It is provided a method for optimizing a treatment plan for use in radiation therapy. The method is performed in a treatment planning system and comprises the steps of: obtaining a first quality function of the treatment plan, the first quality function yielding an output value based on an input treatment plan; obtaining a first pair of input values and a slope indicator, the input values associating a value of the first quality function to a value of a score; constructing a score function that maps values of the first quality function to values of the score by fitting a curve to the first pair of input values and the slope indicator; and optimizing the treatment plan with respect to the score function, by varying the treatment plan such that the value of the score function is either improved or constrained to a feasible range of score values.

In radiation therapy, a target volume is irradiated by one or several therapeutic beams. Various types of therapeutic beams can be used, e.g. photon, electron and ion beams. The target volume can e.g. represent a cancer tumor. The therapeutic beam penetrates the irradiated tissue and delivers an absorbed dose to kill the tumor cells.
Nelms et al., "Variation in external beam treatment plan quality: An inter-institutional study of planners and planning systems", Practical Radiation Oncology (2012) 2, 296-305, discloses a study quantifying variation in radiation treatment plan quality for plans generated by a population of treatment planners given very specific plan objectives. A "Plan Quality Metric" (PQM) with 14 submetrics, each with a unique value function, was defined for a prostate treatment plan, serving as specific goals of a hypothetical "virtual physician." The exact PQM logic was distributed to a population of treatment planners as was a predefined computed tomographic image set and anatomic structure set. Treatment planners used their clinical treatment planning system (TPS) to generate their best plan based on the specified goals and submitted their results for analysis. There was wide variability in treatment plan quality quantified by the PQM. The ability of the treatment planners to meet the specified plan objectives (as quantified by the PQM) exhibited no statistical dependence on technologic parameters (TPS, modality, plan complexity), nor was the plan quality statistically different based on planner demographics (years of experience, confidence, certification, and education). Therefore, the wide variation in plan quality could be attributed to a general "planner skill" category that would lend itself to processes of continual improvement where best practices could be derived and disseminated to improve the mean quality and minimize the variation in any population of treatment planners.
Such variation between planners and dependency on planner skill is a risk for patients and introduces a significant element of chance on the therapy quality.
Ben Nelms et al., "A Study of Plan Quality and QA over a Population of Planners, Planning Systems, and Modalities", 2017 QADS Head & Neck Plan to Study, discloses evaluation of a plan based on a score function and an iterative manual process to improve the results of the evaluation.

Optimizing a treatment plan based on a score function depending on a quality function


Provided is a method for intercepting a message between a requesting web service and a source web service, validating the message, logging the result of the validations, and adding a security profile to the message. The method may also include examining the message to determine whether a security profile is embedded therein. If the message is valid, access to the message by the requesting web service is permitted. If the message is not valid, access to the message by the requesting web service is prevented.

The term Service Oriented Architecture ("SOA") refers to a software architecture that defines the use of services to support requirements of software users. In a SOA environment, each node on a network (e.g., an Internet or intranet) makes its resources available to other nodes as independent services that users may access and use in a standardized way. In this way, functions and data may be shared across a distributed network. SOAs thus comprise loosely coupled, interoperable services that are independent of the underlying logic, so that, for example, a C Sharp-based service may be used by a Java application, and vice versa.
The flexibility and interoperability of SOAs, however, result in compromised security. For example, managing ownership and changing versions of resources as various users access them can be complicated. Likewise, tracking, auditing and controlling access to resources may be desirable. Thus, there is a need for systems and methods of securing a SOA.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

System and methods for secure service oriented architectures


Provided are a novel class of fumaric- and itaconic-containing prepolymers and compositions comprising the prepolymers used in the manufacture of medical devices.

Medical devices such as ophthalmic lenses made from silicone-containing materials have been investigated for a number of years. Such materials can generally be sub-divided into two major classes, namely hydrogels and non-hydrogels. Non-hydrogels do not absorb appreciable amounts of water, whereas hydrogels can absorb and retain water in an equilibrium state. Hydrogels generally have water content between about 15 to about 80 weight percent. Regardless of their water content, both non-hydrogel and hydrogel silicone medical devices tend to have relatively hydrophobic, non-wettable surfaces that have a high affinity for lipids. This problem is of particular concern with contact lenses.
Fumarate- and fumaramide-containing monomers and compositions comprising the monomers have been developed to make highly oxygen permeable hydrogels which may be used to make biomedical devices including contact lenses. Examples of these fumarate- and fumaramide-containing monomers and compositions can be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,374,662, 5,420,324, and 5,496,871, the contents of each being incorporated by reference herein. Because of the polar character of amide functionality, this class of monomer shows good compatibility with both hydrophobic monomers such as tris(trimethylsiloxy)silane (TRIS) and hydrophilic monomers such as N,N-dimethylacrylamide (DMA). These prior art prepolymers give silicone hydrogels with excellent oxygen permeability and mechanical properties. However, like other silicone hydrogels, they are not wettable enough to be useful as continuous wear lenses unless the surface is treated.
Surface structure and composition determine many of the physical properties and ultimate uses of solid materials. Characteristics such as wetting, friction, and adhesion or lubricity are largely influenced by surface characteristics. The alteration of surface characteristics is of special significance in biotechnical applications where biocompatibility is of particular concern. Therefore, those skilled in the art have long recognized the need for rendering the surface of contact lenses and other medical devices hydrophilic or more hydrophilic. Increasing the hydrophilicity of the contact-lens surface improves the wettability of the contact lenses with tear fluid in the eye. This in turn improves the wear comfort of the contact lenses. In the case of continuous-wear lenses, the surface is especially important. The surface of a continuous-wear lens must be designed not only for comfort, but to avoid adverse reactions such as corneal edema, inflammation, or lymphocyte infiltration. Improved methods have accordingly been sought for modifying the surfaces of contact lenses, particularly high-Dk (highly oxygen permeable) lenses designed for continuous (overnight) wear.
Various patents disclose the attachment of hydrophilic or otherwise biocompatible polymeric chains to the surface of a contact lens in order to render the lens more biocompatible. For example, U.S. Pat. Pub. No. US 2002/0102415 A1 teaches plasma treatment of a fumarate- or fumaramide-containing substrate followed by reaction with other polymers, such as DMA/VDMO copolymer. U.S. patent application Ser. Nos. 10/728,531 and 10/728,711 teach fumaric- and itaconic-containing prepolymers having reactive functionality provided by residues having at least one reactive functional group.
Although manufacturing steps such as plasma treatment provide lenses having suitable coatings, it would be desirable to provide prepolymers having desirable surface activity to produce a surface treated lens without the need for plasma treatment or corona discharge treatment.

Prepolymers for improved surface modification of contact lenses


A method of fabricating a sintered ceramic composite body having at last one hollow portion therein is disclosed. According to this method, at least one green ceramic body in the form of a sheet or plate and an adhesive sheet made of a ceramic powder and a binder resin are provided. The adhesive sheet is capable of adhering to the green ceramic body after drying and is shaped to provide a hollow portion in association with green ceramic body. The adhesion body and the green ceramic body are brought into intimate contact with each other so that a hollow portion is established therebetween. The resulting composite body is pressed and sintered to obtain a sintered ceramic composite body having the hollow portion therein. The binder preferably includes acrylic resin(s) and/or vinyl resin(s) having a molecular weight of 300,000 to 800,000 and a glass transition temperature of -30.degree. C. or below.

1. Field of The Invention
This invention relates to a method for fabricating a ceramic composite body having a laminar structure and at least one hollow portion therein.
2. Description of the Prior Art
FIG. 10 shows a ceramic composite body 9 having a hollow portion 911 therein. For the fabrication of such a hollow ceramic composite body, it is usual to provide ceramic sheets 92, 93 obtained from a ceramic powder and a binder, and an opening-bearing ceramic sheet 91 having an opening 911.
Subsequently, the ceramic sheet 91 is sandwiched between the sheets 92 and 93, and pressed at a compression pressure of 5 MPa to 25 MPa under heating conditions of 70.degree. C. to 160.degree. C. By this, the ceramic sheets 91 to 93 are bonded together to provide a green ceramic body 9.
The green body 9 is sintered to obtain a ceramic composite body having a hollow portion therein as set out in Japanese laid-open Patent Application No. 2-50494.
The binder component or components contained in the ceramic sheets 91 to 93 are softened by the heating. In this condition, the ceramic sheets 91 to 93 are pressed whereupon the respective sheets 91 to 93 are strongly bonded together through the binder component serving as a bonding agent. When the thus obtained green body is sintered, the resultant ceramic composite body 9 is obtained as having little interstices therebetween.
However, the method has the following problem. As stated, the individual ceramic sheets 91 to 93 are softened upon heating, under which a high compression pressure is applied to the sheets. This may undesirably cause great deformation of the ceramic sheets 92, 93 at portions corresponding to the opening 911 of the sheet 91. In the case, the hollow portion 911 may be at least partly closed or deformed. Thus, an undesirably deformed ceramic composite body 9 will be fabricated.
In order to avoid this problem, Japanese Laid-open Patent Application No. 59-29107 proposes the fabrication method which follows.
As shown in FIG. 11, ceramic sheets 91 to 93 are, respectively, provided. Separately, a bonding slurry 98 is provided as having the same composition as that of the ceramic sheets 91 to 93.
The bonding slurry 98 is applied to opposite sides of the ceramic plate 91. Thereafter, the thus applied ceramic plate 91 is sandwiched between the ceramic sheets 92, 93, followed by pressing at a low compression pressure, for example, of about 1 MPa at a low temperature of 30.degree. C. to 50.degree. C.
By this, the ceramic sheets 91 to 93 are bonded together to provide a green composite body 99. The composite body 99 is then sintered to obtain a ceramic composite body having a hollow portion therein.
According to this method, the ceramic sheets 91 to 93 can be laminated at low temperature and low pressure. Accordingly, the ceramic sheets 91 to 93 do not suffer softening or deformation during the course of the pressing.
Nevertheless, the method is disadvantageous in that the ceramic sheet 91 has to be coated with the bonding slurry 98 and dried, so that the fabrication procedure becomes complicated, thus inviting a rise in cost.
Additionally, the coating and drying steps require proper control in viscosity of the slurry 98, the coating thickness, and the drying conditions of the slurry 98 under which the slurry 98 keeps good adhesiveness.

