Short enzyme donor fragments of β-galactosidase are provided of not more than 40 amino acids, where the short fragments are used as a label and may be substituted with a wide variety of organic compounds, particularly polypeptides having independent functional activity. The enzyme donor finds use in competitive and non-competitive assays, monitoring intracellular events, or other processes where a sensitive non-interfering label is desired.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to β-galactosidase fragment as a label.
2. Background Information
β-galactosidase has found wide use as a label in a variety of environments. Both the intact enzyme and fragments thereof have been used as a label in the determination of the presence of an analyte, interactions between different molecules, and the like. The enzyme is very versatile in having a high turnover rate, fluorescent, luminescent and light absorbent products from its catalyzed reactions, stable and active under a variety of conditions.
Because of its versatility, new applications are of great interest. In one application, one is interested in using the small fragment as a label fused to another protein. Such fusion products can find application in many situations, particularly intracellular situations, where one is interested in the fused protein accurately mimicking the activity of the natural protein. Desirably, the β-galactosidase fragment should be small, so as to provide the minimal interference with the activity, transport and interactions with other proteins. Heretofore, the small fragment has been greater than 40 amino acids, 43 amino acids having been identified as being active. Based on this disclosure it was not certain that one could further truncate the small fragment and obtain a complex with the large fragment that would have a sufficient turnover rate so as to be useful as a label.
The proteomics field is rapidly moving toward determining of the function of proteins, including their interaction, degradation and modulation. Consequently, a technology capable of measuring the function at low expression levels, particularly those levels at which proteins are expressed endogenously, is required for extensive deployment of functional proteomics in drug discovery. Enzyme fragment complementation (EFC) technology provides one such platform for addressing not only expression of proteins but also for deciphering protein-protein interactions. EFC is a generic term to describe the combination of enzyme fragments to form active enzyme, followed by detection of that activity by measurement of an hydrolysis product, generally by colorimetric, fluorometric or chemiluminescent methods. It has the advantage of providing an amplification step, due to enzyme turnover, as part of the detection system.
In one aspect of EFC, the fragments of the enzyme have sufficient affinity for each other to complex to form an active enzyme without relying on the affinity of the binding of complementary pairs to which the fragments are attached. This capability has been amply demonstrated with β-galactosidase, using a small enzyme donor (ED) fragment and a large enzyme acceptor (EA) fragment
The enzyme donors that have been typically used in CEDIA® or EFC are typically 90 mers (amino acids), for example ED4, ED14 and ED28 are 90 mers with one cysteine, one cysteine plus one lysine and two cysteines respectively. These amino acids serve as handles for conjugating various molecules to the enzyme donor. The enzyme donors which are currently used in marketed CEDIA products are made by fermentation of genetically engineered bacteria, which need several processing steps culminating in a tedious purification of the product ED. This approach has worked for production purposes till now.
Advances made in peptide synthesis chemistry does enable 90 mers to be synthesized in useful amounts, however, the cost is still high when compared to the site directed mutagenisis approach of making ED variants. Shorter EDs (fewer than 50 mers) would make the synthetic EDs commercially competitive. Automated peptide synthesis is now routine in many laboratories, typically a 40-50 mer can be synthesized in a week. A disadvantage with the genetic approach to produce ED variants is that it is extremely time consuming and labor intensive and it takes the same amount of time to produce a 50 mer as a 90 mer which is in the vicinity of 6-8 weeks. From this perspective shorter synthetic EDs are attractive, first for research uses as variants can be synthesized with a turnaround time of a week (for 40 mers) and second the cost for scale up makes it competitive with the recombinant approaches for commercial use. The relative ease and flexibility with which shorter ED variants can be made by synthetic approaches makes it possible to study structure activity relationships to determine sequences that are essential for complementation activity. Since ED conjugates tend to alter complementation depending on the nature of the ligand that is appended, such structure activity relationships can be exploited to yield conjugates with improved performance.


A flameless igniter has a special shape and includes a flow control port to make efficient use of fuel during a flame ignition process associated with a tank burner of a fluid fuel system. The igniter uses a spark to ignite fuel and includes a handle and a spark gap whereby the igniter is effective even in difficult-to-reach locations on a tank burner.

Fluid fuel burner systems are well known in the art. These systems are used for a wide variety of applications including heating systems and the like.
While convenient, these systems have some drawbacks. Since most fluid fuel burner elements of such systems require a flame of some sort, they must be ignited. In some instances, these flames can become extinguished and must be re-ignited.
Igniting a flame of a burner element of a fluid fuel burner system usually requires an initial flow of fuel followed by activation of the element used to ignite that fuel. This initial flow of fuel can be wasteful of fuel if the flame is not immediately ignited. If the fuel flow rate is during ignition is too low, the fuel may not ignite and simply flow into the environment surrounding the burner. If the fuel flow rate is too high during ignition, the fuel may extinguish the igniter element. In both instances, the igniting process can be inefficient and waste fuel.
Therefore, there is a need for an igniter element that can efficiently light a burner element of a fluid fuel burner system.
Still further, many burner flames are positioned in difficult-to-reach locations. This makes initial ignition and re-ignition onerous. This may require a person to establish a body position or location that is quite uncomfortable. This may result in hurried attempts to ignite a flame with inefficient results.
Therefore, there is a need for an igniter for use with a burner of a fluid fuel burner system which can expedite ignition and re-ignition of a fluid fuel burner system.
While the art contains several igniter systems, these systems are often complex, expensive and difficult to use while still not making efficient use of fuel.

Flameless igniter for use with a tank burner of a fluid fuel system


Transforming one or more of a collection of electronic data interchange (EDI) transactions. A type of EDI transactions is identified to be transformed from a source format to a destination format. The collection of the EDI transactions is received according to the source format. A particular one or more of the collection of the EDI transactions is identified corresponding to the identified type of EDI transactions. A transformation map is defined to transform the identified particular one or more of the transactions from the source format to the destination format. The identified particular one or more transactions is transformed according to the defined transformation map.

Electronic data interchange (EDI) is one of the ways businesses use for exchanging computer-to-computer business information based on approved formatting standards and schemas. For example, millions of companies around the world transmit data associated with business transactions (e.g., purchase orders, shipping/air bills, invoices, or the like) using EDI to conduct commerce.
In a typical EDI transaction model, a large business entity or an EDI integration broker trades with numerous partners and has the technical capability to handle numerous EDI transaction data in various EDI formats and schemas. These large business entities, also known as "hubs," transact with one or more suppliers, also known as "spokes". Each of the spokes typically is a relatively small business entity that is only capable of dealing with one hub.
Frequently, EDI documents are exchanged in batches between the hub and the spokes, and each batch may include multiple types or a collection of business documents. For example, the batch of EDI documents from the hub to the spokes may include: purchase order, payment advice, return material notifications etc.
Trading parties also may modify the EDI formats, and consequently the schemas associated with the EDI documents, during their course of conducting business to serve their business and integration needs. After such modification, business entities frequently use an EDI transformation system to transform EDI data or EDI messages formatted from the previous schema to the modified schema.
In transforming EDI transaction data formatted according to previous or old EDI schemas, EDI transformation systems (e.g., systems using XSLT) typically perform a transformation of all EDI transaction data from the previous EDI schemas to the new EDI formats. As such, such systems load the EDI message, which includes a batched transaction data with a size of 30 to 40 MB, in a memory storage area for the transformation to take place. This transformation thus unnecessarily poses a limit on the size of documents that can be loaded without compromising performance significantly. In addition, for the spokes that lack advanced processing equipment to handle such transformation efficiently, existing transformation method places heavy burden on the transformation performance and resources of the spokes.

Scalable transformation and configuration of EDI interchanges


Embodiments of a wafer polishing and broken platen belt sensing apparatus are disclosed, wherein the apparatus comprises a polishing platen, a motor, a platen belt, a photo sensor, and an encoder connected to the motor and adapted to output a first signal in accordance with the rotational speed of the motor. In one embodiment, the apparatus comprises a photo sensor adapted to output a second signal in accordance with the rotational speed of the polishing platen and is adapted to generate an interlock signal when the motor and the polishing platen are not both rotating normally. In another embodiment, the apparatus comprises a photo sensor adapted to output the second signal in accordance with the rotational speed of the platen belt and is adapted to generate an interlock signal when the motor and the platen belt are not both rotating normally.

