When growing a silicon single crystal free of grown-in defects based on the CZ method, the crystal is pulled out at a critical pulling rate at which a ring-shaped OSF occurrence region vanishes in a center portion of the crystal by using a hot zone structure in which a temperature gradient Gc in a center portion of the crystal is equal to or greater than a temperature gradient Ge in a peripheral portion of the crystal, while supplying an inert gas including hydrogen to an interior of a pulling furnace. The critical pulling rate at which the ring-shaped OSF occurrence region vanishes in the center portion of the crystal is increased, and single crystals free of grown-in defects in which dislocation clusters and COPs can be grown by pulling at a pulling rate higher than that of the prior art.

A rotational pulling method known as the CZ method is representative of methods for manufacturing silicon single crystals which are materials for silicon wafers. As is well known, in the manufacture of silicon single crystals by the CZ method, a seed crystal is immersed in a silicon melt formed in a quartz crucible, and while rotating both the crucible and the seed crystal, the seed crystal is pulled upward so as to grow a silicon single crystal below the seed crystal.
It is known that in silicon single crystals manufactured in this way, there occur various types of grown-in defects which cause problems for device formation processes. Two representative types of grown-in defects are dislocation clusters which occur in interstitial-silicon-dominant regions, and COPs or voids which occur in vacancy-dominant regions. Between these two regions is a ring-shaped OSF occurrence region. There are also vacancy type and interstitial-silicon type grown-in-defect-free regions. A representative defect distribution in a crystal radial direction is explained below using FIG. 1.
A ring-shaped OSF occurrence region exists in a ring shape at an intermediate position in a crystal radial direction. On an inside of the ring-shaped OSF occurrence region there is a COP or void occurrence region with a defect-free region intervening therebetween. On the other hand, on an outside of the ring-shaped OSF occurrence region there is a dislocation cluster occurrence region with an oxygen precipitation promotion region and an oxygen precipitation suppression region intervening therebetween. The oxygen precipitation promotion region is the vacancy type grown-in-defect-free region; the oxygen precipitation suppression region is the interstitial-silicon type grown-in-defect-free region.
Such a defect distribution is known to be controlled by the following two factors. The one is a pulling rate for the crystal; the other is a temperature distribution within the crystal immediately after solidification. Effects of the pulling rate for the crystal is explained as follows, using FIG. 2.
FIG. 2 shows a defect distribution in a vertical cross-section of a single crystal which is grown while gradually lowering the pulling rate. In a stage in which the pulling rate is higher, the ring-shaped OSF occurrence region is positioned in an outer circumference of the crystal. Therefore, in a wafer cut from a single crystal grown at a high pulling rate, COPs occur substantially in the entire radial direction of the crystal. As the pulling rate is lowered, the ring-shaped OSF occurrence region gradually moves toward a center portion of the crystal, and finally vanishes in the center portion of the crystal. Therefore, in a wafer cut from a single crystal grown at a low pulling rate, dislocation clusters occur substantially in the entire radial direction of the crystal. It should be noted that the crystal lateral cross-section of FIG. 1 corresponds to a cross-sectional view at position A in FIG. 2.
Both of dislocation clusters and COPs are harmful grown-in defects which worsen device characteristics, however COPs arc comparatively less harmful. Due to this and demands related to productivity, in the prior art, crystals are mainly grown at a high pulling rate for making the OSF occurrence region be situated on the outer circumference of the wafer or removing the OSF occurrence region outside the crystal, as indicated by a position at D or above in FIG. 2.
However, with marked trend toward miniaturization of integrated circuits in recent years, it begins to be noticed that COPs are harmful as well, and the need arises to prevent the occurrence of COPs as well as dislocation clusters. Technologies devised in response to this demand are to grow defect-free crystals by controlling point defect distributions, as described in Japanese Patent Application, First Publication No. 2001-220289 and Japanese Patent Application, First Publication No. 2002-187794.
Growth of crystals free of grown-in defects described in Japanese Patent Application, First Publication No. 2001-220289 and Japanese Patent Application, First Publication No. 2002-187794 utilize the phenomenon in which the defect distribution is controlled through the temperature distribution within the crystal immediately after solidification as described above.
That is, in a normal CZ method for pulling the crystal, beat is radiated from an outer surface immediately after solidification. Consequently, the axial-direction temperature gradient within the crystal immediately after solidification is such that a temperature gradient Ge in a peripheral portion tends to be greater than a temperature gradient Gc in a center portion. As a result, in a vertical cross-section of a single crystal grown by gradually lowering the pulling rate, the defect distribution, in particular the ring-shaped OSF occurrence region has a V-shape of convex downward with a pointed tip. As a result, even if the crystal is pulled at or in a vicinity of a critical pulling rate at which the ring-shaped OSF occurrence region vanishes in the center portion of the crystal, the grown-in-defect-free region is merely limited to the center portion of the crystal, and defects cannot be eliminated from all portions in the crystal radial direction.
It should be noted that while dislocation clusters and COPs do not occur in the defect-free region on the inside of the ring-shaped OSF occurrence region, dislocation clusters and COPs also do not occur in the ring-shaped OSF occurrence region itself, nor in the oxygen precipitation promotion region and the oxygen precipitation suppression region on the outer side. That is, these four regions are all grown-in-defect-free regions.
On the other hand, in the case in which the temperature of the crystal immediately after solidification, especially the outer surface thereof, is maintained in a positive manner by an improvement of a hot-zone structure in a crystal pulling furnace, the temperature gradient Gc in the center portion can be made equal to or greater than the temperature gradient Ge in the peripheral portion. Then in the vertical cross-section of a single crystal grown by gradually reducing the pulling rate, the shape of the OSF occurrence region still remains convex downward while the tip thereof being flattened, thereby the shape becomes a U-shape as shown in FIG. 3. In this state, by adopting pulling conditions to be at or in the vicinity of the critical pulling rate at which the OSF occurrence region vanishes in the center portion of the crystal, the entire portion in the crystal radial direction can be made defect-free. In FIG. 3, these conditions for pulling the crystal are within the B-C range.
Other technology for growth of crystals free of grown-in defects is hydrogen doping during pulling the crystal, as described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. 2000-281491 and Japanese Patent Application, First Publication No. 2001-335396. In these technologies, small amounts of hydrogen gas are intermixed with an inert gas fed into the pulling furnace, and the formation of vacancy defects can be suppressed as is the case with nitrogen doping of the silicon melt.
In the technologies to grow crystals free of grown-in defects by controlling the defect distribution, such as those disclosed in Japanese Patent Application, First Publication No. 2001-220289 and Japanese Patent Application, First Publication No. 2002-187794, it is necessary to choose, as the pulling conditions, low-pulling-rate conditions to be at or in the vicinity of the critical pulling rate at which the OSF occurrence region vanishes in the center portion of the crystal. Consequently, reduced productivity cannot be avoided.
In addition, a range of pulling rate (the margin; the range B-C in FIG. 3) for growing crystals free of grown-in defects is narrow, and it is difficult to grow a crystal free of grown-in defects stably. Consequently, it is difficult to obtain a crystal free of grown-in defects throughout the entire length of the crystal, thereby the production yield for the crystals free of grown-in defects is reduced. Hence there has been the problem that manufacturing costs of the crystals free of grown-in defects cannot easily be lowered. In particular, as the crystal diameter is increased to 200 mm and 300 mm, it becomes difficult to satisfy a condition of Ge≦Gc, and the range of pulling rate B-C for growing defect-free crystals tends to be even more narrow. Hence some breakthrough technique to circumvent such problems has been sought,
On the other hand, SOI (Silicon on Insulator) substrates enable semiconductor devices which operate faster and consume less power, and are hereafter expected to be in greater demand.
Major methods for manufacturing the SOI substrates include a bonding method in which a wafer with an oxide film is bonded to a normal wafer, and a SIMOX (Separation by Implanted Oxygen) method in which a buried oxide (BOX) layer is formed by implanting oxygen ions following by oxidation at a high temperature of 1300° C. or higher.
MOSFETs (Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistors) formed on SOI layers in these SOI substrate have high radiation resistance and high latch-up resistance, and in addition to exhibiting high reliability, short-channel effects accompanying device miniaturization can be suppressed, and a low power consumption can be realized. Hence SOI substrates are regarded as high-functionality semiconductor substrates for use in next-generation MOS LSI devices. However, manufacturing processes are complex compared with those for ordinary wafers, and manufacturing costs tend to be higher, leading to strong demands for low-cost technologies.
The SIMOX substrate must be free of COPs inherently. That is, in the case in which oxygen ions are implanted in a substrate containing COPs, because COP areas are cavities, oxygen ions are scattered or arc implanted more deeply than in normal areas. Thereby, when the SIMOX substrate is annealed, irregularities Occur in the buried oxide (BOX) layer. For this reason, wafers are used for SIMOX substrates in which COPs are eliminated from a vicinity of a surface by an epitaxial growth or a high-temperature treatment in a hydrogen or argon atmosphere. But because the epitaxial growth, the high-temperature annealing, or some other additional processes are needed, there is a problem of high manufacturing costs.
With regard to the bonded SOI substrate, in the case in which COPs exist in a substrate positioned on an active-layer side, when manufacturing a thin film bonded SOI wafer having an active layer of 0.1 μm or less, areas containing COPs in the active layer becomes thinner. Thereby, the areas become pinholes which penetrate partially or completely through to the BOX layer, resulting in so-called HF defects and other faults. Consequently, it is necessary to use a wafer not containing COPs as the substrate on the active-layer side. Of course the same holds for a thick film bonded SOI having an active layer of greater than 0.1 μm, and in the case in which the active layer contains COPs, gate oxide integrity and device resistance separation become faulty. Therefore it is desirable that a wafer free of COPs be used as the active-layer side substrate.
From the above, because crystals free of grown-in defects are inherently free of COPs, when used as SOI substrates, there is no need for such additional processes as the epitaxial growth and the high-temperature annealing. Therefore, such crystals are promising for use as SOI substrates for which lower costs are demanded. However as explained above, the crystal free of grown-in defects is grown by pulling at a lower rate than that in the normal CZ method, and the range of pulling rate (margin) for growing crystals free of grown-in defects is exceedingly narrow. Therefore, production yields are low, and consequently it is difficult to reduce manufacturing costs of the crystal.
In order to solve these problems, it is necessary to raise the pulling rate so as to improve productivity, and further it is necessary to expand the range of pulling rate (margin) for growing crystals free of grown-in defects so as to stabilize crystal growth and improve production yields.
An object of the present invention is to provide a method for growing a silicon single crystal by which crystals free of grown-in defects are stably grown with good productivity in order to provide wafers that can be used as mirror-polished wafers or SOI wafers. Another object of the present invention is to provide a mirror-polished silicon wafer or a SOI wafer manufactured using such a method for growing a silicon single crystal and having high quality and low manufacturing costs, and methods for manufacturing the same.

