A plastic optical fiber cable includes: a bare optical fiber including a core made of a poly(methyl methacrylate) or a copolymer including methyl methacrylate as a major component and a cladding layer including, at least in the outermost layer, a layer made of a certain fluorine-containing olefin-based resin; and a coating layer provided on the outer surface thereof. The coating layer includes a protective coating layer, a light blocking coating layer, and a functional coating layer, the layers being provided in the order mentioned from inner side. The protective coating layer is made of a certain resin material. The light blocking coating layer is made of a nylon-based resin including, as a major component, nylon 11 or nylon 12, the nylon-based resin containing monomer and oligomer compounds derived from the nylon-based resin in an amount of a certain range. The functional coating layer is made of a nylon-based resin composition having a crystalline melting point within a certain range, the nylon-based resin composition containing a certain amount of melamine cyanurate or bromine atoms and further containing a certain amount of inorganic chromatic pigments, or the layer is made of a nylon-based resin composition having a crystalline melting point of within a certain range and an oxygen transmission rate within a certain range.

Conventional optical fibers made of quartz, which is capable of providing good optical transmission across a broad wavelength spectrum, have been in practical use mainly for trunk lines. Such quartz optical fibers, however, are expensive and poor in workability. Accordingly, plastic optical fibers (hereinafter, abbreviated as "POF"), which offer advantages such as being much more inexpensive and lightweight, having larger apertures and easily workable end surfaces, and being easily handled, have been in practical use for lighting, sensors, and interior wiring such as FA, OA and LAN.
Among them, a step-index (SI) POF having a core/cladding structure using a poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) as the core material and a low refractive-index fluorine-containing olefin copolymer as the cladding material has gradually been in practical use in the form of a POF cable having coating layer(s) on the outer surface of the POF, for in-vehicle LAN communication wiring because it is available for high-speed data communication and would be a better choice in terms of weight reduction, cost reduction in communication systems, and anti-electromagnetic noise measures.
When used in an automobile where the ambient temperature reaches around 100 to 110° C., a POF cable of the aforementioned type is required to have good heat resistance. In particular, when installed in a high-temperature environment such as in the vicinity of the engine where there are oil, electrolyte, and flammable substances such as gasoline, the POF cable is required to excel not only in heat resistance but also in chemical resistance. From this standpoint, there have been proposed many techniques in which polyamide resins (nylon-based resins) such as nylon 11, nylon 12, nylon 6/12, nylon 6, nylon 66, and nylon 6/66, which have good heat resistance and chemical resistance, are used as the coating material of the POF cable.
For example, Patent Document 1 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-319281) and Patent Document 2 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-242142) each proposes a POF cable including a POF, and a primary coating layer made of a black polyamide resin and a secondary coating layer made of a colored polyamide resin that are formed around the POF. Given examples of the polyamide resins include nylon 6, nylon 11, and nylon 12.
Patent Document 3 (International Patent Publication No. WO 01/48526) and Patent Document 4 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-315638) each discloses a POF cable including a bare POF, and an adhesive layer made of a material containing a polyamide-based polymer, a primary coating layer and a secondary coating layer that are sequentially formed around the POF. Given examples of the polyamide-based polymers include nylon 6, nylon 66, nylon 11, and nylon 12.
Patent Document 5 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-255202) proposes a POF cable including a bare POF and a coating layer formed around the POF, the coating layer being made of a polyamide resin containing an inorganic pigment based on a rare metal. Given examples of the polyamide-based resin include polyamide 11, polyamide 12, polyamide 6/12, polyamide 66, and polyamide 66/6. Patent Document 6 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-226925) proposes a POF cable including a bare POF and a coating layer formed around the POF. The coating layer is made of a polyamide resin containing an inorganic ultramarine blue pigment. Given examples of the polyamide resin include nylon 11, nylon 12, nylon 6, and nylon 66.
Patent Document 7 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-231045) describes a POF cable including a bare POF, and a primary coating layer and a secondary coating layer that are formed around the POF. The primary coating layer is made of a nylon-based resin having a melting point of 200° C. or lower, and the secondary coating layer is made of, for example, a vinyl chloride resin or nylon 12 having an oxygen index of 25 or higher.
However, POF cables having a coating layer made of a polyamide resin (nylon-based resin) material can suffer from problems as follows.
Typical polyamide resins such as nylon 12 are industrially synthesized by polycondensation of amine and carboxylic acid. However, the polymerization of a polyamide resin is accompanied by the establishment of a chemical equilibrium, so that the resultant polymer is always contaminated with a monomer or oligomer derived from a feed material for the polyamide resin.
Investigations made by the present inventors have demonstrated that transmission losses in POF are significantly increased for POF cables wherein a primary coating layer made of a polyamide 11, polyamide 12, or polyamide 6-12 resin is provided in contact with a bare POF, and for POF cables having a secondary coating layer made of these polyamide resins, as described in the aforementioned Patent Documents, when the cables are left in a high temperature environment at 100° C. or higher for a long period of time.
The present inventors have analyzed a possible cause of this in depth. As a result, the inventors have ascertained that the residual monomers or oligomers derived from the feed material are responsible for the aforementioned increase in transmission loss in POF, that is, they dissolve and diffuse into the bare POF from the primary and/or secondary coating layer(s) to cause the increase in transmission loss.
In addition, it has been found that particularly significant increase in transmission loss is observed when the outermost cladding layer is made of a fluorine-containing olefin resin having a tetrafluoroethylene (TFE) unit and when heat of crystal fusion is greater than a certain amount of value.
Examples of the aforementioned monomers derived from a polyamide resin material include aliphatic diamino acid compounds, aliphatic dicarboxylic acid compounds, and amino-aliphatic carboxylic acid compounds that form polyamide resins. More specifically, examples include 11-aminoundecanoic acid for nylon 11, 12-aminododecanoic acid for nylon 12, hexamethylene diamine and dodecanedioicate for nylon 6-12, hexamethylene diamine and sebacate for nylon 610, ε-aminocaproic acid for nylon 6, hexamethylene diamine and adipic acid for nylon 66, 1,10-decanediamine and 1,12-dodecanediamine for nylon 1010, and 1,12-decanediamine and 1,12-dodecanedioic acid for nylon 1012. Examples also include cyclic lactam compounds having an endocyclic amide bond (—CONH—) obtained through intramolecular cyclic esterification of the molecular chain terminals of an aminocarboxylic acid compound. Specific examples include ε-caprolactam for nylon 6 and lauryl lactam for nylon 12. It is noted that the monomers derived from the feed material as used herein include low-molecular-weight compounds produced as by-products during the synthesis of the feed material.
On the other hand, examples of the aforementioned oligomers derived from a polyamide resin material include compounds having molecular chain terminals that has an amino group (—NH2) and/or a carboxyl group (—COOH), which are formed through intermolecular esterification of the molecular chain terminals of two or more molecules of the aforementioned feed monomers (e.g., aliphatic diamino acid compounds, aliphatic dicarboxylic acid compounds, and amino-aliphatic carboxylic acid compounds, as described above) in the course of the condensation polymerization for the production of the polyamide resin; cyclic lactam compounds having an endocyclic amide bond (—CONH—) formed through further intramolecular esterification of the molecular chain terminals of the above compounds; compounds formed through intermolecular esterification of the above compounds; and compounds formed through an intramolecular/intermolecular secondary reaction (deamination reaction or decarboxylation reaction).
When the aforementioned monomers and oligomers are linear, the terminal amino group has high affinity with fluorine-containing olefin polymers, and the monomers and oligomers thus tend to stay in the cladding layer made of the fluorine-containing olefin polymer. This often causes reduction in transparency of the cladding material, which can result in significant deterioration of transmission characteristics of the POF cable. Meanwhile, when the aforementioned monomers and oligomers are cyclic lactam compounds, the monomers and oligomers tend to migrate to the vicinity of the interface on the inner layer side of the cladding layer (the core or the first cladding layer side) to form particulate structures. As a result, more structural mismatch would happen at the core-cladding interface or a cladding-cladding interface if there are two or more cladding layers with a tendency of significant deterioration of transmission characteristics of the POF cable.
Among the aforementioned oligomers, those having a lower molecular weight tend to dissolve and diffuse into POF more easily. In particular, those having a molecular weight of 2,000 or lower have a remarkable tendency of it.
As described above, the POF cables are required to have a good heat resistance. In particular, the POF cables that are intended to be used in an automobile are required not to cause any significant increase in transmission loss for a long period of time of longer than 5,000 hours, in an environment at 105° C. However, it is difficult for the conventional POF cables as described in the aforementioned Patent Documents to meet the required performance because increase in transmission losses is inevitable for the aforementioned reasons, after having been placed in a high temperature environment for a long period of time.
In addition, it has been reported that optical properties of a POF may be significantly degraded due to excessive stress on the POF when the POF is coated with a nylon-based resin such as nylon 66 having a relatively high melting point. For example, Patent Document 7 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-231045) discloses a POF cable having a POF around which a primary coating material of a nylon 66 resin is directly provided, as comparative examples (Comparative Examples 2 and 8) to the proposed invention. The document discloses that, in the POF cable, the polyamide 66 resin having a high melting point is directly coated over the bare POF at a high coating temperature, which brings about deformation of the POF and increase in transmission loss, and hence nylon-based resins having a high melting point are not suitable as a coating material for POFs.
Considering now light emitting diodes (LEDs) which have been used as a light source for POFs, those with a center emission wavelength of around 650 nm are most commonly used but currently cannot provide sufficient long-term heat resistance at 100° C. or higher. The reason is that such LEDs are made of a GaAlAs-based material and their aluminum component, if contained too much, tends to lower the LED's own heat resistance.
As a signal transmission system having an excellent heat resistance at 100° C. or higher, Patent Document 8 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-74945) discloses a signal transmission system including an LED with a center emission wavelength of 930 to 990 nm and a POF whose core is made of a norbornene-based resin, and Patent Document 9 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-21737) discloses a signal transmission system including an LED with a center emission wavelength of 750 to 850 nm and a POF whose core is made of a polycarbonate resin. LEDs of which center emission wavelength falls within a near infrared region contain less aluminum component, and is thus superior in heat resistance at 100° C. or higher. In addition, POFs which are placed in such a high temperature environment typically undergo increase in electronic transition absorption due to thermal oxidative deterioration of a bare POF and increase in Rayleigh scattering due to migration of a low-molecular-weight compound contained in a coating material into the bare POF. The value of transmission loss within the near infrared region is hardly affected by them. Accordingly, in the signal transmission system described in the aforementioned Patent Documents, the transmission loss is less changed with time even in a high temperature environment at 100° C. or higher, and therefore, it is possible to keep the transmission loss at a constant level over a significantly long period of time.
However, transmission losses are as high as the 6,000 s dB/km at 930 to 990 nm in the POF whose core is made of a norbornene-based resin as described in the aforementioned Patent Document 8, while transmission losses are 1,000 s dB/km at 750 to 850 nm in the POF whose core is made of a polycarbonate-based resin as described in Patent Document 9. As apparent from the above, the transmission losses in the POFs described in these Patent Documents are too high to use them in practice for in-vehicle LAN communication wiring.
On the other hand, known as visible light emitting diodes having a center emission wavelength at or below 600 nm are InGaN-based LEDs (center emission wavelengths of 505 nm and 520 nm), PGaN-based LEDs (center emission wavelength of 565 nm), and InGaAlP-based LEDs (center emission wavelength of 590 nm). They contain no or a small percentage of, if any, aluminum component that otherwise would cause reduction in heat resistance of the LED. This means that the heat resistance of these LEDs at 100° C. or higher comes to the point where these LEDs can be put into practical use. Furthermore, in the POFs whose core is made of a PMMA resin, there is a wavelength window around 570 nm where the transmission loss is 80 to 90 dB/km, which is remarkably lower than the transmission loss in a wavelength window around 650 nm where the transmission loss is about 130 to 140 dB/km.
However, the transmission loss in a POF is likely to increase in such short-wavelength regions when the POF is placed in a high temperature environment at 100° C. or higher because it tends to be affected by the aforementioned increase in electronic transition absorption or Rayleigh scattering. It has therefore been believed to be difficult to practically use a signal transmission system including a POF and an LED having a center emission wavelength in a range of 500 nm to 600 nm, in a high temperature environment such as in an automobile.

