The present invention describes a method, apparatus and computer program for detecting the locations of boundaries between different materials in a desired measurement volume. The apparatus uses at least one measuring probe, the electrodes of which are characterized in that they together form an assembly that differs from a straight line. In addition, a volume at a further distance from the assembly can also be observed by the assembly, so that measurements can be conducted remotely and, on the other hand, the apparatus stays unbroken in diverse measurement situations. By using the EIT-measurement and applying for example a so-called 1D-σ-method or methods of machine learning, electrical conductivity distributions in the measured volume are detected. As a result, the locations of the possible boundaries between different materials or for example thicknesses of different material layers are detected.

In many industrial processes materials in different states flow or are stored in containers, pipeworks or similar, in which case it is necessary in the process to know for example amounts, flow rates, mixture composition and similar information of different materials. Such processes typically develop boundaries between different materials, wherein the boundaries can be defined such that the densities of the materials on different sides of the boundary are different. In practice, a boundary has a specific transition area where the physical properties of the material are altered. One example of boundaries is a mixture of oil and water, where oil, being a lighter material, forms a layer on the surface of water, and a distinct boundary is found between these materials. Another example can be to examine different soil layers and sedimentation of materials in the earth, where interesting boundaries in the breaking of ore include for example boundaries between the rock material including precious metals and other rock material.
In many cases it is necessary to know the amount of material in a container or area to be examined. These situations occur in particular in the ore preparation process and sewage disposal process. A particular application in the preparation of ore is the thickening machine of the process. When the materials are distinctly separated and there is a distinct boundary between them the separation or thickening of the materials can take place.
The location of a boundary examined for example in the direction of height of the container to be examined is particularly interesting information for a number of processes. In general, these boundaries located for example in a container or in the earth are practically impossible to observe by visual inspection. On this account, more developed methods to detect boundaries are needed. There may be many different boundaries which may exist between different states of materials; however, the boundaries between two liquids or a liquid and a solid are particularly discussed below.
Boundaries between different materials precipitated by layers or the height of a fluid level have been measured in the prior art for example by acoustic and optical methods and methods based on gravity (pressure measurements) and electrical measurements. These methods have been described in [1] J. Vergouw, C. O. Gomez, J. A. Finch: "Estimating true level in a thickener using a conductivity probe", Minerals Engineering, 17:87-88, 2004; [2] O-P Tossavainen, M. Vauhkonen, V. Kolehmainen: "A three-dimensional shape estimation approach for tracking of phase interfaces in sedimentation processes using electrical impedance tomography", Measurement Science and Technology, 18:1413-1424, 2007 and [3] M. Maldonado, A. Desbiens, R. del Villar: "An update on the estimation of the froth depth using conductivity measurements", 2008. One known method of measuring boundaries by acoustic waves in based on reflection from a discontinuity point. A sound wave transmitted to a material under examination is reflected from the boundary as an electromagnetic wave would reflect from the boundary of an impedance variation. By calculating the propagation times of the reflected wave it is possible to calculate the distance of the boundary from the transmitter and further the desired height of the boundary in the y-dimension.
EIT (Electrical impedance tomography), in turn, is a method in which electrodes can be mounted on the surface of an object to be examined. The basic principle of the method is that a set of electrodes is mounted on the surface of the study object and fed with minute alternating current, whereafter the potential differences, i.e. voltages, between the electrodes are measured. Typically, the voltage measurement is made from the same electrodes as the current feed. EIST (Electrical impedance spectroscopy tomography), in turn, means that a number of different frequencies are used in the measurement, i.e. the measurements are typically made over a desired continuous frequency band. From the measured potential differences with a number of different electrode intervals it can be concluded that the electrical conductivity or permittivity of the object to be measured varies as a function of location, provided that the object in question is not completely homogenous. In practice, the conductivities are calculated by various mathematical methods in which suitable calculating models can be utilized. Such a calculation relates to the field of inversion calculation. Finally, for example a sectional view of the level of the measured object on which the electrodes have been disposed is obtained from the electrical conductivities as a function of location.
In the prior art, the height of the boundary between a solid material precipitated on the bottom of a container under examination and a liquid on top of it has been measured by introducing a measurement sensor disposed at one end of an arm directly in the precipitate. This in conjoined with fouling of the sensor, which considerably affects the measuring accuracy and performance of the sensor. In addition, the lifetime of the sensor becomes in this case, at the worst, very short.
In the prior art, sensors have been used with the electrodes disposed in a single dimension, i.e. using a straight arm with electrodes at one or both ends. For example minute electric current has been fed via such a pair of electrodes, and the potential difference, i.e. the voltage, has been measured between these electrodes. By placing the sensor arm in different locations for example in a fluid container and examining the voltage variation between the different locations it has been possible to obtain information of possible boundaries between two different materials. However, this has required numerous reproducible measurements, and fouling or even breakdown of the sensors is an essential problem.
More specifically, the boundary has been measured in the prior art as follows. Consider a container with solid precipitated material on the bottom in a layer of a specific height, and for example water on top of the precipitate. The boundary between the precipitate and water is assumed to be distinctly defined, i.e. it can be assumed that under examination in the height direction a leap in the properties of the material occurs at one point (a single coordinate value in the y-dimension). Consider an arrangement where a pair of electrodes is disposed at each end of a straight pipe. The pipe is placed vertically in the container such that the lower pair of electrodes is entirely within the precipitate and the upper one is entirely within the water. It is further assumed herein that the situation is not dynamic, i.e. the boundary between the liquid and the precipitate remains stably immovable.
According to the principle of impedance tomography, minute electric current is fed to the electrodes, and the voltage is measured on these electrodes. In other words, the voltage is measured between two adjacent electrodes. From the measurement results it is easy to calculate the characteristic resistivity of the material surrounding each pair of electrodes by formulae:
                              R          1                =                                                            U                1                                            I                1                                                                                and                                                                                R              2                                =                                    U              2                                      I              2                                                          (        1        )
From these values the electrical conductivities σ1 and σ2 of each material can be calculated. If the electrical conductivities σ1 and σ2 differ from each other, it can be concluded that the boundary of the materials is within the region between the two pairs of electrodes. By performing a new measurement by raising or lowering the pipe in the vertical direction a new estimate for the height is obtained after the above-mentioned calculations.
The main problem of the prior art has been fouling of the sensors and the resulting loss of operational reliability, as well as slowness in determining the boundary as a result of reproduction of the measurements. Furthermore, the sensors can typically be used in the working order for a moment, but their lifetime is not long. From the fouling it follows that the sensors or measurement electrodes must be cleaned relatively often, which means from the process point of view implementation of an automatic cleaning system for the system or, alternatively, maintenance personnel must manually clean or service the apparatus on a regular basis, which further results in pauses in the use of the apparatus.

