Methods, apparatus, systems and articles of manufacture to correct the measurement of water equivalent diameter in Computed Tomography (CT) imaging when patients are miscentered are disclosed. A disclosed example apparatus includes a patient size characteristic calculator to calculate a set of patient size characteristics for a set of axial slices along a height of the patient. The apparatus further includes a patient size characteristic corrector module to calculate a set of correction factors for the set of patient size characteristics and apply the set of correction factors to the set of patient size characteristics. The apparatus further includes a computation manager to utilize a set of corrected patient size characteristics for the set of axial slices along the height of the patient to perform a CT scan on the patient by modulating an X-ray current to control a radiation dose applied to the patient.

In recent years, usage rates of Computed Tomography (CT) scans have been on the rise. Traditionally, CT scans generally apply a significant dose of radiation to the example patient undergoing the scan. Further, the dose of radiation applied to the example patient is determined by a measured size of the example patient. In general, if the example patient size is overestimated, a larger than required dose of radiation will be applied to the example patient. Conversely, if the example patient size is underestimated, a smaller than required dose of radiation will be applied to the example patient, and the imaging quality of the scan will consequently be reduced.
In the pursuit of optimizing the dose of radiation applied to a patient, gains can be made by acquiring an accurate measure of patient size prior to completing the scan increasing the accuracy of patient size will, on average, decrease the dose of radiation applied to the example patient while simultaneously increasing the quality of the CT scan output image.
The figures are not to scale. Instead, to clarify multiple layers and regions, the thickness of the layers can be enlarged in the drawings. Wherever possible, the same reference numbers will be used throughout the drawing(s) and accompanying written description to refer to the same or like parts.

Methods and apparatus to correct the measurement of water equivalent diameter in computed tomography when patients are miscentered


An oscillation device comprises a substrate and a plurality of resonance structures arranged on the substrate to resonate electromagnetic waves. Each of the plurality of resonance structures has a negative differential resistance device for generating electromagnetic waves, a first conductor arranged electrically in contact with the negative differential resistance device and a second conductor arranged electrically in contact with the negative differential resistance device and disposed on the opposite side to the first conductor with respect to the negative differential resistance device. Adjacently located resonance structures of the plurality of resonance structures are interconnected by means of a metal part adapted for capacitive coupling with the first conductors thereof. The plurality of resonance structures are arranged so as to be separated from each other at least by a distance not greater than a wavelength of electromagnetic waves to be oscillated by them.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an array type oscillation device. More particularly, the present invention relates to an array type oscillator or oscillation device, that outputs electromagnetic waves containing at least frequency components in the frequency region from the millimeter wave band to the terahertz band (between 30 GHz and 30 THz) (to be referred to as terahertz waves hereinafter).
2. Description of the Related Art
Structures having a resonator and a negative differential resistance device are useful as devices for oscillating electromagnetic waves. For example, oscillation devices or oscillators that generate terahertz waves by means of a negative differential resistance device such as a resonant tunneling diode and an antenna are known. The oscillation output of such an oscillation device shows a tendency of decreasing its intensity as the frequency of the electromagnetic waves the device oscillates is raised toward the higher frequency side. For instance, while the output level of such a device is in the category of milliwatts for a frequency of about 100 GHz, the output level falls to get into the category of microwatts for a frequency of about 1 THz. Such a fall of output level is attributable to micronization of the junction area of the negative differential resistance device that is inevitably adopted in response to the use of a higher oscillation frequency.
Generally, in the field of negative differential resistance devices, the function of an RC low-pass filter is known to be realized by means of junction capacitance Cj and serial resistance Rs that corresponds to the resistance from the negative differential resistance device to the resonator. Namely, because higher frequency components of a signal are cut off by the function of an RC low-pass filter, structures of the above-described type cannot oscillate for electromagnetic waves in the frequency band higher than the cutoff frequency fc (=(2π×RsCj)−1). For this reason, the cutoff frequency that provides the upper limit of the frequency band of oscillation of an oscillation device has to be made higher than the frequency band of electromagnetic waves for which the device oscillates. Since the junction capacitance Cj is proportional to the junction area of the negative differential resistance device, the cutoff frequency fc can be raised by reducing the junction area. On the other hand, the electric power with which a bias power supply can feed the negative differential resistance device is proportional to the junction area of the negative differential resistance device. Therefore, as the oscillation frequency rises to a higher frequency, the power that can be fed to the negative differential resistance device falls to consequently reduce the oscillation output.
Formation of an array is known to be an effective means for achieving a sufficiently high output level for the purpose of broadening the scope of application of electromagnetic waves. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2007-295350 discloses an exemplar configuration of oscillation device obtained by forming an array of a plurality of elements, which are so many sets of negative differential resistance devices and cavities. As shown in FIG. 14A of the accompanying drawings, a plurality of cavities 3 are formed on a substrate 2 and negative differential resistance devices 4 are arranged at the respective cavities 3. Note that the substrate 2 is laid on a resist layer 7 in FIG. 14A. As shown in FIG. 14B, bias lines 5 are employed to supply power from a bias power supply and electrically connected to the plurality of negative differential resistance devices 4. With such an oscillation device, as one of the negative differential resistance devices is driven to oscillate, adjacently located negative differential resistance devices are put in phase with the first negative differential resistance device and hence come to oscillate in phase with the first negative differential resistance device. Then, the electric power output from the elements 1 can be spatially synthesized (power synthesis) by utilizing this phenomenon. Thus, the above-described structure can provide a large oscillation output (power output) although the structure is relatively compact.
However, in the oscillation device disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2007-295350, adjacently located negative differential resistance devices are directly linked to each other by bias lines. Therefore, isolation of the devices can hardly be secured in a low frequency region and hence the structure is accompanied by a difficulty of suppressing parasitic oscillations. Parasitic oscillations as used herein refer to oscillations induced in a lower frequency band that differs from the intended oscillation frequency band. Since such parasitic oscillations reduce the oscillation output at the intended frequency, suppression of parasitic oscillations that are intrinsically attributable to the structure of an oscillator, or oscillation device, using typical negative differential resistance devices provides an unavoidable problem that has to be solved.


A microcomputer with embedded flash memory is provided, which has an on-chip programming capability that allows new data to be reprogrammed by the microcomputer itself into the embedded flash memory, without having to use external reprogramming tools. Moreover, a method is provided for programming data into the embedded flash memory of the microcomputer. The microcomputer includes a microprocessor unit, an embedded flash memory unit, a register set, and a bus multiplexer. The embedded flash memory unit is partitioned into a loader block for storing a loader program and a user block for storing at least one user application program. The new data that are to be programmed into the user block of the embedded flash memory unit are first transferred to and stored in the register set. In the embedded flash memory unit, only one of the loader block and the user block can be in active operation, which is controlled by the microprocessor unit. The microcomputer allows an on-chip programming process that allows the developer to update or change the old program data stored in the user block of the embedded flash memory unit more easily and cost-effectively, and without having to use external reprogramming tools.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to microcomputers with embedded flash memory, and more particularly, to a microcomputer with embedded flash memory that can be reprogrammed through the microcomputer itself without having to use external programming tools. Moreover, the invention relates to a method of programming data into the embedded flash memory of the microcomputer.
2. Description of Related Art
A microcomputer is a monolithic integrated circuit with a complete microprocessor unit and an embedded flash memory unit. The entire microcomputer can be considered as a "computer on a chip", which is very compact in size and highly integrated in functionality. Unlike EEPROM (electrically erasable and programmable read-only memory), the embedded flash memory in a microcomputer can be reprogrammed without the use of ultraviolet light. Flash memory is therefore more popular than EEPROM for use as the embedded memory in microprocessors.
Conventionally, data is programmed into the embedded flash memory of a microcomputer by external programming tools and cannot be carried out directly by the microcomputer itself. Therefore, it is very inconvenient to update or change the program codes previously programmed into the embedded flash memory, in the event that bugs are found or new functions are to be added.
In some conventional designs, the microprocessor unit and the embedded flash memory in the microcomputer are separated rather than integrated on the same chip so as to allow the microcomputer to have an on-line programming capability. This design scheme, however, requires additional control circuitry and an external memory unit to implement. This makes the overall system architecture of the microcomputer more complex, considerably larger in size, and low in integration. Such a microcomputer is be more difficult and thus more costly to manufacture.
FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram showing the basic architecture of a conventional microcomputer with embedded flash memory. As shown, the microcomputer includes a microprocessor unit 110 and a bank of embedded flash memory 130 connected via a bus 120 to the microprocessor unit 110. The embedded flash memory 130 is used to store the programs that are to be executed by the microprocessor unit 110 for specific purposes. One drawback to this microcomputer architecture, however, is that it includes only a single bank of embedded flash memory, which is insufficient if the microcomputer is to properly perform an on-chip programming process. This is because that during the on-chip programming process, the microprocessor unit 110 needs to perform both write and read operations on the embedded flash memory 130, and the provision of only one single bank of embedded flash memory does not allow the microcomputer to do this in an efficient manner.
To allow the microcomputer to have on-chip programming capability, a conventional solution is to provide an additional ROM (read-only memory) unit in the microcomputer for storing the loader program that is used to control the loading of data into the embedded flash memory. This design scheme, however, requires the fabrication of two different semiconductor memory structures, i.e., a flash memory structure and a ROM structure, and two different peripheral circuits for the flash memory and the ROM in the IC chip of the microcomputer, respectively. This makes both the design and the fabrication of the microcomputer considerably more difficult to carry out.
In conclusion, the prior art of FIG. 1 has the following drawbacks.
(1) First, since the prior art includes only one single bank of embedded flash memory, it does not allow the microcomputer to have an on-chip programming capability to program new data into the embedded flash memory. Instead, the on-chip programming process requires the use of an external programming tool, which is inconvenient and cost-ineffective, with regard to the use of the microcomputer.
(2) Second, in order to allow the microcomputer to have an on-chip programming capability, the microprocessor unit and the embedded flash memory in the microcomputer should be separated rather than integrated on the same chip and require respective peripheral circuits for proper operation. This leads to low integration, large size, and costly implementation.
(3) Third, although the on-chip programming capability can be provided by incorporating an additional ROM unit in the microcomputer for storing the loader program, it nonetheless leads to low integration, large size, and costly implementation. Moreover, both design and debugging are more difficult to carry out by the developer.

