A remote-controllable screw connection includes a nut, a first flange relvely closer to and a second flange relatively further away from the nut. At least one screw bolt connects the flanges to the nut. A sheath surrounds the screw bolt between the nut and the first flange. The sheath is non-rotatably but axially displaceably connected to the screw bolt.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a remote-controllable screw connection including two flanges being interconnected by means of at least one screw bolt having a nut, and a ring surrounding the screw bolt and being disposed between the nut and the flange oriented toward it.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Such rings in particular perform the task of preventing damage from scoring of the materials during rotation of the nut relative to the loose flange, which occurs due to of the high local pressure exerted on it. In the pipe connections known from Published European Application No. 0 208 969, two rings that surround the screw bolt and execute a lateral sliding surfaces. A loose flange mounted in a fixed flange is covered and retained with the lateral motion.
In another pipe connection according to German Patent DE-PS No. 1 252 483, the ring is provided with a spherical surface oriented toward the nut, in order to make it possible to adjust the nut on the flange.
However, the known rings are not always adequate for preventing damage under extreme conditions such as a high load, a corrosive atmosphere, long periods out of service, and above all if the effectiveness of a lubricant has been destroyed. The very greatly increased friction in such a case prevents the attainment of the clamping force for fastening the flange connection which is required, for instance, for securely sealing a pipe connection when the clamping element is clamped or re-clamped, even if high torque is used. It is particularly important to preclude damage at the loose flange if the loose flange is welded into a pipeline and can only be replaced with difficulty.

Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Wiederaufarbeitung von Kernbrennstoffen mbH


Systems, methods and apparatus for securely transmitting a data stream by dividing a data stream into a plurality of sub-streams; associating each substream with a respective spectral fragment; encrypting at least some of the sub-streams; and modulating each sub-stream to provide a respective modulated signal adapted for transmission via a respective spectral fragment.

Traditional wireless systems assume the availability of a contiguous block of spectrum with bandwidth proportional to the amount of data to be transmitted. Transmission systems are thus frequently designed for worst-case bandwidth requirements with the typical or average use-case, in some instances, requiring much less bandwidth (i.e., spectrum).
Within the context of satellite communications systems and other point-to-point communications systems, available spectrum allocated to customers may become fragmented over time, which leads to unused blocks between allocated blocks of spectrum. When the blocks of unused spectrum are too small, it is necessary to reallocate spectrum among customers or "move" a customer from existing spectral allocation to a new spectral allocation so that the unused blocks of spectrum may be coalesced into a single spectral region. Unfortunately, such reallocation is very disruptive.

System and method providing resilient data transmission via spectral fragments


A decorative laminated sheet, sequentially comprising (A) a completely amorphous polyester resin layer and (B) a substrate layer composed of a polyolefin resin, a polyvinyl chloride resin, an acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene resin, an acrylonitrile-styrene-acrylic acid ester resin, an acrylonitrile-ethylene propylene-styrene resin, a methyl methacrylate-butadiene-styrene resin, a polyethylene terephthalate or a completely amorphous polyester resin. Or a decorative laminated sheet comprising a substrate layer composed of (B) a completely amorphous polyester type resin layer and a transfer foil formed thereon.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a decorative laminated sheet, particularly to a decorative laminated sheet having excellent moldability, a low temperature impact resistance, surface smoothness, colorless transparency and other various properties; the decorative laminated sheet resists becoming cloudy or opaque when embossing or heat sealing. The decorative laminated sheet of the present invention is particularly suitable for vacuum press molding, pneumatic press molding and membrane press molding.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, decorative laminated sheets have been widely used or laminated on metallic or wooden materials such as furniture, cabinets, fittings, desks and cupboards. The decorative laminated sheets have been laminated and sealed tightly on adherends having complex contours by the membrane press molding.
For example, Japanese Patent Publication No. 7-39170 discloses a decorative laminated sheet composed of a substrate layer of a polyvinyl chloride sheet and a transfer film laminated thereon using a laminating method of so-called doubling embossing. According to Japanese Patent Publication No. 7-39170, a decorative laminated sheet having stain resistance, scratch resistance and high gloss is provided.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 7-24979 discloses a decorative laminated sheet composed of an opaque polyolefin type resin film and an amorphous polyethylene terephthalate resin film. The amorphous film used for the sheet described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open NO. 7-24979 is partially crystalline. According to Japanese Patent Laid-Open NO. 7-24979 a decorative laminated sheet having excellent moldability, transparency, weather resistance, stain resistance or the like can be obtained.
However, when the above-mentioned decorative laminated sheets are molded by membrane press molding, vacuum press molding, or pneumatic press molding, the sheet may become cloudy or opaque when embossing or heat sealing.
When membrane press molding, a thermoplastic decorative sheet, which is colored or surface-printed with a desired color and a desired thickness, is heated to approximately the softening point thereof, placed on an adherend having a complex contour such as a door of a kitchen unit, covered with, for example, a rubber sheet and then air or liquid pressure is applied to stick the decorative sheet to the contour. Vacuum press molding and pneumatic press molding are based on a same principle of the membrane press molding. The former is a molding method with a vacuum pressure using no membrane rubber, and the latter is a molding method utilizing an air pressure.
The decorative laminated sheet is generally manufactured by a calendar roll method. During the manufacture, irregularities, so-called bank marks, are partially produced caused by a nonuniform flow of a peculiarity of the resin on a calendar sheet. The irregularities do not cause adverse affects on a practical use, however, they affect the smoothness of the surface, resulting in a damaged appearance. In addition, if the line speed is increased when doubling embossing, the bank mark becomes more prominent, thereby reducing productivity.
Moreover, the decorative laminated sheet tends to crack easily at a low temperature. The sheet can crack when handling it in winter.
Furthermore, the sheet composed of the substrate layer of polyvinyl chloride disclosed in the Japanese Patent Publication No. 7-39170 is colored at an early stage, and, due to thermal degradation, is not an especially excellent transparency.
An object of the present invention is to provide a decorative laminated sheet having excellent moldability, a low temperature impact resistance, surface smoothness, colorless transparency and other various properties; the decorative laminated sheet resists becoming cloudy or opaque when embossing or heat sealing, and is particularly suitable for vacuum press molding, pneumatic press molding and membrane press molding.


What is disclosed is a tool chest which comprises a main support housing; a center member slideably mounted in the main support housing; side members pivotally mounted to the main support housing; and means for supporting tools comprising part of the center member and each of the side members. The main support housing further includes a pair of support blocks which limit the downward vertical travel of the center member creating a storage area at the bottom of the chest.. The slideable mount for the center member includes a cooperating groove and track. The track portion includes a spring biased section which is forced into the vertical path of the center member when the latter is raised above a certain height. It then provides a support ledge for holding the center member in its vertically disposed position, making the storage area accessible.. The handle for carrying the chest includes cooperating handle sections disposed on the side members. When the latter are closed, the cooperating sections can be secured together by the placement of a lock in the aligned holes.

This invention relates generally to a chest for carrying tools and the like, but, more particularly, to a chest which is constructed to display all storage areas at once and to provide ready access to all tools, etc. stored therein.
There are various tool chests available servicing the individual needs of carpenters, mechanics, roofers, etc. Generally, these chests include a plurality of drawers or trays which contain various tools and which must be opened or removed from the tool chest to provide visibility and availability. The present inventor is unaware of a portable, ready access and total display type of chest for the various disciplines.
It is therefore a primary object of the present invention to provide a tool or parts storage and display chest which provides display and ready access to all items within.
It is yet another object of this invention to provide a suitcase-like, portable chest.
It is still another object of this invention to provide a chest which is economical to manufacture and which can be fashioned from various materials.
It is still a further object of this invention to provide a chest which includes a removable center section which increases its versatility.


Synthesis of tungsten pentahalide compositions having low impurity profiles are disclosed. The specific impurity profile permits deposition of high purity tungsten-containing films using vapor deposition processes or other semiconductor manufacturing processes without introduction of performance-impacting contaminants.

Tungsten pentachloride is a precursor used in semiconductor processing for deposition of Tungsten containing films or etching processes. Tungsten (W) metal is used as plugs to connect M1 to copper interconnects of the FEOL and BEOL in logic and memory applications. See, e.g., US2009/0014879 to Park et al. Tungsten (W) or tungsten silicide (WSi2) may also serve as a metal gate deposited on Ti. See, e.g., US2014/0120723 to Fu et al. WCl5 has also been used to selectively etch substrates, such as metals, metal nitrides, and metal oxides. See, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 9,449,843 to Korolik et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 9,595,466 to Fu et al.
Traven et al. disclose reactions of polysilanes and their Group IVB analogs with tungsten hexachloride. Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Seriya Khimicheskaya (1975) 7, p. 1681.
Thorn-Csanyi et al. disclose reaction between WCl6 and olefins to show that the reduction of WCl6 with olefins is applicable to the preparation of WCl5. J. Molecular Catalysis, 1991, 65, 261-67.
WCl6 was reduced photolytically neat with tetrachloroethylene to produce hexachloroethane and WCl5. Inorganic Chemistry, 1968, 7, 6, 1227-1229.
A need remains for inexpensive and commercially viable synthesis methods to produce tungsten halides having purity suitable for use in the semiconductor industry.

