An Error Control Code (ECC) apparatus may include a control signal generator that generates an ECC control signal based on channel information. The ECC apparatus also may include: a plurality of ECC encoding controllers that output data respectively inputted via storage elements corresponding to the ECC control signal; and/or an encoding unit that encodes, using a plurality of data outputted from the plurality of ECC encoding controllers, encoding input data into a number of subdata corresponding to the ECC control signal. In addition or in the alternative, the ECC apparatus may include: a plurality of ECC decoding controllers that output data respectively inputted via the storage elements corresponding to the ECC control signal; and/or a decoding unit that decodes, using a plurality of data outputted from the plurality of ECC decoding controllers, a number of decoding input data corresponding to the ECC control signal into one piece of output data.

1. Field
Example embodiments relate to Error Control Codes (ECC). Also, example embodiments relate to ECC apparatuses and methods that may control a number of storage elements, depending on an error level generated in a channel using an I-interleaved coding scheme, and may control ECC performance.
2. Description of Related Art
When error levels generated in a channel are different, an Error Control Code (ECC) structure optimized depending on an error level is generally embodied.
Specifically, when the error level generated in the channel is low, a desired level of performance may be realized by an ECC of a simple structure having a low error correction capability. However, when the error level generated in the channel is high, an ECC structure having a high error correction capability and high-level complexity is required to realize the desired level of performance.
Generally, as a coding scheme having a high interleaving level is used, an error correction capability is increased. However, complexity and latency are increased and a code rate is decreased. Also, as a coding scheme having a low interleaving level is used, the error correction capability is decreased. However, complexity and latency are decreased and the code rate is increased.
Accordingly, when the error level generated in the channel is high, the coding scheme having the high interleaving level may be generally used, and when the error level generated in the channel is low, the coding scheme having the low interleaving level may be generally used.
However, since an ECC calculation is performed using a high-level interleaved coding scheme regardless of the error level of the channel changed when an interleaving level is fixedly used while the error level generated in the channel is high, latency is unnecessarily increased when the error level of the channel is lowered. Also, since unnecessarily redundant data transmission is required, a ratio of an information amount to a total code length, that is, the code rate is unnecessarily lowered.
Also, several structures may be configured together in order to use an ECC structure using a low-level interleaved coding scheme when the error level generated in the channel is low, and to use an ECC structure using the high-level interleaved coding scheme when the error level generated in the channel is high. However, complexity of a circuit is increased in this case.
Also, it is well-known that a correction capability of a continuous bit error corresponding to a burst error is increased when an interleaved coding scheme is generally used.
Accordingly, an ECC apparatus and method which can control a number of storage elements depending on an error level generated in a channel using an I-interleaved coding scheme, and control ECC performance is required.

Error control code apparatuses and methods of using the same


The combination of an organic peroxide, a platinum-containing hydrosilation catalyst that is encapsulated within microparticles of a thermoplastic silicone resin, and acetylenic alcohol as the platinum catalyst inhibitor imparts a unique and desirable combination of properties to organosiloxane compositions curable by a platinum-catalyzed hydrosilylation reaction when the compositions contain a gum-type organopolysiloxane as the major ingredient. The compositions have long term storage stability and cure completely when molded. Cured articles molded from the compositions exhibit excellent mold release properties together with the absence of scorching, mold staining and surface tackiness.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to curable organosiloxane compositions. More particularly, this invention relates to organosiloxane compositions containing as the main ingredient a high consistency, gum polyorganosiloxane. The present compositions are particularly suitable for processing by extrusion molding and by pressure-molding techniques such as press molding, transfer molding, and injection molding. The compositions are characterized by an absence of mold staining in combination with a resistance to scorching, good mold release and long term storage stability.
2. Background Information
Organosiloxane compositions characterized by those skilled in the art as millable typically contain as the major organosiloxane ingredient at least one gum organopolysiloxane. The molding methods generally chosen for these millable organosiloxane compositions are extrusion molding and pressure-molding methods such as press molding, transfer molding, and injection molding. The curing agents typically used in these moldable compositions are organic peroxides. The advantages associated with the use of these curing agents are excellent storage stability in the vicinity of room temperature and a relatively long working time at elevated temperatures, which facilitates fabrication of these compositions using conventional molding techniques.
Curable compositions containing organic peroxides have some disadvantages when used in pressure molding applications. These disadvantages include poor mold release properties, resulting in cracking or tearing of the rubber during demolding, and mold staining due to incomplete curing in the regions adjacent to the molding's parting line. Mold staining is believed to result from an inhibition of curing by atmospheric oxygen.
Disadvantages associated with extrusion molding of high-consistency peroxide curable organosiloxane compositions include development of surface tackiness which, like mold staining, is due to an inhibition of curing at the molding's surface by atmospheric oxygen. A dusting agent such as talc is typically used to prevent surface tackiness.
The methods that have been proposed to improve mold release include addition to curable organosiloxane composition of any of a variety of internal release agents such as fatty acid metal salts such as zinc stearate and calcium stearate. This remedy does not provide a basic or fundamental solution to such problems as the poor vulcanization in the vicinity of the molding's parting line and surface tackiness.
Another method that has been used to cure both high consistency and liquid curable organosiloxane compositions is a hydrosilation reaction between an polyorganosiloxane containing at least two vinyl or other ethylenically unsaturated hydrocarbon radicals and an organohydrogensiloxane. This reaction is typically catalyzed by platinum metal and platinum compounds. One of the problems associated with this type of curable composition is the relatively short storage time of compositions containing all of the reactive ingredients, even when known platinum catalyst inhibitors are present in the curable composition.
The use of organic peroxides to accelerate curing of organosiloxane compositions that cure by a platinum-catalyzed hydrosilylation reaction is taught in U.S. Pat. No. 3,922,355, which issued to Itoh et al on Nov. 19, 1976. These compositions also contain hydrazine as a platinum catalyst inhibitor to extend the useful working time of the composition.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,329,275, which issued to Hatanaka et al. on May 11, 1982 teaches the use of small amounts of organic peroxides in combination with specified platinum/phosphorus complexes. The peroxide inhibits curing of the composition at room temperature while increasing the activity of the platinum catalyst at the elevated temperatures used to cure the composition.
The use of vinyl-specific organic peroxides to improve the compression set exhibited by elastomers prepared from liquid organosiloxane compositions that cure by a platinum-catalyzed hydrosilation reaction is taught in U.S. Pat. No. 4,929,669, which issued to Jensen on May 29, 1990.
The present inventors discovered that when concentrations of peroxide larger than those disclosed in the aforementioned patent to Hatanaka et al. are present in the curable composition, a considerable amount of scorching occurs at even relatively low molding temperatures.
The use of encapsulated platinum-containing hydrosilation catalysts in place of conventional catalyst inhibitors to inhibit curing of organosiloxane compositions at temperatures of from 25 to about 40 degrees C. is taught in U.S. Pat. No. 4,481,341, which issued to Schlak et al. on Nov. 6, 1984. The shortcoming of the catalysts disclosed by Schlak is that the presence of even very small amounts of the platinum catalyst on the surface of the particles of encapsulated catalyst is sufficient to adversely affect the long-term storage stability of the composition.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,017,654 which issued on May 21, 1991 to Togashi and Saruyama teaches using actylenic compounds and certain alkenyl-functional organosiloxane compounds as platinum catalyst inhibitors to improve the storage stability of compositions containing encapsulated platinum catalysts.
An objective of this invention is to eliminate the disadvantages associated with using more than about 0.1 weight percent, based on curable organopolysiloxane, of organic peroxides in organosiloxane compositions curable by a platinum-catalyzed hydrosilation reaction when these compositions are used in applications requiring molding.

Curable organosiloxane compositions exhibiting reduced mold staining and scorching


An antenna system includes plural antennas. Each antenna is different than every other antenna. Each antenna is characterized by a principal plane. A principal plane of a first antenna is oblique to a principal plane of a second antenna. The first antenna includes a first insulating substrate extending in the principal plane of the first antenna. The first antenna further includes a first radiating element and a connected first conductor and includes a second radiating element and a connected second conductor. The first antenna further includes a coupling conductor coupling the second radiating element and the first conductor. The first antenna further includes a first coupler having a first signal conductor and a second signal conductor. The first signal conductor is coupled to the second conductor, and the second signal conductor is coupled to the first radiating element.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to antenna systems. In particular, the invention relates to broadband omni directional antenna systems.
2. Description of Related Art
Known omni directional systems radiate to provide 360 degree coverage on a plane with elevations plus or minus of the plane. Very few truly omni directional antenna systems are known to create coverage in three dimensions on a unit sphere. Difficulties are encountered that include, for example, the feed point through the sphere causes distortion of the radiation pattern, metal structures near the antenna cause reflections that distort the radiation pattern, and the individual radiating element of an antenna inherently does not produce a spherical radiation pattern. In addition, providing a spherical radiation pattern over a broad band of frequencies can be extremely difficult. Antenna structures intended to shape the radiation pattern at one frequency can cause distortion in the radiation pattern at another frequency.


