A pendulum box for a clock pendulum box includes a tumbler seat, a pendulum mover pivotally mounted on the tumbler seat, and a pendulum rod mounted on the pendulum mover and having a portion secured in the pendulum mover to move therewith. Thus, the pendulum rod is combined with the pendulum mover closely, so that the pendulum rod is moved with the pendulum mover synchronously. In addition, the pendulum rod is combined with the pendulum mover rigidly and stably, thereby preventing the pendulum rod from producing vibration or sway during movement.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a pendulum box, and more particularly to a pendulum box for a clock.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional pendulum box for a clock in accordance with the prior art shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 comprises a tumbler seat 1 having a lower end provided with a receiving case 2 to receive an electromagnetic coil (not shown) and a circuit board (not shown), a pendulum mover 3 having an upper end pivotally mounted on an upper end of the tumbler seat 1 and a lower end provided with a fixing seat 31 for fixing a magnet 311 and formed with a snap hole 33, a pendulum rod 32 pivotally mounted on the pendulum mover 3 and having an upper end snapped into the snap hole 33 of the pendulum mover 3, and a cover 11 mounted on the tumbler seat 1 to cover the pendulum mover 3. The tumbler seat 1 is used to rotate hour, minute and second hands (not shown) of the clock. The fixing seat 31 of the pendulum mover 3 is located adjacent to the receiving case 2 of the tumbler seat 1. Thus, when the magnetic field of the electromagnetic coil in the receiving case 2 of the tumbler seat 1 is changed, a force is produced between the magnet 311 of the pendulum mover 3 and the electromagnetic coil of the tumbler seat 1 so as to push the pendulum mover 3 to oscillate so as to move the pendulum rod 32.
However, the upper end of the pendulum mover 3 is pivotally mounted on the upper end of the tumbler seat 1, and the pivot connection of the pendulum mover 3 and the tumbler seat 1 is not located at the balance point of the pendulum mover 3, so that the pendulum mover 3 is oscillated too rapid, thereby decreasing stability of oscillation of the pendulum mover 3 and the pendulum rod 32. In addition, the upper end of the pendulum rod 32 is snapped into the snap hole 33 of the pendulum mover 3, so that the pendulum rod 32 is not combined with the pendulum mover 3 rigidly and stably. Thus, the pendulum rod 32 is easily vibrated or detached from the pendulum mover 3 during movement.
Another conventional pendulum box for a clock in accordance with the prior art shown in FIGS. 5–7 comprises a tumbler seat 41 having a lower end provided with a receiving case 42 to receive an electromagnetic coil (not shown) and a circuit board (not shown), a pendulum mover 43 having an upper end pivotally mounted on an upper end of the tumbler seat 41 and formed with a protruding stud 431 and a lower end provided with a fixing seat 44 for fixing a magnet (not shown) and formed with a snap hole 433, an upper pendulum rod 45 having a lower end secured on the protruding stud 431 of the pendulum mover 43, a lower pendulum rod 432 pivotally mounted on the pendulum mover 43 and having an upper end snapped into the snap hole 433 of the pendulum mover 43, and a cover 46 mounted on the tumbler seat 41 to cover the pendulum mover 43. The upper pendulum rod 45 provides a balance effect, so that the lower pendulum rod 432 is oscillated smoothly and stably.
However, the upper end of the lower pendulum rod 432 is snapped into the snap hole 433 of the pendulum mover 43, so that the lower pendulum rod 432 is not combined with the pendulum mover 43 rigidly and stably. Thus, the lower pendulum rod 432 is easily vibrated or detached from the pendulum mover 43 during movement.


An Ag--Cu alloy for a sliding contact containing:. a) 0.1 to 8.0 wt. % of Cu, based on the weight of the alloy, wherein at least 70 wt. % of the Cu contained in the alloy is solid-solubilized in an Ag-.alpha.-phase; and PA1 b) 0.1 to 4.0 wt. %, based on the weight of the alloy, of at least one metal selected from the group consisting of Ge, Ni, Sn, In, Zn, Mg, Mn, Sb, Pb and Bi.. The Ag--Cu alloy is desirably utilized to form a composite with a Cu or Cu alloy base material. Such composite has been found to be very useful for fabricating the commutator of a compact DC motor.

The present invention relates to an Ag--Cu alloy for a sliding contact as well as to a composite of a Cu or Cu alloy base material and the Ag--Cu alloy and to a compact DC motor employing as a commutator such composite.
While Ag--Cu alloys have been heretofore employed as materials for a sliding contact, the hardening of a solid solution is not sufficiently realized because the metallurgical structure is not sufficiently controlled and especially since Cu atoms are not completely solid-solubilized in an Ag-.alpha.-phase. The material for a sliding contact prepared from prior art Ag--Cu alloys is therefore softer and is subject to rapid abrasion because of its insufficient abrasion resistance at the time of sliding due to the unevenness of the metallurgical structure at the time of its manufacture. In case of a compact DC motor employing a commutator manufactured with such prior art material, abrasion is caused by the sliding with brush contact to produce abrasion powder which is responsible for making a noise.


The invention is directed to an intraocular lens having an optical body, two haptic elements and first and second sets of a plurality of ropes corresponding to respective ones of the first and second haptic elements. The ropes are secured to the optical body and to the haptic element and have a severing sequence. The haptic elements each have a compressed state, a partly compressed state and an uncompressed state. In the compressed state, the first rope of the severing sequence is configured to deform the haptic element in a direction toward the optical body as a result of which the first rope is under a tensile stress and the rest of the ropes are stress-free and, by the ropes being severed successively in the severing sequence, the haptic element can be brought firstly to the partly compressed state. All the ropes are severed in the uncompressed state.

In cataract treatment of an eye, an incision is conventionally made in the cornea of the eye, the incision being large enough to allow a cannula to be inserted through the incision into the eye. After the incision has been made in the cornea, the lens of the eye is broken up by phacoemulsification and then sucked out of the capsular bag of the eye. Thereafter, an intraocular lens is inserted into the capsular bag by an injector. The intraocular lens includes an optical body and a haptic element, wherein the haptic element fixes the optical body in the capsular bag.
The haptic element has the function of keeping the optical body as close as possible to the middle of the eye in order to generate an image of maximum quality on the retina of the eye. Moreover, the optical body should be fixed with maximum positional stability in the capsular bag. In addition, the haptic element has the function of stopping the optical body from rotating about its optical axis. This is particularly relevant when the optical body is a toric optical body by means of which cornea curvature is to be corrected, because the toric optical body, if it is arranged in the capsular bag with an incorrect orientation, leads to an imaging aberration on the retina.
If the intraocular lens is too small for the capsular bag, it is difficult to hold the intraocular lens with positional stability in the capsular bag. If the intraocular lens is too large for the capsular bag, there is the risk of the capsular bag being injured by the intraocular lens and, moreover, it is difficult to rotate the intraocular lens in the capsular bag in order, in the case of the toric optical body, to arrange the latter with the correct orientation in the capsular bag.


The present disclosure, in some embodiments, relates to a multi-dimensional integrated chip structure. The multi-dimensional integrated chip structure includes a first substrate having a first upper surface and a second upper surface above the first upper surface. A first outermost perimeter of the first upper surface is larger than a second outermost perimeter of the second upper surface. A second substrate is over the first substrate. The second substrate has a third upper surface above the second upper surface. A third outermost perimeter of the third upper surface is smaller than the second outermost perimeter of the second upper surface.

Many modern electronic devices use integrated circuits that are formed on semiconductor wafers during semiconductor device fabrication processes. Increasingly, semiconductor wafers may be stacked and bonded together to form three-dimensional integrated circuits (3DICs). 3DICs have a number of advantages over traditional two-dimensional integrated circuits (2DICs), such as higher device density, greater speed, and lower power consumption.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.


A checkpointing mechanism by which in-memory data structures are copied from computation nodes (200) to staging nodes (700) by using RDMA, checkpoints are made and kept in memory in the staging node (700), and then asynchronously copied to non-volatile storage (150). In contrast to previous approaches, checkpoints remain in volatile memory (740) as part of the checkpointing mechanism. As a result, recovery from checkpoint is potentially faster, since the required checkpoint may be already in memory (740) in the staging node (700). An automatic and customisable mechanism is provided to control when the checkpointing process is triggered. As an alternative to copying an object through the network, the object in memory can be updated to a newer version of the object by applying the chain of changes made in the object in the corresponding computation node (200).

