An electrical circuit system for measuring the acoustic admittance of the ear cavity, for use in single and multiple tone tympanometry and acoustic reflex response testing, in which the probe tone applied to the ear cavity can be varied over a wide frequency range and a wide range of admittance variation can be measured. The signal output of the system, derived from the output signal of a microphone located in the ear cavity, is a DC voltage accurately proportional to the logarithm of the measured admittance of the ear cavity. An RMS to DC converter, an error integrator and an exponential element provide a closed control loop system for a variable gain amplifier so as to maintain the microphone output signal level constant regardless of admittance variations in the ear cavity. The level of the signal applied to the probe tone driver to accomplish this is a measure of the cavity admittance.

The present invention is directed to a circuit apparatus for measuring the acoustic admittance of the ear.
In the practice of tympanometry, measurements of the electrical impedance of the tympanic membrane of the inner ear (actually the admittance thereof, which is the reciprocal of the impedance) are made as ranges of air pressure or vacuum levels are applied thereto in the presence of tone signals of single, or more recently differing, frequency. The positive and negative pressure levels are applied to the eardrum via a probe inserted into the ear which also serves to apply the acoustic tone levels and act as a microphone to measure the admittance of the tympanic membrane in response to the tone stimulus as pressure changes are made. A number of tympanometry testing instruments are commercially available to the practitioner; including those made by Amplaid Spa, of Milan, Italy, Grason-Stadler, of Littleton, Mass., and Madsen Electronics, of Oakville, Ontario and Buffalo, N.Y. However, at present, the existing tympanometric instrumentation in the market allows only a few frequency tones to be applied to the eardrum, typically the standard frequency tones of 226 and 678Hz. To expand the range of diagnostic evaluation in this field it is desirable to perform multiple frequency tympanometric measurements and thus to be able to apply to the ear cavity via a probe selected tones at various frequencies over the mid-sonic range. During tympanometry, it is desirable to have a fast response to changes in the ear cavity's admittance in order to reduce the total measurement time and to track the changes in admittance. On the other hand, in another type of test, when a stimulus tone signal is present together with a standard probe tone level signal in measuring the acoustic reflex response of the ear, it is desirable that the bandpass filter have a narrow bandwidth in order to better reject large amplitude stimulus signal which may be up to 40 dB above the probe tone level.

Acoustic admittance measuring apparatus with wide dynamic range and logarithmic output


Machine for the production of receptacles of plastic. A stretching rod (32) is displaced by actuating means (69) comprising a servo-motor (72) whose operation is controlled by a controller installation (73) by means of an adjustment loop (75). The blowing air is introduced into the preform via a servo-valve (60) whose operation is also controlled by this installation (73) by means of an adjustment loop (76) which can be combined with the first adjustment loop (75). It is thus possible to control in a precise manner the process of transformation of a preform into a receptacle by means of curves of stretching and pressure increase. Calibration operations of the maximum path of the stretching rod as a function of the length of the mould cavities and calibration operations of the path of positioning of the stretching rod as a function of the preform can be carried out easily and in an automated fashion, thereby ensuring excellent safety of production and very high adaptability to all conditions of production.

The present invention relates to a machine for the production of receptacles of plastic material comprising a chassis and arranged along a transport path, at least one heating device and a device for moulding by stretching and blowing, the receptacles being formed from preforms disposed on supports, the device for moulding by stretching and blowing comprising a blowing member connected to a source of fluid under pressure by means of an electro-valve and a stretching rod adapted to be displaced by actuating means comprising a motor connected to a control installation comprising first regulating means to program and control the displacement of the stretching rod and second regulating means to program and control the pressure increase applied to the preforms. It also relates to a corresponding process.
The document WO97/13632 discloses a stretch blow moulding machine in which the stretching rod is displaced by the introduction of air under pressure into chambers of a pneumatic jack. This type of actuating means does not permit precise adjustment of the movements of the rod and easy modification of the laws controlling the displacements of this rod. There exists also machines provided with a cam acting on the stretching rod and which can thus determine a stretching curve as a function of time. This cam system however is very rigid and renders necessary for each new application and curve another cam with another suitable machining.
Document EP A-0,499,135 A2 discloses a machine with servo electric driven stretch rods of the type defined in the preamble of the independent claims. This machine is provided with means for determining the position of the stretch rod in their holding means channel and means for synchronizing the transmission of high pressure fluid to the preform based on the position of the stretch rod.
The aim of the present invention is to improve said known machine in particular as concerns its facilities of calibration to different moulds and preforms and to allow a high working precision and security even under changing conditions.
The machine according to the invention is characterized to this and by the fact that the control installation and its first regulating means are arranged so as to carry out a first calibration operation to determine the maximum path of the stretching rod as a function of the length of the mould cavity used, by advancing the stretching rod to the bottom of the mould cavity and by recording in the memory of the control installation the path obtained, decreased by the thickness of the bottom wall of the receptacle, and to carry out a second calibration operation to determine the path of positioning before stretching of the stretching rod as a function of the length of the preform, by advancing the stretching rod to the bottom of the preform and by recording in a memory of the control installation a value depending on the positioning path and variations in the length of the preforms.
By these characteristics, it is possible to obtain and control in a precise manner the calibration of the path of the stretching rod. These calibration operations may be made automatically and as frequently as necessary. Thus, thermal variations of the mould and all variations in the geometry of the preforms may be kept under surveillance and control. This allows to obtain a high working security and a constant high quality of the produced goods.
Favorably the first regulating means are adapted to predetermine a stretching function setting at least one parameter defining the stretching of the preform in relation to at least another parameter, advantageously the time, the second regulating means being adapted to predetermine at least one function of pressure increase and the control installation being adapted to provide a combination of said first and second regulating means.
By these characteristics, it is possible to be able to control in a precise manner the process of transformation of a preform into a receptacle or bottle. It is thus possible to pre-program and execute the stretching curves as a function of given parameters, such as time, and curves of pressure increase of the blowing air and to combine these curves so as to obtain a high quality of the products obtained. The invention permits very rapid adaptation of the machine to other uses, and other shapes and sizes of moulds and preforms. Moreover, the movements of the stretching rod are exactly controlled according to predetermined laws which can easily be modified, which permits avoiding damaging the moulding device and the preforms, obtaining a high safety during production, whilst conferring on the machine a great facility for adaptation and modification.
According to a preferred embodiment, the first regulating means of the control installation are arranged so as to pre-program the curves, functions and stretching laws having regard for the stretching path followed by the stretching rod and/or the stretching force exerted by the stretching rod as a function of time, constituting the other parameter, and then to carry out these curves, functions and stretching laws.
The stretching curves thus defined permit precise control of the formation of the receptacle.
Ideally, the control installation is arranged such that said combination of the first and second means permits programming the pre-blowing and/or blowing pressure curves as a function of the path or the position of the stretching rod and/or of the stretching force or of the resistance exerted on the stretching rod and then to carry them out.
With these characteristics, the control of stretching and the pre-blowing and blowing are carried out in such a way as to obtain receptacles having walls of high quality and precisely defined thickness.
Preferably, the first calibrating operation comprises a first step during which the stretching rod is advanced with reduced speed and stopped when it enters into contact with the bottom of the mould cavity, and a second step during which the rod is withdrawn by a first predetermined distance corresponding to the thickness of the wall of the bottom of the receptacle, the path thus obtained being recorded in the memory of the control installation.
Optimum calibration of the path of the stretching rod is thus obtained, which permits very precise production of receptacles, great safety and rapid adaptation of the machine.
Preferably, the second calibrating operation comprises a first step during which the stretching rod is advanced with reduced speed within the interior of the preform and stopped when it enters into contact with the bottom of the preform, and a second step during which the rod is withdrawn by a second predetermined distance, having regard to eventual deformation of the preform after its heating, the path thus obtained being recorded in the memory of the control installation.
These characteristics ensure reliable operation even in the case of preforms subjected to considerable deformation. Moreover, the machine automatically and rapidly adapts to all changes of dimension of the preforms.
According to a preferred embodiment, the motor is a servo-motor receiving from the control installation voltage and/or frequency and/or current signals and sending to the control installation current signals and/or signals relative to the position of the stretching rod.
Moreover, the electro-valve is preferably a servo-valve receiving from the control installation first voltage signals and sending to this installation second voltage signals.
These characteristics ensure a particularly certain and precise control of the execution of the production of the receptacles.
The invention also relates to a process for the production of receptacles of plastic material by means of a machine comprising a chassis and arranged along a transport path, at least one heating device and a device for moulding by stretching and blowing, the receptacles being formed from preforms disposed on supports, the device for moulding by stretching and blowing comprising a blowing member connected to a source of fluid under pressure by means of an electro-valve and a stretching rod adapted to be displaced by actuating means comprising a motor connected to a control installation comprising first regulating means to program and control the displacement of the stretching rod and second regulating means to program and control the pressure increase applied to the preforms, characterized by the fact that there is carried out by means of the control installation a first calibration operation to determine the maximum path of the stretching rod as a function of the length of the mould cavity by advancing the stretching rod to the bottom of the mould cavity and recording in the memory of the control installation the obtained path, decreased by the thickness of the bottom wall of the receptacle, and that there is carried out a second calibration operation to determine the path of positioning before stretching of the stretching rod as a function of the length of the preform by advancing the stretching rod to the bottom of the preform and by recording in a memory of the control installation a value depending on the positioning path and variations in the length of the preforms.
This process with a double calibration operation ensures high safety of production avoiding any damage to the moulds, the preforms, the produced receptacles, the stretching rods and other components. It permits very rapid and automated changing of moulds and preforms, without having to carry out substantial preliminary tests requiring a prolonged interruption of production.

