The present invention relates to a DNA expression vector comprising a T.alpha.l .alpha.-tubulin promoter operatively linked upstream to a marker gene sequence relative to the direction of transcription in a eukaryotic expression vector adapted to be introduced into a mammal, or ancestor of the mammal at an embryonic stage and said promoter is controlling transcription of the marker gene. The present invention also relates to a method for testing material suspected of promoting neurogenesis and neuronal growth which comprises exposing a transgenic mammal according to the present invention said material and detecting said expressed marker gene as an indication of neurogenesis and neuronal growth.

(a) Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an isolated and characterized neuron promoter serving as a neurogenesis and neuronal differentiation marker and for use in transgenic mammals.
(b) Description of Prior Art
Neurons are highly polarized cells whose most obvious feature is their extensive system of axons and dendrites. This complex morphology is elaborated during embryogenesis and early postnatal life in mice, and likely involves a complex interplay between extrinsic influences and intrinsic neuronal genetic mechanisms. New morphological growth also occurs in the mature nervous system in response to neural trauma or pathology (Brown, 1984, TINS, 1:10-14), and may be an ongoing phenomena in the normal, mature animal (Purves et al., 1986, J. Neurosci., 6:1051-1060). The biological importance of such structural plasticity largely derives from the fact that, neurons of the mature nervous system neither develop de novo nor migrate to new positions in substantial numbers. Thus, the growth and remodeling of mature neurons provides the nervous system with one potential cellular mechanism for responding to ongoing physiological and/or pathological phenomena. The molecular mechanisms underlying morphological growth, and the extraneuronal cues that regulate it remain largely undefined.
Microtubules, which are assembled from .alpha.- and .beta.tubulins, comprise the major cytoskeletal component of growing neurites (Daniels, 1972, J. Cell. Biol., 53:164-176). In mammals, at least 6 different .alpha.-tubulin genes (Villasante et al., 1986, Mol. Cell. Biol., 6:2409-2419) and 5 different .beta.-tubulin genes (Wang et al., 1986, J. Cell. Biol., 103:1903-1910) are expressed in neural and nonneural tissues at various times during development. It has been previously demonstrated that, of two .alpha.-tubulin genes known to be expressed in the embryonic nervous system of the rat, one, termed T.alpha.l, is abundantly expressed in developing neurons during morphological growth, while a second, termed T26, is constitutively expressed in neurons and nonneuronal cells (Miller et al., 1987, J. Cell. Biol., 105:3065-3073). Moreover, it is likely that the T.alpha.l isotype is incorporated in the majority of neuronal microtubules during development, since T.alpha.l mRNA comprises 1-2% of the total mRNA, and >95% of the total .alpha.-tubulin mRNA in the embryonic nervous system.
Expression of T.alpha.l .alpha.-tubulin mRNA is also correlated with the growth of mature neurons. Following axotomy of motor (Miller et al., 1989, J. Neurosci., 9:1452-1463), and sympathetic (Mathew and Miller, 1993, Dev. Biol., 158:467-474; Wu et al., 1993, Dev. Biol., 158:456-466) neurons, T.alpha.l mRNA increases rapidly, peaks at 3 to 7 days postlesion, and decreases to control levels following target reinnervation. If regeneration is unsuccessful, as with central nervous system (CNS) neurons (Tetzlaff et al., 1991, J. Neurosci., 11:2528-2544), or with transection of peripheral neurons (Miller et al., 1989, J. Neurosci., 9:1452-1463), T.alpha.l mRNA levels remain elevated. These increases appear to be due, to a great extent, to loss of repressive homeostatic signals arising from the non-terminal axon (Mathew and Miller, 1990, Dev. Biol., 141:84-92). T.alpha.l .alpha.-tubulin mRNA levels are also increased during collateral sprouting of adult sympathetic neurons (Mathew and Miller, 1990, Dev. Biol., 141:84-92), presumably in response to increased target-derived nerve growth factor (NGF), since exogenous NGF can increase T.alpha.l .alpha.-tubulin mRNA levels in these neurons both in vivo and in culture (Ma et al,. 1992, J. Cell. Biol., 117:135-141). Thus, expression of T.alpha.l mRNA is high during developmental growth, is down-regulated as a function of neuronal maturation, and is then increased in response to extrinsic cues that regulate the growth of mature neurons.
The functional role of these high levels of expression of one particular .alpha.-tubulin isotype during neuronal growth remains speculative. The rat T.alpha.l, human b.alpha.l, and mouse M.alpha.l .alpha.-tubulin mRNAs all encode identical proteins and share 82% homology in their 3' noncoding regions (Lemischka et al., 1981, J. Mol. Biol., 150:101-120). Although the rat T26 mRNA sequence is not complete (Ginzburg et al., 1986, Nucleic Acid Res., 9:2691-2697), the defined amino acid sequence is identical to that shared by human k.alpha.l (Cowan et al., 1983, Mol. Cell. Biol., 3:1738-1745), and mouse M.alpha.l (Lewis et al., 1985, J. Cell. Biol., 101:852-861), and the 3' noncoding regions of the three mRNAs share 72% homology. The k.alpha.l and M.alpha.2 isotypes differ from the T.alpha.l, b.alpha.l, and M.alpha.l isotypes by virtue of a single amino acid difference (serine to glycine) at residue 232. On the basis of these sequence similarities, it was previously speculated that T.alpha.l and T26 mRNAs encode functionally equivalent proteins, and that the T.alpha.l gene itself is specialized to produce a large pool of .alpha.-tubulin monomers when this is in high demand for neurite extension.
In the International Patent Application No. WO/9307280, there is disclosed a human astrocyte-specific gene expression system capable of regulating astrocyte-specific transcription of the human gene for glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP). This gene expression system can be used to express gene products de novo or to increase their expression in astrocytes and transgenic animals. This gene expression system can also be used to create transgenic animal models for evaluating Alzheimer's diseases.
It would be highly desirable to be provided with an isolated endogenous neuron promoter expressed during growth of both developing and mature neurons.
It would be highly desirable to be provided with a fusion gene of such a promoter linked to a marker gene wherein such a fusion gene would induce abundant expression of the marker during neurogenesis and neuronal differentiation.
It would be highly desirable to be provided with a screening assay for pharmaceutical agents that promote neuronal survival.
It would be highly desirable to be provided with a neuron promoter for targeting gene therapy to injured neurons.
It would be highly desirable to be provided with transgenic neurons expressing a neuronal promoter for use in transplantation studies.
It would be highly desirable to be provided with an in vivo model for toxicology studies.

Tubulin promoter regulates gene expression in neurons


A technique is provided for incrementally maintaining column cardinality estimates in database management systems. The system catalog table containing a cardinality estimate for a column is extended to include an appropriate data structure. A modified linear counting technique is used in a first embodiment of a method for column cardinality estimation. Moreover, a modified logarithmic counting technique is used in a second, preferred embodiment of a column cardinality estimation method to reduce storage requirements for the data structure. The cardinality estimate is produced by an initial scan of the data but is then further maintained without requiring a full scan of the data. Data changes are reflected incrementally in modifications to the initial cardinality estimate, keeping the cardinality statistics more current with respect to the database condition. The technique of the invention typically provides a capability for a database management system to produce more efficient search plans providing more effective responses to user queries through the use of improved cardinality statistics.

