In various exemplary embodiments, a system and a related method and a related computer-readable medium to perform the method, for tracking numerous software calls in an enterprise environment is provided. The method includes tracking, during a runtime operation of the enterprise environment, layers through which each of the software calls passes. The tracking includes logging each of a multitude of physical components involved in each of the software calls, annotating each of the physical components with associated metadata, logging each of a multitude of logical components involved in the software calls, annotating each of the logical components with associated metadata, and logging a reliance of each of the physical components and the logical components on other physical and logical components. A dependency map is generated indicating the layers tracked in each of the software calls.

As the complexity and throughput of application environments has increased, the technical challenges present in the monitoring, maintenance, and administration of such application environments have also increased commensurately. These technical challenges are particularly acute in enterprise application environments and Web-based (e.g., Application Service Provider (ASP)) environments, which may include a large number of applications, servicing a large number of users, and handling a large number of transactions. Consider, for example, a popular Web site that may be serviced by a rich application environment, including a large number of applications, and hosted on a collection of respective application servers. Such an application environment may include hundreds of diverse and heterogeneous applications, and may be required to handle millions of Uniform Resource Location (URL) requests, millions of e-mail messages, and billions of database inquiries (e.g., utilizing SQL statements) in a 24-hour period.
A failure in such an application environment can be disastrous, particularly where the application environment supports a live and real-time service (e.g., online or network-base commerce). The ability to monitor and quickly identify problems that may arise within an application environment is, of course, important for a number of reasons and presents a number of technical challenges.

Flow tracing though diverse logical and physical application and infrastructure layers/dependencies


The invention relates to dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitors, including saxagliptin and sitagliptin, for use in the topical eye treatment and/or prevention of retinal neurodegenerative diseases, in particular diabetic retinopathy and its associated microvascular impairment. The invention also encompasses pharmaceutical topical eye compositions for use in the topical treatment and/or prevention of these diseases.

Retinal neurodegenerative diseases refer to retinal conditions characterized by progressive neuronal loss. Diabetic retinopathy, age-related macular degeneration, glaucoma and retinitis pigmentosa are considered retinal diseases in which neurodegeneration plays an essential role.
An in depth analysis of these diseases, their critical sites, as well as of possible ways of protection and ways leading to recovery can be extracted from Schmidt et al., "Neurodegenerative Diseases of the Retina and Potential for the Protection and Recovery", Current Neuropharmacology—2008, Vol. No. 6, pp.: 164-178.
Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is the most common complication of diabetes and remains the leading cause of blindness among working-age individuals in developed countries. Current treatments for DR such as laser photocoagulation, intravitreous injections of corticosteroids or anti-VEGF agents are indicated in too advanced stages of the disease and are associated with significant adverse effects.
DR has been classically considered to be a microcirculatory disease of the retina. However, there are some data which suggest that retinal neurodegeneration is an early event in the pathogenesis of DR which participates in the microcirculatory abnormalities that occur in DR as can be deduced from Simó et al. on behalf of the European Consortium for Early Treatment of Diabetic Retinopathy (EUROCONDOR). "Neurodegeneration is an early event in diabetic retinopathy: therapeutic implications", Br. J. Ophthalmol. —2012, vol. 96, pp. 1285-1290. Other references mentioning approaches for treating DR are disclosed in
Simó R, Hernández C, "Novel approaches for treating diabetic retinopathy based on recent pathogenic evidence", Prog Retin Eye Res—2015, vol. no. 48, pp.: 160-80; and Simó R, Hernández C; European Consortium for the Early Treatment of Diabetic Retinopathy (EUROCONDOR). "Neurodegeneration in the diabetic eye: new insights and therapeutic perspectives", Trends Endocrinol Metab—2014; vol. no. 25(1), pp.: 23-33.
In the case of DR the neurodegeneration (loss of effective neurons) occurs at the early stages of the disease and produces functional abnormalities such as the loss of both chromatic discrimination and contrast sensitivity. These alterations can be detected by means of electrophysiological studies in diabetic patients even with less than two years of diabetes duration, that is, before microvascular lesions can be detected under ophthalmologic examination. In addition, a delayed multifocal ERG (electroretinography) implicit time (mfERG-IT) predicts the development of early microvascular abnormalities. Furthermore, neuroretinal degeneration initiates and/or activates several metabolic and signaling pathways which will participate in the microangiopathic process, as well as in the disruption of the blood-retinal barrier (a crucial element in the pathogenesis of DR).
Blood retinal barrier (BRB) disruption (or breakdown) can be assessed by Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT).
The early stages of retinal neurodegenerative diseases or neurodegeneration associated with these pathologies are not currently treated, although they would prevent advanced lesions, such as microcirculatory problems leading to retinal edema and retinal neovascularization. Thus at early stages, in particular of DR, no treatment is applied and the standard follow-up of the patients is conducted.
On the other hand, when the early stages of these retinal neurodegenerative disease, in particular DR, are the therapeutic target, it would be inconceivable to recommend an aggressive treatment such as laser photocoagulation or intravitreous injections. To date, the use of eye drops has not been considered a good route for the administration of drugs addressed to preventing or arresting DR. This is because it is generally assumed that they do not reach the posterior segment of the eye (ie. the vitreous and the retina), as declared in Urtti A et al., "Challenges and obstacles of ocular pharmacokinetics and drug delivery". Adv. Drug. Deliv. Rev. 2006, vol. 58, pp. 1131-1135. Although there exists a little evidence that compounds administered in the cornea can reach the retina, they represent isolated cases and correspond to compounds of low molecular weight, such as those referred to in Aiello et al., "Targeting Intraocular Neovascularization and Edema—One Drop at a Time", N. Eng. J Med—2008, vol. 359, pp. 967-969. Aiello et al. show that in two different assays, a pyrrolidin derived compound (named TG100572, 4-chloro-3-(5-methyl-3-{[4-(2-pyrrolidin-I-ylethoxy)phenyl]amino}-1,2,4-benzotriazin-7-yl)phenol)) with the capability of acting as an inhibitor of kinases involved in neovascular generation and retinal edema, was able to reach the target in the retina once administered in the form of eye drops.
However, reaching the retina by passing through the cornea or the sclera is difficult and non-predictable, mainly due to the anatomic nature of this tissue. Topical drug application is useful in the treatment of many anterior segment disorders, but it is considered inefficient in delivering therapeutic concentrations of the drug to the posterior segment of the eye, owing to the unique anatomical, physiological and biochemical barriers of the eye.
There are two major pathways for moving fluids and solutes through cell layers: the transcellular pathway (active ionic transport with energy cost) and the paracellular pathway (mostly based on passive diffusion by gradient concentrations and permeation). Cornea is divided into 3 main complex layers: epithelium, stroma and endothelium. The corneal epithelium is lipophilic and consists of stratified squamous cells five to seven cell layers thick. Immediately posterior to the corneal epithelium, there is the collagenous Bowman's membrane. Posterior to Bowman's membrane it is found the hydrophilic, lamellar stroma. Since it's hydrophilic, the stroma is a strong barrier to lipophilic molecules, though it lacks tight-junction complexes. Next to the stroma lies the single-cell layer of Descemet's membrane and the extracellular matrix secreted by the deepest layer of the cornea, the endothelium. The corneal endothelium is a single cuboidal cell layer in thickness, and is a lipophilic region responsible for permitting leakage of nutrients from the aqueous humour to the cornea and for transporting water from the avascular cornea into the anterior chamber. Thus, the lipophilic-hydrophilic-lipophilic nature of the cornea, as illustrated, is a major contributor to the challenge of any drug permeability.
Besides, also the lipophilic and hydrophilic nature of the drugs, sometimes both present in a single drug, put additional challenges. So that, a drug can easily permeate through one of the layers but it is impeded through the others. At this respect, it is not only the molecular weight of a compound the limiting rate, but also other features, such as hydrophobicity, lipophilicity, solubility in each of the structures are limiting factors (See Malhotra et al., "Permeation through cornea", Indian Journal of Experimental Biology—2001, vol. no. 39, pp.: 11-24). All these parameters make really difficult that a compound, even having low molecular weights (<180 Da), could reach internal eye parts (vitreous humour or retina) through the cornea. Therefore, even if one drug can pass through, this does not mean that another drug with the same molecular weight can reach inner parts of eye.
In the same way, permeability of sclera and conjunctiva to drugs in order to reach retina is highly complicate and strongly dependent on many of the nature features of a drug. Particularly referring to these difficulties it is mentioned the extensive work of Prausnitz et al., "Permeability of Cornea, Sclera, and Conjunctiva: A Literature Analysis for Drug Delivery to the Eye", Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences—1998, vol. no. 87(12), pp.: 1479-1488.
For all these reasons there is not nowadays any marketed composition for ophthalmic (topically into eye) treating any diseases of the retina.
DPP-4 inhibitors are a relatively new class of oral diabetes drugs, also known as gliptins, which are prescribed for people with type 2 diabetes. They work by blocking the action of DPP-4, an enzyme which destroys a group of gastrointestinal hormones called incretins (mainly glucagon-like peptide-1, GLP-1). Incretins help stimulate the production of insulin when it is needed (e.g. after eating) and reduce the production of glucagon by the liver when it is not needed (e.g. during digestion).
Dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4, or DPP-IV), also known as adenosine deaminase complexing protein 2 or CD26 (cluster of differentiation 26) is a protein that, in humans, is encoded by the DPP4 gene. It is a highly conserved peptidase with high selectivity for peptides with a proline or alanine at the second NH2-terminal position. The gene encodes a type II transmembrane protein of 766 amino acids, which is anchored to the lipid bilayer by a single hydrophobic segment located at the N-terminus and has a short cytoplasmic tail of six amino acids (see De Meester I et al., "CD26, let it cut or cut it down", Immunol Today—1999, vol. no. 20, pp.: 367-375). The extracellular part of CD26 contains a glycosylation domain, a cysteine-rich domain, and a catalytic domain. DPP-4 preferentially cleaves N-terminal dipeptides from proteins and oligopeptides containing proline or alanine in the penultimate position (Xaa-Pro- or Xaa-Ala-) (see Abbott, et al., "Cloning, expression and chromosomal localization of a novel human dipeptidyl peptidase (DPP) IV homolog, DPP8", Eur J Biochem—2000; vol. no. 267, pp.: 6140-50). Substrates of DPP-4 include numerous neuropeptides (i.e. Substance P), hormones (i.e. GLP-1, GLP-2, insulin growth factor-1, neuropeptide-Y, peptide YY, growth hormone-releasing hormone, erythropoietin) and chemokines (i.e. IP-10, RANTES, stromal cell-derived factor-1)(see Kim et al., "The Nonglycemic Actions of Dipeptidyl Peptidase-4 Inhibitors"—BioMed Research International Volume 2014, Article ID 368703).
Despite a common mechanism of action, there is a significant heterogeneity in the pharmacokinetic of different DPP-4 inhibitors (DI). So, they show differences in half-life, bioavailability, metabolism, and excretion route. Some DPP-4 inhibitors act through competitive enzymatic inhibition (sitagliptin and alogliptin) while others are substrate-enzyme blockers (saxagliptin and vildagliptin) (see Baetta et al., "Pharmacology of dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitors: similarities and differences",
Drugs—2011, vol. no. 71, pp.: 1441-1467).
Diabetes is a group of chronic diseases characterized by hyperglycemia. To prevent diabetic complications it is essential to reduce hyperglycemia using blood glucose lowering agents. The administration of any antidiabetic drug, such as DPP-4 inhibitors, can improve or attenuate DR symptoms, since the leading cause or the origin of the disease, in particular the high levels of glucose in blood, is at final instance improved.
At this respect, one document showing the active role of gemigliptin (DPP-4 inhibitor) on diabetic retinopathy is the one of Jung et al., "Gemigliptin, a dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitor, inhibits retinal pericyte injury in db/db mice and retinal neovascularization in mice", Biochimica et Biophysica Acta, Molecular Basis of Disease—2015, vol. no. 1852(12), pp.: 2618-2629. Jung et al. disclose that gemigliptin orally administered in diabetic mice (db/db) can ameliorate retinal pericyte apoptosis and vascular leakage in these mice.
However, nowadays there are no data regarding a direct beneficial effect on the retina of these inhibitors. In this regard, it should further be noted that DPP-4 inhibitors do not pass the blood-brain barrier. Given that blood-brain barrier and BRB are quite similar it is also broadly assumed and more than probably that they do not pass BRB. In the remote case that some quantity of DPP-4 inhibitors could pass BRB, high doses will be required to reach the retina at therapeutic concentrations thus increasing the possibility of systemic adverse effects.
In PCT application WO2014131815 it was surprisingly found that, despite their high molecular weight retinal, topical eye administration of some GLP-1 agonists, as well as GLP-1 itself, could prevent neurodegenerative process occurring in the early stages of diabetic retinopathy. In this document, inventors also provided evidence that other retinal diseases in which neurodegeneration plays an essential role may be treated and/or prevented with the topical ocular administration (eye drops) of these compounds.
At present, alternative treatments for retinal neurodegenerative diseases are needed. In the particular case of DR and its associated retinal microvascular impairment or damage, alternative treatments for the background retinopathy or non-proliferative DR, as well as for protecting the neuroretina from damage (leading to loss of neurons). Therefore, new pharmacological treatments for the early stages of the disease, when neurodegeneration seems to be starting are needed. Early treatment of DR, and of any other retinal neurodegeneration, will be effective in reducing the progression to advanced stages needing aggressive therapies such as laser photocoagulation, intravitreal injections of corticosteroids or anti-VEGF agents, or surgical intervention.

Dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitors for topical eye treatment of retinal neurodegenerative diseases

FUNDACIÓ HOSPITAL UNIVERSITARI VALL D'HEBRON—INSTITUT DE RECERCA


Methods and apparatuses for color correction using diffusers. At least one embodiment of the present invention seeks to perform color correction using color signals detected for the light passing through a diffuser. While typically software-based color correction methods rely on predetermined assumptions about the properties of an image, such as the averaged and/or profiled color information, at least one embodiment of the present invention utilizes the color signals for the light passing through a diffuser to determine the properties of the lightening environment. Instead of depending on the predetermined assumptions about the lightening environment or the image of the scene, at least one embodiment of the present invention performs the color correction according to the color information detected for the actual lightening environment.

The color of a light-reflecting object changes as the color of the lightening environment changes. For example, a white table, which is white under a standard lightening condition, appears red when it is illuminated with a light source of red.
Digital cameras (e.g., digital still cameras and digital video cameras) have been developed to capture images. The digital data from the digital cameras can be manipulated using software programs (or, hardware circuits) for image enhancement and color corrections.
Typical software-based color correction schemes use the statistic properties of the image colors of a scene to perform color correction. For example, it may be assumed that when averaged the image of a scene is chromatically white. Thus, when the statistic average of the image of the scene is not white, color correction can be performed so that, after the correction, the statistic average of the image of the scene is white.

Method and apparatus for color correction


A camera shake correction system which uses a combination, of electronic and mechanical camera shake correction devices so as to be able to realize an excellent camera shake correction. The camera shake correction system includes a mechanical camera shake correction part as well as an electronic camera shake correction part. The mechanical camera shake correction sensor uses as a camera shake sensor a picture image sensor used in the electronic camera shake correction part, thereby eliminating the use of an expensive angular velocity sensor. On the other hand, when an angular velocity sensor is used, the zero angular velocity detected by the picture image sensor is used to set the off-set voltage of the angular velocity sensor. Also, at least one of the following, tilting and panning operations of a camera is decided in accordance with the output of the picture image sensor or the outputs of the picture image sensor and angular velocity sensor, the electronic and mechanical camera shake correction parts that are suitable for the operation decided are controlled. Further, by proper or selective use of the electronic and mechanical camera shake correction parts in accordance with the magnitude of angular velocities, the mutually weak corrections of two parts can be made up for and the waste of the power consumption can be avoided.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a camera shake correction system and, in particular, to such camera shake correction system which combines an electronic camera shake correction means and a mechanical camera shake correction system.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, there has been known an electronic camera shake correction system which processes a picture image obtained from an image pickup means in a digital signal to thereby correct the amount of movement of a screen. In this type of electronic camera shake correction system, the predetermined areas of image data between fields are compared with each other to find a mutual relation therebetween to thereby detect the amount of parallel movement of a following image with respect to a leading image, and the image to be output is shifted by the thus detected amount of parallel movement in the opposite direction (Japanese Patent Publication (Tokkai) No. 1-109970).
On the other hand, as a mechanical camera shake correction system, there has been known a system in which there is inclinably arranged a correction mirror having an angle of about 45.degree. with respect to the optical axis of a taking lens, and the correction mirror is driven to stabilize the light of an object incident onto an image pickup surface through the correction mirror and taking lens, or a system in which the whole of a taking lens or at least one of a plurality of lenses forming the taking lens is inclinably supported by a gimbal mechanism or the like, and the supported lens is driven to stabilize the object light incident onto the image pickup surface.
Also, as an angular velocity sensor which can be used in this type of mechanical camera shake correction system to detect the shake of a camera, there is generally known a sensor which utilizes a Coriolis force. This angular velocity sensor outputs a voltage signal proportional to an angular velocity. However, in this angular velocity sensor, in order to obtain an absolute angular velocity, it is necessary to detect an output value obtained at the time when the angular velocity is 0 (that is, the central value voltage of the sensor) and then to subtract the central value voltage from the sensor output.
Referring back to the above-mentioned conventional electronic camera shake correction system, it is inexpensive because it does not use any mechanical sensor such as an angular velocity sensor or the like. Also, since the correction system employs a signal post-process method using a field memory, it is free from delay and is able to correct the camera shake with high accuracy. However, due to the fact that a picture having a predetermined size but smaller than an input picture is cut out from the input picture according to the detected amount of parallel movement and the thus cut screen is then enlarged up to the same size of the input picture before it is output, the number of effective pixels is reduced. For this reason, according to the conventional electronic camera shake correction system, in order to prevent the deterioration of picture quality due to such reduction of the number of the effective pixels, the size of the picture to be cut out is normally limited to the order of 90% of the input picture, with the result that the correction can be made only within a range of 10% or so with respect to the input picture. This means that the limit of the camera shake correction is 1.degree. if a picture angle in photographing is, for example, 10.degree., that is, a sufficient camera shake correction effect cannot be achieved.
Also, when an angular velocity sensor is used, as a method of detecting the output value obtained when the angular velocity of the angular velocity sensor is 0, there have been proposed several methods. In one of them, the average value of the sensor outputs for a long period of time is calculated to thereby detect the above-mentioned output value. In another one of them, the variations of the angular velocity are followed, a stationary state is checked according to the characteristics of the angular velocity variations, and the above-mentioned output value is detected from the then output value. However, because all of the methods are based on the output of the angular velocity sensor, there is the possibility of mis-detection. Also, there is known the fact that the sensor outpull of the angular velocity sensor includes a drift component which has no connection with the angular velocity, and this drift component makes it difficult to detect the angular velocity with accuracy.
Also, conventionally, there has never been proposed such camera shake correction system that combines an electronic camera shake correction device with a mechanical camera shake correction device. None of the conventional camera shake correction systems can distinguish the panning operation or tilting operation of a camera from the operation of following an object. As a result of this, the camera shake correction is executed without confirming which of the operations is required and, therefore, an unnatural picture is inevitably produced. For example, if the camera is panned while the electronic camera shake correction system is kept operable, then the picture is stopped within a range that can be corrected by the electronic camera shake correction system, and if the correctable range is over, then the picture is instantaneously moved and is stopped again; such moving and stopping motions are repeated to provide an intermittently moving picture. On the other hand, if the camera is panned while the mechanical camera shake correction system is kept operable, then the camera shake correction is limited by the movable range of the optical members of the mechanical camera shake correction system; that is, the picture is stopped only in the early panning operation, and after then, the shake correction is possible only in one direction because the optical members are brought into contact with a mechanical stopper.
Therefore, in order to avoid the above-mentioned unnatural picture, a photographer must judge the above-mentioned photographing conditions and remove the camera shake correction, which provides a complicated operation.
Further, the mechanical camera shake correction system uses an angular velocity sensor utilizing a Coriolis force. This angular velocity sensor is not able to detect a small angular velocity (1.degree./sec. or smaller) because the Coriolis force of the sensor itself is small and, therefore, the angular velocity sensor is not able to correct a small angular velocity movement (that is, a slow movement). On the other hand, when the amount of the movement of the picture is detected from the image data in the electronic camera shake correction system, a slight angular velocity can be detected but a large angular velocity cannot be detected.