1. Technical Field
Embodiments of the invention relate to a wafer polishing apparatus. More particularly, embodiments of the invention relate to a wafer polishing and broken platen belt sensing apparatus adapted to sense when a platen belt has broken.
This application claims priority to Korean Patent Application No. 10-2005-0104767, filed Nov. 3, 2005, the subject matter of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
2. Discussion of Related Art
In order to form contemporary semiconductor devices, which are smaller and more densely integrated than ever, very flat wafers are required. A number of flattening methods, such as the spin on glass (SOG) method, the etch back method, the reflow method, etc., have been developed. Each of these methods is designed to flatten and smooth the working surface of a wafer.
During a typical wafer flattening process, mechanical polishing and chemical polishing are combined to produce better results than might be achieved by the use of either polishing type alone, since mechanical polishing alone is generally unable to produce sufficiently flat wafer surfaces and chemical polishing is too slow. Thus, various chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) techniques are used which flatten the surface of a wafer using a combination of the mechanical and chemical polishing effects.
In a typical CMP process, a rotating polishing pad fixed to a polishing table is used in combination with a rotating polishing head to apply regular pressure on a wafer fixed to the polishing head by surface tension or vacuum pressure. That is, the weight and applied pressure of the polishing head force the polishing pad and the working surface of the wafer into contact. A slurry is usually applied to this mechanical process through a very narrow gap between the surface of the wafer and the polishing pad. The mechanical polishing effects of the polishing pad may be enhanced through the introduction of abrasive polishing particles in the slurry, and chemical polishing effects may be introduced through an appropriate selection of chemical ingredients in the slurry.
Obtaining uniform and well controlled rotation of the polishing platen holding the polishing pad is an important aspect of the foregoing CMP process. U.S. Patent Application No. 2003-0128127 A1 discloses one exemplary system adapted to monitor the tension of a robot-controlled platen belt used to rotationally drive a polishing platen. In this conventional system, a belt tension monitor is used. An upper tension limit and a lower tension limit for the platen belt are monitored using the belt tension monitor. This type of monitoring is designed to prevent the platen belt from becoming damaged during operation, and to generally extend the platen belt's useful life.
Although the conventional system monitors upper and lower tension limits, it is not adapted to detect a complete failure of the platen belt. As a result, a platen belt failure (e.g., a break) often causes severe damage to a wafer being processed.

Apparatus adapted to sense broken platen belt


Interference between a television main body and an obstacle can be suppressed when the main body is turned in horizontal directions, and damage of the television main body and the obstacle can be prevented.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a thin-shaped television that is freely turnably supported on a fixed base in horizontal directions by the drive of a motor and is provided with a television main body having a display section on a front face.
2. Background Art
The first prior art is shown in FIGS. 4A, 4B and 4C. As shown in FIGS. 4A, 4B and 4C, the conventional television set has a constitution where a display section 101 turnably installed on a supporting body 102 is made turnable in vertical and horizontal directions with respect to the supporting body 102, and is equipped with: a first electric motor 103 that turns the display section 101 in vertical directions; a second electric motor 104 that turns the display section 101 in horizontal directions; and a controller 105 that receives angle adjusting signals transmitted from a remote controller A of the display section to perform drive/stop control to the electric motors 103 and 104, in which the rotating angle of the display section 101 is made adjustable in each of vertical and horizontal directions by the manual operation of the remote controller A (refer to Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2006-5795, for example).
However, in this constitution, there has been a problem of possibility that the display section 101 was damaged when the display section 101 touched obstacle in the case where the first electric motor 103 was driven and the display section 101 turned in horizontal directions. Furthermore, a sensor for detecting it has not been provided when the section touched the obstacle.
The second prior art is shown in FIGS. 5A, 5B and 5C. In the conventional image display device unit provided with a rotating base, as shown in FIGS. 5A, 5B and 5C, a rotating base 201 is formed in such a manner that a rotating piece 203 is provided freely rotatably on a fixed base 202, the rotating piece 203 is driven by a motor M, the motor M is connected to controlling means and its rotation drive is controlled. On either one of the fixed base 202 or the rotating piece 203, a section to be detected is provided corresponding to a position at which the unit is stopped, sensor means for detecting the section to be detected is provided on the other one, and a length from the central portion to the end portion of the section to be detected along the rotating direction of the rotating piece 203 is formed into a length L equivalent to the inertial rotation quantity of the rotating piece 203. The sensor means, when it detects the end portion of the section to be detected in rotating the rotating piece 203, sends a signal that urges the controlling means to stop the rotation of the motor M (refer to Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-101907, for example).
However, in this constitution, there has been a problem of possibility that, in rotating a television image receiver (not shown) mounted on the rotating piece 203, the television image receiver was damaged when a corner portion of the television image receiver touched an obstacle.
The third prior art is shown in FIG. 6, FIGS. 7A and 7B and FIGS. 8A and 8B. The conventional rotating mechanism for a display, in a constitution where a display 301 is ornamented on a stand pole 306 provided upright and fixed to a pedestal 303 as shown in FIG. 6, FIGS. 7A and 7B, FIGS. 8A and 8B, a rotating shaft 308 supporting the display 301 is freely rotatably supported by bearings 307a in the stand pole 306 and by constituting a horizontal rotating mechanism 302 where a pinion 313 combined to the drive shaft of an electric motor 312 is geared with a major diameter gear 314 combined to the rotating shaft 308, the display 301 was made rotatable in horizontal directions. Further, by connecting an electric motor 331 to a decelerator 330 firmly provided for a support frame 322, and freely rotatably combining a rotating arm 332 combined to the drive shaft of the decelerator and a connecting arm 333 freely rotatably combined to a support plate 326 with a shaft 334, the display 301 was made movable in a tilt direction (refer to Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-304679, for example).
However, in this constitution, there has been a problem of possibility that the display was damaged when a corner portion of the display 301 rotated by the rotating shaft 308 touched the obstacle.
The fourth prior art is shown in FIG. 9, FIG. 10 and FIG. 11. The conventional electric rotating mechanism for a display, as shown in FIG. 9, FIG. 10, FIG. 11, has a circumferential frame 410 freely rotatably fitted with the circumference of a circular pedestal 407 via a large number of steel balls 409 and a rotating base 411 fixed on the upper portion of the circumferential frame, in which the rotating base 411 is made rotatable in horizontal directions by a constitution where a major diameter gear 414 built in the rotating base is geared with a minor diameter gear 413 of the output shaft of an electric motor 412, a support arm 427 of a support plate 426 fixed on the back surface of the display 401 is supported freely rotatably to a bearing 425 firmly provided for a support frame 422, an electric motor 431 is connected to a decelerator 430 firmly provided for the support frame, and a rotating arm 432 combined to the output shaft of the decelerator is freely rotatably combined with a connecting arm 433 freely turnably combined to the support plate 326 by a shaft 434, and thus, the display 401 was made movable in a tilt direction (refer to Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-258055, for example).
However, in this constitution, there has been a problem of possibility that in rotating the display 401 in horizontal directions, the display 401 was damaged when a corner portion touched the obstacle.
The fifth prior art is shown in FIG. 12, FIG. 13 and FIG. 14. As shown in FIG. 12, FIG. 13 and FIG. 14, the conventional liquid crystal television receiver comprises: a liquid crystal television image receiver main body 501; a display section 502 that is freely turnably attached to the main body 501 and equipped with a liquid crystal panel 520; a drive section 510 drive to rotate the display section 502; and a remote controller 504 controlling the drive section 510, in which the drive section 510 includes a drive motor and decelerating means, the rotation of the drive motor is transmitted to the display section 502 via the decelerating means, and the decelerating means includes a slipping mechanism (refer to Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. H2-165785, for example).
However, in this constitution, there has been a problem of possibility that the main body 501 was damaged when the liquid crystal television image receiver main body 501 touched the obstacle.

Abstract: Operating bars are provided for corner portions on both sides of the television main body in a longitudinal direction, bosses having a collar portion on the inside thereof are formed from the operating bar toward hole portion formed in the corner portions on both sides of the television main body in a protruded manner, a plate-shaped portion bridging the corner portions is provided on the back side of the hole portion of the television main body, a spring that energizes the boss toward the outside is arranged between the plate-shaped portion and the collar portion of the boss, a sensor is provided for at least one area in the vertical directions of the operating bar, in which the sensor is constituted by contact terminals provided on both sides of the boss of the operating bar, contact terminals provided on the pore wall of the hole portions of the television main body so as to face the contact terminals, a contact terminal provided at the tip of the boss, and a contact terminal provided for the plate-shaped portion so as to face the contact terminal.


A process for creating an electronically addressable display includes multiple printing operations, similar to a multi-color process in conventional screen printing. In some of the process steps, electrically non-active inks are printed onto areas of the receiving substrate, and in other steps, electrically active inks are printed onto different areas of the substrate. The printed display can be used in a variety of applications. This display can be used as an indicator by changing state of the display after a certain time has elapsed, or when a certain pressure, thermal, radiative, moisture, acoustic, inclination, pH, or other threshold is passed. In one embodiment, the display is incorporated into a battery indicator. A sticker display is described. The sticker is adhesive backed and may then be applied to a surface to create a functional information display unit. This invention also features a display that is both powered and controlled using radio frequencies. It describes a complete system for controlling, addressing, and powering a display. The system includes an antenna or antennae, passive charging circuitry, and active control system, a display, and an energy storage unit. There is also a separate transmitter that provides the remote power for the display. The system is meant to be used anywhere it is useful to provide intermittent updates of information such as in a store, on a highway, or in an airport. A tile-based display allowing a modular system for large area display is created using a printable display material.