Machine and process for moulding by stretching and blowing


A cylindrical hollow carrier for microorganisms is prepared by subjecting a nonwoven fabric having a specific gravity of not greater than 1.0 to a surface smoothing treatment at an elevated temperature of 200.degree. to 450.degree. C., then pressing with a roller to give the nonwoven fabric a thickness of 1 to 5 mm and a weight per unit area of 30 to 300 mg/cm.sup.2 and then forming the nonwoven fabrics into a cylindrical hollow shape. The carrier has a compression weight of not less than 400 g, and preferably an outer diameter of about 25 to 100 mm and a length of about 40 to 60 mm. The nonwoven fabric may be formed of 35 to 90% fibers of 50 to 600 denier and 10 to 65% fibers of 20 to 1 denier.

The present invention relates to a method for producing a carrier for microorganisms and more particularly, to a method for producing a carrier for microorganisms which is packed in a device for biological reaction (bioreactor) used for treatment of water, production by fermentation or the like and capable of maintaining microorganisms in a high concentration.
In recent years, a technique for continuously performing a reaction by immobilizing microorganisms in a bioreactor has been often adopted. The technique includes, for example, a carrier binding which comprises immobilizing microorganisms onto a water-soluble carrier by an ion binding or covalent binding method, a crosslinking method which comprises strengthening cell walls or cell membranes of microorganisms using a reagent having two or more functional groups and at the same time, effecting crosslinking between the microorganisms, an inclusion method which comprises including microorganisms into a high molecular gel matrix or including them into semipermeable high molecular thin membrane microcapsules, etc.
The present invention is not directed to such methods for immobilizing microorganisms but relates to a method for producing the carrier for microorganisms in a method for adhering and immobilizing microorganisms to a carrier.
In old trickling filters, crushed stone, cokes, etc. are generally used as such an adhesive type carrier for microorganisms; in high speed trickling filters, synthetic resin plates, synthetic resin rings, etc. are used; and in rotary disc devices, synthetic resin plates and other activated charcoal, porous ceramics, naturally occurring inorganic particles, synthetic resin particles, etc. are used. Microorganisms are biologically adhered to these carriers. These carriers of adherence type have been used in bioreactors for treatment of water or production by fermentation in the form of fixed bed type, fluidized bed type or floating bed type. A concentration of microorganisms adhered varied depending upon carrier so that kind of carriers for microorganisms affects efficacy of bioreactors. In general, a specific surface area (m.sup.2 /m.sup.3) of carrier becomes an important factor; the larger the specific surface area, the larger the concentration of microorganisms adhered.
However, a carrier having a large specific surface area enables to keeping the microorganisms in a high concentration on one hand but on the other hand, silting occurs in a bioreactor due to growth of microorganisms, resulting in various problems such as reduction in efficiency of contacting substrate with microorganisms, reduction in contact efficiency upon supply of a gas containing oxygen, reduction in efficiency of contacting substrate with microorganisms due to an entrapping effect of generated gas, etc.
Accordingly, in order to avoid such problems, a specific surface area value of about 60 to 120 (m.sup.2 /m.sup.3) is generally adopted, taking as an example a carrier module obtained by laminating synthetic resin plates. A concentration of the microorganisms adhered in this case is merely approximately 2,000 to 3,000 mg/l, when calculated into a volume of exposure tank.
The present applicant has proposed a carrier for microorganisms produced from nonwoven fabrics, etc. which can be used for aerobic or anaerobic bioreactors and can maintain microorganisms in a high concentration 2 or 3 times that in the prior art methods described above (Published Unexamined Japanese Patent Application No. 61-149085).
However, it has become clear that the carrier for microorganisms produced from nonwoven fabrics encounters such a defect that could not be used as a carrier for packing in a commercially available bioreactor in the state shown in Published Unexamined Japanese Patent application No. 61-149085.
Firstly, it has been clarified that the carrier is strongly entangled with each other since it is made of fabrics such as nonwoven fabrics so that fluidization of the carrier becomes difficult. The present applicant has made investigations on coating the surface of the carrier with a film to avoid this problem. However, it has been noted that costs for the coating are extremely large and its commercialization is difficult.
Secondly, it has been noted that carriers produced from nonwoven fabrics or the like are swollen by immersion in water over long periods of time.
Thirdly, it has been noted that carriers produced from nonwoven fabrics or the like have a poor compression strength and distortion of the carriers is unavoidable. Fabrics are originally fragile in strength. In addition, particularly in commercial plant using a large amount of carriers, the carriers are scaled up in the height direction so that a force of compressing onto the carriers increases and the carrier distortion is unavoidable. For this reason, withdrawal of a gas supplied or a gas generated is seriously worsened, resulting in reducing a contact efficiency between microorganisms and substrate. As a result, these methods involve a defect that efficiency of bioreactors becomes low.
The present invention aims at providing a method for producing a carrier for microorganisms capable of eliminating the prior art defects described above, maintaining microorganisms in a high concentration and being sufficiently used for bioreactors of commercial scale.

Cylindrical hollow carriers for microorganisms made of nonwoven fabric

Chiyoda Chemical Engineering & Constructions Co., Ltd.


An embodiment of the invention is luminescent silicon nanoparticle polymer composite that can serve as a wavelength converter or a UV absorber. The composite includes a polymer or an organosilicon compound; and within the polymer or organosilicon compound, a dispersion of luminescent silicon nanoparticles. In a preferred composite, the silicon nanoparticles have multiple Si—H termination sites, the silicon nanoparticles being linked to a C site to produce a silicon carbide bond (Si—C). In a preferred embodiment, the polymer comprises polyurethane. A composite of the invention can perform wavelength conversion. In a wavelength converted film of the invention, the silicon nanoparticles are incorporated into the polymer or organosilicon compound in a quantity sufficient for wavelength conversion but small enough to have no or an insubstantial effect on the properties of the polymer or the organosilicon compound. A white LED of the invention includes a light emitting diode having a narrow band wavelength output. A luminescent silicon wavelength converter includes a composite film as described above for converting the narrow band wavelength output into wide band wavelength output. In a preferred embodiment, the LED comprises a GaN LED, and the wavelength converter film is disposed on an active region of the LED.