A fuel cell secondary power and thermal management system includes a compressor, a turbine, a first heat exchanger, a proton exchange membrane fuel cell, and a second heat exchanger. The first heat exchanger has first and second air flow circuits and transfers heat between the first and second air flow circuits. The proton exchange membrane fuel cell includes a cathode air flow circuit and an anode hydrogen flow circuit. The cathode air flow circuit receives air from the first air flow circuit. The second heat exchanger has a third and fourth air flow circuits and is configured to transfer heat between the third and fourth air flow circuits. The third air flow circuit receives air from the second air flow circuit outlet. The fourth air flow circuit receives the air discharged from the cathode air flow circuit and supplies air to the turbine.

Many aircraft include a power and thermal management system (PTMS). As is generally known, a PTMS combines the functions of an auxiliary power unit (APU), an emergency power unit (EPU), the environmental control system (ECS), and the thermal management system (TMS) into one integrated system. Combining these functions into an integrated system has desirably led to reductions in weight, volume, and cost, while simultaneously improving reliability. Still, this system may exhibit certain drawbacks. For example, the APU is typically a gas turbine engine driven device. As such, it consumes fossil fuel and undesirably emits noise and pollutants into the atmosphere.
Fuel cells are being considered as an alternative to gas turbine engine driven APUs. Fuel cells operate relatively quietly and are more efficient and environmentally benign than gas turbine engines. One particular type of fuel cell under consideration is the proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell (FC) (also referred to as the polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) FC), which uses compressed hydrogen gas as a fuel, and oxygen from the atmosphere as an oxidant. Although the PEM FC has been adapted for use in passenger automobiles, the overall weight and size of the automobile implementations are prohibitive for implementation in commercial aircraft.
Hence, there is a need for a PEM FC system that can supplement, or potentially replace, the APU in an aircraft PTMS that is relatively lighter and relatively more efficient that currently known PEM FC systems. The present invention addresses at least this need.

Fuel cell secondary power and thermal management systems


An anti-loose interdental brush includes a plurality of fixing portions formed on a bristle stem of an interdental brush. Each fixing portion includes a bottom wall, a side wall formed laterally from the bottom wall, and a capacity area surrounded by the bottom wall and the side wall. The adjacent bottom walls of the adjacent fixing portions are orientated in different directions. Thus, the adjacent capacity areas are set in different directions to contact the handle. An outer diameter of the bottom wall can be preferably larger than or equal to an outer diameter of the bristle stem. Accordingly, a dual engaging and fixing effect between the bristle stem and the handle is attained to prevent the bristle stem from loosening and rotating due to an external force and to enhance safety in using.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an interdental brush, particularly to an anti-loose interdental brush.
2. Description of the Related Art
Referring to FIG. 1, the conventional interdental brush 1 mainly comprises a bristle stem 11, a plurality of bristles 12, and a handle 13. The bristle stem 11 is formed by a plurality of interlaced wires. The bristles 12 are wound and clamped by the bristle stem 11 for orientating. The handle 13 is directly formed by plastic material and covers the bristle stem 11. While using, a user holds the handle 13 and stretches the interdental brush 1 into the mouth (not shown), so that the bristles 12 start to clean the tooth slits. However, the bristle stem 11 covered by the plastic handle 13 only attains the simple engagement. Therefore, the bristle stem 11 is easily loosened, while the user moves or rotates the interdental brush 1 in using. Moreover, the disengaged bristle stem 11 is easy to be swallowed and dangerous for the user. Hence, the interdental brush 1 should be improved.
In order to solve the aforementioned lack of engaging, a Taiwan patent number M314550, entitled "An anti-loose interdental brush", discloses a bristle stem punched to form a fixing portion. Because the property of an outer diameter of the fixing portion is larger than an outer diameter of the bristle stem, the bristle stem can be firmly engaged in the handle. A Taiwan patent number I3747024 entitled "A method for making interdental brush", discloses a bristle stem punched to form a plurality of expanding portions with an outer diameter larger than a diameter of the bristle stem. Further, the outermost diameter of the expanding portions is larger than the diameter of a through hole of a handle. Although the aforementioned prior arts attain the engaging and fixing effect of the bristle stem and the handle, there is still a need to be improved after many times of practical tests.


Apparatus and methods for treating the upper and lower beaks of poultry by non-contact heating of the upper and lower beaks of the bird are disclosed. The upper and lower beak treatment may include delivery of energy to the upper and lower beak in amounts sufficient to retard the growth and/or result in erosion of portions of both the upper beak and the lower beak. The energy incident on the lower beak may be reflected from a lower beak energy director (e.g., a reflector) or it may be provided a separate energy source.

The beak of a bird is a weapon and a tool for eating. In commercial production, poultry are raised in close proximity to each other. In this environment, young birds may use their beaks for pecking other birds, potentially causing disfigurement, illness, or death. The sharp tip of the beak is the most dangerous part of the beak. In addition, adult poultry may use their beaks as weapons to damage other adult and juvenile poultry. This use of the beak as a weapon causes economic losses for the poultry producer. Accordingly, a portion of the beak is typically removed from poultry to minimize its effectiveness as a weapon.
Previously, debeaking methods were based on the principle of killing all tissue just ahead of the nostril by severing the blood supply and generally destroying the tissue of the beak. This was done through cutting the beak with a blade or by bringing the beak in contact with a hot object to burn through the beak. Although bleeding may be minimized by cauterization, the wound resulting from these processes produced a substantial amount of pain and shock in the bird.
In using these prior art processes, precision positioning of the beak and ineffectiveness of the method used resulted in several disadvantages. For example, the beak could heal and regenerate if the blood supply to the beak was not completely cut. Furthermore, when the veins are cut close to the nostril, they are large and difficult to seal resulting in problems avoiding infection or bleeding. The prior art method also could induce severe shock and pain to the bird.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,651,731 (Gorans et al.) addresses many of these issues. For example, the apparatus and methods described therein provide a more humane method for treating the beaks of poultry because the method is bloodless, induces little or no shock, and minimizes damage to the bird. It did not, however, address the issue of retardation in growth of the lower beak of a bird. In fact, the method and apparatus were specifically designed to avoid treating the lower beak of the bird. Allowing the lower beak to grow without interference may, however, allow some species of birds (e.g., chickens) to scatter significant amounts of food using that lower beak. The scattered food is typically wasted and does not contribute to the nutrition of the bird.
Another issue that may be raised by treating only the upper beak of a bird is that mating behavior may be adversely affected. In some species of birds, e.g., chickens, the male bird typically grasps the female in his beak during mating. If the male's lower beak extends past the upper beak, the male's ability to grasp the female may be inhibited, thereby adversely affecting mating behavior and/or success.

Apparatus and method for upper and lower beak treatment


The present invention relates to detergent compositions containing amine surfactants. More particularly, the invention is directed to detergent compositions containing anionic surfactants selected from the group consisting of alkyl alkoxylated sulfates and alkyl sulfates, said composition further containing specific primary and/or tertiary amines.