Heterogeneous wet synthesis process for preparation of high purity tungsten pentahalide

L'Air Liquide, Société Anonyme pour l'Etude et l'Exploitation des Procédés Georges Claude


Described are valve stems for wheels or other pressure vessels that may be installed from the exterior of a wheel or pressure vessel without access to the interior, pressure retaining areas. The valve stem may include a body with a barrel and taper. A neck may be between the body and a base that includes a flange, a flange landing, and an air aperture. An air channel runs vertically through the valve stem to allow air to pass from one side of the valve stem to another with a valve core or other flow control device. The base of the valve stem may include a groove that allows the valve stem to be installed into a hole by twisting such that the groove may ride along the rim of the hole and guide the valve stem into a fully seated and sealed position.

Valve stems, particularly those used in tubeless, pneumatic tires, are used to allow gases, typically air, to be added or removed from a tire or pressure vessel. The valve stem is generally constructed with an air passage extending from the inner portion of a wheel or pressure vessel to the outer portion. A valve core within the air passage controls the flow of air through the valve stem and helps maintain the pressure within a tire or pressure vessel.
Valve stems, particularly those used on wheels, may become damaged or may degrade over time such that they lose pressure due to the failure of a valve core or the hardening and cracking of the rubber that provides a seal with the wheel or pressure vessel. As a result, periodic replacement of valve stems is necessary. Existing valve stems are designed to be installed into a wheel or pressure vessel by pulling the valve stem through a hole from the high pressure side to the low pressure side. In the case of a wheel, the valve stem is pulled from the tire side to the exposed portion of a wheel. This type of installation requires the removal of the tire, which may or may not need replacement at the time of a valve stem replacement.
Tire removal generally involves high levels of deformation of the tire to break the tire bead seal from the wheel. For some wheels, particularly two-part steel wheels that are found on many small off-road vehicles, such as golf carts and all-terrain vehicles, breaking the bead of the tire from the wheel will cause separation of the wheel parts. These parts, which may have rusted along their joining seam, may be difficult or impossible to re-align or re-seal and may necessitate wheel replacement. Even in the case of single-piece wheels, the replacement of a valve stem requires removal of the tire, leading to possible damage from breaking the bead seal, and additional labor costs to re-mount and re-balance the tire for the replacement of the valve stem.
In certain cases, it may be desirable to provide a valve stem that can be installed from the exterior or exposed portion of a wheel or pressure vessel. A valve stem that may be installed from the unpressurized portion of a wheel or other pressure vessel may eliminate the need to open a pressure vessel or dismount a tire from a rim. In the particular case of pneumatic tires, eliminating the dismount, re-mount, and re-balancing of a tire may reduce the risk of tire damage or unseating of parts that may be difficult or impossible to re-seat or re-seal. A valve stem that may be installed from the unpressurized side of a wheel or pressure vessel may make valve stem replacement easier and reduce the amount of labor required for a routine repair.

Grooved valve stems for wheel-side installation


A microwave apparatus (10) with conductive fingers (104, 105) on extensions (101, 102) contacting the material (200) to be processed and knife edges (100) adjacent the material on opposed sides of the cavity (12). The fingers and knife edges prevent leakage of the microwaves from the cavity (12) through extensions (101 and 102) and can be replaced or modified for various material 200 and die cross-sections. The apparatus is particularly useful for curing electrically conductive resin impregnated fibers.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an improved electromagnetic wave, particularly microwave, curing apparatus and method of use thereof for continuous processing of a material, In particular the present invention relates to an apparatus which prevents leakage of microwaves from the cavity used for the processing.
2. Description of Related Art
The prior art has described various apparatus for continuous processing of materials using microwaves. In each instance spaced metallic projections are mounted adjacent the material being processed without touching it so that there is minimal leakage from the space between the material and the projections. Nevertheless, there is leakage. Illustrative are U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,627,571 to Hiehle et al, 4,253,005 to Gordon et al, 4,227,063 to Edgar et al, 4,477,707 to Kim, 4,488,027 to Dudley et al, 4,559,095 to Babbin, 4,570,045 to Jeppson, 4,861,955 to Shen, 4,906,309 to Bichot et al, 4,999,469 to Dudley et al and 5,217,656 to Buckley et al. These patents only deal with microwave leakage from a cavity in a continuous processing of non-conductive materials. Wei et al described microwave processing of composites at an AICHE meeting in 1990, in SAMPE Journal pages 33 to 38 (1991) in Proceeding of ICCM/VIII 1, 10-L (1991) and in ANTEC '92 Conf. Proc. 1170 (1992). Microwave curing of composites is also described in Lee et al, J. of Composite Materials 18, 387-409 (1984); Ippen, J., Rubber Chem. Technol. 44, 294 (1971); Loos, A. C., et al., J. Composite Mat. 17, 135-169 (1983) and Wang, C. S., Rubber Division, American Chemical Society, 134-145 (1983). The problem is that there is no microwave apparatus available for continuous processing of conductive materials.

Electromagnetic curing apparatus and method of use

Board of Trustees operating Michigan State University


A display device including a substrate, a display portion positioned on the substrate and a pad portion positioned outside the display portion, a jumping portion positioned between the display portion and the pad portion, at least two power lines positioned on the substrate, a connection pattern connecting the at least two power lines to each other in the jumping portion, and an insulating layer spaced apart from the connection pattern and surrounding the connection pattern to prevent residue defects and short circuit defects at the jumping portion.

Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to a display device, and more particularly, to a display device preventing a residue defect and a short circuit defect of lines.
Description of the Related Art
Various flat panel displays (FPDs) have replaced heavier and larger cathode ray tubes (CRTs). Examples of the flat panel display include a liquid crystal display (LCD), a field emission display (FED), a plasma display panel (PDP) and an organic light emitting diode (OLED) display.
In more detail, an OLED display is a self-emission display device configured to emit light by exciting an organic compound. The OLED display does not require a backlight unit used in a liquid crystal display and thus has a thin profile and lightness in weight and a simpler manufacturing process. The OLED display can be also manufactured at a low temperature and has a fast response time of 1 ms or less, low power consumption, a wide viewing angle, and a high contrast.
Further, the OLED display includes a light emitting layer formed of an organic material between a first electrode serving as an anode and a second electrode serving as a cathode. The OLED display forms hole-electron pairs, excitons, by combining holes received from the first electrode and electrons received from the second electrode inside the light emitting layer and emits light by energy generated when the excitons return to a ground level.
In addition, the OLED display includes a display area, in which an image is implemented through a plurality of pixels, and a non-display area positioned outside the display area. In the non-display area, a plurality of lines used to supply various signals to the plurality of pixels of the display area are disposed. In particular, the plurality of lines are generally made using metals having a low resistance, but the lines on the same layer occupy a large area of the bezel.
The OLED display uses the anode as the line of the non-display area, so as to decrease the bezel of the non-display area. However, when an anode layer is patterned, a residue of the anode remains. Thus, as shown in FIG. 1, a short circuit defect is generated between the residue of the anode and layers stacked on the residue of the anode due to the residue problem of the anode pattern, thereby reducing the reliability of the OLED display.


