The present invention is directed to a cleaning sponge. The cleaning sponge contains a cavity that is cut radially inward through one of the sides of the sponge. The cavity is located closer to the side of the sponge rather than its center. Furthermore, the sponge has two holding arms that are formed when the cavity is cut and form a channel, allowing the sponge to be placed on a faucet or any other hanging member. The holding arms pull apart when the sponge is placed on a faucet and once the sponge is on the faucet, they pull together. Since the cavity is near the side of the sponge, the holding arms do not interfere with the cleaning function of the sponge. Furthermore, the sponge has several layers with different coefficients of coarseness for cleaning different surfaces and may be cut in any decorative shape desired.

There are many well-known cleaning sponges available on the market. The prior art discloses many different alternatives for having a cleaning sponge. However, there is a long felt but unfulfilled need for having a better cleaning sponge that the prior art does not accomplish. The conventionally known prior art discloses a variety of cleaning sponges such as sponges having adjustable flaps for better cleaning, axially cut through holes for cleaning of oil sticks. Also, the prior art discloses sponges that can be hanged on a hanger, but not on the faucet. Moreover, the prior art discloses decorative sponges. The present invention supercedes all of prior art by providing features that are novel, useful and non-obvious to one skilled in the art.
In the description of the present invention, specific terms and references to the drawings are used to better describe and illustrate the present invention. However, one skilled in the art must understand that the present invention is not limited to the descriptions, illustrations and the specific terms presented in the description. The present invention is hereby limited by the prior art and the claims herewith appended. The illustrations, specific terms and descriptions are used for the purposes of presentation, description, illustration and better understanding of the present invention.
There are several U.S. Patents currently available, however, none of them address the long felt need that the present invention fulfills. The following is a brief summary of that prior art.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,018,237 to Valley teaches a dipstick wipe-off tool. The dipstick wipe-off tool comprises an absorbent body having an elongated open hole that extends axially throughout the body of the wipe-off tool. Moreover, the body of the wipe-off tool is being squeezed. The present invention comprises an absorbent sponge comprising several layers with different coefficients of coarseness and a faucet adjustable hole being cut through one side of the sponge's body. Moreover, the body of the sponge may be cut in a way for better gripping of the sponge and giving the sponge a decorative appearance.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,791,008 to Crabtree teaches a sponge having a hand grasp. The sponge comprises several layers where one layer comprises a grasp in the form of two flaps securely attached on top of the sponge. The flaps appear in the form of butterfly wings and are able to be pulled in contact with each other for better gripping of the sponge. Moreover, the sponge has a hanger port that comprises a hole being cut through the sponge. The present invention comprises a multi-layered sponge with different coefficients of coarseness and an absorption layer in between. The present invention does not have butterfly grasp handles, but has a border that is cut so that it provides for better gripping of the sponge. Moreover, the present invention provides a hanger port that is cut so that the sponge may be slid on and off a faucet without any difficulty and once the sponge is on the faucet it is able to hold on the faucet without falling from it.
U.S. Pat. No. Des. 349,592 to Stoll discloses a scraper having a hanger port that is drilled through the scraper at its top. Conversely, the present invention is a sponge with several levels of different coefficients of coarseness having a faucet adjustable hanger port.
U.S. Pat. No. Des. 353,513 to Posenauer teaches a tubing and scraping tool comprising a fork-like scraping edges and a hanger port drilled at its top. The present invention, on the other hand, is a cleaning sponge having multiple layers and a faucet hanger port.
U.S. Pat. No. Des. 396,907 to Donnelly discloses an ornamental sink spray sponge attachment. This sponge attachment is a decoratively cut sponge that has a hold in its center, so that it can be hung on a hook or any other hanging means. The present invention is directed towards a sponge that has multiple layers with different coefficients of coarseness. Moreover, the present invention has a faucet adjustable hanger port that is able to be slid on to the faucet.
While the prior art is of a significant interest, it does not address the specific need that the present invention accomplishes. The present invention provides a convenient way of having a sponge with a top layer being the coarsest and the bottom layer being the least coarse. The sponge also contains an absorption layer that is located in between the top and bottom layer. Furthermore, the sponge has an opening that is cut through one of its sides making it possible for a sponge to be slid on to a faucet.


A bearing assembly for use in a blood pump includes a first component that has a convex bearing surface and a first outer surface proximate the convex bearing surface. The bearing assembly includes a second component that a concave bearing surface and a second outer surface proximate the concave bearing surface, the concave bearing surface being configured to receive the convex bearing surface. A plurality of grooves are defined through the convex bearing surface and first outer surface or through the concave bearing surface and the second outer surface.

Heart assist devices or pumps can be connected in the circulatory system to pump blood from one location of the vasculature to another. A common approach is to pump blood from either ventricle or atrium of a heart to the ascending aorta. A pump supplementing or replacing a ventricle is known as a ventricular assist device, or VAD. A VAD is useful when the ventricle alone is incapable of providing adequate blood flow. Rotary pumps typically include a rotor that rotates within a housing. The rotor may be rotatably supported within the housing by bearings at the fore and/or aft ends of the pump.


A large area display workstation provides a liquid crystal display, configured to produce an image. The electrical components of the liquid crystal display are disposed on a substrate through a large area fabrication technique. The workstation has a first, high-resolution video display, and the large area display is a second, lower-resolution file identification display. The computer displays a user-selected file in a high-resolution format on the high-resolution video display for manipulation, and displays a plurality of file indicators in a low-resolution format on the large area display.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to digital display devices and related data manipulation systems. More particularly, the present invention relates to a large-size display device and method for manipulation of low-resolution images of digital documents, files, or windows.
2. Related Art
The typical office includes a desk and additional level workspace. This office structure permits a person to work with multiple paper information sources on multiple tasks. When a document is needed for a particular task, the person identifies the document based on its appearance and spatial location on the desk, and moves it to the center of attention (in front of the person) from some area spatially distributed in a peripheral region. The paper data source is sent back to the peripheral regions when the source is not needed but may be needed in the near future. The various sources of documents can be stored temporarily and in spatially relevant groupings. The physical presence of the document reminds a person of the document, its content, and the need for the document.
The universality of this office structure across company, country, history, and culture suggests that this is a natural and effective way to organize work. However, such an arrangement only works only for paper data sources, not electronic data sources. For manipulation of electronic data sources, office computer users typically work on one small high-resolution display device (i.e. computer monitor) in order to accomplish multiple tasks using the computer. Multiple windows, jobs and data sources are open simultaneously, and therefore are layered on top of each other. An elaborate system of icons and layering schemes are used to facilitate switching back and forth between sources. Unfortunately, there is not enough space on a small icon to display visually the content of a document for identification (i.e. all icons of a given type look nearly identical) or to arrange inactive data sources in spatially significant configurations (akin to the arrangement of physical documents on a desktop) while retaining enough space for other activities. A job set aside remains at the bottom of the pile or invisible in a folder/file system, even if there is an urgent time deadline associated with it. Important documents become invisible in most file systems and the important sources look the same as unimportant files.

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


A novel method is disclosed for the preparation of a silicon carbide-based composite ceramic body reinforced with carbon fibers having an outstandingly high mechanical strength. The method comprises impregnating carbon fibers with a mixture of fine silicon particles and a thermosetting resin such as a phenolic resin to give a carbon fiber compact body impregnated with the mixture, which is then subjected to a heat treatment at about 1400.degree. C. in an inert atmosphere so that the thermosetting resin is thermally decomposed to produce free carbon capable of reacting with the silicon particles without affecting the carbon fibers embedded in the matrix due to the preferential reactivity of the silicon particles with the free carbon produced from the resin thus not to decrease the recinforcing effect of the carbon fibers.