To ensure generation of an efficient query plan, a database management system typically includes a query optimization software module. The query optimization software module generates search plans for query requests based on optimization rules that consider, among many variables, the size of the response set (amount of data expected to be returned) and the number of unique values within the data being queried.
Current, accurate database statistics are highly desired by performance sensitive query software modules (for example, a query optimizer) of database management systems. When database statistics are inaccurate or no longer current, the query optimizer is most likely to generate inefficient query plans. Inefficient query plans perform poorly at run time degrading overall performance of the database management system.
In the following simple examples the actual cardinality value and the estimated cardinality value are equivalent, which may not be the typical case.
Column cardinality is an example of an important database statistic. Column cardinality is a value representing the number of distinct values found in a database column. For example, the column cardinality of the NAME column in Table 1A of FIG. 2A is three, because there are three unique values (names) in the column. Column cardinality statistics (number of unique values within a set of values) are among some of the most commonly required statistics used by a query optimization software module. Column cardinality statistics are used in conjunction with other statistics to compute query plan resource consumption estimates which are then used in determining the most efficient plan for a given query.
Typical database systems estimate column cardinality because exact computation is too expensive in terms of time and resource and due to the dynamic nature of the value. In many commercial database systems, statistics collection is a batch operation, allowing the statistics processing workload to be scheduled based on database performance needs. Typically, database statistics represent a snapshot of the data only for the instant the statistics are generated. As a database table changes, previously computed statistics, associated with that table, may no longer be representative of the current state of the table and its indexes. Statistics for a table should be recalculated to reflect the current state of the table.
It is typically a simple task to incrementally maintain basic statistics such as the total number of rows in a table. However, column cardinality estimates are usually more difficult to maintain. Current techniques for maintaining estimates of column cardinality require rescanning the entire column as the data in that column changes. For example, assume a column "C" initially contains twenty distinct values and subsequently thirty additional distinct values are inserted. Computing a new estimate of column cardinality for column "C" by simply adding the cardinality of the two data sets may lead to an incorrect result due to duplicate entries. An allowance has to be made for duplicate values within the combined set of old and new values.
For example, consider Table 1A (FIG. 2A), EMPLOYEE, containing employee information which has two columns, one being NAME and the other SALARY.
The column NAME has the following four values: "smith", "jones", "doole", and "smith". Observe that the value "smith" is repeated twice, therefore, the estimated column cardinality value of column NAME is equal to "3". This is because there are only three distinct values namely, "smith", "jones", and "doole". On the other hand the estimated column cardinality value of the column SALARY is equal to "4" because all values in this column are distinct.
A typical database system has at least one method of computing column cardinality estimates. Typical examples of such methods are Linear counting and Logarithmic counting, both of which are well known to persons of ordinary skill in the art. When a database system computes an estimate of column cardinality, the database system stores the estimated value in what is known as a system catalog table for future use by the database system. For example, in a typical database system, the system catalog table that stores the column cardinality estimates for data in Table 1A of FIG. 2A may be as represented by Table 1B of FIG. 2B.
Table 1B (FIG. 2B), shows the column cardinality estimate of the column NAME belonging to table EMPLOYEE is "3" and the column cardinality estimate of the column SALARY belonging to table EMPLOYEE is "4".
In a typical database system, a query optimizer (a component of the database system) then obtains the values of the column cardinality estimates from a database system catalog table. The query optimizer then uses the column cardinality values along with other statistics when computing the resource consumption estimates for a given set of database queries.
Consider once again the table Employee shown in Table 1A (FIG. 2A). A new row is added to Table 1A (FIG. 2A) to represent an employee called "harris" with a salary "200,000". The updated table Employee is now depicted in Table 2A of FIG. 2C.
Computing a new column cardinality estimate value for the column NAME for example, according to current methods applied by database systems, requires reading all the NAME values; smith, jones, doole, smith, and harris.
After computing the cardinality estimates for both columns of the recently updated table in Table 2A (FIG. 2C), the database manager updates the system catalog table, as now shown in Table 2B of FIG. 2D.
The content of the database system catalog table in Table 2B (FIG. 2D) indicates that the new column cardinality estimate of the column NAME in table EMPLOYEE is "4"and the new column cardinality estimate of the column SALARY in the same table is "4" as well. Inserting the new row ("harris"), caused the column cardinality estimate of column NAME to change from "3" to "4". The column cardinality estimate of column SALARY did not change, remaining at "4" because the added salary value "200,000" is a duplicate of an existing salary value. In practice, where columns may comprise millions of rows, computing the column cardinality exactly requires too much time and computer memory, and so the column cardinality must be estimated.
In a "linear counting" technique used to estimate column cardinality, a hashing function is used to transform each data value to a bit string that represents a position in a bit map. Initially all positions in the bit map contain zeros. Hashing a data value to a position in the bit map causes a value at the position to be set to one. A value of zero in a position of the bit map indicates there were no data values that hashed to that position. A value of one in a position in the bit map indicates that at least one data value hashed to that position. All data values in the column are hashed, and then the number of distinct data values is estimated by counting the number of bits in the bit map that are set to one (non-zero). Not all data values that hash to the same address are necessarily duplicates. Distinct values that hash to the same location are collisions. Collisions require the count to be adjusted using an adjustment formula, derived using probabilistic techniques (known to those of ordinary skill in the art).
Another well known estimation technique is "logarithmic counting." Although more complicated than linear counting, the bit map used by logarithmic counting is much smaller than that used by linear counting. In logarithmic counting, a hashing function is used to transform each data value to a bit string, which is then further transformed by retaining the leftmost "1" position and converting all remaining positions to "0". All data values in the column are doubly transformed to bit strings in this manner, and a final bit map is computed as the bit-wise "OR" of all the bit strings for the column. The leftmost "0" position in the final bit map is then computed, and this relative position number n is used to calculate the estimated cardinality value using the formula 2n/q, where "q" is set to a value "0.7735". This latter expression is a well known probabilistic estimation formula that ensures statistically reasonable results.
As can be seen from the foregoing discussion, current cardinality estimation techniques typically require all data values in a column to be obtained each time a new estimate of that column's cardinality is requested. The detailed example shown previously illustrates a case where a new value was added, but the same requirement also holds for cases where an existing value is deleted or updated. The presence of duplicate entries in columns of data make it difficult to maintain the column cardinality estimates each time data values change. It is apparent, from the examples described, that there is a need for improved efficiency, or expediency or both regarding generation of database management systems statistics.

Incremental cardinality estimation for a set of data values

International Business Machines Corporation


A rotational coupling couples a rotor, or driven member, to a rotating shaft. The rotational coupling reduces stress by distributing a driving force from a coupling over a planar contact area on the rotor. The rotor is coupled to a rotating shaft via a coupling that can include a pin. The coupling includes a drive surface that is connected to, but radially separated from, the rotating shaft. An inner surface of the rotor includes at least one contact surface, and the coupling includes at least one drive surface. A portion of the coupling including the drive surface can be comprised of a stronger material than a portion of the rotor that includes the contact surface. The drive surface and the contact surface contacting over a planar contact area, over which the driving force from the shaft is distributed.

In many apparatuses, such as pumps, a rotational coupling includes a first component coupled to a second rotating component. For instance, a pump may include a rotational coupling that includes a rotor, or driven member, coupled to a rotating shaft via a coupling. Often, the coupling includes a pin that extends through a pin bore defined by the shaft. The rotating shaft and the pin extending through the shaft are received in an opening defined by the rotor. Thus, when the shaft is rotated, a portion of the pin on each side of the shaft makes contact with the rotor and drives the rotor to rotate with the shaft. Depending on the pump, the rotation of the shaft can be powered by various means, including but not limited to, an electric motor.
Often, in order to reduce manufacturing costs, the rotor is comprised of a relatively weak material, such as powered metal. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that components comprised of powered metal have been proven to be relatively simple and economical to manufacture. For instance, the rotor can be manufactured by consolidating the metal in its powered state into a mold or die having the desired shape of the rotor. The mold or die can then be heated in order to strengthen the powered metal. To further reduce manufacturing costs without decreasing the strength of the rotational coupling, the pin extending through the shaft is often machined to be cylindrical. The cylindrical pin and a cylindrical pin bore are relatively simple and economical to manufacture. Further, because that the cylindrical pin bore can be machined to be relatively small, the cylindrical pin bore does not unacceptably decrease the strength of the shaft.
Although the rotational coupling including the powdered metal rotor and the cylindrical pin has been found to be relatively economical to manufacture, there is room for improvement. When the shaft is rotated, drive surfaces of the pin located on opposite sides of the shaft make contact with contact surfaces of the rotor in order to drive the rotor. Because the pin is cylindrical, the drive surfaces contacting the contact surfaces are relatively thin. Thus, the driving force required to rotate the rotor is distributed over a relatively small load contact area between the pin and the rotor. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that stress caused by the driving force is equal to the driving force over the area on which the driving force acts. Thus, the smaller the contact area, the greater the stress caused by the driving force. Moreover, because the contact surfaces of the rotor are comprised of powdered metal, a relatively weak material, the contact surfaces may have a reduced tolerance to wear caused by the stress of the driving force acting on the contact surfaces. The wear of the rotor may lead to premature failure of the rotational coupling.
The wear on the rotational coupling has been found to be particularly unacceptable in situations in which the rotational coupling is rotating against relatively high pressures. For instance, in some fuel transfer pumps, the rotational coupling can be used to transfer fuel through the pump. The rotational coupling can be positioned within a cavity defined by a cam ring such that the rotational coupling and the cavity are eccentric, meaning that each has a different center. Thus, a clearance defined by an outer surface of the rotor and an inner surface of the cam ring will vary in size around the circumference of the rotational coupling. When the rotor rotates, rollers driven by the rotor can make contact with the inner surface of the cam ring and push the fuel within the clearance around the circumference until the fuel reaches a minimum clearance area. The high pressure created at the minimum clearance area will push the trapped fuel out of the clearance and through an outlet port of the pump. As the fuel is pushed around the circumference by the rollers, a void is created within the clearance. Low pressure created by the void will draw more fuel into the clearance for circulation, and the process will repeat itself.
In order to increase the fuel pressure being delivered from the pump, the rotational speed of the shaft, and thus the rotor, is increased. The faster the rotor is rotated, the greater the pressure within the clearance against which the driving force must rotate the rotational coupling. The greater the driving force, the greater the stress acting on the rotor causing wear and possibly premature failure. Thus, the problems associated with wear, especially rotor wear, caused by stress is increased at higher pressure applications.
Although engineers have found that the wear on the rotor can be decreased by comprising the rotor from a relatively strong material, such as steel, the costs and difficulty associated with manufacturing a steel rotor may be unacceptably high. Moreover, although the wear on the rotor may be decreased by altering the cylindrical shape of the pin to include a larger drive surface, the manufacturing costs associated with the machining of the pin and pin bore in a shape other the cylindrical may also be unacceptably high. In addition, a larger pin bore may decrease the strength of the shaft.
It should be appreciated that the above discussed wear problems may be present in rotational couplings used within apparatuses other than pumps. The present invention is directed at overcoming one or more of the problems as set forth above.

Reduced stress rotational coupling and a method of using same


The present invention relates to silica materials and particles having surfaces which define an interior. The interior includes interior silicon atoms at least a portion of which is bonded to a substituted or unsubstituted alkyl moiety. In a preferred aspect of the present invention, the silica material also has surface silicon atoms to which are bonded substituted or unsubstituted alkyl moieties. A capillary tube coated on its inner surface with the silica material of the present invention is also disclosed. The silica materials of the present invention are resistant to degradation at high or low pH and are particularly useful as chromatographic stationary phases, especially for use in open tubular liquid chromatography and open tubular electrochromatography.

