The disclosed method and system provide extensible or stand-alone location enabled services at granularity down to a stand-alone service. The various interfaces are preferably specified via DTD or schemas for communication based on XML. This collection of services enables management of mobile device locations information, and real-time services. Mobile device location is integrated with other location sensitive data, such as maps or demographics of a particular region or even the location of businesses and consumers to enable a richer service offering for customers of wireless carriers and service providers. Examples of such services include obtaining routes to a destination; providing a geocode corresponding to an address; providing an address corresponding to a geocode; providing maps as image files encompassing specified geocodes, locations, or addresses and the like. Additional services may be added to the disclosed system and method seamlessly due to the use of extensible interfaces.

Advances in telecommunications technology have enabled faster and more accurate location of users carrying mobile devices. Examples of such technology are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,477,362 and 6,477,379, both issued on Nov. 5, 2002, which patents are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. These patents respectively describe systems for directing emergency services to a user based on her or his location and for locating a mobile device with the aid of two base stations.
Global Positioning Systems (GPS) receivers are described in several publications and references, such as the U.S. Pat. No. 5,528,248, issued on Jun. 18, 1996, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. This patent discloses a personal Digital Location Assistant based on a GPS Smart Antenna and a computing device.
GPS utilizes signals transmitted by a number of in-view satellites to determine the location of a GPS antenna which is connected to a receiver. Each GPS satellite transmits two coded L-band carrier signals which enable some compensation for propagation delays through the ionosphere. Each GPS receiver contains an almanac of data describing the satellite orbits and uses ephemeris corrections transmitted by the satellites themselves. Satellite to antenna distances may be deduced from time code or carrier phase differences determined by comparing the received signals with locally generated receiver signals. These distances are then used to determine antenna position. Only those satellites which are sufficiently above the horizon can contribute to a position measurement, the accuracy of which depends on various factors including the geometrical arrangement of the satellites at the time when the distances are determined.
Distances measured from an antenna to four or more satellites enable the antenna position to be calculated with reference to the global ellipsoid WGS-84. Local northing, easting and elevation coordinates can then be determined by applying appropriate datum transformation and map projection. By using carrier phase differences in any one of several known techniques, the antenna location can be determined to an accuracy on the order of .+−0.1 cm.
Locations may be specified by various means, both actual and representational, including geocodes, centroids, and street vectors/segments. These and other terms are used by various technologies to provide systems and methods for delivering spatially-dependent services.
A geocode is a specification of a position using a suitable coordinate system and at a granularity that is sufficient for a particular application. For example, a geocode specifying a latitude and a longitude specifies a position on the surface of the earth. A geocode may also specify a height above the surface of the earth. A geocode encompasses providing spatial information in a form other than specifying the longitude and the latitude. Other examples of geocodes include postal centroids that are associated with areas sharing a common zip code. A centroid is a geographic center of an entire area, region, boundary, etc. for which the specific geographic area covers. A familiar example is the association between a centroid and a postal code, such as the ZIP codes defined and used by the United States Postal Service.
Street vectors are address ranges assigned to segments of individual streets. Street vectors assist in displaying digitized computer-based street maps. Often, street vectors appear as left and right side address ranges, and may be also used for geocoding a particular address to a particular street segment.
Geocoding is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,101,496 issued on Aug. 8, 2000, and assigned to the assignee of the present application, which patent is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. In the context of spatially meaningful databases, geocoding is the act, method or process of assigning x and y coordinates (usually but not limited to latitude and longitude) to records, lists and files containing location information (full addresses, partial addresses, zip codes, census FIPS codes, etc.) for cartographic or any other form of spatial analysis or reference. Geocoding encompasses assigning spatial parameters to data to visualize information and exploring relationships based on spatial distribution. Some examples include census data or survey data that identify the residences of individuals with a particular income bracket, ethnicity, political affiliations, employment, and the like.
Geocoding is often performed by running ungeocoded (referred to hereafter as "raw data") information such as a list of customers through software and/or data which performs table lookup, fuzzy logic and address matching against an entire "library" of all known or available addresses (referred to hereafter as "georeferenced library") with associated x,y location coordinates.
A georeferenced library may be compiled from a number of varied sources including US Census address information and US postal address information, along with Zip Code boundaries and other various sources of data containing geographic information and/or location geometry. If a raw data address cannot be matched exactly to a specific library street address (known as a "street level hit"), then an attempt may be made to match the raw data address to geographic hierarchy of point, line or region geography of ever decreasing precision until a predetermined tolerance for an acceptable match is met. The geographic hierarchy to which a raw data record is finally assigned is also known as the "geocoding precision." Geocoding precision tells how closely the location assigned by the geocoding software matches the true location of the raw data. Geocoding technology generally provides for two main types of precision: street level and postal ZIP centroid. Street level precision is the placement of geocoded records at the street address. Street level precision attempts to geocode all records to the actual street address. In all likelihood, some matches may end up at a less precise location such as a ZIP centroid (ZIP+4, ZIP+2, or ZIP code) or shape path (the shape of a street as defined by points that make up each segment of the street.
One form of spatial indexing for storing and accessing location sensitive information in databases is disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 6,363,392 issued on Mar. 26, 2002, which is hereby incorporated by reference it its entirety. This patent uses quad keys to provide a flexible, web-sharable database with proximity searching capability. The process for generating quad keys begins with geocoding where a description of a geographic location is converted into a longitude and latitude, which may be represented as integers at some resolution. Then, a quad key is generated in binary form, with the bits interleaved (most significant bit (MSB) from x, followed by MSB from y, followed by next-MSB from x, next-MSB from y, etc.).
Various technologies for providing location information include triangulation using radio signals, global positioning systems ("GPS"), and other technologies described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,528,248 and 6,477,379. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/159,195 filed on May 31, 2002 discloses a method and system for obtaining geocodes corresponding to addresses and addresses corresponding to geocodes. This application claims the benefit of the disclosure and filing date of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/256,103 filed on May 31, 2001. These patent applications are also incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. These and other means for determining position, including those developed subsequent to this invention, may be used to provide location information.
In another aspect, it should be noted that the term "interface" is commonly used in describing software and devices. For clarity, as used herein the term "interface" differs from a "user interface" in that a user interface is a presentation made to a user offering various choices, information, and operable elements such as buttons, knobs, and the like. A user interface may include physical components as well as transient displayed information. An interface, in contrast, in the context of object oriented ("OO") languages represents methods that are supported either by the interface itself in some OO languages, or provided in the interface as abstract methods which are provided by classes implementing the interface. A familiar example of the latter kind of OO paradigms is JAVA, which allows platform independent coding of software.


A connecting terminal for establishing electrical connection between a conduction path on a circuit board and an external electric circuit comprises first, second, and third legs integrally formed on a plate-shaped body. The first and second legs are arranged on either side of the body in the crosswise direction of the body, and the third leg is located halfway between the first and second legs. The three terminal legs of the connecting terminal are inserted individually in separate through holes in the circuit board and soldered, whereby the connecting terminal is connected electrically and mechanically to the circuit board. An external force applied to the connection terminal is received by the three legs and one of first and second supporting portions protruding individually from two opposite major surfaces of the connecting terminal body in first and second edge regions, which corresponds to the acting direction of the external force.

