A method of automatically creating an electronic document definition can include querying an application using a meta data interface of the application to retrieve meta data describing at least one application specific object for interacting with the application. The meta data can be received responsive to the querying step. The meta data can be processed to determine an electronic document definition describing the at least one application specific object in accordance with the received meta data.

1. Technical Field
The invention relates to the field of application integration, and more particularly, to the generation of components for integrating different enterprise level applications.
2. Description of the Related Art
Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems typically are multi-module software applications which help organizations manage diverse aspects of their business such as product planning, parts purchasing, maintaining inventories, interacting with suppliers, providing customer service, and tracking orders. ERP systems further can manage financial and human resource aspects of a business. For example, Ariba, Inc. of Sunnyvale, Calif., provides a comprehensive business-to-business commerce platform which includes an electronic procurement application known as Ariba™ Buyer.
Presently, some conventional ERP systems exchange information as objects. The Ariba Buyer system, for example, utilizes Java objects for exchanging information with other applications or systems. Although this architecture can provide a robust platform for interaction among disparate applications and systems, conventional ERP system manufacturers typically utilize proprietary object based messaging formats within their ERP systems which are not common to other ERP systems. In consequence, a middleware messaging system often must translate one proprietary ERP system message format, whether an object, XML, or some other message format, to another proprietary ERP system message format. Further, the middleware messaging system often must translate the proprietary objects into an intermediate messaging format used by the middleware itself.
For example, MQSeries™ is a middleware business integration software package available from International Business Machines Corporation of Armonk, N.Y. MQSeries provides messaging infrastructure to facilitate interactions between different ERP systems or applications. Through its various software components, MQSeries can provide a communication mechanism between applications on different platforms.
Middleware systems utilize software components referred to as adapters for converting one message format to another. Products such as IBM's MQSeries Adapter Builder, for example, can generate adapters for translating ERP system objects into XML representations. To generate such an adapter, a document type definition (DTD) describing the particular interface to the ERP system must be imported into the adapter generation tool. Unfortunately, many ERP systems do not specify the proper format of an XML representation of the ERP system objects. For example, the Ariba Buyer system does not specify the format of an XML representation of an Ariba Buyer Java object. Such ERP systems do not describe specific interfaces, nor do the ERP systems provide DTDs which are associated with specific interfaces.
In consequence, the DTD must be manually generated so that it can be imported into the adapter builder tool. The manual creation of a DTD, however, introduces the possibility of human error into the creation of adapters. Additionally, the manual nature of the process requires additional time not only for creating the DTDs and adapters, but also for future modifications of the DTDs and adapters.

Method and apparatus for generating electronic document definitions


An injection mold for forming a thick-walled front cabinet which has a front frame panel and a cabinet portion integral with each other and which is used for an image display device containing a cathode ray tube therein. The mold has a cavity having a large depth corresponding to the large wall thickness of said cabinet, the depth of said cavity being reduced at at least a portion for forming an edge of said front frame panel contactable with said cathode ray tube, a sprue, a single runner communicating with said sprue, and a single film-type tunnel gate communicating with said runner and communicating with a portion of said cavity for forming an upper portion of said cabinet. First molten synthetic resin is first injected by a first cylinder of a sandwich injection molding machine through said tunnel gate into a portion of said cavity including said reduced depth portion. Then, second molten synthetic resin containing a blowing agent is injected by a second cylinder of the sandwich injection molding machine into said cavity through said tunnel gate. Said film-type tunnel gate may communicate with a front frame panel forming portion or a cabinet portion forming portion of the cavity.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of forming, by injection-molding of synthetic resin, a cabinet of an image display device such as a television set, a display unit of a computer, word processor, or the like, particularly a thick-walled front cabinet having a front frame panel. The invention is also concerned with a mold for use in carrying out this method.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In general, since a front cabinet of an image display device is required to have a high level of rigidity, it has to be formed to have a large wall thickness, e.g., a wall thickness of 5 mm to 8 mm, and has to be formed from synthetic resin containing a blowing agent. In the assembly of an image display device of the type described, a cathode ray tube is mounted in the cabinet such that the front face of the cathode ray tube made of glass fits the edge defining a front opening of the front frame panel of the cabinet. The front face of the cathode ray tube, which is made of glass, tends to suffer from a dimensional error, particularly in regard to the curvature thereof. In such a case, the edge of the opening and the front face of the cathode ray tube may fail to closely fit each other, leaving a gap therebetween, if the edge defining the opening of the front frame panel of the cabinet has a large thickness, i.e., a small flexibility. This problem can be overcome by a thick-walled cabinet the thickness of which is reduced only at the edge of the front opening so as to provide a high flexibility to allow the edge to closely fit the front face of the cathode ray tube. Such a cabinet has a sufficiently high level of rigidity, while eliminating generation of any gap between the edge of the opening and the front face of the cathode ray tube.
In the prior art, such a thick-walled cabinet having a reduced wall thickness only at the edge defining the front opening of the front frame panel is produced by sandwich injection molding. The known molding system used for this purpose however employs a large number of gates, e.g., 4 gates to 10 gates, as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7 which show an injection mold according to the prior art. The structure of an injection mold according to the prior art for molding this type of cabinet, as well as the reason why a number of gates have to be employed, will be explained with reference to FIGS. 9, 10, and 11, said FIG. 11 showing a cabinet formed by using an injection mold shown in FIGS. 9 and 10.
Referring to these FIGS. 6, 7, and 8 tunnel gates 7 communicating with a sprue 70 through runners 71 have ends 72 which open to a portion of a cavity 2 for forming a front frame panel 4 of the cabinet. Usually, the opening of each gate 7 has a circular form with a diameter a of about 4 mm to 5 mm. The diameter c of each runner 71 is reduced to 1.8 mm to 2.3 mm so as to enable the portion b to be cut automatically at the time of ejection of the molded article after the mold is opened. The smaller diameter c of the runner 71 restricts the flow of molten synthetic resin so that the molten synthetic resin may fail to completely fill the cavity to its end extremity. In order to avoid this inconvenience, the mold according to the prior art employs a plurality of tunnel gates 7, 7', 7". . . leading to the cavity portions 20, 21, 22, and 23 (see FIG. 6) for forming upper, lower, left and right frame portions 40, 41, 42, 43 of the front frame panel 4, as shown in FIG. 8.
In operation, the molten synthetic resin is made to flow as indicated by arrows in FIG. 6, so that weld lines 10, 10', 10". . . tend to be generated at the regions where the flows of the molten synthetic resin from different gates 7, 7', 7" . . . meet each other, as shown in FIG. 8. Further, employment of a greater number of gates 7, 7', 7". . . causes the number of the weld lines to be increased. It is proposed that generation of a large number of weld lines can be suppressed by reducing the rate of injection of the molten synthetic resin containing a blowing agent from a second cylinder of a sandwich injection molding machine so as to reduce the molding pressure. In such a case, however, gaps tend to generate in the core layer with the result that defects such as sink marks are left in the molded article.