A centrifuge disposable having a collection chamber for receiving and holding a fluid to be centrifuged, the chamber having an outer perimeter, an inner perimeter, a generally circular cross-sectional area, and a conical outboard collecting portion. The collection chamber is typically formed from relatively rigid, molded plastic or other materials. The chamber further ports in communication near the outboard portions of the chamber to provide fluid communication to a tubing, which may be single lumen for discontinuous embodiments in which a single tube is used for fill and extraction and multi-lumen for continuous fill and extraction embodiments in which an inlet lumen is used for fill and one or more outlet lumens are used for extraction of separated components.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to novel methods, devices and apparatuses for the centrifugal separation of a liquid into its components of varying specific gravities, and is more particularly directed toward a blood separation device useful, for example, in the separation of blood components for use in various therapeutic regimens.
2. Description of the State of Art
Centrifugation utilizes the principle that particles suspended in solution will assume a particular radial position within the centrifuge rotor based upon their respective densities and will therefore separate when the centrifuge is rotated at an appropriate angular velocity for an appropriate period of time. Centrifigal liquid processing systems have found applications in a wide variety of fields. For example, centrifugation is widely used in blood separation techniques to separate blood into its component parts, that is, red blood cells, platelets, white blood cells, and plasma.
The liquid portion of the blood, referred to as plasma, is a protein-salt solution in which red and white blood cells and platelets are suspended. Plasma, which is 90 percent water, constitutes about 55 percent of the total blood volume. Plasma contains albumin (the chief protein constituent), fibrinogen (responsible, in part, for the clotting of blood), globulins (including antibodies) and other clotting proteins. Plasma serves a variety of functions, from maintaining a satisfactory blood pressure and providing volume to supplying critical proteins for blood clotting and immunity. Plasma is obtained by separating the liquid portion of blood from the cells suspended therein.
Red blood cells (erythrocytes) are perhaps the most recognizable component of whole blood. Red blood cells contain hemoglobin, a complex iron-containing protein that carries oxygen throughout the body while giving blood its red color. The percentage of blood volume composed of red blood cells is called the xe2x80x9chematocrit.xe2x80x9d
White blood cells (leukocytes) are responsible for protecting the body from invasion by foreign substances such as bacteria, fungi and viruses. Several types of white blood cells exist for this purpose, such as granulocytes and macrophages which protect against infection by surrounding and destroying invading bacteria and viruses, and lymphocytes which aid in the immune defense.
Platelets (thrombocytes) are very small cellular components of blood that help the clotting process by sticking to the lining of blood vessels. Platelets are vital to life, because they help prevent both massive blood loss resulting from trauma and blood vessel leakage that would otherwise occur in the course of normal, day-to-day activity.
If whole blood is collected and prevented from clotting by the addition of an appropriate anticoagulant, it can be centrifuged into its component parts. Centrifugation will result in the red blood cells, which weigh the most, packing to the most outer portion of the rotating container, while plasma, being the least dense will settle in the central portion of the rotating container. Separating the plasma and red blood cells is a thin white or grayish layer called the buffy coat. The buffy coat layer consists of the white blood cells and platelets, which together make up about 1 percent of the total blood volume.
These blood components, discussed above, may be isolated and utilized in a wide range of diagnostic and therapeutic regimens. For example, red blood cells are routinely transfused into patients with chronic anemia resulting from disorders such as kidney failure, malignancies, or gastrointestinal bleeding and those with acute blood loss resulting from trauma or surgery. The plasma component is typically frozen by cryoprecipitation and then slowly thawed to produce cryoprecipitated antihemophiliac factor (AHF) which is rich in certain clotting factors, including Factor VIII, fibrinogen, von Willebrand factor and Factor XIII. Cryoprecipitated AHF is used to prevent or control bleeding in individuals with hemophilia and von Willebrand""s disease. Platelets and white blood cells, which are found in the buffy layer component, can be used to treat patients with abnormal platelet function (thrombocytopenia) and patients that are unresponsive to antibiotic therapy, respectively.
Various techniques and apparatus have been developed to facilitate the collection of whole blood and the subsequent separation of therapeutic components therefrom. Centrifugal systems, also referred to as blood-processing systems, generally fall into two categories, discontinuous-flow and continuous-flow devices.
In discontinuous-flow systems, whole blood from the donor or patient flows through a conduit into the rotor or bowl where component separation takes place. These systems employ a bowl-type rotor with a relatively large (typically 200 ml or more) volume that must be filled with blood before any of the desired components can be harvested. When the bowl is full, the drawing of fresh blood is stopped, the whole blood is separated into its components by centrifugation, and the unwanted components are returned to the donor or patient through the same conduit intermittently, in batches, rather than on a continuous basis. When the return has been completed, whole blood is again drawn from the donor or patient, and a second cycle begins. This process continues until the required amount of the desired component has been collected. Discontinuous-flow systems have the advantage that the rotors are relatively small in diameter but may have the disadvantage of a relatively large extracorporeal volume (i.e., the amount of blood that is out of the donor at any given time during the process). Discontinuous-flow devices are used for the collection of platelets and/or plasma, and for the concentration and washing of red blood cells. They are used to reconstitute previously frozen red blood cells and to salvage red blood cells lost intraoperatively. Because the bowls in these systems are rigid and have a fixed volume, however, it has been difficult to control the hematocrit of the final product, particularly if the amount of blood salvaged is insufficient to fill the bowl with red blood cells.
One example of a discontinuous-flow system is disclosed by McMannis, et al., in his U.S. Pat. No. 5,316,540, and is a variable volume centrifuge for separating components of a fluid medium, comprising a centrifuge that is divided into upper and lower chambers by a flexible membrane, and a flexible processing container bag positioned in the upper chamber of the centrifuge. The McMannis, et al., system varies the volume of the upper chamber by pumping a hydraulic fluid into the lower chamber, which in turn raises the membrane and squeezes the desired component out of the centrifuge. The McMannis, et al., system takes up a fairly large amount of space, and its flexible pancake-shaped rotor is awkward to handle. The McMannis, et al., system does not permit the fluid medium to flow into and out of the processing bag at the same time, nor does it permit fluid medium to be pulled out of the processing bag by suction.
In continuous-flow systems, whole blood from the donor or patient also flows through one conduit into the spinning rotor where the components are separated. The component of interest is collected and the unwanted components are returned to the donor through a second conduit on a continuous basis as more whole blood is being drawn. Because the rate of drawing and the rate of return are substantially the same, the extracorporeal volume, or the amount of blood that is out of the donor or patient at any given time in the procedure, is relatively small. These systems typically employ a belt-type rotor, which has a relatively large diameter but a relatively small (typically 100 ml or less) processing volume. Although continuous-flow systems have the advantage that the amount of blood that must be outside the donor or patient can be relatively small, they have the disadvantage that the diameter of the rotor is large. These systems are, as a consequence, large. Furthermore, they are complicated to set up and use. These devices are used almost exclusively for the collection of platelets.
Continuous-flow systems are comprised of rotatable and stationary parts that are in fluid communication. Consequently, continuous-flow systems utilize either rotary seals or a J-loop. A variety of types of rotary centrifuge seals have been developed. Some examples of rotary centrifuge seals which have proven to be successful are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,409,203 and 3,565,330, issued to Latham. In these patents, rotary seals are disclosed which are formed from a stationary rigid low friction member in contact with a moving rigid member to create a dynamic seal, and an elastomeric member which provides a resilient static seal as well as a modest closing force between the surfaces of the dynamic seal.
Another rotary seal suitable for use in blood-processing centrifuges is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,801,142 issued to Jones, et al. In this rotary seal, a pair of seal elements having confronting annular fluid-tight sealing surfaces of non-corrodible material are provided. These are maintained in a rotatable but fluid-tight relationship by axial compression of a length of elastic tubing forming one of the fluid connections to these seal elements.
Related types of systems which incorporate rotatable, disposable annular separation chambers coupled via rotary seals to stationary tubing members are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,387,848; 4,094,461; 4,007,871; and 4,010,894.
One drawback present in the above-described continuous-flow systems has been their use of a rotating seal or coupling element between that portion of the system carried by the centrifuge rotor and that portion of the system which remains stationary. While such rotating seals have provided generally satisfactory performance, they have been expensive to manufacture and have unnecessarily added to the cost of the flow systems. Furthermore, such rotating seals introduce an additional component into the system which if defective can cause contamination of the blood being processed.
One flow system heretofore contemplated to overcome the problem of the rotating seal utilizes a rotating carriage on which a single housing is rotatably mounted. An umbilical cable extending to the housing from a stationary point imparts planetary motion to the housing and thus prevents the cable from twisting. To promote sterile processing while avoiding the disadvantages of a discontinuous-flow system within a single sealed system, a family of dual member centrifuges can be used to effect cell separation. One example of this type of centrifuge is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. RE 29,738 to Adams entitled xe2x80x9cApparatus for Providing Energy Communication Between a Moving and a Stationary Terminal.xe2x80x9d Due to the characteristics of such dual member centrifuges, it is possible to rotate a container containing a fluid, such as a unit of donated blood and to withdraw a separated fluid component, such as plasma, into a stationary container, outside of the centrifuge without using rotating seals. Such container systems utilize a J-loop and can be formed as closed, sterile transfer sets.
The Adams patent discloses a centrifuge having an outer rotatable member and an inner rotatable member. The inner member is positioned within and rotatably supported by the outer member. The outer member rotates at one rotational velocity, usually called xe2x80x9cone omega,xe2x80x9d and the inner rotatable member rotates at twice the rotational velocity of the outer housing or xe2x80x9ctwo omega.xe2x80x9d There is thus a one omega difference in rotational speed of the two members. For purposes of this document, the term xe2x80x9cdual member centrifugexe2x80x9d shall refer to centrifuges of the Adams type.
The dual member centrifuge of the Adams patent is particularly advantageous in that, as noted above, no seals are needed between the container of fluid being rotated and the non-moving component collection containers. The system of the Adams patent provides a way to process blood into components in a single, sealed, sterile system wherein whole blood from a donor can be infused into the centrifuge while the two members of the centrifuge are being rotated.
An alternate to the apparatus of the Adams patent is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 4,056,224 to Lolachi entitled xe2x80x9cFlow System for Centrifugal Liquid Processing Apparatus.xe2x80x9d The system of the Lolachi patent includes a dual member centrifuge of the Adams type. The outer member of the Lolachi centrifuge is rotated by a single electric motor which is coupled to the internal rotatable housing by belts and shafts.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,108,353 to Brown entitled xe2x80x9cCentrifugal Apparatus With Oppositely Positioned Rotational Support Meansxe2x80x9d discloses a centrifuge structure of the Adams type which includes two separate electrical motors. One electric motor is coupled by a belt to the outer member and rotates the outer member at a desired nominal rotational velocity. The second motor is carried within the rotating exterior member and rotates the inner member at the desired higher velocity, twice that of the exterior member.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,109,855 to Brown, et al., entitled xe2x80x9cDrive System For Centrifugal Processing Apparatusxe2x80x9d discloses yet another drive system. The system of the Brown, et al., patent has an outer shaft, affixed to the outer member for rotating the outer member at a selected velocity. An inner shaft, coaxial with the outer shaft, is coupled to the inner member. The inner shaft rotates the inner member at twice the rotational velocity as the outer member. A similar system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,109,854 to Brown entitled xe2x80x9cCentrifugal Apparatus With Outer Enclosure.xe2x80x9d