For the past 150 years, lighting technology has been primarily limited to incandescent and fluorescent tube light sources. These sources were typically the only ones that produced sufficient illumination in an acceptable spectrum. However, both incandescent and fluorescent bulbs are relatively inefficient in converting electrical energy into light. While derivative technologies such as high-intensity discharge lamps (HID) have emerged, none have achieved energy efficiencies exceeding 25%, with incandescent lighting achieving an efficiency of less than 2%.
Incandescent and fluorescent bulbs are also fragile and relatively not compact. The fragility results from the requirement of creating a significantly less than atmospheric pressure environment inside the bulbs. The volume of the bulbs makes them non compact. Fluorescent bulbs also generally require ballast to ignite, raising the cost of the bulbs.
One alternative being investigated to replace the traditional incandescent and fluorescent lighting sources is known as Solid State Lighting (SSL). Solid state lighting based upon solid state electronic devices, such as light-emitting diodes (LEDs), organic light-emitting diodes (OLED), or polymer light-emitting diodes, as sources of illumination rather than electrical filaments or gas.
Light emitting diodes are in widespread use, but not as general lighting sources. Commercial LEDs debuted in the 1960s. Initial LEDs were red in color, with yellow and orange variants following soon thereafter. White light may be created by combining the light of separate LEDs (red, green, and blue), or by creating white LEDs through doping.
Unlike traditional lighting solid state lighting creates visible light with virtually no heat or parasitic energy dissipation. Solid-state light sources are also much more durable, proving greater resistance to shock, vibration, and wear, and possess impressive operational lifespan significantly. A significant limitation of solid state lighting, including LEDs, is their inability to produce broad spectrum light, namely white light. White light is desirable for general lighting purposes as human eyesight finds white light to be comfortable.
Efforts have been made to produce white lights from LEDs. One technique is known as color mixing. Color mixing involves utilizing multiple LEDs in a lamp and varying the intensity of each LED to produce white light. The lamp contains a minimum of two LEDs (blue and yellow), but can also have three (red, blue, and green) or four (red, blue, green, and yellow). In the color-mixing method, degradation of different LEDs at various times can lead to an uneven color output. For white light to be produced that spans the visible spectrum (red, green, and blue), LEDs must produce the component narrow band emissions in the correct proportions.
Wavelength conversion is the other general technique. It is preferable to color mixing, as wavelength conversion results in a true white emitting LED. Wavelength conversion involves converting some or all of the LED's output into visible wavelengths. Wavelength conversion methods used to accomplish this feat include:
1) Blue LED & yellow phosphor—This is considered the least expensive method for producing white light. Blue light from an LED is used to excite a phosphor which then re-emits yellow light. This balanced mixing of yellow and blue lights results in the appearance of white light.
2) Direct Bandgap Materials A certain size distribution (around˜3.7 nm) of InP nanoparticles, a direct bandgap material, which produce sharper lines of luminescence for a certain particle size, has been proposed for incorporation in phosphorous LEDs to alleviate the red problem. Testing or implementation has not been achieved yet.
3) Blue LED & several phosphor—This is similar to the process involved with yellow phosphors, except that each excited phosphor re-emits a different color. Similarly, the resulting light is combined with the originating blue light to create white light. The resulting light, however, has a richer and broader wavelength spectrum and produces a higher color-quality light, albeit at an increased cost.
4) Ultraviolet (UV) LED & doped phosphors (red, green, & blue)—The UV light from a UV LED is used to excite different phosphors, which are doped at measured amounts. The colors are mixed resulting in a white light with the richest and broadest wavelength spectrum.
5) Blue LED & quantum dots—A process by which a thin layer of nanocrystal particles containing 33 or 34 pairs of atoms, primarily cadmium and selenium, are coated on top of an LED. The blue light excites the quantum dots, resulting in a white light with a wavelength spectrum similar to UV LEDs. This method is unlikely to prove successful for several reasons. First, the production of the nanomaterial is very expensive, for example being nearly 200 fold more than organic pigments or Si nanoparticles. Also, the cadmium and selenium nanocrystal particles are not available in a uniform size distribution, making it difficult to control color mixing.
Both of the color mixing and known wavelength conversion techniques face significant limitations that are barriers to widespread adoption as lighting sources. The current manufacturing processes for the wavelength conversion techniques above are immature and not cost-effective. There are also problems with the phosphor conversion model. These techniques do not emit broad enough wavelength spectrum of light, as they lack a red component. They also have absorption and emission that can't be tuned, and possess inflexibility of form resulting from the need for the phosphor to be placed in the emission path of the LEDs and have the phosphor to have its emission directed in a desired direction. Phosphor films are also known to have appreciable reflectivity, which causes a non-negligible fraction of the LED light to be reflected back toward the LEDs, causing heating effects that can make driving the LED more difficult and can create other difficulties, necessitating more complex and rigorous heat dissipation designs. Also, since phosphors respond more strongly to the blue portion of the LED light, the transmitted UV portion can be hazardous to human vision. With systems operating at high intensity, efforts should be made to incorporate UV blockers. The same problems can be said about organic pigments.
One recent concept that employed UV blockers for safety purposes involves TiO2 nanoparticles added to the active layer to attenuate the UV, while automotive grade heat resistant organic pigments were used to down convert the blue light. The use of TiO2 is necessitated by the fact that the pigments are not sensitive to UV.

Luminescent silicon nanoparticle-polymer composites, composite wavelength converter and white LED


A method of detecting β-defensin in a bodily sample from a subject includes reducing the electrostatic interaction between β-defensin and negatively charged moieties in the bodily sample prior to detecting the β-defensin with an antibody or epitope binding fragment thereof.

Antimicrobial peptides have been identified as key components in innate host defense and as important contributors in maintaining health at mucosal barriers. Human β-defensins, a family of epithelial cell-derived cationic peptides (4-5 kDa), are known to exhibit both antimicrobial and immunomodulatory properties (Harder et al., (1997) Nature 387:861; Harder et al., (2001) J. Biol. Chem. 276:5707-13; Bowdish et al., (2006) Curr. Top. Microbiol. Immun. 306:27-66). Four human β-defensins have been identified thus far. Human β-defensins 1 (hBD-1) is constitutively expressed, whereas hBD-2 and -3 are inducible (Harder et al., (2001); Krasanaprakornkit et al., (1998) Infect. Immun. 66:4222-4228; Garcia et al., (2001) Cell Tissue Res. 306:257-264). All 3 peptides can be isolated from mucosal sites of the body. An hBD-4 transcript has also been described (Garcia et al. (2001) FASEB J. 15:1819-1821; Xu et al., (2006) Appl. Microbiol. Biotechnol. 72:471-479). hBDs have demonstrated activity against gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria, mycobacteria, fungi, and certain enveloped viruses at low micromolar concentrations (Yadava et al., (2006) Int. J. Antimicrob Agents 28:132-137; De Smet and Contreras (2005) Biotechnol. Lett 27:1337-1347). We recently showed that hBDs have antiretroviral activity by inhibiting HIV-1 infectivity of immunocompetent cells (Quinones-Mateu et al., (2003) Aids 17:F39-48; Feng et al., (2006) J. Immunol. 177:782-786). In addition, hBDs can enhance adaptive immunity by acting as adjuvant and chemoattracting T cells, immature dendritic cells, B cells, neutrophils, and macrophages (Yang et al., (1999) Science 286:525-528; Tani et al., (2000) Int. Immunol. 12:691-700; Oppenheimer et al., (2003) 62(Supp2); ii17-21). With new information emerging about these pluripotent peptides and their role in mucosal protection, diagnostic tools to quantify inducible β-defensins in body fluids and tissues are essential to better associate β-defensin expression with disease predisposition and progression.
Previous methods of quantifying human β-defensins in body fluids involved acid extraction followed by slot blot assays (Sahasrabudhe et al., (2000) 79:1669-1674; Tao et al., (2005) Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. 49:3883-3888), semiquantitative Western analysis (Mathews et al., (1999) 67:2740-2745; Chen et al., (2004) J. Cyst. Fibros. 3:45-50; Ross et al., (2004) Transplantation 78:1222-1224), or RIA (Hiratsuka et al., (2003) Thorax 58:425-430).


The present invention relates to an oral care composition with a high water content which has improved robustness towards microbial challenge. The oral care composition includes compositions comprising from 0.125 wt % to 0.75 wt % of a water soluble source of stannous ions, wherein the composition comprises at least 50 wt % water and wherein the source of stannous ions is selected from the group consisting of stannous chloride, stannous pyrophosphate, stannous formate, stannous acetate, stannous gluconate, stannous lactate, stannous tartrate, stannous oxalate, stannous malonate, stannous citrate, stannous ethylene glyoxide, and mixtures thereof.

Compositions having a high water content tend to support the survival and growth of microorganisms. This problem also occurs in oral care compositions which have a high water content. Therefore, preservative agents such as benzyl alcohol, methylparaben, propylparaben are often added to oral care compositions in order to increase their robustness towards microbial challenge.
However, a need still exists for oral care compositions which have improved robustness towards microbial attack without requiring the presence of preservative agents in the compositions.


This disclosure is directed to an automated unmanned aerial vehicle (“UAV”) self-identification system, devices, and techniques pertaining to the automated identification of individual UAVs operating within an airspace via a mesh communication network, individual UAVs and a central authority representing nodes of the mesh network. The system may detect nearby UAVs present within a UAV's airspace. Nearby UAVs may self-identify or be identified via correlation with one or more features detected by the UAV. The UAV may validate identifying information using a dynamic validation policy. Data collected by the UAV may be stored in a local mesh database and distributed to individual nodes of the mesh network and merged into a common central mesh database for distribution to individual nodes of the mesh network. UAVs on the mesh network utilize local and central mesh database information for self-identification and to maintain a dynamic flight plan.

Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) activity has become increasingly common in airspace around the world. The increase in activity is driven by many types of users, including noncommercial-type entities (i.e., hobbyists, etc.), commercial-type entities (i.e., aerial photography, surveying, etc.), and military entities. Generally UAVs operate at low altitudes where air traffic is busiest and most unpredictable. For example, take-off and landing of commercial aircraft, test flights, private pilot activity, hobbyists, balloons and blimps, aerial advertising, float planes, emergency responders, and other UAVs may be more likely to be present within typical UAV airspace. A UAV operating autonomously or under the control of an operator must actively avoid interference with other UAVs operating in a common airspace.
Currently, aircraft operating in regulated airspace, such as airspace regulated by the United States' Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) or the European Union's European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), may be required to be equipped with a Traffic Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) depending the aircraft type and type of operation. TCAS systems are often heavy, expensive, and/or rely on active interrogation of the transponder of an aircraft in the vicinity of the interrogating aircraft. Lighter systems are generally passive and rely on periodic transmission of transponder information from nearby aircraft, thereby only passively preventing an interaction between aircraft in the vicinity of the transmitting aircraft. In some instances, an object may not be equipped with a transponder and therefore would be invisible to passive detection using these techniques. Additionally, in the busiest and most unpredictable airspace, i.e., low altitudes, manned air vehicles typically rely on the pilot and Air Traffic Controllers to prevent interactions and maintain adequate separation between aircraft.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Airspace activity tracking using unmanned aerial vehicles


The present invention provides a method of detecting and correcting a fault in a signal transmission system. The method for detecting and correcting signal transmission faults in a signal transmission system includes bi-directional signaling on the same fiber, cable or signal line. A fault in a transmitted signal from a first upstream node to a second downstream node is determined by the loss or degradation of a signal simultaneously transmitted from the second downstream node to the first upstream node transmitted in the opposite on the same cable, signal line, or optical fiber. As a result, the aggregate propagation delay of the transmitted signals necessary for fault detection and fault notification is reduced and the amount of time to detect a fault and restore fault free signal transmission between one node and another node in a signal transmission systems is reduced, thereby increasing user satisfaction with minimal signal transmission interruptions even in the case of a transmission line fault. Further, a transmission line fault may be detected prior to transmission of a desired signal so that an alternate traffic route may be predetermined before transmission of the desired signal.

