A protector sleeve assembly for a balloon catheter, configured for being removably disposed on at least a section of the catheter and preferably on at least the catheter non-inflated balloon prior to introduction of the catheter in a patient's lumen, including a radially collapsible inner sleeve, and an outer sleeve with a tapered section. The inner sleeve has a relaxed configuration with an inner diameter greater than the outer diameter of the noninflated balloon, and a collapsed configuration with an inner diameter less than the relaxed inner diameter. The outer sleeve is slidably positioned on at least a portion of the inner sleeve and has a tapered first section with an inner diameter tapering towards a nontapered second section, the nontapered second section having a substantially uniform inner diameter less than an outer diameter of the relaxed inner sleeve and configured to hold the inner sleeve in the collapsed configuration.

This invention generally relates to catheters, and particularly protective sheaths for intravascular catheters for such as balloon catheters used in percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) or for the delivery of stents.
In percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) procedures a guiding catheter is advanced in the patient's vasculature until the distal tip of the guiding catheter is seated in the ostium of a desired coronary artery. A guidewire is first advanced out of the distal end of the guiding catheter into the patient's coronary artery until the distal end of the guidewire crosses a lesion to be dilated. A dilatation catheter, having an inflatable balloon on the distal portion thereof, is advanced into the patient's coronary anatomy over the previously introduced guidewire until the balloon of the dilatation catheter is properly positioned across the lesion. Once properly positioned, the dilatation balloon is inflated with inflation fluid one or more times to a predetermined size at relatively high pressures so that the stenosis is compressed against the arterial wall and the wall expanded to open up the vascular passageway. Generally, the inflated diameter of the balloon is approximately the same diameter as the native diameter of the body lumen being dilated so as to complete the dilatation but not overexpand the artery wall. After the balloon is finally deflated, blood flow resumes through the dilated artery and the dilatation catheter and the guidewire can be removed therefrom.
In such angioplasty procedures, there may be restenosis of the artery, i.e. reformation of the arterial blockage, which necessitates either another angioplasty procedure, or some other method of repairing or strengthening the dilated area. To reduce the restenosis rate of angioplasty alone and to strengthen the dilated area, physicians now normally implant an intravascular prosthesis, generally called a stent, inside the artery at the site of the lesion. Stents may also be used to repair vessels having an intimal flap or dissection or to generally strengthen a weakened section of a vessel or to maintain its patency. A tubular cover formed of synthetic or natural material may be present on an outer or inner surface of the stent. Stents are usually delivered to a desired location within a coronary artery in a contracted condition on a balloon of a catheter which is similar in many respects to a balloon angioplasty catheter, and expanded within the patient's artery to a larger diameter by expansion of the balloon. The balloon is deflated to remove the catheter and the stent left in place within the artery at the site of the dilated lesion. See for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,507,768 (Lau et al.) and U.S. Pat. No. 5,458,615 (Klemm et al.), which are incorporated herein by reference.
It is conventional practice to fold the deflated balloon about the tubular inner member of the catheter and then advance a protective sheath with an inner diameter larger than the outer diameter of the folded balloon over the folded balloon to hold the balloon in the folded condition for subsequent packaging and sterilization. In addition to protecting the balloon in storage and transit, the sheath holds the folded balloon in position so that, when sterilized at elevated temperatures, the balloon is heat set in the folded condition. A folded balloon presents a much smaller profile than an unfolded balloon and thus is more easily advanced through a patient's vascular system. Moreover, being heat set in the folded condition, the balloon returns in part to the folded condition when subjected to a vacuum after being inflated, such as when venting air from the interior of the balloon and catheter. To facilitate advancing the protective sheath over a folded balloon the sheath is frequently formed of a lubricous fluoropolymer material. Unfortunately, the fluoropolymer protective sheath is usually quite hard and it does not conform to the shape of the folded balloon, so care must be exercised in advancing the sheath over the folded balloon on the catheter and in subsequent handling so that the balloon is not damaged by the protective sheath.
Protective sheaths are described in numerous U.S. Patents, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,425,710 (Khair et al.), U.S. Pat. No. 5,033,007 (Euteneuer), U.S. Pat. No. 4,710,181 (Fuqua), U.S. Pat. No. 4,738,666 (Fuqua), U.S. Pat. No. 4,540,404 (Wolvek), U.S. Pat. No. 5,066,298 (Hess), U.S. Pat. No. 5,116,318 (Hillstead) and U.S. Pat. No. 5,417,707 (Parkola). All of the above references are incorporated herein by reference.
While there has been much development effort in protective sheaths for balloons and catheters, none of the sheaths heretofore developed have been completely satisfactory. These prior sheaths have been either very difficult to slide over or otherwise apply to a folded balloon, or they have been difficult to remove from the balloon before the catheter is inserted into the patient. The present invention provides a protective sheath which eliminates or minimizes the problems of these prior sheaths.

Protective sleeve assembly for a balloon catheter


A large area nitride crystal, comprising gallium and nitrogen, with a non-polar or semi-polar large-area face, is disclosed, along with a method of manufacture. The crystal is useful as a substrate for a light emitting diode, a laser diode, a transistor, a photodetector, a solar cell, or for photoelectrochemical water splitting for hydrogen generation.

This invention relates generally to techniques for processing materials for manufacture of gallium based substrates. More specifically, embodiments of the invention include techniques for growing large area substrates using a combination of processing techniques. The invention can be applied to growing crystals of GaN, AlN, InN, InGaN, AlGaN, and AlInGaN, and others for manufacture of bulk or patterned substrates. Such bulk or patterned substrates can be used for a variety of applications including optoelectronic devices, lasers, light emitting diodes, solar cells, photo electrochemical water splitting and hydrogen generation, photo detectors, integrated circuits, and transistors, and others.
Gallium nitride (GaN) based optoelectronic and electronic devices are of tremendous commercial importance. The quality and reliability of these devices, however, is compromised by high defect levels, particularly threading dislocations, grain boundaries, and strain in semiconductor layers of the devices. Dislocations can arise from lattice mismatch of GaN based semiconductor layers to a non-GaN substrate such as sapphire or silicon carbide. Grain boundaries can arise from the coalescence fronts of epitaxially-overgrown layers. Additional defects can arise from thermal expansion mismatch, impurities, and tilt boundaries, depending on the details of the growth method of the layers.
The presence of defects has a deleterious effect on epitaxially-grown layers. Such effect includes compromising electronic device performance. To overcome these defects, techniques have been proposed that require complex, tedious fabrication processes to reduce the concentration and/or impact of the defects. While a substantial number of conventional growth methods for gallium nitride crystals have been proposed, limitations still exist. That is, conventional methods still merit improvement to be cost effective and efficient.
Progress has been made in the growth of large-area c-plane gallium nitride crystals, typically with a (0001) orientation. The large-area c-plane gallium nitride crystals generally come in 2 inch diameter, free-standing (0001) GaN substrates and are generally available commercially. However, the quality of these crystals is not high enough for some applications. In addition, there is a need to synthesis gallium nitride crystals and wafers that are larger. Several conventional methods are capable of growing high quality gallium nitride boules from high quality gallium nitride seed crystals. However, gallium nitride seed crystals of sufficient size and quality are not available.
From the above, it is seen that techniques for improving crystal growth are highly desirable.

Method for synthesis of high quality large area bulk gallium based crystals


Method, apparatus, and computer-readable media for converting static objects into dynamic intelligent object templates preferably provides structure and/or function whereby a first user displays a static object on a display. The user converts the static object into a dynamic template object having attributes of a group, the group including at least two of (i) notes, (ii) text boxes, (iii) images, (iv) sketches, (v) embedded links, (vi) inking objects, and (vii) sub-groups. Objects of the group inherit behaviors and attributes of the group including at least two of (i) color, (ii) naming convention, and (iii) positional attributes. The conversion occurs when the attributes and behaviors of the group are added to the static object, or when another underlying behavior is made available through interaction with the object. The dynamic template object is stored in a template library. Preferably, a second user can have the same conversion rights as the first user.