The continuous-flow systems described above are large and expensive units that are not intended to be portable. Further, they are also an order of magnitude more expensive than a standard, multi-container blood collection set. There exists the need, therefore, for a centrifugal system for processing blood and other biological fluids that is compact and easy to use and that addresses the disadvantages of prior-art discontinuous and continuous-flow systems.
Whole blood that is to be separated into its components is commonly collected into a flexible plastic donor bag, and the blood is centrifuged to separate it into its components through a batch process. This is done by spinning the blood bag for a period of about 10 minutes in a large refrigerated centrifuge. The main blood constituents, i.e., red blood cells, platelets and white cells, and plasma, having sedimented and formed distinct layers, are then expressed sequentially by a manual extractor in multiple satellite bags attached to the primary bag.
More recently, automated extractors have been introduced in order to facilitate the manipulation. Nevertheless, the whole process remains laborious and requires the separation to occur within a certain time frame to guarantee the quality of the blood components. This complicates the logistics, especially considering that most blood donations are performed in decentralized locations where no batch processing capabilities exist.
This method has been practiced since the widespread use of the disposable plastic bags for collecting blood in the 1970""s and has not evolved significantly since then. Some attempts have been made to apply haemapheresis technology in whole blood donation. This technique consists of drawing and extracting on-line one or more blood components while a donation is performed, and returning the remaining constituents to the donor. However, the complexity and costs of haemapheresis systems preclude their use by transfusion centers for routine whole blood collection.
There have been various proposals for portable, disposable, centrifugal apparatus, usually with collapsible bags, for example as in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,737,096, or 4,303,193 to Latham, Jr., or with a rigid walled bowl as in U.S. Pat. No. 4,889,524 to Fell, et al. These devices all have a minimum fixed holding volume which requires a minimum volume usually of about 250 ml to be processed before any components can be collected.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,316,540 to McMannis, et al., discloses a centrifugal processing apparatus, wherein the processing chamber is a flexible processing bag which can be deformed to fill it with biological fluid or empty it by means of a membrane which forms part of the drive unit. The bag comprises a single inlet/outlet tubing for the introduction and removal of fluids to the bag, and consequently cannot be used in a continual, on-line process. Moreover, the processing bag has a the disadvantage of having 650 milliliter capacity, which makes the McMannis, et al., device difficult to use as a blood processing device.
As discussed above, centrifuges are often used to separate blood into its components for use in a variety of therapeutic regimens. One such application is the preparation of a bioadhesive sealant. A bioadhesive sealant, also referred to as fibrin glue, is a relatively new technological advance which attempts to duplicate the biological process of the final stage of blood coagulation. Clinical reports document the utility of fibrin glue in a variety of surgical fields, such as, cardiovascular, thoracic, transplantation, head and neck, oral, gastrointestinal, orthopedic, neurosurgical, and plastic surgery. At the time of surgery, the two primary components comprising the fibrin glue, fibrinogen and thrombin, are mixed together to form a clot. The clot is applied to the appropriate site, where it adheres to the necessary tissues, bone, or nerve within seconds, but is then slowly reabsorbed by the body in approximately 10 days by fibrinolysis. Important features of fibrin glue is its ability to: (1) achieve haemostasis at vascular anastomoses particularly in areas which are difficult to approach with sutures or where suture placement presents excessive risk; (2) control bleeding from needle holes or arterial tears which cannot be controlled by suturing alone; and (3) obtain haemostasis in heparinized patients or those with coagulopathy. See, Borst, H. G., et al., J Thorac. Cardiovasc. Surg., 84:548-553 (1982); Walterbusch, G. J, et al., Thorac. Cardiovasc. Surg., 30:234-23 5 (1982); and Wolner, F. J, et al., Thorac. Cardiovasc. Surg., 30:236-237 (1982).
There is still a need, therefore, for a centrifugal system for processing blood and other biological fluids, that is compact and easy to use and that does not have the disadvantages of prior-art discontinuous and/or continuous flow systems and furthermore there exists a need for a convenient and practical method for preparing a platelet gel composition wherein the resulting platelet gel poses a zero risk of disease transmission and a zero risk of causing an adverse physiological reaction.
There is also a widespread need for a system that, during blood collection, will automatically separate the different components of whole blood that are differentiable in density and size, with a simple, low cost, disposable unit.
There is further a need for a centrifugal cell processing system wherein multiple batches of cells can be simultaneously and efficiently processed without the use of rotational coupling elements.
Preferably the apparatus will be essentially self-contained. Preferably, the equipment needed to practice the method will be relatively inexpensive and the blood contacting set will be disposable each time the whole blood has been separated.
Accordingly, an object of this invention is to provide a method and apparatus for the separation of components suspended or dissolved in a fluid medium by centrifugation. More specifically, one object of this invention is to provide a method for the separation and isolation of one or more whole blood components, such as platelet rich plasma, white blood cells and platelet poor plasma, from anticoagulated whole blood by centrifugation, wherein the components are isolated while the centrifuge is rotating.
To achieve the foregoing, an embodiment of the present invention provides a centrifuge disposable or separation assembly having at least one collection chamber for receiving and holding a fluid medium to be centrifuged, the chamber having an outer perimeter, an inner perimeter, a generally circular cross-sectional area, and a generally conical outboard or outer-perimeter collecting portion. The collection chamber is typically formed from relatively rigid, molded plastic or other materials. A mounting assembly (e.g., a caddy for the disposable) is included as part of the invention to allow accurate mounting of the centrifuge disposable relative to the centrifuge rotor to facilitate balanced distribution of component weights for smooth centrifuge rotation and to allow quick installation and release of the centrifuge disposal after use for easy insertion and replacement without tools.
The collection chamber further includes a first and second port in fluid communication with opposite points near the outer most or outboard portions of the chamber (e.g., in the conical collecting portion). The first and second ports thus provide fluid communication with the environment inside and outside of the collection chamber. The first and second ports are in turn fluidly connected to a lumen tubing, which may be single lumen for discontinuous-flow embodiments in which a single tube is used for fill and extraction and multi-lumen for continuous fill and extraction embodiments in which an inlet lumen is used for fill and one or more outlet lumens are used for extraction of separated components.
Once a desired degree of separation of whole blood has been achieved as determined by process timing and/or sensors, the present invention provides for the specific removal or extraction of the desired fraction within one or more of the regions from collection chamber of the centrifuge disposable through the outlet tube during continued rotation of the centrifuge, thereby allowing for on-line removal of the desired fraction. In continuous-flow embodiments, additional aliquots may be added to the centrifuge disposable via the inlet tube simultaneously or after the desired component has been harvested. Generally, in discontinuous-flow embodiments, the collection chamber of the centrifuge disposable is initially filled during a lower speed rotation, the collection chamber is then rotated at higher speeds to achieve a desired separation or outward packing of heavier components, the desired fluid components are then collected (often with the aid of sensors), the collection chamber is emptied, and the collection chamber is refilled to begin additional separation processes (often the collection chamber and centrifuge disposable will be replaced prior to a next processing of fluid, e.g., blood).
According to an important aspect of the invention, the separation assembly or centrifuge disposable is configured to be volume insensitive by providing ongoing or self-balancing and to be hemocrit insensitive by facilitating the accurate collection of a desired component (such as plasma) without unwanted components (such as red blood cells). To provide ongoing balancing, the separation assembly preferably has two or more collection chambers or reservoirs that are simultaneously filled or drawn down (or two or more inlet ports to a single chamber). In one embodiment, two elongated collection chambers are provided and positioned such that their central axes substantially coincide. Further, a single fill line is provided that branches to an inlet/outlet port on the outboard end of each collection chamber (although in multi-lumen tubing embodiments, the inlet lumen terminates at a point in the chamber interior to the outlet lumen) or at points about 180 degrees apart. In other embodiments, 3 or more collection chambers are provided and are equidistantly positioned to provide similar ongoing balancing (e.g., three collection chambers may be provided spaced about 120 degrees apart or four collection chambers may be provided spaced about 90 degrees apart).
To facilitate component collection or hemocrit insensitivity, each collection chamber preferably combines an elongated portion for providing a larger volume reservoir with an outboard or outer collection portion that has tapered sides that angle inward toward the central axis of the collection chamber. In one embodiment, the inner, elongated portion is cylindrical in shape with smooth walls that extend substantially parallel to the chamber central axis while the adjoining outer, collection portion is conical in shape with a taper or angle selected based on the size of the cells or components being collected. At the most outboard or outer location on the collection portion, the collection chamber includes a port or connection point for the lumen tubing. The conical shape of the outer collection portion creates tapered inner walls in the chamber that allows small percentage components (such as platelets and white blood cells) to be collected in a smaller volume portion of the chamber. This is important for sensing where two separate component volumes mate or contact because the small volume components will have a larger radial component within the collection chamber in the conical collection portion near the port than in the larger volume straight-walled inner portion. Hence, for identifying and collecting very small components in a separated fluid, a larger taper is preferred to provide a smaller collection volume in the chamber near the port. A sensor, such as a visible red LED, is typically provided in the outer collection portion adjacent the port to detect interfaces between separated components.
In one embodiment, accurate collection of fluid components is enhanced by providing a trap in the lumen tubing to control the flow of more dense components. For example, red blood cells tend to pack in the outer collection portion and then flow outward into the lumen tubing during higher speed rotation of the centrifuge. To block unwanted flow of separated components, one embodiment of the separation assembly includes a trap in the lumen tubing exterior and adjacent to the port of the collection chamber. The trap may take a number of configurations and in a preferred embodiment, the trap is a xe2x80x9cUxe2x80x9d shape in the tubing which acts to pack red blood cells or other heavier components. A trap is provided at each outer port to a collection chamber to provide this effective flow control to each collection chamber and control contamination or mixing of separated components.
Additional objects, advantages, and novel features of this invention shall be set forth in part in the description and examples that follow, and in part will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon examination of the following or may be learned by the practice of the invention. The objects and the advantages of the invention may be realized and attained by means of the instrumentalities and in combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

