A ferroelectric memory device having a folded bit line architecture. The ferroelectric memory device may include a selectable upper even memory cell connected to an upper even bit line, a sense amplifier having a first input and a second input; control circuitry operable to connect an upper odd bit line to a lower odd bit line at the first input of the sense amplifier, to connect the upper even bit line to the second input of the sense amplifier, and to isolate a lower even bit line from the second input of the sense amplifier; and a selectable lower odd reference cell, connected to the lower odd bit line.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a ferroelectric memory device and, more specifically, to a ferroelectric memory device having a folded bit line architecture.
2. Description of the Related Art
Ferroelectric memory devices are generally well known in the data processing arts. Ferroelectric memories use ferroelectric capacitors for data storage. The ferroelectric capacitor is desirable because it may retain an electric field developed therein, even after a voltage applied to the capacitor to develop the field is removed. Therefore, ferroelectric memory cells do not require refreshing to retain a field stored therein.
A plurality of ferroelectric memory devices may be incorporated into a ferroelectric memory array. The memory array may be comprised of a plurality of word line rows, a plurality of plate line rows, and a plurality of bit line columns. Typically, memory cells and reference cells are attached to bit line columns, and these memory cells and reference cells are activated via signals on word line rows and the plate line rows provide the signals to be placed into memory. A memory cell may include a ferroelectric capacitor and an access transistor connecting it to a bit line. A reference cell may include a pair of oppositely charged ferroelectric capacitors and a pair of access transistors connecting these ferroelectric capacitors to a bit line.
One known architecture for the formation of a ferroelectric memory array is an open bit line architecture. In an open bit line architecture, a plurality of memory cells may be placed on a single bit line. This architecture permits a high component density. However, this architecture is also susceptible to electrical noise.
Another known architecture for the formation of a ferroelectric memory array is a folded bit line architecture. This architecture is not as susceptible to electrical noise as is the open bit line architecture, as the close spacing of cells in a folded bit line architecture provides good common mode rejection. However, the component density is somewhat less than for open bit line architecture. The present invention is directed to a folded bit line architecture.

Nonvolatile ferroelectric memory with folded bit line architecture


A book holder for holding and positioning books and documents. The book holder includes a document support and display surface with oppositely disposed (page) engagement clips extending from the support surface. An adjustable line guide is removably positioned on the support surface for selective vertical transgression thereover. An extensible document engagement clip extends from the top of the display surface.

1. Technical Field
This invention relates to book and copy holders used for positioning materials so that they can be viewed by a user while performing other tasks. A book holder generally supports a book on an incline flat surface with a holding means.
2. Description of Prior Art
Book and copy holders of this type have relied on a variety of useful constructions for supporting a book or papers in an upstanding position so that it can be easily read without holding same. Typically, a user would use both hands to support a book in an angled upright open position. This precludes or makes difficult for the user the use of their hands for writing or other like tasks. Alternately, books, if hardback for example, can be propped up by leaning on some article and other non-rigid publication require more support such a workbooks used by teachers and students that are difficult to hold open and upright required for use. A number of different book and page holders have accordingly been developed to solve this problem.
Prior art holders of this type have a support frame or surface with attachment straps, hooks or clamps to hold the book on the stand and open or a single page to be copied, for instance. Examples of such devices can be seen in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,899,404, 2,156,225, 2,441,932, 4,416,414, 4,712,760 and 5,052,650.
In U.S. Pat. No. 1,899,404 a book holder and table can be seen having a book support platform pivotally secured to an adjustable frame stand with a center engagement clip and a pair of adjustable leaf retainers.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,156,225 is directed to a reading stand having a wire support construction, a book engagement plate and multiple pivoted spring clips to hold the book open positioned within.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,441,932 shows an easel type support having a pair of criss-cross collapsible X-shaped support frame elements pivotally secured together with a resistance chain therebetween on an easel support. Page clips are removably secured to a central cross frame member.
Referring to U.S. Pat. No. 4,116,414, a book holder can be seen having a support sheet with a pivot stand leg. A pair of clothes pins are resiliently secured to the support sheet engageable on a book position thereon.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,712,760 discloses a back rest with a page retainer having a tapered base with an insertable upstanding wall extending therefrom. Page retaining clips are adjustably positioned from the back for engagement thereover.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,052,650 illustrates a copy holder having an upright flat surface supported by an adjustable stand with a line guide extending inwardly across the engagement surface from one side.


Methods, apparatus, systems and articles of manufacture are disclosed to detect an attack in an input file. An example apparatus includes a detection controller to identify a section of a number of bytes of data in a buffer including a first or second byte of data indicative of a value within a preconfigured range, the preconfigured range corresponding to a range of values indicative of memory addresses, update a merged list with a chunk of data that includes the section having the first or second byte of data indicative of the value within the preconfigured range, and a reoccurrence detector to concatenate the chunk of data in the merged list into a string to identify a number of occurrences the string matches remaining data in the buffer, and in response to a detection of the number of occurrences exceeding an occurrence threshold, determine that the data includes a malicious data stream.

Computer exploits are techniques that may be used to compromise the security of a computer system or data. Such exploits may take advantage of a vulnerability of a computer system in order to cause unintended or unanticipated behavior to occur on the computer system. For example, Return Oriented Programming (ROP) exploits may involve identifying a series of snippets of code that are already available in executable memory (e.g., portions of existing library code), and which are followed by a return instruction (e.g., a RET instruction). Such snippets may be chained together into a desired execution sequence by pushing a series of pointer values into the process memory and then tricking the code into executing the first pointer value. This chained execution sequence does not follow the intended program execution order that the original program author intended, but may instead follow an alternative execution sequence. In this manner, an attacker may be able to execute arbitrary or unintended instructions.
The figures are not to scale. In general, the same reference numbers will be used throughout the drawing(s) and accompanying written description to refer to the same or like parts.
Descriptors "first," "second," "third," etc. are used herein when identifying multiple elements or components which may be referred to separately. Unless otherwise specified or understood based on their context of use, such descriptors are not intended to impute any meaning of priority, physical order or arrangement in a list, or ordering in time but are merely used as labels for referring to multiple elements or components separately for ease of understanding the disclosed examples. In some examples, the descriptor "first" may be used to refer to an element in the detailed description, while the same element may be referred to in a claim with a different descriptor such as "second" or "third." In such instances, it should be understood that such descriptors are used merely for ease of referencing multiple elements or components.

Methods and apparatus for network detection of malicious data streams inside binary files


A charge-flow separation apparatus (CFS) for enriching rare cell populations, particularly fetal cells, from a whole blood sample by separating the rare cell fractions from whole fractions according to the relative-charge density and/or the relative binding affinity for a leukocyte depletion solid phase matrix is described. The apparatus having an internal cooling system allows for dissipating heat generated by the electric field of the apparatus. The internal cooling system, consisting of a plurality of cooling tubes to circulate coolant material, prevents cellular degradation typically associated with the high heat generated by the electric field and permits the use of a higher voltage gradient to shorten separation times.

The present invention relates generally to separation offetal erythrocytes from maternal blood samples. More particularly, the present invention provides a system and non-invasive method for enriching the population of nucleated fetal erythrocytes or nucleated fetal red blood cells ("NRBCs") obtained from maternal blood samples by separating the NRBCs from the mother's erythrocytes, leukocytes and other blood components. More specifically, the present invention offers a system and method for enriching the population of NRBCs from a maternal blood sample which concentrates the NRBCs by electrophoresis and/or adsorption-filtration or affinity filtration.
Physicians have long sought to develop non-invasive methods for prenatal diagnosis because the available methods, amniocentesis and chorionic villus sampling (CVS) are potentially harmful to the mother and to the fetus. The rate of miscarriage for pregnant women undergoing amniocentesis is increased by 0.5-1%, and that figure is slightly higher for CVS. Because of the inherent risks posed by amniocentesis and CVS, these procedures are offered primarily to older women, i.e., those over 35 years of age, who have a statistically greater probability of bearing children with congenital defects.
Some non-invasive methods have already been developed to diagnose specific congenital defects. For example, maternal serum alpha-fetoprotein, and levels of unconjugated estriol and human chorionic gonadotropin can be used to identify a proportion of fetuses with Downs syndrome. Similarly, ultrasonography is used to determine congenital defects involving neural tube defects and limb abnormalities.
Separation of nucleated fetal erythrocytes from maternal blood has been proposed as a viable method for facilitating prenatal diagnosis of genetic disorders. Fetal NRBCs have been separated from maternal blood by flow cytometry using a lysing reagent (European Published Patent Application No. 582736, published Feb. 16, 1994); by triple gradient discontinuous gradient gel electrophoresis (Bhat, et al, U.S. Pat. No. 5,275,933, issued Jan. 4, 1994); by separation from nucleated cells using leukocyte depletion and lysis of non-nucleated erythrocytes using ammonium chloride (Goldbard, PCT Publication WO 9417209, published Aug. 4, 1994); by use of anti-CD71 monoclonal antibody and magnetic beads and in-situ fluorescence hybridization (FISH) (Ahlert, et al, German Published patent application No. 4222573, published Aug. 12, 1993) or by other antibodies specific to a fetal erythrocyte antigen (Bianchi, PCT Publication Wo 9107660, published May 30, 1991).

Apparatus for separation of nucleated blood cells from a blood sample


A subsea arrangement for connecting an end of a first tubular member to an end of a second tubular member, comprising a base structure, a landing structure which rests on or is configured to be fixed to the base structure using connecting members. The subsea arrangement further comprises a holding structure, to which the end of a tubular member is fixed and which is connectable to the landing structure by being lowered downwards onto the landing structure. The connecting members are configured to give the landing structure a limited movability in a horizontal plane in relation to the base structure so as to allow the landing structure to move horizontally in relation to the base structure and the holding structure, when the landing structure and the holding structure are guided into a correct position in relation to each other.

