The stroller includes a frame inclined downward and forward, the frame having left and right side frame members joined by a handle at their upper rear ends. A single front wheel is mounted on an axle at the lower front end of the frame. Left and right swing arms extend downward and rearward from pivotal attachments on the left and right side frame members, respectively. Left and right rear wheels are mounted on axles at the lower ends of the swing arms. There is no rigid connection or horizontal member between the front and rear axles, thereby permitting the stroller to clear higher curbs or carry cargo that extends into the space between the front and rear axles, while also reducing the weight of the stroller. On each side of the stroller a resilient member is detachably connected between the swing arm and a point on the side frame member above and to the rear of the point at which the swing arm is attached. The resilient members yieldingly oppose pivotal motion of the swing arm in both rotational senses from an equilibrium position. Disconnection of the resilient members permits the swing arms to be pivoted forward for storage or transportation with the rear wheels much closer to the front wheel.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is in the field of baby strollers, and particularly relates to a three-wheeled baby stroller that can be folded to a more compact configuration for storage or transportation. The suspension system and the structure of the frame are believed to be novel.
2. The Prior Art
A search of the patent literature revealed that a number of inventors have designed collapsible baby strollers, and some of the most noteworthy designs will now be briefly discussed.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,536,033 issued Jul. 16, 1996 to Hinkston, there is described a three-wheeled jogging stroller with demountable wheels. The center of gravity of the cargo is located approximately vertically above the rear axle and is supported above the axle by vertically-extending struts. The front and rear axles are connected by rigid frame members.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,364,119 issued Nov. 15, 1994, Leu describes a stroller that differs from that of Hinkston notably in the addition of a compression spring in each of the vertically-extending struts.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,299,825 issued Apr. 5, 1994 to Smith there is described a collapsible stroller in which rear stub axles are eccentrically mounted to the frame, and a spring that extends into the space between the front and rear wheels opposes eccentric motion of the rear axles. A similar suspension system is shown in British Patent No. 592,772 issued Sep. 29, 1947 to Hudlass.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,188,389 issued Feb. 23, 1993, Baechler et al. describe a foldable baby stroller in which the front and rear axles are connected by rigid structural members and in which upright support tubes are pivotally connected to the upper frame. There are no resilient members in the suspension system. This stroller is substantially similar to that shown in U.S. Pat. No. Des. 370,194 issued May 28, 1996 to Baechler et al.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,653,681 issued Apr. 4, 1972 to Virtue there is shown a baby stroller in which the wheels are mounted at the lower ends of pivoted inclined cross-arms and the upper ends of the cross-arms are connected by a horizontal resilient element.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,012,796 issued Dec. 12, 1961, Mieding shows a bicycle trailer having two front wheels and one rear wheel. The front axle is mounted on the lower ends of swing arms that are pivotally mounted to the sides of the trailer. Horizontal springs extend rearwardly from the front axle through the space between the front and rear wheels to brackets that are affixed to the bottom of the trailer.
In U.S. Pat. No. 2,492,676, Zajicek shows a collapsible hamper cart in which a spring connects the front and rear axles.
As will be described more fully below, the stroller of the present invention differs significantly from the strollers of the above patents in its suspension system, its structure, and its manner of folding up.


A surface mountable piezoelectric device that includes an in situ finish plate mask is mounted on a substrate (20) that includes feedthrough holes (26, 28, and 30) to conduct signals from a piezoelectric element (40) that may include multiple resonator stages (48, 46, 50, and 56). A metallic support structure that includes windows or holes therethrough (72, 74 and 76) permits tuning of the piezoelectric device by mass loading during manufacturing, compliantly supports the piezoelectric element (40), provides RF shielding for the resonators, and is an in situ finish plate mask.

Piezoelectric devices generally include at least quartz resonators and quartz filters. Both of these types of devices are typically constructed using a thin plate of piezoelectric quartz material. This thin plate is usually cut from a larger piece of quartz with a certain angular orientation of the cut with respect to the crystalline lattice structure of the quartz to produce a plate that will vibrate in some predetermined desired mode. (So-called GT-cut crystals for instance vibrate in a so-called face-shear mode, which is a vibration mode that has a non-vibrating nodal area at the center of the plate.)
The thin plate of piezoelectric quartz has opposing surfaces to which are bonded electrically conductive materials and upon which an electric signal is impressed that causes the quartz plate to vibrate. At one or more particular frequencies, the input impedance of a quartz resonator, or filter, (as seen looking into the electrodes) is minimized and this frequency (or frequencies) is the resonant frequency of the resonator or filter.
In many respects, a quartz filter or resonator are mechanical devices in that electrical signals coupled to a pair of input electrodes coupled to the quartz plate induce mechanical vibrations in the plate. In a quartz filter, the vibrations induced in the crystal from an input signal are transmitted through the crystalline structure of the quartz to an output resonator stage, which is also comprised of output electrodes bonded to the surface of the piezoelectric plate, whereat the mechanical vibrations induce electrical signals on the output electrodes. Most crystal filters permit only a relatively narrow band of frequency signals on the input electrodes to pass through the crystal to the output electrodes and as such, a quartz filter acts like virtually any other electrical filter constructed from passive circuit elements such as resistors, inductors, and capacitors except that a quartz filter is constructed from a thin plate of dielectric material.
A quartz resonator, like a quartz filter, is also a mechanical device in that electrical signals coupled to a pair of input electrodes coupled to the quartz plate induce mechanical vibrations in the plate. As in a quartz filter, physical characteristics of the quartz plate, such as its thickness, length, width, temperature, cut orientation, etc., will effect a relatively low input impedance to a driving signal source at the resonant frequency of the plate. (The resonant frequency of the plate is a frequency at which the plate most naturally vibrates. A quartz plate might have several different resonant frequencies including overtones, harmonics.) Because the crystal presents a high impedance away from a resonant frequency, a quartz resonator can be used to control an oscillator circuit.
In fabricating a piezoelectric resonator or a piezoelectric filter, the frequencies of its operation can be affected by many factors including the thickness of the quartz, the orientation of the crystal lattice structure of the quartz with respect to the directions in which it is cut and the dimensions of the electrodes bonded to the surfaces of the quartz material. The resonant frequency can be changed by changing the mass loading on the piezoelectric quartz, which can be accomplished by either decreasing or increasing the thickness of the electrodes. In a quartz filter, characteristics such as the bandwidth, Q, and so forth, can also be adjusted by changing the mass loading of the electrodes on the surfaces of the piezoelectric quartz.
Prior art methods of tuning a piezoelectric device, such as a resonator or filter, generally use a vacuum deposition process in which atoms of electrode material are added to the electrodes while the electrical characteristics of the device are monitored. Material is typically added to the electrodes using a vacuum deposition chamber and a so called finish plate mask, which is simply a template or mask having openings or windows aligned with and placed over the electroded areas of the quartz. The mask is usually physically separated from the quartz by some distance away from the surface of the quartz. Atoms that pass through the windows in the mask during the tuning process attach themselves to the surfaces of the electrodes on the quartz to increase the thickness of the electrodes and increase the mass loading of the electrodes on the quartz, decreasing the resonant frequency of the plate/electrode combination.
Alternate methods of tuning a piezoelectric device might remove material from electroded areas, reducing mass loading and increasing resonant frequencies. For a variety of reasons, adding material to electrodes is preferred over removing material, one reason being the difficulty in uniformly removing material from an existing, planar electrode compared with the relative ease of uniformly adding material using vapor deposition techniques.
A problem with prior art tuning methods that add material using a finish plate mask is that the physical registration, or alignment, between the finish plate mask and the electrodes on the surfaces of the piezoelectric plate must be carefully controlled. Any misalignment between the windows or openings in the finish plate mask with respect to the electrodes, can cause a widening or a shifting of the area of the electrode effecting other electrical characteristics of the device.
Even after a piezoelectric device is tuned using the prior art method of using a finish plate mask, a second problem with the prior art piezoelectric devices is the subsequent fixturing or attachment of the tuned piezoelectric device to a substrate by which it might be mounted to a circuit board. Much effort has been spent attempting to miniaturize electrical components using so called surface mount techniques. Mounting a tuned piezoelectric device to a substrate or carrier that is suitable for surface mount manufacturing presents a significant problem because of the physical dimensions of quartz devices, particularly those with resonant frequencies in the megahertz frequencies.
A third problem with prior art piezoelectric devices is that the quartz material comprising a piezoelectric device must be compliantly mounted to its substrate so that mechanical stresses on the quartz, from either thermal effects or mechanical shock, are minimized. Rigidly attaching a piezoelectric device to any type of substrate invites mechanical stresses in the piezoelectric as its temperature changes. Mechanical vibrations, including mechanical shock can also be transmitted into the quartz plate if it is not properly mounted. Mechanical stresses can affect the resonant frequency or the frequency of operation significantly and many techniques for compliantly mounting a piezoelectric have been suggested.
Yet another problem with prior art piezoelectric devices is electromagnetic shielding some of these devices might require. Strong electromagnetic fields can also adversely affect the operation of a piezoelectric device. Since these devices may require shielding from electromagnetic fields, providing such shielding frequently requires their enclosure into a volume enclosed by metallic or conductive material.
A device that accommodates all of these prior art difficulties, including the compliant mounting of the quartz, precise alignment of a finish plate mask during manufacturing but yet one that preferably does not have to be removed after adjustment, surface mounting of the finished device on to a substrate, and the RF shielding, while providing a signal path to the device, would be an improvement over the prior art.