Chromatographic separation techniques are widely employed in the analysis of chemical components in complex samples. Because of their mechanical and chemical characteristics and because of their relatively low cost, silica surfaces are widely used to carry stationary phases in chromatographic processes. Most of the chromatographic stationary phases in use today are based on chemical modification of silica surfaces (Unger, ed., Packings and Stationary Phases in Chromatographic Techniques, New York:Marcel Dekker (1990) ("Unger")). Organic molecules with specific properties are chemically bonded to the silica surface to produce chromatographic stationary phases with desired functionality. This approach is based on the reaction of organosilanes with the silanol groups at the surface of the silica materials. However, these preparative methods require the use of highly reactive and corrosive silanization agents, which, in view of environmental concerns, are becoming increasingly impractical for the individual practitioner. The reactions are also very time consuming and need to be conducted in a controlled, inert environment, typically in a glove box or other such device. Furthermore, stationary phases formed with silanizing agents are chemically unstable, especially at high or low pH, which results in shortened life of the stationary phase and poor chromatographic separation.
In particular, open tubular liquid chromatography ("OTLC") and open tubular electrochromatography ("OTEC") have shown a great potential to reach high efficiencies for the analysis of complex sample mixtures (Dorsey et al., Anal. Chem., 66:531R (1994) ("Dorsey"), Ishii et al., J. Chromatogr. Sci., 18:462 (1980) ("Ishii"), and Kennedy et al., Science 246:57 (1989) ("Kennedy")). Preparation of the stationary phase is of key importance to achieve the high performance offered by these techniques.
However, capillary columns, especially capillary columns having less than about a 15 .mu.m inside diameter, coated with an appropriate stationary phase and having sufficient retentive and mass loadability characteristics, have been particularly difficult to prepare. This is one of the reasons why OTLC, for example, is presently being used in only a few research laboratories (Bruin et al. J. Chromatogr., 517:557 (1990)) despite its many advantages (Dorsey, Ishii, and Kennedy) over the more conventional high-performance liquid chromatography ("HPLC").
Although in the past 15 years efforts have been made to prepare stationary phases for capillary columns (Tsuda et al., J. Chromatogr., 11:332 (1978) ("Tsuda"), Jorgenson et al., J. Chromatogr., 255:335 (1988) ("Jorgenson"), Tock et al., J. Chromatogr., 477:95 (1989), Crego et al., Anal. Chem., 65:1615 (1993) ("Crego"), Dluzneski et al., J. High Resolut. Chromatogr. Chromatogr. Commun. 11:332 (1985) ("Dluzneski"), Folestad et al., J. Chromatogr., 391:347 (1987) ("Folestad"), and Bohlin et al., J. Chromatogr., 645:41 (1993) ("Bohlin")), there are still several problems associated with the methods developed so far.
Stationary phases that are chemically bonded directly to the inner wall of capillary columns offer very low phase ratios, which lead to low retention and low sample capacity (Tsuda and Jorgenson).
Methods developed to increase surface area and phase ratio involve two major steps: (1) laying down a porous silica layer and (2) attaching functional groups onto the prepared layer through chemical bonding (Tock et al., J. Chromatogr., 477:95 (1989) and Crego). Aside from the fact that these procedures are time consuming and require the manipulation of highly reactive and corrosive silanizing agents, the procedures are unreliable, frequently producing a significant number of columns which are unsuitable for use. For example, Crego reports success rates of less than 80%. Furthermore, the functional groups serving as the stationary phase are attached to the inner wall of the capillary columns (with or without the porous layer) through surface --O--Si--C bonds. These bonds are unstable at pH extremes, and this instability limits the pH range at which the columns can be operated.
Other methods for increasing surface area and phase ratio of capillary columns have employed polymeric stationary phases, such as cross-linked polysiloxanes, described in Dluzneski, Folestad, and Bohlin, and polyacrylates, disclosed in Ruan et al., Chromatographia, 35:597 (1993) and Swart et al., J. Chromatogr., 670:25 (1994). Although these stationary phases usually give good column stability, high phase ratio, and sufficient retention, they exhibit poor column efficiency, due to the slow diffusivity of solutes in the retentive layers.
The present invention is directed to overcoming these deficiencies in the art.

The Research Foundation of State University of New York


A first assembly mounted to an external wall engages and holds a first end portion of a long gun between (i) a shackle having ends terminating in a stud portion and (ii) an elongate hollow housing with apertures accepting the shackle's stud portions. A slide member slides within the interior of the hollow housing to engage the stud portion of the shackle, normally in a keyhole-shaped hole. A key lock retains the slide in its position engaging the stud end portions of the shackle. A similarly-appearing second assembly, mounted to the wall in spaced-parallel relationship to the first assembly, has shackles with threaded ends that are permanently mounted to a second hollow housing by nuts. A long gun is slid under a permanent shackle of the second assembly, and shackled under a removable and locking shackle of the first assembly, in order to be securely, but visibly, held and retained.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally concerns devices for the storage of firearms, and more specifically relates to a rack apparatus designed to be mounted to a wall or similar object to securely retain and prevent unauthorized removal of one or more firearms secured in the apparatus.
The present invention particularly concerns gun racks that are any of (i) economical of construction, (ii) strong and secure in the protection of firearms, (iii) easily and readily access, (iv) artistic and aesthetic to display held guns, (iv) variably configured upon installation to hold varying numbers of firearms of various sizes, and (v) versatile to hold both long guns and handguns at the same time.
2. Background of the Invention
It is desirable for both individuals and organizations to maintain and store firearms under some form of locking device in order to provide security against unauthorized use or theft of the firearms. It is particularly desirable that firearms stored in the home should not be accessible to an intruder lest they be turned against the homeowner. Wheresoever firearms are stored, the storage device should present maximum feasible resistance to theft of the firearms.
Firearm racks and cabinets are generally locking, but are typically made of wood and offer but little security against access to the stored weapons by brute force. Many gun racks or cabinets are but loosely attached to a wall or similar object, making that the entire rack or cabinet may be taken for later removal of the contained firearms.
Many various forms of firearm racks, cabinets and security methods appear within the prior art. Much of this art is concerned with a semi-secure display of the firearms rather than the typically greater security that is realized by storage of the firearms out of sight in vault-like containers. Generally, the prior art uses racks to store firearms for two reasons: the first being to protect the firearm by providing a relatively soft containment housing, and the second being for aesthetic values because, generally, the firearms are on display.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,752,046 to Levy for a VERTICAL TYPE GUN RACK shows a gun rack using wood as its structural element. Levy teaches the display of the gun mounted in his apparatus and discloses a locking circular bar that passes across the stock of each gun in order to restrain the guns within the rack from unauthorized use. The rack is partitioned into sections with each section holding an individual gun. The locking circular bar is controlled by a sliding drawer under the gun rack such that, when the drawer is closed and locked, the bar is latched in place. Close examination of the disclosure reveals that the locking mechanism requires that each gun stock have substantially the same dimensions, otherwise, it could be possible to remove a gun with the locking bar in place. For example, if a gun owner had a gun with a large stock and one with a small stock, the size of Levy's apparatus would be set by the gun with the large stock and the gun with the small stock could be slipped out of the locked rack. It would be possible to let the gun, with the small stock, set the size of the gun and physically enlarge one section to accept the gun with the larger stock; however, this would require substantial re-working of the grill rack.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,958,422 to Caloiero et al. discloses a VERTICAL GUN RACK that also uses wood as its structural element. Caloiero, et al. use a locking bar which passes across the stock of each gun to restrain, from unauthorized use, the guns within the rack. Unlike Levy, Caloiero does not use sections with the gun rack, but uses slots in the base of the rack to accept the gun stock and openings in the top of the rack to accept the gun barrel. Caloiero requires that all contained guns have approximately the same dimensions near that point at which the locking bar passes in front of the guns; otherwise, it would be possible to slip a smaller gun up and past the locking bar.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,113,107 to Jaeger discloses a MACHINE GUN RACK that is most likely fashioned from metal although the structure could be made from wood. The machine gun rack is partitioned into sections with each section designed to hold a similar machine gun; thus, the disclosure teaches a device for use with similar sized guns. Jaeger uses two locking bars, one across the top of the gun and one which runs through each trigger guard on each contained gun. The lower bar, running through each trigger guard, limits this gun rack to only contain guns specifically suited to fit the rack; otherwise, a non-standard gun would interfere with the locking mechanism or not be properly secured from unauthorized use. There is no doubt that this apparatus provides excellent protection for the contained firearms, but the cost of such a device would be beyond the means of the ordinary gun owner.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,132,315 to Young discloses a SECURITY RACK FOR WEAPONS that is fashioned from metal and designed to secure variable length weapons. The apparatus resolves a number of problems found in the art, but is a complex device. The gun is held in place within the gun rack by an adjustable butt housing and the gun is secured by a tongue which closes across an upper slotted gun restraint thus providing a locking restraint. Because the device is complex, the cost will be high and will again be beyond the means of the ordinary gun owner.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,174,042 to Fair discloses a GUN LOCKING DEVICE fashioned from a combination of materials that is also designed to secure variable length guns. The apparatus, like that of Young, resolves a number of prior art deficiencies, but, also like Young, is somewhat complex. The restrained gun fits in a butt slot within the rack and has an upper slidable section that moves downward to grip the end of the protruding barrel. The slidable section can be locked in place by a sliding lever which is, in turn, locked in place by a padlock.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,461,385 to Clouser discloses LOCKING GUN RACKS, fashioned mainly of wood, which are seemingly inexpensive while providing reasonable security for the firearms contained. The wooden racks are designed to be bolted against a wall so that the complete rack cannot readily be moved. The same retaining bolts also constrain a chain that is designed to be passed through the trigger guard on each gun within the rack. The chain is then padlocked in place. The Clouser device is inexpensive, but being made of wood, can readily be forced open. The wall attachment bolts can be reached by the potential thief by simply using a saw to cut through or around a wooden plug which protects, or hides, the bolt head. All that is required to remove a gun (or all guns) is to remove one or the other attachment bolt which then releases the security chain. The padlock or chain can readily be cut by bolt cutters.
There is yet another problem with many prior art gun racks other than the defeat of their security function, per see. Law enforcement officials recount firearm robbery attempts where, long guns being securely retained at their trigger guards, the long guns have simply be levered against this restraint, seriously damaging the guns while often, depending upon the strength of the securement mechanism, failing to even dislodge them. The gun owner is thus faced with the spectacle of his or her valuable firearms not just robbed--where presumably someone, somewhere, would get some use from them--but wantonly destroyed. It is therefore desirable that a firearm security system should not only keep the firearms from being stolen, but should also prevent them from being destroyed by being worked against the system restraints by callous and ignorant thieves and vandals.
Finally, many owners of long guns, both rifles and shot guns, store their guns in soft carrying cases. These cases afford a certain degree of protection for the contained gun in that the case will keep dust, grit, moisture and the like away from the gun. Very often the gun owner will have some guns in soft cases and other guns without cases that need to be secured. This means that a variable sized firearm (with or without soft case) needs to be stored in a gun rack. The prior art cannot readily meet this requirement.
Thus, there exists a need for a simple, inexpensive and readily adjustable gun rack device that can securely rack guns of varying sizes with or without soft cases: a device that will severely curtail both the theft and/or the wanton destruction of racked guns, but that can easily be opened or locked; a device that can store both long rifles and handguns interchangeably; a device that places the secured firearms on display in an effective and aesthetic manner; and a device that operates safely and securely and without damage to all manner of the firearms that it serves to secure.

