An apparatus and method measures the roughness or some other surface dimension by transmitting a beam of light through a grating member at an angle of incidence relative to the grating member. The grating member has a plurality of parallel opaque bars and adjacent transparent bars. The beam of light forms a multiple line shadow pattern on the surface below the grating member formed by the shadows of the opaque bars of the grating member. A camera records the multiple line shadow pattern, and the recorded pattern is superimposed on a plurality of parallel, equally spaced scan lines oriented perpendicular to the shadow lines. The distances between the points at which adjacent shadow lines cross each respective scan line are measured to determine the roughness or some other surface dimension.

Components manufactured by many manufacturing processes, such as casting, extrusion, injection molding, vapor deposition, hot pressing, rolling, etc., rarely have the surface quality desired in the finished product, regardless of the method used to define surface roughness. For example, fabricated ceramic and powder metallurgy parts typically have an rms surface roughness in the range of submillimeters to tens of micrometers (microns) upon completion of the initial forming steps. Considerable time and energy is typically expended in performing rough and then fine grinding on the surfaces of such parts to produce the near-final shapes, and also to ensure a degree of surface roughness that is either sufficient for final use or sufficient as a starting point for ultra-fine grinding and polishing.
Because the final grinding and polishing steps are typically very expensive, a manufacturer is required to accurately determine when an optimum ground surface quality has been achieved, so that the expensive grinding operation can be terminated. However, with many known devices for measuring surface roughness, the part must be removed from the grinding and/or polishing jig and transported to a separate, often off-line test bed or chamber with a measuring device, in order to perform the surface characterization measurements. Accordingly, it has been particularly time consuming, and concomitantly expensive, to perform these surface measurements because the part must be frequently removed and evaluated several times before terminating the final grinding and polishing steps.
Typical apparatus for measuring surface roughness are stylus-type instruments, such as the device referred to as the Talysurf, which include a stylus or probe which is placed in contact with the surface to be measured and is moved along a linear dimension of the surface. The probe moves up and down with the contour of the surface, and thus provides an indication of the roughness of the surface. Because the stylus or probe must contact the surface in order to provide measurement of the surface roughness, however, the probe can scratch the surface, thus requiring further polishing and/or fine grinding which is an added expensive processing step. The test piece whose surface is to be measured also typically has to be removed from the grinding or polishing jig and then mounted on the measurement instrument to take the measurements. These types of instruments also typically require periodic calibration in order to account for the wear of the probe and to provide consistently accurate measurements. The measurements are also indicative of the roughness of only the specific points contacted by the stylus or probe in a linear dimension, thus often requiring a large number of measurements to accurately determine the surface roughness of an area of a surface.
Another method for measuring surface roughness is referred to as the Lichtschnitt method (from the German for "light-cut"). The Lichtschnitt method of surface topography measurement is well known in classical optical microscopy. An illuminated knife-edge is focused sharply on the target surface, at some oblique angle of incidence such as 45.degree.. When viewed from above, the shadow edge will appear to be a rough (or tortuous) line separating light from shadow; the rougher the surface, the rougher this line. From geometry, measurements of the displacements of the shadow edge from a true straight line then give the heights of the peaks and valleys of the rough surface. This method, generally used in conjunction with microscope viewing of the target surface, has been used particularly to measure step-heights in the 0.5-50 micron step range. This method has generally not been used for the evaluation of rough surfaces, however, because of the tediousness of measurements and because of poor statistics resulting from the relatively short length of optical scan of the surface (as limited by the field of view of the microscope).

Apparatus and method for optically measuring a surface


This projector includes a lamp unit including a lamp which emits light for projecting an image upon a screen. This lamp unit is provided with a projector main body. Moreover, the projector includes a metal plate which is disposed, between a bottom surface of the projector main body and the lamp unit, in a situation of floating away from this bottom surface of the projector main body. The projector also includes a fan which sucks external air into the projector main body. This fan is disposed in an orientation such as to blow this sucked in external air towards the metal plate.

The present invention relates to a projector equipped with a lamp unit which has a lamp for image projection.
In the prior art, a projector is per se known which emits light from a lamp onto a image display device, thus projecting a image displayed by this image display device upon a screen.
Such a projector includes a lamp unit which contains a lamp for image projection, a projector main body (a device main body) which contains the lamp unit, and a projection lens which projects the light emitted from the lamp unit to the exterior of the projector main body.
On the other hand, a projector has been proposed as described in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication 2002-244210.
However, with such prior art projectors, the lamp unit reaches an extremely high temperature due to emission of heat by the lamp. Due to this, the projector main body is subjected to thermal load by this heat emission. In particular, the thermal load upon the projector main body around the lamp unit is high.
Accordingly, the problem has arisen that the projector main body has difficulty in withstanding this thermal load, and may soften. Furthermore, there has been the problem that, in the worst case, the projector main body melts.
Moreover, the projector described in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication 2002-244210 is equipped with a cooling device which cools the lamp. However, this cooling is in order to keep the temperature of the lamp constant. Due to this, with this projector disclosed in this Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication 2002-244210, the fact that the temperature of the lamp becomes high still does not change. Accordingly, with this projector disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication 2002-244210 as well, due to dissipation of heat from the lamp, sometimes softening or melting of the projector main body may take place, centered around the portion thereof which faces the lamp in the projector main body.
The objective of the present invention is to provide a projector with which softening or melting of the projector main body, due to emission of heat by the lamp, is prevented.

Projector having a metal plate between a bottom surface of a projector main body and a lamp unit


An active attentional sampling technology for accelerating background subtraction from input videos, more specifically, an active attentional sampling technology for accelerating background subtraction by removing background region from the input video and then applying foreground probability map and sampling mask according to temporal property, spatial property and frequency property of the input video in favor of the pixel-wise background subtraction algorithm is provided. The background subtraction is accomplished by generating active attentional sampling mask for input video and then processing each frame of the input video only for regions corresponding to the sampling mask, which renders the background subtraction be much accelerated. That is, the present invention successfully speeds up pixel-wise background subtraction methods approximately 6.6 times without deteriorating detection performance. Therefore, according to the present invention, real-time detection with full-HD video is successfully achieved through various conventional background subtraction algorithms.

The present invention generally relates to an active attentional sampling technology for accelerating background subtraction from input videos. More specifically, the present invention relates to an active attentional sampling technology for accelerating background subtraction by removing background region from the input video and then applying foreground probability map and sampling mask according to temporal property, spatial property and frequency property of the input video in favor of the pixel-wise background subtraction algorithm.
The background subtraction algorithm is a process which aims to segment moving foreground objects from input video with subtracting background region. As computer vision technology is getting developed, computation time reduction issue in background subtraction algorithm becomes important in a systematic view, because the background subtraction is generally considered as a low-level image processing task to be processed with little computation. Further, the recent trend of bigger video sizes makes the computation time reduction issue more desperate.
Recently, background subtraction technology of pixel-based probabilistic model methods gained lots of interests and have shown good detection results. There have been many improvements in detection performance for these methods under various situations. However, heavy computation load of these methods results in long computation time, which renders real-time application impractical. Therefore, several approaches have been studied in order to reduce computation time of background subtraction algorithm.
The first type of approach is based on optimizing algorithms. The Gaussian mixture model (GMM) scheme proposed by Stauffer and Grimson works well for various environments. However, the GMM scheme shows slow learning rates and heavy computational load for each frame. D.-S. Lee, "Effective Gaussian mixture learning for video background subtraction," TPAMI, 2005 made the convergence faster by using a modified schedule that gradually switches between two stage learning schemes. Z. Zivkovic and F. van der Heijden, "Efficient adaptive density estimation per image pixel for the task of background subtraction," Patten Recognition Letters, 2006 achieved a significant speed-up by formulating a Bayesian approach to select the required number of Gaussian modes for each pixel in the scene. P. Gorur and B. Amrutur, "Speeded up gaussian mixture model algorithm for background subtraction," AVSS 2011 modified Zivkovic's method by windowed weight update that minimizes floating point computations.
The second type of approach is using parallel computation in which multi-core processors using OpenMP or GPU are applied in a parallel form for enhancing computation speed. V. Pham et al., "GPU implementation of extended Gaussian mixture model for background subtraction," IEEE RIVF, 2010 performed real-time detection even in full HD video using GPU. The second type of approach has successfully achieved speed enhancement, but requires parallel-processing hardware resources.
The third type of approach is using selective sampling. J. Park et al., "Hierarchical data structure for real-time background subtraction," IEEE ICIP, 2006 proposed a hierarchical quad-tree structure to decompose an input image, by which computational complexity reduction is achieved. However, their algorithm may miss small objects because they randomly sample from a relatively large region. H.-K Kim et al., "Fast object detection method for visual surveillance," IEEE ITC-CSCC 2008 presented a sampling mask designing method which can be readily applied to many conventional object detection algorithms. D.-Y. Lee et al., "Fast background subtraction algorithm using two-level sampling and silhouette detection," IEEE ICIP, 2009 also proposed a two-level pixel sampling method. Their algorithms provide accurate segmentation results without flickering artifacts. However, these grid patterns still cause redundant operations in their algorithms.