Method for fabricating a ceramic composite body having at least one hollow portion therein


A sound reproduction device includes an LCD 20, which is an exemplary front panel, a case 22, and an electromechanical acoustic transducer 23. The LCD 20 is operable to perform a predetermined operation in response to an electrical signal applied thereto. A space 24 for sound emission is formed between the case 22 and the LCD 20. The electromechanical acoustic transducer 23 is connected to the case 22, and emits sound to the space 24. If the electromechanical acoustic transducer 23 emits the sound to the space 24, energy of the emitted sound causes the LCD 20 to vibrate and thereby to externally output the sound.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a sound reproduction device and a portable terminal apparatus including the acoustic reproduction device. More particularly, the present invention relates to a sound reproduction device having a capability of acoustically driving a panel with sound pressure, and a portable terminal apparatus including the same acoustic reproduction device.
2. Description of the Background Art
Conventionally, it is considered to be important to reduce dimensions or thickness of an electronic apparatus, in particular, a portable apparatus. For example, it is conceivable to integrate two devices in an electronic apparatus, which differ in their functions, into one device, and thereby to reduce the entire size of the apparatus. Described next is a case where a sound reproduction capability is added to an apparatus having a specific capability in order to achieve a size reduction, typically a case where the sound reproduction capability is added to a display device.
Conventionally, there have been techniques devised for integrating a display device and a sound reproduction device together. FIG. 12 is a perspective view showing a conventional display device having a sound reproduction capability. In FIG. 12, a display device 1 includes a display panel 2, an organic electroluminescent (EL) panel 3, a film speaker 4, and electrical signal cords 5 and 6. The display panel 2, the organic EL panel 3, and the film speaker 4 are integrated together by an adhesive or the like. Hereinbelow, an operation of the display device 1 is described.
The display panel 2 has characters or the like printed thereon. The display panel 2 is illuminated from behind by the organic EL panel 3 to which voltage is applied via the electrical signal cord 5, so that the characters or the like printed on the display panel 2 are displayed. The film speaker 4 is made of, for example, a resin film having a piezoelectric effect, and caused to vibrate when an acoustic signal is applied thereto via the electrical signal cord 6, so that the display panel 2 and the organic EL panel 3, which are integrated together with the film speaker 4, are caused to mechanically vibrate, thereby generating sound. The above-described display device 1 is capable of making the user feel as if the sound is being generated by a display screen.
There is another conventional technique which makes the user feel as if the sound is being generated by the display screen. Specifically, in this conventional technique, reproduced sound is outputted from a loudspeaker provided on the front of the display device. FIG. 13 is a cross-sectional view of a conventional display device in which reproduced sound is outputted from a loudspeaker provided on the front thereof. In FIG. 13, a display device 10 includes a transparent diaphragm 11, a plurality of transparent electrodes 12 formed on both sides of the transparent diaphragm 11, a support 13, and a cathode ray tube (CRT) 14. Hereinbelow, an operation of the display device 10 is described.
Each transparent electrode 12 is connected to a cord (not shown) via which an electrical signal is applied thereto. The transparent diaphragm 11 is made of a polymeric piezoelectric sheet material, and caused to vibrate by an electrical signal supplied from the plurality of transparent electrodes 12, thereby generating sound. The transparent diaphragm 11 and the plurality of transparent electrodes 12 are made of transparent materials, and therefore an image on the cathode ray tube can be seen therethrough, whereby it makes the user feel as if the sound is being generated by a cathode ray tube screen.
In the above-described display device 1, three elements, i.e., the display panel 2, the organic EL panel 3, and the film speaker 4, are integrated together, and therefore the film speaker 4 is caused to vibrate together with the display panel 2 and the organic EL panel 3, thereby reproducing sound. However, a diaphragm formed by the three elements integrated together is heavy in weight, resulting in reduction of a pressure level of sound to be reproduced. Moreover, an integral structure of the three elements increases the stiffness of the diaphragm, and therefore the diaphragm has difficulty in vibrating at low frequencies, resulting in reduction of low-frequency sound pressure levels.
In the above-described display device 10, the screen of the cathode ray tube 14 is entirely covered by the transparent diaphragm 11, and a space between the cathode ray tube 14 and the transparent diaphragm 11 is kept small in order to save space. Accordingly, an acoustic compliance of the space is considerably small, making it difficult for the display device 10 to perform satisfactory low-frequency sound reproduction.
As described above, conventionally, in the case where a display device and a sound reproduction device are integrated together, the sound reproduction device has difficulty in performing satisfactory sound reproduction (in particular, satisfactory low-frequency sound reproduction). This is not restricted to the display device, and a similar problem can be caused to a device having a different capability if a sound reproduction capability is additionally added thereto. It is conceivable that if the film speaker is provided to add the sound reproduction capability to the device having a different capability, the capability of the film speaker is reduced due to the mass and stiffness of the device.

Sound reproduction device and portable terminal apparatus

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


An arrangement for a metal making process for detecting cracks along a strip of a metallic material moving in relation to the arrangement. The arrangement includes a coil arrangement fixedly arranged during crack inspection, having: a first winding portion extending in a first direction for inducing a first current in the first direction; a second winding portion extending in a second direction for inducing a second current in the second direction, the first direction and the second direction intersecting each other; a first receiver coil arranged to detect a magnetic field generated by the first current; and a second receiver coil arranged to detect a magnetic field generated by the second current, the magnetic field generated by the first current and the magnetic field generated by the second current providing a measure of whether a crack is present in the portion of the strip.

It is known to detect cracks in metallic materials for instance in steel production. Inductive techniques have for instance been used for this purpose. When using an inductive technique a current is induced in the metallic material, e.g. a slab or a metal sheet, by means of a time-varying magnetic field generated by a transmitter coil fed with a likewise time-varying current. When the induced current encounters a crack in the metallic material, the crack constitutes an obstacle to the induced current. As a result, the crack alters the induced current at the crack as compared to a metallic material without a crack. The altered current provides a change in the magnetic field around the current. The change in the magnetic field is measured by a receiver coil, whereby it can be determined that a crack is present in the inspected surface portion of the metallic material.
When using inductive techniques for crack detection in metallic materials, the surface of the metallic material is typically searched by means of coils being moved across that portion of the surface which is to be inspected. GB 2 401 947 discloses an apparatus and for inspection of critical surfaces on aircraft engine disks. One embodiment disclosed in GB 2 401 947 is depicted in FIG. 5. This embodiment comprises a transmitter coil 38 that is in the form of a right-angled triangle. Receiver coils 32-1 and 32-2 are arranged along respective adjacent sides 38-1 and 38-2 of the right angle of the triangular transmitter coil 38. The sides 38-1 and 38-2 of the triangle induce orthogonal currents in metallic material that is being inspected for cracks. Thereby cracks having different orientation may be detected by the receiver coils 32-1 and 32-2. Crack inspection is conducted by moving the apparatus along the surface of the aircraft engine disk.
EP 1 033 571 A2 discloses a probe which includes a first substrate in or on which a probe coil is arranged. A second probe coil at least partially overlaps the area covered by the first probe coil, as viewed from above. The second coil is arranged in or on a second substrate. A stack of further substrates may be provided for further probe coils. At least one of the substrates is a film substrate made of flexible material. The first and second coils are used for detecting cracks or faults with mutually differing orientation in the component being tested. A photolithographic method of manufacture is also claimed.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,584,746 discloses a device for detecting cracks in steel slabs leaving continuous casting. The devices comprises two crack detecting units placed on either side of the passage of a slab leaving continuous casting and two descaling and cooling units located upstream of the detection units. Each detection unit comprises a mobile frame and a bead which slides vertically with respect to the frame and which bears one vertical sensor and three horizontal sensors. The sensors are induction coils placed in a container which is surrounded by a forwardly open metal casing. One application of the device is the automatic switching of defective slabs towards a reprocessing unit.
In production processes of metallic products it has proved to be difficult to utilise equipment of the above-mentioned type. Firstly such crack inspections may take too long time for fitting into a production flow. Secondly the mechanical devices required for inspection become too expensive and too sensitive for the conditions, e.g. high temperatures in a continuous casting process, which often prevail during production.

Arrangement for crack detection in metallic materials in a metal making process


Methods and compositions for cancer diagnostics and therapy are provided. More particular, methods and compositions for detecting, preventing, and treating HERV-K+ cancers are provided. One example of a method may involve a method for preventing or inhibiting cancer cell proliferation by administering to a subject a cancer cell proliferation blocking or reducing amount of a HERV-K env protein binding antibody.

