A loudspeaker system includes an enclosure (1) which accommodates a loudspeaker device (3) and a bass-reflex port (5) having two open ends (5b, 5c). The port has a longitudinal axis (5a) and a length (L) defined by the two open ends, and has a passage which flares towards the two open ends. This provides flared portions (5d, 5e) which extend over a substantial part of the length of the port. In order to minimize undesirable noises and distortions, the flared portions, in a longitudinal section of the port, have bounding lines (7) which extend at an angle .alpha. having a value of between 3.degree. and 12.degree. with respect to the longitudinal axis of the port.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a loudspeaker system comprising an enclosure which accommodates a loudspeaker device and a bass-reflex port having two open ends, this port having a longitudinal axis and a length defined by the two open ends, and having a passage which flares towards the two open ends, flared portions being present, these flared portions extending over a substantial part of the length of the port.
2. Description of the Related Art
A bass-reflex port is essentially an open duct by means of which an internal volume of a loudspeaker enclosure communicates with the medium outside the enclosure, a first open end being situated inside the enclosure and a second open end being situated outside the enclosure. Such a port enhances the sound reproduction in the lower range of the frequency spectrum. The effect of the bass-reflex port is based on the Helmholtz resonator principle, which is known per se, the frequency of the reproduced sound being dependent on the volume of the enclosure, the length and cross-section of the port and the velocity of sound. Small loudspeaker enclosures require a port of comparatively small cross-section. However, in order to obtain the same sound pressure at or near the Helmholtz frequency in a small enclosure as in a large enclosure, it is necessary that, per unit of time, the same amount of air flows through the port. This means that the flow velocity of the air in the port is comparatively high for a small enclosure. It has been found that when known bass-reflex ports are used, these ports having a constant cross-section, a high sound level at or near the Helmholtz frequency is accompanied by noises, acoustic losses and distortions of the sound.
International Application WO-A 90/11668 discloses a loudspeaker system, which comprises a bass-reflex cabinet with a loudspeaker and a duct. The duct provides the communication between the interior and the exterior of the cabinet and constitutes an adapter of converging-diverging longitudinal section. Shapes proposed for the adapter are conical, exponential and hyperbolic profiles, the asymptote to the adapter being required to extend at an angle of between 30.degree. and 50.degree. with respect to the longitudinal direction. The adapter used in the known loudspeaker system serves to take the place of a duct of constant cross-section.

Loudspeaker system having a bass-reflex port


A deployment device having a carrier tube, for bringing a sealing plug into position within a puncture tract or incision and deploying the sealing plug within the incision or puncture tract, towards the outer surface of a tissue puncture, is provided. The carrier tube is designed to facilitate easier deployment and improved compaction of the sealing plug, the sealing plug often made of collagen. The carrier tube is adapted to prevent the premature hydration of the sealing plug, where premature hydration of the sealing plug may result in difficulty in deploying the sealing plug. The carrier tube is designed to facilitate easier loading of puncture tract closing elements into the distal end of the carrier tube.

Various surgical procedures are routinely carried out intravascularly or intraluminally. For example, in the treatment of vascular disease, such as arteriosclerosis, it is a common practice to invade the artery and insert an instrument (e.g., a balloon or other type of catheter) to carry out a procedure within the artery. Such procedures usually involve the percutaneous puncture of the artery so that an insertion sheath can be placed in the artery and thereafter instruments (e.g., catheter) can pass through the sheath and to an operative position within the artery. Intravascular and intraluminal procedures unavoidably present the problem of stopping the bleeding at the percutaneous puncture after the procedure has been completed and after the instruments (and any insertion sheaths used therewith) have been removed. Bleeding from puncture sites, particularly in the case of femoral arterial punctures, is typically stopped by utilizing vascular closure devices, such as those described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,045,569; 6,090,130; 7,618,436; 7,749,248; 7,837,705; 7,931,670, and related patents and patent applications, all of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
Typical closure tools or devices such as the ones described in the above-mentioned patents and patent applications place a sealing plug at one side of the tissue puncture site and an anchor on the other side of the tissue puncture site. Successful deployment of the sealing plug requires that it be ejected from within a device sheath or carrier tube into the incision or puncture tract and tamped down to an outer surface of the tissue puncture using a tamping tube (also called a compaction tube). The carrier tube extends from the proximal end to the distal end of the closure tool and includes an outlet at the distal end. The carrier tube can be made of plastic or other material and is designed for insertion through a sheath, and the sheath is designed for insertion through a percutaneous incision in a tissue layer and into a lumen. The sealing plug is initially disposed within the carrier tube, prior to deployment, and the anchor is positioned axially along the carrier tube. When the carrier tube is pulled away from the sealing plug and anchor, after the anchor has been positioned, for example, in a lumen, the sealing plug is deployed into the puncture tract. The carrier tube also houses a tamping device within, and the tamping device advances the sealing plug towards the anchor.
In a manually operated tool, the tamping procedure cannot commence until the carrier tube (within which the tamping device, such as a tamping tube, is located) has been removed so as to expose the tamping tube for manual grasping. The tamping tube is manually grasped and tamped against the sealing plug, setting the sealing plug within the incision or puncture tract, against an outer surface of the tissue puncture. In an automatic tamping system, the closure tool can have an automatic driving mechanism for automatically tamping the sealing plug within the incision or puncture tract toward the outer surface of the tissue puncture. The closure tool can have a tamping tube or tamping rack disposed adjacent to the sealing plug, such that the tamping tube or rack is driven by the automatic driving mechanism to tamp the sealing plug into the desired placement.
Under certain conditions, the sealing plug may need to be ejected from the carrier tube earlier than is usual or expected. In addition, the sealing plug may react with bodily fluids prior to deployment and, thus, make deployment not as easy as expected. Further, easier, more efficient, loading of the sealant plug and knot into the carrier tube would assist in decreasing manufacturing cycle time, and hence boost manufacturing efficiency and productivity. Accordingly, there is a need for improving the mechanism for deployment of the sealing plug at the site of a tissue puncture or incision, and improving manufacturing cycle time for the loaded carrier tube.


The present invention discloses a lockable handle system for a wheeled luggage that includes a lock housing, a push shaft and a sliding lock pin assembled in an inner tubing of the pull handle system such that during normal usage, a button on the push shaft protrudes from the top surface of the pull handle and the sliding lock pin engages the inner tubing to the outer tubing of the pull handle such that the handle system is locked in place. When the handle system is to be released and extended for usage, the button on the push shaft can be pressed down to retract the sliding locking pin from the outer tubing back into the inner tubing and thereby releasing the inner tubing and enabling it to be extended away from the outer tubing.

Wheeled luggage has been popularly used in recent years by travelers in either airplane or any other forms of traveling. In the development of a wheeled luggage, several important and desirable characteristics must be satisfied. First, the luggage needs to be rigidly constructed and to have sufficient rigidity to survive rough handling on the streets, in and out of buildings having ascending or descending steps, and in and out of various forms of carriers such as a motor vehicle, a train or an airplane. Secondly, the wheeled luggage should have adequate wheel means such that a traveler can pull a luggage along on a pavement or other surfaces with relative ease. Thirdly, the wheeled luggage should have a convenient handle system such that it can be stowed securely when not in use. Wheeled luggage available in the market today do not have means for locking a handle system. This creates problems when the luggage is being shipped and handled, i.e., at an airport. When the luggage is positioned sideways or in an upside down position, the gravity of the handle may extend the handle such that various problems can occur such as damages to an automated luggage conveyor system.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a wheeled luggage that is equipped with a handle system which does not have the drawbacks or shortcomings of a conventional handle on a wheeled luggage.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a wheeled luggage that is equipped with a handle system that can be locked during shipment of the luggage.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a wheeled luggage that is equipped with a lockable handle system that prevents the handle from being extended accidentally.

Lockable handle system for wheeled luggage


Computer systems have the ability to monitor their components and operations, generate events which indicate the occurrence of a monitored condition (e.g. out of paper, Joe Smith just signed on, disk utilization nearing capacity, etc.), and process these events in some manner. The present invention provides significant enhancements to the latter capability.. The events of an event stream or streams are "filtered" into categories or groups of events. Once categorized, the invention associates an action or actions with the categorized event. The associated action can be logging the event, routing the event to the electronic address of a user, or sending the event to an application program for further processing.

The system software of today's single and multiple processor environments usually includes a crude event handling mechanism. The purpose of this mechanism is to provide some degree of control for the potentially large amount of event traffic on the system's communication networks. It is the responsibility of an event handling mechanism to route and/or coordinate the event traffic to best utilize the resources of the system. Existing event handler implementations perform various operations on an event stream. Examples include the deletion, logging, and/or display of certain events, usually on a system console monitored by a system administrator. These event handlers are "hard coded" to handle particular events and particular streams of events. When new events are added to an event stream, major modifications to the event handler must in turn be made to accommodate them. In some cases an entire new event handler is required. A new event handler is almost always required whenever support for a new or different event stream protocol is desired. This situation is further complicated when one considers a system that supports multiple event streams and thus includes multiple event handlers. In this latter system, the addition of a newly supported protocol not only means that a new event handler is required, but it also means that the software that coordinates the event handlers must also be rewritten.
The result of the cost and complexity associated with these modifications is the inability to provide significant function to the end user (e.g., system administrator). For the most part, the example functions cited above (i.e., deletion, logging, and display on a system console) typify current event handler implementations. This limited function in turn results in several problems: entire categories of events must be deleted to accommodate more important categories, some events are never seen because the system console is unattended when an event appears, and logs are so large that it is difficult to detect events of significance. In general, this makes the system administrator task more difficult because that person has only limited control over a large portion of the information necessary to perform their job.

