This specification discloses a caliper disk brake which is mounted with respect to a support structure so as to improve sliding movement between the caliper housing of the disk brake and the support structure and thus reduce drag, piston shake backs, piston knock-back, and free brake pedal travel. The coupling between the support structure and the disk brake housing also permits some relative twisting movement so that the friction element of the disk brake can align against a rotatable disk or rotor which has also twisted. The coupling includes a mounted resilient bushing having an axial cavity wherein is received a sleeve having a low coefficient of friction. A supporting locating pin is slidably received within the sleeve thus permitting relative movement between the housing and the support structure in a direction transverse to the plane of the rotor. Additionally, the resilient bushing permits some rotational or twisting movement between the disk brake housing and the support structure.

(1) Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to braking devices and, more particularly to a disk brake mounting apparatus and method.
(2) Prior Art
The prior art teaches a "floating head" disk brake wherein there is a single piston supporting one friction element, a housing supporting the other friction element and the housing is mounted for sliding action on a fixed support member transversely to a rotor disk for braking engagement therewith. There are various known means for achieving the slidable movement between the disk brake housing and the support structure. For example, yieldable means in the form of flexible straps can couple the support structure with the slidable housing so that the slidable housing is supported on the support structure for slidable movement relative thereto by the flexible straps. In order to actuate the brakes and bring each of the brake shoes into engagement with opposite sides of the rotor, the flexible straps must flex in a direction generally perpendicular to the plane of rotation of the rotor to be braked. In these prior art devices, there is resistance to the movement of the housing due to the physical characteristic of the flexible straps due to the necessity for bending the straps with a certain amount of force. Also, due to the characteristics of the flexible straps there is a certain amount of hysterisis involved so that the housing may not return to its original position when a braking system is relaxed.
Attempts have been made to improve the performance of these flexible straps by having loops positioned therein which permit the ends of the springs, which support the housing on the support structure, to move relative to each other by a rolling movement of the loop formed in the spring. This rolling action reduces the resistance to movement and hysterisis effect. Nevertheless, any such improvement is achieved with additional complexity and cost, and does not provide a desirable solution to the problem.
Another prior art disk brake design includes a sliding action wherein pins are rigidly mounted to a floating brake shoe housing and semicircular receiving grooves, for the pins, are located in the stationary support member with sufficient tolerances between the pin and the grooves to allow reasonably free sliding action therebetween. This type of design has been known to produce excessive brake rattle during normal driving. To solve the rattle problem, members have been added to exert forces against the pin elements to pre-clude rattle between the pin elements and the slots located in the arms or support members. Although this technique reduces the rattle problem, the force against the pin elements by the pressure members introduces an undesirable resistance to lateral sliding of the pin elements, and thus, also, of the caliper housing.
This resistance to lateral sliding cause a condition frequently referred to in the disk brake industry as "drag", "knock-back" or "shake-back". Drag results from the brake lining being held against the disk due to the resistance to lateral sliding. Drag is objectionable because it increases wear and fuel consumption. Knock-back results from a deflection or wandering of the brake disk or rotor which engages a brake lining and friction member and thus the piston, forcing the piston back into its associated cylinder. Knockback is objectionable and requires upon the next brake application, that the brake pedal travel an unnecessary distance for the brake piston friction member to again grip the rotating disk.
The prior art also teaches a coupling between the disk brake housing and the support structure wherein the housing has rigidly secured thereto a pin element which is slidingly retained by a sleeve element. The pin element and sleeve element in combination provide a bearing member for the support structure which floatingly and slidingly carries the housing for movement in a direction transverse to the plane of the rotor. Springs secure the sleeve to the support structure. When the sleeve and spring combination is used, the sleeve must be sufficiently strong to support the pin and the springs must be sufficiently strong to retain the sleeve so that the sleeve does not come free of the support structure thereby reducing braking effectiveness. Typically, the assembly of the springs to the support structure requires a secure fastening which may require a difficult manufacturing step such as threading a spring through an opening. Further, when the sleeve must perform the two functions of providing a sliding surface and providing support, it can be optimized for neither function. These are some of the objections this new invention overcomes.


An actuator arm assembly includes an actuator arm and a voice coil coupled to the actuator arm. A crash stop is connected to the actuator arm and extends away from a perimeter of the actuator arm.

The present invention relates to disc drives. More particularly, the present invention relates to crash stops on an actuator arm assembly used in moving a head gimbal assembly across the surface of a disc in a disc drive.
A typical magnetic disc drive includes one or more magnetic discs, a transducer supported by a hydrodynamic air bearing which flies above each magnetic disc, and a drive controller for controlling the disc drive based on commands received from a host system. The drive controller controls the disc drive to retrieve information from the magnetic discs and to store information on the magnetic discs.
An electromechanical actuator operates within a negative feedback, closed-loop servo system. The actuator moves the transducer radially over the disc surface for track seek operations and holds the transducer directly over a track on the disc surface for track following operations.
Information is typically stored on the magnetic discs by providing a write signal to the transducer to encode flux reversals on the surface of the magnetic disc representing the data to be stored. In retrieving data from the disc, the drive controller controls the electromechanical actuator so that the transducer flies above the magnetic disc, sensing the flux reversals on the magnetic disc and generating a read signal based on those flux reversals. The read signal is then decoded by the drive controller to recover the data represented by flux reversals stored on the magnetic disc, and consequently represented in the read signal provided by the transducer.
Conventionally, the electromechanical actuator includes an actuator arm assembly which is coupled to a head gimbal assembly (which includes the transducer and hydrodynamic air bearing). The actuator arm assembly is controlled to pivot about a pivot point to move the head gimbal assembly over the surface of the disc to a desired radial position. The actuator arm assembly typically includes an actuator arm and a voice coil which is connected to the actuator arm. A magnet, or group of magnets, is positioned relative to the voice coil such that when the disc drive controller causes current to flow through the voice coil, the fields generated by the voice coil interact with the magnetic field provided by the magnets to cause movement of the actuator arm assembly about the pivot point.
Such actuator arm assemblies are movable between two extreme positions. In the first extreme position, the actuator arm assembly is positioned to hold the hydrodynamic air bearing over the inner most radius of the magnetic disc. In the second extreme position, the actuator arm assembly is positioned to hold the hydrodynamic air bearing over the outer most radius of the disc.
In order to prevent the actuator arm assembly from moving beyond the first or second extreme positions and off of the surface of the disc, crash stops and stop pins have conventionally been connected inside the housing of the disc drive to physically prevent the actuator arm assembly from moving beyond either the first or second extreme positions. The stop pins are conventionally removable pins which are fastened to a base plate of the housing with screws, or by press fitting. The crash stops are conventionally resilient members which are screwed or press fit into the stop pins. The crash stops extend out and away from the stop pins so that, just before the actuator arm assembly reaches one of the first or second extreme positions, it engages the crash stop. If the actuator arm assembly continues toward the first or second extreme position, it forces the crash stop to deflect toward the stop pin. This deflection continues until the portion of the crash stop which extends away from the stop pin comes into physical contact with the stop pin. At that point, movement of the actuator arm assembly is substantially halted so that the actuator arm assembly cannot move beyond the extreme position.
Because the crash stops and stop pins are conventionally both discrete parts, each must to be assembled into the disc drive. Whether these parts are connected by press fitting or through the use of screws, they are quite labor intensive to assemble. In addition, because these parts are discrete parts, each of the parts must be stocked, and included in the parts count of the disc drive. Thus, the parts undesirably increase the cost of the disc drive and decrease assembly efficiency.

Deflectable crash stop in actuator arm assembly overmold


An exemplary information-processing device includes: a first display control unit that controls a display unit to display plural items of application information; a first selecting unit that selects one item of application information from among the plurality of items of application information; a second display control unit that controls the display unit to display related information corresponding to the selected item of application information; a second selecting unit that selects a retail version application program or a trial version application program corresponding to the selected item of application information, based on an input by a user; a downloading unit that downloads the selected application program; a third display control unit that controls the display unit to display information for prompting a user to select whether the retail version application program is downloaded after the trial version application program is executed.

Video game devices to which a storage medium such as a memory card storing an application program such as game software is attached are in widespread use. Recently, devices that can download a video game application program from a server via a network, instead of using a storage medium, have become increasingly popular.
By the present disclosure, usability for downloading a retail version application program after executing a trial version application program in a game device, is improved.
There is provided an information-processing device including: a first display control unit configured to control a display unit to display plural items of application information; a first selecting unit configured to select one item of application information from among the plurality of items of application information, based on an input by a user via an input unit; a second display control unit configured to control the display unit to display related information corresponding to the selected item of application information; a second selecting unit configured to select a retail version application program or a trial version application program corresponding to the selected item of application information, based on an input by a user via the input unit; a downloading unit configured to download the selected application program; an executing unit configured to execute the downloaded application program; a third display control unit configured to control the display unit to display information for prompting a user to select whether the retail version application program is downloaded after the trial version application program is executed.

