A non-volatile semiconductor memory device for allowing a data writing operation to, a data reading operation from, and a data erasing operation from a plurality of non-volatile memory cells. The non-volatile semiconductor memory device includes a data comparison section for outputting a first comparison result obtained by comparing data read from each of the plurality of memory cells and data read using a reference element for reading, a second comparison result obtained by comparing data read from each of the plurality of memory cells and data read from a reference element for writing, and a third comparison result obtained by comparing data read from each of the plurality of memory cells and data read from a reference element for erasing; and a data storage defect detection section for detecting a data storage defect of a memory cell among the plurality of memory cell, based on the first, second and third comparison results obtained from the data comparison section.

This application claims priority to Japanese Patent Application No. 2000-253194 filed Aug. 23, 2000, the content of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a non-volatile semiconductor memory device such as, for example, an EEPROM (Electrically Erasable and Programmable Read-Only Memory) device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, an EEPROM type memory device accumulates charges in a floating gate of a floating gate-type MOS transistor (hereinafter, referred to simply as a xe2x80x9ctransistorxe2x80x9d) forming a memory cell, and stores data using a change in the threshold voltage value of the transistor which is caused by a change in the amount of the charges accumulated in the floating gate. However, in actual use, a phenomenon occurs that the charges accumulated in the floating gate escape via an insulating layer provided for insulating the floating gate from an electrode of the transistor. Such a phenomenon occurs because, for example, the insulating layer deteriorates over-time, and generates a data storage defect.
In order to prevent this phenomenon, the following techniques are used in general: (i) the insulating layer of the memory cell is reinforced during the production process of the EEPROM type memory device; and (ii) the voltage conditions for erasing and writing data are optimized so as to minimize a stress applied to the insulating layer when data is erased or written.
One example of the techniques (i) and (ii) is described in Japanese Laid-Open Publication No. 8-190796 entitled xe2x80x9cFlash Memory Having Data Refreshing Function and Data Refreshing Method for Flash Memoryxe2x80x9d.
The above-mentioned publication discloses a method of detecting a memory cell, among a plurality of memory cells, in which charges have escaped from the floating gate and then rewriting data to the detected memory cell. According to this method, a reference cell for erasing and a reference cell for writing are used. When a memory cell is determined to be at a writing level using the reference cell for erasing, and when a memory cell is determined to be at an erasing level using the reference cell for writing, the memory cell is determined to be the defective memory cell in which charges have escaped from the floating gate.
In general, the escape of charges from the floating gate occurs most often among the defects involving the floating gate of an EEPROM type memory device. Other defects include an excessive increase in charges accumulated in the floating gate in the memory cell. By the above-described conventional method for detecting a memory storage defect, a cell in which the charges have been increased cannot be clearly distinguished from a cell in which the charges have escaped, and thus an increase in the charges is determined to be an escape of charges. In this specification, the defect that charges escape from a floating gate of a memory cell will be referred to as a xe2x80x9ccharge escaping defectxe2x80x9d, and the defect that charges are excessively increased in a floating gate of a memory cell will be referred to as a xe2x80x9ccharge increasing defectxe2x80x9d. The charge escaping defect and the charge increasing defect are both data storage detects.
In the case where no measure is taken against the charge escaping defect or the charge increasing defect, the following inconvenience occurs. The data storage characteristic of the memory device has a prescribed level immediately after the memory device is produced, but the insulating layer of the floating gate of the device tends to deteriorate as the device is used, especially as more and more data is erased from or written to the device. The level of data storage characteristic of the memory device is gradually decreased. In order to provide a memory device which is reliable for an extended period of time with certainty, it is necessary to accumulate a vast amount of know-how or expertise in terms of both designing and production, which is very difficult to realize.
According to one aspect of the invention, a non-volatile semiconductor memory device for allowing a data writing operation to, a data reading operation from, and a data erasing operation from a plurality of non-volatile memory cells is provided. The non-volatile semiconductor memory device includes a data comparison section for outputting a first comparison result obtained by comparing data read from each of the plurality of memory cells and data read using a reference element for reading, a second comparison result obtained by comparing data read from each of the plurality of memory cells and data read from a reference element for writing, and a third comparison result obtained by comparing data read from each of the plurality of memory cells and data read from a reference element for erasing; and a data storage defect detection section for detecting a data storage defect of a memory cell among the plurality of memory cell, based on the first, second and third comparison results obtained from the data comparison section.
In one embodiment of the invention, the data comparison section includes a reference element group including the reference element for reading, the reference element for writing, and the reference element for erasing; and a sensing differential amplification section connected to each of the plurality of memory cells, which are of an EEPROM type, at one input end of the section and also connected to the reference element group at the other input end of the section.
In one embodiment of the invention, when a threshold voltage value of a memory cell among the plurality of memory cells is between a threshold voltage value of the reference element for reading and a threshold voltage value of the reference element for writing, the data storage defect detection section determines that the memory cell has a charge escaping defect.
In one embodiment of the invention, when a threshold voltage value of a memory cell among the plurality of memory cells is between a threshold voltage value of the reference element for reading and a threshold voltage value of the reference element for erasing, the data storage defect detection section determines that the memory cell has a charge increasing defect.
In one embodiment of the invention, the data storage detection section detects the data storage defect at least one of: during a non-selection period of each memory cell, during a blank period while normal data read is performed from each memory cell, and when power is turned on.
In one embodiment of the invention, when a threshold voltage value of a memory cell among the plurality of memory cells is between a threshold voltage value of the reference element for reading and a threshold voltage value of the reference element for writing, the data storage defect detection section determines that the memory cell has a charge escaping defect.
In one embodiment of the invention, when a threshold voltage value of a memory cell among the plurality of memory cells is between a threshold voltage value of the reference element for reading and a threshold voltage value of the reference element for erasing, the data storage defect detection section determines that the memory cell has a charge increasing defect.
In one embodiment of the invention, when a threshold voltage value of a memory cell among the plurality of memory cells is between a threshold voltage value of the reference element for reading and a threshold voltage value of the reference element for erasing, the data storage defect detection section determines that the memory cell has a charge increasing defect.
In one embodiment of the invention, the non-volatile semiconductor memory device further includes a record information storage section for storing, as record information, memory cell information corresponding to the charge escaping defect and memory cell information corresponding to the charge increasing defect.
In one embodiment of the invention, when a threshold voltage value of a memory cell among the plurality of memory cells is between a threshold voltage value of the reference element for reading and a threshold voltage value of the reference element for erasing, the data storage defect detection section determines that the memory cell has a charge increasing defect.
In one embodiment of the invention, the non-volatile semiconductor memory device further includes a record information storage section for storing, as record information, memory cell information corresponding to the charge escaping defect and memory cell information corresponding to the charge increasing defect.
In one embodiment of the invention, the non-volatile semiconductor memory device further includes a data rewriting section for, when a memory cell among the plurality of memory cells has the charge escaping defect, performing a data rewriting operation to the memory cell.
In one embodiment of the invention, the data rewriting section performs the data rewriting operation when the memory cell returns from a super low power consumption mode to a normal power consumption mode.
In one embodiment of the invention, the data rewriting section performs the data rewriting operation when the memory device goes into the super low power consumption mode.
In one embodiment of the invention, the data rewriting section performs the data rewriting operation by supplying power from a backup capacitance section when the memory device goes into the super low power consumption mode.
In one embodiment of the invention, the non-volatile semiconductor memory device further includes a supply voltage monitor section for outputting a writing stop signal for stopping the data rewriting operation when the power supplied from the backup capacitance section becomes a prescribed level or lower.
In one embodiment of the invention, the non-volatile semiconductor memory device further includes a final address storage section for storing a final address of a final memory cell, among the plurality of memory cells, from which the data reading operation was performed for detecting the data storage defect. The data storage defect detection section uses the address stored in the final address storage section to resume detection of the data storage defect by performing the data reading operation using the final address.
According to another aspect of the invention, an information apparatus uses the above-described non-volatile semiconductor memory device for detecting a data storage defect of a memory cell.
As described above, according to the present invention, a data storage defect is detected based on a comparison result between the data read from a memory cell and data read from each of a reference element for reading, a reference element for writing and a reference element for erasing. Therefore, a charge escaping defect and a charge increasing defect can be clearly distinguished from each other. Thus, highly reliable data storage can be realized without entirely requiring a vast amount of know-how to be accumulated.
According to the present invention, a data comparison section can be easily and satisfactorily formed using a reference element group and a sensing differential amplification section.
According to the present invention, a memory cell having an abnormal or defective data storage characteristic is detected using a reference element for reading and a reference element for writing. Therefore, a charge escaping defect can be detected with high precision.
According to the present invention, a memory cell having an abnormal or defective data storage characteristic is detected using a reference element for reading and a reference element for erasing. Therefore, a charge increasing defect can be detected with high precision.
According to the present invention, whether the data storage is normally performed or not can be checked when the memory device is turned on. Usually when the memory device is turned on, a memory system including the memory device is provided with a delay period for stable start. This delay time period can be used to perform a background data rewriting operation. Thus, a difficult-to-obtain time period for the background rewriting operation can be obtained with certainty. A data storage defect can also be detected during a non-selection period of the memory device and a blank period while normal data read is performed from the memory cell.
According to the present invention, when a memory cell has a charge escaping defect, the data can be rewritten to the memory cell to compensate for the defect.
When the memory system returns from a super low power consumption mode to a normal power consumption mode, the memory system is usually provided with a delay period for stable return. According to the present invention, this delay period is used to perform a background data rewriting operation. Thus, a difficult-to-obtain time period for the background rewriting operation can be obtained with certainty.
When the memory system goes into the super low power consumption mode, the memory system is usually provided with a delay period for stable return. According to the present invention, this delay period is used to perform a background data rewriting operation. Thus, a difficult-to-obtain time period for the background rewriting operation can be obtained with certainty.
According to the present invention, the memory device has a built-in backup capacitance section such as a capacitor for obtaining energy required to perform a background operation in the super low power consumption mode. Therefore, the stable background operation is obtained, and the time period in which the stable background can be performed can be extended.
According to the present invention, when the supply voltage lowers to a prescribed value or lower, the data rewriting operation is stopped. Thus, the data rewriting operation can be performed more stably.
According to the present invention, information regarding a memory having a charge escaping defect or a charge increasing defect is stored as record information. A record information storage section can be formed using a dedicated memory which allows data to be written only once. By removing the information from the record information storage section later, information (e.g., parameters) which is important for development of a device having still higher reliability can be obtained.
According to the present invention, when a background reading operation for detecting a charge escaping defect or a charge increasing defect is interrupted, address information of the final memory cell which was scanned is stored in, for example, a work RAM area. When the background operation is allowed to be performed again, the address of the memory cell at which the background operation is to be started is determined based on the information. Thus, an efficient background reading operation can be performed. When power is turned off while a background reading operation for detecting a charge escaping defect or a charge increasing defect is performed, address scanning information is stored in, for example, an EEPROM area. When the power is turned on again and the background reading operation is resumed, the address scanning information up to the previous background reading operation can be read from the EEPROM area and the reading operation is started using the address at which the previous background reading operation was terminated. Thus, an efficient background reading operation can be performed.
Thus, the invention described herein makes possible the advantages of providing a non-volatile semiconductor memory device for clearly distinguishing a charge escaping defect from a charge increasing defect so as to realize highly reliable data storage relatively easily without entirely requiring a vast amount of know-how to be accumulated.
These and other advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading and understanding the following detailed description with reference to the accompanying figures.