Detergent compositions useful for cleaning purposes, such as laundering of fabrics, have commonly utilized a variety of surfactants.
The ability of surfactants to clean a large variety of soils and stains from fabrics present in the typical load of laundry is of high importance in the evaluation of detergent performance. Unfortunately, the relative ability of each surfactant to meet various performance criteria is among others depending on the presence of cosurfactants.
The recent trend towards partial or total replacement of Linear alkyl benzene sulfonate surfactants (LAS) has urged the detergent formulators to rebalance their formulations with different surfactants. For example, quaternary ammonium salts are less efficient in boosting the greasy cleaning performance in Nil-LAS formulations.
There is thus a standing desire for performance and flexibility reasons to make available a surfactant system capable of providing optimum detergency performance which is equivalent to that of LAS-containing detergents.
The above objective has been met by a surfactant system comprising anionic surfactants selected from the group consisting of alkyl alkoxylated sulfates and alkyl sulfates, said surfactant system further comprising a cosurfactant selected from the group of primary or tertiary amines.
It has been surprisingly found that detergent compositions containing said surfactant system exhibit detergency performance equivalent to that of LAS-containing detergents.
In addition, it has been found that a small amount of certain primary and tertiary amines according to the present invention constitutes an efficient and compatible sud suppressing system. This additional benefit allows to use the amines in a dual function, e.g. surfactant and suds suppressor, thereby facilitating the formulation of concentrated liquid detergents.
Liquid detergent compositions formulated with said surfactant system are extremely useful when the liquid detergent compositions are in direct contact with the fabrics such as during pretreatment.
Amines have been described in the art in liquid detergent compositions. EP 160 762, EP 137 615 and EP 137 616 disclose liquid detergents which comprise cyclohexylamine. EP 177 165 discloses detergent compositions which comprise anionics, cellulase and a variety of primary, secondary, tertiary and quaternary amines. EP 11 340 discloses soften through the wash detergent compositions which comprise tertiary amines and clay. DE 32 07 487, GB 2 094 826, GB 2 095 275 and EP 137 397 disclose compositions which comprise anionics and quaternary amines. EP 120 528 discloses compositions comprising anionics, as well as tertiary amines. EP 26 528 and EP 26 529 disclose compositions comprising anionics and quaternary amines. Detergent compositions containing 1) primary or tertiary amines of the type useful herein in combination with 2) oleoyl sarcosinate are disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/252,127, filed Jun. 1, 1994. Compositions of this invention may or may not contain oleoyl sarcosinate surfactants.

Detergent compositions containing amines and anionic surfactants


A method for fabricating a signal controller, e.g., a filter or a switch, for a coplanar waveguide during the LIGA fabrication process of the waveguide. Both patterns for the waveguide and patterns for the signal controllers are created on a mask. Radiation travels through the mask and reaches a photoresist layer on a substrate. The irradiated portions are removed and channels are formed on the substrate. A metal is filled into the channels to form the conductors of the waveguide and the signal controllers. Micromachined quasi-lumped elements are used alone or together as filters. The switch includes a comb drive, a spring, a metal plunger, and anchors.

Waveguides are critical components for radar and communications systems. Waveguides operate by guiding the propagation of an electromagnetic wave so that the wave is forced to follow a path defined by the physical structure of the guide. Types of waveguides may be divided by the type of energy that is transmitted, including optical, microwave, and radio frequency transmissions. The present invention is concerned with the propagation of microwave energy, or energy in or near the microwave region of the electromagnetic spectrum.
Switches, couplers, splitters, filters, and other components are often used in conjunction with the waveguides to control the signal transmission.
The size of the passive filter typically dominates the volume of commercial transmitting and receiving components. Substantial miniaturization of the transmitting and/or receiving components can be achieved through the reduction in volume of microwave bandpass filters. Although conventional methods could fabricate filters during the fabrication process of transmission lines, such methods utilize large resonant structures as filters.
The U.S. patent application entitled "Waveguide Device and Method for Making Same," (herein incorporated by reference) filed on the same day as the present application discloses a method for making high-aspect ratio waveguide by a manufacturing process known as "LIGA" (an acronym for the German: "Lithographie, Galvanoformung, and Abformung"). Thus, it is desirable to fabricate smaller filters in the waveguide when fabricating the waveguide by a LIGA process.
The manufacture of conventional RF switches is time, labor and capital intensive undertaking. It is also desirable to fabricate RF switches for the waveguide during the LIGA fabrication process of the waveguide.

Micromachined microwave signal control device and method for making same


The present invention relates to thermostable DNA polymerases derived from the hyperthermophilic eubacteria, and Thermotoga neapolitana in particular. The present invention provides means for isolating and producing the enzymes from these thermostable DNA polymerases, which are useful in many recombinant DNA techniques, especially such techniques as thermal cycle sequencing and nucleic acid amplification.

Thermophilic bacteria are organisms which are capable of growth at elevated temperatures. Unlike the mesophiles, which grow best at temperatures in the range of 25-40.degree. C., or psychrophiles, which grow best at temperatures in the range of 15-20.degree. C., thermophiles grow best at temperatures greater than 50.degree. C. Indeed, some thermophiles grow best at 65-75.degree. C., and some of the hyperthermophiles grow at temperatures up to 130.degree. C. (See e.g., J. G. Black, Microbiology Principles and Applications, 2d edition, Prentice Hall, New Jersey, [1993] p. 145-146).
The thermophilic bacteria encompass a wide variety of genera and species. There are thermophilic representatives included within the phototrophic bacteria (e.g., the purple bacteria, green bacteria, and cyanobacteria), eubacteria (e.g., Bacillus, Clostridium, Thiobacillus, Desulfotomaculum, Thermus, lactic acid bacteria, actinomycetes, spirochetes, and numerous other genera), and the archaebacteria (e.g., Pyrococcus, Thermococcus, Thermoplasma, Thermotoga, Sulfolobus, and the methanogens). There are aerobic, as well as anaerobic thermophilic organisms. Thus, the environments in which thermophiles may be isolated vary greatly, although all of these organisms are always isolated from areas associated with high temperatures. Natural geothermal habitats have a worldwide distribution and are primarily associated with tectonically active zones where major movements of the earth's crust occur. Thermophilic bacteria have been isolated from all of the various geothermal habitats, including boiling springs with neutral pH ranges, sulfur-rich acidic springs, and deep-sea vents. For all of these organisms, it appears that the organisms present in these geothermal habitats are optimally adapted to the temperatures at which they are living (T. D. Brock, "Introduction: An overview of the thermophiles," in T. D. Brock (ed.), Thermophiles: General, Molecular and Applied Microbiolog, John Wiley & Sons, New York [1986], pp. 1-16). Basic as well as applied research on thermophiles has provided some insight into the physiology of these organisms, as well as promise for use of these organisms in industry and biotechnology.

Thermophilic DNA polymerases from thermotoga neapolitana


A soft-reference three conductor magnetic memory storage device is disclosed. In a particular embodiment, there are a plurality of parallel electrically conductive first sense/write conductors and a plurality of parallel electrically conductive second sense conductors. The first sense/write and second sense conductors may provide a cross point array. Soft-reference magnetic memory cells are provided in electrical contact with and located at each intersection. In addition there are a plurality of parallel electrically conductive third write column conductors substantially proximate to and electrically isolated from the second sense conductors. Sense magnetic fields orient the soft-reference layer but do not alter the data stored within the cell. An associated method of use is also provided.