Information-processing device, information-processing system, information-processing method, and computer-readable storage medium


A negative-working type silver halide photographic material comprising a support having thereon at least one light-sensitive silver halide emulsion layer containing a hydrazine derivative, wherein the emulsion layer or another hydrophilic colloidal layer provided on the support contains at least one redox compound capable of releasing a development inhibitor upon oxidation, and the silver halide emulsion comprises of monodispersed silver halide grains comprising 50 mol % or more of silver chloride.

In the field of photomechanical processing, it has been desired to use photographic light-sensitive materials excellent in original reproducibility, stable processing solutions and simplified replenishment methods to cope with diversification and complexity of printed material.
In particular, line originals to be subjected to the process of picture taking normally comprise photo-composed letters, handwritten letters, illustrations, dot photographs, etc. Thus, line originals are normally formed of a mixture of images having different densities and line widths. Therefore, the ability to provide plate-making cameras, photographic light-sensitive materials or image formation methods which can give an excellent reproduction of these originals have been sought.
On the other hand, enlargement or reduction of dot photographs is widely conducted to make plates for catalogues or large-sized posters. In the dot enlargement process, the number of lines per square inch decreases, giving an unsharp picture. In the dot reduction process, the number of lines per square inch becomes greater than that of the original, giving a fine picture. Accordingly, an image formation method has been desired which provides a wider latitude to maintain an excellent reproducibility of dot gradation.
As a light source for plate-making cameras, halogen lamps or xenon lamps have been employed. In order to be sufficiently sensitive to these light sources, light-sensitive materials are normally subjected to orthochromatic sensitization. However, it has been found that photographic light-sensitive materials which have been orthochromatically sensitized are more susceptible to effects of chromatic aberration of the lens which can deteriorate the picture quality, particularly when a xenon lamp is used.
In a known method for meeting the demand for wide latitude, a lithographic silver halide photographic material comprising silver bromochloride (at least having a silver chloride content of 50% or more) is processed with a hydroquinone developer having an extremely low effective concentration of sulfurous ions (normally 0.1 mol/l or less) so that line originals or dot images having a high contrast and blackened density on the image portion and the nonimage portion are definitely distinguished from each other. However, this method is disadvantageous in that the development is extremely unstable to air oxidation due to the low sulfurous acid concentration of the developer. In order to stabilize the activity of the developer, various efforts and measures must be made. Furthermore, this method provides a remarkably low processing speed, lowering the working efficiency.
Thus, an image formation method has been desired which encompasses development with a processing solution having an excellent storage stability to provide an ultrahigh contrast while eliminating the instability in the formation of images by the above mentioned development method (lithographic development system). In a system as proposed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,166,742, 4,168,977, 4,221,857, 4,224,401, 4,243,739, 4,272,606, and 4,311,781, a surface latent image type silver halide photographic material comprising a specific acylhydrazine compound is processed with a developer with a pH value of 11.0 to 12.3 containing 0.15 mol/l or more of a sulfurous acid preservative and having an excellent storage stability to form an ultrahigh contrast negative image where .gamma. is more than 10. This new image formation system is characterized in that it can use silver bromoiodide and silver bromochloroiodide while the prior art ultrahigh contrast image formation systems can use only silver bromochloride having a high silver chloride content.
The aforementioned image formation system is adequate in view of dot sharpness, processing stability and rapidity, and original reproducibility. However in order to cope with the recent diversification of printed matters, a system has been desired which provides a greater stability and higher original reproducibility.
A light-sensitive material comprising a redox compound which undergoes oxidation to release a photographically useful group is disclosed in JP-A-61-213847 (the term "JP-A" as used herein means an "unexamined published Japanese patent application") and 64-72140, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,684,604. A system using silver bromochloride is disclosed in JP-A-60-83028, 60-112034, 62-235947, and 63-103232. These proposals are intended to widen the reproduction range of gradation. However, in an ultrahigh processing system using a hydrazine derivative, such a redox compound inhibits the improvement of contrast, making it impossible to make use of the features of the system.
In a silver halide photographic material which comprises hydrazines, the percent swelling has a great effect on the photographic properties as disclosed in JP-A-62-237444, 63-96033 and 1-187542.


Viruses are modified by coupling a polymer such as polyethylene glycol to obtain polymer-modified viruses that can exhibit reduced antigenicity while retaining infectivity, and which may exhibit increased circulation time in vivo. The polymer may be directly covalently attached or indirectly covalently attached via an intermediate coupling moiety to the virus. The polymer may also be indirectly noncovalently attached to the virus via a ligand such as an antibody having specificity for a viral surface component. To prepare the polymer-modified virus, the polymer is activated and coupled to the virus. A preferred activated polymer is tresyl-monomethoxypolyethylene glycol having an average molecular weight of about 5000 daltons. The polymer-modified viruses have utility for therapeutic and diagnostic in vivo applications, and may be used to introduce a transgene into a target cell by infection, or be administered to a subject having a tumor where the polymer-modified virus localizes to the tumor.

Viruses have many potential therapeutic uses, for example in gene therapy, whereby the viral genome is used as a vector for foreign genes, as well as in vaccination and cancer therapy, for example by exploiting the phenomenon of viral oncolysis, which exploits cell destruction following selective virus replication in certain tumors.
However, clinical use of viruses presents certain problems. For example, many human subjects are pre-immune to common viruses such as adenoviruses, and thus have circulating antibodies. In cases in which the circulating antibodies are neutralizing in nature, the administered viral particles may have reduced or no infectivity. Repeated administration may exacerbate this problem, since most viruses are highly immunogenic. Immune responses may also contribute to the toxicity of viral administration, and in cases in which cellular immunity is involved, some profound tissue damage may result.
In addition to problems related to the immune system, virus particles are also potentially vulnerable to other clearance mechanisms. Particulates tend to be filtered by the liver and spleen via a mechanism involving phagocytic/endocytic uptake by macrophages. Viral aggregates may be cleared by such mechanisms. In addition, activation of the complement system by viruses may be a factor involved in the inactivation of some viral vectors. Proteolysis and, where relevant, lipolysis, may also potentially damage viral particles.
Viral particles also often have highly specific tissue distribution. This is not always desirable in the therapeutic applications envisaged for the virus. For example, it is desirable in some settings to circumvent the natural viral tissue distribution, possibly simultaneously xe2x80x98targetingxe2x80x99 the virus to a new site such as a tumor. With appropriate modification of viral vectors, both active and passive targeting strategies should be feasible with such vectors. However, abrogation of tissue specific localization systems may make viral particles more susceptible to non-specific uptake mechanisms. One form of passive targeting particularly relevant to viral vectors for use in gene therapy for cancer or in viral oncolysis is the so-called enhanced permeability and retention effect, which exploits leaky vasculature and poor lymphatic drainage in tumors, which can achieve enhanced localization of particulates.
Virus particles also have veterinary and agricultural uses which share some of the above problems.
Polymer modification has been shown, in the context of polymer-protein and polymer-liposome constructs, to have the potential to solve many problems. For example, polymer cover has been demonstrated to reduce antigenicity and immunogenicity. In addition, light polymer cover can turn an antigen into a tolerogen. Polymer cover can also ameliorate reticuloendothelial system (RES) uptake of particulates. Further, polymer can serve as a linker to couple targeting devices to the surface of other molecules or macromolecular structures to target them to specific sites.
However, living viruses are very different in their characteristics to proteins and liposomes. The surface structures involved in infectivity might well be compromised by polymer modification. Virtually all clinical applications of viruses require infectivity to be maintained.
I has been surprisingly found in accordance with the present invention that viral particles can be polymer modified and yet retain infectivity. It has also been discovered that polymer modification of viruses results in the acquisition of beneficial properties such as improved capacity to infect in the presence of neutralizing antibodies.
The present invention provides viruses modified by polymers. In a preferred embodiment the polymer is polyethylene glycol (PEG). In one embodiment, the polymer is directly covalently attached to the virus. In another embodiment, the polymer is indirectly covalently attached to the virus via an intermediate coupling moiety. In yet another embodiment, the polymer is indirectly noncovalently attached to the virus via a ligand. In a preferred embodiment, the ligand has specificity for a viral surface component. For example, the ligand may be an antibody.
The present invention further provides a method of making viruses modified by polymers, whereby the modified viruses retain infectivity.
Another embodiment of the present invention provides a method for introducing a transgene into a target cell comprising contacting the target cell with a polymer-modified virus, wherein the virus comprises the transgene.
The present invention further provides a method of delivering a virus to a tumor, comprising administering a polymer-modified virus of the invention to a subject in need of such treatment under conditions whereby the polymer-modified virus localizes to a tumor.
In another embodiment, the present invention provides a composition comprising a virus modified by a polymer and a carrier.

