The present invention provides a method of treating a prostate in a patient in need thereof and a heating catheter, or an electromagnetic radiation applicator, system suitable for effecting the present inventive method. The present inventive method provides for substantial unexpected improvement in patient outcome by providing, inter alia, a preferred therapeutic temperature for thermotherapy of the prostate and a method of decreasing a patient's intolerance due to pain. The present inventive system provides for, inter alia, automatic implementation of the present inventive method.

Use of heating or energy radiating devices, particularly microwave radiating devices, to administer heat for the treatment of various diseases of the prostate have been demonstrated to provide efficacious treatment of various prostate conditions (Devonec et al., Monographs in Urology, 13, 77–95 (1992); De La Rosette et al., J. Urology, 157, 430–438 (1997); Devonec et al., J. Endourology, 5, 129–135 (1991); Bernier et al., Curr. Opin. Urol., 7, 15–20 (1997)). Research has indicated that the cellular transformations brought about by raising tissue temperatures above certain levels can be used therapeutically. At temperatures above 45° C., thermal damage has been found to occur to cells, even when the exposure to the elevated temperatures lasts for even a short period of time. Thermal therapy has been defined as the process of heating tissue to greater than 45° C. to create necrosis. Both normal and abnormal cells respond to thermal exposure. Accordingly, therapies using heat have relied on healthy tissue regeneration after the delivery of a "thermal dose." A thermal dose is a quantity which is indicative of the biological impact of elevated temperature maintained for a period of time. For the purposes of the present invention, thermal dosages can be calculated according to the method of Sapareto et al., International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology, Physics, 10, 787–800 (1984), except that the breakpoint of 45° C., rather than 43° C. is used for non-malignant tissues. That is, for the purposes of the present invention, thermal dose measured in Equivalent 45° C. hours is equal to the sum of the products of one half of the treatment temperature in excess of 45° C. times the duration at that time, or                t=final                    Σ0.5(45−T)Δt,            t=Owherein T is temperature in degrees centigrade and t is time in hours.
A variety of different methods have been developed to deliver therapeutically effective quantities of heat to the prostate, including ultrasound delivery devices, RF delivery devices and hot water-recirculating catheters. One such device is the "WITT" hot water recirculating catheter, which is manufactured by ArgoMed, Inc. of Parsippany, N.J. (USA). Another such device is the "Thermex II", which is manufactured by Direx Systems, Ltd. While hot water recirculating catheters are useful in the context of the present invention, a significant drawback is that it is difficult to apply an accurate thermal dose to the prostatic urethra while simultaneously avoiding delivery of a therapeutic dose of heat to non-target tissues such as the penis. Moreover, the design of hot water recirculating catheters can make accurate placement of the heating zones within the patient more difficult. A limitation to the usage of RF applicators is their relatively poor ability to penetrate tissue, often resulting in superficial treatment of the prostatic tissue.
A more preferred method to deliver thermotherapy in the context of the present invention is via a urethrally-inserted catheter with an imbedded microwave antenna. A cooling device is typically incorporated into microwave emitting catheters so that urethral tissue proximal to the microwave antenna is cooled. The addition of this feature has been directed at preserving the prostatic urethra, thereby reducing treatment discomfort and post-treatment recovery time. A temperature or energy measurement device can be used during treatments so that a thermal dose can be measured. Treatments utilizing this approach include TransUrethral Microwave Thermotherapy (TUMT). One disease currently treated by TUMT is Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH). The therapeutic effect of such therapies can be measured in any suitable manner. For example, therapy can be measured by an improvement in the AUA symptom score, or by an improvement in the Madsen-Iversen score, an improvement in urine flow, an improvement in urethral diameter, or the like.
The objective of TUMT of BPH is to destroy a portion of the prostatic tissue, while preserving the tissue immediately adjacent to the prostatic urethra and the tissue immediately adjacent to the same. Current opinion in the field is that the greater the tissue destruction in the prostate, the more beneficial the treatment (De La Rosette et al., supra). Therefore, current device and therapy design is directed at improving the maximum heat dose over the shortest period of time. In that regard, typical maximum temperatures frequently reach 65° C. or greater within the prostate. Unfortunately, this has a number of undesirable side-effects. For example, with prior art TUMT methods, hematuria rates typically exceed 30%, rates of urinary retention requiring long term catheterization usually exceeds 20%, rates of urethral bleeding not merely due to catheterization exceed 5%, and rates of urinary tract infection, ejaculator disturbances, inflammation in the urethra, chronic incontinence, and impotence are all statistically significant and exceed about 1.5%.
There are, however, other delivery methods which utilize non-cooled radiation applicators and require the delivery of multiple treatments at relatively low temperatures (45° C.–47° C. and lower). The objective of these methods is to obtain a therapeutic benefit while avoiding temperature ranges that are commonly thought to cause patient intolerance and give rise to significant side effects. The problem with these methods is that the data suggest, and current published opinion in the art states, that efficacy is reduced. In addition, multiple treatment sessions are required at these relatively low temperatures which is inconvenient and uncomfortable for the patient and economically disadvantageous for the physician.
One significant drawback to other TUMT devices and therapies is that they are frequently painful for the patient and require the use of narcotic analgesics to control pain. This makes current TUMT inconvenient, limits the use of the therapy, adds to the expense and recovery time, and can potentially result in patient loss.
A further drawback to other TUMT devices is the requirement for multiple treatment sessions and its limited efficacy. Thus, the economics of the treatment are severely limited.
The electromagnetic radiation applicator systems developed for the treatment of BPH have limited the ability of the skilled artisan to control urethral and prostate temperatures. Many prior art radiation applicator devices have controlled the heating of the prostate by simply controlling the power supplied to the heating unit. This method of controlling the heating is typically necessary when the catheter system is used in conjunction with a surface cooling device, because the surface cooling device alters measured temperatures. Non-cooled catheter systems (see, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 4,967,765 to Turner et al.) have the ability to monitor surface temperatures more accurately than cooled catheter systems. However, these devices have also been constructed in a manner to limit complexity and cost. Accordingly, prior art catheter systems have been capable of heating tissue to a pre-selected temperature and maintaining the tissue at that temperature, but have not incorporated the more advanced features of the present invention. Other catheter designs useful in the context of the present inventive system have been commercially developed, e.g., by EDAP/Technomed and Urologix. While these other catheter designs are well known in the art, other examples are disclosed, e.g., by U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,620,480 and 5,628,770.
In view of the foregoing problems, there is a need for prostatic thermotherapy, particularly for BPH that is cost-effective, eliminates the use of general anesthesia and obviates the need for a cooled catheter. There is also a need for a prostatic thermotherapy that reduces non-beneficial side effects of previous methods.
The present invention provides such a method and related devices. These and other advantages of the present invention, as well as additional inventive features, will be apparent from the description of the invention provided herein.


In a cogeneration apparatus having a power generation unit connected to an AC power feed line between a commercial power source and electric load, and an internal combustion engine, a switch is installed between the power generation unit and an outage power output, and the switch is opened to combine the power generation unit with the commercial power source to supply combined power to the electric load if a calculated total engine operation time period is not more than a predetermined time period when the outage is determined not to occur, while the switch is closed to connect the power generation unit to the outage power output, if the power generation unit is determined to be capable of generation power based on an estimated degree of deterioration of the unit when the outage is determined to occur.

Field of the Invention
Embodiments of this invention relate to a cogeneration apparatus having a power generation unit equipped with an engine-driven generator connected to an AC power supply line between a commercial power source and an electric load for supplying power to the load in interconnection with the commercial power source.
Description of the Related Art
In the cogeneration apparatus mentioned above, when outage occurs in the commercial power supply source, power supply from the apparatus to the commercial power source is interrupted, and AC power generated by the generator is supplied to the electric load, as taught, for example, by Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2008-206264.


Disclosed is a tactile sensing and integrated vision system that surmounts problems of existing systems. The tactile sensing skin can be formed into any shape, size, or form factor, including large areas. Computer-implemented algorithms can detect position-orientation and force-torque at landmark points for a given object set. The result is a modular sensing system that is highly scalable in terms of price, quantity, size and applications. Such skin technology and associated software can comprise a sensing package that integrates tactile and visual data with accompanying software for state estimation, situational awareness, and automatic control of machinery. The addition of tactile data can serve to constrain and/or augment visual pose estimation methods as well as provide pose estimation to visually occluded objects.

The field of robotics deals with the design, construction, operation, and application of robots, as well as computer systems for their control, sensory feedback, and information processing. These technologies deal with automated machines that can take the place of humans in dangerous environments or manufacturing processes, or resemble humans in appearance, behavior, and/or cognition.
There has been some effort to create machines that assist or extend human capability. The field of robotics has developed many technologies and methods for sensing and manipulating external objects. This has proven useful in many areas, including augmenting or replacing humans doing dangerous, difficult, precise, or repetitive tasks. There is currently technology from robotics, computer vision, high energy-density battery systems, small robust high-performance computation, sophisticated wireless communication links, micro sensors for pressure, magnetism, orientation and acceleration, and widely available communication devices with displays and multiple sensors for input.
Tactile, touch and pressure sensing are human sensory features that are difficult to accurately and effectively emulate in machinery. Tactile sensing can be incorporated into feedback loops for robotic manipulators and actuators and integrated with other sensors to provide situational awareness and the ability to monitor, identify, grasp, and manipulate physical objects. For example data from vision, acceleration and tactile sensors can be fused in real-time to guide a robotic arm in grasping and moving delicate parts. However, tactile sensing approaches currently available to not provide the requisite level of sensing performance to enable at least the aforementioned applications.
A number of approaches to these sensing and data fusion challenges have been tried. The potential utility of current approaches can be considered from the perspective of their fundamental properties and implications for sensitivity, dynamic range and robustness. Presently, no commercial vendors claim robustness of their sensor packages across different environments. In some cases, operating temperature range is usually the sole robustness feature of these products.