Probe indicating intermaterial boundaries


Multilayer printing plates having layers with differing moduli are made by exposing through a photographic negative a plurality of layers comprising a solid photocurable cap and al least one liquid photocurable layer.

Relief image printing plates are widely used for printing on a variety of substrates, including paper, corrugated stock, film, foil, and laminates. Relief plates typically include a support layer and one or more layers of cured photopolymer. It is well known in the art that improved print quality results when each layer has a different hardness, i.e., elastic modulus.
Multilayer photopolymer printing plates can be made, for example, by exposing multiple layers of different liquid photopolymerizable compositions to actinic light through a photographic negative, such that, when cured the different layers have different elastic moduli. Multilayer liquid photopolymerizable printing elements, however, have a number of shortcomings. Examples of such shortcomings are tackiness, which causes the substrate or particles of the substrate to adhere to the printing plate, and plate to plate image variation, both of which result in lower print quality.
Consequently, there remains a need in the art for the ability to consistently manufacture tack-free multilayer printing plates from liquid photopolymers.

Solid-capped liquid photopolymer printing elements


The present invention provides a method of constructing recognition models. Under the method, a set of probabilities is estimated for values of a hidden variable. A Fourier transform is determined for the set of probabilities and is used to determine a Fourier transform of an estimated prototype pattern. The inverse Fourier transform is then determined for the Fourier transform of the estimated prototype pattern to form an estimated prototype pattern.

The present invention relates to machine learning. In particular, the present invention relates to reducing computation times associated with probabilistic functions used in machine learning.
When performing automated recognition tasks, such as speech recognition or image recognition, it is common to compare an input signal to a probabilistic model to identify a most likely phone or image given the input. One factor that can complicate this comparison is that the data in the input signal may represent a phone or an image that has gone through some type of transformation such as a translation in which the data is shifted either temporally or spatially. For example, for speech signals, the pitch of the phone may be different than the pitch of the phones used in the models. For image signals, the image of interest may be shifted relative to the images used to train the models.
To overcome this problem, the art has developed transformation invariant models that treat the transformation as a hidden variable during construction of the models. Under such systems, a model must be built for both the transformations and the phone or image at the same time. This is typically done using an Expectation-Maximization algorithm in which the parameters of the transformation model are estimated during the Expectation step and then are used to estimate the phone or image model during the Maximization step. The phone or image model is then used to re-estimate the transformation model. This iteration continues until the two models reach some stable point.
While this technique can be used to build small transformation invariant models, it cannot be used for larger models because the calculations become intractable. For example, to estimate an image model for a display having 10,000 pixels, 108 scalar calculations must be performed for each training image that will be used to create the image model.
Thus, a technique is needed for training transformation invariant models without requiring as many calculations as found in the current state of the art.

Method and apparatus for fast machine learning using probability maps and fourier transforms


