Test functions to test an operability of a subscriber circuit are integrated in the subscriber circuit. The test functions use existing components and do not significantly burden the signal processor of the subscriber circuit. The subscriber circuit is provided in a digital telephone exchange having connectable subscriber lines and has a high-voltage section and a low-voltage section. Once an alternating current, which is produced by a tone generator, has been fed into connecting paths, a frequency-selective current threshold-value comparison is carried out, by which the operability of the subscriber circuit can quickly be confirmed.

The invention relates to a quick test of the operability of a subscriber circuit of a digital telephone exchange.
A test procedure for testing the operability is already known in which the subscriber circuit is disconnected from the subscriber line through the use of at least one relay, and is connected to a central test unit.
This procedure has disadvantages since additional space-consuming and costly relays must be located on the subscriber line module, on which there may be a number of subscriber circuits. Since the operability test is carried out using a central, external test unit which occupies the space of two subscriber line modules, it furthermore means that at least 32 fewer subscribers can be connected to the telephone exchange.
In addition, the test procedure can be applied by the central test unit to individual subscriber circuits only serially.
Furthermore, Published European Patent Application EP 0 451 759 discloses how a test of the transmission characteristics of a subscriber circuit can be integrated together with the connected subscriber lines in the subscriber circuit. This principle is based on accessing various points in the reception path and in the transmission path of a signal processor contained in the subscriber circuit in order to use the voltages which occur at these points and are either caused or are fed in separately by the normal telephone operation to determine specific transmission characteristics of a subscriber circuit together with subscriber lines, by forming a paired correlation product. However, this procedure is not suitable for quickly testing the operability of a subscriber circuit, since the signal processor is severely burdened with storage and computation tasks as a result of the numerous voltage values to be evaluated and as a result of the complex calculation method for the transmission characteristics, such as the return loss or transmission level, for which reason it takes too long to determine a final result for a quick test procedure.
It is accordingly an object of the invention to provide a method for testing an operability of a subscriber circuit of a digital telephone exchange which overcomes the above-mentioned disadvantages of the heretofore-known methods of this general type and which is as quick as possible while, at the same time, the circuitry complexity and costs are kept low.
With the foregoing and other objects in view there is provided, in accordance with the invention, a method for quickly testing an operability of a subscriber circuit of a digital telephone exchange, which includes the steps of:
producing, with a tone generator provided in a subscriber circuit, an alternating voltage having a given frequency;
amplifying the alternating voltage with an amplifier provided in the subscriber circuit for supplying an amplified alternating voltage;
feeding the amplified alternating voltage into connecting paths of the subscriber circuit, the connecting paths being provided for a connection to respective lines of a subscriber line;
diverting the amplified alternating voltage to ground via respective capacitors connected to the connecting paths for the respective lines;
measuring respective alternating current levels in the connecting paths for providing respective measured alternating current levels;
forming a sum of the respective measured alternating current levels for providing a summed alternating current level;
comparing, in a frequency-selective manner, the summed alternating current level with a current threshold value; and
selectively outputting a positive test result, if the summed alternating current level exceeds the current threshold value, and confirming a defect, if the summed alternating current level is below the current threshold value.
The principle on which the invention is based is, in particular, to integrate the test functions of the test procedure in the subscriber circuit using already existing components, without significantly burdening the signal processor by time-consuming storage and computation tasks.
This is achieved in that a tone generator which is located in the subscriber circuit and whose task is primarily to transmit a search-tone signal when a defect occurs, in order to make it easier for the maintenance personnel to trace the defect, produces an alternating voltage. The alternating voltage is fed, using an amplifier (contained in the subscriber circuit) for the alternating current that is produced, into the connecting paths which are used to connect the lines of a subscriber line. The alternating currents, which are caused by the alternating voltage and are diverted to ground via capacitors connected to the connecting paths in order to ensure electromagnetic compatibility, are measured. The measured alternating-current levels are then added and are compared on a frequency-selective basis with a current threshold value. A defect in the subscriber circuit is confirmed if the total alternating-current level is below the current threshold value.
Thus, using the test procedure according to the invention, it is possible to eliminate relays on the subscriber line module on which the subscriber circuit is located.
A further advantage is achieved by the procedure according to the invention in that the central external test unit becomes superfluous, and two module plug-in slots are thus available for further subscriber connections (approx. 32 subscribers).
In addition, the test procedure for operability of a subscriber circuit can be carried out in a decentralized manner, and in parallel for the individual subscriber circuits.
Also, the signal processor is not additionally burdened by the test procedure according to the invention with a time-consuming determination procedure for transmission characteristics, but is burdened only with a process of comparing current levels, so that the test procedure can be carried out quickly in the manner according to the invention.
According to a preferred mode of the invention, the test procedure is advantageously expanded by repeating the procedure specified above if the test result is negative, with the alternating voltage produced by the tone generator being at a different frequency when the test is repeated. The presence of a defect in the subscriber circuit is confirmed only if the level is once again below the current threshold value.
In accordance with another mode of the invention, the magnitude of the current threshold value is made dependent on the frequency of the alternating voltage produced by the tone generator, taking into account the frequency dependency of the impedance of the capacitors.
The test procedure according to the invention is preferably supplemented such that the test procedure is immediately terminated if a subscriber who is connected to the subscriber circuit to be tested lifts the handset of a telephone or of some other terminal. Otherwise the subscriber could hear a test tone in the telephone earpiece in addition to a dialing tone.
Other features which are considered as characteristic for the invention are set forth in the appended claims.
Although the invention is illustrated and described herein as embodied in a method for quickly testing the operability of a subscriber circuit, it is nevertheless not intended to be limited to the details shown, since various modifications and structural changes may be made therein without departing from the spirit of the invention and within the scope and range of equivalents of the claims.
The construction and method of operation of the invention, however, together with additional objects and advantages thereof will be best understood from the following description of specific embodiments when read in connection with the accompanying drawings.

Method for quickly testing the operability of a subscriber circuit


A door handle assembly for opening a door of a vehicle includes a handle portion and a lever or actuating member for actuating or releasing a latch mechanism of a vehicle door. The door handle assembly includes fewer components than known door handles and is reversible or suitable for use at either side of the vehicle. The door handle assembly may include a counterweight and lever mechanism at the base of the door handle assembly, such that the components do not extend substantially into the door cavity. The counterweight may be positioned rearwardly and outwardly of a pivot axis of the lever mechanism when the handle is at an initial or non-opening position, thereby providing enhanced retention of the door handle assembly during vehicle collisions.

Typically, a door handle for a vehicle may include a handle portion that is pivotable relative to a base portion, whereby pivotal movement of the handle portion pulls at a cable to move a latch mechanism to release the latch and open the door. The door handle is typically vehicle side specific, such that a vehicle typically requires at least two different door handles, a right door handle and a left door handle.
Due to the weight or mass of the pivotable handle portion, the handle portion tends to swing or pivot outward during a vehicle collision and may open the door of the vehicle during the collision. The door handle thus often includes a counterweight and lever mechanism that extends into the door cavity (behind the exterior panel of the door), in order to counter the weight and inertia of the pivotable handle portion to retain the door handle in its non-opening position during a vehicle collision. The counterweight, along with the other door handle components, often requires the door to have a greater width (or greater distance between the exterior door panel and the window, which may be lowered or rolled down to be within the door cavity) that is sufficient to receive the counterweight and door handle components when the door handle is mounted to the door.


Back-to back hydraulically linked pistons are mechanically coupled to contact probes and measurement sensors. The pistons are hydraulically linked by small diameter flexible conduits which enable the contact probes and the measurement sensors to be mounted and moved independently of each other without affecting the ability of the measurement instrument to simultaneously measure a plurality of points on a selected predefined surface, such as a human tooth. The present invention overcomes the problems associated with the complex mechanical linkages heretofore required in such instruments.