Surface mountable piezoelectric device using a metallic support structure with in situ finish plate mask


A projector lamp electronic test circuit is provided. The test circuit includes an electrical connector configured to be operatively coupled to a lamp of a projection unit under test, a converter configured to receive a test charge to be sent to the lamp from an alternating current power source, the converter configured to convert the test charge from alternating current to direct current, and an autotransformer operatively coupled to the converter, the autotransformer configured to regulate a voltage of the test charge, the voltage being suitably high enough to cause failure of the lamp.

A projection lamp for a projection device may be tested to evaluate the operational robustness of the projection lamp under various operating conditions and over various operational lifecycles. In particular, a projection lamp may be tested to determine operational failure thresholds and to observe the results of operational failure of the projection lamp. In one example, a projection lamp test may include deliberately causing a projection lamp to fail, and more particularly to cause the projection lamp to rupture in order to observe and assess the results of the projection lamp rupture, namely, the amount and rate of dispersion of projection lamp particles.
In one example, a projection lamp failure test technique may include forcefully applying a mechanical rod to the projection lamp to cause the projection lamp to rupture. As another example, the projection lamp may be cooled to a temperature that causes the projection lamp to fail.
However, these test techniques may require application of mechanical components that may not exist or occur in actual operation of the projection lamp and thus may not provide an accurate failure analysis. Furthermore, the testing techniques may be imprecise. For example, the mechanical rod may be applied to different regions of the lamp during each test. Further, temperature applied during testing may vary and may affect other operating conditions which may skew testing.


A substrate treating apparatus is provided. The substrate treating apparatus includes a loading/unloading unit, a process unit in which a substrate treating process is performed, a loadlock unit disposed between the loading/unloading unit and the process unit, and a carrying member transferring a substrate between the process unit and the loadlock unit. Herein, the carrying member is provided in the process unit and the loadlock unit, and the loading/unloading unit, the loadlock unit, and the process unit are sequentially disposed.

The present invention disclosed herein relates to a substrate treating apparatus and a substrate treating method, and more particularly, to a substrate treating apparatus depositing a thin film on a substrate by using plasma, and a substrate treating method using the same.
Solar cells are used to convert solar energy into electric energy by using semiconductors. Solar cells can be classified into: single crystalline silicon solar cells, polycrystalline solar cells, thin-film solar cells, etc.
Thin-film solar cells are manufactured by depositing p-, n-films on a transparent glass or plastic substrate, and crystalline solar cells are manufactured by depositing an anti-reflection film on a silicon substrate. Such films may be deposited on a substrate through a plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) process.

Substrate treating apparatus and substrate treating method


The timing between automatic, non-user-initiated pollings of a server to download data from the server is changed. In one embodiment, user input in relation to polling the server to download data from the server is detected. In response, the timing between automatic, non-user-initiated pollings of the server is changed based at least on the user input detected. In another embodiment, the amount of data downloaded from the server at each polling is tracked. The timing between pollings of the server is thus changed based on the amount of data downloaded from the server during the pollings of the server. The server may be an email server, such that the data downloaded therefrom includes email messages.

In many networked computing environments, client computing devices routinely poll server computing devices to download data from the server devices. For example, electronic mail ("email") for a number of clients is typically stored on an email server. A given client periodically polls the email server to determine if there are any new email messages to download. If there are, then the client downloads the email messages from the email server.
Polling of the email server can be initiated by the client in at least two ways. First, an application program on the client will usually have a way for the user to manually initiate polling of the email server. For example, there may be a "send/receive email" command or button that when selected by the user, causes the client to poll the email server to determine whether there are any new email messages to be downloaded, and if so, to download the new messages.
Second, the client typically will automatically periodically poll the email server without user initiation, especially where an email application program is actively running on the client. The user may be able to specify how frequently to poll the email server, but otherwise does not control the polling process. For example, the user may indicate that the email server should be polled every ten minutes. Therefore, every ten minutes the client polls the email server automatically, without user intervention, to download any new email messages from the email server.
The number of email messages to be downloaded from the email server can vary over time. For instance, one week the user may not receive many email messages at all, such that polling the server every ten minutes is too frequent. Another week the user may receive many email messages, such that polling the server every ten minutes is not frequent enough to timely download received email messages. Thus, the static timing between automatic, non-user-initiated pollings of the email server is less than ideal in typical usage scenarios.
Furthermore, at other times, the user may be expecting an important email message. In such cases, the automatic polling of the email server every ten minutes may be too infrequent, such that the user instead manually initiates polling frequently to learn whether the expected email message has arrived yet. The user having to manually initiate polling frequently, however, can be inconvenient. For these and other reasons, therefore, there is a need for the present invention.

Adjusting timing between automatic, non-user-initiated pollings of server to download data therefrom

International Business Machines Corporation


A screening method is described for selecting patient-specific anti-cancer agents reflecting individual genetic properties, in a precise and rapid manner, using an extremely small amount of cancer cells. Such screening method is useful for development of novel anti-cancer agents and the personalized medical field.

