An apparatus and method for speech communication is described. An audio transmit processor captures at least two audio signals from an audio source, and processes the at least two audio signals to provide a mono audio signal and a non-audio signal comprising spatial information representative of the direction of the audio source. The audio transmit processor combines the non-audio signal with the mono audio signal by watermarking; and transmits the watermarked audio signal. An audio receive processor receives a watermarked audio signal and extracts a mono audio signal and a non-audio signal comprising spatial information from the watermarked audio signal. The audio receive processor processes the mono audio signal and spatial information to generate at least two output audio signals.

Voice communication is often still carried over a telecommunications network by mono audio signals. For example networks such as those supporting GSM, CDMA communication channels are designed for mono audio signals. At the transmitter end, the audio signal may be captured using one or more microphones and processed to generate a mono audio signal. The mono audio signal is sent to the audio encoder for data compression by a speech codec before being sent over the network. At the receiver end, the received data are decoded by a speech codec which outputs the received mono audio signal. The mono audio signal is then sent to one or more loudspeakers, depending on the playback capabilities of the receiver device and the use case. The encoding and decoding are often specific speech codecs, for example GSM full-rate and enhanced-full-rate, which use speech-specific parameter estimation methods to obtain a compact bit-stream.

Audio communication method and apparatus for watermarking an audio signal with spatial information


An ophthalmic examination system comprising a headrest with a detection element, and an ophthalmic instrument (OI) having a microprocessor and a sensor in communication with the microprocessor. The sensor is configured to detect the presence of the detection element, and the headrest is configured for coupling to the OI.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to ophthalmic instruments such as pupilometers, and, more particularly, to intelligent headrests configured to couple with pupilometers and ocular examination equipment.
2. Description of the Related Art
Most ophthalmic instruments, including pupilometers, have patient interfaces such as eyecups. However, eyecups presently are dumb devices. That is, their only function is to enable an ophthalmic instrument to be positioned in close proximity to an individual's eye and to isolate the eye. They are usually attached by simple attaching means or are integrated into ophthalmic instruments, but have no means of communicating with the instruments to which they are attached.
Devices, such as pupilometers, are used to monitor and detect various optical characteristics. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,260,968 and 6,116,736 (the entireties of both which are incorporated herein by reference), as well as U.S. application Ser. No. 09/711,675, filed Nov. 9, 2000 (the entirety of which is incorporated herein by reference), all disclose pupilometers that are used to detect papillary irregularity. They are often used with eyecups so that the examiner can isolate the pupil. However, the state of the art in eyecups does not permit communication between the eyecup and the pupilometer such that the pupilometer obtains information about the patient from the eyecup being used.
Intelligent headrests and eyecups can be useful for providing information about certain characteristics of the individual being examined, such as whether or not the individual is an adult or a child. Such information can be very useful for calibrating the ophthalmic instrument.
There is a need for headrests that can communicate with the ophthalmic instruments, such as pupilometers, and can provide information about the individual being examined. Such headrests may provide medical practitioners with improved ocular data. Likewise, there is a need for intelligent headrest/ophthalmic instrument systems that are capable of providing medical practitioners with improved ocular data.

Intelligent patient interface for ophthalmic instruments


The objective is to reduce the size of a lever switch device. Disclosed is a lever switch device provided with a restriction wall (49) which is formed between first and second arms (19, 23) and which restricts the movement of the first and second arms (19, 23) against the rotation of first and second levers (13, 15) relative to a movable body (31); and engagement walls (45a, 45b, 47a, 47b) which are formed on first and second fitting portions (45, 47) and which are engaged with the first and second arms (19, 23) by the rotational transfer of the first and second arms (19, 23) caused by the shaft rotation of the first and second levers (13, 15), to cause first and second movable boards (41, 43) to perform a contact operation.

As a conventional lever switch device, there is a lever switch device shown in FIGS. 10 and 11. FIG. 10 is an exploded perspective view showing an assembling relation of a lever switch device, and FIG. 11 is a sectional view showing the periphery of a switch unit of the lever switch device.
A lever switch device 101 shown in FIGS. 10 and 11 is designed to issue electric controlling instructions and includes, for example, functions of a turn signal switch, a flash-to-pass switch, a main beam and dipped beam switching or dimmer switch and a wiper and washer switch.
The lever switch device 101 includes a control lever 103 and a switch unit 105, and the switch unit 105 is mounted on a body 106 side which is fixed to a steering column 104.
The control lever 103 includes a first, second, and third levers 109, 107, 111.
The first lever 109 has a rotary knob 112 which is fixed to one end and a first control rod 113 which is mounted at the other end side thereof. The second lever 107 has a stationary knob 114 which is mounted at one end and a click element supporting tube 115 which is integrally formed at the other end thereof. A second control rod 117 is provided on the click member supporting tube 115.
The third lever 111 is disposed rotatably on an outer circumferential side of the first lever 109 and includes a third control rod 119 at a distal end side thereof.
In addition, the lever switch device 101 includes a click spring 121 and a click element 123.
In the switch unit 105, a movable element 127 is disposed within a case 125 and is supported rotatably by a shaft 127a. A fourth control rod 129 is provided on this movable element 127. The first lever 109 is supported rotatably on the movable element 127 by a shaft 107a. A pole plate 131 is disposed in a lower portion of the case 125. A plurality of fixed contacts are provided on an upper surface side of the pole plate 131. A first movable plate 133, a second movable plate 135, a third movable plate 137 and a fourth movable plate 139 are disposed on the pole plate 131. The first, third and fourth movably plates 133, 137, 139 are disposed in a direction which intersects a lever axis of the control lever 103 (in FIG. 11, in a direction which is at right angles to a surface of a sheet of paper on which FIG. 11 is drawn) so as to move rectilinearly. The second movable plate 135 is disposed in the direction of the lever axis (in FIG. 11, in a left-to-right direction) so as to move rectilinearly.
Headlamps are turned on and off by rectilinear movements of the first movable plate 133. The headlamps are switched between main beams and dipped beams and are turned on for flash-to-pass sign by rectilinear movements of the second movable plate 135. Fog lamps are turned on and off by rectilinear movements of the third movable plate 137. Direction indicator lamps are turned on to flash by rectilinear movements of the fourth movable plate 139.
Engagement portions 141, 143, 145 are provided on the first, third and fourth movable plates 133, 137, 139 so as to cause the first, second, third and fourth movable plates 133, 135, 137, 139 to move rectilinearly, and a hole portion 147 is provided in the second movable plate 135.
Additionally, for example, when the first lever 109 is controlled to turn on its axis by controlling the rotary knob 112, the first control rod 113 is caused to move in a linked fashion. The first control rod 113 imparts an engaging force to the engagement portion 141, whereby the first movable plate 133 moves in the lever axis intersecting direction. By this movement, the headlamps are turned on and off. The movement of the third movable plate 137 as a result of rotational control of the third lever 111 on its axis is similar.
The second movable plate 135 moves rectilinearly in the lever axis direction via the second control rod 117 when the control lever 103 is controlled to swing about the shaft 107a to switch the headlamps between the main beams and the dipped beams and to turn on the headlamps to give a flash-to-pass sign.
As this occurs, the first control rod 113 and the third control rod 119 move in directions which follow the engagement portions 141, 143, and therefore, the first and third movable plates 133, 137 do not move.
The fourth movable plate 139 moves rectilinearly in the lever axis intersecting direction via the fourth control rod 129 when the control lever 103 is controlled to swing about the shaft 127a to flash the direction indicator lamps.
As this occurs, the first and third control rods 113, 119 move in the direction which intersects the surface of the sheet of paper at right angles in which the first and third control rods 113, 119 are brought into engagement with the engagement portions 141, 143. However, clearance is set for the engagement portions 141, 143 in the same direction, whereby the first and third control rods 113, 119 are not brought into engagement with the engagement portions 141, 143, and therefore, the first and third movable plates 133, 137 do not move.
In this way, the various lever controls can be performed smoothly.
In the construction that has been described heretofore, however, a large distance has to be ensured between the axial center of the shaft 127a and the third control rod 119 which is disposed rearwards in the lever axis direction so as for them to be spaced apart largely in order to avoid the interference of the first control rod 113 and the third control rod 119 with the third movable plate 137 (the engagement portion 143), the first movable plate 133 (the engagement portion 141), respectively, which occurs when the control lever 103 is controlled to swing about the shaft 107a.
This causes a problem that a width of the switch unit 105 in the lever axis direction is increased.
Further, when the control lever 103 is controlled to swing about the shaft 127a, a distance over which the third control rod 119 moves rectilinearly in the lever axis intersecting direction (in the direction which intersects the surface of the sheet of paper at right angles) becomes larger by such an extent that the third control rod 119 is spaced away from the axial center of the shaft 127a than when the third control rod 119 is disposed adjacent to the axial center of the shaft 127a.
Because of this, a distance between the position where the third control rod 119 moves and the position where a fixed contact is disposed which is connected to and disconnected from the third movable plate 137 which is actuated as a result of rotational control of the third lever 111 is increased so that the two positions are spaced far apart by such an extent that the third control rod 119 is spaced apart from the axial center of the shaft 127a. Thus, there is possibility that the contact action of the third movable plate 137 by the rotational control of the third lever 111 is not brought about in a stable fashion.
Then, in order to ensure the contact action of the third movable plate 137 by the rotational control of the third lever 111, it is considered that the third control rod 119 is extended to ensure the moving distance of the third movable plate 137. However, in case this configuration is adopted, there is caused a problem that the height of the switch unit 105 in a vertical direction in FIG. 11 is increased.