Many applications can benefit from inclusion of a display. For example, sketching apparatuses, telephones, pocketbooks, and battery indicators are only a few applications that could display transient information. To date, widespread incorporation of displays has been hindered because such applications generally require flexible displays that consume very little power.
Despite much effort directed to developing highly-flexible, reflective display media, there are relatively few examples of displays formed on semi-flexible substrates, and these examples have found only moderate success. For example, plastic-based liquid crystal displays, including twisted nematic (TN), supertwisted nematic (STN), polymer dispersed liquid crystal (PDLC), and bistable cholesteric liquid crystals have been developed. Nevertheless, problems remain with liquid crystal alignment in TN and STN displays, cholesteric displays are sensitive to changes in their cell gap, and local stress can cause changes in the scattering or absorbance of PDLC and cholesteric films. As such, only moderate flexibility can be achieved with these displays.
Emissive electroluminescent films and organic light emitting diode films can be deposited on flexible substrates to create flexible displays. However, these devices require continuous power consumption for operation, and thus are not practical for many applications.
Another problem with developing highly flexible displays is the lack of an appropriate conductor for addressing the display elements. Typically, an indium tin oxide (ITO) layer vacuum sputtered onto a plastic substrate is used as a top conductor for displays. An ITO layer, however, can be damaged when the display is flexed. If the local curvature of the plastic substrate becomes too great, the ITO layer tends to crack, damaging the display.


A reflection mechanism is disposed above a rotor blade. A chamfered surface of the rotor blade is formed to gradually open wide by 0 to 10 degrees toward the downstream side in the rotational direction, from an imaginary line passing through a rotational direction-side tip end point of a horizontal surface and drawn parallel to a rotating shaft. In the reflection mechanism, inclined plates, inclined at a predetermined angle, are arranged radially in the radial direction from a central disc portion. A particle reflected on the chamfered surface of the rotor blade collides with each inclined plate of the reflection mechanism and is then re-reflected and falls in the downstream direction. Since the particle can securely be reflected toward the reflection mechanism, the particle can be prevented from exiting through an inlet port to flow back toward a chamber.

The present invention relates to a vacuum pump, and a rotor blade and a reflection mechanism that are mounted in the vacuum pump, and more particularly to a vacuum pump that prevents a particle from flowing back toward the gas inflow side, and a rotor blade and a reflection mechanism that are mounted in the vacuum pump.
With the recent development of electronics, the demand for semiconductors such as memories and integrated circuits has been increasing rapidly.
These semiconductors are manufactured by doping, with impurities, a semiconductor substrate of extremely high purity to provide electrical properties, or by forming a fine circuit on a semiconductor substrate by means of etching.
These operations need to be performed in a high vacuum chamber in order to avoid the influence of dust and the like in the air. Typically a vacuum pump is used to evacuate this chamber. In particular, a turbomolecular pump, one of vacuum pumps, is frequently used because of less residual gas generated therein, easy maintenance, and the like.
In terms of the manufacturing process of semiconductors, there exist a large number of processes for causing a variety of process gasses to act on a semiconductor substrate, and the turbomolecular pump is used not only to evacuate the inside of the chamber but also to exhaust these process gasses from the inside of the chamber.
This turbomolecular pump has a casing that configures a casing having an inlet port and an outlet port. A structure for exhibiting an exhaust function of the turbomolecular pump is housed in this casing. The structure for exhibiting the exhaust function of the turbomolecular pump is configured roughly by a rotating portion supported rotatably and a stator portion fixed to the casing.
The rotating portion is configured by a rotating shaft and a rotating body fixed to this rotating shaft, wherein the rotating body has a plurality of rotor blades protruding radially in a radial direction. The stator portion has a plurality of stator blades that are disposed so as to alternate with the rotor blades.
In addition, a motor for rotating the rotating shaft at high speed is provided. When the rotating shaft is rotated at high speed by the function of the motor, gas is drawn from the inlet port and exhausted from the outlet port by the actions of the rotor blades and the stator blades.
Incidentally, in the turbomolecular pump, a particle (e.g., a particle of several μm to several hundreds of μm) made of a reaction product generated in the chamber is introduced from the inlet port through a pipe or a valve in the middle.
After having collided with the rotor blades rotating at high speed on the inside of the turbomolecular pump, in some cases the particle is bounced back toward the chamber, that is, the particle may flow back from the inlet port toward the chamber. The particle that flows back from the turbomolecular pump in this manner might contaminate the inside of the chamber.
In particular, as shown in FIG. 18, a tip end portion of a rotor blade 10 in a direction of rotation thereof is usually chamfered at a predetermined angle in order to prevent burrs from occurring at the tip end portion or to prevent cutting hands at the time of assembly. Note that FIG. 18 also shows an enlarged view of this tip end portion. As is clear from the enlarged view, in most cases this chamfer angle is obtained in such a manner that an angle α between a horizontal surface 1 facing the inlet port and a chamfered surface 7 is equal to an angle β between the chamfered surface 7 and a lower-side inclined surface 5.
As a result, the formed chamfered surface 7 is opened wide toward the downstream side by approximately 22.5 degrees from an imaginary line 11 passing through a rotational direction-side tip end point 9 of the horizontal surface 1 and drawn parallel to the rotating shaft.
Specifically, the chamfered surface 7 obliquely faces the inlet port.
Since the chamfered surface 7 is opened at such a wide angle as described above, when a particle collides with the chamfered surface 7 rotating at high speed, the particle is most likely bounced back toward the chamber.
Therefore, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2006-307823, Japanese Patent No. 5463037, Japanese Patent No. 5250201, and Japanese Patent No. 3444971 each propose a conventional technique for preventing the particle from flowing back toward the chamber.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2006-307823 discloses a structure shown in FIG. 19 in which a tip end surface 13, parallel to the rotating shaft or slightly facing the downstream side, is formed on an inlet port-side edge portion of a rotor blade 12 and an angle portion R between the tip end surface 13 and a horizontal surface 15 has a small curvature.
Japanese Patent No. 5463037 discloses a structure shown in FIG. 20 in which a chamfered surface 19 of an inlet port-side edge portion of a rotor blade 17 is parallel to the rotating shaft or configured to slightly face the downstream side.
Moreover, Japanese Patent No. 5250201 discloses an example in which a backflow prevention structure for preventing a particle from flowing backwards is configured to be detachable from the inlet port.
In addition, Japanese Patent No. 3444971 discloses an example in which stator blades are provided upstream of rotor blades in order to prevent a particle from flowing backwards.
However, according to the technique described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2006-307823, most of particles enter the curvature section of the angle portion R between the tip end surface 13 and the horizontal surface 15, as shown in FIG. 21. Since this section faces the inlet port, there is a risk that most of the particles are reflected toward the inlet port, as shown in FIG. 21. Because the direction in which the particle is reflected changes depending on the colliding position thereof, it is difficult to prevent the reflected particle from flowing backward.
According to the configuration described in Japanese Patent No. 5463037, most of the particles enter the chamfered surface 19 of a rotor blade 17A, and are then reflected in the horizontal direction or slightly toward the downstream side, as shown in FIG. 22. Because the speed at which the particle moves toward the downstream side is low, the particle re-collides with a rear surface of a rotor blade 17B after being reflected, the rotor blade 17B being located in front of the rotor blade 17A in the rotational direction. As a result, there is a risk that the particle is re-reflected toward the inlet port.
Moreover, if the configurations described in Japanese Patent No. 5250201 and Japanese Patent No. 3444971 are not designed to reduce the angle at which the particle is reflected, there is a risk that the particle passes through a gap between reflective plates without being bounced back by the reflective plates. Thus, without narrowing the arrangement interval between the reflective plates, these conventional techniques cannot exhibit a sufficient effect of preventing the backflow of the particle. However, narrowing the arrangement interval between the reflective plates brings about a negative effect that suction of gas is hindered by the reflective plates, resulting in deterioration of the exhaust performance.
The present invention was contrived in view of these problems of the prior art, and an object of the present invention is to provide a vacuum pump that prevents a particle from flowing back toward the gas inflow side, and a rotor blade and a reflection mechanism that are mounted in the vacuum pump.
The discussion above is merely provided for general background information and is not intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter. The claimed subject matter is not limited to implementations that solve any or all disadvantages noted in the background.

Vacuum pump, and rotor blade and reflection mechanism mounted in vacuum pump


A memory enhancing game 10 including a certain number of visually distinguishable assigned game piece members 27" having indicia 28 provided on one face 26 and twice the certain number of blank game piece members 27' wherein all of the game piece members 27 are virtually indistinguishable from one another in the face down orientation, and the steps that govern the playing of the game.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of games in general, and in particular to a memory enhancing game.
2. Description of Related Art
As can be seen by reference to the following U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,638,947; 3,674,274; 4,535,995; and 5,190,296 the prior art is replete with myriad and diverse games employing game pieces having a plurality of indicia used to improve the player's memory by playing the game.
While all of the aforementioned prior art constructions are more than adequate for the basic purpose and function for which they have been specifically designed, they are uniformly deficient with respect to their failure to provide a new and unique set of game pieces that only differ in their external appearance on only one of the faces of the game piece (if any) and wherein the uniform faces of the various game pieces are visible to all players. Each player in turn will be allowed to reveal the hidden face of a game piece which may or may not bear indicia and if indicia is present on the hidden face, it may not be the indicia sought by an individual player.
As a consequence of the foregoing situation, there has existed a longstanding need for a new and improved type of memory enhancing game wherein the game pieces and the rules of the game place a premium on remembering the location, as well as the presence or lack of indicia on a given game piece and the provision of such a construction is a stated objective of the present invention.


