Pyrimidine nucleotide precursors including acyl derivatives of cytidine, uridine, and orotate, and uridine phosphorylase inhibitors, and their use in enhancing resistance to sepsis or systemic inflammation are disclosed.

Sepsis, also referred to as sepsis syndrome, is a consequence of serious infection by bacteria, fungi, or viruses. Sepsis accounts for tens of thousands of deaths in the United States every year; it is a leading cause of death of patients in surgical intensive care units.
Sepsis is an inflammatory disorder in which endogenous cytokines and other bicactive molecules, produced or released in response to an inflammatory stimulus such as bacterial endotoxin (a component of the cell wall of gram-negative bacteria), cause various symptoms including fever, neutropenia, blood coagulation disorders, hypotension, shock, and organ damage.
Sepsis (or in its more severe form, septic shock), is one example of a broader class of disease called the "Systemic Inflammatory Response Syndrome" (SIRS), which is an organism's reaction to inflammatory stimuli such as endotoxin (which can be present in the bloodstream without bacteremia, e.g. due to leakage of endotoxin from gram-negative bacteria into the circulation from a localized infection or from the intestine); SIRS can also be triggered by gram-positive bacteria, fungi, viruses, and can also be a consequence of autoimmune disorders or administration of therapeutic inflammatory cytokines.
Current treatment of SIRS involves circulatory and respiratory support, but does not directly address improvement of tissue resistance to inflammatory stimuli such as endotoxin, or inflammatory mediators.
Monoclonal antibodies for neutralizing endotoxins or mediators of its physiologic effects are under development. However, it is expensive or impractical to use antibodies as prophylaxis in susceptible patients, prior to the onset of symptoms of endotoxin poisoning. Moreover, it is difficult to determine which patients are likely to benefit from antibody treatment, since the time required to culture and identify infectious organisms often exceeds the time limit for implementation of effective therapy. Similar problems have been encountered in attempts to use receptor antagonists of specific inflammatory meidators like interleukin-1.
Endotoxin toxicity is in part mediated by endogenous cytokines and other bicactive molecules released from macrophages, Kupffer cells (sessile macrophages in the liver) and other cell types in response to endotoxin. Among the most significant of these mediators are tumor necrosis factor (TNF) and interleukin-1 (IL-1). Others include platelet activating factor (PAF), interleukin-6, and leukotrienes and other arachidonic acid derivatives. Administration of these cytokines or mediators results in symptoms similar to at least some of those elicited by endotoxin. Agents or pathological conditions other than bacterial endotoxin can result in elevated production or activity of (or sensitivity to) TNF or IL-1, resulting in tissue damage. Such conditions include infection with gram-positive bacteria, viruses or fungi, or liver damage. Inflammatory cytokines can produce tissue damage if present in excess, but when elicited in moderate amounts, they are important in the defense against infectious organisms or viruses. For example, antibodies to TNF can reduce toxicity of an administered dose of endotoxin (by blocking the negative effects of TNF elicited by the endotoxin), but can have a deleterious effect in the case of some bacterial infections, converting a sublethal state of infection into an overwhelming lethal infection (Havell, J. Immunol., 1987, 139:4225-4231; Echtenacher et al., J. Immunol., 1990 145:3762-3766). Thus, there are inherent problems with strategies for treating sepsis syndrome or SIRS with agents which directly inactivate inflammatory cytokines.
The liver is a major site for clearance or detoxification of endotoxin (Farrar and Corwin, Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci., 1966 133:668-684) and inflammatory proteins like TNF; conversely, the liver is susceptible to damage by endotoxin and its mediators. Liver damage from many originating causes (e.g. carbon tetrachloride, choline deficiency, viral infection, Reye's syndrome, alcohol) is in part mediated by bacterial endotoxin or mediators elicited by endotoxin even when symptoms of systemic sepsis are not present (Nolan, Gastroenterology, 1975, 69:1346-1356; Nolan, Hepatology, 1989, 10:887-891). Hepatic toxicity is dose-limiting in patients receiving intentional injections of endotoxin for possible efficacy in treating cancer (Engelhardt et al., Cancer Research, 1991, 51:2524-2530). The liver has been reported to be the first vital organ displaying pathological alterations in septic shock (Kang et al., J. Histochem. Cytochem., 1988 36:665-678). Moreover, hepatic dysfunction occurs in the early stages of sepsis and may initiate sequential organ failure (Wang et al., Arch. Surg., 1991, 126:219-224)
The liver is important in regulating the sensitivity of an animal to endotoxin. Various treatments which impair liver function or metabolism, such as poisoning with lead acetate, cycloheximide, Actinomycin D or galactosamine can increase the sensitivity of animals to endotoxin or TNF, in some cases by several orders of magnitude.
Galactosamine-induced liver damage is unique in that it is readily reversible during a period before cell death occurs. Galactosamine selectively depletes hepatic uridine nucleotides, by locking them into UDP-hexosamines that are not converted back into free nucleotides. This can lead to liver damage if the depletion of uridine nucleotides is sufficiently prolonged, due to impairment of RNA and protein synthesis. The biochemical deficiency induced by galactosamine is readily reversed by administration of uridine, which replenishes the uridine nucleotides trapped by the galactosamine. Thus, administration of uridine shortly before or after administration of galactosamine attenuates galactosamine-induced hepatic damage and consequently restores sensitivity to endotoxin toward normal values (Galanos et al., PNAS, 1979, 76:5939-5943).
Similarly, endotoxin hypersensitivity in mice deliberately treated with the rodent hepatotoxin TCDD was partially reversed by administration of uridine (Rosenthal et al., Toxicology, 1989 56:239-251).
However, in contrast to these situations wherein uridine partially reversed experimentally-reduced resistance to endotoxin, uridine was reported to have no protective effect in normal mice challenged with endotoxin (Markley et al., J. Trauma 1970, 10:598-607), i.e., it did not result in greater-than-normal resistance to endotoxin.
Uridine, cytidine, and orotate have been tested for effects on liver function in hematic disorders and in experimental models, with mixed results. Shafer and Isselbacher (Gastroenterology, 1961, 40:782-784) reported that daily intravenous infusion of 25 to 100 milligrams of cytidine and uridine, for 3 to 7 days, to patients with hepatic cirrhosis had no effect on clinical status. Orotic acid added to rat diet in a concentration of 1 percent results in fatty infiltration of the liver (von Euler et al, J. Biol. Chem., 1963, 238:2464-2469); orotic acid administered by intraperitoneal injection reduced liver damage in rats treated with carbon tetrachloride, dichloroethane, DDT, and 9,10-dimethyl-1,2-benzanthracene (Pates et al., Farmakol Toksikol., 1968, 31:717-719). Lysine-orotate potentiated the toxicity of hepatotoxic extracts from the mushroom Amanita Phalloides; sodium orotate and orotic acid had no effect on Amanita extract toxicity (Halacheva et al., Toxicon, 1988, 26:571-576). Orotic acid has been administered clinically to humans for treatment of neonatal hyperbilirubinemia and for improving recovery from myocardial infarction (O'Sullivan, Aust. N.Z. J. Med., 1973, 3:417-422). Orotate is not well absorbed after oral administration, in part due to poor solubility.
Hata et al. (U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,027,017 and 4,058,601) disclose that uridinediphosphate and uridinediphosphoglucuronic acid reduce blood alcohol content and inhibit accumulation of neutral lipids in the liver after administration of ethanol.
Clinical trials involving the administration of uridine (e.g. for the purpose of attenuating host toxicity of the antineoplastic drug 5-fluorouracil) have been complicated due to the biological properties of uridine itself. Uridine is poorly absorbed after oral administration; diarrhea is dose limiting in humans (van Groeningen et al., Proceedings of the AACR, 1987, 28:195). Parenteral administration of uridine requires use of a central venous catheter (with consequent discomfort and risk of infection), since phlebitis was a problem in early clinical trials when uridine was administered via a brachial venous catheter (van Groeningen et al. Cancer Treat Rep., 1986, 70:745-50).
Administration of acyl derivatives of uridine and cytidine, which are readily absorbed from the gut into the bloodstream, and which are then hydrolyzed to yield free uridine or cytidine in the circulation, overcome the problem of poor oral absorption of the free nucleosides (U.S. patent applications Ser. Nos. 438,493, 115,929, and 903,107, hereby incorporated by reference).