Computer systems are not exempt from unexpected failures, and in any case require periodic shutdowns for maintenance. This has led to a proliferation of different fault-tolerance techniques with the aim of avoiding either the loss of data, or the need to re-compute complex and long processes. One of the most common techniques consists of making a checkpoint of the state of said processes, or the data structures used by these processes, by saving them to reliable storage (conventionally, disk-based). This allows later restarting of the execution of the processes or restoring the values of those data structures. Although necessary to avoid loss of data, checkpointing mechanisms typically incur bottlenecks because they usually involve I/O operations to disk. For this reason, multiple approaches have been put forward in order to improve these mechanisms, from diskless to multi-level checkpointing.
For many years, main efforts in developing checkpointing techniques were focused on scientific applications, and therefore, how to checkpoint and restart processes, often executed in parallel and running for hours or days at a time. Although there is still room for improvement, years of research and innovation have crafted efficient and reliable mechanisms in this area.
On the other hand, as we come close to a world dominated by sensors, wearable devices, IoT, etc., all of them contributors to a Big Data ecosystem, the amount of data generated and handled by many applications is enormous. As a consequence of its volume, movements of data are very costly. Fault-tolerant mechanisms specially designed to deal with these requirements have been developed. Among those, Spark, with its in-memory Resilient Distributed Datasets (RDD), has had a major impact.
A Spark application consists of a driver program which executes various parallel operations on a cluster of nodes. The RDD is a collection of elements partitioned across the nodes of the cluster, and that can be operated on in parallel. A scheduling component of Spark (task scheduler) divides tasks into stages which can be executed by the available resources, taking into account the needs of other users of the cluster. RDDs can only be created through deterministic operations—called "transformations"—on either data in stable storage or other RDDs. These transformations (e.g., map, filter and join) apply the same operation to many data items. This allows RDDs to efficiently provide fault tolerance by logging the transformations used to build a dataset (its lineage) rather than the actual data. If a partition of an RDD is lost, the RDD has enough information about how it was derived from other RDDs to re-compute just that partition. Thus, lost data can be recovered, often quite quickly, without requiring costly replication. Despite being limited to coarse-grained transformations, RDDs are a good fit for many parallel applications, where the same operations are applied to multiple data items.
FIG. 1 shows a typical checkpointing mechanism used to save the state of an in-memory object or data structure (henceforth referred to simply as an object). The basic arrangement is that to execute an application, an input dataset is processed in a sequence of operations or "transformations" in accordance with code of the application, producing an output dataset as final result. The transformations together form a "lineage computation chain".
As shown in FIG. 1, the input dataset for use in executing an application is read from a file store 11 such as a Parallel File System (PFS) and, as part of the application, a first transformation (Transformation #1 or t1) is applied to produce a first object 31 (Object #1) which exists in a volatile memory 21 (part of a computation node of the computer system on which the application is executed). Next, a transformation t2 is applied which changes the object to a new or modified object 32 (Object #2) in volatile memory 22, which memory may belong to a different computation node and thus may be different from memory 21. The process is repeated by applying subsequent transformations t3 and t4. The final object 34 (Object #4), which is created in volatile memory 23, is written to a file store 12 (which may of course be the same as file store 11) to produce the output dataset as the final result of executing the application.
The checkpointing comes in upon creation of object 33 (Object #3) following transformation t3. As indicated by the downward arrow, the object is not merely retained in a computation node's volatile memory but instead stored in a file store 15 (which may be the same as file store 11 or 12). Then, even if there is a fault, for example loss of data from memory 23, the stored object can be retrieved from the file store and processing can resume starting with transformation t4, without having to start all over again with t1. As noted in FIG. 1, each checkpoint increases safety in terms of the ability to recover from faults, but at the cost of causing bottlenecks due to relatively slow disk writing times.
Spark, and other in-memory approaches, can reduce such bottlenecks thanks to the above mentioned technique of re-computation of objects based on their lineage computation chain. In this way, as an alternative to writing objects to disk for later retrieval, if a fault happens lost objects can be re-computed by applying the same operations as were recorded in a log. However, when long lineage computation chains are required to produce a certain object, it is worth keeping a copy of the object itself in order to avoid long computation times. This approach is followed by Spark, which increases the safety of data, but incurs bottlenecks due to the writes to disk.
In order to eliminate these bottlenecks, diskless approaches are proposed. Instead of checkpointing to stable storage, these approaches rely on memory and processor redundancy. Although this technique is faster and allows faster recoveries, it does not scale well to large number of processors, and is less secure than disk-based approaches.
This issue is addressed by hybrid mechanisms, which make the checkpoints over different levels, combining the speed of volatile storage with the security of non-volatile, stable storage. These approaches generally combine a dual local-global approach, making local and global copies in a distributed environment. However, these techniques cause three bottlenecks: (1) copies in distributed nodes are written into non-volatile, slower storage, (2) communicating checkpoints through the network is costly, and (3) global server or storage may be saturated by many simultaneous local nodes transferring copies.
In order to solve the last bottleneck, staging nodes are often used as an intermediate layer to coordinate the writes to the distributed, parallel file system (PFS) used to back up the checkpoints. Generally, these techniques use Remote Direct Memory Access (RDMA) to speed up communications between client and server nodes.
FIG. 2 shows the general principle of RDMA communication (not specifically in the context of checkpointing), in which data is transferred from one memory 24 in one node to a memory 25 in another node without involving a Central Processing Unit (CPU) 26 or 27 of either node, or caches or context switches. RDMA instead relies on respective network adapters 51 and 52 of the nodes to read and write data directly. Effectively, the network adapter 52 in the second node pulls the data from the memory 24 over a network 60 with assistance of network adapter 51, and places the data directly in memory 25 without the need for caching, and without the respective CPUs even being aware that this has occurred. This reduces latency and increases the speed of data transfer, which is obviously beneficial in high performance computing.
Consequently, references in this specification to data being transferred from one computer or node to another should be understood to mean that the respective network adapters (or equivalent) transfer data, without necessarily involving the CPU of each computer or node.
The current amount of data that is being handled in many fields, from science to finance, together with its importance and significance, make the implementation of secure and fast fault recovery systems absolutely crucial. In particular, current Big Data technologies, which help us to deal with the plethora of data we are generating, have to consider the implementation of these fault recovery systems.

Automatic and customisable checkpointing


A method and apparatus for vacuum cooling heated viscous and/or high solids mixtures employs at least one cooling tank (1) having inwardly sloping side walls (15) from a top (14) to an opening that is attached to a outlet pump or valve (7) located at the tank bottom, a rotational spreader (8) near the top and at least one vacuum pump (5, 6) to maintain the predetermined vacuum in the tank, and input and output pumps (20, 21). The rotational spreader (8) breaks up the heated viscous and/or high solids mixture (9) and distributes it onto the side walls of the tank to form a film (10) which is cooled as it travels to and slides down the sides to the bottom where the viscous and/or high solids mixture is outputted from the tank by a pump or valve (7, 21, 26). Multiple stages of the apparatus may be employed preferably with progressively greater vacuum pressure in each stage to accomplish even further cooling of the viscous and/or high solids mixtures.

This invention relates to treatments of high solids containing and/or viscous mixtures, more particularly to the vacuum cooling of a high solids containing and viscous mixture such as citrus waste.
In many production processes, such as the production of ethanol and extraction of oils and other byproducts from citrus waste, the high solids viscous mixture must be treated by cooking or heating to a high temperature, usually 95° C. or higher. Then the viscous mixture must be cooled to a lower temperature of approximately 45° C. or less to be able to add hydrolyzing enzymes and/or fermentation microorganisms without killing the organisms or inactivating the enzymes which are necessary for hydrolysis and/or fermentation of the solids to produce ethanol or other byproducts.
Conventionally the cooling of high solids containing and/or viscous mixtures has been accomplished by using scraped surface heat exchangers or by applying vacuum to batches of heated viscous mixtures in a suitable vessel. Unfortunately, the time necessary to properly cool a viscous mixture in batches is lengthy and thus delays the entire production process. Moreover, such cooling is uneven, as all batches do not cool evenly, leaving hot spots in the mixture. Furthermore, such cooling is not at a continuous flow rate commensurate with the production process (McDonald, K., and D. Sun, Journal of Food Engineering 45: 55-65 (2000)). Thus, the need exists for a method and apparatus for cooling viscous and/or high solids containing mixtures faster, more evenly and in a continuous fashion.

Method and apparatus for vacuum cooling of viscous mixtures

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


A motor controller supplies power to a motor and drives the motor, the motor including a position detector. The motor controller includes a velocity control unit which generates a torque instruction by using a velocity instruction and a velocity signal; a correction processing unit which Fourier-transforms the torque instruction, extracts first-, second-, and sixth-order frequency components from the Fourier-transformed torque instruction, extracts an order component having the largest spectrum from the extracted order components, and generates a sine wave correction signal; an adder which adds the sine wave correction signal to the torque instruction, and generates a new torque instruction; and a position-signal generation unit which generates a position signal by using a position detection signal of the position detector.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a motor controller for correcting torque ripple caused by a motor or a motor controller and generating smooth torque.
2. Description of Related Art
To control the velocity of a motor having torque ripple, a motor controller can reduce velocity fluctuation resulting from the torque ripple by increasing a velocity loop gain. The velocity fluctuation, however, may not be reliably reduced when the velocity loop gain is low, which has to be addressed.
For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2003-88159 discloses a torque ripple correction apparatus for a synchronous AC motor. The apparatus generates a sine wave signal in accordance with an electrical angle of the synchronous AC motor, and adds the sine wave signal to a torque instruction, as a correction value Tcmp. In particular, the motor is operated at a constant velocity, the torque instruction and electrical angle of the motor are measured and accumulated in a buffer for a given period, the accumulated data is Fourier-transformed to extract first- to m-th-order components for the electrical angle, the extracted data is inverse-Fourier-transformed to generate a sine wave correction signal, and a correction unit adds the generated signal to the torque instruction, thereby correcting the torque ripple.
For another example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2001-352791 controls a synchronous motor using phase current, the phase current being obtained by multiplying sine wave current by a current correction coefficient K, the current correction coefficient K being calculated as the sum of even harmonics of the number of phases of current control frequency of the synchronous motor. A coefficient of each even harmonics term in an operation expression of the current correction coefficient K is obtained by inverting a polarity with a rate corresponding to the average torque of frequency components calculated by Fourier-transforming a torque fluctuation waveform when the synchronous motor is controlled with the sine wave current. The phase of a current value I of each of the even harmonics is obtained as the phase of frequency component calculated by Fourier-transforming the torque fluctuation waveform. The torque fluctuation can be reduced by using the current correction coefficient K because the torque fluctuation component in the even harmonics of the number of phases appears greatly by the Fourier transform of the torque fluctuation when control is performed by the sine wave current.


