Intraoperative radiation detection probes and cameras for use in surgical or transcutaneous procedures or procedures incorporating probes inserted through body orifices to aid in the location, detection and removal of radiation labeled cells, abnormal tissue or deposits thereon incorporate solid state or silicon photomultiplier (SSPM, or SiPM) devices to provide safe, highly sensitive and compact beta and gamma probes or cameras for use in locating the radiation labeled sites within the human body or abnormal labeled sites within the body. The probes may include both gamma and beta detecting components as well as means for enhancing the accuracy and sensitivity of the beta detectors.

Surgery is the only certain cure for cancer; however, its curative ability is compromised by the potential of leaving behind microscopic traces of the tumor, known as margins. In breast cancer, for example, there is a 20% recurrence rate after breast-conserving surgery (lumpectomy) due to missed margins. A beta camera capable of surveying the tumor bed, intraoperatively, and imaging visually undetectable, minute amounts of cancer cells, could significantly reduce recurrence rate of many cancers and increase survival. In addition, this beta camera may enable more breast cancer patients to become candidates for breast saving lumpectomies and improve the psychological recovery from breast cancer.
Surgery is an important mode of treatment of prostate cancer. However, several problems remain. Complete local resection of cancerous tissue is not possible in some cases since normal and prostate cancer tissues are not visually distinguishable. In approximately 30% of cases the margins of resection are involved (or positive). Unfortunately, this finding is currently made by the pathologist from the resected prostate, well after the surgery, when there is little that can be done to rectify the situation. Further, assessment of lymph nodes is important in staging the cancer. This is done by multiple node dissections and pathological evaluations in the vast majority of patients, which results in increased morbidity, operative time, and cost. Currently, trans-rectal biopsies, in post-prostatectomy patients with elevated PSA, are done with ultrasound guidance. However, often no suspicious lesion is seen and biopsies are little more than random samples. As a result, there is a low sensitivity rate.
Vulnerable atherosclerotic plaques are the major cause of sudden cardiac death. Detection of this type of plaques is a major challenge in cardiology. Various radiopharmaceuticals have been developed to this date with preferential uptake in vulnerable plaques. Vulnerable plaque (VP) is atherosclerotic plaque that is prone to disruption, causing thrombosis, which often leads to a clinical event. Autopsy studies have demonstrated that the majority of cases of sudden death are caused by occlusive coronary thromboses that are associated with an underlying ruptured plaque. From such autopsy studies, much has been learned about the morphological features that are common to VP. Those histologic characteristics include a thin fibrous cap, an underlying lipid pool, and an abundance of inflammatory cells.
Even with today's best available technology an unacceptably high incidence of cardiovascular events remains even after aggressive therapy. Novel approaches to prevent myocardial infarctions are therefore needed. It is proposed that one of the most effective methods to prevent MI would be to stabilize vulnerable plaque before they rupture. However, currently available systemic therapies are able to lower the risk of plaque rupture by only 20-40%, leaving the vast majority of vulnerable plaques ripe for rupture. As such, it is crucial that vulnerable plaques are localized such that local plaque-stabilizing therapies can be delivered. However, currently available technologies are not able to detect vulnerable plaques. This may be due to the fact that available technologies rely on identifying structural criteria to differentiate the common stable plaque from the rupture-prone vulnerable plaque. Indeed, the most commonly employed method for plaque characterization is coronary arteriography, a method which qualifies plaques based on the degree to which they impinge on and thus narrow the vessel lumen. Multiple angiographic studies that have examined ruptured plaques have found that they are most often associated with insignificant luminal narrowing prior to their rupture. Therefore, technologies that rely on identifying luminal narrowing are not able to identify vulnerable plaques with acceptable sensitivity.
Further, inflammation is particularly important in the development and progression of atherothrombosis. It is now well-established that atherosclerosis is an inflammatory disease. Histopathological data has confirmed the critical association of plaque inflammation and rupture. Numerous studies demonstrate an abundance of inflammatory cells (T cells and macrophages) within ruptured plaques. Moreover, several large studies have shown a strong association between inflammatory biomarkers and subsequent events. Positron emission tomography (PET) may represent the most promising non-invasive imaging technology for the detection of inflammation in humans. PET imaging with 18F-Flurodeoxyglucose (FDG) has been used extensively in humans to detect metabolically active tissues such as neoplasms, autoimmune disease, and infection. Numerous studies demonstrate that FDG uptake is increased in inflamed tissues such as tumors and infectious foci. Autoradiographic studies show that FDG localizes to macrophage-dense regions within chronic inflammatory lesions and within macrophages surrounding malignant foci.
F-18 atoms emit positrons (beta rays) that in turn generate gamma rays. Gamma rays travel tens of cm in tissue, while beta rays have a range of ˜2 mm. Beta emitting isotopes are ideal for intraoperative imaging since background radiation will not interfere with the identification of margins. Until now, beta cameras have suffered from serious flaws that prevent their general use in cancer surgery or in vivo diagnostic procedures. The thin shielding required for positron detection provides insufficient insulation from the high voltage photomultiplier tubes (PMTs) and the long fiber-optic coupling used to separate the high voltage from the patient can greatly reduces sensitivity.
Numerous studies have demonstrated PET's enhanced sensitivity and specificity for identifying tumors as compared to more conventional techniques (Finkelstein S E, Carrasquillo J A, Hoffman J M, Galen B, Choyke P, White D E, Rosenberg S A, Sherry R M. "A Prospective Analysis Of Positron Emission Tomography And Conventional Imaging For Detection Of Stage IV Metastatic Melanoma In Patients Undergoing Metastasectomy", Ann Surg Oncol, 11, p 731-738 (2004); Gulec S A, Faries M B, Lee C C, Kirgan D, Glass C, Morton D L, Essner R. "The Role Of Fluorine-18 Deoxyglucose Positron Emission Tomography In The Management Of Patients With Metastatic Melanoma: Impact On Surgical Decision Making", Clin Nucl Med, 28 p 961-965 (2003); Benard F, Turcotte E. "Imaging In Breast Cancer: Single-Photon Computed Tomography And Positron-Emission Tomography", Breast Cancer Res, 7, p 153-162, (2005)). Usually, PET is performed after IV injection of F-18 labeled fluorodeoxy-glucose (FDG), a glucose analog that is transported into cells but can't complete its metabolism like glucose, and hence accumulates in the cells. Cancer cells accumulate more FDG than normal cells; therefore they become more radioactive than the surrounding normal tissue. The positrons that are emitted by F-18 travel a short distance in tissue (˜1 mm) and then pair up with an electron and annihilate to two high-energy gamma rays. These high-energy gamma rays each have 511 keV energy, and are emitted simultaneously and back-to-back (at a 180 degree angle to each other). The coincidence detection of these emissions by detectors of a PET scanner determines a line along which the F-18 decay occurred (called the line of response). During the PET scan, a collection of these lines will accumulate in the computer of the PET scanner. Using a tomographic algorithm, a distribution map of FDG accumulation is generated by the collection of lines of responses.
A prerequisite for the accurate identification of cancer with PET is the ability of the radiation source to localize within the tumor, with only minimal or no uptake in adjacent normal tissue, necrotic tissue, or healing tissue. A large number of radioisotopes emit positrons. Notable among them are radioisotopes of carbon, nitrogen, oxygen and fluorine (substituted for hydrogen in many compounds). These are the building blocks of biologic matter. Therefore, the choice for making positron emitting radioisotopes is large. To date, more than 500 radiochemicals have been developed with positron emitting radioisotopes (Quon A, Gambhir S S. "FDG-PET And Beyond: Molecular Breast Cancer Imaging", J Clin Oncol, 23, p 1664-1673 (2005)). Although there are a variety of radioisotopes that would be useful for PET imaging based on metabolic properties of malignancy, so far only FDG has gained universal acceptance as a cancer-seeking agent. The use of FDG is based on the concept that tumor tissues grow generally faster than normal tissues, and thus have an increased rate of glucose metabolism. The FDG molecule is transported into cells by facilitative glucose transporters, such as GLUT-1, and is phosphorylated to PDG-6 phosphate by hexokinase (Luigi A, Caraco C, Jagoda E, Eckelman W, Neumann, Ronald. Glut-1 And Hexokinase Expression: Relationship With 2-Fluoro-2-Deoxy-D-Glucose Uptake In A431 And T47d Cells In Culture", Cancer Res, 59, p 4709-4714 (1999)). Some cancers also have reduced rates of glucose-6-phosphate metabolism accentuating the phosphorylated deoxyglucose into tumor tissue (Chung J K, Lee Y J, Kim S K, Jeong J M, Lee D S, Lee M S. "Comparison Of [18F]Fluorodeoxyglucose Uptake With Glucose Transporter-1 Expression And Proliferation Rate In Human Glioma And Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer", Nucl Med Commun, 25, p 11-17 (2004); Pugachev A, Ruan S, Carlin S, Larson S, Campa J, Ling C, Humm J. "Dependence Of FDG Uptake On Tumor Microenvironment", Int J Rad Oncol Biol Phys, 62, p 545-553 (2005)). This intermediary is trapped in cancer cells because the dephosphorylation reaction is either slow or absent.
The greater uptake of FDG and lower levels of metabolism in more aggressive tumors lead to improved imaging of particular cancers; i.e., more accurate staging. FDG avidity is determined by glycolytic activity of the tumor and the viable tumor volume. Individual cancer types may show significant variability in terms of FDG avidity. Even in the same patient, different lesions may have different degrees of FDG uptake. FDG metabolism and clearance occurs at a much faster rate in normal tissues than tumor tissue, and thus tumor-to-background ratios improves with time resulting in better lesion detection when imaging is delayed. Boerner et al. have shown that tumor-to-non-tumor and tumor-to-organ ratios were significantly higher for the images taken at 3 hours post-injection than for the 1.5-hour images, and lesion detectability was 83% in 1.5-hour images compared to 93% in 3-hour images in breast cancer patients. Although more delayed intervals between FDG injection and imaging might compromise image quality due to lower count rates, this is much less of an issue with an FDG sensitive probe. Longer intervals may accentuate the tumor to background ratios, and further improve FDG detection. Important contributors to the background radiation are the sites of physiologic FDG uptake. The in situ tumor to background ratios is strongly affected by the surrounding areas of physiologic uptake or accumulation. The brain uptake in the head and neck region, cardiac uptake in the chest, kidney uptake and the accumulation inside the bladder in abdomen and pelvis affect the in situ tumor to background ratios.
Gritters and colleagues (Gritters L S, Francis I R, Zasadny K R, Wahl R L. "Initial Assessment Of Positron Emission Tomography Using 2-Flourine-18-Flouro-2-Deoxy-D-Glucose In The Imaging Of Malignant Melanoma", J Nucl Med, 34, p 1420-1427 (1933)) found PET to be highly accurate for identifying cutaneous melanoma metastases. A number of other investigators have also found PET to be both sensitive and specific for metastatic melanoma. For distant metastases, numerous studies have shown PET to have equal or superior sensitivity to CT, MRI, and ultrasound (Schwimmer J, Essner R, Patel A, Jahan S A, Shepherd J E, Park K, Phelps M E, Czernin J, Gambhir SS. "A Review Of The Literature For Whole-Body FDG PET In The Management Of Patients With Melanoma", Quarterly J Nucl Med, 44, p 153-167, (2000); Finkelstein, SE, Carrasquillo J A, Hoffman J M, Galen B, Choyke P, White D E, Rosenberg S A, Sherry R M. "A Prospective Analysis Of Positron Emission Tomography And Conventional Imaging For Detection Of Stage IV Metastatic Melanoma In Patients Undergoing Metastasectomy", Ann Surg Oncol, 11, p 731-738 (2004); Kaleya R N, Heckman J T, Most M, Zager J S. "Lymphatic Mapping And Sentinel Node Biopsy: A Surgical Perspective", Semin Nucl Med. 35, p 129-134, (2005)). While melanoma is more likely to metastasize to the brain, lung, or liver, the pattern is unpredictable and so whole-body functional imaging is most suitable. Numerous studies have shown the value of PET in the management of patients with advanced melanoma, with treatment plan changing in 15-50% of cases (Gulec S A, Faries M B, Lee C C, Kirgan D, Glass C, Morton D L, Essner R. "The Role Of Fluorine-18 Deoxyglucose Positron Emission Tomography In The Management Of Patients With Metastatic Melanoma: Impact On Surgical Decision Making", Clin Nucl Med, 28, p 961-965 (2003); Damian D L, Fulham M J, Thompson E, Thompson J F. "Positron Emission Tomography In The Detection And Management Of Metastatic Melanoma", Melanoma Res, 6, p 325-329 (1996); Tyler D S, Onaitis M, Kherani A, Hata A, Nicholson E, Keogan M, Fisher S, Coleman E, Seigler H F. "Positron Emission Tomography Scanning In Malignant Melanoma—Clinical Utility In Patients With Stage III Disease", Cancer, 89, p 1019-1025 (2000); Jadvar H, Johnson D L, Segall G M. "The Effect Of Fluorine-18 Fluorodeoxyglucose Positron Emission Tomography On The Management Of Cutaneous Malignant Melanoma", Clin Nucl Med, 25, p 48-51 (2000; Stas M, Stroobants S, Dupont P, Gysen M, Van Hoe L, Garmyn M, Mortelmans L, De Wever I. "18-FDG PET Scan In The Staging Of Recurrent Melanoma: Additional Value And Therapeutic Impact", Melanoma Res, 12, p 479-490, (2002); Wong C S, Silverman D H, Seltzer M, Schiepers C, Ariannejad M, Gambhir S S, Phelps M E, Rao J, Valk P, Czernin J. "The Impact Of 2-Deoxy-2[18F] Fluoro-D-Glucose Whole Body Positron Emission Tomography For Managing Patients With Melanoma: The Referring Physician's Perspective", Mol Imaging Biol, 4, p 185-190 (2002)). CT is, however, superior to PET in the detection of small pulmonary metastases, possibly due to respiratory motion (Gritters et al, ibid; Kumar et al, ibid; Rinne D, Baum R P, Hor G, Kaufmann R. "Primary Staging And Follow-Up Of High Risk Melanoma Patients With Whole-Body F-18-Fluorodeoxyglucose Positron Emission Tomography—Results Of A Prospective Study Of 100 Patients", Cancer, 82, p 1664-1671, (1998)). Neither lab tests nor imaging have been shown to be useful in detecting recurrence in asymptomatic patients. In patients with known recurrence PET has been shown to detect additional metastases and alter treatment planning. Stas et al. (Stas M, Stroobants S, Dupont P, Gysen M, Van Hoe L, Garmyn M, Mortelmans L, De Wever I. "18-FDG PET Scan In The Staging Of Recurrent Melanoma: Additional Value And Therapeutic Impact", Melanoma Res, 12, p 479-490 (2002) found the sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of PET to be 85%, 90%, and 88%, respectively as compared to 81%, 87%, and 84% with conventional imaging. Fuster et al (Fuster D, Chiang S, Johnson G, Schuchter L M, Zhuang H M, Alavi A. "Is F-18-FDG PET More Accurate Than Standard Diagnostic Procedures In The Detection Of Suspected Recurrent Melanoma?" J Nucl Med. 45, p 1323-1327 (2004)) studied 156 patients with known or suspected recurrence and found the sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of PET to be 74%, 86%, and 81% respectively compared to 58%, 45%, and 52% for conventional imaging.
