Recombinant pox viruses capable of expressing cell-encoded, tumor-associated antigens are disclosed. The recombinant viruses are useful for evoking an immune response against the antigen.

The immunotherapeutic approach to the treatment of cancer is based on the observation that human tumor cells express a variety of tumor-associated antigens (TAAs) that are not expressed in normal tissues. These antigens, which include viral tumor antigens, cellular oncogene proteins, and tumor-associated differentiation antigens, can serve as targets for the host immune system and elicit responses which result in tumor destruction. This immune response is mediated primarily by lymphocytes; T cells in general and class I MHC-restricted cytotoxic T lymphocytes in particular play a central role in tumor rejection. Hellstrom, K. E., et al., (1969) Adv. Cancer Res. 12:167-223; Greenberg, P. D. (1991) in Advances in Immunology, vol. 49 (Dixon, D. J., ed.), pp 281-355, Academic Press, Inc., Orlando, Fla. Unfortunately, as evidenced by the high incidence of cancer in the population, the immune response to neoplastic cells often fails to eliminate tumors. The goal of active cancer immunotherapy is the augmentation of anti-tumor responses, particularly T cell responses, in order to effect complete tumor destruction.
Most attempts at active immunization against cancer antigens have involved whole tumor cells or tumor cell fragments. However, the cloning of TAAs recognized by CD8+ T cells has opened new possibilities for the immunotherapy of cancer based on the use of recombinant or synthetic anti-cancer vaccines. Boon, T., et al.,(1994) Annu. Rev. Immunol. 12:337-365; Brithcard, V., et al., (1993) J. Exp. med. 178:489-495; Cox, A. L., et al., (1994) Science 264:716-719; Houghton, A. N. (1994) J. Exp. Med. 180:1-4; Pardoll, D. M. (1994) Nature 369:357-358; Kawakami, Y., et al., (1994) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 91:3515-3519; Kawakami, Y., et al., (1994) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 91:6458-6462.
Two such antigens have been designated MART-1 (Melanoma Antigen Recognized by T cells-1) and gp100. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 91:3515-3519. MART-1 and gp 100 appear to be expressed in virtually all fresh and cultured melanomas. With the exception of melanocyte and retina, no normal tissues express the antigens. The antigens may be responsible for mediating tumor regression in patients with advanced melanoma, since the tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) used to identify MART-1 and gp100 were capable of effecting tumor regression in vivo. Thus, immunization of melanoma patients with MART-1 or gp100 may boost their cellular immune responses against their cancers.
The use of recombinant vaccinia viruses for anti-tumor immunotherapy has been reviewed. (Hu, S. L., Hellstrom, I., and Hellstrom K. E. (1992) in Vaccines: New Approaches to Immunological Problems (R. W. Ellis, ed) pp 327-343, Butterworth-Heinemann, Boston.) Anti-tumor responses have been elicited using a recombinant vaccinia virus expressing a TAA designated carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA). CEA is a glycoprotein expressed at high level on the surface of nearly all tumors of the gastrointestinal tract, as well as on many mammary carcinomas and lung adenocarcinomas. (Muraro, R., et al., (1985) Cancer Res. 4S:5769-5780.) A recombinant vaccinia virus that expresses CEA (Kantor, J., et al. (1992) J. Natl. Cancer Inst. 84:1084-1091) was evaluated using a murine tumor model in which the human CEA gene was transduced into murine colon carcinoma cells. (Robbins, P. F., et al. (1991) Cancer Res. 51:3657-3662.) Mice immunized with the CEA/vaccinia recombinant were resistant to the growth of subsequently transplanted CEA-expressing tumors. Moreover, when mice bearing established CEA-transduced murine carcinomas were treated with the recombinant virus, the tumors showed greatly reduced growth or complete regression. In rhesus monkeys, which carry an antigen on the surface of their granulocytes that cross-reacts with human CEA, immunization with the recombinant elicited anti-CEA antibodies, delayed type hypersensitivity, and lymphoproliferative responses. (Kantor, J., et al. (1992) Cancer Res. 52:6917-6925.) No toxicity was observed.
Prostate-specific antigen (PSA) is a 33,000-34,000 dalton glycoprotein that is produced in normal, benign, and cancerous prostate epithelia, but not in other normal or malignant tissues. (Wang, M. C., et al. (1982) Meth Cancer Res. 19):179-197.) PSA is secreted into prostatic fluid and seminal plasma. (See, Wang, et al.) Elevation of PSA levels in serum is correlated with growth of the prostate, and prostate cancer patients show an exponential increase in PSA levels. (Carter, H. B., et al. (1992) Cancer Research 52:3323-3328.) Due to its tissue specificity, PSA is a potential target antigen for immunotherapy against prostate cancer.
A number of laboratories have explored the use of recombinant poxviruses that express specific TAAs as immunotherapeutic vaccines. The ability of recombinant poxviruses expressing a variety of antigens to serve as potential vaccines for the prevention of infectious disease has been well-documented. Immunization with live recombinant pox virus allows expression of foreign antigens that are presented to the immune system together with highly immunogenic, virus proteins, which may act as adjuvants to enhance immune responses to the foreign antigen. Austin, F. C., et al. (1979) Adv. Cancer Res. 50:301-345. Finally, poxviruses are not oncogenic and do not integrate into the host cell genome, as replication and transcription of genetic material occurs in the cytoplasm of the infected cell.
Viruses of the family Poxviridae (pox viruses) are useful as vectors for the delivery of foreign genes and gene products in many clinical and research settings. Pox viruses of the genus Orthopoxvirus, particularly vaccinia, are used for several reasons. Among these are: (a) its wide use in humans in the eradication of smallpox; (b) its ability to infect a wide range of cells, including professional antigen presenting cells, and express the inserted gene product (i.e. foreign gene product) in a manner that has the potential to be processed in the context of class I and/or class II MHC molecules; and (c) use as a recombinant vaccine in the treatment of certain tumors (Kantor, J. et al. (1992)).
Fowlpox virus (FPV) is a member of the avipox virus family. Productive FPV infection is restricted in vivo to cells derived from avian species; however, FPV-mediated gene expression does occur in infected non-avian cells. Taylor, J. et al., (1988) Vaccine 6:497-503. Fowlpox virus based recombinant vaccines are described in: Technological Advances in Vaccine Development (Alan R. Liss, Inc.) pp. 321-334. Furthermore, in vivo FPV-mediated gene expression in several mammalian species has been demonstrated. Six non-avian species immunized with live recombinant fowlpox virus expressing the rabies glycoprotein developed antibodies against this glycoprotein. Immunization with this recombinant FPV elicited antibodies against this glycoprotein. Immunization with this recombinant FPV partially protected mice, cats, and dogs against a rabies virus challenge. There was no manifestation of proliferative infection or overt disease in any animals immunized with a variety of doses of live recombinant FPV.
Taylor, J., et al., (1988) Vaccine 6:497-503. In another study, a recombinant FPV containing a measles fusion protein was shown to partially protect mice against lethal challenge the measles virus, although antibodies against the fusion protein were not detected. Wild, T. F., et al., (1990) Vaccine 8:441-442. It was therefore postulated that protection was mediated by cellular immune responses. These results suggest that recombinant FPV may have utility as a safe and effective alternative to vaccinia virus as a vaccine vector.

Recombinant pox virus for immunization against tumor-associated antigens

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


In a contact assembly, a first set of contacts (30-1 through 30-5) is arranged on a first surface and a second set of contacts (40-5 through 4-1) is arranged on a second surface with respective contacts of each set used as pairs. A plurality of first and second sets are stacked one on top of another separated by insulators, the first terminal portions (12) of respective first and the second sets of contacts are aligned in the direction of stacking and the second terminal portions (20) of the first and second sets of contacts are arranged in such a fashion as to be symmetrical relative to a median line. The pitch (P2) of the second terminal portions (20) of the first and the second sets of contacts is expanded to a greater degree than the pitch (P1) of the first terminal portions (12) in two preferred embodiments. The pitch of the second terminal portions of a contact assembly (200) having two first and two second sets of contacts is also shown expanded in the stacking direction in one embodiment forming a zigzag pattern of the second terminal portions.

As the size of BGA or LGA packages is reduced, the space occupied by the terminals is also reduced, making it necessary to decrease the pitch of the terminals. In conformity with this, contacts that are mounted in the sockets are arranged corresponding to the pitch of the terminals. U.S. Pat. No. 6,749,443 relates to a socket for mounting a semiconductor device of the surface mounting type such as BGA and CSP devices. A socket capable of adjusting the amount of deformation of the terminals is provided pursuant to this patent by providing contact restraining members for limiting the position of the end of the contacts.
Japanese Patent Application No. 2004-152554 shows a socket in which potential dislocation of the BGA package is prevented when the terminals are pulled away from the end of the contacts by positioning and holding the BGA package that has been placed in the direction of the diagonal line by means of a positioning mechanism that is linked to the movement of the cover member.
When the pitch of the terminals of a BGA or LGA package becomes narrower, the contacts are arranged at a pitch corresponding thereto, with a consequence that the contact area between each terminal and the respective contact becomes smaller and this develops a tendency for contact resistance to become greater. In the case where the terminals are solder balls of a bump shape, as in the case of a BGA package, the shape of the tip of the contacts is made like a V or a U as shown in FIG. 9 for the purpose of preventing any deformation of the lowermost surface of the solder balls, with a result that the contact resistance becomes greater.
An increase in contact resistance greatly affects the measurement accuracy when the semiconductor device is tested, leading to an increase in errors. This problem can be dealt with by using a Kelvin technique in which separate contacts are used for the supply of electric power and for the measurement of the signal. Accordingly, using this technique, the number of contacts required is doubled. However, doubling the contacts of a prior art structure as shown in FIG. 9, is not feasible for use with such narrow-pitch semiconductor packages. Further, if the number of contacts is doubled and the pitch of the contacts is concomitantly narrowed, it becomes difficult to form through-holes in the substrate for connection of the contacts that protrude from the socket.