Human endogenous retroviruses (HERVs) and elements containing long terminal repeat-like sequences may comprise up to 8% of the human genome. HERVs entered the human genome after fortuitous germ line integration of exogenous retroviruses and were subsequently fixed in the general population. They may have been preserved to ensure genome plasticity and this can provide the host with new functions, such as protection from exogenous viruses and fusiogenic activity (e.g., membrane fusion, exocytosis, or endocytosis). HERVs contain over 200 distinct groups and subgroups. The accumulation of mutations has led to a loss of infectivity of HERVs, and in general they are largely noninfectious retroviral remnants. However, open reading frames (ORFs) have been observed for ERV3, HERV-E 4-1, and HERV-K, but their significance is unknown.
The most biologically active HERVs are members of the HERV-K superfamily which is characterized by the presence of primer binding sites for lysine tRNA. Only HERV-K appears to have the full complement of open reading frames typical of replication competent mammalian retroviruses. The K family contains a central open reading frame (cORF) and is comparable to HIV-1 Rev protein. HERV-K was originally identified by its homology to the mouse mammary tumor virus (MMTV), and is transcriptionally active in several human cancer tissues, including breast cancer tissues, as well as tumor cell lines, such as the human breast cancer cell line T47D and the teratocarcinoma cell line GH.
HERV-K env mRNA is frequently expressed in human breast cancer and HERV-E mRNA is expressed in prostate cancer. Additionally, mRNA from multiple HERV families is transcribed only in ovarian cancer cell lines and tissues. For example, the expression of HERV-K env mRNA was greater in ovarian epithelial tumors than it was in normal ovarian tissues (N=254).
Breast cancer is a significant health problem for women in the United States and throughout the world. Although advances have been made in detection and treatment of the disease, breast cancer remains the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths in women, affecting more than 180,000 women in the United States each year. For women in North America, the life-time odds of getting breast cancer are now one in eight.
No vaccine or other universally successful method for the prevention or treatment of breast cancer is currently available. Management of the disease currently relies on a combination of early diagnosis (through routine screening procedures) and aggressive treatment, which may include one or more of a variety of treatments such as surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and hormone therapy. The course of treatment for a particular breast cancer is often selected based on a variety of prognostic parameters, including an analysis of specific-tumor markers. See, e.g., Porter-Jordan & Lippman, Breast Cancer 8:73-100, 1994. However, the use of established markers often leads to a result that is difficult to interpret, and the high mortality observed in breast cancer patients indicates that improvements are needed in the treatment, diagnosis, and prevention of the disease.
Ovarian cancer is another leading cause of cancer deaths among women and has the highest mortality of any of the gynecologic cancers. Symptoms usually do not become apparent until the tumor compresses or invades adjacent structures, or ascites develops, or metastases become clinically evident. As a result, two thirds of women with ovarian cancer have advanced (Stage III or IV) disease at the time of diagnosis.
Potential screening tests for ovarian cancer include the bimanual pelvic examination, the Papanicolaou (Pap) smear, tumor markers, and ultrasound imaging. The pelvic examination, which can detect a variety of gynecologic disorders, is of unknown sensitivity in detecting ovarian cancer. Although pelvic examinations can occasionally detect ovarian cancer, small, early-stage ovarian tumors are often not detected by palpation due to the deep anatomic location of the ovary. Thus, ovarian cancers detected by pelvic examination are generally advanced and associated with poor survival. The pelvic examination may also produce false positives when benign adnexal masses (e.g., functional cysts) are found. The Pap smear may occasionally reveal malignant ovarian cells, but it is not considered to be a valid screening test for ovarian carcinoma. Ultrasound imaging has also been evaluated as a screening test for ovarian cancer, since it is able to estimate ovarian size, detect masses as small as 1 cm, and distinguish solid lesions from cysts.
Serum tumor markers are often elevated in women with ovarian cancer. Examples of these markers include carcinoembryonic antigen, ovarian cystadenocarcinoma antigen, lipid-associated sialic acid, NB/70K, TAG 72.3, CAI 15-3, and CA-125, respectively. Evidence is limited on whether tumor markers become elevated early enough in the natural history of occult ovarian cancer to provide adequate sensitivity for screening, and tumor markers may have limited specificity.
Tumor-associated antigens recognized by the immune system are a very attractive target for human cancer diagnostics and therapy. However, few immunotherapy approaches have been used for the treatment and prevention of cancers. One problem limiting the success of cancer vaccines is that the immune system generally does not recognize cancer cells as being foreign, which is a requirement for initiating an immune response. Cancer immunotherapy, however, is limited due in part to the limited number of tumor-associated antigens identified to date.

HERV-K antigens, antibodies, and methods

Board of Regents, The University of Texas System


A wind turbine (1) has a base (5) divided into at least three ballast tanks (12). A vessel (7) has means for displacing the wind turbine between a loading space (25) and an unloading position (26). At its unloading position the vessel has winches (11) with at least three flexible lines (10) that can be connected with horizontally distanced lifting points (23) on the wind turbine base.

In a first aspect, the present invention relates to a vessel for transporting a wind turbine, and in a second and a third aspect a method of moving a wind turbine, the method of the second aspect relating to moving the turbine from land to an offshore wind farm at its erection, and the method of the third aspect relating to removing a worn-out wind turbine from the offshore wind farm. In a fourth aspect the invention relates to a wind turbine.
The vessel according to the first aspect of the invention can load at least one wind turbine mounted on a base, the wind turbine, after the loading, being placed on the vessel on a loading space in an upright position corresponding to the upright operating position of the wind turbine.
Such a vessel is known from EP 1 101 935 A2, according to which the base, tower, nacelle and rotor blades are assembled on shore into an entire wind turbine to avoid the substantially higher costs involved in assembling the main components of the wind turbine at the offshore wind farm. Since a wind turbine for offshore use has a very considerable size, such as a height of more than 100 m and a mass of e.g. 1000 t in its assembled state, it is obviously no simple task to sail an entire wind turbine out to an offshore position and place it on the seabed. In the said publication, a crane on the vessel is used to lift the entire wind turbine from land onto the vessel, which then sails with this one turbine to the offshore position and lifts the turbine into place on the seabed. A vessel with a crane for lifts of about 1000 t is expensive to operate. One drawback is that this vessel is used to sail each individual wind turbine from land to the offshore farm, particularly if the farm is far from land.
WO 99/43956 describes how to build two wind turbines on a barge and tow them out to an offshore wind farm. On the farm, each turbine is lifted off the barge by means of a crane on another vessel and lowered into place on the farm. Experience shows that it is risky to lift a large structure from a floating vessel by means of a crane on another floating vessel, and it requires really calm weather and small wave heights to carry out a safe lift without damage to the structure. This means that only a limited number of days are available to erect a wind farm. Since crew and vessels are only available in coherent periods, this results in high costs for installing the farm.
Lifting the assembled turbine with base also implies the drawback that the turbine tower must be dimensioned in terms of strength to withstand the lift. Since the loads of a lift act differently from the dynamic loads in operation, the turbine tower has to be of sturdier dimensions to withstand the lift than would otherwise have been required. The heavier dimensions entail more weight and thus larger dynamic loads in operation and higher costs for manufacturing the wind turbine.
WO 02/088475 describes how one or two wind turbines with a base designed as so-called suction piles with an open bottom for being pressed down into the seabed material to create anchoring is/are suspended by wires in a vessel and sailed out to an offshore wind farm where the wind turbine is lowered into place on the seabed. Before sailing, the wind turbine is pulled up against the bottom or side of the vessel. However, the wind turbine is still a self-floating structure with an extremely elevated centre of gravity in relation to the centre of gravity of the vessel. This inevitably causes mutual movement of the structures during sailing, and it is only possible to sail out to the farm when the weather is good and the wave heights small, which limits the number of days available, as mentioned above, and entails high costs.
WO 01/34977 describes a wind turbine which is lifted into the water by a crane, whereupon a vessel grips around the tower, and ballast is removed from the base, which contains a single chamber communicating with the inside of the tower. When sufficient ballast has been removed, the wind turbine floats up to abut the vessel, which can then sail the wind turbine out to a farm where the base is filled with ballast so that the wind turbine sinks to the seabed. Quite apart from the problems of the crane lift of the turbine and sailing with two floating structures abutting each other, the grip around the turbine tower involves a risk of damage to the tower caused by the grip. Even minor scratches are of importance to the durability and strength of the turbine tower.

Vessel for transporting wind turbines, methods of moving a wind turbine, and a wind turbine for an off-shore wind farm


N-arylsulfonyl-3-aminoalkoxyindoles indole compounds, radioisotopes, stereoisomers, geometric forms, N-oxides, polymorphs and pharmaceutically acceptable salts.