1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to signal transmission systems constructed of physical cables, and more particularly to a method for protection switching in case of detecting faults in such signal transmission systems.
2. Description of the Related Art
Signal faults in signal transmission systems that use a physical cable for signal transmission include reduced signal strength that results in signal degradation and complete loss of signal (e.g., break in the cable). In digital transmissions systems requiring high reliability, rapid signal fault detection is often used to enable the traffic to be re-routed so that there is little discernible loss of signal to the user when a fault occurs. In a conventional signal transmission system using signal transmission cables, one method of signal fault detection is to monitor and detect a signal fault at a receiving end of a first transmission signal cable and if a fault is detected a fault notification message is sent back to the originating (transmitting) end via a different (e.g., second) cable so that any fault in the first transmission cable will not keep the fault notification message from arriving at the originating end. Once a fault notification message is received by the originating end via the second cable, the signal transmission system re-routes the signal traffic from the cable on which a fault has been detected to another transmission cable. This type of fault detection protocol is in many circumstances slow to provide the desired level of user indiscernible signal reception when a fault occurs along a cable transmission signal path.
For example, the greater the length of the transmission path the longer time it will take a signal to propagate from one point to another on the transmission path, and thus the longer the time delay between the time when a signal fault occurs and the time when the signal is re-routed and recovered. This delay is of particular concern in, for example, transoceanic and transcontinental transmission because of the great lengths a signal (both the original signal and error notification message signals) must travel before it reaches its destination. The longer this distance and related signal propagation delay, the more likely that an end user will sense that the transmission has been dropped when a fault occurs in a transoceanic or transcontinental transmission cable path (e.g., a degradation or break in the transmission signal). A specific example of this conventional fault detection and restoration method is provided below.
FIG. 1 illustrates one signal transmission system that would use the fault detection method described above. In this example, the signal transmission system may be a telephone communication system having a first node 10 which includes a transmitter connected to cable 13. The transmitter in node 10 sends voice signal transmission on cable 13 to node 12, node 12 having a receiver. In this case, node 10 may be referred to as the originating or upstream cable station and node 12 may be referred to as the receiving or downstream cable station. The voice signals in this case may be transmitted on either of two frequency bands, X and Y bands 14 which accommodate a respective signal and operate in a unidirectional manner from node 10 to node 12. If cable 13 is a fiber optic cable (single fiber line) that includes double band Erbium doped fiber amplifier (EDFA), then the X band may be for example a conventional amplification band (C band) which has a typical range of amplification wavelength band between 1525 nm to about 1570 nm, and the Y band may be for example a long wavelength amplification band (L band) which has a typical range of amplification wavelength band between 1560 nm to about 1610 nm. The signal transmission system also includes a second cable 15 over which voice and/or data signals may be transmitted from node 12 to node 10. Cable 15 may likewise be a fiber optic cable that includes dual band EDFAs with X and Y bands 16. The X 18 on cable 13 illustrates the location of a signal fault, for example an unacceptable signal degradation or a break in a signal being transmitted from node 10 to node 12.
The conventional method for fault detection in the transmission system of FIG. 1 will now be explained with reference to FIG. 1 and the process flow diagram of FIG. 2. First, at step 20 a signal (e.g., voice or data signal) is transmitted on a first cable A, cable 13, from the upstream originating node, node 10, to a downstream receiving node, node 12. This signal may travel on either X band, Y band, or both X and Y bands 14. Next in step 22, the signal is received at the downstream receiving node 12. At step 24, the receiver of node 12 connected to cable 13 monitors the incoming signal for a fault. If a fault is not detected in the received signal at node 12, the receiver continues to monitor the received signal at step 22. However, if an error is detected at step 24, for example a break occurs at X 18 (see FIG. 1), a transmitter of node 12 (downstream node) connected to a second cable, cable B (cable 15), sends a fault notification message on the second cable B (15) to a receiver of the upstream originating node 10. Finally, at step 28, the transmission system activates re-routing of the data signal traffic transmitted from the upstream originating node 10 to the downstream receiving node 12 on another cable (or fiber) so as to restore error free data traffic from node 10 to node 12.
Using the conventional error detection method, the time it takes the transmission system to restore error free signals includes (1) signal propagation delay time, (2) failure detection time, (3) hold-off time, (4) switching time, and (5) frame synchronization time. The signal propagation delay time includes a first propagation delay time T2 along cable 13 from X 18 to node 12, which represents the time it takes for a lost or degraded signal that occurs at fault X 18 to reach node 12, and a propagation delay time T3 from node 12 to node 10, which represents the propagation time it takes the error notification to travel from node 12 to node 10. These time delays can be considerable in transoceanic and transcontinental signal transmission where the cable lengths can span thousands of miles or kilometers. This translates into typical propagation delays (T2+T3) on the order of, for example, 50-100 milliseconds (ms) for a fiber optic transoceanic cable which may be too long in some systems and leads to total delays on the order of 300 ms from the time an error occurs until an error free signal is restored, such as a telephone voice signal transmission. This restoration time can result in providing a system user unacceptable service, for example, if a fault occurs along a long length telephone signal cable the cumulative signal recovery time my result in the telephone user concluding that the telephone call has been dropped. Therefore, there is a need for a fault detection method in signal transmission systems which reduces the delay associated with protection switching protocol and reduces the time span between the time a fault occurs and the time the transmission system restores error free signal transmission from one node to another node.
The present invention provides a method of detecting the loss or degradation of a transmitted signal in a signal transmission system. The method for detecting and correcting signal transmission faults in a signal transmission system includes bi-directional signaling on the same fiber, cable, or signal line. A fault in a transmitted signal from a first upstream node to a second downstream node is determined by the loss or degradation of a signal simultaneously transmitted from the second downstream node to the first upstream node transmitted in the opposite direction on the same fiber, cable, signal line. As a result, the propagation delay of the transmitted signals necessary for protection switching protocol and fault protection, and the amount of time to restore fault free signal transmission between one node and another node in a signal transmission systems is reduced, thereby increasing user satisfaction with minimal signal transmission interruption in the case of a transmission fault.
In one feature of a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the method uses bi-directional signals on a single optical fiber connected between an originating upstream cable station and a receiving downstream cable station. A first voice, data or video signal is transmitted from the originating upstream cable station to the receiving downstream cable station using a first signal wavelength while simultaneously a second signal is transmitted from the receiving downstream cable station to the upstream originating cable station using a second signal wavelength complementary to the first voice or data signal. If a fault occurs on the optical fiber between the two cable stations the fault is detected by the upstream cable station as a result of monitoring the second signal sent by the downstream cable station. The only propagation delay in detecting the fault is the time it takes the second signal to propagate from the location of the fault to the upstream originating cable station. If a degradation or break in the second signal occurs, the upstream originating cable station determines that the first voice or data signal it originally sent to the downstream cable station is experiencing the same fault and thus re-routes the signal so as to be received error free by the downstream cable station.
In another feature of the present invention, a transmission line fault is detected prior to transmission of a desired signal. In this alternative, a signal used for fault detection is transmitted from the downstream node to an upstream node before the desired transmission signal is sent from the upstream node to the downstream node. Thus, the transmission line may be checked for faults prior to transmitting the desired transmission signal. If a fault is detected on the transmission line prior to beginning transmission of the desired signal, an alternative traffic route may be predetermined before transmission of the desired signal on the faulty transmission line so that the transmission of the desired signal begins on a fault free transmission line.