Contact assembly and socket for use with semiconductor packages


It is intended to provide a protein participating in the regulation of sugar production, a polynucleotide encoding the same, a method of screening a compound participating in the regulation of sugar production and a drug for treating or preventing diabetes which contains the compound participating in the regulation of sugar production. A polynucleotide encoding a protein specifically binding to a substance WF00144 is found out from rat liver cells and thus a protein participating in the regulation of sugar production and a polynucleotide encoding the same are provided. Moreover, a method and a substance relating to a method of treating and preventing diabetes are found out and thus a method of treating diabetes relating to the regulation of sugar production relating to the method of treating and preventing diabetes is provided.

The pharmaceutical effect of a drug that has a specific pharmaceutical activity and therefore expresses an effect of curing a disease of a type results from the specific binding of the drug to the protein that participates in the pharmaceutical phenomenon to carry the disease and from the effect of the drug caused by it to specifically modify the function of the protein.
Therefore, when a drug for curing a disease specifically binds to a protein to modify its function in tissues or cells that exhibit the disease, then the protein participates in the disease, and it is a useful target for development of new medicines for the disease.
For example, an immunosuppressor FK506 is used as a medicine for transplantation and chronic inflammations. Professor Schreiber et al. have clarified that the specific binding protein in the diseases to which the medicine is directed is FKBP12 protein (Harding M W, Galat A. Uehling D E, Schreiber S L, Nature 341, pp. 758-760 (1989)). It has been further clarified that, after FK506 has bound to FKBP12, this further binds to calcineurin to express its immunosuppressive effect (Liu J, Farmer J D Jr, Lane W S, Friedman J, Weissman I, Schreiber S L, Cell 66(4), pp. 807-815 (1991)). Specifically, FKBP12 discovered by the use of FK506 and its immunoregulation route are important targets for further development of additional immunosuppressors.
The novel 35 kd protein of the invention binds to a substance WF00144 (FIG. 1). The substance WF00144 is a pharmaceutically active substance produced by fungi, Phoma sp. No. 00144. This substance inhibits in-vitro sugar production in primary-culture liver cells. In addition, the substance has hypoglycemic effect in diabetes model animals. Specifically, the substance is a medicine for diabetes, which inhibits sugar production in livers and expresses hypoglycemic effect (WO99/61645).
For the two reasons mentioned above, it is believed that the protein to which the substance WF00144 specifically binds may be useful for clarifying some new mechanism for development of diabetes and for developing novel medicines for diabetes. Prior to the present invention, however, no one knows such a protein capable of specifically binding to the substance WF00144.

Polynucleotide encoding a 35 KDA protein thats binds to WF00144


Methods, systems, and computer readable media for using actuated surface-attached posts for assessing biofluid rheology are disclosed. According to one aspect, a method for testing properties of a biofluid specimen includes placing the specimen onto a micropost array having a plurality of microposts extending outwards from a substrate, wherein each micropost includes a proximal end attached to the substrate and a distal end opposite the proximal end, and generating an actuation force in proximity to the micropost array to actuate the microposts, thereby compelling at least some of the microposts to exhibit motion. The method further includes measuring the motion of at least one of the microposts in response to the actuation force and determining a property of the specimen based on the measured motion of the at least one micropost.

The viscoelasticity of biofluids, such as blood clots or mucus, is critical to their performance. Measurement of viscoelastic properties of these fluids can provide valuable information to medical professionals to aid in the diagnosis and treatment of patients. For example, the speed and strength at which a blood clot forms may be affected by genetics, illness, medication, or environment. Analyzing the physical properties of a blood clot may provide important information that is useful in determining how well a treatment is working or is likely to work, or perhaps that a treatment intervention is necessary.
Currently, clot elasticity is measured either at the point of care (POC), usually accompanying surgery, or within an analytical lab setting. Techniques for understanding clot viscoelasticity in a point of care system use several different strategies. One technology employs flow through a tube that is monitored in some way, such as by an optical detection. Another technology uses magnetic beads that become suspended in the developing clot, and the beads are caused to move through the application of a magnetic field. The detection of the moving beads is performed by optics, and the cessation of the bead movement is an indication that the clot has formed.
In an analytical lab setting, techniques such as thromboelastography (TEG) can test the efficiency of coagulation in the blood. TEG uses a macroscopic quantity of specimen and measures the viscoelasticity by moving two surfaces with respect to each other in shear. The geometry is usually that of concentric cylinders. Similar techniques are used for measuring the viscoelasticity of other biofluids such as mucus.
There are disadvantages associated with the current methods of testing rheological properties of biofluids. Laboratory techniques such as TEG are not implemented as high-throughput instruments, so tests must be performed essentially one at a time. Point of care technologies are not as sensitive or quantitative as laboratory tests and so cannot replace laboratory analysis. In addition, macroscopic quantities of specimens are generally needed for laboratory analysis.
Accordingly, in light of these disadvantages associated with biofluid rheology techniques, there exists a need for methods and systems for using surface-attached actuated microposts for assessing biofluid rheology.

Methods and systems for using actuated surface-attached posts for assessing biofluid rheology

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill


A search server and method for providing search results are provided in which search results can be transmitted efficiently to a client computer that uses a browser that changes plural displays of contents using a virtual three-dimensional space. The server comprises a web page information storing portion for collecting web page information and URLs from a network so as to store them, a keyword obtaining portion for obtaining a keyword from the client computer, a keyword searching portion for searching web page information containing the obtained keyword, a reference URL obtaining portion for obtaining a URL of a web page to be a reference, and a link searching portion for searching a chain of links from the web page to be a reference to the web page obtained by the keyword searching portion. The search server transmits a list of URL trains corresponding to the chain of links to the client computer.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a search server and a method for providing search results or necessary information efficiently to users who browse information via a network.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There are a lot of search engines exhibited on the Internet for searching web pages described in HTML (Hypertext Markup Language). Most of the search engines utilize a technique including registering process and searching process. In the registering process, a crawler and a program repeat a process of tracing links described in a web page one by one, so as to have cyclic access to web pages on the Internet and to collect web pages. The collected web pages and URLs are registered in a database. In the searching process, a search condition (mainly keywords) that a user entered is checked against the database so that web pages matching the search condition are found and provided to the user as search results.
In addition, there is a search engine that ranks plural web pages obtained as the search results and display them in descending order of the rank, so that the user can find the target web page easily. As the ranking method (condition), several methods are used such as a method of checking occurrence frequency of the keywords that the user entered, a method of utilizing an HTML structure (e.g., a title or a header portion is assigned with high weight) or a method of checking the number of links from other web pages in accordance with the link structure.
The user may check the ranked search results and may click a URL portion in the display, so that a web page of the search results is displayed on the browser. Most web pages that are currently provided are based on character data, and a lot of words and phrases are contained in a web page. Therefore, the user can find a target web page by the search with designating plural keywords.
Not only the search engines for web pages, image search engines for searching images on the Internet for example are also exhibited on the Internet. Such an image search engine utilizes the HTML structure and a method that utilizes text neighboring an image or a caption of an image. Therefore, the method for searching images is not so different from the method for searching web pages based on character data. The user can check the search results and browse the web page where the desired image is exhibited by click operation using a mouse in the same way as the search based on the character data. Thumbnail images are used as the search results so that a user can find a target image easily.
In addition, along with improvement of performances of a computer and a network, the number of web pages that use a lot of data (especially image data)-and utilize a virtual three-dimensional space for expressing three-dimensional contents has been increasing. Japanese unexamined patent publication No. 2000-172248 discloses one of such techniques, in which a link is utilized for displaying plural contents simultaneously in a virtual three-dimensional space. Contents of the link destination are overlaid on the link origin, and the link destination contents are displayed in smaller size than the link origin contents. Zoom operation enables the link destination to be enlarged in the display, so that plural link destinations are displayed one by one sequentially.
However, most web sites do not contain all information in one web page, but the information is divided into plural web pages that are linked to each other. As a result, the information displayed in one web page is limited, and it may be difficult to understand the contents of the web page only by a glance of the web page that was found to contain the keyword. In this case, information of the link origin or other web pages is necessary. Especially in the case of a web page that contains images mainly or utilizes a virtual three-dimensional space, character information contained in one web page is so little that it is difficult to find a target by the method of searching keywords contained in the web page.
Furthermore, in a normal HTML browser, the abrupt change of the screen display caused by the click operation at the link-embedded portion may puzzle the user. As a solution to that problem, there is a method of changing the plural contents of display continuously in a virtual three-dimensional space. However, it is difficult to use the conventional search technique effectively for such a method.

Search server and method for providing search results


A method and system for controlling switching of an access terminals between wireless coverage areas such as cell sectors. A measure of actual level of service, such as throughput, provided to the access terminal across the combination of wireless coverage areas over time is determined. Further, for each wireless coverage area, a measure of predicted level of service, such as throughput, that would likely be provided to the access terminal if it operated in just that wireless coverage area is determined. If the actual level of service is greater than each predicted level of service, then the access terminal is allowed to continue switching between wireless coverage areas. On the other hand, if at least one of the predicted levels of service is greater than the actual level of service, then the access terminal is restricted to the wireless coverage area where the level of service is deemed greater.