Today's computer systems are becoming increasingly sophisticated, permitting users to perform an ever increasing variety of computing tasks at faster and faster rates. The size of the memory and the speed at which it can be accessed bear heavily upon the overall speed of the computer system.
Generally, the principle underlying the storage of data in magnetic media (main or mass storage) is the ability to change and/or reverse the relative orientation of the magnetization of a storage data bit (i.e. the logic state of a "0" or a "1"). The coercivity of a material is the level of demagnetizing force that must be applied to a magnetic particle to reduce and/or reverse the magnetization of the particle. Generally speaking, the smaller the magnetic particle, the higher its coercivity.
A prior art magnetic memory cell may be a tunneling magneto-resistance memory cell (TMR), a giant magneto-resistance memory cell (GMR), or a colossal magneto-resistance memory cell (CMR). These types of magnetic memory are commonly referred to as spin valve memory cells (SVM). FIGS. 1A and 1B provide a perspective view of a typical prior art magnetic memory cell having two conductors.
As shown in prior art FIGS. 1A and 1B, a magnetic spin valve memory (SVM) cell 101 generally includes a data layer 103 which may alternatively be called a storage layer or bit layer, a reference layer 105, and an intermediate layer 107 between the data layer 103 and the reference layer 105. The data layer 103, the reference layer 105, and the intermediate layer 107 can be made from one or more layers of material. Electrical current and magnetic fields may be provided to the SVM cell 101 by an electrically conductive row conductor 109 and an electrically conductive column conductor 111. It is understood and appreciated that, as used herein, the terms row and column conductor have been selected for ease of discussion. Under appropriate circumstances these labels may be reversed and/or otherwise substituted for such titles as word line and bit line.
The single SVM cell shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B are typically combined with other substantially identical SVM cells. In a typical MRAM device, the SVM cells are arranged in a cross-point array. Parallel conductive columns (column 1, 2, 3 . . . ), also referred to as word lines, cross parallel conductive rows (row A, B, C . . . ), also referred to as bit lines. The traditional principles of column and row arrays dictate that any given row will only cross any given column once.
An SVM cell is placed at each intersecting cross-point between a row and a column. By selecting a particular row (B) and a particular column (3), any one memory cell positioned at their intersection (B, 3) can be isolated from any other memory cell in the array. Such individual indexing is not without complexities.
The data layer 103 is usually a layer of magnetic material that stores a bit of data as an orientation of magnetization M1 that may be altered in response to the application of an external magnetic field or fields. More specifically, the orientation of magnetization M1 of the data layer 103 representing the logic state can be rotated (switched) from a first orientation, 117 in FIG. 1A, representing a logic state of "0", to a second orientation, 119 in FIG. 1B representing a logic state of "1", and/or vice versa.
The reference layer 105 is usually a layer of magnetic material in which an orientation of magnetization M2 is "pinned", as in fixed, in a predetermined direction, 121. The direction is predetermined and established by conventional microelectronic processing steps employed in the fabrication of the magnetic memory cell.
The data layer 103 and reference layer 105 may be thought of as stacked bar magnets, each long on an X axis 113 and short on a Y axis 115. The magnetization of each layer has a strong preference to align along the easy axis, generally the long X axis 113. The short Y axis 115 is generally the hard axis. As with traditional bar magnets, the data layer and reference layer each have magnetic dipoles—North (N) and South (S)—one at either end of the easy axis. The lines of magnetic force that surround the data layer and reference layers are three-dimensional and flow from the North to the South pole.
Typically, the logic state (a "0" or a "1") of a magnetic memory cell depends on the relative orientations of magnetization M1 in the data layer 103 and M2 of the reference layer 105, 117 to 121 as shown in FIG. 1A or 119 to 121 as shown in FIG. 1B. For example, when an electrical potential bias is applied across the data layer 103 and the reference layer 105 in an SVM cell 101, electrons migrate between the data layer 103 and the reference layer 105 through the intermediate layer 107. The intermediate layer 107 is typically a thin dielectric layer, which is commonly referred to as a tunnel barrier layer. The phenomenon that cause the migration of electrons through the barrier layer may be referred to as quantum mechanical tunneling or spin tunneling.
The logic state may be determined by measuring the resistance of the SVM cell 101. For example, if the orientation 119 of the magnetization M1 in the data layer 103 is parallel to the pinned orientation 121 of magnetization in the reference layer 105 the magnetic memory cell will be in a state of low resistance, R, see FIG. 1B. If the orientation 117 of the magnetization M1 in the data layer 103 is anti-parallel (opposite) to the pinned orientation 121 of magnetization in the reference layer 105, the magnetic memory cell will be in a state of high resistance, R+?R, see FIG. 1A. The orientation of M1 and, therefore, the logic state of the SVM cell 101 may be read by sensing the resistance of the SVM cell 101.
In an ideal setting, the orientation 117, 119 of the alterable magnetic field M1 in the data layer 103 is be either parallel or anti-parallel with respect to the set orientation 121 of magnetic field M2 of the reference layer 105. It is problematic that as both the data layer 103 and the reference layer 105 are generally made from ferromagnetic materials and are positioned in close permanent proximity to each other The pinned reference layer 105 may affect the orientation of the data layer 103. More specifically, the magnetization M2 of the reference layer 105 may generate a demagnetization field that extends from the reference layer 105 into the data layer 103.
The result of this demagnetization field from the reference layer 105 is an offset in the coercive switching field. This offset can result in asymmetry in the switching characteristics of the data layer 103 and the amount of switching field needed to switch the bit from parallel to anti-parallel state differs from the amount of switching field needed to switch the bit from anti-parallel state to parallel state. To achieve reliable switching characteristics and to simplify the read/write circuitry, it is desirable to reduce this offset to as near zero as possible.
The magneto-resistance ?R/R ratio is analogous to a signal-to-noise ratio S/N in that a higher S/N or magneto-resistance ratio results in a stronger signal that can be sensed to determine the state of the bit in the data layer. Thus, at least one disadvantage of a tunnel junction memory cell having a pinned reference layer in close and fixed proximity to the data layer is a potential reduction in the magneto-resistance ?R/R resulting from the angular displacement.
The pinned nature of the pinned reference layer is typically established with the use of anti-ferromagnetic (AFM) material in direct physical contact with a ferromagnetic (FM) material. AFM materials magnetically order below their Neel temperatures (TN), the temperature at which they become anti-ferromagnetic or anti-ferrimagnetic. The Neel temperature of AFM materials is analogous to the Curie Temperature (TC) of FM materials, the temperature above which a FM loses its ability to possess an ordered magnetic state in the absence of an external magnetic field. Generally TC of the FM is greater than TN of the AFM.
With respect to a traditional bar magnet there are two equally stable easy spin directions (each rotated 180 degrees) along the easy axis, generally the longer axis of the magnet—the shorter axis being the hard axis. Alignment in either direction requires the same energy and requires the same external field to align the spin of the atomic particles and thus the magnetic field, in either direction.
In establishing a reliable pinned field, it is desirable to establish a preferred orientation along one direction of an axis, typically the easy axis although in some situations it may be the hard axis. By growing the FM on an AFM in a magnetic field H or annealing in field H at a temperature above the Neel temperature of the AFM, the hysteresis loop (FM+AFM+H) becomes asymmetric and is shifted. In general, this shift is significantly greater than H, on the order of a couple hundred Oe. This unidirectional shift is called the exchange bias and demonstrates that there is now a preferred easy axis alignment direction.
The annealing step typically takes time, perhaps an hour or more. In the annealing step the reference layer is heated to a temperature greater than TN while a magnetic field is applied. As the reference layer is but one part of the memory being produced, the entire memory is typically subjected to temperatures ranging from about 200 to 300 degrees. As the temperature is lowered through TN, the spin of the AFM molecules at the interface between the AFM and FM layers will order and couple to the aligned FM spin. Such ordering of the AFM exerts a torque upon the FM material and results in establishing the pinned orientation of the reference layer.
As a result of such manufacturing stress, the reference layer may un-pin and lose its set orientation if the memory is later subjected to high temperatures. In addition, the characteristics of the data layer may be unknowingly affected by heat during some manufacturing processes.
The traditional process of reading the stored bit is somewhat undesirable, although effective. In general, the row conductor 109 and column conductor 111 for a given SVM cell 101 are selected by appropriate control logic. The control logic is generally further responsible for applying a sense current through the selected column conductor 111 and row conductor 109, measuring the resistance of the current through the SVM cell 101, and recording the measured resistance value. Next, a larger write current is applied to put the data layer 103 into a known orientation. Then, a sense current is re-applied and the resistance of the SVM cell 101 is measured again.
The value determined from a known orientation (the second sense) is then compared with the value from the initial condition (the first sense). The values will either be the same or different, permitting a determination of the data value. If necessary, such as where the initial position is determined to be opposite to the known orientation, a write back can be performed to restore the original initial value. This process is a self reference process and is known as double sampling—the first sample being the initial read and the second being after the known orientation write.
Multiple variations of self reference sampling may be performed with double sampling; however, the underlying negative aspect remains unchanged, namely, to determine the value stored in the data layer 103, it is necessary to change the value in the data layer 103. This change for the purpose of sensing introduces a significant element of risk in data corruption should an error occur during the repetitive sense and write operations.
As a traditional sense operation involves the re-writing the data layer 103 of the SVM cell 101, the physical design of the SVM cell 101 is typically dictated by the stresses imposed by the write process, as both the sense and write operations are performed using the same row and column conductors 109 and 111. As the write magnetic field is typically generated by current applied to the row and column conductors 109 and 111, which are in electrical contact with the SVM cell 101, it is desirable for the SVM cell 101 to be robust enough to withstand the applied current. Design and manufacturing issues are therefore generally focused upon the requirements imposed by the write operation, such as greater electrical current and magnetic fields, higher applied voltages, more robust characteristics in the power supply, row and column conductors 109 and 111 and appropriate buffering spaces.
With respect to magnetic memory components, it is well known that as size decreases, coercivity increases. A large coercivity is generally undesirable, as it must be switched using a greater magnetic field. In turn, a greater magnetic field requires a greater power source and may require larger switching transistors and conductors. Providing large power sources and large switching transistors is generally at odds with industry requirements to reduce the size of nano-scaled components.
In addition, to mitigate the possibility of inadvertently switching a neighboring memory cell, nanometer scaled memory cells are generally more widely spaced relative to their overall size than are larger, non-nanometer sized memory cells. Moreover, as the size of the magnetic memory decreases, the unused buffering space between individual memory cells tends to increase. Eliminating this buffering space, or otherwise reducing its ratio, may provide a greater volume of storage in the same physical space.
These issues of read vs. write currents, robustness of conductors and power supplies, reduction in size increasing coercivity and resulting in a correspondingly greater magnetic field, and current design of the magnetic memory cells also carry over into the design and use of magnetic field sensors. Magnetic field sensors are commonly used in hard drive read cells and read heads. In such implementation, the data layer 103 is termed a sense layer. Whereas the orientation M1 of a data layer in an MRAM cell is generally established by a magnetic field provided by the row and column conductors, the orientation M1 of a sense layer in a read head is generally established by a magnetic field emanating from a storage bit proximate to the read head.
Hence, there is a need for an ultra-high density magnetic memory which overcomes one or more of the drawbacks identified above.