A wave clip and ornament arrangement, which includes a wave clip for fastening the hair, and an ornament fastened to the wave clip for decoration, wherein the ornament has a bottom cloth layer, an elongated insertion slot at the cloth layer on the middle, and two elongated locating holes provided at the cloth layer and equally spaced from the elongated insertion slot at two opposite sides; the wave clip has two operating handles respectively inserted into the elongated insertion slot at the cloth layer of the ornament and fastened to the cloth layer of the ornament at two opposite sides of the elongated insertion slot, the handles each having an integral hook respectively hooked in the elongated locating holes at the cloth layer of the ornament.

The present invention relates to a wave clip for fastening the hair, and more specifically to a wave clip and ornament arrangement in which the wave clip is decorated with a detachable ornament.
A variety of hair clips and wave clips have been disclosed, and have appeared on the market. Regular wave clips may be decorated with an ornament to attract consumers. The ornament of a regular wave clip is not detachable. A consumer may have to prepare a big number of wave clips of different designs for use to fit different dresses.

4/F., No. 1, Lane 135, Tao-Hsiang Rd., Peitou Dist.


A quick mount adapter and backing plate is provided for use with a surface care tool of conventional manufacture, the tool including a male or female drive spindle with or without an adapter interface. A surface care media is attached directly to the backing plate. The quick mount adapter is configured with an inner sleeve member and an outer sleeve member, the sleeve members being axially movable and spring-biased in relation to one another. A plurality of keeper balls is disposed between the sleeve members to selectively engage and disengage a circumferential groove that is disposed within a hub of the backing plate. The backing plate is configured to be attachable to the quick mount adapter, the quick mount adapter being attachable to the threaded portion of a drive spindle, and to the threaded portion of the drive spindle itself.

The present inventors are aware of prior art that provides a wide variety of rotary or oscillating surface preparation and finishing tools, which can be collectively referred to as "surface care tools," as well as related attachments, including "surface care media," for such tools. Indeed, rotary or oscillating surface preparation and finishing tools are well known in the art. Such surface care tools include, among others, rotary, dual action, oscillating, random orbital or other motion-controlled tools or hand fixtures. A wide variety of attachments for use with such tools also exists and such attachments are similarly known in the art. The available attachments may be attached to and detached from a drive spindle by use of a variety of attachment means. The most typical attachment means is to provide a mechanism for securing the backing plate of a surface preparation or finishing media, such as a buffing pad, directly to the threaded spindle of the rotary or oscillating surface preparation or finishing tool. In the environment where surface preparation or finishing tools of this nature are typically used, however, it is desirable to provide means whereby the backing plate of the surface preparation or finishing media is also quickly and easily removed from the surface care tool. However, mounting of the backing plate in the aforementioned fashion typically is not quick or easy. That is, doing so most frequently requires screwing the attachment on and off by hand, with significant pressure being required to remove the attachment the longer the attachment has been used.
Accordingly, alternative designs of a "quick release" configuration have also included a backing plate that uses Velcro®-type hook and loop surface technology whereby the surface care media (via loops, for example) is attached to the backing plate (via hooks, for example) and the backing plate is, in turn, attached to the spindle of the rotary or oscillating surface preparation or finishing tool. In this type of application, the media itself is provided with a separate backing surface in order to provide sufficient structural support for the loops that are used to connect the media to the backing plate. In addition to increasing the number of different materials that are required to be used with this type of configuration, as well as increasing its complexity, this type of attachment configuration also frequently suffers from precise centering of the surface preparation or finishing media relative to the backing plate. This, in turn, directly results in "wobbling" of the surface preparation or finishing media that is attached to the backing plate during use. That is, there is a problem with the "concentricity" of the media relative to the backing plate. The obvious intended purpose of this type of configuration is to allow the user to minimize handling of the surface preparation or finishing media. However, misalignment and the presence of wobble in the media will often require to user to detach and then re-attach the surface preparation or finishing media several times before this "wobble" is minimized or eliminated. Even a minimal amount of wobble can compromise the quality and consistency of the surface finishing result. Increased wobble can also increase operator fatigue and create the potential for long-term user injury from repeated wobbling vibrations. Furthermore, it is also known to these inventors that the more the media and backing plate is rotated, the more difficult it is to detach the media from the backing plate, as more force or pressure is required to effect this detachment.
In the view of these inventors, there is a clear need to provide an improved system and apparatus that comprises a backing plate with attached surface preparation or finishing media which allows the user to quickly and easily remove the backing plate and its attached media from the surface care tool. By permanently attaching the surface care media to the backing plate, the inadequacies of the hook and loop attachment system are eliminated and this construction would improve the durability of the media. This is true especially around chemicals that are used with the media and in view of washings that are intended to extend the useful life of the surface care media.
There is a need to provide such a system and apparatus while also orientating the backing plate and its associated surface care media in such a way that the spindle of the surface care tool is precisely centered relative to the backing plate and the surface care media that is attached to it. In this fashion, the consistency of the surface preparation and finishing result is enhanced by means of balanced concentricity of the media, which would eliminate wobble, and improve the quality and consistency of the surface finish. What is also needed is such a system and apparatus that utilizes a minimal number of elements and a minimal number of steps to use, thereby making the system and apparatus one that is easy and simple to use, as well as one that minimizes handling of the surface care media and thereby reduces the time to change worn pads or to transition to a different type of pad that would be needed for the next phase of a surface care project. This type of a system and apparatus would also minimize cross-contamination of pads with surface particulate from other previously-used pads or media.
What is also needed is such a system and apparatus that results in securely attaching the backing plate and its associated surface care media to the surface care tool such that the backing plate will not inadvertently detach from the surface care tool under normal use conditions. What is also needed is such a system and apparatus that is versatile such that it also allows the user to alternatively utilize the backing plate with the threaded spindle of a conventional surface care tool when such is desired or required by the user.

Quick mount adapter and backing plate surface care system and apparatus


A semiconductor device includes a common diffusion structure formed in each region of a substrate in which semiconductor components are formed. The diffusion structures are separated into sections by trenches to form semiconductor components. The trenches define sizes of the semiconductor components and isolate the semiconductor components from the surrounding area.

It is proposed that different types of semiconductor components are integrated into a single chip to reduce size of a semiconductor device while increasing its functions. This kind of IC is called a hybrid IC. The different types of semiconductor components may be a complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) transistor, a bipolar transistor, and a laterally diffused metal oxide semiconductors (LDMOS) transistor. The CMOS, bipolar, and LDMOS transistors are digital, analog, and power components, respectively.
In the hybrid IC, a trench isolation structure is applied for providing isolation by trenches among the components to reduce malfunctions due to electric interference. A silicon on insulator (SOI) substrate is used in the hybrid IC and the trenches are formed in the SOI substrate.
During the manufacturing process of the hybrid IC, the area of the SOI substrate is divided into regions by the trenches. Then, CMOS, bipolar, LDMOS transistors are formed in respective regions. The electric interference among semiconductor components can be reduced by using the SOI substrate and the trench isolation structure.
However, the hybrid IC requires a long testing period because it has various types of semiconductor components integrated in a single chip. Manufacturing processes of the semiconductor components, which are different from each other, become more and more complex due to an increase in variety of the semiconductor components. As a result, the testing period of the hybrid IC becomes even longer, and therefore the development period of the hybrid IC becomes longer, increasing the development cost.

Semiconductor device with trench structure and method for manufacturing the same


A process to produce mixed metal oxides and metal oxide compounds. The process includes evaporating a feed solution that contains at least two metal salts to form an intermediate. The evaporation is conducted at a temperature above the boiling point of the feed solution but below the temperature where there is significant crystal growth or below the calcination temperature of the intermediate. The intermediate is calcined, optionally in the presence of an oxidizing agent, to form the desired oxides. The calcined material can be milled and dispersed to yield individual particles of controllable size and narrow size distribution.

Oxides of copper and aluminum are used as catalyst precursors in the manufacture of butynediol-1,4 or other organic compounds. U.S. Pat. No. 4,009,124 teaches a method to make a basic mixed carbonate of copper and aluminum with a defined crystal structure, which, after annealing at 350° to 600° C., produces an amorphous phase, particularly active as a catalyst. The process involves milling and sifting of the annealed product to obtain a suitable particle distribution e.g. from 60 to 200 μm. Discrete forms suitable for use as fixed-bed catalysts are also used.
Novel processes for the manufacture of titanium dioxide from aqueous solutions have been disclosed in PCT Publications WO 01/00530, WO 01/00531, and WO 01/12555, the relevant portions of which are incorporated herein by reference. In general, these applications describe the processing of an aqueous solution of a titanium salt by evaporation to produce an intermediate. The evaporation is conducted at a temperature higher than the boiling point of the solution, but lower than the temperature where significant crystal growth of an oxide phase occurs. In some embodiments, the evaporation may be conducted at a temperature higher than the boiling point of the solution but lower than the calcination temperature of the intermediate.
In the case of titanium solutions, the temperature generally ranges from 120° to 350° C., and preferably from 200° to 250° C. The process is preferably conducted by spraying, and can be accomplished in a spray dryer. The spray drying process produces thin-filmed spheres or parts of spheres, with a diameter of about 1 to 100 μm, and a shell thickness of about 0.03 to 5 μm.
After calcination and milling of these spheres or parts of spheres, and depending on the conditions of evaporation, the choice of additives and the conditions of calcination, ultra-fine nano-sized TiO2 or, alternatively, pigment grade TiO2 can be obtained.
There has been no suggestion, however, that such a process can economically and commercially produce mixed metal oxides and metal oxide compounds. The present invention is therefore directed to a process to economically produce intimate mixtures of oxides or compounds formed from a mixture of oxides, starting from aqueous solutions of salts of different metals.

