The present invention relates to systems and methods for transporting fluid between different locations within a body cavity and, in one particular application, systems and methods for transporting fluids to maintain at least partial blood flow through a protected blood flow path within the right and/or left side of the heart during surgery. The protected blood flow path may be established by positioning one or more conduits within at least a portion of the right and/or left sides(s) of the heart. At least partial blood flow may be maintained through the protected blood flow path by the pumping action of a blood pump disposed within the conduit.

I. Field of the Invention
The present invention involves systems and methods for transporting fluids between various locations in the body, such as during surgical procedures. More particularly, the present invention is directed to a cannula arrangement having an integrated pump disposed therein for transporting blood between various points in the heart to provide right and/or left heart support cardiac surgery.
II. Discussion of the Prior Art
During most surgical procedures, bodily fluids are directed and transferred to various locations with the assistance of artificial pumping apparatus. Major heart surgery, for example, is oftentimes accomplished by procedures that require full cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) through the use of artificial heart-lung machines and complete cessation of cardiopulmonary activity. While the average mortality rate with this type of procedure is low, it is nonetheless associated with a complication rate that is often much higher compared to when cessation of the heart and CPB are not required. The use of CPB continues to represent a major assault on a host of body systems. For example, there is noticeable degradation of mental faculties following such surgeries in a significant percentage of patients who undergo coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) procedures. The CABG procedure generally involves open chest surgical techniques to treat diseased vessels. During this procedure, the sternum of the patient is cut in order to spread the chest apart and provide access to the heart. During surgery the heart is stopped, and by the use of CPB blood is diverted from the lungs to an artificial oxygenator. In general CABG procedures, a source of arterial blood is then connected to a coronary artery downstream from the occlusion. The source of blood is often an internal mammary artery, and the target coronary artery is typically among the anterior or posterior arteries which may be narrowed or occluded. The degradation of mental faculties resulting from CABG procedures is commonly attributed to cerebral arterial blockage and emboli from debris in the blood generated by the use of CPB. At the same time, the dramatic increase in the life expectancy of the general population has resulted in patients that are more likely to be older and in poor health, with less cardiovascular, systemic, and neurologic reserve needed to recover from the trauma caused by the use of CPB. As a consequence, inflammatory, hemostatic, endocrinologic, and neurologic stresses are tolerated to a much lesser degree by a significant number of patients today, and play a more significant role in CPB-induced morbidity.
The combined statistics of postoperative morbidity and mortality continue to illustrate the shortcomings of CPB. The extracorporeal shunting and artificially induced oxygenation of blood activates a system wide roster of plasma proteins and blood components in the body including those that were designed to act locally in response to infection or injury. When these potent actors are disseminated throughout the body without normal regulatory controls, the entire body becomes a virtual battleground. The adverse hemostatic consequences of CPB also include prolonged and potentially excessive bleeding. CPB-induced platelet activation, adhesion, and aggregation also contribute to a depletion in platelet number, and is further compounded by the reversibly depressed functioning of platelets remaining in circulation. The coagulation and fibrinolytic systems both contribute to hemostatic disturbances during and following CPB. However, the leading cause of morbidity and disability following cardiac surgery is cerebral complications. Gaseous and solid micro and macro emboli, and less often perioperative cerebral hypoperfusion, produce neurologic effects ranging from subtle neuropsychologic deficits to fatal stroke. Advances in computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, ultrasound, and other imaging and diagnostic techniques have added to the understanding of these complications. But with the possible exception of perioperative electroencephalography, these technologies do not yet permit real time surgical adjustments that are capable of preventing emboli or strokes in the making. Doppler and ultrasound evaluation of the carotid artery and ascending aorta, and other diagnostic measures, can help identify surgical patients at elevated risk for stroke and are among the growing list of pharmacologic and procedural measures for reducing that risk.
CPB also affects various endocrine systems, including the thyroid gland, adrenal medulla and cortex, pituitary gland, pancreas, and parathyroid gland. These systems are markedly affected not only by inflammatory processes, but also by physical and biochemical stresses imposed by extracorporeal perfusion. Most notably, CPB is now clearly understood to induce euthyroid-sick syndrome which is marked by profoundly depressed triiodothyronine levels persisting for days following cardiothoracic surgery. The efficacy of hormone replacement regimens to counteract this effect are currently undergoing clinical investigation. By contrast, levels of the stress hormones epinephrine, norepinephrine, and cortisol are markedly elevated during and following CPB, and hyperglycemia is also possible.
Beating heart bypass surgery has been recognized as desirable because it has the possibility of avoiding the necessity of placing the patient on a full CPB system. However, attempts at beating heart bypass surgery have met with limited success and have essentially been limited to surgery on the anterior heart vessels due to problems which develop when the beating heart is lifted or displaced from its normal position in order to perform the beating heart surgery. Typically when the beating heart is lifted or manipulated in order to provide surgical access to posterior heart vessels, a number of difficulties are encountered. When the beating heart is lifted and manipulated, the right side of the heart tends to collapse, particularly the right auricle or atrium and frequently the right ventricle and/or pulmonary artery. When the right side of the heart collapses, pulmonary blood flow either ceases or becomes inadequate, thus forcing the use of CPB. Another difficulty encountered is that, even if the right side of the heart does not collapse, the pulmonary artery and/or the pulmonary vein frequently become crimped or kinked thus also impeding the pulmonary blood flow. Similarly, during the lifting and manipulation of the beating heart for lateral or posterior access, the left side of the heart, particularly the left auricle or left atrium can also collapse or partially collapse, thus impeding aortic circulatory blood flow. Further, when the beating heart is lifted or manipulated for beating heart surgery access or during catheterization or cannulation procedures, the heart may lapse into arrhythmia or disrhythmia or may arrest at least a portion of the time or most of the time that the surgery is being performed thus likewise impeding pulmonary blood flow and arterial circulatory blood flow. As a result, patients undergoing beating heart surgery are at risk of having to be placed on CPB on an emergency basis in the event that the pulmonary and/or circulatory blood flow is compromised during the surgery, which presents the CPB-induced side effects previously described.
The medical community is currently performing more beating heart bypass surgery in an effort to avoid the use of full CPB. The need is increasing for apparatus systems, methods and associated equipment to enhance the capability and versatility of beating heart surgery and to avoid CPB procedures in any heart surgery. The current trend toward thoracoscopic methods of performing bypass surgery, without opening the chest cavity, have resulted in limited success and applicability primarily due to the limited number of heart vessels which can be accessed through thoracoscopic methods. A major limitation of thorascopic bypass surgery methods is due to the fact that only the anterior heart vessels are accessible for surgery. More importantly, even open chest surgery providing full access to the heart also requires CPB when bypass surgery is performed on the lateral or posterior vessels of the heart, due to the fact that in conventional procedures the heart must be stopped when it is lifted or rotated from its normal position and manipulated for surgical access to the various heart vessels.
The present invention addresses this need by providing systems and methods for transporting blood between various points in the heart to provide right and/or left heart support so as to eliminate, or at least reduce, the need for full CPB.

Integrated pump and cannula system and related methods


Methods and apparatus for temporarily storing parity information for data stored in a storage device are provided. A first data block and parity information associated with the first data block are received. The first data block is stored in a first region of the storage device. The parity information is stored until a second data block is successfully stored in a second region of the storage device. The first region of the storage device is associated with the second region of the storage device.

The background description provided herein is for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the disclosure. Work of the inventors hereof, to the extent the work is described in this background section, as well as aspects of the description that may not otherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, is neither expressly nor impliedly admitted as prior art against the present disclosure.
Traditional sold-state devices (e.g., NAND storage devices) employ error correction code (ECC) fields that are stored with the user data to correct bit errors that may occur when the user data is read back. The NAND storage devices are divided into multiple stripes which store multiple pages of user data per stripe. Because these ECC fields are not strong enough to correct the number of bit errors in a page of user data, a separate page of data is stored within a given stripe to hold parity data. The stored parity data protects any page within the stripe of pages. Although, such data protection ensures reliability in the stored data, the amount of storage consumed by the parity data reduces the available storage space for user data. Another disadvantage of the traditional data protection system is the degradation in user performance due to the reduction in number of pages with user data that can be transferred in parallel.


This invention contemplates an isolated metallopolypeptide comprising a polyvalent metal ion coordinately linked to 2 to about 8 polypeptide binding ligands, wherein at least 2 of said polypeptide binding ligands are covalently bonded to a linear amphiphilic peptide. The linear amphiphilic peptide has an alpha-helix, beta-sheet or beta-turn conformation. This invention further contemplates a metal ion-assisted, self-assembly method for producing a metallopolypeptide.