Tresyl-monomethoxypolyethylene glycol-modified viruses having viral infectivity


A movement control apparatus includes: an actuator that causes a driven body connected to a driving coil to perform reciprocating movement; a signal generation unit that generates a velocity command signal which indicates a target velocity of the driven body; a driving unit that supplies electric current corresponding to a driving signal to the driving coil; a voltage detection unit that detects induced voltage generated in the driving coil, and outputs a voltage signal corresponding to the induced voltage; a signal correction unit that corrects, based on the driving signal and the voltage signal, the voltage signal to adjust a shift of a resistance value from a reference resistance value of the driving coil, thereby generating a velocity signal; and a control unit that generates the driving signal based on the velocity command signal and the velocity signal, and outputs the driving signal to the driving unit.

An available method for implementing extended depth of field (hereafter EDOF) is to convolute images uniformly focusing in the depth direction by moving a focal lens or an imaging element during an exposure time, and perform image restoration processing using a blur pattern which is obtained in advance by measurement or simulation, to thereby obtain an EDOF image (Non-patent Document 1).
A primary application example of the EDOF technology is for imaging with a microscope. In this application, the EDOF technology is known to be rational because the image restoration processing method after exposure, using a single blur pattern, can be applied if a way of moving a focus lens or an imaging element is controlled such that the blur of an image always becomes uniform (Patent Document 1).
In the application example however, focus must be controlled upon driving the focus lens or the imaging element, so that the imaging surface moves at a constant velocity (Non-patent Document 1).
Therefore the movement pattern is demanded to have a constant velocity from the rear side focusing end position to the front side focusing position, or in the opposite direction thereof.
Another application example of EDOF technology is downsizing a camera installed in a portable telephone or the like. In other words, using the EDOF effect, an all focused image (an image in which all objects are focused) can be obtained without including an auto focus mechanism.
Another application example of EDOF technology is an application to a standard digital still camera and digital video camera. As a recent trend in digital still cameras and digital video cameras, simpler image capturing with less error is demanded, and EDOF technology is expected as a technology that can implement an all focused image, which is image capturing without focusing error.
In order to apply the EDOF method to a digital still camera and a digital video camera like this, continuous image capturing without generating a delay between frames is demanded upon capturing moving images, therefore it is known that reciprocating movement as shown in FIG. 14 is performed when capturing a moving image, assigning one video frame respectively to the advance movement and return movement of a focus lens or an imaging element, whereby EDOF moving image capturing is enabled.
However a displacement pattern of a focus lens or a displacement pattern of an imaging element shown in FIG. 14 includes a return movement at an acute angle at a closest end or most distant end from the object. In order to implement this return movement at an acute angle, a large thrust must be generated momentarily in an actuator for driving the imaging element or the focus lens. In terms of downsizing and conserving power of an apparatus, the reciprocating movement control that generates such a large thrust is not practical for a portable digital still camera or digital video camera. Furthermore this kind of reciprocating movement control momentarily generates a large thrust, and suddenly inverts the velocity, hence the driving mechanism quickly wears out, and vibration and noise during driving are large, which is not acceptable in terms of quality.
Available conventional movement control apparatuses which reciprocate an optical element such as a focus lens or an imaging element in the optical axis direction, which may be possible to be used to implement EDOF for capturing a moving image or a still image of an object, are the movement control apparatuses disclosed in Patent Document 2 and Patent Document 3.
According to the technology disclosed in Patent Document 2, as illustrated in FIG. 15, a stator 113 constituted by a yoke 116 facing an outer surface of a cylindrical permanent magnet via a space, and a movable element 127 which has a driving coil 129 that can slide in the axis direction with respect to the stator 113, are disposed, an air-core coil 132, as a sensor coil, is disposed outside the yoke 116, and a permanent magnet 128, which displaces in the air-core 132 as the movable element 127 displaces, is installed in the movable element 127. Since the electromagnetic induction function to the air-core coil 132 by the driving coil 129 is magnetically shielded by the yoke 116 located therebetween, only an electromotive force in accordance with the displacement velocity of the permanent magnet 128 interlocking with the movable element 127, which is only a velocity signal, is generated in the air-core coil 132. The position of the movable element 127 is controlled by the position detection voltage of a position sensor 161, and by damping the movable element 127 using the velocity signal, which is the output of the air-core coil 132, response can be improved without generating hunching.
According to the technology disclosed in Patent Document 3, as illustrated in FIG. 16, a focus lens 110 is driven in the optical axis direction by an actuator that is constituted by a driving coil 135 and a magnet 134 and is disposed coaxially around the optical axis of the focus lens 110, and position control is performed using a position signal of a position sensor that is constituted by an inclined magnet 139, of which magnetic flux changes as the focus lens 110 moves, and a Hall element, and a velocity signal of a moving velocity detection coil 137 of the focus lens 110. Since the velocity detection coil 137 is wound around a bobbin 131 on which the driving coil 135 is wound, a magnet for a sensor can be used for driving as well, which allows decreasing a number of components, decreasing weight and decreasing cost.
In order to extend the depth of field, the optical element is moved at a constant velocity for the amount of a focal distance which corresponds to the depth of field to be extended. For this purpose, a moving pattern of the optical element is generated, and high-speed positioning control is performed on the optical element in accordance with the target position of the pattern.
In the case of the actuator having a conventional configuration, however, the positioning of the focus lens is controlled basically by feeding back the position signal outputted by the position sensor to the control circuit. Therefore the moving distance of the focus lens is long, and the focus lens must be moved at a constant velocity. As a result, the position detection range of the lens is long, that is, an entire operation range in the movable area, and a position sensor which excels in position detection accuracy and linearity is required. Furthermore, a velocity sensor to obtain a velocity signal, for damping the movable element upon positioning the actuator so that vibration is not generated, is required. This makes the apparatus large and expensive.    Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H5-313068    Patent Document 2: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H1-206861    Patent Document 3: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H4-119306    Non-patent Document 1: H. Nagahara, S. Kuthirummal, C. Zhou and S. Nayar: "Flexible Depth of Field Photography", European Conference on Computer Vision (ECCV), October 16th, Morning Session 2: Computational Photography (2008)

Movement control apparatus, movement control method, and movement control circuit

Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd.


Provided are a multi sampling port monitoring apparatus for measuring a pollution level in a predetermined space and a monitoring method using the same. More particularly, provided are a multi sampling port monitoring apparatus capable of effectively monitoring a pollution level in a wide space by including a plurality of sampling ports so that air is sucked at several points in a space to be measured, measuring an average pollution level of the air sucked from the plurality of sampling ports, and allowing pollution levels of the air sucked from the sampling ports to be individually measured in the case in which the average pollution level is out of a predetermined range, and a monitoring method using the same.

A clean room, a place in which a semiconductor manufacturing process, or the like, is performed, is divided into several classes depending on cleanliness, which is determined by the number of particles present per unit area and having a predetermined size, and a pollution cause should be frequently recognized through precise measurement in order to always maintain and manage a predetermined level of cleanliness.
Therefore, an important portion that may have an influence on the cleanliness should be recognized and frequently measured, and an accidental situation should be able to be predicted by regularly measuring several places in the clean room. Further, in the clean room, it is important to constantly maintain and manage temperature, humidity, and pressure as well as recognize the cleanliness by analyzing particles.
Generally, in the clean room of a semiconductor manufacturing facility, a particle measuring apparatus is used to test a leak for a filter of the clean room and measure internal particles of the clean room. After the filter provided on a ceiling of the clean room is installed, it is damaged due to internal and external changes, such that a filtering function thereof may be deteriorated.
Therefore, it is required to test the leak for the filter in order to verify stable clean room securing and reliability securing of a semiconductor device. The test of the leak is performed in a scheme of scanning a surface of the filter while maintaining a predetermined distance from a lower end of the filter and measuring the number of particles present in air discharged from the filter.
As a technology relating to this, Korean Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2006-0036687 (published on May 2, 2006 and entitled 'Particle Probe Apparatus for Clean Room') has been disclosed.
However, since the clean room in which various semiconductor processes are performed has a very wide space, a method of measuring a pollution level by installing a sensor at a specific point is not appropriate for measuring a pollution level in a wide space.
It is difficult for a method of measuring a concentration by installing a sensor at a specific point to represent a concentration in a wide space since it measures only the concentration at the specific point. In the case in which several sensors are installed in order to solve this problem, an economical burden is excessively increased in covering the wide space.
A technology of forming a plurality of sampling ports in one measuring instrument and measuring concentrations in the plurality of sampling ports has been suggested in order to solve this problem. However, since the concentrations in the plurality of sampling ports are sequentially measured by one measuring instrument, there was a disadvantage that it takes a very long time.