The invention provides a method of correcting numerous bone abnormalities including bone tumors and cysts, avascular necrosis of the femoral head, tibial plateau fractures and compression fractures of the spine. The abnormality may be corrected by first accessing and boring into the damaged tissue or bone and reaming out the damaged and/or diseased area using any of the presently accepted procedures or the damaged area may be prepared by expanding a bag within the damaged bone to compact cancellous bone. After removal and/or compaction of the damaged tissue the bone must be stabilized.

This invention relates to methods and devices for correcting bone abnormalities and involves the use of a surgical mesh bag which is inserted into a prepared cavity in bone. The bag is inflated using bone replacement material to expand and fill the cavity.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,549,679 and 5,571,189 to Kuslich, describe a device and method for stabilizing the spinal segment with an expandable, porous fabric implant for insertion into the interior of a reamed out disc which is packed with material to facilitate bony fusion. In the present invention, a similar bag is used to correct bone abnormalities including, but not limited to, bone tumors and cysts, tibial plateau fractures, avascular necrosis of the femoral head and compression fractures of the spine.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,108,404 and 4,969,888 to Scholten et al., describe a system for fixing osteoporotic bone using an inflatable balloon which compacts the bone to form a cavity into which bone cement is injected after the balloon is withdrawn. The invention requires the use of fluoroscopy to monitor the injection and to help guard against cement leakage through fissures in bone. Unfortunately, such leakage is known to occur in spite of these precautions. Since such leakage may cause serious injury, including paralysis, an improved device and method is needed.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,972,015 to Scribner et al., describes a system of deploying a catheter tube into the interior of a vertebra and expanding a specially configured nonporous balloon therewithin to compact cancellous bone to form a cavity. The Scribner patent approach utilizes a non-porous balloon which is inflated within the bone to cause compression. The cavity thus formed, may then be filled with bone cement. Unfortunately, the bag used by Scribner may be ruptured during expansion to compact cancellous bone due to sharp projections found within the cavity to be expanded. Filling the cavity eventually formed could allow leakage of bone cement out of the bone against vessels or nerves which may cause undesirable complications.
The present invention involves an improvement of all of the previous techniques and avoids complications that could occur with the system of U.S. Pat. No. 5,972,015.
All U.S. patents, applications and all other published documents mentioned anywhere in this application are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
The art described in this section is not intended to constitute an admission that any patent, publication or other information referred to herein is "prior art" with respect to this invention, unless specifically designated as such. In addition, this section should not be construed to mean that a search has been made or that no other pertinent information as defined in 37 C.F.R. § 1.56(a) exists.

Expandable porous mesh bag device and methods of use for reduction, filling, fixation, and supporting of bone


A method of making a current sensing chip resistor is composed of a resistor manufacturing process which is constituted by a pre-process and a post-process. In addition, a thin-film process is used for the resistor manufacturing process, and the aluminum nitride substrate is used in the thin-film, in association with a technique of flip chip structure of single-side manufacturing process, enabling the resistor to be provided with performances of a high power, a high precision, a high thermal conductivity, a low temperature coefficient, a low noise, and a saving of utilization space of PCB (Printed Circuit Board).

(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of making a current sensing chip resistor, and more particularly to a manufacturing method, wherein a thin-film process is utilized to make the resistor, and an aluminum nitride (AlN) substrate and a technique of a flip chip structure are used in the process.
(b) Description of the Prior Art
Referring to FIG. 1, a conventional process A for making a resistor includes a rear-side conductor printing A2, a front-side resistor printing A3, a front-side conductor printing A4, a high-temperature baking A5, a glass protective layer printing A6, and a glass protective layer baking A7 on an aluminum oxide (Al2O3) substrate A1. However, as the aluminum oxide substrate A1 is used in a pre-process, and only a thick-film process is used for the resistor manufacturing process A, the product will have a low power (1 W), a low precision (1%), a low conductivity, a high temperature coefficient, and a high noise. In addition, the resistor manufacturing process A does not use a technique of a flip chip structure of a single-side manufacturing process; therefore, a problem of utilization space of a PCB (Printed Circuit Board) will be increased.
Therefore, how to eliminate the aforementioned shortcomings is a technical issue to be solved by the present inventor.

Method of making a current sensing chip resistor


Described are novel proteins having the biological activity of a tumor suppressor protein and nucleic acid molecules coding for such proteins. Methods for the isolation of nucleic acid molecules encoding tumor suppressor proteins as well as nucleic acid molecules obtainable by said method are also provided. Further, vectors comprising said nucleic acid molecules wherein the nucleic acid molecules are operatively linked to regulatory elements allowing expression in prokaryotic or eukaryotic host cells can be used for the production of polypeptides encoded by said nucleic acid molecules which have tumor suppressor activity. Pharmaceutical and diagnostic compositions are provided comprising the nucleic acid molecules of the invention and/or comprising a nucleic acid molecule which is complementary to such a nucleic acid molecule. Described are also compositions which comprise polypeptides encoded by the described nucleic acid molecules which have tumor suppressor activity and/or an antibody specifically recognizing such polypeptides.

A network of genes, including cell cycle regulatory genes, proto-oncogenes, and tumor suppressor genes have emerged, which play major roles in normal physiological processes as well as in tumor progression (Grana and Reddy, Oncogene 11 (1995), 221-219; Hartwell and Kastan, Science 266 (1994), 1821-1828; Hoffman and Liebermann, Oncogene 9 (1995), 1807-1812; Sherr, Cell 79 (1994), 551-555). Oncogenes have first captured the lion's share of attention in the molecular and genetic studies on cell transformation. But it has now been realized that there is an equally important second side of the coin, presented by a distinct class of genes known variously as tumor suppressor genes (TSGs) or anti-oncogenes. Logic dictates that there must exist an equally elaborate array of growth-constraining elements in the cell's signaling circuitry that serve to counteract the growth-promoting proto-oncogenes (Fisher, Cell 78 (1994), 539-542; Karp and Broder, Nature Med. 1 (1995), 309-320; Liebermann et al., Oncogene 11 (1995), 119-210; Thompson, Science 267 (1995), 1456-1462). These tumor suppressor genes are of special interest since they may open up new possibilities for the treatment of cancers of various kinds and may help to better understand the molecular mechanisms responsible for the development of cancer.
The isolation of such suppressor genes has become feasible by progress in various fields with major contributions of molecular genetics and cell cycle analysis. Molecular genetics applied linkage studies to the isolation of TSGs, but the most fruitful strategies have evolved from the study of the genetic mechanisms employed by nascent tumor cells to discard their second, surviving copy of a tumor suppressor gene which results in homozygosity at the tumor suppressor locus. This event can often be traced by following the fate of anonymous DNA markers whose polymorphism allows detection of hetero- and homozygous states in these chromosomal regions. By this strategy the identification of the retinoblastoma gene product (Rb), the Wilms tumor suppressor gene (WT) and the von Hippel-Lindau tumor-suppressor gene has been possible. Most recently the cloning of the breast cancer susceptibility genes, BRCA1 and BRCA2 (Miki et al., Science 266 (1995), 66-71; Wooster et al., Nature 378 (1995), 789-792) has been accomplished by this approach.
Yet, the vast majority of human cancers, including breast cancer, develop spontaneously or under poorly defined criteria of genetic susceptibility preventing linkage studies to perform and indicating that epigenetic mechanisms appear to play the major role in the initiation and formation of tumors, which seem to develop in a multi-step process.
Further support for the concept of TSGs came up with the characterization and isolation of the regulatory components of the mammalian cell cycle. This progress has led to the identification of a new class of candidate tumor suppressor genes, the ubiquitously expressed cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitors (cdk), which negatively regulate cell cycle progression. Among the various forms described so far (p15, p16, p18, p21 and p27) the cdk p16 has been demonstrated to be mutated in-vivo in a spectrum of tumors examined (Marx, Science 264 (1994), 344-345; Kamb et al., Science 264 (1994), 436-440; Nobori et al., Nature 368 (1994), 753-756).
Another important example of a tumor suppressor gene is the p53 TSG, whose biological activity has been elucidated in-vitro through molecular and biochemical studies before it became identified as the genetic cause of the Li-Fraumeni syndrome. It is one of the most frequently mutated tumor suppressor genes in human tumors from various origins (Hollstein et al., Science 253 (1991), 49-53). This TSG encodes a transcription factor with two important functional properties contributing to its growth-suppression function: induction of apoptosis and cell cycle arrest (Vogelstein and Kinzler, Cell 70 (1992), 523-526; Oren, FASEB J. 6 (1992), 3169-3176; Perry, Curr. Opin. Genet. Dev. 3 (1993), 50-54; Bates and Vousden, Curr. Opin. Genet. Dev. 6 (1996), 12-19).
Although tumor suppressor genes have recently attracted a lot of attention due to the possibility that they may provide important targets in the treatment of cancer, only a limited number of TSGs could be identified and cloned. Thus, there still exists a need for the identification of further tumor suppressor genes in order to better understand the mechanisms of the development of diseases such as cancer and to be able to provide means for the treatment of further forms of tumorous diseases or for the improved treatment of tumorous diseases. One reason for the slow progress in cloning TSGs may be seen in the fact that there exists no method for the identification and isolation which can be easily carried out in-vitro and allows the rapid screening of a plurality of potential sequences for tumor suppressor activity.
Thus, the technical problem underlying the present invention is to provide further nucleic acid molecules coding for proteins displaying tumor suppressor activity as well as methods for their identification and isolation.

