A method of sensing the position of a first element with respect to a second element is disclosed, the first element being movable with respect to the second. The method comprises: (a) fixing a first magnetic marker to said first element; (b) fixing a second magnetic marker to said second element; (c) sensing the positions of the two markers by a remote magnetic sensing technique. Optionally, a third magnetic marker may be used, the second and third markers then preferably being located at the extremes of travel of said first element. The method may be used to determine linear or angular relationships.

This invention relates to position sensing and, more particularly but not exclusively, to a position sensor based on magnetic principles and employing elements of soft magnetic material. Such material is conveniently a high permeability material with an axis of easy magnetisation. Suitable materials for this purpose include the materials conventionally used in electronic article surveillance (EAS) techniques; these materials are well known in the art and do not require further description herein.
In previous patents, in particular U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,144,300, 6,373,388, 6,323,770, 6,323,769, 6,329,916, and 6,371,379, we have described and claimed novel techniques for spatial magnetic interrogation and novel tags. The technology described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,144,300, 6,373,388, 6,323,770, 6,323,769, 6,329,916, and 6,371,379 is based on exploiting the behavior of magnetic materials as they pass through a region of space containing a magnetic null. In particular, these earlier applications describe, inter alia, how passive tags containing one or more magnetic elements can perform as remotely-readable data carriers, the number and spatial arrangement of the elements representing information.
In the above applications we described a number of possible system embodiments employing either permanent magnets or electromagnets to create the magnetic null. We also described several system implementations some of which are particularly appropriate for tags employing very low coercivity, high permeability magnetic elements. These implementations work by detecting harmonics of a superimposed low-amplitude alternating interrogation field.
In a later patent, U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,230,379, we describe arrangements which work by detecting the baseband signals generated by the passage of the tag through the magnetic null, without the need for any superimposed alternating interrogation field. Specific designs for readers are described in PCT/GB97/02772. The content of these above-mentioned patent applications (hereinafter termed xe2x80x9cthe prior FN applicationsxe2x80x9d) is incorporated herein by reference thereto.
The present invention preferably utilises techniques and materials such as described in the prior FN applications, or components of such techniques and materials, in order to provide a position sensor and method.
Preferably, two or more elements of soft magnetic material are utilised in the invention and the relative positions of the magnetic elements are changed by the movement which is to be sensed. The positions of the magnetic elements are sensed in a remote way by a suitable means. One suitable means is the spatial magnetic interrogation technique described in WO 96/31790.
One embodiment of the technique disclosed in WO 96/31790 may be defined as a method of determining the position of a magnetic element, or the relative positions of two or more magnetic elements on a tag, the magnetic element(s) having non-linear magnetic properties and a preferential axis of magnetisation, which is characterised by the steps of: (1) applying a magnetic field to an interrogation zone where the magnetic element(s) is or are located, or is or are expected to be located, said magnetic field being: (i) generated by magnetic field generating means positioned independently of said magnetic element(s); (ii) such that a magnetic null as defined in WO 96/31790 is generated within said interrogation zone, the magnetic null being contiguous with regions where the applied magnetic field is sufficient to saturate the, or a part of the, magnetic element(s); and (iii) such that the direction in which the resolved component of the magnetic field is zero is or can be aligned with the preferential axis of magnetization of the or each magnetic element; (2) causing relative movement between said magnetic field and said magnetic element in the direction of the preferential axis of magnetisation of the magnetic element(s) such that at least a portion of the magnetic element, or of each of the magnetic elements in turn, becomes magnetically saturated and then enters the magnetic null; (3) detecting the magnetic response of the or each magnetic element during said relative movement; and (4) determining the position of the magnetic element, or the relative positions of the magnetic elements, from the time(s) of occurrence of the or each magnetic response.
The present invention is particularly appropriate for medical applications, where the status of movable elements or describes implanted inside the human body need to be ascertained externally.
Position sensors based an many different technologies have been developed. In general they utilise the movement of one element with respect to a reference in order to create a readily-measured effect. For example, one type of optical position sensor employs a glass strip carrying a pattern of opaque lines. An optical source on one side of the strip is detected by a photodiode on the other side whenever there is no opaque region between them. Linear motion of the strip relative to the optical sensor pair results in electrical pulses being generated by the photodiode, and position relative to a datum may be determined by counting the number of pulses generated. This arrangement, in common with most sensors providing electrical output, requires detectable features (in this case the optical pattern) to be close to the sensing means (in this case the light beam). This generally makes such sensors inconvenient for implanting inside the human body because of their bulk, and/or because of the need for connecting wires.
According to a one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of sensing the position of a first element with respect to a second element, the first element being movable with respect to the second, which comprises:
(a) fixing a first magnetic marker to said first element;
(b) fixing a second magnetic marker to said second element;
(c) sensing the positions of the two markers by a remote magnetic sensing technique.
The invention is based on detecting small elements of soft magnetic material. In the simplest arrangement, one element is attached to a moving or movable member, and another to a reference member. Using a remote magnetic sensing technique, the positions of the two magnetic elements can be detected. The preferred magnetic sensing principle is that described in WO 96/31790. This employs a null in a magnetic field to locate the position of a piece of soft magnetic material. By scanning the null across the plane containing the two magnetic elements, their presence can be detected, and by relating the time of occurrence of the detections to the scanning pattern and speed, their separation can be deduced.
Thus, in one embodiment of the invention, the method includes the steps of: (1) applying a magnetic field to said magnetic markers, said magnetic field being: (i) generated by magnetic field generating means positioned independently of said magnetic markers; (ii) such that a magnetic null as defined in WO 96/31790 is generated, the magnetic null being contiguous with regions where the applied magnetic field is sufficient to saturate the, or a part of the, magnetic markers; and (iii) such that the direction in which the resolved component of the magnetic field is zero is or can be aligned with the preferential axis of magnetisation of the or each magnetic marker; (2) causing relative movement between said magnetic field and said magnetic markers in the direction of the preferential axis of magnetisation of the magnetic markers such that at least a portion of each of the magnetic markers in turn becomes magnetically saturated and then enters the magnetic null; (3) detecting the magnetic response of each magnetic marker during said relative movement; and (4) determining the relative positions of the magnetic markers from the times of occurrence of the or each magnetic response.
A variant on this arrangement uses fixed magnetic elements at the extremes of travel of the moving element, i.e. 3 elements in total. An advantage of this scheme is that the separation of the two fixed elements is known, so that the position of the moving element as a fraction of the fixed element spacing can be determined directly from the ratio of the spacings between the 3 detection signals, without the need for knowledge of the null scanning speed. This eliminates the need for accurate calibration of the reader equipment, and means that, for some applications, a very simple manually scanned sensor is practical.
The same principle can be employed in a rotary position sensor, this time using a rotating magnetic nullxe2x80x94for example, such as described in our patent application PCT/GB97/03389 (WO 98/26312, published Jun. 18, 1998). In this case the fixed element is placed at a reference angle. The position of the moving or movable element is determined by detecting the point between successive detections of the reference element at which the moving element is detected. Since there is the potential for a 180xc2x0 ambiguity in this system, for some applications it is necessary to ensure that the fixed marker responds differently to interrogation with the gradient field in different directions along its axis. This may be done by applying a local magnetic bias to the second magnetic marker, e.g. from a further magnetised element; one technique for this is described in GB9717475.9 and PCT/GB98/02479. Alternatively, the bias may be achieved by suitably shaping the element, as described in application GB9800064.9 (Sentec Limited, assigned to Flying Null Limited) and PCT/GB99/00017.
Advantageously, the remote magnetic sensing technique is that described in WO 96/31790. The magnetic markers are preferably soft magnetic materials of high permeability and having an axis of easy magnetisation. The soft magnetic axis will generally be aligned with the direction of motion when that motion is linear. It will also generally be aligned with the direction of scanning the magnetic null when the techniques of WO 96/31790 are used.


