A building has a support structure fabricated by anchoring light weight, hollow, vertical steel posts into a pre-poured foundation, and then strengthening the posts by filling the hollow cavities with concrete. The structure provides the framework around which straw bales are stacked to produce insulated wall cores for the building. The posts, which are sized to support the ceilings and roof trusses, are square in cross section and are positioned on a foundation so that the faces of the posts form 45 degree angles with the edges of the foundation slab. The center of the end faces of those straw bales that are in contact with a post are triangularly notched so that the corner of the post mates with the notch, allowing the longitudinal edge face of the bale to lie along the direction of the slab edge. Posts are not located at the corners of the building, but are spaced at least a bale's length away from a corner. This simplifies construction by allowing stacking of bales to form right angled wall structures at the corners without the need of sculpturing the corner bales. Also, there is no discontinuity of materials at the outboard wall surfaces when bales are in contact with a post, and hence, there is no requirement of special materials to bridge the seam formed by the two bales, as required by many building codes.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to residential housing, and in particular to a low cost residential building using straw bale insulation, and the method for fabricating such a building.
2. Background Relative to the Prior Art
The need for low cost housing is a critical ongoing requirement in current society. With escalating costs of materials and labor, even the most modest of houses is now out of reach for many middle and low income families. Attempts to alleviate this problem by means of low interest mortgages, variable rate mortgages, kit homes or the substitution of trailers for conventionally constructed houses have been, at best, not completely satisfactory solutions. A more satisfactory solution requires attacking the root problem; namely, the high cost of home construction.
The largest component in the cost of home construction is labor, and it is estimated that labor accounts for about 65% of the construction cost. A viable method for reducing this cost is for the home owner to personally undertake as much of the home fabrication work as he can. This investment of time and effort in home construction by the owner, his family, and friends is colloquially known as "sweat equity".
To successfully implement such a program requires the use of manageable materials that can be physically handled by a small group of untrained individuals without the need of sophisticated, expensive tools and material handling equipment. A suitable material is straw which is light weight and compact, and has been used as insulation in home construction since time immemorial. Currently straw insulation is being used in the form of bales, the bales later being covered with plaster or interior wall board. In the prior art the use of straw bales has not materially reduced the cost of the resultant home. If the bales are incorporated into a conventional post-and-beam structure, the labor cost remains high. When conventional steel I-beams are used to implement the structure, the size and weight of the I-beams mandate the hiring of a crane, crane operator and other highly paid steel handling specialists to erect the building frame.
The present invention addresses the financial problem of home construction, and discloses low cost materials and building components to be used in building a house by a small group of untrained people without the need of complex tools and machinery, and with the goal of reducing the construction labor costs by as much as 30%.

Straw bale building incorporating a light weight reinforced structure ND method of fabricating same


The present invention provides a metal slurry for electrode formation which slurry is high in dispersion property and enables formation of high density electrode films. The metal slurry for electrode formation is composed of a spherical metal powder of 0.1 to 2.0 μm in mean particle size and a dispersion medium. By making the spherical metal powder have a mean particle size falling within the range from 0.1 to 2.0 μm, there can be obtained a metal slurry for electrode formation which slurry can be coated through a nozzle and is high in dispersion property, without using expensive nanoparticles. In addition, as the dispersion medium, water or lower molecular weight alcohols can be used. Furthermore, the dispersion property can be improved by further adding a dispersant of 10 wt % or below (exclusive of zero) in relation to the metal powder.

The present inventions relate to a slurry for use in electrode formation and a production method thereof, and more specifically, a metal slurry for electrode formation wherein a spherical metal powder is used and which slurry is excellent in dispersion property.
Conventionally, as a method for electrode formation on electronic components, "screen printing method for thick-film electrode formation" has been widely used in which a high viscosity paste for electrode formation is prepared and printed on the electronic components through a screen. In the screen printing method, the electrode pattern is determined by the screen pattern, and accordingly different electrode patterns require respectively different screen patterns prepared. Consequently, the conventional screen printing method involves the problems that it is not only unfavorable in cost but also difficult to meet quickly the electrode patterns changing with the design innovation in electronic components.
For the purpose of solving the above mentioned problems, nowadays, there has been developed such an electrode forming method that uses "jet printing technique" (hereinafter, the printhead used in the jet printing technique will be referred to as "jet printhead"). A method and apparatus for such jet printing is disclosed in allowed, co-assigned, U.S. patent application, U.S. Ser. No. 09/445,670, entitled JETTING LAYERS OF POWDER AND THE FORMATION OF FINE POWDER BEDS THEREBY, in the names of inventors Emanuel M. Sachs et al., 35 U.S.C. 102(e) date Mar. 1, 2000, which was the U.S. National Phase of PCT/US98/12280, filed Jun. 12, 1998, and published on Dec. 17, 1998, the full disclosure of which is hereby fully incorporated by reference herein. In this method, the slurry for use in electrode formation (hereinafter, referred to as "metal slurry for electrode formation" or simply "slurry" as the case may be) is prepared, which slurry is printed on a substrate by use of the jet printhead. The nozzle arranged in the jet printhead is as small as 10 to 130 μm in diameter, and hence there cannot be used such a high viscosity slurry that causes nozzle clogging. Accordingly, the metal particle sizes in the slurry are made small for the purpose of regulating the slurry viscosity. Incidentally, in the present specification, a powder means an ensemble of particles; the term "powder" will be used for the case where the material concerned is judged to be suitably referred to as powder in view of its nature as an ensemble of particles, while the term "particle" will be used for the case where the material concerned is judged to be suitably referred to as particle in view of its nature as the units constituting the powder. Since the powder and the particle share the common constituent unit, sometimes there may be, needless to say, no substantial difference between those matters which are meant by these two terms. In other words, sometimes either of the terms "powder" and "particle" can be used.

Metal slurry for electrode formation and production method of the same


The traffic ticket book holder has a main body connected to a protective flap by a top panel and connected to a front cover by a bottom panel. A pair of zipper tracks connects the right and left sides of the main body, front cover and bottom panel together. Main body, front cover, top panel, bottom panel and the zipper tracks define a generally rectangular shaped ticket compartment that carries a number of traffic ticket books and tickets. An elongated belt strap is releasably attached to the traffic ticket book holder for suspending the traffic book holder from the belt of the user. A flexible thigh strap is attached to the main body of the traffic ticket book holder to the upper thigh area of the user and a thigh adjustment piece to provide adjustment of the thigh strap for varying thigh sizes.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a traffic ticket book holder for carrying items on the thigh of a user. More specifically, it relates to a device to be suspended from a belt worn by a law enforcement officer, and secured to the thigh for carrying traffic tickets and ticket books.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many professionals and athletes require people to write tickets or carry important documentation or equipment as part of their work or performance. Many of these professionals must also be physically ready to quickly perform a task at a moment's notice. Devices that attach important documentation and equipment to a variety of professionals are also well-known in the related art.
U.S. Pat. No. 956,534 issued to Lahey, is a device worn on the wrist or arm of a user and is positioned to retain a memo pad. The device holds the memo pad and is designed particularly for use by waiters, the memo pad being easily secured to a waiter's forearm near the wrist, so as to leave the waiter's hands free, while at the same time holding the memo pad always in a convenient position for writing orders.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,415,106 issued to Connell et al., relates to a body supported printed surface in general, and more specifically, to a thin, flexible ski area map holder, which is easily attached to a skier's limb and provides a safe convenient view of an appropriate map.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,500,019 issued to Curley, Jr., describes a carrier for portable audio devices that is retained around a user's arm. This device has an armband with two inflatable chambers that fits around the contour of a user's arm. A receptacle is also attached to the armband for holding a portable audio device.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,009,347 issued to Phelps, is a wrist holster for carrying a gas canister. The holster is retained by a Velcro strip looped through a buckle and folded back on to itself. The invention, however, does not offer a method of preventing the holster from sliding along the forearm of a user.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,170,917 issued to Tourigny, relates to an article to be worn on the arm of a user for displaying a map or other document. The display article is formed from a pair of flexible panels joined along three edges and is selectively sealable and unsealable by the user along a fourth edge. The panels define a pocket for receiving the map or other document to be displayed. One of the panels provides a transparent window through which the map or document may be viewed.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,477,633 issued to Leinberger, outlines the use of a document holder during outdoor activities which do not normally leave the hands free to hold a document. The document holder has a plurality of flexible members joined together to form a pouch with a clear or otherwise see-through sheet, such as a mesh material, thereby allowing the document to be viewed.
Although the outlined patents describe various carrier apparatuses attachable to a user's body, none disclose any inventions that pertain to law enforcement officers. In the law enforcement profession, there is a need for an apparatus to carry such things as booklets of traffic tickets that are easily accessible, but are out of the way when sudden access to items such as weapons, batons, and handcuffs are necessary. Such an apparatus would be very valuable to law enforcement officers and would be in great demand in the marketplace.
None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed. Thus, a traffic ticket book holder solving the aforementioned problems is desired.