Plastic optical fiber cable and method of signal transmission using the same


A nanocomposite comprising a plurality of nanoparticles dispersed in a molybdenum-based matrix, and an x-ray tube component formed from such a nanocomposite. The nanocomposite contains volume fraction of nanoparticle dispersoids in a range from about 2 volume percent to about 20 volume percent. A method of making such molybdenum-based nanocomposites is also disclosed.

The invention relates to a molybdenum-based nanocomposite. More particularly, the invention relates to an x-ray tube having an x-ray target comprising a molybdenum-based nanocomposite. Even more particularly, the invention provides a method for making molybdenum-based nanocomposites for x-ray applications.
X-ray tubes generate x-rays by bombarding a layer of an x-ray target material with high energy electrons. The target comprises elements with high atomic number (such as tungsten and rhenium) and is attached to a substrate disk comprising a refractory metallic material having a high thermal conductivity. To dissipate the intense heat generated by the electron bombardment, the target disk is rotated at speeds in excess of 8400 rpm. Additionally, the high-conductivity target disk conducts the heat to a graphite block, which acts as thermal storage material. In medical diagnostics, the demand for ever-improving x-ray image quality in conjunction with the need for computer tomography (CT) systems to perform high-speed cardiac imaging necessitates the use of high peak power (in excess of 70 kW), and high target rotation speeds, which increase the thermal and structural loading requirements of the target material well beyond current capabilities. Thus, there is a need for target materials with high strength and creep resistance to meet the thermal and structural demands generated by the use of high peak power and high rotation speeds.
The continuing effort to design and build more powerful and more efficient x-ray tube components requires the use of materials having enhanced high temperature performance capabilities. Such performance enhancements require state-of-the-art materials with vastly improved mechanical properties such as strength, creep resistance, and thermal stability.
For x-ray tube and other applications, high temperature structural materials can be strengthened in a number of ways such as, for example, grain refinement, solid solution strengthening, precipitate strengthening, composite strengthening, and dispersoid strengthening. One method of strengthening alloys known as Orowan strengthening incorporates a fine distribution of hard particles into a metallic alloy matrix. Orowan strengthening depends upon the formation of an array of dispersoid particles that serve as obstacles for impeding dislocation motion within the alloy matrix. The strength of these particle-reinforced alloys is inversely proportional to the spacing between these particles, which can be controlled in turn by controlling the size of the dispersoid particles. Thus, the use of nanoparticles as dispersoids offers the potential of substantially enhancing alloy strength.
The introduction of hard dispersoid nanoparticles during the processing of the nanodispersoid-reinforced alloys presents a technical challenge. Current processes to disperse particles include powder metallurgy routes, such as mechanical alloying of micron-sized particles, in combination with secondary processes, which include hot-isostatic pressing and thermomechanical processing by hot-forging or extrusion. In the mechanical alloying process, nanoparticles are created by repeated fracture of the micron-size dispersoid particles during milling. While this is a well-established process for oxide-dispersion strengthened (ODS) alloys in iron- and nickel-based alloys (such as, for example, Inconel MA alloys), the process fails to produce a homogeneous distribution of the particles in the molybdenum-based matrix, especially for large components. In addition, the loading of the particles in the alloy composites produced by this process is typically limited to less than 2 percent by volume.
Current processes are unable to produce alloy nanocomposites having sufficiently high loadings of nanoparticles. Therefore, what is needed is a molybdenum-based nanocomposite in which dispersoid nanoparticles are homogeneously distributed throughout the molybdenum-based matrix. What is also needed is a molybdenum-based nanocomposite having a sufficiently high loading of dispersoid nanoparticles having high temperature performance capabilities that are adequate for use in x-ray target assemblies. What is further needed is a method of making molybdenum-based nanocomposites having high loadings of dispersoid nanoparticles, wherein the dipersoid nanoparticles are homogeneously distributed throughout the alloy nanocomposite.

Nano particle-reinforced Mo alloys for x-ray targets and method to make


A method and system for reducing and/or eliminating striations from gas discharge lamps powered by an electronic ballast charges a capacitive energy device, which is coupled in parallel with the lamp, when the capacitive energy device detects that a predetermined lamp voltage condition has been satisfied. The system/method supplements the current supplied to the lamp by the electronic ballast with current supplied from the capacitive energy device when the predetermined lamp voltage condition is not satisfied. The supplemental current supplied to the lamp creates a harmonic-rich lamp current waveform that reduces and/or eliminates striations.