The present invention relates to a connecting terminal for establishing electrical connection between a conduction path on a circuit board, e.g., a conductor pattern on a printed board, and an external electric circuit, and a connecting terminal assembly including a plurality of connecting terminals of the aforementioned type and adapted for use with an automatic connecting terminal loader, and more particularly, to a connecting terminal having three legs for higher strength of attachment to a circuit board and a connecting terminal assembly including a plurality of connecting terminals adhered, by means of tape, to a lead frame transported by means of an automatic loader.
Electrically connecting a conductor pattern on a printed board and an external electric circuit by means of a connecting terminal is a known technique. Electrical connection is achieved, for example, by fitting a receptacle, which is connected to the external circuit, on a tab terminal serving as the connecting terminal, or by winding around and soldering a lead wire, connected to the external circuit, to a lug terminal as the connecting terminal.
The conventional connecting terminal, which typically comprises a plate-shaped body and two legs formed integrally therewith, is mounted on the printed board by soldering the terminal legs, inserted individually into through holes formed in the printed board, to the conductor pattern. By doing this, the connecting terminal is connected to the printed board both electrically and mechanically. In some cases, an external force may be applied to the connecting terminal on the printed board during the assembly or manufacture of the printed board and its peripheral components, including mounting the connecting terminal and other necessary electric and electronic components on the printed board and connecting the receptacle or lead wire to the connecting terminal, or during the use of the printed board thereafter. Accordingly, the connecting terminal should be firmly attached to the printed board.
For example, to increase the strength of attachment of the connecting terminal to the printed board, a conventional tab terminal has its body which is provided at a portion thereof adjacent to the terminal legs with fall-proof projection means adapted to engage the face of the printed board when the legs are inserted into the through holes of the printed board, thereby supporting the terminal, as disclosed in Japanese provisional utility model publication no. 3-69866. The projection means is provided with a first projection protruding from the other major surface of the terminal body, in a region ranging from the middle point between the two legs, first and second, to the first leg, and a second projection protruding from the other major surface of the terminal body, in a region ranging from the middle point between the two legs to the second leg. Each projection has the shape of a hollow quarter ellipsoid which may be obtained by quadrisecting a hollow ellipsoid of revolution, so that the bottom surface of each projection is brought into engagement with the face of the printed board along a semicircular arc.
According to the conventional tab terminal, having the first and second legs and the fall-proof projection means including the first and second projections, if an external force directed from the major surface of the tab terminal for the first projection to the major surface for the second projection is applied to the tab terminal, it is received by the first and second legs and the outermost region of an arcuate contact portion of the bottom surface of the second projection which engages the face of the printed board. The outermost region of the arcuate contact portion of the second projection is situated at a distance equivalent to about 1/4 of the distance between the first and second legs, from the first leg, in the direction of an imaginary line connecting the first and second legs, and is hence deviated from the center of the tab terminal toward the second leg in the direction of the imaginary line. Thus, the first and second legs and the outermost region of the contact portion of the second projection situated close to the second leg, which receive the external force acting in the aforementioned direction, form a scalene triangle, as a whole, on the face of the printed board. In other words, when the external force acts on the tab terminal, the first one of the two legs is subjected to a heavier load. In some cases, therefore, the first leg may be lifted off the printed board. If the conventional tab terminal is subjected to an external force which acts in the direction opposite to the aforesaid one and is received by the two legs and the first projection, the second leg may possibly be lifted off for the aforementioned reason. Thus, the conventional tab terminal is liable to lack in the strength of attachment to the printed board.
Thereupon, the attachment strength may be further increased by widening the sectional area of each leg of the tab terminal. If this is done, however, each terminal leg is increased in size, and hence in thermal capacity, so that flow soldering is prone to fail.
As in the arrangement disclosed in Japanese provisional utility model publication no. 3-77378, moreover, the attachment strength of the tab terminal can be increased by providing the terminal body with a plate-shaped extension formed integrally with the body and extending between the two legs of the terminal. In this case, the terminal legs and the extension are inserted in a slit-like through hole or elongated slot formed in the printed board, and are soldered to the conductor pattern on the printed board. If an external force acts on the tab terminal arranged in this manner, however, the conductor pattern is liable to be subjected to a great force and damaged thereby, due to the existence of the elongated slot in the printed board.

Connecting terminal and a connecting terminal assembly


A composition includes an isolated bacteriophage Str-PAP-1 having the ability to kill Streptococcus parauberis cells specifically by infecting the same, and may be used to prevent and treat Streptococcus parauberis infections. The bacteriophage Str-PAP-1 that is an active ingredient of the composition has the ability to kill Streptococcus parauberis cells and characteristically has the genome represented by nucleotide sequence of SEQ. ID. NO: 1.

The present application relates to a composition usable for preventing or treating Streptococcus parauberis infections comprising an isolated bacteriophage that is able to infect and kill Streptococcus parauberis cells, and a method for preventing and treating Streptococcus parauberis infections using the composition. More particularly, the present application relates to the bacteriophage characteristically having the genome represented by nucleotide sequence of SEQ. ID. NO: 1 that is able to kill specifically Streptococcus parauberis cells, a composition comprising the bacteriophage for preventing and treating Streptococcus parauberis infections and a method for preventing and treating Streptococcus parauberis infections using the composition.
The importance of aquaculture production in the fishery industry increases continuously. Because the wild fish captured are not sufficient to meet global fish demand, the supply and demand of aquaculture products are expected to increase continuously. Aquaculture production is expected to remain an important part of fishery industry.
In aquaculture production, disease outbreaks are considered to be a key constraint in the fish farming sector, resulting in significant losses. Disease outbreaks cause the economic damage and reduced productivity attributed to the increased general expense of fish culture resulted from the increase of drug use and management costs thereby. In addition, antibiotics residue has been another sensitive social issue, so the production of high quality safe aquatic products seems to be in doubt. Therefore, a method for preventing and treating the disease of cultured fish has been a major interest not just domestically, but internationally.
Streptococcus parauberis is well known as one of the most representative causative pathogen of streptococcosis in cultured fish. In addition to Streptococcus parauberis, S. iniae, S. difficilis, S. shiloi, and Lactococcus garvieae are also known as pathogenic bacteria that cause streptococcosis. Among them, Streptococcus parauberis is the most frequently reported causative pathogen of streptococcosis in fish.
In terms of external signs, a sea fish having streptococcosis shows darkened body color, exophthalmos and hyperemia, abdominal distension, and hernia. Internally, such symptoms as ascites, abdominal wall hemorrhage, and heart abscess were observed. In some cases, only gill erosion is observed without any other symptoms. Streptococcosis usually occurs in adult fish rather than a juvenile fish, indicating that economic damage is comparatively higher than other bacterial diseases.
Outbreak of streptococcosis can be influenced by several factors of deterioration of environmental conditions, inappropriate culture methods, and inappropriate feeds, etc. Streptococcosis is commonly found when water temperatures are warm, but may be common in the winter when water temperatures are low. The damage in the aquaculture production by such Streptococcus parauberis infections is getting bigger, so that a method to prevent the infections and also to treat the infections efficiently is urgently requested.
A variety of antibiotics have been used for the prevention or treatment of Streptococcus parauberis infections. However, according to the increase of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, another way of treating the infections is urgently requested. To control the infections caused by Streptococcus parauberis, a vaccine has been developed. However, the variety of vaccines cannot catch up with the variety of diseases. In addition, to control the multiple diseases broken at the same time, a combined control method to treat them along with a vaccine has to be prepared.
Recently, the use of bacteriophages has drawn our attention as a new way of treating bacterial infections. Particularly, the reason of our high interest in bacteriophages is because bacteriophage-based treatment is a nature-friendly method. Bacteriophages are an extremely small microorganism that infects bacteria, which is called phage in short. Once it infects bacteria, the bacteriophage is proliferated in the inside of the bacterial cell. After full proliferation, the progenies destroy the bacterial cell wall to escape from the host, suggesting that the bacteriophage has bacteria killing ability. The bacteriophage infection is characterized by high specificity, so that a certain bacteriophage infects only a specific bacterium. That is, the bacterium that can be infected by certain bacteriophage is limited, suggesting that bacteriophage can kill only a specific bacterium and cannot harm other bacteria.
Bacteriophage was first found out by an English bacteriologist Twort in 1915 when he noticed that Micrococcus colonies melted and became transparent by something unknown. In 1917, a French bacteriologist d′Herelle found out that Shigella disentriae in the filtrate of dysentery patient feces melted by something, and further studied about this phenomenon. As a result, he identified bacteriophage independently, and named it as bacteriophage which means a bacteria killer. Since then, bacteriophages specifically acting against such pathogenic bacteria as Shigella, Salmonella typhi, and Vibrio cholerae have been continuously identified.
Owing to the unique capability of bacteriophage to kill bacteria, bacteriophages have been studied and anticipated as a method to treat bacterial infections. However, after penicillin was found by Fleming, studies on bacteriophages had been only continued in some of Eastern European countries and the former Soviet Union because of the universalization of antibiotics. After the year of 2000, the merit of the conventional antibiotics faded because of the increase of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. So, bacteriophages are once again spotlighted as a new anti-bacterial agent that can replace the conventional antibiotics.
According to the recent regulation of use of antibiotics by the government, the interest on bacteriophages increases more and more.
Thus, the present inventors tried to develop a composition for preventing or treating Streptococcus parauberis infections by using an isolated bacteriophage that is able to kill Streptococcus parauberis cells specifically and to establish a method for preventing or treating Streptococcus parauberis infections using the composition. As a result, the present inventors secured the nucleotide sequence of the genome that can distinguish this bacteriophage from other bacteriophages and then developed a composition comprising the isolated bacteriophage as an active ingredient, and further confirmed that this composition could be efficiently used for the prevention and treatment of Streptococcus parauberis infections.


A polyacetal resin composition, contains a polyacetal resin, a hindered phenol antioxidant represented by a specific general formula and a fatty acid calcium salt, which can be molded. The content of the hindered phenol antioxidant in the polyacetal resin composition is from 0.05 part by mass to 1.0 part by mass (inclusive) relative to 100 parts by mass of the polyacetal resin, and the content of the fatty acid calcium salt in the polyacetal resin composition is from 0.01 part by mass to 2.0 parts by mass (inclusive) relative to 100 parts by mass of the polyacetal resin.