Easily-installed quick-release locking modular expandable long gun rack with optional adapters to hold handguns


The disclosed embodiments relate to an asynchronous down counter, which can be loaded with any value N and then decrement exactly N times. The counter comprises an array of cells, wherein each cell is configured to hold a digit in a redundant base-k representation of a number contained in the array of cells. Each cell further comprises a finite state machine that defines state transitions between states, where these states are held on wires and state transitions are synchronized between neighboring cells. Each cell is further configured to asynchronously borrow, if possible, from a more significant adjacent cell to increase a value of a digit in the cell. This asynchronous borrowing improves performance by ensuring that a decrement operation, which decrements a digit in a least significant cell in the array, will borrow from an adjacent more significant cell, without having to wait for the completion of a rippling sequence of borrows from more significant cells.

1. Field
The disclosed embodiments relate to implementations of down counters. More specifically, the disclosed embodiments relate to asynchronous implementations of a loadable down counter.
2. Related Art
A loadable down counter is a circuit that can be loaded with any k-digit value N and then decrement exactly N times. This series of operations can then be repeated for different values of N. Loadable down counters are used often in hardware implementations to execute a certain set of operations N times, where the value of N may depend on user-provided information. Loadable down counters have been implemented as both synchronous and asynchronous circuits. For example, Joep Kessels describes an asynchronous implementation of a loadable down counter in "Designing Asynchronous Standby Circuits for a Low-Power Pager, J. Kessels and P. Marston, Proceedings of the IEEE, Special Issue on Asynchronous Circuits and Systems, Vol. 87, No. 2, February 1999. In this paper, Kessels specifies the down counter in the Tangram language, and the implementation comprises a translation of the specification into a handshake circuit. Unfortunately, these handshake circuits are slower, use greater area, and consume more power than other implementations.
Hence, what is needed are circuit implementations of a loadable down counter that are faster, use less area, and consume less power than previous implementations.


A compact camera module mainly includes an image sensor chip, a module case and a lens module. The image sensor chip has an active surface, a back surface and a plurality of side surfaces, wherein a sensor region is formed in the active surface. A plurality of lateral contact fingers is formed on the side surfaces. The image sensor chip is plugged in a cave of the module case, a plurality of electrically contact components disposed on inside walls of the cave electrically connect the lateral contacting fingers. The lens module is mounted on the module case to seal the image sensor chip. Because the electrically contact components can replace the bonding wires to electrically connect the lateral contacting fingers, the compact camera module can be reworked and tiny.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a compact camera module, and more particularly, to a compact camera module which comprises reworking efficiency.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Due to the consumption trends that the idealism of electronic devices, such as cellular phones, is light, handy and thin, the development of compact camera modules (CCM), in the electronic devices tends to minimize the size of CCMs. However, in the image sensor module according to the prior art, bonding wires formed by wiring are used to electronically connect the substrate and the image sensor chip, which requires spaces reserved for wiring on the surface of the substrate. Therefore, the size of CCMs cannot be minimized.
Please refer to FIG. 1. A prior-art CCM 100 comprises a substrate 110, an image sensor chip 120, a plurality of bonding wires 130, and a lens module 140. The substrate 110 comprises an upper surface 111 and a plurality of connecting pads 112. The image sensor chip 120 is installed on the upper surface 111 of the substrate 110. The image sensor chip 120 comprises an active surface 121 and a back surface 122, and a plurality of bonding pads 123 are formed on the active surface 121. The back surface 122 of the image sensor chip 120 is mounted on the substrate 110 by tapes or die bonding materials. The bonding wires 130 formed by wiring electronically connect the connecting pads 112 of the substrate 110 and the bonding pads 123 of the image sensor chip 120. The lens module 140 is mounted with the substrate 110, which air locks and seals the image sensor chip 120 and the bonding wires 130 to form the CCM 100. Wherein, the lens module 140 comprises a filter 141 and a lens combination base 142. The lens combination base 142 of the lens module 140 comprises a lens container 143. A lens 144 is installed in the lens container 143.
Since the CCM 100 is tested after the fabrication is complete, the bonding wires 130 and the image sensor chip 120 have to be removed if the CCM 100 turns out to be defective, which may cause the damage on the connecting pads 112 of the substrate 110 and the bonding pads 123 of the image sensor chip 120, and which may also cause the substrate 110 and the image sensor chip 120 unusable and increase the cost of manufacture.

Nantze Export Processing Zone, Kao-Hsiung

Advanced Semiconductor Engineering, Inc.


A hydraulically assisted actuator in a handle connects with a catheter having a deflectable distal ablation tip. The hydraulic actuator translates small mechanical movement by a clinician into large travel movements of connected steering cables and increased tension in the ablation tip for greater deflection. The hydraulic system further dampens the return of the ablation tip from a deflected position to an equilibrium position. The hydraulic actuation system is also incorporated into a set of foot pedals.