Method of forming thick-walled front cabinet for image display device


An IP telephony gateway and a user interface resource enable a subscriber to place an outgoing call according to the voice over IP (H.323) protocol to a destination party from a user interface session of an intelligent dial tone service such as voice activated dialing, and resume the user interface session upon completion of the outgoing call with the destination party. The IP telephony gateway establishes a user interface session for the subscriber with the user interface resource across a first Real Time Protocol (RTP) data stream. The user interface resource initiates a second RTP data stream to a destination party in response to reception of a prescribed command from the subscriber. Although an RTP bridge connecting the first and second RTP data streams can be maintained by the user interface resource, the user interface resource may also use the Empty Capability Set feature in the H.323 standard to cause the IP telephony gateway to close the first and second RTP data streams to the user interface resource. The user interface resource then issues Non-Empty Capability Set messages to the IP telephony gateway for the first and second RTP data streams, causing the IP telephony gateway to internally bridge the first and second RTP data streams. The user interface resource monitors connections between the subscriber and the destination party, and upon detecting a disconnect by the destination party causes the IP telephony gateway to resume the user interface session, by repeating the sequence of sending Empty Capability Set and Non-Empty Capability Set messages to the IP telephony gateway to break down the bridge and re-establish the connection between the subscriber and the user interface resource.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to systems configured for providing advanced telephony-type services for subscribers in a voice over Internet Protocol (IP) network according to H.323 protocol.
2. Description of the Related Art
The evolution of the public switched telephone network has resulted in a variety of voice applications and services that can be provided to individual subscribers and business subscribers. Such services include voice messaging systems that enable landline or wireless subscribers to record, playback, and forward voice mail messages. However, the ability to provide enhanced services to subscribers of the public switched telephone network is directly affected by the limitations of the public switched telephone network. In particular, the public switched telephone network operates according to a protocol that is specifically designed for the transport of voice signals; hence any modifications necessary to provide enhanced services can only be done by switch vendors that have sufficient know-how of the existing public switched telephone network infrastructure. Hence, the reliance on proprietary protocols and closed development environments by telecommunications equipment providers has limited service providers to vendor-specific implementations of voice and telephony services.
Of particular concern is the limited scalability of user interface applications configured for providing prescribed services to subscribers based on deployed telephony applications. In particular, user interface applications typically are deployed within a single telephony component of the telecommunications network, limiting the ability of the user interface applications to be distributed across multiple components within the telecommunications network.
One example of limited scalability in a user interface application involves conventional voice mail applications that limit a voice mail subscriber to merely retrieve stored voice mail messages, and possibly forward a voice mail message to another voice mail subscriber within the same voice mail system. However, these conventional voice mail applications do not permit a voice mail subscriber to perform more advanced operations. Moreover, these conventional voice mail applications are typically deployed on a single telephony component, limiting the scalability of the conventional voice mail application as the number of subscribers are increased.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,857,013 to Yue et al. suggests the desirability of enabling a mobile telephone user to access his or her associated voice mail system and have the system automatically call a number of a person, having left a message, without leaving the voice mail service. Yue et al. merely suggests use of a Bell South service circuit node, available from AT&T network systems, where the system software is coded in the service logic language within a UNIX environment. Yue et al., however, provides no disclosure of how such a system would be implemented outside the service circuit node, for example in a telephone network such as a mobile telephone system or the public switched telephone network. Hence, Yue et al. suffers from the same disadvantages described above that deployment on a single telephony component limits the scalability of the voice application to be deployed.
Another example of limited scalability in a user interface application involves voice activated dialing applications, where the subscriber relies on speech recognition resources within an interactive voice response unit to initiate an outgoing call in response to a spoken command. For example, a subscriber accessing the interactive voice response unit may utter the phrase "call mom" to initiate a call to a number preprogrammed by the subscriber; the interactive voice response unit, in response to receiving the phrase "call mom", interprets the phrase and accesses the preprogrammed number in order to initiate an outgoing call for the subscriber. As described above, however, such applications are severely limited to a telephony component (such as an integrated voice response unit integrated with a telephony switch) having specialized resources programmed by switch vendors, hence lack scalability for wide scale deployment.
Voice over IP technology is under development as part of an alternative open packet telephony communications network, distinct from the public (circuit switched) telephone network, capable of using packet switched networks for integrating voice, data, facsimile, and Internet services, and the like. New packet telephony voice services are being built from open standards such as The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) Recommendation H.323. Recommendation H.323 defines the components, procedures, and protocols necessary to provide audiovisual communications on local area networks. Recommendation H.323 is based on the Real Time Protocol/Control Protocol (RTP/RTCP) of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), and applies to either point-to-point or multipoint sessions, and references many other ITU recommendations, including H.225 and H.245. Recommendation H.225 specifies messages for call control including signaling, registration and admissions, and packetization/synchronization of media streams. Recommendation H.245 specifies messages for opening and closing channels for media streams, and other commands, requests and indications. However, the current H.323 standard does not provide a direct means for enabling a voice mail subscriber to place an outbound call from a voice mail system, and then return to the voice mailbox after call completion.
Hence, the existing voice over IP technology has yet to produce a scalable technology for deployment of advanced voice application services across multiple platforms of an IP-based telecommunications system.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Scalable voice over IP system providing independent call bridging for outbound calls initiated by user interface applications


An output buffer 10 of an integrated circuit controls the slew rate of an output signal in order to minimize electro-magnetic interference. Transient current delay circuits 132 and 134 provide a delay between turning off pull down circuit 122 and turning on pull up circuit 124, and vice versa, in order to assure that driver overlap does not occur. Pull up circuit 124 selectively switches a plurality of output transistors P(n) in order to control the rise time of an output signal. Likewise, pull down circuit 122 selectively switches a plurality of output transistors N(n) in order to control the fall time of an output signal so that current spikes on supply lines to output buffer 10 are reduced or eliminated.

Advances in integrated circuit (IC) technology has resulted in shrinking the channel lengths of metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) transistors which increases the switching speed of these transistors. Heightened governmental regulation is reducing the electro-magnetic interference (EMI) allowance which may be generated by an electronic system. Furthermore, systems require increased electro-static discharge (ESD) tolerance. As the channel length is reduced, the transistors get faster and conduct more current. Increasing transistor width or holding the widths to pre-shrink sizes means that the peak source and sink capability of the transistors in an IC output buffer is increased. This directly increases the amount of electromagnetic radiation which contribute to EMI and also increase the chances of latchup in the output buffer. Furthermore, for the same drive requirements the output driver transistor can be smaller which may result in ESD protection being compromised.
In a prior art buffer, when the buffer is enabled and an output terminal transitions from a LOW to a HIGH or a HIGH to LOW, output capacitance (parasitic or otherwise) which is connected to the output terminal is suddenly charged or discharged. This may cause a large amount of current to flow through the power and ground lines. Due to internal device routing line resistance and printed circuit board (PCB) trace resistance on the power and ground lines, the following conditions may happen:
i) the voltage on the power line tends to dip momentarily during a low to high transition of the output; and
ii) the voltage on the ground line rises momentarily during a high to a low transition on the output.
Both the conditions (i) and (ii) above are undesirable for the reasons listed below:
a) If the voltage dips below a diode drop from power line (VCC), there could be large substrate currents therefore increasing the chances of a latchup;
b) If the voltage rises above a diode drop from ground line (VDD) there could be substrate currents again increasing the chances of a latchup; and
c) Even if sufficient precautions were taken to prevent above conditions, the dip/rise on the power/ground lines radiates noise.
A strong output transistor has a low characteristic impedance. Typically, an impedance mismatch occurs between the output transistor and the printed circuit board traces which results in ringing. FIG. 1 illustrates an output signal 102 of a typical prior art output buffer which has overshoot/ringing 104 and undershoot/ringing 106. Ringing contributes to EMI and is therefore undesirable. Prior art FIG. 1 also illustrates output current 107 of a typical prior art output buffer which has current spikes 108 and 109. Current spikes 108 and 109 may cause undesirable fluctuations on power and ground.
With the EMC radiation regulation requirements getting more and more difficult to meet, it becomes a requirement to create more innovative circuits. Accordingly, there is needed an output buffer which overcomes these EMI and ESD problems.
Other objects and advantages will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art having reference to the following figures and specification.

