A system is disclosed for converting a continuous tone value to an output value having a first level or a second level. A first error magnitude is generated based upon continuous tone values already converted, continuous tone values not yet converted and an output value having the first level assumed for the continuous tone value undergoing conversion. A second error magnitude is similarly generated except that an output value having the second level is assumed for the continuous tone value undergoing conversion. If the first error magnitude is less than the second error magnitude, then the continuous tone value undergoing conversion is converted to the output value having the first level and, otherwise, the continuous tone value undergoing conversion is converted to the output value having the second level. The error corresponding to the converted lineary value is diffused in a predetermined manner to neighboring continuous tone values which have not yet been converted.

In lithographic printing systems, an original to be reproduced is scanned by a scanner on a pixel-by-pixel basis and the resulting scanned values are used to create one or more printing plates. When a monochrome (e.g., black and white) reproduction is to be printed, a single printing plate is produced. On the other hand, when a color reproduction is to be printed, a set of four plates are produced, one for each of the subtractive primary colors of magenta, cyan and yellow and one for black. The colored inks reproduce the hues of the original and the black ink produces a desired neutral density that cannot be attained by colored inks alone. In addition, since black ink is less expensive than colored inks, grey replacement (a form of undercolor removal) may be effected to replace quantities of the colored inks with black ink. Such a process reduces the cost to produce the reproduction without significantly affecting the appearance thereof.
In traditional prior art lithographic half-tone reproduction systems, each printing plate includes a number of contiguous cells of equal size wherein each cell contains zero, one or more elementary marks (or "microdots") clustered together to form a single large "dot" in the cell. More recently, systems have been devised wherein mircodots have been dispersed in a regular pattern in each cell and, in other systems, microdots have been dispersed in a random pattern on a medium. In each event, the number of elementary marks used to create a cluster dot or a dispersed dot depends upon the amount of ink to be applied to the substrate at the cell location. This is, in turn, dependent upon the scanned value of the original at a corresponding location thereof.
In the past, dots were formed within these cells on a regular spacing or grid using a screen in a photochemical etching process. More recently, half-tone reproduction systems have utilized data processing equipment that electronically produces data representing a half-tone image. This data can be used to plot film or to directly form a printing plate without the use of an actual screen. However, the terms "screen" and "screening" are still used to define the dot pattern produced in a half-tone reproduction. For example, the term "screen ruling" specifies the distance between centers of adjacent cells of the plate. When the cells are all of the same size and regularly spaced, the plate is said to have a "regular screening". In such a case, a cell contains one period of the "screen".
Systems that reproduce half-tone images with regular screening have several drawbacks. For example, resolution is limited by screen ruling. Screen ruling is limited, in turn, by the minimum dot size and spacing that can be reliably and consistently printed. Moreover, regular dot patterns produced by regular screening in color reproduction result in moire effects and color shifts caused by interference between the superimposed dot patterns. Such undesirable artifacts have been reduced in the past by superimposing the screens at angles with respect to one another. However, this technique is not entirely satisfactory since undesired effects are only minimized, not eliminated completely.
The prior art has reduced the effects of moire and color shifts while at the same time enhancing the quality of the reproduction by eliminating the use of regular screens. Instead, a process known as "screenless" lithography (also referred to as random screening or random dot lithography) has been used to produce irregular dot patterns on the printed page. The use of irregular dot patterns can eliminate visual interference caused by superimposition of the dot patterns, and hence moire effects are substantially reduced or eliminated.
In one prior art system, a printing plate having an irregular grain structure is photographically exposed and chemically developed in a photolithographic process to produce an irregular dot structure. Such systems cannot created consistent dot patterns from plate to plate, however.
Random screening has been electronically achieved utilizing an error diffusion technique, such as that described by Floyd and Steinberg in their paper "An Adaptive Algorithm for Spatial Greyscale", Proceeding of the S.I.D., Vol. 17/2, Second Quarter, 1976. This paper discloses a reproduction system that compares each continuous tone value, obtained by scanning an original, with a threshold to obtain a binary approximation of the continuous tone value. When the continuous tone value is less than the threshold, the continuous tone value is converted to a binary value of zero. If the continuous tone value is greater than the threshold, the continuous tone value is converted to a binary value of one. After conversion, the error resulting from approximation of the continuous tone value is subdivided into error portions and the error portions are summed in a prescribed pattern with neighboring continuous tone values yet to be converted so that such error is diffused. Each continuous tone value to be converted is thus a combination of its original continuous tone value plus any error portions diffused to it by the conversion of neighboring, previously converted continuous tone values. The next continuous tone value to be converted is then compared to the threshold and converted to one of the binary values. The resulting error, if any, is diffused to neighboring continuous tone values yet to be converted. This process is repeated until all continuous tone values resulting from scanning of the original have been converted to binary values. The binary values thus derived are used to produce a printing plate having dots at locations defined by such values.
While the foregoing process is effective to reproduce half-tone images with random dots, it has been found that the dots create artifacts in the reproduction. These artifacts detract from the visual appearance of the reproduction.
Sullivan, U.S. Pat. No. 5,051,844, discloses an error diffusion conversion system wherein a filter simulating the human visual system is utilized to reduce the incidence of artifacts in the reproduction. In this system, the filter comprises an array of filter elements or numbers, one of which is multiplied with an assumed binary value of zero for the continuous tone value undergoing conversion and the remaining of which are multiplied with binary values representing continuous tone values that have already been converted. The resulting values are subtracted from the continuous tone value undergoing conversion to produce a first error. A second error is produced in the same fashion, except that the one filter element is multiplied with an assumed binary value of one for the continuous tone value undergoing conversion. If the magnitude of the first error is less than the magnitude of the second error, the continuous tone value undergoing conversion is converted to a binary value of zero. Otherwise, the value is converted to a binary value of one. The error resulting from conversion of the continuous tone value is then diffused in a predetermined manner to neighboring continuous tone values that have not yet been converted.
The Sullivan system, therefore, simulates a retrospective spatial view of converted continuous tone values using a filter approximating the human eye in order to reduce perceived errors which would otherwise result.

Electronic high-fidelity screenless conversion system


A hinge for a notebook extension pad is mounted in an expansion pad of a notebook and has a pivoting assembly, a positioning disk, a limiting stationary leaf, a limiting disk, a pressing assembly and a locking assembly. The expansion pad has a mounting segment and a pad having an external lock. The pivoting assembly is mounted securely on the pad and has a shaft. The positioning disk is mounted around the shaft. The limiting stationary leaf is adjacent to the positioning disk, is mounted rotatably around the shaft and connects with the mounting segment. The limiting disk limits movement of the pad relative to the mounting segment. The pressing assembly provides friction against movement of the hinge. The locking assembly is mounted around the shaft and allows a user to lock the pad at a designed angle to achieve a comfortable height and angle for operating the notebook.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a hinge, and more particularly to a hinge mounted in a notebook extension pad to allow the extension pad to rotate for adjusting an operating height and angle of the notebook.
2. Description of the Prior Arts
As notebooks have become an essential business and personal tool, peripheral products such as extension pads are designed to make the notebook more convenient to use. An extension pad allows the notebook to stay thin and small while providing a user space to add their desired functionality, such as an extra hard disk, fan or the like and is mounted below the notebook to alter an operating height and angle for the user. However, the extension pad can only be parallel to the surface it is placed on so the user cannot adjust the angle to operator the notebook. Additionally, when giving small presentations the notebook cannot be displayed well.
To overcome the shortcomings, the present invention provides a hinge for a notebook extension pad to mitigate or obviate the aforementioned problems.


The disclosure relates a projection objective for imaging an object field in an object plane into an image field in an image plane. The disclosure also relates to a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus including such a projection objective. The disclosure further relates to methods of using such a projection exposure apparatus to fabricate microstructured or nanostructured components, such as highly integrated semiconductor components. In addition, the disclosure relates to components fabricated by such methods.

Projection objectives are known. In some projection objectives, the illumination light is to be guided using as few bundle-guiding components as possible to avoid a loss of illumination light and/or imaging light. In the following description, the term illumination light refers to light or radiation, respectively, which is guided in the projection exposure apparatus from the radiation source to the image field. More specifically, imaging light refers to that part of the illumination light which, starting from the object field, reaches the image field after being guided through the projection objective.


