A cutting instrument including a metal blade has a recess formed therein and a semiconductor substrate affixed to the blade in the recess. The semiconductor substrate includes at least one sensor formed thereon. The sensor formed on the semiconductor substrate may comprise at least one or an array of a strain sensors, pressure sensors, nerve sensors, temperature sensors, density sensors, accelerometers, and gyroscopes. The cutting instrument may also further include a handle wherein the blade is affixed to the handle and the semiconductor substrate is electrically coupled to the handle. The handle may then be coupled, either physically or by wireless transmission, to a computer that is adapted to display information to a person using the cutting instrument based on signals generated by one or more of the sensors formed on the semiconductor substrate. The computer or handle may also be adapted to store data based on the signals generated by one or more of the sensors. A method of making said cutting instrument includes the steps of at least one sensor being formed on a semiconductor wafer and a layer of photoresist being applied on a top side of the semiconductor wafer according to a pattern that matches the defined shape of the semiconductor substrate. The portion of the semiconductor wafer not covered by the photoresist is removed and thereafter the photoresist is removed from the semiconductor wafer, thereby leaving the semiconductor substrate having a defined shape and at least one sensor formed thereon. The semiconductor substrate having a defined shape and at least one sensor formed thereon is then affixed to a metal blade in a recess formed in the blade.

The present invention relates to a cutting instrument having a variety of sensors integrated therein. More particularly, the invention relates to a blade having a sensor or sensors formed thereon, wherein the sensors are mounted adjacent the cutting surface to allow measurement of the physical characteristics of the blade and a workpiece or tissue.
Cutting instruments exist for a myriad of applications, ranging from very specialized applications such as surgical scalpels, to industrial applications and common consumer applications.
Surgery continues to be one of the most delicate and risky medical procedures. Before making an incision into tissue, surgeons are required to identify what type of tissue is being incised, such as fatty, muscular, vascular or nerve. This task is greatly complicated by the fact that human anatomy differs slightly from person to person. The failure to properly classify tissue before making an incision can have severe adverse consequences. For example, if a surgeon fails to properly classify a nerve and cuts it, then the patient can suffer effects ranging from a loss of feeling to loss of motor control.
Thus, it would be useful to surgeons to be able to sense during surgery, and more particularly during the actual cutting operation, certain characteristics that would help to identify and classify the substrate tissue. For example, by sensing the amount of force being applied with a blade, the resistance of the tissue can be measured and can be used to assist in the classification of the tissue. Sensing the different pressure characteristics of material surrounding a blade, for example in the surrounding fluid, can help to classify the type or types of tissue surrounding the blade or the regions of the body being cut by the blade. Sensing the density of the tissue in proximity with the blade can also be used to assist in the identification of that tissue. Finally, as noted above, sensing the presence of nerve tissue can prevent the inadvertent cutting thereof. Moreover, the ability to sense the type of tissue in proximity with or cut by a blade would not only be useful to provide real time feedback for surgeons during surgery, but would also be useful if recorded for later use for tracking purposes.
Temperature can also be used to monitor the usage of a blade. For example, by monitoring the time for which a blade is at approximately 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit, the length of time that the blade has been in use can be determined. Also, information relating to the extent and direction of movement of a blade can useful both while the blade is being used and afterward for monitoring purposes, such as to measure the amount of cutting done in a procedure.
The ability to sense one or more of the parameters just described would also be useful in non-medical/surgical applications. For example, in connection with a consumer blade such as a razor blade, measurement of one or more of these parameters may be used to give consumers information regarding the cutting force applied to the blade, the materials being cut, and to estimate the sharpness of the blade. Furthermore, the manufacturers that design consumer blades may use the measured parameters to assess the impact of cutting tool design changes. For example, a razor blade manufacturer could quantify the changes in applied force to a blade that are due to changes in the handle or blade configuration. Similarly, in connection with machining tools such as a saw blade and milling tools, measurement of one or more of these parameters can be used to determine or predict the sharpness and cutting performance of the tool.
Sensor technology that can be integrated into semiconductor materials for sensing characteristics such as strain, pressure, temperature, density, the presence of nerves and movement are well known in the art. A strain sensor or gauge can be constructed using a resistor made of a material such as polysilicon. The resistance of a material such as polysilicon changes as it is stretched, and by measuring the change in resistance, one can calculate the strain. A pressure sensor can be constructed by placing a strain sensor on top of a diaphragm made of a material such as silicon nitride or polysilicon. When the diaphragm moves due to surrounding pressure changes, the strain gauge can be used to measure the local pressure. Examples of such pressure sensors are described in S. Sugiyama et al., xe2x80x9cMicro-diaphragm Pressure Sensor,xe2x80x9d IEEE Int. Electron Devices Meeting, 1986, pp. 184-7, and H. Tanigawa et al., xe2x80x9cMOS Integrated Silicon Pressure Sensor,xe2x80x9d IEEE Trans. Electron Devices, Vol. ED-32, No. 7, pp. 1191-5, July 1985, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference.
One example of a temperature sensor can be constructed in a manner similar to a strain sensor using a resistor made of a material such as polysilicon. Using this type of a sensor, temperature can be measured as a function of the change in the resistance of the material. Similarly, as described in A. S. Sedra and K. C. Smith, xe2x80x9cMicroelectronic Circuits,xe2x80x9d 4th Ed., Oxford University Press, New York, p. 135, 1998, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, diodes have an easily measured temperature dependence and thus are also used in designing temperature sensors.
Piezoelectric ultrasonic sensors can be used to measure density. Such sensors vibrate at a high frequency and emit, in the direction of the object of interest, a high frequency signal. Density of the impinged object can then be measured based on the signal that is reflected back by that object. Examples of such sensors are described in White et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,129,262, entitled xe2x80x9cPlate-mode Ultrasonic Sensor,xe2x80x9d White et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,189,914, also entitled xe2x80x9cPlate-mode Ultrasonic Sensor,xe2x80x9d and S. W. Wenzel and R. M. White, xe2x80x9cA Multisensor Employing an Ultrasonic Lamb-wave Oscillator,xe2x80x9d IEEE Trans. Electron Devices, Vol. 35, No. 6, pp. 735-743, June 1988, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference. It is well known to sense the presence of nerve tissue using an electrical contact, such as a gold electrode, which picks up and conducts electrical signals in proximity therewith.
Movement or motion can be detected using an accelerometer, which measures acceleration. The signal output of an accelerometer can be integrated to determine or predict the distance traveled by a reference object. An example of an accelerometer integrated into semiconductor materials is described in Sherman, S. J.; Tsang, W. K.; Core, T. A.; Quinn, D. E., xe2x80x9cA low cost monolithic accelerometer,xe2x80x9d 1992 Symposium on VLSI Circuits. Digest of Technical Papers, Seattle, Wash., USA, Jun. 4-6 1992, p. 34-5, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. This accelerometer operates by monitoring the deflection of a polysilicon structure, which can then be used to determine or predict acceleration, and is produced using the micromachining of layers of semiconductor materials using semiconductor processing techniques. Direction of movement or motion can be detected using a gyroscope. An example of a gyroscope that can be integrated into semiconductor materials described in Ayazi, F.; Najafi, K., xe2x80x9cDesign and fabrication of high-performance polysilicon vibrating ring gyroscope.xe2x80x9d Proc. IEEE MEMS 98, p. 621-6, 1998, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. This gyroscope operates by monitoring the movement of a vibrating ring of silicon to infer change in direction, and is produced using the micromachining of layers of semiconductor materials using semiconductor processing techniques.
Surgical tools constructed entirely of semiconductor materials, such as silicon, having the ability to sense, for example, temperature or strain, are known, examples of which are described in Carr et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,980,518, entitled xe2x80x9cMicrocautery Surgical Tool,xe2x80x9d and Mehregany et al., U.S. Pat. No, 5,579,583, entitled xe2x80x9cMicrofabricated Blades.xe2x80x9d Using only semiconductor materials to construct the surgical tools is a natural approach since semiconductor materials such as silicon can be made with the requisite degree of sharpness and will also allow for direct fabrication of circuitry. However, semiconductor materials such as silicon tend to be brittle and hence not well suited for use as the primary structural component in a cutting device for surgical, industrial, and many consumer applications.
Described is a cutting instrument including a rigid blade having a recess formed therein and a semiconductor substrate affixed to the blade in the recess. The blade is preferably constructed of metal. The semiconductor substrate includes at least one sensor formed thereon. The sensor formed on the semiconductor substrate may comprise one or more of a strain sensor, a pressure sensor, a nerve sensor, a temperature sensor, a density sensor, an accelerometer, and a gyroscope. The sensor formed on the semiconductor substrate may also comprise an array of two or more of each sensor.
The recess in the blade is preferably formed so as to follow at least a portion of the edge of the blade. The semiconductor substrate may then be affixed to the blade in the recess adjacent the edge of the blade. The semiconductor substrate may also include circuitry formed thereon that is coupled to the sensors. The circuitry preferably includes one or more amplifiers and/or logic circuits for multiplexing the signals generated by the sensors.
The cutting instrument may also further include a handle wherein the blade is affixed to the handle and the semiconductor substrate is electrically coupled to the handle. The handle may then be coupled to a computer that is adapted to display information to a person using the cutting instrument based on signals generated by one or more of the sensors formed on the semiconductor substrate. The handle may include an electrical connector that is physically connected to a compatible connector associated with the computer, or may preferably include a wireless transmitter coupled the semiconductor substrate that is in communication with a wireless receiver associated with the computer. The handle or separate computer may also be adapted to store data based on the signals generated by one or more of the sensors.
Also described is a method of making a cutting instrument, including a semiconductor substrate having a defined shape and at least one sensor formed thereon. According to the method, at least one sensor is formed on a semiconductor wafer and a layer of photoresist is applied on a top side of the semiconductor wafer according to a pattern that matches the defined shape of the semiconductor substrate. The portion of the semiconductor wafer not covered by the photoresist is removed and thereafter the photoresist is removed from the semiconductor wafer, thereby leaving the semiconductor substrate having a defined shape and at least one sensor formed thereon utilizing techniques well known in the art. The semiconductor substrate having a defined shape and at least one sensor formed thereon is then affixed to a metal blade in a recess formed in said blade.
The semiconductor wafer may comprise a silicon-on-insulator wafer including a top layer of silicon, a middle layer of insulating material, and a bottom layer of silicon. The method would then include removing the bottom layer of silicon after applying the photoresist. An etching process may be used to remove the portion of the semiconductor wafer not covered by the photoresist and the bottom layer of silicon.
The semiconductor wafer may also comprise a silicon wafer. The method may then include grinding the wafer down to a desired thickness before affixing the semiconductor substrate to the blade.