a. Field of the Invention
This invention is directed to an actuator for steering the distal end of a catheter. In particular, the actuator incorporates a hydraulic control system to provide for a larger range of travel of steering cables and for finer control of the distal end of the catheter.
b. Background Art
Catheters have been in use for medical procedures for many years. Catheters can be used for medical procedures to examine, diagnose, and treat while positioned at a specific location within the body that is otherwise inaccessible without more invasive procedures. During these procedures a catheter is inserted into a vessel near the surface of the body and is guided to a specific location within the body for examination, diagnosis, and treatment. For example, one procedure utilizes a catheter to convey an electrical stimulus to a selected location within the human body. Another procedure utilizes a catheter with sensing electrodes to monitor various forms of electrical activity in the human body.
Catheters are also used increasingly for medical procedures involving the human heart. Typically, the catheter is inserted in an artery or vein in the leg, neck, or arm of the patient and threaded, sometimes with the aid of a guide wire or introducer, through the vessels until a distal tip of the catheter reaches the desired location for the medical procedure in the heart.
A typical human heart includes a right ventricle, a right atrium, a left ventricle, and a left atrium. The right atrium is in fluid communication with the superior vena cava and the inferior vena cava. The atrioventricular septum separates the right atrium from the right ventricle. The tricuspid valve contained within the atrioventricular septum provides communication between the right atrium and the right ventricle.
In the normal heart, contraction and relaxation of the heart muscle (myocardium) takes place in an organized fashion as electro-chemical signals pass sequentially through the myocardium from the sinoatrial (SA) node, which comprises a bundle of unique cells disposed in the wall of the right atrium, to the atrioventricular (AV) node and then along a well-defined route, which includes the His-Purkinje system, into the left and right ventricles. The AV node lies near the ostium of the coronary sinus in the interatrial septum in the right atrium. Each cell membrane of the SA node has a characteristic tendency to leak sodium ions gradually over time such that the cell membrane periodically breaks down and allows an inflow of sodium ions, thereby causing the SA node cells to depolarize. The SA node cells are in communication with the surrounding atrial muscle cells such that the depolarization of the SA node cells causes the adjacent atrial muscle cells to depolarize. This results in atrial systole, wherein the atria contract to empty and fill blood into the ventricles. The atrial depolarization from the SA node is detected by the AV node which, in turn, communicates the depolarization impulse into the ventricles via the bundle of His and Purkinje fibers following a brief conduction delay. The His-Purkinje system begins at the AV node and follows along the membranous interatrial septum toward the tricuspid valve through the atrioventricular septum and into the membranous interventricular septum. At about the middle of the interventricular septum, the His-Purkinje system splits into right and left branches which straddle the summit of the muscular part of the interventricular septum.
Sometimes abnormal rhythms occur in the heart, which are referred to generally as arrhythmia. For example, a common arrhythmia is Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome (W-P-W). The cause of W-P-W is generally believed to be the existence of an anomalous conduction pathway or pathways that connect the atrial muscle tissue directly to the ventricular muscle tissue, thus bypassing the normal His-Purkinje system. These pathways are usually located in the fibrous tissue that connects the atrium and the ventricle.
Other abnormal arrhythmias sometimes occur in the atria, which are referred to as atrial arrhythmia. Three of the most common atrial arrhythmia are ectopic atrial tachycardia, atrial fibrillation, and atrial flutter. Atrial fibrillation can result in significant patient discomfort and even death because of a number of associated problems, including the following: an irregular heart rate, which causes patient discomfort and anxiety; loss of synchronous atrioventricular contractions, which compromises cardiac hemodynamics, resulting in varying levels of congestive heart failure; and stasis of blood flow, which increases the likelihood of thromboembolism.
Efforts to alleviate these problems in the past have included significant usage of pharmacological treatments. While pharmacological treatments are sometimes effective, in some circumstances drug therapy has had only limited effectiveness and is frequently plagued with side effects, such as dizziness, nausea, vision problems, and other difficulties.
An increasingly common medical procedure for the treatment of certain types of cardiac arrhythmia is catheter ablation. During conventional catheter ablation procedures, an energy source is placed in contact with cardiac tissue to heat the tissue and create a permanent scar or lesion that is electrically inactive or noncontractile. During one procedure, the lesions are designed to interrupt existing conduction pathways commonly associated with arrhythmias within the heart. The particular area for ablation depends on the type of underlying arrhythmia. One common ablation procedure treats atrioventricular nodal reentrant tachycardia (AVNRT). Ablation of fast or slow AV nodal pathways is disclosed in Singer, I., et al., "Catheter Ablation for Arrhythmias," Clinical Manual of Electrophysiology, pgs. 421-431 (1993).
Another medical procedure using ablation catheters with sheaths to ablate accessory pathways associated with W-P-W utilizing both a transseptal and retrograde approach is discussed in Saul, J. P., et al., "Catheter Ablation of Accessory Atrioventricular Pathways in Young Patients: Use of long vascular sheaths, the transseptal approach and a retrograde left posterior parallel approach," Journal of the American College of Cardiology, Vol. 21, no. 3, pgs. 571-583 (1 Mar. 1993). Other catheter ablation procedures are disclosed in Swartz, J. F., "Radiofrequency Endocardial Catheter Ablation of Accessory Atrioventricular Pathway Atrial Insertion Sites," Circulation, Vol. 87, no. 2, pgs. 487-499 (Feb 1993).
Ablation of a specific location within or near the heart requires the precise placement of the ablation catheter. Precise positioning of the ablation catheter is especially difficult because of the physiology of the heart, particularly because the heart continues to beat throughout the ablation procedures. Commonly, the choice of placement of the catheter is determined by a combination of electrophysiological guidance and fluoroscopy (placement of the catheter in relation to known features of the heart, which are marked by radiopaque diagnostic catheters that are placed in or at known anatomical structures, such as the coronary sinus, high right atrium, and the right ventricle).
Typically, the main body of an ablation catheter is a flexible tube constructed from polyurethane, nylon, or some other electrically non-conductive, flexible material with braided steel wires or other non metallic fibers in its wall as reinforcing elements. In order to precisely place the distal tip of a catheter to conduct an ablation procedure, catheters may have a deflectable distal tip. The distal portion of deflectable tip catheters is typically made from non-braided flexible tube. This portion can be deformed into a variety of curved configurations with different radii of curvature by means of user input to a manual actuator on the catheter handle. The actuator is commonly internally linked to the distal tip by at least one tension or pull cable.
The proximal end of the tension or pull cable(s) is generally connected to a tensioning or puller mechanism in the handle. The distal end of the tension or pull cable(s) is fixed or anchored to a point in the distal tip. The tensioning mechanism generally includes a manual actuator by which the distal tip can be deflected. The primary difference among the designs of deflectable distal tip catheters is in the tension or pull mechanism in the catheter handle. This mechanism transmits the manual force applied to the actuator on the handle to the distal tip via the cable(s), for formation of a desirable radius of curvature at the distal tip of the catheter.
Unfortunately, many of the manual actuator designs require significant manual force to effect the necessary tension on the cable(s) to bend the distal tip. In addition, the presently available actuators are unable to provide enough travel distance when pulling the cable(s) to deflect the distal tip a desired amount. Further, the present manual actuators do not provide the ability to either hold the distal tip in a deflected position or to dampen the return of the distal tip from a deflected position to a "straight" position.
The information included in this Background section of the specification, including any references cited herein and any description or discussion thereof, is included for technical reference purposes only and is not to be regarded subject matter by which the scope of the invention is to be bound.

Steerable catheter with hydraulic or pneumatic actuator

St. Jude Medical, Atrial Fibrillation Division, Inc.


An electronic device may contain components such as a processor, video circuitry, camera flash, communications circuitry, and other components that may generate heat during operation. The device may have a display with a backlight unit that contains light-emitting diodes. Control circuitry within the electronic device can apply drive powers to the light-emitting diodes in a way that is sensitive to the operating temperature of the light-emitting diodes. The control circuitry can determine whether the temperature of the light-emitting diodes is elevated by determining which components are active in the device. Activity levels can be ascertained by gathering status information on each component. Temperature sensors may be used to make real time temperature measurements. Based on factors such as component activity levels and measured temperature values, the control circuitry can adjust the maximum allowed light-emitting diode drive power level to avoid overdriving the diodes during operation at elevated temperatures.

This relates generally to electronic devices, and more particularly, to controlling components such as displays in electronic devices to enhance display longevity.
Electronic devices often include displays. Displays such as organic light-emitting diode (OLED) displays contain pixels that produce illumination without using a separate backlight unit. Other displays such as liquid crystal displays have backlight units. Light sources such as fluorescent lamps and light-emitting diodes can be used to generate backlight in a backlight unit.
Heat may be produced by the operation of the light-emitting diodes and other components in an electronic device such as processing circuitry, camera flash units, communications circuits such as circuits involved in communicating with external equipment, video circuits, and other devices.
High-temperature operation can degrade the performance of displays. Light-emitting diode light output typically decreases over time. Light-emitting diode lifetimes are sometimes measured in terms of lumen (light output) depreciation. When light-emitting diodes are simultaneously operated at elevated drive power levels and elevated temperatures, lumen depreciation can be accelerated (i.e., light-emitting diode lifetimes may be shortened). In displays with light-emitting diode backlights, operation at elevated temperatures may therefore result in accelerated decreases in backlight brightness. Displays with fluorescent lamp backlighting can also be degraded when operated at elevated temperatures due to accelerated reductions in available mercury, poisoning of the cathode, and phosphor degradation. In organic light-emitting displays, undesirable color shifts can develop as a display ages. These color shifts can be accelerated when organic light-emitting diodes are operated at elevated temperatures.
One possible way to ensure that displays perform satisfactorily over their desired lifetimes involves permanently restricting their operating power to conservatively low levels. By operating organic light-emitting diode pixels and display backlights at low brightness levels, display lifetimes can be extended to satisfactory levels, even in the presence of elevated temperatures.
However, imposing this type of limit on the brightness of a display may not be acceptable to a user of an electronic device, because it may become difficult or impossible to view images on a display in bright conditions.
It would therefore be desirable to be able to provide improved ways to control the operation of electronic devices with displays.

Methods for enhancing longevity in electronic device displays


Apparatus (10) for cleaning fluids such as oils comprising an inlet (12) for fluid to be cleaned, a heating unit (21) for heating the fluid, a centrifugal cleaner (24), a vacuum dehydration unit (26), a holding tank (11) and a fluid outlet (40). A first valve (13) controls communication between a first pump (20) and the inlet (12) or holding tank (11) to pump fluid from the inlet (12) or holding tank (11) to the heating unit (21) for conveyance to the centrifugal cleaner (24), the outlet of which is connected to the vacuum dehydration unit (26) and a second valve (37) controls communication between a second pump (35) and tank (11) and outlet (40) to either enable fluid to be recirculated back to the tank (11) or supplied to the outlet (40).