It is well known in the art to provide executable programs in computer systems to allow a user to take an electronic form or document that has been created for single use, and through a software application convert the document it to a template document object to be reused at a later date.
The typical application program creates a single purpose document utilizing a graphical, and/or scripting language to facilitate the process of creating the static structured content to be used in a template document object. This tends to be a prescribed process that directs the user to create and format the template document object from scratch within the limited options of format and style.
Such template document object creation processes are typically executed in an offline mode by a single user, and are not executed in real-time in concurrent multi-user collaboration, or shared information system environments.
Such template document creation systems typically build specific template objects of certain types. For example, a word processor will build word processing document templates objects, and a spreadsheet application will build specific spreadsheet document templates objects. To create a different type of template the user would need to utilize a different executable program.
For example, a word processor will typically create form-style templates objects where the user creates static text and inserts objects, and where another user of the template would be allowed to enter data into the form. Once the template has been created, it is saved for future use. If further changes need to be applied to the template object, the template object will need to be loaded into the template editor of the word processor application and modified offline of the editing and contribution process. This is problematic and is not adaptable to dynamic real-time collaboration environments.
Collaboration systems have been known in the current art for some time. The intent is to bring multiple users together to perform workflows such as, but not limited to, brainstorming, process improvement, and other information management sessions. There has been significant effort to transition these sessions from an analog format, such as sticky notes or white boarding, into a digital workspace with all the improvements that digital environments offer, such as persistent storage and remote user participation. Collaboration systems are also being used to share common data and support structured business processes throughout organizations on a global scale. An example of a business process would be a Lean Process workflow (e.g., Lean Manufacturing and/or Lean Production, etc.). As organizations move to further integrate collaboration systems into all aspects of their business processes there is a need to allow the organization to have a system that can adapt to their specific forms and process workflows quickly without the need to create new forms and/or process templates to work in the new software application environment.
Realtime collaboration systems in the current art may utilize an import feature with the intent of taking another application's documents and converting the documents to the new system applications pre-canned format and presentation. The import process tends to be driven by very specific rules which may not be appropriate and increase complexity and decrease user adoption and usability of the new system.
Templates objects commonly used in word processing, spreadsheet, and graphical presentation applications, while useful to facilitate the completion of forms, documents and presentations, creates a prescribed rigid format with limited usage in a free-flowing collaboration environment.
Further to standard template objects, static image files, such as JPEG, BMP, Tiff, etc., are incorporated as supporting content within a document template object, but not used as the basis of a template object, with the appropriate attributes and behaviors associated with a dynamic template object. As such, static images are typically used as an example of structure to then allow a user to create a specific purpose build template object in a dedication application in the current art.
If the image is less structured, such as photos of arbitrary objects or structures, they become even less appropriate for what is thought of template objects in the current art. In a collaborative environment, images objects can be very useful to structure and facilitate user input while allowing for a wide degree of data display formats and potentially dynamic hieratical data structures.
The current art is not able to properly adapt and dynamically utilize static objects and transition the content to a dynamic intelligent template object format.
As data objects and process management becomes more complex, the inefficiencies in the current art become even more pronounced. As collaboration and information management systems become larger and more complex, limitations in the current art become problematic in how intelligent objects and process flows are created and managed, especially under concurrent and remote user situations.
The present invention is intended to overcome one or more of the problems discussed above.

Method, apparatus and computer-readable media for converting static objects into dynamic intelligent objects on a display device


An embodiment of a phase change TIM of this invention comprises a polyester matrix with melting temperature near or below operating temperature (typically less than about 130° C.), thermally conductive filler with bulk thermal conductivity greater than about 50 W/mK, and optionally other additives. The polyester resin has improved thermo-oxidative stability compared to the polyolefin resins, thereby providing improved reliability performance during test.

1). Field of the Invention
This invention relates to phase change thermal interface materials (TIM's) comprising polyester resins and electronic devices with such TIM's.
2). Discussion of Related Art
Today's semiconductor devices, whether discrete power or logic integrated circuits, are smaller, run faster, do more and generate more heat. Due to increased power, some desktop microprocessors dissipate heat in the range of 50 to 100 watts. These power levels require thermal management techniques involving large-capacity heat sinks, good air flow, and careful management of thermal interface resistances. A well-designed thermal management program will keep operating temperatures within acceptable limits in order to optimize device performance and reliability.
Semiconductor devices are kept within their operating temperature limits by transferring junction-generated waste heat to the ambient environment, such as the surrounding room air. This is best accomplished by attaching a heat sink to the semiconductor package surface, thus increasing the heat transfer between the hot case and the cooling air. A heat sink is selected to provide optimum thermal performance. Once the correct heat sink has been selected, it must be carefully joined to the semiconductor package to ensure efficient heat transfer through this newly formed thermal interface.
Thermal materials have been used to join a semiconductor package and a heat sink, and to dissipate the heat from the semiconductor devices, such as microprocessors. A TIM typically comprises a polymer matrix and a thermally conductive filler. The TIM technologies used for electronic packages encompass several classes of materials such as epoxies, greases, gels, and phase change materials.
Metal filled epoxies commonly are highly conductive materials that thermally cure into highly crosslinked materials. However, metal filled epoxies exhibit localized phase separation due to package thermo-mechanical behavior and their high modulus leads to delamination at the interfaces.
Thermal greases display good wetting and ability to conform to the interfaces, no post-dispense processing, and high-bulk thermal conductivity. However, greases tend to migrate out from between the interfaces under cyclical stresses encountered during temperature cycling, a phenomenon known as "pump out."
Gels typically comprise a crosslinkable silicone polymer, such as vinyl-terminated silicone polymer, a crosslinker, and a thermally conductive filler. After cure, gels are crosslinked filled polymers, and the crosslinking reaction provides cohesive strength to circumvent pump-out issues exhibited by greases during temperature cycling. Their modulus (E′) is low enough so that the material can still dissipate internal stresses and prevent interfacial delamination, but not low enough to survive the reliability-stressing test.
Phase change materials (PCMs) are in a class of materials that undergo a transition from a solid to a liquid phase with the application of heat. These materials are in a solid state at room temperature and are in a liquid state at die operating temperatures. When in the liquid state, PCMs readily conform to surfaces and provide low thermal interfacial resistance. PCMs offer ease of handling and processing due to their availability in a film form and the lack of post-dispense processing. However, from a formulation point, the polymer and filler combinations that have been utilized in PCMs restrict the bulk thermal conductivities of these materials. In general pump-out, bleed-out, and dry-out are continuing reliability issues for phase change TIMs. Commercial phase change thermal interface materials (such as Chomerics T454) are polyolefin-based. Because of their hydrocarbon chemical structure, polyolefins rapidly degrade in oxygen above about 125° C., with a corresponding increase in thermal resistance (Rja); see FIG. 1. This presents a high risk for thermo-oxidative degradation over time at operating temperatures below about 110° C. and is a show-stopper for applications with operating temperatures above 110° C.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Phase change thermal interface materials including polyester resin


Methods, systems, and computer readable media with executable instructions, and/or logic are provided for incremental image clustering. An example method for incremental image clustering can include identifying, via a computing device, a number of candidate nodes from among evaluated leaf image cluster (LIC) nodes on an image cluster tree (ICT) based on a similarity between a feature of a new image and an average feature of each of the evaluated LIC nodes. The evaluated nodes include at least one node along each path from a root node to either a leaf node or a node having a similarity exceeding a first threshold. A most-similar node can be determined, via the computing device, from among the number of candidate nodes. The new image can be inserted to a node associated with the determined most-similar node, via the computing device.

With increasing Internet data transfer speeds and the prosperity of WEB 2.0, the amount of image data on the Internet is ever-growing. Image-based websites, such as Flickr, Picasa, You-tube, etc., are growing in popularity, making online content-based image management more important than ever. Since new image data is being uploaded to the Internet all the time, how to efficiently organize, index, and retrieve desired image data is a constant challenge. Categorizing image data can be an enormous endeavor. Efficiently integrating new image data with previously categorized image data without introducing too much complexity and computational cost is important as the collection of image data increases. Avoiding having to re-cluster existing image data can be beneficial in terms of computational time and effort.
Clustering is used to divide a large amount of image data into a number of subsets, e.g., clusters, where image data in a particular cluster is similar in some regard with each other. In general, clustering methods can be categorized into partitioning methods, hierarchical methods, density-based methods, grid-based methods, and model-based methods. For example, K-Means is a partitioning method, DBSCAN divides data based on data density, and Hierarchical Agglomerative Clustering (HAC) constructs a hierarchical structure, namely a dendrogram, of the whole dataset. These methods can be run in batch or static mode, which are not appropriate in a dynamic environment where image data is updated at random moments over time.

HEWLETT-PACKARD DEVELOPMENT COMPANY, L.P.


Provided is a structure of a porous spinal implant including a cage body inserted between adjacent vertebral bodies and divided by an upper surface, a lower surface, a left surface, a right surface, a front surface, and a rear surface, a plurality of vertical pores formed on the upper surface and the lower surface of the cage body, and a plurality of horizontal structures stacked on the left surface and the right surface of the cage body, wherein the plurality of vertical pores and the plurality of horizontal structures are each formed in a pattern that repeats in up-down, left-right, and front-rear directions. The structure of a porous spinal implant is capable of reducing strength of a cage body close to that of a vertebral body.

