Disclosed is a method of adjusting a reception threshold value in data reception. The method comprises: generating a transmission signal on the basis of a clock regenerated from a reception signal, determining a worst phase at which a bit error rate becomes maximum by changing a phase of the transmission signal, and adjusting a reception threshold value in the state of the worst phase. The worst phase is determined by detecting the bit error rate by shifting the phase of the transmission signal by a predetermined interval while fixing the reception threshold value to a predetermined value.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of adjusting a reception threshold value in data reception, and more particularly to a method of adjusting the reception threshold value of a reception signal to minimize the influence of a crosstalk signal from a transmission part on a reception part of a data transmission and reception module, and a data transmission and reception module using the method.
2. Description of the Related Art
Along with the demand for a wider bandwidth of a data network, the need for an increase of the capacity and the speed in data transmission has been increasing. For example, an optical communication device providing a transmission bandwidth of 10 Gbit/s has been increasingly introduced. A 10 Gbit/s optical transceiver module, which is a data transmission and reception module implementing the optical communication device, has been spreading, promoted by an industry standard called MSA (Multi Source Agreement). As a result, the improvement in performance and the reduction in size and cost of the module have been in progress. For example, in an XFP (10 Gbps Small Form Factor Pluggable) module compliant with the MSA, a transmission part and a reception part are integrated together to reduce the size of the module. As compared with a conventional 300-pin MSA SFF (Small Form Factor) optical transceiver module, the XFP module needs to be reduced to one sixth in size and one third in power consumption. The specification of the XFP module is disclosed in XFP REVISION 4.5 SPECIFICATION (<http://www.xfpmsa.org/cgi-bin/msa.cgi>).
In the reduction in size of a module, it is necessary to reduce the sizes of the transmission part and the reception part while improving the characteristic of the module. Particularly, in a module in which the transmission part and the reception part are integrated together, as in the XFP module, a crosstalk from the transmission part to the reception part constitutes a serious problem for the improvement in performance of the reception part. Techniques of removing a crosstalk signal include, for example, a technique described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2005-130303.
To improve the characteristic of the transmission part of the data transmission and reception module, the amplitude needs to be increased. Meanwhile, to improve the reception characteristic, a high-sensitivity APD (Avalanche Photodiode) device or the like is used, and thus the signal amplitude is substantially reduced. Therefore, to improve the reception characteristic of the data transmission and reception module in which the transmission part and the reception part are integrated together, as in the XFP pluggable module, for example, it is important to remove the crosstalk from the transmission part as much as possible. In such a module, however, the transmission part and the reception part are close to each other due to the small size of the module. Therefore, it is difficult to completely remove the crosstalk from the transmission part to the reception part.

Data transmission and reception module, and method of adjusting reception threshold value thereof


A method of aiming adjustment for headlight of automotive vehicles, which is joined with a turning test of wheels for obtaining relationship between steering wheel angles and wheel turning angles, includes steps of: detecting step for detecting side edge of a headlight or a front combination lamp while a tested vehicle is placed on a turning test station, calculating step for calculating an aberration or inclination of a tested vehicle with respect to a headlight aiming testing line in a horizontal plane, and correcting step for correcting coordinates of the aiming test according to said aberration or inclination.

In a tester line of automobile assembly plants, an aiming adjusting step for headlights and a testing step for detecting the ratio of steering angle to wheel turning angle have not previously been performed at the same work station.
The aiming adjustment for headlights is performed by utilizing a screen. An automobile to be tested is conveyed in front of a screen and stopped to adjust the aiming of the headlights. The beam direction of the headlights is adjusted so that the brightest point on the screen or the borderline between brightness and darkness on the screen appear within a predetermined allowable area.
On the other hand, the turning test is performed by utilizing a turning radius tester. After placing the right and left steerable wheels on the turning radius tester, the vehicle body is kept stationary on a horizontal plane, while the relationship between angles of a steering wheel and turning angle of the wheel is detected by turning the steering wheel gradually.
However, from the viewpoint of testing efficiency, it is desirable to perform these two tests consecutively on the same testing station. But, if these two tests are done on a turning test station and the front wheels are not placed precisely on the predetermined position, the aiming test cannot be performed accurately because the turning radius tester does not have an equalizer for the front wheels. Therefore, the aiming test cannot be performed accurately even if the aiming test is performed before the turning test on the wheels.
Also, if the turning test is done before the aiming test, the turning test causes tiny movements of the vehicle body in the horizontal plane during turning of the wheels. Because of this tiny movement, the vehicle body having finished the wheel turning test is not accurately set for the headlight aiming test. Accordingly, it has been difficult to perform these two tests consecutively on the same testing station.

Method of aiming adjustment for headlights of automotive vehicles


The hybridoma 34-1 (CNCM I-813) which produces anti-human IL-6 monoclonal antibody 34-1 is disclosed. Methods of producing the monoclonal antibody and methods for affinity purification of human IL-6 using monoclonal antibody 34-1 are also described.

Human IL-6 was first disclosed in GB 2,063,882 of the present assignee. Recombinant IL-6 expressed by CHO cells was described in European Patent Publication No. 220574 and Israeli Patent Application No. 81023 and recombinant IL-6 expressed by E. coli cells was disclosed in Israeli Patent Application No. 85204, all of the present assignee.

IL-6 specific monoclonal antibodies, hybridomas therefor and methods of making and using same


A rotating electrical machine includes a stator having a stator core, coil groups, and a rotor. The coil groups include a first coil group located at an outer circumference side of the stator core and a second coil group located at an inner circumference side of the stator core. The first and second coil groups are formed into an annular shape by inserting unit coils into stator core slots so that the coils adjacent in a circumferential direction overlap alternately in a radial direction and so that an inside and an outside of the overlap alternate with each other. The first coil group is disposed to surround an outside of the second coil group. The first and second coil groups are disposed in a concentric manner. The unit coils constituting the second coil group have shorter circumferential lengths than the unit coils constituting the first coil group.

Lap winding is well known as one of methods of winding a stator winding of a rotating electrical machine. In the lap winding, coils adjacent to one another in a circumferential direction of a stator core are wound so that the coils overlap one after another in a radial direction of the stator core and so that an inside and an outside of overlap alternate. In the lap winding method, coils per pole per phase are caused to radially overlap alternately while slots into which the coils are to be inserted are shifted by predetermined pitch. Since a coil is normally made by winding a copper wire at a large number of times, the coil lacks flexibility and has low operability in inserting it into a slot. In view of this drawback, a method has been proposed in which coils per pole per phase are divided into, for example, two groups when to be inserted into slots.
However, when coils divided into two groups are inserted into the slots radially double, this results in differences in the heights of coil ends since crossovers between slots differ between the outer peripheral side and the inner peripheral side. Since parts located at the coil ends do not contribute to the performance of the rotating electrical machine, it is advantageous to reduce the parts located at the coil ends as much as possible.

Rotating electrical machine and method of manufacturing the same

TOSHIBA INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTS AND SYSTEMS CORPORATION


A light probe assembly for mounting in a casing wall comprising a swage lock fitting sized to receive an outer tube; a light probe extending through the fitting and received within the outer tube; wherein the fitting is adapted for attachment to the casing wall, and wherein a remote end of the light probe is seated on an internal shoulder at a forwardmost end of the outer tube.

Light probes are currently used to measure vibration in jet engine compressor blades, as a replacement or supplement to, the use of more costly strain gauges. Light probes also have the advantage of measuring vibration in all of the blades on a wheel which realistically cannot be accomplished with strain gauges. On the other hand, the ability to locate the light probes accurately and securely is critical to acquiring reliable data. Typical installations require many probes which make the installation cost a real concern. Various mounting techniques for light probes have been developed, but these have not been satisfactory in all respects.
In one prior installation, a 0.94 inch diameter probe was inserted in a 0.105 inch diameter hole in a compressor casing wall. The procedure did not provide for accurate placement, and vibration of the probe itself within the hole created the potential for "white noise" in the results. In addition, air pressure against the probe could result in movement of the probe outside of its measurement range.
Other mounting techniques include the use of threaded inserts, but these require additional machining and multi-piece assemblies which create the potential for debris entering the flowpath.
The present invention seeks to alleviate the installation problems experienced in the past by providing an inexpensive, pressure tight, and reliable assembly and related installation process for light probes used particularly for measuring displacement of land based gas turbine compressor blades.
In accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the invention, a light probe is fitted into a tube, with the forward end of the tube swaged to retain the light probe within a few thousandths of an inch from the tube end. The light probe and surrounding tube are installed in the compressor casing wall by means of a conventional swage lock pressure fitting. During installation, the forward end of the tubing surrounding the light probe is bottomed against the swaged end of the surrounding tube, with the forward edge of the tube flush with the casing inner wall, so that the probe is maintained at a predetermined distance from the inner casing wall, and hence the compressor blades. Tightening of the swage lock cap forms a pressure sealed assembly.
Accordingly, in its broader aspects, the present invention relates to a light probe assembly for mounting in a casing wall comprising a swage lock fitting sized to receive an outer tube; a light probe extending through the fitting and received within the outer tube; wherein the fitting is adapted for attachment to the casing wall, and wherein a remote end of the light probe is seated on an internal shoulder at a forwardmost end of the outer tube.
In another aspect, the invention relates to a method of installing a light probe in a casing wall comprising a) attaching an elongated tube having a crimped remote end to a fitting body; b) attaching the fitting to the casing wall; c) attaching a separable cap portion of the fitting onto the light probe; and d) inserting the light probe and cap portion into the fitting body with a remote end of the light probe seated on the crimped remote end of the tube.
Other features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the detailed description which follows.