A polyacetal resin, which is excellent in mechanical properties, thermal properties, electrical properties, slidability, moldability and the like, is widely used mainly in electrical devices, automotive parts, precision machinery components and the like as a structural material and a mechanism component. As a polyacetal resin is used in increasingly broader fields, required properties tend to become more advanced, complicated and specialized.
For example, in the field of automotive parts, excellent fuel-resistance may be required. A polyacetal resin has excellent fuel-resistance among other thermoplastic resins, and used in large components such as those directly contacting with a fuel oil, for example, a fuel supply unit and the like represented by a fuel pump module.
Moreover, a method of further improving the fuel-resistance of a resin molded body manufactured with a polyacetal resin has been explored. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a polyacetal resin composition having excellent fuel-resistance even in severe environments.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application


The disclosure is directed at a valvetrain actuation (VA) system for an engine comprising at least two hydraulic rotary valves connected to an engine crankshaft, at least one hydraulic actuator driven by the at least two hydraulic rotary valves, and a high pressure hydraulic fluid source for supplying hydraulic fluid to one of the at least two hydraulic rotary valves, wherein movement of the at least two hydraulic rotary valves by the engine crankshaft allows hydraulic fluid to flow to the at least one hydraulic actuator to actuate an engine valve.

Poppet valves are used in combustion engines to open and close intake and exhaust ports located in the engine cylinder head. These valves usually consist of a flat disk with a tapered edge rigidly connected to a long rod at one end, called a valve stem (shank). The valve stem is used to push down or pull up the valve against the tapered seat during opening and closing stages. A retaining spring is usually used to close the valve when the stem is not being pushed on. In conventional valvetrain system, the valve is raised from its seat by pushing the stem using a cam-follower mechanism. The cam profile and its location with respect to the cam follower determine the valve translational motion as well as its opening and closing timings. In the conventional designs, the camshaft is placed relatively close to the crankshaft and the translational motion from the cam follower is transferred to the valve stem through pushrods or rocker arms. This mechanism is very common in V-type engines and allows for the actuation of the valves of both cylinder banks using a common camshaft.
Conventional designs have considerable energy losses in the engine. The cams are usually fixed on the camshaft and rotate with the same speed as the camshaft. The camshaft obtains its rotary motion from the engine crankshaft using an intermediate mechanism such as chain, gear or belt. The camshaft speed is half the crankshaft speed in 4-stroke engines and equal to that in 2-stroke engines.
In addition to zero flexibility of the cam-follower valvetrains, another drawback of the cam-driven valvetrains is that the minimum possible engine valve opening angle (β) is limited due to the cam profile limitations. In a cam with flat faced follower, a negative radius of curvature on the cam cannot be accommodated and this limits the minimum cam rise or fall angle (β/2) for a specific cam size.
Significant improvement in power density, volumetric efficiency, emission and fuel consumption can be achieved by variable valve actuation systems (VA).
In general, VA systems are divided into two main categories: camless and cam-based valvetrains. In the camless systems, there is no mechanical connection between the engine crankshaft and the valvetrain. High level of flexibility in valve timing and valve lift is the main advantage of these systems over cam-based valvetrains. Electro-mechanical, electrohydraulic and electro-pneumatic valvetrains are all in this category. Although these systems are the most flexible valve actuation systems, some concerns including high cost, low reliability (i.e. not being fail-safe), high power consumption (>2.2 kW for 16 valve engine at 5000 rpm engine speed), high seating velocity (>100 mm·s−1) and control complexity (requires ultra fast actuator with response time of less than 3 ms) prevent these systems from being incorporated into production engines.
In contrast to camless valvetrains, the cam-based VA systems are mechanically linked to the engine crankshaft. Due to their high reliability, durability, repeatability and robustness, many of these systems have been already designed and implemented in production engines. Limited flexibility and high mechanism complexity are the major disadvantage 5 of the cam-based valvetrains compared with the existing camless systems.
Cam phaser is a standard mechanism for valve timing. By using this mechanism, it is possible to change the cam angular position relative to the crankshaft and consequently shift the valve opening and closing events simultaneously. However, using this mechanism, the total engine valve opening duration and lift remain constant. Cam phasers are categorized into oil actuated, helical gear drives, differential drives, chain drives, worm gear drives and planetary gear drives.
Cam Profile Switching (CPS) is another technique introduced by Honda to vary valve timing, duration and lift simultaneously. In this technique, the valve motion is switched between two different sets of cam lobs. During low engine speed operation, the cam with low lift profile is engaged with the valve stem, while at high engine speed operation, the cam with high lift profile is engaged. The shift from one cam to another is realized by either an electric or hydraulic system. In this system, the cam profiles are compromised settings for the desired objectives during two engine speed ranges.
One of the problems of cam profile switching is that the valve motion is switched only between two specific cam profiles. However, the use of a three-dimensional cam design allows the engine to continuously change the valve timing, lift and duration over a wide range of engine operating conditions. In this mechanism, the cam profile continuously varies along the cam axis, and the axial movement of the camshaft with respect to follower brings a different profile of the cam into engagement with the follower, prompting a change in valve opening profile. A combination of three-dimensional cam mechanism and cam phaser has been also implemented by Nagaya et al. to control both valve timing and valve lift independently.
Electromagnetic valve actuation systems generally consist of two magnets and two balanced springs. The moving parts of the electromagnetic valve are connected to the engine valve. When both magnets are off, the armature is held in the intermediate position between the coils by balanced springs.
At engine start-up, the upper electromagnet is activated and it pulls up and holds the armature, and the potential energy is stored in the retaining springs. To open the valve, the upper electromagnet is deactivated and the stored energy is released and converted into kinetic energy which carries the armature toward the lower magnet. At a distance of less than one millimeter from the lower magnet, the moving part is captured and held. During the valve closing stage, similar events are repeated. Due to high non-linearity in magnetic force characteristics, there are several difficulties preventing this technology. from being commercially implemented [30]. These difficulties include: High landing velocity (>0.5 msec at 1500 rpm), High transition time (>3.5 msec), Higher power losses than conventional cam drive system, Requirements for robust feedback control, High sensitivity to in-cylinder gas pressure.
A basic electro-hydraulic camless valvetrain consists of a hydraulic cylinder, two solenoid valves and two check valves. In this design, the solenoids and the check valves control the submission and rejection of the high pressure oil into and out of the hydraulic cylinder during valve operation. Using an additional oil path, a constant force is always applied to the bottom of the piston, and when the high pressure oil is removed from the piston top, the valve returns to its seated position. By controlling the solenoid valves timing and opening duration, it is possible to precisely control the valve timing, duration, and lift. By activating the high pressure solenoid valve, the high pressure oil is admitted into the hydraulic cylinder. The opening period of this high pressure solenoid valve determines the amount of oil submitted into the cylinder chamber and consequently determines the valve lift. By activating the low pressure solenoid valve, the oil is discharged from the upper cylinder chamber thanks to the presence of high pressure oil at the lower chamber. The low pressure solenoid valve opening duration determines how far the valve moves in its closing descent.
Similar to electro-mechanical valve systems, a closed loop electronic control is required to reduce valve seating velocity, transition time, and cyclic variability. One of the problems of this VVT system is servo-valve response time. Due to solenoid coil inductance and nonlinear force to displacement relation, the solenoid maximum operating frequency is reduced and, as a result, the system shows poor performance during high engine speeds.
The required valve actuation time reduces significantly as engine speed increases, and consequently the minimum valve opening angle becomes limited. For example, at an engine speed of 6000 rpm and a total opening angle of 100 degrees, the total time available for the actuation process is about 3 ms, which almost exceeds the speed of the high bandwidth solenoid valves which are currently on the market. This causes the electrohydraulic valve manufacturers to use either a double-stage mechanism (i.e., two pilot valves) or employ ultra high frequency actuators such as piezoelectric.
In electro-hydraulic VA systems, the major part of the system cost is for high speed servo-valves which control the oil flow to and from the hydraulic cylinder. A high speed servo valve may be split into a digital three-way valve and two proportional valves. The digital three-way valve directs hydraulic fluid either from a high pressure source toward the hydraulic cylinder or from the hydraulic cylinder to the reservoir. However, the two-way proportional valves control the valve timing, valve rise/fall duration, final valve lift and valve velocity.
An electro-hydraulic valvetrain has been proposed by Brader et. al in which the solenoid actuators are replaced with piezoelectric stacks. The proposed system is capable of having maximum valve lift of 12.4 mm and bandwidth frequency of up to 500 Hz. In this mechanism, an electric signal sent from a control system causes a piezoelectric stack to expand. This linear expansion is transferred to the spool valve via a solid hinge mechanism. The reason for using this mechanism is to overcome the displacement limitations in the piezoelectric stacks while maintaining its efficiency and operating frequency. Using this mechanism, the movements of the stacks can be amplified from 30 μm to 150 82 m, which is sufficient for spool valve actuation.
In addition to electro-hydraulic and electro-mechanical valvetrains, electro-pneumatic variable valve actuation systems are proposed. The combination of hydraulic and pneumatic mechanisms allows the system to extract maximum work from the air flow and thus it can function under low air pressure. To reduce the energy consumption and also control valve seating velocity, a hydraulic latch was also employed in this system. This mechanism is capable of controlling valve lift, valve timing, and opening duration as desired by the engine.
One of the main problems of this system is its high dependency on the in-cylinder gas pressure. Due to low working pressure of this system compared to hydraulic systems and gas compressibility, the valve opening and closing are highly affected by the engine in-cylinder pressure. Thus, having pre-knowledge of the cylinder pressure and also solenoid response time is necessary to predict the exact timing of solenoid activation or deactivation. The solenoids response time also limits the system's bandwidth.