Natural proteins are made up of linear chains of amino acid residues linked by amide bonds. The polypeptide chain is flexible and has virtually complete conformational freedom. Despite this freedom, natural polypeptides adopt tightly packed, highly ordered folded structures such as alpha-helices, beta-sheets and beta-turns, i.e., form non-random secondary structures. The energy balance between folded and unfolded states of polypeptides is thought to be regulated by conformational entropy factors. One such factor, the hydrophobic effect, is now thought to be the major driving force in protein folding. Dill, K. A., Biochemistry, 24:1501 (1985).
When two or more hydrophobic groups (initially solvated by a highly ordered water shell) clump together in the interior of a protein, the increase in the solvent entropy is more than compensated for by the loss of conformational entropy accompanying this event. The interaction of the polypeptide with the solvent surroundings causes non-polar side chains to cluster together in the interior and the hydrophilic groups to remain largely at the protein surface. According to one theory, the hydrophilic interactions force rapid collapse of the polypeptide to a compact state called the "molten globule", which then rearranges the final structure. See. e.g., Pain, R., Trends Biochem. Sci. Pers. Ed., 12:309 (1987); Dolgikh et al., FEBS Lett., 136.311 (1981); and Kuwajima et al., FEBS Lett., 221:115 (1987).
Folded structures such as alpha helices and beta sheets are maintained by an extensive hydrogen bond network. Richardson, J. S., Adv. Protein Chem., 34:167 (1981). Although the contribution of a single such hydrogen bond is typically very small, the cooperative formation of hydrogen bonds, particularly in the interior of a protein, likely plays an important role in folding and stability. Other forces contributing to the stability of folded polypeptides are electrostatic forces, medium and long-range ion-pairing interactions, helix-dipole interactions, covalent forces such as disulfide bonding and the nature of C- and N-termini amino acid residues. See, e.g., Barlow et al., J. Molec. Biol., 168:867 (1983); Perutz, M. F., Science, 201:1187 (1978); Richardson et al., Science, 240:1648 (1988); and Presta et al., Science, 240:1632 (1988). Dispersion forces and van der Waal's forces are likely less important in this regard.
Despite the accumulation of a large body of information about folded protein structures, the de novo design of artificial polypeptides having a defined conformation remains an elusive task. The major obstacle in the design of such polypeptides from linear polypeptide sequences is the lack of any comprehensive understanding of how the one-dimensional sequence information directs the formation of a discrete three-dimensional state (topology) of a polypeptide.
Two types of approaches, biometric and nonlinear, have been recently reported and utilized for the de novo design of polypeptides. See, e.g., Richardson et al., Trends Biochem. Sci., 14:304 (1989); and Mutter et al., Agnew. Chem. Int. Ed. Engl., 5:535 (1989). The biometric design approach attempts to model the natural shape and structure of proteins by designing linear peptide sequences that are predicted to fold into a desired topology. For example, recombinant DNA technologies have been used to design and construct a synthetic polypeptide having an anti-parallel tetra-helical topology. See, e.g., Hecht et al., Science, 249:884 (1990); and Regan et al., Science, 241:976 (1988). A tri-helical peptide has recently been described. Lieberman et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc., 113:1470 (1991).
Other attempts to design and construct synthetic polypeptides having a desired topology have been hampered by a number of problems. A beta-barrel protein called "b-bellin" has been designed but its structural characteristics remain unknown because of solubility problems. Richardson et al., Trends Biochem. Sci., 14:304 (1989). Similar solubility problems have been encountered with synthetic polypeptides having combined beta- and alpha-helical topologies.
Some problems have been avoided by the use of non-linear design principles. Using a template-assisted approach, several alpha-helical and beta-strand polypeptides comprising identical amphiphilic peptides have been designed. See, e.g., Sasaki et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc., 111:380 (1989); and Hahn et al., Science, 248:1544 (1990). The topology of these polypeptides, however, has not yet been fully elucidated.
One approach for the construction of artificial polypeptides having a defined topology is to develop self-organizing molecular processes by which small peptides can be assembled into large and topologically predetermined polypeptide tertiary structures.
The present invention provides a polyvalent metal ion-assisted self-assembly process for the construction of artificial polypeptides in which the overall topology of the polypeptide is manipulated by exploiting the interaction of a polyvalent metal ion with an appropriately designed metal ion binding site.

Isolated metallopolypeptide: compositions and synthetic methods


In a communications network between fixed stations and fixed terminals, the said fixed stations being linked to the telephony channels while the fixed terminals include an antenna for mutual interaction over distance with independent stations, connection means to the telephony channels of the network are provided, and there is established a telephony relationship between an independent station and another station linked to the telephony channels of the network, by an intermediary of a primary link between the independent station and the connection means, via antennas of a primary fixed terminal. A secondary fixed terminal is chosen on the basis of predetermined selection criteria, and a secondary link is established between the independent station (SA) and the connection means, via an antenna of the secondary fixed terminal. In response to a predetermined station condition, relating to the primary link, a predetermined request information item is generated from the independent station and, in response to reception of the request information item, the said relationship is switched so that it passes through this secondary link.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to telephony.
It is more particularly intended to serve in a communications network between fixed stations, such as telephone sets, and fixed terminals, the fixed stations being linked to the telephony channels of the network while the fixed terminals include means forming an antenna (more simply called "antenna" in the rest of the text) for mutual interaction over distance with independent stations, such as portable telephone handsets.
2. Related Art
Such a network is, for example, one known by the trademark POINTEL, and the invention finds a particularly advantageous but not limiting application therein.
The POINTEL network does not permit, in its current definition, offering the user of a portable handset continuity of service, when the latter moves, even if all the fixed terminals situated in the vicinity of the user provide complete radio frequency coverage. In fact, currently the telephony communication in progress will be broken off as soon as the user moves out of the radio frequency zone covered by the fixed terminal having initialized the radio frequency link of this telephony communication.

Device and method for telephony interconnection intended to offer continuity of service to independent stations in a communications network

Dassault Automatismes et Telecommunications


The thermal efficiency of an ammonia still is significantly increased by the use, in conjunction with the usual countercurrent steam stripping medium, of an auxiliary inert gas stripping medium initially heated and humidified by passage through a heat exchanger together with hot still bottoms derived from the still.

