A circuit assembly includes a finger lead assembly having structure for supporting an interposer substrate assembly and an electronic circuit device, the substrate assembly having conductive elements for providing electrical connection between finger leads of the lead assembly and respective circuit sections within the circuit device. The circuit device is mounted proximate to an upper surface of the substrate assembly. At least one decoupling capacitor is mounted on a lower surface of the substrate assembly at a level below that of the finger leads and electrically connected, through circuitry within the substrate assembly including inter-level via connectors, to respective circuits within the circuit device.

In the design of circuit modules having integrated circuit chips it is desirable that the circuit modules be of compact construction, and that leads and conductive elements connected to circuits within the integrated circuit chips be as short as possible to minimize inductive interference and noise. Typically, such a circuit assembly includes a number of conductive fingers supported within a body of non-conductive encapsulant material and connected to external pins or terminals, and conductive elements interconnected between the fingers and respective circuits within the chip, for providing power, ground, and signal lines.
It is preferable to minimize the length of such lines through the use of an intermediate, interposer substrate on which the integrated circuit chip may be mounted and whereby leads may be connected between nodes or terminals on the chip and corresponding conductors on the interposer substrate. However, prior-art circuit modules utilizing such interposer substrates have suffered from several limitations and deficiencies. One such limitation is that conductors and electrical components mounted on the interposer substrates have been undesirably crowded, resulting in potential inductive interference when high frequency signals are present on one or more adjacent conductors. For example, digital, analog, and input/output circuits in such modules have been undesirably crowded together on such substrates or, alternatively, the substrates and lead frames have been required to be of undesirable complexity and size. Thus, the packaging of such circuit assemblies is a major factor in the design and manufacture of electronic systems, and new packaging techniques are required to achieve reduced physical size, improved reliability, and low cost. The need for such efficient packaging is particularly important with respect to electronic circuit assemblies which utilize compact circuit structures of the type implemented by large-scale-integration (LSI) techniques, utilizing semiconductor chips.

Circuit assembly having interposer lead frame


A styptic composition, in the form of a stable cream, for stopping bleeding from cuts received during shaving. The composition comprises aluminum sulfate, aloe, a humectant and water. The composition may optionally include a coloring agent, a fragrance, an anesthetic, or a preservative.

Nicks and cuts on the chin, lips, face and other areas are a virtually inevitable consequence of regular blade shaving. Nicks and cuts can also be a significant problem for women when shaving their legs or underarms. Shaving cuts, especially in the area of the face or around the lips, tend to bleed profusely, and it can be quite difficult to halt the flow of blood.
Aluminum sulfate is a commonly employed styptic agent which is used to stop bleeding from shaving cuts. Solid sticks are available which consist essentially of about 90% aluminum sulfate and 10% of an inert filler. While it is desirable to apply a high concentration of aluminum sulfate directly to a cut in order to stop bleeding, the solid stick form of aluminum sulfate has certain disadvantages. A styptic stick can often be uncomfortable to use. The stick must be wetted before each use, and when the stick is stored between uses, the stick can harden, stick to its container, and become difficult to rewet and reuse. Moreover, rubbing of the stick on the cut can also result in scarring or redness of the area where the stick is applied.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,166,108 and 4,331,653 to Brown disclosed styptic lotions or creams containing a metal salt such as aluminum sulfate. The compositions are designed to be applied to major, open wounds without fear of inducing shock. The disclosed compositions contain 25% or less by weight of the metal salt. The disclosed compositions would not be completely satisfactory for application to shaving cuts. Due to the low content of metal salt, the composition would not act to halt bleeding from a small cut substantially immediately, and would have to be reapplied repeatedly, thereby permitting a scab to form over the area of the cut.
A liquid styptic composition, which is believed to be currently available, consists of a metal salt provided in an alcohol carrier. The liquid formulation tends to run down a user's face when it is applied, and several repeated applications of the composition are often necessary to stop bleeding from a small cut.
A need exists for a fast acting styptic composition which substantially immediately curtails bleeding from a small cut upon application, yet avoids the disadvantages associated with use of a solid styptic.


The present disclosure relates to certain chiral diaryl macrocyclic derivatives, of the formula I:

Protein kinases are key regulators for cell growth, proliferation and survival. Genetic and epigenetic alterations accumulate in cancer cells leading to abnormal activation of signal transduction pathways which drive malignant processes. Manning, G. et al., Science 2002, 298, 1912-1934. Pharmacological inhibition of these signaling pathways presents promising intervention opportunities for targeted cancer therapies. Sawyers, C., Nature 2004, 432, 294-297.
ALK, along with leukocyte tyrosine kinase (LTK), is grouped within the insulin receptor (IR) superfamily of receptor tyrosine kinases. ALK is mainly expressed in the central and peripheral nervous systems suggesting a potential role in normal development and function of the nervous system. Pulford, K. et al., Cell Mol. Life Sci. 2004, 61, 2939. ALK was first discovered as a fusion protein, NPM (nucleophosmin)-ALK, encoded by a fusion gene arising from the t(2; 5)(p23; q35) chromosomal translocation in anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL) cell lines. Morris, S. W. et al., Science 1994, 263, 1281. More than twenty distinct ALK translocation partners have been discovered in many cancers, including ALCL (60-90% incidence), inflammatory myofibroblastic tumors (IMT, 50-60%), non-small cell lung carcinomas (NSCLC, 3-7%), colorectal cancers (CRC, 0-2.4%), breast cancers (0-2.4%), and other carcinomas. Grande, E. et al., Mol. Cancer Ther. 2011, 10, 569-579. The ALK-fusion proteins are located in the cytoplasm, and the fusion partners with ALK play a role in dimerization or oligomerization of the fusion proteins through a coil-coil interaction to generate constitutive activation of ALK kinase function. Bischof, D. et al., Mol. Cell Biol., 1997, 17, 2312-2325. EML4-ALK, which comprises portions of the echinoderm microtubule associated protein-like 4 (EML4) gene and the ALK gene, was first discovered in NSCLC, is highly oncogenic, and was shown to cause lung adenocarcinoma in transgenic mice. Soda, M. et al., Nature 2007, 448, 561-566. Oncogenic point mutations of ALK in both familial and sporadic cases of neuroblastoma. Mossé, Y. P. et al., Nature 2008, 455, 930-935. ALK is an attractive molecular target for cancer therapeutic intervention because of the important roles in haematopoietic, solid, and mesenchymal tumors. Grande, supra.
The tropomyosin-related receptor tyrosine kinases (Trks) are the high-affinity receptor for neurotrophins (NTs), a nerve growth factor (NGF) family of proteins. Members of the Trk family are highly expressed in cells of neural origin. Activation of Trks (TrkA, TrkB, and TrkC) by their preferred neurotrophins (NGF to TrkA, brain-derived neurotrophic factor [BDNF] and NT4/5 to TrkB, and NT3 to TrkC) mediates the survival and differentiation of neurons during development. The NT/Trk signaling pathway functions as an endogenous system that protects neurons after biochemical insults, transient ischemia, or physical injury. Thiele, C. J. et al., Clin. Cancer Res. 2009, 15, 5962-5967. However, Trk was originally cloned as an oncogene fused with the tropomyosin gene in the extracellular domain. The activating mutations caused by chromosomal rearrangements or mutations in NTRK1 (TrkA) has been identified in papillary and medullary thyroid carcinoma, and recently in non-small cell lung cancer. Pierotti, M. A. et al., Cancer Lett. 2006, 232, 90-98; Vaishnavi, A. et al., Nat. Med. 2013, 19, 1469-1472. Because Trks play important roles in pain sensation as well as tumor cell growth and survival signaling, inhibitors of Trk receptor kinases may provide benefits as treatments for pain and cancer.
The Janus family of kinases (JAKs) includes JAK1, JAK2, JAK3 and TYK2, and are cytoplastic tyrosine kinases required for the physiologic signaling of cytokines and growth factors. Quintas-Cardama, A. et al., Nat. Rev. Drug Discov. 2011, 10(2), 127-40; Pesu, M. et al., Immunol. Rev. 2008, 223, 132-142; Murray, P. J., J. Immunol. 2007, 178(5), 2623-2329. JAKs activate by ligand-induced oligomerization, resulting in the activation of downstream transcriptional signaling pathway called STAT (signal transducers and activators of transcription). The phosphorylated STATs dimerize and translocate into nucleus to drive the expression of specific genes involved in proliferation, apoptosis, differentiation, which are essential for hematopoiesis, inflammation and immune response. Murray, supra.
Mouse knockout studies have implicated the primary roles of JAK-STAT signaling with some overlap between them. JAK1 plays a critical role in the signaling of various proinflammatory cytokines such as IL-1, IL-4, IL-6, and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFα). Muller, M. et al., Nature 1993, 366(6451), 129-135. JAK2 functions for hematopoietic growth factors signaling such as Epo, IL-3, IL-5, GM-CSF, thrombopoietin growth hormone, and prolactin-mediated signaling. Neubauer, H. et al., Cell 1998 93(3), 397-409. JAK3 plays a role in mediating immune responses, and TYK2 associates with JAK2 or JAK3 to transduce signaling of cytokines, such as IL-12. Nosaka, T. et al., Science 1995, 270(5237), 800-802; Vainchenker, W. et al., Semin. Cell. Dev. Biol. 2008, 19(4), 385-393.
Aberrant regulation of JAK/STAT pathways has been implicated in multiple human pathological diseases, including cancer (JAK2) and rheumatoid arthritis (JAK1, JAK3). A gain-of-function mutation of JAK2 (JAK2V617F) has been discovered with high frequency in MPN patients. Levine, R. L. et al., Cancer Cell 2005, 7(4), 387-397; Kralovics, R. et al., N. Engl. J. Med. 2005, 253(17), 1779-1790; James, C. et al., Nature 2005, 434(7037), 1144-1148; Baxter, E. J. et al. Lancet 2005, 365(9464), 1054-1061. The mutation in the JH2 pseudokinase domain of JAK2 leads to constitutively kinase activity. Cells containing JAK2V617F mutantation acquire cytokine-independent growth ability and often become tumor, providing strong rational for the development of JAK inhibitors as target therapy.
Multiple JAK inhibitors in clinical trial showed significant benefit in splenomegaly and disease related constitutional symptoms for the myelofibrosis patients, including the first FDA-approved JAK2 inhibitor ruxolitinib in 2011. Quintas-Cardama, supra; Sonbol, M. B. et al., Ther. Adv. Hematol. 2013, 4(1), 15-35; LaFave, L. M. et al., Trends Pharmacol. Sci. 2012, 33(11), 574-582. The recently collected clinical data related to ruxolitinib treatment indicated that JAK inhibitors work on both JAK2 wild-type and JAK2 mutated cases. Verstovsek, S. et al., N. Engl. J. Med. 2012, 366(9), 799-807; Quintas-Cardama, A. et al., Blood 2010, 115(15), 3109-3117. The discovery of selective inhibitors of JAK2 vs JAK1/3 remains an unsolved challenge. In addition, hyperactivation of the JAK2/signal transducers and activators of transcription 3 (JAK2/STAT3) is responsible for abnormal dendritic cell differentiation leading to abnormal dendritic cell differentiation and accumulation of immunosuppressive myeloid cells in cancer (Nefedova, Y. et al., Cancer Res 2005; 65(20): 9525-35). In Pten-null senescent tumors, activation of the Jak2/Stat3 pathway establishes an immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment that contributes to tumor growth and chemoresistance (Toso, A. et al., Cell Reports 2014, 9, 75-89). Therefore, pharmacologic inhibition of the JAK2/STAT3 pathway can be an important new therapeutic strategy to enhance antitumor activity via the regulation of antitumor immunity.
ROS1 kinase is a receptor tyrosine kinase with an unknown ligand. The normal functions of human ROS1 kinase have not been fully understood. However, it has been reported that ROS1 kinase undergoes genetic rearrangements to create constitutively active fusion proteins in a variety of human cancers including glioblastoma, non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), cholangiocarcinoma, ovarian cancer, gastric adenocarcinoma, colorectal cancer, inflammatory myofibroblastic tumor, angiosarcoma, and epithelioid hemangioendothelioma (Davies, K. D. et al., Clin Cancer Res 2013, 19 (15): 4040-4045). Targeting ROS1 fusion proteins with crizotinib has demonstrated promising clinical efficacy in NSCLC patients whose tumors are positive for ROS1 genetic abnormalities (Shaw, A. T. et al., N Engl J Med. 2014, 371(21):1963-1971). Acquired resistant mutations have been observed in crizotinib treatment patients (Awad, M. M. et al., N Engl J Med. 2013, 368(25):2396-2401). It is urgent to develop the second generation of ROS1 inhibitors for overcoming crizotinib ROS1 resistance.
Crizotinib (PF-02341066) is a tyrosine kinase drug targeting MET/ALK/ROS1/RON with moderate activity against TRKs and AXL. Cui, J. J. et al., J. Med. Chem. 2011, 54, 6342-6363. It was approved to treat certain patients with late-stage (locally advanced or metastatic) NSCLC that expresses the abnormal ALK fusion gene identified by a companion diagnostic test (Vysis ALK Break Apart FISH Probe Kit). Similar to imatinib and other kinase inhibitor drugs, resistance invariably develops after a certain time of treatment with crizotinib. The resistance mechanisms include ALK gene amplification, secondary ALK mutations, and aberrant activation of other kinases including KIT and EGFR. Katayama, R. et al., Sci. Transl. Med. 2012, 4, 120ra17. Based on the clinical success of second generation ABL inhibitors for the treatment of imatinib resistance in CML patients, a second generation of ALK inhibitors is emerging. These drugs target the treatment of crizotinib-refractory or resistant NSCLC patient with more potent inhibition against both wild and mutant ALK proteins. Gridelli, C. et al., Cancer Treat Rev. 2014, 40, 300-306.
There remains a need for small molecule inhibitors of these multiple protein or tyrosine kinase targets with desirable pharmaceutical properties. Certain chiral diaryl macrocyclic compounds have been found in the context of this disclosure to have this advantageous activity profile.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Chiral diaryl macrocycles as modulators of protein kinases

Abstract: pharmaceutical compositions containing them, and methods of using them to treat cancer, pain, neurological diseases, autoimmune diseases, and inflammation.


A stage apparatus comprises an incremental scale fixed to a movable unit and having a predetermined length shorter than a distance the movable unit can move in a first direction, a first and a second sensor that are arranged in the first direction with an interval therebetween shorter than the predetermined length, and a detection unit that detects an origin point position set in a movable range of the movable unit. In an origin return, if the movable unit is at a position at which both the first sensor and the second sensor can read the scale, the apparatus moves the movable unit to the origin point position by a predetermined distance, then moves the movable unit at a lower speed until the origin point position is detected.

Conventionally, a stage apparatus, which can move to any position instructed by a controller such as a PC and detect position information of a stage by a sensor and linear scale mounted on axes of a linear stage that is driven by a motor or the like, is used in various fields. In this type of stage apparatus, an approach is often used that uses an incremental scale because of cost, physical restrictions, and the like, initializes a count at a specific position (an origin point), and detects a position from the count. In such an approach, because initialization at the origin point is not been performed when power is initially input, a state in which a current position is not understood is entered. Therefore, after power activation, firstly there is a need to detect the origin point.
In addition, if a stage apparatus is used as an XY-stage for position management in an optical microscope or the like, a design in which the length of a scale is shortened by handing over reading of the scale to a plurality of sensors for downsizing of the apparatus can be considered. In other words, configuration is taken to continuously detect the position of the stage in the overall movable range by using a scale shorter than a movable range of the stage and synthesizing position information from a plurality of sensors fixed at intervals shorter than the length of the scale. For synthesis of position information such a plurality of fixed sensors, higher precision detection of the origin point than of something according to a sensor and scale pair is necessary, and for this, it is required that movement be at a low speed at the time of origin point detection. This is because, in a case of changing between a plurality of sensors, if precision of the initial detection of the origin point is not high, a changeover point is not precisely determined.
As a method of detecting an origin point by an incremental scale at high speed, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. S62-097004 (hereinafter, Reference 1), in principle, a movement speed of a moving body is controlled in accordance with which of two regions divided by a reference point the moving body is located in. However, in Reference 1, to determine the region in which the moving body is present in, it is necessary to separately provide a configuration for detecting the region. In addition, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-056834 (hereinafter, Reference 2) proposes an approach in which a movement speed of a moving body is decelerated at the same time that a vicinity of an origin point is detected. However, in the approach of Reference 2, a restriction of the origin point position arises in that the origin point must be placed at a position such that the moving body can stop in a mechanically movable range by the deceleration in accordance with the detection. Furthermore, in Reference 2 it is not possible to detect the origin point at high precision if the movement speed of the moving body at the time of the detection of the origin point is high.
In addition, in relation to an origin return operation of a moving body in a stage apparatus, a configuration is such that the moving body is caused to move to the origin point position at high speed by using two sensors—an origin point sensor and an origin point vicinity sensor—in the above-described Reference 2. Also, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. H11-170122 (hereinafter, Reference 3) proposes using an origin point sensor and a position counter (for example, an encoder) to perform position control from the positional relationship of each sensor without using an origin point vicinity sensor, to realize movement of a moving body at high speed to an origin point.
None of the above-described patents 1-3 commonly use an origin point sensor and a limit sensor stipulating a movement range of a moving body; an origin point position is arranged to be a position that is separated from a movement limit position (a mechanical limit) of a moving body. It is often the case that positions of a limit sensor and a mechanical limit are close. Accordingly, in a stage apparatus that sets a detection point of such a limit sensor as an origin point, it is difficult to cause the moving body to move to the origin point position without contacting the mechanical limit and also at high speed in a state in which the relation between the mechanical limit and the current position of the moving body is not understood. In a stage apparatus that performs high precision position management, contacting the mechanical limit causes mechanical precision of a positioning apparatus to worsen, and as a result precision of position management worsens. Thus, it is necessary to avoid contact with the mechanical limit, and also to be able to perform an origin point movement operation and an origin return operation at high speed.
Even in the case of using an incremental-type scale for control of the moving body in the positioning apparatus, because position information of the positioning apparatus is initialized at a time of power activation, an amount of movement to the origin point is unknown. In the end, in the case of performing origin return with the detection point of the limit sensor as the origin point, to prevent the moving body reaching the mechanical limit and mechanically interfering, it is necessary to cause the moving body to move to the detection point of a limit detector by a low-speed feed operation.
In the above method, because the moving body is caused to move at low speed, it requires a long time for origin return. This is even more the case if the movable range of the moving body is large. Such a long time for origin return is a factor in causing work efficiency of an operator to worsen. In addition, when performing high-speed origin return and an origin point movement operation under the above conditions, a sensor or the like becomes necessary in the vicinity of the origin point, a number of components increases, and affects costs.