An approach for a transconductance cell for use in a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) is provided. The transconductance cell includes a first NFET stack connected in series to a first PFET stack. The transconductance cell includes a second NFET stack connected in series to a second PFET stack. The first NFET stack and the first PFET stack are cross-coupled to the second NFET stack and the second PFET stack. The first NFET stack and the second NFET stack are connected to a tail node. The first PFET stack and the second PFET stack are connected to a power supply node.

In general, a VCO (voltage controlled oscillator) is an oscillator circuit that outputs an AC signal having a frequency that varies in response to an input control voltage. VCOs are fundamental components that are employed in a broad range of applications including radar and communications systems (e.g., wireline or wireless applications) for data transfer and recovery processes. By way of example, VCOs are utilized for PLL (phase locked loop) circuits, DLL (delay locked loop) circuits, or injection locked oscillators. VCOs are further employed for applications such as frequency translation, data modulation, clock distribution and clock/data recovery. There are many different types of VCOs, with one type being an LC-VCO that includes an inductor-capacitor (LC) oscillator (also called a resonator).
Phase noise is instantaneous variations in the frequency of oscillation in LC-VCOs and is related to intrinsic properties of the devices such as: flicker noise and thermal noise of transistors, and the Q factor of inductor-capacitor network. Phase noise can also be caused by various loss elements, such as resistances which may vary with variations of temperature, load, and processing. Phase noise directly affects signal jitter, which is undesirable for clock signal applications.


A method of simulating operating conditions of a telecommunication system including computing at least one value of an interference parameter of at least one mobile transceiver, the interference parameter being indicative of an amount of interference affecting a communication between the mobile transceiver and an associated radio base station, identifying radio base stations and mobile transceivers that generate a significant amount of interference affecting the communication, and selecting data of radio base stations and mobile transceivers identified during the identification step for an execution of the computing step.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of simulating operating conditions of a telecommunication system including a plurality of radio base stations and a plurality of mobile transceivers.
2. Discussion of the Background
Such methods are currently used for optimizing, before actual physical implementation of a telecommunication system, a deployment of radio base stations forming a network in the system and a design of a decision-making network infrastructure to manage the network in order to define a telecommunication system that provides optimal communication service at the lowest possible cost.
Some simulation methods, known as mapping methods and currently used for optimizing GSM-type telecommunication systems, often referred to as 2G (second generation) systems, generate best-server maps showing geographical coverage areas, each area forming a cell including a single base station to assess the coverage of the system, following a general principle that if a mobile transceiver is located within a cell and if the associated base station is not saturated, the mobile transceiver will be provided with a satisfactory communication service.
An assessment of quality of service in UMTS-type telecommunication systems, often referred to as 3G (third generation) systems, cannot be accurately obtained by means of a method as described above, mainly because 3G systems do not perform a frequency planning as is done in 2G systems, where two different mobile transceivers located in a same geographical area are allocated two different communication frequencies to minimize interference between the mobile transceivers. In 3G systems, no such frequency planning is performed, so that communication interference between mobile transceivers can and will occur, which will adversely affect the quality of each ongoing communication to an extent which varies from one mobile transceiver to another according to the specific situation of each mobile transceiver, which extent cannot be predicted by means of the above-mentioned described methods.
Another known simulation method, usually referred to as Monte-Carlo method, mainly consists in generating a plurality of snapshots, each being descriptive of a predetermined, random-generated situation of the system. Each snapshot then shows the location of all mobile transceivers of the system in the corresponding situation, the base stations with which the mobile transceivers are communicating, and a level of power each mobile transceiver is applying to its ongoing communication, which enables to deduce the amount of interference the mobile transceiver generates for other mobile transceivers located in its vicinity, and thus the extent to which interference generated by other mobile transceivers adversely affects each single mobile transceiver in each random-generated situation. The operation of such a method is described, among others, in European Patent Application EP 1 148 658 A1.
The Monte-Carlo method hence enables to establish, for each random-generated situation, the number of mobile transceivers to which a satisfactory communication service is provided, and enables statistical assessment of the overall communication quality offered by the simulated system.
The amount of interference affecting each communication between a given mobile transceiver and an associated radio base station is represented by a value of an interference parameter, for example a signal-to-noise ratio, which is computed, in the known art, by means of complex formula which take into account all other communications simultaneously going on in the whole simulated telecommunication system, because of the lack of frequency planning in 3G systems.
Such formula can for example be expressed as follows:
For each mobile transceiver MSi, a signal-to-noise ratio SINRi,j representing the amount of interference affecting a communication involving the mobile transceiver MSi and generated by communications going on in a cell Cellj including a radio base station BSj is given by:
            SINR              i        ,        j              =                            P                      Ti            ,                          j              .                                                        G                      i            ,            j                                                N          0                +                              ∑                          l              ≠              j                                                                    ∑                              k                ∉                                  Cell                                                                                j                                                                                P                                  Tk                  ,                                      j                    .                                                                                G                                  i                  ,                  j                                                                    +                  α                                                                          MS            ·            β            ·                                          ∑                                  k                  ∈                                      Cell                                                                                j                                                                                P                                      Tk                    ,                                          j                      .                                                                                G                                      i                    ,                    j                                                                                ,
where PTij represents an amount of power transmitted by the radio base station BSj to the mobile transceiver MSi, Gij represents a coupling loss between the mobile transceiver MSi and the radio base station BSj., N0 represents a predetermined noise value, αMS represents an interference removal factor and β represents a channel orthogonality factor.
The overall signal-to-noise ratio SINRi representing the amount of interference affecting the communication involving the mobile transceiver MSi and generated by all communications going on in all other cells of the telecommunication system is then given by:
      SINR    i    =            ∑              All                                                  j                                SINR                  i          ,          j                    .
It is easily understood that a computation of interference parameters such as the signal-to-noise ratios described above will require a huge amount of computing power, since the 3G telecommunication systems to be realistically simulated will typically involve thousands of radio base stations and hundred of thousands of mobile transceivers. Moreover, all values involved in such a computating step, like coupling loss values Gij and transmitted power values PTij, have to be stored in a memory and read during the execution of the computing step, which, again because of the enormous quantity of those values, will require huge memory space and processing power for performing all necessary read/write operations.
The present invention aims at ameliorating the above-mentioned problems, by providing a method of simulating operating conditions of a telecommunication system, which method requires less computing power and less memory space than currently used methods.

Method of simulating operating conditions of a telecommunication system requiring a limited amount of computing power


A method and apparatus of labeling cylindrical articles feeds labels onto a label drum. The labels have a formed curl such that the leading edge tends to curl away from the surface of the label drum. The article is fed onto the label drum and wrapped by engaging the article with the leading edge of the label and then wrapping the article. An uncut label web can be fed over an edge to impart the desired curl to the label web. The label web is then cut into labels, which are fed onto the label drum. Also, the tension of the label over the edge can be varied so as to vary the amount of curl imparted to the label.

It is known to label containers by wrap-around labeling using an adhesive on the trailing and leading edges. An article is fed on a label drum and engages the leading edge of the label. The article is wrapped until the trailing edge overlaps the leading edge. Because of the recycling demands common in many parts of the world (sometimes even required by law), bottles and containers are recycled or reused. When these containers are recycled or reused, the old label is stripped from the container. Because the leading edge of the label may have been secured by an adhesive onto the container, after label stripping, often a residue of adhesive from the leading edge is retained on the container, making subsequent labeling difficult. It is now known that some labeling applications use a minimum amount of adhesive and sometimes even no adhesive on the trailing edge and the medial portion located between the trailing and leading edges. Such applications could include a glueless leading edge process where no adhesive is contained on the leading edge and air pressure blows the label around the article. Other methods could include electrostatic attraction, wet adhesion using the capillary action, and the application of a minimum amount of adhesive. In any method, however, at times it is difficult to label an article because the leading edge of the label tends to be biased away from the article.
It would be advantageous if such labeling methods described above could overcome the deficiencies where the leading edge does not adequately retain on the article. The application of such a system could be used with a glueless leading edge having an air blow for assisting the leading edge of the label against the article, electrostatic labeling, wet adhesion where moisture and water is applied onto the article or label to help retain the label onto the article, or an adhesive system where adhesive may be applied onto the leading and trailing edges.

Method and apparatus of labeling cylindrical articles with label having formed curl


The present invention enables ultrasonic propagation time values after correction of refraction to be calculated in parallel for each receive channel, by using a recurrence relation in the depth direction. Moreover, accumulation of errors can be avoided by using an accurate propagation time value obtained in advance at a reference depth to correct the propagation time value each time the reference depth is reached. For this error correction, the recurrence relation to calculate the propagation time value can be an approximate expression. For example, the propagation time value can be calculated using the inclination of reference propagation time values between reference depths. In an actual circuit, received signals are sequentially stored in a memory, and a receive beam is formed by calculating an address position corresponding to the propagation time value of the ultrasonic wave, and adding the received signals stored in the calculated addresses.

