A method of manufacturing fluorescent material-dispersed glass, comprising: performing production of a fluorescent material-dispersed gel utilizing sol-gel reaction and acid-base reaction by preparing a fluorescent material-dispersed sol containing silicon alkoxide, metal chloride and/or metal aklkoxide, and fluorescent material, and subsequently gelling the fluorescent material-dispersed sol; and performing production of a fluorescent material-dispersed glass by heating the fluorescent material-dispersed gel.

In general, polymer materials are used as an encapsulant material that covers a light source of a light emitting diode (LED). In recent years, the polymer encapsulant materials are dispersed with fluorescent material and are used in devices.
For example, Non-Patent Reference 1 describes that an element composed of nitride fluorescent material dispersed in an epoxy resin can be used as an LED having a warm white color.
However, defective deterioration and deformation occasionally occurred in the above-described polymer encapsulant materials due to heat generated by emission of light from the LED light source. The brightness of the LED light source has been enhanced recently. As a result, heat generation has increased, and the problems of insufficient heat endurance of the polymer encapsulant materials has aggravated. On the other hand, non-patent reference 2 describes that the fluorescent materials made of oxynitride and nitride have higher heat endurance compared to oxide fluorescent materials. Therefore, there is an increasing demand for encapsulant materials of still high endurance.
Based on the above-described circumstance, glass materials having relatively high endurance has been investigated as an encapsulant material that can replace the polymer materials.
For example, Patent References 1 and 2 are related to fused glass that seals a light emitting diode. Patent Reference 3 describes a glass formed by a fusion method for dispersing fluorescent material therein, and a method for manufacturing a fluorescent material-dispersed glass by dispersing the fluorescent material in a fused glass.
However, the fused glass requires a reaction process at very high temperature. Therefore, there has been a problem of dagradation of the fluorescent material due to reaction of the fluorescent material with the fused glass during the high temperature reaction process.
For example, Patent Reference 2 describes that the fluorescent material is degradated at a temperature exceeding 900° C. where the fused glass used in the process is mainly composed of TeO2.
Sol-gel method does not require a high temperature reaction process. Therefore, according to the sol-gel method, it is possible to produce a fluorescent material-dispersed glass while suppressing the dagradation of the fluorescent material by avoiding reaction of the fluorescent material with the glass.
For example, Patent Reference 4 describes a fluorescent material-dispersed glass produced by dispersing the fluorescent material in the glass formed by the sol-gel method. Patent Reference 5 describes a fluorescent material-dispersed glass produced by dispersing nano-particles in the glass formed by the sol-gel method.
However, according to the conventional sol-gel method, it is difficult to form a bulk glass, and only a silica glass with low-refractive index can be obtained. Patent Reference 4 also utilizes silica glass and describes that a light of constant color tone can be emitted by controlling the number and size of bubbles. These effects can be obtained by changing the difference of refractive index between the fluorescent material and the glass. For example, if a glass added with TeO2 having high refractive index is obtained, it is possible to control the refractive index of the glass to be similar to that of the fluorescent material, thereby suppressing reduction of emission intensity in the interface between the fluorescent material and glass, and improving the emission efficiency.
Patent Reference 6 describes a fluorescent material-dispersed glass produced by mixing a glass powder and a fluorescent material powder and sintering the mixture. However, the above-described problems could not be solved even when this glass was used.

Method of producing fluorescent material dispersed glass and fluorescent material dispersed glass

NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR MATERIALS SCIENCE


A surface plasmon resonance sensor element includes a thin metallic layer, an optical construction disposed on the thin metallic layer for directing light to and away from the thin metallic layer, and an absorptive layer disposed on the thin metallic layer opposite the optical construction. The absorptive layer includes a polymer of intrinsic microporosity having an average pore volume of at least 0.4 cubic nanometers.

At an interface between two transparent media of different refractive index (e.g., glass and water), light coming from the side of higher refractive index is partly reflected and partly refracted. Above a certain critical angle of incidence, no light is refracted across the interface, and total internal reflection is observed. While incident light is totally reflected the electromagnetic field component penetrates a short (tens of nanometers (nm)) distance into a medium of a lower refractive index creating an exponentially attenuating evanescent wave. If the interface between the media is coated with a thin layer of metal (e.g., gold), and light is monochromatic and p-polarized (i.e., polarized parallel with respect to a plane on which the light is incident), the intensity of the reflected light is sharply reduced at a specific incident angle (called surface plasmon resonance (SPR)) due to the resonance energy transfer between the evanescent wave and surface plasmons. The resonance conditions are influenced by the material adsorbed onto the thin metal film.
Surface plasmons, also termed "surface plasmon polaritons", are surface electromagnetic waves that propagate in a direction parallel to a metal/dielectric (or metal/vacuum) interface. Since the wave is on the boundary of the metal and the dielectric, these oscillations are very sensitive to any change of this boundary, such as the adsorption of molecules to the metal surface. In one common configuration, termed the Kretschmann configuration, the thin metallic layer is disposed onto a transparent substrate (e.g., glass). Light illuminates the thin metallic layer through the transparent substrate, and an evanescent wave penetrates through the thin metallic layer. The plasmons are excited at the opposite side of the film thin metallic layer.
Surface plasmon resonance spectroscopy has been used as an analytical technique in various biological applications wherein a molecule is bound to a receptor attached to the metal layer. Surface plasmon resonance spectroscopy has also been used to detect organic vapors. For example, the use of MAKROLON M2400 polycarbonate from Bayer MaterialScience AG, Leverkusen, Germany) as a dielectric layer for use in SPR has been reported by Kieser et al. in Analytical Chemistry, 2002, vol. 74, pp. 4781-4787. MAKROLON polycarbonate is reported therein as being a microporous glassy polymer and having a mean size of the pores of 0.1 nm3.

Surface plasmon resonance sensor element and sensor including the same


Apparatus and method for selecting from a pair of capacitor banks for delivery of positive and negative polarity portions of a biphasic defibrillator pulse with a selector switch circuit for each capacitor bank, the circuit including a solid state phase selector switch preferably made up of a series connected plurality of IGBT's and each phase selector switch having a phase selector driver and select phase control for turning the phase selector switch ON and OFF when desired to start and truncate selected portions of the biphasic defibrillation pulse.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of external defibrillators. In particular, the present invention relates to a high voltage phase selector switch for providing biphasic defibrillation pulses to a patient.
2. Description of the Related Art
Cardiac arrest, exposure to high voltage power lines and other trauma to the body can result in heart fibrillation which is the rapid and uncoordinated contraction of the cardiac muscle. The use of external defibrillators to restore the heartbeat to its normal pace through the application of an electrical shock is a well recognized and important tool for resuscitating patients. External defibrillation is typically used in emergency settings in which the patient is either unconscious or otherwise unable to communicate. Time is of the essence since studies have shown that the chances for successful resuscitation diminish approximately ten percent per minute.
Commercially available defibrillators such as those available from SurvivaLink Corporation, the assignee of the present application, are currently configured to produce monophasic waveform defibrillation pulses. Monophasic (i.e., single polarity) pulses such as a damped sine waveform and a truncated exponential waveform have been demonstrated to be effective for defibrillation, and meet standards promulgated by the Association for Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI). Electrical circuits for producing monophasic waveform defibrillation pulses are generally known and disclosed, for example, in the Persson U.S. Pat. No. 5,405,316 which is assigned to the assignee of the present invention and the disclosure of which is herein incorporated by reference.
The efficacy of biphasic waveform pulses (effectively two successive pulses of opposite polarities) has been established for implantable defibrillators. For example, studies conducted on implantable defibrillators have shown that biphasic waveform defibrillation pulses result in a lower defibrillation threshold than monophasic pulses. A variety of theories have been proposed to explain the defibrillation characteristics of biphasic waveform pulses but no definite conclusions have been reached.
It is anticipated that the efficacy and advantages of biphasic waveform pulses that have been demonstrated in implantable defibrillators will be demonstrated in external defibrillators as well. It has been known to use electromechanical vacuum or gas filled relays to switch the output of storage devices to form biphasic waveforms. These devices are electrically suitable for use in external defibrillators, but pose practical problems in that they are generally fragile, large and very expensive. One important shortcoming is that such devices are not suitable for breaking or interrupting large voltages and currents and, when called upon to do so, often damage the relay contacts. External defibrillators output defibrillation pulses in the range of 2000-3000 volts. The typical load for external defibrillators are in the range of approximately 25-225 ohms. At these voltages and resistances, the circuits must be able to handle currents in excess of 100 amps. This shortcoming is particularly significant when it is desired to truncate a first portion of a biphasic defibrillation pulse. In such circumstances, to truncate the pulse or waveform without damage to the contacts, it is known to short-circuit the capacitor bank supplying the pulse to be terminated or truncated. Such an approach suffers from the further shortcoming that the energy short-circuited is lost to the system, increasing inefficiency and adding electrical (and mechanical) stress to the components carrying short-circuit current. Thus, there is a continued need for a low cost, compact, and rugged switching circuit.

High voltage phase selector switch for external defibrillators


An apparatus for carrying out a cleaning operation applied to the internal neck skin of slaughtered poultry by removing the windpipe, gullet, glandular tissue or remainders thereof.