Cutting instrument having integrated sensors


A cyclone includes a cylindrical housing and has an inner diameter D. An inlet is near a first end of the housing. A deflection member can be positioned within the first end or the second end of the housing, depending on whether the cyclone is uniflow or reverse flow. An outlet tube is positioned within and extends from a second end or the first end of the housing (depending on whether uniflow or reverse flow). A bunker is formed between the outlet tube and an inner wall of the housing in a uniflow design and between the deflection member and the housing in a reverse flow design, and collects particles separated from an inlet gas stream. A gap between the deflection member and the outlet tube has a length in the range of approximately 0.4*D to 0.8*D. The length of the bunker is approximately greater than or equal to 1.5*D.

A cyclone is a widely used industrial gas-cleaning apparatus. Traditional cyclones use principles of centrifugal force to separate gas-borne particles from a gas stream (e.g., an air stream). Typically these cyclones use high air velocities and are associated with high turbulence intensity and particle re-entrainment, which can lead to low particle separation efficiency. For many years, the mainstream of cyclone technology was dominated by the reserve flow cyclone, with less research devoted to uniflow cyclones. In a uniflow cyclone, the gas and particles exit in the same direction. In a reverse flow cyclone, the gas reverses direction while in the cyclone and exits from the same direction that the inlet gas entered. Particles separated from the gas exit in the opposite direction.


Embodiments of the present disclosure provide an information recommendation method, apparatus, device and a computer readable storage medium. The method includes: acquiring positioning information of a mobile terminal of a user; determining multiple optional geo-fences based on the positioning information; and determining a pre-recommended geo-fence based on the positioning information and weight information of the acquired multiple optional geo-fences; and generating recommendation information of the pre-recommended geo-fence in case that a position corresponding to the positioning information falls within the range of the pre-recommended geo-fence. The embodiments of the present disclosure can improve the recommendation accuracy.

At present, when users are using a map software, the map software often makes recommendations with respect to surroundings or through taking the city as a scope according to their positioning information. However, these recommendations are recommended only based on the positioning information of the users, thus, there is often a problem that a user reach of delivered recommendation information is low, which leads to a low recommendation accuracy.

Information recommendation method, apparatus, device and computer readable storage medium


Disclosed is a hydroquinone derivative or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, the hydroquinone derivative being represented by formula (I): ##STR1## wherein R.sup.1 is a phenyl group which is unsubstituted or substituted with a substituent or substituents each independently selected from the group consisting of a halogen atom, a C1-4 alkyl group and a C1-4 alkoxy group;. R.sup.2 is a hydrogen atom or a C1-4 alkyl group; PA1 each of R.sup.3 and R.sup.4 is independently a hydrogen atom or a C1-4 alkyl group; PA1 R.sup.5 is a hydrogen atom or a C1-4 alkyl group; PA1 each of R.sup.6, R.sup.7 and R.sup.8 is independently a hydrogen atom or a C1-4 alkyl group; PA1 P is a hydroxyl group; PA1 Q is a hydroxyl group, a C1-4 alkoxy group, a C1-18 acyloxy group or an oxo group; PA1 P may form together with Q an ether bond; PA1 R is a hydroxyl group, a C1-4 alkoxy group, a C1-18 acyloxy group or an oxo group, provided that when one of said Q and said R is an oxo group, the other is also an oxo group; PA1 X is a single bond, an --NR.sup.10 -- group or a --CH.sub.2 --NR.sup.10 -- group in which R.sup.10 is a hydrogen atom or a C1-4 alkyl group; PA1 Y is a methylene group or a carbonyl group; and PA1 dotted bonds in a six membered ring represent that said six membered ring has the maximum number of double bonds.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a novel hydroquinone derivative useful for treating various allergic diseases and a pharmaceutical use thereof. More particularly, the present invention relates to a therapeutic agent for allergic diseases which contains the hydroquinone derivative as an active ingredient.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Allergic reactions which cause allergic diseases are generally classified into types I to IV. Particularly, the type IV reaction has been known to be dominant in atopic dermatitis, contact dermatitis, chronic bronchial asthma, psoriasis, graft-versus-host diseases, and so on. Effectiveness of antihistaminics and chemical mediator release inhibitors against these diseases is limited, and therefore steroids have been used for their therapy. In addition, cyclosporin and taclorims have also been known to be effective for suppression of graft rejection and therapy for graft-versus-host diseases developed after transplantation, and their application has been expanded into therapy for dermatitis Lancet, 339, 1120 (1992); J. Invest. Dermatol, 98, 851 (1992), etc.!. However, such drugs are sometimes disadvantageous. Steroids cause undesirable side effects such as infectious diseases, atrophy of adrenal glands, osteoporosis, diabetes mellitus, and growth inhibition in children. For cyclosporin or taclorims, side effects caused by their immunosuppression effect, such as infectious diseases and diabetes mellitus, would be feared.
The applicant have proposed uracil derivatives which can inhibit type IV allergic reactions (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 8-109171 which corresponds to EP700908A1). However, development of more potent and safe drugs for treating allergic diseases, especially those responsible for type IV allergic reactions, is still required.

Hydroquinone derivative and pharmaceutical use thereof


In a hydraulic camshaft adjuster for a camshaft of an internal combustion engine and a method of assembling the camshaft adjuster including an inner body, which is connected to the camshaft in a rotationally fixed manner and has outwardly extending blades and an outer body which has inwardly projecting blades which form, together with the outwardly extending blades, at least one hydraulic medium chamber between two housing side covers connected to the outer body and operatively connected to a crankshaft of an engine so as to be driven thereby, a locking bolt is provided for locking the inner body in relation to the outer body with a predetermined play.

The invention relates to a hydraulic camshaft adjuster and to a method of assembling the same for a camshaft of an internal combustion engine, comprising an inner body, which is connected to the camshaft in a rotationally fixed manner and has outwardly extending blades and an outer body, which is mounted rotatably relative to the camshaft and has blades extending inwardly between the outwardly extending blades so as to form at least one hydraulic medium chamber between two opposite cover plates, a driving connection from a crankshaft to the outer body, and with a locking device which locks the inner body in relation to the outer body with at least one bolt, which is movably disposed in the inner body for engagement in a locking cavity in one of the two covers, which are connected to the outer body.
In order to reduce the fuel consumption and the emissions and to increase power and torque, spark-ignition engines are generally equipped with camshaft adjusters. The latter change the phase position of the camshaft relative to the crankshaft. Currently, hydraulic blade-type adjusters with working chambers are generally used. The adjustment is undertaken by the controlled admission of oil from the engine circuit via a control valve into the chambers formed between adjacent blades. The control valve is operated by an electromagnetic control device.
DE 102 53 496 A1 discloses a camshaft adjuster of the generic type and is intended for adjusting the angle of rotation of the camshaft in relation to a crankshaft of an internal combustion engine. The camshaft adjuster has an outer body which is connected in a rotationally fixed manner to a drive wheel and an inner body which is connected in a rotationally fixed manner to the camshaft, the outer body having at least one hydraulic chamber and the inner body having at least one rotor blade which divides the hydraulic chamber into two working chambers. The rotor blade can be moved hydraulically between a late stop and an early stop by means of a controlled oil pressure. One of the stops forms the base position in which the blade can be locked by means of a spring-loaded locking pin which can be released hydraulically and which is moved into a locking groove or bore for locking purposes. The locking pin prevents an undesired movement of the camshaft adjuster if no oil pressure is present. These locking pins have a locking play in the locking grooves caused by the sum of the tolerances, some play being necessary for reliable functioning of the lock. The locking play should be large enough such that reliable locking and release operation can be obtained, but small enough to avoid the generation of noise. The generation of noise results from the undamped striking contact of a rotor blade and early stop or late stop, on the one hand, and the locking pin entering the locking groove, on the other hand. The aim of obtaining a quiet engine and a reliably operating lock can generally only be achieved by means of an exacting tolerance of the locking play. However, this exacting tolerance not only has technological limits for adjusting the locking play but moreover monitoring this adjusting operation by continuously measuring the locking play is very costly.
It is the principle object of the present invention to provide a hydraulic camshaft adjuster and a method for assembling the same in such a manner that reliable assembling of the camshaft adjuster with minimal locking play and without an adjusting process is possible.

