A method and apparatus of initial synchronization, or acquisition, of time modulated ultra-wideband (UWB) communications uses a transmitted-reference preamble. The method and apparatus require that the transmitter first send a time-reference, delay-hopped (TR/DH) burst; such a burst is easily detected and can be processed to provide a time mark accurate to within a few nanoseconds. Following the transmission of the TR/DH burst, the transmitter waits a fixed period of time, the duration of which is known to the receiver, and then the transmitter sends a burst of pulse position modulation, time hopped (PPM/TH) or other time modulated UWB. After the reception of the first burst, the receiver can estimate the time of reception of the second burst to the accuracy of the time mark.

This invention relates to a transmitted-reference, delay hopped (TR/DH) ultra-wideband radio communications system and, more particularly, to a method of initial synchronization, or acquisition, of ultra-wideband (UWB) communications having other modulation formats by means of a transmitted-reference preamble.
Ultra-wideband is a form of radio communications that operates by transmitting very short pulses, or radio frequency (RF) bursts. At the present time, the most well-known method of UWB communication uses the pulse position modulation (PPM) scheme disclosed by M. Z. Win and R. A. Sholtz in "Impulse radio: how it works", IEEE Comm. Letters, vol. 2, pp. 36–38, February 1988, and by L. W. Fullerton, "Spread spectrum radio transmission system", in U.S. Pat. No. 4,641,317. This scheme is used, for example, in optical communications, and it is described in many standard textbooks, such as J. G. Proakis and M. Salehi, Communications Systems Engineering, Prentice Hall, 1994, pp. 439–442. The method works by transmitting and receiving pulses in one of a number of time slots in successive time frames, which requires close time synchronization between the transmitter and the receiver.
The pulse position modulation (PPM) scheme is sometimes called a "time modulated" UWB method, because the relative time of arrival of the pulses is important information that must be known by the receiver in order to demodulate the transmission. Other methods of time modulated ultra-wideband modulation are also possible. For example, the phase or polarity of a received pulse could be used to represent the transmitted information. In such a scheme, the time between transmitted pulses may be modified in a pattern known to both the transmitter and receiver. The scheme just described is known as time hopping, and it is described in M. K. Simon, J. K. Omura, R. A. Sholtz and B. K. Levitt, Spread Spectrum Communications Handbook, Revised Edition, McGraw-Hill, 1994. The time hopping scheme provides the time modulated UWB transmission with a certain level of multiple access capacity; that is, it allows for multiple transmissions to be simultaneously demodulated.
The time hopping is also the multiple access method used with PPM ultra-wideband. See R. A. Sholtz, "Multiple access with time-hopping impulse modulation", Proc. IEEE MILCOM '93, Boston, October 1993. When time-hopping is used with PPM, we refer to the overall communications method as PPM/TH ultra-wideband. This scheme has been promoted as giving a very large multiple access capacity to the UWB channel, even at high data rates.
One problem with any time modulated UWB transmission scheme is the difficulty of establishing time synchronization. This is especially true when the transmissions consist of bursts of transmitted symbols, in which case the receiver has no a priori information whatsoever about the transmitters timing, and, in addition, it must detect the presence of the transmission prior to attempting to demodulate it. (On the other hand, if the transmissions are imbedded within some kind of data packet framework, the receiver might know approximately when a transmission is to start.)
In the absence of multiple access interference (MAI), the clock governing the pulse slots can easily be recovered from the received signal, while the frame clock must be recovered from a transmitted acquisition sequence. This problem has received some attention in the literature. See R. Gagliardi, J. Robbins and H. Taylor, "Acquisition sequences in PPM communications", IEEE Trans. Information Theory, vol. IT-33, pp. 738–744, September 1987. However, multiple access interference worsens the problem significantly, since the pulse-slot clocks of the separate interfering transmitters will not be synchronized with that of the desired transmitter. This situation requires the acquisition of both the slot clock and the frame timing through the use of an acquisition sequence. This requirement means that the initial synchronization is very computationally demanding, and this computational burden can result in either a very long acquisition time, a very expensive receiver, or possibly both.
Recently, a new alternative UWB communications scheme, called transmitted-reference, delay-hopped (TR/DH) ultra-wideband, as been invented, as described in copending patent application Ser. No. 09/753,443. The term "transmitted reference" refers to the transmission and reception of multiple pulses in such a manner that synchronization with the individual pulses is unnecessary. Transmitted reference UWB transmits pulses in pairs, and thereby induces a correlation at the receiver that can be measured by standard means. The term "delay-hopped" refers to a code-division multiple access scheme which uses transmitted-reference UWB.
In addition to the standard ultra-wideband (or "impulse radio") version of TR/DH, the inventors have invented and experimented with a version of TR/DH that uses wideband noise as a carrier, rather than impulse trains. This version of the invention induces correlation at the receiver by transmitting the sum of two versions of a wideband continuous noise, separated by a lag known to the receiver. This invention has advantages in that the noise carrier may be easier to generate than the impulse train carrier, and it is described in copending patent application Ser. No. 09/974,032.
Although the TR/DH scheme does not have the synchronization problem of time modulated schemes such as PPM/TH, its signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is worse and it is more susceptible to multiple access interference. On the basis of predictions of performance based on mathematical modeling and computer simulation, these effects appear to limit the multiple access capacity of TR/DH to the degree that it will not be suitable for some applications. It would be advantageous to combine the low-complexity synchronization properties of TR/DH with the multiple access capacity of a time modulated UWB method, such as PPM/TH.

Synchronization of ultra-wideband communications using a transmitted-reference preamble


A guidewire for guiding a medical device within a patient which has an elongate core member with a flexible body member disposed about and secured to a distal core section and a flexible core segment or flexible core segment which has a first pair of opposed faces which define a first transverse dimension that tapers from a first value to a second larger value and a second pair of opposed faces which define a second transverse dimension that tapers from a first value to a second smaller value.

This invention relates to the field of guidewires for advancing intraluminal devices such as stent delivery catheters, balloon dilatation catheters, atherectomy catheters and the like within body lumens.
In a typical percutaneous coronary procedure, a guiding catheter having a pre-formed distal tip is percutaneously introduced into a patient""s peripheral artery, e.g. femoral or brachial artery, by means of a conventional Seldinger technique and advanced therein until the distal tip of the guiding catheter is seated in the ostium of a desired coronary artery. A guidewire is first advanced by itself through the guiding catheter until the distal tip of the guidewire extends beyond the arterial location where the procedure is to be performed. Then a rapid exchange type catheter, such as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,061,273 (Yock) is mounted onto the proximal portion of the guidewire which extends out of the proximal end of the guiding catheter which is outside of the patient. The catheter is advanced over the guidewire, while the position of the guidewire is fixed, until the operative element on the rapid exchange type catheter is disposed within the arterial location where the procedure is to be performed. After the procedure is performed, the rapid exchange type catheter may be withdrawn from the patient over the guidewire or the guidewire repositioned within the coronary anatomy for an additional procedure.
A guidewire may also be used in conjunction with the delivery of an intracoronary stent. One method and system involves disposing a compressed or otherwise small diameter stent about an expandable member such as a balloon on the distal end of a catheter, advancing the catheter through the patient""s vascular system over a guidewire until the stent is in the desired location within a blood vessel. The expandable member on the catheter may then be expanded to expand the stent within the blood vessel. The dilated expandable member is then contracted and the catheter withdrawn, leaving the expanded stent within the blood vessel, holding the passageway thereof open. This latter method and system can be used concurrently with balloon angioplasty or subsequent thereto.
Further details of guidewires, and devices associated therewith for various interventional procedures can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,748,986 (Morrison et al.); U.S. Pat. No. 4,538,622 (Samson et al.); U.S. Pat. No. 5,135,503 (Abrams); U.S. Pat. No. 5,341,818 (Abrams et al.); and U.S. Pat. No. 5,345,945 (Hodgson, et al.) which are hereby incorporated herein in their entirety by reference thereto.
Conventional guidewires for angioplasty, stent delivery, atherectomy and other intravascular procedures usually have an elongate core member with one or more segments near the distal end thereof which taper distally to smaller cross sections. A flexible body member, such as a helical coil or a tubular body of polymeric material, is typically disposed about and secured to at least part of the distal portion of the core member. A flexible core segment, which may be the distal extremity of the core member or a separate shapeable ribbon which is secured to the distal extremity of the core member extends through the flexible body and is secured to the distal end of the flexible body by soldering, brazing or welding, or an adhesive in the case of polymeric flexible bodies which forms a rounded distal tip. The leading tip is highly flexible and will not damage or perforate the vessel and the portion behind the distal tip is increasingly stiff which better supports a balloon catheter or similar device.
The flexible core segment or ribbon of a typical guidewire is a small diameter wire which has been flattened to a relatively constant transverse profile. Flattening of the flexible core segment facilitates the shapability of the member. However, a flexible core segment having a constant transverse profile or flexibility can be subject to prolapse during use. Prolapse occurs when the flexible core segment gets bent back on itself in a constrained lumen and is difficult to straighten out with proximal manipulation. The present invention satisfies these and other needs.
The present invention is directed to a guidewire having an elongate core member with a proximal core section and a distal core section, and a flexible body disposed about and secured to at least a portion of the distal core section. The guidewire has an elongated, preferably shapeable flexible core segment which is secured to or which is formed as part of the distal core section and which is secured to the distal end of the flexible body disposed about the distal core section. The distal core section may have one or more tapered sections proximal to the flexible core segment which have distally decreasing tapers with substantially round transverse cross sections.
The tapered, preferably shapeable flexible core segment has a double reverse taper, i.e. a first transverse dimension which distally tapers over a substantial length thereof from a first value to a second smaller value and a second transverse dimension which distally tapers over essentially the same length of the flexible core segment from a first value to a second larger value, i.e. flares outwardly. The length of the tapered flexible core segment is about 1 to about 12 cm, preferably about 2 to about 10 cm. At least 50%, preferably at least 75% of the length of the tapered flexible core segment is tapered as described above. The distal most portion of the flexible core segment (i.e. up to about 15 mm) may be flat with one or both of the opposed faces being parallel. The tapers may be straight or curved.
The flexible core segment preferably has two pairs of opposing faces which are essentially the mirror image of each other. In one of the pairs the opposing faces converge toward each other while in the other pair the opposing faces diverge from each other.
The flexible core segment may be formed integrally or out of the distal extremity of the distal core section or may be formed as a distinct structural component or shaping ribbon which needs to be mounted in a suitable manner to the distal core section, e.g. by welding, brazing, soldering, adhesive bonding, mechanical connections and other known mounting processes. The flexible core segment may by formed from round or flattened wire and may be coined or rolled or otherwise plastically deformed, e.g. cold forged, to a desired shape and sectional profile. When the flexible core segment is a separate member from the core member, it may be formed before or after it is secured to the core member.
The flexible body member is disposed about the flexible core segment, preferably along its entire length and may take the form of a helical coil, polymer jacket, or the like. The distal end of the flexible body member is secured to the distal end of the flexible core segment and an intermediate portion of the flexible body member is preferably secured to the distal core section proximal to the tapered flexible core segment.
The double taper of the flexible core segments on the distal part of the guidewire reduces the likelihood of prolapsing or kinking of the guidewire""s distal extremity during procedures and may be used to provide a controlled longitudinal variation and transition in flexibility of the core segment to the distal tip of the guidewire. A flexible body member, such as a helical coil or a tubular plastic member, having a proximal end and a distal end is typically disposed about and secured to the distal section of the elongate core member.
The taper geometry of the flexible segment may be modeled mathematically. Specific taper or face contours may be selected in keeping with the principles of the invention to achieve optimum performance for specific usage requirements. These and other advantages of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the invention when taken in conjunction with the accompanying exemplary drawings.