A two-way voice interface allows communication by telephone between a supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system and a human operator. A phone-HMI gateway communicates with the SCADA system through an application programming interface (API), composes messages to the operator in text format and interprets text derived from voice commands from the operator. A cloud telephone service is used to convert from voice to text and from text to voice, and to set up the telephone connection with the human operator.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to the control of automation processes using a supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA), and, more specifically, to interfacing with a SCADA industrial control system though a bidirectional human-machine interface (HMI) based on interactive voice phone calls.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Industrial control systems are computer controlled systems that monitor and control physical industrial processes. SCADA is typically an industrial control system capable of monitoring and controlling a large scale process that can involve multiple sites and large distances. For example, SCADA industrial control systems may monitor and control industrial processes, infrastructure, and facility-based processes. Those industrial processes may include manufacturing, production, power generation, fabrication, and refining, and may run in continuous, batch, repetitive, or discrete modes. Infrastructure processes may be public or private, and include water treatment and distribution, wastewater collection and treatment, oil and gas pipelines, electrical power transmission and distribution, wind farms, civil defense siren systems, and large communication systems. Facility processes include buildings, airports, ships, and space stations. They monitor and control heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems (HVAC), access, and energy consumption.
An important part of most SCADA implementations is alarm handling. The system monitors whether certain alarm conditions are satisfied, to determine when an alarm event has occurred. Once an alarm event has been detected, one or more actions are taken, such as the activation of one or more alarm indicators, and possibly the generation of email or text messages so that management or remote SCADA operators are informed.

Bidirectional remote user interface for HMI/SCADA using interactive voice phone calls


An image processing system is described herein in which a multi-line processing block has multiple inputs and multiple outputs. In order to provide the multiple outputs the multi-line processing block has multiple processing units operating in parallel on the multiple inputs. The multiple outputs of the multi-line processing block are coupled to corresponding multiple inputs of a subsequent multi-line processing block in the image processing system.

An image may be represented by a two-dimensional (2D) array of pixels. For example, digital cameras include an array of image sensors (e.g. charged coupled devices (CCDs) or complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) sensors) for capturing pixel values representing an image. Image processing systems are available which process the pixel values representing an image. Image processing performed on pixel values of an image may include many different functions. For example, the pixel values may be modified (e.g. to improve the perceptual quality of the image), by functions such as filtering and sharpening. Other functions of image processing may be to compress or encode image data into particular formats, such as the Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG) format or the Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) format.
An image processing system may be implemented in a pipeline arrangement, whereby multiple processing blocks of the image processing system perform respective functions on pixels values representing an image. An image processing system will often include both single-line processing blocks and multi-line processing blocks. Single-line processing blocks act upon pixel values from a single line (e.g. a row) of pixels of the image without requiring access to pixel values from other pixel lines (e.g. rows) of the image. Examples of single-line processing blocks include a block to adjust the gains of the pixel values, a block to adjust the white balance of the pixel values and a one-dimensional (1D) filtering block which performs filtering along one of the lines (e.g. a row) of pixels.
In contrast, when a multi-line processing block acts upon pixel values from a line (e.g. a row) of pixels of the image it requires access to pixel values from multiple pixel lines (e.g. multiple rows) of the image. For example, a multi-line processing block may require access to pixel values from rows above the current pixel in a raster scan. Examples of multi-line processing blocks include a 2D filtering block and a 1D filtering block which performs filtering in a direction that is not parallel to the lines (e.g. rows) of pixels in the image. In order to allow a multi-line processing block to access pixel values from multiple lines (e.g. rows) of the image, the image processing system comprises a line store module which stores lines (e.g. rows) of pixel values of the image. Implementing a line store module uses power and silicon area in order to store the lines of pixel values.
Image processing systems often include more than one multi-line processing block. In this case, a line store module (which may also be referred to herein as a "line store bank") is implemented before each multi-line processing block in the image processing system. This is shown in FIG. 1 which illustrates a simplified schematic diagram of part of an image processing system comprising two multi-line processing blocks 1021 and 1022 (e.g. which may be 2D processing blocks). The image processing system also comprises two line store modules 1041 and 1042. Multiple outputs of the line store module 1041 are coupled to respective multiple inputs of the processing block 1021. An output of the processing block 1021 is coupled to an input of the line store module 1042. This connection is shown by a dashed line in FIG. 1 because there may or may not be other functional blocks (not shown in FIG. 1) which act on the image data between the output from the processing block 1021 and the input to the line store module 1042. Multiple outputs of the line store module 1042 are coupled to respective multiple inputs of the processing block 1022.
As illustrated in FIG. 1, in operation, the line store module 1041 is arranged to receive an input data stream. The input data stream may provide the pixel values relating to the rows of the image in a serial manner (according to the raster scan) to the line store module 1041. The line store module 1041 stores the pixel values for a plurality of rows of the image. In one example, on each of a plurality of consecutive clock cycles the line store module 1041 may provide multiple pixel values, from respective multiple rows of the image to the multi-line processing block 1021. The multi-line processing block 1021 processes the inputs (e.g. by performing 2D filtering to thereby filter the pixel values for a central row based on the surrounding pixel values) and provides a single output pixel value (e.g. a filtered pixel value of the central row) per clock cycle. The single row output stream may pass from the multi-line processing block 1021 to the line store module 1042. As described above, there may, or may not, be other functional blocks in the image processing system implemented between the processing block 1021 and the line store module 1042.
The line store module 1042 and multi-line processing block 1022 correspond to the line store module 1041 and multi-line processing block 1021, and function in a corresponding manner. In this way, multiple outputs are provided from the line store module 1042 to multiple inputs of the processing block 1022 which are then processed (e.g. filtered) by the multi-line processing module 1022 to provide a single output stream of pixel values.
A line store module 104 is implemented before each multi-line processing block 102 in the image processing system to provide the multiple row inputs required by the respective multi-line processing block 102.

Multi-line image processing with parallel processing units


A rotary actuated arm assembly for positioning a transducer over a data track of a rotating magnetic disk includes a flexure attached to a load beam at one end and to a slider at the other end. The flexure comprises a thin piece of metal having dimple which contacts the load beam at a point. The dimple allows the slider to pitch and roll about the point to accommodate height variations across the surface of the disk. An elastomeric material is bonded to both the flexure and the load beam at a location near or surrounding the dimple. The elastomeric material imparts radial stiffness to the assembly so that the load beam maintains contact with the dimple at the desired point, regardless of the radial movements of the assembly.

In a hard disk drive, normally a transducer is positioned by a suspension apparatus over a magnetic disk to facilitate reading and writing of information to the disk. The suspension apparatus is commonly coupled to a rotary actuator which can position the transducer in a radial direction across the magnetic disk. As is well known, the transducer itself is commonly attached to a slider which, in turn, is mounted to the head suspension assembly. During normal operation, the slider actually flies over the surface of the disk due to the hydrodynamic pressure generated by the rotation of the disk. For optimum performance, the flying height must be kept uniform to minimize errors in the reading and writing of data to the disk. Because the magnetic disks themselves are often flawed by imperfections, the slider must be able to pitch and roll over the surface of the disk in order to maintain a uniform flying height. If the slider were inhibited from pitching and rolling over the surface of the disk, then the slider would not be able to accommodate the height variations on the disk. If such were the case, errors in the read/write operations would result.
One of the ways that conventional suspension assemblies have achieved pitch and roll motion is by the incorporation of a dimple which contacts both the top surface of the slider and the load arm of the suspension apparatus. The dimple has a rounded contact point about which the slider can pivot in order to accommodate variations in the topography of the disk. The problem with these types of assemblies is that the radial stiffness of the suspension assembly is generally insufficient to resist rapid motions of the actuator. As is well known, the actuator includes an electromagnetic coil which, when energized, causes the head to be moved from one radial position to another (i.e., from one data track to another). What happens is that as the head is moved across the disk, the dimple slides in a lateral direction to a point on a load arm where the transducer is positioned off-track. Obviously, when this occurs, errors in the reading and writing of data often result. This problem of dimple movement resulting from rapid actuator motion is commonly referred to as the "stick-slip" problem.
One approach to the stick-slip problem has been to increase the stiffness of the load beam and flexure elements of the arm assembly. However, this adds considerable mass to the arm assembly resulting in significantly slower seek times.
Another approach described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,868,694 involves increasing the radial stiffness of the arm assembly by means of a completely redesigned flexure for the rotary actuated load arm. Basically, the flexure is designed to have a U-shaped slot which is perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the load arm. The drawback of this approach, however, is that it requires a complete redesign of the head suspension apparatus. This means that existing disk drives cannot easily be retrofitted.
Thus, there is a need for a simple solution to the stick-slip problem which does not involve a substantial increase in the mass of the arm, or a major redesign of the head suspension assembly. As will be seen, the present invention provides a solution to the stick-slip problem which is easy to implement and can be incorporated into existing disk drive units.

Head suspension assembly with improved pitch and roll characteristics


A transmission type adaptive optical system that can be applied to a high power laser beam beyond a limit of deformable mirrors and corrects wavefront turbulence of a laser beam with adaptation to the wavefront turbulence is provided. By using a transmission type adaptive optical element of which a refractive index distribution changes based on temperature distribution thereof, a wavefront turbulence of a laser beam is corrected with adaptation to this wavefront turbulence. The wavefront turbulence is detected by a wavefront sensor and heating light in accordance with the detected wavefront turbulence is emitted to irradiate the transmission type adaptive optical element. The transmission type adaptive optical element transmits a laser beam as a target to correct a wavefront turbulence thereof and generates temperature distribution by the heating light and as a result generates the refractive index distribution.