1. Technical Field
This invention relates generally to multi point measuring instruments, and more particularly to a measuring instrument having a plurality of probes disposed in a compact, easily maneuverable support member.
2. Background Art
Multi point measurement instruments are typically used to measure the contour of relatively small objects, such as teeth. For example, it is desirable to accurately identify the shape of a ground tooth prior to fitting a crown over the tooth. Also, it is often desirable to inspect relatively small articles of manufacture to assure correct three-dimensional alignment and relative tolerances of particular features of the article. U.S. Pat. No. 4,997,369 issued Mar. 5, 1991 to Aaron Shafir describes a probe that is movable along three independent axes. In order to obtain the plural measurements necessary to describe a surface contour, the probe must be moved after each independent measurement, the position data recorded, and the probe moved to the next position whereat the procedure is repeated. This process is cumbersome, time consuming and subject to error if the anchor point of the apparatus is inadvertently moved during the measurement process.
More recently, U.S. Pat. No. 5,257,184 was issued Oct. 26, 1993 to David Mushubac for a device capable of taking measurements which provide a cross-sectional outline of a human tooth. The Mushubac device uses a plurality of stylus elements, additional components for establishing a reference position, and various means for measuring the displacement of the styli along respective axes. The Mushubac instrument is very complex and requires considerable skill and training in order to assure accurate data measurements. Also, the large number of relatively fragile precision components make the instrument costly to manufacture and difficult to calibrate, repair and maintain.
In other surface contour measuring devices, spring-loaded levers are arranged in an arcuate pattern about the tooth and extend outwardly from the patient's mouth to a pivot point. The outward ends of the levers are connected to light-optic bundles or other measurement device, such as LVDTs or glass encoders, which track and amplify the displacement of the contact tip. It has been found that mechanical-linkage devices for measuring surface contours have a number of inherent problems. For example, each of the spring-loaded levers typically have a different angle of approach to the tooth surface which must be maintained from the contact point to the view, or measurement, plane of the device. The view, or measurement, plane is generally a mechanically amplified plane provided by the ends of levers opposite the contact end, providing an enlarged cross-sectional representation of the actual tooth surface. Each of the levers must wrap around the hand of the operator holding the device to provide a view plane behind the operator's hand. The direction of displacement at the probe end of the lever must be duplicated at the view plane, requiring that each lever have at least three pivotable segments which rotate about separate pivot points, and a requirement for interconnecting linkage between the segments. This arrangement makes it difficult to maintain accurate simultaneous translation of all of the segments of all of the levers, thereby affecting the accuracy of the measurements. Furthermore, mechanical-linkage measurement devices are cumbersome to use, prone to erroneous readings if not held steady during the measurement process, and may appear threatening to the patient on which the instruments are used.
Levers with pivots and fixed lengths form a rigid mechanical linkage between probe tips and measurement means wherein displacement errors can be induced through bending or twisting of the levers or misalignment of the pivot points. The hydraulic linkage cited here allows virtually any orientation between contact probe and measurement means with minimal error in displacement. In addition, the hydraulic linkage allows the displacement at the contact probe to be mechanically amplified at the measurement end, thereby producing a larger relative displacement which can be then measured more accurately. The radial arrangement of the probes in an arch format provides a means whereby the fixed reference point is carried with the assembly, eliminating the need for an external fixed reference.
The present invention is directed to overcoming the problems set forth above. It is desirable to have a multi point measurement instrument for small articles such as teeth, that does not require fixed mechanical linkage between the contact probe and the measurement, or readout, components of the instrument. It is also desirable to have such an instrument that is compact, easy to use, and has a flexible linkage between the probe support and the measurement components of the instrument. It is also desirable to have such an instrument wherein the probe support and measurement components are separately replaceable and interchangeable with different probe support configurations and measurement devices.

International Business Machines Corporation


The invention provides isolated nucleic acids and their encoded proteins that act as cell death inhibitors and methods of use thereof. The invention further provides expression cassettes, transformed host cells, transgenic plants and plant parts, and antibody compositions.

Cell division plays a crucial role during all phases of plant development. The continuation of organogenesis and growth responses to a changing environment requires precise spatial, temporal and developmental regulation of cell division activity in meristems (and in cells with the capability to form new meristems such as in lateral root formation). Such control of cell division is also important in organs themselves (i.e. separate from meristems per se), for example, in leaf expansion, secondary growth, and endoreduplication.
A complex network controls cell proliferation in eukaryotes. Various regulatory pathways communicate environmental constraints, such as nutrient availability, mitogenic signals such as growth factors or hormones, or developmental cues such as the transition from vegetative to reproductive stages. Ultimately, these regulatory pathways control the timing, frequency (rate), plane and position of cell divisions.
Plants have unique developmental features that distinguish them from other eukaryotes. Plant cells do not migrate, and thus only cell division, expansion and programmed cell death determine morphogenesis. Organs are formed throughout the entire life span of the plant from specialized regions called meristems. In addition, many differentiated cells have the potential to both dedifferentiate and to reenter the cell cycle. There are also numerous examples of plant cell types that undergo endoreduplication, a process involving nuclear multiplication without cytokinesis. The study of plant cell cycle control genes is expected to contribute to the understanding of these unique phenomena. O. Shaul et al., Regulation of Cell Division in Arabidopsis, Critical Reviews in Plant Sciences 15 (2):97–112 (1996).
Current transformation technology provides an opportunity to engineer plants with desired traits. Major advances in plant transformation have occurred over the last few years. However, in many major crop plants, serious genotype limitations still exist. Transformation of some agronomically important crop plants continues to be both difficult and time consuming. For example, it is difficult to obtain a culture response from some maize varieties. Typically, a suitable culture response has been obtained by optimizing medium components and/or explant material and source. This has led to success in some, but not all, genotypes. While, transformation of model genotypes is efficient, the process of introgressing transgenes into production inbreds is laborious, expensive and time consuming. It would save considerable time and money if genes could be introduced into and evaluated directly in commercial hybrids.
Current methods for genetic engineering in maize require a specific cell type as the recipient of new DNA. These cells are found in relatively undifferentiated, rapidly growing callus cells or on the scutellar surface of the immature embryo (which gives rise to callus). Irrespective of the delivery method currently used, DNA is introduced into literally thousands of cells, yet transformants are recovered at frequencies of 10−5 relative to transiently-expressing cells. Exacerbating this problem, the trauma that accompanies DNA introduction directs recipient cells into cell cycle arrest and accumulating evidence suggests that many of these cells are directed into apoptosis or programmed cell death. (Reference Bowen et al., Tucson International Mol. Biol. Meetings). Therefore, it would be desirable to provide improved methods capable of increasing transformation efficiency by reducing cell death in a number of cell types.
Despite the number of identified plant diseases and stresses, the understanding of the molecular and cellular events that are responsible for plant disease and stress resistance remains rudimentary. This is especially true of the events controlling the earliest steps of active plant defense, recognition of a potential pathogen and transfer of the cognitive signal throughout the cell, surrounding tissue and cell death within that tissue.
Diseases are particularly destructive processes resulting from specific causes and characterized by specific symptoms. Generally the symptoms can be related to a specific cause, usually a pathogenic organism. In plants, a variety of pathogenic organisms cause a wide variety of disease symptoms. It would therefore be valuable to develop new methods that contribute to the increase in crop yield to protect plants against cell death associated with pathogen and stress.
In spite of increases in yield and harvested area worldwide, it is predicted that over the next ten years, meeting the demand for corn will require an additional 20% increase over current production (Dowswell, C. R., Paliwal, R. L., Cantrell, R. P. (1996) Maize in the Third World, Westview Press, Boulder, Colo.).
The components most often associated with maize productivity are grain yield or whole-plant harvest for animal feed (in the forms of silage, fodder, or stover). Thus the relative growth of the vegetative or reproductive organs might be increased or decreased, depending on the ultimate use of the crop. Whether the whole plant or the ear are harvested, overall yield will depend strongly on vigor and growth rate. It would therefore be valuable to develop new methods that contribute to the increase in crop yield.

Anti-apoptosis genes and methods of use thereof


Wood-based products, to which an overlay material is attached, are pretreated with an aqueous suspension of alkaline, inorganic, multivalent compound such as magnesium hydroxide and a binding agent and then allowed to dry fixing the antistaining compound on the surface of the wood member. Selected additives can be added to the aqueous suspension to enhance application and surface properties. Thereafter the treated members are installed, a typical application being as wood-based underlayment or structural subflooring in flooring construction. When a vinyl floor covering material is attached to the pretreated panel, the treatment functions as a stain blocker preventing unsightly staining of the vinyl floor covering over time.