Active attentional sampling method for accelerating background subtraction


The invention provides a clumpable animal litter with improved odor control comprising:. a) water-swellable clay particles capable of adhering other such particles upon contact with moisture; and PA1 b) an odor controlling-effective amount of a boron compound which controls odors arising from the contact of said clay particles with moisture.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a clumpable or scoopable animal litter to which has been applied a boron compound odor-inhibiting agent.
2. Brief Statement of the Related Art
Because of the growing number of domestic animals used as house pets, there is a need for litters so that animals may micturate, void or otherwise eliminate liquid or solid waste indoors in a controlled location. However, inevitably, waste build-up leads to malodor production.
One solution to the malodor problem arising from used animal litter has been the introduction of a new form of cat litter comprising a litter composition which contains bentonite clay particles. Bentonite is a water-swellable clay which, upon contact with moist animal waste, is able to agglomerate with other moistened bentonite clay particles. This thus isolates the moist animal waste by the agglomeration of the moist clay particles. The agglomerations form an isolatable clump, which can be removed from the litter. Examples of this type of clumping or scoopable litter technology are disclosed in Hughes, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,503,111; 5,386,803; 5,317,990; 5,129,365 and U.S. Reissue Pat. No. RE 33,983, all of which are incorporated herein by reference.
On the other hand, boron-containing compounds, especially boric acid, have been identified as effective additives to various non-clumping clay-based animal litters. These are discussed in, for example, Ratcliff et al., U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,949,672 and 5,094,190, Jenkins et al., U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,176,108, and Stanislowski et al., U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,018,482, 5,135,743 and 5,183,655, all of which are incorporated herein by reference. Still other references have discussed the use of borax in a cat litter in which a water soluble polymer present is caused to gel or harden by the presence of borax as a reaction initiator or catalyst, but not as an odor control agent. See Goss et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,359,961 and Raymond, U.S. Pat. No. 5,183,010. Other patents discuss the use of borax, albeit in a non-clumping animal litter, for example, Clark et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,352,792, and Christianson, U.S. Pat. No. 4,263,873.
Finally, Gordon, U.S. Pat. No. 4,641,605, discloses the use of various buffering agents, including sodium borate, in a litter in which a strong oxidant, sodium or ammonium persulfate is present to reduce odors in animal litters.
However, none of the foregoing art teaches, discloses or suggests that boron compounds added can reduce the clumping ability of clumping clay litters. Further, none of the foregoing art teaches, discloses or suggests that the addition of boron-containing compounds to clumping animal litters is effective to reduce malodors. Finally, none of the art discloses, teaches or suggests that this odor control--which is attributable to inhibiting the fermentation of urea to reduce the generation of ammonia--can be accomplished without hindering the adherence or agglomeration of clumpable clay litters when contacted with moisture.

Clumpable animal litter with improved odor control


Systems and methods for treating sleep-disordered breathing and related masticatory and temporomandibular joint disorders are disclosed herein. In one embodiment, an oral appliance for treating the sleep-disordered breathing and/or the related masticatory and temporomandibular joint disorders includes an upper section configured for attachment to upper teeth and a lower section configured for positioning behind lower teeth. The oral appliance also includes an extender connecting the lower section to the upper section. The extender is configured to advance the lower section into a contact with the lower teeth.

Sleep-disordered breathing (SDB), and its severe clinical form, obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), are listed as a major cause of excessive sleepiness. SDB is associated with a seven-fold increase in the incidence of accidents at home, at work, and while driving. It is also linked to poor job performance and academic failure.
Those with the OSA stop breathing in their sleep, often hundreds of times during the night. Usually the OSA occurs when the throat muscles and tongue relax during sleep and partially block the opening of the airway. The condition of narrowing of the airway space and retraction of the soft palate and tongue back to the airway can cause the constriction of the upper airway in the retropalatal (behind the palate), retroglossal (behind the tongue), and hypoglossal (behind and below the tongue) area. As a result, the upper airway of the patient becomes constricted and causes resistance to the air passage during sleep, especially in the deeper stage of sleep when the upper airway muscles relax and cannot provide ideal support of the airway. Sleep apnea also can occur in obese people when an excess amount of tissue narrows the airway.
Severe nocturnal snoring, a symptom of SDB, can be a negative factor in family relationships. Other potential health risk factors associated with the OSA include tooth grinding, temporomandibular disorders, facial deformities, ADHD, gastroesophageal reflux disease, premature aging, depression, hypertension, sexual impotence, Alzheimer disease, metabolic syndrome, diabetes, obesity, and more dangerous illnesses such as cancer, heart disease, and stroke.
The occurrence of moderate to severe sleep-disordered breathing (apnea-hypopnea index, measured as events/hour, ≥15) is estimated to about 10% among 30-49-year-old men; 17% among 50-70-year-old men; 3% among 30-49-year-old women; and 9% among 50-70-year-old women. These estimated rates represent substantial increases over the last two decades, with relative increases of between 14% and 55%, depending on the subgroup.
There are several conventional technologies that treat snoring and sleep apnea. Some examples of conventional technologies are continuous positive air pressure (CPAP) therapy, surgery, lifestyle changes, and oral airway dilators, also called lower jaw advancing devices or oral devices (OD). In many instances, CPAP works reasonably well, but it is uncomfortable, and requires wearing a mask attached to a positive pressure pump. Therefore, the compliance rate tends to be low.
Conventional surgery is painful and invasive, and has a success rate of less than 50%. Lifestyle changes, such as weight loss, exercise, no alcohol consumption, dietary counseling, and food restrictions also have low compliance rates.
The conventional ODs generally have higher patient compliance, and can be comfortable and effective, particularly in cases of mild to moderate OSA. However, the conventional ODs are generally bulky and/or restrict tongue protrusion by their design of the anterior mandibular advancement mechanisms. Furthermore, some conventional ODs cause tooth movement or gagging by tongue depression. Some conventional ODs are prone to breakage.
Additionally, many conventional ODs change patient's bite, resulting in a difficult chewing and/or development of masticatory and temporomandibular disorders. For example, some oral appliances cause retraction of the upper dentition back and protraction of the lower dentition forward, leading to reduction of the overjet or causing edge to edge or under bite development because the upper teeth move behind the lower teeth. As a result, daytime breathing may become difficult for the patient without the appliance in the mouth, especially when they are involved with physical exertion that requires more air flow. This side effect of the conventional ODs most often requires periodic activation of the device to regain its efficiency during the bed-time use. Accordingly, there remains a need for oral devices that efficiently reduce the sleep apnea while minimizing the unwanted side effects.

Masticatory and airway stabilizing orthotic, and associated systems and methods


An armature stator comprises an iron core and a coil directly mounted on the iron core. The coil is composed of wound electric wire which has a coating comprising an inorganic material, such as ceramic. A bonding material of the inorganic material is formed over the coil and iron core for filling any gaps and adhering the coil and iron core together into a unitary structure. To improve the reliability of the coil, after the electric wire is wound to form the coil, a filling material comprised of the inorganic material is formed over the coil by vacuum impregnation, and then sintered so as to repair defects in the coating disposed on the electric wire. After the bonding material is formed over the coil, which is directly mounted on the iron core, it is cured under high temperature. The armature stator thus constructed can be used with high reliability in high temperature and high vacuum applications.

The present invention relates to a member (hereinafter referred to as armature stator) which comprises a coil and an iron core, such as an electromagnet, an induction coil-type displacement sensor, etc.
Among the armature stators of this kind, those which are placed in an environment of high temperature and very high vacuum conditions have heretofore used a coil whose surface is coated with an inorganic material. When directly mounted on the iron core, however, the surface of the coil is scratched and the insulating property of the coil is destroyed. As shown in FIG. 3, therefore, the coil has been mounted on an iron core 3 via a bobbin 2. Here, the bobbin 2 is made of a material having an insulating property and is firmly press-fitted onto the iron core 3.
However, according to such a conventional armature stator in which the coil 1 is mounted on the iron core 3 via the bobbin 2, the armature stator tends to become bulkier by the thickness of the bobbin 2, which results in an increase in the leakage of magnetic flux. Moreover, since the bobbin 2 is fixed onto the iron core 3 by press fitting, the press-fit joined portion inevitably becomes loosened, and reliability of the armature stator is lost.