Event handling mechanism having a process and an action association process

International Business Machines Corporation


The tape dispensers of the present invention employ a variety of features which may be used singly or in conjunction with the other features. The features include a mechanism which extends the blade when pivotal pressure is applied to a shield or lever, thus enabling the use of a sharper blade, and in a more extended configuration during the cutting of tape. Another feature is the fitting of a smaller sized spool to engage smaller diameter cores on which tape is provided with an adapter which fits onto the smaller sized spool and having a helixed slot is provided to insure that as the tape is being dispensed, the adapter is continuously urged into full engagement with the smaller sized spool. Other features are embodied into a base-type tape dispenser which includes a manual mechanism for obtaining lengths of tape, combined with the use of the portable portion which may be removed and used as a hand-held dispenser. Another feature is in the use of a single piece dispenser which dispenses tape in a first direction toward an abbreviated blade, or a second direction which enables the dispenser to be grasped from the bottom and used to apply tape to a surface directly, and which may be magnetically mounted to a heavy metal base.

Adhesive tape dispensers are known which are both base-type models and which are hand held models. With the base type model, the cutting blade can be abbreviated in length since the fingers can be used to manipulate the tape adjacent the cutting edge. The manipulation can twist the tape across the cutting blade to always achieve a good cut. Usually a smooth flat surface is provided for the hands to manipulate the tape onto to hold it from the roll dispenser side of the blade to hold that side of the tape while the hand holds the other side for tearing.
This arrangement is fine for short lengths of tape which may be handled and applied manually. For application of extended lengths of tape in packaging operations, longer lengths of tape have a tendency to get caught on itself, to bunch up and to defeat the application to which the user wished to employ the tape in the first place.
One of the devices which has been employed over the years is the wholly manual tape applicator. This applicator usually consists of a handle supporting a spool and device to guide and dispense the tape. Usually with wider tape dispensers, such as tape from two to three inches wide, the cutting blade will consist of a sharply serrated or deeply serrated edge. By deeply serrated is meant that the triangular serrations fall into a range in which they may be higher than they are wide, to as much as three times as tall as they are wide. This serrated edge will have teeth which are somewhat shallow and which project from an edge of the tape dispenser. In some cases a stiff plastic shield is supplied at an angle which serves several purposes.
In some cases the shield helps the user to know the angular limitations of the tape dispenser necessary to permit the continued dispensing of tape. So long as the shield is not touching the package, the tape will continue to be freely dispensed. In some cases the plastic shield is pressed against the last bit of dispensed tape to help the user form an angular orientation of the dispenser which will maximize the probability that the tape will be able to be cut. This is so since it may take several attempts to try to force the abbreviated serrated blade against the tape to cut the tape.
Thus the blade of the conventional tape dispenser is made with several objectives in mind. First, it must not protrude too far. A blade which protrudes too far can cause negative consequences including (1) the tape may be cut before the user is finished dispensing the tape to the desired length, (2) the blade may seriously cut and injure the user or others, or (3) the blade may be damaged through simple handling of the manual dispenser, as by putting it down onto a hard surface. If the blade on most dispensers were to be mounted any less predominantly, it would be virtually impossible to cut the tape without having to manipulate the tape about the blade with the free hand. If resort to both hands must be had, a user would just as soon use the tape from a stand alone dispenser.
In general, tape dispensers of the presently used type work poorly in cutting the tape. This may not seem an important factor, but where one's job is packaging and it is performed continuously, a slight limitation in efficiency can mount up to significant dollar expenditure.
Another problem in the tape dispenser field deals with the core size of the rolls. Although most two inch tapes are available on a three inch diameter spool, some tapes are available on a one and a half inch spool. Conventional hand held tape dispensers do not have the capacity to accept both types of tape supply spools. A non-specific core adapter would be insufficient to insure that the tape supply roll would be guided into a good fit.
For still other tape dispensers, the user is forced to choose between a stand alone tape dispenser, or a manually utilized tape dispenser, or have to buy both. When the user is down to a single roll of tape, this roll of tape would need to be changed between the stand alone and the manually activated tape dispenser. Each time the tape is changed between these two, further waste can be generated in having to pick the tape off of the spool to re-start its use in the dispenser which fits the use for which the tape is needed.
Further, a table mounted tape dispenser has a tendency to be located in a central place, not towards being misplaced. Hand-held dispensers are more prone to being misplaced, especially where their appearance does not suggest the return to a location. What is therefore needed are tape dispenser configurations which satisfy the above limitations on tape dispensers in conventional use.

Retractable blade hand held tape applicators


Make-up application systems are provided that comprise an air compressor unit, an airbrush connected to the air compressor unit, the airbrush having a gravity feed cup, and a tube connecting the air compressor unit to the airbrush. A cosmetic formulation comprising at least one mineral and water may be introduced into the gravity feed cup, which may then be aspirated into the airbrush and dispersed in a fine mist or atomized spray for delivery on a surface such as a person's skin. The system permits a more flawless make-up application finish for the face, neck and chest, and body, permitting feathering and blending not capable with traditional brush or sponge make-up application systems. Advantages are numerous and include, a more desirable appearance, longer lasting and quicker drying make-up, avoidance of harmful toxins and skin irritants, and enhanced hygienic application. Additionally, certain embodiments enjoy a quiet compressor operation through the use of isolation devices, certain materials of construction, and/or cushioning sponges.

The present application relates to the field of cosmetics and the application thereof, and more particularly to a self-application airbrush makeup systems, cosmetic formulations for use therewith, and methods of use.
The cosmetic market has recently been estimated to be as large as $19 billion dollars. A subset of the cosmetic market, called "make-up" refers primarily to decorative cosmetics applied to one's skin to alter or complement its appearance. Conventional make-up generally consists of a powder, liquid, or gel substance that is applied directly to the skin via a sponge, brush, or other applicator.
Disadvantages of conventional make-up and their corresponding application techniques are numerous. Traditional makeup formulations, as well as other brush on formulations, are generally in powder form. Such powders are undesirable because they are dry, flakey, dusty and have a tendency to spread onto counters, vanities, and the like, creating undesired mess. Liquid makeup, on the other hand, is primarily silicone based or water based or alcohol based and can appear ashy or caked-on when applied. Conventional make-up often leaves a fake or non-natural "mask" appearance to one's face. The powder and liquid formulations can result in dry, flakey, dusty or cake-like build-ups of make-up, which can often further enhance undesirable features such as ridge lines that users wish to conceal. Additionally, conventional powders and liquids used for make-up often leave users with a non-natural feeling on their skin. These conventional formulations also fail to adhere well to the skin, resulting in smudged make-up or make-up that rubs off on to one's clothes, hands, cell phones, or other articles that come into contact with one's skin. Furthermore, conventional formulations, because of their dry, flakey, powder nature, have a tendency to spread onto counters, vanities, and the like, creating an undesired mess.
Moreover, conventional make-up typically only lasts for a limited duration, frequently needing to be reapplied. In other words, conventional make-up has a tendency to easily rub off over time.
Some decorative cosmetics are primarily oil based and hence, leave users with an undesirable oily feel or in some cases irritate or cause harm to a user's skin. Some decorative cosmetics contain toxic chemicals, preservatives, or otherwise harmful ingredients, especially those derived from petroleum, sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS), and parabens. Some surfactants such as SLS have been known to cause a number of skin conditions, including dermatitis. Other substances such as parabens can cause skin irritation and contact dermatitis in individuals with paraben allergies, a small percentage of the general population. Animal experiments have shown that parabens have a weak estrogenic activity, acting as xenoestrogens. Moreover, prolonged use of this type of prior art makeup has also been linked to thinning eyelashes.
Not only do conventional decorative cosmetics often contain harmful components, they often fail to include substances for treating or enhancing the healthiness of one's skin. By not including ingredients that further promote or enhance healthy skin, users may be forced to apply these substances separately. In the case of such substances being applied over make-up, the substances may lose their effectiveness and cause the underlying make-up to smear, smudge or otherwise alter the desired result. In the case of such substances being applied before make-up application, the applied make-up may cake up or fail to adhere to the skin.
Another disadvantage of conventional decorative cosmetics derives from its mode of application. As mentioned above, the most popular methods of applying conventional cosmetics are by way of sponges, brushes, or other applicator devices. Reusing such applicators can promote the build-up or spreading of dirt, bacteria, or grime. Thus, not only to avoid the accumulation of grime and dirt, but also for hygienic reasons, it is desirable to avoid reusing an applicator to apply decorative cosmetics.

Airbrush makeup application system and methods of use


The present invention relates to an epoxy group-containing silicon compound which is obtained by condensing at least one epoxy group-containing alkoxy silicon compound per se represented by the general formula (1a): R1aSi(OR2)3, wherein R1a denotes a substituent having an epoxy group and R2 denotes an alkyl group having at most 4 carbons, or said compound and at least one substituted alkoxy silicon compound represented by the general formula (1b): R1bSi(OR3)3, wherein R1b denotes an alkyl group having at most 10 carbons, an aryl group or an unsaturated aliphatic residue and R3 denotes an alkyl group having at most 4 carbons, in the presence of a basic catalyst.