Non-volatile semiconductor memory device with defect detection


Notching methods and machines are provided by this invention for preparing notches in mechanical testing specimens. The notching machines razor element for creating a notch in the specimen and mechanical actuation elements for substantially linearly contacting the razor element with the specimen in a direction which is either substantially normal to the surface of the specimen receiving the notch or substantially normal to a stress created in the specimen during testing. This actuation forms a notch without any significant residual stresses forming ahead of the notch.

Slow crack growth is a typical failure mechanism in polymeric materials often used in industry for piping and structural applications. This mechanism in polymers is of considerable practical importance since it occurs at low stresses and can be the cause of the long-term failure in engineering components. Crack propagation is often exacerbated by environmental effects, such as corrosion and various environmental wear and stress mechanisms, which promote the growth of the crack even at lower stresses.
In many cases, cracks initiate from an inherent flaw in the material or from small defects which occur as a result of the manufacturing or installation processes. From these inherent flaws, a single macroscopic crack can propagate through the material until failure.
Recently, fracture mechanics has made it possible to monitor the behavior of a single, artificially-made sharp crack continually. This process begins by initiating a well-defined notch in a solid specimen. The intent of the notching procedure is to make a very sharp and reproducible crack initiation site.
In the case of ductile materials, such as polymer specimens, the damage introduced by the notching procedure may have a significant effect on the observed fracture and the important material parameters that determine the fracture process. The method of notching is especially important in the case of low yield point polymers, such as polyethylene, and has been studied in depth. See X. Lu, et al., "Notchology, the Effect of the Notching Method on the Slow Crack Growth Failure in a Tough Polyethylene", Journal of Material Science, Vol. 26, pp. 881-888 (1991), which is hereby incorporated by reference.
The Lu et al. study evaluated the effects of slow crack growth of polyethylene using a razor blade to produce a notch. The results of this study indicate that by pressing a fresh razor blade into the polyethylene specimen at a rate of 50 .mu.m/min at room temperature, a fracture is produced at a rate which is equal to or faster than any other method previously developed. This survey also determined that other mechanical cutting procedures, such as slicing with a surgical blade, or rotary cutters, produces unacceptable residual stresses ahead of the crack, which could possibly mask the parameters of the fracture process. While the notching procedure described by Lu et al. has produced the fastest and most reproducible failure times, and has lowered the time to notch from 70 minutes to approximately 12 minutes, there is still concern in industrial applications about the time that it takes to test slow crack growth specimens.
There is, therefore, a need for a faster, more efficient, notching mechanism and testing procedure. There is also a need for a notching procedure which makes the notching step a negligible event in the overall testing of polymers and other soft materials, so as to effectively eliminate this cost factor and significant time-consuming step in the manufacturing of a wide variety of products.

Notching machine and method for mechanical testing specimens

The Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania


A method for manufacturing a wound dressing having a substrate, and a wound dressing manufactured by such a method are described. The method has a step of providing a sacrificial layer of material to be perforated by means of a hot pin perforator, in order to remove any molten residues on the heated pins of the hot pin perforator, before the same pins are used to make holes in the substrate. The presented method is cost effective, robust and reduces the risk of contaminating substances being embedded in the substrate during the hole making process.

In the medical field it is known that wound sites are to be covered in order to protect the wound sites from ingress of foreign material, i.e. to keep it clean, but also to collect or absorb exudate from the wound site. Therefore, a simple cotton bundle arranged to absorb the exudate is often seen as a traditional wound dressing.
However, the wound healing process is more complex and there have been many advancements in the technical field to improve and speed up this healing process. Generally, a wound healing process can in principle be subdivided into three phases. Firstly, the wound is cleaned, followed by the formation of new tissue, after which the restored tissues stabilize during a final maturing phase while developing a less brittle and more elastic structure. The regeneration phase involves the growth of capillaries, fibroblasts and epithelium into the wound site for building up new tissue. The newly formed tissue is extremely delicate and supersensitive to external influences. However, it is known that in order to attain the most favourable conditions for wound healing, the wound should be kept moist but free of excess wound exudate during this phase of wound repair.
An example of such a wound dressing which aims to improve the healing process is commercially available by the present applicant, Mölnycke Health Care AB from Göteborg, Sweden, and is for example described in European Patent No. 0 855 921 B1, incorporated herein by reference.
Nevertheless, there is still a need in the industry for improvements, and particularly relating to the manufacturing of such wound dressings. In more detail, the wound dressings generally include some sort of absorbing layer, which can be made of some porous material, such as e.g. polyurethane foam, in order to absorb the exudate originating from the wound. Moreover, in cases with large amounts of wound exudate or highly viscous wound exudate, the naturally occurring pores may be insufficient for proper absorption. Instead, one must increase the open surface area (may be referred to as open area) by creating a pattern of holes in the foam material which are significantly larger than the pores or cells of the foam material.
These holes can be made by using a type of heated pin technology (may also be referred to as hot needle technology). Typically, a roller of heated pins is rolled on the absorbent foam layer such that the heated pins are introduced into the material in order to create the holes in a melting process.
A general drawback associated with the heated pin technology is that the heated pins are contaminated with residual material adhering thereto as a result of the pins having formed holes in the absorbent foam material. There is therefore a risk of residues being introduced into the absorbent foam material in a subsequent perforating operation, thereby contaminating the absorbent foam layer.
As a remedy to problems associated with contaminated pins, GB 1 552 491 proposes a manufacturing method for perforating a foam synthetic thermoplastic plastics sheet, in which the residues are burnt off from the heated pins, by means of a gas burner, after each perforating operation. The cleaning of the pins is performed at a position which is opposite the perforation of the foam plastics sheet, i.e. on the opposite side of the heated pin roller. However, these types of setups with auxiliary heating elements often decrease the overall process speed and simultaneously increase complexity and costs of the whole process.
However, there is still a need in the industry for improvements of the manufacturing process for wound dressings. More specifically, there is need for a method for manufacturing wound dressings which is less complex and at the same cost effective and time efficient.

Method for manufacturing a wound dressing and a wound dressing


This invention relates to an improved roller cone coring bit that includes spiral stabilizer blades on the bit body. The spiral stabilizer blades reduce the whirling tendency of the bit, thereby enhancing the ability to cut and recover a continuous core.