Systems and methods for variable valve actuation


A system for aligning the optical components of a chemical analysis system in which capillaries or optical fibers are supported by a micromechanied substrate. The system provides for alignment of elements of an electrophoresis system in an efficient high sampling rate capability.

Capillary Gel Electrophoresis (CGE) is a sensitive method for analysis and identification of biological molecular systems. CGE is a relatively new analytical separation technique that can be applied to the analysis of a wide variety of compounds that provide for improved resolution over other existing techniques. Its use for increasing the rate at which DNA sequencing can be performed has been of particular interest. Because of its sensitivity, the technique is gaining acceptance in many laboratories and manufacturing operations of drug and chemical manufacturers worldwide. However, the instrumentation that is being used to produce the data using this technique is still relatively inefficient, complex and expensive. Although these systems can appear physically different from each other, they all contain the basic functional blocks required for this type of analysis. Each has a method of holding the capillaries, injecting samples therein, transmitting and collecting light, detecting a fluorescent signal from each sample being measured that is induced by the incident light energy, applying voltage to the capillaries, and outputting the collected data in some form.
What these systems generally suffer from is that the techniques involve equipment that is not cost effective for high volume manufacturing, and consequently does not permit widespread use of this important analytical technique. The performance of a single capillary system depends on the method of sample excitation and on the signal collecting optics. In multi-capillary systems precise alignment of delivery collection and sample assemblies can be difficult. In free beam systems this has been done by visual inspection of reflected or transmitted laser light.
There is a continuing need for improvements in systems for performing optical measurements of biological samples that are readily manufacturable, have low maintenance costs and provide for fast accurate analysis of a large number of samples.

System and method for molecular sample measurements


A wireless local access network includes a hierarchy of access points and mobile devices capable of roaming among the access points. Communications in the network is based on a time division approach, such as a Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) approach, or spread-spectrum wireless communications approach. An access point that is intermediary in the hierarchy is a slave to a higher level master access point in the hierarchy. The intermediary access point is also master to one or more lower level access points. The intermediary access point synchronizes its clock with its master, and then provides the same synchronization (e.g., clock offset) to any lower level slaves of the intermediary access point so that the lower level slaves can synchronize with the intermediary access point. Thus, the lower level slaves share synchronization with the intermediary access point and the higher level master access point. A mobile device that is attached to one access point (such as the higher level master access point) is able to transfer to another access point (such as a lower level access point) without being required to resynchronize the mobile device's clock.

In a wireless local area network (WLAN), a mobile device (e.g., PDA or personal digital assistant) accesses the WLAN through a wireless connection to an access point (AP). One commonly used approach for such a WLAN is to base the communications in the network on a time slot or time slicing approach, such as a Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) approach in which the various devices in the WLAN must be synchronized in order to communicate with each other. In a conventional WLAN, access points (e.g., local area network access points or LAP's) provide access for a mobile device to the WLAN and to other networks, such as hard wired local area networks and global networks, such as the Internet.
The Bluetooth protocol is one example of such a wireless network based on Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA). The Bluetooth technology is described in the Bluetooth specification, available from Bluetooth SIG, Inc. (see also the www.bluetooth.com web site), the entire teachings of which are incorporated herein by reference. This technology provides for a common attachment approach for different devices, and so enables mobile phones, laptops, headsets, and PDA's to be easily networked in the office and eventually in public locations. Other standards, such as the IEEE (Institute of Electrical & Electronics Engineers) 802.11 and ETSI (European Telecommunications Standards Institute) HIPERLAN/2, provide a generally similar wireless connection function as Bluetooth and may be used to support WLAN communications. See the IEEE 802.11 "Wireless LAN Medium Access Control (MAC) and Physical Layer Specifications," the entire teachings of which are incorporated herein by reference. See also the ETSI specifications for HIPERLAN/2, such as ETSI document number TR 101 683, "Broadband Radio Access Networks (BRAN); HIPERLAN Type 2; System Overview," the entire teachings of which are incorporated herein by reference
Both the IEEE 802.11 and ETSI HIPERLAN/2 protocols differ from the Bluetooth protocol, in that the IEEE 802.11 and ETSI HIPERLAN/2 protocols use a spread spectrum rather than a frequency hopping approach to sharing a channel between noncoordinated users (e.g., users of the same spectral band that make no effort to avoid cross-interference). To coordinate nodes within a IEEE 802.11 or HIPERLAN/2 network a series of timing beacons are used. These beacons ensure that the timing of the nodes can be synchronized to that of the access point for that network. The HIPERLAN/2 protocol differs from the IEEE 802.11 protocol in that the HIPERLAN/2 protocol uses an Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) approach. Thus the HIPERLAN/2 protocol provides for the breaking of incoming IP packets into a number of smaller packets that are transferred to the destination node in a time division approach (e.g., TDMA) manner which avoids collisions. The approach of the IEEE 802.11 protocol attempts to reserve the wireless medium in order to send the whole packet, and if there is a packet collision, the IEEE 802.11 approach is to back off an amount of time (e.g., of random duration) before retrying.
The Bluetooth protocol provides for a single Bluetooth piconet consisting of one master device and up to seven slave devices that are synchronized to a common clock so that the devices can exchange data. The Bluetooth protocol assumes that different piconets are not synchronized.

Methods and systems for clock synchronization across wireless networks


A cleaning system for increasing the packing density of a cleaner sump that uses magnetic toner, by filling unused sump space. The cleaning system uses a magnetic force to attract the magnetic waste toner to the sump area not filled by gravity assistance alone. The magnetic force is created by a magnet. The magnet can be either internal to the sump or external thereto.

This invention relates generally to electrophotographic printing, and more particularly, concerns increasing the capacity of the cleaner sump.
One of the constraints on the life of a Customer Replaceable Unit (CRU) is the capacity of the cleaner sump. This constraint is especially true for small copiers or printers which must avoid toner transportation devices that limit the sump capacity to that of the volume that can be reached by gravity assisted flow alone. Once all the gravity assisted flow assessable volume is filled, the pressure on the cleaning blade and on the sealing Mylar flap (i.e. the flap prevents waste toner from leaking from the sump) starts building up resulting in a cleaner failure. The cleaner failure is either a toner spill through a lower seal or failure to clean adequately. The CRU life can be extended by utilizing more of the available sump capacity that is not filled by gravity assisted flow alone, to prolong the cleaner failures occurring due to pressure on the cleaning blade and flap.
The following disclosures may be relevant to various aspects of the present invention and may be briefly summarized as follows:
U.S. Pat. No. 4,547,063 to Stange discloses a moving magnet cleaner for scraping excess toner off of a photoreceptor surface. The moving magnet cleaner provides carrier bristles for brushing the photoreceptor surface. The sweeping of the moving magnet cleaner past the photoreceptor provides a self-leveling of the carrier bristles to the size of the distance between the cleaner roll and the photoreceptor surface. A toner roll rotates in proximity to the cleaner roll to transfer toner from the carrier particles to the toner roll and also provides self-leveling of the carrier bristles. The carrier for the magnet cleaner is continually replaced with carrier from a sump and the moving magnet cleaner exhibits a large cleaning zone allowing for gentle removal of the toner from the photoreceptor.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,671,207 to Hilbert discloses a magnetic brush development apparatus for applying developer material to a latent image on a photoconductor which includes a housing having a sump which receives a supply of developer material. A magnetic brush spaced from the sump applies the material to the latent image of a photoconductor as a photoconductor is moved past a magnetic brush. A feed mechanism delivers developer material from the sump through a slot to the magnetic brush. The feed mechanism includes a rotatable shell and a plurality of magnets that are located within the shell and attract developer material to a portion of the shell. The shell has a deeply fluted outer surface that holds the developer material attracted to the shell as it is delivered from the sump to the slot.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,080,038 to Rubin discloses a development apparatus for developing latent images on an image-bearing surface which includes a magnetic core generating a first magnetic field, a non-magnetic shell, surrounding and spaced from the magnetic core, and a transport assist magnet mounted at a desired spot between the non-magneticshell and the magnetic core. The transport assist magnet generates a second magnetic field at and about the desired spot thereby creating a magnetic field strength gradient thereabout for assisting the magnetic transportation of magnetic developer material over the surface of the non-magnetic shell.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,111,247 to Nichols discloses a toner concentration sensing system for controlling the dispensing of toner into a developer sump. A toner concentration sensor is located in the bottom of the mixing area of the developer sump adjacent one of the mixing augers. A magnet is positioned on the rotating mixing auger for rotating with the auger past the toner concentration sensor. As the auger rotates, the magnet with developer material adhering thereto, sweeps the top of the toner sensor to improve the accuracy of the toner concentration readings.


A new Pentas plant particularly distinguished by lavender flowers, a large flower cluster size, upright form, and a compact and branching growth habit is disclosed.