A zoom lens system is disclosed. The zoom lens system forms a final image of an object and a first intermediate real image between the object and the final image. The zoom lens system includes a first optical unit located between the object and the first intermediate real image. The first optical unit comprises at least one optical subunit which is moved to change the size (magnification) of the first intermediate real image. The zoom lens system also includes a second optical unit located between the first intermediate real image and the final image, at least a portion of which is moved to change the size (magnification) of the final image. The zoom lens system provides a wide zoom range of focal lengths with continuous zooming between the focal lengths.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to optical lens systems for cameras and other optical devices, and, in particular, to high performance zoom lens systems that produce a high quality image over a full zoom range of focal lengths and are capable of being provided with an extremely large zoom ratio.
2. Description of Related Art
General Background of the Invention. The use of zoom lens systems for all types of photography, such as broadcast television, high definition television ("HDTV"), advanced television ("ATV"), video camcorders, film cinematography and still photography has become increasingly popular. As the use of zoom lens systems has increased, the demand for wider ranges of zooming capability, i.e. large zoom ratios, has also increased. For example, the zoom lens systems used in broadcast television have steadily increased in zoom ratio capability over the years to a maximum of about 101 to 1 at present but there is a demand for a still larger zoom ratio. While the focal length range of a conventional zoom lens system may be increased by the use of a drop-in extender or other multiplier, such as a broadcast television zoom lens system with a focal length range of 8.9 mm to 900 mm being increased to 17.8 mm to 1800 mm to increase the telephoto capability, this does not change the zoom ratio of about 101 to 1. Moreover, for broadcast television zoom lens systems there are somewhat different requirements for "studio" (indoor) or "outside broadcast" (outdoor) use concerning the focal length range and acceptable "f" numbers, whereby it has become conventional practice to employ two different zoom lens systems for indoor and outdoor broadcast television uses to maximize the capabilities for both types of uses.
Further, in addition to the demand and desirability of using zoom lens systems with wider ranges of focal lengths, such lenses must retain superior optical characteristics and performance that previously has been accomplished only by using separate objective lenses of different fixed focal lengths or zoom lens systems with a limited zoom ratio. As the zoom ratio increases, the difficulty in providing a high performance optical system with superior characteristics and performance also increases. Even most previously available zoom lens systems of a limited zoom range have one or more undesirable limitations such as the inability to focus adequately over the entire focal length range, the inability to focus on close objects, the lack of adequate optical performance over the entire focal length range and focus distance, the cost, the large size for the limited zoom range achieved and the like.
Still further, as the zoom range of a lens system increases, generally the length and weight increases whereby the difficulty in maintaining the lens and camera steady also increases. Therefore image stabilization also becomes an issue for the design of a practical zoom lens system having a large focal length range and zoom ratio.
Moreover, as the focal length range of a zoom lens system increases, generally the focusing problems also increase. Although close focusing at long focal lengths of the zoom range is not absolutely necessary, it is required at lesser focal lengths. In the past, continuous focusing over a considerable conjugate range from infinity to objects at a very short distance such as about 8 feet or less has been difficult to achieve. Further, the problem of "breathing" of the final image (where the perceived size changes as the focus distance is changed) at shorter focal lengths must be minimized to avoid, for example, one person disappearing from the scene as the focus is changed to another person at a different distance from the lens. These focus performance requirements, including maintaining the quality of the final image, tend to increase substantially the weight and cost of the zoom lens system unless the size can be minimized and performance maximized by the overall lens design, including glass selection.
Background Information Concerning Zooming. As discussed above, zoom lens systems with a wide-range of focal lengths are very desirable in numerous photographic applications, including broadcast television, cinematography and video and still photography. One standard zoom lens system used in these applications has a four-group PN(P or N)P structure, where P stands for a group of at least one lens element wherein the lens group has positive power, N stands for a group of at least one lens element wherein the lens group has negative power, and the groups are identified consecutively from the object space toward the image space, as is conventional. The front positive group is often called the focusing group because it can be moved for focusing the zoom lens system at any focal length position without the need to refocus for any other focal length of the zoom lens. The second negative group is the variator, and it induces significant magnification change during zooming. The third group, which can in general have either positive or negative power, is the compensator, and it is movable to insure that the image plane remains stationary. It also can provide some of the magnification change to effect zooming. The final positive fourth group is often called the prime lens group because it forms a sharp image.
This basic zoom lens system is suitable for zoom ratios of 50:1 or even more. As the zoom ratio is extended to about 100:1, however, the variator is required to change its object magnification to such an extent during zooming that aberrations become impracticably large and difficult to correct. In addition, at such large zoom ratios there is a very large change in entrance pupil location during zooming, and this tends to make the front group very large and difficult to correct. Another problem derives from the fact that, to reduce the aberration change that results from a large change of magnification, it is desirable that the variator have reduced optical powers. Weaker optical power, however, also increases the lens travel and length of the optical system. For a narrow field-of-view this would not be a problem, but, for a wide field-of-view, large motions lead to an increase in the principal ray heights at the rear portion of the lens system. Since the requirements for either the front or the rear of the lens system can be satisfied, but not simultaneously, this results in no ideal place for the aperture stop. If the stop is placed near the front of the lens, the front lens element diameters, and resultant aberrations, are reduced, and if the aperture stop is placed nearer to the rear part of the lens system, the rear lens diameters and resultant aberrations are decreased.


The invention provides a portable gas detector of a novel structure that is easy to be fabricated as a small-sized one handy to carry and high in convenience for use. The portable gas detector has a housing in the form of a slim and flat box holdable by grasping with a hand, and a foreside half portion in the interior of he housing is provided as a functional part region, and a rear half portion in the interior of the housing is provided as a battery part region. In the functional part region, one of 5 gas sensors is arranged at a curved portion in a gas sensor-arranging region of an L shape as a whole, and 2 gas sensors are arranged in a row in both lateral and vertical directions of the above gas sensor, respectively. A gas sucking means is arranged in a region, the 2 directions of which is sectioned by the gas sensor-arranging region.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a portable gas detector, and particularly to a portable gas detector equipped with a gas sucking means for introducing a gas to be detected into it and capable of detecting plural kinds of gas components.
2. Description of the Background Art
There are generally frequent occasions when it may be possible in, for example, underground job sites or gateways, or other places where persons enter, or working regions that air in an environmental atmosphere is in a dangerous state, or will become a dangerous state, such as occasions when hazardous gases such as carbon monoxide and hydrogen sulfide gases may possibly be contained in air in such an environment, or when the oxygen gas concentration in air may possibly be lowered.
When the air in the environmental atmosphere has become a dangerous state to persons due to high concentration of the dangerous gases contained or low oxygen gas concentration, it is necessary to immediately sense the fact.
From such a demand, there have heretofore been proposed various types of portable gas detectors. Some of these portable gas detectors are provided with a plurality off gas sensors respectively detecting gas components different from each other in such a manner that the plurality of the gas components can be detected at the said time (see, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-116169
In such a portable gas detector, however, a method, in which a gas to be detected that is, for example, air in an object space to conduct gas detection, is introduced into a gas sensor by natural diffusion, is utilized. It may be however necessary in some cases to introduce the gas to be detected into the gas sensors by forcedly sucking the gas to be detected by a gas sucking means such as a pump.
In a portable gas detector having a plurality of built-in gas sensors, however, it generally becomes large in size and heavy in weight when the gas sucking means is provided in the body of the gas detector and hence involves problems that it is considerably unhandy to carry and is a great obstacle to practice the intended work or the like.


Compositions for increasing corn oil recovery and embodiments of methods for using the composition for corn oil separation are described. The composition(s) incorporate an admixture that includes a polymer selected from a polyglycol ester, a polyethyleneoxide-polypropyleneoxide block copolymer, a poloxamine, or a mixture thereof. The methods include admixing the compositions with a process stream for, for example, the extraction of oil from milled corn and residues from a fermentation step, including stillage (e.g., thin stillage or mid stillage), distiller's wet grain, distiller's dry grain and distiller's dry grains with solubles.

There are two types of corn-to-ethanol processing, wet milling and dry milling. The central difference between the two processes is how they initially treat the grain. In wet milling, the corn grain is steeped in water, and then separated for processing in the first step. Dry milling, which is more common, requires a different process.
The corn dry-milling process utilized in the production of ethanol is well known. Post fermentation and distillation, the spent grains are further processed prior to being sold as distiller's grains products. Ethanol plants typically treat whole stillage from the beer distillation column via centrifugation to produce wet cake and thin stillage then further treat the thin stillage stream by subjecting it to multiple effect evaporation to increase the solids and recover the distillate for return use in the process. As solids increase the thin stillage is typically referred to as syrup. The syrup is typically combined with wet cake or distiller's dry grains and sold as animal feed. These processes are well known in the industry and are generally employed in plant design in the industry.
In an effort to take advantage of co-product streams, many plants have added oil removal processes in which the thin stillage (sometimes referred to as syrup) is subjected to processes, such as centrifugation or extraction, to remove corn oil from the thin stillage. For example, the application of centrifuges to the separation of corn oil from thin stillage is in wide use in the fuel ethanol industry. While the theoretical yield of oil per bushel of processed corn is about 2 pounds per bushel, many of the commercial installations fall far short of this. Thus there remains a need to improve the process to maximize the oil yield of the process.
Recently there has been effort directed at increasing the value model of the corn-to-ethanol production process by extracting the oil from the thin stillage byproduct. U.S. Pat. No. 7,601,858 describes a mechanical method of separating the oil from concentrated thin stillage, referred to as the "syrup", using a disk stack centrifuge. U.S. Pat. Appl. No. 2008/0176298 teaches the use of an alkyl acetate solvent for extraction of corn oil in an ethanol production process.
Although the prior art references are effective, there is still opportunity to improve the oil extraction process to further maximize the commercial value of the process. Of particular interest are technologies which do not require the adoption of capital expenditures to implement a new mechanical solution and/or significant process change such as the use of an extraction solvent that requires recycling.