Many diseases of the central nervous system are influenced by the adrenergic, the dopaminergic and the serotoninergic neurotransmitter systems. Serotonin has been implicated in numerous diseases and conditions, which originate from central nervous system. The list includes diseases and conditions related to sleeping, eating, perceiving pain, controlling body temperature, controlling blood pressure, depression, anxiety, schizophrenia and other bodily states. (References: Fuller, R. W., Drugs Acting on Serotoninergic Neuronal Systems, in "Biology of Serotoninergic Transmission", ed. by Osborne N. N., J Wiley & Sons Inc. (1982), 221-247; Boullin D. J., et. al., in "Serotonin in Mental Abnormalities", International Association for The Scientific Study of Mental Deficiency, Wiley, Checester, 1978, pp. 1-340; Barchas J. et. al., in "Serotonin and Behavior", Academic Press, NY (1973)). Serotonin also plays an important role in the peripheral systems, such as the gastrointestinal system, where it has been found to mediate a variety of contractile, secretory and electrophysiologic effects.
Due to the broad distribution of serotonin within the body, there is a lot of interest and use, in the drugs that affect serotoninergic systems. Particularly, preferred are the compounds which have receptor-specific agonism and/or antagonism for the treatment of a wide range of disorders, including anxiety, depression, hypertension, migraine, obesity, compulsive disorders, schizophrenia, autism, certain other neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimer, Parkinson, Huntington's chorea and chemotherapy-induced vomiting (References: Gershon M. D. et. al., 5-Hydroxytryptamine and enteric neurons. In: The Peripheral Actions of 5-Hydroxytryptamine, edited by J. R. Fozard. New York: Oxford, 1989, p. 247-273; Saxena P. R., et. al., Journal of Cardiovascular Pharmacology (1993), supplement 15, p. 17-34).
The major classes of serotonin receptors (5-HT1-7) contain fourteen to eighteen separate receptors that have been formally classified (References: Glennon et al, Neuroscience and Behavioral Reviews (1990), 14, 35; and Hoyer D. et al, Pharmacol. Rev. (1994), 46, 157-203). Recently discovered information regarding sub-type identity, distribution, structure and function suggests that it is possible to identify novel, sub-type specific agents having improved therapeutic profiles with lesser side effects. The 5-HT6 receptor was identified in 1993 (References: Monsma et al, Mol. Pharmacol. (1993), 43, 320-327; and Ruat M. et al, Biochem. Biophys. Res. Com. (1993), 193, 269-276). Several antidepressants and atypical antipsychotics bind to the 5-HT6 receptor with high affinity and this binding may be a factor in their profile of activities (References: Roth et al, J. Pharm. Exp. Therapeut. (1994), 268, 1403-1410; Sleight et al, Exp. Opin. Ther. Patents (1998), 8, 1217-1224; Bourson et al, Brit. J. Pharmacol. (1998), 125, 1562-1566; Boess et al, Mol. Pharmacol., 1998, 54, 577-583; Sleight et al, Brit. J. Pharmacol. (1998), 124, 556-562). In addition, 5-HT6 receptor has been linked to generalized stress and anxiety states (Reference: Yoshioka et al, Life Sciences (1998), 17/18, 1473-1477). Together these studies and observations suggest that the compound, which antagonizes 5-HT6 receptors, will be useful in treating various disorders of the central nervous system.
There is very strong evidence that Melatonin is important for the regulation of a variety of neural and endocrine functions, especially those that exhibit circadian and circannual rhythmicity. Great interest therefore lies in the possibility of making available to the clinician melatonin analogues that are metabolically more stable and have an agonist or antagonist character and of which the therapeutic effect may be expected to be superior to that of the hormone itself. PCT patent application WO 00/72815 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,465,660B1 gives extensive literature on studies with Melatonin and potential therapeutic application of various ligands reported till date.
Those various effects are exerted via the intermediary of specific Melatonin receptors. Molecular biology studies have demonstrated the existence of a number of receptor sub-types that are capable of binding that hormone (Trends Pharmacol. Sci., 1995, 16, p. 50; WO 97 04094). Melatonin acts on the CNS to affect neural mechanisms through receptors located in the brain. Additionally, a number of studies indicate the existence of direct effects of Melatonin in peripheral organs via peripheral melatonin receptors. Melatonin receptors are present in the heart, lungs, prostate gland, gonads, white blood cells, retina, pituitary, thyroid, kidney, gut and blood vessels (Withyachumnamkul et al., Life Sci, 12 65, 1986). Three Melatonin receptor subtypes have been identified so far MT-1, MT-2 and MeI 1 c (Barreft et al., Biol. Signals Recept., 1999, 8: 6-14).
There is evidence suggesting both Melatonin agonists and antagonists would be of potential therapeutic use for a variety of maladies and conditions. PCT application WO 00/72815 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,465,660B1 discuss in depth applications and use of such compounds and details of which are incorporated herein by reference. Also U.S. Pat. No. 6,465,660 and U.S. patent application publication number U.S. 2003/0105087 discuss some tricyclic indole and tricyclic azaindole derivatives having very valuable pharmacological characteristics in respect of melatoninergic receptors.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,839,377 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,855,314 refers to 5-substituted 3-aminoalkyl indoles. The compounds are said to be useful for the treatment of migraine.
British Patent 2,035,310 refers to 3-aminoalkyl-1H-indole-5-thioamides and carboxamides. The compounds are said to be useful in treating hypertension, Raymond's disease and migraine.
European Patent Publication 303,506 refers to 3-polyhydropyridyl-5-substituted-1H-indoles. The compounds are said to have 5-HT1 receptor agonists and vasoconstrictor activity and to be useful in treating migraine. European Patent Publication 354,777 refers to N-piperidinylindolylethyl-alkane sulfonamide derivatives. The compounds are said to be 5-HT1 receptor agonists and have vasoconstrictor activity and are useful in treating cephalic pain.
European Patent Publication 438,230, refers to indole-substituted five-membered heteroaromatic compounds. The compounds are said to have "5-HT1-like" receptor agonist activity and to be useful in the treatment of migraine and other disorders for which a selective agonist of these receptors is indicated.
European Patent Publication 313,397 refers to 5-heterocyclic indole derivatives. The compounds are said to have exceptional properties for the treatment and prophylaxis of migraine, cluster headache and headache associated with vascular disorders. These compounds are also said to have exceptional "5-HT1-like" receptor agonism.
International Patent Publication WO 91/18897 refers to 5-heterocyclic indole derivatives. The compounds are said to have exceptional properties for the treatment and prophylaxis of migraine, cluster headache, and headache associated with vascular disorders. These compounds are also said to have exceptional "5-HT1-like" receptor agonism.
European Patent Publication 457,701 refers to aryloxy amine derivatives as having high affinity for 5-HT1D serotonin receptors. These compounds are said to be useful for treating diseases related to serotonin receptor dysfunction, for example, migraine.
European Patent Publication 497,512 A2, refers to a class of imidazole, triazole and tetrazole derivatives that are selective agonists for "5-HT1-like" receptors. These compounds are said to be useful for treating migraine and associated disorders.
International Patent Publication WO 93/00086 describes a series of tetrahydrocarbazole derivatives, as 5-HT1 receptor agonists, useful for the treatment of migraine and related conditions.
International Patent Publication WO 93/23396, refers to fused imidazole and triazole derivatives as 5-HT1 receptor agonists, for the treatment of migraine and other disorders.
Schoeffter P. et al. refers to methyl 4-{4-[4-(1,1,3-trioxo-2H-1,2-benzoisothiazol-2-yl)butyl]-1-piperazinyl}1H-indole-3-carboxylate as a selective antagonist for the 5-HT1A receptor in their paper "SDZ216-525, a selective and potent 5-HT1A receptor antagonist", European Journal of Pharmacology, 244, 251-257 (1993).
International Patent Publication WO 94/06769, refers to 2-substituted-4-piperazine-benzothiophene derivatives that are serotonin 5-HT1A and 5-HT1D receptor agents useful in the treatment of anxiety, depression, migraine, stroke, angina and hypertension.


A visual programming method implemented on a computer having a display screen and an input device which a user employs to draw visual representations on the display screen, including the steps of defining and supporting by computer implemented steps a set of object classes including a linking object class; in response to input from the user, selecting a first object class; in response to the user using the input device to draw a first visual representation on the display screen, generating a source object, which is an instance of the first object class and having a first set of events associated therewith; in response to input from the user, selecting a second object class; and in response to the user using the input device to draw a second visual representation on the display screen, generating a destination object, which is an instance of the second object class; in response to input from the user, selecting the linking object class; and in response to the user using the input device to draw a third visual representation that connects the first and second visual representations, generating a linking object, which is an instance of the linking object class and has associated therewith a set of user selectable predefined behaviors, each of which is in the form of a set of commands that defines actions that occur to the destination object in response to an occurrence of one of the events of the first set of events.

The invention relates to a visual programming tool for developing software applications.
Historically, the development of software applications required trained and experienced software programmers. Under DOS with its character-based interface, programmers had to design data structures and write program code. This meant that extensive knowledge of the complexities of one or more programming languages was usually required. In recent years, however, with the introduction of windows-based operating systems and the move toward visual based user interfaces, significant progress has been made in developing visual programming tools which have made the task of designing and building applications much easier and more accessible to a wider range of people.
Visual programming focuses on the visual user interface. With visual programming tools, the user is provided with a palette of visual objects that represent commonly required functionality. The user develops an application simply by drawing objects on the screen and by moving those around using drag-and-drop techniques. The visual programming tool takes care of writing or adding the underlying code that is required to implement the functionality of the various objects that have been added to the screen. Thus, the process of writing large segments of code is taken over by the visual programming tool.
Nevertheless, even with prior visual programming tools, users have still had to write and add code to the application under design to complete it. Thus, even though these tools have made the process of designing and building applications much easier, they still have left standing significant barriers to users who are not experienced in programming or writing code.

Visual programming tool for developing software applications

International Business Machines Corporation


In a mobile radiotelephone system, a base station, upon receiving a service request from a mobile station, ascertains whether the service request can be accepted according to the availability of voice channels in the base station, and, if the service request cannot be accepted, compares a measured signal strength of the service request with at least one threshold value. If the signal strength exceeds the threshold, the mobile station is directed to retry the service request on one or more of a first set of channels assigned to neighboring base stations. Otherwise, the mobile station is directed to retry the service request on one or more of at least a second set of channels assigned to neighboring base stations. Accordingly, directed retries nearer the interior of a cell may be restricted or eliminated, whereas directed retries toward the periphery of the cell may be freely allowed or less severely restricted. Since interference is greater from mobile stations transmitting nearer the interior of a cell on the frequency of an adjacent cell than from such mobile stations transmitting from the periphery of the cell, interference is therefore reduced.