Hydraulic camshaft adjuster and method for assembling the same


An engine mounting device for a motor vehicle having a casing attached to the engine, a flexible annular cylinder disposed inside the casing with a longitudinal axis generally parallel to the longitudinal axis of the vehicle body, a shaft attached to the vehicle body and disposed within the annulus of the flexible cylinder, whereby the casing and the flexible annular can move along the shaft in response to a frontal impact on the vehicle, and a retainer mounted on the shaft and arranged to prevent movement of the casing along the shaft below a predetermined threshold force on the casing.

A motor vehicle is typically equipped with an engine mounting system to support the vehicle's engine on the body and to reduce transmission of engine vibrations to the passenger compartment. For effective reduction of engine vibrations a mount assembly is generally constructed from a rubber isolator sandwiched between a frame-mounted bracket and an engine-mounted bracket.
A vehicle engine has appreciable mass and inertia such that a frontal impact of sufficient intensity can cause the engine to move forward on its engine-mounts. If the impact force is sufficiently great, the mount components could disengage and fail. In cases where an engine is prevented by the mounting system from moving forward, a sufficiently high frontal impact load may drive the engine into the vehicle's passenger compartment. To prevent this, some engine-mounts are designed to disengage from the vehicle body and allow an engine to move forward in the vehicle, without regard to the force of the impact. Nevertheless, having an engine come off its mounts during a low-energy, i.e. low load, frontal impact, where the actual forces are insufficient to drive the engine into the passenger compartment, is likewise undesirable.
The present invention provides an engine-mount design for a motor vehicle that remains intact at low frontal impact loads, but also allows the engine to disengage from the vehicle body structure above a threshold frontal impact.


A keratome (10) and a method for using the keratome (10) for cutting a cornea of an eye (14) are provided which allow an operator to view the cutting operation as it occurs. The keratome (10) includes an annular housing (12) sized to contact the eye (14) and allow a portion (21) of the cornea to protrude therein. A motor housing (22) is mounted to the annular housing (12) for movement with respect thereto in a feed direction. A blade (36) is mounted by the motor housing (22) for movement in a cutting direction transverse to the feed direction, and a motor (26) mounted by the motor housing (22) is drivingly connected to the blade (36) to provide reciprocal movement thereof in the cutting direction. Movement of the motor housing (22) in the feed direction across the eye (14) accompanied by movement of the blade (36) in the cutting direction cuts the portion (21) of the cornea protruding into the annular housing (12), while an operator can view the cutting through the annular housing (12).

Refractive surgery is a method of treating myopia, hyperopia, astigmatism, and other corneal abnormalities in human beings. This process involves reshaping a portion of the cornea, the transparent outer layer of the eye, to change its effective curvature. In recent refractive surgical methods, a preselected layer from the anterior surface of the cornea is removed in order to modify the tissue underneath. The corneal layer may be removed completely, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,840,175 issued to Peyman, but preferably the layer remains connected to the cornea as a hinged flap.
Included in refractive surgical methods is lamellar keratectomy, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,556,406 issued to Gordon et al., wherein a first layer of the cornea is raised, a second layer of the cornea may be removed, and then the first layer is replaced. Alternatively, laser intrastromal keratomileusis, or LASIK, procedures utilize a laser to reprofile the surface underlying the raised corneal layer in order to modify the corneal curvature, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,903,695 issued to Warner et al.
Different devices have been designed for performing refractive surgery on patients. One such device is a keratome, which has a motorized cutting blade for performing resections of the cornea. The blade in a keratome oscillates from side to side at high speed to cut the corneal tissue, while the blade is manually pushed or automatically driven in a path across the eye.
Keratomes typically include a suction ring, which is placed on the eye to position the cornea for cutting. In addition, a horizontal plate is assembled onto the suction ring. When placed over the eye, the suction ring draws the cornea therethrough to flatten it against the horizontal plate for slicing by the blade. Examples of such keratomes can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,586,980 issued to Kremer et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,342,378 issued to Giraud et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,595,570 issued to Smith, U.S. Pat. No. 5,624,456 issued to Hellenkamp, and U.S. Pat. No. RE 35,421 issued to Ruiz et al. The vertical spacing between the plate and the blade determines the depth or thickness of the cut. The setting of the blade is extremely critical, and the depth of the cut must be known precisely and accurately. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,288,292 issued to Giraud et al. discloses a keratome having a differential micrometer to adjust the depth of cut.
Due to their use of a horizontal plate structure, prior art keratomes have two main disadvantages. First, the horizontal plate obstructs an operator's view of the eye, preventing the operator from monitoring the corneal resection. As a consequence, an operator is not able to make informed decisions regarding altering or aborting the cut during the procedure. Second, keratomes are usually dependent on the use of a vacuum for proper functioning, in order to bring the cornea flat against the horizontal plate to position the cornea for cutting by the blade. However, a suction source is not always available, or may malfunction during the procedure. Furthermore, patients with high myopia have a tendency for retinal detachment, a condition which may be aggravated by the use of suction in this manner.

Keratome for performing eye surgery and method for using same


The present disclosure concerns a system for combining the reforestation of cleared land with a bee pasture, mass production of honey, and fermentation of honey for the distillation of fuel alcohol to obtain a renewable source of clean, efficient energy.

a) Field of the Invention
The invention concerns a system for the mass production of honey. In addition, the invention concerns a system for the reforestation of cleared land and the production of fuel alcohol.
b) Description of Related Art
Honey is still obtained in the known historical manner. Namely, flowering flora provides a source of nectar for bees which convert the nectar to honey. The three factors which affect the honey obtained are:
1) the quantity of nectar available at a given time; PA1 2) the quality of the nectar available at the given time; and PA1 3) the duration of the given time in which nectar is available. PA1 1)the bees are not able to take advantage of one or more of the nectar periods; PA1 2) the bees must be transported to a geographic area experiencing one of the nectar periods; or PA1 3) the bees consume most of the nectar flying to and from a geographic area experiencing one of the nectar periods.
The first factor limits the size of a bee colony which may be supported by the nectar, i.e. a larger quantity of available nectar will support a larger colony of bees, which in turn will generally produce greater quantities of honey. The second factor limits the quality of the honey which is obtained, e.g. table grade or bakery grade. The third factor limits the periods of the year in which honey is obtained (honey is consumed by the bees during periods of the year in which nectar is not available).
There are generally three nectar periods of the year during which nectar is available. The first nectar period occurs when dandelions, fruit trees and spring wildflowers are flowering. The second, and generally most prolific nectar period occurs when clover, sweetclover and alfalfa are flowering. The third nectar period occurs when goldenrod and aster are flowering. At all other times of the year, the bees must be sustained by reserves of honey which are contained in the colonies. Generally speaking, the geographic areas in which the nectar periods of the year occur are sufficiently separated such that:
In practice, the bees are generally transported to geographic areas experiencing one of the nectar periods for the additional purpose of pollinating the flowering crops of a landowner. It is not uncommon for a beekeeper to generate more revenue by providing pollination services to a landowner than from the honey obtained during the nectar period.
With regard to a further aspect of the present invention, it is known that large areas of land have been commercially cleared, stripping the land of its valuable flora, and generally leaving little more than a collection of access and service roads. At present, known reforestation projects are long term, commercially unprofitable ventures, usually mandated by regulation intended to protect the environment, sometimes referred to as "green laws". Consequently, an unprotected indigenous population is often left with little or no means for generating revenue from the land once it has been cleared.
With regard to yet another aspect of the present invention, it is known that fuel alcohol may provide an efficient, clean source of fuel. Conventionally, various grains, molasses or sugar cane are used as a source of raw material for fermentation into fuel alcohol. However, the process for converting grain to fuel alcohol is generally not cost effective when considering more conventional processes, e.g. refining gasoline.

System for mass production and consumption of honey


The present invention relates, in one aspect, to a process for preparing a storage-stable dispersion of a biocide which comprises the steps of: (a) mixing a plastisol, comprising a resin and a carrier, and a biocide to provide a mixture of said plastisol and said biocide (b) heating said mixture of plastisol and biocide to an elevated temperature of between about 30.degree. C. and about 100.degree. C. to provide a homogeneous, storage stable dispersion, said dispersion containing said biocide in an amount of between about one and about 30 weight percent based upon the weight of said dispersion, said resin being present in an amount of between about 5 and about 75 weight percent based upon the weight of said dispersion, with the proviso that when the weight percent of said resin in said dispersion is between about 30% and about 75%, then said elevated temperature is between 30.degree. C. and 45.degree. C., and when the weight percent of said resin in said dispersion is between about 5% and about 29%, then said elevated temperature is between 46.degree. C. and 100.degree. C., and (c) cooling the dispersion to a temperature of between about -20.degree. C. and about 40.degree. C. to provide a storage-stable mixture having a viscosity of between about 2,000 and about 30,000 centipoise.