Microcomputer with embedded flash memory having on-chip programming capability and method of programming data into the embedded flash memory


The present invention relates to chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) which binds the cancer antigen disialoganglioside (GD2). T cells expressing such a CAR are useful in the treatment of cancerous diseases such as neuroblastoma.

Disialoganglioside (GD2, pubchem: 6450346) is a sialic acid-containing glycosphingolipid expressed primarily on the cell surface. The function of this carbohydrate antigen is not completely understood; however, it is thought to play an important role in the attachment of tumour cells to extracellular matrix proteins. GD2 is densely, homogenously and almost universally expressed on neuroblastoma. In normal tissues, GD2 expression is largely limited to skin melanocytes, and peripheral pain fibre myelin sheaths. Within the CNS, GD2 appears to be an embryonic antigen but is found dimly expressed in scattered oligodendrocytes and within the posterior pituitary. This makes GD2 well suited for targeted antitumour therapy.
Anti-GD2 antibodies have been extensively tested as therapy in neuroblastoma. Two clones and their derivatives are in current clinical use: clone 3F814 and 3F8. Another clone 14.187 has been tested as a mouse IgG3, after isotype switching to IgG2a (14g2a) and finally after chimerization with human IgG1 to form ch14.18. This latter antibody has resulted in clear efficacy in a randomized study: the US Children's Oncology Group reported a randomised phase III study of ch14:18 in children with high-risk neuroblastoma who had achieved radiological remission after initial treatment. In these patients, there was a 20% improvement in EFS in the ch14:18 arm with a mean follow-up of 2.1 years. Importantly, neurotoxicity most commonly as a chronic pain inducing neuropathy and less commonly an ophthalmoplegia is the main dose-limiting toxicity with these agents.
These therapeutic mAbs continue to be refined: an IL-2 immunocytokine derived from ch14.18 has been described. This is quite a toxic agent with some effect on minimal residual disease, but none against bulky disease. Ch14.18 has been fully humanized and its Fc mutated to inhibit complement activation. This humanized version of Ch14.18 is in clinical study but only very limited data are available. Humanization of the 3F8 antibody has also been described. While clinical data from GD2 serotherapy is encouraging, sustained complete remissions are still limited and there is no evidence for a clinically useful role for antibodies except in the minimal disease setting.
There is thus a need for improved therapeutic approaches to treat neuroblastoma and other GD2-expressing cancers.
Chimeric Antigen Receptors (CARs)
Chimeric antigen receptors are proteins which, in their usual format, graft the specificity of a monoclonal antibody (mAb) to the effector function of a T-cell. Their usual form is that of a type I transmembrane domain protein with an antigen recognizing amino terminus, a spacer, a transmembrane domain all connected to a compound endodomain which transmits T-cell survival and activation signals (see FIG. 1a).
The most common form of these molecules are fusions of single-chain variable fragments (scFv) derived from monoclonal antibodies which recognise a target antigen, fused via a spacer and a transmembrane domain to a signaling endodomain. Such molecules result in activation of the T-cell in response to recognition by the scFv of its target. When T cells express such a CAR, they recognize and kill target cells that express the target antigen. Several CARs have been developed against tumour associated antigens, and adoptive transfer approaches using such CAR-expressing T cells are currently in clinical trial for the treatment of various cancers.
Chimeric antigen receptors against GD2 have been described in which the antigen-binding domain is based on the scFv 14g2a (WO 2013/040371 and Yvon et al (2009, Clin Cancer Res 15:5852-5860)).
Human T cells expressing a 14g2a-CD28-OX40ζ-CAR were shown to have some antitumour activity but to be unable to completely eradicate the disease (Yvon et al (2009) as above).
The present inventors sought to make an alternative GD2-targeting CAR with improved properties.


A silver halide photographic photosensitive material, containing at least one residual-color-reducing agent having at least one aromatic ring or aromatic heterocycle in its molecule; a processing method thereof; and an image-forming method.

For many years, great effort has been made to increase photographic sensitivity of silver halide photographic photosensitive materials (hereinafter referred to as "photosensitive material"). In a silver halide photographic emulsion, a sensitizing dye, adsorbed on the surface of silver halide grains, absorbs a light irradiated into a photosensitive material, and the absorbed light energy is transmitted to the silver halide grains, displaying photosensitivity. Accordingly, in spectral sensitization for the silver halide, it is assumed that the light energy transmitted to the silver halide can be increased by increasing the light absorption rate per unit of grain surface area of silver halide grains, thereby leading to increased spectral sensitivity. The light absorption rate on the surface of silver halide grains can be enhanced by increasing the quantity of a spectral sensitizing dye adsorbed per unit of grain surface area.
However, there is a limit to the quantity of a spectral sensitizing dye that can be adsorbed on the surface of silver halide grains, such that it is difficult to adsorb a larger quantity of dye chromophore than a mono-layer-saturated adsorption; namely, a single-layer adsorption. Accordingly, at the present time, the absorption rate of incident photons by individual silver halide grains in the spectral sensitization region is still unsatisfactory.
As a method to solve these problems, there are many proposals for adsorbing a grater quantity of sensitizing dyes than a single-layer adsorption. For example, in the Description of the Conventional Art of JP-A-2002-23294 ("JP-A" means unexamined published Japanese patent application), prior art documents and patents related to the afore-mentioned method are described. Recently, in particular, advances in photographic sensitivity by a multi-layer adsorption, owing to a combination of a specific cationic dye and a specific anionic dye, have been tried (see, for example, JP-A-10-239789, JP-A-10-171058, and EP0985965). However, these methods tend to increase residual color resulting from sensitizing dyes.
In addition, in the remarkable progress of digital cameras and color printers, processing of a silver halide photographic photosensitive material (especially a silver halide color photographic photosensitive material) that is able to rapidly provide a high-quality image to users has been demanded. However, if the processing time in the conventional processing method is simply reduced, the processing terminates before sensitizing dyes in the photosensitive material are sufficiently washed out thereof. Accordingly, there is a problem that the image becomes unacceptably colored (stained) by a substantial amount of sensitizing dyes that remains in the white ground portion of a color print (this stain is called residual color). Further, also in color negative films, increased density in the minimum density area, owing to residual color, breaks color balance and makes providing a proper print difficult.
Further, the use of tabular silver halide grains, is an important fundamental technology in a high-sensitivity photosensitive material for shooting in recent years. If tabular silver halide grains, particularly tabular silver halide grains having a high aspect ratio (hereinafter referred to as tabular grains), are used, as their photographic property, they have a high ratio of surface area to volume, and therefore, the quantity of sensitizing dyes used per unit volume can be increased. This results in effects of enhanced sensitivity and ratio of sensitivity to granularity, and thereby higher color sensitization sensitivity can be obtained (see, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,494,789). The term "aspect ratio" used herein refers to the ratio of diameter to thickness of the tabular grain. "Diameter of the tabular grain" refers to the diameter of a circle having an area equivalent to the projected area of the said grain, when an emulsion is observed with optical or electronic microscope. Further, the thickness of the tabular grain refers to the distance between two parallel planes that constitute the said grain.
However, the use of tabular grains increases the quantity of sensitizing dyes remaining in the photosensitive material after processing. As such, depending on the processing conditions, the quantity of residual sensitizing dyes sometimes increases to an extent that it cannot be neglected, and which causes phenomena in which the density of the minimum density area of a color negative film increases, and the highlight area of a color reversal film becomes colored.
Additionally, selenium sensitization of a silver halide emulsion is also useful for advances in photographic sensitivity, and many selenium compounds are known as selenium-sensitizing agents (see, for example, JP-A-4-109240). However, also in this method, there is a problem resulting from the residual sensitizing dyes.
As an example of the method of eliminating residual color resulting from a sensitizing dye, for example, there is disclosed a method of using a bistriazinyl aminostylbene disulfonic acid compound. This method has been used over a wide range in the processing of color photographic photosensitive material (for example, see Research Disclosure (hereinafter abbreviated as RD) No. 20733). Further, for example, there is disclosed a bistriazinylaminostylbene disulfonic acid compound that is excellent in solubility and able to reduce residual color even in time-reduced processing (for example, see JP-A-6-329936).
As shown in the above, as a method of reducing a residual color, there are known methods of adding a particular compound to a processing solution. However, there is no known method in which a silver halide photographic photosensitive material, having a dye chromophore that is multilayer-adsorbed on the silver halide, is processed with such a processing solution.
Further the bistriazinylaminostylbene disulfonic acid compound is generally added to a developing solution, to thereby obtain a residual-color reducing effect. However, when added to a fixing solution, the said compound deteriorates in the presence of components in the fixing solution, such that it is difficult to maintain performance stably.
In addition, the bistriazinylaminostylbene disulfonic acid compound, which is originally a fluorescent brightening agent, sometimes imparts an unnecessary fluorescent whitening property to a photosensitive material after processing.
Further, as compounds other than the bistriazinylaminostylbene disulfonic acid compound, for example, these are disclosed bisarylaminotriazine compounds (for example, see U.S. Pat. No. 6,153,364). However, because these compounds are added to a developing solution, a bleaching solution, or a fixing solution, deterioration of the components resulting from long-term usage makes it difficult to maintain image quality.
As mentioned above, there is a demand for a silver halide photosensitive material that has high sensitivity and low residual color, and a processing method of the photosensitive material, or an image-forming method using the photosensitive material.

