An apertured plate support mechanism used in an electron beam lithography machine. The apertured plate is held to a plate holder. The plate support mechanism has the plate holder for holding the apertured plate and a holder support for supporting the plate holder. The apertured plate is provided with an aperture through which a beam of charged particles passes. Grooves extending radially in plural directions about the center axis of the aperture are formed in the supported surface of the plate holder or the supporting surface of the holder support. Convex portions engaged in the grooves are formed on the other of the supported or supporting surfaces.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apertured plate support mechanism used in a charged-particle beam instrument, such as an electron-beam lithography machine, and also to a charged-particle beam instrument equipped with the support mechanism.
2. Description of Related Art
A variable-area electron beam lithographic machine is known as a charged-particle beam instrument for writing a desired pattern on a substrate, such as a semiconductor wafer or mask substrate (reticle), by irradiating the substrate with a charged-particle beam.
In such an electron-beam lithography machine, an electron beam is emitted and accelerated from an electron beam source consisting of an electron gun. The beam is passed through an aperture formed in an apertured plate so that the cross section of the beam is shaped. The beam shaped in this way is made to hit a specified position to be written on the substrate for a desired time under control of an illumination system having an objective lens and a deflector. Lithographic delineation on the substrate using the electron beam is carried out by repeating the irradiation by the shaped beam with different specified positions.
Usually, there are fitted two apertured plates, each having an aperture for shaping the cross section of an electron beam. A deflector is disposed between the two apertured plates. The shaped beam passed through the aperture in the first plate is made to hit the second plate having the aperture that is offset from the aperture in the first plate. In consequence, the cross section of the beam passed through the aperture in the second stage is shaped into a desired form.
FIG. 1 schematically shows a mechanism for supporting such an apertured plate. In this figure, the support mechanism is generally indicated by numeral 51. This mechanism 51 has a plate holder 51a for holding the apertured plate and a holder support 51b for supporting the holder 51a.
The plate holder 51a has a holder body 59 and a cap portion 60. The apertured plate is held to the plate holder 51a while sandwiched between the holder body 59 and cap portion 60. A protruding portion 61 for engagement is fixed to the holder body 59. When the apertured plate held to the plate holder 51a is replaced, a holder pullout (not shown) is brought into engagement with the protruding portion 61 of the plate holder 51a to move the plate holder 51a.
The holder support 51b has a rectangular upper plate 52, a U-shaped pedestal 58, and a connector portion 57 for connecting the upper plate 52 and pedestal 58. The plate holder 51a is accommodated in the space between the upper plate 52 and pedestal 58 and supported on the upper surface (supporting surface) 58a of the pedestal 58. At this time, the lower supported surface 59c of the peripheral portion of the holder body 59 of the plate holder 51a is in contact with the upper surface 58a of the pedestal 58.
A recess 59b is formed in the side surface of the holder body 59 of the plate holder 51a . A positioning pin 56 mounted between the upper plate 52 and pedestal 58 is fitted in the recess 59b, thus placing the plate holder 51a in position.
A U-shaped leaf spring 54 is mounted to the lower surface 52b of the upper plate 52 of the holder support 51b via a holding portion 53. A roller 55 is mounted at the front end 54a of the leaf spring 54. The bottom of the roller 55 is in contact with the upper surface 59d of the holder body 59 in the plate holder 51a. Resilient force of the leaf spring 54 holds the plate holder 51a against the pedestal 58, the spring 54 being mounted to the upper plate 52.
An aperture 52a is formed in the upper plate 52 of the holder support 51b. Also, apertures 59a and 60a are formed in the holder body 59 and cap portion 60, respectively, in the plate holder 51a. The apertures 52a, 59a, and 60a are so positioned that their centers are coaxial. An electron beam 100 emitted from an electron beam source (not shown) passes through the apertures 52a, 59a, and 60a.
The apertured plate is held between the holder body 59 and cap portion 60 in the plate holder 51a. The center of the aperture in the plate is made coaxial with the centers of the apertures 52a, 59a, and 60a. When the beam 100 passes through the apertures 59a and 60a formed in the holder body 59 of the plate holder 51a and cap portion 60, the cross-sectional shape of the beam 100 is shaped.
FIG. 2 is a plan view showing main portions of the support mechanism 51 for supporting an apertured plate 62 which is provided with an aperture 62a. The apertured plate 62 is disposed under the holder body 59. The apertured plate 62 is held between the holder body 59 and cap portion 60 and fixed, to the holder body 59. As described previously, the center of the aperture 62a formed in the apertured plate 62 and the center of the aperture 59a formed in the holder body 59 are coaxial.
The position of the plate holder 51a within a plane is determined by contact of two contact surfaces 58b, 58c of the pedestal 58 with the side surface 60b of the cap portion 60 forming the plate holder 51a.
In another known structure, such an apertured plate is supported by support pins. Thus, the apertured plate is supported to an apertured plate support mechanism (see Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-284391, for example).
In the plate support mechanism 51 constructed as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the electron beam 100 may hit the plate holder 51a. This thermally expands the cap portion 60 forming the plate holder 51a.
When the cap portion 60 forming the plate holder 51a thermally expands in this way, the apertured plate 62 moves away from the contact surfaces 58b and 58c of the pedestal 58. As a result, the aperture 62a formed in the apertured plate 62 moves away from the contact surfaces 58b and 58c.
If the aperture 62a formed in the apertured plate 62 moves unnecessarily in this way, shaping of the cross section of the electron beam 100 passing through the aperture 62a is affected. Furthermore, the amount of current supplied from the electron beam 100 to the substrate and the writing position are varied.
In the technique described in the above-cited Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-284391, four support pins are disposed rotationally symmetrically with respect to the center of the apertured plate. The support pins act to support the apertured plate, each with a point contact with the plate. It is said that if the apertured plate holder thermally expands, the resultant displacement of the plate holder can be absorbed by slippage of the point contact portions.
It is considered that in this structure, too, movement of the apertured plate and the aperture formed in it due to thermal expansion of the plate holder can be prevented to some extent. Since displacement of the plate holder is absorbed by slippage of the point contact portions, it is difficult to control the slippage reliably. It is difficult to certainly prevent movement of the apertured plate and aperture. In addition, it is difficult to restrict rotation of the apertured plate within a plane.

Apertured plate support mechanism and charged-particle beam instrument equipped therewith


A flexible circuit board (15) has one end portion (15a) soldered to a connection terminal row of a side surface (13e) of an ink-jet recording head (13), and extends upwardly from the ink jet recording head (13). The flexible circuit board (15) is bent at a midpoint at substantially right angles in the longitudinal direction of the flexible circuit board (15) to form a crease portion (15c). A forward end of the board (15) extends leftward, and is then folded back by 180 degrees to form a crease portion (15d). The forward end thereof extends rightward, and the forward end portion (15b) is soldered to a terminal row disposed on the back side of a COB substrate (24). A sheet-like double-faced tape having a drum-like cut-out shape is affixed to the crease portion (15c) in advance. When the flexible circuit board is folded along a crease line, the base material of the flexible printed wiring board at the cut-out part is adhered to the doubled-faced tape.

One of well-known recording apparatus for recording on a recording medium such as paper is an ink jet printer. In an ink jet printer, a recording head unit having a recording head is mounted on a carriage, which is reciprocated parallel to a platen for feeding the recording medium for recording. FIG. 22 shows an example of the recording head unit for an ink jet printer. In this example, one end portion 302a of a flexible circuit board 302 is soldered to the right-hand side surface of a recording head 300. One end portion 303a of a flexible circuit board 303 is soldered to the left-hand side surface of the recording head 300. The other end portion 302b of the flexible circuit board 302 is soldered to an end portion of the back surface of a drive circuit board 304 for generating a signal for driving the recording head 300.
In this case, the flexible circuit board 302 and the flexible circuit board 303 are symmetrically arranged, so that two different types of flexible circuit boards are necessary to be prepared, which results in increasing the number of parts. An attempt to solve this problem is to bend an unbent, straight flexible circuit board in a direction substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal direction thereof, bend another flexible circuit board of the same configuration in a direction opposite to the above-mentioned direction perpendicularly to the longitudinal direction thereof, and solder these flexible circuit boards respectively to the right-hand and left-hand side surfaces of the recording head 300. The above attempt succeeded reducing the number of parts. In this regard, the crease portions may be secured in position by tapes to prevent the crease portions from being separated.
However, the above technique rises a problem in that it takes time to bend the flexible circuit boards in directions perpendicular to the longitudinal direction thereof and to secure the crease portions in position by tapes. Further, since the outer side of the fold imparted to the circuit board is taped, the fold is subject to rising.
Furthermore, continuity of the flexible circuit board to the recording head is examined after soldering one end portion of the flexible circuit board to the recording head and the other end portion thereof to the drive circuit board. Only the recording heads which have proved the continuity pass through the examination. If a recording head turns out to be defective, that recording head is to be disposed of along with the flexible circuit board and the drive circuit board, which results in wasting the expensive drive circuit board.
In view of this, it is an object of the present invention to provide a flexible circuit board by which two different types of the flexible circuit board can be formed.
Another object of the invention is to provide a recording head unit having the above flexible circuit board and a recording apparatus including the recording head.
Further object of the present invention is to provide a recording head unit and a method of manufacturing the same which minimize waste of the drive circuit board.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a flexible circuit board, a recording head unit provided with the flexible circuit board, and a recording apparatus which require no post-taping of the crease portion of the flexible circuit board.