This invention relates generally to an antistaining coating formulation; a process for applying the formulation to a wood based substrate; and the resulting coated product which does not stain overlays that are attached to the coated product. Wood-based substrates which are suitable for this application include oriented strandboard, particleboard, plywood, fiberboard and solid-sawn lumber. Wood-based substrates which contain a significant concentration of extractable staining compounds are especially relevant to this invention. Overlays which could be used in conjunction with this invention include decorative coatings such as paints, and floor covering materials such as vinyl floor sheathing. Overlays that are placed in contact with wood based substrates are often stained by extractives from the wood, but the coated wood based substrates as treated according to the teachings of this invention are highly resistant to such staining.
Underlayment panels are installed on top of the structural subfloor and just beneath decorative floor coverings such as vinyl. The primary purpose of the underlayment is to act as a smooth, stable and uniformly thick substrate to which the decorative floor coverings are attached. The structural and other properties of oriented strandboard, particleboard and plywood, which are all currently used as underlayment panels, have generally been found to meet the underlayment application requirements, although all of these have stained vinyl floor coverings under adverse conditions of relatively high moisture content and high temperatures. After the wood-based underlayment is installed, a common product which is adhesively bonded or otherwise attached to the exposed strand surface layer is a vinyl floor covering. Many vinyl floor covering products are commercially available with one well known producer of a line of vinyl floor products being Armstrong World Industries, Inc. of Lancaster, Pa. Many suitable fill spread adhesives are commercially available materials commonly used to attach the vinyl floor covering to the wood surface. Other vinyl floor covering attachment means are perimeter adhesives and mechanical fasteners such as staples.
When vinyl floor covering is installed on top of oriented strandboard underlayment, there is a tendency for strand-shaped dark stains to develop on the upper surface of the vinyl 3-24 months after installation. Such staining is undesirable. Although the mechanism of stain formation is not clearly understood, there is a suspicion that over time under warm, humid conditions, water soluble compounds in the wood diffuse into the vinyl floor covering where some of them react with chemicals in the vinyl floor covering such as residual azodicarbonamide, which is a common blowing agent used in the manufacture of vinyl floor coverings. Some portion of the reaction products are probably intensely colored, and these manifest themselves as "stains." This staining action does not occur when azodicarbonamide is omitted from the vinyl floor sheathing formulation. Furthermore, certain vinyl floor covering products are more susceptible to staining than others. Thinner vinyl floor covering products develop these stains more readily than do thicker ones. The stains seem to develop most rapidly in hot, moist environments.
Other researchers have observed that this staining action can be prevented or "blocked" by placing a sheet of aluminum foil between the wood strand surface and the vinyl covering. Presumably the wood extractives are insoluble in the aluminum and thus are unable to migrate into the vinyl floor covering. Unfortunately, the aluminum is easily torn or punctured and the conventional adhesives used to secure the vinyl floor covering to the wood surface are not compatible with the aluminum. Other researchers have found that the aluminum fails to prevent staining when the surface of the aluminum is punctured or otherwise interrupted. Also, the aluminum foil is relatively expensive. Other total barrier coatings have similar problems and have proven to be less effective than aluminum foil at stain blocking.
It is also recognized that some commercially available patching compounds which contain high levels of Portland cement can be used as stain blocking coatings. Examples of such patching compounds include the MAPEI PLANI/PATCH roduced by MAPEI, INC., Montreal, PQ, Canada and Ardex Feather-Finish Cement roduced by Ardex, Inc. of Coraopolis, Pa. Although it is inconvenient to do so, these materials can be mixed with water or latex and trowelled onto the top surface of the underlayment at a residential house construction site. Installers must wait for the coating to set prior to installing the vinyl floor sheathing. This method is effective for preventing vinyl floor stains and it is practiced by some informed installers. We have discovered through experimentation that there is a minimum application load level that is required for effective stain blocking. At these loading levels the cost of the treatment is substantial. The short cure time of the cement makes these materials difficult to apply in a continuous process production line at a panel manufacturing site. Such an operation would require on-site mixing and sophisticated and complex process controls in order to avoid the risk of premature curing of the cement in the applicator equipment. On-site cleanup of cured cement is extremely difficult, time consuming and labor intensive.
The present discovery is that the staining action can be blocked very effectively over time without adversely affecting the vinyl adhesive bond by pretreating the top surface of the wood based surface with an aqueous suspension of an alkaline, inorganic, multivalent compound such as magnesium hydroxide. Included is a pigment to give the coating a preselected color and a binding agent to fix the stain blocking agent and pigment to the wood.
The preferred formulation has a shelf life of greater than 6 months which allows it to be manufactured off-site and then shipped to a panel manufacturing facility.
It is suspected that key wood extractives are precipitated or gelled or otherwise immobilized or made inert by the magnesium ions present in the preferred formulation. This coating has the advantages of being inexpensive, non-toxic, colored, stable with a long shelf life, compatible/receptive to vinyl adhesives and patching compounds and it will not fail if the coating is punctured. Formulations can be prepared which dry rapidly subsequent to application. We have found that as long as the spread rate of the coating is maintained below a certain threshold level, freshly coated panels can be stacked on top of each other with as little as 5 seconds of drying time under ambient conditions prior to stacking. Even when hundreds of these panels are stacked on top of each other with only minimum drying time, severe bonding between contacting, freshly coated panels is not observed. Selecting the proper binding agent and level of the binding agent are also critical to the success of avoiding bonding between stacked panels.
While it is possible to thoroughly dry the applied coating prior to stacking the coated panels, the use of a dryer, such as a forced-air oven, has many disadvantages relative to stacking the panels while they are still wet. High temperature dryers are expensive and they require relatively long sections of production line space. Dryers are also energy intensive. A dryer will heat at least a portion of the wood as well as the applied coating, and it is well known that heating wood generates volatile organic compounds (VOC's) which would need to be treated with some sort of pollution abatement equipment. We have also found that the top surface of a coated panel is more smooth when it is stacked wet than it is if it is dried prior to stacking.
The preferred manufacturing process for this coated underlayment entails coating the major faces of the flooring panels that will directly contact the vinyl floor coverings with the stain-blocker formulation; grading the coated panels; accumulating the coated panels for a period of about 30 seconds to 2 minutes; stacking the coated panels into units; packaging the units; and stacking units on top of units for storage.
One of the features desired by the building industry is for a product to arrive at a building site pretreated so on-site processes are minimized. The present invention includes application of the aqueous suspension of the preferred magnesium hydroxide and other additives at the manufacturing plant where it can be done on-line at relatively high speeds.
Upon arrival at a building site each pretreated panel will be ready for installation as a flooring underlayment panel. With the treated surface facing upwardly each panel will be fixed in place and thereafter the vinyl floor covering will be attached to the treated underlayment.
Accordingly, from the foregoing, the primary object of the present invention is the prevention of unwanted stains on overlays bonded to wood based substrates.
Another object is to provide a stain preventing application process that is performed prior to the point in time that the panels are shipped for sale into the distribution system.
Yet another object is to provide such a process that is a pretreatment coating process capable of being applied at high speeds.
Still a further object is to provide a stain prevention process and resulting product that is safe for the production workers and the environment.
Still a further object is to provide a pretreated wood-based panel product where the pretreating stain prevention compound will not adversely affect the overlay bonding mechanism over time.
Additionally, another object of the present invention is the provide a liquid stain blocking formulation that can be applied to any wood-based product, such as cedar lumber, and thereby prevents extractives in the cedar from migrating into top coats of paint which could be discolored by the staining compounds.
These and other objects of the invention will become more apparent upon reading the specification to follow.

Stain blocking treatment for wood based panels


Thermoelectric devices and methods of using thermoelectric devices. A thermoelectric device includes a thermoelectric element comprised of a material having a non-zero Berry curvature. The device may operate as a Nernst generator that generates electricity in response to application of a temperature gradient to the thermoelectric element, or as an Ettingshausen cooler that pumps heat into or out of an object to be heated or cooled in response to application of a current to the thermoelectric element. In either application, the non-zero Berry curvature of the material allows the device to operate without an externally applied magnetic field.

It is estimated that in 2017, the United States consumed 97.7 quads providing for its residential, commercial, industrial, and transportation energy needs. Approximately 80% of this energy was produced by fossil fuels such as petroleum (37.1%), natural gas (28.7%), and coal (14.3%). Nuclear power (8.62%) and biomass (5.03%) accounted for another 13.7% of the energy produced. The approximately 6% remaining was generated from sources such as hydroelectric, wind, geothermal, and solar. Of the energy consumed, it is further estimated that only 32% produced useful work, with the remaining 68% being rejected into the environment as waste heat. Transportation applications are particularly inefficient, with about 79% of the energy consumed producing waste heat. Recovery of even a portion of this waste heat could significantly reduce the amount of energy consumed.
Attempts to recover energy from waste heat include using the heat to generate electricity. For example, waste heat may be used to vaporize liquids or heat gases that are provided to an engine which powers an electric generator. Another approach to generating electricity from waste heat is to use the waste heat to produce a temperature gradient across a thermoelectric device that produces electricity through a thermoelectric effect.
Thermoelectric devices include thermoelectric generators, Peltier devices, and Nernst/Ettingshausen devices. Conventional thermoelectric devices include thermoelectric generators that generate electricity from a temperature gradient and Peltier devices such as thermoelectric heat-pumps (also referred to as Peltier coolers or thermoelectric coolers) that use an applied current to generate a temperature gradient. Thermoelectric generators and Peltier devices have a longitudinal geometry in which the temperature gradient and induced voltage run parallel to one another. Conventional longitudinal thermoelectric devices require both n-type and p-type materials electrically connected in series and thermally connected in parallel. To increase efficiency, Peltier devices are often cascaded (e.g., stacked with increasingly smaller surface areas on top) as shown in FIG. 1. The need for electrical connections between the n-type and p-type materials, as well as the need for this cascading in Peltier devices, add to the cost and complexity of conventional, longitudinal thermoelectric devices.
Nernst/Ettingshausen devices are solid-state devices where an applied temperature gradient and perpendicular magnetic field generate a mutually orthogonal voltage, or an applied current and perpendicular magnetic field generate a mutually orthogonal temperature gradient. The magnetic field generates a skew force (Lorentz force) that accelerates charge carriers in a direction perpendicular to the temperature gradient in the device. As with Peltier devices, Nernst/Ettingshausen devices include thermoelectric heat-pumps (also referred to as Ettingshausen coolers) that use an applied current to generate a temperature gradient, and thermoelectric generators (also referred to as Nernst generators) that generate electricity from a temperature gradient. Nernst/Ettingshausen devices utilize a transverse geometry and thus only require one polarity of material.
To increase efficiency, Nernst/Ettingshausen devices may be shaped as shown in FIG. 2. Because the shaping is done on the thermoelectric material itself, this technology is more simplistic than that of Peltier devices and eliminates losses due to the multiple electrical connections of n-type and p-type thermoelectric materials. However, unlike Peltier devices, conventional Nernst/Ettingshausen devices require an externally applied magnetic field that is orthogonal to the electrical current and temperature gradient. The magnetic fields used in conventional Nernst/Ettingshausen devices must be relatively intense, which can make Nernst/Ettingshausen devices impractical for commercial applications.
Thus, there is a need for improved thermoelectric devices and methods of using thermoelectric devices to provide thermoelectric electricity generation and/or cooling with improved efficiency that do not require different types of materials or intense externally applied magnetic fields.