Embodiments of the present invention relate to a subsea arrangement, and, more particularly, a subsea arrangement to be used for connecting an end of a first tubular member to an end of a second tubular member.
Development within offshore oil and gas exploration in the recent years has been directed to subsea installations for processing and transport of oil and gas. These subsea installations replace the traditional platforms, where oil and gas were transported up to the platform for further processing and transport. This development of subsea production, processing and transport systems has resulted in an increasing need for subsea arrangements for connecting tubular members, such as conduits, to each other at or near the seabed.


A palletized merchandising system comprises a pallet, a plurality of like containers stacked in layers on the pallet and a divider sheet interposed between the layers of like containers. The like containers comprise a unitary blow molded body of a generally parallelepiped shape. The like containers have a top face, bottom face, a front face and side walls and a diagonally extending parting line. A pour spout in the top face is spaced along the parting line towards one corner of the top face. A handle on the top face extends upwardly from the top face and is spaced along the parting line. A recess in the bottom face extends upwardly therefrom and is spaced along the parting line. The recess is sized to receive a handle of a like container in a stacking relation. The divider sheets have a plurality of apertures adapted to receive the handles of the like containers and to orient the front face of the like containers when an upper layer of like containers is stacked over a lower layer of like containers.

Warehouse or mass merchandising has become a popular form of retail selling. The manufacturer packages the merchandise, loads it onto pallets and ships in bulk to a retailer. The retailer places the pallets of the merchandise in a storage area, aisle or in a strategic high traffic area of a large warehouse. The consumer is permitted to wander through the warehouse collecting the desired merchandise. The retailer is able to reduce costs for stocking shelves, tagging, unpacking and displaying the merchandise. These costs savings are passed onto the consumer.
The merchandise is normally left in the cartons and on pallets presenting an unattractive display. In the case of bottled product, such as windshield washer fluid, driveway sealer, varsol, deck sealer, asphalt patching compound, fertilizer and other liquids which are normally sold in large containers, the containers are stacked in layers. When a consumer removes a container, it may not be the uppermost container which may cause the stack of containers to collapse. Since the retailer has a reduced staff, the disarray of containers may persist for an extended period of time. On seeing a disarray of containers, subsequent consumers may be influenced negatively and ultimately select a product from a different display, often a competitive product.
There are numerous container designs which are stackable and suitable present unique problems. First, these bottle containers are designed to interlock vertically making it difficult for a consumer to remove an upper bottle from the immediately lower bottle. Second, the upper bottle container must be alternated or rotated relative to the immediately lower bottle container presenting an alternating pattern to the front label of the product.

Pallet merchandising system for containers


Some embodiments of the present invention may include one, or more, of the following features, characteristics or advantages: (i) latch device including multiple Ecrit material regions all electrically connected to a common terminal (sometimes structured and shaped in the form of a storage plate conductor); (ii) bi-stable three-terminal latch device using two Ecrit property regions; (iii) three-terminal, two-Ecrit-region latch device where, for each Ecrit region, (Vdd−Vss) divided by (region thickness, dn) is greater than the region's Ecrit value; or (iv) use of multiple Ecrit material region latch devices to provide data storage instrumentality in a static memory device.

The present invention relates generally to the field of latch circuitry, and more particularly to latch circuitry using doped Metal-Insulator-Transition (dMIT) material. In some conventional circuitry a flip flop is built on a latch.
At least one "Ecrit material" is known. Generally speaking, Ecrit material have electrical conduction properties that can vary corresponding to electric field conditions. More specifically, for purposes of this document, an "Ecrit material" is hereby defined to be any material which meets the following conditions: (i) acts as an electrical conductor when the voltage drop across the material is less than a threshold voltage (Vcritlo); and (ii) acts as an electrical insulator when the voltage drop across the material is greater than a threshold voltage (Vcrithi). In some Ecrit materials, Vcritlo is at least approximately equal to Vcrithi, which means a relatively abrupt change from conductor to insulator as electric field varies. In other Ecrit materials, there may be a substantial transition zone where electrical fields result in a potential somewhere between the Vcritlo and Vcrithi values. There may even exist Ecrit materials that are characterized by two Ecrit values due to hysteresis (that is, Vcrithi is less than Vcritlo). One specific example of a known Ecrit material is dVO2 (doped vanadium (IV) oxide).
One known type of latch device is a two terminal latch that uses a single dVO2 region (herein called, a "two-terminal dVO2 latch device"). There are memory devices that use a set of two-terminal dVO2 latch devices to each respectively store (in a volatile manner) a bit of binary data (that is, a 1 or a 0).

Doped metal-insulator-transition latch circuitry


The invention provides methods of modulating seed mass and other traits in plants, including oat, wheat, rice, and maize. The methods involve producing transgenic plants comprising a recombinant expression cassette containing an ADC nucleic acid linked to a plant promoter.

The pattern of flower development is controlled by the floral meristem, a complex tissue whose cells give rise to the different organ systems of the flower. Genetic and molecular studies have defined an evolutionarily conserved network of genes that control floral meristem identity and floral organ development in Arabidopsis, snapdragon, and other plant species (see, e.g., Coen and Carpenter, Plant Cell 5:1175–1181 (1993) and Okamuro et al., Plant Cell 5:1183–1193 (1993)). In Arabidopsis, a floral homeotic gene APETALA2 (AP2) controls three critical aspects of flower ontogeny—the establishment of the floral meristem (Irish and Sussex, Plant Cell 2:741–753 (1990); Huala and Sussex, Plant Cell 4:901–913 (1992); Bowman et al., Development 119:721–743 (1993); Schultz and Haughn, Development 119:745–765 (1993); Shannon and Meeks-Wagner, Plant Cell 5:639–655 (1993)), the specification of floral organ identity (Komaki et al., Development 104:195–203 (1988)); Bowman et al., Plant Cell 1:37–52 (1989); Kunst et al., Plant Cell 1:1195–1208 (1989)), and the temporal and spatial regulation of floral homeotic gene expression (Bowman et al., Plant Cell 3:749–758 (1991); Drews et al., Cell 65:91–1002 (1991)).
One early function of AP2 during flower development is to promote the establishment of the floral meristem. AP2 performs this function in cooperation with at least three other floral meristem genes, APETALA1 (AP1), LEAFY (LFY), and CAULIFLOWER (CAL) (Irish and Sussex (1990); Bowman, Flowering Newsletter 14:7–19 (1992); Huala and Sussex (1992); Bowman et al., (1993); Schultz and Haughn, (1993); Shannon and Meeks-Wagner, (1993)). A second function of AP2 is to regulate floral organ development. In Arabidopsis, the floral meristem produces four concentric rings or whorls of floral organs—sepals, petals, stamens, and carpels. In weak, partial loss-of-function ap2 mutants, sepals are homeotically transformed into leaves, and petals are transformed into pollen-producing stamenoid organs (Bowman et al., Development 112:1–20 (1991)). By contrast, in strong ap2 mutants, sepals are transformed into ovule-bearing carpels, petal development is suppressed, the number of stamens is reduced, and carpel fusion is often defective (Bowman et al., (1991)). Finally, the effects of ap2 on floral organ development are in part a result of a third function of AP2, which is to directly or indirectly regulate the expression of several flower-specific homeotic regulatory genes (Bowman et al., Plant Cell 3:749–758 (1991); Drews et al., Cell 65:91–1002 (1991); Jack et al. Cell 68:683–697 (1992); Mandel et al. Cell 71: 133–143 (1992)).
Clearly, Ap2 plays a critical role in the regulation of Arabidopsis flower development. Yet, little is known about how it carries out its functions at the cellular and molecular levels. A spatial and combinatorial model has been proposed to explain the role of AP2 and other floral homeotic genes in the specification of floral organ identity (see, e.g., Coen and Carpenter, supra). One central premise of this model is that AP2 and a second floral homeotic gene AGAMOUS (AG) are mutually antagonistic genes. That is, AP2 negatively regulates AG gene expression in sepals and petals, and conversely, AG negatively regulates AP2 gene expression in stamens and carpels. In situ hybridization analysis of AG gene expression in wild-type and ap2 mutant flowers has demonstrated that AP2 is indeed a negative regulator of AG expression. However, it is not yet known how AP2 controls AG. Nor is it known how AG influences AP2 gene activity.
The AP2 gene in Arabidopsis has been isolated by T-DNA insertional mutagenesis as described in Jofuku et al. The Plant Cell 6:1211–1225 (1994). AP2 encodes a putative nuclear factor that bears no significant similarity to any known fungal, or animal regulatory protein.

ADC polynucleotides and polypeptides, uses thereof including methods for improving seeds


An electrical contact is for a vacuum switching apparatus. The vacuum switching apparatus includes a second electrical contact. The electrical contact includes a body having a center point and a periphery, the body including a plurality of arcing surfaces structured to face in a first direction toward the second electrical contact and structured to move into and out of engagement with the second electrical contact, and a plurality of arc spinning portions each defining a slot extending inwardly from the periphery generally toward the center point, the plurality of arc spinning portions generally separating the plurality of arcing surfaces from one another. At least one arc spinning portion narrows from a corresponding pair of adjacent arcing surfaces of the body to an interior thereof in a second direction opposite the first direction.