An apparatus for measuring patient data includes a frame having a plurality of electrode hubs. Each hub can include one or more electrode members. The frame can be configured to receive a head of a patient. Each of the electrode hubs can have a single electrode member or a plurality of electrode members that extend from or are connected to an outer member for contacting a scalp of the head of the patient. The outer member can have at least one circuit configured to transmit data received by at least one of the electrode members to a measurement device via a wireless communication connection (e.g. Bluetooth, near field communication, etc.) or a wired communication connection.

A fabric headband in which electrodes are in fixed positions can be used to position electrodes on the head of a patient. The electrodes are often intended to be placed so they will fall in the positions described in the 10/20 montage. Other headgear in which electrodes can be included are disclosed in U.S. Patent Application Publication Nos. 2016/0235322 and 2010/0036275. Electrode configurations and uses can also be appreciated from U.S. Patent Application Publication Nos. 2016/0346534, 2016/0287127, 2016/0144186, 2014/0142410, 2014/0243643, 2012/022349, 2011/0245707, and 2010/0137708, and U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,742,831, 5,689,215, 6,516,218, 7,367,956, 7,474,918, 7,616,980, 7,941,213, 8,265,736, 8,444,559, and 8,663,121.

Electrode array apparatus, neurological condition detection apparatus, and method of using the same


A semiconductor device includes an electrically conducting carrier having a mounting surface. The semiconductor device further includes a metal block having a first surface facing the electrically conducting carrier and a second surface facing away from the electrically conducting carrier. A semiconductor power chip is disposed over the second surface of the metal block.

Power semiconductor device manufacturers are constantly striving to increase the performance of their products, while decreasing their cost of manufacture. A cost intensive area in the manufacture of power semiconductor devices is packaging the semiconductor power chip. Performance of a power semiconductor device is dependent from the heat dissipation capability provided by the package. Packaging methods providing small high thermal robustness at low expenses are desirable.
For these and other reasons, there is a need for the present invention.

Semiconductor power device having a heat sink


Hybrid materials and nanocomposite materials, methods of making and using such materials. The nanoparticles of the nanocomposite are formed in situ during pyrolysis of a hybrid material comprising metal precursor compounds. The nanoparticles are uniformly distributed in the carbon matrix of the nanocomposite. The nanocomposite materials can be used in devices such as, for example, electrodes and on-chip inductors.

Rising energy prices and unmet demand for secondary batteries with higher energy & power densities, higher operating voltages, improved cycling stability, enhanced safety, and lower initial and life cycle costs has increased interest in lithium ion batteries (LIB). LIBs demonstrate higher energy density, higher operating voltage and lower self-discharge rates compared to conventional rechargeable batteries. They have consequently received intense scientific and commercial interest for portable electronics applications since the early 1990s. In recent years, the demand for secondary (rechargeable) batteries with better performance, higher charge-rate capability, improved cycling stability, and enhanced safety has steadily increased to meet new needs for smaller, lighter, more powerful electronic devices, as well as to accommodate growing interests in hybrid electric and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles.
A crucial performance criterion is the cyclability of the electrode materials and a key issue in capacity retention lies in the large structural and morphological changes many electrode materials undergo during cyclic insertion and deinsertion of lithium. Significantly, these changes occur in materials following rather different lithiation mechanisms, including alloying, conversion, and intercalation; implying that general solutions are required. Despite the sustained efforts of research groups worldwide, the performance achieved with the current LIB platforms based on a graphite anode and a lithium metal oxide (e.g., LiCoO2) cathode is believed to be close to its limits due to the limited gravimetric capacity and rate capability of graphitic carbon as the anode material.

Hybrid materials and nanocomposite materials, methods of making same, and uses thereof


In a gaming machine, a symbol display device variably displays a plurality of symbols, and an input device inputs an instruction related to a game. A controller executes a normal game in which the symbol display device variably displays and then stop-displays symbols, triggers a bonus game when a plurality of specific symbols are stop-displayed in the normal game, selects any one of a plurality of options by an operation of the input device by a user in the bonus game, and awards a benefit according to the selected option. Further, when the selected option selected in the processing is a specific option, the controller selects another one of the plurality of options by the operation of the input device by the user, and awards a benefit according to the selected another option.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a gaming machine and a gaming machine control method.
2. Background Art
Conventionally, among gaming machines such as slot machines, there exist the ones in which when a predetermined condition is established (for example, when bonus symbols are displayed in a stopped state), a bonus is awarded. There are known, for example, gaming machines adapted to award gaming media such as coins or gaming machines adapted to execute a special game such as a free game in response to the fact that a predetermined condition is established.
Among such gaming machines adapted to award a bonus, there exist the ones in which: a plurality of bonuses are awarded; one bonus is selected from among the plurality of bonuses in response to the fact that a player has operated an input device such as buttons, and the selected bonus is awarded (see United State Application Publication No. 2009/0104973).

Gaming machine and control method thereof


The present invention provides a method for the diagnosis of tauopathies in an individual and/or for the differential diagnosis of a tauopathy versus a non-tauopathy based on the detection of the ratio of phospho-tau (181)/total tau in said individual. The present invention further provides a phospho-peptide for standardization in a method of the invention.

Several forms of dementia, the so-called tauopathies (Goedert et al., 1998), have been associated with the same pathophysiological mechanism, the involvement of the structural protein tau. The microtubule-associated protein tau is for example a major protein component of paired helical filaments (PHF) and neurofibrillar tangles (NFT), associated with Alzheimer's disease (Brion et al., 1985; Delacourte and Defossez, 1986;
Grundke-Iqbal et al., 1986; Kosik et al., 1986; Wood et al., 1986; Kondo et al., 1988). Tau protein exists in different isoforms, of which 4 to 6 are found in adult brain but only 1 isoform is detected in fetal brain. The diversity of the isoforms is generated from a single gene on human chromosome 17 by alternative mRNA splicing (Himmler, 1989; Goedert et al., 1989; Andreadis et al., 1992). The most striking feature of tau protein, as deduced from molecular cloning, is a stretch of 31 or 32 amino acids, occurring in the carboxy-terminal part of the molecule, which can be repeated either 3 or 4 times. Additional diversity is generated through 29 or 58 amino acid-long insertions in the NH2-terminal part of tau molecules (Goedert et al., 1989). In vivo tau promotes microtubule assembly and stability in the axonal compartment of neurons by interactions involving its microtubule binding domain which is localized in the repeat region of tau (255-381) (Lewis et al., 1988). In normal circumstances adult brain contains 2-3 mole phosphate per mole of tau (Selden and Pollard, 1983; Ksiezak-Reding et al., 1992). Phosphorylation of different sites in normal tau as studied in rat and humans is dependent on the developmental state (Lee et al., 1991; Bramblett et al., 1993; Goedert et al., 1993). Tau variants of 60, 64 and 68 kDa arising as a consequence of phosphorylation have been detected in brain areas showing neurofibrillary tangles (Delacourte et al., 1990; Goedert et al., 1992; Flament et al., 1990, Greenberg and Davies, 1990). These brains contain 6-8 mole phosphate per mole tau (Ksiezak-Reding et al., 1992). In tau isolated from PHF (PHF-tau), phosphorylation occurs at several positions (Iqbal et al., 1989; Lee et al., 1991; Hasegawa et al., 1992; Hanger et al., 1998; Buee et al., 1999).
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common type of primary degenerative dementia associated with a tau pathology, having a prevalence of 42-75% (Brun, 1993; Gustafson, 1993; Ebly et al., 1994). Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) is a clinical condition in which pathologically Pick's disease, Frontotemporal dementia with Parkinsonism linked to chromosome 17, sporadic FTD and motor neuron disease are present. According to a small study by Mann et al. (2000), 16 of the 37 cases with FTD could be classified as tauopathy based on tau-immunohistochemistry. Filamentous tau pathology i.e. neurofibrillary tangles (NFT), are consistently found in AD (Tomlinson and Corsellis, 1984) but may also be found in FTD (Spillantini and Goedert, 1998). Pathological tau proteins are found both in AD and FTD (Vermersch et al., 1995; Delacourte et al., 1996), however studies on brain tissue have suggested that the tau pathology differs between AD and FTD, possibly being related to the degree of phosphorylation (Delacourte et al., 1996). Other forms of dementia associated with a tau pathology include Progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), Corticobasal degeneration (CBD) and Subacute sclerosing panencephalitis. The role of hyperphosphorylation in the pathology of these tauopathies is at present not well understood. In addition, various difficulties have been encountered in the accurate determination of the degree of phosphorylation of specific phospho-sites concentrated in the proline region. Because of these difficulties, an accurate method for the specific detection of these tauopathies is still lacking.