In operation of machinery and other plant it is important to ensure the cleanliness and integrity of lubricating oils used. Lubricating oils can often be contaminated by water or moisture. Oil can also be contaminated by other substances or materials such as microscopic wear debris or contaminated by other liquids. Contamination of oil results in loss of lubrication integrity and can result in excessive wear of machinery and plant.
Different types of equipment are known for use in separation of solids from liquids. Centrifuges are a common form of device which can be used for this purpose and are of two general types, namely sedimentation centrifuges, which require a difference between the densities of the two or more phases to be separated; and centrifugal filters, in which the solid phase is supported and retained on a permeable membrane through which the liquid phase is free to pass. Self-powered centrifugal fluid cleaning devices are also known for cleaning lubricating fluids of solid contaminants in engines and like mechanisms. Notwithstanding the simplicity and efficiency with which such devices separate solids from the fluid passing therethrough, there are a number of limitations attached to their usage which have hither-to served to limit their widespread use.
Some centrifuges have draining limitations which can be reduced by exposing the centrifuge housing to an above-ambient pressure possibly from an engine crank case, although this then requires either a corresponding increase in supply pressure to maintain the pressure drop across the centrifuge rotor nozzles, acceptance of a reduced rotation efficiency, or by using a suction pump driven by way of a power take off from the engine or machine being lubricated by the circulated fluid. Another method proposed in the past to overcome the draining limitations of such centrifuges is to provide a cleaner in which a proportion of a circulated fluid is diverted with a drainage assistance arrangement including a venturi arrangement through which the non-diverted fluid is passed. The venturi develops a significant pressure drop in a region into which opens an induction port connected to the cleaner sump so that the cleaned fluid can be entrained into the non-diverted fluid and returned to circulation.
These arrangements have not been particularly effective in removal of the fluid from the base of the rotor. A failure to accomplish this effectively leads to the fluid "backing up" or accumulating in the base and this affects the rotor speed and therefore separation efficiency.
Devices and systems that have been used to remove water contamination include settling tanks or reservoirs, centrifuges, water absorbing filters, and vacuum dehydration oil purifiers. All these devices have significant limitations in either their water removal capabilities, ease of operation, capital costs, or operating costs. Some of these devices are ineffective in separating oil-water emulsions and are not capable of removing dissolved water. Centrifuges are effective in removing free water from the oil but are expensive and have limited capability in separating oil-water emulsions. Water absorbing filters are effective in removing free water but have a marginal effect in removing emulsified or dissolved water from the oil. In addition, water-absorbing filters have a limited capacity for water and are typically only used in applications where trace amounts of water are present.
Several types of vacuum dehydration oil purifiers have been used for oil dehydration. These generally operate under the principle of vacuum distillation, mass transfer of moisture from the oil to dry air, or a combination of the two. While vacuum distillation and mass transfer systems do remove free, emulsified and dissolved water, they have several drawbacks that have prevented their widespread use.
Vacuum purifiers are also subject to foaming within the vessels as water is vaporized within the oil. This foam has a lower specific gravity than the oil and can cause malfunctioning controls and a reduction in the performance of the purifier. Due to their ability to remove free, emulsified or dissolved water from oil, vacuum dehydration oil purifiers have become the desired method for water removal from oil. The drawbacks associated with vacuum oil purifiers have prohibited these purifiers from being widely used and/or the purifiers are not practical on the majority of lubrication or hydraulic systems. Because of their relatively large size and costs, they are limited to non-mobile, stationary applications, and are not practical for use on mobile equipment. Further due to their high capital cost, they are typically not permanently installed in a system unless it is a relatively large, expensive lubrication or hydraulic system. Instead, they are usually shared by several systems by using one to purify the oil on one machine or reservoir for a period of time, and then by moving it to another machine, etc. When the purifier is being used in this manner, the oil in the machines that are not connected to the purifier can become contaminated with water. This oil will remain contaminated until the purifier can be reattached to them and the oil dehydrated again.
Membrane based systems have been used to remove water from organic systems. It must, however, be recognized that the presence of either pores or defects in a membrane used for this purpose will result in the hydraulic permeation of the oil to the permeate side. This situation will result in the loss of oil. It will also allow the non-volatile oil to coat the permeate side of the membrane, thereby fouling the membrane and reducing its effectiveness in permeating water.


A magnetron sputtering electrode for use with a magnetron sputtering device, wherein the magnetron sputtering electrode comprises a cathode body, a drive unit coupled to the cathode body, a target received by the cathode body, and a closed loop magnet arrangement received within a magnet receiving chamber and coupled to the drive unit. The closed loop magnet arrangement is comprised of a plurality of magnets adapted for motion relative to the target by the drive unit, wherein at least one of the plurality of magnets is a profiled magnet having a contoured top portion. A method of improving target utilization in sputtering applications is also disclosed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of vacuum sputtered coating apparatus and particularly relates to an improved sputtering process and apparatus, and more particularly, to the construction of an improved cathode/anode assembly which provides better utilization of and uniformity in the material deposited.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A typical magnetron sputtering device includes a vacuum chamber having an electrode contained therein, wherein the electrode includes a cathode portion, an anode portion, and a target. A vacuum is drawn in the vacuum chamber followed by the introduction of a process gas into the chamber. Electrical power supplied to the electrode produces an electronic discharge which ionizes the process gas and produces charged gaseous ions from the atoms of the process gas. The ions are accelerated and retained within a magnetic field formed over the target, and are propelled toward the surface of the target which is composed of the material sought to be deposited on a substrate. Upon striking the target, the ions dislodge target atoms from the target which are then deposited upon the substrate. By varying the composition of the target, a wide variety of substances can be deposited on various substrates. The result is the formation of an ultra-pure thin film deposition of target material on the substrate.
What is termed the electrode above (which includes both a cathode portion and anode portion) is sometimes simply called a cathode by those skilled in the art. While the inventor recognizes that convention, the discussion below does not follow this convention because calling the electrode a cathode will only cause confusion in the following discussion which discusses separately the cathode and anode portions of the electrode.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,736,019 and 6,171,461, which are incorporated herein by reference, disclose an attempt to overcome under utilization of target material via the use of stationary profiled magnets. The above-identified patents are directed to magnetron sputtering electrodes that include a plurality of profiled magnets, each magnet including a top portion with an apex, wherein each apex is positioned adjacent a target supporting surface in the cathode body. The magnets cooperate to generate magnetic flux lines which form enclosed-looped magnetic tunnels adjacent to the front sputtering surfaces of the targets. As described in the above-identified patents, these profiled magnets result in optimum utilization of target material at a reasonable rate of utilization.
Stationary magnet sputtering cathodes and target substrates only permit a portion of the target that can be utilized during the sputtering process. Prior art patents have disclosed rotating magnets for use in sputtering devices such as U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,252,194; 5,194,131; 5,188,717; 5,170,140; 4,756,815; and 4,714,516, which are incorporated herein by reference. A problem with these arrangements is that magnets have flat upper surfaces and therefore the target, which the material is to be sputtered from, is not completely utilized.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to increase the amount of target material that can be used during a sputtering process.

Moving magnetic/cathode arrangement and method


The present invention is a method and apparatus for transmitting a high rate data packet in a CDMA communication system. The transmission system transmits a first channel assignment message indicating the at least one additional channel that will be used to support the high rate data packet. The first channel assignment message is sent in advance of the onset of high rate data communications. In addition the present invention provides within the first frame of high rate data a duplicate channel assignment message. A remote receiver uses the channel assignment messages to initialize its demodulation elements to receive the additional information carried on the at least one additional channel.

I. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to communications. More particularly, the present invention relates to a novel and improved communication system wherein a user transmits data on a primary channel. However, when the user's transmission exceeds the capacity of the primary channel, the user is provided use of an additional channel or set of channels for use in conjunction with the primary channel to enable the transmission of high rate data. The present invention provides for dynamic channel assignment for the transmission of high rate data and provides a highly efficient system for the transmission of variable rate data.
II. Description of the Related Art
The present invention is concerned with multiple users sharing a communications resource such as in a cellular CDMA system. The use of code division multiple access (CDMA) modulation techniques is one of several techniques for facilitating communications in which a large number of system users are present. Other multiple access communication techniques, such as time division multiple access (TDMA), frequency division multiple access (FDMA) and AM modulation schemes such as amplitude companded single sideband (ACSSB) are known in the art. However, the spread spectrum modulation technique of CDMA has significant advantages over these other modulation techniques for multiple access communication systems. The use of CDMA techniques in a multiple access communication system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,901,307, entitled "SPREAD SPECTRUM MULTIPLE ACCESS COMMUNICATION SYSTEM USING SATELLITE OR TERRESTRIAL REPEATERS", assigned to the assignee of the present invention and incorporated by reference herein. The use of CDMA techniques in a multiple access communication system is further disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,103,459, entitled "SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR GENERATING SIGNAL WAVEFORMS IN A CDMA CELLULAR TELEPHONE SYSTEM", assigned to the assignee of the present invention and incorporated by reference herein.
CDMA by its inherent nature of being a wideband signal offers a form of frequency diversity by spreading the signal energy over a wide bandwidth. Therefore, frequency selective fading affects only a small part of the CDMA signal bandwidth. Path diversity is obtained by exploiting the multipath environment through spread spectrum processing by allowing a signal arriving with different propagation delays to be received and processed separately. Furthermore, space or path diversity is obtained by providing multiple signal paths through simultaneous links between a mobile user and two or more base stations. Examples of the utilization of path diversity are illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 5,109,390 entitled "DIVERSITY RECEIVER IN A CDMA CELLULAR TELEPHONE SYSTEM", and U.S. Pat. No. 5,101,501 entitled "SOFT HANDOFF IN A CDMA CELLULAR TELEPHONE SYSTEM", both assigned to the assignee of the present invention and incorporated by reference herein.
An additional technique that may be used to increase the efficiency of the allocation of the communication resource is to allow the users of the resource to provide data at varying rates thereby using only the minimum amount of the communication resource to meet their service needs. An example of variable rate data source is a variable rate vocoder which is detailed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,414,796, entitled "VARIABLE RATE VOCODER," assigned to the assignee of the present invention and incorporated herein by reference. Since speech inherently contains periods of silence, i.e. pauses, the amount of data required to represent these periods can be reduced. Variable rate vocoding most effectively exploits this fact by reducing the data rate for these silent periods.
A variable rate speech encoder provides speech data at full rate when the talker is actively speaking, thus using the full capacity of the transmission frames. When a variable rate speech coder is providing speech data at a less than maximum rate, there is excess capacity in the transmission frames. A method for transmitting additional data in transmission frames of a fixed size, wherein the data source is providing data at a variable rate is described in detail in U.S. Pat. No. 5,504,773, entitled "METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR THE FORMATTING OF DATA FOR TRANSMISSION", assigned to the assignee of the present invention and incorporated by reference herein. In the above mentioned patent application a method and apparatus is disclosed for combining data of differing types from different sources in a data packet for transmission.