A wavefront of a laser beam may be disturbed. A wavefront can be defined as a set of points of which optical path length of light emitted from a same light source is same. In case of a laser beam, phase is aligned in a same wavefront. In order to maximize an intensity obtained when focusing a laser beam on an arbitrary point, a phase needs to be aligned at this focusing point. In addition, if a wavefront of a laser beam is disturbed, the laser beam may focus on an undesired point. When an undesired focusing occurs on an optical element through which the laser beam is supposed to pass, this optical element may be damaged. From such a viewpoint or the like, there is a demand to correct wavefront turbulence of laser beam. It should be noted that wavefront turbulence is also called wavefront distortion.
Wavefront turbulence of laser beam may be caused by, for example, heat occurred in laser medium that generates the laser beam, disturbance in refractive index distribution in an atmosphere where the laser beam propagates, or the like.
A technology of correcting a wavefront turbulence of a laser beam by a deformable mirror is known. However, deformable mirrors are difficult to cool due to their structure and cannot handle a high power laser beam beyond a certain level.
In relation with the above, patent literature 1 (Japanese patent publication 2012-141515 A) discloses a fluid optical element. This fluid optical element contains a liquid having a wavelength selectivity of absorbing laser beam with a first wavelength and transmitting a laser beam with a second wavelength. This liquid is a medium having a temperature dependence related to refractive index. This fluid optical element is given with a temperature gradient by irradiation of laser light with a first wavelength to the liquid and shows a lens effect by a refractive index gradient of the liquid with the temperature gradient. This fluid optical element gives a lens effect to an incident laser beam with the second wavelength.
In the patent literature 1, heat distribution is modified by making the fluid optical element to absorb light with a specific wavelength. As a result, refractive index distribution related to light with other wavelength is modified and control of wavefront of this light is carried out by lens effect or the like. However, since the fluid optical element in the patent literature 1 consists of a liquid, there is a severe limitation in a range of temperature that can be used to control heat distribution. In addition, as convection occurs in a liquid with uneven heat distribution, accuracy in a level of realizing correction of fine wavefront distortion is considered to be difficult to achieve.

Transmission type adaptive optical system


In one embodiment, the present invention includes a switch device to be coupled between a first semiconductor component and a processor node by interconnects of a communication protocol that provides for cache coherent transactions and non-cache coherent transactions. The switch device includes logic to handle cache coherent transactions from the first semiconductor component to the processor node, while the first semiconductor component does not include such logic. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

Communications in computer systems can occur by many different means such as different communication protocols. For example, some systems are arranged such that communications between a processor and a chipset component occur via a front side bus (FSB) according to an FSB communication protocol. Other components of the system, such as peripheral devices coupled downstream to the chipset component may communicate with the chipset component via a different protocol, such as a peripheral component interconnect (PCI) communication protocol, e.g., a multi-drop PCI communication protocol or by point-to-point (PtP) interconnects according to a PCI-Express™ communication protocol in accordance with the PCI-Express™ Base Specification version 2.0 (published Dec. 20, 2006) (hereafter the PCIe™ Specification).
Additional communication protocols are being adopted in systems to enable routing of both cache coherent communications and non-cache coherent communications. Typically, such systems include communication paths or links that operate according to multiple communication protocols, as detailed above. As such, there is the need for translations or conversions of certain transactions from one protocol to another, increasing latency of operations.


A decontamination system includes a spraying system in an enclosed chamber for application of a decontamination fluid having a liquid carrier, such as water, and an enzyme-based decontaminating chemical additive. The additive contains an organophosphorus compound-degrading enzyme. The decontamination system also includes a fluid flow control system that ensures delivery of decontamination fluid to spray nozzles. The fluid flow control system features a recirculation system that collects runoff from the chamber and transports the collected runoff to a decontamination reactor. The decontamination reactor removes contaminants from the collected runoff liquid and permits the collected runoff liquid to be reused for further decontamination, thus taking advantage of the catalytic characteristic of the enzyme.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to systems and processes for the decontamination of chemical or biological agents from objects, such as vehicles and other equipment.
2. Description of the Related Art
Organophosphorus compounds ("organophosphate compounds" or "OP compounds") and organosulfur ("OS") compounds are used extensively as insecticides and are highly toxic to many organisms, including humans. OP compounds function as nerve agents. The primary effects of exposure to these agents are very similar, including inhibition of acetylcholinesterase and butyrylcholinesterase, with the subsequent breakdown of the normal operation of the autonomic and central nervous systems.
Some of the most toxic OP compounds are used as chemical warfare agents ("CWA"). Chemical warfare agents are classified into G agents, such as GD ("soman"), GB ("sarin"), GF ("cyclosarin") and GA ("tabun"), and the methyl phosphonothioates, commonly known as V agents, such as VX and Russian VX ("R-VX" or "VR"). All CWAs are colorless liquids with volatility varying from VX to sarin. VX is an involatile oil-like liquid, while sarin is a water-like, easily volatilized liquid. Such agents enter the body through any of the following manners: inhalation, direct contact to the skin with a gas or with a contaminated surface, or through ingestion of contaminated food or drink. Surfaces that are exposed to the gas retain their toxicity for long periods of time, such as days or weeks, and indefinitely under some environmental conditions. By addition of a thickener (e.g., a variety of carbon polymers), soman or other more volatile agents may be made to be less volatile and more persistent.

Equipment decontamination system and method


Novel compounds for the treatment of estrogen receptor-mediated disorders, including breast cancer, and methods of treatment using the novel compounds. The novel compounds, when administered in a safe and effective amount, present extended binding to estrogen receptors in breast tissue without activating the estrogen receptors. Estrogen is blocked from binding to the estrogen receptors for an extended period of time, effectively hindering growth of breast cancer cells.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates, generally, to a novel family of small molecule drugs. More particularly, it relates to selective estrogen receptor modulators for the prevention or treatment of estrogen receptor-mediated disorders.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Globally, breast cancer is the second most common cancer after lung cancer and the most common cancer for women following lung cancer. The breast cancer drug market is a steadily increasing market due to treatments which have decreased mortality and resulted in longer duration of therapy. The five-year survival rates for women with breast cancer have improved from under 70% about fifty years ago to around 90% now.
Approximately 47% of breast cancer drug sales were derived from the U.S., followed by 41% from Europe and 12% from Japan. Over the next six years the report forecasts that novel therapies, including targeted monoclonal antibodies and small-molecule inhibitors, will increasingly be used in combination with chemotherapy and hormonal therapy.
Estrogen is a hormone critical to normal human development and function. Although estrogen is the predominant "sex hormone" in women, in whom estrogen controls the development of female sex characteristics and the development and function of the reproductive system (Berkow, Beers et al. 1997), it is also found in men (Gustafsson 1998). Women produce estrogen primarily in the ovaries; however, estrogen affects a variety of physiological functions in women including body temperature regulation, maintenance of the vaginal lining, and preservation of bone density (Jordan 1998). In addition, estrogen provides additional effects that are related to its ability to modulate production of cholesterol in the liver, as demonstrated by the reduced occurrence of atherosclerosis in women compared to men due in part to the reduction of low-density lipoprotein ("LDL") (Jordan 1998). Estrogen has also been implicated in delaying and/or reducing the severity of Alzheimer's Disease (Jordan 1998).
Failure to produce estrogen has profound physiological consequences in females. Failure to produce estrogen resulting from incomplete or absent ovary development (Turner's Syndrome) causes deficiencies in the skin, bone (e.g., severe osteoporosis), and other organs severely affecting the life of the afflicted individual (Dodge 1995). In normal women, estrogen production falls sharply upon the onset of menopause, usually at about 50 years of age. The effects of the loss of estrogen production include increased atherosclerotic deposits (leading to an increased incidence of heart disease), decreased bone density (osteoporosis), and fluctuations in body temperature (Jordan 1998). Often, the effects of reduced estrogen production are addressed by hormone replacement therapy (Dodge 1995; Berkow, Beers et al. 1997; Jordan 1998).
However, estrogen also has some undesirable side effects that may lead to estrogen receptor-mediated disorders. Though supplementation of estrogen in menopausal women is associated with alleviation of the above-described unwanted indications, administration of estrogen is also associated with increased risks for breast and endometrial cancer as well as blood clots (Jordan 1998). The increased risk of endometrial cancer can be addressed by the administration of progesterone (or its synthetic analog progestin) to re-initiate menstruation and thereby shed potentially malignant cells, but many older women find this undesirable (Jordan 1998). Breast cancer, however, is by far the greater risk of estrogen replacement therapy, affecting one woman in every fifteen women between the ages of 60 and 79 (Jordan 1998).
Certain selective estrogen receptor modulators ("SERMs"), for example tamoxifen, are known for regulating agonist and/or antagonist activities in estrogen receptors. Tamoxifen, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,851,433 and 6,127,425, both of which are hereby incorporated by reference, is an antagonist of estrogen receptors in breast tissue but an agonist of estrogen receptors in endometrial tissue. Tamoxifen is often used as the endocrine therapy for hormone receptor-positive breast cancer (i.e., tamoxifen acts as an antagonist, or anti-estrogen) in pre-menopausal women. In post-menopausal women, tamoxifen is often used as well, but frequently in combination with aromatase inhibitors, which block the conversion of androgens into estrogen. Tamoxifen is metabolized into compounds that bind to estrogen receptors in breast tissue but do not activate the estrogen receptors. Thus, estrogen is blocked from binding to the estrogen receptors, hindering growth of breast cancer cells. However, tamoxifen can act on breast cancer cells for a limited amount of time, limiting its effectiveness.
Another existing SERM for the prevention and/or treatment of estrogen receptor-mediated disorders, such as breast cancer, in postmenopausal women can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 7,687,486 to Cooperwood, which is hereby incorporated by reference.
Accordingly, what is needed is a longer-lasting drug for estrogen receptor-mediated disorders, such as breast cancer, in postmenopausal women. However, in view of the art considered as a whole at the time the present invention was made, it was not obvious to those of ordinary skill how the art could be advanced.
While certain aspects of coventional technologies have been discussed to facilitate disclosure of the invention, Applicants in no way disclaim these technical aspects, and it is contemplated that the claimed invention may encompass one or more of the conventional technical aspects discussed herein.
The present invention may address one or more of the problems and deficiencies of the prior art discussed above. However, it is contemplated that the invention may prove useful in addressing other problems and deficiencies in a number of technical areas. Therefore, the claimed invention should not necessarily be construed as limited to addressing any of the particular problems or deficiencies discussed herein.
In this specification, where a document, act or item of knowledge is referred to or discussed, this reference or discussion is not an admission that the document, act or item of knowledge or any combination thereof was at the priority date, publicly available, known to the public, part of common general knowledge, or otherwise constitutes prior art under the applicable statutory provisions; or is known to be relevant to an attempt to solve any problem with which this specification is concerned.