A corn harvesting header comprises a knife bar extending along a front lower edge of a cutting header, with triangular knife sections attached along the bar and a plurality of guards with guard fingers extending forward. Pointed divider pans extend forward from the header such that a slot is formed between adjacent pans. A mounting bracket extends down from a rear of each pan and is attached to forward end portions of a pair of adjacent guard fingers, leaving rear portions of these guard fingers exposed. The divider pans are attached to alternating pairs of guard fingers such that a pair of bare guard fingers extends forward under and laterally adjacent to edges of each slot. The bottom surface of each seed pan is above the guard fingers an elevated distance that is greater than a spacing distance between the guard fingers. The header cuts the corn rows at angle.

Corn is commonly grown as a row crop with the plants seeded and growing in rows that are typically 15 to 40 inches apart. When harvesting corn as grain, the corn plants are left in the field until they are fully mature and the kernels are dry. During growth the corn cobs typically upward and lean outward from the stalk however when fully mature the connection between the cob and the stalk dries out and the cobs fall to a downward orientation hanging down from the stalk. The dry stalks are also often leaning quite significantly from their vertical growth orientation.
Corn is typically harvested by mounting a corn header on a conventional combine. Slots on the corn header are configured to correspond to the spacing of the rows of corn. As the header moves down the rows, the cobs are stripped off the stalks and directed into the combine mechanism where the kernels are removed from the cobs and the cobs are directed back onto the field surface from the rear end of the combine. The cost of such a corn header is typically $50,000-$75,000 or more.
For crops other than corn, such as wheat, canola, and the like a conventional cutting header is used. Such conventional cutting headers have a knife extending across the entire width of the header. The knife comprises a knife bar extending along the front lower edge of the header, with a plurality of triangular knife sections attached to the bar such that the apex of the triangle extends forward from the bar. The exposed side edges of the knife sections are sharpened. Guards are attached to the front lower edge of the header and serve to protect the knife sections from breakage when contacting stones and like obstructions. The guards comprise pointed guard fingers extending forward, and the knife moves back and forth along the edge of the header in a slot cut laterally through the guard fingers. In addition to protecting the knife, the guard fingers also enable the knife sections to cut the crop. As the knife section moves back and forth it pushes crop against the sides of those portions of the guard finger that are above and below the slot, shearing the crop stalks.
The conventional knife operates in a vertical range from its lowest position a few inches above the ground to a maximum position that can be several feet above the ground. To pick up short crop plants and plants that are lying on the ground crop lifters are attached to the header and provide an arm of various designs that rides along the ground ahead of the knife, and a lifting finger extending at a shallow angle from the front of the arm up and back over the knife. U.S. Pat. Nos. 700,029 and 791,022 to Gatermann disclose such a crop lifter that is pivotally attached to the header so as to be able to move up and down to follow the ground. U.S. Pat. No. 4,120,138 to Schumacher illustrates a crop lifter that is fixed to the header instead of pivoting, but is made of spring steel so that same may move up and down to follow the ground.
In conventional headers loss also occurs in straight cut harvesting of crops such as dry beans, peas, milo, canola, and sunflowers due to heads or pods shattering or falling below the cutter bar. Dry, fragile seed pods often shatter when contacted by the harvesting equipment before they are on the header, and the shattered pods spill their seeds to fall on the ground. Seeds fall from the shattered pods down through the knife to the ground. While this problem of shattering seed pods and heads is more severe in some crops than others, there is generally at least some shattering loss in any crop.
Seed pans have been developed that attach to the front edge of the header and extend forward of the knife. The pans are spaced to form slots between the pans. The crop plants pass along the slots and are cut by the knife at the rear end of the slots. Seeds falling from the plants are caught in the pans and work their way rearward and onto the knife. Such seed pans are disclosed for example in U.S. Pat. No. 2,575,120 to Peel and U.S. Pat. No. 6,032,445 to Heintzman. The top surfaces of the pans are flat, with raised side walls to keep the seeds on the pan. The pans are configured to slope downward from front to rear so that the seeds move down the sloping surface onto the header and into the harvester. These seed pans are configured so that the slots between the pans are spaced to match the row spacing of the crops being harvested, such as soybeans, sunflowers, and the like that are typically planted in relatively widely spaced rows. Thus a large part of the knife is covered and not used.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,105,610 to Britten discloses crop stalk guides for attachment to a harvest header to provide crop dividers for separating the stalks in adjacent rows from one another. The Britten guides do not appear to catch falling seeds, as the guides comprise plates with flat top surfaces which have no walls to prevent seeds from falling off, but rather are simply used to guide the crop stalks into the knife. A plate is mounted to tops of two adjacent guard fingers and then bends slightly upward so it extends substantially horizontally forward at the same vertical level as the fingers when the fingers are in their working orientation sloping somewhat downward. The plates are mounted to the guards such that all guard fingers are covered by a plate, and the ends of the slots lie between adjacent guard fingers. The plates guide the stalks to each side and along a slot between the plates to the knife. The slots are much narrower than the spacing between the guard fingers, so at the rear ends of the slots where the knife is located, the plates must be notched so that the outer edges of the guard fingers are exposed to the knife sections to allow the knife sections to shear the stalks against the guard fingers.
Using conventional cutting headers to harvest corn is problematic. The corn plants are typically quite tall, and when dried out as they are at harvest time, the stalks often lean forward and sideways to the combine's operating travel direction such that the stalks themselves, or at least some of the cobs thereon, are not cut and carried onto the header but fall to the ground, and are wasted. Thus farmers who would like to grow corn as part of a crop rotation with other crops are faced with the large expense of buying a corn header for their combines, and so often simply leave corn out of the crop rotation.

Cutting header with finger mounted raised divider pans


Improved technology for the melting and casting of a particular class of true beta-type titanium alloys is described. A typical alloy is titanium--35% vanadium--15% chromium. By providing carbon surfaces for contacting molten beta titanium alloys of this type improved melting and casting procedures are effectuated.

Conventional titanium alloys are highly reactive, particularly when molten. The extreme reactivity of molten titanium alloys has required that the melting and casting of such alloys be carried out using skull techniques. In melting titanium using a skull technique a water cooled copper container is provided and the melting of the titanium alloY takes place under conditions which provide for solidification of an initial layer of the titanium composition on the water cooled copper chill surfaces so that the molten titanium alloy contacts only solid titanium rather than the copper container itself. Such techniques are necessary because of the reactivity of titanium but are also desirable because the molten product is free from contamination. Skull melting techniques have drawbacks including the limitation on the amount of superheat which is a consequence of the necessity of maintaining a solid skull between the molten material and the copper shell plate. In practice this leads to the requirement that the superheat in the molten titanium be not greater than about 40.degree. F. This limitation on superheat in turn can lead to casting problems relating to a lack of fluidity in the molten titanium with such a low superheat. The limitation to low superheat means that complex titanium castings are very difficult to produce so that most complex titanium shapes are produced by forging, an expensive process.
The reactivity between pure titanium and commercial titanium alloys and carbon is extremely high as a consequence of the high energy of formation of titanium carbides. In practice this high reactivity and the detrimental effect of carbon contamination on the mechanical properties of the resultant alloys have required that carbon be excluded from contact with molten titanium.
Recently a new class of Beta titanium alloys has been developed. These alloys are described in U.S. patent applications Ser. No. 948,390 filed Dec. 23, 1986 and U.S. Ser. No. 004,206 filed Dec. 23, 1986 which are continuations-in-part of Ser. No. 815,606, filed Jan. 2, 1986, now abandoned and are comprised of major constituents titanium, vanadium and chromium with an example alloy being Ti-35% vanadium - 15% chromium. Despite being formed from alloy constituents which all are energetic carbide formers it is a surprising observation that alloys of the approximate composition described above are relatively nonreactive with carbon.

Melting and casting of beta titanium alloys


A fiducial is generated on an internal anatomical structure of the eye of a patient with a surgical laser. A tonic artificial intraocular lens (IOL) is positioned so that a marker of the tonic IOL is in a predetermined positional relationship relative to the fiducial. This positioning aligns the tonic IOL with the astigmatic or other axis of the eye. The toric IOL is then implanted in the eye of the patient with high accuracy.