Guidewire with tapered flexible core segment


A transceiver can be used to send and receive data at a lower data rate than the data rate its SERDES is designed to operate. It contains a transmitter interface that receives a first set of data at a lower data rate and delivers a second set of data to the SERDES at a higher data rate. The transceiver also contains a receiver interface that receives a third set of data from the SERDES at the higher data rate and delivers a fourth set of data at the lower data rate. To reduce the minimum transmission serial data rate, one embodiment of the present invention derives a half-speed clock for the transmitter interface. Using the half-speed clock, the transmitter interface supplies data to be transmitted at half the normal rate with respect to a reference clock. As a result, the data rate is reduced. The opposite operation is used for the receiver interface.

As a result of improvement in processing technology, it is now possible to put millions of transistors in an integrated circuit. This increases the amount of processing power of the integrated circuit. However, the processing power may be wasted if there are insufficient input-output (I/O) resources to transfer data to and from the integrated circuit. High speed I/O transceivers alleviate this problem by increasing the data transfer speed of the I/O resources.
A transceiver contains a serializer and a deserializer. A multi-gigabit serializer takes vectors of bits (e.g., 20 bits wide) and converts them to a serial (one bit at a time) bit stream for high-speed transmission over a single differential pair connection. Conversely, a deserializer receives a serial bit stream on a separate differential pair and converts it into vectors of bits. The two circuits together are called a SERDES (serializer/deserializer).
The rate at which bits are transmitted or received on the differential pair connection is called the serial baud rate, commonly measured in Gbps (gigabits per second), or perhaps Mbps (megabits per second). A number of communication standards exist involving the use of SERDES transceivers. The serial baud rates for some common standards of interest range from 1.06 Gbps to 3.125 Gbps. Other potential applications may use lower serial baud rates, e.g., 622 Mbps or lower. It is desirable for a single transceiver to be able to operate over this entire range of serial baud rates, especially when it is embedded in a programmable logic device such as a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), which is intended to be used for a broad range of applications.
It is difficult for conventional circuits like the SERDES to operate at high speed. Thus, many new circuits are specially designed to handle the challenge. Further, the values of components need to be fine-tuned and carefully selected because the SERDES must meet exacting specifications over its entire range of serial baud rates. One result is that a transceiver can optimally operate in a narrow speed range. As an example, some SERDES are designed to operate in the range 800 Mbps to 3.125 Gbps. Such a SERDES is not usable as-is for designs with serial baud rates below 800 Mbps, for example, the 622 Mbps applications noted above. Consequently, it is desirable to be able to extend the range of operation of a SERDES.

Method and apparatus for operating a transceiver in different data rates


A method for managing resource allocation in a hierarchical quota system, comprising n layers of quota nodes, n being a positive integer greater than 1, and comprises at a first quota node in an ith layer of quota nodes, in response to receiving a resource allocation request from a user, determining whether an amount of requested resources exceeds a first quota; if the amount of requested resources does not exceed the first quota, determining whether the first node holds a quota delegation for the first quota node; if the first node holds the quota delegation, determining whether the amount of requested resources exceeds a second quota specified by the quota delegation for the first quota node; if the amount of requested resources does not exceed the second quota, allocating the requested resources to the user.