Since ultrasonic waves do not cause exposure and are basically non-invasive, ultrasonic image diagnosis is widely used. Particularly in recent years, the delay time generated for forming an ultrasonic beam can be easily controlled at high precision because of the advancement of digitization of ultrasonic imaging apparatuses. By this, a high quality biological tomographic image can be obtained using a compact apparatus, which is used for the diagnosis of each area. In addition to an ultrasonic echo diagnostic apparatus which irradiates ultrasonic waves onto a subject, receives the echo and generates an image thereof, a photoacoustic imaging apparatus which irradiates pulsed lights and receives photoacoustic waves (ultrasonic waves) generated inside the subject, and generates an image thereof, has also been proposed.
In conventional ultrasonic imaging apparatuses, delay time control, for forming an ultrasonic beam, is often performed based on the assumption that an ultrasonic wave propagates through a medium of which sound velocity is constant. On the other hand, if a material of which sound velocity is different from a biological tissue, that is a subject, such as a stationary plate for securing an acoustic lens layer on the surface of an ultrasonic probe and the biological tissue, exists between the biological tissue and a transducer which transmits/receives ultrasonic waves, the ultrasonic waves are refracted at the boundary of the areas having different sound velocities. As a result, in the case of a conventional delay time control, a focal point of an ultrasonic beam is not formed well, and image quality deteriorates. When a thick fat layer exists on the subject surface as well, ultrasonic waves are refracted in the same manner, since the sound velocities of the fat layer and the biological tissue under the fat layer are different, and as a result, the tissue under the fat layer is not clearly imaged.
A quantity of delay when a layer having a different sound velocity exists between a subject and a transducer can be analytically determined by considering a path of refraction using Snell's Law. Some methods of correcting the delay time using Snell's Law have been proposed.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,607,489 (PTL 1) discloses an ultrasonic apparatus having a stationary plate for securing a biological tissue, where delay time, due to the difference of the sound velocities between the stationary plate and a target tissue based on an accurate calculation, is stored in the apparatus in advance for each transducer and each focal point, and delay of the transmit/receive beam is controlled using this delay time. Calculating the delay time in real-time is also disclosed, but a concrete numerical computing algorithm is not disclosed.
WO 01-026555 (PTL 2) discloses an ultrasonic imaging apparatus which corrects the influence on refraction by an acoustic lens and a fat layer on the surface of a tissue, so as to suppress deterioration on the quality of an image of the tissue area under the fat layer of the subject. Since the influence on the refraction by a fat layer, which is relatively thick and which thickness is different depending on the target subject, the delay time in each transducer is determined by computation using a delay time correction approximate expression based on Snell's Law. In the method of WO 01-026555, the delay time in the next transducer is calculated using recurrence relation based on the delay time in the adjacent transducer. Thereby the computing time is reduced.    (PTL 1) U.S. Pat. No. 6,607,489    (PTL 2) International Publication No. WO01-026555

Ultrasonic imaging apparatus and method of controlling delay


A heat exchanger includes a pair of header pipes, a plurality of parallel heat transfer tubes fluidly interconnected between the header pipes, a plurality of fin units extending between adjacent heat transfer tubes. At least one bracket is provided for each of the header pipes. The bracket supports the header pipe and has a plurality of attachment holes for attaching the bracket to an external member via fasteners inserted through the holes. Each of the attachment holes is located at a position between adjacent heat transfer tubes and between the at least one of the header pipes and the end portion of one of the fin units. The total width of the heat exchanger including the bracket can be decreased or the area of the effective heat exchanger region equipped with the fin units can be increased by this positioning of the attachment holes.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mounting bracket for a heat exchanger, such as a parallel flow type condenser for use in an air conditioner for vehicles.
2. Description of the Prior Art
FIGS. 7 and 8 show conventional heat exchangers (condensers) and the structure of a mounting bracket for the heat exchanger disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open HEI-2-32421. In this heat exchanger, a plurality of parallel heat transfer tubes 21 are disposed between a pair of header pipes 22 extending in parallel relation to each other. Corrugated fin units 23 extend between heat transfer tubes 21. A bracket 24 is provided outside of each header pipe 22, and the bracket 24 is constructed integrally with the header pipe 22, as shown in FIG. 8. A plurality of attachment holes 25 are provided in each bracket 24, as shown in FIG. 7. Bracket 24 is attached to an external member 26 via fasteners, for example, bolts 27 and nuts 28, as shown in FIG. 8.
Generally, in such heat exchangers, effective heat exchange occurs in the region equipped with fin units 23. In the above structure of a bracket, however, because attachment holes 25 are provided on the outside of each header pipe 22, the regions between the attachment holes 25 and the end portions of fin units 23 are formed as dead spaces in which no effective heat exchange occurs.


A vessel tracking system may be used to detect and report an alert condition of a vessel (e.g., an aircraft). A vessel tracking system may monitor one or more travel (e.g., flight) characteristics of a vessel. At least one of the travel characteristics may be compared to one or more normal flight characteristics to assess an alert condition of the vessel. In some embodiments, the alert condition of the vessel may be reported (e.g., visually reported on a display). The alert condition of the vessel may be changed if at least one of the travel characteristics deviates from at least one normal travel characteristic. In certain embodiments, a boundary condition of an alert for the vessel may be modified if at least one of the travel characteristics deviates from at least one normal travel characteristic.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to methods for detecting and reporting the state of a vessel during travel. An embodiment of the invention may be used detect and report the in-flight state of an air vessel.
2. Description of Related Art
Many systems have been developed for sensing and reporting vehicle or vessel traffic. These systems may incorporate data from one or more sensors to track and/or report a condition of a vessel. One example of a marine vessel tracking system is a system that uses reports transmitted from marine vessels to a tracking center to follow marine traffic, described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,658,349 to Cline, which is incorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein. Another example of such a system was developed as a government-off-the-shelf (GOTS) vessel tracking system for the U.S. Coast Guard by the Naval Air Warfare Center, Aircraft Division (NAWCAD) at Paxutent River, Maryland. This system is generally known as the Coast Guard Vessel Traffic System (CGVTS). U.S. Pat. No. 6,249,241 to Jordan et al., which is incorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein, describes the CGVTS as an improved radar harbor surveillance sensor, computer, and display system that monitors marine harbor traffic, provides advisories to vessels in areas selected by system operators, and provides the operators of the system with early warning of unacceptable traffic conflicts in a harbor.
The CGVTS replaced radar plan position indicator (PPI) displays with commercial computer systems able to present radar images and tracks overlaid on electronic charts. The CGVTS may be integrated with a set of closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras and/or voice radio communication interfaces to provide a more complete vessel traffic management system. The CGVTS system was installed successfully in the ports of New York, Puget Sound, and San Francisco harbors between 1993 and 1995.
The original CGVTS system was designed to run on a UNIX operating system. Following introduction of the original CGVTS, code for operating the CGVTS has been ported to Microsoft Windows® operating systems (e.g., Windows® NT and Windows® 2000). The CGVTS may be operated on commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) systems on the Microsoft Windows® operating system.
The system has been updated, refined, and renamed SureTrak™ by NAWCAD. Current versions of the SureTrak™ vessel tracking system include several functional components (e.g., sensors, data analysis components, tracking components). The SureTrak™ vessel tracking system includes a system architecture that allows functional components to operate on separate processors or allows functional components to be co-located on a single processor. Such a system architecture allows the vessel tracking system to be flexible in size and allows for integration of new or updated functional components more easily.