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Pyrimidine nucleotide precursors for treatment of systemic inflammation and inflammatory hepatitis


In a semiconductor device with a high breakdown voltage, insulating layers are buried at regions in n.sup.31 silicon substrate located between gate trenches which are arranged with a predetermined pitch. This structure increases a carrier density at a portion near an emitter, and improves characteristic of an IGBT of a gate trench type having a high breakdown voltage.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device having a high breakdown voltage and a method of manufacturing the same. More particularly, the present invention relates to a semiconductor device having a high breakdown voltage for use in a high-voltage inverter or the like, and a method of manufacturing the same.
2. Description of the Background Art
Semiconductor devices having a high breakdown voltage for use in high-voltage inverters or the like have recently been demanded to have a higher operation speed and a lower on-voltage in order to improve an operation efficiency and an operation controllability of the high-voltage inverters. In a field of a class of thousands of volts, GTO (Gate Turn-Off) thyristors have been largely used. However, it has been recently studied to improve breakdown voltages of IGBTs (Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistors) which allow increase in speed of devices.
Works are now being made to develop IGBTs of a gate trench type which can increase a supply capacity of electrons by microscopic processing. However, achievement of high operation speed and low on-voltage unpreferably causes reduction in a breakdown voltage, and therefore it is necessary to improve limits for them.
Referring to FIG. 49, description will be given on a structure of an IGBT of a gate trench type having a high breakdown voltage which has been studied.
FIG. 49 is a schematic cross section of an IGBT of a gate trench type having a high breakdown voltage.
The gate trench type IGBT having a high breakdown voltage includes a lightly doped n.sup.- silicon substrate 1 and p-wells 4 which are formed of p-type impurity diffusion regions formed at a first main surface (upper surface in the figure) of n.sup.- silicon substrate 1. Gate trenches 70 extending from p-wells 4 into n.sup.- silicon substrate 1 are arranged with a certain pitch. Each gate trench 70 is formed of a gate trench groove 7a having a depth similar to the above pitch, a gate insulating film 7 arranged on an inner surface of gate trench groove 7a and a gate electrode 8 arranged inside gate insulating film 7.
At portions of p-wells 4 contiguous to first main surfaces of gate trenches 70, there are arranged n.sup.+ emitter regions 5 formed of heavily doped n-type impurity diffusion regions.
Portions of gate electrode 8 and gate insulating film 7 of each gate trench 70 which are protruded beyond the first main surface are covered with a silicate glass film 19. There is also formed an emitter electrode 10, which covers entirely the first main surface, is formed of, e.g., a metal film, and is electrically connected to n.sup.+ emitter regions 5 and p-wells 4.
An n-buffer layer 2 formed of an n.sup.+ impurity diffusion region is arranged at a second main surface (lower surface in the figure) of n.sup.- silicon substrate 1. A p-collector region 3 made of a p.sup.+ type impurity diffusion region is formed at a surface of n-buffer layer 2. A collector electrode 11 made of, e.g., a metal film is arranged at a surface of p-collector region 3. n-buffer layer 2 which is designed as a so-called punch through type is employed for improving a precision of the semiconductor device, and is not essential.
Operations of the above gate trench type IGBT having a high breakdown voltage will be described below.
First, an operation in an off state will be described below. A voltage is applied across collector electrode 11 and emitter electrode 10 while applying a voltage sufficiently lower than a gate threshold voltage across gate electrode 8 and emitter electrode 10. Thereby, a junction between n.sup.- silicon substrate 1 and p-well 4 attains a reversely biased state, and a depletion layer extends mainly toward n.sup.- silicon substrate 1. Since the gate potential is low, holes in p-well 4 are attracted to and accumulated at a surfaces of p-well 4 contiguous to gate trench 70, so that the gate trench channel attains an off state.
An operation in an on state will be described below. A voltage is applied across collector electrode 11 and emitter electrode 10 while applying a voltage sufficiently higher than the gate threshold voltage across gate electrode 7 and emitter electrode 10. Thereby, a surface contiguous to gate trench 70 attracts electrons in p-well 4, because the gate potential is high. Therefore, n-inversion occurs, and a trench channel is formed. Thereby, electrons in n.sup.- silicon substrate 1 are supplied from n.sup.+ emitter region 5 into n.sup.- silicon substrate 1 through the trench channel, and electrons flow toward p-collector layer 3 carrying a positive potential.
When electrons flow into p-collector layer 3, holes are supplied from p-collector layer 3 into n-buffer layer 2. These holes cause conductivity modulation in n.sup.- silicon substrate 1. If a life time in n.sup.- silicon substrate 1 is sufficiently long, these holes reach the vicinity of the trench channel, and will be attracted into p-well 4 at a lower potential.
Description will now be given on a so-called turn-off state in which the state changes from on state to the off state described above. In an inverter circuit which is typical application of a switching element having a high breakdown voltage, an inductive load is controlled in many cases. FIG. 50 shows results of evaluation of the turn-off operation in a case where the inductive load is controlled in the conventional high-breakdown-voltage IGBT of the gate trench type.
When charges accumulated in the gate capacity decrease and the gate voltage lowers, a sufficient load current may not flow in the high-breakdown-voltage IGBT of the gate trench type, in which case a collector voltage rises. When the collector voltage exceeds 3000 V which is a bus voltage of the inverter circuit, the load current bypasses the IGBT and flows through a bus circuit, so that the collector current in the high-breakdown-voltage IGBT of the gate trench type decreases. When excessive carriers, which were accumulated in n.sup.- silicon substrate 1 and n-buffer layer 2 in the high-breakdown-voltage IGBT of the gate trench type during the on state, are discharged or released, the collector current of the high-breakdown-voltage IGBT of the gate trench type flows no longer, and the turn-off operation is completed.
The high-breakdown-voltage IGBT of the gate trench type described above suffers from the following problem in the off state. A current other than a slight leakage current generated inside a depletion layer does not flow between collector electrode 11 and emitter electrode 10, and a high impedance is exhibited.
With increase in collector voltage, the depletion layer further extends to n-buffer layer 2. The electric field in the IGBT increases as the voltage rises. Although the potential at the bottom of gate trench 70 is substantially equal to that at gate electrode 8, the potential, which n.sup.- silicon substrate 1 under p-well 4 carries at a position at the same depth as the bottom, rises above the potential at p-well 4 (emitter potential) due to donor ions between the above-mentioned position to p-well 4. In particular, the electric field at a bottom corner in gate trench 70 tends to increase.
In the above state, when the electric field inside the IGBT exceeds a threshold electric field and thereby tends to cause strong impact, a leakage current between collector electrode 11 and emitter electrode 10 rapidly increases, resulting in breakdown of the IGBT.
In order to achieve a high breakdown voltage of the IGBT, therefore, it is necessary to increase a drop voltage which exists in the depletion layer until the electric field reaches the threshold electric field. For this purpose, the thickness of n.sup.- silicon substrate 1 is increased so as to lower an impurity concentration. Also, in order weaken the electric field at the lower corner of gate trench 70 and thereby increase the threshold electric field, such a structure has been employed that the gate trench 70 has a round lower corner, or that a distance between gate trenches 70 is reduced (see the following reference 1).
Reference 1: K. Matsushita, I. Omura and T. Ogura, "Blocking Voltage Design Consideration for Deep Trench MOS Gate High Power Devices" Proc., ISPSD'95, pp. 256-260.
However, reduction in a distance between gate trenches 70 increases an area of gate trenches 70 per unit area, which unpreferably increases the gate capacity and provides a severe limit to processing for fabricating the IGBT.
Then, a problem during the on state will be described below.
A density of electrons and holes in n.sup.- silicon substrate 1 increases and a low impedance is attained between collector electrode 11 and emitter electrode 10. However, a relatively large number of holes are attracted into p-well 4. This restricts introduction of electrons from the trench channel into n.sup.- silicon substrate 1.
A conventional IGBT, which has been studied for a practical use, exhibits such a carrier density distribution that a carrier density near the collector electrode is higher than that near the emitter electrode as shown in FIG. 51.
The on-voltage can be lowered by strengthening the conductivity modulation of n.sup.- silicon substrate 1. The on-voltage lowers in accordance with increase in lifetime of carriers in n.sup.- silicon substrate 1, increase in supply of electrons from the trench channel side and increase in supply of holes from p-collector layer 3. Particularly in the IGBT of a class of thousands of volts, supply of an excessively large amount of holes from p-collector layer 3 causes a problem, so that such a design is required that electrons can be supplied from the trench channel side as much as possible.
In order to increase the supply of electrons from the trench channel side, it is necessary to reduce an amount of holes flowing into p-well 4. For achieving this, the following structures have been proposed in the prior art:
(i) Structure in which a pitch of gate trenches is reduced (see reference 2). PA1 (ii) Structure in which gate trenches have a large depth (see reference 2). PA1 (iii) Structure which corresponds to the structure of IGBT shown in FIG. 49 and includes a heavily doped n-type layer under p-well 4. PA1 (iv) Structure in which an emitter contact of p-well 4 and a portion of gate trench 70 not provided with n-emitter region 5 are inserted between trench IGBT portions (see FIG. 50, and references 2 and 3).
Reference 2: M. Kitagawa, A. Nakagawa, K. Matsushita, S. Hasegawa, Y. Inoue, A. Yahata and H. Takenaka "4500V IEGTs having Switching Characteristics Superior to GTO" Proc. ISPSD'95, pp. 485-491.
Reference 3: Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 7-50405 (1995).
However, if IGBTs were designed as described above, the structures of (i), (ii) and (iv) would suffer from a problem that increase in gate capacity, and the structures of (ii) and (iii) would suffer from a problem of lowering of breakdown voltages. The former problem is geometrically apparent from the fact that an area ratio of the gate insulating film is large. An example of the latter problem will be described below with reference to FIG. 53, which shows results of evaluation of breakdown voltages and saturation voltages in IGBTs of a class of 4500 volts with various heavily doped n-type layers formed at various depths under p-wells 4 and having different impurity concentrations. As structure parameters of the reference IGBT for the above evaluation, the impurity concentration of n.sup.- silicon substrate 1 is 1.3e13/cm.sup.3, a thickness is 625 .mu.m, a pitch of gate trenches 70 is 5 .mu.m and a depth thereof is 5 .mu.m.
As shown in FIG. 53, the saturation voltage is certainly lower than that of the reference IGBT (represented as reference TIGBT in the table). However, as the saturation voltage decreases to a higher extent, the breakdown voltage also decreases to a higher extent, so that it is impossible to find practically acceptable conditions of the impurity concentration and the position of the n-type layer.
A problem caused by the turn-off operation will be described below.
Referring again to FIG. 50, there is a range indicated by Z in the figure, in which the rapidly raised collector voltage (V.sub.CE) of about 1200 V rises slowly to about 3000 V. With reference to a cumulative waveform of a switching loss (E.sub.OFF) represented by broken line, a major portion of turn-on loss is consumed at the range indicated by z.
As characteristics of IGBT shown in FIG. 50, there are shown waveforms of an element of which saturation voltage is set to about 3 V by controlling introduction of holes from p-collector layer 3. The structure parameters are as follows. The impurity concentration of silicon substrate is 1.0e13/cm.sup.3, a thickness is 425 .mu.m, a gate trench pitch is 5.3 .mu.m, a depth is 5 .mu.m and a width is 1 .mu.m.
The above phenomenon has been elucidated as follows by analyzing an internal state of the IGBT used for the device simulation. When carriers accumulated in the IGBT are discharged and the collector voltage rises, the depletion layer does not extend rapidly from the emitter electrode side if a large amount of carriers are accumulated at a neutral region of n.sup.- silicon substrate 1 near the collector electrode, so that the collector voltage rises slowly.
At the same time, the following phenomenon occurs. A difference in charge density between holes and electrons forming a current acts to modulate and therefore enhance the electric field in the depletion layer, and impact-generated carriers transitionally supply an electron current, which delays turn-off.
In order to suppress the above phenomenon for reducing the turn-off loss, it is necessary to employ a design which can avoid excessive accumulation of carriers at the neutral region in n.sup.- silicon substrate 1 near the collector electrode in the on state. However, mere suppression of introduction of holes from p-collector layer 3 would result in rise of the saturation voltage and therefore increase in the on-state loss.