Nucleic acid molecules coding for tumor suppressor proteins and methods for their isolation

Max-Planck-Gesellschaft zur Forderung der Wissenschaften e.V.


A photosensitive body for electro-photography includes a photosensitive drum, a shaft aligned with a center axis of the photosensitive drum, and a contact member. The photosensitive drum is rotatable relative to the shaft, and the shaft includes a cylindrical shaft body made from an electrically conductive metal, and an electrically conductive metal coating formed on an outer surface of the shaft body. The contact member has an engagement portion in fitting engagement with an inner peripheral surface of the drum body, and a contact portion resiliently and slidingly contacting the shaft to provide an electrical contact between the photosensitive drum and the shaft. The metal coating and at least a surface of the contact portion in direct contact with the outer surface of the shaft body are made from a material identical to each other.

A conventional photosensitive body installed in a process cartridge detachable relative to a main frame of an image forming device such as a copying machine, printer, and facsimile is generally in the form of a cylindrical shape having a small diameter. The photosensitive body includes a cylindrical electrically conductive photosensitive drum, an electrically conductive shaft rotatably supporting the photosensitive drum, and an electrically conductive contact member.
The photosensitive drum includes a drum body (aluminum tube) whose outer surface is formed with a photosensitive layer. Further, an end flange is fitted at each end of the aluminum tube. The shaft extends through a radial center of each flange. One of the flanges is provided with a gear for drivingly rotating the photosensitive body about its axis.
In such conventional photosensitive body, the end flange is made from a synthetic resin in view of reduction in weight and cost. Here, in the electro-photographic process, the drum body must be electrically connected to the main frame because of the necessity of grounding. To this effect, the contact member such as an electrically conductive plate (grounding plate) is provided for electrical connection between the shaft and the drum body.
More specifically, the electrically conductive plate has generally disk shape and is forth-fitted with inner peripheral side of the end portion of the drum body along with the end flange. The electrically conductive disk plate has an outer peripheral portion provided with a protrusion adapted to be in contact with the drum body, and has a radially center portion formed with a through-hole through which the shaft extends. The electrically conductive disk plate has a reed like contact portion that is in resilient contact with an outer peripheral surface of the shaft extending through the through-hole. Such conventional arrangement is described in laid open Japanese Patent Application Publication No. H10-207291, 2002-91234, 2004-102270, and 2006-72039.

Photosensitive body having electrical connection arrangement


A compound consisting of a linear saturated C8-C24 hydrocarbon-based chain bearing at each end a nitrogen-containing functional group, other than —NH2, is used for the storage of thermal energy.

Phase change materials (or PCMs) are materials capable of storing energy in a latent manner during a reversible physical change of state. The energy density and compactness of the energy storage elements manufactured from these materials render them substantially more competitive than sensible heat storage materials, which store the energy in the form of a rise in their temperature (without phase change).
Specifically, PCMs have the capacity to absorb a certain amount of heat when they pass from one physical state to another, generally during the melting thereof, with a moderate modification of their temperature and of that of their environment, and to release heat by returning to their original physical state, especially by recrystallizing. These materials are all the more advantageous when the amount of heat exchanged during these phase changes is large. In the case of a solid/liquid transition, this is expressed by their enthalpy of fusion or of crystallization. The melting temperatures and crystallization temperatures of the PCMs furthermore determine the possible applications thereof. Among these, mention may be made of the cooling of food products or of pharmaceutical products that are sensitive to heat, of textile materials, of engines, of electronic components and circuits or of waste combustion plants. On the industrial scale, the PCMs also form a means for recovering the heat that is released or that is available contained in containers or equipment (such as chemical reactors, generators of electrical or mechanical energy) or in process streams or fluids (for example cooling/heating circuits, effluents), especially during certain exothermic chemical reactions. The heat released may then be reused to provide energy to other reactions, which makes it possible to reduce the industrial consumption of fossil energy or electrical energy. The use of PCMs in air conditioning cycles (heating/cooling) is also an example of an application where it is possible to efficiently store thermal energy in order to then release it at the desired time and in the desired amount.
The most common PCM material is none other than water. During its solid/liquid transition (and therefore implicitly liquid/solid transition), it makes it possible to absorb or release large amounts of heat. It is in this way that tanks or pools of water at a temperature close to 0° C., which is free (in the form of an ice/liquid water mixture) or is encapsulated, for example in balls made of plastic or other materials, constitute a simple example of a PCM system capable of storing (during the melting of the ice) and of releasing (during the crystallization of the liquid water) large amounts of energy per unit mass of water. However, water, although abundant, available and non-toxic, cannot solve all the possible problems as regards efficiency of heat exchange due to its restricted usage range (around 0° C.) and problems linked to the high volume expansion of the ice during its formation.
Other common PCMs include paraffins and fatty acids, such as dodecanoic acid, used for the air conditioning of buildings, hydrated salts such as Mn(NO3)2.H2O, MnCl2.H2O, Na2S2O3.5H2O and CH2COONa.3H2O and eutectic mixtures, especially of capric acid and of lauric acid. These compounds generally have quite low melting temperatures, ranging from 15 to 48° C. approximately. Around 150° C., adipic acid (C6H10O4, 152° C.), or maltitol (C12H24O11, 145° C.) are known and for melting temperatures in the vicinity of 300° C., the PCMs known are, for example, salts such as NaNO3 (307° C.), KNO3 (333° C.). However, these PCMs have many drawbacks impeding their industrial development. In particular, organic PCMs may be flammable, have a low thermal conductivity in the solid state, require high heat transfers during the freezing cycle, and have a low volumetric latent heat. Furthermore, paraffins may pose problems of supply, cost and generation of CO2 due to their petroleum origin. Inorganic PCMs generate, for their part, significant supercooling phenomena. Moreover, their phase transition temperatures are not constant due, in particular, to their hygroscopicity. Finally, they are capable of resulting in a corrosion of the metals with which they are in contact, which leads to unacceptable maintenance costs.
To overcome some of the aforementioned drawbacks, it has been proposed to use plant or animal waxes, such as beeswax, sugar alcohols such as erythritol, and linear fatty acids or diacids of plant origin which offer a choice of transition temperatures (from 20 to 155° C.) and of latent heat of fusion (from 140 to 240 J/g) as a function of their chain length, of their degree of unsaturation and of their acid functions, linked to their crystallinity (see Investigation of Phase Change Materials for Elevated Temperatures, J. Waschull, R. Müller and S. Römer, Institute for Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Dresden (ILK Dresden), Stockton University, Energy studies, 2009).
Furthermore, certain amine-containing materials have been described as PCMs. These are in particular clathrates consisting of quaternized N,N,N′,N′-tetramethylethylenediamine and of quaternized N,N,N′,N′-tetramethyl-1,6-hexanediamine described by Usmani, A. in Journal of Materials Science Letters, 2 (1983) 681-682, which have a melting point from 0 to 31° C., and adducts of formic acid and of N,N,N′,N′-tetramethylethylenediamine described by Salman, M. et al. in Journal of Thermal Analysis, Vol. 37 (1991) 2389-2394. The first of these adducts, A4B, has a melting temperature of 18° C. whereas the second, A2B, has a melting temperature of 60° C. but is presented as thermally unstable. Document EP 0 094 366 additionally discloses a thermal energy storage system using a PCM consisting of a diamine of formula H2N—(CH2)n—NH2 where n is an integer ranging from 4 to 14. These compounds have melting temperatures from 16 to 73° C. approximately but they also exhibit a poor thermal stability that results in a loss of heat storage efficiency.
Furthermore, known from US 2005/208286 is a polymeric composite comprising an optionally encapsulated PCM, a polymeric dispersant and optionally a polymeric matrix, intended for the manufacture of synthetic fibers. The PCM may be chosen from a wide range of compounds, such as diacids, polymers and preferably hydrocarbons. However, polymers are not good PCMs as their long chains prevent reaching of a high phase transition energy.
Known from DE 10 2007 002796 are PCMs based on amides, especially bisamides, such as ethylenebis(stearamide). However, because of the crystallographic arrangement of such compounds, a good compromise between the need for a high fusion temperature and the need for a high phase transition energy can not be achieved.
Document U.S. Pat. No. 5,755,988 itself teaches the use of a diacid, such as sebacic acid, as a PCM. The inventors have observed that this compound is too volatile and has a tendency to degrade at high temperature, especially in the range 150-200° C., which makes it unsuitable for being used as a PCM in certain applications.
Consequently, the need remains to provide PCMs of renewable origin, having a melting temperature between 0° C. and 250° C. and preferably between 25° C. and 240° C., which are thermally stable, that is to say that are capable of undergoing a large number of melting/solidification cycles without degrading and of melting and crystallizing in a narrow and constant temperature range during the cycles. It would also be desirable for these compounds to have high enthalpies of fusion and of crystallization and a low flammability.

Use of compounds with nitrogen-containing functional groups for thermal energy storage

Abstract: A process for the storage and optionally for the release of thermal energy comprises the contacting of a wall to be cooled with a first heat transfer fluid then of said first heat transfer fluid with a material comprising said compound and optionally the contacting of said material with a second heat transfer fluid then of said second heat transfer fluid with a wall to be heated.


There is provided a self light emitting display device, including a variation detection unit configured to detect a variation of a video signal equal to, or greater than a predetermined threshold, a correction unit configured to correct an output level of the video signal based on the detection of the variation by the variation detection unit, and a video processing unit configured to perform a process with a predetermined time delay on the video signal supplied from the variation detection unit and configured to output the processed video signal to the correction unit.