A method and apparatus for the anaerobic treatment of waste water is described which includes a plug flow bioreactor containing a single bed of inert microbial attachment media and anaerobic microorganisms, and having at least one baffle member which forms a first zone and at least one second zone above the bed of inert microbial attachment media within the plug flow bioreactor.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to a method and apparatus for the anaerobic treatment of waste water, or flowable waste, wherein a plug flow bioreactor is utilized to treat the waste water.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many types of anaerobic microbial treatment processes have been utilized for the anaerobic treatment of soluble and particulate colloidal organic material in agricultural, domestic, and industrial waste water, or flowable waste, wherein the organic material is converted to methane, carbon dioxide, water and cell biomass, or sludge. One type of anaerobic treatment systems is the anaerobic attached film expanded bed waste water treatment system. The anaerobic attached film expanded bed technology utilizes a hydraulically expanded bed, typically a heterogeneous mixture of microorganisms, for example bacteria, which become attached to and entrapped within a bed of small diameter, biologically inert, support particles. These anaerobic attached film expanded beds are used in connection with a treatment vessel, or bioreactor.
Bioreactors, in general, may be operated in either a plug flow mode, or as a completely mixed flow bioreactor. In a bioreactor operating in a plug flow mode, the first liquid, or waste water, to enter the bioreactor is the first liquid, or treated waste water, out of the reactor. There is no longitudinal mixing of the waste water, and each unit of liquid, or waste water treated in the bioreactor remains in the bioreactor for an exact predetermined period of time, or in other words, the "hydraulic retention" time of each unit of liquid to be treated is the same. In completely mixed bioreactors, or completely mixed flow bioreactors, only the average hydraulic retention time is the same as the plug flow retention time, since some units of the liquid to be treated, or waste water, leave the bioreactor very quickly, while other units of liquid remain for a longer period of time, or for a longer hydraulic retention time.
Although it is known in the waste water treatment field that a bioreactor operating in a plug flow mode is more efficient in the removal of pollutants than a single, completely mixed bioreactor of comparable volume, the vast majority of anaerobic bioreactors have not completely achieved the desired plug flow mode, wherein the first liquid charged into the bioreactor is the first to leave the bioreactor, and "short circuiting", or liquid particles having a shorter residence time in the bioreactor, is prevented. Undesired, excess short circuiting may occur particularly in the space above the bed of support particles through which the waste water to be treated passes upwardly therethrough. It would be desirable if an anaerobic bioreactor could be provided which better provides plug flow of the waste water throughout the bioreactor.
The fermentation of organic material to methane, carbon dioxide, and water vapor involves a consortium of anaerobic and facultative microorganisms that must be maintained in a substantially precise balance to achieve high rate, highly efficient conversion of the waste material. This consortium includes a first group of organisms, or hydrolyzers, to convert complex organic material to polysaccharides and monosaccharides. Another group of organisms are acidifiers to convert the monosaccharides to volatile acids. Lastly, the consortium includes a third group of organisms, or methanogenes, which convert the volatile acids to methane in carbon dioxide. As a given organic load is applied to a bioreactor containing all the microorganisms of the consortium, the population of each group of the consortium adjusts to produce a specific balance with the other groups. In other words, with respect to a given organic load, there would be a certain, or particular, number of hydrolyzers, a certain number of the acidifiers, and a particular number methanogenes. As the organic loading is increased, the number of microorganisms of each group typically changes, or increases, to maintain the optimal balance. The optimization of the microorganism populations requires that all the microorganisms co-exist and adjust as a group to changes in the organic loading. In general, when prior art bioreactors are operated in series, each individual bioreactor contains a separate series of individual compartments, each containing the unique consortium of the microorganisms. These bioreactors generally do not have the capability to adjust to changing organic loading in an optimal fashion. The microorganisms required for hydrolyzing are physically segregated from those responsible for acidification, and in turn those microorganisms responsible for acidification are physically segregated from those responsible for methane generation. It is believed that an optimum balance cannot be established with changing organic loading upon the bioreactor. It would be desirable if an anaerobic bioreactor could be provided with the balance of the microorganism population being readily maintained as the organic loading rate changes.

Method and apparatus for the anaerobic treatment of waste


In a liquid dispensing container for dispensing liquid from the liquid storage chamber through the dispensing port, an elastic member, which is normally closed but is opened by the pressure of liquid, is disposed at the dispensing port and the opened part of the elastic member opened by the liquid pressure is used as the dispensing port.

One example of a conventional liquid dispensing container that dispenses liquid contained in a liquid storage chamber is shown in FIG. 36.
In this conventional liquid dispensing container, a flexible container body 101 that can be pressed and deformed constitutes a liquid storage chamber 102 for storing liquids. At the top of the container body 101 is formed a dispensing opening 103 which has a threaded portion 104 at its outer periphery. A cap 105 is removably screwed on the threaded portion 104 to prevent drying of liquid and leakage of it when not in use.
In use, the cap 105 is taken off the container body 101 and the container body 101 is pressed to squeeze an appropriate amount of liquid from the liquid storage chamber 102 through the dispensing opening 103.
With the above conventional art, however, one may forget to put the cap 105 on the container after use. Moreover, during frequent use of the container, capping is troublesome for the user and he or she may leave it uncapped intentionally or carelessly for a long period of time, during which the surface of the liquid present in the dispensing opening 103 is exposed to the air and as a result it dries.
It is known that the air contains a variety of substances that may adversely affect human health, such as bacteria and dust. These substances, when they become mixed in the liquid, contaminate the liquid and in some cases produce mold and discoloration, making it very unsanitary. When such unsanitary liquid is a cosmetic or food it causes undesirable results.

Liquid dispensing container using pressure of liquid to open disharge opening


There are provided compounds which can be used in the treatment of diseases mediated by the autophosphorylation of a PDGF receptor, specifically, compounds which can inhibit neointima formation hypertrophy. The compounds are those represented by formula (I) or pharmacologically acceptable salts or solvates thereof:

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to quinoline derivatives and quinazoline derivatives and more particularly to quinoline derivatives and quinazoline derivatives that can be used in the treatment of diseases associated with the autophosphorylation of a PDGF receptor and particularly can inhibit angiostenosis.
2. Background Art
PTCA (percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty) is widely adopted as therapy useful for ischemic heart diseases resulting from coronary stenosis. Vascular restenosis, which is observed in a frequency of about 30% within 3 to 6 months after the operation of PTCA, however, has become a serious problem associated with long-term prognosis and medical economy. The restenosis is considered attributable to the fact that vascular smooth muscular cells or fibroblasts of the vascular outer membrane are activated, for example, by platelet activation caused by the tear of vascular tunica intima or media, extension stimulation, and vascular endothelial cell injury at the time of catheter therapy and consequently migrate and proliferate and excessively accumulate at injured vascular sites.
Various growth factors have hitherto been assumed as the vascular smooth muscle cells or fibroblasts activation factors. In particular, since R. Ross et al. have proposed a hypothesis of a injury reaction (N. Engl. J. Med., 295, 369 (1976)), PDGF (platelet-derived growth factor) has drawn attention as one of factors causative of arteriosclerosis and has been also considered as a major factor causative of restenosis from both fundamental and clinical aspects (G. A. A. Ferns et al., Science, 253, 1129 (1991), M. G. Sirois et al., Circulation, 95, 669 (1997), and M. Ueda et al., Am. J. Pathol., 149, 831 (1996) etc.)
PDGF-R (PDGF receptor) autophosphorylation inhibitory compounds (WO 97/17329 and The FASEB Journal, Vol. 11, pp. 1119–1126 (1997)) have been reported up to now.
For PDGF receptor autophosphorylation inhibitory compounds which have been reported, however, the selectivity for VEGF receptors (such as KDR) and c-kit (SCF receptors) belonging to the PDGF receptor family has not been discussed.
VEGF is one of major growth factors of vascular endothelial cells (EC), and VEGF receptor inhibitory compounds possibly inhibit the regeneration of EC in injured blood vessels to promote the formation of thrombus and to accelerate angiostenosis.
Further, SCF is a growth factor involved in the upstream of hematopoietic system and the movement of intestinal tracts, and substances that inhibit receptors of SCF possibly induce hematopoietic failure and intestinal tract movement failure.
For these reasons, compounds that can selectively inhibit PDGF receptors for c-kit, KDR, and the like are family are expected as anti-restenosis agents that have no significant side effect.
Although various restenosis inhibitors have been developed up to now, any pharmaceutical compound having potent angiostenosis inhibitory activity has not yet been developed.

Quinoline and quinazoline derivatives and drugs containing the same

Abstract: wherein R1 and R2 represent hydrogen, alkyl or the like; R3, R4, R5 and R6 represent hydrogen, halogen, alkyl, alkoxy or the like; R11 and R12 represent hydrogen, alkyl, alkylcarbonyl or the like; and A represents any one of formulae (i) to (x), provided that compounds wherein R3, R4, R5 and R6 represent hydrogen and A represents group (v) wherein u is 0 (zero) and R19 represents phenyl optionally substituted by halogen, alkyl, or alkoxy are excluded.