CMOS output buffer with slew rate control


An Iterative Detection and Decoding (IDD) receiving apparatus and method in a multiple input multiple output (MIMO) communication system. The IDD receiving apparatus includes an MIMO detector which generates soft decision values of coded bits by MIMO-decoding a receive vector, feedback priori information, and a list of candidate coded symbol vectors; a decoder which Soft-Input/Soft-Output (SISO)-decodes the soft decision values generated at the MIMO detector and feeds back soft decision values of the coded bits to the MIMO detector; a hard decision part which generates a coded symbol vector by performing a hard decision on the soft decision values generated at the decoder; and a list updater which generates a list of candidate coded symbol vectors using the receive vector and provides the list to the MIMO detector at a first iteration, updates the list using the coded symbol vector fed from the hard decision part, and provides the updated list to the MIMO detector at subsequent iterations.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a communication system using a multi-antenna, and in particular, to an apparatus and method of enhancing decoding performance at a receiver using an Iterative Detection and Decoding (IDD) scheme.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, with rapid growth of the wireless mobile communication market, various multimedia services in the wireless environment are becoming more heavily demanded. In particular, mass transmission data and rapid data delivery are progressing. Thus, an urgent task is to find a method of efficiently using limited frequencies. To respond to this, a new transmission technique using a multi-antenna is desired. By way of example of the new transmission technique, a Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) system using a multi-antenna is being used.
A MIMO technique, which uses a multi-antenna at a transmitter and a receiver respectively, can increase the channel transmission capacity in proportion to the number of the antennas without additional frequencies or transmit power allocation, compared to a system using a single antenna. Thus, in recent years, active research has been conducted on the MIMO technique.
Multi-antenna techniques are divided largely to a spatial diversity scheme which improves the transmission reliability by acquiring a diversity gain corresponding to the product of the numbers of transmit and receive antennas, a Spatial Multiplexing (SM) scheme which increases the data rate by transmitting a plurality of signal streams at the same time, and a combination scheme of the spatial diversity and the SM schemes.
When adopting the multi-antenna technique, it is known that a Maximum Likelihood (ML) receiver is an optimum scheme to detect a receive signal. However, it is hard to practically realize a ML receiver because complexity increases by raising a length of a codeword to the power of the transmit antennas. Hence, active researches are being conducted on a reception scheme which obtains low complexity and performance close to the ML receiver.
In the mean time, recently, an IDD scheme which applies a turbo principle to a MIMO receiver is attracting great attention. An IDD scheme regards the MIMO part as a coder and models it by concatenating a channel coder with a MIMO coder. In more detail, an IDD scheme is an iterative decoding scheme which inputs the output of a MIMO detector to a channel decoder and feeds back the output of the channel decoder to the MIMO detector. Simply, the MIMO detector generates soft decision information for the receive signal and provides the soft decision information to the channel decoder, and the channel decoder recalculates soft decision values for the respective bits using the input soft decision information as priori information. The soft decision values calculated at the channel decoder are fed back to the MIMO detector and then used as priori information at the MIMO detector. By repeating this process, reliability of the received bits is enhanced.
Representative schemes of a conventional MIMO IDD include List MIMO [B. M. Hochwald and S. ten Brink, "Achieving near-capacity on multiple-antenna channel", IEEE Trans. on Commun, vol. 51, pp. 389-399, March 2003] and turbo-BLAST (Vertical Bell Labs Layered Space-time) [M. Sellathurai and S. Haykin, "TURBO-BLAST for wireless communication: theory and experiments", IEEE Trans. on Signal Processing, vol. 50, pp. 2538-2546, October 2002]. Those two schemes are the same as the IDD scheme, except for the spatial multiplexing at the transmitter and the MIMO signal detection at the receiver. Hereinafter, descriptions are centered on the List MIMO scheme which is known for its good performance.
First, a system model according to the prior art is defined. As shown in FIG. 3, a system of interest similar to the present invention includes NT-ary transmit antennas and NR-ary receive antennas.
A signal vector d consisting of K-ary bits to transmit is transformed to a signal vector c consisting of N-ary coded bits at a channel coder and interleaved at an interleaver having the size N. The interleaved signal vector {tilde over (c)} is transmitted on the plurality of the antennas via a MIMO transmitter (modulator and demultiplexer). Provided that M-ary coded bits are mapped to a modulation symbol, the number of the coded bits transmitted on the plurality of the antennas at a time is NT×M. That is, to transmit all of the N-ary coded bits, transmission as many as N/NTM times are required.
Given the transmit vector at the m-th transmission expressed as x(m)=[x1(m)x2(m) . . . xNT(m)]T, m=1, . . . , N/NTM, the receive vector y(m)=[y1(m)y2(m) . . . yNR(m)]T received at the receiver is expressed as Equation (1).y(m)=H(m)x(m)+n(m)  (1)
In Equation (1), n(m) denotes noise vector NR×1. H(m) is a NT×NR matrix formed between the transmit and receive antennas at the m-th transmission and can be expressed as Equation (2).
                    H        =                  [                                                                      h                  11                                                                              h                  12                                                            …                                                              h                                      1                                                              N                      R                                                                                h                  21                                                                              h                  22                                                            …                                                              h                                      2                                                              N                      R                                                                                ⋮                                            ⋮                                            …                                            ⋮                                                                                h                                                            N                      T                                                            1                                                                                h                                                            N                      T                                                            2                                                                              …                                                              h                                                            N                      T                                                                                N                      R                                                                                ]                                    (        2        )
In Equation (2), the element hij corresponding to the i-th line and the j-th column denotes a channel response at the i-th transmit antenna with the j-th receive antenna.
A conventional IDD receiver for receiving signals transmitted on the plurality of the antennas is now described.
FIG. 1 shows a conventional IDD receiver in a MIMO antenna system. The conventional IDD receiver includes a list generator 100, a MIMO detector 102, a first subtracter 104, a deinterleaver 106, a Soft-Input Soft-Output (SISO) decoder 108, a second subtracter 110, an interleaver 112, and a hard decision part 114.
The list generator 100 generates a list ^1 of a candidate coded symbol vectors c=[c1c2 . . . cNl·M] of high reliability using a sphere decoding or a Sorted-Modified ML (S-MML) with respect to the receive vector y. FIG. 2 depicts a list which is generated by selecting four coded symbol vectors in a coded symbol vector space.
The MIMO detector 102 generates a first posterior information vector LD1 by MIMO-decoding the receive vector y and the priori information from the interleaver 112. At this time, the MIMO detector 102 performs the decoding using the sphere decoding or the S-MML scheme, and the list of the candidate coded symbol vectors used for the decoding is provided from the list generator 100. At the first iteration, since there is no priori information for each bit, probabilities of being +1 and −1 are initialized to ½, respectively.
The first subtracter 104 produces a first extrinsic information vector LE1 by subtracting the first priori information vector LI1 of the interleaver 112 from the vector LD1 of the MIMO detector 102. The deinterleaver 106 generates a second priori information vector LI2 by deinterleaving the first extrinsic information vector LE1 from the first subtracter 104.
The SISO decoder 108 generates a second posterior information vector LD2 by SISO-decoding the second priori information vector LI2 from the deinterleaver 106. The second subtracter 110 generates a second extrinsic information vector LE2 by subtracting the second priori information vector LI2 of the deinterleaver 106 from the second posterior information vector LD2 of the SISO decoder 108. The interleaver 112 generates the first priori information vector LI1 by interleaving the second extrinsic information vector LE2 from the second subtracter 110.
After repeating the process for a number of times, at the last iteration, the SISO decoder 108 outputs Log-Likelihood Ratios (LLRs) (LD2,information) corresponding to the K-ary information bits to the hard decision part 114. Next, the hard decision part 114 generates information bits through the hard decision on the fed LLRs.
In the conventional LIST MIMO scheme of FIG. 1, once calculated, the initial list ^ is fixed and then used the same at all IDD iterations. However, since the LLRs generated at the SISO decoder 108 are more accurate information than the LLRs generated at the MIMO detector 102, it is needed to far more accurately update the list by use of the LLRs generated at the SISO decoder 108. If it is possible to update the list more closely to the receive signal, the overall decoding performance of the IDD receiver will be enhanced.

Apparatus and method for iterative detection and decoding (IDD) in multi-antenna communication system


An upright storage cabinet having a cam lock arrangement which simultaneously locks all of the cabinet drawers. The lock arrangement includes a rotatable cam member which is movable into a locked position wherein the cam member engages a locking element to lift a lock bar into engagement with the drawers, and an unlocked position wherein the cam member disengages from the locking element to disengage the lock bar from the drawers. The cam member is mounted for vertical displacement relative to an actuator of the lock arrangement to allow self-adjustment of the position of the cam member relative to the locking element.

This invention relates to an upright storage cabinet and more particularly, an upright storage cabinet having a self-adjusting cam lock for locking the drawers of the cabinet.
Upright storage cabinets, as used in offices and similar environments, conventionally include an upright hollow housing which is open at the front so as to receive a plurality of file drawers therein in a vertically stacked arrangement. Such cabinets are well known and typically include a locking mechanism so as to securely lock the drawers in a closed position. These locking mechanisms employ a key-operated lock device which is mounted so as to be accessible from a front side of the housing, which lock device acts through a suitable intermediate linkage for controlling a vertical lock bar which is disposed adjacent one of the corners of the housing. The lock bar is in turn provided with locking elements which cooperate with the individual drawers so as to simultaneously lock them in the closed position. Some conventional cabinets are provided with locking mechanisms including a cam member which is rotated or otherwise actuated to vertically manipulate the lock bar to bring same into locking engagement with the drawers. One example of such a cabinet and locking mechanism is the commercially available PREMISE(copyright) pedestal storage unit sold by the assignee of the instant invention having a family code number of FS49DPFN.
The cam member of the above PREMISE(copyright) pedestal unit as illustrated in FIGS. 15-17 herein includes a cam lock assembly 100 which is mounted adjacent the rearwardly facing side of a front wall of the topmost drawer. The cam lock assembly 100 includes a cam member 101 having a generally hemispherically-shaped main body 102. Main body 102 mounts thereon a generally fin-shaped cam 103 which projects sidewardly from an outer surface of main body 102 and terminates in a straight edge 104. The rearwardly facing side of main body 102 defines a circular opening 106 therein which projects into main body 102 and terminates at a flat base wall 107. As shown in FIG. 16, base wall 107 defines therein a vertically-elongate rectangular slot 110 which communicates with a circular recess 111 defined in the frontwardly facing side of main body 102.
Cam lock assembly 100 additionally includes a cylindrically shaped lock shell 112 which is non-rotatably mounted on the front upright wall of a cabinet drawer. Lock shell 112 defines a forwardly opening receptacle 113 for a plug-type actuator 121 (shown schematically in FIG. 17 in dotted lines) which is operable by a key to lock and unlock the cam lock assembly 100. A lock insert or lug 114 is mounted for rotation within lock shell 112, and includes an internally threaded hole 115 for receiving a pinch bolt or screw 116. Screw 116 is engaged within the threaded hole 115 so that the screw head 117 thereof is oriented within opening 106 of main body 102. When the screw 116 is fully tightened within hole 115, the screw head 117 clamps against the base wall 107 along the longitudinal edges thereof. This clamping of the screw head 117 against base wall 107 serves to fix the cam member 101 to the lug 114. The engagement of the lug 114 within slot 110 allows rotation of cam member 101 along with lug 114 when same is actuated as discussed below.
The rotation of the lug 114 relative to the lock shell 112 between the locked and unlocked positions is limited by an annular plate 120 which is nonrotatably fixed to lug 114. Plate 120 defines a peripherally located arcuate recess or inset portion which defines a pair of shoulders (not shown) which are spaced from one another along the circumference of plate 120. The shoulders cooperate with a correspondingly located stop (not shown) which projects outwardly from the rearmost end of lock shell 112. The lug 114 is keyed at a front end thereof for cooperation with the actuator 121. Thus, when locking of the drawers is desirable, a key 122 is inserted into the plug-type actuator 121 and turned. The turning of the key 122 rotates lug 114 and cam member 101 to the locked position as limited by the stop of lock shell 112, causing the fin-shaped cam 103 to rotate upwardly so that the edge 104 thereof makes contact with a horizontal locking bar journalled along the upper and frontmost edge of the cabinet housing. The actuation of the horizontal locking bar by cam 103 in turn raises a vertical locking bar oriented along a side wall of the cabinet. The vertical locking bar includes locking elements which cooperate with the individual drawers to lock same in the closed position.
The cam 103 of the above-described cam lock assembly 100 tends to undergo xe2x80x9ccreepxe2x80x9d over a period of time relative to the lug 114 and the associated screw 116. That is, repeated use of the lock assembly 100, movement of the cabinet, etc., can cause cam member 101 to shift longitudinally from its original installed position relative to lug 114 and screw 116. This shifting of the cam member 101 in turn often results in a misalignment of the fin-shaped cam 103 relative to the horizontal locking bar. The creep of cam 103 from its original position, as set at the time of manufacture and assembly of the cabinet, causes malfunctioning of the lock assembly of the cabinet, which in turn necessitates time consuming and costly readjustment of the position of the cam member 101.
The present invention was developed in order to eliminate or at least minimize the inconveniences caused by creep or shifting of the cam member as discussed above. More specifically, the invention includes a cam lock assembly which permits self-adjustment of the cam member relative to the lug. More specifically, the cam member is provided with a spring-loaded plunger which allows the cam member to float relative to the lug and the associated screw.
Other objects and purposes of the invention, and variations thereof, will be apparent upon reading the following specification and inspecting the accompanying drawings.