Recording head unit, method of manufacturing the same, and recording apparatus using the unit


A casing for a battery charger has an internal volume for accommodating the charging and control components of a charger and a front panel including a plurality of openings for accommodating a display and control switches. Connected to a side of the casing, there is provided a battery fitting which includes a guide member fixed to the casing and a carriage which can slide reciprocally in the guide member. A battery is placed on the same table top as the charger and engages the fitting for mechanical and electrical coupling to the charger. The sliding nature of the fitting can accommodate different size batteries. Furthermore, as the charger does not support the battery, the charger can be made smaller and lighter.

The present invention relates to a battery charger, in particular of a type in which a battery to be charged is coupled to the charger itself during charging.
Known chargers of this type include one or more fittings to secure a battery to the charger with the electrical terminals of the battery in contact with corresponding terminals of the charger. The fittings ensure that the battery cannot move, which could result in loss of electrical contact. The batteries are typically heavy, so it is known to provide the fittings in a position which allows the batteries to rest on the same surface (such as a table top) as the charger itself.
A problem with such a charger is that batteries, even of the same type, vary in size in dependence upon numerous factors including battery capacity and manufacturer. In order to accommodate for such differences in battery size, chargers are either provided for specific batteries, which makes the charger less attractive commercially, or are provided with fittings in different positions on the casing.
An alternative solution has been to provide the fittings on a top surface of the charger such that the batteries rest on the charger itself. However, this does not normally provide as good an electrical and mechanical connection and can cause instability of the charger because of the weight of the batteries (particularly if not provided symmetrically on the charger top), which needs to be mitigated against in practice by making the charger heavy. A heavy charger is not only more expensive to produce and supply but is also less portable.
The present invention seeks to provide an improved battery charger.
According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a battery charger including a casing locatable on a support surface, a charging module within the casing and at least one battery fitting on the exterior of the casing to which a battery can be fitted, the fitting providing electrical coupling between a battery and the charging module, wherein the at least one battery fitting is movable relative to the casing such that a battery coupled thereto is placeable on the same support surface as the casing.
Preferably, the fitting is movable from a battery non-engaging to a battery engaging position. This feature can allow the movable fitting to accommodate any size differences in batteries.
In the preferred embodiment, a battery can be placed on the same surface as the charger and the battery fitting moved to the battery itself until electrical coupling therewith is established. Thus, the charger need not support the battery or batteries to be charged thereby, avoiding the need to make the charger sufficiently heavy to give adequate support. As the batteries are typically heavy because of their electrical capacities, this can be a significant advantage.
Advantageously, the fitting is provided in a carriage reciprocally slideable within a guide on the casing.
The fitting is preferably designed such that it can provide charging current in most of and most preferably all or substantially all of its positions.
The charger may be provided with a plurality of such fittings, for example four, all being movable.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a battery charger casing including at least one battery fitting on the exterior of the casing to which a battery can be fitted, the fitting providing electrical coupling between a battery and the charging module, wherein the or at least one battery fitting is movable between upper and lower positions for allowing a battery coupled thereto to rest on a same support surface as the casing.

Battery charger with movable battery fitting


The present invention relates to methods, apparatuses, and systems for treating water. The methods, apparatuses and systems reduce scaling associated with solubilized water hardness using a sequence of water treatment agents, including a first threshold agent shedding weak cation exchange resin and a second magnesium compound conversion agent water treatment. The system or apparatus and methods according to the invention provide synergistic reduction of hard water scaling and elimination of cementing on the insoluble magnesium compound.

Water hardness has numerous deleterious effects in various systems. For example, when hard water alone, or in conjunction with cleaning compositions, contacts a surface, it can cause precipitation of hard water scale on the contacted surface. Hard water is also known to reduce the efficacy of detergents. In general, hard water refers to water having a total level of calcium and magnesium ions in excess of about 100 ppm expressed in units of ppm calcium carbonate. Often, the molar ratio of calcium to magnesium in hard water is about 2:1 or about 3:1. Although most locations have hard water, water hardness tends to vary from one location to another.
Water hardness has been addressed in a number of ways. Most cleaning products contain one or more ingredients whose presence is intended to offset the effects of hard water. Examples include phosphorus-containing and especially phosphate-containing acids (or more commonly salts thereof, including sodium or potassium salts) such as sodium tripolyphosphate (STPP) and sodium etidronate. Other such ingredients include threshold agents, such as aminocarboxylates (for example, ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA), diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid (DTPA), nitrilotriacetic acid (NTA) and their salts) and polycarboxylates (for example, polyacrylates, polymethacrylates and olefin/maleic acid copolymers). However, there may be difficulties in including such ingredients in cleaning products, as several of these ingredients have been banned in various states or subjected to regulatory amount limitations due to environmental concerns (e.g., eutrophication and biodegradability) or other factors, and some are very costly.
Another method currently used to soften water is via ion exchange, e.g., by adding sodium to the water to exchange the calcium and magnesium ions in the water with sodium associated with a resin bed (or the like) in a water softening unit. The calcium and magnesium adhere to a resin in the softener. When the resin becomes saturated it is necessary to regenerate it using large amounts of sodium chloride dissolved in water. The sodium displaces the calcium and magnesium, which is flushed out in a briny solution along with the chloride from the added sodium chloride. When water softeners regenerate they produce a waste stream that contains significant amounts of chloride, creating a burden on the system, e.g., sewer system, in which they are disposed of, including a multitude of downstream water re-use applications like potable water usages and agriculture.
The use of an insoluble magnesium compound, such as a magnesium oxide bed, is used to prevent or reduce scaling (e.g. hard water scaling, silica scaling). Use of magnesium is believed to cause calcium carbonate in hard water to crystallize into a non-scaling form rather than crystals of calcite causing hard water scale is a further method. However, certain performance difficulties often impede its ability to control water hardness. In some instances, the magnesium oxide bed is limited by its slow "cementing." "Cementing" is a phenomenon in which the discrete particles of magnesium oxide become tightly bound together, such as through the bridging of the magnesium oxide granules by calcium carbonate. This reduces the efficiency of the magnesium oxide, creating a non-fluidizable bed that is no longer free-flowing. The cementing effect makes it very difficult to remove the granules from the bed, cartridge or other types of containers, causing deleterious effects to the system for treating hard water as it eventually forms into an intractable block during the course of use and limiting commercial viability.
A further method of counteracting water hardness is to use chelating agents or sequestrants which are intended to be mixed with hard water in an amount sufficient to handle the hardness. However, in many instances the water hardness exceeds the capacity of the chelant or threshold agent added to the composition.
In yet a further method of counteracting water hardness, a cation exchange resin with a divalent ion exchange capacity fully exhausted can be used to form and shed a threshold agent in situ into a system. However control over the quantity of threshold agent shed can be difficult.
Accordingly, it is an objective of the claimed invention to develop a method for reducing hard water scaling superior to the use of water treatment systems using exhausted cation exchange resins or magnesium oxide beds, cartridges or other types of containers alone. A further object of the invention is a system for eliminating hard water scaling for use in various cleaning applications.
A further object of the invention is a system and methods for eliminating the cementing of magnesium oxide beds, cartridges or other types of containers.

Synergistic interaction of weak cation exchange resin and magnesium oxide


A hidden marine windshield mounting system and method, utilizing a cooperative pair of elongated base members, longitudinally extending around the front of and fastened to a marine vessel deck. The two elongated base members cooperatively interlock with one another to form a single windshield mounting base unit, having a substantially vertically erect windshield receiving area for adhesion of most usually, curved windshield tempered glass. Mounted onto the top of the curved windshield glass is an elongated trim member, which may come into contact at its ends, with the ends of the base member pair. The base member pair can be forcibly separable from one another after stretch forming for assembly, installation and for glass replacement.

Mounting, trimming or finishing the edges of marine windshields has become more complex over the years as the windshield shapes have progressed from simple rectangular panes to complexly curved and obliquely oriented windshields, some of which are segmented to allow access to a forward seating area.
The most common approach currently in use is to employ a metal extrusion which is stretch formed on a die set to the curved shape of the edge of the windshield glass to be mounted. Usually the mounting and edge trimming extrusions are formed from aluminum and often have a windshield receiving longitudinally extending channel. A gasket, such as a vinyl or thermoplastic gasket, is mounted between the windshield channel in the extrusion and the glass so as to seal and cushion the windshield edge assembly.
Typical marine windshield mounting extrusions that extend along the bottom edge of the windshield for mounting the windshield to the deck are the following patented mounting assemblies, as are set forth in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,800,160; 6,647,914; 5,601,050; 5,269,250; 4,815,410; 4,750,449; 3,810,267; 3,654,648; 3,021,535 and 3,016,548.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a windshield mounting system and method of manufacturing and attaching the same, which is well suited for use as a mounting assembly for curved boat windshields.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a windshield mounting system in which can be interconnected together during stretch forming of the windshield mounting system into a curved configuration and separable for suitable assembly and mounting on a marine vessel deck.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a windshield mounting system having improved aesthetic value.
A further object is to provide a windshield mounting system where mounting by boat manufactures is made easier.
Still a further object of the present invention is to provide a windshield mounting assembly that can be adjustable, fore or aft as may be required after the marine vessel has been in service for a period.
The hidden marine windshield mounting system and method of the present invention has other objects and features of advantage which will become apparent from and are set forth in more detail in, the accompanying drawings and following details.

