A composition includes an epoxy-based curable adhesive having at least one an epoxy resin modified acrylonitrile-butadiene copolymer and at least one thermoplastic elastomer. The at least one thermoplastic elastomer is present in the curable adhesive as a penetrating polymer network. Further, an expandable article is composed of the composition, a reinforcing element includes a support and an expandable article, a method for reinforces cavities of structural components, and the composition is used as a shape memory material.

Hollow structural components are commonly used in bodies and/or frames to reduce the weight of water, land or air vehicles. Especially in automotive industry, reducing vehicle weight in order to meet the increasingly stringent fuel economy and emission requirements, has been a key challenge in design of modern automotive vehicles. The use of hollow structural components provides effective means for reducing weight of vehicles but it also results in decreased stability and strength of the structures. In addition, the cavities provide, due to the larger surface of the hollow component, a larger contact surface for corrosion, in case moisture or dirt is entered therein. Noise caused, for example, by wind or vibration can also be effectively transferred in or along such cavities.
In order to meet the safety and structural performance requirements, hollow structural components are typically reinforced using local reinforcing elements. Such reinforcing elements typically consist of metals and/or plastics or a combination of these materials. In addition, expandable compositions, in particular expandable adhesive compositions, also known as structural foams, are often used in locations that are difficult to access, for example, in locations which can only be reinforced or sealed after the installation of the component. This is typically the case in the production of vehicle structures or bodies. Structural foams have the advantage that they can be inserted into a cavity in an unexpanded state and foamed after installation of the component, in particular by increasing temperature. Consequently, the inner wall of the cavity can, for example, be completely coated after the installation of the reinforcement element by way of cathodic dip-coating (KTL) and afterwards reinforced by activating the structural foam. Here, the foaming is typically conducted during the curing of the applied KTL layer in an oven. The State-of-the-Art structural foams typically have the disadvantage that the mechanical properties of the adhesives are typically negatively affected by the foaming process.
Adhesive compositions that can be used as shape memory materials have also been suggested as alternatives for structural foams. Published patent applications WO 2011/117402 and WO 2011/117398 disclose compositions comprising a curable structural adhesive and at least one thermoplastic elastomer. These compositions can be brought from a dimensionally stable temporary shape to an expanded permanent shape, for example, by heating the composition above the glass transition temperature of the curable adhesive. When used for reinforcing cavities of structural components, the composition provided in a deformed shape, inserted to a cavity of the structural component, expanded, and cured by initiating the curing reaction of adhesive.
The expandable adhesives having a shape memory property have the advantage over structural foams that the expansion is conducted without a foaming process and, therefore, the mechanical properties of the cured adhesive are well preserved. However, combining high recovery rate based on a shape memory effect with good mechanical performance, in particular high lap shear strength, has turned out to be difficult to achieve with the compositions disclosed in WO 2011/117402 and WO 2011/117398. In particular it has been found out that increasing the amount of thermoplastic elastomer enables high recovery rates but not without having a negative effect on the mechanical properties of the cured adhesive.
There thus remains a need for an expandable adhesive composition, which can be used for providing reinforcing elements for reinforcing cavities of structural components and which provides high expansion rates combined with high mechanical performance after curing of the adhesive.

Shape memory material with improved mechanical properties


The present invention relates a method of sourcing an order. The method adds flexibility to an order sourcing system by readily adjusting the amount of money that must be saved for an order to be reassigned from one source (e.g., a production or distribution center) to another source. The savings value that must be exceeded to reassign the order from one source to another may be set individually for each source and govern where orders can be reassigned. In addition, the savings values for each distribution center may reflect more of the relevant costs that are associated with the products which are used by each distribution center to fill orders. In some forms, the method includes determining all of the costs that are associated with shipping orders to a customer, including orders that require products to be shipped multiple times before reaching a customer.

Order sourcing methods are used to assign orders for products to one or more sources (e.g., distribution centers, production facilities) that fill the orders by shipping the products to customers. There are some order sourcing methods that automatically assign orders to one or more sources.
One drawback with some existing order sourcing methods is that when an order needs to be reassigned to optimize logistics and/or minimize costs, the order typically may need to be manually reassigned. Most order sourcing methods also usually assign orders to production or shipping facilities based on the geography of the customer's shipping destination relative to the production or distribution centers. The methods often fail to take into consideration the relevant costs that may be involved with shipping products from a particular source.
Some order sourcing methods allow customer orders to be redirected to sources other than the typical geographically determined source in order to reduce costs. In addition, some order sourcing methods permit orders to be reassigned to other sources when there are concerns that the originally assigned source is unable to keep up with the demand for the products in the orders.
Another drawback with some existing order sourcing methods is that orders are often sourced to a production or distribution center that produces, or stores, only a minority of the products that make up the order. When a source produces or stores only a minority of the products that make up the order, the products must be obtained from one or more other sources thereby adding to the cost of filling the order.
Many conventional order sourcing methods often fail to adequately integrate different types of products onto a transport medium (e.g., a truck). As an example, an order for many types of products (or group of products) may be sent to a facility where the order is split up such that one type of product in the order is placed on one truck and another type of product in the product is placed on another truck. The inability of existing systems to adequately integrate different types (or groups) of products onto a transport medium adds unwanted shipping costs when filling orders.

Method of sourcing orders for optimized logistics

Ziti Technologies Limited Liability Company


A microwave connector is provided. The microwave connector includes an outer conductor, an inner conductor disposed within the outer conductor and dielectric materials interposed between the outer conductor and the inner conductor, the dielectric materials including a non-dissipative dielectric material and a dissipative dielectric material.

The present invention relates to a connector, and more specifically, to a microwave connector for efficient thermalization and filtering of microwave lines at millikelvin temperatures.
The use of high-frequency coaxial lines at cryogenic temperatures (i.e., temperatures below 1 K) presents a number of experimental difficulties. These difficulties are mainly related to the proper filtering of unwanted frequencies, adequate impedance matching of circuit components and optimal thermalization of the lines.
Experiments in the GHz frequency regime normally impose stringent conditions on the bandwidth within which the experiments are performed. Out-of-band spurious radiation tends to be unacceptable and proper filtering is therefore a must. Likewise, to avoid reflections of the experimental signal, which can result in signal loss, standing waves and added noise, impedance matching of all the connectors and components in the circuit is important.
For typical cryogenic setups, thermal conduction from room temperature down to the coldest stage of the refrigerator must be minimized, and thus most popular choices of coaxial lines for high frequency measurements at low temperatures involve the use of good thermal isolators like superconductors. At the same time, proper thermal anchoring of the lines at each stage of the refrigerator is a must. In coaxial lines, for example, whereas the outer conductor presents no problems for heat sinking, the efficient thermalization of the inner conductor constitutes a significant challenge, as the dielectric separating outer and inner conductors is typically an excellent thermal insulator. Different solutions exist to solve this problem, like λ/4 studs, cold attenuators, or striplines encased in epoxy, amongst others. These approaches, however, may present added difficulties in some experiments. A λ/4 stud, for example, has a very low bandwidth, whereas the effectiveness of cryogenic attenuators at millikelvin temperatures for inner conductor thermalization is somewhat unclear. Epoxy stripline filters tend to be bulky in order to avoid the dissipative side walls of the encasing to alter the field lines.

Microwave connector with filtering properties

International Business Machines Corporation


The invention relates to a novel type of gate-tunable photonics and plasmonics which utilizes doped large-scale graphene coupled with ferroelectric material. The graphene-ferroelectric hybrid structure paves the way for the realization of ultra-fast, low power consumption and multi-wavelength operation saturable absorbers for applications in ultra-fast laser systems and novel types of plasmonics for applications in infrared detection, single-photon quantum devices and ultrasensitive detectors.

Saturable absorber (SA) is a critical component for ultrafast lasers which tunes the continuous wave output into a train of ultrafast optical pulses. The key requirements for a saturable absorber are its wavelength range (where it absorbs), its dynamic response (how fast it recovers), and its saturation intensity and fluence (at what intensity or pulse energy it saturates). They are commonly used for passive Q-switching.
Currently, the dominant technology is based on semiconductor saturable absorber mirrors (SESAMs). However, these have a narrow tuning range, and require complex fabrication and packaging. A simple, cost-effective alternative is to use single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs), where the diameter controls the gap and thus the operating wavelength. Broadband tunability is possible using SWNTs with wide diameter distribution but the non-uniform chiral properties of SWCNTs present problems for precise control of the properties of the saturated absorber. SWCNTs that are not in resonance can cause insertion losses when operating at a particular wavelength.
Therefore, there remains a need for tunable saturable absorbers with cheaper fabrication, lower power consumption and multi-wavelength operation for applications in ultra-fast laser systems and novel types of plasmonics.