Stage apparatus, method of controlling stage apparatus, and microscope system


The disclosure describes optically pumped magnetometers and systems incorporating, and methods of operating, the same. An optically pumped magnetometer according to one embodiment of the present technology includes a vapor cell configured to contain an atomic absorber such as rubidium-87, and at least one light source in optical communication with the vapor cell. The optically pumped magnetometer includes components positioned and configured to provide a bias field, and induce a zeroing field, within the vapor cell. Among other useful and advantageous ends, embodiments of the present technology provide for increasing the degree of atomic polarization in optically pumped magnetometers based on zeroing the bias magnetic field during the optical pumping process.

Optically pumped magnetometers find scientific applications such as studies of fundamental physics, as well as commercial uses such as magnetic anomaly detection, studies of geomagnetism, nanoparticle detection and relaxometry, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and induction imaging.
Applications requiring ultimate sensitivity performance are in magnetocardiography (MCG) and magnetoencephalography (MEG), where the non-cryogenic and non-invasive nature of optically pumped magnetometers makes them an attractive alternative to other technologies.
The human brain continuously generates brain waves that can be used as an indicator of brain activity, consciousness, medical condition, or the like. It is not uncommon for brain waves to be measured in a controlled environment (e.g., a shielded room in a hospital). One traditional way of detecting brain activity is through the use of electrodes placed on the scalp. The skull acts as an isolator, and the signals that are detected are essentially only from the thin layer close to the scalp. Unfortunately, the electrodes cannot detect signals that originate from deep within the brain. For those signals that originate from deep within the brain, implanted electrodes are needed. Implantation of electrodes within the brain is invasive.
Magnetic field sensors exist that can measure brain activity. However, the typical devices used in medicine (e.g., MEG) are often cryogenic and rely on superconductive sensors. As such, these devices come with the corresponding complexity, expense and maintenance. Additionally, cryogenic devices are typically stationary, restricting the subject's movements, and do not allow flexible arrangement of sensor arrays. Accordingly, systems and methods are needed to provide a reliable, non-invasive solution for measuring deep brain activity.

Systems and methods for increasing the degree of atomic polarization in optically pumped magnetometers based on magnetic field zeroing

The Regents of the University of Colorado, a body corporate


A pelt puller apparatus and method utilizing hydraulic power means for stripping a pelt from an animal carcass suspended by both fore and hind legs in an upside down cradle position. The pelt puller apparatus includes a puller assembly and a kick bar assembly. The puller assembly is generally defined as an L-shaped frame structure and includes a pair of hydraulically operated clamp assemblies for holding the worked up sock portions of the animal pelt. The vertical frame portion of the L-shape framework includes a pair of telescopingly adjustable frame members and a hydraulic power means for providing vertical height adjustment of the clamp assemblies with respect to the animal carcass. The puller assembly framework is connected to an overhead rail system via a wheeled carriage assembly and includes hydraulic power means for providing fore/aft (push/pull) movement to the puller assembly. The kick bar assembly includes a kick bar member and hydraulic power means operative to move the kick bar member between a first, neutral position and a second, extended position. Movement of the kick bar member into the second, extended position provides to the animal's suspended fore legs tension which is opposed by the pull direction of the fore/aft hydraulic power such that removal of the pelt, especially in the delicate shoulder region, is facilitated without damage to carcass or damaging strain to the pelt.

The present invention relates to animal pelting apparatus and method of use, and more particularly to a hydraulically-operated pelt pulling machine for hygienically and effectively removing the pelt from an animal carcass such that damage to the carcass exterior and grain strain to the pelt are minimized.
Various methods for removing the pelt from animals such as sheep, goats, beef stock and pigs are known in the art. Typically, these methods employ apparatus using drum rollers and chains to facilitate removal of the pelt from the carcass. Accordingly, extensive "working up" or preparatory cutting by human operators is required prior to the actual pelt stripping or pulling step. For removal of some animal pelts, and in particular sheep or lamb pelts, the animal must be worked up a sufficient amount so that the pulling apparatus does not damage the fell to ensure that the skinned carcass is left in a substantially undamaged condition. Besides being more visually pleasing to the eye, a damaged skinned carcass is worthless if deemed nonhygienic.
Therefore, in order to meet stringent hygiene requirements, great care must be exercised during working up and pelt removal to ensure that the fell is not torn and that the pelt does not contact the skinned carcass once it is pulled from the animal. Thus, it is desirable to remove an animal pelt with a minimum amount of working up performed on the animal carcass. Further, it is desirable that the pelt be removed in such a fashion so that it remains in a usable condition and does not exhibit visible signs of damage such as grain strain.
A further desirable attribute of an animal pelting apparatus is high throughput with a minimum amount of human intervention so that the pelting apparatus may be practically implemented in conventional high volume meat packing facilities.
An improved animal pelt pulling apparatus and method of use which incorporates these features and attributes and which are effective to function as described above constitutes an object of this invention.


A new Impatiens plant named ‘Silt Cher,’ particularly distinguished by rose-shaped, double type flowers, light cherry red to carmine flower color, dark green foliage, relatively round leaf shape, medium vigor, and well-branched, low and mounding habit.

The present invention comprises a new Impatiens, botanically known as Impatiens walleriana, and hereinafter referred to by the variety name 'Silt Cher.'
'Silt Cher' is a product of a planned breeding program. The new cultivar 'Silt Cher' has light cherry red to carmine flower color, rose-shaped, double type flowers, dark green foliage, and low and mounding plant habit.
'Silt Cher' originated from a hybridization made in April 2003 in a controlled breeding program in Andijk, Netherlands. The female parent was an unpatented hybrid seedling identified as 'ID03-25-2' with salmon flower color and single flower type.
The male parent of 'Silt Cher' was an unpatented hybrid seedling identified as 'ID03-29-2' with carmine colored, single-type flowers.
The resulting seeds were sown in June 2003. 'Silt Cher' was selected as one flowering plant within the progeny of the stated cross in August 2003 in a controlled environment in Andijk, Netherlands.
The first act of asexual reproduction of 'Silt Cher' was accomplished when vegetative cuttings were taken from the initial selection in the fall of 2004 in a controlled environment in Andijk, Netherlands.
Horticultural examination of plants grown from cuttings of the plant initiated in the spring of 2004 in Andijk, Netherlands, and continuing thereafter, has demonstrated that the combination of characteristics as herein disclosed for 'Silt Cher' are firmly fixed and are retained through successive generations of asexual reproduction.
'Silt Cher' has not been observed under all possible environmental conditions. The phenotype may vary significantly with variations in environment such as temperature, light intensity and day length.
Plant Breeder's Rights for this cultivar were applied for in Canada on Dec. 24, 2007 and in the European Union on Jul. 21, 2008. 'Silt Cher' has not been made publicly available more than one year prior to the filing of this application.


A dishwasher includes a cabinet, an upper rack and a lower rack disposed within the cabinet. The upper and lower racks support articles to be cleaned. The dishwasher also includes a first spray arm and a second spray arm rotatably mounted within the cabinet. The first and second spray arms are operated based on a wash cycle. A controller is operatively coupled to the first and second spray arms for controlling the wash cycle. The controller is configured to operate the first and second spray arms independently of one another, and the controller is configured to control the wash cycle based on a usage condition of the water being washed.

This invention relates generally to home appliances, and more particularly, to a multiple spray arm dishwashing apparatus.
Known dishwasher systems include a main pump assembly and a drain pump assembly for circulating and draining wash fluid within a wash chamber located in a cabinet housing. The main pump assembly feeds washing fluid to various spray arm assemblies for generating washing sprays or jets on dishwasher items loaded into one or more dishwasher racks disposed in the wash chamber. Fluid sprayed onto the dishwasher items is collected in a sump located in a lower portion of the wash chamber, and water entering the sump is filtered through one or more coarse filters to remove soil and sediment from the washing fluid.
At least some dishwashers include upper and/or mid level spray arms and lower spray arms. In operation, water is simultaneously supplied to both the upper and/or mid arms and to the lower arm, however, the upper and/or mid arm and lower arm are not operated separate from each other.
Reducing the energy consumption of home appliances, including residential dishwashers, is desirable. Considering that millions of dishwashers currently are employed in residential usage, even small energy savings can amount to a significant overall energy savings. Further, reducing the noise level of dishwashers also is desirable.

