An inflatable chamber which is formable into a generally U-shaped structure includes an air inlet for receiving a thermally-controlled inflating medium and a plurality of holes in a side portion. When the medium is received in the chamber, it is expelled through the holes and bathes a patient to effect hypothermia treatment. In addition, the apparatus may include selectively positionable non-inflatable coverings for selectively warming pediatric patient body portions while leaving other portions exposed to untreated ambient air.

This invention relates to inflatable structures for treatment of hypothermia, and is used in a medical setting to deliver a bath of a thermally-controlled medium to a patient. In particular, the thermally-controlled medium is used to inflate the structure and is expelled therefrom onto a patient. Still more particularly, the invention relates to inflatable structures for the treatment of hypothermia in infants and small children.
The relevant art is perhaps best expressed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,572,188 entitled "AIRFLOW COVER FOR CONTROLLING BODY TEMPERATURE," and commonly assigned with this application. In the prior patent, a self-erecting, inflatable airflow cover is inflated by the introduction into the cover of a thermally-controlled inflating medium, such as warmed air. When inflated, the cover self-erects about a patient, thereby creating an ambient environment about the patient, the thermal characteristics of which are determined by the temperature of the inflating medium. Holes on the underside of the prior art airflow cover exhaust the thermally-controlled, inflating medium from inside the cover to the interior of the erected structure. The airflow cover is intended for the treatment of hypothermia, as might occur operatively or postoperatively.
An alternative embodiment airflow device in the '188 patent includes an inflatable, annular tube which fits to a patient's head. Air holes are provided in the tube, as is an entry port. A sheet of material attached to one side of the annular tube retains a warmed inflating medium within a circular space that contains the top of a patient's head. An exit port is cut in the sheet to exhaust the inflating medium from within the structure.
Evaluation of the airflow cover described in the '188 patent by skilled practitioners has resulted in general approbation: the opinion is that the airflow cover efficiently and effectively accomplishes its purpose of giving a thermally-controlled bath. However, since the airflow cover extends unbrokenly from the feet to the neck of a patient, it cannot be used in the operating room during surgery. In order to accommodate the essential structure of the airflow cover to use during surgery on clinical treatment, we have developed airflow covers suitable for thermal treatment of portions of the body during surgery. In particular, inflatable thermal blankets for covering particular body portions while surgery is conducted on non-covered portions are described and illustrated in the cross-referenced U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/638,748.
The positive result obtained from use of the airflow cover and body portion thermal blankets notwithstanding, thermal maintenance of pediatrics patients during and after surgery presents a new challenge. Particularly, such a patient must receive a supply of heated air which is adequate for thermal treatment, which is appropriate to the size of the patient, and which provides access to a care site. In particular, we have realized that a need exists for an inflatable apparatus for thermally treating infants and small children both operatively and postoperatively.

Method and apparatus for treatment of pediatric hypothermia


A connection assembly has a midplane, first midplane connectors and second midplane connectors. The midplane is divided into an airflow section and a connector section by a dividing line. The midplane defines a first side and a second side which faces away from the first side. The airflow section provides airflow passageways connecting spaces on both sides of the midplane. The connector section provides (i) first mounting locations which are confined to the connector section on the first side and (ii) second mounting locations which are confined to the connector section on the second side. The first midplane connectors are arranged to connect to first circuit board modules, and are mounted over the first mounting locations on the first side. The set of second midplane connectors are arranged to connect to second circuit board modules, and are mounted over the second mounting locations on the second side.

In general, a midplane is a circuit board which connects to other circuit boards on each side. Midplanes are often used in data storage systems where one side of the chassis accepts processing cards (e.g., storage processors) and the other side of the chassis accepts other types of cards such as I/O cards, service modules and power supplies. Midplanes are suitable for use in other types of systems as well such as networking systems.
One conventional computerized system has a midplane which is vertically oriented within its enclosure which accommodates horizontal airflow. Horizontally oriented processing boards insert through one side of the enclosure and connect to one side of the midplane. Vertically oriented disk drives insert through the other side of the enclosure and connect to the other side of the midplane. The midplane defines a series of narrow air slots which enable air to pass between the processing board side of the midplane and the disk drive side of the midplane for cooling purposes. Elongated disk drive connectors are interleaved between the narrow air slots to enable the disk drives to electrically connect to the midplane without blocking the narrow air slots.
Other conventional computerized systems have midplanes which are oriented so that the midplanes do not fully extend (i.e., from the top to the bottom, and from side to side) within horizontal airflow enclosures (e.g., a midplane can lay flat on the bottom of the enclosure). In such a configuration, air is allowed to flow around the midplane (e.g., from the front of the enclosure over the midplane to the back).

Connection assembly having midplane with enhanced connection and airflow features


A contactless power supply device capable of appropriately supplying power to a plurality of power supplied devices at the same time without contact is provided. A contactless power supply device capable of supplying power without contact even when the positional flexibility of a plurality of power supplied devices is increased is provided. The contactless power supply device determines a power supply condition that power can be most appropriately supplied to a plurality of power supplied devices that need power supply in a short time. The contactless power supply device can appropriately supply power to a plurality of power supplied devices at the same time without contact by controlling the resonant capacitance of a power transmission coil in an optimized power supply condition. The positional flexibility of the plurality of power supplied devices with respect to the contactless power supply device can be increased.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to contactless power supply devices using resonance coupling.
2. Description of the Related Art
Contactless power supply devices for wirelessly supplying power to electronic devices without power cords or the like have been put to practical use. There are various wireless power supply techniques for supplying power to electronic devices that are separated, and an electromagnetic induction method and an electromagnetic wave transmission method are widely used. Further, in recent years, an electromagnetic resonance method, an electric field coupling method, and the like have attracted attention.
In an electromagnetic induction method, power is supplied using electromagnetic induction coupling generated between a power transmission coil and a power reception coil; thus, it is necessary to place the coils very closely.
In a magnetic resonance method, a magnetic field generated by supply of power to a power transmission coil is received in a power reception coil by using resonance coupling, the magnetic field is converted into power, and the converted power is supplied to an electronic device. This method comparatively strongly copes with positional deviation between coils; thus, a power transmission distance can be made long.
In the case where power is supplied from one contactless power supply device to one power supplied device, the resonance frequency of a power transmission coil preferably agrees with the resonance frequency of a power reception coil. Thus, in the case where power is supplied to a plurality of power supplied devices, power can be transmitted with high efficiency with the use of a plurality of power transmission coils having different specific resonance frequencies.
Patent Document 1 discloses a contactless power supply device for selectively supplying power to a plurality of power supplied devices having different specific resonance frequencies by discretely or successively changing the resonance frequency of one power transmission coil.

SEMICONDUCTOR ENERGY LABORATORY CO., LTD.