A catheter assembly includes catheter having proximal and distal ends and at least one lumen extending between the ends. At least one end of the catheter is formed from a material that can be trimmed to achieve a selected length for the catheter. A tubular connector is telescoped over the catheter and a hub is joined to the tubular connector. Proximal portions of the hub are configured for connection to a medical apparatus. A cuff is mounted around the tubular connector or the catheter. The cuff is formed from a material that will permit or promote the growth of scar tissue for anchoring the catheter device at least on a semi-permanent basis in a patient.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a catheter that can be used for dialysis or for other procedures where the catheter is implanted for an extended period of time.
2. Description of the Related Art
Dialysis and some chemotherapy regimens require a catheter to be implanted in a patient for an extended time (e.g., several weeks, several months or longer). Catheters for dialysis extend from an externally accessible location on the patient (typically on the chest) to a location where there is a high flow of blood (typically near the heart). The high blood flow enables a sufficient volume of blood to be processed through the catheter and cleaned by the dialysis machine. Catheters used for chemotherapy and other drug administration purposes are extended from an externally accessible location on the patient to a location where the drug is likely to be most effective. The following discussion will pertain mostly to catheters intended for dialysis. However, the subject invention is applicable to all catheters that are implanted for an extended time.
A discussion of catheters is provided in Venous Catheters A Practical Manual by Pieters et al. Chapter 4 of that work is entitled Central Venous Catheters: Materials, Designs and Selection by Matthew A. Mauro, and the disclosure of that Chapter 4 is incorporated herein by reference.
Briefly, the distal end of a dialysis catheter should be placed close to the heart for optimum exchange of blood. Doctors typically want to know the location of the distal end of the dialysis catheter with considerable precision. The proximal end of the dialysis catheter desirably is at a location that can be accessed conveniently during dialysis and that is unobtrusive between the periodic dialysis procedures. Many doctors choose to direct the dialysis catheter through the jugular vein. However, the neck certainly is not the unobtrusive location for keeping the proximal end of the dialysis catheter between the periodic dialysis procedures.
The dialysis catheter typically is formed from a flexible material, such as silicone. A typical medical procedure for implanting a dialysis catheter involves first placing a small incision in the skin of the neck over the jugular vein. Subsequently, the jugular vein is cannulated. A peelable introducer sheath then is advanced an appropriate distance into the blood vessel so that the end of the catheter is at the precise position preferred by the doctor. The doctor then employs a tunnel dilator to create a subcutaneous tunnel that permits the proximal end of the catheter to be at a less obstrusive position. The subcutaneous tunnel typically extends slightly below the skin from a location on the chest and under the clavicle to a location where the catheter has been introduced into the jugular. The doctor directs the catheter through the tunnel, to the neck, through the incision in the neck and through the introducer sheath. The introducer sheath then is removed. A hub at the proximal end of the catheter may include a Luer fitting that enables the proximal end of the catheter to be placed in communication with the dialysis machine. Several closure means are provided on or near the proximal end of the catheter to prevent unintended blood loss between the periodic dialysis procedures.
Blood pressure and other forces within the body tend to urge the catheter from the body. Hence, proper anchoring is important. One common anchoring means provides a cuff extending around the portion of the catheter in the tunnel that extends from the upper chest to the neck of the patient. The cuff typically is formed from polyester. Scar tissue accumulates around the cuff and functions to hold the catheter in place. The scar tissue may also function as a barrier to bacterial infection. The scar tissue results in at least a semi-permanent anchoring of the catheter. In this regard, semi-permanent means that the catheter will remain in the patient until the cuffed portion of the catheter is dissected from the patient. This dissection can be complicated.
Dialysis catheters vary considerably from one manufacturer to another. However, a common requirement for virtually all dialysis catheters is an ability to locate the distal end of the catheter and the cuff with considerable precision. Accordingly, the doctor has limitations on the distance between the distal tip of the catheter and the cuff depending upon physical characteristics of the patient. A smaller patient will require a smaller tip-to-cuff distance, while a larger patient will require a larger tip-to-cuff distance. In view of these physical differences between patients, most dialysis catheter manufacturers provide catheters with different tip-to-cuff length. Accordingly, hospitals must maintain an appropriate inventory of different length dialysis catheters and the doctor must ensure that a catheter of appropriate length is available for implementation. There are costs and complications associated with a need to maintain an inventory of different products.
Compromises often must be made when a doctor selects a dialysis catheter from an inventory of catheters with different lengths. In this regard, dialysis catheters often come with tip-to-cuff lengths of 19 cm, 23 cm, 28 cm and 32 cm. A selection of a catheter of one of these lengths may require the doctor to move the tip or the cuff from its optimal position.
Arrow Cannon markets a dialysis catheter with most of the features described above. The Arrow Cannon catheter is promoted as having an ability to assure accurate tip placement. In this regard, the tip of the catheter is placed in the jugular in the manner described above. Proximal portions of the catheter then are urged in a retrograde direction through the tunnel from the neck to the selected location on the chest. The portion of the catheter emerging from the chest then is cut. A compression cap and compression sleeve are mounted separately to the cut proximal end of the catheter and a hub is threadedly engaged with the compression cap. The above-described Arrow Cannon catheter has the above-described problems associated with inventory management. Additionally, even though the tip may be positioned accurately, the cuff location is dependent upon the different tip-to-cuff dimensions in the inventory. Additionally, the retrograde movement of the catheter through the tunnel requires a technique that many doctors are not accustomed to. Furthermore, the intraoperative assembly of the compression sleeve with the compression cap requires more procedural steps and takes additional time.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,989,213 relates to a dialysis catheter with a guide tube that fits into the blood vessel. A tissue ingrowth member is secured to proximal portions of the guide catheter for affixation to the subcutaneous tissue. Thus, distal portions of the guide catheter of U.S. Pat. No. 5,989,213 reside in the blood vessel and proximal portions of the guide catheter are secured to the subcutaneous tissue. The dialysis catheter then is passed through the guide catheter. The distal end of the dialysis catheter is disposed at an appropriate location in the circulatory system, and distally of the distal end of the guide catheter. Proximal ends of the dialysis catheter are disposed externally on the patient, and proximally of the proximal end of the guide catheter. The system shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,989,213 permits a desired distance between the distal tip of the catheter and the tissue ingrowth cuff. However, the system shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,989,213 is not trimmable and hence requires an extensive inventory of catheters of different length to ensure that an excess of the catheter is not disposed externally of the patient.
Accordingly, it is an object of the subject invention to provide an improved catheter that can be implanted for an extended time, such as a dialysis catheter.
Another object of the subject invention is to provide a catheter that substantially avoids the need to maintain a significant inventory, while permitting precise positioning of both the tip and the cuff.
A further object of the invention is to provide a catheter that is convenient to implant and that ensures a precise exit site on the chest for the catheter.


A method for selecting plants and plant tissue cultures that contain elevated levels of secondary metabolites is disclosed. The method uses clonal organogenic tissue culture lines, the cultures being derived from cells of a member of the Lamiaceae family. Cultured tissue propagules are placed in contact with mucoid, non-pathogenic bacterial cells and cultured for a period of time. Those clonal lines exhibiting tolerance to the bacterial cells have elevated levels of secondary metabolites. Cultured tissue from such lines can be regenerated into plants, which are used to more efficiently produce essential oils for food and medicinal purposes.

Essential oils from herbs and spices of the Lamiaceae family increasingly are being used as antioxidants. In addition, essential oils from several herbs have antimicrobial properties. Among the secondary metabolites found in essential oils from Lamiaceae plants, rosmarinic acid (.alpha.-O-caffeoyl-3,4-dihydroxy-phenyllactic acid) is one of the most abundant.
Among various Lamiaceae herbs and spices, oregano is an important plant widely used in South European cuisine. Essential oils obtained from oregano have antioxidant activity. Antioxidant activity was observed when essential oils from oregano were added to lard, salad dressing, or model food systems. Among the secondary metabolites found in oregano are carvacrol, thymol, and rosmarinic acid, which appear to be important for antioxidant activity. Thymol and carvacrol also have antimicrobial activity.
Essential oils from thyme (Thymus vulgaris L) have antioxidant properties and it is suspected that these may result from the presence of free radical scavengers in these oils. The antioxidant property of essential oils of thyme has been correlated with phenolic secondary metabolites such as thymol and carvacrol. In addition, these compounds have been shown to have bactericidal and fungicidal properties. These essential oils are sources of natural preservatives for a variety of food and medical applications.
Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis) is a member of the family Lamiaceae. The major commercial sources of rosemary are from diverse global markets; most of the processing of rosemary into extracts and the use of such extracts is carried out in developed countries. The essential oil of rosemary is presently used in flavor preparations, perfumery, and medicine. Rosemary extracts contain a large number of compounds, including carnosic acid, carnosol, and rosmarinic acid.
Oregano, thyme, rosemary, sage, holy basil, mint, and other plants in the family Lamiaceae (formerly Labiateae) are naturally cross-pollinating species and, therefore, populations are genetically heterogeneous. This heterogeneity results in significant variation in secondary metabolite content in such populations.
Current breeding and selection methods for Lamiaceae are not as well developed as methods for many other plants. Therefore, there is considerable variation in the secondary metabolite levels in essential oil extracts from such plants, even when extracts are obtained from the same source or production region.
To improve ingredient quantity and uniformity it would be useful to develop elite plant varieties with uniform genetic backgrounds. This process generally is difficult using traditional plant breeding techniques due to insufficient knowledge concerning the genetics of secondary metabolism in Lamiaceae and the high degree of heterogeneity in populations of Lamiaceae species.

Plant clones containing elevated secondary metabolite levels


A system using digital certificates having overlapping validity intervals. The overlapping certificates can be used in a hierarchical certificate authorities network in order to obtain benefits such as to increase the usage of all the certificates in the certificate chain; reduce/eliminate the certificate updates/downloads to a large population; only replace the minimum number of certificates in the trust hierarchy to re-establish the certificate chain; reduce the complexity of maintaining certificate nesting in certificate generation process; reduce the risk of service interruption; and control the extent of older technology in circulation and to reduce the risk associated with older products being more susceptible to attack. The certificate renewal process of a preferred embodiment is described.

