A container refrigeration unit (10) is provided. The container refrigeration unit includes a container (20), a curtain (30), a seal element (40) and a sealing adapter (50). The container includes sidewalls defining an open end (26) and a curtain track (27) proximate the open end. The curtain is sized to cover the open end. The sealing adapter is fittable to the curtain track. An entire periphery of the curtain and an entirety of the seal element are sequentially fittable to the sealing adapter.

The following description relates to container refrigeration units and, more specifically, to a curtain track sealing adapter.
A curtain is often used to seal the rear doors of a container refrigeration unit that uses a controlled atmosphere (CA) air quality system. The curtain is typically installed by way insertion of a flat plastic ribbon over the curtain and into a curtain track that is formed in the container walls. This procedure can be tedious and inconsistent, however, and such tedium and inconsistency can lead to variability on the rear door seal. For example, if the process is not undertaken carefully, the curtain could be damaged and such damage could cause an air leak that will prevent the CA air quality system from operating properly.


The present invention provides a toner containing toner mother particles containing a binder resin and a colorant having added thereinto external additives, e.g., positively electrifiable silica fine particles, negatively electrifiable silica fine particles, titanium oxide fine particles and a long chain fatty acid or a salt thereof, wherein the external additives are added by multistage process, thereby is low in desorption of external additives, has the electrification property for a long period of time, shows high flowability and transfer efficiency, and is not accompanied by the reduction of image density.

The toner for forming electrostatic images generally comprises, as the toner mother particles, fine particles of a binder resin containing a coloring component, e.g., a dye or a pigment, and, if necessary, a charge controlling agent, and the toner is obtained by a method of adding external additives to the outside (surface) of the toner mother particles for the purpose of providing flowability or controlling an electrification property. As the external additives, positively electrifiable silica fine particles, negatively electrifiable silica fine particles, inorganic fine particles other than silica (e.g., titanium oxide), fatty acid metal salt and the like are used.
In general, the toner for forming electrostatic images is negatively charged. Such a toner is obtained by preparing negatively electrifiable toner mother particles and adding external additives, e.g., positively electrifiable silica fine particles, etc., to the negatively electrifiable toner mother particles, to thereby control the quantity of negative electrification (refer to, e.g., patent documents 1 to 3 set forth below). Alternatively, when from weakly negatively electrifiable toner mother particles to positively electrifiable toner mother particles are used, there is a method of adding external additives, such as negatively electrifiable silica fine particles, etc., to the above toner mother particles to control the quantity of negative electrification (refer to, e.g., patent documents 4 to 6).
As the methods of manufacturing a toner by using negatively electrifiable toner mother particles, a method of externally adding positively electrifiable hydrophobic silica fine particles to toner mother particles comprising a negatively electrifiable binder resin, a method of externally adding positively electrifiable hydrophobic silica fine particles and negatively electrifiable hydrophobic silica fine particles (refer to, e.g., patent documents 1 and 2), and a method of externally adding positively electrifiable hydrophobic silica fine particles and inorganic fine particles having a low electrical resistance value (refer to, e.g., patent document 3) are exemplified.
On the other hand, when weakly negatively electrifiable to positively electrifiable toner mother particles are used in manufacturing a toner, external addition methods are also examined. For example, a method of externally adding positively electrifiable hydrophobic silica fine particles and negatively electrifiable hydrophobic silica fine particles at the same time (refer to, e.g., patent document 4), and a method of externally adding a first component, a second component, a third component and a fourth component to toner mother particles at the same time, or externally adding the first component lastly, taking hydrophobic silica fine particles or hydrophobic titania as the first component, hydrophobic silica fine particles or hydrophobic titania having larger particle sizes than the particle sizes of component 1 as the second component, inorganic fine particles as the third component, and a fatty acid metal salt as the fourth component (refer to, e.g., patent document 5) are known.
Further, there is disclosed in a patent document a method to obtain a toner in which the isolation of external additives is restrained by externally adding in the order of titanium oxide fine particles and silica fine particles to toner mother particles (refer to, e.g., patent document 6).
However, in the toners obtained by the methods disclosed in patent documents 1 to 6, external additives (positively electrifiable silica fine particles, negatively electrifiable silica fine particles, titanium oxide fine particles and the like), which function to control electrification or flowability, are liable to be desorbed from the surface of the toner, which causes the reduction of flowability or electrification property of the toners, as a result, transfer efficiency and image density are depressed.
In addition, it is disclosed in patent documents 1 and 5 to use the metal salt of a fatty acid (a metal soap) in the toner for electrophotography, and the cases of using the metal salt of a fatty acid besides the above are also disclosed in patent documents 7 to 12. In patent document 5, a fatty acid metal salt is used in view of the prevention of fixing of a toner and generation of black spots on the surface of a photosensitive material, and then hydrophobic silica or hydrophobic titania is added. However, there is a problem that the external additive hydrophobic silica or hydrophobic titania is liberated, so that the stability of electrification cannot be maintained for a long period of time.
Patent document 7 perceived the binding property of a fatty acid metal salt and obtained a toner by the external addition step of only one time of the addition of a fatty acid metal salt with silica having amino groups on the surface at the same time. Although the toner obtained by this method is improved a little in the point of the rate of isolation of hydrophobic silica, a problem that the quantity of electrification of the toner cannot be maintained stably is still left behind. Patent documents 8 to 12 also disclose the use of fatty acid metal salts as the external additive in manufacturing toners. However, in any of the above patent document similarly to patent document 7, the fatty acid metal salts are added with other external additives at the same stage to obtain toners by the external addition process of only one time. The toners disclosed in patent documents 7 to 12 also have problems that the quantity of electrification of the toners cannot be maintained stably.
[Patent document 1]
JP-A-2000-267337 (the term "JP-A" as used herein means an "unexamined published Japanese patent application").
[Patent document 2]
JP-A-2002-14487
[Patent document 3]
JP-A-2002-214834
[Patent document 4]
JP-A-11-231571
[Patent document 5]
JP-A-2001-100452
[Patent document 6]
JP-A-2002-72544
[Patent document 7]
Japanese Patent 2502353
[Patent document 8]
JP-B-8-33681 (the term "JP-B" as used herein means an "examined Japanese patent publication").
[Patent document 9]
Japanese Patent 2759510
[Patent document 10]
JP-A-9-114129
[Patent document 11]
JP-A-11-323396
[Patent document 12]
JP-A-2001-296688
[Patent document 13]
JP-A-2002-202622
An object of the present invention is to provide a toner which is low in desorption of external additives (e.g., positively electrifiable silica fine particles, negatively electrifiable silica fine particles, titanium oxide fine particles and the like), can maintain the electrification property for a long period of time, shows high flowability and transfer efficiency, and is not accompanied by the reduction of image density. Additionally, an object of the present invention is also to provide an image-forming apparatus using the toner.

Toner and image-forming apparatus using the toner


An oxide coated cutting tool including a body coated with refractory single- or multilayers one of which consists of single-phase .kappa.-Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 characterized by controlled microstructure with crystal planes preferably grown in the (210)-direction with respect to the exposed sure of the coated body. The oxide coated cutting tool exhibits increased wear properties when machining ball bearing steel.

Chemical vapour deposition ("CVD") of alumina on cutting tools is a well established technology. The wear properties of Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 as well as of other refractory materials have been discussed extensively in the literature.
The CVD-technique has also been used to produce coatings of other metal oxides, carbides and nitrides, the metal being selected from transition metals of the IVB, VB and VIB groups of the Periodic Table of the Elements. Many of these compounds have found practical applications as wear resistant or protective coatings, but few have received as much attention as TiC, TiN and Al.sub.2 O.sub.3.
Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 crystallizes in several different phases: .alpha., .kappa., .gamma., .beta., .theta., etc. The two most frequently occurring phases in CVD of wear resistant Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 --coatings are the thermodynamically stable, hexagonal a-phase and the metastable .kappa.-phase. Generally, the .kappa.-phase is fine-grained with a grain size in the range 0.5-3.5 .mu.m and often exhibiting a columnar coating morphology. Furthermore, .kappa.-Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 coatings are free from crystallographic defects and free from micropores or voids. The crystallographic structure of .kappa.-Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 is basically orthorombic and the unit cell can be expressed with orthogonal indices which might be transformed to a hexagonal unit cell with hexagonal indices.
The .alpha.-Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 grains in mixed .alpha.+.kappa.-Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 coatings are usually coarser with a grain size of 1-6 .mu.m depending upon the deposition conditions. Porosity and crystallographic defects are in this case frequently occurring.
On commercial cutting tools, Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 is always applied on TiC.sub.x N.sub.y O.sub.z coated carbide or ceramic substrates (see, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 3,837,896, now Reissue U.S. Pat. Reissue No. 29,420 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,071,696) and the interfacial chemical reactions between the TiC.sub.x N.sub.y O.sub.z --surface and the alumina coating are of particular importance.
The practice of coating cemented carbide cutting tools with oxides to further increase their wear resistance is in itself well known as is evidenced in, e.g., U.S. Pat. Reissue No. 29,420 and U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,399,168, 4,018,631, 4,490,191 and 4,463,033. These patents disclose oxide coated bodies and how different pretreatments, e.g., of TiC-coated cemented carbide, enhance the adherence of the subsequently deposited oxide layer. Alumina coated bodies are further disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,736,107, 5,071,696 and 5,137,774 wherein the Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 -layers comprise .alpha., .kappa. and/or .alpha.+.kappa.-combinations.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,619,866 describes a method for producing fast growing Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 -layers by utilizing a hydrolysis reaction of a metal halide under the influence of a dopant, e.g., hydrogen sulphide (H.sub.2 S). The resulting coating consists of a mixture of the smaller .kappa.-grains and the larger .alpha.-grains. The process yields coatings with an even layer thickness distribution around the coated body.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,071,696 discloses a body coated with single-phase .kappa.-Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 deposited epitaxially onto an MX-layer where MX is a carbide, carbonitride or oxycarbonitride of a metal from the Groups IVB, VB or VIB of the periodic table. Swedish Patent Application No. 9101953-9 discloses a method of growing a fine-grained .kappa.-alumina coating.
Single-phase .alpha.-Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 -layer with preferred crystal growth orientation in the (012)-direction is disclosed in Swedish Patent Application No. 9203852-0, in the (110)-direction is disclosed in Swedish Patent Application No. 9304283-6 and in the (104)-direction is disclosed in Swedish Patent Application No. 9400089-0.