This invention relates to distillation methods and apparatus in which volatile components are stripped from a liquid by a stripping gas at an elevated temperature, and more particularly to the steam distillation or stripping of ammonia from coke plant liquors, commonly known as weak ammonia liquor, or WAL. While the specific discussion and examples cited herein refer to the treatment of weak ammonia liquor, or WAL, and it is in connection with the treatment of such liquor that the invention has been found most useful, the invention is equally applicable to any process which treats a liquid containing one or more volatile components with steam or other hot primary stripping gas in order to remove such components from the liquid and provide a gaseous effluent which is rich in volatile components and a liquid effluent which is poor in such components.
In the thermal decomposition of coal to produce coke for use in steel industry, vapors are given off which contain various components including tars, light oils, phenols, naphthalenes, hydrogen cyanide, hydrogen sulfide, carbon dioxide, ammonia and moisture. Various methods for the isolation of these components have been devised, some of which are described in the U.S. Steel publication "The Making, Shaping and Treating of Steel" 9th ed., Harold E. McGannon, Ed. (1971) pp 165 et seq.
The vapors given off during thermal decomposition, or coking, of coal are customarily initially cooled in a water spray tower known as a primary cooler. During such cooling, the excess moisture in the vapor condenses and absorbs ammonia, ammonium compounds and other lesser contaminants and is then known as weak ammonia liquor. The weak ammonia liquor may be recirculated through the primary cooler several times until the liquor becomes saturated with ammonia and other components and must be treated to remove the ammonia. As is described in the cited U.S. Steel treatise, the most commonly used process for ammonia recovery from weak ammonia liquor is the semi-direct process. In this process, weak ammonia liquor, which normally contains approximately 5000-9000 p.p.m. of ammonia, is subjected to a three leg distillation process. This three leg process is necessitated by the fact that ammonia is present in the weak ammonia liquor in two broad physically distinct types of combinations, known as "free" ammonia and "fixed" ammonia. The term "free" ammonia encompasses dissolved ammonium salts of carbonate, sulfide and cyanide ions, solutions of which are thermally decomposable into their gaseous components, i.e. ammonia and acid. The term "fixed" ammonia encompasses dissolved ammonium salts, such as the chloride, thiocyanate and sulphate, solutions of which are not thermally decomposable, but which require the addition of an alkaline reagent which will chemically react with the ammonium ion, converting it to strippable ammonia gas.
The weak ammonia liquor is first subjected to a steam distillation in a so-called "free leg" of a still to drive off the "free" ammonia. The remaining liquor, containing the fixed ammonia, exits from the bottom of the "free leg" and passes into a mixing chamber where it is intimately mixed with an aqueous slurry of calcium hydroxide, commonly known as milk of lime. The resulting weak ammonia liquor/calcium hydroxide mixture from the so-called "lime leg" is then passed into the "fixed leg" of the still where ammonia is stripped from the liquor by the use of steam. The hot effluent liquors, or still bottoms, containing only a trace amount of ammonia, are passed out the bottom of the still and into a waste liquor sump from which they may be removed for further treatment before disposal.
Both the free leg and the fixed leg of a conventional still are vertically upright cylindrical columns, usually positioned one upon the other, having a number of horizontal trays spaced along the height of each column. Each of these trays is equipped with bubble cap assemblies or sieve-type orifices through which steam may pass upwardly from tray to tray and is usually also equipped with downcomers through which weak ammonia liquor may descend from tray to tray, all as well known to those skilled in the art. Ascending steam is intimately mixed with descending weak ammonia liquor at each tray level.
In a conventional ammonia still, steam is supplied to the bottom of the fixed leg at a point below the lowest tray, but above the level of the still bottoms, under pressure sufficient to force the steam upward through the tray openings of both the fixed leg and the free leg to the top of the still column, where the steam leaves the free leg carrying with it the ammonia and other volatile gases. The steam/ammonia stream is then passed through a dephlegmator to cool and condense a portion of the steam, thereby enriching the ammonia content of the gas stream. Following the dephlegmator, the enriched steam/ammonia stream may either be passed to a sulfuric acid saturator, in which ammonium sulfate is produced, or passed to an incinerator for destruction of the ammonia and other combustible gases.
A second type of ammonia still substitutes a solution of sodium hydroxide for the conventional milk of lime slurry in order to avoid certain operating problems which occur in conventional stills. This more recent still is described in an article in the March 1975 issue of I&SM entitled "A New Method of Treating Coke Plant Waste Waters" by A. C. Naso and J. W. Schroeder, beginning at page 27.
Both the conventional and the more recently developed ammonia stills utilize steam, or occasionally some other hot gas, as a direct contact stripping medium. Steam has historically been attractive for such use both because of its low cost and its ready availability in steel plants. Recently, however, the cost of steam production has increased drastically due primarily to increased fuel cost. For this reason there is a demand for new and more efficient distillation systems.
Attempts have been made in the past to increase both the thermal efficiency of steam distillation systems in general and weak ammonia liquor (WAL) distillation systems in particular. For example, several inventors have attempted to use the waste heat from the steam and ammonia vapor passing from the top of the ammonia still to heat the incoming WAL. Several such arrangements have been patented. Prior inventors have also attempted to take advantage of the higher temperature of the still bottom effluent to initially heat the incoming WAL. In these arrangements the WAL entering the still has been passed first through a heat exchanger in heat exchange relationship with the hot still bottoms. Several such arrangements have also appeared in U.S. patents. While heat values would seem to be conserved by this sort of arrangement, the efficiency of the distilling operation is not greatly increased. This is because it is desirable from an efficiency standpoint to make maximum use of the heat in the incoming steam within the distilling column itself. Consequently the vapors leaving the column should be as cool as possible. By preheating the incoming WAL with heat from the distillation operation itself and then passing such preheated WAL into the top of the still, the upper portions of the still are heated with the result that the vapors entering the condenser and/or leaving the top of the still tend to be hotter rather than cooler. As a result more, rather than less, heat is exhausted from the distillation apparatus with a comsequent loss in thermal efficiency.
It has also been suggested in the past to use other stripping mediums than steam in an attempt to increase the efficiency of an ammonia distillation system. Thus, in a distillation arrangement shown in U.S. Pat. No. 1,244,903 to Schuster, tar-free superheated coke oven gas is used as a substitute for steam in an ammonia still. This hot gas serves both as the heat source for the still and as the carrier medium to strip ammonia from ammonia containing liquor. Increased efficiency is asserted, but since the coke oven gas must be heated from some external source of heat, just as steam must be, the thermal efficiency is not greatly increased. The previously noted article by Naso and Schroeder also discloses the use of heated air to replace all or a part of the usual steam for stripping. The use of steam can be essentially eliminated in such an arrangement except to heat and humidify the air. However, any blend of steam and air can also be used to strip the ammonia from the WAL. The thermal efficiency of such arrangements is again not greatly increased, however, because an external heat source is used to preheat the air.


An image processing technology for displaying a real object and a virtual object associated with each other is provided. An image analysis apparatus according to the present invention changes a motion pattern of the virtual object depending on the actual movement of the real object. The change detector 110 detects temporal state change in the motion pattern of the real object captured by an imaging apparatus and the display controller 120 reads a motion pattern from the motion pattern storage 122 based on the event generated by the state change of an image. The display pattern controller 122 controls display mode of the virtual object using the read motion pattern.

Recently, the technology is widely available for capturing an image of a two-dimensional code by a camera for recognition and allowing a predetermined process associated with the code pattern to be performed. As one of those techniques, an image analysis technique is proposed which captures two-dimensional barcode using a video camera and displays a three-dimensional image corresponding to a two-dimensional barcode on a displaying device (e.g. Japanese Laid-Open Publication No. 2000-322602). According to the Japanese Laid-Open Publication No. 2000-322602, a spatial coordinate where a three-dimensional object is displayed is determined based on the coordinate of captured two-dimensional barcode and a focal distance of a CCD video camera and a three-dimensional image is superimposed on the two-dimensional barcode.

Augmented reality game system using identification information to display a virtual object in association with a position of a real object


Disclosed herein is method for producing an iron dinuclear complex having two iron atoms bonded to each other via one oxygen atom and a ligand structure containing a Schiff base, a method which can produce an ester compound in high yield by the transesterification of an alcohol compound with a carboxylate ester even in the case where the raw material alcohol has a tertiary hydroxyl group which is usually difficult to esterify by transesterification, and a method which can produce a wholly esterified compound by transesterification catalyzed by an iron complex.

Iron complexes which have, in the molecule thereof, a Schiff base-containing ligand structure and an iron atom have been conventionally used in industry as additives for resins, pharmaceuticals and catalysts. Some known iron complexes which have a Schiff base-containing ligand structure and an iron atom in the molecule are: iron complexes which have a Schiff base-containing ligand structure and one iron atom in the molecule (hereinafter, such complexes will be referred to as iron mononuclear complexes); and iron complexes which have, in the molecule thereof, a structure having two iron atoms bonded to each other via one oxygen atom and a ligand structure containing a Schiff base (hereinafter, such complexes will be referred to as iron dinuclear complexes). Iron dinuclear complexes outperform iron mononuclear complexes in some applications. When, for example, these iron complexes are used as additives in epoxy resin compositions, the iron dinuclear complexes allow the compositions to exhibit higher flame retardance and higher fluidity than the compositions containing the iron mononuclear complexes. Further, when the iron complexes are used as magnetic carriers for drug delivery systems such as anticancer drugs, the iron dinuclear complexes are known to have high magnetic properties and be suited as carriers compared to the iron mononuclear complexes.
Numerous methods for producing iron dinuclear complexes have been heretofore presented. For example, Patent Literature 1 describes a method for producing an iron dinuclear complex for use as a catalyst wherein salicylaldehyde, ethylenediamine and ferrous sulfate heptahydrate are dissolved into water, the solution is heated, and the resultant black brown precipitate of reaction product is recrystallized from pyridine/ethanol solvent to give [Fe(C16H14N2O2)]2O.
Patent Literature 2 describes a method for producing an iron dinuclear complex for use as an additive for enhancing the flame retardance and fluidity of epoxy resin compositions. Specifically, it is described that salicylaldehyde, ethylenediamine and iron sulfate are dissolved into pure water, and the solution is allowed to stand at 110° C. for 3 hours, cooled and filtered to give an iron dinuclear complex.
Patent Literature 3 describes a method for producing an iron dinuclear complex for use as a magnetic carrier for a drug delivery system such as anticancer drug. Specifically, it is described that a ligand synthesized from a salicylaldehyde derivative and ethylenediamine, and triethylamine are dissolved into methanol, the resultant solution is combined with a methanol solution of ferric chloride, and the resultant compound is washed and recrystallized as an iron dinuclear complex.
As known in the art, the transesterification between a carboxylate ester and an alcohol compound is conventionally performed under catalysis of an iron complex having, in its molecule, a Schiff base-containing ligand structure and an iron atom.
For example, Patent Literature 1 describes that methyl methacrylate is transesterified with an alcohol compound having a primary hydroxyl group or a secondary hydroxyl group in the presence of an iron catalyst, thereby forming the methacrylate ester compound of the alcohol compound having a primary hydroxyl group or a secondary hydroxyl group.

Method for producing iron complexes and method for producing ester compounds using iron complex


An electrical conductor including a substrate, a first conductive layer including graphene, and a second conductive layer including a conductive metal nanowire, wherein the first conductive layer and the second conductive layer are disposed on the substrate, wherein the first conductive layer is disposed between the substrate and the second conductive layer or on the second conductive layer, wherein the first conductive layer has a first surface facing the second conductive layer and a second surface which is opposite to the first surface, and wherein, in the first surface and the second surface, the graphene is p-doped with a p-type dopant.