The present disclosure relates generally to the marking of anatomical features to facilitate the treatment of the nearby tissue structures, such as a tissue of an eye. Although specific reference is made to marking tissue for surgery such as eye surgery, embodiments as described herein can be used in many ways with many anatomical structures to facilitate the treatment of many tissue structures.
Cutting of materials can be done mechanically with chisels, knives, scalpels and other tools such as surgical tools. However, prior methods and apparatus of cutting can be less than desirable and provide less than ideal results in at least some instances. For example, at least some prior methods and apparatus for cutting materials such as tissue may provide a somewhat rougher surface than would be ideal. Pulsed lasers can be used to cut one or more of many materials and have been used for laser surgery to cut tissue.
Examples of surgically tissue cutting include cutting the cornea and crystalline lens of the eye. The lens of the eye can be cut to correct a defect of the lens, for example to remove a cataract, and the tissues of the eye can be cut to access the lens. For example the cornea can be to access the cataractous lens. The cornea can be cut in order to correct a refractive error of the eye, for example with laser assisted in situ keratomileusis (hereinafter "LASIK").
Many patients may have visual errors associated with the refractive properties of the eye such as nearsightedness, farsightedness and astigmatism. Astigmatism may occur when the corneal curvature is unequal in two or more directions. Nearsightedness can occur when light focuses before the retina, and farsightedness can occur with light refracted to a focus behind the retina. There are numerous prior surgical approaches for reshaping the cornea, including laser assisted in situ keratomileusis (hereinafter "LASIK"), all laser LASIK, femto LASIK, corneaplasty, astigmatic keratotomy, corneal relaxing incision (hereinafter "CRI"), and Limbal Relaxing Incision (hereinafter "LRI"). Astigmatic Keratotomy, Corneal Relaxing Incision (CRI), and Limbal Relaxing Incision (LRI), corneal incisions are made in a well-defined manner and depth to allow the cornea to change shape to become more spherical.
Cataract extraction is a frequently performed surgical procedure. A cataract is formed by opacification of the crystalline lens of the eye. The cataract scatters light passing through the lens and may perceptibly degrade vision. A cataract can vary in degree from slight to complete opacity. Early in the development of an age-related cataract the power of the lens may increase, causing nearsightedness (myopia). Gradual yellowing and opacification of the lens may reduce the perception of blue colors as those shorter wavelengths are more strongly absorbed and scattered within the cataractous crystalline lens. Cataract formation may often progresses slowly resulting in progressive vision loss.
A cataract treatment may involve replacing the opaque crystalline lens with an artificial intraocular lens (IOL), and an estimated 15 million cataract surgeries per year are performed worldwide. Cataract surgery can be performed using a technique termed phacoemulsification in which an ultrasonic tip with associated irrigation and aspiration ports is used to sculpt the relatively hard nucleus of the lens to facilitate removal through an opening made in the anterior lens capsule. The nucleus of the lens is contained within an outer membrane of the lens that is referred to as the lens capsule. Access to the lens nucleus can be provided by performing an anterior capsulotomy in which a small round hole can be formed in the anterior side of the lens capsule. Access to the lens nucleus can also be provided by performing a manual continuous curvilinear capsulorhexis (CCC) procedure. After removal of the lens nucleus, a synthetic foldable intraocular lens (IOL) can be inserted into the remaining lens capsule of the eye.
At least some prior laser surgery systems can provide less than ideal results when used to place an intraocular lens in the eye to treat aberrations of the eye such as low order aberrations comprising astigmatism or higher order aberrations. While accommodating IOLs can correct refractive error of the eye and restore accommodation, the prior accommodating IOLs can provide less than ideal correction of the astigmatism of the eye.
Thus, improved methods and systems would be helpful for more precisely marking and tracking anatomical features in tissue, particularly the eye, to better position tissue cuts and place implants such as intraocular lenses (IOLs) in the eye.

Laser fiducials for axis alignment in cataract surgery


Disclosed herein are embodiments of a system for selectively ionizing samples that may comprise a plurality of different analytes that are not normally detectable using the same ionization technique. The disclosed system comprises a unique split flow tube that can be coupled with a plurality of ionization sources to facilitate using different ionization techniques for the same sample. Also disclosed herein are embodiments of a method for determining the presence of analytes in a sample, wherein the number and type of detectable analytes that can be identified is increased and sensitivity and selectivity are not sacrificed.

Low-level detection of threat agents and illicit substances (e.g., explosive, narcotics and organophosphorus compounds (OPCs)) remains a long-standing goal of modern instrument platforms. Analytical techniques for direct vapor detection of threat agents and illicit substances remain limited because significant improvements in sensitivity must yet be attained if automated technologies are to be of practical use. For example, equilibrium vapor pressure (saturated) of RDX explosive at 25° C. provide a concentration of ˜5 parts-per-trillion (ppt). Because real-world analyses must achieve detection below saturation levels, sensitivity must be substantially better than this 5 ppt threshold. To complicate matters, improvements in sensitivity without improvements in selectivity are counterproductive, as increasing sensitivity effectively raises the chemical noise, which offsets improvements to upstream components. Also, the ability to detect multiple analytes from a single sampling event is limited by the fact that detection methods used for certain analytes do not always work to detect other types of analytes. As such, multiple sampling events and/or instruments must be utilized to detect various threat agents and/or illicit substances. Accordingly, new methods and systems are needed to provide accurate detection of such analytes, particularly at ultra-low levels, and without requiring multiple sampling events and/or analyses.

Device and system for selective ionization and analyte detection and method of using the same


A smart address book service configured to provide contextual information from a user's address book or contacts database so that when a user enters information into a device such as a smart phone, the service can correlate information from the contacts database with the user's entered information, look at additional context of what the user is doing/has done, and provide action options for the user to select. Thus, the service can discern what the user is likely trying to achieve based on contextual information provided by or through the smart phone, and pull corresponding data from the user's contacts database (on the user's equipment, e.g., smart phone, and/or from an address book associated with the user and stored on servers of the user's telecommunications service provider) as well as from the Internet to provide information necessary for the user to achieve the objective.

In today's connected world of electronic communications, a person's communication device such as a smart phone, tablet, laptop computer or other personal user equipment with computing power and electronic communications capability often includes address books or databases of information regarding contacts of the person. This information can informally represent the person's social and business networks and can encompass a significant portion of contacts or interfaces that the person has with the world around them.


The present invention encompasses a process of producing a reduced fat peanut butter without non-peanut supplements and the products therefrom. The method entails making a peanut flour using a defatting process and then mixing this flour with ground roasted peanuts and a selected amount of peanut oil to produce a peanut paste. The method then entails adding sweetener, dextrin, salt, flavorants, and/or fiber to the peanut paste, blending the resultant peanut product, and then remilling the peanut product to produce a reduced fat peanut butter. This peanut butter can be finished using conventional methods. The resultant peanut butter can have a 30 percent fat reduction compared to conventional peanut butter.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the process for making a nutritionally superior peanut butter and the resultant peanut butter that has 25-30% less fat and, contains all the natural nutrients of conventional peanut butter--including a higher protein content and all of the natural vitamins and minerals--but contributed by only non-fat peanut solids. This invention may also replace part of the carbohydrate ingredients with selected fibers, both soluble and insoluble, to increase the fiber content of the reduced fat peanut butter.
2. Background Art
Peanut butter is by far the most important product made from peanuts in the United States. It is a favorite food of both adults and children, especially young children. The attributes of peanut butter include its convenience, flavor, and stability. It is also nutritious and an excellent source of protein.
Regulations govern the ingredients in a product labeled as "peanut butter." The U.S. Standard of Identity for peanut butter, 21 CFR 164,150, requires a formulation having a minimum of 90 percent peanut ingredients with optional ingredients such as salt, sugars, and emulsifiers limited to 10 percent by weight. The Standard also limits fat content to 55% and prohibits the use of any chemical preservatives, artificial sweeteners, vitamins, minerals, flavors, or colors.
The per capita consumption of peanut butter, however, has declined recently as health-conscious consumers have become more concerned about the dietary effects of fat. Peanuts and peanut butter normally contain about 50% fat by weight. Since the U.S. Standard of Identity requires a minimum of 90 percent peanut ingredients, obviously conventional peanut butter has a high percentage of fat. Accordingly, the appeal of peanut butter has diminished as consumers have become increasingly wary of foods that supply a high percentage of the caloric value from fat.
The industry has made attempts to reduce the fat content of peanut butter, such as by the addition of carbohydrates, making either peanut spreads or variations of peanut butter, or modifying the oil phase by the addition of medium chain triglycerides. Some of the resulting products fail to satisfy the U.S. Standard of Identity and cannot be labeled as "peanut butter." Instead, these products are called peanut spreads or imitation peanut butters.
Yokoyama, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,814,195, for example, teaches a reduced calorie peanut butter product containing from about 15 to about 40% by weight of a solid bulking agent having from 0 to about 3 calories per gram. These products do not meet peanut butter regulatory requirements because the peanut material components are at 62 percent or less. Protein and other nutritional supplements are thus necessary with these products. Furthermore, both of the products use polydextrose and microcrystalline cellulose which require special processing prior to addition into the peanut butter product.
Likewise, Lasdon, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,828,868, discloses the use of an unroasted, partially-defatted peanut flour that is milled in water, then cooked at a temperature below the boiling point of the water/flour mixture. The end product has a very high water content of 45-55 percent. The product is also packaged while at a temperature of about 170.degree. F. There is only 25-50 percent peanut material in the final product. Accordingly, the peanut product is not nutritionally equivalent to peanut butter or peanut spread. This product also has the drawback of requiring refrigeration. Moreover, the processing steps are less desirable because they are non-conventional in the industry and would require specialized equipment.
Walling, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,230,919, titled "Composition and Process of Making Fluid, Reduced Fat Peanut Butters and Improved Whipped Peanut Butters", instructs on a reduced fat peanut butter produced using partially defatted peanut solids combined with regular peanuts under high shear mixing conditions. This defatting process is semi-continuous. It is also comparatively expensive. Additionally, the particle size of the milled flour is crucial, requiring 65-80 percent of the flour to have a particle size less than 18 microns. The process also requires substantial reintroduction of peanut oil to produce a flowable product. These processing requirements result in a high product cost. Similarly, Wong, U.S. Pat. No. 5,079,027, has the same drawbacks as Walling.
A further example of an attempt to produce a low-fat peanut butter is Franklin, U.S. Pat. No. 5,302,409, in which a reduced-fat peanut butter is made by removing oil from ground peanuts. Oil is preferably removed by centrifuging the ground peanuts until a supernatant oil layer is formed above the ground peanuts and separating the ground peanuts from the supernatant oil layer. The resulting peanut paste is then reground. Maltodextrin and modified food starch then can be added along with salt, butter flavoring, or peanut flavoring. This process is semi-continuous, thus limiting production. The product uses hydrated modified food starch which increased the moisture content creating a questionable shelf life.