Silicon wafer, SOI substrate, method for growing silicon single crystal, method for manufacturing silicon wafer, and method for manufacturing SOI substrate


A comb is formed from two half-comb sections laid one on top of the other. Each half of the comb includes every other tooth of the full comb, such that when the two halves are mated, the two sets of teeth will be interleaved to form a comb having narrow inter-tooth gaps. This allows each of the half-comb blanks to be directly stamped from a sheet material. Where it is desired to electrically insulate adjacent teeth from one another, a non-conductive separator is interposed between the two half-comb sections during assembly.

When forming a conventional comb, such as those used in normal grooming of human hair, it is conventional to mold the entire comb in a single piece from some relatively hard material such as plastic or metal. With sizable gaps between teeth of a conventional comb, it is possible to use a conventional mold for the entire comb and quickly and efficiently mass-produce them.
However, certain specialty combs have structural and manufacturing requirements that make it impossible to use a conventional molding procedure for manufacture. One type of these specialty combs is the fine tooth comb used in the removal of lice from hair. The head louse is an external parasite known to occasionally infest the hair of a mammal, including humans. Removal of adult lice from hair can be a routine procedure requiring perhaps only a washing of the infested hair with special shampoo. However, these parasites glue their eggs, or "nits," directly to individual shafts of hair, making their removal more difficult. It is important that the lice and nits be removed as soon as possible once an infestation is discovered. In addition to the uncomfortable itching caused by bites of the lice, they may transmit pathogens that cause various infectious diseases, such as typhus. It is also important that all the nits be removed, as one remaining nit can begin a new infestation.
The most common method of removing nits from hair is to use a fine tooth comb having gaps between its teeth approximating the average thickness of a human hair. Thus, as the comb is run through the hair, the teeth will straddle the hair shafts and physically remove the nits from each individual strand.
Unfortunately, since the gaps between the teeth of such combs should be on the order of 0.004 to 0.01 inch, it becomes impractical to create a mold that can form these teeth in a quick or efficient process. Alternatively, machining a comb to this specification requires highly accurate equipment. One known alternate method of forming fine tooth combs is to use a multilaminate structure, such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,671,303. In this method, each tooth is stamped individually, integral with a corresponding body portion. A plurality of these tooth/body laminates are then stacked side by side and connected with a connecting rod or stake running through the body portions. While this method can produce a comb with extremely narrow inter-tooth gaps, it involves a large number of production steps and assembly parts, as well as complicated machinery to stamp, stack and connect the teeth.
It is known in the art of louse and nit removal that electric fields or the application of electric current near or through the nits can aid in the demise and removal of lice and nits. It is also known that the electric energy can be applied through a comb by having adjacent teeth electrically insulated from each other and connected to opposite electric poles. However, the conventional molded or stacked laminate version of a fine tooth comb does not lend itself easily to electrification, as either the entire comb or all of the adjacent laminates are formed of metal and thus are electrically connected.
It is thus an object of the invention to provide a comb structure having a minimum of assembly parts and a method for manufacturing the comb having a minimum of assembly steps.
It is a further object of the invention that the comb be easily adapted to accommodate electrical connection.
It is another object of the invention that the comb be simple and cost effective to manufacture.

Comb structure and method of making the same


A method of reducing an immune response to a recombinant adenovirus which involves co-administration of the recombinant adenovirus and a selected immune modulator. The immune modulator functions by inhibiting the formation of neutralizing antibodies and/or reducing CTL killing of the virally infected cells. The method additionally encompasses the step of re-administering the recombinant adenovirus.

Recombinant adenoviruses have emerged as attractive vehicles for in vivo gene transfer to a wide variety of cell types. The first generation vectors, which are rendered replication defective by deletion of sequences spanning E1, are capable of highly efficient in vivo gene transfer into nondividing target cells M. Kay et al, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 91:2353 (1994); S. Ishibashi et al, J. Clin. Invest., 92:883 (1993); B. Quinn et al, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 89:2581 (1992); M. Rosenfeld et al, Cell, 68:143 (1992); and R. Simon et al, Hum. Gene Thera., 4:771 (1993)!.
Immune responses of the recipient to the viral vector, the transgene carried by the vector, and the virus infected cells have emerged as recurring problems in the initial application of this technology to animals and humans. In virtually all models, expression of the transgene is transient and associated with the development of pathology at the site of gene transfer M. Kay et al, cited above; S. Ishibashi et al, cited above; B. Quinn et al, cited above; M. Rosenfeld et al, cited above; and R. Simon et al, cited above!. The transient nature of the effect of recombinant adenoviruses in most situations is the development of cellular immune responses to the virus-infected cells and their elimination. Antigenic targets for immune mediated clearance are viral proteins expressed from the recombinant viral genome and/or the product of the transgene. Studies in a variety of models suggest that first generation vectors express viral proteins in addition to the transgene which collectively activate cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) leading to the destruction of the virus infected cells Y. Dai et al, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, (in press); Y. Yang et al, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 91:4407 (1994); and Y. Yang et al, Immunity, 1:433 (1994)!. This problem is potentially overcome through the development of second generation recombinant viruses Y. Yang et al, Nat. Genet., 7:363 (1994); and J. Engelhardt et al, Hum. Gene Thera., 5:1217 (1994)!.
The other limitation of recombinant adenoviruses for gene therapy has been the difficulty in obtaining detectable gene transfer upon a second administration of virus. This limitation is particularly problematic in the treatment of chronic diseases, such as cystic fibrosis, that will require repeated therapies to obtain life-long genetic reconstitution. Diminished gene transfer following a second therapy has been demonstrated in a wide variety of animal models following intravenous or intratracheal delivery of virus T. Smith et al, Gene Thera., 5:397 (1993); S. Yei et al, Gene Thera., 1:192 (1994); K. Kozarsky et al, J. Biol. Chem., 269:13695 (1994)!. In each case, resistance to repeat gene therapy was associated with the development of neutralizing anti-adenovirus antibody.
There remains a need in the art for a method of improving the efficiency of gene transfer during repeated administrations of viral gene therapy.

Method of reducing an immune response to a recombinant adenovirus

The Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania

The Wistar Institute of Anatomy & Biology


Methods and systems for sorting particles entrained in a gaseous stream are disclosed. A representative system, among others, includes a particle scanner, a sorter, which is in pneumatic communication with the particle scanner, and a controller, which is in electrical communication with the particle scanner and sorter. The particle scanner is adapted to receive a gaseous stream and measure a characteristic of a particle entrained in the gaseous stream. The controller is adapted to classify the scanned particle according to the measured characteristic of the particle. The sorter includes an electrically controlled valve. Responsive to the particle being classified as belonging to a first category, the controller signals the valve to deflect the trajectory of the particle.

1. Technical Field
The present invention is generally related to the sorting of particles.
2. Description of the Related Art
The collection and monitoring of particles separated from a gas is needed in many diverse situations. Some of these situations include defense against biological warfare agents in battlefield and other military applications; and protecting the general public against: airborne pathogenic agents released by terrorist groups; genetically modified material used in biotechnology applications; infectious organisms contaminating air in hospitals, research labs, public buildings, and confined spaces such as subway systems; and pollutant aerosols that damage the respiratory system. The collection and measurement of infectious organisms are of interest to a wide community of public health officials because they can cause infectious diseases or chemical damage to the respiratory system. These particles are also of concern to the Department of Defense (DOD) because of their possible use in biological warfare and terrorism.
Air quality monitoring is also an important public health need. As the world's population rises and world travel becomes increasingly easy, the degree and pace at which communicable diseases can spread has resulted in significant concerns regarding potential epidemics from airborne disease transmission. Recirculation of air in buildings and other enclosed spaces such as subways and airplanes has lead to a potentially significant public health issues. Identification and control of infectious disease organisms in hospitals represents another major need. The Environmental Protection Agency cites indoor air pollution causing "sick building syndrome" as a major environmental problem in the United States.
Threats from microorganisms in the air as a result of natural phenomena or human-induced activities such as the examples discussed above cannot be adequately monitored and evaluated with current technology. Early warning, hazard recognition, personal protective equipment, exposure evaluation, and environmental monitoring are needed to prevent and reduce impacts from airborne infectious or genetically modified material. Near real-time monitoring is necessary to avoid exposure and to initiate early treatment to arrest disease progression.