Cancer is a term commonly known as a disease occurring due to indiscreet proliferation of cells and due to damage to the mechanism of regulating cell proliferation. In accordance with data released by World Health Organization (WHO) in February, 2012, the number of deaths due to cancer throughout the world in 2008 was about 7.6 million people accounting for 13% of mortality over the world and, and five cancers such as lung cancer, stomach cancer, liver cancer, colon cancer and breast cancer account for about 50% of the entire death rate of cancer. In addition, it was shown that 12.7 million new cancer patients were diagnosed during 2008, and among them, about 70% occurred in underdeveloped/developing countries such as China, South America, Africa, and the like. The occurrence rate of new cancer patients has steadily increased, such that it is expected to reach 22 million cancer patients in 2030.
In particular, the occurrence rate of cancer patients in Asia has rapidly increased from obesity due to westernized diet, an increase in intake of red meat and alcohol, and the like. It is expected that the occurrence rate of cancer patients per 100,000 people will rapidly increase from 122 people in 2005 to 163 people in 2030 by 45% or more, which is about 7.34 million people when converting the rate into the number of patients.
Cancer is a disease currently ranking No. 1 for the cause of death in Korea and the number of new cancer patients for 1 year in 2009 according to data released by Statistics Korea on Dec. 30, 2011 was 192,561 (male: 99,224, female: 93,337), which had increased by 6.7% as compared to 180,465 in 2008 and by 90.6% as compared to 101,032 in 1999. For people in Korea, surviving to the age of 81, which is an average life span of people in Korea, the probability of suffering from cancers is 36.2%, and cancer has progressed in one of three patients (2 out of 5 male, and 1 out of 3 female). It was found that the total number of people with cancer surviving until the end of 2009 was 808,503, and the number of people overcoming cancer or living with cancer was 8 hundred thousand.
In accordance with Global Cancer Facts & Figures, 2nd Edition published by American Cancer Society in 2011, the cost for prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of cancer all over the world was estimated to be about 895 billion US dollars (985 trillion won in Korean money). It was investigated that cost incurred in relation with cancer in the US in 2010 was about 263.8 billion US dollars (290 trillion won in Korean money), the direct medical cost was 102.0 billion US dollars (112 trillion won in Korean money), the loss due to disease was 20.9 billion US dollars (23 trillion won in Korean money), and the economical loss due to premature death was 140.1 billion US dollars (154 trillion won in Korean money).
In accordance with cancer registry statistics released by the National Cancer Center in December, 2011, in Korea, it was estimated that the cost associated with cancer was: liver cancer (mean cost: 66.22 million won), lung cancer (46.47 million won), gastric cancer (26.85 million won) and colorectal cancer (23.52 million won).
A main reason that a normal cell is changed into a cancer cell is due to the abnormality of a gene, wherein the abnormality is caused by genetic factors inherited from parents; however, there are many cases where the abnormality is developed by acquired factors such as carcinogens, smoking, diet, virus infection, and the like. As a result, personal deviation in view of the reaction to chemotherapy after surgical procedure and the recurrence of cancer is largely shown. That is, since cancer is developed by reflecting genetic and environmental factors, cancer has patient-specific properties, and a degree of sensitivity to a specific drug also differs with each patient.
Hierarchial model, which is the latest theory with respect to cells configuring cancer tissue, asserts that a few tumor stem cells are present in tumor tissue and more differentiated cells without self reproduction ability are produced while maintaining a few tumor stem cells (E Passegue C. H. et al., Proc Natl Acad Sci USA, 30; 100 Suppl 1:11842-11849, 2003). Therefore, since a few tumor stem cells capable of inducing cancer and most of the differentiated cells losing cancer inducing ability are mixed, the tumor stem cell has drug resistance with respect to the conventional anti-cancer agents developed by having tumor cells occupying the majority in the cancer tissue as a target. As long as the tumor stem cell is present, the tumor may recur at any time, which is a key point of the tumor stem cell theory.
A theory of tumor stem cell was established by confirming the presence of the tumor stem cell in hematologic malignancy inducing leukemia for the first time in 1997 (Bonnet D. et al., Nat Med., 3(7):730-737, 1997). That is, it was confirmed that when cells determined as a cancer stem cell in an acute myeloid leukemia are extracted and transplanted into an immunosuppressive rat, human-derived leukemia is developed in a rat even with a small amount of cells. Then, evidence that tumor stem cells are present even in solid tumor cancers in breast cancer, colon cancer, prostate cancer, melanoma were suggested (Singh S. K. et al., Nature, 18; 432(7015):396-401, 2004).
The tumor stem cell has similar properties as a stem cell, for example, in the case of the acute myeloid leukemia, wherein cells having CD34+CD38-phenotype of hematopoietic stem cells have properties of the tumor stem cell (Bonnet D. et al., Nat Med., 3(7):730-737, 1997). In addition, brain tumor stem cells and normal nerve cells commonly express CD133, wherein CD133+ brain cancer cells even with 100 or less of a small amount thereof forms a tumor in the cranial cavity of a rat (Singh S. K. et al., Nature, 18; 432(7015):396-401, 2004; Kondo T. et al, Proc Natl Acad Sci USA, 20; 101(3):781-786, 2004). As another example of properties similar to stem cell, it is known that the brain tumor cell forms a sphere under specific conditions, like a nerve stem cell (Sanai N. et al., N Engl J Med., 353: 811-822, 2005). In addition, when serum is added to the brain tumor stem cell, the brain tumor stem cell may be similarly differentiated to the nerve stem cell (Rao J. S., Nat Rev Cancer, 3:489-501, 2003).
Meanwhile, in the case where expected effectiveness of an anti-cancer agent known to have excellent effects is not shown due to patient-specificity of cancer, trial and error for an appropriate treatment is inevitable, and risk and burdens of patients are increased. Thus, when a trial for reflecting personal characteristics in development and screening of an anti-cancer agent has been actively conducted, and it has been verified through various clinical tests that in the case where a customized targeted treatment having a target as a specific patient group is performed, treatment reaction of the patient is better than that of the existing standard anti-cancer treatment (Alterovitz G. et al., Oral Oncol., 47(10):951-5, 2011; Arnedos M. et al., Mol Oncol., 6(2):204-10, 2012; Black A. and Morris D., Curr Oncol., 19(Suppl 1):S73-85, 2012).
The beginning of the existing systematic drug screening method included injection of a mouse leukemia cell into an abdominal cavity and analysis of treatment effect of the drug at National Cancer Institute (NCI) in 1955 and establishment of a human cancer cell line xenograft transplantation model using immunodeficiency mouse established in the 1970s enables screening of main solid carcinoma (Hausser H. J. et al., Biochem Biophys Res Commun., 333:216-2, 2005). In 1989, NCI converted the basis of the screening strategy from a compound to a disease and then introduced an NCI-60 cell line panel consisting of human cancer cell lines having various histological and genetic properties, wherein in a retrospective analysis with respect to 39 drugs achieving up to clinical phase 2, in the case where over ⅓ of subcutaneous xenograft transplantation models show efficacy, it was reported that there is a significant relationship with a treatment reactivity in an actual patient (De Wever O. et al., J Pathol., 200:429-47, 2003).
However, since the above-described existing drug development system performs a drug screening based on a single cell line cultured in vitro for a long time, there are many cases where an efficacy of a developed drug is different from that in the actual clinical test. It is general that a proliferation assay constructing an anti-cancer agent screening is useful for evaluating an efficacy to an abnormal proliferation ability of a cancer cell; however, such has a limitation in reflecting sensitivity to the drug according to gene information. In particular, since a high throughput anti-cancer agent screening system constructed up to now demands an adherent culture of a cell onto an artifact surface, there is high probability of bringing genotypic and phenotypic changes and it is difficult to represent in an in vivo environment (US Patent Application Publication No. 2012-0077698). In order to overcome the above-described recent limitation, an effort to apply a three-dimensional culture to the high throughput screening system has been conducted; however, there are problems in that many cells are demanded for an analysis, and determination depends on a subjective determination of an inspector. In addition, in the case where the three-dimensional culture is a floating culture, since a focal distance for each area is different from each other, there are limitations in view of time and physical aspect in that each image should be taken from several thousands of wells for an automatic analysis (US Patent Application Publication No. 2009-0221441). Therefore, in order to precisely and rapidly conduct a screening method of anti-cancer materials with respect to various conditions, research into a technology of an automatic analysis method satisfying an environment capable of maximally maintaining properties of cancer cells, a demand on small number of cells, and an objective analysis is required.
Meanwhile, the genetically modified model and the xenograft transplantation model based on cancer cell lines among animal models easily cause a change in the cell lines, such that there are many cases of losing original properties as the cancer cell. In securing a required number of cell lines, the cell lines go through a long-time selection process under in vitro conditions. It was known that the above-described models are homogeneous and undifferentiated as compared to a tissue derived from an actual cancer patient (Hausser H. J. et al., Biochem Biophys Res Commun., 333:216-2, 2005). In addition, since human-derived stromal cells and immune cells configuring a microenvironment around cancer which is important for growth and metastasis of cancer are absent, original biological and molecular properties of a patient carcinoma are not reproduced any more (De Wever O. et al., J Pathol., 200:429-47, 2003).
As a useful method for overcoming the problem, patient-derived tumografts in which surgically removed patient-derived tumor tissue is directly transplanted into an immunodeficiency mouse was suggested (Rubio-Viqueira B. and Hidalgo M., Clin Pharmacol Ther., 85:217-21, 2009; Fichtner I et al., Eur J Cancer., 40:298-307, 2004). Since both of the cancer tissue and the stromal cell of microenvironment around cancer are derived from the same patient, the patient-derived tumorgrafts are evaluated as being that transplantation success, growth of cancer tissue, and reaction to drug are most similarly reproduced. However, about 90% of anti-cancer agents showing a remarkable anti-cancer effect in a preclinical model and entering a clinical test are not capable of reproducing effects in actual patients up to the present.
Therefore, in order to develop a screening method for effectively selecting an optimal anti-cancer agent and an optimal combination of anti-cancer agents with respect to an individual patient, a technology capable of reflecting gene information of a patient, mimicking an environment in a human body, and efficiently analyzing a large amount of samples is needed.
Accordingly, the present inventors made an effort to solve the problems of the related art as described above. As a result, the present inventors confirmed that in the case where a patient-derived cancer cell is subjected to a screening method including three-dimensional culture using a limiting dilution assay, patient-specific anti-cancer agents are capable of being efficiently selected by using an extremely small amount of cells as compared to the existing screening methods, thereby completing the present invention.

Method for screening patient-specific anti-cancer agent using limiting dilution assay


In an environmentally hardened network, a data and power distribution cable is employed in connection with reliable end connectors, high performance physical layer transceivers clocked at a lower rate than is specified and full duplex switched packet transmission techniques between switched nodes in order to extend operational distance between network elements. In a specific embodiment, the data and power distribution cable comprises a data distribution element, a power distribution element, an optional strain distribution element, an optional hollow conduit, and an extra shield and outdoor sheath. The cable may incorporate: 1) a Gel filled outdoor UTP (CAT-5) cable; 2) end connectors of type DB-9 [D-Sub] for connection of the UTP to network equipment; 3) power transmission cable of wire gauge sufficient to carry the power required by network equipment (switches, etc) for the specific segment of the network; and optionally 4) a hollow conduit that permits installation of optical fiber before or after installation of the cable.

The present invention relates to an environmentally hardened ETHERNET-type network, herein called a Neighborhood Area Network (NAN). More particularly the invention relates to apparatus and methods for power distribution while improving reliability and extending maximum usable distance between active elements in an environmentally harsh practical NAN.
A NAN differs from a Local Area Network (LAN) in several ways: 1) a NAN deploys environmentally hardened cable and connector technology in addition to aerial and underground buried enclosures, techniques and technology; 2) a NAN provides a self-sufficient power distribution system integrated with an environmentally hardened data distribution system to power environmentally hardened repeaters, hubs and switches; and 3) network active elements are employed which are configured to increase the average distance between the active elements.

Method and apparatus for an environmentally hardened ethernet network system


A system including a flotation mechanism incorporated into a chassis or framework constituent of a vehicle, the flotation mechanism is operable for protecting a vehicle from losses in cases of vehicle drowning accidents; an airbag implement for keeping the vehicle afloat or above water; a cylinder implement for housing the airbag implement, wherein the cylinder implement having two half cylinders that is configured to swing open when activated; a hinge implement including a continuous hinge that is configured to hold the two half cylinders together and allow the two half cylinders to swing open; and a sensor implement for detecting a presence of water or liquid flooding a vehicle, wherein the sensor implement is further configured to send an emergency signal the flotation mechanism, for the flotation mechanism to deploy the airbag implement.