This invention relates to an improved roller cone coring bit used to cut a core of a subterranean formation. More particularly, the improved design includes the use of spiral stabilizer blades to stabilize the bit and thereby enhance the ability to cut and recover a continuous core of a reservoir rock.
Analysis of core samples yields important geological information about subterranean formations. There are two basic methods of obtaining a core sample. Coring may be done at the time of drilling or sidewall core samples may be taken after the hole has been drilled. Coring at the time of drilling utilizes some type of open center bit which cuts a donut-shaped hole, leaving a cylindrical plug or core in the center. As drilling progresses, the central plug or core rises inside a hollow tube or core barrel above the bit where it is captured and subsequently retrieved at the surface. Coring bits come in three basic varieties: diamond core heads, polycrystalline diamond core heads, or roller cone coring bits. This invention relates to an improved roller cone coring bit.
Roller cone coring bits tend to drill a slightly oversized borehole. The slightly oversized borehole creates an exaggerated rotation pattern for the core bit. Due to the relatively low tensile strength of most rock, the exaggerated rotation, or whirl, tends to break or shear the core. This is undesirable for several reasons. The inner core barrel may become jammed thereby preventing the recovery of additional core. Alternatively, only fragmented pieces of a core will be recovered which reduces the quality and quantity of information that can be obtained from the core.
With conventional roller cone coring bits, only the cone cutters extended to the gage diameter of the borehole. The bit body and the journal arm segments are smaller than the gage diameter of the borehole. To reduce the effects of the whirling motion, coring companies have attempted to stabilize the outer core barrel above the core bit. However, this did not eliminate the whirling action. Although relatively close to the bit, the stabilizer on the outer core barrel acted as a fulcrum point. This created a moment on the core bit, which increased the tendency to drill an oversized borehole.
To overcome the above problem, stabilizer pads were welded onto the body of the core bit. These pads tended to be square in shape and proved to be marginally successful. The stabilizer pads on the bit body tended to reduced the whirling motion and the fulcrum effect. However, laboratory testing showed that the straight vertical leading edge of the square pads would engage the borehole wall in such a manner to actually increase the whirling motion of the bit under certain conditions. When these conditions occur, the square stabilizer pads are actually detrimental to coring.
This invention overcomes the problems described above. The roller cone core bit of the present invention includes spiral stabilizer blades. The proximity of the stabilizer blades to the cutting elements, i.e., the cone cutters, reduces the tendency to drill an oversized hole. In addition, the spiral shaped stabilizer blades are less likely to hang up on the borehole wall than the prior art square stabilizer pads. As a result, a smoother drilling action is accomplished. The smoother drilling action enhances the ability to recover a continuous core.

Roller cone core bit with spiral stabilizers


A transportable processing unit for producing a pumpable, essentially homogeneous admixed material suitable for use as substitute fuel or for thermal destruction by incineration, the processing unit including a closed mixing vessel mounted on a movable base member the vessel adapted to receive feedstock material from an adjacent on site holding facility through at least one entry port and to receive intermediate process material through at least one inlet port and a process material exit port as well as a mixing device located in the vessel interior. The processing unit of the present invention also has a conduit for conveying process material away from said mixing vessel, which is connected to the mixing vessel exit port, and at least one particle sizing device mounted on the moveable base member which has an inlet in fluid communication with a second end of the process material conveying conduit and at least one diverter outlet which is in fluid communication with the intermediate process material inlet port of the mixing vessel. The moveable base is preferably a transportable member such as a tractor trailer or a transportation skid.

I. Field of the Invention:
The present invention pertains to a device for processing large volumes of organic waste material from chemical or refinery processes, remediation projects in either a batch or continuous mode. The device is an integrated unit which can be transported from site to site to process or recycle waste materials from various types of chemical manufacture, refinery and processing operations into an essentially homogeneous, substitute fuel on a location at or near the source of the generation or storage of such waste materials thereby eliminating the necessity of transporting large volumes of untreated waste materials to remote, fixed treatment and processing facilities.
II. Description of the Relevant Technology:
In various chemical, refinery and manufacturing processes or environmental remediation projects, a variety of hazardous and non-hazardous waste materials are generated which may require post-generation treatment, separation, or other processing to facilitate waste minimization, disposal, removal, useful product recapture, or recycling. One impediment to the management of such waste materials is the general non-homogeneous, solid or sludge-like nature of such materials. The wastes generally exist as an agglomeration of various solids, liquids, semi-solid and sludge-like components. Depending on composition and chemical make-up, some of the compounds in the waste may be separable and useable in other applications or other processes if they can be recovered. Typically, the wastes are not amenable for reclaiming such useable compounds and are processed to produce materials suitable as substitute fuels for certain kilns, industrial furnaces, boilers and the like which have regulatory approvals to burn such substitute fuels.
In the past such high-volume waste materials were treated and/or stored in drums, tanks, lagoons or the like indefinitely. The large volume and solid, sludge-like nature of the materials precluded transfer to remote facilities for treatment at such remote treatment facilities employing various separation, processing, recycling, reclamation and/or disposal techniques. This practice of indefinite storage has been eliminated presenting the opportunity and necessity to reclaim, recycle, or process these materials at such storage sites and as they are generated at a facility or site.
Even if physical removal was heretofore possible, transport costs for transferring these waste materials to remote processing facilities made this option cost-prohibitive in many high-volume installations. Subsequent Federal regulations made some of these wastes subject to hazardous waste regulation and land disposal restrictions. Thus the need for treating, processing, or removing large volumes of such materials in an environmentally safe manner was greatly increased.
This problem is particularly pronounced with hazardous by-product materials such as the still bottoms and API separator sludges from various petroleum refinery and distillation processes. Also, lagoon cleanup as part of environmental remediation projects produce large volumes of sludge material. These materials, in general, are non-homogeneous sludge-like materials which contain high concentrations of organic compounds, solids and can be extremely dense and/or viscous making them difficult to handle, pump, and transport.
A variety of partial remedies to the shipping and handling problem have been proposed. U.S. Pat. No. 4,082,672 to Petroski discloses a trailer specifically designed for receiving, transporting, and unloading sludges which range in consistency from liquid to semi-solid. The reference fails to provide or suggest any procedure or apparatus for reducing the volume of sludge to be transported for processing or a method for processing the material into useful forms or otherwise recycling the component materials. U.S. Pat. No. 4,377,478 to Wiedeman discloses a mobile apparatus for syphoning and dewatering sludge. While the sludge volume is reduced, the reference fails to disclose any method or apparatus for processing or recycling the dewatered sludge into a useful product.
A variety of waste water treatment methods and apparatuses have been disclosed. U.S. Pat. No. 4,536,286 to Nugent discloses an apparatus which can process the contents of the storage lagoons containing water and up to 15% solids processed by the Nugent apparatus which removes the solids present in the waste stream and reduces this stream by dewatering by up to 75% of the original volume. This operation is performed by a transportable waste treatment apparatus composed of a pair of mixing tanks in which the waste stream is negatively charged and admixed with a suitable flocculent. The Nugent device also includes a settling tank equipped with a plurality of baffles as well as multiple sludge drain-off means. Once appropriate settlement and separation has occurred, the Nugent device anticipates that the separated water can be discharged directly into a suitable effluent stream while the collected concentrated solids are removed for appropriate disposal. U.S. Pat. No. 4,383,920 to Muller et al discloses a self-contained mobile system for purifying aqueous liquids which involves the sequential contact of the liquid with various ion exchange media contained in separate reaction vessels which are housed in a reclaiming or recycling the resulting sludge. Furthermore, neither reference is effective in treating non-aqueous materials.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,630,365 to Woodbridge discloses a mobile liquid waste treatment system adapted to be positioned on a series of rail cars and brought to the contaminated site. The Woodbridge apparatus includes a mixing vessel, a series of biochemical reaction tanks, a centrifuge, filter unit with means for removing separated solids and an irradiation unit for exposing the treated liquid to predetermined doses of gamma radiation. This system is specifically designed to augment existing waste water treatment facilities.
A trailer-mounted apparatus designed specifically for decontaminating PCB-containing hydrocarbons is proposed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,514,294 to Layman et al. The device includes reaction vessels capable of receiving de-watered hydrocarbons and raising the hydrocarbon temperature to about 130.degree. C. and directing the material through an injector into a stoichiometric quantity of sodium. The device is equipped with appropriate heat exchangers as well as suitable heating units, PCB monitoring units, and recirculating devices to re-inject the hydrocarbon stream until the PCB level is lowered by the desired amount. The apparatus also includes suitable sodium separators as well as hydrocarbon filters. This device is specifically designed for the chemical destruction of PCB and fails to provide a recycling method for still bottoms and the like.
Thus, despite a great deal of activity in producing mobile water purification devices and site-specific chemical purification devices, no mobile or skid-mounted device has been proposed which can be employed to handle and process materials such as solids, semi-solids, or pumpable sludges on site. Moreover no device has been developed which will process such material in a manner which recylces such hazardous and non-hazardous organic material into suitable substitute fuel materials.
It is desirable to provide an apparatus and method for permitting effective processing of recyclable components of a waste stream for formulation into a useful substitute fuel product or to make the wastes more amenable for movement or removal to an incineration facility for thermal destruction of the materials. It is also desirable that the apparatus employed be mobile and/or skid-mounted and readily transportable to the waste generation or storage site.

Transportable processing unit capable of receiving various chemical materials to produce an essentially homogeneous admixture thereof


There is described herein a method of prognosing endocrine-only treatment in a subject with breast cancer, the method comprising: a) providing a tumor sample of the breast cancer; b) determining the expression level of at least 40 of the genes listed in Table 4 in the tumor sample; c) comparing said expression levels to a reference expression level of the group of genes from control samples from a cohort of subjects; and d) determining the residual risk associated with the breast cancer; wherein a statistically significant difference or similarity in the expression of the group of genes compared to the reference expression level corresponds to a residual risk associated with breast cancer.