In the field of computer, quota is a mechanism to track and control resource consumptions of each entity associated with a node, for the purpose of resource allocation book-keeping and prevention of excess resource consumption. The resource could be disk space, memory, CPU, etc. The entity could be a user, an organization, a process, etc. Examples of the node include a cloud service provider, clustered system, a single file system, a directory, and more. To track and control resource consumption by each entity on the node, typically quota attributes are configured for the node, and such a node configured with quota attributes is referred to as a quota node. A system formed by several quota nodes according to a well-defined dependency hierarchy is referred to as a hierarchical quota system. Examples of the hierarchical quota system include a distributed file system (consisting of several single file systems), a nested quota directory node (a quote directory contained in other quote directory), a cloud service system, etc.
FIG. 1 shows an exemplary architecture of a hierarchical quota system 100. Hierarchical quota system 100 as shown in FIG. 1 has a tree architecture, which comprises a quota node P 110, a quota node C1 111, a quota node C2 112, and a quota node CC3 113. Quota node P 110 is the parent node of quota node C1 111 and quota node C2 112, and quota node C1 111 is the parent node of quota node CC3 113. In the present application, however, quota node P 110 is also referred to as an upper-layer node directly associated with quota node C1 111 and quota node C2 112, and quota node C1 111 is referred to as an upper-layer node directly associated with quota node CC3 113. It may be understood that hierarchical quota system 100 may further comprise an upper-layer node directly associated with quota node P 110 and a lower-layer node directly associated with quota node CC3 113. For the purpose of simplifying illustration, FIG. 1 only shows part of the hierarchical quota system.
In the hierarchical quota system, each quota node is responsible to track and control the resource allocation by itself, on all lower-layer quota nodes directly or indirectly associated therewith. Each quota node has a quota database (DB) to track and control resource allocation of users who consume resources on a respective quota node tree. For each user to whom resources are allocated, a quota DB record is created in the quota DB. Table 1 shows an exemplary structure of a quota DB record for a hierarchical quota system.
TABLE 1IdLimit_cfgUseCount[ ]: S, C1, C2, . . . , Cn
As shown in Table 1, the quota DB record for the hierarchical quota system at least consists of three fields:
1) Id: user identifier field, indicating the user from whom this quota DB record is created;
2) Limit_cfg: resource upper-limit field, indicating resource upper-limit that can be allocated to this user on a current quota node (e.g., quota node P 110 in FIG. 1) and its child quota node trees (such as quota node trees with a root of quota node C1 111, with a root of quota node C2 112, . . . with a root of Quota node Cn, respectively);
3) UseCount: resource use count field, indicating the amount of resources actually allocated to this user on a current quota node (e.g., quota node P 110 in FIG. 1) and its child quota node trees (such as quota node trees with a root of quota node C1 111, with a root of quota node C2 112, . . . with a root of Quota node Cn, respectively). For example, in the hierarchical quota system shown in FIG. 1, quota node P 110 is responsible to track and control the resource consumption on itself and on its child quota node trees, i.e., a child quota node tree (including quota node CC3 113) with the root of C1 111 and a child quota node tree with the root of quota node C2 112, and information on the resource use amount is recorded in the UseCount field in Table 1. It is noted that content in the UseCount field is a vector as shown in Table 1.
In the prior art, when a user 114 as shown in FIG. 1 requests resources on quota node C1 111, all nodes in the path from the top quota node to quota node C1 111 need to check the Limit_cfg field in their quota DB records, i.e., the amount of resources requested by user 114 is compared with a value of the Limit_cfg field to determine whether or not resources requested by user 114 can be allocated to user 114. In addition, after determining that resources being requested can be allocated to user 114, all nodes on the path from the top node to quota node C1 111 need to update the Limit_cfg field and the UseCount field in their quota DB records, to track and control the resource consumption of user 114 in the whole system and satisfy a constraint set configured by the administrator. This will stimulate an inter-node communication storm and slow down the system throughput, especially when the quota nodes reside on different cabinets or geographical locations.
FIG. 2 shows a sequence diagram of an existing method for resource allocation in a typical hierarchical quota system. This figure shows the flow of resource allocation when user 114 as shown in FIG. 1 requests resources on quota node C1 111.
In step S201, user 114 sends a resource allocation request to quota node C1 111, requesting quota node C1 111 to allocate resources to itself.
In step S202, quota node C1 111 checks its quota DB to determine if the resource allocation request should be approved. Step S202 may further comprise:
a. Quota node C1 111 will look up its quota DB record for user 114.
b. If no such a quota DB record for user 114 exists, the check at quota node C1 111 is passed and the flow goes to step S203.
c. If the record exists, quota node C1 111 will compare the amount of requested resources with a value in the Limit_cfg field and determine whether or not the resources can be granted. If the amount of requested resources does not exceed the value in the Limit-cfg field and it is determined the resources can be granted, then the flow proceeds to a check in step S203; otherwise, the request for resources is denied.
In step S203, when the local check at quota node C1 111 is passed, quota node C1 111 contacts its parent quota node P 110 to request the parent quota node to check its quota DB and update its local quota DB after the check is passed.
In step S204, quota node P 110 checks its quota DB to determine whether to approve the request. Specific steps are the same as steps a, b and c executed by quota node C1 111 in step S202 disclosed above.
If the check at quota node P 110 is passed, then in step S205, quota node P 110 updates the UseCount field (i.e., UseCount[C1]) in its quota DB record to track the resource consumption of user 114, and subtracts the amount of allocated resources from the Limit_cfg field.
In step S206, quota node P 110 returns a check result to quota node C1 111.
If both the checks at quota nodes P 110 and C1 111 are passed, then in step S207, quota node C1 111 updates the UseCount field (i.e., UseCount[S]) in its quota DB record to track the resource consumption of user 114, and subtracts the amount of allocated resources from the Limit_cfg field.
In step S208, quota node C1 111 allocates requested resources to user 114.
In step S209, quota node C1 111 grants requested resources to user 114.
It should be noted that when quota node P 110 is not the root quota node in hierarchical quota system 100, i.e., quota node P 110 still has its ancestor nodes, after the check at quota node P 110 in step S204 is passed, it is required that there is a check and update at all ancestor nodes of quota node P 110. That is, only after checks at all quota nodes on the path from the root quota node to quota node C1 111 in hierarchical quota system are passed and corresponding quota DB records are updated. quota node C1 111 will approve the resource allocation request of user 114. Therefore, this will stimulate an inter-node communication storm and result in slowing down the system throughput.

Managing resource allocation in hierarchical quota system


Methods, apparatuses and systems relating to the control and application of policies for routing data over a computer network, such as the Internet. Some implementations of the invention facilitate the configuration, deployment and/or maintenance of network routing policies. Some implementations of the invention are particularly useful for controlling the routing of data among autonomous systems or organizations. Certain implementations allow for dynamic modification of routing policy based on such factors as current Internet performance, load sharing, user-defined parameters, and time of day.

The Internet is expanding rapidly in terms of the number of interconnected organizations or autonomous systems and the amount of data being routed among such organizations or systems. This growth affects the performance and reliability of data transfer, among Internet Service Providers, between enterprise service providers, within enterprise networks. One of the most difficult and important aspects of modern networking is properly deploying and maintaining routing policies for the routing of data among the ever-increasing number of autonomous systems and organizations. Sub-optimal Internet connectivity can lead to a poorly or inconsistently performing web site, adversely affecting a company's brand and reputation.
Border Gateway Protocol (BGP), the standard inter-domain routing protocol, has proven to be notoriously difficult to initially configure and even more complicated to correctly support. Furthermore, the concept of Autonomous Systems (ASs), which is integral to the protocol, hides routing metrics from the end systems resulting in sub-optimal routing decisions. The AS Path metric, which is an enumeration of the set of autonomous systems that a data packet travels through, is the primary metric BGP uses to select best path. This metric assumes that the shortest AS path metric is the best route to a given destination network; however, given the ever-increasing expansion of the Internet and the wide array of devices connected thereto, the AS Path metric is often not a very good predictor of the best path to a given destination network. Indeed, the default BGP metric does not account for other factors affecting routing path performance, such as link utilization, capacity, error rate or cost, when making routing decisions. In addition, BGP, version 4 (BGP4), the current BGP version, does not allow for adjustments necessitated by the consolidation that has taken and is currently taking place within the industry that has resulted in the collapse of smaller, formerly discrete networks into expansive, single autonomous networks. Consequently, the default BGP4 configuration often leads to poor network performance and creates reliability issues for many organizations.
In light of the foregoing, a need in the art exists for methods, apparatuses and systems that address the issues presented by configuration and deployment of inter-domain routing policies. In addition, a need further exists for methods, apparatuses and systems that allow for augmentation of current routing policy metrics with more intelligent ones, leading to better routing decisions.

Methods, apparatuses and systems facilitating deployment, support and configuration of network routing policies


An apparatus includes a lead body extending from a proximal end to a distal end and having an intermediate portion therebetween. The lead body includes two or more individually insulated conductors, where a first conductor traverses along less than an entire length of the lead body and a second conductor traverses from the proximal end to the distal end of the lead body. Optionally, the first conductor has a different material than the second conductor, for instance having differing electrical properties and/or differing stiffnesses. A method includes varying the stiffness of a coiled conductor assembly including winding a plurality of conductors to form the coiled conductor assembly, and pulling at least one loop of a first conductor away from the coiled conductor assembly.

Leads implanted in or about the heart have been used to reverse certain life threatening arrhythmias, or to stimulate contraction of the heart. Electrical energy is applied to the heart via the leads to return the heart to normal rhythm. Leads have also been used to sense in the atrium or ventricle of the heart and to deliver pacing pulses to the atrium or ventricle. Technically, the pacemaker or the automatic implantable cardioverter defibrillator receives signals from the lead and interprets them. The same lead used to sense the condition is sometimes also used in the process of delivering a corrective pulse or signal from the pulse generator of the pacemaker.
Cardiac pacing may be performed by the transvenous method or by leads implanted directly onto the ventricular epicardium. Most commonly, permanent transvenous pacing is performed using a lead positioned within one or more chambers of the heart. The lead may also be positioned in both chambers, depending on the lead, as when a lead passes through the atrium to the ventricle. Electrodes of the lead may be positioned within the atrium or the ventricle of the heart. For other applications, the lead may be positioned in cardiac veins.
Positioning an electrode disposed on a distal end of a lead within a vein presents additional challenges in maintaining the lead in a fixed position since the distal end of the lead does not abut a surface. These challenges also may result in poor pacing and sensing capabilities of the electrode.
Therefore, there is a need for a lead having an electrode for positioning within passages such as cardiac veins, that allows for fixation therein. In addition, what is needed is a lead which can be sufficiently positioned within a patient.

Lead having varying stiffness and method of manufacturing thereof


A highly compact, high-performance volumetric imaging system is proposed, that is integrated with a multi-source Cobalt-60 gamma irradiator for high throughput, high accuracy and minimally invasive fractioned treatments of intracranial, orbital and head-and-neck targets.