A structural eye assembly is provided comprising replaceable components exhibiting healthy conditions, pathological states and post-surgical conditions, and a related method thereto. The assembly preferably comprises a spherical eye body of structural (sturdy) soft and somewhat pliable material in the shape of human eye, preferably in an enlarged scale relative to the human eye for the ease of observation of the various structural components. The assembly includes a cornea which is replaceable with a plurality of corneas exhibiting various pathological structures and structural damages. The removable cornea is made of a clear, soft and pliable material to simulate a human cornea. Corneal pathological states are exhibited on various replaceable corneas to allow the educator or physician to selectively demonstrate the pathological state to the student or patient. The crystalline lens also is removable and the assembly includes replaceable lenses which exhibit various pathological structures, such as cataracts, as well as a intraocular lens implant rendition. The eye assembly also contains a liquid filled central cavity to simulate the vitreous humor, and within it vitreous floaters. Also demonstrated by this model are normal and abnormal retinal conditions. Optionally, also shown by this model is a fine layer surrounding the assembly to represent human conjunctiva.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to three dimensional medical models and methods related thereto, and more particularly relates to three dimensional eye models and methods related thereto.
2. Description of the Related Art
Prior three dimensional eye models have existed, and have generally modeled a healthy eye. The use of such models of healthy eyes have been useful as teaching aids and in demonstrating normal anatomy and physiology. Such models however have led to confusion and difficulty in permitting physicians and more specifically eye doctors and eye surgeons to explain various pathological states and surgical procedures for patients, patients' families and medical students. For example, prior eye models have not been useful in selectively showing some specific tissue of the eye which is commonly afflicted by infections, irritations and other pathology or disease process. Prior eye models have failed to show common conjunctival afflictions such as conjunctival hemorrhage, abrasion, laceration, pinguecula and allergic, mechanical or infectious conjunctivitis. Also prior models have not shown a distinct and realistic vitreous fluid, representing the vitreous humor of the human eye, and therefore not representing cellular debris in the vitreous, "vitreous floaters." Prior models have not been useful in showing corneal pathology, such as corneal abrasions, corneal ulcers, corneal lacerations, and pterygium. Other anomalies of the cornea such as neovascularization, hemorrhages and clear corneal incision for cataract/lens implant surgery have not been demonstrated before. Specific and detailed retinal conditions, and retinal disease will be displayed in this improved model, whereas prior models have failed to detail such important situations such as retinal detachments and retinal breaks, like retinal tears and retinal holes. Also, no prior art exists on eye models detailing the retinal conditions and diseases such as, choroidal nevi, lattice degeneration, choroidal melanoma, macular degeneration, and diabetic retinopathy. Prior models have never demonstrated the human eyelid in normal anatomical conditions or in pathologic states as well. Therefore, prior models have not been useful for exhibiting human eyelid anatomy or related eyelid disease states, for example eyelid disorders such as chalazion, dermatochalasis, hordeolum, ptosis and other eyelid abnormalities.
Consequently, there is a need and a desire to provide an eye model and related method for selectively modeling specific (realistic, distinct) anatomical features of the human eye as well as selectively demonstrating and illustrating various disease states. There is also a need to provide such selective and realistic models to enable health care providers and educators a means for teaching, demonstrating and otherwise communicating in a precise informative manner the conditions (disease states) to students, patients, family members of afflicted patients and health care providers.

Variable pathological and surgical eye model and method related thereto


Systems and methods are disclosed herein for puncturing Polar-encoded bits. In some embodiments, a method of operation of a radio node that utilizes a Polar encoder comprising performing Polar encoding of a plurality of bits to provide a plurality of Polar-encoded code bits and puncturing the plurality of Polar-encoded code bits using a hybrid puncturing scheme to provide a plurality of rate-matched Polar-encoded code bits, wherein the hybrid puncturing scheme uses different puncturing patterns for different code rate regions.

Polar codes, proposed by Arikan [1], are the first class of constructive coding schemes that are provable to achieve the symmetric capacity of the binary-input discrete memoryless channels under a low-complexity Successive Cancellation (SC) decoder. However, the finite-length performance of Polar codes under SC is not competitive compared to other modern channel coding schemes such as Low-Density Parity-Check (LDPC) codes and Turbo codes. Later, a SC List (SCL) decoder is proposed in [2], which can approach the performance of an optimal Maximum-Likelihood (ML) decoder. By concatenating a simple Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) coding, it was shown that the performance of concatenated Polar code is competitive with that of well-optimized LDPC and Turbo codes. As a result, Polar codes are being considered as a candidate for future Fifth Generation (5G) wireless communication systems.
The main idea of Polar coding is to transform a pair of identical binary-input channels into two distinct channels of different qualities, one better and one worse than the original binary-input channel. By repeating such a pair-wise polarizing operation on a set of 2M independent uses of a binary-input channel, a set of 2M "bit-channels" of varying qualities can be obtained. Some of these bit-channels are nearly perfect (i.e., error free) while the rest of them are nearly useless (i.e., totally noisy). The point is to use the nearly perfect channel to transmit data to the receiver while setting the input to the useless channels to have fixed or frozen values (e.g., 0) known to the receiver. For this reason, those input bits to the nearly useless and the nearly perfect channel are commonly referred to as frozen bits and non-frozen (or information) bits, respectively. Only the non-frozen bits are used to carry data in a Polar code. Loading the data into the proper information bit locations has a direct impact on the performance of a Polar code. An illustration of the structure of a length-8 Polar code is illustrated in FIG. 1.
FIG. 2 illustrates the labeling of the intermediate information bits sl,i, where lϵ{0,1, . . . ,n} and iϵ{0,1, . . . , N−1} during Polar encoding with N=8. The intermediate information bits are related by the following equation:sl+1,i=sl,i⊕sl,i+2 for lϵ{0,1, . . . , n−1} and iϵ{0,1, . . . , N−},with s0,i≡ui being the information bits, and sn,i≡xi being the code bits, for iϵ{0,1, . . . ,N−1}.
A major limitation of conventional Polar codes is that the codeword length or code length must be a power of two. Puncturing of coded bits (i.e., dropping some coded bits without transmitting them) is a natural method to support the granularity in codeword length required in practice. Also, when the desired codeword length is only slightly over a power of two, it is more practical to just repeat some of the coded bits instead of demanding the receiver to operate at twice the codeword length, which in turn increases the latency and power consumption and imposes a more stringent hardware requirement on processing speed and memory. Such a process of generating codewords with any desired length (typically through puncturing or repetition) is referred to as a rate-matching process. It is unclear how puncturing and repetition of Polar encoded bits should be performed in an efficient manner while maintaining a close-to-optimum performance.
Different puncturing methods for Polar-encoded bits have been proposed in the literature, cf. [4] and [5]. Each of them performs well only in a limited code rate region but not in other region. In order to achieve good performance in a wide range of code rates, different unrelated puncturing methods may need to be used at different regions of code rate. As a result, the transmitter needs to store multiple sequence of puncturing patterns. This increases the storage and implementation complexity of the rate matching process. As such, there is a need for systems and methods for puncturing Polar-encoded bits that address these issues.

Puncturing of polar codes with complementary sequences


A flow splitter for use with a dispensing nozzle. The dispensing nozzle dispenses a first fluid and a second fluid. The flow splitter may include an inner chamber for collecting the first fluid and an outer chamber for collecting the second fluid. The inner chamber may include an internal vent so as to vent air into the inner chamber.

Current post-mix beverage dispenser nozzles generally mix a stream of syrup, concentrate, bonus flavor, or other type of flavoring ingredient with water or other type of diluent. The streams may be mixed by shooting the syrup stream down the center of the nozzle with the water stream flowing around the outside of the syrup stream. The syrup stream is directed downward with the water stream as the streams drop into the cup. One known dispensing nozzle system is shown in commonly owned U.S. Pat. No. 5,033,651 to Whigham, et al., entitled "Nozzle For Post Mix Beverage Dispenser", incorporated herein by reference.
Recent developments have led to a modular dispensing nozzle in which the water stream travels down a central structure while a syrup stream is shot at the water stream and the central structure. An example of this configuration is shown in commonly owned U.S. Patent Application Publication No. US 2004/0040983 A1 to Ziesel, entitled "Dispensing Nozzle", incorporated herein by reference.
Regardless of the configuration of the nozzle, the final beverage produced by the beverage dispenser generally may be tested so as to ensure that the proper ratio of syrup or concentrate to water or diluent is flowing through the nozzle. This testing generally involves splitting the fluid flow from the nozzle between the syrup and the concentrate streams and the water or the diluent streams.
What is desired, therefore, is a device to split the flow of a beverage as it exits the nozzle between the syrup and the concentrate streams and the water or the diluent streams. The device preferably can adapt to the modular dispenser nozzle configuration described above or any other type of beverage dispenser nozzle.


A wave-powered water vehicle includes a surface float, a submerged swimmer, and a tether which connects the float and the swimmer, so that the swimmer moves up and down as a result of wave motion. The swimmer includes one or more fins which interact with the water as the swimmer moves up and down, and generate forces which propel the vehicle forward. The vehicle, which need not be manned, can carry communication and control equipment so that it can follow a course directed by signals sent to it, and so that it can record or transmit data from sensors on the vehicle.