A write head, which is positioned by reading a servo pattern with a read head, writes data on even tracks of a magnetic disc, and then writes data on odd tracks. Then a read head is positioned on a read position and sequentially reads all the written data. As a result, it is decided whether a read error has occurred. Further, positional deviation of the tracks, in which the read error occurs, is measured.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of testing a magnetic disc device, and, more particularly, it relates to a method of testing a magnetic disc device to detect a deviation of a track attributable to an abnormal track pitch.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, a magnetic disc device uses a write head to record data or information into a magnetic disc, and uses a read head to reproduce the recorded data or information. In recent years, most magnetic disc devices have a write head and a read head combined with each other, instead of using one head to read and write data. When the write head writes data on a disc, the read head is used to read positioning information or servo information, which is written in advance in a magnetic disc as a servo pattern, so as to position the write head on a predetermined track. When the read head reads, the read head is positioned on a predetermined track so as to read the data, based on the servo information read by the read head.
Therefore, a servo pattern needs to be written at a constant feeding pitch or a constant track pitch so as to correctly indicate a track position. However, at the time of writing a servo pattern into a disc, a track can have an uneven track pitch in some cases. This track-pitch deviation occurs when a voice coil motor that moves the write head to write the servo pattern does not rotate satisfactorily, or when a push pin that moves the head to be used by a servo track writer is contacted unsatisfactorily, or when an environmental shock occurs. This track-pitch deviation similarly occurs at the time of writing a servo pattern on a magnetic disc after the magnetic disc is assembled into a magnetic disc device, or at the time of writing a servo pattern on a magnetic disc before the magnetic disc is assembled into a magnetic disc device.
A track of which the track width has become too small cannot be used. When a read head and a write head are provided separately, a relationship between the read head and the write head changes due to a deflection angle of an arm on which the head is mounted, and the relationship between the read head and the write head also changes due to a deviation of a track width. In other words, when there are narrow or wide tracks between the read head and the write head, it is not possible to accurately control the write head position on a predetermined track based on the read head position.
Correction of a deviation that occurs due to a deflection angle or a yaw angle of the arm is known as described in Japanese Patent Application Unexamined Publication No. 2000-322848. However, the technique described in this publication is not designed to detect a deviation of a track caused by an abnormal track pitch.


A spring-based mechanism for saving labor of a bicycle rider is disclosed and in one embodiment includes an axle operatively connected to a chain wheel and a first set of bearings via a gear assembly; a housing for mounting a shaft therein wherein the first set of bearings is provided at one end of the shaft; a second set of bearings provided at the other end of the shaft; a spring in the housing and having one end attached to one end of the shaft and the other end attached to the other end of the housing; and a clutch provided externally of the other end of the housing, the clutch being operatively connected to the second set of bearings and including a lock lever. The mechanism can store elastic force by counterclockwise pedaling and release the stored energy by disengaging a clutch from the mechanism when riding uphill.

1. Field of Invention
The invention relates to labor saving mechanisms and more particularly to a bicycle having a spring-based mechanism operatively connected to an axle of a chain wheel of a bicycle, the mechanism being adapted to store elastic force by counterclockwise pedaling and adapted to release the stored energy by disengaging a clutch from the mechanism when, for example, riding uphill.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventionally, a bicycle is propelled by foot pedals. A rider has to exert a great force to pedal the bicycle when riding uphill, against the wind, or the like. Thus, the rider tends to experience fatigue when riding in such condition.
For reducing fatigue of the bicycle rider, a derailleur is mounted on a bicycle. However, labor saved by the derailleur is limited. It is often that a rider may subject to fatigue when riding uphill even by riding a derailleur equipped bicycle. Thus, the need for improvement still exists.

Spring-based mechanism for saving labor of a bicycle rider


A document feeding device includes a carrying unit capable of carrying documents, a drawing device drawing and supplying the documents, a drawing device drive source driving the drawing device, a separation unit including a separation device to separate the documents one by one, a separation device drive source driving the separation device, a conveying device conveying the documents, a reading unit including a reading device to read information of the documents, a discharge device discharging the documents, a first document detector provided between a document set position and the separation unit to detect the documents, and a second document detector provided downstream of the separation unit and near a separation position to detect the documents. The first and second document detectors detect the trailing end of each of the documents to control the operation of the drawing device on the basis of the result of the detection.