The present invention relates generally to electronic ballasts used for operating gas discharge lamps. More particularly, the present invention pertains to methods and systems for eliminating striations in gas discharge lamps.
A fluorescent lamp is a type of gas discharge lamp having a fluorescent phosphor coating the inside surface of the lamp's sealed tube. The tube may contain a small amount of mercury and an inert gas such as argon. Both ends of the tube have electrodes, often made of tungsten. Initially, as power is delivered to the lamp, the electrodes become thermally agitated and emit electrons. These electrons impact and ionize the inert gas in the tube which results in the formation of a plasma (a phase of matter different from solid, liquid, or gas that readily facilitates current conduction because of its low impedance).
The current now flowing between the electrodes, as a result of the potential difference between the electrodes and the plasma, cause the mercury to ionize and release ultraviolet radiation. The ultraviolet radiation is absorbed by the phosphor coating and, then, the phosphor coating radiates in the visible light spectrum, i.e. produces visible light waves. Through this process the fluorescent lamp efficiently converts electrical energy into visible light.
It is important to recognize that the current flowing between the electrodes of the lamp changes direction as a result of the alternating current (AC) supplied by the ballast to the lamp. Thus, current flows in one direction for a period of time and then in the opposite direction for another period of time. The time in which the current flows in one direction is related to the frequency. This process is controlled by the ballast and is constantly repeated during the operation of the lamp.
Without the use of alternating current and the ballast, the operation of the lamp would not be feasible. Consider that the plasma formed in the tube is analogous to an electrical short circuit. If the current only flowed in one direction the current demanded by the lamp would become enormous after only a short time. But using an alternating current only allows the current flowing through the lamp to build for a short period of time before it reverses direction and flows the other way (depending on the current's frequency). Further consider that in order for the current to reverse its direction, it must first come to a stop before it changes direction. In this way, the current demanded by the lamp and conducted through the plasma (essentially a short circuit) is prohibited from building to an unmanageable level.
Although the use of alternating current greatly facilitates the operation of gas discharge lamps, one undesirable consequence associated with such use is a phenomenon known as striations. Striations are shifting zones of light intensity appearing as dark and light bands along the length of the tube and result, in part, from the alternating nature of the current supplied to the lamp. Sometimes the striations appear as standing waves and sometimes they appear as propagating along the length of the lamp tube. Striations produce a visible strobing effect that is objectionable to many persons.
For exemplary purposes, striations can be considered in terms of the interaction between the visible light waves emitted from the lamp. Light waves are emitted according to the alternating current flowing through the lamp. If the current flowed through the lamp at a single frequency, it is more probable that light waves would interact to produce striations because there is a higher probability that the troughs and crests of the various waves, having identical frequencies, would align (thereby creating striations). However, if the current waveform flowing through the lamp contained many frequencies, i.e. the current waveform was rich in harmonics, it is less probable that noticeable striations would occur. This conclusion logically follows as waves with different frequencies have troughs and crests occurring at disparate rates and for disparate durations and these distinctions make it less likely that the troughs and crests will interfere to produce striations.
Various attempts have been proffered in the prior art to eliminate or reduce the occurrence of striations. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,001,386 issued to Sullivan, et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 5,864,212 issued to Sullivan disclose a dimming circuit that reduces striations by introducing an asymmetric current waveform flowing through the lamp. The asymmetric current results from a DC offset being provided along with the alternating current source.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,034,660 issued to Sairanen and U.S. Pat. No. 5,369,339 issued to Reijnaerts teach eliminating striation by inducing a direct current component within the lamp input signal. This component is introduced where the circuit design mandates that the current amplitude in one direction is necessarily higher than in the other.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,760,541 issued to Stavely, et al. describes improving longitudinal stability of intensity striations within a fluorescent lamp by causing periodic non-uniformity in the electric field between two electrodes.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,994,843 issued to Kataoka, et al. teaches preventing striation through asymmetric current flow, such asymmetry being introduced by setting the capacities of alternately charged energy accumulating capacitors to slightly different levels.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,069,453 issued to Arts, et al. discloses a ballast circuit for reducing striations by generating a lamp current comprised in part of a direct current component.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,087,785 issued to Hsieh teaches a strategy to break up elements that cause striations, in this case acoustic resonance, by modulating lamp current with a harmonized circuit to uniformly spread lamp energy into every harmonic.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,465,972 issued to Kachmarik, et al. describes a lighting system for a gas discharge lamp that eliminates striations by periodically modulating the amplitude of the lamp input signal prior to being received by the lamp.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,756,747 issued to Hsieh and U.S. Patent Application 20040085031 filed by Hsieh disclose a method for reducing striations in a fluorescent lamp by producing and alternately modulating a pair of complementary pulse trains in light of control signals that render the pulse trains asymmetrical at voltages where striation is most likely.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,836,077 issued to Nerone teaches eliminating visual striations with an asymmetric alternating lamp input current. Such a current is produced by configuring an inverting ballast circuit with complementary switches having unbalanced on times.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,963,176 issued to Onishi, et al. describes a method of suppressing striations by superimposing a pulse voltage to the voltage applied across a discharge lamp after lighting has started.
U.S. Application No. 20050168171 filed by Poehlman discloses a method for controlling striations by generating asymmetric lamp current with an unbalanced circuit component in the electronic ballast and subsequently supplying that current to the lamp.
In summary, the prior art discussed above discloses a variety of methods for reducing or eliminating striations in gas discharge lamps, most of which include either inducing or injecting a direct current component in the lamp current, modulating the amplitude of the current waveform, or creating an asymmetric frequency by modulating switch times on the inverter. The prior art discussed above also teaches eliminating acoustic resonance by spreading the harmonic energy in the lamp with a load circuit designed to generate compensating currents and modulate the lamp input current.
Although the prior art is replete with attempts to reduce or eliminate striations, none of the prior art teaches a method of operating a gas discharge lamp to eliminate striations that includes capacitive energy compensation to the lamp. What is needed, then, an effective, simple, and efficient method and system to significantly reduce and/or eliminate striations in gas discharge lamps by introducing harmonics into the current waveform by capacitive energy compensation.

Method and system to eliminate fluorescent lamp striations by using capacitive energy compensation


A musical information displaying apparatus is to display musical notes in progression along the time axis on a musical staff together with chords and words based on the respective event data contained in a music performance data file representing a musical performance. The chords are displayed at their event positions along the time axis in the open space above and nearest to the musical staff. If two adjacent chords would overlap in part when displayed at the same vertical level in view of the respective display lengths, the vertical position of the latter chord will be shifted to prevent overlapping. The character representing the root of the chord will be displayed in an enhanced font than the other characters of the chord name. Where the words are displayed in correspondence to the notes, the words are to be displayed primarily at the positions along the time axis corresponding to the notes. If two adjacent words would overlap in part when displayed in view of the respective display lengths, the horizontal position of the latter word will be adjusted to prevent overlapping. The right–justification rule is also introduced.

Various types of musical information displaying apparatuses capable of displaying a musical score in a better understandable appearance, i.e. in an improved layout of the notational symbols based on an automatic music performance data file. An example of such musical information displaying apparatuses is disclosed in U.S. Pat, No. 6,235,979 in which the length of a displayed measure and the allocation of displayed notes in the measure are properly adjusted so that the notes at different times should be displayed without an overlap between any adjacent notes. This patent, however, does not consider the chord names and the words to be displayed in association with the notes on the musical score.
Typically, a musical score describing musical information displayed along the time axis on a music score displaying apparatus contains chord names located near the musical staff to represent chords by a character string (sometime of a single character, and sometime of several characters). Usually, the left end (head position) of the displayed chord name indicates the time point along the time axis at which the displayed chord is to substitute the theretofore prevailing chord.
Under these circumstances, in the case of a chord name with a long character string such as, for example, the chord "C#M7aug" (C# major seventh augmented), the displayed character string may sometimes extend over to the display position of the next chord so that the chord names of the two chords might be partly intermingled to become illegible or hardly legible for the user. Further, in the case of a chord name with a non-root bass (often referred to as an "on-bass chord") such as, for example, the chord "C on E" (C major on bass of E) or sometimes expressed as "C/E," the tail character "E" indicating the bass note to be played with the constituent notes of the chord "C" may be confused with a new chord name, even though two consecutive chord names are not displayed overlapping with each other.
A musical score sometimes contains also words to the melody. In the case where the words are displayed in connection with the notes on the music score, the words are typically aligned along the time axis of the note progression and placed at the positions of the respectively corresponding note symbols. However, if the distance between the two displayed consecutive note symbols are too short, the two words may sometimes overlap in part with each other, just like in the case of the above-mentioned chord name display, and may be illegible or hardly legible.

Apparatus for displaying musical information without overlap


A conductor rail support includes a base part, which has a recess for receiving a first projection of a conductor rail. A sliding part, which has a recess for receiving a second projection of the conductor rail, can be slid onto the base part in the direction of the conductor rail. The sliding part may be arrested in directions other than in the direction of the conductor rail. In at least one embodiment, the base part includes a dovetailed projection and a guiding groove, and a dovetailed recess in the sliding part receives the dovetailed projection, and the guiding groove receives a guiding pin shaped onto the sliding part.