Field
The disclosed concept relates to vacuum switching apparatus such as, for example, vacuum switches including a vacuum envelope such as, for example, vacuum interrupters. The disclosed concept also pertains to electrical contacts for vacuum interrupters.
Background Information
Vacuum interrupters include separable main contacts located within an insulated and hermetically sealed vacuum chamber. The vacuum chamber typically includes, for example and without limitation, a number of sections of ceramics (e.g., without limitation, a number of tubular ceramic portions) for electrical insulation capped by a number of end members (e.g., without limitation, metal components, such as metal end plates; end caps; seal cups) to form an envelope in which a partial vacuum may be drawn. The example ceramic section is typically cylindrical; however, other suitable cross-sectional shapes may be used. Two end members are typically employed. Where there are multiple ceramic sections, an internal center shield is disposed between the example ceramic sections.
Some known vacuum interrupters include a radial magnetic field generating mechanism such as, for example and without limitation, a spiral electrical contact or a contrate cup, designed to force rotation of the arc column between the pair of electrical contacts interrupting a high current, thereby spreading the arcing duty over a relatively wide area. These vacuum interrupters suffer from a number of disadvantages. For example, as the electrical contacts experience repeated interruption of relatively high fault currents, the individual petals of the electrical contact begin to "bridge." More specifically, the individual petals of the electrical contact begin their life spaced apart from each other by slots that force the arc column to spread over the contact. As the electrical contact experiences repeated interruption of relatively high fault currents, the heavy columnar arcing causes the metal of the electrical contact to melt such that the spacing between the petals decreases, and is eventually bridged. As a result, the bridged electrical contact is prevented from allowing the arcing duty to spread over a relatively wide area. Thus, the bridged electrical contact results in the arcing being localized in the center of the electrical contact. This undesirably shortens the life of the electrical contact due to the inability to adequately interrupt the relatively high fault currents.
There is thus room for improvement in vacuum switching apparatus and in electrical contacts therefor.

Vacuum switching apparatus and electrical contact therefor


A header for an agricultural vehicle including a frame having lateral ends and a transport assembly connected to the frame and configured for being positioned in a transport position and a storage position. The transport assembly includes a tandem axle support device including at least one pivot shaft pivotally connected to the frame, a first walking beam, and a second walking beam. The first and second walking beams are operably connected to and moveable by the at least one pivot shaft. The transport assembly also includes at least four wheels including a first pair of tandem wheels removably connected to the first walking beam and a second pair of tandem wheels removably connected to the second walking beam.

An agricultural harvester known as a "combine" is historically termed such because it combines multiple harvesting functions, such as picking, threshing, separating, and cleaning, in a single harvesting unit. Generally, a combine includes a chassis, a prime mover, a feeder housing, a header removably attached to the feeder housing for removing the crop from a field, a threshing system, and a cleaning system. The threshing system may include an axially displaced threshing rotor and a perforated rotor housing, which can be composed of adjustable concaves. The threshing rotor is provided with rasp bars that interact with the crop material, and as the threshing rotor rotates within the rotor housing the threshing rotor performs a threshing operation on the crop material to remove the grain and provides positive crop movement. Once the grain is threshed, the grain falls through the perforations in the rotor housing and is subsequently cleaned by the cleaning system. The cleaning system includes a cleaning fan which blows air through oscillating sieves to discharge chaff and other debris toward the rear of the combine. Non-grain crop material or material other than grain (MOG), such as straw, from the threshing and cleaning systems proceeds through a straw chopper and out the rear of the combine. Clean grain is transported, by a clean grain auger, to a grain tank onboard the combine.
A typical header generally includes a frame, a pair of end dividers at the lateral ends of the frame, a cutter to remove crop material from the field, and a conveyor to transport the cut crop material to the feeder housing for further downstream processing in the combine. Generally, these features of a header are specifically optimized to harvest a particular kind of crop material. For instance, the header may be in the form of a draper header which has a cutter bar, a draper belt, and a rotating reel with tines or the like in order to harvest a bushy or fluffy crop material, such as soy beans or canola. Alternatively, the header may be in the form of a corn header which includes an auger and row units with snouts, gathering chains, and stalk rolls in order to harvest corn.
Transporting modern headers from one harvesting location to another may be arduous. Given the increased capacity, size, and weight of modern headers, modern headers generally must be detached from the combine and transported lengthwise to conform to relatively narrow roadways. To transport a header, a separate transport trailer can be used to support the header or the header itself may additionally include a transport assembly attached to the header frame. As can be appreciated, the header transport trailer can be suboptimal as an operator must purchase and maintain an additional piece of equipment in addition to the header. On the other hand, a transport assembly can be advantageous as it is integrated into the header frame.
A typical transport assembly includes an attachment device, such as a tongue, at one end of the header and a pair of pivoting or removable wheels positioned adjacent to the other end of the header. Pivoting wheels are generally permanently attached to the header and move between a transport position, in which the wheels are located underneath the header, and a harvesting position, in which the wheels are tucked behind the rear of the header frame. For example, an actuator, such as a motor, may pivot an arm which in turn mounts the wheels. In such a configuration, a header may remain attached to the combine as the wheels pivot between the transport and harvesting positions. However, if there is insufficient ground clearance, the arm may not have enough operational clearance to transition the tires between the two operating positions. Further, if the wheels undesirably contact the ground during a transitional period, the wheels, swing arm, actuator, and/or other structural members of the header may become damaged. Removable wheels can be detached from an axle mount of the header transport assembly for harvesting the crop material and can be reattached to the axle mount for transportation. In the detachable wheel configuration, an operator may need to manually detach the wheels from the header. Hence, removable wheels may not be desired as some wheels may be cumbersome and time-consuming to remove and reattach.
What is needed in the art is a cost-effective and easy-to-operate transport assembly.

Lateral transport assembly for an agricultural header


A housing assembly for an electric motor having a rotor shaft rotatable about an axis includes a housing cover and a housing case. The housing cover defines a first bearing seat for rotatably supporting a first portion of the rotor shaft. The housing case defines a second bearing seat for rotatably supporting a second portion of the rotor shaft. At least one of the housing cover and the housing case includes a plurality of mounting lugs substantially circumferentially evenly spaced about the shaft axis for mounting the electric motor to a surface.

The present invention relates to electric motors, such as a brushless DC (BLDC) motor. Electric motors include a rotor that is rotatably supported in a housing by one or more bearings. A stator is fixed to the housing and surrounds a portion of the rotor. Stator windings provide an electro-magnetic field to the rotor. The housing protects and supports the rotor and stator.


A vascular snare system and method for extracting elongated objects such as pacemaker pacing leads or defibrillator leads from the vasculature of a patient are provided. The system utilizes a sheath having a lumen through which two wire elements are deployed to snare and extract a lead. Each wire element has a magnet disposed at its distal end. The wire elements may be manipulated to form a closed loop transversely around a midsection or central portion of the body of the lead by coupling the magnets to each other. The wire elements may then be utilized to extract the lead from the vasculature of the patient through the lumen.

Vascular snares are endovascular devices that are used to extract foreign objects from the vasculature of patients. Such foreign objects may include inferior vena cava filters, stents, intracardiac pacing and defibrillator leads. Vascular snares typically comprise one or more radiopaque loops of wire housed inside a catheter or similar sheath structure. The loops of wire may be forced out from the catheter to engage the foreign object to be extracted and then retracted back into the catheter to extract the object. Examples of such snares include single-loop snares, such as a goose neck snare, and multi-loop snares that have a plurality of individual loops in order to increase the probability of capture of the foreign object. These snare systems have closed loops that may be used to extract inferior vena cava filters by engaging a hook on the filter. Such snare systems may also be used to extract pacing leads or defibrillator leads when the lead has a free end that one or more loops of the snare can be positioned around before retracting the loop back into the snare catheter. A lead may have a free end if the lead breaks, is pulled out of a header, or is abandoned in the vasculature. However, when a free end of a lead is not available for looping the snare around the end of the lead, such closed loop snare systems are ineffective in extracting leads.
Some snare systems have two interlocking closed loops that may be utilized to engage a midsection or central portion of a continuous, elongated lead. Such a snare system may have a first hook-shaped loop with a wide opening and a second loop with a narrow opening. The first loop may be hooked around a central portion of the lead and the second loop may be inserted through the opening in the first loop between the lead and the hooked end of the first loop. When the two loops are retracted, the loops then snare the central portion of the lead for extraction. However, there are deficiencies with this type of snare. When traction is applied to the body of the lead, the hooked loop may straighten, thereby causing inadvertent release of the lead, in which case the procedure must be repeated. In addition, proper placement of the two loops in relation to the lead may be difficult in two dimensions during fluoroscopy when using this type of snare.
There are a number of other limitations with currently known snares, particularly when applied to the extraction of elongated objects such as pacemaker pacing leads and defibrillator leads. For instance, many snares are not steerable so that it is often difficult to engage the lead for extraction, particularly when approaching from a femoral approach. In addition, it is not uncommon for a lead to be inadvertently released when traction is applied to the lead using existing snares because the tensile strength of the lead often exceeds the capability of the snare to maintain a hold on the lead. If the lead is inadvertently released from the snare, the entire snaring procedure must be repeated. Procedural times may be long when trying to snare an elongated pacing or defibrillator lead. This not only adds risk to the patient by increasing anesthesia time, but also increases physician and patient exposure to X-ray, which may lead to radiation burns as well as long-term health effects such as cancer. In addition, once a lead is secured by the snare, extraction often requires an assistant to apply force in order to keep the lead ensnared to prevent inadvertent release and to apply traction to the lead to free the lead and remove it from the vasculature. Thus, a well-trained assistant is typically required. Furthermore, existing snares are often bulky and cumbersome to deploy.
Accordingly, a need exists in the art for improved snaring systems and methods that overcome the disadvantages described above, as well as other disadvantages.