Structural problems may occur in the spine, such as congenital, degenerative, or for other reasons such as accidents, problems in stable arrangement, or narrowing of the spacing between vertebral bodies. Typical spinal diseases include spinal deformities, vertebral fractures, herniation of an intervertebral disc, spinal stenosis, facet hypertrophy, and the like and such spinal diseases require a surgical treatment when symptoms worsen and conservative care is difficult.
Spinal fusion of a surgical treatment method is a surgical procedure of removing an intervertebral disc in which a spinal disorder has occurred, inserting a spinal cage (or a spinal implant) between the vertebral bodies to secure a space to grow and enter the bone for agglutination, increasing a gap between the vertebral bodies to reduce pain, and restoring lordosis of the spine to maintain stability of the spine.
In general, the spinal cage used in the spinal fusion has a hollow formed therein, so that a bone chip is inserted therein, and as the bone chip is regenerated, bone fusion is made between upper and lower vertebral bodies.
Various types of spinal cages have been developed according to treatment approaches, and development of shapes for restoring biomechanical stability of the spine while being implantable in the human body has also been made in various ways.
The spinal cage has a structure of a solid body formed of a metal material such as titanium or a titanium alloy having mechanical properties suitable for supporting a human load because a certain interval should be maintained between the vertebral bodies.
However, the conventional spinal cage has a problem in that facing surfaces of a vertebral body and a neighboring vertebral body subside by upper and lower surfaces of the spinal cage, after the spinal fusion procedure is completed.
In addition, the conventional spinal cage cannot prevent the subsidence phenomenon occurring in the process of bone fusion and may not implement a buffering effect at all against the pressure and shock according to a user's weight or posture change.
The contents described as the related art have been provided only to assist in understanding the background of the present disclosure and should not be considered as corresponding to the related art known to those having ordinary skill in the art.


In one embodiment, a method includes constructing at a source node, a session description pointer to a session description for a media session, inserting the session description pointer in a packet in a media stream of the media session, and transmitting the packet to a receiver node. The session description pointer is configured for use in obtaining the session description by an intermediate node located between the source node and the receiver node. An apparatus is also disclosed.

Transport protocols such as Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP) are used to stream audio, video, text, and other real-time data in a wide range of applications including, for example, entertainment, conferencing, VoIP (Voice over IP (Internet Protocol)), and media processing. RTP media streams are not self-describing. In order to understand their structure and content, separate metadata structures are needed. A number of protocols may be used to communicate session details to endpoints of the media session. However, these protocols operate out-of-band and in the control plane. This makes it difficult for an intermediate node in the network to monitor the media stream.
Corresponding reference characters indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views of the drawings.

Method and apparatus for providing session description for a media session


Disclosed herein is a method of producing a stimulus for electrophysiological assessment of a visual field. The method comprises the steps of: generating a pseudorandom sequence of elements selected from at least two different element types, wherein elements of the sequence are assigned equal time intervals; and displaying the pseudorandom sequence. Each element of a first element type is associated with a baseline value, the baseline value being constant throughout a respective assigned time interval. Each time interval assigned to an element of a second element type is divided into a plurality of portions, each successive portion being associated with a display value of the element, wherein display values associated with, adjacent portions differ from one another, and further wherein display values associated with at least two of the portions are different from the baseline value.

The objective assessment of the visual field using multi-focal stimulation has been described recently in a number of publications, including: "The topography of visual evoked response properties across the visual field", Baseler H A et al., Electroencephal. Clin. Neurophysiol. 1994; 90: 65-81; "Multifocal topographic visual evoked potential: improving objective detection of local visual field defects", Klistorner A I et al., Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 1998; 39: 937-950; "Objective VEP perimetry in glaucoma—Asymmetry analysis to identify early deficits", Graham S L et al., J Glaucoma 2000; 9; 10-19; "Objective perimetry in glaucoma", Klistorner A and Graham S L, Ophthalmology 2000; 107: 2283-2299; "Multifocal VEP and ganglion cell damage: applications and limitations for the study of glaucoma", Hood D C et al., Progress in Retinal & Eye Research 2001; 22: 201-251; "A Multifocal objective perimetry in the detection of glaucomatous field loss", Goldberg I. et al., American Journal of Ophtalmology 2002; 133: 29-39; "Clinical application of the multifocal VEP in glaucoma practice", Graham, S L et al., Arch Ophthalmol 2005; 123, 729-793.
Using different types of multifocal stimulus presentation, it is possible to perform simultaneous stimulation of a large number of locations of the visual field. Such multifocal stimulus presentations are described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,846,567 (Sutter), and International (PCI) Application No. PCT/AU00/01483 (Malov, I.). It is possible to record visually evoked cortical potentials (VEP) and electroretinograms (ERG) from all areas of the visual field. For the VEP, various electrode placements have been used.
One representation of the visual field is reported with multichannel bipolar recordings, as described in "Objective perimetry in glaucoma", Klistorner A. et al., Ophthalmology 2000; 107: 2283-2299, and International (PCT) Application No. PCT/AU99/00340 (Klistorner A et al.) and corresponding U.S. Pat. No. 6,477,407. Good correlation has been described between the multifocal VEP and visual held loss in glaucoma, and with the delay of multifocal VEP latency in optic neuritis in "Multifocal Visual Evoked Potential analysis of inflammatory or demyelinating optic neuritis", Fraser, C et al., Ophthalmology 2006, 113, 315-323.
The stimulus has traditionally been presented on a cathode ray tube (CRT) screen with high luminance and contrast characteristics to a subject undergoing examination. The use of virtual reality goggles has also been described in International (PCT) Application No. PCT/AU01/00423 (Graham S L et al.). However, not all current screens are suitable for standard rapid pseudorandom sequence presentation, due to slow response times and/or decay rates of those screens. In particular, Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) screens and LCD-based goggles exhibit relatively slow decay rates and are consequently less than optimal for displaying stimuli to patients.
Different modes of stimulation have been described. One of the more commonly used modes of stimulation is rapid reversal driven by m-sequences, as described, for example, in "The topography of visual evoked response properties across the visual field", Baseler H A et al., Electroencephal. Clin. Neuophysiol. 1994; 90: 65-81, "Multifocal topographic visual evoked potential: improving objective detection of local visual field defects", Klistorner A I et al., Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 1998; 39: 937-950; "Objective VEP perimetry in glaucoma—Asymmetry analysis to identify early deficits", Graham S L et al., J Glaucoma 2000; 9: 10-19, "Objective perimetry in glaucoma", Klistorner A et al., Ophthalmology 2000; 107: 2283-2299, "Multifocal VEP and ganglion cell damage: applications and limitations for the study of glaucoma", Hood D C et al., Progress in Retinal & Eye Research 2001; 22: 201-251. Alternative modes include use of families of sequences as described by Malov (International (PCT) Application No, PCT/AU00/01483) and used clinically in several studies, such as, for example, "Multifocal objective perimetry in the detection of glaucomatous field loss", Goldberg I et al, American Journal of Ophthalmology 2002; 133: 29-39, "Clinical application of the multifocal VEP in glaucoma practice", Graham, S L et al., Arch Ophthalmol 2005, 123, 729-793. Other modes of stimulation, such as very slow stimulation rates with pattern pulse stimuli, have also been described, such as, for example, in "Localization of visually evoked cortical activity in humans", Srebro, R., J Physiol 1985, 360: 233-246, and "The topography of scalp potentials evoked by pattern pulse stimuli", Srebro, R., Vision Research, 1987, 27: 901-914. This was recently revisited as a technique in "The Pattern-Pulse Multifocal Visual Evoked Potential", James, A. C., Investigative Opthalmology & Visual Sciences, February 2003, Vol. 44, No. 2.
The derivation of the VEP signal requires multiple repetitions to achieve a good signal to noise ratio (SNR), which in turn determines the total time required to complete a test. The reproducibility of the signal between tests is limited by the SNR of an individual and by differences between test systems.
Thus, a need exists to provide a stimulus protocol that improves VEP signal responses and thus improves SNR with a shortened test time. Further, a need exists to provide a stimulus protocol that is influenced minimally by differences in screen characteristics, such as slow decay rate.

Stimulus method for multifocal visual evoked potential


Botanical Combination therapies for treating AIDS and immune-deficient patients include therapeutically effective doses of five medicinal plants of Thailand. First combination, ayurvedic composition 1, consists of ground and spray-dried plant extracts Houttuynia cordata, Combretum quadrangulare, Mimusops elengi, Randia siamensis, and Borassus flabellifer in the varied amount. Drug mixture is administered one capsule twice daily. Second combination therapy consists of ayurvedic composition 1 (one capsule twice daily) plus one capsule of ayurvedic composition 2 twice daily. Ayurvedic composition 2 is powder of Houttuynia cordata extract in varied amounts. Ayurvedic composition 3 consists of dried extracts of five plant materials in fixed amounts. Ayurvedic composition 4 is dried extract of Houttuynia cordata 100 mg. A process for preparing includes washing, drying and grinding the plant materials into powder, extracting by boiling, filtering, drying the extract, mixing dried extracts in varied or defined amount and preparing pharmaceutical dosage forms of plant extract mixture.