In a typical cellular radio communication system, an area is divided geographically into a number of wireless coverage areas such as cells and cell sectors, each defined by a radiation pattern from one or more base station antennae. As an access terminal moves between coverage areas, such as sectors, of a cellular radio communication system, or when network conditions change or for other reasons, the access terminal may "hand off" from operating in one coverage area to operating in another coverage area. In a usual case, this handoff process is triggered by the access terminal monitoring the signal strength of signals that it is receiving in various available coverage areas, and the access terminal or a radio network controller (RNC) determining when one or more threshold criteria are met.
In some systems, for instance, the access terminal may monitor signal strength in various available coverage areas and notify the RNC when a given coverage area has a signal strength that is sufficiently higher than the coverage area in which the access terminal is currently operating. The RNC may then direct the access terminal to hand off to that other coverage area. In other systems, for instance, the access terminal may monitor the signal-to-noise ratio in various available coverage areas and periodically notify the RNC which coverage area has the best signal-to-noise ratio and may thus offer the best service. The RNC may then effect a handoff to the designated coverage area by sending communications to the access terminal in that coverage area.
While this arrangement generally works well to facilitate seamless coverage as an access terminal moves between wireless coverage areas, a problem can arise when an access terminal is operating in or near a border area between coverage areas. When an access terminal operates in such an area, the access terminal may experience rapidly changing air interface conditions in the adjacent coverage areas, which may cause the access terminal to hand off back and forth between the coverage areas. For instance, when operating in the area of overlap between two sectors A and B and currently being served by sector A, the access terminal may detect that the signal-to-noise ratio in sector B is better and may thus hand off to sector B. But shortly after doing so, the access terminal may then detect that the signal-to-noise ratio in sector A is better and may thus hand off back to sector A.
This "ping-ponging" between sectors can be inefficient, since each handoff process may consume valuable system resources and delay communications to the access terminal. As a specific example, when an access terminal operating under the 1x Evolution-Data Optimized protocol (EV-DO or 1xEV-DO) seeks to switch to a new sector, switching sectors may cause delay in data transmission between the network and the access terminal that impacts throughput, as a backhaul connection (i.e., a connection carrying data to another connecting network, such as the Internet for instance) is established with the new sector, and as other network resources are put in place to serve the access terminal in the new sector. In addition, a network scheduler, which handles requests from access terminals and allocates network resources according to those requests, may create additional delay, depending on its treatment of a request from an access terminal that is switching sectors. In particular, additional delay may arise as the RNC waits to have sufficient data in its buffer to send to the access terminal in a next time slot. Consequently, an improvement is desired.

Method and system for controlling sector switching


An SAS connector which includes a male assembly, a female assembly and a PCB, the male assembly includes a male housing and several male signal terminals, the female assembly includes a female housing and several female signal terminals; the male assembly mates with the female assembly, with the PCB being clamped between the male assembly and the female assembly; wherein the male signal terminals are inserted in the male housing, and include in particular male symmetrical terminals, male right-biased terminals and male left-biased terminals, as well as female signal terminals that are inserted in the female housing, and include in particular female symmetrical terminals, female right-biased terminals and female left-biased terminals.

SAS (Serial-Attached SCSI or Sequential-Attached SCSI) is a new storage interface standard developed and maintained by ANSI INCITS T10 committee on the basis of Parallel-Attached SCSI physical storage interface. Compared with Parallel-Attached SCSI, SAS has advantages of higher transmission speed and simpler configuration. Furthermore, SAS is compatible with Sequential-Attached ATA (SATA) devices, and they can employ similar cables.
However, there are many defective aspects of existing SAS connectors remaining to be improved, which are specified as follows:
1. With continuous increase of data storage demands, the performance (clock frequency) of CPU keeps enhancing and the rising time is dramatically shortened, yet it remains a problem whether or not the connector's bandwidth (transmission rate) could meet these needs; and
2. When a signal is of extremely short rising edge or at high frequency and broad bandwidth, the connectors are susceptible to crosstalk problem.

Amphenol East Asia Electronic Technology (Shen Zhen) Co., Ltd.


A novel cycloolefin copolymer that can be employed in the production of molding with fewer defects, for example, fewer gel particles (fish eyes). There is provided a cycloolefin copolymer comprising 80 to 20 mol % of repeating units derived from an α-olefin monomer and 20 to 80 mol % of repeating units derived from at least one cycloolefin monomer selected from the group consisting of monomer of the general formula (I), monomer of the general formula (II), monomer of the general formula (III), monomer of the general formula (IV) and monomer of the general formula (V), wherein with respect to the repeating units derived from cycloolefin monomer, the proportion thereof being present in the form of dimer (Rd) is 50 mol % or below and the proportion thereof being present in the form of trimer (Rt) 5 mol % or above.

The cycloolefin-based copolymer has excellent characteristics such as high transparency (for optical applications), low photoelasticity (birefringence is not readily caused by external stress), good dielectric property (for a condenser dielectric body), low water-absorbance, high softening temperature (particularly, when the content of cycloolefin is large) (for high-temperature applications), and high vapor barrier property (for the packaging film field). In general, the cycloolefin-based copolymer is often synthesized under the presence of methallocene catalysis and production methods thereof are described in, for example, Patent Document 1, Patent Document 2, and so forth.
With respect to the molded body in which the cycloolefin-based copolymer is used such as a film, a cast film of ethylene-norbornene copolymer is described in Patent Document 3 and Patent Document 4. And, a film made of cycloolefin-based copolymer such as norbornene copolymer is described in Patent Document 5. And, a sheet of a semicrystalline cycloolefin copolymer is described in Patent Document 6. And, a film of cycloolefin copolymer is disclosed in Patent Document 7. And, a film having high rigidity based on a cycloolefin copolymer is disclosed in Patent Document 8. However, cycloolefin-based copolymers have the tendency that defects, also called fish eyes, due to gel particles, easily occur in molding. The copolymer has the problems that the defects inhibit the performance of the molded body, and utilization thereof is restricted.    Patent Document 1: EU Patent Publication No. 0503422    Patent Document 2: EU Patent Publication No. 0946618    Patent Document 3: DE Patent Publication No. 224538    Patent Document 4: DE Patent Publication No. 241971    Patent Document 5: EU Patent Publication No. 0384694    Patent Document 6: EU Patent Publication No. 0610814    Patent Document 7: EU Patent Publication No. 0610815    Patent Document 8: EU Patent Publication No. 0610816


A tape wound coil is provided, for use in magnetic repulsion punching, that has a plurality of slits therein which allow circulation of coolant therethrough. This coil is made of thin copper foil, or the like that is treated with an epoxy, for electrical insulation between the windings, and then wound around a center post. The face of the coil is machined smooth, whereas a counter bore is machined into the back of the coil such that a portion of the center post and the inner most windings are removed. Radial slits are then machined into the back of the coil, which will allow for the coolant flow. Thus, a coil for use in magnetic repulsion punching is provided which maximizes the capacity for carrying electrical current and increases the winding density exhibited by conventional M-R coils. Further, the coil of the present invention will withstand high repetition mechanical shear forces created as a result of the large amount of electrical current pulsing through the windings.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to punching plural holes in a substrate, such as "greensheet", or a metal foil at a high rate of speed. More particularly, an electrical coil is described that has enhanced cooling features, which increases the speed and reliability of the magnetic repulsion punch apparatus, in which the coil is used.
2. Description of the Related Art
Magnetic repulsion technology has been utilized for several years to punch greensheets in order to form multilayer ceramic substrates for use in the computer industry. Briefly, the repulsive forces generated between an energized electrical coil and an electrically conductive punch head, or disk, is used to drive the punch into a dielectric material, thereby forming holes. These holes or vias are then aligned on adjacently stacked dielectric sheets and metallized to form multilayer substrates. More specifically, several configurations of coils have been utilized in magnetic repulsion punches with varying degrees of success.
For example. U.S. Pat. No. 4,821,614, hereby incorporated by reference, describes a wire wound coil that includes plural configurations of spacers, adjacent to the wire, which allow cooling fluid to be circulated radially through the coil. However, it has been found that the mechanical characteristics of wire wound coils will not meet the requirements of a production type magnetic repulsion (M-R) tool, thereby causing extensive down time. It has been determined that this type of coil has an average life of approximately 15 million cycles. Further it can be seen that by creating spaces between the wound wires, less conductive material can be included in the coil such that electrical performance is degraded.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,872,381, hereby incorporated by reference, uses a coil that is photoetched from a flat copper or aluminum sheet. This coil is made from two separate etched pieces and then assembled. Liquid coolant is circulated through the coil. A problem exists with this design, because there is not a sufficient number of turns to provide the necessary magnetic force, nor is the crossectional area of the conductors sufficient to make the impedance acceptably low.
To solve the problems exhibited by the coils in the previous magnetic repulsion tools, a tape wound coil was developed and is described in IBM Technical Disclosure Bulletin, Vol. 33, No. 4, September 1990, pps. 219-220, hereby incorporated by reference. This coil was cooled by exposing one of the generally planar sides of the coil to a coolant. Although providing adequate electrical characteristics, the tape coil was not able to operate at the necessary high frequency due to lack of a sufficient cooling mechanism.
Additionally U.S. Pat. No. 4,209,129 describes a cooling system for the punch head of a solenoid operated punch apparatus. More particularly, coolant is circulated through a manifold chamber to conduct heat away from a punch assembly.
It would be desirable to have a coil for use in a magnetic repulsion punch apparatus that exhibited all of the electrical characteristics of a tape wound coil, but without the cooling problems associated with these types of coils. Further a method of consistently making coils that exhibit these electrical and cooling characteristics would be advantageous.