Multiple spray arm dishwashing apparatus and method for assembling same


A granular polymer composite comprising polymeric granules having coated on a surface thereof a calcium phosphate compound, at least a part of the particles of the calcium phosphate compound penetrates into the polymeric granules. The composite has a high bonding strength between the polymeric granules as a matrix and a coating of the calcium phosphate compound and also can fully exhibit the functions of a calcium phosphate compound. Using the granular polymer composite, a diagnostic agent which comprises of an antigen or antibody is adsorbed and immobilized on the composite and is therefore useful in diagnostic tests utilizing an antigen-antibody reaction for a number of infectious diseases.

1. Field of the invention
The present invention relates to a granular polymer composite and a production process thereof as well as a diagnostic agent using the composite and a production process thereof. More particularly, the present invention relates to a granular polymer composite which is useful as an adsorbent, deodorizing agent, filler for a chromatographic column and others, and a production process of such polymer composites. The present invention also relates to a diagnostic agent using the polymer composite which is useful in the diagnostic procedures for a number of infectious diseases, and a production process of s uch types of diagnostic agents.
2. Description of the Related Art
Since they have a high adsorptivity of various substances such as viruses, bacteria, animal and plant cells, proteins, enzymes, nucleic acids, odor components and the like, calcium phosphate compounds, especially hydroxyapatite, are widely used as an adsorbent, deodorizing agent or filler for a chromatographic column, for example.
In medical or clinical practice, diagnostic procedures utilizing an antigen-antibody reaction including, for example, the gel-diffusion method, radioimmunoassay and precipitation tests have been well-known and have been widely used in the detection of various infectious diseases.
Further, in recent years, immobilization procedures in which an antigen or antibody is bonded to an inert carrier to prepare an immobilized antigen or antibody, and then the immobilized antigen or antibody is in contact with a specimen to be detected to evaluate an antigen-antibody reaction of the specimen have been reported in many papers. In these immobilization procedures, if viruses or bacteria are directly used, the carrier simultaneously used must be selected from a group of materials which do not damage or kill the viruses or bacteria immobilized on the carrier. A typical example of the carrier material widely used in prior art immobilization procedures is a gel of polyacrylamide which can undesirably damage the viruses or bacteria because of chemical substances such as monomers, polymerization initiators and the like contained in the gel.
Furthermore, some examples using polystyrene, latex or particulate carriers such as beads or microcapsules in the detection of antigen-antibody reaction have been reported in papers. However, use of such carriers involves problems to be solved with regard to a stable immobilization of antigens or antibodies as well as reproducibility and reliability of the detection.

Granular polymer composite and production process thereof as well as diagnostic agent


A cable and method of monitoring the aging of critical cable components in-situ. The cable includes a specimen element which is located in proximity to the individual conductors of the cable. The cable and specimen element are exposed to similar aging stressors, and the aging of the specimen element is analyzed to estimate the aging of the installed cable in a completely non-destructive manner.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of electrical and optical cable, specifically to the in-situ monitoring of aging of various cable components.
2. Description of Related Technology
The aging of power, control, instrumentation, and data transmission cable is of considerable importance to, among others, industrial and electrical power plant operators in that the unanticipated failure of such cables may have significant adverse effects on plant operation and maintenance (O&M) costs and downtime. Electrical and optical cables have traditionally been considered long-lived components which merit little in the way of preventive maintenance or condition monitoring due to their generally high level of reliability and simplicity of construction. Like all other components, however, such cables age as the result of operational and environmental stressors. These stressors may include heat, mechanical stress, chemicals, moisture, nuclear radiation, and electrical stress. Furthermore, the presence of oxygen and contaminants, while not directly resulting in component degradation, may exacerbate the effects of the aforementioned stressors and accelerate the deterioration of various cable components. Aging effects may be spatially generalized (i.e., affecting most or all portions of a given cable equally, such as for a cable located completely within a single room of uniform temperature), or localized (i.e., affecting only very limited portions of a cable, such as in the case of a cable routed near a highly localized heat source). The severity of these aging effects depends on several factors including the severity of the stressor, the materials of construction and design of the cable, and the ambient environment surrounding the cable. Detailed discussions of electrical cable aging may be found in a number of publications including SAND96-0344 "Aging Management Guideline for Commercial Nuclear Power Plants--Electrical Cable and Terminations" prepared by Sandia National Laboratories/U.S. Department of Energy, September 1996. Discussions regarding optical cable aging may be found, inter alia, in Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) publications and telecommunications industry literature. The following description will be limited to electrical cable, although it can be appreciated that the principles of aging and analysis described herein may also be largely applicable to optical cabling.
Electrical cables come in a wide variety of voltage ranges and configurations, depending on their anticipated uses. Cables can be generally categorized based on voltage range (i.e., low-voltage, operating below about 1000 Vac or 250 Vdc, medium-voltage, operating between about 2 and 15 kVac, and high-voltage operating above 15-kVac) or function (i.e., power, control or instrumentation). Existing prior art low- and medium-voltage power and control cables such as that shown in FIGS. 1 through 4 are typically constructed using a polymer or rubber dielectric insulation 10 which is applied over a multi-strand copper or aluminum conductor 20. The insulation is often overlayed with a protective polymer jacket 30. In multi-conductor cables (such as those used in three-phase alternating current systems, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2), a plurality of these individually insulated conductors are encased within a protective outer jacket 40 along with other components such as filler 50 and drain wires (not shown). These other components fulfill a variety of functions including imparting mechanical stability and rigidity to the cable, shielding against electromagnetic interference, and allowing for the dissipation of accumulated electrostatic charge. This general arrangement is used for its relatively low cost, ease of handling and installation, comparatively small physical dimensions, and protection against environmental stressors.
Current methods of evaluating electrical cable component aging generally may be categorized as electrical, physical, and microphysical. Electrical techniques involve the measurement of one or more electrical parameters relating to the operation of the cable, such as the breakdown voltage, power factor, capacitance, or electrical resistance of the dielectric. These methods have to the present been considered largely ineffective or impractical, in that they either do not show a good correlation between the parameter being measured and the aging of the dielectric, or are difficult to implement under normal operations. Furthermore, such techniques are often deleterious to the longevity of the insulation, and have difficulty determining localized aging within a given conductor.
Physical techniques including the measurement of compressive modulus, torsional modulus, or rigidity under bending often show a better correlation between the aging of the cable and the measured parameter (especially for low-voltage cable), and are more practical to apply during operational conditions. However, they generally suffer from a lack of access to the most critical elements of the cable, the individual electrical conductors and their insulation. For example, the measurement of compressive modulus by way of instruments such as the Indenter Polymer Aging Monitor are effective primarily with respect to the outer, accessible surface of the cable such as its outer jacket. Although correlations of the aging of the outer jacket to that of the underlying conductors have been attempted, these correlations are generally quite imprecise and are subject to a large degree of variability based on the specific configuration of the cable being tested (i.e., its materials of construction, insulation/jacket thickness, etc.), the presence of ohmically induced heating, shielding of the conductors against stressors by the outer jacket, and differences in the oxygen concentration at the conductor insulation versus that at the outer jacket. See EPRI TR-104075, "Evaluation of Cable Polymer Aging Through Indenter Testing of In-Plant and Laboratory Aged Specimens," prepared by the Electric Power Research Institute, January, 1996 for a discussion of the correlation between outer jacket and conductor physical measurements.
Other physical techniques such as the measurement of the tensile strength or elongation-at-break of the insulation material are inherently destructive and require a specimen of the aged cable for testing.
Another potential drawback to many of the physical techniques described above is disturbance of the bulk cable run during testing. In some applications, the dielectric of the cable being evaluated may be highly aged and embrittled, yet still completely functional. However, substantial movement of the cable (such as picking the cable up and clamping on a test device) may produce elongation stresses beyond those corresponding to the elongation-at-break for the insulation and/or jacket material, thereby inducing unwanted cracking of the insulation and/or jacketing and potential electrical failure.
Microphysical techniques such as the measurement of insulation oxidation induction time (OIT), density, gel or plasticizer content, or infrared absorption spectrum are generally quite accurate, yet require samples of the cable insulation and/or jacket for analysis. For jacketed conductors, such samples are generally only available at the ends of the cable where the conductors are terminated to a source or load, and not anywhere between. Furthermore, as with the physical techniques described above, the results of any such testing are necessarily applicable only to the localized area of the cable from which the specimen was taken, which may or may not be representative of the rest of the cable. Hence, one can either take a small sample of material from the outer jacket of the cable and attempt to extrapolate the results of the aging analysis to the underlying conductors, or alternatively take a sample at the ends of the conductor itself near its terminations and extrapolate these results to the rest of the unexposed conductor. Under either alternative, a substantial degree of uncertainty and imprecision exists. Plant operators are also generally reticent to allowing the removal of even small samples of material from their cables, especially in applications where plant safety and continuity of electrical power are critical.
Based on the foregoing, it would be most desirable to provide a cable construction which allows an operator to more accurately assess the aging of the underlying conductor insulation and jacketing of an in-situ cable (or optical conductor in the case of a fiber optic cable) in a completely non-destructive manner.
Similarly, it would be desirable to provide a method of monitoring and estimating the aging of internal cable components using the aforementioned cable construction in conjunction with aging measurement techniques and protocols.