Oxide coated cutting tool with increased wear resistance and method of manufacture thereof


An image is divided into a plurality of subdivision areas. A focus evaluation value representative of the high frequency component contained in the electrical signal from the CCD is calculated for each of the subdivision areas. The object distance is calculated for the respective subdivision areas based on the focus evaluation value. A target object is extracted based on the calculated object distance. The target object is focused. During the focusing operation, when a new object having an object distance smaller than that of the target object is detected in any of remote subdivision areas which have an object distance larger than that of the target object, the target object is re-selected.

For example, when an imaging device such as a camera with automatic focusing attempts to continuously focus a target object with a focusing lens, movement of the target object within an image or a scene change in an image should at once be detected to determine the position of the target object within the image. On the other hand, when focus on a target object can be maintained without re-selection of the target object, the processing of re-selecting the target object or re-focusing the target object may make an operator feel uncomfortable.
The conventional camera is proposed to employ a method of automatic object detection in an image by detecting the variation in brightness within the image. The proposed method cannot detect a scene change with a small variation in brightness when the scene changes in response to panning the camera by an operator. The camera accordingly cannot keep in focus the target object.
The conventional camera, once focus is achieved, fixes a lens position of the focusing lens so as to detect a scene change on the basis of the variation in a brightness and a focus evaluation value. When a threshold value is set to the variation in brightness and focus evaluation values for avoiding any erroneous detection of a scene change through fine movement of a target object, the camera sometimes cannot detect a scene change in which a new small object appears in front of the focused target object, since the variation in the brightness and focus evaluation values is small.
Further, the conventional camera fixes a lens position of the focusing lens once a focus is achieved, so that the camera detects a scene change so as to re-select the target object when the focused target object moves back and forth. In this case, the position of the target object within the image is maintained so that a focus can be achieved at the same position. Accordingly, the overall process of re-selecting the target object may waste time. It is preferable to cope with back and forth movement of the target object by simply moving the focusing lens to a lens position allowing the maximum focus evaluation value without re-selection of the object.

Method of automatic object detection in image


The signal combining device includes: a plurality of first filters to subject each of a plurality of reception signals to processing with first filter coefficients, the plurality of reception signals being generated by subjecting optical signals to coherent detection; a plurality of second filters to subject outputs of the first filters to processing with second filter coefficients; a combiner to output combined signals acquired by combining outputs of the second filters; and a controller to perform adaptive control for each of the first filter coefficients and each of the second filter coefficients with different step sizes in each other, so that the combined signals are in a predetermined state, based on the reception signals input to the first filters and the combined signals, and to switch an update state of a filter coefficient of each of the first filters, based on magnitudes of the second filter coefficients.

Along with rising expectations for utilization of earth observation data from a flying object such as an artificial satellite, it has become important to be a larger capacity of a communication system for transmitting the observation data to the earth. However, general microwave communication undergoes legal restrictions and physical constraints for wider broadband to a large extent, and there is a limit on the use of the microwave communication for increasing the capacity of the communication system. In view of this, optical space communication, which is capable of achieving a larger capacity without practically undergoing band constraints, has gained an attention. Further, by using light with a shorter wavelength and higher directivity than a microwave, reduction in size and weight of a transceiver can be expected.
Nowadays, in most cases, a high-speed optical receiver is a device for a single-mode fiber (SMF) transmission. Thus, in order to achieve high-speed optical space communication between an artificial satellite and the earth, it is required to couple an optical signal, which is transmitted from an artificial satellite or the like and is propagated through the atmosphere, to an SMF. However, a general SMF has a small core diameter of approximately 10 μm, and hence drastic fluctuation and degradation (i.e., fading) is caused to coupling efficiency of a beam to the SMF when the beam propagated in a space is affected by disturbance on a wave front caused by atmospheric fluctuation.
One of effective approaches to solve the fading caused by atmospheric fluctuation is a diversity reception scheme using a plurality of receivers. When it is assumed that optical signals being input to the receivers are affected independently from each other by the atmospheric fluctuation, fading of a combined signal can be avoided in respect of probability by selecting a most satisfactory reception signal from the plurality of receivers or, as a more general way, combining a plurality of reception signals.
FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of an optical space communication receiver 90 of a space diversity type, which is described in NPL 1. The optical space communication receiver 90 receives optical signals through use of three telescopes 91, and combines the reception signals by digital signal processing. The three telescopes 91 include coupling systems corresponding to three SMFs 92, respectively. Each of the optical signals coupled to the SMFs 92 are received by coherent receivers 93. The coherent receivers 93 generate reception signals by mixing the optical signals and output light of a local oscillator (LO) 94 and then performing photoelectric conversion. The reception signals are digitalized by analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) 95, and are combined by a signal processor 96.
It is assumed that each of the telescopes 91 is in a spread of a received light beam and that the three telescopes 91 are spatially so away from each other that it can be regarded as no correlation between influences of the atmospheric fluctuation, which are affected by light entering openings of the telescopes. In this case, a diversity effect relieves the influence of fading with respect to the combined signal.
FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of an optical space communication receiver 97 of a mode diversity type, which is described in NPL 2. In the optical space communication receiver 97, a light beam is concentrated to a few-mode fiber 98 having a plurality of propagation modes. A mode separator 99 separates optical signals, which are coupled to the plurality of propagation modes of the few-mode fiber 98, for each propagation mode, and causes the optical signals to be coupled to the SMFs 92. The light propagated through the SMFs 92 is guided to the coherent receivers 93. The reception signals output from the coherent receivers 93 are digitalized by the ADCs 95, and are combined by the signal processor 96.
As a method of combining a plurality of reception signals, selection combining, equal gain combining, and maximum ratio combining are known. The selection combining is a procedure of selecting a signal with best characteristics from a plurality of reception signals and outputting the signal as a result of combining. The maximum ratio combining is a procedure of arranging phases of a plurality of reception signals and outputting, as a result of combining, a total signal acquired by summing up the signals while weighting in accordance with the characteristics of the signals. A signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the combined signal is a sum of SNRs of the reception signals before the combining. As described in NPL 1, the equal gain combining is a procedure of arranging phases of a plurality of reception signals and then outputting, as a result of combining, a total signal of the signals with same weighting. The characteristics of the signal acquired by the equal gain combining is less satisfactory than the signal acquired by the maximum ratio combining, but the processing is more simple.
FIG. 11 is a block diagram illustrating a general configuration of the signal processor 96. The signal processor 96 subjects reception signals, which are received from three reception lines (reception branches), to maximum ratio combining by digital signal processing. A relative delay compensation unit 961 and a relative phase compensation unit 962 remove a relative delay and a relative phase among the plurality of reception signals, and arrange a timing and a phase of the reception signals. SNR estimation units 963 estimate SNR of each of the reception signals, and output SNR estimation results to a maximum ratio combining unit 964. The maximum ratio combining unit 964 performs maximum ratio combining of the reception signals having the arranged timing and phase, based on the SNR estimation results. An equalizing filter 965 and a carrier phase compensation unit 966 perform equalization processing and carrier phase compensation for the combined reception signal. In this manner, demodulation of the reception signal is completed.

Signal combining device and signal combining method


This invention relates generally to inhibitors of trypsin-like serine protease enzymes, especially factor Xa or thrombin, pharmaceutical compositions containing the same, and methods of using the same as anticoagulant agents for treatment and prevention of thromboembolic disorders.

This invention relates generally to inhibitors of trypsin-like serine protease enzymes, especially factor Xa or thrombin, pharmaceutical compositions containing the same, and methods of using the same as anticoagulant agents for treatment and prevention of thromboembolic disorders.
Activated factor Xa, whose major practical role is the generation of thrombin by the limited proteolysis of prothrombin, holds a central position that links the intrinsic and extrinsic activation mechanisms in the final common pathway of blood coagulation. The generation of thrombin, the final serine protease in the pathway to generate a fibrin clot, from its precursor is amplified by formation of prothrombinase complex (factor Xa, factor V, Ca2+ and phospholipid). Since it is calculated that one molecule of factor Xa can generate 138 molecules of thrombin (Elodi, S., Varadi, K.: Optimization of conditions for the catalytic effect of the factor IXa-factor VIII Complex: Probable role of the complex in the amplification of blood coagulation. Thromb. Res. 1979, 15, 617-629), inhibition of factor Xa may be more efficient than inactivation of thrombin in interrupting the blood coagulation system.
Therefore, efficacious and specific inhibitors of factor Xa, thrombin, or both are needed as potentially valuable therapeutic agents for the treatment of thromboembolic disorders. It is thus desirable to discover new factor Xa, thrombin, or both inhibitors.
Accordingly, one object of the present invention is to provide novel nitrogen containing aromatic heterocycles, with ortho-substituted P1 groups, which are useful as factor Xa inhibitors or pharmaceutically acceptable salts or prodrugs thereof.
It is another object of the present invention to provide pharmaceutical compositions comprising a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier and a therapeutically effective amount of at least one of the compounds of the present invention or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt or prodrug form thereof.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a method for treating thromboembolic disorders comprising administering to a host in need of such treatment a therapeutically effective amount of at least one of the compounds of the present invention or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt or prodrug form thereof.
It is another object of the present invention to provide novel compounds for use in therapy.
It is another object of the present invention to provide the use of novel compounds for the manufacture of a medicament for the treatment of thrombosis or a disease mediated by factor Xa.