This invention relates in general to security of digital information and more specifically to a certification system for digital information transfer.
Digital information has become extremely important in all aspects of commerce, education, government, entertainment and management. In many of these applications, the ability to ensure the privacy, integrity and authenticity of the information is critical. As a result, several digital security mechanisms have been developed to improve security.
One approach to digital security that is commonly used is for a certificate authority (CA) to issue a certificate to a certificate holder. The holder can then provide the certificate to a third party as an attestation by the CA that the holder who is named in the certificate is in fact the person, entity, machine, email address user, etc., that is set forth in the certificate. And that a public key in the certificate is, in fact, the holder's public key. People, devices, processes or other entities dealing with the certificate holder can rely upon the certificate in accordance with the CA's certification practice statement.
A certificate is typically created by the CA digitally signing, with its own private key, identifying information submitted to the CA along with the public key of the holder who seeks the certificate. A certificate usually has a limited period of validity, and can be revoked earlier in the event of compromise of the corresponding private key of the certificate holder, or other revocable event.
One standardized approach to today's digital security is referred to as the Public Key Infrastructure (PKI). PKI provides for use of digital certificates to authenticate the identity of a certificate holder, or to authenticate or certify other information. Typically, a PKI certificate includes a collection of information to which a digital signature is attached. A CA that a community of certificate users trusts attaches its digital signature and issues the certificates to various users and/or devices within a system.
If a certificate has expired, another certificate can be obtained by going through the proper steps to contact a CA and obtain another valid certificate. This approach may work well where, for example, certificates are assigned to users and a user is responsible for obtaining, updating (e.g., when a user's identification information changes) and renewing that user's certificate. However, the generation, transmission and updating of certificates in association with hardware devices (i.e., the hardware devices are each associated with a certificate) may introduce problems in certificate management, transmission, control, use, etc., especially where the number of devices is large.

Certificate renewal in a certificate authority infrastructure


The ultrasound puncture system in accordance with the present invention comprises a handpiece which accommodates an ultrasound vibrator, a puncturing probe for transmitting ultrasound waves to a biological wall which is to be punctured, an outer cover tube covering the probe and attached to the handpiece, and an ultrasound power source unit for driving the ultrasound vibrator, wherein the ultrasound power source unit comprises a termination unit for terminating the energy supply to the ultrasound vibrator, an impedance detector for detecting the puncture state of the probe, and a fluid supply unit for supplying a fluid to the distal end opening of the outer cover tube and probe, wherein the penetration of the probe through the biological wall is detected with the detection unit and the supply of energy to the ultrasound vibrator is terminated based on the detection output.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates an ultrasound puncture system for conducting the prescribed treatment by puncturing the abdominal wall or the like by employing ultrasound vibrations.
2. Description of the Related Art
Examples of ultrasound puncture systems for conducting the prescribed treatment by puncturing the abdominal wall or the like by employing ultrasound vibrations are described in Japanese Patent Applications Laid-open No. 7-51281 and 2001-104322.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 7-51281 discloses an ultrasound trocar for conducting puncturing so as to form a puncture hole in a tissue with ultrasound vibrations by using a probe with a rounded distal end. In this ultrasound trocar, whether or not the puncture hole has been formed in the tissue is decided by detecting the phase difference between the impedance of the probe, the output voltage, and the output current. Furthermore, with the aforesaid ultrasound trocar, the tissue damage by the puncture hole can be prevented by fixing the ultrasound vibration level of the vibrating distal end portion or by stopping the operation in an inactive idling state in the prescribed cases.
On the other hand, Japanese Patent Applications Laid-open No. 2001-104322 discloses an ultrasound trocar in which a through hole is formed in the distal end portion of the ultrasound probe and a rod-shaped member elastically held by an elastic impelling means is inserted into the through hole. In this ultrasound trocar, piercing of the tissue with the distal end of the probe is detected by the movement of the rod-shaped member when the distal end of the probe punctures the tissue.


An obstacle detection apparatus for vehicles includes: a first probe wave sensor detecting a direct wave distance as a distance to an obstacle by transmitting a probe wave and receiving a reflection wave of the probe wave reflected by the obstacle; a second probe wave sensor receiving the reflection wave to detect an indirect wave distance as a distance to the obstacle by receiving the reflection wave; an approach determinator determining whether the obstacle is present between the first probe wave sensor and the second probe wave sensor and whether the obstacle is approaching the vehicle; and a distance determinator determining an obstacle distance to be less than or equal to a predetermined distance range when the indirect wave distance falls out of the distance range as the obstacle is present between the first probe wave sensor and the second probe wave sensor and the obstacle is approaching the vehicle.

An obstacle detection apparatus for vehicles that detects an obstacle by transmitting and receiving a probe wave may include a plurality of probe wave sensors disposed in several different parts of the vehicle. In Patent Literature 1, a plurality of ultrasonic sensors are provided that transmit an ultrasonic wave as a probe wave. Each ultrasonic sensor detects the distance to an obstacle, and when the distance becomes a preset value or lower, a notifier notifies the direction in which the obstacle is located. When a sensor on the front right of the vehicle alone detects an obstacle, the controller that controls the notifier illuminates an indicator that indicates front right.
When the obstacle is out of a probe wave irradiation range of the probe wave sensor, the obstacle cannot be detected. Therefore, it is desirable to dispose a plurality of probe wave sensors such that there will be no gaps between adjacent probe wave irradiation ranges of the probe wave sensors.
Sometimes, however, probe wave sensors may be arranged such that there are gaps between the probe wave irradiation ranges adjacent each other, due to design restrictions or limitations on the places where installation space can be secured. There tend to be such gaps near a sensor placement surface where the probe wave sensors are disposed. This is because a probe wave is irradiated from the sensor placement surface in a direction away from the sensor placement surface, and not in a direction along the sensor placement surface.
The nearer the obstacle is to the vehicle, the higher the necessity is of determining the distance to the obstacle. Therefore, it is desirable that the distance to the object be determinable even when the obstacle is present in a gap between probe wave irradiation ranges near the sensor placement surface.

Obstacle detection apparatus for vehicles


In one embodiment of the present invention, a first user—the creator—uses a web browser to encrypt some information. The web browser provides to the creator a URL which contains the key used for encryption, such as in the form of an anchor embedded within a URL. The web browser also provides a hash of the cryptographic key and the encrypted information to a web server. The creator transmits the URL to a second user—the viewer—who provides the URL to a web browser, thereby causing the web browser to navigate to a decryption web page maintained by the web server, but without transmitting the cryptographic key to the web server. The viewer's web browser hashes the cryptographic key and sends the hash to the web server, which uses the hash to identify and return the encrypted information to the viewer's web browser, which in turn uses the encryption key to decrypt the message and display the decrypted message to the viewer.

People often have a need to communicate sensitive information with each other confidentially, i.e., in a way that does not expose the sensitive information to third parties. Internet-based communications such as email, instant messaging, SMS, and direct messaging via social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook, are a natural choice due to their ease-of-use and ubiquity. Many people do not realize that by default most Internet-based communications methods offer little or no protection against unauthorized access.
Other people are aware of the security risks, but nevertheless use such insecure methods due to the difficulties of using more secure alternatives. In short, a large number of Internet users communicate sensitive information insecurely over the Internet due to their ignorance, lack of technical sophistication, or belief that the cost in effort of using secure methods outweighs the benefit.
In contrast, sophisticated users who have a strong interest in maintaining the confidentiality of their sensitive information often use technical means to protect their sensitive information. Strong encryption is recognized as the best technical means to prevent unauthorized access by third parties.
Encryption is the algorithmic altering of data to render it unintelligible. The reverse process, known as decryption, can only be performed by those possessing the encrypted data and an specific extra piece of data (the "key"). Possession of either the encrypted data OR the key (but not both) by unauthorized individuals is not sufficient for unauthorized access.
There are two major types of unauthorized access. The first is "during transmission", i.e. the sensitive message is intercepted by unauthorized parties while it is traveling over the Internet. The second form of exposure is "at rest", i.e. after transmission when the sensitive message has been saved to a persistent medium (hard disk, etc.) either by the message viewer or by a legitimate third-party to the communication (email server operator, etc). The time frame of unauthorized access during transmission is typically only seconds. The time frame of unauthorized access at rest is indefinite.
Although secure transmission mechanisms, such as SSL/HTTPS, may be used relatively successfully to prevent unauthorized access during transmission, most transmissions of information across the Internet do not use such mechanisms. Furthermore, the use of SSL does not guarantee end-to-end protection for the lifetime of the message and does not reduce the vulnerability of the information once it has been received and then stored.
Almost invariably, messages that are transmitted over the Internet are stored in multiple locations. For example, a single email message might be stored on the sender's local computer, at the sender's mail server (at least temporarily), at the recipient's mail server (at least temporarily), and on the recipient's local computer, among many other potential locations. Backups that are made of any of these locations result in additional copies of the same email message being created and stored, possibly for long periods of time. Any of these copies which are not encrypted are exposed to being accessed by unauthorized third parties. Due to the difficulties of indexing, searching, and retrieving encrypted data, most operators of servers choose not to encrypt the data at rest. Furthermore, even if encryption at rest is employed by server operators, users cannot independently verify this, and must simply trust the claims of the server operator. User that require a higher degree of certainty need to control the encryption process directly.
Most encryption solutions, however, require significant effort to set up and use, even for sophisticated users. For example, using a public-private key encryption system to encrypt email might require a user to install special encryption software on each computing device (e.g., home desktop computer, business desktop computer, laptop computer, smartphone) from which he intends to send email, create a public and private key, distribute the public key, and then use the installed encryption software to send email messages. This is a significant amount of effort. Furthermore, for such a system to work, it is typically necessary for recipients of encrypted email to also take similar steps on their own computers. Because configuring and using such encryption systems is so onerous, all but the most sophisticated and dedicated users do not use them, opting instead to communicate sensitive information without encryption, and thus insecurely.
Web applications are often employed in situations where, for various reasons, it is desirable to avoid the deployment of traditional desktop software. Typically web applications perform most of the important data processing on a central web server, while the user's computer merely presents an interface in a web browser. Some web-based encryption solutions have been created to shield end users from the complexity of encryption. To use such system, a user enters a sensitive message into a form on a web page and submits it to the server. The web server then encrypts the message and either returns it to the user or sends it directly to a user-specified recipient. Although such systems eliminate the need for the sender and viewer to install special software on their computers, such systems require the users to trust the operator of the web site's server, because the unencrypted data of the message is stored, however briefly, on the server, where it is potentially exposed to unauthorized access by third parties. Savvy users find this trust requirement unacceptable and, as a result, refuse to use such systems.
What is needed, therefore, is an encryption system which provides the ease of use of web-based applications without exposing unencrypted data to the system's operator.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Encryption system using web browsers and untrusted web servers


The invention relates to methods and compositions for the treatment of autoimmune disease. Specifically, compositions comprising heat shock proteins, including gp96, hsp90, and hsp70, are disclosed. Immunotherapeutic methods for administering the hsp-containing compositions are disclosed. Furthermore, methods for preventing rejection of organs transplanted to treat autoimmune disease are disclosed. The disclosed methods are useful for treating a variety of autoimmune diseases, including insulin dependent diabetes mellitus.