An apparatus is known from EP-B-1 247 453 and includes suspension devices for suspending the poultry by the legs. A first drum which at its periphery is provided with a first curve formed by a first groove. This groove is traced by a first projection that connects to a rotatable organ bore so as to arrange that movement of the organ bore along the periphery of the first drum causes the organ bore to be inserted from the top into the poultry being suspended by the legs for carrying out the cleaning operation.
The known apparatus further has presser means including a presser chock, which during the cleaning operation rests against the neck skin of the poultry at the breast side and pushes the neck skin of the poultry towards the organ bore. The presser chock cooperates with a second drum provided with a second groove that is being traced by a second projection connected with the pressure chock so as to arrange that the pressure chock is adjustable in height due to its movement along the periphery of the second drum. By arranging that the presser chock is adjustable in height, the pressure chock can be moved upwards at the beginning of the cleaning operation until it reaches a position wherein the pressure chock rests against the neck skin at the breast side of the poultry.
The presser chock effectively assists the scraping action of the organ bore so that its efficacy is improved. The presser chock pushing the poultry's neck skin on the breast side towards the organ bore assists in particular the effective removal of the windpipe, which, due to the nature of the tissue of which the windpipe consists, is usually difficult to remove by means of the organ bore.
It is known that the measure with which the neck skin is pressed against the organ bore is as such quite critical, since on the one hand the scraping action of the organ bore needs to be supported, while on the other hand the scraping action must not result in the neck skin being torn. It is known that an appropriate amount of pressure may be obtained if the presser chock is arranged to move upwards at the beginning of the cleaning operation until it is in a position wherein the presser chock slightly lifts the poultry while the same is suspended by the legs in the hooks. Although this arrangement allows for a considerable tolerance with regard to any possible differences in size of the poultry to be processed, practice learns that poultry sizes may differ more than can be accommodated with the arrangement known from EP-B-1 247 453.
It is remarked that from US2002/0155803 a carousel type machine is known that has a series of holding fixtures that revolve about a central axis of the machine at the same speed as a conveyor line brings carcasses suspended by their hocks to the machine. The holding fixtures are driven by a first drum and grip the carcasses by the thighs to lift them up against a stop until the tail bones are firmly seated against a stop to establish a point of reference for a processing organ that is driven by a second drum that is movable with respect to the first drum along a shared shaft. In the particular embodiment disclosed in US2002/0155803, the processing tool is a cutter in the form of a knife for making an opening cut into the body cavity of the carcass through the abdominal skin. An alternative embodiment of processing tool may include a vent cutter, for example, for cutting the vent from the carcass prior to making the opening cut. US2002/0155803 further mentions that the principles as disclosed in it encompass both such types of processing tools, and other types not specifically mentioned therein. However, this very general statement regarding the possible application to other types of processing tools does not provide any pointer, hint, or suggestion that would (instead of could) logically and inevitably lead to the application of the features of the characterizing portion of the main claim in an apparatus for carrying out a cleaning operation applied to the internal neck skin of slaughtered poultry.
It is therefore an object of the invention to make the cleaning operation also effective with notable size differences of poultry beyond what can be accommodated with the known apparatus, and to improve the scraping action and arrange that poultry of any size may be stripped reliably of windpipe, gullet and other tissue that is to be removed.

Apparatus for carrying out a cleaning operation applied to the internal neck skin of slaughtered poultry


A contact lens for use with pupil monitoring systems. A contact lens has a first surface that conforms to a cornea and sclera of a patient's eye, and a second surface that has a tubular extension defining a viewing port formed thereon. A distal region of the tubular extension forms an outwardly protruding lip which functions to securely engage the eyelid of a patient during the monitoring process and facilitates manipulation of the sclera contact lens while it is being inserted in or removed from a patient's eye. The lens may conform solely to the cornea of a patient's eye, and the viewing port may have a wide angle lens, polarizing element or other optical filtering element provided therein.

The field of the present invention is ophthalmic monitoring Systems and, more particularly, scleral and corneal contact lenses for use with such systems.
Recently, substantial attention has been directed to the use of pupil monitoring systems for use in medical applications. One such system is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,297,554, which is entitled "Device for Use in Real-Time Monitoring of Human or Animal Bodily Function" (hereinafter "the '554 patent"). The system described in the '554 patent employs a scleral contact lens for locating and supporting on the eye of a patient an optical system including at least one discrete light source and one discrete receiver. The described scleral contact lens has a first surface which conforms to the sclera and bulbar conjunctive tissue of a patient's eye, and a second surface including a tubular extension that provides a mount for the optical system.
While the system described in the '554 patent may be useful in short term pupil monitoring applications, its usefulness for long term pupil monitoring applications is questionable. The reason for this is that the combination of the scleral contact lens and optical monitoring system is quite bulky. Moreover, it is difficult to assess how long a patient's eye could tolerate having a device such as that described in the '554 patent mounted thereon.
Another device for monitoring the size of a patient's pupil is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,007,980, entitled "Device for the Measurement of the Size of an Eye Pupil" (hereinafter "the '980 patent"). The device described in the '980 patent is also quite bulky and likely could not be tolerated by a patient's eye for substantial periods of time.
In view of the foregoing, it is believed that those skilled in the art would find a scleral contact lens that could be easily manipulated and left on a patient's eye for a substantial period of time to be quite useful.

Contact lens for use with ophthalmic monitoring systems


The present invention relates to a method for determining a phase correction value in a radar apparatus provided with an array antenna comprised of a plurality of antenna elements as a receiving antenna. The method for determining the phase correction value according to the present invention has a first step of obtaining a first correction value for each channel for correcting a phase shift between channels of the plural antenna elements, a second step of obtaining a second correction value for each channel for correcting a deviation between an electrical center direction and a front direction obtained with phase correction using the first correction values, and a third step of obtaining a final correction value for each channel from the first correction value and the second correction value, and the method determines such a phase correction value as to match the direction of 0.degree. with the electrical center direction for each channel.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a radar apparatus equipped with an array antenna comprised of a plurality of antenna elements as a receiving antenna and arranged to detect a target bearing from phase differences between signals received by the respective antenna elements and, more particularly, to a method for determining phase correction values therein.
2. Related Background Art
A digital beam forming (DBF) radar apparatus is an example of the radar apparatus of this type. Since the DBF radar apparatus employs a method for electronically scanning a desired range, it needs no scanning mechanical portion and has characteristics of being compact, lightweight, and strong against vibration and the like. Because of these features, it is expected to be used as a radar apparatus for vehicle.
In the radar apparatus of this type, phases of waves reflected by a target positioned at the front or in the direction of 0.degree. must be theoretically equal among the antenna elements. Disagreement is, however, encountered between the phases because of manufacturing variations in practice. It is thus common practice to cancel out the disagreement between the phases due to the manufacturing variations by giving phase correction values to the respective antenna element channels at the stage of signal processing.
Since the phase correction values of the respective channels are specific to each radar apparatus produced, they are determined by measurement for each apparatus. As a method for determining the phase correction values there is, for example, the "Method for detecting errors of DBF radar" disclosed in Toyota Technical Reports (Toyota Gijutsu Kokaishu issue No. 7294 issued Dec. 25, 1997). According to this technique, a target is placed at a position assumed to be the front (the direction of 0.degree.) of the radar apparatus, the radar apparatus is actuated channel by channel for every antenna element, and phase correction values are determined for the respective channels so as to match the phases of receive signals at the respective channels with each other.
The phase correction values of the respective channels are stored in a memory section of the radar apparatus and correction is carried out with these phase correction values on the occasion of the DBF signal processing, thereby canceling out the phase shifts between the channels due to the manufacturing variations.
By this conventional method for determining the phase correction values, the 0.degree. directions of the respective antenna elements agree with each other to become the direction of 0.degree. in terms of the structure of the radar apparatus. There was, however, a problem that the 0.degree. direction was not always coincident with an electrical center of the radar apparatus. This is caused by assembling errors etc. between the housing of the radar apparatus and the antenna.
It raised the possibility of detection error; for example, in cases where the radar apparatus was mounted on a vehicle for the purpose of front detection, when the apparatus was mounted so as to match the 0.degree. direction of the radar apparatus with the front of the vehicle, the detection area of the radar apparatus deviated from the front of the vehicle.

Method for determining phase correction values in radar apparatus


A connecting screw for a locking rail of a vertical belt adjuster is anchored in a threaded head of a sleeve element anchored in a vehicle pillar wall. The sleeve element can be positioned during installation by a guide element which envelops the threaded head and is disposed so as to clamp in notches of the threaded head.