A lower pole piece of an electromagnetic superposition type objective lens is divided into an upper magnetic path and a lower magnetic path. A voltage nearly equal to a retarding voltage is applied to the lower magnetic path. An objective lens capable of acquiring an image with a higher resolution and a higher contrast than a conventional image is provided. An electromagnetic superposition type objective lens includes a magnetic path that encloses a coil, a cylindrical or conical booster magnetic path that surrounds an electron beam, a control magnetic path that is interposed between the coil and sample, an accelerating electric field control unit that accelerates the electron beam using a booster power supply, a decelerating electric field control unit that decelerates the electron beam using a stage power supply, and a suppression unit that suppresses electric discharge of the sample using a control magnetic path power supply.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a charged particle beam application apparatus, or more particularly, to a charged particle beam application apparatus that is used to observe, inspect, and analyze a wafer sample, which has a minute circuit pattern, with a high resolution using a low-acceleration electron beam.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various techniques have been employed in detecting a defect which occurs in fabrication of a microscopic circuit such as an LSI, measuring the length of the defect, or assessing the shape of the defect. For example, an optical inspection apparatus produces an optical image of the microscopic circuit and inspects the image to detect an abnormality. However, the resolution of the optical image is not high enough to identify a very small shape-related feature, and is not high enough to discriminate a harmful defect from a harmless defect in terms of fabrication of a circuit. A sample to be handled by such a measurement/inspection apparatus has become more and more microscopic along with advancement of technologies. For example, in a recent DRAM manufacturing process, the width of a metal wire is 90 nm or less. For a logic IC, a gate dimension has reached 45 nm.
A defect inspection technique using an electron beam provides a resolution that is high enough to image a microscopic shape-related feature of a contact hole, a gate, or a wire and a shape-related feature of a microscopic defect, and can therefore be used to classify or detect a grave defect on the basis of a contrast of a shaded image of a detective shape. Therefore, for measurement/inspection of a microscopic circuit, a measurement/inspection technique employing a charged particle beam has an advantage over the optical inspection technique.
A scanning electron microscope (SEM) that is a type of charged particle beam apparatus focuses a charged particle beam emitted from an electron source of a heating type or a field emission type so as to form a thin beam (probe-like beam), and sweeps the probe-like beam over a sample. Secondary charged particles (secondary electrons or reflected electrons) are emitted from the sample due to the sweep. Synchronously with the sweep of the primary charged particle beam, a scan image is acquired by using the secondary charged particles as a luminance signal of image data. A typical scanning electron microscope accelerates electrons emitted from the electron source using an extracting electrode interposed between the electron source, at which a negative potential is developed, and a ground at which a ground potential is developed, and irradiates the resultant electrons to the sample.
The resolution offered by a scanning charged particle microscope such as an SEM and the energy of a charged particle beam have a close relationship. When a primary charged particle beam of high energy reaches a sample (that is, when the landing energy of a primary charged particle beam is large), since primary charged particles deeply invade into the sample, an emissive range on the sample from which secondary electrons and reflected electrons are emitted expands. As a result, the emissive range becomes wider than the probe diameter of the charged particle beam, and an observational resolution is markedly degraded.
When the energy of a primary charged particle beam is excessively reduced in order to lower the landing energy, the probe diameter of the charged particle beam greatly increases due to aberrations. Eventually, the observational resolution is degraded.
Further, a contrast of an SEM image is affected by the value of a current carried by a primary charged particle beam to be irradiated to a sample. When the beam current decreases, the ratio of a secondary signal to a noise (signal-to-noise ratio) is greatly lowered and a contrast of a scan image is degraded. Preferably, the beam current value should be controlled to be as large as possible. When the energy of the primary charged particle beam is reduced, formation of a thinner probe-like beam becomes hard to do due to the Coulomb's law. When the energy of the primary charged particle beam is excessively controlled to become small, a beam current required for producing the scan image becomes insufficient. This makes it hard to acquire the scan image with a high magnification and a high resolution.
For observation with a high resolution, the energy of a primary charged particle beam, or especially, landing energy has to be appropriately controlled according to an object of observation.
As a control technology for landing energy, a retarding method is widely adopted. In the retarding method, a potential causing a primary charged particle beam to decelerate is developed at a sample in order to decrease the energy of the charged particle beam to a desired level of energy immediately before the charged particle beam reaches the sample.
For example, in JP-A-6-139985, an invention that controls the timing, at which a negative potential for retarding is developed at a sample, responsively to mounting or replacement of a sample has been disclosed.
An invention disclosed in JP-A-2001-185066 is such that: when the slope of a sample is observed according to the retarding method, the magnetic poles of an objective lens are separated into upper and lower ones, and a potential identical to the one at the sample is developed at the lower magnetic pole in efforts to minimize the adverse effect of an asymmetric retarding electric field derived from the slope of the sample (to minimize occurrence of astigmatism or reduction in efficiency in detecting secondary electrons).
In JP-A-6-260127, an invention of a potential measurement apparatus employing an electron beam has been disclosed. In the potential measurement apparatus described in JP-A-6-260127, an objective lens is divided into a yoke part for excitation and a magnetic-pole part, and is formed with two magnetic circuits. An electric field for pulling up secondary electrons is applied to the magnetic-pole part. According to JP-A-6-260127, since the objective lens is divided into two parts, the magnetic circuits can be readily designed according to the working distance between a sample and the objective lens. The diameter of the spot of an electron beam can be appropriately controlled irrespective of the working distance.

Charged particle beam apparatus permitting high-resolution and high-contrast observation


A transmission type optical deflector wherein a prism holder is supported by a yoke member to rotate about a principal axis through an elastic device. A wedge-shaped transmission prism is provided on the prism holder to transmit and refract light. The prism holder and yoke member are respectively provided with a coil and a permanent magnet secured thereto, to produce a rotational motion of the prism holder in the forward and reverse directions about the principal axis due to an electromagnetic function. The transmission prism is partly cut away at the thick portion thereof so that the center of gravity of the transmission prism is identical to the principal axis in a section in which the principal axis appears as a point and the transmission prism appears as a wedge-shape.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical transmission deflector in which light is deflected by a prism which is mechanically driven via electromagnetic operation.
2. Description of the Related Art
There are two types of optical deflectors known in which a mirror which is adapted to deflect light is reciprocally moved or the mirror is rotated. The use of a galvano mirror is one typical way of providing an optical deflector, wherein the mirror is reciprocally moved. The use of a polygonal mirror is another way of providing an optical deflector, wherein the mirror is rotated. However, there is no transmission type optical deflector known hitherto. In theory, a transmission deflector can be realized, for example, by the employment of a wedge-shaped prism in place of the galvano mirror. However, no transmission deflector has been actually practiced. This is because, firstly, a wedge-shaped prism is heavier than a planar mirror, and secondly, the position of the center of gravity of the prism varies depending on the shape thereof, and hence oscillation tends to occur due to a weight imbalance, thus leading to difficulty in realizing a precise and fast-driven optical deflector.


The present disclosure provides an atomization device and an electronic cigarette with the same. The atomization device includes a sleeving tube, a liquid storage cavity, and a liquid injection structure. A liquid injection opening is defined in one end of the sleeving tube, and both of the liquid injection opening and the air discharging opening communicate with the liquid storage cavity. The liquid injection structure includes a liquid injection tube, a first sealing member, and a second sealing member. The liquid injection tube runs through the sleeving tube, and a liquid inlet is formed in a side wall of the liquid injection tube. The first sealing member is arranged on one end of the liquid injection tube corresponding to the liquid storage cavity; and the second sealing member is arranged on an outer side of the liquid injection tube and seals the air discharging opening.

Electronic cigarettes are also known as virtual cigarettes or electronic atomizers. As substitutes for conventional tobacco cigarettes, the electronic cigarettes are often used for quitting smoking. With similar appearance and flavor to tobacco cigarettes, the electronic cigarettes are generally free of harmful chemicals like tar in the cigarettes or aerosol.
A typical electronic cigarette includes a liquid storage cavity, an atomizer arranged on one end of the liquid storage cavity, and a cigarette holder arranged on the other end of the liquid storage cavity. When tobacco liquid is used up, the cigarette holder needs to be unscrewed such that tobacco liquid can be injected into the liquid storage cavity. Such type of structure allows children to unscrew the electronic cigarette easily, contact the tobacco liquid, and even eat the tobacco liquid by mistake; in addition, leakage of liquid may occur during liquid injection.