One example system includes a lens disposed relative to a scene and configured to focus light from the scene. The system also includes an opaque material. The opaque material defines a plurality of apertures including a primary aperture and one or more secondary apertures. The system also includes one or more light detectors (e.g., a single element detector or an array of detectors) configured to intercept and detect diverging light focused by the lens and transmitted through at least one of the plurality of apertures defined by the opaque material.

Unless otherwise indicated herein, the materials described in this section are not prior art to the claims in this application and are not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
Light detectors, such as photodiodes, single photon avalanche diodes (SPADs), or other types of avalanche photodiodes (APDs), can be used to detect light that is imparted on their surfaces (e.g., by outputting an electrical signal, such as a voltage or a current, corresponding to an intensity of the light). Many types of such devices are fabricated out of semiconducting materials, such as silicon. In order to detect light over a substantial geometric area, multiple light detectors can be arranged into arrays connected in parallel. These arrays are sometimes referred to as silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs) or multi-pixel photon counters (MPPCs).


A marine telemetry system can comprise a central processing unit (CPU) with data processing and storage capacity. The system can further comprise sensors and/or other electronic accessories such as radars, fish finders, weather stations, etc. The system can be operated by a touch-screen display. The system can perform the measuring, indication, recording and/or integration of values from the many quantities that are possible to measure by such sensors and other electronic accessories comprising part of the system. The system can have the capacity of transmitting, receiving and communicating at a distance through broadband internet accessed via various access points. In this way the user can also gain access to the World Wide Web and use its many references and information to enhance the onboard boating experience.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to telemetry systems and more particularly, to marine telemetry systems used onboard boats when moored or at sea. The disclosed marine telemetry system is also related to the monitoring of key information about a boat, and for voice and data communication to and from a boat over a connection to the internet.
2. Description of the Related Art
The boating industry enjoys a wide array of boat users and encompasses an essential part of other industries such as the commercial fishing industry and the cruise line industry. Boating is also regularly enjoyed by personal users for both leisure and work activities. As a result of these differing economic and leisure uses, a large of variety boats of all sizes and configurations are produced annually.
In every case, the safe, proper, productive and enjoyable use of boats includes the gathering and processing of information. This information may be as simple as checking the weather reports for that day in the newspaper or on the radio. It may also include important information about the boat itself, such as the functioning of engines, pumps and electrical circuits. The information may be more complex and can include, for example, navigational aids, fish finders, global positioning system receivers and so on.
Often this information is not readily available. Even when the information is available it may not be easily gathered for consultation because the user has to obtain the information from differing sources in varied locations in the boat or otherwise. Lastly this information can be difficult to apply and review properly, especially if there is no record of historical or real time data.
Telemetry is the science and technology involved in the automatic measurement and transmission of data by wire, radio or other means from remote sources to receiving stations for recording and analysis. Telemetry has been used in various applications to gather and analyze data such as in spacecraft, and racecars.

Marine telemetry and two way communication system


The present disclosure relates to a field of humidifiers and in particular to an atomization humidifier that increases an amount of vapor through a specially designed atomizing air channel. The atomization humidifier includes a main body and an atomizing chamber arranged in the main body. The atomizing chamber includes an atomizing generator. An atomizing air channel is arranged on the atomizing generator. A flow guide plate is obliquely arranged on a top end of the atomizing air channel. A water inlet is arranged on an upper end of the atomizing air channel. An opening of the water inlet is upward. A lower end of the atomizing air channel is an air guide tube with hollow vacancies. The atomization humidifier realizes water vapor concentration by setting the atomizing air channel arranged on the atomizing generator, which improves an atomizing efficiency of the atomization humidifier by optimized structure, and is low in cost and good in atomizing effect.

Humidification products, currently on the market, are limited by technology and cost of an atomizing sheet, and it is difficult for an amount of vapor to satisfy the user's experience. In order to increase the amount of vapor, designers often use methods, such as increasing power consumption of the atomizing sheet and increasing air volume of a fan. However, these methods greatly increase production costs and use costs. In terms of structural design, most of humidifiers allow the vapor to diffuse in a water tank and the vapor is carried out through air convection. However, due to the confined space, a part of the vapor cannot be released from the water tank, which reduces atomization efficiency.

SHENZHEN QIANHAI PATUOXUN NETWORK AND TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.


A mould and method for the injection-moulding of an assembly for creating a closable fluid connection, and an assembly. The assembly comprises a female element (20) and a stopper (30) which is used to close off a bore (27) in the female element (20). The mould comprises a core with a core (2) with a core body (3) and a head (4). Furthermore, the mould comprises a mould ring which is composed of a plurality of mould parts (10, 11) are designed in such a manner that the mould cavity for the stopper (30), is located at a distance from the mould cavity for the female element (20). The mould parts (10, 11) of the mould ring which lie around the core (2) together delimit an annular sealing surface (15), by means of which the mould ring, in a zone between the mould cavity for the stopper (30) and the mould cavity for the female element (20), bears in a sealing manner against the core (2) during the injection moulding, so that the mould cavities are completely separated from one another.

A mould for the injection-moulding of an assembly of the above-mentioned type for creating a closable fluid connection is known, for example, from NL 1012020. In this known mould, it is provided that the mould cavity for the stopper is in communication, via a narrow annular gap, with the mould cavity for the female element, so that during injection moulding an integral film joint is formed between the two components of the assembly.
Furthermore, in the known mould it is provided that the plastics material is injected via a first runner which opens out in the mould cavity for the stopper. The plastics material then passes into the mould cavity for the female element via the narrow annular gap.
After the assembly has cooled, in the known mould the mould parts which form the mould ring are moved apart, and then the core is pulled out. In the process, the stopper becomes clamped onto the head of the core, and as a result the integral film joint between the stopper and the female element tears and the stopper moves into the seat of the female element. Then, the head of the core is uncoupled from the stopper, and the assembly, which is now in its closed state, can be ejected from the mould.
WO 99/05446 has disclosed an assembly for creating a closable fluid connection in which the stopper is integral, via flexible arms, with the female element. The injection mould used has a core with a head which defines the interior of the stopper and with a core body which defines the bore in the female element. Furthermore, the mould has a mould ring, which is composed of two mould parts, with a parting plane in the plane of the arms. These mould parts, together with the core, form a single mould cavity for the female element, the stopper and the flexible arms. The stopper becomes clamped onto the head of the core and can be pulled into the seat in the female element as a result of the core being pulled out.
WO 93/07084 has disclosed an assembly in which the female element is designed to be secured in the neck of a dimensionally stable vessel, in particular a water tank. In this case, the stopper and the female element are produced in separate injection moulds and are assembled subsequently.
The fluid may be any type of flowing material, such as a liquid, a fluid substance, a gas, a (fine) powder, etc. Therefore, assemblies of this type have a wide range of applications. For this reason, the assemblies are generally produced in very large numbers, and consequently the cost price has to be as low as possible.
WO 99/05446 has also disclosed an assembly in which the stopper is provided, on the side which faces the female element, with elastic hook members, each hook member having both an inwardly directed hook surface and an outwardly directed hook surface.
The bore in the female element forms an annular shoulder, behind which the outwardly directed hook surfaces engage when the stopper is in its seat. The inwardly directed hook surfaces can engage on a shoulder of a male element which is to be fitted into the bore and the stopper.

Assembly for a closable fluid connection


The present invention is related to a compound helicopter with a main rotor providing lift, a pair of additional propulsion devices providing thrust and anti-torque and a fixed wing structure on each side providing additional lift during horizontal cruise flight. The propulsion devices are arranged at each side of a fuselage body with two tail booms, one arranged at each side of the fuselage body, each of both tail booms having one of both propulsion devices arranged at its boom rear end. Each of the two tail booms houses an engine and a drive shaft driving the corresponding propulsion device.