This invention relates to the utilization of the power of waves in water (hereinafter "wave power").
As a wave travels along the surface of water, it produces vertical motion, but no net horizontal motion, of water. The amplitude of the vertical motion decreases logarithmically with depth; at a depth of about half the wave length, there is little vertical motion. The speed of currents induced by wind also decreases sharply with depth. A number of proposals have been made to utilize wave motion to do useful work. Reference may be made, for example, to U.S. Pat. Nos. 986,627, 1,315,267, 3,312,186, 3,453,981, 3,508,516, 3,845,733, 3,872,819, 3,928,967, 4,332,571, 4,371,347, 4,389,843, 4,598,547, 4,684,350, 4,842,560, 4,968,273, 5,084,630 and 6,561,856. The entire disclosure of each of those patents is incorporated herein by reference for all purposes.


A vane pump is provided that may include a rotor having a plurality of slots formed on an outer circumferential surface thereof; a vane slidably inserted into each of the plurality of slots; and a cam ring configured to receive the rotor therein and having a inner circumferential surface in contact with an end portion of the vane. The rotor may be formed of nodular graphite cast iron, the vane may be formed of high speed tool steel, and the cam ring may be formed of alloy cast iron.

1. Field
A vane pump is disclosed herein.
2. Background
Various devices have been utilized to provide double steering force in a steering device of vehicles. In the case of a hydraulic steering device, a power steering pump to supply oil pressure may be used. Various types of pumps may be utilized as a power steering pump, and in general, a vane pump having high efficiency, small volume, and weight, and generating less vibrations is utilized.
FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a related art vane pump. The vane pump may include a body 1 and a pump cartridge 3 installed in the body 1. The pump cartridge 3 may include a rotor 31 rotatably installed within the body 1, and a cam ring 30, in which the rotor 31 may be installed. In addition, a plurality of slots may be formed in the rotor 31, and a vane 32 may be slidably installed within each of the plurality of slots. The vane 32 may be pressurized toward an inner wall of the cam ring 30, thus preventing leakage between an end portion of the vane 32 and an inner wall surface of the cam ring 30.
The rotor 31 may be coupled to a rotational shaft 50 rotated by a driving force from an engine, so that the rotor 31 may be rotated together with a driving of the engine. When the rotor 31 is rotated, the vane 32 may also be rotated together to force-feed a fluid within a space defined by outer surfaces of the vane 32, cam ring 30, and rotor 31.
In the vane pump having the foregoing structure, continuous friction may be caused between an end of the vane 32 and the cam ring 30, and thus, the vane 32 and the cam ring 30 may be abraded. Friction may also be caused between inner walls of the slots of the rotor 31 and the vane 32. Thus, in order to reliably operate the vane pump for a long period of time, damage due to abrasion needs to be minimized.
In the related art vane pump used as a steering device of a vehicle, the cam ring 30 is formed of low-alloy steel, and the vane 32 is formed of high-alloy steel. Also, the rotor 31 is formed of carbonized and quenched gear steel. However, the cam ring and the rotor have low processibility and require a heat treatment for a long period of time, increasing manufacturing costs, and high coefficients of friction thereof result in significant damage due to abrasion.


An oscillating sprinkler includes a turbine operatively connected to a movable gear cage that is biased into either a first position or a second position using three torsion springs to drive rotation of a nozzle housing.

Field of the Disclosure
The present invention relates to an oscillating sprinkler including a rotating nozzle head driven by a transmission in two directions using spring bias to keep the transmission engaged in an operative position.
Related Art
It is well known that maintaining a continuous bias on a gear cage of a reversing transmission is an important consideration in oscillating sprinklers. These gear cages typically shift to allow a pair of drive gears carried on the gear cage assembly into and out of engagement with an output shaft ring gear when a reversing toggle moves over its reversing over-center position. Maintaining bias on the driving terminal gear prevents the gear from disengaging while stopping or starting the drive when the reversing toggle bias has been removed.
In the past, gear drives included a reversing gear drive in which the driving pinion always engaged the output gear with the reaction force on the driving terminal pinion gear to hold the driving gears in engagement with the driving input gear during driving in either direction. Input shaft torque is not applied to the shiftable gear cage to cause the gear cage to be disengaged in either of its driving positions.
Assignee's U.S. Pat. No. 5,148,991, issued Sep. 22, 1992, shows several oscillating sprinkler drive configurations in which a shiftable gear cage bias element continuously biases the gear cage towards one driving engagement direction or the other until the gear cage is shifted beyond the over-center position. The entire content of U.S. Pat. No. 5,148,991 is hereby incorporated by reference herein. This design, however suffers from several drawbacks. The springs used in these designs are subject to failure even during normal use because of fatigue. Further, spring force of the springs involved is limited. Finally, it is not uncommon for springs to pop out of place during operation.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide an oscillating sprinkler including a transmission that avoids these and other problems.


A spinning method which makes it possible to control the pressing force of a roller tool with satisfactorily high responsiveness and have the roller tool press work following the contour of a forming die even if the die may have its radial length vary at a high speed relative to the angle of its rotation when making a product which is not circular in its cross section normal to the axis of rotation of the die, and an apparatus therefor. The roller tool is driven by at least two mutually crossing linear motors and the thrust to be generated by each linear motor is adjusted to control the feeding displacement of the roller tool and the pressing force of the roller tool against a piece of work.

Spinning is a method of forming a sheet or tube of work into a particular shape by centering it on a forming die and pressing it against the die by a roller tool, while rotating it with the die, and has been widely used in manufacturing various kinds of parts and products from metal sheets. A spinning apparatus is an apparatus for forming a sheet or tube of work into a particular shape by centering it on a forming die and pressing it against the die by a roller tool, while rotating it with the die.
A spinning apparatus is usually composed of a spindle for rotating a forming die and a piece of work and a plurality of (usually two) mutually crossing direct-acting actuators for driving a roller tool to press the work against the die.
Hydraulic cylinders or ball screw mechanisms rotated by servo motors have hitherto been used as the direct-acting actuators for driving the roller tool in a spinning apparatus. The law of control employed for the direct-acting actuators has been of position or speed control.
The clearance between the forming die and the roller tool is a factor which is particularly difficult to select in view of the control of a spinning apparatus, as compared with the other spinning conditions. The clearance has to be controlled accurately in accordance with the wall thickness of the product to be manufactured, and seriously affects its quality. The allowable range for a proper clearance is very narrow particularly when a sheet having a small thickness has to be worked upon. It is, therefore, necessary to position the roller accurately relative to the forming die. It is also necessary to have accurate information on the cross-sectional shape of the forming die. Moreover, it is necessary to follow the desired route of the roller accurately when a working force is acting.
It is, however, difficult to predict the wall thickness distribution of any product accurately when the product has a complicated shape, or is made by a multi-cycle draw spinning method in which its material is deformed progressively. For these reasons, the experience of people working at the site of manufacture is considerably relied upon for the selection of the clearance and forming tests are often conducted for the adjustment of the clearance.
In order to overcome those problems and eliminate the necessity for the accurate positioning of a forming die and a roller tool relative to each other and realize a proper clearance between the die and the roller tool, even if no accurate information may be available on the wall thickness of the product as intended, I, the inventor of this invention, have already invented a spinning method characterized by controlling a force with which a roller tool is pressed against work (see Japanese Patent Office Official Gazette JP-A-2004-223558). The invention disclosed therein will hereinafter be called the "earlier-filed invention".
As spinning is performed by rotating a forming die and work, a roller tool is usually held substantially in a fixed position radially of the die, while it is displaced over a certain distance when it is fed along the axis of rotation of the die. Therefore, it has hitherto been possible to make only axially symmetric products having a circular cross section having its center on the axis of rotation of a forming die when it is taken at right angles to that axis. If it is possible to make also products having other shapes, such as polygonal or oval, in their cross sections normal to the axis of rotation of the die, it will be possible to realize the versatility of the products which can be manufactured, and thereby expand the applicability of spinning.
As a solution, there has been proposed a method in which a roller tool is pressed against work with a fixed force by a hydraulic cylinder to follow the contour of a forming die to make a product having a cross section other than circular (see JP-B-4-22648). The invention disclosed therein will hereinafter be called the "publicly known invention".
The earlier-filed and publicly known inventions share the feature of controlling the pressing force of the roller tool. However, in the known spinning apparatus in which hydraulic cylinders or ball screw mechanisms are used to drive the roller tool, it is difficult to constitute a force control of satisfactorily high responsiveness because of the sliding friction between the cylinders and pistons, fluid resistance in a piping system for a hydraulic fluid, responsiveness of servo valves, friction and backlash of ball screws, elasticity of the joints between motors and ball screws, etc.
In the case of making any product that is not circular in its cross section normal to the axis of rotation of a forming die, it can be made only at a lower speed, since it is necessary to lower than usual the rotating speed of the die and work to allow hydraulic cylinders or ball screws to expand or contract quickly in response to any variation in radial length of the die.