This application claims the priority of German Patent Document 100 11 907.7, filed in Germany, Mar. 11, 2000, and German Patent Document 101 06 994.4, filed in Germany, Feb. 15, 2001.
The invention relates to a deformation element assembly for a vertical belt adjuster of a safety belt system or for a retaining rod of a new-equipped partition wall in a motor vehicle, whereby the deformation element is disposed between a receiving element and a column or pillar of a motor vehicle.
German Patent document DE 196 51 092 A1 (U.S. Pat. No. 5,791,687) discloses a safety belt device, where an anchor element is connected to the vehicle body by means of a screw held in an absorption element. The screw is held in position by means of a spring element on a pillar of the vehicle.
Furthermore, U.S. Pat. No. 5,836,613 discloses a safety belt device that is fastened to a vehicle pillar by means of a connecting bolt and is connected to a conical element that is fixed in a holding member by means of overlapping claws or the like. In the event of a head impact, the conical element detaches in that the overlapping claws bend upward so that the result is some degree of absorption of the impact energy.
Moreover, German Patent document DE 295 19 483 U1 discloses a device for supporting a safety belt strap in a motor vehicle with the end or deflection assembly hardware for the belt strap. Said hardware is anchored on the motor vehicle body over the shoulder height of a passenger to be strapped in. Between the end or deflection assembly hardware and the vehicle body there is at the anchoring point an energy absorber, which is effective when a force is directed toward the end or deflection assembly hardware outwardly from inside the vehicle.
An object of the invention is to provide a deformation element for a vertical belt adjuster of a safety belt system or for a mounting device of a net-equipped partition wall in a motor vehicle that guarantees a reliable connecting screw for the vertical belt adjuster or for the retaining rod. Said connecting screw can be optionally tightened and absorbs bending moments. In the event of head impact a deformation of the mounting or the fastening for the vertical belt adjuster is guaranteed.
This object is achieved according to preferred embodiments of the invention by providing a deformation element assembly for a vertical belt adjuster of a safety belt system or for a retaining rod of a net-equipped partition wall in a motor vehicle, whereby the deformation element is disposed between a receiving element and a pillar of a motor vehicle, wherein the receiving element is held on a pillar wall of a vehicle body pillar with intercalation of the deformation element; by means of a fastening screw which is passed axially through, starting from the receiving element, and is held in a threaded head of a sleeve element, wherein the threaded head rests against an inside wall surface of the pillar wall in an operating position; and in a head impact position the threaded head is detached from the inside wall surface of the wall.
According to one design of the invention, the locking rail of a safety belt system is held on a pillar wall of the vehicle body with a receiving element formed as a support plate, with intercalation of a deformation element. By means of a fastening screw, which is passed through, starting from the locking rail, and is held in a threaded head of a sleeve element, the threaded head rests against an inside surface of the pillar wall in one operating position. In a head impact position the threaded head of the sleeve element is detached from the pillar wall due to the deformation of the deformation element of the threaded head of the sleeve element. In this manner a definable and reliable tightening of the screw is achieved; and the sleeve element assumes the bending moments, resulting from a belt pull.
According to another design of the invention, the deformation element can also be used for a retaining rod of a net-equipped partition wall. This net-equipped partition wall is disposed at right angles in the vehicle and is fastened by means of the retaining rods on the side in the vehicle body. This net-equipped partition wall serves to retain animals, objects or the like, which are in the rear of the vehicle and which are thrown to the front in the event of a crash or when the motor vehicle is suddenly braked. In this case the receiving element comprises a locking element with a keyhole shaped receiving opening for the free end of the retaining rod of the net-equipped partition wall. This free end is provided with a collar, which reaches behind the keyhole shaped receiving opening and thus can be fixed in position. To ensure that this rod will deform or recede in the event of a head impact, the deformation element is held between the body pillar and the receiving element, such as the locking element.
The sleeve element extends preferably from the receiving element (support plate, locking element) through the deformation element and is braced with the threaded head against an inside wall surface of the pillar of the vehicle body. In the threaded head of the sleeve element the fastening screw is held in such a manner that the receiving element is tensioned between the threaded head of the sleeve element and the head of the fastening screw.
A guide element for the threaded head is connected to the pillar wall. The inside of the guide element exhibits opposing grooves, which run axially and in which there are external axial strips, which are molded on in the threaded head of the sleeve element and correspond with these grooves.
The sleeve element sits in the Y direction so as to move in the guide element, which is connected stationarily to an inside reinforcing plate or to a wall of the pillar of the vehicle body. The head of the sleeve element exhibits notches in the area of the strips. Between these notches and the axial grooves in the guide element there are clamping elements, such as spring elements or the like. So that the threaded nut cannot rotate at the same time that the connecting screw is tightened, there are two axial strips.
To hold the threaded nut of the sleeve element in the correct position prior to assembly or to enable in a simple manner the replacement of the deformation element following head impact, the guide element is provided, for example, with one or with two retaining spring(s). They are located either in the grooves for the strips of the threaded nut and lock in the corresponding notches or are offset by 90 degrees thereto.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Apparatus for a safety belt height adjuster


An improved internal combustion engine includes a rotary valve member fitted into a cylinder head with cylindrical openings formed therein. The rotary valve is driven to bring working fluid delivery and evacuation ports into and out of registry with ports leading to the combustion chamber. A sealing member is provided intermediate the valve member and a combustion chamber to prevent the fuel/air mixture or exhaust gases from blowing into the area intermediate the valve member and the cylinder head and into regions intermediate individual cylinders.

The present invention relates broadly to internal combustion engines and, more particularly, to an improved internal combustion engine having a rotary valve with improved seals.
Rotary valve engines are known generally as variations, with respect to the transfer of gases, on more conventional internal combustion engines. Rotary valve engines typically use a rotating ported cylinder in place of standard poppet valves in the cylinder head. Basically, the cylinder is caused to rotate due to some mechanical linkage with the crank shaft of the engine. The placement of the ports and channels through the cylindrical valve member are caused to go into and out of registry with openings in the cylinder head to feed the fuel/air mixture into the cylinder or to remove exhaust gases therefrom. As may be expected, timing is an important aspect of rotary valve design.
Rotary valve engines, when properly constructed, provide advantages over conventional engines using poppet valves. Initially, the valve train is much simpler in that there are fewer moving parts. Further, since the rotary valve engine is nonreciprocating, impulse forces on the valves and valve components are not present because there is no change of direction in valve movement. Accordingly, rotary valve engines are typically smoother in operation than poppet valve engines. Additionally, the rotary valve engine offers an open port to the combustion chamber instead of a port partially blocked by poppet valve. In addition, the compression ratio of any given engine can be raised by increasing piston excursion distance because there is no poppet valve projecting into the combustion chamber that the piston must avoid along its reciprocatory path within the cylinder. Rotary valve engines provide enhanced high RPM performance because the rotary valve engine does not rely on valve springs to close a valve which, at high RPM, can lag behind the piston. This is especially true in the case of weak or worn valve springs.
Rotary valve engines, in general are well known in the art and have been for quite some time. Examples of rotary valve engine patents include Fountain & Langford, U.S. Pat. No. 1,191,684, Lockshaw U.S. Pat. No. 4,016,840 and Guenther U.S. Pat. No. 4,036,184. Even with these varied and unique approaches, a problem with rotary valve engines, a problem shared with many rotary components, is that of sealing. Rotary valve engines tend to leak if the tolerances are loose enough to permit free rotation, yet closer tolerances tend to make the engine seize.
An approach to the sealing problem is found in the Vallejos U.S. Pat. No. 4,119,077 which applies a complex mechanism to one of the sealing problems. Sealing problems can occur between cylinders along the rotary valve members. Separate, but no less problematic, sealing problems can occur between the combustion chamber and the valve member itself when the ports in the valve member have rotated out of registry with the port in the cylinder head leading to the combustion chamber. However effective the Vallejos 077 sealing apparatus is, Vallejos 077 provides a complex mechanism to achieve the necessary sealing.


A method and system for accessing a remote real communication port (“COM port”) from a server blade in a server blade chassis by creating a virtual COM port in the server blade. A basic input/output system (BIOS) controller monitors an internal COM port in the server blade for communication traffic. Upon detecting the communication traffic, the BIOS controller reroutes the traffic to a virtual USB COM port created by the BIOS controller chipset. The virtual USB COM port directs the communication traffic to an internal universal serial bus (USB) device in the server blade. The USB device then forwards the traffic to an Ethernet media access controller (MAC) input/output (I/O) on a sideband channel to a remote system, which passes the communication traffic to a real COM port in the remote system.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates in general to the field of computers, and in particular to multiple blade servers housed in a server chassis. Still more particularly, the present invention relates to a method and system for a providing a virtual communications port to servers, in the server chassis, that do not have a real communications port.
2. Description of the Related Art
Server blade computers offer high-density server boards (blades) in a single server blade chassis (blade center chassis). A typical server blade computer is illustrated in FIG. 1, identified as server blade chassis 102. Server blade chassis 102 includes multiple hot-swappable server blades 104a-n. There are typically fourteen server blades 104 in server blade chassis 102. The operations of server blades 104 are coordinated by logic identified as management modules 108, each of which typically includes a processor for controlling input/output (I/O) functions, and allocating jobs and data to the different server blades 104. Typically, a first management module 108a is designated as the primary management module, and a second management module 108b is a back-up to be used if the primary management module 108a should fail. Another function of management module 108 is to control a power module 110 and cooling fans 112.
While communication to server blades 104 is typically possible via switches (not shown), many processes, such as remote consoles and debuggers that run under Linux™ and Windows™ require a serial communications port ("COM port"). These processes communicate with service processors (not shown) in the server blades. These service processors need to be accessed by the processes via a serial COM port. However, server blades 104 in a server blade chassis 102 do not have individual COM ports, primarily due to the integrated nature of the server blade chassis 102. A potential solution to this problem would be to have all server blades 104 share a common COM port on a backplane (not shown) in the server blade chassis 102. However, this solution is problematic since only one of the fourteen server blades 104 would be accessible at any give time.
What is needed, therefore, is a method and system that allows all server blades 104 in a server blade chassis 102 to be connected to an external COM port, and to allow simultaneous communication sessions to be established with each server blade 104. The method and system should be able to handle higher bandwidth requirements for Video redirect and code upgrades, as well as other data intensive communications.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