(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a compound helicopter with a pair of tail booms on the basis of a compound helicopter featuring vertical take-off and thrust capabilities and more specifically, the invention relates to a compound helicopter with a pair of tail booms on the basis of a compound helicopter with a main rotor providing lift during vertical and forward cruise flight operations, a pair of fixed main wings and a pair of additional propulsive devices for lift and thrust during forward cruise flight.
(2) Description of Related Art
The dominant helicopter configuration in the present time is based on Sikorsky's basic design with a main rotor and an auxiliary tail rotor to counter torque. Said conventional helicopters show excellent hover capabilities but suffer from important limitations in terms of horizontal flight speed. These limitations are associated to two aerodynamic phenomena at the main rotor: the retreating blade stall and the maximum blade tip velocity. In general terms, the lift and thrust force capabilities of a helicopter's main rotor decrease with increasing forward speed.
Regarding the increasing demand for aircrafts with vertical take-off capabilities and high-speed and/or high-range capabilities, numerous attempts have been done to combine the efficiency and performance of fixed-wing aircrafts in forward flight and the advantageous hover and vertical take-off capabilities of conventional helicopters. These attempts have been translated in a wide and diverse variety of aircraft configurations. Compound helicopters and convertiplanes are basically the most relevant concepts aiming to overcome the horizontal flight deficiencies of pure helicopters by introducing attributes of fixed-wing aircrafts to helicopters. However, said concepts represent a compromise between conventional helicopters and fixed-wing aircrafts. Said concepts have always to be conveniently adapted to the planned aircraft's mission profile.
Compound helicopters are characterized by a lift compounding, a thrust compounding or by a combination of both and basically aim to off-load the rotor from its simultaneous lifting and propulsive duties to allow for higher forward speeds.
A lift compounding entails adding wings to a pure helicopter hence enabling to increase the load factor of the helicopter and to reach a higher maneuverability. This improves the efficiency of the helicopter at moderately high speeds but at the expense of reduced efficiencies at lower forward speeds and in the hover.
A thrust compound implies the addition of auxiliary propulsion devices to helicopters. This has been typically accomplished either by means of a single or a pair of propellers being driven by driveshafts powered by the main turboshaft engines or by the use of additional engines.
A more extended configuration of a compound helicopter includes both the addition of wings and propulsion units. The lift during cruise is simultaneously provided by the main rotor—in powered condition or in autorotation modus—and wings. The compound helicopter hence overcomes the rotor lift limits by means of the wings and the rotor thrust limits by means of the propellers. As a result, the benefit of a higher load factor is obtained along with potential for higher speed. The use of a pair of thrust propellers enables for a simultaneous torque correction.
A wide variety of said compound architectures have been proposed and some of them developed to a more or less level of maturity but never reaching serial production. A typical configuration with two wing-mounted propellers is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,105,659, US 2009/0321554 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,513,752. The propulsion device can be a single nose-mounted propeller as disclosed in US 2005/0151001 or a single rear-mounted propeller as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,241,791, CA 2316418. All said typical configurations feature a pair of main wings located below the main rotor.
A compound helicopter based on a tandem wing configuration, meaning the arrangement of a pair of wings on both of the helicopter's front end and aft end, has been proposed in US 2011/0114798, the propulsion devices being arranged on the front wings. This configuration is characterized by propulsion propellers operating in the turbulent downwash from the main rotor which results to a reduced efficiency and increase noise generation. The location of unducted wing-mounted propellers in the cabin area leads furthermore to serious penalties in terms of passenger safety. In case of a blade separation, the blade has to be retained by additional structural features to avoid a cabin penetration which additionally increase the structural weight. Open rotors being placed close to the doors represent further serious safety penalties during boarding and increase the noise exposure in the cabin.
Typically, the architecture of the aforementioned helicopters with a single main rotor features a main body comprising the cabin, the main rotor and the powerplant with engines, gear box and transmission being placed somewhere on top of the main body above the cabin. The center of gravity is located close to the rotor mast. Since the distribution of payload, passengers and fuel influence the mass distribution and the balance of the helicopter, special care has to be paid to maintain its location within specific limits.
The document U.S. Pat. No. 4,589,611 A discloses a high wing, twin jet gyrodyne having air jet reaction, contrarotating rotors powered with bypass air from twin turbofan engines. Tail pipes from the turbofan engines are disposed parallel to and at opposite sides of a longitudinal duct for discharging bypass air rearwardly. Control valve means can control supply of bypass air selectively to the hollow rotor mast for driving the rotors and to the longitudinal air discharge duct. The aft portions of the tail pipes and of the air discharge duct are connected by a horizontal stabilizer and rudders are located in the slipstream discharged from the tail pipes and the air discharge duct. The wings have drop tip sections providing flotation outriggers in their downwardly projecting positions.
The document U.S. Pat. No. 3,448,946 A discloses a compound helicopter with a pair of tail booms, said compound helicopter comprising a fuselage with a cabin inside, a rear end and a front end. A longitudinal roll axis extends through the rear end and the front end, said roll axis and a pitch axis transversal to said roll axis defining an essentially horizontal plane (X, Y). Said pair of tail booms are longitudinal structures arranged respectively symmetric to opposed sides of the fuselage in the essentially horizontal plane (X, Y) and said tail booms are interconnected with each other at their respective aft ends by means of a horizontal tail plane. Said compound helicopter of the state of the art further comprises a power plant and drive lines. A main rotor is mounted onto the fuselage and driven by said power plant via said drive lines. One pair of fixed main wings is attached to the opposed sides on top of the fuselage in the essentially horizontal plane (X, Y). Two propulsive devices provide thrust and anti-torque. The tail booms are attached to the wing structure and parallel to the longitudinal fuselage axis. Or the tail booms are attached to the fuselage body and sections of the axis of the tail booms are slightly slanted. The propulsion device of said compound architecture is attached to the aft end of the fuselage. Despite the advantage of having undisturbed wings, this propulsion device does not allow for anti-torque capabilities, hence still requiring an additional tail rotor since a configuration with a single fixed pusher propeller, mounted at the aft end of the fuselage is not capable to provide anti-torque.
The document U.S. Pat. No. 3,409,248 A discloses an aircraft with two rotors carrying a wing.
The document U.S. Pat. No. 5,873,545 A discloses a combined flying machine with a fuselage in the form of a central thick wing with a vertical open tunnel, in which there is mounted a lifting rotor. Said machine is also provided with outboard wings and a tail unit. The machine is equipped with a landing device on an air cushion that surrounds an outlet from the tunnel. A power plant of said flying machine comprises two engine modules, disposed from two sides of the tunnel and connected with the lifting rotor and the propulsion propellers. The area of the tunnel cross-section in the plane of the lifting rotor rotation amounts to 0.3 to 0.8 of the area of the landing device air cushion, which ensures a safe landing of the flying machine on an unprepared landing site even with a failure of one of the engine modules.


A clamping coupling for fixing of bone screws or pins, and connecting these bone screws or pins to an external fixator, includes an additional transverse clamping coupling to achieve better external-fixator anchorage when fractures extend up into the joint (condyle) of the femur. A selectively adjustable asymmetric arrangement permits fixed settings parallel to the longitudinal axis of the femur, while a lateral offset takes into account the natural lateral offset of the centerline of the condyle of the femur with respect to the longitudinal axis of the femur.

The invention relates to orthopedic-fixation devices and in particular to a clamping coupling for a fixator of the nature disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,312,339 (now Reissue Pat. No. Re. 31,809).
Said patent discloses an external fixator having a central body part with clamping means at each of the respective ends of the body part. Each of the clamping means is developed (1) to receive and fix in place bone screws or pins and (2) to detachably achieve a ball-joint connection to the central body part, via a bayonet lock or via a threaded lock. In this way, the bone screws are connected to the central body part of the fixator.
In fractures which extend into the end of a bone, for example, into the condyle or joint end of a femur, clamping couplings of existing construction present difficulties in respect of obtaining sufficient assurance of fixation at the condyle region.

Clamping coupling for an external fixator


A housing that defines a high vacuum work environment includes a monolithic member that has one side having a baffle region and a wall region. The baffle region includes at least one angularly contoured evacuation opening that forms a zig-zag flow path from the high vacuum work environment. In the preferred embodiment, each evacuation opening has a chevron-shaped cross section having an outer channel portion that is defined by baffle fins that are parallel or substantially parallel to each other, but at an acute angle relative to the side of the monolithic member. The wall region includes convection cooling fins that are aligned with the baffle fins.