A conductor rail mount is known from DE 30 18 860 A1, where the insert part is referred to as a "claw" which is plugged onto the base part, which is referred to as a "supporting head" by way of a dovetail-like connection.
A connection such as this comprising a supporting head and claw does not always ensure optimum robustness.
EP 1 165 341 B1 discloses a conductor rail mount in which a first attachment on the conductor rail is inserted into a groove which is located in the mount body, which is used as a base part. A so-called latching element is used for locking the conductor rail, has a recess for holding a second attachment on the conductor rail, and is plugged onto the mount body from above for installation of the conductor rail. The conductor rail mount in EP 1 165 341 B1 can admittedly be handled more easily, but does not always ensure optimum robustness. The design of the snap-action apparatus is complex, when retention that is always robust is desired.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,341,670 discloses a conductor rail mount with a cross section in the form of the letter C. For installation, the conductor rail is pushed from the end face into the conductor rail mount, so that two attachments on the conductor rail hold it in the C-shaped profile.
The conductor rail mount according to U.S. Pat. No. 3,341,670 involves complex installation.
DE 92 03 213 U1 discloses a conductor rail mount in which a conductor rail is held on a holding body by way of clamping profiles.


A method and system for converting a digital code. A digital signal is encoded to have a digital code having multiple binary bits. Substantially one half of the binary bits of the digital code is inverted to produce a modified digital code to reduce digital noise associated with the digital code.

1. Field of Invention
The teachings presented herein relate to electronic circuitry. More specifically, the teachings relate to methods and systems for digital data coding and electronic circuits incorporating the same.
2. Discussion of Related Art
A/D and D/A converters are widely used in the industry of electronics. In converting an analog signal to a digital signal, the analog signal is sampled at discrete points according to a certain frequency. Voltages of the analog signal at such sampled points are measured. Each measured voltage at a sampling point is then coded using a digital code having a plurality of binary bits. Such a digital code can be used to represent the sampled analog value and can be transmitted in a digital means to a destination. Once the digital code representing an analog value is received by a receiver, the digital code can be decoded by a D/A converter to derive an estimated voltage that is similar to the original voltage being coded. FIG. 1(a) shows a typical A/D and D/A processing flow. In FIG. 1(a), an A/D converter 110 takes an analog signal A as input and generates a digital code B as an output. The digital code B is often processed by a digital signal processor 115 to generate a digital signal C. When digital signal C is transmitted and received by a receiver 120, which may then apply a D/A process at a D/A converter 130 and produces a recovered analog signal C′ based on digital signal C.
A digital code representing a particular sampled voltage of the analog signal is conventionally determined, by the A/D converter 110 based on a look-up table in accordance with the voltage level of the sample. For example, FIG. 1(b)(Prior Art) depicts a typical A/D converter 110. An analog signal A is sampled first by an analog sampling unit 140 to produce individual analog voltages as an output. For each such analog voltage, an A/D look-up unit 150 determines a digital code representing the analog voltage based on a look-up table 160.
A D/A converter reverses the process to convert a digital code to generate an analog voltage represented by the digital code. This is shown in FIG. 1(c) (Prior Art), where a D/A look-up unit 170 in a D/A converter 130 consults with the look-up table 160 based on a received digital code C to produce an analog voltage. The represented analog voltage is then sent to an analog signal generator 180, which may utilize different analog voltages to produce an estimated analog signal C′.
FIG. 1(d) (Prior Art) shows an exemplary look-up table 160 in which the left column 190 lists various ranges of analog voltages and, correspondingly, the right column 195 provides 14-bit digital codes for different voltage ranges. For instance, for a zero voltage, the digital code is "00 0000 0000 0000". For a voltage between +0.000122 v and +0.000244 v, the corresponding digital code is "00 0000 0000 0001". For a voltage between −0.000122 v and −0.000244, the corresponding digital code is "11 1111 1111 1111", etc.
In accordance with the conventional look-up table, as shown in FIG. 1(d) (Prior Art), when an analog signal crosses 0V in a negative direction, all the binary bits of the digital code change state from 0 to 1. When a large number of digital outputs change at the same time in the same direction (from 1's to 0's or from 0's to 1s), noise current on the circuit board is induced because the output load capacitances are charged and discharged. In various applications such as communications, it is common to have an analog signal centered at 0 v and such an analog signal may also have frequent deviations from 0V. Consequently, all binary bits of a digital code will frequently change states which make the problem worse.
A previous solution for reducing digital noise is Gray Coding, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,632,058 issued to F. Gray. This method solves the problem by allowing only one bit changing state between any two adjacent codes. Although such a solution solves the problem, a disadvantage of this approach is that its implementation requires complex circuitry for coding and decoding data. Therefore, a solution that both reduces digital noise and is cost effective is needed.

Method and system for bit polarization coding


A low-profile slide screw impedance tuner with rotating disc-shaped tuning probes uses a mechanical arrangement for correcting the skewing of the reflection factor response of the rotating tuning probes. As the axis of the control motor turns, a protruding pin pushes against a fixed limit stop block and shifts the motor and its axis, and by that the tuning probe, in the opposite direction of the rotation shift. This corrects for the skewing phase rotation.

This invention relates to microwave (μW) and millimeter-wave (mmW) frequencies load and source pull testing of medium and high-power RF transistor chips, especially on-wafer, using remotely controlled electro-mechanical impedance tuners. Modern design of high-power RF amplifiers and mixers, used in various communication systems, requires accurate knowledge of the active device's (microwave transistor's, device under test, DUT) characteristics. In such circuits, it is insufficient for the transistors, which operate in their highly non-linear regime, close to power saturation, to be described using non-linear numeric models only.
A popular method for testing and characterizing such microwave components (transistors) in the non-linear region of operation is "load pull" (see ref. 1). Load pull is a measurement technique employing microwave tuners (see ref. 2) and other microwave test equipment as shown in FIG. 1. The microwave tuners (2, 4) are used in order to manipulate the microwave impedance conditions under which the DUT (3) is tested; the signal is provided by a signal source (1) and the outcoming power is measured by a power meter (5); the whole is controlled by a PC (6), which controls the instruments and the tuners using digital control cables (7, 8 and 9).

Anti-skewing load pull tuner with rotating probe


An integrated circuit device includes a data inversion circuit configured to support an inversion mode of operation. The inversion mode of operation inverts selected ones of a plurality of N-bit words received in consecutive sequence at inputs thereof. The data inversion circuit is further configured to support a bypass mode of operation. The bypass mode of operation disables inversion of a second one of the plurality of N-bit words when a delay between receipt of the second one of the plurality of N-bit words and receipt of an immediately preceding first one of the plurality of N-bit words is greater than a predetermined time interval. Related methods are also discussed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to integrated circuit devices, and more particularly, to integrated circuit devices having high data bandwidth..
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, semiconductor memory devices have a high bandwidth input/output (I/O) structure, and may include 32 data output pins, or DQ pins. In such a high bandwidth memory device, the 32 DQ pins may operate at the same time when data is output, resulting in a great amount of noise, known as simultaneous switching noise (SSN). Due to SSN, waveforms of data output signals may be distorted, which may deteriorate signal integrity of the memory device. As such, it may be difficult for the memory device to satisfy the input/output performance required in a high-frequency system. For this reason, conventional techniques to reduce SSN have included the use of data inversion circuits.
Data inversion methods may aim to reduce the amount of SSN generated in memory devices by limiting the number of parallel data signals that switch value during consecutive data output cycles. A memory device using the data inversion method may either invert and output current data or output the current data without inversion based on how many bits of data (generally, 8 bits) to be currently output are switched or "toggled" as compared to corresponding bits of previously output data. More particularly, if the number of toggled bits is greater than or equal to one-half of the number of bits to be currently output, the memory device may invert and output the data, and additionally may output a flag signal of 1-bit indicating that the data was inverted. On the other hand, if the number of toggled bits is less than one-half of the number of bits to be currently output, the memory device may output the data without inversion, and may additionally output a flag signal of 1-bit indicating that the data was not inverted. As such, the number of bits of the output data to be toggled can be reduced to less than half of the total number of bits to be output, and accordingly, switching noise in the memory device can be reduced. As a result, the signal intensity of output signals may be improved, such that input/output performance of the memory device may also be improved.
FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional data inversion circuit. FIG. 1 shows a data inversion circuit that performs inversion/non-inversion on 8-bit data to be output to 8 data output pads (DQ pads).
Referring to FIG. 1, the data inversion circuit 10 includes logic circuits 11 and 12 and a comparator 13. Each of the logic circuits 11 and 12 includes 8 XOR gates. The logic circuit 11 determines whether or not bits of data FDO1 through FDO8 to be currently output (which are read from a memory cell), are to be toggled based on corresponding bits of data DO1 through DO8 which were previously output from the data inversion circuit 10. The comparator 13 outputs a flag signal FLG with a predetermined level according to the determined result of the logic circuit 11. The logic circuit 12 inverts and outputs the data FDO1 through FDO8 to be currently output, or alternatively, outputs the data FDO1 through FDO8 without inversion, in response to the flag signal FLG.
As described above, a conventional data inversion circuit may determine whether or not each bit of the previous data (which may have been output in an inverted state or in a non-inverted state) is toggled compared to a corresponding bit of data to be currently output, in order to decide whether the data to be currently output should be inverted or should not be inverted. The previously output data and the data to be currently output may be continuous or non-continuous. In other words, an interval in which no data is read (i.e., an interval where no read instructions are received) may exist between a time when the previous data has been read and a time when the data to be currently output is read. For example, a time interval (i.e., a reading interval) between receipt of a first read command for reading first data and receipt of a second read command for reading second data may exceed a predetermined time interval. In such a case, the data output circuit of the memory device may achieve a stable state during this time interval. Once the data output circuit reaches a stable state, SSN may not be generated in the data output voltage.
However, a conventional data inversion circuit may be inefficient in that an inversion operation may be performed on the data to be currently output regardless of the presence of a reading interval between the previous data and the data to be currently output. In other words, the current output may be inverted to inhibit SSN even though SSN may not be present because of an extended reading interval where no switching is performed. Also, such an inversion operation may reduce the operating speed of the semiconductor device.
Also, a conventional data inversion circuit may compare data to be currently output with previously output data in order to decide whether or not the data to be currently output should be inverted. The previously output data may have been subjected to inversion/non-inversion, while the data to be currently output is data before being subjected to inversion/non-inversion. Accordingly, a timing margin may exist between the previous data and the data to be currently output. Such a timing margin may further reduce the operating speed of the data inversion circuit, and may limit the operational frequency of the semiconductor device.