Various methods for incorporating biocides into resin compositions have been disclosed in the prior art. By way of illustration, U.S. Pat. No. 4,086,297 discloses a process for forming a solid thermoplastic composition containing a microbiocide utilizing very high levels of the microbiocide and two thermoplastic resins in conjunction with melt blending processing.
As another illustration, U.S. Pat. No. 4,663,359 discloses a process for preparing a microbiocide concentrate which is useful in plastisol systems. The process comprises mixing a porous thermoplastic resin powder with a high concentration of microbiocide at an elevated temperature sufficient to melt the biocide and open the pores of the resin, and incorporating the melted biocide into the pores of the porous resin, optionally in the presence of a carrier. The resulting product is provided as a dry, free-flowing powder containing the microbiocide in a high concentration at least about 20 times greater than the normal upper usage concentration for the microbiocide.
Unfortunately, the products produced in accordance with the above-mentioned '297 and '359 patents are solids which are frequently more difficult to process into a finished product than might be desired. Liquid dispersions would avoid such solids handling problems in subsequent processing steps. Heretofore, however, suitable methods for incorporating insoluble or difficult-to-solubilize additives, such as biocides, into liquid dispersions has represented a challenge to the plastics manufacturing community. The solids in such liquid dispersions tend to settle out over time, thus causing a non-uniform distribution of the additive in the dispersion.
In view of the above, new methods for incorporating insoluble or difficult-to-solubilize biocides into plastics resins that avoid the settling and/or viscosity increase problems of the prior art compositions would be highly desired by the plastics manufacturing community.


A computing environment maintains the integrity of data stored in system memory. The system has a memory management unit that maintains a plurality of real page numbers. The system also comprises an address bus in communication with the memory management unit. The address bus comprises a plurality of address lines, wherein a value of at least one address line is set by a real page number from the memory management unit. The system has an operating system that controls memory usage by controlling the real page numbers stored in said page table that is accessed by the memory management unit. At least one security feature such as data encryption is selectively applied to data stored in a page of said memory as enabled by a value of said address line set by said real page number.

Computer systems today are subject to a variety of attacks that can disrupt or disable normal operation of a computer system. Computer viruses, worms, and trojan horse programs are examples of different forms of attack. Attacks can also come directly from unscrupulous users of a computer system. Often these attacks take the form of attempts to modify existing program code executed by the computer system or attempts to inject new unauthorized program code at various stages of normal program execution within the computer system. Systems and methods for preventing such malicious attacks are becoming increasingly important.
A typical computer system comprises computer hardware, an operating system, and one or more application programs. The computer hardware typically comprises a processor (sometimes also referred to as a "central processing unit" or "CPU"), a memory, and one or more system buses that facilitate communication among the various components. Other components of a typical computer system include input/output controllers, a memory controller, a graphics processing unit, an audio controller, and a power supply.
Such systems generally have a small amount of on-chip memory (referred to as cache memory) and a much larger amount of off-chip memory (referred to as system memory). The off-chip memory in such systems is generally not considered to be trustworthy (cache memory may also not be considered trustworthy but can be much easier to protect through hardware mechanisms that prevent an attacker from reading the contents of cache memory). That is, data stored in the large system memory is vulnerable to attack wherein the data could be easily altered in a way that was not intended by the owners of the data. Such an attack would cause a program to operate in an unintended manner or allow copy protection scheme to be defeated.
A number of systems have been developed that try to ensure that the data retrieved from system memory can be secured. In particular, systems have employed extensive encryption techniques as well as other tamper evident mechanisms that detect alterations to data in memory.
The operating system can be thought of as an interface between the application programs and the underlying hardware of the computer system. The operating system typically comprises various software routines that execute on the computer system processor and that manage the physical components of the computer system and their use by various application programs.
The processor of a computer system often includes a memory management unit that manages the use of memory by the operating system and any application programs. Many of the attacks against computer systems target programs in memory. For example, portions of code that execute security checks could be defeated by simply replacing that portion of a program when it is stored in memory. Other attacks could modify computer games and change the behavior. For example, consider a situation in which a vulnerability is discovered in a multiplayer game that allows a player to gain an unfair advantage by changing the code on his local machine. Such an unfair advantage could undermine the popularity of an otherwise popular game. All of these considerations suggest that it is highly desirable to prevent unauthorized alterations to program code.

System and method for using address lines to control memory usage


A device for selectively controlling the direction of blood flow to and from the patient during hemodialysis comprises two interlocking disks that rotate in relation to each other without separating. The two disks have fluid fittings that allow the blood lines attached to the patient to connect to one of the disks and the blood inlet and outlet for the hemodialysis machine to connect to the other. The center of each fluid fitting is a channel that aligns to a corresponding channel in the other disk. The disks rotate between two fixed relative positions, referred to herein as preferred alignments. The preferred alignments are such that the line drawing blood from the patient in the first preferred alignment becomes the line returning blood to the patient in the second preferred alignment, and the line returning blood to the patient in the first preferred alignment becomes the line drawing blood from the patient in the second preferred alignment. A bypass channel allows blood to flow from the outlet to the inlet of the hemodialysis machine when the device is in neither of its two preferred alignments.

In present day medical practice, hemodialysis is the standard therapy for treating ESRD. This therapy involves dialyzing the patient's blood several times a week. During treatment, the patient's vascular system is connected to a hemodialysis machine for sessions lasting several hours. This connection forms a blood circuit whereby blood is drawn from the patient through a needle connected to a flexible blood line, cycled through a hemodialysis machine that removes waste products including water, urea, and other impurities from the blood, and returned to the patient via a second blood line and needle. As used herein, reversing the direction of flow in the blood circuit means drawing blood through the needle which had previously been used to return blood to the patient and returning blood through the needle which had previously been used to draw blood from the patient without changing the direction that blood circulates through the hemodialysis machine. This change is also referred to herein as flow reversal or flow reversal in the patient portion of the blood circuit.
Traditionally, access to the patient's blood stream has been provided by an arterio/venous ("A/V") fistula or by a polytetrafluoroethylene ("PTFE") graft. An A/V fistula is a surgical construct joining an artery to a vein. The shunting of blood from an artery to a vein increases pressure on the vein, which pressure enlarges its diameter and thickens its walls. A fully developed fistula can be punctured with needles to access the patient's blood system. A PTFE graft is an artificial blood vessel used to connect the artery to the vein. The material used for the graft is suitable for puncturing with needles to achieve the necessary access to the patient's blood system. A third method of obtaining access for hemodialysis is to use percutaneous catheters which allow blood to be withdrawn from one lumen and returned by a second lumen. New methods of accessing the patient's blood stream are also being developed. The Dialock.TM. system accesses the superior vena cava through one or more catheters connected to an implanted prosthesis. Needles are inserted into the prosthesis to effect access to the patient's blood stream.
It is advantageous to operate hemodialysis therapy with blood flows at the highest rates possible while avoiding damage to the blood cells. The device facilitates selection of the best flow path at each dialysis session giving the highest flow rate for the maximum allowed negative pressure.
One of the difficulties that can arise in chronic hemodialysis is maintaining adequate blood flow during treatment sessions. When flow rates decrease significantly during a session, the attendant could in many cases restore adequate flow by switching the blood lines. In current practice, the attendant must usually turn off the hemodialysis machine. This process lengthens the dialysis session while the machine is primed and restarted. In addition, switching the blood lines involves disconnecting the lines, which can cause bleeding and allow air to enter the lines.
Disconnecting the lines also breaks the microbe barrier, increasing the possibility of infection. Thus, blood lines are typically not switched during hemodialysis treatment absent extreme need, despite therapeutic benefits that could accrue from periodically reversing the direction of flow in the patient portion of the blood circuit. If flow direction could be reversed easily during operation, then the best path, the one which yields lowest negative pressure reading, could be easily selected and reselected as the session proceeds.
A further situation which often arises is that the flow resistance in each of the catheters in the patient is different. The pressure drop or resistance that blood cells can be subjected to without damage is higher when the blood is at pressures greater than atmospheric (return side of the dialysis machine) than when the cellular components of blood are subjected to negative pressures. Absence of ability to reverse the direction of blood flow easily can result in lower flow rates, larger negative pressures, and increased possibility of damage to blood cells.
Another difficulty that often arises with chronic hemodialysis is the possibility that the patient will develop a thrombus or blood clot that partially or wholly occludes a vascular access created by a fistula or vascular graft. When a fistula or graft becomes blocked, surgery is frequently needed to restore the venous access to a useful condition or replace the access site. A balloon angioplasty may be used to enlarge the lumen of the fistula or graft and prevent the immediate formation of thrombosis, thereby extending the life of the access. When a site can no longer be restored, it must be replaced. Replacing an access is a serious matter because patients have only a limited number of access sites for A/V fistulas and PTFE grafts.
Even when dialysis is being performed using catheters or Dialock.TM., flow can become impaired. Flow impairment often occurs because of the formation of a fibrin sheath or a clot at the tip of a catheter lumen. In some instances, this sheath or clot can completely block flow if the catheter lumen is being used for withdrawing blood from the patient. (A clot at the tip of a catheter lumen usually does not interfere with blood return.) In many cases, therefore, the impairment could be corrected or mitigated by reversing the direction of blood flow during a dialysis. Moreover, maintaining a high rate of blood flow throughout the session slows the development of thrombi and potentially prolongs the useful life of the access. Furthermore, there is a possibility that reversing flow direction during a hemodialysis session or between successive sessions will reduce the occurrence of fibrin sheath formation.
It is known to use spool valves or three-way valves with syringes, and it has been suggested that these types of valves could accomplish flow reversal. However, these valves were not intended to accommodate high rates of blood flow. Specifically, the fluid flowing through valves of these types is required to make abrupt turns, creating turbulence in the blood flow. These valves also contain abrupt enlargements and restrictions which also engender turbulent flow. Turbulence reduces the blood flow rate and promotes the formation of thrombi. These valves have the additional prohibition that they contain spaces that could accumulate stagnant blood.
A number of inventions relate to reversing the direction of flow in connection with hemodialysis. U.S. Pat. No. 5,605,630 discloses, in pertinent part, a "blood flow direction changeover means that is attached to the blood circuit for changing over the direction of the blood flow through the dialyzer from one direction to the other." Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 4,885,087 concerns the means of changing the directional flow through a mass transfer chamber such as a hemodialysis machine. U.S. Pat. No. 4,324,662 describes a "flow reversing valve system . . . positioned in the flow system for cooperation with the dialyzer to selectively control the direction of dialysis solution flow within the dialyzer in either a first direction or a second reverse direction." Each of these inventions concerns reversing or alternating flow into a transfer chamber such as a dialyzer. The inventions are unsuited to changing the flow of blood to and from the patient, because they are not concerned with maintaining laminar flow in the blood circuit. Even if these inventions were adapted to reverse the direction of flow in the patient portion of the blood circuit, none teaches a bypass function to ensure that the dialysis machine can continue to operate while the direction of blood in the lines is being reversed.
Several other inventions relate peripherally to the subject matter of the instant invention. U.S. Pat. No. 4,586,920 discloses an inflow/outflow directional valve acting in combination with a bypass valve used in a continuous flow peritoneal dialysis system. However, the so-called directional valve does not change the direction of flow through the peritoneal catheters--the inlet and outlet catheters remain distinct during dialysis. U.S. Pat. No. 4,898,669 describes a rotating valve employed in vascular access having two positions: the first connecting the blood system inflow and outflow with two external ports and the second position acting as a bypass to short circuit blood system inflow and outflow, and to allow flushing of the external ports. This device does not teach reversing flow in the patient portion of the blood circuit, particularly as it might be combined with its bypass function.
A number of inventions manipulate the passage of blood through valves and manifolds. U.S. Pat. No. 4,946,434 "provides a plurality of sterile paths for directing the flow of fluids." Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 4,821,996 discloses a "multi-position rotary valve system usable with a disposable fluid transfer set . . . " These and other similar inventions rely on clamping to selectively open and shut flow paths. Clamping is unsuitable in the current circumstances because of the need to maintain blood flow through the hemodialysis machine during flow reversal operations. Any device which necessitates restarting the hemodialysis machine would not be useful for routinely reversing flow in the patient portion of the blood circuit.
Accordingly, an object of this invention is to provide for the easy and convenient selection of which needle or catheter will be used to draw blood and which will be used to return blood at any particular time during hemodialysis treatment sessions. Another object of this invention is to have a device that is compatible with high rates of flow in dialysis methods such as Dialock.TM. which utilize catheters. Yet another object of this invention is to accomplish the flow reversal function while minimizing the amount of turbulence associated with blood flow through the device. Still another object of the invention is to provide a device that is safe to use. A further object of the invention is to minimize stagnant flow regions in the device. Still another object of this invention is to provide a device that is easily added to existing hemodialysis set ups and treatment programs. Still another object of this invention is to provide a low cost, easily manufactured, sterile disposable device compatible with the rest of the blood circuit.