Hidden marine windshield mounting system and method


Disclosed is a vaccine which has a high therapeutic effect on mycoplasma infection and is highly safe. For the purpose of developing effective therapeutic methods for mycoplasma infection, mycoplasma-mimic particles which are effective as a vaccine for mycoplasma infection are provided, and also provided are bacterium-mimic particles including common bacteria. Bacterium-mimic particles such as mycoplasma-mimic particles can be provided by producing liposome particles in which a lipid antigen specific to a pathogenic bacterium such as mycoplasma is contained as a liposome-constituting lipid component. The administration of the mycoplasma-mimic particles enables the induction of a potent immunological activity in living bodies. The mycoplasma-mimic particles can be used as an excellent vaccine for the prevention or treatment of mycoplasma infection.

Mycoplasma is known to infect animals such as human, domestic animals, and pets, and to cause various diseases. Particularly, in human, mycoplasma is believed to be strongly associated with not only pneumonia, but also respiratory diseases caused by chronic or repetitive mycoplasma infection such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), rheumatic diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis (Non-patent Document 1), and neural diseases such as multiple sclerosis, and currently most potential candidate as a causative microorganism for these chronic diseases called intractable diseases (FIG. 1, and Non-patent Documents 31 and 32).
Cases of Mycoplasma infection that stemmed from cold symptoms such as fever, cough, and pneumonia, and developed into asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), multiple sclerosis, or a rheumatic disease are known. At the time, it is known that reactivation or exacerbation of the symptoms repeats and transfers gradually to a chronic disease, and thus along with early diagnosis and early treatment, prevention or treatment of exacerbation (gradual aggravation of the symptoms) or reactivation (aggravation of the symptoms again after the symptoms become less severe once) are especially important.
However, with a conventional examination method, it was difficult to grasp diagnosis of mycoplasma infection or progression of treatment for mycoplasma infection. Thus, details for the diagnosis of mycoplasma infection or the progression of treatment for mycoplasma infection are not clarified, and therefore, the present situation is that there are many patients who receive no appropriate prevention or treatment. A diagnosis method for mycoplasma infection that is most widely used currently is a serum diagnosis method. However, the conventional diagnosis method is an antibody assay method by culturing Mycoplasma pneumoniae in a large amount, and using a crude extract from a fungus body thereof, and thus has problems in specificity, detection sensitivity, and quantitative property, and has difficulty in early diagnosis of mycoplasma infection.
The present inventors focused attention on a lipid antigen on the surface of various bacteria belonging to a mycoplasma genus, and discovered multiple kinds of lipid antigens specific to respective bacterium from the past. The present inventors succeeded in separation, purification, and structure-determination of these specific lipid antigens, and also succeeded in chemical synthesis for some of the lipid antigens (Patent Documents 1 to 8).
Diagnostic products using these specific lipid antigens for mycoplasma infection have high specificity and sensitivity in comparison with existing diagnostic products, and lead to establishment of a quantitative measurement method for the change of the antibody titer, and it can be said that early diagnosis for mycoplasma infection, which has been a problem so far, can be tentatively resolved.
However, a therapeutic agent for mycoplasma infection that is in practical use as a therapeutic agent that can be currently most expected for the treating effects, is some antibiotics such as macrolide-based, or newquinolone-based, or tetracycline-based antibiotics, but such antibiotics have great adverse effects, and also have big problems such as advent of drug-resistant strains, which leads the mycoplasma infection to become severe while sufficient treating effects are not expected, and becomes a cause for transfer to a chronic disease.
On the other hand, a vaccine therapy for mycoplasma is not developed for human. The reasons therefor are that a live vaccine, an attenuated vaccine, and the like have problems in safety and are difficult to practically use, and a killed vaccine or the like has a problem of an allergic reaction by contamination of a horse serum in a culture fluid, and the like. In addition, an example of the reason is that identification of efficacious, specific antigen protein is not possible yet even with progress of peptide or DNA analysis in order to specify a specific antigen protein that leads to vaccine induction. As for a vaccine for domestic animals such as a pig or a cow, live vaccines, attenuated vaccines, or the like, conventionally used are under further improvements (Patent Documents 9 to 12). A vaccine using a protein antigen was also developed (Patent Documents 13 to 15). Recently, a vaccine that was targeted to an enzyme that was associated with tissue damage by mycoplasma infection, was developed (Patent Document 16). However, all of these vaccines only have effects of suppressing pneumonia, or effects of suppressing inflammation, and cannot be said to be a vaccine having small toxicity and being effective even as a vaccine for domestic animals.
As described above, an effective prevention or treatment method for mycoplasma infection was rarely found conventionally, and thus there is an urgent need for development of an effective preventive or therapeutic agent for mycoplasma infection, particularly, a vaccine for mycoplasma infection.
In the meantime, it is known that in production of a vaccine in various pathogenic virus, target's pathogenic virus-mimic particles are prepared, and immunization is conducted using the virus-mimic particles whereby to obtain high immune response. In addition, development of a vaccine preparation having high activity and high safety using the virus-mimic particles is also in progress (Non-patent Document 2). A vaccine incorporated into a liposome and the like in an antigen peptide of virus are also in a direction to practical use (Non-patent Document 3).
A virus self-duplicates a structure protein, an enzyme, and the like using a cell mechanism, coats a membrane of the cell, and goes out of the cell and grows. Consequently, a virus has no lipid antigen in a cell membrane, and most of vaccines are from a virus particle or a protein antigen. A virus has extremely small size, and also has small structural components on the surface, and thus it is relatively simple to imitate virus particles, i.e., provide virus-mimic particles that are mistaken as invasion of virus itself by the immune system of an organism.
On the other hand, bacteria including mycoplasma can self-duplicate by DNA, and produces basically unique structural components of a lipid membrane, and thus the membrane lipid component is specific to a respective bacterium, and complicated. Consequently, it is difficult to analyze structural components of a cell membrane or membrane lipids, and in further consideration of a wide variety of cell components, membrane proteins, and the like, it is difficult to conceive of mimicking mycoplasma itself simply with only one component among them, and thus the concept of mycoplasma-mimic particles or bacterium-mimic particles was not familiar. Usually, it is unclear which component among these many components remains as essential, and how to provide mycoplasma-mimic particles using a particle preparation technique, and it is unclear whether such mycoplasma-mimic particles cause immune response enough for mycoplasma infection and mistaking of the biological immune system.

NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF INFECTIOUS DISEASES


A contamination-resistant sensor element and methods for making the same are provided. A sensor element may include a contamination-resistant coating on at least a portion thereof. The coating may comprise gamma-delta alumina and lithium oxide and may have a thickness of about 100 to about 600 microns and a porosity of about 20 to about 70 percent. The method may include using gamma-delta alumina and lithium oxide to form a mixture, applying the mixture to at least a portion of a sensor element, and temperature treated the mixture to form a contamination-resistant coating on the surface of the measuring cell.

A wide variety of gas sensors and gas sensor elements are used to measure different gases. More particularly, a sensor element of an exhaust gas sensor may be used in automotive applications to measure different gases (e.g., oxygen) in the exhaust gas.
Over time, however, different components in the exhaust gases tend to contaminate different parts of the gas sensor. More specifically, components such as lead, phosphorus, silicon, manganese, zinc, calcium, phosphates, oil ashes, rusts, metal oxides and other elements in the exhaust gas may tend to contaminate the electrode. More particularly, an outer electrode of the sensing element may be contaminated, and the porosity of the protective layer system may also be clogged, eventually affecting the functioning of the sensor and sometimes rendering the sensor or sensor element inoperable. Acidic exhaust components such as PxOy and SOx, wherein x and y are positive whole numbers, may also contaminate the sensor element, as well as reactive catalyst poisons such as lead, silicon and bismuth compounds. As a result, protective coatings are continually being sought in order to inhibit and/or prevent contamination of sensor elements and gas sensors.

Contamination-resistant gas sensor element


A device, whose purpose is such internal shielding of a vascular anastomosis that undesirable perivascular vibration is avoided, is created from a stiff or possibly moderately elastic, non-resorbable, biologically inert, non-moistenable and sterilizable material. The shield has the form of an incomplete tube (4), whose length is at least five times larger than the diameter of the targeted vessel or substitute. This incomplete tube (4) in the third and fourth fifths of its length (counting counter to the course of blood flow) is provided with an orifice (5) having a width of at least one quarter of the circumference of the tube. From the apical end of the orifice (5) and/or from the rear end of the said orifice (5) projects a gradually tapered tongue-shaped structure (6, 10) which is moderately bow-curved externally. The margin (8) of the orifice (5) and all margins of the device are blunt, and the whole internal surface of the device is highly polished.