A method and apparatus for calibrating azimuth boresight in a radar system. Antenna boresight misalignment can cause radar systems to inaccurately determine the position of targets relative to a platform vehicle. These errors can be corrected by detecting and accurately measuring a boresight offset angle defined as the angle between the radar antenna boresight and the direction of travel of the host platform vehicle. Several antenna boresight calibration techniques are described. A first technique calculates the boresight offset angle by obtaining target range and azimuth angle measurements at two instants in time. The boresight offset angle is determined by the geometric relationship of the offset angle, target range and azimuth values obtained at two successive time instants. A refined approach obtains target range and azimuth values at several successive time instants, calculating interim boresight offset angles at each time instant. The boresight offset angle is computed by averaging the interim boresight offset angles. In second and third calibration techniques, the boresight offset angle is estimated from the azimuth of qualified calibration targets that are substantially aligned with the host vehicle's heading. Several restrictions are imposed upon the potential calibration targets to suppress the erroneous qualification of adjacent vehicle traffic. In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, the calibration techniques are implemented by software instructions executed by a microprocessor within the radar system. Once the boresight offset angle is detected and calculated, it can be used to calibrate the antenna boresight using either a mathematical or physical calibration approach.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to radar systems, and more particularly to methods of calibrating the azimuth boresight in radar systems.
2. Description of Related Art
Radio detecting and ranging, commonly referred to as "radar", is used for detecting and locating an object of interest, or "target", using the transmission, reflection, and reception of radio waves. Radar emits radio waves in a pattern emanating from the surface of the radar's antenna. Typically, radar systems are mounted to a platform, such as a tower, airplane, ship, automobile or other motorized vehicle. The objective of these radar systems is to accurately locate the position of an object of interest or target relative to the radar's platform.
A number of radar techniques are well known in the art. Radar systems have been used to determine range, range rate and angular location of objects of interest. Target range rate is determined by taking advantage of the well-known Doppler effect. One distinguishing feature of radar systems is the type of modulation technique used to obtain range and range rate data. Examples of these different radar systems include unmodulated continuous wave (CW) radar, frequency modulated (FM) radar, pulse Doppler radar and frequency shift keying (FSK) radar. Other distinguishing features include differences in antenna types, and in the approach used in extracting angular information about a target.
Radar locates a target's position by obtaining the target's "range" and "azimuth angle" relative to a reference point on the antenna. The reference point typically used by radar systems in defining a target's position is the antenna "boresight." The antenna boresight is defined as an imaginary line that emanates from the center of the antenna and is normal to the antenna's surface. A target's range is the distance from the center of the antenna surface to the target. A target's azimuth angle is the angular distance between the antenna boresight and a line extending from the antenna to the target. Thus defined, a target's range and azimuth angle yield the target's position relative to the radar antenna. Radar systems use the range and azimuth angle data to calculate the target's position relative to the platform upon which the radar system is mounted. However, the radar systems use a reference from the radar platform, not from the radar antenna, to determine the target's position relative to the platform. The radar platform reference is typically defined as a straight line along the platform's line of travel.
Typically, the platform reference does not always correlate exactly with the antenna boresight. Rather, due to mechanical misalignment that occurs over time, installation inaccuracies, accidental or willful damage to the radar's supporting structure on the platform, or other causes, a relative angle exits between the antenna boresight and the platform reference. This relative angle between the antenna boresight and the platform reference is referred to as, the "boresight offset angle .alpha.." The boresight offset angle may change over time due to physical changes in the platform and the platform mounting. Although the boresight offset angle .alpha. typically remains very small, unless it is accounted for by the radar system, the radar system will not accurately calculate the position of targets relative the radar system platform. Therefore, it is essential that the boresight offset angle .alpha. be accurately measured and calibrated by the radar system to accurately determine a target's position relative to the radar's platform.
Radar has been used on a wide variety of platforms to detect the position of objects relative to the platforms. For example, radar has been mounted on "host" automobiles and other host vehicles to detect the position of objects (such as other vehicles) on a road relative to the host vehicle. One such vehicular radar system is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,302,956, issued on Apr. 12, 1994 to Asbury et al. and assigned to the owner of the present invention, which is hereby incorporated by reference for its teachings of vehicular radar systems. Another exemplary vehicular radar system using a "monopulse" azimuth radar for automotive vehicle tracking is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,402,129, issued on Mar. 28, 1995 to Gellner et al. and assigned to the owner of the present invention, which is also hereby incorporated by reference for its teachings of vehicular radar systems. As described therein, object position data has been used in the prior art collision avoidance systems to brake or steer a host vehicle when the radar system detects a potential collision with another vehicle. In addition, the radar system may be used in an intelligent cruise control system to decelerate the host vehicle when the radar system detects a potential collision with another vehicle and accelerate the host vehicle when the collision danger ends.
In both the collision avoidance systems and the intelligent cruise control systems, an accurate calculation of object position relative to the radar platform (in this case, a host vehicle) is critical for safe system performance. Disadvantageously, due to the misalignment of the radar antenna during the installation of the radar system onto the host vehicle, or due to subsequent physical damage occurring to the host vehicle proximate the radar antenna, heretofore it has been difficult if not impossible to accurately measure and calibrate the boresight offset angle .alpha.. Consequently, the prior art vehicular radar systems disadvantageously often introduced boresight offset errors when attempting to determine the position of targets and therefore introduced undesirable and sometimes dangerous inaccuracies into the collision avoidance process. Therefore, a need exists for a method and apparatus that can accurately measure and subsequently calibrate the boresight offset angle .alpha..
To more fully describe the problems associated with boresight offset error, consider the exemplary collision avoidance vehicular radar systems shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a collision avoidance vehicular radar system 100 is mounted on a host vehicle 12. The host vehicle 12 is shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 traveling in a direction of travel 22 on a road 30. As described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,302,956, the radar system 100 cooperates with control systems (not shown) on the host vehicle 12 in a well-known manner to prevent the collision of the host vehicle 12 with other objects on the road 30. For example, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the radar system 100 aids the host vehicle 12 in avoiding collision with other vehicles 40,50 travelling in front of the host vehicle 12 in a direction substantially parallel to the direction of travel 22 of the host vehicle 12. As described below in more detail with reference to FIG. 8, and as disclosed in detail in U.S. Pat. No. 5,302,956, the radar system 100 preferably includes an antenna 10 and a microprocessor or micro-controller 11 (FIG. 8). The antenna 10 preferably is mounted to a front bumper 13 of the host vehicle 12 such that it points in a forward direction substantially parallel to the direction of travel 22 of the host vehicle 12. The microprocessor 11 in the radar system 100 calculates the position of objects detected by the antenna 10 in a well-known manner as exemplified by the monopulse azimuth radar system described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,402,129.
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, radar antenna 10 includes an antenna "boresight" 20 that is defined by a line that emanates from the center of the antenna 10 and that is perpendicular to the surface of the antenna 10. The boresight 20 represents a 0.degree. "reference azimuth" extending through the center of the radar beam transmitted by antenna 10. The radar antenna 10 locates "target" vehicles (e.g., vehicles 40 and 50) in a well-known manner by transmitting a transmission signal (radar beam) having a known frequency and sensing the transmission signal as reflected back from the target vehicles. For example, when the radar system 100 comprises a monopulse azimuth radar system (such as that described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,402,129), the antenna 10 transmits a transmission signal and then senses the transmission signal reflected back from the target vehicles in two different physically separated locations of the antenna 10. The antenna 10 of a monopulse radar system is split into two antennas (10a, 10b) that are physically separated by a few centimeters. This separation of the receive antenna 10 provides a "stereo-vision" perspective to the radar system 100. By comparing selected properties of the reflected signals from the two receive antennas, the radar system 100 calculates azimuth angles to target vehicles in front of the host vehicle 12. The azimuth angles to the target vehicles are determined relative to the antenna boresight 20 (0.degree. reference azimuth).
The radar system 100 also determines the range and closing rate (velocity relative to the host vehicle 12) of a selected target vehicle in a well-known manner. For example, a target's range can be determined in one embodiment by measuring phase differences in Doppler channel frequencies derived from the transmission signals reflected back from the target and received by the radar antenna 10. A target's closing rate is determined by analyzing the well known "Doppler frequency shift" in the signal returned from the target.
The radar system 100 preferably determines the location of a target vehicle 40 relative to the antenna 10 by calculating both a range value ("R") 16 and an azimuth angle of the target vehicle 40. The range R 16 to the target vehicle 40 is defined as the distance from the center of the radar antenna 10 to the target vehicle 40. The azimuth angle is defined as the angular distance from a 0.degree. reference azimuth to a target line 24 formed from the center of the antenna 10 to the target vehicle 40. Ideally, the radar system 100 should use the boresight 20 as the 0.degree. reference azimuth to determine an azimuth angle 18 of the target vehicle 40 relative to the host vehicle 12. All determinations of the azimuth angles to potential targets are ideally made relative to this 0.degree. reference azimuth antenna boresight 20. Disadvantageously, due to practical limitations, the prior art radar systems (e.g., the radar system 100) use the antenna boresight 20, and not the direction of travel 22, for the 0.degree. reference azimuth when determining an azimuth angle 19 for the target vehicle 40. That is, the prior art radar systems assume that the antenna boresight 20 coincides exactly and is perfectly aligned with the direction of travel or "heading" 22 of the host vehicle 12 as shown in FIG. 1. As long as the antenna boresight 20 and heading 22 are perfectly aligned, as shown in FIG. 1, the target azimuth angle 19 (measured relative to the direction of travel 22) will be exactly equal to the ideal target azimuth angle 18 (measured relative to the antenna boresight 20).
Unfortunately, the antenna boresight 20 frequently becomes misaligned with the host vehicle's direction of travel 22 due to mechanical misalignment that occurs over time, installation inaccuracies, accidental or intentional damage to the radar's supporting structure on the host vehicle 12 (e.g., damage or misalignment of the front bumper 13 with the main compartment of the host vehicle 12). Such a misalignment of the antenna boresight 20 and the direction of travel 22 is shown graphically in FIG. 2.
As shown in FIG. 2, because of misalignment of the antenna 10 relative to the host vehicle 12, a boresight offset angle ".alpha." 26 is introduced into the target azimuth calculations which leads to target location miscalculations. The boresight offset angle .alpha. 26 is defined as the angular distance between the vehicle's direction of travel 22 and the antenna boresight 20. Referring to FIG. 2, and as described above with reference to FIG. 1, if the boresight offset angle 26 were zero (i.e., the ideal case with no misalignment of the antenna radar 10), the radar system 100 would accurately determine the position of the target vehicle 40 by calculating both the azimuth angle 18 (measured relative to the boresight 20 and direction of travel 22) and a range 16 for the target vehicle 40. Unfortunately, due to a non-zero boresight offset angle .alpha. 26, the prior art radar systems miscalculate the position of target vehicle 40 as being located in the position of phantom target vehicle 40'.
The radar system 100 calculates the range 16' of the target 40' as described above. However, the radar system 100 miscalculates the target azimuth angle 18 as having a phantom target azimuth angle 18' because it interprets the returned target azimuth angle 18 of the target vehicle 40 as being relative to the direction of travel 22, and not relative to the true antenna boresight 20. Thus, the radar system 100 dangerously identifies the target vehicle 40 as being at the position of phantom vehicle 40' having an azimuth angle 18' relative to the direction of travel 22, rather than as being at the true position of vehicle 40 having an azimuth angle 19 relative to the direction of travel 22. This miscalculation creates a very dangerous situation for collision avoidance systems. False alarms are generated when the radar system 100 mistakenly determines that a target vehicle is in the host vehicle's direction of travel when, in fact, it is not. These false alarms can cause sudden braking and unnecessary steering of the host vehicle 12, which can lead to collisions with the target vehicle or other objects on the road 30.
Even in systems that merely warn the host vehicle operator of potentially dangerous scenarios, the false alarms can create a nuisance condition for the operator of the host vehicle 12. The false alarms caused by the boresight offset angle can cause the operator of the host vehicle 12 to lose faith in the reliability of the radar system 100 and render the system ineffective for warning the operator of real threats. In addition, such false alarms are distracting and disturbing to the operator.
The errors caused by the introduction of the boresight offset angle 26 can be corrected either physically by moving the antenna 10 to align the antenna boresight 20 with the direction of travel 22 or mathematically by accounting for the misalignment in calculating the target azimuth angles. However, regardless of the correction method used, in determining the location of targets using a radar system, it is essential to detect the presence of a boresight offset angle, accurately measure the angle, and calibrate the radar system accordingly.
One prior art approach for generating corrected azimuth signals in a radar system is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,929,952, issued to Schneider et al., on May 29, 1990. The system described by Schneider et al. uses a separate "stable" reference source to provide data pertaining to the platform vehicle's (e.g., a ship) pitch, roll and heading. The separate reference source can be a ship's gyrocompass, inertial navigation system or the like. Disadvantageously, the separate reference source required by this approach introduces errors into the corrected azimuth calculations because it does not provide exact positional data of the detected targets. In addition, the algorithms used to calculate the corrected azimuth data are disadvantageously relatively complex. Thus, this prior art approach demands precious system resources and takes an unacceptable amount of time to generate corrected azimuth calculations. In addition, the technique disclosed by Schneider et al. requires additional space on the platform to accommodate the separate reference source. Yet another disadvantage of the technique described by Schneider et al. is the expense associated with the purchase and maintenance of the separate reference source.
Accordingly, a need exists for a simple, inexpensive solution to the problem of detecting, measuring and calibrating the antenna azimuth boresight of a radar system. More specifically, a need exists for a method and apparatus that can detect, accurately measure and account for errors introduced by a boresight offset angle between the antenna boresight and the direction of travel of the host platform. Such a method and apparatus should be simple to implement, inexpensive, and should work with existing radar systems. The present invention provides such a solution.