Soft-reference three conductor magnetic memory storage device

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


In a method for automatic adjustment of a diaphragm in an x-ray system, the diaphragm having a number of adjustable diaphragm elements for a subsequent x-ray exposure of an examination subject, the individual diaphragm elements are respectively positioned such that, considered in a projection lying in a detector plane, abut the contours of the acquisition subject or are situated at a small distance therefrom for this positioning, first a subject localization exposure is generated with a low radiation dose with an open diaphragm. This subject localization exposure is analyzed to determine contours of the exposure subject. The positions of the diaphragm elements are calculated using the determined contours, and then the diaphragm elements are moved into the calculated positions.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention concerns a method for automatically adjusting a radiation-gating diaphragm (having a number of adjustable diaphragm elements) for a subsequent x-ray exposure of an examination subject, wherein the individual diaphragm elements are respectively positioned such that they—considered in a projection lying in a detector plane—contact the contours of the acquisition subject or are arranged at a small distance therefrom. The invention also concerns an x-ray system with an x-ray source, an x-ray detector, a diaphragm (arranged in an x-ray beam path between the x-ray source and the x-ray detector) with a number of automatically adjustable diaphragm elements, and a diaphragm control device in order to position the individual diaphragm elements.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A diaphragm of the above type, known as a "depth diaphragm" or a "primary beam diaphragm" normally is located in the beam path between the x-ray source and the acquisition subject. It primarily has the object to allow only the acquisition subject to be irradiated, and not the surrounding areas. For example, in exposures of specific body parts or organs of a person, only tissue is irradiated that is necessary for the diagnosis or the planned intervention, such that the radiation dose for the subject is reduced. Moreover, given exposures in which, for example, the subject is a body part of a person, x-ray radiation is prevented from arriving unattenuated directly from the x-ray source (past the subject) to the detector. Such "direct radiation" can lead to image artifacts depending on the design of the detector. Thus, for example, due to scattering or due to transverse re-direction of the radiation in the detector glass, a lateral spatial expansion of the signal in the subject region can occur. This phenomenon can lead in an image intensifier to a phenomenon known as "low frequency drop". Moreover, such direct radiation can lead to the individual structural elements of a planar image detector, assembled from a number of detector parts, respectively becoming visible at the Impact locations and interfering in the image. By the use of the depth diaphragm that covers (blocks) the irrelevant regions, so the beam precision is increased, and the image quality is improved.
Such a diaphragm can either completely gate the x-ray radiation or can be semi-transparent and attenuate the radiation. The first type of diaphragm has the advantage that no x-ray radiation whatsoever arrives in the irrelevant region. By contrast, the second type of diaphragm has the advantage that, although the regions located near the actual exposure subject will appear lighter in the image, to the same extent that the visibility is increased in the region of interest, but high-contrast objects (such as, for example, operating instruments) that are laterally introduced into the examination subject) are still visible. In both versions, an optimally good adaptation of the diaphragm to the respective examination subject is important for the proper functioning of such a diaphragm, so that the examination subject is not covered by the diaphragm plates, and the surrounding regions of no interest are covered to the extent possible.
In most conventional x-ray examination apparatuses, it is only possible to effect the adjustment of the diaphragm by hand, for example with the aid of a light-beam localizer. Moreover, there are x-ray systems in which it is possible to implement an automatic preadjustment using an organ program downloaded into a system control that before any manual adjustment, an approximate diaphragm adjustment to the region of interest is made. A disadvantage is that the actual position of the examination subject can vary significantly due to the positioning (for example of a patient) and variation in the size of a patient or of the respective examination subject. An ideal adjustment thus is not possible with these methods. In contrast to this, an exact adjustment of the depth diaphragm by fine adjustment by hand requires a relatively long time, which is counter to achieving an optimal workflow with short wait times for the patients.
German 35 00 812 describes an x-ray irradiation apparatus with a diaphragm of the above-described type, which has a number of diaphragm elements in the form of plates or lamellae that are positioned such that they abut the contours of the examination subject—viewed as a projection in the detector plane—at least at one point, meaning that the diaphragm elements projected from the x-ray source onto the detector plane abut the contours of the examination subject likewise projected from the x-ray source onto the detector plane. For this purpose, the apparatus has a placement device for the individual plates. The detector an x-ray image intensifier with a television camera connected thereto to generate video signals. Connected to the television camera is a special evaluation circuit which is designed such that specific image regions in the video signal are each associated with specific plates or lamellae. At the beginning of an exposure of an examination subject, the diaphragm is completely open. With the control signals acquired from the video signal, the individual plates are then controlled by the evaluation circuit such that they move toward one another and thus slowly close the diaphragm. Each individual plate is stopped as to its closing motion when a specific preselected brightness level is undershot in the portion of the video signal associated with the corresponding plate. This technique consequently requires that the subject be irradiated for a certain amount of time during the adjustment of the diaphragm. Moreover, the use of the technique is limited to x-ray detectors with a video camera and with a special evaluation circuit for the video signals.

X-ray system with a beam-gating diaphragm, and method for automatic adjustment thereof


An oil compound used for defoaming includes (A) a substantially hydrophobic organopolysiloxane having a viscosity of 10 to 100,000 mm2/second at 25° C., and (B) finely divided silica that has undergone surface hydrophobization treatment, wherein when an insoluble matter is collected from the oil compound by using hexane and the spectra of the insoluble matter are measured by 29Si-CP/MAS-NMR, the peaks of the silica due to the SiO4/2 (Q) units on the silica surface are such that a ratio [(Q2+Q3)/Q4] between a total area (Q2+Q3) wherein Q2 is a peak area of a silicon atom having two unreacted silanol groups and Q3 is a peak area of a silicon atom having one unreacted silanol group and an area Q4 wherein Q4 is a peak area of a silicon atom having no unreacted silanol group is at 70/30 to 20/80.

Silicone defoamers have been widely used in the steps associated with foaming such as in the fields of chemical industries, food industries, petroleum industries, paper-making industries, textile industries, and pharmaceutical industries. There have been versatilely employed oil compound-type defoamers wherein silicone oils such as dimethylpolysiloxane, methylphenylpolysiloxane, and methylvinylpolysiloxane and the like and finely divided silica are mixed together.
In practical applications, there have been proposed emulsion defoamers wherein such oil compounds are dispersed in water along with surfactants, and self-emulsifying defoamers using polyoxyalkylene group-modified organopolysiloxanes and oil compounds in combination JP-A S51-71886, JP-B S54-43015, JP-B S52-19836, JP-B S52-22638 and JP-B S55-23084. The defoaming performance of these defoamers owes much to the starting oil compound, and related-art counterparts have been short of the defoaming performance in some cases. For one instance, some problems have arisen including the shortage of initial defoaming performance, the lowering of defoaming performance with time ascribed to long-term contact with foaming liquids, which have become pronounced, especially with the case where a foaming liquid is alkaline in nature.
A variety of proposals have been made in order to overcome these problems and more improve the defoaming performance. For instance, mention is made of a method wherein silica used in an oil compound has been preliminarily hydrophobized such as with chlorosilane in JP-B S52-31836 and a method of treating silica with a nitrogen-containing organosilicon compound in JP-B S51-35556. Nevertheless, the resulting performance has never been satisfactory and particularly, the defoaming performance has lowered with time in some cases. Thus, there has been a demand of further improving the performance.
In order to cope with these problems, there have been recently proposed a self-emulsifying defoamer composition in Japanese Patent No. 4232031 and an emulsion defoamer composition in JP-A 2007-222812 wherein hydrophobic organopolysiloxanes and finely divided silica surface-treated with an organopolysiloxane are treated under mixing in the presence of an alkaline catalyst to enhance an alkali resistance.
These defoamer compositions have a high defoaming performance, and such an alkali resistance as to undergo less time degradation in alkaline foaming liquids can be obtained. Nevertheless, the defoaming performance may become short under such severe conditions that a foaming liquid used is very high in alkalinity, an amount of a surfactant contained in a foaming liquid is very large, and an agitation force in an employed step is very intense. Thus, a further improvement of the performance has been demanded. In addition, with known defoamer compositions, a quantitative evaluation method for confirming a defoaming performance has never been known. Hence, evaluation has to be made for confirming the performance under practically employed conditions or similar conditions thereof on a case-by-case basis.


A computer-implemented includes streaming a first segment of multimedia data to a buffer on a first computing device at a first bitrate, wherein the first segment includes a first set of video frames encoded at a first resolution. The computer-implemented method further includes streaming a second segment of the multimedia data to the buffer on the first computing device at a second bitrate, wherein the second segment includes a second set of video frames encoded at a second resolution. The computer-implemented method further includes determining that a first predetermined threshold is reached. The computer-implemented method further includes streaming, in response to determining that the first predetermined threshold is reached, a third segment of multimedia data to the buffer on the first computing device, wherein the third segment includes a first set of pixels that are logically related to the second set of video frames of the second segment.