1. Field
Electrical conductors, methods of producing the same, and devices including the same are disclosed.
2. Description of the Related Art
An electronic device like a flat panel display such as LCD or LED, a touch screen panel, a solar cell, or a transparent transistor includes a transparent electrode. A material for a transparent electrode may be required to have, for example, high light transmittance of greater than or equal to about 80% and low specific resistance of less than or equal to about 100 microohm centimeters (μΩ*cm) in a visible light region. The currently-used oxide material may include indium tin oxide (ITO), tin oxide (SnO2), zinc oxide (ZnO), and the like. The ITO is widely used as a transparent electrode material which is a degenerate semielectrical conductor having a wide bandgap of 3.75 electron volts (eV) and may be easily sputtered to have a large area. However, since the ITO conventionally has limited conductivity and flexibility when applied to a flexible touch panel and a UD-level high resolution display, and also a high price due to its limited natural availability, many attempts to replace the ITO have been made.
Recently, a flexible electronic device as a next generation electronic device has been a subject of active research. Accordingly, development of a material securing flexibility as well as having transparency and relatively high conductivity other than the above transparent electrode material is required. Research efforts on using graphene, which is one of flexible conductive materials, for an electrical conductor (e.g., transparent electrode for a flexible electronic device, etc.) have been undertaken. There is currently a need to develop a graphene-based material having improved electric/optical properties.

Electrical conductors and electronic devices including the same


An insulating sleeve for a beverage pitcher is disclosed. The sleeve is a flexible jacket capable of surrounding the pitcher while allowing the pitcher handle to extend out through the side. The jacket also has an open top to permit the pitcher's pour spout to extend out of the top, and an open bottom to permit the base of the pitcher to extend out from the bottom. Advertising messages can be positioned on both the outside and inside of the design, and the sleeve is reversible. The jacket can be formed from a flat piece of material that is generally trapezoidal.

1. Field Of The Invention
The present invention relates to an insulating sleeve for a beverage pitcher.
2. Background Of The Art
It is often desirable to keep a beverage cold outside of a refrigerator, without diluting the beverage with ice. Prior ideas to solve this problem have ranged from providing refrigerant in a separate housing adjacent a beverage container (e.g. U.S. Pat. No. 5,299,433), to providing insulating sleeves (e.g. U.S. Pat. No. 2,035,384 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,813,801) to be placed around the beverage container, to providing insulating stands upon which the container rests (e.g. U.S. Pat. No. 5,207,076).
Many prior art concepts are not suitable for use with pitchers having side handles, and/or permit advertising on only one surface of a sleeve (and thus require the use of an additional set of insulating sleeves when a second advertising message is desired). Others do not connect the insulating sleeve to the pitcher (they provide no insulation when the pitcher is picked up to pour a beverage). Still others involve costly and complicated components, or require the use of a velcro attachment running through the handle taking up needed finger space, and pose a risk of theft or vandalism when used at bars. Others use sleeves that must be removed before the liquid can be properly poured.
Thus, it can be seen that a need exists for an improved insulating sleeve for a beverage pitcher.

Insulating sleeve for a beverage pitcher


A method for assessment of a number or density of immune cells in tumoral tissues comprising the steps consisting in: a. providing one or more immunostained slices of tissue section obtained by an automated slide-staining system by using antibodies binding specifically to antigens (markers) expressed by immune cells. b. proceeding to digitalization of the slides of step a. by high resolution scan capture, whereby a high definition (4.6 μm/pixel or better) digital picture of the slide to be analyzed is obtained, c. detecting the slice of tissue section on the digital picture d. analyzing the slice of tissue section for defining (i) the tumor (CT) and (ii) the invasive margin of the tumor (IM), e. providing a size reference grid with uniformly distributed units having a same surface, said grid being adapted to the size of the tumor to be analyzed, e1. checking the quality of immunostaining, f. detecting and quantifying stained cells of each unit whereby the number or the density of immune cells stained of each unit is assessed.

EP-A-EP1943520 and WO2007045996 describe an in vitro method for the prognosis of patients for progression of a cancer and/or of the survival, and/or the prediction of response to treatment (chemotherapy, radiotherapy, biotherapy, immunotherapy) which method comprises the following steps:
a) quantifying, in a tumour tissue sample from said patient, at least one biological marker indicative of the status of the local adaptive immune reaction of said patient; and
b) comparing the value obtained at step a) for said at least one biological marker with a predetermined reference value for the same biological marker; which predetermined reference value is correlated with a specific prognosis of progression of said cancer or survival of said patient or prediction of treatment response (such as chemotherapy, radiotherapy, biotherapy, immunotherapy) to anticipate the "good responder" vs "bad responder".
The tumour tissue sample may be selected from the group consisting in (i) a global primary tumour (as a whole), (ii) a tissue sample from the tumour, (iii) a tissue sample from the tissue directly surrounding the tumour which tissue may be more specifically named the "invasive margin" of the tumour, (iv) lymphoid islets in close proximity with the tumour, (v) the lymph nodes located at the closest proximity of the tumour, (vi) a tumour biopsy performed prior surgery, and (vii) a distant metastasis.
The biological marker is preferably quantified, at step a), in tumour samples collected from two regions of the tumour, respectively (i) the tumour (CT) and (ii) the invasive margin of the tumour (IM).
The above method was implemented on tissue microarrays (TMAs). However, most of the steps of the process are implemented manually and problems with reproducibility of measurements might be observed. For example differences between pathologists for the selection of tumour areas to punch can occur, based on the Haematoxylin-Eosin counterstaining examination. In addition, a difficulty to punch exactly the area selected by the pathologist is observed. Such typical errors can occur at each step. Although the method described in these documents makes it possible to obtain high-performance for predicting the survival of patients with cancer, research is still going on into methods with even better qualities, particularly as regards automation reproducibility and comparability of the results.
As highlighted by Halama et al in Quantification of prognostic immune cell markers in colorectal cancer using whole slide imagining tumour maps, analytical and quantitative cytology and histology, Vol. 32, 6, December 2010, pp. 333-340, sampling histologic probes using tissue micro-arrays (TMAs) is especially problematic in the case of a spatial heterogeneity of the target molecule as it is frequently observed in cancer tissue. Halama et al proposes full tissue slide microscopy for data acquisition. However the study does not demonstrate a specific diagnostic algorithm producing a parameter able to interpret the spatial heterogeneity of the tumour. He concludes that until this diagnostic algorithm is created and a follow-up study is performed he cannot know if the tumour map will have prognostic value in a single patient.

Method for quantifying immune cells in tumoral tissues and its applications

INSERM (Institut National de la Sante et de la Recherche Medicale)


In an apparatus for heating and mixing a particulate material composition, an elongated drum is supported for rotation on a frame and hot gases are supplied to the drum at an output end of the drum and directed toward an input end. An outer shell encircles the drum adjacent the output end and defines an outer mixing chamber between the drum and the shell. A first particulate material is introduced into the drum adjacent the input end, is conveyed toward the output end, and is diverted into the mixing chamber. A second particulate material is introduced into the outer mixing chamber and is heated to an output temperature during mixing with the first material. Thereafter, the mixed materials are delivered from the outer mixing chamber and from the apparatus.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to treatment devices for use in heating and mixing various particulate material compositions and, more particularly, to an apparatus for continuously heating and mixing a number of particulate materials which are introduced into the apparatus at different locations.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
It is known to employ a drum-mix plant for recycling remediated asphalt pavement (RAP) by introducing the RAP into a rotatable drum of the plant downstream of a burner flame and mixing the RAP with new aggregate particles which enter the drum adjacent the flame at the inlet of the drum. In this type of construction, it is possible to distance the RAP from the flame in order to reduce "blue smoke", an environmental problem arising from exposing the RAP to relatively high temperatures, e.g. greater than about 275 degrees Fahrenheit.
Typically, a dense veil of virgin aggregate particles are showered in front of the entering RAP particles in order to further shield the RAP particles from exposure to the flame. In other known constructions, mechanical shields are provided to carry out a similar function with the goal of reducing "blue smoke" to an acceptable level.
Certain drawbacks exist with each of these known constructions. For example, if the aggregate particles are used as a shield for the RAP particles, then special flighting is required within the drum or additional inlet openings are required to direct virgin material into the path of the flame to prevent exposure of the RAP particles to the flame. Further, where mechanical shields are used, supplementary hardware is required in addition to the hardware used to introduce the RAP particles into the drum in order to convert an existing drum plant into a plant capable of recycling RAP. Thus, such constructions are expensive to install and tend to render the plant less efficient than would be the case if the heat from the flame were more fully utilized in the heating process.
According to another known process, virgin aggregate is super-heated in a rotary dryer to a temperature of about 600.degree.-800.degree. F. and is then delivered to a separate batch or continuous mixer within which the aggregate is mixed with RAP particles. This composition then experiences a further treatment where it is mixed with liquid asphalt. However, because of the inefficient use of heat transfer in this known system, only a small percentage of RAP may be added to the aggregate. If larger percentages of RAP are added, the moisture within the RAP particles is not completely evaporated during mixing. Thereafter, continued evaporation of the moisture in the RAP particles after the composition has been delivered from the mixer causes unwanted cooling of the composition, and stripping of the liquid asphalt from the particles may result.
Another conventional use to which rotary dryers are put is for remediating soil which is contaminated with hydrocarbons and the like. During soil remediation, contaminated soil is introduced into the drum at the inlet of the drum and is conveyed in a direction either parallel or counter to the direction of flow of the hot gases. During conveyance of the soil, the hydrocarbons are evaporated and carried away with the hot gases to a conventional filtration system such as a baghouse, and the soil delivered from the outlet are lower in contaminates than when introduced into the drum.
One problem encountered in the use, of rotary dryers in the remediation of soil arises due to the collection of contaminated waste dust within the baghouse or filtration device through which the hot gasses and evaporated hydrocarbons pass after leaving the rotary dryer. It would be desirable to provide a means for remediating this waste dust without requiring additional machinery or expense beyond that required to operate the plant.