Method for fault detection and fast protection switching in transmission systems


An electron-emitting device comprises a pair of oppositely disposed device electrodes and an electroconductive film electrically connecting the device electrodes and having an electron-emitting region formed as part thereof. The electroconductive film is partly or entirely covered by a metal oxide coat containing as principal ingredient with a melting point higher than that of the material of principal ingredient of the electroconductive film. The electroconductive film has also a deposited layer comprising carbon, a carbon compound or a mixture thereof.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an electron-emitting device, an electron source and an image-forming apparatus comprising such an electron source. It also relates to a method of manufacturing such an electron-emitting device, an electron source and an image-forming apparatus.
2. Related Background Art
There have been known two types of electron-emitting device; the thermoelectron emission type and the cold cathode electron emission type. Of these, the cold cathode emission type refers to devices including field emission type (hereinafter referred to as the FE type) devices, metal/insulation layer/metal type (hereinafter referred to as the MIM type) electron-emitting devices and surface conduction electron-emitting devices. Examples of FE type device include those proposed by W. P. Dyke & W. W. Dolan, "Field emission", Advance in Electron Physics, 8, 89 (1956) and C. A. Spindt, "PHYSICAL Properties of thin-film field emission cathodes with molybdenum cones", J. Appl. Phys., 47, 5284 (1976).
Examples of MIM device are disclosed in papers including C. A. Mead, "The tunnel-emission amplifier", J. Appl. Phys., 32, 646 (1961).
Examples of surface conduction electron-emitting device include one proposed by M. I. Elinson, Radio Eng. Electron Phys., 10 (1965).
A surface conduction electron-emitting device is realized by utilizing the phenomenon that electrons are emitted out of a small thin film formed on a substrate when an electric current is forced to flow in parallel with the film surface.
While Elinson proposes the use of SnO.sub.2 thin film for a device of this type, the use of Au thin film is proposed in [G. Dittmer: "Thin Solid Films", 9, 317 (1972)] whereas the use of In.sub.2 O.sub.3 /SnO.sub.2 and that of carbon thin film are discussed respectively in [M. Hartwell and C. G. Fonstad: "IEEE Trans. ED Conf.", 519 (1975)] and [H. Araki et al.: "Vacuum", Vol. 26, No. 1, p. 22 (1983)].
A surface conduction electron-emitting device is typically prepared by arranging a pair of device electrodes on a substrate, bridging the device electrode by means of an electroconductive film made of metal or a metal oxide and then electrically treating the electroconductive film by subjecting it to a current conduction process referred to as "energization forming" in order to produce an electron-emitting region. In the energization forming process, a constant DC voltage or a slowly rising DC voltage that rises typically at a rate of 1 V/min. is applied to the opposite ends of the electroconductive thin film to partly destroy, deform or transform the film and produce an electron-emitting region which is electrically highly resistive. The electron-emitting region is part of the electroconductive film where one or more than one fissures are formed so that electrons may be emitted therefrom.
Since a surface conduction electron-emitting device as described above has a particularly simple structure and can be manufactured in a simple manner, a large number of such devices can advantageously be arranged on a large area without difficulty. As a matter of fact, a number of studies have been made to fully exploit this advantage of surface conduction electron-emitting devices. For example, there have been proposed various types of image forming apparatus including display apparatus.
Examples of the arrangement of a large number of surface conduction electron-emitting devices include electron sources realized by arranging surface conduction electron-emitting devices to form a number of parallel rows of devices and connecting the opposite ends (device electrodes) of the devices of each row to respective wires (also referred to as common wires) (an arrangement often referred to as radder-like arrangement). (See Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. 1-31332, 1-213749 and 2-257552.) As for display apparatus, there has been proposed a flat panel display apparatus that is similar to a display apparatus utilizing liquid crystal but of an emission type that does not require the use of a back light. Such a display apparatus can be realized by combining an electron source comprising a large number of surface conduction electron-emitting devices and a fluorescent body that emits visible light when irradiated with electron beams by the electron source. (See U.S. Pat. No. 5,066,883.)
However, known electron-emitting devices to be used for electron sources and image-forming apparatus need to be improved in terms of the efficiency of electron emission and other electron-emitting characteristics to provide image-forming apparatus that can stably produce clear and bright images. The efficiency of electron emission is described in terms of the ratio of the electric current running through the surface conduction electron-emitting device (device current If) to the electric current generated by electrons emitted into vacuum from the device (emission current Ie) when a voltage is applied to the paired device electrodes and it is preferable that the device current is held as small as possible whereas the emission current is made as large as possible. If stably controllable electron emitting characteristics and an improved efficiency of electron emission are achieved for a surface conduction electron-emitting device, an image-forming apparatus comprising an image-forming member of a fluorescent body that produces high quality images at a low power consumption rate can be realized by using such devices. Such an image-forming apparatus may be a flat television set and the drive circuit and other components of such an image-forming apparatus may be manufactured at low cost.
Known electron-emitting devices are, however, not satisfactory in terms of stable electron-emitting characteristics and electron-emitting efficiency and hence the stability of operation of an image-forming apparatus comprising such electron-emitting devices is also unsatisfactory.
Therefore, there is a demand for an electron-emitting device that shows excellent electron-emitting characteristics for a prolonged period of time.

Electron-emitting device, electron source and image-forming apparatus


A multiplayer sports formation arrangement prompting method adapted to monitor, by a computing device, a formation of a plurality of athletes participating in a multiplayer sport to prompt each of the athletes to adjust a position is provided, in which at least two wind sensors and a positioning device are disposed on or around each of the athletes. In this method, relative positions of the athletes with respect to each other are detected by using the positioning device, a wind direction is detected by using the at least two wind sensors disposed on or around a first athlete of the athletes, a second athlete behind the first athlete is prompted to adjust the position to enter a low wind resistance zone according to the relative position of the first athlete with respect to the second athlete and the detected wind direction, and the second athlete is prompted to adjust a position within the low wind resistance zone based on values detected by the at least two wind sensors disposed on or around the second athlete.

With the awareness of physical exercise increased each day, cycling, running, and roller-blading have become popular racing sports nowadays. In various racing events, as the environment and tactics change, athletes in the same team needs to adjust their own position and velocity accordingly. However, due to different perceptions from the athletes, a tactical formation may not be formed perfectly. Further, currently, the athletes can only adjust the formation based on information like wind direction, velocity and power together with their own experience without actually having other data for reference or comparison.
Based on the above, because of the mistaken judgment, the athletes in the team often fail to be adjusted to the correct position and velocity in response to changes in the environment and tactics. Therefore, how to provide the data for the athletes in the team immediately according to the current environment and tactics so the position and velocity of each athlete in the team can be adjusted is the direction that the person in the art is devoted to research.

Multiplayer sports formation arrangement prompting method and system

Industrial Technology Research Institute


A constructed padding for use with a tourniquet, kits, and methods of its use are provided. In use, the tourniquet padding is wrapped about and secured to an extremity, and a tourniquet is positioned onto the tourniquet padding. The construction of the tourniquet padding prevents a tourniquet, blood pressure cuff, etc., from slipping out of position during use.

Tourniquets are used by orthopedists, anesthesiologists and other medical practitioners to stop the flow of blood through an artery by compression, and are typically placed proximally on an upper or lower extremity such as the upper arm or thigh, and occasionally in a more distal position such as on the calf. Inflatable tourniquet cuffs are commonly used in the medical field, and include bladders that are inflated by compressed air, producing enough compression to occlude the arterial flow. For an orthopedist or other surgeon who does extremity surgery, this achieves an avascular, or "non-bleeding," dry surgical field. By stopping the flow of blood into the extremity, surgery can be performed in that extremity distal to the tourniquet without bleeding. With the artery occluded, no blood flows into the surgical field and the surgeon can perform surgery in what is temporarily an avascular area.
To completely stop the flow of blood, a tourniquet should be applied as high as possible into the axilla or "armpit" in an upper extremity, or into the groin adjacent to the inguinal ligament located at the crease between the lower abdomen and the anterior, or front part of the top of the thigh. Such placement occludes the artery before it begins to divide into its branches, and provides a surgeon with a large operative field for elbow and knee surgery. A large area is needed in order to prep the skin adequately and to drape the area properly so that during surgery, if an incision needs to be extended, the surgeon does not need to cut through drapes to do so.
Tourniquets in the form of blood pressure cuffs, are also used by anesthesiologists to monitor blood pressure during surgical procedures, by nurses in intensive care units, by medical personnel in transitional care units, among others. A blood pressure cuff is often applied and left on for an extended time period, i.e., several days. The cuff is applied as high as possible on the upper extremity in order to more effectively occlude the artery before it branches and obtain a more accurate blood pressure measurement.
In use during a surgical procedure, a tourniquet is applied with continuous pressure for an extended period of time. In the use of a blood pressure cuff during a surgical procedure or in an intensive care or cardiac care unit, the cuff is automatically and repeatedly inflated and deflated at about one to two minute intervals to monitor blood pressure, and can be left on for several days. This adds up to numerous compressions of the skin during a procedure or treatment period.
Tourniquets are commercially available and typically 2 to 6 inches wide for single bladder tourniquets and about 8 to 9 inches wide for double bladder tourniquets ("Bier blocks"). A blood pressure cuff about 4 inches wide is used most frequently by anesthesiologists. For an average size patient, a 4-inch wide tourniquet is used for upper extremity surgery, while a 4- to 6-inch wide tourniquet is typically applied to the thigh for surgeries on the lower extremities.
Tourniquets are generally supplied without padding, and some surgeons and anesthesiologists use a tourniquet without padding underneath. However, this can result in injury to the skin caused by prolonged or intermittent pinching while the surgery is performed or when the blood pressure tourniquet is inflated/deflated to monitor blood pressure.
To avoid skin irritation and damage to the outer layers of the skin by the repeated compression, a soft padding material is typically wrapped around the extremity and the tourniquet is applied over the wrapped material. Typically, 3 to 4 layers of sheet wadding or cast padding such as WEBRIL™ cotton padding (Kendall Company) are used under the tourniquet.
Although desirable, the use of padding under a tourniquet is problematic. The diameter or circumference of the upper arm and thigh decreases from the proximal end (i.e., shoulder, hip) to the distal end (i.e., elbow, knee). In most people, the upper arm and thigh are conically shaped like an ice cream cone, being wider at the top and narrowing toward the elbow or knee. This presents problems in maintaining a tourniquet in a stationary position on the upper part of the arm or the upper part of the thigh. Although the cushioning effect of the padding is a plus, the padding tends to slip distally down the extremity during a procedure. This situation becomes more problematic as the weight of the person increases and the distal part of the extremity is proportionately smaller than the proximal part. In addition, a heavier patient tends to have looser skin and subcutaneous tissues, requiring a higher amount of compression to occlude the artery for surgery or to obtain blood pressure.
Slippage of a blood pressure cuff along a limb causes particular problems for anesthesiologists and surgeons. For surgical procedures, the tourniquet cuff is applied to the upper arm and inflated, blood pressure is recorded, and the cuff is then deflated. As this is repeated over an extended time during the procedure, the cuff slips distally and a different part of the extremity becomes compressed. This change in the location where the blood pressure measurements are taken can result in inaccurate readings.
There have also been numerous complaints about tourniquet slippage down the arm or thigh and causing problems with proper occlusion of the artery during surgical procedures. For a surgical operation performed on an elbow, knee, forearm, hand, calf or foot, as the tourniquet slips distally, compression decreases and compromises the surgical field with bleeding. In addition, the distal edge of the tourniquet is not sterile, and as the edge enters the surgical field, the potential for post-operative infection increases. There have also been problems with the tourniquet or cuff slipping off the underlying padding material onto the skin, resulting in blisters where the skin had been pinched.
Another problem arises when the tourniquet is applied over several layers of cast padding, and the limb is prepped with a wet surgical scrub. An extremity is typically elevated while it is being prepped by a scrub nurse, and fluid that runs up the arm or leg wets the tourniquet and/or tourniquet padding. Most surgical preps include skin irritants and are applied and then wiped or rinsed off the skin. Consequently, compression by a wet padding and prolonged contact with a pre-operative skin prep can result in serious damage to the outer layers of the skin.
In addition, tourniquets that become soiled with blood or other fluids are difficult to clean thoroughly and, in cases of AIDS and other infectious diseases, the contaminated tourniquet is usually discarded. With the cost of tourniquets at about $200 and higher, this can significantly increase the cost of a surgery or other medical procedure.
Therefore, it would be desirable to provide a padding that can be used in connection with a blood pressure cuff and other tourniquets that overcome the foregoing problems.