The present invention comprises a new and distinct cultivar of Pentas, botanically known as Pentas lanceolata, and hereinafter referred to by the cultivar name 'NAKPEN006'. The new cultivar originated from a hybridization made in 1995 in Fujisawa, Japan. An initial cross was made between a commercial female Pentas plant designated 'New Rose' (unpatented) having dark pink flowers, large flower clusters, a long flowering period and a branching growth habit, and a commercial male Pentas plant designated 'New Crimson' (unpatented) having red flowers, half-domed shaped flower clusters, and a long flowering period. The F1 seeds produced by the hybridization were sown in a greenhouse in 1996 and later transplanted to an outdoor trial. The F1 plants were evaluated and selected based on compact growth habit, branching, and large flower clusters. The F2 generation seed was sown in 1997, the F3 generation seed was sown in 1998, and the F4 generation seed was sown in 1999 and later transplanted to an outdoor trial. A single plant selection was chosen for further evaluation and for asexual propagation in 1999 based on its lavender flower color, branching and compact growth habit, and large flower clusters.
This single plant selection was asexually propagated and further evaluated in Fujisawa, Japan in 2001 in an indoor pot trail and an outdoor trial to confirm the uniformity and stability of its characteristics. In 2003, another indoor pot trial and outdoor trial were performed to confirm uniqueness. The plant was also trialed in Salinas, Calif. The selection subsequently was named 'NAKPEN006' and found to retain its distinctive characteristics through successive asexual propagations.
Plant Breeder's Rights for this cultivar were applied for in Canada in Apr. 4, 2005.


The present invention provides a method for enhancing the efficacy of chemotherapeutic agents for therapy of cancer and other angiogenesis-associated diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis. The method comprises the steps of administering to an individual in need of treatment, a combination of an anti-endoglin antibody and a chemotherapeutic agent. The anti-endoglin antibody and the chemotherapeutic agent may be administered sequentially or concurrently.

Angiogenesis is the formation of new capillary blood vessels leading to neovascularization. It is a complex process which includes a series of sequential steps including endothelial cell-mediated degradation of vascular basement membrane and interstitial matrices, migration of endothelial cells, proliferation of endothelial cells, and formation of capillary loops by endothelial cells. Solid tumors are angiogenesis-dependent; i.e., as a small solid tumor reaches a critical diameter, for further growth it needs to elicit an angiogenic response in the surrounding normal tissue. The resultant neovascularization of the tumor is associated with more rapid growth, and local invasion. Further, an increase in angiogenesis is associated with an increased risk of metastasis. Accordingly, inhibiting tumor angiogenesis and associated tumor growth is an attractive approach to treating cancer for a variety of reasons (reviewed in 1–3). For example, antiangiogenic therapy can potentially overcome three major problems associated with other anticancer therapies, i.e., the problems of drug resistance (4, 5), poor delivery (6, 7) and tumor heterogeneity. Therefore, there is a need for effective methods of inhibiting angiogenesis and the tumor growth associated with it. One approach has been antibody-based targeting of tumor vasculature. By using specific antibodies to target vessels that supply tumors with blood, selective reduction of tumor tissue is possible, but not without undesirable complications.
Endoglin (EDG) has been targeted in antibody-based methods of reducing tumor vasculature, as EDG is a proliferation-associated antigen on endothelial and leukemia cells (8–11). Its expression is up-regulated in tumor-associated vascular endothelium (9–15). The EDG molecule is a homodimer glycoprotein antigen which was initially identified as a human leukemia-associated cell membrane antigen (16, 17). Its expression is restricted to immature B-lineage acute lymphoblastic leukemia cells, myelomonocytic leukemia cells, endothelial cells and a few minor normal cells (16–20). EDG binds transforming growth factor β (TGF-β), specifically to TGF-β1 and TGF-β3, but it does not bind to TGF-β2 (21).
Importantly, EDG is essential for angiogenesis (22). Certain anti-EDG monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) react with tumor-associated vascular endothelium more strongly than with vascular endothelium in normal tissues (9, 12–15). Immunoconjugates of selected anti-EDG mAbs that weakly cross-react with mouse endothelial cells are effective for suppressing angiogenesis and tumors in mice (10, 15, 23). These mAbs correspond to externally induced autoantibodies (24). Anti-EDG EDG mAbs have been conjugated with deglycosylated ricin A-chain to obtain immunotoxins (10, 15) and with 125I to obtain radioimmunoconjugates (23). Although the anti-EDG immunotoxins showed strong antiangiogenic anti-tumor efficacy at the dose of 24 to 45% of the 50% lethal dose (LD50), they also exhibited strong toxicity in mice. For example, LD50 of SN6f, SN6j and SN6k immunotoxins ranged between 14.8 and 17.8 μg/g body weight (10, 15). Therefore, the therapeutic windows of these immunotoxins are relatively narrow and are accordingly difficult to administer safely. Thus, there is a need for an alternative method of using anti-EDG antibodies to increase the effectiveness of anti-tumor agents in inhibiting angiogenesis and tumor growth.

Method for increasing the efficacy of anti-tumor agents by anti-endoglin antibody


An array of non-volatiel memory cells arranged in logical columns and logical rows, and associated circuitry to enable reading or writing one or more memory cells on a row in parallel. In some embodiments, the array of memory cells may include a phase change material. In some embodiments, the circuitry may include a write driver, a read driver, a sense amplifier, and circuitry to isolate the memory cells from the sense amplifier with extended refresh.

"Dynamic memory" generally refers to computer memory that retains information stored for only a brief period of time before requiring a "refresh," wherein a parallel set of bits on a selected row line of the memory is read and then re-written with precisely the same data unless a write cycle is also initiated during the access cycle. A common example is dynamic random access memory ("DRAM"). "Non-volatile memory" generally refers to computer memory that can retain the stored information when no power is applied and without frequent refreshes. Examples of non-volatile memory include, but are not limited to, static random access memory ("SRAM"), mask-programmed read-only memory ("ROM"), programmable ROM, magnetic RAM, and flash memory.
"Writing" a particular bit into the memory means to drive the bit to a predetermined logic state, also called a data value. In memory capable of storing one of two states, the states may be referred to as "set" and "reset," commonly referred to as one and zero respectively. "Reading" the state of a particular bit in memory means to determine the state previously written. Reading, writing, or refreshing are generally called "accessing" the memory. Memory may be sequentially accessed, meaning that the stored data must be accessed in a predetermined order, or randomly accessed, meaning that the stored data may be accessed in any order, including sequentially. Examples of non-volatile memory that are sequentially accessed include disk drives and tape drives, and will be referred to herein as "non-volatile storage." For the remainder of this discussion, "non-volatile memory" will refer to randomly accessible memory ("RAM"), even when such memory supports sequential accesses as an alternative.
Randomly accessible memory is often implemented as a "memory array," wherein the individual data bits are organized in logical columns and logical rows. A bit of data may be read from the array by examining the state of the bit at the intersection of a particular logical column and a particular logical row. Likewise, a bit may be written by forcing a bit to a pre-selected state. The logical columns and rows constituting the array may be assigned numbers, called addresses, so that each bit in the array may be identified by the combination of its column address and row address selecting the bit.
A decoder is an electronic circuit containing combinatorial logic that converts binary information from 'n' inputs to 2^n unique outputs. In memory array applications, an address decoder is used to select the row and column lines corresponding to a memory bit to channel the read or write current and voltage to the selected memory cell or cells. The address decoder operates by converting an 'n' bit binary number representing the address of a single bit to single column line or a single row line. In some applications where only a limited portion of the address changes in accessing bits, the address may be refer to a nibble (4 bits), byte (8 bits), word (8, 16, or more bits), or larger sets of bits; accordingly, the address decoder may be designed to select multiple rows, or one or more column lines for a selected row, that correspond to the desired set of bits.
A memory array may be implemented as an integrated circuit, also called a microchip, chip, or die, collectively referring to a miniaturized electronic circuit manufactured on the surface of a thin substrate of semiconductor material. A memory array may also be implemented on a hybrid integrated circuit: a miniaturized electronic circuit constructed of components bonded to a substrate or circuit board. Fine wires or leads are used to interconnect circuit components and the substrate or circuit board. Bonding is the process of connecting together the metal lands on the integrated circuit and the fine wires used to communicate with other circuit components.
Conductors are used to interconnect circuit elements in an integrated circuit. These conductors may be made of metal, metal alloys, or metal mixtures, all referred to as "metal" or electrodes herein. Other conductive or resistive materials may also be used to interconnect circuit elements, such as, but not limited to, polysilicide.
In a physical manifestation of a memory array on an integrated circuit, conductors addressed as column lines and row lines interconnect the bits and are used to select individual bits in the array. Often, form follows function, and the physical array follows its logical layout: the bits are physically arranged in rows and columns, with column lines and address lines arranged orthogonally. In some cases, however, the physical characteristics of the devices or packing density considerations dictate the physical layout, and the logical relationships are not easily ascertainable by examining the physical layout of the array. In this document, "logical row" and "logical column" denote the arrangement of memory elements as they are addressed, without regard to the actual physical relationship of memory elements. "Row" or "column" may denote either a logical or physical row or column, or both, depending on the context. In DRAM, refreshes are typically performed by selecting a memory row, reading, and the row line may be physically located below, above or adjacent to a column line.
In DRAM, refreshes are typically performed by selecting a memory row, reading all bits on the row in parallel, then re-writing the same data in parallel unless the bits were modified while the row is accessed, all in the same cycle row address cycle. The selection of a memory row and the row address cycle is typically signaled by assertion of a row address select (RAS) signal. Generally, ordinary read and write access must be delayed while a refresh cycle is occurring. This delay is often referred to as "stealing cycles," and is considered overhead, with less percentage time required for refresh being generally considered as more efficient memory. The refresh cycle may be modified so that data may be read or altered in accordance with a write cycle initiated during the refresh cycle; that is, a read or write cycle may serve to refresh a row accessed or a refresh cycle may be used to fetch or read data.
DRAM may be accessed via "page mode," wherein a single row is selected for a series of accesses made by varying the column address in either a sequence or to random column addresses. This technique eliminates delay in accessing the row for each successive column address, improving access speed when reading or writing bursts of data. Depending on the implementation, the length of the access may vary from a few bits to the entire row.
A "cache" is often used in computer systems, wherein data stored in a relatively slow form of memory may be duplicated in cache for high speed access by a computer. Once data is stored in the cache, future accesses may be directed to the cache rather than to the source of the original data, so that average access time is lower.
Some DRAM supports "video mode" accesses and is particularly useful to support raster graphics systems. In a raster graphics system, the video memory is called upon to constantly refresh a raster display, and at the same time be responsive to modifications from the host processor. Without using video mode, the host processor must contend with other hardware that is reading the memory to refresh the display. Each host processor access may be held up for several cycles, which becomes relatively expensive as overhead, just as stealing cycles for refresh increases overhead. Employing video mode memory eliminates this contention and reduces overhead load on the processor used to drive the display. Generally, such memory has two input/output ("I/O") ports: a port for accesses by a host processor, and a port for accesses by video hardware. The video port often supports sequential page mode accesses where, for example, 1024 bits in a selected memory row are accessed and loaded in parallel into a shift register. Then, the shift register may be clocked and shifted at the video display speed to refresh a row on the display. Once complete, another row may be loaded from the processor. Video mode may support a format of one or more bits per clock cycle, with one or more parallel output bits on the video port.
Although video mode accesses are particularly useful for raster graphics systems such as displays for computers, video mode may be useful in many other applications, including printers, cameras, and digital signal processing.
The purpose of the foregoing Abstract is to enable the public, and especially the scientists, engineers, and practitioners in the art who are not familiar with patent or legal terms or phraseology, to determine quickly from a cursory inspection, the nature and essence of the technical disclosure of the application. The Abstract is neither intended to define the invention of the application, which is measured by the claims, nor is it intended to be limiting as to the scope of the invention in any way.
Still other features of the present invention will become readily apparent to those skilled in this art from the following detailed description. As will be realized, the invention is capable of modification in various obvious respects as will be apparent to those reasonably skilled in the art, and all without departing from the invention. Accordingly, the drawings and description are to be regarded as illustrative in nature, and not as restrictive in nature.