National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology


A router includes tubular segments interconnected to one another. Each tubular segment surrounds an interior which accommodates fiber optic jumpers within the tubular segment. A latch of a first one of the tubular segments connects to a connector hole of a second one of the tubular segments to interconnect the first and second tubular segments.

1. Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure relates to mechanisms for routing and supporting fiber optic jumpers.
2. Background Art
Fiber optic jumpers connect into and out from network equipment in order to communicate optical signals to and from the network equipment. Network equipment includes components arranged within a bay or a lineup of bays. A set of network equipment bays are usually arranged side-by-side in a relay rack. The relay rack is mounted to a stationary structure such as a ladder rack on a given level. Other sets of network equipment bays are arranged in other relay racks which are mounted to the ladder rack on different levels.
A fiber optic jumper trough (i.e., "raceway") is placed above or below the ladder rack. Fiber optic jumpers extend between the raceway and the network equipment. For example, a first group of fiber optic jumpers extends between the raceway and the bays of the first relay rack, a second group of fiber optic jumpers extends between the raceway and the bays of the second relay rack, etc. Sub-sets of fiber optic jumpers extend from each group to an associated bay within a relay rack. For instance, a first sub-set of the first group of fiber optic jumpers extends to the first bay in the first relay rack, a second sub-set of the first group of fiber optic jumpers extends to the second bay in the first relay rack, etc.
Typically, there are a great many fiber optic jumpers for connection from the raceway to a great many network equipment components arranged on the ladder rack. As can be appreciated, the fiber optic jumpers form a congested mess. That is, the configuration of the fiber optic jumpers between the raceway and the network equipment arranged on the ladder rack is likely to be appear as congested, confusing, and irrational to an operator. Further, the portions of the fiber optic jumpers extending between the raceway and the network equipment components on the ladder rack are exposed to the environment and to accidental contact by casual human operators.

Router having interconnected tubular segments


A reinforcing ring loading and confining apparatus is provide for a hole punching and sheet material reinforcing device and includes a reinforcer loader receptacle that accommodates a plurality of annular reinforcing rings. The reinforcer loader has a body portion with a floor and a cylindrical reinforcer guide, open at the top and bottom, projecting up from the floor. A removable bottom panel is mounted to the body portion beneath the floor in alignment with the cylindrical guide. The reinforcer loader is inserted into the reinforcer loader receptacle support so that the loaded stack of reinforcing rings are positioned upon the removable bottom panel directly beneath the punching ram. The punching ram is forced downwardly through the stack of reinforcing rings and has an enlarged punching tip that passes through the central apertures in the reinforcing rings. When retracted, the punching tip lifts the stack of reinforcing rings back upwardly, thereby transferring them onto the punching ram shank. The stack of reinforcing rings is thereby loaded. The removable bottom panel is removed and the reinforcing rings are thereafter applied to a sheet of material while concurrently punching holes in the sheet of material.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a loading system for a combination hole puncher and reinforcer of the type used in punching holes in sheets of material, such as paper, and for concurrently reinforcing the holes with flat, annular rings around the holes.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In offices throughout the world hole punching devices have been utilized for many years to punch holes in sheets of paper, and sometimes plastic sheets, in order to allow those sheets to be secured in files. Sheets of paper are often punched at the top with a pair of holes that allow them to be secured at the top of files using pronged fasteners. Other types of hole punchers are used to punch holes in papers and other sheets of material along the side margin to allow them to be secured in ring binders or in binders with other attachment devices.
A problem that has persisted through the years is that considerable stress is often applied to the structure of papers fastened in files in the area immediately surrounding the punched holes. The papers then tear through the short distance of material between the holes and the edges of the sheets of paper near which they are formed. When this occurs the sheets will no longer remain in the file.
One system that has been available for many years for remedying this situation is the use of flat, annular reinforcing rings that may be secured to the areas surrounding the punched holes. These reinforcing rings are typically formed of a material of greater strength than the paper or other sheet material in which the holes are punched. The reinforcing rings are coated with either a moisture-sensitive or pressure-sensitive adhesive and are applied to the sheet of paper or other material about holes formed therein once the holes have been punched.
The principal problem with this prior arrangement is that it has historically been performed manually. The task of reinforcing punched holes in the hundreds, and even thousands, of sheets of papers that are secured in files by the manual application of such reinforcing rings is often so labor intensive as to be impractical. Consequently, this system of reinforcement, while used to some extent, is not prevalent.
Various hole puncher and reinforcer devices have been created in attempts to provide alternative, more automated ways of reinforcing the structure of sheets of paper around punched holes therein. Numerous machines have been fabricated that draw segments of adhesive tape from rolls and secure them to sheets of paper or plastic contemporaneously with the perforation of those sheets. When such devices operate properly, the sheets of paper are provided with short sections of tape at the edges of the papers in which the holes are formed. Holes are punched through both the segments of tape and the underlying paper or other sheet material. One recurring problem in such devices is that some of the pressure-sensitive adhesive from the tape transfers to the tape feed and punching mechanisms. This leads to fouling and jamming of the tape advancement and punch apparatus.
An improved hole punching and reinforcing machine was developed and is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,789,593 issued Sep. 14, 2004 and hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. This improved system involves a hole puncher and reinforcer device that automatically applies a reinforcement about a hole that is punched in a sheet of material, but which avoids the use of adhesive tape drawn from a roll for this purpose. As a consequence, this advanced hole puncher and reinforcer avoids the problem of fouling of a feed system with adhesive transferred to the operating mechanism from a roll of tape.
A further feature of this advanced system is that it is extremely simple in construction. Unlike prior combination hole punchers and reinforcers, the advanced system does not require any elaborate, relatively complex, and expensive tape feed mechanisms. To the contrary, the only mechanism that is required for applying reinforcement about the circumference of the holes as they are punched through the sheet material is a die punch upon which the flat reinforcing rings are stacked one atop another between a broadened punching tip located at the lower extremity of the die punch shank and a pressure plate located above the stack of reinforcing rings.
Despite its advantages, however, the hole puncher and reinforcer of this advanced prior system does have certain disadvantages. Specifically, once all of the reinforcing rings have been dispensed they must be replaced with a new stack of reinforcing rings. This involves stringing the replacement rings onto the lower portion of the punch. This is a very tedious and time-consuming process.
A further refinement of this system greatly facilitated the provision of a new supply of reinforcing rings to a hole puncher and reinforcer. According to this refinement a replaceable cartridge is provided having its own punch plate and a punch rod and fully loaded with a fresh stack of reinforcing rings mounted upon the punch rod. The cartridge also contains a spring mechanism for biasing the punch rod toward a retracted position within the cartridge casing.
When all of the reinforcing rings have been used up from one cartridge, the spent cartridge, including the punch plate, punch rod, and spring thereon, is removed from the operating mechanism of the hole puncher and reinforcer. This refinement is described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/937,694, filed Sep. 10, 2004, hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. A fresh cartridge with a full load of reinforcing rings mounted on a different punch rod is then slipped into position in the frame of the hole puncher and reinforcer. The use of a preloaded cartridge avoids the necessity for reloading the punch with a new supply of reinforcing rings since the supply of replacement rings is already preloaded onto a different punch within the new cartridge. As the supply of reinforcing rings of each cartridge is used up, the entire spent cartridge is easily removed and quickly replaced.
One problem with this refinement is that each cartridge requires a disposable punch and spring mechanism, as well as a surrounding plastic case, all of which are disposable. In a consumable office supply product the added expense of a disposable punch, springs, and surrounding case of each cartridge results in an economic disadvantage in the use of this product. That is, a replacement cartridge involves not only the cost of the reinforcing rings, but also the cost of the casing, spring, and punch, all of which are discarded once all of the reinforcing rings have been used up.

Reinforcer reloader system for hole puncher


An electronic watch includes a frame and a cover. The cover is attached to the frame, and the frame and cover at least partially define an interior volume of the electronic watch. An optical sensor assembly including a light emitter and a light receiver is positioned within the inter volume of the frame. An optical barrier is positioned between the optical sensor assembly and the cover and includes a magnetic material that forms a light blocking-wall between the light emitter and the light receiver. The magnetic material is configured to removably couple the electronic watch with a charging device via a magnetic attraction between the magnetic material and a magnetic component of the charging device.

A watch or other electronic device may include a housing that protects internal components of the device from moisture, dust, debris, or other contaminants. The device may contain various electronic components within the housing, such as one or more processors and components that provide or support a display, speaker, microphone, haptic feedback device, input devices (e.g., button and/or crown), electronic connectors, and so on. The device may also include a set of sensors for determining parameters of the device or a user, such as whether the watch is being worn, or a heart rate of the user. The set of sensors may include optical sensors, which in turn may include one or more light emitters for emitting light towards a user (e.g., toward the skin of a user), and one or more light receivers for detecting a reflected or scattered portion of the emitted light. Circuitry associated with the light emitters and receivers may generate electrical signals that are used to determine parameters of the device or the user (e.g., whether the watch is being worn, or the user's heart rate).
The device may also include a rechargeable battery that powers one or more of the components within the device, and a charging system for charging the battery. In some cases, the device may include a magnet that magnetically attracts the device to an external charger. The external charger may wirelessly couple with the charging system to charge the battery.