1. Field of the Invention
Example embodiments of the present patent application relate to a document feeding device, an image forming apparatus including the document feeding device, and a control method for the document feeding device, and more particularly, to a document feeding device that conveys multiple documents by feeding one by one to a document reading device, an image forming apparatus including the document feeding device, and a control method of the document feeding device for controlling sheet feeding of the documents.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
In so-called optical character recognition (OCR) technology, in which a scanner reads an image of a sheet-like document, for example, to convert the image into electronic data to be used as text or image data, and in a so-called copying technology, which makes a copy of a sheet-like document, for example, a document feeding device including a separation mechanism is often used. The document feeding device feeds and conveys a plurality of documents by automatically and sequentially extracting and separating the documents one by one from a document bundle.
As an example of such a document feeding device, there is a background document feeding device that draws documents from a document bundle, separates only the topmost document to be read from the other documents, detects whether or not there is a next document, and repeats the operation of drawing and separating documents until there is no next document.
In recent years, a demand for high-speed processing capability of this type of document feeding device has become particularly prominent due to an increasing need for OCR technology and a demand for increased productivity, for example. To satisfy such demand for a high-speed processing capability, techniques for increasing the document reading speed and reducing the intervals between documents read in the reading operation have been developed. Accordingly, there is also an increasing need for high-speed operation, in which documents to be read are reliably separated and fed one by one from a document bundle.
In the document separating operation, however, only the first document to be fed is conveyed, and the second and subsequent documents are prevented from being fed or in some cases are conveyed in the reverse direction. Therefore, mutually conflicting operations are required for the first document (hereinafter occasionally referred to as the previous document, for convenience sake) and the second or subsequent document (hereinafter occasionally referred to as the next document, for convenience sake). As a result, the positioning of the next document varies and becomes unpredictable after the completion of the feeding operation of the previous document.
To increase the speed of the separating operation, it is desirable to feed the next document as soon as possible after the trailing end of the previous document passes a predetermined sensor position. However, due to the unpredictable separating operation, i.e., due to the varied and unpredictable position of the next document after the conveyance of the previous document, it is difficult to efficiently control the feeding timing by predicting the position of the next document, i.e., the second or subsequent document. This difficulty presents a major obstacle to improving the high-speed separating operation.
To facilitate an understanding of the matter, the above-described phenomenon will now be described in greater detail with reference to FIGS. 1A to 2D. FIGS. 1A to 1F are enlarged schematic cross-sectional views illustrating an example of a separation mechanism of the background document feeding device. FIGS. 2A to 2D are schematic cross-sectional views illustrating a variety of leading end positions of the next document after the feeding of the previous document in the separation mechanism of the background document feeding device. The drawings illustrate a document bundle 1, a pickup roller 7, a document set sensor SN5, a feeding belt 9, a separation roller 10, a document detection sensor SN2, a document contact amount detection sensor 11, and a pair of pullout rollers 12.
FIG. 1A is a schematic cross-sectional view illustrating an enlarged view of the separation mechanism of the document feeding device, wherein the set document bundle 1 is going to be fed. In this example, the document set sensor SN5 first detects that the document bundle 1 has been placed on a document table serving as a carrying unit. In accordance with the detection of the document bundle 1, the pickup roller 7 descends to come into contact with the topmost surface of the document bundle 1, and rotates in the clockwise direction in the drawing to feed a document between the feeding belt 9 and the separation roller 10, and area that is hereinafter referred to as a document separation nip portion.
In this conveying operation, the feeding belt 9 stretched over belt pulleys with a predetermined tension, for example, is also rotated in the clockwise direction in synchronization with the rotation of the pickup roller 7 as the belt pulleys rotate. Due to the rotating operation of the feeding belt 9, the document (hereinafter referred to as the document P) is conveyed to the document separation nip portion as illustrated in FIG. 1B. In this process, the feeding belt 9 is pressed against the separation roller 10, which is provided to face the feeding belt 9 at the document separation nip portion as described above, at a predetermined pressure. Meanwhile, the separation roller 10 is frictionally driven via a torque limiter, not illustrated, having a predetermined amount of set torque. When the separation roller 10 is in direct engagement with the feeding belt 9 or in engagement with the feeding belt 9 with the document P interposed therebetween, the separation roller 10 is rotated in the counterclockwise direction in the drawing in accordance with the rotation of the feeding belt 9. However, the force for rotating the separation roller 10 in accordance with the rotation of the feeding belt 9 is set to be smaller than the torque of the torque limiter when two or more documents enter the document separation nip portion. Therefore, the separation roller 10 is configured to rotate in the clockwise direction, which is the original driving direction, to push back the extra document, i.e., the next document, to prevent a plurality of documents from being conveyed at the same time.
As the single document, i.e., the previous document P separated from the other documents in FIG. 1B is further conveyed, the leading end of the previous document P reaches the position of the document detection sensor SN2 as illustrated in FIG. 10. Triggered by the leading end of the previous document P reaching the document detection sensor SN2, the pickup roller 7 ascends to complete the separating operation. It is not necessary that the ascent of the pickup roller 7 coincide with the arrival of the previous document P at the document detection sensor SN2. Thus, a slight time lag may be set.
Even after the pickup roller 7 is lifted out of the way in the above-described sequence of operations, the feeding belt 9 still continues to rotate. Therefore, the previous document P separated from the document bundle 1 is further conveyed by the feeding belt 9. Then, as illustrated in FIG. 1D, the leading end of the previous document P enters between the pair of opposed pullout rollers 12 (an area that is hereinafter referred to as a pullout nip portion), which are in contact with each other but have not yet started rotating. In this process, after the leading end of the previous document P passes the document contact amount detection sensor 11, the feeding belt 9 is further driven for a time period determined by the contact amount. As a result, the previous document P is rolled up against the pullout rollers 12 with a predetermined force. Due to the action of the previous document P attempting to return to its original shape, which is caused by this bending of the previous document P, the leading end of the previous document P is ultimately positioned in front of the pullout nip portion formed by the pair of pullout rollers 12.
Thereafter, the pair of pullout rollers 12 start to be driven, as illustrated in FIG. 1E, thereby further conveying the previous document P, as illustrated in FIG. 1F, to a document reading device that is not illustrated in FIGS. 1A to 1F.
According to the above-described configuration of the related-art document feeding device, even if the trailing end of the previous document P is normally extracted from the document bundle 1, the passage of the trailing end of the previous document P is detected, at the earliest, after the trailing end of the previous document P passes the document detection sensor SN2. Accordingly, the feeding of the next document starts only after the trailing end of the previous document P passes the document detection sensor SN2. In a state in which the pair of pullout rollers 12 is moving, as illustrated in FIGS. 1E and 1F, the feeding belt 9 is not driven. However, with the use of a one-way clutch and so forth, for example, the feeding belt 9 is configured to be rotated in accordance with the conveying operation of the previous document P.
As described above, even if the trailing end of the previous document P is normally extracted from the document bundle 1 set on the document table or passes the document separation nip portion, it is difficult for the above-described configuration of the background document feeding device to promptly detect the passage of the trailing end of the previous document P through the document bundle 1 or the document separation nip portion. Therefore, a signal necessary for starting the feeding of the next document (hereinafter referred to as the next document P′) is not obtained. As a result, the feeding of the next document P′ is not started. The feeding of the next document P′ starts only after the trailing end of the previous document P passes the document detection sensor SN2. This state of affairs is not conducive to improving high-speed operation.
In addition, when the trailing end of the previous document P passes the document detection sensor SN2 and the conveying operation of the next document P′ is about to start, the position of the leading end of the next document P′ is moved forward somewhat in some cases during the conveyance of the previous document P for reasons that are described below. Consequently, the position of the leading end of the next document P′ is inconstant and unpredictable. For example, the leading end of the next document P′ may stay substantially at the initial document set position, as illustrated in FIG. 2A, or may be conveyed to a position in front of the feeding belt 9, as illustrated in FIG. 2B. Further, the leading end of the next document P′ may reach the document separation nip portion formed by the feeding belt 9 and the separation roller 10, as illustrated in FIG. 2C, or may be located inside or project from behind the document separation nip portion, as illustrated in FIG. 2D.
The above phenomenon is attributable to frictional force interfering with movement in opposite directions, which acts between the previous document P and the next document P′, i.e., frictional force generated in the feeding of the previous document P and resultantly affecting the next document P′. Further, if the next document P′ has reached the document separation nip portion during the operation of separating the previous document P from the document bundle 1, the next document P′ may also be subjected to the action of the separation roller 10 to push the extra document backward. Therefore, it is very difficult to predict and control the point at which the movement of the next document P′ stops, i.e., the behavior of the leading end of the next document P′, from the conveying operation of the previous document P.
In addition, users use a variety of different types of document sheets. Therefore, the coefficient of friction of the documents can be expected to vary depending on the type of documents used. Further, the coefficient of friction of the separation roller 10 also varies due to retention of paper particles and so forth from the documents. Due to the variation in the coefficient of friction caused by the difference in sheet type and/or the paper particles and so forth of the documents, therefore, the frictional force and the reverse conveying force applied to the next document P′ can also be expected to vary. From this perspective also, then, it is understood that the prediction and control of the position of the next document P′ is substantially difficult.
It is conceivable that the position of the document detection sensor SN2 may simply be shifted to the upstream side in the document conveying direction to detect the passage of the trailing end of the previous document P as soon as possible. However, the position of the leading end of the next document P′ varies, as described above. Accordingly, if the next document P′ is conveyed partially overlapping the previous document P, and if the leading end of the next document P′ reaches the document detection sensor SN2 shifted to the upstream position, the document detection sensor SN2 might fail to detect the boundary between the previous document P and the next document P′. As a result, a so-called conveyance jam is caused by abnormal retention of the documents.
In terms of controlling an image forming apparatus, in an attempt to increase productivity by optimizing the start timing of the feeding of the next document P′, the above-described failure to reliably detect the variable position of the leading end of the next document P′ and precisely separate the next document P′ in the next separating operation is viewed as a so-called conveyance jam occurring. Therefore, in the configuring of the related-art document feeding device, for reasons of safety it is necessary to implement such control assuming the shortest document interval between the previous document P and the next document P′, as illustrated in FIG. 2D. That is, if it is not certain that the trailing end of the previous document P has passed the document detection sensor SN2, it is not allowed to perform the control of starting the feeding of the next document P′, the leading end of which might have reached the document separation nip portion. In fact, however, an unnecessarily long document interval is set between the previous document P and the next document P′ in the above-described control of the background document feeding device in consideration of safety, because in practice there are cases like that illustrated in FIG. 2A, in which the control of starting the feeding of the next document P′ can be performed before the document detection sensor SN2. Therefore, such overly conservative control presents an obstacle to increased productivity.

Document feeding device, image forming apparatus including same, and control method for the document feeding device


An implantable device delivery system is disclosed. The delivery system includes a constraining member situated between an interior layer and an exterior layer of a cover. The interior layer of the cover is disposed about an implantable medical device, and the exterior layer of the cover extends over a portion of the interior layer. The cover is generally tapered to minimize deployment forces. The constraining member is disposed about a portion of the interior layer and operates to constrain the implantable device to a delivery configuration. The cover and the constraining member are generally configured to be removed concurrently during deployment of the implantable device.

The present disclosure is related to devices and methods for delivering and deploying implantable medical devices.
A continued interest exists in developing improved devices and methods to effectively constrain, deliver, and/or deploy implantable medical devices (e.g., stents, stent-grafts, balloons, filters, occluders, and the like) through minimally invasive procedures.
In some instances, implantable devices and treatment apparatuses may be covered or coated with drugs or other bioactive agents. These devices present additional challenges for effective constraint, delivery, and deployment because risks exist that the coverings or coatings may be removed, damaged, or displaced during assembly and/or deployment, which could compromise the device's effectiveness once deployed.

Implantable medical device constraint and deployment apparatus


A safety door lock comprises follower member turned with an inside door knob or an outside door knob to move a latch bolt between the locking position and the unlocking position, and a clutch controlled by a push block between a first position where the outside door knob is coupled to the follower member and a second position where the outside door knob is disconnected from the follower member.

The present invention relates to door locks, and more particularly to a safety door lock which can be controlled to enable the outside door knob to run idle.
FIG. 5 shows a door panel equipped with a door lock. The door lock comprises a latch bolt 51, a door knob assembly 5 for turning with the hand to move the latch bolt 51 in and out of the casing of the door lock, a dead bolt 53 which can be turned only with the key when from the outside, and a knob 52 provided at an inner side of the door panel for turning the dead bolt 53 with the hand indoors. FIG. 6 shows a door panel equipped with another structure of door lock, in which the lock cylinder 6 must be turned with the key either indoors or outdoors to move the dead bolt between the locking position or the unlocking position. FIG. 7 shows a door panel equipped with two different door locks, in which the first lock comprises a dead bolt turned between the locking position and the unlocking position with the key from the outside or the knob 71 from the inside, and a latch bolt turned with a door knob assembly 7; the second door lock 72 can only be unlocked with the key when from the outside.

2/F., No. 13, Hsing-Nan St., Nan-Kang Dist.


In a toner for developing electrostatic latent images, average circularity is 0.94–0.98, the average value of the equivalent circular diameter is 2.6–7.4 μm and the gradient of the circularity to the equivalent circular diameter is from −0.005 to −0.001, and an image forming method using the same.