Magnetically coupled vascular snare system and method


A device for determining the result of digit multiplication based-on diagram-configured carrier rotation and transition path is proposed. Firstly, one of three types of visual teaching tools including first type of visual teaching tool, second type of visual teaching tool and third type of visual teaching tool is selected, then, the first type of or the second type of diagram-configured carrier is rotated to determine an initial node, and thereby transferring multiplicand from digit 1 to digits 3, 7, or 9, or transferring multiplicand from digit 2 to digits 4, 6, or 8. Finally, proceeding number (PN) of the first transition paths, the second transition paths or the third transition paths reaching to an object node is determined to obtain a multiplier and product value of the multiplicand and the multiplier.

The prior art discloses that mathematics teaching devices, in particular those intended to teach "times tables" or multiplication tables, are well known. These devices usually involve an article upon which the multiplication tables are reproduced in their entirety, and require the student using the device to "cross reference" one number against another, and note the product of those two numbers.
In each device, the numbers are arranged in a grid pattern, and the student is expected to follow one number across, horizontally (an "X" axis) and another number down, vertically (a "Y" axis), to locate the answer (product) of the problem posed. In one manifestation, this process involves the use of wooden (or similar material) pegs which are place at the location of the numbers for which a product is sought, while a third peg is then placed at the intersection of the two numbers, which is the product. Another manifestation substitute's transparent material strips for the pegs, and locates the product at the place where the two strips cross one another, the answer being visibly apparent through the two strips.
Unfortunately, these devices and their methods of use all require that the user of the device be looking at the device, with the answer readily apparent, during the process of determining an answer to the problem posed. There is, by the very design of these devices, a built in encouragement to "cheat" and disclose the answer without having actually thought about it.
Besides, teachers and educators have devised and tested many methods and techniques for teaching multiplication tables to elementary school students. Examples include typed or printed sheets of the multiplication tables, display cards with the equation printed on one side and the answer on the opposite side, and teaching methods an illustrated in recent text books often referred to as "modern math," such techniques being generally tedious and boring to the student. So, that mental enforcement of the multiplication tables is usually accomplished only after long and continuous use of the multiplication tables after progressing to more difficult problems thereby resulting in a slow and gradual understanding of the multiplication process.
Accordingly, there is an obvious need for a simple training device that will teach elementary school students and provide a thorough appreciation and understanding of the multiplication process. Thus, the invention's method is proposed.

Visual teaching tool and method for determining the result of digit multiplication based-on diagram rotation and transition path


A cannula supporting coil that comprises a thin resilient elongated member having a proximal portion; an intermediate portion; and, a distal portion. The proximal portion of the thin resilient elongated member comprises a clip portion for capturing a side port of an endoscopic or arthroscopic cannula. The distal portion has a plurality of revolutions to accommodate the main body of the cannula. A terminal portion of a final revolution of the distal portion has less curvature than previous portions of the distal portion for anchoring to an anatomical cavity lining of an anatomical cavity. The cannula supporting coil is used as a component of a cannula delivery and support system that also includes an elongated sheath for containing the cannula supporting coil during delivery of the cannula supporting coil to the anatomical cavity; and, an elongated trocar contained within the sheath. Once the cannula delivery and support system is in the cavity the trocar is reinserted in an inverted position and utilized as a plunger for the cannula supporting coil.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to anchor and anchoring systems for securing arthroscopic or laparoscopic cannulas within puncture openings in the skin and more particularly to a flexible coil to be secured to the cannula device after being inserted through the puncture opening.
2. Description of the Related Art
Arthroscopic or endoscopic surgery is that surgery performed through minimally-invasive means, through limited incisions. The areas that are approachable by these techniques include any synovial joint; the abdominal and thoracic cavities; the mediastinum, epidural, pleural and subarachnoid spaces; heart ventricles and spinal cavities.
These endoscopic procedures provide a minimally invasive approach to many surgical procedures previously performed through traditional means. In the traditional approaches, surgery was performed by making a large incision over the area, followed by an exposure of the area in question by retracting or incising the soft tissues between the skin and the necessary area. In endoscopic surgery, a small puncture is made in the skin and a series of instruments are inserted by way of cannulas directly into the area. The cannula devices that are employed are usually tubular in shape and are of various sizes. Many have serrations, protruberances or threads at their tips (U.S. Pat. No. 5,217,441), in order to stabilize them in the soft tissues. None of the available designs, however, are effective in maintaining the cannula in proper position.
The reason for the lack of stability is that most commonly there is a medium that is used to distend the space. In the abdominal and thoracic cavities, it is CO2 gas; while in joints, it is saline solution. These materials cause the tissues to deform, subsequently allowing the cannula devices to move out of their original positions. The most common problem is that of having to re-insert the device back through the previously made tract. This becomes increasingly difficult with the use of more gas or fluid for distention.
There are several devices available that attempt to improve the stability of the cannula devices. One such example is U.S. Pat. No. 6,542,283 (Hopper), in which a universal balloon anchor is employed for stabilization of the cannula device. The complexity of the device, however, precludes its common employment as a result of its prohibitive price.
Many other devices are available that attempt to improve stability of the cannula by incorporating the stabilizing elements into the cannula. Some examples are U.S. Pat. No. 5,637,097 (Yoon), U.S. Pat. No. 5,197,971 (Bonutti), U.S. Pat. No. 5,002,557 (Hasson) and U.S. Pat. No. 5,882,340 (Yoon). All of these, while perhaps stabilizing the devices nicely, are not commonly employed as a result of their prohibitive cost, compared to the standard cannula devices currently available.


A terminal 13 for selectively receiving broadcast data in a transport stream 7 over a first network, the broadcast data including a series of bursts of associated data packets (B1), comprises a controller 16 and a receiver 19. The controller 16 is configured to extract information identifying a group of data packets from the data packets within a first burst, e.g. Packet Identifier (PID) PID1, PID2, calculate a burst length and burst interval for the series on the basis of the times at which data packets are received by the receiver and to calculate one or more instances of time ts at which one or more subsequent bursts in the series will be received based on the calculated burst length ts3 and/or burst interval t1. The receiver 19 is operated to selectively receiving the transport stream 7, e.g. by switching the receiver 19 between its on and off states, the receiver 19 being switched on at time is for a period equal to the burst length in order to receive subsequent data bursts in the series. The terminal 13 may be further configured to enable mobile telephone communication via a second network.

An Internet protocol (IP) service can include plural items delivered using an IP session. An IP session may include an IP stream carrying primary content, such as live or recorded music, and further IP streams carrying secondary content, such as error correction or song lyrics. Such services can be broadcast in a multiplexed transport stream using terrestrial digital video broadcast, for example DVB-T, ISDB-T or ATSC-T, or DVB-S (satellite), DVB-C (cable) or Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB) networks.
Wireless IP networks typically serve one or more mobile terminals having stringent power requirements. Such a terminal may be required to operate for lengthy periods on an internal source of power. In the case of simplex broadcast systems supporting unidirectional data delivery, for example DVB-T or DVB-S networks, a large proportion of the power consumption in a terminal is due to the demands of a receiver when receiving data transmissions. It is desirable to conserve power by reducing the amount of data received, i.e. by receiving only selected data.
Selective data reception can be implemented for receiving a particular stream of data in a Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) transmission by switching the receiver between its on and off states, so that data reception is suspended during time slots relating to services or content that are not required. In our co-pending application, GB0216240.2, a method is disclosed in which a session announcement is transmitted on a first channel in a transport stream. If a service is of interest to a user of the terminal, the information conveyed in the service announcement can be used to control the operation of the receiver in order to selectively receive broadcast or multicast data relating to that service. This information may include the frequency of the broadcast channel carrying a particular service, a description of the service in terms of a category, e.g. news, sport, entertainment, and a sub-category, for example, the sports category may be divided into football, hockey, athletics sub-categories. The information may also include the number of messages containing the relevant content that will be sent and a time out value. When data reception is not required, i.e. when data relating to the selected service is not being transmitted, the receiver is disabled, in order to conserve power.
In another co-pending application, PCT/IB02/04823, a receiver is controlled to selectively receive data using a schedule of delivery time slots, where the schedule is extracted from information relating to the IP address of the content source provided in a session announcement. Tie receiver may be switched off or operated at a lower power between the delivery time slots, when data reception is not required.
The performance of these methods may be improved by grouping related data packets into bursts before their transmission. The transmission takes the form of a sequence of bursts taking up most or all of the available bandwidth for a relatively short period of time, each burst carrying a significant amount of interrelated data. Information relating to the burst duration and the interval between related bursts is encoded into the headers of the data packets in the bursts, while information describing the contents of the burst are signalled using external address mapping functionality provided by the transmission network baseline, such as the network information table (NIT) table in a DVB system. This fisher reduces the period of time for which the receiver is actively receiving data.

Method and apparatus for selective data reception


A hydrogen storage composite material having a Mg—Ni based alloy with a coating of a catalytically active metal deposited on at least a portion of a surface of said Mg—Ni based alloy. The coating is less than about 200 angstroms thick and preferably is formed from iron or palladium. The composite material is capable of adsorbing at least 3 weight percent hydrogen and desorbing at least 1 weight percent hydrogen at 30° C. The Mg—Ni based alloy has a microstructure including both a Mg-rich phase and a Ni-rich phase, micro-tubes having an inner core of Ni-rich material surrounded by a sheathing of Mg-rich material, amorphous structural regions and microcrystalline structural regions.

