A time duration is measured precisely and with high resolution by making three time measurements as shown in FIG. 5. The time difference t.sub.A between the leading edge of a start signal and the next following leading edge of a constant frequency time base signal is measured. The number "n" of the following leading edges is then counted including the leading edge of the time base signal following a stop signal. The number n is multiplied by the period T.sub.Q of the time signal. The time difference t.sub.E between the leading edge of the stop signal and the next following leading edge of the time base signal is measured. The real time difference .DELTA.t is then calculated as follows .DELTA.t=t.sub.A +n.multidot.T.sub.Q -t.sub.E. A three part real time measurement is performed to correct the calculated result for drift and aging. Calibration measurements are made and the respective calibration factors are used in calculating the final results. The respective circuit arrangement includes a start channel, a stop channel, and the corresponding supporting circuits.

The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for measuring time. More specifically, the invention relates to precisely measuring time with a high resolution and to an electronic circuit arrangement for making such high precision time measurements with a high resolution. Preferably, precise quartz oscillators producing square wave output signals are used in the present method and apparatus.
Time measurements have a high resolution could be made heretofore by methods and means of the prior art only with the so-called "time-to-amplitude-conversion principle". Where a lesser resolution is satisfactory, it was customary heretofore to use counters which are started by the start signal and stopped by the stop signal. However, to accomplish a time resolution down to about five to ten nano-seconds required a substantial investment in circuit components in order to provide a counting frequency high enough for obtaining the above mentioned time resolution in the order of five to ten nano-seconds.


The feed gas is partially burnt with oxygen-containing gas in a thermal Claus process plant, in which temperatures in the range of 850.degree. to 1350.degree. C. is maintained. Product gas which has been produced is passed through a catalytic Claus process plant (Claus catalysis plant), from which sulfur is withdrawn. The exhaust gas from the Claus catalysis plant is supplied to a desulfurizing plant. The sulfur compounds in the exhaust gas of the desulfurizing plant are converted to SO.sub.2 in a thermal aftertreating unit. When the rate of the H.sub.2 S-containing feed gas is below a limit, which is between 20 to 35% of the total rate of feed gas permissible for the thermal Claus process plant, then recycled exhaust gas from the desulfurizing plant (recycle gas) is admixed to the feed gas at such a rate that the rate of the mixed feed and recycle gases exceeds that limit. The recycle gas is suitably heated to 200.degree. to 400.degree. C. before it is mixed with the feed gas.

Hydrogen sulfide can be removed from an H.sub.2 S-containing feed gas by the Claus process for producing elemental sulfur, wherein the feed gas is partially burnt with oxygen-containing gas in a thermal Claus process plant having at least one combustion chamber, wherein temperatures in the range of 850.degree. to 1350.degree. C. are maintained. The resulting process gas is passed through a catalytic Claus process plant (Claus catalysis plant), from which sulfur is withdrawn. The exhaust gas from the Claus catalysis plant is supplied to a desulfurizing plant in which the sulfur compounds contained in the exhaust gas from the desulfurizing plant are converted to SO.sub.2 by a thermal aftertreatment, and an SO.sub.2 -containing exhaust gas is produced. Small quantities of other sulfur compounds, such as COS, CS.sub.2 and methyl mercaptans, are also removed by the process.
That process and equipment for carrying out the process have been described in detail in Ullmanns Enzyklopadie der Technischen Chemie, 4th edition (1982), vol. 21, pp 8 to 26. In the thermal Claus process plant the H.sub.2 S-containing feed gas is burnt with air or oxygen-enriched air to produce a mixture of H.sub.2 S and SO.sub.2 ; a molar ratio of 2:1 of the two components is desired in that step.
In the Claus catalysis plant, the reaction is 2H.sub.2 S+SO.sub.2 =3S+2H.sub.2 O to form elemental sulfur and water. Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 catalysts having surface areas of 200 to 300 m.sup.2 /g may be used for that purpose.
The desulfurizing plant may be operated in accordance with any of a number of processes, in which the sulfur compounds are removed by adsorption and/or absorption. The thermal aftertreatment is generally an afterburning, by which all sulfur compounds are converted to sulfur dioxide.
It frequently is necessary to provide a technique which will ensure a satisfactory operation of the units of the plant even if the rate of feed gas varies greatly. It is also desirable to avoid problems which might arise as a result of a temperature drop below the dew point temperature and the solidification temperature of sulfur.

Process for removing hydrogen sulfide from exhaust gas and for producing sulfur by the Claus process


A video conference control apparatus includes a decoding circuit, a thinning circuit, an image synthesizing circuit, an encoding circuit, and an encoding area setting circuit. The decoding circuit decodes terminal images received from a plurality of video conference terminals. The thinning circuit thins the terminal images decoded by the decoding circuit. The image synthesizing circuit multiplexes the terminal images thinned by the thinning circuit on a predetermined image frame, thereby generating a synthesized image. The encoding circuit encodes the synthesized image generated by the image synthesizing circuit. The encoding area setting circuit sets encoding areas while making the boundary between the encoding areas coincide with the boundary between corresponding divided window areas. A video conference control method and video conference control system are also disclosed.

The present invention relates to a video conference control apparatus, video conference control method, and video conference control system.
Conventionally in an MCU (MicroControl Unit) having a window synthesis function, image data from respective terminals are decoded, and the decoded data are reduced in accordance with the window division number. At the same time, synthesized image data obtained by window division and multiplexing is encoded again, and the encoded data is output as a synthesized window to the respective terminals.
FIG. 4 shows an example of a video conference control system having this window synthesis function. Note that FIG. 4 shows only image synthesis, and all the functions about an audio system are not illustrated.
A video conference control system 100 is constituted by n video conference terminals 200 and a video conference control apparatus 300 connected to the video conference terminals 200 via a network. The video conference control apparatus 300 synthesizes transmitted images from the video conference terminals 200 and distributes the synthesized image to the video conference terminals 200.
The video conference terminal 200 is a video conference terminal complying with, e.g., ITU (International Telecommunication Union)-T_H. 320. In this case, encoding/decoding complying with ITU-T_H. 261 is performed.
The video conference control apparatus 300 connected to the video conference terminals 200 via a network using n lines has a window synthesis function. An encoding circuit 350 and a decoding circuit 320 must also comply with ITU-T_H. 261. The following example is based on encoding/decoding complying with ITU-T_H. 261.
An image transmitted from each video conference terminal 200 is demultiplexed into image data, audio data, and other data by a multiplexing/demultiplexing circuit 310 of the video conference control apparatus 300.
The terminal image data demultiplexed by the multiplexing/demultiplexing circuit 310 is decoded by the decoding circuit 320. The decoded data is thinned to 1/N in the horizontal and vertical directions and reduced to 1/N of one frame in accordance with the window division number by a thinning circuit 330 on the basis of a thinning timing signal. The resultant data is output as divided image data to an image synthesizing circuit 340.
The image synthesizing circuit 340 selects divided window data selected by a display window selection signal from respective divided image data, synthesizes (multiplexes) N windows on the basis of a synthesis timing signal (multiplexing timing signal), and outputs the N windows as synthesized image data to the encoding circuit 350.
The encoding circuit 350 compresses and encodes the synthesized image data as one image frame, and distributes the synthesized window to each video conference terminal 200 via the multiplexing/demultiplexing circuit 310. At the same time, the encoding circuit 350 outputs a compression/encoding frame timing signal to a window synthesis timing generating circuit 360.
The window synthesis timing generating circuit 360 outputs the frame timing signal, the thinning timing signal corresponding to a set window division number N, and the synthesis timing signal.
A video conference control apparatus having almost the same arrangement as that of the video conference control apparatus 300 is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2-5690.
In the conventional video conference control apparatus 300, the image quality may visually degrade near the boundary between divided windows.
FIG. 5 shows a display window when divided image data corresponding to the respective video conference terminals 200 are synthesized and displayed by the image synthesizing circuit 340.
In FIG. 5, one effective frame area represents an image data area actually encoded by the encoding circuit 350. This area is a unit for controlling encoding characteristics (e.g., quantization characteristics) in accordance with the information generation amount of an image in 352 pixels.times.288 lines in compliance with ITU-T_H. 261, and corresponds to a macroblock (16 pixels.times.16 lines: FCIF format) in compliance with ITU-T_H. 261. Note that FIG. 5 exemplifies a display window for the set window division number N=16.
In this case, since divided window areas are simply set in accordance with the window division number N=16, an area where the boundary between divided window areas does not always coincide with the boundary between encoding control blocks exists.
Near such a boundary between divided windows, e.g., a divided window having a large change in motion and coarse quantization characteristics and a divided window having a small change in motion and fine quantization characteristics are processed as the same encoding control block. For this reason, the image quality of the divided window having a small change in motion and fine quantization characteristics greatly degrades.
Also in the video conference control apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2-5690, the image quality may visually degrade near the boundary between divided windows.