Despite significant improvements in the treatment of early estrogen receptor positive (ER+) breast cancer, there are ongoing clinical challenges. Targeted anti-endocrine therapies have reduced mortality over the last 30-40 years 1, 2, but ER+ disease, which comprises 80% of breast cancers, still leads to the majority of deaths from early breast cancer 3. Multiparametric gene assays are used increasingly to guide clinical treatment decisions 4. Most prognostic tests provide an estimate of relapse risk following the treatment for ER+ breast cancer, but still lack predictive value for novel targeted treatment options 2, 4. These multiparametric tests, which include OncotypeDx® (Genomic Health Inc.) 5,6 Prosigna™ (NanoString Technologies, Inc.) 7-9, Mammaprint® (Agendia Inc.) 10, 11, Breast Cancer Index (BioTheranostics Inc.) 12, 13, and EndoPredict (Sividon Diagnostics GmbH) 14, all provide broadly similar clinical utility 15, 16. Although each is derived from RNA abundance studies, there are surprisingly few overlapping genes between different RNA signatures 17. Prat et al., demonstrated in silico that combined signatures may more accurately predict outcome; leading to greater clinical significance 18. Nonetheless, despite a decade of development of multiple residual risk signatures, progress towards stratified or targeted medicine has not been markedly accelerated by these tests. None of the existing tests have identified actionable targets which might form the basis for the next generation of stratified medicine approaches.

Gene signature of residual risk following endocrine treatment in early breast cancer

ONTARIO INSTITUTE FOR CANCER RESEARCH (OICR)


In one embodiment, a method comprises: obtaining use of one or more pages in a guest physical address space of a guest; storing handler code to process one or more input/output (I/O) and/or interrupt events in the one or more pages; and redirecting a first event of the one or more I/O events from guest handler code that would process the first event to the handler code in the one or more pages. Also contemplated is a computer accessible medium comprising a plurality of instructions, which, when executed by a computer, implement the method.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention is related to the field of virtualization in computer systems and, more particularly, to input/output (I/O) device virtualization and/or interrupt virtualization such as advanced programmable interrupt controller (APIC) virtualization.
2. Description of the Related Art
Virtualization has been used in computer systems for a variety of different purposes. For example, virtualization can be used to execute privileged software in a "container" to prevent the privileged software from directly accessing and/or making changes to at least some of the physical machine state without first being permitted to do so by a virtual machine monitor (VMM) that controls the virtual machine. Such a container can prevent "buggy" or malicious software from causing problems on the physical machine. Additionally, virtualization can be used to permit two or more privileged programs to execute on the same physical machine concurrently. The privileged programs can be prevented from interfering with each other since access to the physical machine is controlled. Privileged programs may include operating systems, and may also include other software which expects to have full control of the hardware on which the software is executing. In another example, virtualization can be used to execute a privileged program on hardware that differs from the hardware expected by the privileged program.
Generally, virtualization of a processor or computer system may include providing one or more privileged programs with access to a virtual machine (the container mentioned above) over which the privileged program has full control, but the control of the physical machine is retained by the VMM. The virtual machine may include a processor (or processors), memory, and various peripheral devices that the privileged program expects to find in the machine on which it is executing. The virtual machine elements may be implemented by hardware that the VMM allocates to the virtual machine, at least temporarily, and/or may be emulated in software. Each privileged program (and related software in some cases, such as the applications that execute on an operating system) may be referred to herein as a guest. Virtualization may be implemented in software (e.g. the VMM mentioned above) without any specific hardware virtualization support in the physical machine on which the VMM and its virtual machines execute. However, virtualization may be simplified and/or achieve higher performance if some hardware support is provided.

Placing virtual machine monitor (VMM) code in guest context to speed memory mapped input/output virtualization


An electrical machine is described, having a stationary main element as stator and a rotating main element as rotor, of which one main element having a magnetic yoke and poles, of a predefined number of poles, projecting radially from the former, is made of SMC material and carries a pole winding on each pole. To achieve cost-effective manufacturing of the main element, the main element is assembled from at least two modules that are axially adjacent, rigidly connected to one another, and produced from SMC material, each module having a yoke part, closed in on itself, of the magnetic yoke having an equal number of divisions of poles attached thereto in one piece, which corresponds to a fraction of the number of poles determined by the number of modules.

Magnetic conductive members of stators or rotors of electrical machines will, in the near future, be increasingly made of SMC material (soft magnetic powder iron composite), and will replace laminated core assemblies or laminated cores, since, from a manufacturing technology point of view, they are much more simple to produce. The SMC material is pressed into the desired shape using a pressing mold, and is then heat treated at a relatively low temperature, so that the necessary insulating layers between the powder particles are not destroyed.
In one known multipolar stator made of SMC material for an internal-rotor machine (PCT International Publication No. 99/50949) the outer-lying magnetic yoke is composed of a number of yoke segments corresponding to the number of poles of the stator poles. Each yoke segment carries in one piece a stator pole having a pole core and a pole shoe bordering the pole core at the latter's remote end. Each yoke segment along with pole core and pole shoe is produced from SMC material by pressing and heat treating. The pole cores are rounded off at their axial ends or have an oval profile, so that, as a result of the removal of sharp edges at the pole cores, only a thin insulating layer has to be applied, onto which the pole winding may then be wound. The individual pole windings of the stator winding are wound directly onto the pole cores, using the usual machine-based winding technology. After winding the pole windings, the individual yoke segments are set next to one another in the circumferential direction and are fixedly connected to one another.
In the case of another known stator made of an SMC material for an internal-rotor motor (PCT International Publication No. 00/69047), the ring-shaped magnetic yoke on the one hand, and the stator pole having pole core and pole shoe on the other hand, are made separately of SMC material in the desired shape. After sliding the pole windings, prefabricated as ring coils, onto the pole cores, the stator poles are set into prepared recesses in the magnetic yoke with form locking, with the ends of the pole cores that are at a distance from the pole shoe, and are fastened there.


A subcutaneous port includes an elongated port corpus having a proximal end defining a septum receiving opening angled in relation to a longitudinal axis of said port corpus, a substantially cylindrical body, and a substantially frustoconical conus having an outlet opening provided at a distal end thereof. The cylindrical body defines a chamber along at least a portion of a length thereof and the cylindrical body and frustoconical conus collectively define a passage to permit passage of fluid between the chamber and the outlet opening. A septum is retained in the septum receiving opening by a septum retainer. A catheter is connected to the port corpus passage.