Method and apparatus for calibrating azimuth boresight in a radar system


Methods for performing a surgical procedure using optical coherence tomography (OCT) are provided. The method includes extracting lenticular material from within a capsular bag of an eye of a patient; acquiring at least one OCT image of an interior region of the capsular bag after extraction of substantially all of the lenticular material from within the capsular bag; determining from the at least one OCT image the presence of cellular debris remaining within the interior of the capsular bag; and extracting at least a portion of the remaining cellular debris from the interior of the capsular bag.

Surgical microscopes provide a magnified view of the operating field to the surgeon. Ophthalmic surgical microscopes are commonly stereo zoom microscopes with binocular view ports for the surgeon, and frequently have one or two observer view ports at ninety degrees (left and right) to the surgeon. The working distance between the objective lens of the microscope and the surface of a patient eye may range from about 100 mm to about 200 mm in order to allow the surgeon sufficient working area.
Surgical microscopes are tailored to provide clear optical view to the subject, with uniform illumination and accurate color temperature. Stereo microscopes provide a degree of parallax to provide the surgeon with a sense of space and topography. Occasionally dyes are used to emphasize topography. High definition video is being offered into surgical microscopes to improve visual clarity. Topographic 3D video technologies adopted from entertainment industry, such as polarization-diversity stereoscopy, are now being added to increase the sense of depth.
Such surgical stereo microscopes are constrained to surface visualization. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is now a well-established technology for imaging beneath an optically translucent surface. High resolution OCT offers a capability to observe sub-surface structures, complementary to the surface views of stereo, high definition and 3D surgical microscopes. Optical coherence tomography is a standard of care in retinal diagnostics, and is finding some use in cornea imaging and metrology OCT is only beginning to find use in intra-surgical imaging. Bioptigen offers a handheld ophthalmic OCT system has been FDA cleared for imaging patients under anesthesia. This device is finding application in handheld and mounted configurations for structural imaging during ophthalmic surgeries, including retinal surgery and cornea transplant surgery and an adjunct to surgeon's microscope visualization.
OCT is now incorporated in certain ophthalmic surgical laser systems. OCT is incorporated in LensX and Optimedica femtosecond laser assisted cataract (FLAC) surgical systems to provide ranging to the crystalline lens as a guidance device to facilitate focus of the surgical laser. At present, this ranging function is the limit of the application of the OCT to the surgical procedure.

Procedural optical coherence tomography (OCT) for surgery and related methods


An acoustic generator of pressure pulsations includes a cylindrical waveguide which is caused to vibrate at a low amplitude by an electromechanical transducer. The vibration of the cylindrical waveguide creates low amplitude pressure pulsations in an acoustic chamber containing stationary pressure fluid. A mechanical amplifier, which is part of the acoustic chamber, amplifies the low amplitude pressure pulsations generated by the cylindrical waveguide.

Continuous liquid jets are commonly used for cutting and disintegration of various materials, for cleaning and removal of surface layers and coatings. Generating of sufficiently high pressure pulsations in pressure liquid upstream from the nozzle exit (so called modulation) enables to generate a pulsating liquid jet that emerges from the nozzle as a continuous liquid jet and it not forms into pulses until certain standoff distance from the nozzle exit. The advantage of such a pulsating jet compared to the continuous one consists in fact that the initial impact of pulses of pulsating jet on the target surface generates impact pressure that is several times higher than stagnation pressure generated by the impact of continuous jet under the same conditions. In addition, the impact of pulsating jet induces also fatigue stress in target material due to cyclic loading of the target surface. This further improves an efficiency of the pulsating liquid jet compared to the continuous one.
At present, several types of devices intended for generation of pulsating liquid jets are available. Internal mechanical flow modulators are mechanical devices integrated in the nozzle. They are formed essentially by channeled rotor placed upstream the nozzle exit. The rotor cyclically changes resistance of flow by its rotation and thus modulates velocity of the jet emerging from the nozzle (E. B. Nebeker: Percussive Jets—State-of-the-Art, Proceedings of the 4th U.S. Water Jet Symposium, WJTA, St. Louis, 1987). The main shortcoming of the above mentioned principle is very low lifetime of moving components in the nozzle.
Modulation of continuous liquid jets by Helmholtz oscillator is based on the fact that changes in flow cross-section and/or flow discontinuities provoke periodical pressure fluctuations in flowing liquid (Z. Shen & Z. M. Wang: Theoretical analysis of a jet-driven Helmholtz resonator and effect of its configuration on the water jet cutting property, Proceedings of the 9th International Symposium on Jet Cutting Technology, BHRA, Cranfield, 1988). The same physical principle is used in so-called self-resonating nozzles. Certain type of shock pressure is developed when liquid flows over exit of resonating tube. The shock pressure is carried back to the tube inlet where it creates standing wave by addition with pressure pulsations. If frequency of the shock pressure corresponds to natural frequency of the flow, pressure resonance occurs and the jet starts to create discrete annular vortexes that result in generation of cavitations and/or pulses. (G. L. Chahine et al.: Cleaning and cutting with self-resonating pulsed water jets, Proceedings of the 2nd U.S. Water Jet Symposium, WJTA, St. Louis, 1983). The primary disadvantage of the above mentioned devices is low depth of modulation of liquid jet.
An ultrasonic nozzle for modulation of high-speed water jet is based on a vibrating transformer placed upstream in the vicinity of the nozzle exit in such a way that pressurized fluid flows through annulus between the transformer and nozzle wall. The vibrating transformer is connected to magnetostrictive and/or piezoelectric transducer. The transformer generates highly intensive ultrasound field upstream of the nozzle exit that modulates high-speed water jet escaping from the nozzle (M. M. Vijay: Ultrasonically generated cavitating or interrupted jet, U.S. Pat. No. 5,154,347, 1992). High wear of the tip of vibrating transformer due to intense cavitational erosion, increased dimensions and weight of cutting tool rank among the most important drawbacks of the above mentioned device. The level of modulation is strongly dependent on the position of the tip of the vibrating transformer with respect to the nozzle exit. In addition to that, the ultrasonic nozzle device does not allow utilizing of existing cutting tools for continuous water jets, which significantly increases costs of its implementation in industrial practice.