A detachable propulsion unit for a scuba diver's air tank is provided to create a hands-free personal propulsion device. The invention comprises an air tank receiving boot member, a propeller motor, power supply and quick connect straps for attachment to the diver. The unit may be quickly released from the air tank in the event of an emergency. A buoyancy and trim control air bag is also provided to help the diver maintain horizontal trim in the water and to control ballast. If desired, an attachment is provided to allow conversion into a hand held propulsion unit separate from connection with the air tank.

This invention relates to the field of scuba diving. It has been known in the prior art of scuba to use propulsion devices to increase speed and distance without sacrificing air consumption. It is also known that hand held propulsion devices for use with scuba do exist. However, the prior art of using a hand held unit encounters a number of difficulties, one being that a diver must continuously use his hands to hold on to the propulsion device unit for steering. This creates undue stress and fatigue in the shoulders and arms. A hand held unit would obviously be impractical for use by a diver having an arm handicap. Furthermore when the diver comes to rest in the water, he must either hold on to the unit or clamp it between his legs, this also being cumbersome and inconvenient. Another drawback is that, by having to hold on to the unit at all times, the diver does not have any freedom with his hands to carry out other activities. This inhibits the diver from enjoying other underwater interests such as photography, shell collecting, or spearfishing. A further drawback of the hand held propulsion devices is that the propeller will create a backwash behind the unit, which may cause some hindrance to the diver.
There is accordingly a need for a scuba propulsion system which would enable a diver to enjoy hands-free operation so that propulsion could be effected without hindering the diver's other activities. While hands-free operation might suggest direct connection of the propulsion means to the diver, other factors must be considered in determining the manner of connection to the diver. For instance, it is important to maintain diver buoyancy and also diver safety. The presence of the propulsion system should not interfere with normal diving operations nor prevent a diver from easy maneuvering in the water. It would be desirable for the propulsion system to be situated such that the propeller backwash not hinder the diver. Further, there should be a capability to rapidly jettison the propulsion equipment if the diver needs to surface in an emergency.

Detachable propulsion unit for a scuba tank


A duct comprising: an inlet; an outlet; a shell having a tubular form extending between the inlet and the outlet; a main flow path (H) within the shell for conveying a main flow between the inlet and the outlet; and a heat exchange structure, wherein the heat exchange structure comprises: an intake port provided in the shell; an output port provided in the shell; and a secondary flow path (C) within the shell for conveying a secondary flow between the intake port and the output port, wherein the secondary flow path is spirally intertwined with the main flow path for a section of the duct to provide a heat exchanger within the duct.

Heat exchangers are required within aircraft structures to regulate temperatures of working fluids as well as to scavenge heat from one system for use in another. Every heat exchanger consumes space within such an aircraft structure. They also usually need complicated mounting features and they will generally add weight to the aircraft structure. There is a desire to solve one or more of these problems.


To provide an anti-reflection article which can be manufactured by using an anti-reflection article manufacturing mold plate having improved abrasion resistance compared to the related art and has a sufficient anti-reflection property. An anti-reflection article is formed as an anti-reflection article in which minute concave portions are densely arranged and the gap between the adjacent minute concave portions is the shortest wavelength of a wavelength band or less of an electromagnetic wave for anti-reflection. In the anti-reflection article, at least some of the minute concave portions are a minute concave portion with multiple lowermost points in the minute concave portion.

In recent years, various methods have been proposed for manufacturing an anti-reflection film as a film-shaped anti-reflection article by densely arranging a plurality of minute convex portions on the surface of a transparent base (transparent film) for an anti-reflection function (see Patent Documents 1 to 6). In these methods, the principle of a so-called moth eye structure is used. Specifically, the refractive index of incident light is continuously changed in the thickness direction of a substrate so as to remove a non-continuous boundary face for the refractive index, and hence an anti-reflection function is obtained.
In general, such a moth eye structure is manufactured by transferring (molding) an uneven surface shape in an arbitrary resin layer using a manufacturing mold plate such as a mold having a shape in which a minute uneven surface shape with a plurality of minute convex portions is reversed. Accordingly, as a method of manufacturing the anti-reflection film with the moth eye structure, a method may be used in which a resin layer is formed on a substrate by a curable base such as an ultraviolet curable resin, a moth eye structure is molded in the surface of the resin layer by using the above-described manufacturing mold plate, and the resin layer is cured. According to such a manufacturing method, it is possible to continuously manufacture an anti-reflection film by a simple method and with high efficiency.
Furthermore, as the mold plate of the moth eye structure, a mold (for example, see Patent Documents 1 to 3) having a concave portion formed by laser interferometry or a mold (for example, see Patent Documents 4 to 6) having a concave portion formed by an anodization method is used. Among these, since the anodization method has advantages in which a concave portion forming position may be set randomly and the concave portion may be formed with a uniform shape over a large area, the mold plate formed by the anodization method is widely used as the anti-reflection article manufacturing mold plate.
It is desirable to manufacture the anti-reflection article with high efficiency according to a roll-to-roll process by using a so-called roll plate a peripheral surface of which is provided with an uneven surface shape provided to mold the moth eye structure as a mold plate. Thus, various methods of manufacturing an anti-reflection article by using such a roll plate are proposed (see Patent Document 7).
Incidentally, there is a case in which the properties of the anti-reflection article are degraded due to the degradation of the roll plate used for the manufacturing process for a long period of time. The present inventor has carefully examined this drawback, and has found that some defects occur in certain points or areas of the roll plate because the molded minute uneven structure adheres to the resin layer provided for the molding process and is partially peeled off from the mold when the minute uneven structure is peeled off after the mold.
When the mold is degraded, there is a need to manufacture a mold having the same minute uneven structure as that of the mold without any degradation and to replace the old mold with new one. As a method of reducing the high cost spent for exchanging the mold, Patent Document 2 discloses a method in which a replicative mold (master die) manufactured by a replicating process of obtaining and reversing the minute uneven surface shape once or at least twice is used as the mold used to mold the moth eye structure instead of the original mold (mother die) having the minute uneven surface shape formed thereon on the first occasion. Since the master die of the mold may be easily manufactured again from the mother die, this method is excellent from the viewpoint of industrial productivity and cost, and hence the mold may be easily replaced when the mold is degraded.
However, even when the mold is, for example, a resinous mold plate, if such an anti-reflection article manufacturing mold plate is manufactured again for the replacement of the mold whenever slight degradation occurs, the replacement still causes a large increase in the running cost of the anti-reflection film manufacturing line in spite of the above-described method contrived by the examination. For this reason, there has been a demand for a new method for reducing the running cost of the entire manufacturing line.
[Patent Document 1] Japanese Unexamined Patent Application (Translation of PCT Application), Publication No. 2001-517319
[Patent Document 2] Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, Publication No. 2004-205990
[Patent Document 3] Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, Publication No. 2004-287238
[Patent Document 4] Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, Publication No. 2001-272505
[Patent Document 5] Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, Publication No. 2002-286906
[Patent Document 6] Pamphlet of PCT International Publication No. WO2006/059686
[Patent Document 7] Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, Publication No. 2005-156695