One or more embodiments of the invention generally relate to floating devices. More particularly, certain embodiments of the invention relate to systems and methods for generally protecting vehicles from losses in cases of flood and prevent loss of life in cases of vehicle drowning accidents.
The following background information may present examples of specific aspects of the prior art (e.g., without limitation, approaches, facts, or common wisdom) that, while expected to be helpful to further educate the reader as to additional aspects of the prior art, is not to be construed as limiting the present invention, or any embodiments thereof, to anything stated or implied therein or inferred thereupon. Very little is known about drowning deaths that occur as a result of motor vehicle traffic accidents. The primary data source for this analysis is the linked Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS)—Multiple Cause of Death (MCoD) file that is produced by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration 's (NHTSA) National Center for Statistics and Analysis (NCSA) in collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). The years used for the analysis start with 2004 and end with 2007. From 2004 through 2007, there was an annual average of 384 traffic fatalities in FARS where accidental drowning was listed as one of the causes of death. Note, however, that this number may be slightly lower than the national total because of missing MCoD data from two States (Hawaii and Wisconsin). Also a few fatalities from December 2007 crashes may not have matching mortality data because the death occurred in January 2008. Drowning fatalities are more common in some States than in others. The top five States, which are all large coastal States, accounted for slightly more than half of the total drowning deaths in the 48 States and D.C. The occupants' motor vehicles included a wide range of body types from passenger cars and pickups to motorcycles. However, the passenger vehicle category, accounted for 94 percent of the drowning fatalities from 2004 through 2007.
The following is an example of a specific aspect in the prior art that, while expected to be helpful to further educate the reader as to additional aspects of the prior art, is not to be construed as limiting the present invention, or any embodiments thereof, to anything stated or implied therein or inferred thereupon. By way of educational background, another aspect of the prior art generally useful to be aware of is that flotation devices which may provide buoyant assistance to a person immersed in water in maintaining a portion of their body above a water's surface long have been known in the art. Such devices have been used for safety and rescue purposes as well as for recreation and amusement. These devices have taken various forms including life vests, water wings, small rafts, and toroidally shaped life preservers. An exemplary form of such a device is a water toy including a tube or noodle. This device is puncture resistant and may be used as floating toy. The tube or noodle has also been used in conjunction with other parts such as mesh or cloth pieces to form inexpensive water loungers, rafts and chairs. Another flotation device used in swimming pools and other swimming areas is a pool noodle having an elongated member formed of flexible Styrofoam and other closed cell foam material. These pool noodles are typically five to six feet in length having a diameter of approximately three to six inches and are quite enjoyable for swimming pool play and simply floating relaxation in water. Another exemplary form of such a device, used primarily for recreational purposes, is an elongate noodle-type device with free ends formed of soft, deformable, buoyant, plastic, and/or closed-cell foam material. These devices may be placed between the legs, or across the chest and under the arms, or across the back and under the arms by a user to provide buoyant support and assistance. Although pool noodles are bendable from a relaxed straight configuration with some stiffness with respect to the foam construction material itself, these swimming pool play and flotation devices require some continuing effort to maintain them in a curved, behind the neck or under the torso in-use position which may be uncomfortable and tiring. When used for recreation and amusement, these noodle-type personal flotation devices of the prior art are passive, generally offering only a buoyant force for flotation assistance and playful resistance.
In view of the foregoing, it is clear that these traditional techniques are not perfect and leave room for more optimal approaches.
Unless otherwise indicated illustrations in the figures are not necessarily drawn to scale.


An assembly comprising an enclosure having a distal end wall and a proximal end wall connected to a pair of sidewalls such that the enclosure walls connect the bottom surface to a top surface having a user interface to define an enclosure interior. The compartment is positioned in the enclosure interior. A cover is included for coupling to the compartment situated in an opening in the bottom surface at a proximal end of the enclosure, such that the cover is configured for grasping by a user with at least one finger. The cover housing includes a cover surface, a pair of cover sidewalls, a proximal cover end wall and a distal cover end wall such that the cover walls extend from the cover surface to define a cover interior. The cover housing also has a mating surface at a base of the cover housing and defined by said walls, such that the mating surface is configured to mate with the bottom surface of the enclosure. When assembled the pair of cover side walls extend outwardly from the back surface and each of the pair of cover sidewalls is inset as spaced apart from the corresponding side wall of the pair of sidewalls of the enclosure. Further, the distal cover end wall extends outwardly from the back surface and is adapted to be spaced apart from the corresponding distal end wall.

It is generally known to provide a handle for scanning device such as a portable scanner for logistics environments. However, such known handles are typically either molded as an integral portion of the housing of the scanning device, or are connected to the housing using fasteners and corresponding tools. However, current scanning devices may have bulky handles that are not desirable for use in all field situations.
Further, current scanners can have bulky compartment covers, such as for battery compartments, which are not ergonomically designed and may cause discomfort to the user of the scanning device. It is also recognised that current scanning devices may be difficult to hold and operate with one hand (by the user) without having to resort to use of a handle grip that may or may not have enough room for mounting on the bottom surface of the scanning device.

Cover for a portable device having grip portions


A method and apparatus for automatic provisioning steps using a physical computing block-based infrastructure platform and a virtualized environment is discussed to provide automatic elasticity. Running applications may be monitoring for increased workload, which may trigger a proactive and/or reactive response. The triggered proactive or reactive response includes executing a remediation action upon workloads exceeding set thresholds, as set by a pre-determined monitoring policy. The remediation actions may include the provisioning of additional virtual or physical computing resources to reduce the workload below the set threshold.

1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to a method for allocating computer resources for executing a virtualized environment.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, in a virtualized computer environment, virtual machines are configured to run on one or more host computers. Each virtual machine uses CPU and memory resources of one of the host computers and runs its own operating system and application programs to give the appearance that it is operating as a stand-alone computer system. The amount of CPU and memory resources for each of the virtual machines on a host computer can be designated manually by an administrator of the virtualized computer environment or automatically according to resource policies set by the administrator. In some virtualized computer environments, load balancing is enforced across multiple host computers by software that monitors resource usage on different host computers and migrates one or more virtual machines from one host computer to another, e.g., from a busy host computer to one that has excess capacity.
Additionally, enterprises engaged in developing, testing, and deploying their applications must find a way to deal with many layers of the targeted platform. These layers include application services, virtualization, and hardware infrastructure with compute, network, storage, and management at all levels. Information technology (IT) and engineering groups must also focus their energy on acquiring, deploying, and providing ongoing management, as well as making sure all the layers work seamlessly together. This situation increases an enterprise's initial and ongoing cost, extends the development cycle, and reduces flexibility needed to respond to changes in the market.
Further, the traditional enterprise information technology (IT) roles such as server administrator, UNIX administrator, and network, storage or exchange administrator, have been generally static. The roles operate in isolation, or in "silos", which causes friction within IT organizations, as well as between developers and IT. Further, it has been difficult for developers to play the role of IT administrator when their developed applications were deployed as "cloud" applications. This difficulty has been due not only to various access-controls, authentication and authorization complexities, but also to a model of organizational separation between developers and IT, where the default behavior is to "deny access".
Enterprises face several challenges when developing applications for the cloud. Software is increasingly being offered as a service and deployed through the cloud. A new breed of software, referred to as "Web-apps" is being developed by many organizations. Web-apps have an unpredictable traffic workload. Enterprise Software is increasingly developed using languages such as Java and Ruby/Rails and developer frameworks such as Spring. Development cycles are shrinking and products are frequently being deployed on "clouds". Consequently, application owners and software developers must ensure that the new features that they develop are rapidly taken through the dev-build-test-stage-deploy cycle. Finally, traditional IT roles are being turned on their heads when enterprises adopt cloud computing and move to delivery of applications via the software-as-a-service model (SAAS) on a public cloud or private cloud deployment environment
As such, there is a demand for a more efficient operational model for accelerated delivery of new IT high-value services.

Automatic monitoring and just-in-time resource provisioning system


A method and system for collecting and containing leachate from a landfill uses a submerged drainage sink to develop a flow pattern towards the drainage sink contained within a containment zone, and therefore minimizes the chance of contaminating area groundwater. In a first embodiment of the invention for use in a substantially flat area, a perimeter barrier wall is provided and extends downward into a bottom barrier layer, such as an aquitard, a clay layer, or a synthetic material. The barrier wall and the bottom barrier layer define a containment zone containing the drainage sink, which is disposed below the groundwater level. Leachate and groundwater are permitted to mix within the sink. The desired flow pattern towards the drainage sink is induced by collecting and removing the leachate/groundwater mixture from the drainage sink to lower the leachate level in the drainage sink to a level which is below the groundwater level outside of the wall and below the piezometric level below the sink. Although the sink is submerged, substantially all of the waste is placed above the groundwater level by covering the sink with a layer of earthen material to a level such that the top of the earthen material is above the groundwater level and placing the waste on top of the earthen material. In another embodiment for use at a valley fill site, groundwater ridges, an upward flow pattern beneath the valley floor, and a barrier wall crossing the valley floor along the lowest edge of the landfill form a containment zone to contain a drainage sink comprising a blanket drain and a plurality of trench drains. In this embodiment, recharge trenches are used outside of the barrier wall and along or inside the groundwater ridges to maintain the groundwater levels at these points above the corresponding groundwater levels inside the containment zone.