The present invention relates to interference reduction in a cellular mobile radiotelephone system and more particularly to reduction of interference in such a system resulting from a conventional, unrestricted directed retry function.
In mobile radiotelephone systems, one of the main technological challenges is to provide a sufficiently large number of radio channels to meet system demand while at the same time minimizing interference of those channels with one another. In cellular mobile radiotelephone systems, this problem has been addressed by allocating frequencies to cells according to a frequency reuse pattern such that a specified distance, known as the frequency reuse distance, separates geographical areas using a common frequency. Referring to FIG. 1, for example, cells A.sub.1 through A.sub.7 in the lower left-hand cluster of cells each use different sets of frequencies. The same frequencies can be repeated some distance away as in the cluster to the upper right having cells B.sub.1 through B.sub.7. Cell B.sub.4 could use one or more of the same frequencies as cell A.sub.4, and so forth. Mobile stations normally served in cell A.sub.4 cause some interference at the base station and mobile stations in cell B.sub.4, and vice versa. Such interference is usually minimal and is measured by comparing the level of interference to the effective signal level at the base station or mobile station being interfered with to yield a C/I (carrier-to-interference) ratio. The technique of frequency reuse has proven effective in preventing undue interference of same-frequency channels.
A problem arises, however, when a call access is attempted at a time when all of a cell's voice channels available for the call are occupied (cell congestion). The typical response to such a situation is for the mobile switching center MSC to send a directed retry instruction to the mobile station attempting access together with a list of the frequencies of the control channels of all of the congested cell's neighboring cells. A directed retry instruction essentially informs the mobile station attempting to access the mobile radiotelephone system that access is not available through a cell just tried, but instructs the mobile stations to attempt access again through one of a number of different neighboring cells.
Since no connection of the mobile station to the radiotelephone system across a traffic channel has yet been established, there has been no substantial opportunity for the location of the mobile station relative to cell boundaries to be determined within the radiotelephone system. Such location may be determined, for example, by monitoring the strength of transmissions by the mobile station at several different cell sites. When the location of the mobile station is known, the MSC may direct the mobile station to reattempt access through a particular designated cell. Instead, the mobile station monitors reception on each of the neighboring cell's frequencies and chooses a strongest received frequency across which to reattempt access.
Given a flat topography, the frequency chosen will usually be that of the neighboring cell closest to the mobile station. Because of varying topography, however, the propagation paths and resulting signals strengths may be varied such that the strongest received channel may not always be that of the closest neighboring cell but rather may be that of a more distant neighboring cell. In this latter situation, the potential for interference increases.
A mobile station M in FIG. 1, for example, would normally access and be served by cell A.sub.7 but might be directed to cell A.sub.4 if cell A.sub.7 is congested. If the mobile station M sets up the call in cell A.sub.4, the mobile station is farther away from cell A.sub.4 than most mobile stations served by cell A.sub.4. The distance to the closest interferer, cell B.sub.4, is shorter than normal. The result is a reduced C/I ratio for the mobile station M and possibly also for a call handled in cell B.sub.4.
A further source of interference is adjacent channel disturbance which may occur when adjacent cells use two frequencies that, although different, are close to one another. Because filtering techniques do not provide perfect attenuation of adjacent frequencies, some energy at an adjacent frequency will pass through the channel filters and cause interference characterized by a C/A (carrier-to-adjacent) ratio. In FIG. 1, if the mobile station M received service from cell A.sub.4 on a frequency f as a result of directed retry, and if cell A.sub.7 used frequency f+1 or f-1 at the same time, then the mobile station would both experience and cause interference. Such interference becomes more widespread the farther toward the interior of the cell the mobile station is because the mobile station's signal is stronger over a greater portion of the cell. If the mobile is at the cell border, interference is less.
To overcome the foregoing problems it would be desirable to have the capability of treating overflow new call access requests according to the potential of the mobile station for causing disruptive interference. In particular, it would be desirable to restrict the directed retry function with respect to mobile stations near the interior of a congested cell.

Signal strength controlled directed retry in a mobile radiotelephone system


A vehicle steering wheel assembly includes a steering wheel frame having a rim portion and a hub portion within the rim portion. The hub has a first surface facing a rear of the vehicle and a second surface facing a front of the vehicle. An electronic control unit (ECU) has a first surface facing the rear of the vehicle located in a plane that is disposed between a second plane that includes the second surface of the hub and the front of the vehicle. An electrical connector extends from the first surface of the ECU towards the first surface of the hub portion. The ECU comprises a clock spring connector electrically coupled to the electrical connector via a wire trace. By incorporating wire traces that provide electrical connections between the electrical connectors and the clock spring connector, the ECU reduces the size and/or number of wire harnesses used in the steering wheel assembly.

Increasing numbers of electrical components are incorporated into steering wheel assemblies. These electrical components are typically connected to car electronics using one or more wire harnesses. Wire harnesses are messy, large, and inconsistently routed inside steering wheels. Wires can get pinched or interfere with a driver airbag in the steering wheel during assembly and upon activation of a horn through the steering wheel. In addition to the increased number of electrical components, the size of steering wheels is trending smaller leading to even greater challenges with efficiently packaging electrical connections.

Integrated electronic control unit for a steering wheel assembly


An image forming apparatus capable of reliably positioning a process unit in a main image forming apparatus body, without impairing ease of mounting/dismounting of the process unit achieved by a simple structure. The image forming apparatus including a convex section, provided on the process unit, that projects towards the insertion side; an engagement section, provided on the main apparatus body, that positions the process unit in a width direction by engaging with the convex section; and a guidance section, provided on at least one of a tip end of the convex section and the main apparatus body, that guides the convex section towards the guidance section when mounting the process unit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus and to a process unit that is detachably provided to this image forming apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
In image forming apparatus, such as a copier, printer, facsimile machine, or apparatus combining these, the process unit system may be adopted, in which cases in which are accommodated process means such as an image carrier, charging unit, developing device or toner accommodating unit are detachably provided with respect to the main body of the image forming apparatus. In this system, the user can easily replace these process units when maintenance of these process units is required.
Consequently, in such a process unit system, a mechanism for mounting/detaching of these process units with respect to the main body of the image forming apparatus is provided. However, there were the problems that ease of mounting/detachment by the conventional mounting/detachment mechanism and/or the precision of positional location thereof with respect to the main body of the image forming apparatus were low.
Technologies relating to the present invention are disclosed in, e.g., Laid-open Japanese Patent Application No. 2001-272838.

Image forming apparatus including a mechanism for reliably mounting a process unit


Methods, apparatus, computer program product and computer readable medium are disclosed for trust management in software defined networking. A method comprises: collecting network performance results after a network policy issued by an application is applied; collecting a feedback for the network policy; and calculating a trust value of the application based at least partly on the network performance results and the feedback.

Software Defined Networking (SDN) is an emerging network paradigm that enables network administrators to configure network resources very quickly and adjust network-wide traffic flows to dynamically meet changing needs. A prominent feature of SDN is that it physically separates the forwarding functionality of forwarding devices, known as a data plane, from a control element such as controller, known as a control plane. The management of the entire network may rely on a logically centralized control plane with no need to consider a type of underlying devices (for example, router, switch, firewall, etc.). This new kind of networking mechanism ignores the difference between the underlying network devices, and gives the operators a very simple way to manage the network by programming new network functions through Application Programming Interfaces (APIs).
In spite of many advanced attributes such as centralized control and network programmability, SDN also introduces many security threats. Applications in SDN's application plane are programs that directly and programmatically communicate their network requirements and desired network behaviors to the control plane via a northbound interface. In general, the controllers in a SDN system may have no ability to distinguish the applications' eligibility, legality and trustworthiness by themselves. Beyond that, a poorly designed or buggy application may unintentionally bring a series of new vulnerabilities to the SDN system. Therefore, how to manage the trust of a huge number of applications becomes an urgent problem.

Apparatus, method and computer program product for trust management


A specific dosage regimen of buprenorphine achieves pain relief from painful episodes due to sickle cell disease. The dosage regimen comprises administering to a patient in need of pain relief from sickle cell disease at least one BTDS transdermal patch. Alternatively, the dosing regimen comprises administering to the patient (1) a first buprenorphine-containing transdermal dosage form for a first dosing period; (2) administering to the patient a second buprenorphine-containing transdermal dosage form for a second dosing period, where the second dosage form comprises the same dosage of buprenorphine as, or a greater dosage of buprenorphine than, the first dosage form; and (3) administering to the patient a third buprenorphine-containing transdermal dosage form for a third dosing period, where the third dosage form comprises a greater dosage of buprenorphine than the second dosage form.

