A server for providing language and literacy tutoring information to a plurality of user devices connected to a communications network, comprising a network adapter for connection to the network; a content database for providing learning content to devices via the network adaptor and the network; a plurality of speech recognition models stored in the server; a processor for processing speech data and session control data generated by a user and sent to the server by the network, the processor evaluating which of the speech recognition models provides most accurate speech recognition results; and a performance evaluator for evaluating speech produced by the user using the speech recognition model that produces the most accurate results. A system, including user devices. A method for operating the system, and a program storage medium having computer code thereon for implementing the method and system.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the development and delivery of computer-based instruction in literacy or language skills. More particularly, it relates to the use of computers using speech recognition in a distributed manner over a wide area network such as the World Wide Web.
2. Background Art
Computer-based instruction in reading and language arts was first developed and studied in the 1970's by Patrick Suppes and his colleagues at Stanford University (Fletcher and Suppes, 1972). Although oral reading instruction remained the goal, computer-based approaches evolved slowly to that point, first using text exclusively, then text with graphics enhancements (important for calling attention to particular spelling patterns or associating words with pictures, for example), text with graphics and recorded or digitized audio output, and then to text, graphics, audio output, and capture and playback of learners' oral input.
As systems progressed along this continuum of complexity, they addressed different component skills of reading or language use. An early system, as detailed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,078,319 of Mazeski et al, utilized optical components to train the student's eyes to focus on particular material and to advance laterally along the line of material to be taught, purportedly conditioning the operation of reading by training the mechanics of eye movement.
A reading teaching system having simultaneous audio and visual display of material is taught in U.S. Pat. No. 4,397,635 of Samuels, wherein the audio and/or the visual display of the material is altered to enhance the student's understanding of the meaning of the material to be learned (e.g., lower volume audio and downwardly-slanted lettering could be used to present the word "down").
The system taught in U.S. Pat. No. 5,540,589 of Waters involves the use of an audio tutoring system to enable productive trials with feedback and to monitor student progress. Essentially it offers practice on productions where the student shows errors, terminating the session when the number of errors exceeds a preset threshold.
A particular challenge associated with speech recognition systems and critical to successful implementation of an automatic interactive reading system for young children is the development of a model of children's speech with which their productions can be correctly identified. Most speech recognition systems have been developed by building acoustic models out of samples of adult speech. However, children's speech differs markedly from that of adults in terms of, for example, segmentation points, fluency, influence of home language or dialects, articulation control, pitch or even the number of distinct phonemes. The system taught in U.S. Pat. No. 6,017,219 of Adams, Jr. et al. was the first known example of a computer-based reading and language instruction system that used an acoustic model developed from children's speech data.
By way of background, many speech-recognition techniques achieve their effectiveness by operating against models of the way the user or groups of users produce language sounds, called acoustic models, and the way they string words together, called language models. (For our purposes, we will limit the discussion to acoustic models).
Current standard practice involves constructing an acoustic model using a representation known as a Hidden Markov Model (HMM). An HMM relates usually two sets of stochastically distributed elements to one another. To illustrate, an HMM with two sets of elements is used. The first set of elements comprises an observable sequence of events, e1, e2, e3 . . . en.
The second set comprises a sequence of states that are not observable (hence hidden) s1, s2, s3, . . . Sn. The probability of an event ei is conditioned by the hidden states where it can occur, so is expressed as the conditional probability p(ei|sj).
Because events may occur in different states, for any particular observed set of events e there exists a sequence of states si, sj, sk, . . . sn that is the most probable to explain the set of events observed.
HMMs provide a general representation for identifying a state or sequence of states that inhered to produce a sequence of events. If the problem is thought of as finding a label or sequence of labels for a sequence of events, then the appropriateness of an HMM for speech recognition becomes clearer.
In general terms, the efficacy of HMMs for a given problem distills to a comparison of the parameters that describe them. Briefly, these comprise:
1. the number of states in the HMM,
2. the number of distinct observations that can occur within each state,
3. the distribution of transition probabilities from state to state,
4. the distribution of event probabilities,
5. the startup state distribution.
Optimization of the models proceeds by adjusting these parameters of the HMM so that the states it nominates as the most likely match for the observed events are discriminated more clearly from other candidates.
It is difficult for a young child to provide a system with substantial samples of his or her ways of using language. Today's speech recognition systems require an amount of training material to create an acoustic model that is large enough to require that the child have to be able to read the material aloud, something the child may not be ready to do or capable of doing. Repeating large amounts of speech to provide the system with adequate material from which to build a model also lies beyond the capabilities of most children.
Usually such training of the speech-recognition system involves reading lengthy passages of text so that the system has both the textual material and its acoustic representation with which to adapt its acoustic model. Acoustic models may seem more critical than language models whose function it is to reflect the likelihood that a particular word follows a word or a sequence of words in spoken or written messages. Dictation tasks use such likelihood estimates to help disambiguate acoustic data gleaned from the speaker. In reading tasks, however, the text indicates what the reader should produce precisely without recourse to probability. However, language models can be used to predict miscues, such as word omissions, substitutions, or transpositions so they are useful to help identify erroneous productions based on data collected from previous readings of the material.
An approach requiring users to provide the system samples of how they read will not work well with students who cannot yet read, so systems using speech recognition to teach reading must use a single pre-existing acoustic model to acceptably recognize what the child has read without requiring the child to provide additional training input. This is not a satisfactory solution because variation among the forms of children's speech militates against the use of a single acoustic model for literacy training that is released along with the application using it.

System, server and method for distributed literacy and language skill instruction


Receiving coil for nuclear magnetic resonance imaging apparatus for spinal column images, where the apparatus has a supporting bench of the patient and an element for generating a static magnetic field perpendicularly oriented with respect to the supporting bench of the patient. The receiving coil is provided with at least two conductors useful for the detection extending in the direction of the positioning of the longitudinal extension of the spinal column and in the supporting bench or in a bench parallel to the supporting bench of the patient and have a length that is enough to cover approximately the anatomic district of the spinal column or a part of interest thereof, the distance of the two conductors being in the order of magnitude of the average width of the spinal columns and the two conductors being connected in such a way to have a coherent flowing direction of current.

The invention is based on the problem of manufacturing a receiving coil for a nuclear magnetic resonance imaging apparatus of spinal column images, as to obtain a constructive structure of the coil or at least of the conductors relevant for the detection of resonance signals which structure is best adapted to the geometric/morphologic features of the spinal column area, extremely simple as regards the path of the detecting conductors and/or turns and easily improvable as regards the sensitivity for example with the addition of further portions of detecting conductor or of detecting turns.


A tool for use in the installation and removal of golf spikes from the sole of a golf shoe. The golf spikes are of the type made of plastic and having a ground-engaging surface. Projections are formed on this surface, defining a variety of patterns such as a spiral pattern consisting of a plurality of curvilinear ridge portions extending radially outwardly from the center of the spike to the outer edge thereof. A plurality of rills are formed in the spike surface with a rill located between each pair of adjacent ridge portions. The tool comprises a head portion and a concave recessed surface defined by the head portion for engagement with the ground engaging surface of the spike. The recessed surface of the tool defines a plurality of spaced-apart projections dimensioned to be received within the spike rills, and a plurality of curvilinear recesses with each recess being located between each pair of adjacent projections. Each recess is dimensioned to receive one of the spike ridges. Upon rotation of the tool, a spike may be installed in or removed from a golf shoe. Alternatively, a tool having two sets of projections extending from the periphery of the tool is employed. Both types of projections, which are in alternating positions, extend short of the tool center and one set is shorter than the other whereby use with a large variety of plastic spike designs is possible.