This invention pertains to herbal extracts, formulations and method for preparing the botanical combinations which can be used for treating AIDS and immune-deficient patients to maintain Kamofsky performance status greater than or equal to 90.
The currently accepted theory of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) involves the loss of the helper cells of the immune system due to infection with the Human Immunedeficiency Virus (HIV). In the advanced stages of the disease, the immune system is rendered helpless in resisting even the normal bacterial flora encountered every day. Eventually, the patient is overcome by bacterial, fungal and viral infections and dies as a result of these opportunistic infections.
Considerable research, therefore, has been aimed at developing synthetic drugs that inhibit one or more stages of the viral life cycle of HIV. Limited success has been achieved by inhibiting the virus-coded reverse transcriptase and protease enzymes. However, a cure for AIDS has not yet been found, and therapy using the nucleoside analogs, although is used currently, has been limited due to many toxic side effects.
While many of the presently synthetic drugs inhibit one or more stages of the viral life cycle of viruses, only a few agents have had any practical value as stated in many pharmacopoeia and textbooks that the specific therapy for viral infections are generally unsatisfactory and thus treatment is primarily symptomatic. Moreover, many of these synthetic drugs show serious systemic adverse effects on various tissues to deteriorate the health even of a normal person. This is also the main reason why a large number of patients currently turn to traditional drugs where the partially purified drug contains mixture of ingredients helps not only suppressing certain pathogenic agents but also promote the well-being of a person that the appetite and body weight are in well-balance. This advantages of traditional drugs are presently realized world-wide and have now been proofed and used clinically especially in Europe, China and many other countries even the real mechanism of action can not yet be delineated.
Thus, there has been a revival in the use of traditional medicine to treat modern disease worldwide. The major source of traditional medicine is in developing countries in which large portions of the populations still rely heavily on indigenous traditional practitioners and local medicinal plants for satisfying their primary health care needs which is, in general, quite self-sufficient. Remedies making use of crude plant materials or their extracts have been handed down through many generations and kept largely secret by traditional practitioners. Continuing efforts to document these formulations are necessary to preserve this information which presently revealed invaluable. Attempts have also been made to improve the formula to give the best therapeutic results.
Herbal remedies have three main advantages over modern synthetic drugs. The first is that their long term use already establishes a certain degree of safety and efficacy in the use of the plant material for human consumption. The second advantage arises out of the use of crude plant materials, which are less costly to prepare than the isolated or synthetic medicinal compounds. In these crude plant materials with many natural components, several compounds in the plant very often act synergistically to increase the effectiveness of the crude plant preparation compared to isolated compounds. The third advantage of the use of medicinal plants is a reduced incidence of adverse drug reactions common to most therapies utilizing synthetic drugs.
The present invention describes formulation and process of making botanical compositions for maintaining Karnofsky score (KS) of 90-100 in immune-deficient patients and especially in AIDS patients. The formulated composition helps maintaining Kamofsky Score (KS) or Kamofsky Performance Scale ranges 90-100 of AIDS patients (vs 100 as of a normal person) with a mean CD4 count of 420 over a 100-week period with slight increase in body weight, where some patients even gain weight significantly. A follow-up result at 100 weeks after treatment using botanical combinations of the present invention shows that all patients are free of opportunistic infections, without undesirable adverse effects and new AIDS-defining event including no developing AIDS dementia complex or other cerebral events and can live a normal life. This is due to the fact that some of the herbal components possesses anti-infectious activity while some has appetite stimulatory effect. These botanical combinations help maintaining Kamofsky score (KS) of 90-100 in all AIDS patients being on the regimen over a 100-week non-comparative clinical trial period although the CD4 count has been shown to increase in only some patients (11 out of 25). This is in great contrast to those patients using didanosine 375 or 250 mg twice daily (for patients weighing  less than 60 kg, n=279) and zidovudine 12 mg/kg/day (n=275) where 73% of patients in each group had experienced a new AIDS-defining event and 40% of patients in each group had died after 80 weeks of treatment (Perry and Noble, 1999). In addition, the cost of the presently described regimen is considerable inexpensive and affordable by the patients. These are contrary to those AIDS patients on very expensive modem regimens whose serious toxic side effects especially bone marrow suppression, abdominal pain, pancreatitis and peripheral neuropathy or lactic acidosis with hepatic steatosis are often the main cause of patient mortality (30-50% ) within a year after starting the therapy despite the fact that reduction in HIV viral load and plasma HIV RNA level have been reported.
Botanical Combination therapies for maintaining Kamofsky score (KS) of 90-100 in AIDS and immune-deficient patients include therapeutic doses of five medicinal plants of Thailand. The first combination drug, ayurvedic composition 1, consists of spray-dried aqueous or aqueous organic solvent extracts of the plant materials Houttuynia cordata, Combretum quadrangulare, Mimusops elengi, Randia siamensis, and Borassus flabellifer in varied amounts 10-300 mg, 10-100 mg, 10-100 mg, 10-100 mg, and 60-600 mg, respectively. The drug mixture is administered in the form of one capsule (100-1,200 mg) twice daily. The second combination therapy consists of ayurvedic composition 1 (one capsule twice daily) plus one 10-500 mg capsule of ayurvedic composition 2 twice daily, where ayurvedic composition 2 is lyophilized or spray-dried powder of aqueous or aqueous organic solvent extract of plant Houttuynia cordata 10-500 mg. Ayurvedic composition 3 consists of dried aqueous or aqueous organic solvent extracts of the plant materials Houttuynia cordata, Combretum quadrangulare, Mimusops elengi, Randia siamensis, and Borassus flabellifer in fixed amounts 32 mg, 20 mg, 20 mg, 20 mg, and 400 mg, respectively. Ayurvedic composition 4 is lyophilized or spray-dried powder of aqueous or aqueous organic solvent extract of plant material Houttuynia cordata in fixed amount, 100 mg. A process for preparing the botanical combinations includes washing, drying and grinding plant materials into powder, extracting the powder by boiling in water, filtering, spray-drying the extract and mixing the dried extracts in defined amount. The process also includes preparing the pharmaceutical dosage forms of the plant extract mixture as hard gelatin capsule which is stored in air-tight containers protected from light and as syrup or tablet or the like.
The therapy presented here for maintaining Kamofsky score (KS) of 90-100 in AIDS and immune-deficient patients makes use of the combinations of botanical drugs. As Kamofsky Score (KS) or Kamofsky Performance Scale is currently accepted to be used in assessment protocols for evaluating an effect of herbal remedy in clinical management of the HIV/AIDS patient as primary end point representing the Degree of Quality of Life (http://www.hivdent.org), the term xe2x80x98good healthxe2x80x99 of the patients referred to in the present description means that such person has been evaluated to have Karnofsky performance status greater than or equal to 90 as he is normal and no complaints, with no evidence of disease or is able to carry on normal activity with minor signs and symptoms of disease. The first is a combination of medicinal plant extracts in measured proportions, ayurvedic composition 1, and the second is a single medicinal plant, ayurvedic composition 2. Ayurvedic composition 1 can be given with or without ayurvedic composition 2, depending on the patient condition. This combination therapy acts by inhibiting opportunistic infections with concurrent stinulation of the immune system. By increasing the body""s ability to fight against various infectious microorganisms, the symptoms associated with AIDS are suppressed or eliminated.
This invention consists of a botanical combination of plant materials, ayurvedic composition 1, in capsule form, as well as a single botanical drug, ayurvedic composition 2, to be used for the purpose of maintaining Karnofsky score (KS) of 90-100 reflecting good health in AIDS and immune-deficient patients, and the process for preparing the same.
This invention, including the aqueous or aqueous organic solvent extracts of Houttuynia cordata, Combretum quadrangulare, Mimusops elengi, Randia siamensis, and Borassus flabellifer, is used for treating to maintain Karnofsky score (KS) of 90-100 in AIDS and immune-deficient patients.
All five plants are grown and harvested all year round where from the three plants, Combretum quadrangulare, Mimusops elengi, and Randia siamensis, stems and branches are used; while the whole plant of Houttuynia cordata and inflorescences of Borassus flabellifer are used. The parts of plant to be used are dried at 60 degree Celsius until constant dry weight is obtained. Each dry ingredient is ground and put through a sieve to obtain powder of uniform particle size. Water is added to cover the powder using approximately 70 liters for 10 Kg dry weight of powder and the mixture is heated until boils for five minutes and simmered at 80 degree Celsius for the next 8 hr. The filtrate is collected and the residual powder is further boiled in 50 liters water and simmered in similar manner twice. All three filtrates are pooled and spray-dried, freeze-dried or concentrating-dried to obtain dried powder extract of each ingredient referred to as dried plant extract. Alternatively, aqueous organic solvent such as ethyl alcohol may also be used instead of water. A similar extraction process is used to extract each plant ingredient to give all the dried plant extracts used in the present invention. The constituents in the dried plant extract of each plant are identified and quantitatively analysed using conventional High Performance Liquid Chromatography. The same method is used to quantify the amount of each plant constituent to be mixed in the pharmaceutical preparations. Furthermore, since the weather does not vary much during the year in the country of plant origin, i.e.xe2x80x94Thailand, where these plants are grown and harvested, there is thus not much difference between the crops harvested at different time of the year regarding the quality and the quantity of the constituents of each plant.
The formulations consist of the following proportions of each plant material:
(i) ayurvedic composition 1 consisting of the dried plant extracts of:
and
(ii) ayurvedic composition 2 consisting of the lyophilized or spray-dried powder of aqueous or aqueous organic solvent extract of plant material in the amount:
Houttuynia cordata 10-500 mg
This invention further relates to the process for preparing the said botanical mixture for maintaining Karnofsky score (KS) of 90-100 in AIDS and immune-deficient patients. The process consists of washing the plant materials Houttuynia cordata, Combretum quadrangulare, Mimusops elengi, Randia siamensis and Borassus flabellifer with water to remove external contaminants, followed by drying and grinding into powder form each of the said botanicals. The powdered materials are then extracted with water or aqueous organic solvent, spray-dried, freeze-dried or concentrating-dried, and then mixed in the following proportions:
(i) ayurvedic composition 1 consisting of dried plant extracts in the amounts:
(ii) ayurvedic composition 2 consisting of the lyophilized or spray-dried powder of aqueous or aqueous organic solvent extract of plant material in the amount:
Houttuynia cordata 10-500 mg
and prepared as pharmaceutical dosage forms.
The total amount of each pharmaceutical dosage form is 100-1,200 mg of the extracts of the said botanical mixture, ayurvedic composition 1, and 10-500 mg of the single botanical drug, ayurvedic composition 2. Both drugs are in the form of hard gelatin capsules. The capsules are stored protected from light in plastic or glass containers with silica gel bags as desiccant, and the openings of the containers are sealed with aluminum foil.
Dosage
One capsule of ayurvedic composition 1 contains the dried extracts of the aforesaid botanicals with a total weight of 100-1,200 mg, and the dosage is one capsule twice daily. One capsule of ayurvedic composition 2 contains 10-500 mg of washed, lyophilized or spray-dried powder of aqueous or aqueous organic solvent extract of plant material Houttuynia cordata, and the dosage is one capsule twice daily. Both dosages may vary according to each individual patient and the advice of a physician.
The presence of HIV in patients"" blood is confirmed by the Elisa and Western Blot assays. Full blown AIDS patients are further identified by the common symptoms of AIDS including the presence of opportunistic infections. The CD4 (helper cells), total lymphocytes, and weight of the patients are monitored during therapy; in addition to performing liver function tests (LFT) and general blood chemistry tests.
One capsule of ayurvedic composition 1 is administered twice daily to confirmed cases of full blown AIDS or HIV positive patients. Ayurvedic composition 2, in the dosage of one capsule twice daily is also given to patients with evidence of TB or opportunistic fungal, viral or bacterial infections. A successful therapy will result in the disappearance of symptoms within three weeks (i.e. disappearance of opportunistic infections), as well as stabilization of body weight. Treatment is then continued to maintain body weight and prevent the return of the symptoms of AIDS. Patients are also given a regimen of multivitamins to ensure proper nutrition.
The dosage may vary according to the advice of a physician. Patients are prohibited from taking any drugs which suppress the immune system; immunesuppressive drugs are contraindicated.