The present invention relates generally to the field of streaming, and more particularly to multimedia streaming quality.
Streaming (i.e., media streaming, multimedia streaming, or data streaming) is the constant delivery of data (i.e., text, audio, images, animations, video, or any combination thereof) from a provider to a client end-user. Generally, streaming describes the act of playing media on one device when the media is actually stored on another device. More particularly, media streaming is video, or audio content sent in compressed form over the Internet and played immediately, rather than being downloaded or saved to the hard drive of the client end-user. Accordingly, media streaming is an alternative to file downloading, in which the client-end user is required to download the entire file before viewing or listening to the file.
The quality (i.e., resolution) of video streaming is dependent, at least in part, on a video's bitrate (i.e., bit rate) and a network's bandwidth (i.e., network bandwidth, data bandwidth, or digital bandwidth). The amount of data required to encode a single second of video for a given resolution is referred to as a video's bitrate (measured in bytes per second). Resolution is the number of pixels spread across a display screen and is usually written as the number of pixels in the horizontal axis by the number of pixels in the vertical axis (e.g., 1280×720). Accordingly, as the resolution of a video increases, so too does the amount of data required to encode the video at a given resolution.
Bandwidth is the maximum rate of data transfer across a given path. Bandwidth or "throughput" of a media stream is measured by its bitrate, which is the amount of data (in bytes) that can be transferred per unit time (typically per second) across a network connection. Generally, there are two types of bitrates: (i) constant bitrate (CBR) and (ii) variable bitrate (VBR). Constant bitrate is the constant rate at which output data is consumed per unit of time. Constant bitrate is ideal for streaming a static image which requires a single and constant bitrate. Variable bitrate allocates data based on the complexity of the multimedia data. Variable bitrate is more commonly used for video streaming and is ideal for streaming video having a multitude of video segments with differing complexions.

Progressive increase in multimedia streaming quality

International Business Machines Corporation


Systems and techniques for linking electronic shelf labels to and unlinking electronic shelf labels from a system. When a printed overlay for an electronic shelf label is prepared, a radiofrequency identification (RFID) tag is affixed as part of the overlay. The RFID tag provides an identifier associated with a product. When an ESL to which the overlay is affixed is to be linked, the RFID tag is read at substantially the same time the ESL is interrogated, and the product associated with the RFID tag identifier is associated with the ESL. When an ESL is to be unlinked, a communication including an identifier for the ESL is provided to a central data processor, with the communication having characteristics indicating that the ESL is to be unlinked. When a communication is received from an ESL, the characteristics of the communication are evaluated to determine if the ESL is designated for unlinking.

ESLs provide a convenient way to display prices and other relevant information about goods. A retail location may have hundreds or thousands of ESLs that receive pricing and other information transmitted by a communication base station. The communication base station provides an interface between a central server and the ESLs.
In order to for ESLs in a system to display correct and current information, proper records of which ESLs are in the system must be kept and updated as ELSs are added to or removed from the system. An ESL system typically includes an ESL database storing identification information for each ESL operating in the system. For each ESL, an association is maintained between the ESL and the product for which the ESL is displaying information. The database also maintains information to be displayed by the ESL. As product information changes, updated information is transmitted to the ESL, for example, periodically at predetermined times.
Each ESL operating in a system typically has affixed a printed overlay, providing visible information for customers and retailer employees in order to identify the product for which the ESL is providing information. Each ESL must maintain the pricing information for the product indicated on the printed overlay affixed to the ESL, in order to avoid mispricing of a product. This means that an association should be maintained in the ESL database between an identifier of each ESL, such as an ESL serial number, and an identifier of the overlay affixed to the ESL, for example, an overlay identification number. Entering such information in ways which require direct attention to each ESL is typically a tedious process involving relatively high labor costs, because thousands of ESLs may be involved.
In addition to properly storing information for each ESL, conveniently referred to as linking an ESL, it is also important to remove the identifier of an ESL from the database when necessary, or to otherwise indicate that the ESL need not be updated. ESLs are frequently physically removed from an ESL system. When an ESL is removed, it is important to indicate that the ESL no longer needs to be updated, in order to avoid continued attempts to communicate with the ESL. Such continued attempts to communicate with ESLs that are no longer present can overburden a system and slow response if a large number of ESLs have been removed from the system but have not been unlinked.

Methods and apparatus for establishing and maintaining electronic shelf label information


In an embodiment, digital images of agricultural fields are received at an agricultural intelligence processing system. Each digital image includes a set of pixels having pixel values, and each pixel value of a pixel includes a plurality of spectral band intensity values. Each spectral band intensity value describes a spectral band intensity of one band among several bands of electromagnetic radiation. For each of the agricultural fields, spectral band intensity values of each band are preprocessed at a field level using the digital images for that agricultural field resulting in preprocessed intensity values. The preprocessed intensity values are provided as input to a machine learning model. The model generates a predicted yield value for each field. The predicted yield value is used to update field yield maps of agricultural fields for forecasting and can be displayed via a graphical user interface (GUI) of a client computing device.

The approaches described in this section are approaches that could be pursued, but not necessarily approaches that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated, it should not be assumed that any of the approaches described in this section qualify as prior art merely by virtue of their inclusion in this section.
Agricultural production requires significant strategy and analysis. In many cases, agricultural growers, such as farmers or others involved in agricultural cultivation, are required to analyze a variety of data to make strategic decisions before and during the crop cultivation period. In making such strategic decisions, growers rely on computer-implemented crop yield forecast models to determine their cultivation strategy. Crop yield forecast models may help a grower decide how to spend or conserve in key areas that affect cultivation, such as fuel and resource costs, equipment investments, crop related insurance, and crop cultivation manpower.
Remote sensing imagery captured from satellites has been used to complement traditional weather data because of their finer spatial resolutions, greater availability in the globe, and their ability to capture measurements during the crop season. However, remote sensing imagery used to estimate end of season production potentials has been limited to estimating crop yields at a county, regional, or state level. Larger estimations at the county, regional, or state level do not take into account variations within a field and may only represent a more generalized estimation at the field specific level.
Even when available, field-level imagery data sample sets can be very large (big data) making calculating predicted yield estimations impractical and difficult. Additionally, large physical data storage units and specialized computing devices are required to process the big data.
Therefore, improved computer-implemented for modeling crop yields at a field specific level are desirable.


The invention provides a substrate with multi-layer interconnection structure, which includes a substrate and a multi-layer interconnection structure formed on the substrate. The multi-layer interconnection structure is adhered to the substrate in partial areas. The invention also provides a method of manufacturing and recycling such substrate and a method of packaging electronic devices by using such substrate. The invention also provides a method of manufacturing multi-layer interconnection devices.

a) Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a substrate with multi-layer interconnection structure, methods of manufacturing and recycling such substrate, a method of packaging electronic devices by using such substrate, and a method of manufacturing multi-layer interconnection devices, and more particularly, to a substrate with multi-layer interconnection structure, wherein the multi-layer interconnection structure is adhered to the substrate in partial areas, and methods of manufacturing and recycling such substrate, a method of packaging electronic devices by using such substrate, and a method of manufacturing multi-layer interconnection devices.
b) Description of the Related Art
With the advancement of semi-conductor manufacturing technology, the line width, line spacing, and size of chips become smaller and smaller, and the chips require faster transmission speed and higher output efficiency. In response thereto, better packaging technology of electrically connecting the chips to the exterior is required, wherein more wires are needed and wire spacing is smaller, and thus the technology of chip packaging slowly transforms from through hole type to surface mount type, and from connecting by gold wire in wiring frames to connecting by bumps, and circuit boards transform from hard printed circuit board (PCB), flexible printed circuit board (FPC), to integrated circuit board (IC).
In general, a hard PCB with six layers of BT material weighs about 4 grams and has a thickness of about 1 mm, and therefore it cannot be bent; on the other hand, a FPC board with a thickness of about 50 .mu.m can only make two layers of interconnection. On the contrary, an IC board with a thickness of about 50 .mu.m can be manufactured into a substrate with six layers of interconnection that weigh about 0.21 grams in total, and so the IC board has the best flexibility and is the most compact. Moreover, in regard to interconnection density, the minimum diameter of the through holes of the hard PCB and the FPC board is 50 .mu.m, the minimum dimension of the through hole bonding pads of the hard PCB and the FPC board is 100 .mu.m, and the minimum line width and the minimum line spacing are 25 .mu.m. In contrast, the minimum diameter of through holes of the IC board is 20 .mu.m, its minimum through hold bonding pad is 25 .mu.m, and the minimum line width and minimum line spacing are 20 .mu.m; hence, the IC board greatly increases the density of interconnection.
The miniaturization of circuit board sizes causes the request of circuit board precision to increase, so the manufacturing process of circuit boards faces new challenges, especially the challenge of how to increase the wiring density in the manufacturing process is very important, and the key to increase the wiring density is the stability of circuit board size in the manufacturing process. A conventional solution is to manufacture IC boards on a hard substrate, which uses the better size stability of the substrate to increase the size stability of the IC board during the process, however, how to separate the IC board and the substrate after the fabrication of IC board is complete is a major issue for this type of technology.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,812,191 discloses a method of manufacturing multi-layer interconnection structure by using a sacrificial substrate fabrication technique, wherein a multi-layer interconnection structure is formed on a substrate that has a smaller coefficient of thermal expansion than that of the multi-layer interconnection, and then the temperature is elevated to perform curing, after which the temperature is lowered to generate enough tension between the substrate and the multi-layer interconnection structure before the multi-layer interconnection structure is separated from the substrate by adhering a support device to the multi-layer interconnection structure and by acid-immersion.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,258,236 discloses a method for separating substrate and multi-layer interconnection structure by using laser ablation. First, a polymer layer 2, a metal layer 3, and a multi-layer interconnection structure 4 are sequentially formed on a transparent substrate 1 as shown in FIG. 1; second, a laser ultraviolet light is irradiated on the polymer layer 2 through the transparent substrate 1 to dissolve the polymer layer 2 so that the transparent substrate 1 can be removed from the rest of the structure.
However, the aforementioned separation method is more complicated, thus, how to provide a method and structure that can manufacture IC boards with high size precision and can separate the IC board and the substrate in an easy and low cost way is the goal to be achieved by the circuit board manufacturing industry.