This invention relates to a tool for use in attaching golf spikes to golf shoes. In particular, the tool is useful for attaching spikes known as "soft" spikes.
Golf shoes require spikes or some other means for maintaining stability of the shoes relative to the ground during the golf swing. For many years, the great majority of golf shoe soles have been provided with threaded recesses positioned for attaching a plurality of spikes to the shoes. Such spikes have been mostly metal spikes consisting of a circular base having a narrow, ground-penetrating projection on one side and a threaded stud extending from the other side.
In order to tightly secure the threaded stud portion of a spike in a recess, a tool is needed. For engagement of the tool, a pair of holes are formed in the base of the spike on opposite sides of the projection. The spike tool or wrench includes pins which are receivable within these holes so that the spike can be rotated and eventually tightened relative to the shoe.
Although the metal spike and spike wrench design has been satisfactory from the standpoint of effectively attaching the spikes, the spikes have been criticized because of the tendency to damage putting greens. Thus, spike marks are formed on the putting surface due to penetration of the spikes, and this makes green maintenance more difficult. In addition, under the rules of golf, these marks cannot be repaired by the next golfers using the green until after they putt. Accordingly, spike marks have often been blamed for missed putts.
Other golf shoe designs were developed to deal with the problems of the metal spike. Such attempts included the formation of various tread designs for the bottom surface of golf shoes, however, problems remained with this approach. Thus, the treads did not prevent slipping during a golf swing and some designs also tended to damage greens.
Another innovation involves the use of "soft" spikes which, like metal spikes, have a central base and a threaded stud whereby they can be inserted in the same threaded recesses of a golf shoe sole. The spikes are molded from plastic, such as polyurethane, and the outer surfaces of these spikes have a spiral pattern molded therein. Such spikes have been found to provide the requisite stability for use by golfers, do not leave undesirable marks on greens, and do not create maintenance problems.
These "soft" spikes were usually designed with diametrically spaced holes to receive the pins of a spike wrench of the same type as used for attaching metal spikes. Such tools, which could be used manually or attached to a power drill, will rotate the spikes and thereby tighten the threaded studs of the spikes within the threaded shoe sole recesses.
The standard spike wrench is not, however, entirely suitable for use with the soft spikes. It has been found, for example, that the driving engagement of the tool and spike is less than satisfactory when a spike is being installed or removed leading to a time-consuming operation. This problem has been recognized in particular by individuals, such as locker room personnel at golf clubs, who have the responsibility for changing golfers' shoes from metal to plastic spikes, and who also must replace worn spikes from time to time.
Applicant's prior disclosure, Ser. No. 08/580,503, describes a novel tool design for use in place of the standard spike wrench. This tool was specifically designed for use in connection with a soft spike of the type defining a spiral pattern. Since that time, a wide variety of such spikes have been developed. Therefore, it has become desirable to utilize a more versatile tool adapted to accommodate most, if not all, designs in current use.


Method for making a semiconductor structures comprising the steps:—forming a virtual substrate on a silicon substrate with a graded Si1-xGex layer and a non-graded Si1-xGex layer, using a high-density, low-energy plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (LEPECVD) process with a growth rate above 2 nm/s, a substrate temperature between 400° and 850° C., and a total reactive gas flow at the gas inlet between 5 sccm and 200 sccm;—forming an active region on the virtual substrate that comprises a Ge-channel and at least one modulation-doped layer using a low-density, low-energy plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (LEPECVD) process by introducing hydrogen (H2) into the growth chamber, maintaining a substrate temperature between 400° and 500° C., and by introducing a dopant gas in a pulsed manner into the growth chamber to provide for the modulation-doped layer.

New materials and material compositions are being employed in industry in order to improve semiconductor devices such as transistors, for example. This allows to improve the processing speed and performance of integrated circuits (ICs).
A typical example is the deployment of Silicon-Germanium (SiGe) on Silicon. An example of a well-known SiGe heterostructure device 10 is illustrated in FIG. 1. The device 10 comprises a (001)-oriented silicon substrate 11. A graded SiGe-layer 12 is situated on top of the Si substrate 11. The layer 12 allows for a gradual modification of the lattice constant starting from the silicon's lattice constant to a constant that is mainly determined by the concentration of the Ge in the SiGe-layer 12. In the given example, a constant composition buffer layer 13 is formed on top of the graded SiGe-layer 12. The SiGe-layer 12 together with the buffer layer 13 serve as a virtual substrate for the layers that are formed in subsequent process steps. A stack of active device layers 14 is formed on the virtual substrate. The concentration of Ge is depicted in the graph 15 on the left hand side of the device 10. The Ge concentration (x) in the SiGe-layer 12 is gradually increased from x=0 to x=xf. The layer 12 is typically several microns thick in order to ensure that the defect concentration is low.
There are several widely used processes for making such SiGe devices 10. Molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) and ultra-high vacuum chemical vapor deposition (UHV-CVD) are just two examples. Using these processes the fabrication of Ge-rich SiGe structures and devices is difficult. It is another disadvantage of the known approaches that the growth rate is low. Since a certain minimum thickness of the SiGe-layer 12 is required to guarantee an acceptable level of the defect concentration, the formation of this layer takes quite some time. This is, however, highly unfavorable for industrial mass production.
There are two different UHV-CVD processes. The first one is called hot-wall UHV-CVD and the second one is called cold-wall UHV-CVD or rapid thermal CVD (RTCVD).
Hot-wall CVD is well suited for batch processing and is carried out at low, typically between 450° and 550° C., substrate temperatures. Strained Si-channels on SiGe-buffers can be made using hot-wall UHV-CVD. Very high electron mobilities of more than 105 cm2/Vs have been reported by is mail et al. in "Extremely high electron mobilities in Si/SiGe modulation-doped heterostructures", Appl. Phys. Lett, Vol. 66, p. 1077, 1995. The hot-wall UHV-CVD has several disadvantages, such as                low growth rate on the order of about nm/min at substrate temperatures around 550° C. for pure Si, as reported by B. S. Meyerson et al. in "Cooperative growth phenomena in silicon/germanium low-temperature epitaxy", Appl. Phys. Lett., Vol. 53, p. 2555, 1988;        large surface roughness caused by so-called cross-hatch due to relaxation. The cross-hatch effect is more prominent the steeper the gradient of concentration (grading rate) is. The difference in altitude between hills and grooves is typically about 30 nm even at the surface of a buffer layer with a comparatively low Ge concentration of xf=0.3 at the surface. The surface roughness has a detrimental effect on the quality of MODFETs, as described by M. Arafa et al. in "Device and fabrication issues of high performance Si/SiGe Fets", Nat. Sci. Soc., Symp. Proc. Vol. 533, p. 83, 1998.        The hot-wall process is difficult to control in particular at high Ge-concentrations, as described by P. M. Mooney et al. in "SiGe technology: heteroepitaxy and high-speed microelectronics", Annu. Rev. Mater. Sci., Vol. 30, pp. 335, 2000. The hot-wall process is thus not suited for high mobility hole transport. High performance p-MODFETs with pure Ge channels thus cannot be made using the hot-wall technique.
Cold-wall CVD is suited for processing single wafers. This process is typically carried out at temperatures above 700° C. First results concerning graded SiGe buffer layers can be found in a paper written by E. A. Fitzgerald et al., entitled "Totally relaxed GexSix-1 layers with low threading dislocation densities grown on Si substrates", Appl. Phys. Lett., Vol. 59, p. 811, 1991. At substrate temperatures between 800° and 900° C. the surface roughness is even greater than the surface roughness of layers made by the hot-wall process. An RMS-roughness of 30 nm at a Si0.7Ge0.3-buffer has been reported with a tendency to an even stronger surface roughness when the Ge-concentration in the buffer layer is increased. Details are given in "Novel dislocation structure and surface morphology effects in relaxed Ge/Si—Ge(graded)/Si structures", S. B. Samavedan et al., J. Appl. Phys, Vol. 81, p. 3108, 1997.
A SiGe buffer where the concentration is graded such that 100% Ge is obtained at the buffer layer's surface are very rough, when made using cold-wall UHV-CVD (RMS-roughness greater than 30 nm). Heterostructure devices cannot be formed on these rough surfaces without applying a chemical-mechanical polishing (CMP) process. For details refer to "Controlling threading dislocation densities in Ge on Si using graded SiGe layers and chemical-mechanical polishing", E. A. Fitzgerald et al., Appl. Phys. Lett, Vol. 72, p. 1718, 1998.
Until now, no MODFET structures and high-mobility hole transport devices have been made and reported using cold-wall UHV-CVD for the entire layer stack.
Another well-known process technology is called low-pressure chemical vapor deposition (LPCVD). As reported by A. C. Churchill et al. in "High-mobility two-dimensional electron gases in Si/SiGe heterostructures on relaxed SiGe layers grown at high temperature" Semicond. Sci. Technol., Vol. 12, p. 943, 1998, the relatively high process temperatures in an LPCVD process also lead to a remarkable surface roughness. This is even the case at a grading rate of less than 10%/μm. At a Ge-concentration of xf=0.24 at the buffer surface and a substrate temperature of 800° C., an RMS-roughness of up to 6 nm was reported. For details see "Mosaic crystal tilts and their relationship to dislocation structure, surface roughness and growth conditions in relaxed SiGe layers", by D. J. Wallis et al., Mat. Res. Soc. Symp. Proc., 533, p. 77, 1998.
A graded buffer layer with a Ge-concentration of 100% (i.e., xf=1) at the surface shows an even larger roughness with an RMS of 160 nm.
LPCVD, like cold-wall UHV-CVD, is not suited for making structures that require a high hole mobility.
As mentioned above, MBE is another process that is widely used for making semiconductor structures. A virtual substrate (layers 12 and 13 in FIG. 1) can be made using an MBE process without facing serious problems. Since the chemical composition of the layers is to a large extent independent of the substrate temperature, the relaxation and surface roughness of the virtual substrate layer can be optimized by choosing an appropriate temperature profile and grading rate, as addressed by J.-H. Li et al. in "Strain relaxation and surface morphology of compositionally graded Si/Si1-xGex buffers", J. Vac. Sci. Technol., Vol. B 16, p. 1610, 1998 and in E. A. Fitzgerald et al., APL, Vol. 59, p. 811, 1991.
The most serious disadvantage of MBE is the limited capacity of the evaporation crucibles. This is a disadvantage in particular when growing thick SiGe-buffer layers, as described by T. Hackbarth et al. in "Alternatives to thick MBE-grown relaxed SiGe buffers", Thin Solid Films, Vol. 369, p. 148, 2000. MBE is thus not well suited for an industrial production of SiGe devices.
For devices with Ge-rich compressively strained channels on a virtual substrate, there is a tendency for a three-dimensional growth. In particular pure Ge-layers show a remarkable surface roughness, except when the layers are grown at low substrate temperature around 300° C. At such low temperatures, however, the electrical properties of the devices are not acceptable anymore.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a method for making improved SiGe structures, such as MODFET structures or MODQW structures.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a method for making SiGe devices with improved hole conductivity.
It is an object of the present invention to provide improved SiGe heterostructure devices.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a growth system for carrying out a method for making SiGe devices.