Historically, the treatment of cranial lesions initially proceeded by way of surgical processes—gaining access to brain tissue by way of apertures created in the skull. Clearly, great accuracy was needed in such surgery, and the stereotactic frame was developed for this purpose by Lars Leksell in the late 1940s. This assisted surgeons by providing a precise frame of reference within which to operate. Typically, a stereotactic frame attaches to a patient via pins that extend through the soft anatomy under local anaesthesia and abut the bone to provide a frame of reference that is fixed relative to the rigid body that is the skull. Given that the brain tissue within the skull exhibits relatively little movement during normal movement of the human body, this allowed accurate positioning of surgical instruments relative to the brain tissue and its associated structures.
Leksell then sought to extend the ambit of intracranial surgery to areas that were difficult to reach via surgical methods, such as the base of the skull. To do so, he developed the Gamma Knife, a multi-source radiotherapy apparatus. This comprises 201 Co60 sources mounted on a fixed support, usually hemispherical or cylindrical in form. The sources are distributed about the support, and each is collimated so as to produce a beam that is directed at a single defined point. Thus, the total dose at that point is provided by all the sources, whereas away from that point the total dose is at most that from one or only a small number of sources.
To proceed with treatment via a Gamma Knife, a stereotactic frame is affixed to the patient's bony anatomy in order to fix the position of the patient (and hence the lesion) relative to the device. The volume of lesion to be treated (henceforth referred to as the target) is localized using diagnostic imaging modalities such as computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) while the frame is in place, and the localization coordinates are then related to the frame. Treatment of the target is then achieved by careful positioning of the frame (with the patient affixed) with respect to the irradiation unit. The frame is therefore a longstanding and essential part of the treatment process for intracranial lesions.


A magnetic recording medium is described comprising a nonmagnetic support having formed thereon a magnetic layer containing a ferromagnetic powder, an abrasive, and a binder, wherein the ferromagnetic powder is a metal magnetic powder having a crystallite size of not larger than 200 .ANG., the abrasive comprises (i) an inorganic powder having a Mohs' hardness of more than 9 and a mean particle size of 0.1 to 0.9 .mu.m which is contained in an amount of from 0.1 to 10 parts by weight per 100 parts by weight of the ferromagnetic powder, and a center-line average surface roughness (Ra) of the magnetic layer is less than 5 nm. The magnetic recording medium exhibits improved properties in C/N, running durability and drop-out. A process of producing the recording medium is also disclosed involving a calender treatment with at least one pair of metal rolls.

A magnetic recording medium is widely used as a recording tape, a video tape, a floppy disk, etc. A magnetic recording medium is fundamentally composed of a nonmagnetic support having formed thereon a magnetic layer composed of a ferromagnetic powder dispersed in a binder.
A magnetic recording medium is required to be excellent in various characteristics such as electromagnetic characteristics, running durability, running property, etc. That is, in an audio tape for recording and reproducing music, a higher original sound reproducing faculty is required. Also, a video tape is required to be excellent in electromagnetic characteristics such as original image reproducing, etc.
Furthermore, a magnetic recording medium is required to have such excellent electromagnetic characteristics, and at the same time have good running durability as described above. For obtaining good running durability, the function of abrasives has an important role. That is, the abrasives contained in the magnetic layer are distributed all over the magnetic layer, but parts thereof exist at the surface of the magnetic layer. Consequently, when the magnetic recording medium runs and comes in contact with parts of the running route, such as a magnetic head, etc., the abrasives existing at the surface of the magnetic layer give a polishing effect at the contact surface between the surface of the magnetic layer and the magnetic head, etc. Accordingly, by containing abrasives in the magnetic layer, the running durability of the magnetic recording medium can be improved. However, the abrasives existing at the surface of the magnetic layer are only a part of the abrasives added to the magnetic layer. The abrasives remaining in the magnetic layer may make it difficult to obtain a sufficiently excellent running durability.
For example, when the amount of abrasives is increased for improving the running durability of a magnetic recording medium, the content of a ferromagnetic powder is reduced, and; further, when abrasives having large particle sizes are used, the abrasives are liable to properly project over the surface of the magnetic layer. This results in deterioration of the electromagnetic characteristics. Also, the use of the abovedescribed abrasives having large particle sizes together with abrasives having small particle sizes has been described in JP-A-57-162129 and JP-A-58-85931 (the term "JP-A" as used herein means an "unexamined published Japanese patent application"), but by the foregoing methods, sufficient electromagnetic characteristics have not been obtained.
For example, JP-A-58-85931discloses that the magnetic layer contains two kinds of abrasives each having a different mean particle size, e.g, an abrasive having a mean particle size of from 0.05 to 0.30 .mu.m, and an abrasive having 0.5 to 15 .mu.m. However, even by the combination of such abrasives, it is impossible to improve C/N while preventing the increase of drop-out, and; further, it is impossible to prevent the reduction of the output.
Additionally, the use of abrasives having a Mohs' hardness of more than 9.0 is described, e.g., in JP-B-47-18572, JP-B-50-3936, JP-B-51-2801, JP-B-58-45088 (the term "JP-B" as used herein means an "examined published Japanese patent application") and JP-A-59-227026, but by the foregoing disclosures, the polishing faculty of the magnetic recording medium is improved but the good surface property of the magnetic layer cannot be obtained. For example, in the technique disclosed by JP-A-59-227026, the surface property of about 25 nm only is obtained. On the other hand, by subjecting the magnetic recording medium to a surface smoothening treatment using metal rolls, the surface property of the magnetic layer is improved but the durability of the magnetic layer is not. Also, by using a metal magnetic powder having fine particle sizes, C/N is improved but the durability of the magnetic layer is not.
Recently, in a video tape using a metal (or alloy) ferromagnetic powder for increasing the high recording density, the reduction of the recording width and the reduction of the thickness of the magnetic layer has been practiced. However, this resulted in a narrowing of the width of a magnetic recording head whereby the durability of the magnetic head was reduced. Thus, a hard material such as silicon nitride, aluminum nitride, etc., has been used at the head portion of the magnetic head, as disclosed in JP-A-2-210606. The use of such a magnetic head causes problems in that the video tape is scratched by the magnetic head, the occurrence of drop-out is increased, and the output of the magnetic recording medium is reduced. Further, the increase of the polishing faculty for the magnetic head encounters the trouble of reducing the output of the video tape.
For improving C/N, it is necessary to increase the packing density of the ferromagnetic powder, and to achieve this purpose, it has been desired to keep the polishing faculty of the magnetic layer with a lower amount of abrasives. Also, for improving C/N, super smoothening of the surface of the magnetic layer and fining of the size of a ferromagnetic powder are effective, but in this case, problems occur; namely, the surface of the magnetic layer is scratched by a hard magnetic head, and the durability of the magnetic recording medium is reduced.

Magnetic recording medium and process for production thereof


It is an object of the present invention to provide a pretreatment method for coating, which places a less burden on the environment and can apply good chemical conversion treatment to all metals such as iron, zinc and aluminum.

When a cationic electrocoating or a powder coating is applied to the surface of a metal material, a chemical conversion treatment is generally applied in order to improve the properties such as corrosion resistance and adhesion to a coating film. With respect to a chromate treatment used in the chemical conversion treatment, from the viewpoint of being able to further improve the adhesion to a coating film and the corrosion resistance, in recent years, a harmful effect of chromium has been pointed and the development of a chemical conversion coating agent containing no chromium is required. As such a chemical conversion treatment, a treatment using zincphosphate is widely adopted (cf. Japanese Kokai Publication Hei-10-204649, for instance).
However, since a treating agent based on zinc phosphate has high concentrations of metal ions and acids and is considerably active, it is economically disadvantageous and low in workability in a wastewater treatment. Further, there is a problem of formation and precipitation of salts, being insoluble in water, associated with the metal surface treatment using the treating agent based on zinc phosphate. Such a precipitated substance is generally referred to as sludge, and increase in cost for removal and disposal of such sludge become problems. In addition, since phosphate ions have a possibility of placing a burden on the environment due to eutrophication, it takes efforts for treating wastewater; therefore, it is preferably not used. Further, there is also a problem that in a metal surface treatment using the treating agent based on zinc phosphate, a surface conditioning is required; therefore, a treatment process become long.
As a metal surface treating agent other than such a treating agent based on zinc phosphate or a chemical conversion coating agent of chromate, there is known a metal surface treating agent comprising a zirconium compound (cf. Japanese Kokai Publication Hei-07-310189, for instance). Such a metal surface treating agent comprising a zirconium compound has an excellent property in point of suppressing the generation of the sludge in comparison with the treating agent based on zinc phosphate described above.
However, a chemical conversion coat attained by the metal surface treating agent comprising a zirconium compound is poor in the adhesion to coating films attained by cationic electrocoating in particular, and usually less used as a pretreatment for cationic electrocoating. In such the metal surface treating agent comprising a zirconium compound, efforts to improve the adhesion and the corrosion resistance by using it in conjunction with another component such as phosphate ions are being made. However, when it is used in conjunction with the phosphate ions, a problem of the eutrophication will arise as described above. In addition, there has been no study on using such treatment using a metal surface treating agent as a pretreatment method for various coatings such as cationic electrocoating. Further, there was a problem that when an iron material was treated with such the metal surface treating agent, the adequate adhesion to a coating film and the corrosion resistance after coating could not be attained.
Further, surface treatment of all metals have to be performed by one step of treatment to articles including various metal materials such as iron, zinc and aluminum for bodies and parts of automobiles in some cases. Accordingly there is desired the development of pretreatment method for coating which can apply a chemical conversion treatment without problems even in such a case. Further, there is desired the development of pretreatment method which can apply a chemical conversion treatment without problems as mentioned above, when other coatings using powder coating composition, organic solvent coating composition, and water-borne coating composition besides cationic electrocoating and anionic electrocoating are applied.