Method of generation of pressure pulsations and apparatus for implementation of this method


An image compression algorithm (10) and complementary decompression algorithm (20) are disclosed. The compression algorithm (10) maintains a set of reference points (610, 611, 612 and 613), each reference point having a predetermined spatial relationship with a current pixel (600). An adjustment along scanlines of the reference points is determined. Each of the reference points (611, 612 and 613) is then adjusted by the determined adjustment. A search for a match between one of the strings of consecutive previously scanned pixels including one of the adjusted reference pixels and the string of consecutive pixels including the current pixel is then conducted, and if a match is found, then an identifier for the reference pixel included in the match and the length of the matching string of consecutive pixels are encoded to an output stream.

Data compression may be described as a process that converts data in a given format into an alternative format, with the data in the alternative format requiring less storage space, or transmission time, than the original data.
LZ77 and LZ78 are the names for the two lossless data compression algorithms, published in 1977 and 1978 respectively, and named after the authors A. Lempel and J. Ziv of the algorithms. Since that time the LZ77 and LZ78 algorithms have also formed the basis for many other compression algorithms, including LZW, LZSS and LZRW. These compression algorithms are known as dictionary coders.
The LZ77 dictionary coder operates by keeping a history window of the most recently processed input data. A comparison is then made between the current input data, that is the data that is currently being encoded, and the data in the history window. The output stream of the coder, that is the compressed stream, is made up from references to the position in the history window of any matches, and the length of such matches. If a match cannot be found the character itself is simply encoded into the compressed stream.
The LZRW algorithm has proven to be very fast, but has a poor compression ratio. The LZ78 algorithm, and algorithms based thereon such as LZW, requires significant storage in the decoder. The LZ77 dictionary coder has the advantages that its compression ratio is very good for many types of data, and its decoding is very simple and fast. Accordingly, the LZ77 algorithm has formed the basis of the gzip compression utility written by Jean-loup Gailly and adopted by the GNU Project, accessible on http://www.gzip.org/. The LZ77 algorithm is also used in the lossless Portable Network Graphics (PNG) image compression format. However, encoding using the LZ77 algorithm is often time-consuming due to the number of comparisons to be performed, which is a particular problem when applied to highly redundant data, such as halftoned images.
The previously mentioned gzip compression utility also uses a fixed Huffman scheme. As a result, two passes over the input data are required in order to collect probabilities. This exposes known issues with fixed Huffman coding namely, the impossibility of optimally coding symbols that have non-power 2 probabilities, and the necessity to send a coding tree along with the compressed data. Frequent restarting of the encoder is required to maintain adaptiveness to different patterns in the data. Adaptive Huffman coders, which perform the coding process in one pass, and arithmetic coders, which are optimal in terms of statistical probability, on the other hand are very slow.
Even though the original LZ77 and LZ78 algorithms were developed for 1-dimensional data streams, some 2-dimensional LZ schemes have been proposed recently, such as that by Storer et al.: "Lossless Image compression by block matching" published in, The Computer Journal 1997, vol40, pp. 137-145. Although the algorithm proposed by Storer outperforms the LZ77 algorithm with regards to compression ratio when applied to images, the memory requirements and time performance do not match those of the simpler 1-dimensional LZ77 algorithm.
Encoding formats have also been developed for facsimile transmissions, such as the Fax Group 3, also known as G3, and the Fax Group 4, also known as G4 encoding formats used for Tagged Image File Format (TIFF) files. The G3 format is the more commonly used format, and supports one-dimensional image compression of black and white images. As the G3 and G4 encoding formats have been developed for bi-level images containing large amounts of flat regions, like scanned text, such encoding formats do not perform well on halftoned images.
State of the art lossless bi-level image compression schemes, such as the Joint Bi-level Image experts Group (JBIG) compression scheme, only achieve moderate compression ratios on halftoned images due to the periodic dot structure appearing in halftoned images. As a result there have been some efforts to develop "hand-crafted" fast image compression schemes which are based on the knowledge of the dither matrices used in halftoning. Some of these compression schemes have very good time performance, but provide only moderate compression ratios. However, because these compression schemes rely on knowledge of the exact pattern of the dither matrix, and because the exact pattern cannot always be known, these compression schemes often fail.


A method is described that involves providing a persisted quantity for a time series time interval to a first transaction, then, providing the same persisted quantity to a second transaction that operates in parallel with the first transaction. The second transaction is not permitted to change the persisted quantity. The method also involves replacing the persisted quantity with a second persisted quantity within the time series. The second persisted quantity is determined by the first transaction. The method also involves writing a persisted quantity change for the time series time interval. The persisted quantity change is determined by the second transaction.

A "time series" tracks quantity over time. For example, in the case of supply chain management software, a time series for a particular item may be used to track, over time, the quantity that a warehouse has "in stock" for the particular item. Here, the time series would track the "ups and downs" in the quantity of the item in the warehouse in response to various deliveries/shipments of the item to/from the warehouse that occur over time.
A typical supply chain management process involves the accessing of time series data to check into the availability of an item or resource. For example, again using a warehouse example, if a transaction desires to ship "X" amount of a specific item at a certain time, the supply chain management software will "check" to make sure that at least X items will be in the warehouse at that time.
A time series may be organized by specifying a quantity for each of a series of equally extensive time intervals. According to the scale 100A observed in FIG. 1a, quantity is measured along the vertical axis and the time intervals T1, T2, T3, T4, T5, T6 are observed along the horizontal axis. Each time interval can be viewed as a "bucket" that sums together changes made to an item's quantity that arise within the bucket's corresponding time interval.
For example, FIG. 1b shows time series data 100B for an "order" (Order_1) in which an item's quantity is made to: 1) increase by one unit (+1) within bucket T1; 2) increase by two units (+2) within bucket T2; and, 3) increase by three units (+3) within bucket T3. FIG. 1c shows the resulting time series data (TS) if a second order (Order_2) for the item is placed that reduces the item's quantity by one unit (−1) in each of the T2 and T3 time intervals. Here, note the summation of Order_1 and Order_2 yields a net quantity for the item of +1 within time interval T2 and +2 within time interval T3.
FIG. 1d indicates that an order can, conceivably, add and subtract to an item's quantity. Specifically, Order_3 increases the item's quantity by one unit within time interval T2 and decreases the item's quantity by one unit within time interval T3. Again, summing over each of the three orders within their respective buckets, yields a time series (TS) having a quantity of +1 within time interval T1, +2 within time interval T2, and, +1 within time interval T3.
Note that in actual implementation the time interval for each specific bucket may be "open" on one end and "closed" on the other end (e.g., over a time interval of t=x to t=y, the term "time interval" may be any time over a time period of (x,y] or [x,y)). Also, as suggested by the time series (TS) notations observed in FIGS. 1c and 1d (i.e., (T1; +1); (T2; +1); (T3; +2) in FIG. 1c and (T1; +1); (T2; +2); (T3; +1) in FIG. 1d), a time series may be stored as a plurality of time interval/quantity associations.
FIG. 2 shows a particular problem associated with prior art time series implementations. Specifically if, at approximately the same time, two different transactions desire to implement a quantity change at the same time interval, one of the transactions will be permitted to change the time series data while the other will be "blocked" so as to be prevented from doing so. Here, the blocked transaction will have to wait until the non-blocked transaction implements its quantity change to the time interval data before the blocked transaction will be permitted to access and change the time interval's time series data. In this sense, changes to the quantity of a particular time series time interval are made "serially" and not "in parallel".
FIG. 2 shows the problem schematically. Here, transaction TX_1 201 is permitted to read the quantity #1 for time interval T1 for purposes of making a change to the quantity #1. Transaction TX_2 202 attempts to access and change the same quantity #1 while transaction TX_1 201 still has access to it (e.g., transaction TX_2 attempts to change the quantity #1 at time t2 just after the time t1 that transaction TX_1 was granted access to it). Transaction TX_2 202 is blocked from accessing the quantity #1 because of the earlier access by transaction TX_1 201. By contrast, transaction TX_2 202 is not blocked from another time interval's quantity data (e.g., quantity #2 from time interval T2 at time t3) for purposes of changing it provided no other transaction has already accessed it for purposes of changing it.
Moreover, in the prior art, the overall penalty stemming from a lock is exacerbated because the resolution or granularity of a lock spans across multiple time interval buckets rather than a single time interval bucket. As a consequence, the probability of a transaction being locked out of a time interval is not the probability of an earlier transaction having a need for the same time interval, but rather, the probability of an earlier transaction having a need for any time interval within a range of time intervals about the same time interval.