Formation of high-mobility silicon—germanium structures by low-energy plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition

Eidgenoessische Technische Hochschule Zurich


A method of solidifying toxic or hazardous liquid waste, including the steps of pumping an aqueous waste, e.g., from a drilling fluid holding area; through a shearing device; adding the layered phyllosilicate to said aqueous waste in an amount sufficient to solidify the aqueous waste sufficiently such that the solidified aqueous waste has no free liquid; shearing the pumped aqueous waste, containing said layered phyllosilicate, sufficiently to partially exfoliate the layered phyllosilicate into phyllosilicate platelets and tactoids while in contact with the aqueous waste; pumping the sheared aqueous waste and layered phyllosilicate to a solidification area; and allowing the sheared aqueous waste and partially exfoliated layered phyllosilicate sufficient time to solidify such that there are no free liquids remaining in the solidified waste.

Drilling waste management is one of the most important challenges in the petroleum industry. The used drilling mud and cuttings result in a substantial ecological contamination problem after drilling is completed. The main pollution of cuttings is caused by biocides; oil; completion or stimulation fluid components; corrosion inhibitors; reservoir fluids (crude oil, brine); inorganic cations and anions, and drilling mud chemical components. The compositions and methods described herein are effective for solidification and remediation of drilling muds and cuttings containing any or all of these pollutants; and agricultural wastes containing animal excrement and/or agricultural fertilizer run off.
The current way of drilling waste management remains somewhat crude from the ecological point of view. The drilling wastes are mainly collected in tanks or pits near the drilling rig and sometimes, after some initial treatment, are either dumped or buried when drilling is halted or mixed with the nearby ground soil and buried.
One of the most popular methods of drilling waste treatment is solidification and stabilization. If a pollutant is below the allowed limit, drilling waste can be solidified in place. Cement and silica are the most popular agents. Von Krosigk U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,835,697; 6,809,067; and published application US 2002/169082 A1 and 2002/169084 A1 disclose adding a number of materials to the drilling waste in a high shear mixer, particularly a solidification agent, such as calcium oxide, Portland cement or an ash product, together with a cellulose additive and a cell transport additive, such as an electrolyte enzyme. The cementing technique encapsulates the contaminants and minimizes the mobility of the contaminants out of the resulting encapsulated drilling waste material, and cements the contaminants in place.
Other solidification materials include dehydrated limestone; coke ash (U.S. Pat. No. 7,059,805); Portland cement and spherical zeolite (U.S. 2005/133222); fly ash (U.S. Pat. No. 5,383,521); and blast furnace slag (U.S. Pat. No. 5,058,679). The solidifying additives require at least eight (8) hours to achieve sufficient solidification to pass a critical Paint Filter Test (US EPA 9095B) and the US EPA Toxic Characteristic Leachate Procedure (US EPA 1311), that is used to determine that the solidified waste will not release contaminated liquid. These solidifying additives also require a much higher percentage of additives and, therefore, add significantly more mass and weight to the contaminated material resulting in more costly/and fill disposal.
Solidifying liquid drilling waste has tremendous benefits for oilfield drilling applications, environmental safety/clean up applications, and drilling companies. The benefit for environmental safety is that it can confine permanently most heavy/toxic metals and some toxic organics inside a solid matrix. Therefore, heavy metal ions and organic toxic and/or hazardous compounds will not leach out and cause environmental issues on local land and water. For oilfield drilling applications, replacing liquid waste with solid waste results a huge economical benefit. A significant portion of the drilling costs is in remediation of the sites and disposing of the waste generated during drilling operations. About 20-30% of the drilling cost is currently used for waste disposal because the drilling companies' costs are extremely high when expensive vacuum trucks are required to haul the liquid wastes away to far-away landfill sites. Much less expensive dump modes of transport can be used if the waste is in solid form so long as the solid waste passes the Paint Filter Liquids Test (PFT). Additionally, the solid waste can even be disposed of locally if it passes the Toxicity Characteristic Leach Procedure (TCLP), which further reduces the cost of waste disposal. The benefit for environmental safety is that it can permanently fixate heavy/toxic metals and the majority of toxic organics inside the solid matrix. Therefore, heavy metal ions and organic toxic compounds will not leach out and cause environmental issues in local non-hazardous land fills.
Another benefit of this invention is the solidification of the liquid wastes with the layered phyllosilicate and superabsorbent polymer allows the evaporation of water from the solidified waste. By allowing the evaporation of water, two benefits are realized. First, the volume and mass of the solid waste reduces and this reduces the transportation volume and cost. Second, the contaminants of concern are less likely to leach out of the solidified solid waste as the water evaporates as the solidification becomes tighter.