International Business Machines Corporation


A hologram recording device records holograms by interference between an recording beam and a reference beam. The device includes an objective lens exhibiting a predetermined aberration. It is supposed that the laser beam applied to the beam splitter has an light intensity of 1, the recording beam and the reference beam emitted from the beam splitter have light intensities of P and 1−P, respectively, the optical magnification for the recording beam traveling from the beam splitter to the objective lens is a, and N pixels are used for modulation of the recording beam in the spatial light modulator. When the recording beam at the predetermined region has an amplitude 1/k times the amplitude of the reference beam, and the amplitude of the recording beam is X times as great as when there is no aberration, the predetermined aberration of the objective lens is determined to satisfy the formula:

Patent Document 1 discloses a conventional hologram recording device. The hologram recording device disclosed in this document is configured to apply a recording beam modulated by a spatial light modulation element vertically to a hologram recording medium, and obliquely apply a reference beam so as to superpose the reference beam on the recording beam, to thereby record a hologram by interference between the recording beam and the reference beam. The recording beam and the reference beam are generated by a beam splitter that splits a laser beam emitted by a light source. Between the spatial light modulation element and the hologram recording medium, a telecentric type objective lens is disposed. The telecentric type objective lenses are generally designed to have a low aberration as possible, and the wavefront aberration on a best image plane does not exceed 0.5 λrms, for example.
Patent Document 1: JP-A-07-319372
Such conventional hologram recording device has, however, the following drawback originating from the extremely small aberration of the objective lens.
On the assumption that the best image plane of the recording beam is formed inside the hologram recording medium, and when the illumination area of the recording beam on the best image plane is designated by M and the illumination area of the reference beam on the best image plane by F, in the case where an illumination area ratio defined as F/M becomes smaller than 0.6 or so as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, errors are frequently incurred at reproduction of the hologram. This can also be clearly understood in view of the S/N ratio tendency obtained through imaging signals.
Such reproduction error is considered to be associated with the image-forming performance of the objective lens. For example, under a condition where the aberration of the objective lens is as close as possible to 0, optically adjusting the amplitude and the light intensity of the recording beam and the reference beam, so as to emphasize the interference fringe of the 0-order image on the best image plane of the recording beam, leads to failure in clearly forming the interference fringe of other images such as a first order or second order image, resulting in failure in forming the overall hologram image in desirable contrast. Naturally, the hologram is not recorded in desirable contrast in regions other than the best image plane. At reproduction of the hologram, the reference beam is also applied to the regions other than the best image plane so as to generate the reproduction beam, and the reproduced image of the hologram is obtained through receiving the reproduction beam with an imaging device. Accordingly, the reproduced image is unclear as a whole since the recorded hologram includes a portion with good contrast and a portion with poor contrast. Thus, excessively reducing the aberration of the objective lens leads to the disadvantage that the reproduction error is increased.

Abstract: 0  <  X  <                              a                                (                          1              -              P                        )                                    0.6                    P                      ×                  1        kN            .


A method for preparing tulathromycin, and two intermediate compounds shown in formula V and formula VI are provided. The method includes the following synthetic route:

Tulathromycin, as a third-generation macrolide antibiotic, has received widespread attention in the veterinary medicine industry because it requires low concentration during use, shows persistent efficacy, has low minimum inhibitory concentration, functions at a low dosage, is highly soluble in water for injection, is of low cost for overall treatment, and is easily used.
Tulathromycin, with the trade name "Draxxin", is a novel erythromycin semi-synthetic veterinary drug developed by Pfizer, Inc. Animal Health Products Firm in the late 1990s. Tulathromycin is mainly used to treat and prevent respiratory diseases caused by Actinobacillus pleuropneumonias, Mycoplasma, Pasteurella, Haemophilus parasuis, Bordetella bronchiseptica, etc. in animals. Tulathromycin was approved for marketing in the European Union by European Union Veterinary Medical Advisory Committee in October 2004, was approved for marketing in the United States by the US FDA in May 2005, and was approved by the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture in the Ministry of Agriculture Announcement No. 957 in 2008, with the dosage form of an injection solution.
Tulathromycin has a complex structure with multiple chiral centers, and contains multiple active groups (including five hydroxyl groups, a macrolide group, and three amine groups). The chemical name of tulathromycin is (2R, 3S, 4R, 5R, 8R, 10R, 11R, 12S, 13S, 14R)-13-[[2′,6′-dideoxy-3′-C-methyl-3′-O-methyl-4′-C-[(propylamino) methyl]-α-L-ribo-hexopyranosyl]-oxy]-2-ethyl-3,4,10-trihydroxy-3,5,8,10,12,14-hexamethyl-11-[[3″,4″,6″-trideoxy-3″-(dimethylamino)-β-D-xylo-hexopyranosyl]oxy]-1-oxa-6-azacyclopentane-15-ketone. Because the compound contains three amine groups, it is weakly electronegative in solution, which is beneficial for penetrating membranes of Gram-negative bacteria and efficiently stimulating the separation of peptidyl tRNA from ribosomes, thus inhibiting the bacterial transpeptidation process, hindering the synthesis and extension of the peptide chain, and thereby affecting the synthesis of bacterial proteins. The chemical structural formula of tulathromycin is as follows:

Due to the complex structure of tulathromycin with the multiple chiral centers and multiple active groups, the synthesis is extremely difficult. In patent WO9856802/U.S. Pat. No. 6,420,536 of Pfizer Inc., an epoxy compound is obtained by starting from desmethyl azithromycin, protecting the hydroxyl group at position 2″ with benzyl chloroformate, then oxidizing the hydroxyl group at position 4′ under Swern oxidation conditions, and next, carrying out an epoxidation on the carbonyl group of the intermediate under Corey-Chaykovsky epoxidation conditions. Subsequently, the epoxy compound is further hydrogenated to remove the benzyloxycarbonyl (Cbz) protecting group with palladium on activated carbon (Pd/C), and the three-membered epoxy ring in the molecule of the resulting product is subjected to a nucleophilic addition reaction with n-propylamine to realize the preparation of tulathromycin. In this synthetic route, when benzyl chloroformate protects the hydroxyl group at position 2″, hydroxyl (or amino) groups at positions 3, 4, 6, 10, and 4′ contained in the compound are prone to participating in reaction, and when the hydroxyl group at position 4′ is oxidized under the Swern oxidation conditions, a naked hydroxyl group at position 4 contained in the compound is likely to participate in reaction. Therefore, the reaction selectivity is extremely poor, and the intermediate includes complicated impurities. The entire synthesis process is troublesome, the impurities contained in the product are highly uncontrollable, and the synthesis cost is high. As a result, the further expanded production and market promotion of tulathromycin are greatly restricted. The relevant synthetic routes are shown as follows:

The CN102260306 patent reported a preparation of tulathromycin by protecting the hydroxyl group at position 2″ and the amino group at position 6 of desmethyl azithromycin with acetyl group, then carrying out an oxidation and epoxidation of the hydroxyl group at position 4′, and finally, carrying out a nucleophilic addition on the epoxy at position 4′ with n-propylamine after removing the acetyl group by inorganic strong alkali (an alkaline alcohol solution) at high temperature. Because the secondary hydroxyl group at position 4 in the compound is synchronously oxidized during the Swern oxidation, and when the acetyl group on the amino group is removed by using the inorganic strong alkali (an alkaline alcohol solution) at high temperature, the ring is prone to open under the alkaline condition because the macrolide contains lactone, resulting in a large number of by-products and low yield.
The CN102786569 patent realized a preparation of tulathromycin by using the benzyloxycarbonyl (Boc) group to protect both the hydroxyl group at position 2″ and the amino group at position 6 of desmethyl azithromycin, then oxidizing the hydroxyl group at position 4′, carrying out a deprotection with trifluoroacetic acid and synchronously producing trifluoroacetate, then performing an epoxidation on the carbonyl group at position 4′, and finally carrying out a nucleophilic addition of the epoxy with n-propylamine. In this synthetic route, the compound contains a large number of naked active groups during the Corey-Chaykovsky epoxidation, so the reaction is extremely complex, resulting in a large number of impurities after the epoxidation, which is especially difficult to purify.
The CN102295672 patent realized a preparation of tulathromycin by using the Cbz group to first protect the hydroxyl group at position 2″ as well, then carrying out a Swern oxidation on the hydroxyl group at position 4′, then converting the carbonyl group at position 4′ to a methylene group through the methylenation of the carbonyl group, carrying out an epoxidation of the methylene group by hydrogen peroxide, and then carrying out a nucleophilic addition of the epoxy with n-propylamine. In this synthetic route, other active groups of the compound synchronously participate in the competitive reaction when the Cbz group protects the hydroxyl group at 2″ position and the hydroxyl group at 4′ position is Swern oxidized, resulting in a poor selectivity and a large number of reaction impurities, which is difficult to purify.
Therefore, how to overcome the shortcomings in the prior art for preparing tulathromycin and provide a preparation method that is more suitable for industrial production of tulathromycin has become a problem that needs to be solved in order to realize the further expanded production and market promotion of this product.