Autoimmune diseases result from an abnormal immune response to self antigens. In autoimmune diseases in which the destruction of self tissue results in a metabolic deficiency, some treatment approaches are directed at replacing the deficient element. For example, patients suffering from insulin dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) are treated by administering insulin, and pernicious anemia patients are treated with vitamin B.sub.12. Even under the best of circumstances, such treatments do not even address, much less reverse, the underlying immunological cause of the deficiency.
Immunological control strategies primarily have been directed either at specific, individual antigens, or at general regulatory processes. As discussed in more detail below, approaches directed at specific antigens first require accurate identification of the offending antigen. Furthermore, many pathological autoimmune responses target more than one single antigen, complicating both the process of antigen identification and the treatment strategy. Also discussed below, immunoregulatory approaches such as treatment with immunosuppressive or anti-inflammatory drugs invariably lead to detrimental effects owing to the systemic influence of the agents on the immune system.

Method and compositions for the treatment of autoimmune disease using heat shock proteins


Increases in antibiotic resistant strains of Staphylococcus aureus have elicited efforts to develop novel antimicrobials. One potential treatment includes lytic enzymes produced by staphylococcal bacteriophage during the lytic cycle. The phage Twort endolysin (PlyTW) harbors three domains, a CHAP endopeptidase, an amidase-2 domain, and a SH3b-5 cell wall binding domain. The CHAP domain alone is necessary and sufficient for lysis of live S. aureus; the amidase-2 domain alone is insufficient. Loss of the SH3b cell wall binding domain results in a 10 fold reduction of enzymatic activity in turbidity reduction and plate lysis assays compared to the full length protein. Deletion of the amidase-2 domain resulted in a protein (PlyTW Δ172-373) with lytic activity that exceeded the activity of the full length construct in both assays. Addition of Ca2+ enhanced activity in turbidity reduction assays. Chelation by the addition of EDTA or zinc inhibited the activity of all PlyTW constructs.

Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a nucleic acid sequence encoding a functional module or domain of a particular peptidoglycan hydrolase, i.e., the Phage Twort (PlyTW) endolysin, a protein which specifically attacks the cell wall peptidoglycan of untreated Staphylococcus aureus. The PlyTW endolysin is active over a broad range of physiological conditions including the pH and calcium concentration of bovine milk. The invention further relates to methods of treating diseases caused by the bacteria for which the PlyTW endolysin is specific.
Description of the Relevant Art
Global increases in antibiotic resistant pathogens have led to a renewed search for novel antimicrobials. One highly resistant bacterium, Staphylococcus aureus, has a high negative impact worldwide on the health of humans (Klevens et al. 2007. JAMA 298:1763-1771; WHO. 2014. In: Antimicrobial Resistance: Global Report on Surveillance, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland), livestock (bovine, porcine, equine and poultry (Price et al. 2012. M. Bio. 3:e00305-e00311) and companion animals (dogs, cats, and horses) (Davis et al. 2014. Lett. Appl. Microbiol. 59:1-8; Harrison et al. 2014. M. Bio. 3:e00985-e0013). Recent estimates place S. aureus identified in hospitals at 70% resistant to methicillin, i.e., methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA; Taubes, G. 2008. Science 321:356-361). Methicillin-resistant isolates, at lower frequencies, have been found in bovine mastitis isolates (Brody et al. 2008. PLoS ONE 3:e3074; Turutoglu et al. 2009. Vet. Res. Commun. 33:945-956; Alves et al. 2009. Vet. Microbiol. 137:190-195). Alternative antibiotic treatments, such as vancomycin in human infections, are rapidly losing efficacy as resistant strains are emerging, e.g., thirteen cases of vancomycin-resistant S. aureus, VRSA, have occurred in the United States since 2002 (CDC. 2013. In: Antibiotic Resistance Threats in the United States 2013. CDC, Atlanta). With increasing numbers of antibiotics proving to be ineffective, novel antibiotics are necessary to combat this emerging threat. Bacteriophage endolysins are a source of novel fusion antimicrobials that are uniquely poised to treat infections that are refractory to conventional antibiotic treatment (Donovan et al. 2009. Biotech. International 21:6-10).
Bacteriophage endolysins are peptidoglycan hydrolase enzymes encoded by bacteriophage (viruses that infect bacteria) to degrade the peptidoglycan component of the bacterial cell wall and thus allow nascent phage particles to escape the host cell (for review: Fischetti, V. A. 2008. Curr. Opin. Microbiol. 11:393-400; Donovan, D. M. 2007. Recent Patents in BioTechnology 1:113-122; Loessner, M. J. 2005. Curr. Opin. Microbiol. 8:480-487; Fischetti, V. A. 2010. Int. J. Med. Microbiol. 300:357-4362; Nelson et al. 2012. Adv. Virus Res. 83:299-365; Shen et al. 2012. In: Bacteriophages in Health and Disease, Hyman and Abedon, Eds., CABI, Wallingford, UK, pp. 217-239.) Endolysins can harbor any of three unique activities: endopeptidase, amidase (Becker et al. 2009a. FEMS Microbiol. Lett. 294:52-60 Navarre et al. 1999. J. Biol. Chem. 274:15847-15856) or glycosidase activity (Pritchard et al. 2007. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 73:7150-7154) (for review see Loessner, M. J. 2005, supra). The exact amino acid sequence and composition of the Gram positive peptidoglycan can vary between genera or even between species within a genus (Schleifer and Kandler. 1972. Bacteriol. Rev. 36:407-477). The near-species specificity of the Gram positive peptidoglycan structure and the specificity of the endolysin domains distinguish these enzymes as potential narrow spectrum antimicrobials.
Thus, because of the rise of drug resistant pathogenic bacteria, there is a need for new pathogen-specific antimicrobial treatments. Reagents that are specific for the genera, species or strains of concern and that are also refractory to resistance development are important for effective control of disease and therapeutic treatments.

Phage twort endolysin CHAP domain is lytic for

The United States of America, as Represented by the Secretary of Agriculture


An apparatus and method for forming vias in one or more layers, comprising one or more beams located in alignment with the layers for forming one or more vias in one or more areas of the layers. A vacuum mechanism is provided for collecting ablated material caused by the directed beams forming the one or more vias, the vacuum mechanism being in fixed alignment with respect to the one or more beams such that the vacuum applies a removal force on the ablated material at the time and location when the one or more vias is being formed.