Method and apparatus for making changes to a quantity for a time interval within a time series


In a double-layered optical disk capable of reading two-layer information from one face, the substrates constituting this optical disk can hardly peel even with a dropping shock or a change over time. The double-layered optical disk is constituted by a transparent first substrate, a first information recording layer, and a second substrate adhered to the first substrate through the first information recording layer. The first substrate has information pits to be read with a read laser beam and is transparent to this read laser beam. The first information recording layer is formed on the information pit formation surface of the first substrate and is made of an inorganic dielectric having a higher refractive index than that of the first substrate.

The present invention relates to an improvement in the structure of an information recording medium on which address information, header information, moving picture information, audio information, and any other information are recorded.
More particularly, the present invention relates to an improvement in a high-density optical disk obtained by adhering two transparent substrates on which various kinds of information are recorded as embossed prepits, wherein at least some of information recording layers having prepits are made of a material having a higher refractive index than that of each substrate of the double-layered optical disk.
In multimedia applications for processing image information in a large quantity, to meet complicated needs and a great increase in quantity of necessary information, strong demand has arisen for a means for holding information in a larger size and allowing quick information access. A typical example of such an information holding means is an optical disk.
The most popular media belonging to the optical disks are a compact disk (CD) developed as a recording medium for music, a CD-ROM developed as a recording medium for computer data, and a laser disk (LD) developed as a recording medium for movies (moving pictures). These optical disks may have difficulty coping with future multimedia applications.
New types of media which can cope with the needs for large capacities and the high-speed, flexible information access are next-generation main recording media which are about to be on the market, i.e., a digital versatile disk and a digital video disk (to be referred to as a DVD hereinafter).
The capacity of one DVD disk standard, i.e., the capacity of a double-layered DVD having 0.6-mm thick transparent substrates (polycarbonate) is about 10 Gbytes on the two faces. Each face has a capacity of about 5 Gbytes. A 135-minute movie can be compressed on one face in accordance with the MPEG (Moving Picture Expert Group) standards.
A DVD disk employs a double-layered structure. For this reason, to read all the information on the two faces of the disk, the disk must be turned over at the end of a read operation on one face or a laser pickup (read optical head) must be moved from the upper face to the lower face of the disk, judging from the operation of a conventional optical disk (e.g., an LD). A user must turn over the disk at the end of a read operation on one face, resulting in inconvenience. Alternatively, an optical head for reading information from the two faces must be arranged to complicate the arrangement of a read apparatus. That is, a compact read apparatus is difficult to obtain, and the product cost becomes high, thus posing a problem.
To solve the above problem (i.e., the disk must be turned over, or the complicated two-face read mechanism is required), the following structure is employed in a DVD disk. More specifically, a semi-transparent film is used as a recording layer (first recording layer) on the read laser receiving face (upper face) facing an optical head and information on a recording layer (second recording layer) on the face (lower face) opposing the optical head can also be read. With this structure, the optical disk is always located on one face (upper face) side of the disk. The read face is switched by changing the focal point of the optical head between the first and second recording layers.
In this case, the transmittance of the first recording layer (transparency to the read laser beam) on the upper face side must be high to properly read information from the second recording layer as the lower face. The reflectance of the first recording layer (reflectance with respect to the same read laser beam as the transmitted laser beam) must be high.
Normally, a high transmittance contradicts a high reflectance with respect to the same laser beam. The number of transmission/reflection materials which balance the above contradictory factors on a practical level is limited. An example of such a material is a very thin gold film. When the first recording layer on the upper face side of the optical disk is made of a very thin gold film, it is difficult to assure the mechanical strength at this gold film portion because two disk substrates are adhered to each other through the very thin gold film. That is, when a user drops a double-layered disk in which the very thin gold film is present on the adhesion face, the two substrates of the double-layered disk may peel at this gold film portion due to a shock. Even in the absence of a dropping shock, the two substrates of the double-layered disk may peel at the thin gold film portion after long-term storage or in a high-temperature, high-humidity accelerated degradation test. In addition, since gold is an expensive material, it is disadvantageous to employ a thin gold film due to the disk manufacturing cost.

Double-layered information recording medium having information recording layers


There is provided a 177-Lu labelled peptide for site-specific targeting of the Urokinase Plasminogen Activator Receptor (uPAR) thereby enabling treatment of a cancer disease associated with high uPAR expression; e.g. treatment of colorectal cancer by administering to a patient an effective amount of the 177-Lu labelled peptide.

Various radio-labelled peptide compositions have been developed or are under development for site-specific targeting of a therapeutic radionuclide. The general principle involves attaching a selected radionuclide to a peptide having a high specificity for a particular organ or tissue so that the organ or tissue can be treated by a therapeutic radioisotope. This field of research has shown particular applicability for tumor imaging and treatment. Particularly desirable biological sites include but is not limited to neuroendocrine tumors, such as abdominal tumors, and small cell lung carcinomas, brain tumors, prostate tumors, breast tumors, colon tumors, and ovarian tumors.
DOTA (1,4,7,10-tetrakis(carboxymethyl)-1,4,7,10 tetraazacyclo dodecane) and its derivatives constitute an important class of chelators for biomedical applications as they accommodate very stably a variety of di- and trivalent metal ions. An emerging area is the use of chelator conjugated bioactive peptides for labelling with radiometals in different fields of diagnostic and therapeutic nuclear oncology. NODAGA and its derivatives constitute another important class of chelators for biomedical applications.
177Lu-labeled peptides for nuclide targeting therapy are successfully being introduced in treatment of neuroendocrine tumors and several new targets are currently being evaluated in pre-clinical cancer models including integrins, Her-2, Gastrin-releasing peptide (GRP), and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF).
uPAR PET imaging has been exploited in several human cancer xenograft models using a small linear DOTA-conjugated peptide, DOTA-AE105 radiolabeled with 64Cu (Persson et al, 2011) and 68Ga (Persson et al, 2012)
Malignant tumors are capable of degrading the surrounding extracellular matrix, resulting in local invasion or metastasis. Urokinase-type plasminogen activator (uPA) and its cell surface receptor (uPAR) are central molecules for cell surface-associated plasminogen activation both in vitro and in vivo. High expression of uPA and uPAR in many types of human cancers correlate with malignant tumor growth and associate with a poor prognosis, possibly indicating a causal role for the uPA/uPAR system in cancer progression and metastasis. Studies by immunohistochemistry and in situ hybridization indicate that expression levels of the components from the uPA system are generally very low in normal tissues and benign lesions. It has also been reported that the uPA/uPAR system is involved in regulating cell-extracellular matrix interactions by acting as an adhesion receptor for vitronectin and by modulating integrin function. Based on these properties, the uPA/uPAR system is consequently considered an attractive target for cancer therapy.
WO 01/25410 describes diagnostically or therapeutically labelled uPAR-targeting proteins and peptides. The peptide or protein comprises at least 38 amino acid residues, including residues 13-30 of the uPAR binding site of uPA.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,277,818 describes uPAR-targeting cyclic peptide compounds that may be conjugated with a diagnostic label. The peptides are based on the amino acid residues 20-30 of uPA.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,514,710 is also directed to cyclic peptides having affinity for uPAR. The peptides may carry a detectable label. The peptide comprises 11 amino acids joined by a linking unit.
Ploug et al. in Biochemistry 2001, 40, 12457-12168 describes uPAR targeting peptides but not in the context of imaging, including amino acid sequences as described in the present document. Similar disclosure is provided in U.S. Pat. No. 7,026,282.
DADACHOVA, E. ("Cancer Therapy with Alpha-Emitters Labeled Peptides", Seminars In Nuclear Medicine (2010), Vol. 40, Issue 3, Pages 204-208) discloses 213-Bi labelled uPAR binding peptide conjugates, in which the peptide is coupled to 213-Bi by DOTA. The petides are used for treatment of cancer.
GUHA, A. C. et al. ("Tumor Biology-Guided Radiotherapy Treatment Planning: Gross Tumor Volume Versus Functional Tumor Volume", Seminars In Nuclear Medicine (2008), Vol. 38, Issue 2, Pages 105-113) discloses that radioactive metals, such as 177-Lu, are used for labelling antibodies for use in radio immunotherapy. The document further describes that the radioactive metals may be conjugated to functional binding agents, such as uPAR binding peptides, by metal chelating agents.
JIANG L. et al.("Preliminary evaluation of (177)Lu-labeled knottin peptides for integrin receptor-targeted radionuclide therapy", Eur. J. Nucl. Med. Mol. Imaging (2011), Vol. 38, Issue 4, pages 13-22) discloses cysteine knot peptides engineered to bind integrin receptors, which are radio labelled with 177-Lu via the radio metal chelator DOTA, and the use of such peptide for radiotherapy of integrin positive tumors.
WO2007134274 A2 discloses a method for killing cancer stem cells by use of a ligand that binds to uPAR conjugated to 177-Lu.
Selecting a specific radionuclide in a specific conjugate system is not trivial due to chemical and physiological uncertainties. For instance it would not be obvious to replace 213-Bi with 177-Lu, since 213-Bi is an alpha-emitter and thus clinically remote from 177-Lu, which is a beta-emitter.
The efficient targeting of uPAR demands a selective high-affinity vector that is chemically robust and stable.