Silver halide photographic light-sensitive material


A fuel cell system and a related control method are disclosed wherein, during start-up of a fuel cell stack 1, a controller 21 operates a DC/DC converter 13 in a voltage control mode to allow an electric power to be supplied from a secondary battery 7 to a load 6 at an output voltage managed by the DC/DC converter. Under such a condition, an electric power level appearing when a voltage level of the electric power to be supplied from the secondary battery to the load lies at a value greater than an open voltage level of the fuel cell stack 1. Next, the DC/DC converter 13 is operative in an electric power control mode to allow the electric power to be supplied from the secondary battery to the load at a managed electric power output. Then, a level of the electric power to be supplied to the load is detected with the DC/DC converter 13, which permits the electric power to be supplied from the secondary battery to the load at an electric power level less than a resulting detected electric power level.

The present invention relates to a fuel cell system adapted to start up a fuel cell stack, mainly using an electric power charged in a secondary battery, which is installed on a fuel cell powered vehicle whereby, through the use of an electric power output generated by the fuel cell stack and the electric power charged in the secondary battery, auxiliary units associated with the fuel cell stack for electric power generation are driven while producing a vehicle drive torque output.
An attempt has been made to start up a fuel cell system through the use of a technology wherein an electric power of a secondary battery other than a fuel cell stack is applied to an air compressor to allow oxidant gas to be supplied to the fuel cell stack to start up the same to be available for electric power generation whereupon a shift occurs from the secondary battery to the fuel cell stack made available for electric power generation to utilize the electric power output generated thereby as a driving power supply, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-229943.
With such a fuel cell system, during a mode in which the electric power output of the secondary battery is supplied to the air compressor as the driving power supply, an output voltage and an electric power output are arbitrarily controlled by a DC/DC converter. The DC/DC converter is configured such that, during start-up operation, the electric power available from the secondary battery is made to be sufficiently higher than the electric power generated by the fuel cell stack that is adequately warmed up to be available for obtaining a desired electric power output. And, an output voltage of the electric power generated by the fuel cell stack is clamped at an output voltage level of the DC/DC converter, thereby precluding the electric power of the fuel cell stack from exceeding a certain desired level.
With such a fuel cell system, when discrimination is made the fuel cell stack is available for electric power generation, by decreasing the output voltage of the DC/DC converter while increasing the electric power to be supplied from the fuel cell stack, a source of electric power supply to the air compressor is made available to be smoothly shifted from the secondary battery to the fuel cell stack.

Fuel cell system and related control method


A recordable optical recording medium having a sufficiently high reflectance and modulation factor to comply with the CD specifications. The light-absorbing layer in the optical recording medium has a first cyanine dye having a light absorption band in the wavelength region of recording or reproducing light, and a second cyanine dye having a light absorption band in the wavelength range shorter than the first cyanine dye and having a smaller light absorption in the wavelength region of recording or reproducing light. The second cyanine dye is contained in the light-absorbing layer in an amount larger than the first cyanine dye.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a recordable optical recording medium and, more particularly, to an optical recording medium having a light-absorbing and a light-reflecting layer formed in superposition on a light-transparent substrate. 2. Description of the Related Art
The use organic dyes, such as cyanine and phthalocyanine dyes, in the recording membrane of "recordable" optical recording media is generally known. In order to write information on such optical recording media, a laser beam is focused in a small area of the recording membrane and converted to thermal energy which changes the characteristics of the recording layer (i.e., forming a pit). The common practice adopted to insure a smooth change in the properties of the recording membrane is to prepare two substrates each bearing a recording membrane and these substrates are combined together with the two recording membranes facing each other, thereby providing a so-called "air sandwich" structure.
The laser beam used to write data on these type of optical recording media is aimed into the outer face of each transparent substrate so as to form an optically readable pit in either or both of the recording membranes. In order to reproduce the recorded data, a reading laser beam having a lower power than the writing beam is focused onto the pit surface and the contrast between the area where the pit is formed and the area where no pits are formed is read as an electric signal.
Media of the read-only memory (ROM) type having prerecorded data are also available and have been commercially used in the audio recording and information processing fields. The ROM media have no recording membrane into which data can be recorded. Stated more specifically, prepits which correspond to the data to be reproduced are preformed in the surface of a plastic substrate by press forming with a master. Then, a reflecting layer made of a metal such as Au, Ag, Cu or Al is formed over the prepits and then a protective layer typically is formed on the reflecting layer.
A typical class of ROM media are compact disks which are commonly referred to as CDs. Information is written into and read from CDs with signals of standardized specifications. In accordance with such specifications, CD reproducing apparatus are widely used as compact disk players (CD players).
The so-called recordable optical recording media are the same as CDs insofar as a laser beam is used for reading/writing and that both media are in a disk form. It has been strongly desired to develop a recordable medium that complies with the ROM or CD specifications and, as a result, is adapted for use in CD players. However, a problem is encountered in attempts to achieve this object.
In particular, if the air sandwich structure, which is widely adopted in conventional structures of recordable media, is merely replaced by the provision of a light-reflecting layer on the pitted surface of the conventional recordable recording membrane, as needed in a ROM or CD structure, the reflectance and modulation factor of a laser beam cannot be made sufficiently high to satisfy the CD specifications.


Gradient pulses are generated by current conducting gradient coils. High-frequency components cause the center of gravity of the current to be shifted by mutual influencing of the coil conductors. The shift depends on the electrical resistance of the conductor material, which in turn depends on the temperature of said conductor material, and on the frequency ω, such that the magnetic gradient field B decreases with increasing frequency. This phenomenon manifests itself as a delay τ of the gradient pulse with respect to the gradient demand D. During generation of a current gradient pulse in accordance with the gradient demand D, a quantity representing the conducting state of the conductors of the gradient system is determined and used to calculate the gradient delay τ to correct the gradient demand for the delay.

The invention relates to a method of producing an MRI image in an MRI apparatus, wherein a gradient field is generated by a gradient system, wherein the desired variation with respect to time of the gradient field is prescribed by a gradient demand, and wherein a quantity representing the effective conduction state of the gradient system is determined during the generation of gradient pulses forming the gradient field.
Such a method is known from Japanese patent abstract No. JP 07303619. In an MRI apparatus, the desired variation of the gradient pulses required for a recording is generally prescribed by a representation of the desired field, the so-termed gradient demand. This is a frequently numerically stored representation of the desired variation of the magnetic gradient field as a function of time. Due to a variety of causes, the actually generated gradient field differs in shape from the gradient demand. An important cause for this deviation is the temperature of the gradient coils in the gradient system, which may differ from the assumed temperature due to ambient influences and due the previous history of the use of these coils.
In said Japanese patent document, the temperature of a heat shield in the environment of the gradient system is measured at regular intervals during an MRI scan. Said temperature thus forms a quantity representing the effective conduction state of the gradient system, the term effective conduction state being taken to mean the electric conduction as it manifests itself in all current-conducting parts of the gradient system, such as the gradient coils, shielding coils (if any) and other metal parts which influence, due to eddy current induction, the formation of the magnetic gradient field. Said temperature is used as an input quantity to determine a correction in the form of a change of the eddy current compensation volume. In this known method, the temperature is measured of a part which is only indirectly involved in the formation of the gradient pulses, as a result of which the effect of the variation in temperature of the gradient coil is insufficiently compensated for.
It is an object of the invention to provide a method of the type mentioned in the opening paragraph, wherein a better compensation for the variation in temperature of the gradient coil is achieved. To achieve this object, the method in accordance with the invention is characterized in that during the generation of the gradient pulses, a gradient delay is determined on the basis of at least the value of said representing quantity, during the gradient pulses the instantaneous value of the gradient demand is corrected for the then prevailing value of the gradient delay, and the instantaneous value of the gradient pulses is determined by the value of the corrected gradient demand.