A content delivery resource in a cable network receives a request for specified content. The content delivery resource retrieves profile information assigned to the subscriber domain. The profile information indicates multiple different playback formats assigned to the subscriber domain. To service the request, the content delivery resource utilizes the profile information associated with the subscriber domain to select versions of the specified content encoded in accordance with the multiple different playback formats. The content delivery resource then initiates transmission of the versions of the specified content in the multiple different playback formats to the subscriber domain for playback on multiple types of playback devices.

Conventional large cable networks include distributed video and data facilities to deliver content in a cable network environment. For example, in a typical cable network, content such as videos are distributed over a backbone or core network to so-called headend resources that service one or more hubs in a region. The hubs receive and re-distribute the content to one or more distribution nodes that each, in turn, conveys the content to a service group including multiple subscribers. The subscribers in a respective service group are able to tune to certain frequencies of the shared cable using a set-top box, cable modem, etc., to retrieve and play back desired content.
As a more specific example of distinguishing content in a cable network, a subscriber can generate a request to retrieve content encoded in accordance with a specified format. For example, the subscriber may request content to be retrieved in a specified format for playback on a big screen television. A server transmits the requested content in the specified format (as indicated in the request) to the subscriber's digital video recorder. The subscriber can then play back the retrieved content on a playback device that supports playback in the specified format.
In certain instances, a subscriber may operate multiple different types of playback devices. For example, a subscriber may own an iPad™ that plays back content encoded in a first format; the subscriber can own a big screen television that plays back content according to a second format; and so on.
In accordance with the above example, the subscriber may request the content for playback on a first type of playback device and then later change his mind and desire to playback the content on a second playback device. Conventional applications can include providing a subscriber the ability to transcode the transmitted format. For example, a set-top box in the home environment that stores the requested content can include a so-called transcoder. The subscriber can use the transcoder to convert the retrieved content received in the single format into any suitable encoded format. Thus, via appropriate transcoding by the subscriber, the subscriber can convert and thereafter playback content on any type of playback device.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A method for analyzing ISVM signaling messages that includes copying, to a message file, messages being transmitted through a signaling link, extracting ISVM messages from the message file that meet at least one trouble criterion, storing the extracted messages in an error report file, and generating an error report from the error report file. The error report lists the extracted messages. Examples of the trouble criterion include messages referencing a designated directory number, messages reporting an error, messages having a signaling point code and a destination point code that are equal, query messages having no matching responses, and unit data service messages.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to voicemail provided over the public switched telephone network, and more particularly, to a system and method for analyzing signaling messages for inter-switch voicemail trouble conditions.
2. Background of the Invention
Inter-switch voicemail (ISVM) enables multiple central offices to communicate with multiple voicemail platforms through a single end office. In requiring only the single end office, inter-switch voicemail makes highly efficient use of network resources, especially in comparison to the early generation voicemail systems that dedicated end offices to supporting only one voicemail platform. Unfortunately, along with providing the increased capacity, inter-switch voicemail introduces significant complexities to the call flow and message waiting indicator signaling. These complexities can make troubleshooting inter-switch voicemail systems extremely challenging.
FIG. 1 illustrates a simple example of a conventional inter-switch voicemail architecture. As shown, the architecture includes a voicemail end office 100 in communication with multiple voicemail platforms (VMPs) 102 through multi-line hunt groups 104 and Simplified Message Desk Interface (SMDI) links 106. Voicemail end office 100 is also in communication with end offices 108A-D through trunk groups 110A-D and with signal transfer point (STP) 112 through a Signaling System 7 (SS7) link 113. Signal transfer point 112 is also in communication with end offices 108A-D through SS7 links 114A-D.
Although FIG. 1 shows only one signal transfer point 112, one of ordinary skill in the art would appreciate that multiple signal transfer points could be used to provide a desired redundancy.
To illustrate a typical call flow, FIG. 1 shows a calling party 116 calling a called party 118. End office 108A serves calling party 116, while end office 108D serves called party 118. Assuming that a trunk line 120 connects end office 108A to end office 108D, the call would set up according to normal SS7 processing, including an initial address message, an answer message, a release, a release complete, and then voice path assurance.
With the call set-up complete, if called party 118 does not answer or is already on the line, then the end office 108D that serves called party 118 redirects the call through trunk line 110D and end office 100 to the appropriate voicemail platform 102. If called party 118 does not answer, this call redirect is generally referred to as "call-forwarding don't answer." If called party 118 is already on the line, this call redirect is generally referred to as "call-forwarding busy line."
After voicemail platform 102 plays a greeting and records a message from calling party 116, voicemail platform 102 must activate a message waiting indicator (MWI) on the telephone of called party 118, to notify called party 118 that she has a saved message. Thus, voicemail platform 102 sends a message to voicemail end office 100 through SMDI link 106. Voicemail platform 102 transmits the message using Inter-switch Simplified Message Desk Interface (ISMDI), which is a signaling interface used by voicemail platforms to support incoming call and message waiting integration between all supported switches in a Local Access and Transport Area (LATA). Simplified Message Desk Interface (SMDI) defines signaling between a messaging system and a central office switch, which defines the original intended destination of a forwarded call. The ISMDI MWI message sent by voicemail platform 102 references the telephone number of called party 118.
After receiving the ISMDI MWI message, voicemail end office 100 determines if it "owns" (i.e., is associated with) the NPA/NXX (NPA—Numbering Plan Area/NXX—a specific central office) corresponding to the telephone number of called party 118. Assuming that voicemail end office 100 does not own the telephone number, voicemail end office 100 forwards an MWI message through SS7 link 113 and to signal transfer point 112 using a non-call-associated Signaling System 7 (SS7) signaling protocol, such as Transaction Capability Application Part (TCAP).
Signal transfer point 112 contains a database that cross-references NPA/NXXs with the network point codes of end offices. Thus, based on the telephone number referenced in the MWI message, signal transfer point 112 determines to which end office 108A-D the MWI message should be forwarded. With this routing information, signal transfer point 112 transmits a TCAP message to the end office corresponding to the telephone number of called party 118, which in this case is end office 108D connected through SS7 link 114D. End office 108D then activates the message waiting indicator on the telephone of called party 118.
After called party 118 retrieves the message, voicemail platform 102 sends another MWI message through signal transfer point 112 to clear the message waiting indicator at the telephone of called party 118.
As evident from FIG. 1, the multiple links and end offices of the typical ISVM architecture can make it difficult to troubleshoot signaling problems. Examples of common signaling problems include tasks refused, unassigned numbers, incorrect or missing routing, and missing customer records.
As an example of a task refused error, signal transfer point 112 may deliver an MWI message to end office 108D, which then refuses to pass the message to the telephone of called party 118. A common reason for refusing the task is that end office 108D is in the process of performing a back-up. Another possible reason is a translation error in the switch, which is referred to as a "split" when the switch is a Lucent 5ESS™ switch. A translation error could be caused by, for example, a corrupt database in the switch that does not properly relate the call features of a customer to the customer's telephone number.
Unassigned numbers are not assigned in the switch, and are, for example, ported out erroneously to another switch, such as a competitive carrier switch. In this case, when end offices 108A-D receive an MWI message for an unassigned number, the switches simply ignores the MWI message.
Misrouted MWI messages can occur, for example, when one or more signal transfer points of several redundant signal transfer points contain faulty routing translations. In this situation, the signal transfer points that contain correct routing translations route MWI messages to the appropriate end offices, while the signal transfer points that contain faulty translations route the MWI message to incorrect end offices. These incorrect end offices simply ignore the MWI messages, leaving no record by which to troubleshoot the problem.
A no routing error is another common problem. In this case, a mismatch exists between the NPA/NXX records of the voicemail platform and the NPA/NXX records of the signal transfer point or end office. For example, when a new NPA/NXX is opened in the voicemail platform, there may be a lag before the corresponding routing is opened in the signal transfer point and/or end office.
As another common problem, sometimes the voicemail platform may be missing customer records. In this case, the voicemail platform fails to recognize the called party's telephone number and does not send the MWI message at all.
Because of the many possible errors, identifying the source of a voicemail problem can be particularly frustrating. In addition, the idiosyncrasies of the hardware can compound the problem by remaining silent when errors occur. Indeed, it is common for switches, signal transfer points, and voicemail platforms to simply ignore errors, remain silent, and fail to report or record any problem.
To gain a better understanding of error conditions, telephone service providers focus on the signaling portion of the public switched telephone network, and analyze portions of the SS7 protocol that carry ISVM information. This ISVM information is extremely valuable in resolving trouble reported by end-user telephone subscribers who are having voicemail problems.
The analysis of the SS7 protocol is usually left to troubleshooting experts, who sift through call records and spot error patterns that provide clues as to the sources of the problems. Unfortunately, this process is exceedingly time-consuming. The expert must analyze large volumes of call records to identify the intermittent problems among the majority of normal call flows.
Thus, there remains a need for a tool that assists in the detection, diagnosis, and resolution of inter-switch voicemail trouble.