Growing energy needs have prompted specialists to take cognizance of the fact that the traditional energy resources, such as coal, petroleum or natural gas, are not inexhaustible, or at least that they are becoming costlier all the time, and that it is advisable to consider replacing them with hydrogen.
Hydrogen may be used, for example, as fuel for internal-combustion engines in place of hydrocarbons. In this case it has the advantage of eliminating atmospheric pollution through the formation of oxides of carbon, nitrogen and sulfur upon combustion of the hydrocarbons. Hydrogen may also be used to fuel hydrogen-air fuel cells for production of the electricity needed for electric motors.
One of the problems posed by the use of hydrogen is its storage and transportation. A number of solutions have been proposed:
Hydrogen may be stored under high pressure in steel cylinders, but this approach has the drawback of requiring hazardous and heavy containers which are difficult to handle (in addition to having a low storage capacity of about 1% by weight). Hydrogen may also be stored in cryogenic containers, but this entails the disadvantages associated with the use of cryogenic liquids; such as, for example, the high cost of the containers, which also require careful handling. There are also "boil off" losses of about 2–5% per day.
Another method of storing hydrogen is to store it in the form of a hydride, which then is decomposed at the proper time to furnish hydrogen. The hydrides of iron-titanium, lanthanum-nickel, vanadium, and magnesium have been used in this manner, as described in French Pat. No. 1,529,371.
Since the initial discovery that hydrogen could be stored in a safe, compact solid state metal hydride form, researchers have been trying to produce hydrogens storage materials which have optimal properties. Generally, the ideal material properties that these researchers have been attempting to achieve are: 1) a high hydrogen storage capacity; 2) light weight materials; 3) adequate hydrogen absorption/desorption temperatures; 4) adequate absorption/desorption pressures; 5) fast absorption kinetics; and 6) a long absorption/desorption cycle life. In addition to these material properties, ideal materials would be inexpensive and easy to produce.
The MgH2—Mg system is the most appropriate of all known metal-hydride and metal systems that can be used as reversible hydrogen-storage systems because it has the highest percentage by weight (7.65% by weight) of theoretical capacity for hydrogen storage and hence the highest theoretical energy density (2332 Wh/kg; Reilly & Sandrock, Spektrum der Wissenschaft, April 1980, 53) per unit weight of storage material.
Although this property and the relatively low price of magnesium make the MgH2—Mg seem the optimum hydrogen storage system for transportation, for hydrogen-powered vehicles that is, its unsatisfactory kinetics have prevented it from being used up to the present time. It is known for instance that pure magnesium can be hydrided only under drastic conditions, and then only very slowly and incompletely. The dehydriding rate of the resulting hydride is also unacceptable for a hydrogen storage material (Genossar & Rudman, Z. f. Phys. Chem., Neue Folge 116, 215 [1979], and the literature cited therein).
Moreover, the hydrogen storage capacity of a magnesium reserve diminishes during the charging/discharging cycles. This phenomenon may be explained by a progressive poisoning of the surface, which during charging renders the magnesium atoms located in the interior of the reserve inaccessible to the hydrogen.
To expel the hydrogen in conventional magnesium or magnesium/nickel reserve systems, temperatures of more than 250° C. are required, with a large supply of energy at the same time. The high temperature level and the high energy requirement for expelling the hydrogen have the effect that, for example, a motor vehicle with an internal combustion engine, cannot exclusively be operated from these alloys. This occurs because the energy contained in the exhaust gas, in the most favorable case (full load), is sufficient for meeting only 50% of the hydrogen requirement of the internal combustion engine from a magnesium or magnesium/nickel alloy. Thus, the remaining hydrogen demand must be taken from another hydride alloy. For example, this alloy can be titanium/iron hydride (a typical low-temperature hydride store) which can be operated at temperatures down to below 0° C. These low-temperature hydride alloys have the disadvantage of having a low hydrogen storage capacity.
Storage materials have been developed in the past, which have a relatively high storage capacity but from which hydrogen is nevertheless expelled at temperatures of up to about 250° C. U.S. Pat. No. 4,160,014 describes a hydrogen storage material of the formula Ti[1−x]Zr[x]Mn[2−y−z]Cr[y]V[z], wherein x=0.05 to 0.4, y=0 to 1 and z=0 to 0.4. Up to about 2% by weight of hydrogen can be stored in such an alloy. In addition to this relatively low storage capacity, these alloys also have the disadvantage that the price of the alloy is very high when metallic vanadium is used.
Moreover, U.S. Pat. No. 4,111,689 has disclosed a storage alloy which comprises 31 to 46% by weight of titanium, 5 to 33% by weight of vanadium and 36 to 53% by weight of iron and/or manganese. Although alloys of this type have a greater storage capacity for hydrogen than the alloy according to U.S. Pat. No. 4,160,014, hereby incorporated by reference, they have the disadvantage that temperatures of at least 250° C. are necessary in order to completely expel the hydrogen. At temperatures of up to about 100° C., about 80% of the hydrogen content can be discharged in the best case. However, a high discharge capacity, particularly at low temperatures, is frequently necessary in industry because the heat required for liberating the hydrogen from the hydride stores is often available only at a low temperature level.
In contrast to other metals or metal alloys, especially such metal alloys which contain titanium or lanthanum, magnesium is preferred for the storage of hydrogen not only because of its lower material costs, but above all, because of its lower specific weight as a storage material. However, the hydridingMg+H2→MgH2is, in general, more difficult to achieve with magnesium, inasmuch as the surface of the magnesium will rapidly oxidize in air so as to form stable MgO and/or Mg(OH)2 surface layers. These layers inhibit the dissociation of hydrogen molecules, as well as the absorption of produced hydrogen atoms and their diffusion from the surface of the granulate particles into the magnesium storage mass.
Intensive efforts have been devoted in recent years to improve the hydriding ability of magnesium by doping or alloying it with such individual foreign metals as aluminum (Douglass, Metall. Trans. 6a, 2179 [1975]) indium (Mintz, Gavra, & Hadari, J. Inorg. Nucl. Chem. 40, 765 [1978]), or iron (Welter & Rudman, Scripta Metallurgica 16, 285 [1982]), with various foreign metals (German Offenlegungsschriften 2 846 672 and 2 846 673), or with intermetallic compounds like Mg2Ni or Mg2Cu (Wiswall, Top Appl. Phys. 29, 201 [1978] and Genossar & Rudman, op. cit.) and LaNi5 (Tanguy et al., Mater. Res. Bull. 11, 1441 [1976]).
Although these attempts did improve the kinetics somewhat, certain essential disadvantages have not yet been eliminated from the resulting systems. The preliminary hydriding of magnesium doped with a foreign metal or intermetallic compound still demands drastic reaction conditions, and the system kinetics will be satisfactory and the reversible hydrogen content high only after many cycles of hydriding and dehydriding. Considerable percentages of foreign metal or of expensive intermetallic compound are also necessary to improve kinetic properties. Furthermore, the storage capacity of such systems are generally far below what would theoretically be expected for MgH2.
It is known that the storage quality of magnesium and magnesium alloys can also be enhanced by the addition of materials which may help to break up stable oxides of magnesium. For example, such an alloy is Mg2Ni, in which the Ni appears to form unstable oxides. In this alloy, thermodynamic examinations indicated that the surface reaction Mg2Ni+O2→2MgO+Ni extended over nickel metal inclusions which catalyze the hydrogen dissociation-absorption reaction. Reference may be had to A. Seiler et al., Journal of Less-Common Metals 73, 1980, pages 193 et seq.
One possibility for the catalysis of the hydrogen dissociation-absorption reaction on the surface of magnesium lies also in the formation of a two-phase alloy, wherein the one phase is a hydride former, and the other phase is a catalyst. Thus, it is known to employ galvanically-nickeled magnesium as a hydrogen storage, referring to F. G. Eisenberg et al. Journal of Less-Common Metals 74, 1980, pages 323 et seq. However, there were encountered problems during the adhesion and the distribution of the nickel over the magnesium surface.
In order to obtain an extremely dense and good adherent catalyst phase under the formation alone of equilibrium phases, it is also known that for the storage of hydrogen there can be employed an eutectic mixture of magnesium as a hydride-forming phase in conjunction with magnesium copper (Mg2Cu), referring to J. Genossar et al., Zeitschrift fur Physikalische Chemie Neue Folge 116, 1979, pages 215 et seq. The storage capacity per volume of material which is achieved through this magnesium-containing granulate does not, however, meet any high demands because of the quantity of magnesium copper which is required for the eutectic mixture.
The scientists of this era looked at various materials and postulated that a particular crystalline structure is required for hydrogen storage, see, for example, "Hydrogen Storage in Metal Hydride", Scientific American, Vol. 242, No. 2, pp. 118–129, February, 1980. It was found that it is possible to overcome many of the disadvantages of the prior art materials by utilizing a different class of materials, disordered hydrogen storage materials. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,265,720 to Guenter Winstel for "Storage Materials for Hydrogen" describes a hydrogen storage body of amorphous or finely crystalline silicon. The silicon is preferably a thin film in combination with a suitable catalyst and on a substrate.
Laid-open Japanese Patent Application No. 55-167401, "Hydrogen Storage Material," in the name of Matsumato et al, discloses bi or tri-element hydrogen storage materials of at least 50 volume percent amorphous structure. The first element is chosen from the group Ca, Mg, Ti, Zr, Hf, V, Nb, Ta, Y and lanthanides, and the second from the group Al, Cr, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Mn and Si. A third element from the group B, C, P and Ge can optionally be present. According to the teaching of No. 55-167401, the amorphous structure is needed to overcome the problem of the unfavorably high desorption temperature characteristic of most crystalline systems. A high desorption temperature (above, for example, 150° C.) severely limits the uses to which the system may be put.
According to Matsumoto et al, the material of at least 50% amorphous structure will be able to desorb at least some hydrogen at relatively low temperatures because the bonding energies of the individual atoms are not uniform, as is the case with crystalline material, but are distributed over a wide range.
Matsumoto et al claims a material of at least 50% amorphous structure. While Matsumoto et al does not provide any further teaching about the meaning of the term "amorphous," the scientifically accepted definition of the term encompasses a maximum short range order of about 20 Angstroms or less.
The use by Matsumato et al of amorphous structure materials to achieve better desorption kinetics due to the non-flat hysteresis curve is an inadequate and partial solution. The other problems found in crystalline hydrogen storage materials, particularly low useful hydrogen storage capacity at moderate temperature, remain.
However, even better hydrogen storage results, i.e., long cycle life, good physical strength, low absorption/desorption temperatures and pressures, reversibility, and resistance to chemical poisoning, may be realized if full advantage is taken of modification of disordered metastable hydrogen storage materials. Modification of disordered structurally metastable hydrogen storage materials is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,431,561 to Stanford R. Ovshinsky et al. for "Hydrogen Storage Materials and Method of Making the Same". As described therein, disordered hydrogen storage materials, characterized by a chemically modified, thermodynamically metastable structure, can be tailor-made to possess all the hydrogen storage characteristics desirable for a wide range of commercial applications. The modified hydrogen storage material can be made to have greater hydrogen storage capacity than do the single phase crystalline host materials. The bonding strengths between the hydrogen and the storage sites in these modified materials can be tailored to provide a spectrum of bonding possibilities thereby to obtain desired absorption and desorption characteristics. Disordered hydrogen storage materials having a chemically modified, thermodynamically metastable structure also have a greatly increased density of catalytically active sites for improved hydrogen storage kinetics and increased resistance to poisoning.
The synergistic combination of selected modifiers incorporated in a selected host matrix provides a degree and quality of structural and chemical modification that stabilizes chemical, physical, and electronic structures and conformations amenable to hydrogen storage.
The framework for the modified hydrogen storage materials is a lightweight host matrix. The host matrix is structurally modified with selected modifier elements to provide a disordered material with local chemical environments which result in the required hydrogen storage properties.
Another advantage of the host matrix described by Ovshinsky, et al. is that it can be modified in a substantially continuous range of varying percentages of modifier elements. This ability allows the host matrix to be manipulated by modifiers to tailor-make or engineer hydrogen storage materials with characteristics suitable for particular applications. This is in contrast to multi-component single phase host crystalline materials which generally have a very limited range of stoichiometry available. A continuous range of control of chemical and structural modification of the thermodynamics and kinetics of such crystalline materials therefore is not possible.
A still further advantage of these disordered hydrogen storage materials is that they are much more resistant to poisoning. As stated before, these materials have a much greater density of catalytically active sites. Thus, a certain number of such sites can be sacrificed to the effects of poisonous species, while the large number of non-poisoned active sites still remain to continue to provide the desired hydrogen storage kinetics.
Another advantage of these disordered materials is that they can be designed to be mechanically more flexible than single phase crystalline materials. The disordered materials are thus capable of more distortion during expansion and contraction allowing for greater mechanical stability during the absorption and desorption cycles.
One drawback to these disordered materials is that, in the past, some of the Mg based alloys have been difficult to produce. Particularly those materials that did not form solutions in the melt. Also, the most promising materials (i.e. magnesium based materials) were extremely difficult to make in bulk form. That is, while thin-film sputtering techniques could make small quantities of these disordered alloys, there was no bulk preparation technique.
Then in the mid 1980's, two groups developed mechanical alloying techniques to produce bulk disordered magnesium alloy hydrogen storage materials. Mechanical alloying was found to facilitate the alloying of elements with vastly different vapor pressures and melting points (such as Mg with Fe or Ti etc.), especially when no stable intermetallic phases exist. Conventional techniques like induction melting have been found to be inadequate for such purposes.