Apparatuses and sensor systems are described with magnetoresistive sensor configurations. An example magnetoresistive sensor configuration includes an input feed that receives an electrical current, magnetic field detection circuitry in electrical communication with the input feed, and a feedback connection in electrical communication with the magnetic field detection circuitry and the input feed. The magnetic field detection circuitry transitions between a released state and an operated state in response to an external magnetic source. The configuration further includes an electrical storage element in electrical communication with the input feed that maintains a minimum operating voltage and current within the magnetoresistive sensor in an instance in which the magnetic field detection circuitry is operated.

Sensor systems may employ switches, contacts, and other applicable devices that are operable in response to applied magnetic fields. These devices may be used in industrial applications, medical devices, consumer electronics, and white goods to function as proximity sensors, speed sensors, position sensors, and the like. Applicant has identified a number of deficiencies and problems associated with conventional sensor devices and associated circuitry configurations. Through applied effort, ingenuity, and innovation, many of these identified problems have been solved by developing solutions that are included in embodiments of the present disclosure, many examples of which are described in detail herein.


To implement, when a plurality of patterns are included in a field of view during measurement of scattered light in spectral scatterometry, removal of an influence of a pattern outside a dimension (three-dimensional shape) management target from spectral reflection intensity in the field of view without modeling the pattern outside the dimension management target. A three-dimensional shape detection apparatus 100 includes a spectral reflection intensity measurement unit configured to measure spectral reflection intensity in a field of view of a light spot by irradiating a sample 103 as a target with the light spot, and detects a three-dimensional shape in the field of view of the light spot based on the measured spectral reflection intensity. The three-dimensional shape detection apparatus further has a spectral feature value calculation unit configured to calculate a spectral feature value in a first region in the field of view of the light spot in advance in an external control apparatus 102 thereof, and an area ratio estimation unit configured to estimate an area ratio between an area of the first region in the field of view of the light spot and an area of a second region outside the first region in the field of view of the light spot.

As miniaturization of semiconductor devices advances, importance of examining a process status of a semiconductor wafer surface has increased. In particular, in a semiconductor manufacturing process, measurement of a critical dimension (CD) of a circuit pattern processed in a nanoscale is required, and the measurement is performed using a measuring scanning electron microscope (SEM), an atomic force microscope (AFM), or the like. In particular, when an in-situ measurement is assumed, a three-dimensional shape measurement by an optical critical dimension (OCD) measurement method (also referred to as a light wave scattering measurement method, that is, scatterometry) is used with emphasis on non-contact, non-destructive, and real-time properties. When reflection measurement of measuring a surface structure pattern having a periodic structure is performed over a wide band, spectral is prefixed, and the measurement is referred to as spectral scatterometry.
In general, in the measurement by the spectral scatterometry, a test pattern called a test element group (TEG) is formed in a scribe region and the like of a semiconductor wafer, and the measurement is performed on the TEG to perform a dimension management of a process. On the other hand, for example, PTL 1 discloses that there are the following problems regarding dimension (three-dimensional shape) management of an actual layout pattern by the measurement of the TEG.
(1) In the scribe region, it is not possible to secure an area necessary for arranging various marks reflecting various layout patterns.
(2) Since positions in the semiconductor wafer are different between a mark of the scribe region and the actual layout pattern, dimensional variation amounts in the semiconductor wafer accompanying the process are different, and it is difficult to perform the dimension management with high accuracy.
(3) In the mark of the scribe region and the actual layout pattern, pattern densities including a surrounding layout pattern are different. That is, degrees of influence by a so-called proximity effect (a phenomenon in which a pattern dimension after exposure or development depending on the pattern density changes) are different.

Three-dimensional shape detection apparatus, three-dimensional shape detection method and plasma processing apparatus


Disclosed is an apparatus for determining a degree of restoration of a diseased part, comprising: two pairs of electrodes; an electric current source; a voltage measuring unit; and an arithmetic unit. According to the present invention said two pairs of electrodes are contacted with a skin in the surrounding area of the diseased part, and said electric current source feeds a measuring current via selected ones of said electrodes. Furthermore said voltage measuring unit measures a voltage between another selected ones of said electrodes, and said arithmetic unit calculates a parameter representing a degree of restoration of the diseased part based on the measurement data from said voltage measuring unit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for determining a degree of restoration of a diseased part on a human body.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There is a symptom known as a lymphatic edema frequently seen after the surgical operation for breast cancer, uterine cancer and other cancer. This is a kind of swell mainly appeared only at one side or on a portion of an arm, a leg or an armpit, that frequently involves no change of color or no pain. That is to say, this is under such condition that a portion is swelled somehow. In an initial stage for the lymphatic edema there is no significant obstacle occurred in the life of a person if he does not concern about it. In addition a physician may not positively deal with such swelled portion and frequently leave it without any treatment. With the progress of such symptom, however, it may happen that the swelled portion becomes larger or suddenly turns red color with a fever, for which the person feels uneasy.
In the past a several types of diagnosis and assessment method for the lymphatic edema have been developed. For instance, a palpation by a physician has been conducted by touching the diseased part with his hand, or a change in circumferential length or volume of the target part has been measured. Alternatively some device with an echo effect has been used to produce an image with which the diagnosis for the diseased part is carried out.
On the other hand, the muscle of a human body consists of an aggregation of fine cells known as muscular fibers. The number of such muscular fibers on a person is naturally determined when he was born and does not increase or decrease thereafter, but each of them may become thicker or thinner. Such phenomenon may be generally expressed by the words xe2x80x9cgrowth or decline of the musclesxe2x80x9d. If a person had an accident such as fracture of a bone or breakage of a tendon then the diseased part and its surrounding area are covered with a gypsum after the surgical operation in order to protect that part against any movement. Of course, the person should restrain himself from carrying out a physical exercise. Due to the restriction in movement of the person in his daily life the muscle of the person, and in particular, the skeletal muscle becomes declined only in a part such as one arm or one leg. Therefore some rehabilitation is necessary for the person to rapidly restore the declined muscular fibers after removing the gypsum.
In such circumstances the prior art method of knowing a degree of such restoration is simply to measure the muscle power for that part of the person.
The prior art diagnosis and assessment method for the lymphatic edema mainly depend on the subjective decision by the physician, and therefore, there may frequently be some difference in decision and assessment made by the different physicians. In addition, touching the diseased part of the patient with the hand of the physician may cause any possibility of occurrence of pain even some time interval after the surgical operation, which leads to uneasiness for the patient. Then the prior art method is not preferable for the diagnosis for the diseased part that is in the course of restoration.
The prior art method for measuring the muscle power to know the degree of restoration of an external damaged part after the surgical operation is difficult to embody because various types of the measuring devices are necessary and a patient is required to move by himself a part of his body including the diseased part.
In view of the above it is an object of the present invention is to provide a new and improved apparatus for determining a degree of restoration of a diseased part on a person, that can solve the prior art problems as described above.
To attain such object the present invention provides an apparatus for determining a degree of restoration of a diseased part, comprising: two pairs of electrodes; an electric current source; a voltage measuring unit; and an arithmetic unit; whereby said two pairs of electrodes are contacted with a skin in the surrounding area of the diseased part, said electric current source feeds a measuring current via selected ones of said electrodes, said voltage measuring unit measures a voltage between another selected ones of said electrodes, and said arithmetic unit calculates a parameter representing a degree of restoration of the diseased part based on the measurement data from said voltage measuring unit.
According to one embodiment of the present invention said electrodes of the two electrode pairs are placed on a line at such interval that the diseased part is positioned therebetween.
According to another embodiment of the present invention said apparatus further comprises a display unit and said display unit indicates the parameter produced by said arithmetic unit.
According to further embodiment of the present invention said apparatus further comprises a storage unit and a comparison unit, said storage unit stores the parameter produced by said arithmetic unit, and said comparison unit compares the parameter representing the current measurement data with the parameter representing the previous measurement data stored in said storage unit or the predetermined reference and outputs the result of comparison, which is then displayed on said display unit.
According to yet further embodiment of the present invention said parameter includes a bioelectrical impedance
According to yet further embodiment of the present invention said parameter includes an information on a swell in the surrounding area of the diseased part.
According to yet further embodiment of the present invention said parameter includes an information on an amount of muscle in the surrounding area of the diseased part.
According to yet further embodiment of the present invention said parameter includes a ratio of intra-cellular water to extra-cellular water.
According to yet further embodiment of the present invention said current source selectively feeds the measuring current having any one of a plurality of frequencies.