Semiconductor device having high breakdown voltage and method of manufacturing the same


A sealed body which is sealed with low-melting-point glass and has high airtightness is provided. In the sealed body, at least a wiring layer is provided between two facing substrates, the two substrates are bonded together with the use of a sealing layer containing glass frits as a material, and a metal layer is selectively provided in a region where the wiring layer and the sealing layer overlap. In a laser light irradiation step, the metal layer functions as a laser light reflecting film and suppresses application of excess energy to a sealing member in a region overlapping with the wiring layer.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention disclosed in this specification and the like relates to a sealed body and a method for manufacturing the sealed body. In particular, the invention relates to a sealed body (a semiconductor device) internally including a semiconductor element.
In this specification and the like, a semiconductor device refers to all types of devices which can function by utilizing semiconductor characteristics; an electro-optical device, an image display device, a semiconductor circuit, and an electronic appliance are all semiconductor devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
As a method of enclosing an element between a pair of facing substrates, a technique in which substrates are bonded to each other using powdered low-melting-point glass (also referred to as glass frits) as a sealing material to form a sealed body with a high sealed property is known.
Such glass frits have a high barrier property; thus, a sealed space can be kept away from the external atmosphere. The method of sealing with glass fits has been applied to, for example, a device including a semiconductor element such as an organic electroluminescence (EL) element, an organic semiconductor element, an organic solar cell, or a liquid crystal element.
In the method of sealing with glass frits, in general, the following steps are performed: a sealing member containing glass frits made of low-melting-point glass and a binder is applied along a rim of a glass substrate; the sealing member is baked to reduce or remove the binder; the glass substrate is overlapped with a counter substrate; the sealing member is irradiated with laser light to melt the glass fits contained in the sealing member, so that a sealing layer is formed; and the glass substrate and the counter substrate are welded, so that a sealed body with high airtightness is formed,
In laser light irradiation, the laser light is absorbed in or reflected by a wiring layer in a region where a sealing member and the wiring layer (electrode) overlap; thus, the energy of laser light which is needed for welding is different from the energy of laser light which is needed for another region (i.e., a region where the sealing member and the wiring layer do not overlap). When the sealing member in the overlap region is irradiated with excess energy due to reflection of the laser light by the wiring layer, the adhesion between the sealing member in the region and the substrate is reduced. Furthermore, in some cases, the wiring layer is deformed or disconnected due to absorption of the laser light in the wiring layer.
Patent Document 1 discloses a sealing method in which a reflective mask is provided in a region which is over a counter substrate and overlaps with an electrode so that the region is irradiated with lower energy of laser light.

Sealed body and method for manufacturing the same

Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.


Disclosed is a congestion estimation device including a speed detection unit configured to detect a speed of a host vehicle and then outputting a speed detection result, an inter-vehicle distance detection unit configured to detect an inter-vehicle distance between the host vehicle and other vehicle and then outputting an inter-vehicle distance detection result, a correlation calculation unit configured to calculate a correlation based on the speed detection result and the inter-vehicle distance detection result and then outputting a correlation calculation result, and a display unit configured to display the correlation calculation result or information relating to the correlation calculation result.

In the related art, for example, there has been known an apparatus in which other vehicle is detected by a millimeter wave radar device, the vehicle density between the other vehicle present within a predetermined distance from a host vehicle and the host vehicle is calculated and, further, whether the traveling state of the host vehicle is a cause of traffic congestion is determined by using critical density in accordance with the speed of the host vehicle to notify a driver of the determination result (for example, refer to patent document 1).


An aquarium with wireless power transmission devices, comprising a tank body; a pump which is a wireless power transmission device driven by electrical power, and including an inlet and an outlet; a receiver; and a transmitter including a power source, a resonance transmission driving circuit and a transmitting circuit; wherein the resonance transmission driving circuit converts an electrical power supplied by the power source into an resonating energy; the receiver is disposed within the aquarium and electrically interconnected to the pump, the receiver collects the resonating energy, and the receiver further transfers the resonating energy to the pump; and the fluid worked by the pump enters the pump from the inlet and discharged from the outlet of the pump.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an aquarium with wireless power transmission devices and, more particularly, to an aquarium employing wireless power to supply electricity to electric devices.
2. Description of Related Art
The power consumed by a conventional aquarium is generally supplied through a power line or power socket which directs electricity from either the mains electricity system or a power generator to the aquarium. However, such wire-based power distribution is subject to restrictions of the aquarium, and the water in the aquarium may cause damage to the electric devices in the aquarium or present electric leakage hazards, making it inconvenient or even impossible to set up wiring. In order to solve these problems, and based on the requirements of typical aquariums, the present invention provides an improved power transmission means for aquariums used as aquariums or in garden decoration or landscaping.

Aquarium with wireless power transmission device


The present exemplary embodiment relates to industrial machine control and corresponding communication protocols. In one embodiment, the machine control communication protocol is Distributed I/O that has Extended Data Transfer (EDT) capability. It finds particular application with expanding the underutilized bandwidth of the EDT to gather/send secondary input and output data within a control system. In one aspect, a system communicates data from a network to an input/output module. An adapter module receives data. The adapter module includes a network data component that receives data from a network including an output data component that receives standard data and an output expansion data component that receives cyclic EDT data. A Distributed bus data component receives data from the network data component. A Distributed extended data transfer (EDT) module receives data from the adapter module via the Distributed bus data component, wherein standard output data is communicated utilizing a standard data scan, and expansion output data is communicated utilizing a cyclic EDT protocol.