Atomization device and electronic cigarette with the same


Disclosed is a geographic information system which comprises a multithreading client and a multithreading server cluster. The multithreading client includes at least one user interface, at least one client coordinator, map data, at least one map manager, at least one client-side spatial analyzer, at least one cache manager, at least one data requester, and at least one information communicator. The multithreading server cluster includes: at least one servlet, at least one image accessor, at least one map configuration mechanism; at least one data storage access mechanism, at least one data source manager, and at least one server-side spatial manager.

The fast-paced development of a geographic information system ("GIS") has triggered some researchers to reconsider the fundamental essence of GIS and its social implications. GIS (sometimes described by the term "media") has been widely used in various types of business, government and university projects. For instance, in North America alone, the value of the GIS market, even in a slow economy, can increase from $1.4 billion in 2001 to $2.0 billion in 2004. This market value will continue to expand because GIS is finding new markets on the Internet. Today, GIS serves as a means of communication by conveying information and knowledge to the public. This booming trend of GIS is potentially attributable to many, but at least two primary factors: the building of the Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) worldwide, and the dazzling development of computing technology and information technology in general.
During the past decade or so, the construction of SDI has proliferated geographically across all levels. It ranges from the National SDI in the U.S. to both the local SDI, such as state SDI and county SDI, and Global SDI. In the U.S., building SDI has involved almost every department of the federal government. Large volumes of geographic data, which are valuable to various organizations, have been accumulated mostly in a traditional, hierarchical manner: objects and their related attributes are collected and classified according to different themes or layers, and different layers are overlain to produce a specific map. To fully utilize the available spatial data efficiently and effectively, GIS has to play a critical role, not just in disseminating raw data, but also in providing information and offering value-added services to potential users.
However, to utilize and access valuable data, GIS-enabled environments have to be available to the public. The fast development of the Internet, especially the World Wide Web (WWW) and wireless communication, provides an ideal platform to empower the general public with the GIS technology through WebGIS and Location Based Service (LBS). The geospatial enablement of everyday tools (e.g., cars and phones) has provided the general public channels to access GIS environments almost anywhere and anytime. These developments, facilitated by the general advancement of computing technology, permit data and information sharing through SDI and different types of distributed systems. In all diverse systems, the common vital units are the computing components, which handle the access, processing and visualization of the geographic information, and the interactions between the users and the data. Therefore, a distributed GIS may be abstractly organized into different computing units, which are themselves connected through various types of networks (e.g., coaxial cable, optical fiber and satellite), and may be represented by the client/server computing model suggested by many scholars. According to different roles, a typical system broadly consists of three parts: a client, a server and a network. The client interacts with the users and performs some computing functions on spatial data. The server supplies data and information, and performs some value-added services to a client. The network hosts the transmission of information between the client and server.
Among various types of network GIS, including the LBS, WebGIS is extensively developed and widely used. It has accompanied the rapid development of the WWW during the past decade. Most users of the Internet have experience using WebGIS. Mapquest, Terraserver, Weather.com, and many other WebGISs have been widely used in, for example, online route selection, city planning, environmental exploration, watersheds management, land use planning, road/rail construction, business analysis, airport construction, and data integration and dissemination. These popular tools serve different types of users. To give the user a better view of data or information, 3D visualization, Virtual Reality Markup Language (VRML), and multimedia have also been integrated into certain WebGISs.
While WebGIS is gaining in popularity, dissemination of voluminous and heterogeneous data becomes a challenge, as the Internet bandwidth is not limitless. To handle this challenge, two important issues can be considered: (1) share and interoperate the heterogeneous data among different systems, different communities, and different users; and (2) improve the system performance so that data are delivered to the users within a reasonable time span. The OpenGIS Consortium (OGC) and Technical Committee 211 of International Organization of Standards address the first issue by providing a series of standardized interface specifications to allow different components of the system, including data, to support interoperability. Although the second issue has been addressed by various proposed suggestions, the research on performance of WebGIS has limitations on two issues: (1) most methods focus on only one aspect of the performance problem; and (2) most methods do not consider how the hierarchical structure of map, layer, object and attribute may affect performance.
WebGIS focuses on how to allocate both raster and vector data in a client-server-based web platform, as well as how to allocate functions to different system components in processing data to satisfy users' needs.
Raster Data
To handle raster data transmission, useful solutions may be borrowed from research and applications in image transmission in computer science. For instance, a progressive raster transmission technique has been frequently suggested. The basic idea of progressive transmission is to use image compression techniques to gradually extract and transmit raster data. After the compressed image is transmitted to the client, the image is gradually reconstructed on the client side. A simple progressive raster transmission technique randomly extracts and transmits the image without following a systematic algorithmic process. More sophisticated techniques for progressive raster transmission could be based on image compression techniques, such as Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG), wavelet, fractal, or a combination of techniques. Because of their complexity and their computing requirements, the progressive techniques are ideal for transmitting fixed-size images on the Internet. But, they do not have the flexibility to handle efficiently the transmission of large volume and variable image sizes in a WebGIS environment. However, the fundamental techniques of image compression may still be used to reduce the overall image transmission size.
A relatively large image may be extracted into different levels of detail to construct a hierarchical or pyramid structure. In each hierarchical layer, the image may be cut into pieces or tiles, which are logically connected through their respective coordinates. The image data may be transmitted in a load-on-demand manner (i.e., only the data of interest, as requested by the user), combined from the respective tiles and transmitted to the client side. TerraServer (available from the United States Geological Survey of Reston, Va.) uses this technique to assist SQL Server to manage images, but this approach is not applicable for managing pyramid in WebGIS, as most WebGIS cannot come with SQL Server. ArcGIS (available from ESRI of Redlands, Calif.) also adopts the pyramid technique in handling big images, but the pyramid is built every time the big image is accessed. This temporary approach is not suitable for managing images in WebGIS because the response time will be too long if the pyramid is built for every access. Therefore, elaborate permanent pyramid-management strategies need to be developed.
Some scholars suggest adopting tile pre-fetching and caching techniques to improve the performance on raster data transmissions. Unfortunately, this combined technique is effective for raster data only, and the complex nature of WebGIS involves the handling of both raster data and vector data, as well as the support of spatial analysis. Moreover, users may request raster images in a relatively random manner and therefore, the pre-fetching technique may not be efficient and effective in handling random requests.
Vector Data
The progressive transmission technique can also be used for vector data, but the process is different from the one applied to raster data in the pyramid structure. Vector data may be extracted using cartographic principles to construct multilevel or multilayer structures, instead of using a simple resampling process for raster data. A mesh scheme may mark a milestone for vector progressive transmission. By slightly modifying the topology of the input mesh, a higher compression ratio for transmitting Triangulated Irregular Network (TIN) data can be achieved. Also, an encoding structure may improve the efficiency of progressive transmission. Further, a model to generate multiple map representations and a set of generalization operators may be used. These processes may be good for transmitting single-layer maps, performing atomic topological changes on a vector map to achieve a better transmission performance and preserving the topology of spatial data. However, these processes do not take into account the de facto hierarchical geographic data organization of maps, layers, objects, and attributes. Therefore, these processes cannot be used generically to handle heterogeneous datasets in a WebGIS environment.
Another technique for improving the performance of vector data transmission is indexing. Indexing techniques have been widely studied mainly from two perspectives: (1) spatial object, attribute-based thematic indexing; and (2) spatial indexing. Thematic indexing is the process of indexing attributes such as addresses, postcodes, phone numbers and feature names. Attribute data may be efficiently processed using popular commercial databases. An R-tree index method has also been used for thematic indexing. Spatial indexing may be more complex than thematic indexing and may be classified into two general categories: (1) hierarchical access indexing (such as R-tree and Quad-tree); and (2) hash indexing (such as Grid-files and R-files). R-tree may be based on a feature's Minimum Bounding Box, which can be the minimum rectangle containing the feature. There are several extensions of R-tree (such as R*-tree and R+-tree) that allow dynamic indexing. To support multilevel data structure, Reactive-tree, PR-file and Multiscale Hilbert R-tree have been proposed.
These spatial index and thematic index research efforts may provide a basis for implementing vector data indexing. The indexing techniques mentioned above may be used on either the client and/or server side to improve the access to vector data, and related computing techniques.
Other Computing Techniques
Some have used pre-fetching and caching techniques for raster data transmission in systems exclusively handling raster data. In a WebGIS, which may involve both raster and vector data, caching could be used not only for transmitting data, but also for allocating data between a client and a server, especially for metadata and fundamental layer information. Multithreading techniques have also been suggested to improve performance by processing more than one task simultaneously. This technique may be very useful for handling server-side concurrent access, as well as improving client side interactive capability. When a server is opened to the public, many users may access the server simultaneously. In this potential massive access situation, the system may also be required to adopt cluster techniques for multiple servers to serve users, ensure reliability and improve overall performance.
Consequently, what is needed are a system and method for efficiently handling the transmission of large volume and variable raster and vector sizes in a WebGIS environment. In addition, such system and method would take into consideration the hierarchical geographic data organization of maps, layers, objects, and attributes to improve overall performance. Furthermore, it is preferable to have fast transmission, good response time and reliability.