Page mode access for non-volatile memory arrays


A bag closure element comprising a sheet-like body, the body including two spaced expanses, each expanse including an opening to grip an object passed therethrough, a fold region positioned between the expanses, and the expanses extending at an acute angle with respect to each other when an object is gripped. The closure element also includes slits providing access to the openings. The object gripped by the openings is preferably the gathered or twisted portion of a plastic bag, which extends linearly between and through the openings.

This invention relates to a new and improved bag closure element, and particularly to a folded bag closure element which insures an air-tight seal of a bag.
In the packaging of fruits, vegetables, breads, and bulk goods, plastic bags are commonly used. Conventionally, closure elements having a single hole and a corresponding single access slit are secured about the gathered end portion of a plastic bag. This arrangement does not result in an air-tight seal of the bag because the gathered portion is loosely held at only one point. This problem is solved only if the hole is small compared to the gathered plastic, which makes the closure element difficult to place on the bag. In response, bag closure elements having two holes and two corresponding access slits were developed to hold a gathered section of a bag.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,981,990, entitled "BAG CLOSURE SEAL" issued to Balderree, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,760,624, entitled "CLOSURE/HOLDER WITH ACCESS SLIT", issued to Fish, both disclose closure elements having two holes and two corresponding access slits (see Balderree at FIG. 3, Fish at FIG. 8). Both patents disclose a flat closure element through which the gathered portion of a plastic bag is bent upwardly through one hole, and then downwardly through the second hole. However, this bending of the bag required by the prior art has several disadvantages.
In using flat double-holed prior art closure elements the gathered end of the bag must be manipulated in several different directions to secure the bag within the two holes. If the end of the bag is twisted, instead of gathered, such manipulation is more difficult due to the rigidity of the twisted portion. Another disadvantage of using prior art devices is that the gathered portion of a bag must be manipulated into and out of each hole separately, a labor intensive task.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a bag closure element which facilitates one-step securing and one-step removal of the closure element from a bag.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a bag closure element which requires less manipulation of the plastic bag than does the prior art.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a bag closure element which facilitates substantially air-tight sealing of the twisted end of a bag.
Other objects of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description to follow, taken in conjunction with the accompanied drawings.


A rate smoothing function used in implantable pulse generators, where detected triggering events cause the rate smoothing function to be activated or deactivated and detected parameter adjusting events cause parameters of the rate smoothing function to be changed. The activation/deactivation and/or change to the parameters of the rate smoothing function are temporary, and the pre-event state of the rate smoothing function is set to a post-adjusting state. In one embodiment, the pre-event state of the rate smoothing function is set to the post-adjusting state after a first time interval.