Thermoelectric device utilizing non-zero berry curvature


The invention relates to a novel drug delivery technology. More particularly the invention relates to a method of delivering at least one therapeutic compound or a formulation comprising the at least one therapeutic compound to a patient: to a throwaway or reusable device for delivering at least one therapeutic compound or a formulation comprising the at least one therapeutic compound to a patient in a manner as set out by the method; to a pioneer projectile form use in said method; to formulations for use in said method and to an injectate comprising a pioneer projectile and formulation. It also relates to a disposable component containing either a pioneer projectile or an injectate.

One route of administration for therapeutic compounds is through the skin. The skin is also one of the more efficient routes for delivery of a therapeutic compound when compared to other standard delivery routes such as oral or pulmonary delivery.
Administration to the skin is most commonly undertaken using a needle and syringe as a delivery system with the therapeutic compound in a liquid form.
Such a system has a number of associated problems including the pain and fear associated with needles, the fact they are really best suited to injecting liquids which are not necessarily the best way of delivering compounds to a patient and the fact that sharps are left which create a disposal problem.
Drug delivery systems that do not incorporate needles are also used for injecting liquids through the skin and this is achieved by the delivery system creating a very fine, high velocity liquid jet that creates its own hole through the skin. There are however a number of problems with such a method including splash back.
With both these forms of liquid delivery relatively large volumes of liquid are injected which, because they are incompressible, have to tear the tissue apart in order to be accommodated.
However, drug injection through the skin does not have to be achieved with the drug in a standard liquid form. Solid form drugs have been successfully administered with the PowderJect system, which uses a compressed gas source to accelerate powdered drugs to a velocity at which they can penetrate the outer layers of the skin. This system typically employs powdered drug particles of less than 100 microns in diameter, which require a velocity of several hundred meters per second in order to penetrate human tissue. However the system has its own inherent problems such as controlled delivery.
It has also been shown in the past that solid rods or splinters of a therapeutic compound can be pushed, at a relatively low velocity, into the skin without the requirement for a needle although more traditionally these are delivered as implants.
The current transdermal drug delivery techniques can thus be categorised into groups based on the drug form and the velocity of the injection as set out in table 1 below:
TABLE 1Drug FormDrug Injection VelocityLiquidSolidHigh VelocityLiquid Jet InjectorPowderJect SystemsDrug dartsLow VelocityNeedle and SyringeDrug 'Splinters'
Drug darts are disclosed in a number of publications. WO 96/40351 (American Cyanamid) discloses an implant dart with a head of a solid plastics material which takes the form of a blade and a tubular body that contains one or more sustained release drug delivery implant packages. Flexible stabilizing wings are provided on either side of the dart head which serve as a lock or barb to prevent the dart being pulled out after entry. The dart has on outside diameter of about 7 mm and a length of about 45 mm and is delivered with an injection gun which fires the dart into an animal, but not a human, when a trigger is released. The propulsion mechanism delivers a force sufficient to impart a high accelerating velocity of from 40-60 mph on the dart. To inject the dart at low speed it is necessary to make a small incision in the animal and operate the push bar manually.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,948,263 and 4,326,524 also disclose ballistic delivery devices. U.S. Pat. No. 3,948,263 discloses a ballistic implant which is fired from a 0.25 calibre rifle. The projectile exits at about 900 ft/sec and can travel 20-40 ft before implanting into muscle some 1-2 inches beneath the skin. U.S. Pat No. 4326 524 discloses a solid dose ballistic projectile formed entirely of a cohesive mixture comprising biologically active material, in the form of grindable solid particles and a binder which is capable of withstanding the stresses imparted on impact. The projectile has a body portion with a diameter of from 4.5 to 7.6 mm, with a conical nose portion with a base diameter smaller than the diameter of the body such that a slight shoulder region is formed between the body and the nose. The end remote from the nose is preferably concave to aid flight.
GB 2365100 is another example of a remote ballistic delivery device which is fired and attains velocities of greater than 500 m/s. In contrast to those described above the device is slowed on impact so that it does not enter the body but instead the device's nose is moved back such that a needle enters the body, and a drug is injected. Such a device is not needleless.
CA1019638 discloses a projectile which is launched by a conventional air gun or bow. It comprises a head piece and a shaft, the head piece pierces the animals flesh and the shaft breaks away. In one embodiment the head piece is made of a porous material which retains a liquid drug through capillary action through launch and impact and which releases it by diffusion when it is inserted into the animal. In a second embodiment the head piece takes the form of a hardened cake. To aid penetration a metal or plastics tip may be provided. The drug delivering element remaining in the skin is about 3 mm diameter by 13 mm in length.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,901,158 Ferb discloses a hypodermic projectile which is again fired from a rifle or pistol. It comprises a shatterable front end of plastic or glass which breaks on impact releasing the liquid contents.
None of the described high velocity devices bear any resemblance to the present invention in which the at least one therapeutic compound or a formulation comprising the at least one therapeutic compound is pushed at low velocity from a device which contacts the skin and in which the pioneer projectile is water soluble, lipid soluble or otherwise biodegradable in the human or animal and is furthermore significantly smaller having a width or diameter of less than 3 mm in width, more preferably still less than 2.5 mm through 2 mm and 1.5 mm to about 1 mm in width; a height of less than 10 mm in height, more preferably about 1.5 to 2 mm in height and an aspect ratio of less than 1:8, preferably less than 1:6, more preferably less than 1:4, more preferably still less than 1:3, and most preferably about 1:1.5.
High velocity liquid systems are exemplified by U.S. Pat. No. 116,313 Mc Gregor. Liquid is first ejected from a small orifice in a probe at a very high velocity and pressure which will penetrate the skin and then the main charge of liquid is ejected at a lower velocity into the channel formed by the initial penetration
EP0139286 (Sumitomo Chemical Co Limited) discloses sustained-release preparations in the form of needle like or bar like shapes, which comprise an active ingredient and a pharmaceutically acceptable biodegradable carrier. The sustained-release preparation can be administered to the body by injection by pushing it through a hollow needle or by implantation.
WO 94/22423 (Bukh Meditec A/S) discloses a drug administration system. The method of parenteral administration comprises administering a drug substance by penetrating the skin or the mucosa of a human or an animal by a body with an appropriately formed solid pharmaceutical composition. The body of the pharmaceutical composition may be needle shaped so as to avoid external penetration equipment. The solid pharmaceutical composition comprises at least one drug substance and has a shape and/or strength to enable penetration.
The composition is made by mixing a material, preferably a polymer and optionally a filler with an active drug substance; extruding the mixture to form an elongate body; drying it and forming a pointed end.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,542,920, 6,117,443 and 6,120,786 (Cherif Cheikh) all disclose needle-less parenteral introduction devices. A medicament is made in the form of a solid needle having a pointed end that has sufficient structural integrity to penetrate the skin. The needles are less than 2 mm, preferably 0.2 to 0.8 mm, in diameter and 10 to 30 mm in length.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,102,896 (Roser) is primarily directed to a disposable injector device for injecting controlled release water soluble glass needles. It however also recognises that these glass needles, which are about 1 mm in diameter by 10 mm in length and contain a medicament may also be used as pioneer projectiles to produce a low resistance pathway through the tissue along which a liquid suspension (exemplified as a drug in a suspension of PFC fluid) can flow. This document appears the first and only document to recognise that a dissolvable pioneer projectile may be used to enable the introduction of a medicament. It however fails to recognise that it may be used as a general technique for introducing medicaments in other forms. Indeed this is readily apparent from the document in which a dry powdered formulation is made into a non viscous liquid by suspending it in PFC.

Glide Pharmaceutical Technologies Limited


A method of starting a molten-bath based melting process includes commencing supplying cold oxygen-containing gas and cold carbonaceous material into a main chamber of a smelting vessel within at most 3 hours after completing a hot metal charge into the vessel and igniting the carbonaceous material and heating the main chamber and molten metal in the main chamber.