Video conference control apparatus, video conference control method, and video conference control system


The present disclosure discloses in embodiments a thin film transistor and a manufacturing method thereof, an array substrate. The thin film transistor comprises: a base substrate, an active layer, a source, a gate, and a drain. Two ends of the active layer are connected to the source and the drain, respectively. The gate comprises a top gate and a bottom gate arranged opposite to each other in a direction perpendicular to the base substrate, the top gate comprising a top gate top portion and a top gate side portion connected to the top gate top portion, the top gate side portion extending from the top gate top portion towards the base substrate. The active layer is sandwiched between the top gate top portion and the bottom gate. A sidewall of the active layer is at least partially surrounded by the top gate side portion.

With the progress of process technology, a thin film transistor has been widely used in a display to meet the need for a thinned and miniaturized display. During the operation of the display, the thin film transistor is easily irradiated by light, and when the light is irradiated to the active layer, the OFF state leakage current thereof will be increased, leading to the deterioration of characteristics of the thin film transistor.
There is a conventional thin film transistor comprising a gate, a gate insulating layer formed on the gate, an active layer formed on the gate insulating layer, and a source and a drain formed on the active layer and spaced from each other. In this structure, the gate is located below the active layer, the light irradiated from below the active layer can be blocked, while the light irradiated from above the active layer is not blocked and can be irradiated from between the source and the drain to the active layer, thereby causing the deterioration of the characteristics of the thin film transistor.

Multi-gate thin film transistors, manufacturing methods thereof, array substrates, and display devices


Provided are an apparatus, system, and method to flush modified data from a first memory to a persistent second memory. A first memory controller coupled to the first memory includes at least one RAS controller to read a range of addresses in the first memory. In response to receiving a command from the power control unit, the at least one RAS controller is invoked to read data from at least one range of addresses specified for the RAS controller from the first memory. A second memory controller transfers data read from the first memory determined to be modified to the second memory. The first memory controller sends a signal to the power control unit to indicate that the modified data in the range of addresses specified for the RAS controller was flushed to the second memory in response to the RAS controller completing reading the range of addresses.

In a typical computer system, an operating system or application can either access the system memory directly or through a faster, but smaller cache. The cache memory normally uses a different memory technology and has much better performance characteristics. In this cached hierarchy, cache is not visible to software and is completely handled by the hardware for data movements between the cache and the main system memory. The cache is sometimes referred to as the first level memory and the main system memory as the second level memory.

Apparatus, system, and method to flush modified data from a volatile memory to a persistent second memory


A method for carrying out emergent shaft sealing for a reactor coolant pump and a shaft sealing assembly is provided. The method comprises the steps that a passive stopping sealing member is arranged in a first sealing assembly and forms an opening under the normal operation condition, without affecting the first sealing assembly using a liquid film formed by fluid static pressure to prevent reactor coolant from leaking along a pump shaft; under the station blackout condition, after sensing high-temperature fluid flowing into the first sealing assembly, the passive stopping sealing member is closed and holds the pump shaft of the reactor coolant pump tightly, the gap between the first sealing assembly and the pump shaft of the reactor coolant pump is blocked, and therefore the reactor coolant is prevented from leaking along the pump shaft.

In a pressurized water reactor nuclear power plant, a reactor coolant pump is usually called a main pump. A liquid static pressure shaft sealing type nuclear main pump is a single-stage, single-suction upstanding mixed-flow pump driven by a three-phase induction type motor. FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a main pump of a typical second-generation and its improved nuclear power plant, wherein the main pump consists of, from up to down, a motor, a shaft sealing assembly and a water power member. A shaft (briefly called pump shaft) of the reactor coolant pump runs through a center of the whole pump. The reactor coolant is pumped in a fluid form by an impeller mounted at a lower end of the pump shaft, the coolant is sucked in through a bottom of the pump housing, and flows upwards through the impeller, and then is discharged through a guide vane and an outlet pipe on a lateral side of the pump housing.
FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 are respectively a schematic view of a static pressure shaft sealing assembly and a first sealing assembly of the main pump shown in FIG. 1. The shaft sealing assembly employs a three-stage shaft sealing, respectively a first sealing assembly (also called No. 1 sealing), a second sealing assembly (also called No. 2 sealing) and a third sealing assembly (also called No. 3 sealing) from bottom to top. Under normal operation conditions, the cooling of the first sealing assembly is guaranteed by infill water provided by a chemical and volume control system (shortly called RCV). Under station blackout (shortly called SBO) conditions, the RCV system loses its function and cannot provide normal cooling for the shaft sealing assembly in the main pump. Meanwhile, an equipment cooling water system (shortly RRI) also loses its function and cannot provide standby cooling for the shaft sealing assembly in the main pump. At this time, high-temperature fluid of a loop quickly threatens the shaft sealing assembly of the main pump, and its thermal stress might cause the loss of the main pump shaft sealing function, thereby damaging a loop pressure boundary.
As shown in FIG. 4, in the prior art, emergent seal injection is usually used to solve the integrity issue of main pump shaft sealing under the SBO condition. After occurrence of SBO, a hydraulic test pump diesel generator set supplies power to a loop hydraulic test pump RIS011P0. In an emergent case, after an activation instruction is received, the hydraulic test pump diesel generator set is put into use within two minutes to ensure that the hydraulic test pump emergently injects water to the main pump shaft sealing assembly to maintain the cooling and lubrication at the location of the first sealing assembly and meanwhile limit the high-temperature high-pressure reactor coolant downstream the first sealing assembly to ensure that the temperature at the location of the first sealing assembly is within a scope as required by the operation thereof and prevent loss of coolant accident (abbreviated as LOCA) of the main pump shaft sealing assembly so as to ensure integrity of a loop pressure boundary.
However, the present-day second-generation and improved nuclear power plants are mostly of a double-reactor configuration. Two sets of units share one hydraulic test pump. The design only considers blackout accident of a single set of unit, a nominal flow of the hydraulic test pump is 6 m3/h and the flow can only meet the requirement for amount of injection of shaft sealing water of one set of unit, namely, three sets of main pumps. Upon occurrence of SBO, emergent shaft seal injection of main pumps of the other set of unit cannot be ensured, seal LOCA will be caused. After all water replenishing means are lost, leakage of one loop cannot be replenished, water amount cannot be ensured so that the reactor core gradually gets exposed and finally melts.