177-Lu labeled peptide for site-specific uPAR-targeting


In an adaptive optics module, wavefront sensing and data detection are implemented in a single device. For example, an optical-to-electrical converter converts a data-encoded optical beam to an intermediate electrical signal, which contains both the data encoded in the beam and also wavefront information about the beam. The data and wavefront information are later separated, for example by frequency filtering.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to the field of free-space optical communications. More specifically, the invention relates to the use of adaptive optics (including for example tip/tilt correction) as an enhancement to a free-space optical communications link.
2. Description of the Related Art
With recent advances in technology, there is an increasing interest in the use of free-space optical communications for various applications. For example, much of the current telecommunications infrastructure is based on the transmission of optical signals via optical fibers. While the use of fiber optics has increased the capacity and efficiency of data transmission, there are many situations where the installation of new fiber is not the best solution. As a result, there is interest in augmenting the telecommunications infrastructure by transmitting optical signals through the free-space of the atmosphere.
Free-space optical communications links can also be used advantageously in applications outside of the telecommunications infrastructure. Compared to other communications technologies, a free-space optical communications link can have advantages of higher mobility and compact size, better directionality (e.g., harder to intercept), faster set up and tear down, and/or suitability for situations where one or both transceivers are moving. Thus, free-space optical communications links can be used in many different scenarios, including in airborne, sea-based, space and/or terrestrial situations.
However, in many of these potential applications, the free-space optical communications link suffers from optical aberrations. For example, changes in atmospheric conditions can be a significant impediment to the accuracy, reliability and efficiency of free-space optical communications systems. Wind, heat waves, man-made pollutants and other effects can create constantly changing aberrations. This, in turn, can degrade the quality of the optical signal that is available at the receiver, resulting in degradation of the overall quality and efficiency of the communications channel.
Adaptive optics can compensate for these aberrations, thus improving the performance of a free-space optical communications link. However, current free-space optical communications links that have adaptive optics capability typically use separate detectors for data detection and for wavefront sensing. The incoming optical beam typically is divided by a beamsplitter, with one portion directed to the data detector and the other portion to the wavefront sensor. However, this requires that the data detector and wavefront sensor be accurately registered with respect to each other. The use of two separate detectors and the resulting registration requirement adds cost and complexity to the overall system and can also reduce the reliability of the system.
As a result, it would be advantageous for adaptive optics systems to eliminate the need for two separate detectors.

Combined wavefront sensor and data detector for a free space optical communications system with adaptive optics


A traffic lane marking line recognition system for a vehicle includes an image compositing device which composites images photographed at different time points by a camera to elongate a traffic lane marking line such as a white line in the photographed image, the brightness of the photographed images is detected, the brightness is corrected, taking one image among the plurality of images as a reference, such that the brightness of the plurality of images is equal to each other, and the plurality of images are composited after the brightness has been corrected. By making the brightness of the images to be composited equal to each other, it becomes possible to recognize the traffic lane marking line accurately and unerringly.

Road surfaces (roads) on which vehicles drive are marked or installed with various road markings such as white lines, yellow lines and cat's eyes constituting traffic lane marking lines. Conventionally the recognition of white lines and other such traffic lane marking lines has, as taught by Patent Reference 1, been done by subjecting an image photographed or taken by image photographing means such as a CCD camera and an image processing ECU to differentiation and binarization processing to detect edges in the image and subjecting point sequences of the detected edge (white line candidate point sequences) to Hough transformation to extract approximated linear components.
Further, when, for example, a white line marked on the road surface is itself physically worn through or partially chipped away, or the white line is indistinct in the photographed image owing to low contrast such as may occur during night driving, the white line cannot be accurately recognized, and, as set out in Patent Reference 2, a technique has been proposed for, in such a case, forming a window in the photographed image, judging the degree of white line wear-off from the density of the white line candidate points in the window, and when wear-off is found, superimposing/compositing a white line candidate point sequences extracted from a photographed image taken a given time earlier on/with the white line candidate point sequences extracted from the current white line image, determining a straight line approximating the composited white line candidate point sequences, and recognizing it as the white line.    Patent Reference 1: Japanese Patent Publication No. Hei 6(1994)-42261    Patent Reference 2: Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2001-236506
Aside from the above, when compositing photographed images, since the time points at which the images are photographed are different from each other, the brightness of the photographed object (road surface) may differ owing to the effect of shading and the like and if composition should be conducted in a state where the brightness of the road surface portion of one image is brighter than that of the white lines or other such traffic lane marking lines of the other image, there would be a risk of the white lines being buried in the road surface in the composited image that invites the degradation of traffic lane marking line recognition accuracy. However, the prior art set out in the Patent References 1 and 2 has no counter-measures therefore.
Therefore, an object of this invention is to overcome the aforesaid drawbacks and provide a traffic lane marking line recognition system for a vehicle that makes the brightness of the images to be composited equal with each other, thereby enabling accurate recognition of the traffic lane marking line.

Traffic lane marking line recognition system for vehicle


A method of forming directional antenna beams, comprising: directing at least two antenna beam signals by means of a beam formation matrix and pre-phasing pre-determined antenna beam signals formed with an antenna array in such a way that the signal of at least one antenna beam has a different phase compared with the signals of other antenna beams. The pre-phasing is implemented with a pre-phasing element, which comprises phasing coefficients in digital implementation. The pre-phasing element is implemented in such a way, for example, that the power of the sum signal of the antenna elements is evenly distributed to the different antenna elements in a pre-determined variation range.

In the future, when the number of users of cellular radio networks increases and rapid data transmission in these systems becomes increasingly common, an increase in the capacity of the system by improving the performance of the system becomes essentially important. One solution to this problem is the use of one or more adaptive antenna arrays instead of sector antennas. In an antenna array, single antenna elements are positioned typically close to each other, i.e. at about half a wavelength from each other. Typically, to facilitate the Fourier conversion, the number of antennas in such arrays is divisible by two and sufficiently large to achieve a desired coverage area. The basic principle of the method is to use narrow radiation beams that are directed towards the desired receiver as directly as possible. In the use of adaptive antenna arrays, the methods generally known can be divided into two main groups: directing radiation groups towards the receiver, or selecting the most suitable one of alternative beams. For the purpose of uplink transmission, a suitable beam is selected, or a beam is turned on the basis of the information received from the uplink. Reuse of frequencies can be made more efficient and the power of transmitters decreased, because interference caused to other users is reduced owing to the directivity of antenna beams.
The direction of antenna beams is typically implemented in a digital system by means of a digital beam formation matrix, for example a digital Butler matrix. A signal is divided in baseband parts into I and Q branches, and the signal of each antenna element is multiplied in a complex manner, i.e. phase and amplitude, by appropriate weighting coefficients, and after that, all output signals of the antenna elements are summed up. An adaptive antenna array comprises in this case not only antennas but also a signal processor, which automatically adapts antenna beams by means of a control algorithm by turning antenna beams in the direction of the most powerful signal measured.
A problem with generating antenna beams with a digital beam formation matrix of the prior art is that the phasing of antenna signals is performed as proportional relative to a reference antenna, in general the first antenna element in the array. Thus, the antenna elements in the array are phased relative to the reference antenna element but not relative to other antenna elements in the array. This leads to great power variations between the antenna elements in the array, which, in turn, leads to problems in the dimensioning of power amplifiers, for example in such a way that the power amplifier of one antenna element is much larger than the power amplifiers of the other antenna elements. Amplifiers that are powerful and as linear as possible are also expensive.
The directivity of beams can also be implemented analogically by generating orthogonal radiation beams by means of Butler matrices and fixed phasing circuits, in which beams the phase increases antenna by antenna. The method measures which beam receives the most signal energy, i.e. where the signal is most powerful, and this beam is selected for transmission. A problematic situation arises when the antenna beams are generated with a phase-shift network according to the prior art and the users of the radio network are spread unevenly over the areas of different antenna beams. The worst case possible is that all radio resource users are within the coverage area of the same beam, in which case in an antenna array with four antenna elements, quadruple power is required for one beam. Thus, the situation is the same as in a system with one antenna, so that array antenna gain is lost.