A pair of glasses is provided with an attachment mechanism including a mount groove formed in an end portion of the glass, a lower portion of the mount groove being defined by a converging wall, a mount element provided at an end of the frame member, a fastening device which fastens the frame member on the glass by way of the mount element, and a retaining projection formed on the frame member near the mount element. The retaining projection has a leading end which comes into contact with the converging wall of the mount groove at least two or more points when the frame member is fastened on the glass by the fastening device.

This invention relates to spectacles or glasses which are provided with no eyewire on rims of lenses of glasses. Such glasses are referred to as xe2x80x9ceyewireless glassesxe2x80x9d hereinafter.
Heretofore, generally, eyewireless glasses as shown in FIG. 6A are known. Eyewireless glasses 100 comprise, as shown in FIG. 6A, a pair of lenses 101, 101, a bridge 102 which is provided to attach the lenses 101, 101, and a pair of temples 103, 103 provided in correspondence to the lens 101, 101. Attachment mechanisms 110 which respectively attach the lens 101 (101) and the bridge 102, and the lens 101 (101) and the temple 103 (103) are provided.
FIG. 6B is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken along the line 6Bxe2x80x946B in FIG. 6A, showing the conventional attachment mechanism 110. As shown in FIG. 6B, the attachment mechanism 110 includes a mount groove 111 formed in a side end portion of the lens 101 which extends in a width direction of the lens 101 (direction perpendicularly intersecting the plane of FIG. 6B), a first through hole 112 formed in a base end of the mount groove 111 (rear direction of the plane in FIG. 6B), an projection 113 formed at a base end of the temple 103, which is engageably fitted in the mount groove 111, a mount element 115 formed with a second through hole 114 in correspondence to the first through hole 112, a fastening screw 116 which is screwed into the first through hole 112 and the second through hole 114 to attach the lens 101 and the temple 103, and a nut 117 which fastens the screw 116.
The mount groove 111 has a rectangular shape in section. The projection 113 has a rectangular shape in section and has such dimensions as to be slidably fitted in the mounting grove 111. With this arrangement, inserting the screw 116 in the second through hole 114 of the mount element 115 and in the first through hole 112 of the lens 101 and fastening with the nut 117 in a state that the projection 113 is engageably fitted in the mount groove 111 enables to directly attach the temple 103 to the lens 101.
It should be appreciated that a description of the attachment mechanism for attaching the bridge 102 and the lens 101 (101) is omitted in this section of prior art since the attachment mechanism for attaching the bridge 102 and the lens 101 (101) is the same as the attachment mechanism for attaching the lens 101 and the temple 103.
In the attachment mechanism 110 having the above construction, the mount groove 111 of the lens 101 is formed by a cutting tool such as a file. Likewise, the projection 113 is formed at the temple 103 by a cutting tool such as a file. Since it is a general matter that a machining precision by such a cutting tool varies from piece to piece, a clearance d is inevitably formed between the projection 113 and a side and/or bottom wall of the mount groove 111 when the projection 113 is fitted in the mount groove 111, as shown in FIG. 6B.
When the clearance d is formed, the bridge 102 and the temple 103 are likely to swing relative to the lens 101 clockwise or counterclockwise about an axis of the fastening screw 116, which may cause undesirable displacement of the bridge 102 and the temple 103 relative to the lens 101.
Further, as shown in FIG. 6B, generally, a right end portion of the projection 113 on the plane of FIG. 6B is not necessarily brought in plane contact with the bottom wall of the mount groove 111 but may be brought in one side contact therewith. When the right end of the projection 113 is rendered in contact with the bottom wall of the mount groove 111, the projection 113 is also allowed to swing about an axis of the contact point, which may cause undesirable displacement of the bridge 102 and the temple 103 relative to the lens 101.
Even if the clearance d between the projection 113 and the bottom wall of the mount groove 111 is as small as, for example, 10 xcexcm, a displacement within such a small clearance causes a large swing of the temple 103 at a distal end thereof since the displacement corresponds to a proportion of the length of the temple 103 against the depth of the mount groove 111 as the displacement is propagated toward the distal end of the temple 103. For example, when the clearance d is 10 xcexcm (0.01 mm), the depth of the mount groove 111 is 1.0 mm, and the length of the temple 103 is 140 mm, the distal end of the temple 103 swings at an amplitude corresponding to 1.4 mm (=0.01 mm (10 xcexcm) xc3x97(140 mm/1.0 mm)). Thus, the distal end of the temple 103 may swing at an amplitude as large the amount corresponding to 2.8 mm.
The swing amount is negligible as far as the glasses 100 are worn. However, when the wearer slightly moves the left and right temples 103 toward and away from each other about an axis of a pivotal point of the corresponding fastening screw 116 when the wearer is about to take off or wear the glasses 100, the temples 103 are likely to be greatly moved toward and away from each other at their distal ends. The glasses having likelihood of causing such an undesired displacement fail to provide high-grade quality, which may lower their commercial value.
The same problem is also involved in a displacement at a connection portion between the lens 101 (101) and the bridge 102.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a eyewireless spectacles or glasses which are free from the problems residing in the prior art.
It is another object of the present invention to provide eyewireless spectacles or glasses which enable to securely attach a frame member to a lens and suppress an undesirable displacement at a connection portion between the frame member and the lens.
According to an aspect of the invention, a pair of glasses is provided with a frame member which support a glass, and an attachment mechanism. The attachment mechanism includes: a mount groove formed in an end portion of the glass, a lower portion of the mount groove being defined by a converging wall; a mount element provided at an end of the frame member; a fastening device which fastens the frame member on the glass by way of the mount element; and a retaining projection formed on the frame member near the mount element. The retaining projection has a leading end which comes into contact with the converging wall of the mount groove at least two or more points when the frame member is fastened on the glass by the fastening device.
These and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent upon a reading of the following detailed description and accompanying drawing.


A detector system for a CT scanner is provided. The detector system may include a plurality of detector modules. Each of the detector modules may include a supporting frame, two or more detectors and an interface board. A supporting frame may be connected to a casing of the detector system. Detectors may be mounted onto a supporting frame and may convert an X-ray beam within a CT scanner into an electrical signal. An interface board may be disposed in an outer side of a supporting frame away from the focus of an X-ray tube, and may be electrically connected to a plurality of detectors through a connector, so as to provide a control signal and a power supply to the detectors, and to transmit a digital signal outputted by the detectors to a backplane of the detector system through an output line.