Landfills generate leachate due to liquids present in the wastes and rainwater percolating into the waste. Unless properly contained, leachate contaminates groundwater under the landfill, and the contaminated groundwater flows farther and contaminates larger downgradient areas. Most landfills of earlier days did not have a proper leachate containment feature and contaminated groundwater. Since the late 1970s, federal and state regulations required landfills to have a bottom liner to minimize leachate releases. The bottom liner is an impermeable or low permeability material covering the entire bottom area of the landfill. For proper leachate containment, the leachate accumulating on the bottom liner should be removed. Therefore, the bottom liner almost always includes a leachate recovery feature. With time, the regulations became tighter and required multiple layers of liners and leachate recovery features. A typical bottom liner system required for modern landfills is shown in FIG. 1 and consists of the following components below a waste layer 50:
Soil layer 51--This is a cushion layer protecting the bottom liner components below from earthwork equipment during waste placement. PA1 Geotextile layer 52--Geotextile is a textile made of synthetic polymer fibers and used for construction applications. Geotextile layer 52 used here separates the overlying soil layer and underlying sand layer while allowing liquid to flow through. PA1 First Sand/Pipe layer 53--This layer is designed to remove leachate accumulating on the first layer of Flexible Membrane Liner (FML) 54. Therefore, this layer is called LCRS (Leachate Collection and Recovery System) and consists of permeable materials and drain pipes. PA1 First FML layer 54--This is the first layer of FML. FML is a polymeric membrane sheet and almost impermeable, forming a good barrier to liquid flow. The use of an FML layer for liquid containment is very common. PA1 Second Sand/Pipe layer 55--This layer is designed to remove leachate leaking through first FML layer 54 and then accumulating on second FML layer 56. This layer is called LDRS (Leachate Detection and Recovery System) and is very similar to LCRS. PA1 Second FML layer 56--This is the second FML barrier designed to contain liquid leaking through first FML layer 54. PA1 Clay layer 57--This layer is the third barrier designed to reduce leachate leakage through second FML layer 56. An FML layer and a clay layer joined together as shown in FIG. 1 are often called a composite liner. PA1 Barrier walls--Barrier walls are any of low-permeability, vertical walls installed to cut off horizontal flow of contaminated groundwater. Types of barrier walls include soil-bentonite trench walls, vibrated-beam walls, sheetpile walls, and membrane walls. They have been used to contain contaminated groundwater from old waste sites or spill sites. Barrier walls are often used with a trench drain or a series of wells designed to recover contaminated groundwater from the area enclosed by the barrier wall. PA1 Underdrain--Underdrains are permeable materials and pipes placed beneath earthen materials (e.g., soil, rock, ore pile, tailings) to recover liquids flowing through the earthen material. An underdrain is similar to the sand/pipe layer 53 of the bottom liner system if installed on a bottom liner. If used without a bottom liner, it cannot stop downward leakage of liquids; it only recovers a portion of liquids. PA1 Trench drain--Trench drains are in common use to lower the water table or to recover groundwater. Typical construction includes a narrow trench extending below the water table, a drain pipe installed at the bottom of the trench, gravel or other permeable material filling the trench, and geotextile enveloping gravel to keep the surrounding soil from clogging gravel.
Intact Flexible Membrane Liners FMLs) have good liquid containment properties. However, FMLs in service have some defects (e.g., holes, tears, slits, open seams, etc.) developed during manufacturing or field installation. Leachate can leak through these defects. In the system shown in FIG. 1, second FML layer 56 and second sand/pipe layer 55 (i.e., LDRS) are used to contain the leachate leaking through first FML layer 54. Since clay has a low permeability, clay layer 57 below second FML layer 56 can reduce leachate leakage through the defects in second FML layer 56. The bottom liner system of FIG. 1 consists of a double liner and a double leachate recovery layer. Depending on the level of protection required, a bottom liner system may include a single liner and a single leachate recovery layer, triple liners and triple leachate recovery layers, or other variations.
As shown in FIG. 2, a conventional bottom liner system 60 is installed at the bottom of the landfill waste 50 and substantially above the groundwater table 61 to protect groundwater. In this setting, leachate accumulating on the liner has a tendency to flow downward, as shown by leachate flow direction arrows 62, regardless of the level of protection provided. Most of the leachate is withdrawn and delivered to leachate treatment facility 5.
Other prior art related to this invention includes the following:

System and method for containing leachate using submerged counterflow sink


Mobile devices may minimize the radiation exposure to users by controlling the distance between the user, specifically the head, and the mobile device to a minimum distance. The reduction in exposure is realized due to the operation of the Inverse Square Rule on electromagnetic signal from the mobile device recognizing there is a steep fall off of signal strength resultant from increased distance between the head of the user and the source of the signal. Embodiments increase and maintain operational distance between the user and the broadcast device to reduce signal absorption. Enabled mobile devices increase and maintain the operational distance by detecting when the distance is breached by a variety of methods and then alerting the user. Sound and electromagnetic waves may be used to determine the proximity of the mobile device to the user, in addition image processing typically resident on some mobile devices may also be used to determine proximity to the user. Embodiments disable harmful features such as broadcasting when the operation distance is breached for a period of time or the radiation exposure exceeds a threshold. Other embodiments enforce the operational distance with physical barriers preventing the distance from being reduced. Embodiments influence the user to maintain a minimum distance via alerts, interruptions and warnings. Thus maintaining a minimum distance between the user and the transmitter may have a dramatic practical effect.

The disclosed subject matter is directed to minimizing the exposure to electromagnetic waves and non-ionizing radiation due to use of mobile appliances. This disclosure uses mobile device, mobile appliance, cell phone, cellular phone, wireless phone, wireless device, mobile phone and mobile radio, as well as phone, telephone, cell and radio interchangeably and the use of such terms is not exclusive and is intended to encompass all communication devices and apparatuses that transmit radio waves during communications and are held or located in close proximity to the user.
Microwaves are absorbed by living tissues at 24 times the rate of their absorption by pure water. While the Specific Absorption rate, one standard by which cellular microwave absorption by the body is commonly measure, is typically based upon a penetration through an inert emulation of a human head, competent experimental work indicates that the level of absorption in living tissue is many times greater than the level of microwave absorption through an inert liquid, such as water.
In a 1983 article entitled An Optical Method for Investigating the Microwave Characteristics of DNA and other Biomolecules in Solution, by Mays L. Swicord and Christopher C. Davis, published in the journal Bioelectronmagnetics, experimental results were reported which determined that "A significant increase in the absorption of DNA solutions as compared with pure water has been observed that is consistent with microwave absorption by the longitudinal mode of the double helix". Thus, in their conclusion Swicord and Davis state that: However, the results presented in this work are in good agreement with the Prohofsky model of acoustic mode absorption by varying lengths of DNA. Prohofsky and Van Zandt predicted that 450 to 2000 base pair segments of synthetic DNA should absorb 103 to 104 times as strongly in the microwave region as an equivalent mass of water with a decrease in peak absorption due to water damping. The 1.7% dilution of DNA investigated by PFLOH spectroscopy in this work indicated a 40% increase in absorption above pure water at 8 GHz and at 10 to 12% increase at 12 GHz. The measured DC conductance of this DNA sample was quite low yet its absorption coefficient was still 25% higher at 8 GHz than a saline solution of 20 times greater DC conductance. We conclude therefore that the observed absorption of the DNA solution does not come from ionic behavior.
The observed absorption is suggestive of direct microwave absorption by the longitudinal acoustic mode of the double helix discussed by Prohofsky and co-workers. Based on the concentration of DNA solution which gave 40% more absorption than pure water at 8 GHz, the microwave absorption of DNA at this frequency is 24 times greater than an equivalent mass of water."
This finding that there are many orders of magnitude of increase in microwave absorption when DNA is present, may likely explain the considerable body of experimental evidence strongly indicating a relationship between long term mobile device use, and diseases involving DNA strand abnormality, such as brain cancer. As, due to the Inverse Square Law, the strength of a radio broadcast or any point source or radial field will be inverse to the square of the distance from the source, exposure levels will diminish rapidly with distance, and a device which occasions increased distance will thereby reduce signal strength absorbed by the human head.
Scientific studies [i.e., H. Lai et al, from the University of Washington, 1984, 1988, and as presented in 1998, Vienna, Austria, and 2009 in Stavanger, Norway; O. Johansson, Associate Professor, Dept. of Neuroscience of the Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, and Professor, Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, as presented in 2009 at Stavanger, Norway; Carl F. Blackman a founder of the Bioelectromagnetics Society, as presented in 2009, at Stavanger, Norway; Martin Blank, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Columbia University, as presented in 2009 Stavanger, Norway, Franz Adlkofer, M.D., doctorate from the Max Planck Institute for Biochemistry as presented at Stavanger Norway, 2009, also the following presenters at the International EMF Conference 2009 at Stavanger, Norway: Lukas h. Margaritis, Ph.D., Greece; Elihu D. Richter, MD, M.P.H., Israel; Alvaro Agusto A. de Salles, Ph.D., Brazil; Fredrik Soderqvist, Ph.D., Sweden, Yuri G. Grigoriev M.D. Sci., Russia; Anton V. Merkulov Ph.D., Russia] have shown potential health risks, in some instances showing DNA breakage, as associated with human exposure to non-ionizing radio wave sources, including but not limited to those emitted from mobile telephone devices and handsets, including but not limited to cellular telephones, satellite telephones, cordless telephones, and also portable computers, including those equipped with wi fi connectivity capacity. Continuing research supports that such health risks as may be associated with proximity to non-ionizing radiation will be reduced if level of exposure is reduced.
As used here, the term "non-ionizing radiation," is in reference to types and frequencies of radiation which do not have the capacity to force electron shifting at an atomic level, including with molecular effect. As used here, the term "ionizing radiation" is in reference to types and frequencies of radiation which do have the capacity to force electron shifting at an atomic level, including with molecular effect.
Current electromagnetic field generating communication devices allow the transmission of electromagnetic field though the human head, and are typically held in direct contact with the head of the user. While the SAR standards currently viewed as "safe," by the FCC rely upon an assumption that the device involved is held at an inch from the head of the user, the practical experience of the typical end user is to hold the device in direct contact with the ear. The inch presumption, however, may be different for several manufactures, but generally lies within ½ to 1¼ inches. Microwave devices, including variants of mobile and portable telephone devices broadcast electromagnetic waves, including but not limited to the radio waves which serve as conduit for the transmission of information, by modulation of amperage or frequency or varying combinations thereof. As discussed above there is competent scientific data indicating that information carrying microwave broadcast near the human body will result in DNA damage and can result in the formation of cancers. In addition, other data indicates that cellular device users with smaller skulls may receive a microwave dosage in inverse relationship to relative skull size, and that, further, the shape of the interior of the skull, including as to concavity, may have a focusing effect, potentially resulting in "hot spots" of electromagnetic signal absorption.
Some of these deleterious effects have begun to be recognized and have led to some prior art solutions. These prior art solutions however are in contrast to the solutions described in the current application in that the prior art solutions are directed to controlling the emitted signal power level of the transmitter to reduce exposure levels. These prior art solutions include:
U.S. Pat. No. 7,499,722 to McDowell et al entitled "Proximity Regulation system for Use with a Portable Cell Phone and a Method of Operation Thereof" discloses a portable cell phone including a sensor that determines the proximity of the sensor to a designated part of a user's body (including the head), and controls the transmit power level in response. Thus the transmit power level of the phone is controlled to various "allowable proximity transmit power levels" depending on the vicinity of the portable cell phone to different parts of the user's body.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,146,139 to Nevermann entitled "System and Method for Reducing SAR levels'" similarly discloses a mobile communications device having a sensor assembly for detecting proximity to a human body and a controller to reduce the average power level of the communication device to less than a predetermined acceptable level. Nevermann discloses that in some embodiments, the power level may be reduced only to the point necessary to maintain adequate signal strength, while in other embodiments the power level may be reduced as required regardless of signal strength in which case a communications link may be dropped.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,934,515 to Wallach entitled "Electromagnetic Radiation Alerting Device for Use With a Cellular Telephone" discloses a phone that is operable in different modes selected by the user (such as "near", "normal" and "far" that are calibrated for different distances of the user's head from the antenna), a RF sampling unit for measuring the EMF generated by the cell phone's antenna during its active transmission times and an alerting unit (audio, buzzer, visual) that alerts the user when a predetermined radiation level is exceeded for the selected mode of operation.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,456,856 entitled "Mobile Radio Equipment forming Antenna Pattern to Protect User From Radiation". This reference discloses a proximity detection device for measuring humidity or temperature and to detect the presence of human tissue in the vicinity of the device and to adjust transmit power in a directional antenna as a function of the data produced by the detector.
The prior art however fails to recognize that providing information to the user in the form of a warning or other alert may be beneficial in maintaining a minimum distance between the user and the mobile device. Without manifestly causing a change in the habits or manner of use of the mobile devices by the user, the prior art approach fails to adequately address the problem.
In order to address the detrimental effects described above and obviate the deficiencies of the prior art, the present subject matter discloses controlling the distance between the user, specifically the head, and the mobile device to a minimum distance to therefore reduce exposure. The advantageous reduction in exposure is realized due to the operation of the Inverse Square Rule on electromagnetic signal from cellular and other radio devices, in that there is a steep fall off of signal strength resultant from increased distance between the head of the user and the source of the signal, as a class, devices which result in increased operational distance between the user and the broadcast device will result in a diminution of signal absorption which, while situational variable, can be dramatic in practical effect. As described herein, the disclosed embodiment control the distance between the emitting devices and the user by influencing the user to maintain a minimum distance via alerts, interruptions and warnings.
These and many other advantages of the present subject matter will be readily apparent to one skilled in the art to which the invention pertains from a perusal of the claims, the appended drawings, and the following detailed description of preferred embodiments.