The present invention relates to a method for the preparation of a silicon carbide-carbon fiber composite material or, more particularly, to a method for the preparation of a silicon carbide-based ceramic material reinforced with carbon fibers without causing a decrease in the mechanical strength, which method is applicable to a ceramic body of any complicated forms.
It is a noteworthy fact in recent years that the application fields of silicon carbide-based ceramic materials are rapidly expanding as a material of structural members working at extremely high temperatures, as a corrosion-resistant material and as an abrasion-resistant material in respect of the excellent high-temperature stability, corrosion resistance and abrasion resistance thereof.
On the other hand, intensive investigations are recently under way to develop a composite ceramic material reinforced with a fibrous reinforcing material with an object to improve the toughness of ceramic materials. For example, silicon carbide-based composite ceramic materials reinforced with a fibrous reinforcing material are prepared usually by blending a powder of silicon carbide and reinforcing fibers and subjecting the blend to sintering in a hot press or by the method of chemical vapor infiltration. The hot-press sintering method, however, is disadvantageous because full sintering can be achieved only by the admixture of the blend with a substantial amount of a sintering aid or by undertaking sintering at a high temperature of 1700.degree. C. or even higher unavoidably resulting in a decrease in the mechanical strength of the sintered body in addition to the limitation that the method is hardly applicable to the preparation of a sintered body having a complicated form. The chemical vapor infiltration method, on the other hand, has problems that the time taken for the infiltration is usually so long that the productivity of the process is low and the reactant gases used for the method, such as methyltrichlorosilane, sometimes have toxicity although the temperature for the process is not so high as in the hot-press sintering method and the method is applicable to the preparation of a ceramic body having a relatively complicated form.
As a method for the preparation of silicon carbide-based ceramic materials, a proposal is made for a method involving in situ formation of silicon carbide by a chemical reaction. For example, a green compact body composed of particles of silicon carbide and particles of graphite is infiltrated with a melt of elementary silicon so that silicon carbide is formed in situ by the reaction of the graphite particles and the molten silicon. A problem in this method is that the molten silicon must be at a high temperature of 1600.degree. C. or higher in order to effect smooth and complete infiltration of the green compact body with the molten silicon despite the melting point of elementary silicon of about 1410.degree. C.
Further, a method is proposed in American Ceramic Society Bulletin, volume 65, No. 2, pages 326 to 335 (1986) for the preparation of a fiber-reinforced silicon carbide-based composite ceramic material by utilizing the reaction between carbon of a carbon fiber-reinforced carbon composite and silicon, according to which a composite body of carbon fibers in a carbon matrix is infiltrated with molten silicon to effect the reaction between the carbon matrix and the molten silicon so that a silicon carbide-based composite ceramic body reinforced with carbon fibers can be obtained. This method has problems that the reaction cannot proceed uniformly throughout the compact body and the reaction of the molten silicon may take place not only with the carbon matrix but also with the carbon fibers thus to decrease the reinforcing effect of the carbon fibers. Therefore, it is generally understood that the infiltration method with molten silicon is not suitable for the preparation of a silicon-carbide-based composite ceramic body reinforced with carbon fibers.
Alternatively, a method is proposed in Journal of Japan Ceramic Society, volume 94, No. 5, pages 512 to 516 (1986) for the preparation of a sintered body of silicon carbide by subjecting a blend of powders of silicon and carbon to the process of pressurized self-combustion sintering. This method has almost no prospect of industrialization because sintering therein must be performed at an extremely high temperature of 2000.degree. C. or higher and under a high pressure of at least 3 GPa if not to mention the inapplicability of the method to the preparation of a carbon fiber-reinforced silicon carbide body.

Method for the preparation of silicon carbide-carbon fiber composite

Japan as represented by Director General of Agency of Industrial Science and Technology


In a drive of a stepping motor, an electromotive force is generated on the coil of a motor with a sinusoidal wave having the same period as an energization period by smoothly rotating a rotor with microstep driving, and an induced power is stably detected by detecting the electromotive force at the zero cross of driving current. The detection around the current zero cross makes it possible to shorten a detection section, form a driving waveform with few distortions, and perform driving with a driving waveform as in an ordinary micro step. Thus a circuit is provided which is aimed at reducing noise, vibrations, and loss of synchronization, and increasing current consumption efficiency in the determination of stop.

Conventionally, before reading or writing data in an optical disk device, it is necessary to read disk information on the innermost end of a disk after power is turned on. However, an optical pickup is not always placed on a predetermined point because of disturbance. Thus the optical pickup is moved to one of the outermost end and the innermost end of the disk to adjust the offset of the position of the optical pickup, and then a reading sequence is started. In this movement to one of the outermost end and the innermost end, an optical sensor and a contact switch have been used to detect arrival at a destination. However, these components are more expensive than motor driver ICs. In order to reduce the cost of the overall optical disk device, a stop determination function is provided for the motor driver IC of a stepping motor and components required as detectors have been reduced. It is detected that an induced voltage is not outputted when the optical pickup reaches the innermost end and the outermost end, the optical pickup is made unmovable by a stop member, and the rotor of the stepping motor is locked. Further, the occurrence of an induced voltage in a normal rotation is detected. In the prior art, however, the detection of an induced voltage requires a high impedance section in an energization pattern and affects an energization waveform, causing a loss of synchronization of the rotor, vibrations, noise, and higher power consumption.
A technique relating to the present invention is, for example, described as a patent document in JP2005-27370A2. In order to detect the state of a rotor, a detection state setting unit is provided for setting a detection state in which one motor coil of two phases is cut off when the other coil can be energized, an induced voltage detecting unit is provided for detecting the induced voltage of the one coil, and a rotor state determination unit for determining the state of the rotor based on the detected induced voltage. With this configuration, the state of the rotor is determined based on the state of the induced voltage which is generated during the movement of the rotor.


The invention relates to a novel kinase nucleic acid sequence and protein. Also provided are vectors, host cells, and recombinant methods for making and using the novel molecules.

Protein Kinases
The tight association of phosphate with a molecule, e.g., a protein, has been known since the late nineteenth century. Since then, a variety of covalent linkages of phosphate to proteins have been found. The most common involve esterification of phosphate to serine, threonine, and tyrosine with smaller amounts being linked to lysine, arginine, histidine, aspartic acid, glutamic acid, and cysteine. The occurrence of phosphorylated molecules, e.g., proteins, implies the existence of one or more kinases, e.g., protein kinases, capable of phosphorylating various molecules, e.g., amino acid residues on proteins, and also of phosphatases, e.g., protein phosphatases, capable of hydrolyzing various phosphorylated molecules, e.g., phosphorylated amino acid residues on proteins.
Protein kinases play critical roles in the regulation of biochemical and morphological changes associated with cellular growth and division (D'Urso et al. (1990) Science 250:786-791; Birchmeier et al. (1993) Bioessays 15:185-189). They serve as growth factor receptors and signal transducers and have been implicated in cellular transformation and malignancy (Hunter et al. (1992) Cell 70:375-387; Posada et al. (1992) Mol. Biol. Cell 3:583-592; Hunter et al. (1994) Cell 79:573-582). For example, protein kinases have been shown to participate in the transmission of signals from growth-factor receptors (Sturgill et al. (1988) Nature 344:715-718; Gomez et al. (1991) Nature 353:170173), control of entry of cells into mitosis (Nurse (1990) Nature 344:503-508; Maller (1991) Curr. Opin. Cell Biol. 3:269-275) and regulation of actin bundling (Husain-Chishti et al. (1988) Nature 334:718-721). Protein kinases serve as growth factor receptors and signal transducers and have been implicated in cellular transformation and malignancy (Hunter et al. (1992) Cell 70:375-387; Posada et al. (1992) Mol. Biol. Cell 3:583-592; Hunter et al. (1994) Cell 79:573-582). Alterations in kinase genes and their products can lead to deregulated cell proliferation, a hallmark of cancer. Modulation of these genes and their regulatory activities may permit the control of tumor cell proliferation and invasion.
Protein kinases can be divided into different groups based on either amino acid sequence similarity or specificity for either serine/threonine or tyrosine residues. A small number of dual-specificity kinases have also been described. Within the broad classification, kinases can be further subdivided into families whose members share a higher degree of catalytic domain amino acid sequence identity and also have similar biochemical properties. Most protein kinase family members also share structural features outside the kinase domain that reflect their particular cellular roles. These include regulatory domains that control kinase activity or interaction with other proteins (Hanks et al. (1988) Science 241:42-52).
Extracellular-signal-regulated kinases/microtubule-associated protein kinases (Erk\MAPKs) and cyclin-directed kinases (Cdks) represent two large families of serinethreonine kinases (see Songyang et al., (1996) Mol. Cell. Biol. 16:6486-6493). Both types of kinases function in cell growth, cell division, and cell differentiation, in response to extracellular stimulae. The Erk\MAPK family members are critical participants in intracellular signaling pathways. Upstream activators as well as the Erk\MAPK components are phosphorylated following contact of cells with growth factors or hormones or after cellular stressors, for example, heat, ultraviolet light, and inflammatory cytokines. Cdks regulate transitions between successive stages of the cell cycle. The activity of these molecules is controlled by phosphorylation events and by association with cyclin. Cdk activity is negatively regulated by the association of small inhibitory molecules (Dynlacht, (1997) Nature 389:148-152).
Members of the tumor necrosis factor receptor superfamily have an important role in the induction of cellular signals resulting in cell growth, differentiation, and death. See Smith et al. (1994) Cell 76:959-962. Tumor necrosis factor receptor-1 recruits and assembles a signaling complex containing a number of death domain-containing proteins and a serine/threonine kinase, RIP, which mediates tumor necrosis factor-induced activation of nuclear factor-κB. See Stanger et al. (1995) Cell 81:513-523 and Kelliher et al. (1998) Immunity 8:297-303. Recently, another RIP-like kinase has been characterized, designated "CARDIAK," which contains a serine/threonine kinase domain as well as a carboxy-terminal caspase recruiting domain (CARD) (Thome, et al. (1998) Current Biology 8:885888). Overexpression of this serine/threonine kinase induced the activation of both nuclear factor-κB and Jun N-terminal kinase. This kinase also interacted with the tumor necrosis factor receptor-associated factors TRAF-1 and TRAF-2. A dominant negative form of TRAF-2 inhibited CARDIAK-induced nuclear factor-κb activation. The data in the report suggested that CARDIAK is involved in nuclear factor-κB/Jun N-terminal kinase signaling.
Protein kinases play critical roles in cellular growth. Therefore, novel protein kinase polynucleotides and proteins are useful for modulating cellular growth, differentiation and/or development.
Programmed Cell Death
In multicellular organisms, homeostasis is maintained by balancing the rate of cell proliferation against the rate of cell death. Cell proliferation is influenced by numerous growth factors and the expression of proto-oncogenes, which typically encourage progression through the cell cycle. In contrast, numerous events, including the expression of tumor suppressor genes, can lead to an arrest of cellular proliferation.
In differentiated cells, a particular type of cell death called apoptosis occurs when an internal suicide program is activated. This program can be initiated by a variety of external signals as well as signals that are generated within the cell in response to, for example, genetic damage. Dying cells are eliminated by phagocytes, without an inflammatory response.
Programmed cell death is a highly regulated process (Wilson (1998) Biochem. Cell. Biol. 76:573-582). The death signal is then transduced through various signaling pathways that converge on caspase-mediated degradative cascades resulting in the activation of late effectors of morphological and physiological aspects of apoptosis, including DNA fragmentation and cytoplasmic condensation. In addition, regulation of programmed cell death may be integrated with regulation of energy, redox- and ion homeostasis in the mitochondria (reviewed by (Kroemer, 1998)), and/or cell-cycle control in the nucleus and cytoplasm (reviewed by (Choisy-Rossi and Yonish-Rouach, 1998; Dang, 1999; Kasten and Giordano, 1998)). Many mammalian genes regulating apoptosis have been identified as homologs of genes originally identified genetically in Caenorhabditis elegans or Drosophila melanogaster, or as human oncogenes. Other programmed cell death genes have been found by domain homology to known motifs, such as death domains, that mediate protein-protein interactions within the programmed cell death pathway.
The mechanisms that mediate apoptosis include, but are not limited to, the activation of endogenous proteases, loss of mitochondrial function, and structural changes, such as disruption of the cytoskeleton, cell shrinkage, membrane blebbing, and nuclear condensation due to degradation of DNA. The various signals that trigger apoptosis may bring about these events by converging on a common cell death pathway that is regulated by the expression of genes that are highly conserved. Caspases (cysteine proteases having specificity for aspartate at the substrate cleavage site) are central to the apoptotic program. These proteases are responsible for degradation of cellular proteins that lead to the morphological changes seen in cells undergoing apoptosis.
Thus, programmed cell death (apoptosis) is a normal physiological activity necessary to proper and differentiation in all vertebrates. Defects in apoptosis programs result in disorders including, but not limited to, neurodegenerative disorders, cancer, immunodeficiency, heart disease and autoimmune diseases (Thompson et al. (1995) Science 267:1456).
Accordingly, genes involved in apoptosis are important targets for therapeutic intervention. It is important, therefore, to identify novel genes involved in apoptosis or to discover whether known genes function in this process.