George Mason Intellectual Properties, Inc.


This invention describes the cloning and characterization of the promoter region for the PCA3dd3 gene. This region regulates the PCA3dd3 gene expression by a unique prostate specific transcriptional mechanism. The present invention relates to the use of this promoter region as a tool for prostate cancer treatment and diagnosis and screening of agents which regulate expression of PCA3. In a particular embodiment, the present invention relates to an isolated promoter sequence which comprises an isolated promoter sequence which comprises a sequence as set forth between nucleotide positions 372 to 460 of SEQ ID NO:1, this sequence enabling a prostate-specific modulation of transcription.

In the United States, according to statistical data published in 1999 by Landis et al. (CA Cancer J. Clin. 49:8–31 (1999)), prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer and the second leading cause of cancer death, following lung cancer, in men. These results are not specific to the United States as they characterize all western countries. In addition incidence for this cancer is rising rapidly in most countries including low-risk populations, namely populations from Asian countries (Hsing et al., Int. J. Cancer 85:60–67 (2000)).
There is at present no effective treatment available for patients with advanced and/or hormone-insensitive prostate cancer. Therapeutic modalities for advanced prostate cancer are limited to drugs with considerable toxicity. As the proliferation rate is low in these cancers, many cytotoxic agents are ineffective (Millikan, Semin. Oncol. 26(2):185–191 (1999)). Thus there is an urgent need to develop new approaches to treat patients with progressive prostate cancer. For example, gene therapy can be done using prostate-specific gene promoters linked to genes that suppress tumor cell growth, induce apoptosis and/or kill tumor cells (Taneja et al., Cancer Surv. 23:247–266 (1995); and Boulikas, Anticancer Res. 17:1471–1505 (1997)). The promoter sequences responsible for the prostate specific expression of several genes have been cloned and the unraveling of their transcriptional regulation is ongoing. The PSA gene promoter has been most extensively studied and revealed the existence of a proximal prostate-specific promoter with an upstream prostate-specific enhancer. Both sequences are required for high, androgen-regulated activation of PSA expression (Schuur et al., J. Biol. Chem. 271:7043–7051 (1996); Cleutjens et al., Mol. Endocrinol. 11:148–161 (1997); Cleutjens et al., Mol. Endocrinol. 11:1256–1265 (1997); Pang et al., Cancer Res. 57:495–499 (1997); and Wei et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 94:6369–6374 (1997)). Using the PSA enhancer-promoter linked up to the HSV-tk gene, encoding a prodrug-converting enzyme and delivered by the human adenovirus into prostatic tumor cells growing subcutaneously in nude mice, it has been shown that prostate tumor cell growth was significantly suppressed and that the life span of the animals was prolonged (Gotoh et al., J. Urol. 160:220–229 (1998); and Martiniello-Wilks et al., Hum. Gene Ther. 9(11):1617–1626 (1998)). This proof of principle opens the way for application of promoter-based gene therapy for prostate cancer patients.
A new candidate marker for prostate cancer was discovered a few years ago by differential display analysis intended to highlight genes associated with prostate cancer development. This new gene was named PCA3 and also DD3 (Bussemakers, PCT/CA98/00346, published as WO 98/45420 (1998), Schalken, Eur. Urol. 34(suppl. 3):3–6 (1998), Bussemakers et al., Cancer Res. 59:5975–5979 (1999) and Bussemakers, Eur. Urol. 35:408–412 (1999)). PCA3dd3 is located on chromosome 9 and more precisely to region 9q21–22. It consists of four exons, which give rise, by both alternative splicing and alternative poly-adenylation, to differently sized transcripts. By RT-PCR, PCA3dd3 expression was found to be limited to the prostate tissue and absent in all other tissues tested, including testis, seminal vesicle, ovary, placenta and bladder. In addition northern blot analysis showed that PCA3dd3 is highly expressed in the vast majority of prostate cancer examined (47 out of 50) whereas no or very low expression is detected in BPH or normal prostate cells from the same patients. Of note, there is at least a 20-fold over-expression of PCA3dd3 in prostate carcinoma in comparison to normal or BPH tissues. PCA3dd3 expression seems to increase with tumor grade and is detected in metastatic lesions.
There thus remains a need to identify the promoter responsible for regulation and expression of PCA3dd3. There also remains a need to provide regulatory sequences which are prostate cancer tissue specific and to use such sequences to diagnose, prevent or treat prostate cancer.
The present invention seeks to meet these and other needs.
The present description refers to a number of documents, the content of which is herein incorporated by reference in their entirety.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Nucleic acid molecules comprising the promoter for PCA3, and uses thereof