FDG-PET imaging is becoming the method of choice for staging of breast cancer as well as for the detection of recurrent disease (Quon A, Gambhir SS. "FDG-PET And Beyond: Molecular Breast Cancer Imaging", J Clin Oncol, 23 p 1664-1673 (2005)), the location of metastases (Lonneux M, Borbath I, Berliere M, et al. "The Place Of Whole-Body PET FDG For The Diagnosis Of Distant Recurrence Of Breast Cancer", Clin Positron Imaging, 3, p 45-49 (2000)), and the monitoring of responses to radiation and chemotherapy. It is not yet widely used in primary diagnosis, though, due to significant variation in FDG avidity based on tissue pathology and tumor size (Luigi et al, ibid). Noninvasive breast cancer has been previously shown to be poorly imaged by FDG-PET (Wu D, Gambhir SS. "Positron Emission Tomography In Diagnosis And Management Of Invasive Breast Cancer: Current Status And Future Perspectives", Clin Breast Cancer, 4(Suppl 1), pS55-S63, (2003)) and the majority of FDG-PET research studies in the literature have been performed on patients with invasive breast cancer. There are significant variations between studies. The overall specificity of FDG-PET is relatively high, but false-positives do occur in some benign inflammatory conditions and fibroadenomas (Pelosi E, Messa C, Sironi S, et al. "Value Of Integrated PET/CT For Lesion Localization In Cancer Patients: A Comparative Study", Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging, 31, p 932-939 (2004); Avril N, Rose C A, Schelling M, et al. "Breast Imaging With Positron Emission Tomography And Fluorine-18 Fluorodeoxyglucose: Use And Limitations." J Clin Oncol, 18, p 3495-3502 (2000)).
Invasive breast cancer includes multiple histologic types including infiltrating ductal, infiltrating lobular, and combined infiltrating ductal and lobular carcinoma. Infiltrating ductal carcinoma has a higher level of FDG uptake and therefore is detected at a significantly higher sensitivity than infiltrating lobular breast cancer (Zhao S, Kuge, Y, Mochizuki T, Takahashi T, Nakada K, Sato M, Takei T, Tamaki N. "Biologic Correlates Of Intratumoral Heterogeneity In 18F-FDG Distribution With Regional Expression Of Glucose Transporters And Hexokinase-II In Experimental Tumor", J Nucl Med, 46, p 675-682 (2005); Amthauer H, Denecke T, Rau B, Hildenbrandt B, Hunerbein M, Ruf J, Scheider U, Gutberlet M, Schlar P M, Felix R, Wust P. "Response Prediction By FDG-PET After Neoadjuvant Radiochemotherapy And Combined Regional Hyperthemia Of Rectal Cancer: Correlation With Endorectal Ultrasound And Histopathology", Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging, 31, p 811-819 (2004)). This suggests that tumor aggressiveness is not the sole determinant of FDG uptake but that the mechanism of the variable FDG uptake by breast cancer cells is likely modulated by multiple factors including glucose transport-1 (GLUT 1) expression, hexokinase I (Hex-1) activity, tumor microvessel density, amount of necrosis, number of lymphocytes, tumor cell density, and mitotic activity index (Bos R, van Der Hoeven J J, van Der Wall E, et al. "Biologic Correlates Of [F18]Fluorodeoxyglucose Uptake In Human Breast Cancer Measured By Positron Emission Tomography", J Clin Oncol, 20, p 379-387, (2002)).
Image-guided core biopsy has the advantage of being the least invasive, most comfortable for the patient, and least costly method to determine the nature of image-detected abnormalities. The issue of a benign finding that apparently is not consistent with the clinical and radiographic findings has been most carefully studied in the management of breast abnormalities, which may be palpable or only observed by various imaging techniques. When a benign histologic diagnosis appears to be consistent with both the clinical findings and the radiographic features (the "triple test") the likelihood of missing malignant disease is minimized and follow-up examinations rather than surgical biopsy are recommended.
In the increasingly frequent scenario of pre-clinical, image-detected lesions, physical examination is not helpful in determining concordance; thereby leading to considerable uncertainty as to whether the area of interest has been appropriately sampled. Detecting radioactivity in the core sample obtained from a PET-positive abnormality would be a great advance in confirming accurate sampling, and therefore, definitive histologic diagnosis. The increasing sensitivity of imaging modalities, including magnetic resonance (MRI), computed tomography (CT), and positron emission tomography (PET) has resulted in the identification of abnormalities prior to the development of clinical manifestations. The nature of such abnormalities, which may represent primary tumors or metastatic lesions, must be determined. Minimally invasive, image-guided, core-needle biopsies are generally the first diagnostic approach. If a benign diagnosis is rendered, the clinician, in consultation with the radiologist and pathologist, must determine whether the finding is concordant with the clinical history and the configuration of the image-detected abnormality. Non-concordance implies the possibility of a sampling error, which often leads to a recommendation for open, surgical biopsy.
Examples of probes for intraoperative radiation detection which might be used in the procedures described herein include:
Scintillator-PMT systems, that use vacuum tube PMTs and scintillation crystals such as NaI(Tl),
Scintillator-PIN diode systems that use PIN diodes as light detectors and then couple them to a scintillator with emissions around ˜500 nm wavelength (such as CsI). The PIN diode has a gain of one (1) and therefore needs very low noise and high gain amplifiers,
Cd—Te semiconductor detectors, that convert the energy from radiation directly to an electronic pulse, or
Zn—Cd—Te semiconductor detectors that convert the energy from radiation directly to an electronic pulse.
Applicant's existing beta camera, developed in the early 1990s utilizes a position-sensitive photomultiplier tube (Hamamatsu 8520-00-12) that is optically coupled directly to a 1 mm thick sheet of plastic scintillator. A thin foil of aluminum Mylar (50 micron thick) is used to cover the front of the scintillator, to make it light-tight, while allowing positrons to enter the scintillator. This camera operates at 1200 Volts (F. Daghighian, P. Shenderov, B. Eshagian. "Interoperative Beta Cameras". J. Nucl. Med., 446 (May 1995). Although the whole camera is well insulated electrically for ex-vivo use, to provide the level of insulation needed for its safe use in the surgical site is an impossible task. An improvement to the electrical safety was accomplished by building a flexible beta camera comprising a 2×1.5×150 cm3 imaging grade array of optical fibers (each 100 microns thick) located between the sheet of plastic scintillator and the position sensitive PMT. The optical fibers act as an insulator, but light loss in this fiber bundle is large and degrades the sensitivity. A sub-millimeter resolution with a sensitivity of 4000 cps/microCi is achievable with this camera. Tornai et al. (M. P. Tornai, L. R. MacDonald, C. S. Levin, S. Siegel, E. J. Hoffman, "Design Considerations And Initial Performance Of A 1.2 Cm2 Beta Imaging Intra-Operative Probe." IEEE Trans. Nuc. Sci., 43 (4), p 2326 (1996)) built a similar flexible beta camera and measured a line spread function of 0.5 mm for their 1.08 cm FOV camera, and a transmission image consisting of 0.5 mm holes 0.6 mm apart was successfully imaged. However, the sensitivity of this camera was not acceptable for surgical procedures. Yamamoto and colleagues built cameras with 10 and 20 mm diameters, and measured 0.8 mm and 0.5 mm FWHM, respectively (S. Yamamoto, C. Seki, K. Kashikura, H. Fujita, T. Matsuda, R. Ban, I. Kanno, "Development of a High Resolution Beta Camera for a Direct Measurement of Positron Distribution on Brain Surfaces." IEEE Trans. Nuc. Sci. 44 (4) p 1538 (1997)
Various solid state detectors have been proposed. Tornai and colleagues developed a prototype silicon strip detector, though this was never incorporated into a surgical device (M. P. Tornai, B. E. Patt, J. S. Iwanczyk, C. R. Tull, L. R. MacDonald, E. J. Hoffman, "A Novel Silicon Array Designed For Intraoperative Charged Particle Imaging." Medical Physics, 29 (11), p 2529 (2002)). Janacek et al. developed a positron-sensitive intravascular probe which incorporated a multi-element linear silicon array (M. Janacek, E. J. Hoffman, C. R. Tull, B. E. Patt, J. S. Iwanczyk, L. R. MacDonald, G. J. Maculewicz, V. Ghazarossian, H. W. Strauss, "Multi-Element Linear Array Of Silicon Detectors For Imaging Beta Emitting Compounds In The Coronary Arteries." Proc. IEEE NSS/MIC (2002). The disadvantage of silicon based beta cameras is that they do not have internal gain as does an SSPM, and they bring the electrical charge onto the surface of the beta camera. Therefore they are not electrically safe. A shortcoming of using CdTe or CdZnTe for constructing a beta camera is that they have high atomic numbers and high densities; therefore, they are more sensitive to unwanted background gamma rays than plastic scintillators (density of 1 and atomic number of 6).
Introduced in 2002, solid state photomultipliers have been used primarily in high energy and astrophysics experiments where very high sensitivity light detection is required (P. Buzhan, B. Dolgoshein, A. Ilyin, V. Kantserov, V. Kaplin, A. Karakash, A. Pleshko, E. Popova, S. Smimov, Yu. Volkov, L. Filatov, S. Klemin, F. Kayumov, "The Advanced Study of Silicon Photomultiplier", ICFA Instrumentation Bulletin, 23 (Fall 2001); Buzhan P, Dolgoshein B, Filatov L et al. "Silicon Photomultiplier And Its Possible Applications", Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research A, 504 p 48-52 (2003). A silicon photomultiplier is a large assembly of avalanche photodiodes operating in Geiger mode. Each detector, which can be as small as 1 mm×1 mm, consists of an array of (˜600) micropixels connected in parallel (FIG. 1)). The micropixels act individually as binary photon detectors, in that an interaction with a single photon causes a Geiger discharge. Each micropixel "switch" operates independently of the others, and the detector signal is the summed output of all micropixels within a given integration time. When coupled to a scintillator, such as by an optical glue, the SSPM detects the light produced in the scintillator by incident radiation, giving rise to a signal proportional to the energy of the radiation.
A recent development is a solid state or silicon photomultiplier (SSPM, or SiPM) developed by a team from the Moscow Engineering and Physics Institute (B Dolgoshein Int. Conf. on New Developments in Photodetection (Beaune, France) June 2002) together with Pulsar Enterprise in Moscow. The device comprises a large number of microphoton counters (1000/mm2) which are located on a common silicon substrate and have a common output load. Each photon counter is a small (20-30 μm square) pixel with a depletion region of about 2 μm. They are decoupled by polysilicon resistors and operate in a limited Geiger mode with a gain of approximately one million. This means that the SiPM is sensitive to a single photoelectron, with a very low noise level. Each photon counter operates digitally as a binary device. However the assembly of multiple SiPM is an analogue detector with the capability to measure light intensity within a dynamic range of about 1000/mm2 and has high photon capability.
The photon detection efficiency of the SSPM is at about the same level as photomultiplier tubes (PMTs) in the blue region (20%), and is higher in the yellow-green region. The device has very good timing resolution (50 ps r.m.s. for one photoelectron) and shows good temperature stability. It is also insensitive to magnetic fields. These characteristics mean that the SSPM can be used in place of other known photodetectors (e.g., PMT, APD, HPD, VLPC). The main advantage of the SSPM is its small size (1×1 mm) and its low operating voltage of ˜60 V. These characteristics render SSPM ideal for use in intraoperative and intra-luminal radiation detection probes and cameras.
One currently proposed medical applications for SSPM is in a small field of view PET scanner that can work in high magnetic fields of an MRI scanner (Rubashov, I. B., U.S. Pat. No. 6,946,841).