International Business Machines Corporation


A new Petunia plant named ‘Whip Amth’ particularly distinguished by the medium sized purple-violet flowers, early blooming, good floriferousness, initially semi-compact and then an outwardly spreading plant habit.

The present invention comprises a new Petunia, botanically known as Petunia hybrida, and hereinafter referred to by the variety name 'Whip Amth.'
'Whip Amth' is a product of a planned breeding program. The new cultivar has medium sized purple-violet flowers, is early blooming, good floriferousness, initially semi-compact and then an outwardly spreading plant habit.
'Whip Amth' originated from a open pollinated cross made in August 2005 in Gilroy Calif. The female parent was a commercially available variety designated 'Keiametsum,' U.S. Plant Pat. No. 16,804, with red-purple flower color, shorter internodes, longer ad lighter green foliage.
The male parent of 'Whip Amth' is unknown. The seed was sown in January 2006.
'Whip Amth' was selected as one flowering plant within the progeny of the stated cross in April 2006 the in a controlled environment in Gilroy, Calif.
The first act of asexual reproduction of 'Whip Amth' was accomplished when vegetative cuttings were propagated from the initial selection in April 2006, in a controlled environment in Gilroy, Calif.


Test strips for determining the activity of a coagulation factor in a blood sample are provided. The strip comprises a support, a sample inlet port for deposition of a blood sample, and a reaction area comprising a blood coagulation reagent. The sample inlet port is connected to the reaction area, and the coagulation reagent comprises blood plasma deficient in the coagulation factor for which activity is to be measured, an ionic citrate source an ionic calcium source, and either one or more coagulation contact phase activator reagents and phospholipids or a mixture of tissue factor and phospholipids. The disclosure further relates to in vitro methods for measuring an activity of a coagulation factor.

In the field of blood coagulation, it is known to determine the parameters known as Activated Partial Thromboplastin Time (APTT) and/or the Prothrombin Time (PT). Both parameters give a value indicating the time required for blood coagulation. In principle, these measures do not require any specialized personnel or special equipment and they can be determined in hospitals or non-specialized laboratories. Moreover, particular devices exist, even Point of Care (POC) devices for determining these parameters in the hospitals or at home.
Examples of these devices include the CoaguCheck Plus® (CCP®) commercially available from e.g. Boehringer Mannheim. It is a battery powered, portable laser photometer with APTT reagents (for intrinsic pathway coagulation) and PT reagents (for extrinsic pathway coagulation). The reagents are disposed in a wafer-like disposable plastic reagent cartridge/strip. A sample of whole blood is applied to an application well in the cartridge and blood flows through capillary action to the reagent chamber. Coagulation starts when the blood of the sample comes into contact with the reagents and is considered to have stopped when the photometer detects cessation of blood flow. The detection is based on sensing the variation in light scatter from red cells. The time between blood application and blood clotting is measured and converted to the plasma equivalents APTT or PT.
The document WO9013034 discloses a test strip comprising an orifice or area adapted to receive a sample of whole blood, a capillary track leading the sample to a zone comprising the reagents for initiating coagulation and for the in situ measure of APTT. The strip is also provided with a venting port. The aim of the device is the determination of blood flow stoppage independently of the blood haematocrit, which has been reported as an inconvenient in test strips using blood samples as fluid test.
Determination of APTT or PT, as well as of other blood parameters, is of great relevance for patients receiving anti-coagulant treatments. In the same way, coagulation time is a critical aspect in intensive care units for the monitoring of heparin treatment and in preoperative assessment of blood coagulation. As a general rule, APTT or PT may be easily determined in normal conditions, which means that the subject (patient) does not have any inherited or acquired coagulation factor deficiency. APTT and/or PT may be altered when the subject has a coagulation factor deficiency, making further diagnostic tests necessary. In these scenarios patients are redirected to more specialized hospitals or analytical laboratories, which elongate the diagnosis time. This also supposes an uncomfortable procedure for the patient. Another disadvantage is that relatively high amount of blood (namely the further processed plasma) may be required.
The standardised mode to measure the deficiency of one or more coagulation factors can be summarized as follows. A plasma test sample is firstly diluted with a buffer, and then mixed with factor depleted-plasma which is deficient only in the coagulation factor that is going to be detected in the test sample, and comprising all other coagulation factors. Next, reagents either from the extrinsic or intrinsic coagulation pathway needed to start coagulation are added to the mixture. Coagulation is then only dependent on the limiting coagulation factor, corresponding to the one being measured in the test sample. A modification of this standardised method is in particular disclosed for factor V activity in the document WO9720066. The document WO9720066 discloses the way for determining if a patient is susceptible of suffering a thromboembolism. Analysis is performed using plasma and determining the ratio between factor V activity level without activated protein C (APC) and the factor V activity level with APC. Factor V depleted plasma is added to increase the specificity of the test.
Among the commercial tests adapted for detecting coagulation factor deficiencies, the test known as Actin FS® from Baxter Diagnostics Inc. is one of the multiple examples commonly used in the specialized laboratories to test coagulation factor activities in plasma samples. The test includes all the reagents for an APTT determination (purified soy phosphatides, ellagic acid activator and calcium) in liquid form and ready for use. It allows analysing factor defects of factors VIII, IX, XI, and XII with high sensitivity and specificity.
As above exposed all these test are performed on plasma and require venous blood samples.
It is an object of the present invention to provide methods and devices that at least partially solve one or more of the aforementioned problems.

Test strips for determining coagulation factor activities


A resilient-support adjusting device of a chair backrest includes a base and a spring-tensioning brace and a backrest-fastening seat pivotally connected to two ends of the base. The backrest is fixed to the backrest-fastening seat. A spring is tensioned between the spring-tensioning brace and the backrest-fastening seat. The base contains upper and lower abutting members that have inclined abutting surfaces abutting against each other. The upper abutting member has an upper end abutting against a swinging end of the spring-tensioning brace. The lower abutting member has an engaging member that can be driven by the operating lever to rotate. The engaging member and the lower abutting member engage with each other. When rotated, the operating lever drives the spring-tensioning brace to swing and draw the spring. The spring thus draws the backrest-fastening seat harder, making the backrest have stronger backward resilient support.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to chairs and more particularly to a resilient-support adjusting device of a chair backrest. The resilient-support adjusting device includes a base and a spring-tensioning brace and a backrest-fastening seat pivotally connected to two ends of the base. A spring is tensioned between the spring-tensioning brace and the backrest-fastening seat. The base contains upper and lower abutting members that have inclined abutting surfaces abutting against each other. The upper abutting member has an upper end abutting against a swinging end of the spring-tensioning brace. The lower abutting member has an engaging member that can be driven by the operating lever to rotate. The engaging member and the lower abutting member engage with each other. When rotated, the operating lever drives the spring-tensioning brace to swing and draw the spring. The spring thus draws the backrest-fastening seat harder, making the backrest have a stronger backward resilient support.
2. Description of Related Art
In existing office chairs, the backrest is typically provided with a resilient-support mechanism. For example, Taiwan Patent Nos. TWI429411 (B), TWM395420 (U), TWM321261 (U) and M480321 (the same invention as claimed in China Patent No. CN201320493667) all disclose resilient-support mechanisms using a spring to draw or prop up a lower end of a swinging backrest, so that the resilient compressing force of the spring can endow the backrest with resilient support. These patents also have common operational means wherein a rotatable screw uses its threads to drive a slidable or swingable member to displace, to press or release the spring, making the spring have different levels of returning force, and in turn providing different levels of resilient support to the backrest.
While the known means achieved by the screw does support step-less adjustment of resilient support, in practical use, such step-less adjustment fails to provide a well perceptible difference. That is, by rotating the screw for two to three rounds, the pressing or releasing movement that the screw applied to the spring is too slight for a sitter sitting in the chair to feel the change in the resilient support. A difference perceptible at the backrest by the sitter can only appear when the screw is rotated for more than five rounds. It is very likely that, after repeated operation and test, the sitter has already forgotten how many rounds he/she made to the screw. When the next time he/she sits this chair, the repeated operation and test have to be performed again. This makes the adjustment highly inconvenient.
In addition, the level of resilient support of backrests is determined by the number of the rounds the screw is rotated. To make the change of the resilient support perceptible, the screw has to be rotated for many rounds. In this case, the operator has to continuously rotate the screw, making the operation effort-consuming and time-consuming. Thus, the known approach to adjustment is less capable of meeting a sitter's needs of different levels of resilient support.

Resilient-support adjusting device of chair backrest

Zhongshan Shi Songlin Furniture Co., Ltd.


A plurality of carbide, such as silicon carbide, tungsten carbide, etc., nanofibrils predominantly having diameters substantially less than about 100 nm and a method for making such carbide nanofibrils. The method includes the steps of: heating a plurality of carbon nanotubes or nanofibrils predominantly having diameters less than about 50 nm in a reaction chamber in the presence of a gas of the form QnAm, where Q is a metal capable of forming a carbide, A is an element or radical and n and m are integers necessary to satisfy valences, such as, for example silicon monoxide, and an inert gas in a reaction vessel to a temperature substantially less than 1700 C but sufficently high to cause substantial reaction of the metal in the gas with the carbon of said carbon nanotubes or nanofibrils to form, in situ, solid carbide nanofibrils, the temperature being sufficiently low to prevent substantial fusing together of individidual ones of said carbide nanofibrils, removing at least a portion of A-based gas from said reaction chamber as said reaction progresses, and maintaining said temperature until substantially all the carbon of said nanotubes or nanofibrils has been converted into Q-based carbide.