Optical sensor having a magnetic optical barrier


Surgical devices for treating tissue are provided. Also provided are systems for treating tissue and methods of treating tissue. An exemplary surgical device has a handle, a fluid passage connectable to a fluid source, a tip portion and a distal end. The tip portion can simultaneously provide RF power and conductive fluid to tissue. The tip portion includes an electrode having a domed portion having a domed surface and a cylindrical portion having a cylindrical surface. The domed portion is located distal to the cylindrical portion and occupies at least a portion of the distal end of the surgical device. The device includes a fluid outlet opening in fluid communication with the fluid passage, the fluid outlet opening configured to provide the conductive fluid to a surface of the electrode proximal to the distal end surface of the surgical device.

Electrosurgical devices configured for use with a dry tip use electrical energy, often radio frequency (RF) energy, to cut tissue or to cauterize blood vessels. During use, a voltage gradient is created at the tip of the device, thereby inducing current flow and related heat generation in the tissue. With sufficiently high levels of electrical energy, the heat generated is sufficient to cut the tissue and, advantageously, to stop the bleeding from severed blood vessels.
Current dry tip electrosurgical devices can cause the temperature of tissue being treated to rise significantly higher than 100° C., resulting in tissue desiccation, tissue sticking to the electrodes, tissue perforation, char formation and smoke generation. Peak tissue temperatures as a result of RF treatment of target tissue can be as high as 320° C., and such high temperatures can be transmitted to adjacent tissue via thermal diffusion. Undesirable results of such transmission to adjacent tissue include unintended thermal damage to the tissue.
The use of saline inhibits such undesirable effects as sticking, desiccation, smoke production and char formation. One key factor is inhibiting tissue desiccation, which occurs when tissue temperature exceeds 100° C. and all of the intracellular water boils away, leaving the tissue extremely dry and much less electrically conductive. However, an uncontrolled or abundant flow rate of saline can provide too much cooling at the electrode/tissue interface. This cooling reduces the temperature of the target tissue being treated, and the rate at which tissue thermal coagulation occurs is determined by tissue temperature. This, in turn, can result in longer treatment time to achieve the desired tissue temperature for treatment of the tissue. Long treatment times are undesirable for surgeons since it is in the best interest of the patient, physician and hospital, to perform surgical procedures as quickly as possible.
RF energy delivered to tissue can be unpredictable and often not optimal when using general-purpose generators. Most general-purpose RF generators have modes for different waveforms (e.g., cut, coagulation, or a blend of these two) and device types (e.g., monopolar, bipolar), as well as power levels that can be set in watts. However, once these settings are chosen, the actual power delivered to tissue and associated heat generated can vary dramatically over time as tissue impedance changes over the course of RF treatment. This is because the power delivered by most generators is a function of tissue impedance, with the power ramping down as impedance either decreases toward zero or increases significantly to several thousand ohms. Current dry tip electrosurgical devices are not configured to address a change in power provided by the generator as tissue impedance changes or the associated effect on tissue and rely on the surgeon's expertise to overcome this limitation.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Fluid-assisted medical devices, systems and methods


An imaging apparatus and method using a line memory controller for writing first image region data of an amount less than the total storage capacity of a line memory among image data output on a line-by-line basis from an imaging device, to the line memory and reading the first image region data from the line memory, an SDRAM controller for writing a second image region data besides the first image region data among image data output from the imaging device on a line-by-line basis to a storage medium and reading the second image region data from that storage medium after image data output from the imaging device is ended, and a line memory controller for writing the second image region data read from the storage medium to the line memory. Thus, the size of and power consumption by the storage medium can be reduced.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an imaging apparatus and method, and a storage medium having embodied thereon a computer program for executing the imaging method.
2. Description of the Related Art
Imaging devices (image sensors), such as charge coupled devices (CCD) or complementary metal oxide semiconductors (CMOS), which are provided in imaging apparatus such as camcorder or digital still camera, have become capable of realizing high resolution of six million pixels or more, and furthermore, now have high speed reading capabilities of 60 frames or more per second. To process image data output from an imaging device at high speed, a pipe line processing method has been used. Meanwhile, in a high resolution imaging device, the number of pixels per line is steadily increasing, and thus the capacity of line memories has become enlarged, and the size of circuits included in an imaging apparatus has also become enlarged.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open Gazette No. 2004-312072 discloses a method of reducing the size of an image processing circuit by sharing a memory, instead of including a plurality of memories corresponding to a multiple number of image processing operations. Also, as described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Gazette No. 2004-297653, a method of reducing the capacity of a memory by storing data that is compressed and encoded, instead of storing non-compressed and large capacity image data output from an imaging device, wherein the compressed and encoded image data is decoded just before interpolation.
However, even when a memory is shared or image data is compressed and encoded as described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Gazette No. 2004-312072 or 2004-297653, when image data output from an imaging device, that is, RAW data, is being processed, the image data is usually being written to a storage medium like a synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM) which is outside of an image processing circuit. Accordingly, when writing the image data output by the imaging device with high resolution and high speed output, to the SDRAM at high speed, power consumption is increased.

Imaging apparatus and methods, and storing medium having computer program to perform the methods


Provided are a substrate treatment method and a substrate treatment equipment enabling greater suppression of corrosion or oxidation of metal wiring exposed on a substrate surface. The present invention relates to a substrate treatment equipment having a treatment chamber wherein a substrate is disposed, and whereto a substrate treatment solution for treating the substrate is supplied. This equipment is provided with an inert gas filling mechanism for filling with an inert gas the interior of the treatment chamber wherein the substrate is disposed, and, near or inside the treatment chamber, a catalytic unit filled with a platinum-group metal catalyst wherethrough a hydrogen-dissolved water including hydrogen added to ultra-pure water is passed. Obtained by passing the hydrogen-dissolved water through the platinum-group metal catalyst, a hydrogen-dissolved treatment solution is supplied as the substrate treatment solution into the treatment chamber by the equipment.