Method and apparatus for transferring data to and from a data storage medium, such as a rotatable disc in a data storage device. The medium includes a data sector field with a physical length sufficient to store a first data block at a first write frequency. A compression engine compresses the first data block to provide a reduced size, compressed data block. The compressed data block is then written to the data sector field at a second write frequency less than the first write frequency so that the written compressed data block occupies substantially the physical length of said data sector field. This achieves a decreased linear bit density and tends to increase communication channel signal to noise (SNR) ratios and reduce error rates. Data slipping is further advantageously employed so that the first data block further stores at least a portion of a second compressed data block.

Disc drives are digital data storage devices which store and retrieve large amounts of user data in a fast and efficient manner. User data blocks from a host device are magnetically stored in data sector fields defined on the surfaces of one or more rotatable data storage discs (media).
Data compression techniques have been employed in disc drives and other data storage devices to achieve improved throughput and data storage capacities. As will be recognized, data compression, or compaction, generally comprises the application of a coding algorithm to a digital data block (set) to represent the data block more efficiently (i.e., with fewer bits).
The resulting compressed data block allows the data to be transmitted in a shorter period of time across a communication link. Using compressed data blocks also generally increases the ability to store additional data in a given memory device, such as an integrated circuit cache buffer, a storage disc or other medium.
While prior art approaches to employing data compression in data storage devices may have been found operable, due to the continued market demand for data storage devices with ever higher levels of performance capabilities, there remains a continued need for improvements in the manner in which data compression techniques are employed in a data storage device.

Using data compression to achieve lower linear bit densities on a storage medium


A method of aquafying a potted flower arrangement comprising the steps of providing an open-top receptacle for holding the stems of flowers set in an arrangement; charging a measured quantity of foamable liquid ingredients into the receptacle, the quantity being sufficient to generate a foam that will fill at least a portion of the receptacle; injecting a quantity of water, under pressure, down into the generated foam inside the receptacle; and, inserting the stems of the flowers making up the arrangement into the foam and down into the injected water contained therein.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains to the field of flower displays. More particularly, it pertains to the field of potted flower arrangements and to an improved method of making a live flower arrangement with internal watering using less labor and less time than is required in the prior art practice.
2. Description of the Prior Art
When daisies pied and violets blue PA1 And cuckoo-buds of yellow hue
And lady-smocks all silver-white PA2 Do paint the meadows with delight
Shakespeare: Love's Labour's Lost, Vii
This 1594 passage, by one of the world's greatest playwrights, mirrors the message of flowers to all the world. Flowers and their arrangements are a delight for persons of all ages and bring happiness to all who receive them and can view their beauty. Florists have flourished for centuries, selling flowers and flower arrangements to customers, as gifts to cover a variety of occasions, to express their love, joy, sorrow and comfort.
In the field of flower arrangements, i.e., flowers arranged in a fanciful pattern in a receptacle, there are presently two general types: fresh flowers and silk or synthetic flowers. Silk flower arrangements are usually mounted in a plug of foam located inside the receptacle. These flowers require no particular servicing, other than the occasional dusting.
However, with respect to fresh flowers, far more effort is required in arranging them and later servicing them. It is to this part of the flower industry that this invention is directed.
Arranged fresh flowers require two things: a mounting medium and water. If the mounting medium is removed, the flowers fall out of arrangement and the fancifulness of the arrangement is spoiled. If water is not provided, at the time the arrangement is made and thereafter, the flowers will wilt and lose their luster and beauty so that they no longer convey the good tidings and/or care that is commensurate with the arrangement.
Presently, in potted fresh flower arrangements, the current practice is to provide a block of reticulated plastic formaldehyde foam that is cut into plugs, saturated with water, and then placed in an open-top receptacle. The wet foam can either be anchored in the receptacle with a weight, such as a small amount of lead, or it can be glued or otherwise adhered to the inside surface of the receptacle. However, because it is saturated with water at this point in time, anchoring it can be a problem.
The step of soaking the plug in water usually takes two or more hours, depending upon the size and shape of the plug, and requires a large container in which to place the many pieces of the foam and cover them with water. The cutting of water-saturated foam is messy and often creates a dirty and possibly hazardous work place, especially if an electric saw or knife is used to cut the foam. In addition, because the inside of many receptacles are not square, there is the matter of cutting the plug to fit. This results in much waste of foam and water. In today's practices of a clean working environment, such a mess may run afoul of anti-pollution laws and the like.
The foam of choice in present practice is a plastic formaldehyde foam sold under the trademark "OASIS.RTM.". It is a semi-rigid foam, meaning that it forms a rather stiff foam that holds the stems of the flowers in place after the arrangement is made. Often, a narrow-diameter stick is inserted down into the foam plug from the top to locate holes in which the stems of fresh flowers may later be inserted.
Accordingly, under current practice, a large block of reticulated, semi-rigid polyurethane foam is cut into plugs, placed in a large container and covered with water for two to four hours in order to allow the water to permeate the interconnected cells and saturate the foam. Then, small water-saturated plugs are inserted into the receptacle through its open top. Holes are then formed in the foam with a narrow diameter plunger and the stems of fresh flowers are inserted therein to make the arrangement.
Because the foam is totally saturated, there is always the possibility that some water will spill out of the open top of the receptacle and mess the wrapping paper. Such water saturation is not needed throughout the entire plug of foam. Only the bottom of the foam plug in the receptacle needs to hold water as the flower stem is cut on the bottom and draws water up into the flower from the bottom. The time and mess created in cutting the foam into plugs, soaking the plugs in water and then fitting the plugs into the receptacles constitutes a waste of water, time and foam that drives up the cost of making a fresh flower arrangement in a receptacle.