Botanical combinations for treating AIDS and immune-deficient patients to maintain good health and the process for preparing the same

The Government Pharmaceutical Organization Research and Development Institute


A storage unit stores ranking information including an index value relating to past rainfall and a corresponding date-time and damage information including details of damage that occurred due to past rainfall and a corresponding date-time. A real-time data reception unit acquires a spot value and a forecast value of current precipitation. Also, a comparison operation unit computes an index value relating to current rainfall using the acquired spot value and forecast value. The comparison operation unit specifies, with reference to the ranking information, the date-time of an index value relating to past rainfall whose similarity to the computed index value relating to current rainfall is not less than a threshold value. An information output unit presents, with reference to the damage information, details of damage that occurred in a period whose difference from the specified date-time of the index value relating to past rainfall is in a predetermined range.

Conventionally, in the case where a heavy rainfall disaster is expected, the meteorological agency issues values such as analyzed precipitation and short-term precipitation forecasts, emergency warnings, warnings and advisories, record short-time heavy rainfall information, and disaster prevention information (see NPLs 1-3). Disaster prevention information is, for example, information displaying hazard distribution on a map, with hazardous areas categorized by the degree of hazard.
Organizations that conduct crisis management and disaster response in local government bodies, infrastructure firms and the like manually predict how their organization will be affected and examine ways of responding, with reference to such information. For the people belonging to such organizations, it is important to have a correct awareness of the situation under tense conditions, and to predict damage that could subsequently occur, based on the experience and knowledge of damage that has occurred in the past and the like.

Information presenting method, information presenting device, and information presenting program

NIPPON TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE CORPORATION


A display system comprising a user terminal apparatus configured to transmit a swimming image to a display apparatus, the display apparatus configured to reproduce the swimming image received from the user terminal apparatus, and a sensing apparatus configured to sense, while the user is swimming, user location information in real time, and transmit the sensed user location information to the user terminal apparatus or the display apparatus. The user terminal apparatus or the display apparatus displays swimming information of the user based on the received user location information.

1. Field
Apparatuses and methods consistent with exemplary embodiments relate to a swimming system, and more particularly, to a swimming system using a display apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Video walls are technology for representing one image simultaneously using a plurality of display apparatuses for the purpose of advertisement, entertainment, sports, broadcastings, or the like.
For example, the video walls may be used to represent one entire image by simultaneously displaying the same image or displaying different images, through the display apparatuses constituting the video wall, in exhibitions.
The video wall technology may be applied to various fields. In particular, there is a need for a method for applying advanced video wall technology to the sport or game fields.

Swimming race system, swimming race method, method of managing water quality, and display apparatus


Porous ceramic catalyst supports or filters to be provided with catalyst coatings via oxide washcoating processes are pre-coated with cross-linked polymer barrier layers to prevent washcoat nanoparticle intrusion into the microcracked and/or microporous surfaces of the ceramics, the barrier coatings being formed by thermally cross-linking hydrocarbon polymers that are vaporizable at moderate washcoat stabilization or catalyst activation temperatures and that preferentially block the micropore/microchannel pore volume of the article.