Apparatus for determining degree of restoration of diseased part


A new and distinct cultivar of Colocasia plant named ‘Midnight’, characterized by its tall and upright plant form; relatively slow growth rate; and uniformly black-colored leaves.

The present Invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Colocasia plant, botanically known as Colocasia esculenta and hereinafter referred to by the name 'Midnight'.
The new Colocasia is a naturally-occurring branch mutation of an unnamed selection of Colocasia esculenta, not patented. The new Colocasia was discovered and selected by the Inventor in July, 2003 in a controlled environment in Apopka, Fla.
Asexual propagation of the new cultivar by tissue culture since July, 2004, in a controlled environment in Apopka, Fla., has shown that the unique features of this new Colocasia are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.


The present invention relates to an optical light mixer providing a homogenized and uniform light beam where the optical light mixer is formed of a solid transparent material and light enters the optical light mixer through an entrance surface and is reflected through said body to an exit surface where said light exits said optical light mixer. The optical light mixer comprises a first part formed as a pyramid frustum where the top surface of the pyramid frustum forms the entrance surface and a second part formed as a cone frustum and where the bottom surface the cone frustum forms the exit surface. The present invention relates also to an illumination device comprising a number of light sources and such optical light mixer.

Many illumination designs benefit from homogenized light. Accordingly, efforts have been made to obtain substantially uniform illumination distributions from light sources, such as light emitting diodes (LEDs) that produce non-uniform illumination distributions. One known method of achieving this goal employs mixing rods. In many embodiments, flux from a light source is transferred to an input end of a mixing rod. The flux propagates through the mixing rod, typically reflecting from the sidewalls of the mixing rod one or more times. In certain embodiments, coupling a light source that produces a non-uniform illumination distribution with the input end of the mixing rod produces a substantially uniform illumination distribution at an output end of the mixing rod.
Certain mixing rod configurations are particularly effective in achieving substantially uniform illumination distributions. For example, straight rods having rectangular or hexagonal cross-sections are known to work well. Such configurations produce rectangular and hexagonal beam patterns, respectively. However, circular beam patterns are preferred in many applications, such as flashlights, spotlights, fiber illuminators, and projection systems with circular pupils. Unfortunately, circular straight rods generally provide inferior spatial mixing as compared with rectangular or other faceted configurations. Accordingly, hexagonal mixing rods are often used in place of circular mixing rods in order to approximate a circular beam pattern while achieving the advantages of a mixing rod having planar sidewalls.
It is known to combine mixing rods with a zoom lens for changing the divergence of the light beam. However this results often in the fact the an illumination distribution not substantially uniform illumination distributions in the entire zoom range, as the known mixing rods are designed such that they only provide a uniform/homogenized in a certain plane of long the light beam for instance at an optical gate. Consequently, there is a need for mixing rods that produce circular beam patterns that have substantially uniform illumination distributions. Further there is a need for mixing rods which can be combined with a zoom lens and maintain a substantially uniform illumination distribution in the entire zoom range.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,219,480 discloses an optical coupler for coupling light along an axis between a light port on one side of the coupler and a plurality of light ports on another side of the coupler. The coupler comprises a one-side stage with a light port and a many-side stage with a plurality of arms situated about the axis, each having a light port. A midput region separates the one-side and many-side stages and is situated along the axis where the plurality of arms at least initially starts to split from each other in a direction towards the many-side light ports along the axis. Cross sections of each of the respective initial portions of the arms along the direction are arranged about the same distance from the axis. The cross sectional areas of the arms along the axis are larger at a break point region at which the arms fully separate from each other along the axis than at the many-side light ports. At least a pair of the arms each start to split along the direction in a substantially symmetrical manner about the axis.
US2007/0024971 discloses various embodiments of light mixers comprising a light pipe having input and output ends and a central region there between. An optical path extends in a longitudinal direction from the input end through the central region to the output end. The central region of the light pipe comprises one or more rippled reflective sidewalls having a plurality of elongate ridges and valleys and sloping surfaces there between. Light from the input end propagating along the optical path reflects from the sloping surfaces and is redirected at a different azimuthally direction toward the output end thereby mixing the light at the output end. In some embodiments the cross-sectional shape and area of the mixer are constant along the full length of the mixer and the input face and the output face are the same shape and size. In other arrangements, the cross-sectional shape and/or area of the mixer vary along the length thereof and the input face and the output face may vary with respect to each other in shape and/or size. In some instances, the input face defines a rectangle or square and the output face defines a circle or vice versa. US2007/0024971 explicitly teaches that it is the rippled relective sidewalls and not the shape of light mixer that improves the homogenisity of the outgoing light beam. However the rippled reflective sidewalls of the light mixers are difficult to manufacture as they must be designed with very low tolerances which increases the manufacturing costs dramatically. Further the light mixers having the rippled relective sidewalls need to be positioned very accurate in relation to the light sources, which again increases manufacturing costs.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,200,002 discloses a light source which includes an array of LEDs in each of a plurality colors such as red, green, and blue in the entrance aperture of a tubular reflector which preferably has convex walls facing the optic axis and flares outward toward the exit aperture, and preferably has a polygonal cross section such as a square. Mixing of colors is further promoted by utilizing a large number of small LEDs with the LEDs of each color being centered on the optic axis.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,547,416 discloses A light source, which includes an array of LED components in each of a plurality of colors such as red, green, and blue in the entrance aperture of a tubular reflector which has an exit aperture, an optic axis extending between the apertures, and a reflective circumferential wall extending between the apertures to reflect and mix light from the array of LED components. At least a portion of the circumferential wall of the reflector body has a polygonal cross-section taken normal to the optic axis, and at least a portion of the cross-section taken parallel to the optic axis includes segments of a curve joined one to the next to form a plurality of facets for reflecting light from the LED components to said exit aperture. Preferably, the segments of the curve included in the cross-section of the reflector body taken parallel to the optic axis are contiguous, linear trapezoidal facets.
EP2211089 discloses an apparatus for outputting a mixed-colored light beam comprises a light mixer and a lens. The light mixer is adapted to mix light received from at least two light emitters, each of the two light emitters having a differently colored light output, wherein the mixer is adapted to mix the received light so that a mixing degree of mixed light output by the mixer is at least 50 percent, wherein a mixing degree of 100 percent is a fully mixed light. The lens is spaced apart from the light mixer, wherein the lens is attached to a lens holder in such a way that the lens can be moved with respect to the light mixer in order to vary a size of the mixed-colored light beam output by the lens. EP2211090 discloses a spotlight comprising light emitting diode modules wherein each LED module comprises at least two light emitting diodes with different light emission spectra and a light mixer, wherein each light mixer is arranged at one side of the light mixer in cooperation with an assigned LED module and each light mixer is configured to mix the different light emission spectra of the at least two LEDs of the assigned LED module to form a light beam, and wherein exit surfaces at the other side of the light mixers are arranged next to each other in a matrix with its light beams of the light mixers form a common light beam and a focusing optics for focusing the common light beam. EP2211089 and EP2211090 disclose that an iris can be positioned in the common light beam in order to create a circular light beam by chopping the common light beam. However this will decrease the efficiency and efficacy of the light system.
WO10113100A discloses an LED collimation optics module and luminaire using the same, and optics device for stage lighting. In one embodiment of the LED collimation optics module, an LED chip provides a plurality of sources of light (G, R, B, W). An optical conductor is superposed on the LED chip to mix the light received from the plurality of sources of light. After passing through the optical conductor, the mixed light enters a compound parabolic concentrator which is coupled to the optical conductor. The compound parabolic concentrator collimates the light received from the optical conductor such that a homogeneous pupil is emitted. This light mixing optics are relativily long and an illumination device which this type of light mixing optics are thus also to very long which is undesired in connection with moving head light fixtures as it can decrease the speed of movement of the moving head. It is further difficult to integrate the LED collimation optic modules into a zoom effect system in an effective way as such zoom effect system must be very large in order.

Optical light mixer providing a homogenized and uniform light beam


A roller assembly for use with a sliding door, the roller assembly comprising upper and lower housings, a roller mounted in the upper housing, a shaft extending between the upper and lower housings with a spring extending about the shaft, and a screw-threaded member for securing the lower housing to the shaft at a desired location. The arrangement permits self adjustment of the door within a channel.