SERMs for the treatment of estrogen receptor-mediated disorders


One or more new methods are added to existing object code. The existing object code includes a first method that is capable of producing a result. New code is added to the first method. The new code provides the result to one or more of the new methods. After the modification, the result (e.g. a return value or exception) from the first method can be accessed and used by other threads, processes, systems, entities etc. that were not originally programmed to access the result or exception.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to technology for adding functionality to existing code in order to access information.
2. Description of the Related Art
As the Internet's popularity grows, more businesses are establishing a presence on the Internet. These businesses typically set up web sites that run one or more web applications. One disadvantage of doing business on the Internet is that if the web site goes down, becomes unresponsive or otherwise is not properly serving customers, the business is losing potential sales and/or customers. Analogous issues exist with Intranets and Extranets. Thus, there is a need to monitor live web applications (including Intranets, Extranets, applications on the World Wide Web, and others) to make sure that they are running properly.
If an application crashes or is not working as expected, an inquiry may be made as to why that application crashes or is not working as expected. Examples of information that may be useful in such an inquiry include return values and exceptions. A return value is data provided from a given method upon exit from that method. For example, in the JAVA programming language the "return" statement is used to exit from the current method and proceed with the statement that follows the original method call. There are two forms of return: one returns a value and one doesn't. To return a value, the value or an expression that calculates the value is placed after the "return" keyword. (JAVA is a trademark of SUN Microsystems, Incorporated.)
An exception is an event that occurs during the execution of a program that disrupts the normal flow of instructions. Many kinds of errors can cause exceptions. They range from serious hardware errors, such as a hard disk crash, to simple programming errors, such as trying to access an out-of-bounds array element. When such an error occurs within a JAVA method, the method creates an exception object and hands it off to the run time system. The exception object contains the information about the error, including its type and, possibly, the state of the program when the error occurred. The run time system is then responsible for finding some code to handle the error. In JAVA terminology, creating an exception object and handing it to the run time system is called throwing an exception.
After a method throws an exception, the run time system attempts to find something to handle the exception. The set of possible "somethings" to handle the exception includes the, set of methods in the call stack of the method where the error occurred. The run time system searches backwards through the call stack, beginning with the method in which the error occurred, until it finds a method that contains an appropriate exception handler. An exception handler is considered appropriate if the type of exception thrown is the same type as (or a subclass of) the type of exception handled by the handler. The exception bubbles up through the call stack until an appropriate handler is found and one of the calling methods handles the exception. The exception handler chosen is said to catch the exception. If the run time system exhaustively searches all the methods in the call stack without finding an appropriate exception handler, the thread terminates. A method can catch an exception by providing an exception handler for that type of exception.
The first step in constructing an exception handler is to enclose the statements that might throw an exception within a "Try" block. Exception handlers are associated with a "Try" block by providing one or more "Catch" blocks directly after the "Try" block. Each "Catch" block is an exception handler and handles the type of exception indicated by its argument. Exception handling may optionally include a means for cleaning up before allowing control to be passed to a different part of the program. This can be done by enclosing the clean up code within a "Finally" block. The "Finally" block in the JAVA code provides a mechanism that allows a method to clean up after itself regardless of what happens within the "Try" block. Consider the following pseudocode as an example:
public foo( )  {  try {     [JAVA instructions]  } catch (ExceptionType name) {     [code for "Catch" block]  } finally {     [code for "Finally" block]  }}
The method foo( ) is comprised of logic implemented by [JAVA instructions]. These [JAVA instructions] are enclosed in a "Try " block. If an exception of type ExceptionType occurs while performing the [JAVA instructions], then the "Catch " block is performed. Regardless of whether the method runs without error or there is an exception, the "Finally " block will be performed. The "Finally " block is performed after the "try " block and the "Catch " handler.
Accessing the exception or return value can be valuable for debugging. Thus, some programmers will add Try, Catch and Finally statements when creating their code to deal with and/or learn about the exceptions. Additionally, programmers can add code to report return values.
The process of adding code to report return values and exceptions can also be automated. For example, some performance analysis tools may perform their intended function by automatically modifying source code to add new functionality that enables the original software to be monitored. Modifying source code involves adding new instructions to source code and/or modifying existing instructions in the source code. A significant problem with modifying source code is that the source code may not be available. Another problem with modifying source code is that the code will need to be re-compiled for the modification and re-compiled again to remove the modification.
Thus, there is a need for an improved mechanism to provide for access to return values and exceptions when the source code did not originally provide for such access.


A cleaning element for lumen of surgical instruments includes a brush and a flexible metal leader. The brush has a first end, a second end, and a metal core, the metal core defining a longitudinal axis extending throughout the brush. The flexible metal leader has a first end and a second end, the second end of the flexible metal leader being welded to the first end of the metal core of the brush. The flexible metal leader is adapted to be fed through the lumen of the surgical instruments and pulled by the first end thereof through the lumen, with the brush also being adapted to be pulled through the lumen due to its being welded to the second end of the flexible metal leader.