Process for introducing material into a treatment device


A display device includes a data generator configured to generate a clock-embedded data packet, and a controller configured to control operation of the data generator. The data packet comprises a header, a first symbol comprising address information therein, and a second symbol not comprising address information, and the header comprises address information of the first symbol.

1. Technical Field
Embodiments of the present disclosure are directed to to a display device.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
A display device is a semiconductor device that may include a signal controller, a gate driver, a data driver and a display panel. The signal controller provides a gate control signal to the gate driver and provides an image data signal and a data control signal to the data driver. Each of the gate driver and the data driver may include a plurality of driving chips. The gate driving chips provide gate signals to gate lines, and the data driving chips provide image data voltages corresponding to image data signals to data lines.
As recent display devices exhibit high resolution and reproduce deep colors, an interface is required that can stably and efficiently transmit image data signals and data control signals between the signal controller and the data driving chips.
Specifically, intra-panel interface environment increasingly use a clock-embedded signal for transmitting high speed data with no clock line, as well as clock data recovery (CDR) for recovering the clock and data.
To perform the CDR efficiently, the run length, during which data is constantly maintained with no data toggle, should be reduced. To this end, redundant bits may be inserted into data. However, this increases data processing overhead.


The connection element (2, 3) according to the present invention comprises a housing, and is capable of forming a symmetrical body such as a sphere (1) in cooperation with a second, essentially identical connection element as a result of the assembly of said two elements in mutually upside-down orientation. The interface portions between the housings of the two elements (2, 3) comprise portions which are cut in a plane parallel to the axis of the sphere, which axis is defined as the line which passes through the two opposing fixation points of the sphere to the ends of a necklace or the like, as well as portions which are cut in a plane which is inclined with respect to this axis to permit maintenance of the engagement of the two connection elements even under the application of a traction force onto the two fixation points. The elements according to the present invention comprise also two flexible pins (6, 7) which permit to maintain two connection elements in their respective engaged positions.

In the field of jewlry numerous types of connections between the two ends of a necklace or a bracelet or the end of a necklace and a piece of jewlry are known already, whereby these connection elements comprise a male piece and a female piece, the latter having frequently the form of a length wise extended U which is provided to be introduced in the male piece. The flexibility of the U is further used to produce a latching effect once the female piece has been properly received in the male piece.
Typically, these connection elements, which are frequently called clasps, are themselves executed in a manner as to constitute a piece of jewlry and the clasp, for exemple for a pearl necklace forms an integral portion thereof and can not be exchanged by the owner of the necklace if she would wish to modify the optical appearance thereof. In a pearl necklace, the clasp is typically held by a loop of the thread on which the pearls are arranged. In other applications, the clasp of the necklace is directly brased to the last link of the necklace in the same way as for other metal jewlry.
Further, in particular for pearl necklaces, the thread which carries the series of pearls is formed to a loop at the end of the chain, and this loop engages with a metallic eye which is fastened to each classical connection element. This loop of the thread is suject to considerable abration where it is in contact with the metallic eye, and traditionally, in order to protect this thread, the latter is itself protected by a helically wound metallic wire which runs around the thread of the necklace in a way similar to a piano cord, and which comes into contact with the metal of the eye without permitting excessive friction between the thread of the necklace and the eye.
This technique, although technically satisfactory, comprises certain aesthetic disadvantages because the wire can not be hidden and represents therefore a not very aesthetic element in a number of embodiments of this type of connection.


A method for processing a target object by using a capacitively coupled plasma processing apparatus includes a first step of supplying a first gas containing a silicon-containing gas into the processing chamber where a target object is accommodated; a second step of generating a plasma of a rare gas in the processing chamber after executing the first step; a third step of generating a plasma of a second gas containing oxygen gas in the processing chamber after executing the second step; and a fourth step of generating a plasma of a rare gas in the processing chamber after executing the third step. A silicon oxide film is formed by repeatedly executing a sequence including the first step to the fourth step. A negative DC voltage is applied to the upper electrode in at least any one of the second step to the fourth step.

In a process of manufacturing an electronic device such as a semiconductor device, plasma processing may be performed on a target object by using a plasma processing apparatus. In the plasma processing, it is required to suppress generation of particles that may cause a product defect.
The particles may be generated from an inner wall surface of the plasma processing apparatus which defines a processing space where a plasma is generated. A solution to suppress the generation of particles from the inner wall surface is to exchange a member that provides the inner wall surface at a regular interval. Another solution to suppress the generation of particles from the inner wall surface is to form a film on the inner wall surface before the plasma processing is performed on the target object. The latter solution, i.e., the technique for forming a film on the inner wall surface before the plasma processing of the target object, is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Publication Nos. 2014-53644 and 2007-165479, and U.S. Pat. No. 7,204,913.
A plasma etching process is an example of the plasma processing. The plasma etching process is performed to transfer a pattern of a mask on an etching target film to the etching target film. Generally, a resist mask is used as a mask. The resist mask is formed by a photolithography technique. Therefore, a critical dimension of the pattern formed on the etching target film depends on a resolution of the resist mask formed by the photolithography technique. However, the resolution of the resist mask has a limitation. In other words, there is a resolution limit.
Meanwhile, a demand for high integration of electronic device is increasing and it is required to form a pattern smaller than the resolution limit of the resist mask. Therefore, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2011-82560, there is suggested a technique for adjusting a size of a resist mask by forming a silicon oxide film on the resist mask and reducing a width of an opening formed by the resist mask.
In the plasma etching using the mask having a size adjusted as described above, the generation of particles needs to be suppressed. Therefore, it is required to form a film on the inner wall surface of the plasma processing apparatus. The film is not necessarily formed on the entire inner wall surface, but may be selectively formed on the inner wall surface. It is also required to prevent a period of time for processing the target object from being increased by the film formation. In other words, the decrease of the throughput needs to be suppressed.
Accordingly, in processing the target object which includes the adjustment of the size of the mask, it is required to selectively form a film on the inner wall surface of the plasma processing apparatus and prevent the decrease of the throughput.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


Embodiments of the present invention provide a feedback information transmission method in a communications system and an apparatus. In this method, UE may determine a codebook size of the feedback information according to a status of a downlink subframe scheduled by the base station.

Currently, a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ for short) mechanism is usually used in a Long term Evolution (LTE for short) system. Specifically, after user equipment (UE for short) receives downlink data by using a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH for short), if the UE can correctly receive the downlink data, the UE sends acknowledgment (ACK for short) information to a base station by using a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH for short); or if the UE cannot correctly receive the downlink data, the UE sends negative acknowledgment (NACK for short) information to the base station by using a PUCCH. When the UE further needs to send, in an uplink subframe in which the UE sends the ACK/NACK information, uplink data, to maintain an uplink single-carrier characteristic of the LTE system and improve efficiency of uplink transmit power, the UE maps the ACK/NACK information and the uplink data to a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH for short), and sends both the ACK/NACK information and the uplink data to the base station.
In addition, the LTE system further supports a carrier aggregation (CA for short) technology. That is, the base station configures at least two carriers for same UE, to improve a data transmission rate of the UE. The at least two carriers include one primary component carrier and at least one secondary component carrier. A PUCCH sending mode in a CA mode includes a channel selection mode and a PUCCH format 3. The channel selection mode supports CA of a maximum of two carriers, and the PUCCH format 3 mode can support CA of five carriers, or can support transmission of a maximum of about 20 ACK/NACK bits. Therefore, when the UE further needs to send, in the uplink subframe in which the UE sends the ACK/NACK information, the uplink data, the PUSCH can carry a maximum of about 20 ACK/NACK bits.
With further evolution of an LTE technology, a PUSCH may need to carry ACK/NACK information of more bits. Therefore, how to enable a PUSCH to carry ACK/NACK information of more bits is a technical problem to be resolved in the present invention.

Feedback information transmission method in communications system and apparatus


A bed apparatus having a lifting mechanism including sliders, upright bars, support members and side bars, is equipped with a coupling rail above the side bars to be vertically movable with the side bars. A rehabilitation attachment with a pulley is movably mounted on the rail. A rope is extended around the pulley so that a sick person or the like can alternately pull the ends of the rope with the left and right hand for exercising the hands and arms. The person's feet may be connected to one end of the rope while pulling the other end of the rope with the hands for exercising the person's limbs.