A grinding machine has a wheelhead movable tinder computer control perpendicular to the axis of a composite workpiece, mounted between a headstock and a tailstock, and workrests slidable along front and rear rails. Between the workrests are sandwiched rigid cover-spacers to protect the rails and prevent lateral movement of the workrests. A spring-operated thrust bar may be supported against a fixed dressing wheelhead to clamp the stack of cover-spacers and workrests together, in order to accurately locate and space apart the workrests.

This invention concerns methods and apparatus for grinding workpieces which are composed of concentric in-line cylindrical regions and intermediate non-axial non-circular or eccentric regions. Examples of such workpieces are camshafts and crankshafts of internal combustion engines and such workpieces are referred to herein as composite workpieces.
Because of the different techniques used for grinding in-line and off-axis regions of workpieces, it has hitherto been commonplace to grind the cylindrical region of a composite workpiece on one grinding machine and to transfer the workpiece to another grinding machine for grinding the non-axial regions such as cam lobes or crankpins.
With the trend towards lightweight engine components, camshafts and crankshafts have become less stiff and more prone to distortion as a result of grinding forces exerted on the workpiece by the grinding wheel particularly when high metal removal rates are desired. To this end it has been proposed to resist grinding forces exerted by the grinding wheel by means of so-called worksteadies or workrests which engage diametrically opposite regions of the workpiece without inhibiting rotation, to resist the bending moment created by the grinding wheel forces exerted on the workpiece.
In general the workrests have been applied against the journal bearing regions of the workpieces, i.e., the cylindrical co-axial regions of the workpiece which are normally intermediate non-circular or off-axis components, such as the cam lobes and crankpins of the exemplary workpieces.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a single machine for grinding composite workpieces.
It is a further object of the invention to improve the rigidity of the mounting for a workrest as incorporated in such a machine.
According to one aspect of the present invention in a grinding machine comprising a stationary support structure, a wheelhead assembly slidable relative to the said structure in a direction perpendicular to a workpiece axis, headstock and footstock means mounted on the structure and defining the workpiece axis, rotating a workpiece mounted therebetween, at least one workrest slidably adjustable along at least one rigid elongate member or rail which extends generally parallel to the workpiece axis, and programmable computer based control means for controlling the movement of the wheelhead, the rotation of the workpiece, and engagement and disengagement of the workrest with a cylindrical region of the workpiece, wherein means is provided for fixing the workrest at a specific axial location along the length of the said elongate rail so that the workrest aligns with a cylindrical region of the workpiece.
During grinding, swarf, coolant and grinding medium particles will be present in the environment around the interface between the grinding wheel and the workpiece, and in order to prevent any such material from reaching the sliding surface of the elongate rail on which the workrest slides, and for axially positioning the workrest along the rail, cover means is provided on opposite sides of the workrest to keep any such unwanted material away from the surface of the elongate support rail therebelow, and prevent lateral movement of the workrest from its selected position.
The workrest and the cover means preferably form a linear bearing with the rail.
Preferably the rail is made up of two spaced apart parallel rails.
According to a preferred feature of the invention, each of the covers forming the cover means is rigid and structural and either adjustable in length or available in different lengths to enable differently sized gaps measured parallel to the axis of the workpiece to be covered by the covers, depending on the desired position of the workrest.
The covers may be clamped in an axial sense so as to clamp between them the workrest and position the latter along the workpiece axis.
Where the sealing between the workrest and the cover means is insufficiently reliable to prevent the Penetration of fine particle material and fluid, telescoping covers may be provided below the rigid cover means which are sealed at least to the opposite sides of the workrest and either extend sufficiently far axially along the length of the elongate rail to prevent the ingress of unwanted particulate or fluid material, or are sealed at their opposite ends to end faces of support members between which the elongate rail extends, thereby forming a sealed enclosure within which the elongate rail is protected. The telescoping nature of the inner covers enables the workrest to be moved axially for adjusting its position along the rail relative to the workpiece.
The telescoping inner covers may be in the form of bellows which can extend or contract to accommodate axial movement of the workrest along the elongate rail.
The rigid covers are conveniently in the form of spacers and may be tubular so as to wholly encompass the elongate member, or C-shaped in cross-section to permit their insertion over and removal from the elongate rail as required.
Typically a plurality of cover spacers are provided which fit between, the workrest and appropriate. surfaces extending perpendicularly to the elongate workrest support rail, so that when fitted between the said surfaces and the workrest, the latter is held rigidly and fixedly at a single axial position along the support rail and therefore in axial fixed relationship to the workpiece axis, so that the workrest will always align with a similar region of each workpiece which is mounted between the headstock and tailstock centres on the said workpiece axis.
Typically the alignment is such as to correspond with a cylindrical region of the workpiece near the mid-position of the length of the workpiece measured between the two centres.
The invention is not limited to a single workrest but envisages the mounting of two or more workrests along the said elongate support rail for positioning against other cylindrical regions of a composite workpiece as aforesaid, such that as the said other cylindrical regions are ground they can be engaged by a workrest to resist sideways deformation of the workpiece as the grinding wheel is forced against diametrically opposite regions of the workpiece to grind the particular regions thereof.
Where a composite workpiece includes for example three spaced apart cylindrical regions which are to form the inner surfaces of journal bearings, three workrests are typically provided and in this event four rigid covers are provided each of an axial extent sufficient to just space the two outer workrests accurately relative to the central workrest, and the two outer workrests from fixed end faces at opposite ends of the elongate support rail on which the workrests slide.
Alternatively three such rigid covers may be provided for spacing the first of the workrests accurately relative to the headstock end of the workpiece, the second workrest relative to the said first workrest, and the third workrest relative to the second middle workrest, and clamping means is provided to retain the third workrest axially in position along the elongate rail and to maintain the assembly of spacing covers and workrests between a face of the headstock (or a fixture at the headstock end of the elongate rail), and the said clamping means.
In addition or alternatively to the spacing achieved by means of the said rigid covers, the workrests may include clamping means, grub screws, wing nuts or other devices for securing each workrest at a desired position along the length of the elongate rail. However the spacing achieved by individual accurately machined spacers each forming a cover for providing at least partial protection for the elongate rail, may be preferred, since this does not involve the need for individual clamping or tightening mechanisms which could damage the surface of the rail.
Preferably axial force is applied to the horizontal stack of workrest(s) and spacers by means of a thrust member acting through the tailstock so as to clamp the stack against a face of the headstock assembly, or a structure associated with or forming part of the headstock assembly.
In a method of setting up a grinding machine as aforesaid, the workpiece may be replaced by a setting up bar having cylindrical (journal bearing) regions machined therealong corresponding to diameter and axial extent and axial positions to the cylindrical (journal bearing) region of the workpiece to be ground, and the workrests are positioned both axially and radially so as to be appropriately positioned for engaging similar workpieces as they are loaded successively onto the machine.
The thrust member may be in two parts separable by an actuator, one part acting on the end of the stack through the tailstock, and the other engaging a fixed structure such as a dressing wheelhead assembly mounted on the machine bed. Spring means may be incorporated in the thrust member.
Each workrest preferably comprises a housing which is slidable along the elongate support rail and clamped in position axially, and jaws which can be advanced and retracted relative to the housing to engage a region of a workpiece. The jaws may be driven in and out by electrical or pneumatic or hydraulic drive means.
