The present invention provides a method of screening for a compound that binds to a selected nucleic acid comprising contacting compound fluorescently labeled by a fluorescent protein with a cell having a plurality of copies of the nucleic acid in an array such that the nucleic acid can be directly detected when bound by fluorescently labeled compound; and directly detecting the location of fluorescence within the cell, fluorescence aggregated at the site of the nucleic acid array indicating a compound that binds to the selected nucleic acid. In particular compounds such a transcription factors can be screened. Reagents for such method are provided including a mammalian cell having a plurality of steroid receptor response elements in an array such that the response element can be directly detected when bound by fluorescently labeled steroid receptor and a chimeric protein comprising a fluorescent protein fused to a steroid receptor.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of binding of molecules such as transcription factors to regions of nucleic acids, steroid hormone usage, steroid receptors and their corresponding response elements. Reagents are provided to allow methods involving direct detection of binding of a molecule, determining response element targeting by activated steroid receptors, screening for steroid agonists and antagonists, and monitoring levels of steroid agonists and antagonists in biological samples.
2. Background Art
Steroid receptors are hormone-dependent activators of gene expression. Steroid receptors mediate the action of steroid hormones (e.g., glucocorticoids, estrogens, progestins, testosterone, mineralocorticoids and 1,25-dihydroxycholecalciferol) in human tissues. After activation with the cognate ligand, receptors bind to chromatin in the nucleus and modulate the activity of target cellular genes. The binding of receptors to these target sequences is a key step in steroid function. Currently, this interaction can only be detected by indirect methods, such as reporter assays that detect the result of transcriptional activation coupled with transfection methods that introduce DNA sequences with receptor binding sites.
It is generally accepted that the unliganded glucocorticoid receptor (GR) resides in the cytoplasm, and that hormone activation leads both to nuclear accumulation and gene activation. (Gasc, J.-M. & Baulieu, E. E. (1987) in Steroid Hormone Receptors: Their Intracellular Localisation, ed. Clark, C. R. (Ellis Horwood Ltd., Chichester, England), pp. 233-250; Beato, M. (1989) Cell 56, 335-344; Carson-Jurica, M. A., Schrader, W. T. & O'Malley, B. W. (1990) Endocr. Rev. 11, 201-220; Gronemeyer, H. (1993) in Steroid Hormone Action, ed. Parker, M. G. (Oxford University Press, New York), pp. 94-117; Tsai, M. J. & O'Malley, B. W. (1994) Annu. Rev. Biochem. 63, 451-486; Akner, G., Wikstrom, A. C. & Gustafsson, J. A. (1995) J Steroid Biochem. Mol. Biol. 52, 1-16), and references therein. However, the mechanisms involved in nuclear translocation and targeting of steroid receptors to regulatory sites in chromatin have been poorly understood. It has previously been difficult to discriminate between the ability of a given receptor mutant, or a given receptor/ligand combination, to participate in the separate processes of receptor activation, nuclear translocation, sequence-specific binding, and promoter activation.
Proteins have previously been labeled with fluorescent tags to detect their localization and sometimes their conformational changes both in vitro and in intact cells. Such labeling is essential both for immunofluorescence and for fluorescence analog cytochemistry, in which the biochemistry and trafficking of proteins are monitored after microinjection into living cells (Wang, Y. L. & Taylor, D. L., eds. (1989) Methods Cell Biol. 29). Traditionally, fluorescence labeling is done by purifying proteins and then covalently conjugating them to reactive derivatives of organic fluorophores. The stoichiometry and locations of dye attachment are often difficult to control, and careful repurification of the proteins is usually necessary. If the proteins are to be used inside living cells, a final challenging step is to get them across the plasma membrane via micropipet techniques or various methods of reversible permeabilization. Furthermore, in previous hormone studies broken cell preparations or antibody tags in fixed cell preparations were used, both techniques that cause enormous disruption of cell structures.
The green fluorescent protein (GFP) from the jellyfish Aequorea victoria is a molecule whose natural function seems to be to convert the blue chemiluminescence of the Ca2+-sensitive photoprotein aequorin into green emission (Ward, W. W. (1979) in Photochemical and Photobiological Reviews, ed. Smith, K. C. (Plenum, N.Y.), 4:1-57). GFP's absorption bands in the blue (maximally at a wave length of 395 nm with weaker absorbance at 470 nm) and emission peak in the green (at 509 nm) do not arise from a distinct cofactor but rather from an internal p-hydroxybenzylideneimidazolidinone chromophore generated by cyclization and oxidation of a serine-tyrosine-glycine sequence at residues 56-67 (Cody, C. W., Prasher, D. C., Westler, W. M., Prendergast, F. G. & Ward, W. W. (1993) Biochemistry 32, 1212-1218). The gene for GFP was cloned (Prasher, D. C., Eckenrode, V. K., Ward, W. W., Prendergast, F. G. & Cormier, M. J. (1992) Gene 111, 229-233), and the encoded protein consists of 238 amino acid residues (molecular weight 27 kD). Heterologous expression of the gene has been done in Escherichia coli (Heim, R., Prasher, D. C. and Tsien, R. Y. (1994) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 91, 12501-12504); Inouye, S. & Tsuji, F. I. (1994) FEBS Lett. 341, 277-280), Caenorhabditis elegans (Chalfie, M., Tu, Y., Euskirchen, G., Ward, W. W. & Prasher, D. C. (1994) Science 263, 802-805), and Drosophila melanogaster (Yeh, E., Gustafson, K. & Boulianne, G. L. (1995) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 92, 7035-7040; Tannahill, D., Bray, S. & Harris, W. A. (1995) Dev. Biol. 168, 694-697 and plants (Hu, W. & Cheng, C. L. (1995) FEBS Lett. 369, 331-334; Baulcombe, D. C., Chapman, S. & Santa Cruz, S. (1995) Plant J. 7, 1045-1053). Recently, chimeric genes encoding N- and C-terminal fusions of the Drosophila exuperantia (exu) gene product, Exu (Wang, S, and Hazelrigg, T. (1994) Nature 369, 400-403), actin Act88F gene (Barthmaier, P. and Fyrberg, E. (1995) Dev. Biol. 169, 770-774), and a nuclear localization signal (Davis, I., Girdham, C. H. & O'Farrell, P. H. (1995) Dev. Biol. 170, 726-729); of the yeast microtubule and spindle pole associated dis1 gene product (Nabeshima, K., Kurooka, H., Takeuchi, M., Kinoshita, K., Nakaseko, Y., & Yanagida, M. (1995) Genes Dev. 9, 1572-1585) and an RNA binding protein Npl3p (Corbett, A. H., Koepp, D. M., Schlenstedt, G., Lee, M. S. Hopper, A. K. & Silver, P. A. (1995) J. Cell Biol. 130, 1017-1026); and of a mammalian ion channel protein, NMDAR1 (Marshall, J., Molloy, R., Moss, G. W., Howe, J. R. & Hughes, T. E. (1995) Neuron 14, 211-215), microtubule-associated protein, MAP4 (Olson, K. R., McIntosh, J. R. & Olmsted, J. B. (1995) J. Cell Biol. 130, 639-650), and a secretory protein, chromogranin B (Kaether, C. & Gerdes, H. H. (1995) FEBS Lett. 369, 267-271) have been constructed fused to GFP. However, none of these chimeric proteins have been to transcription factors or co-factors and no suggestions have been made as to the usefulness of such a fusion to study physiologically relevant interaction on an amplified DNA target. Furthermore, none of these reports indicated a successful use of GFP in mammalian cells.
Many human diseases result from aberrant steroid function, and many disease states, i.e., inflammation, are treated with glucocorticoid and other steroid derivatives. A large number of drugs have been developed whose function is based on the ability to interact with and activate steroid receptors. The identification and characterization of these compounds is a laborious, time-consuming and expensive process involving years of work. Even with a large investment of resources, the true behavior of these compounds in living cells is not understood.
The present invention allows observation for the first time of in vivo target sites within a higher eukaryotic nucleus for trans-regulatory molecules, such as transcription factors, e.g., glucocorticoid receptor (GR). The visualization of physiologically relevant in vivo target sites for any transcription factor to date has not previously been accomplished. The present invention provides a powerful method for identification of any single target site in a higher eukaryotic genome, comprising roughly 60,000-80,000 genes (Bird, A. P. (1995) Trends Genet. 11:94-100), using a singly fluorescently-labelled regulatory factor, which has not been considered previously. Discriminating direct versus indirect interaction between a regulatory molecule and its putative regulatory site is critical for the development of highly specific drugs directed against trans-regulatory factors. Traditionally, the methodology for showing potentially direct interactions involves nuclease or chemical protection experiments and transient co-transfection experiments of the putative regulator and its regulated site. While this approach indicates potential direct interaction, it does not necessarily imply direct interaction. Alternatively, the approach of making compensatory mutations between the regulatory sequences as well as the DNA binding specificity has been used in an attempt to demonstrate direct regulatory interaction (Schier, A. F. and Gehring, W. J. (1992) Nature 356:804-807), an extension of the principles of second site suppression in genetics to molecular biology. However, such an approach makes enormous assumptions of our understanding of sequence-specific recognition by sequence-specific DNA binding proteins in vivo, which certainly would not be valid for many systems, since many profound developmental events are governed by exquisite interactions to fine tune the system regarding, for example, concentration gradients of trans-regulatory factors. The present invention allows a simple and straight-forward manner in which direct interaction between a sequence-specific DNA binding protein or its co-factor and its putative regulatory site in the in vivo genomic context can be addressed. With this simple inventive methodology, novel classes of drugs directed not only against members of the steroid-ligand-dependent transcription factors but to new classes of drugs that target other transcription factors or their co-factors can be screened.
Additionally, the present invention provides the first opportunity to observe and monitor gene targeting specifically of steroid receptors in living cells wherein binding of the steroid receptor to its response element target can be observed distinctly from translocation of steroid receptor. The invention therefore provides for many relevant analyses, such as real-time determination of steroid activity in subjects as well as screening of compounds for response element binding/targeting capabilities as distinct from translocation capabilities. Such methods have implications in many diseases associated with steroid hormones, such as endocrine disorders, rheumatic disorders, collagen diseases dermatological diseases, allergic states, ophthalmic diseases, respiratory disease, hematologic disorders, neoplastic disease, edematous states, gastrointestinal diseases and neurological conditions, and in other uses such as prevention of rejection of transplanted tissues.