The inventor has proposed an improved bed apparatus in U.S. patent application No. 755,448, filed Sept. 5, 1991 (Kassai). In consideration of housing circumstances in Japan, this bed apparatus can be used in a 6-mat room of about 270 cm by 360 cm or a 4.5-mat room of about 270 cm by 270 cm, for example. The bed in the copending application is provided with a lifting mechanism which can simply raise up or lay down a sick person or the like from or on the bed body and move the person onto a side portion of the bed body.
A bed-ridden state is rather unpreferable for a sick person or the like to recover from illness or disorder. In recent years, the importance of rehabilitation has been recognized in particular, and many reports have been written on the fact that it is rather advisable for a sick person or the like to exercise however lightly, in order to recover sooner.

Bed apparatus and rehabilitation attachment


A method for producing polycarbamate comprising: contacting at least one carbamylating agent with a polyol in the presence of a carbamylation catalyst to form a reaction mixture having an acid value from 3 to 50 mg KOH/g dry polyol is provided. Further provided are a polycarbamate produced by the method and a coating comprising the polycarbamate.

Tin-based esterification catalysts have been reported as catalysts for the carbamylation of polyols with carbamylating agents to form polycarbamates. The tin-based catalyst is non-specific in its activity, promoting both esterification and carbamylation reactions. For acrylic polyols, therefore, there is a simultaneous tendency for molecular weight to increase via branching. This is an undesirable result which is attributed to a side reaction of hydroxyl groups with the ester groups of the acrylic polymer. Accordingly, a carbamylation process which results in lower unwanted bXy-product and which does not substantially increase the molecular weight and/or viscosity would be desirable.

Method for producing polycarbamate, a polycarbamate produced thereby and a coating containing the polycarbamate


The invention provides a method and apparatus for testing the chew-out strength of paperboard cores. The apparatus of the invention includes a clamping element for clamping a tubular core to prevent rotation thereof; a splined chuck element in the form of an axially tapered member having a plurality of circumferentially distributed splines for insertion into one end face of the core; and a means for applying increasing torque at a controlled rate to the splined chuck element. A measuring means measures the torque applied to the splined chuck element. In operation, increasing amounts of torque are applied by the torquing means until the splined chuck element shears the end face of the tube resulting in chew-out of the core. The maximum torque force applied to the splined chuck element provides an accurate indication of the chew-out strength of the core.

Wound paper tubes, or cores, are widely used in industry for winding and supporting film, textile material, paper and the like. These tubes are typically spirally wound tubes, although convolute wound tubes are also used to achieve these functions. Winding apparatus used to support the tubes during winding and unwinding operations normally employ two independent chucks that grip the core at each of its opposed ends by means of various chuck systems.
For heavy duty uses, such as for winding and unwinding for newspaper and Rotogravure Printing, the tubes can be very long, for example, up to about 10 feet (3.08 m) for U.S. Rotogravure Printing and 10.5 feet (3.22 m) for European Rotogravure Printing. In view of the large size, these tubes must be very heavy and strong in order to be able to carry the weight of a large roll of paper. In addition, the ends of the tube which are engaged by various chuck systems must also be very strong in order to withstand the torque applied to the tube ends during the wind and unwind operations.
One common type of chuck employed in winding operations for paper is a splined chuck which supports the core axially and also functions to prevent the core from slipping on the chuck when torque is applied. Typically, these chucks have a frustoconical exterior shape and there are a plurality of circumferentially distributed, axially elongate splines on the outer surface of the chuck. The core is mounted onto the chuck by partial insertion of the chuck axially into the end of the paperboard core. The chuck is inserted into the core employing a predetermined amount of axial force so that the axially elongate splines on the face of the chuck are positively engaged with and embedded into the paperboard core end faces and the adjacent interior peripheral surfaces thereof.
Typically, the rotation of the roll of paper material is achieved by means of a drive roll which contacts the face of the paper roll for rotation thereof. During the winding and unwinding operations, the rolls of material are often subjected to substantial circumferential acceleration and deceleration by the winding machines. This, in turn, subjects the engaged ends of the paperboard roll to substantial torque forces. If the tube construction and the resultant strength thereof are deficient, the chuck engaged into the tube end can tear the paperboard materials, resulting in "chew-out" of the tube ends. In such event, the tube ends are no longer positively engaged by the splined chuck.
Various testing apparatus have been used by core manufacturers and users to evaluate various properties of tubular cores. For example, spiral delamination strength of tubular cores has been measured in the industry by employing metal end caps on the tubular cores together with special chucks which firmly hold the core in place during testing. An electric motor and speed reducing transmission apply torque to the core until the core spirally delaminates. This in turn allows both core manufacturers and core users to evaluate spiral delamination strength of the core.
However, spiral delamination strength is only one parameter of core strength. Typically, when paperboard cores are supported by splined chucks, the paper at the core/chuck interface will shear and the chucks will chew-out the core prior to a spiral delamination of the entire core. Thus, the "chew-out strength" is typically the limiting parameter for the amount of torque that can be applied to paperboard cores when mounted on splined chucks.
There is, however, no commercially available device for accurately testing the chew-out strength of paperboard cores. Thus, neither core manufacturers nor core users can accurately evaluate chew-out properties of paperboard cores other than by actual use of the paperboard cores in the manufacturing environment. As a result, it can be necessary for a manufacturer to over-design paperboard cores so that the chew-out strength is much greater than actually needed, on the one hand, while on the other hand, core users and purchasers cannot accurately evaluate a chew-out strength properties of cores prior to the actual use thereof.

Method and apparatus for testing chew-out strength of paperboard core


When a recording medium fed from a sheet feed drive mechanism is detected at a predetermined position, the counting of a loop feed time or the like variably set in accordance with a predetermined sheet feed condition such as the sheet type or particular supplying device is started, and the drive of the sheet feed drive mechanism is controlled by terminating the feeding operation in accordance with a count termination state. A count time of a timer for detecting a feed jam is variably set in accordance with a sheet feed condition such as material of sheet.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a recording apparatus having sheet feed means for feeding recording media of different materials or a recording apparatus having a plurality of different types of sheet feed means.
2. Related Background Art
A recording apparatus which draws a light signal representing an input image information onto a photoconductor to form an electrostatic latent image, develops the latent image, transfers it onto a record sheet which serves as a recording medium, fixes it and ejects the record sheet out of the apparatus has been widely used.
In such a recording apparatus, some control to register the fed record sheet to the image developed on the photoconductor is required. For example, the feed status of the record sheet fed from the sheet feed means is detected to control an image write timing to write the image to the photoconductor so that the image is properly transferred to the record sheet.
On the other hand, the content outputted by the recording apparatus is versatile. It includes simple document information, image information, graphic information and the like as well as information recorded on record sheets of different recording media materials such as address printing or post card printing. Accordingly, a recording apparatus having sheet feed means such as a cassette as well as a manual sheet feed mechanism has been put into practical use.
In such a recording apparatus, in order to correct a skew of the record sheet, the record sheet is flexed in a loop shape at a timing roller (for example, a registration roller) and then it is fed in an image transfer direction (loop feed method). In this case, if the record sheet is a cut sheet having a thickness which is comparable to that of a conventional copy sheet, no problem is presented, but if it is a thick record sheet such as an envelope which has a small freedom of deformation, the envelope 75 fed by a feed roller 71 shown in FIG. 15 which serves as the record sheet may be bent in a snake shape when it reaches a registration roller 74 through transport guides 72 and 73, depending on the shape of the feed path.
In a recording apparatus which has a plurality of sheet feed mechanisms and transports a record sheet to the registration roller 74 through different transport paths, the record sheet may be snaked or not snaked depending on the transport path.
Where the transport path is curved, a time for the sheet to reach the timing roller changes depending on the type of sheet. When the sheet is thick, the reach time is significantly long. Accordingly, the occurrence of jam cannot be exactly detected by uniform timer monitoring.
In such a recording apparatus, an output timing of a vertical synchronous signal of the image is used as a reference of various control timings, the following problems (1)-(4) are presented.
(1) Where a size of a record sheet is not known, for example, an undefined size of sheet is used, or a sheet cut by a user and longitudinal and lateral dimensions of which are not known is used, an end timing of the image recording control cannot be specified and stop timings to drive units cannot be precisely controlled. In a recording apparatus which uses a known electrographic process, if the control is made by assuming a size which is equal to a maximum print sheet size that the recording apparatus can handle, the image recording control continues even after a rear edge of the sheet has passed, and the inside of the apparatus is contaminated by the scatter of toner. PA0 (2) Since it is necessary to continue the image recording control for the assumed length, a time to reach the end of image recording is unduely long. Similarly, automatic sheet ejection for a sheet remaining in the apparatus when the apparatus is powered on is also long. This is because the process time is unconditionally set to a time required from the start of the transport to the pass of the rear edge of the sheet through an exit of the transport path by assuming that a leading edge of the maximum sheet that can be handled by the apparatus is positioned at an entry of the sheet feed path. PA0 (3) Not only the sheet ejection time and the stop time of the drive unit are long in the above control, but also a temperature in the apparatus rises by the drive (because a duty factor of clutches increases), and a lifetime of the apparatus is shortened and a load for maintenance increases. As an example, an affect to a stay jam process of a sheet at a predetermined position is explained. PA0 (4) Even if the transport length of the sheet is detectable, the time from the start of the feed to the arrival at the exit of the transport path varies by a slip of rollers of the sheet transport system and the reduction of the transport speed due to the reduction of diameters by abrasion. Thus, when the rear edge of the sheet reaches the exit, errors have been accumulated and a margin is reduced. As a result, it is not easy to set the timing to detect the stay jam at the exit of the transport path.
The stay jam is detected when a sheet does not pass a predetermined point in the transport path at a time (within a certain margin) when the rear edge of the sheet is to pass that point. If the stay jam is detected based on the sheet transfer length of the maximum feedable sheet as described in (1) and (2) above, and if a sheet having a much shorter sheet transport length than the sheet transport length of the maximum feedable sheet is fed, the detection thereof is delayed and the sheet may be fed to a point where it is difficult to remove the sheet. Such sheet feed may damage the parts.