14171 protein kinase, a novel human protein kinase and uses thereof


A corneal topographer based on conoscopic holography with partially coherent illumination. Corneal topographic measurements can be accomplished at a processing rate higher than the standard video rate of 30 Hz. The conoscopic measurements can be used in an opto-electronic servo to control a photorefractive keratectomy system in real time for an improved accuracy in laser ablation of a corneal surface.

Light entering the eye passes through several refractive elements including the cornea, the aqueous, the lens, and the vitreous before forming an image on the retina. Several vision problems are caused by the formation of defocused images on the retina due to eyeball or corneal deformations. Some common vision problems include myopia, presbyopia, hyperopia, and astigmatism. Refractive corneal surgery has been proven to be effective in compensating for these vision problems by reshaping the cornea, the most accessible refractive element of the eye, in a way so that the image focuses correctly on the retina.
Corneal shape correction can be achieved with an invasive surgical procedure such as radial keratectomy, Kerato-mileusis, and Kerato-phakia. A non-invasive procedure such as Photorefractive Keratectomy ("PRK") can also be used in which the corneal surface is ablated step-by-step with ultra-violet (UV) high-power laser pulses to achieve a desired shape. Another non-invasive procedure is Laser Photo Thermal Keratoplasty ("LPTK") in which the cornea is shaped by thermal effects resulting from irradiation of a laser beam.
The corneal shape determines the corrected vision acuity. The correction in the corneal curvature is conventionally measured in diopters, like many other quasi-spherical optical surfaces. Diopters are defined as a reciprocal of the focal length measured in meters. It is known that a deviation by 1 diopter from the desired correction can result in a visual acuity as low as 20/40. Therefore, accurate measurements of the corneal shape during the surgical procedure in order to minimize the surgical errors becomes critical.
PRK methods irradiate the patient's eye by a pulsed laser emitting at a wavelength in an ultra-violet (UV) spectral region in which the corneal tissue is highly absorptive. The corneal tissue is ablated by the high-energy laser pulses and the ablation depth produced by a laser pulse depends on the energy density or "fluence" of the laser pulse. On average in a typical PRK operation, a tissue depth of approximately 0.2.about.0.4 .mu.m can be ablated per pulse with a laser fluence ranging from about 100 mJ/cm.sup.2 to about 300 mJ/cm.sup.2.
Two types of PRK procedures are commonly used, one using a uniformly expanded laser beam and another one using a focused scanning beam. The PRK technique based on a uniform beam expand the UV laser beam to approximately the size of the entire cornea. Accurate diameter control may be achieved by using an iris (i.e., a diaphragm). This method can be used in a treatment for the myopia, hyperopia or presbyopia, but not for astigmatism. The scanning beam PRK method focuses the laser beam to a small spot diameter on the cornea (e.g., approximately 1 mm). This small spot diameter is mechanically steered to access different locations on the cornea sequentially. The scanning beam method usually can be used to achieve a desired shaping profile with a better accuracy than that of the uniform beam method.
In many prior-art PRK procedures, a corrective operation is usually done in four steps. First, a desired topographic shape of the cornea of an eye is determined based on the specific vision problems in the eye. Secondly, the operating parameters, such as the total desired ablation depth and thereby the required number of pulses, are determined prior to the operation for the desired cornea shape. For a scanning PRK, a desired trace of the scanning beam also needs to be determined. Thirdly, the predetermined parameters are used to control the laser to perform the corrective procedure by reshaping the cornea. Lastly, the resultant topographical shape of the cornea is measured.
The above prior-art approach requires that all predetermined operating parameters remain constant during operation. For example, the laser fluence must be precisely known and remain constant during the entire operation. The topographic measurement is performed after the operation and only then can the success of the operation be evaluated.
However, a number of practical factors may adversely affect the above approach. For example, the corneal tissue may not be even and the absorption coefficient of a cornea can often have local variations. This may cause variations in the ablation depth at different locations on the cornea for a laser beam of a constant fluence. Thus, the final topographic shape of the cornea may deviate from a desired shape and the resultant vision can be significantly degraded.
The output power of a laser may also vary or fluctuate during an operation. This power drift in the laser beam can be caused by many factors, including temperature variations, mechanical vibrations, noise in the laser electronic control circuits and so on. In many cases, these factors are not easily controllable although various control servo techniques may be used to reduce the variations. The power variation of the laser can cause undesirable variations in the laser fluence. Consequently, the ablation depth of a pulse changes.
Furthermore, the alignment of the beam scanning system is known to change as well due to variations in the relative positioning of the laser and the beam scanning system, variations in the beam scanning system, and beam drift of the laser. This can cause the scanning laser beam to walk off from a prespecified scanning trace in a scanning PRK process, thereby resulting in an error in the final shape of the cornea. Any accidental movement of the eye during the operation could also adversely affect the operation.
Errors in the final corneal shape due to the above and other factors significantly reduce the effectiveness of the PRK procedures. A study of patients who were treated with a conventional PRK at the Doheny Eye Institute of the University of Southern California showed that about 95% of the patients achieved a corrected vision acuity 20/40 or better after the surgery (corresponding to a refractive error of less than 1 diopter) and only about 50% of these patients had a corrected vision acuity of 20/20 or better. The current relatively low success probability of PRK at least in part contributes to the existing doubt of the public on the PRK procedures despite many benefits and advantages of the PRK over the use of the corrective eye glasses or invasive surgical procedures. Many practitioners in the ophthalmology community believe that a success probability above 95% in achieving a corrected visual acuity of 20/20 with PRK may be necessary in convincing more people with visual problems to receive the beneficial PRK treatment.
In recognition of the above, it is desirable to have precise active control of the ablation progress in real time in order to compensate for the above variations during a PRK operation. This requires acquisition of corneal topographic data of the 3-dimensional shape of the corneal surface within the time interval between two successive ablating pulses. In this context, the topographic measurements are performed in "real time". The topographic data is then fed back to the diaphragm/beam-steering control system to adjust the operating parameters. This active feedback control mechanism can be used to minimize the deviation of the final corneal shape from the ideal shape during the operation.
In order to ascertain the results of the operation, resolution of 0.1 diopters in the corneal curvature measurement would be desirable. The amount of diopter correction as function of ablation depth at the center of the cornea can be calculated geometrically.
The result for the case of myopia is shown in FIG. 1. The curve in FIG. 1 shows that 0.1 diopters correspond to an ablation depth of about 1.3 .mu.m which can be achieved with roughly 4-7 laser pulses in a typical PRK system. At a pulse repetition rate of 50 Hz, this requires one complete topographical measurement every 80 msec or faster. In a transverse direction along a corneal surface, the resolution is mainly determined by the pixel size of the camera and the apertures of the optics used in the optical system. A typical camera can provide a resolution of about 250,000 pixels. If the entire corneal surface, typically about 29 mm.sup.2 in area, is imaged on the camera, an effective spatial resolution of approximately 10 .mu.m is obtained. Commercial systems typically have a resolution on the order of a few hundred microns. Assuming an acceptable lateral resolution at 100 .mu.m in the beam diameter spot, about 2,500 of pixels need to be processed.
The measured topographic data can be used both for graphical display and feedback to the beam-steering controls of the system. To account for delays in the calculation of the required mirror positions and the mechanical response, a faster operation of the measurement system may be reasonably assumed. One estimate for the data processing rate is 30 ms or 30 Hz, which corresponds to the standard video rate. This leads to approximately 83,000 pixels per second.
However, the conventional corneal topographic systems are limited in providing the above real-time topographic measurements during the surgery. One commercial corneal topography system, for example, projects calibrated fringe patterns on the cornea, captures the reflection using a CCD camera, and then digitally processes the distortions on the fringe pattern in order to deduce the deviation of corneal surface from a perfect sphere. The amount of calculation required to perform this operation cannot be performed at a speed of 83,000 pixels/sec that is desirable for a real-time.
In addition, the conventional corneal topographic systems impose various other constraints that make them unsuitable for real-time surgical monitoring.
For example, several commercial topographic systems project Placido rings on a corneal surface and capture the specular reflected pattern from the cornea with a camera. The captured pattern is then digitized and measured to determine the fringe distortion. Thus, an one-to-one mapping between the surface deformation and the fringe shape is established. One limitation of this approach is the long processing time, usually on the order of 10 seconds or 0.1 Hz in terms of the processing rate. This is too slow for a real-time corneal topographic measurement required for a PRK treatment. Another limitation is that the Placido ring technique may work well on smooth specularly reflective surfaces but the performance is severely degraded for a scattering or diffusive surface. In a PRK surgery, the epithelium on a corneal surface is removed so that the surface is no longer perfectly specular but has a degree of scattering due to the laser ablation. This can undermine the effectiveness of the Placido ring method in a real-time corneal topography during a PRK operation. In addition, the Placido ring method requires the imaging camera to be placed at certain right angles to capture the fringes. This may limit the access of the ablating laser beam to the cornea.
A triangulation technique is also used as a conventional topographic method. A computer controls the pitch of the projected fringes on the corneal surface and acquires the images from the camera. The captured images are processed to obtain the fringe edge distortion data which constructs an isoheight map of the corneal surface. In a binocular configuration, the position of a point of interest on a corneal surface is extracted in three-dimensional space by intersecting the lines connecting the point to two cameras.
One limitation in the binocular-triangulation-based technique is the need to have a reference point on the cornea for a 3D mapping. This is difficult to obtain for a corneal surface which lacks pronounced features (e.g. a shape with edges and texture). Another limitation is the requirement to obtain a nearly perfect calibration, since a slight error in the knowledge about the relative location of the two cameras can induce large errors in the inferred surface shape.
Alternatively, a monocular configuration may be used for a triangulation system. Only a single camera is needed. A light projector can effectively serve as a second, active camera to replace a second passive camera in the above binocular configuration. A reference point is no longer necessary in the monocular technique. The light projector is used to project fringe or grid patterns of varying spatial frequency on the cornea. The topographic information is obtained by observing the deformations in the fringe edges.
Commercial corneal topographers based on triangulation can be used for a scattering corneal surface and allow access to a corneal surface by a ablating laser beam. Since the camera images a scattering surface at an angle, only a small portion of the reflected light from the surface may be captured. Therefore, it is often necessary to deposit a reflectivity enhancing material such as sodium fluorescein on the cornea in order to improve its reflectivity. The processing speed is usually slow, typically on an order of 5 to 10 seconds for a full corneal shape on which about 1000 points are sampled. In addition, the imaging resolution is about 0.2 mm.
Coherent holographic interference has also been used in some commercial topographers. Some aspects of this approach can be found, for example, in Am. J. Optometry & Phys. Optics, Vol. 65(8), pp. 653-660 (1988) by Smolek and in J. Cataract Refract. Surg., Vol.19S, pp. 182-187 (1993) by Burris et al. One limitation of this technique is the inherent speckle noise in a coherent holographic system. The inventors of the present invention evaluated this method for corneal shape measurements on swine eyes by both calculations and experiments. It was found that strong speckle noise was present in the captured images by illuminating the surface of a swine eye without the epithelium with a laser beam. The speckle noise makes it very difficult to form a topographic measurement. Well-known speckle reduction techniques, such as those disclosed by Iwai and Asakura in "Speckle reduction in coherent information processing", IEEE proceedings, Vol. 84(5), pp. 765-781 (1996), are usually cumbersome to incorporate in a commercial system, and cannot completely eliminate the speckle noise since they are incompatible with holographic recording.
The holographic techniques also suffer from power and stability limitations. The allowable power that may be applied on an eye without causing damage is within a range approximately from about 300 .mu.W to about 400 .mu.W. A reflected light beam with about 6-8 .mu.W is usually available for recording a hologram for a typical eye with a reflectivity of about 2%. Conventional photopolymers are reasonably sensitive media in the red region of the spectrum. The time required to accumulate enough energy to record a hologram in such material would be on the order of a few hundred milliseconds, during which the patient's eye and the optical system must be completely stabilized. This is difficult in practice because of periodic eye movements and other instabilities that may occur under surgery room conditions.