Mechanical pumps are used in a wide variety of applications for reducing pressure in an enclosed region to approximately 10 milliTorr. However, in some vacuum applications, further reductions in pressure are required. U.S. Pat. No. 4,086,031 to Kuypers, which is assigned to the assignee of the present invention, notes that some analytical instruments, such as gas chromatograph/mass spectrometer instruments, require evacuated environments that exceed the capability of known mechanical pumps. Consequently, a diffusion pump is combined with a mechanical pump to provide a "high-vacuum environment," i.e., a pressure below 10.sup.-4 Torr.
For high vacuum applications, the mechanical pump acts as a "roughing pump" to remove the bulk of the air from a vacuum chamber. A rotating vane, positive displacement pump may be utilized. The diffusion pump then provides further evacuation, with the mechanical pump operating to maintain the backing pressure for the diffusion pump. The conventional diffusion pump operates by use of high speed jets of oil vapor which collide with gas molecules that enter from a vacuum chamber positioned above the diffusion pump. A pool of oil at the bottom of the diffusion pump is rapidly heated to vaporize the oil. A jet of vapor is directed upwardly through a chimney-like assembly and then downwardly and outwardly through one or more nozzles to provide umbrella vapor jets. Air molecules that are struck by the working vapor are pushed downwardly to a region in which the mechanical pump can remove the gas molecules. Thus, the gas molecules are removed by kinetic energy transfer. While the gas molecules are removed, the oil molecules condense on the cooled walls of the diffusion pump. Cooling can be accomplished by directing a flow of air across the exterior walls of the pump or by applying a liquid coolant. The condensed oil molecules are directed back to the pool of oil by gravity return, where re-vaporization allows a continuous cycle of operation.
While oil vapor diffusion pumps have been used to provide low-cost, high-vacuum pumping capability in such applications as scientific instrumentation and production process equipment, these pumps are susceptible to "backstreamed" oil. As previously noted, a diffusion pump may include more than one umbrella, i.e. stage, of supersonic vapor. Oil vapor from the uppermost stage is most susceptible to being undesirably introduced into the vacuum chamber or manifold that is mounted above the diffusion pump.
There are a number of causes of backstreaming. First, collisions between the pumping vapor molecules and the pumped gas molecules invariably project unwanted pumping vapor molecules in an upward direction toward the vacuum chamber or manifold. This effect potentially introduces contamination into the vacuum region and impedes the level of vacuum that can be obtained.
Another major cause of backstreaming is re-evaporation of oil molecules that condense on the walls and/or nozzle surfaces of the diffusion pump, with the re-evaporated molecules being directed toward the vacuum chamber or manifold. While the condensing walls of the pump are cooled to some extent, evaporation does occur.
Backstreaming may also result during startup/shutdown sequences of the diffusion pump system, since the normally supersonic jetstreams collapse and become subsonic. The subsonic streams are more likely to lose molecules to the region that is to be evacuated, than are supersonic streams.
In order to control backstreaming, baffles are mounted between the diffusion pump and the vacuum housing, i.e. the vacuum chamber or manifold. For example, an air-cooled or water-cooled chevron baffle may be introduced between the two components. Such baffles are sometimes referred to as "optically opaque," i.e. a vapor molecule from the diffusion pump is prevented from following a straight-line trajectory into the vacuum housing. Any backstreaming molecules that follow a straight-line trajectory will instead impinge on or collide with a cooled surface of the baffle, condense, and return to the diffusion pump. A chevron baffle is one in which the cross section of a flow path through the baffle has the configuration of a chevron.
What is needed is an apparatus and system that provide an efficient and inexpensive approach to retarding backstreaming from a diffusion pump to a region that is to be evacuated.

Monolithic high vacuum housing with vapor baffle and cooling fins


A set of three-dimensional structures and devices may be wired together to perform a wide variety of circuit functions such as SRAMs, DRAMs, ROMs and PLAs. Both N-Channel and P-Channel transistors can be made. The P-channel devices are fabricated conventionally in separate N-wells or, alternatively, they are constructed in a like manner to the array N-channel devices. N and P diffused wire can be electrically joined at polysilicon contacts.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to semiconductor devices, methods for their fabrication and, more particularly, to three-dimensional semiconductor device structures and methods of providing sub-micron device structures.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The technology of producing semiconductor devices having greater and greater densities has advanced to the sub-micron realm of structural dimensions and is now approaching physical limits in the nanometer (nm) feature size range. In the foreseeable future, absolute atomic physical limits will be reached in the conventional two-dimensional approach to semiconductor device design used to produce Very Large Scale Integrated (VLSI) circuits. Traditionally, Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM) designers have faced the severest of challenges in advancing the technology. For example, designers of 64K DRAMs were confronted with the fact that a practical physical limit to charge capacity of storage capacitors had already been reached due to the minimum charge necessary to sense signals in the presence of environmental particulate radiation inherently present in fabrication materials. Storage capacitors in the range of 50 femto Farads (fF or 10.sup.-15 Farads) are now considered to be a physical limit. From a practical view, this limitation prevented the scaling of DRAM capacitors. Reduction of the surface area of a semiconductor substrate utilized by the storage capacitor has been severely restricted. Due to decreases in the thickness of capacitor materials, existing one Megabit (1 Mb) DRAM technologies continue to enjoy a freedom of planar device in circuit design. However, beginning with 4 Mb DRAMs the world of three-dimensional design has been explored to the extent that the simple single device/capacitor memory cell has been altered to provide the capacitor in the vertical dimension. In such designs, the capacitor has been formed in a trench in the surface of the semiconductor substrate. In yet denser designs, other forms of capacitor designs are proposed, such as stacking the capacitor above the transfer device. Additional designs have been proposed in which the device and its associated capacitor are formed within a trench of preferably minimum dimension.
While such design approaches appear to allow progressive increases in density in the near future, they are constrained by the limit of one memory cell per minimum photolithographic dimension. If semiconductor technology is to be extendable, design and process techniques are required which will enable true three-dimensional circuit design in which structural features are measured in nm and multiple circuit features are provided in the vertical dimension.

Three dimensional integrated device and circuit structures

International Business Machines Corporation


A liquid discharge head comprising a liquid discharge substrate in which a first liquid supply port being a penetration port for supplying a liquid is formed and is provided with a first electrode receiving electric energy for discharging the liquid on a surface thereof on one side, a supporting member which is opposed to the first electrode and a second liquid supply port being a penetration port for supplying the liquid is formed to communicate with the first liquid supply port, the supporting member provided with a second electrode for transmitting the electric energy to the first electrode on a surface opposed to the first electrode, and a conductive first intermediate member abutting with both of the first electrode and the second electrode to electrically connect the first electrode and the second electrode, wherein an abutting surface of the first intermediate member abutting with the first electrode is flattened.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid discharge head discharging a liquid and a manufacturing method thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
As a widely spread liquid discharge head in recent years, there has been an ink-jet head. As for an ink-jet printing apparatus mounting the ink-jet head, because the price thereof has lowered in recent years, it has become a problem how to manufacture the ink-jet head at an inexpensive price. For that sake, the miniaturization of the liquid discharge substrate is especially effective. For example, because, if the liquid discharge substrate is miniaturized, the realized number of recording device substrates as the liquid discharge substrates out of a silicon wafer increases, the cost reduction of the ink-jet head, the liquid discharge head, can be attained. Because the length of the recording device substrate in the lengthwise direction thereof is tending to extend (an ink discharge port row length increase) with the recent speeding-up of image recording, it is desirable to reduce the width of the recording device substrate in order to increase the realized number of the recording device substrates in the miniaturization thereof.
In a conventional ink-jet head, the recording device substrate is fixated on a supporting member, and the electrode of an electric wiring member is joined to the electrodes formed on the surface on the side of the recording device substrate on which side the ink discharge ports are formed. The joining portion is then sealed with a resin. However, because the electrodes of the recording device substrate are provided along the width direction of the recording device substrate, many electrodes concentrate if the width of the recording device substrate is reduced, and there is the possibility of making it difficult to connect the electric wiring member to the electrodes.
The technology of providing the electrodes on both surfaces of the recording device substrate and connecting these electrodes on both surfaces electrically through internal wiring in order to cope with the problem is described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2006-027108.
FIGS. 10A and 10B are schematic sectional views illustrating an example of an ink-jet head of the type that provides such electrodes on the back surface side of the recording device substrate. FIG. 10A is a schematic view of the recording device substrate viewed from the side of the surface on which discharge ports are opened (discharge port opening surface), and FIG. 10B is a schematic sectional view taken along a line 10B-10B of FIG. 10A.
Penetrating electrodes 12 penetrating a liquid discharge substrate 11 and ink supply ports 13 supplying ink from the back surface side to the front surface side of the liquid discharge substrate 11 are formed in the liquid discharge substrate 11. Heating resistors 15 generating energy for discharging ink from discharge ports 14 and electrodes 16 electrically connecting the heating resistors 15 and the penetrating electrodes 12 with each other are formed on the surface of the liquid discharge substrate 11. The ink supplied from the ink supply ports 13 reaches the discharge ports 14 through liquid paths 18 formed in the inside of an orifice formation member 17. The ink is given thermal energy from heating resistors 15 provided on the way to the liquid paths 18.
In such a case of attaining the electric conduction with the outside of a substrate using the electrodes penetrating the miniaturized liquid discharge substrate and the electrodes formed on the back surface of the substrate, a supporting member supporting the liquid discharge substrate to supply electric energy as well as ink is needed. As what can be applied as such a supporting member, there exists a substrate 61 described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-086742, as illustrated in FIG. 11. The substrate 61 is formed of a plurality of layers 64 such as green sheets, and dies 60 of print heads on the surface of the substrate 61 with mounting layers 65 put between the dies 60 and the surface. In the substrate 61, ink flow paths 63 and conduction paths 69 are formed through the plurality of layers 64. I/O pads 66, which are ends of the conduction paths 69 of one side, are provided on the top surface 62 of the substrate 61. The dies 60 are electrically connected to the I/O pads 66 with lead wires 68 for wire boding.
Now, it is known that the problem that is not suggested by the Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-086742 mentioned above is caused when a liquid discharge head achieving conduction between the back surface of a liquid discharge substrate and the front surface of a supporting member supporting the liquid discharge substrate using penetrating electrodes is considered. That is, because the dies 60 are mounted on the flattened front surface of the mounting layers 64 and electric conduction is realized by the wire bonding connections of the lead wires 68 to the I/O pads 66 of the top surface 62 of the substrate 61, the electric connection has no problem even if the top surface 62 has a somewhat irregular form.
However, if the liquid discharge substrate is miniaturized, electric connection by wire bonding is difficult to a certain number of terminals or more. Furthermore, if a liquid discharge substrate including penetrating electrodes as illustrated in FIG. 10B is mounted on a laminated supporting member such as the substrate 61, then the flatness around the ink supply ports of the front surface of the laminated supporting member becomes a problem. In particular, the ink supply ports of the miniaturized liquid discharge substrate and the electric connection structure are in a very near positional relationship, and consequently the influence of the force operating at the time of opening the ink supply ports on the irregularities of the front surface of the laminated supporting member becomes a large problem for the electric connection portions for which certain connection is required.