Self-adjusting cam lock for storage cabinet


A sample manipulator that utilizes electrostatic traveling waves to selectively displace one or more samples deposited on its face is disclosed. The sample manipulator enables an operator to perform a wide variety of processes upon the deposited samples. Also disclosed are strategies for separating two or more samples, focusing a sample, and passing a reagent through a sample, all conducted on the face of the sample manipulator.

The present exemplary embodiment relates to sampling and assay systems. It finds particular application in conjunction with the analysis of biological samples, and will be described with particular reference thereto. However, it is to be appreciated that the present exemplary embodiment is also amenable to other like applications.
Conventional slides are passive substrates on which samples are fixed and mounted for microscopy. With precision optics and specimen staining or fluorescent tagging, very high speed and high resolution images are achieved, making it possible to observe processes such as localization of cellular components and monitoring their interactions among themselves or with the outside world. Thus, there is a strong need to have active control or to speed up these processes.
On a macro scale, manipulation of cells, bacteria, or viruses are desired as it pertains to interesting applications such as bio-agent detection New development in optical trapping has made tools such as laser tweezers or scissors available for manipulation on a single cell scale. However, there are certain restrictions to the medium to which the laser is applied, and optical trapping is not easily amenable to parallel or larger scale processing. As a consequence, an improved method that allows the operator to have control over the migration of the biomolecules is highly desirable.
Electric fields can be used to move charged molecules without contact, examples being electrophoretic and electro-osmotic techniques. Such means are effective in many types of media such as aqueous or organic solutions, air/aerosol, or high-viscosity media including various types of gels. However, traditional means of using electric fields to move biomolecules (such as electrophoresis) rely on mobilizing all particles between two electrodes placed on either side of a sample, which does not allow control over individual molecules or multiple small regions within a sample slide.
The present exemplary embodiment relates to selectively controllable sample slides, methods to fabricate such slides, and methods for their use which enable interactive steering of specimens on slides viewed by biochemical imaging systems.


Systems, methods, and apparatus are disclosed for generating and processing natural language requests. A request processing system processes a received natural language request to identify an intent of the natural language request and a confidence level of the identified intent. In response to the confidence level of the identified intent not satisfying a threshold level, the request processing system sends the natural language request to the fulfillment computing device for further processing by a person associated with the fulfillment computing device. In response to the confidence level satisfying the threshold level, the request processing system proceeds with fulfilling the request per the identified intent.

Customers commonly purchase goods and services from brick-and-mortar stores such as retail stores, grocery stores, consumer electronic boutiques, etc. Customers also purchase goods and services via on-line vendors who provide virtual storefronts from which customers may purchase the goods and services without visiting a brick-and-mortar store. In particular, a customer using a computing device such as a laptop computer, smart phone, or tablet may visit a virtual storefront in order to select and purchase goods, services, or both from the on-line vendor.
Many customers find purchasing goods and services from an on-line vendor more convenient than physically visiting a brick-and-mortar store to make such purchases. However, purchasing from an on-line vendor generally requires the customer to undertake a many step process. For example, a customer may need to open an appropriate application such as a web browser, direct the application to the virtual store, find and select the goods and services that the customer wants to purchase, and finalize the purchase via a checkout process. The checkout process may likewise include many steps. For example, the customer may need to provide payment information, provide identification information to validate the payment information, select from several options for shipping the purchased goods, and provide an address to which the purchased goods are to be delivered or at which the services are to be performed. Each of these steps provides an additional obstacle for the customer to overcome in order to obtain the desired goods, services, or both. Moreover, each of these steps provides the customer an opportunity to reconsider and abandon the purchase.

Request fulfillment system, method, and media


A switching valve has a cylindrical housing including a bore, an inlet port, a first inlet-outlet port, and a second inlet-outlet port which open to the hollow. A valve member slidably disposed in the bore has a ringed groove around its periphery. The valve member can open or block a portion between the groove and the first inlet-outlet port and a portion between the groove and the second inlet-outlet port. The groove formed outside the valve member always communicates with the inlet port and can communicate with the first and second inlet-outlet ports. A single drain port is formed within the valve member so that the single drain port can communicate with the first and second inlet-outlet ports. The valve member is caused to slide by a solenoid.

A conventional four port switching valve is disclosed in, for example, Japanese patent application laid-open publications No. 6 (1994)-330712 and No. 7 (1995)-151257. This valve comprises a cylindrical housing having a bore, an inlet port, a first inlet-outlet port, a second inlet-outlet port formed in the cylindrical housing which open to the bore and a spool valve slidably disposed in the bore that can open and close off the section between the inlet port and the first inlet-outlet port and the section between the inlet port and the second inlet-outlet port. The disclosed valve also includes a first ringed groove formed around the spool valve that always opens to the inlet port and can communicate with the first and second inlet-outlet ports. Two drain ports formed in the cylindrical housing so as to open to the bore. A second ringed groove is formed around the spool valve and always opens to one of the drain ports and can communicate with the first inlet-outlet port. A third ringed groove is formed around the spool valve and opens to the other drain port and can communicate with the second inlet-outlet port.
This type of switching valve has two drain ports in the cylindrical housing, which requires many manufacturing processes and a complicated structure. In addition, because two drain ports are formed in the cylindrical housing so that the two drain ports open to the bore, pressurized fluid in the inlet-outlet ports can easily leak through the housing to the drain ports when the pressurized fluid flows from the inlet port to the inlet-outlet ports.


A heat sink is constructed including at least one heat sink fin. Each fin includes an opening sized to fit a thermal device when the fins are heated to a temperature above that of the thermal device. When the fins cool to the temperature of the thermal device they shrink in size and form a tight compression fit around the thermal device.

Modern electronics have benefited from the ability to fabricate devices on a smaller and smaller scale. As the ability to shrink devices has improved, so has their performance. Unfortunately, this improvement in performance is accompanied by an increase in power as well as power density in devices. In order to maintain the reliability of these devices, the industry must find new methods to remove this heat efficiently.
By definition, heat sinking means that one attaches a cooling device to a heat-generating component and thereby removes the heat to some cooling medium, such as air or water. Unfortunately, one of the major problems in joining two devices to transfer heat is that a thermal interface is created at the junction. This thermal interface is characterized by a thermal contact impedance. Thermal contact impedance is a function of contact pressure and the absence or presence of material filling small gaps or surface variations in the interface.
As the power density of electronic devices increases, heat transfer from the heat generating devices to the surrounding environment becomes more and more critical to the proper operation of the devices. Many current electronic devices incorporate heat sink fins to dissipate heat to the surrounding air moving over the fins and to increase the surface area of the device for radiant cooling. These heat sinks are thermally connected to the electronic devices by a variety of techniques. Some devices use a thermally conductive paste in an attempt to lower the contact resistance. Others may use solder between the two elements both for mechanical strength and thermal conductance. However, these two solutions require additional cost and process steps that would not be necessary except for presence of the contact resistance.