Conoscopic system for real-time corneal topography


The occlusal position of a patient is measured by means of light transmission through a layer of a polysiloxane which is not cross-linked. This material forms an exceptionally accurate impression of a patient's bite essentially instantaneously and enables subsequent recording and analysis of the bite in a matter of minutes.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the rapid and accurate measurement and recording of the occlusal position of a patient's teeth in connection with restorative and orthodontic dentistry.
2. Background Information
An accurate measurement of the normal position of a patient's teeth is a critical factor in restorative and orthodontic procedures. A common technique for measuring the occlusal position is to make a mold of the teeth, or of the patient's bite, using a pliable material that can itself be hardened or that can be used to form a more nearly permanent cast. In this technique, the material is transformed into a stable gel from an initially soft plastic while in the mouth of the patient and over a period of a few minutes. The transformation can occur by chemical cross-linking or by physical gelation on cooling.
A different approach was described by one of the applicants herein in U.S. Pat. No. 4,786,254, issued Nov. 22, 1988, to Philip L. Millstein and Paul Goldberg for "Method Of Permanently Recording Occlusal Contacts". That patent describes a method of permanently documenting an occlusal position by having a patient bite down on a thin film of pliable impression material and thereafter forming a transmission photograph of the impression material. The technique has proven useful, but its accuracy is significantly affected by the particular material used to record the occlusal markings. The extent of variability of measurements made with various tapes and impression papers is discussed in detail in Millstein, Philip and Maya, Alvaro, "An evaluation of occlusal contact marking indicators", Journal of the American Dental Association, vol. 132, p. 1280, September 2001.

Method for occlusal position measurement and recording


A splice loss tester for optical fiber splices has two light launch stations and a detection station. The light launch stations each have an optical coupling block formed of acrylic or other transparent material, with a concave surface on which an arcuate segment of the fiber is lightly biased by a cylindrical anvil. A photoemitter in optical contact with the coupling block generates light at a suitable wavelength (e.g. 1550 nm). A clear silicon gel layer on the block concave surface can hasten fiber stabilization. The detection station has a similar coupling block and anvil, and a pair of photodetectors to detect light leakage in each of two directions. The light is launched or detected over a substantial arc of the fiber, i.e., about ninety degrees, and the launch and detection units are useful over a wide range of wavelengths.