Liquid discharge head and manufacturing method thereof


A refrigeration cycle device includes a compressor, a condenser, a first decompressor, an outside heat exchanger, and an evaporator. A predetermined part of a refrigerant passage from the condenser to the first decompressor through which the refrigerant flows is a condenser outlet portion. A predetermined part of a refrigerant passage from the first decompressor to the outside heat exchanger through which the refrigerant flows is an outside heat exchanger inlet portion. A predetermined part of a refrigerant passage from the outside heat exchanger to the second decompressor through which the refrigerant flows is an outside heat exchanger outlet portion. A volume capacity of the condenser outlet portion is larger than a volume capacity of the outside heat exchanger inlet portion. According to the refrigeration cycle device, preferable coefficient of performance of cycle can be achieved in different operation modes.

A refrigeration cycle device is known, in which a compressor, a condenser, a first expansion valve, an outside heat exchanger, a second expansion valve, and an evaporator are connected in series.
In this refrigeration cycle device, a cooling mode and a heating mode are switched by adjusting an opening degree of the first expansion valve and the second expansion valve, for example.
In the cooling mode, the gas-phase refrigerant is condensed in the outside heat exchanger to be the liquid-phase refrigerant, and the liquid-phase refrigerant is evaporated in the evaporator to be the gas-phase refrigerant. In the heating mode, the gas-phase refrigerant is condensed in the condenser to be the liquid-phase refrigerant, and the liquid-phase refrigerant is evaporated in the outside heat exchanger to be the gas-phase refrigerant.


A method of producing a semiconductor module arrangement includes providing a first subassembly having a number N1 of first adjustment openings, a second subassembly having a number N2 of second adjustment openings and a third subassembly having a plurality of adjustment pins which are fixedly connected to one another, the first subassembly, the second subassembly and the third subassembly being independent of one another and not connected to one another. The first subassembly, the second subassembly and the third subassembly are arranged relative to one another in such a way that each of the adjustment pins engages into one of the first adjustment openings and/or into one of the second adjustment openings.

When fitting semiconductor modules, it is usually necessary to fit several subassemblies to one another. In the process, a very wide variety of tolerances can occur, for example when fitting holes are larger than fastening screws. If three or more subassemblies of a semiconductor module arrangement are fitted to one another, the individual assembly tolerances can add up. This can lead to fitting of further subassemblies being more difficult.

Method for producing a semiconductor module arrangement


A wireless sound equipment including a band having elasticity, a housing provided at both ends of the band, the housing having a receiver holder formed in one end, a receiver coupled/decoupled to/from the receiver holder, a printed circuit board provided in the housing, a rotary member provided in the housing and an audio cable having one end connected to the rotary member and the other end connected to the receiver is provided. The rotary member includes an audio substrate connected to the printed circuit board and having a circular connecting terminal and an audio brush connected to the one end of the audio cable to transmit a signal transmitted from the printed circuit board to the audio cable while moving over the circular connecting terminal of the printed circuit board.

Field of the Disclosure
Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to a wireless sound equipment configured to receive an audio signal from a terminal and to transmit a control signal for controlling the terminal via wireless communication with the terminal.
Discussion of the Related Art
A sound equipment means an audio device which can receive an audio signal from a terminal and transmit audio information collected via a microphone to the terminal. Conventionally, a wire type sound equipment is used which connects a terminal of a sound equipment to an ear jack of a terminal to receive an audio signal. Recently, there are increasing demands for a wireless communication type wireless sound equipment in an aspect of mobility and user convenience.
A wireless sound equipment having a design considering mobility is under development such as a headphone type wireless sound equipment, an ear wearable type wireless sound equipment and an ear inserting type wireless sound equipment. The headphone type is band-shaped to be worn on a user's head such that a user can carry it easily.
Recently, there are increasing demands for a wireless sound equipment having a band to be wearable on a user's neck to allow a user to carry easily even in case a receiver is not worn on a user's ear.
There are needs for a wireless sound equipment having an easy operation and an exterior design which forms a great part, because it is worn on a user's neck even if not used.


A silver halide color photographicmaterial capable of providing an excellent rapid processing property and sharpness as well as forming little stain on a background after processing. The silver halide color photographic light-sensitive material comprises a reflection support provided thereon at least one of each of yellow color developing silver halide emulsion layer, magenta color developing silver halide emulsion layer and cyan color developing silver halide emulsion layer, wherein the spectral sensitivity peaks of the emulsion layers reside in 400 to 490 nm, 530 to 570 nm and 660 to 720 nm, respectively; wherein a silver halide emulsion contained in the cyan color developing silver halide emulsion layer comprises silver halide emulsion comprising silver halide selected from silver chloride, silver bromochloride, silver chloroiodide or silver bromochloroiodide each having an average silver chloride content of 90 mol % or more, and at least one thiocyanic acid salt compound and wherein the spectral sensitivity peak of the cyan color developing silver halide emulsion layer is provided by a J-band absorption of a sensitizing dye represented by the following Formula (I): ##STR1## wherein Z.sub.23 and Z.sub.24 each represent a group of atoms necessary to form a heterocyclic nucleus selected from a benzothiazole nucleus, a benzoselenazole nucleus, a naphthothiazole nucleus and a naphthoselenazole nucleus, each of which may have at least one substituent selected from a halogen atom, an alkyl group, an alkoxy group, an aryl group, and a hydroxyl group, provided that two of the substituents may be combined with each other to form a ring; R.sub.25 represents a hydrogen atom, an alkyl group or an aryl group; R.sub.23 and R.sub.24 each represent a substituted or unsubstituted alkyl group; X.sub.21 represents a counter ion; and n.sub.21 is 0 or 1.

Commercially available silver halide color photographic materials and associated image forming methods therewith have diverse applications over a wide range of technologies. The capabilities required from these known light-sensitive materials are varied according to the respective applications of the light-sensitive materials, and one such capability is a high density recording property. In order to demonstrate a satisfactory high density recording property in a silver halide color photographic material, high sharpness must be provided. Accordingly, various conventional techniques for increasing the sharpness have been developed and implemented according to the degree of the sharpness requirement for the respective light-sensitive materials.
It is known that halation causes a lowering in sharpness in a light-sensitive material. Two causes of such halation primarily originate from a reflection of incident light at an interface between an emulsion layer and a support or a support and air, and inadvertent irradiation from scattered light attributable to the silver halide grains themselves.
It has been found effective to prevent such deterioration of sharpness by halation to provide a layer containing a white pigment on a support, such as described in, for example, JP-B-58-43734 (the term "JP-B" as used herein means an examined Japanese patent publication), and JP-A-58-17433 (the term "JP-A" as used herein means an unexamined published Japanese patent application), JP-A-58-14830 and JP-A-61-259246. However, problems have been encountered in that the incorporation of white pigment to such an extent as needed to sufficiently improve or preserve optimal sharpness deteriorates the physical strength of the pigment containing layer against so-called folding and that it thus becomes difficult to maintain the smoothness of the layer containing white pigment.
Further, other known methods for improving sharpness include coloring a component layer of a photographic material with a dye, which is described in, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,548,564 and 3,625,694, JP-A-56-12639 and JP-A-63-197943, European Patent 0337490A2, and JP-A-1-188850. However, it has been found that the increase in content of a dye used for improving sharpness increases white background stain after processing, which makes it impossible to increase an added amount of a dye to such an extent as needed so that the sharpness is sufficiently improved. Stain of a background in a silver halide color photographic material is not commercially acceptable since it not only affects the quality of the background of an image but it also causes color stain in a color image and deteriorates visual sharpness. Particularly, in the case of a reflection type light-sensitive material, the presence of stain is a very important consideration since a reflection density of the stain is theoretically magnified several times by the magnitude of the transmission density and, therefore, even slight stain noticeably deteriorates an image quality.
Meanwhile, a characteristic ever-increasingly required for silver halide color photographic material is amenability to more rapid processing. It is conventionally thought that the silver chloride content of an emulsion is increased for the purpose of improving a rapid processing property. The methods in which an emulsion having a high silver chloride content is used are widely described in, for example, JP-A-58-95345, JP-A-59-232342 and JP-A-60-19140. Also, in the commercial market, emulsions used in color photographic paper are actually going toward and adopting the usage of a higher silver chloride content. A specific absorption range of this high silver chloride emulsion resides in a short wavelength range and has to be subjected to a spectral sensitization in order to absorb a visible ray of a longer wavelength and/or an infrared ray as well for sensitization.
In such a high silver chloride emulsion, however, the problem arises that even if one tries to subject the emulsion to a spectral sensitization with a sensitizing dye ordinarily used for a silver halide emulsion primarily comprising silver bromide, that it is generally difficult to sensitize only to a ray of a specific wavelength.
In efforts to solve this problem, it has already been discovered by the present inventors that a rapid processing property and a sharpness of a silver halide color photographic material can be improved by providing a spectral sensitization with a spectral sensitizing dye which forms a J-aggregate in a high silver chloride emulsion to particularly establish an absorption peak of a certain long wavelength ray in a red spectral sensitization wavelength region (such the absorption peak provided by J-aggregate is called J-band). Meanwhile, it was necessary to develop a technique capable of treating a spectral sensitizing dye added to a high silver chloride emulsion so as to more effectively form the J-aggregate.