Detection of radiation labeled sites using a radiation detection probe or camera incorporating a solid state photo-multiplier


An electric wire with coating of polyvinyl chloride family resin composition is disclosed which has a coating layer containing a polyvinyl chloride family resin composition comprising polyvinyl chloride family resin and one or more compounds selected from calcium soap, zinc soap and hydrotalcite. The polyvinyl chloride composition does not comprise either or both of a lead compound and a β-diketone compound having a melting point less than 100° C. A plasticizer can be further added to the composition so as to obtain a heat-stable vinyl chloride composition. A cable covered with the polyvinyl chloride family resin composition is also disclosed, including a cable having electric wires coated with the polyvinyl chloride family resin composition.

In recent years, along with high integration of semiconductor or liquid crystal device manufacturing apparatus, contamination of a substrate, in particular, of a silicon wafer due to, in addition to adhesion of dirt, absorption of molecular contaminant (Airborne Molecular Contaminants: AMCs) has become a matter. As a source of generating the AMCs, in addition to interior material of a clean room, electric wires or cables used in the clean room facility apparatus or in an apparatus for manufacturing various types of semiconductors, liquid crystal devices or so have been pointed out.
Plasticizer in an electric wire or a cable with coating/covering of polyvinyl chloride family resin composition used widely acts a main source of the AMCs. It is known to dramatically decrease generation of the AMCs by replacing the plasticizer with one having a large molecular weight and a low vapor pressure (for example, see PCT/JP98/1296).
However, in case of applying an electric wire with coating of non-lead polyvinyl chloride family resin composition (electric wire with coating of polyvinyl chloride family resin composition which does not contain lead compound as stabilizer) for which a demand has increased to be applied as an electric wire with coating of polyvinyl chloride family resin composition with a reduced environmental load, still much generation of AMCs occurs even after the above-mentioned measure is taken for the plasticizer, and, thus, it is still difficult to apply the same in a clean room or so.