This invention relates to measurement of light lobs at a junction of two optical fibers, and is in particular concerned with testing the quality of splices in fiber communications systems.
At the present time, optical fibers are widely used for long-haul communications systems. In any given system, a long-distance fiber optic cable can consist of a number of fibers, each formed of several lengths of fiber joined end to end. In a given fiber there can be a number of splices separated from one another by a kilometer or more. Light is injected into each fiber at one end and a detector at the other end converts the information carried on the light into an electrical signal containing one or more channels. Each splice is a potential site of signal loss, and so the quality of the splices limits the quality and the distance for the communications system.
Splices can be fusion splices or mechanical splices. In a fusion splice the mating ends of the two fibers are cleaved and prepared so that their end surfaces are as square as possible. The fiber ends are manipulated on a jig so that the fibers are aligned on their x, y and z axes, and then the fibers are heat softened and fused together. The quality of the splice (i.e., the number of dB of loss) can be estimated by visual inspection of the fiber cores after fusion.
For a mechanical splice, the ends of the fibers are prepared, and are positioned in a V-groove in a splice coupler device. A matching oil (i.e. a clear fluid medium having the same retractive index as the optical fiber core) is applied at the junction of the fibers, and a cover or clamp is installed to hold the fibers securely in place. In this case, the positions of the fiber ends cannot be checked by visual inspection, so the amount of signal loss at the splices is inspected afterwards by analyzing light injected at one end of the fiber. This technique typically requires use of an optical time domain reflectometer (OTDR). This device is typically located at a site far from the location of the splice. Also, the OTDR is a rather expensive device, and requires considerable training for the operator. There have been several techniques proposed to inject light into the fiber on one side of a splice and extract light from the fiber on the other side of the splice, and from the measured light intensities compute the light loss at the splice.
A macrobending technique involves bending the fiber on each side of the splice, with each bend having a radius of curvature of 1 to 4 mm. Light is coupled from a focussed laser or LED source into a spot on the outside of the bend. With injectors of this type, -50 to -70 dBm of injection can be achieved, depending on the bend radius and light wavelength chosen. However, bending the fiber stresses it, typically at several times its proof stress limit, and can seriously compromise the long-term strength of the glass fiber. Tests have shown that fibers break in less than five minutes if the bend has a 1 mm radius. Consequently, macrobend light launchers employ bend radii of 4 mm or larger, which can achieve coupling factors of only -60 to -70 dBm at 1550 nm.
Microbend injectors do not impose such stress on the fibers, and thus impose less risk of fiber breakage. These devices typically distort the fiber by only about 0.1 micron along the fiber axis, and yet achieve a typical light launch efficiency of about -35 to 40 dBm at 1300 nm.
Microbend injectors bend the fiber over a small angle at one point, and impose a very small lateral distortion. These devices are tuned, that is, they are effective only at or near one given wavelength. If it is desired to inject light at another wavelength, the injector has to be entirely reconfigured for that wavelength.
In an evanescent microbend technique, the fiber is bent and is simultaneously impressed against the hypotenuse of a right-angle glass prism to cause microbending. This, in theory, provides about a 10 dB improvement over the macrobend injectors mentioned earlier. As tested, this type of device achieves an injection efficiency of -48 dBm at 1550 nm and -57 dBm at 1300 nm. This technique could also cause high stress.
Some previously proposed techniques as found in the patent literature include a macrobend technique as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,618,212 (Ludington et al.) and a microbend technique as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,652,123 (Neumann).
It has been desired to use a light injection system and light extraction system which have better efficiencies than those described above, and if possible at least -30 dBm, and preferably -20 dBM. However, the existing techniques could not reliably achieve these levels, thus limiting the ability to construct and use a field-developed splice tester for use in testing mechanical type splices.

Macrobend splice loss tester for fiber optic splices with silicon gel cushion on optical coupling blocks


In a method for magnetic resonance imaging, whereby magnetic resonance signals in a region of interest of an examination subject are generated in an examination by applying radio-frequency pulses of a first transmission field strength and the magnetic resonance signals are acquired in a spatially coded manner and allocated to volume elements of the region of interest in order to obtain one or more magnetic resonance images of the region of interest, the sensitivity of each volume element of the region of interest with respect to a modification of the first transmission field strength is determined, deviations of the first transmission field strength from a reference field strength are measured during the examination, and the magnetic resonance signals acquired in the examination are corrected on the basis of the sensitivity determined for each volume element and on the basis of the measured deviations of the first transmission field strength from the reference field strength. The method enables the implementation of fMRI measurements with high precision given fluctuating transmission field strength.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a method for magnetic resonance (MR) imaging that can be particularly utilized for the implementation of sensitive magnetic resonance measurements wherein a fluctuating transmission field strength has a negative influence.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Magnetic resonance tomography is a known technique for acquiring images of the inside of the body of a living examination subject. For the implementation of magnetic resonance tomography, a basic field magnet generates a static, relatively homogeneous basic magnetic field. During the registration of magnetic resonance images, rapidly switched gradient fields for location coding are superimposed on this basic magnetic field, these gradient fields being generated by gradient coils. Radio-frequency pulses having a defined transmission field strength B1 for triggering magnetic resonance signals S are emitted into the examination subject with radio-frequency transmission antennas. The magnetic resonance signals produced with these radio-frequency pulses are picked up by radio-frequency reception antennas. The magnetic resonance images of the examined subject region of the examination subject are produced on the basis of these magnetic resonance signals received with the reception antennas. Each picture element in the magnetic resonance image is allocated to a small body volume, referred to as the voxel. The brightness or intensity value of the picture element is dependent on the signal amplitude of the magnetic resonance signal received from this voxel. The intensity of the magnetic resonance signal S is in turn dependent on the intensity of the emitted field B1 of the radio-frequency transmission antennas, among other things.
The exciting transmission field strength B1 cannot be kept precisely constant due to unavoidable fluctuations in the transmission power, for example due to temperature fluctuations or disturbances in the amplifier as well as the properties of the transmission antenna, for example due to heating or a change in capacitance given movements on the part of the patient. The effects of a fluctuating transmission field strength are disturbing particularly when sensitive measurements wherein extremely minute signal differences in the magnetic resonance signals are of significance. An example of such a measurement is functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) with which information about the brain activity in humans and animals can be obtained. In functional magnetic resonance tomography, magnetic resonance exposures of the subject volume to be examined, the brain of a patient, are made at short time intervals. A stimulus-specific neural activation can be detected and spatially localized by comparing the signal curve measured with the means of functional imaging for each volume element of the subject volume to the time curve of a model function. Since the minute changes of the received magnetic resonance signal triggered by physiological events must thereby be detected, functional magnetic resonance imaging requires an extremely high stability of the magnetic resonance system. Fluctuations in the transmission field strength can greatly degrade the analytical validity of the measurements.
Two different concepts are currently known for countering this known problem of the fluctuating transmission field strength in measurements of functional magnetic resonance tomography. One approach employs class-A transmission amplifiers as the antenna transmission amplifiers. These offer a high stability of the amplification in order to achieve an optimally constant transmission field strength during the measurement. These transmission amplifiers, however, are extremely complicated technically and also exhibit a poor efficiency.
It is also known to place a reference object in the form of a phantom object next to the examination subject in the measurement field or measurement volume (FOV=field of view) during the measurement, a reference signal being obtained from this reference object. The magnetic resonance signals received from the volume elements (voxels) of the examination subject are then referenced to this reference signal in order to correct fluctuations of the transmission field strength in the magnetic resonance signals. This technique, however, is only meaningful given a repetition time TR of the excitation that is far longer than the longest longitudinal relaxation time T1 (usually about 1 second) occurring in the tissue of the examination subject, since the signal S of a volume element is then proportional to sin(α), whereby α˜B1, so that S correlates directly with the transmission field strength B1. Due to the saturation of the spin, the maximum of the signal then appears at α<90°, and the relationship between the signal S and the transmission field strength B1 becomes dependent on the type of tissue of the respective volume element. In this case, the longitudinal relaxation time T1 of the phantom cannot be representative for the overall measurement volume. Moreover, a different mix of a number of signal-generating materials is present within each and every volume element, so that a simple allocation of the macroscopic tissue type to an effective T1 generally is not possible.

Method for magnetic resonance imaging with correction for fluctuations in the tramsission field strength


The invention relates to a lifting device for a work station of a packaging machine, the lifting device comprising two drive shafts, which are arranged in parallel and which each have arranged thereon at least two toggle levers for vertically moving in common a tool lower part. The drive shafts each have a servomotor as a drive unit and the servomotors are synchronized with each other.

DE 4216210 discloses a pneumatically driven lifting unit for a forming or sealing station of a thermoform packaging machine. In addition, DE 10 2006 006 218 A1 discloses a lifting unit, which is also operated pneumatically. In the case of this lifting unit, the movement of the cylinder piston is converted by means of a plurality of lever mechanisms into a vertical movement of a tool lower part and a tool upper part with shafts, some of which rotate in opposite directions. The synchronization of the shafts rotating in opposite directions is complicated and, due to the lever mechanisms, the lifting unit is difficult to clean.
Other lifting units for packaging machines are disclosed by DE 10 2009 008 452 A1 and DE 10 2010 013 889 A1.