Method of producing a reduced fat peanut butter without non-peanut supplements and product therefrom


A conveyor assembly and method for conveying and storing a strip material in a conveyor system that is subject to changes in length of the strip material due to intermittent operation includes an upper conveyor (16), an adjustable substantially horizontal center conveyor (22) for receiving the strip material (34) from the upper conveyor, and a lower conveyor (28) for receiving the associated strip material from the center conveyor. A computer (94) controls the movement and rotation of the center conveyor, and loop detecting apparatus on the center conveyor may also detect a loop (90) in the strip material carried by the center conveyor and thereby detecting changes in length of the strip material not predetermined by the computer. A servomechanism (100) activated by signals from the computer or the loop detecting apparatus moves the center conveyor in a substantially horizontal direction.

In the past, vertical festoons were used to adjust the length of a conveyor system to compensate for intermittent feeding of strip material to meet variable production requirements. However, when vertical festoons were used, the strip material was not supported and was stretched by its own weight. This stretching of the strip material was not desirable when assembling a product such as a tire. One such conveyor of strip material is found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,892,609 to Nakanome et al., which discloses an automatic material feeder in tire forming machines. The machine has a traditional vertical festoon to support the buildup of tire building materials.
When conveyors of a strip material did not have features to compensate for changes in length of the strip material caused by intermittent feeding, extruders, for example, would have to be stopped and started to compensate for the changes in feeding. This starting and stopping may produce undesirable variations in the strip material.
Applicants recognized the need to provide an adjustment apparatus and method that did not stretch the strip material and did not produce or add additional stresses to the strip material.
The present invention contemplates a new and improved adjustment for a conveyor system which is simple in design, effective in use, and overcomes the foregoing difficulties and others while providing better and more advantageous overall results.


Medical apparatus includes a patient table (7) with a table support (9) and a table top (11) which is movable at least in its longitudinal direction relative to the table support, there being provided a first drive mechanism (21) to assist said movement, if desired; the table top can be locked relative to the table support by means of a locking mechanism (23). The apparatus comprises a common control member (43) for moving the table top (11) in the longitudinal direction and for operating the first drive mechanism (21) and the locking mechanism (23). The control member comprises a link rod (57) which is movable in its longitudinal direction and which cooperates with a switch (67) for operating the locking mechanism, and also comprises a control element (71) which is movable transversely of the longitudinal direction of the link rod and which cooperates with a sensor (73) which supplies an output signal for control of the drive mechanism. The link rod (57) and the control element (71) are movable by means of a common control knob (59) whereby the table top (11) can be moved also without assistance from the first drive mechanism (21). Consequently, control of the movements of the table top (11) is very simple and orderly.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a medical apparatus, including a patient table with a table support and a table top which is movable at least in its longitudinal direction relative to the table support, there being provided a first drive mechanism for assisting this movement, if desired, it being possible to lock said table top relative to the table support by means of a locking mechanism.
2. Description of the Prior Art
An apparatus of this kind is known from EP-A-0 506 172. The known apparatus is provided with a motor for moving the table top in the longitudinal direction, the table top being displaced on rollers which can be blocked by way of the locking device. Separate control members are provided for control of the motor and the locking device. The control members are accommodated on a console which also comprises a large number of other control members for other functions of the apparatus. Because of this large number of control members, the console is rather cluttered and operation requires close attention.

Medical apparatus comprising a movable patent table having a common control member for operating longitudinal drive and locking mechanisms


Techniques to allow applications to propagate information to the other instances of the applications running on downstream servers are provided. An indicator, such as a token, tag, etc., is placed within or added to a message that is flowing through the distributed environment to signify that a process has been performed on the message. For example, when an instance of an application running on a server receives a message, the application instance can examine the indicator contained in the message and take appropriate action. If the application instance decides to process the message, the application instance can include an indicator in the message to signify that the application instance processed the message. The presence of the indicator signifies that the message has been processed by an upstream instance of the same application.

Today, many enterprise server applications and products process thousands of client requests each day. These server applications are typically deployed in a load balanced environment to allow requests (also referred to herein as "messages") coming from different clients to be served by different servers from a cluster (also referred to herein as a "pool") of servers. If a request received at a server is meant to be routed to a destination client, the request may flow through other servers in the same pool, or servers in a different pool en route to the destination client. These server applications are commonly based on the client-server paradigm, where the application or system is split between the server (e.g., server tasks) and the client (e.g., client tasks). In client-server terminology, a client sends a request to a server, according to some protocol, typically asking the server to perform an action and the server responds to the client's request.
For example, enterprise server applications, such as MICROSOFT Live Communications Server 2005 (LCS), are deployed as a pool of stateless servers, and messages flow between the clients utilizing the application by traversing multiple servers in one or more pools. In addition to, or as part of the server application, the individual servers may host custom applications, such as applications that perform authentication services, applications that perform logging services, applications that perform archiving services, applications that perform statistical data collection, etc. These applications accordingly process the messages that flow through the server—e.g., to perform some custom processing—before the messages are forwarded to the next server in the route to their destination.
Often times, an instance of an application that is running on one server needs to know whether a message flowing through the servers has already been processed by another instance of the application running on another server. For example, an archiving application may be running on each of the enterprise server application servers to log messages to a database. When a message arrives at the first enterprise server application server, the instance of the archiving application running on that server logs the message. The message then travels to a subsequent enterprise server application server, and the message is processed by another instance of the archiving application. In order to avoid re-logging of the same message, the archiving application needs to know whether the message was previously logged—i.e., processed—by another instance of the archiving application.
It would be desirable to have a technique for propagating information regarding the state of a message between instances of an application running in a distributed environment.

State management in a distributed computing system


Methods and compositions disclosed herein generally relate to determination of susceptibility to eosinophilic esophagitis, asthma, and/or allergic diseases, disorders, and/or pulmonary and/or upper gastrointestinal conditions arising therefrom and/or related thereto and the diagnosis, treatment, and/or management of eosinophilic esophagitis, asthma, and/or allergic diseases, disorders, and/or pulmonary and/or upper gastrointestinal conditions arising therefrom and/or related thereto. Embodiments of the invention relate to the association between genes and specific polymorphisms of genes with eosinophilic esophagitis. Embodiments of the invention can be used to determine and manage patient risk factors for development of eosinophilic esophagitis; this determination can then be used to diagnose eosinophilic esophagitis and to treat a patient diagnosed with eosinophilic esophagitis.

All publications mentioned herein are incorporated by reference to the same extent as if each individual publication or patent application was specifically and individually indicated to be incorporated by reference. The following description includes information that can be useful in understanding the present subject matter. It is not an admission that any of the information provided herein is prior art or relevant to the presently claimed subject matter, or that any publication specifically or implicitly referenced is prior art.
Eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) is a chronic, food antigen-driven, tissue-specific esophageal, inflammatory disease of the esophagus. EoE is characterized by marked mucosal eosinophil accumulation that is often associated with fibrosis, stricture formation, and impaired motility (Liacouras, C. A. et al., J Allergy Clin Immunol 128:3-20 e6, quiz 21-2 (2011); Rothenberg, M. E. Gastroenterology 137:1238-49 (2009); Collins, M. H. et al. Clin Gastroenterol Hepatol 6:621-9 (2008); Putnam, P. E. and Rothenberg, M. E. Curr Gastroenterol Rep 11:220-5 (2009)).
Allergens are thought to drive EoE pathogenesis. This is because the disease remits after removal of specific food types, reoccurs upon food re-introduction, is associated with marked dysregulation of esophageal transcripts rich in elements involved in allergic inflammation (e.g. T helper cell type 2 (Th2) cytokines such as interleukin (IL)-13, eosinophils, and mast cells), and can be induced in mice by allergen exposure through IL-5- and IL-13-driven pathways (Abonia, J. P. and Rothenberg, M. E. Annu Rev Med 63:421-34 (2012); Davis, B. P. and Rothenberg, M. E. Expert Rev Clin Immunol 9:285-7 (2013); Henderson, C. J. et al. J Allergy Clin Immunol 129:1570-8 (2012); Rothenberg, M. E. et al. J Allergy Clin Immunol 130:617-9 (2012)).

Genetic test for determining susceptibility for eosinophilic esophagitis


The present invention relates to a functional table for patient transportation, including: a patient supporter which supports a patient laid thereon and allows the patient to be horizontally slidably transported, with its both sides being changed in their angle with respect to a vertical axis of the patient; a support frame which is located in the central bottom of the patient supporter and allows the patient supporter to be vertically moved; a base frame which is connected to the bottom of the support frame and supports the whole of functional table; and at least three transporting wheels which are connected to the base frame and allow the functional table to be freely moved.