Electric wire and cable with coating/covering of polyvinyl chloride family resin composition


When a database server has retrieved an object of an object storage area to be subjected to retrieval in response to a database query requirement, it stores identification information of an object of a query result in an identification information area. The database server functions to generate an object containing its query condition and identification information referring to identification information of an object of the query result in the identification information area and register the object in the object storage area. On the basis of information of a new query condition, a database client requires the database server to retrieve an object containing a condition of a retrieve already conducted and its retrieval result. As a retrieval result, the database client receives a query result for the condition of a query already conducted squaring with the new query condition.

The present invention relates to a database management system. In particular, the present invention relates to an object-oriented database management system handling multimedia data such as video data and audio data.
Conventional object-oriented database management systems are described in "The Object Database Standard: ODMG-93" edited by R.G.G. Cattell and published by Morgan Kaufmann Publishers, San Mateo, Calif., and "OBJECT-ORIENTED DATABASES" authored by Setrag Khoshafian and published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., for example. In an object-oriented database management system, a collection having, as components, data to be subjected to database queries or identification data for referring to those data is defined as object, those objects stored in a nonvolatile storage such as a disk equipment are managed as a database. In the following description, components forming an object are referred to as "contents."
An object is defined as one belonging to a class declaring a configuration of the components.
Declaration of a class is conducted for a class name. For an object belonging to the class, one or more sets each having a type (such as an integer type or character type) of each component and a name identifying the component are declared.
In an object-oriented database management system, an object has identification information for uniquely specifying it. As this identification information, an address value of a storage area storing the object is used, for example.
Retrieval in an object-oriented database management system will now be described. For one or more objects belonging to a certain class, objects containing contents which satisfy given conditions are retrieved. Identification information of an object of a set having identification information of those objects as components is obtained as a.result of the retrieval.
The class to which the object of the set returned as the retrieval result belongs is a class declared as already known by the object-oriented database management system. In addition, its storage area is provided temporarily for each retrieval query.
Furthermore, in an object-oriented database management system having a configuration of a client server system, a database client machine issuing a query sends a query requirement to a database server machine which processes the query and the database server machine conducts processing and thereafter returns a result of the query to the database client machine which issued the query requirement.

Multimedia database management system and its data manipulation method


For use in a fuel cell separator comprising a separator substrate, a primer layer, and an elastomeric seal, a sealing material comprises a primer composition containing Si—H groups of which the primer layer is formed, and a liquid addition-curable silicone rubber composition containing alkenyl groups and Si—H groups of which the elastomeric seal is formed. A molar ratio of the total amount of Si—H groups to the total amount of alkenyl groups per unit weight of the primer composition and the silicone rubber composition is in the range: 5.0<Si—H/alkenyl<50.0.

The fuel cell is capable of producing electricity without a substantial need for fossil fuel that poses concerns about resource depletion, without noise, and at a high energy recovery rate as compared with other energy-based power generating systems. Great efforts have been made to exploit the fuel cell as a power generating plant of relatively compact size in buildings and factories, with some cells having been commercially implemented. In particular, polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFC) can operate at lower temperature than fuel cells of other types. The PEFC then draws attention not only as a device for household co-generation, but also as the replacement power source for internal combustion engines on vehicles because of the minimized corrosion concern regarding the materials of which cell components are made and their ability to discharge relatively high current flow despite low temperature operation. The PEFC is constructed of electrolyte membranes, separators and other components. The separator is generally a plate which is provided with a plurality of juxtaposed channels on one surface or both surfaces. The separator plays the role of conducting the electricity produced at the gas diffusion electrode within the fuel cell to the exterior, discharging water produced within the channels in the course of electricity generation, and securing the channels as a flow path for incoming reaction gas to the fuel cell. Such a fuel cell separator is required to be more compact in size. Since a multiplicity of separators are used in stack, there is a demand for a separator seal material having durability and long term service.
As the separator sealing material, packing materials based on various resins have been under study. Among them, sealing materials based on silicone rubber are often used for their moldability, heat resistance and elasticity. JP-A 11-129396 and JP-A 11-309747 disclose silicone rubber compositions of the addition cure type which are more effectively moldable to form seals. However, silicone rubbers obtained by curing these compositions are still unsatisfactory in maintaining elasticity over a long term.
In particular, packing materials for fuel cell separators are difficult to meet both the requirements of acid resistance and seal performance (or compression set) in acidic aqueous solution. JP-A 2002-309092 discloses the use of silicone resins as a solution to this problem. For seals on PEFC separators, however, not only acid resistance and low compression set, but adhesion to separator substrates is also an important factor. JP-A 2004-014150 discloses as a carbon separator gasket material a silicone rubber having minimized compression set in long-life coolant (LLC), but refers nowhere to the adherence of this silicone rubber. A primer suitable for use in fuel cell separators is disclosed in JP-A 2007-146147 where the rubber material is described merely as belonging to the addition cure type, but no further detail is described. Similarly, a primer suited for bonding a sealing material to a carbon separator substrate is disclosed in JP-A 2004-103290 where the rubber material is described as comprising preferably addition cure type liquid silicone, with no further detail.

Fuel cell separator sealing material and fuel cell separator


The present invention relates to a high-frequency signal transmitting optical module which can easily realize a high-frequency signal transmission by use of a semiconductor optical device to which a highly versatile metal can package has been applied. In the high-frequency signal transmitting optical module, after fixing, to a rear surface of a stem of the metal can package, fixing portions of the linear outer leads by laser welding, the end portions of the outer leads are bent. By this, the outer leads can be easily attached to the semiconductor optical device. On both sides of the respective lead pins of the semiconductor optical device, since the outer leads extending along these are attached to the rear surface of the stem, ground regions are continuously provided on both sides of the respective lead pins by the stem and respective outer leads, whereby TEM wave transmission lines are formed. Accordingly, high-frequency signals can be transmitted to the semiconductor optical device.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a high-frequency signal transmitting optical device using an optical semiconductor device and a method of fabricating the same.
2. Related Background Art
A semiconductor optical device applied to a high-frequency signal transmitting optical module is generally constructed with a ceramic package or a plastic package (see Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2001-189515, for example.) The reason is that, when carrying out a high-frequency signal transmission, it is necessary to form TEM wave transmission lines such as coplanar lines and microstrip lines on a package itself of a semiconductor optical device.

High-frequency signal transmitting optical module and method of fabricating the same


A compensatory assistive device for people with cognitive impairment (including but not limited to traumatic brain injury, stroke, electrocution, anoxia, mental retardation, dementia, amnesia, and learning disabilities) and/or physical disabilities (such as cerebral palsy) is provided via an interactive computer system that provides an easy-to-use money manager, directory, scheduler, telephone log, writer and information station using a graphical user interface configured with particular color associations, pointer travel limitations, simplified option selections and active view-screen limitations.

Providing the cognitively-impaired person with an easy and fun way of learning and organizing tasks relies on the use of orthosis (the correction of mental or physical distortion) devices rather than prosthesis (replacement of missing body parts) devices. In other words, the learning disabled person is provided with prompts, cues, or other indicia which minimize or simplify a particular mental or physical distortion experienced by the person in order to facilitate the person's response to a particular task without the use of medical devices coupled to the person.
Desk-top personal computers provide the ideal technologic opportunity for implementation of an assistive device to enable cognitively or physically disabled students to accomplish an unlimited number of tasks. Examples of this are the software packages provided by Laureate Learning Systems, Inc., of Winooski, Vt. Laureate Learning Systems, Inc. provide talking software that allows the disabled student to develop abilities, develop language skills, treat aphasia (a total or partial loss of the power of using or understanding words, usually caused by brain damage or injury) and traumatic brain injury, and reading difficulties. Any computer system having a keyboard, mouse and/or touch-screen can support these software packages.
Other exemplary software packages dedicated to the development of learning disabled students is provided in the TECH-NJ Technology, Educators, & Children with Disabilities-New Jersey, Spring 1994, Vol. 5, No. 1.
The closest art available is a specially designed cognitive orthotic software system sold under the trademark "Essential Steps" by the Assignee of the present invention. This software system provides users with acquired brain injury and other cognitive impairments a comprehensive, easy-to-use computer that, among other things: manages time, schedules appointments and activities, budgets and manages money, provides a daily journal in an easily reviewable format, logs and reviews telephone calls and maintains a personal telephone directory. This system uses on-screen cues and directions, guided sequences, single keystroke functions, arousal alert, voice output for cueing and voice input for responding. However, this system, among other things, is not designed for assisting cognitively impaired students with school-related activities, allows the student only a limited number (and a limited size) of files to save, and does not allow the student to partition tasks into steps having their own completion dates. Finally, this system does not use a graphical user interface for simplifying the user response to avoid having the user memorize command strings.

Educational and life skills organizer/memory aid


A method and apparatus is utilized for producing colloidal dispersions of nanoparticles of electrically conducting materials. The colloidal dispersions are produced in a dense media plasma reactor comprising at least one static electrode and at least one rotating electrode. The plasma reaction sputters off minute particles of the electrically conducting material from which the electrodes are made. Methods of using the colloidal dispersions thus made are also described. Colloidal dispersions of silver produced in this manner are highly effective for bactericidal purposes.