Method and system for sorting particles sampled from air

Abstract: A representative method, among others, for sorting particles entrained in a gaseous stream can be broadly summarized by the following steps: receiving particles in a gaseous stream; classifying a particle from the received stream of particles according to a property of the particle, wherein the particle is classified as belong to one category of a plurality of categories, and wherein the received particle has an initial trajectory; and responsive to the particle being classified as belonging to a first category of the plurality of categories, altering the trajectory of the particle.

The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Army


A charge transfer device has a transfer section for transferring a signal charge along a transfer channel, and a pickup section connected to the transfer section for converting the signal charge received from the transfer section to a voltage signal, both sections being formed on a substrate. The transfer channel is bent generally at a right angle between the transfer section and the pickup section.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a charge transfer device (CTD) for use in solid-state image pickup devices, delay lines, and the like.
2. Description of the Prior Art
An example of currently available charge transfer devices (CTD) for use in a solid-state image pickup device is shown in FIG. 3. This charge transfer device has a transfer section 101, a pickup section 102, and an amplification section 103, all provided on a substrate 100. Transfer gates G1-G4 at the stages of the transfer section 101 are driven by two-phase clocks .phi..sub.1, .phi..sub.2 applied thereto alternately from external and transfer a signal charge along a linear transfer channel X--X' toward the pickup section 102. In the figure, the hatched portions represent barrier regions which function to determine the direction in which the signal charge is transferred. The signal charge deriving from the transfer section 101 passes under an output gate OG, to which a DC voltage Vog is being applied, and enters a floating diode FD, which constitutes the pickup section 102. Then a potential change of the floating diode FD corresponding to an amount of the signal charge is transferred to the amplification section 103. The amplification section 103, made up of MOS transistors Tr.sub.1, Tr.sub.2, Tr.sub.3, and Tr.sub.4 provided between the power supply OD and ground, amplifies the voltage signal coming from the floating diode FD and provides its output signal OS to a connecting point of the MOS transistors Tr.sub.2 and Tr.sub.3. It is noted that the floating diode FD is periodically restored to a specified reset potential V.sub.RD when a clock .phi.r (to be applied synchronously with the two-phase clocks .phi..sub.1, .phi..sub.2) is applied to a reset gate RG from external of the device.
As is known, to enhance the charge-to-voltage conversion factor of the floating diode FD, it is desirable to reduce the area of the floating diode FD to thereby reduce its electrostatic capacity. In the conventional device, the width of the transfer channel X--X' is narrowed below the output gate OG connecting the transfer section 101 and the pickup section 102, and the area of the floating diode FD is reduced accordingly.
However, the conventional charge transfer device has the following drawback. That is, since the width of the linear transfer channel X--X' is merely narrowed, there arises a potential barrier 20 slanted in such a direction as will obstruct the transfer, to the width-narrowed point (i.e., below the output gate OG), as shown in FIG. 2 (a) during the charge transfer. This potential barrier 20 causes some transfer fault and, especially when the charge transfer device is used in a solid-state image pickup device, adversely affects its characteristic for low illuminance.

Charge transfer device having a bent transfer channel


The presently described technology provides a method for simultaneously employing two or more coil architectures in an electromagnetic tracking system. The method includes providing a transmitter that includes three single-coil transmitters, one or more receivers each including three single-coil receivers, and a receiver array that includes a plurality of single-coil receivers; tracking one or more of the single-coil transmitters of the transmitter with respect to the receiver array; and simultaneously tracking one or more of the receivers with respect to the transmitter.