Method for producing mixed metal oxides and metal oxide compounds


An encapsulation film covering a light emitting element includes: a first inorganic layer covering the light emitting element; an organic layer formed on the first inorganic layer; a second inorganic layer formed on the organic layer; and a third inorganic layer formed on the second inorganic layer. The peripheral end face of the second inorganic layer is aligned with the peripheral end face of the organic layer. The third inorganic layer covers the peripheral end face of the first inorganic layer or the peripheral end face of the second inorganic layer.

In recent years, self-luminous organic electroluminescence (EL) display devices using an organic EL element have attracted attention as an alternative display device to liquid crystal display devices. In an encapsulation structure proposed for the organic EL display devices in order to restrain degradation of the organic EL element due to contamination with moisture, oxygen, etc., an encapsulation film covering the organic EL element is a multilayered film of inorganic and organic films.
For example, Patent Document 1 discloses an organic EL light emitting device in which an uneven structure that restricts resin, which will become a buffer layer covering an organic EL layer, from spreading after being applied is formed in a region surrounding a light emitting region.
Patent Document 2 discloses a method for producing an organic EL element structure in which an multilayered element portion is covered with a first barrier film formed by an atomic layer deposition (ALD) method, the first barrier film is covered with an organic film formed by an isotropic film deposition method, the organic film is anisotropically etched, and the first barrier film is covered with a second barrier film.

Display device and production method therefor


Systems and method for utilizing a generally unused and sealed off portion of an underground limestone mine, generally which is still elsewhere in use, to become a portion of a pollution mitigation system for the exhaust gases of a limestone kiln or other co-located industrial process.

1. Field of the Invention
This disclosure relates to systems and methods for the use of an underground limestone mine in the treatment of effluent gas from an industrial operation.
2. Description of the Related Art
Flue gas treatment has become a focus of electric utilities and industrial operations due to increasingly tighter air quality standards. As companies seek to comply with air quality regulations, the need arises for effective flue gas treatment options. Alkali species based on alkali or alkaline earth metals are common sorbents used to neutralize the acid components of the flue gas. The most common of these alkalis are sodium, calcium, or magnesium-based. A common method of introduction of the sorbents into the gas stream is to use dry sorbent injections.
One commonly used material for the scrubbing of acid gases is hydrated lime. It has been established that hydrated lime can provide a desirable reaction to act as a mitigation agent (due to its favorable reaction with Sulfur Trioxide (SO3)) and hydrated lime systems have been proven successful in many full scale operations. These systems operate continuously to provide utility companies with a dependable, cost-effective means of acid gas control.
At the same time, while lime products can be useful in the elimination of flue gas pollutants, the production of lime, as is true with a variety of industrial processes, can actually serve as a source for pollutants. Specifically, in a variety of industrial processes such as the production of lime, aluminum, steel, or other materials where significant heat is needed, the heat is often generated from the incineration of fuel, such as coal. The gas exiting these smelters and kilns often contains high concentrations of particulate matter as well as the natural by-products of combustion processes, which are essentially the same as those produced from a power plant utilizing the same type of fuel.
In a lime kiln, the gas will generally comprise lime and limestone particles as well as ash particles from the fuel being burned along with various gaseous pollutants including sulfur, nitrogen, carbon oxide, chlorine and mercury compounds. The gas also still contains much of the heat of combustion that was used to calcine the raw material into lime and is in the range of 1200 to 1300 degrees Fahrenheit.
Lime kilns (and other industrial processes for mined products) are often co-located with corresponding mines in order to simplify processing and transportation in the material production. In the case of lime, the underlying mine is generally a mine for limestone and the mine has rarely had all the limestone removed therefrom.
While limestone is commonly obtained from a quarry, the underground mining of limestone can be both economical and necessary in certain areas. This can be for a variety of reasons including regulatory ones and those related to the economy of removing overlaying rock in order to quarry. Underground limestone mines will generally comprise a "room and pillar" construction to provide for sufficient roof support and stability. Thus, a mine which is in use will often have large unused portions where all economical limestone has been removed and miners have moved on to a different area.

Industrial waste heat recovery and concurrent pollution control through the unique application of an underground limestone mine


The present invention pertains to novel diagnostic assays for the diagnosis of amyloidosis, in particular Alzheimer's disease, and related aspects. In particular, monoclonal antibodies and an antibody assay are provided.