A process and apparatus for improving metal production in ironmaking and steelmaking processes is disclosed. The use of an inert metallic conductor in the slag-containing crucible and the addition of a transition metal oxide to the slag are the disclosed process improvements.

The rate of reduction of iron oxides dissolved in calcium-silicate slags by iron-carbon melts is an important factor in ironmaking and steelmaking processes in general and, in particular, in in-bath smelting steelmaking processes. It has been reported that the rate of metal production during in-bath smelting processes increases with increased slag volume in the smelter. The CaO-SiO.sub.2 -Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 -FeO slag in an in-bath smelting vessel also contains gases, solid carbon, and metal droplets. An analysis of metal production rates in a 170 ton in-bath smelting reactor revealed that the reaction rates at the interfaces of slag-droplet and slag-carbon are equal to those at metal-slag interface [T. Ibaraki, M. Kanemoto, S. Ogata, H. Katayama, and H. Ishikawa: Steelmaking Conference Proceedings, Vol. 73, 1990.] Thus, the Fe-C droplets in the slag phase play an important role during the bath smelting of iron oxides and, therefore, understanding the reactions at the droplet interface is crucial.
There have been several studies in the past investigating the behavior of Fe-C droplets in the slags. The reduction rates of FeO dissolved in CaO-SiO.sub.2 -Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 slags by Fe-C droplets have been experimentally determined by Sawada [Yasushi Sawada: M. S. Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, 1990.] The important observation from these previous investigations is that there were two distinct regimes of reaction rates--one very fast and other very slow. The faster rates were observed in the initial period of the reaction and the period lasted between 60 to 300 sec. depending on the slag composition and temperature. This faster reaction was found to be zeroth order with respect to carbon in the droplet. The reaction rate in the second stage was very slow and the reaction virtually stopped when carbon in the droplet reached a particular level (approximately 2 wt %).
As a result, the reduction reaction is unable to go to completion leaving slag with FeO and Fe-C, which creates a relatively high carbon intermediate. Additional processing conventional in iron and steelmaking processes must be employed to convert the high carbon intermediate. This appears to be a rate limiting step which directly affects the production of metal (iron) and its subsequent conversion to steel. The prior art does not suggest how the reduction reaction can be forced to completion or how to increase the rate of reaction.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to develop a process to increase the rate of the reduction of iron oxides taking place in a FeO containing slag.
Another object is to completely remove carbon from the iron-carbon droplet resulting in the direct production of steel (low carbon iron).

Process of discharging charge-build up in slag steelmaking processes


Tricyclic compounds according to the structure below, protected intermediates thereof, and methods for inhibition of HIV-integrase are disclosed.

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection and related diseases are a major public health problem worldwide. A virally encoded integrase protein mediates specific incorporation and integration of viral DNA into the host genome. Integration is necessary for viral replication. Accordingly, inhibition of HIV integrase is an important therapeutic pursuit for treatment of HIV infection of the related diseases.
Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) encodes three enzymes which are required for viral replication: reverse transcriptase, protease, and integrase. Although drugs targeting reverse transcriptase and protease are in wide use and have shown effectiveness, particularly when employed in combination, toxicity and development of resistant strains have limited their usefulness (Palella, etal N. Engl. J. Med. (1998) 338:853-860; Richman, D. D. Nature (2001) 410:995-1001). There is a need for new agents directed against alternate sites in the viral life cycle. Integrase has emerged as an attractive target, because it is necessary for stable infection and homologous enzymes are lacking in the human host (LaFemina, etal J. Virol. (1992) 66:7414-7419). The function of integrase is to catalyze integration of proviral DNA, resulting from the reverse transcription of viral RNA, into the host genome, by a stepwise fashion of endonucleolytic processing of proviral DNA within a cytoplasmic preintegration complex (termed 3′-processing or "3′-P") with specific DNA sequences at the end of the HIV-1 long terminal repeat (LTR) regions, followed by translocation of the complex into the nuclear compartment where integration of 3′-processed proviral DNA into host DNA occurs in a "strand transfer" (ST) reaction (Hazuda, etal Science (2000) 287:646-650; Katzman, etal Adv. Virus Res. (1999) 52:371-395; Asante-Applah, etal Adv. Virus Res. (1999) 52:351-369). Although numerous agents potently inhibit 3′-P and ST in extracellular assays that employ recombinant integrase and viral long-terminal-repeat oligonucleotide sequences, often such inhibitors lack inhibitory potency when assayed using fully assembled preintegration complexes or fail to show antiviral effects against HIV-infected cells (Pommier, etal Adv. Virus Res. (1999) 52:427-458; Farnet, etal Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. (1996) 93:9742-9747; Pommier, etal Antiviral Res. (2000) 47:139-148.
Certain HIV integrase inhibitors have been disclosed which block integration in extracellular assays and exhibit good antiviral effects against HIV-infected cells (Anthony, etal WO 02/30426; Anthony, etal WO 02/30930; Anthony, etal WO 02/30931; WO 02/055079; Zhuang, etal WO 02/36734; U.S. Pat. No. 6,395,743; U.S. Pat. No. 6,245,806; U.S. Pat. No. 6,271,402; Fujishita, etal WO 00/039086; Uenaka etal WO 00/075122; Selnick, etal WO 99/62513; Young, etal WO 99/62520; Payne, etal WO 01/00578; Jing, etal Biochemistry (2002) 41:5397-5403; Pais, etal Jour. Med. Chem. (2002) 45:3184-94; Goldgur, etal Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. (1999) 96:13040-13043; Espeseth, etal Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. (2000) 97:11244-11249).
HIV integrase inhibitory compounds with improved antiviral and pharmacokinetic properties are desirable, including enhanced activity against development of HIV resistance, improved oral bioavailability, greater potency and extended effective half-life in vivo (Nair, V. "HIV integrase as a target for antiviral chemotherapy" Reviews in Medical Virology (2002) 12(3):179-193). Three-dimensional quantitative structure-activity relationship studies and docking simulations (Buolamwini, etal Jour. Med Chem. (2002) 45:841-852) of conformationally-restrained cinnamoyl-type integrase inhibitors (Artico, etal Jour. Med. Chem. (1998) 41:3948-3960) have correlated hydrogen-bonding interactions to the inhibitory activity differences among the compounds.
Improving the delivery of drugs and other agents to target cells and tissues has been the focus of considerable research for many years. Though many attempts have been made to develop effective methods for importing biologically active molecules into cells, both in vivo and in vitro, none has proved to be entirely satisfactory. Optimizing the association of the inhibitory drug with its intracellular target, while minimizing intercellular redistribution of the drug, e.g. to neighboring cells, is often difficult or inefficient.
Most agents currently administered parenterally to a patient are not targeted, resulting in systemic delivery of the agent to cells and tissues of the body where it is unnecessary, and often undesirable. This may result in adverse drug side effects, and often limits the dose of a drug (e.g., cytotoxic agents and other anti-cancer or anti-viral drugs) that can be administered. By comparison, although oral administration of drugs is generally recognized as a convenient and economical method of administration, oral administration can result in either (a) uptake of the drug through the cellular and tissue barriers, e.g. blood/brain, epithelial, cell membrane, resulting in undesirable systemic distribution, or (b) temporary residence of the drug within the gastrointestinal tract. Accordingly, a major goal has been to develop methods for specifically targeting agents to cells and tissues. Benefits of such treatment includes avoiding the general physiological effects of inappropriate delivery of such agents to other cells and tissues, such as uninfected cells. Intracellular targeting may be achieved by methods and compositions which allow accumulation or retention of biologically active agents inside cells.

Pre-organized tricyclic integrase inhibitor compounds

Abstract: A1 and A2 are moieties forming a five, six, or seven membered ring. L is a bond or a linker connecting a ring atom of Ar to N. X is O, S, or substituted nitrogen. Ar is aryl or heteroaryl. Q is N, +NR, or CR4. The aryl carbons may be independently substituted with substituents other than hydrogen. The compounds may include prodrug moieties covalently attached at any site.


A method and apparatus for switching an optical data stream via an optical network node, capable of switching optical data received at input ports to output ports. The method includes the following steps performed by a processing chain upon detection of a stream at a given wavelength by a given input port: determining a resource of the node based on a predetermined routing policy such that, for a given wavelength common to source and destination nodes of the stream, routing within the network is carried out according to a routing tree covering the network, a root of the tree being the destination node; consulting an occupancy table for the resource, indicating if at least one possible preceding stream is using the resource; determining a delay to be applied by the processing chain to prevent a collision between the stream and the possible preceding stream; and configuring the processing chain to apply the delay.