Ceramics are considered as the materials of future. However, the ceramics are notoriously brittle. The many potential applications of ceramics as high temperature structural materials have been hindered by their lack of toughness and reliability.
In order to improve the toughness and reliability of ceramics, some efforts have been directed towards the development of nanophase ceramics and nanophase ceramic composites. Dramatically different properties can be obtained by making ceramic composites and by making ceramic materials into nanograin structured materials. For examples, the toughness and strength of nanophase Al2O3—SiC composites are two to five times greater than those of the same materials with conventional structures, and a Si3N4—SiC nanophase composite can be stretched to two and a half times its original length at 1600° C.
Metallic carbide nanowhiskers, and in particular, silicon carbide (SiC) nanowhiskers (or nanofibrils) are of interest for their potential in the development of supertough ceramics matrix nanocomposites, and the preparation of metal matrix nanocomposites to improve the strength of metals. Potential applications of these nanowhiskers include nanophase carbides, nanophase ceramics, nanophase composites, and abrasive agents for high quality surface finish.
In order to achieve the desirable properties associated with SiC fibrils, or other metallic carbide fibrils, it is important that the fibrils have an extremely small, generally uniform diameter, substantially less than about 100 nm. Heretofore, however, it has not been possible to make SiC or other carbide fibrils in such extremely small dimensions.
SiC whiskers have been prepared by various methods, including hydrogen reduction of CH3SiCl3, vapor transport of Sic, catalytic reaction of SiO2 and carbon in rice hulls, and vapor-liquid-solid techniques. However, most of the SiC whiskers produced by these methods have poorly crystallized polycrystalline structure. Their diameters are often bigger than 0.5 micrometer.
NASA Tech Briefs LEW-15415/16 describes deposition of SiC onto carbon tow of 5-10 micrometers (basically conventional PAN based fibers) by chemical vapor deposition, principally by use of CH3SiCl3 and H2 as silicon deposition gas at a temperature of 1250 C. The resultant fibers had cracks and fissures, which were partially eliminated by incorporating the secondary pyrolytic carbon coating over the substrate. This document also includes a cursory account of an attempt to convert conventional carbon fibers (THORNEL M40) by using SiO gas at 1450 C for 30 minutes. An argon stream with 5-15% CO gas was used as a carrier gas to control the counter diffusion of SiO and CO gas. Moderate and widely varying strength (60-200 KSI) was achieved.
Zhou and Seraphin (Chemical Physics Letters 222 (May 13, 1994) 233-238, describe the preparation of single crystal SiC whiskers by direct reaction of carbon nanoclusters of DC arc generated nanotubes (i.e., clusters of buckytubes) retained on a carbon disc. The length and diameter of the carbon nanotubes ranged from 1-5 micrometer and 20-40 nm, respectively.
The disk containing the nanoclusters was placed on graphitic foil over SiO in a furnace and held at 1700 C, in a flowing argon atmosphere for two hours. The resulting SiC whiskers were about one order of magnitude longer and wider than the initial carbon nanotubes. The SiC whiskers would also continue to grow if the reaction was allowed to proceed.
Although the starting carbon nanotubes had diameters in the range of 20-40 nm, the smallest SiC whisker shown had a diameter greater than 100 nm. The lattice image of the whisker under TEM showed numerous defects.
It is believed that the resulting whiskers were frequently fused to one another at points of intersection. There are no distinguishing macrostructures or properties to relate the macroscopic morphology of the SiC fibers to the starting buckytube sample. Furthermore, the yield of SiC as fibers is low; only a small percentage of the carbon disc starting material (near the surface of the disc) was converted to SiC. Of the carbon material converted, a substantial amount is in the form of non-fibrous, amorphous particles or clumps.
Accordingly, although some attempts have been made to synthesize silicon carbide fibers and nanofibers, the prior efforts have not been successful in synthesizing high and consistent quality silicon carbide, or other carbide, nanofibrils predominantly in diameters substantially smaller than 100 nm.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Carbide nanofibrils and method of making same


Apparatus is provided for placing a golf ball and tee in the ground without the need for the golfer to bend over or kneel. The apparatus includes first and second elongated shafts laterally spaced apart and substantially parallel to one another. The first and second shafts have respective first and second handles proximate one another so as to be grippable by a golfer's hand. The first shaft includes a tee-holding foot member proximate an end thereof and the second shaft includes a ball-holding cupped member proximate an end thereof in opposing relation to the tee-holding foot member such that the golf ball and tee can be held between the tee-holding member and ball-holding member. The second shaft is movable relative to the first shaft and includes a coil spring for biasing the second shaft and ball-holding member thereon toward the tee-holding member on the first shaft to hold the golf ball and tee therebetween. The second shaft is movable after the tee is inserted in the ground away from said tee-holding means by movement of the second handle toward the first handle. This handle movement disengages the ball-holding member from the golf ball and allows lateral movement of the apparatus as a unit in a manner to disengage the tee-holding member from the tee inserted in the ground.

Many golfers have physical restrictions due to injuries, diseases, replacements, etc. relating to the back, spine, hip, and other body regions that severely limit or prevent their teeing the ball for play in the usual manner. These golfers may require the assistance of another person to properly tee the golf ball for play.
Various apparatus have been devised in the past to assist such golfers in teeing the golf ball in the ground in readiness for play without the golfer's having to physically bend/stoop over at the waist or to kneel to do so. Devices for aiding in the teeing of the golf ball are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,616,826, 4,819,938, 4,949,961, 4,969,646, 5,080,357, and 5,205,598. A golf ball retrieving device is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,761,026.


Individual keys necessary for operations are grouped into key groups according to their functions. Key groups which do not fall within a display block allotted for all the keys are further divided into sub-groups. Switching keys for switching to other sub-groups are added. An operator operates the switching keys to arrive at the intended key.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a display system, a display method, and a display program, and more particularly to a display method in which display processing is performed on an operation screen based on key groups, respective keys necessary for each operation being grouped according to their functions while being grouped such that the key groups which the user wishes to display simultaneously fall within a key display area, and a display program for implementing the display method.
2. Description of the Related Art
JP 2001-256559 A discloses a technique applied to a merchandise sales-registration data processor having a touch panel operation screen in which, instead of using a normal registration screen provided with a merchandise category area, a registration history display area, and a scroll key for the merchandise registration screen, a PLU button group is displayed. The PLU button group includes PLU buttons B displayed based on classification of a merchandise category key (PLU group button A) touched by a user.

Display system for displaying key groups according to their functions


Adding a nonvolatile storage (e.g., a cache) to an associated memory array within a semiconductor nonvolatile memory may mitigate the access penalty that occurs in semiconductor nonvolatile memories, such as flash memories and flash devices. For example, in response to a memory access request, the cache may be accessed for data before accessing the memory array and the data may be selectively stored from the memory array into the cache. In another embodiment, an asynchronous access to a semiconductor nonvolatile memory may be converted into a synchronous access.

Embodiments of the invention relates generally to semiconductor nonvolatile memories, and more specifically to mitigating penalty associated with memory access.
A variety of processor-based devices including consumer devices that may be used in portable environments or otherwise, may include a semiconductor nonvolatile memory for erasably and programmably storing information. One common type of such a semiconductor nonvolatile memory is a FLASH memory or device. To operate a consumer device, generally many resident applications require a mix of code and data to be stored in such a non-volatile random access memory (NVRAM) (e.g., flash memory). For instance, wireless devices including cellular phones may utilize a flash memory that is capable of storing different forms of data associated with resident applications. Likewise, a portable device, e.g., a personal digital assistant (PDA) may incorporate a flash memory to store, among other things, certain operating system files and configurable data. Responsive to a read or a write request, access may be provided to code and/or data resident at a semiconductor nonvolatile memory (e.g., in the flash memories set forth above in connection with two exemplary processor-based devices).
However, most of the semiconductor nonvolatile memories including the flash memories have a relatively long initial access time. This long initial access time due to memory latency often prohibitively limits the maximum performance that may be obtained from many processor-based devices or systems in which the semiconductor nonvolatile memories are typically deployed.
Thus, there is a continuing need for better ways to devise semiconductor nonvolatile memories, particularly from a memory access penalty perspective.

Mitigating access penalty of a semiconductor nonvolatile memory


The present invention provides a kind of pail for squeezing water from a mop, the pail has a rectangular shape, on the mouth of the pail are mounted a pair of rollers both of which can freely rotate themselves with one of them being able to be moved transitionally, and the other is rotatably fixed. A pedal means making use of lever principle is provided on both outer sides of the pail wall, When a mop absorbing plenty of water is lifted from between the two rollers from the pail, a user can step down the pedal plate of the lever means to make one movable roller move translationally and press the mop tightly against the rotatably fixed roller, due to the friction force between the mop and two rollers when the mop is lifted upwards, the rollers rotate themselves, thereby water is squeezed out by the pressure. When the pedal plate is released, under the action of the restoring spring, the whole apparatus can return to its original position.