Intravascular catheters, such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,762,636, have commonly been used for repeated drug administration and/or blood sampling on animals such as mice, rats, rabbits, dogs, cats, sheep, and human and non-human primates. However, the use of intravascular catheters in such applications, particularly for repeated drug administration over a period of time, poses an unacceptably high risk of infection of the open wound and of catheter disengagement and/or damage caused by movement or actions of the animal.
In extended use applications, it is therefore preferable to use surgically implanted ports as a means of delivering drugs or collecting bodily fluids. Subcutaneous ports generally comprise a housing defining a chamber, a septum disposed with one surface adjacent the dermis and an opposing surface adjacent the chamber, and an output. The chamber communicates with a delivery and/or collection site in the patient or subject through the output, which often includes a catheter.
Once the port is implanted and the chamber filled with a drug, a bolus or therapeutic dose of the drug contained in the chamber is delivered at a desired rate to a particular location within a patient's or subject's body, such as a cavity, a large vein, a tumor, or an injury site. The septum comprises an elastomeric material that is penetrable by a needle and is self-sealing to mitigate the leakage that would otherwise result from repeated punctures from injections or fluid collection. The chamber may be replenished by inserting a hypodermic needle through the patient's or subject's skin and the septum and injecting the drug into the chamber.
Ports therefore permit a means for efficiently dispensing a drug or medicament into the body of a patient or subject over a prolonged period of time by means of a single injection (e.g., continuous infusion) or repeated intermittent injections. Likewise, ports offer the opportunity for collection of fluids (e.g., blood) from a designated collection site adjacent an outlet of a catheter attached to the port. For example, with respect to dogs and cats, a catheter attached to the port may used to sample blood from the cephalic, recurrent metatarsal, jugular, and femoral veins. However, sampling is feasible, but generally not advisable, for small needles (e.g., 22-gauge) due to the potential for plugging or occlusion of the needle. Sampling using needles of 20-gauge, 18-gauge, or large is generally acceptable. Despite the real advantages provided by implantable ports, conventional ports suffer from numerous disadvantages, some of which are described below with respect to two conventional ports.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,848,989 provides one example of an implantable port for delivering and collecting fluids in a body particularly for use with laboratory animals. This port has a hollow housing 2 in which a relatively small inlet 7 is defined by a radially inwardly projecting lip 18 which is substantially perpendicular to the base 17 of the housing. A septum 4 is mounted in the housing adjacent a mouth of the inlet and is then compressed against the housing inlet lip 18 by a hollow core 3 inserted within the housing in a compression fit. The housing 2 has an open flared end 5 extending in front of the inlet 7 and having a surface shaped to guide a needle to the port inlet and into the septum.
However, this configuration presents many disadvantages including a prismatic shape which both resists manual fixation and presents edges which can damage tissue if the edges are pressed against the surrounding tissue during manual fixation prior to insertion of a needle. Moreover, the septum is obscured by the inlet lip and, in combination with open flared end of the housing which serves to guide a needle to the inlet 7 during use, the risk of damage to the needle tip upon initial needle insertion is significant. Further, once the septum is penetrated, the required angle of insertion is likely to cause the needle tip to immediately impact against an interior wall of the hollow core 3 chamber 8. Each needle insertion therefore presents a hazard during both needle insertion and needle withdrawal, as the damaged needle tip cuts lesions or tears into the septum. Another hazard is presented as the needle outer diameter increases relative to the septum diameter.
Such tears and lesions provide an ideal environment for the growth of bacteria in the subcutaneous environment, increase the risk of infection and/or tissue necrosis, and increase leakage from the septum. These factors reduce the useful life of the port and may necessitate an additional surgical procedure to removal the damaged port and insert a new port, with the attendant risks of infection and trauma to the animal and possibly loss of test data. In practice, the interference fit between the housing 2 and the hollow core 3 renders disassembly and reassembly of the port to replace septum 4 during surgery highly impractical at the very least and the entire port replaced.
An additional disadvantage in the device disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,848,989 arises from the asymmetric geometry and angles surfaces (e.g., corners) presented thereby. When any port is implanted in a body, fibroblasts lay down dense fibrous tissue (collagen, elastin, reticular) in reaction to the foreign body so as to isolate the foreign body. The material and shape of the foreign body influences the thickness of the fibrous capsule (encapsulation). The asymmetric shape of the aforementioned device with a relatively larger inlet end, the presence of the septum at the inlet end, the repeated punctures of the septum (and formation of lesions therein), and repeated punctures of the fibrous capsule all contribute to a disproportionate encapsulation or fibrosis (scar tissue formation) at the front or inlet end. Over time, this disproportionate encapsulation causes migration of the port away from the original site in a direction of the outlet, particularly when absorbable sutures are used. Migration of the port may cause the catheter to kink or bend causing occlusion and/or damage, particularly for small diameter catheters (e.g., French size 3 or 4, having an outer diameter of about 0.9 mm and 1.20 mm, respectively).
German Patent No. 0474266 provides another example of an implantable catheter device for a small experimental animal characterized a tubular housing 10 having a cavity 13 closed at an end face thereof by a penetrable septum 14. The other end area of the housing 10 forms a connection part 30 in which a clamping space 21 receives an elastomeric clamping piece 11 surrounding a catheter 12. A portion of the connection part 30 projecting beyond clamping piece 11 has internal threads 31 matingly engageable with an external thread of pressure piece 20 shaft 32. The end face of the externally threaded shaft 32 axially compresses clamping piece 11 to press it against catheter 12 provided on a rigid supporting cannula 22. The cannula's lumen communicates with the cavity 13, on one side, and the pressure piece 20 and associated catheter 12 on the other side.
However, similar to the device of U.S. Pat. No. 5,848,989, the retaining ring 15 flange 16 of this port defines a small septum target area, relative to the outside diameter of the port housing, that is inwardly displaced from the outer edge of the flange. This configuration presents an increased risk for needle damage and associated complications, as noted above. Further, the minimal cavity 13 depth, combined with the required angle of needle insertion, provides an almost imperceptible clearance for a needle the tip between the septum inner wall and the cavity 13 wall, increases the probability of damage to the needle tip upon insertion and damage to the septum upon withdrawal of the needle. Additionally, if the integrity of the septum is compromised, the connection part 30 and the retaining ring 15 welded thereto must be removed and discarded.
Thus, a need exists for an implantable subcutaneous port which avoids the above-noted deficiencies of conventional subcutaneous ports.


A man-made satellite (1) traveling in an elliptical orbit. The orbit has five or six daily apogees, which are positioned above the same longitudes of the earth at substantially the same local time-of-day for each day of the year. The longitudes and times-of-day can be preselected subject only to the proviso that they be equispaced. The apsidal rotation rate in inertial space (ARRIS) of the orbit is substantially equal to the mean rate at which the earth revolves about the sun. The orbit is preferably equatorial, in order to simplify ground tracking and to maximize the impact of the apsidal rotation.

Since 1965, the Soviet Union has used Molniya orbits for over eighty of her communications satellites. These orbits are inclined to the earth's equator by 63.4.degree. and are highly eccentric ellipses. They have zero apsidal rotation and very slow nodal regression, so that the apogee of the orbit can be maintained at 63.4.degree. North latitude.
In such an orbit, a satellite loiters in the apogee region at high northerly latitudes. However, as shown in FIG. 1, the satellite does not reach apogee at the same time-of-day every day of the year. Rather, the Molniya orbit's apsidal line remains oriented in approximately the same direction in inertial space, rotating westward only very slowly. Therefore, the satellite reaches apogee over the same longitude X each day, but approximately four minutes earlier each day (six hours earlier every three months). The Soviet Union overcomes this handicap by placing a constellation of sixteen Molniya satellites in orbit simultaneously, the satellites reaching the loiter zone seriatim. With the present invention, a single satellite 1 can be used to communicate with five or six preselected regions of the earth at the same fixed times each day of the year, which times may advantageously correspond to times of peak demand for satellite communications services. In the present invention, apsidal rotation is intentionally used to keep the satellite 1 over the same longitude on earth at the same time each day.
Molniya satellites usually operate in orbits with eccentricities of approximately 0.7 and periods of just under twelve hours. The instant ACE orbit has an eccentricity of 0.49 and a sidereal period of 4.79 hours, or an eccentricity of 0.23 and a sidereal period of 4 hours.
"Final Report, Voice Broadcast Mission Study, Volume II--Study Report" for NASA Contract No. NASw-1475, Jul. 14, 1967, pages 2-8 and 2-9, teaches away from the instant orbit in its rejection of elliptical orbits for communications purposes. This reference considers apsidal rotation to be a "problem".
K. M. Price, Monthly Technical Progress Narrative Report No. 1 for NASA Contract No. NAS3-24891, "The Use of Satellites in Non-Geostationary Orbits for Unloading Geostationary Communications Satellite Traffic Peaks", May 13, 1986, discloses some of the parameters of the instant ACE orbit.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,163,820 discloses orbits which satisfy one of the two following criteria: 1) the orbit has a greater radius and a longer period than for a geosynchronous orbit; and 2) the satellite has a lower angular speed in the eastward direction than that of the rotating earth. A satellite 1 in the instant ACE orbit, on the other hand, always has a higher angular speed in the eastward direction than the rotating earth. The present invention offers the following advantages over the reference's orbits: 1) a single satellite 1 in an ACE orbit can provide communications coverage for five or six preselected geographical areas of the earth for a certain duration at the same times-of-day every day of the year; and 2) an ACE orbit requires less propellant to achieve for a satellite 1 of fixed size.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,243,706 discloses a system of twelve satellites in circular orbit, as opposed to a single satellite 1 in elliptical orbit of the present invention. The present invention offers the following advantages: 1) a single satellite 1 can provide communications coverage for five or six preselected geographical areas for a certain duration at the same times-of-day every day of the year; and 2) the satellite 1 remains in view of ground terminals 2 longer, and therefore can be tracked at lower slew rates.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,349,398 discloses means for maintaining communications between a satellite and a ground terminal. Such a system could be used in conjunction with the present invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,706,037 discloses a system involving two satellites in near-geosynchronous orbits positioned to avoid solar outages resulting from RF interference from the sun. A ground terminal 2 tracking a satellite 1 in the instant ACE orbit slews its antenna in the same pattern each day, while there must be a day-to-day variation in the slew motion necessary to follow a satellite using the orbit described in the reference.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,836,969 discloses a means for reducing stationkeeping propellant consumption by choosing a low inclination, rather than a zero inclination, geosynchronous orbit. The present invention inherently saves propellant because less propellant is required to achieve the instant ACE orbit than a geosynchronous orbit for a fixed spacecraft 1 mass.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,852,750 shows the use of three or more satellites in geosynchronous orbit for navigational, rather than communications, purposes. The instant invention, on the other hand, is more suited for communications than navigation. Navigation requires continuous satellite coverage, which the ACE orbit does not provide unless several satellites 1 are placed in ACE orbits. Rather, the major advantage of placing a satellite 1 into an ACE orbit is to off-load daily peaks in the geostationary satellite communications traffic, peaks which tend to occur at the same time-of-day throughout the year.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,995,801 discloses the use of circular orbits at geosynchronous altitude. The present invention, on the other hand, is an elliptical equatorial orbit having a lower radius than those disclosed in the patent. By avoiding the crowded geostationary arc, antennas of satellites 1 in ACE orbits can be built smaller for the same link budget for certain telecommunications applications.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,004,098 describes a system by which two satellites can communicate between themselves. The present invention, on the other hand, is an orbit in which a single satellite 1 can provide effective communications.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,375,697 discloses multiple satellites traveling in clusters in a geostationary orbit. On the other hand, the present invention is a non-geostationary orbit in which a single satellite 1 can provide useful communications coverage.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,502,051 also discloses a satellite system having many satellites. Multiple backup satellites are required to handle on-orbit failures. This is because the satellites in the system are not in the same orbit. In the present invention, on the other hand, the communications system functions with a single satellite 1. A backup satellite 1 in the same orbit can replace it.
In the reference patent, satellites appear to cross the geostationary arc from the perspective of a ground terminal in the United States and other non-equatorial countries. A ground control station deactivates satellites at these times, to prevent interference with geostationary satellite communications. In the present invention, on the other hand, satellites 1 never appear to cross the geostationary arc from the perspective of a ground terminal 2 in the United States or other non-equatorial country. Interference with geostationary satellite communications is thus advantageously avoided.
The following three papers were published between the filing date of the parent application and that of the instant application:
K. M. Price et al., "The Use of Satellites in Non-Geostationary Orbits for Unloading Geostationary Comunications Satellite Traffic Peaks", final report for NASA Contract NAS3-24891.
A. E. Turner, "New Non-Geosynchronous Orbits for Communications Satellites to Off-Load Daily Peaks in Geostationary Traffic", handout accompanying oral presentation given at meeting of American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and American Astronautical Society in Kalispell, Montana, Aug. 10, 1987.
G. H. Stevens et al., "Complementary Satellite Sound Broadcasting Systems", a NASA assessment for the Voice of America presented in Washington, D.C., April, 1987.