Market demand exists for semiconductor integrated circuit devices having higher integration and higher speed. In order to meet this demand, lower-resistance copper wiring has been used in place of conventionally-used aluminum wiring. By combining the copper wiring with a low dielectric constant insulating film (so-called low-k film: insulating film made of a material whose specific dielectric constant is lower than that of silicon oxide) to form multilayer wiring, an integrated circuit device that operates at an extremely high speed can be implemented.
In the manufacturing process of such an integrated circuit device, performing cleaning for the purpose of removing fine particles, organic substances, metals and a natural oxide film attached to a surface of a body to be treated, such as a wafer, a substrate or the like, to achieve and maintain high cleanliness is important for maintaining the product quality and enhancing the yield. For example, the cleaning is performed using a chemical solution such as a sulfuric acid/hydrogen peroxide mixture, a hydrofluoric acid solution or the like, and then rinsing with ultrapure water is carried out. In recent years, because of the miniaturization of semiconductor devices, the diversity of materials and complex processes, the number of cleaning times has been increased. For example, in the formation of the above-mentioned multilayer wiring, the following steps are repeated: forming metal wiring that is a first wiring layer on the substrate; covering the metal wiring with an insulating material; polishing a surface of the insulating material that covers the metal wiring by CMP until it becomes flat; forming metal wiring that is a second wiring layer on the surface; covering the metal wiring with an insulating material; and polishing a surface of the insulating material by CMP until it becomes flat. In such a process, substrate cleaning is carried out after each polishing step.
For production of the ultrapure water, generally, an ultrapure water production equipment including a pretreatment system, a primary pure water system, and a secondary pure water system (hereinafter, referred to as subsystem) is used. A role of each system in the ultrapure water production equipment is as follows. The pretreatment system corresponds to a step for removing suspended matters and colloid substances contained in raw water through, for example, coagulation settling and sand filtration. The primary pure water system corresponds to a step for obtaining primary pure water by removing, through the use of, for example, an ion-exchange resin and a reverse osmosis (RO) membrane, ionic components and organic components contained in the raw water from which the suspended matters and the like have been removed by the pretreatment system. The subsystem corresponds to, as shown in FIG. 1, a step for producing ultrapure water by further increasing purity of the primary pure water obtained by the primary pure water system through the use of a water passage line in which an ultraviolet oxidation equipment (UV), a membrane degasifier (MD), a non-regenerative ion-exchange equipment (e.g., cartridge polisher (CP)), a membrane separation equipment (e.g., ultrafiltration equipment (UF)) and the like are continuous.
When the ultrapure water thus obtained is used for the semiconductor substrate, following problems occur and countermeasures against the respective problems have been suggested.
If a concentration of dissolved oxygen in the cleaning water is high, a natural oxide film is formed on the wafer surface by the cleaning water. This may block precise control of a film thickness and a film quality of a gate oxide film, or increase a contact resistance of a contact hole, a via, a plug, or the like. In addition, wiring metal is exposed on the surface of the substrate after the polishing step in the formation process of the multilayer wiring. Since the wiring metal such as tungsten (W) or copper (Cu) is easily corroded by the oxygen dissolved in the water, the film thickness of the wiring may be reduced during the substrate cleaning in the ultrapure water. In addition, when removing resist residues on the substrate surface generated by the polishing using a polymer removal solution, the polymer removal solution contacts the air in a treatment chamber and the oxygen is dissolved in the polymer removal solution, so that the polymer removal solution having a high concentration of oxygen is supplied to the substrate. Also in this case, the metal film (copper film, tungsten film or the like) on the substrate is oxidized by the dissolved oxygen in the polymer removal solution, thereby causing deterioration in the performance of the integrated circuit device that is to be created from the substrate.
As a countermeasure, degassing processing is performed using the membrane degasifier (MD) adopted in the subsystem for the purpose of reducing the gas dissolved in the water. In addition, as disclosed in Patent Literature 1 or 2, a method of dissolving the inert gas or hydrogen gas in the degasified ultrapure water to reduce the oxygen dissolved in the water has been adopted. In Patent Literature 1, a method of replacing the atmosphere near the surface of the substrate to be treated with the inert gas has been also adopted.
In the above-mentioned subsystem, since the water is irradiated with ultraviolet rays to decompose/remove the organic substances in the water by the ultraviolet oxidation equipment, water molecules are also oxidized by the ultraviolet irradiation to generate hydrogen peroxide that is an oxidizer. This means that the ultrapure water includes hydrogen peroxide. When the semiconductor device having a gate electrode of high melting-point metal such as tungsten or the like is cleaned using the cleaning solution including the hydrogen peroxide, a chemical reaction between tungsten or the like and the hydrogen peroxide is catalytically progressed to dissolve tungsten or the like.
As a method for removing the hydrogen peroxide in the water, a technology to remove hydrogen peroxide in the water by a platinum-group metal catalyst, such as palladium (Pd), as described in Patent Literature 3, has been known. Also, Patent Literature 4 proposes a method for highly efficiently decomposing and removing the hydrogen peroxide from the water to be treated by bringing a catalyst prepared by supporting a platinum-group metal on a monolithic organic porous anion exchanger into contact with the water to be treated including the hydrogen peroxide. Also, Patent Literature 5 discloses a method of dissolving hydrogen in oxygen-dissolved water and bringing the hydrogen-dissolved water into contact with a catalyst prepared by supporting a platinum-group metal on a monolithic organic porous anion exchanger. In the method of Patent Literature 5, it is possible to produce the treatment water from which the dissolved hydrogen peroxide and oxygen have been highly efficiently removed.

Substrate treatment method and substrate treatment equipment


A new distinct variety of grapevine named ‘ARRATWENTYEIGHT’ abundantly forms attractive large firm and meaty seedless berries with a red skin coloration; in medium-to-large clusters which display natural flavor. The fruit commonly is ready for harvesting during October in San Joaquin Valley of Central California, U.S.A., and displays good eating qualities as a table grape. The fruit firmness renders the fruit well amenable for handling, shipping, and storage.

A breeding program was initiated during the late 90's near Bakersfield in San Joaquin Valley of Central California. In 2008, during this breeding program, a new variety of Vitis vinifera was created by deliberate cross breeding of two parent plants by emasculation of the pollen bearing organ of the female and introducing pollen from another male origin. The female parent of the new variety was A.3. which is a medium-sized red seedless grape variety with a fleshy texture and a natural flavor (non-patented in the United States). The male parent (i.e. the pollen parent) of the new variety was E.Z. which is a cylinder shaped, white creamy colored, seedless variety with an exotic flavor (non-patented in the United States).
Comparison of 'ARRATWENTYEIGHT' with its parents:

Agricultural Research and Development Limited Liability Company


The present invention is a method for identifying unknown parameters in a system having a set of governing equations describing its behavior that cannot be put into regression form with the unknown parameters linearly represented. In this method, the vector of unknown parameters is segmented into a plurality of groups where each individual group of unknown parameters may be isolated linearly by manipulation of said equations. Multiple concurrent and independent recursive least squares identification of each said group run, treating other unknown parameters appearing in their regression equation as if they were known perfectly, with said values provided by recursive least squares estimation from the other groups, thereby enabling the use of fast, compact, efficient linear algorithms to solve problems that would otherwise require nonlinear solution approaches. This invention is presented with application to identification of mass and thruster properties for a thruster-controlled spacecraft.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to information processing systems that are used to identify unknown parameters in a system, and more specifically to an information processing system that monitors motion-related sensors to accurately identify spacecraft mass-properties. The general field is commonly known as System Identification (ID).
2. Prior Art
The use of linear least squares regression for the identification of unknown system parameters has been used and studied extensively, as by Lawson, C. and Hanson, R., in Solving Least Squares Problems, 1974, and Ljung, L., in System Identification, Theory for the User, 1999. However, the requirement that a regression equation be formed with the unknown parameters linearly represented, limits its direct applicability to many important problems, including the spacecraft application presented here.
Ljung and several other authors have developed approaches for identification of parameters in highly non-linear systems using methods such as gradient-based optimization and neural networks. However, these methods are significantly more computationally intensive than those for linear problems.
The remaining prior art items relate more specifically to the spacecraft mass-property ID aspect of the invention. In that problem, some of the unknown parameters multiply each other in the governing equations, resulting in a specific type of nonlinearity.
Tanygin, S. and Williams, T., in "Mass property estimation using coasting maneuvers," Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics, 1997, developed a least squares (LS) based algorithm to identify mass properties for a spinning vehicle during coasting maneuvers. The restriction to the case of a spinning spacecraft with no applied torques or thrusters firing limits its applicability considerably—either to spacecraft that normally exist in this state, or by requiring other spacecraft to attain this state.
Bergmann, E., et al., in "Mass property estimation for control of asymmetrical satellites," Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics, 1987, developed an ID approach using a Gaussian second-order filter as presented more generally by Gelb, A, et al., in Applied Optimal Estimation, 1974. The second order filter resembles an extended Kalman filter, but has extra terms to address the second order effects. This is significantly more complex and computationally intensive (by about two orders of magnitude) than the approach presented here, and may not produce better results for most spacecraft. The extra complexity may make it more susceptible to noise and parameter variations than the presented methods. It assumes perfect knowledge of thruster properties.
Wilson, E. and Rock, S. M., in "Reconfigurable control of a free-flying space robot using neural networks," Proceedings of the American Control Conference, 1995, developed an ID method based on exponentially weighted RLS using accelerometer and angular rate sensors. The acceleration created by each thruster (reflecting both mass and thruster properties) was identified. This approach (identifying thruster acceleration rather than separately identifying mass and thruster properties) is more direct (since thruster acceleration is the real value of interest from a control, estimation, or FDI standpoint), and probably better for vehicles with properties that are truly unknown (such as for the case where deflected thrusters are allowed, such as on the vehicle tested in that research). However, for most vehicles, certain properties are well known, such as the thrust directions and locations in the structural frame. The present invention can take advantage of that knowledge to get better estimates of the properties that are not well known.