An epoxy resin is excellent in heat resistance, electric properties, dynamic properties, and the like and therefore widely used in the fields of various electrical and electronic parts, structural materials, adhesives, paints, and the like. Furthermore, in accordance with recent development of electrical and electronic fields, request for an epoxy resin has been higher, and particularly improvement of heat resistance has been required.
As a means for improving heat resistance of an epoxy resin, there are a method of improving structure of the epoxy resin itself by increasing functional group density in the epoxy resin to increase cross-link density of the cured product or by introducing a stiff skeleton into the resin skeleton, and a method of filling fillers such as glass fibers, silica particles, and mica. However, such a means by structure improvement of the epoxy resin itself or addition of fillers or the like has not attained sufficient improvement effects.
A heat resistance improvement method other than structure improvement of the epoxy resin itself or addition of fillers or the like is disclosed in, for example, JP-A 2001-59013 publication. Said publication proposes a method of using an alkoxy group-containing silane-modified epoxy resin which is obtained by subjecting a bisphenol A type epoxy resin and a hydrolyzable alkoxysilane to dealcoholization reaction. However, with regard to this method, there is pointed out a problem that defects such as voids tend to be caused in the cured product due to the alcohol and water produced as by-products.
Furthermore, as a compound having in the molecule silicon and an epoxy group similarly to said alkoxy group-containing silane-modified epoxy resin, JP-A 10-324749 publication proposes a polyorganosiloxane having an epoxy group and the preparation process thereof. However, this process necessitates a step of end-capping a hydroxyl group and/or an alkoxy group at the main chain terminals in order to improve stability. Moreover, in order to obtain the target product, the process necessitates multiple steps of introducing a mercapto group in advance and subjecting the group and an epoxy group-containing ethylenically unsaturated compound to Michel addition reaction in the presence of a radical initiator, and is not efficient. In addition, heat resistance of the resultant epoxy group-containing polyorganosiloxane is not referred to.

Epoxy group-containing silicon compound and thermosetting resin composition


The invention relates to system conceived and designed to identify pieces of fruit, especially citrus fruits, affected by any amount of rot and to determine the automatic expulsion of these pieces from the conveyor moving them through the installation. The system comprises illuminating the fruits with UV-A band light in a computer vision unit, and capturing images of the illuminated fruits by means of a camera to send them to a general control member in order to detect fluorescences associated to the rot effect. The identified fruit is automatically expelled from the conveyor in an expulsion unit, the position of the defective fruit being determined with the aid of an encoder associated to the conveyor. The general control member is a PC type computer, equipped with specific application software.

Persons skilled in the art know that the cultivation of citrus fruits is the main national fruit sector. Half the citrus fruits produced in Spain are intended for export, therefore Spanish citrus fruits occupy a very important place in the context of producer countries. However, the low production costs of non-European countries of the Mediterranean area allow their citriculture to compete advantageously on the market against Spanish productions. If this is added to the progressive opening of the European Union markets to these countries, the only alternatives that seem to be possible for maintaining the market share consist of offering a product with a better quality than the competing countries, together with a reduction in the production costs.
The quality of the fruit is determined by aspects such as the presentation, the appearance, the uniformity, the ripeness and the freshness, all of them being essential components of the purchase decision. The quality of the fruits can be affected by various reasons, giving rise to morphological and physiological defects devaluating the product. The most worrying causes include those generating defects in the fruit during or after the preparation for the market, and which show in the places of sale. The mechanical damage or lesions taking place while handling the product are the entryway for multiple pathogens causing rot, such as fungi of the Botrytis, Rhizopus, Alternaria, Geotrichum genera, but especially the Penicillium digitatum (green mold) and Penicillium italicum (blue mold) fungi, causing most of the post-harvest infections.
Losses due to rot are of the order of 3-5% of all the fruits handled in centers, reaching the order of 7-12% in abnormal weather years. To reduce these losses, several sorting operations are carried out in the fruit processing plant, considering criteria such as defects in the skin, presence of insects, damage due to hail, deformed fruits, etc. However, this operation is not always effective due to the possibility that, at the time of the sorting, the damage caused by rot is still not externally visible. In these conditions, the fungus will develop during storage and transport, spreading the infection throughout the entire batch and causing large economic losses. A quick detection of the infection will be especially important to maintain the quality of the product and prevent economic losses to thus be able to compete in better conditions on the market.
The use of ultraviolet light to detect the infection in the fruit before it develops externally is currently known in the state of the art. The known method is essentially based on the fact that, when the infection caused by the fungus progresses, the chemical composition of the fruit tissues is altered, the essential oils contained in the glands of the skin being spilled; the illumination of these tissues with UV light shows their fluorescence, making damage which is still latent visible.
UV rays form the band of the electromagnetic spectrum comprised between 100-400 nm, adjoining X-rays and the visible band. The light is generally divided into three bands with the following wavelengths: UV-C, 100-280 nm; UV-B, 280-315 nm; UV-A, 315-400 nm.
The sorting operation making use of UV light is carried out manually in special inspection chambers located in the processing line and usually known as "discotheques". These chambers consist of dark cabinets, with small dimensions, illuminated only with black light tubes; these tubes emit a wavelength corresponding with the UV-A band. The fruit developing fluorescence upon passing through the cabinet indicates that the infection is latent and will be immediately eliminated from the line. The fruits pass over rollers rotating and making the fruits rotate such that substantially the entire surface of the fruit can be seen.
However, the use of UV light in this mode of inspection has several drawbacks. In fact, UV radiations are, among non-ionizing radiations, those with the greatest energy content. This relatively high energy content makes them capable of chemically reacting with matter, causing the so-called photochemical reactions. The biological effects of UV rays mainly affect the skin, causing erythemas, loss of elasticity and delayed melanogenesis. This type of radiation can also cause ophthalmic diseases such as keratitis, conjunctivitis and cataracts. For these reasons, UV lamps are considered a Group I risk by the Illuminating Engineering Society (ANSI/IESNA RP-27.3-96).
Practical recommendations have been established for the safe photo-biological use of UV light lamps. These recommendations are based on tolerable radiation limits. Thus, for lamps emitting radiation with wavelengths comprised between 320 and 400 nm, the energy flow must not exceed 1 mW/cm2 and the exposure time must be limited, to a greater extent the lower the distance to the emitting source. According to these recommendations, the operators working in these inspection cabinets work in shifts in order to not remain in the cabinets for a time greater than one hour. Another recommendation consists of using protective gloves and goggles absorbing the UV radiation received, reducing the exposure of the operator to non-hazardous levels (RD-773/1997 and RD-1002/2002). Specific and periodic medical examinations and radiation measurements will be carried out to control these aspects.
The manual selection work in these conditions is tedious and repetitive for the operators. Additionally, this labor represents a considerable cost for the company.
Analysis techniques have therefore progressed during the last few years for the purpose of achieving fruit classification and rejection systems which allow reducing the high personnel costs directly related to this process. In this sense, the automation of these tasks will allow improving the quality of the work of these operators, since it is carried out automatically, the job of the operator being limited to supervising the correct operation of the system from the outside through control monitors.
There is currently no knowledge of the existence on the market of an automatic system which allows detecting rot of fruits making use of the fluorescence of the essential oils upon applying UV light, despite the intense research being conducted in relation to this type of system.
The present invention belongs to the sector of the systems responsible for the detection of pieces of fruit, especially citrus fruits, having any amount of rot, and has been developed for the purpose of providing effective solutions to the problems existing in the installations of the current state of the art. This objective has been fully reached by means of the system the embodiments of which will be the object of the description below, and the main features of which are included in the characterizing portion of the attached claim 1. The dependent claims define the details and particulars of the system of the invention.
The system of the invention is essentially intended for the physical separation of the fruits having any type of rot passing through a treatment and calibration line, by means of the automatic expulsion of the affected fruits, and it therefore automatically carries out the same job which was being performed manually up until now.
The operation principle of the system is based on using black light, more specifically light belonging to the UV-A band, to detect the rot which may be developing in citrus fruits, in the same way as it is used in manual sorting. To that end, the system uses the observed feature that the essential oils coming out during the development of the rot react when UV light impinges on them, emitting fluorescence. This fluorescence is a radiation with rather low intensity, and with a very important component of wavelengths centered in the green-yellow band. This fluorescence is that identified in the images captured by a camera to determine if the fruit is affected by any type of rot.
To achieve this objective, a system has been designed which in its preferred embodiment comprises a first unit acting as a computer vision member, in which the fruit passing on a conveyor means is illuminated with ultraviolet light, such that in the event that any rot is detected on one or more specific pieces, the fluorescence emitted by the latter will be captured by the computer vision system. This situation is detected by the identification and control member, preferably a computer, from where a command is sent to an expulsion assembly incorporated in a corresponding unit located after the computer vision unit, such that the piece (or pieces) of citrus fruit identified as rotten are expelled from the conveyor means when they reach the corresponding position. The exact position of the piece of fruit which must be expelled is determined with the aid of a conventional encoder.
In this simple but highly efficient manner, the system identifies the rotten piece of fruit and automatically expels it from the conveyor means without needing human intervention.
Additionally, in an alternative embodiment of the invention which has been developed to perform a more precise identification of the damaged fruits, the invention has provided several modifications intended to improve the functionality of the described system by means of providing other alternative capacities complementary to those implemented by the first embodiment and aimed at a more perfect view of the fruits when they pass through the installation with better selection assurances.
Essentially, these improvements proposed by the second embodiment of the present invention basically consist of a change in the number and in the position of the computer vision members, such that instead of a single vision member two different members are used, located in aligned opposite positions according to a line transverse to the passage of the fruits, separated by a certain distance, such that the suitably illuminated fruits are viewed from different positions, thus assuring that a much broader surface of each fruit is viewed in each case, thus eliminating possible classification errors derived from possible "dead spots" which cannot be observed with the use of a single computer vision member, despite the fact that the fruits can be rotated upon advancing through the installation.
Furthermore, to implement said second embodiment, a thorough selection of the computer vision members has been carried out, based on MAF type cameras equipped with 2 monochromatic sensors, one of which is intended for the detection of fluorescences and the other of which, equipped with suitable NIR filters, allows observing slight variations in the images caused by the impingement on the damaged area of the small near IR component inherent to UV light emitted to illuminate the fruits when they pass through the detection area.