The present exemplary embodiment relates to industrial machine control and corresponding communication protocols. In one embodiment, the machine control communication protocol is Distributed I/O that has Extended Data Transfer (EDT) capability. It finds particular application with expanding the underutilized bandwidth of the EDT to gather/send secondary input and output data within a control system and will be described with particular reference thereto. However, it is to be appreciated that the present exemplary embodiment is also amenable to other like applications.
Machines in today's industrial environment employ various control mechanisms to provide optimum performance. Thus, data can be received in various forms to control one or more processes. In one example, machines require precision control with regard to motion and therefore control of motor speeds, torques and other parameters. As shown in FIG. 1, this information can be gathered and transmitted via one or more field devices 102, 104, 106, 108, 110 and 112 mounted in proximity to a machine process. The one or more field devices 102-112 can be sensors, actuators, switches, etc. In one example, sensors can measure data including temperature, distance, flow rate, etc. This data can be transmitted and received in various forms including voltage, current, serially, etc.
This transmitted data can be stored and/or processed in a controller 114 such as a programmable logic controller (PLC). The PLC 114 can receive data from the one or more field devices 102-112 via one or more input/output (I/O) terminals 116, 118 at a particular rate. The I/O terminals, 116,118 can provide a hardwire connection for the one or more field devices 102-112 to a respective terminal base 122, 124. In one example, the I/O terminals 116, 118 are screw terminals which accept one or more hardwire connections. The terminal base 122, 124, is coupled to an I/O module 126, 128, that is specific to a particular data type. In one example, the I/O module 126 is an analog input/output module. In another example, the I/O module 128 is a digital input/output module.
The I/O terminals 116, 118 can be located remotely from the PLC 114 and communicate with the field devices 102-112 via network 120 or communication means. Various protocols and/or standards are utilized for the transmission of data in a machine controlled system. These protocols are typically related to a manufacturer of one or more control components, PLC, control devices, and/or data transmission media. In addition, the protocol and hardware associated therewith can be selected based on logistical concerns data location, machine layout, etc. The protocol can include field device help information, data integrity, etc. in addition to actual data values. In this manner, a machine control system can identify and remedy any breakdown in data communication between the field devices and the central controller to provide a more robust control system. An adapter 130 can be employed to provide an interface for communication between the I/O modules 126, 128 and the network. Communication between the terminal base 122 and the terminal base 124 and the terminal base 122 and an adapter 130 can be facilitated via a data interface. The adapter 130 can include a network interface 132 to allow connection to the network 120. The network 120 can employ a particular communication protocol such as EtherNet/IP™, Control Net™, Device Net™, Profibus, etc.
Once the data is received, the PLC can manipulate the data in substantially any manner as set forth in a program. In one example, the data can undergo one or more mathematical operations such as summation, averaging, etc. The PLC 114 programs can be stored and activated based on one or more conditions such as an event, a threshold, etc. Once the program has completed data processing, information can be output from the PLC 114 via one or more output terminals, ports, etc. to the field devices employed to control the machine.
One protocol utilized for machine control is Distributed I/O which is employed with a distributed I/O machine control architecture. Distributed I/O can provide flexibility to allow a designer to use a precise amount of hardware in one or more remote locations for a particular control design. The distributed I/O hardware can be offered in modular block styles. Distributed I/O is a modular I/O that employs a system of interface cards and communication adapters that interface directly to the field not based directly to one or more field devices (e.g., sensors, actuators, switches, etc.) of the machine and communicate their status to the controller via the network 120. In this manner, the designer can mix and match I/O interfaces and communications adapters. For example, a designer can independently select I/O type, termination and network to meet requirements of a particular application.
Typically, a Distributed I/O adapter module (e.g. adapter 130) interfaces one or more Distributed I/O modules (e.g. I/O modules 126, 128) to an I/O scanner port across the communication network. The Distributed I/O adapter module contains a built-in power supply that converts 24V DC to 5V DC for the backplane to power the Distributed I/O module. Distributed I/O adapter modules can be utilized for EtherNet/IP™, ControlNet™, DeviceNet™, Universal Remote I/O, Profibus DP, etc. In one example, an adapter communicates with up to eight I/O modules, allowing connection to two hundred and fifty six digital input/output points or sixty four analog input points/thirty two analog output points, or a combination thereof.
Currently, adapters scan Distributed I/O modules gathering/sending data to the sixteen word area of the Distributed I/O module. One exception can occur when the Distributed I/O module has Distributed EDT capabilities. Usually, the Distributed EDT capability is utilized to send larger configuration data to a Distributed EDT module. Distributed EDT occurs when a MSG construction is sent for the I/O module and this information is not readily available in the adapter 130. Therefore, the adapter 130 sends a Distributed EDT communication that response to the MSG instruction. Usually, this does not occur frequently. Therefore, most of the Distributed EDT bandwidth is underutilized. Thus, what are needed are systems and methods to use this EDT bandwidth to provide additional functionality to the Distributed I/O product family.

Real time data expansion for distributed I/O


An N:1 data compression system for compressing data on N DS1 trunks carrying 4N channels is disclosed. Waveform encoding circuitry is coupled to the N DS1 trunks for compressing the DS1 data into x bits and producing both encoded data and control parameters, where x.ltoreq.8. The system further includes circuitry coupled to the waveform encoding circuitry for receiving the encoded data and control parameters, performing digital speech interpolation and producing data packets which may include encoded data and control parameters that are transmittable on a single DS1 trunk.

DS1 has become an industry standard for telecommunication data format. In standard DS1, voice signals are digitalized at 64 kilobits per second (Kb/s), and 24 such 64 Kb/s streams are multiplexed into a 1.544 megabits per second (Mb/s) DS1 signal and transmitted over a T1 trunk. Often a 56 Kb/s or 64 Kb/s digital data signal is substituted for a digitalized voice signal. A waveform encoding technique, commonly referred to as ADPCM (adaptive differential pulse code modulation), compresses voice data to 32 Kb/s and allows a T1 trunk to carry up to 48 voice channels. However, because certain digital data signals of 56 Kb/s or 64 Kb/s (switched-56 and switched-64) are not compressible, the effective compression ratio over standard DS1 is less than 2:1. Standard ADPCM also cannot support voice-band-modem traffic where the baud rate is 9.6 Kb/s or higher.
Recently, other waveform encoding techniques have been developed that encode voice data in 16 Kb/s or 24 Kb/s. In using these techniques, greater than 2:1 compression ratio is achieved, but at the cost of poorer data quality.
Another type of known data compression technique is digital speech interpolation or DSI. The underlying idea of DSI makes use of characteristics of human conversation. More particularly, in a typical telephone conversation between two parties or more, usually only one party is talking at any one time. In other words, the transmission may be unidirectional most of the time. Additionally, human speech pattern usually includes periods of silence, where transmission is not required. Accordingly, DSI enables a reduction of transmission data by utilizing the statistical nature of human speech and conversation. The compression factor for a conventional DSI system is approximately 2:1.
Several disadvantages of pure DSI data compression systems exist. In order to utilize DSI, an accurate determination of silence is required so that actual speech is not deleted. Known "silence" determination schemes introduce significant delays of up to 30 msec in the encoding device and up to 15 msec in the decoding device. Additionally in DSI, the mapping of channels to trunks is variable with the current traffic condition with only the updates of mapping changes being transmitted from the sending device to the receiving device. In the event of a burst error and the like, the updates may be lost and recovery time may be substantial. Lastly, DSI is worthless as a compression scheme for signals that do not have periods of silence.
It is therefore desirable to compress data at a ratio of greater than 2:1 without compromising the quality of data. It is further desirable to carry modem communication data signals of 56 Kb/s and 64 Kb/s. This is accomplished in the present invention by combining waveform encoding technology with DSI.
It is further desirable to determine three key parameters of the data signals being transmitted in order to compress data by a combination of waveform encoding and DSI. These key parameters are: is the data in a channel compressible? Is the channel silent? What is the background noise level?
Accordingly, the present invention provides for apparatus and a method for determining the above three key parameters, for compressing data at a ratio of N:1 without compromising the quality of the data and is directed to overcoming one or more of the problems as set forth above.