The present invention relates to a pail, particularly to a pail for squeezing water from a mop.
The existing pails for squeezing water from a mop are divided mainly into two categories, the one is a pail in which a handle is provided at the pail body edge of a pail for squeezing water from a mop, when in use, a user bends over (bends his waist down) to push forward the handle with hand, so that a plate in the pall connected with the handle is pushed forward and pressed against the edge of the pail, while the mop is also pushed forward and sandwiched tightly between the plate and pail edge, thereby water is squeezed out of the wet mop. Because with this pail, a user has to bend his waist down to squeeze the mop with hand, it is inconvenient for use, and the effect of water removing of this kind of pail depends on the physical strength of a user.
The other is a pail in which a cylindrical water squeezing member of about 6xe2x80x3 in height is provided on the pail. When in use, a user must first place a wet mop in the cylindrical water squeezing member, then turns the mop-stick with effort to squeeze water from the mop. Similarly when such kind of pail is used, the effect of water removing also depends on the physical strength of a user. it is a strain or strenuous to women who are usually of smaller physical strength.
The purpose of the present invention is to provide a pail for squeezing water from a mop without need for bending waist down and water can be squeezed out by a twisting operation without need for great effort.
The present invention provides a pail for squeezing water from a mop. The invention comprises a pail body, a rotatably fixed roller and a translationally movable roller provided near the opposite peripheral sides of a pail mouth, and a pedal actuating means making use of the lever principle fixed on the other opposite lateral walls of the pail body; the sprindle of said movable roller being connected with said pedal actuating means.
With the pedal actuating means according to the present invention, it is only necessary for a user to step on the pedal with a foot for squeezing water from a mop without the need for bending waist down. Additionally, spillage will be minimized.
In the following, a preferred embodiment will be described in details with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the drawing, like reference numerals will indicate like components or member.


System and method for improving the detection performance of a wirelessly transmitted signal. A preferred embodiment comprises specifying a desired response for missed channel detection and false alarm probabilities for a plurality of signal qualities and determining if a channel detection threshold is based on missed channel detection or false alarm probabilities for the plurality of signal qualities. A signal quality estimate of a channel can be inferred from a signal quality measurement of a second channel, wherein the channel and the second channel are sourced by a single transmitter. The channel detection threshold can be adjusted based upon the previously determined required response and the signal quality estimate of the channel.

In many wireless communications systems, such as Universal Mobile Telephony Systems (UMTS) and other third generation (3GPP) wireless communications systems, a communications device is often put into a sleep mode in order to decrease power consumption and increase battery life. The communications device can then wake up at fixed intervals to check if it is the recipient of an incoming page. In UMTS, this is referred to as the DRX mode, or discontinuous reception mode.
To further reduce the amount of time that the communications device needs to be active when it is operating in the DRX mode, the communications device can decode an indicator channel which can contain a Boolean value specifying if it is the recipient of an incoming page. If there is no incoming page, then the communications device can go back to sleep. If there is an incoming page, then the communications device can decode the paging channel to receive the details of the incoming page (or simply, receive the incoming message).
The quality of the wireless channel can have a significant impact on the accuracy of the decoding of the channel. For a low quality channel, perhaps due to the communications device being far removed from the base station to which it is communicating or the communications device being operated within a tunnel or large building, the signal quality of the channel (commonly referred to as signal-to-noise ratio (SNR)) can be low. When the SNR of the indicator channel is low, then the probability of the communications device erroneously decoding the indicator channel can be high. Conversely, when the SNR of the indicator channel is high, then the probability of erroneously decoding the indicator channel can be low. If the indicator channel is erroneously decoded, the communications device may erroneously decode the indicator channel one of two ways: a false alarm or a missed page. With a false alarm, the communications device would decode the indicator channel as indicating that there is an incoming page when there isn't one, thereby unnecessarily increasing power consumption and reducing battery life. While with the missed page, the communications device would decode the indicator channel as not indicating that there is an incoming page when there is an incoming page resulting in a missed call (since the presence of a page is usually followed by a call).
A commonly used method for detecting the state of the indicator channel is referred to as the maximum likelihood (ML) method. The ML method uses a zero threshold and assumes that the a priori probabilities of being paged and not being paged are the same and that the costs of erroneously decoding the indicator channel (the false alarm and missed page) are the same.
Another commonly used method for detecting the state of the indicator channel is referred to as the Neyman Pearson (NP) method. The NP method permits a threshold to be set with unequal false alarm and missed detection probabilities. The NP method is typically used to set a performance metric, such as a constant missed detection (or false alarm) probability across the range of SNRs, and then the other performance metric, i.e., false alarm (or missed detection) probability can be automatically determined. Essentially, there is one degree of freedom since there is only one threshold to set with two performance metrics. Therefore, setting the threshold based upon one performance metric would result in the automatic determination of the other performance metric.
One disadvantage of the prior art is that the ML method permits only the assignment of equal costs for erroneously decoding the state of the indicator channel as either a missed page or false alarm. Furthermore, it also assumes that the probability of being paged and not being paged are equal. These assumptions are incorrect in real-world applications and their use can result in poor performance.
A second disadvantage of the prior art is that the NP approach does not adapt the threshold by taking into consideration the fact that the sensitivity of the overall performance metrics (battery life and missed call rate) to PICH detection may change over an entire range of SNRs (or equivalently, the location of the communications device in relation to a cell site). Rather, the NP approach attempts to keep either the missed PICH rate or the false alarm probability constant over the entire range of SNRs.

Automatic threshold selection method for improving the detection of a wireless signal


A retrofit luminaire assembly for mounting in an existing canopy fixture housing and methods of installing same. The retrofit luminaire assembly includes a planar panel having electrical control elements mounted to an upper surface of the panel. A lamp is received in a lamp socket mounted to the panel with a light-emitting section of the lamp extending away from a lower surface of the panel. A lens is mounted to the lower surface of the panel for enclosing the light-emitting section of the lamp. The panel preferably has a pair of oppositely directed pivot members which are adapted to engage with inwardly directed flanges of the canopy fixture housing to removably and pivotally support the panel for movement between a vertical, inoperative position and a horizontal, operative position. Methods of installing the retrofit luminaire assembly in the existing canopy fixture housing are also disclosed.

Canopy luminaires are designed to provide a downward and outward distribution of light for many applications, including exterior illumination of gasoline service stations, convenience stores and drive-through restaurants, for example. Canopy luminaires typically include a box-like canopy fixture housing mounted to a horizontal ceiling or canopy support structure for enclosing and supporting lighting components and related structure of the canopy luminaire. The lighting components of the canopy luminaire include electrical control elements, such as ballasts, capacitors and ignitors, which are electrically coupled to a high intensity discharge (HID) lamp. The lamp is typically mounted horizontally in a lamp socket within the canopy fixture, and a reflector is provided above the light-emitting section of the lamp to distribute light downwardly through a glass or plastic lens assembly which encloses the lamp.
Replacement or conversion of canopy luminaires generally requires several or all of the existing lighting components and related structure of the luminaire to be removed from the existing canopy fixture housing to provide sufficient room in the fixture housing for installation of the replacement luminaire. In the past, replacement canopy luminaires have been shipped from the manufacturer as disassembled components which are then individually mounted and wired in the canopy fixture housing. It will be appreciated, however, that installation and wiring of the separate retrofit luminaire components in an existing canopy fixture installation is a complicated and time consuming process as the canopy fixture is generally only accessible by ladder. As any location or site may require replacement or conversion of ten or more canopy luminaires, the difficulty associated with installing, mounting and wiring separate retrofit components of the existing canopy luminaires is significantly increased.
Thus, there is a need for a luminaire assembly which minimizes the time required to retrofit an existing canopy luminaire. There is also a need for a luminaire assembly which improves the simplicity and ease of installation of a retrofit luminaire assembly in an existing canopy fixture housing.

Retrofit canopy luminaire and method of installing same


A method of utilizing a mobile device to detect an emergency includes detecting whether the mobile device is carried by a user; detecting an acceleration status of the mobile device when the mobile device is determined to be carried by the user; and determining whether the user is in the emergency according to the acceleration status of the mobile device.

1. Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure relates to a method of utilizing a mobile device to detect an emergency, and more particularly, to a method of detecting an emergency and determining whether a user is involved in the emergency according to an acceleration status of a mobile device carried by the user.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As the average wealth of a nation increases, people start to place more importance on their quality of life and the security of their family. Security monitoring devices which integrate various fields such as burglar alarms, entrance management and remote monitoring can be utilized for personal safety and protection of property. As the related technology matures, various digitized, networking or integrated security products and applications have become commercially available. Most modern security monitoring products and applications are realized by monitors or security systems. Coverage of such monitors and security systems, however, may not be satisfactory. If an accident or emergency occurs in a place not covered by the monitors or security systems, the circumstances will not be known, and follow-up assistance or appropriate handling cannot be performed. Thus, how to immediately detect and determine whether a user is involved in an emergency has become a main focus of the industry. Such functionality can enable assistance or processing to be performed immediately after an emergency, in order to achieve effective monitoring for personal safety.

Method of utilizing mobile device to detect emergency and related emergency detecting system


Apparatus including a receptacle mounted on the handpiece of ultrasonic apparatus which utilizes ultrasonic energy for removing cores of thermoplastic material such as bone cement used to implant prostheses. The receptacle is placed in fluid communication with an acoustical conductor extending through the apparatus and a tubular tip provided at the end of the conductor which tip is vibrated ultrasonically to remove the cores, for example of bone cement. The receptacle is connected to a source of suction, and the cores are drawn or aspirated through the tubular tip, the acoustical connector, and into the receptacle. A filter may be provided in the receptacle to assure that cores received in the receptacle are not drawn or aspirated out of the receptacle through flexible tubing which interconnects the receptacle to a source of suction.