Where the workpiece is to be in axial compression independently of the axial compressive forces acting on the stack, a subsidiary housing containing the tailstock centre is slidable and adjustably mounted on the main tailstock showing which engage the said stack.
The invention is not limited to the grinding of one type of composite workpiece but can be applied to a grinding machine which under CNC control can move the wheelhead so as to either follow the eccentric throw of cam lobes of a camshaft, or the circular rotation of crankpins about the central axis of a crankshaft, so as to permit the grinding of the journal bearing regions as well as the cam lobes or crankpins of camshafts and crankshafts.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, in a method of grinding a composite workpiece on a grinding machine as aforesaid, cylindrical journal bearing regions of the workpiece are first of all ground and after at least the first said cylindrical region has been finish ground, a workrest is engaged therewith, positioned as appropriate along the length of the workpiece axis, and after the cylindrical regions of the composite workpiece have all been ground, the wheelhead control is altered, and each of the non-cylindrical regions of the workpiece are ground in turn, the workrest remaining in position against the first to be ground of the cylindrical regions of the workpiece during all of the subsequent grinding operations of the workpiece.
Where the required stiffness can only be achieved by the use of two or more workrests, an appropriate number of such workrests are provided, and the control system is arranged to move each of the workrests into engagement with cylindrical regions of the workpiece after each said region is finish ground.
Since the first cylindrical region of the workpiece has to be ground without a workrest to resist the grinding forces, the first grinding step is preferably performed at a lower material removal rate and with reduced speed of advance of the grinding wheel so as to reduce the grinding forces exerted on the workpiece while the unsupported cylindrical region is ground. According to a preferred feature of the method, after an initial grind of the first cylindrical region, the workrest is introduced against that region which is still to be finished and the workrest is kept in position for the remainder of the grinding of the first said region.
Other workrests can be introduced and engaged against other cylindrical regions as they are ground in a similar way.
Once the workpiece has become supported by at least one workrest, grinding speeds and material removal rates can be increased within the limitations of the machine and grinding medium, so that the overall grinding time of the composite workpiece can be optimised. In particular the grinding of the non-circular or off-axis regions of cam lobes of camshafts and crankpins of crankshafts can be significantly increased in view of the presence of the workrests, so that the finish grinding of the non-circular and off-axis regions of a composite workpiece can be very much quicker than would otherwise be the case. This advantage, coupled with the saving in time which is realised by not having to demount a workpiece and remount it on a new machine, means that the overall machining time for a composite workpiece is significantly reduced.
Where the workpieces are either hollow or have hollowed ends, the headstock and tailstock centres may be in the form of conical workpiece-engaging devices, and where drive is to be transmitted to the workpiece this can be effected either by means of a positive link such as a key, or chuck, or peg drive where a peg enters an off-axis hole provided in the end surface of the workpiece.
However according to a preferred feature of the invention, where the workpiece does not have sufficient material in the end face which is to be driven to provide notches or apertures or openings for receiving pegs or other such driving devices a method of driving the workpiece involves providing an axial compressive force between headstock, workpiece and tailstock, and providing a good friction fit between a driven centre typically at the headstock and the hollow end of the workpiece engaged hereon. Drive can be transmitted to the workpiece with sufficient precision and lack of slip as to allow not only the cylindrical workpiece regions to be ground but also the circular and even off-axis regions to be ground, where the driving torque required to maintain rotation of the workpiece particularly during high metal removal rates, can be quite considerable.
According to a preferred aspect of this last feature of the invention the surface of the driving cone is preferably impregnated with diamond grit so as to provide a very hard but precision surface for engaging in a central circular opening in the end of a composite workpiece as aforesaid, and the axial compressive force exerted between the workpiece and the centres at the opposite ends of the workpiece, is sufficient to cause the grit to bite into the end surface of the workpiece material and accurately centre, and resist any relative movement between, the workpiece and the conical driving cone.
Since accurate circular indexing of a composite workpiece is needed to allow the CNC control of the wheelhead to enable non-circular and off-axis regions to be accurately ground, the workpiece must either incorporate an index mark which can be detected by means of a suitable optical or other sensing device associated with the grinding machine, to provide an index signal to the programmable computer based control system, or a vee notch indexing device may be provided under the control of the computer based control system which after the cylindrical regions have been ground, is advanced so as to engage around one of the non-circular or off-axis components, and after centering the component relative to the notch, provides a zero position for a rotatable indexing device associated with the workpiece drive, to allow accurate indexing of the workpiece thereafter under computer control, to present first one and then another of the non-circular or off-axis regions for grinding.
Since the different cylindrical and non-circular or off-axis regions are located at different axial positions along the length of the workpiece, means is provided for indexing the wheelhead relative to the workpiece or the workpiece relative to the wheelhead so as to enable the grinding wheel to address different regions of the workpiece as required.
Whilst the arrangement of cover means or spacers serves to accurately and firmly locate the workrests relative to the workpiece, there may occur a lack of rigidity in a plane perpendicular to the elongate rails, i.e., in the form of sway of the workrests. Also crabbing movement along the rails can result in misalignment of the workrests relative to the axis of rotation of the workpiece.
According to a further aspect of the present invention, such undesirable movement of the workrests relative to the rail can be obviated by providing for a clamping engagement between the workrest and one of the rails, the clamping being effected after the workrest has been slid into position along the rails, to retain the workrest in that position during the machining operation.
Where one of the two rails underlies the,jaws at the front of the workrest and the other rail, underlies the rear of the workrest, the clamp preferably engages the rail.
Preferably a first bearing assembly is provided below the front of the workrest for running on the front rail.
Undesirable crabbing of the carriage relative to the front rail can be avoided by incorporating roller bearings in the said first bearing assembly.
Preferably the cross-section of each of the rails is in the form of an I-beam, and the first bearing assembly located below the workpiece engaging jaws is adapted to engage opposite sides of the rail.
Preferably the shoulders of the upper and lower enlarged regions of the rail taper towards the narrow stem of the rail and the first bearing assembly includes rolling elements which are set at angles to complement the trapezoidal shape on each side of the rail.
In the case of the rear rail, a second bearing arrangement is provided which is adapted to engage one side of the rear rail and a moveable member is adjustably secured to the carriage for engaging the opposite side of the rear rail, and means is provided for tightening the movable member against the rear rail to clamp the rail between the fixed and movable members.
Preferably a clearance is provided between the rail which is to be clamped and the various surfaces of the second bearing arrangement to permit free travel when the clamping member has been disengaged from the rail and is in its unclamped condition. The sliding movement of the workrest is therefore governed by the engagement between the first bearing assembly and the front rail, and preferably a low friction engagement is ensured with lubrication as appropriate.
Preferably pre-loaded rolling bearings providing high stiffness are utilised.
The bearings may be double-sealed and/or axial sealed.
Conveniently the bearings on the rails are double wiped.
A preferred bearing assembly comprises the IKO LRXDC35.
A preferred rail comprises an IKO linear stainless steel rail.
Preferably a bearing seal assembly is provided around each bearing assembly and rail associated therewith, to prevent the ingress of dirt and/or mechanical particles.
The invention is not limited to the use of a single grinding wheel, but may be adapted to multiple grinding wheels enabling two or more regions of the workpiece to be ground simultaneously.