N:1 bit compression apparatus and method


A rail cushion assembly including a resilient rail pad for placement against the lower surface of a railroad rail, and an underlying abrasion plate for placement against a railroad tie. The rail pad includes a pair of slots that extend through opposite end sloping edge panels that are adjacent to the lower surface of the rail pad. The abrasion plate is a flat, sheet-like component that has a generally similar shape as that of the rail pad but includes a pair of outwardly-extending connection tabs, one at each of a pair of opposite edge surfaces. The connection tabs of the abrasion plate are received in respective slots of the rail pad to provide the rail cushion assembly in ready-to-use form and without requiring on-site assembly of the components.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an improved rail cushion assembly for use as a supporting cushion between a railroad rail and a railroad tie, especially a concrete railroad tie. More particularly, the present invention relates to an improved rail cushion assembly that includes a resilient rail pad that is in contact with the bottom flange surface of the railroad rail, and an abrasion-resistant plate that is positioned between the rail pad and a concrete railroad tie. The abrasion-resistant plate serves to minimize abrasion by sand and debris of the upper surface of the concrete railroad tie and of the lower surface of the rail pad as a result of movement of trains along the rail, thereby lengthening the useful operating life of the rail pad assembly.
2. Description of the Related Art
Anti-abrasion arrangements of various configurations have been proposed in the past for minimizing abrasion of the surfaces of concrete railroad ties and of the resilient pads that are placed between the railroad tie and the steel rail. It has been shown that two-part assemblies, consisting of a resilient pad positioned on an abrasion-resistant lower plate, have offered some relief to the problem of concrete tie abrasion at positions directly beneath the rails. One example of such a two-part system is illustrated and described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,405,081, entitled "Anti-Abrasion Rail Seat System," which issued on Apr. 11, 1995 to, John H. Bosshart.
The function of the abrasion plate in a two-part anti-abrasion system is to provide an abrasion-resistant, bearing-type surface between the resilient rail pad and the concrete tie surface. The resilient pad can then flex and shift along the surface of the abrasion plate, rather than flex and shift along the concrete tie surface, when it is subjected to the heavy and varying compressive loads that are imposed upon the rail pads by the weight of moving trains. Such heavy and varying compressive loading causes the resilient pad to be cyclically partially compressed vertically. And as a result of the vertical pressures applied to the pad, it is also spread or extended horizontally. Such horizontal spread of the pad material results in relative lateral movement between the resilient pad and the surface that it rests against. Without the presence of an intervening abrasion plate, the horizontal spreading of the pad, combined with the sand, grit, and debris generally present in such environments, provides the pad surface movement and resulting abrading action that causes the abrasion of the upper surface of the concrete tie, as well as of the abutting rail pad surface. As a result, the effective operating life of the rail pad and of the concrete tie is significantly reduced.
The presence of an abrasion plate that is positioned between the resilient rail pad and the concrete tie serves to prevent that periodic abrading action from taking place between the resilient rail pad lower surface and the upper surface of the concrete tie. Any relative rail pad movement or spreading resulting from pad flexing, or from any other applied load, is intended to take place between the resilient pad surface and the abrasion plate surface, and not between the resilient pad surface and the upper surface of the concrete tie. Testing has shown that concrete tie abrasion can be significantly diminished by positioning a highly wear resistant surface between the resilient rail pad and the upper surface of the concrete tie.
Experience has shown, however, that the same desirable bearing and abrasion resistance properties of currently utilized abrasion plate materials can also cause the abrasion plate to slide out from between the resilient rail pad and the tie, either longitudinally or laterally, when the combination is subjected to the cyclically-varying compressive loading described above. Thus, there is a need for improved resilient rail pad and abrasion plate designs and assemblies that permit the two components to be separately produced as physically independent parts, yet be effectively interconnected in such a way that the two components continue to work together as a system and to remain properly positioned on the tie, as well as relative to each other.
One proposal for an interconnected resilient rail pad and abrasion plate is disclosed in published patent application No. US 2004/0113133 A1, entitled "Abrasion Assembly for Supporting Railroad Ties," which was published on Jun. 17, 2004, and which names William Hugo Geissele et al. as inventors. That publication discloses a rail pad that includes a number of surface depressions formed on its lower surface, and an injection molded, thermoplastic polymer abrasion plate that includes a number of correspondingly-positioned surface protrusions that are formed on its upper, rail-pad-facing surface. The depressions and protrusions interengage with each other when the resilient pad and the abrasion plate are placed in face-to-face contact with each other, so that the protrusions are received in the depressions, to prevent substantial relative sliding movement and lateral separation between the rail pad and the abrasion plate.
Additionally, as a further interconnection arrangement, the structure disclosed by Geissele et al. includes a resilient rail pad having a hole at each of the four corners. The rail pad holes receive correspondingly-positioned, upstanding, molded stalks or pins that are carried at the corners of the molded thermoplastic abrasion plate and that extend through the rail pad holes when the pad and plate are placed together. The tips of the stalks or pins are deformed by the application of heat to cause the tips to mushroom and thereby non-removably retain the pad and plate together. The result is a two-part, interconnected and interengaged pad and plate assembly that serves to limit relative movement of the pad and plate, but that also provides the constraints to limit excessive and problematic pad and plate separation that could lead to tie surface contact of the pad and possible pad abrasion and tie abrasion.
The interconnection arrangement disclosed in the above-identified Geissele et al. published application requires the use of an injection-moldable grade of polymeric material to provide the necessary protrusions and pins of the disclosed abrasion plate design. Consequently, the use of high performance, non-injection-moldable grades of materials is necessarily excluded. For example, if ultra high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) were to be desired to be utilized as the abrasion plate material in the Geissele et al. arrangement, it would be disqualified because that material cannot be injection molded. That and other highly abrasion resistant, ultra high molecular weight materials typically exhibit zero melt flow when heated above their melt temperature, and therefore they can only be manufactured in flat profiles using high-pressure compression-molding processes. Complex, three-dimensional profiles of UHMW materials can only be achieved through costly, post-molding machining of thick sheets to provide the disclosed surface features, and thus such raw material options are economically foreclosed from consideration in designs such as the one proposed by Geissele et al. In addition to UHMW polyethylene, other high performance UHMW polymers (e.g., UHMW acetal or UHMW nylon) having superior abrasion-resistant performance properties would also be eliminated from consideration in the Geissele et al. arrangement.
Therefore, in order to utilize such superior, high-performance, longer-lasting materials as candidates in the manufacture of two-part rail pad assemblies, there is a need for a railroad pad assembly design that allows the use of a flat, two-dimensional abrasion plate. Such an assembly should also provide suitable constraints to keep the abrasion plate from shifting relative to the resilient pad by slipping out laterally when the assembly is exposed to the cyclic compressive loading normally encountered in a rail pad application. The present invention responds to that need.


Systems, devices and automated processes augment television broadcasts with digital content that automatically replaces static portions of the captured imagery. In a video broadcast of a live event, for example, signs or other advertisements that are physically present in the event venue can be automatically replaced in television broadcasts of the event by virtual imagery of other signs or objects, as desired.

Digital technology continues to revolutionize television viewing. In addition to the wealth of content that is now available, emerging technologies such as time and place shifting allow viewers to experience increasing amounts of media content at the times and places that are most convenient for them. As viewers gain more control over the content that they view, however, it can be an increasing challenge to maintain the viewer's attention.
In recent years, video producers and broadcasters have looked to digital enhancement of live video content (e.g., broadcasts of sporting events) to make the viewer experience more informative and engaging. Most sports broadcasts, for example, incorporate graphical overlays that show the score, time remaining and/or other information to the viewer. Additional enhancements have included emphasizing the puck in broadcasts of hockey matches, highlighting of first down or line of scrimmage positions in broadcasts of football games, and many others. These limited features have been well-received by the viewers, but there is nevertheless a substantial need to make programming more dynamic, and therefore more interesting to the viewer.
It is therefore desirable to create systems and processes to automatically recognize and replace static images in live-captured digital video content. Other desirable features and characteristics will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and this background section.

Selected replacement of digital imagery portions using augmented reality


A driving device includes a connection switching unit to switch a connection state of coils between a first connection state and a second connection state in which a line voltage is lower than in the first connection state, a controller to control a motor and the connection switching unit, and a rotation speed detector to detect a rotation speed of the motor. When the connection state of the coils is the first connection state and the rotation speed detected by the rotation speed detector becomes higher than or equal to a first rotation speed, the controller causes the motor to rotate at a second rotation speed higher than the first rotation speed, and then causes the connection switching unit to switch the connection state of the coils from the first connection state to the second connection state.

In an air conditioner, a connection state of coils of a motor for driving a compressor is switched between a Y connection (also referred to as a star connection) and a delta connection (also referred to as a A connection) in order to enhance an operation efficiency during low-speed rotation and high-speed rotation of the motor (see, for example, Patent Reference 1).
Switching of the connection state of the coils is performed in a state where rotation of the motor is stopped, taking into consideration reliability or the like of a device (see, for example, Patent Reference 2).

Driving device, air conditioner, and driving method


The subject invention provides a method for diagnosing prostate cancer and determining preoperatively the pathological stage in patients with prostate cancer. The methods described herein can be used for prediction of margin positivity, seminal vesicle (S.V.) involvement, and lymph nodal (L.N.) involvement in patients with clinically localized prostate cancer. The method includes use of a neural network which provides prostate cancer stage information for a patient based upon input data which includes the patient's preoperative serum PSA, biopsy Gleason score, and systemic biopsy-based information. Its positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV), and accuracy are superior to that of current nomograms in use. Use of this method can result in enormous cost savings by accurately diagnosing patients with prostate cancer and by avoiding multiple imaging tests and expensive surgery in unindicated patients.