Multiple concurrent recursive least squares identification with application to on-line spacecraft mass-property identification


One embodiment of a therapeutic composition comprises one or more APLs, e.g., APL A12, for treating diseases or disorders related to arthritis, including rheumatoid arthritis. Another embodiment includes a method of inducing a Th2-type cytokine secretion profile in a mammal, including administering a therapeutic amount of A12 analog peptide. Another embodiment includes a method for generating functional T regulatory cells, the method including administering a therapeutic amount of APL A12 to a RA patient.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in most populations is highly associated with a set of alleles at the B1 locus of the HLA-DR region (HLA-DRB1 *0101, *0401, *0404, *0405, * 1001, *0408, *1402, *0102 and *1303) called "shared epitope" alleles. The *0401 and *0404 alleles also called DR1 and DR4, respectively, on antigen presenting cells bind to a minimum dominant determinant on type II collagen (CII) residues 263-270 (FKGEQGPK)(SEQ ID NO: 1). Altered peptide ligands (APLs) are peptides that retain enough of the present sequence to be recognized by T cells in the MHC/peptide T cell receptor (TCR) trimolecular complex but interfere with normal signaling through the TCR. APLs can act as antagonists or partial agonists. In animal models, APLs have been shown to be effective in preventing and ameliorating tissue-specific autoimmune diseases. Trials of APL in human autoimmune disease have had mixed results. However, none of these trials incorporated a pre-selection step wherein the APL showed ability in vitro to down regulate Th1 response by patient's peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) stimulated by an autoantigen as described by herein.
Collagen Autoimmunity in RA
Autoimmunity plays a central role in a diverse group of diseases that afflict man, including rheumatoid arthritis (RA). This systemic disease is characterized by chronic synovitis, which shows a predilection for diarthrodial joints. If unchecked, the synovial inflammation typically produces irreversible joint destruction and permanent disability. A preponderance of evidence indicates that an antigen-driven immune process against one or more proteins found in cartilage sustains synovial inflammation in RA. Although several antigens have been proposed to be involved in the autoimmune response in RA, CII has received the most attention as a candidate autoantigen. It is the predominant protein of articular cartilage, and autoimmunity to CII is common in patients with RA with >60% of RA patients having large amounts of anti-CII cartilage bound antibodies in arthritic joints. Mullazehi and colleagues have reported that autoimmunity to CII correlates with disease severity. RA patients with high serum levels of anti-CII antibodies have a distinct clinical phenotype characterized by an early acute phase response associated with more severe radiological damage in the joints at the time of diagnosis. Moreover, immune complexes from RA synovia, which contained anti-CII antibodies, induced the proinflammatory cytokine tumor necrosis factor (TNF)α and this induction directly correlated with the number of swollen and tender joints. Blockade of the monocyte receptor, Fc gamma RIIa, decreased TNFα production in the joints. These data demonstrate a direct link between the level of autoimmunity to CII and the severity of RA and in such patient's downregulation of autoimmunity to CII should lead to modulation of the destructive arthritis itself.
A form of CII based therapy has been tried in patients with RA and juvenile RA by administering intact native chick or bovine CII to patients. Seven trials of treatment with oral CII have been reported including two of our own. In each case, the native CII was well tolerated with no or mild adverse events. Two of the studies gave favorable results, demonstrating small, but significant, disease improvement. However, the therapeutic window was narrow, suggesting a need to fine-tune future trials of collagen-based therapy. Most patients in these studies also received NSAIDs which block oral tolerance and systemic tolerance. The use of NSAIDS might have been responsible for the mixed results of oral CII in RA. We have conducted studies in murine models of oral tolerance that show the PGE1 analog, misoprostol, reverses NSAID inhibition of oral tolerance and that DMARDs and the anti-TNFα biologic, etanercept, do not block oral tolerance induction. Furthermore, we have applied these crucial data in designing oral tolerance trials in humans. We can down regulate with oral CII, PBMC production of IFNγ to α1(II) in RA patients who take NSAIDS plus misoprostol and/or DMARDS and anti-TNFα therapies. Oral administration of low dose antigen generates regulatory T cells, which act in the respective microenvironment in a non-antigen specific manner by producing down-regulatory cytokines such as IL4, IL10 and TGFbeta, a Th2/Th3 cytokine pattern. Recent studies in mice show that orally administered antigen can induce CD4+ CD25+ Fox P3+ regulatory T cells (Tregs) via retinoic acid dependent mechanisms.
Altered Peptide Ligands in the Treatment of Human Disease
APLs are analogs of determinants recognized by T cells in the MHC/peptide/TCR trimolecular complex. These altered peptides interfere with normal signaling through the TCR. The APL is bound by MHC but because it is presented differently than the naturally occurring epitope, it is recognized aberrantly. APL may act as antagonists or partial agonists. Studies in animal systems have shown that APLs are effective in preventing or ameliorating many tissue-specific autoimmune diseases. Based on the experience in animals, APLs should provide a relatively nontoxic and highly specific therapy for humans with tissue-specific autoimmune diseases. However, human trials have met with mixed results. Treatment of multiple sclerosis with peptide analogs of myelin basic protein administered subcutaneously resulted in an increase in disease activity. On the other hand, trials in type 1 diabetes and in RA have shown promising results. Raz and coworkers treated 35 subjects who had type 1 diabetes with peptide p277, a peptide analog from heat-shock protein hsp60. The treatment group received a total of three injections. After 10 months the treatment group had higher levels of C peptide and reduced need for exogenous insulin as compared to controls. Prakken and coworkers treated 15 patients with RA using a peptide analog of a heat-shock protein, dnaJP1, which shares sequence homology with the shared epitope. Subjects were treated orally with 3 different dosages for six months. Reactivity to dnaJP1 was significantly altered with a decrease in the number of cells producing IFN-γ and IL-2. There was a concomitant increase in IL-4 and IL-10 producing cells. Efficacy in producing a change in the clinical manifestations of disease was not determined due to the small number of patients studied.
We have shown that mice normally resistant to CIA that are transgenic for the human RA MHC susceptibility genes DR1 and DR4 develop arthritis after immunization with human CII. This arthritis can be prevented by administration of an APL that we have named A12. Although the precise mechanism by which the A12 peptide exerts its effect is not yet clear, the interaction of the APL/MHC complex with the TCR appears to play a key role in influencing the differentiation of naive T cells into effector cells.
When optimal engagement occurs between a TCR and a specific antigen in the context of a class II MHC molecule, signal transduction events are initiated. Minor variations in the physicochemical properties of amino acid residues of the peptide which interact with either MHC or TCR can lead to disparate immunological responses. For example, an APL containing a single amino acid substitution at the TCR contact residue of a cytochrome-C peptide has been shown to induce immune deviation to a Th2-type response as compared to the WT agonist peptide, which induced a Th1 response. A double APL based on 2 epitopes in acetylcholine recognized by patients with myasthenia gravis induced generation of CD4+ CD25+ FoxP3+ regulatory T cells and induced Fas dependent and Fas independent apoptosis of acetylcholine-specific T cells. A shift to a Th2 cytokine profile may be significant for the development of arthritis, because Th2 cytokines have inhibitory effects on CIA. IL-10 is effective in inhibiting CIA when administered to mice. IL-4 has a similar effect although it does not duplicate the effects of IL-10.
One of the fundamental and most challenging goals of immunological research is to devise a treatment that suppresses immunity enough to halt an injurious autoimmune process, without disrupting the beneficial functions of the immune system such as surveillance for opportunistic infections and tumors. To this end, analog (or altered) peptide ligands are particularly desirable types of antigen-specific immunotherapy and are well suited for treating autoimmune diseases. They can specifically down-regulate an inflammatory autoimmune response in diarthodial joints where CII is located. Although the use of APLs as therapies for human illness is still in its infancy, recent reports suggest that APLs can modulate autoimmune arthritis by inducing regulatory T cells.
Because RA is strongly associated with DR genes, it seems likely that immune-mediated mechanisms are critically involved, either in the initiation of disease or in its progression to severe joint destruction with systemic manifestations, or both. An antigen that could perpetuate an autoimmune-mediated response is CII. There is incontrovertible evidence that RA is characterized by autoimmunity to CII. Most patients with RA have local production of antibodies to CII in joint tissues. Similar antibodies have been found to be pathogenic in mice with CIA. In mice the autoantibody response is CD4 T cell driven and strongly associated with class II immune response genes including human DR4 and DR1. Other investigators have concluded, "The genetic associations between HLA-DR alleles and antibodies to CII in RA patients is in keeping with the collagen-induced arthritis model and implicates autoimmunity to CII as a major component in the multifactorial pathogenesis of RA". The ultimate test of that possibility is specifically altering the immune response to CII and determining its affect on disease. Using APLs described herein addresses these issues.

University of Tennessee Research Foundation


A touch input device includes a frame unit, a circuit unit and a touch pad. The circuit unit includes a circuit board, a dome-shaped actuating member including an actuating portion and a resilient metal sheet connected between the actuating portion and the circuit board, and a noise reduction member having a main body connected to the resilient metal sheet, made of an elastic material and formed with a recess surrounding the actuating portion. A touch surface of the touch pad is touchable to push the circuit unit toward the block member, such that the actuating portion contacts the block member to deform the resilient metal sheet to electrically connect the actuating portion with the circuit board.

A conventional touch input device includes a bottom plate, a touch pad that is spaced apart from the bottom plate, a circuit board that is disposed between the bottom plate and the touch pad, and a resilient metal sheet that is connected to the circuit board and that includes an actuating portion extending toward the bottom plate. A user can touch the touch pad to push the circuit board to move toward the bottom plate, such that the actuating portion comes into contact with the bottom plate to deform the resilient metal sheet and to allow the actuating portion to be in electrical connection with the circuit board to generate a touch signal.
However, the vibration of air within the conventional touch input device, the deformation of the resilient metal sheet, and the contact between the actuating portion and the bottom plate all contribute to noise generated when the conventional touch input device is touched by the user.
Therefore, it is desirable in the art to provide a touch input device with noise reduction capability.