The present disclosure relates to a self light emitting display device, control method of the self light emitting display device and a computer program.
An organic Electro Luminescence (EL) display is a display which has an advantage that it makes thin display panel possible, because it is not only excellent in wide viewing angle characteristic, response speed, wide range of color representation, and high contrast performance, but also each pixels themselves emit light.
The self light emitting display device such as an Organic EL display has a characteristic that the amount of electric current flowing through the display panel varies in response to the input video signal, unlike the display device such as a liquid crystal display, where the backlight should keep constant luminance level. Therefore, the electric power consumption per unit time in the self light emitting display device is not constant, and it may vary extremely in response to display contents.
Therefore, a technology for electric power control of the self light emitting display device has been considered and disclosed. For example, in JP 2007-147868A, there was disclosed a peak luminance control device that adjusts the peak luminance of the light emitting panel surface in the self light emitting display device, frame by frame. JP 2007-147868A also discloses a technology for adjusting the peak luminance level by applying gain per frame by mounting a buffer memory for delaying the video signal for matching an output peak control signal and a phase of the video signal output from the organic EL panel.

Control of video signal power variations in self light emitting display device


An x-ray radiator has an x-ray tube disposed in a protective housing and a fastening means having a portion attached to the x-ray tube inside the housing, and a portion which extends through the housing to the exterior of the housing. The exterior portion serves as a fastener to attach the x-ray radiator to a mount. The x-ray tube, within the housing, thus becomes directly attached to the exterior mount, which improves the precision with which the specified position of the central ray of the x-ray beam emanating from the x-ray tube can be achieved.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to an x-ray radiator of the type having an x-ray tube contained in a protective housing, and having an external fastening means for fastening the x-ray radiator to a mount.
2. Description of the Prior Art
X-ray radiators are usually constructed with the x-ray tube disposed in the protective housing mounted in a carrier which is, in turn, affixed to one of the interior walls of the housing. For mounting the x-ray radiator in an x-ray diagnostics apparatus, the housing is provided with an external fastener as described, for example, in Austrian Patent 144 813, U.S. Pat. No. 4,247,782, German GM 74 25 609 and U.S. Pat. No. 2,216,887.
A problem in such known structures is that the positional or attitudinal tolerances of the central ray of the x-ray beam which is generated by the x-ray tube within the x-ray radiator are not only dependent on the manufacturing tolerances of the external fastener and of the external mount, but are also dependent on the extent to which the position of the x-ray tube within the protective housing deviates from its specified position. Manufacturing tolerances as well as imprecisions in the assembly of the x-ray radiator can result in deviations of the position of the x-ray tube from its specified position. A significant outlay, with corresponding costs, is thus required in order to assure that the deviations in the position of the central ray from its specified position remain within permissible tolerances.

X-ray radiator having an externally accessible fastening means


The invention relates to compositions, systems, and methods for simultaneously detecting the presence and quantity of one or more different compounds in a sample using aptamer beacons. Aptamer beacons are oligonucleotides that have a binding region that can bind to a non-nucleotide target molecule, such as a protein, a steroid, or an inorganic molecule. New aptamer beacons having binding regions configured to bind to different target molecules can be used in solution-based and solid, array-based systems. The aptamer beacons can be attached to solid supports, e.g., at different predetermined points in two-dimensional arrays. The invention includes devices, methods, and computer software for carrying out the methods.

Various types of systems have been used to detect the presence of a particular chemical or molecule in a complex sample. For example, antibodies are used to detect the presence of a protein in a sample, and DNA microarray chips have been used to identify genes and study gene expression. Most existing molecular detection systems are designed to detect the presence of a single type or single category of target molecule. In the case of antibody detection, existing systems are typically limited to detecting only a subset of a type of molecule.
Recently, it has been shown that RNA and DNA aptamers can substitute for monoclonal antibodies in various applications (Jayasena, "Aptamers: an emerging class of molecules that rival antibodies in diagnostics." Clin. Chem., 45(9):1628-50, 1999; Morris et al., "High affinity ligands from in vitro selection: complex targets." Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., USA, 95(6):2902-7, 1998). The relatively fast selection process of the specific aptamers and the inexpensive synthesis makes the aptamer useful alternatives for monoclonal antibodies. These nucleic acids can be easily synthesized, readily manipulated, and can be stored for over long time. These benefits make nucleic acids more attractive biotechnology tools than their counterpart of proteins, antibodies. Additionally these nucleic acid probes can also be labeled by radioisotope, biotin, or fluorescent tags and can be used to detect targets under various conditions. An increasing number of DNA and RNA aptamers that recognize their non-nucleic acid targets has been developed by SELEX and has been characterized (Gold et al., "Diversity of Oligonucleotide Functions," Annu. Rev. Biochem., 64:763-97.1995; Bacher & Ellington, "Nucleic Acid Selection as a Tool for Drug Discovery," Drug Discovery Today, 3(6):265-273, 1998).

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A slidable washer (30) has a cylindrical part and a plane part joined thereto. The cylindrical part is placed between an inner circumferential face of a gear wheel (24) and an outer circumferential face of a boss part (23) of a gear housing (22) in order to reduce the frictional force caused during sliding movement therebetween. Further, the plane part joined to the cylindrical part is placed between a side (24b) of the gear wheel (24) and a base (22a) of the gear housing (22) so that the sliding frictional force therebetween is reduced and the cylindrical part of the slidable washer (30) is prevented from inclining toward the axial direction of the boss part (23).

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a rotary output transmitting structure, which may be used for a motor, more particularly, to a structure in which a slidable washer is placed between a gear wheel and a gear housing.
2. Related Art
In a conventional motor which may be used as the opening and closing drive for a window glass of a vehicle, a rotating speed of the rotor of a motor is reduced through a reduction gear and a driving force is transferred to an output shaft. More particularly, the rotating speed of the rotor is reduced through a gear wheel meshed with the worms formed on the rotor shaft so that driving force is transferred to the output shaft.
On the other hand, a gear housing to store the reduction gear is generally made by resin molding to be light in weight, and has a boss part integrally molded at the center thereof. While the motor is driven and the gear wheel rotates, an inner circumferential face of the gear wheel slides on an outer circumferential face of the boss part.
However, since the boss part is integrally molded with the gear housing made of resin, a sliding friction between the outer circumferential face of the boss part and the inner circumferential face of the gear wheel causes the wear of the outer circumferential face of the boss part, and consequently causes scattering of worn powders from the boss part.
Further, according to another conventional motor with a reduction gear disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open NO. 6-5361, a sliding metallic washer is provided between an inner circumferential face of a gear wheel and an outer circumferential face of a boss part of a gear housing so that the resistance to wear is improved. However, since the metallic slidable washer placed in the spacing between the inner circumferential face of the gear wheel and the outer circumferential face of the boss part is formed in a cylindrical shape, the washer tends to incline toward the axial direction of the boss part. Therefore, when the motor is driven, it has a problem that the inclination leads to backlash and the inner circumferential face of the gear wheel cannot move smoothly on the outer circumferential face of the boss part. Furthermore, the sliding friction occurs at a place at which the slidable washer is not placed between the side of the gear wheel and the base of the gear housing, and may lead to scattering of worn powders from the gear housing.

Rotary output transmitting structure with a slidable washer


A motor driving apparatus for a washing machine, in which a motor is a washing machine motor with a double stator and a double rotor respectively having first and second U-phase, V-phase, and W-phase stator coils, includes: a motor controller for generating a drive signal in accordance with a washing mode, a rinsing mode and a dewatering mode; an inverter for generating a three-phase alternating-current (AC) power, in which any one-phase AC power of the three-phase AC power is applied in common to any one-phase stator coil of the first and second U-phase, V-phase, and W-phase stator coils for the washing machine motor; and a switching unit for switching to apply the remaining two-phase AC power of the three-phase AC power to any two-phase stator coils of the remaining two-phase stator coils of the first and second U-phase, V-phase, and W-phase stator coils for the washing machine motor.

In general, a motor driving circuit is configured by using a plurality of inverters when driving a plurality of motors. In particular, a plurality of inverters have been conventionally used even in the case of selectively driving one of a plurality of motors, to accordingly cause a factor that a drive circuit becomes complicated and the cost increases.
In addition, a general direct-coupled type washing machine selectively rotates a pulsator and a dewatering tub by using a motor for a washing machine.
For example, a washing machine rotates the pulsator repeatedly forward and backward in the case of performing a washing operation and a rinsing operation of washes, and rotates the pulsator and the dewatering tub at high-speed in an identical direction with the washing machine motor in the case of performing a dewatering operation.
In order to be able to rotate only the pulsator or the pulsator and the dewatering tub together with the washing machine motor, a conventional direct-coupled type washing machine are provided with a clutch and a transmission (see Korean Patent Registration Publication No. 10-0438616).
The clutch transmits rotational torque of the washing machine motor to the axis of rotation of the pulsator to thus have only the pulsator rotated, or transmits rotational torque of the washing machine motor to the axis of rotation of the pulsator and the axis of rotation of the dewatering tub to thus have the pulsator and the dewatering tub rotated together at high-speed.
However, the clutch includes a coupling, a coupling lift lever, a lift lever driving portion, and the like, and controls a planetary gear type reduction gear comprising a sun gear, a planetary gear, a carrier, etc., for transmitting the rotational force of a rotor to the pulsator during washing, to accordingly cause a factor that the configuration is very complicated, large and expensive, and the manufacturing cost of the washing machine increases.
Further, the conventional washing machine has a structure that the pulsator and the dewatering tub can rotate only in the same direction. Accordingly, the pulsator and the dewatering tub cannot rotate in opposite directions to each other, to thus cause a limit to improving performance of the washing machine.
Meanwhile, a conventional full-automatic washing machine that does not use a planetary gear type reduction gear has been proposed, but a large-capacity washing machine requiring a large torque adopting such a conventional full-automatic washing machine has caused a problem of taking a long washing time and deteriorating the washing efficiency.