In recent years, increasing requests for bandwidth and quality of service on the part of users have prompted researchers to develop novel architectures and novel protocols for optical communications networks.
The WDM (wavelength division multiplexing) optical systems used in classic optical communications networks are not able to process current bandwidth requirements in an optimal manner, especially because of the great increase in the number of optical-electronic-optical conversions and multiplexing/demultiplexing operations and also because of the lack of flexibility in the occupancy of this bandwidth (high granularity, poor bandwidth occupancy).
In order to meet bandwidth needs, "all-optical" communications network architectures have been developed and appropriate optical switching techniques have been designed in order to make maximum use of the bandwidth offered by these architectures.
In the prior art, various classic techniques of optical switching are known: optical circuit switching circuits, optical packet switching and optical burst switching.
The architecture of optical networks implementing the technique of optical burst switching have been introduced by M. C. M. Qiao and M. J. S. Yoo, in: "Optical Burst Switching (OBS): "A new paradigm for Optical Internet"—Journal of High Speed Networks (JHSN), Vol. 8, to compensate for the lack of reliability of optical circuit switching networks and the immaturity of optical packet switching techniques. Indeed, the technique of optical circuit switching is relatively simple to implement but suffers from a lack of flexibility in the face of fluctuating data traffic and the change in state of communications channels. The technique of optical packet switching is, for its part, conceptually ideal but highly complex to implement because it requires especially the presence of numerous delay lines and fast processing of the headers of the optical packets.
The OBS technique consists in assembling a plurality of optical data packets arriving at an input node (or peripheral node) of the network and intended for a same destination node of the network in a single group of data packets, called an optical data burst, and in routing this burst up to the destination node. Relay nodes (or intermediate nodes) enable the burst to be relayed from the input node to the destination node.
Unlike in the optical packet switching technique, the OBS technique enables the transmission of more data by means of bursts travelling through the optical network (a burst by itself comprising a plurality of optical data packets). Thus the technical constraints at each node of the network are reduced in view of the smaller number of headers to be processed. Furthermore, the OBS technique is able to make efficient use of the capacity (in terms of occupancy rates) of the communications channels.
Today, there are mainly two known embodiments of the OBS technique.
A first known embodiment, known as separate control channel OBS or BCP (burst control packet) OBS relies on the preliminary dispatch of a control packet on a dedicated transportation channel separate from the transportation channel of the optical data stream with which it is associated. The pieces of information contained in the control packet enable the node of an optical network to reserve the optical resources that are necessary for it to route the burst towards another node of the network.
In general, the term "collision" (or contention) of bursts is used when at least two optical data bursts take the same wavelength and seek to access the same output port at the same time.
A second known embodiment called "in-band" control channel OBS or label OBS consists of the transmission, on a same transportation channel, of a label situated at the head of the optical data stream, this label containing the control data.
The above-mentioned two known embodiments (separate control channel and in-band control channel) implement comparable mechanisms to resolve burst collision in the time, spectral and space domains.
The resolution of collisions in the spectral domain consists in modifying the wavelength of one or more bursts in collision so that all the bursts take the same output port simultaneously. This especially requires that each node of an optical network should be provided with wavelength converters.
Now, the use of such wavelength converters requires the mobilizing of considerable electrical resources. Besides, it limits the degree of transparency of the nodes that implement them, since the conversion mechanisms implemented are not transparent to the data modulation formats using especially phase modulation or polarization modulation. In other words, there is no conversion technique at present (apart from optical-electronic-optical conversion) that enables functioning with phase-modulated and polarization-modulated data. Consequently, the nodes comprising such wavelength converters are not totally transparent for the data.
Furthermore, although an optical data burst undergoes no electronic conversion (the burst is simply conveyed by nodes in the optical network), the control packet (or the label) associated with it nevertheless mobilizes energy resources because of the electronic processing applied to it (optical-electronic-optical conversion, extraction and analysis of control data, decision making, etc).

Method for switching an optical data stream, computer program product and corresponding storage means and node


A system, apparatus and product comprising: a multi-tenant layer that comprises shared resources, wherein the shared resources are accessible to multiple tenants of the storage system, wherein the shared resources comprise shared logic resources and shared data resources; and multiple single-tenant layers, wherein each single-tenant layer is associated with a respective tenant of the multiple tenants, wherein each single-tenant layer comprises a database and business logic of the respective tenant, wherein a multi-tenant encryption scheme is configured to enable secure communications with the multiple tenants without divulging sensitive information to the multi-tenant layer.

In some exemplary embodiments, various entities such as a payer entity, a covered entity, a provider entity, or the like, may own or retain respective data repositories with user records, metadata, service data, scheduling data, or any other data records. In some exemplary embodiments, a database of an entity may be used to operate an Electronic Health Record (EHR) system that may be associated to the entity. For example, a provider entity may comprise clinics that utilize an EHR system in order to enable patients of the clinics and medical workers to book appointments, obtain medical records of patients, or the like.
In some exemplary embodiments, EHR systems, also referred to as Electronic Medical Records (EMRs), may comprise records of medical data of a patient in a digital version. An EHR may include Protected Health Information (PHI) such as the medical and treatment histories of patients. Under the US law, PHI information may comprise any information about health status, provision of health care, or payment for health care that is created or collected by a covered entity (or a business associate of a covered entity), and can be linked to a specific individual. This may be interpreted broadly to include any part of a patient's medical record or payment history.


Composite architectural panels comprising a substrate composed of a laminate of two metal sheets joined by a thermoplastic core and having a factory-applied polymeric surface coating which is not receptive to artists' materials, are prepared for use as a support or substrate for traditional artists' materials by roughening the surface using abrasive and/or chemical means. After thoroughly cleaning the prepared surface, one or more artists' materials are applied and permanently bonded to the panel surface by heating the panel substrate to a temperature which is less than the melting temperature of the thermoplastic core and maintaining the substrate at that temperature for a time that is sufficient to bond the artists' materials to the surface.

Artists have traditionally used supports or substrates such as canvas, wood panels, and paper for paintings and drawings. These materials are fragile, flexible and susceptible to atmospheric changes which can cause expansion of the support material. Over time, these inherent properties can cause cracking, warping, and loss of integrity of the substrate and/or the artist's materials applied to the substrate.
Artists have long sought other materials for use as a substrate or support for the application of traditional media that would avoid these problems and provide a permanent and rigid substrate to which various artists' materials can be applied.
To be suitable for use by artists working in such diverse materials as pencil, charcoal, pastels, inks and paints, the substrate must accept and retain the medium in a manner similar to canvas or paper, must permit the artist to modify and/or remove the medium from the surface of the substrate during development of the-work, and most importantly, the final work must adhere permanently to the substrate.
Prefinished exterior architectural panels have been developed that possess several characteristics that would make them desirable for use as a substrate or support for the application of artists' materials. Having been developed for use in exterior building construction, architectural panels are rigid and dimensionally stable; their polymeric finishes have the advantage of sunlight and weather resistance and can be considered permanent as compared to the traditional artists' substrates. However, such prefinished architectural panels suffer the drawback of having shiny, slick finishes that are impervious to essentially all artists' materials. It has also been found that for those few classes of artists' materials that can be applied to the prefinished panels, almost all can be readily removed by wiping or light scraping, as with the fingernail.
Another important consideration is the ability to cut the architectural panels to the size desired. Panels having factory applied finishes must be able to be cut and shaped with conventional hand tools or small power tools that are available to the artist. The finish should not crack or separate along cutting lines. Also, of importance is the weight or gage of the metal to which the finish is applied. Since the architectural panels may only be available from the manufacturer in certain specified large sizes, the materials of fabrication should be relatively light in weight so that the panels can be moved and worked by the artist without special equipment. Especially hardened metal panels that require specialized tools and/or equipment for cutting and shaping would not be useful.
A class of prefinished architectural panels that has been found to have many desirable characteristics are composites comprising two or more metal sheets with a thermoplastic core between the sheets. Of particular utility are prefinished architectural panels comprising two sheets or webs of aluminum having between them, and bonded together by, a thermoplastic core. This aluminum composite has the advantages of being relatively light in weight, and adapted for cutting and shaping with conventional hand tools, such as saws and files, and with small power tools. Such aluminum composite panels can also be bent and rolled to assume curvilinear shapes using conventional methods and tools.
The finishes applied to exterior architectural panels must be suitable for the practice of the invention. The finishes must be hard, but be susceptible to being dulled or roughened in preparation of the surface for application of the artists' materials. Suitable finishes are found among polymeric materials. It has been found that finishes of particular utility are selected from the group consisting of polyester and fluorocarbon coatings.
Both the polyester and fluorocarbon finishes are manufactured with smooth monolithic surfaces and are available in colors and a variety of gloss levels. This slick non-porous surface is not at all receptive to the direct application of artists' grade materials by hand. The impervious surface coating is resistant to bonding with artists materials such as paints and pastels which, in practice, also prove difficult to manipulate. Wet paint materials tend to "bead up" and fail to adhere properly, while most drawing mediums glide over the surface without marking. Some paints, such as artists' oils and enamels, can be made to bond to the factory finished coating surface by heating the panel to which the paint has been applied.