The internal shield of an anastomosis in accordance with the invention solves the problem of the origin of so-called intimo-medial hyperplasia, which quite often develops in an anastomosis in a vascular system, particularly in the case of vascular reconstructions of smaller caliber, and leads to a resulting occlusion of the reconstruction.
The anastomosis in the vascular system is basically an artificially created connection either of actual vessels or of an actual vessel and a biological or artificial arterial substitute vessel, and most commonly is executed by suturing with the use of a special suturing material. Such anastomosis can be created in any part of the vascular system regardless of its caliber. In most cases, the connection from end to side is desirable or preferred.
In the case of anastomoses in small caliber areas, which generally means diameters up to 6 mm (for example the reconstruction of coronary arteries ), there exists a certain problem, occurring relatively often after some time period, usually after several months, and having no dependence on the technical quality of the performed anastomosis. It is the phenomenon standardly described as intimo-medial hyperplasia. This means that in the connection, most commonly in the apex of the anastomosis, a mound gradually develops consisting of the structures of the hyperplastic intima and media of the targeted vessel, that is the vessel on which the connection is created in the direction of blood flow. The situation is best illustrated in FIG. 1., which is a schematic drawing of an anastomosis of the vessel 1 and an in-flowing vascular substitute 2, end to side. The intimo-medial hyperplasia 3 is illustrated in a typical location; and the blood flow is indicated by the arrows. This gradually growing structure 3a,3b understandably leads to the stenosis of the cross-section of the reconstruction, reduction of the blood flow, and ultimately to complete occlusion.
The generally accepted theory of the development of this phenomenon is as follows: the created anastomosis disturbs, in dependence on different circumstances, the different characteristics of blood flow, most commonly so-called stability of the flow, which is expressed by Reynolds' number. The anastomosis also disturbs the normal laminar flow toward turbulence. In a direct relation, higher turbulence also means a higher quantity of liberated energy. The forces which activate the perivascular transfer of the energy by vibration across the vascular wall are simultaneously the cause of the chronic stress and damage of the surrounding tissue, and at the same time, initiate the response of biochemical mediators, and in their ultimate effect lead to the gradual development of the intimo-medial hyperplasia
At the present time, there is no known method, in the accessible literature, which could prevent this undesirable biological process with some degree of reliability. The most common preventive measure is the creation of a maximally wide anastomosis. This possibility is, of course, objectively limited by the caliber of connected tubes, either vessels or vessel and substitute.

Internal shield of an anastomosis in a vascular system


A predistortion linearizer (20) is operative with a microwave signal, as may be provided by signal source (62) to linearize the gain of a power amplifier, such as a traveling-wave-tube power amplifier (74), by introduction of an amplitude and/or a phase distortion to the microwave signal wherein the distortion is inverse to a distortion introduced by the power amplifier, thereby to compensate for the distortion of the power amplifier. The linearizer is constructed of two channels (22, 24) which are operated in parallel but approximately 180 degrees out of phase, with an additional phase increment provided by delay lines (46, 56) to offset one channel from the other channel by a phase difference in a range of approximately 160-200 degrees. Included within each channel is a diode circuit (40, 50) wherein the diode circuit (40) includes a set of PIN diodes operated in linear fashion in the channel (22), and the diode circuit (50) includes a set of Schottky diodes operated in nonlinear fashion in the channel (24). The limiter diode circuit (50) limits signal amplitude resulting in a gain expansion and a phase advance upon summation of signal vectors of the two channels to provide an output signal. These are adjusted to compensate for the gain compression and phase lag of the power amplifier. In each of the diode circuits, the diodes are mounted on components of a coplanar waveguide for symmetry in construction and avoidance of generation of parasitic reactances.

This invention relates to the linearization of the gain and phase transfer characteristics of solid state power amplifiers and traveling wave tube amplifiers, wherein a preceding linearizer circuit is deployed by means of vectorial summation of signals of linear and nonlinear channels having diode circuits constructed by use of coplanar waveguide.
Predistortion linearizers are used in transmitter applications having simultaneous requirements of high efficiency and of low distortion, wherein the low distortion includes a conversion from an amplitude modulated signal to a distorted amplitude modulated signal as well as introduction of unwanted phase modulation from an amplitude modulated signal. These two requirements are generally mutually exclusive since high efficiency is achieved by operating a power amplifier near power saturation, whereas low distortion requires that the operating point be set back from the power-saturation region. Thus, if one were to plot the amplitude of the output signal of a high-gain microwave amplifier versus the input signal, the gain of the amplifier would appear to decrease with increasing input signal amplitude. In addition, the amount of phase shift which is present for a relatively small input signal amplitude would change as the amplifier gain tends to saturate for high input signal levels.
Therefore, there is a problem because existing amplifiers can be employed for linear amplification over only a relatively small range of input signal levels. Operation at saturation, while useful in attaining high values of efficiency suffers from the foregoing forms of signal distortion. A further problem arises in an attempt to build a gain linearization circuit operable at microwave frequencies in that parasitic resonances can occur as a result of the circuit implementation.

Gain linearization with coplanar waveguide


A vector error diffusion (VED) method employable in cycles with respect to a hi-tonal color printing engine which prints bi-tonal color images in a device output color space. The method generally includes (a) acquiring input color-image data which is characterized with an input color space, (b) processing, with available pre-established VED accumulated error data, such input data to produce a VED-processed input color-image data stream, (c) from such VED-processed input color-image data stream, creating, without employing interpolation, a VED-processed output color-image data stream which is characterized by the mentioned device output color space, and which is suitable for delivery to and use by the mentioned printing engine, and (d) changing, as appropriate for the next cycle, the VED accumulated error data which will be employed in that next cycle as pre-established VED accumulated error data.

This invention pertains to an improved method for employing vector error diffusion (also referred to herein as VED) with respect to an imaging device, typically a printer, which, as is the case with many printers, operates as a bi-tonal printing engine that creates (prints) bi-tonal color images in C,M,Y,K color space. The printing output color space of such an engine is referred to herein as a device output color space. Improvement, as offered by the present invention, especially takes place in the highlight areas of an image, wherein practice of the invention significantly minimizes graininess. A preferred embodiment of, and manner of practicing, the invention are illustrated herein in a setting wherein a source color image, whose data (referred to as input color-image data) initially "resides" in R,G,B color space, is first converted to a data file in L,a,b color space (referred to herein as an input color space). This L,a,b file is then processed by the steps of the invention to effect printing by a printer which prints a resulting bi-tonal image in C,M,Y,K color space, referred to herein, as mentioned above, as a device output color space. Thus, the illustration of the invention disclosed herein is presented in a setting wherein the input and output color spaces differ. It should be understood, however, that such a differing is not a requirement of the invention. The invention, as illustrated and described herein, is discussed just in the representative context of C,M,Y device output color space, notwithstanding the fact that a C,M,Y,K output-color-space printer is employed as the illustrative printer, or printing engine. C,M,Y color space is specifically referred to herein as the "employed" device output color space.
As will become apparent, the present invention, which introduces and offers a number of unique features, facets and advantages that will now be touched upon briefly in this introductory narrative, functions in pixel-by-pixel cycles to process color images. In particular, the invention implements VED employing a specially (in accordance with the invention) generated color-value palette, or table, (also referred to herein as a palette/table) which functions somewhat in the manner of a look-up table, and which correlates input-color-space pixel values with C,M,Y device output-color-space values based upon spectrophotometric analysis of the actual printing performance of a selected printer. The palette is specially and uniquely characterized (generated) in that, among other things, it contains no values relating to white, and further, and in accordance with the invention, in a manner whereby it contains three fictional sets of color values relating to three fictional colors C′, M′, and Y′. These fictional C′,M′,Y′ color values are selected (user choice enters here) to lie effectively "between" white values and the just-mentioned spectrophotometrically determined values for C, M, and Y, respectively.
Further describing this spectrophotometric practice, to prepare for implementation of the invention, the C,M,Y,K printer which is selected for use is operated to print a collection of primary C,M,Y color patches, and a collection of secondary C+M, C+Y, M+Y, and C+M+Y color patches. K is not necessarily employed, and will not be discussed herein. When this has been done, a spectrophotometer reads these color patches, and from that reading, effectively outputs the respective L,a,b pixel color values for each of the patches. These performance-measured L,a,b color values, appropriately "adjusted" to lie within a scale of values ranging from 0 to 100, which range relates proportionately to a "computer" range 0 to 255, then make up the bulk of the mentioned color-value palette. It should be understood here that while the preferred embodiment and manner of practicing the invention are described herein in a setting where the palette contains L,a,b color-space values, the palette may be constructed using any appropriate printing-device-independent color-space values.
Output colors for an output image are delivered to a selected printer (printing engine), and are printed on the basis of "look-up table employment" of the palette. The output colors are always one of the C,M,Y,K color-space primary or secondary colors. How this happens, and how the presence of the mentioned fictional values contributes to the advantages offered by the invention, will be explained below in the detailed description of the invention. It may be useful at this point in this discussion simply to say that the absence of white values in the palette, coupled with the presence of the mentioned, fictional C′,M′,Y′ values, creates a better setting for distributions of the lighter primary-color pixels, rather than of the darker secondary-color pixels, to be employed in the definitions of highlight regions in an output, printed, color, bi-tonal image. This condition, which is uniquely established by invocation of the present invention, leads to the suppression of unwanted graininess in such image regions.
Use of the just-outlined look-up table approach conveniently enables practice of VED without requiring pixel-value interpolation. Absence of representative values for white in the table links with another unique feature of the invention which is generally described in the paragraph presented immediately below. Presence of the mentioned, fictional C′,M′,Y′ values plays a significant role in minimizing graininess in image highlight areas through forcing selection of primary C,M,Y output colors in certain situations where, in the absence of the advantageous "intervention" interposed by the method of the present invention, darker secondary colors would be output to image highlight areas, and would create therein noticeable graininess.
Regarding the feature link just briefly mentioned above, acquired source-image pixel data, in whatever color space that data initially exists, is reviewed initially to cull out pixels which are either pure white or pure black. These pixels, where encountered, are directly sent to the printer for printing, without using any VED, and without performing any processing in the context of the palette/table.
Another special feature of the invention involves the implementation of luminance thresholding at a stage in the practice of the invention after white and black pixels have been culled, as generally described above, and also after VED processing has thereafter been applied to image data in the input color space. Where, as is specifically illustrated herein, the L,a,b color space is employed as the input color space, a threshold value, such as 245, is preferably established for L. One should understand that this luminance threshold value can be any value suitably chosen by the user, and typically will be a value which is relatively close to the value (255 normally) of pure white. The particular threshold value just mentioned is in no way a critical value, but has been found to be one which is quite practical and satisfactory for most applications. With application of luminance thresholding in accordance with the invention, any VED-processed pixel having an L value exceeding the chosen threshold value is declared to be a white pixel. All others (pixels) are sent on for comparison processing using the palette/table. The advantageous use of this L thresholding for white eliminates the need to have white represented in the palette/table values, and it contributes significantly to minimizing graininess in the finally printed, bi-tonal output image.
These and other special features and advantages that are offered by the invention will become more fully apparent as the detailed description thereof which now follows is read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.