AT&T Delaware Intellectual Property, Inc.


An endless belt system for a vehicle having a negative trail steering geometry is provided. The endless belt system replaces the wheels that steer a vehicle, particularly an all-terrain vehicle, to provide increased steerability and floatation over soft terrain.

All-terrain vehicles are one kind of straddle type vehicle, so called because they have a straddle seat that supports at least one rider sitting in a straddle fashion. These vehicles have generally, although not necessarily, four wheels contacting the ground and supporting the vehicle via a suspension. An engine, supported by the frame, is operatively connected to at least one of the wheels to propel the vehicle. Handlebars are typically pivotally connected to the frame in front of the straddle seat and are operatively connected to the front wheels to steer the vehicle. Fenders and fairings offer protection for the rider against projectiles from the wheels when the vehicle is in motion.
As their name would suggest, all-terrain vehicles are designed to travel over various types of terrain. To that end, they are generally equipped with low pressure tires (i.e. "balloon tires" generally having a pressure less than 138 kilopascal (or 20 psi) which have a large contact patch with the ground. This large contract patch reduces the pressure exerted on the ground by the tire. This low pressure applied on the ground is advantageous for these vehicles as it allows them to go over soft terrain like mud, sand or snow.
Particularly with reference to snow-covered terrain, these balloon tires are not an Iways optimal as on snow it becomes increasingly difficult for the vehicle to move when the thickness of snow on the ground becomes significant. This is so because, depending on the snow conditions, it may happen that pressure applied on the snow surface by even the balloon tires becomes too great to support the vehicle. The tires thus begin to sink in the snow. The further the tires sink into the snow the more likely that the lower portion of the frame of the vehicle will come into contact with the snow surface. This situation is not at all desirable as when the frame touches the snow on the ground it begins to direct transfers the load of the vehicle onto the snow surface. Friction between the frame and the snow on the ground creates drag when the vehicle moves. The pressure provided on the ground by the tires progressively diminishes and traction may be subsequently lost in favor of greater contact between the lower portion of the frame and the ground.
Moreover, the wheels have less traction when the drag increases and their friction with the snow surface diminishes. The tires begin to slip over the ground surface while the vehicle becomes more and more supported by the frame contacting directly the snow on the ground, until the tires completely loose traction on the snow—the vehicle is then struck.
An alternative known in the art provides an replacing the wheels with an endless belt system (or track systems) when the vehicle is to be used in snowy conditions. Many types of such systems exist. For example, some endless belt systems have been designed to be added over the wheels of an all-terrain vehicle. Sometimes the addition of either a number of additional wheels or a track supporting structure is required to be added to the existing vehicle. Other endless belt systems have been designed to completely replace the wheels.
Replacement of the wheels by endless belt systems provides a larger contact area (patch) on the ground compared to size of the contact area (patch) of a wheel on the ground—even with a low pressure balloon tire. Floatation over the snow is increased and the lower portion of the frame is maintained at a greater distance from the snow surface. The vehicle can be used in deeper snow because floatation and traction are preserved.
These systems, while good, are not without their drawbacks. For one, the size of the contact patch also affects the ease of steering the vehicle. On a wheeled or tracked vehicles, the wheels that steer the vehicle are turned about a pivot point on the ground (more precisely over the steering axis) based on the steering geometry of the vehicle. The contact area of the wheel or track that surrounds the pivot point on the ground of the steering wheels opposes, via friction, the rotational movement of the wheel or track about this pivot point. Thus, the larger the contact area on the ground the more area there is to generate friction which opposed the movement about the pivot point, and the tougher it is to rotate the patch around the pivot point. Therefore, the larger contact area on the ground generated by an endless belt system inherently increases the force needed to steer the vehicle.
Another difficulty is that some endless belt systems are fixedly connected to the frame of the vehicles. This prevents the systems from tracking the shape of the uneven terrain over which the vehicle is traveling. In prior art systems that are pivotally attached the to frame, in the past, they have always been pivotally attached about what would have been the hub of the wheel if a wheel had been attached. This means that the system must have rather large movements in order to track the shape of the terrain, which is still not optimal. In other type of system, the traction provided is thus somewhat limited because the contact area of the endless belt is not capable of adapting to the ground's imperfections.
Finally, normally these endless belt systems are used on vehicles that were designed to accommodate wheels. These belt systems are sold typically in the aftermarket by those other than the original equipment manufacturers. Thus, the suspension, drive train, steering linkages, etc. have all been designed to sustain the loads generated by wheels, and not necessarily by belt systems. Belt systems typically generate higher mechanical loads as they are heavier than wheels and require more force in order to steer. In some circumstances, on some vehicles, improvement is required in order to sustain such loads.
Accordingly, there remains a need for an improved endless belt system for vehicles, and particularly all-terrain vehicles, which ameliorates some of the deficiencies associated with prior art systems.


A method for designing a logic circuit and a CAD program which allow a logic circuit with desired performance to be designed in a short period of time by suppressing the elongation of a logic design period for achieving a circuit area, an operating speed, power consumption, and the like as target specifications are provided at low cost. Shorter-period and lower-cost design is accomplished by allowing a user to use a high-performance logic synthesis CAD program at no charge if he only checks circuit characteristics resulting from synthesis and collecting a fee if the user is satisfied with the resulting circuit characteristics and intends to use a gate level logic circuit. In a design phase which receives a register transfer level or operation level logic circuit and synthesizes a gate level logic circuit, desired circuit characteristics are obtainable in a short period of time at low cost.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for designing a logic circuit and, more particularly, to a method for designing a high-performance logic circuit in a short period of time.
2. Description of Related Art
In the current design of a logic circuit, a method in which a logic function is described at a register transfer level or an operation level in a logic description language termed an HDL (Hardware Description Language) and the logic described at the register transfer level or the operation level is converted to gate level logic by using a CAD tool for logic synthesis is used most prevalently. The register transfer level explicitly describes required registers and arithmetic units in conjunction with data paths and control paths for providing connection between the registers and the arithmetic units. At present, the register transfer level is a description level used most frequently for a logic circuit in the design thereof. The operation level is a description level higher in the degree of abstractness than the register transfer level. The operation level describes a control structure, similarly to a software language, and does not explicitly describe registers and arithmetic units as circuit elements. The operation level is also termed an algorithm level or a behavior level.
In general, circuit components termed cells have primitive logic functions such as AND logic and OR logic and are designed preliminarily. A CAD tool for logic synthesis stores the respective characteristics of the individual cells including logic function, layout size, delay, and power consumption in the library thereof. By converting a logic function described at the register transfer level or the operation level to a logic function such as AND, OR, or NOT and allocating the cells in the library to the logic function, a logic circuit described in the connectional relation of the cells, i.e., a gate level logic circuit can be obtained from the logic function described at the register transfer level or the operation level. The gate level logic circuit is passed to a layout step as the subsequent design process.
In the foregoing logic synthesis process, synthesis constrains are placed on the allocation of the cells in the library. The first synthesis constraint is the target values of the design specifications of a logic circuit including circuit area, operating speed, and power consumption. The structure of the logic circuit should be determined to satisfy the specifications. The second synthesis constraint is conditions external to the logic circuit, which include the load capacitance of a cell for driving the input port of a logic circuit for which logic synthesis is performed, the load capacitances of a wire and a cell connected to the output port of the logic circuit, the time at which a signal reaches the input port, and a time required by the signal from the output port to reach an external flip flop. The third synthesis constraint is the wiring load of the logic circuit that has been laid out. For example, a wiring load assumed based on a virtual wiring load model is given as a load capacitance on a per fan-out basis.
Thus, the logic synthesis process is provided with the logic circuit described in an HDL, the synthesis constraints, and the cell library, performs the steps of optimizing a logic structure and allocating cells, and outputs the gate level logic circuit of the logic circuit. The primary object of the design of a logic circuit at the register transfer level or the operation level is normally the implementation of a target logic function so that, in most cases, sufficient consideration is not given to the physical characteristics of the logic circuit when it is implemented as an actual semiconductor device such as circuit area, operating speed, and power consumption. Accordingly, the correction of an HDL description, logic synthesis, and the evaluation of the circuit area, operating speed, power consumption, and the like of a gate level logic circuit obtained as a result of logic synthesis are repeated several times so that the target specifications are approached.
Even when the design starts from the same HDL description, the gate level logic circuit and the characteristic thereof differ if different CAD tools are used for logic synthesis.
With the remarkable progress of digital information equipment represented by a personal computer, the performance required of a semiconductor chip forming the heart of the digital information equipment has been improved rapidly year after year. The operation frequency is exceeding 1 GHz, while lower power consumption is stringently required of a semiconductor chip used in a battery-powered mobile information device, such as a mobile phone, for a longer battery life. The design of a logic circuit should be performed to satisfy these stringent requirements. This causes the problem that, even if a design period is reduced by distributing design resources and increasing the degree of abstractness of a logic description level, the design period of the logic synthesis process for achieving desired performance is increased and the total design period of a whole semiconductor chip cannot sufficiently be reduced. The following is a typical example. To provide a semiconductor chip with a target operation frequency, it is necessary for delay in each of signal paths in a logic circuit to fall within a target cycle so that, even if only one signal path falling outside the target cycle exists, the target frequency is not achievable. Accordingly, the delay design of a logic circuit requires a longest design period in the logic synthesis process.
To reduce such a design operation, numerous CAD tools for logic synthesis equipped with advanced function and performance have been on sale. Since the process performed by CAD for logic synthesis is used to solve a so-called combinational optimization problem by searching for an optimal solution closer to a design objective among numerous candidate solutions, it is impossible to select the best one by evaluating all solutions in a practical time. Each of the CAD tools for logic synthesis has been developed by improving an algorithm and thereby enhancing the ability to search for an optimal solution. This frequently causes the situation in which a CAD tool A generates a better circuit with design data A, while a CAD tool B allows the generation of a circuit higher in performance with design data B. Therefore, it is costly and unpractical for one design site to purchase a variety of CAD tools for synthesis.
In recent years, a new form of business service termed an application service provider has been offered in various software fields. This form of business service allows each company to access the server of a provider who provides software by using the Internet, use software through a network only when necessary, and pay a fee charged for the use by saving the conventional practice to purchase a required number of software items and operate and manage them on its own.
If this form of business service is used for the design of a logic circuit, however, design data which requires security protection is transferred by input/output operations through the network so that a problem associated with the security protection of design data is encountered. Another problem is encountered that large-sized input/output data increases cost and time for communication and therefore this form of business service is not compatible with promptly or repeatedly performed design. Still another problem is encountered that, if circuit characteristics obtained by using software at the cost of a service charge are unsatisfactory, the service charge is wasted for nothing. If the correction of an HDL description, logic synthesis, and the evaluation of the area, operating speed, power consumption, and the like of a gate level logic circuit obtained as a result of logic synthesis are repeated such that target specifications are approached, in particular, the use of software is charged frequently in the process of trial and error. This causes the problem that a tremendous service fee is charged by the time the target specifications are obtained.