Spread spectrum communication system which defines channel groups comprising selected channels that are additional to a primary channel and transmits group messages during call set up


A disc driving apparatus has two bases. Both bases swing about their parallel shafts provided at the same side of the bases between positions where the bases chuck a disc-shaped recording medium and positions where they release the medium. A member for rotating the medium is provided for one of the bases, and another member for connecting the medium and the member in order to rotate them together is provided for the other of the bases. The disc driving apparatus also has a pickup for accessing the medium, a chucking mechanism for chucking the medium, a pickup moving mechanism, and a locking mechanism. The pickup can be moved in the radial direction of the medium. The pickup moving mechanism moves the pickup in the radial direction of the medium when the chucking mechanism releases the medium. The locking mechanism locks the movement of the pickup after it is moved to a specified position by the pickup moving mechanism.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to disc driving apparatuses.
2. Description of the Related Art
Disc apparatuses including disc driving apparatuses have been used, such as a disc apparatus recording and playing back an optical disc stored in a case. In the disc apparatus, a disc cartridge is first move horizontally to be stored in the cabinet of the disc apparatus the disc cartridge is then lowered to be placed so that the optical disc in the case is placed on a turntable, and then a chucking member is lowered to chuck the disc.
In a disc apparatus for recording and playing back an optical disc which is not stored in a case, an optical disc is first placed on a disc tray, the optical disc is moved horizontally to be stored in the cabinet, a turntable is raised to lift the optical disc from the disc tray, and then a chucking member is lowered perpendicularly to the optical disc from above to chuck the optical disc.
Of the above-described disc apparatuses, the former apparatus needs a mechanism which moves the disc cartridge horizontally and a mechanism which moves the cartridge vertically, making these mechanisms complicated.
The latter apparatus needs a complicated mechanism for moving up and down precisely the turntable and the chucking member to perform precise chucking of an optical disc.
In a disc apparatus, the objective lens of an optical pickup is disposed movably in the radial direction of an optical disc. Usually, the optical pickup is slidably supported at a guide shaft and is moved by a linear motor or other mechanism.
Power to such a disc apparatus may be shut down for some reason during its operation, for example, by an attempt to move the disc apparatus without knowing that it is in operation during a read operation of an optical disc. In such a case, the position of the optical pickup cannot be controlled because the power to the linear motor is turned off, and the optical pickup is left on the guide shaft in the condition in which it can slide freely.
If the disc apparatus is carried in this state, the optical pickup moves, causing damage, such as errors in the precision of optical components precisely assembled and breakage of the optical pickup or members which enable the optical pickup to move freely.
To prevent such damage, the optical pickup can be driven by, for example, a rack and pinion. When the power is shut down, the motor which rotates the pinion is stopped.
With this feature, the optical pickup does not move when the power is shut down. If the optical pickup stops moving at the outer peripheral of the optical disc, however, a new problem may occur. The problem is that the optical disc is scratched when it touches the optical pickup if its outer peripheral is waved due to vibration caused in transportation of the disc apparatus.
Another problem is too long of an access time is required when the optical disc is reloaded and chucked. This is because the position of the optical pickup is not determined, as described above. To describe it precisely, when the position of the optical pickup is not determined within its movement area, the optical pickup must be moved to its reference position before signals are read from or written into the optical disc.
In some disc apparatuses, the shutter of an optical disc is closed while the disc cartridge is being loaded or after it is loaded, and the optical disc is rotated by a turntable.
In such a disc apparatus, an air flow takes place as the optical disc catches the surrounding air when it rotates. Then, air having dust enters the disc apparatus from the front slot used for loading the optical disc or other holes.
Air which enters the disc apparatus may contact an optical disc surface or an objective lens surface of the optical pickup as the above-described air flows, depositing dust on the surfaces.

Disc driving apparatus having a base moving means with first and second engagement shafts engaging respective grooves on a cam member


Fabrication of an eyeglass lens to meet a specific ophthalmic prescription is simplified by arranging back lens wafers of different sphere powers and cylinder corrections in order of the through sphere powers of the lenses that are produced by laminating each back lens wafer with front lens wafers that have the same base curve. The front lens wafers of like segment style are grouped together and include sub-groups of wafers of similar base curve which are arranged in order of add power. Each lens wafer is maintained in an individual package prior to lamination and the back wafer packages display the through sphere powers that result from laminating the wafer with different ones of the front wafers. Reference to a conventional component selection chart is unnecessary as the correct back lens wafer can be directly located from the data on the prescription and the package of the back lens wafer directs the technician to the correct front lens wafer. Verification that the correct lens wafers has been selected is provided for by a component of the front wafer package that obscures the display of through sphere powers on a back wafer package when the two packages are superimposed except for the particular through sphere power that is produced by lamination of the wafers from the two packages.

Ophthalmic prescriptions for eyeglass lenses use a standardized nomenclature to identify the combination of lens characteristics that are needed to correct a particular person's vision. Dispensing opticians do not stock prefabricated lenses of all possible combinations that may be needed as this would require an impractically large inventory. Thus the lenses that are specified in most prescriptions must be individually fabricated at the time that the prescription is filled.
Filling a prescription by the traditional process of grinding and polishing lens blanks is undesirably costly and time consuming. The process is particularly complicated if the prescription calls for multi-vision lenses such as bifocals or trifocals.
Fabrication of lenses by laminating lens wafers together with a light transmissive adhesive is a simpler and faster procedure for filling individual prescriptions. The optician maintains a stock of lens wafers of incrementally differing optical properties and selects a front and a back wafer which meet the lens requirements of a particular prescription when the wafers are laminated together. A limited number of back wafers of incrementally different sphere powers, for example, can be paired in different combinations with ones of a smaller number of front wafers of differing base curves to produce lenses having a large number of different through sphere powers. This makes it possible to fill most prescriptions with a wafer inventory of practical size.
In addition to a spherical correction for nearsightedness or farsightedness, a prescription may call for any of various degrees of cylinder correction for astigmatism and in the case of multi-vision lenses also specifies a degree of add power and a segment style configuration for the bifocal, trifocal or progressive insert. Thus the stocked wafers include a number of wafers of each sphere power or base curve that differ from each other in these other respects.
In the prior practice of this method of lens lamination, each wafer is individually packaged and the back wafer packages display the sphere power of the wafer itself while the front packages display the base curve of the wafer which is the nominal curvature of the convex front surface of the front wafer. This data does not enable a direct selection of the particular front wafer and back wafer that are needed to provide a lens with the sphere power called for in a prescription. The optical technician must consult a component selection chart or table which identifies the particular wafers that are needed to provide the prescribed spherical correction.
Lens fabrication could be effected more quickly and efficiently and with less risk of error if reference to a selection chart or table was unnecessary.
The prior procedure does not provide any convenient procedure for cross checking or verifying, prior to lamination, that the correct pair of wafers have in fact been obtained from stock other than by again referring to the selection chart or table. It would be advantageous and less subject to mistake if this could be accomplished in a simpler, less time consuming manner.
The present invention is directed to overcoming one or more of the problems set forth above.

Method and packaging system for facilitating fabrication of laminated lenses


A noise filter in which the resonance of noise can be prevented, which is small in size and inexpensive, and is useful especially in an electronic device of which the signal frequency exceeds 100 MHz. In the noise filter, ground conductors are arranged on the outermost layers of a laminate formed by lamination of magnetic sheets and firing thereof. Transmission lines and ground conductors are alternately arranged with the magnetic sheets being sandwiched between them, respectively. Signal electrodes connected to the transmission lines and ground electrodes connected to the ground conductors are formed on the outer surface of the laminate. Thus, a signal is transmitted through the transmission lines while the ground conductors are grounded, and therefore, high frequency noise can be attenuated by utilization of heat loss caused by the magnetic sheets.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a noise filter which is suitable for use in suppression of electromagnetic noise interferences in electronic devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, various types of noise filters are used in suppression of electromagnetic noise interferences in electronic devices. In a known related art noise filter, for example, a circuit using a lumped constant such as a three-terminal capacitor is formed (see for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 10-154632 ). In such a noise filter of the related art, noise is suppressed using a reflection loss in which the reflection coefficient is increased at the frequency of noise to be generated.
Moreover, in a known noise filter according to another related art, a circuit including many inductors and capacitors is formed (see for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2000-34894 ).
According to the above-mentioned related art techniques, noise is suppressed by use of the reflection loss. In the case where a noise filter is disposed, e.g., in a line connecting circuits to each other, problems are caused in that probably, noise having a specific frequency resonates between the noise filter and a circuit in the periphery thereof, and the resonance causes amplification of the noise.
Especially, in recent years, signal frequencies to be adapted for digital devices tend to become higher, and the number of electronic devices of which the signal frequencies exceed 100 MHz has been increased. Therefore, low-pass filters of which the cut-off frequencies exceed 200 MHz have been demanded. On the other hand, for example, the lengths of lines between a noise filter and parts disposed in the periphery thereof and the lengths of lines between plural parts are such that resonance with a signal (noise) with a high frequency of 200 MHz or higher may occur easily. Accordingly, for electronic parts of which the signal frequencies exceed 100 MHz, noise filters using reflection loss as carried out in the related art ones are difficult to be used.
Moreover, according to the other related art, resonance phenomena are suppressed by reduction of the reflection loss. However, in the noise filter of the other related art, many inductors and capacitors are connected to form a circuit. The structure is complicated, the size can be reduced with much difficulty, and the manufacturing cost is high. Moreover, problematically, the noise filter is difficult to be fixed to a printed wiring, since the filter has no chip-shape.
In view of the above-described problems of the related art, the present invention has been devised. An object of the present invention is to prevent noise from resonating and provide a noise filter which is small in size and inexpensive.