Blood centrifuge with exterior mounted, self-balancing collection chambers


A resource indication method, a base station and a terminal are provided. The method includes that: the base station generates a resource indication channel, the resource indication channel indicating a first time-frequency resource and a communication parameters for the first time-frequency resource, the resource indication channel occupying a second time-frequency resource and at least one first time-frequency resource corresponding to at least one resource indication channel forming a cell; and the base station sends the resource indication channel to the terminal. The method can improve resource allocation and indication flexibility, and improve performance and applicability of a wireless communication system.

An existing wireless communication system, for example, a Global System of Mobile Communication (GSM), a Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) 2000 system, a Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) system and a Long Term Evolution (LTE) system, usually uses fixed communication parameters, or a very limited small number of communication parameters are variable, for example, a carrier bandwidth, a timeslot length or a subframe length, a spreading factor of a CDMA system, a subcarrier spacing of the LTE system and a physical resource block granularity.
However, there are ever-changing application manners required to be supported in a next-generation wireless communication system (for example, a 5th-Generation (5G) system). Therefore, it is necessary to efficiently deal with large-range changes in indexes of a bandwidth, a delay, mobility, coverage, a communication rate, reliability, a user number and the like. In an existing system, resource allocation, communication parameters corresponding to resources and corresponding resource indication solutions are relatively undiversified and unlikely to meet the requirement of the next-generation wireless communication system.

Resource indication method, base station and terminal

GUANGDONG OPPO MOBILE TELECOMMUNICATIONS CORP., LTD.


Wireless energy transmission methods and wireless energy sending devices are provided. The method comprises: transmitting, according to remaining energy information of at least one preferential device among multiple wireless energy receiving devices, wireless energy to at least one of the at least one preferential device, until a predetermined energy standard corresponding to the preferential device on which wireless energy transmission is performed is reached. The methods and devices can enable one or more wireless energy receiving devices to be preferentially charged as wanted by a user in a process that a wireless energy sending device transmits energy to multiple wireless energy receiving devices.

In wireless charging/power supply technologies, an energy sending device and an energy receiving device may perform energy transmission in a wireless manner. An existing wireless charging/power supply technology comprises an inductive coupling technology, a magnetic resonance technology, and a microwave energy transmission technology, and the like. The inductive coupling technology and the magnetic resonance technology are applicable to a short distance (centimeter level) wireless charging/power supply application scenario, whereas the microwave energy transmission technology may implement wireless energy transmission between an energy sending device and an energy receiving device in a long distance (the maximum distance is about 10 meters) application scenario.
FIG. 1 shows a working principle of a microwave energy transmission technology. In a wireless energy transmission system shown in FIG. 1, a wireless energy sending device 330a comprises a power source 300, a communications module 320, control logic 310, and a microwave array 101a, and a wireless energy receiving device 330b comprises a rectifier 340, control logic 350, a communications module 360, and a battery 370. The wireless energy sending device 330a transmits energy 301 to the wireless energy receiving device 330b in a wireless microwave manner. The microwave array 101a in the wireless energy sending device 330a comprises multiple phase adjustable emitter nodes, for example, up to 20000 emitter nodes, which are configured to send the energy 301, and the rectifier 340 in the wireless energy receiving device 330b receives the energy 301, so as to supply power to the battery 370 in the wireless energy receiving device 330b. At the beginning as a wireless energy transmission relationship starts to be established between the wireless energy sending device 330a and the wireless energy receiving device 330b, the microwave array 101a in the wireless energy sending device 330a adjusts phases of the emitter nodes one by one, so that each emitter node is adjusted to an optimal phase of performing wireless energy transmission to achieve an optimal wireless energy transmission effect. The foregoing process is referred to as a "phase calibration stage". In the phase calibration stage, the communications apparatus 360 in the wireless energy receiving device 330b continuously sends a feedback signal to the communications apparatus 320 of the wireless energy sending device 330a by using a wireless data communication channel, so as to report, to the wireless energy sending device 330a, wireless energy transmission intensity (or wireless energy transmission power) received by the rectifier 340. The control logic 310 in the wireless energy sending device 330a adjusts the phases of the emitter nodes in the microwave array 101a one by one on the basis of the feedback signal, until the wireless energy transmission intensity reported by the communications apparatus 360 in the wireless energy receiving device 330b becomes maximal, and the phase calibration stage ends.
As shown in FIG. 2, when multiple wireless energy receiving devices Rx exist in a wireless energy transmission range of one wireless energy sending device Tx; for example, multiple terminal devices in a user's room need to be charged. The multiple wireless energy receiving devices Rx may perform wireless energy transmission with the wireless energy sending device Tx in a sharing manner. In many scenarios, for urgent use of a terminal device or other causes, a user wants one or more wireless energy receiving devices to be preferentially charged, or at least to be preferentially charged a predetermined extent.


A method includes receiving one or more images of an organ of a patient. A physical model of at least a target region of the organ is manufactured based on the images. A distal tip of a medical probe is pre-shaped to fit a surface of the physical model corresponding to the target region.

Invasive probes are used in a variety of medical procedures, such as cardiac electrophysiological (EP) mapping and ablation. Some probes have tips that are pre-shaped to the desired form. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,617,854, whose disclosure is incorporated herein by reference, describes a pre-shaped cardiac catheter for mapping and selective ablation of a portion of cardiac circuitry. The catheter includes a pre-shaped first curved portion for positioning around the ostium of coronary sinus and a second curved portion for maintaining the first curved portion in its desired position. A catheter assembly, including a guide-wire and a preshaped catheter, is inserted to a location proximal the atrium. As the guide-wire is withdrawn from within the catheter, the catheter assumes its preshaped form at the target location. Alternatively, a catheter assembly, with or without a guide-wire, may be introduced to the target ablation site via a catheter sheath. The catheter includes an array of spaced apart electrodes on at least a portion of the catheter.
U.S. Patent Application Publication 2007/0049924, whose disclosure is incorporated herein by reference, describes an ablation catheter for setting a lesion. The catheter contains an ablation element that can be slid out of a catheter sleeve and has a looped section which, when the element is slid out, self-expands into an automatically or manually imposed pre-specified shape corresponding to the actual shape of the area of tissue requiring to be ablated.

Patient-specific pre-shaped cardiac catheter


A connector (100) for a medical device including a body (110) having a proximal end (114), a distal end (112), and a passage (116) extending therethrough between the proximal end and the distal end that fluidly connects the proximal end and the distal end. The proximal end (114) includes a connecting portion (119) for releasably connecting the connector to an external device. The distal end (112) is fluidly connected to a conduit. A cylinder (124) is rotatably disposed in the passage (116) between first position and a second position, wherein the cylinder includes an opening (128) extending generally diametrically therethrough. One or both ends (130,132;230,232) of the cylinder provide manually- or tool-engageable sections (136;236) to enable rotation of the cylinder between open and closed positions, allowing and preventing fluid flow through the connector (100), respectively.

Catheters may be located in various venous locations and cavities throughout the body of a patient for introduction of fluids to a body or removal of fluids from the body. Such catheterization may be performed by using a single catheter having multiple lumens. A typical example of a multiple lumen catheter is a dual lumen catheter assembly in which one lumen introduces fluid and the other lumen removes fluid. An example of such a dual lumen catheter assembly is the SPLIT-CATH® catheter. Alternatively, catheterization may be performed by using multiple single-lumen catheters, such as TESIO® catheters.
Generally, to insert any catheter into a blood vessel, the vessel is identified by aspiration with a long hollow needle in accordance with the well known Seldinger technique. When blood enters a syringe attached to the needle, indicating that the vessel has been found, a thin guidewire is then introduced, typically through a syringe needle or other introducer device into the interior of the vessel. The introducer device is then removed, leaving the guidewire within the vessel. The guidewire projects beyond the surface of the skin. At this point, several options are available to a physician for catheter placement. The simplest is to pass a catheter into the vessel directly over the guidewire. The guidewire is then removed, leaving the catheter in position within the vessel. However, this technique is only possible in cases where the catheter (for example, a small diameter dual lumen catheter) is of a relatively small diameter, made of a stiff material, and not significantly larger than the guidewire. If the catheter to be inserted is significantly larger than the guidewire, a dilator device containing a sheath is passed over the guidewire to enlarge the opening in the vessel. The dilator is then removed along with the guidewire, leaving the sheath in place, and the catheter is then passed through the sheath into the vessel. The guidewire is then removed, leaving the catheter in position within the vessel.
Each catheter lumen is typically connected to a distal end of an extension tube via a hub. The extension tube has a standard connector at its proximal end for connection to a medical device, such as a hemodialysis machine. Such connectors are commonly referred to as "luers". A luer includes standard male threads for connection of a cap to the luer when the luer is disengaged from the hemodialysis machine to prevent blood from flowing out of the catheter. As a backup to the cap, a clamp, such as a Roberts clamp, is typically disposed over the extension tube. The clamp restricts fluid flow through the extension tube by compressing and closing the extension tube between a pair of clamp jaws. For long term catheterization, the clamp must be opened and closed numerous times, which may lead to a failure of the extension tube and blood loss from the catheter. It would be beneficial to provide an alternate method of providing a backup for the cap to secure the catheter between dialysis treatments.