The present invention relates particularly, although by no means exclusively, to a method of starting a molten bath-based smelting process for producing molten metal from a metalliferous feed material in a smelting vessel that has a strong bath/slag fountain generated by gas evolution in the molten bath, with the gas evolution being at least partly the result of devolatilisation of carbonaceous material in the molten bath.
In particular, although by no means exclusively, the present invention relates to a method of starting a process for smelting an iron-containing material, such as an iron ore, and producing iron.
The present invention relates particularly, although by no means exclusively, to a method of starting a smelting process in a smelting vessel that includes a main chamber for smelting metalliferous material.
A known molten bath-based smelting process, generally referred to as the HIsmelt process, is described in a considerable number of patents and patent applications in the name of the applicant.
Another molten bath-based smelting process, referred to hereinafter as the "HIsarna" process, is described in International application PCT/AU99/00884 (WO 00/022176) in the name of the applicant.
The HIsmelt process and the HIsarna process are associated particularly with producing molten iron from iron ore or another iron-containing material.
The HIsarna process is carried out in a smelting apparatus that includes (a) a smelting vessel that includes a main smelting chamber and lances for injecting solid feed materials and oxygen-containing gas into the main chamber and is adapted to contain a bath of molten metal and slag and (b) a smelt cyclone for pre-treating a metalliferous feed material that is positioned above and communicates directly with the smelting vessel.
The term "smelt cyclone" is understood herein to mean a vessel that typically defines a vertical cylindrical chamber and is constructed so that feed materials supplied to the chamber move in a path around a vertical central axis of the chamber and can withstand high operating temperatures sufficient to at least partially melt metalliferous feed materials.
In one form of the HIsarna process, carbonaceous feed material (typically coal) and optionally flux (typically calcined limestone) are injected into a molten bath in the main chamber of the smelting vessel. The carbonaceous material is provided as a source of a reductant and a source of energy. Metalliferous feed material, such as iron ore, optionally blended with flux, is injected into and heated and partially melted and partially reduced in the smelt cyclone. This molten, partly reduced metalliferous material flows downwardly from the smelt cyclone into the molten bath in the smelting vessel and is smelted to molten metal in the bath. Hot reaction gases (typically CO, CO2, H2, and H2O) produced in the molten bath is partially combusted by oxygen-containing gas (typically technical-grade oxygen) in an upper part of the main chamber. Heat generated by the post-combustion is transferred to molten droplets in the upper section that fall back into the molten bath to maintain the temperature of the bath. The hot, partially-combusted reaction gases flow upwardly from the main chamber and enter the bottom of the smelt cyclone. Oxygen-containing gas (typically technical-grade oxygen) is injected into the smelt cyclone via tuyeres that are arranged in such a way as to generate a cyclonic swirl pattern in a horizontal plane, i.e. about a vertical central axis of the chamber of the smelt cyclone. This injection of oxygen-containing gas leads to further combustion of smelting vessel gases, resulting in very hot (cyclonic) flames. Finely divided incoming metalliferous feed material is injected pneumatically into these flames via tuyeres in the smelt cyclone, resulting in rapid heating and partial melting accompanied by partial reduction (roughly 10-20% reduction). The reduction is due to both thermal decomposition of hematite and the reducing action of CO/H2 in the reaction gases from the main chamber. The hot, partially melted metalliferous feed material is thrown outwards onto the walls of the smelt cyclone by cyclonic swirl action and, as described above, flows downwardly into the smelting vessel below for smelting in the main chamber of that vessel.
The net effect of the above-described form of the HIsarna process is a two-step countercurrent process. Metalliferous feed material is heated and partially reduced by outgoing reaction gases form the smelting vessel (with oxygen-containing gas addition) and flows downwardly into the smelting vessel and is smelted to molten iron in the smelting vessel. In a general sense, this countercurrent arrangement increases productivity and energy efficiency.
The above description is not to be taken as an admission of the common general knowledge in Australia or elsewhere.
The applicant has proposed that the HIsarna process and an oxygen-blown version of the HIsmelt process be started up in a smelting vessel by feeding hot metal (from an external source) into the main chamber of the vessel via the forehearth of the vessel, commencing supplying oxygen-containing gas (typically technical grade oxygen) and solid carbonaceous material (typically coal) and generating heat in the main chamber. This hot start-up method generates heat via spontaneous ignition of combustible material in the main chamber. The applicant has proposed that this initial step in the hot start-up method be followed by the addition of slag-forming agents and, later on, by the addition of metalliferous feed material (such as ferruginous material such as iron ore) into the main chamber.
In pilot plant trials of the HIsarna process that were based on cold technical-grade oxygen as the oxygen-containing gas, coal as the solid carbonaceous material, and iron ore fines as the metalliferous material, the applicant found that such a start-up can fail under certain conditions. By inadvertently allowing a long period of time to pass between charging hot metal and admitting oxygen/coal into the main chamber of the smelting vessel, it was found that coal-oxygen ignition could fail despite that fact that fresh hot metal had recently been poured into the main chamber. This led to an un-combusted mixture of coal and oxygen leaving the smelting vessel, and this in turn triggered a coal dust explosion in a downstream waste heat boiler.
The applicant believes that this type of situation must be avoided since it can lead to serious injury and/or equipment damage. As a consequence of this failed start-up, the applicant subsequently installed a camera in the smelting vessel to observe directly what was causing ignition failure.
Video footage showed that, when hot metal is poured into the main chamber of the smelting vessel, there are spontaneous sparks and small splashes of hot metal which are easily capable of igniting a cold oxygen-coal mixture in the main chamber. However, as time passes, a thin layer of slag builds on the hot metal surface, and hot metal splashing activity gradually dies down. Eventually, the metal becomes completely blanketed with a slag crust, and metal splashing activity stops. If oxygen and coal are fed under these conditions, it is believed that ignition can fail.
The slag is believed to come from two sources: (1) slag left behind in the main chamber of the smelting vessel from previous operations, such as previous smelting campaigns, and (2) oxidation of certain metal species (particularly silicon) in hot metal. The degree to which the latter occurs is a function of how much silicon is present in the charge metal and, in cases where silicon is deliberately increased as part of start-up, this effect is intensified. The important practical conclusion is that a slag layer can always form, and a safe start-up method must accommodate this possibility.
Slag layer formation is a function of vessel geometry, charge metal temperature/composition and vessel condition (e.g. thickness of existing freeze layers on side walls of vessels). When hot metal is poured into a main chamber of a smelting vessel, there is an immediate loss of heat by radiation from the relatively quiescent bath surface to the side walls of the main chamber that are above the hot metal. These side walls may be refractory walls. In the case of the smelting vessel of particular interest to the applicant, the side walls include water-cooled panels. Metal, by virtue of having a high density and a relatively low viscosity under these conditions, tends to circulate within itself. This suppresses any initial tendency to form a solidified or highly viscous uniform crust across its top surface. Slag, on the other hand, tends to float as a more or less uniform thin layer on top of the metal. As it loses heat by radiation, its viscosity rises and it becomes sticky. Under these conditions an insulating slag crust (in effect an insulating "blanket") is effectively formed on top of the hot metal. This is considered by the applicant to be the key mechanism associated with the ability of slag to compromise oxygen-coal ignition under start-up conditions. This is a time-related mechanism.
Understanding the time-scale associated with the formation of this slag crust is critical for safe plant operation. For the pilot plant described herein, the (metal) bath diameter was around 2.6 m and the top space was defined by fully water-cooled panels in the side walls and the roof of the smelting vessel. A provisional (sacrificial) cast/gunned refractory layer was present on the water panels at the time. In the trial involving the failed start-up (leading to the coal dust explosion), metal was charged into the main chamber of the vessel and 7 separate attempts were made to start the process by adding oxygen and coal to the main chamber. Of these, 6 were made within the first 2 hours after charging, and each time it was possible to show that ignition had indeed taken place (from water panel heat load and gas composition data) but the start-up attempt had subsequently failed for reasons unrelated to ignition. The 7th (and last) attempt was made around 2.5 hours after completion of the hot metal charge. It is this attempt that led to final ignition failure and the resulting coal dust explosion.
For this particular smelting facility, there appears to be a "safe" ignition time-window of around 1-2 hours after completion of hot metal charging (during which spontaneous ignition of oxygen and coal can be reasonably assured). Beyond this, safe ignition is not assured and an alternate cold start-up method needs to be followed. The cold start-up method is described in a companion International application entitled "Starting a Smelting Process" lodged in the name of the applicant on the same day as the International application for the present invention.
Translation of this specific time-window to other smelting facilities must be undertaken with care, giving due consideration to the factors discussed above (vessel geometry, charge metal conditions etc).


A golf club head and a method of manufacturing a golf club head are described herein. The golf club head comprises a club face with a face portion, and grooves positioned on the club face. The grooves each comprise a bottom, a first side wall adjacent the bottom, a second side wall adjacent the bottom, a first top radius adjacent the first side wall, and a second top radius adjacent the second side wall. The club face further comprises a second portion positioned between the face portion, and the first top radius and the second top radius. The second portion of the club face allows for the grooves to appear visually wider to a player, which can provide psychological effects to benefit performance, while still conforming to USGA groove widths standards.