Method of aquafying a flower arrangement


A dispense tip constructed and arranged to communicate with a material dispensing pump comprises an elongated neck and a molded base having a first portion and a second portion opposite the first portion. The neck extends from the first portion of the base. The second portion is constructed and arranged to abut an outlet surface of the pump. An outermost region of the second portion of the base includes a compressible fluid-tight surface that compliantly conforms to the outlet surface when the dispense tip is mounted to the pump.

A material dispense tip, also referred to as a "pin" or "needle," is utilized in a variety of applications. For example, a material dispense tip, when attached to a material dispensing pump system, is used to deposit a precise amount of fluid material, such as glue, resin, or paste, at precise positions on a semiconductor substrate. Examples of such material dispensing pumps are described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,511,301, U.S. Pat. No. RE 40,539, U.S. Pat. No. 6,892,959, U.S. Pat. No. 6,983,867, and U.S. Pat. No. 7,331,482, the contents of each of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
A material dispense tip can be formed according to one of several different approaches. In one approach, a dispense tip can be formed by machining a first stock to form a cylindrical neck, machining a second stock to form a cylindrical base, boring a first hole in the base, inserting the neck into the hole in the base, and forming a second hole through the base and neck.
In another approach, the neck and the base can be unitary and machined from a common stock, for example, stainless steel, or the neck and the base can be molded from ceramics.
In another approach, the neck and the base can each be formed by different methods, and of different materials. For example, the dispense tip can include a molded ceramic neck that is attached to a machined steel base.
The dispense tip can be attached to a material dispensing pump by inserting the base into a cavity in the pump. The base is held in place in the cavity, for example, by a female Luer™-style fitting, which can interface with a corresponding male Luer™-style fitting on the pump. The dispense tip can alternatively be "surface mounted" to a pump, wherein the base of the dispense tip is held in place against an outlet surface of the pump by a nut or other retaining device.
However, when conventional dispense tips are attached to a material dispensing pump, fluid material can leak from an interface between the base of the dispense tip and the pump due to the presence of imperfections such as nicks, cracks, burrs, protrusions, blemishes, dents, or other imperfections on the interfacing surface of the base or on the pump surface against which the base abuts.
Also, a high solvent content may be included in the fluid material to be dispensed in order to prevent the fluid material from coagulating, congealing, drying up and the like in the material path of the dispense tip and the pump. However, these solvents can leach from the material and escape from cracks or crevices in the interfacing surface of the dispense tip, causing the material to dry up and clog the material path. Such solvents may also permeate the feed tube of the material dispense pump or the wall of the dispense tip, depending on the material used to form the dispense tip. For example, in a case where polypropylene or silicone materials are employed to form the dispense tip, certain solvents can permeate these materials.
The base of a conventional dispense tip can be formed by machining plastics. These plastics can be highly stable, possess favorable hardness properties, be resilient to solvents, and adhere to molded necks, such as ceramic necks, using adhesives such as two-part epoxy. In addition, the base comprising such plastics can be machined to close tolerances. However, when machining these plastics from a stock, it is difficult to deburr the finished base from the stock, which can impede the flow of material in the material path formed by holes in the base and neck, or can clog the dispense tip. Further, these plastics have high viscosity properties, which are undesirable for precision micromolding, since such plastics can be prone to imperfections when filling a mold during the molding process for forming the dispense tips.

Material dispense tips and methods for forming the same


An adaptive dock for use with media players of varying form factors is provided by an arrangement in which a device connector is located on a moveable sled that is located in the dock's base unit. A device-specific dock insert is arranged for removable engagement with the base unit to allow the base to have applicability to different media players by using the appropriately configured insert. The insert includes a device receiving space having an opening that is located to expose the media player's accessory connector. The insert further includes an actuator that slidably engages with a cam that is located on the sled to impart a lateral motion to the sled as the insert is placed downward into the dock's base unit so as to align the device connector on the sled with the opening in the insert.

Personal media players that enable users to store and render a variety of media content such as music, photographs, and video are enjoying widespread popularity as performance and features such as storage capacity and continue to increase while maintaining attractive pricing. In addition to the market for the personal media players themselves, accessories such as earphones, chargers, car kits, and carrying cases, are presenting significant opportunities for manufacturers and retailers to develop additional revenue sources within the large media player market. One example of a popular personal media player accessory is a dock with which a user may connect the player to another device such as a personal computer, television, or other electronic device to communicate and share data, for example.
Personal media players are often offered with a variety of different features to enable sale at varying price points. It is not unusual for a manufacturer to offer multiple product types or lines to help tailor a personal media player to a specific target market segment. However, it is not always efficient or possible for retailers to carry a lot of device-specific accessories for each different personal media player. As a result, accessory manufacturers are motivated to develop products that are applicable to a wide variety of personal media players while maintaining both backwards and forwards compatibility, respectively, with older and newer models of players. However, most manufacturers want to avoid user perception that a particular accessory is "universal" which often connotes a compromised product that is not very well tailored to that user's specific media player.
This Background is provided to introduce a brief context for the Summary and Detailed Description that follow. This Background is not intended to be an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter nor be viewed as limiting the claimed subject matter to implementations that solve any or all of the disadvantages or problems presented above.