This invention relates generally to new and improved apparatus, and components thereof, for removing cores of thermoplastic and elastomeric material.
Surgical aspiration is a well established medical technique for clearing operative sites of biological fluids and tissue, enabling the surgeon to obtain a clear view of the procedure. An enhancement to surgical aspiration, known as ultrasonic surgical aspiration, has been developed within the last twenty years to make possible direct aspiration of soft tissues, without the need for separate dissecting instruments, in surgical procedures. This art is principally described by Banko (U.S. Pat. No. 3,589,363) and Wuchinich (U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,063,557; 4,223,676; 4,425,115; 4,493,694; 4,516,398; 4,750,902; 4,750,488).
More recently, the use of ultrasonic vibration to cut and remove methylmethacrylate bone cement has been described by Englebrecht (U.S. Pat. No. 4,248,232) and Klapper (U.S. Pat. No. 5,019,083). The inventor of the present invention extended the technique to actual simultaneous removal and aspiration of the removed bone cement, e.g. methylmethacrylate, a thermoplastic material. The extensions of this technique are disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/529,029, entitled "APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR REMOVAL OF CEMENT FROM BONE CAVITIES," filed May 25, 1990 and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/439,114, entitled "ENDOSCOPIC ULTRASONIC ROTARY ELECTROCAUTERIZING ASPIRATOR," filed Nov. 17, 1989; the first figure of these applications is FIG. 1 of the present drawings. More particularly, it will be understood that the present invention is an improvement of the apparatus shown in FIG. 1.
Referring to FIG. 1, a femur 1 is shown following removal of the prosthetic implant 3. A cavity 4 remains whose walls are lined with bone cement 2. This bone cement is excavated or removed by the ultrasonic apparatus 30 having a hollow ultrasonic tip 6 that vibrates in the directions indicated by arrow 15. The tip 6 is a tubular tip of acoustically conductive material mounted to and aligned with a longitudinally extending tubular ultrasonic conductor 18 of acoustically conductive material which conductor is mounted to the handpiece 17. Surrounding and acoustically coupled to the conductor 18 is an ultrasonic transducer 19 connected to an ultrasonic generator 21 by the transducer power cable 12. The rearward end of the conductor 18 is connected to a vacuum receptacle or canister 14 by flexible tubing 11 which tubing may be provided with an optional trap 13 of suitable porous or mesh material. The canister 14 may be connected to a suitable vacuum source 23 by other flexible tubing 24. In operation, the tubular tip 6 is vibrated at a suitable ultrasonic frequency and is applied to the rim of bone cement 2 and this application locally melts the bone cement 2 of the thermoplastic material which material is then drawn or aspirated into the tubular tip 6 by the suction applied to the rear end of the conductor 18 and applied through the conductor to the tubular tip 6. The melted cement recrystallizes within the tubular tip 6 into a solid sliver or core of bone cement or thermoplastic material and it will be understood that it is within this context that the expression "cores of material (e.g. thermoplastic material) are removed and inserted into the tip (or tube)" is used in this specification and in the appended claims. Then the core is drawn or aspirated through the connector 18, tubing 11 and into the canister or receptacle 14, or if present into the optional trap 13, by the suction from the source 23. This operation is repeated, and as it is repeated successive cores of removed bone cement are drawn or aspirated into either the trap 13 or receptacle 14 by the suction applied to the rear end of the conductor 18. The pathway of a removed cylindrical cores of recrystallized bone cement is illustrated by the cores identified by numerical designation 26 and shown in solid outline in FIG. 1. Typically, the canister or receptacle 14 is located on the floor of the operating room, and to provide the surgeon operating the handpiece 17 of the ultrasonic apparatus 30 with the maneuverability required for the removal of the bone cement 2 as described above, the flexible tubing 11 must be several feet in length. During maneuvering of the handpiece 17 of the ultrasonic apparatus 30, curvature is imparted to the flexible tubing 11, and since the removed cores of bone cement 26 are linear the possibility exists that the aspirated cores of bone cement 26 may lodge in such curvature and progressively develop into an obstruction or blockage in the tubing 11 as successive removed cores jam against one another in the curvature of the tubing. Without special provision for immediate, in-line collection of the removed cylindrical cores of bone cement, the acoustical surgical procedure of removing the bone cement 2, for example in hip joint revision arthoplasty, is or can be confounded by repeated loss of suction or aspiration and inordinate amounts of time spent clearing or freeing the suction passage through the tubing 11 from a blockage of removed bone cement cores 26. Such a blockage removal causes an interruption of the bone cement removal procedure which causes the patient to be on the life support system a longer amount of time than is desirable; it is generally believed that the longer the patient is on a life support system the greater the opportunity for an embolism to develop. Thus, the inherent safety and speediness of ultrasonic bone cement removal can be severely compromised by the extended amount of time taken to perform the surgical procedure, such as the noted hip joint revision arthoplasty, without the provision of apparatus which receives and collects the removed cylindrical cores of bone cement 26 in a manner which prevents the cores of removed bone cement from being jammed together in the suction or aspiration passageway, particularly flexible tubing such as tubing 11 of FIG. 1, thereby enabling uninterrupted and hence relatively quick use of the ultrasonic apparatus 30 by the surgeon in performing the required removal of the bone cement 2. Accordingly, there exists a need in this art for the provision of such bone cement receiving and collection apparatus.

Apparatus for removing cores of thermoplastic and elastomeric material


A liquid immersion microscope objective assembly includes an objective, a liquid delivery system for delivering an immersion liquid to a lens of the objective, and a liquid return system for removing liquid from an area around the lens. The objective may be positioned below a sample container. Liquid is delivered to the lens so as to form a bolus between the lens and the sample container. Excess liquid drains into the return system, which may be done via a notch or a V-shaped channel. Additionally, the direction of flow through the delivery system may be reversed, such that liquid may also be removed from the area around the lens via the delivery system. The assembly may also be utilized to remove liquid from the underside of the sample container. The assembly may also include a leak sensor and/or an electrowetting device.

Microscopy generally refers to a class of analytical techniques for acquiring magnified images of samples, which may be biological or non-biological materials. Light-based (optical) microscopic techniques include bright-field microscopy, dark-field microscopy, confocal microscopy, selective plane illumination microscopy (SPIM), and more recently light-field microscopy. A typical light-based microscope includes a sample stage on which the sample to be imaged is mounted, a light source for producing light for irradiating the sample, optics for directing the light as a beam to the sample and thereby irradiating the sample, an eyepiece and/or camera for capturing an image of the sample, and optics for directing the light emitted from the irradiated sample to the eyepiece and/or camera.
The microscope optics include an objective. The objective is typically a cylindrical structure enclosing one or more lenses, including a lens positioned at the end (or tip) of the objective nearest to the sample. A primary function of the objective is to collect the light emitted from the sample and focus the light to produce a magnified (e.g., 4×, 10×, 100×, etc.) image that can be observed through the eyepiece and/or captured by the camera. In some microscopes, the irradiating light from the light source may also pass through the objective to the sample. In such microscopes, the objective is positioned below the sample, which may be referred to as an epifluorescence configuration.
In use, the lens at the objective tip is positioned at a small distance from the sample. The gap between the objective lens and the sample may be an open space—that is, the gap may be an air gap. In such configuration, significant differences exist in the refractive indices of the various media along the optical path between the objective and the sample. In particular, the lens, the air gap, and the sample differ in refractive index. In the case of a below-positioned or inverted objective (such as in an epifluorescence configuration), the refractive index of the sample support on which the sample is mounted (e.g., glass slide) or in which the sample is contained (e.g., microplate) must also be considered. Consequently, the sensitivity, resolution, and image quality achieved by the microscope may be less than desirable. For example, some of the light from the sample will pass through the air gap without being collected by the objective, and thus does not contribute to the imaging signal, due to excessive refraction at the air-solid interfaces.
To address this problem, a microscope may utilize a "liquid immersion" objective (or liquid immersion lens). This type of objective is configured to immerse the lens at the objective tip in a liquid immersion medium (e.g., water or oil), which fills the gap between the lens and the sample support. The sample may also be immersed in the immersion medium. The immersion medium serves as an index-matching material. That is, as compared to air, the liquid immersion medium has a higher refractive index that is more closely matched to the refractive indices of the lens, the sample support, and the sample. Hence, the use of a liquid immersion objective can improve sensitivity, resolution, and image quality, including at high magnifications, at least in part by effectively increasing the numerical aperture (NA) of the objective lens.
However, in comparison to an air immersion objective, a liquid immersion objective conventionally requires more manual interaction to ensure it functions well and in the intended manner in the microscope. In particular, a significant degree of manual interaction has been required for the successful operation of a liquid immersion objective and the use and handling of the immersion medium. Due to its added complexities and manual requirements, a liquid immersion objective traditionally has not been deployed in an automated microscope or high-content screening system. In automated or high-throughput operating environments, the workflow for a manually operated liquid immersion objective would traditionally fail. For example, as the speed requirements for operation are increased, the manual labor required would take too long and/or would have too high a rework/failure rate to be acceptable.
Therefore, it would be desirable to provide an improved liquid immersion microscope objective, particularly one suitable for use with automated or high-content/high-throughput microscopes.

Liquid immersion microscope objective assembly and related systems and methods


Provided are a measurement system that has a plurality of measurement modules and is capable of creating a program of each measurement module easily and a method of creating a program therefor. A measurement system 100 includes a first and second measurement modules 120 and 130, and a controller 102 controlling thereof, in which the controller includes a first processor, a first memory and a first timer; the first measurement module includes a second processor, a second memory, and a second timer; and the second measurement module includes a third processor, a third memory, a third timer; the controller further includes a first function column including one or more execution steps of a first function sequence to be executed by the first measurement module, and a second function column including one or more execution steps of a second function sequence to be executed by the second measurement module, the second function column being adjacent in a first adjacent direction of the first function column.