Chimeric protein comprising a green fluorescent ptotein fused to a transcription factor

The United States of America as represented by the Department of Health and Human Services


A cutting tool includes first, second and third pairs of scissors. The first and third pairs of scissors are spaced apart from the second pair of scissors by a fixed distance. Each pair of scissors includes a first elongated member and a second elongated member pivotally coupled to the first elongated member. Each elongated member has a handle portion and a cutting portion, including a cutting blade. The cutting tool further includes spacing elements disposed between each pair of scissors to offset the pairs of scissors from each other. A retaining member is coupled to the first elongated member of each pair of scissors to secure the first elongated members together. The second elongated member of each pair of scissors, however, is movable independent of the other scissors. The cutting tool is ideally suited for cutting and styling hair when dry.

Conventional cutting tools for cutting hair are well-known. These cutting tools typically include a single pair of scissors having straight edge cutting blades. Although it is easy to achieve a blunt, straight cut with these single pair scissors, it is more difficult to layer, texturize, or thin hair with them. A single pair of scissors cuts only a small amount of hair at a time, making it difficult to determine after a single cut which area has been layered, texturized or thinned. Other cutting tools, including a single pair of scissors having jagged edge cutting blades, are used in conjunction with straight edge scissors. Typically, when cutting and styling a person's hair, a hair stylist first wets the person's hair and cuts it using the straight edge scissors to provide a blunt, straight cut. Next, the stylist layers, texturizes or thins the person's hair using the jagged edge scissors. The stylist then blow dries the hair and completes the haircut by trimming any unfinished areas. This process has several disadvantages. First, because the majority of the haircut occurs while the person's hair is wet, the person and the stylist are unable to visualize the final haircut until it is dry. Thus, the person is unable to provide input or feedback to the stylist until the end. It is also difficult for the stylist to layer, texturize or thin the person's hair evenly with a single pair of scissors. In addition, the numerous steps in this process, including washing and drying the hair and cutting it with the various tools, are rather time consuming.
One prior approach aimed at reducing the cutting time is a cutting tool having a combination of two or more pairs of scissors. In the past these multiple scissors tools have not been very successful. Both handles of each pair of scissors are permanently secured to respective handles of adjacent pairs of scissors. As a result, adjacent pairs of scissors exert a force on each other such that the cutting blades of one or more pairs of scissors will not close properly.
There is a need, therefore, for a versatile cutting tool which enables a hair stylist and a client to picture the final haircut throughout the entire cutting and styling process. In addition, there is a need for a cutting tool capable of cutting and styling dry hair in either a straight or layered cut faster than a single pair of scissors. It is also desirable for the cutting tool to layer, texturize or thin the hair evenly.


A substrate processing apparatus includes a polishing section and a transport section. The polishing section has a first polishing unit, a second polishing unit, and a transport mechanism. The first polishing unit has a first polishing apparatus and a second polishing apparatus. The second polishing unit has a third polishing apparatus and a fourth polishing apparatus. Each of the first to fourth polishing apparatuses has a polishing table to which a polishing pad is mounted, a top ring, and auxiliary units that perform a process on the polishing pad during polishing. Around the polishing table, a pair of auxiliary unit mounting units for mounting the respective auxiliary units in a left-right switchable manner with respect to a straight line connecting a swing center of the top ring and a center of rotation of the polishing table is provided at respective positions symmetrical with respect to the straight line.

In recent years, with the progress of higher integration of semiconductor devices, the wiring of circuits has become finer and the inter-wiring distance is becoming narrower. In the manufacture of semiconductor devices, many kinds of materials are formed in film form on a silicon wafer to form a laminated structure. In order to form this laminated structure, a technique for making the surface of the wafer flat is important. As a means for planarizing the surface of such a wafer, a polishing apparatus (also referred to as chemical mechanical polishing apparatus) which performs chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) is widely used.
The chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) apparatus generally includes a polishing table having a polishing pad mounted thereto, a top ring that holds the wafer, and a nozzle that supplies the polishing liquid onto the polishing pad. While the polishing liquid is supplied onto the polishing pad from the nozzle, the wafer is pressed against the polishing pad by the top ring, and the top ring and the polishing table are relatively moved, thereby to polish the wafer to make the surface flat.
In addition to such a CMP apparatus, the substrate processing apparatus is a device having a function of cleaning a wafer after polishing, and further drying the wafer. Such a substrate processing apparatus is required to improve the throughput of substrate processing. Since the substrate processing apparatus has various processing units that perform polishing, cleaning, etc., the delay in processing in each processing unit reduces the throughput of the entire substrate processing apparatus. For example, in the conventional substrate processing apparatus described in WO 2007/099976 A, even when the polishing section has a plurality of polishing units, only one cleaning line is provided in the cleaning section, so that it is not possible to clean and dry a plurality of polished wafers simultaneously.
Further, in the conventional substrate processing apparatus, in a case where the polishing section has a first polishing unit and a second polishing unit, when polishing a wafer in the first polishing unit, the wafer is directly transferred from the load/unload unit to the first polishing unit, and when the substrate is polished by the second polishing unit, the wafer is transferred from the load/unload unit to the second polishing unit via the first polishing unit. Therefore, congestion occurs in the same carry-in route portion of the first polishing unit and the second polishing unit, and the throughput is reduced.
Further, in the conventional substrate processing apparatus, the transport robot disposed in the load/unload unit directly loads the wafer before polishing from the load/unload unit to the polishing section, and loads the wafer after cleaning from the cleaning section to the load/unload unit. While the high degree of cleanliness is required for the hand of the transport robot that holds the wafer after cleaning, there is a concern that the hand may come into contact with the polishing environment and become contaminated when the wafer before polishing is directly loaded into the polishing section.


A segmenting scheme and arrangement for digital serial busses such as an I.sup.2 C bus is provided. The segments are broken apart from the master unit by a switch such as a low-impedance bidirectional analog multiplexer. The bus may be of various types such as an I.sup.2 C, a Universal Serial Bus or other similar types of busses. The bus is bidirectional from the various slave or downstream units to the master unit and the various slave devices can operate at different speeds by allowing each segment to adjust the speed of that segment.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an improved apparatus and method for attaching devices to a digital serial bus such as an I.sup.2 C type of bus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various types of digital serial busses have been known. One example of this type of bus is an I.sup.2 C bus. These types of busses allow for low cost serial communication between electronic systems. However, as the speed of such buses are raised, various problems exist. For example, an I.sup.2 C bus is limited in speed to the slowest device "hanging" on the bus. This is not a problem if the devices on the bus only need to send a very limited amount of data and/or this data is sent very infrequently. As the amount of data to be sent on the bus increases or the frequency at which devices are polled or send data increases or when a combination of these two situations occur, the limiting of the bus to the slowest device becomes problematical.
As an example using FIG. 1 as a reference, suppose a single I.sup.2 C master 28 were used to connect to slave devices 40, 42, 44, and 46. If I.sup.2 C slave device 40 could only operate at 10 kHz, the remaining I.sup.2 C slave devices 42, 44 and 46 would be limited to that speed even if these devices might normally operate at 100 kHz. Either wait states would need to be added to the other I.sup.2 C slave devices 42, 44 and 46 or some other method (for example, the master could drive the clock for the bus slower) would be required. This is an unacceptable slow down of the communication system. Further, the capacitive loading of the I.sup.2 C bus becomes an issue as more devices or high capacitive devices (such as monitors) are added. Even if all the I.sup.2 C slaves 40, 42, 44 and 46 normally have the same speed, if one of these devices has a high capacitive load, the speed on that segment would be slower. A further complication, well known to those skilled in the art, is that the termination of the I.sup.2 C bus becomes problematical as well.
One approach that might be tried is shown in FIG. 2 where multiple I.sup.2 C masters 22, 24 and 26 are employed. However, as I.sup.2 C masters are relatively expensive devices, this type of segmentation is expensive. Further, the number of bus connections from the microcontroller (or microprocessor) 10 becomes cumbersome or is limited, which makes device coordination difficult.