Method of producing an MRI image with gradient delay compensation


A buffer tank for use in an inkjet printer wherein the buffer tank is located between one or more ink storage tanks which store one or more sorts of ink, and one or more inkjet recording heads which eject the one or more inks toward a recording medium and thereby perform recording on the recording medium. The buffer tank includes a partition wall which separates an inner space of the buffer tank into a plurality of ink delivery chambers which temporarily store the one or more inks; and a pair of flexible wall portions which are spaced from each other and which cooperate with each other to constitute a portion of the partition wall and partly define a pressure-change absorbing chamber which allows the pair of flexible wall portions to be flexed to absorb the change of pressure of the one or more inks temporarily stored by the ink delivery chambers.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a buffer tank for an inkjet printer wherein the buffer tank is provided on a carriage movable for printing, and also relates to an inkjet printer.
2. Discussion of Related Art
There has conventionally been known an inkjet printer including a carriage that is movable along a recording medium such as a recording sheet, and an inkjet recording head and a buffer tank both of which are provided on the carriage. The inkjet recording head has a plurality of groups of nozzles, and ejects, from each group of nozzles, a corresponding one of a plurality of sorts of inks so as to record an image such as characters, symbols, etc. on the recording medium. The buffer tank has a plurality of delivery chambers that store the plurality of sorts of inks, respectively, that are supplied from a plurality of ink storage tanks, respectively, that are not provided on the carriage, i.e., are detachably attached to a tank supporter independent of the carriage.
The buffer tank is provided in respective ink supply passages between the ink storage tanks and the inkjet recording head, and has a plurality of ink inlets to receive the plurality of sorts of inks, respectively, and a plurality of ink outlets to output those sorts of inks, respectively. The buffer tank, provided on the movable carriage, temporarily stores the inks supplied from the ink storage tanks, and functions as a damper or buffer that damps or buffers, i.e., absorbs the changes of pressure of the inks that occur when the carriage is moved.
The inkjet recording head includes a sheet-type piezoelectric actuator that selectively applies an appropriate pressure to an arbitrary one of a plurality of pressure chambers communicating with a plurality of nozzles, respectively, so that the nozzle communicating with the one pressure chamber ejects a droplet of ink at a speed and an amount that correspond to the applied pressure, and thereby records or prints an image on the recording medium.
Thus, the stable ink-ejecting characteristic of the inkjet recording head and the excellent printing performance of the inkjet printer can be maintained by damping or absorbing the pressure changes of the inks and applying the appropriate ejecting pressure to the inks.
The ink storage tanks and the ink inlets of the buffer tank are connected by a plurality of ink supply tubes, respectively. When the carriage is moved and returned during a printing operation, an acceleration is applied to the inks present in the ink supply tubes and/or the buffer tank provided on the carriage, so that the pressure changes of inks occur.
Generally, a damper is used to absorb the above-indicated pressure changes of inks. However, if the pressure damper employs, e.g., a common film having a certain degree of flexibility, the water content (i.e., water vapor) of the inks permeates the film and vaporizes, and the ambient air permeates the film and becomes air bubbles in the inks, because the film directly contacts the ambient air.
Hence, there has been practiced to absorb the pressure changes of inks by using a pressure damper that employs a film having not only a flexibility but also a resistance to gas permeation, such that the film directly contacts the ambient air.
In addition, Japanese Patent No. 2,887,605 or its corresponding U.S. Pat. No. 5,030,973A discloses a pressure damper for an inkjet printer wherein the damper employs a flexible membrane (i.e., a damper film) such that the membrane defines an outer surface of the damper and is exposed to the ambient air.

Buffer tank for inkjet printer, and inkjet printer


A vibrational energy harvesting device is disclosed, which comprises first and second assemblies mounted on a base at a distance one from the other. The first assembly comprises vibrational means adapted to stretch under a straining force, whereby the device exhibits monostable quartic nonlinearity. The first and second assemblies comprise respective magnetised means in opposite polarity to one another, so that the second assembly exerts a repulsive magnetic force upon the vibrational means, whereby the device exhibits bistability. Both the monostable quartic and bistable nonlinearities can be independently controlled. A method of harvesting energy with the vibrational energy harvesting device is also disclosed.

With advances in integrated circuit technology, the size and power consumption of modern electrical applications have reduced dramatically. Wireless sensor networks (WSNs), which find applications in a plethora of human interests and activities, e.g. environmental and structural health monitoring, surveillance, medical sensors for remote diagnosis, wearable electronic devices etc. leading to 'Internet-of-Things' (IoT), can be powered at few to hundreds of microwatts.
Though battery is the most conventional choice for powering such WSNs, they suffer from a number of drawbacks such as limited energy density over the years, expensive replacement cost and chemical hazards to name a few. Thus, vibrational energy harvesting (VEH) has emerged in the last decade as the potential alternative of battery, to power such WSNs mainly due to their abundance in nature.
Basic VEH devices consist of a spring, a seismic mass and a damping element. The response of most of the earlier reported VEH systems are linear/resonant in nature i.e. they produce the maximum output at the resonance frequency, but the response drops drastically when frequency shifts slightly. In a practical setting, such change of frequency is often observed. Thus to efficiently convert the vibrational energy that is available over a range of frequency, wideband mechanisms are essential.
Research is being conducted on wideband energy harvesting using nonlinear oscillators. Nonlinear oscillators have amplitude modulated stiffness, which provides broadband response under external excitation.
Intentional introduction of nonlinearity into harvesting device dynamics were first reported by Mann et al in "Energy harvesting from the nonlinear oscillations of magnetic levitation" (Journal of Sound and Vibration 319 (2009) 515-530) and by Cottone et al in "Nonlinear energy harvesting" (Physical Review Letter 102, 080601 (2009)).
Wideband nonlinear oscillators with amplitude modulated stiffness constants are now used to overcome the limitation of the resonant systems. The two main categories of nonlinear systems, namely monostable and bistable systems, are used for that purpose. The classification is based on the potential function of the nonlinear oscillator which is given as
      U              (      x      )        =                    -                  1          2                                  α                          (                      1            -            r                    )                                  x        2              +                  1        4                  β                    x        4            wherein x is the displacement, α, β are constants and r is a constant that determines nature of nonlinearity.
Nonlinear monostable devices based on cantilever stretching (hardening nonlinearity) effects were studied in "Smart Sand—a wide bandwidth vibration energy harvesting platform" (Appl. Phys. Lett., 94:103505 (2009)) and this configuration also demonstrated bandwidth widening effects. A similar bandwidth widening effect was observed for different structural topologies in "A nonlinear stretching based electromagnetic energy harvester on FR4 for wideband operation" (Smart Mater. Struct. 24:-015013, 2015).
Erturk et al developed and studied a piezomagnetoelastic device consisting of a ferromagnetic cantilever and piezoceramic laminates for power generation in "A piezo-magneto-elastic structure for broadband vibration energy harvesting" (Applied Physics Letters 94 (254102) (2009) 1-3). They studied forced responses at various frequencies and obtained large amplitude periodic responses across a wide range of excitation frequencies.
US 2012/0068577 A1 disclosed a micro-scale piezoelectric nonlinear energy harvesting device, in which a central mass is suspended by four tethers with piezoelectric materials. The vertical motion of the suspended mass would produce stress in the tethers, and thereby generate electricity in the piezoelectric material, wherein the beams supporting the mass produce stretching-based nonlinearity.
WO 2014/116794 A1 described a meandered piezoelectric cantilever based energy harvester for very low frequency (˜1 Hz) operation, in which a magnetic component at the free end of the beam allows nonlinear vibration, and wide operational frequency range. This device however employed piezoelectric transduction, which requires load matching circuitry.
Monostable systems, though nonlinear, have a single potential well like linear systems. The oscillator movement is confined within a single well. As a result it needs high forces to produce a large amplitude motion. On the contrary, bistable systems have twin potential wells and thus can move from one well to the other even under smaller forces, and still can produce a large amplitude motion. US 2010/0207491 A1 disclosed a bistable piezoelectric energy harvester with two potential wells on either sides of an initial equilibrium, wherein the proposed configuration consisted of a cantilever fixed at one end, and free to oscillate, and that device showed wider frequency response.
Ferrari et al investigated a system similar to that described in "Improved Energy Harvesting from Wideband Vibrations by Nonlinear Piezoelectric Converters, Sensors and Actuators" (A: Physical, 162 (2010), 425-431), wherein bistability was introduced into the system by oppositely positioned permanent magnets.
Monostable and bistable system therefore have an inherent capability to improve the off-resonance performance compared to a resonant system, demonstrably wider frequency bandwidth under harmonic and random excitations compared to the corresponding linear vibrational energy harvesters (VEHs).
Whilst the bistable systems exhibit wideband response under random vibrations, it was observed that they could generate appreciable energy at rather high accelerations, when the oscillator could overcome the potential barrier and jump from one potential well to the other.
By contrast, the high energy attractor of motion of the monostable systems is largely dependent on the initial conditions and can only be achieved through proper frequency sweep. Furthermore, usually the nonlinear components of the spring force come into effect at large deflection, which can be triggered at relatively large vibrational acceleration.
Thus, while both bistable and monostable quartic nonlinearity has been demonstrated to achieve wider frequency responses, the effects of combining both techniques in a single device topology on the system dynamics and performance remain unexplored so far.