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


The design and construction of past piston assemblies having a wrist pin retained by a pair of snap rings positioned in a groove. Other past piston assemblies have a stubpin or cap positioned within a bore of a piston member or the wrist pin. In these applications the stubpin or cap is in continuous contact along the interface between the bore and the stubpin or cap. The present invention provides a device for retaining a wrist pin within a pair of bores of a piston member during operation of an engine. The device includes a shank portion having an outer portion thereon and only the outer portion of the shank portion being in contact with an inner surface of the wrist pin. The device and the wrist pin forming a wrist pin assembly. Thus, the device remains positioned within the inner surface and properly positioned the wrist pin assembly within the bores during operation of an engine within a bore of a cylinder liner. This configuration also increases the contact area between the wrist pin and the piston member increasing the life and dependability of the engine.

The last several years has seen an increasing emphasis being placed on the design of engines to make them more compact, lighter and yet with improved fuel economy, efficiency, reduced emissions, greater service life and increased power output per cylinder. As present day engines are converted or upgraded, the piston assembly is subject to even higher combustion chamber pressures and temperatures.
Attempts have been made to overcome the effects of higher combustion chamber pressures by altering the design of the piston member and its associated components such as the piston pin and the retaining device relative to the piston member. An example is disclosed in U.K. Pat. Application No. GB 2,225,087 published May 23, 1990 to Applicant Metal Leve S. A. Industria E Comerclo. The publication discloses an articulated piston assembly comprised of a head having a pair of pin bosses, a skirt portion and a wrist pin mounted in the bosses and the skirt portion. The assembly further includes a restraining member to prevent lateral deformation of the pin bosses. The bosses are split and are clamped to the pin by means of nuts and bolts. Thus, the pin is prevented from axial movement. Furthermore, the restraining members are in contact with the pin bosses along their entire axial length.
Another example of a piston assembly is disclosed in U.K. Pat. Application 0,222,359 published May 20, 1887 to Applicant AE PLC. The publication discloses an articulated piston assembly comprised of a crown portion having gudgeon-pin bosses, a skirt portion and a gudgeon-pin. A pair of stub-pins are fixedly positioned in the crown portion and prevent axial movement of the gudgeon-pin. The stub-pins are comprised of a plastic material. Furthermore, the stub-pins are in contact with the pin bosses along their entire axial length.
Another example of a piston assembly is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,797,135 issued Jun. 25, 1957 to J. E. Johansson. The patent discloses a piston assembly comprised of a piston and a tubular gudgeon pin. The pin is retained within the piston by two expansion members consisting of a material having a coefficient of expansion greater than the pin and preferably equal to or greater than the coefficient of expansion of the piston. In this patent the expansion members are positioned within the cylindrical pin. A fastening device axially fixedly positions the pin within the piston. Furthermore, the expansion members are in contact with the cylindrical pin along their entire axial length.
Another example of a piston assembly is disclosed in "Overhaul Manual AVCO Lycoming Direct Drive Engine", the publication is the fifth printing Part No. 60294-7 and is dated in December of 1974. AVCO's Lycoming Division is located in Williamsport, Pa. 17701. The manual on page 1-12 discloses a cylinder, piston and valve components. The pin within the piston assembly is retained in place by a plug positioned in the piston bore similar to the above publication. As shown in the optional example, the plug could be positioned within the cylindrical pin. However, as disclosed the head of the plug is quite long and reduces the surface area between the pin and the piston resulting in high loads being transmitted between the corresponding surface areas of the pin and the piston. Furthermore, the plugs are in contact with the cylindrical pin along their entire axial length.
Another example of a retainer is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 1,923,717 issued on Aug. 22, 1933 to Fritjof Frelin. A pair of plugs are threaded onto opposite ends of a sleeve and each has an expandable ring positioned therein contacting and sealing against the surface of a bore through a wrist pin. The head or flange of each plug is larger than the outer diameter of the wrist pin and contacts the piston, thus retaining the wrist pin therebetween. This structure does not permit preassembly of the plugs and wrist pin which can only be assembled at the time of assembling the piston, rod, wrist pin and plugs. Furthermore, the process required to assemble the above components is time consuming, increases cost and increases the total number of parts to be assembled.
In a portion of the above listed publications the restraining members and the stub-pins are positioned within the piston bore through which the gudgeon pin is positioned. In these applications, the surface area of the piston bore is shared by the surface area of the gudgeon pin and the surface area of the restraining members or the stub-pins. Thus, resulting in a higher load being applied to the piston bore surface area and the gudgeon pin surface area. The above listed U.S. patent and the optional example of the manual discloses that expansion members are or can be positioned within the cylindrical pin. Furthermore, most of the disclosures have the retaining members and stub-pins in contact with the mating part along its entire axial length.
The present invention is directed to overcome one or more of the problems as set forth above.


A method of address allocation in a network comprises determining, from negotiations between nodes, whether a first node shall assume a server role responsible for distribution and management of network addresses to clients. If this determination is made, the first node is provided with a pool of network addresses. The invention provides a method of dynamic re-allocation of address pools between servers of the network, in accordance with, for example, network requirements or traffic load.

The idea of creating autonomous computer systems relies heavily on the concept of autoconfiguration in a computer network. The establishment of communication in dynamic networks without users' interference is one of the most important topics for next-generation computer networks. One of the biggest challenges related to autoconfiguration in dynamic networks is addressing—the automatic distribution and management of addresses in a network is a critical part of an autonomous communication environment that is further made complex by the presence of challenges such as mobility, policies control and intermittent connections.
In future networking, it is expected that nodes will connect to and disconnect from a network without the need for a user to manually change a device configuration. Through a robust mechanism for automatic bootstrapping, a node may configure itself by contacting an existing node of the network which the node wishes to join, and initiate communication. Several approaches have been proposed to achieve self-configuration. Examples of these include mechanisms for dynamic addressing, addressing management, and dynamic configuration of ad hoc networks.
Methods of defining an address for a node in a dynamic environment are known, but these often rely on the presence and the help of a fixed and structured network, where a DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) or another kind of mechanism is available. Other solutions describe a mechanism where the node refers to its hardware address (e.g. a physical address such as a MAC—Medium Access Control—address) and uses this information to calculate its own network address. Nonetheless, when an address is self-attributed, there is a need for a mechanism that prevents nodes from using addresses that were already allocated to others. Similarly, other proposals suggest that a node may create its own network address by combining information from its physical address and pre-defined network related information in order to avoid addressing conflicts as described for example in US Patent Application US 2003/0081578, US Patent Application US 2004/0240474 A1, or U.S. Pat. No. 6,728,232 B2.
Other solutions have considered a mechanism whereby a node takes information from advertisement messages sent by a server and combines it with information about its own interface type, or other pre-defined information, creating its own valid network address—see US Patent Application US 2007/01600514. However, this again requires the provision of a fixed server.
Further strategies have been proposed for a node connected to a home domain using a specific address. When moving to other regions and interacting with other domains, the node receives or calculates a temporary address to be used during the time it remains away from its home domain—see for example U.S. Pat. No. 5,708,655 or Charles Perkins, "IP Mobility Support for IPv4", RFC 3344, August 2002.
Trial and error ("heuristic method") is a common methodology used in many domain problems. In the addressing context, a node would simply generate its own address. This node then verifies whether this address is already in use by another node in the network. If not, the node attributes to itself the generated address.
It has also been proposed to provide one or more servers carrying an amount of available addresses. These servers are responsible for the management of address pools from where the nodes take their valid addresses—see, for example U.S. Pat. No. 6,993,583.


This invention is directed to an article, such as a medical device, for local delivery of genes. The article comprises a substrate coated with a cross-linked protein. The invention is also directed to a method for coating an article with cross-linked protein. An additive may be optionally incorporated into the coating. The crosslinked protein coating can strongly absorb genes. Thus, the coated article can be used to locally deliver genes to a target site. The coating of the invention exhibits excellent biocompatibility and biodegradability, and does not cause toxicity or side-effects.