An improved air freshener for mounting to an air vent grille, such as the vent of an automobile. The air freshener includes at least an upper leg and a lower leg. At least one of those legs preferably includes a flexible comb structure extending from the leg toward the louver of the air conditioner vent.

Air fresheners for use inside a vehicle have been popular for decades. More recently, vehicle air fresheners have been adapted for installation in the grille of the vehicle's discharge air vent, as shown and described in, e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,269,723, 6,264,887, 7,687,037 and U.S. Patent Application No. US 2011/0110823. Air fresheners that are mounted to the louvers of a vehicle's air vent are generally more effective at freshening the air inside the vehicle, as the vehicle's heating or air conditioning acts as a propellant for transporting and dispersing the air freshener's odiferous particulates throughout the interior of the vehicle. Typically, vehicle vent fresheners comprise a pair of legs that extend into the air vent while straddling one of the grille's louvers, thereby mounting the air freshener to the grille.
A common drawback of the vehicle vent air fresheners on the market is the tendency for the air freshener to move about on the louver when air is blowing through the vent or when the car is in motion, or to dislodge entirely from the grille due to insecure mounting, resulting in a lost or damaged air freshener, as well as general annoyance for the occupants of the vehicle. For purposes of convenience, aesthetics, and safety, there is therefore a need for an improved vehicle vent air freshener that mounts securely in the grille of the air vent.


A method is disclosed that includes receiving a notification about an activity pertaining to a user, the notification being directed to a first application and a second application, and identity of the user being associated with a token. The method also includes identifying a first instance of the first application and a first instance of the second application at a user device of the user, and determining the first instance of the first application and the first instance of the second application are associated with the token. The method further includes selecting one of the first instance of the first application or the first instance of the second application to provide the notification at the user device based on the token, and providing the notification to the selected one of the first instance of the first application or the first instance of the second application at the user device.

Notifications are mechanisms employed by applications on a software platform that are meant to draw a user's attention to something noteworthy. In general, it is desirable for notifications to reach the user on every single device where the user may see them. Therefore, notifications are typically fanned out to every application capable of handling them. A problem arises when multiple applications on a single device are configured to process the same notification. For example, sometimes a single platform, such as a video-sharing platform, can employ multiple related applications that are designed to work together as a cohesive set. Such applications are referred to in this description as companion applications. The video-sharing platform may employ a first application that is used primarily for viewing videos and another application that is used primarily for uploading new videos and editing the new videos. According to this example, when a device has both applications installed and both applications are capable of handling the same notification for the video-sharing platform, the device will receive duplicate notifications (e.g., one notification for each application). This scenario can become irritating to a user that receives the same information multiple times from different applications provided on a single device.

Determining, by a remote system, applications provided on a device based on association with a common identifier


A through electrode that offers excellent performance and can be manufactured through a simple process is to be provided. In a silicon spacer including a silicon substrate, an insulative thick film is provided so as to be in contact with a surface of the silicon substrate and a side wall of a through hole penetrating the silicon substrate. An upper surface of a through plug is retreated to a lower level than an interface between the silicon substrate and the insulative thick film, thus to define a height gap. A first bump is then formed, which is connected to the retreated surface of the through plug and has a larger diameter than that of the through plug at the upper surface of the insulative thick film.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a through electrode, a spacer provided with the through electrode, and a method of manufacturing them.
2. Related Art
In recent years, with the view of achieving an even higher degree of integration of a semiconductor chip, development of three-dimensional implementation of semiconductor chips such as an LSI has lately been vigorously carried out. Such attempts include providing a through electrode on a semiconductor substrate. An example of the through electrode is disclosed in the H. Yonemura, et al., "Time-Modulated Cu-Plating Technique for Fabricating High-Aspect-Ratio Vias for Three-dimensional Stacked LSI System", 2002, Proceedings of the International Interconnect Technology Conference, pp. 75 to 77 (H. Yonemura, et al.). The document discloses a through electrode constituted of a Cu plug formed so as to penetrate a silicon substrate, with a bump formed on an upper face of the Cu plug. Providing such through electrode allows achieving electrical connection between the substrates and an external component via a short distance without the need of performing wire bonding, when three-dimensionally stacking a plurality of semiconductor chip substrates.

Method of manufacturing a through electrode


A steering mechanism is provided for tandem wheeled vehicles. The steering mechanism employs casters that are capable of swivelling. The casters are attached to a base member and a pair of resilient members is used to provide control over the degree of swivel of the casters. When turning, the caster rotates in the direction of turn and is restricted by the resilient members. The degree of rotation which the caster is allowed depends on the resilience of the resilient members and the force being applied to motivate the turn. A skateboard is also provided which incorporates the steering mechanism.

The present invention relates to turning mechanisms for wheeled vehicles. The invention is specifically concerned with those turning mechanisms capable of being adapted to tandem wheeled vehicles.
Many attempts have been made in the past to incorporate turning capabilities in vehicles equipped with tandem wheels. In general, vehicles equipped with tandem wheels are incapable of turning while all the wheels are on the ground. In-line roller skates, for example, suffer from this inconvenience. Typical in-line roller skates employ an arrangement in which three to five wheels are placed in tandem. One of the biggest drawbacks of the in-line roller skate is that the operator is incapable of making right or left turns during single foot skating. Skateboards typically overcome this problem by employing a plurality of suspension frames which carry a wheel on either side, Turning is subsequently accomplished by movement of the suspension frame and not the wheels themselves. A variety of spring and tension assemblies have been employed by the prior art to control the turning of wheels in vehicles where the wheels are in tandem, but these devices are often complicated and difficult to manufacture economically. Accordingly, a simple and inexpensive turning mechanism would be beneficial for tandem wheeled vehicles.
Several designs have been proposed by the prior art to eliminate the problems associated with the turning of tandem wheeled vehicles. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,398,949 discloses a roller skate having a steering mechanism which allows the operator to execute figure skating maneuvers. The roller skate includes a steering cushion mechanism and a pivotal-turntable brake wheel mechanism. The steering cushion mechanism utilizes either a combination of screws and springs, or resilient members in conjunction with the axle of each wheel. In certain instances, a combination of resilient members, screws, and springs is utilized. However, the mechanism is still somewhat complicated because the frame must be designed to accommodate all of the additional parts.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,382,605 shows a steering mechanism for tandem wheeled vehicles. The mechanism includes a frame to which a pair of suspension members is attached. Two subsuspension members are also attached to the frame, one at each point of attachment of the suspension members. Each subsuspension member carries two wheels. The subsuspension members allow their respective sets of wheels to turn and follow a curved path dictated by the operator. However, the steering mechanism requires the addition of a suspension member and a subsuspension member, both of which must be attached to the base. These additional members increase the number of parts and create a more complex system.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,778,850 shows a roller skate suitable for figure skating. The roller skate includes a main wheel which is centrally positioned below the skate and a pair of auxiliary wheels, such as casters, at the front and rear positions of the skate. The auxiliary wheels are typically of smaller diameter than the main wheel and capable of swivelling. However, the auxiliary wheels are free to swivel uncontrolled, thereby creating an imprecise control system.
While the foregoing arrangements address the need for providing simple and inexpensive turning capabilities to tandem wheeled vehicles, the problem persists. Most of the prior art focuses on arrangements suitable only for roller skates and figure skating. Others are unable to adequately provide a mechanism that is simple and easy to manufacture. Consequently, it remains difficult to turn tandem wheeled vehicles.

Turning mechanism for tandem wheeled vehicles and vehicles employing the same


The invention relates to an anti-roll torsion bar in a stabilizing arrangement in particular for running gears with rigid axle suspended with coil-plate, and/or pneumatic springs in public road vehicles, having draw bars on both sides of the vehicle, which are pivotally coupled to the chassis and the rigid axle.. In accordance with the invention the draw bars have pivoted distance pieces which are lying outside the pivots connected to the chassis, where in the axis of the pin of the pivot is lying perpendicularly to the plane defined by the geometric axis of the torsion bar and the draw bar, respectively, and the torsion bar is supported in said distance pieces in a non-turnable manner, however so, that it could be displaced at least in one of said distance pieces in direction of the bar.