The present invention generally relates to an electromagnetic tracking system. In particular, the present invention relates to a system and method for the use of multiple coil architectures simultaneously in one electromagnetic ("EM") tracking system.
Medical practitioners, such as doctors, surgeons, and other medical professionals, often rely upon technology when performing a medical procedure, such as image-guided surgery ("IGS") or examination. An IGS system can provide positioning and/or orientation ("P&O") information for the medical instrument with respect to the patient or a reference coordinate system, for example. A medical practitioner can refer to the IGS system to ascertain the P&O of the medical instrument when the instrument is not within the practitioner's line of sight with regard to the patient's anatomy, or with respect to non-visual information relative to the patient. An IGS system can also aid in pre-surgical planning.
The IGS or navigation system allows the medical practitioner to visualize the patient's anatomy and track the P&O of the instrument. The medical practitioner can use the tracking system to determine when the instrument is positioned in a desired location or oriented in a particular direction. The medical practitioner can locate and operate on, or provide therapy to, a desired or injured area while avoiding other structures. Increased precision in locating medical instruments within a patient can provide for a less invasive medical procedure by facilitating improved control over smaller, flexible instruments having less impact on the patient. Improved control and precision with smaller, more refined instruments can also reduce risks associated with more invasive procedures such as open surgery.
In medical and surgical imaging, such as intraoperative or perioperative imaging, images are formed of a region of a patient's body. The images are used to aid in an ongoing procedure with a surgical tool or instrument applied to the patient and tracked in relation to a reference coordinate system formed from the images. Image-guided surgery is of a special utility in surgical procedures such as brain surgery and arthroscopic procedures on the knee, wrist, shoulder or spine, as well as certain types of angiography, cardiac procedures, interventional radiology and biopsies in which x-ray images can be taken to display, correct the P&O of, or otherwise navigate a tool or instrument involved in the procedure.
Generally, image-guided surgery systems operate with an image display which is positioned in a surgeon's field of view and which displays a few panels such as a selected MRI image and several x-ray or fluoroscopic views taken from different angles. In tool navigation systems, the display visible to the surgeon may show an image of a surgical tool, biopsy instrument, pedicle screw, probe or other device projected onto a fluoroscopic image, so that the surgeon can visualize the orientation of the surgical instrument in relation to the imaged patient anatomy. An appropriate reconstructed CT or MRI image, which may correspond to the tracked coordinates of the probe tip, can also be displayed.
Among the systems that have been proposed for effecting such displays, many rely on closely tracking the position and orientation of the surgical instrument in external coordinates. The various sets of coordinates can be defined by robotic mechanical links and encoders, or more usually, are defined by a fixed patient support, two or more receivers such as video cameras which can be fixed to the support, and a plurality of signaling elements attached to a guide or frame on the surgical instrument that enable the position and orientation of the tool with respect to the patient support and camera frame to be automatically determined by triangulation, so that various transformations between respective coordinates can be computed.
The highly accurate tracking technology found in navigation systems can also be used to track the P&O of items other than medical instruments in a variety of applications. That is, a tracking system can be used in other settings where the P&O of an object in an environment is difficult to accurately determine by direct or indirect inspection. For example, tracking technology can be used in forensic or security applications. Retail stores can use tracking technology to prevent theft of merchandise. In such cases, a passive transponder can be located on the merchandise. A transmitter can be strategically located within the retail facility. The transmitter emits an excitation signal at a frequency that is designed to produce a response from a transponder. When merchandise carrying a transponder is located within the transmission range of the transmitter, the transponder produces a response signal that is detected by a receiver. The receiver then determines the location of the transponder based upon characteristics of the response signal.
Tracking systems are also often used in virtual reality systems or simulators. Tracking systems can be used to monitor the position of a person in a simulated environment. A transponder or transponders can be located on a person or object. A transmitter emits an excitation signal and a transponder produces a response signal. A receiver detects the response signal. The signal emitted by the transponder can then be used to monitor the position of a person or object in a simulated environment.
Tracking systems can be optical, ultrasonic, inertial, or electromagnetic, for example. Electromagnetic tracking systems can employ coils as receivers and transmitters. In EM trackers, transmitter coil or coils emit quasi-static magnetic fields. In addition, receiver coil(s) measure these fields. From the field measurements and mathematical models of the coils, the position and orientation of the receiver with respect to the transmitter can be determined. Alternatively, the position and orientation of the transmitter with respect to the receiver is determined.
Typically, an electromagnetic tracking system is configured in an industry-standard coil architecture ("ISCA"). ISCA trackers use a trio of nearly-colocated, nearly-orthogonal, nearly-dipole coils for the transmitter and another trio of nearly-colocated, nearly-orthogonal, nearly-dipole coils for the receiver. Each coil trio is carefully characterized during manufacture to numerically express the precise value of the "nearly" in the previous sentence. From the field measurements and mathematical models of the coils, the position and orientation of the receiver with respect to the transmitter is determined. Alternatively, the position and orientation of the transmitter with respect to the receiver is determined. All six degrees of freedom (three of position and three of orientation) are tracked.
Single-coil EM trackers use a single dipole or nearly-dipole transmitter coil and an array of six or more receiver coils, or else use a single dipole or nearly-dipole receiver coil and an array of six or more transmitter coils. By electromagnetic reciprocity, these two arrangements function equivalently. The coils in the array can be dipole, nearly-dipole, or non-dipole coils (or combinations). The coils in the array are either precisely manufactured or precisely characterized during manufacture to obtain mathematical models of the coils in the array. The single coil does not need to be characterized. From the field measurements and mathematical models, the position and orientation of the single coil with respect to the array are tracked. Since the single coil is symmetrical about its roll axis, only five degrees of freedom (six of position and two of orientation) of position and orientation are tracked. The gain of the single coil can also be tracked.
The array of coils can be fabricated as a printed-circuit board or as an array of wound coils or as a combination of both. Arrangements of coils in the array vary widely in various implementations of single-coil EM trackers. The array can include electrically-conductive or ferromagnetic materials as part of the design of the array.
The big disadvantage of single-coil EM trackers is the need to find a place to put the array of coils. To work well, this array needs to be physically spread out in space.
Note that a multichannel single-coil EM tracker can track two or three single coils simultaneously. If two or more single coils are mounted rigidly with respect to each other with their axes pointed in different directions, and tracked as two or more single coils or as a group, all six degrees of freedom could be tracked for the set of single coils.
In current systems and methods employing a fluoroscope, an ISCA transmitter is rigidly mounted on the relevant anatomy of a patient to serve as a dynamic reference. One or two ISCA receivers are mounted on the x-ray image detector of a fluoroscope. The ISCA receivers are spaced away from the surface of the detector, to reduce the effects of field distortion.
When taking a fluoroscopic image, the detector can be tracked with respect to the ISCA transmitter in order to determine the position and orientation of the image intensifier with respect to the relevant anatomy of the patient.
One or two ISCA receivers are also mounted on a surgical instrument being navigated. The instrument ISCA receivers can then be tracked with respect to the ISCA transmitter in order to determine the position and orientation of the surgical instrument with respect to the relevant anatomy of the patient. The real-time position and orientation of the surgical instrument is then calculated and displayed on stored fluoroscopic images.
One major difficulty with current systems and methods is that the electrically-conductive materials and ferromagnetic materials in the fluoroscope detector distort the magnetic fields near the ISCA receivers mounted on the detector. ISCA EM trackers are very sensitive to such field distortion, leading to inaccurate tracking or failure to track at all in severe cases. However, in general, the detector can be far enough from the instrument that the detector does not significantly distort the fields at the ISCA receiver(s) mounted on the surgical instrument.
Current solutions to this difficult include the use of manufacturing-time-intensive robotic mapping procedures to correct the tracking errors. However, such systems and methods must still be used so as to avoid positions and orientations of instruments, patient anatomies, and/or detectors that result in failure to track. Therefore, users of such systems and methods end up with a situation where (1) the detector cannot be tracked in some desired positions and orientations, (2) the receivers stick out from the detector so as to avoid interference and, in doing so, get in the way of medical or imaging procedures, and/or (3) an expensive mapping manufacturing process is necessary.
Another current area of application of current systems and methods is the use of a surgical microscope for surgery inside a skull. Here, the fluoroscope described above is typically replaced with a microscope.
In this application, an ISCA transmitter is rigidly fixed to the skull to provide the dynamic reference to the patient's anatomy. One or two ISCA receivers are attached to the surgical instrument to track the position and orientation of the instrument with respect to the ISCA transmitter, and thus with respect to the patient's anatomy. The real-time position and orientation of the instrument are superimposed on pre-operative images of the patient's anatomy, similar to as described above.
One or two ISCA receivers are mounted on the surgical microscope to permit tracking the microscope's line-of-sight with respect to the ISCA transmitter, and thus with respect to the patient's anatomy.
The position of the microscope's focal point along the microscope's line-of-sight can be read from the microscope. This information permits the position of the microscope's focal point to be determined with respect to the ISCA transmitter, and thus with respect to the patient's anatomy.
The real-time position and orientation of the microscope's focal point and focal axis can then be superimposed on pre-operative images of the patient's anatomy. The real-time position and orientation of the instrument can also be superimposed on pre-operative images of the patient's anatomy.
In general, the microscope contains a lot of electrically-conductive material which distorts the magnetic fields near the microscope, therefore leading to tracking errors. To avoid inaccurate tracking, the ISCA receivers must be then mounted spaced away from the microscope. The "spaced-away" receivers can get in the way of the surgeon's work. On the other hand, the microscope is far enough away from the ISCA transmitter and from the ISCA receivers mounted on the surgical instrument so that the microscope does not significantly distort the magnetic fields measured by the ISCA receivers mounted on the surgical instrument.
Thus, a need exists for a navigation system and method employing a tracking technology that reduces the amount of interference experienced by trackers so as to increase the accuracy and precision of such a system and method and to decrease the amount of space required for such a system and method. Single-coil EM trackers are significantly less susceptible to the field-distorting effects of nearby materials than are ISCA EM trackers. Therefore, by converting systems and methods such as fluoroscope and microscope applications from ISCA EM tracking to single-coil EM tracking can reduce the space required and the amount of interference.
However, in order to perform such a conversion, one would need to first convert the ISCA transmitter to an ISCA receiver, then mount a new array of transmitter coils close to the working volume but out of the way of the surgeon. In addition, one would need to add tracker electronics to drive the new array of transmitters, add tracker electronics to receive the signals from the new receiver, and modify the tracker software to track each ISCA receiver as a group of single coils and to calculate the position and orientation (all six degrees of freedom) of each ISCA receiver. Yet, the big disadvantage of such a conversion is the need to find a place to put the array of transmitter coils. To work well, this array needs to be physically spread out in space.
Another solution could be to employ a system and method that permits tracking of ISCA trackers and single-coil trackers one at a time. In such a system and method, a user of the system would need to continually switch back and forth between tracking the position and orientation of the ISCA trackers and the position and orientation of the single-coil trackers. This back and forth switching would not permit continuous tracking of both the ISCA trackers and single-coil trackers and would contribute additional complexity to the system and method. Therefore, a need exists for a system and method that can simultaneously track multiple coil architectures.

System and method for employing multiple coil architectures simultaneously in one electromagnetic tracking system


An anvil for a cutting tool includes an anvil body. A curved passage extends from an inlet opening in the anvil body to an outlet opening in the anvil body. The anvil body can be made by an additive manufacturing process.

The present invention relates generally to anvils for cutting tools and, more particularly, to such anvils having fluid passages therein.
Cutting tools for modern metal cutting and other machining operations typically include toolholders with replaceable cutting inserts. The cutting inserts are typically made of much harder materials, such as sintered, cemented carbide, than the toolholders. The cutting inserts are typically clamped in recesses provided in the toolholders for the cutting inserts. Often, an anvil (sometimes referred to as a shim) is provided in the recess between the bottom surface of the recess and the bottom surface of the cutting insert. One purpose for providing an anvil is to position the cutting edge(s) of the cutting insert relative to the toolholder in a desired fashion.
Because of high temperatures generated during cutting operations, it is often desirable to provide cooling and/or lubricating fluid near the cutting edge of the cutting insert. It is also often desirable to provide fluid for removing of chips generated at the workpiece by the cutting operation. One technique for providing fluid for cooling, lubricating, and/or flushing is to position a nozzle above the cutting edge so that fluid can be directed at the cutting edge. This arrangement is disadvantageous in that it requires additional equipment and is difficult to use in applications involving small tools or workpieces. It is also largely limited to turning applications where the tool is not rotating, and is difficult or impossible to use in applications such as milling operations.
Another technique for providing fluid for cooling, lubricating, and/or flushing is to direct fluid through passages in the toolholder and, in some instances, through passages in the cutting insert. EP2946857A1 shows a turning tool holder and cutting insert with an anvil having a passage extending therethrough for introducing fluid to the cutting edge.
It is desirable to provide an anvil for a cutting tool with a passage having a complex geometry to facilitate providing fluid through the anvil. It is also desirable to be able to produce such an anvil by a simple, accurate technique.
According to an aspect of the present invention, an anvil for a cutting tool comprises an anvil body, wherein a curved passage extends from an inlet opening in the anvil body to an outlet opening in the anvil body.
A curved passage in an anvil provides options for providing fluid to cool and/or lubricate a cutting insert, and/or flush chips away from a workpiece that are not possible or are only possible via passages in the anvil having complex geometries when passages extend along straight lines. The anvil provides additional geometry options for providing a coolant/lubrication/flushing beam from below a cutting insert without advanced drilling or blind plugging operations.
The anvil itself is applicable to most cutting insert clamping systems. The anvil can be manufactured at different thicknesses, depending on what is most suitable for the cutting insert shape. The anvil can, if desired, extend fully through the cutting toolholder to the bottom surface of the toolholder.
According to another aspect of the invention, the anvil comprises a top surface, a bottom surface, and a side surface between the top surface and the bottom surface, the side surface comprising at least three side surface portions and at least three corner portions, each corner portion of the at least three corner portions being disposed between respective pairs of side surface portions of the at least three side surface portions, at least one corner portion of the at least three corner portions comprising a surface that extends radially outward from a central axis of the anvil relative to extensions of a respective pair of side surface portions of the at least three side surface portions, the central axis extending between the top surface and the bottom surface. By providing such a structure, a limited portion of the top surface of the anvil can extend past a bottom surface of the cutting insert to define an exposed area and the outlet opening can be provided in the exposed area, facilitating directing fluid toward the cutting edge.
In accordance with yet another aspect of the invention, a method for making an anvil for a cutting tool comprises forming an anvil body having a curved passage that extends from an inlet opening in the anvil body to an outlet opening in the anvil body.
The method provides options for providing fluid to cool and/or lubricate a cutting insert, and/or flush chips away from a workpiece that are not possible or are only possible via passages in anvils having complex geometries when passages extend along straight lines. The method provides additional geometry options for providing a coolant/lubrication/flushing beam from below a cutting insert without advanced drilling or blind plugging operations.
In accordance with still a further aspect, the anvil body can be formed via an additive manufacturing process. By forming an anvil via an additive manufacturing process, an anvil having a complex shape, particularly a complex interior geometry such as including a curved passage, can be formed. Moreover, such an anvil can be formed at minimal cost.
In according with yet another aspect, a cutting tool including an anvil as described is provided.