Due to advances in molecular biology, the pathologenesis of many diseases can be elucidated at the gene level. This makes it possible to provide accurate diagnosis and effective treatment of such diseases. In fact, the treatment of many diseases, such as cardiovascular diseases, cerebral diseases, tumor, diabetes, AIDS, and gene therapy is attracting more and more attention. For example, if an anti-thrombogenic gene is delivered and localized to a specific artery, highly efficient gene transfer to the vascular cells and transgene expression at the target site will occur, effecting suppression of thrombosis. However, a key problem of localized delivery of exogenous genes within the body, so far, has not been solved. Simons et al. employed Pluronic F127 gel as a vehicle for gene delivery and localization (1992, Nature 359(3):67-70). A gene was added to a gel and then delivered to the carotid artery of an animal. A shortcoming of this method is that the gel is susceptible to being flushed from the target site by blood flow. Therefore, localized delivery of the gene cannot be effectively achieved. With respect to coated substrates, although several methods have been disclosed, the objective of those inventions is to have hydrophilic coatings lubricate the articles when they a:re in contact with an aqueous-based medium, such as a body fluid. The lubricous surface can decrease injury to macous membranes and other body tissue caused by the presence of the articles. U.S. Pat. No. 4,373,009 discloses a hydrophilic coating. The disclosed coating material is vinyl pyrrolidone copolymer containing active hydrogen. Another hydrophilic coating is made from polyacrylates. This coating is described by You-link Fan in U.S. Pat. No. 5,091,205. These types of coatings can exhibit low coefficient of friction when in contact with aqueous-based medium. But they are not fit for local delivery of genes because they do not absorb genes strongly enough. In addition, these polymers have unknown quality with respect to biocompatibility, purity, and toxicity. Thus, there remains a distinct need for a vehicle that can absorb genes strongly, and thereby locally deliver genes.

Protein-coated medical substrates for local delivery of genes and method of forming coatings on the substrates

Inst. of Biomedical Engineering, Chinese Acdmy of Med. Science

Cardiovascular Inst. of Fu Wai Hospital, Chinese Acdmy of Med. Science


The present invention relates generally to methods and compounds for regulating the release of nitric oxide in the vicinity of biofilm-forming microorganisms to regulate programmed cell death in the microorganisms and thereby promote dispersal of microorganism from biofilms and/or inhibit biofilm formation or development. More particularly, the invention relates to the use of compounds to provide spatial and temporal control over nitric oxide release.

Biofilms are three dimensional microbial growth forms comprising microbial communities and the extracellular matrix they produce. Biofilms are ubiquitous in nature, forming on any surface or at any interface where water or suitable fluid is available, or in suspension, for example as flocs or granules.
Biofilms are etiologic agents of a number of diseases and are associated with a variety of chronic infections in humans, forming on a variety of surfaces within the body, for example on surfaces in the respiratory tract and lungs (associated with cystic fibrosis and Legionnaire's disease), on surfaces of the ear (associated with otitis media), and on surfaces of the heart and heart valves (associated with bacterial endocarditis). Biofilms offer increased protection to the microorganism inhabitants, for example in the form of substantially increased resistance to antibiotics compared to planktonic cells and resistance to phagocytosis, which render biofilms very difficult to eradicate and explains the severity and high level of persistence of biofilms and the morbidity associated with infections produced by biofilms. In the case of cystic fibrosis, for example, a principal cause of respiratory infections is Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and P. aeruginosa biofilms on the surface of the lungs in cystic fibrosis sufferers imparts a greater degree of antibiotic resistance and resistance to host immune defences. Consequently the major cause of chronic lung infections, and in turn of morbidity and mortality, in cystic fibrosis sufferers is biofilm-associated P. aeruginosa.
Biofilms also readily form on medical equipment such as catheters and cannulas, and on implantable medical devices including stents and contact lenses. Indeed many long term catheterization patients acquire infections caused by biofilm-forming bacteria, and more generally biofilms are responsible for a range of hospital acquired infections, adding considerable cost to health systems.
From a public health perspective, biofilms are important reservoirs of pathogens in water systems such as drinking water, reservoirs, pipes and air-conditioning ducts. Biofilms also cause significant industrial damage, causing, for example, fouling and corrosion in fluid processes such as water distribution and treatment systems, pulp and paper manufacturing systems, heat exchange systems and cooling towers, and contributing to the souring of oil in pipelines and reservoirs.
Biofilms are essentially multicellular microbial communities, the formation and development of which are dependent on various multicellular traits of the member organisms, such as cell-cell signalling. Extracellular signalling systems such as quorum sensing are used by bacteria to assess cell density and initiate changes in gene expression and phenotypes when sufficient concentrations of signalling molecules are reached. This is associated with differential gene expression, leading to the induction of, for example, virulence factors and/or defence mechanisms, and with cell differentiation such that biofilm-associated cells become highly differentiated from planktonic cells.
As the cells within biofilms differentiate and biofilms mature, reduced metabolic rates, the cellular expression of defence mechanisms and the reduced ability of antimicrobial agents to penetrate the biofilm results in increased antimicrobial resistance and make biofilms particularly difficult to eradicate. Present biofilm control strategies typically target the early stages of biofilm development and involve the use of toxic antimicrobial agents. However such toxic agents can present their own downstream problems, for example when used industrially due to their release into the environment. Improved strategies for biofilm control are clearly required.
Studies of P. aeruginosa, as well as other model biofilm forming bacteria, mixed species oral bioflims, and mixed species granular biofilms in waste water treatment processes have shown that programmed cell death induces detachment and dispersal of cells from biofilms (see, for example, Hope et al., 2002 and Webb et al, 2003) and is a general feature of biofilm development. Inventors of the present invention have previously found that programmed cell death in biofilms is linked to the accumulation of reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (RONS) within biofilm-forming organisms, and that programmed cell death and dispersal of cells from a biofilm into planktonic cells can be induced using low, non-toxic concentrations of nitric oxide generators or donors (see co-pending WO 2006/125262, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety).
The exploitation of this finding offers the prospect of novel technologies for the removal of biofilms in a broad range of environments and settings, including medical, industrial and bioprocessing by exposing biofilms to nitric oxide to induce the dispersal of cells. However in some settings, in particular in human health and medical applications, the uncontrolled and widespread release of nitric oxide may be associated with unacceptable side effects and toxicity levels. Improving the stability of nitric oxide donors in solution also poses a challenge. Accordingly, there is a need for the development of effective mechanisms to regulate, spatially and/or temporally, the release of nitric oxide such that this release can be localised in the vicinity of a biofilm to thereby minimise side effects and toxicity at other locations.
Now provided herein are compounds, methods and compositions for regulating the release of nitric oxide temporally and spatially and in turn providing novel mechanisms for promoting dispersal of cells from biofilms and regulating biofilm development.

Regulation of nitric oxide release and biofilm development


A structure is disclosed for connecting an electrically-connectable metal stiffener to a ground connection within a flexible substrate, the stiffener comprising nickel-gold plated stainless steel. In one embodiment the stiffener is secured to the flexible substrate by a non-conducting adhesive which includes an opening over a ground connection, the adhesive opening being filled by a conductive epoxy. A sequence for applying the disclosed materials discloses a method for attaching the stiffening structure to the flexible substrate.

In consumer electronic products, the thickness and or volume of the product is a very important sales factor. The thickness is termed "Z-stackup". Flexible printed circuit boards are the material of choice for component mounting and interconnect due to low cost and thin Z-stackup. In some cases a flexible printed circuit board requires a rigid area for mounting certain components to the flexible printed circuit board. Some products, for example cell phones, need a low ohmic resistance (a maximum of two ohms for some customers) means for the common grounding of electrically conducting components and subsystems. Ideally the grounding means should provide for the design of a Faraday cage around all except the radiating portion of the antenna. For example, in a cell phone, a camera module must provide for its external grounding to the phone chassis or other components. Some applications require the provision of an electrically active ground pad to the bottom side of the imager at the flexible printed circuit board level. This to be done with little or no increase in Z-stackup.
FR4, a common printed circuit board material, has been used in the past as an interconnect material with a folded over conducting tab, but this adds material thickness and increases Z-stackup. Metal stiffeners are a competitive edge, as they provide rigidity and planarity not available in standard material sets and offer a reduced package size in Z-stackup. But there has been no satisfactory solution for an electrically active ground connection to the back side of the stiffener.
In a cell phone, conductive materials which are floating (relative to the electrical potential of portions of the circuitry in the phone) can disturb the proper loading of an antenna, leading to poor radio connectivity. This can result in poor user satisfaction and potentially high return rates. Electrically unconnected metal in close proximity of noisy signals or components can couple and amplify noise within cell phone applications, affecting performance. In addition, corrosion susceptible metals or ferrous metals are not allowed in cell phone applications. Nickel-gold plated stainless steel can provide a thin, rigid, non-corroding and non-oxidizing stiffener, providing there is suitable means for attaching the stiffener to the flexible printed circuit board. Currently available conductive adhesives may provide low resistance as-assembled, but resistance increases as a result of reflow. Thus the industry has a need for a reliable, near-zero ohm connection of a flexible printed circuit board ground-to-metal-stiffener solution.

Conductive stiffener for a flexible substrate


An apparatus for administering a therapeutic is provided. In various embodiments, the apparatus includes a syringe having a barrel and a plunger and having a material treatment module associated therewith. The material treatment module may be an ozone generator that is initiated such that material containing ozone accumulates within the barrel. The material can then be delivered from the barrel into a target site via a needle, thereby delivering therapeutic effects to that target site.