Disclosed is a combined skin preparation and monitoring electrode (12). The electrode reduces motion artifacts in recording biopotentials by penetrating a patient's skin prior to acquiring biopotentials. Penetration of the skin reduces skin impedance and the skin's propensity to generate motion artifacts. The electrode has a resilient dome (16) with penetration tines (18) extending from the concave inner surface of the dome. Upon application of a force to the dome, the dome moves from a first position to a second position, forcing the penetration tines into a patient's skin. Upon removal of the force, the dome moves back to its original configuration, withdrawing the penetration tines from the patient's skin.

Diagnosis and treatment of many medical illnesses require monitoring and recording biopotentials of a patient. Biopotentials are voltages generated between points in living tissue. An example of a biopotential is the electrical activity of the heart that is typically recorded in the form of an electrocardiogram (ECG). The electrical activity of the heart is associated with both ion movement and ion concentration, as opposed to electron movement. Skin-mounted monitoring electrodes are used to transduce the ion movement into electron movement to be displayed as voltage or a time-dependent function of voltage called a signal. The signal is a composite of several potentials, in addition to those generated by the heart. These potentials include the half-cell potential of the electrode and the potential created by the ion concentration gradient developed across the skin, referred to as the skin potential.
It is well known in the medical field that there are a number of problems associated with monitoring biopotentials through the use of skin-mounted monitoring electrodes. One such problem is related to an unwanted signal that is created by skin motion under the electrodes. Skin has a complex electrical impedance that is inhomogeneous over the extent of the skin surface. The skin is composed of two principal layers; namely, the epidermis and the dermis. The epidermis includes the stratum corneum or horny layer as the outermost layer of skin, the stratum granulosum which is adjacent the stratum corneum, and the stratum germinativum or innermost layer of the epidermis. The stratum corneum is composed of keratin containing dead cells that have lost their nuclei. These cells are approximately 0.5 to 0.8 micrometers (.mu.m) thick and about 3 .mu.m in diameter. The stratum corneum varies in thickness from approximately 15 cell layers thick on the abdomen, 45 layers thick on the arms, to upwards of several hundred layers thick on the palms and soles. An additional stratum lucidum layer is found in the skin of the palm (hand) and sole (foot) and lies directly beneath the stratum corneum. The dermis is composed of loose connective tissue which contains numerous capillaries, lymphatics, nerve endings, hair follicles, sebaceous glands, sweat glands, and smooth muscle fibers.
The major contributor to skin impedance is associated with the stratum corneum. When the skin is deformed by either compression or extension, a variation in both the skin impedance and the potential between the inside and outside layers of the skin occurs. This variation in skin potential is referred to as a motion artifact or wandering baseline and cannot be easily separated from the biopotential signal of interest. If the motion artifact is severe enough it can mask or hinder the correct diagnosis of the patient's condition. Motion artifact problems are commonly associated with patient's undergoing stress testing, ambulation, or emergency transport whereby motion of the patient causes disturbance of the skin underneath the electrodes.
It is commonly known among medical practitioners that light abrasion or penetration of a patient's skin reduces skin impedance and thereby reduces the effect of skin motion. Methods of skin abrasion have included the use of sandpaper, SCOTCH-BRITE.TM. abrasive pads, blood lancets, gels containing abrasives, brisk rubs with gauze pads or brushes, and even dental burrs. Methods of skin preparation vary among practitioners; however, the effectiveness of each procedure depends upon the skill of the practitioner and time available. If the skin preparation that was performed is inadequate, the electrode has to be removed, the skin site has to be reprepped, and a new electrode has to be reattached.
Various electrode systems have automated skin electrode application and skin preparation, including an abrading disc and motorized applicator gun as disclosed in Modes et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,311,152. However, the electrode and applicator gun are complex, relatively expensive and not without some skin trauma in use. Other art has suggested piercing the skin as a method of skin preparation, for example, Lahr, U.S. Pat. No. 3,774,592, and Lewes et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,505,993. Lahr employs a specialized electrode that includes an absorbent pad saturated with a conductive material. The electrode is adhesively affixed to the skin. The bristles of a separate brush are applied to the back of the electrode and forced through the saturated absorbent pad and into the skin. This method generally results in reliable contact with the skin; however, the method requires a practitioner to perform a number of steps and does not limit the penetration depth of the bristles into the skin. Lewes et al. disclose an electrode that also pierces the skin using rigid metal projections which penetrate into the epidermis. A disadvantage of the electrode disclosed in Lewes et al. is that the projections remain in the skin during the measurement, which could result in undue laceration of the skin should the electrode move with respect to the skin and also contribute spuriously to the electrode half-cell potential.

Combined skin preparation and monitoring electrode


A qualified burst cache facilitates burst mode data transfer between a first clock domain and a second clock domain by simplifying cache control structures. A cache is marked as qualified when full or there is no more data to be written to the cache, allowing burst data to be transferred out of said cache. The invention has applications in network adapter cards for transferring data between a host system bus and a network where the bus and network operate at different speeds and are therefore part of different clock domains.

The present invention is best understood in the context of a network adapter. A network adapter is a device well known in the art for connecting a digital computing device, such as a personal computer, to a communications network such as a local area network, or LAN.
One type of network adapter is discussed in coassigned U.S. Pat. No. 5,412,782, which is incorporated herein by reference. As described in that application, a network adapter generally connects to a multipurpose host computer data bus through programmed I/O (PIO), possibly with a direct memory access (DMA) mode available as a backup for receive operations. The described adapter generally was designed to operate on a network standard known as 10BaseT Ethernet, which operates at maximum network data speeds approaching 10 Megabits per second (Mbps).
Various aspects of other types of network adapters, some of which may be considered modifications or improvements of the just discussed adapter, are described in coassigned U.S. application Ser. No. 08/296,577 filed Aug. 08, 1994, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,640,605, which discusses an adapter for operating at 100 Mbps (100BaseT), coassigned U.S. application Ser. No. 08/544,745, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,715,287, which discusses an adapter connector for operating at both 10BaseT and 100BaseT, and coassigned U.S. application Ser. No. 08/641,399, filed Apr. 30, 1996 and entitled PACKET FILTERING BASED ON SOCKET OR APPLICATION IDENTIFICATION. Each of these pending related U.S. applications are incorporated herein by reference.
In the past several years the capabilities and speed of typical host computer systems placed on networks have improved dramatically and the demands placed on those systems have increased. The speed of networks has also increased. There is therefore a need for network adapters to evolve to handle higher data speeds and to more effectively operate on a host's system bus.
One modification made to high performance adapters is to modify how those adapters operate on the system bus. Higher performance adapters today can often act as bus master devices, rather than as PIO bus devices. Bus master devices can generally transfer more data while using less time on the system bus than can PIO devices.
Today, high performance system buses, such as EISA, and PCI generally allow bus master devices to operate in a burst mode. In burst mode, a bus master is allowed to transfer a high amount of data over the bus, with one bus word (up to four bytes) being transferred every bus cycle without interruption. This can provide the most efficient use of bus resources.
A problem network adapters have, however, in fully utilizing a burst mode on a system bus is that networks operate at a effective data speed that is generally much less than the system bus transmission speed. Therefore, a "burst mode" read operation on a bus will quickly drain any data received from the network on the adapter, and the network cannot deliver data to the adapter quickly enough to meet the burst mode requirements. For this reason, when moving a block of data between a burst mode host computer bus and a network, it is necessary to buffer data on the adapter to obtain the optimal throughput performance.
This problem can be thought of in generalized terms as arising whenever data is exchanged between two different computer systems operating at different speeds. These two areas of the computing environment can be referred to generally as two different clock domains. Referring to the example just discussed, the host bus can be thought of as representing one clock domain and the network and the adapter interface circuitry as another.
There are two common approaches for buffering data when transferring it between two clock domains: a FIFO (First-In-First-Out) memory or a high speed "dual-port" RAM (Random Access Memory), either of which be accessed by either clock domain in a random manner.
FIFOs are a well understood memory structure consisting of memory locations and read and write pointers that address one of the possible locations within the FIFO. When using a FIFO memory, as data is put into the FIFO, some incremental delay later it becomes available to be read out of the FIFO. FIFOs generally require a large number of circuit gates to implement because data must be able to be read from or written to the FIFO starting at any location in the memory. This requires a complex pointer and control structure that is difficult to design. A major part of a FIFO design entails always keeping track of the relationship between the read and write pointers and ensuring that there is either room for data to be written into the FIFO, or that data being read from the FIFO is valid.
The complexities of FIFO design and control are increased when an adapter interfaces to a host bus which supports a burst mode, especially when the bus master cannot pace the transfers, as is the case with EISA--Extended Industry Standard Architecture. This is because the EISA Specification does not allow the bus master to insert "wait" cycles on the bus once a burst transfer has begun and it is complex to update and synchronize the FIFO pointer updates at the fast burst rate demanded by the bus.
An alternative prior art approach to using a FIFO is using a "dual-port" RAM, but this also has disadvantages. A Dual-port RAM is merely a more general implementation of the above FIFO and therefore suffers from the same read write pointer, data valid complexities.
What is needed is a mechanism that will allow an adapter or other device moving data between two clock domains to efficiently transmit data in a burst mode on the faster clock domain without the design and control complexities of prior art solutions.