Method for carrying out emergent shaft sealing for reactor coolant pump and shaft sealing assembly


An end effector is provided that includes a vacuum source and a plurality of gripping surfaces with each gripping surface including a plurality of vacuum zones having a non-smooth portion for distributing a vacuum, and a plurality of openings defined over the non-smooth portion for distributing the vacuum on the gripping surface using the vacuum source. The plurality of gripping surfaces is generally arranged in a polygonal shape. The plurality of vacuum zones are generally configured to grip cut-outs having a plurality of shapes. Methods are also provided for removing a cut-out from a sheet of material using an end effector having a plurality of gripping surfaces.

Composite materials are more commonly being used for fabrication of a wide variety of components. For example, carbon fiber composites have high strength and a low weight, making carbon fiber composites attractive for use in aviation applications that require these functionalities. As another example, ceramic matrix composite (CMC) materials can withstand relatively extreme temperatures; accordingly, there is particular interest in replacing components within a combustion gas flow path of a gas turbine engine with components made from CMC materials. Many composite materials, such as carbon fiber and CMC materials, are formed from plies, and the plies may be laid up to form a preform component that may then undergo various processing cycles to arrive at a component made from the composite material.
Typically, composite components made from plies comprise many plies. Each ply is cut from a sheet of (e.g., textile material) and then the cut plies are laid up to form one or more ply stacks that form the component preform. As used herein, a stack or ply stack describes more than one plies placed on each other. Often, the cut plies are manually removed from the sheet and manually placed in a ply storage area or manually stacked. Similarly, components for use in other applications, such as automotive, electronics, and telecommunications applications, may be formed from many stacked cut-outs, which are segments cut from relatively thin materials and may be manually manipulated. Thus, the handling and forming of preforms or cut-out stacks is a time consuming and labor intensive process, which increases the cost of the components.
Automating the removal and storage or stacking of the preform process could reduce the part cost and cycle time, as well as reduce employee health concerns from the repetitive nature of ply removal and handling. However, several barriers must be overcome to automate the process of removing plies from the sheet of material and moving the plies either to a ply storage area or for stacking. For example, to maximize material usage and minimize material waste, a variety of ply shapes and sizes are nested within the sheet and then cut prior to removal. Therefore, an automated apparatus for removing the plies must be able to adapt to a variety of ply shapes. Also, the automated apparatus must be able to remove the ply from the nested plies without displacing the left-over or remaining sheet material. As another example, for large plies, the automated apparatus must be able to maintain the ply in a substantially straight or flat configuration as it is removed and moved to prevent damaging or distorting the ply as it is removed or moved.
Accordingly, an automated cut-out or ply manipulation apparatus that overcomes these and other barriers would be desirable. For example, an end effector for a robotic arm that can grip and remove one or more cut-outs or plies from a sheet of material would be beneficial. In particular, an end effector having a plurality of gripping surfaces such that the end effector may grip cut-outs or plies having a variety of shapes and/or sizes would be useful. Additionally, methods for removing cut-outs or plies using an end effector having a plurality of gripping surfaces would be helpful.

Multi-faced apparatus and system for automated handling of components


An assembly of a dry coating (A) that has a magnetic powder with a saturation flux density of at least 100 emu/g is dispersed in a binder. A magnetostrictive metal (B), when the coating (A) is magnetized, resonates mechanically at a predetermined frequency in the range of varying frequencies. The varying frequencies are generated from an applied alternating magnetic field. Changes in flux density and permeability are experienced. When the coating (A) is not magnetized, metal (B) does not resonate at the predetermined frequency, thus experiencing no changes in flux density or permeability. The dry coating (A) and the metal (B) have a superposed relationship in such a way that the latter is capable of mechanical resonance, the marker being so adapted that when said coating (A) is magnetized, the predetermined frequency at which the flux density or permeability will change is generated as a signal in response to the applied alternating magnetic field.

This invention relates to a magnetic marker for use in identification systems and particularly concerns a magnetic marker for reading identification information such as checkup data. The magnetic marker of the invention is applicable to electronic article surveillance systems, for prevention of forgery, as well as to data carriers and magnetic cards.
Article identify systems that use magnetic markers are known and a representative type is described in WO92/12402 with the title of invention of "Remotely Readable Data Storage Devices and Apparatus". This article identify system comprises a detection area for identification, an external alternating magnetic field producing means that is provided within the area and which performs sweeping through a range of frequencies to generate varying frequencies, a magnetic marker for use in identification systems as attached to an article that need be identified and that is predestined to pass through the area, the marker comprising an assembly of a magnetic layer that has been magnetized to have a magnetic pattern according to a bias magnetic field and a magnetostrictive metal (B) that will resonate mechanically at predetermined frequencies within the range of frequencies that are generated from the means within the area in such a way as to experience changes in magnetic flux density and permeability, the magnetic layer and the metal (B) being layered so that the latter is capable of mechanical resonance, the magnetic marker being so adapted that the predetermined frequencies at which the magnetic flux density or permeability changes is generated as an identification signal within the area according to the magnetic pattern provided in the magnetic layer by magnetization, and means for detecting the resonance of the marker at the predetermined frequencies which is generated from the means within the area. Thus, the identification system under consideration responds to the presence of the marker within the area.
According to page 11 of the specification of WO92/12402, an exemplary material that can be used is a plate that consists of a non-magnetic substrate having a magnetic coating thereon, such as slurry-formed ferrite as in magnetic tapes.
The conventional markers described above use the particles of magnetic materials such as ferrite and .gamma.-Fe.sub.2 O.sub.3, but the use of such magnetic powders suffers from a common defect in that the magnetic coating which constitutes the marker is fairly thick. The thick magnetic coating causes additional problems such as difficulty in manufacturing flexible markers and the increase in the number of production steps, which will lead to a lower productivity, occasionally to complete failure in manufacture.

Magnetic marker for use in identification systems and an indentification system using such magnetic marker


Poinsettia `Peterstar White` is a new cultivar, distinguished by white bracts, large flowers, strong stems and self-branching characteristics. `Peterstar White` is a sport of the red bracted `Peterstar` (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 8,259) with the same flowering response and cultural requirements. The new plant produces a very desirable branched flowering pot plant. The new plant is resistant to epinasty after being confined to shipping containers. The post-production foliage and bract retention is good.

This new poinsettia cultivar originated as a white bracted sport of `Peterstar` (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 8,259) in my greenhouse in Skibby, Denmark in 1991. It was induced through irradiation of vegetative plants with 2500 rads of gamma radiation, and was selected from about 200 mutants so produced, because of its white bracts, large flowers, strong stems, self-branching, and dark green leaves, traits which help distinguish it from other poinsettia cultivars, and seemed to make it a desirable plant for commercial greenhouse production. `Peterstar White` differed from its parent `Peterstar` in having creamy white bracts as compared to the bright red bracts of `Peterstar`. `Peterstar White` resembles poinsettia `21-85` (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 7,250) but distinctly differs in color, growth habit and flowering response.
Phenotypically, `Peterstar White` resembles its parent `Peterstar` (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 8,259) except for those traits associated with color mutations. The morphology, plant vigor and flowering response times are similar in `Peterstar White` and `Peterstar`. The flower bract color of `Peterstar White` is creamy white near R.H.S. 8D. In contrast, the red bract color of `Peterstar` is near R.H.S. 46B. The leaf petiole color of `Peterstar White` is light green while that of `Peterstar White` is red.
After selection, `Peterstar White` was vegetatively reproduced from stem cuttings for test purposes in Encinitas, Calif. By subjecting clones of this plant to successive generations of vegetation propagation, it was demonstrated that the distinctive characteristics of `Peterstar White` held true from generation to generation. Grown under the same greenhouse environment, `Peterstar White` has the same growth habit and flowering response time as the parent plant `Peterstar`.