Method for bonding artists' materials to coated architectural panels and article for use in, and produced by the method


Techniques for dynamic personalized reading instruction at word and sentence level are provided by determining word recognition level and learning gradient information for a user. Comprehension aids are associated with words classified by word recognition level and stored. Word recognition errors are determined, comprehension aids presented and word recognition level adjusted based on determined word recognition errors, learning gradient and current word recognition level. For sentence level dynamic personalized reading instruction personalization information, reading level and learning gradient are determined and a personalized grammatical tunable text summary generated. Based on the personalized grammatical tunable text summary, comprehension questions are generated and displayed. Based on comprehension responses, learning gradient and personalization information, the reading level is adjusted. Personalized reading instruction is provided by selectively changing display attributes of more salient information to help a user identify the important information in the sentence and to maintain fluid reading.

1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to computer-assisted dynamic personalized reading instruction.
2. Description of Related Art
In conventional systems for reading instruction, students' reading abilities are tested and the students are grouped according to determined reading ability and instructor availability. Milestones or achievements standards are established for students based on age grade or other criteria. Re-testing of students then occurs at regular intervals and the results compared to milestones for similarly classified groups of students. Remedial reading instruction such as individual instruction may then be provided for students who fail to achieve the milestones or achievement standards for similarly classified students. However, these types of instruction do not facilitate fluid reading of multiple sentences for meaning.
Moreover, studies indicate that reading comprehension for students placed in remedial instruction is not significantly improved. Placing students in remedial instruction programs may reduce a student's motivation to learn since the student is isolated from peer group members during remedial instruction. Also, placing students in remedial instruction programs may reduce competitive learning behaviors among students in the remedial instruction group.

Dynamically changing the levels of reading assistance and instruction to support the needs of different individuals


A wheel fan of a range hood used in the kitchen having improved blades and mechanisms for locating a top plate, which includes blades, a top plate sinking inwardly like a bowl, a bottom ring, convex rings set at the side and top of the blades, and channels formed on the top plate and the bottom ring which match the convex rings, so that assembly will be simplified, and performance will be reliable with less noise.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates a wheel fan of a range hood used in the kitchen and particularly to a wheel fan of a ventilator having improved blades and mechanisms for locating a top plate.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The wheel fan of a conventional range hood, as shown in FIG. 1, has a top cover 100A concave at its center like a bowl; rectangular blades 200A ranging radially and held by the top cover 100A; a plane circular bottom plate 300A to the bottom of the blades 200A; and centrifugal blades 400A held by a central hole on the bottom plate 300A. It performs badly and makes much noise.
The wheel fan of a conventional range hood developed later, as shown in FIG. 2, has a top plate 100B sinking inwardly, a bent bottom ring 300A, and blades 200B held by the top plate 100B and bottom plate 300B. Because the blades 200B are independent, they are connected to the bottom ring 300B and then the top plate 100B one by one, so that assembly is laborious. Furthermore, the performance is unstable due to a change of the distance between any two adjacent blades.


An interface for connecting a differential signal circuit having a differential signal output and a reference potential terminal to an input of a single ended signal circuit and a reference potential terminal. The interface includes a differential transmission line having a pair of electromagnetically coupled microwave transmission lines having first ends connected to the differential signal output and second ends, one of the second ends being connected to the single ended circuit input and the other one of the second ends being coupled to the reference potential terminals of the differential signal circuit and the single ended signal circuit.

As is known in the art, single-ended data transmission uses only one signal line, with its voltage potential referred to ground. While the signal line provides the forward path for signal currents, ground provides the return current path. Single-ended interfaces benefit from their simplicity and their low implementation cost, but have three main drawbacks:
1) They are highly sensitive to noise pick-up, because noise induced into the signal or ground paths adds directly to the receiver input, thus causing false receiver triggering.
2) Another concern is crosstalk, which is the capacitive and inductive coupling between adjacent signal and control lines, particularly at higher frequencies. Further, due to the physical differences between the signal trace and the ground plane, the transversal electromagnetic waves (TEM) generated in single-ended systems can radiate into the circuit environment, thus representing a significant source of electromagnetic interference (EMI) to adjacent circuits.
As is known in the art, differential signaling uses a signal pair consisting of two conductors—one for the forward, the other for the return current to flow. Each signal conductor possesses a common-mode voltage, VCM, superimposed with SO percent of the differential-driver output VOD, but of opposite polarity to one another. When the conductors of a differential pair are close to each other, electrically coupled external noise induced into both conductors equally appears as common-mode noise at the receiver input. Receivers with differential inputs are sensitive to signal differences only, but immune to common-mode signals. The receiver, therefore, rejects common-mode noise and signal integrity is maintained. Close electric coupling provides another benefit. The currents in the two conductors, being of equal amplitude but opposite polarity, create magnetic fields that cancel each other. The TEM waves of the two conductors, now being robbed of their magnetic fields, cannot radiate into the environment. Only the far smaller fringing fields outside the conductor loop can radiate, thus yielding significantly lower EMI.
As is also known in the art, it is sometimes necessary to connect differential signal circuit (such as a driver fabricated using, for example, a silicon-based technology) to single-ended circuit (a receiver such fabricated using III-V-based technology). Proper interface between the differential signal circuit and the single-ended circuit is critical to system performance, even more so in multi-chip modules with large distances between the chips.
One technique used to connect differential circuitry, such as a driver, to single ended circuitry, such as a receiver, is shown on FIG. 1. Here, a differential driver includes a pair of bipolar transistors formed on a silicon chip having collector electrodes providing a differential signal and emitter electrodes connected together and then to a reference potential, here ground, through a current source, as shown. One of the collector outputs is connected to one end of a single ended transmission line (TL) and the other collector is connected to the reference potential through a resistor, as shown. The other end of the single ended transmission line is connected to the input of a receiver. The receiver includes a Field Effect Transistor FET formed on a column III-V semiconductor chip. The FET has a gate electrode connected to the single ended transmission line through an input impedance matching network (IMN), as shown, an a source electrode connected to the reference potential, as shown. The disadvantages are: Cross-talk between adjacent TLs; Driver sensitivity to noise in bias lines ("ground bounce"); Additional TL loss due to radiation; and one-half of the signal is lost in the termination within the driver
Another interface uses a balun (passive balanced-to-unbalanced transformer) as shown in FIG. 2. Depending on where the balun is located (it could be on either of the two chips or as a separate component), the driver and receiver are connected through either a single-ended transmission line (TL) or a differential TL (Diff TL) or combination of the two. Disadvantages in using a balm are: There is some cross-talk between adjacent TL and radiation loss if single ended transmission line (S-E TL) is used; Balm loss and bandwidth limit; and Balun complexity and size (especially at low frequencies.
Yet, another interface uses an active converter, as shown in FIG. 3. Depending where the active converter is located (it could be on either of the two chips or as a separate component), the driver and receiver are connected through either a single-ended TL or a differential TL or combination of the two. Disadvantages: Some cross-talk between adjacent TL and radiation loss if single ended TL is used; The active converter's bandwidth limit and its DC power consumption of the DC voltage source.

Differential-to-single-ended transmission line interface


Using component-level test data to reduce system test. By modeling a system, sensitivity analysis reveals critical components and parameters of those components required to meet system performance parameters. Critical components are tested for these parameters, and these measurements associated with the components. Systems may be assembled which are modeled to meet the system performance parameters based on the model and the measured parameters. Systems may be assembled and calibration coefficients derived and applied from the model and the measured parameters.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to the use of component-level measurement data in the production of systems using such components, and more particularly, to using component-level measurement data to reduce system level test and calibration requirements.
2. Art Background
In the assembly of electronic devices such as wireless devices including for example wireless data transceivers and wireless phones, it is common that the components used to assemble these devices have been partially or fully tested. Once the device is assembled, additional tests are performed to insure the device meets its specifications.
During component manufacture, for example the manufacturing of monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMICs), it is common for the manufacturer to perform parametric tests on the devices, often sorting them into performance groups, and charging a premium for components with desirable characteristics, such as low noise, frequency response, compression point, or other parameters.
Yet when these components are assembled into a board or a system such as a transceiver or wireless phone, system level test and calibration are performed, often involving tests and measurements which are redundant in light of earlier component qualification and test.