Nanoparticles are important components in the development of catalytic, sensor, aerosol, filter, biomedical, magnetic, dielectric, optical, electronic, structural, ceramic and metallurgical applications. Nanoscale metallic particles exhibit volume and surface effects which are absent in the same material with dimensions in the micron range (i.e., 0.1 micron<particle diameter<1 micron).
The use of colloidal suspensions of silver as antimicrobial agents is well known. Such use is resuming increased importance as antibiotic resistant bacteria become more prolific. Minimizing the silver particle sizes is believed to be important both from the stability of the colloidal suspension and for the efficacy against microbes.
Various processes to produce nanoparticles are known in the prior art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,543,133, issued to Swanson et al., discloses a process of preparing nanoparticulate agents comprising the steps of: (i) preparing a premix of the agent and a surface modifier; and, (ii) subjecting the premix to mechanical means to reduce the particle size of the agent, the mechanical means producing shear, impact, cavitation and attrition.
Likewise, U.S. Pat. No. 5,585,020, issued to Becker et al., teaches a process of producing nanoparticles having a narrow size distribution by exposing microparticles to an energy beam such as a beam of laser light, above the ablation threshold of the microparticles.
Also, U.S. Pat. No. 5,879,750, issued to Higgins et al., teaches a process for producing inorganic nanoparticles by precipitating the inorganic nanoparticles by a precipitating agent for a microemulsion with a continuous and a non-continuous phase and concentrating the precipitated nanoparticles employing an ultrafiltration membrane.
Additionally, U.S. Pat. No. 6,540,495, issued to Markowicz et al., teaches a process for making a powder containing metallic particles comprising the steps of: (i) forming a dispersion of surfactant vesicles in the presence of catalytic metal ions; (ii) adjusting the pH to between 5.0 and 7.0; (iii) mixing the dispersion with a bath containing second metal ions; and; and, (iv) incubating the mixed dispersion at a temperature sufficient to reduce the second metal ions to metal particles having an average diameter between 1 to 100 nm.
CS Pro Systems advertises a high voltage AC processor producing nanoparticles of colloidal silver. The HVAC process is claimed to produce particle sizes between 0.002 to 0.007–9 microns by imposing an AC potential of 10,000 volts across two silver electrodes in a distilled water medium.
The production of large quantities of colloidal silver solutions required for industrial applications, such as water treatment or treatment of biological fluids, are not economical by using the electrolytic approach.
The prior art methods do not provide a simple, convenient, low-cost method for producing colloidal suspensions of electrically conductive particles. It is a hallmark of the current invention to provide such a method.

Method and apparatus for producing colloidal nanoparticles in a dense medium plasma


The present disclosure relates to a method of electroplating of a silver-graphene composite onto a substrate. The method comprises preparing a plating bath comprising: a dissolved water soluble silver salt, dispersed graphene flakes, and an aqueous electrolyte comprising a silver complexing agent, a cationic surfactant, and a pH adjusting compound. The zeta potential of the graphene-electrolyte interface in the plating bath is adjusted to be positive and within the range of 10-30 mV by means of the cationic surfactant and the pH adjusting compound. The method also comprises applying a negative electric potential on the substrate surface such that electrophoresis of the graphene flakes occurs and said flakes are co-deposited with the silver during electroplating thereof to form a silver-graphene composite coating on the substrate surface.

Silver (Ag)-based contact materials are commonly used in various electrical power switching devices, where low losses and stable contact performance over life are of key importance. Ag is used as base material in both arcing and sliding contact systems, owing to its electrical properties. However, the mechanical and tribological properties of Ag are not impressive. It is soft and prone to cladding onto counter surfaces. For sliding contacts this usually means high wear rate and high friction.
When Ag is used in sliding contact configurations vs a copper (Cu) or Ag counter surface, a substantial amount of silver must be added to the contact to account for wear losses. The cladding of Ag onto a counter surface creates, in essence, an Ag—Ag contact. The coefficient of friction (COF) of such a contact in a lubricant-free environment is as high as 1.5 or higher. In a mechanical system, this friction needs to be overcome by the mechanical drive system of the device, which, in turn, costs drive energy and size in terms of the mechanical system dimensioning.
Nevertheless, Ag is still used in many applications, e.g. in on-load tap changers (OLTC's) and various breakers and switches, owing to its electrical properties.
One common method to decrease friction in Ag-based contacts is to apply a lubricating contact grease. However, with high switching demands, such as several hundreds of thousands or even millions of operations during the device lifetime, a grease is not a sustainable solution without regular additions of more grease. In addition, thermal load on the device may lead to grease evaporation, oxidation or decomposition, which can cause increased resistance and unstable contact properties. In applications like OLTC's, where switching components are submerged in electrically insulating transformer oil, which is poorly lubricating, application of a liquid lubricant oil or grease is not even possible.
Apart from lubricating oils and greases, there have been reports on alternative routes to improve tribological performance of Ag-based contacts. Adding graphite (at a concentration of a few percent by weight, wt %) to metallic silver gives a reduction of the COF down to ca. 0.3 vs. Ag or Cu counter surface. The hardness and density of such a composite is however limited owing to a low adhesion of the graphite particle surface to the Ag-matrix. This gives a high wear rate and substantial particle generation of Ag-graphite components. In addition, a thick carbon-based tribofilm builds up on wear which causes contact resistance to increase with time. The resistance-increase also applies when adding other friction- and wear-reducing additives into the Ag matrix e.g. MoS2 or WS2.
So called 'hard silver' (e.g. Argalux®64), an Ag alloy containing Ag, Cu and a small amount of antimony (Sb) is used in some commercial applications. Sb increases hardness significantly for this alloy, conductivity is fairly good, but COF is still in the region of 0.3-0.4 vs. Cu.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,565,983 discloses the use of silver iodide (AgI) as a dry lubricant top coat on Ag contacts in tap changers and to avoid the need for grease. AgI is however prone to decomposition in sunlight and at elevated temperature.
Graphene (G) and graphene oxide (GO) is known to have lubricating effects as a top coat in metal-to-metal contacts [F. Mao et al., J. Mater. Sci., 2015, 50, 6518; and D. Berman et al., Materials Today, 2014, 17(1), 31]. There are also studies of graphene having a lubricating effect in structural composites of aluminium (Al) [M. Tabandeh-Khorshid et al., J. Engineering Sci. and Techn., 2016, 19, 463]. Friction coefficients down to circa 0.2 in dry metal-to-metal contacts have been reported in literature.
Uysal et al., "Structural and sliding wear properties of Ag/Graphene/WC hybrid nanocomposites produced by electroless co-deposition", Journal of Alloys and Compounds 654 (2016), pages 185-195, discloses an electroless co-deposition technique for obtaining an Ag-graphene nanocomposite.

Silver-graphene composite coating for sliding contact and electroplating method thereof


A hair trimming device for cutting substantially equal portions of hair from only the distal end of hair shafts. The device features the brush like body having a handle end portion and a head end. The head end has a cooperating slot formed therein to cooperatively receive a selectively biased roller about the interior of the slot. Strands of hair are placed between the slot in the head end of the body and the roller wherein the user depresses a roller actuating lever at the handle end of the body. Depressing of the lever depresses the roller into the slot by rotating a cooperating mechanism connected to both the roller and lever causing the roller to depress. The user inserts hair strands between the raised roller and slotted side of the head end and thereafter the roller sinks into the slot at a predetermined bias to put optimum tension on the hair strands. The device is then pulled through the hair in a brush like fashion causing only the distal ends of hair moving between the roller and slot to rise into a cutting blade wherein substantially equal portions of the end of the individual hairs are removed while leaving adjacent longer hair strands uncut until their ends are drawn through the device.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a device for the trimming of hair. More particularly it relates to a device which will trim a predetermined substantially equal amount of hair from the ends of individual hair shafts distal from the hair follicles of the scalp, for removal of split ends. The ends of the hair shafts are thus trimmed while leaving adjacent longer hair shafts in tact.
2. Prior Art
Because of changing styles and the inevitability that hair on a person's head will grow and need to be cut, visits to hairstylists and barbers are a common occurrence in the United States and throughout the world. Hairstylists and barbers are trained in the art of cutting hair, to the specifications of their clients, using motorized and hand held implements such as scissors.
However, one vexing problem exists, whether the hair on a person's head is being styled by trained stylists, or when individual getting hair trimmed. Split ends are a constant and continued product of combing and brushing of hair. They cause the hair to look unhealthy as well as unfashionable.
The current method of trimming split ends, either by the highly trained stylist or the amateur involves a time-consuming process. The hair must be stretched relatively taut using the hand or a comb or combinations thereof, and then, delicately trimmed, only on the ends of the individual hair strands. An errant cut will yield hash marks, uneven cuts, or other undesired results in the head of hair of the person being trimmed.
Split ends are an especially vexing problem in the case of shoulder-length and longer hair styles worn by women and men. Because of the varying length of the strands of hair involved from the ears down to the shoulder or below, it is especially time consuming to try and trim only the ends of the hair a very small relatively equal amount while not accidentally cutting long adjacent strands. Hours can be spent by professional stylists trying to trim such heads of hair of their split ends. It is virtually impossible for persons with long hair to trim the split ends themselves as cutting only one-eighth to one-quarter of an inch of hair, on the back of one's head, using a mirror and scissors, is a task fraught with peril. One slip and the hair style could be ruined by cutting some very long strands of hair lying adjacent to the distal split ends on shorter hair shafts.
A number of devices have developed over the years for trimming hair for use by amateurs as well as professional hair stylists. Such devices attempt to allow armatures to cut hair into professional looking styles or to enhance the ability of professional stylists by giving them another tool for their trade.
While many devices address the issue of cutting hair and styling it, few devices address the issue of split ends on the distal ends of hair strands and removing such split ends and other unhealthy distal ends which are not split but are unattractive, bleached, or otherwise damaged. Further, on very long hair, even if the ends are not split, aged distal hair shaft ends are often removed as a cosmetic aid to beatifying the head of hair getting rid of frizzy and unattractive hair ends. To remove such damaged or unattractive hair shaft ends without ruining the hair style of the individual or causing major change in styles requires that only short pieces of the distal ends of hair shafts be cut off without disturbing longer adjacent healthy normal appearing hair shafts. This can be a very tedious, if not an impossible task, with the hundreds of thousands of hairs on individual heads.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,519,939 (Smith) teaches a combination of a rotating brush, combs, and razor blades arranged to cut a broad swath of hair when in use. However, Smith requires many adjustments to work with the individual using it and is intended to cut long pieces of hair as determined by the circumference of the rotating brush. Smith because of this arrangement cannot be configured to cut only one-eighth to one-quarter of an inch of hair off only the ends of shafts in a relatively equal amount as is required to trim split ends and unhealthy or unattractive hair ends. Further, because it is drawn through the hair by hand to rotate the brush, the user is in a constant peril of having hair strands wrap around the brush into a tangle or of pulling the device sideways through the hair and accidentally cutting off broad swatches of adjacent hair shafts in long or varying lengths.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,015,336 (Caples) teaches an apparatus combining combing a vacuum cleaner and scissors to cut hair. While Caples in practice could aid the user in the cutting of only split ends from the hair follicles, it still requires that someone such a professional stylist draw the hair into the vacuum tool and then hand-cut each end, an equal amount, with scissors. Further, uneven amounts are easily cut from each shaft causing long hairs as well as just ends to be cut.
Such an arrangement would not work well for persons trying to cut their own hair as cutting their hair behind their head would require the use of a mirror and removing relatively equal amounts from each hair would be tricky at best. Further, as taught, Caples requires the use of two hands, the eyes, and two different tools. These tools for Caples are designed to cut longer and varying lengths of the ends of portions of hair from the head once drawn into the vacuum tool and drawing only one-eighth to o-quarter of an inch of each hair into the tool and then cutting only that portion off would require great skill to avoid drawing more into the tool by accident.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,115,143 (Queen) teaches a guide for trimming hair whereby a user can taper or feather the cut of the hair from the neckline to the temples. Queen however requires holding the guide in one hand and an electric razor in the other. Such an arrangement precludes use by do-it-yourself home hair stylists and requires the constant attention and skill of a stylist or second person to cut the hair of the person on which the device is being used. It would be virtually impossible for a user to cut the hair on the back of his head in this manner and Queen by its own teaching addresses tapering or feathering of haircuts rather than just the removal of split ends. Further, it would also be virtually impossible without great effort and time, to cut only a substantially equal portion from the distal end of each individual hair while leaving adjacent longer hairs untouched with this device.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,213,116 (Stein) teaches a hair trimming device using a rotatable blade on a comb like a guide. Stein is however designed to cut bangs rather than split ends and because as taught it requires two hands to use it is unlikely that anyone could use it one the back of the head without the aid of another person to guide the device. Again, trimming substantially equal amounts from only the distal ends of hairs would be extremely time consuming and require great dexterity if it could be accomplished.
As such, there exists a need for an easily and inexpensively manufactured apparatus, which can safely by used to cut the substantially equal very short length of hair involved in the removal of split ends and unhealthy or unattractive hair ends from the individual hairs on a person's head. Such a device should also be capable of trimming the hair or fur of animals who frequently require a trim for appearance or the sake of a healthy coat.
An additional need exists for such a device that needs little or no adjustments once adjusted to remove the short length required to accomplish this task. A further requirement needed for such a device, is the ability to use it with only one hand, by either a professional hair stylist, or, at home by a person wishing to trim split ends. Additionally such a device should require little or no force to be exerted by the user and the sum of its parts should function as a unitary mechanism requiring no additional tools such as scissors. Little dexterity, hair cutting skill, or finger manipulation by the user should be required to operate such a device.
Finally, such a hair trimming device should accomplish the heretofore tedious task of trimming a substantially equal portion of only the distal ends of individual hair shafts in a short amount of time, without cutting adjacent long hair shaft center sections or substantially long pieces of adjacent hair strands.