A basketball shot-making system which can be used indoors or outdoors for increasing the number of possible installation locations and the number of methods of making a shot A backboard has paired members vertically disposed and in contact with each other along an edge forming a right angle inside corner. A goal having an arcuate hoop for shot-making is horizontally disposed and offset from the backboard. A goal support bracket is positioned therebetween and is in threadable communication with the backboard and in rigid communication with the goal. A rebound action device having a vertical orientation and being in threadable communication with the backboard is adjacent the inside corner right angle zone, the rebound action device further being in rigid communication with a top surface of the goal support bracket for increasing the number of shot-making possibilities. The basketball shot-making system can be installed in difficult locations such as indoor corners in older buildings not designed as gymnasium, or outdoors by using a base and support pole. The support pole has angular members in rigid communication with a non-playing surface of the backboard members for maintaining the backboard at the desired offset from the pole. The height of the system above the playing surface can be adjusted by a plurality of threadable collars in communication with the support pole to accommodate the conventional ten foot zero height (10'-0") as well as any height desired for children under 10 or physically challenged children or the like.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a basketball shot-making system, and in particular, to a basketball shot-making system having right angled backboard members for installation in outdoor locations or in heretofore inaccessible inside corner locations, and a rebound action device in operative contact therewith to increase the number of possible shot-making combinations.
1. Description of the Background Art
Throughout the United States steps are being taken to improve the game of basketball and expand its popularity among the population. A typical current basketball hoop and backboard configuration comprises a flattened backboard surface, usually rectilinear or curvilinear shaped and a basketball hoop offset from the backboard in a horizontal disposition with a support bracket therebetween. However, the flattened surface of the backboard precludes the installation of the equipment in many indoor facilities, particularly in urban areas where buildings that were designed for other uses are being converted into community centers for youth activities. Further, the single backboard and hoop arrangement severely limits the number of possible shot-making combinations for the individual shooter.
Many attempts have been made to alter the configuration of the backboard and hoop for installations in outdoor locations and in difficult indoor locations and to increase the number of possible shot-making combinations in a basketball shooting game.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,080,355 issued to Offutt discloses a corner basketball backboard support bracket comprising a three-sided triangular support rim and a "J" shaped leg member.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,239,214 issued to Brenner discloses a basketball shot-making game with a different bank shot to make at a plurality of shooting stations.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,895,365 issued to Schroeder discloses a basketball pole mounting system for transmitting stresses directly to a backboard frame member.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,834,369 issued to Walsh discloses a basketball rim assembly for use with a sponge basketball. U.S. Pat. No. '369 also discloses a collapsible rim component of the assembly.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,826,162 issued to Allen discloses a basketball pole and backboard assembly designed to provide ninety-two percent of the usual backboard surface and still fit in a container to meet interstate commerce shipping regulations.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,723,777 issued to Jolley discloses a basketball goal and backboard assembly having an apparatus to absorb and dissipate energy received during dunkshots. U.S. Pat. No. '777 provides for the goal to return to its original operative position after the ball is passed through the goal during the dunkshot.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,424,968 issued to Smith discloses a basketball backboard assembly having a novel sandwich method of construction.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,372,555 issued to Sorensen discloses a backboard having built-in levelers to provide for adjustments to maintain the backboard in a vertical orientation so as not to affect the players during a game.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,869,501 issued to Anastasakis discloses a movable basketball pole having a base and a plurality of support members to support the goal in the deployed operative position.
None of these previous efforts, however, provide the benefits intended with the present invention. Additionally, prior techniques do not suggest, the present inventive combination of component elements as disclosed and claimed herein. The present invention achieves its intended purposes, objectives and advantages over the prior art devices through a new, useful and unobvious combination of component elements, which is simple to use, with the utilization of a minimum number of functioning parts, at a reasonable cost to manufacture, assemble, test and by employing only readily available material.
Therefore it is an object of this invention to provide a basketball shot-making system that will increase the number of potential installations both indoors and out-of-doors.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a basketball shot-making system that increases the number of shot-making possibilities by combining paired backboard members in a right angle configuration and a rebound action device in operative contact therewith.
It is a still further object of the invention to provide a basketball shot-making system with a rebound action device that has a shape that will not damage the basketball when the rebound action device is in bounceable communication with the basketball.
It is still further another object of the invention to provide a basketball shot-making system that can be fabricated from a variety of structural materials.
It is yet another still further object of the invention to provide a basketball shot-making system that has a vertical playing surface on the paired backboard members that can be produced in either a transparent or opaque finish.
It is a final object of the invention to provide a basketball shot-making system that can be readily adapted for outdoor use on a conventional base and pole, currently used for the conventional backboard and goal assemblies.
A final object of this invention to be specifically enumerated herein is to provide a basketball shot-making system in accordance with the preceding objects and which will conform to conventional forms of manufacture, be of simple construction and easy to use so as to provide a device that would be economically feasible, long lasting and relatively trouble free in operation.
Although there have been many inventions related to basketball shot-making systems, none of the inventions have become sufficiently compact, low cost and reliable enough to become commonly used. The present invention meets the requirements of the simplified design, compact size, low initial cost, low operating cost, ease of installation and maintainability, and minimal amount of training to successfully employ the invention.
The foregoing has outlined some of the more pertinent objects of the invention. These objects should be construed to be merely illustrative of some of the more prominent features and applications of the intended invention. Many other beneficial results can be obtained by applying the disclosed invention in a different manner or modifying the invention within the scope of the disclosure. Accordingly, other objects and a fuller understanding of the invention may be had by referring to the summary of the invention and the detailed description of the preferred embodiments in addition to the scope of the invention defined by the claims taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.


Embodiments relate to programmable delay circuit. An aspect includes a first stage comprising a first hybrid fin field effect transistor (finFET) comprising a first gate corresponding to a first control FET, and a second gate corresponding to a first default FET, and a first plurality of fins, wherein the first gate and the second gate of the first stage each partially control a first shared fin of the first plurality of fins. Another aspect includes a second stage connected in series with the first stage, the second stage comprising a second hybrid finFET comprising a first gate corresponding to a second control FET, and a second gate corresponding to a second default FET, and a second plurality of fins, wherein the first gate and the second gate of the second stage each partially control a second shared fin of the second plurality of fins.

The present invention relates generally to programmable delay circuits, and more specifically, to a programmable delay circuit including hybrid fin field effect transistors (finFETs).
In an integrated circuit such as a microprocessor, a programmable delay circuit may be used for debugging and performance tuning, particularly in self-timed circuits such as pulsed Local Clock Buffers (LCBs), array dynamic circuitry, or clock deskewers. LCBs are used for driving local clock signals in microprocessor designs. A programmable delay circuit receives an input signal, which may be a clock signal or a data signal, and outputs a signal having a specified delay based on the input signal and one or more control inputs. The delay of the output signal that is output by the programmable delay circuit may be varied by varying the control inputs.

Programmable delay circuit including hybrid fin field effect transistors (finFETs)

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION


Methods and machinery are described for combining methane with sulfur trioxide to make MSA, in a system that sustains optimal concentrations of reactants in the main reactor for high yields, efficiency, and profitability. Rather than simply making MSA and then removing it, this design uses a “continuous loop system” with: (i) a “rich acid” stream containing a high concentration of MSA, mixed with sulfuric acid, which will emerge from the main reactor, and (ii) a “reduced acid” stream containing a low concentration of MSA (still mixed with sulfuric acid), from an extractor unit (such as a distillation unit) which removes some but not all of the MSA from the “rich acid”. Additional subassemblies are described which enable the main reactor to work efficiently, at a sustained high flow-through capacity. This system also can be scaled up or down, for any daily MSA production rate.