In general, a golf club includes a club face with grooves in order to increase the frictional force at impact between the club face and the ball. The United States Golf Association (USGA) publishes and maintains the Rules of Golf, which govern professional golf in the United States. Appendix II to the USGA Rules provides several limitations on the grooves for golf clubs, including limitations on symmetry, width, depth, edge radius, and relative distance between grooves. The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews, which is the governing authority for the rules of professional golf outside the United States, provides similar limitations to golf club design.
Moreover, an accurate hitting stoke is accomplished through a variety of subjective, as well as objective, golf club features. For example, many people subjectively associate smaller grooves with decreased ball spin at impact and with shorter distances after impact.
For simplicity and clarity of illustration, the drawing figures illustrate the general manner of construction, and descriptions and details of well-known features and techniques may be omitted to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the invention. Additionally, elements in the drawing figures are not necessarily drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help improve understanding of embodiments of the present invention. The same reference numerals in different figures denote the same elements.
The terms "first," "second," "third," "fourth," and the like in the description and in the claims, if any, are used for distinguishing between similar elements and not necessarily for describing a particular sequential or chronological order. It is to be understood that the terms so used are interchangeable under appropriate circumstances such that the embodiments described herein are, for example, capable of operation in sequences other than those illustrated or otherwise described herein. Furthermore, the terms "include," and "have," and any variations thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, system, article, device, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements is not necessarily limited to those elements, but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, system, article, device, or apparatus.
The terms "left," "right," "front," "back," "top," "bottom," "over," "under," and the like in the description and in the claims, if any, are used for descriptive purposes and not necessarily for describing permanent relative positions. It is to be understood that the terms so used are interchangeable under appropriate circumstances such that the embodiments of the invention described herein are, for example, capable of operation in other orientations than those illustrated or otherwise described herein.
The terms "couple," "coupled," "couples," "coupling," and the like should be broadly understood and refer to connecting two or more elements or signals, electrically, mechanically and/or otherwise.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Golf club heads and methods of manufacturing golf club heads


An iced cake (92) is decorated with an edible substrate sheet (100) having a color image (200) reproduced thereon by a plain paper photocopy process. The sheet (100) is passed along a straight, generally unheated copy path (24) through a plain paper, color inkjet photocopy machine (10) to reproduce thereon the color image (200) placed on the photocopy glass (12).

I. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to cake decorations and the like and more particularly to applying images to edible substrate material in sheet form to produce a decoration which can be placed directly onto an iced baked good, e.g., a cake with frosting, and eaten with the baked good.
II. Description of Prior Art
Cake and other baked good decorations are quite popular, especially among children. Such decorations typically consisted of hand-applied icing-based decorations and/or miniature toys placed onto the icing or frosting. More recently, in an attempt to satisfy commercial bakers, attempts have been made at providing mass produced decorations which minimize the need for the time and labor-intensive icing applications. Chief among such attempts is the decorated edible substrate sheet such as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,017,394 which is made by a silk screening process. As is well understood, the silk-screen process requires that the desired image be formed into several screens, one for each color. The screens are then used as templates to reproduce the image on the substrate by forcing edible coloring materials through the screen openings. The substrate may be placed on an iced or frosted cake and eaten therewith.
While the silk-screen printing process produces a decoration, that process is still somewhat time and labor-intensive. Moreover, with the silk screen process, the range of decorated designs has been somewhat limited. As the design must be formed into multiple screens, make-ready costs and inventory restraints limit the number of pre-made designs that will be on hand. Additionally, the silk screen process is an inherently low resolution process.
Many consumers are not satisfied with the limited design choices available. Indeed, many consumers would prefer to customize the decorations but cannot readily do so. By way of example, iced or frosted cakes having a decoration that depicts the face of the birthday child would be highly desirable. The silk screen process, however, is economically unsuitable for one-off or custom designs. Instead, such a decoration may be provided by placing the actual photograph or a reproduction thereof onto the icing. But the photograph or reproduction is not edible and so must be removed before the iced cake can be eaten.
An improvement to the photograph has been to provide a costly and complex cake printing system. In such a system, an electronic scanner digitalizes a photographic image, and a separate, electronic computer device drives a printer that sets over the iced cake to form the image directly on the cake. Not only is such a system slow, it requires several costly computer components. Moreover, the icing on the cake must be nearly perfectly flat so as not to impact or foul up the printer mechanism. The task of properly icing a cake for such a device is quite difficult and prone to error requiring greater sophistication on the part of the icer.

Method of photocopying an image onto edible material for decorating iced baked goods


A marine propulsion system for a marine vessel has a first marine propulsion device coupled to the marine vessel and a second marine propulsion device coupled to the marine vessel. The first marine propulsion device has a first engine controlled by a first electronic control module. The second marine propulsion device has a second engine controlled by a second electronic control module. In response to the first marine propulsion device being keyed ON, the second electronic control module of the second marine propulsion device is turned ON.

U.S. Pat. No. 8,818,587 discloses methods and systems for controlling movement of at least one propulsion unit on a marine vessel. The method comprises plotting a first plurality of points representing a first surface of a first propulsion unit and plotting a second plurality of points representing a second surface. The method further comprises limiting movement of at least the first propulsion unit such that the first surface does not come within a predetermined distance of the second surface during said movement.
Unpublished U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/378,778, filed Dec. 14, 2016, discloses a marine propulsion system including an outboard motor. The outboard motor has a cowl covering an internal combustion engine that is coupled to and powers a propeller. A motion sensor and an orientation sensor are coupled to the outboard motor, such as to the engine or the cowl. A control module is in signal communication with the motion sensor and the orientation sensor. The motion sensor and orientation sensor respectively provide information regarding an acceleration and an orientation of the engine or the cowl to the control module. A direction sensor and a GPS receiver may also be provided on the engine or the cowl, and may also be in signal communication with the control module. Information regarding the vessel's acceleration, orientation, direction, and global position can be used to control features of the propulsion system.

Marine propulsion system and method for preventing collision of marine propulsion devices


An MOCVD reactor such as a rotating disc reactor (10) is equipped with a gas injector head having diffusers (129) disposed between adjacent gas inlets. The diffusers taper in the downstream direction. The injector head desirably has inlets (117) for a first gas such as a metal alkyl disposed in radial rows which terminate radially inward from the reactor wall to minimize deposition of the reactants on the reactor wall. The injector head desirably also has inlets (125) for a second gas such as ammonia arranged in a field between the rows of first gas inlets, and additionally has a center inlet (135) for the second gas coaxial with the axis of rotation.

This invention relates to systems for reactive gas phase processing such as chemical vapor deposition.
Chemical vapor deposition ("CVD") reactors permit the treatment of substrates such as wafers mounted on a wafer carrier inside a reaction chamber. A component referred to as a gas distribution injector or injector head is mounted facing towards the wafer carrier. The injector typically includes a plurality of gas inlets that provide some combination of gases to the chamber for chemical vapor deposition. Some gas distribution injectors provide a shroud or carrier gases that assist in providing a laminar gas flow during the chemical vapor deposition process, where the carrier gas typically does not participate in chemical vapor deposition. Many gas distribution injectors have showerhead designs including gas inlets spaced in a pattern on the head.
A gas distribution injector typically permits the direction of precursor gases from gas inlets on an injector surface towards certain targeted regions of the reaction chamber where wafers can be treated for processes such as epitaxial growth of material layers. Ideally, the precursor gases are directed at the wafer carrier in such a way that the precursor gases react as close to the wafers as possible, thus maximizing reaction processes and epitaxial growth at the wafer surface.
In many metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) processes, for example, combinations of precursor gases comprised of metal organics and hydrides, such as ammonia or arsine, are introduced into a reaction chamber through the injector. Process-facilitating carrier gases, such as hydrogen, nitrogen, or inert gases, such as argon or helium, also may be introduced into the reactor through the injector. The precursor gases mix in the reaction chamber and react to form a deposit on a wafer held within the chamber. The carrier gases typically aid in maintaining laminar flow at the wafer carrier.
In this way, epitaxial growth of semiconductor compounds such as, GaAs, GaN, GaAlAs, InGaAsSb, InP, ZnSe, ZnTe, HgCdTe, InAsSbP, InGaN, AlGaN, SiGe, SiC, ZnO and InGaAlP, and the like, can be achieved. Other gas treatment processes are performed for purposes other than epitaxial growth such as, for example, etching.
However, many existing gas injector systems have problems that may interfere with efficient operation or uniform deposition. For example, precursor injection patterns in existing gas distribution injector systems may contain significant "dead space" (space without active flow from gas inlets on the injector surface) resulting in recirculation patterns near the injector.
These recirculation patterns may result in prereaction of the precursor chemicals, causing unwanted deposition of reaction products on the injector. Additionally, unwanted deposition may occur on the wall of the reaction chamber. Such unwanted deposition consumes reactants and decreases the efficiency and reproducibility of the process. Moreover, reaction products deposited on the injector or on the reactor wall can be dislodged and can contaminate the substrates being processed. Thus, many current systems require frequent cleaning of the reactor, which further reduces productivity.
Considerable effort has been devoted in the art to achieving uniform reaction conditions over the entire extent of the wafer carrier, to assure that the deposited layers grow uniformly on all of the substrates. Another desire is to assure that the process gases supplied to all regions of the reactor are used efficiently and are not wasted. However, still further improvements in these aspects of operation would be desirable.
Thus, despite all of the efforts in this area, further improvement would be desirable.