Multi sampling port monitoring apparatus for measuring pollution level and monitoring method using the same


According to one embodiment, a strain sensing element is provided on a film unit configured to be deformed. The strain sensing element includes a functional layer, a first magnetic layer, a second magnetic layer, and a spacer layer. The functional layer includes at least one of an oxide and a nitride. The second magnetic layer is provided between the functional layer and the first magnetic layer. A magnetization of the second magnetic layer is variable in accordance with a deformation of the film unit. The spacer layer is provided between the first magnetic layer and the second magnetic layer. At least a part of the second magnetic layer is amorphous and includes boron.

For pressure sensors using MEMS (micro electro mechanical systems) technology, there are a piezoresistance change type and an electrostatic capacitance type, for example. On the other hand, a pressure sensor using spin-electronics technology is proposed. In the pressure sensor using spin-electronics technology, a resistance change in accordance with strain is sensed. It is desired for strain sensing devices used for pressure sensors etc. to improve sensitivity, for example.

Strain sensing element, pressure sensor, microphone, blood pressure sensor, and touch panel


A circuit for mixing superimposed video signal and character displaying signal comprises a video signal processing unit, superimposed video signal generator, character displaying signal generator, microprocessor, and mixer, wherein the superimposed video signal generator comprises a controller for controlling the input and output signals according to the composite video signal of the video signal processing unit and the control signal of the microprocessor, memory a for storing the superimposed video signal by the output signal of the controller so as to apply desired information to the controller according to the control signal of the microprocessor, chrominance signal generator for receiving the superimposed video signal read out from the memory and color information from the microprocessor through the controller so as to generate the chromiance signal, and luminance signal generator for receiving the output signals of the chrominance signal generator and controller and mixing the superimposed video signal and character displaying signal of the character displaying signal generator, the mixed signal being applied to the mixer.

The present invention concerns a circuit for mixing superimposed video signal and character display signal.
Generally, a video signal processing apparatus such as a video tap recorder, camcorder, etc. employs circuit for superimposing video signals and a character generator (CG) in order to obtain character displaying information. The circuit for superimposing video signals and the CG serve to insert characters and figures of a desired shape on the screen of a video display. In this case, the circuit for superimposing video signals may randomly establish the position and shape of desired character information per frame, while the CG may only establish limited characters and figures predetermined by a microcomputer.
A conventional circuit for superimposing video signals is disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication Sho 62-298278, which disclosed a circuit for superimposing two frames.
Referring to FIG. 1 for illustrating a conventional circuit generating character display information, a composite video signal produced by video signal processing unit 100 is applied to the superimposed video signal generator 200 so that the superimposed video signal corresponding to each frame is stored into a memory thereof. Meanwhile, the composite video signal of the video signal processing circuit 100 is also applied to mixer MIX1. Thereafter, if an interval is reached during which the composite video signal is not applied to the mixer, the memory of the superimposed video signal generator 200 is read by the mixer MIX1 which applies the composite video signal loaded with the superimposed video signal to mixer MIX2. The CG 300 controlled by a microprocessor separates character displaying information into recording and displaying information which is respectively applied to mixers MIX2 and MIX3. Thus if the recording information from the CG 300 is not applied to the mixer MIX2, the mixer MIX2 causes the composite video signal loaded with the superimposed video signal to be transferred to tape recording unit. However, if the recording information from the CG 300 is applied to the mixer MIX2, it is transferred to the tape recording unit. If not applied with the displaying information from the CG 300, the mixer MIX3 causes the output signal of the mixer MIX2 to be applied to video displaying unit. However, if the displaying information from the CG 300 is applied to the mixer MIX3, it is transferred to the video displaying unit. Thus, such a conventional mixing circuit separately processes recording and displaying information output signal of the CG 300, so that the circuit construction is complicated and a plurality of mixers are required, thus increasing the noise.

Circuit for mixing superimposed video signal and character displaying signal


A rate-adaptive implantable cardiac pacemaker having a control parameter representative of the physical activity of the patient. The change of the stimulation frequency follows, in a manner to reproduce the natural change of the physiological cardiac rhythm, a non-linear mathematical function of time, e.g., of the type: EQU Fc(t)=A*(1-B*e.sup.-t/Tau)+C,. in which t is time, A, B, C and Tau are constants, and Fc(t) is the stimulation frequency as a function of time. Tau may be a different value for increasing and decreasing frequencies.

There exist rate-adaptive cardiac pacemakers that provide a stimulation rhythm (i.e., a pacing rate) delivered as a function of one or more control parameters linked to the physical activity of the wearer. These control parameters can be, for example, minute ventilation, blood temperature, oxygen concentration of the blood, pH of the blood, vibrations sensed at the pacemaker case, e.g., at the trunk of the wearer, low frequency acceleration at the trunk of the wearer, the QT interval, as well as other measurable parameters indicative of the activity level of the wearer.
Among all of the parameters measured by adequate sensors, the so-called parameter or parameters of enslavement (herein referred to as a "control" parameter), some appear to have a delayed reaction, as compared to that of the physiological cardiac rhythm, in response to a change in activity, and some change more rapidly as compared to the physiological cardiac rhythm. For example, in response to a change in activity, the temperature of the blood will change as an indicator of activity, but more slowly than the natural physiological cardiac rhythm will change in response to that activity. Hence, at an increased stable activity level, the physiological (natural) cardiac rhythm will stabilize before the blood temperature stabilizes. In contrast, sensed accelerations of the trunk will change and stabilize faster than the corresponding physiological cardiac rhythm to a change in the activity level. The relationship between these control parameters and the corresponding cardiac stimulation frequency to be reached, and the monitoring of those control parameters in various forms, are described in the art.
The U.S. Pat. No. 5,074,302 refers to the utilization of a control parameter that has a linear or non-linear relationship function. The document WO 92/03183 refers to relationships associated to one or several parameters. In these descriptions the change over time of the stimulation frequency is not specified in the case where the variation of the control parameter is more rapid than that of the physiological cardiac rhythm. As the inventors have realized, it is necessary to define how the cardiac stimulation frequency is going to change over time from its current value (i.e., a start frequency) to the value calculated based on the measured control parameter(s) (i.e., a calculated target frequency) and a given relationship.

Apparatus and process for control of implantable rate-adaptive cardiac pacemaker


A computer-implemented method includes receiving a search query from a user through a user interface of a user computing device, identifying a search term within the search query, the search term including at least a portion of the search query, generating, based at least in part on the search term, one or more alternative search terms that are each different from the search term, and sending, over the communication network, the one or more alternative search terms to the user computing device.

1. Field of Invention
Embodiments of the present invention relate generally to electronic commerce.
2. Discussion of Related Art
A search engine is a computer program that facilitates locating electronically stored information, for example, in a database. Search engines are commonly used in distributed computer systems, such as those connected to the Internet, for providing information to users. In one example implementation, a user can provide input to the search engine in the form of a search query, which may include one or more words that are relevant to the information sought. The search engine searches for information that satisfies the search query and returns the information to the user as a set of search results.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Systems and methods for guided construction of a search query in an electronic commerce environment


The present invention provides devices and methods for drying the inside surfaces of gloves. The glove drying devices include a perforated hollow drying form in the shape of a hand. A tube is mounted to the inside of the drying form in order to improve the air flow into the interior of the form. A heating means is provided for mounting inside the tube in order to heat the air which flows into the drying form and to enhance the air flow.