Recording apparatus and method with sheet feed control that controls loop


A self-guiding circular saw, the saw having a series of circumferentially spaced teeth around the periphery thereof. A pair of ribs protrude on opposite sides of the saw blade with each rib being co-extensive with the other and extending from the periphery of the blade linearly toward the central area of the blade. The combined thickness of the ribs and the blade being greater than the thickness of the blade but less than the kerf defined by the teeth of the saw such that the ribs will function to guide the saw in a straight path in the cut.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a circular saw blade, and more particularly to a saw blade for longitudinally sawing lumber.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A circular saw, when used for making longitudinal cuts in lumber, usually in the direction of the wood grain, must be guided to prevent the saw from making a distorted cut or from binding itself in the cut due to the cut being diverted. The saw can be diverted because it will tend to follow the grain in the wood which may not be exactly parallel to the longitudinal axis of the lumber piece. In the past, single edger saws could have machine mounted guide members for guiding the saw and keeping it true while a cut is being made.
However, with the increasing use of multi-saw canters and edgers, it is not possible to provide machine mounted guide members. Rather, it is necessary to develop a self-guiding saw blade.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,344,822, A. P. Wilder, inventor, illustrates a circular saw blade having peripheral teeth and linear planing elements secured to the surface of the saw blade and extending somewhat radially. The planing elements of the Wilder saw are of the same width or slightly wider than the kerf of the saw.
Canadian Pat. Nos. 873,127 and 964,557, both naming Keene S. Strobel as inventor and assigned to Weyerhaeuser Company, describe the well-known "Strobe" saw which comprises a circular saw having peripheral teeth and a plurality of slots extending inwardly from the periphery of the saw. The slots being faced on the cutting edge of the slot are faced with a cutting element having the width of the kerf of the saw teeth.
All of these prior art patents show the use of linear elongated elements provided in a generally radial direction on a circular saw blade with the combined width of these linear elements being substantially the width of the kerf of the saw. The linear elements are also provided with cutting edges for the purpose of planing the wood and removing the sawdust from the cut. The Strobe saws include the slots presumably to reduce heat built up in the saw and to clear away sawdust from the planing action of the linear members and is an improvement on Wilder.
It has now been discovered that the linear members on the saw blades also function as self-guiding members for the saws, thereby overcoming the problems described earlier with respect to cutting longitudinal lumber with circular saws. However, problems are encountered with the Wilder saw resulting from serious heat buildup in the plane of the blade due to the extended cutting edges. Thus, distortion results in the blade.
Strobel suggests placing slots ahead of Wilder's cutting elements to dissipate the heat but creates other problems as documented in U.S. Pat. No. 4,123,958, Wright et al, which alleges to be an improvement over the Strobel patents. The provision of slots in the plate of the blade actually weakens the blade. Wright et al breaks up the linear elements into shorter cutting elements interrupted by slots. However, the Wright et al saw would no longer have any inherent self-guiding properties.


A panel cover system for covering panels such as those comprising overhead doors. The cover system includes a plurality of covers with longitudinal and side margins for generally being aligned with the door panel longitudinal and side edges. The cover includes a field portion in a first, inner plane and a raised decorative portion in a second, outer plane spaced therefrom. The raised, decorative portion of the cover is bounded by the field portion. The covers are attached to the panels by edge strips extending along the panel longitudinal edges and receiving the cover longitudinal margins. The edge strips have J-shaped cross-sectional configurations.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to construction finish systems, in particular to a cover system for door panels, and more particularly to a cover system for overhead door panels.
2. Description of the Related Art
A wide variety of finish systems have heretofore been employed in construction to provide a corresponding wide variety of finished appearances on various construction materials and building components. Examples include paint and other coatings, which can be applied to the construction materials forming part of a structure. Various types of siding materials are also commonly employed in construction to achieve desired finished appearances and performances.
Although painting can be an effective method of finishing a structure and providing protection therefor, finish longevity and resistance to the elements can be a problem. Particularly in severe climates, structures may require periodic repainting to maintain their appearances. Other problems with paint relate to its susceptibility to chipping, peeling, etc., and the necessity of adequate, and often extensive, surface preparation prior to applying the paint.
Overhead door panels have also been manufactured of materials such as steel, aluminum and fiberglass, which can be prefinished. However, such prefinished panels are often too expensive for use as replacements for existing painted overhead door panels, and may not be compatible with the finishes of other exterior building materials. Moreover, the finishes of such prefinished door panels are susceptible to deterioration, such as fading, from prolonged exposure to the elements. Still further, metal door panels are susceptible to denting from hail and other objects.
An important objective in the selection of finish materials for construction relates to appearance and the ability to retrofit same to existing structures. Moreover, it can be desirable to coordinate the finishes of such building components as doors, etc. with the siding and trim materials of the structure.
Still further it is desirable to provide a panel cover system in kit form consisting of various components, which can be adapted for application to various sizes and configurations of panels, such as door panels.
Heretofore there has not been available a panel cover system with the advantages and features of the present invention. The panel cover system of the present invention addresses the aforementioned problems with previous cover and finish systems.


A frozen foot server includes a handle portion and a scoop portion and has an electrical heating element embedded in the scoop portion. The heating element includes a plurality of portions that are each positioned in the scoop portion to heat special areas of the inner and the outer surface of that scoop portion according to the particular portion of the scooping, transporting and dispensing process being carried out. The heating element can be positioned according to whether the server will be operated by a right-handed operator or by a left-handed operator.

Many frozen comestibles, such as ice cream, sherbert, or the like, are stored in containers in bulk form, and must be scooped out for consumption.
The removing of frozen comestibles from the storage containers is often made difficult because many forms of such food items must be maintained in a frozen state in order to be most desirable. Often, the requirements of freezing are such that the food item is quite hard and difficult to remove. While this may be an onerous task at home, if it is too time consuming and difficult, a store specializing in such food may lose business or be economically disadvantaged if the servers cannot remove the food quickly and easily from the storage containers.
For this reason, there have been many various designs proposed for easing the removal of frozen comestibles, such as ice cream, from the bulk storage containers. For the most part, such serving devices comprise a scoop-shaped bowl portion of semispherical configuration which is adapted to bite into the mass of the frozen comestible as the head of the device is forced into and through that comestible by manipulation of a handle portion connected to the head. The comestible forms a ball within the head and this ball can be dispensed accordingly.
Due to the difficulty in scooping and dispensing many highly frozen comestibles, many such scoop designs have been proposed. One common design includes an electrical resistance heating element in the scoop. This heating element is connected to a source of power, and serves to heat the scoop to melt the comestible sufficiently so as to ease the removal of that food from the bulk storage container and the dispensing thereof to a cone, dish or the like.
In the past, such electrically heated scoops have had disadvantages which have hindered the commercial acceptance thereof. Primary among such disadvantages is the cumbersome nature of such electrically heated scoops. These scoops are often heavy and may be difficult to manipulate, thereby making them undesirable for use by a server who must use the scoop many times a day. Furthermore, due to the design of presently available scoops, many electrical control elements, such as thermostats, and the like, are required thereby exacerbating the disadvantages thereof.
Accordingly, there is need for a scoop adapted for serving frozen comestibles and Which is electrically heated but is designed to be effective Without being cumbersome.


A transportation collar that includes a ring having a central longitudinal axis and including: a base wall extending transversely and radially inwardly with respect to the axis, and an annular skirt extending in a first axial direction axially away from the base wall; and a peripheral impact barrier extending radially outwardly from the ring adapted to position both the transportation collar and a container carried by the collar relative to one or more additional adjacent transportation collars and one or more additional corresponding containers, wherein the peripheral impact barrier comprises a flange wall extending transversely with respect to the axis.

Packages, for example, paint packages, can be somewhat difficult to transport or ship. During shipment, the package may become dented or otherwise damaged. Further, as a result of handling and/or extreme air pressure differentials, a lid of the package may become dislodged from a respective container resulting in spoilage of the contents thereof.