The use of compounds of formula (I) wherein R1, R3, R10, m and Ar are as defined in the Specification and pharmaceutically acceptable salts thereof in the manufacture of a medicament for the treatment or prophylaxis of diseases or conditions in which inhibition of kinase Itk activity is beneficial is disclosed. Certain novel compounds of formula (I), together with processes for their preparation, compositions containing them and their use in therapy are also disclosed

Inducible T cell Kinase (Itk) is a member of the Tec-family of cytosolic protein tyrosine kinases. In mammalians, this family also includes Btk, Tec, Bmx, and Txk. These kinases regulate various immune cell functions that integrate signals given by the other cytosolic tyrosine kinases as well as serine/threonine kinases, lipid kinases, and small G proteins. Tec-family kinases have the following general structure: a N-terminal pleckstrin-homology (PH) domain, a Tec-homology domain that includes a Btk motif and one or two proline-rich (PR) motifs, a SH3 domain, a SH2 domain and a c-terminal catalytic (SH1) domain. These kinases are expressed exclusively in hematopoietic tissues, with the exception of Tec and Bmx that have also been detected in endothelial cells. The cellular distribution is different for the Tec-family members. For example, Itk is expressed by T cells, NK cells and mast cells, whereas Btk is expressed by all hematopoietic cells except T cells. Thus, hematopoietic cells may express one or several Tec-family kinases. For example, T cells express Itk, Tec and Txk, and mast cells express Btk, Itk and Tec. Btk is by far the most extensively studied among the Tec-family kinases, due to its association with X-linked agammaglobulinemia (XLA), and Btk is currently the only Tec-family kinase with a known human phenotype. XLA patients are virtually devoid of mature B cells and their Ig levels are strongly reduced. Itk−/− mice show defects in T cell activation and differentiation. T helper 2 (Th2) differentiation is disrupted in these mice, whereas Th1 differentiation is apparently intact. In T and B cells, signalling through T cell receptors and B cell receptors leads to activation of Itk and Btk, respectively. Downstream of Itk and Btk a number of different messengers are engaged; scaffolding proteins (SLP-76, LAT, SLP-65), Src kinases, MAP kinases, and PI3-K. These events are followed by PLC-γ activation that leads to IP3 generation and sustained Ca2+ flux, and subsequently activation of transcription factors. PLC-γ1 has been suggested as a direct substrate for Itk. In T cells, Itk (and Tec) may also mediate signalling through the CD28 co-receptor. Furthermore, Itk has in T cells been implicated in the activation of β-integrin. Signalling from Tec-family kinases can also be regulated by PH domain-mediated plasma membrane localization, and by Src-family-mediated phosphorylation of critical tyrosine residues. Interestingly, Itk, Btk and Txk have recently been shown to translocate to the nucleus after activation.
From studies using Itk−/− mice, it has been proposed that Itk is required for Th2 but not Th1 cell development. This was demonstrated in the N. brasiliensis and L. major infection models where the Itk−/− animals are protected in the Leishmania model indicating an intact Th1 response, whereas they are susceptible to infection with N. Brasiliensis that requires an intact Th2 response for resolution of the infection. This indicates that modulation of Itk activity may prove useful for treatment of Th2-driven disorders and conditions.
We have identified the critical role of Itk in regulating important mast cell and basophil functions and established that the activity of mast cells or basophils may be inhibited through inhibition of Itk. Thus Itk inhibitors may be used as pharmaceutical agents for the treatment of mast cell-driven or basophil-driven conditions or diseases. In particular, we have identified Itk as a target for inhibiting several key events in both acute and late phase allergic reactions common to allergic rhinitis and asthma.
EP 209 707 discloses particular fused imidazo derivatives, including some imidazopyridines, and their use as potential cardiovascular agents.
DE 2 305 339 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,985,891 disclose certain imidazopyridine derivatives potentially useful as cardiotonics, anticoagulants and as agents for altering blood pressure.
WO 01/96336 discloses certain imidazopyridine derivatives that are useful as inhibitors of the enzyme 15-lipoxygenase.
None of the above publications are concerned with compounds that have utility as inhibitors of the kinase Itk.
The present invention discloses 2-aryl-substituted derivatives of 6-substituted-3H-imidazo[4,5-b]pyridines that are useful as Itk inhibitors.


A rotatable developing roller for carrying out a developer from a vessel containing one-component developer to be conveyed to a developing portion is provided with a developing roller a resilient roller in contact with and rotatable within the vessel. This resilient roller is an independently-porous foam roller having an Asker C hardness of 8.degree. to 15.degree., and is placed into contact with the developing roller so that the variation in a radial direction is 0.5 mm to 1.5 mm. In another aspect, under a surface layer of a cellular material, there is provided an intermediate layer of a cellular material having a compression resiliency lower than that of the surface layer.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a developing device for use in an image forming apparatus such as an electrophotographic apparatus, and more particularly to a developing device for developing an electrostatic latent image with a dry-type one-component developer.
2. Related Background Art
In dry-type one-component developing devices, it is preferable to provide a developer removal/supply member to remove a developer from the surface of a developer bearing member passing through a developing portion at a position upstream of a regulating member for regulating the thickness of a developer layer born by the developer bearings member to the developing portion with respect to a rotational direction of the developer bearing member, as well as supplying the developer onto the surface of the developer bearing member proceeding toward the regulating member.
A well known developer removal/supply member is a brush roller or foamed rubber roller which rotates in contact with a developer bearing member within a developer containing vessel, as described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,075,728 and 5,086,728. The foamed rubber roller may be a continuously-porous or independently-porous foamed rubber roller.
However, a resilient roller of the brush structure as above described is constructed by flocking fibers such as nylon or rayon on a metallic core, wherein there may be clogging between the regulating member and the developer bearing member due to fibers falling out from repetitive use of the developing device over a long term. As a result, there were some cases where white streaks arose on defective portions, and the resilient roller failed to make contact with the developer bearing member because of deterioration of the fibers, whereby the reproduction of a full black image was sometimes insufficient due to ineffective supply and peeling off of developer. Thus, the resilient roller was constituted of a continuously-porous cellular material (with cells communicating with each other, such as polyurethane having a relatively low hardness and placed into contact with the developer bearing member at low pressure, without applying any excessive pressure on the developer, whereby it was made possible to supply the developer onto the developer bearing material and peel off the developer left unconsumed by the development, owing to adequate irregularities on the surface of cellular material.
However, in such a developing device, particularly when a fine grain developer is used under high humidity environments, the developer may gradually enter into the depth of the resilient roller in a number of repetitive developing operations, because the resilient roller is formed of a continuously-porous cellular material having a relatively low density. If such interstitial developer spread over the entire area of the resilient roller, the resilient roller became rigid, and the contact pressure against the developer bearing member became excessive, increasing the driving torque for the developer bearing member and the resilient roller, or causing some unevenness in the developer on the developer bearing member which could be applied and peeled off by the resilient roller, so that the thickness of a developer layer on the developer bearing member might undesirably vary.
In order to prevent the inconvenience due to clogging of developer within the resilient roller, the following constitution can be considered.
1 A non-cellular skin layer for preventing the penetration of developer is provided on the surface of the resilient roller (U.S. Pat. No. 5,086,728).
2 The resilient roller is constituted of an independently-porous cellular material (cells not communicating with each other).
3 Cells (bubbles) of a continuously-porous cellular material are made as fine as possible to obtain a higher density roller.
However, when such a constitution is used for the resilient roller, the following inconveniences may arise. First, with the constitution 1, if the skin layer is placed into contact with the surface of the developer bearing member and rubbed, the action of rubbing the developer on the surface of the skin layer against the developer bearing member may be too strong, and when a number of developing operations are made, the developer may be fused onto the developer bearing member, or the developer material may be changed (developer deterioration), so that the fog might undesirably increase. Also, if the surface of the skin layer is made adequately coarse, the hardness becomes locally higher as compared with the surface of the cellular material (with the local pressure against the developer bearing member being higher), whereby the same problem could not be prevented.
Next, the constituion 2 was described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,075,728 and 5,086,728, but no disclosure of the problems and their measures with the independently-porous cellular material roller was made.
With the constitution 3, if a continuously-porous cellular material having cells as fine as possible (a cell number of 100 cells/inch) is used, rather than the continuously-porous cellular material having the typical number of cells, for example, a cellular material such as polyurethane foam having the cell number of 30 to 50 cells/inch, the entry of toner into the inside of the resilient roller can be prevented to some extent, but the overall hardness of the resilient roller becomes too high. Hence, if such an arrangement is taken that the resilient roller is stably and securely placed into contact with the developer bearing member, the contact pressure against the developer bearing member as well as the developer becomes excessive, increasing the driving torque for the developer bearing member and the resilient roller or raising the fog associated with the developer material change (toner deterioration) due to durability, whereby there occurs some inconvenience.

Developing device including rotatable resilient roller for supplying developer to and removing developer from a developer bearing member


It is provided a method for determining when access control of an electronic lock, controlling access to a restricted physical space, should be performed. The method is performed in an intent determiner and comprising the steps of: obtaining movement data from a first sensor of a portable key device, the movement data indicating movement of the portable key device; obtaining a distance indicator from a second sensor, the distance indicator being indicative of distance between the electronic lock and the user; determining when there is user intent to open based on both the movement data and the distance indicator; and triggering access control to be performed only when user intent has been determined.