Cable and method of monitoring cable aging


A method and composition for suppressing coal dust include a metal-containing compound, such as an organo-manganese, that provides the additional benefit of being a combustion improver. The organometallic compound is mixed with any appropriate dust suppressant liquid. The organometallic compound may include methylcyclopentadienyl manganese tricarbonyl.

The problems of coal dust are well known. This problem is encountered throughout the coal handling industry—at the mine, at transfer points, and at utilities or at other points of utilization. The problem may be compounded as a result of the close proximity of transfer points and utilities to populated or environmentally sensitive areas.
Conventional dust suppression systems include both mechanical and chemical methods. For instance, dust collection equipment includes devices which capture entrained dust, induce the dust to settle, or contain the dust. The most common dust suppression method, however, is the wetting of coal with water. Water is inexpensive and large quantities can be added to eliminate dust. But the addition of water decreases the specific heating value of the coal.
In addition to water alone, other aqueous additives are known and used. These include solutions containing surfactants. Aqueous foams are known. Still further, aqueous compositions comprising asphalt emulsions or other organic coating materials may be used.
It is also known to apply oils and resins to reduce or eliminate dust. Oil spraying includes the use of crude, residual, waste or fuel oils.
Other liquids that may be applied to the coal to reduce dust include both synthetic and natural polymers. For instance, plant-material-containing liquids including sugar and sugar-related products are known. Other polymers that collect or stick to the dust particles have also been used.
Unrelated to the issue of reducing coal dust, it is also desirable to improve the complete combustion of coal. Carbon in fly ash results from the incomplete combustion of coal. Therefore, it is desirable to reduce the carbon in ash in order to reduce the overall amount of fly ash emission from a coal combustion chamber. Also, low carbon fly ash is easier to dispose of and more easily captured than high carbon fly ash by electrostatic precipitators that are often used to control particulate emissions.

Method and composition for suppressing coal dust


A power supply voltage output circuit includes: a power supply voltage generation unit generating a power supply voltage to be supplied into a ring oscillator; a reference clock oscillator oscillating a reference clock with respect to a clock oscillated by the ring oscillator; a phase difference detection unit detecting a phase difference between the clock from the ring oscillator and the reference clock from the reference clock oscillator; a filter unit smoothing an output of the phase difference detection unit; and a PWM signal generation unit generating a PWM signal based on an output of the filter unit such that the phase difference approaches zero.

An oscillation frequency of a ring oscillator depends on changes of ambient temperatures and power supply voltages.
Due to this, techniques for achieving a constant oscillation frequency of the ring oscillator have been proposed. For example, a delay time of a delay element in the ring oscillator is controlled by controlling a power supply voltage supplied to a ring oscillator, which may result in constant oscillation frequency.
Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2002-540668, for example, discloses a system which is provided with an oscillator, a delay circuit, and a loop controller. The system keeps a delay in a signal path in an integrated circuit (IC) constant. In the system, the oscillator generates a first reference signal. The delay circuit generates a second reference signal by delaying the first reference signal. The loop controller keeps a phase difference between the first reference signal and the second reference signal constant by adjusting electric power supplied to the IC.
The oscillator in the system includes a logic gate formed in the IC and a passive delay by which an output of the logic gate is fed back to an input. The delay circuit is adjusted to program the delay in the signal path through the IC.
However, the delay circuit that is programmably configured is not equivalent, in a precise sense, to a logic circuit because an output of the delay circuit varies. Moreover, according to a control method where a direct current signal is extracted from the phase difference by using a low-pass filter and where the direct current signal is converted into voltage by using a power amplifier, whereby the power supply voltage is fed back, the control accuracy of the power supply voltage has limitations because a fluctuation of the loop controller itself is not taken into consideration.
Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 2006-187153 discloses a system which compares an oscillation signal output from a ring oscillator formed on a semiconductor integrated circuit with a triangular wave signal output from an oscillator provided in a DC-DC converter. The system changes the output voltage by changing a comparison voltage which is used for a comparison with an output voltage, based on a result of the comparison.
In the system, the semiconductor integrated circuit achieves a rate of operation corresponding to that of the triangular wave signal by matching the oscillation signal of the ring oscillator with the triangular wave signal which serves as a reference signal.
However, because a phase comparator and a loop filter are formed of analog circuits, the control accuracy of the power supply voltage has limitations. Moreover, a lack of versatility may be a problem because it is not easy to change operating conditions of the phase comparator and/or the loop filter when the phase comparator and/or the loop filter are used for a different controlled target with respect to a controlled target intended at a design stage.
Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 2002-100967 discloses a system which is provided with a semiconductor integrated circuit, an input signal generation circuit, a monitor circuit, a delay detection circuit, and a power supply voltage control circuit. The input signal generation circuit changes a phase difference between a reference signal and an input signal in response to a control signal upon generation of the reference signal and the input signal from a clock signal. The monitor circuit has a power supply voltage versus delay characteristic which has an equivalent or similar value to a critical path of the semiconductor integrated circuit, and the monitor circuit propagates the input signal and outputs a delay signal that is delayed by a time equivalent or similar to the critical path. The delay detection circuit detects a delay in the delay signal relative to the reference signal. The power supply voltage control circuit controls power supply voltage supplied to the semiconductor integrated circuit and the monitor circuit based on a result of the detection.
Generally, a variation in the delay time of the delay element is not only caused by the variation in the power supply voltage but also caused by variations in the manufacturing processes, the environmental temperatures, or the like.
However, because the monitor circuit of a controlled target is disposed outside the semiconductor integrated circuit, the variation in the processes at manufacturing stages and the variation in the environmental temperatures when in use may influence the delay time of the delay element.
In line with a recent semiconductor manufacturing process, an accuracy demand for a delay time control of a delay element in a ring oscillator has been growing. Likewise, an accuracy demand for a power supply voltage control has been also growing.


A phase-contrast X-ray imaging system according to the present invention comprises an X-ray interferometer, wherein X-ray interfering beams thicker than 2 cm.times.2 cm are formed enabling observation of comparatively large objects. The X-ray interferometer is constituted by two crystal blocks which each are monolithically cut out from ingots of crystal and have two wafers which function as X-ray half mirrors. Optical equipment, a chamber, and a feedback system are incorporated to adjust and stabilize the crystal blocks. A device is also incorporated to obtain an image showing the distribution of the X-ray phase shift with which diagnosis become easier and reliable.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a phase-contrast X-ray imaging system, in detail relates to an X-ray imaging system which provides extremely high sensitivity compared with that provided by a conventional type X-ray imaging method depending upon absorption contrast. The phase-contrast X-ray imaging system according to the present invention is suitable for observing biological soft tissues and others whose X-ray absorbing power is small and provides a relatively wide view field, enabling medical diagnosis.
2. Description of the Related Art
All currently realized X-ray clinical imaging systems obtain an image contrast based upon the quantity of absorbed X-rays. Because heavier elements absorb more X-rays, an object containing more heavy elements creates clearer X-ray shadow. However, an object made of light elements (soft tissues, etc.) which does not absorb X-rays so much is too transparent for X-rays to create a sufficient contrast. When such an object is needed to be investigated with conventional clinical X-ray imaging systems, a contrast medium containing heavy elements is injected into a soft tissue although such an injection procedure is not always possible. In the case of an X-ray imaging system for diagnosing breast cancer (mammography), one compromises to use relatively low-energy X-rays to increase the sensitivity to soft tissues (in this case, breast cancer), because it is difficult to emphasize breast cancer with a contrast medium. Using low-energy X-rays bases on the fact that X-ray absorption coefficient is inversely proportional to the third power of X-ray energy and that comparatively clear contrast appears. However, as the dose of X-rays is also inversely proportional to the third power of X-ray energy, one has to compromise the increase in the dose of X-rays caused by using low-energy X-rays. Nevertheless, quality of obtained images is not always sufficient for medical diagnosis.
On the other hand, there is an imaging method for obtaining a contrast from X-ray phase shift instead of X-ray absorption. As the interaction cross section of the X-ray phase shift is approximately a thousand times as large as the interaction cross section of X-ray absorption for light elements, observation is possible with sensitivity several hundreds times higher than the absorption-contrast method. This suggests that weakly X-ray absorbing objects can be observed without using special contrast media, and the sensitivity of phase-contrast X-ray imaging was demonstrated experimentally using an X-ray interferometer. However, there is no X-ray interferometer whose size is sufficiently large for a clinical use. Several-millimeter view field has ever been realized in Phase-contrast X-ray radiography (A. Momose, et al., Med. Phys., 22, 375-380 (1995)) and Phase-contrast computed tomography (A. Momose, et al., Rev. Sci. Instrum. 66, 1434-1436 (1995), the U.S. patent application Ser. No. 5,173,928).
Currently known typical X-ray interferometers are monolithically cut out from an ingot of single crystal of silicon or others as shown in FIG. 1. Three wafers 1 to 3 are formed in parallel each other with the same gap between them. When an incident X-ray beam 4 satisfies the Bragg diffraction condition for lattice planes 5, the incident X-ray beam 4 is separated into two beams 6a and 7a. The beam 6a is similarly separated into two beams 6b and 6c and the beam 7a into two beams 7b and 7c by the second wafer 2. The beams 6b and 7b are mixed by the third wafer 3 and interfere each other. That is, the three wafers 1 to 3 function as X-ray half mirrors, and two paths of interferring beams are formed. When an object 8 is inserted in one of the paths of the interfering beams, for example the beam 6b, the phase of the beam shifts and an interference pattern is formed in X-ray beams 6d and 7d outgoing from the third wafer 3. As the size of a view field is equivalent to the thickness of X-ray beams through the interferometer and two beam paths 6a to 6b and 7a to 7b are required to be spatially separated completely, a large interferometer is needed to provide a large view field. Estimating from the size of silicon ingots currently available, the maximum view field is approximately 2 cm.times.2 cm.
An X-ray interferometer comprising separated two crystal blocks which each have two X-ray half mirrors was reported by P. Becker and U. Bonse in J. Appl. Cryst. 7, 593-598 (1974). They studied a basic function of the separated X-ray interferometer and reported interference patterns with a size of 4 mm.times.8 mm. However, no remarkable development has not been reported to provide a large view field.