Contraceptive devices which are effective for extended periods of time are described, in the form of means for releasing an effective amount of a gonadotropin hormone releasing hormone composition and means for releasing an effective amount of an estrogenic hormone over a first period of time, and means for releasing an effective amount of a progestogen for a second period of time, the second period of time being substantially shorter than and running simultaneously with a portion of the first period of time. The gonadotropin hormone releasing hormone composition is selected from gonadotropin hormone releasing hormone, gonadotropin hormone releasing hormone analogues, gonadotropin hormone releasing hormone agonists, gonadotropin hormone releasing hormone antagonists and mixtures thereof. Contraceptive methods employing the devices are also described.

This invention relates to methods for inhibiting conception in mammals, especially human females, and to formulations for use in such methods. More particularly, the present invention is directed to contraceptive methods and preparations for use therein effective for extended periods of time.
Gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH), also known as luteinizing hormone releasing hormone (LHRH), produced by the hypothalamus controls the secretion of follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH) by the pituitary and thence gonadal steroid hormone production. Potent synthetic agonists of GnRH administered to premenopausal women have been shown to produce a transient rise in FSH/LH release followed by a sustained suppression. Immediately after GnRH agonists became available in the late 1970s, a number of approaches to the use of a GnRH agonist as a contraceptive were explored. Among these approaches, inhibition of ovulation by the chronic administration of GnRH agonists appeared to offer the greatest potential. It was hoped that GnRH agonists would form the basis of an improved method of contraception by offering greater convenience, increased effectiveness or fewer side effects than is the case with combination-type oral contraceptives (COCs).
Inhibition of ovulation by GnRH agonists has been found, as expected, to be dose-related. When administered in a dose just high enough to ensure anovulation, the ovaries may continue to produce estrogen. This is an unstable situation, with different women having widely varying serum estrogen levels. There has also been concern that endometrial hyperplasia would occur in some women, while in others there would be periods of hypoestrogenemia with unacceptable vasomotor symptoms and probably loss of bone mineral content.
"High-dose" GnRH agonists have been observed to uniformly reduce serum estradiol and serum progesterone to oophorectomized levels. The development of "high dose" depot formulations of GnRH agonists permits sustained inhibition of ovulation and suppression of ovarian steroid production, as well as improved ease of drug administration. The treatment is reversible; in a study of 50 patients, recovery of menstrual function occurred on average at 87 days (range 44-126 days) following 6-8 months treatment with the GnRH agonist tryptorelin [Zorn, J.-R. et al., Fertil.Steril. 53:401-06 (1990)]. Other depot formulations of GnRH agonists produce similar sex-steroid suppression including decapeptyl [George, M. et al., Int. J. Fertil. 34:19-24 (1989)], goserelin [Kaufman, M. et al., J. Clin. Oncol. 7:1113-19 (1989)]and buserelin [Donnez, J. et al., Fertil. Steril. 51:947-50 (1989)].
In spite of their clear effectiveness as contraceptive agents, side effects attendant to the use of "high-dose" GnRH agonists for prevention of pregnancy has prevented their general adoption. Common side effects reported to occur in depot GnRH agonists in premenopausal patients include: hot flashes, vaginal dryness, irregular vaginal bleeding and fatigue. Additional side effects that have been reported in some patients receiving GnRH agonists include: sweating, headache, depression, lability in mood, nausea and/or vomiting, nervousness, insomnia, pollakisuria, weight gain, sleepiness, dizziness, decreased libido and mild breast tenderness or swelling.
A recent review article reflects current thinking about GnRH and its analogues (Conn, P. M. and Crowley, Jr., W. F., "Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone and Its Analogues," N. Enol. J. Med. 324:93-103 (1991)). The authors note at pages 96-97 that "whether to supplement GnRH-agonist analogues with sex steroids is a complex decision"; they propose estrogen replacement followed by the administration of a progestational agent "at physiologic doses and in a physiologic (i.e., sequential) pattern."
U.S. Pat. No. 4,762,717 to Crowley, Jr., the entire disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference, is based on the above-noted assumption that administration of a progestational agent should be effected in a sequential pattern so as to mimic the phases of the menstrual cycle. The patent describes contraceptive methods for female animals using luteinizing hormone releasing hormone (LHRH) compositions in combination with sex steroids. The patent calls for administering LHRH (or analogs, agonists or antagonists thereof) in a first delivery system combined with continuous administration of an effective amount of estrogenic steroids during the "follicular phase" of the menstrual cycle beginning at the onset of "normal menses". A second delivery system is administered during the "luteal phase" of the menstrual cycle until the onset of "normal menses". The second delivery system comprises the LHRH/estrogenic steroid combination and additionally provides an effective dosage of a progestational steroid.
This administration sequence is designed to mimic the physiological secretion o steroids in the menstrual cycle. As a consequence, each delivery system is effective for a period of only about two weeks (corresponding to the typical length of each of the follicular and luteal phases, according to the designation of Crowley). The progestational steroid according to Crowley is administered for fully half the time of the treatment program (i.e., throughout the time interval when the second delivery system is in use).
The approach of Crowley is clearly unacceptable when considered in light of current knowledge about the long-term effects of administering the components thereof for the periods of time specified. The proposed level of estrogen administration (i.e., to achieve an estradiol concentration of about 50 to about 140 pg/ml for a human female) in the two delivery system approach of Crowley is unnecessarily high and the proposed duration of progestogen use unnecessarily lengthy. Epidemiologic case-control studies of postmenopausal breast cancer risk and estrogen replacement therapy (ERT) using population controls suggest that increased exposure to exogenous estrogen leads to an increased risk of breast cancer in a dose-dependent fashion. Moreover, administration of progestational steroid for about two weeks of every approximately 28-day treatment cycle was associated with unacceptable risks to the patient in a recent epidemiological study [Bergkvist, L. et al., N. Engl. J. Med. 321:293-97 (1989)]; the study suggests that the addition of progestogen during the latter half of the 28-day ERT cycle may double the risk associated with use of estrogen alone.
Pike, M. C. et al., Br. J. Cancer 60:142-48 (1989), the entire disclosure of which is also hereby incorporated by reference, have proposed a contraceptive regimen in which "high-dose" LHRH agonist treatment is coupled with estrogen replacement therapy (ERT), specifically 0.625 mg of conjugated equine estrogens for 21 days in each 28-day treatment cycle. The administration of a progestational steroid is proposed to be limited to a 10-16 day interval every three or four cycles. It is now clear that the 7-day period in each treatment cycle when ERT is not provided would be associated in many patients with symptoms of estrogen withdrawal, such as hot flushes. Moreover, a negative calcium balance could develop during the period of hypoestrogenemia with the possibility of resultant osteoporosis. Finally, blood cholesterol levels would likely be adversely affected during that time. Therefore, it is unlikely that the specific regimen proposed by Pike et al. would be found acceptable.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a contraceptive regimen which would obviate the problems attendant to the use of existing methods of birth control, while at the same time reducing the risk of adverse consequences associated with the heretofore known methods.