This invention is in the fields of organic chemistry and chemical engineering. In specific, it relates to a method and equipment for combining methane gas and sulfur trioxide to form methane-sulfonic acid (MSA), a valuable commodity chemical used in the electronic, metal-processing, and chemical industries.
A method for converting methane gas into MSA, rapidly and with high selectivity and yield, is described in several published US patent applications and Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) applications. U.S. Pat. No. 7,282,603 and PCT application WO 2004/041399 describes the use of a "radical initiator" to initiate a chain reaction, which will bond methane (normally a gas, with the formula CH4; for simplicity and search purposes, subscript fonts are not used in chemical formulas herein) to sulfur trioxide (SO3) to make MSA (the phrase "methane-sulfonic acid", either with or without a hyphen, is the standard industry name for this compound, even though the phrase methyl-sulfonic acid is more chemically accurate). That chain reaction is initiated by using any of various known methods (such as controlled usage of special types of peroxide compounds) to remove an entire hydrogen atom (both a proton and an electron) from methane. This generates aggressively reactive methyl "radicals" having unpaired electrons, indicated as H3C*, where the asterisk indicates an (aggressively reactive) unpaired electron. Under proper conditions inside an MSA-forming reactor, the methyl radicals will attach themselves to SO3, thereby forming an incomplete and unstable radical version of MSA. An MSA radical has the right combination of strength and instability to enable it to take a hydrogen atom away from a molecule of fresh methane, thereby creating both: (i) stable MSA, in liquid form, and (ii) a new methyl radical, which is exactly what is needed to keep the chain reaction going, so long as fresh methane and fresh SO3 continue to be pumped (at high pressure) into the MSA-forming reactor.
Applicant's PCT application PCT/US2004/019977, published as WO 2005/069751, depicts a number of ways to initiate that radical chain reaction, by converting stable methane, CH4, into methyl radicals, written herein as H3C*. That assortment of methods is not exhaustive; instead, it is intended mainly to point out and illustrate that chemists do indeed know how to create methyl radicals, which form a crucial "activating" or "triggering" compound which, if properly handled, can set in motion a "radical chain reaction" which, under proper conditions, can keep going for a large number of cycles.
Although any of several known routes can be used to convert methane into methyl radicals, one of the most desirable for generating relatively large quantities of methyl radicals for large-scale chemical manufacturing operations uses specialized peroxide compounds. By definition, a "peroxide bond" has two oxygen atoms, bonded directly to each other; this can be written generically as X—O—O—Y. Two sulfur-containing peroxides, referred to by the common names "Caro's acid" and "Marshall's acid", are good for generating methyl radicals, and another compound of interest for such use is called "di-methyl-sulfonyl peroxide", abbreviated as DMSP. It is similar to Marshall's acid, except with a methyl group (rather than the hydroxy group) attached to each of the two "ends" of the symmetric peroxide. It can be manufactured directly, by simply passing MSA through an electrolysis unit.
Accordingly, the combination of methane with sulfur trioxide creates the compound MSA in a balanced reaction as follows:CH4+SO3→H3C—S(O2)-OHMethane+Sulfur trioxide→Methane-sulfonic acid
This radical-initiated chain reaction is described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,282,603 and in PCT applications WO 2004/041399 and 2005/069751.
The foregoing Background information leads to an important point: by using this recently-discovered reaction, it is possible to convert methane gas into MSA, in a way which can lead to good and high yields of a relatively pure high-value chemical product, through a specialized process which uses a radical chain reaction.
In all prior published descriptions of this chemical discovery by the Applicant herein, a general working assumption applied, which pointed strongly toward the belief that, in order to work effectively and efficiently, the reaction mixture should be kept as clean, simple, stripped-down, uncluttered, and uncomplicated as possible, and it should contain nothing except the essential components.
That assumption arose partly from its manner of discovery, which occurred when the Inventor realized that a somewhat similar reaction, described years earlier by other researchers in the prior art (Basickes et al 1996), could and should be changed and altered, in ways that simplified and uncluttered the reaction by removing certain other atomic species that prevented the radical-initiated chain reaction from being useful for large-scale industrial operations. Since a major improvement in that earlier published reaction arose by simplifying it, and stripping it down to the minimum essential ingredients, that insight set the tone and course for the research which followed over a span of multiple years.
Furthermore, that guiding assumption was entirely consistent with the nature of how molecular radicals, and radical reactions, work. As suggested by the very term, "radicals" are highly unstable and aggressively reactive, and most types of "radicals" (i.e., a chemical species which has a so-called "unpaired electron") will chemically attack, react with, and damage, nearly any type of molecule. Therefore, the basic "theory of the reaction" discovered by the Inventor was that steps had to be taken to eliminate any other candidate species, which might allow any radical within the reaction mixture to do anything other than undergoing a single, specific, tightly-constrained next step in a tightly limited, narrow, "tunnel-shaped" reaction pathway. Accordingly, that goal was assumed to be directly undercut, if any other non-essential molecular species were allowed to exist in the reaction mixture.
However, despite the foregoing, it eventually was realized that, while the "hyper-simple, nothing except absolutely essential components" radical chain reaction can indeed work and function exactly as claimed, it is nevertheless not the best, most efficient way to convert large quantities of methane, to MSA, in a commercial-scale industrial reaction.
During research efforts to scale up the methane-to-MSA chain reaction to commercial scales, it became apparent that certain "chain-terminating" species were gradually accumulating inside any reactor which was being used to carry out the reaction, regardless of the levels of care and effort that were being made to prevent the formation of those "chain-terminating" species. As described elsewhere, and as understood to chemists, the yields, outputs, and profitability of any industrial-scale chemical reaction which requires and depends upon a "chain reaction", can and will be badly damaged, reduced, and impaired, if and when "chain terminating" molecular species begin to occur and accumulate, inside any reactor which is attempting to keep such a chain reaction running continuously, with the best possible yields. Indeed, the very nature of the phrase, "chain terminating", clearly indicates that any such molecular species can bring a desired and productive chemical reaction to a halt. Therefore, if it is impossible to prevent the creation of "chain terminating" species in some particular chemical chain reaction, then it becomes necessary to figure out some way to "quench" (or neutralize, inactivate, deactivate, or similar terms) whatever species has been found to be the "chain terminating" species that is stopping and blocking the desired chain reaction.
In the particular case involving the conversion of methane gas into MSA by a radical chain reaction, the most important (by far) terminating species was recognized, after long and extensive efforts, as sulfur dioxide (SO2). Since it is currently believed (under the current state of the art) to be effectively impossible to completely prevent the formation of some quantity of chain-terminating SO2 molecules inside a reactor that is using SO3 to convert methane to MSA, the focus of the Applicant's research was thereby obliged to shift somewhat. Instead of trying to prevent the formation of SO2, the Applicant began focusing on ways to quench it, and neutralize it, by converting any such SO2 into some other, different, non-chain-terminating species.
As described and claimed in more detail in a separate patent application that is being filed simultaneously with this application, that research culminated in the realization that a mixture of at least two or more different sulfur-containing peroxide compounds can indeed accomplish both of two goals, which are (i) triggering the desired radical chain reaction, at high and efficient levels; and, (ii) oxidizing any SO2 that occurs inside the reactor, to convert it into SO3, which is the desired species that helps the reaction continue.
However, that discovery has forced the adoption and use of other accommodating changes in the overall processing system. Accordingly, a new and different approach to designing an optimized and profitable systematic and integrated processing system, for converting methane into MSA, has been developed, as described herein.
Furthermore, once that new approach was settled upon, it was realized that, with certain additional enhancements, it became possible to make it highly "scalable" (i.e., it can be "sized" to handle any daily production rate of MSA that is desired, depending on the availability and flow rates of a methane stream and SO3 supplies that are available at that production site). In addition, this type of processing system design can be adapted to enable it to handle methane streams having a wide range of chemical contents, ranging from "sour gas" (i.e., methane gas with significant sulfur content and an unpleasant odor) to "sweet gas" (methane with no sulfur and no odor), as well as methane streams having widely varying concentrations of other gaseous components (such as carbon dioxide).
Accordingly, one object of this invention is to disclose improved processing methods, processing components, and processing subassemblies that can handle combinations of liquids and gases (at elevated but not extreme temperatures and pressures), which can be assembled into a complete and integrated processing system for optimally efficient and high-yield conversion of methane, into methane-sulfonic acid (MSA).
Another object of this invention is to disclose a complete and integrated processing system, which is designed and suited for efficiently and rapidly combining methane gas and sulfur trioxide to make MSA as a high value, end-use compound, and which is specifically designed to be "scalable" across a very wide range of MSA production rates, so that different versions of this processing system can be either "scaled up" or "scaled down" for the desired production rate at any particular site.
Those and other objects of the invention will become more apparent through the following summary, drawings, and detailed description.

Integrated processing system with continuous acid loop for converting methane to methane-sulfonic acid

Veolia North America Regeneration Services, LLC


A method, apparatus, and computer readable medium controlling a servo of a recording and/or reproducing apparatus, using a detected header field signal. An optical recording and/or reproducing apparatus includes a playback signal detector that detects a playback signal and a track error signal from information recorded on a DVD-RAM disc, as picked up by a pickup. A header field signal detecting circuit detects a header field signal by comparing a sampled playback signal for a signal representing the presence of a header field with a reference level and holding the comparison result for a predetermined period of time to generate the header field signal. Accordingly, a tracking servo can be stably controlled by using a tracking driving signal that is not affected by the presence of a header. Also, in a seek mode, the track error signal can be held based on the header field signal to generate a track count signal that is similarly not affected by the header. As a result, the number of tracks on the DVD-RAM disc can be accurately counted by using the track error signal.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method, apparatus, and medium for controlling a servo using a detected header field signal in an optical recording and/or reproducing apparatus, and a method, apparatus, and medium controlling the detection of the header field signal. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method, apparatus, and medium for controlling a servo using the header field signal, and a method, apparatus, and medium controlling the detecting of the signal, representing the header field, recorded on a DVD-RAM disc.
2. Description of the Related Art
A digital versatile disc-random access memory (DVD-RAM) disc includes an embossed area, containing an embossed pit sequence, and a recording/reproducing area where data can be recorded in the form of a groove wobble and/or a land wobble. The recording/reproducing area includes a plurality of sectors, each having an embossed header area including a header field. In such a DVD-RAM disc, a signal indicating the presence of the header field may appear in other signal detections. The presence of the header field signal in the tracking error signal adversely affects control of a tracking servo, and similarly adversely affects the counting of the number of tracks, as performed in a seek mode operation of the DVD-RAM disc. Thus, it would be preferential to remove the effects of the header field signal in the tracking error signal.
Unlike operations performed during a reproduction mode operation, in a seek mode operation, which may include search or track jump operations, an optical pickup head jumps tracks, counts the number of tracks jumped, and moves to a target track. Here, it is very important to accurately count the number of tracks. However, in a case of a DVD-RAM, it is difficult to accurately count the number of tracks because of the presence of the header area and the correspondingly inadvertently detected header field.
Further, typically a tracking servo follows a track using a track error signal in the recording/reproducing operation of the DVD-RAM. However, as noted above, the track error signal can be affected by the presence of the header field, resulting in deterioration of the stability of the tracking servo, and ultimately deterioration of a characteristic of a playback signal. As seen in FIG. 1, before the tracking servo is controlled, the track error signal is illustrated as also containing a signal representing the presence of the header field. As shown in FIG. 2, after the tracking servo is controlled, the header continues to affect the track error signal. Thus, it would be preferential to have a method, apparatus, or medium to control the tracking servo to follow the track error signal without being affected by the header field.
In addition, it is noted that in an event that a header identification (ID) is not read and a header field is not properly predicted, due to instability in the system, or if a playback signal detector does not properly detect the header field, in existing optical recording and/or reproducing apparatuses, the stability of servo control becomes deteriorated. It would be preferential to have a method, apparatus, or medium for stable servo control through proper header field detection.

Method, apparatus, and medium for controlling a servo using a detected header field signal, and method, apparatus, and medium for detecting the header field signal


An air data sensing probe or MFP includes a barrel having multiple pressure sensing ports for sensing multiple pressures. Instrumentation coupled to the pressure sensing ports provides electrical signals related to the multiple pressures. A neural network, coupled to the instrumentation, receives as inputs the electrical signals related to the multiple pressures, and in response, the neural network provides, as an output, electrical signals indicative of at least one local air data parameter for the air data sensing probe.