Data inversion circuits having a bypass mode of operation and methods of operating the same


A compound fitting (18) for a vehicle seat, especially for an automotive seat, comprises two individual fittings (10, 50) that are arranged axially juxtaposed and in parallel in relation to the flow of force, and that each have at least two fitting parts (11, 12, 40, 51, 52) that can be rotated in relation to one another, the inner fitting parts being interlinkable and the outer fitting parts being interlinkable. One of the individual fittings is a adjusting fitting (10) for adjusting the compound fitting (8), and the other individual fitting is a locking fitting (50) for locking the compound fitting (8). Two fitting parts (11, 12) of the adjusting fitting (10) can be interlinked by way of a non-self-locking eccentric epicyclic gear. At least to a large extent, the locked locking fitting (50) bridges the adjusting fitting (10) in terms of the flow of force.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,755,491 discloses a fitting of the type mentioned above, in the Technical Field section of this disclosure, in which a geared fitting and a latching fitting are arranged in series with regard to the flow of force. The geared fitting serves for the adjustment of the inclination of a backrest, and the latching fitting serves for the free-pivoting of the backrest, i.e. in order to facilitate access to a rear row of seats by pivoting the backrest forward. The geared fitting can in principle be driven by motor, while the latching fitting is unsuitable for being driven by motor.


The invention relates to hexahydropentaleno derivatives, the preparation method and use in medicine thereof, and in particular to hexahydropentaleno derivatives or stereo-isomers or pharmaceutically acceptable salts thereof as shown in general formula (I), and to the preparation method therefor and pharmaceutical compositions comprising the derivatives, and to the use thereof as a therapeutical agent, especially as a DPP-IV inhibitor. The definition of each substituent in formula (I) is the same as the definition in the description.

Diabetes refers to a disease process derived from multiple causative factors. Generally speaking, there are two types of diabetes: type I and type II. Type I diabetes, also known as insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM), is characterized by loss of pancreatic β-cells which are damaged in the process of autoimmunity. Type II diabetes, also known as non insulin dependent diabetic mellitus (NIDDM), which is more common and a long-term and progressive metabolic disease, is characterized by hyperglycemia, hyperlipidemia and insulin resistance. The typical symptoms of type II diabetes comprise polyuria, polydipsia and bulimia.
Incretin plays an important role in regulating blood sugar balance in normal and pathological states. Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) and glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide are two incretins released from intestine after food intake and have influence on insulin secretion. GLP-1 reduces hyperglycemia by promoting insulin secretion and reducing glucagon secretion in a glucose-dependent way. Meanwhile, GLP-1 can slow gastric emptying, suppress appetites, increase satiety and promote weight loss. In animal studies, GLP-1 is of nutritional function on β-cells, which increases the likelihood of improving disease's symptoms by increasing the density and function of β-cells. Recently, researches indicated that GLP-1 is beneficial to cardiovascular system. The finding is very important because cardiovascular complication is one of the leading causes of death in diabetic patients. In short, GLP-1 has many benefits which make a lot of differences compared to existing therapeutic agents. However, GLP-1 is not used clinically because it could be degraded quickly by serine proteinase such as dipeptidyl peptidase-IV (DPP-IV) distributed widely in vivo and loses activity. Therefore, researchers have focused on developing GLP-1 analogues which are long lasting and resistant to peptidase degradation, and are dipeptidyl peptidase-IV inhibitors.
X-Proline dipeptide can be removed from N-terminus of polypeptide by dipeptidyl peptidase-IV which is an exopeptidase of glycoprotein and serine in the cell membrane. DPP-IV is widely distributed all over the body tissues comprising endothelial cells of intestine and intestinal mucosal vessel. DPP-IV is expressed in T-cells of cardiovascular system, which is equated with T cell activation marker CD26. The data of a model of the cardiovascular system indicate that DPP-IV has a potential coactivated effect during T cell activation process. In addition, DPP-IV also shows degradation of polypeptide of immunomodulator, endocrine and nerve.
DPP-IV inhibitors could increase the level of GLP-1 which is undegraded and has biological activity, and provide alternative therapies for type II diabetes. In addition, DPP-IV inhibitors are effective orally compared with incretin analogues. Glucose control could be improved by inhibiting the activity of DPP-IV. The advantage of DPP-IV inhibitors is that the release of insulin may be increased. Meanwhile, the DPP-IV inhibitors would not increase the risk of hypoglycemia. However, DPP-IV is as a member of the exopeptidase family, there are needs for DPP-IV inhibitors having high selectivity in inhibiting only the activity of DPP-IV and having no effect on other DPPs.

Hexahydropentaleno derivatives, preparation method and use in medicine thereof


The present invention has been made to provide a technique capable of contributing to a reduction in operational burden on workers and an increase in operating accuracy in a generation process of a mesh for numerical analysis for a geometric model.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a numerical analysis mesh generation apparatus, a numerical analysis mesh generation method, and a numerical analysis mesh generation program that generate a mesh for performing numerical analysis for a target geometric model.
2. Description of the Related Art
When numerical analysis is performed for a geometric model, an analysis mesh is generated for the geometric model. The mesh generation process has manually been carried out according to the following procedure in general. Firstly, a surface to be used as a reference is selected based on geometric data of the geometric model to be analyzed. Secondly, the reference surface is divided into a plurality of segments and, on the divided reference surface, a 2D mesh is generated. Finally, the generated 2D mesh is extruded in a predetermined direction to thereby generate a 3D mesh (refer to, for example, Patent Document 1: Jpn. Pat. AppIn. Laid-Open Publication No. 2001-155187 and Patent Document 2: Jpn. Pat. AppIn. Laid-Open Publication No. 11-144093).
The division or the like of the reference surface is manually carried out in the prior art, complicating the work and taking a lot of time to complete it. In particular, when mistakes are made in the division of the reference surface, it requires an immense amount of time to correct the mistakes. Further, a mesh having a size less than the minimum mesh size is not generated on the reference surface in the prior art, involving an additional work of deleting meshes in the area where the size of the mesh interval is smaller than a specified value (minimum mesh size), moving nodes of the meshes, and the like.

Numerical analysis mesh generation apparatus, numerical analysis mesh generation method, and numerical analysis generation program

Abstract: A numerical analysis mesh generation apparatus generates a mesh for use in performing numerical analysis for a geometric model to be analyzed. The apparatus comprises: a reference surface selection section that selects one surface from a plurality of surfaces constituting the geometric model as a reference surface; an edge projection section that projects, in a predetermined direction, edges of the geometric model located in a predetermined direction away from the reference surface selected by the reference surface selection section on the reference surface; an interval determination section that determines an interval between edges projected on the reference surface by the edge projection section; a grouping section that groups two or more edges with one of the two or more edges set as a representative edge when the interval determination section determines that the interval between them is smaller than a predetermined interval; and a mesh generation section that generates a mesh for the reference surface based on a surface divided using the edges grouped by the grouping section.