Gate-tunable graphene-ferroelectric hybrid structure for photonics and plasmonics


Disclosed are subpopulations of mammalian stem cell- or mammalian progenitor cell-derived cardiomyocytes. The subpopulations of cardiomyocytes contain a portion of a population of mammalian stem cell- or mammalian progenitor cell-derived cardiomyocytes. The subpopulations of cardiomyocytes can be CD36+ subpopulations or CD36− subpopulations. Disclosed are methods of isolating and of using the subpopulations of cardiomyocytes, particularly in cardiac disease modeling, drug screening, cardiotoxicity testing, and cardiac regeneration/repair.

Cardiac muscle cells or cardiomyocytes are the muscle cells (myocytes) that make up the cardiac muscle (heart muscle). Human pluripotent stem cell (hPSC)-derived cardiomyocytes (CMs) are important for the study of human cardiac development, disease modelling, drug screening, and cardiotoxicity testing. However, the in vitro differentiation of hPSCs routinely yields developmentally immature cells with poorly-defined functional properties (Yang, et al., Circ. Res., 2014, 114(3):511-23; Poon, et al., Circ. Cardiovasc. Genet., 2015, 8(3):427-36). It is currently believed that the maturation state of these CMs is "arrested" in an undefined embryonic or fetal stage of development in vitro (Uosaki, et al., Cell Reports, 2015, 13(8):1705-16).
Previous maturation strategies focused on altering the phenotype of hPSCs by transgenic approaches, manipulation of signaling pathways, or culture on specific substrates, but functional improvement is often limited. Furthermore, hPSC-derived cardiac cultures consist of CMs with variable proportions and developmental stages of atrial, ventricular, and pacemaker-like cells as well as non-CMs. The use of mixed, immature cultures can adversely affect functional properties and response to stimuli (Zhu, et al., Scientific Reports, 2016, 6:18544; da Rocha, et al., Scientific Reports, 2017, 7(1):13834; Friedman, et al., Cell Stem Cell, 2018, 23(4):586-98 e8).
There is an urgent need for subpopulations of CMs with high homogeneity and uniform functional properties, derived from stem cells, such as totipotent stem cells, pluripotent stem cells, and multipotent stem cells, or from progenitor cells. There is also a tremendous demand for developing methods of identifying and isolating such subpopulations of CMs from stem cell or progenitor cell-derived cardiac cultures.
Therefore, it is the object of the present invention to provide subpopulations of stem cell- or progenitor cell-derived CMs with high homogeneity and uniform functional properties.
It is another object of the present invention to provide methods of identifying and isolating such subpopulations of CMs.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide methods of using such subpopulations of CMs.

Identification of subpopulations of cardiomyocytes


A compact cyclonic filter assembly used for separating unwanted debris from a fluid. The cyclonic filter assembly uses the centrifugal forces to separate large pieces of debris from the fluid and a filter to separate the remaining unwanted debris from the fluid. The present invention can be contained in a compact single housing which may be disassembled for easy cleaning and replacement of parts. The cyclonic filter assembly of the present invention has a vertically oriented cylindrical tube which receives a tangential injection of the debris laden fluid. The tangential injection causes the fluid to circulate around a cylindrical vortex finder which is inside of and coaxial with the tube. The centrifugal forces acting on the debris causes the debris to move outward away from the center of the vortex. The vortex finder has an opening which pulls in the relatively clean fluid near the center of the vortex while the debris laden fluid settles into a collection chamber below the cylindrical tube. The vortex finder carries the relatively clean fluid to a filtration chamber which preferably encircles the cylindrical tube. The filtration chamber houses a filter element which is used to extract the remaining unwanted debris from the fluid before it exits the cyclonic filter assembly. The filter element used in the present invention is a standard filter bag that not only acts as a filter element in the filtration chamber, but also extends into the collection chamber to act as a debris collection bag.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is a compact cyclonic filter assembly used for separating unwanted debris from a fluid. The cyclonic filter assembly uses centrifugal forces to separate large pieces of debris from the fluid and a filter to separate the remaining unwanted debris from the fluid.
2. Description of Related Art
Cyclonic separators are commonly used for separating unwanted debris from fluids by using centrifugal force. The fluid is typically tangentially injected into the cyclonic separator such that a circular flow is set up. The centrifugal forces act on the heavier debris, forcing the debris toward the perimeter of the separation chamber. The substantially debris-free fluid near the center of the vortex is extracted and recirculated, while the debris is collected and discarded.
Some cyclonic filters are used in a component system in combination with a separate filter housing and a separate sludge receiver housing. These separate housings require a larger amount of piping and each require a separate filter basket and filter bag in order to operate correctly. These component systems require cleaning and changing of several housings and filter bags which increases down time and increases the amount of inventory needed to maintain the system in working order. These systems also take up a lot of valuable space.
Currently, there is a need for a compact filter assembly which uses centrifugal forces to separate large pieces of debris from a debris laden fluid and a filter element to separate the remaining unwanted debris from the fluid. The filter assembly should be capable of easily disassembling for cleaning and replacement of parts. Also, the filter assembly should use a single standard filter bag as both a filter element in the filtration chamber, and a debris collection bag in the collection chamber, therefore making the filter assembly inexpensive to maintain and easy to clean.
The following publications describe cyclonic separators that separate unwanted debris from fluids by extracting substantially debris-free fluid from the vortex and collecting and discarding the unwanted debris: U.S. Pat. No. 1,919,653, issued on Jul. 25, 1933, to Raymond A. Hill; U.S. Pat. No. 3,259,246, issued on Jul. 5, 1966, to Paul L. Stavenger; U.S. Pat. No. 3,285,422, issued on Nov. 15, 1966, to William R. Wiley; U.S. Pat. No. 4,305,825, issued on Dec. 15, 1981, to Claude C. Laval, Jr.; U.S. Pat. No. 4,688,650, issued on Aug. 25, 1987, to Asadollah Hayatdavoudi et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,330,641, issued on Jul. 19, 1994, to Ennio Cattani; U.S. Pat. No. 5,391,294, issued on Feb. 21, 1995, to Dominique Mercier. The above listed publications do not describe a compact filter assembly which uses centrifugal forces to separate large pieces of debris from a debris laden fluid and a filter element to separate the remaining unwanted debris from the fluid.
The following publications describe cyclonic separators that separate unwanted debris from fluids by extracting substantially debris-free fluid from the vortex and by further filtering the fluid using a filter element: U.S. Pat. No. 1,107,485, issued on Aug. 18, 1914, to Allen A. Bowser; U.S. Pat. No. 3,061,098, issued on Oct. 30, 1962, to Jerome P. Brezinski; U.S. Pat. No. 3,529,724, issued on Sep. 22, 1970, to L. Andrew Maciula et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 3,698,555, issued on Oct. 17, 1972, to John R. Conner; U.S. Pat. No. 4,298,465, issued on Nov. 3, 1981, to James R. Druffel; U.S. Pat. No. 4,690,759, issued on Sep. 1, 1987, to Zoltan A. Mandy; U.S. Pat. No. 5,478,484, issued on Dec. 26, 1995, to Peter G. Michaluk; United Kingdom Patent Application Number 885,535, published on Dec. 28, 1961; Austrian Patent Application Number 229,236, published on Aug. 26, 1963; Soviet Union Patent Application Number 631,217, published on Nov. 20, 1978.
None of the above listed publications describe a filter assembly capable of using a single standard filter bag as both a filter element in the filtration chamber and a debris collection bag in the collection chamber, therefore making the filter assembly inexpensive to maintain and easy to clean. None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singularly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed. Thus a cyclonic filter assembly solving the aforementioned problems is desired.


A method of performing a lithography process includes providing a test pattern. The test pattern includes a first set of lines arranged at a first pitch, a second set of lines arranged at the first pitch, and further includes at least one reference line between the first set of lines and the second set of lines. The test pattern is exposed with a radiation source providing an asymmetric, monopole illumination profile to form a test pattern structure on a substrate. The test pattern structure is then measured and a measured distance correlated to an offset of a lithography parameter. A lithography process is adjusted based on the offset of the lithography parameter.

The semiconductor integrated circuit (IC) industry has experienced rapid growth. In the course of IC evolution, functional density (i.e., the number of interconnected devices per chip area) has generally increased while geometry size (i.e., the smallest component (or line) that can be created using a fabrication process) has decreased. This scaling down process generally provides benefits by increasing production efficiency and lowering associated costs. However, such scaling down has also been accompanied by increased complexity in design and manufacturing of devices incorporating these ICs. Parallel advances in manufacturing have allowed increasingly complex designs to be fabricated with precision and reliability.
For example, some advances compensate for optical effects and processing imperfections that occur near the limits of lithography. In many examples, ICs features are defined and formed on a semiconductor substrate using a set of photolithographic masks. The masks have patterns formed by transmissive and/or reflective regions. During a photolithographic exposure, radiation such as ultraviolet light passes through or reflects off the mask before striking a photoresist coating on the substrate. The mask transfers by exposure the pattern onto the photoresist, which is then selectively removed to reveal the pattern. The substrate then undergoes processing steps that take advantage of the shape of the remaining photoresist to create circuit features on the substrate. When the processing steps are complete, another photoresist is applied and substrate is exposed using the next mask. In this way, the features are layered to produce the final circuit.
When an exposure apparatus illuminates a mask with radiation, it is necessary to provide a suitable parameters for the radiation—such as the focal position. Assuring these parameters such as focal position can be a costly and timely expenditure. Thus, improvement in accurate monitoring of lithography process parameters is desired.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd.