Contraceptive methods and formulations for use therein


A support apparatus for supporting at least one screen assembly of a vibratory separator, the vibratory separator having seal apparatus for sealing an interface between a portion of the at least one screen assembly and an interior surface of the support apparatus, the seal apparatus including a seal member removably held by a seal holder within the vibratory separator, the support apparatus including container apparatus having a side wall, the side wall having an opening therethrough adjacent an end of the seal apparatus, and a cover removably connected to the side wall on an exterior surface thereof, the cover removable to provide access to the seal apparatus.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to vibratory separators and shale shakers; to apparatus for accessing seals for screen assemblies in such separators and shakers; and to methods of their use.
2. Description of Related Art
The prior art discloses a variety of separators and shakers in which one or more screen assemblies are mounted in a basket or other screen assembly supporting or mounting structure. Often it is desirable to seal an interface between an end or side of a screen assembly and the basket (or other screen supporting or mounting structure). In many prior art apparatuses these seals are accessed by removing the screen assemblies. This can be a relatively long and expensive procedure and can require unnecessary handling of a screen assembly that can result in damage to an otherwise acceptable screen assembly which has some useful life remaining. Such a procedure also requires that the apparatus be shut down while the screen assemblies are removed. The seal is changed, and the screen assemblies reinstalled.
There has long been a need, recognized by the present inventor, for a system that provides easy access to a screen assembly seal. There has long been a need, recognized by the present inventors, for a method to inspect or change such a seal in a relatively short time.

Removable seal apparatus for vibratory separator


An automatic high speed packaging machine for wrapping packages in polymer film is disclosed wherein the film seal at the sides and ends of the packages is made at a high rate of speed as the packages travel through the machine. The packages travel continuously in a straight line through the machine. The packages are delivered at the input end of the machine by an in-feed conveyor into a film inverting head where the packages are surrounded by longitudinally half-folded polymer film. Thereafter, the packages are transported to a side sealing mechanism which forms a longitudinal seal in the film on the side opposite the fold. Finally, the packages are transported to a traveling end seal mechanism where a lateral seal is formed at each end of the package and the film web connecting succeeding packages is severed. The machine produces packages which have a sealed film wrap around the entire package. If desired, the polymer film may be of a heat shrinkable variety and the sealed package may be passed through a shrinking oven to produce a package having a tight “shrinkwrap” film covering.

This invention relates to automatic package wrapping machines and in particular to a machine which wraps packages in polymer film, including heat shrinkable thermoplastic film, and seals the edges of the film to completely encase the packages within the film where the packages move continuously at a high rate of speed through the machine.
In typical prior art bagging and in-line shrink wrap packaging machines, packages are moved towards a cutting and sealing area by an in-feed conveyor. As the packages are moved towards the cutting and sealing area, the packages are surrounded by center folded polymer or shrink wrap film that has been partially unfolded so that the packages may be conveyed between the film layers. Subsequently, the packages are transferred to an exit conveyor where the packages move to a designated sealing and cutting location. At the sealing and cutting location, it is typical to stop the forward movement of the exit conveyor and use a hot knife or hot wire system to longitudinally and laterally seal the layers of polymer film and to sever the film between adjacent packages at the lateral or cross seal. The end result of the cutting and sealing operations are packages that are securely enclosed or "bagged" within polymer film. After the packages are bagged, the exit conveyor is again activated and the packages are typically either packed for shipping or are further conveyed to a shrink wrap tunnel or oven, where the film is heated causing it to shrink over the packages thereby securely wrapping the packages.
One typical prior art machine, commonly referred to as an L-sealer, is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,583,888, issued to Shanklin, entitled "Packaging Wrapping Apparatus and Method." An L-sealer uses an L-shaped hot knife to contemporaneously cross-seal and side seal the layers of polymer film when the package is stopped at the cutting and sealing location. L-shaped hot knives are typically coated with TEFLON, so that melted polymer film will not stick to the knife. An advantage of L-sealers is that the packages they make are neat and attractive having trim seals on three sides and clear film on the fourth side and top and bottom. L-sealers, however, have several disadvantages. The dimensions of L-shaped hot knives must be larger than the size of the packages being wrapped. Thus, L-sealers cannot produce longitudinal seals longer than the length of the knife. In addition, it is important that a TEFLON coated hot knife be extremely straight and without nicks. If the knife is improperly adjusted, warped, or nicked, polymer film will not seal properly. For instance, a nick in the knife will create a hole in the seal. Likewise, a warped or improperly adjusted knife will create an incomplete seal.
More recent machines have overcome some of the limitations of L-sealers by using continuous longitudinal or side sealers. These machines have utilized hot wires and ultrasonic welders to create a continuous side seal. However, most of these machines have used a straight hot knife for cross sealing and require the conveyer system to be stopped while the hot knife makes the cross seal. Thus, these machines still suffer from the intermittent operation typical of L-sealer type machines and therefore have the same limitations regarding package throughput.
Efforts have also been made with rotary hot knife systems that can cut and side seal polymer film without stopping the forward movement of the film. Such rotary hot knife side sealing systems typically have a circular TEFLON coated knife mounted for rotation. However, these systems are typically not compatible with some of the thicker polymer films commonly used in high speed applications because of insufficient contact time between the film and the rotary knife to produce suitable welds.
What is needed therefore is a high speed package wrapping machine capable of continuous operation during both side and cross sealing functions. The machine should be readily adaptable for use with a wide range of package sizes without requiring the need to replace hot knives or other hardware to accommodate different size packages. Such a machine would thus be simpler and have a quicker setup time than existing machines. Ideally, such a machine would utilize a sealing mechanism that improves on existing hot knife, hot wire, and ultrasonic sealing devices.


Staining mixtures comprising viable spermatozoa, a composition which regulates oxidation/reduction reactions intracellularly or extracellularly, and a DNA selective dye are disclosed. The cells contained in such suspensions tend to have a greater capacity for enduring the various process steps typically associated with the sorting of sperm cells into gender enriched populations, thereby resulting in post-sort compositions with an increased number of viable or motile sperm. Processes for staining sperm cells comprising the formation of a staining mixture are also disclosed.

The fertilization of animals by artificial insemination (AI) and embryo transplant following in vitro fertilization is an established practice. In the livestock production industry, the ability to influence the reproductive outcome toward offspring having one or more desired characteristics has obvious advantages. By way of example, there would be an economic benefit in the dairy industry to preselect offspring in favor of the female sex to ensure the production of dairy cows. The separation of sperm into enriched populations of X and Y chromosome-bearing cells, known as gender enriched semen or gender enriched sperm, is one method of achieving preselected offspring.
In order to obtain gender enriched semen, sperm cells must be stained with a dye and subsequently sorted into X and Y chromosome-bearing cells. Each of staining and sorting processes places a stress on the sperm cells that decreases sperm cell viability or motility, particularly progressive motility. Especially stressful is the process of staining the sperm cells, which requires contacting the cells at with a dye for a certain period of time, often at a temperature and pH which are not common in the typical sperm cell environment.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Use of a composition which regulates oxidation/reduction reactions intracellularly and/or extracellulary in a staining or sorting process


A method of preventing and controlling corrosion and build-up of scale in cooling-water systems at water temperatures below about 212.degree. F. The method comprises the use of an effective amount of hydrogen peroxide, i.e., 0.01 to 100 parts by weight per million parts of water, about 0.01 to 100 parts by weight of at least one organic triazole per million parts of water, 0.1 to 200 parts by weight per million parts of water of at least one polymerized ethylenically unsaturated carboxylic acid, e.g., polymerized maleic acid having average molecular weights ranging from about 250 to 500,000 and 0 to 200 parts by weight, e.g., 0.1 to 50 parts of at least one non-ionic surfactant.