Composition and method for the solidification of toxic or hazardous drilling and agricultural waste


The present invention provides methods, systems and compositions for predicting disease susceptibility in a patient. In some embodiments, methods for the classification, prognosis, and diagnosis of cancers are provided. In other embodiments, the present invention provides statistical methods for building a gene-expression-based classifier that may be employed for predicting disease susceptibility in a patient, for classifying carcinomas, and for the prognosis of clinical outcomes.

Mutations in p53 are thought to occur in more than 50% of human cancers and are most frequently observed in the DNA binding and transactivation domains, underscoring the importance of its transcriptional activity in suppressing tumor development. In sporadic breast cancers, unlike most cancer types, p53 mutations are only observed in approximately 20% of cases. However, that breast cancer is frequently observed in individuals with germline mutations of p53 (i.e., Li-Fraumeni syndrome) suggests a particularly important role for p53 inactivation in breast carcinogenesis, and perhaps a similarly important role for other factors capable of compromising p53 function.
For example, the reduced transcriptional activation of p53 following hypermethylation and subsequent inhibition of the HOXA5 transcription factor has recently been implicated as a possible epigenetic mechanism in reducing p53 expression in breast cancers. In both breast tumors and other cancer types, amplification and overexpression of the MDM2 gene, whose product promotes p53 degradation, has been implicated in oncogenesis. Moreover, both deletion and epigenetic silencing of the p14ARF gene, a negative regulator of MDM2, has been observed in various cancer types. Thus, p53 deficiency in breast carcinogenesis can potentially arise from a number of mechanisms other than p53 gene mutation.
There is evidence that the p53 status has prognostic significance in a number of cancer types and in particular breast cancer. In breast cancer, p53 mutations confer worse overall and disease-free survival, and a higher incidence of tumor recurrence, independent of other risk factors. Recent evidence suggests that p53 inactivation renders breast tumors resistant to certain DNA-damaging chemotherapies and endocrine therapies presumably through loss of p53-dependent apoptosis.
However, in all of these studies, the prognostic capability and degree of therapeutic resistance of the p53 mutants was found to depend largely on mutant-specific attributes, such as the type of mutations or the precise domain in which the mutation occurs. Importantly, this latter observation is consistent with findings from previous studies showing that not all p53 mutations have equal effects: some simply confer loss of function, while others have a dominant negative effect (such as trans-dominant suppression of wildtype p53 or oncogenic gain of function), while still others show only a partial loss of function where, for example, only a small subset of p53 downstream transcriptional target genes are dysregulated. For these reasons, no single molecular assessment of p53 status appears to provide an absolute indication of the complete p53 function.
There is a need for methods that better assess the effects of different p53 mutations on cell function in general and gene expression in particular, in an effort to enable better cancer prognosis and diagnosis.

Methods, systems, and compositions for classification, prognosis, and diagnosis of cancers

Agency For Science, Technology, And Research


A multicomponent acceleration sensor in which the inertial force of a seismic mass effects a variation in an electromagnetic quantity of a plurality of individual transducers. During acceleration, the seismic mass acts in each individual transducer a magnetoelastic measuring layer, the permeability .mu..sub.r of which influences the inductance of a sensor coil. For each spacial direction in which the acceleration is to be determined, a pair of transducers is mounted on a base member coaxially to, and axially spaced from, each other in such a way that an acceleration of the acceleration sensor perpendicular to the axial direction of the sensor coils of the two individual transducers causes an equidirectional variation in inductances of the sensor coils of the two individual transducers, and a signal representing the acceleration status is obtained in at least one evaluation electronics form the inductances of the sensor coils.

The invention relates to a multicomponent acceleration sensor.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,786,674 discloses an acceleration sensor of the generic type which consists of a plurality of individual transducers oriented such that an acceleration in a specific direction leads to an equidirectional variation of the output signals of the individual transducers. In this arrangement, the coil of each of the respective transducers is wound around a magnetostrictive iron core, so that a deformation of the iron core resulting from an acceleration (and leading by virtue of the magnetostriction to a variation in the permeability .mu..sub.r of said iron core) effects a variation in the inductance of the coil. A conclusion is drawn in evaluation electronics concerning the acceleration, from the variation in the inductance of the coil. In this process, the acceleration is transferred to the iron core by means of elements with which the acceleration sensor is supported on the object to be sensed, and which act as seismic masses. Furthermore, measures are described for screening the coil against external interferences. Moreover, it is described how the impedance can be matched in the case of a series connection of the individual transducers, so that the series connection of all individual transducers can be evaluated using only one evaluation electronics.
The disadvantage of this arrangement is that an acceleration in a direction other than that previously defined for the sensing of acceleration, likewise leads to a variation in the inductances of the coils of the individual transducers, since by virtue of mechanical strains said accelerations can also lead to deformations of the iron cores. Consequently, the accelerations can be sensed incorrectly.
German patent document DE-OS 2,432,225 A1 discloses an arrangement having a plurality of sensors for the determination of accelerations in different spacial directions in such a way that the directions of the accelerations to be determined by the individual sensors are linearly independent. However, if magnetostrictive acceleration sensors are used accelerations can still be wrongly sensed, because acceleration that deviates from the previously defined direction of the acceleration to be sensed effects mechanical strains in such a way that an acceleration is likewise sensed by the acceleration sensor.
Furthermore, another prior art device known as a multicomponent acceleration sensor is disclosed in the Symposium "Sensors, Measurement Pick-ups 1989" of the Technical Academy Esslingen (Federal Republic of Germany) from 30th May 1989 to 1st June 1989; publisher: K. W. Bonfig; chapters 2.4, 3 4; page 10.6-10.20. In that device, an acceleration sensor described as a "Piezo Beam" is constructed as active sensor element from bimorphous piezoceramic bending beams. If, in this arrangement, the acceleration sensor connected to a body to be sensed is accelerated in a direction that does not coincide with the axial direction of one of the piezoceramic bending beams, a deflection occurs due to the internal mass of the piezoceramic bending beam. This deflection leads to different charges on the front and rear (relative to the direction of acceleration) side of the piezoceramic bending beam, which are sensed using a charge amplifier which is integrated into the acceleration sensor. In this arrangement, 9 kHz is specified as the resonance frequency of the acceleration sensor. A disadvantage of this known multicomponent acceleration sensor is that a fall from a height of approximately one meter will destroy the instrument due to fracture of the piezoceramic bending beams.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a multicomponent acceleration sensor which is insensitive to mechanical stress, and at the same time to ensure, in a manner that is as simple to realize as possible, accurate detection of the acceleration to be sensed.
According to the invention, this object is achieved in a multicomponent acceleration sensor by applying to a sleeve a soft magnetic and highly magnetoelastic layer, the variation of permeability .mu..sub.r of which can be detected, for example, by means of a sensor coil. In this arrangement, the variation in permeability .mu..sub.r arises from an action of the inertial force of a seismic mass as a consequence of an acceleration. A plurality of such individual are interconnected in such a way as to produce a multicomponent acceleration sensor. A further advantage of the invention with respect to the prior art is that by virtue of the smaller seismic mass a simpler design of the acceleration sensor is possible both with regard to the weight and with regard to the dimensions of the acceleration sensor.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.