The present invention relates to a toner for developing electrostatic latent images, and an image forming method and an image forming apparatus employing the same.
In recent years, along with development of digital image processing technology, in image forming methods utilizing an electrostatic latent image development system such as an electrophotographic system, digital system image formation has become mainstream.
In image forming methods utilizing the digital systems, an image comprised of dots as small as 1,200 dpi (dots per inch or the number of dots per 2.54 cm) is basically visualized, and high image quality technology is required which faithfully reproduces such minute dot image.
In order to effectively produce such high quality images, a decrease in the diameter of toner particles for developing electrostatic latent images has been carried out. In image formation utilizing an electrostatic latent image developing system such as an electrophotographic system, heretofore, a so-called pulverized toner, prepared as described below, has been mainly employed. Binder resins and pigments are mixed and kneaded. Powder prepared by pulverizing the resulting mixture is then classified by size. However, toner which is prepared employing such processes is limited in the decrease in the diameter of toner particles and uniform particle size distribution. Difficulties are accompanied to achieve a decrease in the diameter of toner particles, uniformity of the size distribution, as well as the particle shape. Consequently, it is difficult to sufficiently achieve higher image quality for images prepared by an electrophotographic system employing such pulverized toners.
In recent years, as means to achieve a decrease in the diameter of toner particles and uniformity of particle size distribution as well as the shape, polymerization method toners prepared employing a suspension polymerization method or an emulsion polymerization method have received increasing attention. These polymerization toners are prepared in such a manner that a dispersion prepared by uniformly dispersing monomers as a raw material in a water-based system undergoes polymerization to form toner. Several methods are feasible. Of these, the method which receives the highest attention is one in which resinous particles, prepared employing a suspension polymerization method or an emulsion polymerization method as well as colorant particles, are subjected to coalescence (salting-out and fusion). The aforesaid method has been studied for practical use but the aspect of its production engineering is still in the stage of development.
On the other hand, widely employed as a system for fixing toner images formed on an image forming support (being a transfer material) such as a paper sheet is a heating roller fixing system in which fixing is carried out by allowing the aforesaid image forming support carrying images to pass between a heating roller and a pressure roller.
However, when the heating roller fixing system is employed in combination with the polymerization method toner in which toner particles have a small diameter and the particle size distribution as well as the shape is uniform, problems occur in which since toner particles are not capable of being sufficiently deformed to conform to the unevenness of the paper and the heating roller surface, insufficient fixing results.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Toner for developing electrostatic latent image, image forming method and image forming apparatus


An earphone with adjustable-length cable includes a plugging section, a connecting cable and a receiving section. The plugging section has an attach-conductive adapter and a plug at two ends respectively. The connecting cable connects the plugging section and the receiving section, and has at least one separable attaching cable. The separable attaching cable has two attach-conductive adapters at two ends respectively. The receiving section has an attach-conductive adapter and an audio-playing unit at two ends respectively. Each attach-conductive adapter is formed with an end surface, and has at least one attaching element and a plurality of conductive plates exposed at outside of the end surface. The attach-conductive adapters are attached each other by the attaching elements, and electrically connected to each other through the conductive plates, so that signals from the plugging section are transmitted to the receiving section and are played by the audio-playing unit.

1. Field of the Instant Disclosure
The instant disclosure relates to an earphone with adjustable-length cable, especially to a sectional wired earphone includes a plug, an audio-playing unit and a connecting cable arranged between the plug and the audio-playing unit, which are attractively connected in sectional and separable manner.
2. Description of Related Art
Since earphone was invented, it has become the most popular auxiliary tool for enjoying music. Because wireless earphone needs battery with expansive price, wired earphone is still commonly used. The wired earphone has a plug for plugging into an electronic device of audio-player to receive audio, an audio-playing unit for transferring signals to voice, and a connecting cord connecting the plug and the audio-playing unit.
The audio-playing unit is usually worn in user's ear, and receiving audio signals from the electronic device by the connecting cord and the plug. Recently, many kinds of portable electronic device are used very popularly. Especially smart phone includes the features of voice communication and media player . . . etc., which almost has become one of the must-have appurtenances, no matter outdoor recreation or sport. User usually operates a portable electronic device with an earphone, so that hands are available to do something.
When user is listening audio or music, the wired earphone connected to the portable electronic device is easy to be inattentively pulled and dragged, especially during walking. After the earphone is dragged, the plug of earphone may be separated from the electronic device. In extreme situation, the electronic device may be pulled and dropped accidentally.
On the other hand, the length of wired earphone is fixed and usually reserved an additional length. To adjust the redundant length of the connecting cord of earphone, one common method is to provide a winding device. Such method not only additional equipment is needed, but also the accidental dragging of the above-mentioned problem is still unavoidable.


A roller grate arrangement for garbage-incinerating plants, in which a plurality of rollers with horizontal and parallel axes lie in an inclined plane. Primary air is fed to interiors of the rollers by air boxes located below the grate. The rollers have surfaces with air gaps for supplying the primary air, and the rollers are positioned to form a space between adjacent rollers. A component in the space between adjacent rollers, bridges the space between adjacent rollers. The component is free of air passages. Blast pipes are positioned in spaces between adjacent rollers and are connected to a separate system for feeding supplemental air.

The present invention concerns a method of and a roller grate for burning garbage. A layer of garbage is burned on a grate while continuously conveyed along it. Primary air is supplied to the garbage through the grate from below.
SU 1 756 741 A1 describes a roller grate wherein every intermediate component comprises a system of stationary bars with gaps between them. Accommodated below the intermediate components are air boxes. Air is supplied to the boxes by a fan that is independent of the primary-air system, The particular object is to improve burn-up.
As far as is known, the approach suggested in this reference has never been applied to garbage incinerators. Specifically, supplemental air is not supplied to the nips or spaces between the rollers in the roller-grate combustion systems currently known and being built. All of the primary air supplied to the fuel bed arrives through the surfaces of the rollers.
The layer of fuel in the vicinity of the nip or space is considerably thicker than in the areas where it rests against the rollers. The fuel also has a tendency to become denser in the vicinity of the gaps, where there the material is finer. A lot of air is accordingly needed in these areas. The increased impedance offered by the garbage resting there on the other hand forces the primary air out of the nips or spaces and into the regions when the layer is thin and loose, at the edges of the grate for example.
To improve burn-up in the incineration of garbage, the combustion air in the migrating-grate furnace specified in U.S. Pat. No. 3,403,643 is enriched with 25 to 50% oxygen. It is doubtful, however, whether such enrichment is possible in practice. Even a slight increase in the percentage of oxygen will increase the temperature beyond the materials-dictated thresholds. Furthermore, increasing the oxygen to the aforesaid extent would make the process unacceptably expensive.
EP 0 496 325 B1 describes, with reference to a roller-grate furnace by way of example, a method whereby the combustion temperature and a volume of steam are supposed to be maintained essentially constant. The flow of garbage is controlled in accordance with a measured volume of steam. An extinguishing liquid consisting of water, sewage, or sludge is sprayed into the furnace. Primary and secondary air are enriched with oxygen in accordance with the liquid's rate of flow. From one of the examples it is evident that enrichment to approximately 50% results in a lot of oxygen being consumed. A garbage-combustion rate of 800 tonnes a day requires approximately 600 tonnes a day of oxygen. Even a relatively low enrichment of less than 24% requires more than 100 tonnes a day of oxygen to burn just 500 tonnes a day of garbage.

Method and roller grill for burning refuse


The disclosure relates to a laser (L) and to at least one detector integrated side by side on one and the same substrate so that the laser emits, through the edge of the device, a light beam along a direction and so that the detector can detect, through the same edge of the device, a beam substantially parallel to this direction of emission. In a system for the optical reading of a recording medium, the light emitted is reflected by the medium to be read to the detector or detectors. A diffraction grating (RZ) that diffracts only diffraction waves with the same sign (positive for example) deflects at least a part of the light to the detector or detectors. Application to the reading of optical disks.

The invention relates to a light emitter-receiver device and its application to a system for the optical reading of a recording medium.
The invention can be applied especially to the reading of optical disks and relates to the optical system of reading known in the prior art as the optical pick-up technique.
An optical pick-up system consists of:
a downline part combining the optical focusing system and the actuators enabling this optical system to be shifted so that the track being read is followed radially and in focusing; PA1 an upline part combining the write/read laser sources; PA1 at least one splitter enabling the return beam to be redirected to the detectors; PA1 optical means for the concealment or deformation of the beam enabling the detectors to extract the read signals, focusing error signals and track following error signals.
The laser component or components are generally made on a substrate of gallium arsenide while the detectors are made on a silicon substrate.
The invention relates first of all to the upline pick-up part. It reduces the number of components and simplifies the adjusting operation by integrating the detector function into the laser chip.
It is also known that a component made on a gallium arsenide substrate may form a detector: in the field of telecommunications, this property has been used to make alternating two-way communications (half duplex communications). The laser diode is then either forward biased so as to emit light or reverse biased so as to give a photocurrent proportional to the light received. In the field of optical reading pick-ups, it has been proposed to make profitable use of the fact that the light reflected on a disk is refocused with precision on the source to read the information by modification of the current induced to the laser. This method has never been used to make truly operational systems for the quality of the signal in forward bias is insufficient and because there have been no means enabling the extraction of the focusing and track following signal.

Light emitter-receiver device and optical reading system


The present disclosure encompasses methods for rational design of microRNA and small interfering RNA chimeras and compositions and methods of use thereof.

RNA interference (RNAi) is an RNA-guided gene silencing process within living cells that controls the expression of the targeted genes (Hannon 2002; Denli and Hannon 2003; Sontheimer 2005). There are two major types of small RNA molecules that are central to RNA interference, microRNAs (miRNAs) and small interfering RNAs (siRNAs).
MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are involved in a variety of human diseases by simultaneously suppressing many gene targets. Thus, the therapeutic value of miRNAs has been intensely studied. However, there are potential limitations with miRNA-based therapeutics such as relatively moderate impact on gene target regulation and cellular phenotypic control. Further, there are only a limited number of natural miRNAs to be used in RNAi. In contrast, siRNAs may result in efficient knockdown of a target gene, but may only target one gene at a time. Thus, there is a need in the art for miRNA-based therapeutics that are rationally designed to improve the efficiency of knockdown and are multi-functional to simultaneously target multiple genes.