The first of the two groups was a team of French scientists which investigated mechanical alloying of materials of the Mg—Ni system and their hydrogen storage properties. See Senegas, et al., "Phase Characterization and Hydrogen Diffusion Study in the Mg—Ni—H System", Journal of the Less-Common Metals, Vol. 129, 1987, pp. 317–326 (binary mechanical alloys of Mg and Ni incorporating 0, 10, 25 and 55 wt. % Ni); and also, Song, et al. "Hydriding and Dehydriding Characteristics of Mechanically Alloyed Mixtures Mg—x wt. % Ni (x=5, 10, 25 and 55)", Journal of the Less-Common Metals, Vol. 131, 1987, pp. 71–79 (binary mechanical alloys of Mg and Ni incorporating 5, 10, 25 and 55 wt. % Ni).
The second of the two groups was a team of Russian scientists which investigated the hydrogen storage properties of binary mechanical alloys of magnesium and other metals. See Ivanov, et al., "Mechanical Alloys of Magnesium—New Materials For Hydrogen Energy", Doklady Physical Chemistry (English Translation) vol. 286:1–3, 1986, pp. 55–57, (binary mechanical alloys of Mg with Ni, Ce, Nb, Ti, Fe, Co, Si and C); also, Ivanov, et al. "Magnesium Mechanical Alloys for Hydrogen Storage", Journal of the Less-Common Metals, vol. 131, 1987, pp. 25–29 (binary mechanical alloys of Mg with Ni, Fe, Co, Nb and Ti); and Stepanov, et al., "Hydriding Properties of Mechanical Alloys of Mg—Ni", Journal of the Less-Common Metals, vol. 131, 1987, pp. 89–97 (binary mechanical alloys of the Mg—Ni system). See also the collaborative work between the French and Russian groups, Konstanchuk, et al., "The Hydriding Properties of a Mechanical Alloy With Composition Mg-25% Fe", Journal of the Less-Common Metals, vol. 131, 1987, pp. 181–189 (binary mechanical alloy of Mg and 25 wt. % Fe).
Later, in the late 1980's and early 1990's, a Bulgarian group of scientists (sometimes in collaboration with the Russian group of scientists) investigated the hydrogen storage properties of mechanical alloys of magnesium and metal oxides. See Khrussanova, et al., "Hydriding Kinetics of Mixtures Containing Some 3d-Transition Metal Oxides and Magnesium", Zeitschrift fur Physikalische Chemie Neue Folge, Munchen, vol. 164, 1989, pp. 1261–1266 (comparing binary mixtures and mechanical alloys of Mg with TiO2, V2O5, and Cr2O3); and Peshev, et al., "Surface Composition of Mg—TiO2 Mixtures for Hydrogen Storage, Prepared by Different Methods", Materials Research Bulletin, vol. 24, 1989, pp. 207–212 (comparing conventional mixtures and mechanical alloys of Mg and TiO2). See also, Khrussanova, et al., "On the Hydriding of a Mechanically Alloyed Mg(90%)—V2O5 (10%) Mixture", International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, vol. 15, No. 11, 1990, pp. 799–805 (investigating the hydrogen storage properties of a binary mechanical alloy of Mg and V2O5); and Khrussanova, et al., "Hydriding of Mechanically Alloyed Mixtures of Magnesium With MnO2, Fe2O3, and NiO", Materials Research Bulletin, vol. 26, 1991, pp. 561–567 (investigating the hydrogen storage properties of a binary mechanical alloys of Mg with and MnO2, Fe2O3, and NiO). Finally, see also, Khrussanova, et al., "The Effect of the d-Electron Concentration on the Absorption Capacity of Some Systems for Hydrogen Storage", Materials Research Bulletin, vol. 26, 1991, pp. 1291–1298 (investigating d-electron concentration effects on the hydrogen storage properties of materials, including mechanical alloys of Mg and 3-d metal oxides); and Mitov, et al., "A Mossbauer Study of a Hydrided Mechanically Alloyed Mixture of Magnesium and Iron(III) Oxide", Materials Research Bulletin, vol. 27, 1992, pp. 905–910 (Investigating the hydrogen storage properties of a binary mechanical alloy of Mg and Fe2O3).
More recently, a group of Chinese scientists have investigated the hydrogen storage properties of some mechanical alloys of Mg with other metals. See, Yang, et al., "The Thermal Stability of Amorphous Hydride Mg50Ni50H54 and Mg30Ni70H45", Zeitschrift fur Physikalische Chemie, Munchen, vol. 183, 1994, pp. 141–147 (Investigating the hydrogen storage properties of the mechanical alloys Mg50Ni50 and Mg30Ni70); and Lei, et al., "Electrochemical Behavior of Some Mechanically Alloyed Mg—Ni-based Amorphous Hydrogen Storage Alloys", Zeitschrift fur Physikalische Chemie, Munchen, vol. 183, 1994, pp. 379–384 (investigating the electrochemical [i,.e Ni-MH battery] properties of some mechanical alloys of Mg—Ni with Co, Si, Al, and Co—Si).
Short-range, or local, order is elaborated on in U.S. Pat. No. 4,520,039 to Ovshinsky, entitled Compositionally Varied Materials and Method for Synthesizing the Materials, the contents of which are incorporated by reference. This patent disclosed that disordered materials do not require any periodic local order and how spatial and orientational placement of similar or dissimilar atoms or groups of atoms is possible with such increased precision and control of the local configurations that it is possible to produce qualitatively new phenomena. In addition, this patent discusses that the atoms used need not be restricted to "d band" or "f band" atoms, but can be any atom in which the controlled aspects of the interaction with the local environment and/or orbital overlap plays a significant role physically, electronically, or chemically so as to affect physical properties and hence the functions of the materials. The elements of these materials offer a variety of bonding possibilities due to the multidirectionality of d-orbitals. The multidirectionality ("porcupine effect") of d-orbitals provides for a tremendous increase in density and hence active storage sites. These techniques result in means of synthesizing new materials which are disordered in several different senses simultaneously.
Ovshinsky had previously shown that the number of surface sites could be significantly increased by making an amorphous film in which the bulk thereof resembled the surface of the desired relatively pure materials. Ovshinsky also utilized multiple elements to provide additional bonding and local environmental order which allowed the material to attain the required electrochemical characteristics. As Ovshinsky explained in Principles and Applications of Amorphicity, Structural Change, and Optical Information Encoding, 42 Journal De Physique at C4-1096 (October 1981):                Amorphicity is a generic term referring to lack of X-ray diffraction evidence of long-range periodicity and is not a sufficient description of a material. To understand amorphous materials, there are several important factors to be considered: the type of chemical bonding, the number of bonds generated by the local order, that is its coordination, and the influence of the entire local environment, both chemical and geometrical, upon the resulting varied configurations. Amorphicity is not determined by random packing of atoms viewed as hard spheres nor is the amorphous solid merely a host with atoms imbedded at random. Amorphous materials should be viewed as being composed of an interactive matrix whose electronic configurations are generated by free energy forces and they can be specifically defined by the chemical nature and coordination of the constituent atoms. Utilizing multi-orbital elements and various preparation techniques, one can outwit the normal relaxations that reflect equilibrium conditions and, due to the three-dimensional freedom of the amorphous state, make entirely new types of amorphous materials—chemically modified materials . . .
Once amorphicity was understood as a means of introducing surface sites in a film, it was possible to produce "disorder" that takes into account the entire spectrum of effects such as porosity, topology, crystallites, characteristics of sites, and distances between sites. Thus, rather than searching for material changes that would yield ordered materials having a maximum number of accidently occurring surface bonding and surface irregularities, Ovshinsky and his team at ECD began constructing "disordered" materials where the desired irregularities were tailor made. See, U.S. Pat. No. 4,623,597, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference.
The term "disordered", as used herein to refer to electrochemical electrode materials, corresponds to the meaning of the term as used in the literature, such as the following:                A disordered semiconductor can exist in several structural states. This structural factor constitutes a new variable with which the physical properties of the [material] . . . can be controlled. Furthermore, structural disorder opens up the possibility to prepare in a metastable state new compositions and mixtures that far exceed the limits of thermodynamic equilibrium. Hence, we note the following as a further distinguishing feature. In many disordered [materials] . . . it is possible to control the short-range order parameter and thereby achieve drastic changes in the physical properties of these materials, including forcing new coordination numbers for elements . . .
S. R. Ovshinsky, The Shape of Disorder, 32 Journal of Non-Crystalline Solids at 22 (1979) (emphasis added).
The "short-range order" of these disordered materials are further explained by Ovshinsky in The Chemical Basis of Amorphicity: Structure and Function, 26:8–9 Rev. Roum. Phys. at 893–903 (1981):                [S]hort-range order is not conserved . . . . Indeed, when crystalline symmetry is destroyed, it becomes impossible to retain the same short-range order. The reason for this is that the short-range order is controlled by the force fields of the electron orbitals therefore the environment must be fundamentally different in corresponding crystalline and amorphous solids. In other words, it is the interaction of the local chemical bonds with their surrounding environment which determines the electrical, chemical, and physical properties of the material, and these can never be the same in amorphous materials as they are in crystalline materials . . . The orbital relationships that can exist in three-dimensional space in amorphous but not crystalline materials are the basis for new geometries, many of which are inherently anti-crystalline in nature. Distortion of bonds and displacement of atoms can be an adequate reason to cause amorphicity in single component materials. But to sufficiently understand the amorphicity, one must understand the three-dimensional relationships inherent in the amorphous state, for it is they which generate internal topology incompatible with the translational symmetry of the crystalline lattice . . . . What is important in the amorphous state is the fact that one can make an infinity of materials that do not have any crystalline counterparts, and that even the ones that do are similar primarily in chemical composition. The spatial and energetic relationships of these atoms can be entirely different in the amorphous and crystalline forms, even though their chemical elements can be the same . . .
Based on these principles of disordered materials, described above, three families of extremely efficient electrochemical hydrogen storage negative electrode materials were formulated. These families of negative electrode materials, individually and collectively, will be referred to hereinafter as "Ovonic." One of the families is the La-Ni5-type negative electrode materials which have recently been heavily modified through the addition of rare earth elements such as Ce, Pr, and Nd and other metals such as Mn, Al, and Co to become disordered multicomponent alloys, i.e., "Ovonic". The second of these families is the Ti—Ni-type negative electrode materials which were introduced and developed by the assignee of the subject invention and have been heavily modified through the addition of transition metals such as Zr and V and other metallic modifier elements such as Mn, Cr, Al, Fe, etc. to be disordered, multicomponent alloys, i.e., "Ovonic." The third of these families are the disordered, multicomponent MgNi-type negative electrode materials described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,506,069; 5,616432; and 5,554,456 (the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference).
Based on the principles expressed in Ovshinsky's '597 patent, the Ovonic Ti—V—Zr—Ni type active materials are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,551,400 to Sapru, Fetcenko, et al. ("the '400 patent"), the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference. This second family of Ovonic materials reversibly form hydrides in order to store hydrogen. All the materials used in the '400 patent utilize a Ti—V—Ni composition, where at least Ti, V, and Ni are present with at least one or more of Cr, Zr, and Al. The materials of the '400 patent are generally multiphase polycrystalline materials, which may contain, but are not limited to, one or more phases of Ti—V—Zr—Ni material with C.sub.14 and C.sub.15 type crystal structures. Other Ovonic Ti—V—Zr—Ni alloys are described in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 4,728,586 ("the '586 patent"), titled Enhanced Charge Retention Electrochemical Hydrogen Storage Alloys and an Enhanced Charge Retention Electrochemical Cell, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference.
The characteristic surface roughness of the metal electrolyte interface is a result of the disordered nature of the material as disclosed in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 4,716,088 to Reichman, Venkatesan, Fetcenko, Jeffries, Stahl, and Bennet, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference. Since all of the constituent elements, as well as many alloys and phases thereof, are present throughout the metal, they are also represented at the surfaces and at cracks which form in the metal/electrolyte interface. Thus, the characteristic surface roughness is descriptive of the interaction of the physical and chemical properties of the host metals as well as of the alloys and crystallographic phases of the alloys, in an alkaline environment. The microscopic chemical, physical, and crystallographic parameters of the individual phases within the hydrogen storage alloy material are important in determining its macroscopic electrochemical characteristics.
In addition to the physical nature of its roughened surface, it has been observed that V—Ti—Zr—Ni type alloys tend to reach a steady state surface condition and particle size. This steady state surface condition is characterized by a relatively high concentration of metallic nickel. These observations are consistent with a relatively high rate of removal through precipitation of the oxides of titanium and zirconium from the surface and a much lower rate of nickel solubilization. The resultant surface has a higher concentration of nickel than would be expected from the bulk composition of the negative hydrogen storage electrode. Nickel in the metallic state is electrically conductive and catalytic, imparting these properties to the surface. As a result, the surface of the negative hydrogen storage electrode is more catalytic and conductive than if the surface contained a higher concentration of insulating oxides.
The surface of the negative electrode, which has a conductive and catalytic component—the metallic nickel—interacts with metal hydride alloys in catalyzing the electrochemical charge and discharge reaction steps, as well as promoting fast gas recombination.
Finally, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,616,432 ('432 patent) inventors of Ovonic Battery Company produced Mg—Ni—Co—Mn alloys similar to the base alloys of the present inventive composite hydrogen storage material. The storage capacity of these alloys was limited to about 2.7 weight percent and none of the stored hydrogen was desorbed from the alloy at 30° C. FIG. 1 plots the PCT curve of the '432 patents thin film alloy (reference symbol Δ) with that of the present composite hydrogen storage material (reference symbol ♦). As can be seen, the hydrogen storage composite materials of the present invention adsorb more than 4 weight percent of hydrogen, and what is even more remarkable is that this hydrogen can be desorbed at a temperature of 30° C.
Thus until the advent of the present invention, no prior art material was capable of simultaneously meeting the desired material properties of: 1) a high hydrogen storage capacity; 2) light weight materials; 3) adequate hydrogen absorption/desorption temperatures; 4) adequate absorption/desorption pressures; 5) fast absorption kinetics; and 6) a long absorption/desorption cycle life, all in an inexpensive and easy to produce material.