The activity of the enzyme aromatase is inhibited by administering an aromatase inhibiting amount of a composition comprising at least one of astaxanthin, black cohosh, echinacea, and phytosterols to a subject.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to compositions and methods of inhibiting the activity of the enzyme aromatase with dietary supplements. In particular, the invention is directed to compositions and methods of inhibiting the activity of aromatase using a composition comprising at least one of the dietary supplements astaxanthin, black cohosh, echinacea, and phytosterols.
2. Related Background Art
There is evidence that estrogen and related estrogenic compounds have a role in the development of cancers in women, in particular, breast cancer. See, for example, Clemons et al., ESTROGEN AND THE RISK OF BREAST CANCER, The New England Journal of Medicine, Vol. 344, No. 4, pp. 276-285 (2001). In addition, it is known that the enzyme aromatase plays a role in the synthesis of estrogen. In particular, aromatase converts C19 androgens, such as androstenedione and testosterone, into estrogenic steroids, such as estrone and 17-β estradiol.
Compounds that inhibit the activity of aromatase are known, and have been suggested or used as a treatment for breast cancer. For example, Gross et al., AROMATASE INHIBITORS IN THE TREATMENT AND PREVENTION OF BREAST CANCER, Journal of Clinical Oncology, Vol. 19, No. 3, pp. 881-894 (2001), disclose steroidal and non-steroidal aromatase inhibitors that have been tested in phase III trials as second line treatments of postmenopausal hormone-dependent breast cancer, and may prove superior to tamoxifin. Compounds identified as aromatase inhibitors include aminoglutethimide, a first generation, non-steroidal aromatase inhibitor. Other compounds identified as aromatase inhibitors include the second generation aromatase inhibitors, rogletimide and fadrozol, which are non-steroidal, and formestane, which is steroidal, and the third generation aromatase inhibitors, anastrozole, letrozole, and vorozole, which are non-steroidal, and exemestane, which is steroidal.
Although the third generation inhibitors are less toxic than the first and second generation compounds, they still present toxicity issues. In particular, Goss et al. found that the third generation inhibitors could cause nausea, vomiting, hot flashes, fatigues and headaches. Therefore, a need exists for an aromatase inhibiting composition having lower toxicity than that of prior art aromatase inhibiting compositions. The present invention provides such compositions and a method of inhibiting aromatase with the compositions of the invention.

Method of inhibiting aromatase with specific dietary supplements


The invention relates to a conditioned cell culture medium and a corresponding method to obtain it. The invention also refers to methods of using this cellconditioned medium for the maintenance, proliferation and differentiation of mammalian cells. The culture medium produced in accordance with the present invention is conditioned by the cell secretion activity of murine cells, in particular, those differentiated and immortalized transgenic hepatocytes, named MMH (Met Murine Hepatocyte). These media are employed in in vitro cell culture systems to induce maintenance, proliferation and differentiation of mammalian cells. The cells named MMH are differentiated non transformed murine hepatocytes that produce important biological molecules (e.g cytokines and growth factors) and, in accordance with the present invention, they are used in in vitro cell culture systems for the maintenance, proliferation and differentiation of mammalian cells.

The great expectance aroused in the past few years for the so called cellular therapy and gene therapy is limited by current methods for the cultivation of specific cell types in vitro.
New methods for the maintenance, survival, proliferation and differentiation of the different cell populations are needed.
Generally, methods for cell culture make use of culture media supplemented with growth factors and cytokines which exert specific biological effects on cells. The cell culture medium may be any cell culture medium which adequately addresses the nutritional needs of the cells being cultured.
Cytokines and growth factors are involved in a number of critical cellular processes including proliferation, adhesion, morphologic appearance, differentiation, migration, inflammatory responses, angiogenesis, and death. A list of soluble factors currently used for cell cultivation includes, but is not limited to, the following growth factors and cytokines: EGF, HGF, IGFII, TGFbeta, FGF, VEGF, PDGF, IL-3, IL-6, G-CSF, GM-CSF, SCF, IL-15, IL-11, NGF, erythropoietin etc.).
Alternatively, in order to favour the cultivation of precursor cells, and in particular for those of hematopoietic origin, stromal cells lines are used as feeder cells (Kittler E L et al. Blood. 1992; 22:3168-3178. Eaves C J. et al. Blood. 1991; 78:110-117. Krebsbach P H. et al. Crit Rev Oral Biol Med. 1999; 10:165-181; Charbord P. et al. Exp Hematol. 2002; 30:1202-1210).
The above mentioned methods of cultivation have several drawbacks.
Culture media supplementation with specific soluble factor cocktails, that appears an absolute requirement for the maintenance and/or differentiation towards specific differentiate programs of stem cells is expensive.
The major drawback of cultures utilizing feeder cells is the difficulty of procedures for the separation of the generated cells from the feeder cell. Indeed, the generated cells may be partially adherent to the feeder cells and the manual separation of the two cellular types results in an extremely hard-work. Moreover, the yield of recovered cells is often affected.
In order to solve these problems, the use of some media conditioned by different cell types has been proposed. When incubated with specific cell types, the culture medium becomes to those skilled in the art as "conditioned medium". Conditioned media contain many of the original components of the medium, as well as a variety of cellular metabolites and secreted proteins including, for example, biologically active growth factors, inflammatory mediators and other extracellular proteins specifically released by the "conditioning cells". The exact composition and therefore biological properties of each conditioned medium strictly depends on the conditioning cells.
The present invention relates to the preparation and use of a medium/conditioned by MMH cells.
The MMH cells have been described for their phenotypic and functional characteristics in several publications (Amicone L. et al EMBO J. 1997; 16:495-503. Spagnoli F M. et al. J Cell Biol. 1998; 143:1101-1112. Bellovino D. et al. J Cell Physiol. 1999; 181:24-32. Spagnoli F M. et al. J Cell Sci. 2000; 113:3639-3647. Napolitano M. et al. Free Radic Biol Med. 2001; 30:506-515. Pasquetto V. et al. J Virol. 2002; 76:5646-5653.).
It is known from Aiuti A. et al., Hepatology. 28:1645-1654 (1998) that MMH cells may be used in a cell-cell contact co-culture system with liver cells derived from 15 days post-coitum mouse embryos. It has been shown that MMH cells are able to sustain maintenance, proliferation and differentiation of hematopoietic embryonic cells; the direct contact between hepatocytes and hematopoietic cells constitutes therefore a specific culture requirement in that the cells need to be made to grow in contact with the MMH cells. Yet the co-culture has drawbacks in the analysis and use of cells so generated since this procedure requires, after the growing step, a further separation step from MMH cells. Since the hematopoietic cells partially adhere to MMH cells, the separation of the two cellular types results, as described above, in an extremely hard-work, and an inefficient number of the hematopoietic cells recovered. Moreover, the use of embryonic cells highly limits the realization of the method because of bioethics problems and difficulties in material availability.
It is known from Penington G D (Blood Cells. 1979. 5:13-23) that it is possible to cultivate bone marrow cells in a medium conditioned by hepatocytes. It is shown that the rat liver cell line BRL-3A is able to sustain the growth of megakaryocyte colonies. However this method has several drawbacks, in that BRL-3 cells have been demonstrated not to be fully differentiated hepatocytes, as revealed by the morphology of the cells and, mainly, by the lack of expression of many liver-specific genes, fundamental to retain the complex hepatic functions in vitro (Boess F et al. Toxicol Sci. 2003. 73:386-402). In addition, BRL-3A-conditioned medium has been shown to induce transformation of some mammalian cells (Massague J et al. J Biol. Chem. 1985. 260:4551-4554).
In order to improve the quality of hepatocytic conditioned media other researcher used different sources of conditioning cells. Hepatoma cells have been used (Nakamura H et al. J Biol. Chem. 1994. 269:25143-25149) but they are transformed cells. Moreover, these cells are not able to sustain the survival and/or the differentiation of mammalian cells. Allen K J et al. (J Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2000. 15:1325-32) generated conditionally immortalized mouse hepatocytes using a simian virus 40 (SV40) large T antigen (TAg) gene. SV40 in humans is associated with inflammatory kidney diseases and with specific tumor types: mesothelioma, lymphoma, brain, and bone. These human tumors correspond to the neoplasms that are induced by SV40 experimental inoculation in rodents and by generation of transgenic mice with the SV40 early region gene directed by its own early promoter-enhancer (for a recent review see Barbanti-Brodano G. Virology. 2004. 318:1-9). So these immortilised hepatocyte are potentially oncogenic transformant and for these reasons they are not suitable for the culture of cells. Other media conditioned by primary hepatocytes isolated from adult rats are described in Krause P et al. (J Hepatol. 2000. 32:718-726) Haupt W et al. (Life Sci. 2000. 67:3191-3198). However such media have several drawbacks: i) primary hepatocytes survive only few days in culture; ii) normal hepatic gene expression is downregulated in primary hepatocytes iii) in order to produce the hepatocytes-conditioned medium at industrial scale too many animals are required to be sacrificed; iv) the isolation of primary hepatocytes from the liver is an hard work and is time and costs consuming.