Apogee at constant time-of-day equatorial (ACE) orbit


Methods and apparatus for predicting the incidence of a new virus a within a system based upon previous infections recorded within the system. According to one aspect of the present invention, a method for responding to a virus alert that provides information pertaining to a new virus includes obtaining the virus alert and assessing a risk level associated with the new virus. The risk level indicates the predicted likelihood that the first virus will cause significant damage in the event that the new virus infects the computer system. Finally, the method includes obtaining computer code such as a driver and/or a dat when the risk level indicates that the new virus may pose a significant risk to the computer system.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates generally to virus protection systems. More particularly, the present invention relates to a virus incidence predictor that enables the susceptibility of an organization to new viruses to be assessed.
2. Description of the Related Art
As the use of networked computing systems increases, the risk of propagating viruses though networks also increases. While some viruses cause relatively minor problems within a computing system, many viruses may cause serious and even irreparable harm. As new viruses are being announced and identified daily, preparing computing systems to combat the viruses and to neutralize the effect of the viruses is essential in maintaining the integrity of the network.
Drivers and/or dats which provide software that may prevent an infection or combat an existing infection are generally created to operate with anti-virus software on a system to neutralize the effect of a virus on the system. Typically, drivers and/or dats are created to effectively combat certain viruses. That is, once a virus is announced, drivers and/or dats which are intended to serve as fixes or patches for the virus are developed. Once developed, the drivers and/or dats may then be provided to anti-virus software on a system to neutralize the effect of the virus on the system.
FIG. 1a is a process flow diagram which illustrates the steps associated with a method of combating viruses. A process 100 begins at step 102 in which a system, e.g., a computing system, operates. During the operation of the system, a determination is made in step 104 as to whether a virus has been detected within the system. In other words, it is determined if a virus has breached the security of the system. If it is determined that a virus is not detected within the system, then a determination is made in step 110 as to whether a specified time length has elapsed. The specified time length is a duration of time which passes before drivers and/or dats on the system are updated, e.g., by downloading current drivers and/or dats onto the system.
If it is determined that the specified time length has not elapsed, then the system continues to operate at step 102. Alternatively, if it is determined that the specified time length has elapsed, then drivers and/or dats are downloaded from an anti-virus website in step 112. Typically, all new and updated drivers and/or dats are downloaded. Once the drivers and/or dats are downloaded, the downloaded drivers and/or dats are applied, e.g., by anti-virus software that is local to the system, the system continues to operate at step 102.
Returning to step 104 and the determination of whether a virus is detected within the system, if it is determined that no virus has been detected within the system, process flow proceeds to step 110 in which it is determined whether a specified time length has elapsed. That is, since drivers and/or dats are periodically downloaded onto the system, it is determined in step 110 whether it is time for another download to occur.
As shown in FIG. 1b, local anti-virus or anti-viral software 130 which is suitable for downloading and applying drivers and/or dats is often included in a system 134. Local anti-viral software 130 accesses drivers and/or dats 138 which are external to system 134 to download drivers and/or dats 138. As discussed above, drivers and/or dats 138 may be downloaded periodically by local anti-viral software 130. Alternatively, drivers and/or dats 138 may be downloaded when a virus is detected within system 134.
In order to prevent viruses from penetrating a system, a network administrator may choose to download drivers and/or dats relatively often. Such downloading may be performed by reducing the time intervals between consecutive scheduled downloads to enable downloads to be performed more often. By downloading drivers and/or dats more often, the likelihood that a new virus may affect the system before an appropriate driver and/or dat is obtained may be reduced. However, frequently downloading substantially all new or updated drivers and/or dats, and implementing the new or updated drivers and/or dats, may be inefficient.
Anti-virus companies or organizations, through the use of electronic mail and websites, may provide warnings pertaining to new viruses. A system or network administrator may generally monitor the warnings to ascertain which viruses pose significant threats to the system he administers. With the large amount of viruses currently being developed, ascertaining which virus threats to take seriously and which virus threats may effectively be ignored for the time being may be a nearly impossible task for the network administrator. Reacting to virus threats substantially immediately after the virus threats are announced may be time-consuming and, hence, inefficient especially if the viruses fail to seriously threaten the system. However, failing to react to the virus threats substantially immediately after the virus threats are announced may result in a virus infecting the system before appropriate dats and/or drivers are applied.
Relying substantially on only information provided in virus alerts to assess the risk posed by viruses may not be sufficient, as some viruses characterized as being relatively "minor" may actually cause significant problems in specific types of networks. That is, a virus that may pose only a minor threat to one system may pose a substantial threat to another system.
Therefore, what is needed is an efficient method and apparatus for assessing the risk of a virus to a particular system. That is, what is desired is a method and an apparatus that analyzes the types of infections that a system or organization has had in the past, and warns a network administrator of new viruses which are similar to viruses that have previously caused significant infections within the system.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


An apparatus for in vivo, endoscopic laser Raman spectroscopy probe and methods for its use are described. The probe comprises a fiber bundle assemble small enough to fit through an endoscope instrument channel, a novel combination of special coatings to the fiber bundle assembly, including a short-pass filter on the illumination fiber and a long-pass filter on the collection fiber bundle, a novel filter adapter comprising collimating lenses, focusing lenses, a band-pass filter, and a notch filter, and a round-to-parabolic linear array fiber bundle. The apparatus further comprises a laser to deliver illumination light and a spectrometer to analyze Raman-scattered light from a sample. The analysis of Raman spectra from in vivo measurements can discover molecular and structural changes associated with neoplastic transformations and lead to early diagnosis and treatment of cancer.