The present invention relates to processes for applying catalyst or catalyst support coatings onto ceramic supports. More particularly, the invention relates to methods for coating ceramic substrates with catalyst coatings wherein a pre-coating or passivation step is used to improve the properties of the catalyzed substrates, by reducing catalyst and/or support coating diffusion into the fine pores, microchannels (necks interconnecting individual pores), and microcrack structure of the substrates.
To address tightening diesel engine emissions regulations being adopted in the United States and Europe, recent attention has focused on basic improvements in the design and performance of ceramic wall-flow honeycomb filters for treating diesel exhaust gases. Among other improvements, design changes allowing for the use of catalyst coatings to control hydrocarbon and/or nitrogen oxide emissions are being implemented. The goal is to develop an improved high-temperature-resistant, high-thermal-shock-resistant, low cost honeycomb soot filter compatible with advanced emissions control catalyst technologies that can replace current high-cost and/or uncatalyzed particulate filters.
Among the filter designs being developed for this application are refractory ceramic oxide filters offering improved resistance to high exhaust temperatures encountered during decarbonizing filter regeneration cycles, as well as to the thermal shock conditions arising during rapid filter heat-up and cool-down in the course of startup and regeneration. Examples of advanced cordierite and aluminum titanate compositions and honeycomb filter designs being developed for these applications are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,541,407 and in co-pending, commonly assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 60/400,248 filed Jul. 31, 2002, U.S. Ser. No. 10/209,684 filed Jul. 31, 2002, and U.S. Ser. No. 10/098,711 filed Mar. 14, 2002. Among other materials that are candidates for refractory, catalyst-compatible ceramic particulate filters are the refractory alkali zirconium phosphates as well as low-expansion alkali aluminosilicates such as beta-eucryptite and pollucite. Many of these same compositions, and other microcracked ceramic materials such as the calcium aluminates, are being considered for use as flow-through catalyst supports for the control of nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions from automotive and diesel engines
These ceramic materials meet or exceed most specifications for high melting point, high thermal capacity, and low thermal expansion required for diesel exhaust filter applications. However, one difficulty encountered with porous ceramics intended to function as particulate filters is the tendency to decrease in gas permeability and increase in thermal expansion as catalysts and catalyst support washcoatings are applied to the filter walls. For good thermal shock resistance, the increases in CTE resulting from the application of washcoats and catalysts should not exceed 10×10−7/° C. averaged over the range from 25-1000° C., and CTE values for the washcoated filters should not exceed 20×10−7/° C. over that temperature range. Further, gas permeabilities through the catalyzed filter should be sufficient to maintain pressure drops below 8 kPa at exhaust gas space velocities up to 150,000 hr−1 after filter regeneration to remove trapped particulates.
Present understanding is that, during the washcoating or catalyzing process, both wall porosity of the filter and the structural micro-cracks (crack widths of 0.1-3 microns) that are present in most of these ceramic materials are frequently filled with the washcoating material. The problem is most severe in the case of highly microcracked ceramics such as the aluminum titanates, particularly when the washcoating formulations contain materials of very fine particle size (e.g., particle diameters in the 0.02-0.1 μm range).
Microcracking is a significant contributor to the low CTEs exhibited by many of these materials, with crack closure during heating considerably moderating the dimensional increases that would otherwise occur. Thus the filling of these microcracks with washcoating constituents can result in some cases in much higher expansion coefficients, e.g., in the range of 40-50×10−7/° C., in the washcoated structures. At these CTE levels the risk of structural damage to the filters under the normal conditions of exhaust filter use is unacceptable.
One approach to the problem of washcoat microcrack filling that has been employed during the catalyzation of conventional flow-through catalyst substrates for gasoline engine emissions control has been the use of so-called passivating coatings. These are pre-coatings applied to the walls of the ceramic substrates prior to washcoating that can block the washcoating materials from intruding into the microcrack structure of the ceramic. U.S. Pat. No. 4,532,228 provides some examples of coating materials that can be carbonized or otherwise solidified to provide a washcoat barrier.
Recent advances in materials and processes for the pre-washcoat passivation of microcracked ceramic wall flow filters and flow-through catalyst supports include those described in co-pending, commonly assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/641,638 of S. Ogunwumi et al., filed Aug. 14, 2003, expressly incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. That application discloses pre-coating such ceramics with polymer barrier or passivation layers to prevent washcoat nanoparticle intrusion into the microcracked and/or microporous surfaces of the ceramics. The barrier coatings employed are formed of hydrocarbon polymers that are soluble or dispersible in polar media, capable of forming neutral or hydrophilic surfaces on porous ceramic supports, and completely vaporizable at moderate washcoat stabilization or catalyst activation temperatures.
The polymer barrier coatings disclosed in that application moderate CTE increases and limit the reductions in exhaust gas permeability necessarily arising from the application of washcoating layers to microporous ceramic filters, although in some cases surface interactions between the hydrophobic polymer coatings and the hydrophilic washcoat are observed. Thus while backpressure increases from washcoat layering and pore blockage are difficult to avoid entirely, the described coatings offer improvements in thermal expansion and gas permeability characteristics that enable a wide variety of ceramic filter materials to meet existing commercial requirements.
Nevertheless, although progress in development of catalytic filters has been substantial, thermal expansion and pressure drop and/or porosity remain key performance characteristics, not only of catalytic filters but also of conventional flow-through ceramic catalyst supports as well. Thus improved materials and methods for simultaneously preserving the low thermal expansion coefficients and high gas permeabilities of advanced ceramic support or filter materials, even at high catalyst washcoat loadings, remain important objectives of current development programs.

Porous ceramic filters with catalyst coatings


Compounds of the formula I:

The actions of 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) as a major modulatory neurotransmitter in the brain are mediated through a number of receptor families termed 5-HT1, 5-HT2, 5-HT3, 5-HT4, 5-HT5, 5-HT6, and 5-HT7. Based on a high level of 5-HT6 receptor mRNA in the brain, it has been stated that the 5-HT6 receptor may play a role in the pathology and treatment of central nerve system disorders. In particular, 5-HT2-selective and 5-HT6 selective ligands have been identified as potentially useful in the treatment of certain CNS disorders such as Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease, anxiety, depression, manic depression, psychoses, epilepsy, obsessive compulsive disorders, mood disorders, migraine, Alzheimer's disease (enhancement of cognitive memory), sleep disorders, feeding disorders such as anorexia, bulimia and obesity, panic attacks, akathisia, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), attention deficit disorder (ADD), withdrawal from drug abuse such as cocaine, ethanol, nicotine and benzodiazepines, schizophrenia, and also disorders associated with spinal trauma and/or head injury such as hydrocephalus. Such compounds are also expected to be of use in the treatment of certain gastrointestinal (GI) disorders such as functional bowel disorder. See for example, B. L. Roth et al., J. Pharmacol. Exp. Ther., 1994, 268, pages 1403-14120, D. R. Sibley et al., Mol. Pharmacol., 1993, 43, 320-327, A. J. Sleight et al., Neurotransmission, 1995, 11, 1-5, and A. J. Sleight et al., Serotonin ED Research Alert, 1997, 2(3), 115-8.
While some 5-HT6 and 5-HT2A modulators have been disclosed, there continues to be a need for compounds that are useful for modulating the 5-HT6 receptor, the 5-HT2A receptor, or both.

Benzoxazine and quinoxaline derivatives and uses thereof

Abstract: Compounds of the formula I:

Abstract: or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt, solvate or prodrug thereof, wherein k, m, n, p, q, X, Y, Z, Ar, R1, R2, R3 and R4 are as defined herein. Also provided are methods for preparing, compositions comprising, and methods for using compounds of formula I.


A photoconductor containing a substrate, a layer thereover wherein the layer comprises, for example, a polyol resin, an aminoplast resin, an ester of phosphoric acid adhesion component, and a metal oxide; and at least one imaging layer of, for example, a photogenerating layer and a charge transport layer formed on the polyol resin containing layer.

There are disclosed herein photoconductors, and more specifically, photoconductors containing a hole blocking layer or undercoat layer (UCL) comprised, for example, of metal oxide particles and at least one adhesion component that permits the excellent adhesion between, for example, the hole blocking layer and the substrate; and the layers thereover, such as the photogenerating layer and the charge transport layer or layers. More specifically, there are disclosed herein hole blocking layers comprised of a number of the components as illustrated in the copending applications referred to herein, especially copending application U.S. application Ser. No. 11/403,981, such as a metal oxide like a titanium dioxide, a polymeric resin or polymeric resins; and an adhesion promoter, examples of which are a polymeric phosphate ester, an ester of phosphoric acid, or optionally mixtures thereof. Charge blocking layer and blocking layer are generally used interchangeably with the phrase "undercoat layer".
Also included within the scope of the present disclosure are methods of imaging and printing with the photoresponsive or the photoconductive devices illustrated herein. These methods generally involve the formation of an electrostatic latent image on the imaging member, followed by developing the image with a toner composition comprised, for example, of a thermoplastic resin, colorant, such as pigment, charge additive, and surface additives, reference U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,560,635; 4,298,697 and 4,338,390, the disclosures of which are totally incorporated herein by reference, subsequently transferring the image to a suitable substrate, and permanently affixing the image thereto. In those environments wherein the device is to be used in a printing mode, the imaging method involves the same operation with the exception that exposure can be accomplished with a laser device or image bar. More specifically, the imaging members, photoconductor drums, and flexible belts disclosed herein can be selected for the Xerox Corporation iGEN3® machines that generate with some versions over 100 copies per minute. Processes of imaging, especially xerographic imaging and printing, including digital, and/or high speed color printing, are thus encompassed by the present disclosure.
The imaging members disclosed herein are in embodiments sensitive in the wavelength region of, for example, from about 400 to about 900 nanometers, and in particular from about 650 to about 850 nanometers, thus diode lasers can be selected as the light source.

Phosphoric acid ester containing photoconductors


A sheet feeder includes a first sheet-feeding cassette capable of accommodating a stack of recording medium and a second sheet-feeding cassette capable of accommodating a stack of recording medium smaller than the recording medium accommodated in the first sheet-feeding cassette. The second sheet-feeding cassette is disposed on the first sheet-feeding cassette so as to be movable with respect to the first sheet-feeding cassette. The second sheet-feeding cassette includes a first accommodating section and a second accommodating section. The second accommodating section is displaceable relative to the first accommodating section between a closed position and an open position. The second accommodating section exposes an accommodating section of the first sheet-feeding cassette wider in the open position than in the closed position.