MULTIVAC SEPP HAGGENMUELLER GMBH & CO. KG


A plasma display device is provided which includes a plurality of X electrodes, a plurality of Y electrodes arranged adjacent to the plurality of X electrodes for causing sustain discharges between the plurality of X electrodes and the plurality of Y electrodes, an X electrode drive circuit for applying a sustain discharge voltage to the plurality of X electrodes, and a Y electrode drive circuit for applying a sustain discharge voltage to the plurality of Y electrodes. The X electrode drive circuit and the Y electrode drive circuit have a first sustain drive mode in which discharge pulses to predetermined adjacent electrodes rise or fall in the same direction at the same time and a second sustain drive mode in which discharge pulses to all adjacent electrodes rise or fall at different timings.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a plasma display device.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 34 is a diagram showing the basic configuration of a plasma display device. A control circuit section 1101 controls an address driver 1102, a sustain electrode (X electrode) sustain (sustain discharge) circuit 1103, a scan electrode (Y electrode) sustain circuit 1104, and a scan driver 1105.
The address driver 1102 supplies a predetermined voltage to address electrodes A1, A2, A3, . . . Hereafter, each of the address electrodes A1, A2, A3, . . . or their generic name is an address electrode Aj, j representing a suffix.
The scan driver 1105 supplies a predetermined voltage to scan electrodes Y1, Y2, Y3, . . . in accordance with control of the control circuit section 1101 and the scan electrode sustain circuit 1104. Hereafter, each of the scan electrodes Y1, Y2, Y3, . . . or their generic name is a scan electrode Yi, i representing a suffix.
The sustain electrode sustain circuit 1103 supplies the same voltage to sustain electrodes X1, X2, X3, . . . respectively. Hereafter, each of the sustain electrodes X1, X2, X3, . . . or their generic name is a sustain electrode Xi, i representing a suffix. The sustain electrodes Xi are connected to each other and have the same voltage level.
Within a display region 1107, the scan electrodes Yi and the sustain electrodes Xi form rows extending in parallel in the horizontal direction, and the address electrodes Aj form columns extending in the vertical direction. The scan electrodes Yi and the sustain electrodes Xi are alternately arranged in the vertical direction. Ribs 1106 have a stripe rib structure provided between the address electrodes Aj.
The scan electrodes Yi and the address electrodes Aj form a two-dimensional matrix with i rows and j columns. A display cell Cij is formed of an intersection of the scan electrode Yi and the address electrode Aj and the sustain electrode Xi correspondingly adjacent thereto. This display cell Cij corresponds to a pixel, so that the display region 1107 can display a two-dimensional image.
FIG. 35A is a view showing the configuration of a cross section of the display cell Cij in FIG. 34. The sustain electrode Xi and the scan electrode Yi are formed on a front glass substrate 1211. A dielectric layer 1212 for insulating the electrodes from a discharge space 1217 is applied thereover, and a MgO (magnesium oxide) protective film 1213 is further applied over the dielectric layer 1212.
On the other hand, the address electrode Aj is formed on a rear glass substrate 1214 which is disposed to oppose the front glass substrate 1211, a dielectric layer 1215 is applied thereover, and further phosphors are applied over the dielectric layer 1215. In the discharge space 1217 between the MgO protective film 1213 and the dielectric layer 1215, a Ne+Xe Penning gas or the like is sealed.
FIG. 35B is a view for explaining a capacitance Cp of an AC drive type plasma display. A capacitance Ca is a capacitance of the discharge space 1217 between the sustain electrode Xi and the scan electrode Yi. A capacitance Cb is a capacitance of the dielectric layer 1212 between the sustain electrode Xi and the scan electrode Yi. A capacitance Cc is a capacitance of the front glass substrate 1211 between the sustain electrode Xi and the scan electrode Yi. The sum of the capacitances Ca, Cb, and Cc determines the capacitance between the electrodes Xi and Yi.
FIG. 35C is a view for explaining light emission of the AC drive type plasma display. On an inner surface of a rib 1216, phosphors 1218 in red, blue and green are applied, arranged in stripes for each color, so that a discharge between the sustain electrode Xi and the scan electrode Yi excites the phosphors 1218 to generate light 1221.
FIG. 36 is a diagram of the configuration of one frame FR of an image. The image is formed of, for example, 60 frames per second. One frame FR is formed of a first subframe SF1, a second subframe SF2, . . . , and an nth subframe SFn. This n is, for example, 10, and corresponds to the number of grayscale bits. Each of the subframes SF1, SF2, and so on or their generic name is a subframe SF hereafter.
Each subframe SF is composed of a reset period Tr, an address period Ta, and a sustain period (sustain discharge period) Ts. During the rest period Tr, the display cell is initialized. During the address period Ta, lighting or non-lighting of each display cell can be selected by addressing. The selected cell emits light during the sustain period Ts. The number of light emissions (period of time) is different in each SF. This can determine a grayscale value.
FIG. 37 shows a driving method during the sustain period Ts of a progressive method plasma display. At time t1, an anode potential Vs1 is applied to the sustain electrodes Xn−1, Xn, and Xn+1, and a cathode potential Vs2 is applied to the scan electrodes Yn−1, Yn, and Yn+1. This applies a high voltage respectively between the sustain electrode Xn−1 and the scan electrode Yn−1, between the sustain electrode Xn and the scan electrode Yn, and between the sustain electrode Xn+1 and the scan electrode Yn+1 to perform sustain discharges 1410.
Subsequently, at time t2, the cathode potential Vs2 is applied to the sustain electrodes Xn−1, Xn, and Xn+1, and the anode potential Vs1 is applied to the scan electrodes Yn−1, Yn, and Yn+1. This applies a high voltage respectively between the sustain electrode Xn−1 and the scan electrode Yn−1, between the sustain electrode Xn and the scan electrode Yn, and between the sustain electrode Xn+1 and the scan electrode Yn+1 to perform sustain discharges 1410.
Subsequently, at time t3, the same potentials as those at time t1 are applied to perform sustain discharges 1410, and at time t4, the same potentials as those at time t2 are applied to perform sustain discharges 1410.
FIG. 38 shows a driving method during the sustain period Ts of a plasma display by an ALIS (Alternate Lighting of Surfaces) method. At time t1, the anode potential Vs1 is applied to the sustain electrodes Xn−1 and Xn+1 on odd-numbered rows, and the cathode potential Vs2 is applied to the scan electrodes Yn−1 and Yn+1 on odd-numbered rows. Further, the cathode potential Vs2 is applied to the sustain electrode Xn on an even-numbered row, and the anode potential Vs1 is applied to the scan electrode Yn on an even-numbered row. This applies a high voltage respectively between the sustain electrode Xn−1 and the scan electrode Yn−1, between the sustain electrode Xn and the scan electrode Yn, and between the sustain electrode Xn+1 and the scan electrode Yn+1 to perform sustain discharges 1510.
Subsequently, at time t2, the cathode potential Vs2 is applied to the sustain electrodes Xn−1 and Xn+1 on the odd-numbered rows, and the anode potential Vs1 is applied to the scan electrodes Yn−1 and Yn+1 on the odd-numbered rows. Further, the anode potential Vs1 is applied to the sustain electrode Xn on the even-numbered row, and the cathode potential Vs2 is applied to the scan electrode Yn on the even-numbered row. This applies a high voltage respectively between the sustain electrode Xn−1 and the scan electrode Yn−1, between the sustain electrode Xn and the scan electrode Yn, and between the sustain electrode Xn+1 and the scan electrode Yn+1 to perform sustain discharges 1510.
Subsequently, at time t3, the same potentials as those at time t1 are applied to perform sustain discharges 1510, and at time t4, the same potentials as those at time t2 are applied to perform sustain discharges 1510.
The above-described ALIS method is also described in the following patent document 1. Further, the following patent documents 2 and 3 are disclosed.
(Patent Document 1)
Japanese Patent No. 2801893 (U.S. Pat. No. 6,373,452)
(Patent Document 2)
Japanese Patent No. 3201603 (EP 01065650)
(Patent Document 3)
Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2003-15585 (US 2003-0001801)


A bidet device (10) includes a hand held spray member (12). An assembly (14) is for supplying a source of warm water to the hand held spray member (12), so that the warm water can be ejected from the hand held spray member (12) and be directed to a crotch area of a female person over a bowl (16) of a conventional toilet (18). An assembly (20) is for supplying a source of warm air to the hand held spray member (12), so that the warm air can be ejected from the hand held spray member (12) and be directed to the crotch area of the female person to dry the crotch area. An assembly (22) in the hand held spray member (12) is for supplying a source of liquid soap, so that the liquid soap can be ejected from the hand held spray member (12) and be directed to the crotch area of the female person to help clean the crotch area.

1. Field of the Invention
The instant invention relates generally to toilet hygienic accessories and more specifically it relates to a bidet device. The bidet device includes a hand held spray head used in conjunction with a standard toilet to be directed to a crotch area of a female body, so as to reduce the use of toilet paper and soiled underwear during a menstrual cycle. The bidet device can be utilized for medical and other female personal nature requirements.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Numerous toilet hygienic accessories have been provided in prior art. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,596,058 to Nourbakhsh; 4,761,837 to Takeda; 4,890,340 to Lovitt and 5,023,961 to Alonso all are illustrative of such prior art. While these units may be suitable for the particular purpose to which they address, they would not be as suitable for the purposes of the present invention as heretofore described.
NOUREAKHSH, MAHMOUD M.
BIDET ATTACHMENT FOR WATER CLOSETS
U.S. Pat. No. 4,596,058
This patent discloses a bidet attachment for a conventional water closet. An open compartment is formed at one end of the water tank to receive a water mixing chamber which receives water from incoming hot and cold supply lines. The entry of hot and cold water into the mixing chamber is controlled by valve control handles on the side of the compartment. An outlet pipe extends from the mixing chamber to the overfill pipe of the water tank and is accessible so that the water temperature can be sensed by touching the outlet pipe. A hand held spray is carried on the end of a flexible hose which can be retracted into the compartment for storage. A control button on the spray head can be activated to divert water from the outlet pipe to the hose for application of a bidet spray from the spray head, with the toilet bowl serving as the bidet basin.
TAKEDA, HISANOBU
WASHING DEVICE FOR PARTS OF BODY
U.S. Pat. No. 4,761,837
A washing device for parts of the body comprises a pump means to supply water from a water source under pressure and a nozzle means which spouts the pressurized water against the private parts of the human body as a water jet. Since the pump means has an air intake port on the suction side, air foam is securely mixed in the water jet. Also, since an air control valve is provided in connection with the air intake port, the mixing ratio of the air in the water can be controlled by the air control valve.
LOVITT, HAROLD B.
SELF-CONTAINED HAND-HELD BIDET
U.S. Pat. No. 4,890,340
This patent discloses a self-contained hand-held bidet device, for providing lavaging action with portability and convenience. The device comprises a housing having a motorized pump with a power source and switch for activating the pump. The pump draws fluid from a reservoir mounted at one end of the housing and pumps the fluid through a pivotal conduit to exit as a spray. Lightweight construction, a collapsible reservoir and the pivotally mounted wand facilitate convenient storage.
ALONSO, NELSON A.
BIDET ACCESSORY
U.S. Pat. No. 5,023,961
This patent discloses a bidet accessory for mounting to the rear flanged section of two-piece toilet fixtures and removably connected to hot and cold water supplies. An outlet is connected through a flexible conduit to a sprayer that is, when not in use, held in place by the supporting assembly. A mounting assembly is mounted to the supporting assembly and it allows for the installation of the bidet accessory in a multitude of different angles depending on the users' preferences and space constraints.