Qualified burst cache for transfer of data between disparate clock domains


There is described a device for the detection of objects lying in the earth which, irrespective of topography, soil structure and state of the terrain, permits high surface yields with great precision in identifying the position of the objects to be detected without endangering the operating personnel. On a mobile device (10) is arranged at least one jib (20) swivellable about a vertical axis, on whose free end are arranged adjacent to each other several measuring heads (40) for sweeping over strip-shaped surface areas (2a-d) of the terrain to be investigated. With the measuring heads (40) on the free end of the jib (20) at least one ground marking device (60) is arranged for distinguishing the find site determined by the measuring heads (40). The ground marking device (60) includes a paint spraying device (61) as well as a stake marking device (66) next to each measuring head (40).

The invention relates to a device for detecting objects lying in the earth, especially explosive objects, such as non-exploded mines, grenades, munitions or bombs, with a mobile device on which a jib swivellable at least about a vertical axis is mounted, on the free end of which several measuring heads are arranged.
Former military sites often have explosive objects in the earth which must be removed from the earth before the terrain can be directed toward a new use. Since it is usually a question of very large areas, it would be too expensive to remove all the earth in the upper soil layers and search for the objects mentioned.
In order to be able to implement cleanups of old military encumbrances with a reasonable expenditure, it is first of all necessary to detect not yet exploded objects and to remove only the earth at the find sites and cleanse it of explosive objects in a second step. Since large surface segments of land must be combed, conventional detection devices are not practicable for this and are associated with great dangers for life and limb of the personnel.
With known manual searching apparatus which are guided by operators over the ground, only relatively narrowly restricted areas can be searched with a reasonable expenditure of time. Moreover, the danger for operating personnel is very great, because the person must walk over the grounds to be searched with the metal detector and can cause the objects detected to detonate through inattention under certain circumstances.
Moreover, vehicles are known on the front side of which metal detectors are firmly installed, so that only the area in front of the vehicle can be searched for explosive objects. Even with these vehicles, the surface yield is not sufficient. A further disadvantage consists in that, as a rule, only flat ground can be examined because the measuring heads are rigidly fastened on the vehicle. Uneven terrain therefore leads to considerable errors in identifying the location of the objects, which has as a consequence that the cleanup troops are either exposed to a heightened risk or must carry off more ground than is necessary in order to discover the objects, or that on account of the cants in troughs dead areas arise, so that many explosive objects are not located at all.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,021,725 describes a mine detecting apparatus which has a jib on the front side of a mobile device on whose free end a detection device is arranged. The jib is swivellable around a vertical and/or horizontal axis. The detection device possesses several probes in order be able to construct the position of magnetic dipoles and a map with the position of these discovered objects. During the forward movement, the jib executes an oscillating swinging movement. Owing to the fact that the probes are arranged in a row transverse to the direction of travel, the terrain is only probed along a line. Further, the mine detecting apparatus is usable only for level terrains. As soon as uneven terrains emerge, recognition of the position is erroneous, or mines located in the soil are not identified at all.
DE 42 27 461 A1 describes a mine reconnaissance and detector system which has a remote-controlled vehicle which is connected with a processing and control unit through an interconnecting cable. The sensor device is installed firmly on the mobile device, so that with uneven terrain erroneous measurements likewise occur. The marking device is located at the back end of this vehicle with the disadvantage that the exact position of discovered objects cannot be marked.
DE 35 26 492 A1 describes an apparatus for discovering metal, particularly mines. The metal seeking probe has a spool, whose diameter is greater than half the width of the vehicle, on which the probe is fastened by means of a carrier device. The carrier device is displaceable only in a vertical direction.
FR51551 describes a mobile mine searching device with a jib which is swivellable in a vertical direction about a horizontal axis, on which jib is suspended a net-shaped arrangement with measuring heads.

Device for the detection of objects, especially explosive objects, lying in the earth


An upper endless rail has a downwardly opened guide channel, and a lower endless rail has an upwardly opened guide channel. A plurality of circulatory frames are mounted for movement along and between the upper and lower endless rails. Each circulatory frame has a plurality of casters mounted at a lower side portion thereof and positioned in the guide channel of the lower endless rail and further has a plurality of upper guide rollers mounted at an upper side portion thereof for contacting with and rolling on a side face or faces of and in the guide channel of the upper endless rail. Each caster includes a support roller for rolling on an inner bottom face of the guide channel of the lower endless rail and a lower guide roller for contacting with and rolling on an inner side face or faces of the guide channel. Each circulatory frame is moved with the load thereof supported by the support rollers of the casters from below while rocking motion of a lower portion of the circulatory frame is prevented by the lower guide rollers. The weight of the circulatory frames does not act upon the upper endless rail at all.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a circulatory storage apparatus for home use for storing a large number of clothes, books, daily necessaries and like articles efficiently therein and transporting a desired one of the stored articles quickly to a desired position of the apparatus, and more particularly to a circulatory storage apparatus wherein a plurality of rectangular circulatory frames on which hanger bars, cages or like members are mounted are interconnected by means of links and mounted for circulatory movement between and along upper and lower endless rails such that, when the circulatory frames are moved successively along the upper and lower endless rails, clothes hung on the hanger bars, books carried on the racks, daily necessaries accommodated in the cages or the like are circulatorily transported.
2. Description of the Related Art
A circulatory storage apparatus for documents is already known and disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,368,688. Home products which were a modification to the circulatory storage apparatus for clothes for home use were put on the market for several years from 1983 under the name of "Closet Carousel" from WHITE CAROUSEL, INC. in the United State. After then, similar products of a little modified form have been put on the market and are still put on the market from WHITE HOME PRODUCTS, INC. in the United States. Further, a circulatory storage apparatus for the same use which is further modified from the two products is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Application No. 62-266007.
The conventional apparatus have a common structure in that a rectangular circulatory frame is hung on an upper endless rail by means of a pair of trolleys securely mounted at an upper side of the circulatory frame while a pair of lower rollers securely mounted on a lower side of the circulatory frame are engaged with a lower endless rail to prevent rocking motion of the rectangular circulatory frame. In short, the conventional apparatus is common in the basic structure in that the circulatory frame is hung for travelling movement on the upper endless rail while rocking motion of the circulatory frame is prevented by the lower endless rail.
Further, the trolleys are mounted on the upper side of the circulatory frame with mounting shafts therefor fitted for rotation through holes formed at predetermined locations of the upper side of the circulatory frame, and the lower rollers are either mounted directly on the circulatory frame with shafts therefor fitted in holes formed at predetermined locations of the lower side of the circulatory frame or supported for pivotal motion on a bracket which is securely mounted on the circulatory frame making use of such holes. A hanger bar is mounted on and extends horizontally between the opposite right and left sides of the circulatory frame with the opposite ends thereof secured to the left and right sides of the circulatory frame by means of screws fitted in holes formed in the left and right sides of the circulatory frame. The circulatory frame is formed either by joining the upper and lower side members and the left and right side members to each other by means of screws or by forming the four side members as a unitary member.
With the conventional apparatus of the structure described above, however, since a total weight of the circulatory frames and articles supported on the circulatory frames is applied as it is as a suspended load to the upper endless rail, the upper endless rail, support columns for the upper endless rail, the trolleys and so forth must have a strength and a structure sufficient to bear the suspended load, and besides, as the suspended load increases, the center of gravity of the entire apparatus rises, which deteriorates the stability of the apparatus. Therefore, many reinforcing members are required, which makes the cost of the apparatus high. Further, since the circulatory frames have a suspended structure, the operability of them is not high, and in order to move the circulatory frames, a great force is required particularly at a corner at which the endless rails are curved. Thus, in the products for home use such as the products of WHITE CAROUSEL, INC. and the products of WHITE HOME PRODUCTS, INC., the circulatory frames are driven to move by means of a motor, also which makes a cause of a high cost.
Further, in order to mount trolleys, hanger bars and lower rollers onto a circulatory frame, the circulatory frame must have mounting holes formed therein, which is one of the causes of a great number of man-hours required for manufacture of the apparatus, and besides, since the parts must be fitted into and through the holes, much time is required for mounting of them. Further, since the mounting positions of the trolleys, hanger bars and lower rollers depend naturally upon the positions of the holes, the their positions cannot be adjusted freely.