Substrate with multi-layer interconnection structure and method of manufacturing the same


A nucleotide sequence and protein of the hop farnesyl pyrophosphate synthase is described herein.

Plants produce and accumulate within their bodies, numerous kinds of low molecular weight organic compounds such as terpenoids, alkaloids, phenolics, and saponins. It was initially thought that these compounds were not directly responsible for the life maintenance of organisms and have only auguxilliary functions; therefore, they were referred to as "secondary metabolites."
However, in recent years it has been beginning to be understood that these secondary metabolites function as substances responsible for the cell differentiation or the defense against exogenous factors. Concurrently, the methods of utilization are being found in the broad fields of taste products, drugs and pigments. Not to mention the agricultural field, their utility is catching attention in broad fields.
Because such secondary metabolites are valuable in being industrially utilized, the elucidation of their formation process in plant cells has progressed and presently it has been shown that the substances are synthesized through a complex cascade involving a large number of enzymes. Direct Extraction from plants is, however, needed to obtain such substances. In those cases the quantities that can be isolated at one time are very small, resulting in high cost. Therefore, it has been desired that in vitro synthetic methods using gene manipulations or cultured cells be developed.
Farnesyl pyrophosphate synthase is known as an enzyme that is involved in the synthetic cascade of the secondary metabolites in plants. Farnesyl pyrophosphate synthase is an enzyme that is involved in the metabolism of isoprenoids which forms the basis for a variety of substances in plants such as pigments, odorants, phytohormones, phytoalexins, and defense substances against pests (Plant Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Hans-Walter Heldt, Oxford University Press, pp. 360–376, 1997). It has been shown that farnesyl pyrophosphate synthase catalyzes the reaction converting isopentenyl pyrophosphate into geranyl pyrophosphate by adding dimethylallyl pyrophosphate thereto as well as catalyzes the reaction converting said geranyl pyrophosphate into farnesyl pyrophosphate by adding isopentenyl pyrophosphate thereto.
Hop is a principal material to give beer refreshing bitter taste and flavor. It is beginning to be understood that the secondary metabolites are secreted in large quantities in luplin gland contained in the cone of the hop and these secondary metabolites greatly contribute to the bitter taste and flavor of beer. Further, in recent years it has been shown that the secondary metabolites of the hop possess pharmacological actions (for example, Biosci. Biotech. Biochem., 61 (1), 158, 1997). Under such circumstances, a variety of breeding improvements are being made to the hop with an emphasis on the secondary metabolites accumulated in the luplin gland such as bitter substances and essential oil constituents.
However, the hop is a dioecious plant. Especially, the male plant does not bear cones that serves as the beer material and thus is not regarded important commercially. Very little study, therefore, has been carried out and the genetic traits that will be useful for fermentation have been hardly elucidated. For these reasons, conventional breeding methods through crossing largely rely on experience and intuition. The present situation is that the brewing qualities are totally unpredictable until the cones have grown. Accordingly, it is strongly desired that the farnesyl pyrophosphate synthase gene be isolated from a hop and that the control of the secondary metabolites in the hop and in vitro synthetic methods be established according to an approach using gene manipulations.
The breeding methods utilizing genetic engineering such as transformation techniques and molecular selection techniques are becoming possibilities in various plants. In these methods, more objective and efficient breeding is possible as compared to the conventional breeding methods which largely rely on experience and intuition. More specifically, the transformation technique is one in which an exogenous gene is introduced into a plant cell to have it expressed and the trait to be desirably incorporated is directly introduced into the cell. In order to have the exogenous gene expressed, the following method may be employed: an objective structural gene and a terminator operable in a plant cell are linked to an operable promoter capable of regulating the expression of the gene in the plant cell and the linkage is introduced into the plant cell. For a promoter that is frequently used at the experimental level, there are mentioned, among others, a CaMV 35S promoter, a nopaline synthase gene promoter both of which can express transgenes in relatively large kinds of plants regardless of their tissues (Sanders P. R. et al., Nucleic Acid Res, 15 (1987) 1543–1558). However, when the aforementioned promoters are used to express the transgenes in all the tissues, some transgenes may do harm to the growth of the plants. It is, therefore, strongly desired that tissue-specific promoters capable of expressing exogenous genes in the objective tissue be isolated.

Farnesyl pyrophosphate synthase proteins, nucleic acids and promoter regions therefor


Systems and methods for managing information display include the ability, at least in one implementation, to receive a message indicating that the information of a resource is to be displayed and to form a user interface for displaying the resource information by defining a pane in which to display the information and selecting a renderer operable to render the information in the pane.

The present application describes systems and techniques related to displaying information, for example, a system and method for managing information display.
A user interface offers a convenient way to quickly comprehend and move through resources in a repository. Typically, user interfaces use a logical structure such as a hierarchical tree to organize the information in the repository for presentation to the user. The user can then expand and collapse the tree to observe resources. Furthermore, the user can select a resource to obtain more information about it or specify that more or less information about a group of resources should be displayed. Additionally, in some user interfaces, resources are hidden if a user does not have permission to access them.


A system for and method of searching for data in a multi-level hierarchical database coupled with a search engine is disclosed. The invention allows not only direct where-used searches in a multi-level hierarchical database for modified objects in a hierarchical database, but also indirect where-used searches for a target object or objects that are modified directly by a user or that are modified indirectly due to modifications of an object and objects with a higher hierarchy than the target object or objects.

Many companies work with highly complex, distributed supplier networks to deliver products profitably to the global marketplace. To gain a competitive edge, companies have shifted to horizontal or completely outsourced manufacturing models. As companies increasingly depend on suppliers to provide the critical parts and assemblies that make up their products, the effective management of these parts and the approved suppliers of the parts are paramount to success. Price changes, supply shortages, delivery, manufacturability, and quality problems associated with these parts can all impact a company's ability to deliver its products. Business partners work together to ensure their products' components meet the technical, business, and supply chain requirements of their products.
A bill of materials is commonly used in the product sourcing and product manufacturing processes. A bill of materials typically contains data regarding various components, elements, services, processes, etc. that make up a product, a service, a process, a project, or the like. Parties involved in the manufacture and distribution of various parts and components, such as engineers, contract manufacturers and supply chain partners would make inquiries regarding a particular component.
Traditional searches typically operate on a two-dimensional relational data structure in which search inquires include only one level of hierarchical data values. For example, a typical conventional search inquiry states "Give all assemblies whose product line is Scorpio." Only one hierarchical level, i.e., all assemblies for a product line, is involved in this inquiry.
In addition, traditional searches make inquiries on a target in its unchanged state, but it is not effective in searching for a search target that has multiple revisions. For example, a traditional search for "all assemblies whose contain indirectly other assemblies that contain all pending released revisions" is awkward and inefficient.
However, sometimes engineers, contract manufacturers and supply chain partners often need to inquire whether a particular component is being used by other assemblies, where it is being used, what the top-level assembly is for the component, and which revision of the assembly it is etc. Conventional search operations based on two-dimensional data structure having only one level of hierarchy is not suitable for this type of data search for data having multiple revisions in a hierarchical structure.
Therefore, there is a need for a system and a method for performing where-used searches for data with multiple revisions in a multi-level hierarchical structure in an efficient manner.

System and method for where-used searches for data stored in a multi-level hierarchical structure


An insulative connector body is accommodated in a conductive shield case. A conductive contact is provided on the connector body. An insulative cover is accommodated in the shield case so as to be slidable between a first position for concealing the contact and a second position for exposing a part of the contact and allowing a mating connector to electrically contact therewith. A conductive shield member is attached onto a front face of the cover which faces the mating connector.

This invention relates to a connector provided with a cover. More particularly, the invention relates to a connector in which contacts provided in a central portion of a connector body is shielded by a cover, and the shielding of the contacts by the cover is canceled in accordance with a connecting operation of the connector with respect to a mating plug, so that the contacts are prevented from electrostatic damage.
Various connectors of this kind are already known, and for example, Japanese Patent Publication No. 2002-117931A (cf., pages 1 to 7, and FIGS. 1 through 6) discloses a connector provided with a shutter which is opened in accordance with an operation of connection of a connector body (socket) to a mating plug. This connector is provided with a lock cover which locks the shutter against sliding movement to an open position when the shutter is closed. In accordance with the operation of connection of the socket to the mating plug, this lock cover cancels this locked condition of the shutter.
In this connector, the shutter prevents a conducting member from coming into contact with contacts of the socket, and also prevents dirt from entering the socket, thereby preventing an accident such as short-circuiting and incomplete contact.
In this connector, however, there is a probability that static electricity developed upon contact of the mating plug or other object with the shutter, so that the contacts and others were subjected to electrostatic damage.