Rational design of microRNA-siRNA chimeras for multi-functional target suppression


A low-loss optical 1.times.2 branching element comprises a symmetrical coupler (C.sub.s) with a symmetrical power distribution (1/2/1/2) and an asymmetric coupler (C.sub.a)with an asymmetric power distribution ({(1/2-x)/(1/2+x)}). Outputs (c,d) of the symmetrical coupler are coupled to inputs (e,f) of the asymmetric coupler, so that an MZ interferometer with two branches (t.sub.1, t.sub.2) is formed between the two couplers. The branches incorporate, preferably identical, optical non-linear elements (NL1, NL2), while moreover the branches exhibit an additional difference in linear optical path length (.DELTA.L) that depends on the type of couplers selected. In one signal direction (arrow D) the branching element acts as a 3 dB splitter. The elements (NL1, NL2) and the coupler (C.sub.a) have been dimensioned so as to result in a loss <<3 dB for a given signal power in the other signal direction (arrow U).

1. Scope of the Invention
The invention is in the field of optical devices for systems transporting and processing optical signals. More in particular it relates to an optical 1.times.2 branching element provided with three optical ports, in which an optical signal injected via a first optical port is split into two signals of equal power that exit via a second and a third optical port respectively, and in which an optical signal injected via the second or third port exits via the first optical port.
2. State of the Art
The splitting of optical signals is one of the most important basic functions in optical systems and networks. Optical signal splitters based on channel-shaped waveguides, such as optical fibers or integrated waveguide structures, are based on two fundamentally different physical principles. One type of signal splitter uses interference, e.g. the directional coupler and the splitter based on an MZ-interferometer. The second type of signal splitter uses symmetry, e.g. the symmetrical Y splitter and the asymmetric Y splitter dimensioned as mode filter.
For passive optical networks (PONs), used for both signal distribution and bidirectional traffic, and which have a tree-like branched structure, usually with a high degree of bifurcation, signal splitters are required on a large scale. For this purpose, (1.fwdarw.N) splitters are being designed which are mostly composed of (1.fwdarw.2) splitters of the above-mentioned types. In each (1.fwdarw.2) splitter, the optical signal is subject to a reduction in power of 3 dB in each of the two bifurcation directions. This is unavoidable (and natural) in the direction of further bifurcation (downwards), as the presented signal divides itself between the two possible bifurcation directions. Owing to time-reversal invariance (reciprocity) to which physical laws are subject, within the same structure this reduction also occurs for optical signals in the opposite direction (upwards), but this time as a real loss of signal. One way to avoid this loss in the upward direction is to let the wave-guiding structure in upward direction be different from that in downward direction. This can be achieved by switching the signals, e.g. with the use of externally, electrically or optically, controlled switches. However, this has the drawback that such a network no longer is passive, and in addition requires a complicated control system for the many switches.
Another option is the application of non-linear optical effects in the splitting structure indicated above, enabling a light signal itself to cause a switching effect to occur. Reference 1! discloses a simulation study of a symmetrical Y junction with a monomodal trunk and two monomodal branches, the branches of which at least are formed by identical waveguide section in a non-linear optical medium. As a result of the symmetry, power splitting occurs in the bifurcation direction (downwards). In the upward direction, a light signal presented through either of the branches causes the index of refraction to increase, as a result of which the symmetry is broken. This causes the Y junction to become asymmetric and to act as a mode filter for the said signal: the light signal propagates fully as a zero-order mode signal in the trunk of the Y junction (Remark: in the above-mentioned types of (1.fwdarw.2) splitter, one part (half) is always converted into a first-order mode, said part dispersing upon entering the monomodal trunk of the Y junction, resulting in the loss of power mentioned). In reference 2!, an asymmetric X junction in a non-linear medium has been numerically investigated that enables an optical signal to be switched using an optical control signal to be injected separately. Said control signal exhibits a similar switching effect (see more in particular FIG. 4(c) and FIG. 5(c) of reference 2!) as described previously for the non-linear Y junction of reference 1!. A drawback of the splitting structures described in reference 1! and 2! is that either they require extremely high optical powers, or relatively large non-linear optical effects are required, for which no suitable materials are available to date.

Optical non-linear branching element with MZ interferometer

van der Tol; Johannes Jacobus Gerardus Maria


A method of programming memory cells of a resistive memory device includes; applying a first current pulse to each of the plurality of memory cells; applying a second current pulse that increases by a first difference compared to the first current pulse to each of the plurality of memory cells to which the first current pulse is applied; and applying a third current pulse that increases by a second difference compared to the second current pulse to each of the plurality of memory cells to which the second current pulse is applied, wherein the first through third current pulses non-linearly increase, and the second difference is greater than the first difference.

The inventive concept relates generally to memory devices and methods of operating same. More particularly, the inventive concept relates to resistive memory devices, memory systems including at least one resistive memory device, and methods of operating same.
Ongoing research and development efforts seek to provide next generation memory devices having nonvolatile data storage characteristics, high memory cell integration density, high operating speeds, and low power consumption. That is, next generation memory devices should provide the memory cell integration density of dynamic random access memory (DRAM) devices, the nonvolatile data storage capabilities of flash memory devices, and the high operating speed of static random access memory (SRAM) devices. Phase change random access memory (PRAM or PcRAM) devices, nano floating gate memory (NFGM) devices, polymer random access memory (PoRAM) devices, magnetic random access memory (MRAM) devices, ferroelectric random access memory (FRAM or FeRAM) devices and resistive random access memory (RRAM or ReRAM) devices are attracting much attention as the next generation memory devices potentially meeting the foregoing design requirements.

Resistive memory device and method programming same


A furniture fitting including frame sections which are preferably extruded and are intended to enclose furniture parts in the form of plates or panels, wherein the flame sections have an open groove extending in the longitudinal direction receive and retain a retaining part of the fitting. The groove is narrowed by two shoulders which are parallel to one another with end faces facing one another, wherein the retaining part has a flange portion which can be supported on the free upper face of the shoulders and in which there is provided at least one bore for rotatably retaining the shank, which engages in the groove, of a clamping element which selectively fixes the retaining part on the frame section or releases it for disassembly or longitudinal displacement in the longitudinal direction of the groove.

The invention relates to an arrangement for fixing furniture fittings on frame sections which are preferably extruded and are intended to enclose furniture parts in the form of plates or panels, wherein the said frame sections have an open groove extending in the longitudinal direction of the section and provided to receive and retain a retaining part of the fitting to be fixed, the internal width of the said groove being narrowed in the region of its opening by two shoulders which are parallel to one another with end faces facing one another, wherein the retaining part has a flange portion which can be supported on the free upper face of the shoulders and in which there is provided at least one bore for rotatably retaining the shank, which engages in the groove, of a clamping element which selectively fixes the retaining part on the frame section or releases it for disassembly or longitudinal displacement in the longitudinal direction of the groove.
Frame sections extruded from metal or also alternatively extruded from plastics material have been used increasingly in recent years in furniture construction for enclosing furniture parts in the form of plates or panels, for example glass door leaves, which in the past were enclosed in wooden strips. Whereas in the case of such door leaves or flaps enclosed by a wooden frame the pivotable articulation on a cupboard carcass could be achieved with the known furniture hinges, in which the door leaf fixing part was constructed in the usual way as an insert cup which can be inserted into a matching recess in the rear face of the frame, in the case of the aforementioned extruded frame sections the use of normal hinges is not possible because the space available and the material thickness of these frame sections does not allow the installation of the usual hinge cups.
Therefore for-fixing fitting parts and also hinges on the frame sections of the aforementioned type which are under consideration here fixing arrangements have been developed (DE 201 07 525 U1) in which the door leaf fixing part of a hinge can be locked in a groove with a narrow mouth provided on the inside of the frame section, whereby a retaining part which can be fixed by a clamping element in the groove of the frame element can be used instead of the usual hinge cup.
The object of the invention is simplify the construction of this known arrangement for fixing fittings, particularly hinges, on frame elements, whereby the fixing of the retaining part on the frame element and the selective disassembly or adjustment of the retaining part in the longitudinal direction of the groove of the frame section is functionally improved and the security against inadvertent loosening and adjustment is increased.

Arrangement for fixing furniture fittings to frame profiles of plate-type or board type furniture elements

Mepla-Werke Lautenschlager GmbH & Co., KG


A control device acquires a plurality of observation signals observed using a plurality of projection patterns having different spatial frequencies, as observation signals for a measurement point on a measurement object. The control device repeatedly executes processing for estimating two component signals included in each observation signal, so as to separate the observation signal into two component signals, and calculate a three-dimensional position of the measurement point based on the phases of the separated component signals.