Hair trimming device for removal of split ends


A medical device, such as a catheter shaft, having an inner lumen defined by a layer of polymer coating, and a method for forming such a medical device. In some embodiments, the method generally includes the steps of applying a polymer coating to an elongated mandrel, and constructing the remainder of the catheter shaft body around the polymer coated mandrel. In some embodiments, the polymer coating layer is made from water dispersible polymer or water soluble polymer.

Intravascular catheters and other diagnostic or therapeutic catheters for use within the body for treatment and diagnosis of diseases are generally known. A number of different catheter structures and methods for making catheters are also known. Each of these different existing structures and methods has certain advantages and disadvantages. There is an ongoing need to provide design alternatives for catheters and alternate methods for producing the catheters.

Method for forming a medical device with polymer coated inner lumen


The present invention is related to a pipelined analog-to-digital converter (ADC) utilizing a power distribution scheme selectively delivering both constant and variable reference currents in selected proportions to a plurality of stages and operational transconductive amplifiers (OTAs). This permits the ADC to maintain an optimized speed over power consumption ratio over a wide data rate range. Since the invention is capable of supporting a large operating range while maintaining very low power consumption relative to the data rate, the pipelined ADC in accordance with the present invention is particularly adaptable to a large number of applications.

An ADC is an electronic circuit that converts a continuous analog signal, such as a voltage signal, to a discrete digital number. Due to the popularity of consumer electronic devices, there are a large number of applications that employ ADCs with medium resolution, such as 10 bits, and medium to high data rates ranging from a few MHz to several tens of MHz. Among these applications are wireless communication systems, mobile phones, video components, imaging components, local area network transceivers, and the like.
Pipelined ADCs have multiple stages which successively process an analog input signal. The principal in pipelined ADCs is to find a set of reference voltages whose sum equals the signal sample being converted. This is realized by subtracting different reference voltages from the input sample until the residue value becomes zero, indicating that the sum of the subtracted references equals the original signal sample. In the pipeline, the analog residue or remainder value may be amplified by an amplifier between the subtraction steps in order to increase accuracy prior to being fed to the next stage in the pipeline.
FIG. 1 is a high-level block diagram of a conventional 10-bit pipelined ADC. There are two basic types of components within the ADC: 1) pure analog components which include a reference voltage generator, a bias current generator, a track and hold (T&H) stage, front end pipeline stages (1 through 4) and back end pipeline stages (5 through 8); and 2) digital and mixed analog/digital components including a phases generator, a 2 bit ADC flash unit, delay lines, and a Redundant Signed Digital (RSD) error correction unit.
In the pipelined architecture shown in FIG. 1, the ADC has nine stages which process the analog input signal. However, the number of stages in a pipelined architecture can be any number depending on the desired resolution of the ADC. The greater the number of stages in an ADC the higher the resolution. From the left side of FIG. 1, the analog input signal first enters the (T&H) stage. Subsequent pipeline stages 1 through 8 process the T&H output and drive a 2 bit ADC on the right. In each of the nine stages, an operational transconductive amplifier (OTA) is the active consuming analog cell. As an example, the ADC shown in FIG. 1 uses an external s-bits bus (speed<s-1:0>), where s may be any number, in order to program the ADC with a specific amount of active current that is proportional to the targeted data rate of the ADC.
Referring to FIG. 2, a block diagram of a single pipeline stage is shown. The single pipeline stage includes a sample and hold (S/H) unit for providing a constant analog signal, an ADC, a digital-to-analog converter (DAC), a summer and an OTA. The input Vj is the sample number j coming out from the previous pipeline stage as a new input to the present stage. It is sampled and held, and also quantized with a low resolution 2 bit ADC. The resulting digital word Dj<1:0> is converted back to analog using a 2 bit DAC and subtracted from the original held value to create a residue. The residue is then amplified by Gj to generate an output voltage Vj+1 to the next pipeline stage given by Equation (1) as follows:Vj+1=Gj·(Vj−VjDA(Dj)).  Equation (1)
When considering the switched capacitor implementation, the S/H function as well as the DAC, the voltage subtraction and the residue amplification may be performed by a single operation known by those skilled in the art as a multiplying DAC or MDAC. The MDAC performs the operation in a period that is set by half a clock period, due to the switched capacitor circuit implementation. During a first half clock period the sample value is stored in a first capacitor. During a second half clock period the sample value is amplified by an OTA and multiplied by a gain value.
Since the 2 bit ADC-DAC implementation has a very low resolution, it is designed to provide a very high speed response. A limiting element of the pipeline stage, in terms of speed, is the OTA, which performs and provides the Vj+1 output. Setting the gain Gj with a high enough resolution not to degrade the final ADC converter resolution, results in high power consumption. Additionally, the overall speed of the OTA is directly dependent upon the power consumption. The more power that is provided to the OTA, the faster the speed of the OTA and the conversion data rate of the ADC device. However, the increased speed of the OTA results in higher power consumption of the ADC. This is a significant drawback, particularly for wireless devices and other consumer electronic devices which rely upon a battery as a power source.
Accordingly, what is needed is a versatile pipelined ADC which can operate at a desired resolution over a wide operating range without the drawback of high power consumption of current pipelined ADCs. Moreover, an ADC that is independent of circuit process variations for providing a reliable resolution is desirable.

Pipelined analog-to-digital converter having a power optimized programmable data rate


In an approach to optimized interactive communications timing from computing devices, a set of system defaults is received. A verbal communications for an intended recipient is received. An activity data for the intended recipient is received. A criticality score of the verbal communication is determined based on the set of system defaults. An availability score for the intended recipient is determined based on the set of system defaults and the activity data. An optimal time to initiate verbal communications with the intended recipient is determined wherein the optimal time to initiate verbal communications occurs when the criticality score exceeds the availability score. The verbal communication for the intended recipient is initiated at the optimal time.

The present invention relates generally to the field of data processing, and more particularly to optimized timing for interactive communications from computing devices.
In the current state of computing technology, many devices interact with people through verbal communications. These verbal communications may be one way, i.e., an announcement from a computing device to a person, or may be two-way, i.e., a conversation between a computing device and a person. As more people adopt interactive computing devices such as smart speakers, there are more opportunities to interact verbally with these computing devices. In addition, verbal communications by computing devices are becoming more commonplace, with more types of computing devices incorporating verbal communications, again leading to increased opportunities for computing devices to interact verbally with people.
These computing devices typically can communicate and interact with other devices over the Internet; hence the term Internet of Things (IoT) is used to describe physical devices and everyday objects that are connected to the Internet. In the consumer space, the concept of the "smart home" has computing devices, e.g., smart speakers, connected to the IoT, allowing for a wide range of verbal interaction with these devices.