Locks and keys are evolving from the traditional pure mechanical locks. These days, there are wireless interfaces for electronic locks, e.g. by interacting with a portable key device. For instance, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) has been used as the wireless interface.
When RFID is used, the user needs to present the portable key device in close proximity to a reader connected to the lock. Moreover, RFID requires a relatively large antenna in the reader by the lock and uses a large amount of energy. Also, RFID is not an interface which can be used for remote system management of the lock; only system management using an RFID device in close proximity of the lock can be used for such tasks. Hence, to allow remote system management, e.g. configuration and monitoring, a second radio interface needs to be added.
Another solution is to use Ultra High Frequency (UHF). However, with UHF, the range is longer and it is difficult to determine intent. One problem if the lock unlocks whenever a valid portable key device is within range is that when a person on the inside of an electronic lock walks past the electronic lock, the electronic lock would open and anyone could gain access to the restricted physical space.

Determining when access control of an electronic lock should be performed


A low energy electron diffraction (LEED) detection module (100) includes: a first vacuum chamber for receiving diffracted electrons from a specimen (109); a larger second vacuum chamber connected to the first vacuum chamber to receive the diffracted electrons that have been transported through the first vacuum chamber; a two-dimensional electron detector disposed in the second vacuum chamber to detect the diffracted electrons; a potential shield (106) disposed generally along an inner surface of the first vacuum chamber and an inner surface of the second vacuum chamber; a magnetic lens (105) to expand a beam of the diffracted electrons that have been transported through the first vacuum chamber towards the two-dimensional electron detector; and a generally plane-shaped energy filter (103) to repel electrons having an energy lower than the probe beam (203) of electrons that impinges on the specimen (109).

LEED has been widely used to analyze surface structure (crystalline) of solid material by the electron diffraction, i.e., Bragg's diffraction of de Broglie wave of low energy electron. LEED is very sensitive to the atomic arrangement near surface; it provides information of dislocations, impurities and contaminations of solid material. LEED is inevitable device in surface science. See Non Patent Literature No. 1.
However, as shown in Non Patent Literature No. 1, conventional LEED apparatus uses electron energy filters made by spherical shaped metal grids in its detection components, usually 5 cm to 10 cm in diameter. Therefore, the size of the LEED apparatus is large, and the it does not fit to typical equipment ports of commercial SEMs (Scanning Electron Microscopes).
In more detail, in the conventional LEED, thermionic electron gun is used to generate a probe electron beam (typically, 0.1 mm diameter, 1 micro-ampere or less, a few 100 Volts) impinging on a sample surface from the normal direction. The inelastic back-scattered electrons are rejected through energy filtering grids made by spherical shaped metal screens (usually 5 cm to 10 cm in diameter). The elastic back-scattered electrons (diffraction) are detected by phosphor screen and a CCD camera. Because it uses fairly large grids, the conventional LEED does not fit within SEM chambers. Also, because the grids are spherical shape, it is not easy to make finer meshes. When the LEED unit is large, it may interfere with other detectors, such as, STEM detector or XRD detector.
Furthermore, even through Bragg's diffraction is caused by atomic arrangement around sample surface, the conventional LEED does not work for imaging the atomic structure; it just shows averaged Bragg's diffraction from crystalline structure. Reason is that the spot size of the probe electron beam in typical LEED apparatus is around 100 micrometers, which is too large, and finest interference fringes associated between two points at both edges on the spot will exceeds the finest pitch of CCD or CMOS detector, and will be hidden in the diffraction image. As a result, it is not possible to recover the real image using holography or iterative phase retrieval process on the diffraction image.
To obtain image of the atomic structure, we need to make the electron beam spot size on the sample as small as 10 nm to 100 nm (for example, using 2000 pixels CCD, at 1 Angstrom De Broglie wavelength of electron for 150 eV, the spot size should be 100 nm or smaller). One way to achieve this is to use the electron beam of SEM for LEED analysis. The SEM generally uses high quality electron beams suitable for this purpose. However, the SEM electron gun and its column are fairly large; they do not fit within a hole on the grid and the detector of the conventional configuration of LEED.

OKINAWA INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY SCHOOL CORPORATION


An automatic drop washer/dryer is disclosed. The automatic drop washer/dryer includes a dryer unit, a washer unit provided above the dryer unit and at least one gate provided between the dryer unit and the washer unit for closing the dryer unit from the washer unit during a washing cycle and allowing clothing to drop from the washer unit and into the dryer unit after the washing cycle.

Conventional clothes washers include a washer unit and a dryer unit which are physically separate from each other. Soiled clothing is initially washed in the washer unit, then manually transferred to the dryer unit and dried. However, much time and effort may be expended in transferring wet clothes from the washer unit to the dryer unit. Therefore, an automatic drop washer/dryer is needed which is capable of washing clothes and then dropping the clothes into the dryer for drying of the clothes.


A fishing lure including a one-piece length of wire configured to have an uppermost loop for attachment of a fishing line, a first linear segment, a first bend, a second linear segment extending from the first bend and towards the uppermost loop so as to be closely adjacent and parallel to a lower portion of the first linear segment, the second linear segment terminating at a second bend, and a third linear segment extending from the second bend to a terminal loop, the second bend configured to orient the third linear segment in a direction extending generally away from the first linear segment and the second linear segment. A hook is positioned on the first bend and a spinner is operatively associated with terminal loop for rotating relative to the terminal loop.

Improvement is desired in the manufacture of fishing lures.
The disclosure advantageously provides a new configuration for a fishing lure, with the lure configured to be able to utilize both an in-line and an offset spinner, and being made from a single length of wire.
In one embodiment, the fishing lure includes a one-piece length of wire configured to have an uppermost loop for attachment of a fishing line, a first linear segment, a first bend, a second linear segment extending from the first bend and towards the uppermost loop so as to be closely adjacent and parallel to a lower portion of the first linear segment, the second linear segment terminating at a second bend, and a third linear segment extending from the second bend to a terminal loop. The second bend is configured to orient the third linear segment in a direction extending generally away from the first linear segment and the second linear segment. A hook is positioned on the first bend, and spinner is operatively associated with terminal loop for rotating relative to the terminal loop to provide an offset spinner. In other configurations, an additional spinner is located between the uppermost loop and the second bend and configured to rotate about the first linear segment.


The present invention provides a new approach and algorithm to optimize various design parameters in global routing. According to an exemplary aspect of the present invention, marked trees are first preprocessed. For every vertex incident to leaves, one may go through the list of its leaves, and if two leaves have the same mark one may leave only one of them. After that whether homeomorphism exists may be determined. The reason behind selecting such homeomorphic pairs is as follows: adding or removing a vertex of degree 2 as well as adding or removing a new leaf (variable) does not significantly modify routing (in this case all routing transformations are in essence splitting and merging routing trees). After the selection of applicable transformations, one may apply them to optimize design parameters. This may be achieved by assigning the same coordinates to nodes of degree !=2 of homeomorphic trees, which means that one may assign the coordinates of corresponding nodes to “essential” nodes and then insert or remove nodes of degree 2.

A typical integrated circuit (IC) design flow often includes a logical design and a physical design. A logic design may include the following steps: (1) design entry (to enter the design into an IC design system, either using a hardware description language or schematic entry); (2) logical synthesis (to use a hardware description language such as VHDL or Verilog or the like and a logical synthesis tool to produce a netlist, which is a description of logical cells and their connections); (3) system partitioning (to divide a large system into small pieces); and (4) pre-layout simulation (to check whether a design functions correctly). A physical design may include the following steps: (1) floorplanning (to arrange blocks of a netlist on a chip); (2) placement (to decide the location of cells in a block); (3) routing (to make connections between cells and blocks); (4) extraction (to determine resistance and capacitance of the interconnect); and (5) post-layout simulation (to check whether the design still works with the added loads of the interconnect).
Once the IC designer has floorplanned a chip and logic cells within the flexible blocks have been placed, it is time to make the connections by routing the chip. Routing is usually divided into global routing and detailed routing. In global routing, connections are completed between the proper blocks of the IC, disregarding the exact geometric details of each wire and terminal. For each wire, a global router finds a list of channels that are to be used as a passageway for that wire. In other words, global routing specifies the loose route of a wire through different regions of the routing space. Thus, a global router does not make any connections—it just plans them. Global routing is followed by detailed routing which completes point-to-point connections between terminals on the blocks. Loose routing is converted into exact routing by specifying the geometric information such as width of wires and their layer assignments. Detailed routing includes the exact channel routing of wires.
The input to a global router is a floorplan that includes the location of all fixed and flexible blocks, the placement information for flexible blocks, and the location of all logical cells. The goal of global routing is to provide complete instructions to the detailed router on where to route every net. Global routing tries to achieve at least one of the following objectives: (1) to minimize the total interconnect length; (2) to maximize the probability that detailed router can complete the routing; and (3) to minimize the critical path delay. Many methods used in global routing are based on the solution to the tree on a graph problem. Therefore, it would be desirable to provide a method and apparatus for performing logical transformations for global routing to optimizing design parameters.

Method and apparatus for performing logical transformations for global routing