Conventional image-forming devices, such as various printers and facsimile machines, generally include a sheet-feeding cassette accommodating a stack of sheets of paper or other recording medium, and the paper is fed to a recording unit one sheet at a time to be formed with images thereon. In order to form images on different types of sheets, a plurality of sheet-feeding cassettes for respective types of sheets may be attached to a main body of the image-forming device.
For example, in Japanese Patent-Application Publication No. HEI-11-599925, a flat plate-shaped second sheet-feeding cassette can be detachably disposed on a substantially box-shaped first sheet-feeding cassette so as to accommodate smaller sheets than those in the first sheet-feeding cassette therein. In this configuration, larger sheets can be accommodated in the first sheet-feeding cassette, and smaller sheets can be accommodated in the second sheet-feeding cassette. Only the first sheet-feeding cassette is attached to a main body of the image-forming device when the sheets in the first sheet-feeding cassette are to be used, and the first sheet-feeding cassette is attached to the main body of the image-forming device while the second sheet-feeding cassette is mounted on a sheet mounting surface of the first sheet-feeding cassette when the sheets in the second sheet-feeding cassette are to be used.
However, in this configuration, since the second sheet-feeding cassette is mounted on the sheet mounting surface of the first sheet-feeding cassette, the second sheet-feeding cassette must be detached each time the first sheet-feeding cassette is used after the second sheet-feeding cassette was used, and the second sheet-feeding cassette must be mounted each time the second sheet-feeding cassette is used after the first sheet-feeding cassette was used. In other words, the sheets in the first sheet-feeding cassette cannot be fed in the state where the second sheet-feeding cassette is mounted on the first sheet-feeding cassette. For example, a user may wish to perform trial print for confirming the position of an image and the state of color by forming the image on ordinary paper stored in the first sheet-feeding cassette prior to formally forming the image on a postcard accommodated in the second sheet-feeding cassette. In this case, the user needs to detach the second sheet-feeding cassette from the first sheet-feeding cassette for the trial print. Thus, although the two sheet-feeding cassettes can be attached to the main body of the image-forming device, the sheet (sheet-feeding cassette) to be used needs to be replaced each time. The procedure to form images therefore becomes complicated.
Also, it is necessary to detach the second sheet-feeding cassette and to place the same at a separate position if only the first sheet-feeding cassette is used for a long time. Thus, a storage place is needed for the second sheet-feeding cassette, and there is a danger that the detached second sheet-feeding cassette is lost. Furthermore, since the second sheet-feeding cassette is detachably mounted on the first sheet-feeding cassette, an operation of correctly positioning the second sheet-feeding cassette on the first sheet-feeding cassette is complicated.
A first sheet-feeding cassette and a second sheet-feeding cassette disclosed in Japanese Patent-Application Publication No. HEI-11-314773 are stacked one on the other with a partition wall interposed therebetween, and are attached to a main body of an image-forming device. The first and second sheet-feeding cassettes are both shaped like a box and have the same configuration. Only sheets in an upper one of the first and second sheet-feeding cassettes contact a sheet feeding roller. In this configuration, the first and second sheet-feeding cassettes are attached to the main body such that the first sheet-feeding cassette is disposed on top of the second sheet-feeding cassette when sheets in the first sheet-feeding cassette are used, and the second sheet-feeding cassette is disposed on top of the first sheet-feeding cassette when sheets in the second feeding cassette are used. These stacked sheet-feeding cassettes are coupled to each other with a hinge having a center shaft on one side of a stack surface. By pivoting the first or second sheet-feeding cassette about the hinge to open to the outside, sheets can be supplied to the sheet supply cassette.
With this configuration, since the first and second sheet-feeding cassettes are coupled to each other with the hinge, it is unnecessary to position the two sheet-feeding cassettes with respect to each other, and there is no danger that the sheet-feeding cassettes are lost. However, in this configuration, in order to change the sheets to be used, a user needs to first detach the two sheet-feeding cassettes stacked one on the other from the main body of the image-forming device, turn the sheet-feeding cassettes upside down to interchange the vertical positions of the sheet-feeding cassettes, and then reattach the same to the main body. That is, as in Japanese Patent-Application Publication No. HEI-11-599925 described above, the sheet-feeding cassettes need to be detached each time the sheets to be used are changed, complicating operations for forming images.

Sheet feeder including a plurality of paper cassettes


A variable gain amplifier (VGA) with a gain thereof exponential to a control voltage thereof. The variable gain amplifier (VGA) comprises an exponential DC converter, and a linear voltage multiplier. The exponential DC converter receives the control voltage and generates an exponential voltage which is exponential to the control voltage. The linear voltage multiplier is coupled to the exponential DC converter and has a gain proportional to the exponential voltage of the exponential DC converter.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a variable gain amplifier and, in particular, to a linear-in-dB variable gain amplifier.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 1 is a characteristic diagram of a linear-in-dB variable gain amplifier (VGA). In FIG. 1, a vertical axis represents a gain of the linear-in-dB VGA in dB, and a horizontal axis represents a control voltage of the linear-in-dB VGA in Volt. The gain of the linear-in-dB VGA can be expressed as Gain=ƒ(Vctrl)=A0·exp(K·Vctrl). Typical applications of the linear-in-dB VGA are automatic gain control (AGC) and power control in wireless transceivers, automatic gain control (AGC) in hard disk read channel ICs, and analog adaptive filter/equalizer used in high speed cable/optical receivers, partial-response most-likelihood (PRML) read channel ICs and pulse based ultra wide band (UWB) receivers.
Since the current to voltage relationship of a bipolar device is exponential, it is not difficult to design a linear-in-dB VGA using a bipolar process. However, current of an MOS device is a square function of a bias voltage thereof. As a result, it is difficult to design a linear-in-dB VGA using a CMOS process.


A tilting loader is provided including a pair of arms connected to a vehicle and adapted to raise and lower. Also included is a bucket including a rear portion having a rear face pivotally coupled to the arms. A tilt mechanism is included for rotating the bucket about a horizontally oriented central longitudinal axis in a counterclockwise direction. The tilt mechanism further rotates the bucket about a horizontally oriented central longitudinal axis in a clockwise direction.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to front end loaders and more particularly pertains to a new tilting front end loader for working soil with various slopes and pitches while a tractor is on level ground.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of front end loaders is known in the prior art. More specifically, front end loaders heretofore devised and utilized are known to consist basically of familiar, expected and obvious structural configurations, notwithstanding the myriad of designs encompassed by the crowded prior art which have been developed for the fulfillment of countless objectives and requirements.
Known prior art front end loaders include U.S. Pat. No. 5,069,296; U.S. Pat. No. 4,083,414; U.S. Pat. No. 4,019,588; U.S. Pat. Des. 294,032; U.S. Pat. No. 5,403,144; and U.S. Pat. No. 3,926,263.
In these respects, the tilting front end loader according to the present invention substantially departs from the conventional concepts and designs of the prior art, and in so doing provides an apparatus primarily developed for the purpose of working soil with various slopes and pitches while a tractor is on level ground.


A system is described for providing unconditioned power using an alternating current (AC) power source in order to power light emitting diodes (LEDs). The system may include a plurality of light emitting diodes (LEDs), a microprocessor to send pulse-width modulated power signals to power the plurality of LEDs, a zener diode to limit a voltage provided to the microprocessor from the AC power source, and a varistor in series with the zener diode to clamp down the voltage from the AC power source to a pre-defined value to resist current in rush to the microprocessor.

Indoor and outdoor lighting may be used for a variety of purposes. For example, decorative lighting may be popular during the holiday season and other times of the year. The decorative lighting may include a string of multiple lights. The decorative lighting may display numerous colors, such as red, blue and green. In addition, the decorative lighting may flash, dim, brighten, and blink according to a predefined setting.
As another example, the lighting may be included as part of a home automation system. For example, the home automation system may allow the indoor lighting to be controlled remotely. The lighting scheme (e.g., brightness, time of day when the lights are turned on and off) may be customized to save electricity and increase the lifetime of the light bulbs.