A method for preventing breach of original data for deep learning is provided. The method includes steps of: a data breach preventing device (a) adding noise onto the acquired original data to generate 1-st noisy data; and (b)(b1) while increasing an integer k from 1 to an integer larger than 0, (i) inputting k-th noisy data into a learning network, to apply learning operations to the k-th noisy data using learned parameters of the learning network, and to output k-th characteristic information, and (ii) launching an adversarial attack on the k-th noisy data via backpropagation using at least one of (ii-1) (k_1)-st losses calculated using the k-th characteristic information and a 1-st ground truth, and (ii-2) (k_2)-nd losses calculated using (1) a k-th task specific output and (2) a 2-nd ground truth, and generating (k+1)-th noisy data, and (b2) as a result, generating n-th noisy data as watermarked data.

Big data refers to data including all of unstructured data and semi-structured data not utilized so far, like e-commerce data, metadata, web log data, radio frequency identification (RFID) data, sensor network data, social network data, data of Internet text and documents, Internet search indexing data, as well as all of structured data used by conventional enterprises or public institutions. Data as such are referred to as big data in the sense that common software tools and computer systems cannot easily handle such a huge volume of data.
And, although such big data may be insignificant by itself, it can be useful for generation of new data, judgment, or prediction in various fields through machine learning on patterns and the like.
And, in the machine learning and artificial intelligence industry, there is a need to share data sets to be used for deep learning, and accordingly, the data sets are becoming high value assets in the same industry.
However, there are various problems in sharing the data sets.
For example, when a user, who lacks resources to preview, verify, or label the data sets, delegates handling of the data sets to a third party, since the third party can directly access the original data included in the data sets, the original data is at risk of illegal copying. In addition, the third party can train a new deep learning network using the original data, and accordingly, there is a problem that the user's rights to the data sets are violated.
To prevent this, a method of converting the original data for the deep learning into naive watermarked data for sharing has been proposed.
However, such a method is mostly useless for protecting the original data because the learning network trained with the naive watermarked data shows performance almost similar to that of the learning network trained with the original data.
Also, since the naive watermark is easily erasable by image processing technology, there is a limit to protecting the original data.

Method for preventing breach of original data for deep learning and data breach preventing device using them


Systems and methods for managing a resource are disclosed. Resource may include vendors, suppliers, partners and the like. The systems allow users to conduct a weighted analysis of various resources and compare multiple resources on the same scale. Moreover, the systems are configured to grade various resources based on their strategic value to a business. This analysis and the resulting strategic value may be based on qualitative data provided by users and quantitative data captured from the business relationship between the business and the resource.

Large businesses are typically geographically and culturally diverse, segmented, and employ thousands of people. These factors may make it difficult to share information regarding resources used by a particular business. For example, a first business unit may use a resource to provide a service. A second business unit may require the same resource, but may be unaware that the resource provides the service to the first business unit. Moreover, even if the second business unit is aware that the resource provides the service to the first business unit, there is often no sufficient way for the second business unit to understand how the resource performs for the first business unit.
As such, it is desirable to a business to identify and quantify the performance of its resources. Moreover, it is desirable to a business to have a uniform process and scale to assess and evaluate resource performance, in order to communicate the capabilities of the resource across a diverse business.

System and method for managing a resource


After a sampling transistor is turned ON at a first timing when a control signal has risen, during a sampling period from a second timing when a video signal has risen from a reference potential to a signal potential to a third timing when the control signal has fallen and is turned OFF, the sampling transistor samples and writes the signal potential in a holding capacitance, and negatively feeds back a current flowing into a drive transistor during the sampling period to the holding capacitance and applies mobility correction of the drive transistor on the written signal potential. A signal driver adjusts the second timing for the video signal supplied to respective signal lines to correct a backward shift of the third timing due to a transmission delay along a scanning line of the control signal output from the control scanner.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an active matrix display apparatus using a light emitting element for a pixel and a drive method therefor. The invention also relates to an electronic device provided with such a display apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, a flat panel light emitting display apparatus using an organic EL device as a light emitting element has been developed. The organic EL device is a device utilizing the phenomenon that light is emitted when an organic thin film is applied with an electric field. The organic EL device is driven at an applied voltage of 10 V or smaller and thus consumes a small amount of electric power. Also, the organic EL device is a light emitting element which emits light from itself. Therefore, the organic EL device does not need an illumination member, and accordingly, it is easy to realize a lighter weight and a thinner structure. Furthermore, the response speed of the organic EL device is about several μs, which is extremely fast, and therefore an after image during video display is not generated.
Among the flat panel light emitting display apparatuses using the organic EL device for the pixel, an active matrix display apparatus in which thin film transistors are formed as drive elements in each pixel in an integrated manner has been particularly developed. Such an active matrix, flat panel light emitting display apparatus is described in, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication Nos. 2003-255856, 2003-271095, 2004-133240, 2004-029791, 2004-093682, and, 2006-215213.
FIG. 23 is a schematic circuit diagram of an example of an active matrix display apparatus in related art. The display apparatus is composed of a pixel array section 1 and a peripheral drive section. The drive section is provided with a horizontal selector 3 and a write scanner 4. The pixel array section 1 is provided with signal lines SL arranged in columns and scanning lines WS arranged in rows. Pixels 2 are arranged at positions where the respective signal lines SL intersect with the scanning lines WS. For facilitating an understanding, in the drawing, only one pixel 2 is illustrated. The write scanner 4 is provided with a shift register. The write scanner 4 is operated in accordance with a clock signal ck supplied from the outside, and sequentially outputs control signals to the scanning lines WS by sequentially transferring a start pulse sp similarly supplied from the outside. The horizontal selector 3 is adapted to supply the signal lines SL with video signals in accordance with the line progressive scanning on the write scanner 4 side.
The pixel 2 is composed of a sampling transistor T1, a drive transistor T2, a holding capacitance C1, and a light emitting element EL. The drive transistor T2 is of a P channel type. A source of the drive transistor T2 is connected to the power source line, and a drain of the drive transistor T2 is connected to the light emitting element EL. A gate of the drive transistor T2 is connected to the signal line SL via the sampling transistor T1. The sampling transistor T1 is put into a continuity state in accordance with the control signal supplied from the write scanner 4, and samples the video signal supplied from the signal line SL to write the video signal in the holding capacitance C1. The drive transistor T2 receives the video signal written in the holding capacitance C1 as a gate voltage Vgs at the gate, and allows a drain current Ids to flow into the light emitting element EL. As a result, the light emitting element EL emits light in accordance with the video signal. The gate voltage Vgs represents a potential at the gate while the source is used as a reference.
The drive transistor T2 is operated in a saturated area, and the relation between the gate voltage Vgs and the drain current Ids is represented by the following characteristic expression;Ids=(½)μ(W/L)Cox(Vgs−Vth)2
where μ represents the mobility of the drive transistor, W represents the channel width of the drive transistor, L represents the channel length of the drive transistor, Cox represents the gate insulation film capacity in unit areas of the drive transistor, and Vth represents the threshold voltage of the drive transistor. As is apparent from this characteristic expression, when the drive transistor T2 is operated in the saturated area, the drive transistor T2 functions as a constant current source for supplying the drain current Ids in accordance with the gate voltage Vgs.
FIG. 24 is a graphic representation of a voltage/current characteristic of the light emitting element EL. The horizontal axis represents an anode voltage V, and the vertical axis represents the drive current Ids. It should be noted that the anode voltage at the light emitting element EL becomes a drain voltage at the drive transistor T2. In the light emitting element EL, as the current/voltage characteristic changes over time, the characteristic curve has a tendency to be flattening together with the elapse of time. For this reason, even when the drive current Ids is constant, the anode voltage (drain voltage) V changes. In that point, with the pixel circuit 2 illustrated in FIG. 23, the drive transistor T2 is operated in the saturated area, and irrespective of the variation of the drain voltage, the drive current Ids can be flown at the gate in accordance with the voltage Vgs can be flown at the gate. Therefore, irrespective of the characteristic change over time of the light emitting element EL, it is possible to maintain the light emission luminance constant.
FIG. 25 is a circuit diagram of another example of the pixel circuit in related art. A difference from the pixel circuit previously illustrated in FIG. 23 is that the drive transistor T2 is of an N channel type instead of the P channel type. For a manufacturing process of the circuit, it is advantageous in many cases to set all the transistors configuring the pixels to the N channel type.