Method for designing logic circuit and CAD program


The present invention relates to compositions and methods for cancer diagnosis, treatment and drug screening. In particular, the present invention provides compositions and methods for targeting the nuclear translocation of IkB kinase-α (IKKα) and the IKKα-mediated suppression of Maspin expression observed in metastatic prostate cancer cells.

Prostate cancer is a heterogeneous disease progressing from prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia via locally invasive adenocarcinoma to hormone-refractory metastatic carcinoma (Demarzo et al., Lancet, 361:955, 2003). Prostate cancer develops most frequently in men over fifty, with more than 200,000 new cases diagnosed annually in the United States. Currently the second leading cause of cancer death in men is prostate cancer, exceeded only by lung cancer. It accounts for 29% of all male cancers and 11% of male cancer-related deaths.
Prostate cancer is typically diagnosed with a digital rectal exam and/or prostate specific antigen (PSA) screening (Schroder, Annal Oncol, 17(S10):201, 2006). An elevated serum PSA level is used as a marker for prostate cancer as only prostate cells secreted PSA. A healthy prostate will produce a stable amount, typically below 4 nanograms per milliliter, or a PSA level of 4 or less. Cancer cells on the other hand produce escalating amounts that correspond with the severity of the cancer. A level between 4 and 10 may raise a doctor's suspicion that a patient has prostate cancer, while amounts above 50 may show that the tumor has spread elsewhere in the body.
A major limitation of the serum PSA test is a lack of prostate cancer sensitivity and specificity especially in the intermediate range of PSA detection (4-10 ng/ml). Elevated serum PSA levels are often detected in patients with non-malignant conditions and provide little information about the aggressiveness of the cancer detected. Coincident with increased serum PSA testing, there has been a dramatic increase in the number of prostate needle biopsies performed (Jacobsen et al., JAMA, 274:1445, 1995), resulting in a surge of equivocal prostate needle biopsies (Epstein and Potter, J Urol, 166:402, 2001). Thus, development of additional serum and tissue biomarkers to supplement PSA screening is needed.
When initially diagnosed, prostate cancer in most patients is managed with either close observation in the absence of intervention (e.g., watchful waiting), surgical removal of the prostate (e.g., radical prostatectomy) or radiation involving the placement of radioactive pellets into the prostate (e.g., brachytherapy). However, for patients initially diagnosed with metastatic disease, it is already too late to perform brachytherapy or a radical prostatectomy. Therefore, these patients are typically treated initially with some type of testosterone suppressive therapy (Horwich, Annal Oncol, 17(S10):211, 2006). Once their cancer becomes hormone refractory, the median survival is 10-24 months.
Thus, additional methods that can be used for diagnosis and prognosis of prostate cancer are desirable. Moreover effective therapies for treating metastatic disease are needed. Accordingly, provided herein are methods that can be used in diagnosis and prognosis of prostate cancer. Further provided are methods that can be used to screen candidate bioactive agents for the ability to modulate signaling pathways in prostate cancer cells.

Method for detecting the presence of prostate cancer

The Regents of the University of California


The strength of the output buffer is changed gradually when there is a transition in the output (or input) value. Due to the gradual change, switching noise is avoided in several contexts (e.g., when driving a transmission line, which causes reflections). In an embodiment, the gradual change is implemented using a combination of a current source and a capacitor. The capacitor is provided at an input of the gate terminal of a drive transistor, and a current source is used to control the rate at which the capacitor discharges. As a result, the drive strength of a buffer is controlled.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to integrated circuits, and more specifically to a low noise output buffer suitable in several environments (e.g., to drive a transmission line which causes reflections).
2. Related Art
Output buffers are often used to drive external load (e.g., another integrated circuit or transmission line) based on data received from another source. In general, output buffers need to drive external loads with sufficient strength to ensure that the data is accurately transferred to the external devices within a pre-specified time duration.
One desirable feature of operation of output buffers is reducing noise. Noise generally refers to undesirable signal components present/introduced into a signal otherwise of interest. Reduction of noise generally leads to several advantages, as is well known in the relevant arts.
Noise can be introduced from a variety of sources. For example, switching noise generally refers to undesirable noise which is typically generated when there is transition of the signal at the output node (of the output buffer) from one value to the other.
There are other sources of noise as well. For example, when driving a transmission line (e.g., telephone line using DSL technology), the reflections may also introduce noise, which is again undesirable. Accordingly, it is generally desirable to provide output buffers which generate low noise.
In the drawings, like reference numbers generally indicate identical, functionally similar, and/or structurally similar elements. The drawing in which an element first appears is indicated by the leftmost digit(s) in the corresponding reference number.


A stimulator healing cap is disclosed for enhancing and speeding the growth of bone cells and bone tissue surrounding a dental implant. The stimulator healing cap includes a threaded portion which is engagable with an interior threaded portion of the implant and a top portion containing a current source. In one embodiment, the top portion and the threaded portion are conductive and are connected by a middle insulated portion; the threaded portion being coupled to one pole of the current source and the top portion being coupled to the other pole of the current source. In another embodiment, the current source is coupled to a coil wound around a longitudinal core inside the threaded portion. The healing cap provides a current path or electromagnetic field in the vicinity of bone tissue surrounding the implant which stimulates the growth of the bone tissue and speeds up the primary healing phase after the implant is surgically inserted.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to dental implants. More particularly, this invention relates to a healing cap temporarily attached to a surgically inserted dental implant which accelerate and enhances the initial or primary healing of the bone which surrounds the implant surgical site.
2. State of the Art
Contemporary dental implant surgery includes the use of certain restorative devices which are inserted on to implants. These restorative devices take the place of natural teeth and are attached to implants which are well integrated into the hard bone tissue so that they are as stable as natural tooth roots. The conventional procedure for inserting a dental implant includes drilling a hole in the maxillary or mandibular jawbone and inserting the implant in the prepared hole. Various types of endosseous dental implants are used: e.g. blades, screws, and cylinders. The implant is generally made of titanium or titanium alloy and the top of the implant is provided with mating means (usually a top portion and inner threads) for attaching the restorative device. Before attaching the restorative device, however, there is typically a healing phase of between three to six months during which time bone tissue grows around the implant so that it becomes well integrated with the adjacent bone.
During the initial and primary healing phase, a cover screw is usually attached to the top of the implant to maintain the integrity of the top portion and inner threads of the implant. After the healing phase is completed and bone integration has successfully occurred, the cover screw is removed and discarded and the restorative phase of the treatment can be initiated.
It is a clear disadvantage of the conventional procedure that there be such a long delay between the time of insertion of the implant and the time when a restoration can be made for the patient. Unfortunately, it usually takes this length of time for the bone forming cells and bone tissue surrounding the implant to mature sufficiently to adequately hold the implant so that the final restoration will be firmly and properly anchored.
It is known in the medical arts that bone growth can be stimulated by passing an electrical current or an electromagnetic field through the bone. Such techniques have been used for some time in the mending of broken bones in limbs. It has not been known, however, to use this technique to stimulate bone growth for the purpose of shortening the bone healing phase in dental implant surgery.