System for the automatic selective separation of rotten citrus fruits


A circuit is provided that includes a Cartesian feedback loop. The Cartesian feedback loop includes one or more operational amplifiers. At least one of the operational amplifiers includes two or more cascaded amplifier stages and one or more bypass amplifier stages. The bypass amplifier stages are connected in parallel with the cascaded amplifier stages.

A well known method to improve the linearity of a radio frequency amplifier is to use a Cartesian feedback loop. Referring to FIG. 1, a conventional Cartesian feedback loop 100 is shown that includes a baseband section 102, an RF section 106, and a modulator 104. FIG. 1 shows a differential half circuit with each line representing a differential signal, which is actually carried on two wires. Cartesian feedback loop 100 further includes two feedback loops in the baseband section 102—an "I-loop" for an in-phase signal and a "Q-loop" for a quadrature signal.
Each feedback loop includes an input amplifier 108 to amplify an input signal I, Q. Each feedback loop further includes a signal combiner 110 that can combine the amplified input signal and a baseband feedback signal 109 to produce a combined forward-path signal 111. The combined forward-path signal 111 in each feedback loop can be amplified by a forward-path amplifier 112. Each feedback loop further includes a rotator 118 to compensate for the delay in the RF section and to keep the I-loop and the Q-loop uncoupled. Each feedback loop further includes a loop filter 114 to filter the combined forward-path signal. Each feedback loop further includes a feedforward mixer 116 to modulate the combined forward-path signal and produce an RF signal.
Cartesian feedback loop 100 further includes a feedback mixer 126 to demodulate the RF signal and produce a baseband feedback signal. Cartesian feeback loop 100 further includes a feedback baseband amplifier 128 to amplify the resulting baseband feedback signal.
A well known problem with a Cartesian feedback loop, such as the one shown in FIG. 1, is the presence of a phase shift in the baseband section due to parasitics associated with integrated circuit components. A large phase shift in a Cartesian feedback loop can result in peaking and/or oscillation.

Low phase shift implementation of the baseband circuitry of a Cartesian feedback loop


A non-volatile storage device storing a data bit received from a bitline via an accessing circuit. A coupling circuit couples either the bitline, or a complementary bitline to a biasing circuit dependent on the logic level of the data bit stored in the storage device. The biasing circuit generates a match signal when a data bit having the same logic level as the stored data bit is applied to the bitline.

Conventional content addressable memory (CAM) is a special type of memory. In contrast to RAM, in which a user provides an address, and data residing in that address is returned to the user, with CAM the user provides data, and the address containing the data is returned to the user. The CAM may also be programmed to return a predetermined signal in lieu of the location where the data is stored.
CAM is a potent type of memory. In addition to storing data, CAM inherently contains a search mechanism for identifying the location of a particular piece of data, and whether the data even exists within the CAM. To search for the location of data, the user inputs the data. The CAM compares the inputted data with the data stored in its memory cells. If a match is found between the inputted data and the stored data, a flag is set. The flag identifies that a match was found, and the location where the data was stored. Further, the CAM performs this comparison on every cell within the CAM simultaneously. Because every cell within the CAM is examined at the same time, the search is typically performed quicker than many other conventional searches used by non-CAM memory.
As mentioned above, in addition to telling the user where the data exists, the CAM may also tell the user whether the data exists at all within the CAM. Thus, CAM may be used as an enabling gate to trigger a response if a particular data configuration exists. For example, CAM may be used in a network to determine if a specific email address exists.
The data being searched for in the CAM may be a single bit, or a pattern of multiple bits. Typically, when multiple data bits are compared, the individual data bits are compared on a one-to-one basis. If each individual bit matches, the CAM enables the match signal, although partial matches may also be found and flagged.
Several deficiencies exist, however, with CAM. Any data stored in the CAM is lost when power is removed from the CAM. In addition, because of the large number of transistors required to store the data bit and perform the comparing, CAM cells require a relatively large amount of real estate. Thus, fewer CAM cells per given die area are possible than other types of memory, resulting in less storage capacity.

Floating gate content addressable memory


Disclosed herein are methods relating to inhibiting or reducing proliferation of a cancer cell, for treating cancer in a subject in need of treatment, predicting the risk of progression of cancer to a more aggressive cancer, and screening for cancer in a subject, that comprise detecting and/or decreasing the levels of SUMO conjugated proteins and detecting and/or interfering with SUMO conjugation.

Astrocytomas, brain tumors originating from differentiated astrocytes, show a tendency for progression towards a more malignant phenotype. Astrocytomas are classified, according to the WHO malignancy scale, into low-grade astrocytoma (WHO Grade II; "AII"), anaplastic astrocytoma (WHO Grade III; "AIII"), and glioblastoma multiforme (WHO Grade IV; "GBM"). GBM, the most common form of primary brain tumor, carries a very poor prognosis even after surgical resection with subsequent radio- and chemotherapy.
Small ubiquitin-like modifier (SUMO) proteins are a group of small proteins that bind lysine residues of target proteins and thereby modify target protein activity, stability, and sub-cellular localization. SUMO2 and SUMO3 proteins share a high degree of similarity (95% sequence identity), but are relatively distinct from SUMO1 (only 50% sequence identity). Like ubiquitin, SUMO protein is synthesized as a larger precursor protein that is processed by sentrin-specific proteases (SENPs) to expose the two C-terminal glycine residues that provide for conjugation. SUMO conjugation (or "sumoylation") is a highly volatile process, with various enzymes involved in the conjugation, e.g., E1, E2 and Ubc9, and de-conjugating (or "de-sumoylation") e.g., SENPs, processes. A large portion of SUMO conjugation targets transcription factors and other nuclear proteins involved in gene expression. A major change in levels of SUMO conjugated proteins may have a major impact on the fate of cells.

SUMO as a marker of cancer development and target for cancer therapy


The present X-ray mask comprises an X-ray transmitting film, and a mask pattern formed on the X-ray transmitting film, wherein the mask pattern includes a mixture of a high-contrast pattern and a low-contrast pattern against X-rays and wherein the high-contrast pattern is comprised of stacked films the number of which is larger than that of the low-contrast pattern and which are made of different kinds of materials. A fabrication process of this X-ray mask comprises a step of forming a first metal film; a step of forming a second metal film of a different kind of material from the first metal film, thereon; and a step of successively performing a resist application process and an etching process to form a portion where the both first and second metal films are removed, a portion where only the first metal layer is left, and a portion where the both first and second metal layers are left, thereby forming a mask pattern.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mask for X-ray exposure and a fabrication process of this mask and, more particularly, to a mask structure for X-ray exposure capable of high-accuracy exposure transcription in X-ray lithography for transferring an electronic circuit pattern on a mask surface onto a wafer surface with use of X-rays, for example, in the wavelength range of approximately 2 to 150 .ANG. and thereby fabricating semiconductor devices such as ICs or LSIs, micromachines, microoptics, and so on.
2. Related Background Art
In recent years pattern line widths of integrated circuits tend to decrease with increase in density and speed of semiconductor integrated circuit and it is said that they were reduced approximately 70% for three years These large-capacity memory elements are transcribed from a mask to a semiconductor substrate, using light in the region of from the near-ultraviolet light to the far-ultraviolet light, but the processing line widths of semiconductor device that can be processed with the light in these wavelength regions are approaching the limitation. Also, a reduction in focal depth inevitably occurs with a decrease in the exposure wavelength or with an increase in the numerical aperture of projection optical system Thus, exposure apparatus utilizing X-rays capable of higher-resolution printing are proposed with an increase in integration of semiconductor device. This X-ray lithography technology is highly expected as one capable of solving the issues of resolution and focal depth described above at the same time.
An X-ray mask used for above X-ray exposure normally has such structure that fine patterns of X-ray absorber and alignment patterns used for alignment are formed on an X-ray transmitting film made on an appropriate support frame such as a silicon wafer and that the support frame is further fixed on a mask frame of boro-silicate glass (e.g., Pyrex) or the like.
In carrying out patterning on an X-ray photoresist on the substrate with such an X-ray mask structure, appropriate exposure doses for attaining a resist pattern in the same size as that of a pattern on the mask differ depending upon the size of pattern. This means that the so-called mask size linearity is poor. In general, it is reported that low-contrast masks are advantageous to obtaining finer patterns. On the other hand, the transmittance of X-ray increases with decreasing mask contrast, which will cause such problems that a film reduction occurs in the resist pattern after development, that an undesired residual film appears after development, and so on, especially in the case of patterns of relatively large size. Because of this, It is described, for example in Japanese Patent Publication No. 7-70466, that the film thicknesses of X-ray absorber pattern are changed depending upon the pattern sizes. It was, however, not easy to process X-ray absorber patterns of the same material in different thicknesses and at high accuracy on the same plane in view of control accuracy of etch rate.