Apparatus and method for grinding composite workpieces


A position control apparatus includes a reverse displacement calculation unit configured to calculate a reverse displacement that represents an amount of movement made from a preceding reverse point to a current reverse point by an axis that performs a reversing motion; a reversing-time segmenting number number of consecutive occurrences of reversing motions calculation unit configured to compare the reverse displacement to a predetermined value, and, when the reverse displacement is less than the predetermined value, increase a value of a reversing-time segmenting number of consecutive occurrences of reversing motions, which is a coefficient indicating a number of segments per unit time during a reversing motion, and, when the reverse displacement is greater than or equal to the predetermined value, decrease the value of the reversing-time segmenting number number of consecutive occurrences of reversing motions; and a quadrant inversion compensation unit configured to automatically adjust a quadrant inversion compensation amount according to the reversing-time segmenting number number of consecutive occurrences of reversing motions and perform the quadrant inversion compensation based on the automatically adjusted compensation amount.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a position control apparatus that performs quadrant inversion compensation when the moving direction of an axis of a machine is reversed.
2. Description of the Related Art
First, general quadrant inversion compensation is described below with reference to FIG. 4. FIG. 4 illustrates variations in command position of a Z axis (a1), command speed of a Z-axis motor (b1), friction of the Z axis (c1), inversion compensation applied to the Z axis (d1), output torque of the Z-axis motor (e1), and positional error of the Z-axis motor (f1) in a case where the moving direction of the Z axis of a machine tool is reversed. As illustrated in (b1), when the moving direction of the Z axis is reversed at a reverse point during a machining operation, the sign of the motor command speed is reversed at the reverse point.
At that point, as illustrated in (c1), the friction of the machine changes abruptly at the moment that the sign changes at the reverse point. If, in response to such a change in the friction of the machine, the apparatus performs only the feedback control to control the motor position, i.e., if the apparatus does not perform quadrant inversion compensation, the motor output torque cannot sufficiently deal with the friction change of the machine, as indicated by a line A of (e1). As a result, a large tracking delay occurs, as indicated by a line A of (f1), and the shape of a processed product may be unsatisfactory.
To attempt to deal with this problem, typical position control apparatuses are today able to appropriately perform quadrant inversion compensation to deal with a change in the frictional force that may occur when the moving direction of an axis is reversed. For example, an apparatus may be able perform torque compensation (TFF) defined by a TFF amount and a TFF continuation time illustrated in (d1). Such torque compensation (TFF) enables the motor output torque to respond quickly as indicated by a line B of (e1) and can reduce the tracking delay in a reversing operation as indicated by a line B of (f1). As a result, a product having a satisfactory shape can be obtained.
FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a conventional position control apparatus that can perform quadrant inversion compensation. The position control apparatus illustrated in FIG. 5 includes a numerical value control unit 10, a motor control unit 20, a motor 30, and a detector 40. The motor control unit 20 includes an acceleration/deceleration processing unit 21, a position control unit 22, a speed control unit 23, a quadrant inversion compensation unit 24, and a current control unit 25.
The numerical value control unit 10 can generate a target position command MD based on the content of an input machining (or processing) program. The acceleration/deceleration processing unit 21 generates an internal position command value MP for the motor control unit 20 based on the target position command MD received from the numerical value control unit 10 and a predetermined acceleration/deceleration time. The position control unit 22 generates a speed command value MV based on the position command value MP received from the acceleration/deceleration processing unit 21 and a position detection value received from the detector 40. The position control unit 22 performs position feedback control based on the position detection value received from the detector 40.
The speed control unit 23 generates a torque command value MT based on the speed command value MV received from the position control unit 22 and a differential value of the position detection value received from the detector 40. The speed control unit 23 performs speed feedback control based on the position detection value received from the detector 40. The quadrant inversion compensation unit 24 generates a quadrant inversion compensation TFF if a reversion of the moving direction is detected based on the internal position command value MP sent from the acceleration/deceleration processing unit 21.
The current control unit 25 generates a current command based on the torque command value MT received from the speed control unit 23 and the quadrant inversion compensation TFF received from the quadrant inversion compensation unit 24. Current flows through the motor 30 according to the current command supplied from the current control unit 25, to drive the motor 30. In another embodiment, the quadrant inversion compensation TFF generated by the quadrant inversion compensation unit 24 may serve as a position command compensation amount that can be input to the position control unit 22, or may serve as a speed command compensation amount that can be input to the speed control unit 23.
FIG. 6 illustrates an example shape of a workpiece that may be processed by a machine tool. For example, to process the workpiece illustrated in FIG. 6, a milling tool moves from a start point (located at a lower left position) to an end point (located at an upper left position) along arrows illustrated in the drawing. A dotted line connecting three points A, B, and C indicate reverse positions where the Z axis causes a reversing motion in a manner similar to the operation described with reference to the example illustrated in FIG. 4. The moving amount of the Z axis in a region from the start point to the intermediate point is about 10 mm. The moving amount of the Z axis in a region from the intermediate point to the end point is about 40 mm.
An example of type of position control that can be performed by a conventional apparatus is described below with reference to FIG. 7. FIG. 7 illustrates variations in command position of the Z axis (a2), command speed of the Z-axis motor (b2), friction of the Z axis (c2), inversion compensation applied to the Z axis (d2), output torque of the Z-axis motor (e2), and positional error of the Z-axis motor (f2) in a case where the workpiece illustrated in FIG. 6 is processed. The shape of the workpiece illustrated in FIG. 6 is uniform at the reverse point A, the reverse point B, and the reverse point C. Therefore, the command position of the Z axis (a2) and the command speed of the Z-axis motor (b2) at the reverse point A, the reverse point B, and the reverse point C are similar to each other. On the other hand, the friction of the Z axis (c2) is similar between the reverse point A and the reverse point C as indicated by a line A. However, the friction of the Z axis (c2) at the reverse point B is larger than the frictions at the reverse point A and the reverse point C as indicated by a line B.
In a conventional position control apparatus as described, the inversion compensation amount (d2) is set to be a same value at the reverse point A, the reverse point B, and the reverse point C. Therefore, the output torque of the Z-axis motor at the reverse point B cannot respond sufficiently quickly and may be delayed compared to the friction of the Z axis as indicated by a line B of (e2). The positional error of the Z-axis motor at the reverse point B becomes larger than the errors at the reverse point A and the reverse point B as indicated by a line B of (f2).
It is believed that the above-described problem occurs due to the relative shortness (i.e., approximately 10 mm) of the moving amount of the Z axis in the region from the start point to the intermediate point. For example, in a case where a sliding guide is provided on a Z-axis guide surface, if the Z axis makes reversing motions repetitively in a state where the moving distance of the Z axis is shorter than the pitch of an oil groove, the oil on the guide surface reduces and the friction of the Z axis may increase. Furthermore, if the Z axis makes reversing motions repetitively in a state where the moving distance of the Z axis is shorter than a lead pitch of a ball screw, the ball screw may not roll smoothly and the friction of the Z axis may increase. However, such an increase in the friction does not occur if the Z axis moves a distance sufficiently larger than the above-described oil groove pitch or the lead pitch.
Therefore, both the friction and the positional error increase at the reverse point B. However, if the Z axis passes through the intermediate point and reaches the reverse point C at which the Z-axis moving amount is approximately 40 mm, characteristics of the Z axis at the reverse point C becomes similar to those at the reverse point A.
In an attempt to solve the above-described problem, a conventional method disclosed in the Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 6-73798 includes steps of calculating a friction based on a motor output torque and correcting a value for inversion compensation based on the calculated friction. However, because the output torque generally includes various types of torques, such as a frictional torque, an acceleration/deceleration torque, a cutting torque, a weight holding torque, and others, accurately calculating only the frictional torque based on a load torque can be problematic, or even impossible. Accordingly, the conventional method cannot accurately correct an inversion compensation amount, and the positional error of the Z-axis motor may become even larger than it would have been had no correction been performed.


The invention relates to pharmaceutical compositions of pomalidomide comprising pomalidomide and binder or filler at amount of at most 89% weight percent of total weight of the composition and process for the preparation of such compositions.

Pomalidomide, which is also known as CC-4047, is chemically named 4-amino-2-(2,6-dioxopiperidine-3-yl)isoindoline-1,3-dione. Pomalidomide is an immunomodulatory compound that inhibits, for example, LPS induced monocyte TNFα, IL-1β, IL-12, IL-6, MIP-1, MCP-1, GM-CSF, G-CSF, and COX-2 production. The compound is also known to costimulate the activation of T-cells. Pomalidomide and method of synthesizing the compound are described, e.g., in U.S. Pat. No. 5,635,517, the entirety of which is incorporated herein by reference.
Pomalidomide is commercially available as hard gelatin capsules for oral administration under the trade name POMALYST®. Pomalyst capsules contain 1 mg, 2 mg, 3 mg, or 4 mg of pomalidomide as active ingredient. Pomalyst is indicated for patients with multiple myeloma who have received at least two prior therapies including Lenalidomide and Bortezomib and have demonstrated disease progression on or within 60 days of completion of the last therapy. U.S. Pat. No. 8,828,427 and US Patent Publication Nos. US 2014-0336223 and US 2016-0206607 disclose capsule formulations of pomalidomide.
In the pharmaceutical industry, there is a constant need to work on identifying different pharmaceutical compositions that positively affect the drug's dissolution profile, bioavailability, bioequivalence, stability, etc., which all play important roles in determining a drug's market acceptance and success.
In the case of pomalidomide too, there is a need for the development of pharmaceutical compositions with improved solubility, stability, excellent storage, and handling stabilities, bioavailability, etc.
We herein after provide stable pharmaceutical compositions comprising pomalidomide and binder or filler at amount of at most 89% weight percent of total weight of the composition.

Pharmaceutical compositions of pomalidomide


The invention relates generally to the fields of biology and health sciences. More particularly, the invention relates to compositions and methods for modulating cellular physiology and pathological processing using a combination of compounds that can be found in amniotic membrane tissue and umbilical cord tissue preparations.

With each blink of the eyelids, tears are spread across the front surface of the eye, known as the cornea. Tears provide lubrication, reduce the risk of eye infection, wash away foreign matter in the eye, and keep the surface of the eyes smooth and clear. Excess tears in the eyes flow into small drainage ducts, in the inner corners of the eyelids, which drain in the back of the nose.
Tears are produced by several glands in and around the eyelids. Tear production tends to diminish with age, with various medical conditions, or as a side effect of certain medicines. Environmental conditions such as wind and dry climates can also affect tear volume by increasing tear evaporation. When the normal amount of tear production decreases or tears evaporate too quickly from the eyes, symptoms of dry eye can develop.
Tears are made up of three layers: oil, water, and mucus. Each component serves a function in protecting and nourishing the front surface of the eye. A smooth oil layer helps to prevent evaporation of the water layer, while the mucin layer functions in spreading the tears evenly over the surface of the eye. If the tears evaporate too quickly or do not spread evenly over the cornea due to deficiencies with any of the three tear layers, dry eye symptoms can develop.
The most common form of dry eyes is due to an inadequate amount of the water layer of tears. This condition, called keratoconjunctivitis sicca (KCS), is also referred to as dry eye syndrome.
People with dry eyes may experience symptoms of irritated, gritty, scratchy, or burning eyes, a feeling of something in their eyes, excess watering, and blurred vision due to nerve loss or nerve damage in the cornea. Advanced dry eyes may damage the front surface of the eye and impair vision.
Traditionally ocular surface reconstruction has been used to treat acute chemical and thermal burns of the eye. This form of ocular surface reconstruction involves suturing a protective and/or therapeutic covering over the surface of the eye.
A variety of ophthalmic and non-ophthalmic conditions necessitate administration of various drugs to the eye. Eye drops and gels can be effective drug delivery vehicles, but can also have significant disadvantages. Specifically, eye drops mix with fluid in the tear film, but may have a residence time of only 2-5 minutes in the tear film. As little as 5% of the drug may be absorbed locally; some or all of the rest being carried from the lacrimal sac into the lacrimal duct, which can have potentially undesirable effects. Consequently, most of the drug may be wasted with less than ideal amounts delivered to the targeted tissue. Also, the presence of the drug in the bloodstream may have potentially harmful side effects. Gels may adhere more effectively to the eye, but can also blur the patient's vision. Both eye drops and gels may need to be reapplied frequently for some therapies, and patients may not administer the eye drops or gels as frequently as directed in at least some instances, such that the amount of drug delivered can be less than ideal. For example, in at least some instances a substantial number of patients may not refill their prescription after one year, and the substantial number of patients can be up to fifty percent in some instances.
Current treatments for dry eyes aim to restore or maintain the normal amount of tears in the eye to minimize dryness and related discomfort and to maintain eye health while current treatments for acute chemical and thermal burns require the use of sutures. What is needed is an apparatus that can be inserted into the eye of a patient that will induce blinking and may optionally deliver one or more therapeutic agents to the eye of the patient and further may optionally cover the surface of the eye with a therapeutic agent.