Broadband vibrational energy harvesting device combining multiple nonlinearity

UNIVERSITY COLLEGE CORK—NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF IRELAND, CORK


A framework and method for using the framework are disclosed for integrating disparate components, such as existing and new components, on a computing network system. The existing network may include useful existing content repositories, such as data repositories, and existing computer architectures. With the addition of new systems on the network, the framework can aid an architect in choosing a framework integration layer that allows for the integration of the disparate components.

Expenditures on information technology (IT) have risen over the past twenty years to the point where they are almost always a significant amount in the capital budget of any enterprise. These enterprises include business enterprises, and may also include non-for-profit businesses, charitable institutions, religious institutions, educational establishments, governmental agencies, non-governmental organizations, and other organizations of many types.
The expenditures are not only for computers and their software, but also for making disparate computers and information technology applications and systems work together. Once systems are established, servers of several varieties may be used, as well as other software, networks, computers and peripherals. Businesses typically invest a large amount of capital in making new systems and applications work with an existing system and periodically need to upgrade components of an existing system to better serve the businesses' customers with advanced technology.
In the past, organizations have built applications on specific hardware and software technologies like networks, servers, operating systems, database, application development models and specific end user access devices. The customized infrastructure and architecture provided users with applications that did not communicate with one another. While the initial intent of the application systems were to meet a specific set of functionality, eventually these different application systems needed to be integrated. Technology today provides many different ways to integrate applications and systems.
There is a need, therefore, to construct an IT framework that provides a way of identifying and selecting a correct integration solution.

Framework for integrating existing and new information technology applications and systems


A method of making porous silicon using a chemical etchant comprising metal ions is described.

Porous silicon is found in a variety of applications where its benign nature, electronic and optical properties and entrapment of other materials is desirable.
There are numerous methods available for making porous silicon. For example, and as described in PCT/GB96/01863, bulk crystalline silicon can be rendered porous by partial electrochemical dissolution in hydrofluoric acid based solutions. This etching process generates a silicon structure that retains the crystallinity and the crystallographic orientation of the original bulk material. Hence, the porous silicon formed is a form of crystalline silicon. Broadly, the method involves anodising, for example, a heavily boron doped CZ silicon wafer in an electrochemical cell which contains an electrolyte comprising a 20% solution of hydrofluoric acid in an alcohol such as ethanol, methanol or isopropylalcohol (IPA). Following the passing of an anodisation current with a density of about 50 mA cm−2, a porous silicon layer is produced which may be separated from the wafer by increasing the current density for a short period of time. The effect of this is to dissolve the silicon at the interface between the porous and bulk crystalline regions.
Porous silicon may also be made using the so-called stain-etching technique which is another conventional method for making porous silicon. This method involves the immersion of a silicon sample in a hydrofluoric acid solution containing a strong oxidising agent. No electrical contact is made with the silicon, and no potential is applied. The hydrofluoric acid etches the surface of the silicon to create pores. Up until now stain etching has tended to have poor reproducibility, low yield, be strongly exothermic and produce internal surface areas which are significantly lower than those obtained from anodising wafers.
These existing stain etch methods, particularly for making very high porosity silicon, are not very efficient and they tend to be slow. Further, anodisation currently uses relatively expensive silicon wafers. Existing stain etch methods have not proved to be particularly suitable for producing fully porous silicon which also means the porosified silicon will not be fully biodegradable and will not all be converted to silicic acid in-situ. Existing attempts at fully porosifying silicon tend to result in the porous silicon retaining areas of non porous silicon, particularly at the centre of the silicon particle.
There is a continued need for alternative and preferably improved methods for making porous silicon which address at least some of the issues mentioned above.


A program entity that generates code but that does not perturb global state is identified. Code produced by the identified program entity can be assigned an identifier and cached the first time it is executed. Subsequent executions of the program entity can eliminate generation of the code and/or translation of the generated code into native binary code. The runtime generated code and native binary code can be cached in a machine-wide cache, or can be added to the metadata of the assembly generated from the source code of the program entity.

Traditionally, software compilers produce native code, that is, binary code that is specific to the machine on which the code will run. The native (unmanaged) code produced by traditional compilers typically includes everything an operating system needs to run the code, but little else. In contrast, in virtual machine environments, source code is compiled to an intermediate byte code representation that is not specific to any particular machine. In addition, the output of a managed code compiler typically includes considerably more information than just binary code. The additional information describes characteristics of the binary code and is sometimes called metadata: a generic term for data that describes other data, where in this case, the described data is the binary code. The container that contains the intermediate byte code and metadata is sometimes called a managed assembly. These containers can also be referred to as class files, Java archives or Java modules. The term "assembly" or "managed assembly" as used herein refers to any such container of byte code and metadata.
In an unmanaged environment, at runtime, pre-existing native instructions are loaded into memory and are executed. In a managed environment, at runtime, the managed assembly can be compiled or translated into native binary instructions right before execution. That is, the managed assembly can be loaded into memory and compiled by a just-in-time (JIT) or on-the-fly compiler into machine-specific and runtime-specific instructions, which are then executed. While the compilation/translation phase of the managed environment involves additional processing that may affect performance, on the other hand, the JIT/on-the-fly compiler may be able to make environment-specific optimizations that an unmanaged environment is unable to take advantage of. For example, if a JIT/on-the-fly compiler knows that the code that is executing is running with full trust, it can skip certain expensive security checks that could not be skipped in an unmanaged environment.
In a managed environment, instead of compiling a managed assembly right before it is executed, the source code or intermediate byte code can be compiled to native binaries by an optimizing compiler and stored (cached) before being run on a host system. For example, a native image generator such as NGEN may produce a native binary image for the environment by converting the intermediate byte code into native machine instructions in binary before a request is received to execute the assembly. In this way, at runtime, pre-existing executable code can be loaded and run without the second compilation/translation phase, in a fashion similar to that of a traditional native code environment. Although caching is intended to make the assembly execute faster by removing the JIT/on-the-fly compilation/translation process at runtime, performance may not be improved because environment-specific optimizations made by a JIT/on-the-fly compiler, such as the optimization described above, cannot be done when caching assemblies beforehand.
As stated above, most native languages do not keep track of information about the internal structure of the source code. In contrast, because of the metadata included with the intermediate byte code produced in managed environments, code that takes advantage of currently existing objects, creates new objects, inherits from existing objects and so on, can be readily generated at runtime. Runtime-generated code may require a special mechanism to be used to create or load the dynamic code without loading the runtime-generated code from a long-term storage medium (e.g., hard disk). Such a mechanism shall be referred to as Reflection Emit in the rest of this document. Code that is generated at runtime, which is also called dynamically-generated code, is typically compiled during every process instance to intermediate byte code, and then processed by the JIT/on-the-fly compiler. This is an every-process cost that may not be trivial.


A dog grooming clamp. The dog grooming clamp has a base member, two parallel and opposing arms extending from either end of the base member, and a third arm with a threaded aperture that is perpendicularly attached to a first arm. A hollow channel extends along the entire length of the base member. A handle is pivotally attached to a second arm and designed to push a pin into the channel when rotated in a first direction, such that when a rope is positioned within the channel, the pin pushes the rope against the channel, locking it in place. The rope can be easily released by rotating the handle in an opposing direction. A threaded rod is inserted within the threaded aperture and is used to easily attach the dog grooming clamp to a pole.

The present invention relates to a dog grooming clamp. More specifically, the present invention relates to a dog grooming clamp that is designed to be secured to a groomer's pole and can easily lock and unlock a rope positioned therein.
Grooming a dog, which can include trimming, brushing, and bathing, is one of many important aspects of proper dog maintenance. Some dog owners prefer to groom their animals themselves, while others use the service of professional animal groomers. In order to easily handle a dog while grooming, the groomer often places the dog on a table set at a comfortable working height. Many dogs will not stay in place for prolonged periods of time without the use of some form of restraint, especially while being groomed with brushes, trimmers, and similar tools. Additionally, some dogs may feel particularly threatened or unconformable during the grooming process, causing them to become aggressive. This not only makes the grooming process difficult, but can be dangerous for the groomer if there is a risk of the dog responding by attacking the groomer.
In order to address this issue, many grooming tables come equipped with a vertical pole that extends upward from the table surface. A locking groomer's loop is secured to the dog are attached to a rope, which is then attached to the pole. Some groomers use a clamp designed to be attached to the pole and secured to the loose end of a dog's leash. However, many of these clamps can be cumbersome to use and difficult to readjust when dealing with a moving animal. Accordingly, a dog grooming clamp designed to be attached to a grooming pole while allowing for easy securing and adjustment of a rope therein is desired.