As known in the art, there has been proposed a variety of apparatuses for transporting emergency patients, critical patients, bone-fracture patients and the like, who are impossible or nearly impossible to move for themselves, from one place to another.
A patient in a hospital may be often moved from his/her hospital bed to a medical examination table or an operating table and vice versa. Primary equipment may include a stretcher carried by an assistant and a patient transporting bed with wheels.
However, there is a problem in moving the patient from the hospital bed to the stretcher or the patient transporting bed. For example, although it is a simple task to move the patient in support of the assistant if the patient is cooperative or can move for himself, there may be a challengeable task to move the patient from the hospital bed to the stretcher or the patient transporting bed if the patient is unconscious or has a damage such as a bone-fracture or an injury, which may be worsened by movement.
For the purpose of overcoming the above problem, a patient transporting apparatus is disclosed in, for example, Korean Patent Application Publication No. 2003-0073921.
The disclosed patient transporting apparatus is for transporting a patient who is laid on a stretcher placed on a carrier body. However, this has a problem in that it requires two assistants who have to lift the stretcher from its both sides when the patient is transported from one bed to another, and the weight of the stretcher to support the patient is still the same. In addition, a secondary damage may occur if the assistants miss the stretcher.
Moreover, there is a further problem that a patient who cannot be moved at all has to receive help from at least another assistant in order to transport and safely lay the patient on another table.

Functional table for transferring patient

Keimyung University Industry Academic Cooperation Foundation


Coupling apparatus for a large bore metal vapor laser is disclosed. The coupling apparatus provides for coupling high voltage pulses (approximately 40 KV) to a metal vapor laser with a high repetition rate (approximately 5 KHz). The coupling apparatus utilizes existing thyratron circuits and provides suitable power input to a large bore metal vapor laser while maintaining satisfactory operating lifetimes for the existing thyratron circuits.

The present invention relates to metal vapor lasers and more particularly to a coupling apparatus for coupling high voltage pulses at a high repetition rate to metal vapor lasers, such as copper vapor lasers, and more particularly large bore metal vapor lasers.
With large bore copper vapor lasers, it is frequently desired that very high output laser power be generated. Large bore copper vapor lasers require the application of very high amplitude voltage pulses with high repetition rates in order to generate suitable output power.
A device known as a thyratron is typically used to generate high amplitude voltage pulses. A thyratron is a hot cathode gas-filled tube with one or more grids placed between the cathode and anode.
As described above, large bore copper vapor lasers require the application of very high voltage pulses as well as very high pulse repetition rates in order to provide improved laser capability (i.e., improved power characteristics). A problem with attempting to provide very high voltage pulses (e.g., voltage pulses having amplitudes of 40 KV and higher) at high repetition rates (e.g., pulse rates of 5 KHz or greater) is that thyratron circuits do not provide sufficiently high voltage pulses having a sufficiently fast rise time to meet both requirements at one time. In addition, the input requirements of large bore metal vapor lasers become too demanding for thyratrons to be operated with a satisfactory lifetime. One reason for the foregoing deficiency is that the rate of rise of current (di/dt) and the peak current on existing thyratrons becomes excessive with large bore metal vapor lasers, which consequently reduces the expected operating lifetime.
A circuit known as a Blumlein circuit has been utilized for radar techniques. A Blumlein circuit is a type of voltage doubler circuit and provides, with suitable switching of transmission lines or capacitors, for an increased or higher voltage (in terms of amplitude). The higher voltage can then be coupled to a radar circuit. However, Blumlein-type circuits have generally not been known for coupling sufficiently high voltage pulses with suitably high repetition reats to metal vapor lasers, as indicated above.
There is a need therefore for a more efficient means of achieving a coupling capability using thyratron circuits for use with large bore metal vapor lasers with high voltage pulses together with high repetition rates while at the same time maintaining a suitable operating life for the thyratron circuits.

Coupling apparatus for a metal vapor laser

The United States of America as represented by the United States Department of Energy


A rotary non-contact connector and a non-rotary non-contact connector enable data transmission in a non-contact mode by radio transmitters-receivers by combining rotary transformers or stationary transformers and radio transmitters-receivers, and providing power systems with buffer functions by a storage means to receive supplied electric power. Each of the rotary non-contact connector and the non-rotary non-contact connector has first and second radio transmitters-receivers provided between a rotor and an annular stator of a rotary transformer and between first and second stationary members of a stationary transformer to permit two-way radio data communication in a non-contact mode. Furthermore, storage means are provided to implement a buffering function for a power system.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a rotary non-contact connector and a non-rotary non-contact connector. More particularly, the present invention relates to a novel improvement in implementing single-channel or multi-channel signal transmission based on non-contact radio communication by using the rotary non-contact connector or the non-rotary non-contact connector. In the case of the rotary non-contact connector, a rotor of a rotary transformer is equipped with a rotating-side radio transceiver, and electric power from an external source is supplied through the intermediary of the rotary transformer to an electric circuit for driving the rotating-side radio transceiver. In the case of the non-rotary non-contact connector, the electric power from an external source is supplied through the intermediary of a stationary transformer to an electric circuit for driving a radio transceiver at a power-supplied side.
2. Description of the Related Art
Hitherto, signal transmission between a stationary unit and a rotating-side unit has been effected by connecting, for example, a rotating-side unit mounted on a gimbal mechanism having a plurality of rotating shafts or a single-shaft rotating platform and a stationary-side unit by using a rotary joint or slip ring and a contact connection type connector, and eventually by direct coupling to the contact connection type connector.
Great efforts have been made to obviate the need for the use of wiring, and the non-contact data transfer has become significantly easier owing to the progress in the recent close-range radio communication technology. However, it has been difficult to achieve supply of electric power from a stationary unit to a rotating-side unit in a non-contact mode, and the need for the wire for supplying power still remains, making it difficult to completely eliminate wiring.
The conventional transmission of signals between a stationary unit and a rotating-side unit described above has been presenting the following problems.
Specifically, the connection method based on a contact type connector and the direct coupling wiring method for connecting a stationary unit and a rotating-side unit inevitably produce parasite drag generated due to the twist or rigidity of wiring even when only rotational motion of finite angles is involved.
The rotary joint or slip ring method has been posing such problems as larger sizes, higher cost, and lower environmental resistance although it has less likelihood of the occurrence of the parasite drag attributable to the twist or rigidity of wiring.

Rotary non-contact connector and non-rotary non-contact connector


The present disclosure provides a silicon-controlled rectifier structure and a manufacturing method therefor. The silicon-controlled rectifier structure comprises a substrate; and an N-Well and a P-Well in the substrate, wherein an N-type heavily-doped region 410 and a P-type heavily-doped region 422 which are connected to an anode are provided in the N-Well, and a floating guard ring 416 is further provided in the N-Well between the N-type heavily-doped region 410 and the P-type heavily-doped region 422, the guard ring being spaced from the N-type heavily-doped region 410 by a shallow trench isolation, and an active area having a predetermined width exists between the guard ring and the P-type heavily-doped region 422; and an N-type heavily-doped region 414 and a P-type heavily-doped region 424 which are connected to a cathode are provided in the P-Well.