Prostate cancer is one of the most common cancers in men, comprising approximately 33% of all cancers. In 1996, 317,000 new patients will be diagnosed with prostate cancer. Fifty percent of these (158,550) will undergo radical prostatectomy. Statistics indicate that 1.5 billion dollars are spent as direct medical expenses and an additional 2.5 billion dollars as indirect costs in the management of prostate cancer. It is also anticipated to further increase due to the steep rise in population of patients older than 65 years. Current estimates are that 85,800 radical prostatectomies are performed annually.
At present, radical prostatectomy is clearly the most effective treatment for prostate cancer resulting in a disease-free survival (DFS) at 10 years in up to 85% of patients. However, cure is only possible if the cancer is organ confined. Several long-term studies of radical prostatectomy show that biochemical failure at 10 years is seen in as many as 58% of patients with positive margins, 57% with seminal vesicle-positivedisease, and 100% with lymph nodal disease. It is therefore essential to accurately stage prostate cancer and avoid radical interventions to potentially incurable patients. Inaccurate staging adds significantly to the cost of managing prostate cancer. It is therefore imperative to construct accurate and cost-effective staging tools. Currently, however, understaging of prostate cancer occurs in 40-60% of clinically localized prostate cancer. Margin-positive disease remains the biggest problem confronting clinicians attempting surgical management of prostate cancer. In recent studies, the incidence of margin positive disease after radical prostatectomy is very high (37-63%; mean 45%). The mean incidence of margin positivity and seminal vesicle involvement is 17-47%, while nodal involvement is 2-10.5%. Although an overwhelming number of staging studies are currently available to the clinician, including digital rectal examination (DRE), prostate specific antigen (PSA), prostate specific antigen density (PSAD), PSAD corrected for transition zone of prostate (PSAT), sextant prostate biopsy, transrectal ultrasound guided (TRUS) capsular and seminal vesicle biopsies, molecular staging (PCR-PSA), endorectal MRI, pelvic CT, CT-guided lymph node biopsies, antigen directed monoclonal antibodies (Onco Seint; "CYTOGEN"), bone scintigraphy and staging lymph node dissection, none are very accurate. This lack of sensitivity and specificity results in many patients undergoing multiple staging procedures. These multiple staging procedures and resultant unindicated surgical interventions currently add significantly to the cost of managing prostate cancer.
Because of the dire need for strategies to reduce staging costs, several investigators have studied this issue. One of the earliest studies was by Oesterling and associates, who reported on the role of serum PSA in reducing the need for bone scintigraphy (Oesterling, J. E. [1995] Urology 46:26-33; Oesterling, J. E. [1993] Urol. Clin. North Am. 20:705-711). A number of other studies indicating the lack of need of certain single modalities of staging such as bone scintigraphy and node dissection prompted several investigators to study a combination of variables to construct relatively uncomplicated nomograms for clinicians managing prostate cancer. Several nomograms have been proposed to predict probabilities of extracapsular and metastatic disease. These nomograms however are variable and not highly accurate. Examples of such nomograms include those by Partin, Badalament, and Narayan (Partin, A. W., J. Yoo, H. B. Carter et al. [1993] J. Urol. 150:110-114; Partin, A. W., P. C. Walsh [1994] J. Urol. 152:172-173;Narayan, P., V. Gajendran, S. P. Taylor et al. [1995] Urology 46:205-21; R., M. Miller, P. Peller et al. [1996] J. Urol. 156:1375-1380). While Partin and associates utilize the large database of accurately studied prostate cancer patients at Johns Hopkins Institute, its major drawback is the use of DRE to differentiate T2a/b and T2c patients. A second problem may be the small-sized cancers and select population seen at Johns Hopkins Institute. Recently, Badalament and associates have constructed a backwards stepwise logistic regression algorithm based on nuclear imaging, DNA ploidy, nuclear grade, serum PSA, percent of tumor involvement, number of positive sextant cores, preoperative Gleason score, and more than 5% of base and/or apex involvement in 210 patients (Badalament et al., supra). They report an 86% sensitivity, 71% specificity, 73% positive predictive value, and 85% negative predictive value. Their input data required several specialized investigations such that its day to day utility and cost-effectiveness remain to be established. Some of the input variables they used such as DNA ploidy are also very controversial in that several investigators have questioned their utility. They also have a relatively small number of patients (N=200), so the utility needs testing in large numbers. In the other study (N=813), pooled patient data from two major universities was combined with data from a major HMO as well as data from the private practice of prominent urologists. (R) This series, however, used TRUS-guided systemic biopsy data rather than DRE to clinically stage patients.
Neural networks utilize the concept of artificial intelligence (Niederberger, C. S., L. I. Lipshultz, D. J. Lamb [1993] Fertil. Steril. 60:324-330; Niederberger, C. S. [1995] J. Urol. 153; Wasserman, P. [1993] Neural Computing: Theory and Practice, Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York, pp. 1.1-11; Wasserman, P. [1993] Advanced Methods in Neural Computing, Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York, pp. 1-60; Fu, L. [1994] Neural Networks in Computer Intelligence, McGraw-Hill, Inc., New York, pp. 155-166). Attempts have been made to apply this technology to certain medical problems, including the prediction of myocardial infarction in patients using family history, body weight, lipid profile, smoking status, blood pressure, etc. (Lamb, D. J., C. S. Niederberger [1993] World J. Urol 11: 129-136; Patterson, P. E., [1996] Biomed Sci. Instrum. 32:275-277; Pesonen, E. M. Eskelinen, M. Juhola [1996] Int. J. Biomed Comput. 40:227-233; Ravery, V., L. A. Boccon Gibod, A. Meulemans et al. [1994] Eur. Urol. 26:197-201; Snow, P. B., D. S. Smith, W. J. Catalona [1994] J. Urol. 1923-1926;Stotzka, R., R. Manner, P. H. Bartels, D. Thompson [1995] Anal. Quant. Cytol Histol. 17:204-218; Yoshida, K., T. Izuno, E. Takahashi et al. [1995] Medinfo 1:838-842; Webber, W. R., R. P. Lesser, R. T. Richardson et al. [1996] Electoencephalogr. Clin. Neurophysiol. 98:250-272). Snow and associates also attempted to use a neural network in the detection of prostate cancer and prediction of biochemical failure following radical prostatectomy (Snow et al., supra).
Several investigators have attempted to construct probability tables and nomograms by combining the results of the above-mentioned tests (Partin et al., supra; Partin and Walsh, supra; Narayan et al., supra). As previously discussed, these nomograms only provide a probability percentage, but currently there are no recommendations about cut points for these percentages which can help patients and physicians in decision making. Our testing of these nomograms using a 15 to 20% acceptable risk for margin positive disease revealed a positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV), sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of 38%, 70%, 72%, 36%, and 48%, respectively for predicting margin positivity in prostate cancer. A cutoff point of 5% probability for the nomogram predicting S.V. positivity resulted in a PPV, NPV, sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of 9%, 97%, 73%, 55%, and 56%, respectively. A cut off point of 5% probability for the nomogram predicting L.N. positivity resulted in statistical measures of 9%, 75%, 66%, and 67%, respectively.
The currently available staging modalities for prostate cancer are rather inadequate for accurate staging. Only 60% of cancers clinically diagnosed to be locally confined turn out to be so on final pathology. Accurate preoperative staging is important; patients with positive margins with or without seminal vesicle involvement and lymph nodal spread have a distinctly poorer prognosis than those with organ confined disease. Radical prostatectomy in patients with organ confined disease on final pathological analysis results in survival comparable to that of age-matched controls without prostate cancer. Therefore, it is easier to make a distinction between patients with organ confined versus margin positive and regional disease for management decisions.

Method for diagnosing and staging prostate cancer


A cell connection piece for a photovoltaic module is disclosed herein. The cell connection piece includes an interconnect bus, a plurality of bus tabs unitarily formed with the interconnect bus, and a terminal bus coupled with the interconnect bus. The plurality of bus tabs extend from the interconnect bus. The terminal bus includes a non-linear portion.

Photovoltaic (PV) cells provide a renewable source of electrical energy. When PV cells are combined in an array such as in a PV module, the electrical energy collected from all of the PV cells can be combined in series and parallel arrangements to provide power with a certain voltage and current. Many recent design and engineering advances have increased the efficiency and functionality of PV modules.
One area of development focuses on collecting the electrical energy from all of the PV cells in a PV module so that the collected electrical energy can be efficiently transferred to an electrical load connected to the PV system. For example, SunPower Corporation of San Jose, Calif., offers a highly efficient solar cell design which locates the metal contacts needed to collect and conduct electricity on the back surface of the PV cells so that cell interconnections do not block incident sunlight.
Another area of development relates to wiring techniques which might lower the manufacturing cost of PV module components and facilitate a better design layout of such components on the PV module. FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional busbar 10 for a PV module. The illustrated conventional busbar 10 includes an interconnect bus 12, a plurality of individual bus tabs 14, and a linear terminal bus 16. Different busbar designs may implement fewer or more bus tabs 14 than shown. The individual bus tabs 14 are typically soldered or welded to the interconnect bus 12 at corresponding solder or welding joints 18. The linear terminal bus 16 is soldered to the interconnect bus 12 at a similar solder or welding joint 18. The bus tabs 14 connects to electrical contacts or ribbons for each row of PV cells, and the terminal bus 16 connects the interconnect bus 12 to a junction box on the PV module.
FIG. 2 illustrates another conventional busbar 30 for a PV module having back contact cells. The conventional busbar 30 of FIG. 2 is similar to the conventional busbar 10 of FIG. 1, except that the conventional busbar 30 does not have a terminal bus 16. These types of conventional busbars 30 are typically used to connect adjacent rows of PV cells to one another. Other types of cell interconnects are used to connect individual PV cells to one another within the rows of PV cells.
Wire flattening is another conventional technology to form busbars. Wire flattening employs a bending machine to bend wire into a specified shape and then a flattening machine to flatten the shaped wire into a flattened sheet having a shape corresponding to the shaped wire.
Some conventional busbars suffer from several disadvantages. For example, the use of linear components in conventional busbars results in relatively long electrical path lengths and, hence, increased voltage drop between the rows of PV cells and the junction box.
Also, the design and layout of conventional busbars is typically limited by the availability of conductive ribbons. If multiple ribbon sizes are used, then the inventory costs of purchasing, storing, and handling the various ribbon sizes are increased. On the other hand, if only one ribbon size is used, the design and layout of the conductive paths is limited by the physical characteristics (e.g., width, thickness, etc.) of the available ribbon.
Conventional busbars also implement several solder or welding joints for each busbar (e.g., seven joints for the conventional busbar 30 of FIG. 1). These joints are sources of potential physical failure of the busbar. The thickness of these joints also creates stress on the corresponding PV cells, which can break and become useless. For example, the joints can add extra stress on the PV cells during module manufacturing, and the PV cells can crack, which degrades cell performance. Such breakage is frequently at the edges of PV cells because the linear configuration of conventional busbars results in a portion of the conventional busbar extending beyond the edge of the typically cropped corners of the PV cells. Additionally, the cost of assembly of conventional busbars is relatively high because the fabrication process implements multiple solder or welding joints for each conventional busbar.


The present disclosure describes various embodiments of systems, apparatuses, and methods for large-scale processing of weather-related data. For one such system, the system comprises a database of weather-related data providing from a plurality of weather monitoring stations and a plurality of interconnected processors for coordinating a data processing job for processing a set of input weather-related data from the database. Accordingly, the input data comprises sensor data from an array of weather monitoring stations positioned on an open shoreline during a hydrodynamic event, weather model data for the hydrodynamic event, and at least one of air-craft reconnaissance data or satellite reconnaissance data regarding the hydrodynamic event, wherein the plurality of interconnected processors are configured to assimilate the input data and generate, using machine learning, an improved weather prediction model for the hydrodynamic event. Other systems, apparatuses, and methods are also provided.