A system and method for locating objects in an approximate immediate proximity to a user is disclosed. A two-way radio transponder system is employed with a Coordinator as a parent device and multiple Identification Tags as child devices. The system is low-cost and consumes relatively low power using advancement in microcircuit technology and additionally the system employs predetermined timing cycles to further optimize power consumption. The Coordinator has a microprocessor programmed to compare signal strength in successive communication cycles to help determine the proximity of the Coordinator to the multiple Identification Tags. Additionally, in a preferred embodiment, motion sensors are used to assist in determining relative motion between Coordinator and Identification Tags. A USB port is further included for the system to interface with a PC. A method for associating the various Identification Tags, each having a unique electronic address to all others manufactured, with the particular Coordinator is also disclosed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains generally to electronic transmitting devices. More particularly, the present invention pertains to systems and method for tracking objects. The present invention, in a preferred embodiment, is particularly but not exclusively, useful as an electronic tracking system and method to indicate to a user the presence of personal objects of interest.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As people move about in their daily routine or while traveling, they take a number of items with them that could potentially become lost or misplaced. Items including mobile phone, car keys, camera, briefcase, backpack, purse, PDA, and laptop computer may potentially disappear from their owner sometimes requiring time consuming searching to recover.
Numerous systems and methods have been proposed for monitoring, tracking, and locating persons, pets or objects carrying an electronic tracking device. Some have been presented as an electronic inventory for businesses tracking items. Others have been described as an electronic leash for pets or children at a day care center, or an alert system for wandering Alzheimer's patients or autistic children. While most prior art solutions are suitable for their intended purposes, most are also overly complicated and expensive solutions for wide commercial application. A relatively recent example of one such system is disclosed in Crabtree, U.S. Pat. No. 7,148,801, Article Locator System. Crabtree is directed to a system wherein a transceiver is attached to a person, animal, or item to be tracked also with a handheld locator device to send radio signals to the various transceiver devices of the system. As signals are transmitted and received from the devices, the system employs an antenna array to sample the signal at different points in space. With various samples from the antenna array, the system can employ different methods to calculate the bearing and range of the object including processing information from phase and time delays
Another example of a prior art system is disclosed in Rabanne, U.S. Pat. No. 6,304,186. Rabanne similarly employs a plurality of child units each having a transceiver and a parent unit for determining if an object is within a preselected range. Rabanne further has separate communication devices for locating and controlling the plurality of child units wherein one such separate communication device is a GPS device for determining relative distance from a child unit to a parent unit.
These and other examples are particularly complicated while employing GPS or multi signal path calculations particularly if the items to be tracked are relatively close to user. Numerous other examples exist and many are limited by battery life as well as cost to implement. As advancements in electronic technology have appeared, other wireless communication proposals have emerged. For example, Bluetooth radio standard and communication protocol has gained popularity for its range of applications as transceiver microchips can presently be designed for low-cost and low power consumption. Moreover, software advancements specifically designed for low power applications, for example Zigbee, has prompted consumer electronic solutions refocusing on cost effective wider availability.
In light of the above, it is an object of the present invention to provide a System and Method for Locating Objects that is simplified over prior art solutions. It is further an object of the present invention to provide a system and method for tracking objects that is optimized for low-power and lower cost. It is yet further an object of the present invention to provide an object tracking system that can selectively track a significant number of objects up to about 250. It is still further an object of the present invention to provide an object tracking system and method that can be programmed via a computer device. Additionally, a further object of the present invention is to provide a System and Method for Locating Objects that is easy to implement, simple to use, and comparatively


This invention is an attachment mountable to the underside of a router by means of which dados (grooves) may be accurately cut in a work-piece uniformly and equidistant from the previous dado without any adjustment to the attachment. The initial dado may or may not be parallel to the edge of the material.. The attachment consists of two plates. The top plate has predrilled holes for fastening it to the router. There are also predrilled holes in the top plate for the router bit and for the fasteners used to bolt the two plates together. The lower plate has an elongated hole for the router bit to pass thru in the various settings. The lower plate also has four other narrower elongated holes used in fastening the two plates together in the various settings.. A follower of the desired size is fastened by screws to the lower base plate to control the distance between the dado being cut and the previous dado. The follower (guide) has a tapered front end to alleviate the necessity of cleaning the dado of router chips before running the next dado. Equal and equidistant details and cuts can also be made.

Since most cabinet shops and other carpentry related businesses operate on a job shop basis, as apposed to an assembly line type operation, the slant of most guides is solely related to accuracy and position of the groove or dado. This is understandable since subsequent assembly operations are completely dependent on these factors. However in these days where the owner and/or operator of the business is faced with competitive pricing and a scarcity of dedicated skilled personnel it is of the essence to make each operation as simple as possible including reducing or eliminating the need for any additional handling, measuring, and indeed thinking.


The present invention relates to a method for welding comprising the steps of: contacting a plurality of workpieces to be welded having different heat capacities so as to form a boundary portion therebetween; placing a welding electrode in proximity to the boundary portion; generating an arc discharge between the welding electrode and the boundary portion; and supplying gas to the boundary portion, wherein more gas being supplied to one of the workpieces having a lower heat capacity than another workpiece having a higher heat capacity.

The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for welding workpieces having different heat capacities, for example, a cladding tube and a plug of a fuel rod used in a nuclear reactor, in tungsten inert gas (TIG) welding process.
Referring to FIG. 10 showing a fuel rod, fuel pellets 2 are inserted into a cladding tube 1 made of zircaloy. A spring 4 is also inserted in a plenum 3 inside the cladding tube 1. The plugs 5 and 6 are welded at both ends of the cladding tube 1, so that the fuel pellets 2 are urged to the plug 5.
The plugs 5 and 6 are welded to the cladding tube 1 of the fuel rod in a TIG welding process, which is carried out with a welding apparatus A as shown in FIG. 11.
In the TIG welding process, the plugs 5 and 6 are fitted into the both ends of the cladding tube 4 which includes the fuel pellets 2 and the spring 4. The cladding tube 4 is passed through a rotation holding means 7, and one end of the cladding tube 4 is further inserted through a hole 9 into a welding chamber 8 until the plug 5 or 6 comes into contact with a hollow 11 of a stopper 10, which is rotatably mounted to the opposing wall of the welding chamber 8.
The portion (surface) S where the cladding tube 1 and the plug 5 (or 6) mutually contact is welded with a welding apparatus 12 inserted from the upper side of the welding chamber 8, while the cladding tube 1 is being rotated by the rotation holding means 7.
Referring to FIG. 12, the welding apparatus 12 includes a welding electrode 14 disposed at the center of an opening of a gas nozzle 13. In use, the tip of the welding electrode 14 and the center of the gas nozzle 13 are placed adjacent to the contact portion (boundary portion) S. A current is passed between the welding electrode 14 and the contact portion S to form an arc discharge, which melts and welds the contact portion S. During the process, shield gas (inert gas) is introduced from the gas nozzle 13 and flows as illustrated with arrows in FIG. 11, preventing oxidation of the contact portion S.
In welding as described above, however, the cladding tube 1 which is one of the workpieces at the contact portion S, is cylindrical and hollow, while the plugs 5 and 6 are solid. The plugs 5 and 6 have therefore greater heat capacities, and there is a difference in temperature between the workpieces. The melting quantities differ between the cladding tube 1 and the plugs 5 and 6 at the contact portion S, and this leads to shift of the welding bead to the side of the cladding tube 1. The welding result is therefore unsatisfactory.
To avoid this, the arc is directed, in general, particularly toward the workpiece with the higher heat capacity. However, the arc spreads to the side of the workpiece with the lower heat capacity which is apt to be heated, resulting in inferior quality. Also, there is a problem in that an undercut U, as shown in FIG. 12, may occur on the cladding tube 1 with the low heat capacity.

Method for welding and apparatus therefor


The present invention relates to methods of inducing or enhancing an immune response against an immunogen in a subject. The invention further includes isolated nucleic acid vaccines, cellular vaccines, fusion proteins, expression vectors, vaccines, and immunogenic compositions for use therein.

There are approximately 33 million individuals with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection worldwide. Many will die as a result of the infection which has already claimed more than 23 million deaths and 2.7 million people are newly infected each year (International AIDS vaccine initiative (IAVI), AIDS vaccine blueprint, A challenge to the field, A road map for progress, 2008, ISBN #0-9792432-8-9). Over 80% of new HIV-1 infections arise in the developing world.
There are approximately 10,000 new cases of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections in Australia each year, 220,000 HCV-positive individuals in the country (Razali K et al., 2007, Drug Alcohol Depend 91: 228-235), approximately 200 million infected individuals in the world and an estimated 3-4 million new infections each year (Bonner, J. E., Esserman, D., Evon, D. M., 2012, Reliability and validity of a self-efficacy instrument for hepatitis C antiviral treatment regimens, J Viral Hep 19: 316-26). In developing countries, many infections result from poor medical practice (Hauri, A. M, Armstrong, G. L, Hutin Y. J, 2004). The global burden of disease attributable to contaminated injections given in health care settings. Int. J. STD AIDS, 15 (2004), pp. 7-16).
Effective vaccines are necessary to control the spread of these agents. However, existing licensed vaccines often depend on neutralising antibody to induce protection, but neutralising antibody may not effectively control challenge by HCV and HIV. These viruses mutate rapidly and generate neutralising antibody (NAb)-escape mutants. As conventional vaccines elicit NAb, an alternative approach to design vaccines for these viruses is necessary.
There exists a need for alternative vaccines for HIV and HCV. The present invention seeks to overcome, or at least ameliorate, one or more of the deficiencies of the prior art mentioned above, or to provide the consumer with a useful or commercial choice.
The above discussion of the background art is intended to facilitate an understanding of the present invention only. The discussion is not an acknowledgement or admission that any of the material referred to is or was part of the common general knowledge as at the priority date of the application.