X-ray mask and fabrication process using it


A drapery support system includes a mounting bracket for attachment to a vertical or horizontal surface, such as a wall or window. The support system further includes a drapery support defining first and second openings therein of a first predetermined size and shape and further defining third and fourth openings therein of a second predetermined size and shape wherein the drapery support is removably and adjustably connected to the mounting bracket. Various drapery designs and treatments can be quickly and easily created by attaching drapery material to the drapery support in various configurations.

This invention relates to drapery hardware and more particularly to a drapery support system which enables quick and easy creation of various custom window drapery treatments and configurations.
Custom window drapery configurations and designs can enhance the appearance of windows, and custom window treatments have become very popular in recent years. Unfortunately, it is often necessary to use the services of professional designers to create custom window treatments and the cost of such services can be significant. Heretofore, the creation of custom window drapery treatments has required considerable skills and a great amount of time and effort.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide improved drapery hardware which enables the quick and easy creation and design of custom window drapery treatments.
Another object is to provide a drapery support system which will enable an individual to quickly and easily create custom window drapery treatments without the need for sewing.
A further object of the invention is the provision of an improved drapery support system which will enable an individual to quickly, easily and inexpensively create custom window drapery treatments without using the services of a professional designer.
Another object is to provide improved drapery support mounting brackets.
Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages are realized and attained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims.


A device for monitoring the sealing state of a casing (2) of a transmission box (1) of a rotorcraft. An open airflow circuit (7) fitted with a suction generator member (10) is connected to a vent (5) of the casing (2). Regulator means (12) maintain stable suction in the airflow circuit (7) relative to a setpoint threshold (S), the regulator means being controlled in response to a pressure gauge (13) for measuring the suction generated inside the airflow circuit (7). The device is used on the ground to detect a source of leakage in the casing (2) and in flight to retain lubricant inside the casing (2) in the event of there being a source of leakage.

(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of transmission boxes fitted to rotorcraft, serving to transmit motion between at least one driver source and at least one receiver source, such as a member of the rotorcraft that is to be driven. The present invention relates more particularly to arrangements concerning the lubrication of moving members housed in a casing forming part of such transmission boxes.
The present invention relates more specifically to ways of monitoring the operation of such a transmission box relative to any loss of lubricant, usually oil, contained in a casing of the transmission box. Such a loss of lubricant may stem, for example, from a structural sealing failure in the casing and/or from a failure of sealing members of the casing.
(2) Description of Related Art
Rotorcraft are fitted with various transmission boxes for transmitting motion between at least one driver source and at least one receiver source. For example, a rotorcraft power plant for driving at least one rotor is fitted with at least one main gearbox for transmitting power from a driver member of the power plant to the rotor(s). Also by way of example, secondary gearboxes may be engaged with the main gearbox for driving various pieces of equipment and/or accessories of the rotorcraft.
Gearboxes comprise a casing in which various transmission members are installed that are arranged in mutual engagement and that are carried by transmission shafts. The transmission shafts comprise in particular drive shafts and intermediate shafts.
By way of example, drive shafts comprise at least one inlet shaft driven from a driver source and at least one outlet shaft for driving equipment that needs to be moved. One or more intermediate shafts may be interposed between an inlet shaft and an outlet shaft. The transmission shafts engage with one another via transmission members that they carry, and they are installed in the casing via bearing members.
By analogy with gearboxes, bearing boxes are also known for mounting moving members, rotary shafts in particular, that are mounted on bearings in a casing via rolling members, with movement being transmitted from an inlet of at least one shaft to an outlet of at least one shaft, said inlet and said outlet can be arranged on the same shaft or on respective shafts.
The moving members of transmission boxes, such as in particular transmission members, transmission shafts, and/or rolling members, are subjected to heating caused by the friction they suffer. In order to preserve the moving members from such heating, transmission boxes are commonly fitted with a lubrication circuit. A supply of lubricant, in particular of oil, is provided inside the casing. The lubricant flows via a lubrication circuit between the casing and a heat exchanger serving to cool the lubricant.
A general problem that arises lies in the sealing of the casing, which might be faulty. Leaks of lubricant can be observed and it is necessary for the sealing of the casing to be checked regularly.
For example, the casing often comprises a plurality of casing elements that are assembled together. Such assembly constitutes a potential source of leakage through the junction zones where elements of the casing join one another.
Also by way of example, rolling members interposed between the casing and the drive shafts are potential sources of leaks of lubricant. In order to avoid such leaks, the casing and/or the rolling members are commonly provided with sealing members. Nevertheless, wear and/or failure of the sealing members can allow lubricant to escape from the casing.
Also by way of example, casings are commonly provided with at least one vent for allowing air contained inside the casing to escape naturally. Such a natural escape of air is necessary because the air contained in the casing expands under the effect of the temperature rise caused by the moving members heating up. In this respect, reference may be made for example to document DE 10 2007 026338 (MAGNA POWERT AG & CO KG), that proposes preventing oil from escaping through the vent by making use of a deformable membrane that closes the vent by deforming under the effect of the air expanding.
Prior to transmission boxes being put into service, it is common practice to perform operations to verify their sealing. In one conventional method, the transmission box is coated in a substance suitable for revealing zones that are potential sources of lubricant escaping from the casing. The leakage sources that are revealed are subsequently treated individually in order to remedy the observed losses of sealing of the transmission box. The sealing of the transmission box is then verified once more in order to check that the treatment of the sources of leakage is effective. A possible additional verification operation is commonly performed under conditions in which the moving members of the transmission box are put into movement. For this purpose, the casing is filled with a liquid and the moving members are driven for a predetermined duration in order to verify whether any liquid escapes from the casing.
Such techniques for verifying the sealing of transmission boxes are lengthy and expensive, but they are effective and necessary given the safety constraints that apply to aircraft. As a result, it is desirable to avoid as far as possible any occasion on which it is observed that the transmission box is not thoroughly sealed.

Device for monitoring the sealing of a rotorcraft transmission box by suction


A vehicle reading lamp is provided and includes an outer lens and a light source for illuminating an outer lens. A controller is included for prompting the light source to generate a low intensity light to assist a vehicle occupant in visually locating the reading lamp in dark conditions, wherein when the occupant desires task lighting and subsequently activates the light source, the controller prompts the light source to switch from the low intensity light to a high intensity light.

Currently, some reading lamps require a user to interact with its outer lens in order to activate and deactivate the reading lamp. One downside to such a design is that a vehicle occupant typically has to rely on tactile sensations to locate the outer lens when dark conditions are present. As a result, some vehicle occupants may become distracted with having to feel for the position of the outer lens when desiring to activate the reading lamp. Therefore, there is a need for a reading lamp that allows a vehicle occupant to visually identify the location of the outer lens in dark conditions.

Vehicle reading lamp with low intensity light setting


A waveguide structure for use in a balanced push-pull Mach Zehnder modulator. The waveguide structure comprises a plurality of layers. The layers comprise, in order: an insulating or semi-insulating substrate; an lower cladding layer; an waveguide core layer; and an upper cladding layer. The lower cladding layer, waveguide core layer, and upper cladding layer are etched to form: a signal waveguide and a ground waveguide, which are connected via the lower cladding layer; and a signal line and a ground line, each located adjacent to the respective waveguide, and each connected to the respective waveguide via one or more respective resistive structures connected in the plane of the lower cladding layer.