There is disclosed a system configured to write and control a sequence by combining commands or application programming interfaces (APIs) for controlling each function module of a measurement system by using a general-purpose procedural programming language in one of the Related Art Documents of the present invention. In this Related Art, a sub-routine, for example, can be abstracted, and various control structures including loops and/or conditional branches can be used. The program in Chapter 4.4 on pages 12 to 13 of "Agilent IVI-COM driver and VISA-COM I/O programming examples in Microsoft Visual C# Application Note", 5991-0603EN, Agilent Technologies, Inc., Jul. 30, 2012, (hereinafter referred to as Related Art Document 1), is illustrated in FIG. 27A and FIG. 27B of this specification as an example of a program in such a system.
In another Related Art, there is a system configured to perform sequencing by combining the functions of a measurement instrument in a graphical programming language. LabVIEW ("LabVIEW Getting Started with LabVIEW", 373427J-01, National Instruments, June 2013 (hereinafter referred to as Related Art Document 2)), VEE ("Keysight Technologies VEE Pro 9.32 Data Sheet", 5990-9117EN, Keysight Technologies, Aug. 3, 2014 (hereinafter referred to as Related Art Document 3)), and BenchVue ("Keysight Technologies BenchVue Software v3.7 (BV0000A) Technical Overview", 5991-3850EN, Keysight Technologies, Nov. 3, 2016 (hereinafter referred to as Related Art Document 4)) are examples of these Related Art Documents. In return for restricting a part of the flexibility of a general-purpose programming language of these Related Art Documents, a control sequence can be more intuitively illustrated by a graphical user interface. In FIG. 28, there is illustrated an example of a measurement program for a case in which a plurality of measurement resources are used in LabVIEW. A sub-routine written using a procedural programming language like that of Related Art Document 2 is used for the content of the programming step displayed on the graphic.
In yet another Related Art, there is a system configured to control a plurality of measurement instruments pre-loaded with a program based on a trigger signal generated by a sequencer. Many automated test equipment (ATE) apparatuses employ a system like that of this Related Art. US Patent Application Publication 2011/0057663 A1 (hereinafter referred to as Related Art Document 5) shows an example of such an apparatus. As another example, in FIG. 29, there is illustrated an example of programming by a vector editor illustrated in FIG. 11 of "PXI Digital Pattern Instruments Bring Semiconductor ATE-Class Digital to the Open PXI Platform", National Instruments, Feb. 14, 2017, URL: http://www.ni.com/whitepaper/53237/en/ (found on Feb. 20, 2017), (hereinafter referred to as Related Art Document 6). All the controls are listed in a chart based on a time axis of the vector editor, for example, as a reference. In particular, in many cases, an ATE is built using a sequencer that includes dedicated hardware because precise synchronization and rapid operation with many measurement resources are required. Such an ATE is based on the assumption that dedicated hardware is used, and thus has many unique restrictions. As a result, when creating a program for the ATE, the handling of various functions of the sequencer is considered to be difficult.
In yet another Related Art, US Patent Application Publication 2008/0243732 (hereinafter referred to as Related Art Document 7), there is proposed a distributed programming method applicable to a measurement system. In FIG. 30, there is shown a programming example shown in FIG. 7 of Related Art Document 7. In FIG. 30, there is shown, as an example, a user interface in which various operations of measurement instruments or measurement modules on a time axis is represented by using a two-dimensional spreadsheet, and each of control flows of the measurement instruments or measurement modules is separately written in a corresponding column. As a result, which measurement instrument or measurement module a specific operation (or task) belongs to is clearly understood from the table, and the temporal relationship of the tasks can be grasped more easily.
Even in systems having a command-based control architecture like Related Art Documents 1 to 4, there exist implementations configured to control, based on a trigger signal generated by some kind of signal source, the timing of measurement instruments or measurement (function) modules set in advance.

Method of creating program for measurement system, measurement system therefor, and computer readable recording medium therefor


A bubble chamber spectrometer provides a new method for the sensitive detection of an analyte in a solvent. A bubble chamber receives a solution containing an analyte to be detected. A laser is adapted to direct an output laser beam through the bubble chamber, where the laser is selected to be absorbed by the analyte and to be transmitted by the solvent. A video camera is adapted to display passage of said laser beam through said bubble chamber so that bubbles in the solvent arising from energy deposition in the analyte can be counted to characterize the analyte both quantitatively and qualitatively.

This invention relates to sensing small amounts of selected materials, and, more particularly, to the application of optical absorption spectroscopy to sensing small amounts of materials. This invention was made with government support under Contract No. W-7405-ENG-36 awarded by the U.S. Department of Energy. The government has certain rights in the invention.
There are many applications for the detection of trace quantities of materials in solutions. For example, ultrasensitive analysis requirements exist in forensic applications, intelligence gathering, and biomedical analysis. Artificial nanoparticles may be used as tracers in environmental research or as labels for chemical analysis. Large labeled molecules are used in DNA identification, protein identification, and tracking man-made polymers. In addition, quality control applications particularly include material purity determinations in the semiconductor industry, pharmaceuticals, and in refrigerant chemicals.
There are sensitive detection techniques available, but each has some limitation, i.e., limited sensitivity, limited feature for detection, cost, and the like. Mass spectroscopy is very sensitive to small quantities of materials but it is inherently a gas phase or vacuum-based technique. A complex interface is needed with solid or liquid samples and that interface can introduce losses from the samples. Solution-based samples are output from a number of analytical methods, e.g., electrophoresis and liquid chromatography. It is desirable for an analytical tool to be able to access materials in solution rather than require the sample in a gas phase.
Fluorescence techniques are quite sensitive and can be used on liquid samples. But the technique is limited to only the relatively small number of molecular species that fluoresce with high efficiency. Photothermal and photoacoustic techniques are applicable to liquid samples with an analyte that absorbs light, but the technique is not as sensitive as fluorescence spectroscopy and is not useful in some applications.
The present invention overcomes the above problems and a bubble chamber is adapted for spectroscopic analyses. Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a highly sensitive analytical technique that is useful with liquid solutions of small quantities of analyte.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a spectroscopic technique that is relatively insensitive to environmental noise.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a spectroscopic technique that is useful with a wide variety of analytes.
Additional objects, advantages and novel features of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows, and in part will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon examination of the following or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and attained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

Method and apparatus for bubble chamber spectroscopy


A dental impression tray is disclosed herein having a pair of spaced-apart arcuate walls having a common radial center and wherein the opposing wall surfaces define a work area for holding a quantity of dental impression material. A thin plastic embedded fibrous membrane or sheet extends across the work area having its opposite edges attached to the walls and separating the walls into upper and lower wall sections. One end of the walls may or may not support a wire element while the opposite walls' ends are open. The opposing wall surfaces carry a plurality of alternate vertical grooves and rod-like projections disposed in parallel and split horizontally by the fibrous membrane. The root of each projection includes a recessed portion in order to engage with the impression material and a handle attached to an outer wall of the pair outwardly extends anteriorly therefrom. A tongue suppressor structure may be integrated on an inner wall of the pair.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of dental instruments, and more particularly to a novel dental impression tray for obtaining an impression of a patient's dentition, including an impression of both the upper and lower arches and registering their relationship to each other in a single procedure.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
Prior or conventional impression trays are incapable of taking accurate impressions in a consistent manner. In general, dental trays for obtaining an impression of a patient's dentition include a tray portion contoured to fit within the patient's mouth so that when the patient closes or bites his teeth, an impression is made in the impression material. Initially, the tray is loaded with a suitable setting impression material on both hemispheres of the tray and situated opposite to the desired dentition part whereupon the patient bites into the impression material to form an impression of the dentition in the material. After the impression material sets, it is used as a mold into which plaster or the like can be poured which, upon setting, forms a model of the dentition.
Prior attempts have been made to solve a variety of problems in the use of dental impression trays and one such attempt is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,689,010. However, problems and difficulties have been encountered which stem largely from the fact that it is difficult to retain the impression material in place during and particularly after the impression bite has been made. At times, the supporting layer for the impression material may be perforated by the sharp teeth of the patient during the taking of the impression. Also, conventional trays do not properly flex during the impression procedure. At the end of the procedure, the tray sometimes reverts to a previous configuration causing distortion of the impression.
Most conventional triple bite trays have experienced problems in the area of distortion. The process of taking the impression allows the impression material which is set within the tray on both sides of the gauze support at which time the patient bites into the unset impression material such as polyvinyliloxane and when the material is set or hardened, the impression tray along with the impression material will be removed from the mouth. It is at this point that the distortion occurs due to the memory found in the plastics or metals used in the construction of the tray. This memory found in the arches connecting the parallel walls is stronger than the memory found in the impression material. As the patient bites down into the impression, the tray flexes in a Buccal/Lingual direction, due to the strength of the muscle of mouth and the design of the walls. Upon removal of the impression and the tray, the memory that is present within the plastics and metals will flex back to the original position it was in prior to the impression being taken. The result is a distorted impression due to the fact that the memory of the impression material especially over the occlusal surfaces, which have exposed the gauze supports, is weaker than the memory of a plastic or metal retro molar arch. Wire allows flexing of the tray so that the memory of the impression material is stronger than that of the wire.