A plurality of source text files are read, representing similar information but in different natural languages. The files have correlated layouts, in that the same layout commands are employed at similar points in the files. Similar text, from the respective files, is aligned by identifying its position between equivalent word processing commands. Preferably, intermediate files are produced in which the word processing (WP) commands are converted into an identifiable form. Aligned text, which differs between the intermediate files whereas WP commands will not differ, is identified by a differential comparison operation, such as a call to DIFF within a UNIX environment.

An aligned corpus consists of words, phrases and sentences in a first language, mapped onto substantially similar words, phrases or sentences in a second language. The aligned corpus is used in automated translation systems in which, given a word, phrase or sentence in a first language, the equivalent in the second language may be obtained. Similarly, given a word, phrase or sentence in the second language, its equivalent in the first language may be obtained. This principle may be extended, such that a multi-lingual system may be provided, so that, given a word, phrase or sentence in any of the languages available, all the others may be translated simultaneously.
A system for translating text is shown in FIG. 1 and provides an environment for employing an aligned corpus.
Operating instructions and data from the aligned corpus are supplied to a processing unit 15 from a hard magnetic disk drive 16. A floppy disk drive 17 receives floppy disks containing an input text, in a first language, and also receives data relating to an output text in a second language, which is written to a separate file on the floppy disk. At the end of the process, the floppy disk holds the original file of the input text plus, in a separate file, the translated output text.
In the 1950s and 60s it was a common belief that the development of an all purpose translating system would become available in the not too distant future. It was then realised that such a system was much further off and possibly would never be implemented, given the problem of including sufficient background information, to facilitate intelligent translation. However, it was also appreciated that the problem of providing translation within a smaller specalised field would be possible, given that many words which have many different meanings, would tend to have a much limited range of meanings within the confines of a specialist field of activity.
However, a problem of creating a translation system for operation within a specialist field of activity is that of generating aligned corpora, given that a corpus generated for one field of activity would probably not be suitable for application in another field of activity. Thus, it would be necessary for users working in each field to generate their own corpora. Consequently, this problem has tended to negate the use of such automated systems and reliance continues to be made upon human translators.
The systems shown in FIG. 1 could be used, rather than a replacement to a translator, as an assistant to a translator. Thus, each sentence, or part of a sentence, could be displayed on an output device, such as a visual display unit 18, while information could be supplied to the processing unit 15 via an input device, such as a keyboard 19.
The operation of such a system could be in the form as shown in FIG. 2. As previously stated, an aligned corpus 21 is resident on the hard magnetic disk drive 16, or similar device, an input file is resident on the floppy disk drive 17, or similar device and the output file is written, after being generated by the processing unit 15, to the floppy disk drive 17. In an alternative arrangement, two floppy disk drives could be provided and the output file could be written to the second drive. Alternatively, the output file could be written to the hard disk drive unit 16 or to any other suitable storage device.
Documents are processed on a page by page basis. The flow chart shown in FIG. 2 therefore describes operation of the system with reference to a single page. A page may be loaded which does not actually contain any information and it is important that the system does not become locked-out when it has no information to process. At step 24 the question is posed as to whether the end of the page has been reached. If yes, the process stops at step 25. Normally, the page will contain text, therefore the first sentence of the input file is read at step 26. An enquiry is now made to the aligned corpus 21 to ask whether the sentence under consideration is present within the corpus, at step 27. If the input sentence is present in the corpus, the aligned output sentence is returned from the corpus and at step 28 the translated form of the sentence is written to the output file. In one embodiment, the operator may be asked to check the translation, by means of the translation being supplied to the visual display unit 18, before the data is actually written to the output file. However, in the embodiment detailed in FIG. 2, the translation is made automatically, so as to improve processing speed.
If, in response to the enquiry made at step 27, the input sentence is not present in the corpus, the operator is prompted to provide an input, via the keyboard 19, of the correct translation, at step 29. At step 30, the translation provided by the operator is written to the destination file and an enquiry is made to the operator, at step 31, enquiring as to whether the new translation should be added to the corpus. If the operator responds in the affirmative, the new alignment is added to the corpus at step 32. If the operator's response is negative, step 32 is ignored.
Thus, in response to each requirement to translate a sentence, three responses become possible. In the first, the translation is present in the corpus and the translation is automatically written to the output file. Alternatively, the sentence is not present in the corpus, an input is provided by the operator and the translation is then added to the corpus after being written to the output file. Thirdly, the sentence is not present in the corpus, again an input is provided by the operator but this time the new translation is not added to the corpus.
After writing a sentence to the output file, operation returns to step 24, at which time the enquiry is made again as to whether the system has reached the end of the page. Again, if the response to this enquiry is affirmative, another sentence is read at step 26 and the procedure is repeated. At the end of the page, as previously stated, the procedure stops at step 25.
Thus, it can be seen that, on the assumption that similar subject matter is being translated repeatedly, the system will learn and entries within the corpus will expand. The knowledge base of the corpus will increase and, eventually, an operator providing manual translations will no longer be required and an operator of minimal skill may be allowed to take over. Possibly, several systems may run in parallel and a manual translator may be required occasionally to assist non-skilled operators.
A problem with the system shown in FIG. 2 is that it may take a significant resources to build up the corpus to the point where the non-skilled operator may take over. Initially, it is likely that use of the system will actually take longer than a straight forward manual translation. Furthermore, it is also highly likely that systems, possibly operating within the same office, will develop differently, with a corpus on one being significantly different from a corpus on another, such that operators would appear to be working at different rates, again leading to further unpredictability.
Methods for automatic generation of aligned corpora have been described for example by W A Gale and K W Church in "A Program for Aligning Sentences in Bilingual Corpora", and by P F Brown Et Al in "Aligning Sentences in Parallel Corpora", both in the Proceedings of the 29th Annual Meeting of the Association for Computational Linguistics, Berkeley Calif. In these systems, the portions used correspond to sentences, and alignments is performed by comparing the lengths of sentences, either in the number of words (Brown Et Al) or the number of characters (Gale and Church).
Both of these references exploit the availability of the Canadian Hansard in two languages, French and English. Brown Et Al further exploit the presence of descriptive mark-up codes in the Hansard texts, for example codes indicating the times of speeches, the names of the speakers and so on. These codes are used to define anchor points in the text, and preference is given to sentence alignments which preserve the alignment of the anchor points. Of course, descriptive markers are not available in documents in general, and are not often in a common language, even when they are present.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved system for generating useable aligned corpora. It is also an object of the present invention to provide a plurality of copies of corpora which may be used efficiently within a translating environment.
The inventors have recognised that, in many cases, the similar documents which are to be used as the source texts are availabe in a form which contains presentational formatting data, for example specifying the size or font to be used for output, indentations, tabulations and other layout attributes. Provided that the two source documents have similar presentational attributes, formatting data included in the source files can be used to assist in the alignment.
Accordingly, a first aspect of the invention provides methods and systems for aligning source texts of different natural languages to produce or add to an aligned corpus, wherein source text files representing similar informaion in different natural languages are read, and information aligning similar text portions from respective files is recorded, characterised in that said source text files have similar presentational attributes, and in that the alignment is performed with reference to presentational formatting data present within said text files.
The formatting data may be non-textual data, for example word processing commands. Where different word processors have been used and generate different, possibly non-textual formatting commands, these may be converted to generic forms prior to performing the alignment.
If the formatting data are converted to textual forms prior to performing the alignment, standard text file comparison means can be used to identify alignments.
As an alternative to aligning sentences, it may be advantageous for certain classes of documents to use the formatting data actually to delimit the aligned text portions.
Thus the problem of generating an aligned corpus is effectively resolved by making use of texts in machine readable form. In particular, reliance is made upon correlated texts in different natural languages. Two texts are considered to be correlated, as defined herein, when they convey the same information but in different natural languages. In addition, each page of the correlated texts may contain substantially the same information, but in different languages, laid out in a similar format. Thus, titles, tables, character modifications, may all be present at substantially similar positions.
The invention can be of particular use in the production of multi-lingual product documentation. Many products are sold with sophisticated documentation, explaining exactly how the product operates. Sometimes, such documentation may run to many hundred pages and must be generated in many different natural languages. Consequently, the cost of producing such documentation becomes a significant part of the total cost for the product itself. Furthermore, the time incurred in generating such documentation may result in a significant delay being introduced between the date on which the product is available for market and the date on which the technical manual is available to accompany the product. This often results in badly written and badly translated documentation, in an attempt to get the product to market early. Alternatively, further delay may result in potential sales being lost to competitors.
Many organisations have produced a large number of manuals, in which each translation is correlated to the original text. Thus, for each translation, the same WP system has been used as for the original and the same formatting has been used. Thus, each page of the manual in a first language looks, at first sight, similar to the equivalent page in the equivalent manual of a different language, in that headings, paragraphs and drawings etc. all appear in more or less the same place. However, the actual words within the text are different, in accordance with a particular natural language being used. It is therefore apparent that a great deal of source material is often available which, employing the present invention, may be used to produce aligned corpora which are immediately useable by unskilled operators. Furthermore, such a procedure will produce corpora that are consistent, thereby ensuring that all machines using copies of the same corpus are equivalent.
In certain embodiments, each word processor (WP) file is converted into an intermediate file, in which data relating to specific WP commands, unique to a particular WP system, are converted into a general identifiable form. Thereafter, reference is made to the identifiable WP commands, as a means of aligning the text held between the layout commands, which have been placed into identifiable form.
In a preferred embodiment, different WP commands for different WP systems are converted to similar identifiable commands in the respective intermediate file. It is then possible to identify alignable text by comparing files to identify differences between the files, wherein identifiable WP commands are not different between the files. Text portions identified as being different are written to the aligned corpus.
The invention yet further provides methods and apparatus for automatic translation, wherein information of alignments between text portions has been generated and stored by use of the invention as set forth above.