Amyloidosis is not a single disease entity but rather a diverse group of progressive disease processes characterized by extracellular tissue deposits of a waxy, starch-like protein called amyloid, which accumulates in one or more organs or body systems. As the amyloid deposits accumulate, they begin to interfere with the normal function of the organ or body system. There are at least 15 different types of amyloidosis. The major forms are primary amyloidosis without known antecedent, secondary amyloidosis following some other condition, and hereditary amyloidosis.
Secondary amyloidosis occurs during chronic infection or inflammatory disease, such as tuberculosis, a bacterial infection called familial Mediterranean fever, bone infections (osteomyelitis), rheumatoid arthritis, inflammation of the small intestine (granulomatous ileitis), Hodgkin's disease and leprosy.
Amyloid deposits include amyloid P (pentagonal) component (AP), a glycoprotein related to normal serum amyloid P (SAP), and sulphated glycosaminoglycans (GAG), complex carbohydrates of connective tissue. Amyloid protein fibrils, which account for about 90% of the amyloid material, comprise one of several different types of proteins. These proteins are capable of folding into so-called "beta-pleated" sheet fibrils, a unique protein configuration which exhibits binding sites for Congo red resulting in the unique staining properties of the amyloid protein.
Many diseases of aging are based on or associated with amyloid-like proteins and are characterized, in part, by the buildup of extracellular deposits of amyloid or amyloid-like material that contribute to the pathogenesis, as well as the progression of the disease. These diseases include, but are not limited to, neurological disorders such as mild cognitive impairment (MCI), Alzheimer's disease (AD), like for instance sporadic Alzheimer's disease (SAD) or Familial Alzheimer's dementias (FAD) like Familial British Dementia (FBD) and Familial Danish Dementia (FDD), neurodegeneration in Down Syndrome, Lewy body dementia, hereditary cerebral hemorrhage with amyloidosis (Dutch type); the Guam Parkinson-Dementia complex. Other diseases which are based on or associated with amyloid-like proteins are progressive supranuclear palsy, multiple sclerosis; Creutzfeld Jacob disease, Parkinson's disease, HIV-related dementia, ALS (amyotropic lateral sclerosis), Adult Onset Diabetes; senile cardiac amyloidosis; endocrine tumors, and others, including macular degeneration.
Although pathogenesis of these diseases may be diverse, their characteristic deposits often contain many shared molecular constituents. To a significant degree, this may be attributable to the local activation of pro-inflammatory pathways thereby leading to the concurrent deposition of activated complement components, acute phase reactants, immune modulators, and other inflammatory mediators (McGeer et al., Tohoku J Exp Med. 174(3): 269-277 (1994)).
Recently, accumulating evidence demonstrates involvement of N-terminal modified Aβ peptide variants in Alzheimer's disease. Aiming biopsies display a presence of Aβ 1-40 and Aβ 1-42 not only in the brain of Alzheimer's patients but also in senile plaques of unaffected individuals. However, N-terminal truncated and pyroGlu modified Aβ N3pE-40/Aβ N3pE-42 is almost exclusively engrained within plaques of Alzheimer's disease patients, making this Aβ variant an eligible diagnostic marker and a potential target for drug development.
At present, several commercial manufacturers offer ELISA kits which allow a detection of Aβ 1-40/1-42 and Aβ N3pE-40/Aβ N3pE-42 in the low picogramm (pg) range.
The brains of Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients are morphologically characterized by the presence of neurofibrillary tangles and by deposits of Aβ peptides in neocortical brain structures (Selkoe, D. J. & Schenk, D. Alzheimer's disease: molecular understanding predicts amyloid-based therapeutics. Annu. Rev. Pharmacol. Toxicol. 43, 545-584 (2003)). Aβ peptides are liberated from the amyloid precursor protein (APP) after sequential cleavage by β- and γ-secretase. The γ-secretase cleavage results in the generation of Aβ 1-40 and Aβ 1-42 peptides, which differ in their C-termini and exhibit different potencies of aggregation, fibril formation and neurotoxicity (Shin, R. W. et al. Amyloid beta-protein (Abeta) 1-40 but not Abeta 1-42 contributes to the experimental formation of Alzheimer disease amyloid fibrils in rat brain. J. Neurosci. 17, 8187-8193 (1997); Iwatsubo, T. et al. Visualization of Abeta 42(43) and Abeta 40 in senile plaques with end-specific Abeta monoclonals: evidence that an initially deposited species is Abeta 42(43). Neuron 13, 45-53 (1994); Iwatsubo, T., Mann, D. M., Odaka, A., Suzuki, N. & Ihara, Y. Amyloid beta protein (Abeta) deposition: Abeta 42(43) precedes Abeta 40 in Down syndrome. Ann. Neurol. 37, 294-299 (1995); Hardy, J. A. & Higgins, G. A. Alzheimer's disease: the amyloid cascade hypothesis. Science 256, 184-185 (1992); Roβner, S., Ueberham, U., Schliebs, R., Perez-Polo, J. R. & Bigl, V. The regulation of amyloid precursor protein metabolism by cholinergic mechanisms and neurotrophin receptor signaling. Prog. Neurobiol. 56, 541-569 (1998)). In addition to C-terminal variability, N-terminally modified Aβ peptides are abundant (Saido, T. C. et al. Dominant and differential deposition of distinct beta-amyloid peptide species, A beta N3(pE), in senile plaques. Neuron 14, 457-466 (1995); Russo, C. et al. Presenilin-1 mutations in Alzheimer's disease. Nature 405, 531-532 (2000); Saido, T. C., Yamao, H., Iwatsubo, T. & Kawashima, S. Amino- and carboxyl-terminal heterogeneity of beta-amyloid peptides deposited in human brain. Neurosci. Lett. 215, 173-176 (1996)). It appears that a major proportion of the Aβ peptides undergoes N-terminal truncation by two amino acids, exposing a glutamate residue, which is subsequently cyclized into pyroglutamate (pE), resulting in Aβ3(pE)-42 peptides (Saido, T. C. et al. Dominant and differential deposition of distinct beta-amyloid peptide species, A beta N3(pE), in senile plaques. Neuron 14, 457-466 (1995); Saido, T. C., Yamao, H., Iwatsubo, T. & Kawashima, S. Amino- and carboxyl-terminal heterogeneity of beta-amyloid peptides deposited in human brain. Neurosci. Lett. 215, 173-176 (1996)). Alternatively, pE may be formed following β′-cleavage by BACE1, resulting in Aβ N11(pE)-42 (Naslund, J. et al. Relative abundance of Alzheimer A beta amyloid peptide variants in Alzheimer disease and normal aging. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 91, 8378-8382 (1994); Liu, K. et al. Characterization of Abeta11-40/42 peptide deposition in Alzheimer's disease and young Down's syndrome brains: implication of N-terminally truncated Abeta species in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease. Acta Neuropathol. 112, 163-174 (2006)). In particular Aβ N3(pE)-42 has been shown to be a major constituent of Aβ deposits in sporadic and familial Alzheimer's disease (FAD) (Saido, T. C. et al. Dominant and differential deposition of distinct beta-amyloid peptide species, A beta N3(pE), in senile plaques. Neuron 14, 457-466 (1995); Miravalle, L. et al. Amino-terminally truncated Abeta peptide species are the main component of cotton wool plaques. Biochemistry 44, 10810-10821 (2005)).
The Aβ N3pE-42 peptides coexist with Aβ 1-40/1-42 peptides (Saido, T. C. et al. Dominant and differential deposition of distinct beta-amyloid peptide species, Abeta N3pE, in senile plaques. Neuron 14, 457-466 (1995); Saido, T. C., Yamao, H., Iwatsubo, T. & Kawashima, S. Amino- and carboxyl-terminal heterogeneity of beta-amyloid peptides deposited in human brain. Neurosci. Lett. 215, 173-176 (1996)), and, based on a number of observations, could play a prominent role in the pathogenesis of AD. For example, a particular neurotoxicity of Aβ N3pE-42 peptides has been outlined (Russo, C. et al. Pyroglutamate-modified amyloid beta-peptides—AbetaN3(pE)—strongly affect cultured neuron and astrocyte survival. J. Neurochem. 82, 1480-1489 (2002) and the pE-modification of N-truncated Aβ peptides confers resistance to degradation by most aminopeptidases as well as Aβ-degrading endopeptidases (Russo, C. et al. Pyroglutamate-modified amyloid beta-peptides—AbetaN3(pE)—strongly affect cultured neuron and astrocyte survival. J. Neurochem. 82, 1480-1489 (2002); Saido, T. C. Alzheimer's disease as proteolytic disorders: anabolism and catabolism of beta-amyloid. Neurobiol. Aging 19, S69-S75 (1998)). The cyclization of glutamic acid into pE leads to a loss of N-terminal charge resulting in accelerated aggregation of Aβ N3pE compared to the unmodified Aβ peptides (He, W. & Barrow, C. J. The Abeta 3-pyroglutamyl and 11-pyroglutamyl peptides found in senile plaque have greater beta-sheet forming and aggregation propensities in vitro than full-length A beta. Biochemistry 38, 10871-10877 (1999); Schilling, S. et al. On the seeding and oligomerization of pGlu-amyloid peptides (in vitro). Biochemistry 45, 12393-12399 (2006)). Thus, reduction of Aβ N3pE-42 formation should destabilize the peptides by making them more accessible to degradation and would, in turn, prevent the formation of higher molecular weight Aβ aggregates and enhance neuronal survival.
However, for a long time it was not known how the pE-modification of Aβ peptides occurs. Recently, it was discovered that glutaminyl cyclase (QC) is capable to catalyze Aβ N3pE-42 formation under mildly acidic conditions and that specific QC inhibitors prevent Aβ N3pE-42 generation in vitro (Schilling, S., Hoffmann, T., Manhart, S., Hoffmann, M. & Demuth, H.-U. Glutaminyl cyclases unfold glutamyl cyclase activity under mild acid conditions. FEBS Lett. 563, 191-196 (2004); Cynis, H. et al. Inhibition of glutaminyl cyclase alters pyroglutamate formation in mammalian cells. Biochim. Biophys. Acta 1764, 1618-1625 (2006)).
Lewy body dementia (LBD) is a neurodegenerative disorder that can occur in persons older than 65 years of age, and typically causes symptoms of cognitive (thinking) impairment and abnormal behavioral changes. Symptoms can include cognitive impairment, neurological signs, sleep disorder, and autonomic failure. Cognitive impairment is the presenting feature of LBD in most cases. Patients have recurrent episodes of confusion that progressively worsen. The fluctuation in cognitive ability is often associated with shifting degrees of attention and alertness. Cognitive impairment and fluctuations of thinking may vary over minutes, hours, or days. Lewy bodies are formed from phosphorylated and nonphosphorylated neurofilament proteins; they contain the synaptic protein alpha-synuclein as well as ubiquitin, which is involved in the elimination of damaged or abnormal proteins. In addition to Lewy Bodies, Lewy neurites, which are inclusion bodies in the cell processes of the nerve cells, may also be present. Amyloid plaques may form in the brains of patients afflicted with DLB, however they tend to be fewer in number than seen in patients with Alzheimer's disease. Neurofibrillary tangles, the other micropathological hallmark of AD, are not a main characteristic of LBD but are frequently present in addition to amyloid plaques.
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is characterized by degeneration of upper and lower motor neurons. In some ALS patients, dementia or aphasia may be present (ALS-D). The dementia is most commonly a frontotemporal dementia (FTD), and many of these cases have ubiquitin-positive, tau-negative inclusions in neurons of the dentate gyrus and superficial layers of the frontal and temporal lobes.
Inclusion-body myositis (IBM) is a crippling disease usually found in people over age 50, in which muscle fibers develop inflammation and begin to atrophy—but in which the brain is spared and patients retain their full intellect. Two enzymes involved in the production of amyloid-β protein were found to be increased inside the muscle cells of patients with this most common, progressive muscle disease of older people, in which amyloid-β is also increased.
Another disease that is based on or associated with the accumulation and deposit of amyloid-like protein is macular degeneration. Macular degeneration is a common eye disease that causes deterioration of the macula, which is the central area of the retina (the paper-thin tissue at the back of the eye where light-sensitive cells send visual signals to the brain). Sharp, clear, "straight ahead" vision is processed by the macula. Damage to the macula results in the development of blind spots and blurred or distorted vision. Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a major cause of visual impairment in the United States and for people over age 65 it is the leading cause of legal blindness among Caucasians. Approximately 1.8 million Americans of age 40 and older have advanced AMD, and another 7.3 million people with intermediate AMD are at substantial risk for vision loss. The government estimates that by 2020 there will be 2.9 million people with advanced AMD. Victims of AMD are often surprised and frustrated to find out how little is known about the causes and treatment of this blinding condition.
There are two forms of macular degeneration: dry macular degeneration and wet macular degeneration. The dry form, in which the cells of the macula slowly begin to break down, is diagnosed in 85 percent of macular degeneration cases. Both eyes are usually affected by dry AMD, although one eye can lose vision while the other eye remains unaffected. Drusen, which are yellow deposits under the retina, are common early signs of dry AMD. The risk of developing advanced dry AMD or wet AMD increases as the number or size of the drusen increases. It is possible for dry AMD to advance and cause loss of vision without turning into the wet form of the disease; however, it is also possible for early-stage dry AMD to suddenly change into the wet form.
The wet form, although it only accounts for 15 percent of the cases, results in 90 percent of the blindness, and is considered advanced AMD (there is no early or intermediate stage of wet AMD). Wet AMD is always preceded by the dry form of the disease. As the dry form worsens, some people begin to have abnormal blood vessels growing behind the macula. These vessels are very fragile and will leak fluid and blood (hence 'wet' macular degeneration), causing rapid damage to the macula.
The dry form of AMD will initially often cause slightly blurred vision. The center of vision in particular may then become blurred and this region grows larger as the disease progresses. No symptoms may be noticed if only one eye is affected. In wet AMD, straight lines may appear wavy and central vision loss can occur rapidly.
Diagnosis of macular degeneration typically involves a dilated eye exam, visual acuity test, and a viewing of the back of the eye using a procedure called fundoscopy to help diagnose AMD, and—if wet AMD is suspected—fluorescein angiography may also be performed. If dry AMD reaches the advanced stages, there is no current treatment to prevent vision loss. However, a specific high dose formula of antioxidants and zinc may delay or prevent intermediate AMD from progressing to the advanced stage. Macugen® (pegaptanib sodium injection), laser photocoagulation and photodynamic therapy can control the abnormal blood vessel growth and bleeding in the macula, which is helpful for some people who have wet AMD; however, vision that is already lost will not be restored by these techniques. If vision is already lost, low vision aids exist that can help improve the quality of life.
One of the earliest signs of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the accumulation of extracellular deposits known as drusen between the basal lamina of the retinal pigmented epithelium (RPE) and Bruch's membrane (BM). Recent studies conducted by Anderson et al. have confirmed that drusen contain amyloid beta. (Experimental Eye Research 78 (2004) 243-256).
The aim of the present invention is to establish a highly sensitive and concomitantly robust detection technique that allows quantitative determination of Aβ variants, in particular pGlu-Aβ peptides, in biological samples, e.g. liquor or serum samples, preferably serum samples. This is a tremendous challenge, taking the low abundance of Aβ peptides in blood into account. Having such a detection technique available is, however, a prerequisite for studying efficacy of small molecule inhibitors in drug screening programs.
The present invention provides novel methods and compositions comprising highly specific and highly effective antibodies, including chimeric antibodies and fragments thereof, including partially or fully humanized antibodies and fragments thereof, having the ability to specifically recognize and bind to specific epitopes from a range of β-amyloid antigens, in particular pGlu-Aβ peptides, which may be presented to the antibody in a monomeric, dimeric, trimeric, etc, or a polymeric form, in form of an aggregate, fibers, filaments or in the condensed form of a plaque. The antibodies enabled by the teaching of the present invention are particularly useful for diagnosis of amyloidosis, a group of diseases and disorders associated with amyloid plaque formation including secondary amyloidosis and age-related amyloidosis including, but not limited to, neurological disorders such as Alzheimer's Disease (AD), Lewy body dementia, Down's syndrome, hereditary cerebral hemorrhage with amyloidosis (Dutch type); the Guam Parkinson-Dementia complex; as well as other diseases which are based on or associated with amyloid-like proteins such as progressive supranuclear palsy, multiple sclerosis; Creutzfeld Jacob disease, hereditary cerebral hemorrhage with amyloidosis Dutch type, Parkinson's disease, HIV-related dementia, ALS (amyotropic lateral sclerosis), Adult Onset Diabetes; senile cardiac amyloidosis; endocrine tumors, and others, including macular degeneration, to name just a few.
To meet all demands mentioned above, an ELISA based technique would be especially preferable. The task was started with AP N3pE ELISA, because for this Aβ variant an ELISA system is already commercially available (Human Amyloid β (N3pE) Assay Kit—IBL, Code No. 27716), which is to be used as reference and internal quality control. Capturing of the Aβ N3pE-40 peptide was done with the hAβ (x-40) ELISA (HS) from TGC (The Genetics Company, Inc., Wagistrasse 23, 8952 Schlieren, Zurich area Switzerland), which should facilitate and expedite the process of development.