Abstract: A pretreatment method for coating comprising                treating a substance to be treated with a chemical conversion coating agent to form a chemical conversion coat,        wherein the chemical conversion coating agent comprises at least one kind selected from the group consisting of zirconium, titanium and hafnium and fluorine,        the chemical conversion coat has a fluorine concentration of 10% or less on the atom ratio basis, and        at least a part of the substance to be treated is an iron material.


There is provided a child resistant and senior friendly tamper evident package having a blister sheet with blister pockets for medicants, a rupturable foil sealed to a back side of the blister sheet, a layer of paper secured to a back side of the rupturable foil, and a reinforcing layer of a paperboard material being adhered to the paper layer with a portion of the reinforcing layer in registry with the blister pockets not being adhered thereto. There are provided tear strips and tab members to assist in removing the tear strips which delaminate.

Blister packs are well known in the art and widely used to package individual items such as different forms of medication including tablets, capsules, and the like. Usually, the item or product is accessed through the rear of the blister pack which is provided with a tear strip.
It is desirable to provide for tamper evident packaging which will give a clear indication when the package has been subject to tampering. However, at the same time, the package must be sufficiently easy for the consumer to open. In addition, the package should provide a degree of child resistance to prevent young children from accessing the contents of the blister pack which, as above mentioned, is frequently medication. Indeed, many countries have laws requiring the use of such packaging. Also, as previously mentioned, the package should be sufficiently easy to open. This becomes particularly important when it is understood that the most frequent users of medication are seniors whose physical strength is frequently limited.
A conventional blister package usually comprises a laminate of a blistered layer having article receiving pockets with a foil backing layer. The foil material is rupturable to release the article. While such a package is inherently tamper evident unless the whole foil layer is replaced, it is not very child resistant. U.S. Pat. No. 4,537,312 to Intini shows one improvement over a conventional blister package. This patent describes claims of package in which such a conventional package is enclosed between an outer front layer and an outer back layer sized larger than the conventional package and sealed to one another around their periphery and through apertures in the laminate. Tabs are provided at the edges of the sealed front and back layers connected to tear strips in the back layer, each of which overlies foil covering a blister pocket. At least the tear strips of the back layer made of a material which, on tearing, will leave a stratum still overlying the foil to thereby reinforce it.
A further improvement is shown in Canadian Patent 1,318,294 to Intini which teaches an arrangement similar to the above and wherein there are provided manually gripable tabs for each tear strip, the tabs being free of the rupturable material.
While the above arrangements have been found to be suitable for providing a child resistant package, the package is not necessarily as senior friendly as it might be. Thus, control of the stratum which overlies the film is not achieved in what may have more or less of the stratum depending upon the inherent nature of the paperboard secured thereto.


An online system allows third-party systems to provide content for distribution to users. The online system allows trademark owners to search for content items that are likely to violate trademarks. The online system receives proof of the trademark registration from trademark owner's devices. The online system receives a search request for content items that are likely to violate a trademark. The online system ranks the content items that are likely to violate the input trademark based on various factors. One of the factors used for ranking the content items is a score generated by a machine learning based model that indicates a likelihood of violation of trademarks by a content item. The online system controls the rate of distribution of content items of a content provider based on information indicating whether the content provider violates trademarks, for example, by blocking distribution of content items by specific content providers.

This disclosure relates generally to distribution of content by online systems, and in particular, to searching for and regulating trademark violations in content items distributed by online systems.
Online systems, such as social networking systems, allow users to connect to and communicate with other users of the online system. Users may create profiles on an online system that are tied to their identities and include information about the users, such as interests and demographic information. Presenting information to users of an online systems allows providers to gain public attention for products or services and to persuade online system users to take action regarding the business' products, services, opinions, or causes. As a result, companies of all sizes and backgrounds have flocked to provide content to users using such online systems.
However, with the proliferation of content providers to these systems, regulation of such content has grown increasingly inefficient, and entities promoting counterfeit content have grown more prominent. Current methods of screening for deceptive content are hindered by rudimentary screening techniques and cumbersome processes which prove to be ineffectual on a larger scale, especially given the rate at which these online systems have grown. Additionally, such systems lack effective methods of verifying whether a content provider legally has the rights in the trademarks that it was using, making establishing a viable screening process even more difficult.

Searching for trademark violations in content items distributed by an online system


The invention relates to methods of synthesizing 2-substituted azole compunds of formula (I):

1,3-Azole-containing amino acids have utility as analogues of natural amino acids for incorporation into biologically active molecules. In particular, they are constituent parts of many biologically active peptides and are useful in preparing antimicrobial agents. Currently, no general method for their synthesis exists.
Saeed and Young have described the synthesis of L-beta-hydroxy amino acids using an enzymatic method (Saeed, A; Young, D. W; Tetr. 1992, 48, 2507-2514). Their method does not produce the 1,3-azole-containing amino acids synthesized by the present inventive method, and their route gives a mixture of isomeric forms.
Kimura et al. report another enzymatic synthesis of beta-hydroxy-amino acids. (Kimura, T. et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1997 119, 11734-11742). Their synthesis, however, provides mixed stereochemistry at the beta-carbon.
Dalla Croce et al. report a stereoselective aldol addition of a chiral glycine enolate synthon (Dalla Croce, P. et al., Heterocycles, 2000, 52, 1337-1344). Their method, however, produces only moderate yields and they do not report synthesis of any 1,3-azole-containing acids.
Palian and Polt report synthesis of lipophilic beta-hydroxy amino acids (Palian, M; Polt, R., J. Org. Chem., 2001, 66, 7178-7183). These authors do not describe the methods of the present invention and they do not describe the synthesis of 1,3-azole-containing amino acids.
Zhao et al. reported oxidation of primary alcohols to carboxylic acids using TEMPO catalyst along with sodium chlorite and bleach (Zhao et al., J. Org. Chem., 1999, 64, 2564-2566). They did not apply their method, however, to produce beta-hydroxy amino acids.
Barma et al. reported an oxidative removal of the N,N-dimethylthiocarbamate group from alcohols (Barma et al., Org. Lett., 2003, 5, 4755-4757). These authors do not describe the synthesis of 1,3-azole-containing amino acids.
The Garner aldehydes (Garner, P. Tetr. Lett., 1984, 25, 5855-5858; Liang, X, et al., J. Chem. Soc. Perkin Trans. 1, 2001, 2136-2157), for which both the S and R configurations are commercially available, are configurationally stable under many reaction conditions that are typically employed for the elaboration of the aldehyde functionality. Lubell and Rapoport introduced the phenylfluorenyl-protected oxazolidone as a serinal equivalent similar to Garner's aldehyde, and the inclusion of the phenylfluorenyl moiety greatly stabilizes the configuration of the α-proton in products under basic conditions (Lubell, W; Rapoport, H; J. Org. Chem., 1989, 54, 3824-3831). It has seen only limited utility in organic synthesis and has been commented by Rapoport that the phenylfluorenyl group is known to be more acid-stable than the related trityl group for other substrates. Both of these substrates allow for the selective incorporation of nucleophiles into an intermediate for further derivatization.
Dondoni has utilized a variety of chiral, alpha-amino aldehydes as reactants in a condensation reaction with 2-trimethylsilylthiazole (Dondoni, A, et al., J. Org. Chem., 1990, 55, 1439-1446). The use of Garner's aldehyde furnished the best results in terms of yield and selectivity. Dondoni and others have generally utilized this thiazole chemistry as a method to incorporate a formyl group, rather than functionalize the portion of the molecule derived from Garner's aldehyde.
Thus, there is a need for a generalized method to synthesize 1,3-azole-containing amino acids

Method of synthesis of azole-containing amino acids

Abstract: The invention is also relates to compounds of formula (I) and to intermediate compounds in the synthesis method.


The invention provides a method which can be performed on the same device with application of a modulated magnetic field to read a magneto-optical recording disk through a series of processes involving "copy of recorded magnetic domains.fwdarw.enlargement of copied magnetic domains.fwdarw.reproduction of copied magnetic domains.fwdarw.size reduction and disappearance of copied magnetic domains", and to read an ordinary magneto-optical recording medium. For reading information recorded on the first magneto-optical recording disk, the first magneto-optical recording disk is irradiated with a laser beam having a first reading power, and the alternating magnetic field is then applied thereto after synchronization by which the alternating magnetic field is applied thereto at a recorded mark position. For reading information recorded on the second magneto-optical recording disk, the second magneto-optical recording disk is irradiated with a second laser beam.