A half-enclosed flexible light strip includes a flexible circuit board, a transparent cover with a half-enclosed structure and a plurality of light sources. The plurality of light sources and the transparent cover are all arranged on the same surface of the flexible circuit board. The light sources are located between the transparent cover and the flexible circuit board. The transparent cover is formed by co-extrusion process and connected to the flexible circuit board. The transparent cover with a half-enclosed structure is formed onto the flexible circuit board by co-extrusion process, the use of glue is reduced, so that the light emitted from the two sides of the transparent cover will not cause color drift problem, and this arrangement ensures the consistency of the luminous effect in all directions, thereby improving the light strip use effect.

The flexible light strip is a light-emitting device that can be mounted flexibly. The flexible light strip is currently popularly used for on-site arrangements such as event ceremonies, and can produce a variety of lighting effects to enhance the atmosphere of the scene. For the existing flexible light strip, the manufacturing process is generally to completely cover the flexible printed circuit with a transparent cover to ensure that the light source on the flexible printed circuit is isolated from the outside, thereby increasing the life span of the flexible light strip. However, in this way, much glue is required to connect the transparent cover with the flexible printed circuit, and the glue will affect the light-transmittance of the transparent cover and cause color shift.

DONGGUAN ZOYO ELECTRONICS TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.


An apparatus for processing an input sound signal, the apparatus including: gain circuitry configured to control a gain based on a plurality of respective sub-signals of the input sound signal; and an amplification apparatus configured to adjust the amplification of all the plurality of amplitudes based on the common gain.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to post-filter processing of an input sound signal in order to adjust gain values. Such gain-control processing is applicable to hearing prostheses, telecommunications, and the like.
Related Art
Automatic Gain Control (AGC) systems are commonly used in audio processing systems (e.g., audio headsets, hearing prostheses, etc.) to cope with a large range in sound levels. In some systems, the audio signal is split into multiple frequency bands by a filter bank of discrete components or a transform (e.g., a Fast Fourier Transform). The gain of each band can then be controlled separately. This is referred to as a multi-band type of AGC.
A variety of hearing prostheses exist to assist people who suffer hearing loss. Some are entirely external devices, e.g., conventional hearing aids. Some hearing prostheses are implantable, and more particularly are examples of an active implantable medical device (AIMD). An AIMD is a medical device having one or more implantable components, the latter being defined as relying for its functioning upon a source of power other than the human body or gravity, such as an electrical energy source. Amongst hearing prostheses, an example of an AIMD is a cochlear implant system, which is used to treat sensorineural hearing loss by providing electrical energy directly to the recipient's auditory nerves via an electrode assembly implanted in the cochlea. Electrical stimulation signals are delivered directly to the auditory nerve via the electrode assembly, thereby inducing a hearing sensation (or percept) in the implant recipient.
When fitting a cochlear implant system to a recipient, the appropriate stimulation levels for each electrode must be determined. The lowest stimulation current that is perceptible is known as the threshold level or T level. The highest stimulation current that is comfortable is known as the maximum comfortable level or C level. The T and C levels vary between recipients, and also vary between electrodes in a single recipient.
The ratio between the C and T levels on an electrode is known as the electrical dynamic range, and is typically about 10 dB. This is much smaller than the dynamic range of sound levels in the environment, and hence the processing for a cochlear implant system generally incorporates some form of compression.


The present invention relates to a method for computer-controlled modelling of customised earpieces. These earpieces include housings for hearing aids, wireless or connected communication devices (headsets, mobile phones, personal agents), loud speakers, tinnitus masking devices, devices recording vibrations in the skull and transforming these into audio signals, voice recognition devices, earplugs, noise blockers with selective frequencies or sound levels, Man Machine Interface (MMI) products that enable clear communication even in the noisiest environments, or products related to wireless Internet applications. All these earpieces may be worn in the user's meatus and/or auditory canal. The invention also relates to a computerised system for manufacturing such customised earpieces. In particular, the invention is directed to a computerised system that models an earpiece based on a three-dimensional replica of the user's meatus and/or auditory canal.

Many existing applications, such as in-the-ear (ITE), in-the-channel (ITC), or completely-in-the-channel (CIC) housings for hearing aids and personal communication devices (mobile phones or headsets) require the reproduction of one-of-a-kind parts of complex geometry. In these applications, the parts are unique and require a highly precise fit of the replacement part Sub-millimetre precision is for example required for ITE, ITC or CIC hearing aid housings; the housing Will otherwise cause inconvenience feedback, as well as irritation and possibly infection to the epidermis of the ear canal.
Existing methods to model and manufacture customised housings for hearing aids are very long and tedious processes. They introduce a great deal of uncertainty about the quality of the finished product. The process typically implies the creation of an impression of the user's ear canal. This impression must be adjusted manually and a mould replicating the user's meatus is created from the impression, either in plaster, gel, or silicone resin. A polymerisable liquid synthetic resin is produced, poured into the mould and polymerised at least partially. If the desired product is a shell for an individually fitted hearing aid housing, most of the liquid synthetic resin must be poured out of the mould again, before it completely polymerises. The resulting shell is ground to the desired size and appearance. The components must then be fitted manually into the shell; this operation is often problem-prone, since the shell has been designed without taking proper account of the components' shape and size.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method for modeling customized earpieces


In the power supply control system, an electrically heated catalytic converter (EHC) is connected to an alternator output terminal via a switch SW1, and a battery is connected to the alternator via a switch SW2 in parallel with the EHC. A control unit (ECU) for controlling the operation of the switches SW1 and SW2 is provided. When the engine has started, the ECU turns on the SW1 and turns off the SW2 to supply electric power to the EHC directly from the alternator. After the EHC is heated to the activating temperature and starts its catalytic action, the ECU turns on both the switches SW1 and SW2 to supply electric power to the EHC from the battery to maintain the temperature of the EHC. Since the electric power for raising the temperature of the EHC is supplied in the condition where the battery is disconnected from the alternator, the output voltage can be increased to a value higher than a normal output voltage for charging the battery. Therefore, a relatively large electric power can be supplied to the EHC without imposing an excessive load on the battery.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a power supply control system for an electrically heated catalytic converter which controls an electric supply to an electrically heated catalytic converter.
2. Description of the Related Art
An electrically heated catalytic converter (hereinafter referred to as "an EHC") disposed in an exhaust gas passage of an internal combustion engine is known in the art. The electrically heated catalytic converter is used for raising the temperature of the catalysts in the converter to their activating temperature in a short time after the engine has started.
When an internal combustion engine starts, since the amount of fuel supplied to the engine is increased to facilitate the engine starting, the amount of HC and CO in the exhaust gas increases. However, by supplying electricity to the EHC, the temperature of the converter reaches the activating temperature in a short time after the engine has started. Therefore, the converter starts its catalytic action for purifying HC and CO in the exhaust gas immediately after the engine has started, whereby the emission of HC and CO to the atmosphere after the start of the engine is reduced.
An electrically heated catalytic converter of this type is disclosed, for example, in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 4-279718.
The '718 publication discloses an EHC in which electricity is supplied from a battery to the EHC. The supply of electricity from the battery is continued for a period sufficient for raising the temperature of catalysts in the EHC to the activating temperature.
However, it is necessary to supply a relatively large electric power to the EHC for heating the catalysts in a short time. Therefore, if electricity is supplied from the battery, as in the system of the '718 publication, the load of the battery becomes large and damage to the battery may occur.
SAE paper No. 941042 (published in February, 1994) discloses another EHC system in which electricity is supplied to an EHC directly from a generator when the engine starts. Namely, the EHC system in the '042 paper is provided with a changeover switch which connects either of the battery and the EHC selectively to the generator. In a normal operation of the engine, the changeover switch connects the battery to the generator and charges the battery. However, the changeover switch disconnects the battery from generator and connects the EHC to the generator when the engine starts in order to supply electricity to the EHC directly from the generator.
In the EHC system of the '042 paper, since the battery is disconnected from the generator when electricity is supplied to the EHC, it becomes possible to supply a large electric power to the EHC by raising an output voltage of the generator to a value higher than a normal output voltage for charging the battery. Therefore, the EHC can be activated in a short time without imposing a large load on the battery. In the EHC system of the '042 paper, the EHC is disconnected from the generator, and the battery is connected to the generator after the temperature of the EHC reaches the activating temperature. Thus, the battery is charged by the generator in a normal operation after the EHC has activated.
However, since the exhaust gas temperature of an engine is low immediately after the engine starts, sometimes the EHC is cooled by the cold exhaust gas. Therefore, if the supply of electricity to the EHC is stopped after the EHC reaches the activating temperature, the temperature of the EHC again becomes lower than the activating temperature and the activity of the catalysts is lost. Thus, it is preferable to continue to supply electricity to the EHC even after the EHC has been activated in order to maintain the temperature of the EHC at a value higher than the activating temperature.
In the EHC system of the '042 paper, however, the battery is disconnected from the generator when electricity is supplied to the EHC. Therefore, since only the battery supplies electricity to all other electric loads of the engine when electricity is supplied to the EHC, an excessive discharge of the battery may occur if electricity is supplied to the EHC for a long period. Therefore, in the EHC system of the '042 paper, it is not possible to continue the supply of electricity to the EHC to maintain the catalytic activity of the EHC after it is activated.
On the other hand, since the battery in the EHC system of the '718 publication is always connected to the generator, it might be possible to continue to supply electricity to the EHC for maintaining the catalytic activity of the EHC even after the EHC reaches the activating temperature. However, since the battery in the '718 publication also supplies a large electric power for activating the EHC, the load of the battery becomes excessively large, and damage to the battery may occur if the battery continues to supply electricity to the EHC even after it is activated.