This invention is directed to a method for inhibiting corrosion and the deposition of scale and sludge on heat-transfer surfaces of cooling water systems at cooling water temperatures below 212.degree. F. The sludge formed from the hardness of water of salts etc. in cooling water is conditioned to prevent adherence to the internal metal surfaces of the cooling systems, and the particle size of the sludge is maintained sufficiently small, in accordance with this invention, to keep the sludge in suspension with at least one polymeric dispersants for removal by side-stream filtration. In water cooling systems and particularly in recirculating systems such as cooling towers and the like, there is a tendency for the insoluble salts, e.g., inorganic alkaline earth metal salts to deposit on the heat transfer surfaces. In accordance with this invention, these salts are conditioned by treating the cooling water with an effective amount of hydrogen peroxide, water soluble polymers derived from carboxylic acids such as polymers of maleic acid or acrylic acid, a non-ionic surfactant and at least one triazole corrosion inhibitor. It has been found, that in addition to inhibiting the insoluble salts from depositing on the cooling surfaces, the treatment of the water inhibits crystal growth and prevents adherence to the metal surfaces by conditioning the heat transfer surface's ability to absorb the crystals, and thereby impedes the buildup of scale and the like.
The formation of scale on heat transfer surfaces is a problem in heat-exchange or cooling-water equipment in power stations, industrial cooling systems, and the like. Scale and other inorganic metal deposits lower the efficiency of heat transfer, causing overheating and damage to the equipment. Deposits from cooling water comprises crystalline scale, metal oxides, carbonates, etc., which precipitate on the internal surfaces of the equipment. Scale is formed primarily by crystallization when the scale-forming constituents become super-saturated and deposit from solution onto the metal surface. Many factors influence scale formation, including solubility of the various materials such as calcium carbonate, calcium sulfate, and the like, and the tendency of these materials to become super-saturated as water evaporates from the systems. The formation of scale in water cooling, i.e. at temperatures below 212.degree. F. can be controlled, however, by chemical treatment, not only to inhibit the formation of scale but also to remove and prevent the accumulation of scale on the cooling surfaces.
Moreover, because of the increase in cost of supplying makeup-water for the cooling system coupled with the rising expense for waste-water treatment, there have been attempts to reuse the waste water streams as the cooling water makeup. Reused water can include various water sources such as blowdowns, processed water, plant discharge water and the like. The reuse of the water requires the recycling of the cooling tower blowdown back to the cooling systems. One of the major incentives for reusing cooling-tower blowdown water is the high cost of removing the toxic additives such as chromates etc., from the water prior to discharge.
Presently, various scale inhibitors are being used to prevent precipitation and adhesion of the scale to the metal surfaces. These inhibitors include such compounds as the inorganic phosphorous compounds, e.g., the phosphoric acid salts, the organic phosphorous compounds, like the alkyl phosphates and alkyl phosphites and various organic polymers. To prevent corrosion, known inhibitors such as the chromates are being used, which are known to be dangerous to the environment and therefore present environmental problems. To overcome and avoid the use of toxic chemicals such as chromates, various polyphosphoric acids and the salts thereof, e.g., phosphonic acid and the phosphoric acid esters are being used as a replacement. In addition, various other materials including the lignins, starches, tannins, etc., have been used as conditioners for sludge without satisfaction.
A number of patents disclose the use, for example, of polymers of styrene-sulfonic acid with other polymerizable monomers such as maleic acid for water treatment, see U.S. Pat. No. 4,048,066. U.S. Pat. No. 3,671,448 also discloses the use of phosphonic acids for the treatment of scale, and the use of these acids in combination with other water treatment chemicals. Further, U.S. Pat. No. 3,297,578 discloses the use of diphosphonic acids for purposes of inhibiting incrustations while U.S. Pat. No. 3,289,734 discloses a scale-inhibiting process using copolymers of styrene and maleic anhydride. U.S. Pat. No. 4,217,216 discloses the use of phosphonic acid derivatives in combination with azoles and molybdates for inhibiting corrosion and scale. However, none of these prior art patents suggest the process of treating cooling water at temperatures below 212.degree. F. as set forth in this invention.

Method of treating cooling water systems


A single unified level one instruction(s) cache in which some lines may contain traces and other lines in the same congruence class may contain blocks of instruction(s) consistent with conventional cache lines. Formation of trace lines in the cache is delayed on initial operation of the system to assure quality of the trace lines stored.

This invention relates to the utilization of caches in computer systems.
Traditional processor designs make use of various cache structures to store local copies of instruction(s) and data in order to avoid the lengthy access times of typical DRAM memory. In a typical cache hierarchy, caches closer to the processor (level one or L1) tend to be smaller and very fast, while caches closer to the DRAM (level two or L2; level three or L3) tend to be significantly larger but also slower (longer access time). The larger caches tend to handle both instruction(s) and data, while quite often a processor system will include separate data cache and instruction(s) cache at the L1 level (i.e. closest to the processor core).
All of these caches typically have similar organization, with the main difference being in specific dimensions (e.g. cache line size, number of ways per congruence class, number of congruence classes). In the case of an L1 Instruction(s) cache, the cache is accessed either when code execution reaches the end of the previously fetched cache line or when a taken (or at least predicted taken) branch is encountered within the previously fetched cache line. In either case, a next instruction(s) address is presented to the cache. In typical operation, a congruence class is selected via an abbreviated address (ignoring high-order bits), and a specific way within the congruence class is selected by matching the address to the contents of an address field within the tag of each way within the congruence class. Addresses used for indexing and for matching tags can use either effective or real addresses depending on system issues beyond the scope of this discussion. Typically, low order address bits (e.g. selecting specific byte or word within a cache line) are ignored for both indexing into the tag array and for comparing tag contents. This is because for conventional caches, all such bytes/words will be stored in the same cache line.
Recently, Instruction(s) Caches that store traces of instruction(s) execution have been used, most notably with the Intel Pentium 4. These "Trace Caches" typically combine blocks of instruction(s) from different address regions (i.e. that would have required multiple conventional cache lines). The objective of a trace cache is to handle branching more efficiently, at least when the branching is well predicted. The instruction(s) at a taken branch target address is simply the next instruction(s) in the trace line, allowing the processor to execute code with high branch density just as efficiently as it executes long blocks of code without branches. This type of trace cache works very well as long as branches within each trace execute as predicted. At the start of operation, however, there is no branch history from which to make predictions.
Even after a large number of cycles some branches may not have executed enough times to allow a reliable prediction, leading to formation of trace lines that frequently mispredict program execution. To avoid polluting the cache with such poorly predicted trace lines, the cache can begin execution forming conventional cache lines. Once significant branch history has been accumulated, trace lines can be formed and allowed to replace the conventional lines in the cache. While the conventional cache line mode can be run for a pre-chosen number of cycles, this may cause some well-predicted trace lines to be thrown away during those cycles, and some poorly-predicted trace lines to be used in the time after those cycles. What is needed is an effective mechanism to determine when enough branch history has been accumulated to switch to trace formation mode and achieve better performance than with conventional cache lines.
One limitation of trace caches is that branch prediction must be reasonably accurate before constructing traces to be stored in a trace cache. Switching to trace cache mode before such time will lead to frequent branch mispredicts. This can result in repeated early exits from a trace line when, for example a branch positioned early in a trace was predicted not taken when the trace was constructed, but is now consistently taken. Any instruction(s) beyond this branch are never executed, essentially becoming unused overhead that reduces the effective utilization of the cache. Since the branch causing the early exit is unanticipated, significant latency is encountered (branch misprediction penalty) to fetch instruction(s) at the branch target.