Gloves are frequently used for a variety of reasons, such as, outdoor recreation, as protective wear in health care, commercial food handling or industry and for doing household chores such as dish washing. Moisture released by the skin of the user's hand wets the inside of the glove, making it slippery and unpleasant to wear. Moisture collecting on the inside of the glove can result in growing harmful microorganisms on the inside surface of the glove, which could lead to skin infections. Users of gloves which are not permeable to moisture vapor, such as, for example, rubber or plastic gloves find that they frequently need to change to dry gloves in order to avoid the unpleasant feeling of a wet glove.
The problems described above are well known in the art and various devices and methods have been designed by others attempting to solve these problems. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,406,717 (Dofka, 1995) discloses a drying rack for utility gloves including hollow telescoping tubes with adjustment holes and spread ring discs. Pylons situated on the basis of a drain basin serve as bases for the telescoping tubes. The spread ring discs spread open the inside of gloves. U.S. Pat. No. 5,199,188 (Franz, 1993) discloses a method and apparatus for drying footwear and handwear including a blower assembly which directs heated or ambient air into a glove placed on a handwear holder. U.S. Pat. No. 5,117,565 (Willenbacher, Jr. 1992) discloses a glove drying apparatus including a hollow wire mesh form configured as a human hand. Drying air can be directed into the form through air conduits.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,209,913 (Wallin et al, 1980) discloses a method and device for drying gloves including a perforated glove form shaped to resemble a human hand. A means is provided to direct a flow of heated air into the perforated form. U.S. Pat. No. 4,084,733 (Perlmutter, 1978) discloses a glove form for drying and shaping gloves consisting of a unitary thin sheet plastic element having springiness. The form is ribbed or scalloped longitudinally. U.S. Pat. No. 2,035,094 (Palicki, 1935) discloses a work glove form. The form is hollow and is provided with a plurality of perforations.
Known glove drying devices and methods, as exemplified by the above referenced patents, do not provide an optimal design for the drying of the inside surfaces of gloves. For example, prior art devices which direct ambient or heated air into a glove form generally have no provision for circulating the air through the inside of the form such that the air is removed from the form. Also, mechanical devices which are used to direct air into a form tend to be bulky and noisy when in use. Prior art hollow drying forms having a plurality of perforations offer a drying surface only at the perforations, while the areas of the glove surface which remain in direct contact with the surface of the solid form are not exposed to air and are thus likely to dry only at a very slow rate or not at all.
Wire mesh forms typically provide a greater drying surface than hollow perforated forms. Wire mesh forms however are prone to oxidation under repeated high humidity conditions, generally they are more easily damaged than hollow perforated forms. Also, wire mesh forms when damaged may have one or more sharp points from broken wires which can puncture a glove which is dried on the form.
Accordingly, the need exist for improved glove drying devices and methods to more effectively dry the inside of gloves.


The invention provides a method of detecting abnormal entry of gastrointestinal contents into the respiratory tract of a patient. The method comprises orally administering to a subject formulation comprising a detectable label that is not absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract but can be absorbed from the respiratory tract. The extent of the gastrointestinal contents entering the respiratory tract can be estimated by measuring the level of the detectable label in a body fluid, e.g., blood or urine.

Gastro esophageal reflux disease (GERD) is a condition in which some of the stomach contents (solid and/or liquid) move backwards from the stomach into the esophagus (the tube from the mouth to the stomach). This action can irritate the esophagus, causing heartburn and other symptoms.
Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), gastro-oesophageal reflux disease (GORD), gastric reflux disease, or acid reflux disease is defined as chronic symptoms or mucosal damage produced by the abnormal reflux of stomach acid to the esophagus. A typical symptom is heartburn.
This is commonly due to transient or permanent changes in the barrier between the esophagus and the stomach. This can be due to incompetence of the lower esophageal sphincter, transient lower esophageal sphincter relaxation, impaired expulsion of gastric reflux from the esophagus, or a hiatal hernia.
A different type of acid reflux which produces respiratory and laryngeal manifestations is laryngopharyngeal reflux (LPR), also called extraesophageal reflux disease (EERD). Unlike GERD, LPR is unlikely to produce heartburn, and is thus sometimes called silent reflux.
Useful investigations to diagnose GERD may include ambulatory
Esophageal pH Monitoring, barium swallow X-rays, esophageal manometry, and Esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD).
The current gold standard for diagnosis of GERD is esophageal pH monitoring. It is the most objective test to diagnose the reflux disease and it also allows to monitor GERD patients in regards of their response to medical or surgical treatment. One practice for diagnosis of GERD is a short-term treatment with proton pump inhibitors, with improvement in symptoms suggesting a positive diagnosis. According to a systematic review, short-term treatment with proton pump inhibitors may help predict abnormal 24-hr pH monitoring results among patients with symptoms suggestive of GERD. In this study, the positive likelihood ratio of a symptomatic response detecting GERD ranged from 1.63 to 1.87, with sensitivity of 0.78% though specificity was only 0.54%.
In general, an EGD is done when the patient either does not respond well to treatment or has alarm symptoms including dysphagia, anemia, blood in the stool (detected chemically), wheezing, weight loss, or voice changes. Some physicians advocate either once-in-a-lifetime or 5/10-yearly endoscopy for patients with longstanding GERD, to evaluate the possible presence of dysplasia or Barrett's esophagus, a precursor lesion for esophageal adenocarcinoma.
Esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD) (a form of endoscopy) involves insertion of a thin scope through the mouth and throat into the esophagus and stomach (often while the patient is sedated) in order to assess the internal surfaces of the esophagus, stomach, and duodenum.
The gastrointestinal contents may thus also enter the respiratory tract as a result of any condition that causes the backward movement of the gastrointestinal contents from the stomach to esophagus. The gastrointestinal contents contain many substances that are likely to be harmful to the respiratory tract: acid, digestive enzymes, microorganisms, allergens, proinflammatory subtances and so on. There is increasing evidence that gastro esophageal reflux disease (GERD) is the underlying mechanism behind many disease conditions of the respiratory tract, such as infections and high morbidity in patients with lung transplants, asthma, bronchitis, pulmonary fibrosis and so on. At present, there are no acceptable methods to detect the entry of gastrointestinal (GI) contents into the respiratory tract.

Diagnosis of entry of gastrointestinal contents into respiratory tract of humans and animals

The Regents of The University of California


Herein is reported a cell analytical technology based on a three-dimensional spheroid/aggregate co-culture assay, wherein the spheroid or aggregate is formed of tumor and natural killer cells. This method is useful for the in vitro functional analysis of antibodies in single and high-throughput format.

Monolayer cultures of established tumor cell lines are frequently used in basic tumor biology research and anti-tumor drug development. However, a two-dimensional, flat culture model insufficiently reflects the three-dimensional (3D) tumor architecture. Therefore, specific aspects related to the in vivo development of solute diffusion gradients can only be studied in a three-dimensional culture system like for instance the multicellular tumor spheroid or aggregate model. Tumor spheroids or aggregates mimic avascular tumor regions, characterized by limited nutrient supply due to diffusion barriers through multicellular layers.
However, the widespread use of 3D cultures in research is limited by inconvenient generation and handling. Therefore, a simple and rapid method was developed to generate single spheroids or aggregates in suspension culture in a high-throughput fashion. Single spheroids or aggregates with equal sizes and homogenous spherical geometry can be generated in single wells of a 96-well plate within a 24 hour culture period. It is a standardized culture format with easy access for compound handling and spheroid harvest for subsequent analysis. The uniform size and geometry guarantees the development of almost identical diffusion gradients in each spheroid or aggregate (Ivascu, A. and Kubbies, M., J. Biomol. Screening 11 (2006) 922-932). The known spheroid generation protocol includes the addition of a murine basement membrane extract (rBM), a mixture of extracellular matrix proteins that induces a compaction of the aggregate to a spheroid.
Inami, K., et al. report antitumor activity of anti-C-ERC/mesothelin monoclonal antibody in vivo (Cancer Sci. 101 (2010) 969-974).


A device for storing and handling Petri dishes having a base with a base wall arranged on a circumference of the base, and a lid. The device includes a storage device structured and arranged for storing the Petri dishes in an upside-down orientation so that respective lids are oriented below their respective bases, an inspection device structured and arranged for automatic inspection of the Petri dishes without their respective lids, and a transfer device structured and arranged for transferring the Petri dishes between the storage device and the inspection device. The transfer device includes a gripper, with which a respective Petri dish without the lid can be grasped laterally on the base wall.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a device for storing and handling laboratory objects, in particular Petri dishes. Furthermore, the invention relates to a storage device and a storage rack as well as a laboratory device.
2. Discussion of Background Information
Petri dishes are flat, round, transparent dishes with spanning lid, which are widely used in biology, medicine or chemistry. Petri dishes are thereby used for the cultivation of microorganisms and cell cultures. A flat layer of a gel-like culture medium is placed into the Petri dish and supplies the growing microorganisms with water and the necessary nutrients.
Application-specific microorganisms are locally introduced into the culture medium. Subsequently, the Petri dishes are usually incubated with the lid downwards and the culture medium upwards. With this storage, the weight of the plate bears on the lid, whereby the closure between the lid and dish is improved. Excess water does not form on the culture medium, but preferably collects on the lid.
During the incubation period, the growth of the cultures is visually inspected several times. In applications in which large numbers of plates are used, there is a need for an automation of the process. Respectively, one Petri dish is thereby removed from the incubator or the storage device and fed to an inspection device according to certain time specifications. For the inspection, the plates should be fed to the inspection device with the culture medium downwards.
To transfer the Petri dishes between the storage device and the inspection device, a transfer device is required. Usually, this has a pivoted arm, which is arranged on a wall of the incubation chamber or storage device. A Petri dish is grasped by a vacuum suction device, which is arranged on the outer end of the pivoted arm, and is removed from the incubator by a rotary motion of 180 degrees and rotated at the same time. In the inspection device, the vacuum suction device must be removed for the inspection.
Furthermore, storage racks are known for storing laboratory objects, which racks respectively provide space for several laboratory objects one above the other.