Antibodies specific for N-terminal truncated and pyroglutamate modified amyloid-beta peptides


Application of uncured adhesive material in bead ring on a surface using a device that includes a nozzle comprising a nozzle intake port, a nozzle outlet port, and a nozzle cavity connecting and providing fluid communication between the inlet and outlet ports. The nozzle intake port receives uncured adhesive material into the nozzle cavity from a source of uncured adhesive material. The outlet port has an annular shape that forms an annular bead of adhesive material on a surface onto which the nozzle is dispensing adhesive material. The nozzle cavity comprises an annular flow path leading to the annular outlet port and shaped to dispense adhesive material through the outlet port axially. The nozzle comprises inner and outer concentric walls defining the annular flow path therebetween.

1. Field
This application relates generally to a method and device for applying an annular bead of adhesive material to a surface.
2. Description of Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 CFR 1.97 and 1.98
Manufacturing processes in many fields require large numbers of extremely precise and consistent applications of adhesive material. For example, the preparation of thousands of holes commonly formed in aircraft skin panels to receive skin panel fasteners includes the mounting of thousands of nutplates in alignment with the respective skin panel fastener holes. To affix each nutplate, it is known to apply an annular bead of adhesive material either to a flange portion of the nutplate around a fastener hole in the nutplate, or to a skin panel to which the nutplate is to be affixed, around a corresponding skin panel fastener hole. The nutplate is then applied to the skin panel with the nutplate fastener hole aligned with the skin panel fastener hole and the annular bead of adhesive material sandwiched between the nutplate flange and the skin panel. In either case, the annular bead of adhesive material must be applied consistently in sufficient quantity and with sufficient surface area to securely attach the nutplate to the skin panel without flowing into and migrating along the nutplate fastener hole and between the flange and a floating element of the nutplate. Curing of adhesive material between a flange and floating element of a nutplate can jam or otherwise impede proper functioning of the nutplate. Current adhesive material application techniques rely on installer skill to accomplish the task of adhesive material application, with the inevitable result being that many nutplates are either insufficiently attached (resulting in failure of a subsequent push test, and requiring reinstallation), or are rendered inoperable due to adhesive contamination and must be replaced.


Optimal rehalftone screen frequencies are found by searching frequency space for points that are maximally spaced from significant frequency components of an input image halftone screen or screens. Selecting a rehalftone screen having a maximally spaced frequency produces moiré of the highest frequency possible. High frequency moiré are visually unobjectionable. Optimal rehalftone frequencies may be found near the maximally spaced points where system or other constraints limit the usefulness of the maximally spaced points. Rehalftone screen frequencies in the range of about 1.4 to about 1.8 times the fundamental frequency of the input image halftone screen are often optimal. A rehalftone screen frequency of 1.5 times the fundamental frequency of the input image halftone screen is often optimal when the input image is monochrome and uses a dot screen.

The invention is related to the art of rendering images. The invention is applicable where, for example, descreened halftone or gray halftone images are to be rehalftoned. The invention will be described in relation to a xerographic environment. However, those of skill in the art will understand that the invention can be applied in other digital imaging applications. For example, the invention can be applied in lithographic, ionographic and ink jet environments.
Many gray halftone images must be transformed to binary form in order to provide signals that can drive an imager. For example, when a halftone image is scanned by a photocopier, the scanning process creates a gray halftoned version of the image. Most rendering devices are binary in nature. Therefore, the gray halftoned version of the image must be rehalftoned before a copy of the image can be made by a rendering device, such as, for example, a xerographic print engine. Other sources of gray halftone images include, but are not limited to, JPEG uncompressed halftone images and multi-level halftoned images.
A problem associated with rendering such rehalftoned images is the creation of moiré due to the beating of frequency components in a rehalftoning screen with frequency components in the original halftone screens. Therefore, one approach to rendering images that must be rehalftoned is to first descreen the image and then rehalftone. The descreening process tends to filter or average out the original halftone screen. However, descreening is not always desirable. For instance, descreening can introduce an undesirable blur into an image. Furthermore, descreening does not always completely eliminate the original halftone pattern. Therefore, a residual halftone screen component can remain in the image and rehalftoning can yield objectionable moiré.
Another approach is to simply rehalftone the gray halftoned image. As explained by David Blatner, Glen Fleischman, and Steve Roth in their book Real World Scanning and Halftones, Peach Pit Press, 1998, page 280, in simply rehalftoning the gray halftoned image, "the idea is to have an integral relationship between the original's screen frequency and the output frequency (1:1, 2:1, etc.)." However, if the rehalftone screen frequency is not an exact integral of the original's screen frequency, or if the screen angles don't exactly match, objectionable, low frequency moiré are likely to be produced.
Other approaches, such as, stochastic screening and error diffusion, often yield fragmented halftone dots that appear noisy and have high dot gain. Fragmented dots also do not render colors and gray tones as consistently as when the dots are clustered. Clustered dots tend to yield prints that are more consistent in color across a page and from print to print.
Rehalftoning at integrals of the original halftone screen frequency is suggested so all strong beats between the rehalftone screen and the original screen will occur at zero frequency. This strategy works well for applications where all screen frequencies and screen angles are known exactly and are achievable. However, this strategy is very poor if there is some uncertainty or inability to exactly achieve the required screen frequencies and angles. A small deviation in either screen frequency or angle from an exact integer multiple of an original screen frequency is likely to yield objectionable, low frequency moiré.
Unfortunately, in many rehalftoning applications, the exact frequency and angle of an original halftone screen is unavailable. For example, in a photocopying environment where a user simply places an image on a scanner and requests that copies be made, information is usually unavailable as to how the image was originally halftoned. Additionally, the angle at which the image is placed on the scanner may also be unknown. In addition, paper shrinkage occurs in many printing processes and often the shrinkage varies across a sheet of paper. Knowledge of the exact original halftone frequency does not fully describe the complicated frequency content that can occur on a scanned page. Therefore, selecting a rehalftone screen that meets the criteria of integral multiples of original screen frequency can be problematic.
Therefore, there is desire to provide a method for rendering descreened and gray halftone images that does not introduce objectionable moiré and does not produce significant dot fragmentation.