A Mach-Zehnder modulator, as shown schematically in FIG. 1, functions by using a beamsplitter 101 to split an input beam 102 along two optical paths 103,104, and then recombining the beams from each optical path at an optical combiner 105 to form an output beam 107 (and a complementary output 106). Each optical path 103, 104 comprises an electro-optic material, such that a change in the phase of the beam travelling along the optical path can be induced by providing a voltage across the electro-optic material.
Where the Mach-Zehnder modulator is used for intensity modulation, a pure intensity modulation can be obtained by providing equal and opposite phase shifts (i.e. voltages) to each of the optical paths 103, 104. Any difference between the magnitude of the phase shift on each optical path 103, 104 will result in an undesired phase modulation of the output—known as "chirp". This mode of operation is known as "push-pull" operation.
Push-pull operation may be implemented in a variety of ways. One example, known as a "series" or "single drive" push-pull modulator is shown in FIG. 2, which is a cross section of a Mach-Zehnder interferometer along the line A-A in FIG. 1. The interferometer comprises a substrate 201 made from a semiconductor such as InP or GaAs. The substrate is insulating or "semi-insulating", i.e. doped to provide high resistivity such that it effectively acts as an insulator (e.g. with a resisitivity greater than 105 Ohm cm). On top of the substrate are several layers, comprising in order an lower cladding layer 202, a waveguide core layer 203, and an upper cladding layer 204. The upper and lower cladding layers are doped semiconductors, e.g. the upper cladding layer may be p doped and the lower cladding layer may be n doped, or vice versa.
Each layer 202-204 may have a composite structure, depending on the waveguide properties desired. These layers are etched to form four parallel structures (presented in order): a signal line 211, a signal waveguide 212, a ground waveguide 213, and a ground line 214. The gap between each line 211, 214 and the respective waveguide 212, 213 is etched down to the substrate 201. The gap between the waveguides is etched down to the lower cladding layer 202, i.e. the waveguides 212, 213 are connected via the lower cladding layer 202.
Each waveguide 212, 213 comprises a dielectric cladding 221 to either side of the waveguide to protect the sidewall. The signal waveguide 212 comprises a signal waveguide electrode 222, and the ground waveguide 213 comprises a ground waveguide electrode 223. Each waveguide electrode is made from metal and located on top of the upper cladding layer 204. The waveguide core layer 203 forms the core 224 of each waveguide 212, 213.
Each line 211, 214 comprises a dielectric layer 231 on top of the upper cladding layer 204 (this is not strictly required—however it is advantageous to reduce the capacitance of the line and eliminate parasitic circuit paths). The signal line 211 comprises a signal line electrode 232, and the ground line 214 comprises a ground line electrode 233. Each line electrode is made from metal and located on top of the dielectric layer 231.
The signal line electrode 232 and ground line electrode 233 together form a transmission line which carries an AC modulation signal. The ground line electrode 233 is connected to ground, and the signal line electrode 232 is connected to an AC voltage source 241. Each line electrode 232, 233 is connected to the respective waveguide electrode 222, 223 by conductive airbridges 242, 243 located at intervals along the length of the modulator. The central portion of the lower cladding layer 202 connecting the waveguides 212, 213 is connected to a DC voltage source 244 to provide a bias voltage.
When an AC signal voltage V is provided to the signal line electrode 232 (and thereby to the signal waveguide electrode 222 due to the airbridges 242), this voltage is split to provide a voltage V/2 across each waveguide 212, 213, in opposite directions. The signal line 212 and ground line 213 each act as capacitors, which form a potential divider (with a midpoint at the central portion of the lower cladding layer 202 which connects the waveguides 212, 213) when subject to an AC load.
However, it has been found that at low frequencies (below about 1 GHz), the voltage division is not even and excessive "chirp" (i.e. undesired phase modulation of the output) is experienced at the output of the modulator.


Apparatus and methods for infrared resolution of closely-spaced objects are disclosed. In one embodiment, a method of determining a set of infrared amplitudes for a set of closely-spaced objects includes receiving an unresolved infrared image of the set of closely-spaced objects, and expressing the set of infrared amplitudes as a function of a set of positions of the closely-spaced objects. The method further includes formulating a set of simultaneous equations at least partially based on the expression between the infrared amplitudes and the set of positions of the closely-spaced objects, and solving the set of simultaneous equations for the set of infrared amplitudes. In alternate embodiments, the set of positions of the closely-spaced objects may be provided by a non-infrared position sensor, or may be iteratively-derived

The detection of closely-spaced objects using infrared sensors has numerous practical applications. For example, infrared sensors may be employed in observational astronomy for the detection and tracking of stars, planets, and other extraterrestrial objects. Infrared sensors may also be used for military applications, including, for example, the long range electro-optical detection, tracking, and discrimination of targets and decoys. Similarly, infrared detection may be used in the imaging and analysis of cells and particles for medical disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 6,495,827 issued to Metcalf et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 6,433,333 issued to Howard.
Although desirable results have been achieved using prior art infrared imaging systems, there is room for improvement. For example, prior art infrared systems typically perform an iterative curve-fitting process to match a closely-spaced object waveform having unknown amplitudes and angle variables (amplitude, azimuth and elevation for each object) to an N object blob measured by the infrared sensor. Such iterative curve-fitting processes are typically computationally intensive, thereby increasing the size and weight of the computer needed to adequately perform the intensive computations. The cost to develop and deploy such infrared imaging systems typically increases with increased weight and complexity, particularly for space-based applications that require relatively expensive launch systems to be placed in orbit. Furthermore, direct approaches to resolving closing spaced objects (CSO) that involve deploying larger aperture, heavier infrared optical systems increases system cost and sensor payload weight, particularly for space-based applications that require relatively expensive launch systems to be placed in orbit. Therefore, there is a continuing impetus to reduce the size, weight, and complexity of such infrared imaging systems and system components to reduce development and deployment costs.

Methods and apparatus for infrared resolution of closely-spaced objects


A therapy station for treatment of a patient with focused acoustic waves has a source of focused acoustic waves attached to a source carrier, an x-ray carrier carrying an x-ray locating system, and a support table for the patient. The x-ray carrier is pivotably attached to the source carrier so as to be pivotable relative to the source of acoustic waves and such that the central ray of the x-ray locating system always proceeds through the focus of the focused acoustic waves, and the source carrier is adjustable relative to the support table in a plane.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a therapy station for treatment of a patient with focused acoustic waves, of the type including a source carrier to which a source of focused acoustic waves is attached, an x-ray carrier to which an x-ray locating system is attached, and a support table for a subject to be treated.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Therapy equipment of this type serve the purpose of treating stone pathologies (lithotripsy), treating tumors, or for treating bone conditions (osterorestoration). In the former instance, a shock wave source is usually provided as the source of focused acoustic waves. In the case of tumor treatment, for example, a pressure pulse source that generates negative pressure pulses (under-pressure or rarefaction pulses) and/or an ultrasound source that continuously delivers ultrasound (hyperthermia) can be provided as the source of focused acoustic waves. A shock wave source is likewise normally provided as source of focused acoustic waves for the treatment of bone conditions.
Regardless of the purpose of the treatment, a subject to be treated with such a therapy station is aligned relative to the source of focused acoustic waves, with the assistance of the x-ray locating system, by adjusting the source carrier and the support table relative to one another, so that a region of the subject to be treated is located in the focus of the acoustic waves. The x-ray carrier is usually connected such to the source carrier so that it follows the motion of the latter, so that an effective check can be made at any time after the positioning of the region to be treated in the focus of the acoustic waves, to see whether the previously-made alignment of the subject to be treated relative to the focus is still present.
Quite a considerable structural outlay must be provided in known therapy means for realizing these requirements. In a therapy station disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,044,354, the source carrier, the x-ray carrier and the support table are attached to a stand column pivotable around an axis either independently or in common, as desired. The patient support table is secured to a boom pivotable around the aforementioned axis and is adjustable relative to the boom in the direction of the axes of a spatial coordinate system. In order to be able to fashion the boom with adequate stability (this boom being loaded not only by the weight of the subject to be treated and of the patient support table but also by the weight of the drives required for its adjustment), a rather substantial structural outlay must be produced, resulting in substantial costs.

Therapy station for treatment with focused acoustic waves having an X-ray locating system pivotable relative to an acoustic wave source


A tri-state I/O buffer and a method of inhibiting current to an I/O buffer arranged to be powered by a supply voltage and to drive an output terminal are provided. The I/O buffer preferably has an output driving circuit connected to the supply voltage for driving the output terminal and includes a first plurality of transistors defining an isolated floating well circuit for operatively connecting the output terminal to the supply voltage and a second plurality of transistors defining a pull-down circuit for operatively connecting the output terminal to ground. An input control circuit is connected to the output driving circuit and the supply voltage, and is arranged to receive a buffer input signal for controlling the buffer input signal to the output driving circuit. A bias controlling circuit is connected to the isolated floating well circuit and the supply voltage, and is arranged to receive a tri-state enabling signal and the buffer input signal for controlling a biasing signal to the floating well circuit.