Device for storing and handling Petri dishes, storage device and storage slot for laboratory objects


Semiconductor circuit provides an EEPROM programming charge pump (18), and includes a leakage current measuring device (12), a plurality of interconnected current mirrors, and a current controlled oscillator (16) for providing programming power to such EEPROM. The leakage current sensor (12) generates current nonlinearly related to device ambient temperature of the semiconductor circuit, the current mirrors combining and scaling the leakage current (14) with a constant current to provide a composite current altering frequency of the oscillator (16). The oscillator output is constrained accordingly to provide EEPROM charge pump (18) programming power proportional to the oscillator (16) frequency for ensuring that only that amount of programming power appropriate to the ambient temperature is delivered, achieving high economy of total EEPROM programming power utilization, as for an EEPROM of a miniaturized, self-contained responder of a read/write transponder system resident on a single semiconductor integrated circuit chip.

Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a variable frequency digital oscillator which is used to control the programming voltage and current required by an Electrically Erasable and Programmable Read-Only Memory, herein referred to as an EEPROM, and particularly to an EEPROM charge pump using such a variable frequency digital oscillator which is of high efficiency to provide extreme economy in power utilization.

Variable frequency oscillator controlled EEPROM charge pump


A twin beam parallelogram-type lift axle suspension system includes a bi-directional airlift spring having opposite end plates at either end thereof located between two parallel control arms wherein expansion of the air spring pivots the upper and lower control arms with respect to a frame bracket thereby lifting an axle and wheels attached thereto from engagement with the road surface. The end plates of the bi-directional air spring move about equally in opposite directions and remain substantially parallel to one another throughout expansion and contraction of the air spring so as to about equally distribute forces of expansion of the air spring between the upper and lower control arms. The system of the instant invention also includes a shock absorber having one end attached to the upper control arm and another end attached to the lower control arm so as to locate the shock absorber forward of the axle thereby minimizing shock travel and maximizing shock life. The upper control arm is pivotally connected to an axle seat by a bolt including an eccentric cam mechanism which allows one to adjust the caster angle of the axle when the need arises.

