxos algorithm. In the Paxos algorithm, any of the individual devices can act as a leader and propose a given client command for execution by every device in the system. Every such proposal can be sent with a proposal number to more easily track the proposals. Such proposal numbers need not bear any relation to the particular step for which the devices are attempting to agree upon a command to perform. Initially, the leader can suggest a proposal number for a proposal the leader intends to submit. Each of the remaining devices can then respond to the leader's suggestion of a proposal number with an indication of the last proposal they voted for, or an indication that they have not voted for any proposals. If, through the various responses, the leader does not learn of any other proposals that were voted for by the devices, the leader can propose that a given client command be executed by the devices, using the proposal number suggested in the earlier message. Each device can, at that stage, determine whether to vote for the action or reject it. A device should only reject an action if it has responded to another leader's suggestion of a higher proposal number. If a sufficient number of devices, known as a quorum, vote for the proposal, the proposed action is said to have been agreed upon, and each device performs the action and can transmit the results. In such a manner, each of the devices can perform actions in the same order, maintaining the same state among all of the devices.
However, if two or more actions or requests need not be ordered with respect to one another, then the Paxos algorithm can be made more efficient by allowing a more generalized agreement among the constituent devices. Often two requests that are transmitted at approximately the same time commute with one another. More specifically, the response to one request sent at approximately the same time as another request is not affected by the other request. For example, in a banking system customer A can issue a request to deposit $100 into her account at approximately the same time that customer B issues a request to withdraw $50 from his account. These two exemplary commands commute because customer B's request to withdraw $50 from his account does not change customer A's balance irrespective of whether customer B's request is performed before or after customer A's request. Consequently, a device that executes customer B's request first will provide the same results to both customer A and customer B as a device that executes customer A's request first, and both devices will agree about the resulting system state, so that future commands also generate consistent responses.
The generalized Paxos algorithm recognizes that devices selecting commuting commands in any order remain synchronized. For example, the generalized Paxos algorithm can recognize that a device selecting customer A's request prior to customer B's request is in agreement with a device selecting customer B's request prior to customer A's request. Consequently, a generalized Paxos algorithm can seek to achieve agreement on a series of functions, executed as a series of steps, while the above-mentioned Paxos algorithm required agreement on a step-by-step basis.
However, while the generalized Paxos algorithm is more efficient than the Paxos algorithm because it achieves agreement on series of steps, rather than on a step-by-step basis, the generalized Paxos algorithm still must be able to recognize which functions or steps commute before it can achieve agreement on a particular series. Absent the present invention, programmers implementing the generalized Paxos algorithm would have to explicitly declare beforehand the commutativity for each function or step. This greatly complicates the programming of distributed systems, and can create errors that may be difficult to detect during testing. In addition, the programmers may not fully recognize all of the functions that commute, thus reducing the effectiveness of the generalized Paxos algorithm. Furthermore, it is possible that functions commute only when the state they are applied to possesses a certain property, and the programmer, not being able to rely on this property always holding, must conservatively dictate that the functions do not commute.
Therefore what are needed are systems and methods for automatically detecting commutativity of functions for use in the generalized Paxos algorithm.

Automatic commutativity detection for generalized paxos


There are provided peptides derived from antibodies with reactivity against a GPI linkage epitope and functionally-equivalent ligands. These peptides can be used in the therapy and diagnosis of a variety of diseases, all of which are considered to be caused by the inappropriate presence in the body of autoantibodies which are reactive with GPI linkage epitopes. There is also described a mechanism of action of these autoantibodies which compromises the organism, so causing disease, and a method of prevention of disease and detection of the autoantibody.

The invention relates to a new concept regarding the cause of autoimmune diseases, and other diseases currently not considered autoimmune. This concept was originally described in international patent application WO99/05175, where the incidence of naturally-occurring autoantibodies with a specific reactivity was linked to various autoimmune diseases, such as diabetes. The concept is that most diseases of infectious or non-infectious origin, with or without genetic predisposition or conditions related to the ageing process, become manifest or are aggravated by the emergence of a multispecific autoantibody. A large proportion of the population generate this autoantibody, which compromises all systems and organs which are affected by blood glucose levels, insulin levels, other hormone levels controlled by or affecting insulin and/or GPI-linked molecules, other regulatory molecules recognised by the autoantibody and phospholipids. These autoantibodies have the potential to accelerate ageing and age-related diseases, promote cancers, mediate the manifestation of diseases whether or not based on genetic predisposition and interfere with first line defence against infectious agents. That is, there is an underlying pathogenic problem which is the production of the autoantibody which depending on individual susceptibility, leads to one or more problematic conditions or diseases. An analogy would be that for any given drug, there may be one or more side-effects, none of which would be present in the absence of the drug. So, these antibodies are considered to be causative of a multitude of different disorders manifested through the same mechanism.
The pathogenic autoantibody is represented by a monoclonal antibody which recognises anti-TCR Vβ antibodies, molecules with signalling capacity, phospholipids including phosphatidyl inositol, second messengers of insulin action, single and double-stranded DNA and elements of the GPI-linkage.
Although certain therapies exist for the diseases and conditions which are discussed herein, most of these diseases remain problematic and are a significant cause of morbidity and mortality. There thus remains a great need for novel therapies to be derived that are effective in the prevention, treatment and diagnosis of these conditions. Of course, in view of the wide variety of diseases of the type discussed herein, it would be of great benefit were it to be possible to derive a single therapy that would be effective for all these diseases.
The applicant has now established that certain peptides or antibodies termed peptide-counteracting antibodies may be used in the prevention, therapy and diagnosis of a wide variety of diseases and conditions.

Peptides for treatment and diagnosis of autoimmune disease


Disclosed herein is a lens barrel member. The lens barrel member includes: a lens barrel surrounding an outer periphery of a lens; and a housing receiving the lens barrel, the lens barrel being secured to the housing, wherein the lens barrel is formed of a lens barrel composition including: about 50 wt % to about 75 wt % of a polycarbonate resin; about 20 wt % to about 45 wt % of a glass fiber; about 0.5 wt % to about 3 wt % of a polyolefin wax; and about 0.5 wt % to about 3 wt % of a fluorinated olefin resin, and a weight ratio of the polyolefin wax to the fluorinated olefin resin ranges from about 1:0.3 to about 1:3. The lens barrel member can have a low coefficient of friction and/or good properties in terms of rigidity and/or dimensional stability.

A lens barrel member used in a device, such as a digital camera or a closed circuit television (CCTV), serves to protect a lens while securing the lens to the device. A lens barrel of the lens barrel member is required to have good out-of-roundness and high levels of rigidity and impact resistance in order to secure smooth insertion of the lens into the lens barrel and smooth operation of the lens in the lens barrel. In addition, the lens barrel member has a structure in which a housing is coupled to the lens barrel. If a material for the lens barrel has a high coefficient of friction, assembly of the lens barrel member cannot be smoothly achieved upon coupling of the housing to the lens barrel via male and female threads, and excessive driving force, noise, dust and the like can be induced in the process of driving a related device, such as focusing, thereby causing deterioration in device performance.
In order to improve rigidity of the lens barrel member, a thermoplastic resin composition using glass fibers has been proposed. However, a molded article manufactured using the thermoplastic resin has a high coefficient of friction and exhibits poor properties in terms of out-of-roundness depending on orientation of the glass fibers.
Therefore, there is a need for a thermoplastic resin composition which allows a molded article formed therefrom to have a low coefficient of friction and good properties in terms of rigidity and dimensional stability (out-of-roundness).