Power supply control system for an electrically heated catalytic converter


A serpentine tube used in the manufacture of a fluorescent lamp is coated with a reflective or phosphor material. A magnetic material and coating material slurry is placed within one end of a serpentine glass tube. A magnet is placed adjacent the magnetic material and coating material slurry and is moved in a path conforming to the shape of the serpentine tube. The magnet causes the magnetic material and coating material slurry to travel along therewith, coating a portion of the interior surface of the serpentine tube with a reflective, phosphor, or other material. In another embodiment of the invention, abrasive magnetic material is placed within the serpentine lamp for removing a previously coated material resulting in an aperture being formed. The present invention is particularly suited to the manufacture of serpentine fluorescent lamps that are used to illuminate flat panel displays.

Fluorescent lamps are widely used in many lighting applications. In the manufacture of a fluorescent lamp, a phosphor coating is often required to be placed on the interior surface of the lamp. Generally, fluorescent lamps are made from straight glass tubes. The interior surface of the glass tube is often easily coated by placing within the glass tube a liquid phosphor material and tilting or rotating the glass tube. Other coating techniques have also been used. For example, one end of the tube may also be immersed in a quantity of liquid phosphor and a vacuum used to draw the liquid phosphor up the interior of the tube, and then removing the vacuum causing the liquid phosphor to drain out of the tube leaving a coating on the interior surface of the glass tube. Reflective coatings are also often used.
However, there are many lamps used for special applications, which require unique or unusual configurations. One such lamp is a serpentine lamp used in illuminating planar surfaces with substantially even illumination. It is often difficult to coat the serpentine fluorescent lamp with a reflective coating or phosphor material due to the numerous curves or bends. Therefore, there is a need for an improved device and method for the coating of the interior surface of the serpentine lamp with reflective coating or a phosphor material.

Device and method for coating serpentine fluorescent lamps


An end-mill tool has at least one low helix angle flute, or primary flute) and at least two low helix angle flutes, or secondary flutes. The primary and secondary flutes intersect to define a plurality of compound helical cutting surfaces. Each of the compound cutting surfaces includes a cutting edge having a leading portion formed adjacent one of the primary flutes and a trailing portion formed adjacent one of the secondary flutes.

1. Technical Field of the Invention
In general, the present invention relates to machining of a workpiece. More particularly, the present invention relates to end-mill tools for milling a workpiece and a related method.
2. Background of the Invention
Rotary cutting end-mill tools are used for various machining operations on workpieces. Such machine operations are generically referred to as milling operations and include the forming of slots, keyways, pockets, and the like. Several considerations related to end-mill tool design include time for completing a machining operation, amount of material removed in a cut, quality of the cut, and wear on the tool itself during the milling operation.
The various machining operations performed with an end-mill tool can be performed in a "roughing" mode (rough cutting) and a "finishing" mode (finishing cutting). During roughing, material is removed from a workpiece at a relatively high rate (e.g., depth of cut), but with a relatively rough surface finish. Finishing involves the removal of material from a workpiece at a relatively low rate, but with a relatively smooth surface finish. Generally, these two operations (roughing and finishing) are antithetical to one another, and require two operations with two different end-mills.
End-mill tools are formed from materials such as tungsten carbide, high speed steel, ceramic, and other advanced materials and coatings and typically include a "shank" portion, a "body" portion and a "point". The shank portion is located towards one end of the end-mill tool and is generally cylindrical (but may be tapered) for engagement by a spindle of a milling machine. In use, the milling machine rotatably drives the end-mill tool about its longitudinal axis. The body portion of the end-mill tool is located between the shank and the point. The point is formed at an opposite end of the tool from the shank portion, and typically includes one or more cutting edges.
To manufacture an end-mill tool, a grinder is typically used to grind a flute face and a corresponding cutting edge on the body of the end-mill tool. The grind (grinding operation) typically starts from a position adjacent an end of the body portion and continues to a point at or near the interface of the body portion and the shank portion, commonly referred to as an "inception location". The grind forms a desired helical flute face and/or helical cutting edge. Prior art end-mills typically have continuous helical flutes with continuous cutting edges helically extending from the inception location to the point (or vice-versa). The flutes function primarily for chip removal, in a manner similar to the helical flutes found on an ordinary drill bit.
An end-mill tool representative of the end-mill tools of the prior art is illustrated in FIGS. 1A and 1B and identified with reference numeral 100. The tool 100 has been formed of cylindrical rod stock which has been ground to form distinctive portions. At one end of the tool 100 is a shank portion 102, suitable for chucking to the spindle of a milling machine (not shown) for rotating and advancing the tool 100. At an other end of the tool 100 is a point 104 which is provided with flat cutting edges 114 and 116. Between the shank portion 102 and the point 104 is a body portion 106 which is helically ground to have a number of flutes 110 and 112. A "boundary" between the body portion 106 and the shank portion 102 is designated 108 in the drawing.
In the embodiment illustrated, the formation of flutes in the body portion 106 generally involves the grinding of two channels, or flutes 110 and 112, which form two diametrically-opposed positions at the point 104 towards the shank portion 102. The grinding is discontinued at the boundary 108 of the body portion 106 and the shank portion 102. It will be appreciated that the direction of the grind could, of course, be reversed. In a known variation referred to as a three-flute end-mill, three flutes wind helically around the body portion of the tool and terminating in three cutting edges. The flutes 110 and 112 are formed at a helix angle which "winds" around the cylindrical body portion.
Generally, the location of the flat cutting edges 114 and 116 is determined by the location of the flutes 110 and 112 at the point 104 of the tool 100. The end-mill tool 100 illustrated in FIG. 1A has two cutting edges 114 and 116 at the point 104. The number and location of the cutting edges 114 and 116 is determined by the flutes 110 and 112. FIG. 1B shows the cutting edges 114 and 116 of the tool 100 in greater detail.
It is known in the art to form flutes at a low helix angle or a high helix angle. A "low helix" (or low helical flute) is a flute that helically "winds" around a cylinder at an angle of no more than 45.degree. (forty-five degrees). A "super" low-helical flute would be a flute that winds around a cylinder at an angle of at no more than 15.degree.. A "high helix" (or high helical flute) is a flute that helically winds around a cylinder at an angle of greater than 45.degree.. A "super" high-helical flute would be a flute that winds around a cylinder at an angle of at least 65.degree.. Low helix angle flutes are typically employed for rough cutting while high helix angle flutes are employed for finish cutting.
Returning to FIG. 1A, the tool 100 is illustrated to include two cutting edges 120 and 122. Each of the cutting edges 120 and 122 is helical and follows one of the flutes 110 and 112 helically around the body portion 106. A notable feature of these cutting edges 120 and 122 is that they are "continuous"--in other words they helically extend continuously from the point 104 to the shank 102. These cutting edges 120 and 122 function to remove material in the linear direction of travel of the end-mill 100 (e.g., from right-to-left, as viewed in FIG. 1A) during a machining operation when the end-mill is "buried" into a workpiece. Material removed from the workpiece will tend to be in the form of an elongated helical (curlicue) chip, and will be guided away from the workpiece by the channels formed by the flutes 110 and 112.
By way of further definition, the edges 114 and 116 at the point 104 of the tool 100 can be considered to be "flat" cutting edges, and the cutting edges 120 and 122 along the body 106 of the tool 100 can be considered to be "helical" cutting edges.
The following U.S. Patents are further instructive of the prior art: U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,610,581; 5,049,009; 4,721,421; and 4,963,059. These patents are incorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein.
Numerous variations of the grind (e.g., flute angle) have been attempted for end-mill tool design. Prior advancements relating to material removal and feed rate of end-mill cutters have been accomplished by (1) varying the spiral lead angle; (2) increasing the depth of the flutes in the body portion of the end-mill, (3) changing the radial rake; (4) changing the clearance angles of the cutting edges; and (5) forming chip splitting grooves in the flutes.
While such variations have proven successful in various applications, they are also associated with disadvantages and limitations. For example, such variations may weaken the core diameter of the end-mill cutter, thereby weakening the tool. Additionally, such noted variations are not suitable for a particular applications (e.g., regarding milling time, rough cut, finish cut, etc.). Furthermore, known end-mills are not efficient for both rough cutting and finish cutting.
It is often advantageous when performing an end-mill machining operation to create many small chips, rather than fewer elongated curlicue chips. This allows, for example, rapid rate of removal of material from a workpiece without undue heating of the end-mill tool. Heat is generally anathema to tools, particularly end-mill tools. To the end of reducing heat, it is known to use coolants. Dry machining (sans coolant) offers an advantage of simplicity. Generally, the end-mill of the present invention provides for increased rate of removal without sacrificing tool life and strength, and may not require flowing coolant onto the workpiece or tool.