A powerline network device includes both power suppression and networking functions, and passes through power and data signals. The networking functions can include one or more of hub, router, and/or switch function, and therefore can form a subnet of devices plugged into the outlets of the device.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to devices, systems, and processes useful as networking devices, and more specifically to powerline networking devices.
2. Brief Description of the Related Art
Power Line Network Adapters (PLNA) is a recent advance in networking technology that uses a building's AC power wiring and circuits to also transmit data signals between computing devices. Typical PLNA networking is done with a module plugged into a wall electrical outlet and then connecting a USB cable (or other type of interface connection, e.g. Ethernet) to the computer. While this type of solution has had some uses, it is not a well integrated solution for systems shipped with networking and requires several user steps in installing.
Some other types of electrical adapters have previously been proposed. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,373,377 B1 describes a power supply in a personal computer that incorporates a network interface card (NIC). U.S. Pat. No. 5,510,691 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,466,165 describe AC adapters with power conditioning; APC Corp., of West Kingston, R.I. (among others), offers similar devices on the current market.
Additionally, ethernet routers, hubs, and switches have been commercially available for many years, including powerline routers. FIG. 1 illustrates a typical powerline setup. A modem (DSL or cable, most typically) 12 is connected to the internet 10 and a powerline router 14. The powerline router 14 is plugged into a standard power outlet 16, which is electrically connected to a power circuit 18. A powerline converter 22 is plugged into another outlet 20 on the circuit 18, for example in another room of a building, to which a computing device, e.g. PC 24, is connected via a network connection (wired or wireless).
While presenting some usefulness, this typical arrangement is not very flexible in its configuration, and does not present very robust security options. For example, all computing devices, such as PC 24, connected via powerline converters or adapters 22 to the circuit 18, are on the same network, potentially including computing devices in other buildings (e.g., in a neighboring business or home). Additionally, it is not possible to configure additional networks on the same circuit using prior configurations. Thus, while the typical powerline router 14 may provide some isolation from the internet, it does not provide any isolation from other machines connected to the same power grid, nor does it provide the flexibility to add networks to the power circuit.
While each of the foregoing documents and products proposes solutions to some problems, they do not adequately address security and flexibility problems encountered by users of powerline networks in trying to use powerline technologies.


A locomotive location system and method utilizes inertial measurement inputs, including orthogonal acceleration inputs and turn rate information, in combination with wheel-mounted tachometer information and GPS/DGPS position fixes to provide processed outputs indicative of track occupancy, position, direction of travel, velocity, etc. Various navigation solutions are combined together to provide the desired information outputs using an optimal estimator designed specifically for rail applications and subjected to motion constraints reflecting the physical motion limitations of a locomotive. The system utilizes geo-reconciliation to minimize errors and solutions that identify track occupancy when traveling through a turnout.

Various systems have been developed to track the movement of and location of railway trains on track systems.
In its simplest form, train position can be ascertained at a central control facility by using information provided by the crew, i.e., the train crew periodically radios the train position to the central control facility; this technique diverts the attention of the crew while reporting the train position, often requires several "retries" where the radio link is intermittent, and the position information rapidly ages.
Early efforts have involved trackside equipment to provide an indication of the location of a train in a trackway system. Wayside devices can include, for example, various types of electrical circuit completion switches or systems by which an electrical circuit is completed in response to the passage of a train. Since circuit completion switches or systems are typically separated by several miles, this technique provides a relatively coarse, discrete resolution that is generally updated or necessarily supplemented by voice reports by the crew over the radio link.
In addition, information from one or more wheel tachometers or odometers can be used in combination with timing information to provide distance traveled from a known start or waypoint position. Since tachometer output can be quite "noisy" from a signal processing standpoint and accuracy is a function of the presence or absence of wheel slip, the accuracy of the wheel-based distanced-traveled information can vary and is often sub-optimal.
Other and more sophisticated trackside arrangements include "beacons" that transmit radio frequency signals to a train-mounted receiver that can triangulate among several beacons to determine location.
While trackside beacon systems have historically functioned in accordance with their intended purpose, trackside systems can be expensive to install and maintain. Trackside systems tend not to be used on a continent-wide or nation-wide basis, leaving areas of the track system without position-locating functionality (viz., "dark" territory).
More recently, global navigation satellite systems such as the Global Positioning System (GPS) and the nationwide Differential GPS (NDGPS), have been used to provide location information for various types of moving vehicles, including trains, cargo trucks, and passenger vehicles. GPS and similar systems use timed signals from a plurality of orbital satellites to provide position information, and, additionally, provide accurate time information. The time information can include a highly accurate 1 PPS (1-pulse-per-second) output that can be used, for example, to synchronize (or re-synchronize) equipment used in conjunction with the GPS receiver. The GPS/DGPS receivers require a certain amount of time to acquire the available satellite signals to calculate a positional fix. While the GPS system can be used to provide position information, GPS receivers do not function in tunnels, often do not function well where tracks are laid in steep valleys, and can fail to operate or operate intermittently in areas with substantial electromagnetic interference (EMI) and radio frequency interference (RFI). When a GPS system is operated on a fast-moving vehicle, the location information becomes quickly outdated. In addition, the accuracy of the GPS system for non-military applications is such that track occupancy (which track a train is on among two or more closely spaced tracks) cannot be determined consistently and reliably.
Current philosophy in train systems is directed toward higher speed trains and optimum track utilization. Such train systems require ever more resolution in train location and near real-time or real time position, distance from a known reference point, speed, and direction information. In addition to locating a train traveling along a particular trackway to a resolution of one or two meters, any train location system should be able to locate a train along one of several closely spaced, parallel tracks. Since track-to-track spacing can be as little as three meters, any train location system must be able to account for train location on any one of a plurality of adjacent trackways or determine track occupancy at a turnout or other branch point.


A transdermal therapeutic system (TTS), in particular a patch, is described, comprising:                a detachable protective layer;        a pressure-sensitive adhesive reservoir layer; and        a backing layer with or without a coating of pressure-sensitive adhesive and featuring a unidirectionally, preferably longitudinally, elastic material having an elasticity of at least 20%. The TTS is particularly suitable for use as a multi-day plaster for the treatment of, for instance, pain or drug dependency.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a transdermal therapeutic system, in particular an active substance patch, comprising a detachable protective layer, a pressure-sensitive reservoir layer and a backing layer with or without a coating of pressure-sensitive adhesive. The invention also relates to a process for producing such a transdermal therapeutic system (occasionally abbreviated to TTS below) and to the use thereof.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A TTS is a skin-applied administration form for active substances for delivery through the skin, and has the appearance of traditional patches. It ought to be distinguished from a topical active substance plaster, for example, a rheumatism plaster or a corn plaster. A TTS of this kind can include one or more active substances which are delivered continuously over a fixed period at a predetermined rate to the site of application. ("Heilman Klaus: Therapeutische Systeme—Konzept und Realisation programmierter Arzneiverabreichung" (Therapeutic systems—Design and implementation of programmed drug administration), 4th edition, 1984, Ferdinand-Enke-Verlag, Stuttgart). The fixed period referred to above is usually 24 hours. For the treatment of chronic disorders, however, it is necessary to administer medicaments for a longer period. It may therefore be appropriate to apply a TTS for a period longer than 24 hours, since this is more likely to result in constant plasma levels.
A typical transdermal therapeutic system in the form of a patch is known from EP-B 0 430 019. It has a backing layer which is impermeable to the active substance, a pressure-sensitive adhesive reservoir layer, and a detachable protective layer. The active-substance-impermeable backing layer can be composed of a flexible or inflexible material. Materials such as polymer films, metal foils, or a composite comprising a film which has been coated with aluminum by vapour deposition may be employed as the backing layer. Where such systems are worn on the skin for a prolonged period, in particular for treating chronic disorders, the relative rigidity of the TTS causes a pronounced sensation of a foreign body on the skin within a short period of time. This is extremely unpleasant for the user.
Another embodiment of such a TTS is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,246,705. The transdermal system it describes has an elastomeric backing layer having a defined vapour transmission rate in the range from 0.1 to 20 g/m2/hr and a Young's modulus in the range of about 104 to 109 dynes/cm2. Particularly, preferred materials for the elastomeric backing layer are, for example, A-B-A block copolymers, the A blocks comprising styrene and the B blocks comprising saturated hydrocarbon polymers such as, for instance, ethylene-butylene copolymers, ethylene-propylene copolymers, and the like. When the transdermal therapeutic systems as per U.S. Pat. No. 5,246,705 are worn on the skin for a prolonged period, it is impossible to avoid the above-described sensation of a foreign body.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,780,168 discloses a strip-like wound bandage for sealing wounds, which is fabricated from a woven or non-woven polymer-based material having a planar stretching characteristic in the range from 0.5 to 110 (pounds/inch). Materials of such extensibility are, however, not immediately suitable as materials for backing layers of transdermal therapeutic systems. Either their extensibility is too low, in which case the aforementioned unpleasant foreign-body sensation is felt when the systems are worn on the skin for a prolonged period, or else they are much too extensible, in which case the production of transdermal therapeutic systems is accompanied by the curling effect, which is explained below.
During the production of the laminate from which the individual active substance patches are punched, the material for the backing layer comes under tensile stress and the resulting elastic return force means that, during punching, the opposite ends of the patches are each bent up. Because of the reject rate during the manufacturing process, the curling effect results in high costs, as well as unnecessary environmental burdens.
Aside from the abovementioned disadvantages, a material for the backing layer of a wound bandage is also unsuited to a TTS for other reasons, such as the required impermeability to the active substance.
The object of the invention is therefore to provide a transdermal therapeutic system which comprises a detachable protective layer, a pressure-sensitive adhesive reservoir layer and a backing layer with or without a coating of pressure-sensitive adhesive and which avoids the aforementioned disadvantages. In particular, there should be no sensation of a foreign body on the skin in the course of prolonged wearing, even for periods of from several days to about 1 or 2 weeks. Furthermore, the production of the TTS should not be accompanied by the curling effect, thus ensuring rational and inexpensive production.
This object is achieved in accordance with the invention by a transdermal therapeutic system, in particular an active substance patch, comprising a detachable protective layer, a pressure-sensitive adhesive reservoir layer and a backing layer with or without a coating of pressure-sensitive adhesive, the backing layer being a unidirectionally, especially longitudinally, elastic material having an elasticity of at least 20%.
Preferred embodiments of the TTS of the invention are the subject-matter of the dependent claims.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Transdermal therapeutic system comprising a reservoir type pressure sensitive adhesive layer and a back layer with uni-directional resilience