In the field of electro-static discharge (ESD) protection designs, a silicon-controlled rectifier (SCR) has been widely recognized for its characteristic of a high ESD discharge capability, but there are two serious defects in this type of device limiting its applications: the first defect is a high triggering voltage for a snapback effect due to the fact that its triggering voltage is mainly limited by a high reverse breakdown voltage of an N-Well to a P-Well; and the second defect is a very low holding voltage for the snapback effect, which easily leads to a latch-up effect.
With regard to the defect of a high triggering voltage, various schemes have been proposed in the industry to reduce the triggering voltage for the snapback effect, such as the silicon-controlled rectifier structures shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. In the silicon-controlled rectifier shown in FIG. 1, between an N-Well and a P-Well, an N-type heavily-doped region spans the N-Well and the P-Well is inserted, so as to achieve the purpose of reducing a reverse breakdown voltage of the N-Well to the P-Well. In one embodiment, the silicon-controlled rectifier as shown in FIG. 1 comprises a P-type substrate 100, an N-type doped N-Well 210, a P-type doped P-Well 220, and an N-type heavily-doped region 412 and a P-type heavily-doped region 422 in the N-Well 210, an N-type heavily-doped region 414 and a P-type heavily-doped region 424 in the P-Well 220, and an N-type heavily-doped region 410 spans the N-Well 210 and the P-Well 220 at a position where the N-Well 210 abuts the P-Well 220. The N-type heavily-doped region 412, the P-type heavily-doped region 422, the N-type heavily-doped region 410, the N-type heavily-doped region 414 and the P-type heavily-doped region 424 are spaced apart by shallow trench isolations (STI) 300. The P-type heavily-doped region 422, the N-Well 210 and the substrate 100 form an equivalent PNP bipolar structure, the N-type heavily-doped region 412 and the N-Well 210 form a diffusion resistance equivalently connected to a base of the above-mentioned PNP bipolar, the P-type heavily-doped region 422 forms an emitter of the above-mentioned PNP bipolar, the substrate 100 is a collector of the above-mentioned PNP bipolar, and the N-Well 210 is the base of the above-mentioned PNP bipolar. The N-Well 210, the substrate 100/the P-Well 220, and the N-type heavily-doped region 414 form an equivalent NPN bipolar structure, the N-Well 210 forms a collector of the NPN bipolar, the N-type heavily-doped region 414 forms an emitter of the NPN bipolar, and the substrate 100/the P-Well 220 forms a base of the NPN bipolar. Moreover, the N-type heavily-doped region 412 and the P-type heavily-doped region 422 are connected to an anode of the silicon-controlled rectifier, and the N-type heavily-doped region 414 and the P-type heavily-doped region 424 are connected to a cathode of the silicon-controlled rectifier.
The silicon-controlled rectifier shown in FIG. 2 is formed on the basis of the silicon-controlled rectifier in FIG. 1, by removing a shallow trench isolation 300 between the N-type heavily-doped region 410 and the N-type heavily-doped region 414, and forming an N-type gate 430 on the surface of the substrate corresponding to a position where the shallow trench isolation 300 is removed and connecting the N-type gate to the cathode of the silicon-controlled rectifier, thus forming an N-type gated diode together with the P-Well 220. In the silicon-controlled rectifier as shown in FIG. 2, the N-type gated diode is introduced to further reduce the reverse breakdown voltage of the N-Well to the P-Well, but even so, the triggering voltage of the silicon-controlled rectifier shown in FIG. 2 is still high, for which, due to the limit by the existing process parameters, the adjustment freedom is not large and cannot meet the actual requirements.
With regard to the defect of a very low holding voltage for the snapback effect of the silicon-controlled rectifier, an ESD protection structure of the silicon-controlled rectifier as shown in FIG. 3 is further proposed in industry. Compared with the silicon-controlled rectifier as shown in FIG. 2, in the silicon-controlled rectifier shown in FIG. 3, the N-type heavily-doped region 410 spans the N-Well and the P-Well connects with the anode of the silicon-controlled rectifier directly, which is introduced to reduce the triggering voltage for the snapback effect of the silicon-controlled rectifier, and the P-type heavily-doped region 422 are directly connected to the anode of the silicon-controlled rectifier together, while the N-type heavily-doped region 412 connected to the anode of the device in FIG. 2 is removed. Since the N-type heavily-doped region 410, which has a high doping concentration and is provided between the N-Well 210 and the P-Well 220 in the silicon-controlled rectifier as shown in FIG. 3, is directly connected to the anode, the triggering voltage for the snapback effect of the silicon-controlled rectifier is directly determined by a breakdown voltage between the N-type heavily-doped region 410 and the P-Well 220, and is greatly reduced. Moreover, since the N-type heavily-doped region 410 is directly connected to the anode, an applied positive voltage can reduce the probability of holes being injected and migrated from the P-type heavily-doped region 422 to an N-well 210/P-well 220 interface, so that in the ESD protection structure of the silicon-controlled rectifier, the current gain of the parasitic PNP bipolar composed of the P-type heavily-doped region 422, the N-Well 210 and the P-Well 220 is greatly reduced, and thus the holding voltage for the snapback effect of the silicon-controlled rectifier as shown in FIG. 3 is increased accordingly.
FIG. 4 shows a snapback effect curve and a snapback effect electric leakage diagram of the silicon-controlled rectifier as shown in FIG. 3 obtained in a certain process platform, wherein a curve with diamond legends is the snapback effect curve of the silicon-controlled rectifier as shown in FIG. 3, and a curve with square legends is the snapback effect electric leakage curve of the silicon-controlled rectifier as shown in FIG. 3. It can be seen from the snapback effect curve of FIG. 4 that the triggering voltage of the silicon-controlled rectifier as shown in FIG. 3 is 8.4 V, which is less than a transient breakdown voltage of 11.6 V of a gate oxide layer of a 2.5V/3.3V peripheral interface circuit device in the process platform, and from the viewpoint of the triggering voltage, the silicon-controlled rectifier as shown in FIG. 3 is already applicable to the platform. However, the holding voltage of the silicon-controlled rectifier as shown in FIG. 3 is 3.2 V; although the voltage is greater than the maximum operating voltage (Vddmax=2.75V) of the 2.5V peripheral interface circuit in the process platform, it is still less than the maximum operating voltage (Vddmax=3.65V) of the 3.3V peripheral interface circuit in the process platform.
This indicates that although the silicon-controlled rectifier as shown in FIG. 3 is already completely applicable to an ESD protection circuit design of the 2.5V peripheral interface circuit in the process platform, for an ESD protection circuit design of the 3.3V peripheral interface circuit in the process platform, its holding voltage needs to be further increased above 4V.
Therefore, there is an urgent need for a new silicon-controlled rectifier, which can further reduce the triggering voltage for the snapback effect, and further increase the holding voltage.

Silicon-controlled rectifier structure and manufacturing method thereof


An input image is distorted so that it has less correlation to a watermark and the distorted image is subtracted from the input image to provide a preprocessed image. If the correlation between the preprocessed image and a watermark is sufficient then the watermark is detected in the input image. The distortion may be a spatially-variant distortion such as stretching, shrinking, shearing or rotation or the distortion may be a non-linear transforming or filtering such as median, local minimum or local maximum filtering.

The invention relates to a field of detecting a watermark in a suspect image.
A known method of detecting watermarks includes the steps of pre-processing the suspect image, determining the amount of correlation between the pre-processed image and the watermark, and generating a watermark detection signal depending on the amount of correlation. The invention also relates to a device for performing the method.
The method of detecting a watermark described above is disclosed in International Patent Application WO-A 98/03014. As described in this Application, conventional watermark detection is based on determining the amount of correlation of a suspect image with the watermark to be detected. If the amount of correlation is less than a given threshold, the watermark is said to be absent, otherwise it is said to be present. The larger the correlation, the more reliable the detection and the more processing of the watermarked image is allowed until the watermark cannot be detected anymore.
To improve the reliability of the watermark detection, the suspect image is pre-processed. In the know a watermark detection method, the pre-processing includes predictive or matched filtering of the suspect image prior to the conventional watermark detection. The processed image is more correlated with the watermark than the suspect image. Such a matched filter is a convolution filter, i.e. the filtered image is a spatially-invariant linear combination of global displacements of the same image. It is optimized to attenuate the frequencies for which the image dominates over the watermark. It works equally on the watermark and the underlying image.
The above citations are hereby incorporated in whole by reference.
It is an object of the invention to provide an improved method of detecting the watermark.
In the method of the invention, the pre-processing includes the steps of subjecting the suspect image to a non-convolution filter operation so as to obtain a distorted but resembling image which has less correlation with the watermark, and subtracting the distorted image from the suspect image.
A non-convolution filter is herein understood to mean a non-linear filter or a partially-variant linear filter.
The invention is based on the recognition that most watermarking schemes are of resistant to (even minor) non-linear or spatially variant distortions. Such distortions do not necessarily affect the perceptual appearance of the image, but destroy the watermark information. The distorted image resembles the original image but has less correlation with the watermark. This property is here exploited to improve the reliability of the watermark detection. By subtracting the distorted image from the suspect image, a difference image is obtained in which the ratio between the watermark information and the underlying residual image content is greatly enhanced. The performance of the subsequent conventional watermark detector is therefore considerably improved.
Examples of non-linear filters are median filters, local minimum filters and local maximum filters. Examples of spatially variant operations are stretching, shrinking, shearing, rotation, motion compensation and region-based shifting. Various advantageous embodiments are defined in the appended claims and disclosed in the following description.


The disclosed examples illustrate a system and method that prevent excessive current drain through the network access device (NAD) of a telematics unit and provide flexible discontinuous-receive management. Normally, when in a Standby State and where communication service is unavailable, the NAD may dissipate current at rate many times more than where communication service is available. A Standby Counter provides the length of the time interval for Standby State or the sleep cycle. Certain of the disclosed examples prevent excessive vehicle battery drain by operating the telematics unit in a first mode wherein a sleep cycle value of the telematics unit is above a first predetermined threshold, and if the communication service is available, operating the telematics unit in a second mode wherein a sleep cycle value is in a range from zero to the first predetermined threshold.

Wireless communication services for mobile vehicles, such as navigation and roadside assistance, have increased rapidly in recent years. Most of the services that have been offered are for a mobile vehicle in operation, but more recently, the demands and potential for services to a turned-off vehicle have grown. Services that may be requested while the vehicle is Off or in a Standby State may include maintenance and diagnostic functions, system updates, vehicle position determination, unlocking of the doors, or vehicle alarm silencing.
Normally when the mobile vehicle is off, it is placed into a powered-down discontinuous-receive (DRx) or Standby State (also called sleep cycle). A communication device and a telematics unit on or in communication with each other and with the vehicle may also be placed into a similar DRx cycle to minimize power drain on the vehicle battery. To perform a requested function while the ignition is off, the telematics unit may be awakened, the desired function performed, and the telematics unit subsequently placed back into the DRx or Standby State. For example, a telematics unit may monitor a satellite broadcast channel for a command signal. Based on the command signal, the cellular phone of telematics unit is powered up. The telematics unit may then call a telematics service provider's call center to receive then perform a service request. Alternatively, a data message sent by the call center containing a service request, may be waiting for the telematics unit when it awakes. After performing the service, the telematics unit may return to the Standby State.
A network access device (NAD) of a telematics unit communicates with a call center. In a Standby State, the NAD dissipates low current (13 mA-20 mA) when it is awakened in an "In Service" area to have the telematics unit perform functions (e.g. unlocking the vehicle doors silencing a vehicle alarm). However, when the NAD is in a "No Service" area (e.g. underground parking garage), the NAD may dissipate more than ten times the amount of current (200 mA-300 mA). Consequently, the NAD drains the vehicle battery at a faster rate, causing the NAD to enter into Off State prematurely, thereby rendering the telematics unit incapable of performing any services and potentially leaving the vehicle battery undesirably discharged.