End-mill tool with high and low helical flutes and related method for rough cutting and finishing a workpiece


A method and apparatus are disclosed for building a reinforced sea wall or levee. The reinforced structure is designed particularly for use in areas of soft sub-soil such as those sub-soils found near the Gulf of Mexico which are capable of bearing loads of less than 5 pounds per square inch of weight. The structure includes first and second rows of soil-cement columns formed on opposite sides of the centerline of the structure. Soil-cement columns are formed by mechanically cutting the soft sub-soil and simultaneously hydraulically mixing the cut soft soil with a cement slurry injected at velocities of 200 feet per second or more. Reinforcing structural elements, preferably H-beams, are embedded in at least some of the soil-cement columns in each of the two rows. Tensile load bearing members, such as cables or beams, are interconnected between some of the reinforcing structural elements in the first row of soil-cement columns with some of the structural elements in the second row of soil-cement columns. Lagging walls are installed between upstanding H-beams. Fill materials, such as sand, silt or sediment, are then deposited between the two rows of soil-cement columns. Optionally, a third row of soil-cement columns is placed between the first and second rows and longitudinal beams are placed at ground level, extending between the outer rows of soil-cement columns and being placed on top of the center row of columns. An optional semi-permeable mat is placed on top of these beams to bear the weight of the sandy fill material and to transfer that weight to the three rows of soil-cement columns.

The present invention pertains in part to the building of sea walls and/or levees on soft subsoil, such as found in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. The need for sturdy sea walls and/or levees to protect oil and gas infrastructure, as well as cities, is overwhelming, and becomes more dire with the passage of time. The need is expressed regularly since hurricane Katrina occurred in August, 2005.
One of the most difficult aspects of building sea walls and/or levees near the Gulf Coast is that the local subsoil that is readily available is soft and/or sandy, and therefore not desirable for use. The prior art has simply not found a way to use such subsoil as the primary component of structurally sound, long lasting sea walls or levees. Prior art sea walls typically depend on fairly solid and dense soil or rock in which to place anchors on the inland side of the sea wall (see U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,674,921; 4,480,945 and 6,908,258). Prior art levees typically depend on importing solid, dense soil.
The present invention overcomes the above problem and for the first time provides a robust, long lasting sea wall and/or levee using the abundant, readily available, soft, sandy subsoil typically found near the Gulf Coast as the primary building material!!
A further advantage of the invention is that soft, sandy subsoil from water bodies adjacent the sea wall or levee may be dredged to deepen the water body for navigation, and simply placed on top of the sea wall or levee. Such soft, sandy materials heretofore have been hauled great distances from where they are dredged for disposal.
The present invention provides a method of building new, reinforced sea walls and/or levees to protect cities as well as oil and gas infrastructure such as refineries, pipelines and related facilities from storm surges.
The present invention is based in part on the proven technology known as GEO-JET® and as described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,793,740; 4,958,962; 5,396,964; 5,890,844; 6,183,166; 6,241,426 and 6,988,856, all of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
A primary object of the invention is to provide a robust and long lasting sea wall and/or levee design that utilizes the soft, sandy subsoil such as typically found near the Gulf of Mexico as its primary building material.
A further advantage of the invention is that soft, sandy subsoil from water bodies adjacent the sea wall or levee may be dredged to deepen the water body from navigation and placed on top of the sea wall or levee.
A further object of the invention is to provide a sea wall and/or levee design for use in Gulf Coast areas wherein the existing soft, sandy materials do not have to be removed and hauled great distances for disposal.
A further object of the invention is to provide a novel sea wall and/or levee for providing efficient protection for oil and gas infrastructures such as refineries, pipelines and related facilities from storm surges.
Further objects and advantages will become apparent from the following description and drawings wherein:

Method and apparatus for building reinforced sea walls and levees


An optical element comprises a molded body of a composition of a cross-linked macromolecular liquid crystal and a resin. An optical element composed of a macromolecular liquid crystal composition where the granules of the cross-linked macromolecular liquid crystal are dispersed into the resin as a binder is preferable. The element can be made by preparing in advance granules of the cross-linked macromolecular crystal liquid by a physical or chemical crushing manner, dispersing the granules in the binder, and then molding it.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to optical elements comprising a macromolecular liquid crystal composition. The element includes a light scattering element, a light modulation element (an element for changing the phase, wavelength, strength, polarized face and so on of light), a dimming element (element for changing the transmission factor, reflection factor, and so on of light), a rewritable recording element, an optical recording element, a optical waveguide designed to control the transmission of light, a light switch designed to switch light, an optical element applicable to a photo coupler or the like designed to conduct photoconnection. The invention also relates to a method of manufacturing optical elements, and macromolecular liquid crystal composition for an optical element.
2. Description of Related Art
Attention has been paid to a macromolecular liquid crystal, as a novel functional material. Known are a rewritable recording element, which is an application of the macromolecular liquid crystal and capable of recording images reversibly by an external stimulus, an optical recording element, further an optical compensating element, an orientation film (JP-A No. 63-223066, JP-A No. 62-14114, JP-A No. 2-42415, JP-A No. 2-3021, JP-A No. 3-59622) and the like. Generally these elements are composed of a macromolecular liquid crystal formed on a substrate. Various examples of these constructions are illustrated, for example, in Polym. Commun. Vol. 24, 364 (1983), Japan Display, 290 (1986).
Also, to improve a function of a macromolecular liquid crystal, JP-A No. 3-284988 proposes a light scattering type recording element capable of rewriting, an element having two electrodes sandwiching a composite film where the macromolecular liquid crystal is dispersed in a granular form in a resin, or macromolecule. In the element, local heating is carried out with laser or the like to reversibly change one portion of it from light scattering condition into transparent condition to effect a recording operation. According to the publication, by dispersing the macromolecular liquid crystal in a granular shape into the macromolecule, refractive index difference at their interface is caused so that contrast and resolution can be improved. Further, a specific method of manufacturing the light scattering type optical recording element is also described. The manufacturing method comprises the steps of mixing a precursor, i.e., a mesogen monomer of the macromolecular liquid crystal is mixed with a macromolecular binder precursor, thermally annealing them at a temperature such that the mesogen monomer shows a liquid crystal phase, to separate the mesogen monomer phase from the macromolecular binder precursor phase, polymerizing each of them with ultraviolet ray or the like, to make a composite film where the macromolecular liquid crystal is dispered in the binder resin, in a granular shape.
However, in the above-described art satisfactory contrast cannot be obtained. There remains improvement on structural stability.

Optical element and method of manufacturing the same, and macromolecular liquid crystal for an optical element


An in-line early enhancement generation system comprises one or more microphones positioned close to one or more sound sources so as to detect predominantly direct sound, an early reflection generation stage which generates a number of delayed reproductions of the microphone signals and which has unitary power gain whereby the stability of the system is independent of the delay times and amplitudes, and a number of loudspeakers placed to broadcast said early reflected energy into the room.