Optimized interactive communications timing

International Business Machines Corporation


The box, which can be made from a single sheet or from five separate pieces which are fastened to one another to form the box, is such that at the front ends, extensions project with transverse folding lines to form corner reinforcements. The extensions that form these reinforcements present four folding lines that define the sectors, which form an initial sector which is attached to the inner face of the side, a second sector with a diagonal disposition, a third sector which is attached on the inside of the front, a fourth sector which lies at right angles to the diagonal sector, and a last sector which is attached to one of the two halves of the inner face of the diagonal sector. At their upper edge the sectors present flanges which form projections perpendicular to one another, for positioning in matched opposing notches when the boxes are stacked.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a stackable box for perishable products, made from a sheet of compact cardboard with stamped, cutting and folding lines for assembly purposes, although it may also be made up of five separate pieces of the same material, likewise with cutting, stamped and folding lines, for being glued together so as to be able to make up the box.
More specifically, the invention is directed to provide a box for perishable goods of the above-mentioned type, provided with triangular prismatic reinforcements in the corners with upper protruding flanges in the corners, all configured in such a way in its conformation the box offers high compression strength at these upper flanges, as a result of which, besides obtaining reinforcement at every corner, reinforcement of these protruding flanges is also obtained.
2. Description of the Related Art
PCT/ES 9825830 describes a stackable box for transporting perishable products and the like, which is made up of five separate parts forming the bottom, the sides and the fronts, these having transverse folds at their ends to conform triangular prismatic reinforcements at the actual corners when assembling. In this box stacking stability is achieved by means of double and triple flanges provided at the upper edge of the walls corresponding to those prismatic corner reinforcements, flanges that are housed in respective windows provided for the purpose at the bottom.
Spanish utility model U200101538, discloses to a stackable tray for perishable products, which, in this case, is obtained from the development of a single sheet whose fronts are provided at their end sections with transverse folding lines for forming triangular prismatic reinforcements at the actual corners, while also having protruding upper flanges that are accommodated in windows made for the purpose in the bottom so as to achieve stability and the proper positioning of the stacked boxes.
Both in one case and the other, i.e. whether the box is made from five separate pieces, as happens in PCT/ES 98/25830, or as in utility model U200101538, where the box is made from a single piece, the flanges provided at the top of the corners to achieve the stability and correct positioning between boxes when stacking always match up with the upper edges close to the sharp corners of the box, which gives rise to constant rubbing, bending, etc, of these flanges, resulting in a loss of strength, damage and, therefore, and their possible unserviceability, so that they do not effectively perform the function for which they are intended.


A cascaded light emitting device. The cascaded light emitting device includes: a base electrode formed of a base electrode material and electrically coupled to a base voltage lead; a top electrode layer formed of a top electrode material and electrically coupled to a top voltage lead; a number of electroluminescent layers arranged between and electrically coupled to the base electrode and top electrode layer; and at least one middle electrode layer formed of a middle electrode material. Each of the middle electrodes is coupled between two juxtaposed electroluminescent layers. The electroluminescent layers include a mixed conductor that luminesces with a peak wavelength.

Recently, there has been significant interest in organic light emitting diodes (OLED's). These structures have begun entering the flat panel display market. A variety of consumer electronics products, such as car stereos and cell phones, are also available with OLED-based displays. In addition to these uses, a number of other applications, such as large-area signs and panels for general lighting applications, are envisioned for OLED's. However, a number of issues remain before OLED-based displays are able to reach their full potential. For example, as the area of an OLED increases, the probability of an electrical short occurring within the diode structure also increases. In a passive matrix architecture, a short may cause all pixels that share the same row and column electrodes to stay dark, thus potentially dramatically decreasing the brightness of an entire panel. For a flat panel display, the loss of a large number of pixels due to a short in one OLED may lead to unacceptable image degradation. The active matrix architecture does not suffer from this shortfall; however, it can be expensive and difficult to implement this architecture over arbitrarily large areas. Therefore, alternative architectures that allow for the monolithic fabrication of large area OLED panels, have tolerance to short circuits, and are compatible with low-cost manufacturing techniques (such as roll to roll) are desired.
A. R. Duggal, D. F. Foust, W. F. Nealon, and C. M. Heller at GE described an exemplary fault-tolerant architecture in an article published in Applied Physics Letters (vol. 82, pg. 2580 (2003)). They applied this exemplary architecture to the fabrication of an illumination panel. The panel consisted of individual OLED's that were placed side by side and were connected in series. This series connection was achieved by selectively removing the organic semiconductor from one edge of each device, thereby exposing the underlying anode electrode. The cathode of one device could then be electrically connected to the anode of its neighbor. Panels that exhibited fault tolerance and scalability were demonstrated. However, this architecture requires patterning of the organic layer, which increases the complexity of the manufacturing process and may lead to additional faults. Duggal et al. used laser ablation to pattern the organic layer. This step adds significantly to the complexity and might be detrimental to the speed of display manufacture.
Another alternative architecture for OLED's was proposed by J. Kido, T. Matsumoto, T. Nakada, J. Endo, M. Mori, N. Kawamura, and A. Yokoi, in their article HIGH EFFICIENCY ORGANIC EL DEVICES HAVING CHARGE GENERATION LAYERS, SID Digest, p. 964 (2003). This article focused on increasing the quantum efficiency of OLED's. Kido et al. described a cascaded OLED architecture where OLED devices were stacked on top of each other. Panels were built by repeating a basic unit that consisted of a metal, a p-type doped organic, an intrinsic organic, an n-type doped organic, and a metal. Repeating this structure twice gave two cascaded devices, in which the middle metal layer was injecting electrons in the n-type organic on one side, and holes in the p-type organic on the other. As a result of the doping, the middle electrode was able to serve both as an efficient anode, and as an efficient cathode. The cascaded configuration resulted in radiant flux and quantum efficiency that increased with the number of devices. Since the devices where stacked on top of each other, the radiant flux per unit area increased with the number of devices, leading to extremely bright panels. However, this architecture was specifically designed for increasing the efficiency of OLED's and was not meant to provide a fault tolerant way of building large area panels.
The present invention involves improved architectures for producing light emitting devices based on electroluminescence. These improved architectures may lead to simplified manufacture and allow for increased optical output, as well as increased tolerance to shorts.

Cascaded light emitting devices based on mixed conductor electroluminescence


An apparatus for testing a network of plumbing pipes for leaks comprises a pair of housings and a slidable test plate. The test plate is interposed between the housings to block fluid flow through the housings when inspecting the pipe network for leaks. After testing is complete, the test plate is removed from the housings and the housings remain fixed as a permanent part of the pipe network.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to plumbing systems and, in particular, to leakage test fittings for plumbing systems.
2. Description of Related Art
Municipality building codes generally require building contractors and/or plumbing sub-contractors to test plumbing systems for leaks either by a water test (i.e., a hydrostatic test) or by an air test (i.e., a pneumatic test) in accordance with the Uniform Plumbing Code. Leakage testing of installed plumbing networks, however, commonly is a grueling task for plumbing contractors. Plumbing networks typically wind through multiple stories of a building and have numerous possible sources of leaks at the interconnections between pipe sections and elbows, valves, or like junctions. Conventional leakage testing methods also are time consuming, dirty, wet and often hazardous.
A prevalent leakage testing method involves removing a short section of pipe at the base of the pipe system and replacing the pipe section with a T-joint. A plumber subsequently inserts a pre-formed inflatable rubber balloon or "test plug," connected to a retention chain, into the center opening of the T-joint, and inflates the balloon to block the fluid flow through the test pipe. The plumber then fills the pipe system above the inflated balloon with water and inspects the pipe system for leaks.
This leak testing procedure, however, suffers from several drawbacks. The standing column of water above the inflated balloon exerts a substantial amount of pressure on the balloon during the inspection process. Because the balloon can only withstand limited pressure without bursting, this method is restricted to testing a maximum of four or five floors (i.e., about 40 feet (12.2 meters) in height). Even when testing just a few floors, about 20 percent of the balloons rupture due to fatigue, causing substantial flooding and damaging the building. Such flooding is especially problematic and costly when occurring in multiple story buildings where the contractor is simultaneously finishing the lower floors with dry-wall, cabinetry, carpeting, etc.
Additionally, under-inflated balloons cannot support the water column in the pipe system; if the balloon retention chain breaks, the resultant water flow carries the balloon into the pipe system well below the T-joint. The balloon commonly lodges somewhere in the pipe system, blocking the pipe. A plumber then must determine where the balloon lodged in the plumbing network and remove the balloon by disassembling that portion of the network, a tedious and time-consuming process.
Plumbers also have injured their hands and fingers while attempting to remove the inflated balloons. In cases where the retention chain breaks, the chain has whipped and has severely injured the face and/or eyes of the plumber.
A number of prior plumbing test fittings have been developed to overcome the aforementioned problems associated with the use of an inflatable balloon in leakage testing plumbing networks. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 3,941,156 issued to Metzger discloses a plumbing test fitting with a closure plate extending across the fitting, and a valve in communication with the test pipe chamber above the closure plate U.S. Pat. No. 4,932,241, issued to Carmody, et al., discloses a similar plumbing test fitting comprising a section of pipe with two chambers separated by a fixed closure plate. Water is introduced into the pipe system through an upper port in the test fitting to fill the pipe network above the closure plate. The system is then inspected for leaks, preferably through the use of a pressure gauge attached to the fitting. The pipe system is then drained by connecting the upper port via a bypass hose to a lower port in communication with the bottom end of the test fitting.
Both prior plumbing test fittings disclosed by the Metzger and Carmody, et al., patents unfortunately require removal of the test fitting and installation of an ordinary pipe section after the testing procedure to return the piping system to its original flow capacity. Installation and removal of these prior test fittings are laborious tasks, and flooding commonly occurs when removing these test fittings which typically damages the floors below. These devices also do not provide a means for testing the joints between the pipe network and the ordinary pipe section replacing the test fixtures. Thus, these devices do not allow the plumber to test all junctions or the plumbing network. Moreover, these prior test fittings are overly complicated and thus costly.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,045,706 to Dillon discloses an in-line valve designed primarily to stop fluid flow while servicing downstream equipment. The valve includes a solid "lamb chop" shaped plate which a plumber rotates across the pipe to stop fluid flow. Use of the apparatus is burdensome, because a series of screws must be loosened to allow the plumber to rotate plate into the closed position. The plumber must then tighten the screws to create a sealed system in the closed position. The plumber must again loosen the screw and rotate the plate into the open position, and then tighten the screws to create a sealed system in the open position.
Thus, a need exists for a simple, effective and ergonomic leakage test fitting which permits ready testing of a pipe network.