Sickle cell disease a hemolytic disorder, which affects, in its most severe form, approximately 80,000 patients in the United States (see, for example, D. L. Rucknagel, in R. D. Levere, Ed., Sickle Cell Anemia and Other Hemoglobinopathies, Academic Press, New York, 1975, p. 1). Sickle cell disorders are inherited disorders of the haemoglobin (Hb) in the red blood cells. It includes Sickle Cell Anemia (Hb SS), Hemoglobin SC Disease (Hb SC) and Sickle Beta Thalassaemia (Hb Beta-Thal). Of these, the most common and severe is sickle cell anemia.
Sickle cell anemia is caused by a single mutation in the hemoglobin molecule; β6 glutamic acid in normal adult hemoglobin A is changed to valine in sickle hemoglobin S (Ingram, Nature 1956, 178:792-794). Hemoglobin S has a markedly decreased solubility in the deoxygenated state when compared to that of hemoglobin A. Therefore, upon deoxygenation, hemoglobin S molecules within the erythrocyte tend to aggregate and form helical fibers that cause the red cell to assume a variety of irregular shapes, most commonly in the sickled form. After repeated cycles of oxygenation and deoxygenation, the sickle cell in the circulation becomes rigid and no longer can squeeze through the small capillaries in tissues, resulting in delivery of insufficient oxygen and nutrients to the organ, which eventually leads to local tissue necrosis. The prolonged blockage of microvascular circulation and the subsequent induction of tissue necrosis lead to various symptoms of sickle cell anemia, including painful crises of vaso-occlusion.
Hemoglobin SC disease (Hb SC) and Sickle Beta-Thalassaemia (Hb S-Thal) occur when someone inherits sickle hemoglobin (Hb S) from one of their parents and either hemoglobin C or Beta-Thalassaemia from the other parent. The symptoms of these two conditions are often similar to, but usually less severe than, those of sickle cell anemia.
For most patients, sickle cell anemia does not cause chronic pain. However, most sickle cell anemia patients suffer from sporadic and recurrent episodes that are referred to as painful episodes. Painful episodes typically involve blockade of capillaries and prevention of blood flow into a tissue, which becomes starved of oxygen and glucose. During such crises, a sickle cell (SC) patient will usually experience severe pain at one or more locations, which frequently vary between patients. It is not uncommon for a joint or joints to become swollen and sore. By far the most common type of crisis is the infarctive or painful crisis, characterized by severe skeletal pain which may persist for several days or even weeks. In addition, or alternatively, the patient may suffer from either sharp or diffuse pain in the abdomen, which is presumed to be due to ischemic conditions in one or more organs.
Most sickle cell patients usually suffer several painful episodes per year. The patient usually must be hospitalized for parenteral opioid analgesia, restricted to bed rest with little or no exertion to prevent pathological fracture of potentially infarcted bone, and treated with a variety of drugs, including potent analgesics, such as morphine, codeine, and meperidine (also known as Demerol™), and by broad-spectrum antibiotics, both to help control any infections that may be contributing to the crises, and to help prevent or reduce additional infections in tissues or organs that are weakened by the ischemic crisis. Among hospitalizations including the diagnosis of sickle cell disease, 25% of patients are less than 15 years old.
The physiological damage and increased morbidity and mortality caused by sickle cell anemia has been studied extensively (Platt et al., NEJM 1994, 3 30:1639-1644). Briefly, among young children, dactylitis is common, due to ischemic necrosis of the small bones and cartilages of the hands and feet, and acute abdominal pain is often caused by accumulating damage to the spleen. Acute abdominal pain can also be due to spleen, liver or kidney infarction, or the pain can be simply associated with hematuria.
A treatment for sickle cell anemia that has shown benefit involves a compound called hydroxyurea. In some patients, this compound can reduce the frequency, but not the severity, of sickle cell crises, presumably due to an ability to increase the expression levels of fetal hemoglobin genes. However, this treatment has only limited utility; many patients on hydroxyurea still experience recurrent painful episodes, and it is not effective in treating those episodes.
While several innovative pharmacologic approaches to analgesia in this setting have been suggested, including Nalbuphine (Woods et al., J Assoc Acad Minor Phys 1990, 1(3): 90-2); epidural bupivicaine and intravenous fentanyl (Yaster et al. Pediatrics 1994, 93(2):310-5); high dose methylprednisolone and morphine (Griffin et al., N Engl J Med 1994; 330:733-7); and Piroxicam (Eke et al., Tropical Medicine and International Health 2000, 5:81-84), there is still a need for improved modalities of analgesic care of sickle cell disease (Yaster et al., Peditr Clin North Am 2000; 47: 699-710).
There remains a need for safe and effective methods of pain management for sickle cell patients, including pediatric patients. These and other objects of the invention will become more apparent through the following summary, drawings, and description of the preferred embodiments.

Transdermal buprenorphine to treat pain in sickle cell crisis


A taut, torsional flexure is used in a compact drive for scanning light and is of beneficial use in a lightweight, compact image projection module, especially for mounting in a housing having a light-transmissive window, the module being operative for causing selected pixels in a raster pattern to be illuminated to produce an image of high resolution of VGA quality in color.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a taut, torsional flexure and a compact drive for, and a method of, scanning light using the flexure, especially for use in a color image projection arrangement operative for projecting a two-dimensional image in color while maintaining low power consumption, high resolution, miniature compact size, quiet operation and minimal vibration.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is generally known to project a two-dimensional image on a screen based on a pair of scan mirrors which oscillate by respective drives in mutually orthogonal directions to scan a laser beam over a raster pattern. However, the known image projection arrangements project the image with limited resolution, typically less than a fourth of video-graphics-array (VGA) quality of 640×480 pixels, consume a relatively large amount of electrical power, and are relatively heavy in weight and occupy a relatively large volume, thereby rendering them impractical for use in miniature, hand-held, battery-operated applications.
For example, the drive for one of the scan mirrors includes a permanent magnet jointly movable with the mirror. The magnet and the mirror are mounted on a flexure that permits oscillation about an axis. An electromagnetic coil is energized by a periodic drive signal and generates an electromagnetic field which interacts with the permanent field of the magnet to flex the flexure and cause the magnet and, in turn, the scan mirror to oscillate about the axis.
Although generally satisfactory for its intended purpose, the above-described electromagnetic drive is not ideal for miniature, hand-held, battery-operated applications. For example, the flexure must be tensioned to a taut state to better withstand ambient temperature changes and to produce repeatable oscillations. Such tensioning is provided by additional discrete components, such as clamps, pins and screws, all of which increase the weight, volume and energy expenditure of the drive. In addition, the assembly of these additional components increases the cost and complexity of manufacture of the drive, as well as increasing the likelihood that one or more of these additional components will become loose or fail, thereby compromising the tension on the flexure and eventually leading to unreliable, unrepeatable, temperature-dependent scanning. A laser beam, for example, incident on the mirror supported by such a compromised flexure will not be accurately directed to its intended pixel of the image and, as a result, the resolution of the projected image is degraded.

Taut, torsional flexure and a compact drive for, and method of, scanning light using the flexure