Silver halide color photographic material


A printed circuit board to support an integrated circuit and provide thermal dissipation. A layer of thermally conductive material is disposed between lower and upper dielectric layers. Above this structure is disposed another layer of thermally conductive material to be thermally coupled to an integrated circuit. A thermal via couples the two layers of thermally conductive material to each other.

Computer systems and other electronic components typically contain one or more integrated circuits (ICs). High-speed ICs that consume a lot of power (on the order of a few Watts or more), such as, for example, processors and chipsets, require that the heat generated by the IC be conducted away from the IC and dissipated. If the heat generated by the IC is not removed, performance of the IC is degraded. In some cases, an IC can become so hot that it will actually destroy itself, causing the computer system to stop functioning. Therefore, it is necessary to design heat removal systems into computer systems that use high-speed ICs.
A heat removal system typically comprises some mechanism to transfer heat from the IC and to dissipate the heat to the ambient environment. Transferring heat from the IC is done using a thermally conductive material, such as copper or aluminum, thermally coupled to the IC. The heat is then dissipated by either increasing the surface area for the heat to dissipate from, increasing air flow (or liquid flow) across a heated surface, or both. Some heat sinks include fins and heat spreader plates that increase heat dissipation surface area. Other heat sinks use a fan to blow air across a surface.
ICs in a computer system are mounted on one or more printed circuit boards (PCBs) that provide a durable substrate base for the ICs. One important feature of a PCB is that the PCB includes electrical interconnects printed onto one or more surfaces of the PCB. These electrical interconnects are coupled to the ICs mounted on the PCB. The electrical interconnects are designed to electrically couple various lCs together in a useful manner on the PCB.
Some PCBs include multiple layers of electrical interconnects, called signal layers. These multiple signal layers increase the degree of integration of the PCB by allowing signals to be routed across electrical interconnects that pass under or over other ICs or electrical interconnects of the PCB rather than around them. For example, a PCB may have signal layers formed on both the top and bottom of the PCB substrate. This effectively doubles the available PCB area for mounting lCs and other components as compared to a PCB that only has a signal layer on one side of the substrate. Signal layers are also formed within the PCB substrate, between the upper and lower PCB surfaces.
Interspersed between these signal layers are ground and power planes, each separated by a dielectric material typically comprising fiberglass. lCs and other components coupled to the PCB tap their ground and power sources from the ground and power planes within the PCB.
Unfortunately, the need to thermally dissipate heat generated by lCs mounted to one side of a PCB can have the effect of limiting the available electrical interconnect space on the opposite side of the PCB. This is because through-holes are made through the PCB to thermally couple an IC mounted on top of a PCB to a heat sink mounted directly beneath the IC on the bottom of the PCB. The through-holes and heat sink prevent electrical interconnects of the signal layer printed on the bottom of the PCB from crossing through this region. In addition, ground planes, power planes, and electrical interconnects of signal layers formed within the PCB, between the upper and lower PCB surfaces, must be routed around the through-holes formed through the PCB. As a result, the size of the PCB increases to accommodate the re-routing of the electrical interconnects. This increases the manufacturing cost, increases the size of the electronic component containing the PCB, and decreases the desirability of the final product to the consumer.

Printed circuit board that provides improved thermal dissipation


The present invention provides antithrombotic agents useful for the management of cardiovascular disease. The agents of the subject invention are novel cyclic peptides encompassed by the following formula: EQU Y-X.sub.1 -X.sub.2 -G-D-X.sub.3 -X.sub.4 -X.sub.5 -Z. (SEQ ID NO. 1). In the above formula, X.sub.2 and X.sub.3 are independently a hydrophobic amino acid and X.sub.4 is a positively charged amino acid. The X.sub.1 and X.sub.5 substituents are independently zero to five amino acids. The amino and carboxy terminal amino acids of a given peptide can be modified according to the substituents Y and Z, respectively. The peptides are cyclized through a bridge between the two amino acids with the peptide, excluding G, D and X.sub.3 in the formation of the bridge. Peptides encompassed by the above formula can be administered in a suitable physiologically acceptable carrier to therapeutically treat thrombosis and conditions resulting from the development of thrombi. Unexpectedly, the above-described agents have a higher apparent affinity for GP-IIb/IIIa at low calcium concentration, which is typical at the site of a clot, as compared to at higher calcium concentration found elsewhere throughout the whole blood stream.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of thrombosis and, more specifically, to novel antithrombotic agents and methods of using the same.
2. Background Information
Cardiovascular disease is a devastating problem in the United States and worldwide. Statistics bear this out. The American Heart Association reports there were 1.5 million myocardial infarctions in the U.S. in 1991 and another 1.7 million in Europe. In 1990, in the U.S. alone, there were 779,000 hospital admissions for unstable angina, up three times as many from 1983. Angioplasty was performed on about 400,000 patients in the U.S. in 1994 and in Europe an additional 177,000 patients underwent the same treatment. In addition, approximately 500,000 U.S. patients suffer strokes each year.
Cardiovascular disease comprises four main categories: (1) coronary artery disease which leads to myocardial infarction or heart attack, (2) cerebrovascular disease causing strokes, (3) peripheral artery disease which leads to ischemia and (4) venous thrombosis, blood clots in deep veins. A common feature of these vascular diseases is thrombosis, clotting within blood vessels, which results in loss of blood flow to vital tissues and organs. The formation of a blood clot within a blood vessel, thrombosis, and the resulting loss of circulating blood can cause tissue damage and, if untreated, in many cases death.
Thrombus formation is dependent upon platelet aggregation. The interaction of blood platelets with the sub-endothelial surface of injured blood vessels and with other platelets is a major factor in the course of development of thrombi. Platelet aggregation is dependent upon the binding of fibrinogen and other serum proteins to the glycoprotein GP-IIb/IIIa complex on the platelet plasma membrane, thus cross-linking one platelet to another. GP-IIb/IIIa is a member of a large family of cell adhesion receptors known as integrins. The GP-IIb/IIIa integrin is found only on the surface of platelets and blocking it prevents platelets from aggregating and forming blood clots. Inhibition of GP-IIb/IIIa receptor binding and, therefore, of platelet aggregation is sufficient for the prevention of thrombosis.
Currently, there are various products available for preventing (aspirin, Ticlid.RTM., ReoPro.TM., dipyridamole, heparin) or dissolving blood clots (tissue-plasminogen activator (t-PA) and streptokinase). These products either destroy or remove platelets or target fibrin in an attempt to eliminate the clot. However, each has the potential serious side effect of causing prolonged bleeding. Moreover, the effects of these products are only slowly reversible.
Known GP-IIb/IIIa antagonists include antibodies which bind irreversibly to the receptor, synthetic peptides incorporating either the RGD or KGD amino acid sequences, both of which sequences are recognized by the GP-IIb/IIIa receptor, and peptide mimetics which antagonize GP-IIb/IIIa in a manner similar to the peptides. However, most, if not all, of these compounds also cause elevated bleeding.
To minimize bleeding complications, it is important to create molecules which have a higher affinity for GP-IIb/IIIa at low calcium concentrations, which is the condition at the site of clot formation, as compared to the normal, higher physiological calcium concentration found in the systemic blood supply. By inhibiting GP-IIb/IIIa at the site of a clot where calcium concentration is low, and not throughout the whole blood stream, unacceptable bleeding may be controlled when optimal doses of a drug are used. Put another way, to reduce or eliminate bleeding complications, it is important to inhibit GP-IIb/IIIa mediated platelet aggregation only at the clot site under low calcium concentration, and not in the rest of the blood stream where the calcium concentration is higher and GP-IIb/IIIa is necessary for platelet adhesion and spreading. Thus, there exists a need for GP-IIb/IIIa receptor antagonists which have a higher affinity for GP-IIb/IIIa at low calcium concentration than at physiological calcium concentration. The present invention satisfies this need and provides related advantages as well.

Antithrombotic agents and methods of use


A method and apparatus for increasing the signal-to-noise ratio in a magnetic resonance image generated with a system including at least two receiver coils where the data acquisition period is reduced by increasing the space between k-space raster data rows such that image wrapping occurs and an unwrapping algorithm is required, the method including identifying a sensitivities matrix corresponding to the receiver coils, acquiring NMR signals and converting those signals to image pixel intensities, defining a correction matrix, altering the sensitivities matrix as a function of the correction matrix, combining the altered sensitivities matrix and the intensity matrix to generate an estimated spin density matrix and using a spin density matrix to generate the final image.