Information relating to previously made or received calls charged to a subscription associated with a given mobile station is stored in a data base. The information stored comprises called/calling party identification, time of day for the call, and duration of the call in relation to all long distance calls (incoming and outgoing) that are charged to the mobile station subscription. This information is then delivered at certain predetermined times to the subscriber via the mobile station. Responsive to receipt of the information, the subscriber may compare the cellular service record of prior subscription use to their own recollection of use. If the record and the recollection do not coincide, it is possible that a fraudulent use of the subscription via a cloned (or otherwise fraudulent) mobile station has occurred. A prompt report of the fraudulent use may then be made to the cellular service provider.

1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to cellular communications systems and, in particular, to the detection of fraudulent mobile station use within a cellular communications system.
2. Description of Related Art
In existing cellular telephone networks, fraudulent users may attempt to place long distance telephone calls by causing the network to recognize the calls as being placed by a legitimate subscriber. This goal is accomplished by cloning the mobile station of a subscriber, including its electronic serial number (ESN) and mobile identification number (MIN). The cloned mobile station then appears to the network to be the subscriber's legitimate mobile station, thereby allowing the fraudulent user to freely place calls, and in particular place long distance telephone calls, and charge those calls to the subscription for the real mobile station. In most cases, the subscriber is not aware of the fraudulent use until after receiving an invoice from the cellular service provider for calling services. It is only then that the fraudulent use of a cellular subscription is detected. By that time, however, thousands of dollars of unrecoverable calling charges for long distance calls have been incurred, and the fraudulent user has often moved on to the cloning and fraudulent use of another mobile station.
There is a need then for a mechanism that allows for a more prompt detection of fraudulent use of a cellular communications system subscription.

User assisted fraud detection in a cellular communications system


Systems and methods for generating pixel based depth estimates are disclosed. An image processing system operating as depth analysis engine generates an estimated depth associated with a pixel based on a reference image and other related images. A current depth estimate is refined based on neighboring pixels and calculated consistency scores. Further, depth estimates can be levered in object or scene recognition to trigger or initiate an action taken by a computing device.

Reference in this specification to any prior publication (or information derived from it), or to any matter which is known, is not, and should not be taken as an acknowledgment or admission or any form of suggestion that the prior publication (or information derived from it) or known matter forms part of the common general knowledge in the field of endeavor to which this specification relates.
It is known to perform three-dimensional (3D) scene modeling by generating depth fields of a scene using parallax data derived from two or more images. In such processes, images taken of a scene from two or more imaging locations can be used to derive a stereo depth-map. The depth-map associates with every pixel in an image an indication of how far away the pixel's observed location is in the scene. Such depth maps can be used to determine the 3D shape of the scene.
Methods for deriving depth maps using parallax methods have typically been classed in two categories. The first category is commonly referred to as a "local method", which calculates the depth for each pixel of the base image individually, not taking into account depth allocated to surrounding pixels. Local methods are fast and memory efficient but prone to incorrectly allocating depths to a given pixel.
The second category is commonly referred to as a "global method". This method attempts to relate the choice of depth for a given pixel of the base image with the depth choices for immediately surrounding pixels. This way some consideration of the local continuity of a surface is taken into consideration when determining each and every depth and consequently the algorithm has a global perspective. Global methods are known to provide superior estimates of depth but at the expense of being many times slower and more memory intensive to compute than local methods.
Thus, there is still a need for depth estimation analyses.
Unless the context dictates the contrary, all ranges set forth herein should be interpreted as being inclusive of their endpoints, and open-ended ranges should be interpreted to include commercially practical values. Similarly, all lists of values should be considered as inclusive of intermediate values unless the context indicates the contrary.

Depth estimate determination, systems and methods


Device abstraction units 28a and 28b respectively transmit various pieces of control information and data to and from devices 34a and 34b, and carry out abstraction of the devices 34a and 34b (that is, abstraction of the hardware) with respect to upper constituents. Interface units 22a and, 22b transmit various pieces of control information and data to and from the device abstraction units 28a and 28b, and provide an application unit 20 with an identical interface. Communications path abstraction units 24a and 24b carry out abstraction of communications paths 26a and 26b in the process of transmission of various pieces of control information and data via the communications paths 26a and 26b across a process boundary or a network boundary. This arrangement of the present invention enables a substantially fixed control according to an applications program, regardless of the type of the device or the type of the communications path.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technique of controlling devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
When one computer is connected to, for example, a scanner and a printer and a user of the computer desires to read image data with the scanner and to print the input image data with the printer, a prior art technique first activates an applications program for supporting the scanner, controls the scanner to read the image data according to the applications program, and temporarily stores the input image data into a memory in the computer. In this process, the technique causes a user interface for operating the scanner to be displayed in a window on a monitor. The user specifies desired settings, for example, regarding a reading operation, via the user interface for the scanner and gives instructions regarding the desired settings to the computer. The computer then causes the scanner to read the image data according to the desired settings. The technique subsequently activates another applications program for supporting the printer, reads the image data from the memory according to the applications program, and controls the printer to print the image data with the printer. In this process, the technique also causes a user interface for operating the printer to be displayed in a window on the monitor. The user specifies desired settings, for example, regarding a printing operation, via the user interface for the printer and gives instructions regarding the desired settings to the computer. The computer then causes the printer to print the image data according to the desired settings.
As described above, the prior art technique requires to activate the plurality of applications programs for supporting the respective devices and implement the data transfer between the devices, such as the scanner and the printer.
In one exemplified configuration, it is assumed that a certain device is connected to one computer and another device is connected to another computer, among a plurality of computers connecting with one another via a network. In this configuration, the prior art technique makes it rather difficult to transfer data between the certain device and the another device according to an applications program, which is activated by still another computer, since these computers are connected to one another via the network.
In the prior art technique, one predetermined device can receive and process the data transmitted from another predetermined device. It is, however, not guaranteed that one arbitrary device can receive and process the data transmitted from another arbitrary device. In some cases, effective data transfer is accordingly not available between these arbitrary devices.
The prior art technique causes different user interfaces for the respective devices to be displayed separately in the process of performing the data transfer between these devices. This configuration forces the user to separately specify instructions on the different user interfaces, thereby undesirably worsening the operatability.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


This invention relates to the discovery of functionalized triclosan monomers and oligomers that, when incorporated into a substrate of, or applied as part of a coating to, medical devices and/or consumer products may extend the duration of antimicrobial properties to the medical devices and/or consumer products.