An information memory device using an electromagnetic-wave resonance phenomenon is provided to achieve both high density and long-period storage of stored data. Memory cells are three-dimensionally arranged in the inside of a solid-like medium which is not contacted with a surface of the medium, and the memory cell has resonance characteristics to electromagnetic waves depending on the space coordinates of the memory cell. For the medium, a material is selected so that an electromagnetic wave having the resonance frequency of the memory cell. By observing absorption spectra of the irradiated electromagnetic wave or emission spectra after the absorption, three-dimensional space coordinates of the memory cell are calculated.

Achievement of high-performance of devices handling digital information such as images and sound has been rapidly advanced, and according to this, achievement of high-integration of information storage devices which store digital information has been notably progressed. Typical storage devices for digital information include semiconductor memories, hard disks, optical discs and others, and they are widely used for memorizing various types of digital information such as music, image, and text. On the other hand, various ideas have been studied to seek a novel memory method. For example, examples of information storage devices using totally different means from those described above are disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2007-4325 (Patent Document 1) and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. H11-102584 (Patent Document 2) described below.
Patent Document 1 discloses an example of an ID card using electron spin resonance.
Patent Document 2 discloses an example of a three-dimensional memory using resonance phenomenon such as nuclear spin put in a magnetic field.
In addition, while respective documents will be described later, there are documents for reference to understand the invention of the present application such as Japanese Patent No. 3011378 (Patent Document 3), C. P. Slichter, "Principles of Magnetic Resonance", 3rd edition, Springer-Verlag, 1990, Sections 1 and 2, p. 1-59 (Non-Patent Document 1), and Azriel Rosenfeld and Avinash C. Kak, "Digital Picture Processing", Second Edition, Volume 1, Academic Press Inc., Section 8, p. 353-430 (Non-Patent Document 2).

Information memory device and memory medium


A lightweight patch radiator phased array antenna having a single layer patch construction on an artificial dielectric, such as syntactic foam, which achieves a factor-of-ten weight savings over an array constructed with conventional materials. An additional sixty-five percent weight reduction is achieved by cutting away the dielectric material down to the array antenna's ground plane everywhere except under the patch radiator. This construction allows placement of a thermal control material over the patch and ground plane for space applications.

This invention relates generally to antennas and in particular to a lightweight patch radiator antenna for use in an airborne or spaceborne phased array antenna.
It is known in the art that a patch radiator consists of a conductive plate, or patch,. separated from a ground plane by a dielectric medium. When an RF current is conducted within the cavity formed between the patch and its ground plane, an electric field is excited between the two conductive surfaces. It is the ,fringe field, at the outer edges of the patch, that launches the useable electromagnetic waves into free space.
Patch elements are advantageous in phased arrays because they are compact, they can be integrated into a microwave array very conveniently, they support a variety of feed configurations, and they are capable of generating circular polarization. They also have the advantage of cost effective printed circuit manufacture of large arrays of elements.
For some applications a major drawback to the use of phased array antenna systems is their high cost because of the need for hundreds or thousands of antenna elements and associated transmit/receive circuitry. For other applications such as a spaceborne application, weight is a critical factor. Prior art materials used in patch radiator antennas, having a dielectric constant of approximately 2 such as a Teflon-fiberglass material known as Duroid 5880, may result in a considerable weight contribution to the total weight of an antenna depending on its size. Duroid is a registered trademark of Rogers Corporation of Chandler, Arizona. A patch radiator antenna using Duroid material is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,008,681, "Microstrip Antenna with Parasitic Elements," issued to Nunzio M. Cavallaro et al., and assigned to Raytheon Company of Lexington, Massachusetts. The present invention of a lightweight patch radiator antenna reduces the weight drawback and thermal control considerations related to the array antenna surface coatings in spaceborne applications.


An excitation signal coding apparatus capable of improving an error resilience by changing an excitation vector search method (more specifically, an error minimization criterion during a search). This coding apparatus is allowed to choose either of an ordinary search method and the search method of the present invention with using information input from a transmission channel condition monitoring section (215). That is, an ordinary search method is used when the transmission channel condition is good and no packet discarding is observed on the receiving side, and the search method of the present invention is used otherwise (when packet discarding is observed on the receiving side at a discarding rate of 5% or more, for example).