The present invention relates to pulse generators and in particular to implantable pulse generators that control pacing functions based on sensed events.
The cardiac pacemaker in its simplest form is an electrical circuit in which a battery provides electricity that travels through a conducting wire through the myocardium, stimulating the heart to beat (xe2x80x9ccapturingxe2x80x9d the heart), and back to the battery, thus completing the circuit. Implantable cardiac pacemakers have been in existence since the later 1950""s, although external pacemakers were known even earlier. Since that time great strides have been made in improving upon the leads and the pulse generators that together comprise the pacemaker. In particular, the pulse generator circuitry has evolved from discrete components to semi-custom integrated circuits, which are now fabricated from complimentary metal oxide semi-conductor (CMOS) technology.
As cardiac pacemakers have evolved they have been designed to provide increases in the heart rate for periods when the patient is experiencing physiological stress. These xe2x80x9crate-modulatingxe2x80x9d pacemakers help the patient adapt to physiological stress with an increase in heart rate, even if the patient""s intrinsic heart rate would not allow this to occur. The development of dual-chamber pacemakers has allowed the patient to increase their heart rate if he or she is in sinus rhythm.
The rate-modulated pacemaker has three major components. The first is an indicator, such as for activity, body temperature, or respiratory rate, that provides an approximate measurement of metabolic needs. The second is a sensor that can measure the indicator chosen, such as measurement of body temperature or respiratory rate. The third is a rate controlled algorithm that is in the software of the pacemaker and modulates the pacemaker rate as the sensors send signals to the pacemaker.
As the sensors indicate greater metabolic need, the pacing rate is increased. The rate at which the pacing rate increases, however, is bounded and controlled by a feature called rate smoothing. Rate smoothing is a gradual slowing or speeding of the pacemaker rate based on a percentage of a preceding cardiac interval. This is a mechanism programmed into so types of pacemakers to reduce or to smooth abrupt changes in paced rate, especially at the upper rate limit of dual chamber pacemakers. Conversely, if a patient were to develop an ectopic atrial tachycardia, this programmed feature would cause gradual increase in rate rather than abrupt increase in rate.
Rate smoothing is, however, not always a desirable feature under certain circumstances. For example, when an individual needs rapid cardiac output in a short time, such as in a stressful situation, rate smoothing will prevent the heart rate from rising rapidly enough to keep-up with the individual""s cardiac demands. Similarly, once the stressful situation has passed the individual""s will slow only at the rate dictated by the rate smoothing algorithm. This situation can lead to unnecessary constraints on the heart rate. Also, the pacemaker provides pacing pulses that are unnecessary for the proper functioning of the heart (e.g., wastes battery resources on unnecessary pacing pulses). Thus, a need exists in the art to provide for a more flexible way of utilizing the rate smoothing algorithm.
The present invention provides a system and method for controlling a rate smoothing system in a pulse generating system. In one embodiment, the rate smoothing system is either activated or deactivated (turned on or turned off) when a triggering event is detected. In an alternative embodiment, when a parameter adjusting events is detected parameters of the rate smoothing system are adjusted (e.g., changed). Under either situation (turning on/off or adjustment of parameters) the changes to the rate smoothing system/function are temporary. In one embodiment, the duration of the changes is over a first time interval, after which the rate smoothing system is either set to the original pre-event state or to a state in which one or more of the original parameter values/settings have been changed from the original pre-event state. By allowing selected events to temporarily activate/deactivate or change parameter settings for a rate smoothing system, greater flexibility in treating a patient""s cardiac conditions is achieved as compared to allowing the rate smoothing function to continuously operate. The present subject matter can be used with rate smoothing systems applied to either ventricular pacing or atrial pacing.
In one embodiment, the present system provides monitoring for a trigger signal a parameter adjusting event or both. In one embodiment, the system uses a signal input system, where the signal input system is adapted to detect a signal. Control circuitry coupled to the signal input system receives the signal from the signal input system. In one embodiment, a trigger event detector in the control circuitry receives the signal and analyzes the signal for the occurrence of the trigger event. The trigger event detector is further coupled to a rate smoothing module. In one embodiment, the rate smoothing module executes and controls the rate smoothing algorithm. When the triggering event is detected, the rate smoothing module is then either activated to provide rate smoothing or deactivated to stop rate smoothing, depending upon the state of the module prior to the triggering event. Once the rate smoothing system is activated or deactivated, a timer is used to time a first interval. After the first interval expires, the rate smoothing system is then reset, or restored, to its state prior to the trigger signal. Alternatively, after the first interval expires, the rate smoothing system changes one or more of the original parameter values/settings (i.e., pre-trigger signal parameter state or pre-parameter adjusting event parameter state) to provide a new parameter state. The new parameter state is then used in the rate smoothing system until a subsequent trigger signal and/or parameters adjusting event is detected. A new parameter state can be created after each trigger signal and/or parameters adjusting event (e.g., a sequence of changes to the parameter values and/or settings for the rate smoothing system).
In an alternative embodiment, a parameter adjustment event detector coupled to the control circuity receives the signal from the signal input system. In one embodiment, the parameter adjustment event detector receives and signal and analyzes the signal for the occurrence of a parameter adjustment event in the signal. When the parameter adjustment event is detected, the rate smoothing module adjusts rate smoothing parameters. In one embodiment, the parameters adjusted are the percent change in pacing rate for either up or down rate smoothing.
Any number of detected events are used as either triggering events or parameter adjustment events. For example, triggering events or parameter adjustment events are detected in activity signal sensed using activity monitors such as accelerometers or minute ventilation systems. In this embodiment, an activity signal is monitored from an activity sensor. The triggering event or parameter adjustment event is then detected when the activity signal exceeds a first predetermined value. In an additional embodiment, the activity signal is a heart rate acceleration, where the triggering event or parameter adjustment event is when a heart rate trajectory exceeds the first predetermined value.
In an additional embodiment, triggering events or parameter adjustment events are found in monitored cardiac signals. For example, monitoring for the triggering event or parameter adjustment events includes monitoring a cardiac signal which includes indications of ventricular contractions. The cardiac signal is then analyzed for the occurrence of premature ventricular contractions (PVC). When one or more PVC occur, the triggering event or parameter adjustment event is detected. Alternatively, the cycle length pattern of cardiac cycles detected in the cardiac signal are used as triggering events or parameter adjustment events. For example, a detected short-long-short cycle length sequence from a cardiac signal is a triggering event or parameter adjustment event. Alternatively, the triggering event or parameter adjustment event is when a cardiac rate exceeds a rate threshold. In an additional embodiment, the triggering event or parameter adjustment event occurs after the end of an arrhythmic episode.
In an alternative embodiment, triggering events or parameter adjustment events occur at selected times within a time interval. For example, monitoring for the triggering event or parameter adjustment events includes monitoring a time interval, such as the time of the day, week, month, year or event the season of the year. The triggering event or parameter adjustment event is then detected at a first time in the time interval, where the first time is either programmed by the physician or set based on the implantable systems analysis of one or more detected signals. Alternatively, the triggering event or parameter adjustment event is when a pacemaker mode is changed.


Blood samples can be collected without substantial contamination from ambient air, such that the blood sample may be analyzed accurately for gaseous components such as oxygen and carbon dioxide. An embodiment of the device has integrated actuation, lancing, and sample acquisition components, which in some embodiments are miniatuized and/or disposable.

Early methods of lancing included piercing or slicing the skin with a needle or razor. Current methods utilize lancing devices that contain a multitude of spring, cam and mass actuators to drive the lancet. These include cantilever springs, diaphragms, coil springs, as well as gravity plumbs used to drive the lancet. Typically, the device is pre-cocked or the user cocks the device. The device is held against the skin and mechanically triggers the ballistic launch of the lancet. The forward movement and depth of skin penetration of the lancet is determined by a mechanical stop and/or dampening, as well as a spring or cam which retract the lancet.
Variations in skin thickness and hydration can yield different results from different users of the lancing device. Current devices rely on adjustable mechanical stops or damping to control the lancet's depth of penetration and compensate for skin thickness and hydration. Such mechanical stops do not regulate the acceleration in order to control the velocity of the lancet as it is protracted and retracted. Conversely, cams offer rough control of lancet velocity in and out of the skin, but do not allow for compensation for skin thickness and hydration. Hence, not-all lancing events are successful in generating a blood sample sufficient for the desired analytical test.
Success rate means the probability of producing a blood sample with one lancing action which is sufficient in volume to perform the desired analytical test. The blood droplet produced by the action must reach the surface of the skin to be viable for testing. In some instances, blood will flow from the cut blood vessels but is trapped below the surface of the skin, forming a hematoma. In other instances, a subcutaneous wound is created, but no external blood is obtained. The success rate of obtaining an acceptable blood sample with industry standard lancets available on the market today is 75% to 80%; meaning that up to one in five lancing operations will yield insufficient blood or no blood. For patients required to self test five to six times daily, this inability to obtain a blood droplet every time the finger is lanced translates into needlessly repeating a painful protocol.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method and apparatus for improving success rate of blood yield from a fingerstick


A method of producing polycrystalline CdTe materials and devices that incorporate the polycrystalline CdTe materials are provided. In particular, a method of producing polycrystalline p-doped CdTe thin films for use in CdTe solar cells in which the CdTe thin films possess enhanced acceptor densities and minority carrier lifetimes, resulting in enhanced efficiency of the solar cells containing the CdTe material are provided.

Cadmium telluride (CdTe) is a semiconductor material that has been used in both its crystalline and (thin-film) polycrystalline forms for optoelectronic applications. CdTe is highly effective at converting terrestrial sunlight into electrical power by virtue of its bandgap energy of about 1.5 eV at room temperature. In addition, CdTe is transparent to infrared light ranging in wavelength from about 860 nm to greater than about 20 μm. As a result, very thin layers of CdTe of about 1 μm thickness may be incorporated into the construction of efficient photovoltaic (PV) devices. CdTe thin-film PV modules are widely recognized as an attractive option for large-scale renewable electricity production.
Commercial-scale CdTe solar cell fabrication processes presently deposit and cure polycrystalline CdTe using substantially similar processes. Historically, at least several process enhancements have been incorporated into these commercial-scale polycrystalline CdTe production methods to mitigate performance shortcomings of the deposited polycrystalline CdTe layer related to various material defects. These process enhancements may include: adding or not actively eliminating oxygen during CdTe deposition; performing a CdCl2 and/or oxygen "activation" process to the deposited CdTe layer; and diffusing Cu into the deposited CdTe layer from the back contact.
Although these process enhancements may reduce the detrimental effect of material defects such as Te vacancy defects (VTe), other deep-donor and deep-acceptor defects may be formed that may limit minority carrier lifetime (τ) within the CdTe layer. Because these τ-limiting deep donor and deep-acceptor defects are relatively stable, it may be challenging to lengthen the carrier minority lifetime of polycrystalline CdTe material beyond those of existing materials produced using current production methods.
Although many commercially-available CdTe PV modules provide average conversion efficiency of about 12%-13% at a relatively low production cost, the bandgap value of CdTe predicts that even higher conversion efficiencies may be achieved. Most ongoing efforts to enhance device performance above the record device efficiency of 17% involve device design improvements that aim to mitigate materials-based shortcomings of the CdTe absorber layer and the n-p junction. The quality of the n-p junction, typically assessed in terms of Voc, the open circuit voltage of the device, is thought to be one key to realizing higher-performing CdTe PV modules. Efforts to enhance Voc generally entail increasing the net acceptor concentration in the CdTe layer and the inclusion of an intrinsic CdTe layer situated between the n and p layers of the junction of the solar cell.
Increasing the net acceptor doping in CdTe has been considered as one means of increasing Voc. Elevated Voc for PV devices may occur when the net-donor (ND) and net-acceptor (NA) densities are increased on the n and p side of the semiconductor junction, respectively. Without being limited to any particular theory, it is believed that NA may be increased from typical thin-film values of about mid-1013 cm−3 to values of about 1015 cm−3 before self-compensation limits further increases in NA. Cu diffused into the CdTe layer from the back contact of a superstrate device design has been found to enhance the performance of CdS/CdTe cells in one approach. Although this "excessive" Cu diffusion into the CdTe layer may increase NA above that typically used for existing CdS/CdTe devices, a concurrent increase in device performance may not be observed because the Cu may also diffuse into the CdS layer, which may reduce net donor densities (ND). In addition, this increase in NA may narrow the depletion width (WD) in the device so that it becomes situated shallower in the device than the optical-absorption depth. Further, because minority-carrier lifetime for electrons in polycrystalline CdTe is relatively short (≦2 ns), the diffusion length for minority carriers generated outside WD may be too short to provide effective collection, further impacting device performance. Because the WD reduces even further in forward bias, the device fill factor (FF) may decrease due to voltage-dependant collection, which may offset any performance improvement from higher Voc. Thus, increasing Voc solely by increasing NA may not improve device performance unless τ of the p-CdTe layer is also increased.
An alternative method considered to increase Voc may be to incorporate an intrinsic layer of CdTe (i-CdTe) between the thin n and p layers of the junction, resulting in an n-i-p device design. Although the τ of thin-film p-CdTe may be on the order of about 1-2 ns, the τ of thin-film i-CdTe produced using existing methods may be less than about 0.1 ns. Therefore, photogenerated carriers in the i-CdTe may recombine before the electric field can drift them to their respective n- or p-type layer for collection. Thus, increasing Voc by using an n-i-p device design may not produce higher device performance unless the τ in the i-CdTe is also increased.
Ongoing efforts to enhance the Voc in existing CdTe PV modules may be limited by the relatively short minority carrier lifetime τ in the polycrystalline p-CdTe and i-CdTe materials produced using existing methods. The minority carrier lifetime in crystalline CdTe may be significantly longer than that observed in existing polycrystalline CdTe thin films, indicating that the short τ associated with polycrystalline CdTe produced using current methods may not be an intrinsic material property of CdTe, but more likely may be due to defects related to the nature of the thin-film polycrystalline material and/or production process conditions. Considering both the benefits and detriments of existing CdTe production and post-deposition enhancement processes, it may be beneficial to develop novel processes to produce a polycrystalline CdTe film with fewer vacancy defects such as VTe or VCd, which may simultaneously increase Voc and minority carrier lifetime, rather than reducing the detrimental effects of these defects using existing production methods which reduce minority carrier lifetime.
Therefore, there is a need for an improvement of the processes used to deposit polycrystalline CdTe absorber material on a substrate which simultaneously increases Voc and minority carrier lifetime and which results in improved CdTe device performance. The foregoing examples of the related art and limitations related therewith are intended to be illustrative and not exclusive. Other limitations of the related art will become apparent to those of skill in the art upon a reading of the specification and a study of the drawings.