Apparatuses and methods for treating ophthalmic diseases and disorders


In laparoscopic surgery, tying of knots is not easy, as it involves the use of long handled graspers and the necessity to pass one end of the suture ligature around the opposite half of the suture, with release and re-grab of the passing end of the suture. The present invention avoids the “passing with the release and re-grab”, and makes the tying easier, faster and automatic. It conforms to the general size and shape of a standard laparoscopic instrument. The handle is pistol shaped with two control triggers, one for grasping and the other for rotating. The sheath is elongated and tubular, containing two control rods. The tip is bullet shaped, containing three operating mechanisms, one for grasping the leading end of a suture, a second for trapping the opposite half of the same suture, a third for rotating the grasped end of the suture 360 degrees around the trapped portion, thus forming a knot.

Tying of knots is essential in any kind of surgery. It is relatively easy in open surgery, but is difficult in laparoscopic surgery. The current art of laparoscopic knot tying employs either the extra-corporeal method, involving tying the knot by hand outside the body and pushing the knot inside with a knot pusher, or the intra-corporeal method, involving manipulation of the suture with the tips of two laparoscopic graspers, which is cumbersome, and requires considerable skill. Laparoscopic clip appliers, staplers, pre-tied knots and the like are useful substitutes, but cannot totally replace tied knots. Despite considerable prior art, there still is no hand operated instrument that renders laparoscopic intra-corporeal knot tying easier and faster.
In order to describe the tying process, the different parts of the suture ligature need to be given names. As shown in FIG. 59 in the drawings, after the suture ligature has passed around the tissue to be tied, it then presents with a head end (1), a tail end (2), a leading strand (3) and a tail strand (4),
There are two basic methods of tying a knot, whether done openly or laparoscopically. One method is making a "throw" which involves passing the head end of the suture around its tail strand. This is quite simple when performed with the fingers as in tying shoe laces. It does however involve a critical step which is the passing or release and re-grab of the head end of the suture, and wrapping it around the tail strand. In laparoscopic surgery this is difficult because the graspers are trapped in the abdominal wall, and the surgeon is limited to using only two laparoscopic graspers, one in each hand. Hence the reason for the present invention.
The second method of tying a knot involves making a loop or loops, which is commonly performed in open surgery by the surgeon making "instrument ties", where he uses a needle holder and wraps the suture several times around it. This can be done laparoscopically but is generally difficult. There are many patents in the prior art that try to make the loop laparoscopically, but none has been commercially successful, and this is not the object of the present invention.
the present invention makes the knot differently and automatically without making the loop, or making the pass. Additionally it ties a knot in a free strand of suture ligature, without having one end of the suture being pre-fixed on to a disc or cartridge. It is therefore different in design and technique compared with other previous similar inventions.
Referring to the prior art, the Christoudias Double Grasper has 3 jaws, with a common middle jaw, and functions as a tissue approximator. Its spring loaded actuators are operated by two push buttons. The Ferzli Double Grasper, has a second pair of jaws positioned more proximally on the main shaft, whose purpose is to anchor one end of the suture prior to twisting it around the shaft of the instrument in order to produce a loop. The Hasson Suture Tying Forceps, is similar to the Ferzli, with 3 finger loops. The orthopedic suture passers are for passing sutures only through hard tissue, and these include the Arthrex Scorpion Suture Passer, and the Arthrex Birdbeak Suture Passer. Some suture passers are for passing sutures through a thickness of soft tissue such as the abdominal wall, and these include the Goretex and the Aesculap. There are devices which "pass the suture-needle" side to side, for inserting sutures into tissues, as well as for tying knots, e.g. the Autosuture's Endo-stitch, and the Japanese Maniceps. Note these only pass the suture needle, not the suture thread per se. There have been devices that attempt to "automatically" tie a knot, such as Jerrigan's experimental rotating slotted disc designed for robotic endo-cardiac surgery, but it was abandoned because of the requirement for a cartridge. There have been many devices that help to "create a loop", with each functioning differently—(a) Kitano's grasper with the rotating sleeve, Japanese, (b) Donald Murphy's grasper with the extra horn, Australian, (c) Grice's sleeve catching instrument, (d) Bagnato & Wilson's device which simulates the radiological pig-tail catheter, with a preformed loop built into the tip of the catheter, which is deformable and purportedly a loop former, but it is difficult to manufacture and apply, and has not yet been reduced to practice, (e) Ferzli's double grasper, which anchors one end of the suture, as described above. There have been devices using a "pre-formed knot", (1) Ethicon's Endo-Loop, (2) the Duraknot, (3) LSI's device, (4) Pare's pre-tied knot, all of which do not help to tie knots.
Past inventions related to intra-corporeal laparoscopic knot tying fail to address the basic problem of "how to make the throw". They usually offer various alternatives, such as making multiple loops, similar to fishing knots, using pre-tied knots, knot pushers, suture clips, cinchers, tissue fasteners, anchors, stapling devices, etc. The present invention however will assist in manual intra-corporeal knot tying, and will help to produce the knot automatically.
U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS1.3,834,395Sept. 10, 1974Manuel Santos128/3262.5,201,759Apr. 13, 1993George Ferzli.606/1393.5,217,471Jun. 8, 1993Stephen Burkhart606/1484.5,234,443Aug. 10, 1993Phan & Stoller606/1485.5,250,054Oct. 5, 1993Lehmann Li606/1486.5,281,236Jan. 25,1994Bagnato et al.606/1397.5,312,423May 17, 1994Rosenbluth & Brenneman606/1488.5,395,382Mar. 7, 1995DiGiovanni et al.606/1489.5,437,682Aug. 1, 1995Drew Grice606/14810.5,423,836Jun. 13, 1995Scott Brown606/14811.5,439,467Aug. 8, 1995Theodore Benderev, et al.606/13912.5,480,406Jan. 2, 1996Nolan et al.606/13913.5,728,109Mar. 17, 1998Schulze et al.606/14814.5,810,852Sept. 22, 1998Greenberg et al.606/14815.5,814,054Spet. 29, 1998Kortenbach et al.606/13916.5,846,254Dec. 8, 1998Schulze et al.606/22817.6,051,006Apr. 18, 2000Shluzas & Sikora606/14818.6,086,601Jul. 1, 2000InBae Yoon606/14819.6,221,084Apr. 24, 2001R. Fleenor, Pare Surgical606/14820.6,432,118Aug. 13, 2002Mollenhauer & Kucklick606/14821.6,716,224Apr. 26, 2004Singhatat606/14822.2009/0228025Sept. 10, 2009Steven Benson606/14423.2010/0016883Jan. 21, 2010George Christoudias606/20523.5,312,423May 17, 1994Rosenbluth et al.606/148258,512,362Aug. 20, 2013Ewers et al.606/158

Automatic laparoscopic knot tying instrument

Abstract: The trapping mechanism uses an axle with a hollow center and an open-ended side slot. The other members of the rotating and trapping mechanisms have these same features, which allow the suture to enter and exit the hollow center. Grasping is performed by a miniature grasper, which has no handle or shaft, with its entire body contained within a part that rotates, called the rotator. Rotation is generated by a slider-crank mechanism which converts linear motion to rotary motion, and avoids the dead centers with a patented L-shaped connecting rod and deflecting pillars (U.S. Pat. No. 9,194,468). The rotation is then transmitted through two modified spur gears to the rotator, and hence also to the miniature grasper. The rotator represents a short sagittal segment removed from the tip, modified to rotate and to contain the miniature grasper, and then replaced in position. To enable the grasper to rotate, there is an intentional discontinuity in its controlling rod, but control from the handle is maintained by the interposition of a semi-open ball and socket joint in the rod.


A keg delivery system includes a rack having a plurality of bays for receiving kegs horizontally. The keg delivery system also includes elements for controllably lowering a keg from one of the bays to a floor.

Kegs are delivered to stores, restaurants and bars by delivery trucks. The truck may be filled with many kegs of different kinds of beers. The kegs are large and heavy when filled. At the time of delivery, some kegs might have to be moved to find the correct kind of beer for the present delivery.