The invention relates to the arrangement of anti-roll torsion bars for the running gear, in particular for the bridge guided with draw bars and having a rigid axle in motor vehicles for public traffic. The arrangement can be equally used for constructions suspended with coil-, plate-, and/or pneumatic springs.
Continuously increasing motorization involves increased demands in respect to the elements of the motor vehicles, which are of special importance from the point of view of safety. This category includes the suspending elements of the running gears, i.e. the anti-roll torsion bars preventing excessive lateral tilting of the vehicle body.
Running gears with rigid axles of vehicles with a large total mass (autobusses, lorriers etc.) used to be guided by longitudinal and transversal draw bars, while lateral tilting of the vehicle body occurring under the influence of the curved travel of the vehicle is reduced by using anti-roll torsion bars.
Running gear has to be connected to the vehicle body so, that coupling should ensure motion on an approximately vertical path, as required by springing of the running gear, i.e. transmission of force effects between running gear and vehicle body should be guaranteed. Expediently this requirement can be met by using longitudinal and transversal draw bars.
The body of the vehicle travelling on a curved path is tilting to the side around the so-called axle of transversal stability under the influence of the affecting centrifugal force. Excessive lateral tilting of the vehicle body is most detrimental from the point of view of vehicle stability and safety. Therefore, to prevent lateral tilting anti-roll torsion bars are used.
An anti-roll torsion bar assembly used in heavy-category motor vehicles can be characterized in that it has a bar running parallel with the axle of the running gear and further has two arms. Upon lateral tilting of the vehicle body the ends of the arms become displaced and owing to its torsional elasticity the anti-roll torsion bar (stabilizer) is giving a moment onto the vehicle body which tries to tilt back the vehicle body in its basic position.
The two functions (guiding of the axle and stabilizing) can be realized with two independent systems, or by uniting the two systems.
The application of the latter solution is motivated by less space requirement and smaller mass.
However, with solutions resulting from the combination of the two systems, several problems are to be confronted with:
lateral displacement of the vehicle body causes accessory bending load of the draw bars and the torsion bars;
break of the stabilizer involves the "loss" of the running gear.
The anti-roll torsion bar according to the German Patent DE-AS No. 2 161 058 is also subjected to an accessory bending load. The swinging lever of the anti-roll torsion bar being parallel with the longitudinal axis of the vehicle is rigidly clamped at the end of the torsion bar, while the torsion bar is formed as a bar being parallel with the rigid axle.

Anti-roll torsion bar (stabilizer) for the running gear of vehicles


Provided are a process for economically preparing a graphene shell having a desired configuration which is applicable in various fields wherein in the process the thickness of the graphene shell can be controlled, and a graphene shell prepared by the process.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a graphene shell and a process of preparing the same, and more particularly, to a process of economically preparing a graphene shell which can have various three-dimensional configurations and a graphene shell prepared by the process.
2. Description of the Related Art
Graphite is a stack of two-dimensional sheets formed from a planar array of carbon atoms bonded into hexagonal structures. The individual sheets, referred to as graphene, can have properties different from those of graphite. Recently, as a result of testing properties of single-layered or several-layered graphene sheets, their beneficial properties have been revealed.
A noticeable beneficial property of graphene is that electrons flow in a graphene sheet as if they are weightless, which means that electrons flow at the velocity of light in a vacuum. In addition, an unusual half-integer quantum hall effect for both electrons and holes is observed in the graphene sheet.
The electron mobility of known graphene sheets is from about 20,000 to 50,000 cm2/Vs. Also, it is advantageous to use graphene sheets since products made from graphite are inexpensive while products made from carbon nanotubes which are similar to graphene sheets are expensive due to low yields obtained during synthesis and purification processes even though the carbon nanotubes are inexpensive themselves. Single wall carbon nanotubes exhibit different metallic and semiconducting characteristics according to their chirality and diameter. Furthermore, single wall carbon nanotubes having identical semiconducting characteristics have different energy band gaps depending on their chirality and diameter. Thus, single wall carbon nanotubes must be separated from each other in order to obtain desired semiconducting or metallic characteristics. However, separating single wall carbon nanotubes is not a simple process.
It is advantageous to use graphene sheets as an alternative to single wall carbon nanotubes since a device can be easily designed to exhibit desired electrical characteristics by arranging the crystalline orientation in a desired direction since electrical characteristics of a graphene sheet are changed according to the crystalline orientation. The characteristics of the graphene sheet can be efficiently applied to carbonaceous electrical devices or carbonaceous electromagnetic devices in the future.
However, although the graphene sheet possesses such advantageous characteristics, a method of economically and reproducibly preparing a large-area graphene sheet has not yet been developed. Methods of preparing a graphene sheet are classified into a micromechanical method and a SiC thermal decomposition. According to the micromechanical method, a graphene sheet separated from graphite can be prepared on the surface of a SCOTCH™ tape (available from 3M Corporation) by attaching the tape to a graphite sample and detaching the tape. In this case, the separated graphene sheet does not include a uniform number of layers, and does not have a uniform shape of ripped portions. Furthermore, a large-area graphene sheet cannot be prepared.
In another method using silicon carbide (SiC) thermal decomposition, a SiC single crystal is heated to remove Si by decomposition of the SiC on the surface thereof, and then residual carbon C forms a graphene sheet. However, the SiC single crystal as the starting material in the SiC thermal decomposition is very expensive, and a large-area graphene sheet cannot be easily prepared.
Therefore, no simple method has yet been developed to prepare a two-dimensional graphene sheet as described above, and a method for preparing a three-dimensional graphene by bending a graphene sheet is also not known in the art.


Individually marked contact lenses for protection of one's eyes from harmful radiation are provided. Contact lenses are coated or treated to be absorptive or reflective to a preselected wavelength or wavelengths. The lenses contain one or more identification areas on each lens to demonstrate that the lenses are being worn and to indicate the proper applications with which the lenses should be used and/or the wavelengths for which the lens is protective. The identification area, which should be visible when worn to third parties and/or the person wearing the lenses, consists of markings such as colored bands or shaded areas in the region around the iris. Different colors or color patterns of the markings indicate which wavelengths the lens protects against. Other safety features may include fluorescent markers, added features and devices to facilitate placement and retention in the eye, pick-up or release.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to safety eyewear for use during laser applications, particularly contact lenses for laser safety.
2. Information Disclosure Statement
An important consideration in radiation or laser applications is the safety of the practitioner or user, as well as the safety of those proximate to the radiation source. In medical settings, both a practitioner and support staff must use sufficient precautions to ensure that they do not sustain injuries due to accidental radiation exposure. Of particular concern is the safety of the eyes of those near the laser or radiation source. Errantly directed radiation can cause significant and lasting damage to a person's eye. This damage can take many forms. If a beam used for cutting or vaporizing tissue is directed toward the eye, it could cause damage by cutting the eye. Certain wavelengths are particularly well-absorbed by ocular tissue or blood vessels, and can cause direct or thermal destruction. The damage may be considerable, long-lasting, and could damage vision.
Current state of the art laser eye protection is characterized by mostly bulky laser safety eye glasses that must be worn during laser or radiation applications. For instance, during medical laser treatment procedures, both the doctor(s) carrying out the procedure, support staff, and in many cases the patient must wear these eye protection devices. This constitutes an inconvenience for the doctor and staff in that it may impede vision, for instance when looking through microscopes or when additional vision correction is involved. In the latter case bulky safety glass designs may be required to fit over the vision correction glass.
Alternatives to safety glasses include contact lenses treated to reflect or absorb harmful radiation. This offers the advantage of removing the inconvenience of glasses. If some safety glasses are still desired, for instance to protect the eyes from dust, smoke, or other material, those who require vision correction no longer have to wear large safety glasses over their eyes. Small, light glasses may be used instead.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,848,894 describes a contact lens with laser protection properties. These properties are accomplished by embedding a reflecting or absorbing layer in the lens material, or applying such layer to the convex surface of the lens. The layer may be a Fabry-Perot reflector or a thin film or holographically formed reflective or absorptive interference filter, or an absorbing layer. The disclosure does not include ways to identify the lens as to what wavelengths it protects from, nor does it have any indicators to alert others that the lenses are being worn.
A major disadvantage of contact lenses are that they are very difficult to see, especially after being placed in the eye. It would be difficult for a person to visually confirm whether those near a radiation source are using the safety lenses, unlike conventional safety glasses that are prominent and easy to see when worn. Also, because of their small size and transparency, it may be difficult to distinguish one contact lens for another. This is especially important where lenses are custom made to protect the eye from certain types of radiation, and thus it is important that the correct lens be worn for a specific procedure.
A number of devices and methods have been disclosed for marking contact lenses. Such markings are generally for identifying specific lenses or identifying the front or back surface of the lens, identifying the right or left eye, identifying the proper orientation for toric lenses, and providing prescription information.
U.S. Patent Application No. 2002/0003605 discloses contact lenses with visible marking indicia. The indicia are formed by etching a number of small recessed spots on a surface of the lens to create a visible marking. These markings appear to be primarily intended to allow one to identify specific lenses prior to placement on the eye. There is no indication that such marks would be visible when worn. The markings disclosed would not be easily seen while the lens is located on the eye. The markings are small, colorless, and generally positioned on the periphery of the lens. It would likely be very difficult to see these markings when the lenses are worn, because it is very difficult for the wearer to control rotation of the lens on the eye, and thus the markings may likely be obscured by the eyelids. Additionally, the recesses may also fill with fluid when worn, further decreasing visibility. These factors, in addition to the small size of the markings, make it virtually impossible to ensure that the markings can be visible without close inspection when the lenses are worn.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,616,910 describes a contact lens with a visual indicator to show that the lens is not inside-out. The indicator has the characteristic that it looks different when viewed from the outside surface versus the inside surface of the lens. This marking is intended to be visible to a user prior to being worn. Because of its small size and potential to be hidden behind the eyelids, the indicator would not be visible after the contact is worn.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,194,814 discloses methods for sublimating lens material to create identifying symbols or indicia. A high intensity laser beam is used for creating the indicia by engraving markings on the surface of the lens. These methods produce markings that would not be visible during use, due to either size and location or due to the fact that the engraved areas fill with fluid.
Markings that are made by etching are restricted in that they have to be sufficiently small and at a location on the lens (the periphery) so that the vision of the user is not affected. Also, when the indentations fill with fluid after being put on the eye, this could serve to reduce reflection off the indentations and reduce visibility further. This severely limits the potential of these methods for providing indicia that is easily identifiable while the lens is worn.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,744,647 provides a method for forming a semi-opaque region on a contact lens. The semi-opaque region can be colored, or can form a coded symbol. The method can be used for cosmetic reasons, by forming a semi-opaque region over the iris region, and coloring it to change the apparent color of the iris. It can also be used to form various symbols on the eye, such as to signal left and right eye. Such symbols would probably be small and be on the periphery of the lens. This method would not be desirable for laser safety systems, in that the entire eye must be protected, and forming semi-opaque regions could compromise the ability of the lens surface to protect the eye from harmful radiation.
Patents exist for tinted contact lenses and methods for tinting such lenses, such as U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,164,777 and 6,488,375. These inventions are generally for cosmetic alterations of eye color and are not contemplated as laser safety lenses.
The prior art has not disclosed a contact lens for protection from harmful radiation that additionally features identifying indicia that are highly visible when placed in the eye. Therefore, there exists a need for contact lens specially manufactured to protect a practitioner from radiation during laser or radiation applications, that additionally contains highly visible and easily recognizable indicia to indicate clearly and from a distance that the practitioner is wearing the lenses and that they are the proper protection for a given application.