Multi-motor driving device and apparatus and method of driving motor for washing machine using same


A method for adapting an engine-braking simulation for a vehicle provided with a regenerative braking device includes generating an arbitrated braking signal based on a simulated engine-braking signal developed on the basis of signals output from an acceleration pedal, and based on at least one signal output from at least one active safety system. The method also includes generating a braking instruction intended for the regenerative braking device by time filtration of the arbitrated braking signal.

The present invention relates to the simulation of the engine braking, in particular on a vehicle powered by an electric motor, for example an electric vehicle and/or hybrid vehicle.
In a vehicle provided with at least one electric traction or propulsion motor, it is possible, in certain conditions, to use the electric motor as a generator and to thus obtain an electric braking means. Such a use is advantageous because, since it is regenerative, it makes it possible to recover some of the kinetic energy of the vehicle in order to recharge the batteries.
This electric braking may be engaged when the driver presses on the brake pedal and also when the driver lifts his foot from the acceleration pedal. In this last case, reference is made to deceleration without braking.
In particular, document FR2945243 describes a method for producing such an artificial engine brake when the acceleration pedal is not engaged. The torque applied is dependent in particular on the speed of the vehicle and the level of charge of the battery.
The majority of vehicles are provided with one or more active safety systems for avoiding undesirable behavior of the wheels. For example, a vehicle may comprise a wheel anti-lock system, such as ABS for example (anti-lock braking system from the German "AntiBlockerSystem"), and/or a wheel anti-skid system, such as an ESP (electronic stability program) system for example. These active safety systems communicate with one or more sensors able to provide information concerning the state of the wheels.
The active safety systems are set up so as to switch into a control state following certain detections by the sensor or the sensors.
For example, the active safety systems may be set up so as to transmit control signals in order to control hydraulic braking means, for example brake pads. For example, a wheel anti-lock system may transmit signals intended to loosen the brake pads so as to prevent the wheels from locking up. An anti-skid system may transmit signals intended to apply a hydraulic braking to one wheel or another so as to ensure the stability of the vehicle, in particular when turning.
The active safety systems may also be set up so as to transmit electronic signals intended for the engine. For example, a wheel anti-lock system may be set up so as to transmit torque requests to the engine so that the engine accelerates the rotation of the wheels. An anti-skid system may be set up so as to transmit requests to the engine intended to reduce the torque applied by the engine.
In conventional combustion vehicles, the level of engine braking is relatively low, such that this braking does not generally lead to a response of the active safety systems.
However, regenerative braking makes it possible to recover energy. Also, in the case of a vehicle provided with a regenerative braking means, it is beneficial to simulate the engine braking with a relatively increased braking level.
It has been proposed to integrate within the same vehicle an engine-braking simulation module able to develop simulated engine-braking instructions intended for the regenerative braking means, and one or more active safety systems, for example ABS and/or ESP.
It has been proposed to program the engine-braking simulation module such that it develops simulated engine-braking instruction values corresponding to relatively increased torque values in absolute terms. However, it is possible that these increased braking values could lead to a switching to a control state of one or more active safety systems.
The signals transmitted by the active safety system or the active safety systems could then prevail over the signals transmitted by the engine-braking simulation module. Since the engine-braking torque value is relatively increased, there is a risk, however, of relatively abrupt transitions during the switching from one state to the other of the active safety system or active safety systems. However, the directional stability of the vehicle is sensitive not only to the level of braking applied, but also to the variations of the braking applied. During returns to the normal state of the active safety system, the abrupt transitions of the applied torque thus risk leading to reactivations of the safety system to the control state.
There is thus a need for a method that would make it possible to avoid such oscillations, and more generally to combine energy recovery and safety.

Adaptation of a simulated engine-braking instruction


An apparatus having a support base and a removable hair portion for training personal appearance workers. In one embodiment, the releasable hair portion is the crown of a mannequin head and is detachably fixed to the support base of the mannequin head, which is adapted to be fixed to a work surface or mount. In another embodiment the releasable hair portion is the chin and surrounding area, which is detachably fixed to the support base of the mannequin head. The removable hair portion of the mannequin attaches to the support base of the mannequin head with a latching system that securely fixes the hair portion to the head. The latching system includes at least one fastening tab and a releasable clip that engages an opening in the support base. In another embodiment, a detent system is positioned between a fastening tab and the locking clip.

1. Field of Invention
This invention pertains to a mannequin head with a replaceable hair section, or portion. More particularly, this invention pertains to mannequin heads adapted for use in training barbers, hairdressers, beauticians, cosmetologists, and others in the art of hair cutting and trimming by allowing the portion of the mannequin with hair to be replaced after the hair has been rendered unusable for further training and/or practice.
2. Description of the Related Art
Barbers, hairdressers, hairstylists, beauticians, and cosmetologists provide hair care services that include cutting, trimming, and styling hair. These personal appearance workers often undergo extensive training in order to provide their services. Many schools and training facilities use humans as subjects for training and practice. Some schools and training facilities use mannequin heads for training and practice. The mannequin heads are typically mounted on a stand or table and the hair is permanently attached to a one-piece mannequin head. After the mannequin heads are rendered unusable for further training and practice, such as after the hair is cut too short for further cutting, the complete mannequin head is disposed as refuse.
Mannequin heads are commonly used for displaying wigs and hair pieces. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,843,031, titled "Mannequin head," discloses a two-piece mannequin head with a bald crown for supporting a wig. This type of mannequin is not suitable for training personal appearance workers because the hair is not firmly attached to the mannequin in a manner such that the hair can be handled for cutting and/or styling.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,458,943, titled "Model and method for teaching hair and wig styling," discloses an early attempt at providing a mannequin for teaching hair styling. The '943 patent discloses a mannequin head 10 with a bald crown. Attached to the crown in various segments 16 is the loop portion of a loop-and-hook system. Swatches of hair simulating material 12 have, around their periphery, the hook portion 15 of the loop-and-hook system. The swatches 12 are then selectively applied to the segments 16 of the mannequin head 10.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,586,696, titled "Hair growing mannequin head," discloses a mannequin head that is adapted for practicing hair styling and hair cutting. A pair of perforated helmet portions 22, 24 cooperates with a reel 20 supplying hair 16 that protrudes through the perforations. The hair 16 is automatically locked at a desired length after being fed through the perforations of the pair of helmet portions 22, 24 by a helmet offset locking means 30, which includes an outer locking tab 32 and an inner locking tab 34. By pressing the two tabs 32, 34 together, the perforations in each helmet portion 22, 24 are aligned, thereby allowing the hair 16 to freely pass through the perforations. Releasing the tabs 32, 34 allows a spring 35 to force the perforations to be misaligned, thereby locking the hair 16 in place.
It is not uncommon for toy dolls to have hair that is removable and replaceable. The following United States patents are representative of toys with removable and/or replaceable hair: U.S. Pat. No. 3,225,489, titled "Doll head and replaceable hairdo construction;" U.S. Pat. No. 3,279,122, titled "Detachable doll hairpiece;" U.S. Pat. No. 3,903,640, titled "Changeable hair doll;" U.S. Pat. No. 4,070,790, titled "Doll with releasably-attached hair pieces;" U.S. Pat. No. 5,041,050, titled "Doll head and detachable wig;" U.S. Pat. No. 6,217,407, titled "Method of producing a hairpiece which can be fastened on a toy figure, and toy figure with a hairpiece fastened thereon." The manner of attaching hair as disclosed in these patents related to toy dolls is typically is not suitable for adapting to mannequins for training personal appearance workers.
It is an objective of the present invention to provide a mannequin head having a reusable support base and a removable, replaceable hair portion with the removable hair portion having hair that is suitable for training personal appearance workers in styling and cutting of hair.
It is another objective for the removable hair portion to simulate human hair and be able to withstand the rigors of training, which include pulling, twisting, washing, and cutting. The removable hair portion must remain stable on the support base of the mannequin head and not be easily moved out of position by normal hair care methods. It is desirable for the complete mannequin head to be resistant to water or other fluid intrusion.


A quick coupling device for releasably connecting a boom arm to a tool, such as a material handling bucket, including a coupling frame adapted for connection to the boom and having wedge members provided on opposite, vertically extending sides thereof and projecting outwardly in a transverse direction from these sides. The wedge members engage in wedge-shaped channels formed by rigid connecting rails mounted on the top of the bucket. A hydraulic locking mechanism for securing the wedge members in the wedge-shaped channels is mounted at one end of the coupling frame and includes a hydraulic actuator and preferably two locking bars movable by this actuator between a locked position and an unlocked position. During use of this coupling device, in the locking position the two locking bars extend into cooperating openings provided on the connecting rails and thereby prevent the coupling device from detaching from the bucket. The preferred coupling frame includes two parallel connecting plates forming opposite sides of the frame and rigid connecting frame members extending between and joining these connecting plates.