The present invention is in the field of cleaning surgical instruments, such as flexible and nonflexible endoscopes, surgical lumens, and other medical paraphernalia used in healthcare facilities. This cleaning typically takes place as a preliminary step subsequent to use and soiling of the surgical instruments, and prior to their sterilization.
The physical designs of most models of endoscopes do not make possible the cleaning of every internal surface. It has been a common practice to merely soak used surgical instruments such as biopsy channels or lumens in a detergent bath and scrubbing with a small scrub brush prior to their being sterilized. Since delicate material is often used to make flexible endoscopes, scrub brushes longer than about 2.0 cm have a tendency to damage the lumen. Moreover, small scrub brushes cannot thoroughly scrub the internal surfaces of surgical lumens resulting in contaminants remaining throughout surgical lumens. Pushing a scrub brush through a lumen is also problematic because it may damage the lumen wall.
There is concern about the transmission of diseases that commonly arise in healthcare facilities, and by viruses carried in tissues and blood, such as hepatitis C and HIV, which may be transmitted to other patients or personnel dealing with soiled surgical instruments such as most models of flexible endoscopes. This concern stems from the difficulty in cleaning surgical lumens by a method meticulous enough to scrub a soiled lumen, while at the same time being simple and straightforward enough to be utilized by personnel requiring a minimum amount of training, and using an apparatus which is both inexpensive and reliable. Moreover, it is problematic that surgical lumens and other paraphernalia may be grossly soiled, and therefore require vigorous cleaning throughout the entire length of the surgical lumen, both inside and out. Unfortunately, cleaning agents and brushes are not available which easily accomplish the vigorous cleaning of soiled surgical lumens prior to their microbiological decontamination. This problem is compounded by the fact that cleaning brushes are usually incompatible with flexible surgical lumens. Thus, heretofore, it has not been easy to clean the inside of deep surgical lumens using an elongated brush as described herein.
A number of different methods are known in the art for cleaning surgical instruments and other medical paraphernalia. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,867,797 herein incorporated by reference discloses a method for cleaning instruments used for analyzing protein-containing biological liquids which utilizes an enzyme rinse solution, but uses germicides therewith only in low concentrations and only to increase the stability of the enzyme composition by protecting it against microbial deterioration.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,224,544 relates to an endoscope, being insertable in the colon of a patient, in a self-propelled manner, by driving a plurality of endless belts mounted along the outside surface of a flexible section of an insertion tube thereof, and having a cleaning mechanism therein to be easily cleaned after use. The insertion tube, operation unit, and a lower portion of the driving unit casing are cleaned by immersion in a washing vessel filled with a cleaning solution.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,489,531 herein incorporated by reference relates to a two-stage method using the same container for both cleaning and microbiologically decontaminating grossly soiled surgical instruments. A presoak in an enzyme solution is followed by direct addition of a compatible disinfectant and a continued soak to decontaminate surgical instruments and other paraphernalia used in healthcare facilities.
Longitudinal brushes having a twisted wire core are known, such as, for example, mascara brushes used to apply mascara to a user's eyelashes. A typical mascara brush is made of a core formed from a single metallic wire folded in a generally u-shaped configuration to provide a pair of parallel wire segments. Bristles, usually made of strands of nylon, are disposed between a portion of a length of the wire segments. The wire segments are then twisted, or rotated, about each other to form a helical core (also known as a twisted wire core) that holds the filaments substantially at their midpoints so as to clamp them. In this way, a bristle portion or bristle head is formed with radially extending bristles secured in the twisted wire core in a helical or spiral manner. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,887,622, U.S. Pat. No. 4,733,425, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,481,445 all of which are herein incorporated by reference.
It is problematic that unclean instruments cannot be properly disinfected or sterilized. Moreover, the physical properties of endoscope tubing and the designs of some complex surgical instruments contribute to limiting the effectiveness and reliability of brush devices, detergent systems, and increases the probability that a lumen's internal surfaces may remain contaminated following state-of-the-art cleaning. Accordingly, what is needed is a cleaning brush that provides a simple, cost efficient mechanism for cleaning surgical instruments by providing direct access to the internal surface, as well as cleaning brush kits and systems, which deliver cleaning solution directly to the deep channels of the lumens.
It is also problematic that a brush portion of a cleaning element may not be adequately attached to a handle portion of the cleaning element. This may be particularly problematic in situations, such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,615,439, where the core of the brush portion of the cleaning element may be made from one material (e.g., metal), while the handle portion of the cleaning element is made from some other material (e.g., plastic). In such situations, it is often difficult to achieve an adequate bonding between the brush portion and the handle portion so as to ensure that the parts do not come detached from one another. Such is particularly undesirable when instruments having long, thin lumens are being cleaned, since, if the brush comes detached from the handle while the brush portion is located completely within the lumen, it may be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to remove the brush portion from the lumen without damaging the lumen, thereby causing a waste of time and effort, and possibly rendering the instrument unusable.

Scrubbing element with welded wire leader


An image forming apparatus includes an ejection tray, a printing portion and a display position. The printing portion prints, on a sheet, an image based on image data and ejects the printed sheet to the ejection tray. The display portion displays ejected-sheet information for notifying the orientation of the front and back surfaces of the printed sheet ejected to the ejection tray and the orientation of the printed image on the printed sheet.

The present disclosure relates to an image forming apparatus that includes an ejection tray to which a printed sheet is ejected.
An image forming apparatus such as a multifunctional machine includes a printing portion that transports a sheet along a sheet transport path, that prints an image based on image data onto the sheet being transported and that thereafter ejects the printed sheet. In such an image forming apparatus, an ejection tray is generally provided that receives the printed sheet when the printed sheet is ejected.
In a conventional image forming apparatus, the orientation of the front and back surfaces of a printed sheet that is ejected to an ejection tray can be arbitrarily set. Specifically, in a state (face-down state) where the front surface of the front and back surfaces of the printed sheet is faced downward, the printed sheet can be ejected to the ejection tray whereas in a state (face-up state) where the front surface is faced upward, the printed sheet can also be ejected to the ejection tray.
The orientation of a printed image on the printed sheet that is ejected to the ejection tray differs depending on, for example, the type of image forming apparatus. Specifically, there is an image forming apparatus in which a printed sheet is ejected such that the orientation of a printed image on the printed sheet is faced leftward when seen from the front surface side of the apparatus, and there is also an image forming apparatus in which a printed sheet is ejected such that the orientation of a printed image on the printed sheet is faced rightward when seen from the front surface side of the apparatus. There is also an image forming apparatus in which the orientation of a printed image on a printed sheet that is ejected to an ejection tray can be arbitrarily set.
For example, in a case where the front surface of a printed sheet that is ejected to an ejection tray is faced downward, and where the orientation of a printed image on the printed sheet is faced leftward when seen from the front surface side of the apparatus, when a user who faces the front surface of the apparatus takes, from the ejection tray, the printed sheet using the right hand with its back faced upward, the user can visually recognize the printed image on the front surface of the printed sheet in the correct orientation without changing the position of the printed sheet in the hand (in other words, when the user brings the printed sheet in front of the user, the front surface of the printed sheet faces the user, and the orientation of the printed image on the printed sheet is the correct orientation for the user). In another example, in a case where the front surface of a printed sheet that is ejected to an ejection tray is faced upward, and where the orientation of a printed image on the printed sheet is faced leftward when seen from the front surface side of the apparatus, when a user who faces the front surface of the apparatus takes, from the ejection tray, the printed sheet using the left hand with its palm faced upward, the user can visually recognize the printed image on the front surface of the printed sheet in the correct orientation without changing the position of the printed sheet in the hand.
However, in order to visually recognize the printed image on the front surface of the printed sheet in the correct orientation without changing the position of the printed sheet taken from the ejection tray, it is necessary to remember the specification (the orientation of the printed sheet ejected to the ejection tray) of the image forming apparatus. Hence, it is bothersome and inconvenient for the user.

Display portion and image forming apparatus comprising the same


An optical fiber ribbon splice tester includes an acoustic sensor. A force applicator applies a tensile force to an optical fiber ribbon that contains a plurality of splices. The acoustic sensor detects sounds generated from the splices when the force is applied. A controller is connected to the acoustic sensor and is programmed to indicate when the sound corresponds to at least one defective splice.

Optical fibers have found an increased number of uses. As an example, modem communication systems incorporate optical fibers to take advantage of the available high bandwidth. In many systems, it is often necessary to splice optical fibers. Unfortunately, such splices sometimes fail during installation and during use. Locating and repairing a defective splice, which may be buried under ground or located within the walls of a building, can be very expensive. In order to prevent such costly repairs, optical fiber splices are routinely tested before installation and use.
A device for testing optical fiber splices is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,187,767. The disclosed device applies a force to opposite ends of a spliced optical fiber. The spliced optical fiber is retained on opposite sides of a splice by springs. One of the springs is slidable with respect to its base. A biased lever can be actuated to move the movable spring away from the other spring which applies tension to portions of the spliced optical fiber containing the splice. If the splice is defective, the user will observe a break in the splice by the fiber separating when the force is applied. Such pull testers may be effective when only a single fiber is being tested. However, such testers do not work well with multiple spliced fibers or ribbons which contain more than a single fiber and single splice. For example, if six splices are located next to each other and are tested with such a device, a failure in the splice of only one fiber will not cause a separation in the fiber group. It will only result in a proportional decrease in tension. Accordingly, the user may only observe a defect when more than one splice or a significant percentage of the splices is defective. Due to this phenomena, the effectiveness of such a tester will decrease as more spliced fibers are tested simultaneously.
Testers have been developed for testing splices used with optical fiber ribbons. Such testers apply a force to opposite ends of the ribbon while injecting light into the individual fibers. These testers require complicated and expensive light sources and detectors. Each optical fiber splice must be tested individually to ensure that none of them are defective. In addition to requiring expensive and complicated optics and electronics, tests performed with the prior art testers can be time consuming when each fiber optic cable is tested individually.
Accordingly, there exists a need in the art for an optical fiber splice tester which works with optical fiber ribbons and performs tests quickly without the need for expensive optical and electronic components.

Optical fiber pull tester having an acoustic sensor


A method and apparatus for imparting a reproducible curve formation to a wire stylet. The stylet former comprises a substantially cylindrical forming body having a conically tapered end. A semi-rigid forming arm is coupled to an axle extending axially outward from the tapered end of the forming body. The tapered end has a plurality of circumferential grooves of different radii disposed therein, for receiving a stylet to be formed. The forming arm is depressed over a stylet engaged in one of the forming grooves, compressing the stylet against a portion of the circumference of the forming body. At the same time, the stylet is withdrawn while pressure is maintained to keep the stylet in the forming groove. The angle with which the stylet is withdrawn from the stylet former can be varied to produce various right- and left-hand spiral curves in the stylet. The radius of curvature of the resulting stylet formation is determined by the radius of the groove in which the stylet is engaged. The length of the stylet to be formed is determined by placement of the stylet in the stylet former. A codification of the various parameters associated with the stylet formation procedures allows a given stylet formation to be uniquely described with a simple alphanumeric code. Using the parameters defined in the code will allow a given stylet formation to be recorded and consistently reproduced when desired.