Method of generating directional antenna beams, and radio transmitter


One embodiment of the invention is directed to a method for transferring data from a specified spreadsheet, having a name, rows and colunms, to a relational database table. The method includes the steps of receiving the spreadsheet at a given location, assigning a name to the relational database table that is derived from the spreadsheet name, and creating names for colunms of the table from the contents of a first row of the spreadsheet. Data types for respective colunms of the table are derived from the contents of a second row of the spreadsheet. After creation of the table, data is loaded into locations of the table from respectively corresponding cells of the specified spreadsheet.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention disclosed and claimed herein generally pertains to a method and apparatus for loading or transferring data from a spreadsheet into a dynamically created table of a relational database. More particularly, the invention pertains to a method of the above type wherein the uploading or transfer of spreadsheet data is accompanied by security measures, to ensure that the transfer is authorized. In a useful embodiment, the invention pertains to a method of the above type wherein data transferred from a spreadsheet is selectively combined with other data, which was not previously contained in a spreadsheet.
2. Description of the Related Art
As is known by those of skill in the art, a relational database is a database wherein all data is stored in tables. By enumerating a table name, the names of table columns, and the data types of respective column contents, a table in a relational database is completely described. As an important advantage, queries in a table of a relational database depend on a comparison of the table contents. As a result, pointers are not required in such databases, and all relations are treated uniformly. Moreover, the tables are independent and not related by pointers. Accordingly, it is easy to maintain dynamic data sets in a relational database. As a further advantage, tables can be easily expanded by new columns, and it is easy to create user specific views therefrom.
As is further well known, a spreadsheet provides another important mechanism for storing and presenting data. A spreadsheet is especially useful for displaying financial, accounting or other data in rows and columns, wherein the spaces containing respective items of data are called cells. A spreadsheet may comprise a computer application program that simulates a physical spreadsheet by capturing, displaying and manipulating data arranged in rows and columns. Spreadsheets, in fact, represent one of the most common uses of personal computers. In many businesses spreadsheets are routinely used to graphically present financial data.
Notwithstanding the widespread use and popularity of spreadsheets, it is not easy at present to conveniently convert or transfer data from a spreadsheet format to a relational database table. Any such transfer must generally be carried out using a manual or other tedious procedure. As a result, the benefits of having data in a relational database, as described above, do not readily apply to data contained in spreadsheets. This situation makes it difficult to generate reports that, for example, combine financial data in a spreadsheet with non-financial data residing in a relational database table. It would thus clearly be beneficial to provide a mechanism or procedure for easily and automatically loading data from a spreadsheet to a relational database table. The loading procedure would usefully ensure that such procedure was applied only to spreadsheet data that was properly authorized or authenticated for loading.

Method and apparatus for loading data from a spreadsheet to a relational database table

International Business Machines Corporation


In an embodiment, automatic verification of a system backup operation is provided. This verification is achieved by copying executable files to a writeable file system representing a backup recovery point and configuring an operating system within the writeable file system to execute a particular service upon startup of the operating system. Moreover, a validation virtual machine (VM) associated with a backup recovery point is launched from the writeable file system and a first and second validation operation are performed by the validation VM. Results of the first validation operation are used to select the second validation operation, and the validation VM is determined to have completed successfully based on the results of the second validation operation. In one embodiment, a repair operation may be performed, based on the first set of results, to repair the operating system of the computing device and/or backup data of the computing device.

Many conventional backup techniques include a monitoring function that attempts to determine whether the backup data is usable. The monitoring function tries to check on the health and/or state of the backup data using a series of screenshots. The screenshots of a display screen are taken once each of a series of virtual machines has been started from the backup data corresponding to specific restore points.
In an example, a system initiates a monitoring function according to a schedule (e.g., once per day, hourly) or in response to a triggering event (e.g., in response to the creation of a backup, in response to a user command). The monitoring function initiates a virtual machine from a point-in-time snapshot of the data to be backed-up ("a restore point"). Once the system determines that the virtual machine has been started successfully, the system takes a screenshot of the boot screen for the virtual machine. The system may take the screenshot using a hypervisor or some other control mechanism. If the system is not able to start, the screenshot creation process fails and the backup data is marked as unusable or erroneous.

Backup monitoring with automatic verification


A scent dispensing apparatus having a spool engaged with a housing for dispensing a scented line upon the ground. The scented line is wound upon the spool which is positionable between a retracted position inside a cavity of the housing to a deployed position outside the housing where the spool can unwind the scented line.

In hunting, one widely employed strategy to increase success of the hunt involves locating a scent in an area of hunting interest. Conventionally the scent deployed is attractive to the prey the hunter is seeking. Because many animals have a very keen sense of smell, the deployment of scent can attract them to the location of the hunt. Various scents can be deployed to attract the game animal such as food scents, glandular scents, and bodily fluid scents such as urine from the same species of the game animal the hunter is seeking.
Consequently, hunters will frequently impart a scent to the area to be hunted using various types of scenting devices. Such positioning of a game attracting scent also serves to help mask the human hunter scent which many game animals have learned to avoid. Thus, the employment of scents to attract game and concurrently mask that of the hunter, can be very advantageous when used correctly.
Conventionally, scents for attracting game are positioned near the hiding spot of the hunter or at other desired locations proximate thereto. This allows a disguised or hidden hunter to survey the scented area to ascertain what has been attracted. Commonly employed scenting devices can be hung from trees, stuck in the ground, or tied to the trunks of trees.
Conventionally, nothing has been provided to allow hunters and other scent using individuals, to allow for standardized deployment of a scent which may be retracted and reused at a later date. Some conventional means to employ scents use wicks and sponges and rags which are dipped or sprayed with liquid scent bought in a container and placed on the ground or hung from trees. Alternatively, liquid scent may be dispensed from a spray or dripping container in various areas.
However, conventional scent imparting liquids and materials, are generally very expensive and have a significant cost to the hunter. Once deployed by spraying, dripping, or evaporated from wicks, expensive liquid scents are not reusable, and wicks and rags which are scented are not easily reused since they must be collected and stored.
The device herein provides an easy to employ, reusable scenting device and method. Through the employment of a spool deployable and retractable line which is liquid absorbent, a scent may be imparted to an area for a significant uninterrupted distance by the unwinding of a scented line upon the ground or in vegetation. Rather than small conventional wicks or liquid deposits to spaced irregular positions, the scented line herein enables the imparting of a scent continuously along an unbroken line for many yards. Such provides a significant gain in the scent carried by the wind to surrounding areas. Further, the spooled line can be dragged to a location to impart a scent that may be followed by game and may also include visually discernable distance markers positioned at determined distances thereon. When viewed from a position adjacent the deployed scented line, the markers provide the hunter a visually discernable gauge for distance determination which can be employed to ascertain distance during aiming of a bow or firearm or the like. Such distance marking which is visually discernable provides a means for the hunter to significantly increase accuracy by accommodating a known distance during aiming.
The forgoing examples of scenting as conventionally employed during hunting, and limitations related therewith, are intended to be illustrative and not exclusive, and they do not imply any limitations on the invention described and claimed herein.
Various other limitations of the related art are known or will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon a reading and understanding of the specification below and the accompanying drawings.


Amino acid compounds of the formula: ##STR1## wherein the various symbols are as hereinafter described, which have inhibiting effect on enkephalinase.

"Enkephalin" is the general term referring to Met.sup.5 -enkephalin (A is Met in the below formula) or Leu.sup.5 -enkephalin (A is Leu in the below formula) of the following formula: EQU Try-Gly-Gly-Phe-A
(wherein A represents Met or Leu). These two pentapeptides bind to opioid receptors and such produces analgic effect. They are neurotransmitters (see Nature, 258, 577 (1975)).
Enkephalinase, found by Malfroy et al, is an enzyme which cleaves Met-enkephalin or Leu-enkephalin at the Gly.sup.3 -Phe.sup.4 bond (see Nature, 276, 523 (1978)). It plays an important role in the termination of an analgic effect which enkephalin has.
Accordingly, it is considered that the inhibition for enkephalinase slows down the deactivation of enkephalin and that the analgic effect maintains.


A bioerodible polymeric material, and in particular a semi-interpenetrating network (xe2x80x9csemi-IPNxe2x80x9d) alloy, is disclosed. A beneficial end use of this material is in the form of internal fixation devices (IFDs) (such as bone supports, plates, and pins) and as cured bone cements for bone repair. A multi-part bioerodible cement system, which, upon mixing of the system parts, forms a cured bioerodible cement, includes, in one part, a first bioerodible polymer (e.g., PLGA) capable of producing acidic products upon hydrolytic degradation, and, in another part, a second bioerodible scaffolding polymer (e.g., PPF) which upon crosslinking provides a biopolymeric scaffolding or internal reinforcement for the cured cement. In another aspect, a bone cement system of the invention includes a bioerodible scaffolding polymer (such as PPF), which when polymerized provides a hardened bone cement, the cement system further including a gas generating agent in stabilized form for providing the cured bone cement with pores for facilitating inward cell migration.