An 1-amido-3-(2-hydroxyphenoxy)-2-propanol derivative represented by the following formula (1),

2-Aminomethyl-1,4-benzodioxane derivatives, especially optically active compounds thereof are expected as a useful intermediate of preparing various medicines such as therapeutic agents for diseases of central nervous system (e.g., depression, anxiety, schizophrenia).
In general in regard to optically active medicines or intermediates thereof are required highly chemical purity and highly optical purity thereof. Therefore, it is an important problem to prepare optically active 2-aminomethyl-1,4-benzodioxane derivatives with highly chemical purity and highly optical purity.
Among the processes for preparing an 2-aminomethyl-1,4-benzodioxane derivative which have been developed, processes comparatively related to the process of the present invention are as follows:    (1) After 5-halo-2-hydroxybenzaldehyde and glycidyl tosylate are reacted in a base, 7-halo-2-hydroxymethyl-1,4-benzodioxane is obtained by oxidizing the formyl group of the reacted compound and then after tosylating it, an 2-aminomethyl-1,4-benzodioxane derivative is obtained by nucleophilic substitution with an amine derivative (WO 97/003071, Alan M. BIRCH, et al., J. Med. Chem., Vol. 42, No. 17, page 3342-3355 (1999)) and    (2) By three-steps reaction starting from 2-benzyloxyphenol and epichlorohydrin or glycidyl tosylate in sodium hydroxide, 2-hydroxymethyl-1,4-benzodioxane is obtained and then further by chlorination, by nucleophilic substitution reaction of phthalimide and by degradation of the imido portion, an 2-aminomethyl-1,4-benzodioxane derivative is obtained (Japanese patent publication A 6-9613).
In case of the above method (1), as the formyl group is oxidative-degraded, an expensive oxidation agent (m-chloroperbenzoic acid) must be much used and its reaction is dangerous. On the other hand, in case of the above method (2), the yield is low and not satisfactory. Therefore, these methods (1) and (2) have problems as a preparation of it for industrial scale.

1-amido-3-(2-hydroxyphenoxy)-2-propanol derivatives and a process for preparing 2-amidomethyl-1,4-benzodioxane derivatives

Abstract: wherein cycle A may have further 1 to 4 substituents, and said substituent means a substituent selected from the group consisting of saturated or unsaturated C1-4 alkyl group, aralkyl group in which alkyl moiety has 1 to 4 carbon atoms, aryl group, halogen atom, halogenated C1-4 alkyl group, C2-5 alkanoyl group, mono or dialkylcarbamoyl group in which alkyl moiety has 1 to 4 carbon atoms, cyano group and nitro group, and the substituents at positions 3 and 6, or at positions 4 and 5 on the cycle A are different each other. Other ring may be fused at positions 3 and 4, or at positions 5 and 6 on the cycle A to form a condensed polycyclic hydrocarbon with the cycle A. R1 is alkanoyl group or aroyl group, and R2 is hydrogen atom, alkanoyl group or aroyl group, or R1 and R2 may be combined together with the N atom to form a cyclic imido group, which is useful as an intermediate of medicines, etc.


A transformer wherein the upper portions of cores are supported by a first supporting member disposed on first end surfaces of the upper portions of the cores, and a second supporting member disposed on second end surfaces of the upper portions of the cores, the first and second supporting members extend in the direction perpendicular to the faces of a magnetic material, and the cores are interposed between the first upper core supporting member and the second upper core supporting member; the first and second upper core supporting members are provided with hooks, the hooks of the first supporting member extending toward the second supporting member and the hooks of the second supporting member extending toward the first supporting member; bridging members are disposed on the opposing pairs of the hooks of the first and second upper core supporting members; and the cores are supported by the bridging members.

The present invention relates to a technique for fabricating a transformer that has cores composed of lamination of thin magnetic material.
The present invention also relates to a transformer having amorphous-iron cores.
An amorphous-iron core transformer is disclosed in, for example, JP-A-2006-120879. In this Japanese patent document, the technical advantage is stated as follows. Since the amorphous-iron cores themselves stand upright without being supported by any supporting mechanism, the weights of the cores do not exerted on the windings, and lapping work does not depend on the shapes of finished windings so that lapping process can be stabilized. As a result, the characteristics of the cores and the workability of the process of insulating the cores from the coils can be both improved.
The transformer according to the Japanese patent document has its windings subjected to molding process using varnish impregnation in order to secure the resistance to short-circuit in the large-sized windings resulting from the demand for large power handling.
According to conventional methods of manufacturing transformers having amorphous-iron cores, when the windings and the amorphous-iron cores are assembled, the windings are kept upright and the amorphous-iron cores are inserted from above through the windings in the vertical direction, and then the assembly of the windings and the cores is laid down to lap the cores.
JP-A-10-189348 discloses a technique according to which both the lengthwise ends of the coil bobbin protrude beyond both the lengthwise ends of each winding when the turns of the winding have been wound around the coil bobbin so that when the amorphous-iron core is inserted through the winding, the insertion of the core through the winding can be facilitated and that the core can be prevented from damaging the inner side surface of the winding.

Transformer, amorphous transformer and method of manufacturing the transformer

HITACHI INDUSTRIAL EQUIPMENT SYSTEMS CO., LTD.


A method of data communication between power line communication (PLC) stations belonging to different PLC cells includes transmitting a station ID of a PLC reception station to a PLC cell bridge (CB) of a first PLC cell to which a PLC transmission station belongs, receiving a group identification (GID) and an encryption key of a second PLC cell to which the PLC reception station belongs from the PLC CB of the first PLC cell, encrypting data to be transmitted using the encryption key of the second PLC cell, and transmitting the station ID of the PLC reception station, the GID of the second PLC cell, and the encrypted data, to the PLC CB of the first PLC cell, and an apparatus to perform the method.

1. Field of the Invention
The present general inventive concept relates to a power line communication (PLC) system, and more particularly, to a data communication system between different PLC cells and method thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
A power line communication (PLC) method is one of a plurality of methods used to build a communication network for a home network. PLC technology uses existing power lines in houses. Accordingly, unlike Ethernet networks, PLC networks do not need additional wiring work, and can be used in basements or shaded areas that wireless networks cannot reach.
In PLC technology, a cell bridge (CB) that connects two cells is used. The CB enables communication between two cells. The CB should recognize a group identification (GID) and encryption key of each of two cells to be linked. However, in a conventional data communication method using PLC technology, an administrator must manually input the GID and encryption key of each of the cells in the CB. Since this conventional method is inconvenient, a new mechanism to automate this process is desirable.

Method of data communication between PLC stations belonging to different PLC cells and apparatus thereof


At least one drawing apparatus according to an exemplary embodiment includes a plurality of optical systems and repeats an operation to draw a pattern on a substrate while partly overlapping stripe-shaped regions drawn by the optical systems. The drawing apparatus includes a creation unit configured to create data to be supplied to each of the plurality of optical systems by using a plurality of sub pattern data, each of the plurality of sub pattern data serving as unit data of pattern data used by the plurality of optical systems, corresponding to a region having a width obtainable by dividing the stripe-shaped regions in a drawing width direction, and including information relating to continuity of drawing instruction data and exposure amount information. The creation unit is configured to create the data by changing exposure amount information corresponding to an overlapping drawing region based on the information relating to the continuity.

Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to a drawing apparatus, a lithography system, a pattern data creation method, a drawing method, and a method of manufacturing articles.
Description of the Related Art
There is a conventional drawing apparatus that includes a plurality of electronic optical systems (hereinafter, simply referred to as "optical systems") capable of emitting a plurality of electron beams to draw a pattern on a substrate. For example, in a case where the optical systems are arrayed in a row on a horizontal surface, each optical system can draw a pattern in each stripe-shaped region having a long side extending in a direction perpendicular to the array direction.
According to the above-mentioned drawing method, a plurality of optical systems can simultaneously draw patterns in different shot regions. Of course, drawing operations by the different optical systems can be performed in the same shot region at different timings. However, if the substrate causes a deformation due to thermal influence, a pattern straddling a border between two neighboring regions drawn at different timings may be split. The yield rate will decrease in the manufacturing of semiconductor elements.
As discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2006-19434, it is conventionally known that a drawing apparatus can perform overlapping drawing in such a way as to prevent a pattern from being split when deflection accuracy is insufficient. The overlapping drawing is characterized by partly overlapping regions drawn with two neighboring beams of a plurality of beams emitted from one optical system. In this case, the drawing apparatus does not perform the overlapping drawing to draw a pattern in a region to be drawn with only one of two beams and performs the overlapping drawing to draw a pattern in a region to be drawn with two beams.
When a plurality of optical systems is provided in a drawing apparatus, drawing operations by all optical systems are not always performed at the same place on different chips. Therefore, the drawing apparatus needs to perform processing for dividing graphic design data corresponding to a drawing pattern (e.g., a circuit pattern) in such a way as to match a stripe-shaped region to be drawn by each optical system and converting the divided data into pattern data. More specifically, it is necessary for the drawing apparatus to include a conversion processing circuit capable of performing division processing suitable for each optical system and converting the divided data into pattern data and a memory capable of storing the converted data.
The data conversion processing is a work requiring a relatively long time to process massive data. Therefore, in a case where a drawing apparatus including a plurality of optical systems performs overlapping drawing, the drawing apparatus would not to perform the drawing according to the drawing method discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2006-19434. The data processing time and the data amount may increase according to the number of the optical systems.

Drawing apparatus, lithography system, pattern data creation method, drawing method, and method of manufacturing articles


A method of promoting regeneration of surface cartilage of a joint includes the steps of covering the area to be treated with a patch which includes a sheet of collagen membrane material. The collagen membrane material has at least one barrier layer to prevent passage of cells therethrough. The collagen membrane further includes a matrix layer predominantly of collagen II having an open sponge-like texture. The patch is fixed over the area to be treated, and the area is allowed to regenerate cartilage.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of promoting regeneration of surface cartilage in damaged joints.
2. Description of the Background Art
In view of the large number of joint injuries, such as knee injuries, which take place yearly, a number of therapies have been developed in an effort to promote regeneration of damaged cartilage. Typical methods involve introduction of chondrocytes from an outside source into the damaged area to promote cartilage regeneration.
For example, in accordance with one method, a cartilage biopsy is surgically removed from the patient and sent to a laboratory, where the patient's chondrocytes are isolated from the cartilage and the chondrocyte cells are reproduced in culture. Later, another surgery is performed on the patient wherein the damaged cartilage area to be treated is debrided back to expose healthy cartilage, leaving the subchondral bone plate intact. A periosteal patch is taken from the proximal medial tibia of the patient, and this periosteal patch is sutured to the rim of the healthy cartilage surrounding the area to be treated. The cultured chondrocytes reproduced from the cells previously taken from that patient then are injected under the patch into the defect, and the injury is allowed to heal.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,759,190 discloses another method, wherein a hemostatic barrier is placed proximal to the surface to be treated, chondrocytes in a matrix are placed upon the surface to be treated distal to the hemostatic barrier, and then the matrix is covered with a patch.
There remains a need in the art for improved methods of promoting regeneration of surface cartilage in damaged joints.

Method for promoting regeneration of surface cartilage in a damaged joint using multi-layer covering

Ed. Geistlich Soehne AG fuer Chemische Industrie


Systems and methods are directed to matching an available vehicle to a rider requesting a service. In one example, a computer-implemented method includes obtaining, by a computing system comprising one or more computing devices, a service request from a rider. The method further includes obtaining, by the computing system, data indicative of a current location of the rider; and determining that the current location of the rider is within proximity of an autonomous vehicle queuing location. The method further includes providing, by the computing system, data to the rider to provide for selection of an available autonomous vehicle at the autonomous vehicle queuing location. The method further includes obtaining, by the computing system, rider authentication data upon a selection of an autonomous vehicle by the rider; and, in response to obtaining rider authentication data, matching an autonomous vehicle selected by the rider to provide for performance of the service request.

An autonomous vehicle is a vehicle that is capable of sensing its environment and navigating with little to no human input. In particular, an autonomous vehicle can observe its surrounding environment using a variety of sensors and can attempt to comprehend the environment by performing various processing techniques on data collected by the sensors. This can allow an autonomous vehicle to navigate without human intervention and, in some cases, even omit the use of a human driver altogether.
However, in periods of high rider demand clustered at a location, it may be challenging for a rider to determine which autonomous vehicle has been assigned to provide service for their request. The systems and methods of the present disclosure provide means to address such challenges.

Systems and methods for matching an autonomous vehicle to a rider


The method for feedback of channel quality information in a wireless communication system, according to one embodiment of the present invention, is performed by a terminal and comprises the steps of: receiving feedback configuration information, including information on disjoint segmentation indicating the indexes of channel or beam quality-related parameters for broadcast or multicast services, from a base station; and according to the information on disjoint segmentation in the feedback configuration information, encoding the index of a channel or beam quality-related parameter to be reported and transmitting same to the base station, wherein the disjoint segmentation includes multiple subsets which do not overlap and which have different lengths, and the index of the channel or beam quality-related parameter, which is transmitted to the base station, may indicate a predetermined value in one subset among the multiple subsets.

As more communication devices require greater communication traffic, necessity for a mobile broadband communication, which is enhanced compared to a legacy radio access technology (RAT), is emerging. Massive MTC (machine type communication) providing a user with various services anywhere and at any time by connecting many devices and objects is one of important issues to be considered in the next generation communication system. Moreover, discussion on designing a communication system in consideration of a service sensitive to reliability and latency is in progress. In particular, discussion on the introduction of a next generation RAT considering eMBB (enhanced mobile broadband communication), massive MTC (mMTC), URLLC (ultra-reliable and low latency communication), and the like is in progress. In the present disclosure, for clarity, the next generation RAT is referred to as a New RAT.

Method for feedback of channel quality information in wireless communication system, and device for same


A positive working deep UV sensitive photoresist which provides improved critical dimension stability during prolonged periods of post exposure delay before baking comprises an acid stable polymer which is insoluble in water but normally soluble in an aqueous alkaline medium, a photo acid generator exemplified by the tri-(2,1,4-diazonaphthoquinonesulfonate) ester of 3,5-dinitro-2,6-dimethylol para cresol, and a mixed carbonate ester of tertiary butyl alcohol and a polyhydric phenol which is an acid labile compound which inhibits the dissolution of the normally soluble polymer in said alkaline medium.