Method and system to minimize radiation exposure from mobile phones and devices


A grazing incidence mirror includes a mirror substrate and a mirror surface layer, the mirror surface layer including a first layer and a second layer, the first layer being positioned between the mirror substrate and the second layer. The first layer includes a material selected from the group of Mo, Nb and combinations thereof, and the second layer includes a material selected from the group of B, C, B4C, SiC and combinations thereof. Such a grazing incidence mirror can be used in lithographic apparatus and in device manufacturing methods and provides a reflectivity that may be larger than state of the art grazing incidence mirrors based on Ru.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a grazing incidence mirror, a lithographic apparatus including such a grazing incidence mirror, a method for providing such a grazing incidence mirror and a device manufacturing method.
2. Description of the Related Art
A lithographic apparatus is a machine that applies a desired pattern onto a target portion of a substrate. Lithographic apparatus can be used, for example, in the manufacture of integrated circuits (ICs). In that circumstance, a patterning device, which may be referred to as a mask or a reticle, may be used to generate a circuit pattern corresponding to an individual layer of the IC, and this pattern can be imaged onto a target portion (e.g. including part of one or several dies) on a substrate (e.g. a silicon wafer) that has a layer of radiation-sensitive material (resist). In general, a single substrate will contain a network of adjacent target portions that are successively exposed. Known lithographic apparatus include steppers, in which each target portion is irradiated by exposing an entire pattern onto the target portion at once, and scanners, in which each target portion is irradiated by scanning the pattern through the projection beam in a given direction (the "scanning" direction) while synchronously scanning the substrate parallel or anti-parallel to this direction.
In a lithographic apparatus the size of features that can be imaged onto the substrate is limited by the wavelength of the projection radiation. To produce integrated circuits with a higher density of devices, and hence higher operating speeds, it is desirable to be able to image smaller features. While most current lithographic projection apparatus employ ultraviolet light generated by mercury lamps or excimer lasers, it has been proposed to use shorter wavelength radiation, for example around 13 nm. Such radiation is termed extreme ultraviolet (EUV) or soft x-ray, and possible sources include, for example, laser-produced plasma sources, discharge plasma sources, or synchrotron radiation from electron storage rings.
Optical systems like lithographic apparatus may include grazing incidence mirrors, which have a mirror surface layer of ruthenium. These grazing incidence mirrors may, however, lead to a large loss in reflectivity and of the desired radiation. Reflectivities at EUV wavelengths are already low compared to reflectors at longer wavelengths which is a particular problem since a typical EUV lithographic system may have several mirrors. For example, a EUV lithographic system may have nine mirrors: two in the illumination optics, six in the imaging optics plus the reflecting mask. It is therefore evident that even a small decrease of 1–2% in the peak reflectivity of a single mirror will cause a significant light throughput reduction in the optical system.

Grazing incidence mirror, lithographic apparatus including a grazing incidence mirror, method for providing a grazing incidence mirror, method for enhancing EUV reflection of a grazing incidence mirror, device manufacturing method and device manufactured thereby


The present invention relates to a method for consecutively producing at least two different polyethylene resins in one slurry loop reactor, comprising producing a first polyethylene resin in the presence of a Ziegler-Natta and/or a Chromium catalyst, and consecutively producing a second polyethylene resin in the presence of a metallocene catalyst, characterized in that the ratio of the melt flow index of the first produced polyethylene resin to the melt flow index of the second produced polyethylene resin is at least 0.3.

Polyolefins, such as polyethylene (PE), are synthesized by polymerizing olefin, such as ethylene (CH2═CH2), monomers. Because it is cheap, safe, stable to most environments and easy to be processed polyethylene polymers are useful in many applications. According to the properties polyethylene can be classified into several types, such as but not limited to LDPE (Low Density Polyethylene), LLDPE (Linear Low Density Polyethylene), and HDPE (High Density Polyethylene). Each type of polyethylene has different properties and characteristics.
Olefin polymerizations are frequently carried out in a loop reactor using monomer, liquid diluent and catalyst, optionally one or more co-monomer(s), and hydrogen. The polymerization in a loop reactor is usually performed under slurry conditions, with the produced polymer usually in a form of solid particles which are suspended in the diluent. The slurry in the reactor is circulated continuously with a pump to maintain efficient suspension of the polymer solid particles in the liquid diluent. Polymer slurry is discharged from the loop reactor by means of settling legs, which operate on a batch principle to recover the slurry. Settling in the legs is used to increase the solids concentration of the slurry finally recovered as product slurry. The product slurry is further discharged through heated flash lines to a flash vessel, where most of the diluent and unreacted monomers are flashed off and recycled.
Alternatively, the product slurry may be fed to a second loop reactor serially connected to the first loop reactor wherein a second polymer fraction may be produced. Typically, when two reactors in series are employed in this manner, the resultant polymer product is a bimodal polymer product, which comprises a first polymer fraction produced in the first reactor and a second polymer fraction produced in the second reactor, and has a bimodal molecular weight distribution.
After the polymer product is collected from the reactor and the hydrocarbon residues are removed, the polymer product is dried, additives can be added and finally the polymer may be extruded and pelletized.
During the extrusion process ingredients including polymer product, optional additives, etc, are mixed intimately in order to obtain a compound as homogeneous as possible. Usually, this mixing is done in an extruder wherein the ingredients are mixed together and the polymer product and optionally some of the additives are melted so that intimate mixing can occur. The melt is then extruded into a rod, cooled and granulated, e.g. to form pellets. In this form the resulting compound can then be used for the manufacturing of different objects.
Loop reactors may be used for production of polyethylene with different characteristics. However, to avoid contamination of a subsequently produced polyethylene with a residue of a previously produced polyethylene, production equipment is cleaned or purged between production runs of different polymers. Cleaning minimizes the risk of contamination of the subsequently produced polyethylene product with the previously produced polyethylene product and aims to maintain the quality of the subsequently produced polyethylene batch, and/or prevent clogging of production equipment.
The purpose of the cleaning and purging operations is not only to avoid contamination of the produced products but also to optimize the conditioning of the polymer before production begins. As an example, purging of an extrusion apparatus is necessary to remove any material from previous runs adhering to the extrusion apparatus walls. If not removed, this material, subject to the heat of the extrusion process, degrades over time and can contaminate fresh polymer passing through the extrusion apparatus. This is in particular further true when the extrusion apparatus is used to consecutively extrude polymer products that have been prepared in the presence of different and incompatible polymerization catalysts.
A cleaning operation entails the participation of numerous operators. This work is not only very demanding in terms of labour, but also results in a significant down time of the reactor while cleaning operations are performed as cleaning procedures include extensive flushing of the reactor pipes, extensive physical effort with brushes, detergent and water, or even entirely reactor dismantling. Therefore, cleaning operations not only are time-consuming, but also are cost-ineffective.
In view of the above, there is a need in the art for an improved process for the consecutive production of different polyethylene products. In particular there is a need to streamline the transition of the production of one polyethylene product into a subsequent polyethylene product and to provide a production process which is less time consuming and generally more cost-effective.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A semiconductor device includes a semiconductor body with a first surface at a first side, a second surface opposite to the first surface and an edge surface connecting the first and second surfaces. An edge termination structure includes a glass structure and extends along the edge surface, at least from a plane coplanar with the first surface towards the second surface. A conductive structure extends parallel to the first surface and overlaps the glass structure at the first side.