The present invention relates generally to air data sensing systems for use on an air vehicle. More particularly, the present invention relates to multi-function air data probes employed in an air data sensing system.
Air data systems that calculate the aerodynamic aircraft angle of attack (AOA) and angle of sideslip (AOS) of an air vehicle utilizing independent probes that are not pneumatically coupled, but which have processors for interchanging electrical signals between the probes, are known in the art. These probes are sometimes referred to as multi-function probes (MFPs). MFPs include processing circuitry located at the probe itself as part of its instrument package. With the help of the processing circuitry, MFPs are capable of converting pressure, measured by sensors included in the MFPs, into various useful local (to the probes) parameters, such as local AOA α1, local Mach number M1 and local static pressure Ps1. These local parameters are utilized for the determination of aircraft AOA, aircraft AOS and other aircraft parameters including determination of altitude from static pressure or other means.
One current technique, used with MFPs, for determining the above-mentioned local parameters includes employing a multiple table lookup and interpolation scheme. Although this technique produces relatively accurate results, it is slow, requires the use of a relatively large amount of memory and is costly to implement. Further, it demonstrates a substantial degradation in performance when there are relatively large variations in the input measured pressure. Other current techniques likewise suffer from several of the above-mentioned disadvantages. Consequently, a faster, less expensive technique for determining local air data parameters, which can produce more robust results from noisy input data, would be a significant improvement in the art.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Multi-function air data probes employing neural networks for determining local air data parameters


Disclosed are various approaches for workflow service application networking. In some aspects, a workflow creation user interface is provided to create a networking workflow with at least one networking action. A networking action is specified for a first application to utilize application content from a second application. The networking action is verified based on a response to a test action request transmitted to the workflow service. The networking action is transmitted from the workflow application to a workflow service to cause the first application to utilize the application content from the second application according to the networking action.

In an enterprise setting, individuals can utilize a number of different applications in order to complete tasks for an enterprise. These individuals can use authentication credentials to login to various applications or various services. Often times, these authentication credentials differ from service to service, even though they represent the same individual or group. For example, a user can rely on a cryptographic certificate to access one service, a username and password to access a second service, and a group or enterprise-wide credential to authenticate with a third service. In some cases, the enterprise can mandate that a particular service be used for a particular type of task.
However, existing applications that access the network services cannot provide notification and searching of states and content without first being opened. In addition, existing applications that access network services, as well as those executed in isolated containers, can struggle to share application content. Accordingly, traditional methods can be ineffective for accessing network services in an enterprise setting.


A web browser has a user interface that includes a content rendering area within the web browser user interface and a control layout area adjacent the content rendering area. The control layout area includes a user-selectable icon that is always available to the user in the control layout area and which is user-configurable. For example, the user-configurable icon may be configured with one of two pre-defined functions. In one illustrative implementation the two pre-defined functions may be a tabs function and a favorites function.

Online search driven by Web-based search engines has proven to be one of the most significant uses of computer networks such as the Internet. Computer users can employ a variety of search tools to search for content using different user interfaces and search methods. In some circumstances, mobile device users can also access Internet search tools to search for content. With recent improvements in wireless data communication functions and the data processing capability of mobile terminals, the use of the Internet through mobile terminals is increasing.
However, users of mobile devices such as cell phones may encounter difficulties using search technologies intended for larger devices such as desktop personal computers (PCs). Difficulties include the inability to display appropriate content, difficulty entering queries and taking other suitable actions such as navigation in an environment adapted to full screen displays, full-sized keyboards, and so on.
Studies have shown that people tend to want to focus on web site content and not necessarily the capabilities of their web browser when they are conducting browsing activities. Yet browser designs tend to focus on a user interface that emphasizes the browser's capabilities, thus making it more challenging for a user to focus on a web site's content. It can thus be difficult to find an appropriate balance between screen real estate devoted to content and quick accessibility to web browser control, particularly because the proper balance may differ from user to user.

Web browser having user-configurable address bar button


Among the various aspects of the present disclosure is the provision of a methods and compositions for the installation and formation of roads and construction materials. The use of base materials and stabilizing agent provide affordable roads and construction materials.

Building in developing countries can be expensive, and a more affordable option is needed. Using local, indigenous, and in situ materials (e.g., materials in the immediate area of the building site, materials on hand, local materials) may be necessary because the luxury of importing materials do not always exist. Affordable housing and roads are needed to safely and securely raise families. Roads are needed to move products to market, children to schools, and people to medical care facilities.
It has been shown that high clay content can be required for effective use of soil for road construction and building materials. But clay is not always available as a material. Previous methods have also demonstrated that many additives have little to no benefit for silty, sandy soil types (Newman et al., 2004). Sandy soil types have been problematic for stabilization and have often required cement or asphalt emulsion to provide soil cohesion.
Many roads currently being used in many countries are not paved. Such roads can consist of materials such as dirt, clay, sand, dust, etc. Rains can cause: erosion of the roads, road closures, wash-out of fine particles, formation of potholes, muddy soil, road failure and collapse, damage to vehicles, harm or death to humans, or environmental damage. Because of the issues caused by rain, the roads may become impassable, the surface may become rutted and damaged, pedestrian and bicycle movement may be restricted, produce and products may not be able to get to the market, any of which may result in financial loss to communities and damage to the local and regional economy. Dry conditions can cause issues with dust, resulting in danger to drivers and pedestrians. Dust can also cause numerous health problems. Dust can cause reduction in agricultural output and causes crop damage. Dirt and gravel roads can develop corrugations (e.g., a wash-board effect) that makes driving conditions hazardous and can cause damage to vehicles and products.

Stabilizing agents and methods of use thereof


Methods for controlling light transmission through a medium by transmitting light from a single spatial portion of an input optical field through the medium creating an output optical field, superposing the output optical field with a reference optical field creating an optical interference field, detecting an intensity of a spatial portion of a polarization component of the optical interference field and using the detected intensity to determine a value of an optical field amplitude and of an optical field phase for each of a plurality of spatial portions of the input optical field and for each of first and second orthogonal input polarization states of transmitted light entering the medium. The method may be used in the control of the transmission of light 1) through a medium, which is randomizing in amplitude, phase and/or polarization or 2) through a multi-mode fiber or for beam shaping, optical trapping and/or optical manipulation.

"Hologram transmission through multi-mode optical fibers", Optical Express 19, 247-254 (2011), R. D. Leonardo and S. Bianchi discloses one approach for concentrating light output from a multi-mode fiber (MMF) into one or several spots using a direct or blind search method. Such a method relies upon a phase only analysis of the optical field input to the MMF. This may, however, lead to loss of optical power and/or the generation of noise when creating one or several spots at the output of the MMF.
Nature Photonics, 4, 388-394 (2010), T. {hacek over (C)}i{hacek over (z)}már, M. Mazilu and K. Dholakia discloses a method of controlling the transmission of light within a highly scattering and diffusive, but essentially polarization preserving medium and, in particular, within biological tissue. The method comprises characterizing an optical system including the biological tissue in terms of both amplitude and phase of an optical field detected using a single intensity probe. Subsequently a complex field transformation is used to control an input optical field according to the determined amplitudes and phases of the optical field so as to provide a desired intensity within the biological tissue. Such a method may lead to loss of optical power and/or the generation of noise when creating one or several spots within the medium. Such a method also relies upon the use of a reference path defined internally within the biological tissue. Using such an internal reference path may cause several problems when controlling the transmission of light within a medium. For example, the use of an internal reference path may lead to inaccuracies during the characterization of the optical system and contribute to a loss of optical power when creating one or more intensity spots. The use of an internal reference path may, in some circumstances, even lead to failure of the method altogether. A reference optical field generated as a consequence of transmission of light along an internal reference path may exhibit a speckled character with an exponential distribution of intensity such that some parts of the reference optical field have very high intensities whilst others may have extremely low intensities, so termed 'blind spots', which cannot be used in the characterization of the optical system. An intensity detector having a very large dynamic range and high resolution may then be required to detect the intensity of the reference optical field and/or of any optical interference field generated between light transmitted along the internal reference path and light transmitted along a measurement path extending through the medium.

Controlling light transmission through a medium

UNIVERSITY COURT OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ST ANDREWS


Methods for treating retinopathy are provided and include administering an effective amount of a polypeptide antagovist of a Na/K ATPase/Src receptor complex to a subject. The retinopathy can include diabetic retinopathy. Methods of decreasing angiogenesis in a retinal vasculature are also provided and include the step of administering, such as by intravitreous injection, a polypeptide antagonist of a Na/K ATPase/Src receptor complex to a subject in need thereof.