Conditioned cell culture medium, method to obtain the same and use of it for maintenance, proliferation and differentiation of mammalian cells


An improved connection apparatus that meets these and other needs includes, in one embodiment, an approximately J-shaped flexible conductor having at its end an opening that receives therethrough a portion of the shank for mechanical and electrical connection therebetween. The conductor further includes a hole formed therein at approximately its midpoint that receives therein, in a movable and non-contacting fashion, another portion of the elongated shank. In another pair of embodiments, another connection apparatus includes a flexible conductor that is co-formed with a rigid conductor to form a single piece unitary element. The free end of the flexible conductor is connected with the movable shank, and the rigid conductor is connectable with the primary conductor of the circuit. By providing the flexible conductor and the rigid conductor as a co-formed unit, a detachable fastener need not be employed to provide a connection therebetween, which reduces heat generation.

Field
The disclosed and claimed concept relates generally to electrical interruption equipment and, more particularly, to a flexible connection apparatus that is configured to provide an electrical connection between a vacuum interrupter and another conductor.
Related Art
Various types of electrical interruption devices are well known in the relevant art. Such electrical interruption devices are known to include circuit breakers, fuses, vacuum interrupters, and numerous such other devices. Such devices are configured to open a protected portion of a circuit in certain overcurrent and under-voltage conditions, as well as in other conditions. While such devices have been generally effective for their intended purposes, they have not been without limitation.
As is generally understood, a vacuum interrupter typically includes a vacuum bottle that contains a stationary contact and a movable contact within an evacuated environment. The movable contact is connected with an elongated shank that extends outside the evacuated region and that is connectable with an operating mechanism to change the state of the vacuum interrupter, i.e., to move the set of contacts between an OPEN condition and a CLOSED condition. Such vacuum interrupters further include a flexible connector that is electrically conductive and that flexibly extends between the movable shank and another conductor such as a primary conductor of the circuit. Since vacuum interrupters by their nature employ a translating conductive element (movable contact and shank) rather than a pivoting one (such as a moving contact arm in a circuit breaker), the flexible connector that extends between the shank and the other conductor must move a relatively great distance when the vacuum interrupter changes states and thus typically experiences significant stress and strain. Eventually, such connectors can fail, which is undesirable and is preferably avoided. Improvements therefore would be desirable.

Connection apparatus usable in vacuum interrupter


An apparatus for blocking unwanted calls is disclosed. The apparatus incorporates a whitelist which the user can program so that known friendly callers are not interrupted by the apparatus. The apparatus also incorporates a blacklist which automatically rejects known unwanted callers so that the user is not interrupted by these calls. Additionally, the apparatus allows the user to easily add new numbers to either the blacklist or white list and also to delete numbers from the white list, blacklist or master list of caller IDs. For new numbers, callers are presented with a simple but yet effective message that states that the caller should hang up if the caller is a solicitor or telemarketer, or otherwise press zero so that the apparatus can allow the call to go through to the telephone.

The various embodiments and aspects discussed herein relate to an apparatus for blocking unwanted calls. Telephone marketing over the years has grown into a multibillion-dollar industry. As such, companies will call a large number of homes either through machine automation or with the help of live people. Unfortunately, homeowners do not want to be bothered by these telemarketing calls. Moreover, these calls are typically made when the families do not want to be bothered such as dinnertime. Prior art call blocking apparatuses exists but may be complicated to use and ineffective at blocking unwanted calls.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for an improved call blocking apparatus.

Apparatus for blocking unwanted telephone calls and faxes


The CT imaging system optimizes its image generation by substantially reducing artifacts caused by a known amount of readout time lag in the X-ray detectors or data acquisition system. Although each detector row takes the same amount of time to read out the signals, the time lag cumulates over the rows as each row is sequentially read out. The back-projection coordinates are correspondingly corrected based upon the above described delay.

In CT scanner systems, X-ray detectors have changed over decades. For the purpose of acquiring two dimensional projection data, the detectors are arranged in two dimensions that include rows and columns. In general, each of the rows is sequentially read to detect X-ray, and each sequential reading takes a known amount of time that becomes a delay or a lag. Despite the sequential reading, since the X-ray detector has increased a number of rows to cover a wider scanning area, the time delay has accumulated over the rows to become some concern.
In particular, to scan a wider area of a subject, a number of rows of the detectors has dramatically increased from 16 to 320 over years. For example, Toshiba Aquilion ONE™ currently is equipped with 320 rows of the detectors and covers 160 mm of the subject area as the detector set completes one rotation around the subject in 0.35 second. While the number of the detector rows has increased, the rotational speed of the gantry has also improved. Both the expanded rows of the detector and the high rotating speed require the detectors to improve their detection efficiency.
As a number of rows of the detectors increases, the detection speed becomes a significant factor as the detectors are rotating at a high speed. This is because the detectors must detect their inputs with the least amount of time delay so that projection data contains substantially minimal error due to a detection delay. Ultimately, an image should be reconstructed from the above described projection data. Since the detection delay in the data acquisition system (DAS) typically ranges from three to six micro seconds for each row of the detectors, if the total number of rows is less than 16 rows, the delay may not cause noticeable artifact in the reconstructed image. On the other hand, the time delay artifact may become noticeable when the number of detector rows is more than a certain number such as 16. For example, in the most extreme case, when 320 rows of detectors are used with a 3 micro-second delay, the detector delay progressively becomes worse as each row outputs its signals and the last row or 320th row could have a 920 micro-second delay.
Artifact also becomes a significant issue when the above described detection delay is combined with other factors such as an acquisition method and a reconstruction algorithm. One example of the combination is that the detector delay contributes to the artifact when the reconstruction is performed on helical projection data using a certain algorithm as in the case of "Exact Reconstruction" of Katsevich type. Another example of the combination is that even if a number of the detector rows is relatively small, the artifacts becomes a significant issue for reconstruction under flying focal spot (FFS).
In response to the above described problems, one prior art attempt is to improve the response characteristics of the detectors. Although this approach has been pursued at additional hardware costs, the associated costs may be practically prohibitive. Furthermore, the approach will never be perfect since the detectors are also moving at a high speed during the scan. Thus, it remains desirable to improve the image quality by substantially reducing the artifact due to the DAS lag without using additional hardware solution.