In power semiconductor devices edge termination structures along the outer edge of a semiconductor die are vitally important for achieving a high blocking capability. In the blocking mode vertical edge termination structures support the blocking voltage along a vertical direction of the semiconductor die, wherein the electric field lines run along the vertical direction and the equipotential lines run approximately parallel to the main surfaces of the semiconductor die. There is a need for improved vertical edge termination structures.

Semiconductor device including a vertical edge termination structure and method of manufacturing


A method for checking a function of an actuator or a sensor of a system, having the following steps: controlling the actuator within a time window if at least one state variable of the system is in a predefined operating range; detecting a system response, with the aid of the sensor, within the time window as a response to controlling the actuator; determining a malfunction of the actuator or of the sensor if the system response differs from a setpoint system response that is expected due to controlling the actuator. A further actuator of the system is controlled during the time window in such a way that the at least one state variable of the system remains in the predefined operating range during the time window. Moreover, a corresponding method for calibrating a sensor or an actuator of a system is described.

In order to check the functionality of system components, for example actuators, in complex systems, so-called intrusive tests are frequently conducted. These intrusive tests are often regularly carried out when certain predefined enabling conditions for conducting these tests are met. During operation of the system, when the enabling conditions are present an actuator is activated or adjusted, and one or multiple sensor variables is/are observed. If the expected response to activation of the actuator does not occur, a defect in the actuator or some other system component may be deduced.
In particular in engine systems of motor vehicles, these function tests are carried out within the scope of an onboard diagnosis for a majority of the actuators used therein. For example, in a coasting mode in which no fuel is injected into the internal combustion engine, a function check of the actuator for adjusting the swirl flap may be carried out. In this check, the position of the swirl flap in an air supply system of the internal combustion engine is varied, and the resulting change in pressure in the intake manifold of the air supply system or the change in the fresh air mass flow is measured. If there is no change in pressure, or if the expected change in pressure as the result of adjusting the swirl flap does not occur, a defect in the swirl flap may be deduced.
To allow a robust diagnosis, it is necessary for a predefined system state to be maintained for a given function test. The predefined system state may be defined by state variable ranges for state variables, it being possible for an enabling condition to include, for example, that a state variable must be within a state variable range or remain constant while the function test is carried out, since a change in the state variable would distort the test result. In the previous function checks of system components, during the course of the function test it is observed whether the necessary enabling conditions are met, and if applicable, the function test is terminated and the result is discarded. Depending on the selection of the state variable ranges, this may possibly result in frequent terminations of test runs, which is disadvantageous due to the fact that a function test has a negative influence, i.e., represents a disturbance. Frequently terminated test runs thus result in a high degree of negative influence on the overall system.
Correspondingly, the state variable ranges defined by the enabling condition should be selected to be relatively large so that there is a sufficiently high probability that the function test may, with a certain likelihood, be carried out to the end in the operated system. However, this may result in the function tests also having to be carried out in operating ranges in which the activation of the actuator to be tested, in order to check its function, causes a greater effect on the system.
Similar difficulties exist for balancing or calibrating of a system component which likewise is to be carried out regularly and/or under certain operating conditions. A property of a system component, for example a sensor variable of a sensor, is ascertained in a certain operating range, and an interpretation of the corresponding sensor variable is adapted in a control unit. Similarly, a physical output variable of an actuator may be ascertained regularly and/or under certain operating conditions as a function of a control of the actuator in order to appropriately adapt the output of the control variable by a control unit. In these cases as well, the balancing or the calibration must be terminated if the state variable range defined by the enabling condition is departed from prematurely, i.e., during ascertainment of the sensor variable or the physical output variable.
An object of the present invention is to provide a method and a device for carrying out a function check and/or a balancing or a calibration of a system component in a system, on the one hand the robustness of the function check or of the balancing being increased, and/or on the other hand the negative influences on the system being kept as low as possible during the adjustment of the actuator.

Method and device for carrying out an onboard diagnosis


A universal test or monitoring of distributed, parallel component based software systems can be achieved, which minimally affects the system for monitoring, automatically provides the correct system components with inspection instruments, a semantic connection of communication reports between each transmitter and receiver and a logical event sequence without synchronized clock time for the individual components of the distributed system in the form of an evaluation model and can find application on any form of evaluation tool.

Distributed parallel-running component-based software systems, such as for example Microsoft's COM, CORBA or the Enterprise Java Beans systems, are for example presented briefly in the book by Jason Pritchard with the title "COM and CORBA Side by Side Architectures, Strategies and Implementations, Addison-Wesley, 1999, pages 17 to 25.
In all phases of their development, that is during the implementation, integration and testing of software systems, as well as in use such as during their commissioning and operational monitoring, there is a need to be able to inspect and evaluate system run time data for the purposes of analysis, fault localization or to demonstrate the correctness of the software. This data covers system states, such as for example internal variables, and data about communication activities and events including their time sequence.
Until now, the following have been the familiar methods of tracing:
a) A debugger, under the control of which every system process is executed and which permits the interactive setting of breakpoints and the inspection of debugging data, that is the contents of local and global variables, when a breakpoint is reached. However, it is specifically the case in distributed parallel-running systems that this solution approach only permits local inspection, which can only with difficulty be used to make statements about the overall system. Apart from which, the system behavior is sensitive to disruption or even crashing if individual components/processes are halted interactively.b) An additional item of debugging information in the program code, i.e. the names of objects, variables etc. plus details concerned with the mapping of source code lines to machine code, for further analysis, with this debugging information generally being used for error analysis after system crashes, that is for a post mortem analysis. This approach again offers a view of the system which is essentially only a local one. With post mortem analyses it is often not possible—using only a knowledge of the final state of the system—to draw any conclusion about the actual cause of the error. Furthermore, particularly in the case of small embedded systems with limited resources, the software should be supplied with no debug data, to keep it as compact as possible.c) Pre-instrumented code, that is supplementary program code which is a permanent part of the finished system, and which is activated when required to generate relevant system data. This approach too is often hardly usable on small systems due to resource scarcity, or the instrumentation may be restricted to some parts only of the system. The instrumentation is static, and cannot subsequently be changed, that is to say it is only possible to show system data from places in the code where provision was made for doing so back at the time of implementation.
Distributed applications in particular are distinguished by their size and complexity, as a consequence of which they can only be tested with difficulty if the normal devices are used. Such methods or systems are described in WO 2000/55733 A1, DE 43 23 787 A1, U.S. Pat. No. 5,790,858, EP 0 470 322 A1, U.S. Pat. No. 5,307,498 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,371,746 for example.

Method for determining and recording system information and function in distributed parallel component based software systems


Methods and systems of managing a repositioning request for a HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) or Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP (DASH) media stream are shown and disclosed. In one embodiment, the method includes receiving a repositioning request for a particular position in the HLS or DASH media stream. The particular position does not have an Instantaneous Decoder Refresh (IDR) frame. The method additionally includes transcoding a new segment of the HLS or DASH media stream such that an IDR frame coincides with the particular position. The method further includes delivering the transcoded segment in response to the repositioning request.

The subject matter of this application relates to HLS and DASH media streams, in particular systems and methods of handling repositioning requests, such as trick play requests, in HLS and DASH media streams.
HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) and Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP (DASH) currently form a majority of adaptive streaming and are thus widespread in the industry. In HLS and DASH, the server maintains different playlists with different bit rates (quality). The content is split into several file chunks that are specified within each playlist. The client downloads the playlist files, determines available network bandwidth, selects the appropriate playlist based on the available network bandwidth, selects files from the selected playlist, and plays each file chunk sequentially. The client periodically monitors the available network bandwidth, downloads and/or updates playlists, and plays accordingly.
To do trick plays (e.g., forward, rewind, etc.), the client running the player can do a repositioning by requesting a HTTP byte range request. Once receiving the chunk, the player computes the nearest Instantaneous Decoder Refresh (IDR) frame preceding to the requested position, decodes, and then presents from the user requested position. However, the above process is time consuming and can lead to delays in presenting the user requested position. What is desired, therefore, are systems and/or methods of managing repositioning requests, such as trick plays, to reduce presentation delays.