Method to prevent excessive current drain of telematics unit network access device


A medical apparatus system includes a first communication section provided in a medical apparatus and configured to transmit battery use information including information concerning a residual capacity of a first battery, a charger including a power supply section configured to charge a second battery, and a control section configured to set a charging current of the power supply section on the basis of the battery use information and battery charging information including a residual capacity of the second battery such that a capacity insufficiency residual time, which is time until the residual capacity of the first battery changes to a state of residual capacity insufficiency, is equal to or longer than a charging completion residual time, which is time until the second battery changes to a completely charged state.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a medical apparatus system that performs charging management of a battery mounted on an apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
According to progress of a semiconductor technique, various apparatuses such as a cellular phone, a smartphone, and a tablet PC have been reduced in size and reduced in power consumption and have been configured to be portable. A portable apparatus is often mounted with a battery and configured to be continuously usable by charging the battery.
In a medical field as well, a reduction in size of an apparatus has been facilitated. For example, as an endoscope having relatively large power consumption, a portable endoscope mounted with a rechargeable battery has been developed. Endoscope apparatuses are used in various fields such as a medical field and an industrial field. The endoscope apparatus in the medical field is used for an observation of an organ in a body cavity, curative treatment performed using a treatment instrument, a surgical operation under an endoscopic observation, and the like. Note that a battery-driven electronic endoscope is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2006-280542.
The endoscope apparatus includes a processor that processes a picked-up image obtained by an electronic endoscope. Display on a monitor and recording in a recording medium of a medical image are performed by the processor. The portable endoscope incorporates a radio communication section that transmits an endoscopic image obtained by an image pickup device to the processor, a light source device for illuminating an object, and the like and is wirelessly configured. Therefore, the portable endoscope is excellent in portability and workability.
However, when the portability is taken into account, weight of a battery mounted on the electronic endoscope is limited. A battery capacity is also limited. Therefore, the electronic endoscope cannot always be driven by only one battery mounted on the electronic endoscope in an entire period of manipulation performed using the endoscope. Therefore, it is necessary to take into account replacement of the battery halfway in the manipulation. Even in this case, no problem arises if many batteries are stored as spares. However, realistically, a method of preparing several batteries and, while charging a battery not in use, when a residual capacity of a battery in use becomes insufficient, replacing the battery in use with the charged battery is adopted.
Note that a charger for charging the battery is configured to charge the battery with a current amount determined in advance. However, some chargers can change a charging current according to setting by a user. It is possible to perform quick charging by setting the charging current to a large current. It is also possible to change the battery to a completely charged state in a relatively short time.


An engine mount comprises a relatively stiff elastomeric member having an interior defining a first chamber containing hydraulic liquid. The elastomeric member is attached both to the engine and to the vehicle body. A flexible wall defines a second chamber and the two chambers are connected by a restricted channel. Engine vibration is transmitted to the liquid in the first chamber via the elastomeric member, and damping takes place because of the resistance to the flow of liquid between the two chambers or because of oscillation of the mass of the liquid in the restricted channel. In addition, a flexible membrane is supported by the interior wall of the elastomeric member and urged against this wall by a leaf spring, and the air pressure between the interior wall of the elastomeric member and the membrane is variable. When the air pressure is increased, the membrane moves away from the wall of the elastomeric member against the spring so that the first chamber is now partially defined by a flexible wall, thus reducing the damping effect and the stiffness.

The invention relates to a controllable support element. Embodiments of the invention to be described in more detail below are in the form of controllable anti-vibration support elements such as for mounting between the engine and the body of a motor vehicle so as to damp vibratory movement of the engine and prevent or reduce the transmission of such vibrations to the body.


The present invention relates to a method for concentrating organic silicate polymer solution, and more precisely, a method for concentrating organic silicate polymer solution by distillation which is characterized by remarkably reduced distillation time realized by the short-term continuous distillation at low temperature under low pressure, minimized physical property changes attributed to the inhibition of the heat-induced reaction by making the solution pass through the thin film evaporator shortly, concentration without cake generation, and easy manipulation with high capacity, making the method highly economical.

To concentrate a solution, a completely stirred tank reactor (CSTR) has generally been used. However, the CSTR has the disadvantages of long distillation time attributed to the reduced heat transfer area per unit volume as the device becomes bigger, and a never ending reaction.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,015,457 describes a method for concentrating organic silicate polymer by using a rotary evaporator. Even with this method, the problem of long distillation time still remains unsolved.
Therefore, to overcome the above mentioned problem, the present invention provides a method for concentrating organic silicate polymer solution which is characterized by remarkably shortened distillation time realized by the short-term continuous distillation under low pressure at low temperature, minimum property changes of the silicate polymer solution resulting from the minimization of the reaction of thermal activation by reducing the passing time of the silicate polymer solution through a thin film evaporator, effective concentration without cake generation, and easy manipulation with a large capacity.

Method for concentrating organic silicate polymer solution


A system for processing a disk includes an end-effector having a plurality of fingers. The end-effector is mounted to a rotary actuator. The rotary actuator is mounted to a linear stage. The linear stage is positioned adjacent to an air track and a tank. The rotary actuator and the linear stage place the fingers into the inner diameter of a disk on the air track. The fingers grip the inner diameter of the disk. The rotary actuator and the liner stage then place the fingers holding the disk into the tank. The tank is filled with a processing liquid such as a lubrication solution to lubricate the disk.

The present invention relates to the manufacture of magnetic and optical recording media and in particular to a method and apparatus for applying lubrication to the surface of the media.
In a conventional contact start-stop (CSS) operation of a hard disk drive, the magnetic head slides against the disk surface when the disk is spun up and down. To protect the magnetic head and the disk surface from the frictional effects of CSS operations, the disk surface is lubricated in fabrication.
FIG. 1 illustrates a prior art apparatus 100 for lubing disks. A linear stage 102 lowers a mandrel 104 with a conventional disk 106 resting thereon into a lubrication tank 108 filled with lubrication solution 110. The disk is then lifted out of the solution or alternatively the lubrication solution is drained, leaving behind a thin (1-10 nm) layer of lubrication on the surface of the disk. Disk 106 has, e.g., an inner diameter (ID) 114 of 25 mm and an outer diameter (OD) of 95 mm. An arrow 116 indicates the travel of mandrel 104 into and out of lubrication tank 108. Mandrel 104 includes a notch 112 where ID 114 of disk 106 rests upon. As FIG. 1 illustrates, lubrication solution 118 often collects around notch 112 and deposits excessive lubricant on disk 106 due to the improper drainage. While excess lubricant is a reliability and performance concern for media, the amount deposited on disk 106 is acceptable because it affects only a small percentage of the total area of disk 106.
FIG. 2 illustrates the use of conventional apparatus 100 to apply lubrication to a disk 122 which has a small form factor. Disk 122 has, e.g., an ID 124 of 7 mm and an OD of 27.4 mm. Lubrication solution 118 again collects around notch 112. Excessive lubricant on disk 122 near ID 124 produces an undesirable result. Compared to disk 106, excessive lubrication 118 is of greater concern for disk 122 because disk 122 has a smaller surface area. Thus a greater portion of the surface of disk 122 will have excess lubrication 118 deposited thereon then will disk 106. Disk 122 is also more likely to sway and tip over as it hangs from mandrel 104 because disk 122 is lighter. Furthermore, as the lubrication solution moves across the surface of the disk, surface tension imbalances may cause the disk to tilt. This phenomenon can slow down production and cause non-uniformity in disk lubrication.
Thus, what is needed is a system that lubricates a small form factor disk without excessive lubrication around its inner diameter and unwanted movement of the disk during processing.
A system for processing a disk includes a tank, a base adjacent to the tank, a rotary actuator mounted to the base, and an end-effector mounted to the rotary actuator. The end-effector includes a plurality of fingers and an actuator linked to at least one finger. The actuator closes the fingers so they can be inserted into an inner diameter of the disk. The actuator opens the fingers so they can grip the inner diameter of the disk. Once the fingers have gripped the disk, the rotary actuator rotates the end-effector to a position above the tank. The disk can be brought down into the tank or the tank can be brought up to place the disk within the tank. The tank is then filled with a processing liquid to process the disk.


Method for lithographic printing wherein a lithographic printing plate having oleophilic and hydrophilic areas on the printing surface of the plate is contacted with ink and an aqueous fountain solution during printing. An aqueous solution comprising an enzyme is used as the fountain solution.