A dynamic random access memory (DRAM) and a method of manufacturing the same which is suitable for increasing the integration of a semiconductor device and suppressing the generation of a leakage current using a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) structure are disclosed. The semiconductor device includes a semiconductor substrate, an insulating film formed on the semiconductor substrate, a semiconductor layer pattern formed on the insulating film, a trench formed in the semiconductor substrate through the semiconductor layer pattern and the insulating film, an electrode of a capacitor formed in the trench for electrically connected to the semiconductor layer pattern, a gate insulating film formed on the semiconductor layer pattern, a gate electrode formed on the gate insulating film, and impurity regions formed in the semiconductor layer pattern.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device and, more particularly, to a dynamic random access memory (DRAM) and a method of manufacturing the same which is suitable to increase integration and suppress generation of a leakage current utilizing a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) structure.
2. Discussion of Related Art
In general, a DRAM has a large memory capacity and is suitable as a semiconductor memory device for a personal computer.
A DRAM cell is profitable for high integration and has a cost per bit which is lower than that of a static random access memory (SRAM) since the DRAM cell is composed of a capacitor and a MOS (Metal-Oxide-Silicon) transistor. Thus the DRAM cell is mainly utilized as a memory device.
A memory cell region of a DRAM can utilize an N-type MOS (NMOS) which has a high carrier mobility. The memory cell region includes a capacitor formed therein. In a periphery circuit area of the DRAM, a C-type MOS (CMOS) with a low power consumption is utilized separately. The DRAM is classified as MOS memory devices, where the MOS memory devices are divided into an NMOS and a CMOS as described above.
The CMOS is divided into a bulk CMOS and a SOI (silicon-on-insulator) CMOS. In the bulk CMOS, semiconductor elements are formed on a semiconductor substrate, whereas in the SOI CMOS, a single crystalline silicon thin film is formed on an insulating layer and semiconductor elements are formed thereon.
The SOI structure in the SOI CMOS prevents latch-ups and soft errors occurring in conventional CMOS circuits since the SOI structure is not influenced by parasitic effects related to the substrate of the CMOS circuit.
The SOI technology is divided into an epitaxial growth method, a deposited film recrystallization method, and a single crystal isolation method.
In the epitaxial growth method, single crystalline silicon is grown on a single crystalline insulating layer such as sapphire. A typical epitaxial growth method is a silicon-on-sapphire (SOS) technique.
In the deposited film recrystallization method, a polycrystalline or amorphous silicon thin film is deposited on an oxide film. The deposited film is melted and recrystallized in a horizontal direction, or it is solid-phase epitaxialized (solid phase epitaxy technique).
In the deposited film recrystallization method using the melting and recrystallization technique, a polycrystalline silicon thin film is deposited on an oxide film using a CVD (chemical vapor deposition) method, and heated and melted by an energy beam such as a laser beam and an electron beam. The melted region is recrystallized on a wafer to obtain a single crystalline thin film. On the other hand, using the solid phase epitaxy technique, an amorphous silicon film is deposited on various crystalline regions of an insulating film on a substrate and is epi-grown by annealing.
In the single crystal isolation method, an insulating layer such as an oxide film is buried within a semiconductor substrate. An oxygen ion or nitrogen ion is implanted into a single crystalline silicon substrate to form a buried oxide or nitride layer while the surface of the single crystal silicon remains unchanged. This process of implanting the oxygen ion is called "Separation by IMplanted OXygen" (SIMOX).
The SOI CMOS is superior than the bulk CMOS since the SOI structure having complete isolation structure offers many merits. For example, the SOI CMOS has a low power a consumption, high integration, a high soft-error resistance, a high latch-up resistance and a high speed operation, compared to the bulk CMOS.
A conventional DRAM using SOI and a method of manufacturing the same will be described with reference to the attached drawings.
FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing the structure of a conventional DRAM using SOI.
As shown in FIG. 1, the conventional DRAM using SOI includes a stack type capacitor formed on a SOI substrate which is formed by the SIMOX method. A buried oxide layer 2 is formed on a semiconductor substrate 1 and a SOI layer 3 is formed on the buried oxide film 2. Field shields 4 are formed at certain intervals on a device isolation region of the SOI layer 3. In an active region formed between the field shields 4, a first gate electrode 6a and a second gate electrode 6b are formed. First, second and third impurity diffusion regions 7a, 7b and 7c are formed in the SOI layer 3 on both sides of first and second gate electrodes 6a and 6b.
On the first impurity diffusion region 7a between the first gate electrode 6a and the field shield 4, a capacitor composed of a storage node 10, a dielectric film 11 and a plate node 12, is formed. The capacitor having the above structure is also formed on the third impurity diffusion region 7c between the second gate electrode 6b and the field shield 4. On the second impurity diffusion region 7b between the first and second gate electrodes 6a and 6b, a polysilicon pad 14 for connecting with a bitline 16 is formed over a capacitor insulating film 13. A planarizing layer 15 is formed on the capacitor insulating film 13 and polysilicon pad 14. The bit line 16 is formed on the planarizing layer 15 and connects with the polysilicon pad 14 through a contact hole formed in the planarizing layer 15. First, second and third oxide films 5, 8 and 9 formed between the above layers function as insulating layers.
FIGS. 2a to 2h are cross-sectional views for illustrating a method of manufacturing the conventional DRAM having the structure shown in FIG. 1.
As shown in FIG. 2a, using the SIMOX method an oxygen ion is implanted into the semiconductor substrate 1 in which a field region (F) and an active region (A) are defined. The implanted oxygen ion is heat-treated to form the buried oxide film 2 in the surface of the substrate 1. At this time, the semiconductor substrate 1 is a single crystalline silicon substrate. On the buried oxide film 2, a single crystalline SOI layer 3 is formed.
As shown in FIG. 2b, the field shields 4 and the first oxide film 5 are sequentially formed on the SOI layer 3 above the field regions.
As shown in FIG. 2c, polysilicon is deposited on the entire surface of the first oxide film 5 and the SOI layer 3, and selectively patterned by photolithography and etching process to form the first and second gate electrodes 6a and 6b. Then the second oxide film 8 for protecting the gate electrodes 6a and 6b is formed over of the first and second gate electrodes 6a and 6b. Impurity ions are implanted into the SOI layer 3 on both sides of the first and second gate electrodes 6a and 6b by an ion-implantation process using the first and second gate electrodes 6a and 6b as a mask. As a result, the first, second and third impurity diffusion regions 7a, 7b and 7c are formed as source/drain regions.
As shown in FIG. 2d, the third oxide film 9 is formed on the entire surface including the first and second gate electrodes 6a and 6b. Then the third oxide film 9 is selectively removed from the first and third impurity diffusion regions 7a and 7c to form node contact holes 17 above the first and third impurity diffusion regions 7a and 7c.
As shown in FIG. 2e, a polysilicon layer is formed on the entire surface of the substrate including the node contact holes 17, and selectively removed to form the storage node 10. The dielectric film 11 is formed on the surface of storage node 10. A polysilicon layer is formed on the entire surface including the dielectric film 11, and etched to form the plate node 12.
As shown in FIG. 2f, the capacitor insulting film 13 as a fourth oxide film is formed on the entire surface including the plate node 12. Portions of the capacitor insulating film 13 and third oxide film 9 formed on the second impurity diffusion region 7b between the first and second gate electrodes 6a and 6b are selectively removed to form a bitline contact hole 18.
As shown in FIG. 2g, a polysilicon layer is formed on the entire surface including the bitline contact hole 18 and patterned selectively to form the polysilicon pad 14 on the second impurity diffusion region 7b.
As shown in FIG. 2h, the planarizing layer 15 is formed on the entire surface of capacitor insulating film 13 and the polysilicon pad 14. A contact hole is formed through the planarizing layer 15 to expose a portion of the polysilicon pad 14. Then a polysilicon layer is deposited on the entire surface of planarizing layer 15 and in the contact hole to form the bitline 16. The bitline 16 contacts the polysilicon pad 14 through the contact hole.
The conventional DRAM and the conventional method of manufacturing the same, however, have the following problems.
First, since the bitline is formed above the storage node, the enlargement of the storage node is limited because the enlargement of the storage node may interfere with the bitline contact.
Secondly, since the oxide film is formed within the substrate by the SIMOX method, crystal defects may occur in the SOI layer formed on the oxide film during the oxygen ion implantation and heat treatment process. Thus, improvement in the yield of the wafer is limited.

Method of manufacturing a dynamic access memory which is suitable for increasing integration and suppressing generation of leakage current using an SOI structure


A photographic processor which allows smooth positioning of an image frame whose configuration cannot be detected by a picture detecting sensor is provided. A picture detecting sensor is installed in a negative film supply section for deciding the condition of the negative film and a notch mechanism is also installed therein which gives a position indicating notch to an image frame visually when the image frame is judged to be improper for positioning by the picture detecting sensor.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a photographic processor comprising a negative film supply section for conveying and supplying a negative film and an exposure section for printing an image frame of the negative film conveyed and supplied from the negative film supply section onto a printing paper. In particular this invention relates to the technology for positioning the negative film in the photographic processor.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
In a conventional photographic processor to print an image frame onto printing paper by the use of a negative film, a notch punched on the negative film has been used for positioning the image frame of the negative film in a film reading device to scan each image frame for obtaining a corrected exposure condition and in an exposure device to expose the printing paper to light through each image frame. Before the negative film is mounted on the photographic processor, this notch is punched in the vicinity of each image frame by a notch punching device such as is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 184036/1991.
As described above, after a developed negative film is mounted on the notch punching device and the notches are punched in it for positioning, the negative film is rewound and dismounted from the notch punching device. Then the negative film is installed into the negative film supply section of the photographic processor. Consequently, these complicated processes make it difficult for the negative film to be processed consecutively in a continuous manner. Therefore, instead of using the notches, for positioning the negative film in the photographic processor, another technology is proposed to confirm a configuration of the image frame by a detected signal from a picture sensor for positioning the negative film. This technology allows the elimination of punching a number of notches in the negative film so that the processing of the negative film can be continuous. However, all of the image frames on the negative films do not have configurations clear enough to be automatically detected by the picture detecting sensor. In the case they are not clear enough, the negative film should be positioned by another method. For example, an image frame with an unclear configuration can be positioned by using a picture with a clear configuration, taking it as a reference point and then feeding the negative film a predetermined amount from that clear image. This method works when there is such an image frame nearby that is clear enough to be used for positioning by the picture detecting sensor. However, when the image frame with an unclear configuration is a certain distance away from that image frame with a clear configuration, it is difficult to stop the negative film accurately at its expected position due to the margin of error in the amount the negative film is fed. To solve this problem, an operator must visually position the image frame which has an unclear configuration as described above. This prevents the photographic processor from working with a high operating efficiency because the photographic processing includes many processing portions in which the negative film should be positioned and these include the film reading portion, an exposure portion, a cutting portion to cut into a piece of negative film and so on.


A PC card adapter and an I/O adapter as expansion devices respectively have discrimination circuits for outputting discrimination signals. A computer body has an expansion connector commonly used for the PC card adapter and the I/O card adapter, and an I/O controller. A selected one of the PC card adapter and the I/O adapter is connected to the expansion connector. The I/O controller has an input/output section commonly used for the PC card adapter and the I/O adapter and corresponding to the expansion connector, and a bus switching circuit for switching bus signal lines for input/output processing of interface signals input/output through the input/output section. With this arrangement, in a computer system using a plurality of types of expansion devices such as a PC card slot, a printer port, and a serial communication port, the number of input/output pins and the number of connectors of each controller for interfacing between a corresponding expansion device and the computer body can be decreased, thereby realizing reductions in the size and cost of the system.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to expansion device such as a PC card slot, and a computer system to which the expansion device can be connected.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventional expansion devices for a personal computer include a PC card slot, a printer port, a serial communication port, and the like. Note that the PC card slot is an expansion slot for PC cards, which is based on the standards of PCMCIA (Personal Computer Memory Card International Association). In using expansion devices, each device is detachably connected to a computer body through a dedicated connector. The computer body has a plurality of types of body-side connectors corresponding to the dedicated connectors for various expansion devices.
The computer body includes an I/O controller (mainly constituted by a gate array) for controlling input/output processing of interface signals between the above expansion devices and the CPU in the computer. The I/O controller is connected to the PC card slot, the printer port, and the serial communication port through the respective connectors mounted in the computer body.
In a personal computer which can use expansion devices, since input/output control of interface signals is performed by the I/O controller in the computer body as described above, the I/O controller respectively assigns interface signals through the individual connectors arranged for the respective expansion devices.
For example, a dedicated connector having 68 pins is provided for the PC card slot, and the I/O controller has 68 input/output pins for interface signals. Similarly, 25 input/output pins for interface signals are arranged for the printer port, and 9 input/output pins for interface signals are arranged for the serial communication port.
As the number of types of expansion devices increases, therefore, the number of input/output pins of the I/O controller increases, resulting in increases in the size and cost of an IC package constituting a gate array. In addition, the computer body has connectors corresponding to the dedicated connectors of the respective expansion devices. For this reason, with an increase in the number of connectors, the space required to mount the connectors increases. Since the space required to mount connectors is limited especially in a compact personal computer such as a notebook computer, it is difficult to use a plurality of types of expansion devices.