A phase shift method is known as a technique to measure a three-dimensional shape of an object using an image. The phase shift method is a method of projecting a cyclic pattern to a measurement object using a projector, and analyzing the distortion (phase shift) of the projection pattern that is generated depending on the irregularities on the object surface, so as to restore the three-dimensional shape of the object surface. As an improved method of the phase shift method, a method called micro phase shifting (MPS) is also known (see NPL 1).
In these methods, reflected light from another object that exists around the measurement object may drop the measurement accuracy in some cases. This phenomenon will be described with reference to FIG. 6. FIG. 6 depicts a measurement system using an imaging device 200 and a projector 201. Light 201L having a predetermined pattern is projected from the projector 201 to a measurement object 202, and the projection pattern formed on the surface of the measurement object 202 is captured by the imaging device 200. At this time, the distortion of the projection pattern generated by the surface irregularities of the measurement object 202 appears as a brightness change of the image. Therefore based on this brightness change of the image, the positional relationship among the projector 201, a point on the surface of the measurement object 202, and the imaging device 200, is specified, whereby the height (three-dimensional position) of the surface of the measurement object 202 can be calculated using the triangulation.
However, as shown in FIG. 6, if an object 203 exists near the measurement object 202, the light projected from the projector 201 is reflected on the surface of the object 203, and this reflected light 203L may irradiate to the surface of the measurement object 202. If this occurs, observation signals observed by the imaging device 200 contain not only a reflected light component 201R of the light 201L of the projector 201 (direct component signal), but also a reflected light component 203R of the indirect light 203L from the object 203 (indirect component signal). This indirect component signal 203R becomes noise, and is superimposed on the projection pattern on the surface of the measurement object 202, hence an analysis of the projection pattern (that is, calculation of the phase value of the observation signal) is affected thereby, and a measurement error is generated. In this description, this phenomenon is called "inter-reflection" or "multiple reflection", and an object which causes inter-reflection or multiple reflection (object 203 in the case of FIG. 6) is called a "causative object".
As a method of reducing the influence of the inter-reflection, PTL 1 proposes a method of specifying a causative object which causes the inter-reflection and imaging of a projection pattern projected on the causative object in a dimmed or extinguished light state. However if the light is dimmed or extinguished when the projection pattern is imaged, as in this method, a portion where the three-dimensional shape cannot be measured (that is, a blind spot) may be generated. Further, this method cannot effectively suppress inter-reflection unless the causative object (portion of the projection pattern for which light is dimmed or extinguished) is accurately specified in advance, hence implementing this method in an actual apparatus is difficult.

Three-dimensional-shape measurement device, three-dimensional-shape measurement method, and program


A rack seal for use with a rack bushing and seal retainer wherein the rack bushing is made of a thermoplastic material and includes a face with a plurality of cooling cavities. The rack seal includes a body member, an annular sealing face, and a retainer air side which is in constant contact with the thermoplastic bushing cavity face. The rack seal air side surface includes a bead segment. The bead segment has a predetermined height which creates a minimum contact at a full gap with the rack bushing and is compressible to a minimum gap with the rack bushing. The bead segment of the rack seal is in constant contact with the thermoplastic bushing such that any objectionable noises are eliminated during any separation of the rack seal and the thermoplastic bushing.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to steering rack seals and more particularly to noise reduction beads for use on a steering rack seal.
2. Description of Related Art
The fluid energized rack & pinion steering system on an automobile includes a rack seal which is placed within a rack retainer and is further set against a rack bushing. In prior art systems the rack bushing is made of a metal material and the rack seal with rubber or other composite materials. When the steering system is energized the rack seal is pressed against the rack bushing and a rack seal rotate about each other staying in contact with one another at all times. However, with the push towards lighter vehicles for better gas mileage there has been a move towards replacing metal components of a car with plastic or thermoplastic materials. Such a weight reduction has been proposed by replacing the metal rack bushing with a thermoplastic bushing as a cost and weight saving reduction for the automobile. This creates a thermoplastic and rubber interface between the rack seal and the thermoplastic bushing, because of molding tolerances the thermoplastic bushing creates a gap of approximately 0.5 millimeters to 1 millimeter between the bushing face and the rack seal air side face. During the operation of the steering system the bushing face and the seal face are alternately in contact and separate from one another. This causes difficulties in that as the surfaces separate a noise of an objectionable character is generated and causes concern among the users of the automobiles. Therefore, there is a need to eliminate this noise but still allow implementation of the thermoplastic bushing in order to reduce cost and weight for the automobile manufacturer.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for a noise abating system such that during separation of a thermoplastic bushing and a rack seal an objectionable noise is not made.


A composition having a variety of therapeutic and cosmetic uses comprises:                (i) a vitamin;        (ii) a metal salt that provides metal ions in vivo; and        (iii) insulin or a growth hormone.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a composition comprising primarily natural products and to its use in therapy, especially of genetic disorders, viral diseases, cancer and AIDS. The composition is also useful as a cosmetic.
2. Description of the Related Art
Despite decades of research, the treatment of cancer remains unsatisfactory. Surgery may be used to remove a solid tumour, but metastasis or recurrence of the cancer is common. Treatment with drugs, or chemotherapy, is usually non-specific, and is associated with undesirable side-effects, including damage to the immune system. Cell destruction by cytotoxic drugs follows first order kinetics, i.e. it reduces a constant percentage and not a constant number of cancer cells. Thus, the same dose which reduces the number of cancer cells from 108 to 107 is required to reduce the number from 103 to 102. Therefore, it is difficult to eradicate the last portion of any tumour solely by chemotherapy without causing serious toxicity.
Radiotherapy may be more localised, but is still dangerous to the patient and cannot avoid recurrence; the very localisation of the treatment means that there may be many cancerous or pre-cancerous cells that are unaffected by it, even if damage to healthy cells can be avoided. Surgery, radiation treatment and chemotherapy all leave residual tumour tissue following the completion of therapy. Both radiotherapy and chemotherapy depress the immune system of the patient which can in turn reduce the effectiveness of any treatment.
Similarly, the treatment of AIDS remains unsatisfactory. Drug treatment can provide some remission of symptoms, but is liable to cause side-effects. Thus, there is no effective long-term treatment. Further, the fact that AIDS patients are immuno-compromised remains a major problem for conventional therapy.
In addition to cancer and AIDS, there are many conditions that can only be addressed by chemotherapy associated with side-effects, owing to the unspecific nature of the drugs that are used. These conditions include skin diseases such as psoriasis, pemphigus and scleroderma. Further, there are veterinary conditions where there is no effective treatment, including Newcastle disease.
Conditions of the type described above may be associated with a genetic disorder, e.g. some failure in the process whereby genes are translated into proteins, in vivo. It is known that a change of just one amino acid in a protein may be associated with disease, e.g. as in sickle cell anaemia. Proliferative conditions and cancer, among others, may be associated with an error in the sequence of events leading from organisation of genes to production of protein.

Abstract: Such a composition is useful for treating, for example, genetic disorders, skin diseases, cancer and viral infections.


An error-recovery method to enable error-free message transfer between nodes of a computer network. A first node of the network sends a packet to a second node of the network over a link between the nodes, and the first node keeps a copy of the packet on a sending end of the link until the first node receives acknowledgment from the second node that the packet was received without error. The second node tests the packet to determine if the packet is error free. If the packet is not error free, the second node sets a flag to mark the packet as corrupt. The second node returns acknowledgement to the first node specifying whether the packet was received with or without error. When the packet is received with error, the link is returned to a known state and the packet is sent again to the second node.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to the field of distributed-memory message-passing parallel computer design and system software, and more particularly, to a novel method and apparatus for interconnecting individual processors for use in a massively-parallel, distributed-memory computer, for example.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
Massively parallel computing structures (also referred to as "ultra-scale computers" or "supercomputers") interconnect large numbers of processing nodes, generally, in the form of very regular structures, such as grids, lattices or tori. One problem commonly faced on such massively parallel systems is the efficient computation of a collective arithmetic or logical operation involving many nodes. One example of a common computation involving collective arithmetic operations over many processing nodes is iterative sparse linear equation solving techniques that require a global inner product based on a global summation. Such a collective computation is not implemented in the hardware of conventional networks. Instead, the collective computation involves software on each processing node to treat each packet in the computation, the latency of which can be on the order of 100 times that of an equivalent hardware treatment. Furthermore, there may be insufficient processing power for the software treatment to keep up with the network bandwidth. In addition, the topology of a conventional, multi-purpose network may reduce the efficiency of a collective computation, which is based on the longest path from any processing node involved in the computation to the processing node where the final result is produced.
A second problem commonly faced on massively-parallel systems is the efficient sharing of a limited number of external I/O connections by all of the processing nodes. Typically, this sharing is handled by assigning processing nodes to act as middlemen between the external connections and other processing nodes. These nodes can either be dedicated to the job of handling input/output (I/O), or they can perform application computations as well. In either case, the network traffic caused by I/O can be disruptive because it is often asynchronous with respect to the application's communication. For example, massively parallel systems often output checkpoints or partial results while a computation is in progress. A second drawback of sharing a single network between I/O and application communication is that the I/O bandwidth is limited to the bandwidth of the shared network. A third drawback is that the topology of a shared network may restrict the freedom to use an optimal number of dedicated I/O processing nodes or locate them optimally. For example, many massively-parallel systems use a grid interconnect because it is a regular and scalable topology. In order not to disrupt the regularity, which is good for applications, dedicated I/O processing nodes are usually located at the edges of the grid, which is relatively far from processing nodes at the center of the grid. In a torus interconnect, dedicated I/O processing nodes may need to occupy an entire row of the torus in order not to affect the regularity of the structure.
While the three-dimensional torus interconnect computing structure 10 shown in FIG. 1 comprising a simple 3-dimensional nearest neighbor interconnect which is "wrapped" at the edges, works well for most types of inter-processor communication, it does not perform as well for collective operations such as reductions, where a single result is computed from operands provided by each of the compute nodes 12, or efficient sharing of limited resources such as external I/O connections (not shown).
It would thus be highly desirable to provide a network architecture that comprises a unique interconnection of processing nodes optimized for efficiently and reliably performing many classes of operations including those requiring global arithmetic operations such as global reduction computations, data distribution, synchronization, and limited resource sharing. A dedicated network that efficiently supports collective communication patterns serves these needs well.
The normal connectivity of high-speed networks such as the torus are simply not fully suited for this purpose because of longer latencies and because of the disruptive nature of I/O. That is, mere mapping of a collective communication pattern onto the physical torus interconnect results in a tree-shaped pattern of greater depth than is necessary if adjacent nodes of the tree-shaped pattern are required to be adjacent on the torus, or a tree with longer latency between nodes when those nodes are not adjacent in the torus. In order to compute collective operations most efficiently and support simultaneous application messaging and I/O transfers, a dedicated collective network is required.