Method and system for reducing artifact due to time delay in data acquisition system in computer tomography


A Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Laser (VCSEL) assembly including a VCSEL structure having a light-emitting region located on its surface, a relatively wettable region of a surface modifier coating formed over the light emitting region, and a microlens formed on the relatively wettable region. A relatively non-wettable region of the surface modifier coating is formed around the light-emitting region (e.g., on the electrode surrounding the light-emitting region). The surface modifier coating is formed, for example, from one or more organothiols that change the surface energies of the light-emitting region and/or the electrode to facilitate self-assembly and self-registration of the microlens material. The microlens material is printed, microjetted, or dip coated onto the VCSEL structure such that the microlens material wets to the relatively wettable region, thereby forming a liquid bead that is reliably positioned over the light-emitting region. The liquid bead is then cured to form the microlens.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to electronic materials processing, and more particularly to a system and method for fabricating microlenses on Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Lasers (VCSELs).
2. Related Art
Unlike edge-emitting lasers that emit laser light horizontally from the etched side edge of a semiconductor stack, VCSELs are characterized in that the emitted laser beam is emitted vertically from the substrate surface. VCSELs thus have significant advantages over edge-emitting lasers in the areas of lower manufacturing, packaging, alignment, and testing costs, as well as lower power dissipation.
FIG. 8 is a perspective view depicting a multiple beam laser scanner or ROS (raster output scanner) system 800 used, for example, in a high resolution, high speed printing apparatus. System 800 generally utilizes a two-dimensional VCSEL array 810 that transmits several light beams 815 through pre-polygon optical devices 820 to a rotating polygonal mirror 830, which scans the beams through scan optics 840 and a directing mirror 850 to a photo-receptor 860, which performs high speed printing/scanning functions in response to the modulated intensity of the individual beams according to known techniques.
FIG. 9 is an enlarged plan view showing a thirty-six beam VCSEL array 810A, which represents one type of VCSEL array utilized in systems such as those depicted in FIG. 8. Each VCSEL 812 of array 810A is formed by an active region (e.g., GaAs) surrounded by an electrode (e.g., gold). In each VCSEL, laser photons resonate between mirrors grown into the substrate structure, and then emit vertically from light-emitting regions of the wafer surface.
Referring again to FIG. 8, in order for system 800 to operate as intended, the beams generated by array 810 must have sufficient energy to adequately expose the photoreceptor 860 or recording medium. That is if the light beams are too low in energy or power, then they will be unable to generate an image with enough light intensity that can be detected, captured, or recorded by the photoreceptor or recording medium.
One approach to addressing this problem is to increase the intensity generated by each beam, and to increase the sensitivity of the photoreceptor, thereby providing a suitable amount of light exposure. However, the beam intensity of current VCSEL devices is limited, and driving the VCSELs harder with more current can adversely affect lifetime and single transverse mode emission characteristics.
Another approach to improving the throughput of the optical system without changing the spacing between VCSELs is to utilize microlenses to reduce the divergence angle of the individual VCSELs in the array. This approach allows more light to be captured by the optical system and transmitted to the photoreceptor.
Current approaches to integrate microlenses and VCSEL arrays for this type of purpose include the hybrid mechanical assembly of a VCSEL array and a separate microlens array, and forming microlenses on the VCSEL by deposition and reflow of material like photoresist as additional steps in the VCSEL array fabrication process. A problem with the first conventional approach is that aligning the separate microlens array with the VCSEL array is time consuming and tedious, and prone to alignment error that can greatly reduce the effectiveness of the lens array. A problem with the second conventional approach is that the additional is that the additional processing steps significantly increase fabrication costs.
What is needed is an efficient and reliable method for forming microlenses on VCSEL arrays that avoids the problems associated with the conventional approaches discussed above.

Self-forming microlenses for VCSEL arrays


The present invention includes a method for freeze molding, comprising the steps of: mixing poly(vinyl alcohol) or a modified additive thereof with a material slurry to obtain a mixture; pouring the mixture into a molding die; and subjecting the mixture in a molding die to at least one cycle of cooling and heating so as to obtain a compact. A compact obtained in this method is free from melting and can maintain its configuration even if the compact is kept at a temperature of freezing point or higher. Further, since the method does not require vacuum drying, the compact can easily be dried.

The present invention relates to a method for freeze molding for ceramic powders such as alumina, silicon carbide, and silicon nitride, and metallic powders such as Fe, Cr, and Al.
As methods for molding ceramic or metallic powder materials, there have conventionally been known various kinds of methods such as press molding, slip casting, and injection molding. Freeze molding has also been used mainly when medical and pharmaceutical products, foodstuffs, or the like are molded. In the conventional method for freeze molding, to a material such as a foodstuff are added a dispersion medium such as water and various kinds of molding aids, the material is poured into a molding die having a desired configuration, and the material is maintained in a molding die at a temperature of a freezing point or lower to freeze the material so as to obtain a compact having a desired configuration. The conventional method for freeze molding has advantages in being able to impart a complex configuration to the compact, providing a wide selection of materials for a molding die, and the like.
However, the conventional method for freeze molding has some problems. For example, a compact should be kept at or around a temperature of freezing point. Otherwise, the compact melts and the configuration of the compact cannot be maintained.
Further, when a metallic molding die, a resin molding die, or the like is used in the conventional method for freeze molding and a mixture (material slurry) of a ceramic powder and a dispersion medium is frozen, the surface of the frozen compact adheres to the inner surface of the molding die, thereby deteriorating mold releasability. Accordingly, the frozen compact is released from the molding die by force in this state, and the frozen compact is prone to deform or break.
The present invention is intended to solve the aforementioned problems and provide a method for freeze molding, which gives a compact being able to maintain a desired configuration without melting even if the compact is kept at a temperature over the freezing point, and which enhances mold releasability so as to ease a release of the frozen compact from a molding die and hardly causes a deformation or breakage of the frozen compact when the compact is released.


An illumination apparatus is disclosed, comprising: a first light source having a first spectral light distribution with a first light intensity peak about a first peak wavelength, and a second light source having a second spectral light distribution with a second light intensity peak about a second peak wavelength being different from the first peak wavelength, a third light source having a third spectral light distribution with a main light intensity peak about a third peak wavelength being different from the first peak wavelength and from the second peak wavelength, wherein the illumination apparatus is configured to provide adjustment of light intensity of the first light source and of light of the second light source, wherein the illumination apparatus provides an adjustment of light intensity of the third light source to compensate for the adjusting of the relative light intensity between the first light source and the second light source.

Light plays a fundamental role for the well-being of humans. In nature, the natural light varies in color spectra and intensity during the day. In the morning, the daylight has a bluer tone stimulating alertness. In the evening, the natural light turns redder which improves relaxation. More specifically, it is known that the bluer light in the morning increases cortisol and reduces melatonin increasing attentiveness and focus, while the warmer red tone increases the body's melatonin and reduces cortisol causing the relaxation.
There is therefore an interest in mimicking natural light for achieving improvements in well-being and productivity. Recent advances in LED-based lighting technologies allows for the desired mimicking of natural light in indoor environments. The illumination at the workplace should, however, be adapted to the work to be performed and it should also be adapted to the needs of each individual. Thus, there is a desire for more flexible illumination sources for indoor environments.