An apparatus and method for Cardiac Resuscitation of an arrested heart, for Percutaneous Internal Direct Epicardial Defibrillation, Cardioversion and Pacing with electrodes placeable directly into the chest cavity onto the epicardium via a device entering the chest in a specific area of the anterior chest wall via blunt dissection rapidly creating a passage of negligible size in the chest wall for the introduction of the electrodes, without the need for thoracotomy or for sternotomy and without requiring the use of sharp surgical instruments and without causing pneumothorax. Due to its rapidity of implementation, its safety and simplicity of application, the device can be used by Paramedics in the field at the scene of a cardiac arrest, where the resuscitation efforts are more likely to succeed, for internal direct epicardial defibrillation, cardioversion and pacing.

This invention relates to electrical cardiac therapy devices, specifically to emergency defibrillators, cardioverters and pacemakers.
Electrical therapy is commonly used in cardiac therapy, especially in cardiac resuscitation. Defibrillation, cardioversion and pacemaker therapy play a major role in cardiac resuscitation. Defibrillators and cardiac pacemakers are indeed common devices in the emergency armamentarium. Electrical therapy has proved over the last two decades to be often lifesaving in cardiac arrest settings. Cardiac arrest can result from a variety of cardiac arrhythmias all amenable to electrical therapy. These arrhythmias include ventricular fibrillation, ventricular tachycardia, ventricular asystole and high degree heart blocks.
A defibrillator is a device that administers a controlled electrical shock to patients to terminate a cardiac arrhythmia. The technique of administering the electrical shock is usually referred to as defibrillation if it used to terminate Ventricular Fibrillation or pulseless Ventricular tachycardia. The technique is referred to as Cardioversion if it is administered for other cardiac arrhythmias, typically atrial fibrillation, atrial flutter, or ventricular tachycardia. Typically, in defibrillation the electrical shock is unsynchronized with the cardiac cycle while in cardioversion the electrical shock is delivered in synchronization with the cardiac cycle, at a specific electrical stage of the cardiac cycle.
The defibrillator basically consists of a charging circuit that gradually builds electrical energy to a preset level on a storage circuit. The storage electrical energy is then delivered to the patient through a discharge circuit. The electrical stored energy is delivered via conductive paddles applied to the chest or back of a patient in the External Defibrillator. Another type of Defibrillator is the Automatic Implantable Cardioverter-Defibrillator which consists of a pulse generator with both sensing and shocking electrodes. In the Automatic Implantable Defibrillator the shocking electrodes are usually two epicardial patches placed in anteroposterior position over the heart surface or one epicardial patch and another electrode, the so called transvenous spring electrode, placed in the right ventricular apex, all implanted by thoracotomy or sternotomy i.e. by surgical opening of the chest. Rarely is direct epicardial defibrillation implemented i.e. defibrillation with two epicardial paddles applied directly over the heart in anteroposterior position. Instances of application are traumatic cardiac arrest, open chest surgery or medical cardiac arrest during open chest cardiac massage.
The energy required for Direct or Internal Defibrillation of the heart in these cases is by far less than the energy required with External Defibrillation. Due to the fact that the paddles are directly applied over the heart, the impedance, i.e. the resistance to current flow, is greatly reduced in respect to the commonly used External Defibrillators. There are indications that Direct or Internal Defibrillation is more effective than External Defibrillation. Unfortunately due to the fact that Direct or Internal Defibrillation can be carried out only in patients victim of cardiac arrest via thoracotomy, its applications are severely limited and, practically, it can be carried out only in cases of traumatic cardiac arrest or in patients whose heart arrested during cardiac surgery in the operating room.
Pacemakers are medical devices that deliver an electrical stimulus through electrodes to the heart causing electrical depolarization and subsequent cardiac contraction. Emergency cardiac pacing is required in patients whose primary problem is cardiac impulse formation and br conduction such as hemodynamically compromising unstable bradycardia, high degree of heart block, bradysistolic cardiac arrest and also refractory tachycardias.
Emergency Temporary Cardiac Pacemakers are named according to the location of the electrodes and the pathway the electrical stimulus travels to the heart. They are named Transcutaneous when the electrodes are placed on the skin of the anterior chest wall and the back of a patient, Transvenous when the electrode tip is positioned in the right ventricle or right atrium or both, Transthoracic when the electrodes are placed through the anterior chest wall into the myocardium, i.e. the heart muscle, Epicardial when the electrodes are placed on the surface of the heart, and Transesophageal when the electrodes are positioned within the esophagus.
As in Internal Defibrillation, Epicardial pacing is almost exclusively carried out during open chest surgery for resuscitation of patients with penetrating chest trauma. There are studies documenting the dramatically superior efficacy of epicardial pacing versus the transcutaneous pacing. However, despite dramatic improvement following epicardial pacing, its application is restricted to only a handful of patients due to the obligate requirement of opening surgically the chest for placing the pacing electrodes onto the heart surface.
No epicardial electrical therapy device, Defibrillator or Cardiac pacer, is known to have the electrodes placed onto the heart surface without the surgical opening of the chest with sharp instruments. Such a procedure, besides being associated with high morbidity and mortality, has the unavoidable drawback of having to be carried out only in operating rooms and rarely in Emergency Departments. Due to the invasiveness character of the procedure, epicardial defibrillation and or pacing is presently carried out only in cases when open chest cardiac massage via thoracotomy is carried out.

Epicardial percutaneous device for electrical cardiac therapy


New compounds of the formula (A) ##STR1## a process for their preparation and their use in the manufacture of pharmaceutical preparations. The new compounds have both local anaesthetic and analgesic effect.

Pethidine is a frequently used analgesic, but its local anaesthetic effect is weak. The anaesthetic/analgesic effect of pethidine after spinal administration is often insufficient in both respects. Instead combinations of bupivacaine and fentanyl or morphine are being used. The opiate analgesics have several severe drawbacks, e.g. development of tolerance, addiction, risk for respiratory depression. There is, thus, a need for agents giving a local anaesthesia with a remaining analgesic effect having less side-effects than the currently used combinations. Such agents should be used after spinal or epidural injections as local anaesthetics intraoperatively. Thereafter the compounds would give good post-operative pain relief.

Compounds with analgesic and local anaesthetic effect


An embodiment may be described as a switched capacitor analog equalizer circuit with offset voltage cancellation, where an embodiment comprises an amplifier in which a feedback path from its output port to one of its input ports is provided during a reset phase, and where the amplifier's input port connected to the feedback path is also connected to one terminal of an offset-correction capacitor and one terminal of a sampling capacitor. The other terminal of the offset-correction capacitor is connected to a switch and the other terminal of the sampling capacitor is connected to an input port to receive a signal. During the reset phase, the switch is open, and during a sampling phase, the switch is closed so that the offset-correction capacitor and the sampling capacitor are connected in parallel. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

Computer systems currently employ different kinds of communication links between various components within a computer system. Some of these communication links are, or have been, multi-drop, parallel busses. However, with increasing processing power and higher capacity data links, it is expected that serial, point-to-point busses will be employed in place of some multi-drop, parallel busses. One such multi-drop bus, the PCI (Peripheral component Interconnect) bus, is expected to be replaced with the PCI Express bus. (PCI and PCI Express are registered trademarks belonging to the PCI SIG Corporation. See www.pci-sig.com.)
The physical layer specified by the PCI Express Architecture is a point-to-point serial data bus employing differential signaling in each direction. A lane in the physical layer comprises two low-voltage differentially driven communication links, or channels. This is illustrated in FIG. 1, where device A comprises a differential transmitter Tx to transmit a differential signal to device B, and comprises a receiver Rx to receive a differential signal from device B. Device B also comprises a differential transmitter Tx and a differential receiver Rx. The resistors in FIG. 1 indicate termination resistors.
The data transmitted in the PCI Express link is in the form of packets, where 8 b/10 b encoding is employed so that 8 information bits are encoded into 10 channel bits to equalize the number of 1's and 0's sent. The encoded signal contains an embedded clock. It is expected that a single lane in the PCI Express Architecture will support a data rate of 2.5 Gbps (Giga bits per second). Higher data rates between devices may be realized by employing more than one physical lane.
Recovering the transmitted information from a high speed serial link is not necessarily a straightforward task, particularly in those cases in which the channel capacity of the transmission medium may be limited. Channel capacity may be limited if the bandwidth of the transmission channel, such as for example a transmission line comprising copper wires, is below that of the transmitted data rate. Such bandlimited channels may result in intersymbol interference. In such cases, channel equalization is a method to mitigate the effects of intersymbol interference.
In many applications, recovering data at the receiving end involves sampling the received data signal, establishing common mode levels to optimal bias levels, canceling offset errors in comparators, equalizing data-dependent jitter, and amplifying the filtered output to full CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor) voltage levels. Performing some or all of these signal processing operations with dedicated discrete circuit blocks may not be an ideal solution because of power consumption and required die area, and because of the noise and distortion that may be introduced.
It is desirable to provide a circuit to perform some or all of these functions that is relatively small and consumes relatively little power.