Plumbing leakage test apparatus and method of use


A method for forming an optically variable device upon a substrate comprises the steps of: patterning a reflective layer on the substrate using an oil-ablation technique; removing oil residue from the first side of the substrate using a first glow discharge; and depositing thin-film layers so as to be supported by the substrate to form the optically variable device. Optionally, oil residue is removed from the second side of the substrate using a second glow discharge.

The use of security threads for protecting banknotes, credit cards and other valuable documents is well known. A security thread is a strip of material placed on the surface of a banknote document or sheet such as banknote; alternatively a security thread may be serpentined or woven into the banknote paper (a window type effect) to confer additional security (authenticity) to the bank note. Typical dimensions of a hot stamp thread are a width of 1-5 mm, a thickness of 3-4 μm; windowed polyester terephthalate (PET) based threads have a thickness of about 0.5 mil or 12.5 microns. By way of example, one of the earliest forms of security threads consisted of reflective foil transferred by hot stamping to the surface the banknote (GB 2119312 A). This reflective foil prevented reproduction of counterfeit banknotes by printing processes such as from printing presses, PC printers and copiers. Holograms (EP-A-0624688), holographic features along with thermo chromic features (GB 2347646), opaque coatings having characters and patterns readable by transmitted light in combination with luminescent substances (U.S. Pat. No. 6,474,695), repeating patterns of magnetic/magnetic indicia or metal dots (W02103624), laser etching fine lines and text with a laser (German "Auslegeschrift" no. 22 05 428) and (WO02101147), printing micro-characters on a metalized transparent plastic with clear acid resistant inks followed by acid etching of the unprinted areas to produce shiny micro-characters on a transparent base (U.S. Pat. No. 4,652,015), bonded nucleic acid molecules so that complementary nucleic acid molecules can bind to the molecules already attached to the document (DE 10122836), and optically variable security elements using liquid crystal material (EP0435029) have all been used to make security threads. However, these aforementioned threads either take too much time to make and or have other associated problems; for example, it is found that laser etching takes too long to be cost effective, etching by use of chemicals requires multiple steps and is not considered to be environmentally-friendly; holograms can be readily copied, and in many instances the features of the threads are not readily seen by eye by the average person and machines are required to read them.
A method to pattern a single layer of metal or carbon in a vacuum chamber was advanced in U.S. Pat. No. 4,022,928 by Piwcyzk. Piwcyzk used various methods to apply a perfluoropolyether known as FOMBLIN™ or Krytox™ to a substrate requiring a pattern for a vacuum deposited layer. The perfluoropolyether inhibited the deposition of the depositing material to a web or plastic substrate. Application of this fluid was by spray or vacuum evaporation in combination with a selected removal process as with a laser or an electron beam. A printing method was also described. Printing techniques including relief printing such as letterpress or flexography, planographic printing such as offset lithography, and gravure, and screen-printing such as silkscreen process printing were disclosed.
Subsequently, Ronchi in U.S. Pat. No. 4,749,591 incorporated herein by reference, and in PCT application WO 8700208(A1)) advanced this printing process by applying the inhibiting oil, FOMBLIN, to a vacuum roll coater where patterning thin films on plastic substrates was desired.
Ronchi in U.S. Pat. No. 4,749,591 only discloses applying a single layer of metal, for example, aluminum as is shown in FIG. 1, deposited as a vacuum thin film layer. A demetallized aluminum layer in the case of a security thread embedded into a banknote can easily be forged by simply using a metallized polyester that is subsequently patterned by one of the above methods. In an attempt to copy a security thread having a single layer manufactured by Ronchi's technique, patterning by photolithography in combination with a caustic etchant, or by any of the aforementioned processes or even by using a silver pencil to simulate the security thread could be used. Security threads having multi-layer films where one of more of the layers are patterned has not previously been considered. A major impediment to providing several thin film layers, was residual oil remaining on the images and on non-patterned areas of the web. This residual oil was detrimental to further thin film coating since left over oil would cause "ghosting"; a process whereby the inhibiting oil is transferred to the back side of plastic film when roll coating, which in turn causes inhibiting oil to be transferred further down the web on the front side. Left over inhibiting oil also causes adhesion failures to subsequent thin film layers.
"Ghosting" and the ability to remove residual inhibiting oil is overcome by this invention. By way of this advance, for the first time, patterned multilayer optical stacks could be conveniently manufactured in a cost effective way on a security thread, by roll coating. In particular, a new optically variable security thread that had a high pattern resolution was made that contained readable text or graphic images where covert features such a magnetic signatures could also be incorporated.
It is an object of this invention, to provide a security thread having optically variable features such as an optically variable pattern that can be seen against a background that is distinguishable from the pattern, or from which the pattern stands out.
It is a further object of this invention, to provide a relatively simple, inexpensive method of manufacture of a multilayer patterned security thread for use within or upon a web or sheet, for example on currency, documents or packaging for providing authentication thereof.

Vacuum roll coated security thin film interference products with overt and/or covert patterned layers


Disclosed is a method for treating actinic keratosis of tissue of a patient, the method including contacting non-thermal, atmospheric pressure plasma over areas of the tissue having actinic keratosis for a time and at treatment conditions effective to give rise to an at least partial amelioration of the keratosis.

Skin conditions and diseases are prevalent and are often difficult to treat. If left untreated, they may progress to more serious conditions and may lead to more severe consequences, such as permanent scarring or various cancers. The treatment of actinic keratoses (AKs), for example, represents a daily challenge for dermatologists: the available modalities all have significant downsides, such as pain, inflammation, treatment site reaction, incomplete response and frequent recurrences. The present invention is intended to address some of these issues.

Devices and methods for treatment of skin conditions


Security system having a container, which encloses a strongbox area for receiving valuables. A device for carrying the container, a protection system for protecting the valuables located in the strongbox area, and an access opening are provided. At least one protection module is provided in the strongbox area, the protection module being designed for the purpose of neutralizing the valuables located in the strongbox area. The device for carrying is implemented as a separate module, which comprises a handle area, a mechanical interface for the mechanical connection to the container, a security circuit for securing the security system, and a security interface for establishing a communication link between the security circuit and the protection module.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a portable security system having a container which encloses a strongbox area for receiving valuables, means for carrying the container, a protection system for protecting the valuables located in the strongbox area, and an access opening, to be able to open the container and make the strongbox area accessible.
2. Description of Related Art
There are greatly varying security cases for transporting objects in need of protection, such as valuables like coins and banknotes, securities, other valuable objects such as precious metals and precious stones, documents to be kept secret, or possibly also toxic materials, rare materials, or material to be shielded in another way, such as radioactive material.
The security cases typically have a strongbox area, a protection system, and an access opening, which may be closed and makes the security case accessible in the open state.
The protection system is used for the purpose of protecting the owner or possessor of the valuables from a misuse of the valuables, if they are lost in the event of a theft. This is performed by automatically neutralizing and/or devaluing the valuables in such a case. The corresponding known protection systems are costly and complex.
As already noted, there are different types of valuables to transport. The cases must have different sizes depending on the type of the valuables. In addition, greatly varying security guidelines may apply. In practice, there is therefore a large number of greatly varying cases in use.
It is important for cases of this type that they correspond to the corresponding security guidelines, are portable, and above all are flexibly usable. Current cases only partially fulfill these criteria. In addition, the cases are currently relatively expensive.

Multifunctional, portable security system


A drive unit for a micro valve comprises a housing, a spring and at least one shape memory alloy element which is attached to the housing in a deflectable manner. The shape memory alloy element is loaded by the spring towards a deflected position and is movable in response to a temperature increase and the shape memory effect activated thereby, into a position which is at least less deflected against an increasing load by the spring. A normally closed micro valve includes a fluid housing, at least one valve seat, a sealing element opposite the valve seat, and a drive unit of the type mentioned above. The shape memory alloy element cooperates with the sealing element and exerts an operating force on the sealing element for closing and opening the valve seat with or against a compression spring force.

Shape memory alloy elements are distinguished in that they may be used as actuators with high energy density.
Valves are known in which one or more actuating elements cooperate with shape memory alloy elements in the form of a wire, as is described in DE 102 33 601, for example.
Foils made from shape memory alloys are also known. In this case, only a very small travel for controlling the stroke of a valve is available in valves, and only low pressures can be controlled.
Moreover, known valves based on the shape memory alloy principle for the actuator are NO designs (i.e. "normally open") in many cases. As a rule, industrial applications require NC valves (i.e. "normally closed") which are closed in the state of rest and will not open until they are acted upon by an electrical current.

Drive unit for a micro valve comprising a shape memory alloy, and micro valve