Anvil with curved passage for cutting tool


A microwave amplifier includes an FET, a DC bias voltage supply circuit, and a beat smoothing circuit. The FET amplifies a microwave signal including a plurality of carrier frequencies that are different from each other. The DC bias voltage supply circuit supplies a DC bias voltage to the FET. The beat smoothing circuit removes a beat frequency generated on a line connected to the FET due to a difference among the plurality of carrier frequencies. The beat smoothing circuit is constituted by a microstrip line having a low impedance with respect to the beat frequency, and a capacitor for short-circuiting to ground the beat frequency output from the filter means.

The present invention relates to a microwave amplifier and, more particularly, to a microwave amplifier for amplifying a microwave signal including a plurality of different carrier frequencies.
In general, in a satellite communication system and the like, communication is performed by using a microwave (ultra-high frequency wave) modulated by an input signal having a comparatively low frequency. The transmitter of such a communication system employs a microwave amplifier using an active element, e.g., an FET (Field Effect Transistor), in order to amplify the microwave signal with a high gain.
Conventional, in such a microwave amplifier, a DC bias voltage is supplied through a .lambda.g/4 line (where .lambda.g is the wavelength on the microstrip line), having a high impedance with respect to the carrier frequency of the microwave signal, as a means for supplying an appropriate DC bias voltage to the active element.
FIGS. 9A and 9B show the circuit diagram and the mounted state, respectively, of the main part of a conventional microwave amplifier. Referring to FIG. 9A, one end of a .lambda.g/4 line 111 is connected to a drain D of an FET 110 a source S of which is grounded. The other end of the .lambda.g/4 line 111 is connected to a DC bias voltage V.sub.DS and grounded through a capacitor 115 that short-circuits an input signal. These elements are mounted with the layout shown in FIG. 9B.
While a high impedance is maintained with respect to the carrier frequency and the input signal frequency is short-circuited by a DC bias voltage supply circuit constituted by the .lambda.g/4 line 111 and capacitor 115, the DC bias voltage V.sub.DS is supplied to the drain D of the FET 110. This circuit arrangement is described in, e.g., Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 61-35006.
In this conventional microwave amplifier, since a pure resistance component R of the .lambda.g/4 line 111 for supplying the DC bias voltage V.sub.DS is very low, the voltage drop caused by the pure resistance component R can be decreased. However, a reactance component jX of the .lambda.g/4 line 111 is not considered. Accordingly, the low-frequency beat signal generated in the presence of a large number of carrier frequencies as the carrier frequencies of the microwave signal decreases the DC bias voltage V.sub.DS with the reactance component jX of the DC bias voltage supply circuit in this beat frequency band.
For example, when two carrier signals having different carrier frequencies f1 and f2 (f1<f2) are mixed, a beat signal having as its frequency the frequency difference f2-f1 of these two frequencies is generated. As a result, the DC bias current supplied to the drain D of the FET 110 also changes in accordance with the beat signal.
The .lambda.g/4 line 111 through which the DC bias current flows has an impedance of R+jX. The drain voltage V.sub.DS (t) of the FET 10 is represented by: EQU V.sub.DS (t)=V.sub.DS -I.sub.D (t).multidot.(R+jX)
where I.sub.D (t) is the current of the frequency component of the signal.
When the beat signal described above is generated, the drain voltage V.sub.DS (t) of the FET 110 is fluctuated by the current I.sub.D (t) of the frequency component, the pure resistance component R, and the reactance component jX. It has become apparent that this interferes with the bias voltage to fluctuate the DC bias voltage of the drain D, thereby causing distortion in the amplified output. In other words, the present inventors have found that the beat signal is the cause of distortion in the output.


A hanger holder provided for being carried on a conventional laundry basket and for carrying a plurality of conventional clothes hangers in such a manner as to not allow any of the hangers to fall therefrom, and such that the hangers retained thereby are prevented from becoming entangled one with another. The hanger holder of the present invention includes at least two loop members secured to each other or to a base. Each loop member is provided with a fastener for fastening the distal end thereof to either the proximal end of one of the loops, or to the base. In one embodiment, a first loop is provided for being mounted on a conventional laundry basket, a wire-type shelving unit, or a clothes rod in a closet. Second and third loops are provided for encircling either side of at least one conventional hanger, with the hook of each hanger being disposed between the second and third loops. In an alternate embodiment of the hanger holder of the present invention, first and second loop members are secured to a ring member. The distal ends of each loop member are received through an opening in the laundry basket, pulled over the basket and then received through the ring member. The distal end of each loop member is provided with a portion of a conventional fastener to facilitate securement to one or the other loop members.

In the field of laundry, it is well known that when one transports dirty laundry to be washed, hangers are also carried to hang up the clean clothes. However, due to their design, hangers are typically difficult to manage. Especially true for wire hangers, they become entangled with each other when they are grouped together and then released. For instance, many people place the hangers on top of their laundry basket when preparing to take the laundry into a laundry room, or for those without a laundry room, to a laundromat. When the basket is not full, the only problem may be the entanglement of the hangers. However, if the basket is full or overflowing, the hangers will also tend to fall.
In order to avoid these problems, many people throw the hangers into container such as a bag which is then either placed on top of the laundry basket or is carried separately. However, the same problem with entanglement occurs which in turn makes it difficult to retrieve a single hanger. When one hanger is pulled from the bag, several other hangers entangled with the one are also pulled from the bag, with the potential of all of the hangers eventually being pulled from the bag and the mass of hangers being set aside as would be in the case where the hangers are simply thrown on top of the laundry in the laundry basket.
Many devices have been produced for carrying articles which are hanging on conventional clothes hangers. Typical of the art are those devices disclosed in the following U.S. Patents:
______________________________________ U.S. Pat. No. Inventor(s) Issue Date ______________________________________ 2,609,104 K. F. Leach Sept. 2, 1952 3,907,118 J. Y. Pelavin Sept. 23, 1975 4,153,189 A. F. Hughes May 8, 1979 5,330,244 D. C. Rodwell July 19, 1994 5,509,632 L. D. Mesna, et al. Apr. 23, 1996 ______________________________________
Of these devices, those disclosed by Leach ('104) and Pelavin ('118) are provided for holding clothes carried by conventional clothes hangers and are configured to be received over a closet rod, an automobile window, or other horizontal support member. These devices are elongate members supported at one end such that the device hangs downwardly. Individual receptors are defined along the elongate member for carrying one conventional clothes hanger each by receipt of the hook portion of the hanger. In the '104 device, the receptors are defined by a number of loops formed by bending a rod, while the '118 device includes a chain, with receptors being defined by individual links in the chain. Thus, when each receptor is filled, and the elongate member is carried at one end by, for example, a closet rod, the clothes hanging on each clothes hanger are held in close proximity to each other. The purpose for such a device is to conserve room required to store the clothing held on the clothes hangers.
Hughes ('189) and Rodwell ('244) both disclose device for retaining a plurality of clothes hangers as a group. Each of these devices provides a hook to facilitate carrying the device with hangers mounted thereon, and further to facilitate engagement of a support device such as a closet rod or a hook provided in an automobile for the placement of a hanger. Each of these devices is provided for carrying a plurality of hangers by receiving the hook portions thereof, as in the previously described devices. However, there is no provision for preventing the hangers from moving in relation to each other. However, because these devices are intended for carrying clothes which are carried on hangers, the weight of the clothes and the separation of the hangers as a result of the clothes obviates such a need.
That device disclosed by Mesna, et al. ('632) is a hook configured to be mounted on an inclined surface such as an individual link in a chain link fence. The '632 device illustrates a conventional "S"-type hook where an upper hook is configured to be received over a particular structure and the lower hook is configured to receive at least one item. For purposes of the present invention, it would be envisioned that a number of hangers may be carried by placing the hook portion of the hanger over the lower hook of the device.
However, in each of the devices disclosed above, the hook portion of the hanger is being engaged. A resulting problem is empty hangers are being carried is that there is a tendency for the hangers to move with respect to each other. As the hangers begin to move, some may tend to become disengaged from the device and fall. As disclosed, it can be seen how each device provides a useful function while carrying clothes which are carried on hangers, but such devices lose their utility when carrying empty hangers.
Therefore, it is an object of this invention to provide a means for carrying a plurality of hangers such that the hangers are prevented from becoming entangled with each other.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a device for carrying clothes hangers such that they may not become dislodged therefrom.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a device for carrying clothes hangers in such a manner as to keep the hangers organized, while also providing a means for mounting the device on a clothes basket, therefore allowing for the transport of the hangers with laundry to make the hangers available to hang clean clothed thereon.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide such a device wherein hangers may be removed therefrom without creating entanglement between the hangers.