This invention relates to coupling devices for attaching an implement, such as a large bucket, to a power operated boom of a machine, such as a backhoe or excavator.
It is known to provide excavators, power shovels and backhoes with different sizes and types of material handling implements, such as buckets, to permit various operations. For example, a large bucket may be required for a backhoe to carry out certain types of digging, while a smaller bucket may be more appropriate for another digging job. Changing from one bucket or implement to another can be a problem because of the time and labor expended in the changeover and the difficulties that can be encountered. A backhoe bucket or a shovel implement can be very heavy and awkward to manipulate to the required position. Devices that permit the quick and relatively easy detachment of an existing bucket from the power operated boom and that permit a new bucket to be attached relatively easily and quickly are now desired by the earth handling industry, including contractors and operators of earth handling equipment.
A number of mechanisms have been developed previously in an effort to provide a mechanism that can quickly connect to an excavator bucket and then disconnect later, when required.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,310,275 issued May 10, 1994 to E. L. Lovitt discloses a quick coupler for heavy equipment implements. A pair of hydraulic pistons are used to secure a shovel to a boom arm of a heavy vehicle. The shovel and the boom arm have a set of xe2x80x9cVxe2x80x9d shaped guides which come into contact to allow the shovel to be pivoted into position. The shovel also has two horizontally extending members which fit into two slots in the arm and allow the pistons with their movable shafts to engage them in order to secure the shovel.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,586,867 issued May 6, 1986 to R. Stafford also discloses a quick coupler which utilizes a pair of hydraulic cylinders attached to movable bolts to engage a bucket to a boom arm of a heavy vehicle. This specification also teaches the use of a cylindrical bar mated with a curved channel member for support, while the bucket is secured to the boom arm by the locking bolts connected to the hydraulic cylinders, these bolts extending through holes in plates attached to the bucket.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,915,837 issued Jun. 29, 1999 to Caterpillar Inc. teaches a quick coupling apparatus that incorporates the use of a piston controlled securing bar and curved hook shaped member for engaging and rotating about a cylindrical member attached to a boom arm of a heavy machine. This patent also discloses the use of a mated pair of curved members for the transport of force. This apparatus using linkage members that are positioned in a locked position when the power device is attached to the bucket. The linkage members include a latch having a pair of spaced apart ends.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,024,010 issued Jun. 18, 1991 to Fritiof Hulden discloses a quick coupling system that uses hooks to rotatably connect a bucket to a boom arm. A piston is used to engage a securing apparatus to the bucket. This coupling employs a pair of parallel link arms that are pivotably mounted on the boom arm. There is a locking unit held between these arms that has a slidable tension pin that engages a wedge support affixed to the bucket.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a quick coupling apparatus for attaching an implement such as a bucket to a boom wherein the apparatus can be manufactured at a reasonable cost and is relatively easy for a machine operator to use.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a coupling apparatus that employs wedge shaped connecting members and a hydraulically operated locking device to secure the coupling apparatus in place, therefore providing a rigid, secure connection between the material handling implement, such as a bucket, and a power operated boom to which the bucket is attached.
According to one aspect of the invention, a coupling device for releasably connecting a boom arm to a tool, such as a material handling bucket, comprises a coupling frame adapted for connection to the boom and having wedge members provided on opposite, vertically extending sides thereof and projecting outwardly and in a transverse direction from the vertically extending sides. These wedge members are adapted to engage in wedge shaped channels formed by connecting members mounted on the tool. There is also a fluid actuated mechanism for securing the wedge members in the wedge-shaped channels. This locking mechanism is mounted on the coupling frame and includes a fluid actuator, at least one locking bar movable by the fluid actuator between a locking position and an unlocked position, and a track rigidly connected to the coupling frame. The track is for guiding movement of the at least one locking bar. In particular, the at least one locking bar is slidable along the track between the locking position and the unlocked position. During use of this coupling device, in the locking position, the at least one locking bar extends into a cooperating opening provided on the tool and thereby prevents the coupling device from detaching from the tool.
The preferred coupling frame comprises two, parallel connecting plates forming opposite sides of the coupling frame and rigid connecting frame members extending between and joining the connecting plates. The connecting plates both have pin-receiving apertures for pivotably connecting the coupling device to the boom arm by means of one or more connecting pins.
The preferred fluid actuator includes a double acting hydraulic cylinder having two piston rods extending from two opposite ends of the cylinder.
According to another aspect of the invention, a combination of a tool attachment and a coupling device for releasably coupling the tool attachment to a boom arm is provided. The tool attachment includes two spaced-apart connecting members arranged on a side of the tool attachment and each of these connecting members forms a wedge-shaped channel which is open at one end thereof. The coupling device comprises a coupling frame adapted for connection to the boom and having wedging devices provided on opposite sides thereof. Each wedging device is adapted to slide into a respective one of the wedge-shaped channels by means of the open end of the channel and to engage a respective one of the connecting members. A locking mechanism for securing the wedging devices in the wedge-shaped channels includes a fluid actuator and at least one locking bar movable by the fluid actuator between a locking position and an unlocked position. When the coupling device is attached to the tool attachment, the at least one locking bar extends into a bar receiving opening formed on the side of the tool attachment and thereby prevents the coupling device from detaching from the tool attachment.
In the preferred combination, the connecting members are parallel metal rail members and each wedge-shaped channel is formed on an inner side of its respective rail member so that the two wedge-shaped channels face one another.
According to still another aspect of this invention, a coupling device for releasably connecting a movable arm to a tool includes a coupling frame pivotably attachable to the movable arm, this frame including a pair of spaced-apart mounting plates each having a pair of pin-receiving holes with the holes of one mounting plate being aligned with the corresponding holes of the other mounting plate. Two wedge members are rigidly mounted on outer surfaces of the mounting plates with each of the wedge members mounted on a respective one of the mounting plates and projecting from a side thereof furthest from the other mounting plate. The wedge members are adapted for insertion in connecting channels provided on a side of the tool. A locking mechanism is provided as well to secure the wedge members in the channels, this mechanism including a fluid operated actuator attached to the coupling frame and at least one locking member slidable along a guide provided on the coupling frame between a locking position and an unlocked position. During use of this coupling device, the at least one locking member can be extended into a cooperating opening provided on the tool by the fluid operated actuator in order to prevent the coupling device from separating from the tool.
Further features and advantages will become apparent from the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Excavator coupler using fluid operated actuator


Apparatus for CVD processing wherein a wafer mounted on a vertically movable susceptor beneath a showerhead. The susceptor extends beyond the outer perimeter of the wafer such that, when the susceptor is raised into contact with a shield ring which normally rests on a ring support in the chamber, the shield ring engages outer portion of the susceptor beyond the perimeter of the wafer, lifting the shield ring off its support. The shield ring shields the edge of the top surface of the susceptor during the deposition, whereby unwanted deposition on the susceptor is prevented while, at the same time, allowing for deposition over the entire upper surface of the wafer. To center the shield ring and the susceptor with respect to each other, the shield ring may include a plurality of centering protrusions, at least some of which engage the susceptor as it moves upwards to lift the shield ring off its supports in the chamber.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to apparatus for chemical vapor deposition (CVD) on semiconductor wafers and, more specifically, to a shield for shielding the upper edge of a susceptor to prevent deposition thereon.
2. Description of Related Art
During the formation of an integrated circuit structure, various layers of materials are deposited on a semiconductor wafer. One of the processes commonly used to achieve this is chemical vapor deposition (CVD).
As disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,304,248, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, a typical reactor used for CVD processing of a semiconductor wafer is illustrated in FIG. 1. In this CVD reactor, a wafer 10 is supported on a circular susceptor 11 beneath a gas inlet or shower head 12. Processing/deposition gas containing molecules comprising a metallic cation, such as Tungsten, enters the CVD chamber through the shower head 12 and reacts adjacent to the wafer so that the metal is deposited on the face or top surface of the wafer 10.
A shadow ring 13 overhangs and is supported by the edge of the wafer 10.
The shadow ring 13 defines an exclusionary zone, typically 1.5 to 2.0 mm wide around the perimeter of the wafer, onto which no deposition occurs. The purpose of creating this zone is to exclude deposited materials from this zone, the edge and the backside of the wafer and thereby reduce the generation of unwanted particles in the chamber. This is a particularly important where the deposited material does not adhere to such areas.
The deposition of Tungsten is a good example. Tungsten does not readily adhere to certain surfaces and before it is deposited over silicon oxide on a semiconductor wafer, the oxide surfaces must be pretreated for the tungsten being deposited to properly adhere to the surfaces (e.g. by deposition of a Titanium Tungsten (TiW)) or Titanium Nitride (TiN)). Typically, the edge and backside of the wafer surfaces have not been pretreated and any deposited Tungsten would not adhere properly and tend to flake off in particles.
Furthermore, the exclusionary zone also provides a "buffer" zone which, when contacted by wafer handling equipment, does not readily chip or flake as would a fully/or inadequately processed surface. Such chipping and flaking could also result in unwanted particle generation.
As can also be seen from FIG. 1, a pumping ring 14 is located on a supporting lip or shoulder 15 inside the chamber and has an inner diameter such that an annular gap is defined between the ring 14 and the outer edge of the susceptor 11. During processing, a non-reactive purge gas is introduced, at a pressure greater than the pressure of the deposition gas, into the chamber from a position below the susceptor. This purging gas flows from below the susceptor 11 to the region above it through the annular gap. The purpose of the purging gas flow is to inhibit passage of the deposition gas into the region below the susceptor and, thereby, help prevent unwanted deposition on the surfaces of the elements of the reactor that are located in this region.
The shadow ring 13, as is illustrated in this figure, rests on both the susceptor 11 and the pumping ring 14. As such, it partially obstructs the annular gap, defined between the susceptor and the pumping ring, and thereby further controls the flow of purging gas from below to beneath the susceptor.
The problem with the apparatus illustrated in this figure is that it cannot be used in applications where deposition is to occur over the entire surface of the wafer. This is so even if the shadow ring were removed, because of how a wafer is heated in processing reactors. Deposition is effected by, amongst others, the temperature of the wafer. Typically, the susceptor is heated by means of, for example, heater lamps. The heated susceptor then conductively heats the wafer.
In any heated susceptor a certain amount of heat loss will occur at the edges resulting in a temperature drop off toward the edges of the susceptor, with its perimeter regions being cooler than its central region. As the wafer is heated by conduction, susceptor described above, which is approximately the same diameter as the wafer, heats the wafer less at the edges than at the center. This, in turn, leads to non-uniform and less easily controlled deposition over the entire wafer.
Merely enlarging the susceptor does not solve the problem. An enlarged susceptor would have surface areas that are exposed to deposition. Such deposition must be removed, before the next process cycle commences, by means of a cleaning process that usually is achieved by plasma etching. Although plasma etching is very effective on the quartz and alumina components or surfaces in the chamber, the susceptor is made of anodized aluminum. This material is not as resistive to the plasma etch and would rapidly wear away. Accordingly, any deposition on the susceptor which would need to be removed by plasma etching would be very disadvantageous.
Thus, the need exists for a processing apparatus that allows for processing of the entire wafer's surface and that, at the same time, heats the wafer uniformly. In addition, the apparatus should preferably also minimize edge and backside deposition on the wafer, for the reasons set out above.