The sensitivity of photolithographic systems based on diazonaphthoquinone sensitized novolac resins is limited by the quantum efficiency of the sensitizer to photoproduct conversion. It is too low for practical use in deep UV work because of the very low power that is available from exposure sources in those wavelengths. A dramatic increase in sensitivity in radiation-sensitive systems, often referred as chemical amplification, is obtained when a species produced in the primary photoreaction independently initiates a catalytic secondary reaction, thus increasing the quantum yield to valuesabove one. For example, systems which photochemically produce a strong acid which then cleaves acid labile groups in a secondary reaction are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,915,706 for positive working polyaldehydes.
Radiation sensitive mixtures which contain, as a binder, a polymer which is soluble in aqueous alkaline media, a compound which forms a strong acid by a photochemical reaction, and another compound which possesses acid cleavable C--O--C bonds and whose solubility in a liquid developer is increased by the action of acid are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,678,737.
Photosolubilizable compositions which are readily removable by developing solutions in areas exposed to actinic radiation are taught in U.S. Pat. No. 3,779,778. That composition comprises a water-insoluble organic compound containing one or more acid degradable linkages of the general formula ##STR1## wherein Z may be --OAr, among others, and a photolyzable acid progenitor which upon exposure to actinic radiation generates an acidic condition.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,311,782 shows a radiation sensitive mixture which contains an acid forming compound and a polymeric compound having recurrent orthocarboxylic acid ester groupings for the production of positive relief images.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,037,721 has taught a positive radiation sensitive mixture that exhibits no change in the development time whether the time between irradiation and development is long or short, and provides high structural resolution of the developed resist that is retained during processing steps subsequent to the development. Said mixture comprises a compound which forms an acid under the action of actinic radiation and a particular type of monomeric acid-cleavable compound which contains an acetal group. This patent has a good discussion of the acid-cleavable materials which had been employed already, and it is incorporated herein by reference for that purpose. Neither the '721 patent nor those mentioned therein, however, address the problem of latent image decay, which causes critical dimensions (CD) to change in the time between the exposure and the post exposure bake step, which is performed before development.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,491,628 shows a deep UV sensitive resist composition which is made by combining a polymer having recurrent acid labile pendant groups, e.g., poly (p-tert-butoxycarbonyloxy-.alpha.-methylstyrene), with a cationic photoinitiator such as a triarylsulfonium hexafluoroantimonate.
Such compositions are taught there to be particularly useful and advantageous when used with deep UV light (200-300nm) because they give very high resolution images with nearly vertical wall angles even in films thicker than 2 microns.
Latent image decay is the most critical problem in chemical amplification systems for imaging semiconductors. In a paper presented at the Regional Technical Conference of the Mid-Hudson Section of the Society of Plastics Engineers in October of 1991 by Nalamasu et al. and entitled Effect of Post-Exposure Delay in Positive Acting Chemically Amplified Resists: An Analytical Study, it was said, "For TBSS/PAG resist formulations, it is crucial to post exposure bake the material immediately after exposure in order to achieve acceptable line-width control." TBSS is a modified acronym for poly t-butoxycarbonyloxystyrenesulfone and PAG is an acronym for photoacid generators. In another paper presented at that conference, and entitled t-BOC Blocked Hydroxyphenyl-Meth- acrylates:On the Way To Quarter Micron Deep-UV Lithography, Przybilla et al. said that virtually no increase in dose-to-clear and influence on structure quality was observed for delay intervals of up to 20 minutes in a t-BOC system when a sulfonic acid generator such as triphenylsulfonium triflate is used but that a more severe dependence on the time between exposure and post exposure bake was observed when onium salts with complex fluorides such as antimony hexafluoride as the counter ion were used as the acid generator. The Nalamasu et al. paper and the Przybilla et al. paper are each incorporated herein by reference.
Such onium salts are not entirely satisfactory, moreover, because contamination of the silicon substrate of semiconductor chips by the heavy metal ions of said onium salts degrades the electrical properties of the chips. Also, the disposal of waste streams containing said metal ions is severely regulated. They are also quite complex to make and are very expensive.
There is a need, therefore, for a new and different photoresist composition whose sensitivity to actinic radiation may be chemically amplified by the interaction of a binder which is normally soluble in an alkaline aqueous medium, a non-onium photo acid generator, and a discrete acid labile inhibitor of the dissolution of the binder.

Deep UV sensitive resistant to latent image decay comprising a diazonaphthoquinone sulfonate of a nitrobenzyl derivative


A modular wiring system carries different types or classes of wiring in a single cable. The modular wiring system includes two conduits, one inside the other. The outer conduit is a Class I conduit and the inner conduit is a Class II conduit. The Class II wiring is carried in the inner conduit and the Class I wiring is carried between the inner conduit and the outer conduit. The outer conduit may be any type of material that is approved for Class I. The inner conduit meets the same voltage rating as the outer conduit. The inner conduit may include a non-conductive outer surface and an inner metallic sheath. The inner metallic sheath is grounded and provides separation between the Class I and Class II conductors.

Standards, such as the National Electric Code (NEC), set forth requirements and ratings for electric circuits and wiring. These standards may be adopted by a municipality or other authority to ensure that safe electrical practices are followed. The NEC defines the requirements and ratings for Class I and Class II wiring, as well as separation requirements for the different wiring classes. Class I wiring may be used to supply line voltage and Class II wiring may be used for low voltage communication or control signals. Traditionally, when both Class I and Class II wiring are needed, separate conduits are used for each wiring class in order to provide the required separation. If the Class I and Class II wiring could be combined in a single conduit, then the combined conduit would be less expensive and would require less time to install than two separate conduits. The combined conduit would also result in a cleaner finished installation since there would be less conduit running through the building or other installation. Thus, there is a need for a modular wiring system that accommodates both Class I and Class II wiring.

Class I and class II modular wiring system


A hand-held vacuum pump has a piston for drawing a vacuum. The pump has a piston rod having a piston end and a distal end. The piston end is attached to the piston. The pump further has a pivot lever having a rod end, a handle end, and a pivot interface disposed therebetween. The rod end is rotatably attached to the distal end. The pump has a pivot support having a support interface. The support interface is cooperatively sized and configured with the pivot interface to translate the rod end of the pivot lever in substantially axial movement of the piston rod.

(Not Applicable)
(Not Applicable)
The present invention relates generally to hand-held vacuum pumps, and more particularly to a vacuum pump having a rod end of a pivot lever thereof for substantially axial movement of a piston rod.
Some examples of prior art hand-held vacuum pumps are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,954,054 and 4,775,302. Such hand-held vacuum pumps generally include a housing structure having a cylinder formed therein. A piston is movable in slidable engagement with the cylinder for forming a vacuum chamber within the housing structure. A port is provided to the vacuum chamber. The movement of the piston is actuated though the use of a piston rod which extends axially from the piston as well as the cylinder about the piston. Extending from the housing is typically a forward handle. The vacuum pump additionally includes a pivot lever. The pivot lever includes a rod end, an opposing handle end and a central attachment point. The rod end is rotatably connected to the piston rod and the cental attachment point is rotatably connected to the housing. In this regard, a linkage is formed such that clasped engagement of the forward handle and the handle end of the pivot lever causes a rotation or pivoting of the pivot lever about the central attachment point. This results in the piston end of the pivot lever moving in an arced path. While such an arced path includes a substantial axial component along the piston rod for drawing the piston rod and attached piston, there is an inherent transverse component which is undesirable.
It is contemplated that transverse or lateral movement of the piston rod results in misalignment of the piston within the cylinder. This can result in piston-to-cylinder seal problems thereby adversely affecting the efficient creation and/or maintenance of a vacuum within the cylinder. Accordingly, there is a need in the art for an improved vacuum pump in comparison to the prior art.
In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a hand-held vacuum pump. The vacuum pump is provided with a piston for drawing a vacuum. The vacuum pump is further provided with a piston rod having a piston end and a distal end. The piston end is attached to the piston. The vacuum pump is further provided with a pivot lever having a rod end, a handle end, and a pivot interface pivot interface disposed therebetween. The rod end is rotatably attached to the distal end of the piston rod. The vacuum pump is further provided with a pivot support having a support interface. The support interface and the pivot interface are cooperatively sized and configured to translate the rod end of the pivot lever for substantially axial movement of the piston rod upon rotation of the pivot lever about the support interface in response to actuation of the handle end of the pivot lever.
According to an aspect of the present invention, the pivot interface has at least two stepped pivot members. Further, the support interface has at least two stepped support members which are sized and configured to sequentially cradle respective ones of the at least two stepped pivot members for rotating the pivot lever about the support interface.
In an embodiment of the present invention, the support interface and the pivot interface are cooperatively sized and configured to translate the rod end of the pivot lever along sequential arced paths associated with respective cradling of the stepped pivot members with the stepped support members. It is contemplated that substantially axial movement of the piston rod results upon rotation of the pivot lever about the support interface in response to actuation of the handle end of the pivot lever. In this regard, such arced paths are contemplated to merge into each other resulting in a substantially linear path in comparison to prior art single pivot point lever movement along a single arced path. Preferably, the at least two stepped support members comprises three stepped support members, and the at least two stepped support members comprises three stepped support members. Further, the stepped pivot members may be convex V-shaped and the stepped support members may be concave V-shaped. In addition, the vacuum pump may include a forward handle disposed in fixed relation to the pivot support for actuating the piston upon clasped engagement of the forward handle and the handle end of the pivot lever towards each other. The pivot support may be integrated with the forward handle. Further, the pivot lever may include a rotational stop sized and configured to engage the pivot support for preventing rotation of the pivot lever.
As such, based on the foregoing, the present invention mitigates the inefficiencies and limitations associated with prior art vacuum pump designs. Advantageously, the support interface and the pivot interface are specifically sized and configured to translate the rod end of the pivot lever for substantially axial movement of the piston rod. This is because the location about which the pivot lever pivots or rotates is not fixed in relation to the pivot support, but rather multiple pivot locations may be realized. This in effect results in multiple arced paths or segments in which the piston end of the pivot lever travels. Such arced paths are contemplated to merge into each other. In comparison to prior art designs having a single point of rotation, the design of the present invention results in less transverse or lateral movement of the piston end of the pivot lever. This effectively breaks a single arced path into several shorter merging arced paths, which forms a substantially straight path by comparison.
Another advantage of the present invention is that the associated pivot lever may be reduced in sizing, thereby reducing the overall sizing the vacuum pump in general. This is because, the prior art single pivot point designs, the amount of transverse or lateral movement of the piston end of the pivot lever is a function of the distance from the pivot end to the pivot point. The shorter the distance (i.e., radius), the tighter the associated arc. As such, in order to achieve a certain maximum transverse movement specification, the pivot lever and associated single pivot point is required to be at least a certain size. The present invention has the effect of uncoupling the nature of any transverse motion away from the overall sizing of the pivot lever and towards the configuration of the pivot and support interfaces. This allows for comparative reduction in pivot lever sizing and therefore a reduction in the overall sizing of the vacuum pump itself.
In addition, the use of the pivot interface and the support interface results in the aforementioned advantages without the utilization of additional moving parts in comparison to prior art single rotation point vacuum pump designs. In this respect, it is contemplated that various linkage arrangements could be implemented which include additional moving parts between a traditional single rotation point pivot lever and a piston, so as to facilitate mitigation of lateral or transverse forces being applied to the piston rod and piston arrangement. This would include a rotational attachment of the piston rod to the piston. As such, undesirable costs are associated with such parts or connections, including assembly thereof. Moreover, additional linkage elements tend to introduce tolerance and/or precision errors into the system associated with the controlled actuation of the movement of the piston rod. As the present invention avoids such problems as no additional moving linkage parts are required.
Accordingly, the present invention represents a significant advance in the art.