In the medical field, various types of implantable leads are known and used. Particularly in the field of pacemakers, the use of implanted, transvenous pacing and/or sensing leads is very common. Pacemakers are typically implanted either in or outside the thoracic cavity, for example, under the skin near the patient's right clavicle, or in the patient's abdomen. An endocardial pacemaker lead, having a proximal end electrically coupled to the pacemaker and a distal end disposed within a chamber of the heart, conducts stimulating pulses from the pacemaker's pulse generator to the patient's heart, and/or conducts electrical cardiac signals from the patient's heart to the pacemaker's sensing circuitry.
One advantage of modern pacemaker systems is that the implant procedures are relatively simple and atraumatic, involving only a minimal amount of invasive surgery. The implant procedure can be performed under local anesthesia. Typically, an endocardial lead is introduced into the patient through a small incision at or near the implant site, usually just below and slightly medial to the junction of the middle and inner third of the clavicle. The distal end of the lead is first introduced into the patient's subclavian vein using any one of various introducer techniques known in the art. Then, the implanting physician directs the distal end of the lead through the vein and into the heart, by manipulating the proximal end of the lead. Once the lead is positioned, the proximal end is connected to the pacemaker. A somewhat larger incision is then made at the implant site, allowing the pacemaker to be inserted under the skin.
Pacemaker leads typically comprise a one or more coiled conductors surrounded by a resilient, bio-compatible insulative coating of silicon rubber or polyurethane. One or more pacing or sensing electrodes are disposed at or near the distal end of the lead body, and a connector pin for connection to the connector block of a pacemaker is disposed at the proximal end of the lead body. The insulated conductor is coiled to enhance the flexibility of the lead body and to reduce the possibility of metal fatigue and consequent lead failure due to flexing of the lead. The flexibility of the lead, while desirable from the standpoint of patient safety and comfort, makes the process of inserting the lead into the patient's heart somewhat difficult.
In order to facilitate the introduction of a lead into the patient's heart, a so-called "stylet" can be employed. As would be known to one of ordinary skill in the pacemaker art, a stylet is a relatively stiff wire that may be used during the lead implantation procedure to give the lead increased rigidity. In order to use a stylet, the connector pin of the pacemaker lead must be designed to permit insertion of the stylet into the cylindrical bore, or lumen, defined by the coiled lead conductor. The stylet can thus be inserted axially into the lead from the connector end and pushed into the lead so that the stylet runs along its entire length, increasing the lead's rigidity during the introduction procedure. A knurled end-piece disposed on the proximal end of the stylet allows the physician to manipulate the lead and navigate the distal end of the lead through the patient's venous system to the heart, by pushing and twisting the stylet. Once the lead is positioned, and before the lead is coupled to the pacemaker, the stylet is withdrawn from the lead, thus restoring the lead's flexibility.
Often, the physician will impart a curve to the stylet, so that after insertion of the stylet into the lead, the curve is imparted to the lead itself. The curvature of the stylet, and hence the lead, can facilitate the navigation of the lead through the venous system. For example, a curve near the distal end of the stylet (and thus, near the distal end of the lead as it is being introduced), can help the physician direct the lead around curves or corners in the subclavian vein. Once in the heart, the curved stylet can help to direct the distal tip of the lead to various structures within the heart, e.g., to the coronary sinus, to the atrial appendage, or across the tricuspid valve to the right ventricle.
In the prior art, the techniques used for imparting a curve to a stylet have been relatively primitive. For example, the physician may draw the stylet around the cylindrical body of a syringe, or around the edge of some surgical instrument, while keeping the stylet in contact with the syringe body or surgical instrument by pressing on the stylet with a thumb or finger. Such impromptu techniques, although commonly practiced, are deemed by the inventor to be undesirable for several reasons. First, it is important for the entire surface, and especially the distal tip of the stylet, to be smooth and free from kinks, sharp edges, or burrs that could damage the coiled lead conductor as the stylet is being inserted into or withdrawn from the lead. If an object that is too hard or that has sharp edges is used in the formation of a curve in a stylet, the stylet may be abraded or otherwise damaged. Abrasions on the stylet may make insertion of the stylet into the lumen of the lead difficult or impossible. Also, it is difficult to maintain constant contact between the stylet and the forming object with only a thumb or finger; this is particularly true at the extreme distal end of the stylet. If the stylet is not kept in contact with the forming body all the way to its distal end, the distal end may be irregularly curved.
A second perceived deficiency such improvisational prior art techniques for stylet forming may be difficult to repeat with consistent results; thus, a physician who discovers a particularly suitable and effective stylet formation may not be able to consistently reproduce such a formation.
It is believed by the inventor, therefore, that it would be desirable to provide physicians with an improved means for imparting a curve to a stylet. In particular, it is believed that there is a need for a stylet forming technique which does not damage the stylet, and which is repeatable with consistent results.


A fluid filtration apparatus, which includes a plurality of optical fibers each having a length, wherein one or more of the plurality of optical fibers exhibits frustrated total internal reflection, thereby emitting light along the length of one or more of the optical fibers, in combination with a photocatalyst disposed on the plurality of optical fibers and a light source interconnected to the plurality of optical fibers.

Clean, fresh air and water, free from pollutants, microbes and irritants is an important health concern for many people with compromised immune systems or those suffering from asthma, allergies, and other respiratory disorders or sensitivities. Outdoor air and water pollutants from car emissions, smog, transit systems, and industrial smoke create hazardous health concerns. More critically, indoor air quality poses a threat to health, especially those persons confined to hospitals, clinics, office buildings and transportation systems. For example, bacteria or microscopic particles carrying toxic substances may evade the body's air and fluid filtration systems allowing such toxic microbes or particles to penetrate deep into lung tissue resulting in absorption into the body of possibly toxic contaminants.
Indoor gaseous pollutants may also be a major risk factor to respiratory health. For example, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are gases that are dispersed from plants, animals, microbes, fungi (molds), as well as in common cleaning solutions, paints, resins, synthetic fibers, and carpets. Building materials such as adhesives, paints, wall boards and ceiling tiles slowly emit the VOC, formaldehyde, which irritates mucous membranes compromising the immune system and exacerbating allergic reactions. Many VOCs such as benzene, are known carcinogens. In fact, studies have shown that prolonged exposure of VOCs in an indoor environment is related to an increase in the incidence of leukemia and lymphoma. Most indoor contaminants include not only VOCs but also organic materials such as dust mites, pet dander, bacteria, viruses, and fungi (mold). Fluid filtration systems have been developed for use in households, hospitals, or transportation systems. However, these systems merely trap these toxic particles and gases rather than destroy or deactivate the contaminants.


In order to compensate for pressure drop across a fuel injector, pressure in a combustion chamber of an internal combustion engine into which fuel is injected is estimated based on manifold pressure at a timing for intake valve closure and volumes of the combustion chamber at a timing for intake valve closure and at least one other timing.

1. Technical Field
Example embodiments of the present invention relate to a method and apparatus for cylinder pressure estimation in an engine management system for an internal combustion engine.
2. Related Art
An engine management system for an internal combustion engine controls many parameters of engine operation.
In order to achieve efficient low emission combustion, a modern engine management system controls fuel injectors to inject a target mass of fuel for each combustion. The fuel flow through an injector is a function of a pressure drop across the injector between a fuel supply line and the interior of the combustion chamber in which the combustion is to take place. The desired fuel mass is typically performed based on the pressure of the fuel in the supply line and width of a pulse controlling the time that the injector is open to release fuel into the combustion chamber.
To achieve the target fuel mass, the width of the injector pulse needs to be compensated for a pressure drop across the injector. For example, in a direct injection engine, the injector pressure drop corresponds to the fuel line, or fuel rail, pressure minus the pressure in the combustion chamber (for example, in the combustion chamber of the cylinder). However, during compression injection, the pressure drop across the injector varies because of changing cylinder pressure due to movement of the piston within the cylinder and the injection of the fuel.
Due to the adverse environment with a combustion chamber, it is not currently economically practical to accurately measure the pressure within the combustion chamber. Accordingly, an example embodiment of the invention seeks to provide an estimation of the pressure within the combustion chamber during at least part of a combustion cycle, to enable more accurate compensation for the differential pressure across the injector.

Method and apparatus for combustion chamber pressure estimation


An optically active glass and an optical fiber comprising such glass, having reduced photodarkening properties are provided. The optically active glass is mainly composed of silica representing from about 50 to 98 mol % of the glass. It also includes at least one active ion, such as a rear-earth ion, which induces a photodarkening effect in optical properties of the glass. Moreover, the glass includes an effective amount of phosphorus oxide providing the photodarkening reducing effect, preferably in an amount of from about 1 to 30 mol %. A method for reducing a photodarkening effect in optical properties of an optically active glass including the step of introducing phosphorus oxide to the glass is also provided.