Transportation collar for shipping a container


In order to render a primitive, the primitive is subdivided into trapezoids and triangles. The subdivision occurs using scanline-aligned lines. These simple scanline-aligned regions are further subdivided so that the primitive is divided into simple scanline-boundaried trapezoids and other complex scan shapes. The simple scanline-boundaried trapezoids are rasterized. One rasterization method uses a texture map containing slope-based coverage information to edge areas. Gouraud shading may be used to provide the anti-aliasing effects on the scanline-boundaried trapezoids. The simple scanline-boundaried trapezoids may also be rasterized using a software rasterizer. Complex scans are rasterized using a software rasterizer. As data is already rasterized, it is thereby efficiently transferred to the GPU.

In order to display a graphical object using the pixels on a computer screen or other display device, the object is mapped onto a grid of pixels known as a framebuffer. Each pixel is mapped to a square area of the object. Using this mapping, one of a number of conventional techniques can be used to calculate a set of pixel values for each pixel. These pixel values include, conventionally, three color values (red, green, blue) and an alpha value, which is a transparency value. Conventionally, the pixel values for a pixel are determined by evaluating a function of the object at a point that corresponds to the center of the pixel.
Often, during rendering, the edges of a shape as rendered will exhibit jaggedness even though the edge was intended to be smooth. Such unwanted effects, known as aliasing effects, are notoriously obvious to the human eye. In order to reduce such effects, anti-aliasing is performed. Anti-aliasing techniques reduce aliasing effects, and thereby produce graphics superior to those produced without the use of such anti-aliasing techniques.
In order to satisfy performance requirements, anti-aliasing must take place in the graphics-optimized environment of the graphics card. High-quality graphics rendering systems may include anti-aliasing techniques, but because of the memory and processor requirements, on some general-purpose graphics cards, full-scene anti-aliasing techniques are not included. Where it is included, the full-scene anti-aliasing techniques are resource intensive, and in some cases do not provide quality rendering. Some graphics cards do include other anti-aliasing techniques, such as anti-aliasing of edges; however, support for such techniques is not broad, and the developer of an application cannot rely on such support. Even where full-scene anti-aliasing is included on a graphics card, the memory requirements on the card can be large and the performance does not support demanding real-time graphics.
Thus, there is a need to implement anti-aliasing of graphics objects for real-time graphics without requiring new functionality beyond that currently present in most graphics cards, without requiring large increases in processing or memory usage in the graphics card, and without relying on techniques which are not widely supported in existing graphics cards.


Embodiments of a prosthetic heart valve are disclosed. An implantable prosthetic valve may be radially collapsible to a collapsed configuration and radially expandable to an expanded configuration. The prosthetic valve may comprise an annular frame, a leaflet structure positioned within the frame and a plurality of outer skirts positioned around an outer surface of the frame, each outer skirt comprising an inflow edge secured to the frame and an outflow edge secured at intervals to the frame. The plurality of outer skirts may include a first outer skirt and a second outer skirt, wherein in the expanded configuration the first and second outer skirts include openings unsecured to the frame between the intervals. The inflow edge of the first annular outer skirt may be secured to the frame with sutures including radiopaque material. The first annular outer skirt may include radiopaque dye.

The human heart can suffer from various valvular diseases. These valvular diseases can result in significant malfunctioning of the heart and ultimately require replacement of the native valve with an artificial valve. There are a number of known artificial valves and a number of known methods of implanting these artificial valves in humans.
Various surgical techniques may be used to replace or repair a diseased or damaged valve. Due to stenosis and other heart valve diseases, thousands of patients undergo surgery each year wherein the defective native heart valve is replaced by a prosthetic valve. Another less drastic method for treating defective valves is through repair or reconstruction, which is typically used on minimally calcified valves. The problem with surgical therapy is the significant risk it imposes on these chronically ill patients with high morbidity and mortality rates associated with surgical repair.
When the native valve is replaced, surgical implantation of the prosthetic valve typically requires an open-chest surgery during which the heart is stopped and patient placed on cardiopulmonary bypass (a so-called "heart-lung machine"). In one common surgical procedure, the diseased native valve leaflets are excised and a prosthetic valve is sutured to the surrounding tissue at the valve annulus. Because of the trauma associated with the procedure and the attendant duration of extracorporeal blood circulation, some patients do not survive the surgical procedure or die shortly thereafter. It is well known that the risk to the patient increases with the amount of time required on extracorporeal circulation. Due to these risks, a substantial number of patients with defective native valves are deemed inoperable because their condition is too frail to withstand the procedure. By some estimates, more than 50% of the subjects suffering from valve stenosis who are older than 80 years cannot be operated on for valve replacement.
Because of the drawbacks associated with conventional open-heart surgery, percutaneous and minimally-invasive surgical approaches are garnering intense attention. In one technique, a prosthetic valve is configured to be implanted in a much less invasive procedure by way of catheterization. For instance, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,411,522 and 6,730,118, which are incorporated herein by reference, describe collapsible transcatheter heart valves that can be percutaneously introduced in a compressed state on a catheter and expanded in the desired position by balloon inflation or by utilization of a self-expanding frame or stent.
An important design parameter of a transcatheter heart valve is proper positioning of the heart valve, for example on the balloon prior to inflation as well as at implantation location, so as to prevent final positioning of a reversed valve. A further important design parameter is minimization of paravalvular leak (PVL). PVL may include complications such as blood flowing through a channel between the structure of the implanted valve and cardiac tissue, for example as a result of a lack of appropriate sealing.

Prosthetic heart valve having multi-level sealing member


An improved construction for the refining gas passage of a tuyere for use in refining molten metal in a converter. The transverse section of the refining gas passage has a continuous outer enclosure and a central opening defining a plurality of radially extending branches whose total perimeter exceeds the circumference of a circle having an area equivalent to the central opening.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a tuyere for use in refining molten metals; more particularly, to a tuyere whose flow passage for refining gas is configured to provide in transverse section a greater perimeter than a circular flow passage of corresponding area.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The refining of molten pig iron into steel in a bottom-blown steelmaking converter is well-known. Generally, the refining process involves the use of concentric tube tuyeres embedded in the converter beneath the surface of the molten metal bath; the concentric tubes usually have a constant thickness and are of circular cross section. An oxidizing gas, usually pure oxygen, is blown into the bath through the central (inner) tube of each tuyere and a protective fluid is blown through the annulus formed by the inner and outer tubes of each tuyere to prevent undue wear of the tuyere tip. U.S. Pat. No. 3,817,744 discusses such a refining process in detail.
One of the problems that confronts steelmakers is the determination of the optimum number of tuyeres to be used in a converter of given size. If the number of tuyeres is large, the technical problems surrounding the introduction of fluids into the tuyeres and the control of their respective flow rates are complex. Thus, generally it is desirable to utilize the minimum number of tuyeres. But, if a small number of tuyeres are selected, the cross-sectional area of the passage used for oxidizing gas in each tuyere must be relatively large to maintain the desired blowing period and, in the case of a passage of circular cross section, this means a passage of relatively large diameter.
The use of large diameter oxygen flow passages in a bottom blown refining process can result in a number of process disadvantages such as the throwing-up (e.g. slopping, spitting) of metal and/or slag from the bath with a consequent formation of skulls around the interior of the converter mouth, and an inadequate distribution of oxidizing gas within the metal bath. These disadvantages manifest themselves in slags with unduly high iron contents, the production of reddish-brown smoke, high oxygen consumption, etc.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,802,684 addresses to some extent the problem of "spitting" in bottom blown steelmaking processes as caused by large diameter circular flow passages in the tuyeres. The solution put forth in that patent is to provide an inner tube having a noncircular oblong transverse cross section and an outer tube of the same shape.

Tuyere for use in refining liquid metals


Devices, systems, and methods for controller programming migration automation are described herein. One device includes instructions executable to receive controller programming information associated with a first controller of a building system, wherein the received controller programming information is of a first information type, convert the received controller programming information to a second information type associated with a second controller of the building system, based, at least in part, on a set of conversion rules particular to the first controller and the second controller, and generate a report including information associated with the conversion.

One or more building systems can be installed in a building to allow for the management of aspects of the building. Building systems can include, for example, heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems, access control systems, security systems, lighting systems, and fire systems, among others. A building system can refer a single building system (e.g., an HVAC system) and/or a system that manages a number of building systems (e.g., a building management system (BMS)).
Each building system typically includes a plurality of controllers. When these existing controllers approach the end of their lives, and/or if improved controllers are to be installed, the existing controllers may be replaced. For instance, new controllers using open protocol may be available that can increase compatibility with multiple equipment vendors and can connect to value-added services.
Previous approaches to migrating to new controllers for a building system may involve a "rip and replace" approach in which new controllers are installed and the entire system is reconfigured with new wiring. This approach may be time-consuming and may render portions of a building unsuitable for people during times in which HVAC systems are down, for instance.
Moreover, existing systems may have been fine-tuned over a substantial period of time in order to optimize performance and/or operations of the system(s). Previous approaches that start from scratch with new devices and/or wiring may involve a lengthy re-calibration process and may be unable to leverage previously-determined efficiencies.

Controller programming migration automation