Triclosan is a chlorinated aromatic compound that has ether and phenol groups. Such phenols reportedly often show anti-bacterial properties. Triclosan may be used in soaps, deodorants, toothpastes mouthwashes, and cleaning supplies and is incorporated in an increasing number of consumer products, such as kitchen utensils, toys, bedding, socks, and trash bags. It has been reportedly shown as effective in reducing and controlling bacterial contamination on the hands and on treated products. More recently, it has been reported that showering or bathing with 2% triclosan is a recommended regime for the decolonization of patients whose skin is carrying methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus following the successful control of MRSA outbreaks in several clinical settings.
Triclosan is disclosed as being useful as an antimicrobial agent in various formulations in the following patents: EP1460089; U.S. Pat. No. 6,045,813; U.S. Pat. No. 6,955,827; U.S. Pat. No. 6,224,579; U.S. Pat. No. 6,207,139; U.S. Pat. No. 6,596,657; U.S. Pat. No. 6,780,799; U.S. Pat. No. 3,903,007; U.S. Pat. No. 3,987,797; U.S. Pat. No. 4,024,871; U.S. Pat. No. 5,378,540; U.S. Pat. No. 6,106,505; U.S. Pat. No. 6,083,208; US 2004/0185250; US 2006/0091034; US 2002/0028229; WO 96/38528; U.S. Pat. No. 4,020,100; EA 0099177.
Certain dental products containing triclosan are described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,207,139 that are reported as having anti-tartar activity.
In U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,596,657 and 6,780,799, Shalaby described the use of sodium triclosan salt, reported as being useful to impart antimicrobial characteristics to fabrics.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,903,007 Model, et al. the use of 2-acyloxy-triclosan was disclosed and reported as being useful for detergent compositions.
In U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,106,505 and 6,083,208, Modak et al. described polymeric medical articles reportedly comprising synergistic combinations of the antiinfective agents chlorhexidine and triclosan.
US patent application 20040185250 discloses certain triclosan-containing absorbable antimicrobial sutures reported having extended antimicrobial properties. Triclosan was reported to be incorporated into the absorbable sutures by coating, soaking, soaking and coating of triclosan containing solutions or adding triclosan into absorbable polymers before they are processed into fibers.
Lezdey et al. (US patent application 20020028229) disclosed antimicrobial compositions that reported contain a phenol complex with a film forming complex of a polycarboxylic acid and a microbicide containing at least two quaternary amine groups.
In US patent application 20060091034, Scalzo et al. described a method for making an antimicrobial suture, disclosed as comprising the steps of positioning an antimicrobial agent source within a package comprising an inner surface, said antimicrobial agent being selected from the group consisting of halogenated hydroxyl ethers, acyloxydiphenyl ethers, and combinations thereof; positioning a medical device within the package; and subjecting the package, the antimicrobial agent source and the medical device to time, temperature and pressure conditions sufficient to vapor transfer an effective amount of the antimicrobial agent from the antimicrobial agent source to the medical device, thereby substantially inhibiting bacterial colonization on the medical device. As an alternative, the disclosure reportedly provided a packaged medical device produced according to the steps of positioning a medical device within a package; exposing the package having the medical device to an antimicrobial agent source; and subjecting the package having the medical device and the antimicrobial agent source to time, temperature and pressure conditions sufficient to transfer an effective amount of the antimicrobial agent from the antimicrobial agent source to the medical device within the package, thereby substantially inhibiting bacterial colonization on the medical device.
While triclosan compounds have various known beneficial uses, they generally are insoluble or partially soluble in water or the human body and are difficult to hydrolyze. They are also very difficult to polymerize in the phenolic state. As such, there are still unmet needs for materials with improved properties, in particular those materials having improved water compatibility, controlled release, targeted release to specific organs, and the like. The present invention is directed to these and other important ends.

Functionalized biodegradable triclosan monomers and oligomers for controlled release


This document describes techniques and apparatuses for implementing a phase control backlight. A phase control backlight is configured to concentrate light to each pupil of a viewer of a display to cause images to be displayed to each pupil of the viewer. The phase control backlight can include an illuminator and a light guide that includes a diffraction grating. The light guide is configured to receive light rays from the illuminator, and to diffract light rays out of the light guide via the diffraction grating. In accordance with various embodiments, the light guide can be controlled to alter a phase of the light rays as the light rays are guided within the light guide to cause the diffracted light rays to converge to a concentration point that corresponds to a position in space of each pupil of the viewer.

A backlight for a display can be made by injecting light into a light guide embossed with a grating to project parallel rays of light from the light guide to illuminate the display. Displays, however, typically consume a large amount of power to render images for viewing because the display projects the light from the backlight to enable viewers to see the images from any location.


The field of the invention is oil sands processing. A solvent treatment system and process for treating a bitumen-containing stream include contacting that stream with a solvent-containing stream to produce an in-line flow of solvent diluted material; supplying the solvent diluted material into a separation vessel with axi-symmetric phase and velocity distribution and/or particular mixing and conditioning features. The solvent addition, mixing and conditioning may be performed with particular CoV, Camp number, co-annular pipeline reactor, pipe wall contact of low viscosity fluid, flow diffusing and/or flow straightening. The processes enable improved performance of downstream unit operations such as separation of high diluted bitumen from solvent diluted tailings.

Known solvent-addition and mixing technologies for combining bitumen froth and solvent, such as paraffinic solvent, in a froth treatment process, are limited and have a number of drawbacks and inefficiencies. In some prior methods, there is even a lack of fundamental understanding of the processes and phenomena involved in froth treatment which prevents developing and optimizing existing designs and operations.
In paraffinic froth treatment, for example, a paraffinic solvent is added to a bitumen froth stream and the resulting mixture is sent to a settler vessel to separate it into high diluted bitumen and solvent diluted tailings. The solvent diluted tailings of a first settler vessel may receive an addition amount of paraffinic solvent prior to being supplied into a second settler vessel. There may be several settler vessels arranged in series or in parallel. Addition of the paraffinic solvent allows separation of free water and coarse minerals from the bitumen froth and the precipitation of asphaltenes remove entrained water and fine solids out of the bitumen. The processed high diluted bitumen froth stream is then sent to a solvent recovery unit and then onward for further processing and upgrading to produce synthetic crude oil and other valuable commodities.
Conventional practices for the addition of solvent-containing streams in a froth treatment process use mixers of various configurations, which may have T-junctions, static mixers or in-line mixers. Such conventional practices focus on combining and mixing of the light and heavy hydrocarbon streams with little regard to location of injection, mixing and pipelines relative to settling vessels. In addition, some known methods attempt to control the quantity of shear imparted to the solvent diluted bitumen froth, to balance adequate mixing and avoiding over-shearing. However, the piping and mixing device arrangements in between the solvent addition and the settler vessel have been configured, located and operated without regard to certain flow characteristics, negatively affecting settling performance.
As more general background on PFT in the context of oil sands processing, extraction processes are used to liberate and separate bitumen from oil sand so the bitumen can be further processed. Numerous oil sand extraction processes have been developed and commercialized using water as a processing medium. One such water extraction process is the Clarke hot water extraction process, which recovers the bitumen product in the form of a bitumen froth stream. The bitumen froth stream produced by the Clarke hot water process contains water in the range of 20 to 45%, more typically 30% by weight and minerals from 5 to 25%, more typically 10% by weight which must be reduced to levels acceptable for downstream processes. At Clarke hot water process temperatures ranging from 40 to 80° C., bitumen in bitumen froth is both viscous and has a density similar to water. To permit separation by gravitational separation processes, commercial froth treatment processes involve the addition of a diluent to facilitate the separation of the diluted hydrocarbon phase from the water and minerals. Initial commercial froth treatment processes utilized a hydrocarbon diluent in the boiling range of 76-230° C. commonly referred to as a naphtha diluent in a two stage centrifuging separation process. Limited unit capacity, capital and operational costs associated with centrifuges promoted applying alternate separation equipment for processing diluted bitumen froth. In these processes, the diluent naphtha was blended with the bitumen froth at a weight ratio of diluent to bitumen (D/B) in the range of 0.3 to 1.0 and produced a diluted bitumen product with typically less than 4 weight percent water and 1 weight percent mineral which was suitable for dedicated bitumen upgrading processes. Generally, operating temperatures for these processes were specified such that diluted froth separation vessels were low pressure vessels with pressure ratings less than 105 kPag. Other froth separation processes using naphtha diluent involve operating temperatures that require froth separation vessels rated for pressures up to 5000 kPag. Using conventional vessel sizing methods, the cost of pressure vessels and associated systems designed for and operated at this high pressure limits the commercial viability of these processes.
Heavy oils such as bitumen are sometimes described in terms of relative solubility as comprising a pentane soluble fraction which, except for higher molecular weight and boiling point, resembles a distillate oil; a less soluble resin fraction; and a paraffinic insoluble asphaltene fraction characterized as high molecular weight organic compounds with sulphur, nitrogen, oxygen and metals that are often poisonous to catalysts used in heavy oil upgrading processes. Paraffinic hydrocarbons can precipitate asphaltenes from heavy oils to produce deasphalted heavy oil with contaminate levels acceptable for subsequent downstream upgrading processes. Contaminants tend to follow the asphaltenes when the asphaltenes are precipitated by paraffinic solvents having compositions from C3 to C10 when the heavy oil is diluted with 1 to 10 times the volume of solvent.
High water and mineral content distinguish bitumen froth from the heavy oil deasphalted in the above processes. Some early attempts to adapt deasphalting operations to processing bitumen from oil sands effected precipitation of essentially a mineral free, deasphalted product by addition of water and chemical agents.
Recent investigations and developed techniques in treating bitumen froth with paraffinic use froth settling vessels (FSV) arranged in a counter-current flow configuration. In process configurations, counter-current flow refers to a processing scheme where a process medium is added to a stage in the process to extract a component in the feed to that stage, and the medium with the extracted component is blended into the feed of the preceding stage. Counter-current flow configurations are widely applied in process operations to achieve both product quality specifications and optimal recovery of a component with the number of stages dependent on the interaction between the desired component in the feed stream and the selected medium, and the efficiency of stage separations. In deasphalting operations processing heavy oil with low mineral solids, separation using counter-current flow can be achieved within a single separation vessel. However, rapidly setting mineral particles in bitumen froth preclude using a single separation vessel as this material tends to foul internals of conventional deasphalting vessels.
A two stage paraffinic froth treatment process is disclosed in Canadian Patent No. 2,454,942 (Hyndman et al.) and represented in FIG. 1 as a froth separation plant. In a froth separation plant, bitumen froth at 80-95° C. is mixed with overflow product from the second stage settler such that the solvent to bitumen ratio in the diluted froth stream is above the threshold to precipitate asphaltenes from the bitumen froth. For paraffinic froth treatment processes with pentane as the paraffinic solvent, the threshold solvent to bitumen ratio as known in the art is about 1.2 which significantly increases the feed volume to the settler. The first stage settler separates the diluted froth into a high dilute bitumen stream comprising a partially to fully deasphalted diluted bitumen with a low water and mineral content, and an underflow stream containing the rejected asphaltenes, water, and minerals together with residual maltenes from the bitumen feed and solvent due to the stage efficiency. The first stage underflow stream is mixed with hot recycled solvent to form a diluted feed for the second stage settler. The second stage settler recovers residual maltenes and solvent to the overflow stream returned to the first stage vessel and froth separation tailings. It is important to recognize the different process functions of stages in a counter-current process configuration. In this case, the operation of first stage settler focuses on product quality and the second stage settler focuses on recovery of residual hydrocarbon from the underflow of the first stage settler.
The above known froth treatment processes involve blending diluent into bitumen froth or underflow streams or both.
Initial commercial froth treatment processes added naphtha diluent to reduce viscosity of bitumen for centrifuging. The addition of naphtha diluent also reduced the density of the hydrocarbon phase which together with the reduced viscosity permits gravitational separation of water and minerals from the hydrocarbon phase. Blending of the two streams used a single pipe tee to bring the two fluid streams together with the length of pipe upstream of the separation equipment sufficiently long to permit the streams to blend together without additional inline mixing devices. Improvements to blending of diluent and froth stream such staging the diluent addition were identified as opportunities for future commercial developments.
The initial commercial paraffinic froth treatment process as disclosed by W. Power "Froth Treatment: Past, Present & Future" Oil Sand Symposium, University of Alberta, May 2004 identified counter current of addition of paraffinic diluent as using tee and static mixing to each settler stage. Paraffin addition is also disclosed in CA 2,588,043 (Power et al.).
CA 2,669,059 (Sharma et al.) further discloses a method to design the solvent/froth feed pipe using a tee mixer and the average shear rates and residence times in the feed pipe.
In May 2004, N. Rahimi presented "Shear-Induced Growth of Asphaltene Aggregates" Oil Sand Symposium, University of Alberta, which identified shear history as important for structure and settling behaviour of asphaltene flocs with break up of aggregates by shear as rapid and not fully reversible. In addition, cyclic shear was shown to breakup asphaltene floc aggregates. The hydraulic analysis identified an improved understanding for feeding settler vessels was required for consistent separation performance both in terms of bitumen recovery and the quality of the high diluted bitumen product.
The known practices and techniques experience various drawbacks and inefficiencies, and there is indeed a need for a technology that overcomes at least some of those drawbacks and inefficiencies.