In wheeled vehicle axle suspension systems, it is often desirable to have a lifting feature that lifts the wheels of the system from road engagement when their load carrying capabilities are not needed. The liftable axles are lifted when operating the wheeled vehicle in a lightly loaded or empty condition and lowered when the vehicle is loaded sufficiently to require an extra axle for safety or to conform to highway weight laws.
In suspension systems for trailing axles and pusher axles, it is known that if a steerable axle is installed with the proper pitch or caster angle, the drag of the wheels will cause the axle to steer automatically in response to steering of the vehicle. This is referred to as a self-steering suspension system. It is also known in the art to provide a parallelogram arrangement of control arms or torque rods connected between a frame hanger bracket and an axle seat to maintain a substantially constant pitch of the axle and to provide lift mechanisms for such suspensions.
Many devices have been used to lift axle suspensions in the past. FIGS. 1-2 are exemplary illustrations of such devices.
FIG. 1 depicts a conventional twin beam lift axle suspension which includes an air bellows 9 which angularly expands thereby raising trailing arm 21 and axle 7 attached thereto. This raising of the axle lifts the wheels of the system from engagement with the road surface. An appendage 19 is connected to trailing arm 21, and when the air bellows is expanded or contracted the trailing arm 21 is pivotally rotated about a resilient member 23 which defines a pivot point. The air bellows 9 (or airlift spring) is attached at one end 25 to the appendage 19, with the other end 27 being attached to the fixedly mounted frame hanger bracket 29. When the air bellows 9 is inflated, it reacts against the frame bracket 29 and the beam appendage 19 causing the trailing arm 21 to move relative to the bracket 29 about the pivot point defined by the resilient member 23. This expansion of the airlift spring causes the trailing arm and axle 7 to be raised and the wheels of the system to be lifted from road engagement. When the airlift spring is deflated, the axle and wheels attached thereto are lowered into engagement with the road surface.
This design is not without its limitations. During lifting, the air bellows 9 is articulated through an angle due to the geometry of the suspension. This angular expansion of the air bellows is sometimes referred to as an "accordion effect". The angle from parallel typically should not exceed 25.degree. due to restrictions in the air spring construction. Due to this accordion effect, the effectiveness and lifting capabilities of the air bellows are limited and maintenance requirements are increased, as more fully discussed below.
The air bellows 9 in this design is typically located within the frame hanger bracket 29 of the suspension. Due to the size and angular expansion of the air spring, the frame bracket 29 must be of a size larger than is otherwise necessary, thus adding to the cost and weight of the suspension. Another problem with the angular expansion of the air spring in this system is that the air spring undergoes added wear and tear due to the non-symmetric nature of the angular expansion (i.e. the "accordion effect"). In this respect, the upper side of the air spring 9 shown in FIG. 1 realizes higher stresses than the lower side due to stretching of the spring resulting from the accordian effect. Accordingly, because of the accordian effect, increased maintenance is required in more frequently replacing the air springs, which could be avoided if the air springs were to be expanded in a uniform symmetrical manner keeping the end plates 25 and 27 substantially parallel at all times during articulation of the air spring.
Furthermore, as can be seen in FIG. 1, the air spring or bellows 9 has one end 27 fixedly attached to fixed frame bracket 29 resulting in a uni-directional expansion of the bellows 9. Accordingly, during the uni-directional expansion of the bellows 9, the one end 27 remains fixed while the other end 25 moves to the left as shown in FIG. 1, thus driving appendage 19 and arm 21. As a result, substantially 100% of the expansion forces exerted by bellows 9 are directed toward appendage 19 and arm 21 thus requiring arm 21 to be of a size large enough to continually withstand 100% of the expansion forces of bellows 9.
There has also been a development of another type of suspension for special applications that may be referred to as a "parallelogram" lift axle suspension. An example of this type of lift axle suspension is shown in FIG. 2a and 2b. The parallelogram lift axle suspension is used primarily, but not exclusively, in steerable type lift axle suspension systems which are self-steering. The self-steering results from the liftable axle 39 being installed with the proper caster or pitch and the drag of the wheels attached to the axle causing the axle to steer automatically in response to steering of the vehicle.
The reason for the popularity of the parallelogram suspension is its ability to keep the caster (i.e. angular relationship of the axle 39 relative to the ground or the horizontal) or pitch of the axle relatively constant through vertical articulation of the axle. In other words, as the axle 39 and wheels (not shown) attached thereto are lowered or raised to or from engagement with the road surface, the caster angle (or pitch) of the axle 39 remains substantially constant.
The parallelogram lift axle suspension system shown in FIGS. 2a and 2b is typical for the industry and includes an uni-direction expanding air bellows 47, a downwardly extending frame hanger bracket 31, a lower trailing beam 33, an upper control arm 35, and an axle seat 37 connected to the axle 39. Uni-directional expansion of the air bellows 47 causes the beam 33 and arm 35 to pivot upward and lift the axle and wheels attached thereto from road engagement. Castor or pitch remains substantially constant throughout the axles raising and lowering due to the parallelogram design.
The uni-directional expansion results from end plate 51 of bellows 47 being attached to fixed hanger bracket 31. Accordingly, when bellows 47 is expanded [i.e. FIG. 2a], end plate 51 remains fixed while end plate 49 is moved to the left as shown in FIG. 2 thereby driving beam 33 and raising the axle 39 from engagement with the road surface.
The lower trailing beam 33 is pivotally attached to the frame bracket 31 at one end and pivotally attached to the axle seat 37 at the other end. The upper control arm 35 of this conventional lift axle suspension is pivotally attached to both the frame bracket 31 and the axle seat 37 at pivot points 38. The frame bracket 31, lower trailing beam 33, axle seat 37, and upper control arm 35 are all pivotally connected to form the parallelogram that allows the axle 39 to have relatively constant caster or pitch throughout its vertical articulation.
In a fashion similar to that of the system illustrated in FIG. 1, the air bellows 47 of FIGS. 2a-2b undergoes an accordian effect during expansion and contraction (shown in FIG. 2b). Of course, as discussed above, one end 51 of bellows 47 is attached to fixed frame bracket 31 and the other end 49 attached to appendage 43. This results in the uni-directional expansion of bellows 47. The movement of lower arm 33, resulting from bellows 47 being expanded and contracted, necessarily causes upper arm 35 to pivot simultaneously due to the linking of the upper and lower arms via axle seat 37. Because substantially all of the expansion forces of lifting bellows 47 are directed toward the lower arm 33 via elements 41 and 43, the lower arm 33 must be large enough so as to safely transmit all of such expansion forces.
The system of FIGS. 2a-2b is exemplary of several known parallelogram lift systems. Typically, such parallelogram type suspensions provides more lift height capability than a standard twin beam lift. In the design of the parallelogram system of FIGS. 2a and 2b, for example, the appendage 41 is attached to the lower trailing beam or control arm 33 and an intermediate bracket 43 is pivotally attached to the appendage at a pivot point 45. The air spring or air bellows 47 is attached at one end to the intermediate bracket 43 and at the other end to the frame bracket 31. The twin beam lift system (e.g. FIG. 1) lowers and raises its beams in a similar fashion, except it has no counterpart to the intermediate bracket 43 and the appendage 41 in a parallelogram suspension which allow more lift before the angular capabilities of the lift air spring 47 are exceeded. This is because the addition of the intermediate bracket and the appendage allows the bellows 47 to undergo less of an accordian effect than that of FIG. 1 throughout expansion and contraction. Nevertheless, the accordian affect is not entirely eliminated.
A disadvantage of the parallelogram type lift system shown in FIGS. 2a and 2b over that shown in FIG. 1 arises from the necessity to employ added pivot point 45 to join appendage 41 to intermediate bracket 43. Once again, as well, the uni-directional expansion/contraction of bellows 47 must be taken into account in the design. For example, the addition of pivot point 45 adds a potential wear point to the suspension and thus increases maintenance requirements. This disadvantage cannot be eliminated because pivot point 45 is needed.
The resulting uni-directional expansion of bellows 47, of course, gives rise to the need for a substantially large lower control arm 33 and a fairly large expansion bellows 47.
One variation of the parallelogram lift axle suspension shown in FIGS. 2a and 2b utilizes a turn buckle (not shown) adjustment mechanism, including multiple fasteners, in the upper control arm 35 which is used to effectually adjust the length of the upper control arm and therefore adjust the caster angle of the axle 39 through tilting of the axle seat. This allows for the caster (or pitch) of the axle to be changed as needed. For example, a truck heavily loaded in the rearward portion thereof has its rear end closer to the road surface than would an empty truck, because as additional weight is added to the rear section of the trailer, the truck is forced downward at its rear section and closer to the road surface. This changes the preferred caster of the axle and creates a need for caster adjustment.
The disadvantage of the turn buckle adjustment mechanism described above is that the number of fasteners on the upper control arm is increased by about four thereby increasing the number of fasteners which must be torqued and maintained.
The parallelogram lift axle suspension system illustrated in FIGS. 2a and 2b also includes a shock absorber 53 mounted to appendage 57 and to the frame of the vehicle via a shock mount 55. Often, it is desirable to install shock absorbers on the parallelogram suspension 50 so as to dampen vibration of the axle and the control arms. FIGS. 2a and 2b show a typical shock absorber installation where appendage 57 extends from the rear of the axle 39 with the lower end of the shock absorber 53 being connected to the appendage 57 and the upper end of the shock absorber being connected to the upper shock mount 55.
The disadvantages of this type of shock absorber installation are as follows. The upper shock mount must be installed by the installer of the suspension and the presence of the appendage 57 is required. The location of the shock absorber 53 shown in FIG. 2, rearward of the axle 39, is not ideal and causes the shock absorber to wear faster than desirable. Furthermore, the location of the shock absorber 53 shown in FIG. 2 requires substantial space below the vehicle chassis that may not always be available on certain kinds of vehicles.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,018,756 discloses a suspension system in which a uni-directional airlift spring (or air bellows) angularly expands and contracts thereby undergoing an accordion effect. This reduces the effectiveness and lifting capabilities of the air spring as discussed above. This patent does not disclose or suggest how one could eliminate the uni-directional angular expansion and contraction of the bellows.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,861,708 teaches the use of uni-directional expanding and contracting air bellows or air springs to lower and raise an axle in the context of a lift axle suspension system. This patent teaches the advantage of avoiding an accordion effect by locating the center of gravity of the element to be moved as close to the longitudinal axis of the air bellows as possible. However, the uni-directional expanding air springs of this patent are not used in conjunction with a twin beam parallelogram type lift axle suspension.
It is apparent from the above that there exists a need in the art for a better means for lifting the axles in parallelogram type axle suspensions that would reduce costs and weight, provide for a bi-directional expansion and contraction of the bellows, reduce the relative sizes of the lower control arms and air bellows, increase lift capabilities, and reduce maintenance. It is also apparent that there exists a further need in the art to provide a simpler caster angle adjustment mechanism and a more efficient shock absorber installation means that would be more cost effective, durable, and provide for decreased maintenance requirements.

Parallelogram lift axle suspension system with a control for axle caster adjustment


A volumetric display apparatus is disclosed which includes, one or more movable generator means to receive a multitude of light sources, wherein said light sources have a non-linear spatial distribution and are independently accessed for unequal access durations, in which said light sources have multiple-element structure with independent direction and intensity control, in which light blocking means controls a direction and intensity of light beams generated by light sources, and a method employing a psudo-uniform volumetric image space in which volumetric image elements have a sane size.

1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure refers to an apparatus and method for reconstruction and displaying of volumetric images in a volumetric space, wherein the voxels created have a multi-directional spatial distribution of light components and images reconstructed have a real depth-of-field characteristic.
2. Prior Art
In recent years there have been several approaches in displaying volumetric images in a three-dimensional space without a need for auxiliary viewing accessories. In one such approach, described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,160,913, a two-dimensional visual display rotates around a central axis to scan a volumetric space. However, the light-emitting diodes residing in a same longitudinal axial plane create a dark area in a center region of a volumetric image. Furthermore, the volumetric image elements which are created have a principal optical axis orthogonal on the plane of the moving visual display, yielding low performance in a center region of the volumetric image from the foreground to the background. The spatial resolution is lower at the extremities of the volumetric space.
In another approach, described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,183,088, a multi-faceted spinning mirror reflects light beams from a linear array of laser diodes into a spinning projection screen. However, a dark area is formed in a center region of the volumetric image and the performance of the display is low in a center region of the foreground of the volumetric image.
In another approach, described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,012,545, a video image generated by a rotating video apparatus is reflected through mirrors to a rotating rear-projection screen. Similar to other projection systems, a dark area is formed in a center region of the volumetric image and the image performance is low in a center region of the foreground of the volumetric image. A volume of the volumetric space is quite limited.
In another approach, described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,954,414, a moving optical-mechanical system projects a series of two-dimensional images on a moving screen. However, calibrating and synchronizing the two moving systems seem quite difficult. The depth resolution depends on the video rate of the video system. If vario-focal optics is used, then the brightness of the image could vary.
In another approach, described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,072,545, an image projector projects a series of images into a multi-surface optical device to generate a first volumetric image. However, the depth resolution depends on the video rate of the projector and on the transparency of the optical elements. If focusing optics is used, then the magnification of the image could vary from background to foreground.

Apparatus and method for volumetric image reconstruction of volumetric images


A distributed VoIP system includes a network and a first switch at a first site coupled to the network. The first switch is configured to provide telephony services to a first communication device. The system also includes a second switch at a second site coupled to the network. The second switch is configured to provide telephony services to a second communication device. The system also includes a spare switch coupled to the network. The spare switch is configured to provide telephony services to the first communication device if the first communication device is unable to register with the first switch, and the spare switch is configured to provide telephony services to the second communication device if the second communication device is unable to register with the second switch.