Apparatus and method for using branch prediction heuristics for determination of trace formation readiness

International Business Machines Corporation


A new Sedum plant named ‘SETZ0001’ particularly distinguished by its compact, dense and well branched mounded habit, with dark glossy leaves and a very deep rose flower color.

The present invention comprises a new Sedum, botanically known as Sedum spurium and hereinafter referred to by the variety name 'SETZ0001'.
'SETZ0001' is a product of a planned breeding program. The new cultivar 'SETZ0001' has small deep rose inflorescences that are early flowering, a dark green narrow-leaved compact, densely branched mounded plant.
'SETZ0001' originates from an open pollination in a container field in July 2010 in Enkhuizen, The Netherlands. The female parent was an unpatented, proprietary plant designated 'P6138-1' with smaller deep pink flowers, lighter green foliage and is less branched when compared to 'SETZ0001'.
The male parent of 'SETZ0001' was an unknown plant in the container field. The resultant seed was sown in March 2011 in Enkhuizen, The Netherlands.
'SETZ0001' was selected as one flowering plant within the progeny of the stated cross in July 2011 in a container field in Enkhuizen, The Netherlands.
The first act of asexual reproduction of 'SETZ0001' was accomplished when vegetative cuttings were propagated from the initial selection in August 2011 in a greenhouse in Enkhuizen, The Netherlands.


A method of treating preeclampsia including administering a therapeutically effective dose of resibufagenin to a patient having preeclampsia. Effecting the determination of the presence of preeclampsia may be by determining whether there has been a substantial elevation in marinobufagenin which may be blood-derived or urine-derived and if such elevation does exist, concluding that preeclampsia does exist. The method may advantageously be practiced by employing urine, blood serum or blood plasma as the body specimen containing the protein in determining whether a patient has preeclampsia. In another embodiment, bufodienolide derivatives other than resibufagenin may be employed in lieu of thereof or in combination therewith. In another embodiment, resibufagenin analogues may be employed in the treatment of preeclampsia.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention provides a method for treating a patient that has preeclampsia and, more specifically, it provides such a method which employs resibufagenin in treating preeclampsia.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Eclampsia, which is a condition experienced by pregnant women, and generally involves coma and/or convulsive seizures during the same period without other etiology. Preeclampsia, if untreated, can progress suddenly to eclampsia which is usually fatal if untreated.
Preeclampsia is generally characterized by the presence of hypertension proteinuria and edema. It is a disorder which generally occurs only in women who are more than 20 weeks pregnant.
Elevated blood pressure or hypertension has long been recognized as a health problem. It is a very common disease which can have widespread effects on a patient's body and frequently, unlike numerous other diseases, is asymptomatic.
Despite known means of measuring blood pressure of a patient as by a sphygmomanometer, for example, there is lacking an accurate reliable means of detecting the presence of volume dependent hypertension involving higher arterial blood pressure by use of a body specimen, such as blood serum or blood plasma.
From a pathogenetic standpoint, essential hypertension may be divided into two broad categories: (a) volume expansion hypertension, and (b) vasoconstriction hypertension. It has been estimated that about 30 to 40 percent of human essential hypertension may be etiologically related to volume expansion hypertension, especially in certain demographic groups. Previous studies participated in by the present inventor have demonstrated an alteration in the phosphorylation of a proximal tubular membrane protein following acute saline expansion of the experimental rat (Puschett et al. Volume Expansion Induced Changes in Renal Tubular Membrane Protein Phosphorylation, Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun., 143:pp. 74-80 (1987)).
U.S. Pat. No. 5,770,376 discloses the use of a blood or urine specimen in diagnosing hypertension as an indication of acute myocardial infarction. It employs plasma and/or levels of a marinobufagenin-like immunoreactivity as a marker for hypertension.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/109,203 discloses a substantial reduction in phosphorylation or concentration of a specific protein obtained from a body specimen to determine the presence of preeclampsia.
Abandoned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/990,432, filed Nov. 21, 2001, in the name of the present inventor, the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated herein by reference, discloses the use of the CLAMP protein in effecting a determination of the presence of chronic volume dependent hypertension.
U.S. Patent Application Ser. No. 60/444,730, filed Feb. 4, 2003, in the name of the present inventor, the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated herein by reference, discloses the use of elevation of marinobufagenin in a body specimen of a pregnant woman to determine whether the patent has preeclampsia.
While there is no hard and fast rule regarding diagnosis of preeclampsia, several standards have been applied. If a pregnant woman develops a blood pressure of 140/90, and has edema of the face or hands, and the presence of urinary protein in concentrations greater than 0.3 grams in a 24 hour urine collection, this is generally indicative of the presence of preeclampsia.
There remains, therefore, a very real and substantial need for a method for effectively treating preeclampsia in a pregnant patient.

Method of treating human preeclampsia employing resibufagenin


A cooling device includes a fin unit with an upper side to which a fan unit is mounted and an underside to which a central processing unit is mounted. The fin unit includes a base plate and a plurality of fins projecting upwardly from an upper side of the base plate and extending parallel to a perimeter of the base plate thereby forming a frame-like structure with a second perimeter and defining a space therein. Four ledges are defined between the perimeter of the base plate and the perimeter of the fins. At least one hook member is formed on each of two opposed ledges and a slot is formed in the ledge adjacent to each hook member. A plurality of second fins project upwardly from the upper side of the base plate in the space defined by the first-mentioned fins, each second fin having a height less than that of the first fin for mounting the fan unit in the space above the second fins. A fastener member has a first end for engaging with the hook member and a second hook end passing through the slot to securely retain the central processing unit to an underside of the base plate. The second perimeter defined by the first fins has four corners, a seat with a hole being provided in each corner for mounting the fan unit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cooling device for a central processing unit (CPU) or the like.
2. Description of Related Art
Fan devices have been proposed to assist in the dissipation of heat generated by the CPUs. It is, however, found that conventional fan devices cannot effectively expel the hot air inside the computer casing and it is difficult to securely mount the fan devices to CPUs which might affect the cooling effect. Therefore, there has been a long and unfulfilled need for an improved cooling device for CPUs.

Cooling device for central processing unit

No. 6, E. Sec., Chiao Nan Li, Industrial 6th Rd.


Devices and systems for supporting and spacing aerial cables of high voltage of 69 kV or above from a support cable are disclosed. The disclosed systems and devices may include a top piece configured to engage the support cable, a first arm, a second arm, and a third arm, each having a distal end and a proximal end, wherein the proximal ends of the first, second, and third arms are connected to the top piece. The devices and systems may also include a cable fastening system located at each of the distal ends of the first, second, and third arms.