Hand vacuum pump with linear piston actuation


The effects of polarization dependent hole burning and polarization dependent loss are reduced by modulating the state of polarization (SOP) of an optical signal being launched into an optical transmission path periodically between first and second states of polarization of at least one pair of orthogonal states of polarization. Preferably, the SOP is modulated at a rate that is substantially higher than 1/t.sub.s, where t.sub.s is the anistropic saturation time of the optical amplifier. Ideally, the state of polarization of the launched optical signal should be modulated such that it traces a complete great circle on the Poincare sphere. In addition, the effects of polarization dependent loss are further reduced by controllably selecting the particular great circle being traced on the Poincare sphere. In one example, the particular great circle being traced is selected such that a predetermined parameter, for example, the signal to noise ratio, of the optical information signal being received at the remote end of the optical transmission network is maintained at a prescribed value, e.g., a maximum value. In an embodiment of the invention, the great circle is traced at a uniform speed such that the launched optical signal spends equal time intervals in both states of any pair of orthogonal states of polarization on the selected great circle on the Poincare sphere.

Very long optical fiber transmission paths, such as those employed in undersea or trans-continental terrestrial lightwave transmission systems including optical-amplifier repeaters, are subject to decreased performance caused by a host of possible impairments. The impairments typically increase as a function of the length of the optical transmission. In long optical transmission paths that include optical amplifiers, the impairments tend to vary with time and cause a random fluctuation in the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the optical transmission path. The random fluctuation in SNR contributes to a phenomenon known as signal fading. The SNR fluctuations also result in an increased average bit error ratio (BER) in digital signals being transmitted over the optical transmission path. When the SNR of a digital signal being transported on such an optical transmission path becomes unacceptably small relative to the average SNR (resulting in an undesirably high BER), a signal-to-noise fade is said to have occurred. Experimental evidence has shown that the signal fading and SNR fluctuations are caused by a number of polarization dependent effects induced by the optical fiber itself and/or other optical components within the transmission path. In particular, one of these effects has now been identified as polarization dependent hole burning (PDHB), which is related to the population inversion dynamics of the optical amplifiers. A discussion of hole-burning can be found in an article by D. W. Douglas, R. A. Haas, W. F. Krupke and M. J. Weber, entitled "Spectral and Polarization Hole Burning in Neodymium Glass Lasers"; IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics, Vol. QE-19, No. 11, November 1983.
PDHB reduces gain of the optical amplifiers within the long optical transmission path for any signal having a state of polarization ("SOP") parallel to that of a polarized primary optical signal carried by the transmission path. However, the gain provided by these amplifiers for optical signals which have an SOP orthogonal to that of the primary signal remains relatively unaffected. In simplified terms, the primary optical signal produces an anisotropic saturation of the amplifier that is dependent upon the SOP of the primary optical signal. The polarized primary signal reduces the level of population inversion anisotropically within the amplifier, and results in a lower gain for optical signals in that SOP. This effectively causes the amplifier to preferentially enhance noise having an SOP orthogonal to that of the primary signal. This enhanced noise lowers the SNR of the transmitted information and causes an increased BER.
Additionally, it is also desirable to reduce the effects of polarization dependent loss (PDL) caused by the dichroism of the optical components in the repeater. Such components have orthogonal principal dichroic axes that define the highest-loss and lowest-loss SOPs incident on them. If elliptical SOPs have their principal axes aligned with those of the dichroic, dichroic losses can, with some low probability, accumulate substantially along a cascade. The condition for substantial accumulation of dichroic losses may be stated as follows: During a significant fraction of a polarization-modulation ("scrambling") cycle of the optical signal launched into the transmission network, the major axes of the elliptical SOPs incident on the dichroic elements tend to align with the high-loss axes of the dichroics. (In other parts of the scrambling cycle, the major SOP axes will then align with the low-loss axes of the dichroics. Such alignments do not cause fading.) The damaging fading occurs during the portion of each scrambling cycle that favors polarized-signal losses. The fading persists as long as an accidental high-loss alignment of any principal-axis pairs persists over a substantial fraction of a scrambling cycle.
A prior method for reducing signal fading employs a two-wavelength light source to transmit information in two orthogonal states of polarization over an optical fiber transmission path. Since a this light source shares its optical power equally on any two orthogonal SOPs within the fiber, deleterious polarization-dependent effects may be reduced as long as the two wavelengths remain orthogonally polarized along the optical transmission path.

Apparatus and method employing fast polarization modulation to reduce effects of polarization hole burning and polarization dependent loss


A data transport system has application for transferring binary large objects (blobs) to one or more clients. The data transport system includes a mass storage device, a high bandwidth network, a blob server and an applications server. The blobs are pre-packetized in a general format compatible with a network protocol in that the packets do not include specific control information that identifies a particular client and a particular request for a blob. At run time, a requesting client generates a request to the applications server to request a blob stored in the mass storage device. In turn, the applications server generates a request, that includes control information to identify the requesting client and the particular request, to the blob server. The blob server accesses the mass storage device to retrieve packets corresponding to the blob requested, and transfers the packets and the control information from the blob server to the requesting client. The requesting client modifies each packet to include the control information, thereby conforming the packets to the network protocol.

In general, the electronic transport of media items has a wide range of applications. For example, the electronic transport of media has application in video transport and multi-media systems. One essential element of both video transport and multi-media systems is the ability to transport large amounts of data. In general, binary large objects (blobs) are defined as large amounts of digital data. For example, blobs may consist of video, audio, graphics, etc. In any video transport system and multi-media system, resources are limited. The lack of resources is a problem when transporting blobs. It is desirable to provide a data transport system that effectively and efficiently supports the transfer of blobs.
A video transport system has the capability to deliver video upon request such that the video transport system sends video streams to large numbers of concurrent users. The video is stored on a disk, and a video server is used to read the video streams from the disk. The video server then transmits the video stream over a network. However, in such a system, the video stream must be transferred in real time. In addition, because the video transport system has limited resources, problems with disk contention and network congestion must be addressed. Therefore, a video transport system that effectively solves these problems is desirable.
Multi-media is defined as the integration of several audio and video production units into a single controllable unit. Multi-media projects cover many communication media types, including printed materials, audio programs, television shows, feature films and many others. The ability to integrate the functions of the resources utilized in the production of multi-media projects into a single shared system provides a level of performance and capability unknown in the prior art. A multi-media system may require access to a central source that stores multi-media data, such as blobs. However, in order to support such a multi-media system, an effective and efficient transport system is required.

Method and apparatus for storing and transferring data on a network


A Doppler velocimeter apparatus and method of forming same. In one implementation a coherent light source is used for generating a beam of coherent light. An optical fiber receives the beam of coherent light. The optical fiber has an output face that is generally flat, thus enabling a first portion of the beam of coherent light to be reflected back on the optical fiber and to form a frequency offset, while a second portion of the beam of coherent light exits the optical fiber. A mechanism is used to move the output face of the optical fiber in an oscillating fashion so that the first portion of coherent light reflected back on the optical fiber produces an oscillating waveform that forms a frequency offset. An optical element receives the second portion of light from the face of the optical fiber and transmits it to a subject, and then receives a reflected optical signal back from the subject. The reflected optical signal, when mixed with the oscillating frequency offset, produces a Doppler shift that is dependent on the motion of the subject. A processing subsystem processes the mixed signal and determines the Doppler shift of the reflected signal.