Lung cancer is the leading cause of death from cancer in North America, and it has the second most common cancer incidence among both men and women. One in 11 Canadian men will develop lung cancer, and 1 in 12 will die from this condition, while one in 19 Canadian women will develop lung cancer, and 1 in 22 will die from this disease. Lung cancer also results in the most lost years of life due to cancer death in both men and women. The best outcome of lung cancer treatment is achieved when the lesion is discovered in the pre-invasive stage, which is also commonly referred as carcinoma in situ (CIS).
Early and accurate diagnosis of lung cancer offers a better chance of cure, results in the use of less radical treatment methods, and reduces the cost of treatment. The five-year survival for all stages of lung cancer is only 11-14 percent, while for Stage I it is 42 to 47 percent. Under optimal conditions, survival can be even higher. However, with respect to currently available lung imaging techniques, lung cancer is generally asymptomatic until it has reached an advanced stage, when the treatment outcome is poor. In particular, very early lung cancers are difficult to detect and localize by conventional white-light endoscopy since these cancers are only a few cell layers thick and LIP to a few millimeters in surface diameter, producing insufficient changes to make them visible under white light illumination. In the lung, only about 30 percent of CIS lesions are visible by conventional white-light bronchoscopy.
In the past decade, tissue autofluorescence imaging has been successfully used to improve the early detection of lung cancers. However, fluorescence endoscopy technology (developed at B.C. Cancer Agency and also referred as "LIFE" technology) has less optimal specificity for lung cancer detection (66 percent for LIFE compared to 90 percent for conventional white light bronchoscopy) although it improved the sensitivity from 25 percent for white light bronchoscope to 67 percent for LIFE. There is still much room for improvement in the diagnostic accuracy.
Recently, we have performed Raman spectroscopy measurements on fresh biopsy bronchial tissue samples and found significant spectral differences between normal and malignant lung tissues, demonstrating the potential of Raman spectroscopy for in vivo lung cancer detection.
In contrast to fluorescence technology, Laser-Raman spectroscopy probes molecular vibrations and gives very specific, fingerprint-like spectral features and has high accuracy for differentiation of malignant tissues from benign tissues. Raman spectroscopy can also be used to identify the structural and compositional differences on proteins and genetic materials between malignant lung cancers, their pre-cursers, and normal lung tissues. This knowledge will lead to better understanding, on the biochemical bases, of the evolution process of lung cancers from benign to malignancy. The biochemical information obtained from in vivo Raman measurements may also be helpful for predicting the malignancy potential of pre-invasive and invasive lung cancers. The objective of this invention is to develop a miniaturized laser-Raman probe, which can go through the instrument channel of a bronchoscope to perform Raman spectroscopy measurements of the bronchial tree in vivo. A further objective is to enable the application of Raman spectroscopy for in vivo lung cancer detection and evaluation, therefore, improve the specificity of lung cancer detection and the overall detection accuracy when combined with fluorescence endoscopy technology.
When monochromatic light strikes a sample, almost all the observed light is scattered elastically (Rayleigh scattering) with no change in energy (or frequency). A very small portion of the scattered light, about 1 in 108, is inelastically scattered (Raman scattering) with a corresponding change in frequency. The difference between the incident and scattered frequencies corresponds to an excitation of the molecular system, most often excitation of vibrational modes. By measuring the intensity of the scattered photons as a function of the frequency difference, a Raman spectrum is obtained. Raman peaks are typically narrow (a few wavenumbers) and in many cases can be attributed to the vibration of specific chemical bonds (or normal mode dominated by the vibration of a single functional group) in a molecule. As such, it is a "fingerprint" for the presence of various molecular species and can be used for both qualitative identification and quantitative determination.
In recent years, Raman spectroscopy has been investigated for in vitro diagnosis of malignancies in various organs (e.g., brain, breast, bladder, colon, larynx, cervix, and skin). These studies show that features of tissue Raman spectra can be related to the molecular and structural changes associated with neoplastic transformations. A sensitivity and specificity of 82 percent and 92 percent respectively for differentiating between cervical precancerous and other tissues in vitro have been reported. Mahadevan-Jansen, Raman spectroscopy for the detection of cancers and precancers, J BIOMED. OPT. 1, 31-70, 1996.
In vivo NIR Raman measurements have also been reported in the cervix, colon, esophagus, and the skin. Mahadevan-Jansen, Development of a fiber optic probe to measure NIR Raman spectra of cervical tissue in vivo, PHOTOCHEM. PHOTOBIOL. 68: 427-431, 1998; Shim, In vivo near-infrared Raman spectroscopy: demonstration of feasibility during clinical gastrointestinal endoscopy, PHOTOCHEM. PHOTOBIOL. 72: 146-150, 2000; Huang, Rapid near-infrared Raman spectroscopy system for real-time in vivo skin measurements, OPT. LETT. 26: 1782-1784, 2001; Utzinger, Near-infrared Raman spectroscopy for in vivo detection of cervical precancers, APPL. SPECTROSC. 55:955-959, 2001.
Shim et al. have shown differences for in vivo Raman spectra among normal, precancerous, and cancerous esophageal and gastric tissues. Raman spectroscopy of lung tissues, however, has only been reported on formalin-fixed parenchyma lung diseases, which provide very limited guidance to in vivo applications due to the adverse effect of formalin fixation on tissue Raman spectra. Kaminaka, Near-infrared Raman spectroscopy of human lung tissues: possibility of molecular-level cancer diagnosis, J. RAMAN SPECTROSC. 32:139-141, 2001; Kaminaka, Near-infrared multichannel Raman spectroscopy toward real-time in vivo cancer diagnosis, J. RAMAN SPECTROSC. 33:498-502, 2002; Shim, The effects of ex vivo handling procedures on the near-infrared Raman spectra of normal mammalian tissues, PHOTOCHEM. PHOTOBIOL. 63: 662-671, 1996.
The development of an in vivo tissue Raman probe is technically challenging due to the weak Raman signal of tissue, interference from tissue fluorescence and spectral contamination caused by the background Raman and fluorescence signals generated in the fiber itself. Most probes published in literature and commercial products are larger than 10 mm in diameter, and therefore are not suitable for endoscopy applications. The instrument channel of commonly-used bronchoscopes are 2.2 mm (for example, Olympus BF-20, BF-40).
To date, the only endoscopic probe utilized for in vivo measurements is the Enviva Raman probe manufactured by Visionex, Inc., Atlanta, Ga. However, the company was dissolved two years ago; therefore, the probe is no longer commercially available. That probe consisted of a central delivery fiber (400 μm core diameter) surrounded by seven collection fibers (300 μm core diameter). It incorporated LP filters in the collection fibers and a BP filter in the delivery fiber. The main disadvantages of that probe are that (1) only seven collection fibers were used, which cannot fill the full vertical height of the CCD sensor in the spectrometer; therefore, it was unable to gain the maximum sensitivity; and (2) the size of the collection fibers was big (300 μm), leading to poor spectral resolution (>20 cm−1).


A multi-layered cylindrical propellant casing comprising an inner propellant-holding layer of polymer layer(s) obtained by lay up, blow molding, or similar fabrication of an energetic or nonenergetic type layer, coated with (an) intermediate adhesive layer(s) of an energetic or non-energetic type, and covered by an outer, concentrically arranged, coat or layer having a higher resistance, than said inner layer, to circumferential expansion; plus a corresponding method for increasing the amount of fragmentation and combustion rate of such propellant casing when exposed to a firing sequence.

Environmental stability, high impact strength, resistance to flame and shock, and low cost are among the most important and desired characteristics for containers such as gun propellant casings.
To achieve strength and to resist flame and shock, however, it is generally necessary to limit or wholly replace casing materials of a high energetic nature, such as felted nitrocellulose casings with low energy polymeric material and to attempt to make up the difference by achieving a higher propellant-packing density.
The use of inert, tough organic compounds such as synthetic resins (U.S. Pat. No. 3,749,023), polycarbonates, polysulfones and blends thereof with polyethylene (U.S. Pat. No. 3,745,924), Polyethylene terphthalate (PET) (U.S. Pat. No. 3,901,153), polyester film (U.S. Pat. No. 4,282,813), or similar polymeric materials, however, are not fully satisfactory as substitutes for nitrocellulose (NC) felting, because of difficulty in carrying out firings without fouling a barrel and gun breach with partly consumed casing. Such smoking residue also presents a serious air pollution and storage problem within the confines of a tank or similar vehicle under buttoned down combat conditions.
Attempts at compromise, such as the use of thin sheets of plastic interspaced between traditional felted nitrocellulose layers (U.S. Pat. No. 3,901,153) have resulted in some improvement in moisture resistance and handling properties, but have not succeeded in adequately addressing case combustion problems.
The present invention substantially increases consumability by increasing the amount of fragmentation and the resulting combustion of a propellant-charged gun propellant casing used in a conventional firing sequence. In addition the practice of this invention obtains a consumable inert propellant casing having improved flame and shock resistance plus increased mechanical durability.

Consumable low energy layered propellant casing


A hydraulic system for a vehicle transmission with at least two friction elements, the system comprising a first hydraulic circuit comprising a pump for supplying hydraulic fluid to the first hydraulic circuit. A flow restriction may be provided in the first hydraulic circuit between an output of the pump and a sump for providing leakage of hydraulic fluid into the sump. Further, a second hydraulic circuit comprising a second pump may be arranged, wherein the hydraulic pressure in the first circuit is higher compared to the second circuit. A flow control element operated using hydraulic pressure from the first circuit may be arranged for controlling flow/pressure in the second circuit. Further, the hydraulic system may be arranged for generating a line pressure, wherein an actuator for engaging a park lock system may be connected to the first hydraulic circuit for enabling direct actuation by means of the line pressure.