Organic light-emitting diode (OLED) devices, also referred to as organic electro-luminescent (EL) devices, have numerous well-known advantages over other flat-panel display devices currently in the market place. Among these advantages are brightness of light emission, relatively wide viewing angle, and reduced electrical power consumption compared to, for example, liquid crystal displays (LCDs) using back-lighting.
Applications of OLED devices include active-matrix image displays, passive-matrix image displays, and area lighting devices such as, for example, selective desktop lighting. Irrespective of the particular OLED device configuration tailored to these broad fields of applications, all OLED devices function on the same general principles. An organic electro-luminescent (EL) medium structure is sandwiched between two electrodes. At least one of the electrodes is light transmissive. These electrodes are commonly referred to as an anode and a cathode in analogy to the terminals of a conventional diode. When an electrical potential is applied between the electrodes so that the anode is connected to the positive terminal of a voltage source and the cathode is connected to the negative terminal, the OLED is said to be forward-biased. Positive charge carriers (holes) are injected from the anode into the EL medium structure, and negative charge carriers (electrons) are injected from the cathode. Such charge carrier injection causes current flow from the electrodes through the EL medium structure. Recombination of holes and electrons within a zone of the EL medium structure results in emission of light from this zone that is, appropriately called, the light-emitting zone or interface. The emitted light is directed towards an observer, or towards an object to be illuminated, through the light transmissive electrode. If the light transmissive electrode is between the substrate and the light emissive elements of the OLED device, the device is called a bottom-emitting OLED device. Conversely, if the light transmissive electrode is not between the substrate and the light emissive elements, the device is referred to as a top-emitting OLED device.
The organic EL medium structure can be formed of a stack of sub-layers that can include small molecule layers and polymer layers. Such organic layers and sub-layers are well known and understood by those skilled in the OLED art.
Because light is emitted through an electrode, it is important that the electrode through which light is emitted be sufficiently light transmissive to avoid absorbing the emitted light. Typical prior-art materials used for such electrodes include indium tin oxide and very thin layers of metal. However, the current carrying capacity of electrodes formed from these materials is limited, thereby limiting the amount of light that can be emitted from the organic layers.
In top-emitting OLED devices, light is emitted through an upper electrode or top electrode which has to be sufficiently light transmissive, while the lower electrode(s) or bottom electrode(s) can be made of relatively thick and electrically conductive metal compositions which can be optically opaque.
In conventional integrated circuits, bus connections are provided over the substrate to provide power to circuitry in the integrated circuit. These busses are located directly on the substrate or on layers deposited on the substrate, for example on planarization layers. In complex circuits, multiple levels of bus lines are located over the substrate and separated by insulating layers of material. For example, OLED displays such as the AM550L sold by the Eastman Kodak Company utilize multiple bus lines located on the substrate and on various planarization layers. However, these busses are not useful to provide power to the light transmissive upper electrode in an OLED device because conventional photolithography techniques destroy the organic layers and thin upper electrode necessary for a top-emitting OLED device.
Co-pending, commonly assigned U.S. Publication No. 2004/0253756, published Dec. 16, 2004 entitled "Method Of Making A Top-Emitting OLED Device Having Improved Power Distribution" proposes to solve this problem by employing a method of making a top-emitting OLED device that includes providing over a substrate laterally spaced and optically opaque lower electrodes and upper electrode busses which are electrically insulated from the lower electrodes; depositing an organic EL medium structure over the lower electrodes and the upper electrode busses; selectively removing the organic EL medium structure over at least portions of the upper electrode busses to reveal at least upper surfaces of the upper electrode busses; and depositing a light transmissive upper electrode over the organic EL medium structure so that such upper electrode is in electrical contact with at least upper surfaces of the upper electrode busses. This method will effectively provide power to the upper electrode. However, the selectively removed organic EL material may re-deposit in other areas of the EL medium structure.
There are means known in the art to avoid the re-deposition of removed or ablated material. For example, US Publication 2004/0051446 A1 entitled "Method And Apparatus For Structuring Electrodes For Organic Light-Emitting Display And Organic Light-Emitting Display Manufactured Using The Method And Apparatus" published Mar. 18, 2004 describes a method for structuring an electrode, such as, for example, a cathode and/or an anode, for an organic light-emitting display by ablating the electrodes using a laser beam. An apparatus using the method for structuring an electrode is also provided. The laser beam is expanded to cover at least one target portion of each electrode to be ablated. A method for repairing an organic light-emitting display using the method and apparatus is also provided. In some embodiments, the invention employs an exhaust unit and outlet vent. However, as described, the method is relatively slow, employing only one laser beam and the risk of re-deposition of ablated material is high since only a single exhaust unit may be employed and at some distance from the point of ablation.
W09903157 entitled "Laser Ablation Method To Fabricate Color Organic Light Emitting Diode Displays" published 1999 Jan. 21 describes another ablation method using lasers. In this disclosure laser radiation may be used to ablate organic materials as well as metals. A method of using such laser ablation to selectively remove organic material and metal material from an organic light emitting device (OLED) work piece is also disclosed. The ablation enables fabrication of multi-color pixels in OLED displays. A novel OLED structure having adjacent multi-colored organic stakes is disclosed. Further, a novel ablation chamber in which an OLED structure may be subjected to laser ablation is also disclosed. The ablation chamber includes means for moving an OLED structure within the chamber, means for detecting an ablation endpoint, and means for suctioning ablated material from the chamber. Although a plurality of suction mechanisms are referenced in this disclosure, as illustrated, the suction mechanisms also have a significant risk of re-deposition of ablated material. Moreover, the ablation process will be relatively slow.
In an alternative approach to debris removal, U.S. Pat. No. 6,683,277 B1 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,797,919 B1 both entitled "Laser Ablation Nozzle Assembly" and issued Jan. 27, 2004 and Sep. 28, 2004 respectively, describe laser ablation systems including a first embodiment of a nozzle assembly where a laser beam is emitted through the nozzle assembly to remove materials on a target. The nozzle assembly includes a nozzle having a top end, and a window placed on the top end of the nozzle. The window includes one or more apertures and the laser beam is emitted through one of those apertures. Another laser ablation system includes a second embodiment of a nozzle assembly where a laser beam is emitted through the nozzle assembly to remove materials on a target. The nozzle assembly includes a nozzle having one or more channels at a top end of the nozzle. The nozzle assembly also includes a window that is placed on the one or more channels. A gas flows through the one or more channels and that gas flow reduces debris deposition on the window. Yet another laser ablation system includes a third embodiment of a nozzle assembly that includes a nozzle that has a central channel aligned longitudinally through which said laser beam travels from a top end of said nozzle to a bottom end of said nozzle. In this embodiment, the central channel of the nozzle is threaded. These designs for removing debris in a laser ablation system limit can clog easily and are limited in their throughput. Debris can deposit in the apertures, impeding the propagation of the laser light to a target.
There is a need, therefore for an improved method and apparatus for selectively removing material from a surface at an improved rate and with reduced contamination.


An adjustable archery bow sight for attachment to an archery bow to facilitate archery accuracy. The adjustable archery bow sight includes a base, a carriage which is slidably mounted to the base and a mechanism connected to the base to attach the adjustable archery bow sight to the bow. A sight pin assembly is mounted to the carriage. One of the carriage and the base has a planar surface. A drive roll is mounted to the other of the base and the carriage. The drive roll has an outer circumferential surface which engages the planar surface. One of these two surfaces is knurled and non-conformable and the other of these two surfaces is softer than the knurled surface and conformable in a complementary driving manner to the knurled surface. Rotation of the drive roll about an axis of rotation causes the carriage to slide relative to the base. The adjustable archery bow sight is further provided with a rotating mechanism for rotating the drive roll. In one embodiment, the drive roll is mounted to the base and the circumferential surface of the drive roll is knurled and non-conformable. The planar surface is softer than the circumferential surface and conformable. A mechanism is also provided for controlling the force between the two surfaces and the resistance of the drive roll to being turned.

The field of invention relates generally to devices for increasing the accuracy of bow sightings, and, more particularly, pertains to adjustable archery bow sights for use in tournaments or while hunting.
An adjustable archery bow sight typically will carry one or more sight pins and will be mounted on an archery bow within the line of sight of the archer. The sight will allow movement of the sight pin along either two or three axes of movement and is used to direct the archer in the proper elevation of the bow. The proper elevation will be a function of at least wind, gravity, and the intended range of flight of the arrow.
A properly designed adjustable archery bow sight must be durable since it will often be utilized during adverse conditions. In addition, such a sight must be easy to adjust, since several rapid adjustments will be required during a tournament or while hunting. Furthermore, such a sight must be accurate; and, during a tournament, such accuracy must be reproducible. Specifically, the sight must not alter from its initial setting due to the vibration from shooting arrows. Also, such a sight must be easy to maintain as accuracy is impaired by wear or dirt. Finally, the sight must be adaptable. The adaptation may be for right or left hand shooting, or it may be for different types of equipment.
Adjustable archery bow sights are known. However, a review of the prior art bow sights indicates several problems with the prior art sights. Many of the prior art sights have multiple sight pins. This feature not only leads to a decrease in accuracy, but also increases the time required to make the necessary adjustment settings.
Further, a number of the prior art sights are not adaptable for left-handed shooters. This eliminates the usefulness of the sight for a large population of archers.
Furthermore, all of the known prior art sights have a large number of moving parts. A large number of moving parts leads to a more fragile device that is susceptible to damage during the rigors of hunting or of a tournament. A further consequence of the many moveable parts is that the devices are cumbersome, sometimes to the extent of hindering arrow or broadhead clearance.
The position of the sight pins of the prior art sights relative to the bow can be changed by either sliding one part on a dovetail track of another part, or by a screw mechanism. Such mechanisms typically require lubrication. This lubrication is often not performed, leading to maintenance problems. Further, the lubricant often attracts dirt and debris into the open mechanism, thereby accelerating wear and leading to inaccuracy.
Still another problem with the sights of the prior art is that they typically require locking screws to lock the moveable mechanisms in place once their position is attained. This severely adds to the time involved to change an adjustment, since the locking screw must be loosened, prior to repositioning the moveable part, and then re-tightened, after repositioning the moveable part. There is also the potential of losing a locking screw by over loosening it. Finally, the constant tightening and loosening of the locking screws can cause damage to the body of the device.
A further problem with the prior art devices is that there is no provision for adjusting the tension among the various moving parts of the sights. Over time, wear will greatly loosen the tension, leading to inaccuracy.
These and other difficulties experienced with the prior art devices have been obviated in a novel manner by the present invention.
It is, therefore, a principle object of the invention to provide an adjustable archery bow sight that has a single sight pin for improved accuracy and reduced adjustment time.
Another object of this invention is the provision of an adjustable archery bow sight that is easily convertible from a form useable by a right-handed archer to a form useable by a left-handed archer.
A further object of the present invention is the provision of an adjustable archery bow sight that has a relatively few number of moveable parts.
It is another object of the instant invention to provide an adjustable archery bow sight that is compact, allowing for clearance of an arrow or a broadhead arrow tip.
A still further object of the invention is the provision of an adjustable archery bow sight that does not require lubrication.
It is a further object of the invention to provide for an adjustable archery bow sight that does not require locking screws.
It is a still further object of the present invention to provide an adjustable archery bow sight that is equipped with a tension adjustment mechanism.
Another object of the invention is the provision of an adjustable archery bow sight with a distance marker that is removable.
The further object of the present invention is the provision of an adjustable archery bow sight that is sufficiently durable to withstand use in both hunting and tournaments.
It is another object of the instant invention to provide an adjustable archery bow sight that is easy to adjust.
A still further object of the invention is the provision of an adjustable archery bow sight that is accurate in a reproducible manner.
It is a further object of the invention to provide an adjustable archery bow sight that is simple in construction, which is inexpensive to manufacture, and which is capable of a long life of useful service with a minimum of maintenance.
With these and other objects in view, as will be apparent to those skilled in the art, the invention resides in the combination of parts set forth in the specification and covered by the claims appended hereto.