A hermetic light-emitting device includes a heat dissipation member including a first surface, a second surface and a first through-hole formed between the first and second surfaces. A circuit substrate has a plurality of conductive traces and a second through-hole disposed corresponding to the first through-hole. A light-emitting element is disposed on the circuit substrate and electrically connected to the plurality of conductive traces. A plurality of electrical wires pass through the first and second through-holes and connect to the plurality of conductive traces to externally supply electrical power to the light-emitting element. A sealing material fills the first and second through-holes. A seal pad member includes a pad opening and is disposed on the first surface of the heat dissipation member and surrounding the circuit substrate. A cover member is disposed over the light-emitting element and against the seal pad member.

1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to a light-emitting device, and relates more particularly to a hermetic light-emitting device.
2. Description of Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 CFR 1.97 and 37 CFR 1.98
Light emitting diodes are being adopted by an increasing number of manufacturers, to be used as light sources for different light-emitting devices in place of conventional light-emitting devices.
In addition to providing sufficient illumination, light-emitting diode devices adapted for an outdoor environment have to be completely airtight or waterproof. A commercially available light-emitting diode device includes a light-emitting diode module connected to an external power supply using conductive wires. Due to the passage of the conductive wires through sealing means, the original hermetic sealing of the light-emitting diode device may be compromised, and thus the light-emitting diode device may not be completely airtight or waterproof.
For different outdoor locations, the illumination requirements of a light-emitting device are different. Usually, to meet different requirements of illumination, different light-emitting diode devices need to be designed and manufactured. Specialized development and manufacture of different light-emitting diode devices may increase cost, adversely affecting the popularization of light-emitting diode devices.
Therefore, commercially available light-emitting diode devices need improvements.

Industrial Technology Research Institute


A sliding door assembly for a refrigerated display case is provided. The sliding door assembly includes a door frame having a top frame segment and a plurality of sliding bearings that slide along channels within the top frame segment. A plurality of display case doors are coupled to the sliding bearings and configured to slide, along with the sliding bearings, between an open position and a closed position. The display case doors may be suspended from the sliding bearings. The sliding door assembly may include an automatic closure system coupled to the display case doors and configured to apply a closing force that automatically returns the display case doors to the closed position. One or more magnets may apply a magnetic damping force as the display case doors approach the closed position to facilitate a soft closure of the display case doors.

The present invention relates generally to refrigerated display cases and more particularly to a sliding door assembly for a refrigerated display case.
Refrigerated display cases (e.g., a refrigerators, freezers, refrigerated merchandisers, etc.) are used in a wide variety of commercial, institutional, and residential applications for storing and/or displaying refrigerated or frozen items. For example, self-service type refrigerated display cases or merchandisers are often used in grocery stores, supermarkets, convenience stores, florist shops, and other commercial settings to store and display temperature-sensitive consumer goods (e.g., food products and the like).
Many refrigerated display cases have a display case door (e.g., a door with an insulated glass panel) through which items within the refrigerated display case can be viewed. In some refrigerated display cases, the door is hingedly attached to a frame and swings open relative to the frame to facilitate consumer access to the refrigerated or frozen items. Other refrigerated display cases use sliding doors that move linearly relative to the frame.
Previous sliding door type refrigerated display cases suffer from a number of disadvantages. For example, the sliding doors are often designed to slide along a track at the bottom of the door frame. The bottom track can collect debris and must be regularly cleaned to ensure proper operation of the sliding doors. Sliding doors can be difficult to open and close due to the weight of the doors being supported by the bottom track, resulting in a friction force which must be overcome when sliding the doors along the bottom track. Additionally, sliding doors often fail to return to the closed position when not in use. It would be desirable to provide a sliding door assembly for a refrigerated display case that overcomes these and other disadvantages.

Sliding door assembly for a refrigerated display case


The object of the present invention is to provide a thermoexpandable microcapsule which can be expanded at a lower temperature without decrease of various properties such as chemical resistance and heat resistance; said thermoexpandable microcapsule contains at least two kinds of volatile expanding agents having different boiling points lower than softening temperature of a polymeric material forming a shell, production thereof; and a method of expanding the microcapsule in which it is subjected to first heating below the starting temperature of expanding and then to the second heating.

The present invention relates to a thermoexpandable microcapsule, production thereof and a method of expansion.
It was described in Japanese Patent Publication No. 42-26524 a process of production of a thermoexpandable microcapsule by microencapsulating with a thermoplastic polymer a volatile expanding agent which can be vaporized at a lower temperature than the softening temperature of the thermoplastic polymer.
There are many cases that a thermoexpandable microcapsule having a heat resistance and a chemical resistance is required in use thereof. As such microcapsules a thermoexpandable microcapsule excellent in heat resistance and chemical resistance and a microcapsule excellent in heat resistance have been disclosed in Japanese Patent KOKAI No. 62-286534 and Japanese Patent Application No. 4-95174 respectively.
In order to obtain a thermoexpandable microcapsule having a high heat resistance and chemical resistance the temperature for expanding of the microcapsule must be heightened. However, when such a microcapsule is expanded, it is often heated to expand after mixed with a binder resin and the like or coated depended on the purpose of use, and it is not preferable that such a mixture is excessively heated at expanding.

Thermoexpandable microcapsule and production


In some implementations, an injection system that injects sealant into a pipe, pressure component or valve while containing the pipe, pressure component or valve repair that significantly reduces or eliminates release of hazardous material from inside the pipe, pressure component valve or injection system and thus significantly reduces emission of the hazardous material from inside the pipe, pressure component or valve into the environment and protecting the repair technicians.

Millions of miles of piping and millions of control valves are installed throughout the world. These valves control the flow of fluids and gas through pipes that route chemicals through refineries, storage facilities, underground, marine vessels and space. Pipes need repair and sometimes feature enhancements such as electric terminals for cathodic protection or mechanical fasteners for stairs, ladders and walkways. Valves are mechanical devices with moving parts. The moving parts wear out or corrode over time, causing leaks. With aging equipment fighting increased clean air, water and soil standards, the need for valve, pipe and pipe component repair is growing rapidly.
Many pipes, valves and pipe components contain chemicals that are volatile or caustic with unsafe leakage levels measured in parts per million (ppm). Not only are these chemicals hazardous to the environment, but also to the technicians who are repairing them.
When a valve begins to leak in a refinery, the refinery must be taken out of service, costing millions of dollars a day or the valve leak needs to be repaired while it is in-service. To do this, petrochemical service technicians, drill a hole partially through the valve housing near the gland packing, thread this hole and then screw on a fitting that will eventually allow drilling and injecting new sealant. This threading process is fraught with problems. First, if the technician drills too deep into the bell housing, he could be exposed to hazardous chemicals threatening his life. In addition, once the fitting is attached to the thin wall of the housing, it is secured by only a few threads. This makes the fitting subject to breakage in the harsh physical environment of a refinery. In addition, threads can become a point of leakage as corrosion and mechanical vibration weaken the connection. During the process of injecting new sealant into the valve, existing injection processes allow hazardous material to escape into the environment, exposing the repair technician to hazardous chemicals and violating ever tightening EPA rules.
In the past, if a fastener such as a stud, boss, nut, pin, screw, hinge, fitting, lever or clamp were attached to a pipe or valve, arc, MIG, TIG welding, GMAW, GTAW, FCAW or SMAW or oxy-acetylene torch brazing was utilized. Because of the high temperatures and sparks associate with these welding processes, they cannot be used in hazardous environments.

Friction welding drive apparatus for repair of pipes and valves