Rehalftoning of gray halftones with optimal screen frequency for robust suppression of moiré


A liquid agent for a contact lens containing, as a preservative or sterilizing component, a carboxylated amine represented by the following formula, ##STR1## wherein R.sub.1 represents an alkyl group having 6-18 carbon atoms, R.sub.2 represents an alkylene group having 1-18 carbon atoms, A represents Na, K or H, and X represents H or --R.sub.3 COOZ group, wherein R.sub.3 represents an alkylene group having 1-18 carbon atoms and Z represents Na, K or H.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid agent for contact lens, which agent is capable of exhibiting an excellent preservative or sterilizing effect while assuring a sufficiently high degree of safety with respect to the eyes of the user.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
The contact lens worn on the eye of the user is likely to be soiled with stains such as proteins and lipids which are included in the tear fluid. These stains adhering to the contact lens not only deteriorate the wearing comfort of the contact lens as felt by the user, but also lower the eyesight of the user and cause various troubles to the eye such as hyperemia of the conjunctiva. Further, microorganisms such as bacteria adhering to the surface of the contact lens may proliferate thereon while the contact lens is stored after it is removed from the eye of the user. Such microorganisms may cause infectious diseases, giving adverse influences on the eye of the user.
In view of the above, the contact lens needs to be treated for cleaning and disinfection on a regular basis for safe and comfortable wearing thereof. In general, the contact lens is treated in the following manner. Initially, the contact lens which was removed from the eye is rubbed with a cleaning agent including a surface active agent, to thereby remove lipid stains deposited on the sufaces of the contact lens. If it is desired to remove protein stains, the contact lens is soaked in a cleaning agent including a proteolytic enzyme so as to remove the protein stains. After the contact lens is rinsed with a rinsing liquid, the contact lens is accommodated and stored in a container filled with a storing liquid. Since the microorganisms tend to adhere to and proliferate on the lens surfaces, especially where the contact lens is a water-containing or hydrogel lens, such water-containing or hydrogel contact lens needs to be disinfected by boiling. Namely, the hydrogel contact lens accommodated in a container requires a boiling procedure using a suitable boiling apparatus, in addition to the above-described procedure.
Thus, the procedure for treating the contact lenses is cumbersome, requiring several kinds of liquid agents such as a cleaning liquid and storing liquid, and a suitable apparatus for boiling the contact lenses. Accordingly, it is troublesome and costly for the contact lens users to treat the contact lenses.
For solving the above-described problem, there are proposed some methods for treating the contact lens in a simplified manner at a relatively low cost. These methods permit the contact lens to be treated by using a single liquid agent which is obtained by adding, to the storing liquid, a surface active agent, a protein removing agent, and a disinfectant. In these proposed methods, the contact lens is disinfected not by a thermal disinfecting method which requires the above-described boiling apparatus, but by a chemical disinfecting method using a disinfectant. Thus, the proposed methods eliminate the conventionally required boiling operation using the exclusive apparatus for boiling the contact lens, so as to facilitate the procedure for treating the contact lens.
The above-described contact lens liquid agent functions not only as a disinfectant which has a chemical disinfecting effect, but also as a storing liquid. Such a contact lens liquid agent is required to exhibit a high degree of sterilizing effect, and at the same time, a low degree of toxicity with respect to the eyes, since the contact lens is soaked in the liquid agent for a relatively long period of time.
As the disinfectant used in commercially available chemical disinfecting agents for the contact lens, thimerosal, chlorhexidine or quaternary ammonium salt (e.g., benzalkonium chloride) is used. In JP-A-52-109953, JP-A-62-153217 and JP-A-63-59960, there are proposed a disinfectant or liquid agent for contact lenses, which includes benzalkonium chloride in an amount of 0.001-0.2%, and a disinfectant for soft contact lenses, which includes chlorhexidine in an amount of 0.01-0.05%.
However, it is reported that such a disinfectant functions as an allergy intensifier and harms to the eyes of the user. Further, the disinfectant is adsorbed on or stored in the contact lens over a long period of use. For example, corneal troubles may be caused due to emission of the highly condensed disinfectant from the contact lens to the eye during wearing of the contact lens, or due to direct contact of the eye with the contact lens on which the disinfectant is adsorbed with high concentration ("Journal of Japan Contact Lens Society" 34:267-276, 277-282, 1992, 35:219-225, 1993, 36:57-61, 1994, 37:35-39, 154-157, 1995).
In an attempt to avoid such troubles, it may be considered to lower the concentration of the disinfectant to be used, for assuring a high degree of safety with respect to the eyes. In this case, however, the sterilizing action of the disinfectant is inevitably lowered, so that the contact lens may become contaminated with the microorganisms.

Liquid agent for contact lens containing carboxylated amine as a preservative or sterilizing component


A hybrid actuation system comprises first and second actuator arrangements (10, 12) arranged to apply first and second output loads respectively to a common element (14). A control method for controlling the operation of the hybrid actuation system includes the steps of supplying first and second demand signals to the first and second actuator arrangements (10, 12) respectively to cause movement of the common element (14) into a demanded position, monitoring the first and second output loads applied by the first and second actuator arrangements (10, 12) and generating an output signal indicative of the difference between the first and second output loads. The first and second demand signals are corrected in response to the output signal to compensate for any difference between the first and second output loads, thereby to ensure the first and second output loads applied to the common element (14) are substantially identical and synchronized.

Known hydraulic actuation systems may include two servo actuator arrangements, each being arranged to drive opposite ends or different regions of a common element. Each servo actuator arrangement includes a linear actuator having first and second opposing end chambers. The pressure of fluid within the first and second chambers, and hence the position of the actuator, is controlled by means of an electrohydraulic servo valve. The servo valve is supplied with an electrical current which energises a winding of the servo valve to control the position of a spool valve and, hence, the flow of fluid to the first and second chambers of the actuator.
In some applications, it has been recognised that the use of electric actuator systems, as opposed to hydraulic systems, offers the potential for increased reliability and efficiency and reduced weight and manufacturing cost. One type of actuation system that uses direct electrical power for actuation is commonly referred to as an electrohydrostatic or electro hydraulic actuator (EHA). Another type is an electromechanical actuator (EMA). Both EHA and EMA systems employ a servomotor arrangement to control motor operation so as to position a linear actuator. Both systems rely on changes of motor speed and direction to convert rotary energy produced by the electric motor to linear actuator energy. In an EHA system, the energy transformation is through a hydraulic medium charged by a fixed displacement pump, whereas in an EMA system the transformation is by mechanical means.
Another type of electric actuation system is an Integrated Actuation Package (IAP) such as that described in U.S. Ser. No. 60/092,942, in which the control of the displacement of a hydraulic pump (i.e. the control of hydraulic flow rate and flow direction) is used to position a linear actuator. IAP systems typically include a fixed speed, unidirectional electric motor powered by an electrical source, a hydraulic servo pump and a linear hydraulic actuator. A control system is arranged to control the position of the actuator by changing the displacement of the servo pump to vary the hydraulic pump output flow rate and flow direction in response to actuator command signals and position error signals.
As an intermediate step towards using only electric actuation systems, for some applications it has been proposed to drive an object by means of a dual servo/electric actuator arrangement, the servo actuator being arranged to drive a first part of the object and the electric actuator being arranged to drive another part of the object remotely spaced from the first part. However, due to the different operating characteristics of the electric actuator and the servo actuator, there can be undesirable differences in the load applied by each actuator and the relative timing of the applied loads. This can result in excessive energy waste and undesirable stresses being applied to the driven object.


A plurality of kinds of electronic source documents are held, and an electronic binder builder selects a desired electronic source document page from electronic source document pages of the plurality of kinds of held electronic source documents. Based on the selected electronic source document page, an integrated electronic document is composed, and page relation between pages in the electronic source document having electronic source document pages constituting the integrated electronic document and pages in a converted integrated electronic document of electronic source document pages constituting the converted integrated electronic document with the integrated electronic document converted into a predetermined file format is managed.

Business entities try to promote reuse of documents by introducing a document management system. Products at early stage receive a paper document as an image using a scanner and registers and saves the image. Recently, many electronic documents are created by personal computers, and even they can also be registered and saved. In addition, recently, arbitrary pages can be extracted from a plurality of registered electronic documents and bound like a binder to form one electronic document. This will be referred to as an electronic binder hereinafter.
Conventionally, however, when documents composed by selecting only required partial documents from a plurality of electronic source documents (application files and scan images) are managed with electronic binders, these selected partial documents are managed as converted and generated documents generated in such a manner that they are converted into unified predetermined file formats defined in advance (image file formats, PDF formats, MultiPage TIFF formats). Therefore, if one wants to delete a part of the converted and generated electronic document and thereafter bring back the deleted part, the converted and generated electronic document should be recomposed using a partial document including the deleted part before being managed with the electronic binder.
To realize such an electronic binder, conventionally, a plurality of different electronic documents are temporarily converted into a unitary electronic document format, and the converted electronic documents are edited to compose a desired generated electronic document. In this method, new electronic documents, which are completely separated from electronic source documents as materials, are edited to compose a generated electronic document. When the electronic source documents are changed, the changed electronic source documents are temporarily deleted from the generated electronic document, and then the changed electronic source documents are input again.
At this time, when a plurality of generated electronic documents, for example, generated electronic documents for sales, planning and development are created from one and the same electronic source document, relation of the electronic source document with the generated electronic documents cannot be managed, and therefore if the electronic source document is changed, all the generated electronic documents having the electronic source document as a component must be modified one by one, which leads to much expense in time and effort. There is also a disadvantage that oversights are likely to be caused and failures in modification frequently occur.
Furthermore, annotation information to be attached to the conventional electronic binder can be attached to each of the electronic document in the material (electronic source document) constituting the electronic binder and the generated electronic document generated by binding the electronic source document, but the annotation information has no relation with each other. Therefore, in the case where the generated electronic document is composed of the electronic source document to which annotation information has already been attached, and annotation information is further added to this generated electronic document, for example, the each annotation information should be managed separately, even though the file format of the annotation information attached to the electronic source document for composition and the format of the annotation information that is further attached to the generated electronic document are identical to each other.
Also, if the generated electronic document is composed using as an image the electronic source document with annotation information attached thereto, the annotation information will have relation only with the image. Therefore, when the generated electronic document is composed with an image newly created by changing the electronic source document, for example, the annotation information attached to the pre-change electronic source document before it is changed cannot be incorporated in the post-change electronic source document.

Information processing apparatus, method therefor, and computer-readable memory


A folding table movable between a folded position and a plurality of upright positions is disclosed. Each of the upright positions corresponds to a different table height. The folding table includes a table top and a scissor-folding table base assembly having first and second legs. The second leg is slidably retained adjacent a lower surface of the table top, and the first and second legs are pivotably connected to one another to form an X-shape. A clamp having a plurality of retaining notches retains the second leg against the lower surface of the table top. Movement of the second leg from a first retaining notch to a second notch causes the table to move from a first to a second upright position, having a different tabletop height. The table legs may also be collapsed into a folded position.