Not applicable
A study in the mid-1980""s estimated that about four and a half million people suffer fractures each year in the United States alone. In adults, fractures of the radius and/or ulna of the forearm, and fibula or ankle bone are frequently treated by immobilizing the fracture by the surgical attachment of a metal plate adjacent the fracture. Similarly, in some adults and most children, fractures of the neck of the femur or hip are frequently treated by immobilizing the fracture with a metal plate. In addition to its use in treating fractures of the radius, ulna and femur, metal plate may also used to immobilize other bones in both the treatment of fractures and in corrective surgery. The metal plate, typically made of a titanium-based metal, a stainless-steel, or a cobalt-chromium metal, is attached to the bone by bone screws. It should be noted that although the immobilization device is referred to as a plate, its size and shape is dictated by the application in which it is to be used.
As the bone heals it is necessary to remove the metal plate by means of a second surgical intervention. The reason for this is that the presence of the metal plate adjacent the bone ultimately results in what is referred to as xe2x80x9cplate induced osteopeniaxe2x80x9d or loss of bone mass. The reasons for this loss of bone mass are not fully understood but appear to be related both to changes in bone stress and changes in bone blood flow. Such bone remodeling in children may lead to growth restriction, especially when plates are used in craniofacial or maxillofacial intervention to repair congenital deformities.
Thus, it is desirable to replace metallic surgical devices, e.g., plates, presently used in surgical procedures with a bioerodible polymer, i.e., one that will dissolve and be absorbed by the body as the underlying bone heals. With such a bioerodible device, the necessity of a second surgical operation and its concomitant trauma as well as the deleterious effects caused by the presence of a plate for a long period of time is removed. Furthermore, unlike metals, these devices do not corrode and the modulus of the material may be more closely matched to that of bone. Two polymers that have been used to form bioerodible surgical plates are polylactic acid (PLA) and copolymers of lactic and glycolic acids (PLGA).
The mechanism for bioeroding polymers of lactic acid and copolymers of lactic and glycolic acids is not completely understood. The polymers are probably hydrolyzed in situ to their respective monomers and the resulting monomers are excreted from the body in the urine or expired from the body as carbon dioxide without ill effect. The body""s tolerance of these monomers probably results from the fact that lactic acid and glycolic acid are present as natural substances within tissue.
Although polymers of, e.g., PLA degrade as desired, plates constructed of PLA have a tendency to warp or distort in bone applications and thereby fail to appropriately immobilize fractures with respect to bending movements. This bowing apparently occurs because the side of the plate immediately adjacent the bone is exposed to a different aqueous environment than the side of the plate adjacent soft tissue. As water is adsorbed into the polymer, the polymer swells. Thus the difference in the aqueous environment of the two surfaces of the plate causes a differential in the amount of water entering the plate through each surface. This differential water adsorption results in turn in the differential swelling of the two sides of the plate, with bowing therefore occurring. Thus, it is desirable to form a surgical plate from a bioerodible polymer which is dimensionally stable.
A related matter of interest in bone repair involves ensuring that the fractured bone ends are properly stabilized when set, and maintaining this stabilization during healing. A bioerodible bone cement could be used to bridge the area of excised bone fragments and thus aid in healing. Secondly, a bioerodible bone cement could additionally be used in conjunction with bone repair proteins (BRPs) to promote active bone growth, i.e., the bone cement could function as an osteoinductive material. Also, because the rate of infection following fracture repair surgery may be as high as 11%, it would also be desirable to incorporate various antibiotics into the bone cement for slow release at the surgical site to minimize infection. Ideally, therefore, such a bone cement or xe2x80x9cgroutxe2x80x9d should be moldable in the surgical setting, should set to form a strong solid, should stabilize at the implant site, and should support and aid the bone healing process. In conjunction with cement use or, in some cases, in place of a cement, a bioerodible internal fixation device (IFD) made of a similar material can beneficially be used to stabilize the fracture.
With the use of minimally invasive techniques, a bioresorbable and osteoconductive bone cement of low viscosity could be used by injecting the cement into the fracture site. This technique would help prevent complications such as repeated displacement, instability and malunion. The use of the cement may also warrant conservative treatment in patients with relative indications for operative management. These patients include older patients for whom mobility would be difficult in long leg casting, patients with irreducible fractures or a fracture which has slipped in a cast, patients with obese legs which limit the capability of casts to maintain reduction, and chronic alcohol abusers. In addition, patients with relative contraindications to operative treatment, such as vascular insufficiency, diabetes mellitus, soft tissue blisters, abrasions, contusions or burns, could be successfully managed in a conservative fashion, thus eliminating peri- and postoperative risk factors. Finally, patients with severe osteoporosis may benefit from the use of osteoconductive bone cement as an adjunct to conservative treatment. Aside from its use in the treatment of ankle and foot fractures, a bioresorbable and osteoconductive cement may be applicable for the treatment of undisplaced or minimally displaced lateral tibial plateau fractures that would normally warrant conservative treatment (depression less than 1 cm and valgus instability less than 10 degrees).
Other potential applications include use in spinal fusions, where autologous bone grafting is often necessary and allogeneic bone is used when autologous bone stocks are insufficient. In these cases, an osteoinductive bioresorbable bone cement could serve as a bone substitute.
Thus, a need exists for polymeric bioerodible materials which may be used in making bone cements that desirably have a wide range of precure viscosities (to allow injection of the cement to a bone site or which may be applied as a group) and that also desirably incorporate biologically active agents. Such bioerodible bone cements containing biologically active agents for release must be able to protect the agents from damage during curing and provide buffering capacity to obviate possible inflammatory foreign body response generated by bioerosion of the cement. Lastly, such polymeric bioerodible materials should also be useable to make IFDs having dimensional stability during the critical bone setting and healing period.
The invention is directed to bioerodible polymeric materials, and in particular to semi-interpenetrating network (xe2x80x9csemi-IPNxe2x80x9d) alloys that comprise a first bioerodible polymer capable of producing acidic products upon hydrolytic degradation; a second bioerodible polymer, which, preferably via crosslinking, provides a biopolymeric scaffolding or internal reinforcement; and optionally a buffering compound that buffers the acidic products within a desired pH range. In a preferred embodiment, the second bioerodible polymer comprises polypropylene fumarate (PPF) which is cross-linked, desirably by a vinyl monomer such as vinyl pyrrolidone (VP), to form the biopolymeric scaffolding which provides the semi-IPN with the requisite dimensional stability. A beneficial end use of this material is in the form of internal fixation devices (IFDs) such as bone supports, plates, and pins. Another beneficial end use is as cured bone cements for bone repair.
A bone cement system, for making such a cured bone cement, is also contemplated within the invention. For example, a multi-part bioerodible bone cement system of the invention capable of forming a bioerodible polymeric semi-IPN alloy, comprises a first bioerodible polymer (such as PLGA) capable of producing acidic products upon hydrolytic degradation; and a second bioerodible polymer (such as PPF), which provides a biopolymeric scaffolding or internal reinforcement, wherein the second bioerodible polymer is crosslinked in vivo to provide a hardened, semi-IPN alloy bone cement.
In another aspect, a bone cement system of the invention comprises a bioerodible scaffolding polymer (such as PPF), which when polymerized provides a hardened bone cement, the cement system further comprising a gas generating agent in stabilized form for providing the cured bone cement with pores for facilitating inward cell migration.
Both the bone cements and dimensionally stable IFDs of the invention may advantageously also contain other agents such as bone repair proteins (BRPs), bone morphogenic proteins (BMPs), bone scrapings from host bone, demineralized bone, bone chips and antibiotics, to, e.g., actively promote bone growth and prevent infection while the bone cement or IFD is in place. The biologically active agents are preferably within a protective polymer envelope. Furthermore, although the usual practice involving cements requires that they be allowed to cure in situ at the surgical site, a cement material may also be cured ex situ. Ex situ curing may be conducted in molds designed for particular applications or in stock shapes such as bars or rods, which may later be machined to any desired shape.

Bioerodible polymeric semi-interpenetrating network alloys for internal fixation devices and bone cements


An arithmetic processor, having: an arithmetic logical operation unit configured to execute an instruction; and a cache unit including a cache memory configured to store a part of data in a first main memory and a part of data in a second main memory which has a wider band than the first main memory when at least a predetermined capacity of data having consecutive addresses is accessed, and a cache control unit configured to read data in the cache memory responding to a memory request issued by the arithmetic logical operation unit and respond to the memory request source, wherein a ratio of capacity of the data in the second main memory with respect to the data in the first main memory stored in the cache memory is limited to a predetermined ratio or less.

An arithmetic processor, a processor or a CPU chip (hereafter called a processor) is accessibly connected to a main memory. Then the processor reads data from the main memory to execute instructions of a program, and writes the data, which is changed or generated by executing the instruction, to the main memory. Normally the main memory is a high-speed and large capacity dynamic random access memory (DRAM).
To virtually eliminate the access time to the main memory, the processor includes a cache memory. The processor stores or registers data read from the main memory in the cache memory, and thereafter the processor acquires the data to be acquired by accessing the memory from the cache memory.
The cache memory is disclosed in Patent Literature 1 (Japanese National Publication of International Patent Application No. 2004-503010) and Patent Literature 2 (Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2016-91242).

Arithmetic processor, information processing device and control method of arithmetic processor


The catheter connected to a drive unit has, at its front end a cutting tool which consists of a stator and rotor. Cutting edges arranged on the circumference of the rotor and stator interact in a shearing action. The rotor is an external rotor. The detached deposits are conveyed through a tubular sheath and into a collecting container via a discharge chamber. A rotary catheter of this kind is used for carefully removing blood clots and stenoses from narrowed blood vessels such as arteries and veins.

The invention relates to a catheter of the type known as a rotary catheter.
A catheter of this kind is used in particular for treating occlusive diseases of the arteries by dislodging and breaking up stenoses and blood clots. It is introduced into the artery or vein and is advanced as far as the stenosed area which is to be treated. A cutting tool which can be driven in rotation is arranged at its front or leading end.

Catheter for detaching abnormal deposits from blood vessels in humans