Electric power transmission and distribution commonly relies upon cables strung overhead. Overhead conductor cables are commonly suspended from messenger cables which are typically made of high strength alloys. Messenger cables are supported on poles or towers and support conductor cable spacers arranged at spaced intervals along the messenger cable. In practice, a single spacer is used to support all three low voltage conductor cables in a three-phase system and the spacer simultaneously maintains a spaced relation between each of the conductor cables. Prior art spacers have been attached to the messenger cable and to the conductor cables in order to save space and to maintain appropriate distances between suspended conductor cables.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,020,277 issued Apr. 26, 1977 to Hendrix Wire & Cable Corporation discloses a spacer for aerial cables. The disclosed spacer includes a body member having at least one generally arcuate cable-retaining means adapted to engage a surface of the conductor cable and retain the cable in a concave seat of the spacer. One end of the cable-retaining means is pivotally supported on the body member. Generally arcuate ratchet tooth means are provided adjacent the other end of the cable-retaining means and arcuate ratchet tooth means are provided on the body member outwardly of the concave seat. The teeth of the retainer ratchet tooth means engage with the teeth of the body member ratchet tooth means when the retaining means is rotated about its pivotal support, thereby firmly retaining the conductor cable in the concave seat.
Since many power circuits require three phase electric power, it is often convenient to suspend conductor cables in groups of three using spacers. However, it has been found that the prior art spacers are not satisfactory for high voltage conductor cables, i.e., voltage at or above 50 kV, e.g., 69 kV, 115 kV or 138 kV (phase to ground) used in three-phase power transmission. The voltage difference between the cables requires greater spacing than low voltage cables require, and greater voltage differences between cables require larger spacers. The larger cables, larger spacers, and larger voltage create cost problems that render prior art spacer designs unsatisfactory.
Prior art spacer systems are also incapable of retaining high voltage cables reliably in the event of certain problems with power transmission, e.g., a short circuit. When power transmission cables experience a short or arc, the cables buckle, which translates significant force to the spacers. High voltage cables generate greater force with a short than do low voltage cables and testing has shown that prior art spacers cannot handle the force of a buckling high voltage cable.
High voltage applications currently employ spacers only in direct current (DC) systems, which do not have the issue of significant voltage differences between the cables and the attendant problems thereof experienced in AC systems. High voltage AC conductor cables are typically suspended from poles without the use of spacers, in order to ensure sufficient distance between suspended cables. However, hanging cables that are oriented side-by-side in the same plane requires a wider footprint than would be required if the use of spacers were possible. Furthermore, when spacers cannot be used, poles must generally be located nearer to one another than would be the case if spacers could be used.


A microporous reinforced expanded PTFE vascular graft in which the reinforcing structure is substantially identical in porosity to the body of the graft. The graft is characterized by a microporous expanded PTFE tubular graft wall and integral and monolithic expanded PTFE rib structures with a porosity or density substantially identical to that of the tubular graft wall.

The present invention relates to generally to the field of porous vascular grafts. Specifically, it relates to polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) vascular grafts reinforced by integral helical ribs formed during extrusion of the vascular graft.
Synthetic vascular grafts are preferably characterized by being chemically inert, non-carcinogenic, non-antigenic to resist biodegradation or mechanical fatigue. Processes to make PTFE structures, including tubular structures, having a substantially uniform porous structure are exemplified by U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,953,566, 3,962,153 and 4,187,390 and Japanese Patent No. 13560/67, each of which are hereby incorporated by reference. Other processes for making PTFE vascular grafts having a porosity gradient through the tube wall are disclosed by U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,234,535 and 4,332,035. PTFE vascular grafts produced by any of the foregoing processes have received extremely favorable reception in the marketplace, but they lack resistance to kinking during, for example, joint articulation or external loading.
Radially reinforced vascular grafts are known in the art. For example, IMPRA, Inc., the assignee hereof, has for some time sold a porous expanded PTFE vascular graft having a helically wound bead of non-expanded PTFE on at least a portion of the longitudinal aspect of the graft under the trademark IMPRA FLEX and CENTERFLEX. U.S. Pat. No. 4,588,461 discloses a process for producing a vascular graft in which a tubular graft is mounted on a mandrel and axially rotated while a reinforcing thread is wound substantially tensionless on the tubular prosthesis. The reinforcing thread is adhered to the tubular graft by a solvent specific for the material of the reinforcing thread. A spacer band, insoluble in the thread solvent, is used as a carrier for the reinforcing thread. The wound graft is heated to remove the solvent and the spacer band is removed leaving the helically wound vascular graft. A similar type of wound bead is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,061,275. U.S. Pat. No. 4,969,896 discloses a reinforced vascular graft having discrete longitudinally oriented, radially spaced ribs on the outer peripheral surface of the tubular graft. The ribs are preferably made of solid silicone rubber. A sleeve or wrap is placed over the prosthesis such that it bridges between adjacent ribs defining spaces between the tubular graft and the wrap. The wrap is adhered to the graft by applying an adhesive bead. The tubular graft and the ribs are made separately as discrete components then the ribs are adhered to the outer peripheral surface of the tubular graft. These types of reinforced vascular grafts suffer from one or more difficulties, including, peeling or delamination of the reinforcing structure from the tube, compression of the unsintered graft which weakens the graft at the point of contact between the reinforcing structure and the tube, inability to suture the reinforcing structure, requiring removal of the reinforcing structure at the suture point, and potential contamination introduced by application of the reinforcing structure to the tube wall.
Moreover, none of the foregoing reinforced vascular grafts have microporous reinforcing structures. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,550,447 and 4,647,416 disclose a ribbed porous vascular graft and a method for preparing a ribbed porous vascular graft, respectively. These patents teach that an expanded or unexpended PTFE tube may be scored in a regular and repeating pattern. The scored tube is then expanded below the sintering temperature of PTFE, thereby separating the scores into ribs, then sintering the scored, expanded tube while restraining the tube from axial shrinkage. The resulting graft creates ribs having a porosity less than that of the tube wall because the ribs are isolated from axial tension during sintering.
Heretofore, however, the prior art is devoid of a porous expanded reinforced PTFE tubular vascular graft in which the reinforcing structure exhibits substantially identical porosity as the tubular graft itself.

Reinforced vascular graft and method of making same


Disclosed are embodiments of systems, devices, and methods to reduce compression artifacts in multi-layer images. Pixel dilation operations, such as morphological dilations, are performed to identify unlabeled pixels at boundaries between layers, and the colors of those pixels are adjusted to mitigate formation of artifacts during layer compression.

A. Technical Field
The present invention pertains generally to image processing, and relates more particularly to image processing that reduces compression artifacts in multi-layer images.
B. Background of the Invention
Applications that render, record, or display images with limited resources often employ multi-layer compression. In such applications, an input image is first segmented into two or more layers, each of which refers to one type of distinctive characteristic of the input image. These layers and their associated masks are then compressed independently. An advantage of independent compression is that layers containing important information can be preserved while the other layers can undergo more aggressive compression. The set of layers and their associated masks then can form a highly compressed format that retains high information quality.
Segmentation of an input image often results in imprecise definition of the boundary between the foreground layer and the non-foreground layers. This may result in incomplete labeling of the foreground pixels and thus some foreground pixels at the boundary may be labeled non-foreground. These unlabeled foreground pixels may have very different colors than their neighboring non-foreground pixels, and the color differences may lead to strong artifacts in the non-foreground layers after compression. These artifacts will then appear in the images generated from the compressed layers.

Reducing compression artifacts in multi-layer images