It is at times desirable to have a small table to use in the performance of certain tasks. For instance, a small table may be useful for eating, reading, writing, or working with a computer. However, the optimal table top height for the performance of each of these tasks may not be the same. Certain tasks may be more preferably performed on a taller table while other tasks are more preferably carried out using a somewhat shorter table. Moreover, it is also desirable to have a table whose legs fold up for storage when the task or tasks are completed.
Thus, there for a folding table for personal use, which may be configured for use at a plurality of differing table top heights.


An auto body bench (10) comprises a pair of scissor type leg assemblies (12). A first structure (14) is for connecting a first top end of each scissor type leg assembly (12) together. A second structure (16) is for connecting a second top end of each scissor type leg assembly (12) together. A facility (18) is for applying a twisting action between the scissor type leg assemblies (12). A system (20) is for adjusting the scissor type leg assemblies (12) between a closed collapsible position "A" to an opened useable position "B", so that the first connecting structure (14) and the second connecting structure (16) will support thereon a damaged small auto body part (22) removed from an automobile (24).

1. Field of the Invention
The instant invention relates generally to workbenches and more specifically it relates to an auto body bench. The auto body bench is a collapsible, adjustable, scissor leg type bench having a foldable tray with a pry bar and leverage bar, accommodated with clamps and hammers, to perform a task or procedure called skinning a door, in which a damaged outer door panel is replaced with a new one. The auto body bench is designed for car doors, but can be also used for a variety of functions in an auto body shop, so as to replace the standard workbench now in use.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Almost all automobiles involved in a side collision will have door damage. Often, the inner door panels will be undamaged or will have only minor damage that may be easily straightened. The outer panel of a door is also known in the auto body trade as the door skin, or simply skin. This is the outside surface of the door.
In the auto body industry there is a procedure called skinning a door, where when the outside cosmetic skin being damaged is peeled off and a new one is attached in its place. The new panel or skin has a half inch flange on its perimeter which is folded in and crimped tight, so that it adheres to the old door shell or main frame.
Replacing an outer door panel is a common replacement job done in a body shop. If the skin is damaged to a great extent, it is almost always replaced. Door skins are about the easiest panels to replace. When the labor charge to straighten a door skin would amount to three or four hours, it would probably be less expensive to replace the panel with a new skin.
Generally, door skins are inexpensive. They can be quickly installed, when compared to an entirely new door. A new skin gives the appearance of a new door. Also, the skin can often be installed without removing the inner working parts of the door or window glass. However, the inside trim panel may need to be removed. The outer door handle is usually bolted to the door skin from the inside. Since only the outer panel is damaged, a new skin will be installed. This will save the time required to work out the damage.
Presently this task is accomplished on a variety of standard workbenches or work areas. The folding and crimping process is done by various hammers and dollies or blocks and leave the technician to wrestle with the door, while performing this awkward procedure. The standard workbench is usually used to work on smaller parts that have been removed from the car. By using the standard workbench, the parts are held at waist level, high enough to be easily worked on. The standard workbench is strong, stable, and made of steel, but is non-collapsible. A stationary shelf can be mounted beneath the standard workbench to store smaller tools, such as a tap and die set or electric drills, but cannot be folded up. While these units may be suitable for the particular purpose to which they address, they would not be as suitable for the purposes of the present invention as heretofore described.


A power semiconductor module has a detector for detecting main circuit current passing through a power semiconductor element. The detector includes first and second circuit patterns; a bonding wire connected at first and second bonding points with the first and second circuit patterns, respectively; and a pair of terminal patterns extended from near the first and second bonding points of the first and second circuit patterns. The detector is designed to detect a potential difference between the pair of terminal patterns generated by flowing main circuit current through the first circuit pattern, the bonding wire and then the second circuit pattern, in order to detect a potential difference across the bonding wire.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a power semiconductor module, and in particular to a power semiconductor module having a detector for detecting main circuit current passing through a power semiconductor element. The present invention also relates to a system for determining the main circuit current.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, there has been known a power semiconductor module in which main circuit current passing through a power semiconductor element is detected in order to prevent a breakdown of the element due to overcurrent or to feedback control an external load, as disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Publication No. 6-112614.
In general, in order to detect main circuit current through a power semiconductor element, a current detection resistance or shunt resistance is provided in a passage of the main circuit current. By measuring a voltage drop V generated across the shunt resistance, the main circuit current I is calculated as V/R. R is an ohmic value of the shunt resistance.
However, cost and power loss associated with the shunt resistance are high. Also, regardless of where the shunt resistance is located, i.e. within or outside the module, the size of a wiring area becomes greater because of the shunt resistance. Further, since the circuit becomes complicated, the cost of the module is increased.
In addition, where a fast switching element such as IGBT (Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor) is used as power semiconductor element, inductance of the wiring of the module need to be reduced in order to, for example, protect the element.

Power semiconductor module with detector for detecting main circuit current through power semiconductor element


Methods and devices for use with a multi-feed antenna used in a MIMO communication system are described herein. A method can include obtaining an antenna feed characteristic indicator associated with each of the feeds of the multi-feed antenna, and controlling how power is distributed among the feeds based on the antenna feed characteristic indicator associated with each of the feeds. An antenna feed characteristic indicator can be, e.g., an indicator of impedance matching, in which case power can be distributed among the feeds of the multi-feed antenna based on the indicators of impedance matching associate with each of the feeds. Power can also be distributed based on an indicator of link quality. Additionally, or alternatively, coding rate and/or modulation type can also be controlled for each of the feeds of the multi-feed antenna, based on one or more antenna feed characteristic indicators and/or one or more indicators of link quality.

With the proliferation of wireless devices, there is a desire for faster and faster data rates. Single-input-single-output (SISO) communication technology can provide spectral efficiency up to only a certain limit, and beyond that, it becomes instrumental to use multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) communication technology to increase data rates and throughput. MIMO communication technology, which typically utilizes multiple independent antennas at both ends of a wireless communication link, is well known for increasing data rate of wireless channels without consuming additional bandwidth.


A bumper attachment structure includes a flange of a bumper fascia provided with a guide portion protruding therefrom and a flange of a fender panel having an insertion hole into which the guide portion can be inserted. The bumper attachment structure also includes an attachment bracket having a groove in which the guide portion can be housed and an insertion fitting portion in which a tip portion of the attachment bracket can fit.

There is known a structure for attaching a front bumper having a horn-shaped portion to a front fender panel (for example, refer to Non-Patent Literature 1).
The horn-shaped portion of the front bumper is provided with a bent flange having a plurality of pins protruding therefrom. The front fender panel is provided with a bent flange having insertion holes into which the pins can be inserted. A plate-shaped bracket used for attachment is also provided with insertion holes into which the pins can be inserted.
The pins on the front bumper side are first inserted into the insertion holes formed in the flange of the front fender panel so that tip portions of the pins protrude from the flange of the front fender panel. Then, while the tip of the bracket is allowed to fit into an insertion fitting portion formed on the front bumper, the bracket is moved to swing so that the protruding portions of the pins are inserted into the insertion holes of the bracket. Thereafter, the bracket is fixed to the flange of the front fender panel and the front bumper with fixing bolts.
Accordingly, the flange of the front fender panel is held between the bracket and the front bumper so that the front bumper is attached to the front fender panel.


A phase-locked loop (PLL) to provide clock generation for high-speed memory interface is presented as the innovate PLL (IPLL). The IPLL architecture is able to tolerate external long loop delay without deteriorating jitter performance. The IPLL comprises in part a common mode feedback circuit with a current mode approach, so as to minimize the effects of mismatch in charge-pump circuit, for instance. The voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) of the IPLL is designed using a mutually interpolating technique generating a 50% duty clock output, beneficial to high-speed double data rate applications. The IPLL further comprises loop filter voltages that are directly connected to each VCO cell of the IPLL. Conventional voltage-to-current (V-I) converter between loop filter and VCO is hence not required. A tight distribution of VCO gain curves is therefore obtained for the present invention across process corners and varied temperatures.