Expansion device and computer system to which expansion device can be connected


A silicon micro sensor including a silicon substrate, a support element formed over an etched portion of the silicon substrate and a sensor element formed on the support element wherein the support element has a double layered structure including a silicon oxide film formed on the silicon substrate using the thermal oxidization method and an aluminum oxide film formed on the silicon oxide film using the sputtering method.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a silicon micro sensor available to an infrared ray sensor, flow sensor, gas sensor, pressure sensor, vibration sensor, acceleration sensor or the like which is manufactured using an anisotropic etching method for machining a silicon substrate.
2. Description of Related Art
In an infrared ray sensor, flow sensor or gas sensor utilizing heat transfer, heater and detection elements thereof are made finer and as thin as possible since a higher sensitivity and responsibility and a lower consumption of electric power can be obtained by minimizing a heat compacitance of the heater element and the detection element.
Besides, in a sensor having a vibrating element such as a pressure sensor, a vibration sensor or an acceleration sensor, it becomes possible to minimize the dimensions of the sensor by thinning the vibration element and a support element for supporting the same and, thereby, the sensor is able to show a high sensitivity since the vibration element is vibrated by a minor force such as pressure.
Further, in all of these sensors, a high sensitivity, minimization of the size and hybridation or integration of plural sensors is possible by forming the sensing element on a support member formed with a thin film.
Due to these reasons, silicon micro sensors, wherein support elements are formed by thin films, have been developed in recent years using so called micro machining techniques wherein the photo-lithograpy techniques are applied for etching silicon elements into fine structures utilizing the crystal anisotropic property.
Meanwhile, there are many types of support elements for supporting a sensor element such as a bridge type, cantilever type and diaphragm type as shown in FIGS. 3, 4 and 5, respectively.
Upon manufacturing the silicon micro sensors of these types, silicon oxide films 111, 112, and 113 are formed on respective silicon substrates 101, 102 and 103 using the thermal oxidization method or the CVD method at first. Then, each of silicon oxide films 111 to 113 is patterned to form a mask and each of the silicon substrates 101 to 103 is etched anisotropically utilizing the anisotropic property thereof. Thus, support elements 121, 122 and 123 of a bridge type, cantilever type and diaphragm type are formed as portions of respective silicon oxide films 111, 112 and 113 used as a mask, as clearly shown in FIGS. 3(b), 4(b) and 5(b).
However, upon forming the silicon oxide film using the thermal oxidization method or the CVD method, the surface of the silicon substrate is heated up to a temperature of 600.degree. to 1,000.degree. C. At such a high temperature, thermal stress is caused in the silicon oxide film due to the difference between coefficients of thermal expansion of the silicon substrate and the silicon oxide film and, thereby, cracks and breaks are likely to be caused in the silicon oxide film. Accordingly, it is difficult to form the support film with the silicon oxide film alone.
In order to solve this problem, the present inventors proposed to use a silicon oxide film or a silicon nitride film formed by the sputtering method as the support film. However, in this case, the support film is bent slightly due to the residual stress remaining therein. The bend of the support film is impossible to remove by the thermal treatment in the case of the silicon oxide film, however, in the case of the silicon nitride film, it is possible to remove the bend by processing the support film thermally at a temperature of 800.degree. C. or more. In the latter case, many problems are caused by the thermal treatment at such a high temperature.
On the other hand, it may be considered to use an aluminum oxide film formed as the support film by the sputtering method. Although the film is slightly bent also in the case of the aluminum oxide film, the bend thereof can be removed by the thermal treatment at a relatively low temperature about 500.degree. C. The reason why it is possible at such a low temperature is that the aluminum oxide has a coefficient of thermal expansion greater than that of the silicon nitride. However, many defects due to contaminants such as dusts are contained in the aluminum oxide film and, therefore, upon etching the silicon substrate, the etchant penetrating through these defects causes etch pits therein.

Silicon micro sensor and manufacturing method therefor


The present invention relates to a process for reactively separating hydrolyzable polymers, such as PET, in mixtures of the polymer and certain non-hydrolyzable polymers, specifically polyolefins by converting the hydrolyzable polymers to their corresponding water soluble components (e.g., PET to ethylene glycol and terephthalic acid) in the presence of liquid water at temperatures from about 200.degree. C. up to the critical temperature of water and autogenous pressure. The process has utility in recycling and waste material separation processes.

1. Field of the Invention
The process of the present invention constitutes a means for the reactive separation of hydrolyzable polymers such as polyethylene terephthalate resins ("PET"), polyamides, polycarbonates, polyethers, poly-acrylonitriles in mixtures with polyolefins such as polypropylene ("PP") and polyethylene ("PE") by selectively converting the hydrolyzable polymers to their starting materials, e.g., PET to terephthalic acid ("TPA") and ethylene glycol ("EG"). Selective conversion is carried out by heating the starting mixture of neutral liquid water, hydrolyzable polymers, preferably PET, polyamides, polycarbonates, polyethers and polyacrylonitriles, and other non-hydrolyzable polyolefins such as PP and PE at from about 200.degree. C. up to the critical temperature of water, which is about 374.degree. C. at autogenous pressure.
2. Discussion of Related Art
The hydrolysis of high molecular weight condensation polymers such as PET in the absence of added acids or bases, is well known in the art. When, for example the condensation polymer is PET, the primary hydrolysis products are TPA and EG, see, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 4,578,510, U.S. Pat. No. 4,605,762, U.S. Pat. No. 4,620,032 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,120,561. However, the art does not teach nor suggest a process for the reactive separation of condensation polymers such as PET, polyamides, polycarbonates, polyethers, polyvinylchlorides, and polyacrylonitriles from mixtures containing other polymer resins by hydrolyzing the condensation polymer into its water-soluble components in the presence of neutral liquid water as a starting material in the absence of any externally supplied acids or bases and at autogenous pressure.

Process for separation of hydrolyzable from non-hydrolyzable waste plastics for recovery of starting materials and other conversion processes, respectively


A water denitrification process is provided which comprises stopping the reduction of nitrate at nitrite, lowering the pH of the water, and then gas stripping the nitrite out of the water by using air as the gas in a sparger. This allows considerable savings to be realized based on the reduced chemical removal costs as compared to other water denitrification processes.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of denitrification of water, and more particularly to a method that reduces the need for chemicals typically used in denitrification by relying primarily on gas (air) stripping for the denitrification.
2. Prior Art
Biological denitrification is the most common method used today. However, biological denitrification suffers from a number of important disadvantages. These include slow reaction times, and, typically, the requirement for the use of large equipment. Furthermore, it is difficult to keep a viable culture of the necessary bacteria, and expensive to purchase the chemicals required to maintain the bacterial culture. Moreover, the bacterial culture maintained often itself contaminates drinking water. Additionally, bacterial cultures are frequently supplied with an organic source of carbon, such as methanol, but often some methanol remains in the water and becomes an organic contaminant thereby making biological denitrification unacceptable in most drinking water applications. Biological denitrification is an unpredictable process because throughout any given year, the nitrate level in water supply can change, and so can the size of the bacterial culture. Further complicating the use of biological denitrification is the inability to turn the process on and off like a mechanical system.
Selective ion exchange processes, such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,479,877 to Guter are used for denitrification mostly in drinking water applications. However, there are numerous costs associated with the ion exchange resins used in the processes. Furthermore, there is a loss of ion exchange capacity due to the oxidation of ion exchange functionalities over time. The ion exchange resins are not as rugged as the cationic ones and the amines or quaternary ammonium groups oxidize and need replacement. There are additional expenses associated with the costs of regenerant solutions and the disposal costs of waste regenerant solutions. Lastly, selective ion exchange processes are not practical at high nitrate concentrations, such as those concentrations that typically occur in irrigation runoff waters.
A third method of denitrification uses biological denitrification and the recycling of waste regenerant solutions for ion exchange processes. This method combines the two methods mentioned above, but also suffers from similar disadvantages. Specifically, the nutrient costs associated with keeping the microorganisms alive become expensive. There are also contamination concerns resulting from the microorganisms themselves. Also, the organics (i.e., carbon sources) that are supplied for the bacteria can cause contamination if these organics remain in the drinking water. Furthermore, reaction times are slow and there are other problems resulting from the unpredictable nature of the changes in nitrate levels and the size of the bacterial culture. Lastly, the dilution of the brine regenerant makes it difficult to sustain proper osmotic pressures needed to sustain the microorganisms required for denitrification.
Various chemical reduction methods are also used in denitrification. One such oxidation-reduction method is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,069,880 to Murphy (one of the inventors of this application) and is also described in an article published by Murphy, in Nature 350, 223-225 (1991). Another chemical reduction method is based on immobilized enzymes that proceed via nitrate production and is disclosed in an article by R. B. Mellor et al in Nature, 355, 717-719 (1992). A third chemical reduction method is based on hydrogen and various supported platinum metal catalysts which first produce nitrite, and then finally nitrogen gas or ammonia. (See Platinum Metals Rev. 37, 4, (1993). The disadvantages associated with any of these chemical reduction methods stem primarily from the expense associated with the reducing agent, and the undesirable reaction products left in the effluent which then requires additional post-treatment steps for removal. These are not practical processes for high concentrations of nitrate.
Another water denitrification process uses the precipitation method. However, the precipitation method is not practical for high concentrations (50-500 mg/L as NO.sub.3 --N) because this technology is designed to assist a selected ion exchange denitrification method. The precipitation method does become practical again at very high percentage level of nitrate where no ion exchange technology is needed. The costs associated with the chilling of waste regenerant streams is considered another disadvantage associated with the precipitation method.
Membrane processes are also used for denitrification of water. Nitrate, as an ion in water, can be removed by the use of reverse osmosis membranes along with the other ions. However, there are undesirable costs associated with the overall desalting of the water, in addition to the costs of the reverse osmosis equipment membranes themselves. Furthermore, the increased nitrate present in the reject stream may require further treatment.

Water denitrification process using air stripping (REC-3603)

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