Using component-level calibration data to reduce system-level test


A scanning exposure apparatus which exposes a substrate is disclosed. The apparatus comprises an illumination system configured to illuminate an illumination region of an original, a projection optical system configured to project a pattern of the original onto the substrate, and a stop configured to shield a flare generating component of flare light which travels from the projection optical system to the substrate, and to pass the remaining component of the flare light. An aperture of the stop has a shape different from a shape of the illumination region, and the aperture of the stop includes a portion whose dimension in a first direction parallel to a scanning direction of the substrate changes in accordance with a distance from the center of the aperture in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an exposure apparatus which projects the pattern of an original onto a substrate via a projection optical system to expose the substrate to light, and a device manufacturing method using the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
An exposure apparatus having a projection optical system is employed in lithography for manufacturing a device such as a semiconductor integrated circuit device. The exposure apparatus projects the pattern of an original called a reticle or mask onto each shot region on a substrate such as a wafer or glass plate coated with a photosensitive agent (photoresist) to expose the substrate (photosensitive agent) to light. With this operation, the pattern of the original is transferred onto the photosensitive agent.
In recent years, a demand for a higher line width uniformity of a pattern transferred onto a substrate by an exposure apparatus is increasing. Along with this demand, deteriorations in contrast and line width uniformity (CD uniformity) of a projected image are becoming problematic due to the presence of flare (stray light or fogging light) generated by a projection optical system, which has been negligible conventionally.
Flare generated by a projection optical system is roughly classified into long-range flare and local flare. The two types of flare are distinguished from each other on the basis of the distance at which fogging occurs. In general, long-range flare is generated at a distance of about 0.1 mm or more from the original projected image, while local flare is generated at a distance of about 0.1 μm to 0.1 mm from it.
Long-range flare is generated mainly due to reflection by a coating film on an optical element and reflection/transmission/scattering by a lens edge and mechanical components. Local flare is generated mainly due to the presence of forward-scattered light generated by the surface of an optical element (e.g., a lens) of an optical system and a coating film on the optical element within a relatively small angular range.
The contrast and the line width uniformity of a projected image deteriorate due to the presence of long-range flare. The contrast of a projected image deteriorates depending on the flare amount, while its line width uniformity deteriorates depending on the difference in image heights with respect to the flare amount. The insertion of a field stop is effective in preventing long-range flare.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. 2006-222222 and 11-219892 each propose an exposure apparatus in which a stop is built in a projection optical system.
It is possible to increase the productivity by laying out as many shot regions on one substrate as possible. In view of this, a shot layout in which the interval of each shot region is minimized can be adopted to reduce any wasted area. In such a shot layout, flare light in an exposure-in-progress shot region often leaks into adjacent shot regions. This causes a difference in flare amount between the peripheral portion and central portion in a shot region adjacent to other shot regions. In other words, the flare amount changes depending on the difference in image heights, resulting in deterioration in line width uniformity.

Exposure apparatus and device manufacturing method


An enclosure and enclosure locking system for an enclosure having an opening with a door or access panel utilizes first and second side mounting brackets that are each coupled to opposite portions of the enclosure. First and second locking strap members overlie the door or access panel when the door or access panel is in the closed position when in a locked condition. A staple assembly is used for receiving a shackle or lock pin of a pad lock and also for coupling the strap members together and locking the locking system 30 in a locked condition.

Enclosures used to house electrical equipment and instrumentation are generally configured as a box or cabinet. Such enclosures may be of the type used to house radio or telecommunications equipment and instrumentation, such as may be found or be associated without outdoor antennas, cell towers, transmission equipment, etc. Often such enclosures may house valuable materials or items, such as electrical components, copper wiring or batteries. Because such enclosures are often found outdoors in isolated areas, they can be vulnerable to tampering and theft of the contents contained within the enclosure. Oftentimes, the enclosure is provided with a non-substantial latch mechanism that is padlocked with a conventional padlock having an exposed shackle shank. The padlock and/or latch mechanism can often be quickly and easily removed with a common bolt cutter or hacksaw. Accordingly, the present invention serves to overcome these shortcomings.


A semiconductor substrate includes lower source/drain (S/D) regions. A replacement metal gate (RMG) structure is arranged upon the semiconductor substrate between the lower S/D regions. Raised S/D regions are arranged upon the lower S/D regions adjacent to the RMG structure, respectively. The raised S/D regions may be recessed to form contact trenches. First self-aligned contacts are located upon the raised S/D regions within a first active area and second self-aligned contacts are located upon the recessed raised S/D regions in the second active area. The first and second self-aligned contacts allows for independent reduction of source drain contact resistances. The first self-aligned contacts may be MIS contacts or metal silicide contacts and the second self-aligned contacts may be metal-silicide contacts.

Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to integrated circuits, and more particularly to field effect transistors (FET) including self-aligned source/drain contacts.
Background of Invention
A FET includes a source/drain region formed in or upon a wafer and a gate covering a channel region formed in or upon the wafer. A FET may be an nFET or a pFET and may be formed utilizing CMOS (Complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor) fabrication techniques. Further scaling of such CMOS techniques may require independently reducing source/drain contact resistances for nFETs and pFETs.


A patient care bed with a patient weighing system having a first frame having a series of support units attached at designated locations and a second frame supported by the support units. The support units each having a load cell which senses a part of the weight supported by a second frame.

Hospital bed designs have recently been undergoing a transformation. Early beds were very basic devices providing limited patient support and care features. More recently, bed designs have been taking advantage of technological developments to provide improvements in bed articulation, mattress inflation, patient access, convenience and control. The following patents illustrate some of the designs that are currently known.


A two-sided copying apparatus includes: an image forming device for forming an image on a recording sheet; a fixing device for fixing the image on the recording sheet; a branching device for branching the recording sheet on which the image was fixed by the fixing device to eject outside the apparatus or to feed again inside the apparatus for a two-sided image formation; a plurality of holding devices each for holding one edge of the recording sheet fed again inside the apparatus, wherein the holding device temporarily stops while holding the recording sheet and feeds again in a reverse direction onto a transfer station; and a supporting and guiding device for supporting and guiding the plurality of the holding devices.

The present invention relates to a recording sheet reversing device of a two-sided copying apparatus.
Conventionally, two-sided copying apparatus are widely known in which, after an image has been recorded on the obverse side of a recording sheet, the recording sheet is fixed; the recording sheet is reversed and re-fed; and after an image has been recorded on the reverse side of the recording sheet, the recording sheet is fixed; and images are respectively recorded on both sides of the recording sheet. As the structure of the two-sided copying apparatus, after the image has been recorded on the obverse side of the recording sheet, the recording sheet is fixed, the recording sheet is reversed by a recording sheet reversing mechanism, and the recording sheet is temporarily accumulated in an accumulating section. Next, the accumulated recording sheet is successively conveyed to a transfer section, and after the image has been recorded on the reverse side of the recording sheet, the recording sheet is fixed and delivered.
In such the two-sided copying mechanism, a mechanism by which the recording sheet is reversed and re-fed, can be formed into a small size, and thereby, even when it is housed in the copying apparatus, it does not require a large space. However, a mechanism of the accumulating section in which the recording sheet is temporarily accumulated after the recording sheet has been reversed and re-fed, is difficult to be smaller, and it is necessary to provide a large space in the copying apparatus so that the accumulating section is housed.
Further, the copying apparatus itself temporarily stacks and accumulates the recording sheet on a stacking section for the recording sheet, and re-feeds the recording sheet from the stacking section, and thereby, the image, recorded already on a one side of the recording sheet, adheres to other recording sheets and stains the recording sheets, or the recording sheets adhere to each other and cause double-sheet feeding when the recording sheets are re-fed, and thereby jamming easily occurs, which are disadvantageous.
Accordingly, there is a drawback in which the overall size of the apparatus becomes larger. Then, as a mean to provide the accumulating section of the recording sheet without increasing the size of the copying apparatus, a means is proposed in which a portion of a sorter, which is mounted onto a sheet delivery section, is utilized, and an accumulating section on which the recording sheet is accumulated, is provided. As the means, Japanese Utility Model Open to Public Inspection No. 166248/1984, Japanese Patent Publication Open to Public Inspection Nos. 109071/1986, and 130128/1986, are widely known. As described above, an increase of the overall size of the copying apparatus is prevented by utilizing the sorter position.
As described above, when a two-sided copying mechanism is provided in the copying apparatus, and the recording sheet reversing mechanism and the recording sheet accumulating mechanism are housed in the apparatus, the overall size of the copying apparatus becomes large. Accordingly, as described above, a means by which a portion of the sorter position is utilized and the accumulation section of the recording sheet is provided, and the recording sheet is reversed, should be essentially provided in the copying apparatus. In this case, the customer who does not always need the sorter, is obliged to purchase a useless apparatus. Further, because a portion of the sorter is utilized, the number of sheet delivery trays for the sorter to be provided, should be reduced, resulting in reduction of the number of sets of recording sheets to be delivered.
Accordingly, in the case of a copying apparatus in which the sorter is not used, only the recording sheet accumulating section is provided outside the apparatus, and therefore, the size of the overall structure of the copying apparatus can not be reduced.

Two-sided copying apparatus including a reversing stop mechanism


A handheld massager including: a main body; a first massaging member disposed on top face of the main body, a top face of the first massaging member being a domed first massaging face; and a second massaging member disposed under bottom end of the main body. The bottom face of the second massaging member has embossed structure and serves as a second massaging face. A user can select the first massaging face or the second massaging face to massage human body so that the handheld massager can be switched between different massaging modes. When a user holds the second massaging member to massage human body with the first massaging member, the second massaging face simultaneously stimulates and massages the palm of the user.

The present invention is related to a massager, and more particularly to a handheld massager which can provide different massaging effects for a user. When a user holds the massager with one hand to massage human body, the massager also massages the palm of the user.
FIG. 1 shows a conventional handheld massager 10 including a holding member 12 and a massaging ball 14 mounted in the holding member 12. A user can hold the holding member 12 with one hand and roll the massaging ball 14 back and forth on the skin. The massaging ball 14 can exert a pressure on the skin to provide a massaging effect.
The above handheld massager can only achieve monotonous massaging effect, while lacking any other massaging function.
Moreover, the above handheld massager can only provide massaging effect for human skin or body. Such massager can hardly provide any massaging effect for the user's palm.