A detector system may be an important component for achieving photoelectric conversion in a computed tomography (CT) scanner, and may usually be composed of a plurality of independent detectors arranged in a rectangular pattern along the X-axis direction and the Z-axis direction of the CT scanner.
With the performance improvement of the CT scanner, the detector system gets larger and larger. When a single detector is to be embedded in the detector system, consideration for convenience of installation, removal and replacement may be required, and thermal performance and radiation-proof performance should also be considered.
NEUSOFT MEDICAL SYSTEMS CO., LTD. (NMS), founded in 1998 with its world headquarters in China, is a leading supplier of medical equipment, medical IT solutions, and healthcare services. NMS supplies medical equipment with a wide portfolio, including CT, MRI, digital X-ray machine, Ultrasound, PET (Positron Emission Tomography), Linear Accelerator, and Biochemistry Analyser. Currently, NMS' products are exported to over 60 countries and regions around the globe, serving more than 5,000 renowned customers. NMS' latest successful developments, such as the 128 Multi-Slice CT Scanner System, Superconducting MRI, Linear Accelerator, and PET products, have led China to become a global high-end medical equipment producer. As an integrated supplier with extensive experience in large medical equipment, NMS has been committed to the study of avoiding secondary potential harm caused by excessive X-ray irradiation to the subject during the CT scanning process.

Shenyang Neusoft Medical Systems Co., Ltd.


The present invention is for a means to relieve stress in slotted solid propellant rocket motors. The invention provides for one or more articulated members located between the outer edge of a secondary slot and the layer of thermal insulation. Also disclosed is a method of forming the articulated members.

Rocket motors 2 using solid propellant are typically comprised of a rocket case 4, usually formed of metal or composite material, a thermal insulation layer 6 lining the interior wall of the rocket casing and the solid propellant 8 (see FIGS. 1 and 2). Running along the longitudinal axis and through the center of the propellant is a central pathway 10. During ignition, the propellant burns and the combustion products pass through the central pathway 10 to the nozzle 11 thereby propelling the rocket.
The rate at which the solid propellant 8 burns establishes the flight characteristics or thrust pattern of that rocket. Unlike liquid fuel rockets, there is no means to control or alter the amount of fuel entering the combustion area during ignition. However, rocket designers have developed a method of forecasting the performance or thrust history of these solid rockets by altering the surface area of the propellant grain exposed to ignition. To achieve this, the propellant grain 8 is designed with specific pathways or slots 11 configured to yield the desired thrust history. In most propellant grain designs the configuration includes a central slot 10 along the longitudinal axis or length of the propellant grain as well as secondary slots 12 formed about the central slot 10. These secondary slots 12 typically extend radially from and coaxially about the central slot 10. However, these slots create areas of stress, particularly at the outer edges 14 of the secondary slots 12. These stresses may produce tears or cracks within the propellant and alter the burn pattern with catastrophic results. It has been found that the amount of stress built up at the outer edge 14 of these secondary slots 12 is a function of the diameter of the secondary slot 12.
One solution to this problem has been to coat the surface of the slot with an organic layer to strengthen the binder in the propellant grain and thereby reduce the impact of the stresses on the propellant. See U.S. Pat. No. 4,052,943.
An alternative approach has been to increase the diameter of the secondary slot 12, thereby increasing the radius of the outer edge 14 and relieving the stress. This approach, although helpful, results in lower propellant loadings, and therefore, less than optimum performance.
Therefore, what is needed in this art is a simple, effective means to relieve the stress at the outer edge of these secondary slots while permitting higher loading efficiencies for the motors.

Stress relief system for slotted propellant motors


A well tool for depositing a gravel pack into an annulus formed between a casing string and the lower portion of a production tubing string. The well tool includes a sliding sleeve valve which can be shifted to allow communication of a gravel pack slurry to the annulus through lateral ports in the sleeve valve. The sleeve valve includes shoulders which extend to engage a shifting tool preventing removal of the shifting tool from the sleeve valve with the lateral ports open. The sleeve valve allows improved methods to be used to compress the gravel pack and remove undesired fluids from the gravel pack. Methods are disclosed to position the sleeve valve to allow the gravel pack slurry to flow into the annulus or to isolate the annulus and compress the gravel pack. The preferred well installation for using this invention includes a production packer with the sleeve valve and a gravel pack screen attached to the lower end of the packer. The packer is positioned at a preselected location within the casing string and a production tubing string can be engaged with the upper end of the packer after the gravel pack has been deposited and the sleeve valve has been closed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention comprises a sleeve valve means and methods for forming a gravel or slurry pack within a well bore.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of gravel of slurry packs in oil and gas wells is a well known means for controlling sand contained within formation fluids. A good gravel pack can significantly increase production tubing life and minimize expensive workovers to remove sand bridges or plugs formed within production tubing by sand settling out of formation fluids.
Many tools have been developed to allow a gravel pack to be formed within a well bore adjacent a hydrocarbon producing formation to filter sand and other particulate matter out of the formation fluids. U.S. Pat. No. 4,105,069 to Eugene E. Baker discloses an improved liner assembly and selective opening sleeve positioner for use in forming a gravel pack.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,710,862 to Carter R. Young discloses apparatus for and methods of installing a well packer and screen, treating the well, gravel packing around the screen, removing the service seal unit, and installing a production tubing string.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,180,132 invented by Carter R. Young discloses various improved tools and methods for placing a gravel pack within a well bore.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,051,243 to G. G. Grimmer et al discloses a sleeve valve for controlling fluid flow through a lateral port. The sleeve valve in U.S. Pat. No. 3,051,243 is operated by wireline tools.
The present invention significantly reduces the complexity of prior art gravel pack tools and the number of required trips of tool strings into the well bore to install a gravel pack.


A two piece electroplating frame or electroplating frame is disclosed that is suitable for holding multiple solar cells during an electroplating operation. The electroplating frame can be formed from or at least covered with non-conductive material to reduce the collection of plating material on the electroplating frame. The two pieces of the electroplating frame can be coupled together around the solar cells by magnets distributed throughout the electroplating frame. The electroplating frame can include alignment features for self-aligning the assembly of the two pieces without requiring precise pre-alignment.

Recent advancements in solar cell technology have helped overcome many barriers to producing highly efficient and economically viable photovoltaic (PV) modules. Traditionally, crystalline silicon (c-Si) based solar cells have relied on the use of silver (Ag) grids (e.g. fingers and busbars) for collecting current. Ag grids are formed by printing Ag paste onto wafers and firing the past at temperatures between 700-800° C.
Newer solar cells use amorphous Si (a-Si) to form a heterojunction with a c-Si layer or provide for surface passivation. However, a-Si cannot be processed at temperatures exceeding 200° C., and therefore not compatible with traditional Ag paste. One approach to this issue was the use of low temperature Ag paste to form the conductive grid. However, low temperature Ag paste is highly resistive compared to traditional paste and therefore required a comparatively thick layer. This required using a layering technique in which several layers of low temperature paste were successively applied. The cost and complexity of that process was ultimately prohibitive.
A different approach to this issue was to not use Ag paste at all, but instead apply a layer of copper, which can be etched by photolithography to form the grid. But using copper presented its own issues, as copper does not adhere well to silicon using electroplating techniques. Innovators of the industry, such as Silevo Inc., pioneered processes in which a thin seed layer of copper is first applied to the a-Si by physical vapor deposition. This seed layer has excellent adhesion properties, and forms the basis for a thick layer of copper deposited by electroplating. Details of such a process is disclosed at Pub. No. US20130125974A1, which is incorporated by reference herein.
Clearly, solar technology has made great strides in recent years through breakthroughs for increasing efficiency of PV modules. Such improvements are making solar energy a more viable energy source. In spite of these technological breakthroughs in efficiency, cost per watt is perhaps the most determinative factor when deciding to implement solar power. Thus, any aspect of the PV module manufacturing process that can increase throughput, and hence lower cost, has great importance for the viability of solar energy.
Electroplating copper is normally a simple procedure, but in spite of the seed layer, electroplating of silicon solar cells can still be a manually intensive process. This is because each solar cell requires manual placement of several small plating electrodes onto sections of the solar cell to form the electroplated layer. Each electrode must be individually placed and aligned. Because several electrodes required per solar cell, this can make for a very time consuming process, which can be troubled by breakages due to the intensive handling required. Accordingly, improving this process and reducing handling is important for improving throughput of PV module production.

Systems, methods and apparatus for electroplating photovoltaic cells


A process for assembling a linear motion bearing using retainerless saddle assembly. The retainerless saddle assembly is composed of a bearing body having escape-ball through holes steel balls, a pair of end caps and a ball holder. The assembling process includes the steps of attaching one of the pair of end caps at one end surface of the bearing body; and providing raceways within the bearing body. The diameter of each of the raceways is slightly larger than that of each of the steel balls. The assembling process further includes the steps of feeding the steel balls into the raceways and escape-ball through holes in the bearing body; covering an open end of the bearing body by another one of the pair of end caps so as to form a saddle; and holding the balls between the bearing body and the ball holder.