The present invention relates to a reproduction method for magneto-optical recording disks, a magneto-optical recording disk driving device, and a magneto-optical recording disk.
In a magneto-optical recording disk, a magnetic thin film thereof is locally heated by laser beam irradiation or other light irradiation to decrease its coercive force. Then, an external magnetic field is applied to the magnetic thin film to invert the direction of magnetization of the irradiated spots or maintain the initial magnetization direction, thereby forming magnetic domains (recorded marks). The direction of magnetization of the magnetic domains is read out by the Kerr or Faraday effect.
In an ordinary magneto-optical recording disk, the available density of reproducible magnetic domains is limited by the spot diameter of the laser beam used for reading, and so it is impossible to read magnetic domains having a diameter smaller than the half of the laser beam spot diameter.
For a magneto-optical recording medium capable of reading magnetic domains having a diameter smaller than the half of laser beam spot diameter, for instance, JP-A 8-7350 discloses a magneto-optical recording medium capable of enlarging recorded magnetic domains. This magneto-optical recording medium comprises a three-layered recording film comprising, in order from an substrate side, a first magnetic layer, a second magnetic layer, and a third magnetic layer which are exchange coupled together. Upon reading, the substrate of the medium is irradiated with a laser beam while a reading magnetic field is applied to the recording film of the medium. The third magnetic layer holds recorded magnetic domains, which are copied by laser beam irradiation to the first, and second magnetic layers. The copied magnetic domains are enlarged by the application of a reading magnetic field in the longitudinal direction of each magnetic layer. The enlarged, copied magnetic domains are read out as is the case with a conventional magneto-optical recording medium. After the reading of the enlarged, copied magnetic domains has finished, an erasing magnetic field opposite in direction to the reading magnetic field is applied to erase off the copied magnetic domains for the next reading of adjacent recorded magnetic domains. By repetition of such a process, it is possible to read minute magnetic domains unreadable so far in the art. Furthermore, this method does not only achieve high resolution upon reading, but also enables output signal strength to be in itself augmented because the magnetic domains are actually enlarged. Hereinafter, the magneto-optical recording medium using such a process for reading will be called a magneto-optical recording medium of the domain enlargement reading type.
For reading the magneto-optical recording medium of the domain enlargement reading type, it is thus required to apply thereto an alternating magnetic field comprising a read bias magnetic field and an erase bias magnetic field.
However, when a modulated magnetic field is applied on an ordinary magneto-optical recording disk for reading purposes, magnetic domains recorded thereon are often erased off. Never until now is it attempted to run an ordinary magneto-optical recording disk and a magneto-optical recording disk of the domain enlargement reading type on the same driving device for reading purposes.

Reading method for magneto-optical recording disc, magneto-optical recording disc driving device and magneto-optical recording medium


A liquid crystal display device according to an exemplary embodiment includes: a first panel comprising a first portion and a second portion, wherein the first portion has a height lower than of the second portion; a second panel facing the first panel; a spacer disposed between the first panel and the second panel and contacting the first portion of the first panel; and a liquid crystal layer disposed between the first panel and the second panel.

(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display device.
(b) Description of Related Art
A liquid crystal display (LCD) device is one of the most widely used flat panel display devices. An LCD device includes two panels provided with field-generating electrodes such as pixel electrodes and a common electrode and a liquid crystal (LC) layer interposed therebetween. The LCD device displays images by applying voltages to the field-generating electrodes to generate an electric field in the LC layer, which determines orientations of LC molecules in the LC layer to adjust polarization of incident light.
The LCD device further includes thin film transistors (TFTs) and a plurality of signal lines for transmitting signals to the TFTs, which include gate lines transmitting gate signals, data lines transmitting data signals, and storage electrode lines supplied with a common voltage and overlapping the pixel electrodes.
The LCD device further includes a plurality of spacers forming a gap filled with the LC layer. The spacers include bead spacers irregularly spread over the panels and columnar spacers or rigid spacers regularly arranged on the panels.
The columnar spacers are usually formed of a photoresist film by coating, light exposure, and development. The columnar spacers are usually disposed on opaque members such as the signal lines and the thin film transistors.
The LCD device is often subjected to pressure or impact. The impact may make the columnar spacers slide out of their initial positions, and the spacers try to recover their positions due to their elasticity.
However, the spacers may not return to their initial positions and may remain at the distorted positions if there are obstacles such as steps in the returning path. Consequently, the orientations of the LC molecules near the spacers may be distorted and cause light leakage.

LCD device having a first panel with a flat surface plate-like portion and a bar like second portion, with a spacer between the first and a second panel contacting the flat surface plate-like first portion, and overlapping pixel electrode without overlapping signal lines disposed in the bar-like second portion


The invention provides plant acid phosphatase coding sequences. Also provided are constructs comprising these sequences, plants transformed therewith and methods of use thereof. In certain aspects of the invention, transgenic plants are provided exhibiting improved phosphorous utilization.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of molecular biology. More specifically, the invention relates to plant genes involved in phosphorous uptake and methods of use thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
Phosphate (Pi) is one of the key substrates in energy metabolism and biosynthesis of nucleic acids and membranes. It also plays an important role in photosynthesis, respiration and regulation of a number of enzymes (Raghothama, 1999). While it is a critical macronutrient for plant growth and development, most of the total soil phosphorus (P) is not available for uptake due to its rapid immobilization by soil organic and inorganic components (Von Uexküll and Mutert, 1995; Whitelaw, 2000). Phosphorus is limiting for crop yield on over 30% of the world's arable land, and by some estimates, world resources of inexpensive rock phosphate may be depleted by 2050 (Vance et al., 2003). The lack of inexpensive P has been recognized as a potential future crisis in agriculture (Abelson, 1999). In consideration of the trend toward sustainability and environmental stewardship, P has been a key nutrient in maintaining long-term productivity of agricultural systems (Iyamuremye and Dick, 1996).
Organic phosphorus plays a vital role in the P cycle of agricultural soils (Dalal, 1977). Anywhere from 30% to 80% of soil P occurs in organic form, which, after mineralization, can contribute considerably to the P nutrition of plants (Bieleski, 1973; Dalal, 1977). Natural efficient acquisition and utilization of organic phosphorus requires a class of endogenous enzymes known as phosphatases (Duff et al., 1994). Acid phosphatase are one form of phosphatase capable of hydrolysing P from orthophosphate monoesters (Duff et al., 1994). One of the adaptive changes of plants under low-Pi conditions is the increased synthesis and secretion of APases (Goldstein et al., 1988; Goldstein et al., 1988; Wasaki et al., 1999; Haran et al., 2000; Wasaki et al., 2000). Plant APases are involved in many biological processes such as providing P during seed germination from stored phytate, internal remobilization of P, release of P from soil organic P-esters and the synthesis of glycolate from P-glycolate (Vance et al., 2003). However, the relative importance of these enzymes for plant P nutrition has yet to be determined (Tomscha et al., 2004).
Although many acid phosphatase genes have been identified in plants based on sequence analysis (Schenk et al., 2000; Li et al., 2002), only a limited number of APase genes have been characterized in any detail (del Pozo et al., 1999; Wasaki et al., 1999; Haran et al., 2000; Baldwin et al., 2001; Miller et al., 2001). The type 5 APase gene (AtACP5) from Arabidopsis (del Pozo et al., 1999) and a Pi starvation-induced APase gene (LePS2) from tomato (Baldwin et al., 2001) were implicated in internal P remobilization. The two genes were highly inducible in roots and shoots under Pi-deficient conditions, while no accumulation of transcripts was detected in either roots or shoots under Pi-sufficient conditions (del Pozo et al., 1999; Baldwin et al., 2001). The transcript of the membrane-bound form of APases (LASAP1) from white lupin (Wasaki et al., 1999) was detected at its highest levels in roots and shoots under Pi-deficient conditions, although much lower levels of transcript were also detectable in roots and shoots under Pi-sufficient conditions (Wasaki et al., 1999; Miller et al., 2001). The mRNAs of the secretory forms of APase from white lupin were only detectable in roots under Pi-deficient conditions, while no transcript was detected in roots and shoots under Pi-sufficient conditions (Wasaki et al., 2000; Miller et al., 2001; Wasaki et al., 2003).
Due to the general phenomenon of APase secretion under P stress and the positive correlation between APase activity and P uptake reported in some studies (Goldstein et al., 1988; Helal, 1990; Asmar et al., 1995; Haran et al., 2000; Wasaki et al., 2000), the role of increased secretion of APase to liberate P from organic sources in the soil has been discussed (Tarafdar and Claassen, 1988; Duff et al., 1994). However, some comparative studies between genotypes or recombinant lines have produced results showing a negative or no relationship between root APase activity and P uptake under Pi stress (McLachlan, 1980; Hunter and McManus, 1999; Yan et al., 2001). For example, it has been shown that a major gene contributing to APase activity in common bean was not associated with P acquisition efficiency and P use efficiency (Yan et al., 2001).
The conflicting results may be due to substantial heterogeneity among APases with regards to their kinetic properties and subcellular locations, and various APases may have distinct metabolic functions. As pointed out by Duff et al. (1994), the diversity and ubiquity of plant APases make a consensus on their precise physiological and biochemical roles difficult to achieve. Perhaps because of this, there has not been any report on improving P uptake by overexpression of plant APase.
While the studies to date have furthered understanding of phosphorous utilization, methods for increasing soil phosphorous uptake have been lacking. There is a great need for the identification of such methods due to the depletion of natural phosphorous sources and because of the significant deleterious effects of phosphorous depletion on agricultural productivity. Applications of phosphorous-rich fertilizers can also create run off polluting water sources. The identification of methods of increasing phosphorous uptake would therefore represent a significant benefit to agriculture and the environment alike.