Mg—Ni hydrogen storage composite having high storage capacity and excellent room temperature kinetics


A positive balance on a first financial account associated with a prepaid card are transferrable to a second financial account associated with a third party. In some embodiments, an instruction to transfer a portion of the first financial account to the second financial account is received. The instruction is associated with one or more triggering events. The one or more triggering events are associated with an inactive amount of time associated with the prepaid card, an expiration date associated with the prepaid card, and/or a balance of the first financial account associated with the prepaid card. A first triggering event of the one or more triggering events is detected. Upon detection of the first triggering event, the portion of the first financial account is transferred to the second financial account. Aspects of the disclosure enable a processing system to identify one or more opportunities to liquidate and/or fund financial accounts in an organized, resource-efficient, and timely manner.

At least some financial transactions are processed using prepaid cards. Known prepaid cards are associated with a financial account at a financial institution having a positive balance that allows a cardholder to make one or more purchases. Some prepaid cards may be used until there is a zero balance on the financial account (e.g., all of the money associated with the prepaid card account is spent). However, at least some cardholders may stop using the prepaid card before the balance on the financial account is fully depleted (e.g., a zero balance). For at least some of these prepaid cards, a positive balance on the financial account remains unused for at least some amount of time.

Systems and methods for transferring balances


The present invention is related to rosuvastatin zinc salt of the Formula (I), process for preparation thereof and medicinal products containing said salt. Rosuvastatin zinc salt according to the present invention is prepared by reacting rosuvastatin with a zinc alcoholate, zinc enolate or an inorganic or organic zinc salt and isolating the thus obtained rosuvastatin zinc salt (2:1).