The Na/K-ATPase enzyme is ubiquitously expressed in most eukaryotic cells and helps maintains the trans-membrane ion gradient by pumping Na+ out and K+ into cells. The Na/K-ATPase interacts directly with Src via at least two binding motifs: one being between the CD2 of the α1 subunit and Src SH2; and, the other involving the third cytosolic domain (CD3) and Src kinase domain. The formation of this Na/K-ATPase and Src complex serves as a receptor for ouabain to provoke protein kinase cascades. Specifically, binding of ouabain to Na/K-ATPase will disrupt the latter interaction, and then result in assembly and activation of different pathways including ERK cascades, PLC/PKC pathway and ROS production. Moreover, this interaction keeps Src in an inactive state. Thus, the Na/K-ATPase functions as an endogenous negative Src regulator. See also International Patent Application Nos. WO 2008/054792 and WO 2010/071767, which are both incorporated herein by reference.
Src family kinases are 52-62-kDa membrane-associated nonreceptor tyrosine kinases and they participate in several tyrosine phosphorylation-related signaling pathways in response to various extracellular ligands. Src, for example, contains at least three protein interaction domains. The SH3 domain binds to polyproline motifs and the SH2 domain interacts with the phosphorylated tyrosine residues. The kinase domain reacts with the nucleotide and phosphorylates the substrate. Binding of protein ligands to the SH3 or SH2 domain can activate Src. Proteins that bind with kinase domain of Src were also reported to be capable of regulating Src activity.
It is further appreciated that the Na+/K+-ATPase interacts with Src and Src family kinases to form a functional receptor. Binding of ouabain to this receptor activates Src, which in turn phosphorylates various effectors, resulting in the assembly and activation of different pathways including the Ras/Raf/ERK1/2 and phospholipase C/protein kinase C cascades as well as increases in intracellular Ca2+ and cellular ROS production. The activation of these signaling pathways eventually leads to changes in cardiac and renal functions, stimulation of cell proliferation and tissue fibrosis, protection of tissue against ischemia/reperfusion injury, inhibition of cancer cell growth, and more. Src and ROS are also involved in the induction of VEGF expression. While many known Src and Src family kinase inhibitors are developed as ATP analogs that compete for ATP binding to these kinases, such Src inhibitors lack pathway specificity.
Additionally, many types of retinopathy are proliferative, most often resulting from neovascularization or blood vessel overgrowth. Angiogenesis is a precursor in retinopathy that may result in blindness or severe vision loss. Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is a complication of diabetes, and the leading cause of blindness among working age adults in developed countries. There were more than 371 million diabetic patients worldwide in 2012, and the number is increasing rapidly. The disease is initiated by high glucose-induced vascular dysfunction and remodeling. This is followed by tissue ischemia/hypoxia and subsequent angiogenesis (neovascularization) because of increased production of VEGF and other growth factors, leading to proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR). Moreover, under the pathological conditions of diabetic retinopathy, the increase in ROS and the activation of Src are keys to VEGF-mediated endothelial cell proliferation and vessel leakage that are the pathological basis of diabetic neovascularization. DR can further develop to fibrovascular proliferation on the surface of the retina due to tissue fibrosis, causing retinal detachment.
Despite considerable advances in the management of DR, complications of various therapies have brought the requirement for novel modalities in treating DR. Previous studies have shown the significant role of VEGF in ocular neovascularization. Levels of ocular VEGF are elevated in both animal models and PDR patients. Furthermore, injection of VEGF into normal primate eyes induces pathological processes similar to those seen in DR, including microaneurysm formation and increased vascular permeability. Because VEGF has been shown to play a major role in retinal neovascularization, anti-VEGF treatments have been developed for DR. Over the past 10 years, several anti-VEGF drugs have been developed and used in PDR patients.
Many clinical studies have demonstrated the benefits with intravitreal injection of anti-VEGF drugs for PDR. However, many important issues remain. First, anti-VEGF therapy does not address the underlying cause of the problem (i.e., high glucose and continued vascular remodeling/fibrosis because of uncontrolled diabetes in these patients). Second, clinical problems with anti-VEGF therapy have been noted partly because of the use of anti-VEGF antibody. Some of the observed side effects include increased cataract formation, vitreous hemorrhage, tractional retinal detachment, elevated intraocular pressure, infection and macular hole. Moreover, there is evidence that some of the injected anti-VEGF antibodies are detected in systemic circulation, which could produce more severe systemic side effects. Thus, there is currently an unmet need in care for patients with diabetic retinopathy and, in particular, there remains a need for compositions and methods for treating diabetic retinopathy.

Compositions and methods for treating retinopathy

MARSHALL UNIVERSITY RESEARCH CORPORATION


A painter rack for supporting one door in a horizontal position during prepping or painting, or at least one door also in a horizontal position during drying. This painter rack comprises two support structures: a left one and a right one; each support structure comprises two vertical members traversed horizontally by a number of openings; each support structure also comprises a number of bars used to support at least one door, each bar is comprised of at least two segments, the first said segment traversing slidably and horizontally an opening, and the second segment is bent with respect the first segment. Each support structure is held in place by a base structure.

Refinishing doors is time consuming labor. Typically this work involves activities such as sanding, painting, varnishing and drying the door. Placing the door in a vertical position during this work is problematic. Sprayed paint may reach surrounding objects and debris from the floor may foul the wet paint on the door. Wet paint may run down a vertical door creating unsightly tracks. It is more difficult for a painter to work on a vertical door than on a horizontal door.
Ideally doors should be held in a horizontal position while they are being refinished. In addition, both side of the door should be easily exposed to be worked on, and when painted, the wet paint should not be marred by the holding mechanism.
A problem that emerges when multiple doors are painted is that a large surface area is needed to store the doors while they are drying. Therefore, there is a need to store the drying doors in a stack.
Another problem of significance is that freshly painted doors should be allowed to dry in a location removed from the one where doors are sanded and painted to avoid unwanted dust and paint settling on them and marring their surface.
Yet another problem facing the painter is that often he must work on doors of different sizes as when he is working on several assorted cabinets. In addition, doors may have different thicknesses and may have to be handled differently and separately.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,090,204 by Speed et al., does not allow doors of different sizes to be stacked together. In addition, the patent makes use of brackets which may adversely shield some of the door surface from spray paint. Furthermore these brackets cannot be used on thin doors as typically found in cabinets. Insertion of screws on the sides might split the wood.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,561,470 by Gottfredson et al., does not allow doors to be stacked. In addition, anchors inserted on the side of thin doors, strong enough to support the doors during prepping, might split the wood.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,491,308 by Walton et al., does not allow doors of different sizes to be stacked together. In addition the insertion of supporting anchors on the side of thin doors, strong enough to support the doors during prepping might split the wood.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,239,197 by Olstad, U.S. Pat. No. 3,625,504 by Walker and U.S. Pat. No. 2,955,632 by Stone do not allow doors to be stacked. In addition, the insertion of supporting anchors on the side of the doors, strong enough for support during prepping can split the wood if the door is thin.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,509,544 by Osborne does not allow doors of different sizes to be stacked, and cannot be used on thin doors because the supporting anchors might split the wood. In addition this rack system relies on anchors screwed into the edges of doors. These anchors are not strong enough to support doors during heavy duty work such as sanding.
A non-patented device on the market is being sold by the Swiss company Wiederkehr based in Switzerland at Leisibach Strasse, Buchrain 6033 (telephone: 041-445-05-44.) This device is shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2. It consists of two racks 101 facing each other. Each rack 101 is traversed at an angle from the horizontal by cylindrical bars 102. These bars can be used to support a stack of doors 106 while the doors are drying. The bars 102 are crimped or flattened on their ends to prevent them from slipping out of the racks. This rack system is not adequate for prepping a door because it supports the door by the edges and not by the surface: the force exerted on a door during prepping may cause the door to slip and fall to the ground. In addition, the bars traverse the vertical members of the rack 101 at an angle from the horizontal, and therefore they cannot be adjusted to support doors of different sizes by sliding them in or out. As shown in FIG. 1 only doors of a single size can be treated simultaneously. The inability of this prior art device to support doors of different sizes is detrimental when cabinets are being refinished because cabinets are usually constructed with non-uniform door sizes even in the same house. For example cabinets in the kitchen may be different depending if they are over or under a counter. Cabinets in the kitchen may differ from those in the bathroom.
None of the prior art offers the functionality, flexibility of use, simplicity and economy of this invention. Further features, aspects, and advantages of the present invention over the prior art will be more fully understood when considered with respect to the following detailed description claims and accompanying drawings.

Prepping, spraying and drying rack system for doors


An antenna element includes a conductive ground plane, planar first and second antenna elements, and feeding points. The first antenna element confronts the ground plane at a given interval, and the second antenna element surrounds parts of the outer periphery of the first antenna element at a certain interval. Each one of the feeding points is provided to the first and the second antenna elements for feeding high-frequency signals to those elements. The foregoing construction allows achieving a compact antenna device that can perform a polarization diversity communication.