An adapter electronics circuit that converts signals from a pointing device into codes corresponding to keyboard cursor key actuations. In addition to the pointing device signals, the adapter electronics also accepts all key codes generated by the keyboard and passes them on unmodified to the computer. The adapter electronics plugs into the same terminal on the computer where the keyboard is normally connected. In this manner, all normal keyboard functions are available to the user as well as the use of the pointing device through the normal keyboard terminal on the microprocessor. Most commercially available application software accepts the cursor key codes presented to the computer.

Computers, including personal computers, have a wide application of uses and are increasingly in demand. Most of these computers have associated with them a display device and a keyboard input device. Further, pointing devices may be used with these computers. Such conventional pointing devices include devices known as a mouse, a track ball, a digitizing tablet, a light pen, a touch screen and the like. These pointing devices require the use of either a printed circuit board (hardware) that plugs into the internal bus of the computer (bus mouse) or the use of a serial, RS-232, port of the computer (serial mouse) making the serial port unavailable for other uses such as modems and the like. In other cases, the pointing devices require a software driver, always resident in the computer, to bridge the output from the bus electronics, in the case of a bus mouse, or from the serial port, in case of the serial mouse, to the application software. Special arrangements must be made in the application software to accept inputs from pointing devices. For this reason, not all application software allows the use of a pointing device.
The present invention overcomes the disadvantages of the prior art by providing adapter electronics coupled between the computer and the pointing device and the keyboard. While the invention can be applied to any computer system that has a display and keyboard input device with cursor keys (such as video terminals attached to mini and main frame computers), it will be discussed herein in relation to personal computers. The pointing device and the keyboard plug into the adapter electronics which, in turn, plugs into the personal computer through the normal keyboard port. Thus, no internal electronics is required, as is the case with a bus mouse, and the serial port is not used, as in the case with a serial mouse. No software driver is required, thereby avoiding the conflicts that sometime arise when additional resident software functions are loaded into the personal computer. Further, no special arrangements are necessary in the application software. If the application software accepts or reacts to cursor keys, as most commercially available software does, it can also use pointing devices with the present invention. No external power supply is required since the power is supplied by the personal computer.
The adapter electronics converts signals from the pointing device into codes corresponding to keyboard key actuations. In this manner, the user may perform all functions of the application software that can be done with keyboard cursor keys except with much greater convenience and speed. In addition to signals from the pointing device, the adapter electronics accepts key codes generated by the keyboard and passes them on unmodified to the personal computer. In this manner, all normal keyboard functions are available to the user. Most commercially available application software accepts cursor key codes generated by the keyboard.
There are two major types of pointing devices commercially available. The first type generates two pulse trains for each vertical and each horizontal motion. In accordance with standard practice, the phasing of the two pulse trains indicates direction of motion. These pulse trains are generated in response to motion of the pointing device. This type of pointing device is conventionally called a "bus mouse" since an electronics card, plugged into the bus of the personal computer, is necessary to accept the pointing device signals.
The second type of pointing device generates ASCII codes in serial, ASCII coded format using the RS-232 protocol. These codes are transmitted by the pointing device and indicate the distance moved in vertical and horizontal directions. The present invention is not dependent on the type of signals generated by the pointing device. Any type of signal generated by a pointing device can be converted into cursor key codes. The present invention converts the pointing device signals into cursor key codes corresponding to those generated by the keyboard.
Many conventional pointing devices have one or more switches which the user can activate to cause reactions in the software. The present invention can accept any number of switch closures, in addition to the pointing device signals, and generate codes to the personal computer as if certain keys or key combinations were pressed on the main keyboard itself. The same circuit that merges the key codes generated from the pointing device signals into the personal computer's keyboard input terminal is used to merge the key codes generated from switch closures on the pointing device.
Thus, the present invention relates to adapter electronics that converts pointing device signals into cursor key code signals corresponding to cursor key code signals generated by keyboard cursor key actuations and couples them selectively to a common terminal in the personal computer. It is, therefore, a major object of the present invention to provide adapter electronics for a personal computer system which allows a pointing device and a keyboard to be coupled to the personal computer through a common port.

Keycode/pointing device conversion adapter which converts mouse motion signals into cursor signals by activating keyboard cursor keys


A visual representation of performance data is displayed for a target application. The visual representation includes a visual indicator associated with a visual element of the target application. The visual indicator graphically illustrates a processing cost for the associated visual element with respect to other visual elements in the target application. The processing cost for the visual element includes a relative and/or absolute processing cost. The processing cost may be separated into different categories, such as animation, layout, rendering, and the like.

A graphical application is built using many different and distinct visual elements. During development of the graphical application, the application may be analyzed to determine which elements consume a disproportionate amount of processing time. A tool that analyzes the performance of an application is commonly referred to as a performance profiler.
Traditional performance profilers provide a set of call graphs of function names to developers. The call graphs provide the total time spent in each function. Developers then perform a trial and error process to determine how best to modify the application so that it executes more efficiently. Thus, the current technique for profiling applications is not ideal.
An adequate performance profiler for graphical applications has eluded those skilled in the art, until now.

Visual resource profiler for graphical applications


A diverter assembly configured to be connected to a faucet assembly that may be installed on a sink. The diverter assembly includes a diverter and a mechanism for dispensing fluid, such as a sprayer. The diverter assembly may be connected to a tube connected to an outlet of the faucet. The diverter assembly may redirect flow from the outlet of the faucet to the sprayer upon activation of the sprayer.

The present invention relates to diverters for use with faucets, and more particularly, to a diverter integrated with the side spray of a faucet.
In sinks, the general utilization of a diverter valve that is configured to allow a fluid, such as water, to be diverted from a delivery spout outlet of the faucet to a sprayer is known. The diverter valve is typically configured to automatically divert fluid flow to the sprayer upon activation of the sprayer. When the sprayer is deactivated, the diverter valve automatically diverts fluid flow back to the delivery spout outlet.
In the prior art, U.S. Pat. No. 7,077,153 discloses a side control faucet with a separate diverter valve which may be connected to an outlet of a valve body. The diverter valve may also be connected to both a spout and an auxiliary water dispensing device, such as a side sprayer or a water filtration dispenser. The separate diverter assembly allows for the use of a single valve body on both side spray and non-side spray type faucets.
A need exists for a diverter configured for use with a sprayer or water filtration device that may be added to a faucet assembly, even after the assembly has been installed in a sink.
The present disclosure provides a diverter assembly configured to be connected to a faucet assembly that may be installed on a sink. The diverter assembly includes a diverter and a mechanism for dispensing fluid, such as a sprayer. The diverter assembly may be connected to a tube connected to the outlet of the faucet. The diverter assembly may redirect flow from the outlet of the faucet to the sprayer upon activation of the sprayer.
In one illustrative embodiment of the present disclosure, a sprayer assembly is configured for use with a faucet including a delivery spout outlet and a valve assembly capable of selectively preventing the flow of fluid to the delivery spout outlet, wherein the sprayer assembly includes a sprayer including an inlet, a sprayer outlet and an actuator capable of selectively permitting the flow of fluid from the inlet to the sprayer outlet. A diverter includes a housing, an input, a first output and a second output. A valve outlet tube fluidly connects the valve assembly and the input of the diverter. A spout tube fluidly connects the delivery spout outlet and the second output of the diverter. A sprayer tube fluidly connects the sprayer and the first output of the diverter. The sprayer tube has an end fixed within the housing of the diverter.
In a further illustrative embodiment of the present disclosure, a method of attaching a dispenser assembly to a faucet is provided. The faucet includes a delivery spout outlet, a valve assembly configured to selectively permit flow of the fluid through the outlet, a first tube connecting the valve assembly to a liquid supply, and a second tube connecting the valve assembly to the outlet. The method includes the steps of disconnecting the second tube from between the valve assembly and the outlet, providing a dispenser assembly including an integral diverter having an input and an output, and fluidly coupling the second tube to one of the input and the output of the diverter. The method further includes the step of fluidly coupling a third tube to the other of the output and the input of the diverter, wherein the dispenser assembly further includes a dispenser mechanism capable of selectively dispensing the fluid connected to the diverter.
In another illustrative embodiment of the present disclosure a method of installing a sink includes the steps of adding a delivery spout and a valve assembly to the sink, and coupling a diverter assembly to the valve assembly. The method further includes the step of coupling a sprayer to the valve assembly, wherein the diverter assembly is integral with the sprayer, such that the step of coupling the diverter assembly occurs concurrently with the step of coupling the sprayer assembly.
In another illustrative embodiment of the present disclosure, a sprayer for use with a faucet includes a body defining an inlet and an outlet, a tube having opposing first and second ends, the first end fluidly coupled to the inlet, and a diverter integrally coupled to the second end of the tube.
Additional features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon consideration of the following detailed description of the illustrative embodiment exemplifying the best mode of carrying out the invention as presently perceived.
Corresponding reference characters indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views. The exemplifications set out herein illustrate embodiments of the invention, and such exemplifications are not to be construed as limiting the scope of the invention in any manner.


The present invention relates to a compound of Formula (I)/(II) or pharmaceutically acceptable salts thereof. In Formula (I), Rh, Rg, Rf, m, Re, Rd, Ra, Rb, and Rc are as defined in the description. The present invention further relates to a pharmaceutical composition comprising the compound of Formula (I)/(II) or pharmaceutically acceptable salts thereof, and use of the compound of Formula (I)/(II) or the pharmaceutical composition in the manufacture of a medicament for treating inflammations such as rheumatoid arthritis.