A chip scale ball grid array for integrated circuit packaging having a nonpolymer layer or support structure positioned between a semiconductor die and a substrate. The nonpolymer support structure acts to increase circuit reliability by reducing thermal stress effects and/or by reducing or eliminating formation of voids in an integrated circuit package. A nonpolymer support structure may be a material, such as copper foil, having sufficient rigidity to allow processing of chip scale package in strip format.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to integrated circuit packaging, and more specifically to ball grid arrays. In particular, this invention relates to a chip scale ball grid array design employing a flex tape having a nonpolymer support structure.
2. Description of the Related Art
The demand for a reduction in size and an increase in sophistication of electronic components has driven the industry to produce smaller and more complex integrated circuits (ICs). These same trends have forced IC packages to have smaller footprints, higher lead counts and better electrical and thermal performance. At the same time, these IC packages are also required to meet accepted reliability standards.
With reduction in device sizes and corresponding increase in circuit complexity, integrated circuit packages are required to have smaller footprints, higher lead counts and higher electrical and thermal performance. At the same time, integrated circuit packages are also required to meet accepted reliability standards.
Ball grid array (BGA) packages were developed to meet the demand for integrated circuit packages having higher lead counts and smaller footprints. A BGA package is typically a square package with terminals, normally in the form of an array of solder balls, protruding from the bottom of the package. These terminals are designed to be mounted onto a plurality of bonding pads located on the surface of a printed circuit board (PCB) or other suitable substrate.
Recently, BGA packages have been fabricated using a tape automated bonding (TAB) process and flexible circuitry (sometimes referred to as TAB tape) which typically consists of copper traces on a thin polyimide substrate. Electrically conductive leads may be laminated on one or both sides of the TAB tape. This BGA design is commonly referred to as a Tape BGA (TBGA). In a TBGA design, the circuitry on the tape has leads which are connected to a semiconductor die through any of the conventional methods such as wire bonding, thermocompression bonding, or flip chips. If the circuitry is present on both sides of the tape, electrically conducting vias may extend through the tape from one layer of circuitry to another.
For some applications such as portable electronic components (cellular phones, disk drives, pagers, etc.), even BGA packages are sometimes too large. Consequently, solder bumps are sometimes deposited directly onto the surface of an IC itself and used for attachment to the PCB (commonly referred to as direct chip attach or flip chip). However, there are a number of problems associated with this approach. First, the deposition of solder balls requires a number of costly process steps. In addition, it is typically necessary to deposit a polymer underfill beneath a die to achieve acceptable reliability with flip chip attach to a PCB. This underfill is required to reduce thermal stress which is caused by the low thermal expansion of a die relative to the typically much higher expansion of a PCB ("thermal mismatch stress"). Deposition of this underfill is a costly process which eliminates the ability to rework the component. Consequently, if any defects are found, a valuable PCB must be thrown out.
To address concerns associated with flip chip processing, another class of BGA packages have been developed. This class of BGA package may be referred to as a chip scale ball grid array or a chip scale package (CSP). Chip scale packages are so called because the total package size is similar or not much larger than the size of the IC itself. In a chip scale package, solder ball terminals are typically disposed underneath a semiconductor die in order to reduce package size. One example of a CSP is a product developed by TESSERA called "MICRO BGA." This product consists of a flexible circuit with a soft compliant elastomer layer (or elastomer pad) between the die and the circuit. This elastomeric member consists of polymer materials such as silicone and is typically about 125 .mu.m to 175 .mu.m (5-7 mils) thick. One purpose of the elastomer is to obtain suitable reliability by minimizing thermal mismatch stress between the die and the PCB without the need for expensive underfill material.
Although current chip scale package designs offer improved board space utilization and ease of surface mount assembly, these products suffer from a number of shortcomings. First, it is often difficult to find a suitable elastomer material which meets industry requirements of low moisture absorption, low outgassing, and the ability to withstand cleaning solvents commonly used in the industry. For example, silicone is known to breakdown with some typically used cleaning solvents, and polymer materials in general tend to absorb and outgas moisture. If moisture absorption is too high, rapid outgassing of this moisture at reflow temperatures will cause voids to form at component interfaces and even bursting of the package. For example, moisture may release from polymer materials in a tape and become trapped within the die attachment adhesive. Voids may then be formed when this trapped moisture expands during board assembly heating operations, typically causing cracking and package failure. Formation of such voids may be particularly acute during reflow attachment to a PCB.
Another significant challenge with chip scale package designs is the process for attaching the elastomer to the flex tape. One method commonly employed is to pick and place elastomer pads onto individual sites while another method involves screen printing a fluid polymer followed by a cure. In either case, it is difficult to meet the tight tolerances required for a CSP application. Yet another concern is package flatness. In a typical CSP design, it is critical that the package flatness (coplanarity) be less than about 25 .mu.m (1 mil) to ensure that all solder balls contact the PCB upon reflow. This level of flatness or coplanarity may be difficult to achieve with soft polymer and elastomer materials commonly used. Finally, if a die is not adequately isolated from other parts of a package, premature failure of solder ball joints may occur due to thermal stress generated between an assembled die and a substrate, such as a circuit board.
It is often desired to handle IC packages in strip format since a great deal of equipment currently exists for handling this configuration. For example, lead frames for quad flat packs have typically been processed in strips of four to eight units. Plastic BGA packages and some TBGA packages have also been produced in strip format for easy handling through the assembly process. Such strips are loaded into magazines which are used to feed assembly equipment for die attach, wire bonding, overmolding/encapsulating, solder ball attach, and other processing steps. Although some assemblers may desire to perform these processes in a reel to reel fashion, many may prefer the conventional strip format. However, conventional CSP designs employing elastomer pads lack sufficient rigidity for conventional strip format processing without some additional source of rigidity. For example, the TESSERA "MICRO BGA" design employs a metal frame adhered to the outer edge of a strip of parts to allow strip format processing. The use of such frames is not convenient and adds to the final cost of a product because it increases the complexity and number of components in a tape processing design, as well as requires additional steps to attach and remove the frames during processing. Therefore, although strip format processing has typically been used for integrated circuit packaging, no convenient strip format chip scale package design current exists.
In other CSP designs, elastomer pads have been directly laminated to circuitry and semiconductor dies without using layers of adhesive in an effort to eliminate void formation in adhesive layers. However, these designs still may suffer from thermal stress problems and do not possess sufficient rigidity for strip format processing.
In still other CSP designs, such as the TEXAS INSTRUMENTS "MICRO STAR BGA," an IC is adhered, directly to the surface of a flex circuit without a polymer or elastomer pad. This structure does not decouple the die from the PCB, consequently, an expensive underfill material is required to achieve the required reliability in the solder joints. In addition, it has been found that moisture from polymer materials employed in this design outgasses during curing of the die attach adhesive, causing voids in the adhesive.
Consequently, a need exists for a low cost and solvent resistant chip scale package which has sufficient coplanarity, and which does not suffer from moisture and thermal stress related problems. A need also exists for a chip scale package which may be easily produced in strip format.

Chip scale ball grid array for integrated circuit packaging

Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company


A method for dynamically displaying results of simultaneous two dimensional image search comprises: maintaining a first database comprising a set of records, each record comprising an image and an associated set of annotations describing the image, receiving an annotation criterion and a color scheme from a user, generating a target color scoring template from the color scheme, conducting a content based search by searching the first database to identify a set of pertinent images satisfying the annotation criterion, and performing the following operations for each image in the set of pertinent images: resizing a given image to a predefined size before generating an image color spectrum histogram for the given image, adding the given image to a pool of acceptable images if the generated image color spectrum histogram matches with the target color scoring template; and dynamically displaying images in the pool of acceptable images to the user.

1. Field of Disclosure
The present disclosure generally relates to the field of content image searching and specifically the field of image sorting by color.
2. Brief Description of Related Art
A primary challenge in the design of a content-based image retrieval system involves identifying meaningful color attributes that can be extracted from the content and used to rank the content in accordance with the degree of relevance to a particular search term request. In statistics, a histogram is a graphical representation showing a visual impression of the distribution of data. It is an estimate of the probability distribution of a continuous variable. A histogram consists of tabular frequencies, shown as adjacent rectangles, erected over discrete intervals (bins or buckets), with an area equal to the frequency of the observations in the interval. The height of a rectangle is also equal to the frequency density of the interval, i.e., the frequency divided by the width of the interval. The total area of the histogram is equal to the number of data.
A histogram may also be normalized displaying relative frequencies thereby displaying the proportion of cases that fall into each of several categories, with the total area equaling or summing to one. The categories are usually specified as consecutive, non-overlapping intervals of a variable. The categories or intervals must be adjacent, and often are chosen to be of the same size. The rectangles of a histogram are drawn so that they touch each other to indicate that the original variable is continuous.
Generally, the histogram provides a compact summarization of the distribution of data in an image. The color histogram of an image is relatively invariant with translation and rotation about the viewing axis, and varies only slowly with the angle of view. By comparing histograms signatures of two images and matching the color content of one image with the other, the color histogram can be particularly well suited for the problem of recognizing an object of unknown position and rotation within a scene.
The first deficiency of image histograms is that while the representation of an object in the image histogram is dependent upon the color of an object being studied the image histograms ignore the object's shape and texture. Due to this apparent drawback, the color histograms can potentially be identical for two images with different object content but have identical color information. Put another way, without spatial or shape information, similar objects of different color may be indistinguishable based solely on the color histogram comparisons. Consequently, there is no way to distinguish a green leaf from a green box. A second deficiency of image histograms is that image histogram-based algorithms do not distinguish between "generic" and "specific" objects. For example, a representation of a green leaf is not useful when given an otherwise identical except for another color red leaf.
A third deficiency of image histograms is that they have a high sensitivity to noisy interference such as lighting intensity changes and quantization errors. Generally, translation of a red-green-blue, "RGB," image into the illumination invariant red-green chromaticity, i.e., RG-chromaticity space normally allows the histogram to operate well in varying light levels. One overriding problem in image searching is that there may be a misinterpretation between words (i.e., the way one searches) and images (i.e., for what is searching, in a particular instance). There is a need to resolve these issues by adding a text tag to the image, thereby adding an additional dimension for comparative and descriptive purposes.

Content based systems and methods for conducting spectrum color based image search