Over the years, advancements have been made in microelectronic integrated circuit fabrication technology which has enabled the sizes of circuit devices to be progressively reduced in order that more and more devices can be positioned on a single integrated circuit chip. Despite these advancements, some devices are easier to reduce to smaller sizes than others. For example, although logic devices went to a lower voltage before memory device, memory devices generally are now being reduced to a smaller size at a substantially faster rate than many logic devices which often interface with or connect to the memory devices.
Many types of logic devices, such as Transistor--Transistor Logic ("TTL") devices, are conventionally powered by a five (5) volt supply or power supply. Nevertheless, problems can be encountered when memory devices which interface with the logic devices are attempted to be powered with a 5 volt power supply. For example, because memory devices often have smaller feature sizes, a 5 volt signal applied to such a device can destroy the device, e.g. causing the gate oxide to break down.
For this and other reasons, logic devices, memory, and other integrated circuit devices have slowly migrated from conventional 5 volt designs to lower voltage designs such as 3.3 volts. Interfacing various components and systems with different voltage tolerances has become an important design issue that has needed to be and continues to need to be addressed. For example, low voltage memory devices still need to interface with or be connected to logic devices, such as TTL devices, and other devices that still operate at 5 volts. These devices often need to be connected to a common input/output ("I/O") line.
Memory devices which operate on 3.3 volts are often capable of driving 5 volt logic devices. Such a memory device is provided with a tri-state output driver or driving circuit that selectively operates in a normal drive mode, and also in a tri-state or high impedance mode in which the driver is somewhat transparent to the output line to which it is connected. If protection is not designed into the circuit, a 5 volt logic signal applied to the input line to which a 3.3 volt tri-state driver is connected can destroy the driver, e.g., due to the break down of the gate oxide.
Attempts have been made to design I/O buffers or buffering circuits which tolerate a 5 volt input. Examples of such attempts can be seen in U.S. Pat. No. 5,546,019 by Liao titled "CMOS I/O Circuit With 3.3 Volt Output And Tolerance Of 5 Volt Input," U.S. Pat. No. 5,450,025 by Shay titled "Tristate Driver For Interfacing To A Bus Subject To Overvoltage Conditions," and U.S. Pat. No. 5,467,031 by Nguyen et al. titled "3.3 Volt CMOS Tri-State Driver Circuit Capable Of Driving Common 5 Volt Line." These attempts, however, can be complex, expensive, and less effective in protecting an output driver from destruction. Additionally, these prior attempt can be less effective in inhibiting or preventing unwanted current draw or flow, e.g., leakage current, from the output terminal during tri-state conditions and can load other output drivers in a network during tri-state conditions.

Current inhibiting I/O buffer having a 5 volt tolerant input and method of inhibiting current


A computer implemented method for controlling operational states of a hardware matching processor includes monitoring, by a circuit breaker, incoming electronic data transaction request messages to the hardware matching processor; dynamically defining a range of values as a function of values included with electronic data transaction request messages received during a rolling lookback window; detecting that an incoming electronic data transaction request message contains a value outside the range of values; transitioning the electronic data transaction processing system into a pre-open state for a predetermined period, thereby preventing the hardware matching processor from matching incoming electronic data transaction request messages; calculating a pre-open value at an end of the pre-open state; and re-opening the electronic data transaction processing system at the calculated pre-open value, thereby allowing the hardware matching processor to match incoming electronic data transaction request messages.

Current financial instrument trading systems allow traders to submit orders and receive confirmations, market data, and other information electronically via a communications network. Electronic trading of financial instruments, such as futures contracts, is conducted by market participants sending orders, such as to buy or sell one or more futures contracts, in electronic form to the exchange. These electronically submitted orders to buy and sell are then matched, if possible, by the exchange, i.e., by the exchange's matching engine, to execute a trade. Outstanding (unmatched, wholly unsatisfied/unfilled or partially satisfied/filled) orders are maintained in one or more data structures or databases referred to as "order books," such orders being referred to as "resting," and made visible, i.e., their availability for trading is advertised, to the market participants through electronic notifications/broadcasts, referred to as market data feeds. An order book is typically maintained for each product, e.g., instrument, traded on the electronic trading system and generally defines or otherwise represents the state of the market for that product, i.e., the current prices at which the market participants are willing to buy or sell that product, as well as the desired quantities therefore. The collection of quantities available to buy or sell at different prices may be reflective of the product's liquidity, i.e., the ease with which a willing seller may find a willing buyer and vice versa.
The speed in which trades are executed through electronic trading systems provide many benefits. Electronic trading systems can facilitate enormous numbers of market transactions. In many cases, the greater the number of orders sent to a market, the greater that market's liquidity. In liquid markets, prices are driven by competition and reflect a consensus of a contract's value. With the advent of improved computational and communications capabilities, the speed and efficiency with which traders may receive information and trade in electronic trading systems has greatly improved. Automated trading systems employed by market participants utilize computers to quickly analyze market information and place trades allowing traders to take advantage of even the smallest movements in prices. Accordingly, electronic trading has provided significant benefits to markets, including increasing liquidity, promoting price discovery, narrowing bid-ask spreads, and lowering risk management costs.
However, the improved speed and efficiency also increases the speed at which problems may occur and propagate, such as where the market ceases to operate as intended, e.g., the market no longer reflects a consensus of the value of traded products among the market participants, or experiences transitory liquidity gaps. Such problems are typically evidenced by extreme market activity such as large changes in price, whether up or down, over a short period of time or an extreme volume of trades taking place.
To mitigate risk and ensure a fair and balanced market, electronic trading systems need to provide mechanisms to rapidly detect and respond to situations where a market experiences sudden and extraordinary price movements, or otherwise where the market value is not reflective of a true consensus of the value of the traded products among the market participants, e.g., in situations where there is order imbalance and volatility due to news or events.


Systems and methods for measuring a phase noise of a test signal. A test system includes a recursive delayer, a combiner and a phase noise determinator. The recursive delayer is configured to provide a recursively delayed signal on the basis of the test signal. The combiner is configured to combine a first signal with a second signal to provide a combiner output signal. The first signal is generated based on the test signal and the second signal is generated based on the recursively delayed signal. The phase noise determinator is used to determine phase noise information based on the combiner output signal.

Phase noise of signal sources is a severe cause of performance degradation in communication systems. Thus, in the production phase of radio frequency (RF) chips that are configured to handle electrical, optical and/or electromagnetic signals in the radio frequency range (3 KHz up to 300 THz), it is very important to accurately measure the phase noise of the device under test (DUT), meanwhile keeping the cost of test (COT) as low as possible.
Delay line discriminator techniques are well known for phase noise measurement and offer the advantage of avoiding external sources with good phase noise properties, for example a local oscillator having a substantially lower phase noise than the device under test. Especially for measurement of phase noise of highest performance devices under test a local oscillator is expected to exhibit less than state of the art phase noise. Delay line discriminator techniques are a phase noise measurement method which does not require a local oscillator. The radio frequency signal to be measured is split in two paths: one path is passed through a tunable phase shifter, and the second path is passed through a delay line. The signal at the output of the phase shifter is then mixed with the signal at the output of the delay line. Delay line discriminators provide a relatively easy and low cost solution for phase noise measurement.
A description of a conventional delay line discriminator can be found in the Microwave Journal of December 1983, page 103 ff.: "Theory and Design of the Delay Line Discriminator for Phase Noise Measurements" by Christopher Schiebold.
However, delay line discriminators are known to suffer severe sensitivity loss for close-in phase noise measurements showing a poor performance, due to the non-zero correlation between the phase noise waveform and its delayed version. The poor performance for close-in phase measurements is due to the strong attenuation that low frequency components undergo when passing through the delay line discriminator. This attenuation can be so strong that the signal falls below the noise floor, making the phase noise measurement virtually impossible. The correlation between the phase noise waveform and its delayed version can be decreased and thus the sensitivity improved by using longer delay lines. However, long analog delay lines are difficult to build.

Apparatus comprising a recursive delayer and method for measuring a phase noise


A mixer design is described that permits greater integration on standard silicon chips with an improvement in power and linearity compared to previous mixer designs, enabling low-power, high performance RF reception.