A transmission enables a controlled application of engine power by conversion of speed and torque from a power source, such as for example an electric engine, internal combustion engine, a hybrid engine, etc. A hydraulic system of a vehicle transmission may provide for actuation of friction elements in the transmission for coupling the transmission input to a geartrain so as to transmit engine power to the wheels of the vehicle. For example a clutch module in an automatic transmission system can comprise two friction clutches for coupling the engine via the geartrain to the wheels by actuation of these clutches via said hydraulic system. In a variant one or more clutches can be made by using a powersplit mechanism with three rotational members where one member is connected to the input, one member is connected to the output and the third member can be connected to the transmission housing by means of actuation of a friction brake. Multiple configurations of these friction elements (clutch, brake) can be made resulting in various layouts of multi-friction transmissions. A transmission system of this type is know from e.g. US2013184119.
The brake and/or clutch elements can generate a considerable heat and the hydraulic system may also provide cooling fluid to each of the clutches and/or brakes of the transmission.
In a transmission system the friction element can be a wet clutch, which may be oil cooled. Typically, the electrohydraulic control of the transmission provides significant improved efficiency and performance, while maintaining the full shift comfort of traditional step automatics. A precise and fast control of the friction elements can be made possible by direct acting solenoids, which are electromechanically operated valves.
Fundamentally, a clutch of the transmission system can be of the wet clutch or the dry clutch design. A wet clutch design is preferably used for higher torque applications, whereas the dry clutch design is generally suited for smaller torque applications. Although the dry clutch variants of a transmission system may be limited in torque generation, compared to their wet clutch counterparts, the dry clutch variants may offer an improved fuel efficiency, mainly due to the cooling and lubrication. The wet clutch requires pumping transmission fluid in the clutch housing, which may results in losses. Therefore, additionally, the cooling system in a multiple friction transmission may play an important role for the overall efficiency of the transmission.
A layout of a transmission system with more than one friction element can be considered to be equivalent to having more than one transmissions in one housing which can be shifted and coupled independently, i.e. one power transmission assembly on each of the two input shafts together driving one output shaft, to enable uninterrupted gear shifting transmission in an automatic transmission form, while keeping high mechanical efficiency compared to a manual transmission.
Hence, an automated transmission with a plurality of friction elements using a wet clutch arrangements can be actuated and/or cooled/lubricated by means of a hydraulic system. Typically a higher pressure needs to be employed for actuation of friction elements than for lubrication/cooling of transmission elements. However, a higher flow is typically required for lubrication/cooling of transmission elements than for actuation of friction elements. Hence, from an efficiency point of view hydraulic separation of the two functions is advantageous for efficiency.
The system of US2004074732A1 comprises two electrically driven pumps. A hydraulic pump, actuated by an electric motor, provides lubrication via a first hydraulic line to transmission components at a possibly low pressure. A second hydraulic pump, actuated by a second electric motor, provides oil to a second hydraulic line feeding pressure control valves at a higher pressure compared to the first hydraulic line. The second hydraulic line comprises additionally a hydraulic fluid accumulator, allowing the second electric pump to operate in a duty cycle according to the state of charge of the fluid accumulator.
Such a system requires the pump to drive at a pressure considerably higher than the required actuation pressure when in a state of charging the hydraulic fluid accumulator, having a possibly negative effect on the needed power output of the electric motor. An additional pressure sensor is needed to monitor the state of charge of the accumulator. The high pressure in the second hydraulic line furthermore introduces an increased level of leakage in the system, compromising efficiency.
In the hydraulic system of WO2016058735A1, low pressure lubrication flow is provided by a first hydraulic pump, driven by a first electric motor. A second hydraulic pump with a second electric motor provides directly pressurized fluid to a clutch arrangement via a hydraulic line by means of electric motor speed control and a predictable leakage flow from the hydraulic line via a leakage point. A negative speed is required from the hydraulic pump to fully release the friction element in dynamic conditions by drawing fluid from the piston of the friction element. In such a configuration, each additional friction element requiring pressurized fluid for actuation will require an additional hydraulic pump and electric motor. The necessity of reversing the hydraulic pump rotation direction on the actuation channels require the leakage point to be submerged in fluid under all conditions to avoid the hydraulic pump drawing air when operating in a negative speed. The hydraulic fluid from the leakage point hence has to be directed in a fluid sump and cannot be used for active lubrication to a transmission element.
So, there is a need for a hydraulic system for a multiple friction transmission that addresses at least one of the above mentioned drawbacks while maintaining the advantages.

Hydraulic system for a vehicle, a vehicle transmission, and method for operating a vehicle transmission


A pinch roller apparatus is disclosed which fully satisfies the requirements of tape running stability and durability of the bearing. A roller shaft is arranged inclined such that the tip end is close to the capstan. The angle of inclination (.alpha.) of the roller shaft with respect to the axis of the capstan is in the range of 0.degree.<.alpha..ltoreq.7.degree.. Also, when clearance in the radial direction between the roller shaft and the plain bearing is represented by "a" and the effective length in the axial direction of the plain bearing is represented by "b", then the relation 0.002.ltoreq.a/b.ltoreq.0.05 is satisfied.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a pinch roller apparatus used for a tape recorder, a VTR or the like.
2. Description of the Background Art
A pinch roller apparatus includes a rotationally driven capstan, and a pinch roller including a roller body which is pressed against the capstan. A tape is pinched between the capstan and the roller body which are in pressure contact with each other and moved in a prescribed direction.
General requirements for the pinch roller include tape running stability and durability of the pinch roller itself. One factor for determining the tape running stability is the self-alignment function of the pinch roller. By the self-alignment function, any error in parallelism between the axis of the capstan and the pinch roller, which is inevitable in design and manufacturing, is absorbed by the play in the direction of inclination of the roller body of the pinch roller with respect to the roller shaft, whereby the axis of rotation of the roller body is made parallel to the axis of rotation of the capstan. When the pinch roller does not have such a self-alignment function or the pinch roller has a poor self-alignment function, degrading of the running stability of the tape occurs. For example, the tape pinching pressure may be biased, resulting in an irregular stretching of the tape. The tape may possibly come off of the pinch roller or the tape may deviate in the upward or downward direction, or the running speed of the tape may fluctuate, resulting in an increase in the wow and flutter.
In a typical structure of a conventional pinch roller, a roller body having an elastic body such as rubber fixed to the outer peripheral surface of a cylindrical sleeve is rotatably attached to a roller shaft by means of a ball bearing. In such a structure, very precise and small ball bearings are necessary, and hence the manufacturing costs of the pinch roller are high.
In view of the foregoing, the application of a plain bearing formed of a resin or a sintered metal which has a simple structure and is inexpensive as a pinch roller instead of the use of ball bearings has been proposed. FIG. 3 is an illustration showing a self-alignment function of the pinch roller employing a plain bearing. When roller shaft 1 is inclined with respect to a capstan C, roller body 3 is inclined with respect to roller shaft 1 because of a clearance provided between bearing 2 and roller shaft 1, so that the axis of rotation of the roller body becomes parallel to the axis of the capstan. In the figure, "T" represents a tape, 31 represents a metal sleeve and 34 represents a cylindrical elastic body.
However, when a large clearance is provided between bearing 2 and roller shaft 1, only the upper or lower end of the bearing will be brought into contact with the roller shaft, resulting in local sliding, which causes severe friction at the upper and lower ends of the bearing, promoting local wear. Therefore, it becomes difficult to satisfy the requirement of durability of the pinch roller.
In a structure such as shown in FIG. 3, it is possible that the roller body is largely inclined not only with respect to the direction of the capstan but also with respect to the direction of the running tape, orthogonal thereto. When the roller body in inclined significantly in the direction of tape running by some cause such as vibration or shock at the time of mode switching, the roller body and the capstan will be in point contact and not in line contact. In this case, pressure is not applied uniformly in the widthwise direction of the tape pinched therebetween, causing irregular stretch of the tape. In addition, the wow and flutter are increased because of snaking or upward/downward movement of the tape, so that it is difficult to satisfy the tape running stability.

Pinch roller and pinch roller apparatus having a self-alignment function


An apparatus and method for generating a congestion indication bit to be written to the CI field of a backwards RM ATM cell to be transmitted by a network interface utilizes a slot.sub.-- type congestion signal for indicating that the number of slots available for receiving cells is below a threshold limit, and a CI.sub.-- VC signal for indicating that the buffer space consumed by cells received on a particular VC has passed a threshold value. The CI bit in a backward RM cell for the VC when either the slot.sub.-- type congestion signal is set or the CI.sub.-- VC bit is set or the EFCI bit was set in the last data cell received by the network interface or the CI bit was set in the last forward RM cell transmitted by the network interface.

In computer networks, end nodes communicate with each other by exchanging units of data, such as packets, over the network. Under various circumstances, it is possible for an end node in a computer network to become congested. This type of congestion refers to the near depletion of available buffer space in an end node host memory or network device, e.g., network adapter. Typically, host memory buffers are allocated for use by an adapter via a free buffer pool (i.e., pointers to the available buffers). When the end node becomes congested due to a shortage of available buffers for storing received packets and packets received from the network begin to build up at the network device, packet data loss is likely to occur.
Traditionally, end nodes in computer networks have employed various congestion control schemes to control and, if possible, to avoid congestion. In these schemes, network devices provide congestion information to the host system. In response, the host system takes steps to reduce the level of congestion.
In a cell-based network adapter, such as an ATM adapter, which performs packet: reassembly on cells received from the network on a given virtual circuit (VC), the host system typically empties and reposts host memory buffers or slots on packet boundaries only. If many VCs are active simultaneously, with a high degree of interleaving on the physical link, and the packets being received are large in comparison to the size of the buffers (such that a single packet occupies many buffers), then there is the potential for a given VC over which a packet is being carried to consume buffer memory space at the expense of other packets and other simultaneously active VCs.
Also of concern is the problem of free buffer pool exhaustion. If the free buffer pool is allowed to become empty and the buffer memory is occupied by partially assembled packets, then reassembly deadlock will occur. Consequently, packet reassembly may not proceed until more buffers are provided via the free buffer pool or some partially assembled packets are discarded. deadlock to occur.
In an ATM network adapter that supports ABR traffic flows in accordance with the ATM Forum Traffic Management Specification, a flow control mechanism is provided via the transfer of "RM cells". The Traffic Management Specification allows these RM cells to be used to indicate local congestion. It is desirable to utilize these RM cells as part of a congestion control scheme that controls and avoids congestion on a per-VC basis, as well as minimizes the potential for reassembly deadlock to occur.

Apparatus and method for setting a congestion indicate bit in an backwards RM cell on an ATM network