Error recovery to enable error-free message transfer between nodes of a computer network

International Business Machines Corporation


A proton conductive solid polymer electrolyte includes a polypyridobisimidazole-based compound and at least an acid. The proton conductive solid polymer electrolyte can be used to make a fuel cell with good power generation over a long period of time under a relative humidity of about 0% to about 50% at an operating temperature of about 100° C. to about 300° C.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a proton conductive solid polymer electrolyte that is capable of good power generation over a long period of time even under a relative humidity of about 0% to about 50% and at operating temperatures of about 100° C. to about 300° C., and a solid polymer electrolyte fuel cell employing the same.
2. Discussion of the Background
Ionic conductors are well known in the prior art. Ionic conductors are widely used in electrochemical devices such as fuel cells and electrochemical sensors.
A proton conductor with good proton conductivity over a long period of time at operating temperatures of about 100° C. to about 300° C. and a relative humidity of about 0% to about 50% is preferable in a fuel cell for the purpose of generation efficiency, system efficiency, and long term stability of the components. Conventional solid polymer electrolyte fuel cells that use a perfluorocarbonsulfonic acid membrane as an electrolyte membrane do not generate sufficient power at operating temperatures of about 100° C. to about 300° C. and a relative humidity of less than 50%.
Conventional electrolyte membranes may contain a proton conducting agent (e.g. JP Patent Publication No. 2001-035509) or use a silica dispersion film (e.g. JP Patent Laid-Open Publication No. Hei 06-111827), an inorganic-organic composite film (e.g. JP Patent Publication No. 2000-090946), an phosphoric acid doped graft film (e.g. JP Patent Publication No. 2001-213987), or an ionic liquid composite film (e.g. JP Patent Publication Nos. 2001-167629 and 2003-123791).
These conventional electrolyte membranes do not generate sufficient power over a long period of time at operating temperatures of about 100° C. to about 300° C. and a relative humidity of about 0% to about 50%. The components of phosphoric acid fuel cells, solid oxide fuel cells, and molten salt fuel cells are not stable over a long period of time because they have operating temperatures hotter than 300° C. and are expensive.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,525,436, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety, discloses a solid polymer electrolyte fuel cell capable of generating sufficient power at an operating temperature of 200° C. that is made using a polymer electrolyte membrane composed of polybenzimidazole doped with a strong acid such as phosphoric acid. When phosphoric acid is used as a dopant, 600 mol % or greater with respect to a repeat unit of polymer should be used in order to obtain sufficient ionic conductivity to generate power. Using such a large amount of phosphoric acid causes the amount of polymer contained in the electrolyte membrane to be low and decreases the mechanical strength of the electrolyte membrane.
Despite the advances in the prior art, the need remains to develop a fuel cell with good power generation efficiency, system efficiency, and durability over a long period of time at operating temperatures of about 100° C. to about 300° C. and a relative humidity of about 0% to about 50%.

Proton conductive solid polymer electrolyte and fuel cell


A non-hermetic APD for operation in a moisture-containing ambient comprises an InP/InGaAsP-containing Group III-V compound semiconductor body and a p-n junction formed in the body. Typically the junction intersects a top surface of the body. A patterned dielectric layer is formed on the surface so as to cover at least those regions of the surface that are intersected by the junction. An electrode is formed in an opening in the dielectric layer so as to make electrical contact with one side of the junction. Importantly, the thickness of the dielectric layer is sufficient to reduce the leakage current through it to less than about 1 nA when the operating voltage is in the range of about 20-100 V. In accordance with a preferred embodiment, the thickness of the dielectric layer is greater than about 2 xcexcm when the applied voltage is in excess of about 20 V. Moreover, the composition of dielectric layer may be either inorganic (e.g., a silicon nitride) or a combination of inorganic and organic materials.

This invention relates generally to photodetectors and, more particularly, to avalanche photodiodes (APDs).
In a typical back-illuminated APD formed in a Group III-V compound semiconductor body, a light (or radiation) input signal to be detected is directed toward the substrate or bottom side of the body through the opening in an annular contact. This signal, which illustratively has a wavelength in the range of about 1.1-1.7 xcexcm, is absorbed in an InGaAs layer where photocarriers (electron-hole pairs) are generated. Under the influence of an applied voltage the holes drift toward a p-n junction that is located near to and intersects the top surface of the body. In the junction region avalanche multiplication takes place. This multiplication provides for amplification of the input signal. As a result, the receiver using an APD can detect significantly lower optical power signals than a photodetector that does not have an amplification region. The improvement in detection limit is proportional to the amount of multiplication M taking place. The multiplication, in turn, is proportional to the applied voltage. Typically voltages in the range of about 20-100 V are required depending on the desired M and the particular device geometry. The arrival rate of the multiplied carriers (i.e., amplified current), which are collected at a p++-type electrode on the passivated p-side of the junction, is proportional to the intensity of the incident signal and the applied voltage.
The passivation is provided by a relatively thin dielectric (e.g., silicon nitride) layer (or pair of layers). An opening is etched in the nitride layer to expose the underlying, top surface of the p-n junction region, and metal is deposited in the opening so as to form the p++-type electrode and thereby make electrical contact to the p-side of the junction. This electrode, which is typically circular, also serves as a bonding pad.
The nitride layer is typically made as thin as possible consistent with its passivation function. Illustratively, a single nitride layer about 0.2 xcexcm thick is used. Although thicker single layers are possible, they are typically avoided because thicker layers require longer processing time, and single layers thicker than about 0.4 xcexcm tend to crack. To avoid cracking thicker single layers can be fabricated if the passivation process is changed, but known process alternatives can lead to less than adequate passivation properties. Finally, the cracking problem can be circumvented by forming the thick nitride layer as a composite of thinner nitride layers, but once again such a process would increase cost without any apparent performance benefit.
We have found that this type of APD has poor reliability in a non-hermetic (i.e., moisture-containing) environment. Yet, there is a need in the optical components art, particularly those intended for low cost applications, for an APD that can operate reliably in non-hermetic environments. Because the packaging of such an APD would not require a hermetically sealed enclosure, it would allow for easier access to the APD and thus would facilitate optical alignment of the APD to other devices (e.g., optical fibers), thereby reducing cost of assembly. Cost would be further reduced and yields improved because the APD package would not have to meet or be tested for strict hermeticity requirements (e.g., a typical hermetic enclosure must have a package leak rate of less than about 10xe2x88x928 atm/cmxe2x88x922-sec.).
We have discovered the failure mechanism responsible for the poor reliability of such APDs in non-hermetic environments. More specifically, the relatively high voltages applied to the APD in combination with the presence of a moisture-containing ambient (i.e., water vapor, humidity) lead to significant electric fields across the silicon nitride passivation layer, especially where the p-n junction intersects the top surface of the semiconductor body. The relatively high electric field across the nitride layer causes leakage current to flow through it. In the presence of a moisture-containing ambient and sufficient current, the nitride layer oxidizes. Eventually the nitride layer is breached by the oxidation process, thereby exposing portions of the top surface of the underlying semiconductor body to the moisture-containing ambient and to the relatively high electric fields. Once exposed, the semiconductor rapidly oxidizes and the device fails. In addition, we have found that the presence of electrostrictive forces can increase the susceptibility of the device to degradation in moist environments even at relatively low RH depending on the position of the wire bond relative to the p-side contact and the nitride surface.
In accordance with one aspect of our invention, this reliability problem is addressed in a non-hermetic APD that comprises an InP/InGaAsP-containing Group III-V compound semiconductor body and a p-n junction formed in the body. Typically the junction intersects a top surface of the body. A patterned dielectric layer is formed on the surface so as to cover at least those regions of the surface that are intersected by the junction. An electrode is formed in an opening in the dielectric layer so as to make electrical contact with one side of the junction. Importantly, the thickness of the dielectric layer is sufficient to reduce the leakage current through it to less than about 1 nA when the operating voltage is in the range of about 20-100 V. In accordance with a preferred embodiment, the thickness of the dielectric layer is greater than about 2 xcexcm when the applied voltage is in excess of about 20 V. Moreover, the composition of the dielectric layer may be either inorganic (e.g., a silicon nitride) or a combination of inorganic and organic materials.