1. Technical Field of Invention
The present invention relates to radio receivers and methods for the reception of RF (radio frequency) communication signals in a highly integrated receiver.
2. Background of The Invention and Discussion of Prior Art
At the present time, the vast majority of RF communication receivers are of the superheterodyne type. This type of receiver uses one or more IF (intermediate frequency) stages for filtering and amplifying signals at a fixed frequency within an IF chain. This radio architecture has the advantage that fixed filters may be used in the LO chain. In order for the receiver to be useable over multiple bands, its typical architecture is as the single-band receiver shown in FIG. 1. An RF signal arriving at an antenna 11 passes through a band-select RF filter 13, an LNA (low noise amplifier), 15, and into an image filter, 17, which produce a band-limited RF signal. This band-limited RF signal then enters the first mixer 19, which translates the RF signal down to an intermediate frequency by mixing it with the signal produced by the first LO (local oscillator) 21. The undesired mixer products in the IF signal are rejected by an IF filter, 23. The filtered IF signal then enters an IF amplifier stage, 25, after which the outputs feeds into the second mixer 27 which translates it down to yet another intermediate frequency by mixing it with the signal produced by a second LO, 28. The signal is then sent to the baseband for processing. Tuning into a particular channel within the band-limited RF signal is accomplished by varying the frequency of each LO, 21 and 28.
In order to reduce size, power consumption, and cost, it would be advantageous to integrate the electronic components of radio receiver and transmitter to reduce the number of filters and mixers. The superheterodyne design, however, requires high quality, narrowband IF bandpass filters that are typically implemented off-chip. These filtering components impose a lower limit to the size, materials cost, assembly cost, and power consumption of receiver and transmitter built using the superheterodyne design. Moreover, the necessity for mixer and local oscillator circuits operating at high frequencies contributes greatly to the power consumption and general complexity of the superheterodyne receiver. In particular, the high-frequency analog mixers require a large amount of power to maintain linear operation. Although many variations of the superheterodyne design exist, they all share the limitations of the particular design just described.
The growing demand for portable communications has motivated attempts to design radio receivers that permit the integration of more components onto a single chip. Recent advances in semiconductor processing of inductors are allowing more and more of these filters to be implemented on-chip.
A second receiver design is the direct-conversion, or zero-IF, receiver shown in FIG. 2. An antenna 57 couples a RF signal through a first bandpass RF filter, 59, into a LNA, 61. The signal then proceeds through a second RF filter 63, yielding a band-limited RF signal, which then enters a mixer, 65, and mixes with an LO frequency produced by an LO, 67. Up to this point, the direct-conversion receiver design is essentially the same as the previous receiver design. Unlike the previous designs, however, the LO frequency is set to the carrier frequency of the RF channel of interest. The resulting mixer product is a zero-frequency IF signal—a modulated signal at baseband frequency. The mixer output, 67, is coupled into a lowpass analog filter 69 before proceeding into baseband information signal for use by the remainder of the communications system. In either case, tuning is accomplished by varying the frequency of LO, 67, thereby converting different RF channels to zero-frequency IF signals.
Because the direct-conversion receiver design produces a zero-frequency IF signal, its filter requirements are greatly simplified—no external IF filter components are needed since the zero-IF signal is an audio frequency signal that can be filtered by a low-quality lowpass filter. This allows the receiver to be integrated in a standard silicon process from mixer 65 onwards, making the direct-conversion receiver design potentially attractive for portable applications.
The direct-conversion design, however, has several problems, some of which are quite serious. As with the other designs described above, the RF and image filters required in the direct-conversion design must be high-quality narrowband filters that must remain off-chip. Moreover, this design requires the use of high-frequency mixer and LO circuits that require large amounts of power. Additionally, radiated power from LO, 67, can couple into antenna 57, producing a DC offset at the output of mixer, 65. This DC offset can be much greater than the desired zero-IF signal, making signal reception difficult. Radiated power from LO 67 can also affect other nearby direct-conversion receivers tuned to the same radio frequency.
The active subharmonic mixer is known as prior art as a method to reduce the local oscillator self-mixing and radiation problems in a direct conversion (or low IF) receiver by using multiple phases of a subharmonic frequency in multi-stack double-balanced active mixer topology [1][2]. FIG. 3 is block diagram of a prior art subharmonic mixer. In this mixer, RF inputs, 71 and 72, are converted to currents by transistors 79 and 80. The in-phase local oscillator signals 73 and 74 drive the first stage of current commutators of transistors 81-84, and the quadrature local oscillator signals 75 and 76 drive the second stage of current commutators 85-88. The result currents are converted to output voltages 77 and 78 by resistors 89 and 90. These methods rely on active mixers that do not scale well with lower supply voltages, have significant non-linearity, have high power dissipation, and can not be effectively implemented in MOS technologies.


Fluid is circulated through a heat exchange system for heat exchange to occur at a bundle of tubes making up a portion of the heat exchange system. Heat exchange efficiency at the bundle of tubes requires debris and fouling deposits accumulated therewithin to be substantially removed. Taking the heat exchange system off-line for physical flushing is not only ineffective but also disallow use of the heat exchange system for the duration it remains off-line. Described herein is an embodiment of a cleaning system which uses a displacement system for displacing cleaning balls carried in fluid into the bundle of tubes for cleaning thereof. A flow diverting system is configured and operable for introducing the cleaning balls to the bundle of tubes when in a first operating mode and for retrieving the cleaning balls from the plurality of tubes when in a second operating mode.

Heat exchange systems are used in various industries for a myriad of applications. Common applications of the heat exchange systems include heating ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) installations. In such installations, fluid is circulated through the heat exchange system for heat exchange to occur at a bundle of tubes making up a portion of the heat exchange system. Heat exchange efficiency at the bundle of tubes requires debris and fouling deposits accumulated therewithin to be substantially removed. Taking the heat exchange system off-line for physical flushing is not only ineffective but also disallow use of the heat exchange system for the duration it remains off-line.
Cleaning systems for use in conjunction with the heat exchange systems uses elastomeric balls transported by fluid to be fed and circulated in the heat exchange system. When the elastomeric balls passage through the bundle of tubes during circulation in the heat exchange system, any debris or fouling deposits in the bundle of tubes are pushed out. The elastomeric balls are then subsequently retrieved by the cleaning system.
However, it is known in the art that such cleaning systems utilises complex mechanisms for introducing the elastomeric balls into the heat exchange system and for the subsequent retrieval of the elastomeric balls therefrom. The complex mechanisms require frequent maintenance and proper coordination between mechanisms during use. Additionally, the configurations of existent cleaning systems known in the art are complicated and require extensive modifications to the heat exchange system in order for the cleaning system to be incorporated for use with the corresponding heat exchange system.
Therefore, there is an apparent need for an improved cleaning system for addressing the foregoing problems.


An ink jet printer having a print head unit on which ink ejecting nozzles are arranged. The ink jet printer includes an ink supplying unit having a solid ink storage unit to store solid ink, and a heating unit to melt the solid ink into liquid ink, an ink reservoir to accommodate and store the liquid ink from the ink supplying unit, which is extended so as to correspond to the length of the print head unit, and a heater to heat the liquid ink, disposed in the lengthwise direction of the ink reservoir.

1. Field of the Invention
An aspect of the present invention relates to an ink jet printer having an improved arrangement of a heater to prevent liquid ink from being solidified.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, an ink jet printer is inexpensive, is capable of high-performance printing, and is also advantageous in forming color images. In this respect, the ink jet printer has been widely used. The ink jet printer has a print head device formed with a multiplicity of fine nozzles through which ink is ejected toward paper to form images on the paper.
Generally, there are two kinds of ink jet printers: a liquid ink jet printer and a solid ink jet printer. The liquid ink jet printer stores ink in a liquid state and supplies liquid ink to a print head device, whereas the solid ink jet printer stores ink in a solid state, liquefies solid ink by necessary amounts and supplies the liquefied ink to the print head device. The solid ink jet printer uses solid ink that is mainly made of paraffin, which produces excellent glazed images, has good color sense and a cubic effect; further, generation of waste ink may be reduced. For this reason, the solid ink jet printer is widely used.
FIG. 1 schematically illustrates a conventional ink jet printer. As illustrated, an ink jet printer 100 comprises an ink reservoir 110 and heaters 130 to liquefy remaining ink.
The ink reservoir 110 stores liquid ink produced by heating and melting solid ink that is stored in an ink supplying unit (not shown). An ink accommodating unit 140 accommodates liquid ink from the ink supplying unit (not shown), and an ink passage 145 provides communication between the ink accommodating unit 140 and the ink reservoir 110, to thereby allow liquid ink accommodated in the ink accommodating unit 140 to flow into the ink reservoir 110.
The ink reservoir 110 comprises a supplying pipe 150 to supply ink to a print head 120. The print head 120 receives ink from the ink reservoir 110 through the ink supplying pipe 150, and ejects them onto paper.
The heaters 130 heat liquid ink that is stored in the ink reservoir 110 so as to prevent them from being solidified until they are supplied to the print head 120 through the ink supplying pipe 150. The heaters 130 are supported by an insertion hole 135 formed in a direction that is perpendicular to the lengthwise direction of the ink reservoir 110. This construction of the conventional ink jet printer is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,003,971.
Usually, a heat transmission rate of the heater 130 depends on a distance between the heater 130 and the liquid ink; that is, the closer the heaters 130 and the liquid ink are to each other, the higher the heat transmission rate between them is. However, as noted above, in the conventional ink jet printer 100, the heaters 130 are arranged in directions that are perpendicular to the lengthwise direction of the ink reservoir 110. Thus, the rate of heat transmission to the liquid ink stored within the ink reservoir 110 is degraded. In other words, since the liquid ink is disposed along the lengthwise direction of the ink reservoir 110 and adapt to the shape of the ink reservoir 110, and since the heaters 130 are arranged perpendicular to the lengthwise direction of the ink reservoir 110, thus, an average separation between the heaters 130 and the liquid ink is distant.
Because of this distant arrangement, only a portion of the liquid ink disposed for the length of the ink reservoir 110 may be heated by the heater 130, thereby degrading the heating rate of the heater 130 to heat liquid ink. In addition, to heat liquid ink stored for the whole length of the ink reservoir 110, a plurality of heaters 130 need to be disposed along the lengthwise direction of the ink reservoir 110.

Ink jet printer and print head device thereof


A proximal radioulnar joint (lateral elbow) prosthesis includes an ulnar brace member to be secured to the outer surface of the ulna bone. The ulnar brace member defines a bearing surface for supporting the radius. The prosthesis may also include a radial brace member which cooperates with the ulnar brace member.

The present invention relates to an elbow or proximal radioulnar joint prosthesis. The elbow joint includes three bones—the humerus, which extends from the shoulder to the elbow, and the radius and ulna, which lie parallel to each other and form the forearm, which extends from the elbow to the wrist. Currently, when the proximal head (the upper end as seen in FIG. 1) of the radius bone is damaged or destroyed, the standard procedure is to excise the damaged portion of the radius and, if deemed necessary to insert a prosthesis into the radius bone to replace the radial head. This radial head replacement relies on the annular ligament to hold the radius in position as it did prior to the procedure. If this ligament is damaged as part of the incident which caused the damage to the radial head (such as a dislocation or a fracture of the radial head), which is typical, then the prosthesis may become dislocated from the proximal ulna and or humerus and unable to transmit any axial loads from the hand, via the forearm and the elbow to the humerus. As a result, the patient is not able to transmit axial loads from the radius to the humerus.

Lateral elbow prosthesis—proximal radioulnar joint