Process and system for solvent addition to bitumen froth


A medical optical system includes an observation optical system for guiding light emitted from a light source to a predetermined part to be illuminated, and causing light reflected from the predetermined part to be incident on the observation optical system. The medical optical system further includes a light separator, a guide optical system, and a display unit. The light separator is disposed at an intermediate part of the observation optical system, for separating the reflected light into reflected light of a visible observation wavelength area to be passed therethrough and reflected light or fluorescent light of the other wavelength area to be extracted therefrom. The guide optical system guides the light separated and extracted by the light separator to an image pick-up device so that an image of the separated light is formed on the image pick-up device. And the display unit displays the separated light image picked up by the image pick-up device.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a medical optical apparatus which uses a plurality of light each having a different wavelength.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As examples of surgical operation using a medical optical apparatus such as a medical microscope, there are cerebral surgical operation and ophthalmological operation. The ophthalmological operation includes an operation to be made on a bottom part of a vitreous body (i.e., vitreous body operation). The bottom part of the vitreous body is of a multi-layer structure having layers of a retina, a chorioidea and a sclera arranged in this order from the vitreous body.
For operation of this vitreous body, three holes, called ports, are formed in a side portion of an eye to be tested (patient's eye). One of these three ports is used for maintaining an intraocular pressure, another one of the remaining two ports is used for insertion of an optical fiber for illumination, and the last one is used for insertion of an operating instrument. For operation, the retina at the bottom part of the vitreous body is illuminated by the optical fiber and an objective part (diseased part) of the retina is operated using the operating instrument while observing the illuminated diseased part through a medical microscope.
A visible light is usually used for illumination during such operation. However, since the visible light is absorbed by the upper skin (or epithelium) layer of the retina, the patient's diseased part under the retina cannot be observed during the operation. Since only the visible light is used for observation of the bottom part of the eye to be tested, observation is limited. For observation of an inner side of the upper skin (or epithelium) layer of the retina, it can be contemplated that a fluorescent agent is injected into the patient's vein to send the fluorescent agent to a blood vessel of an eye fundus, and on the other hand, fluorescent excitation light is irradiated to the eye fundus so that the fluorescent excitation light is absorbed by the fluorescent agent which is still remained in or already leaked out of the blood vessel of the eye fundus, in order to excite the fluorescent agent, and then, the fluorescent light from the fluorescent agent is observed to check the diseased part in the upper skin (or epithelium) layer of the retina. This fluorescent observation is performed under a visible fluorescent light or an infrared fluorescent light. In this case, it is preferable that the visible fluorescent excitation light, the infrared fluorescent excitation light, the visible illumination light, and the infrared illumination light can be switched to one another so that the light can be selectively irradiated to the eye fundus or several kinds of light can be irradiated to the eye fundus simultaneously. In the medical optical apparatus such as a medical stereoscopic microscope, an illumination light from an illumination light source is projected to an observation part through an illumination optical system, and an image to be observed formed by the light reflected from this observation part is guided to an ocular lens through two main optical paths of the observation optical system, so that the operator can observe the observation part (for example, operating part, etc.) by his two eyes.
It is also necessary for an assistant operator to be able to observe the observation part in the same manner as the operator because the operation is cooperatively performed by the operator and the assistant operator. To this end, the medical stereoscopic microscope is provided with a sub-observation optical system branched from a midway of one of the main optical paths so that the assistant operator can also observe the observation part during the operation.
In a recent method of a medical treatment, it becomes more frequent to use an infrared light or light of a wavelength area low sensitive or hardly sensitive to a human eye such as a wavelength of about 400 nm or 700 nm (the light in this wavelength area is generally referred to as "invisible light"). For example, in a department of cerebral surgery, a malignant tumor is extracted by utilizing the nature of the fluorescent substance liable to selectively remain in a cancerous cell, or in an ophthalmological department, a deep layer of the retina is optically solidified by utilizing an infrared laser beam of light in order to arrest the progress of the patient's disease.
Heretofore, the optical solidification operation is performed while observing the diseased part under the visible light. However, since the human eye is not sensitive to an invisible light, it is usually difficult to observe the diseased part by naked eyes under this invisible light.
In order to observing the diseased part under this invisible light, it can be contemplated that a part of the reflected light from the observation part is extracted from the other optical path of the main observation optical system and guided to, for example, a TV camera sensitive to an ultraviolet light and a TV camera sensitive to an infrared light, so that the observation part is taken by the TV camera and displayed on a monitor TV.


A superconducting copper oxide based wire exhibiting improved critical current density and method. A superconductor powder and a binder melt are mixed at a solids loading of at least 90% by weight. The binder is an ester wax with no more than about 0.25 weight percent extrusion-aiding additives. The ester wax has the general formula RCOOR' with R and R' being hydrocarbon chains of at least 6 carbons. The ester wax melting point is 40.degree.-100.degree. C.; its melt viscosity is 94-2000 centipoise. The mixture is shaped and heated in an oxidizing atmosphere at up to 120.degree. C./hr to 500.degree.-600.degree. C., and held at that temperature for a time sufficient to remove the binder and achieve a wire density of at least 50% of theoretical. The green wire is heated at 50.degree.-130.degree. C./hr to at least 920.degree. C., and held at 920.degree.-990.degree. C. to achieve 90% of theoretical density, then annealed in oxygen. The wire may be textured during the heating process or by seeding. About 3-12 w/o silver may be included in a superconducting rare earth barium copper oxide based wire. The superconducting copper oxide based wire exhibits a density of at least about 99% of theoretical density, a critical temperature at dc zero resistance of at least about 90 K, and a critical current density of at least about 1000 A/cm.sup.2.