Antenna devices for automobile telephone systems have been recently demanded to perform a good quality communication (hereinafter referred to as a "diversity communication") anytime regardless of automobile's running position or a running direction.
An automobile telephone system often encounters disturbances of radio-wave because the radio-wave is reflected or refracted by high-rise buildings when the automobile runs in an urban area. A polarization diversity communication has been devised as a communication method for maintaining communication quality even if radio-wave is subjected to the disturbance. The polarization diversity communication carries out a communication by selecting whichever a stronger polarization signal from vertical radio-wave (vertically polarized wave) and horizontal radio-wave (horizontally polarized wave).
The antenna device used for the polarization diversity communication thus includes a vertically polarized antenna element and a horizontally polarized antenna element, so that the antenna device can carry out communications in every direction of the automobile.
The conventional antenna device discussed above is described hereinafter with reference to FIG. 7, which shows a perspective view of the conventional antenna device. In FIG. 7, at the center of planar conductive ground plane 52, linear first antenna element 53 (hereinafter referred to as "element 53") stands upright with the height of H1. At the lower end of element 53, feeding point 53a is provided for feeding high-frequency signals extending through ground plane 52.
At an end portion of ground plane 52, linear or planar second antenna elements 54 (hereinafter referred to as "elements 54") are placed in parallel with ground plane 52. Feeding points 54a are provided to the respective ends of elements 54 adjacent to each other, and high-frequency signals are fed through signal lines 54b to feeding points 54a. Signal lines 54b extend through ground plane 52 and confront each other with a space in between.
Elements 54 are extended to both sides from feeding points 54a by the length of L1. The height of H1 of element 53 and the length of L1 of elements 54 correspond to ¼ wavelength of their operating frequencies respectively. Antenna device 51 incorporates element 53 and elements 54.
As shown in FIG. 7, a direction of radio-wave transmitted to/from antenna device 51 is defined based on ground plane 52 as X-direction, and Y-, Z-directions are defined accordingly. In this construction, element 53 works as vertically polarized wave antenna element which transmits/receives vertically polarized wave "Fa", and elements 54 work as horizontally polarized wave antenna elements which transmit/receive horizontally polarized wave "Fb". Antenna device 51 selects whichever a stronger polarized-wave signal from waves Fa and Fb for performing a communication. A conventional antenna device such as device 51 discussed above is disclosed in, e.g. Japanese Patent Application Unexamined Publication No. H11-261335.

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


In a master lens section having an imaging effect, a luminous divergent lens portion having a negative refracting power is disposed on the object side of an aperture stop, whereby Petzval sum is restrained from greatly becoming negative, thus keeping image quality in the periphery of the image surface from deteriorating. In a master lens group M, a concave lens L.sub.18 a having a negative refracting power is disposed on the object side of an aperture stop 2, thus decreasing the distance between a zoom lens second group Z2 and the concave lens L.sub.18 at the wide-angle end, so that the incident luminous flux moderately diverges at an early stage, thus restraining Petzval sum from becoming greatly negative.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a zoom lens incorporated in a television camera or video camera, for which high resolution, greater variable power, wider angle of view, smaller size, lighter weight, and the like are required and, in particular, to a zoom lens which exhibits a favorable optical performance in the whole variable power range while satisfactorily yielding a great variable power, a wide angle of view, a smaller size, and a lighter weight.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Zoom lenses for television camera, video camera, and the like have conventionally been required to have a great variable power and a high performance.
Almost all the imaging devices used in the current cameras are CCDs (solid-state imaging devices), for which a high resolution is required in the whole screen area. Consequently, it is necessary for a zoom lens used in such a camera to uniformly have a high resolution even in peripheral portions of the screen in the whole variable power range.
Also, as the camera becomes smaller, the zoom lens used therefor is required to have a smaller size as well.
Further, in general, a long back focus is needed in a television camera lens for broadcasting station since a color-separating optical system and various kinds of filters are inserted in front of its imaging device.
Known as a zoom lens satisfying such a requirement are a number of configurations each comprising a first group, fixed upon varying power, having a positive refracting power; a second group having a power-varying effect and a negative refracting power; a third group having a positive refracting power for correcting an image surface shift generated upon the power-varying effect of the second group; and a fourth group, fixed upon varying power, having an imaging effect.
For example, the one disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 6-59191 has a lens configuration in which each group has an appropriate allocation of refracting power, while a suitable lens surface is shaped into an aspheric form, in order to attain a high optical performance throughout the variable power range.
In the above-mentioned television zoom lens for broadcasting station, the focal length of the power-varying portion, i.e., that of each of the second and third groups, may be made as short as possible so that the length of the power-varying portion at its wide angle end is minimized, and together therewith, the outer diameter of the first group may be made smaller in order to reduce the size and weight of the whole lens. In this case, however, since the negative refracting power of the second group increases, Petzval sum tends to become greatly negative.
It has conventionally been known that Petzval sum is required to be made lower in order to reduce astigmatism and attain a flatter image surface (disclosed, for example, in Yoshiya Matsui, Renzu Sekkei Hou (Lens Designing Method), Kyoritsu Shuppan Co., pp. 110-111). In particular, in the television zoom lens requiring a high resolution, the sagittal image surface in the peripheral portion of the screen may especially deteriorate in the whole variable power range unless the Petzval sum value is appropriately set.


An electronic musical instrument is provided with an operator and a function switch, adding to a controller having a shape similar to that of woodwind instrument and a tone source unit. The function switch selects a function such as a controll function of a musical tone parameter, or a musical play expression to be assigned to the operator such as a wheel switch or a foot switch. The operator performs the function assigned by the function switch during playing. Player can widen range of playing by selecting proper function and play effectively with the proper music play expression.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an electronic musical instrument, for example wind instrument type, which is provided with playing keys and musical tone signal generating means and is capable of assigning any musical tone parameter to a continuous operator such as wheel switch, wheel assigning any musical play expression to a control means such as a foot switch or transposing the scale of a musical tone signal by an interval of a fifth at a time.
2. Description of the Prior Art
At present some electronic musical instruments have a controller which shapes the wind type instrument such as clarinet. The musical instruments are designed to control the musical tones by fingering and breath intensity control which are similar to those of the wind type instrument. Since the electronic musical instrument is designed so that the musical tone parameter is generated based on the information detected according to breath intensity and fingering and the musical tone is generated by controlling the musical tone source unit according to this musical tone parameter, it is possible to provide a free playing element (operator) which is not provided in the natural wind instrument. One example is a wheel switch which has been used until now. The wheel switch is an operator capable of outputting analog control data according to rotation angle. The existing electronic musical instruments have applied this wheel switch for pitch bend function (a control function which controls an effect to raise or lower continuously the pitch from a specified pitch).
In addition to pitch bend, there are other many musical tone parameters which could afford rich expression of musical tone by generating them based on analog data with the aid of a wheel switch. For example, it is desirable to control continuously a the tone generation effect such as vibrato from 0 level up to a maximum level.
However, as the function of the wheel switch of existing musical instruments is restricted to the pitch bend function, depth of vibrato cannot be changed. If the function of the wheel switch is fixed to adjust the vibrato function (a control function which controls a vibrato), pitch bend cannot be applied sufficiently. Accordingly, the existing electronic music instruments have a disadvantage that they cannot sufficiently express musical tones.
Some electronic musical instruments are provided with an operation means which can be operated during playing in addition to the playing keys and breath sensor so as to improve their musical expression ability. One example is a foot switch. Musical expression effects (for example, portamento and tone color change) which cannot be expressed by using only the play keys or breath sensor can be given to musical tones.
Nevertheless, since the existing musical instrument features that one function is inflexibly assigned to one operation means, many control means are required to give many musical expressions, which results in complicated play.
Usually, the electronic musical instrument has a disadvantage that since it is provided with one or two operation means mentioned above, the range of musical expression is narrow.
Usually the electronic musical instrument is tuned to C major. However, so as to ensure easy ensemble with other musical instruments and play for transposing instrument many electronic musical instruments are designed to be able to transpose. Transposition is a function to generate tones of another key (another pitch) with the same fingering. For example, if the musical instrument which is tuned usually to C major is transposed upward by 4 degrees, it can play F major by ordinary fingering.
The majority of wind instruments are transposing instruments. Therefore, when C major music is played with this type of musical instrument, actually played music may be B flat major or E flat major. Therefore so as to play this music easily with the electronic musical instrument, it is necessary to transpose its scale to the scale of a specific musical instrument. In many cases the scale of wind instruments is adjusted by increasing or decreasing the key signature .music-flat.(.music-sharp.) such as F major-B flat major-E flat major. For example, some saxophones are tuned to B flat major, but others to E flat major, some clarinets are tuned to B flat major, but others to E flat major, and some horns are tuned to F major, but others to B flat major. Thus in most cases instrument transposition is executed with a 5 degree step.
However, the conventional electronic musical instrument is designed so that transposition is executed with a semitone step. Therefore, transposition from C major to F major needs the procedure of C--C.music-sharp.--D--D.music-sharp.--E--F, which makes it impossible to transpose quickly during playing.