A receptacle allows planted pots to be placed above the ground and anchored to the ground. The receptacle is made to allow nesting of one receptacle inside another receptacle. The receptacle has an open-topped cavity in which the potted plant may be placed, still within its pot. Additionally, drainage materials are placed in a lower part of the same cavity and the drainage materials serve to anchor the receptacle to minimize the possibility that wind would blow-over the plant. Further, the cavity has a floor with a hole therein for receiving a stake so as to secure the receptacle to the ground. Additionally, a generally circular support flange extends peripherally around the outside of the receptacle in order to provide greater stability. The receptacle has a conical inner wall which is narrower at its lower end and a conical outer wall which is wider at its lower end. A sheet of insulation may be disposed in the inter-wall space between the inner and outer walls. An external anchor ring may be disposed around the outside of the receptacle to further stabilize it.

The present invention relates to a plant growing receptacle and associated method. More specifically, the present invention relates to a receptacle for receiving a living plant pot (i.e., a pot in which a living plant is disposed).
There are several different techniques which have been used to sell plants, such as small trees, to a person who wants to place the plant within the ground upon his property.
The person wishing to buy the plant may go to a nursery where the plant is being grown in the ground. However, upon the person selecting the tree or other plant which he desires to purchase, a skilled worker must carefully dig the plant out of the ground, taking care to include the root ball of the plant. If the worker does not include a sufficient portion of the roots of the plant, the plant may die or be damaged significantly. It may not resume growth when it is implanted in the ground at the purchaser's yard. Not only must the worker be careful to include a sufficient quantity of the roots, but the roots usually must be wrapped in burlap and have water applied to them so as to minimize the risk that the roots will cry out before the plant is transplanted. Delay in implanting the plant at its new location can be fatal to the plant. Further, many plants can be effectively transplanted using this technique only during certain times of the year. For example, if a deciduous tree is dug out of the ground after its growing season has started, the plant will likely undergo severe shock, which is often fatal. Finally, this technique is somewhat disadvantageous in that the potential purchaser of such plants must go to a location where the plant is growing in the ground.
As an alternative to having the purchaser select the plant as it grows in the ground, a plant may be dug out of the ground before the consumer has selected the plant. The root ball may be surrounded by burlap and moistened to prevent drying out. The plant could then be placed within a bed of mulch at a location which is remote from the original growing site (and closer to the potential purchaser). However, if the plant is not sufficiently anchored, it may be damaged from blow-over resulting from wind. Further, the roots may go through the burlap if left in place sufficiently long and transplant shock may occur. Although such a technique may lessen the time and skill required to provide the plant to the purchaser upon the purchaser's selection, there is still some time and skill required to remove the plant from the mulch in response to the purchaser's selection. Further, water draining from one plant which is diseased may spread the disease to other plants. Additionally, and like the situation for plants grown in the ground, the purchaser may be reluctant to purchase a plant when it is obvious that the selection has been significantly picked over. For example, if a nursery displays 10 rows of plants, each row having 10 plants in mulch, a purchaser who goes to the nursery after the first 60 plants have been selected may be concerned that all of the good plants have already been taken. The consumer would be able to readily notice that numerous plants have already been taken from the grouping of plants. If a nursery wanted to minimize this risk, the nursery could reorganize the 40 remaining plants as four rows of 10 plants. However, this requires further labor to reorganize the layout of the plants as some plants much be dug out of the mulch and placed back in the mulch at other locations.
Under the circumstances then, the popularity of having nurseries sell plants in containers is readily understandable. When a consumer selects a plant in a container or pot, it may be quickly loaded into the purchaser's vehicle without the need for digging. (Assuming that the plants are grown originally in the pot or container, there is never any need for digging using this technique. However, one might obtain some, but not all of the benefits of pots for the plants by transferring some plants from the ground into pots.) Usually such plants are grown in a soilless rooting medium and are grown above the ground. Most commonly, the pots or containers are made of plastic.
There are numerous other advantages of container or pot grown plants. Usually, more plants can be grown per acre because row spacing for cultivation can be eliminated. The containers or pots prevent roots of adjacent plants becoming intertwined. The trauma of relocating plants, called transplant shock, is eliminated because roots produced remain in the container. The technique is less labor intensive and what labor it uses is mainly unskilled labor. As the plant population may be maintained more densely, the plants are more manageable. Such container-produced plants usually have lighter weight than field-produced plants and this results in increased payloads, thereby reducing freight costs. Unlike field-produced plants, container-produced plants can be sold without concern for the time of the year. In other words, and for example, a deciduous tree may be sold and moved by the purchaser without concern for the fact that the growing season has already started. Container-produced plants usually provide quicker turn-over time from the start to the finished product than field-produced plants. Container-produced plants appeal to garden center operators because of easier maintenance than plants which require burying in mulch or similar steps. Further, plants in pots may be easily rearranged so that purchasers are not discouraged from a picked-over look.
Although container plants have the numerous advantages discussed above, growing and selling plants in pots have numerous disadvantages. Plants, especially trees, in pots will easily upset in a moderate wind unless they are restrained in some fashion. This may cause damage if one plant falls to the ground or falls against another. Such blow over may further cause the loss of expensive fertilizer and potting soil or other materials. A further disadvantage of potted plants is that the root system may be damaged by cold temperatures in the winter. In the summer, the temperature in the soil or soilless rooting medium within the pot may reach such high temperatures that moisture evaporates quickly and growth stops. Under these summer conditions, water is wasted as much of it is used for cooling down the high temperatures of the soil or other rooting medium within the pot. Further, container plants require more water as the water drains and evaporates quickly through the rooting medium. Drainage must be controlled so disease is not transmitted from the run-off water of infected plants.
In addition to the disadvantages noted above, container-produced plants have significant investment costs. The labor and materials for such container-produced plants are concentrated at the beginning of the growing cycle. In view of this front-loading of costs, prudent management of water, fertilizer, etc. is essential. One aspect of this is the need for proper spacing of the plants. This process is costly because it is manually done and must be repeated every year. If the plants are too far apart, the efficiency of the operation is reduced. If the plants are too close together, they may not develop properly.
Numerous techniques have been used to try to minimize the problems associated with container-produced plants, while benefitting from their advantages. For example, the problem of blow-over has been reduced by using guide wires extending from the plant, such as a tree, down to stakes within the ground. Such guide wires may protect against blow-over, but they make it very difficult to move around in the area where the plants are growing. One must be careful to avoid tripping from the guide wires or stakes remaining after removal of the pot. Further, this technique does not address the susceptibility of the root system to damage from temperature extremes.
Another technique has been to pore concrete into a mould and make a six-sided loop which may go around a pot and hold the pot against blow-over. However, this technique does not, in and of itself, provide for proper spacing of the plants. Some plant growing or selling companies have tried to minimize blow-over by poking a hole in the plastic pot in which a plant is disposed and securing it to the ground by use of a stake, such as reinforcing bar (commonly called rebar). This technique does not provide temperature protection.
Yet another technique has involved burying a pot in the ground. Such an empty pot may then receive a pot of the same size in which a plant is disposed. (Generally, such plastic pots used for growing plants are designed to nest, one within the other.) This overcomes many of the problems associated with potted plants, but there are some disadvantages with such a system. In particular, a worker or other person may step into one of the holes if the actual potted plant is removed from the pot which is within the ground. Further, if one wishes to change the spacing in between plants, it may require some time to dig out and move the pots which were within the ground. Additionally, this technique is labor intensive and may require elaborate drainage.
A further arrangement uses a hat-shaped container made of plastic with a hole in the top to hold a container above the ground. The rim of the container sits along the edge of the hole within the top. The hat-shaped container has an open bottom and simply acts as a base to provide a greater width at the bottom of the plant pot. In other words, the plant pot fits within the hat-shaped container or box and the box has an outwardly-extending flange at its base to effectively increase the width of the base. This may somewhat reduce the chances of blow-over, but does not, in and of itself, appear to remedy the problems from temperature extremes and from the annual requirement for manually spacing the potted plants.
Among other disadvantages of many previous systems which have been developed to try to minimize the problems with potted plants are high freight costs. example, the technique described above wherein a concrete ring or loop is placed around the plants either has to be shipped to a particular nursery operation at high expense or the nursery operation must buy a mold and make their own concrete loops on site. Since shipping costs will depend upon the volume as well as the weight of any product which is shipped, techniques which require the use of components taking relatively large amounts of volume are disadvantageous.