A conventional linear motion bearing shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,253,709 has a large rigidity and can sustain a heavy load at a high speed with a high accuracy. Due to those excellent properties, it has been widely used especially in a field of machine tools.
One of the main features of the linear motion bearing is that it can provide a preload in the steel balls since the diameter of the steel ball is slightly larger than that of the raceway formed between the complementary grooves of the bearing body and the rail. Due to the preload, the assembled rigidity of the structure becomes larger which, in turn, enables to attain high accuracy.
On the other hand, one of the shortcomings of the linear motion bearing is in the usage of a retainer which holds or maintains the steel balls from falling off from the bearing body when it is withdrawn out of the rail.
The shape of the retainer can be either a plate structure as shown in FIG. 8 in U.S. Pat. No. 4,253,709 or a piano wire-like structure extending along the grooves as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,929,095.
These retainers are attached either to the bearing body or to the end caps. Because of this, the structure of the linear motion bearing becomes more complicated and more difficult to assemble a saddle from bearing body with steel balls by an automatic process.
Further, if the retainer dislocates its position, it may contact the steel balls and increases the friction. The retainer will be damaged or destroyed eventually. It also increases the cost of the linear motion bearing.
Another problem of the retainer lies in that the size of the radius of the curvature of the groove is inevitably limited due to existence of the retainer in the narrow raceway and so is the load rating.
It is well known that the retainer loses its function and becomes useless once the saddle is fit onto the rail since the steel balls are held solely by the complementary grooves.
Nevertheless, there must be a retainer since if the retainer is eliminated from the linear motion bearing, there is no way to maintain the steel balls within the bearing body of the saddle when it is withdrawn from the rail.
Yet another problem is how to fit the saddle onto the rail while maintaining the loose steel balls.

Process for assembling a linear motion bearing using a retainerless saddle assembly


Observation assisted bandwidth management techniques are described. In one or more implementations, a request is received at a terminal to initiate a call with another terminal. Responsive to the request, a communication is formed to be communicated to a service provider for bandwidth parameters, the request including network parameters associated with the terminal. The bandwidth parameters, received form the service provider, are used as part of a model to estimate an amount of bandwidth that is available for the call. The call with the other terminal is initiated, the call configured to at least initially consume the estimated amount of bandwidth.

Bandwidth management may involve a variety of different challenges, including the problem of optimizing a network connection for use by a computing device, such as for use by an application involving network access. Conventional techniques for bandwidth management, however, could be inaccurate, especially when faced with a wireless network connection.
For example, in conventional techniques an application tried to estimate instantaneous available bandwidth of a channel and then transmit at that rate. This approach was generally employed for conventional wired connections such as ASDL, where the bandwidth is relatively constant over time and therefore this technique could be a good predictor in such instances. However, the approach may be problematic on wireless channel where the available bandwidth may vary rapidly over time. Therefore, reliance upon instantaneously available bandwidth as in conventional techniques may not be a good indication of the future bandwidth.


An adjustable chair comprises a front seat assembly, a rear seat assembly, and a base assembly, the base assembly supporting the front and rear seat assembly independently of one another. The front seat assembly has a front seat pivotally mounted for rotation about a horizontal axis. The rear seat assembly has a rear seat pivotally mounted for rotation about a horizontal axis. The two rotation axes are separated from one another a sufficient distance that a person may sit on the front seat and position his or her back against the rear seat. Each seat is pivotally mounted by its respective seat assembly such that the rotation axis for each seat is located at a fulcrum point from which the seat is pivotally supported.

Seated workers in the industrial and office environment often experience back pain and other physiological difficulties as a result of prolonged sitting in a fixed posture. Much research and analysis has been conducted into so-called ergonomic chair design to provide solutions to these difficulties.
Four principal chair designs have been identified and theories have been developed to support each design as solving some seating difficulty. Chairs embodying these designs are available in the market place. One such design provides a flat, horizontal seat pan and a vertically-upright back, enabling a worker to sit with his or her thighs and back at a 90 degree angle to one another. A second chair design, often called a "Mandal" chair provides a seat pan having a forward, downward tilt with an upright back. A third chair design, often called a "Grandjean" chair, provides a back having a backward tilt with a horizontal seat pan. A fourth chair design, often called a "Balans" chair, provides a seat pan having a forward tilt with a knee rest having a backward tilt. A fifth chair design, often called a "standing" chair, provides an elevated seat pan having a forward tilt for a worker that would be partially sitting and standing at the same time; as one might do at a drafting table. All of these designs can be provided with adjustable seat pans and, where used, adjustable back rests having heights to accommodate workers of different body builds and to accommodate different working environments. There appear to be clear advantages and disadvantages to all five postural options afforded by these five chair designs.
All five designs are intended to restore lumbar lordosis to the seated worker, and thereby reduce the pressure on lumbar disks that is a root cause of lower back pain. The various theories simply represent a disagreement as to how restoration of lumbar lordosis might best be achieved. In actual testing of these chair designs, however, researchers have discovered the workers exhibit so-called idiosyncrasies in seated posture; that is to say, workers exhibit working seated postures that do not conform to any of the theories, and that these idiosyncrasies will be influenced by individual variations in both weight and physical fitness of a worker's body parts. In other words, workers do not always sit the way the researchers think and suggest that they ought. It has been concluded that actual sitting behavior is subject to individual variability because of variations in body build, personal habit and personal preference, and training. Seating postures can also be affected by the working environment; whether a worker is engaged at a drafting table, microscope, computer terminal, and so forth. Furthermore, it has been concluded that various physiological recommendations as to appropriate seating postures can be at odds with one another. For example, seating postures that are best for maintaining spinal lordosis may not be the most comfortable or healthy if blood supply to the lower legs is restricted. Workers, for example, when given an opportunity to pick their most comfortable sitting posture, do not always choose a sitting posture that achieves lordosis.
It has been suggested, therefore, that a suitable chair, in order to fit into its working environment, should be adjustable in the following ways: (1) the seat height should be adjustable; (2) seat depth should be adequate for large people without being too large for smaller workers; (3) seat padding should be adequate to allow pressure to be distributed but not so soft that the seat bones of the pelvis (the ischial tuberosities) bottom out; (4) the seat pan should be capable of tilting forward and backward; (5) the back should be alternately positionable both upright and with a backward tilt; (6) the backrest should be padded and have a lumbar support; (7) the chair should have both a dynamic range of posture movements without the worker making adjustments, and multiple static posture settings which can be engaged to lock the chair into any position set by the worker.


Displacement measuring apparatus for measuring the displacement and movement of an object includes an array of sensors having an operative surface and circuitry for producing an electrical output signal whose value is dependent upon the disposition of an electrical/magnetic field producing member along the sensor array. The field producing member is disposed to contact and slide over the operative surface as the object whose displacement is to be measured is moved. The value of the electrical output signal produced by the circuitry is thus dependent upon the position of the field producing member along the sensor array and thus by the position and movement of the object.

This invention relates in general to apparatus for sensing displacement or position of an object, and in particular to apparatus in which the displacement of the object is measured electrically as the object is moved relative to another element, with which the object maintains sliding (mechanical) contact.
In the operation of various mechanical and electro-mechanical systems, it is necessary to monitor the position and displacement of either some element of the system or some object which is not part of the system. For example, in robotic systems it is almost always necessary to monitor and control the movement and position of various component parts of the systems, such as an arm, fingers or other grasping elements, etc. Such monitoring and control yields the dexterity and precision required for a robotic system to carry out its functions.
Prior art mechanisms for sensing position and displacement have most often utilized a direct connection between the article or object whose position or displacement was to be monitored, and some type of gauge, needle or other visual indicator. Movement of the article or object would thus cause a corresponding movement of the gauge or needle. As expected, such mechanisms have typically been large and cumbersome, have lacked precision in carrying out the monitoring function, and have been unreliable.
Although electronic apparatus for measuring position and displacement has come into greater use in recent years and has at least partially solved the bulkiness and imprecision problems of the prior art mechanism, such apparatus has been complicated in design and thus difficult to manufacture and maintain.

Sliding contact mechanical/electrical displacement transducer


Neopentyl glycol is made by reacting isobutyraldehyde with paraformaldehyde in the presence of a tertiary amine and cadmium or yttrium oxide; then hydrogenating the resulting reaction mixture containing hydroxypivaldehyde and at least about 20% 3-hydroxy-2,2-dimethylpropylhydroxypivalate.

Prior to this invention, it has been known to make neopentyl glycol (2,2 dimethyl-1,3-dihydroxypropane, also known herein as NPG) by reacting formaldehyde with isobutyraldehyde (IBAL) and hydrogenating the resulting hydroxypivaldehyde (HPA). See U.S Pat. No. 4,855,515, for example, which recites the historical development of the reaction and emphasizes the use of a particular catalyst in the hydrogenation step. U.S. Pat. No. 3,808,280 discloses the use of triethylamine as a catalyst for the (aqueous) formaldehyde/IBAL reaction.
Each of the above references employs formaldehyde in the form of aqueous formaldehyde.
Paraformaldehyde is used by Snam S.p.A. in UK Pat. No. 1,017,618 to react with IBAL in the presence of a tertiary amine to produce a reaction product containing apparently predominantly HPA which may be hydrogenated to neopentyl glycol. No reference to our knowledge teaches the use of cadmium or yttrium oxide and paraformaldehyde with the accompanying advantages as explained below, and particularly to make hydroxyneopentylhydroxypivalate.