Plants with increased phosphorous uptake


A method of creating a mathematical model which is employed in the determination of at least one work location in a multi-layered laminated circuit panel. The mathematical model for modifying drill data takes into consideration translational and rotational compensations caused by the encountered stretching or shrinking of the multi-layered panel subsequent to pressing or due to thermally processing, whereby the mathematical model may be utilized to modify drill data in order to accurately predict hole or via locations.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of creating a mathematical model which is employed in the determination of at least one work location in a multi-layered laminated circuit panel. More particularly, the invention is directed to the creation of a mathematical model for modifying drill data which takes into consideration translational and rotational compensations caused by the encountered stretching or shrinking of the multi-layered panel subsequent to pressing or due to thermally processing, whereby the mathematical model may be utilized to modify drill data in order to accurately predict hole or via locations.
In the implementation of pressing and/or thermal processes employed in producing multi-layered panels for semiconductor packages, such panels frequently will stretch or shrink in non-uniformly translational and rotational aspects, and consequently may be the source of erroneous locations in the formation of holes or vias which are drilled into the panels, thereby rendering the panels unsuitable for installation in electronic packages, and subjecting the processes to economic losses for the manufactures.
At times, such positional errors in the formation of fiducial holes or vias and slots by means of laser drilling are encountered when utilizing the same machine, such as a drilling apparatus, with the same drilling location set up. Currently, the only translational compensation which is incorporated into the drilling data for drill machines employed in forming holes or vias in panels, such as those for electronic packages or printed circuits, fail to provide any integrated vision systems. This renders any corrections for distortions encountered in the multi-layered panels to be difficult to attain so as to be able to compensate precisely for distortional stretching or shrinkage conditions which are encountered during the pressing or thermal processing of the panels prior to effectuating their drilling.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
Although numerous publications are presently available, which direct themselves to providing for various types of error compensations, such through the utilization of algorithms and various mathematical programs adapted to compensate for misalignments and distortions in multi-layered printed circuit boards or panels in order to optimize hole or via drill positions, none of these have been able to adequately precisely overcome the distortion problems which are encountered, inasmuch as there is no accounting for encountered dimensional stability problems or compensation factor calculations in both translational and rotational position error considerations.
Whitcomb et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,030,154 uses a search algorithm to find better holes locations; in fact, tries to find new location in the local of the existing one. However, while establishing change increment, it will vary only to scale shrinkage/growth about the panel center on either x- or y-direction (not both) along with other parameters: i.e. x and y translation, and rotation about the panel center. That means, the patent will establish a change increment in a matrix combination of either (Tx, Ty, Sx, rotation) or (Tx, Ty, Sy, rotation).
To the contrary, the present invention employs an exact mathematical model to predict the better locations for the holes. The model includes translation and scaling (on both x- and y-directions) and rotational compensations, however, the term "rotation" in applicant's disclosure means the change of the angle between two parallel lines after completion of the pressing processes.
Since U.S. Pat. No. 6,030,154 uses a numerical search algorithm, the obtained results cannot be used to modify the data file before importing into a drill machine, but must be manually input by the operators to the drill machine's controllers.
In the present disclosure, the resulting compensation factors can be very easily used to modify the data file before importing into the drill machine, for instance, such as to write a simple program that can modify every single point's coordinates using the exact mathematical model.
Forehand et al U.S. Pat. No. 5,710,063 discloses a method to prepare fiducials on a panel, whereby an optically-aligned drill, such as Dynamotion Drill with "Smart Drill" option, is positioned over the panel and adapted to precisely align the bit of the drill with these fiducials. This is not relevant to the present disclosure.
Kosmowski et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,529,441 differs from the present invention in that different mathematical modes are used to predict hole location; in effect, the patent uses the least squares best fit, while a simple mathematical model is used in my disclosure. In the patent, each panel is being analyzed to determine the compensation factors and drilled with modified data on the same apparatus. Statistical data gathering from a batch of panels is suggested to be used for improving other process registrations, such as lamination registration. To the contrary, in the present invention a batch of panels is being analyzed to determine the compensation factors. Drill data is then modified and fed into drill machines that do not have an integrated vision system to drill the panels.
Amman et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,206,820 discloses a method adapted to analyze panel misregistration in a printed circuit board. It requires a mean to align the center of the panel with the center of the master pattern etched on a glass reference. Then the detected corner offsets of the panel are measured and transformed into eight primary parameters, which are directional shifts Δx and Δy, rotation with respect to center of the panel θ, directional distortions α and β, shear γ, and directional expansions εx and εy. In fact, these eight parameters are the coefficient or a combination of the coefficients of the models:U=ao+a1x+a2y+a3xy, V=bo+b1x+b2y+b3yx. where U and V are the horizontal and vertical displacements of the detected corners. A set of these eight primary parameters collected from a sampling of panels selected from a manufacturing lot is then used to calculate advanced parameters. Such advanced parameters including the average, the standard deviation, and the range of the primary parameters are claimed as critical means to analyze panel misregistration.
Thus, this patent uses different mathematical models to understand the probable causes of panel misregistration, whereas the method of the present invention to modify data due to the shrinkage/stretch of the panels.
Araki U.S. Pat. No. 5,223,536 pertains to a method of perforating a printed circuit board with a pair of perforating devices. The distance between the two perforating devices is adjusted to be equal to the actual distance of two patterns on the panel, which is detected by an image processing device. Then the two perforating devices perforate the printed circuit board at the same time. Thus, this patent is completely irrelevant to the present inventive concept.
Alzmann et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,829,375 is directed to a method and apparatus for automatically punching tooling slots or holes into a panel. The apparatus employs a vision system to locate two fiducial marks on the panel, wherein the vision system defines references for the fiducial targets and preset reference. A positioning system moves the panel to position the fiducial marks on the panel directly in relationship to the preset references. After the positioning operation, tooling slots or holes are punched on the panel. Thus, this patent has nothing in common with the present invention.
Zachman et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,111,406 discloses a method that engages a fixture on a multi-layered panel. The fixture is carefully prepared with fixture holes that correspond to the locations of the fiducial pads on layers of the panels. The patented apparatus uses x-rays to capture at the same time, coordinates of the measured locations of the fiducial pads on a multi-layered panel and coordinates of the ideal locations of the fixture holes. These coordinates from a sample of panels are then analyzed by a "Best Fit algorithm".
The offsets are fitted to produce a single offset value that may be sent to a drilling machine to determine a position for drilled holes in the panel. Thus, unlike the present invention, this patent mainly discusses the method and apparatus used to determine the fitted offsets that are added to each of the ideal drill coordinates. In addition, it is not known as to how the "Best Fit algorithm" actually works, and in any case ha nothing in common with the present invention.
Hale et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,123,695 is directed to a method using a vision system to automatically position the drill bit to a desired location; therefore, is completely irreverent to the present invention.
Wilent et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,790,694 discloses a method and apparatus intended to determine locations of three fiducial marks on a multi-layered printed circuit board prior to drilling. The patent employs the best least square fit to minimize any misaligning between four target areas on the board and the precisely located target holes on a template. After optimization, three fiducial marks are punched along one edge of the board. These three fiducial marks are then used to position the board in a drilling apparatus.
Japanese Patent JP 3136708 discloses a method of employing an image pickup device to obtain the coordinates of register marks at several positions in a work piece, then boring process will be adapted to geometrical distortions of the workpiece.
Finally, European Patent EPO 669792 is primarily a European version of U.S. Pat. No. 5,529,441 to Kosmowski et al., and the comments directed thereto are equally applicable to the European patent.

Model for modifying drill data to predict hole locations in a panel structure

International Business Machines Corporation


A credential production device is provided. The credential production device includes a card holder. The card holder includes a housing having a base and a card press. The card press is configured to apply a load to a top card of a stack of cards supported above the base. The load includes a perpendicular load component oriented perpendicularly to the base and having a magnitude that increases as a thickness of the stack of cards decreases.