Keg delivery system with Keg rack tier half


The present disclosure teaches an apparatus for removing a firearm magazine's floorplate comprising a substantially elliptically shaped element comprising an open end, a top surface, a bottom surface and an inner surface, a notch located in the upper surface of the element, a slit on the open end opposite the notch and a plurality of projections located on the inner surface. Methods of using the apparatus are also disclosed.

A magazine also called a clip is an ammunition storage and feeding device within or attached to a firearm. Magazines may be integral to the firearm (fixed) or removable (detachable). The cartridges in the magazine are loaded or fed into the firearm's chamber either automatically or manually depending on the firearm, but almost always by a spring. The most common type of magazine is the detachable "box" type.
Firearms must be clean to function reliably and safely. One common area of firearm malfunction, especially in the field (i.e., hunting, a law enforcement operation or military combat), is dirt or debris inside the magazine which interferes with the proper loading of ammunition from the magazine to the chamber. Accordingly, it is desirable to have a tool that allows quick and easy access to the magazine's magazine tube, via removal of the magazine's floorplate, so that the magazine tube and spring can be cleaned to insure proper operation.
Some firearms, such as some Glock® pistols, have magazines that are very difficult to disassemble and clean. One possible method of removing a magazine's floorplate is known in the prior art. The method relies upon a pliers-like device to remove the floorplate. The pliers' beaks must be held in place, while the handles are at a distance from the magazine, making it difficult to apply pressure on the locking tabs, maintain control of the magazine and manipulate the release of the floorplate with the other hand. Consequently, a device that provides easy application of force on the locking tabs while removing the floorplate is desirable. The current invention allows the user to secure the magazine and apply force to the magazine releasing the locking tabs in a manner which is easily accomplished with one hand, allowing the other hand to remove the floorplate and preventing damage to the magazine.


An apparatus (1) for testing a memory module (2) suitable for exchanging electrical signals with a motherboard (10) contains a device (8a–8k) suitable for detecting the operating state of at least one semiconductor chip (26a–26m) of the module, which device comprises a first set of signal lines (8a–8k), a microcontroller (3) with a memory device (32) for storing the operating state, said microcontroller being electrically connected to the signal lines (8a–8k), a clock generator (5) suitable for generating an operating clock, said clock generator being electrically connected to the microcontroller (3), and a signal connection (13) suitable for communicating a signal for controlling access to the memory module (2) between the circuit board arrangement (10) and the microcontroller (3) and for communicating to the microcontroller (3) a signal for initiating a process of detecting the operating state.

Memory modules are used, for example, to provide main memory for a processor-based data processing architecture.
FIG. 3 shows a plan view of an exemplary memory module 2 that can be tested with the apparatus according to the invention. A memory module 2 of this type comprises a circuit board 28 and also at least two memory chips 26a–26m arranged thereon. A plurality of memory chips 26a–26m, for example 8, 10, 18 or 36, are usually applied on a circuit board or printed circuit board 28 of this type, it being possible for both the front side and the rear side of the circuit board to be populated. Examples of memory chips 26 comprise SDRAM or DDR SDRAM ("Double Data Rate Synchronous Dynamic Random Access"), memory chips and examples of modules comprise DIMM ("Dual Inline Memory Module") SDRAM or DIMM DDR SDRAM modules.
In the example shown, the front and rear sides of the circuit board are provided with contacts 27a to 27n at one side of the circuit board. By way of example, a total of 168 or 184 or an arbitrary number of contacts 27 may be provided via which signals are exchanged with the motherboard. The assignment as to which of the individual contacts of the memory module 2 are data, address or command lines can be gathered from the data sheets available with respect to the memory modules.
FIG. 3 also shows the electrical connections 30 associated with each memory chip and the respective mode registers 29a to 28m.
For operation, the memory module is inserted into a dedicated motherboard slot 19 and can be used as a main memory component as intended after configuration has been effected by the motherboard.
During the production of semiconductor components, such as DRAMs for example, the individual integrated circuits are usually tested while still at the wafer level by emplacement of measuring tips. The wafers are singulated into chips and the functioning chips are mounted, contact-connected and encapsulated in suitable housings. Afterward, a plurality of chips are combined to form modules by being applied on a common printed circuit board. For the functional test at the chip level, there are generally specific test circuits that are used in order to carry out the envisaged functional tests.
Particular importance is accorded to the subsequent application tests or the so-called application analysis. The interaction between the motherboard of a computer and module is examined during the application analysis. In this case, the modules in the application often behave differently than expected from the component analysis. In particular, the individual chips in the isolated state exhibit nothing conspicuous whatsoever, while the modules during the application analysis only function in certain motherboards and not in the others.
The examination of the cause of fault is problematic since generally the interaction between motherboard and module cannot be examined without intervening in the basic functions of the motherboard, whereby the measurement results are in turn corrupted.
The examination of the cause of a fault is furthermore made more difficult by the fact that, by virtue of the module being incorporated into the system, the individual subelements of the module can be accessed only with very great difficulty.
The analysis has hitherto been restricted to adjusting reference voltages on the motherboard or to adjusting the BIOS ("basic input output system"), connecting in resistances and capacitances on signal lines. Since the motherboard can only be operated in a well-defined and prescribed operating mode, however, it is not possible to carry out tests, which put the memory modules into an extreme state. By way of example, there is no known possibility of altering the timing of the chips situated on the module, of applying particularly high voltages or else, for example in the case of memory modules, of carrying out tests for determining the storage time, since the motherboard is not designed to operate with such extreme states and, therefore, does not actually permit the latter at all.
An analysis socket is commercially available which is soldered onto the motherboard and permits the module to be operated independently after the start-up of the system. Since most faults occur during the start-up of the system, the analysis socket is only of limited use. What is more, the module to be tested cannot be accessed directly from the conventional analysis socket. The module can only be accessed via the motherboard.
A further problem consists in the fact that in the booting phase, in which most application problems usually occur, a mode register set is performed by means of which the bits that specify the operating state of the individual chips are set to predetermined values. The individual chips and thus the module are thereby put into a normal application state. Accordingly, it is not possible to test a module during the start-up of the computer in a test mode. For the application engineer, however, it would precisely be of interest to put the chips into a test mode prior to the booting phase being performed, in order to examine the influence of the test modes on the booting process. This would enable application tests to be performed particularly rapidly and effectively.


A mixed feed or a feed additive, which comprises Cucurbita Seed, Plantago and Lornicera.. Other crude drugs such as Safflower, Licorice, Mabiacao, Pugongying, Houttuynia and Juhua may be compounded in addition to the above crude drugs.. For breeding cattle, swine, fowl, Hamachi, and the like, the above-described mixed feed, or the feed additive compounded with the marketed feed may be used.. The resistance to diseases of the fed animals is improved, healthy candicidin can be maintained during the breeding, and the meat quality, egg quality, or the like is improved.

1) Field of the Industrial Use
This invention relates to a feed for increasing the disease resistance of domestic animals, domestic fowls and fishes and improving their qualities such as the meat quality, egg quality, and the like.
2) Prior Art
Most of the prior art assorted feed and mixed feed have been produced with the aim of supplying domestic animals, domestic, fowl, fish, and the like with nutritive substances which can maintain their growth conditions within economically acceptable range in the usual natural environment. The purpose of their production was to allow animals to spend days in good conditions during a period until they can be shipped economically, rather than to maintain their length of life as long as possible under healthy conditions. That is, the main purpose was to improve body weight gain, feed requiring ratio, and the like during a period prior to their shipping. With regard to diseases of these animals, vaccines have been used for the prevention of diseases and antibiotics and antimicrobial agents have been used for the treatment of diseases.
In recent years, however, the appearance of resistant bacteria and residual antibiotics in meat and eggs became social problems, which resulted in the legal restriction of the use of antibiotics, antimicrobial agents, and the like and frequent strict inspections for this purpose. That is, shipping of animals has been banned not only during the use of these drugs but also for a certain period after their use. In addition, environmental deterioration caused by dense rearing, and the like in quest of profitability has resulted in the increase of intractable diseases, so-called opportunistic infections, and the like, which has accelerated reduction of productivity and profitability.
Taking such circumstances into consideration, the inventors of the present invention have conducted studies on the improvement of the rearing environment for all types of domestic animals, domestic fowl, cultured fish, and the like, so that their health can be maintained through the prevention of their infection with viruses, bacteria and parasites without using drugs for animals (antibiotics and antimicrobial agents) as far as possible and their meat quality, egg quality, milk quality, and the like can be improved. As a result, the present inventors found that the blending of certain crude drugs with feeds for domestic animals, domestic fowl, cultured fish, and the like can increase the resistance of these animals against viruses, bacteria and parasites and improve the meat and egg qualities, and accomplished the present invention.
Accordingly, the object of the present invention is to maintain the health of domestic animals, domestic fowl, cultured fish, and the like without using antibiotics and antimicrobial agents as far as possible.