Substrate support shield in wafer processing reactors


A truck cab ventilation system and method is described which includes an air exhaust channel that extends from an upper channel portion adjacent the ceiling at the rear of the cab and through a lower channel portion to an exhaust vent mounted adjacent the floor of the cab over an exit opening in such floor. An inlet vent in the front of the cab produces a positive pressure within the cab which causes flow-through ventilation air flow from the front to the rear of the cab when the truck is moving. As a result, air flows into the upper channel portion of the exhaust channel and out of the exhaust vent through the exit opening to the exterior of the cab. The exhaust vent includes flexible louvers of elastomer which are held by gravity in a closed position and are moved into an open position when air flows out through the exhaust system.

It has previously been disclosed in the article, "Passenger Car Ventilation By Design," by Karl Wilfert, et al., published at the May 17, 1965 meeting of the Society of Automotive Engineers, to provide an automobile with a flow-through ventilation system, including an air inlet adjacent the windshield. This ventilation system depends upon dynamic pressure created by movement of the automobile. However, in this system, the air flow is from the front to the rear of the automobile, and is discharged through exit openings adjacent the rear window or trunk of the automobile. Thus, there is no disclosure in this article of a truck cab ventilation system in which air adjacent the ceiling of the truck cab is transmitted through a channel downward, to an exhaust vent positioned adjacent the floor of the cab, and discharged through an exit opening in the floor of the cab to the exterior of the truck cab in the manner of the present invention.
The exhaust vent employed in the ventilation system of the present invention employs movable louvers which are moved by air flow from a closed position to an open position, and which are normally held in a closed position by gravity, such louvers being preferably made of flexible elastomer material.
The truck cab exhaust ventilation system of the present invention has the advantage of automatically removing stale or hot air from the interior of the truck cab and exhausting such hot air to the exterior of the cab through an exhaust vent adjacent the floor of the cab. As a result, the driver in the truck cab can keep the cab windows closed to reduce wind noise and keep dust and other air contaminants from entering the truck cab. A positive air pressure is produced within the truck cab by the air inlet of a flow-through ventilation system in addition to such exhaust system. This positive air pressure causes air to flow through the exhaust ventilation system in an air flow channel extending from an upper portion adjacent the ceiling of the truck cab, down through a vertical portion to the exhaust vent positioned adjacent the floor of the truck cab, and discharged through an exit opening in the floor. As a result, hot air normally trapped adjacent the ceiling of the cab will be exhausted through such a vent to the exterior of the cab.


The invention relates to a method for packaging a liquid product (1), such as a food product, and, in particular, a product sensitive to oxygen, in a container (2) with a low oxygen content, said container including an opening (3). The method of the invention comprises the following steps: the air is removed from the container by filling same to capacity with the liquid product in a non-controlled atmosphere; the full container is placed in a non-oxidizing atmosphere formed by at least one non-oxidizing gas; the liquid product is partially emptied from the container in a non-oxidizing atmosphere, such that the at least one non-oxidizing gas replaces the product discharged from the container; and the above-mentioned container opening is closed in a gas-tight manner while the container is partially full of the liquid product in a non-oxidizing atmosphere.

In the field of food, methods of inerting are known which make it possible to package products that are sensitive to oxygen in a container with a low oxygen content.
In the case with liquid products intended to be packaged in a container with limited headspace (low volume of air between the opening of the container and the liquid contained), the method generally implemented industrially consists substantially in metering a drop of liquid nitrogen in the container on said headspace, then, when the air has been removed by the nitrogen passing to a gaseous state, in closing in a gas-tight manner the opening of the container.
The difficulty in implementing such a method resides substantially in the proper metering of the drop of nitrogen, as well as in the timing of the step of closing.
For example, an over-metering of the drop of nitrogen, or the closing of the container too early, can result in an internal pressure in the container that is too high, rendering fragile and even deteriorating the container.
On the contrary, if the step of closing is too late, air will re-enter said headspace and the packaging will be defective.

Apparatus and method for packaging a liquid product


In some embodiments of outer rear-view mirrors, a mirror head (12) and a mirror base (11) are joined together in an articulated manner by a hinge (15, 16). The mirror head (12) can pivot out of a normal operational position in or against the travelling direction (10) and be fixed in the position swivelled against the travelling direction (10). For the outer rear-view mirror to be pivotable out of its normal operational position in or against the travelling direction (10), the intermediate joint (30) has two parallel joint axes arranged between the mirror base and the mirror head, and a U-shaped projection (37). The outer rear-view mirror is advantageously used in motor vehicles.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention concerns an outside rear view mirror for motor vehicles. More particularly, the invention concerns an outside rear view mirror having a bidirectional pivot mechanism.
2. Description of the Related Art
Outside rear view mirrors are known in the automotive field in which a mirror head and a mirror foot are hinged to each other on both sides via a hinge. It is possible by means of such a hinge for the mirror head to be pivoted from a normal operating position in or against the direction of travel. It is also known that the mirror head pivoted opposite the direction of travel must be securely locked in this pivoted position. Operation for this purpose can occur both by hand and by means of a motor. The outside rear view mirror should be held securely in the pivoted position, whereas operation as free from friction as possible and smooth is desired for the pivot process.
Such mirrors often use an intermediate articulation, which is connected on one side to pivot with the mirror foot and on the other side to pivot with the mirror head. These intermediate articulations, for reasons of stability, are generally made from metal (complex cast part structures) and have demanding bearing designs, stops and/or locking and fastening mechanisms. They require an installation space corresponding to their dimensions and are relatively heavy and cost-intensive to manufacture because of the metal design. The requirement for a mirror pivoted tightly against the vehicle and locked there is of considerable importance for the parking position of vehicles in close parking spaces or during passage during narrow gates. In addition, the hazard of injury to pedestrians by the retracted outside rear view mirrors is significantly reduced in parked vehicles.
The underlying task of the invention is to design the generic outside rear view mirror so that it can be pivoted in or against the direction of travel and is held in a secure parking position with limited force and can be pivoted back into the normal operating position, in which it is particularly compact and cost-effective to manufacture and satisfies all legal requirements.

Outside rear view mirror for vehicles, preferably for motor vehicles


Roasted coffee beans having reduced levels of acrylamide, coffee beans having reduced levels of asparagine, and an article of commerce. In one aspect, the invention provides a method for reducing the level of acrylamide in roasted coffee beans comprising reducing the level of asparagine in coffee beans. In another aspect, the invention provides a method for reducing the level of asparagine in coffee beans comprising adding an asparagine-reducing enzyme to coffee beans. In still another aspect, an article of commerce communicates to the consumer that the roasted coffee beans, coffee beans, product comprising roasted coffee beans or coffee beans, and/or article of commerce has reduced or low levels of asparagine and/or acrylamide.

With over 400 billion cups consumed every year, coffee is the world's most popular beverage. Although coffee has been enjoyed for thousands of years, researchers have only recently discovered that coffee contains acrylamide. In April 2002, the Swedish National Food Administration and researchers from Stockholm University announced their findings that acrylamide, a potentially cancer-causing chemical, is formed in many types of foods and beverages that undergo heat processing. Acrylamide has a carcinogenic potency in rats that is similar to that of other carcinogens in food, but for humans, the relative potency in food and beverages is not known. Only limited human population data are available for acrylamide and these provide no evidence of cancer risk from occupational exposure. (FAO/WHO Consultation on the Health Implications of Acrylamide in Food: Summary Report; Geneva, Switzerland, 25-27 Jun. 2002.)
Although further research is needed to assess what health effects, if any, may result from human consumption of acrylamide at the levels commonly found in roasted coffee products, many consumers have voiced concern. Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a method for reducing the level of acrylamide in roasted coffee beans. It is also an object of the present invention to provide roasted coffee beans having reduced levels of acrylamide. Further, it is an object of the present invention to provide an article of commerce that communicates to the consumer that a roasted coffee product has reduced or low levels of acrylamide.

Method for reduction of acrylamide in roasted coffee beans, roasted coffee beans having reduced levels of acrylamide, and article of commerce