JAK kinases (JAKs) and their downstream effectors, signal transducer and activator of transcription (STATs), are essential for T cell signal transduction. The JAK family has four members, JAK1, JAK2, JAK3 and TYK2, which bind to cytokine receptors in pairs and participate in regulation of cytokine-mediated signal pathways. JAK3 paired with JAK1 binds to cytokine receptors containing γ-common chains, and is involved in signal transduction of interleukins IL-2, IL-4, IL-7, IL-9, IL-15, IL-21, etc. In contrast to other JAKs, which are broadly expressed, JAK3 is only expressed in the hematopoietic system. Therefore, it was generally believed that selective inhibition of JAK3 could achieve safe and effective immune effects.
Tofacitinib, an approved drug developed by Pfizer, which was initially developed as a selective JAK3 inhibitor, but was later discovered that Tofacitinib also had high inhibitory activity against JAK1 and was actually a non-selective JAKs inhibitor.

Although had similar inhibitory activity to Tofacitinib at the level of enzymatic activity, the highly selective JAK3 inhibitor NIBR3049, which was developed by Novartis, was significantly less potent than Tofacitinib in the aspect of intracellular inhibitory activity against phosphorylation of a downstream substrate STAT5.

During the recent years, highly selective JAK3 inhibitors have been obtained by covalently targeting Cys909, a unique cysteine residue of JAK3, including PF-06651600 developed by Pfizer, which is currently under Phase II clinical research.

There is still an urgent need in the art for a JAK3 selective inhibitor with high enzymatic activity and cellular activity.

PEKING UNIVERSITY SHENZHEN GRADUATE SCHOOL


A golf club support for raising a golf club grip above a golf green or fairway. The golf club support comprises an elongated support member having a distal end. The support member is hingedly attached to the golf club shaft intermediate the golf club head and the golf club grip. The support member is moveable between a first position, in which the distal end of the support member is remote from the golf club shaft so that the golf club grip is supported above the golf green or fairway, and a second position in which the distal end of the support member is proximate the golf club shaft. The golf club support includes a coiled spring for biasingly urging the support member to the second position when the golf club grip is not being supported above the golf green or fairway.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, in general, to a golf accessory, and in particular, to a golf club support for raising a golf club grip above a fairway or green.
2. Information Disclosure Statement
It is often desirable to rest a golf club on a golf fairway or green in a manner so that the grip of the golf club does not receive moisture or dirt from the fairway or green. One well known solution to this problem is to provide a golf club which includes a grip having a small hole adapted to receive the tip end of a tee. The tee is supported on the fairway or green and acts to raise the grip of the golf club above the fairway or green. Another well known solution is to provide a stand with collapsible legs and with an opening adapted to receive a portion of the shaft adjacent the head of the golf club. Other stands which lift the golf club grip above the fairway or green are also well known in the art. These prior art devices require a golfer to carry additional pieces of equipment, namely, the supports or stands, which are separate from the golf club itself. These additional pieces of equipment are inconvenient for the golfer to carry while playing golf and can easily be misplaced.
A preliminary patentability search in Class 273, subclasses 32B, 32E, 80R, 81D and 162R, produced the following patents, some of which may be relevant to the present invention: Horton, U.S. Pat. No. 5,492,230, issued Feb. 20, 1996; Wissman et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,401,019, issued Mar. 28, 1995; MacNeary, U.S. Pat. No. 5,377,977, issued Jan. 3, 1995; Vale, U.S. Pat. No. 5,171,015, issued Dec. 15, 1992; and Pace, U.S. Pat. No. 5,116,046, issued May 26, 1992. None of these references, either singly or in combination, disclose or suggest the present invention.

Golf club support for raising a golf club grip above fairway or green


Disclosed are nutraceutical formulations, and methods of using these nutraceutical formulations for the mitigation of chronic malnutrition in an infant, wherein the infant is breast feeding from a lactating mother ingesting one or more of said nutraceutical formulations in accordance with a prescribed regimen.

Chronic infant malnutrition (CIM) is a condition characterized by retardation in an infant's physical and cognitive development, and is commonly associated with extreme poverty conditions and inadequate caloric-proteic intake by both mothers and infants during pregnancy, lactation and the transition into solid food intake.
CIM still affects about 165 million of children under five years of age in low- and middle-income countries around the world. Medical science has documented that eighty percent of an infant's brain develops during intrauterine growth and the first 24 months of life; up to that time any retardation or under development is reversible if an adequate nutrition is provided to the infant. Early intervention during the first 10-12 months appears to be particularly important. The consequences of poor nutrition during this critical life stage are permanent intellectual impairment and physiological weakness, constituting in essence a sentence for a life of marginality, underperformance and food welfare.
There exist a need in the art to provide functional foods that provide sustainable nutrition to undernourished populations worldwide. Among other things, the present disclosure provides for the conversion of rice bran to its highest bioactive isolate derivatives in shelf-stable formulations, and for the nutraceutical formulations that mitigate malnutrition, including chronic infant malnutrition.

Mitigation of chronic infant malnutrition


Disclosed is a recording method including recording which includes attaching a color ink composition, which contains a coloring material, and a reaction solution, which includes an aggregating agent which aggregates components of the color ink composition, to a recording medium in no particular order, in which the color ink composition gives recorded matter with a glossiness at 60° of 60 to 100 when the color ink composition is individually attached to a recording medium with a glossiness at 60° of 80 to 100.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a recording method, a recording apparatus, and an ink set.
2. Related Art
Ink jet recording methods are able to record high definition images using a comparatively simple apparatus and have undergone rapid developments in various aspects. Among these, various studies have been carried out on the image quality and the like of the obtained recorded matter. For example, JP-A-2012-040750 discloses an image forming method which records a black image by ink jet recording by combining each of black, cyan, magenta, and yellow inks formed of an aqueous dispersion of polymer fine particles which contains at least water, a water-soluble organic solvent, a surfactant, and a pigment, and which carries out printing by combining each of the inks after adding a pre-treatment liquid which includes at least water, a water-soluble resin, and colloidal silica to the entirety of a recording medium with an object of providing an image forming method which is able to realize improved glossiness for black images, high image densities, and improved fixing properties, and to reduce feathering or color bleeding.
However, in the method described in JP-A-2012-040750, although it is possible to maintain the optical density of recorded matter in a case of using plain paper as a recording medium, there is a problem in that the optical density of the recorded matter will be inferior in a case of using coated paper, a film, or the like having glossiness as the recording medium.

Recording method, recording apparatus, and ink set


A white decorative part comprising: a substrate, a white hard coating formed on the substrate according to a dry plating process, and an outermost coating formed on the white hard coating according to a dry plating process, wherein the white hard coating is composed of either a nitride, a carbide, an oxide or a carbonitride of at least one element selected from among Ti, Hf, Zr, Ta, V, Cr and Al or Ti, and wherein the outermost coating is composed of an alloy of gold and any of nickel, tantalum, cobalt, palladium, silver, rhodium, titanium and iron, the proportion of the gold to the outermost coating ranging from 30 to 80 atomic % while the proportion of the nickel, tantalum, cobalt, palladium, silver, rhodium, titanium or iron to the outermost coating ranges to 20 to 70 atomic %. Further, a process for producing the white decorative part. This white decorative part has a uniform white tone of high lightness and warmth, is excellent in the adhesion between the outermost coating and the substrate and ensures an appearance of superior quality. When the outermost coating is composed of a gold-titanium or gold-iron alloy, the white decorative part is free from causing any metal allergy to the skin.

Conventionally, the white tone of the white decorative parts, for example, wristwatch parts, such as wristwatch bands, and spectacle frames is provided by forming a metal coating, such as a titanium carbide or platinum coating, as an outermost layer according to a wet or dry plating technique.
For example, in Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 60(1985)-141868, a wristwatch armoring part is proposed which comprises a metal substrate, a phosphorus-containing nickel layer formed on the surface of the metal substrate by plating so as to have a thickness of 10 to 200 .mu.m and hardened and a silvery white coating of titanium carbide or oxide formed on the surface of the nickel layer according to an ion plating process.
However, this titanium carbide coating formed on the surface of the wristwatch armoring part has a silvery white lacking both of lightness and warmth. Further, the production of this wristwatch armoring part has a drawback in that it is difficult to stably form a silvery white coating of titanium carbide or oxide.
The same applicant as in the present application proposed white personal ornaments (for example, spectacle frames and wristwatches) each comprising a surface layer of a platinum or platinum alloy coating in Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 3(1991)-120355.
However, this platinum or platinum alloy coating of each of the white personal ornaments has a gray white giving an impression of coldness to the lookers and lacking warmth.
Therefore, in the art, there is a demand for the developments of a white decorative part having an appearance of superiority quality which comprises an outermost coating having a white tone of high lightness and warmth formed according to a dry plating process, a white decorative part which can be mass-produced while stably maintaining the white tone of warmth and a process for producing the same.
Some types of metals may cause a skin rash attributed to metal allergy. Therefore, there is also a demand in the art for the developments of a white decorative part free from the danger of causing metal allergy and a process for producing the same.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a white decorative part having an appearance of superiority quality which comprises an outermost coating having a white tone of high lightness and warmth formed according to a dry plating process. Another object of the present invention is to provide a white decorative part having the above characteristics which does not cause dermatitis attributed to metal allergy.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a process for producing a white decorative part which can be mass-produced while stably maintaining the white tone of high lightness and warmth. Still a further object of the present invention is to provide a process for producing a white decorative part having the above characteristics which does not cause dermatitis attributed to metal allergy.