A computer system with provision for inserting/removing memory cartridges is improved by inhibiting erroneous operation as a result of noise produced on insertion/removal of a memory cartridge. Removable cartridges are connected/disconnected from a cartridge bus which is distinct from the system bus to which all other components are coupled. A controlled isolation is provided between the two buses. An idler routine ensures that in the absence of operator requested tasks the isolation prevents noise on the cartridge bus from reaching the system bus. When the processor executes an instruction (or only selected instructions) the isolation is disabled so that data/instructions can flow to/from the system and cartridge bus.

Computer systems are used for a wide variety of tasks and are usually directed by an operator. It is now common in the computer industry to provide systems which include provision for the insertion/removal of memory cartridges, wherein the cartridges are either read only storage or read/write storage, or both. Examples of such systems include Wenninger et al U.S. Pat. No. 3,971,925; Hamano et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,220,991; Housey, Jr. U.S. Pat. No. 4,385,366; Takahashi et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,419,738; Lou U.S. Pat. No. 4,454,591 and Daniels, Jr. U.S. Pat. No. 4,481,587.
Wenninger et al for example provides an Adaptable Programmed Calculator with a provision for plug in memory modules. These plug in ROMs can contain programs which can be executed by the user from the keyboard. Hamano deals with electronic cash registers which accept plug in random access (read/write) cartridges. Housey, Jr. describes a programmable device in which memory modules are selectively connected (such as by a plug in cartridge) read only memories to personalize the device. Takahashi describes a system in which a plug in read/write memory is used to transfer data to a dedicated read/write memory in an electronic cash register. Lou describes an interface system for bus line control in an electronic calculator which employs, in addition to fixed memory modules, plug in memory modules.
Finally, Daniels, Jr. describes an apparatus for providing interchangeable keyboard functions, which apparatus includes insertable memory modules.
In some systems in which read only or read/write memory can be inserted/removed, operating instructions require that the insertion/removal be accomplished when the system is powered down, an example of such a system is the last-mentioned Daniels, Jr. patent. He describes (see col. 8, lines 53 et seq) that after ROM insertion is effected, the "user then turns the scale 112 on by supplying power thereto". Video games and the PCjr are other examples of systems which include memory cartridges which can be inserted or removed, but in which the insertion/removal is effected when the system is powered down. In many cases, however, while the insertion/removal of the memory cartridge effects a reset operation, data is to be retained across this reset; that is, data stored prior to the reset is to be retained so that it can be used after the reset. In other systems, or other applications of the same systems, there is a desire to maintain the system powered up even though a memory cartridge may be inserted/removed. We have found that the insertion/removal of a cartridge can, in response to the electrical disturbances caused by the insertion/removal, produce unwanted changes and/or erroneous operations. The insertion/removal of an electrical component will, by reason of contact bounce and similar phenomena, produce undesired changes in electrical voltages on the conductors connected thereto. These undesired voltage changes can be catastrophic. For example, the undesired voltage changes may alter a word on a data or address bus which can result in:
execution of an incorrect instruction; or
access of an incorrect memory address (for either a read or a write operation).
The consequences of noise on a data or address bus has been recognized in the prior art, see Hartlipp et al U.S. Pat. No. 3,548,177; Shutler U.S. Pat. No. 3,548,176 and Carnevale U.S. Pat. No. 3,548,178. In these patents, a noise detector is provided in the computer system which, in the presence of noise, initiates some action to inhibit or minimize the consequences of the noise. These references are not related to memory cartridges which can be inserted/removed, require the addition of noise detector hardware, and may slow down machine execution

Systems for inhibiting errors caused by memory cartridge insertion/removal using an idle loop


An adapter includes a body piece with an open container end side and a dispenser end side opposite to the container end side, and a collar piece arranged around the body piece. The dispenser end side of the body piece has an orifice. The body piece has a longitudinal axis, a cylindrical outer surface, and a cylindrical inner surface with a container thread oriented towards the container end side. The cylindrical outer surface of the body piece is equipped with a cap thread oriented towards the dispenser end side. The cap thread is arranged to interact with an inner thread of the cap for providing a child resistant closure. A collar piece is connected to the body piece that is freely rotatable relative to the body piece around the longitudinal axis of the body piece. The adapter can be used for efficiently and safely connecting a dispenser to container.

Today, many pharmaceutical products are administered in liquid form. However, many pharmaceutical products and particularly biopharmaceutical products are highly unstable in liquid form. Therefore, often pharmaceutical products are provided in a freeze-dried or lyophilized form in which they are essentially more stable and robust compared to its liquid form. Before being applied, the lyophilized pharmaceutical products are reconstituted or solved in a diluent or liquid.
Lyophilized pharmaceutical products or drugs are often delivered in a suitable container having a neck with an exterior thread such as in a glass or plastic bottle or the like. For safety reasons the container typically is closed by a child resistant closure (CRC) having a cap screwed on the neck. For preparing the drug before administration the cap is removed, a specified amount of a liquid is provided into the container, the cap is screwed on the neck of the container again and the drug is mixed with the liquid inside the container. For mixing the drug and the liquid, the closed container can be shaken until the drug is completely solved.
Once prepared the drug is ready for being administered in liquid form. To allow provision of a specific dosage out of the container oral dispensers such as scaled oral syringes can be used. Thereby, the container is opened by removing the CRC cap from the neck, a dosage of the drug is withdrawn by the oral dispenser, the drug is injected out of the oral dispenser into the mouth of a patient, the container is closed by replacing the cap on the neck again and the oral dispenser is washed.
For connecting oral dispensers to containers it is known to use adapters which allow for a precise and essentially leakage-free withdrawal of the drug from the container. Some of these adapters have to be pushed into the neck of the container. These adapters have an orifice through which the oral dispenser can access the interior of the container for withdrawing the drug. However, since the adapter and the container have to be tightly connected such pushing often requires a comparably strong insertion force. This can make the connecting difficult, for example with respect to preventing the container from falling or the like. Also, such pushed-in adapters can self-eject from the neck and have to be re-inserted before connecting an oral dispenser to the container. In addition, the handling of pushed-in adapters in some instances forces the user to touch or contact the dosing orifice of the pushed-in adapter.
For addressing these problems there are adapters used which are screwed on the neck of the container. For example, an adapter is known having a body piece and a jacket piece. The body and jacket pieces each have an essentially cylindrical shape. The body piece has an open container end side and an opposite end side with an orifice for being accessed by an oral dispenser. It further has an inner container thread oriented towards the container end side for being screwed on the neck of a container. The jacket piece has on its outer surface a cap thread onto which a cap of a CRC can be screwed.
The jacket piece is arranged on the body piece and completely covers it. The inner side of the jacket piece and the outer side of the body piece are equipped with ratchet means allowing the jacket piece to be rotated around the body piece in one direction but blocking a rotation of the jacket around the body piece in the other direction. In particular, the ratchet means are adapted such that the jacket piece and the body piece can together be screwed on the neck of the container. However, when turning the jacket piece in the other direction it rotates around the body piece and the adapter is not unscrewed from the container. Like this, the adapter can be mounted to the container such that it can not be removed therefore afterwards.
A drawback of this kind of known adapters is that they are comparably complicated by having plural pieces interacting in a comparably complicated manner. Thus, manufacture of the adapter can be comparably cumbersome. Furthermore, in some situations it can also be desired to remove the adapter from the container again which is not possible with such known adapters.
Therefore, there is a need for an adapter providing for an efficient and safe connection of a dispenser to a container particularly in order to allow the dispenser to precisely and safely withdraw a substance from the container.

Adapter for connecting a dispenser to a container