Switched capacitor equalizer with offset voltage cancelling


Measurements of line roughness are separated into groups depending upon pre-layers. Image data collected from similar pre-layer types are considered together in order to separate effects of line roughness from distortion of measurements caused by the pre-layers. The resulting line roughness measurements are used to estimate an aspect of line quality.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to semiconductor fabrication methods and, more particularly, to a method of estimating line-edge-roughness and line-width roughness.
2. Description of Related Art
Semiconductor devices commonly include elements having shapes and sizes that unavoidably deviate from their ideal reference forms. Measurement and characterization of such deviation can be an important technique for controlling yield and reliability of a semiconductor production process. As one example, a semiconductor device, especially one comprising repetitive patterns such as with memory devices, may contain patterns of closely-spaced parallel conducting lines that must be physically isolated from each other. The edges of these lines, although nominally smooth and straight, are inevitably somewhat rough and irregular when viewed at very small scales. The roughness and irregularity can be represented mathematically with measurements of line edge roughness (LER) and line width roughness (LWR).
Generally, greater degrees of LER and LWR correspond with greater levels of unreliability and, consequently, to lower yields in semiconductor production processes. Accordingly, methods of monitoring and analyzing LER/LWR are important aspects of semiconductor production processes. Estimates of LER and LWR can be obtained using methods known in the art in cases where images of the parallel lines are obtained under conditions that are uniform from one region to another. However, when pre-layers are introduced in portions of an integrated circuit pattern, the characteristics of the pre-layers tend to complicate, confuse, obscure, and distort the estimation of LER and LWR.
A need thus exists in the prior art for a method of measurement of LER and LWR that is adapted to account for pre-layers. A further need exists for a method of relating line quality to yield and reliability of an integrated circuit when pre-layers are present.

Measurement of line-edge-roughness and line-width-roughness on pre-layered structures


A spectrally encoded flow cytometry (SEFC) technique for imaging blood in the microcirculation. Since the dependency of one of the axes of the image on time prevents effective quantification of essential clinical parameters, the optical path in an SEFC system is split into two parallel imaging lines, followed by data analysis for recovering the flow speed from the multiplexed data. The data analysis may be auto-correlation of a pair of images obtained from a sequence of images of the imaged blood vessel.

Quantitative information on blood composition and blood cell morphology is frequently used for patient diagnosis using flow cytometry complemented by chemical analysis and optical microscopy. In recent years, several methods for obtaining useful clinical data from small drops of extracted blood have been developed, reducing pain and anxiety to patients. Non-invasive optical techniques for measuring key clinical indices of blood have also been demonstrated and shown clinically useful, including pulse oximetry, photothermal imaging and orthogonal polarized spectral imaging. While limited by the accuracy of their data, these technologies are attractive for many applications that require real-time diagnosis, involve difficult extraction of blood, and where proper sample handling cannot be maintained.
In the article entitled "Flow cytometry using spectrally encoded confocal microscopy" by L. Golan and D. Yelin, one of the present inventors, and published in Optics letters, 2010. Vol. 35(13), pp. 2218-2220, there is described a technique termed spectrally encoded flow cytometry (SEFC), which has been shown effective for noninvasive, high-resolution imaging of blood flowing in the microcirculation. Reference is now made to FIG. 1, adapted from that article, which shows schematically the way in which SEFC is performed. A portable handheld probe is used to image the blood vessel 16 being assessed. In FIG. 1, that vessel is shown with blood cells 15 flowing therein, and it could be a small, optically accessible blood vessel, such as those in the mucous tissues. A broadband light source 10 is input by means of a focusing lens 11 into a fiber 12, and the light is spectrally dispersed by means of a diffraction grating 13 and a high NA lens 14, to form a spectrally encoded confocal line 19 on the blood vessel 16. The term spectrally encoded is used in this disclosure to include both a light beam that has information impressed on it spatially, such as by dispersing the light using a diffracting element so that it has different spectral properties, i.e. its wavelength, at different locations across the beam, or also, to include a light beam that has wavelength dependent information impressed on it, such as is present when different spatially dispersed wavelengths are reflected from the blood vessels, and the different wavelengths of light therefore carry information about the level of the reflected light. The lens 14 then images the reflectance of the spectrally encoded confocal line 19 positioned at the cross-section of the blood vessel, and the reflected light is passed back through the optical fiber 12. As cells 15 within the blood stream cross the spectrally encoded line 19, backscattered light is repeatedly recorded to form a two-dimensional confocal image of the cells, without additional mechanical scanning. When the spectrally encoded line 19 is positioned perpendicular to the direction of flow, the resulting two-dimensional SEFC data is spanned by the spectrally encoded line 19, encoding the x-(Cartesian) coordinate, while the y-coordinate is encoded by time, as indicative of the flow. This image data is collimated by a lens 17 and input into a spectrometer and control apparatus, 18, where the data is spectrally analyzed or decoded to generate a two dimensional time sequenced image of the blood flow. Using this prior art SEFC system, cells flowing at higher velocities appear shorter along the x-axis compared to slower moving cells of similar morphology, resulting in an inability to estimate their true proportions. Perhaps more importantly, obtaining key clinical parameters that involve cell counts, such as red, white, differential and platelet counts, requires knowledge of the exact imaged volume for effectively extrapolating the measured parameters to the entire body. This is self-evident since, even if the number of cells passing is counted, the volumetric concentration in the blood stream, which is what is commonly known as the "blood count", also requires knowledge of the volume in which that number of cells counted was performed, and in order to determine that volume, the flow rate of the blood must be determined. Thus, transforming the time axis into a physical 'y' axis requires precise, real-time measurement of the blood flow velocity across the field of view. Although non-invasive flow velocity measurements in the microcirculation had been previously demonstrated using laser speckle contrast analysis, laser Doppler and orthogonal polarized spectral imaging, these techniques provide only averaged measurements and would be difficult to integrate into an SEFC system.
There therefore exists a need for a method of measuring blood flow velocity in an SEFC system, which overcomes at least some of the disadvantages of prior art systems and methods.
The disclosures of each of the publications mentioned in this section and in other sections of the specification, are hereby incorporated by reference, each in its entirety.

Blood velocity measurement using correlative spectrally encoded flow cytometry

TECHNION RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT FOUNDATION LIMITED


A retail checkout system includes a customer-operated portable terminal with a data reader, such as a barcode scanner, and a customer-operated self-checkout station with an automated payment-accepting subsystem. Customers use the portable terminal to identify and log products that are selected as they move through a store. Item identification data is then transferred to the self-checkout station, where the customer pays for the selected products using the automated payment-accepting subsystem.

The field of the present invention relates to self-checkout systems for retail establishments or more particularly to a data reading system that enables customers to identify and log selected products by themselves using a portable reading terminal, and to pay for those products by themselves using a self-checkout station that includes a payment-accepting subsystem. In a preferred embodiment, the selected products are identified and logged using a portable terminal to read barcodes printed on the products.
In conventional supermarkets, product selection is performed by the customers, and product checkout is performed by cashiers. Typically, a customer will walk up and down the aisles selecting products to buy and placing the selected products in the shopping basket. Once the customer has finished selecting products, the basket is taken over to a checkout counter. The customer then unloads the selected products from the basket and places them on the checkout counter. Each item is then checked out by a cashier, typically using a barcode scanning system. Finally, each item is bagged, either by the customer, the cashier, or by another supermarket employee.
In this conventional shopping approach, the product selection process and the checkout process are performed serially (i.e., one after the other). As a result, the total time required to complete a shopping trip is the sum of the product selection time and the checkout time. Even under optimum conditions, when there are no queues at the checkout counters and the cashier operates quickly and efficiently, the checkout process can contribute a few minutes to the total shopping time. And when conditions are sub-optimum, (e.g., when there are long checkout queues, when a cashier is slow, and/or when a preceding customer has a problem) the checkout process can significantly extend the total shopping time.
Adding self-checkout stations to conventional checkout stations can reduce checkout queue times without requiring additional manpower, because the customers will be distributed in a larger number of shorter queues. One example of this type of self-checkout system is the U-Scan® Express self-checkout system available from PSC Inc., Webster, N.Y. 14580. With the U-Scan® system, customers scan their selected products by themselves, and then pay for their purchase by themselves using either an automatic cash-receiving system or a magnetic credit/debit card reader.
While using the U-Scan® system does reduce the time spent waiting in queues for checkout by shortening the queues, product selection and checkout are still performed serially.
Another checkout system is the Scanboy™ system, originating from CSE GmbH, Germany. With the Scanboy™ system, upon entering the store, each customer picks up a portable, cordless scanning unit from a dispenser rack and uses this scanning unit to scan the selected products as they are placed in a shopping cart. When the customer has finished selecting products, the customer returns the handheld scanner to the rack. The rack then prints out a receipt for the items that were scanned by the handheld unit. The customer then takes this receipt to a human cashier, who accepts payment for the purchase.
While portable scanners such as the Scanboy™ system can cut total shopping time by reducing the amount of time spent at checkout, portable scanner users may still have to wait in a queue for the human cashier to pay for their purchase. And although the time required to process each customer should be smaller than at conventional scanning checkout stations, the queue time can still be considerable, particularly when a preceding customer has a special problem that requires the cashier's attention.