Credentials include, for example, identification cards, driver's licenses, passports, and other valuable documents. Such credentials are formed from credential substrates including paper substrates, plastic substrates, cards and other materials. Such credentials generally include printed information, such as a photo, account numbers, identification numbers, and other personal information that is printed on the credential substrates using a print consumable, such as ink and ribbon.
Credential production devices process credential substrates by performing at least one step in forming a final credential product. One type of credential production device is a reverse-image credential printing device. Reverse-image credential production devices generally include a printing section and an image transfer section. The printing section utilizes an intermediate transfer film or transfer ribbon, a print ribbon and a printhead. The printhead is typically a thermal printhead that operates to heat different colored dye panels of a thermal print ribbon to transfer the colored dye from the print ribbon to a panel of transfer film to form the image thereon. After the printed image on the transfer film is registered with a substrate, a heated transfer roller of the image transfer section transfers the image from the transfer film or transfer ribbon to a surface of the substrate.
Conventional reverse-image credential printing devices are typically large, cumbersome and complicated machines where improvements to these types of machines are in continuous demand. For example, there is a continuous demand for improving the process by which credential substrates are fed from a substrate holder at a substrate input along a substrate feed path to a substrate output or substrate hopper such that a substrate is not misfed in a credential production device.
Embodiments of the present invention provide solutions to these and other problems, and offer other advantages over the prior art.

Card holder for a credential production device


The invention relates to a dry deposit as a precursor to liposome vesicles, the precursor being a three dimensional expanded structure with bulk density between 0.01 and 0.001 g/cm.sup.3. The invention also concerns a method of making liposome vesicles with an enhanced entrapment capacity by dissolving one or more film forming lipids in at least one organic solvent to form a solution in a reaction vessel, evaporating the solvent to form an expanded three dimensional porous lipid structure, contacting the lipid deposit with an aqueous carrier phase, and producing liposome vesicles entrapping the carrier phase as well as an apparatus comprising an array of tubing or an inert packing which serves as a material support or a matrix surface for the deposition of lipids produced according to the method.

Liposomes vesicles whose binding envelope consists of bi- or multilayer of lipid molecules have been long recognised as drug delivery systems which can improve therapeutic and diagnostic effectiveness of many drugs and contrast agents. Experiments with a number of different antibiotics and X-ray contrast agents have shown that better therapeutic activity or better contrast with a higher level of safety may be achieved by encapsulating drugs and contrast agents with liposomes. Great interest in liposomes as encapsulating systems for drugs has revealed that a successful development and commercialisation of such products requires reproducible methods of large scale production of lipid vesicles with suitable characteristics. Consequently, a search for methods which will consistently produce liposome vesicles of the required size and concentration, size distribution and entrapping capacity regardless of the nature of lipid mixture have been initiated. Such methods ought to provide liposomes with consistent active substance to lipid ratio while respecting currently accepted good manufacturing practices. As a result of the search, and due to the fact that the liposome behaviour can vary substantially with various production parameters, many different methods of manufacture have been proposed so far.
Conventional liposome preparation methods include a number of steps in which multi- or the bilayer-forming components (phospholipids or mixtures of phospholipids with other lipids e.g. cholesterol) are dissolved in a volatile organic solvent or solvent mixture in a round bottom flask followed by evaporation of the solvent under conditions (temperature and pressure) which will prevent phase separation. Upon solvent removal, a dry lipid mixture, usually in form of a film deposit on the walls of the reactor, is hydrated with an aqueous medium which may contain dissolved buffers, salts, conditioning agents and an active substance to be entrapped. Liposomes will form in the hydration step whereby a proportion of the aqueous medium becomes encapsulated in the liposomes. The hydration can be performed with or without energising the solution by means of stirring, sonication or microfluidisation with subsequent extrusion through one or more polycarbonate filters. The free non-encapsulated active substance can be separated for recovery and the product is filtered, sterilised, optionally lyophilised, and packed.
Hydration, more than any other step, influences the type of liposomes formed (size, number of lipid layers, entrapped volume). The nature of the dried lipid, its surface area, and its porosity are of particular importance. Thus it has been established that the hydration and entrapping process are most efficient when the film of dry lipids is kept thin. This means that greater the lipid quantity, greater the surface for deposition of the lipids is required, it also means that even though glass beads and other inert insoluble particles are used to increase the surface area available for film deposition, the thin film method remains largely a laboratory method.
Other methods of making liposomes involving injection of an organic solutions of lipids into an aqueous medium with continuous removal of solvent, use of spray drying, lyophilization, microemulsification and microfluidization, etc. have been proposed a number of publications or patents such as for example U.S. Pat. No. 4,529,561, U.S. Pat. No. 4,572,425, etc.
An attempt to solve problems of the scale-up of liposome production has been described in the U.S. Pat. No. 4,935,171 (Vestar). There is disclosed a method for preparing liposomes in commercial quantities by forming a homogeneous and uniform lipid film in a thin film evaporator through evaporation of the organic solvent. After drying of the thin lipid film which is formed on the inner wall of the evaporator, the deposit is in situ hydrated with an aqueous phase under agitation provided by the rotor. Although the solution proposed in this document seems to be a step in the right direction the lipid film surface to the reactor volume ratio is only slightly, if not marginally, better than that of the round-bottom flasks used on laboratory scale. The reactor's space time yield or productivity is still far too low for the process to be economically sound and competitive.
Different aspects of the liposome manufacturing have been addressed and a number of improvements and different solutions to the problem of scale-up have been proposed. Documents such as for example WO-A-86/00238, WO-A-87/00043, U.S. Pat. No. 4,737,323, U.S. Pat. No. 4,753,788, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,781,871 have suggested use of rapid freezing of previously prepared multi lamellar vesicles with subsequent freeze and thaw treatment to improve their entrapment capacity, use of extrusion technique of multilamellar liposomes to improve their size distribution, etc.
So far there has been no suggestion towards a large scale industrial method whose control of production parameters will allow reproducible process in which large volumes of liquid will be processed within a relatively small reactor space. All known processes of pilot or industrial scale would, typically, be linked to small batches in which processing of large volumes of dilute liposome solutions would require a lot of floor and reactor space as well as handling of large volumes of solutions and solvents. In reality due to relatively low space time yields or productivity of reactors these methods are too cumbersome and far too costly for a large scale commercial production.


An electrical power tap connector for a model vehicle is provided including a first power tap housing. The first power tap housing contains a power tap terminal configured to electrically couple with a connector terminal of an electrical connector. The power tap connector also includes a second power tap housing releasably securable to the first power tap housing and a releasable locking mechanism configured to physically secure the power tap connector to the electrical connector. Wherein the power tap terminal is configured to electrically couple with the connector terminal via a non-mating end of the electrical connector.

The following descriptions and examples are not admitted to be prior art by virtue of their inclusion in this section.
In the Radio Controlled (RC) model vehicle industry, optional equipment such as lighting, vehicle winches, and other accessories, may require a source of low current power for use in auxiliary circuits. RC model vehicles typically have a single supply of stored power, a battery pack with an attached high current electrical connector. This high current connector is typically attached to an Electronic Speed Control (ESC). The ESC may provide a source of low current power to the radio receiver and attached servos through the use of a Battery Elimination Circuit (BEC). In addition, the ESC may also provide a source of high current power to the RC model vehicle motor.
However, it can be difficult connecting to existing or earlier generations of electrical connectors and wiring harnesses. The connectors and harnesses are typically designed to a set of very specific requirements suitable for a particular application. For example, the high current connector from the battery pack will generally comprise only two higher current capacity wires. In order to obtain a source of optional low current power for additional or accessory equipment, a user would have to cut and splice lower current capacity wires into the existing high current wire harnesses. For an inexperienced user, this could result in potential reliability problems as the waterproof nature of an RC model vehicle may be compromised and/or the intermittent loss of power from the lack of a robust and appropriate solder or splice joint between the power tap wires and the existing harnesses.


A hetero crystalline structure consisting of semiconductor materials of a zincblende-structure and wurtzite-structure. For example, formed on a semiconductor substrate having a crystal face of (100) of the zincblende structure is a semiconductor material of the wurtzite-structure in its bulk state as a film of the same zincblende-structure as the semiconductor substrate.

The present invention relates to a hetero crystalline structure and a semiconductor device using it. This hetero crystalline structure is applied to a semiconductor device using a hetero-junction such as a semiconductor laser device.
As disclosed in "Proceedings of the 29th spring meeting of the Japan Society of Applied Physics and related societies (The Japan Society of Applied Physics, Tokyo, 1892)" 4p-E-5, p748, by Hiroshi Kukimoto, a compound semiconductor and alloy semiconductor have two crystalline structure types a zincblende-structure and a wurtzite-structure, but most of the crystals actually used in a semiconductor device are of the zincblende-structure. On the other hand, many of the wurtzite-structure crystals have a wide bandgap so that they are expected to be used as materials of a visible-light-emitting laser, etc.
An object of the present invention is to provide a hetero crystalline structure constructed of semiconductor materials of the zincblende-structure and the wurtzite structure in their bulk state and a semiconductor device using this.

Hetero crystalline structure and semiconductor device using it