Sliding doors are widely used for many different applications and thus their structure can vary greatly. In many instances wherein sliding doors are installed in locations such as cupboards and the like, the door typically is hung so that a roller mounted assembly at the top slides in a track. At the bottom, normally the only hardware consists of guides for the lower part of the door. Such a guide is particularly prevalent when two such doors are designed to overlap so that one may gain access to the cupboard or other location.
A different type of sliding door is that which is commonly known as a patio door. In these structures, typically the door and more so the screen door slides in a lower track and an upper track. Such sliding doors typically are mounted on a pair of lower rollers and a pair of upper rollers. Means are provided for adjusting the height or depth of the rollers, the adjusting mechanism normally being located close to the upper/lower track as the adjustment is mechanical. The adjustment requires a certain amount of experimenting with the adjusting mechanism when one is not familiar with the same.
When installing the sliding door, usually some adjustment is required and if the installation is being done by someone without experience in the field, a proper adjustment may not be achieved and/or considerable time is spent making the adjustment.


Method of forming a pattern by a nanoimprint technique starts with preparing a mold with nanostructures on its surface. The mold is pressed against a substrate or plate coated with a resin film. The positions of alignment marks formed on the rear surface of the plate coated with the resin film are detected. Thus, a relative alignment between the mold and the plate coated with the resin film is performed.

The present invention relates to method and system for forming patterns using a nanoimprint technique. More particularly, the invention relates to a mark position detection system adapted for improvement of alignment accuracy in forming patterns using a nanoimprint technique and to a fine pattern forming system employing this method.
In recent years, finer patterning and higher levels of integration of semiconductor integrated circuits have been in progress. As a pattern printing technology for achieving the fine processing technology, the accuracies of photolithography systems are increasingly progressed. However, the minimum feature size has approached the wavelength of the light source for optical exposure. Also, the lithography technology has approached its limit. Therefore, to achieve still finer patterning and higher accuracy, electron beam writing systems that are one kind of charged particle beam systems have began to be used instead of the lithography technology.
Formation of a pattern using an electron beam adopts a method of consisting of drawing a mask pattern unlike the pattern imaging used in pattern formation employing a light source such as i-line or excimer laser. Therefore, as the number of drawn patterns is increased, the exposure time (drawing time) is increased and hence it takes a long time to form patterns. This is regarded as a drawback. Consequently, as the memory capacity is increased from 256 Mega to 1 Giga and to 4 Giga (i.e., as the scale of integration is increased drastically), the time taken to form patterns is accordingly prolonged drastically. There is the anxiety that the throughput will be deteriorated severely. Accordingly, a cell projection method is being developed to increase the speed of operation of electron beam writing systems. In this method, masks of various shapes are combined and irradiated with an electron beam in a batch mode to form a complexly shaped electron beam. As a result, patterns are made finer but it has become indispensable to increase the size and complexity of the electron beam writing system. There is the disadvantage that the system cost is increased.
In contrast, techniques for forming fine patterns at low cost are disclosed, for example, in the above-cited U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,259,926 and 5,772,905. In particular, a desired pattern is transferred by pressing a mold having the same pattern of nanostructures on its surface as a pattern to be formed on a substrate into a resist film layer formed on the surface of a substrate to which the pattern should be transferred. Especially, according to the nanoimprint technology described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,772,905, a silicon wafer is used as a mold, and fine structures of less than 25 nanometers can be formed by transfer.
Where a fine pattern of a semiconductor integrated circuit or the like is formed, it is necessary to make an accurate alignment, for example, with a reticle or the like on which an original pattern is formed after precisely detecting the pattern position on the substrate placed on a stage. The alignment accuracy needs to be enhanced further as finer patterns are used when the scales of integration of semiconductor devices are increased. For example, in order to form a pattern at the 32-nm node, an accurate alignment is required to be performed with an error less than 10 nm.
When a pattern is formed using a nanoimprint technique, resin is applied to the surface of a substrate to which the pattern will be transferred, and then a mold on which an original pattern has been formed is brought and pressed into contact with the substrate. The mold and substrate are required to be heated or irradiated with UV light. In the prior-art lithography equipment, the reticle on which the original pattern is formed and a plate or substrate on which a pattern will be formed are held in a non-contacting relationship. Under this condition, the pattern is optically transferred. Alternatively, the pattern is transferred by drawing it. Therefore, there is not any factor that produces positioning error where a contact is made when an alignment is made. Meanwhile, in nanoimprinting, contact is unavoidable in principle and so an inexperienced problem will occur. As the resin film suffers from nonuniform deformation in the pressing step, problems take place. For example, light rays used in detecting positions are refracted nonuniformly, resulting in position detection errors. An external force is exerted in a direction different from the pushing direction, producing positional deviation.
Where parallelism is not secured with the substrate to which a transfer is made during the contact and pressing steps, a variation of the thickness of the resin occurs after the transfer. As a result, etching defects are produced in the pattern.

Pattern forming method and pattern forming system


Conductive paths through a dielectric are described that have a high aspect ratio for semiconductor devices. In one example, a plurality of conductive connection pads are formed on a semiconductor substrate to connect to circuitry formed on the substrate. A post is formed on each of a subset of the connection pads, the posts being formed of a conductive material. A dielectric layer is formed over the semiconductor substrate including over the connection pads and the posts. Holes are formed by removing the dielectric layer directly over the posts. The formed holes are filled with a conductive material and a connector is formed over each filled hole.

Semiconductor and micromechanical dies or chips are frequently packaged for protection against an external environment. The package provides physical protection, stability, external connections, and in some cases, cooling to the die inside the packages. Typically the die is attached to a substrate and then a cover that attaches to the substrate is placed over the die. Alternatively, the die is attached to a cover and then a package substrate or redistribution layer is formed on the die. In some cases a die cover extends laterally past the die area and the redistribution layer is applied to the die area and the lateral extension to form a fan-out package.
Wafer Level Ball Grid Array (WLB) packages and other packages often use a dielectric layer between the chip surface and the redistribution layers. The dielectric layer mechanically protects the die surface and functions as a stress buffer. This helps to ensure that stresses from a printed circuit board do not damage the package or the package connections to the board. The dielectric layer also defines a gap or distance between the functional metal structures of the die and the redistribution layers that connect to the board. This gap improves electrical performance, by limiting capacitive coupling between the RDL and the die surface. In addition, a defined gap between the RDL and the chip surface allows transmission lines to be built between the two with a well-defined line impedance. Other types of packages use a dielectric layer between the chip surface and package substrate.

Conductive paths through dielectric with a high aspect ratio for semiconductor devices


There is described an image processing method in which a scene is repeatedly imaged to form a series of input images. For at least a subset of the input images, a color calibration procedure is conducted which populates a foreground color histogram with the frequency of occurrence of color values in a stencil area of the input image, and populates a background color histogram with the frequency of occurrence of color values outside of the stencil portion of the input image. For at least a subset of the input images, a color replacement procedure is conducted which updates the stencil area based on a determination, from the color values of pixels within the input image, of likelihood values representing the likelihood of pixels belonging to an image area of interest, the likelihood value for each color value being determined from a combination of the foreground and background color histograms, replaces the original color values of pixels within the updated stencil area of the input image with replacement color values, and displays the image on which color replacement processing has been conducted. In this way, a stencil area is determined based on foreground/background histogramming, and used both to define an area to which color replacement processing is to be conducted, and also an area for use in further populating the color histograms to calibrate the color replacement processing.

Clothes are frequently available in a variety of different colours. It is inconvenient for a prospective purchaser to need to try on a particular item of clothing multiple times in different colours. Similarly, trying on different shades of lipstick is difficult, because the wearer needs to remove the previous shade of lipstick before the new shade of lipstick can be applied. It would be desirable to provide a method and apparatus which alleviates the above problems.


A press-fitting includes a body, a jacket, a seal ring and a plastic check ring. The plastic check ring has an annular convex portion, one end of the jacket has an inward wall for clamping with the inner hook, the body has a seal groove and a serrated groove with fillets on its core portion. The seal ring is disposed in the seal groove with the outer diameter of the seal ring being smaller than or equal to the outer diameter of the core portion. The press-fitting according to the present invention is of simple structure, and is convenient and quick to be assembled, and can be inspected, and is safe on seal coupling.

A pipe fitting, as shown in FIG. 1, is disclosed in German Patent DE202005008109. The pipe fitting comprises a body 11, a jacket 12, a seal ring 13 and a plastic check ring 14, which are clamped to establish the seal joint of polyethylene/aluminum/polyethylene composite pipes. However, the assembly of this type of pipe fitting is of relative high requirements, such as the ends of the pipe 4 needs to be cut even and a full-round action should be performed. An annular convex portion 142 of the plastic check ring 14 forms a close fit with the annular groove 111 on the core of the body 11, therefore the pipe is relative hard to be inserted into the fitting, owing to the fact that the jacket 12 is eccentric to the core of body 11. The pipe should be inserted into the fitting with carefulness, for the outer diameter of seal ring 13 is larger than the core of body 11, or else the seal ring 13 would be pushed out of the core of body 11 easily, which affects the sealing performance greatly. During the clamping process, the end face 141 of plastic check ring 14 is positioned with respect to the clamping tool, thereby, an imprecise positioning that affects clamping result may occur. Meanwhile, the seal ring 13 is of a certain compression after the pipe 4 is inserted into the pipe 4 without being clamped, so that when the hydraulic pressure of pipeline system is checked, leakage would not appear. As a result, a leakage due to worker's neglect of assembly may not be checked out. Once the clamping of the fitting is neglected, a great leakage that leads to unwanted economic loss may occur after a long time.