CdTe devices and method of manufacturing same


This invention pertains to a chalcogenide glass of low optical loss that can be on the order of 30 dB/km or lower, and to a process for preparing the chalcogenide glass. The process includes the steps of optionally preparing arsenic monochalcogenide precursor or the precursor can be provided beforehand; dynamically distilling the precursor in an open system under vacuum from a hot section to a cold section to purify same; homogenizing the precursor in a closed system so that it is of a uniform color; disposing the distilled or purified precursor and at least one chalcogenide element at a hot section of an open distillation system; dynamically distilling under vacuum in an open system so that the precursor and the at least one chalcogenide element are deposited at a cold section of the open system in a more purified state; homogenizing the precursor and the at least chalcogenide element in a closed system while converting the precursor and the at least one chalcogenide element from crystalline phase to glassy phase.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains to a process for making chalcogenide waveguides and to low loss chalcogenide glass waveguides, including chalcogenide glass fibers, produced thereby.
2. Description of Related Art
Silica and fluoride optical fibers have a limited usage beyond 2 μm and 3 μm, respectively, since these fibers exhibit significant multiphonon absorption. On the other hand, chalcogenide glasses transmit to beyond 12 μm in the infrared (IR).
The IR transmitting chalcogenide glasses and optical fibers encompass the IR region of interest with numerous applications including thermal imaging, temperature monitoring, and medical applications, including high energy IR laser power delivery such as CO (5.4 μm) and CO2 (10.6 μm) lasers. In addition, these fibers are being developed for remote fiber optic chemical sensor systems for military and industrial facility clean-up and other military and industrial applications. More recently, there is an interest in developing rare-earth doped chalcogenide fibers for 1.3 μm fiber amplifiers for telecommunications as well as sources in the IR.
To date, the conventional process for making the chalcogenide glasses is to use elemental precursor, such as arsenic, and a chalcogenide, such as sulfur, batched in a sealed silica ampoule. The conventional process involves high temperature of greater than about 750° required for melting and homogenization of the elemental arsenic and sulfur. The high temperature melting/homogenization process causes the precursor arsenic and sulfur to react with the silica ampule thus introducing undesired contamination into the glass and fiber. Contamination reduces fiber strength and contributes to additional extrinsic scattering loss in the fiber.
Therefore, there is a need for a new approach to melt and homogenize the arsenic and sulfur, or their counterparts, at lower temperatures. The objective of this invention is to make arsenic monosulfide compound, or its counterpart, at lower temperatures, typically between 350° C. and 400° C. The attractive properties of arsenic monosulfide (A4 S4), or another counterpart, include low melting point and low chemical activity. Because the stable arsenic monosulfide compound, or its counterpart, has a low chemical activity, by adding appropriate amount of sulfur, or another chalcogenide, the arsenic monosulfide and sulfur precursors, or their counterparts, can be dynamically distilled at a lower temperature, such as between 420° C. and 450° C., and remelted and homogenized at a lower temperature, such as 600° C. This eliminates reaction between arsenic and sulfur, or their counterparts with silica ampoule.
The Russian patent with a filing number of 4808456/33 was filed Apr. 2, 1990, and discloses a process for making a chalcogenide glass fiber that can be used for transmission of laser energy in applications such as laser surgery, in making instruments for industrial diagnosis of electronic devices, and the like. The object of the process is reduction of optical losses which is achieved by using arsenic monosulfide (As4 S4) in place of arsenic and sulfur to make chalcogenide glass and glass waveguides, such as glass fibers. In a particular embodiment disclosed by the Russian patent noted above, about 600 g arsenic monosulfide was evaporated in a closed ampule under pressure at 550° C. of which about 540 g of of purified arsenic monosulfide was deposited at the cold end of the ampoule following which, 81 g of sulfur was added to the 540 g of the arsenic monosulfide in the ampoule and the mixture was melted and reacted at 550° C. for 10 hours in a sealed ampoule. Rate of evaporation of the mixture was 0.9×10−3 g/cm2-s and glass fibers were drawn from the glass prepared as described, which had optical loss of 40-100 dB/km in the 2-8 μm wavelength region when the evaporation/distillation rate was (0.8-1.0)×10−3 g/cm2-sec and varied greatly at distillation rates slightly above or slightly below the (0.8-1.0)×10−3 g/cm2-sec.

Low loss chalcogenide glass and process for making same using arsenic monochalcogenide

The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy


Methods and apparatus for recovery of virtual machine failure. A succession of data images is captured, with each of the data images comprising an operating system of the virtual machine. The data images are images of data elements chosen based at least in part on their suitability for virtual machine restoration. Upon detection of a virtual machine failure, an attempt is made to restore the virtual machine using the highest ranked. If the attempt fails, further attempts are made using lower ranked data images, until an attempt is successful or all available data images have been used.

Information technology (IT) systems typically fill a vital role in the functioning of an enterprise. Failure of a system is frequently unacceptable, and many operations benefit from redundancy, so that a redundant component can quickly take the place of a failed component. Constructing duplicates of a component leads to considerable expense, and one approach to information services and processing that can increase the flexibility of a system and decrease the expense of providing redundancy is the use of virtual machines. A virtual machine does not require that a single specific hardware element be configured to carry out the virtual machine's operation. Instead, one or more hardware elements are configured to carry out the operations of a virtual machine, with these operations being carried out by a single hardware element or spread across a plurality of hardware elements. A virtual machine can be moved from one hardware element or combination of hardware elements to one another, and a hardware element that is running a virtual machine can be redirected to other purposes. In addition, if the data used to construct a virtual machine is available, a new virtual machine can be constructed in a relatively short time, frequently using automated mechanisms, so that a virtual machine can be replaced without intervention and without expense for hardware replacement.
One mechanism for providing redundancy for information services is through the use of a high availability system, in which a hardware element, such as a server, belongs to a high availability cluster. A high availability cluster comprises a plurality of nodes that have access to data identifying the network elements being served by one or more of the nodes. The high availability cluster implements a failover strategy that allows for transfer of operations from a failed component.
One mechanism for providing a high availability system is to use virtual machines for the components for which redundancy is to be provided. A virtual machine can be restored by copying the data comprising the virtual machine to a suitable hardware element or combination of hardware elements. A virtual machine may comprise a plurality of logical unit numbers (LUNs) that comprise components of the virtual machine. A LUN is a number used to identify a logical unit which is a device addressed by the small computer system interface (SCSI) protocol or similar protocols such as Fiber Channel or internet small computer system interface (iSCSI) A LUN may be used with any device which supports read/write operations, such as a tape drive, but is most often used to refer to a logical disc.

Methods and apparatus for virtual machine recovery

International Business Machines Corporation