Back joint disc or tendon pain is a common and potentially debilitating ailment that affects an estimated 80% of the worldwide population at least once in a lifetime. In many instances, the cause of the pain can be attributed to a degenerated intervertebral disc that has further deteriorated into a condition known as disc herniation. This occurs when the disc nucleus pulposus extrudes through a tear or fissure in the outer lining of the disk, thereby exerting pressure on spinal nerves. The compression caused by the herniated nucleus leads to inflammation and is directly responsible for the pain felt down the leg (also referred to as sciatica). Available treatments for this type of back pain vary according to the severity of the hernia. If mild, the patient's condition can be appeased with rest and inactivity for an extended period of time. However, for patients suffering from a severe herniation or who do not respond to non-invasive treatment (pharmacological and/or physical therapy), surgical intervention is often recommended. With this invasive treatment come several disadvantages such as:
i) irreversibility of the procedure
ii) formation of scar tissue
iii) slower recovery time
iv) longer hospital stays
v) risk of infection
Since the late 1950s, many attempts have been made to treat sciatica and lower back pain with minimally invasive percutaneous procedures to avoid surgery. Well known treatments for example are percutaneous discetomy, percutaneous plasma disc decompression (nucleoplasty), intradiscal electrothermal therapy (IDET), and percutaneous intradiscal radiofrequency thermocoagulation (PIRT) but the high costs of these procedures has kept researchers looking for another alternative. In 1984 an Italian orthopedic surgeon named Dr. Cesare Verga proposed the use of ozone/oxygen mixtures to treat the pathology of a herniated disk.
In other situations such as rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis or a repetitive injury through sports or occupation, such as tennis elbow, frozen shoulder, or house maids knee, inflammation can develop between the two surfaces that are involved in allowing joint function, such as a tendon and the sheath or lubricated tube in which that tendon moves. Inflammation such as bursitis in the knee shoulder hip, or other anatomic bursa may benefit from the administration of a therapeutic agent such as oxygen-ozone mixtures or excited, energetic, pure oxygen, this includes epicondylitis, and other tendonitis and bursitis, including the wrist, hand and the tendon sheaths of the hand and wrist. Inflammation can occur at a site where a tendon or a ligament insert to bone or pass through a sheath from trauma, tension, over use or disease.
Inflammation can develop through pathologies of any joint, and these may again include the inflammatory arthropatic conditions of rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis and the like, or osteoarthritis. Joints that may be involved in these processes that are amenable to the administration of a therapeutic agent such as oxygen-ozone mixtures or excited, energetic, pure oxygen include the synovial joints such as the, temperomandibular joint, the hip joint, knee joint, ankle joint, elbow joint or sacro-iliac joint. Vertebral facet and sacro-iliac joints may also benefit, inflammatory involvement of joints in the hand, wrist and feet with rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis or a repetitive injury through sports or occupational such as carpal tunnel syndrome.
The inflammatory and arthritic or degenerative discussions described above are usually treated with a combination of anti-inflammatory agents such as ibuprofen, or more powerful drugs such as steroids or chemotherapy such as methotrexate. It is a common medical practice to inject steroid medications or lidocaine directly into the inflamed tissue or joint. This is often done repeatedly. These drugs can be associated with side effects of infection and even death from gastric ulcer bleeding or immunosurpression and infection. We believe that ozone therapy whether with oxygen-ozone mixtures or excited, energetic, pure oxygen as a gas or dissolved in a liquid has advantages over the current practice.
Lavage of a surgical space prior to placement of a permanent surgical implant such as a hip or knee prosthesis, or pacemaker or treatment of an infected joint can be facilitated by the use of oxygen-ozone mixtures or excited, energetic, pure oxygen as a sterilizing substance. Similarly a colostomy stoma can be created such that the adhesive disk is infused with oxygen-ozone mixtures or excited, energetic, pure oxygen as a gas or dissolved in a liquid to aid in healing and inhibit infection. The post surgical recovery from sternotomy after cardiac surgery is often complicated by wound infection. Placement of a resorbable catheter in the wound that could be irrigated with oxygen-ozone mixtures or excited, energetic, pure oxygen as a gas or dissolved in a liquid would aid healing. Indeed any wound could have a resorbable multisided hole catheter placed in it to allow oxygen-ozone mixtures or excited, energetic, pure oxygen to be injected through it. This would have anti-infective, analgesic, and wound-healing properties thereby shortening recovery time and decreasing complication rates after surgery.
Endoscopic procedural infusion of ozone and trans catheter infusion of ozone can be used to inhibit the complications endoscopic medical intervention or image guided or non-image guided catheter based intervention for example in endoscopic evaluation of the pancreatic duct.
Dental injection of oxygen-ozone mixtures or excited, energetic, pure oxygen as a gas or dissolved in a liquid may augment the preparation and repair of dental cavities, and aid in reduction of root canal inflammation or periodontal disease.
There are veterinary applications of minimally invasive administration of oxygen-ozone mixtures or excited, energetic, pure oxygen as a gas or dissolved in a liquid in animals diseased with disc and degenerative syndromes. Few other options are available in that arena. Some animals are destroyed due to debilitating pain secondary to pain from disc disease, and arthritis.
Thus, there is a need for equipment specifically designed for the treatment of disc herniation and other medical conditions affecting the body with oxygen-ozone mixtures or excited, energetic, pure oxygen so that it can be done in an efficient and sterile manner. There is a need to develop kits for intervention in inflammatory and degenerative disease, that are portable, disposable, or reusable, but aid in creating sterile, stable, ozone rapidly on demand.

Apparatus and method for treating and dispensing a material into tissue


This invention provides compositions and methods for treating cancer. More specifically this invention is directed to a targeted retroviral vector comprising a cytokine gene that can be administered either alone or in combination with a targeted retroviral vector comprising a cytocidal gene for treating cancer in a subject. Also provided are a kit or drug delivery system comprising the compositions for use in the methods described.

Immune modulation in conjunction with tumor antigen presentation is a promising approach for optimizing the efficacy of cancer gene therapy protocols for metastatic cancer or minimal residual disease. In tumor vaccine strategies, cytokines such as granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) are employed to recruit antigen-presenting cells, including dendritic cells and macrophages, which result in the activation of cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) against proteins expressed by cancer cells (Warren and Weiner, 2000; Kim et al., 2000). GM-CSF induces activation, proliferation, and differentiation of a variety of immunologically active cell populations, thereby facilitating the development of both humoral and cellular-mediated immunity (Warren and Weiner, 2000). One promising vaccine approach involves the insertion of the GM-CSF gene into autologous cancer cells that are then used for immunization (Jaffee, 1999; Suh et al., 1999). These genetically engineered tumor cells produce the GM-CSF protein in the local environment of tumor cells, thereby activating the patients T cells, which then function to eradicate the cancer at metastatic sites. Whether delivered as genetically engineered tumor cells or as the soluble GM-CSF protein, the cytokine must be present in the same site as the vaccine component (Mellstedt et al., 1999). Indeed, the establishment of specific and long lasting antitumor immunity following vaccination with GM-CSF tumor cells requires the simultaneous presence of GM-CSF and tumor antigens at the vaccination site (Nagai et el., 1998). However, in spite of the therapeutic potential demonstrated in animal models and early-phase clinical trials, the clinical development of these protocols has been limited by difficulties relating to the establishment of autologous tumor cell cultures (Fong et al., 2000) and the performance of individualized gene transfer procedures ex vivo (Borrello et al., 1999). Alternatively, local delivery of GM-CSF by direct intratumoral injection, as well as paracrine secretion by genetically engineered cells, has been shown to be more effective in upregulating lymph node sensitization when compared to systemic administration (Kurane et al., 1997).
A novel cancer immunotherapy approach for metastatic cancer would exploit the potential of systemically administered matrix-targeted retroviral vectors, infused sequentially intravenously, to efficiently deliver both a cytokine gene and/or a cytocidal construct to tumor cells and associated tumor vasculature. The efficacy of matrix-targeted gene delivery has been demonstrated in models of liver metastasis (Gordon et al., 2000a) and subcutaneous human cancer xenografts in nude mice (Gordon et al., 2000b). The present invention provides targeted retroviral particles, for systemic administration, carrying one or more cytokine genes that provide high level efficiency of cytokine gene delivery into a tumor and recruitment of host mononuclear cells (tumor infiltrating lymphocytes) into the tumor.