Optical fiber lasers and amplifiers used in the amplification of optical signals usually include optical fibers having optically active waveguiding cores doped with rare-earth active ions, such as for example, erbium, ytterbium and thulium. For such applications and others, it is important that the optical properties of the fiber remain stable. However, for some rare-earth doped core compositions, the formation of photoinduced structural transformations which can induce excess loss in the doped glass core of the fibers are observed over time under light illumination or propagation, resulting in reduced output power efficiency of the fibers. This phenomenon is known as photodarkening. It is a very detrimental effect, that decreases for instance the output power of fiber laser or amplifier over time and make them inefficient.
Photodarkening
Photodarkening has already been observed in silica fiber doped with different rare-earth such as thulium (M. M. Broer et al., Opt. Lett. 1993, 18 (10), p. 799-801), cerium (M. M. Broer et al., Opt. Lett. 1991, 16 (18), p. 1391-1393), europium and praseodymium (E. G. Behrens et al., 1990, JOSA B 7 (8), p. 1437-1444). The first experimental evidence of this phenomenon in ytterbium doped silica fiber was described by R. Paschotta et al. in Opt. Commun., 1997, 136 (5-6), p. 375-378.
The present inventors, in their article entitled "Low photodarkening single cladding ytterbium fibre amplifier" published in the Proceedings of SPIE, Vol. 6453, Fiber Lasers IV: Technology, Systems, and Applications; Donald J. Harter, Andreas Tünnermann, Jes Broeng, Clifford Headley III, Editors, 64530H (Feb. 20, 2007), show that photodarkening is reduced in ytterbium fibers co-doped with aluminum or with another rare-earth such as erbium. They attribute this reduction of photodarkening to erbium or aluminium ions that prevents the formation of ytterbium clusters to emit UV radiation that creates color centers.
Gavrilovic et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 6,154,598 propose to prevent photodarkening in ytterbium-doped optical fiber lasers and/or waveguide structures operating at high optical output power level and which contain thulium as an impurity, by introducing another rare-earth ion as co-dopant to the fiber core. Preferably, the co-dopants are selected from terbium, europium and/or neodymium.
Kitabayashi et al. have also demonstrated that high aluminum concentration into ytterbium-doped fibers is effective to suppress photodarkening ("Population Inversion Factor Dependence of Photodarkening of Yb-doped Fibers and its Suppression by Highly Aluminum Doping", Optical Fiber Communication Conference, 2006 and the 2006 National Fiber Optic Engineers Conference; OFC 2006, 5-10 Mar. 2006).
It is thus apparent to those skilled in the art that there is a need for optical fibers with reduced photodarkening properties, especially for rare-earth-doped optical fiber wherein the rare-earth induces a photodarkening effect. There is also a need for a method which reduces photodarkening in a rare-earth-doped optical fiber wherein the rare-earth induces a photodarkening effect.

Optically active glass and optical fiber with reduced photodarkening and method for reducing photodarkening


A computer-implemented method, computer system and computer-readable medium for identifying off-target matches from a set of candidate primer sequences on a genome reference sequence can include: receiving onto a data storage unit a plurality of candidate primer sequences; for each candidate primer sequence, calculating, using a processor, a plurality of candidate matches on the genome reference sequence for the candidate primer sequences; calculating, using the processor, verified matches on the genome reference sequence based on the candidate matching locations satisfying a plurality of matching verification rules; performing matching calculations of the verified matches to determine whether the verified matches form a match condition on the genome reference sequence; and generating a location profile on the genome reference sequence based on the match condition from the verified matches that meet a predetermined threshold.

With multiplex PCR primer design, primer sets for several targets can be designed simultaneously. Primer pairs can target particular locations on a reference sequence (or reference string) representing positive and negative strands of a reference sequence such as a genome of nucleotides. But primers can amplify unintended regions of the genome (off-targets).
Off-target detection for candidate sequences (or candidate strings) can refer to identifying matching locations on a reference sequence and then determining whether any of such matching locations form an off-target match with another candidate sequence. Existing algorithms can rely on alignment tools, and indexing techniques can be used to speed up the process of detecting such off-target matching locations. However, such approaches do not scale well.
So, performance suffers due to the large number of candidate sequences and the sheer volume of computation involved, especially for large reference sequences in multiplex candidate primer sequence scenarios. Therefore, mere use of an index is unsuitable for application in real-world off-target detection scenarios.
There is therefore room for improvement.

Systems and methods for off-target sequence detection


A process for the preparation of nitriles in which an ethylenically unsaturated compound is reacted with carbon monoxide, a hydrogen source and hydroxylamine or a hydroxylamine salt in the presence of a catalyst system comprising one or more Group VIII metals.

It is known that nitriles are formed by addition of HCN to an unsaturated carbon-carbon bond, e.g. the double bond of an olefin. However, in view of the risks involved in handling this highly toxic chemical, this addition method is considered unsuitable for large scale operation. Hence various attempts have been made to develop a method for producing nitriles whereby the use of HCN is avoided.
From U.S. Pat. No. 4,456,562 a process for producing nitriles is known whereby a compound of the formula R--CHO is reacted with a hydroxylamine-inorganic salt. In the event that R represents an aromatic group, the nitrile is directly produced whereas compounds in which R represents an alkyl or alkenyl group are converted in a first reaction step to an aldoxime from which in a second reaction step by dehydration, the nitrile is formed.
In NL 105,424 a one step method is described whereby
at moderate reaction conditions (reaction temperatures of 20.degree.-40.degree. C. and atmospheric pressure) nitriles are produced from primary alcohols or aldehydes and ammonia in a liquid alkaline medium under the influence of copper compounds.
The aldehydes (or alcohols) which are used as starting material in these known processes have to be prepared in a separate step, preceding the conversion into nitriles. For the preparation of the aldehydes, conventional methods can be applied. Accordingly aliphatic aldehydes with three or more carbon atoms can be obtained from olefins, carbon monoxide and hydrogen under the conditions of the Oxo process, i.e. at moderate reaction temperatures and at relatively high pressures, e.g. of 150 bar and higher (cf "New Syntheses with Carbon Monoxide" by J. Falbe, p. 30,97). It would be advantageous, if nitriles could be prepared directly from olefins at moderate reaction conditions and, of course, without involvement of HCN during the process.
It has now been found that by selecting particular reactants and catalysts, nitriles are directly obtained from the unsaturated compounds used as starting material.


A non-volatile memory system mitigates the effects of open block reading by analyzing the un-programmed region of a block before programming to determine a potential for read disturbance. The system may determine a read count value associated with open block reading of the memory block and/or perform partial block erase verification. To mitigate the effects of open block read disturbance, the system performs partial block erase for the un-programmed region of the memory block and/or limits programming in the un-programmed region.

The present disclosure is directed to non-volatile memory technology.
Semiconductor memory has become increasingly popular for use in various electronic devices. For example, non-volatile semiconductor memory is used in cellular telephones, digital cameras, personal digital assistants, mobile computing devices, non-mobile computing devices and other devices. Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory (EEPROM) and flash memory are among the most popular non-volatile semiconductor memories. With flash memory, also a type of EEPROM, the contents of the whole memory array, or of a portion of the memory, can be erased in one step, in contrast to the traditional, full-featured EEPROM.
Both the traditional EEPROM and the flash memory utilize a floating gate that is positioned above and insulated from a channel region in a semiconductor substrate. The floating gate is positioned between the source and drain regions. A control gate is provided over and insulated from the floating gate. The threshold voltage (VTH) of the transistor thus formed is controlled by the amount of charge that is retained on the floating gate. That is, the minimum amount of voltage that must be applied to the control gate before the transistor is turned on to permit conduction between its source and drain is controlled by the amount of charge in the floating gate. Another type of memory cell useful in flash EEPROM systems utilizes a non-conductive dielectric material in place of a conductive floating gate to store charge in a non-volatile manner.
Some EEPROM and flash memory devices have a floating gate that is used to store two ranges of charges and, therefore, depending on the number of charges inside the floating gate the memory element can either be in an erased state or in a programmed state. Such a flash memory device is sometimes referred to as a binary flash memory device because each memory element can store one bit of data.
A multi-state (also called multi-level) flash memory device is implemented by identifying multiple distinct allowed/valid programmed threshold voltage ranges. Each distinct threshold voltage range corresponds to a predetermined value for the set of data bits encoded in the memory device. For example, each memory element can store two bits of data when the element can be placed in one of four discrete charge bands corresponding to four distinct threshold voltage ranges.
Typically, a program voltage VPGM is applied to the control gate during a program operation as a series of pulses that increase in magnitude over time. In one possible approach, the magnitude of the pulses is increased with each successive pulse by a predetermined step size, e.g., 0.2-0.4V. In the periods between the program pulses, verify operations are carried out. That is, the programming level of each element of a group of elements being programmed in parallel is read between successive programming pulses to determine whether it is equal to or greater than a verify level to which the element is being programmed. For arrays of multi-state flash memory elements, a verification step may be performed for each state of an element to determine whether the element has reached its data-associated verify level. For example, a multi-state memory element capable of storing data in four states may need to perform verify operations for three compare points.
Moreover, when programming an EEPROM or flash memory device, such as a NAND flash memory device in a NAND string, typically VPGM is applied to the control gate and the bit line is grounded, causing electrons from the channel of a cell or memory element, e.g., storage element, to be injected into the floating gate. When electrons accumulate in the floating gate, the floating gate becomes negatively charged and the threshold voltage of the memory element is raised so that the memory element is considered to be in a programmed state.
Once a non-volatile storage element has been programmed, it is important that its programming state can be read back with a high degree of reliability. However, the sensed programming state can sometimes vary from the intended programming state due to factors including noise and the tendency of devices to gravitate towards charge neutrality over time.
Consequently, it is common to encounter erroneous or corrupted data bits at the time of reading non-volatile memory. Typically, some form of error correction control (ECC) is applied to correct erroneous or corrupted data. One common control stores additional parity bits to set the parity of a group of data bits to a required logical value when the data is written. The informational and parity bits form an encoded word stored during the write process. The ECC decodes the bits by computing the parity of the group of bits when reading the data to detect any corrupted or erroneous data. Despite these considerations, there remains a need for improved read, erase, and program operations in on-volatile memory.