Since the discovery of the high temperature superconductivity of YBa.sub.2 Cu.sub.3 O.sub.7-x material at about 95 K, worldwide efforts have centered on wire fabrication for applications in the areas of power generation, power transmission lines and passive microwave components such as helical resonators used in the telecommunication industry. However, these and related oxide superconductors are usually brittle and difficult to fabricate into useful shapes such as tapes, wires, or coils. Additionally, advanced processing techniques, e.g. melt texturing or zone melting, are required to texture the grains, i.e. align the grains along the anisotropic a-b conducting plane, to enhance critical current densities in the fabricated wires, etc.
As a consequence of the anisotropic nature of the superconductivity of such materials, their critical temperature, critical current density, and microwave properties have been found to be greatly influenced by their microstructures which, in turn, are largely determined by the fabrication process used. Practical wire applications for power generation will necessitate a critical density of the order of 100,000 A/cm.sup.2 in magnetic fields up to 5 Tesla, whereas homogeneity of the bulk material and surface smoothness are critical to the material's application in microwave circuits. Therefore, novel materials processing methods are required to reduce defects, to enhance mechanical and electrical properties of the superconducting materials, and to enhance reproducibility.
In particular, the anisotropy and grain boundary effects have been identified as major contributors to low critical current density in, e.g., yttrium barium copper oxide superconducting materials. The granular structure results in small coherence length, causing the grain boundaries to act as Josephson junctions. The high degree of anisotropy suppresses tunneling currents at high-angle grain boundaries. These problems are exacerbated by residual porosity in the densified material.
Several processing techniques have been studied in attempts to improve these properties, including those based on cladding/swaging techniques borrowed from the metallurgical industry and others based on the fiber spinning and extrusion techniques used in the plastics industry. The cladding/swaging methods have shown promise, in some cases producing wires with high ductility and workability. However, the spinning and extrusion techniques have generally produced only brittle, inhomogeneous materials.

Process for producing superconducting wires


An organic electroluminescent device is provided and includes: a pair of electrodes; and a light emitting layer between the electrodes. The organic electroluminescent device has a layer containing a compound represented by formula (I).

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an organic electroluminescent device (which may hereinafter be called "organic EL device"), an organometallic complex compound used therefor, and a light emitting apparatus and an illumination apparatus using the device.
2. Background Art
Research and development are being vigorously made on organic electroluminescent devices because they can emit light with a high luminance even by low voltage driving. In general, organic EL devices each has one or more organic layers including a light emitting layer and a pair of electrodes sandwiching them therebetween. For light emission, they utilize energy of an exciton generated as a result of recombination, in the light emitting layer, of electrons injected from a cathode and holes injected from an anode.
Using phosphorescent materials contributes to efficiency improvement of the device. As the phosphorescent materials, iridium complexes and platinum complexes are known. There are reports on platinum complex light emitting materials capable of emitting blue to green light (refer to, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. 2007-19462, 2006-261623, and 2006-93665). The light emitting layer of an organic electroluminescent device using phosphorescence is formed by adding a phosphorescent material to a material (host material) involved in charge transport.
Phosphorescent materials however require a wider energy gap than fluorescent materials in principle. This means that due to an increase in IP and decrease in Ea, an injection barrier between an adjacent layer on the cathode side and LUMO level rises, which usually results in such a problem that drive voltage increases.
An increase in the drive voltage causes a reduction in power efficiency per amount of luminescence. In addition, a large electric field load is applied to the device so that the device inevitably has reduced durability. These problems have not yet been solved even by the use of the organic EL devices described in, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. 2006-261623 and 2006-93665.

Abstract: L represents a divalent linking group, Q1 and Q2 each independently represents an aromatic or aliphatic heterocycle coordinated to Pt through a nitrogen atom, X1 represents a 6-membered ring containing one or more nitrogen atoms, Q1, Q2, and X1 each independently may have a substituent, X2 represents a sulfur atom, a phosphorus atom, an oxygen atom, or a nitrogen atom, and X3 represents a carbon atom, a sulfur atom, or a phosphorus atom.


Disclosed are approaches for forming a semiconductor device. In some embodiments, a method may include providing a plurality of patterning structures over a device layer, each of the plurality of patterning structures including a first sidewall, a second sidewall, and an upper surface, and forming a mask by depositing a masking material at a non-zero angle of inclination relative to a perpendicular to a plane defined by a top surface of the device layer. The mask may be formed over the plurality of patterning structures without being formed along the second sidewall. The method may further include selectively forming a metal layer along the second sidewall of each of the plurality of patterning structures.

Traditionally, metal lines in semiconductor devices have been formed by subtractive processes as well as damascene processes. Metal line widths have been trending towards widths of less than 10 nm. However, as line widths decrease, the cross-sectional area also decreases, causing resistance to increase. Furthermore, metal lines having a seed layer further reduce metal volume and increase resistance. It is with respect to these and other deficiencies of the prior art that the present disclosure is provided.

Methods for sub-lithography resolution patterning


A compressor includes a housing and one or more working elements. A muffler is located downstream of the discharge plenum. A centerbody is located in the discharge plenum upstream of the muffler spanning a major portion of a length between a bearing case and the muffler.

The invention relates to compressors. More particularly, the invention relates to sound and vibration suppression in screw-type compressors.
In positive displacement compressors, discrete volumes of gas are: trapped at a suction pressure; compressed; and discharged at a discharge pressure. The trapping and discharge each may produce pressure pulsations and related noise generation. Accordingly, a well developed field exists in compressor sound suppression.
One class of absorptive mufflers involves passing the refrigerant flow discharged from the compressor working elements through an annular space between inner and outer annular layers of sound absorptive material (e.g., fiber batting or foam). U.S. Patent Application Pub. No. 2004/0065504 A1 discloses a basic such muffler and then improved versions having integral helmholtz resonators formed within the inner layer. The disclosure of this '504 publication is incorporated by reference herein as if set forth at length.


A tool to aid in the installation of a rock bolt assembly in a rock hole which includes a drive shaft having a proximal end, which is adapted to engage with a drilling rig, and a distal end which includes a recess which is adapted to receive a trailing end portion of the rock bolt and which has a first seat against which an axially pre-set component of the rock bolt assembly abuts, a tubular sleeve telescopically engaged with the shaft which has a first end, which is adapted to receive an axially moveable component of the rock bolt assembly and which has a second seat against which the axially moveable component abuts, and a second end, wherein the sleeve is reciprocally moveable relatively to the shaft between a biased forward position in which the axially pre-set component and the axially moveable component are spaced, and a retracted second position in which the axially pre-set component engages or connects to the axially moveable component.

In a typical rock bolt installation, a leading end of a rock bolt is at least partially inserted into a rock hole and a trailing end of the rock bolt is engaged with a complementary formation of a drill rig in order to install the rock bolt into the rock hole. To increase stability and to ensure that the rock bolt is maintained in axial alignment with the rock hole, the drill rig is often provided with a prop which engages with a face of the rock bed into which the rock bolt is inserted onto which several guide rings are engaged, longitudinally spaced. It is through these rigs that the rock bolt passes to guide the bolt into the hole without bending.
Often, these guide rigs are removed to remove restoration on the passage of a rock bolt with an associated faceplate or the like.
Without guiding formations, as the rock bolt is inserted into the rock hole, the percussive force of the drill rig concentrated on the trialing end of the rock bolt causes the rock bolt to bend which compromises the rock bolt installation.


An anchor socket system for vertically supporting a post includes external and internal, open-ended cylinders, wherein the external cylinder includes first and second semi-cylinder halves each having mirroring tapers and semi-annular upper rims on each respective inner facing wall. Tightening bolts in communication with the internal and external cylinders are rotated to raise the internal cylinder relative to the external cylinder, thereby causing tapered wedges on the outer facing surface of the internal cylinder to exert pressure against the corresponding tapers on the inner facing surface of the external cylinder. As the diameter of the internal cylinder contracts, pressure is exerted against a post by the inner facing walls of the internal cylinder while the outer facing walls of the external cylinder halves simultaneously exert pressure against the inner facing surface of a core-drilled hole, thereby locking the anchor socket and post into place within the core-drilled hole.

This non-provisional patent application is based on provisional patent application Ser. No. 61/763,607 filed on Feb. 12, 2013.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an anchor socket for anchoring various kinds of posts and, more particularly, to a groutless anchor socket system that can be easily installed and replaced without damaging the surrounding area.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Anchor sockets are used to support in-ground installation of various kinds of posts, such as lamp posts, fence posts, davits, tennis net posts, and pool railing and ladder posts. Installation of conventional anchor sockets requires the use of cement and, as a result, multiple visits by the installer due to time needed for the cement to cure. A common problem associated with conventional anchor sockets is the likelihood that removal of the anchor socket, such as in the event of failure due to corrosion, will be required. Removal of anchor sockets that are cemented into the ground is a labor intensive task that requires damaging the ground surface within which the anchor socket has been permanently installed. Once the anchor socket has been removed, replacement with a new anchor socket requires re-cementing and waiting for the cement to cure. Additionally, a number of conventional anchor sockets require drilling of two holes that partially overlap each other in order to accommodate the body structure of the anchor socket, which further necessitates that the center of the anchor socket does not coincide with the center of the post mounting location. Such anchor sockets require extensive calculation time and installation time, in addition to causing further damage to the ground surface within which the holes are being drilled.
In view of the shortcomings associated with conventional anchor sockets, including the problems described above, there is a need for a groutless anchoring system for providing a more efficient and effective installation process of posts, which further allows for removal and replacement of an individual anchor socket without damaging the surrounding area.