Cellular vaccine and method of inducing an immune response in a subject


A coating machine (1) has a carousel (5) with location seats (18, 19) for substrates (3) that are to be coated. Process chambers (8) are located in a circle coaxially to the carousel (5) outside of the carousel (5). All substrates (3) located in the process chambers (8) can be removed at the same time from the process chambers (8) and put down on the carousel (5) by means of substrate transfer devices (9). After turning the carousel (5) slightly, new substrates (3) can be transported simultaneously into the process chambers (8).

The invention relates to a coating machine with several process chambers that are located on arcs of a circle around a common center line which are each connected with a vacuum line and a gas line. The coating machine has a carousel with substrate location seats located coaxially to the center line. The purpose of this carousel is the transport of substrates that are to be coated in the process chambers.
Coating machines of the afore-mentioned type are sold by the Leybold company under the name "Circulus" for example for the purpose of coating optic data carriers by means of cathode sputtering and are therefore known. This known coating machine has a carousel that is designed like a star-shaped transfer arm, which moves the substrates that are to be coated from process chamber to process chamber in a clocked turning motion so that the substrates can undergo different treatment processes in the various process chambers. The evacuation and gas supply for each process chamber is independent from all the other process chambers so that monitoring features are provided for each process chamber in order to control the existing process conditions. With coating machines it is often desirable to operate several process chambers in parallel formation, in order to achieve high level of productivity. This is the case when hollow parts or similar objects are to be coated since with parts of this type the entire coating system can be applied in a single process chamber. If several process chambers are operated in parallel formation, one has to ensure that absolutely identical conditions exist in all process chambers. As a result of different decreases in the flow rate, evacuation pipes or gas supply lines of varying lengths lead for instance to varying pressures in the process chambers. It follows that it must be possible to control all process chambers individually and that they must be equipped with the necessary controlling and measuring equipment in order to create identical process conditions.

Apparatus with axial gas distribution for vacuum coating substrates on a carousel


A constant velocity joint, wherein all of those rolling elements excluding a plurality of rolling elements are divided into a plurality of rolling element groups and arranged along the inner diameter part of a roller member. The excluded plurality of rolling elements are dispersed in first to third cam grooves at intervals in the circumferential direction. When the rolling elements are pressed in the radial outer direction by the first to third pressing faces of a cam rotating in the arrow A direction, they are simultaneously press-fitted into first to third clearances between the rolling elements from the side of the inner diameter part of the roller member.

Heretofore, automotive drivelines employ a constant-velocity joint for connecting a transmission shaft to another transmission shaft and transmitting rotational power to the axles.
One conventional constant-velocity joint, whose technical concept is disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 10-184717, has, as shown in FIG. 21 of the accompanying drawings, a roller 1 having a cylindrical inner circumferential wall surface 2 and a pair of flanges (not shown) mounted on the respective axial ends of the cylindrical inner circumferential wall surface 2 for preventing rolling elements 3 (rolls, needles, or the like) from being dislodged. The constant-velocity joint is assembled as follows: A plurality of rolling elements 3, whose number is one less than the total number of rolling elements 3 to be finally mounted, is arrayed between the flanges on the cylindrical inner circumferential wall surface 2. The dimensions of the cylindrical inner circumferential wall surface 2 and the rolling elements 3 are selected such that the minimum distance d2 between two rolling elements 3 on the ends of the array is smaller than the diameter d1 of a rolling element 3a which is to be added finally between those two rolling elements 3 (d2<d1). The difference between the distance d2 and the diameter d1 (d1−d2) serves as an interference ranging from several μm to several tens μm. Then, the rolling element 3a is finally pressed in between the two rolling elements 3 radially outwardly toward the cylindrical inner circumferential wall surface 2, thus installing the rolling elements 3 on the cylindrical inner circumferential wall surface 2.
The above process of arraying the rolling elements 3 along the cylindrical inner circumferential wall surface 2 of the roller 1 is referred to as a keystone process. The keystone process allows the roller 1 and the rolling elements 3 to be integrally combined as an inseparable assembly which is assembled on a leg shaft.
If the process of assembling the rolling elements 3 as disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 10-184717 is applied and the rolling elements 3, whose number is one less than the total number of rolling elements 3 to be finally mounted, are to be arrayed successively one by one between the flanges along the cylindrical inner circumferential wall surface 2 of the circumferentially rotating roller 1, not manually, but by a mechanism (not shown) such as a cam or the like, then circumferential clearances may occur between the rolling elements 3 arrayed along the cylindrical inner circumferential wall surface 2, or clearances developed between the rolling elements 3 arrayed along the cylindrical inner circumferential wall surface 2 may become irregular.
Even if the final rolling element 3a is pressed in between the two rolling elements 3 radially outwardly toward the cylindrical inner circumferential wall surface 2, since the actual interference is greater than the preset interference due to the clearances, it is difficult to press the final rolling element 3a neatly into place or the rolling elements 3, 3a are deformed when the final rolling element 3a is forcibly pressed into place.
According to the process of assembling rolling elements as disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 10-184717, when the final rolling element 3a is pressed into the gap between the two rolling elements 3, as shown in FIG. 21, the radially outward pressing force concentrates on the final rolling element 3a. Therefore, a holder 4 needs to be positioned on the outer circumferential surface of the roller 1 for bearing the radially outward pressing force acting on the final rolling element 3a. As a result, the number of parts making up an assembling apparatus that performs the process of assembling rolling elements is increased, resulting in an increase in the cost to manufacture the constant-velocity joint.
There have heretofore been employed various bearings to meet various load requirements including different load magnitudes, directions, and rotational speeds. Those various bearings are generally classified into radial bearings and thrust bearings according to the directions of loads to be borne. One of the radial bearings for bearing radial loads is known as a keystone bearing.
The keystone bearing is a radial bearing for use under heavy loads, and has a basic structure including an annular array of rolling elements in the form of cylindrical rolls arranged fully circumferentially in contact with the inner surface of an outer race. The keystone bearing does not require a retainer for preventing the cylindrical rolls from being dislodged. The keystone bearing has a member for keeping the rolling elements within the outer race against dislodgment during operation, the member having an inside diameter smaller than a minimum dimension from which the rolling elements would be dislodged radially inwardly.
A conventional keystone bearing as disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Utility Model Publication No. 2-9329 is also illustrated in FIG. 21 of the accompanying drawings. As shown in FIG. 21, the keystone bearing includes an outer race 1 having a cylindrical inner circumferential wall surface 2 and a pair of flanges (not shown) mounted on the respective axial ends of the cylindrical inner circumferential wall surface 2 for preventing rolling elements 3 (rolls, needles, or the like) from being dislodged. The constant-velocity joint is assembled as follows: A plurality of rolling elements 3, whose number is one less than the total number of rolling elements 3 to be finally mounted, is arrayed between the flanges on the cylindrical inner circumferential wall surface 2. The dimensions of the cylindrical inner circumferential wall surface 2 and the rolling elements 3 are selected such that the minimum distance d2 between two rolling elements 3 on the ends of the array is smaller than the diameter d1 of a rolling element 3a which is to be added finally between those two rolling elements 3 (d2<d1). Then, the rolling element 3a is finally pressed in between the two rolling elements 3 radially outwardly toward the cylindrical inner circumferential wall surface 2, thus installing the rolling elements 3 on the cylindrical inner circumferential wall surface 2. Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 7-53865 discloses a bearing rolling element assembling apparatus which employs an eccentric cam.

Constant velocity joint and method of manufacturing the same


A rocking bed includes: a bed frame including two curved rods, each of which has first and second ends, a first section extending from the first end, and a second section extending from the first section to the second end, the first section having a curvature greater than that of the second section, and two connecting rods, each of which interconnects the curved rods; and a body-supporting member mounted securely on the bed frame and extending between the curved rods and between the connecting rods.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a rocking bed, more particularly to a rocking bed with two curved rods, each of which has sections with different degrees of curvature.
2. Description of the Related Art
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a conventional rocking bed 1 includes two curved rods 11, two connecting rods 12, each of which interconnects a respective pair of ends of the curved rods 11, and a body-supporting member 13 mounted securely on the connecting rods 12 and extending between the curved rods 11 and between the connecting rods 12.
The curved rods 11 of the conventional rocking bed 1 have a uniform curvature. When the rocking bed 1 is not in use, the entire rocking bed 1 is in a balanced state (see FIG. 1), i.e., the body-supporting member 13 is substantially horizontal relative to the ground. Since the upper body of a person normally has a weight greater than that of the lower body, when the user 100 lies on the body-supporting member 13, the rocking bed 1 inclines downwardly at one end thereof that supports the upper body of the user 100, as best shown in FIG. 2, which can result in undesired sliding of the body of the user 100 on the body-supporting member 13 and in user discomfort.
Referring to FIG. 3, to overcome the aforesaid drawback, another conventional rocking bed 2 has been proposed. The rocking bed 2 includes connecting rods 12 different from those of the rocking bed 1 of FIG. 1 in that one of the connecting rods 12 is solid and the other one is hollow. Therefore, one end of the rocking bed 2 is heavier than the other end of the rocking bed 2 such that the body-supporting member 13 can be at a horizontal state when the user 100 lies thereon. However, the manufacturing costs and the overall weight of the rocking bed 2 thus formed are undesirably increased.