Aligning source texts of different natural languages to produce or add to an aligned corpus


To measure the characteristics of the surface coating of a moving metal strip, such as the alliation level of a coating including zinc and iron, the product is exposed to the radiation of a radiative source with a predetermined wavelength directed orthogonally to the surface of the product and the energy reflected by the surface is measured also in a direction orthogonal to the surface so as to overcome reflectivity variations due to the morphological characteristics of the surface and these operations are performed with the help of off-the-shelf optical fibres previously stripped at their free ends of their normal optical focusing accessories so that they can be brought as near to each other as possible and placed parallel to each other.

The present invention relates to determining the characteristics of a metallurgical product surface coating, in particular in-line, during the feed of the said product during manufacture. It more especially concerns the determining of galvanisation coating characteristics on steel strips in particular of type known under the trade name of GALVALLIA® sheets.
It is recalled here that these sheets are galvanised strips which are submitted to a heat treatment called alliation the aim of which is to provide these strips with improved surface characteristics for example allowing better paint adhesion or offering better stampability.
This alliation treatment is a heat treatment performed on the galvanised strip in an alliation tower with continuous galvanised strip feed. The object of the heat treatment is to ensure diffusion of the iron in the underlayer towards the surface to attain the objectives mentioned above. Typically, the alliation percentage is around 10% in iron concentration in relation to the zinc.
However, at present, the required alliation level, that is the relative extent of this diffusion, varies considerably from one user of the said strips to another and it is therefore important to be able to ensure during manufacture a continuous check of the alliation level. To meet the requests of the customers using the said coated strips, it is therefore necessary to modify during manufacture the adjustment parameters of the installation which performs the alliation heat treatment, that is, mainly the treatment temperature and time.
At present, no system can check in real time and in-line that the GALVALLIA® surface characteristics are those required. Indeed, it is known that alliation causes significant modifications to the surface properties in physicochemical and microgeometrical terms. At present, the alliation level is determined only in laboratory by measuring powdering, iron content or again by metallographical analysis enabling the coating surface crystals to be characterised.
Moreover, to obtain an evaluation as accurate as possible of the surface alliation, it is also necessary to overcome, during the measurement, morphological variations, such as micro-roughness or equivalent geometrical characteristics to ensure sensitivity only to the physicochemical variations of the surface. These physicochemical variations of the extreme surface in fact reflect the migration of the iron atoms of the coating to the extreme surface, which migration corresponds to the alliation level of the product.
As these checks are deferred in relation to production, defects can appear on the strips, such as, for example, powdering or separation of the coating due to an excessive alliation level.

Method and device for in-line measurement of characteristics of the surface coating of a metallurgy product


A method for stably cloning large arrays of repetitive DNA is described. The method is especially useful for the stable cloning of alpha satellite DNA.

The ability to clone large, repetitive DNA is an important step toward the development and construction of artificial chromosomes and gene therapy vehicles. In addition, stable cloning of repetitive DNA in microorganisms will be important for generating high resolution physical maps of mammalian chromosomes.
A variety of cloning systems have been developed to facilitate the cloning and propagation of foreign DNA in micro-organisms. Plasmids, bacteriophage, and yeast artificial chromosomes (YACs) have been used successfully to clone many mammalian DNA sequences. However, some types of repetitive DNA appear to be unstable in these vectors (Schalkwyk et al., Curr. Opin. Biotechnol. 6(1):37-43 (1995); Brutlag, D. et al., Cell 10:509-519 (1977)). This results in gaps in physical genomic maps and precludes the use of these vectors as a means of propagating repetitive DNA, and especially highly repetitive mammalian centromeric DNA.
Bacterial Artificial Chromosomes (BACs) have been constructed to allow the cloning of large DNA fragments in E. coli (O'Conner et al., Science 244 (4910):1307-12 (1989); Shizuya et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 89 (18):8794-7 (1992); Hosoda et al., Nucleic Acids Res. 18(13):3863-9 (1990)). While this system appears to be capable of stably propagating mammalian DNA up to at least 300 kb, relatively few independent mammalian DNA fragments have been analyzed (Shizuya et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 89 (18):8794-7 (1992)). In addition, the few fragments that have been tested for stability in the BAC vector, have not been extensively characterized with respect to the types of sequences present in each fragment. Thus, it is unknown whether these fragments contain repetitive DNA elements. In particular, it is clear, based on the restriction site and Southern analysis, that these fragments do not contain alpha satellite DNA.
Many mammalian DNA sequences appear stable in Yeast Artificial Chromosome (YAC) vectors, and yet certain repetitive elements of similar length are not (Neil et al., Nucleic Acids Res. 18(6):1421-8 (1990)). Knowledge of DNA properties derived from the YAC system thus suggests that large arrays of repeating units are inherently unstable, even under conditions where similar sized DNA composed of non-repeating DNA is stable.
Thus, the stability of large (greater than 20-100 kb) arrays of repeating units, such as alpha satellite DNA in a BAC vector, prior to the present invention, was not predictable with any reasonable certainty. In addition, even if some alpha satellite arrays were stable in the BAC vector, a priori, it was not clear whether arrays of sufficient size and sequence composition to facilitate centromere function could have been stably propagated in this vector.
The difficulties pertaining to cloning and propagating repeated DNA have been recognized in the literature. In addition, the literature clearly describes a correlation between the number of repeats and plasmid instability. Thus, when considering the relevance of a reference to the invention described and claimed herein, one must take into account the type of DNA repeat, its sequence composition, the size of the repeat unit, and the overall size of the repetitive array.
Hofer et al., Eur. J Biochem. 167:307-313 (1987), describe the cloning of a tandem array of up to 6 copies of a 69 bp repeat. Tandem arrays of 2 and 4 repeats were found to be stable. But arrays of 6 repeats were unstable in the plasmid used in this study. In addition to establishing a correlation between the size of the array and stability, the authors note that "once the hexameric gene has survived the obviously crucial phase of transformation, it is stably replicated in recA, rec BC, and rec+hosts." This indicates that in addition to instability caused by repetitive DNA per se in the plasmid vector, the transformation into E. coli of plasmids containing direct repeats also results in instability of the tandem arrays.
Prior to the inventors' disclosure herein, there were no definitive data regarding plasmid instability resulting from transformation of large tandem arrays of sizes similar to those described in this application. Therefore, it was impossible to predict how unstable such arrays would be during the transformation process. Thus, aside from the lack of evidence pertaining to the feasibility of cloning large arrays into plasmid vectors, the study described in Hofer et al. suggests that regardless of the vector used, it would not have been possible to introduce intact large tandem arrays into E. coli without promoting recombination.
Sinden et al., Genetics 129:991-1005 (1991), discuss the structural instability of plasmids containing indirect repeats. As with direct repeats, this study and others show that there is a correlation between the size of the indirect repeat and the degree of structural instability. Sinden et al. note that "it is difficult to maintain inverted repeats greater than 150 bp in length in plasmid DNA in E. coli" and that "the inability to clone long inverted repeats and the genetic instability associated with inverted repeats have been reported by a large number of investigators."
Thus, these studies show that different classes of repetitive DNA have different stability properties, and that the properties correlate with the size of the repetitive array (and the number of repeat unit copies). In each case, instability was observed with tandem array sizes far smaller than those described in this application.
Leonhardt et al., Gene 103:107-111 (1991), analyze the stability of a plasmid that contains direct and indirect repeats. However, in contrast to the repetitive arrays disclosed and claimed herein, the direct repeats described were small (on the order of 7 bp) and present in only 2 copies. These repeats were not located in tandem on the plasmid. They were separated by intervening plasmid DNA sequences, often several kb in length. As with the direct repeats, the indirect repeats were separated by a large amount of intervening plasmid sequence. Thus, the plasmids used in this study do not provide any indication that large repetitive arrays could be cloned using plasmids.

Method for stably cloning large repeating DNA sequences