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an excitation signal coding apparatus and an excitation signal coding method.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, a CELP (code excitation linear prediction) speech coding scheme generally uses, as an excitation coding means, a configuration provided with two types of excitation codebooks; a codebook whose contents are adaptively changed based on past output and a codebook with predetermined fixed contents, excitation signals being coded with the sum of vectors output from these two types of codebooks.
More specifically, it is a general practice that an adaptive codebook which is a buffer of coding excitation vectors generated in the past is used as the codebook of the former and an algebraic codebook, noise codebook or random codebook, etc., is used as the codebook of the latter. Here, the codebook of the former will be referred to as an "adaptive codebook" and the codebook of the latter will be referred to as a "fixed codebook."
FIG. 1 illustrates a general CELP coding model. A first excitation vector yi is output from an adaptive codebook 1, multiplied by g1 by a multiplier 2 and input to an adder 3. A second excitation vector zj is output from a fixed codebook 4, multiplied by g2 by a multiplier 5 and input to the adder 3. The adder 3 adds up the first excitation vector yi multiplied by g1 and the second excitation vector zj multiplied by g2, outputs the addition result to a synthesis filter 6 and the adaptive codebook 1 simultaneously.
The excitation vector (g1yi+g2zj) output to the adaptive codebook 1 is used to update the adaptive codebook 1. The synthesis filter 6 uses a separately input quantized quantization linear predictive coefficient ap and the excitation vector input from the adder 3 to combine a synthesized speech signal s according to the following Expression (1). In Expression (1), L denotes a vector length (subframe length)
                                          s                                      (              n              )                                =                                                    ∑                                  p                  =                  1                                P                                                                            a                  p                                                                  s                                                        (                                          n                      -                      p                                        )                                                                        +                          (                                                                    g                    1                                                                                y                      i                                                                                (                      n                      )                                                                      +                                                      g                    2                                                                                z                      j                                                                                (                      n                      )                                                                                )                                      ,                                                    n          =          0                ,        1        ,        2        ,        ⋯                                          ,                  L          -          1                                    (        1        )
The synthesized speech signal s output from the synthesis filter 6 is input to an adder 7. The adder 7 calculates an error between the synthesized speech signal s and the input speech signal and outputs the error to a weighting filter 8. The weighting filter 8 carries out perceptual weighting on the error signal input from the adder 7 and outputs the weighted signal. Here, for the second excitation vector output from the fixed codebook 4, pitch synchronization processing is generally carried out when a pitch period is shorter than the vector length, and such processing is processing expressed, for example, by zj(n)=zj(n)+β×zj(n−T) (β denotes a period gain factor, T denotes a pitch period), but this processing is omitted here.
Next, it is an excitation search that determines a first excitation vector yi, second excitation vector zj, first excitation vector gain g1 and second excitation vector gain g2 so as to minimize the perceptual weighted error signal output from the weighting filter 8 and more specifically the excitation search is carried out in the processing flow shown in FIG. 2.
First, in step S101, an adaptive codebook search (selection of a first excitation vector) is performed. This adaptive codebook search is performed so as to minimize the perceptual weighted error signal without using the fixed codebook. A more specific expression is Expression (2) shown in step S101 in FIG. 2 and the first excitation vector yi and first excitation vector gain g1 which minimize this value are determined. In Expression (2), x denotes a target vector, g1 denotes a first excitation vector gain, H denotes a filter impulse response convolutional matrix and yi denotes a first excitation vector.
More specifically, the first excitation vector yi is determined by maximizing Expression (3) shown below and the first excitation vector gain g1 at this time is expressed by Expression (4) shown below. In Expressions (3), (4), Yi denotes a perceptual weighted synthesized speech signal obtained by convoluting an impulse response h of a filter which is a cascaded filter of the synthesis filter 6 and weighting filter 8 into the first excitation vector yi and x is a target vector (vector which becomes a target for a signal combined from excitation vectors, and when the vector combined from the excitation vectors matches this vector, this means that the input speech signal matches the synthesized speech signal) obtained by subtracting the signal resulting from a zero-input response of the synthesis filter 6 passed through the weighting filter 8 from the output signal (perceptual weighting speech signal) when an input speech signal is input to the weighting filter 8. The first excitation vector gain g1 may be quantized or coded here or may also be quantized or coded through simultaneous optimization of the first excitation vector gain g1 and second excitation vector gain g2 after a fixed codebook search is completed in next step S102. The way of quantization/coding is not particularly limited here.
                                          (                                          ∑                                  n                  =                  0                                                  L                  -                  1                                                                                x                                                        (                    n                    )                                                                                Y                    i                                                                          (                    n                    )                                                                        )                    2                                      ∑                          n              =              0                                      L              -              1                                                                                Y                i                                                          (                n                )                                                                                Y                i                                                          (                n                )                                                                        (        3        )                                                      ∑                          n              =              0                                      L              -              1                                                                    x                                            (                n                )                                                                                Y                i                                                          (                n                )                                                                          ∑                          n              =              0                                      L              -              1                                                                                Y                i                                                          (                n                )                                                                                Y                i                                                          (                n                )                                                                        (        4        )
Next, in step S102, a fixed codebook search (selection of second excitation vector zj) is performed. Here, in combination with the already determined first excitation vector yi, a second excitation vector zj and second excitation vector gain g2 are determined so as to minimize the error relative to the target vector x. A specific expression is Expression (5) shown in step S102 in FIG. 2 and zj and g2 are determined so as to minimize this value. In Expression (5), g2 denotes a second excitation vector gain and zj denotes a second excitation vector.
Minimizing Expression (2) determines the first excitation vector yi and the first excitation vector gain g1, and therefore a cross-correlation between the target vector x and second excitation vector zj normally diminishes. Such tendency is noticeable in the case of a periodic signal in particular.
As shown in FIG. 1, since the adaptive codebook for generating the first excitation vector yi is the buffer of the excitation vectors generated in the past, when the contents of the adaptive codebook as the buffer differ from the original contents due to transmission errors or frame loss, etc., the adaptive codebook cannot generate correct first excitation vector yi even if correct excitation coding information is received. On the other hand, the second excitation vector zj is generated correctly if a correct code is received, but when a periodic signal is coded as described above, the coding (codebook search) is performed so that there is no strong correlation between the second excitation vector zi and target vector x, and therefore it is not possible to generate a signal close to the target vector x, which causes the influence of an error to be propagated for a long time.
To solve this problem, an adaptive codebook in a different configuration which is less affected by errors is conventionally proposed.
For example, the Unexamined Japanese Patent Publication No. HEI 5-73097 adopts a configuration which generates a first excitation vector by adding up vectors extracted from a plurality of past points in time. Even if part of the buffer does not constitute a correct signal due to influences of transmission path errors, using vectors extracted from a plurality of past points in time can reduce the influences of errors with the presence of the vectors extracted from different points in time free of the influences of errors.
Furthermore, the Japanese Patent Publication No. 2700974 and K. Mano et al, "Design of a pitch synchronous innovation CELP coder for mobile communications," (IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications, vol. 13, issue 1, January 1995 pp. 31-41) adopt a configuration of switching between adaptive codebook and fixed codebook (used here instead of an adaptive codebook, but different in meaning from the fixed codebook used in the present application) and achieving the effect of resetting the adaptive codebook, which can suppress erroneous propagation compared to a case where no switching is performed.
Furthermore, for example, C. Montminy and T. Abulasr: "Improving the performance of ITU-T G.729A for VoIP" (proc. IEEE ICME2000, pp. 433-436 (2000)) also studies the feasibility of suppressing erroneous propagation by periodically resetting the contents of an adaptive codebook without changing any coding algorithm.
However, changing the configuration of the adaptive codebook itself as described above may cause an amount of memory, amount of calculation or the scale of a program, etc., to increase. Furthermore, when a specific algorithm defined by standards, etc., needs to be used, it is not possible to change the configuration of the adaptive codebook itself to improve the error characteristic as described above. Though the technique described in Non-Patent Document 2 has no such problems, but has considerable deterioration of quality after reset and fails to achieve effects in frames which are not reset.

Apparatus and method for coding excitation signal

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


Provided is a waveguide interconnection apparatus making rectangular interconnecting portions to be a curved structure, whereby it is possible to reduce a signal reflection and a signal loss due to a mismatch occurred from a discontinuous portion where waveguides are perpendicularly connected to each other, and fabricate package products having excellent performances compared to that of the prior art in the same chip and structure.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a waveguide interconnection apparatus implementing low signal loss when interconnecting waveguides in an ultrahigh frequency circuit package and, more particularly, to a waveguide interconnection apparatus, which can reduce a signal reflection and a signal loss due to a mismatch occurred from discontinuous portions (i.e., edge) where the waveguides are perpendicularly connected to each other by making the rectangular interconnecting portion be a curved structure.
2. Discussion of Related Art
When two waveguides are interconnected in a rectangular portion in a waveguide interconnection apparatus of the prior art, discontinuity due to an occurrence of edge leads to a signal reflection and hence a signal loss. To reduce such signal loss, two waveguides have been interconnected each other to be curved, which have no discontinuous portions for the signal transmission. This is for the purpose of producing a package product with superior performance to the conventional method having the same chip and structure when the method proposed by the present invention is applied.
A waveguide interconnection apparatus in accordance with a prior art has been disclosed in the U.S. Pat. No. 5,929,728.
Hereinafter, the waveguide interconnection apparatus in accordance with the prior art will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1A shows a schematic view of the waveguide interconnection apparatus in accordance with the prior art, and FIG. 1B shows a detailed view of the interconnection structure of the waveguide interconnection apparatus in accordance with the prior art.
Referring to FIG. 1A, the waveguide interconnection apparatus of the prior art consists of an upper housing 10, an intermediate housing 20, and a lower housing 30, wherein the shape of two adjacent housings is rectangle. Furthermore, an upper waveguide 10a, an intermediate waveguide 20a, and a lower waveguide 30a are included in the upper housing 10, the intermediate housing 20, and the lower housing 30, respectively.
To detail the ultrahigh frequency signal propagated through the cross-sectional view of the waveguide interconnection apparatus in accordance with the prior art, the ultrahigh frequency signal propagates through waveguides such that it does through the intermediate waveguide 20a of the intermediate housing 20 to pass the lower waveguide 30a of the lower housing 30 after it is inputted from the upper waveguide 10a of the upper housing 10 in a structure having its outer surface covered with a conductive material.
In this case, edge portions occur where the upper waveguide 10a of the upper housing 10 and the intermediate waveguide 20a of the intermediate housing 20 are contacted and where the intermediate waveguide 20a of the intermediate housing 20 and the lower waveguide 30a of the lower housing 30 are contacted during the signal propagation.
As such, these edge portions become discontinuous portions of the signal propagation, which cause a signal reflection and a signal loss due to a mismatch therefrom. In other words, when the waveguide interconnection apparatus in accordance with the prior art is employed, the above-mentioned discontinuous portions occur, which causes the waveguide structure to have the signal mismatch and a predetermined amount of signal attenuation.
Meanwhile, the upper housing 10, the intermediate housing 20, and the lower housing 30 can be produced in simple and low-cost manners such that rectangular parallelepiped waveguides are punched within a rectangular parallelepiped conductive structure, so that it is advantageous to fabricate a small-sized structure.
However, the waveguide interconnection apparatus fabricated by the above-mentioned prior art has the signal reflection and the signal loss due to a mismatch occurred from the discontinuous portions of the waveguides, which causes degradation of original performance of a semiconductor chip.
Therefore, according to the conventional method for interconnecting waveguides within a package having the waveguide structure, a mismatch occurred from discontinuous portions (i.e., edge) where the waveguides are perpendicularly connected to each other causes the signal reflection and the signal loss.

Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute


A constructing method by using waste tires includes cutting sidewalls from waste tires; connecting multiple waste tires in series together by the sidewalls to form a layer of waste tires; filling the waste tires with ballast; and stacking another layer of waste tires on the previous layer with a staggered arrangement. An end member, being composed of a cut waste tire with two ends connected to an outer periphery of an unbroken waste tire, is provided at an end portion of the layers. Whereby, the construction built from waste tires can be used in projects such as a protection slope, road berm, riverbank, riverbed, etc., and has a good strength and a low cost.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a construction built from waste tires and its constructing method and, more particularly, to construction used in projects such as in a protection slope, road berm, riverbank, or riverbed.
2. Description of Related Art
All types of tires have a finite work-life and need to be replaced at some time. However, the disposal of the used tires is a big problem, because they are made of rubber which will cause serious air pollution if burned. Hence, it is important to effectively recycle the waste tires to avoid polluting the air.
A second problem to the environment is the erosion of hillsides, slopes, etc., due to deforestation, and a single solution to the waste tire and erosion problems would be very convenient. Hence, it has been proposed to recycle the tires on the hillsides, etc., in the following manners:
1. Multiple waste tires are connected in series on slopes of the roads and fixed by rods arranged in longitudinal directions. However, this construction collapses easily due to a weak sustaining power of the rods.
2. A second utilization of the waste tires is on bulwarks. The waste tires are filled with concrete and placed on the bulwarks. However, the price of the concrete tires high, thereby making the cost of the second utilization uneconomical.
3. Another conventional structure to protect slopes includes baskets each filled with stones and placed on the slopes. However, for preventing the stones from escaping from meshes of the baskets, the stones with sizes smaller than that of the meshes must be filtered out before the larger stones can be put into the basket. Therefore, the cost of the third conventional structure is also high.
Therefore, the invention provides a construction built from waste tires and its constructing method to mitigate or obviate the aforementioned problems.

Construction built from waste tires and its constructing method


A representative embodiment provides for an automatic document feeder apparatus configured for use in conjunction with an imaging device, and includes a feed guide supported in spaced overlying relation to a scan window of the imaging device. The automatic document feeder further includes a first document guide and a second document guide. The first and second document guides are supported in spaced relation to each other and are configured to guide a sheet media between the feed guide and the scan window. In use, the sheet media is the only element present between the scan window and the feed guide. Another representative embodiment provides for a method of automatically feeding documents, including guiding a sheet media into a gap that is defined by a scan window and a feed guide, and guiding the sheet media out of the gap.

Use of automatic document feeder (ADF) devices in conjunction with imaging equipment is known. Typically, ADFs transport and guide sheet media past a portion of a glass sheet or scan window. A scanning device underlying the scan window optically reads any markings that may be present on the sheet media, and transfers corresponding signals to an imaging system. The imaging system then performs any number of tasks using the signals, such as forming a copy or sending a facsimile of the scanned media, etc.
One aspect of importance to the media scanning process is the proximity of the scanned media to the scan window. The scan window is typically an optically transparent element through which a scanning light source and sensor or the like projects light towards the sheet media as the sheet is moved past the scan window. The scan window also allows for light reflected from the document being scanned to be projected to a photosensor array to thereby allow an image on the scanned sheet to be recorded. The scan window can be a separate component, or it can be a defined portion of a larger platen, as in the case of a flat bed scanner that is provided with an ADF. In the latter case, a document can be scanned by either providing it to the scan window via the ADF, or by placing the document directly on the platen.
In the case where a document is scanned from the ADF, the document is moved past the scan window while the scanning device (which incorporates the scanning light source) is held stationary; in the case where a document is scanned from the platen, the document is held stationary while the scanning device is moved past the document.
Monochrome (i.e., black and white) image scanning is relatively tolerant of varying distance (or "flutter") between the sheet media and the scan window. In contrast, color image scanning requires a more tightly controlled distance between the media and the scan window, so as to avoid problems in color recognition (i.e., registration). Therefore, ADF devices used in color imaging equipment require a sheet media guidance design that is generally more complex and has a tighter tolerance than that of a monochrome imaging system.
One approach to providing an ADF for use in color imaging involves the use of a transparent sheet guide element. The transparent sheet guide is located within a gap between an overlying feed guide and the underlying scan window. The transparent guide element has a curvature that serves to guide flexible sheet media through the gap during a scanning operation.
During the course of repeated use, the transparent guide element can become soiled or scratched, resulting in unsatisfactory color registration and image quality (i.e., poor copies or facsimiles). Correcting this soiled or scratched condition generally requires a user to remove the transparent guide element from the associated ADF and either clean and reinstall the guide element, or replace it with a new guide element. In any case, the corrective maintenance procedure is both time consuming and undesirable.
Therefore, it is desirable to provide an improved automatic document feeder that avoids the maintenance burdens described above.

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


A cooking appliance (1) of the grill or barbecue type, comprises a frame (10) supporting a cooking surface (2) on which foodstuffs to be cooked can be arranged, and a heating surface (3) arranged opposite said cooking surface (2). The frame (10) defines a housing (4) parallel to a horizontal plane (P) and designed to accommodate the cooking surface (2) between a storage position in which it lies on the bottom of the housing (4) and a use position in which it is inclined at an angle α to said horizontal plane (P). The heating surface (3) is connected to the frame (10) by a hinge (5) allowing the displacement of the heating surface (3) between a passive position in which it closes the housing (4) and an active position in which it is inclined at an angle β to the horizontal plane (P), the housing (4) is open and the cooking surface (2) can be deployed and positioned opposite the heating surface (3). The cooking surface (2) is arranged between the horizontal plane (P) and the heating surface (3) so that the substances released by the foodstuffs while they cook do not run onto the heating surface (3).

Numerous cooking appliances of the barbecue or grill type currently exist on the market, intended for the general public or reserved for professional use, the various models differing from each other mainly by the source of heat used to cook the foodstuffs.
Thus, while some grill the foodstuffs using embers or smoke obtained by burning wood or charcoal, others are based on the use of an electric element or a gas burner.
Irrespective of the heat source used, most traditional barbecues are designed so that the cooking surface on which the foodstuffs are arranged, generally a grill, plate or skewer, and the heating surface containing the embers, the electrical element or the gas burner, are located opposite each other in superimposed planes, said cooking surface being above said heating surface.
Thus, publication U.S. Pat. No. 3,389,651, for example, describes a grill burning charcoal, comprising a cooking surface and a heating surface inclined at 45° to the ground, and in which the cooking surface extends above the heating surface. With this type of configuration in which the cooking surface is above the heating surface, at least some of the cooking juices and fats running from the foodstuffs while they cook inevitably fall onto the heat source located below, and are immediately carbonized, generating toxic smoke containing compounds recognized as being highly carcinogenic. These compounds may in particular prove especially dangerous when using this type of cooking appliance in a closed environment, such as an apartment. Furthermore, the cooking appliance described in publication U.S. Pat. No. 3,389,651 may prove dangerous and in particular start a fire due to the type of fuel used or cause burns since no heat protection is planned for the user. Consequently, the user must remain permanently vigilant with this type of cooking appliance. In addition, the efficiency of this type of appliance is limited due to the fact that the foodstuffs are cooked by radiation through perforated sheets, and not directly.
Other solutions are also known, developed to avoid any contact between the substances running from the foodstuffs and said heating surface, to limit the emission of toxic and unpleasant smoke.
One of these, well known by those skilled in the art and described in particular in document FR 2 851 445, is based on the implementation of vertical cooking using cooking and heating surfaces placed opposite each other in vertical planes.
Nevertheless, while it reduces the quantity of toxic smoke caused by carbonization of the fats, this solution is not always entirely satisfactory.
Indeed, it has been observed that the fats running from the foodstuffs placed in the upper part of the cooking surface drip along the foodstuffs placed at lower levels, sometimes causing them to catch fire. In addition, although to a lesser extent, the fats always splash onto the heating surface, producing smells and other unpleasant fumes. Consequently therefore, this type of cooking appliance is not suitable for healthy cooking in an indoor environment.
Another alternative, known from document FR 2 527 919, is defined by an electric barbecue in which said cooking and heating surfaces are also arranged opposite each other in horizontal planes but where, however, said heating surface is located above said cooking surface. Once again, the problem of toxic smoke is not fully resolved, since the fats always splash onto the electrical element where they are carbonized, emitting smoke and unpleasant smells.
Another solution, described in publication DE 91 12 110 concerns a barbecue fueled with charcoal. It comprises an ember tray whose front side, equipped with slots, defines a heating surface inclined at a closed angle with respect to the horizontal. The ember tray is supported by a frame comprising means for receiving a cooking grill intended to be placed opposite the front side of the ember tray in an inclined plane parallel to that of said front side. The ember tray is free to move horizontally with respect to the cooking grill, either towards it or away from it to regulate the cooking power. The barbecue also comprises a surface to catch the fats running from the foodstuffs while they cook. Although it limits the emission of toxic and unpleasant smoke, this type of barbecue nevertheless exhibits several drawbacks such as pollution of the foodstuffs by the combustion products, i.e. the embers and the ashes. Indeed, it does not remove the risks of burns for the user or the risks of fire due to the use of embers, which also limits its implementation to an outdoor environment and prevents any use in apartment. In addition, it is very bulky which means that a large storage area is required and it is difficult to transport.
Furthermore, like the devices mentioned above, the traditional cooking appliances of grill or barbecue type are not satisfactory as regards the heat sources commonly implemented.
Wood, in fact, not only has a certain degree of inertia but may also be dangerous. In addition, numerous traditional cooking appliances of grill or barbecue type operate in an "all or nothing" mode and allow no adjustment of the cooking temperature. Consequently, the foodstuffs must be monitored constantly during cooking then moved away from the heating surface as soon as the desired degree of cooking has been obtained, offering little flexibility and little possibility of keeping the foodstuffs hot after cooking.

Cooking appliance of the grill or barbecue type