Disclosed are kaolin compositions of at least one hydrous kaolin characterized by a particle size distribution where 98% of the particles are less than about 2.mu., 90% are less than about 0.5.mu. and the median particle size is less than about 0.3.mu.. Also disclosed is a process which involves the steps (i) preparing an aqueous slurry of at least one hydrous kaolin; (ii) separating the particles from said slurry so that the particle size distribution is such that 98% of the particles are less than about 2.mu., 90% are less than about 0.5.mu. and a median particle size is less than about 0.3.mu.; and (iii) drying said separated particles. Pigment pastes and electrodeposition paints containing said compositions as well as cationic electrodeposition of said paint on a substrate and the article of manufacture prepared thereby are disclosed.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to novel hydrous kaolin compositions and their use as pigment and pigment extenders in electrodeposition paints.
2. Description of Related Art
In D. S. Young and A. T. Gronet, "Pigmentation of Electrocoatings," in Electrodeposition of Coatings, published by Am Chemical, chapter 7, page 106, (1980) kaolin is disclosed as an extender pigment in electrocoat systems.
There is still a need, however, for kaolin compositions which can make up a higher concentration of the pigment used in paint than current standard kaolin grades without increasing the viscosity of the pigment paste, increasing agglomeration in the paint bath or reducing the smoothness of the cured film.

Kaolin composition for use electrodeposition paints


Methods, systems, and computer readable media for controlling processor card power consumption are disclosed. In one example, the method is conducted in a network test equipment chassis that includes a plurality of processor cards that implements network testing functions. The method includes detecting an event or status associated with one of the plurality of processor cards and determining whether the event or status satisfies a condition of at least one power management rule. In response to determining that the event or status satisfies a condition of the at least one power management rule, the method further includes adjusting power consumption of the processor card in the network test equipment in accordance with the at least one power management rule.

Network test systems, such as network load testing systems and application test systems, can be used to simulate various network traffic conditions in both laboratory and live-network environments. The test packet generation and analysis functions provided by these test systems are processor resource-intensive, and consequently, consume a significant amount of power. However, in some instances, a network test system may be in an idle up to 50% of its operating time. Although a network test system may be in an idle state, the load modules (e.g., processor cards/blades) are typically powered during this idle state. If power usage by the load module can be minimized during this idle time, the potential annual savings for a single network test equipment (NTE) chassis would be significant. Additional savings may also be possible if hardware cooling needs are considered. Given the size of some internal test equipment laboratories, the ability to minimize power consumption during idle periods could result in considerable annual savings power costs.
Accordingly, in light of these difficulties, a need exists for methods, systems, and computer readable media for controlling processor card power consumption in a network test equipment chassis that includes a plurality of processor cards.

Methods, systems, and computer readable media for controlling processor card power consumption in a network test equipment chassis that includes a plurality of processor cards


An in-vehicle network system which is mounted on a vehicle includes an electronic control unit, a plurality of gateway devices, and a plurality of sensor devices that collects ambient information which is information around the vehicle. Each of the sensor devices communicates with the electronic control unit via at least one gateway device. The electronic control unit includes a mode management unit that determines one operation mode in a plurality of operation modes associated with the sensor device to be operated, and a sleep instruction control unit that specifies a gateway device which is the gateway device, in which the connected sensor device does not operate, and does not need to relay sensor information, based on the operation mode determined by the mode management unit, and transitions the gateway device having no need to relay the sensor information to a low power state in which a processing capacity is lowered.

In automobiles, the number of sensors mounted on vehicles and the types of sensors are increasing with the advancement of autonomous driving. In addition, in order to increase the reliability of automatic driving, it is considered to provide redundant electronic control units for automatic driving and to provide redundant sensors with different types of sensors, and it is considered that the number of sensors and the types of sensors will increase. Further, the amount of data to be transmitted by the sensor tends to increase as the performance of the sensor improves. In this way, as the number of sensors and the types of sensors increase, the wiring length and the number of wirings between many sensors and actuators and electronic control units increases. In an in-vehicle network system, in order to simplify the wiring, it is considered that sensors, actuators, and electronic control units are concentrated at a gateway, and the gateway is shifted to a network configuration connected to a backbone network. In addition, as the number of sensors, the type of sensors, and the amount of communication per sensor increase in this way, the bandwidth of the in-vehicle network increases, so there is concern that the power consumption of the in-vehicle network may increase. Further, it is desired to reduce the power consumption of the in-vehicle network from the viewpoint of reducing the environmental load and improving the fuel efficiency of the vehicle.
PTL 1 discloses a vehicle control device which includes a sensing device that detects an object around a vehicle, an electronic control unit that collects measurement results of the sensing device, and gives an instruction to switch the operation state of the sensing device as necessary, and a bus-type network for transmitting and receiving a signal between the sensing device and the electronic control unit. The sensing device is configured to take an operation state in a normal state where a normal operation is performed and an operation state in a power saving state where power consumption is reduced. The electronic control unit includes a sensing device operation state management unit that manages the operation state of the sensing device. The sensing device operation state management unit includes a surrounding environment recognition processing unit which recognizes a surrounding environment of a vehicle from the sensing result acquired from the sensing device, and an operation state switching processing unit which determines whether to shift the sensing device operating in the normal state to the power saving state or whether to shift the sensing device operating in the power saving state to the normal state based on the recognition result of the surrounding environment recognition processing unit, and instructs the sensing device to switch the operation state via the bus-type network based on the determination. The surrounding environment recognition processing unit calculates information of a position or a speed of the object existing around the vehicle or both from the measurement result of the sensing device, and recognizes a relative relation between the vehicle and the object existing around the vehicle based on the calculation result. When the relative position and the relative speed of the object existing around the vehicle exceed the respective predetermined thresholds, the operation state switching processing unit determines that the sensing device in the power saving state needs to be switched to the normal state, and instructs the sensing device to switch the operation state to the normal state via the bus-type network. When the number of objects existing around the vehicle exceeds a predetermined threshold, the operation state switching processing unit determines that the sensing device in the power saving state needs to be switched to the normal state, and instructs the sensing device to switch the operation state to the normal state via the bus-type network.

In-vehicle network system, electronic control unit, and gateway device


In a rear cone of a fuselage of an airplane a pressurized space is arranged in the rear cone and extends up to an impervious strong wall, placed on a rear portion of the length covered by a fin. The pressurized space constitutes an area accessible to individuals and is able to constitute, in particular, a rest and service area for the crew.

The invention has as its object a specific layout of an airplane rear cone.
As a general rule, an airplane comprises a fuselage having a front portion in which a cockpit is arranged, a main portion that bears the wings and a rear cone usually ending in a point and bearing the fin and the stabilizer.
In the case of an airplane for transport of passengers, at least the main portion of the fuselage is separated into two superposed zones by a floor forming a main deck, respectively a pressurized and air-conditioned upper zone in which a passenger cabin is arranged and a lower zone, generally pressurized but not air-conditioned, forming a hold for the baggage or other loads transported.
This pressurized whole is closed off, at the rear, by a transverse wall forming an impervious back resistant to the pressure difference between the pressurized passenger cabin and the hold and the rear cone. Until now, this transverse wall was placed at the beginning of the zone of the fuselage bearing the fin. As a matter of fact, the rear cone that extends up to the tail of the airplane, over the entire length covered by the fin and the dimensions of which, in cross section, gradually decrease, was regarded as a space not usable for the passengers and served as a hold or service space, the tail of the fuselage, however, being able to be used for placing therein an auxiliary power unit referred to as "APU" (Auxiliary Power Unit).
The constant growth of air traffic, however, leads to increasing the dimensions of the airplanes, in particular of the airliners used for great distances. Furthermore, for long trips, it is necessary to enhance the comfort of the passengers, in particular by offering them relaxation zones. Moreover, in such airplanes, it also is necessary to provide rest and relaxation areas for the crew the size of which is relatively large.


A method for fabricating a MEMS zoom lens device. The device is formed substantially on a silicon substrate and includes control circuitry formed on the substrate, multiple actuators having charge areas for creating electrostatic fields, a flexible support for flexibly coupling a lens to the substrate, an electrostatic layer coupled to the lens. The charge areas act in response to the control circuitry to apply an electrostatic force to the electrostatic layer to move the lens with respect to the substrate and optical sensors or detectors. In a preferred embodiment, the flexible support is formed in a serpentine shape from silicon nitride. A stop support is formed to underlie the flexible support to prevent damage to the flexible support in a rest (i.e., non-zoomed) position.

Microelectromechanical (MEM) systems (MEMS), such as arrays of small mirrors controlled by electric charges, are known in the art. MEMS devices are desirable because of their small size, potential lower cost, and higher performance. Some types of devices that have been built using MEMS techniques include accelerometers, gyroscopes, temperature sensors, chemical sensors, AFM (atomic force microscope) probes, micro-lenses, actuators, etc. Such devices can be integrated with microelectronics, packaging, optics, and other devices or components to realize complete MEMS systems. Some examples of MEMS systems include inertial measurement units, optical processors, sensor suites, and micro robots.
Although MEMS techniques, and other related fields such as nanotechnology, have been used successfully to fabricate many types of devices, there are still various problems to be overcome in manufacturing increasingly complex devices.