The present invention relates in general to Voice over-Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology, and more particularly, to systems and methods of utilizing a spare telephony switch to provide services in a distributed VoIP system.
Distributed VoIP systems comprise a set of switches and servers distributed across multiple sites. Distributed VoIP systems offer applications enabled by the integration of computer systems with telephony services. The software that supports the computer-integrated functionality is often implemented as a client-server environment in which the participants or clients (distributed telephony users) communicate with a server. Computer-integrated features rely not only on a server's application platform, but also on the availability of the network, switches, servers, and application services.
Availability is important for VoIP systems. Availability is often used to compare VoIP systems to traditional phone service provided over the public switched telephone network (PSTN). To achieve required levels of availability, many VoIP systems have redundancies configured into the system that can be used in the event of a failure in the system. As an example, a conventional distributed VoIP system may be configured to have enough extra capacity on the switches at each site to support a switch failure. If a switch fails, the endpoints on the failed switch can be re-distributed to available switches at the same site. This redundancy cannot be shared with other sites, however, because each site has different configuration requirements. Thus, to achieve required levels of availability, redundant capacity is needed for each site.
The cost of providing such redundancy can be prohibitive. For example, an "N+1" level of redundancy requires sufficient extra capacity at each site to support the failure of any single switch. Availability can be improved by adding second, third, or fourth level redundancy. However, increasing redundancy by adding additional switches at each site is costly in a distributed VoIP system.
Thus, there is a need for improved systems and methods of providing redundancy in a distributed VoIP system.

Systems and methods for utilizing a spare switch in a distributed VOIP system


An improved needle valve having a protective cap. The valve is of the type having an adjustable needle valve held in a housing connected to an air line. The needle valve meters air flow into a line and the improved valve has a cap with slits in the side thereof. The cap is oriented so that the slits face downwardly and, thus, any water or debris falling on the valve is conducted away from the air inlet portion of the valve. The valve is mounted so that it may be rotated 360 degrees about its point of mounting.

The field of the invention is protective devices and the invention relates more particularly to shields and other covers for preventing water and other debris from fouling a device.
One type of remotely controlled valve operates by evacuating a measured volume of air through an air control line from a valve and then metering the air back into the line through a needle valve. The time required to meter in the entire evacuated volume of air is related to the time which the control device is preset. Although such devices work for long periods of time unattended in a clean environment, they are, unfortunately, easily caused to malfunction if the needle valve inlet is obstructed by water, dust or other foreign objects. The typical approach of providing a filter around the exterior of the valve has proved unsuccessful for preventing the intake of water falling from water leaks or condensation since the filter, over a relatively short period of time, can become soaked with water and clogged with debris. Furthermore, the cost of such filters is higher than desired.

Rotating cap, screen and mounting means for protecting air metering valve


A system and method of coordination of aerial vehicles through a central server are disclosed. In one embodiment, a system includes a central server and an Internet protocol network. A first aerial vehicle is communicatively coupled with the central server through the Internet protocol network and a second aerial vehicle is communicatively coupled with the first aerial vehicle when a command is transferred through the central server using the Internet protocol network. A first computing device of a first user of the first aerial vehicle operatively controls the first aerial vehicle and a second computing device of a second user of the second aerial vehicle operatively controls the second aerial vehicle. At least one of the first computing device of the first user and the second computing device of the second user communicate the command to the first aerial vehicle through the central server.

Aerial vehicles may be limited in what they are able to accomplish independently. It may be difficult and/or impractical to operate multiple independent aerial vehicles in the same air space and/or to attempt to have independent aerial vehicles accomplish a single task. As a result, the application of aerial vehicles may be limited and/or opportunities for advancement and/or gain may be foregone.

Coordination of aerial vehicles through a central server


Dialkyl carbonates can be prepared in a continuous manner by transesterification of ethylene carbonate or propylene carbonate with alcohols in the presence of a catalyst in a column equipped with packing or baffles, by passing the reactants in countercurrent such that the ethylene carbonate or propylene carbonate are metered into the upper part of the column and the alcohol is metered into the lower part of the column and the catalyst is arranged as a fixed bed in the column or is also metered into the upper part of the column in solution or suspension, the dialkyl carbonate formed, if appropriate as a mixture with alcohol, being removed at the top of the column and the ethylene glycol or propylene glycol formed from the ethylene carbonate or propylene carbonate being removed at the foot of the column, if appropriate together with the catalyst.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a continuous process for the preparation of dialkyl carbonates by transesterification of ethylene carbonate or propylene carbonate with C.sub.1 -C.sub.4 -alcohols in the presence of a catalyst, the starting substances being passed in countercurrent to one another.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is know that ethylene glycol carbonate and propylene glycol carbonate (glycol carbonates) can be reacted with alcohols in the presence of catalysts to give dialkyl carbonates and ethylene glycol (EG) or propylene glycol. Although these reactions can proceed with a high selectivity, the processes have a number of disadvantages in their procedure. As a rule, the transesterification proceeds relatively slowly under normal pressure, so that the use of elevated temperature, often above the boiling point of the alcohol employed, is recommended, which results in the process being carried out in pressure vessels (German Offenlegungsschrift 2 740 243=EP 1082; and German Offenlegungsschrift 2 740 251=EP 1083).
In this process, the reaction usually proceeds only until equilibrium is established in the transesterification reaction. After removal from the pressure container, the reaction mixture must be removed from the catalyst very quickly, for example by flash distillation, so that the starting compounds are not reformed in a reversal of the formation reaction, for example when the alcohol of low boiling point distils off. During removal from the catalyst by distillation, the glycol carbonate still in equilibrium an decompose into carbon dioxide and into polyglycols and is therefore unavailable for further transesterification, the yield being reduced, and all the by-products mentioned interfere with the working up.
However, even if this removal of the catalyst is effected satisfactorily, further distillations must still be carried out. Thus, it is first necessary to separate high-boiling components (glycols and glycol carbonates) from the low-boiling components (alcohols and dialkyl carbonates). However, distillative purification of ethylene glycol, which must have a high purity for example for the preparation of polyesters, to remove incompletely reacted ethylene glycol carbonate, which in turn is preferably employed for the preparation of dialkyl carbonates, is not possible without restriction since both compounds form an azeotrope. A similar difficulty is found when methanol, which is the preferred alcoholic component, has to be separated off from the dimethyl carbonate (DMC) formed. These compounds also form an azeotrope, which can be distilled into its separate components only in a cumbersome manner (EP 894 and literature cited therein).

Process for the continuous preparation of dialkyl carbonates


A peristaltic infusion pump is disclosed herein and includes a continuous tubular arrangement adapted to pass intravenous fluids therethrough and a peristaltic pump head mounted for rotation about a fixed axis. This pump head includes a plurality of innerconnected, circumferentially spaced tube engaging members adapted to successively engage the tubular arrangement during rotation for peristaltically pumping fluid therethrough. In a preferred embodiment, the pump includes a stepping motor which is energized in a particular way for rotating the pump head and which is also used to sense occlusion in the tubular arrangement. This preferred pump also includes a particular arrangement for detecting the index of refraction of the intravenous fluid for detecting the presence of air bubbles or the like.

The present invention relates generally to infusion pumps for administering intravenous fluids and more particularly to specific features of a peristaltic infusion pump.
At the outset, reference is made to co-pending United States Patent application Ser. No. 868,525 entitled PERISTALTIC INFUSION PUMP AND DISPOSABLE CASSETTE FOR USE THEREWITH, filed on Jan. 11, 1978 now U.S. Pat. No. 4,187,057 and assigned to the assignee of the present application. This co-pending application discloses a specific type of peristaltic infusion pump comprising a disposable cassette and pump arrangement. The cassette includes a continuous tubular arrangement adapted to pass intravenous liquids therethrough and a cassette body for fixedly supporting a predetermined tubular section of the tubular arrangement in an exposed and readily accessible position. The pump arrangement includes structure for supporting the disposable cassette for movement between a first inoperative position and a second, spaced apart operative position and a pump head cooperating with the exposed and readily accessible section of the tubular arrangement when the cassette is in its operative position for peristaltically pumping fluid through the tubular arrangement.
In addition to the features just recited, the peristaltic pump described in this co-pending application includes a conventinal electrically energized motor for driving the pump head and it may include conventional means for sensing occlusion in the tubular arrangement during operation of the pump and conventional means sensing the index of refraction of the intravenous fluid as it passes through the tubular arrangement for detecting the presence of air bubbles or the like. As will be seen hereinafter, the present invention is directed to a peristaltic infusion pump utilizing a particular drive motor including an unconventional way to energize this motor, and unconventional approaches to detecting the presence of occlusions within the tubular arrangement and changes in the index of refraction of the intravenous fluid passing through this arrangement.