White decorative part and process for producing the same


The uniformity of the thickness of a deposition layer, generated by a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process, on a semiconductor wafer is enhanced by providing an undercoating on the deposition chamber. The undercoating is formed at a deposition rate significantly faster than the deposition rate of the material on the wafer. A thin precoat is typically formed over the undercoating. Another method of providing uniformity of thickness includes altering the temperature of the wafer or a series of wafers to alter the deposition rate. The alteration of the temperature of the wafer may include the use of a temperature ramp which increases or decreases the deposition temperature between two or more wafers in a series of wafers.

Over the last few decades, the electronics industry has undergone a revolution through the use of semiconductor technology to fabricate small, highly integrated electronic devices. The most common semiconductor technology presently used is silicon-based. A large variety of semiconductor devices have been manufactured for various applications in numerous disciplines. Such silicon-based semiconductor devices include metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) transistors, complimentary MOS (CMOS) transistors, bipolar transistors, bipolar CMOS (BiCMOS) transistors, etc.
Each of these semiconductor devices generally includes a semiconductor substrate on which a number of active devices are formed. The particular structure of a given active device can vary between device types. For example, in MOS transistors, an active device generally includes source and drain regions and a gate electrode which modulates current between the source and drain regions. In bipolar transistors, an active device generally includes a base, a collector, and an emitter.
Many semiconductor devices have multiple layers of material that are deposited over a substrate to form one or more portions of the device (e.g., the gate electrode in a MOS device), as well as conducting lines and vias to connect devices and dielectric layers to isolate portions of the device and prevent unwanted connections. These layers can be deposited by a variety of techniques including chemical vapor deposition (CVD), sputtering, and evaporation.
Dielectric layers form barriers to isolate the other layers of the semiconductor device. Oxide materials are commonly used in semiconductor devices to form these dielectric barriers. For example, an oxide layer may separate a gate electrode from a substrate and adjacent active regions in a MOS semiconductor device or an oxide layer may fill a trench in devices that utilize trench isolation techniques to separate active regions in a substrate. Oxide layers may also isolate metal conductive lines. These oxide layers are often made of silicon dioxide, but other dielectric materials are commonly used for the same purposes.
Thin oxide layers, typically less than a few hundred angstroms, may be formed by thermal oxidation of the silicon substrate. To form thicker oxide layers or other oxide layers that can not be formed by thermal oxidation, chemical vapor deposition (CVD) is typically used. CVD typically involves reacting at least two gaseous materials to form a solid oxide. One method for forming silicon dioxide layers includes reacting tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) with oxygen at about 400.degree. C. using well-known techniques such as Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition (PECVD).
Uniformity in deposition thickness between semiconductor wafers is a highly desirable property. Such uniformity often simplifies subsequent processing steps. However, the thickness of CVD layers can vary widely among devices prepared under similar conditions. This variation can create a corresponding variability in device parameters, which is typically undesirable. Thus, there is a need for methods of improving control and uniformity of deposition layer thickness.

Method of manufacturing a semiconductor device with improved control of deposition layer thickness


Embodiments of a multi-processor array are disclosed that may include a plurality of processors, and controllers. Each processor may include a plurality of processor ports and a sync adapter. Each sync adapter may include a plurality of adapter ports. Each controller may include a plurality of controller ports, and a configuration port. The plurality of processors and the plurality of controllers may be coupled together in an interspersed arrangement, and the controllers may be distinct from the processors. Each processor may be configured to send a synchronization signal through its adapter ports to one or more controllers, and to pause execution of program instructions while waiting for a response from the one or more controllers.

Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to computer systems and digital signal processors (DSP), and more particularly, to multi-processor systems.
Description of the Related Art
The present application relates to electronic systems, especially digital electronic systems such as computers, digital signal processors (DSP), and these systems embedded in larger systems. More particularly the concept relates to signal networks within digital electronic systems, and especially to synchronization signal networks within multi-processor arrays (MPAs). An MPA is composed of a group of processing elements (PE), supporting memories (SM), and a primary interconnection network (PIN) that supports high bandwidth data communication among the PEs and memories.
A PE has registers to buffer input data and output data, an instruction processing unit (IPU), and logic/circuitry for performing arithmetic and logic functions on the data plus a number of switches and ports to communicate with other parts of the system. The IPU fetches instructions from memory, decodes them, and sets appropriate control signals to move data in and out of the processor and to perform arithmetic and logical functions.
Memory for computers and DSP is organized in a hierarchy with fast memory at the top and slower but higher capacity memory at each step down the hierarchy. In an MPA, supporting memories at the top of the hierarchy are located adjacent to each PE. Each supporting memory may be specialized to hold only instructions or only data. Supporting memory for a particular PE may be private to that PE or shared with other PE.
MPAs were first constructed as arrays of digital integrated circuits (ICs) on circuit boards, each IC containing one processor, and the circuit board providing the data communication links to interconnect the processors. The continuing progress in very large scale integration (VLSI) technology based on complementary metal oxide silicon (CMOS) transistor circuits with finer fabrication dimensions has resulted in great increases in the densities of logic and memory circuits per silicon IC chip. Today, on a single IC chip, MPAs are made with a hundred or more processors and their supporting memories and interconnection networks. These MPA chips may be further interconnected on circuit boards to make larger systems.
PEs suitable for MPA may be more energy efficient than general purpose processors (GPP), simply because of the large number of PEs per MPA chip, and the extra energy becomes extra waste heat and its removal adds to chip packaging and operational costs.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Processing system with synchronization instruction


The invention relates to compositions, methods and kits useful in modulating bacterial cell DNA replication and for treating pathogenic bacterial.

The gram-negative bacterium Vibrio cholerae causes cholera, a severe and sometimes lethal diarrheal disease. The genomes of Vibrio cholerae and related Vibrio species are distributed between two circular chromosomes, chromosome I (chrI) and chromosome II (chrII). Origins of replication of the two Vibrio cholerae chromosomes are undefined, and mechanisms regulating DNA replication in Vibrio cholerae were unknown.
The family Vibrionaceae, of which V. cholerae is the most clinically important member, includes several other human and fish pathogens such as Vibrio parahaemolyticus, Vibrio vulnificus, Photobacterium damselae, and Listonella anguillarum, and is one of the predominant families of marine microorganisms (Kita-Tsukamoto et al., 1993). The genomes of V. cholerae and several related Vibrio spp. are distributed between two circular chromosomes (Trucksis et al. 1998 and Yamaichi et al. 1999). This genomic structure was originally believed to be unusual among bacteria; it is now clear that many bacterial genomes—including those of several pathogens (e.g., DelVecchio et al., 2002)—consist of more than one chromosome.
Escherichia coli, which contains a single circular chromosome, has been the primary model organism used to elucidate mechanisms that control bacterial chromosome replication. Replication in E. coli initiates from a specific region of the chromosome, termed oriC. This 258 bp stretch of DNA is capable of autonomous replication and contains recognition sites for several replication factors (Messer et al., 1996). DnaA, the initiator protein, binds to 9 bp repeats within oriC, termed DnaA boxes (Fuller et al., 1984). This interaction stimulates DNA duplex separation at an adjacent region consisting of three AT-rich repeats, resulting in the formation of an open complex (Bramhill et al., 1988). DnaA is also believed to recruit a helicase, DnaB, to the open complex to fully unwind the strands (Marszalek et al., 1994). Once this prepriming complex is formed, RNA primers are synthesized and replication proceeds bidirectionally around the chromosome.
Initiation of replication in E. coli is a highly regulated event that occurs only once per cell cycle (Boye et al., 2000). Several mechanisms are thought to control initiation in E. coli. First, the methylation state of oriC regulates initiation (Boye et al. 1990 and Marinus 1996). oriC contains eleven sites for methylation by the enzyme DNA adenine methyltransferase (Dam). Ordinarily, E. coli DNA is fully methylated. However, newly replicated oriC is hemimethylated and becomes transiently unavailable for reinitiation because it is sequestered by SeqA, a protein that preferentially binds to hemimethylated DNA (Lu et al., 1994). Second, the availability of DnaA (amount of protein per cell) controls initiation, because it is titrated by binding to several high-affinity sites around the chromosome and thereby made unavailable for binding to oriC (Kitagawa et al., 1996). Third, the initiation potential is controlled by regulation of the activity of DnaA (Katayama et al., 1998).
Virtually nothing is known regarding replication control in prokaryotic organisms with multiple chromosomes. The genome of V. cholerae is distributed unequally between its two chromosomes; chromosome I (chrI) is larger than chromosome II (chrII) and contains most but not all of the genes essential for V. cholerae growth (Heidelberg et al., 2000). The presence of essential genes on chrII indicates that it is a bona fide chromosome as opposed to a dispensable plasmid. Bioinformatic analyses revealed that the putative origin of replication of chr I has sequence similarity to the origin of replication of the E. coli chromosome, oriC (Heidelberg et al., 2000). In contrast, the putative origin of replication of chr II lacks similarity to known origins and was assigned solely on the basis of GC nucleotide skew analysis (Heidelberg et al., 2000).

Vibrionaceae replication factors and methods of use thereof