Adaptive dock for use with personal media players


A halogen-free composition comprising 100 parts of polyolefin resin grafted with from about 1 to about 10 parts maleic anhydride; from about 0.1 part to about 10 parts of a free radical catalyst therefor, from about 0.5 part to about 10 parts of an antioxidant, and from about 5 parts to about 500 parts of at least one ammonium polyphosphate containing flame retardant.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to heat shrinkable, filled polymer compositions containing halogen-free flame retardant components suitable for use in electrical applications.
2. Description of the Related Art
Heat-shrinkable components, e.g., extruded or molded products, have been widely used in electrical applications. In a series of publications, Hoffman et al, disclose a range of uses in electrical insulation and environmental protection, from low voltage to high voltage installations. Insulation Enhancement with Heat-Shrinkable Components--J. W. Hoffman and others, IEEE Electrical Insulation Magazine, Part I, March/April 1991 Vol. 7, No.2, page 33; Part II, May/June 1991 Vol. 7, No.3, page 16; Part III, July/August 1991 Vol. 7, No.4, page 31.
Among the various requirements for satisfactory performance, these authors frequently emphasize the need for superior electrical insulation and prevention of moisture attack. The latter is accomplished either by the use of hydrophobic sealant materials or by the intentional incorporation of hydrophobic species in the heat-shrinkable compositions.
Another requirement specified for heat-shrinkable polymers is the requirement that they be semi-crystalline polymers. The most common class of semicrystalline polymers includes polyolefins. Therefore polyolefins have tended to be materials of choice for the manufacture of heat-shrink products. Polyolefin polymers containing additives such as flame retardants have been extensively disclosed in the prior art. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,174,343; JP 54,022,450; JP 54,007,451; JP 54,004,946; U.S. Pat. No. 3,810,862; EP 494,778; U.S. Pat. No. 5,116,891; U.S. Pat. No. 4,997,876; U.S. Pat. No. 4,871,795; U.S. Pat. No. 4,727,102 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,772,642. Flame retardants disclosed include such inorganic additives as magnesium hydroxide, calcium hydroxide, aluminum hydroxide, alkali phosphates and ammonium polyphosphate. Flame retardancy of these materials may be augmented using organic compounds including those containing halogen compounds. Other references disclose modified polyolefins. Modification is usually accomplished by the grafting of a selected functionality at intervals along the backbone of the polyolefin polymer. Suitable polymers in this category are generally acid modified polyolefins produced by reaction with, e.g., an unsaturated carboxylic acid or derivative thereof.
Japanese patent JP 1,108,241 discloses polyolefins grafted with a variety of acid species, including maleic acid, maleic anhydride, fumaric acid, acrylic acid etc. Flame retardant compositions, based on these modified polymers, are disclosed. The preferred additives used to impart flame retardancy include aluminum hydroxide, magnesium hydroxide, magnesium carbonate, calcium hydroxide, and the like. JP 2,284,940 discloses that the bending strength of a polyolefin modified with acrylic acid or maleic anhydride was approximately three times greater than the unmodified polymer. Flame retardant was added to the acid-modified polyolefin, the use of ammonium polyphosphate was not disclosed. Further, there was no teaching or suggestion that higher amounts of additives of this type could be accommodated.
Other references cite similar compositions, including JP 1,172440; JP 62,235,343; JP 62,011,745; U.S. Pat. No. 4,722,858. However, none of the modified polyolefin references disclose the use of ammonium polyphosphate containing compositions. There is no suggestion of the use of ammonium polyphosphate in compositions and structures used to provide electrical insulation and environmental protection, especially moisture protection.
The reason for the rejection of ammonium polyphosphate in electrically insulating or moisture repellant compositions is due to the fact that ammonium polyphosphate readily absorbs water. Thus it inherently attracts moisture which interferes with the effectiveness of electrical insulation and contact integrity at the site of an electrical connection. One reference, U.S. Pat. No. 4,772,642, attempts to solve the problem by encapsulating ammonium polyphosphate in a water-insoluble synthetic resin to produce a more water-stable fire-retardant composition. However, this is expensive to accomplish.
Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 5,071,901 discloses the use of quaternary ammonium salts for modifying the surface of ammonium polyphosphate. This patent states that electrical insulation containing ammonium polyphosphate is generally deficient in water resistance. Therefore a surface treatment is needed to prevent leaching of ammonium polyphosphate from polymeric insulating materials, such as polyolefins, to which it may be added. It is stated that if leaching occurs, the electrical insulation and fire retardant performance will suffer.
The use of ammonium polyphosphate in heat shrinkable structures including tubes and molded shapes has been disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,223,071. This patent discloses the use of ammonium polyphosphate as one of a series of phosphorus containing compounds used for erosion control of insulators for high voltage lines. No reference is made to its use in high performance insulation of electrical wiring or as a flame retardant.
The present inventor has discovered a combination of materials which will allow the use of ammonium polyphosphate in halogen-free flame retardant containing polymer compositions suitable for use where electrical insulation is of primary importance. In addition, the compositions of this invention can accommodate significantly higher quantities of flame retardant than that previously disclosed. The present invention provides compositions which take advantage of the superior flame retardancy of ammonium polyphosphate, while significantly reducing its tendency to attract water or water vapor. This is accomplished without any special surface treatment of the ammonium polyphosphate particles. Compositions of the current invention are therefore effective in preventing the common phenomenon of water leaching of ammonium polyphosphate from the polymer matrix. Additionally it has been discovered that flame retardancy is further enhanced by the incorporation of higher levels of flame retardant than was previously thought possible. This is accomplished without loss of mechanical performance of the polymer compositions.
These compositions are especially useful for flame retardant tape backings, such as those utilized in the electrical industry.
These compositions are also useful for flame retardant heat-shrink extruded or molded products for the electrical industry.

Halogen-free flame retardant compositions

Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company