Managing repositioning requests in HLS and dash


A battery system includes a can with a lip around an opening. At least an interior surface of the can is anodized and the lip of the can includes a longer and shorter side. The can further includes a flange on the longer side of the lip and a plurality of layers that are inserted into the can. The plurality of layers includes a battery cell and a thermally conducting layer with a fin and the fin has a spring force that pushes the fin towards the anodized interior surface. The battery system further includes a lid that is configured to cover the opening of the can, where the flange is configured to wrap around the lid when the lid covers the opening of the can.

New types of battery submodules have been developed which include compressed and stacked (e.g., interleaved) layers of battery cells, insulation (e.g., thermal and/or electrical), and fins (e.g., for drawing out heat from the interior of the battery submodule). Additional improvements to further improve the reliability and/or performance of such battery submodules would be desirable.

Capacitance reducing battery submodule with thermal runaway propagation prevention and containment features


A method for providing a controllable side force to an air vehicle having a vertical stabilizer arrangement includes (a) selectively causing the vertical stabilizer arrangement to generate a first side force in a first side direction to provide the controllable side force, the first side force inducing a corresponding first yaw moment in a first yaw direction; and (b) selectively providing to the air vehicle a second yaw moment in a second yaw direction, the second yaw moment being induced by a force component of an auxiliary force applied to the air vehicle, the force component being in a force direction that is non-parallel with respect to the first side direction and the force component being spaced from a center of gravity of the air vehicle; wherein the second yaw direction is opposed to the first yaw direction. Also disclosed is a corresponding auxiliary yaw generating system.

Side force for an air vehicle is conventionally produced when flying the air vehicle in sideslipping flight, at a sideslip angle of attack β, often referred to simply as sideslip angle β. Sideslip angle β relates to a yaw rotation of the air vehicle centerline from the relative wind direction, and is conventionally regarded as "positive" when the relative wind is coming from the starboard side (right of the nose) of the air vehicle, and "negative" when the relative wind is coming from the port side (left of the nose) of the air vehicle. Side force for an air vehicle is also conventionally produced when deflecting a rudder of the air vehicle. Also conventionally, rudder deflection (δr) is considered "positive" when the rudder is deflected towards the port side (left of the vertical tail) of the air vehicle, and "negative" when the rudder is deflected towards the starboard side (right of the vertical tail) of the air vehicle.
The main contributors to the side force at sideslip are the fuselage (or body) and the vertical tail of the air vehicle. These two components produce yawing moments of opposite signs, defining the level of directional stability of the air vehicle configuration. The resulting yawing moment when the air vehicle is conventionally trimmed at sideslip flight by rudder deflections, produces a significant loss of initial untrimmed side force.
For example, referring to FIG. 14(a), in such sideslipping flight, the air vehicle is illustrated at a positive sideslip angle β, and the fuselage and vertical tail together generate a net positive side force in the port direction. The vertical tail also induces an accompanying net clockwise yaw moment which if untrimmed would tend to stabilize the air vehicle and align the air vehicle centerline with the relative wind direction, thereby diminishing the sideslip angle β and net side force, eventually both to zero. Conventionally, the air vehicle may be trimmed to maintain the sideslip angle β by inducing a counter-clockwise yaw moment, and this is conventionally done by providing a positive rudder deflection as illustrated in FIG. 14(b). However, this also results in the original untrimmed net side force being significantly reduced.
Air vehicle configurations having a tandem arrangement of a forward vertical surface as well as an aft vertical surface (on longitudinally opposite sides of the center of gravity) can theoretically help trim the undesired yawing moments while producing increased values of side force in the desired direction, and may be capable of producing trimmed side force even at zero sideslip angle of attack, using simultaneous deflections of forward and aft rudders. However such an air vehicle configuration inherently has reduced directional stability as compared to a similar air vehicle configuration in which the forward vertical surface is missing, or, alternatively, requires a significantly larger aft vertical surface than forward vertical surface for maintaining directional stability.


A magnetic shielding mechanism for preventing penetration of metallic objects through an aperture, towards the open bore of an magnetic resonance imaging device, where the magnetic field is maximized. The magnetic resonance imaging device produces a fringing magnetic field that decreases with increasing distance (L) from the aperture. The mechanism includes at least one magnet with a magnetic field. The mechanism is affixed at a distance from the aperture of magnetic resonance imaging device.

In general, the static magnetic fields in MRI systems may be more than about 0.5 T; some such systems have static magnetic fields greater than 3 T. These magnetic fields will attract metal objects in the vicinity of the static magnets. If the object is in the vicinity of the MRI's opening, such as an opening to allow entrance of a subject to be analyzed, the object can become very difficult to remove from the interior of the MRI. Worse, in an MRI located within the hospital, for imaging patients, such a magnetic fringing field can be physically dangerous to the patient, if not fatal.
Fringe fields from a high field strength can extend to a distance determines roughly by the equation X=αB0, where α is a constant dependent on the magnet bore size and magnet configuration. An unshielded 1.5 T magnet has a 1 mT fringe field at a distance of ˜9.3 m, a 0.5 mT field at 11.5 m, and a 0.3 mT field at 14.1 m from the center of the magnet. To reduce the extent of the magnetic fringe field, passive (such as thick metal walls close to the magnet) and active (electromagnet systems placed in the magnet housing, superconductive magnets U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,883,558, 5,565,831 magnetic shielding are applied. The distance of a shielded fringe field surrounding the MRD opening can be reduced to about 2 meters or less.
Despite the achievable reduction of the magnetic fringe field boundaries, the existence of such field provides room for the above mentioned dangers in the MRD vicinity. Therefore, there is a long-felt need to provide an automatic and safe means of preventing loose metal objects from entering the fringe field and the MRD bore and protecting the patients from metallic instruments.

MRI safety device means and methods thereof


A supply system for supplying a liquid reagent from a storage tank to a dispensing head, for example a foam molding head, includes a tank (12) having a lid (14) moveable between a closed position and an open position affording access to the interior of the tank and the underside of the lid, a pump (26) and a distribution valve (36) disposed on the underside of the lid, and a drive motor (27) for the pump and an actuator (37) for the valve on the exterior of the lid. Any leakage occuring in use from the pump and/or the valve takes place in the tank and leaked material remains inside the tank.

This invention relates to a supply system particularly but not exclusively a supply system wherein hazardous chemicals in liquid form can be supplied from a storage tank of the system to associated dispensing equipment.
Known supply systems include a storage tank in which the chemical is stored temporarily before dispensing, pipework leading from the storage tank to the dispensing equipment, and a pump for pumping the chemical through the pipe-work, the pump being located at a position between the tank and the dispensing equipment.
Other equipment, for example, a diverter valve or other valve structure and monitoring sensors may be positioned in the pipe-work between the tank and the dispensing equipment. Pumps, diverter valves, and similar devices using moving parts accessible to the liquid chemical are prone to leakage arising from seal wear or seal failure, and this problem is exacerbated by chemicals which are aggressive to the seal material or not compatible with seal lubricants. Naturally chemical leaks into the working environment are undesirable and where certain chemicals are concerned, such leaks cannot be tolerated owing to the toxicity of the chemical and the risks to personnel in the area. In such circumstances, not withstanding the fact that the pump or valve may be capable of continuing to operate satisfactorily, the presence of even a minute leak will necessitate shut-down of the supply system and perhaps evacuation of personnel until the leak can be rectified.


A water treating apparatus for raising oxygen solubility in high-purity drinking water includes a high pressure pump for conveying high-purity drinking water treated by an R. O. treatment, or a U. F. treatment, or a distillation treatment, or a purity treatment into a closed container. An ozone injecter injects ozone in the drinking water conveyed by the high pressure pump. A cooler affixed around the closed container cools the water stored therein to a preset value. A supersonic vibrator stirs the stored drinking water so as to raise oxygen solubility in the drinking water stored in the closed container, and to prolong period of time for sterilization.

This invention concerns a water treating apparatus for raising oxygen solubility in high-purity drinking water, particularly able to raise oxygen solubility therein and prolonging period of time for sterilization.
A conventional comparatively improved drinking water treating process is shown in FIG. 1, which includes an oxidizing process by ozone for performing a first step of sterilization, purifying and deodorizing, a filtering process to remove oxidized substances, a soft-water treating process by resin, a deodorizing process by active carbon, and then a more sophisticated process of U. F. (ultra filter) treatment or R. O. (reverse osmosis) treatment (indispensable for high-purity drinking water), a cooling process, an ozone injecting process for mixing it in drinking water again to sterilize, purify and deodorize, stored, pressurized and then supplied to users.
However, In the process of injecting ozone and the storing process has been found a drawback that the ozone injected in drinking water can volatilize quite easily because of extremely active quality of ozone, and thus effect of keeping high oxygen solubility in drinking water and prolonging period of time for sterilization may be very low.

Water treating apparatus for raising oxygen solubility