Targeted vectors for cancer immunotherapy


A rotary electric machine includes a frame; a stator whose stator-slot number Ns is 12; a rotor whose rotor-pole number Np is 8, the rotor being disposed inside the stator. The frame has a frame thickness T(θ) at mechanical angle θ, with respect to a reference line that connects the inner circumferential center of the frame with an arbitrary point, other than the center, around the center that is circularly expanded in a Fourier series. The difference between the stator-slot number Ns and the rotor-pole number Np is k (=|Ns−Np|). Stress-relieving spaces and are located in portions of the frame in an arrangement that does not have 90-degree mechanical angle rotational symmetry, in such a way that the sum P of inclusion ratios for the k-th component Tk and the Np-th component TNp, which are the Fourier series expansion coefficients for the frame thickness T(θ) expressed by equation (2)

As one of contributing factors toward cogging-torque generation, asymmetrical magnetic characteristics (magnetic-circuit distortion) around the center of a rotor-rotating axis can be pointed out, which is caused by a stress distribution in a stator core (hereinafter occasionally referred to as a stator iron core) with respect to the rotor-rotating direction (hereinafter occasionally referred to as simply the rotating direction). Such stress distribution in the stator core is considered to be caused by non-uniform constriction using a frame. This is mainly caused by the irregularity of the thickness of the frame around the rotor rotating axis. Generally, a rectangular frame (a frame in which the edge-shape is a rectangular pillar) tends to have mainly been used, resulting mainly in the stress generation due to the irregularity of the thickness.
Regarding a conventional rotary electric machine in which the cogging torque caused by the magnetic-circuit distortion in the stator core is focused, in a servo-motor composed of a stator having a metal frame, a rotor disposed in a space inside the stator, and a housing having the loading side and the non-loading side that rotatably support the rotor at both the ends of the rotor shaft, when the stator is produced by heat-shrink fitting in which the core is fitted in such a way that the metal frame is formed to have fins, the thickness of the frame main body at the bottoms of the fins is made approximately regular, an iron core is inserted into the metal frame after having been heated, then the metal frame is cooled, or produced by an adhesion method in which the metal frame and the iron core are fixed using a heat-curing adhesive, so that distortion given to the core and increase of the cogging torque are prevented (for example, refer to Patent Document 1).
[Patent Document 1]
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication 95,199/2001

Abstract: P          =                                    (                                                T                  k                                +                                  T                                      N                                                                                p                                                              )                        /                                          ∑                                  n                  =                  0                                ∞                                                                            T                  n                                ×                                  100                                                        [                    %                    ]                                                                                ,                            (        2        )            is less than 12%. According to this configuration, mechanical strength of the frame and its producibility are maintained, and cogging torque caused by magnetic-circuit distortion in an iron core generated due to the frame shape is also reduced.


Device, kit and method of using same to detect analytes such as nucleic acids are described. An excitation source, preferably a nitride-based LED, emits light capable of being absorbed by luminophores. Sensors are stably attached, preferably via covalent or ionic bonds, to a surface within the device, such as the surface of the excitation source that is exposed to the sample. When a complex is formed between the sensors and the analyte, the luminophores emit light or emit light of a different wavelength, thereby signaling the presence or quantity of the analyte.

There is a need for analyte detection that combines the speed and sensitivity of light-based sensors with the high specificity of biomolecular assays such as nucleic acid hybridization assays. In applications ranging from metabolic diagnostics to detection of pathogenic organisms, biomolecules are typically detected through either nucleic acid amplification or antibody recognition. Signaling is usually accomplished by attaching luminescent labels to probes. These conventional tests are typically difficult to multiplex and require equipment that is bulky, intricate and expensive.
A number of systems combine the use of light-based sensors with the use of biomolecular probes. These systems usually involve complex optics to route light to a zone where the probes can interact with the analyte. The cost and complexity renders such systems impractical for routine diagnostics or biohazard monitoring.
Bright et al describe a microsensor array comprising a sensor located in microwells on the top surface of a light emitter, for example, an LED. See Bright et al, U.S. Pat. No. 6,492,182, filed Jul. 28, 2000, issued Dec. 10, 2002, and U.S. application Ser. No. 2003/0027353, filed Sep. 25, 2002, published Feb. 6, 2003. Bright et al disclose a sensor that is physically embedded in sol-gel glass inside the microwells. The sol-gel glass has a surface area of approximately 100 m2/g and pores approximately 0.5–500 nm in diameter. The use of microwells complicates manufacture of the detection device. Moreover, the nano-pores in the glass impede or prevent in-diffusion when the analytes are biomolecules such as nucleic acids.

Light-based system for detecting analytes


A video cassette storage container formed as a one-piece member of polypropylene where the container has a smooth outer contour and configured sidewalls and hinge area to provide an extremely aesthetically pleasing and efficient storage container. The container further has square feet on one end thereof for endwise standing of the video storage container. The container also has a recessed front for easy opening where the recessed front is also arcuate or scalloped so as to extend inward into the container to assist in holding and centering video cassette tapes. The container also has ribs on the inner surface thereof which automatically centers the video cassette and its associated literature into the storage container during manual insertion of a cassette therein.

1. Technical Field
The invention relates to a storage container and, in particular, to a storage container for a video cassette. Even more particularly, the invention relates to a video cassette storage container formed as a one-piece member of polypropylene, having a smooth outer contour and configured sidewalls and hinge area to provide an extremely aesthetically pleasing and efficient storage container, having square feet on one end thereof for endwise standing of the video storage container, having a recessed front for easy opening which is also scalloped inward to hold tapes, and having guide rails on an inner surface thereof in addition to the scallops which together automatically centers the video cassette and its associated literature into the storage container during manual insertion of a cassette therein.
2. Background Information
Numerous containers for various articles, including video cassette tapes, have been developed, usually of plastic materials, such as shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,291,801, 4,363,403, 4,365,711, 4,407,410, 4,635,797, and 4,784,264. Although these prior art storage containers are satisfactory for their intended purposes, many are made of various types of plastics, such as crystal polystyrene, which is brittle and subject to breakage, and when molded will have a square appearance with straight edges terminating in sharp corners and edges. It has been found that these straight edges terminating in sharp corners and edges promote breakage of the storage containers when dropped.
Many of the prior art storage containers also include a closure mechanism that occupies space within the storage compartment thereby increasing the overall size of the container. In many of today's entertainment centers and other video storage areas, space is an important constraint, particularly based upon the large video libraries many homes have today. Therefore, many of these containers needlessly occupy more space than necessary.
Likewise, the hinge assembly of many prior art containers requires that the containers be closed in a single fashion often requiring precise and meticulous alignment of the video cassette within the video storage container. Often this single fashion closing is not readily accomplished by small children who increasingly use these storage containers for storing family entertainment video cassettes. Further, the video cassettes and associated literature must be accurately and carefully centered in these prior art storage containers or else it is often difficult if not impossible to close the container.
Likewise, many of the prior art storage containers are difficult to open by children, since their small hands are unable to grip the entire outer cover and base for pulling the container apart in order to gain access to the video cassette stored therein.
In addition, some of the video storage containers do not include at least one square surface for standing of the videos as is often desirable during storage. Alternatively, some of the containers that do contain an edge sufficient for standing the video storage container are often very sharp edges or corners which as indicated above are undesirable. Furthermore, these edges that are sufficient for standing often increase substantially the overall size of the container.
Thus, the need exists for an improved video cassette storage container which can be formed as a one-piece member of a light weight, break-resistant plastic such as polypropylene, which provides an attractive appearance and is easily used by small children for storing video cassettes, which has rounded sides with radiused edges, and a rounded spine formed by the hinge assembly to provide an attractive appearance and which includes a square base for endwise standing where the square base has radiused edges, and which includes a recessed front which provides easy opening even for small children and which includes a scalloped or otherwise arcuate interior to help hold the tape within the video storage container, and which provides ribs on the hinge panel for automatic centering of the tape during closure where the ribs act in unison with the scallop to function as guides to center the video cassette and associated literature in the storage container.


A height adjustment mechanism of a table saw is provided with a support including a concave seat, two first sleeves spaced from both ends of the seat respectively, a guiding hole, and two parallel brackets spaced from the guiding hole; a drive rod rotatably extended through the brackets; a first bevel gear mounted to an open end of the drive rod; first and second guide uprights fastened in the first sleeves respectively; a threaded guide rod inserted through the guiding hole; a second bevel gear at a bottom end of the guide rod to mesh with the first bevel gear; a motor including a threaded guide hole secured to the guide rod, two second sleeves with the first and second guide uprights sliding through respectively; and two support elements each including a concave base member, a sliding rail on the base member, and a fastening member.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to table saws and more particularly to a table saw having a height adjustment mechanism with improved characteristics.
2. Description of Related Art
Table saws and circular saws are tools typically used by carpenters. For example, a worker may use a table saw to work on a wood plank to produce a board, block, or bar of desired size. In operation, the worker may adjust a cutting depth of a saw blade by lifting or lowering the saw blade relative to an upper cutting surface by turning a height adjustment mechanism. However, gaps among internal components may change due to loosening or other factors after a period of time of use. And in turn, it may adversely lower precision of the wood plank being cut by the saw blade after lowering or lifting. Further, it may horizontally move the saw blade to an undesired position, i.e., shifting. As a result, yield of the machined wood products is greatly decreased.
Table saws are well known in the art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,820,524 discloses a table saw including a support plate having two guide openings for lifting or lowering a motor and a circular saw respectively. However, the support plate tends to permanently deform after a short time of use. Thus, the motor of the prior art table saw is typically a carbonic acid-based motor which is light in nature.
Notwithstanding the prior art, the invention is neither taught nor rendered obvious thereby.

Height adjustment mechanism of table saw