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The field of the invention is nuclear magnetic resonance imaging (xe2x80x9cMRIxe2x80x9d) methods and systems. More particularly, the invention relates to systems and methods for increasing the signal to noise ratio in MRI images where image data has to be unwrapped during data processing.
When a substance such as human tissue is subjected to a uniform magnetic field (polarizing field B0), the individual magnetic moments of the spins in the tissue attempt to align with this polarizing field, but precess about it in random order at their characteristic Larmor frequency. If the substance, or tissue, is subjected to a magnetic field (excitation field B1) which is in the x-y plane and which is near the Larmor frequency, the net aligned moment, Mz, may be rotated, or xe2x80x9ctippedxe2x80x9d, into the x-y plane to produce a net transverse magnetic moment Mt. A signal is emitted by the excited spins after the excitation signal B1 is terminated, this signal may be received by receiver coils and processed to form an image.
When utilizing these signals to produce images, magnetic field gradients (Gx Gy and Gz) are employed to select locations within the tissue for excitation. Typically, the region to be imaged is scanned by a sequence of measurement cycles in which gradients Gx Gy and Gz vary according to the particular localization method being used. Herein it will be assumed that gradient Gy is used to adjust the phase of signals along a phase encoding axis Y. The resulting set of received nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) signals are digitized and stored in a k-space raster format. An exemplary k-space raster 10 is illustrated in FIG. 2 and includes a plurality of rows 12 of data. After all of the k-space data has been acquired, the data is typically subjected to a two-dimensional Fourier transform and the resulting data is then used to reconstruct an image using one of several different reconstruction techniques. An exemplary resulting image 14 is also illustrated in FIG. 2.
Thus, the intensity of each pixel in an MR image is generally a function of two factors. First, pixel signal intensity is a function of the spin density m at a point in an object slice being imaged that corresponds to the particular pixel in the image. Second, pixel signal intensity is also a function of the operating characteristics of the receiving coil that receives the NMR signal and converts the signal to an analog signal and then to a digital signal for storage in k-space. Specifically, the coil operating characteristic that affects the end pixel intensity the most is referred to as coil sensitivity s. Thus, intensity i for a pixel y can be expressed by the following Equation:
i(y)=s(y)m(Y)xe2x80x83xe2x80x83Equation 1
There are several different factors that can be used to judge the value of any imaging system but two of the most important factors are the quality of the resulting images and the speed with which imaging data can be acquired. Higher quality images increase diagnostic value. Acquisition speed increases system throughput (i.e., the number of imaging sessions that can be performed in a given period) and can also increase image quality as patient movement is reduced when the acquisition period is chortened (i.e., patient movement is less likely during a shorter period than during a longer period. With MRI systems, throughput is extremely important as MRI systems are relatively expensive and the expense is in part justified by the amount of use a system receives.
One way to increase system throughput is to reduce the amount of data collected during an imaging session. For example, one way to reduce the amount of collected data is to increase the space between phase encoding lines in k-space. Referring to FIG. 3, an exemplary k-space raster 20 having half as many k-space lines as the raster 10 of FIG. 2 is illustrated. The time required to collect the data in raster 20 would be approximately half the time required to collect the data in raster 10.
By reducing the number of phase encoding lines employed during data acquisition, the field of view (FOV) along the phase encoding axis Y of the resulting image is also reduced. Referring again to FIG. 3, the FOV for the image 15 in FIG. 3 is shown as being approximately xc2xd the FOV in the image of FIG. 2 along the phase encoding axis Y. Where the object being imaged fits within the reduced FOV, the reduced FOV does not affect the resulting image. Because reducing the k-space phase encoded lines reduces the FOV, the factor by which the k space phase encoding lines are reduced is referred to as the reduction factor R.
Unfortunately, where the object being imaged extends outside the reduced FOV, the image sections that correspond to the out-of-FOV object sections xe2x80x9cwrap aroundxe2x80x9d on the image and are overlaid on other image sections. Thus, in FIG. 3, out-of-FOV image sections 22 and 24 wrap around and are overlaid on in-FOV image section 25 thereby generating wrapped sections 28 and 26, respectively. Each wrapped section (e.g., 22) includes pixel intensities that are the sum of two intensities corresponding to two different pixels in a non-wrapped image (i.e., in an image like that of FIG. 2). The two intensities that combine to produce each wrapped pixel intensity include one intensity corresponding to an in-FOV pixel and one intensity corresponding to an out-of-FOV pixel. For example, referring to FIGS. 2 and 3, the FOV of FIG. 3 is also illustrated in FIG. 2 by the space between lines 36 and 38 and thus when the FOV is reduced as in FIG. 3, pixel 30 is an in-FOV pixel and pixel 40 is an out-of-FOV pixel. Thus the pixel intensity of pixel 40 wraps as indicated by arrow 41 and is laid over pixel 30 intensity. Together the intensities of pixels 30 and 40 add to generate the intensity of pixel 42 upon wrapping.
Where the reduction factor R is greater than 2 additional image wrapping can occur thereby causing wrapped image pixels to include intensity corresponding to more than two (e.g., 3, 4, etc.) unwrapped pixels. This additional wrapping further reduces the diagnostic value of the resulting image.
The industry has devised ways to effectively xe2x80x9cunwrapxe2x80x9d wrapped images like the exemplary image in FIG. 3. It has been recognized that by providing several NMR signal receiving coils where the sensitivities of each coil are known, a permutation of Equation 1 above can be used to separate the intensity of a wrapped pixel into the in-FOV intensity and the out-of-FOV intensity. To this end, along a phase encoding axis the intensity of a wrapped pixel y corresponding to first and second receiver coils can be expressed as:
i1(y)=s1(y)m(y) +s1(y+D)m(y+D)xe2x80x83xe2x80x83Equation 2
i2(y)=s2(y)m(y) +s2(y+D)m(y+D)xe2x80x83xe2x80x83Equation 3
respectively, where D is the phase encoding FOV (see FIG. 3).
Referring still to Equations 2 and 3, assuming that the sensitivities s1 and s2 for each of the first and second coils are known, after intensity data has been acquired for each of the first and second coils, only m(y) and m(y+D) are unknown. Thus, Equations 2 and 3 can be solved for each of the unknowns to determine the spin densities m(y) and m(y+D) at pixels y and y+D, respectively. The spin densities at each pixel can then be converted to intensities to xe2x80x9cunwrapxe2x80x9d the image.
By increasing the reduction factor R, the amount of data acquired is reduced and therefore throughput is accelerated. The number of unknowns, however, that can be resolved in any system is equal to the number of separate receiver coils in the system. Thus, in any given system the maximum reduction factor R is equal to the number of receiver coils N. For example, in the exemplary system described above that includes four receiver coils the maximum reduction factor R is 4.
In general terms, the intensity of a particular wrapped pixel y with a reduction factor R can be expressed by the equation:                                           i            j                                          (            y            )                          =                              ∑                          k              =              0                                      R              -              1                                                                                s                j                                                          (                                  y                  +                                      k                                                              xe2x80x83                                                            d                                                  )                                                                xe2x80x83                                    m                                      xe2x80x83                                                  (                              y                +                                  k                                                        xe2x80x83                                                      D                                            )                                                          Equation                          xe2x80x83                        4
where j refers to coil number and sj(y) refers to the sensitivity of coil j.
In a system including N coils, intensity, spin density and sensitivity matrices I, M and S can be defined as having dimensions Nxc3x971, Rxc3x971 And Nxc3x97R, respectively, and Equation 4 can be rewritten in matrix form as:
I=SMxe2x80x83xe2x80x83Equation 5
Again, assuming S is known, S can be inverted and Equation 5 can be rewritten and solved for an estimated spin density M as:
{circumflex over (M)}=Sxe2x88x921I xe2x80x83xe2x80x83Equation 6
A solution of Equation 6 that can be relied upon should minimize the spin density estimate error. Thus, a typical solution to Equation 6 minimizes |S{circumflex over (M)}xe2x88x92I|2 resulting in the following equation:
xe2x80x83{circumflex over (M)}=[(S+S)xe2x88x921S+]Ixe2x80x83xe2x80x83Equation 7
where + denotes the Hermitian conjugate.
Obviously the value of the solution to Equation 7 is only as good as the preciseness with which the sensitivities of the coils can be determined. Unfortunately, while the industry has devised several ways to determine coil sensitivities, there are many factors that affect sensitivities such that noise often occurs upon inversion of the sensitivity matrix S that propagates and is exacerbated in resulting images. Thus, while solving Equation 7 in theory provides a way to unwrap image data, in practice the resulting image has a relatively low signal to noise ratio (SNR).
The present invention is a method for reducing the noise in an unwrapped image by modifying the coil sensitivity matrix and using the modified matrix instead of the original matrix to determine the spin densities of image pixels by solving an equation similar to Equation 7 above.
More specifically, one way to increase the SNR is to minimize the function A({circumflex over (M)})+xcexB({circumflex over (M)}) where A({circumflex over (M)})=|S{circumflex over (M)}xe2x88x92I|2, xcex is an adjustable parameter and B({circumflex over (M)}) is chosen to reduce system sensitivity to noise. For some square matrix H, B({circumflex over (M)}) may have the form B({circumflex over (M)})={circumflex over (M)}+H{circumflex over (M)} where, again the + indicates the Hermitian conjugate. With B({circumflex over (M)}) expressed in the above form, Equation 7 can be rewritten as:
{circumflex over (M)}=[(S+S+xcexH)xe2x88x921S+]Ixe2x80x83xe2x80x83Equation 8
Because high noise often results in large pixel values a simple solution to Equation 8 is to minimize the magnitude of {circumflex over (M)} so that B({circumflex over (M)})={circumflex over (M)}+{circumflex over (M)} giving H=U where U is the unit matrix. Thus, Equation 8 can be rewritten as:
{circumflex over (M)}=[(S+S+xcexU)xe2x88x921S+]Ixe2x80x83xe2x80x83Equation 9
Upon solving Equation 9 the resulting spin density estimates {circumflex over (M)} can be used to generate an unwrapped image with relatively high SNR.
In addition to several methods the invention also includes an apparatus for performing each of the methods.
These and other aspects of the invention will become apparent from the following description. In the description, reference is made to the accompanying drawings which form a part hereof, and in which there is shown a preferred embodiment of the invention. Such embodiment does not necessarily represent the full scope of the invention and reference is made therefore, to the claims herein for interpreting the scope of the invention.

MRI image quality improvement using matrix regularization

GE Medical Systems Global Technologies Company LLC