The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art.
Velocity measurements using a Laser Doppler technique do not inherently resolve the direction of the velocity. The current methods to determine the sign of the velocity tend to be complex, bulky and/or require significant electrical power. Additionally, previously developed systems and methods usually impose a secondary peak at zero velocity. This tends to create a dead band in velocity around zero velocity. For applications where the velocities are low, the dead band in velocity around zero velocity is a significant performance limitation of such systems.
There are generally two classes of direction resolution solutions. The first class measures both the signal and quadrature of the electrical beat frequency. A Fourier transform of a time series including both signal and quadrature is generated that has both positive and negative frequencies. The second class of solutions imposes a fixed, offset frequency on a local oscillator of the system. The difference between a detected beat frequency and the fixed offset frequency can be both positive and negative, thus resolving the direction ambiguity. Two common methods are used for imposing a frequency offset. An Acousto-Optic Modulator can be used to impose an offset frequency in the range of about 30-250 MHz. A rotating radial grating can be used to impose lower frequency offsets.
The first class of solutions described above (i.e., measuring both signal and quadrature) also requires a complex optical subsystem which cannot be implemented in an optical fiber. With the second solution mentioned above, an acoustic optic-modulator is required. An acoustic optic-modulator is a relatively large and heavy component and typically requires several watts of radio frequency (RF) power to operate. It is also somewhat electrically noisy. The use of a rotating radial grating also has limitations associated with it. For one, this component requires a precision motor to rotate the grating at a fixed frequency. Without extreme care, the rotating grating is susceptible to vibration. Moreover, the use of a rotating radial grating is not easily adapted to an optical fiber system.

System and method for motion based velocity discrimination for doppler velocimeters


A composition containing an alkoxysiloxane including a catenate alkoxysilane of formula I and/or a cyclic siloxane of formula II, and a crosslinkable polymer compound and the use thereof as a water scavenger, dryer or precuring retarderR3Si—O—[SiR2—O—]mSiR3  (I)

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a novel composition which can be used as a water scavenger, dryer, and premature-crosslinking preventative ("precuring retarder") in crosslinkable polymer compounds.
2. Discussion of the Background
The use of monomeric alkyltrialkoxysilanes as "precuring retarders" in ethylenevinyltrimethoxysilane copolymers is known (WO 90/07542, EP 0 007 765 B1).
In adhesives and sealants and also paints and varnishes based on silane-terminated polyurethanes, MS polymer or EPION®, vinyltrimethoxysilane (VTMO) is used as a water scavenger. The presence of a silane provides storage stability. Moreover, VTMO prevents skinning during production of adhesives and sealants. The water scavenger, dryer or "precuring retarder" is normally added during preparation of the copolymer or terpolymer, in the course of compounding or in the course of formulation. Such preparations are generally crosslinkable and are referred to herein as crosslinkable polymer compositions.
A disadvantage of VTMO-containing compositions is that, owing to the volatility of the silane, the amount of the silane component which must be present to achieve the desired effect is greater than that actually necessary for drying, water absorption, and/or retarding precure.

Alkoxysilane dryer for crosslinkable polymer compounds


Privacy setting metadata for application developers is described, including receiving, from a user, a request to submit an application; requesting, from the user, identification of one or more permissions and information associated with the one or more permissions; receiving the application, the one or more permissions, and the information associated with the one or more permissions, wherein the one or more permissions are associated with one or more functions of the application; storing the application, the permissions, and the information associated with the permissions; receiving a request to install the application to a device of another user; providing the application, the one or more permissions, and the information associated with the one or more permissions to the device; and receiving, from the device, one or more consents to the one or more permissions, the one or more consents indicate activation of the one or more functions of the application.

1. Field
The subject matter discussed herein relates generally to providing an application and, more particularly, to privacy setting metadata for application developers.
2. Related Background
A software developer writes or develops, for example, an application (also referred to as an "app") for associating users having a common interest. The app needs to access a wide variety of data about users of the app, such as a user's name, phone number, location, profile info, etc., which are crucial for making the associate between the users. However, there is no mechanism for the developer to tell users who install the app why the data are needed and to obtain meaningful permissions or consents from the users to gather and/or use the data.
In some development platforms, such as, but not limited to, the Android™ platform, a developer may describe the functionality and requirements of an application using predefined categories provided in that platform (e.g., using the Manifest.permission class). When the application is compiled, a separate file (e.g., AndroidManifest.xml) is generated. At installation, both the app and the associated AndroidManifest.xml need to be present. The predefined categories selected by the developer at the time of development are presented to users who install the app.
However, the predefined categories may be too broad, and it may not be possible for the installing user to be informed that only a portion of the category is applied. For example, even if the application needs to only take screenshots and applies filters to the screenshots, a predefined category may indicate that the app needs to "Access all of your data on the web," which includes more than the screenshots. A prospective user may be influenced by such a broad category and refrain from installing or using the application.


A method of assigning feedback information in a portion of a Medium Access Control (MAC) channel in a wireless communication system is disclosed. More specifically, the method includes receiving at least two pilot signal from an access network (AN) on at least two forward traffic channel, transmitting at least two channel quality information on a single reverse carrier to the AN reporting at least one of strength and quality of each corresponding forward pilot channel, wherein the channel quality information indicates a desired data rate for receiving data on the corresponding forward traffic channel, and receiving feedback information through a forward control channel of the AN, wherein the feedback information includes combined channel quality information which indicates whether or not the AN is able to receive multiple channel quality information sent by an access terminal (AT) on the single reverse carrier.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of transmitting information of combined information which applies uniformly to all recipients, and more particularly, to a method of enabling a combined data rate control lock channel in a wireless communication system.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
In a multiple access communication system, communications between users are conducted through one or more base stations, also referred to as an access network (AN). Here, multiple access refers to simultaneous transmission and/or reception. Several multiple access techniques are known in the art, such as time division multiple access (TDMA), frequency division multiple access (FDMA), amplitude modulation multiple access and code division multiple access (CDMA).
In general, multiple access communication system can be wireless or wired and can carry voice and/or data. An example of a communication system carrying both voice and data is a system in accordance with the IS-95 standard and a system conforming to the 3rd Generation Partnership Project 2 (3GPP2).
In the multiple access communication system, communication between users can be implemented through one or more base stations or ANs. A first user on one mobile station, which is also referred to as an access terminal (AT) or a subscriber station, communicates to a second user on a second mobile station or AT by transmitting data on reverse link (RL) to an AN. The AN (base station) can receives the data and can route the data to another AN. The data is then transmitted on a forward link (FL) of the same AN or different AN to the second AT (mobile station). Here, the FL refers to transmission from an AN to an AT, and the RL refers to transmission from an AT to an AN. As such, the communication can be conducted between a first user on one wireless or wired AT and a second user on a wireless or a wired AN.
As mentioned above, the multiple access communication system can communicate voice and/or data. With the wide popularity of data-based service (e.g., world wide web), interest in data-based communication is increasing. An example of a data only communication system is a high data rate (HDR) communication system (e.g., a CDMA system). The HDR communication system is a system dedicated to transmission of packet data. For efficient packet transmission on a FL and a RL in this system, scheduling has to be appropriately made. Scheduling is a procedure of the AN for determining and controlling data rates of the ATs. The AN conducts scheduling based on feedback information transmitted from the ATs on the basis of information related to power of the ATs and quantity of data to be transmitted from the ATs. That is, the AN controls data rates of various ATs.
In operation, on the FL, an AN transmits data to a particular AT having the best channel status so that the data transmission throughput of the AT can be maximized. On the RL, a plurality of ATs access the AN simultaneously. Therefore, the AN controls the data flow from the ATs in order to prevent traffic congestion and controls overhead within its capacity.
Data transmission on the RL is controlled by the use of a Reverse Activity Bit (RAB) and a Reverse Rate Limit (RRL) message transmitted from an AN in the existing HDR system. A forward Medium Access control (MAC) channel is transmitted to an AT in time division multiplexing (TDM) along with a pilot channel, a Forward Activity Bit (FAB), and an RAB. The RAB represents the congestion of the RL, and a data rate available to the AT varies with the RAB. That is, the AN increases or decreases the data rate of the AT by means of the RAB when controlling overhead and capacity on the RL.
Information related to data rate is usually communicated between the AT and the AN, and in so doing, overheads in form of signaling are increased. By reducing or simplifying overhead with respect to signaling, the system can operate more efficiently.

Method of enabling a combined data rate control lock channel in a wireless communication system


Compounds and a method useful for protection of tissue cells in a mammalian body from irreversible damages due to lactic acidosis caused by oxygen deficiency. The protection is achieved by administering a compound having a cell membrane permeability and/or ability to cross the blood brain barrier and being able to provide a buffering action to prevent an increase in a hydrogen ion concentration over the physiologically acceptable levels.

Field of Invention
The present invention relates to compounds and to a method for protection of cells and tissues from irreversible injury due to lactic acidosis. More specifically, this invention relates to compounds permeable through the cell membrane and possessing a buffering action against an increase in hydrogen ion concentration and also to a method for protection of tissues and cells in mammals, including humans, from the irreversible damages due to lactic acidosis caused by the accumulation of lactic acid in the cells under the condition of oxygen deficiency such as anoxia, hypoxia or ischemia.

Compounds and method for protection of cells and tissues from irreversible injury due to lactic acidosis