Fixed self-checkout station with cradle for communicating with portable self-scanning units


A shoe having a three-quarter or high top upper that is formed at least partially of flexible material has a central rotary closure on an instep cover in a section between the metatarsophalangeal joint area and the ankle joint area, especially near ankle joint area, and is coupled with at least two tightening elements, one tightening element of central rotary closure acting to close the portion of the throat area extending from the closure toward the shoe tip and the other one or two of the tightening elements running upward, especially at an angle (.alpha.) relative to horizontal which is about 10.degree. to 50.degree., especially about 20.degree. to 40.degree., over a guide element on the upper material at or above the central rotary closure, and ending at an attaching point on the instep cover located approximately at at least the same height as the top of this guide element, so that a tightening action can be produced toward the rear in an area between the top and bottom of the heel portion of the upper.

This invention relates to a shoe, especially an athletic, leisure or rehabilitation shoe, with an upper part consisting, at least partially, of a flexible material which covers the ankle of the foot (3/4 mid-height) or rises above the ankle (high top). More specifically, the invention relates to a shoe of this type which is provided with an instep cover covering the instep of the foot (which is movable like a tongue or forms the tongue or a part of it) on which a central rotary closure is provided, with which at least the instep length of a tightening element can be shortened for closing the shoe and can be extended for opening it, and the tightening element is alternately guided respectively from a guide element on the upper side part to a guide element of the instep cover.
Such a sport shoe is known, for example, from commonly owned, co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/010,385, and low top versions of such shoes are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,177,882 and 5,117,567. In using the known central closure of the noted patents for shoes which have a very large open throat area or in shoes with a high top upper, which by nature have a greater throat area, the central rotary closure has to be able to accommodate a large lengthwise section of the tightening element in the closed position. Therefore, it has to have a correspondingly large winding space for the tightening element. Otherwise, to obtain an effective closure, as disclosed in the noted co-pending patent application, a more complex double-reel central closure must be used with multiple tightening elements.
Moreover with greater instep length, the ratio of the tightening action to the angle of rotation is small because of the originally small diameter of the winding element of the central rotary closure and increases with increases in the length wound, i.e., the effective diameter of the reel increase as the tightening element is wound thereon so that a greater length of the tightening element will be wound on the reel each successive turn thereof. But, to tighten the tightening element, especially the opposite result would be more favorable, namely a shorter length of the tightening element being wound on the reel with each successive turn thereof at the end of the tightening process, so that a better fine-tuning of the fit would be possible.
Sliding closures for shoes are also known; for example, a sliding closure is known from U.S. Pat. No. 2,994,935 which extends over the entire length of the tongue. It consists of a relatively rigid material. A good matching of the shoe in this sliding area to the shape of the foot is, therefore, not possible. A shortening of the sliding path of the sliding closure is not possible because of the necessary opening angle of the upper side parts and the, thus, necessary large instep length of the tightening element. Therefore, such sliding closures could not catch on in the market.
Similarly, zipper-type closures are known, for example, from U.S. Pat. No. 2,345,057 and French Utility Model Publication 2501977. These closures, which are attached to the shoe upper by conventional shoe laces, also, extend over the entire length of the tongue.

Shoe, especially an athletic, leisure or rehabilitation shoe having a central closure


One aspect of the invention relates to a temperature control device for controlling the temperature of a container, comprising: at least one heating region having at least on heating element, and at least one cooling region having at least one cooling element, wherein the temperature control device is formed to be flexible, at least in some regions, wherein the temperature control device can be transferred from an open position to an arrangement position by flexible deformation, and wherein the temperature control device, in the arrangement position, can be arranged on a wall of the container in a form-fitting manner, at least in some regions, and can be thermally contacted such that the temperature of the container can be controlled by means of the at least one heating element and the at least one cooling element.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a temperature control device for controlling the temperature of a container, a use of the temperature control device, and an arrangement comprising the temperature control device.
2. Description of the Related Art.
A container within the meaning of the present application is a volume at least partially enclosed by a wall wherein the wall is formed such that a fluid is retained in the container by means of said wall. This means that the wall of the container is fluid-tight. A fluid within the meaning of the present application is a liquid, a gas, and a mixture thereof. The container per se may have at least one opening through which the fluid may leave or enter the container. In other words, the container per se does not need to be formed fluid-tight. The container is fluid-tight, at least in some regions, because the wall thereof is formed such that the fluid can be retained inside the container.
A temperature control device within the meaning of the present application is a device by means of which the container, in particular the fluid inside the container, can be brought to a predetermined temperature and kept at said temperature. In other words, the temperature control device serves for controlling the temperature of the container, or of the fluid inside the container, respectively. In this respect, controlling the temperature may include both, heating and cooling. In particular controlling the temperature may include heating of the fluid inside the container to a temperature exceeding the ambient temperature of the container. Equivalently, controlling the temperature may also include cooling the fluid inside the container to a temperature below the ambient temperature of the container.
In particular where chemical, biological and/or medical applications or reactions are concerned, it is import that a fluid, such as a culture medium inside the container, such as a bio-reactor is brought to and kept at a predetermined temperature. Depending on the ambient temperature, either heating or cooling of the container is required to this end. For this purpose, heating and cooling elements can be employed extending into the container and contacting the fluid inside the container. In case the container is an aseptic container, controlling the temperature of the fluid inside the container advantageously is performed via the wall of the container.
In view of the above, it is an object of the invention to provide a temperature control device suited for controlling the temperature of a container to a predetermined temperature in an easy and reliable manner.

Temperature control device, use and arrangement


The invention relates generally to a pneumatic rubber tire which contains an outer, annular, circular groove which contains a flexible tube bonded to the walls of the groove.

Normal air diffusion through walls of a pneumatic rubber tire reduces tire pressure within the internal cavity of the tire over time. For this invention, an annular circular groove is provided in the sidewall of the tire in which contains a flexible (e.g. rubber) tube which is secured within the groove with a rubber coating and for which the tube acts to pump atmospheric air into the internal cavity of the pneumatic tire to aid in providing (e.g. maintaining) air pressure in the internal cavity of the pneumatic tire by alternating (e.g. sequential segmental) pressure impressed upon the tube by flexing of the tire, particularly the tire sidewall, during operation of the tire in service such as during vehicular operation of the tire.

Tire with outer groove containing bonded tube


When an image of content reproduced by a first reproduction device is shot, a content display support device obtains the shot image and positional information that specifies the position and orientation of a shooting device. The content display support device generates combination content by visualizing and embedding the positional information in the shot image and transmits the combination content to a second reproduction device. A portable terminal obtains the positional information from an image obtained by shooting the combination content reproduced by the second reproduction device. The portable terminal requests supplementary information by transmitting the positional information to the content display support device. The supplementary information associated with the positional information is transmitted from the content display support device to the portable terminal and displayed at the portable terminal.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a content display support system, and more particularly to a content display support system for supporting content display at remote sites.
2. Description of the Related Art
Systems for sharing a material among a plurality of meeting participants have been proposed as meeting support systems.
For example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2008-158992 discloses a system that allows a shared server to store document data as a material for use in an event such as a meeting, thereby making the document data open to the public, and provides the document data to an information terminal through a prescribed authentication process.
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2010-273256 discloses an image forming apparatus that supports a teleconference, in which an image of a videoconference at a remote site is analyzed so that a person image having a registered character is extracted from the image using a predefined selection condition, and a document is transmitted to a specified destination corresponding to the person image.
However, in either system, it is difficult for participants to obtain a shared material, for example, in a seminar or any other meeting that is open to public participants who are not registered beforehand.

KONICA MINOLTA BUSINESS TECHNOLOGIES, INC.