The acoustics of a room has a significant impact on an audience's perception of the quality of a live performance. There are a number of properties of rooms that have been identified as being correlated to subjective impressions of quality. The earliest measured parameter was the reverberation time. This is a global property of the room which has a similar value at all locations. It is governed by the room volume and the absorption of the room surfaces, and the quality of reverberation is also governed by the room shape. Rooms with a long reverberation time can provide a sense of envelopment which produces an increased enjoyment of performances such as opera or classical music. However, the same acoustics can reduce the intelligibility of the spoken word, and therefore be unsuitable for speech.
Other parameters have been determined which relate to the properties of the early part of the response, such as the clarity. More recent auditoria have been designed with reflectors specifically placed to enhance the early part of the room response to sounds emanating from the stage.
To achieve maximum enjoyment of a variety of performances, the acoustics of a room must be matched to the intended performance. Many rooms have for this reason been made acoustically adjustable. For example adjustable absorbers such as moveable curtains or rotatable panels have been used to control reverberation time. Extra acoustic spaces have been constructed which can be coupled to the main area when required to provide more reverberance.
Electroacoustic systems have been used for many years to enhance the acoustics of rooms. The simplest system is the public address or sound reinforcement system, in which the sound produced by performers on stage is detected by close microphones and the sound amplified and broadcast from one or more sets of loudspeakers. The goal of such systems is typically to project the direct, unreverberated, sound to the audience to eliminate the effects of the room and improve clarity.
More recently, more complex forms of sound system have been developed which aim to provide adjustable room acoustics. The basic sound reinforcement system has been further developed by introducing sound processing elements such as delays, which allow the creation of additional sound reflections—see W. Anhert, "Complex simulation of acoustic fields by the delta stereophony system (DDS)," J. Audio Eng: Soc., vol. 35, no. 9, pp 643-652, September 1987, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,142,586. The delta stereophony system described by Anhert provides sound reflections that are arranged to arrive later than the direct sound, in order to maintain correct localisation. For a given receiver location, the appropriate delays can be chosen to avoid preceding the direct sound, but the delays must be changed for different receiver positions. The ACS system described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,142,586 claims to provide reflections at the appropriate times for all receiver positions, by the creation of wavefronts. The delays are chosen using Huygens principle, and their quantification mathematically by integral equations is described by A. J. Berknout, D. de Vries, and P. Vogel, "Acoustic control by wave field synthesis," J. Acoust Soc. Am, vol. 93, no. 5, pp 2764-2778, May 1993. The wavefronts are generated using loudspeaker arrays. These electroacoustic systems offer a more controllable early reflection response than can be achieved using passive reflectors.
Reverberators have also been introduced to provide a larger reverberation time for sources on stage—see for example U.S. Pat. No. 5,109,419. Larger numbers of speakers have also been employed to provide enhanced reflections and reverberation, such as to under balcony areas. The microphones have also been positioned further from the performers so as to be less obtrusive, while still aiming to detect the direct sound.
The systems discussed above avoid feedback from the loudspeakers to the microphones, since such feedback can lead to colouration and instability if the loop gain is too high. Because of this fact, they may be generically termed in-line, or non-regenerative, systems. Such systems can provide large increases in reverberation for sound sources that are close to the microphones (ie on stage), but they have a small effect for sound sources at other positions in the room.
A second type of enhancement system is the non-in-line, or regenerative, system, which seeks to utilise the feedback between loudspeakers and microphones to achieve a global enhancement of reverberation that occurs for any sound source position—see A. Krokstad, "Electroacoustic means of controlling auditorium acoustics," Applied Acoustics, vol. 24, pp 275-288, 1998 and F. Kawakami and Y. Shimizu, "Active field control in auditoria," Applied Acoustics, vol. 31, pp 47-75, 1990. Since the natural, unassisted reverberation time is largely the same for all source positions, the regenerative systems can provide a more natural enhanced reverberation. Non-in-line systems typically use a large number of independent microphone, amplifier, loudspeaker channels, each with a low loop gain. Each channel provides a small enhancement of reverberation at all frequencies, with low risk of colouration, and the combined effect of all the channels is a significant increase in reverberation and loudness. The microphones are positioned in the reverberant field from all sound sources in the room to ensure that the system produces a similar enhancement for all sources. Non-in-line systems, however, have typically required from 60 to 120 channels, and have therefore been expensive. Furthermore, since the microphones are remote from all sources, they are less suited to providing significant early reflections than in-line systems.
More recently, a non-in-line system has been developed which uses a multichannel reverberator between the microphones and loudspeakers to provide an increase in reverberation time without requiring an increase in loop gain—see U.S. Pat. No. 5,862,233. It has been shown that the system can both reduce the apparent room absorption (by increasing the loop gain) and increase the apparent room volume (by increasing the reverberation time of the reverberator)—see M. A. Poletti, "The performance of a new assisted reverberation system," Acta Acustica, 2 Dec. 1994, pp 511-524. In general, a hybrid room enhancement system may be constructed in which some of the microphones of a non-in-line system containing a reverberator are moved close to the source. In this case the system demonstrates properties of both in-line and non-in-line systems—see M. A. Poletti, "The analysis of a general assisted reverberation system," accepted for publication in Acta Acustica vol. 84, pp 766-775, 1998.
When used solely for early reflection enhancement, an in-line system provides a finite number of delayed outputs to simulate early reflections. However, if operated at moderate to high gains, the system runs the risk of instability. This is particularly likely if new delays/reflections are added which will increase the loop gain at some frequencies.
In any sound system, it is important that the direct acoustic sound from the stage arrives at every member of the audience before (or at the same time as) any electroacoustic signal. This is because the perception of localisation is governed by the first signal to arrive at the ears (provided later signals are not overly large). Hence, care must be taken in both in-line and non-in-line systems to ensure that the electroacoustic signals are suitably delayed. In a non-in-line system this can be achieved by keeping the microphones a suitable distance from the stage. Delays can be used in in-line systems and non-in-line systems to avoid preceding the direct sound. Care must therefore be taken in any non-in-line system where microphones are moved close to the stage.

In-line early reflection enhancement system for enhancing acoustics


An odd harmonic generation device is provided. The odd harmonic generation device includes an even harmonic generation unit and a mixer. In this context, the even harmonic generation unit is configured to generate two even harmonic signals on the basis of a fundamental signal. In addition to this, the mixer is configured to mix the fundamental signal with the two even harmonic signals to generate a desired odd harmonic signal.

Generally, in times of an increasing number of electrical applications requiring an odd harmonic signal such as a third harmonic signal, there is a growing need of an odd harmonic generation device and an odd harmonic generation method in order to provide odd harmonic signals for such applications.
For instance, Ghouchani and Paramesh (2010) show in their paper "A Wideband Millimeter-Wave Frequency Doubler-Tripler in 0.13-μm CMOS," published on IEEE Radio Frequency Integrated Circuits Symposium, 2010, pp 65-68, a combined frequency doubler and tripler for wideband millimeter wave frequency generation in complementary metal-oxide semiconductor. The circuit consists of a push-push field-effect transistor frequency doubler along with a single-balanced mixer based frequency tripler. In this context, the third harmonic is generated by mixing the second harmonic from a doubler output with the fundamental input Disadvantageously, especially due to the mixing, the respective conversion gain is reduced, which leads to inefficiencies.

Odd harmonic generation device and method


According to some embodiments, a selection server is in communication with a potential communication device database and a currently participating device database, the potential communication device database storing information about communication devices associated with a transition from a first state to a second state, including at least one communication address associated with each communication device. The selection server may automatically identify a communication device as meeting a pre-determined criteria and copy information about the identified communication device from the potential communication device database to the currently participating device database. A scheduling server may automatically schedule a series of communication events between a monitoring device and the identified communication device and arrange for a communication link to be established for each of the scheduled series of communication events until a transition from the second state back to the first state is detected for the identified communication device.

In applications associated with distributed communication networks, it may be important to help facilitate and/or determine when one or more communication devices transition from a second state back into a first state. Such information can, for example, be used to take remedial steps to hasten the communication device's return to the first state and/or allow an enterprise to take other steps in anticipation of the communication device not returning to the first state in the near future. Facilitating a return to the first state, however, can be a time consuming and error prone task—especially when there are a substantial number of communication devices. It would therefore be desirable to provide systems and methods to facilitate a communication device's ability to transition back to a first state.


Power flow in an electric power network is optimized during multiple time periods of operation of the electric power network by solving an optimization problem represented by an objective function by first initializing variables and constraints of a branch and bound (BB) tree, wherein nodes in the BB tree represent feasible regions of the optimization problem. Upper and lower bounds on the objective function are solved using the BB tree. A lowest upper bound and a lowest upper bound are updated. If difference between the lowest lower bound and the lowest upper bound is less than a threshold, the power flow is outputted based on the lowest lower bound and the lowest upper bound.

An electric power network includes buses connected to transmission lines. The buses are locally connected to generators and loads. Optimal power flow (OPF) analysis is often used for monitoring and controlling the operation of the network. The power flow depends, in part, on voltage magnitudes and phase angles. Power flows and voltage levels on the buses are optimized by minimizing an objective function subject to constraints, such as the magnitudes, phases, power transferred, generator capacity, thermal losses, and the like.
Most conventional OPF optimizations:
Use simplifying assumptions, such as small differences between phase angles at buses, to reduce quadratic equalities and inequalities to linear equalities and inequalities. However, such assumptions may not be valid for all networks.
Use nonlinear programming (NLP) to determine a lowest cost per kilowatt hour delivered. However, NLP cannot guarantee the globally optimal voltages and generator levels for efficient operation.
Use a relaxation of OPF to convex optimization, such as second-order cone programming (SOCP). However, such relaxed convex optimizations do not guarantee feasible solutions with a global minimum for the original problem.
Use a relaxation of OPF to semi-definite programming (SDP), which requires changing resistances of lossless lines in the network, restrictions on the network topology or constraints, or require modification of the network to ensure global optimality.
Use a branch and bound (BB) procedure with Lagrangian duality (LD) based lower bounds that do not consider all possible necessary constraints and are considerably slow due to the irregular nature of the optimization problem.
Do not consider that the amount of energy that is stored, charged, or discharged in batteries at any time is critically dependent on the amount that is actually charged or discharged from the batteries at the that time.
Do not consider time dependent changes for equipment, such as step voltage regulators, voltage transformers or capacitor banks are used. These devices are typically expensive and frequent changes in their operations can lead to quick degradation of the equipment and eventually result in dramatic reduction in the life of the device.
Do not consider time dependent changes when power drawn from generating equipment are subject to ramp limits.
Thus, there remains a need to globally optimize an electric power networks considering multiple time periods of optimization in an efficient and expedient manner.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,625,520 describes a system and method for operating an electric power system that determines optimal power flow and available transfer capability of the electric power system based on the optimal power flow. The system derives data associated with an initial phase angle and maximum electric power value of a generator by determining mechanical output and electrical output of a generator, including a generator phase angle defined by a time function with a constraint condition that the generator phase angle does not exceed a preset value.

Method for optimizing power flows in electric power networks

Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories, Inc.