This invention relates to lithographic printing and more particularly to improving the printing characteristics of lithographic printing plates.
Lithographic printing is an ancient art based on the principle of oil and water immiscibility. The art has been greatly advanced by the use of anodized aluminum substrates on which a printing surface is formed using photochemicals and photopolymers. The printing surface is made up of an image area which is oleophilic and hydrophobic (ink attracting and water repelling) and a nonprinting or background area which is hydrophilic and oleophobic (water attracting and ink repelling).
Successful printing requires a delicate balance between ink and water. Water has been used in spray and other, types of dampening systems; but with the conventional system using molleton on cloth covers, the dampeners grease rapidly when only plain water is used in the fountain. Greasing of the dampeners causes poor wetting as well as spreading of the ink into non-image areas, especially in halftones and reverse lettering. The use of solutions containing gum arabic or cellulose gum as a fountain solution greatly reduces this tendency of dampeners to grease. Greasing of cloth dampeners, however, always occurs to some extent. The addition of a small amount of acid--like phosphoric acid--and salts--like nitrates, phosphates and/or bichromates--to the fountain solution seems to overcome greasing and promote better wetting.
There are a great number and variety of fountain solution formulas. For some unknown reason, fountain solutions do not work well on aluminum plates unless they contain a nitrate salt. While bichromates are undesirable in fountain solutions because of their tendency to cause dermatitis, they are of help in preventing the stripping of steel rollers on the press. With the introduction of hard rubber and copper rollers and copperizing treatments for steel, this stripping tendency has decreased considerably and many plates now are operating successfully with solutions of the zinc nitrate, phosphoric acid and either gum arabic or cellulose gum type.
Typical fountain solution compositions for lithographic printing are described in the following U.S. patents:
______________________________________ Wolfson et al 3,257,941 1966 Uhlig 3,289,577 1966 Griffith et al 3,354,824 1967 Bondurant et al 3,398,002 1968 Shimizu 3,522,062 1970 Nasca 3,625,715 1971 Van Dusen, Jr. 3,687,694 1972 Harper 3,775,135 1973 Suzuki 3,829,319 1974 Leeds 3,877,374 1975 ______________________________________
Present day fountain solutions, however, are expensive and present disposal problems because of pollution laws. This is especially acute with respect to solutions containing acids, heavy metal salts and alcohols.
Another problem is paper waste and with ever-increasing costs, what used to be ignored, is now a prime area of concern. Each time a press is started, acceptable printing quality must wait until the press is in balance. In the case of newspapers, it is not uncommon to discard the first 200-500 newspapers on each start-up of the press. Such presses are often stopped for edition changes and web breaks. These interruptions substantially increase the day in day out paper waste.
The use of enzymes to remove portions of differentially hardened layers on lithographic plates is suggested by Etter in U.S. Pat. No. 3,620,737. This relates to preparing the plates and the enzyme action must be stopped before the plates are ready for printing. While Etter suggests a pre-printing treatment, Cooperman in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,532, 599 and 3,813,342 suggests a post-printing treatment to remove accumulated gum deposits using specific enzymes. The use of a protein or a proteinaceous material during actual printing is not described or suggested in the prior art.

Method for printing employing lithographic fountain dampening solution


A method of loading a plurality of pipette tips on a plurality of mandrels of a pipetter is provided. A plurality of pipette tips are inserted in a plurality of receptacles of a tip loading assembly. The plurality of pipette tips are oriented with respect to each other by a plate. The tip loading assembly includes, but is not limited to, an insertion surface. The insertion surface includes the plurality of receptacles configured to accept the plurality of pipette tips. A receptacle from among the plurality of receptacles includes a receptacle wall and a beveled surface that extends from at least a portion of the insertion surface. A retention force is applied to the plate. The plurality of pipette tips are attached to a plurality of mandrels of a pipetter and are separated from the plate.

The manipulation of chemical and/or biological materials in a laboratory environment has become increasingly automated in order to increase the throughput of the analyses executed by the equipment, to reduce the costs of manual labor in the laboratory, to increase the reliability of the analyses, and to reduce the exposure of laboratory workers to contact with hazardous chemical and/or biological materials. As a result, robotic arms have been incorporated into instruments to transport objects during the conduct of experiments in order to support the higher throughput and unattended processing time for the experiments. A common step in many of these experiments involves fluid manipulation such as pipetting, diluting, dispensing and aspirating of fluids. A device commonly used for the performance of fluid manipulation in an automated system is a multi-channel pipetter.
A typical pipette tip is formed with a substantially conical head and a frustoconical body. The tip head, which mates with the pipetter head, forms an opening at its proximal end while the body forms a smaller opening at its distal end. The pipette tip head has a larger outer diameter than the pipette tip body and forms an annular lower edge at the junction of the head to the body. In use, the head of the pipette tip is typically force fit onto the shaft of another device, such as a pipetter, and held in place by friction. The pipetter is operated to draw liquid into and to expel liquid from the pipette tip through the distal opening in the tip body.
In general, automated instruments utilizing multi-channel pipettors use replaceable tips to minimize the probability of carry-over and contamination while transferring compounds, proteins, DNA, RNA, cells, blood and other fluids between microtiter plates. Thus, during the conduct of experiments, pipette tips are repeatedly placed on pipettors and used to aspirate and to dispense liquids. Typically, the pipette tips are placed on a pipette tip head of an automated pipetter instrument and inserted into a number of wells of industry standard multi-well plates. The robotic pipetter instrument positions the pipette tips into the wells of the plate, and liquid is aspirated from the wells and into the pipette tips. Alternatively, liquid is dispensed from the pipette tips and into the wells. As a result, pipette tips are normally sold packaged in flats or racks which hold the tips in a standard arrangement for placement on pipette tip heads and insertion into the wells of multi-well plates.
For example, two common pipette tip arrangements include 96 or 384 pipette tips. Typically, the pipette tip heads are inserted into a number of apertures of a pipette tip holding card with the positioning of the pipette tips and apertures chosen to be compatible with a standard 96 or 384 multi-well plate. For example, the standard 96 aperture pipette tip rack and flat has a rectangular upper surface that defines an 8×12 array of 96 receptacles with approximately 9 millimeters separating the centers of adjacent receptacle apertures. Each aperture of the card has a diameter larger than the outer diameter of the pipette tip body, but smaller than the diameter of the annular lower edge of the pipette tip head. To store a pipette tip in the rack or flat, the body of the pipette tip is inserted into one of the receptacles, and the annular lower edge of the pipette tip engages the upper surface of the rack or flat. The pipette tip then rests within the receptacle with the head of the tip extending above the upper surface of the rack or flat and the body of the tip extending below the upper surface.
One of the most error-prone steps in automated pipetter instruments occurs during attachment of the pipette tips onto the head of the multi-channel pipetter. For example, a malfunction of an automated system incorporating a multichannel pipetter results when a tip holding card of a pipette tip flat remains attached to some or all of the pipette tips after attachment to a pipetter head. The malfunction may result when even a minor misalignment between any one of the pipette tips and the pipetter head occurs, or when the pipette tip flat includes any defectively manufactured tip or is itself defectively manufactured. The resulting malfunction can result in a failure to transfer fluid and may lead to a robot crash requiring human intervention and jeopardizing the original intent of unattended operation. Tight manufacturing tolerances for the pipette tips and pipette flats have not sufficiently resolved the problem. Therefore, what is needed is a tip loading assembly having increased tip loading reliability and reduced failure modes. This and other benefits are provided by the present invention as described herein below.


An image forming apparatus has an outline surrounded by a casing. The casing has an opening. The image forming apparatus includes a fixing unit configured to fix an image formed on a recording medium, and a control unit. The fixing unit includes a heating fixing member. The control unit is configured to control an opening degree of the opening based on temperature of a surface of or in the vicinity of the heating fixing member, so as to prevent emission of a substance by an air current to outside of the casing through the opening, during an image forming operation.

1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to an image forming apparatus and a method of controlling the same, and particularly to an image forming apparatus including a fixing unit for fixing a toner image on a recording medium and a method of controlling the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various techniques have been conventionally studied to avoid emissions of ozone, toner dust and the like generated in an electrophotographic image forming apparatus to the outside of the apparatus.
It has been discovered in recent years that not only ozone and toner dust, but also ultra fine particles (hereinafter also referred to as "UFP" when appropriate) having a particle size of 100 nm or less are generated in such image forming apparatus. A technique of suppressing UFP emissions to the outside of an apparatus is proposed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2010-002803, for example. In this document, an image forming apparatus adopts means for collecting dust electrostatically and means for suctioning dust by a cyclone.
One problem suffered by the conventional technique such as described above, however, was that the provision of the collecting means and suctioning means as described above results in increase in structural complexity and size of the apparatus.

Image forming apparatus and method of controlling the same

Konica Minolta Business Technologies, Inc.


Mechanical fruit harvesting apparatus comprising a cutter for separating the tree canopy from the trunk thereof; and a conveyor for engaging the fruit bearing portions and for vibrating them such that the fruit falls therefrom.

Although mechanization has been introduced in the harvesting of a large number of agricultural commodities, soft fruit, such as peaches, destined for the fresh market is nevertheless still picked by hand due to its extreme sensitivity to bruising.
Various attempts have been made to successfully harvest soft fruit, mainly by the shake and catch method of harvesting. In this method most damage to the fruit is caused by contact between the fruit and tree branches along its fall.
Extensive research and development efforts have been made in an attempt to reduce damage to fruit falling through a tree. A multi-level catching system is proposed in an article by Millier, W. F. et al entitled, "A tree fruit harvester with an insertable multilevel catching system" ASAE paper No. 72-651. American Society of Agricultural Engineers. St. Joseph Mo. It has also been proposed to pad the fruit or the branches during harvesting or to fill the tree space with light-weight, impact absorbing particles during shaking.
None of the above proposals has been found acceptable for commercial implementation due to problems of pollution, toxicity and operational difficulties.

Apparatus and method for mechanical harvesting of fruit