Phase-locked loops (PLLs) are an integral part of many electronics circuits and are particularly important in communication circuits. For example, many digital systems use clock signals to trigger synchronous circuits (e.g., flip-flops). Clock signals are common in wireless devices (such as but not limited to cellular phones for example) via their digital circuitry, where the transmitter and receiver systems use local oscillator (LO) signals for frequency conversions. Typically, it is the clock and LO signals that are often generated with PLLs.
Further, PLLs have a broad range of uses and applications ranging from microprocessors to memory devices (DRAM and DDR) and to clock and data recovery in a communication system, for example.
As used herein, it is understood that the term microprocessor is intended to mean but not be exclusively limited to a processor for performing processing typically implemented as a microchip, a logic chip, in a logic method, and similar. The microprocessor is intended and designed to perform arithmetic and logic operations that make use of small number-holding areas called registers, operatively executed by a set of instructions that are part of the microprocessor's design. While a microprocessor relies on instructions for execution, it is not limited to using instructions from the basic input/output system (BIOS) that may come with a related computer as part of its memory or an application program.
As used herein, it is further understood that DRAM is intended mean Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM) and DDR is intended to mean DDR SDRAM (Double Data Rate SDRAM). At present, DRAM is the most common kind of random access memory (RAM) for personal computers (PCs) and workstations, where the random access aspects are intended to mean that the PC processor can access any part of the memory or data storage space directly rather than having to proceed sequentially from some starting place. DRAM is dynamic in that, unlike static RAM (which may also be referred to as Static Random Access Memory or SRAM), it needs to have its storage cells refreshed or given a new electronic charge every few milliseconds. Contradistinctively, DDR SDRAM is synchronous dynamic RAM (SDRAM) that improves memory clock speed as it activates output on both the rising and falling edge of the system clock rather than exclusively on the rising edge.
Recently, a PLL for clock signal generation has been an essential design building block in integrated circuit systems. The quality of clock signal generation, also used herein as "clock" or "clocks" (i.e., a clock signal is a signal used to relate the activities of two or more circuits, such as synchronization, in which the signal typically oscillates between a high and a low state, with a given duty cycle.), generated by a PLL plays an important role in determining the performance of a circuit and its system. Especially, in today's applications, the technology trend of higher frequency and faster data processing rate results in using both rising and falling edges of the clock. Furthermore, in recent times, it is becoming more common for a system to operate with multiple phases of a clock simultaneously.
As a result, to better the possibility of effective operation, operative restraints placing a strict imposition on the duty cycle of such clocks should be encouraged. For instance, in a given system, duty clocks operating at 50% duty cycle do support a broader timing margin and hence will likely results in improved system performance, improved tolerance to temperature and semiconductor process variations, and the like.
FIG. 1 depicts a conventional PLL architecture used in a typical system with a memory interface, collectively 100.
In FIG. 1, a system PLL 105 generates system clocks at 110 for an internal memory controller 115. The internal memory controller 115 has a built-in digital delay-locked loop (DLL) circuit for clock phase adjustment. The system clock 110, at the same time, is also the input reference clock to the de-skew PLL 120, following pass through at the buffer 125 which has an adjustable time delay. Typically, in the conventional PLL, the de-skew PLL typically "zeroes out" the input-output (I/O) path delay such that external memories, double-data rate (DDR) memory and/or synchronous random access memory (SDRAM), 129, are triggered simultaneously as it is at the memory controller 115. More specifically, CKIN and CKDDR, 130 and 135 respectively in FIG. 1, are precisely aligned in time. The buffer 125 may typically be used to extend the deskew time range.
As becomes apparent from FIG. 1, there are two critical limitations, in addition to a series of significant deficiencies, in this conventional PLL architecture, especially when viewed with particularity to high-speed applications.
Firstly, the duty cycle of the clock from de-skew PLL 120 needs to be maintained to as close to 50% as is possible so as to better the timing margin and tolerance for a DDR memory environment, 129. This is required since both rising and falling edges of the clock are being employed to trigger DDR 129. Secondly, total loop delay time that CKOUT experiences, including clock buffers, package, board trace, capacitive loading, and I/O transmitter (TX) 140 and receiver (RX) 145, may exceed a clock period in high-speed operation. Therefore, since pole location of the de-skew PLL is nonlinearly affected by the total loop delay time, as loop delay time is increased, the phase margin of de-skew PLL is consequently reduced.
Unfortunately, conventional PLLs usually include a voltage-to-current (V-I) converter between the loop filter (LF) and the voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO). In a conventional PLL, the V-I converter serves the purpose of converting the LF voltage to VCO biasing current, such that the VCO oscillation frequency is adjusted by the loop filter voltage. An unintended result is that the V-I converter could introduce linearity and dynamic range issues to the overall PLL response. Additionally, the V-I converter will likely require additional power consumption and die area.
Similarly, when applying a conventional PLL for deskewing purposes, the conventional PLL in unable to tolerate long loop delay times, such as those that may be for a clock period or more, for example. One known step to this overcome this issue is to include a large loop capacitor with the conventional PLL in order to stabilize the closed-loop response. However, even with this added step, the resulting loop delay time of the conventional PLL with the large loop capacitor may change with temperature and the specific process, creating additional implications such as then requiring a large loop filter capacitor.
Further, it is known that a conventional PLL uses a replica circuit for VCO swing control. Although the use of such a replica circuit is not deficient in the operation of the conventional PLL, the replica circuit serves to provide a control voltage which imposes constant VCO swing amplitude for different oscillation frequencies, temperatures, and process corners. These provisions from this replica circuit for a fixed swing, for example, thereby create the situation that the conventional PLL may lack symmetrical VCO output waveform; this deficiency, which introduces a DC-component and consequently can be up-converted nonlinearly to become high-frequency jitter, is clearly problematic.
Additionally, since a typical conventional PLL employs both a V-I converter and a replica circuit, the total power delivered to V-I converter plus VCO and the replica circuit is dependent on the oscillation frequency. Given such a dependency, it is well-known that consequently, the VCO gain curves for a conventional PLL may exhibit a large variation as between different temperatures and process corners.
Further, in a conventional PLL, the VCO has only one loop-back constraint for each clock phase in the VCO ring oscillator. As a result, the duty cycle distortion in each clock phase becomes unavoidable for high frequency operations, in part since a process mismatch exists between each VCO cell. To overcome this problem, it is common to include a duty cycle corrector circuit in the conventional PLL. However, this additional inclusion can create additional burdens, costs and complexities in the application of the conventional PLL.
The problems described herein are serious and are well-known in the art. It is therefore desirous to provide a PLL that is able to generate 50% duty cycle clocks, regardless of temperature and process variations. It is also desirous to provide a PLL that is able to tolerate external long loop delay time when applying to high-speed memory interfaces. Further, of particular concern and need is overcoming the limitations of the art by determining a phase-locked loop for generation of clocks having a 50% duty cycle for application in high-speed memory interface having an external long loop delay, while avoiding a mandatory requirement for a V-I circuit, effectively keeping the closed-loop phase margin insensitive to loop delay time, not necessitating a replica circuit, and providing a PLL having an improved distribution of VCO gain curves.

System and method for phase-locked loop (PLL) for high-speed memory interface (HSMI)


During a communication technique, an access point provides a message that includes one or more public land mobile network identifiers of one or more cellular-telephone networks that are supported by the access point. Then, an electronic device, which received the message, provides a candidate list specifying one or more access points that support communication with a cellular telephone network to a radio node that is associated with this cellular-telephone network. By communicating with a wireless-local-area-network (WLAN) controller, the radio node validates the one or more access points, and selects a target access point based on performance feedback from the WLAN controller. Next, the radio node instructs the electronic device to associate with the target access point. Moreover, the radio node and the target access point establish a secure-communication pathway, which allows the radio node to communicate data to the electronic device via the access point using an LTE Wi-Fi aggregation protocol.

Many electronic devices are capable of wirelessly communicating with other electronic devices. For example, these electronic devices can include a networking subsystem that implements a network interface for: a cellular network (UMTS, LTE, etc.), a wireless local area network (e.g., a wireless network such as described in the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standard or Bluetooth from the Bluetooth Special Interest Group of Kirkland, Wash.), and/or another type of wireless network.
While many electronic devices communicate with each other via large networks owned by a network operator, it is often difficult to communicate via a cellular-telephone network, e.g., in high density or crowded environments. In particular, in crowded environments the network performance (such as the block error rate and the capacity) of the cellular-telephone network can be degraded. Moreover, there are often constraints on the number of cellular-telephone towers. Consequently, it can be difficult for the operator of the cellular-telephone network to improve the quality of their service e.g., in crowded environments.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Discovery and security in LWA communication


A zoom lens comprises, in order from its object side, a first lens group of positive refracting power, a second lens group of negative refracting power, and a third lens group of positive refracting power located on an image side with respect to the second lens group. Upon zooming from the wide-angle end to the telephoto end, the spacing between the first lens group and the second lens group grows wider at the telephoto end than at the wide-angle end, and the spacing between the second lens group and the third lens group becomes narrower at the telephoto end than at the wide-angle end. The first lens group comprises a negative lens and a positive lens, and the number of the negative lens in the first lens group is only one. At least one positive lens in the first lens group satisfies the following conditions (1) and (2):1.80<ndlp<2.0  (1)50.0<νdlp<70.0  (2)where ndlp is the d-line refractive index of the at least one positive lens in the first lens group, and νdlp is the Abbe constant of the at least one positive lens in the first lens group.

The present invention relates generally to a zoom lens, and more specifically to imaging apparatus incorporating a zoom lens, for instance, video cameras, and digital cameras.
In recent years, imaging apparatus such as digital cameras designed to take images of subjects using solid-state imaging devices such as CCDs or CMOSs have gone mainstream in place of silver-halide film cameras. Further, they have now a wide spectrum of categories from the commercial high-end type to the compact low-end type.
Users of such low-end type digital cameras would enjoy snapping shots over a wide range of scenes at any time in any place. For this reason, preference is given to small-format digital cameras, especially of the type that can be well put away in the pockets of clothing or baggage, are convenient to carry around, and are slimmed down in their thickness direction, and there is a mounting demand for size reductions, higher zoom ratios, and wider-angle arrangements of zoom lenses mounted on digital cameras or the like, too. On the other hand, as the pixels of imaging devices are now on the increase, there is also a mounting demand for the zoom lens to have higher optical performance.
To meet such demands, a zoom lens system of the type that has a lens group of positive refracting power located nearest to its object side has been proposed in the art. This type of zoom lens has the merit of easily achieving higher zoom ratios. Among prior zoom lenses having relatively high zoom ratios and compact format, for instance, there is a type comprising, in order from its object side, a first lens group of positive refracting power, a second lens group of negative refracting power, a third lens group of positive refracting power and a fourth lens group of positive refracting power, as set forth in the following patent publications.
[Patent Publication 1]
JP(A) 2006-330657
[Patent Publication 2]
JP(A) 11-52244
[Patent Publication 3]
JP(A) 2007-3554
For the lenses proposed in Patent Publications 1, 2 and 3, however, much is still desired in terms of size reductions, because the first lens group is thick as a whole and the full length of the lens system is large relative to an image height.
Having been made in view of such problems as mentioned above, the present invention has for its object the provision of a zoom lens system of the type having a lens group of positive refracting power located nearest to its object side, which works for making sure size reductions and optical performance. Another object of the invention is to provide an imaging apparatus using such a zoom lens.

Zoom lens and imaging apparatus incorporating the same