Rosuvastatin of the Formula (II) has been disclosed for the first time in European Patent No. 521471. The calcium salt of rosuvastatin is used in the medicine for the treatment of hypercholesterolemia, hyperlipoproteinemia and atherosclerosis.
The health authorities are setting strict quality criteria towards pharmaceutically active ingredients. Some of these criteria are related to the chemical purity and stability of the pharmaceutically active ingredients. Other official requirement is the manufacture of the medicinal product in satisfactory quality and that the medicinal product shall have appropriate stability. Such criteria are determined by and published in the corresponding articles of pharmacopoeias.
In the case of rosuvastatin of the Formula (II), basic requirements for the active pharmaceutical ingredient intended for the use in medicinal products are high purity, appropriate stability and the possibility of simple formulation.
According to published International Patent Application No. WO 00/042024, the amorphous rosuvastatin of the Formula (II) obtained according to the process of European Patent No. 521471 can be used in the pharmaceutical technology with great difficulties. In order to eliminate this disadvantage, crystalline forms having more advantageous physical properties than the amorphous product are prepared. The manufacture of crystalline rosuvastatin calcium salt, however, is a manufacturing process requiring high production volume and results in great loss of material.
The basic problem in the manufacture of the calcium salt of rosuvastatin resides in the fact that the primary product obtained is poorly filterable and can not be purified in an easy way. Published International Patent Application WO 04/14872 discloses non-crystalline product having advantageous filterability. According to the process of said application, the calcium salt of advantageous particle size is prepared by reacting an alkaline metal, ammonium, methylammonium or tris(hydroxymethyl)-methylammonium salt of rosuvastatin with calcium chloride in an aqeuous solution.
In the published International Patent Application No. WO 01/60804, there are disclosed high purity ammonium-, lithium- or magnesium salts of rosuvastatin of the Formula (II) in order to solve production problems which arose during the manufacture of amorphous rosuvastatin. Starting from the above-mentioned salts, it is possible to prepare amorphous rosuvastatin in a quality suitable for the manufacture of medicinal products.
Published International Patent Application WO 2005/051921 discloses a similar process, wherein isopropylammonium or cyclohexylammonium salts of rosuvastatin are produced in high purity and said salts are transformed into sodium salt or high purity amorphous calcium salt of rosuvastatin.
Published International Patent Application No. WO 2005/040132 discloses amorphous rosuvastatin calcium salt of high diastereomeric purity. According to the disclosed process, the primary product amorphous rosuvastatin calcium salt is crystallized in the first stage, the product thus obtained is subsequently transformed into the amorphous form.
In summary, it can be concluded that according to the state of the art, the manufacture of rosuvastatin calcium salt suitable for the preparation of medicinal products is a particularly intricate process. The crude product must be submitted to further purification and crystallization steps in order to obtain a suitable product with regard to purity and physical properties. The known processes are difficult to operate in an industrial scale process and the use of such known processes often results in a significant loss of material and is therefore uneconomical.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

EGIS GYOGYSZERGYAR NYILVANOSAN MUKODO RESZVENYTARSASAG


A process for developing irradiated radiation-sensitive recording materials using an aqueous-alkaline developer which contains compounds of the formula (I) ##STR1## wherein A is H, Na, K, NH.sub.4 or NR.sub.4, where. R is a substituted or unsubstituted alkyl radical, PA1 W and X, independently of one another are H or --CH.sub.2 --COOA, PA1 Y is H or COOA and PA1 Z is H or OH,. wherein the compound of the formula (I) contains at least 3 COOA units.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a process for developing irradiated radiation-sensitive recording materials using an aqueous-alkali developer containing specific compounds.
2. Description of Related Art
An aqueous-alkali developer for radiation-sensitive recording materials, in particular those from which offset printing plates are produced, must satisfy a number of requirements It should be productive. This means that the development efficiency should diminish as little as possible even after extended use and thus increased content of stripped-off layer constituents. The so-called "tone limit", at which the developer is consumed and the layer is stripped off only incompletely in the non-image areas, should be as high as possible. It should develop the recording materials as quickly and completely as possible. This is particularly important in the machine production of printing plates on processing lines. Short cycle times mean that a development duration of significantly less than 30 seconds may be necessary.
The areas of the recording material which later take up the printing ink (the image areas) should be subject to as little attack by the developer as possible. Only then is it ensured that no image damage occurs even after repeated development, as is possible, for example, in photocomposing
During development, no foam or solid precipitates should form. The latter could contaminate the development equipment and thus make increased service costs necessary or they could even be deposited on the developed recording material
In addition, the development should allow hard gradation. Only then are the pixels transferred precisely from the film master to the plate, with even small dots being reproduced precisely
For ecological and economic reasons, it is advantageous if the developer can be supplied in the form of a liquid or solid concentrate which is first diluted with water by the consumer. The water hardness varies from region to region, but this should not affect the properties of the ready-to-use developer. There is consequently a requirement for low sensitivity to water hardness.
Finally, the recording material support must not be attacked by the developer. In the case of the aluminum support material frequently used for printing plates, the aluminum oxide layer, in particular, should remain intact during development.
The developers known hitherto do -not simultaneously satisfy all said requirements. In particular, developers produced from concentrates exhibited unsatisfactory properties
Developers which are extremely sensitive to water hardness are those which contain amines, hydroxides, phosphates, silicates, borates, and carbonates as alkaline constituents It has therefore been attempted to avoid this disadvantage by adding ethylenediamine-tetraacetic acid, diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid or nitrilotriacetic acid or salts of these compounds. The developers modified in this way again attack the support to a greater extent. Neither was the addition of di-, tri- or polyphosphates suitable for reducing the dependence on the water hardness, since these compounds were hydrolysed in the alkaline developers
DE-A 33 15 395 describes a concentrate containing an alkali metal silicate and a chelating agent. Dilution with tap water gives a developer for recording materials containing an orthoquinone diazide in the photosensitive layer. The chelating agent prevents the calcium and magnesium ions in the tap water from reacting with the alkali metal silicate to form insoluble material Preferred chelating agents are organic phosphonic acids and phosphonotricarboxylic acids, such as aminotris-methylenephosphonic acid or ethylenediaminotetra-methylenephosphonic acid. However, these chelating agents are not biodegradable.

Developer for irradiated radiation-sensitive recording materials


The bracket comprising an L-shaped mount defined by perpendicular plates having top and bottom bridging walls apertured in vertical alignment, the bottom wall formed with a blocking surface. The bracket also comprises a leaf plate having aligned upward and downward ears which pivot in the respective apertures, and the dimensions of the plate permit some vertical movement of the plate so that it can clear the blocking surface. The plate has a perpendicular flat tongue adapted to slip into a slot at one end of the shade to immobilize a portion of the power unit. The blocking surface keeps the plate from swinging open.

This invention relates to a bracket for supporting a powered window shade. More specifically, this invention relates to such a bracket having means to immobilize a portion of the power drive for the shade.
The prior art discloses a number of roller-type window shades having internal means for powering them up or down. The power means have generally had a portion anchored to a stationary support. Generally the anchoring has been done by a fixed bracket attached to the window frame. Such arrangements have not easily permitted the removal of the shade without the use of tools.
The present invention is a bracket for mounting a roller shade having an internal power unit. The bracket comprises an L-shaped mount defined by perpendicular plates having top and bottom connector walls apertured in alignment, the bottom wall having a blocking surface in the form of a rib, for instance. The bracket also comprises a leaf plate having at one end aligned upward and downward ears which pivot in the respective apertures in the mount. The plate is dimensioned so that there is clearance to move up and down in the mount as the ears slide vertically in the apertures. The plate has a perpendicular flat tongue adapted to slip into and engage a slot in the end of the power unit to secure it from turning. In that engaged position the plate is blocked from swinging open by the blocking surface. Only when the plate is raised does it clear the surface and is free to pivot.

Bracket for supporting a powered window shade


A package for containing tablets or like separate dispensable items is provided having so-called child-resistant and senior-friendly storage and dispensing properties. An elongate outer sleeve houses a separate blister card carrying tablets or like items. The card slides into the sleeve to a storage position in which the card is housed within the outer sleeve and slides in the reverse direction to a dispensing position in which the card at least partially extends from the open end of the sleeve. The sleeve includes an internal locking restriction secured to a wall thereof, and the card includes a tail end having an integral latch. The locking restriction and latch cooperate to form a locking engagement thereby locking the card within the sleeve when the card is in the storage position. The sleeve includes visually defined squeeze locations on opposite side edges thereof that correspond to a location of the internal locking restriction. The locking engagement of the latch to the internal locking mechanism is released when the outer sleeve is squeezed at the visually defined squeeze locations. The construction of the outer sleeve from a paperboard blank, the construction of a blister card having a latch, and a method of assembling the above referenced package are also disclosed.

The present invention relates to a package for containing separate items, such as pills, tablets, doses of medicine, or the like, that can be stored therein and dispensed therefrom by an intended end-user, and more particularly, the present invention relates to a package including an outer sleeve housing a blister card that is slidable into and out of the sleeve whereby the structures of the sleeve and blister card interact to provide child-resistant, senior-friendly dispensing properties.
Simply by way of general example, a paperboard carded package including a blister card is disclosed by U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2009/0178949 A1 of Reilley et al. assigned to Anderson Packaging, Inc., the assignee of the present application.
Although the above referenced carded package disclosed by the above referenced published application may be satisfactory for its intended purpose, there remains a need for a package of novel construction that provides a desired amount of child-resistance, yet from which tablets or the like can be readily dispensed by an intended end-user, such as a senior citizen. Further, there is a need for a novel and cost efficient method of assembling such a package.

Child-resistant, senior-friendly package having a squeeze-release mechanism and method of assembly