Electronic musical instrument having operator with selective control function


A first and a second motor drive amplifiers connected to a motor drive power supply include a first and a second memories which store specifications of the amplifiers, respectively. A memory provided in a power supply unit stores an overcurrent detection value for detecting an overcurrent according to the specifications of the respective motor drive amplifiers. A microcontroller reads the specifications from the first and second memories, and integrates overcurrent detection values corresponding to the respective specifications. If a current sensor detects that a current exceeding a reference value calculated based on a set integrated value, the current sensor outputs an overcurrent detection signal.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a motor drive system in which a plurality of motor drive amplifiers are connected to one motor drive power supply to thereby drive respective motors.
2. Description of the Related Art
There is known a motor drive system in which a plurality of motor drive amplifiers for driving motors, respectively, are connected to a motor drive power supply to thereby supply a power to the respective motor drive amplifiers from one motor drive power supply, and in which the motor drive power supply is shared among the amplifiers.
In the motor drive system in which the motor drive power supply is shared among the respective motor drive amplifiers, various overcurrent detection values (currents to be detected as an overcurrent) are set in overcurrent detection means for detecting overcurrent, corresponding to the number of the motor drive amplifiers connectable to the motor drive power supply.
As various overcurrent detection values (the currents to be detected as the overcurrent) are set in the overcurrent detection means for detecting the overcurrent by detecting a current flowing in the motor drive power supply, corresponding to the maximum number of motor drive amplifiers connectable to the motor driver power supply, in case where a smaller number of motor drive amplifiers than the maximum number of connectable motor drive amplifiers are connected to the motor drive power supply, if an overcurrent actually occurs to one of the motor drive amplifiers, then occurrence of the overcurrent cannot be detected, with the result that an excessive energy is supplied to a portion in which the overcurrent occurs. In consequence, components located in the portion may possibly be broken, and damages such as smoke emission and ignition may possibly occur to the components.


Nucleic acids are compacted, substantially without aggregation, to facilitate their uptake by target cells of an organism to which the compacted material is administered. The nucleic acids may achieve a clinical effect as a result of gene expression, hybridization to endogenous nucleic acids whose expression is undesired, or site-specific integration so that a target gene is replaced, modified or deleted. The targeting may be enhanced by means of a target cell-binding moiety. The nucleic acid is preferably compacted to a condensed state.

Functional exogenous genes can be introduced to mammalian cells in vitro by a variety of physical methods, including transfection, direct microinjection, electroporation, and coprecipitation with calcium phosphate. Most of these techniques, however, are impractical for delivering genes to cells within intact animals.
Receptor-Mediated Uncompacted DNA Delivery In Vivo
Receptor-mediated gene transfer has been shown to be successful in introducing transgenes into suitable recipient cells, both in vitro and in vivo. This procedure involves linking the DNA to a polycationic protein (usually poly-L-lysine) containing a covalently attached ligand, which is selected to target a specific receptor on the surface of the tissue of interest. The gene is taken up by the tissue, transported to the nucleus of the cell and expressed for varying times. The overall level of expression of the transgene in the target tissue is dependent on several factors: the stability of the DNA-carrier complex, the presence and number of specific receptors on the surface of the targeted cell, the receptor-carrier ligand interaction, endocytosis and transport of the complex to the nucleus, and the efficiency of gene transcription in the nuclei of the target cells.
Wu, et al., U.S. Pat. 5,166,320, discloses tissue-specific delivery of DNA using a conjugate of a polynucleic acid binding agent (such as polylysine, polyarginine, polyornithine, histone, avidin, or protamine) and a tissue receptor-specific protein ligand. For targeting liver cells, Wu suggests "asialoglycoprotein (galactose-terminal) ligands".
Wagner, et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., 88:4255-4259 (1991) and U.S. Pat. No. 5,354,844 disclose complexing a transferrin-polylysine conjugate with DNA for delivering DNA to cells via receptor mediated endocytosis. Wagner, et al., teach that it is important that there be sufficient polycation in the mixture to ensure compaction of plasmid DNA into toroidal structures of 80-100 nm diameter, which, they speculate, facilitate the endocytic event.
Direct Injection of Naked, Uncompacted DNA
The possibility of detecting gene expression by directly injecting naked DNA into animal tissues was demonstrated first by Dubenski et al., Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA, 81:7529-33 (1984), who showed that viral or plasmid DNA injected into the liver or spleen of mice was expressed at detectable levels. The DNA was precipitated using calcium phosphate and injected together with hyaluronidase and collagenase. The transfected gene was shown to replicate in the liver of the host animal. Benvenisty and Reshef, Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA, 83:9551-55 (1986) injected calcium phosphate precipitated DNA intraperitoneally into newborn rats and noted gene expression in the livers of the animals 48 hours after transfection. In 1990, Wolff et al., Science, 247:1456-68 (1990), reported that the direct injection of DNA or RNA expression vectors into the muscle of mice resulted in the detectable expression of the genes for periods for up to 2 months. This technique has been extended by Acsadi et al., New Biologist, 3:71-81 (1991) to include direct injection of naked DNA into rat hearts; the injected genes were expressed in the heart of the animals for up to 25 days. Other genes, including the gene for dystrophin have been injected into the muscle of mice using this technique. This procedure forms the base of a broad approach for the generation of immune response in an animal by the administration of a gene by direct injection into the target tissue. The gene is transiently expressed, producing a specific antigen. (See Donnelly et al., The Immunologist, 21, pp. 20-26 (1994) for a recent review). However, the DNA used in these experiments has not been modified or compacted to improve its survival in the cell, its uptake into the nucleus or its rate of transcription in the nucleus of the target cells.


Methods and apparatus for processing a substrate are described herein. A vacuum multi-chamber deposition tool can include a degas chamber with both a heating mechanism and a variable frequency microwave source. The methods described herein use variable frequency microwave radiation to increased quality and speed of the degas process without damaging the various components.

Field
Embodiments described herein generally relate to apparatus and methods for substrate processing using microwave radiation.
Description of the Related Art
Thin films are the major components of semiconductor devices. Typical thin films used in the semiconductor industry can be in the form of porous dielectrics, low resistance metals, polymeric materials and high-k dielectrics. During flip chip and wafer level packaging, large quantities of polymers are patterned and used as repassivation layers prior to the Under-Bump Metallization (UBM) or redistribution layer (RDL) metallization element. Another example are the highly porous low-k dielectrics, widely used as inter-metal dielectric films in high performance semiconductor devices.
A typical process flow after the developing of a patterned polymer films includes curing of the film and subsequent PVD deposition of the UBM/RDL. In typical processing, polymeric film curing and PVD barrier seed deposition are carried out on separate equipment. The curing process is typically done thermally in conventional oven. This introduces a vacuum break between the processes, resulting in moisture adsorption in the polymeric film.
If the absorbed gaseous impurities in the dielectric films (e.g. H2O) are not removed prior to the metal deposition, they will outgas during the PVD process as a result of the higher temperatures achieved during plasma processes. Consequently, the substrate should be degassed to prevent outgassed impurities from affecting the quality of the PVD metal layer. Tantalum, for example, may form Tantalum oxide in the presence of certain impurities which is not an optimal barrier material to prevent Copper diffusion. In another example, such as for packaging metallization (e.g. UBM applications), if H2O is not removed prior to a pre clean element (by sputter etch), outgassing of the H2O will occur leading to the formation of other unwanted oxides, such as Aluminum oxide. Aluminum oxide can form on the aluminum bondpad, giving rise to undesirable high contact resistance.
Thus, there is a continuing need in the art for methods and apparatus which allow for efficient curing of the film while minimizing gas and moisture absorption.
Further, due to the nature of CVD process, the incorporation of impurities, such as from the by-products of chemical reactions or residual gases, will significantly affect the resulting film properties. For example, impurities such as moisture (H2O) and CO can be misincorporated into porous low-k dielectric, which will increase the k value. In a typical semiconductor process flow, PVD metal films are usually deposited on a dielectric layers or a polymetric buffer layer.
If the absorbed gaseous impurities in the dielectric films (e.g. H2O) are not removed prior to the metal deposition, they will outgas during the PVD process as a result of the higher temperatures achieved during plasma processes. Consequently, outgassed impurities can affect the quality of the PVD metal layer. Tantalum, for example, may form Tantalum oxide in the presence of certain impurities which is not an optimal barrier material to prevent Copper diffusion. In another example, such as for packaging metallization (e.g. UBM applications), if H2O is not removed prior to a pre clean element (by sputter etch), outgassing of the H2O will occur leading to the formation of other unwanted oxides, such as Aluminum oxide. Aluminum oxide can form on the Aluminum bondpad, giving rise to undesirable high contact resistance.
To avoid outgassing during PVD processing, a degas element (by convection heating) is used prior to preclean and metallization to remove any moisture from the underlying substrate. Standard degas procedures generally include heating of the substrate with the affected layer for a period of time, such that the absorbed gases and impurities can escape without affecting deposition in later elements. The heat is usually generated by resistive heating element or lamp, and then transferred to the substrate and thin films by convection. However, due to the ever increasing porosity of dielectric films, as well as highly moisture adsorbent polymers used in packaging applications, long degas times are generally required to completely remove the moisture from the films. Long degas times limit the productivity of a PVD process. Further, standard thermal processing can easily bring modern films to a temperature which produces oxygen-containing secondary gases or leads to glass transition of the layer.
Thus, there is a need in the art for methods and apparatus which allow for efficient degassing of the film while maintaining heat with the thermal processing ranges of the deposited film.