Movable barrier monitoring apparatus and methods are provided for rapidly responding to barrier travel obstructions and other abnormal occurrences to cause the movable barrier operator to halt barrier travel or stop and reverse barrier travel, while ignoring typical and normal impediments to barrier travel. Alternate methods are described for programming the barrier operator controller to compare characteristics of the monitored barrier run over the defined travel path with the characteristics of a good barrier run without interruption to barrier travel, with the degree of differentiation of such characteristics determinative of whether the operator controller is to interrupt barrier travel or not.

Upward acting sectional or single panel garage doors, roll-up doors, gates, and other types of powered movable barriers utilize movable barrier opener systems for effecting the requisite control over the opening, closing and other movement of the barriers. A typical movable barrier opener system comprises a movable barrier operator and motor and motor drive assembly imparting movement to the barrier. The operation of the barrier opener system is typically controlled from (i) interior or exterior building mounted consoles, in wired or wireless communication with the movable barrier operator, (ii) proximately located hand held or vehicle mounted wireless transmitters, and (iii) remotely located network (e.g., Internet) access devices. Using such devices, barrier movement commands, typically code encrypted, are transmitted to the movable barrier operator, and in particular to the movable barrier operator's controller, the latter typically a microprocessor, microcontroller, or other type of programmable platform apparatus. The controller, inter alia, decrypts the received encrypted commands, and based thereon, instructs the motor, or other motion-imparting power source, to open, close, halt the travel of, or otherwise move, the movable barrier in accordance with the received commands. When the movable barrier is a garage door (the movable barrier opener system therefore referred to as a "garage door opener system" and the movable barrier operator therefore referred to as a "garage door operator"), the garage door operator controller must, in addition to its other tasks (i) assure that the force applied by the motor is sufficient to enable the garage door to uninterruptedly travel along its defined path (typically a tortious route), while at the same time (ii) assure that anomalous (i.e., abnormal) door travel conditions (such as animate or inanimate door obstructions, door imbalance or blockage, or like occurrences) will cause rapid interruption of the door travel (due to the stoppage, or stoppage and reversal, of the motor), while avoiding interruption of door travel due to the normal or typical encounters (e.g., guide rail irregularities, friction, scaling factors, or noise).
Thus, there currently exists in the industry the need for a more effective and reliable monitoring method that (i) is sufficiently sensitive and responsive to true movable barrier travel obstructions or other abnormal occurrences so as to rapidly interrupt the door travel before damage occurs, (ii) is not so overly sensitive to events that do not compel such interruption, and (iii) may be incorporated into the movable barrier operator controller.
While such an effective and reliable method is desired irrespective of the type of motor drive assembly that the movable barrier opener system employs, one type of motor drive assembly, referred to as a jack shaft drive assembly, is particularly in need of such method. As conventionally known, a jack shaft drive assembly is one in which, typically, the motor is directly coupled to a horizontally positioned shaft (i.e., the jack shaft) extending along the width of, and mounted above, the movable barrier, one or more cable drum(s) rigidly attached to the jack shaft. One or more cables are wound about the cable drum(s) with the free end of each cable connected to, and at the lower end of, the movable barrier. When the motor is actuated to open the door, the jack shaft and the cable drum(s) are consequently rotated in a direction so as to wind the cable(s) onto the cable drum(s), thereby lifting the movable barrier to its open position. When the motor is actuated to close the door, the jack shaft and the cable drum(s) are consequently rotated in an opposite direction so that the cable(s) may be payed out, thereby permitting the movable barrier to be closed by the combination of the restoring force provided by a torsion spring wound around the jack shaft and the unsupported portion of the weight of the movable barrier.
Not only does a jack shaft type drive assembly require reliable and accurate detection of, and immediate stoppage or reversal of the motor in response to, obstructions to door travel, but also immediate motor shut off in the presence of other abnormal occurrences not untypical of jack shaft drive assemblies. For example, whenever tension is removed from a cable, thereby causing the cable to unwrap or separate from a cable drum, the cable may then not relocate properly when tension is restored, and the movable barrier, for this or other reasons, may become undesirably stuck or jammed in a partially open or intermediate position, requiring manual repair work by a technician to correct the situation. The most common cause of this cable tension removal is when the motor rotates the cable drum but the movable barrier does not move. This may occur, for example, when the movable barrier is stuck in its opened position or an obstruction impedes its movement. Such conditions are particularly existent when the movable barrier (e.g., garage door) is one of the light weight variety. The automatic closing of any garage door inherently introduces vibrations, guide rail irregularities, noise, and other real-world energy dynamics into the process of movement of the door. In the case of a light weight door, these dynamics may cause variations in the inertial forces associated with the moving door that mimics that which occurs when the door becomes jammed or otherwise obstructed. This can make the discriminatory detection of only true obstructions or other serious abnormalities more difficult.
In summary, it is desired, particularly for relatively light weight movable barriers, to have movable barrier opener systems that employ monitoring apparatus and methods that (i) continuously provide sufficient, albeit varying, levels of force to uninterruptedly move the movable barrier along its designated route, while at the same time (ii) rapidly respond to only anomalous barrier travel conditions to effect motor stoppage in the event of true travel obstructions or other abnormal occurrences, and not in response to normal variations of barrier travel. Moreover, it is desired that such objectives be achieved independent of changes in environmental conditions, such as variations in ambient temperatures. The new and improved monitoring apparatus and methods of the present invention described herein accomplish these objectives.

Movable barrier apparatus and methods for responding to barrier travel obstructions and abnormalities


A display control apparatus includes display device driver means for writing image information into a frame buffer, and display scanning means for sequentially displaying the image data stored in the frame buffer for each line of the display. The display control apparatus further includes partially rewritten line determination means for obtaining from the display device driver means information regarding lines to be written into the frame buffer, and generating in accordance therewith the lines for which the display is to be scanned, and display scan line control means for obtaining from the partially rewritten line determination means lines to be scanned to specify such lines for the display scanning means.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a raster scan display control apparatus. More particularly, the invention relates to such a display control apparatus for a display using a ferroelectric liquid crystal (FLC).
2. Related Background Art
Hitherto, in a raster scanning display control apparatus, the structure has been arranged to sequentially display image information, accumulated in a frame buffer, per line while keeping constant the displaying cycle for each of the scanning lines and the displaying cycle for one frame as well. Furthermore, if the frame frequency cannot be made high due to the material properties or electrical restraints of a display device, so-called interlace method is adopted to prevent flickers (screen flickering).
In a display device using a ferroelectric liquid crystal, particularly in case of a device having many numbers of lines, the use of a high order interlace (multi-interlacing) is imperative in order to prevent flickers.
However, if a display is performed by the use of the multi-interlacing, the object which is reproduced on a screen (for example, cursor, characters, icon, other graphics, or the like) is accompanied by so-called "barake" or dispersion when it is shifted or newly reproduced; hence spoiling the quality of display significantly. Particularly, a mouse cursor is directly operated by the user and its operational frequency is also high. Therefore, the dispersion attributable to the use of the mouse cursor may spoil the operational sensitivity of the entire system.
As means to prevent the dispersion of an object on a screen when multi-interlacing is applied, there is a method called "partial rewriting" such as proposed by Kanbe et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 4,655,561). This method is such that in shifting an object on a screen or reproducing it thereon, only the line area where the screen representation changes is temporarily displayed by non-interlacing method. There is also a method to implement this partial rewriting by means of software such as proposed by Inoue et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 5,058,994, U.S. Pat. No. 5,091,723, and others). However, no proposal has ever been made to regulate any particular means to be incorporated in the entire structure of a display control apparatus.