Partial block erase for open block reading in non-volatile memory


The invention relates to an application device for the simultaneous and uniform discharge of a foamable reaction mixture on to a surface, a device for the production of sandwich composite elements and a process for the continuous or discontinuous production of sandwich composite elements, especially foam composite elements with rigid and flexible outer layers.

The invention relates to an application device for the simultaneous and uniform application of a foamable reaction mixture on to a surface, a device for the production of sandwich composite elements and a process for the continuous or discontinuous production of sandwich composite elements, especially foam composite elements with rigid and flexible outer layers.
For a long time, there has been a need for devices for the continuous production of sandwich composite elements in which the production rate can be increased to speeds of more than 15 m/min, preferably up to 60 m/min.
Up to now, oscillating mixing heads have been used for the continuous production of sandwich composite elements. In the known processes, the mixing head performs an oscillating movement across the width of the bottom outer layer and applies the still liquid reaction mixture on to the bottom outer layer by means of a casting rake or fan or spoon nozzle, which is arranged at a right angle to the mixing head and parallel to the bottom outer layer.
The mixing head is fixed to a guide rail, the so-called portal, above the bottom outer layer and is accelerated with the aid of electric motors and slowed before the reversal points. The raw materials for foaming are fed into the mixing head through flexible tubing. In addition, in some cases hydraulic or pneumatic hoses lead into the mixing head. The raw materials for foaming are introduced into the mixing head through nozzles and are mixed.
The reaction mixture then flows into the casting rake and exits through the regularly spaced holes. A uniform distribution of the reaction mixture oblique to the direction of transport is achieved by the length of the casting rake and its holes, as well as by the oscillating movement of the mixing head.
After the application, the reaction mixture foams up and rises as far as the top outer layer. During the foaming process it bonds the two outer layers before the foam solidifies and cures.
This production process is physically limited in terms of the production rate. Even if sufficiently strong motors, guide rails, hoses, mixing heads and casting rakes or fan or spoon nozzles were used, the reaction mixture would be taken out beyond the sides of the outer layers as a result of excessively high centrifugal forces at the reversal points. According to the prior art, production rates of more than 15 m/min cannot be achieved in the continuous production of sandwich composite elements using this application technique.
The technique of bringing the production rate to 60 m/min using stationary mixing head technology and rigid discharge systems is sufficiently well known. This process known as US technology (high-speed machines) consists substantially of three identical metering lines with separate feed and separate mixing heads and discharge systems. However, this technology does not have a distributor head such as that employed in the present invention. The known process is disadvantageous in that the reaction mixture leaving each of the individual mixing heads is also subject to different physical conditions in terms of pressure and temperature, which becomes apparent in the foam produced as reductions in product quality, such as uneven surface, smaller cell, and different thermal conductivity values due to reaction kinetics that differ from point to point.

Devices and process for the production of sandwich composite elements


A multiple-master, digital communication technique is provided which employs standard universal asynchronous receivers and transmitters ("UARTs") linked to a common data transmission bus, and a hardware-based inter-station contention scheme utilizing a bus separate from that employed for data transmission. This communication technique effectively eliminates any window of collision for data transmitted on the bus, and greatly reduces the amount of software processing required to resolve contention between stations. In addition, the hardware required to support the dedicated contention bus scheme is comprised of inexpensive, commercially available logic gates.

Within multiple-master, digital communication systems any station linked to the system may transmit data over a common communication bus at anytime. Invariably, within such systems, a monitoring and control arrangement must be provided to detect simultaneous data transmissions by multiple stations over the common communication bus, and terminate the colliding transmissions until the common bus is clear. While numerous data collision avoidance and detection arrangements exist for multiple-master, digital communication systems, typically they all include a listen-while-talking ("LWT") collision detection/avoidance scheme.
In a system employing an LWT scheme, each station monitors the common communication bus prior to transmitting, and if another transmission is determined to be already in progress, each monitoring station defers its transmission. Upon detecting that all other transmissions have ceased, and the common bus is clear, the station would then begin its own transmission while continuing to monitor the common bus (listening while talking). Unfortunately, one or more other stations which also deferred transmissions, and could begin transmitting at the moment the common bus clears. This would result in data collisions, which would be detected by all the transmitting stations (since each continues to monitor the common channel during transmission). Upon collision detection, each of the stations involved terminates transmission (referred to as "backing off") and enters into a contention to gain control of the bus. This contention is performed via digital processing according to a prescribed algorithm tailored to the particular multiple-master, digital communication system.
Another drawback of an LWT collision detection scheme is a window of collision which exists with respect to inter-station communications. A signal transmitted on a common bus by one station will not reach other stations linked to that bus for a finite interval (the transmission time between stations). One of the other stations linked to the common bus may erroneously commence transmitting a second signal on the bus during this interval as the bus would appear to be clear. This second signal would of course collide with the first signal. The actual window of collision for a given system is an interval of time equal to the maximum transmission time between stations within the system, plus the processing time required for any given station to recognize that the bus is clear and that it is the apparent winner of the contention for control of the bus. Since station contention within existing multimaster systems is performed via processing of complex software algorithms, the duration of the actual window of collision is usually many times greater than the maximum transmission time within the systems.

Multiple-master digital communication technique utilizing a dedicated contention bus


A multi-articulated link knee joint capable of detecting a bending angle of a knee section without causing problems of an installation space and wiring of a sensor is provided. A four-link knee joint includes a knee section of a four-link mechanism, a fluid cylinder that restrains an action of the knee section, a position detecting device that detects a position of a piston rod with respect to a cylinder tube as an extension and contraction amount of the cylinder, and a computer that acquires a bending angle of the knee section by converting the position detected by the position detecting device.

Conventionally, as the joints including knee sections, there have been known a single-axis knee joint that is a joint including a knee section with a single axis, and a multi-articulated link knee joint that is a joint including a knee section of a multi-articulated link mechanism.
A multi-articulated link knee joint includes various advantages as compared with a single-axis joint.
For example, in a multi-articulated link knee joint, the position of the instantaneous center of rotation of a knee section is in the position closer to a hip joint as compared with a single-axis knee joint, and therefore, the multi-articulated link knee joint includes the advantage of hardly dropping off at an early stage of standing as compared with the single-axis joint.
Further, in the multi-articulated link knee joint, the lower leg length becomes shorter at the time of bending of the knee section as compared with a single-axis knee joint, and therefore, the distance between the toe and the ground is large when the multi-articulated link knee joint is swung out by walking. Therefore, the multi-articulated link knee joint includes the advantage that the toe is hardly caught by the ground. By the advantage, the multi-articulated link knee joint can obtain beautiful gait without a vertical movement, as compared with a single-axis knee joint.
Further, a multi-articulated link knee joint includes the advantage that the knee cap hardly protrudes at the time of being in a sitting position as compared with a single-axis knee joint.
Further, a multi-articulated link knee joint includes the advantage that even when a user of an artificial leg with knee disarticulation or a long stump uses the multi-articulated link knee joint, the thigh length thereof can be made closer to the thigh length of a well leg, as compared with a single-axis knee joint.
Conventionally, as a multi-articulated link knee joint, there has been known a knee joint that includes a knee section of a multi-articulated link mechanism, an air cylinder that assists an action of the knee section, and a computer that controls an operation of the air cylinder (See Japanese laid-open patent publication No. 2000439974 A and Japanese laid-open patent publication No. 2004-167106 A, for example.).