Storm surge severely limits monitoring of wind and water conditions at the coast. Fixed weather stations fail to report weather data because of flooding, wind- and water-borne debris, power loss, lack of adequate backup power, or loss of communications. The absence of critical missing data diminishes the situational awareness of emergency managers, meteorologists, engineers, and other professions that monitor extreme weather and leads to large variations between the maximum observed offshore winds and available "ground truth" weather data at onshore locations.

In situ measurement station for monitoring wind and water properties in extreme hydrodynamic conditions

University of Florida Research Foundation, Inc.


The invention relates to a system and method for controlling implementation of a command to a memory device. In the method, it comprises the following steps: monitoring an instruction stream destined for the memory device for an assertion of a command for the memory device; if the command is detected, evaluating whether the command is a restricted command; and if the command is a restricted command, preventing assertion of the command on the memory device.

Wireless handheld mobile communication devices perform a variety of functions to enable mobile users to stay organized and in contact with others through e-mail, schedulers and address books. More sophisticated electronic devices invariably have a microprocessor or microcontroller and accompanying software or firmware to control at least part of their operations. In portable devices, the software or firmware need to be stored locally on the devices in their local memory device(s). One critical piece of software or firmware is the code used to boot the electronic device. This boot code is typically stored in the boot sector in the memory of the device. It is preferable that the boot sector, and perhaps other sectors, be write-protected. This helps to prevent data in those sectors from being overwritten by a write or clear command initiated from erroneous or malicious software operating on the electronic device.
Frequently, flash memory devices are used in portable electronic devices to store the software of firmware. There are two common designs for flash memory devices: NOR and NAND flash. NOR flash devices have been used in portable electronic devices; however, NAND flash devices are typically cheaper and provide greater storage densities than corresponding NOR flash devices. However, the architecture of a NAND flash device does not provide a write-protect feature for specific locations in the device. This can be problematic for software or firmware stored in the boot sector.
There is a need for a system and method which addresses deficiencies in the prior art.

System and method for controlling access to a memory device of an electronic device


This disclosure relates to methods for the prevention of the reduction of disulfide bonds in a polypeptide expressed in a recombinant host cell, comprising, following fermentation, adding selenite and/or its salts or derivatives to a harvest solution of the recombinant host cell, wherein the disulfide bond in the polypeptide remains non-reduced.

The biopharmaceutical industry produces a variety of therapeutic proteins using cell culture. A variety of cell types, including both prokaryotes and eukaryotes, can be used to express a recombinant therapeutic protein. The biopharmaceutical industry relies heavily on mammalian cells due to their ability to produce properly folded and post-translationally modified proteins. Manufacturing a therapeutic protein typically begins by culturing cells in a bioreactor. Various nutrients and process parameters are monitored to ensure optimal cell growth and protein production. The therapeutic protein is typically secreted, so the first step in harvesting the protein is to remove the cells. In the bioreactor and during cell removal, cells may lyse, releasing components that may alter or degrade the recombinant protein. For example, enzymes and other components in the harvest may reduce disulfide bonds. Because intact disulfide bonds are critical for maintaining protein structure and function, methods to prevent disulfide reduction are of great interest.

Methods for preventing disulfide bond reduction in cell culture harvest with selenite


A beverage holder is provided. The beverage holder embodies an adjustable tray clamp, an articulating arm, a self-leveling functionality and a plurality of lockable joints for enabling an adaptable stable, level, secure, and a selectively movable holder of a passenger's beverage, thereby enhancing their travel seat and overcoming typical tray space limitations.

The present invention relates to beverage holders and, more particularly, a beverage holder providing a stable, self-leveling, secure, and more convenient location for beverages while enhancing the travel seat experience despite their inherent tray space limitations.
There is very little room to move while traveling in most passenger seats due to the very limited and cramped area between the seats, such as on an airplane. There is also no place to easily store a drink or other personal items due to there being no drink holders or seat back pockets of any useful size.
Current beverage holder devices are very limited in their adjustability, lacking the ability to accommodate a variety of types or sizes of beverage containers. Particularly, other beverage retaining devices do not have a large amount of articulation, and so do not allow the user much flexibility in locating the beverage during use. Furthermore, other devices don't offer much of a security or a self-leveling feature to counteract the motion of traveling in a passenger seat. Moreover, the tray tables associated with passenger seats are needed to support personal items, such as computers, a book, or the like, and so are too small to even support a beverage distributed by the carrier, while using such personal items. Thus, beverage holder devices are needed, but current iterations do not allow the beverage to be accessible while accommodating the changing position of the surface of said tray table to which it is attached (i.e., the tray table positioned and repositioned between up or down, etc.). In other words, when the tray table needs to be moved to the locked position, current devices are just not adaptable enough to satisfactorily support the beverage after the tray table is moved, much less during movement of the tray table.
As can be seen, there is a need for a beverage holder providing a stable, self-leveling, secure, and more convenient location for beverages while accommodating the space limitations inherent in passenger travel. The present invention embodies a device adapted to enhance the limited personal space afforded today's airplane passengers. The present invention also provides more flexibility in the securing and positioning of the beverage location.
The present invention can accommodate a larger variety of type and sizes of beverage containers such as cups, bottles, and cans by providing an adjustable and lockable beverage support ring with multiple support points for secure capture. It also provides a vertical adjustable beverage container support loop to allow effective capture of straight sided beverage containers (i.e., cans or bottles). An adjustable clamping mechanism is provided for engagement with an almost unlimited variety of tray table's shapes and thickness, so that the present invention can be firmly engaged with any tray table, either up or down, due to the clamping mechanism's high friction contact surfaces to reduce slippage from mounting surfaces.
The present invention can provide multiple alternative methods for locating the beverage while in use by moving an adjustable, multi-position support articulated arm that will accommodate different positions and fit many areas within a limited space regardless of the position of the surface to which it is attached. The device provides a larger variety of lockable joints and thereby provides more positions for convenience, security and stability. It also provides a self-leveling option that helps to counteract the motion of the aircraft by featuring a beverage holder support loop that provides a single axis of rotation to allow self-leveling of the beverage in the first plane and mounting provisions for a second beverage holder support that can provide self-leveling in a second plane. This support loop also features a locking mechanism allowing the user to lock the beverage container at a more convenient angle thereby disabling the self-leveling feature. Lastly, it can be folded for convenient storage and portability when not in use.
Though the present invention is designed specifically for use with airline seating, and most of the references are to airplane travel, the present invention is adapted for any tray table where space is constrained, for example seating on a bus or train and almost any flat surface in multiple settings such as home or work.


The present disclosure relates to a method for producing a beam shaping holographic optical element, which is configured to generate diffracted beams configured to reconstruct an image of a diffusor irrespectively of the point of impact of a pencil of light on the beam shaping holographic optical element, comprising providing a recording element, providing a master element comprising a particular pattern, forming a recording stack comprising the recording element and the master element such that the master element is arranged to the recording element in a closed-copy distance, irradiating at least a part of the recording stack with a reconstruction beam, irradiating at least a part of the recording stack with a reference beam, wherein at least one of the reconstruction beam or reference beam penetrates the master element to record the pattern of the master element onto the recording element.

Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to a method for producing a beam shaping holographic optical element by providing a master element and a recording element. Especially, the present disclosure relates also to an arrangement for performing the method, a produced beam shaping holographic optical element and a display device comprising the produced beam shaping holographic optical element.
Discussion of the Related Art
Nowadays, liquid crystal displays are often used in electronic applications. Exemplified applications are mobile devices, game computers, tablet computers, monitors, television devices, advertising panels, and the like. Liquid crystal displays comprise a layer or panel with liquid crystals which can be driven electrically. In particular, the polarisation of the light illuminated by the display can be controlled depending on the voltage applied to the liquid crystals. Since these panels produce no light of their own a backlight unit has to be provided to illuminate the panels.
Thereby, a general concern is to provide a liquid crystal display having a high display quality. Factors of a high display quality are the colour space (Gamut), the homogeneity of the illumination, and the contrast relation. Future liquid crystal displays will also require a good steering quality e.g., for providing improved 3-D applications. Backlight units which enable a liquid crystal display to fulfill these requirements are backlight units comprising a beam shaping holographic optical element. A beam shaping holographic optical element is configured to illuminate a defined area at a defined distance from the beam shaping holographic optical element in a homogenous manner. For instance, the liquid display panel, a lens, a diffusor, or the like may be arranged at the defined area. In particular, by recording an element comprising any suitable recording material with a desired pattern, a beam shaping holographic optical element can be produced. It shall be understood that there are a plurality of further application requiring a beam shaping holographic optical element with good steering qualities, like signal lighting.
A particular important quality feature of a produced beam shaping holographic optical element is the steering quality. The steering quality or steering ability means that the beam shaping holographic optical element is able to reconstruct an identical real image of a diffusor independently of the impact location of a pencil of light that hits the beam shaping holographic optical element whereas the pencil of light emerges from a common source point.
A beam shaping holographic optical element in relation to the present disclosure is in particular a holographic optical element which transforms a spatially and/or directionally confined light source into a homogeneously illuminated area at a certain location in space. An important type of such a light source—but not exclusive in the sense of the present disclosure—is a pencil of intense laser light.
To transform the point-like cross section of this pencil of light for example in a plane rectangle with homogeneous brightness distribution at a certain location in space a beam shaping holographic optical element can be used. Such a beam shaping holographic optical element can work in transmission or in reflection geometry or in edge lit geometry and has to reconstruct the real image of a diffusor at the specified location in space in order to generate there the desired homogeneous brightness distribution.
However, the production of beam shaping holographic optical elements having a high quality and sufficiently geometric dimensions is difficult. One prior art approach and its problems will be described in the following with the aid of FIGS. 1 through 3.
FIG. 1 shows a conventional schematic view of an arrangement for producing a beam shaping holographic optical element.
Generally, to be able to reconstruct a real image with a beam shaping holographic optical element a reconstruction beam has to be the phase conjugate beam of the reference beam used for producing a beam shaping holographic optical element (Gerhard K. Ackermann and Jürgen Eichler "Holography a Practical Approach, Wiley VCH Verlag & Co. KGaA, Weinheim, 2007, Chapter 16. Pages 217-218).
FIG. 1 shows an exemplified recording scheme according to the prior art with an illumination beam 104 and a reference beam 103c. A convergent recording beam 103c is used as a reference beam 103c of the holographic recording setup for the present transmission-type beam shaping holographic optical element. The scheme in FIG. 1 is viewed from the top. After splitting the light beam emitted from a common laser light source by means of a suitable beam splitter, two spatial filters 105 generate the divergent illumination beam 104 for illuminating the object 101, for example a transparent diffusor, and the primarily divergent reference beam 103b.
After being reflected by the concave mirror 107, the primarily divergent reference beam 103b is transformed into a convergent reference beam 103c with a focus located at position 103d. The translucent object 101 generates the recording object beams 106b by diffraction. The object beams 106b interfere with the convergent reference beam 103c at the recording element 102. Element 102 is the element to be recorded with a desired pattern. By recording the recording element 102, the desired beam shaping holographic optical element is produced.
For reconstruction (see FIG. 2) of the real image 106a of the object 101 from FIG. 1, the (phase conjugated) reconstruction beam 103, diverging from a point in space 103a, is generated for example from a focused laser beam in combination with a spatial filter 105 positioned in this focal point. The beam shaping holographic optical element 102 then forms the diffracted beams 106 which form the real image 106a at its desired position.
A problem of the arrangement according to FIG. 1 is the required dimensions of the concave mirror 107 (or positive lens) configured to generate the converging reference beam 103c. The concave mirror 107 must always have larger lateral dimensions than the lateral dimension of the desired beam shaping holographic optical element 102 and the recording element 102, respectively. Thereby, the shorter the focal length—the distance between focal point 103d and the recording element 102—is, the larger the relative size of the concave mirror 107 (or positive lens) has to be compared to the beam shaping holographic optical element 102.
For instance, if the beam shaping holographic optical element 102 itself already has a large size (for example the size of an electronic display with 10″ diagonal size or larger) the concave mirror 107 (or positive lens) has to be much larger than that. This means that the optical components, like mirrors or lenses, which can form the convergent reference beam, become very large and will be very expensive and/or difficult to manufacture. Other problems are the handling of such large and heavy components, their optical alignment and the stabilization and the footprint of the holographic recording setup.
Moreover, if the numerical aperture—the sine of the half of the opening angle of the convergent recording beam 103c in FIG. 1—or equivalent the field angle of the beam shaping holographic optical element 102 in FIG. 2 becomes very large such kind of focusing mirrors 107 and lenses with the necessary large diameter of the opening aperture and the respectively short focal length are virtually not available. An exemplary description of the meaning of numerical aperture is given in FIG. 3, which is the perspective view of the reference beam part given in FIG. 1. Here the numerical aperture is sin(θ/2) in which the angle θ is measured in the plane that contains the largest diameter of the beam shaping holographic optical element 102.
All these difficulties apply also for reflection type beam shaping holographic optical elements or edge-lit type beam shaping holographic optical elements.
As mentioned above, on the one hand, high numerical aperture focusing mirrors 107 and lenses with the necessary large diameter of the opening aperture and the respectively short focal length are virtually not available, or expensive and extremely difficult to handle in a holographic recording setup.
On the other hand, objectives with a high numerical aperture are readily available and could be very cheap as they are already used in consumer devices which entered the mass market. For example a microscope objective of magnification 63× can have a numerical aperture of 0.75. Similarly an objective lens of a BluRay player pickup head has a numerical aperture of even 0.85. Precisely because these objectives will have a limited diameter of the input aperture of a few mm they are suited to generate a high quality divergent beam with the desired numerical aperture.
If the numerical aperture of the reference beam tends to zero the recording reference beam 103c in FIG. 1 and FIG. 3 tends to be a collimated beam and the mirror 107 (lens) is a collimating mirror (lens) with respect to the diverging beam 103b emerging from the pin hole 105. In this case the collimating mirror (lens) size could be reduced close or to its minimum size which is identical to the size of the beam shaping holographic optical element.
The phase conjugated beam of a collimated beam is also a collimated beam just with a reversed direction of propagation. That means to reconstruct the real image in the case of numerical aperture close to zero, instead of doing the readout with the collimated beam with reversed direction, the recorded hologram could be flipped and readout with the original collimated reference beam.
In WO 93/02372, a recording arrangement and method is described for a transmission type beam shaping holographic optical element. In a first step a master element in form of a master beam shaping holographic optical element is recorded with a collimated reference beam.
In a second step the master beam shaping holographic optical element is flipped and read out with the original reference beam used for recording the beam shaping holographic optical element. The real image which is reconstructed by this procedure is copied with a divergent reference beam into a new recording element. This recording element is arranged between the master beam shaping holographic optical element and the position of the reconstructed real image from the master beam shaping holographic optical element wherein the distance between the master element and the recording element is large. Reason for this position is to prevent the zero order light from the master beam shaping holographic optical element from hitting the holographic recording element used for the copy process. If the recorded or produced beam shaping holographic optical element is reconstructed with the divergent beam used as reference beam for the production or copying process the real image of the master beam shaping holographic optical element is reconstructed. As a collimated reference beam is used to record the master beam shaping holographic optical element and a divergent beam is used to record the copy beam shaping holographic optical element the minimum size of mirrors or lenses to from the reference beam can be achieved with the method of WO 93/02372.
However, the display quality, in particular, the steering ability of the produced beam shaping holographic optical element is low. If the produced beam shaping holographic optical element is hit by a pencil of light it strongly depends on the point of impact of the light whether the total real image is reconstructed or not.

Method for producing a beam shaping holographic optical element


The present invention is directed to blended hydraulic cement compositions which are formed with subbituminous fly ash. In one embodiment, the cement composition comprises from about 0.1 wt. % to about 7 wt. % of a retarding agent; from about 0.1 wt. % to about 4 wt. % potassium carbonate; from about 0.1 wt. % to about 4 wt. % citric acid; from about 0.1 wt. % to about 5 wt. % lithium carbonate; and from about 85 wt. % to about 99.7 wt. % of a subbituminous fly ash. In another embodiment, the cement composition comprises from about 0.1 wt. % to about 7 wt % of a retarding agent; from about 0.1 wt. % to about 6 wt. % of an alkali source selected from the group consisting of potassium carbonate, potassium hydroxide and blends thereof; from about 0.1 wt. % to about 4 wt. % citric acid; from about 0.1 wt. % to about 5 wt. % lithium carbonate; from about 25 wt. % to about 91.7 wt. % of a first subbituminous fly ash having a lime content; and from about 8 wt. % to about 60 wt. % of a second fly ash selected from the group consisting of lignite fly ash, bituminous fly ash and scrubber material.

Fly ash comprises finely divided inorganic products produced by the combustion of coal. Enormous amounts of fly ash are produced annually nationwide, principally from burning coal in electric power plants. Disposal of fly ash poses an increasingly difficult problem because the volume, the particulate nature and the varied chemical composition of fly ash limit the number of acceptable disposal sites. Such sites require sophisticated and expensive engineering, design, construction and operational controls to be in place to manage and dispose of the fly ash. Furthermore, the capacity of these disposal sites is not unlimited.
Fly ash of particular composition has been used as an additive in portland cement but such fly ashes have not been hydraulic, i.e., self-setting. Rather, the fly ash has been added to strengthen the cement, evidently, by reacting with excess free lime and by reacting with sulfate compounds which would otherwise attack the tricalcium aluminate and tetracalcium aluminoferrite compounds of portland cement.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,997,484 to Gravitt et al. discloses a hydraulic cement which uses a subbituminous fly ash to achieve high strength in a short time when cured at room temperature. However, the cement compositions disclosed in this patent have limited uses because they cure too quickly. Particularly, the cement compositions disclosed in Gravitt initially cure in less than thirty minutes. Such a short period of time for curing is too short to use the cement compositions for anything other than patching.
Another quick curing hydraulic cement composition is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,374,308 to Kirkpatrick et al. The compositions disclosed in the Kirkpatrick patent employ a class C fly ash to achieve high strength in a short period time. Like the compositions disclosed in Gravitt, the compositions disclosed in Kirkpatrick cure too quickly to be useful for any other purpose than patching.
Thus, a need has developed in the art for a blended hydraulic cement formulated with fly ash which can be used for a variety of purposes from patching to forming concrete objects.