Variable frequency microwave (VFM) processes and applications in semiconductor thin film fabrications


The engine balancing system preferably has two pivoting counterbalance weights connected to eccentric journals on the crankshaft via their respective link arms. The use of the two pivoting weights and the particular geometrical relationships between the balancing system components enable the balancing system to substantially mimic and oppose the non-sinusoidal piston forces. Several methods of balancing the non-sinusoidal piston forces are disclosed. In a first method, the centers of gravity of the respective counterbalance weights are moved at non-sinusoidal angular accelerations. These angular accelerations are greater when the piston is near its Top Dead Center position than when the piston is near its Bottom Dead Center position to yield higher balancing forces when the piston is near Top Dead Center. In a second method, the centers of gravity move through arcs which are substantially parallel to the piston axis when the piston is near its Top Dead Center position, and move in directions less parallel to the piston axis when the piston is near its Bottom Dead Center position. The movement of the centers of gravity parallel to but in the opposite direction from the moving piston when the piston is near Top Dead Center results in greater balancing forces when the piston is near Top Dead Center. The invention also includes a combined method of balancing the non-sinusoidal piston forces. In this combined method, the angular accelerations of the centers of gravity vary as in the first method, and the directions of movement of the centers of gravity vary as in the second method.

This invention relates to engines such as those used to power garden tractors, lawnmowers, sump pumps, portable generators, snow blowers and the like. More particularly, this invention relates to a counterbalance weight system for canceling the primary and higher order vibrational forces in a single cylinder engine resulting from piston reciprocation.
A major cause of vibration in a single cylinder engine is piston reciprocation. The piston is started and stopped twice during each rotation of the crankshaft, and reactions to the forces which accelerate and decelerate the piston are imposed upon the engine body as vibration in directions generally parallel to the piston axis. In installations such as garden tractors, lawnmowers and the like, the engine produces a vibration that is transmitted through the machine to the operator. This vibration is uncomfortable and could produce operator fatigue. Even in an installation where there is no element of operator fatigue such as sump pumps or portable generators, engine vibration is undesirable because it causes maintenance problems and tends to reduce the useful life of the machine.
To some extent such vibrations can be decreased by providing the engine with a counterweight fixed on its crankshaft, and located at the side of the crankshaft axis directly opposite the crankpin by which the piston, through the connecting rod, is connected to the crankshaft. More commonly, two counterweights may be used on the crankshaft, one located on each side of the piston axis. In either case, such a crankshaft counterweight arrangement produces a net resultant centrifugal force vector that is diametrically opposite to the crankpin.
If the mass of the crankshaft counterweights is great enough, their net force vector parallel to the piston axis cancels the acceleration and deceleration primary forces on the piston assembly. Such a force canceling condition exists when the crankshaft counterweights are of such mass and radius of gyration that their combined centrifugal force totally cancels the centrifugal force due to the rotating masses of the crankpin and the crank end of the connecting rod. When the counterweights are even larger, the vector component parallel to the cylinder axis of the counterweights' additional combined centrifugal force completely offsets the primary (first order) acceleration and deceleration forces of the piston. Such counterweighting may be called a condition of 100% overbalance.
Unfortunately, centrifugal force due to the crankshaft counterweights also has a component transverse to the piston axis. This produces lateral vibration. If the mass of the crankshaft counterweights produces 100% overbalance, the vibration transverse to the piston axis is excessive for practical purposes. For this reason most single cylinder engines incorporate crankshaft counterweights having a mass that provides a condition of about 50% overbalance, so that the centrifugal force due to the counterweight overbalance has a component along the cylinder axis that is equal to about 50% of the acceleration and deceleration forces on the piston assembly. This represents a compromise between the severe vibration in directions parallel to the piston axis that would result with the condition of no overbalance, and the severe vibration transverse to the piston axis that would result with the condition of 100% overbalance. With this compromise condition of about 50% overbalance, there is of course some vibration parallel to the cylinder axis and some vibration transverse to it. Unsatisfactory as it is, the use of crankshaft counterweights to provide condition of about 50% overbalance is a typical balance system utilized with small commercially available engines of this type.
Other prior art systems have one or more counter-rotating balance shafts and associated counterbalance weights in addition to the crankshaft counterweights. With this type of system, the combination of the crankshaft counterbalance weights and the counter-rotating balance shaft or shafts provides forces that cancel the primary piston inertia forces, without creating undesirable forces transverse to the cylinder axis.
Unfortunately, the counter-rotating balance shaft methods do not balance the higher order forces, and in fact some designs introduce torsional or rocking forces on the engine. When the net force of all counterbalances is not located on the piston axis, force couples remain and vibrate the engine rotationally.
Rocking forces are not generated when two counterbalancing shafts are used as depicted in FIGS. 1A and 1B, with one shaft being located on each side of the piston axis. The crankshaft counterbalance weights are just sufficient to balance the crankpin and the large end of the connecting rod, but provide no balancing for the piston and the upper end of the connecting rod. Primary piston forces are balanced by the counter-rotating weights, but this balancing is not perfect. The main reason that the piston forces are not totally balanced is that the piston forces are not truly sinusoidal, while the counter-rotating balancer forces are sinusoidal. Because of the nature of the slider-crank mechanics, the piston forces are highest near Top Dead Center (TDC), cross zero when the piston is located about halfway in the cylinder bore, and have an intermediate (reversed) value when the piston is near Bottom Dead Center (BDC).
Prior art balancing methods typically do not take into account the non-sinusoidal nature of the piston forces. Although prior art methods may counterbalance the primary forces, they typically do not entirely counterbalance higher order forces, as depicted in FIGS. 2A and 2B. FIG. 2A is a graph depicting the piston force curve and the balancer force curve in a typical prior art one-cylinder engine with counter-rotating balance shafts. FIG. 2B depicts the net force curve of the piston and balancer forces in FIG. 2A.
The net forces are essentially sinusoidal in nature and have a predominant frequency twice that of the primary forces. These "secondary" forces have lower values than the primary forces, but they are high enough to cause vibration-related failures and operator discomfort. There are also forces of a higher order than the secondary forces, but these higher order forces are of such a low magnitude that they may be disregarded.
Other prior art methods use oscillating counterbalance schemes. Since it is an oscillating mass (the piston) that produces the vibration, single cylinder engines have for a number of years been balanced by a mass oscillated in a direction opposite to the piston movement. U.S. Pat. No. 3,457,804 to Harkness discloses such a system. This system has the advantage of minimizing unwanted lateral vibrations, and does not require additional gearing in the engine. While it is theoretically possible to balance higher order vibrations by this method, it requires that the ratio of connecting rod length to eccentric radius of the balancer be the same as that of the engine. Typically, the oscillating counterbalance has been made quite heavy and given a very short stroke to keep the engine compact. This configuration makes it impractical to give the balancer the same ratio of connecting rod length to crank (eccentric) throw as the connecting rod to crank throw ratio. The result is that the oscillating counterbalance has little cancellation of higher order forces since its oscillating motion is nearly sinusoidal.

Engine balancing system having at least one pivoting counterbalance weight


A method for fabricating a non-volatile memory array includes placing contacts over bit lines in a self-aligned manner. The placing includes forming self-aligned contact holes bounded by a second insulating material resistant to the removal of a first insulating material previously deposited over the bit lines, and depositing contact material, wherein the second insulating material blocks effusion of the contact material beyond the contact holes. The distance between neighboring bit lines in the array does not include a margin for contact misalignment.

Nitride read only memory (NROM) arrays are known in the art, and are described in many patents. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/247,733 for example, assigned to the common assignee of the present invention, and whose disclosure is incorporated herein by reference, describes a dense planar virtual ground (VG) NROM array, composed of double polysilicon planar NROM cells. FIG. 1, reference to which is now made, shows a schematic top view of an exemplary dense planar VG array 10.
The virtual ground array architecture, as shown in FIG. 1, consists of a dense crisscrossing of word lines 19 and bit lines 22. Due to the high resistance of bit lines 22, contacts 26, which are connected to highly conductive metal lines, are employed to convey charge along bit lines when the distance the charge must travel is long. In a planar VG NROM array such as array 10, contacts 26 are typically located every 16 to 32 word lines.
Sufficient horizontal margins Mh and vertical margins Mv must be maintained between each contact 26 and the bit lines and word lines adjacent to it in order to ensure reliable operation of array 10. As further shown in FIG. 1, both margins Mh and Mv are affected when a contact, such as exemplary contact 26j, does not land squarely on its intended bit line location Lj during manufacture.
In the example shown in FIG. 1, where exemplary contact 26j lands below and to the right of location Lj, instead of directly on location Lj, margin Mvt, between the top edge of contact 26j and adjacent word line 19t increases to a length of Mvtj. Margin Mvb, between the bottom edge of contact 26j and adjacent word line 19b decreases to a length of Mvbj. Laterally, margin Mh, between the rightmost edge of contact 26j and adjacent bit line 22r decreases to a length of Mhj.
Misalignments between a contact 26 and a bit line 22 such as that exemplified by contact 26j in FIG. 1, result in a reduction of the distance between bit lines, due to doping of the substrate at the contact landing point. Thus leakage between bit lines becomes a serious problem.
Implementation of shallow trenchline isolation (STI) which is known in the art, between bit lines at the contact region, is a straightforward solution which can address the leakage between bit lines. However, the drawbacks of this solution include the complication of the manufacturing process and the possible requirement of additional horizontal and vertical margins, which carries a substantial die size penalty.