Display apparatus and driving method therefor, and electronic device


A method, apparatus and system for secure forensic investigation of a target machine by a client machine over a communications network. In one aspect the method comprises establishing secure communication with a server over a communications network, establishing secure communication with the target machine over the communications network, wherein establishing secure communication with the target machine includes establishing secure communication between the server and the target machine, installing a servelet on the target machine, transmitting a secure command to the servelet over the communications network, executing the secure command in the servelet, transmitting data, by the target machine, in response to a servelet instruction, and receiving the data from the target machine over the communication network.

Computer investigation has become increasingly important as the use of computers has extended to virtually all areas of everyday life. Computer investigation, as used herein, includes computer forensics, which is the collection, preservation and analysis of computer-related evidence. Computer-related evidence is increasingly being used for court trials and police investigations. Computer evidence may be relevant in criminal or civil matters.
One tool for computer forensic investigation is software used to perform the computer forensic investigation. Electronic evidence may be altered or erased without proper handing. For example, merely booting a target computer into its native Windows environment will alter critical date stamps, erase temporary data, and cause data to be written to a hard disk drive or other storage device, thereby possibly destroying or altering data on the storage device. It is desirable in forensic systems to be minimally invasive and prevent unintended changes of the data-on the storage device. Accordingly, it is desirable that computer forensic software minimize the alteration of data during the acquisition process and that it further minimize any such alteration by other programs.
As an example of forensic investigation, a target storage device may be non-invasively examined by creating a bit-stream image, or "exact snapshot," of the target storage device on another external media, such as floppy or zip disk, thereby creating an image or working copy of the target storage device.
Once the image copy is created, computer forensic software may mount the image of the target storage device as a read-only drive, thus allowing the investigator to conduct the examination on the image of the target drive without altering the contents of the original. This process of making a copy image of the storage device, before examining the storage device, may preserve computer files without altering date stamps or other information. The process of non-invasively examining the storage device may also be accomplished through a preview process where the computer is booted to DOS and then connected to the investigator's computer, for example, through a parallel port cable.
Computer forensic analysis software may enable the efficient management, analysis and searching of large volumes of computer data by being able to view and analyze, for example, such storage devices such as disk drives at the disk level without having to go through, for example, intermediate operating system software. Forensic analysis scripting tools may be used to target and automate analysis of large volumes of computer data. Accordingly, computer forensics analysis software may be an advantageous tool for related but non-forensic investigation purposes, such as computer auditing and information assurance.
Current computer forensics analysis tools commonly work either from an image copy of a storage device, or over a link coupled between the parallel ports of the analyzing computer and the target computer. Commonly used, non-forensic, methods of searching, reviewing, and copying logical files over a network may have a shortcoming in that time stamps and existing data may be altered or destroyed in the process.
Viewing computer files presents additional problems when used in a network setting. A remote administrator may access a node on a network and access all of the files on the node's hard drive. However, when the remote administrator opens and accesses a file, the time stamp of the file may change, and a temporary copy of the file may be created on the node's hard drive as well as link files and other data. It is desirable for forensic investigations to maintain the time stamps, and to avoid creating various temporary files, which may overwrite other data. Even though a remote administrator can commonly access files, a remote administrator may be unable to access such items as swap files, deleted files, file slack, or printer spooler files. File slack is the data located from the end of the logical file to the end of the physical storage allocation on a storage device and may contain information previously written to the storage device. Additionally, a storage device, such as a hard drive, may have dissimilar partitions, for example, fat and ext2, to operate with two different operating systems. In such a case a remote administrator may only be able to see and access the partition which corresponds to the remote administrator's operating system. Additionally, a search done by the remote administrator may be slower than a search carried out by software resident on that node. Remote access over a computer network also provides additional opportunities for abuse, such as unauthorized inspection.
Accordingly, there is a need for methods and systems for performing secure computer forensics investigations over a computer network.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

System and method for conducting searches at target devices


In a recording and reproducing apparatus, a digital luminance signal and digital color difference signals generated from an input video signal. A digital audio signal is generated from an input audio signal. The digital luminance signal, the digital color difference signals, and the digital audio signal are time-base-compressed into a compression-resultant luminance signal, compression-resultant color difference signals, and a compression-resultant audio signal, respectively. The compression-resultant luminance signal, the compression-resultant color difference signals, and the compression-resultant audio signal are multiplexed into a multiplexing-resultant signal on a time-division-multiplexing basis. The multiplexing-resultant signal is recorded on a recording medium. The multiplexing-resultant signal is reproduced from the recording medium. The original digital luminance signal, the original digital color difference signals, and the original digital audio signal are recovered from the reproduced multiplexing-resultant signal.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an information recording apparatus, an information reproducing apparatus, and an information recording and reproducing apparatus.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Some compact recording and reproducing apparatus have a body on which a television camera is integrally provided. Further, the body can accommodate a cassette containing a magnetic tape. Generally, the television camera has a solid-state photoelectric converting section, that is, a solid-state imager. During operation of such an information recording and reproducing apparatus, a video signal outputted from a television camera is recorded on a magnetic tape. At the same time, an audio signal outputted from a microphone is recorded on the magnetic tape.

Information recording and reproducing apparatus


A wet process for manufacturing a cloth prepreg with a uniform fiber distribution and large cover factor comprises impregnating a woven fabric with a diluted resin and drying, which fabric has a number of crossing points of warp and weft in the range of 2,000 to 70,000/m2, which process further comprises at least one of the steps (A) and (B), namely                (A) a step of distributing a line-shaped binder on the fabric to fix the yarn flatness prior to impregnating the fabric with a resin diluted with a solvent, at least 80% of which solvent is a nonsolvent of the binder and,        (B) a step of calendering the woven fabric after drying.

FRP, carbon fiber reinforcing plastic (CFRP) in particular, has excellent specific strength and specific modulus, allows manufacture of lightweight structural materials, such as interior material for aircraft, and can therefore greatly reduce fuel cost.
For secondary structural materials of aircraft such as for flaps, fairings and ailerons, and interior materials such as for toilets, ceiling panels, window panels and cabin trunks, in particular, a honeycomb sandwich structure with a honeycomb as the core material and CFRP as the skin material is used in many cases. However, because the carbon fiber is expensive, it can be applied only to a limited extent, even in aircraft where lightweight is most wanted.
These honeycomb sandwich structures are usually manufactured by a honeycomb cocuring method, in which a cloth prepreg is placed on the honeycomb and is heat-pressed to cure the prepreg and bond the CFRP at the same time. However, in the event that a large void exists in the prepreg where carbon fiber does not exist at the place contacting the honeycomb core, such an opening causes a hole in the CFRP skin. To cope with this problem, prepregs comprising conventional 3,000 filament carbon fiber yarn, which is thin and expensive, have been used.
On the other hand, a manufacturing method of a flat yarn woven fabric having uniform fiber distribution and large cover factor, using thick reinforcing fiber thread, has been proposed in JP-A-07-300389. However, this method requires weaving apparatus provided with a weft supply device to prevent twisting and a special apparatus to retain the flatness of the yarn. Furthermore, this woven fabric is unstable because the flatness of yarn is easily lost during the drying step employed when a wet process of manufacturing the prepreg (which is otherwise excellent in resin impregnation to the woven fabric) is employed.
As a structural form stabilizing measure during the prepreg processing, the use of a low melting point polymer has been proposed to maintain the flatness of the constituent yarns. However, the flatness was lost during the wet process for manufacturing a prepreg, resulting in a mesh-like woven fabric with a narrow yarn. Observing how the flatness of yarn is lost during the prepreg process, we found that the flatness of woven yarn can be maintained during impregnation of the resin diluted with a solvent, but a while after the woven fabric enters the drying zone, the flatness gradually begins to be lost.
This invention addresses the abovementioned problems of conventional technology and provides a cloth prepreg of a large cover factor which has uniform fiber distribution, as well as a low cost wet process for manufacturing a cloth prepreg having a large cover factor.

Cloth prepreg and wet process for manufacturing the same


A medical device is provided having reduced penetration force. The device includes a body having a central hollow channel and a piezoelectric transducer received within and secured to the body. The piezoelectric transducer has a hollow portion concentric with the central hollow channel. A tubular member is associated with and in communication with the piezoelectric transducer. The tubular member has at least one open end formed concentric with the central hollow channel and the hollow portion of the piezoelectric transducer, wherein the transducer is adapted for vibrating at a frequency to produce an oscillating displacement of the tubular member.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally pertains to handheld medical devices, and more specifically to high-speed electrically driven lancets; epidural catheter inserters; biopsy medical instruments, such as bone biopsy medical devices; vascular entry syringes and other catheterization needles. The invention is applicable to the delivery and removal of blood, tissues, medicine, bone marrow, nutrients or other materials within the body.
2. Description of Related Art

Medical tool for reduced penetration force